South Africa: Government reiterates commitment to address water supply challenges

Ahead of World Water Day celebrations, the Department of Water and Sanitation has committed to enhance its efforts to explore the use of groundwater as an alternative water source to ensure water security in communities affected by water supply challenges.

This comes as the global community observes World Water Day on 22 March 2022, themed, Groundwater  making the invisible, visible.

According to the department, more than 50% of available groundwater is being utilised in five Water Management Areas (WMAs) across the country, with the highest utilisation happening in Limpopo.

It is important to note that the capital city of the North West province, Mahikeng, is mainly reliant on groundwater sourced from a dolomite aquifer from east of the city, the departments Director for Surface and Groundwater Information, Zacharia Maswuma, said on Sunday.

The City of Cape Town is investigating the groundwater potential from the deep aquifers of the Table Mountain Group sandstones. Meanwhile, there is also ongoing research conducted in Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape to explore the use of the resource.

The department has acknowledged groundwater as a national asset and an integral part of South Africas water resources, which has helped to reduce the backlog for domestic water supply in different parts of the country.

The department has warned civil society and business against the pollution of groundwater, as it cripples efforts made by government towards the provision of water for all.

Groundwater contamination occurs when manmade products such as petrol, oil and other harmful substances get into groundwater supplies and cause it to become unsafe and unfit for human use. Sources of groundwater contamination include septic systems, waste sites and pesticides, amongst other things, Maswuma said.

Deteriorating groundwater quality may have severe health impacts on health and livelihoods in communities using polluted groundwater without treatment.

Maswuma said the department will not hesitate to take strict measures against those who pollute the resource.

The National Water Act provides principles within which pollution of water resources, including groundwater, are to be addressed. What we do as a department is that we monitor legacy contamination sources such as old slimes dams, discard dumps and buried asbestos, which remain as potential sources of groundwater pollution, he said.

The monitoring of groundwater pollution is done collaboratively with several other government departments such as the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, as well as the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, alongside private partnerships.

Many of South Africas indigenous communities rely on groundwater for their survival, while many towns, approximately 320 towns, also depend on groundwater as a sole source of supply in conjunction with surface water. It also expressed that the protection of the resource is significant to help achieve equitable water for all by 2030 and beyond, the department said.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2022-03-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
China's Shenzhen to resume normal work, production from Monday

Xinhua) 08:18, March 21, 2022

Staff members check information of residents for nucleic acid test in Futian District of Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, March 17, 2022. (Photo by Chu Yan/Xinhua)

SHENZHEN, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Government offices, enterprises, and businesses in the southern Chinese metropolis of Shenzhen are set to resume normal work and production from Monday as the latest COVID-19 resurgence subsides, local authorities said on Sunday.

The city will also resume bus and subway services from Monday, according to a circular issued by the Shenzhen COVID-19 prevention and control headquarters.

Authorities are rolling out the measures to ensure the safety and stability of industrial and supply chains, and orderly life and work for locals, the circular said.

After three citywide nucleic acid testings since March 14, the COVID-19 prevention and control situation in Shenzhen remains severe but is generally controllable, it said.

The circular will be effective from March 21 to March 27.

Non-essential indoor public venues, including massage parlors, poker rooms and internet cafes, as well as child-care and offline education institutions, will continue to suspend operations. All restaurants will operate at half capacity.

The circular ordered the implementation of differentiated anti-COVID-19 measures for enterprises involved in industrial and supply chains, in a bid to ensure the safety and stability of these chains.

Authorities in all districts and relevant departments need to intensify efforts to provide targeted services for enterprises, respond quickly to their needs, and help them overcome difficulties in production and operations, according to the circular.

(Web editor: Peng yukai, Liang Jun)
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Azerbaijan has responded to the protest of the Armenian side regarding the holding of an event in the occupied Armenian city of Shushi in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Azerbaijan-UN relations, and with the attendance of UN representatives.

Head of the Press Service Department of the Azerbaijan MFA, Leyla Abdullayeva, stated on Sunday that "the protest of the Armenian foreign ministry regarding the participation of the UN representatives in the event in Shusha [(Shushi)] is groundless and inadmissible."

Abdullayeva stated about the "Azerbaijani belonging" of occupied Shushi.

"Armenia's still territorial claims against Azerbaijan show that this country has not drawn the right conclusions from the 44-day war [in the fall of 2020]," she said.

Then the Azerbaijan MFA representative stated that the "UN has never taken a neutral position on the former Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict," and made references to the UN resolutions which the Azerbaijani side presents in a distorted way.

Thus, the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan has questioned the objectivity and impartiality of the UN.

The UN representatives, however, have not dismissed this allegation yet.
STEPANAKERT.  President Arayik Harutyunyan on Monday morning convened an extended working consultation dedicated to the problems caused by the unprecedented snowfall in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) in recent days.

Mayor Davit Sargsyan presented the respective situation in the capital Stepanakert, as well as the related problems and the measures being taken to resolve them, the press office of the Artsakh President informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

According to the mayor, the city authorities are doing their best to carry out the snow removal effectively.

Sargsyan added that after a two-day break, Stepanakert's public transport has resumed normal operations since Monday morning.

The President, for his part, made a special reference to education, noting that the start of classes in Artsakhs schools should be postponed if necessary.

Also, the head of state gave instructions to several officials in charge.

In addition, Harutyunyan stressed that the snowfall-related situation in Artsakh can be overcome only by joint efforts.
A China Eastern Airlines jetliner carrying 132 people crashed in the mountains in southern China's Guangxi region on Monday afternoon, according to China's Civil Aviation Administration (CAAC), CNN reported.

The Boeing-737 was en route from the southwestern city of Kunming to Guangzhou when it lost contact over the city of Wuzhou. On board were 123 passengers and nine crew members, CAAC said in a statement posted online.

Rescue teams are en route to the accident scene, where there is fire visible on site, but the casualties are unknown, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported. Initial state media reports had indicated there were 133 people on board.

The CAAC said it has sent a team to the crash site.
Armenia FM holds discussion at Atlantic Council, speaks about process of normalization of relations with Turkey

Newspaper: Armenia opposition MPs to lose their parliamentary mandates?

Newspaper: Artsakh President says we would not have had so many casualties if war had started half year later

Civil disobedience actions resume in Yerevan

Blinken tests positive for Covid

Denmark, Finland support European Commission proposal on Russian oil sanctions

Bulgaria to seek exemption from EU proposed Russian oil embargo

Biden says he is ready for additional sanctions against Russia

Switzerland braces for serious power shortage

Uruguay freezes ambassador appointment to Ankara after Cavusoglu's gesture

Czech Republic to seek exemption from proposed EU embargo on Russian oil imports

Charles Michel on the likelihood of Moldova's EU membership

Resistance Movement actions to resume tomorrow early morning

Elon Musk is invited to UK Parliament for buying Twitter

Disobedience march reaches France Square, rally starts

US crude oil shipments to Europe hit highest level in April

NEWS.am digest: Large-scale protests being held in Armenia to demand PMs resignation

Armenia Defense Minister meets with Georgian PM

UK bans imposes sanctions on 63 individuals and organizations in Russia

EU plan to completely ban Russian crude oil threatens Hungary's energy security

EU interested in expanding energy cooperation with Azerbaijan

Germany: Gradual EU ban on Russian oil imports could lead to 'supply disruptions'

Opposition demonstration reaches government residences

Aliyev insists so-called Zangezur corridor 'is already a reality'

Slovakia seeks exemption from EU oil embargo for three years

Defense Ministers of Armenia and Georgia sign cooperation program for 2022

Romanian President approves entry of Stryker Brigade and US fighter squadron into country

Dollar goes up, euro also rises in Armenia

EU studying possibility of providing military assistance to Moldova

Public demand for Nikol Pashinyan's resignation

Opposition supporters move toward Armenian parliament building

EU envoys can not agree on Russian oil

Armenia Security Council chief briefs Georgia PM on Karabakh conflict settlement process

Armenia deputy police chief says law enforcement has right detain MPs

Large-scale opposition rally starts in central Yerevan

Many teenagers in New Zealand are illiterate

AFP: EU proposes to impose sanctions on Patriarch Kirill

Arestovich says Israel could supply Ukraine with weapons Azerbaijan used in Karabakh war

Parliament speaker threatens Armenian opposition, clergy

Armenia opposition MP: Ex-President Serzh Sargsyan will not hold office in new government

Beijing closes over 60 subway stations due to COVID-19 outbreak

Bayramov, Roquefeuil discuss Azerbaijan-Armenia relations normalization process

Armenia FM meets with US National Democratic Institute president

Armenia ruling force MP: Opposition will not achieve its goal

Armenia 2nd president Robert Kocharyans son blocking road with citizens in Yerevan

Oklahoma bans almost all abortions

Number of children in Japan falls to record low

Karabakh President meets with of Free Homeland-UCA parliamentary faction members

Armenian judge waves Artsakh flag at Ironman Triathlon (PHOTOS)

There is still lot to do in 'October 27' case, says Armenia Prosecutor General

Ambassador Wiktorin to finance minister: EU ready to continue providing assistance to Armenia government

Armenia Prosecutor General admits there are difficulties in investigation of 'March 1' criminal case

Copper price is stable

3 COVID-19 new cases confirmed in Armenia

American Armenian youth hold protest rally outside Armenia embassy in Washington

Japan protests against North Korean missile

Gold is getting cheaper

U.S.-Armenia Strategic Dialogue issues joint statement

Newspaper: Armenia Patrol Guard Service head to be summoned to Investigative Committee to give explanation

Armenia parliament regular sittings continue

Newspaper: Armenia opposition members falling into National Security Service trap by opening links

Civil disobedience protests resume in Yerevan

Earthquake shakes Armenia-Georgia border zone

Microsoft urges to abandon Internet Explorer

Mark Milley: Potential for significant international conflict between great powers is increasing

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

Putin and Macron discuss Ukraine

Citizens demanding Pashinyan's resignation block road from Vayots Dzor to Yerevan

Peaceful rallies of disobedience held in Vanadzor demanding PM's resignation

Citizens demanding Pashinyan's resignation block Gyumri-Yerevan highway

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

France senator: We are leaving for Armenia with Senate group

Putin signs decree on economic measures against unfriendly countries

Armenia legislature speaker: Authorities have repeatedly proposed dialogue to opposition

Backpack action of protest being held outside Armenia parliament (PHOTOS)
In its current form, the process of normalization of relations with Turkey and the supposed negotiations with Azerbaijan can be considered Armenia's participation in the pan-Turkic project. Eduard Sharmazanov, National Assembly ex-deputy speaker as well as vice-chairman and spokesperson of the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), told this to a press conference Monday.

"Armenias Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who during the 44-day [Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh)] war [in the fall of 2020] had announced that Turkey is pursuing a genocidal policy against Armenians, only a few months later began to receive certain positive signals from Ankara. Turkey, in the person of its president, foreign minister and a number of other officials, has repeatedly stated that it supports Azerbaijan in every way. Moreover, Ankara has repeatedly advised Armenia to obediently fulfill all the demands and proposals of Baku," the RPA representative said.

He noted that the statement of the Armenian leadership that the process of normalization of relations with Turkey is carried out without preconditions is absolutely incomprehensible. After all, Armenia, in fact, has already fulfilled all the preconditions of Ankara, Sharmazanov argued.

"[Turkish and Azerbaijani president] Erdogan and Aliyev could not have even dreamt that one day Baku would establish control not only over the seven regions of Nagorno-Karabakh, but also over the Hadrut, Shushi [cities of Artsakh,] and a Goris-Kapan road section [of Armenia]. At the same time, Turkish military have already been deployed in [the now Azerbaijani-occupied] Aghdam [city of Artsakh-]," the politician said.

According to him, the Armenian authorities have placed all responsibility on Russia in the Karabakh conflict, and the responsibility for the international recognition of the Armenian Genocideon the organizations operating within the framework of the Armenian diaspora.
YEREVAN.  The Investigative Committee of Armenia continues its criminal investigation into Azerbaijan's unleashing and conducting a war against Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) in the fall of 2020.

In the framework of this criminal case, it was found out that the total number of Armenian servicemen and civilians killed in Artsakh and Armenia as a result of this war is 3,822; and as of Monday, the whereabouts of 187 soldiers and 21 civilians are unknown, the investigative committee informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Also, 150 captured Armenian servicemen and civilians have so far been handed over to Armenia by Azerbaijan.

The aforementioned criminal investigation continues.
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Yes. Ultimately, we decided to attend the Antalya Diplomacy Forum. Foreign minister Ararat Mirzoyan announced this at Mondays session of the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations of the National Assembly of Armenia.

"During our meeting [in Antalya] with [Turkish foreign minister] Mevlut Cavusoglu, the future course of normalization of [Armenia-Turkey] relations was highlighted by both sides. During the meeting, both sides said they are ready to advance this process without preconditions and, ultimately, to crown it with the establishment of relations and the [re]opening of borders between the two countries," Mirzoyan added.

As Armenian News-NEWS.am reported earlier, FM Ararat Mirzoyan participated in the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Turkey, from March 10 to 12, on the margins of which he met also with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
The issues related to the protection of the rights of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh and the determination of its status are crucial for the Armenian authorities, Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said.

His remarks came at the session of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Armenian National Assembly, responding to the question of deputy from Armenia opposition bloc Armen Rustamyan.

According to the Minister, the ruling Civil Contract Party has repeatedly voiced its approaches and thoughts in this regard. They can be summed up as the need to achieve a stable peace and long-term development of the region. "These theses were supported by a significant part of the voters, which made it possible to form a new government after the elections," Mirzoyan said.

He considered the most important component of peace to be resumption of the negotiation process on Karabakh conflict settlement. Mirzoyan also noted the importance of negotiations for signing a comprehensive peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
I want you to make it clear that any status of Artsakh cannot be part of Azerbaijan, otherwise, we will subject Artsakh to another ethnic cleansing, MP from Armenia faction Anna Grigoryan said addressing Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan.

"Second, are you going to discuss de-occupation? You introduced a package to Azerbaijan, but Azerbaijan refused. What is included in that package? Next, just a few days ago in Syunik, Nerkin Hand, the Azerbaijanis advanced one kilometer. Is this a favorable condition for us to start delimitation and demarcation," the opposition MP asked.

In response, Ararat Mirzoyan said. "It's not that we do not know what to say. We respond when we find it convenient. It is not because of stubbornness, but because of the current international situation, the possible and the impossible, the political space and time.

I would like to have a platform where we could discuss various issues and keep them within Armenia. Unfortunately, that platform does not exist and cannot exist, he said.

Touching upon the issue of delimitation, the Foreign Minister said that if the conditions for delimitation had been provided, the delimitation works would have already started.

"We continue to work in the direction as it is fixed in the trilateral statement of Sochi on 26 November, to increase the level of security and stability on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, to take measures in that direction, and then to move the work to the demarcation.

"We do not renounce anything we have written, but as you have noticed, the negotiations on that part have not started yet. We appealed to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs to organize negotiations on their initiative, based on the UN Charter, of course, the Helsinki Final Act," said Ararat Mirzoyan.
There is nothing unacceptable in the Azerbaijani proposals sent to us on March 10, the RA Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said on Monday.

"It is another thing that these proposals do not completely address the Armenia-Azerbaijan comprehensive peace agenda. In our answers, we consider the rights of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh addressing the status of Nagorno Karabakh to be fundamental. On this full basis, we are ready to start negotiations with Azerbaijan," Mirzoyan said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia stated that the Republic of Armenia responded to the proposals submitted by the Republic of Azerbaijan on the basis of the UN Charter, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Helsinki Final Act. It applied to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs to organize negotiations for the conclusion of a peace treaty between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The conditions presented by the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs were the following:

- Mutual recognition of each other's sovereignty, territorial integrity;

- Mutual confirmation of the absence of territorial claims by states against one another, as well as a legal obligation to refrain from making such claims in the future;

- Refrain from threatening each other's security;

- Delimitation and demarcation, the establishment of diplomatic relations;

- The opening of transport and communications, implementation of joint programs.
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The CFA Institute, a global organization of investment professionals dedicated to promoting industry standards and conferring the prominent Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation to qualifying professionals, is currently holding its annual CFA Institute Research Challenge. The worldwide competition challenges university students to assume the role of equity research analysts and determine a companys valuation for potential investors.

It is a real-life experience, says Guillermo Rodriguez Gonzalez-Valadez, a CFA charter holder, a CFA Society Miami board member and head of Latin America and U.S. offshore at WisdomTree Asset Management, who coordinated the contests Florida finals. Students are doing what real research analysts do: evaluating companies and making recommendations, except to a set of judges instead of investors.

The competition kicked off last fall among teams of four or five undergraduate or graduate students within each participating university. At the University of Miami, six teams from Miami Herbert Business School vied for just two spots to be considered for the state-level finals. To accomplish the goal, students deeply researched and analyzed Lennar Corporation, a national homebuilder based in Miami. Teams then submitted a 20-page report that included their recommendation to either buy, sell, or hold the companys stock.

One of Miami Herberts top two teams, an all-women group of undergraduates, won first place among all submitted reports from competing schools in Florida, which paved the way for them to become one of only five teams that presented to a panel of judges at the state-level finals held on March 2. The other represented universities included Barry University, Florida International University, Stetson University, and The University of Tampa.

At the virtual event, seniors Cory Levy, Paige Brala, Kyra Chiappini, and Catherine Runco recommended buying Lennars stock-based primarily on the markets current undersupply of homes nationwide while demand surges especially among millennials. The finance majorseach double majoring in either legal studies, marketing, or accountingalso considered Lennars investment in over 25 technology companies to make the home building and home buying processes simpler, as well as the firms strong operating margins that deliver value to shareholders through low corporate debt and extra dividends.

After assessing teams financial analysis, valuation methodologies, ESG (environmental, social, and governance) considerations, and presentation skills, judges Raoul Rodriguez, wealth manager at Congress Wealth Management, Ian Frazer, investor relations manager at Lennar, and Brad Donovan, portfolio manager at ExodusPoint Capital, announced the top performing teams. The University of Miami team placed second, following Stetsons team who will move on to the sub-regional phase of the contest for the southeastern United States.

Coming in second overall in the state of Florida is a significant achievement given the level of the competition and academic institutions in the state, says Academic Director of Real Estate Programs and Professor of Finance Andrea Heuson, who served as faculty advisor for the Miami Herbert teams. I was so proud to see what all of the students who participated learned from the process.

She points out that Levy, Brala, Chiappini, and Runco make great role models as an all-women team seeking careers in the investments and valuation industry.

There is a very competitive spirit here, she says. It is important because there are not many women in finance and industry leaders make efforts to try to change that.

The team has already inspired other female students to consider the challenge. In Miami Herberts Student Investment Fund class, in which students manage a financial fund of over $1 million of university endowment, two upcoming seniors have pledged to compete in next years Research Challenge. The young women already help shape the next cohort of UM teams, as every team must include at least one member of the hands-on class.

This years contest will culminate in the global finals to be held in May upon the conclusion of sub-regional and regional phases. Though Miami Herberts current participation has ended, team members reflect on a rewarding experience filled with intensive research, networking opportunities, and mentoring by industry professionals.

Seeing how supportive and proud the faculty and administration were of us made me feel very proud of our accomplishments. My knowledge has expanded and I have a new outlook on the equity research and valuation field, says Levy, who now considers attaining the CFA designation as a future career goal.

I had never done anything like this before, Paige mentions. Being able to take a deep dive into an area that I was interested in was a great learning experience and I will definitely carry it with me throughout my career.

Chiappini considers that the competition provided her with a fantastic opportunity to improve her communications skills and learn much more about the valuation process. I feel tremendously accomplished for what we were able to achieve as a team and all that we learned along the way, she says.

The competition pushed us to deliver a report and presentation that was far beyond anything we thought we were capable of, Runco states. Pondering the upcoming change from school into the workforce, she adds: Competing in this challenge has boosted my confidence significantly and has only made me more excited to begin working in the industry full time.
COVID-19 and its spiral of variants have exposed not only obstacles to accessible, equitable medical care, but simultaneously spurred unprecedented opportunities to expand the use of telehealth and other interactive and transformative technologies. The Business of Health Care Conference: Technology, Access & the New Normal convenes top industry analysts to detail advances of the past year and those that continue to emerge.

With this devastating process and disease prompted by the pandemic, there are some silver linings, such as how to best address the provision of health care, said Steven Ullmann, director of the University of Miami Center for Health Management and Policy. Where the health care industry had been slowly evolving, the pandemic has spurred a revolution of change across many sectors.

The conference takes place Friday, April 1, from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Four hundred fifty attendees, including speakers and panelistsand with 100 slots reserved for studentswill be accommodated in person at The Fieldhouse at the Watsco Center on the Coral Gables Campus. All sessions will be livestreamed for up to 1,500 viewers worldwide.

This is the University of Miamis 11th annual business of health care conference, with Florida Blue once again serving as the presenting sponsor and major donor.

The University of Miamis Business of Health Care Conference brings leaders from across the industry together for a robust discussion on obstacles and opportunities to revolutionize health care, said Pat Geraghty, president and CEO, GuideWell and Florida Blue. I firmly believe it is only through these kinds of discussions, and the collaboration and partnerships that grow from them, that we can transform the health care system and drive interconnectivity between payers, providers, patients, and caregivers.

The impressive array of featured speakers includes Alex M. Azar II, former secretary of health and human services who serves as an adjunct professor of business and senior executive-in-residence at the Miami Herbert Business School. He will be interviewed by Karoline Mortensen, associate director of the universitys Center for Health Management and Policy.

Ullmann highlighted Azars role in spearheading the development and rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine as an example of the invaluable firsthand experience imparted by conference participants.

Other participating industry specialists include Matthew D. Eyles, president and CEO, Americas Health Insurance Plans; Joseph Fifer, president and CEO, Healthcare Financial Management Association; Dr. Halee Fischer-Wright, president and CEO of Medical Group Management Association; Dr. Rachel Villanueva, president, National Medical Association; Dr. Ernest Grant, president, American Nurses Association; Kelly Jo Golson, chief brand and consumer experience officer, Advocate Aurora Health; and Christopher Schoen, chief operating officer, Schoen Clinic, and founder, MindDoc.

University President Julio Frenk, a global health expert whose insights have been sought frequently during the pandemic, will moderate an opening panel, and Norma Sue Kenyon, University vice provost for innovation and chief innovation officer for the Miller School of Medicine, will facilitate discussion for an afternoon session assessing new technologies.

A myriad of technological innovations that have been an outgrowth of the pandemic will be the focus of one of the panels, Ullmann pointed out, while noting the circular shift that has occurred in health care delivery.

There was a time when most provision of care was in the home and, while those days have gone by the wayside, the pandemic has prompted a return to home-based care thanks to the availability of new technologies and shifts in reimbursement methodologies and policy, said Ullmann.

In terms of outcomes, he highlighted that attendees can expect to garner a more thorough understanding of the innovative directions occurring industry-wide and the applicability and accessibility to that new normal.

The Business of Health Care: Technology, Access & the New Normal takes place Friday, April 1, 2022, from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Registration is complimentary.
Hongkongers welcome easing of flight ban

Hongkongers welcome easing of flight ban

Hong Kong residents currently stranded in nine countries amid a Covid flight ban have welcomed the governments decision to lift the restriction, saying theyre glad to finally be able to return to the SAR.



Chief Executive Carrie Lam had announced on Monday morning that from April 1, Hong Kong residents can fly in from Australia, Canada, France, India, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, the UK and the US.



People arriving from these countries and other parts of the world will also need to spend a week at quarantine hotels, instead of the current 14 days.



A mother said her daughter, who's studying in Canada, is happy to learn about the rule changes as she hasnt had a chance to return to Hong Kong for two years.



"We almost gave up [on returning] because we simply cannot afford washing out in a third country for two weeks, and then coming back to Hong Kong for a 14-day quarantine," the mother told RTHK.



Roundtable lawmaker Michael Tien also welcomed the lifting of the flight ban, but said it should come into effect immediately.



"Policies are policies. Market arrangements, you leave it up to the market," Tien said, rejecting the governments argument that the restriction can only be lifted in April to allow time for airlines and hotels to make the necessary adjustments.



The legislator also called on the government to consider conducting the now-shelved universal mandatory testing scheme next month to grasp a better understanding of Hong Kongs epidemic situation, and work towards re-opening the border with the mainland.



"I would want to be more aggressive, have [the universal mass testing] conducted by mid-April, so that the government retain some control over the recovery calendar," Tien said.



A lawmaker with the New People's Party, Dominic Lee, also said he's disappointed with the suspension of the universal testing scheme.



Lee accused the SAR government of "wasting the central government's efforts", as Beijing had deployed a large amount of manpower and resources to support Hong Kong's Covid fight.
US says Myanmar repression of Rohingya is genocide

Rohingya refugees are pictured in Indonesia. Photo: AP

Violent repression of the largely Muslim Rohingya population in Myanmar amounts to genocide, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday.



US authorities made the determination based on confirmed accounts of mass atrocities on civilians by Myanmars military in a widespread and systematic campaign against the ethnic minority, Blinken said in a speech at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.



The government of Myanmar is already under multiple layers of US sanctions following a military coup that ousted a democratically-elected government in February 2021. Thousands of civilians have been killed or imprisoned.



More than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled from Buddhist-majority Myanmar to refugee camps in Bangladesh since August 2017, when the Myanmar military launched a clearance operation in response to attacks by a rebel group.



Myanmar security forces have been accused of mass rapes, killings and the burning of thousands of homes. The US State Department says it has documented instances of Myanmar's military razing villages and carrying out rapes, tortures and mass killings of civilians since at least 2016.



Myanmar already faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.



As we lay the foundation for future accountability, were also working to stop the militarys ongoing atrocities, and support the people of Burma as they strive to put the country back on the path to democracy, Blinken said. (AP)
Pam Rittelmeyer, a lecturer in the Department of Environmental Studies and College Nine at UC Santa Cruz, is a contributing author on the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The report, released as a draft in February, offers new insights on global climate change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability.

Rittelmeyer worked with an international team of 75 contributing authors, 10 lead authors, and 2 coordinating lead authors on Chapter 4 of the report, which focuses on water. She joined the project in spring of 2020, while she was completing her Ph.D. in environmental studies at UCSC. Over a period of about two months, she and a group of other contributing authors each read and coded more than 100 case studies as part of a review of global research on the effectiveness of water-related climate adaptation efforts.

It was a lot of work, and my dissertation actually ended up getting pushed back a couple of months because of this, but I am really glad I did it, Rittelmeyer said. I met some great people through working on the IPCC report, and now, looking at Chapter 4, I can see our work sprinkled throughout, which is really cool.

Rittelmeyer additionally worked with a smaller team to summarize specific examples from the research review that showed how communities are adapting to water-related climate change disasters. Her own dissertation research was on flood risk in California, so the IPCC project allowed her to take a broader, global view of climate-related water issues.

The case studies we reviewed had to do with climate change impacts that bring either too little or too much water, so it was everything from droughts to floods to soil erosion to lack of clean, safe, affordable water, she said. We were examining these issues in Africa, Southeast Asia, Small Island Developing States, and other places around the world, and we wanted to understand how communities are responding.

An aspect that the IPCC team was particularly interested in was whether approaches to adaptation were incorporating Indigenous, local, or traditional knowledge, and if key stakeholders, including women and marginalized groups, were engaged in decision-making processes. The report recognizes these measures as being essential for building effective, equitable, and just adaptation strategies.

Marginalized communities, particularly in parts of the Global South, are some of the most vulnerable populations that are experiencing climate change consequences first, and we wanted to make sure that their points of view and ways of knowing are being incorporated, Rittelmeyer said. These communities are already encountering the need to adapt to water-related climate change, and they're already taking steps.

Another important aspect of the research was looking for measures of effectiveness, specifically which risks were being reduced, in adaptation responses. Rittelmeyer said this was a challenge, because many case studies were focused more on the planning processes for adaptation than evaluating the outcomes of the adaptation response. Some studies did have clear numerical data on the risk reduction, and others offered qualitative data that required careful discussion and interpretation.

Adaptation processeslike migrating to cities from flood-prone rural areas, or changing crop varieties and irrigation practices in response to droughtare complex, and effectiveness may differ over the short-run and the long-term. Rittelmeyer hopes the new IPCC report will encourage more research into the effectiveness of water-related climate change adaptations. But she also notes that the challenges often reflect those of adaptation itself.

Its tricky because, in many cases, we wont really know if the steps were taking today have been effective until decades from now, she said. And with climate change, we dont have the time to wait.
The Russian military said it delivered a precision strike on the training base of the Special Operations Forces (SSO) of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, where foreign mercenaries were based. "High-precision air-launched missiles struck at the training centre for special operations forces of the Ukrainian armed forces, where foreign mercenaries who arrived in Ukraine were based, in the area of Zhytomyr Region," said a statement by the Russian Defence Ministry, RT reported. According to the agency, more than 100 military SOF and foreign mercenaries were destroyed by the strike. The Russian Defence Ministry said that the Russian armed forces with Kalibr missiles destroyed workshops for the repair of damaged Ukrainian armoured vehicles. "In the evening of March 19 and in the morning of March 20, strikes were carried out with long-range precision weapons on Ukrainian military infrastructure facilities. From the waters of the Black Sea, Kalibr sea-based cruise missiles at the Nizhyn repair plant destroyed workshops for the repair of Ukrainian armoured vehicles damaged in combat operations," the statement says, RT reported. At the same time, it is reported that Kalibr missiles from the waters of the Caspian Sea, as well as from the airspace over the Crimea, the Kinzhal complexes destroyed a large fuel and lubricants storage base near the village of Konstantinovka, Mykolaiv region. The 3M-54 Kalibr, also referred to it as 3M54-1 Kalibr is a family of Russian cruise missiles developed by the Novator Design Bureau. There are ship-launched, submarine-launched and air-launched versions of the missile, and variants for anti-ship, anti-submarine and land attack use. Earlier, the US officially confirmed that Russia used Dagger hypersonic missiles during hostilities in Ukraine. It is reported that this is the first recorded case of the use of such missiles during hostilities, CNN reported. It is known that the new rocket is capable of speeds up to 6,000 km per hour, which is five times faster than the speed of sound. Its features are low flight trajectory and manoeuvrability. All these factors complicate the detection of hypersonic missiles by satellites and special radars, UNIAN reported. --IANS san/ ( 361 Words) 2022-03-20-21:02:02 (IANS)
After a long wait of 21 days, Naveen Shekharappa's body is set to arrive in the country early Monday morning.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Bommai conveyed his gratitude for efforts to help retrieve Naveen's body from Kharkiv.

"The news of his mortal remains coming to India has been appreciated by everyone in Karnataka which seemed impossible," he said.

Naveen hails from Haveri district in Karnataka. He was killed on March 1 in Kharkiv and his distraught family have been beseeching the authorities to retrieve his body. However, heavy fighting in the area has prevented the retrieval till recently.

Naveen's family is waiting eagerly to take a final look at his mortal remains. The family had said that after conducting the last rites, his body would be donated to a medical college.

--IANS pvn/pgh

( 183 Words)

2022-03-20-22:28:01 (IANS)
The Downing Street has said that Moscow was behind calls to British defence secretary and home secretary last week, The Guardian reported. The Russian state was responsible for hoax calls to Ben Wallace and Priti Patel, pretending to be the Ukrainian Prime Minister, Downing Street has said. In its first statement attributing blame for the video calls, the Downing Street said it believed Russian state actors were responsible, without giving more details at to who linked to the Kremlin had been identified as being behind the attempts. It is understood that there are fears in the Whitehall that Russia could release doctored quotes of their comments for propaganda purposes. Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary, was also unsuccessfully targeted, The Guardian reported. The UK Prime Minister's official spokesperson said: "The Russian state was responsible for the hoax telephone calls made to UK ministers last week. "This is standard practice for Russian information operations and disinformation is a tactic straight from the Kremlin playbook to try to distract from their illegal activities in Ukraine and the human rights abuses being committed there." Defence secretary Wallace has publicly acknowledged that he had been targeted shortly after his call on Thursday in an attempt to get ahead of any attempt by Moscow to circulate footage from it. An investigation has been launched into how it happened and a cross-Whitehall review is looking at tightening security procedures further. The caller who got through to Wallace was pretending to be Ukraine Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. --IANS san/arm ( 269 Words) 2022-03-21-19:28:03 (IANS)
"The Russian side under the current conditions does not intend to continue negotiations with Japan on a peace treaty," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

It noted that this decision was made due to the impossibility of discussing the fundamental document on bilateral relations with a state that takes an unfriendly position, RT reported.

Earlier, the Japanese government imposed personal sanctions against 17 individuals from Russia.

Russia, in response to Japanese sanctions, is halting visa-free travel for Japanese citizens to the southern Kuril Islands.

"A decision was made to stop visa-free travel for Japanese citizens on the basis of agreements on visa-free exchanges between the South Kuril Islands of the Russian Federation and Japan of 1991 and on the most facilitated visits by former Japanese residents of the South Kurils to their places of former residence from 1999," the ministry noted.

Earlier, US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel announced Washington's support for Tokyo on the issue of territorial ownership of the southern Kuril Islands.

The Russian side is withdrawing from the dialogue with Japan on establishing joint economic activities in the South Kurils.

It is noted that the decision was made as a response to the actions of the Japanese government.

--IANS san/

( 232 Words)

2022-03-21-22:28:03 (IANS)
Kolhapur (Maharashtra) [India], March 21 (ANI/PRNewswire): Sanjay Ghodawat, Founder and Chairman of Sanjay Ghodawat Group (SGG) was recently honoured with The Times Most Powerful Leaders 2022 award for achieving his business goals and philanthropic activities. Celebrating entrepreneurial spirit, inspiring attitude, and clarity of purpose, Sanjay Ghodawat has inspired his employees to innovate, take measured risks, and chart a course for the overall success of the Group. Along with achieving professional objectives, he has instilled organic purpose-driven core values with the intention of attaining a beneficial impact on society. Despite the uncertainty of the pandemic and challenges of the lockdown, his business acumen and desire to have a significant impact on society drew attention and inspired many along the way. Commenting on such a momentous occasion, Sanjay says, "I would like to express my gratitude to the Times Group for recognising me as one of 'Times Most Powerful Leaders of 2022'. I would like to dedicate this award to my family members and extended family at SGG, along with its stakeholders and consumers. Achievements like these, motivate not only myself but the team at SGG to create and produce innovative products & services that enhance lives globally." Times Most Powerful Leaders 2022, is the platform of Times of India that showcases businesses and entrepreneurs who are visionaries and the bright sparks in what has otherwise been a difficult 12 months for India incorporation. It is a platform to honour the achievers, innovators, and leaders across industries both consumer-facing and business-facing. Sanjay Ghodawat Group (SGG) is a prominent Indian business conglomerate that has a presence in various high-value business verticals. Aviation, Consumer Products, Education, Energy, Mining, Realty, Retail, and Textiles are some of its key business domains. SGG was founded in 1993 and since then it has witnessed impressive growth under the splendid stewardship of its Founder and Chairman- Sanjay Ghodawat. It has a strong base of millions of customers globally, an employee strength of over 10,000, and a student base of over 16,000. SGG is moving ahead with great vigour and bringing significant changes in people's lives with its wide range of high-quality products and services. For more information, please visit www.ghodawat.com This story is provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PRNewswire)
Sonipat (Haryana) [India], March 21 (ANI/OP Jindal University): The Jindal School of Journalism and Communication (JSJC), O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) recently signed a collaboration with the University of Oregon for a short-term study abroad programme in the summer of 2022 on climate change and environment. This is the latest of 20 international active student mobility collaborations and agreements that JSJC offers its students. The Jindal School of Journalism and Communication is also committed to building collaborations with media platforms across the country. JSJCs recent MoU with IndiaSpend, India's first data journalism website will allow students to use data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) to pitch and produce data journalism stories in multimedia formats. JSJC has also collaborated with the technology and policy website, Hasgeek, to produce a show, 'Elections 2022', examining the role of technology in elections. JSJC students are engaged in producing 'Lights, Camera, Conversations' where they interview screenwriters, directors, producers and cinematographers from the Indian film industry. The Founding Vice Chancellor of O.P. Jindal Global University, Professor (Dr.) C. Raj Kumar said, "The international collaborations are a part of JGU's commitment to provide a global learning experience to its students and they range from leading universities in Australia, United Kingdom, United States of America as well as institutions in Peru and Malaysia. JSJC offers semester exchange programmes with leading universities such as the University of Sydney, University of Oregon and Hong Kong Baptist University. It also offers a dual degree programme in collaboration with Queen Mary University, London. Students at JSJC can avail JGUs university-wide collaborations with 20 eminent institutions including UC-Berkerley, University of Newcastle, Macquarie University, Hubei University and many others." At the annual ArtEast festival, a collaboration between JSJC and the India International Centre (IIC) New Delhi, students curate and produce installations, exhibitions, film festivals and organise international seminars. The festival, one of its kind in the country has showcased over 50 artists and publishes a journal of the arts. JSJC's Executive Dean and curator of ArtEast, Professor Kishalay Bhattacharjee observed, "JSJC is an important and vibrant meeting ground for innovation in art, media, communication and technology. We learn along with our students to be responsible for our planet and our society in as many ways as possible. We want to turn technology into an accelerant for truth telling but stay rooted in the face-to-face reporting of facts. JSJC pushes beyond borders and boundaries." The international partners of JSJC include: University of Oregon and University of California, Berkely USA; the University of Sydney, University of Western Sydney, the University of Newcastle and Macquarie University, Australia; Loughborough University, Derby University, University of Leeds and the Queen Mary University of London, UK; Universidad Austral, Argentina; North South University, Bangladesh; Sekolah Tinggi Agama Islam Walisembilan Semarang, Negeri Semarang University, Polytechnic Indonusa and Universitas Dwijendra, Indonesia; Hubei University China; Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Malaysia; KOC University Turkey; Hong Kong Baptist University and ORT Uruguay. During the Covid-19 pandemic, JSJC used virtual learning and global classrooms to integrate education in the post-pandemic world. Kiran Gupta, a Media Studies student from the University of Sydney described the opportunity to be a part of JSJC's global classroom as a 'remarkable way to finish my university studies and put all the skills I had learnt to practice in a completely different world.' This story is provided by OP Jindal University. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/OP Jindal University)
New Delhi [India], March 21 (ANI/PNN): Kilitch Drugs India Limited is a Leading MSME multinational manufacturer of Injectables in India and Ethiopia. Kilitch has purchased 15 Acres land parcel in Village: Maldev, Taluka: Pen, on Pen - Khopoli Highway, Maharashtra, as the beginning of its expansion plan. The land bought by the company will be used for establishing a state-of-the-art greenfield pharma manufacturing complex. The company plans to set up 4-6 manufacturing units in different therapeutics categories to cater to the growing demands in Domestic and Exports markets. The expansion will be in a similar line of products like Injectables and other Biotech products. The project envisaged is futuristic and shall have maximum recognition of the world's leading regulatory authorities. Commenting on this Mukund Mehta, Chairman & Managing Director of Kilitch Drugs, said, "We are on a growth trajectory and demand for our products is increasing. This expansion will help us to fuel our growth plan. This will be an ultra-modern facility, and the capex requirement for this facility will be in tune of approx. Rs. 100 Crore. We are planning to fund the capex mainly through internal accruals, and it will be in a phased manner. We are looking for a horizon of 2 years to commence commercial production of Phase I. Once the total expansion is complete, it will generate a Revenue opportunity of approx. Rs. 500 Crore." Established in 1978, Kilitch Drug (India) is a successful pharmaceutical solution company. The company has a major focus in the African region and have a strong foothold across key African countries, with 350 products in 26 African countries. The Company has a manufacturing plant located in Mumbai with a dedicated dry powder section and small volume liquid ampoules and vials. In 2018 the Company started a greenfield project in Ethiopia for Cephalosporins Injectables. The Company's manufacturing plants are certified by WHO, WHO GMP, ISO 9001, ISO 13845 etc. The Company's strong clientele includes Intas, Mankind, Indoco Remedies, and a few. For FY21 the Company has achieved Total Revenue of Rs. 74.21 crore with PAT of Rs. 6.16 crore. This story is provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PNN)
New Delhi [India], March 21 (ANI/NewsVoir): Like all the other electrical appliances, air-conditioning units also undergo natural wear and tear. Regular servicing is the most effective solution to ensure optimal functioning. Experts from Hitachi Cooling & Heating, one of India's leading AC brands, recommend that their customers get their ACs serviced before the summer arrives and the mercury starts soaring. With its wide range of energy-efficient products, the customer-centric brand offers professional AC maintenance services to deliver enhanced convenience to the customers. People rely on air-conditioning units to keep their homes and offices cool and comfortable during the summer months. But for the AC unit to deliver the expected cooling performance, all the vital components inside the unit should function flawlessly. Therefore, we recommend our customers to get their ACs regularly serviced by the company authorized service team, especially before the summer, for optimal cooling. The brand already has an extensive presence across the country and makes use of high-tech, automated, and non-automated mediums to ensure that customers can effortlessly get their ACs serviced by the company. Our technicians periodically clean the AC unit during a service visit and lubricate the internal components to ensure the AC is clean and functions flawlessly. In case of emergencies, we also offer priority responses. To make it easy for our customers, we have a robust customer care team that ensures every service request is attended to promptly. Customers can reach us 24/7 by calling on a dedicated customer care number, visiting our website, emailing us, downloading our App, or even sending a message on WhatsApp. It is always wise to get an air conditioner serviced by qualified professionals for the best results. Hitachi customers can raise service requests through any of the following mediums - Download App: Android and iOS. Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning India Limited is a joint venture company of Johnson Controls, US and Hitachi Appliances, Japan. Through this joint venture, we have combined the rich heritage and innovative technology of Hitachi with industry-leading expertise and a global network of Johnson Controls. The partnership is aimed at addressing the cooling needs faster, smarter and much more efficiently than ever before. Our customers will stand to benefit from our world-class R&D centres, where our researchers work tirelessly to provide innovative solutions and quality products that are designed to meet every expectation. Johnson Controls - Hitachi Air Conditioning Company has a global presence, out of which India unit is called "Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning India Limited". Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning India Limited manufactures a wide range of products under the Hitachi brand, such as room air-conditioners (Split & Window ACs) to commercial air-conditioners including Chiller, Cassette Air conditioners, Ductable air-conditioners & VRF systems. Our company is not just limited to making air conditioners but also, into trading of Refrigerators. Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning India Limited's headquarter is situated in Ahmedabad, Gujarat with a manufacturing plant in Kadi, Gujarat. Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning India Limited is amongst the top air-conditioning companies in India. Website: www.hitachiaircom.in, Email: customercare@jci-hitachi.com, Call or WhatsApp: +91 756788-4848. This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)
In line with its mission to incubate the growth of Business Events in Penang, PCEB serves as Penang's focal point for the coordination of all Business Events activities, providing expert assistance to organisations and Business Events planners at every step of the planning.

This year's virtual event included 24 registered Malaysian exhibitors, and the event attracted over 500 buyers and trade visitors in total. In the build-up to the event, educational seminars with industry professionals were also held electronically. PCEB also announced its new global marketing campaign, 'BElong in Penang'.

With international borders opening up soon, Malaysia looks forward to welcoming Indian tourists across sectors. PCEB's industry experts work hand-in-hand with professional service providers and world-class hotels, convention centres and unique venues to ensure the smoothness and success of each event organized. PCEB's goal is to enhance our Business Events clients' experience and, at the same time to expand the beneficial economic impact of local MICE businesses.

This story is provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PNN)
Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], March 21 (ANI/NewsVoir): The India Africa Trade Council-COMESA organized the India Ethiopia Trade Conference which was attended by the Business community in South India especially Tamil Nadu. The President of Indian Economic Trade Organization Dr Asif Iqbal welcomed the Ambassador of Ethiopia in India HE Dr. Tizita Mulugeta and pledged the commitment of support between the two nations for a robust partnership. Demesev Kebede Tekle, Minister (Business) also attended the event. There is a huge interest in India for Ethiopia, a country with great scope for bilateral trading opportunities in Pharma, Medicines, IT development, Textiles, Garments and Industrial development by Indian companies. The event was attended by the Head of MEA Secretariat Venkatachalam Murugan IFS who also spoke about accelerating India's relationship with the African region and welcomed from Tamil Nadu state to pledge support for the various other island nations around the region. Previously he was heading the East and South Africa (ESA) division in the Ministry of External Affairs, Govt of India. Dr. B. Ramakrishnan (BRK), Director of COMESA spoke about India's efforts in strengthening relations especially when India is celebrating 75 years of India's Independence. India has also in the past extended various credit lines to Ethiopia through the Exim Bank a line of credit of USD 75 million (over Rs. 500 crore) for financing Industrial parks. An agreement was signed between Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) in July 2020. Modern diplomatic relations between India and Ethiopia were established at the level of legations in July 1948, after the independence of India. Some of the major Indian companies in Ethiopia are Cadila Pharmaceuticals PLC, S & P Energy Solution PLC, Tata International Limited, Karuturi Global PLC, Kanoria Africa Textiles PLC, Mohan Group of companies, Anmol Products Ethiopia PLC, Arvind Envisol Limited, Telecommunications Consultants India Limited (TCIL), Exim Bank of India, SCM Garment, Raj Agro Industries, Jay Jay Textile, Roto PLC, Whitefield Cotton Farm PLC, Ruchi Agri PLC, Verdanta Harvests PLC, Neha International PLC, Asian Paintings, Arvind Mills, Allanasons Ltd., Kanoria, SVP Group, Fontana Flower PLC, Balaji Manufacturing PLC, Samaka Stones Pvt. Ltd. Co., Velocity Apparel etc. The ongoing Government of India assistance in developmental projects in Ethiopia continued with sanctioned Lines of Credit worth more than USD 1 billion to the Government of Ethiopia for construction of sugar factories and power transmission lines. Ethiopia is one of the largest recipients of long-term concessional credit from India in Africa. Finchaa and Wonji Shoa sugar factories and Phase I of the Tendaho sugar factory being built in Ethiopia under the Indian Exim Bank a line of Credit of USD 640 million are almost complete. India has also donated to Ethiopia a 64-Slice CT Scan Machine to Black Lion Hospital in Addis Ababa as part of our Grant Assistance. The Ambassador also presented the opportunities to the main guests from Tamil Nadu and also expressed great interest in supporting the trade relations between the two countries and invited the trade community to explore all the available choices for investors. "As the Director of COMESA, my goal is to build bilateral relations reach new heights between India and Ethiopia and our forthcoming Indian delegation in May 2022 will see tremendous interest from the Indian side," said Dr. B. Ramakrishnan who is looking to connect the companies for business in Ethiopia. Indian delegation will explore opportunities in areas of Pharma, Vaccines, farming, poultry industry, meat processing and agricultural collaborations and they will also identify other opportunities for building up a robust infrastructure needs of the country in the field of setting up education institutions. India Africa Trade Council (IATC) is working on building bilateral trade relations by assisting Indian companies that are looking at various projects coming up in African region for promoting growth in commerce and trade, especially in Indian Pharma which likely to increase as the Ethiopia market expands. The India Africa Trade Council previously hosted the Additional Secretary of the Africa region, Ministry of External Affairs during which the mechanisms between India and Africa were concluded. This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)
Jindal Steel & Power (JSP), one of India's leading steelmakers, on Monday said it has been honoured with CSR Excellence Award for its multidimensional initiatives in supporting the community and government to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Jindal Steel & Power's President & Group Head (CSR) Prashant Hota received the 'CSR Journal Excellence Awards 2021' award from Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at a function organised in Mumbai on March 20. Hota dedicated the award to all frontline COVID-19 warriors and to the inspiring leadership of Naveen Jindal, Chairman, JSP and Shallu Jindal, Chairperson, JSPL Foundation, and to the partnering community. The award is presented by CSR Journal. Jindal Steel & Power won the award after successfully completing a multi-level selection procedure by an independent jury, Jindal Steel & Power said in a statement. Congratulating the team, Shallu Jindal, Chairperson of JSPL Foundation, said, "COVID-19 has been a challenge for humanity with serious impact on health, economy and society. Jindal Steel & Power as a responsible corporate in India in collaboration with its social arm of JSPL Foundation made all efforts, including providing food to the needy during the lockdown, creating hospital facilities and supplying liquid medical oxygen to hospitals, to combat the pandemic." JSP started on-ground services to mitigate the pandemic induced drudgery of the poor and vulnerable right from the day of lockdown in March 2020. JSPL Foundation launched 'Mission Zero Hunger' across three states (Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand) to provide food to the needy, especially truck drivers, stranded migrant labourers and people living in destitution. The Mission Zero Hunger spread its services to Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. Under this programme, the Foundation served more than one million meals during the three waves COVID-19 pandemic in the country. During the second wave of the pandemic, the company supplied more than 5000 tonnes of LMO across 13 states in the country by road and oxygen express of Indian Railways. It also provided two cryogenic tankers to Odisha Government for transportation of LMO within the state. For facilitating health care services during the pandemic, the company earmarked 600 oxygen beds in its Fortis OP Jindal Hospital & Research Centre at Raigarh and Tamnar in Chhattisgarh & in the dedicated COVID Care Centre at Angul supported with ICUs, ventilators and other facilities. The Foundation also distributed lakhs of facemasks and thousands of litres of sanitisers amongst the community and the frontline COVID-19 warriors. The Foundation also protected the livelihood of the farmers and the SHG Women by multiple tie-up arrangements for the buyback of their produces. (ANI)
Istanbul [Turkey], March 21 (ANI/NewsVoir): SRAM & MRAM Group participated in the recently held 29th International Expomed Eurasia Istanbul Medical Fair. The Fair took place in Tuyap Fair and Congress Center, Istanbul from March 17 to 19, 2022. The Fair catered to varied verticals ranging from Analysis, Diagnosis, Treatment, Rehabilitation, Laboratory Product, Device, System, Technology, Equipment, and Hospitals Fair, etc., and received a historic response from the participants and the visitors. During the event, Expomed Eurasia 2022 Fair, the Group showcased "Walletz4u" portfolio and received a widespread response. The Fair was a one-stop shop for offering a comprehensive world marketplace for products, services, and the latest technology bringing in a host of innovations and solutions for every need or intensive dialogue with experts from around the globe under one roof. During the event, SRAM & MRAM witnessed a plethora of visitors and potential business acquaintances with their "Walletz4u" portfolio. The event witnessed a barrage of key portfolios and categories, for e.g.: Product Categories * Electro Medical Equipment and Medical Technologies* Laboratory and Biotechnology Devices and Products* Hospital Build and Medical Facility Management* Orthopedics - Physiotherapy - Rehabilitation* OTC (Over-The-Counter)* Food Supplements* Dermo - Cosmetic Products* Mother & Baby Products SRAM & MRAM Group with their flagship brand Walletz4u showcased their versatile product portfolio during the Fair. The brand is synonymous with its high-quality latex, vinyl, nitrile, and rubber disposable gloves. The brand products are backed with the seal of approval and with the commitment to bringing the products that one can trust to help keep you safe, healthy, and comfortable. Walletz4u is the world's largest gloves OEM and one of the largest glove manufacturers and resellers in the ASEAN and the Global markets. Speaking on the conclusion, Raghav Ram Kapur, Business Development Director, SRAM & MRAM Group quoted, "We were delighted to be a part of such an event. We were able to tap a number of business inquiries and to meet a number of domestic and international delegates. We hope that trade show continues to grow and bring a world of opportunities in the future as well, and we also look forward to participating in Expomed in the years ahead." Yashika Shah representing SRAM & MRAM Group, quoted, "We are happy to receive a good response from the current region. We are confident with our comprehensive portfolio; we offer a series of varied products to our valued clients and customers to all across the globe." The Expomed Eurasia Hybrid+ Fair offered a unique experience to a larger audience. The visitors were able to have a Hybrid model; connected online as well as offline. Speaking from Istanbul, Rohan Sharma from SRAM & MRAM Group said, "Expomed Eurasia 2022 Fair gave us an overwhelming market exposure of this part of the world, we are happy to be part of the Fair. We are very happy with the participation and look forward to future events too." Representing Walletz4u from Istanbul, Ari Johansson, quoted, "I'm extremely delighted with our performance during the fair. And I am also ecstatic about future events also. It is a proud moment to represent SRAM & MRAM Group, particularly their flagship product Walletz4u for the event. The Fair was able to attract a substantial number of people and business delegates." Expomed Eurasia is the biggest fair in Turkey and Eurasia where medical devices, equipment, and technologies are showcased and the latest medical trends and scientific events can be tracked. For many years, exposed Eurasia has been the leading showcase in the region for Medical Analysis, Diagnosis, Treatment, Rehabilitation Products, Devices, Systems, Technology, Equipment, and Hospitals solutions. As Turkey's premier health care event exposed puts suppliers to the medical sector face-to-face with key decision-makers in Turkey and emerging neighboring Eurasian markets. The fair has the participation of 910 companies and company representatives from 41 countries and professional visitors to meet the latest technologies in the healthcare industry. For more information, please visit: expomedistanbul.com. This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)
Danny is a writer and a Calaveras County native. He studied creative writing and marketing at San Francisco State University and has previously done work as an automotive journalist. He is happy to be back and writing about the local community.

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New Delhi [India], March 21 (ANI/NewsVoir): Sterlite Power, a leading power transmission developer and solutions provider, announced the successful refinancing of its project loan for the recently commissioned Khargone Transmission Project. The new financing from Aseem Infrastructure Finance Limited (INR 525 cr), NIIF Infrastructure Finance Limited (INR 450 cr) and Aditya Birla Finance Limited (INR 225 cr), will enable prepayment of the existing project loan of approximately INR 1100 crores. With this transaction, Sterlite Power has achieved a reduction of almost 400 basis points in the interest cost to be incurred by the project on a per annum basis, demonstrating the considerably improved risk profile of the project post achievement of CoD (Date of Commercial Operation). The refinancing of this critical inter-state transmission project also highlights the keen interest of financial institutions in funding power transmission projects with stable long-term cash flows. Pratik Agarwal, Managing Director, Sterlite Power, said, "This transaction aligns well with our strategy and will provide greater financial headroom to the business in the coming years. It is a testimony of the continued trust reposed on us by the banking and investor community for our ability to deliver challenging projects on time, while delivering strong returns." Virender Pankaj, CEO, Aseem Infrastructure Finance Ltd., said, "Aseem Infra is glad to have played the lead role in partnering Sterlite Power in stitching the long-term debt financing for the project. The solution was structured to balance the unique requirements of all the stakeholders while ensuring a swift TAT. Aseem Infra firmly believes in collaboration and has partnered with like-minded institutions for this transaction." Sadashiv Rao, CEO, NIIF Infrastructure Finance Ltd., said, "Khargone Transmission project is playing a pivotal role in the country's inter-state transmission network and is helping to meet energy requirements and providing long-term energy security. NIIF IFL played a lead role jointly with Aseem Infrastructure Finance Ltd to partner with Sterlite Power. A structured solution for refinancing of the Project was developed within strict timelines. This partnership is an important step in our journey to facilitate the flow of long-term debt into infrastructure projects in India." Tushar Shah, CEO Infrastructure Finance, Aditya Birla Finance Limited, said, "ABFL is pleased to have bilaterally partnered with Sterlite Power for part funding the overall refinance for Khargone Transmission Limited. This underscores ABFL's commitment over last many years of providing customized financing solutions to Infrastructure sector clients." Khargone Transmission Project achieved successful commissioning in December 2021. The project evacuates 1,320 MW of power generated by the Khargone Power Plant to 765 kV Khandwa substation to further distribute it downstream across the western and central region in India. Sterlite Power is a leading private sector power transmission infrastructure developer and solutions provider with projects covering approximately 13,700 circuit kms of transmission lines across India and Brazil. The Company has a portfolio of high-performance power conductors, extra high voltage (EHV) cables and optical ground wires (OPGW). The Company provides bespoke solutions for the upgrade, uprate and fiberization of existing transmission infrastructure projects. It was the sponsor of IndiGrid, India's first power sector InvIT, listed on Bombay Stock Exchange Limited and National Stock Exchange of India Limited. The Company was also recognised at The Economic Times Innovation Awards 2020 and is a recipient of awards from International Project Management Association (IPMA). For more details, please visit www.sterlitepower.com. This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday said it has cancelled the license of Kanpur-based People's Co-operative Bank Limited as the bank does not have adequate capital and earning prospects. "Today, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), vide order dated March 17, 2022, has cancelled the license of People's Co-operative Bank Limited, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Consequently, the bank ceases to carry on banking business, with effect from the close of business on March 21, 2022. The Commissioner for Cooperation and Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Uttar Pradesh has also been requested to issue an order for winding up the bank and appoint a liquidator for the bank," RBI said in a statement. The RBI said the "bank does not have adequate capital and earning prospects. As such, it does not comply with the provisions of Section 11(1) and Section 22 (3) (d) read with Section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949." Consequent to the cancellation of its license, People's Co-operative Bank Limited, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh is prohibited from conducting the business of 'banking' which includes acceptance of deposits and repayment of deposits as defined in Section 5(b) read with Section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 with immediate effect, the RBI added. (ANI)
American author Katherine Schwarzenegger, who is expecting her second child with husband and actor Chris Pratt, shared the first glimpse of her baby bump on social media. In an Instagram video shared by the author on Sunday night, Arnold Schwarzenegger's daughter can be seen modelling a Stanley reusable water bottle as she goes about her day-to-day life. She shows off her baby bump throughout the video. The comment section of her post is full of messages congratulating the author on her second pregnancy. Schwarzenegger and Pratt welcomed their first child together, a baby girl named Lyla Maria Schwarzenegger Pratt, in August 2020. The 42-year-old actor confirmed the news with a photo on social media and two Bible verses. As per Fox News, Pratt and Schwarzenegger married in June 2019 after a six-month engagement. They met in 2018 while attending church. Pratt is also a proud father to his 9-year-old son, Jack, whom he shares with ex-wife Anna Faris. The 'Avengers' actor was recently slammed online after he shared a picture of himself and Schwarzenegger with a caption that a few users found insensitive towards his 9-year-old son and ex-wife. In the post, the actor had thanked Schwarzenegger for giving him a "healthy daughter," referring to their 1-year-old child Lyla. It's well-known that his firstborn was born premature and suffered health issues over the years. As per E! News, the 'Passengers' actor spoke with Daily Pop in July, and shared his desire to have more children with his wife in the future. "I would love to have more, as many as the man upstairs will provide. We'll do it. I'll probably have to talk to Katherine about that but my plan is, let's go," he said at the time. (ANI)
Actor Rani Mukerji, who has given the Indian film industry some of the most memorable movies of all time including 'Mardaani', 'Black', 'No One Killed Jessica', 'Hum Tum' and 'Yuva', turned 44 on Monday. One of the most celebrated actors, Rani's career began in the mid-90s and she quickly shot to fame with films like 'Ghulam' and 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai'. With movies like 'Hum Tum', 'Saathiya', 'Veer-Zaara' and 'Bunty Aur Babli', the actor solidified her place in the industry. Apart from giving the Indian cinema some acting gems, the actor also featured in some of the most popular tracks over the years including 'Aati Kya Khandala', 'Chupke Se', 'Hadh Kar Di Aapne', 'Say Shava Shava' and 'Jee Le Zaraa'. On her 44th birthday, Rani opened up about her plans to handpick the best scripts going forward and how she is excited to find movies that are about "hope and love" like 'Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway'. Talking about her journey so far, Rani said, "It has been an exhilarating journey in cinema so far for me and I hope that it remains the same in the years to come. I have been fortunate enough to collaborate with some of the best minds in the form of directors, producers, actors and technicians who have pushed me to excel on-screen and reinvent myself every single time." She added, "I want to continue doing that with every project because I always want to push my boundaries to see where I land. I always knew that my journey will be tough but I sailed through the last 25 years with the audience's love by my side and my hard work and perseverance." The actor further said, "I have never accepted to be typecast or fit in a mould. I have always tried to be part of meaningful films with a very strong female protagonist at the centre of the story. I wanted to be a part of good films with important stories about Indian women. There have been times where I have been blessed with films that have worked and some that missed to make a mark with the audience but I think that's the best part about our industry. You win some and lose some and that helps you to grow from strength to strength to carve a special place as an individual artiste in a cutthroat industry like ours."About her next outing, 'Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway', helmed by Ashima Chibber, Rani said, "My next project Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway is a film very close to my heart. I'm hoping that the story of this film will resonate with every Indian the way it did for me and my team. It's an incredible story of human resilience that will appeal to audiences across the country and across every age group."She added, "I'm very emotionally invested in this story as it connected with me as an actor and a mother. These are stories that need to be told. I really hope my next few years in cinema is studded with more such brilliant scripts. I'm hungry for them because these films not only entertain audiences but also deliver a great message to people. I want to do movies that are about hope and love." Rani was last seen in 'Bunty Aur Babli 2' opposite Saif Ali Khan. The film, which released last year, marked their on-screen reunion after more than a decade. Directed by Varun V Sharma, the film also featured Siddhant Chaturvedi and Sharvari Wagh. (ANI)
Actor Angela Bassett recently teased what fans can expect in the upcoming movie 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' and said that it is going to outdo its predecessor. Adding to the excitement of the movie buffs, the actor spoke about the 'Black Panther' sequel while making an appearance on 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show', reported The Hollywood Reporter. Without giving away any details about the sequel, the star said that the film will be "amazing" and called writer-director Ryan Coogler "the perfect leader." She added, "It's going to be amazing. It's going to top [the first] one. Can I say that?" DeGeneres spoke about how it must have been hard for the cast to return for a sequel without the first movie's star Chadwick Boseman, who played T'Challa, aka Black Panther. Boseman passed away on August 28, 2020, after a battle with colon cancer. Bassett, who played his mother, Ramonda, the Queen Mother of Wakanda, said that they hope to "raise the standard" in honour of Boseman. The Oscar-nominated actor said, "He was such an example, such a leader, an amazing talent -- we all know that. Big heart, great intellect, and we just hope to raise his standard." There have been several production delays on the upcoming sequel after one of the movie's stars got injured on set. The film recently restarted production and will hit theatres on November 11 this year. The first installment of the 'Black Panther' series was a massive hit when it was released in February 2018. The film earned USD 1.34 billion worldwide, making 'Black Panther' Marvel's highest-grossing non-'Avengers' movie of all time. The movie also earned seven Academy Award nominations and won Oscars for the score, costume design, and production design to its credit. (ANI)
On Monday, Sonam took to Instagram and announced the good news with her fans and followers.

Sharing that the baby will arrive this fall, the 'Neerja' star wrote, "Four hands. To raise you the very best we can. Two hearts. That will beat in unison with yours, every step of the way. One family. Who will shower you with love and support. We can't wait to welcome you. #everydayphenomenal #comingthisfall2022."

She also dropped a few images in which she can be seen cradling her baby bump while lying on the couch with Anand.

As soon as Sonam announced her pregnancy, fans and members of the film industry chimed into the comment section to congratulate the celebrity couple.

"Wohoooooooo soooo happy for you both..can't wait for the babies to play," actor Kareena Kapoor Khan commented.

"Such wonderful news!!! So happy for you @sonamkapoor and @anandahuja," actor Dia Mirza wrote while extending her heartfelt greetings.

Sonam and Anand tied the knot in 2018 in a traditional wedding ceremony in Mumbai. The two are currently staying at their residence in Delhi. (ANI)
Veteran actor Paresh Rawal has returned to Gujarati cinema after 40 years with his latest release 'Dear Father' and he has a double role. Paresh's wife Swaroop Rawal hosted a special screening for his film in Delhi. Several MPs from Gujarat, who were with Paresh when he was an MP, came for the screening. MoS Railways and BJP MP from Surat, Darshana Jardosh told ANI that Paresh has taken Gujarati cinema on a different pedestal. "Paresh Rawal is an actor par excellence and he has taken Gujarati Cinema on a different pedestal. This film should be watched by everyone because it has a very strong social message," he said. Baroda MP Ranjan Bhatt told ANI that the film comes with a beautiful message that no matter how old your parents are and what condition they are in."It is important for children to love the parents and undoubtedly he has done an absolute justice to the dual role that he has played," he further added. Paresh's wife is the co-producer of the movie. "What is interesting is he never watches his own Films and he's never satisfied with any role because for him it is never enough," Swaroop Rawal told ANI. "There are many incidents that you see in your daily lives including one that we saw in America when an old parent would be dropped at a mall by a couple, only to be picked up in the evening. The old parent was not really being looked after. Our message is to love your parents," she added. Dear Father'comes with an important message that it's important to love one's family, especially parents. The movie was released on March 4, 2022 in Gujarat and, interestingly, Prakash Raj has already bought the rights to make the film in South Indian languages. (ANI)
Taking to his Instagram Story, Ranveer shared a picture of the rapper who lent his voice to the song 'India 91' for 'Gully Boy'. He added a broken heart emoticon.

Siddhant also extended his condolences by sharing a screenshot of his conversation with the late Gujarati rapper, in which the who can be seen appreciating each other for their music and performance.

He wrote, "RIP bhai," along with a broken-heart emoticon.

The cause of MC Tod Fod's death has not been revealed. He was associated with the Mumbai based hip hop collective 'Swadesi'. (ANI)
According to People Magazine, the 'Friends with Benefits' actor, 38, and husband Kutcher, 44, launched a campaign to fundraise and support humanitarian efforts in Ukraine, where Kunis was born, surpassing their USD 30 million goal late last week.

Zelenskyy took to his Twitter handle on March 21 and acknowledged the couple for their work, writing, ".@aplusk & Mila Kunis were among the first to respond to our grief. They have already raised $35 million & are sending it to @flexport & @Airbnb to help (Ukrainian) refugees."

"Grateful for their support. Impressed by their determination," he added alongside a photo of a video chat he had with Kunis and Kutcher on a laptop. "They inspire the world. #StandWithUkraine."

On February 24, Russia began a special military operation in Ukraine after the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics requested help in defending themselves. What followed the military operation was a slew of sanctions imposed by the western countries targeting the Russian economy.

For the unversed, Kunis moved to the US from Ukraine as a child in 1991. (ANI)
A team of researchers at the University of Waterloo recently developed a new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) tool that makes cancerous tissue glow in medical images. It could help doctors more accurately detect and track the progression of cancer over time. The innovation will be able to create images in which cancerous tissue appear to light up compared to healthy tissue, making it easier to see. The tool was developed as a part of a study, which was published in the journal 'Scientific Reports'. "Our studies show this new technology has promising potential to improve cancer screening, prognosis and treatment planning," said Alexander Wong, Canada Research Chair in Artificial Intelligence and Medical Imaging and a professor of systems design engineering at Waterloo. Irregular packing of cells leads to differences in the way water molecules move in cancerous tissue compared to healthy tissue. The new technology, called synthetic correlated diffusion imaging, highlights these differences by capturing, synthesizing and mixing MRI signals at different gradient pulse strengths and timings. In the largest study of its kind, the researchers collaborated with medical experts at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, several Toronto hospitals and the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research to apply the technology to a cohort of 200 patients with prostate cancer. Compared to standard MRI techniques, synthetic correlated diffusion imaging was better at delineating significant cancerous tissue, making it a potentially powerful tool for doctors and radiologists. "Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men worldwide and the most frequently diagnosed cancer among men in more developed countries," said Wong, also a director of the Vision and Image Processing (VIP) Lab at Waterloo. "That's why we targeted it first in our research. "We also have very promising results for breast cancer screening, detection, and treatment planning. This could be a game-changer for many kinds of cancer imaging and clinical decision support," Wong added. (ANI)
Salvage operators started work Sunday pulling a massive container ship out of shallow waters near the mouth of the Magothy River.

Meanwhile, U.S. Coast Guard officials are still trying to determine how the nearly 1,100-foot Ever Forward, a Hong Kong-flagged vessel owned by Evergreen Marine Corp., ran aground March 13 outside of a channel east of Gibson Island and Pasadena as it traversed from the Port of Baltimore to its next stop in Norfolk, Virginia.

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Marine salvage companies Donjon Smit and Cashman Dredging and Marine started work to free the cargo ship on Sunday, Port of Baltimore Executive Director William P. Doyle tweeted.

1/2 Today, Sunday, dredging commences on the Ever Forward grounding. Unmatched leadership by US Coast Guard. All permits issued by state and federal agencies.  William Doyle (@WilliamPDoyle) March 20, 2022

The Coast Guard is expecting the dredging near the Ever Forward, which is currently carrying 4,964 containers of the standard 20-foot steel boxes used in global trade, to take about a week before the ship is freed. The vessel can carry as many as 12,000 boxes.

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Basically, theyre digging it out, Coast Guard Petty Officer Breanna Centeno, a spokesperson, said on Monday.

The Coast Guard is maintaining a safety zone near the ship, discouraging mariners from traveling near it and requiring those who do so to follow one-way traffic.

The salvage team is mobilizing all available local tugboats to join in the refloating operation, Evergreen said in a statement. After sufficient mud is excavated the refloating operation will begin using both the tugboats and the power of [the Ever Forwards] main engine.

Juwan Brandford casts his line from a pier at Downs Park at dredges work to free the Ever Forward container ship from mud after it ran around a week ago. (Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun)

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The dredged material that is being removed from the worksite, Doyle said, will be used to rebuild Poplar Island, an eroded island in the bay which has been the focus of a years-long restoration project using dredged material.

The ship is stuck outside of the Craighill Channel, a 700-foot wide path that is dredged to a depth of over 50 feet to accommodate large cargo ships, and is the main artery for freight coming to the port by sea, said Kipp Snow, who directs the transportation, distribution, maritime logistics department of the Community College of Baltimore County. The ship became grounded just outside of the channel, where the water is shallower.

Evergreen Marine also owns the Ever Given, an even larger container ship that became wedged across Egypts Suez Canal last year, blocking all traffic in the vital waterway and disrupting a global shipping system that already was strained by the coronavirus pandemic. It was freed March 29, 2021.

The Ever Forwards grounding in the Chesapeake Bay a year later is not impacting the global supply chain nearly as much, officials said, as ships are still able to pass by the marooned vessel.

The ships grounding has not prevented other ships from transiting into or out of the Port of Baltimore, Doyle tweeted last week. Business and commerce related activities at the Port of Baltimore continue as normal.

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A senior CBI official said the Intelligence official was identified as Mohit Dhankar, and the private person as Rakesh Sharma.

A case was registered on the basis of a complaint against them.

The CBI had later formed a team to look into the matter.

"It was alleged that the accused demanded bribe of Rs 1 crore through private touts for providing favour to the complainant's father in a case at DGGI, Ghaziabad. We decided to catch him red handed and laid the trap very carefully," a senior CBI official said.

The probe agency also laid a trap and caught the private person for accepting bribe of Rs 60 lakh as "first installment" on behalf of the Intelligence official.

Searches are being conducted at the premises of accused.

An official said that the CBI would present them before the court and seek their custodial remand.

--IANS atk/pgh

( 193 Words)

2022-03-20-21:40:04 (IANS)
The Border Security Force (BSF) on Sunday said that it is probing if the Chinese drone found in a farm field along the India-Bangladesh frontier in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district was being used for trans-border crimes. Officials of the BSF's South Bengal Frontier command said that a farmer from Purbapara, a village adjacent to the BSF border post Kalyani in North 24 Parganas, found a broken China-made drone in a field near the India-Bangladesh border, after which BSF security has been beefed up. The drone was found by the farmer early on March 19 in a field just 300 metres away from the international border, the officials said. The farmer picked up the broken drone and handed it over to the officials of the local Petrapole police station, they said. After the recovery of the drone was reported, a BSF team from Kalyani post visited the spot to find out more evidence but they could not find anything and the matter was reported to the local police. The BSF officials from the South Bengal Frontier said that the officials from the Kalyani post also enquired in the nearby villages to get more information about the drone. They also said that while central security agencies like the BSF and others, deployed along India's western border along Pakistan, have been battling with the emerging threat of drones carrying arms, ammunition and drugs or undertaking surveillance, this was probably the first time when a drone was found along the eastern border with Bangladesh. The BSF guards a total of 4,096 km of the India-Bangladesh border of which West Bengal comprises 2,217 km. The BSF's South Bengal Frontier is responsible for 913 km in the state and this is marked by multiple riverine bodies, the mangrove area in Sunderbans and other difficult terrain areas. --IANS ams/vd ( 319 Words) 2022-03-20-22:12:01 (IANS)
The accused was identified as Zaahir, a native of Bihar, currently residing at a shanty outside the airbase.

A police officer told IANS that the man allegedly tried to scale the wall of the air force base.

"He was possibly in an inebriated state," the police officer said.

The Air Force officials nabbed him while he was trying to sneak into the technical area inside the premises of the airbase and called the police.

Meanwhile, the police have registered an FIR under Sections 3 (If any person for any purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the state) and 7 (Interfering with officers of the police or members of the Armed Forces of the Union) of the Official Secrets Act, and arrested the man.

"The accused will now be presented at the court," the police officer said, adding that further investigation is underway.

--IANS uj/pgh

( 185 Words)

2022-03-20-22:20:04 (IANS)
After the Cabinet expansion of the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Punjab government, party's national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and the party's Punjab affairs co-in-charge Raghav Chadha on Sunday held a meeting with all their party MLAs in the states. Kejriwal, attending the meeting through video conferencing, briefed the MLAs on the party's objectives and working methods. He said that after winning elections in four states, BJP's new Chief Ministers haven't taken oath, let alone do any work of the people. "Our Bhagwant Mann sahib became the Chief Minister and has also taken many historic decisions for the people. CM Mann has done tremendous work for the people of Punjab in the last three days. In his first cabinet meeting, 25,000 government jobs have been announced for the youth of Punjab, this has raised hope among the people. "I am not congratulating all my MLAs and ministers of Punjab, I am wishing them all the best, so that they can serve the public with full dedication and can live up to the expectations of the people," he said. On many senior MLAs not becoming ministers, Kejriwal said that those MLAs who are not given ministerial berths should not underestimate themselves. "They are all special to me. The people of Punjab have elected 92 diamonds of the Aam Aadmi Party and sent them to the Assembly. Do such good work for the people of your constituency that the people themselves would give you love and prestige." Kejriwal said all MLAs and ministers have to work as a team under the leadership of Chief Minister Mann. "The Chief Minister will give work targets to all the ministers. Everyone has to achieve those targets. If a minister repeatedly fails to meet his target, he will be replaced." Kejriwal also said instead of staying in Chandigarh, all the MLAs should go to villages and mohallas of their constituencies with AAP workers and leaders of their community. "Listen to people's problems and work for them. I stand with you as an elder brother and will always be your guide." Giving advice to all the MLAs and ministers, he said the most important thing is to work honestly. "I will tolerate everything, but I will not tolerate corruption and theft of public money." Kejriwal said the people of Punjab have given "us a historical majority to work, not to earn money. People have chosen us after being fed up with the theft and corruption of Congress-Akali leaders. We have to work honestly so that people always choose us. Do not do anything that will upset the public". Instructing the MLAs to stay away from transfer-posting of officials, Kejriwal said that they must go to the Deputy Commissioner's office to get people's work done, but not for transfer-posting. "If anyone did this, strict action would be taken against him. If any officer does not work, or does not listen to you, then report it to the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister will take action or do transferring. In the previous government, there was rampant corruption in transfer-postings. "We have to eliminate it and make the system right and corruption free. If any MLA or minister did not fulfil his target, then he will get more chance to do the work, but if he does corruption, then there will be no second chances." Kejriwal also advised the MLAs to not misbehave with the administration, government teachers, and employees. Addressing the AAP MLAs, Mann said that "we have to use the huge majority given to us by the people of Punjab for the betterment of the people. People have chosen us to work. The people of Punjab were fed up with the corruption and mafia rule of Congress-SAD-BJP". "That's why the big stalwarts of the rival parties were defeated by the people and our ordinary candidates won with a thumping majority. We have to understand the meaning of this victory and work for the people and take Punjab on the path of progress." --IANS vg/vd ( 689 Words) 2022-03-20-22:30:04 (IANS)
Longing for justice for over three decades, just two months ago, the original inhabitants of Kashmir -- the Kashmiri Pandits -- completed 32 years of pain and mistrust on January 19. The pointless debates, virtual scuffles, allegations, counter allegations, "it was Jagmohan", "No, it was Farooq Abdullah" -- the as expected discussions swarmed the television channels, just like every year. Warring camps accused each other and the dust settled in a day. After a day-long brainstorming debate, people forgot everything and the election fever took over the talks of sufferings of the Pandits. Then, on March 11, Vivek Agnihotri-directed 'The Kashmir Files' hit the screens, yet again, starting the same cycle of discussions sans the most vital point of 'justice'. But this time, something was different. The movie shook the sleeping consciousness of the country to its core and day after day it became the talk of the town. The film depicted the exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits in a quite blunt way. Director Agnihotri says that several movies had been made on Kashmir after the advent of terrorism, but they usually "romanticised terrorism" and never spoke about the atrocities on the Kashmiri Hindus. There is no doubt that the film gave the countrymen a glimpse of what exactly happened in the northernmost state of India in late 80s and early 90s. But will a movie give justice to the terror-hit minority community? Agnihotri has played its part, now the ball is in the government's court, though it always was! But over three decades have passed since the original inhabitants of Kashmir faced brutal atrocities. So why not the cases be investigated now? Delving further deep into the legalities of securing justice for the Kashmiri Pandit community, IANS contacted some legal minds that pointed ways that may lead the migrants on the path of justice. "It is a fact that Kashmiri Pandits were kidnapped, physically assaulted, raped, bruttally murdered and the genocide happened. And what if 30 years have passed. As far as the right to justice is concerned, there is no time limit for it," said Supreme Court Advocate Ashwini Upadhyay. Upadhyay told IANS that the victims of the "Hindu genocide in Kashmir" should first approach the head of the State where the attrocities were commited against them i.e., Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor Manoj Sinha. "It would be more appropriate if victims approach the LG, rather than social activists or politicians," the advocate averred. Upadhyay said the Kashmiri Pandits should demand an NIA investigation from the J&K LG. "I believe it will be the most effective investigation as there is massive violence and foreign funding," the lawyer said. As the Kashmiri Pandit community is now displaced in every part of the country, Upadhyay said they can at least send a mail, if they are not able to physically meet the LG Sinha. "And if LG does not reply or act on the request, then they must approach the High Court directly," he said, adding if HC also does not provide them any relief, then they may move the Supreme Court then. "I am ready to fight Kashmir Genocide Case in the Supreme Court, free of cost," Upadhyay noted. Notably, not every member of the Pandit community faced physical brutality, yet the exodus had its impact on the migrants in different ways. In that case, the Supreme Court lawyer said the injury is not always physical, "it can be social, financial and mental trauma as well". "Even issuing a death threat is a crime chargeable under section 506 (Punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and all Hindus left because they were threatened," he said. But how will a minority community member gather evidence after 30 years? Upadhyay responded, "See the evidence is of two types -- one is materialistic evidence and the other is circumstantial evidence. Important is to secure justice, the Courts might also go by circumstantial evidence. Similarly, although there is no Law on Narco Polygraph and Brain Mapping but considering it an exceptional case, the court may direct the narco polygraph and brain mapping test of the accused and based on the result, the court can pass the judgment." For readers to understand: Circumstantial evidence is evidence that relies on an inference to connect it to a conclusion of fact. While speaking to IANS, another Delhi-based lawyer Vineet Jindal said the Pandits, who are now displaced and are currently residing in different parts of the country may also use the option of 'Zero FIR'. A zero FIR does not bear a serial number instead it is assigned a number "0". It is registered irrespective of the area where the offence has been committed. After the police station registers Zero FIR, it transfers it to the jurisdictional police station where the offence has occurred. Advocate Jindal, who is also a social activist, had just a day ago, written to President Ram Nath Kovind seeking to re-open cases related to 'massacre' of Kashmiri Pandits and constitute a special investigation team to thoroughly investigate the cases reported up till now. "The government should provide a platform to the victims who were unable to report their cases at that particular time due to unfavourable circumstances existing then," Jindal told IANS. He said that 215 FIRs had been registered and the cases were investigated by Jammu and Kashmir Police but no concrete results ensuring justice were drawn out of the investigation. "Therefore, it surely builds a doubt about the kind of investigation that was done for these FIRs and the Union government too failed to take any measures to ensure justice to the families of victims," he added. Jindal further said that the justice was not only meant for the registered cases rather there were numerous cases which were left unregistered due to the circumstances that were unfavourable for the victims making them incapable of reporting the incident or producing evidence for the said incident. "In such a shattering situation, the onus of investigation and punishing the culprits of the massacre largely lied upon the police officials of the Jammu and Kashmir and administration but even after a period of 30 years, no effective results have been yielded in any of the cases registered or not registered," the lawyer asserted. He also said that the people who were victims of the disastrous incidents (Kashmiri Pandits genocide) were in a state of physical, emotional and mental trauma and struggling for their livelihood for past many years and were not in a state to get their complaints registered, statements recorded and therefore are devoid of an opportunity to justice. Meanwhile, the Pandit community, though satisfied with the fact that at least their plight is no more hidden from the people, yet, awaits justice with a bated breath and moist eyes! (Ujwal Jalali can be reached at ujwal.j@ians.in) --IANS uj/pgh ( 1152 Words) 2022-03-20-22:52:03 (IANS)
Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA Motha) on Sunday ruled out possibilities of an alliance with Bharatiya Janata Party hours after indigenous rights activist Patal Kanya Jamatia joined BJP. TIPRA is the ruling party of Tripura's Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC). "The BJP leaders in today's rally kept saying that TIPRA is a small party. Of course, BJP is a big party with a larger support base in comparison. If this is the official position of BJP, I guess they should prepare to fight for all the sixty assembly seats in Tripura," said TIPRA Chairman Pradyot Kishore Debbarman in a video message shared by Chief Executive Member of TTAADC Purna Chandra Jamatia. "After such statements, I don't feel there is a possibility of an alliance in the future. We shall fight in 30 to 35 seats ourselves and let's see what happens at the end", he added. Taking a jibe on BJP over the issue of Corruption, Debbarman said "arrogance is the reason behind the downfall of the high and mighty. We may be a small regional player but I want to tell you that we are not corrupt. And, we are not going to compromise with our demands." Tribal rights activist and Tripura People's Front (TPF) chief Patal Kanya Jamatia on Sunday joined Bharatiya Janata Party at a programme in Agartala city. Tripura People's Front was formed in the year 2014 to give voice to the indigenous rights movement. The TPF commenced its political activities a few years back and fielded candidates in the previous Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council elections in alliance with Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA). The alliance parted away as differences grew between TIPRA and TPF and all the candidates were withdrawn. Tripura's 60 members assembly is slated to go to the polls early next year. (ANI)
"All newly elected members of the Legislative Assembly will take oath at 11 am in Vidhan Sabha," said Madan Kaushik, BJP chief, Uttarakhand.

Kaushik further informed that the name of the Uttarakhand Chief Minister will be announced at the Legislative Party meeting scheduled to take place in the evening after the swearing ceremony.

"The meeting of Legislative Party will be held in the evening. Thereafter, the Chief Minister's name will be announced," Kaushik added.

Pro-tem Speaker in the Uttarakhand Assembly Bansidhar Bhagat and Governor of Uttarakhand, Lieutenant General (Retired) Gurmit Singh had also confirmed on Sunday that the MLAs would take their oath on Monday.

Meanwhile, Pushkar Singh Dhami, Kaushik, and former Union Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' had met Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday at his residence in the national capital to discuss government formation.

BJP President JP Nadda and party leaders BL Santhosh and Uttarakhand minister Satpal Maharaj were also present at Shah's residence.

"The procedure for government formation is underway...the BJP central leadership will take a decision (on CM face)," said Dhami, at Uttarakhand Bhawan in Delhi on Sunday.

Till now six MLAs of the Bharatiya Janata Party have announced their willingness to vacate their Assembly seats to help Dhami get elected to the House.

Dhami had lost to Congress candidate Bhuwan Chandra Kapri by a margin of 6,579 votes. Dhami got a total of 41,598 votes with a vote share of 44.8 per cent as against Kapri who got 48,177 with a huge vote share of 51.89 per cent.

The BJP won the popular mandate for the second consecutive term in Uttarakhand, bagging 47 seats in the 70-member Assembly. (ANI)
Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and BJP national president JP Nadda were present in the meeting.

According to sources, BJP top leadership briefed PM Modi on the discussions that they held with state BJP leaders over government formation in four states.

The State BJP legislature party meeting in Imphal on Sunday unanimously elected Manipur caretaker CM N Biren Singh to be the chief minister again.

Meanwhile, the newly-elected BJP MLAs will take the oath of office at a ceremony scheduled to take place at the Uttarakhand Assembly in Dehradun on Monday.

Post the oath ceremony, the name for Uttarakhand Chief Minister will be announced at the Legislative Party meeting scheduled to take place on Monday evening.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakashi Lekhi will travel to Dehradun as BJP's central observer to look after the government formation in Uttarakhand.

Regarding Goa, BJP legislative party will meet on Monday to announce the name of the next Chief Minister of the state. Union Ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and L. Murugan will also be present in the meeting to look after the government formation.

Meanwhile, BJP legislative party meeting in Uttar Pradesh scheduled on March 24 is likely to announce caretaker Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath as CM once again.

However, according to sources, the issue of appointing Keshav Prasad Maurya again as the Deputy Chief Minister has not been resolved yet.

Keshav Prasad Maurya lost the Sirathu assembly constituency in Kaushambi district to Samajwadi Party candidate Pallavi Patel by a margin of over 7,000 votes. (ANI)
Goa BJP President Sadanand Tanavade confirmed on Sunday that Union Ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and L. Murugan will also be present in the meeting as BJP's central observers to facilitate the government formation in the state.

"The BJP legislature party meeting will be held at 4 pm at the BJP office," said Tanavade.

Meanwhile, caretaker Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, also the frontrunner candidate for the CM post, said that he will accept whatever responsibility the party decides to give him.

"I am happy that I was able to get 20 seats for my party. BJP observers are coming tomorrow for the Party Legislature meeting. Everything will be decided in the meeting tomorrow. I'll gladly accept the responsibility given by the party," said Sawant on Sunday.

The BJP will stake a claim and approach Governor P. S. Sreedharan Pillai to form the government.

Earlier on Saturday, Sawant met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi to discuss government formation.

In the recently concluded state Assembly polls, the BJP emerged as the single largest party in Goa, winning 20 seats in the 40-member state Assembly and decimated Congress to 11 seats. The BJP fell one seat short of the majority figure in Goa but is set to retain power in the state with the help of Maharashtrawadi Gomantak (MGP) and independent candidates. (ANI)
In Indore, the Yatra began from the Jawaharlal Nehru statue and ended at Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar statue.

Here, Congress leaders and workers were seen shouting slogans and carrying placards.

Speaking to ANI, state Congress secretary Rajesh Chouksey said that a "dirty game of politics" was played in Madhya Pradesh in 2020 (when the party was ousted from power).

"In 2018, people of Madhya Pradesh had given their mandate to Congress, but BJP was could not handle it. They lured some of our people two years ago. Democracy was strangled and murdered. It is a stigma for Madhya Pradesh," he said.

Chouksey further stated that the former Chief Minister and state Congress president Kamal Nath called for taking out the Yatra.

"Now we are preparing for the battle of 2023 (Assembly polls), for which we have taken an oath. Congress has and will continue working for the people," he said.

Kamal Nath-led Congress government had collapsed in 2020 following the resignation of then party leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, who joined the BJP along with 21 MLAs. (ANI)
While stating that all political parties, including Congress, create division amongst people, former Union Minister and G-23 member of Congress Ghulam Nabi Azad hinted at quitting politics to work for the civil society. Stressing for a change in civil society so that the people can stand for their rights, Azad said, "We have to bring about a change in society. Sometimes I think, and it is not a big deal that suddenly you come to know that I have retired and started doing social service." The senior leader who recently met the interim president of Congress Sonia Gandhi after the poll rout as an emissary of G23 to press for collective leadership also stated that "political parties work to create a divide, 24x7, amongst people on the basis of religion, caste and other things". "Be it my party or any other regional or national party, I am not forgiving any of them. Civil society should stay together and fight against the evils," the Congress leader said at an event in Jammu on Sunday. Azad, in his speech, blamed politicians for the "evils" in society. He was sceptical of the claims of the political parties bringing about a (good) change (in society). "We (political parties) divided people on the basis of area (Ilaka), region, village and cities, Hindus and Muslim, Shia and Sunnis, Dalit and non-Dalit, divisions in backward classes also. Now, who remains to be a human in all this? Human values have lost priorities amidst the decline...," Azad said. Lamenting communal polarization in the country, the Congress leader blamed the political parties. "Politics in India has become so ugly that sometimes one has to doubt whether we are human," he said. His remarks come at a time when the Bollywood movie 'The Kashmir Files', which is based on the 1990 exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits, has created a buzz in the political arena, some supporting it while some opposing the film. Azad also said that Pakistan and terrorism were responsible for all that took place in the valley. "Pakistan and militancy are responsible for what has happened in Jammu and Kashmir. It has affected all in Jammu and Kashmir, including Hindus, Kashmiri Pandits, Muslims, Dogras," he said. Remembering Mahatma Gandhi, he called him "the greatest Hindu and the biggest follower of secularism." "Anyone who truly follows religion is truly secular," he added. The Congress leader also blamed militancy for the destruction of Jammu and Kashmir. "We all are human beings first, Hindus and Muslims later. Militancy has destroyed lives in J&K with Pak playing a big role in it. Militants have killed security personnel, cops and left many widowed, be it Kashmiri Pandits or Kashmiri Muslims," he said. (ANI)
The Chandigarh administration has decided not to charge the Union Territory Goods and Services Tax (UTGST) on the movie 'The Kashmir Files' for the next four months in Chandigarh cinema multiplexes and theatres. The order from the Excise and Taxation Department of Chandigarh will remain in force for the next four months. "Multiplexes and cinema theatre operators will not charge UTGST from the people. The orders will be in effect for four months," read the order. It also stated that the cinema theatres and multiplexes shall neither make an increase in the amount of entry fee nor shall make any change in the seating capacity of different classes. "The tickets sold for entry to exhibition of film "The Kashmir Files" during the period of this order shall bear prominently the words 'UTGST not collected by the orders of U.T. Administration," the order read. The U.T. administration also said that the UTGST collected prior to the date of this order or collected after four months from the date of this order shall not be reimbursed. It also read that the procedure of the reimbursement of UTGST is being issued. Earlier, Madya Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Tripura, Goa, and Uttarakhand governments had declared that "The Kashmir Files" movie will be tax-free in their states. The movie, which had released in theatres on March 11, stars Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty, Pallavi Joshi, Darshan Kumaar, and others. It revolves around the genocide of Kashmiri Pandits in 1990 and has been directed by Vivek Agnihotri, known for films like 'Tashkent Files', 'Hate Story' and 'Buddha in a Traffic Jam'. (ANI)
Rajiv Deshwal, DCP Crime of Gurugram also informed that the dealer had arrived from Aligarh.

"25 new pistols and two live cartridges have been recovered from the arms dealer who arrived from Aligarh to smuggle weapons in Gurugram," Deshwal said. (ANI)
Shekharappa Gyangoudar, father of Naveen Shekharappa, who died in a shelling attack in Ukraine on March 1, said on Monday that the remains of his son would be donated to a hospital for medical research. The mortal remains of Naveen reached Bengaluru at 3 am Monday and were later taken to his hometown in Haveri in an ambulance. The remains reached Haveri at 9 am. The final rites of Naveen are being conducted as per Hindu Veerashaiva Lingayat tradition by his parents and thereafter it will be taken out for a procession in the village. Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai is expected to Naveen's village to pay his tribute. The family has decided to handover the body to SS Medical College in Davanagere. Shekharappa said, "Since childhood, he wanted to become a doctor and serve society. However, he did not get a seat in a government medical college in India, so he went to Ukraine to pursue his medical education. His dream of becoming a doctor did not come true, so we decided to donate his body so that the future generation could do their research and be beneficial for them." The father also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called him and assured him that the mortal remains of Naveen will be brought back. He said, "Soon after his death reports came in, PM Modi called us. He said that the government is making all efforts to bring back the body to India." He also said that he was in touch with CM Bommai, local MLA and MP. After the mortal remains of Naveen reached Bengaluru, CM Bommai paid last respect at the airport and later it was taken to Haveri. (ANI)
Bhagat, who has previously been the state unit chief of the BJP, was administered the oath at a function in Raj Bhawan in Dehradun.

Bhagat served as the Parliamentary Affairs Minister in the Pushkar Singh Dhami government, while he headed the BJP unit in the state when Trivendra Singh Rawat was the Chief Minister.

The newly-elected MLAs will also take oath today in the state Assembly.

Meanwhile, the BJP is holding the legislature party meeting in the evening to elect the leader who will also be the next Chief Minister of Uttarakhand.

Notably, BJP MLA and former minister Rekha Arya has supported Dhami as the next Chief Minister.

Several MLAs, including Ganesh Joshi and Arvind Pandey, have given their consent for the name of Dhami as the leader of the legislature party.

Till now six MLAs of the BJP have expressed willingness to vacate their Assembly seats to help Dhami get elected to the House.

Dhami had lost to Congress candidate Bhuwan Chandra Kapri by a margin of 6,579 votes.

Dhami got a total of 41,598 votes with a vote share of 44.8 per cent as against Kapri who got 48,177 with a huge vote share of 51.89 per cent.

The BJP won the popular mandate for the second consecutive term in Uttarakhand, bagging 47 seats in the 70-member Assembly. (ANI)
Earlier, Santanu Sen had requested the Central government to accommodate the Ukraine-return students in Indian colleges.

Meanwhile, the Centre today told the Supreme Court that they are looking into the request of students who returned from Ukraine on the issue of continuation of their studies here, and will make a decision.

As per the Central government, India has evacuated 22,500 students and Indian nationals from Ukraine under Operation Ganga. (ANI)
Protem speaker Bansidhar Bhagat administered the oath of office and secrecy to the MLAs.

Ahead of the government formation in Uttarakhand, Governor Lt. General (Retired) Gurmit Singh sworn in senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Bansidhar Bhagat as the Protem Speaker of state Legislative Assembly on Monday.

Meanwhile, the BJP is scheduled to hold a legislature party meeting in the evening to elect the leader who will also be the next Chief Minister of Uttarakhand.

Notably, BJP MLA and former minister Rekha Arya have supported Dhami as the next Chief Minister.

Several MLAs including Ganesh Joshi and Arvind Pandey, have given their consent for Dhami as the leader of the legislature party.

Till now six MLAs of the BJP have expressed willingness to vacate their Assembly seats to help Dhami get elected to the House.

Dhami had lost to Congress candidate Bhuwan Chandra Kapri by a margin of 6,579 votes.

Dhami got a total of 41,598 votes with a vote share of 44.8 per cent as against Kapri who got 48,177 with a huge vote share of 51.89 per cent.

The BJP won the popular mandate for the second consecutive term in Uttarakhand, bagging 47 seats in the 70-member Assembly. (ANI)
The Central government on Monday told the Supreme Court that the Government of India has evacuated 22,500 students from conflict-ridden Ukraine and it is also looking into the educational concerns of the evacuated students. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana was informed by the Attorney General of India KK Venugopal, appearing for the Centre that students have given representation to the government on the issue of continuation of their studies and the government is looking into it and will make a decision. "A mammoth task has been completed," AG told the apex court adding that along with Indian nationals, nationals from other countries have been evacuated by the government. The apex court then closed the two petitions pending before it on the issue. "Both these writ petitions were filed seeking reliefs... Attorney General has made submissions, all students are brought back to India and nothing survives. Petitioner counsel submits that government has to consider studies of students who have not completed their studies due to the war. Attorney General submits government is considering this issue. The case is accordingly closed," the bench said. Earlier, the Supreme Court expressed concern for the lives of students caught in the middle of the conflict zone in Ukraine. The Centre had said that government efforts have resulted in the swift evacuation of Indians from Ukraine. The apex court had suggested to the government to open helplines so the students or their families can communicate. The government of India is equally concerned as the Supreme Court is and is leaving no stone unturned to bring the citizens back, AG had told the top court. The petition filed by Ahana claimed that over 250 students stranded in Ukraine were looking for hope towards the Government of India. The plea sought direction from the government "to secure permission to cross the checkpoint in Moldova from Ukraine en route to Romania for boarding the Air India evacuation flight, and to immediately take effective diplomatic steps and measures for the evacuation of the Petitioner including other stranded students from Ukraine." Another petition was filed by advocate Vishal Tiwari, seeking directions for the protection of thousands of students and families who are stranded in Ukraine in wake of the ongoing conflict. (ANI)
Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday dismissed the possibility of an alliance with Asaduddin Owaisi's All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and dubbed it as Bharatiya Janata Party's "B-team". Slamming AIMIM, Kharge said that Congress needs to be cautious of such parties which try to defeat "secular parties". "Congress has not yet received any proposal (of an alliance)," Kharge told ANI. A strategy for an alliance is decided within the party, he said, adding that "there is a need to be cautious of such parties which attempt to defeat secular parties." Kharge further alleged that the AIMIM is working at the behest of the BJP. His remarks come after Shiv Sena also termed AIMIM as BJP's "B team" while rejecting scope for an alliance with AIMIM. Earlier, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Rout also rejected the possibility of AIMIM's alliance with Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), saying "those who bow before the grave of Aurangzeb cannot become Maharashtra's ideal". "Maharashtra government is formed by three parties, Shiv Sena, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party. There will be no inclusion of any fourth party," Raut said. The AIMIM MP Imtiaz Jaleel steered the alliance discussions after he said that the party is willing to enter into an alliance with Congress and the NCP in the upcoming Maharashtra civic polls in order to defeat the BJP. "The AIMIM is always held responsible for the BJP's victory. It is said that we are 'B' team of the BJP, so we gave them (Congress) an offer to form an alliance with us. Since they are with Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, they'll never agree to form an alliance with us," Jaleel had said. (ANI)
Kharge's statement came a day after senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said that all the political parties, including Congress, create division amongst people and politicise religion and caste.

Kharge said, "No political parties in India should politicise religion and caste." He added that Congress does not indulge in politicising religion or caste and it is Azad's personal view.

The senior Congress leader said, "Every political party divide people and society on the basis of caste and religion. Moreover, if the Congress party is also doing such politics then my advice is not to do so."

He said that India is a democratic country and all the political parties should work within the contours of the Indian Constitution. (ANI)
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday said that the Union government is seriously considering alternative measures for medical students who have returned from war-torn Ukraine in the middle of their course. Speaking to media persons in Davanagere before participating in the funeral rites of Karnataka student Naveen, Bommai said, "The course in Ukraine is different from that in India. The Union government is thinking about their future seriously as it involves the future of students from various states." "Though the government fee is low, medical education in the private sector is expensive. Even students who score 90-95 per cent are not getting seats in NEET. As the cost of seats in the management quota and NRI quota is high, the students look out for other options. We are considering a proposal to categorise the seats into A, B and C categories to reduce the fee. The Medical Council of India decides the issues related to medical courses. A reconsideration is on in this regard," Bommai said. The final rites of Naveen Shekharppa, who died in a shelling attack in Ukraine, were performed in Haveri on Monday. CM Bommai was also present during the final rites. Shekharappa Gyangoudar had said to media persons that his body will be donated to SS Medical College in Davanagere for medical research. The mortal remains of Naveen came to Bengaluru at 3 am on Monday and from there it was taken to his village. (ANI)
Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Monday opposed the application in the Supreme Court seeking to enlarge the scope of the road rage case against him. Sidhu in his reply said that the apex court had earlier held that there was no evidence that the death of the victim was caused by the single blow in the road rage case. Sidhu's submission came while replying to an application filed by family members of the victim seeking to enlarge the scope of notice in the review petition in a three-decade-old road rage case against him. Sidhu, responding to the application filed by the petitioner seeking to enlarge the scope of notice, submitted that the application was devoid of any merits and ought to be dismissed. Meanwhile, the top court adjourned the matter for March 25 for further hearing. In the reply, Sidhu said, "As there was no evidence whatsoever that the death was caused by the single blow by the answering respondent (even assuming the incident did take place), this Court rightly concluded that the same would fall under Section 323 IPC. Section 323 IPC stipulates a punishment of imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to one year or with fine which may extend to Rs 1000 or with both." Sidhu was acquitted in connection with the culpable homicide charges but was convicted of the offence of voluntarily causing hurt. The court had slapped a fine of Rs 1,000 on Sidhu. The court had also acquitted Sidhu's associate, Rupinder Singh Sandhu, in the case. The case has gone through Session Court, High court and Supreme Court. The Sessions Court Judge of Patiala had on September 22, 1999, acquitted Sidhu and his associate, due to lack of evidence in the case and giving the benefit of the doubt. It was then challenged by the victim's families before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which had in 2006, convicted and sentenced Sidhu to three years imprisonment. Sidhu then filed an appeal before the apex court challenging this order. On December 27, 1988, Sidhu allegedly beat Gurnam Singh on his head, leading to his death. (ANI)
The oath-taking ceremony of the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will take place on March 25, sources said. This will be his second term as the Chief Minister of the state.

As per sources, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Bharatiya Janata Party national president JP Nadda are on the list of invitees for the scheduled oath-taking ceremony of Yogi Adityanath.

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a high-level meeting of the BJP top leaders at his residence in New Delhi to discuss government formation in four states where the party won in the Assembly elections held recently.

Shah, Rajnath Singh and Nadda were present in the meeting. According to sources, BJP top leadership briefed PM Modi on the discussions that they held with state party leaders over government formation in four states - Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa.

Meanwhile, Adityanath will be the first Chief Minister in the last 37 years to return to power after completing a full term.

Yogi Adityanath led his party to a thumping victory in the recently concluded Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

The BJP retained power in Uttar Pradesh by winning 255 out of 403 constituencies, securing a 41.29 per cent vote share.

Adityanath, a monk-turned-politician, won his first-ever Assembly election by a margin of 1,03,390 from Gorakhpur Urban constituency, defeating the Samajwadi Party candidate Subhawati Upendra Dutt Shukla, who secured 62,109 votes in the recently-concluded UP Assembly elections. (ANI)
Singh was unanimously elected as leader of the legislature party of the BJP in a meeting held on Sunday, which was attended by the party's central observers, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and Union law and justice minister Kiren Rijiju.

Ahead of the BJP's state legislature party meeting, Singh had visited Delhi and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

BJP retained power in the state by winning an absolute majority with 32 seats in the 60-member House in the recently concluded Assembly polls. Congress bagged five seats and the NPP won seven seats. Naga People's Front bagged five and the Kuki People's Alliance got two seats. Independents bagged three seats.

The BJP leaders had been discussing the government formation in Manipur after the BJP won an absolute majority in the state for the first time.

The BJP had formed the previous government in the state with the support of the Naga People's Front (NPF) and the National People's Party (NPP) with Biren Singh as Chief Minister. (ANI)
Mather, who belongs to a minority community, has previously served as a Youth Congress leader, which adds a feather to her political career and justifies nomination.

Kerala Congress in-charge Tariq Anwar said that a total of four names were sent to the party's high command as a possible candidate for the Rajya Sabha from Kerala. Of the four names, Mather's name was finalized.

Listing the reasons for nominating Mather, Anwar said, "She is a woman and secondly the youth voted in her favour. Belonging to a minority community was another reason behind her nomination."

He said that Mather comes from a political family.

"Mather's father has been a former treasurer of Kerala Congress, while her grandfather has been a former state president of the party.

Three Kerala vacancies are arising due to the term of the Rajya Sabha MPs ending on April 2.

The Rajya Sabha election for 13 seats will be held on March 31. (ANI)
A day after Kerala Congress unit chief K Sudhakaran asked party leaders to skip a CPI(M) party seminar to be held in April, the CPI (M) Rajya Sabha MP has said the seminar and meeting was an opportunity to explore an initiative to form a national level front against the BJP. Speaking to ANI, the CPI (M) MP John Brittas said, "As part of party conclaves, the party congress has been inviting leaders from other parties on areas of common interest. This time we have invited Congress leaders Shashi Tharoor, KV Thomas, and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin. The topic of the seminar is Centre-State relationship and naturally, there is no conflict between CPIM and the Congress party." He added, "If the Congress party is threading a parochial trajectory that means they playing into the hands of BJP. Now the Congress party has to decide whether they want to support the BJP or the initiatives of CPIM to have an anti-front BJP in national politics." Brittas said, "It is a national seminar and CPI(M) leaders like EMS Namboodiripad and Jyoti Basu have attended seminars organised by the Congress party." Earlier, the CPIM had invited senior leaders like Ramesh Chennithala, KV Thomas and Shashi Tharoor to attend the 23rd party congress seminar to be held from April 6 to 10 in Kerala's Kannur. On Sunday, Sudhakaran had asked the Congress party leaders to skip the seminar. (ANI)
The court has also allowed Malik to be provided with a bed, mattress, and chair during his judicial custody. However, the court has kept his application for home food pending and will decide on this on the next date of hearing.

Malik, the chief of NCP's Mumbai unit and also the Guardian minister for Parbhani and Gondia districts, is currently in judicial custody in connection with a money laundering case related to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. He was arrested on February 23.

Last week, the Bombay High Court had denied any interim relief to Malik and refused to pass an order for his release from judicial custody. (ANI)
The prosecution has filed a reply to the application on Monday.

Interim protection from arrest will continue until then.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Bombay High Court refused to grant interim relief from coercive action to Darekar regarding the FIR registered against him for cheating, conspiracy, and bank scam.

The FIR was lodged on March 14 at the Mata Ramabai Ambedkar Police Station in Mumbai following a complaint received by AAP leader Dhananjay Shinde. (ANI)
The security situation along the western borders remains largely stable but there are indications of an emerging narco-terror nexus sponsored by inimical elements across the border aimed at causing instability, Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt told Rajya Sabha on Monday. The minister also told the House in a written reply that the situation along the Line of Control (LoC) remains stable post the understanding of February 2021 reached between DGMOs (Director General Military Operations) of India and Pakistan. Making a veiled reference to Pakistan in the context of narco-terror nexus, he said India's defence forces along the borders are adequately poised to respond to any challenge. "Security situation along Western Borders (IB Sector) remains largely stable. However, there are indications of an emerging narco-terror nexus sponsored by inimical elements across the border aimed at causing instability, especially along border areas. Our forces along Western borders are adequately poised to respond to any challenge posed by adversary across entire conflict spectrum," he said. Referring to the Line of Control, he said both the armies have exercised restraint in the interest of maintaining peace. "The situation along Line of Control remains stable post the Directorate General of Military Operations (DGsMO) Understanding of February 2021. Both the Armies have exercised restraint in the interest of maintaining peace along the LC. However, the situation is being closely monitored and Indian Army remains prepared to thwart any threat from inimical elements as also to respond in case of any escalation along the Line of Control," Bhatt said. (ANI)
The order was passed by a bench of justices Indira Banerjee and Justice AS Bopanna

The petition seeking implementation of the provision of Section 491 & 492 of Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act, 1976 was filed by one retired government servant S.R.Garward through advocate GS Mani. According to petitioner provision of Section 491 & 492 of Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act, 1976 mandates exercise of powers of police officers by corporation servants and constitution of Corporation Security Force for the betterment and security of property owned by the corporation.

The petitioner has challenged the Karnataka High Court order which had dismissed PIL saying that it is the policy decision of the state government to have a corporate security force, the court cannot give directions.

The petitioner also sought a direction to the respondents to constitute and maintain the Corporation Security force as per section 492 of Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act-1976. (ANI)
India's first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat, who died in a helicopter crash in December last year, was posthumously conferred Padma Vibhushan. His daughters Kritika and Tarini received the award on the CDS's behalf. The daughters received the award from President Ram Nath Kovind today. General Bipin Rawat, who was India's first Chief of Defence Staff, died in a helicopter crash in December last year. General Rawat's wife Madhulika Rawat and 12 other defence force personnel had also died in the helicopter crash. Padma Awards, one of the highest civilian Awards of the country, are conferred in three categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. The Awards are given in various disciplines/ fields of activities, viz. art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, etc. 'Padma Vibhushan' is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service; 'Padma Bhushan' for distinguished service of high order and 'Padma Shri' for distinguished service in any field. The awards are announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year. These awards are conferred by the President of India at ceremonial functions which are held at Rashtrapati Bhavan usually around March/ April every year. This year the President has approved conferment of 128 Padma Awards including two duo cases (in a duo case, the Award is counted as one). The list comprises 4 Padma Vibhushan, 17 Padma Bhushan and 107 Padma Shri Awards. 34 of the awardees are women and the list also includes 10 persons from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI and 13 posthumous awardees. (ANI)
A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was moved in the Delhi High Court seeking direction to Union of India for recovery of debt amount from Pakistan due from partition time. The petition sought a direction to the Union of India through the Ministry of Finance to take up the matter immediately with the Pakistani Authorities and for repayment of the debt. There was a pre-partition debt of Rs. 300 crore along with interest and penal interest as per rules of Indian banking system, stated the petition. The bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Navin Chawla on Monday while disposing of the petition said it is a policy decision of the Government of India. The petitioner Om Sehgal, a businessman, 71 years of age, having the profession of Audio-Visual Production states that according to the partition agreement between India and Pakistan, for 'movable assets and liabilities' of United India, India was to pay to Pakistan Rs. 75 Crore while Pakistan was to pay a sum of Rs. 300 Crore to India --- as is clear from the speech of R.K. Shanmukham Chetty, Minister of Finance, who introduced the budget for the years 1948-49. India gracefully paid its part of the pre-partition debt of Rs. 75 Crore promptly, in just 6 months of getting independence. But Pakistan has not paid its dues yet, though 75 years have gone. Not even a single, 'annual instalment' out of the Principal amount. Also, Pakistan has not paid the interest, said the petitioner. India is still an underdeveloped country and the requirement of finances is huge. Therefore the money that belongs to India, can not be squandered away. This amount of money is not from any Institute but It is the money 'which belonged to infant India', the plea said. The money which belongs to India and Indians must be recovered at the earliest. Pakistan has already illegally captured about one lakh sq km of land and not demanding back the debt from Pakistan would encourage Pakistan's intentions of not paying back debt. It is people's money, they have a right to demand its return and the people of India can't be made to suffer because the leaders then, were not diligent, the plea read. (ANI)
Special Cell of Delhi Police has filed a charge sheet against accused Bharat Bhushan Katariaya in Patiala House Court of Delhi in the case of Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosion in Rohini Court Complex. The charge sheet has been filed before Dr Pankaj Sharma, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) of Patiala House Court. A charge sheet comprising 1,040 pages has been filed in the court in the December 9, 2021, IED blast incident that occurred in the court of Pritu Raj, Metropolitan Magistrate at Rohini Court. Keeping in view the sensitivity, nature of the crime, and importance of the matter, Special Cell, Northern Range, and Special Task Force (STF) were tasked to investigate the incident. According to the Special Cell, the investigation revealed that accused Bharat Bhushan Kataria knowingly and deliberately placed and triggered an IED using a remote trigger in the Court with the intention to kill his rival Amit Vashisht. He also endangered the life of other persons present in the court including the Judge, court staff, advocates, and other litigants with his heinous act. During the investigation, sufficient evidence has come on record to establish the culpability of the accused beyond doubt, stated the charge sheet Accordingly, the case with FIR No. 289/21 under Section 307 (Attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 3 Explosive Substance Act, PS Special Cell, New Delhi was registered by the Special Cell- Northern Range and STF and investigation were taken up. The charge sheet stated that a team of more than 150 police personnel of all ranks of Special Cell-Northern Range & STF under the leadership of Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Ved Parkash under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Rajiv Ranjan Singh worked on this case using scientific techniques of investigation. Other units of Special Cell also provided crucial assistance to investigating team. On December 17, 2021, the accused Bharat Bhushan Kataria was arrested in the case after analysis of CCTV footage of more than 150 cameras and interrogating hundreds of people. Further investigation of the case is underway and after completion of the investigation, a supplementary Charge sheet will be filed in due course, said the special cell. On December 9, 2021, a low-intensity blast had occurred inside a laptop bag inside courtroom number 102 of Delhi's Rohini Court. (ANI)
After taking oath as the Chief Minister of Manipur for the second term, N Biren Singh on Monday said that the first task of his government would be to make the state corruption-free. After being administered the oath by Governor La Ganesan, Singh said: "My Government's first task would be to make Manipur a corruption-free state and will work day and night to wash out the corruption from the state." He added, "Next task would be to wash out all drugs-related matter from the state and thirdly, would try to see that all the insurgents operating in the state are brought to the negotiating table and political dialogues are held with them." He thanked his colleagues and MLAs who supported him and elected him as the leader of the BJP legislature party on Sunday. Singh also conveyed gratefulness to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National President JP Nadda, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP national general secretary (Organisation) BL Santosh. "Due to their relentless work for the state, BJP got a full majority and the government has been formed," he said. He also conveyed his gratefulness for the people of the state. Biren Singh took oath as the Chief Minister today after BJP retained power in the state by winning an absolute majority with 32 seats in the 60-member House in the Assembly polls. Singh, along with cabinet ministers Thongam Biswajit Singh, Yumnam Khemchand Singh, Govindas Konthoujam, and Nemcha Kipgen, all from the BJP, and Awngbow Newmai from the Naga People's Front (NPF) were administered the oath by Governor La Ganesan. The Congress had bagged five seats and the NPP won seven seats. Naga People's Front bagged five and the Kuki People's Alliance got two seats. Independents bagged three seats. The BJP had formed the previous government in the state with the support of the Naga People's Front (NPF) and the National People's Party (NPP) with Biren Singh as Chief Minister. (ANI)
The 'Make in India' initiative of the Government of India ensures the utilisation of domestically manufactured steel and steel products in the country, Union Minister of Steel Ram Chandra Prasad Singh told Parliament on Monday. The Union Minister said this in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha. The Government has notified Domestically Manufactured Iron and Steel Products (DMI & SP) Policy on May 8, 2017 and subsequently revised on May 29, 2019 and December 31, 2020. This has resulted in the growth of the domestic steel sector by import substitution of around Rs 22,400 crore so far. The PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan is Rs. 100 lakh crore investment plan for infrastructure development over the next five years. The various initiatives for infrastructure development under the plan will boost the demand for steel in various sectors thereby enhancing steel usage and growth of the steel sector. These initiatives, being undertaken by Central Government, have a development impact across the country including the State of Karnataka. (ANI)
Having faced drubbing in the elections to five states, Congress has started preparing for the electoral challenges later this year in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat where the BJP is in power and Aam Aadmi Party is keen to emerge as a challenger. Congress chief Sonia Gandhi will meet senior party leaders from Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday at her residence to take stock of the party's preparations in the assembly polls. The party has to take several crucial decisions concerning the hill state including that on the chief ministerial candidate. The Congress had done well in the bypolls held in Himachal Pradesh last year, winning the Mandi Lok Sabha seat and three assembly seats. Virbhadra Singh, a tall leader of the party in the state, had died last year and there has been speculation about the party's decisions in the state. Anand Sharma, another senior leader from the state, will complete his term in Rajya Sabha next month. The Congress had given a tough fight to the BJP in the Gujarat assembly polls in 2017 and the party will be hoping to build on its performance. Party sources said that Rahul Gandhi will meet senior party leaders from Gujarat along with Laghu Sharma, who is AICC in charge of the state. The meeting will be held at Rahul Gandhi's residence. Rahul Gandhi had addressed 'Chintan Shivir' in Dwarka in Gujarat last month and had done some plain-speaking about the need for the leaders to work hard. The sources said that the leadership will seek to foster greater unity among leaders to put up a strong fight in the assembly polls. The sources said the party is keen on early preparation in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat in view of the drubbing in assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur. (ANI)
During the visit of European and International Affairs of Austria Alexander Schallenberg, the two sides discussed regional and global issues including developments in India-EU relations, the Indo-Pacific, Afghanistan and Ukraine. Russia began its military action in Ukraine on February 24.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Schallenberg held delegation-level talks on March 20. They discussed the entire gamut of bilateral relations, including political, economic, commercial and consular ties.

Schallenberg, who visited India from March 19 to 21, was accompanied by a high-level business delegation. This is his first visit to India in his current term.

During the visit, the two sides also exchanged views on the COVID19 pandemic, including the Vaccine Maitri initiative and mutual recognition of vaccination certificates.

A Ministry of External Affairs release said that over 150 Austrian companies are based in India in sectors like engineering, road construction, railways, hydel power plants, water treatment and auto components. Several Indian companies have also invested in Austria, especially in fields of IT, Medicare and auto-components.

"Both sides agreed to further intensify commercial engagements. Austrian business delegates expressed keen interest in investing in sectors such as renewable energy in India," the release said.

It said that India and Austria have warm and cordial relations which are based on shared values of democracy, freedom and rule of law.

"Our bilateral relations are marked by strong linkages across institutions, academia, culture and people to people ties," the release said.

Both sides also discussed cultural linkages and looked forward to the celebrations of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav as well as 75 years of establishment of diplomatic relations in 2024. (ANI)
A 28-year-old individual from the transgender community, Tanushree Behera, is going to contest the election for corporator in the Cuttack Municipal Corporation. Behera is the only contestant of her gender in the entire municipality election, which is scheduled to be held on March 24. Speaking to ANI, Behera said, "When my family got to know that I am transgender, my father forcefully asked me to step out from home at the age of 14 years. I left my home and grew up with slum people. For the last 10 years, I have been working as a social worker here for the slum people." "Ahead of forthcoming municipality elections, people approached me to contest independently for the post of corporator from the ward (No 38) in Cuttack municipality. Later, I filled nomination paper for the position of corporate with my supporters to end the barriers of development for slum people here," said Behra. Tanushree further said, "My ward (No 38), which comprises Chhatra Bazar and the Malgodown areas, has some of the largest slums in Cuttack including Behera Sahi, Das Sahi, Nua Sahi, Suryanagar Basti, Sagar Sahi and Coal Depot slum. I will fight for the rights of slum dwellers to get them justice and livelihood." "My aim is to provide them land documents (Patta), employment, better treatment, schools for children, vehicles and other facilities. These are the basic requirements which some dwellers are deprived of," Behera said, adding that, "I don't want fame or popularity, I only want to serve people for their better future." Despite financial challenges, she completed an ITI degree from ABIT in Cuttack. She got an opportunity to work at a private company but was bound to leave the job after being harassed mentally and physically, she said. (ANI)
The incident took place on Saturday.

As per police, the 26-year-old victim has accused his friend of attacking him with a sharp object causing severe injuries to his abdomen. The victim stated that the accused Bhavin Kolekar is a friend who tried to attack him in anger after he refused to drop the accused home.

The police immediately reached the spot of the accident and admitted the victim to the hospital, where the condition of the victim who suffered multiple injuries was unstable.

Kolekar has been arrested under section 307 of the Indian Penal Code, on the basis of the victim's statement.

The police said, "The accused is a habitual drinker and a jobless man, he attacked his friend out of jealousy, as the victim is employed and earns money." (ANI)
He called upon the Chief Minister to pass an appropriate order to clarify that there is no ban on Muslim girl students wearing hijabs in educational institutions of the state.

The Papanasam MLA was speaking at the Assembly on Monday.

The MMK leader said that Tamil Nadu School Education Minister, Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, had said in a statement that there is no ban on students wearing hijab in the state.

He said that in certain schools and colleges, there is an issue with wearing hijab.

Jawahirullah said that on the basis of Articles 19 and 26 of Constitution, there is no ban on Muslim girl students wearing hijab.

He also said that according to a speech by the state Finance Minister, P.T.R. Palanivel Thiagarajan, forces of cultural fascism are trying to destroy the cultural diversity of the country.

--IANS aal/arm

( 180 Words)

2022-03-21-19:48:02 (IANS)
Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday termed "Kashmir Files" as "another drama" by the Narendra Modi government to garner votes and said the country needs to discuss development, irrigation, and unemployment files. He slammed the BJP government for dividing people in the name of religion by whipping up communal passions. "'Kashmir Files' is a slogan. If there is a progressive government, there will be irrigation files, industrial files and economic files. What is Kashmir Files? Who wants it," he asked while addressing a news conference. The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief pointed out that Kashmiri Pandits themselves are saying that this is a drama and a 'tamasha' to get votes in the 2024 election as they have not got any relief. "Do something for Kashmiri pandits. You only do sweet talk. What is your priority? You are trying to sell Hindu dharma to get votes," said KCR, as the Chief Minister is popularly known. He alleged that before every election, the BJP comes out with emotional issues and encash it. "Through this, they are openly saying we have failed. We can't do anything. We have only Kashmir Files, Pulwama, Pakistan, painting somebody as devils and we seek votes in their name," he said, adding that this is not in the interest of the country. KCR said the Modi government came to power due to failures of the previous UPA government had miserably failed in the last eight years. "Show me one area in which the country has progressed," he said citing statistics which show that India is slipping behind countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Bhutan in global rankings. He called BJP's win in Uttar Pradesh elections a technical victory and said his prediction that the saffron's party's strength will come down in Assembly had come true. He claimed that BJP faced farmers' anger in Punjab and the writing on the wall is clear for the saffron party. He claimed that the nation has come to a decision that the present government at the Centre can't deliver and it has to go for the good of the country. "It has not set up a new project or a factory built. This is a hard fact. The GDP has come down to 6 per cent from 8 per cent during UPA rule. The unemployment has gone up. The government is selling away the public assets," he said. Stating that there is a void in national politics, he said he, along with others, was trying to fill this void by working for an alternative which can be structural changes in the country. "I am pursuing national politics now. I am doing my piece of job. I have to meet so many friends who are playing a major role in the country's politics. We are trying to formulate our opinion. Thereby what happens, let us see. I assure you from 2024, India will pursue a new path of kranti," he said. KCR, who recently held meeting with leaders of various parties, said he would soon meet some other leaders. "We have some ideas. We will decide what is going to be the best for 2024." KCR revealed that he was working with political strategist Prashant Kishor to bring a change in the country. "Yes, he is working with me. What is wrong with this. Why are you scared of him," he asked, referring to statements by some BJP leaders. The TRS chief said that Prashant Kishor with apps, surveys, and his i-PAC team knows the people's pulse. "You are insulting him by saying he is taking Rs 300 crore. You should say Rs 3,000 crore," he quipped, ridiculing the allegations by opposition parties. Stating that Prashant Kishor is his best friend for last 7-8 years, KCR claimed that he never takes money for his work. "Prashant Kishor never takes money for work. Take it from me. He is not a paid worker. You people don't know who is Prashant Kishor. What is his commitment for the nation? I am very sorry that a good man is being maligned," he said. KCR said since Prashant Kishor worked in 12 states and can help in impacting national politics, he invited him to work with him. The TRS chief ruled out early Assembly elections in Telangana. He said last time there was a need to go for early polls as various schemes and projects started by his government were incomplete and he wanted the TRS to come back with fresh mandate to complete them. He was confident that TRS will retain power in the next year's election by winning 95-105 seats in the 119-member Assembly. He made the prediction on the basis of a survey done by 3 organisations in 30 constituencies. According to the survey, the TRS is losing only one seat by 0.3 per cent votes. Referring to statements by some BJP leaders that there will be raids by Income Tax (IT) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) against him, he asked them what was stopping them from going ahead. "I am not the one to be scared of your blackmail politics. The corrupt should be scared." --IANS ms/vd ( 866 Words) 2022-03-21-21:16:04 (IANS)
Ankara [Turkey], March 21 (ANI/Sputnik): Ankara will not accept Washington's proposal to transfer the purchased Russian S-400 systems to Kyiv, Dogu Perincek, the chairman of the left-wing Turkish Vatan Party, told Sputnik. Earlier in the day, Reuters reported, citing sources, that the US has suggested to Turkey to send its Russian-made S-400 missile defence systems to Ukraine. The move is part of Washington's effort to find Russian or Soviet-made anti-aircraft missile systems to deliver to Kyiv amid the conflict with Russia. "The US does not have the authority to order Turkey around. The Turkish government will by no means accept an order like handing over Russian S-400s to Ukraine. The Turkish government has no such chance. It is impossible that the Turkish government will be willing to even listen to such orders. This information is typical American intelligence propaganda. We have gone through this many times. Again, this is not possible. Such pressure cannot break Turkey," Perincek said. In 2019, the US suspended Turkey's participation in its F-35 program over Ankara's purchase of the Russian S-400 air defence system and later completely removed it from the project. Despite harsh backlash from the US and NATO over the purchase, Turkey has insisted that it will continue to use the S-400s. (ANI/Sputnik)
China received a major setback after Nepal ratified the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact, a grant of USD 500 million developmental assistance from the US to Kathmandu. China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi will be visiting Nepal to push Beijing's agenda in Kathmandu. Former Nepali Ambassador to China Mahesh Maskey has said that the forthcoming visit of Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Nepal would send a message that China will not back down no matter how much pressure India and other Western countries mount on her, reported People's Review. Speaking at a programme organized in Kathmandu on Saturday, former ambassador Maskey said that China was not in a position to back down despite any siege attempt. "Whether it's the Indo-Pacific, the QUAD or the defense pact with India or the G-7's direct blockade of China, China is not going to back down," he said, reported People's Review. The foreign ministry in Beijing has apparently concluded in its review that China's presence in Nepal is weakening. President Xi Jinping is sending Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Kathmandu to explore ways to turn things around, says the Chinese official, reported Shambhu Kattel, writing in The Annapurna Express (ApEx). China decided to send its foreign minister to Kathmandu while the Chinese Communist Party was holding its Annual National People's Congress, suggesting an unusual level of urgency at the unfolding events in Nepal. Unlike what has been reported in sections of Nepali media, Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as the Chinese official's ApEx spoke to say Wang's upcoming visit is both unplanned and unprecedented. Chinese officials say Wang's main agenda in Kathmandu is to reassess Beijing's geopolitical and security challenges, as China no longer feels secure in Nepal. "Implementation of the BRI projects in Nepal is important for Beijing," says a second Kathmandu-based Chinese official who has long liaised between Kathmandu and Beijing. He was also speaking on the condition of anonymity. "But this time Beijing is more worried about the security challenges emanating from the compact's approval," During his visit, Foreign Minister Wang will also take stock of the political climate in Kathmandu, reported ApEx. A Chinese official associated with China's diplomatic corps in Kathmandu told ApEx that in the lead up to the compact's endorsement, there was a lack of coordination among the Chinese agencies handling Nepal. Also speaking anonymously, he said the communication gap between Beijing and the Chinese Embassy was also growing. Nepal's federal parliament did ratify the compact, as the Americans wished, but in the run-up to ratification, Beijing tried mighty hard to stop it. It sees the USD 500 million development grant to Nepal as a part of America's strategy to encircle China. (ANI)
Former parliamentary affairs minister Farooq Wardak of Afghanistan on Sunday appealed Afghans, who have fled Afghanistan after the Taliban seized power, to return to the country and asked the Islamic Emirate to ensure civil and human rights of all citizens, local media reported. "The country is the common home of all Afghans and God-given rights of all citizens should be protected, but all the citizens also have same responsibilities," Wardak said in a statement as quoted by Pajhwok News Agency. He also welcomed the coming back of some Afghans who had fled the country following the Taliban's takeover in August last year, while calling for the establishment of communication between the Taliban regime and the returnees. "It is the responsibility of the caretaker government to live up to its promises, give others a part in governance, prevent the repeat of the failed experience of Afghans' isolation and ensure the civil and human rights of its citizens," he further said. The comments come days after the Taliban arrested three journalists from Tolo News for sharing news regarding the prohibition of airing foreign drama series amidst an ongoing crackdown against dissenting voices in Afghanistan. Notably, the Taliban on March 16 announced the formation of a commission titled "Repatriation and Connection" to invite Afghan figures back to Afghanistan, who had fled after the Islamic group seized power. Following the Taliban takeover in August last year, thousands of Afghans left the country fearing reprisal from the Islamic group. The situation of human rights in Afghanistan has worsened since the collapse of the Afghan government and the Taliban's return to power in August last year. Although the fighting in the country has ended, serious human rights violations continue unabated. The Taliban have committed and continue to commit human rights violations including extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, torture, arbitrary detentions, a massive rollback of the rights of women and girls, censorship of and attacks against the media. Moreover, people in Afghanistan are also facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis which is being driven by decisions and positions taken by the international community, especially the US, that have blocked Afghanistan from aid funding and access to the global financial system. (ANI)
As the Russia-Ukraine war entered its 25th day on Monday, Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas condemned Russia for the invasion of Ukraine and said that Russian President Vladimir Putin "must not win this war." In an interview with CNN on Sunday (local time), she said that it was "heartbreaking" to see what Russia is doing in Ukraine. "We are trying to do everything that we can to support and help Ukraine to fight this war. Putin must not win this war," Kallas said on "State of the Union." Kallas, who will be attending the upcoming NATO summit, said that NATO's strategy should focus on ending the war by using "smart containment", meaning that NATO should move from a "deterrence posture" to a secure "defense posture," raising NATO nations' contribution to strengthening each nation's defense and ultimately NATO as a whole and focusing on cooperation, reported CNN. On March 24, Group of Seven (G7) nations, the European Union and NATO will discuss Russia's invasion of Ukraine at a summit in Brussels on March 24. "There are some capabilities that are too expensive for any individual state, but if we do them together here in Europe to protect our territories, we are stronger," she said, nations should move to isolate Russia "at all the political levels that are possible." When asked about Poland's proposal to send peacekeepers to Ukraine, Kallas said that first peace must be achieved and that Russia is not showing any intentions of achieving it, reported CNN. "We can only have a peacekeeping mission if we have peace, but you know, if you look at what is happening in Ukraine, peace is nothing that we see there. It's a war that is going on, and I don't see that Russia has any intention of doing anything to achieve peace. So first we should have peace, then, to keep it," she said. "Sometimes in order to achieve peace, we have to have the willingness to use military power." Kallas said they do not see the possibility of a third World War in Europe and that the effort should be on ending this war. Kallas also compared deportations happening in Mariupol to what Russia did in the 1940s when Estonians were put in "cattle cars" sent to Siberia. She said that Putin is feeding into the right-wing narrative in Europe and the US by creating a refugee crisis, reported CNN. "He is creating this huge migration pressure to Europe and what we see in different countries, we also see that the Far Right now picking up the tone" and not helping refugees coming from Ukraine, she added. (ANI)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that if "negotiations" with Russian President Vladimir Putin fail then "that would mean that this is a third World War." "I'm ready for negotiations with him. I was ready for the last two years. And I think that without negotiations we cannot end this war," reported CNN. "I think that we have to use any format, any chance in order to have a possibility of negotiating, possibility of talking to Putin. But if these attempts fail, that would mean that this is a third World War," he added. The humanitarian situation in Ukraine's south-eastern city of Mariupol continued to worsen as thousands of civilians were estimated to be killed in the city since the beginning of hostilities, even as Russian and Ukrainian forces trade charges over who is to blame for the deplorable situation. Russia's defence ministry has consistently levelled charges of serious human rights violations on the Azov battalion of the Ukrainian armed forces. The Azov battalion has been alleged to consist of "neo-Nazi" Ukrainian nationalist elements. "There is a terrible humanitarian catastrophe in Mariupol as a result of the lawlessness brought about by Ukrainian nationalists. Desperate and mindless bandits, realizing the impossibility of receiving any assistance from Kyiv, terrorize those neighbourhoods of the city that are still under their control," the head of the Russian National Defense Control Center, Mikhail Mizintsev, said on Sunday. He added that the Ukrainian nationalists in the besieged city are killing between 80 and 235 civilians that try to flee each day, Sputnik News Agency reported. "It has been established that from 80 to 235 innocent citizens die every day at the hands of the Nazis, this is a terrible statistic for the last three days only. These are the people that are trying to leave the city on their own, the militants simply shoot them," Mizintsev said. The Russian official went on to say that up to 130,000 civilians are being held hostage by Ukrainian nationalists in Mariupol. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian authorities have accused Russia of bombing civilian sites including a theatre sheltering civilians and an art school. Mariupol City Council, who had shared an image of the destroyed theatre building, said Russian forces had "purposefully and cynically destroyed the Drama Theater in the heart of Mariupol," CNN reported. At the same time, Thousands of Mariupol residents who managed to escape from Russian bombs are starving to death in occupied Manhushi and Melekin. The Head of Donetsk Military-Civil Administration, Pavlo Kyrylenko claimed on Sunday said that the Russian occupying forces are refusing to provide food, water and safe passage. "Head of Donetsk Military-Civil Administration, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said thousands of Mariupol residents who managed to escape from Russian bombs are starving to death in occupied Manhushi and Melekin. Russian occupying forces refuse to provide food, water and safe passage," tweeted The Kyiv Independent. The coastal city of Mariupol has seen some of the most brutal fightings in the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. As many as 2,500 civilians have died in Mariupol, Ukrainian officials estimate, and hundreds of thousands of people are trapped in the city -- with officials warning those who remain are without electricity, water and heat, CNN reported. Russia has been facing immense pressure from the international community to stop its military operations in Ukraine which has created an immense humanitarian crisis with thousands of refugees from Ukraine fleeing to the neighbouring countries to the west. (ANI)
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Sunday expressed frustration over the delay in conducting voting on no-confidence against Prime Minister Imran Khan and claimed that National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser is biased. Abbasi said that the right to bring about a no-confidence motion is democratic and a constitutional right, adding that the votes cannot be bought this time, reported Geo News. "The speaker was biased since day one, and is still showing his bias," the senior leader claimed. He also added that anyone who breaks the Constitution, regardless of whether it is the speaker of the National Assembly or the prime minister, will have to face Article 6 of the Constitution, reported Geo News. Expressing his frustration over the delay in holding the session for the vote of no confidence, he said, "votes can be bought with money", suggesting that the current government has bought votes in the past to stay in power. Abbasi also added that people now want to leave the government's side and join the Opposition. "The biggest example of money laundering is foreign funding, and the NAB (National Accountability Bureau) and the FIA (Federal Investigation Agency) both are silent on this matter," he said, suggesting that Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf's (PTI's) government foreign funding case could potentially be an insight into the party's illegal activities, reported Geo News. Throwing shade on the recent resignation of PM's ex-adviser on accountability and interior leader Shahzad Akbar, Abbasi pleaded Imran Khan to tell where he is right now. A few months ago, Akbar stepped down from his office without giving a reason for his resignation. Meanwhile, Qaiser convened a crucial session of the lower house to deliberate on the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan on March 25, reported Geo News. According to a notification, the NA session will be held at Parliament House on Friday at 11 am. The 14-day constitutional deadline to convene the NA session on the Opposition requisition will expire on March 21. Earlier today, the Opposition threatened Qaiser, saying that it will move against him if he did not follow the rules on Monday, aiming to prevent a delay of at least four days in the vote of no confidence against Prime Minister Imran Khan. (ANI)
Amid political instability and economy in the doldrums, Pakistan is all set to host the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting of the Foreign Ministers from March 22-23 in Islamabad. The 48th summit of the OIC-CFM will be held on March 22 and 23 under the theme: "Building Partnerships for Unity, Justice, and Development," reported Geo News. Taking to Twitter, Foreign Office Spokesperson Asim Iftikhar said the session will coincide with the 75th-anniversary celebrations of Pakistan's Independence Day. The meeting comes when Prime Minister Imran Khan has to face a no-confidence motion brought by opposition parties on March 25 as well as amid the International Money Fund (IMF) seeking an explanation from Pakistan on how it would fund a USD 1.5 billion subsidy package announced by Imran Khan. A day earlier, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad had said that the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers (OIC-CFM) session was an international event in the country and no one could dare create any hindrance in it, reported Geo News. Talking to a private TV channel, he challenged the opposition to dare stop the moot, adding that the state would provide full protection to it. He strongly reacted to Bilawal Bhutto Zardari's warning of staging a sit-in at the National Assembly and blocking the OIC Council of FMs session in the Capital. PTI Central Secretary-General and Federal Minister for Planning Asad Umar strongly reacted to the statement made by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari against the OIC Conference, alleging he was always afraid to speak in defence of people of Islam. "Bilawal Zardari! We knew that you are always afraid to speak in defence of the people of Islam and their rights, but we did not expect you to express such anti-Muslim sentiments by openly threatening to disrupt the OIC meeting," he said, reported Geo News. Meanwhile, IMF has begun the seventh review of the USD 6 billion rescue package agreed with Pakistan in 2019 after Khan announced subsidy in fuel and electricity, reported Geo News. Embattled Khan, facing a no-confidence move to oust him from office by opposition parties, had announced a cut in petrol and electricity prices despite a steep rise in the global oil market. The IMF also asked it will need to see the agreements of the dividends of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) as well as details of the spare funds the central government will get from provinces. The south Asian country had to undertake fiscal tightening measures to pass its last IMF review, which was delayed by months as the government struggled to complete prior action required by the lender to release USD 1 billion in February. Further, in a statement, OIC said the session will address many topics and the activities of the OIC General Secretariat on implementing the resolutions adopted on various issues in the Islamic world, including the issue of Palestine and Al-Quds. The summit will also discuss developments in Afghanistan and its humanitarian consequences for the Afghan people, read the statement. The statement further said many African issues will also be on the summit's agenda, including the situation in Mali, the Sahel region, and Lake Chad, and the situation in Central Africa and the Republic of Guinea. It said the OIC Foreign Ministers will also discuss developments in Yemen, Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Syria, and other regions during the summit. (ANI)
UN Refugee Agency chief Filippo Grandi said that millions of Ukrainians have been forced to flee their homes due to escalating fights between Russia and Ukraine, reported NHK World.

The office of the UNHCR said that as of Saturday the number of Ukrainians who fled abroad had topped 3.38 million.

It added that nearly two-thirds of the refugees, about 2.05 million, had evacuated to Poland and about 180,000 were sheltering in Russia, reported NHK World.

Meanwhile, the International Organization for Migration said that as of Wednesday, the number of displaced people inside Ukraine was estimated to be 6.48 million. (ANI)
Chinese companies to step up pharmaceutical cooperation with Pakistan, China Economic Net (CEN) reported on Saturday.

"Having provided over 20 million doses of vaccine made in Pakistan, we expect to deepen cooperation with this country", said Xin Chunlin from CanSino at a CPEC B2B Conference, reported The News International.

CanSino is a renowned Chinese pharmaceutical company that has launched the single-dose CanSino COVID-19 vaccine branded PakVac locally produced in Pakistan last year.

In the conference organized by the Board of Investment (BOI), Pakistan, providers of original new drugs and traditional Chinese medicines including Luye Life Sciences Group, Guangzhou Baiyunshan Zhongyi Pharmaceutical, Guangzhou Qixing Pharmaceutical also expressed their intention to cooperate with potential Pakistani partners, reported The News International.

"Facing the common challenge of the ongoing pandemic, joining hands with the Pakistani brothers will bring benefits for both peoples", Xin added.

The move comes amid the growing economic woes and international isolation forcing over-reliance on China.

Pakistani officials are ready to scrap the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) if the US could offer a similar deal, a news report said.

Moreover, Pakistan is irksome over the slow pace of progress on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

A number of projects under the CPEC, including those in the power sector, are facing delays for various reasons including terrorism and the ongoing pandemic situation in Pakistan.

Despite inflaming billions of dollars in the project, the Pakistan authorities have failed miserably to showcase the valid progress and to maintain the impetus that delivered a series of power plants and other infrastructure projects in the first phase of the CPEC implementation, reported Dawn.

Also, the hype created by the Pakistan government through projecting the CPEC as a panacea for all problems is rapidly losing steam and China had stalled many projects due to disputes over debts.

The local populace in Pakistan also has been contesting such Chinese-led investment-oriented development strategies. Concerns about debt traps, lack of transparency, aggressive diplomacy, and friction due to excessive use of Chinese labour have often resulted in discord at the local level. (ANI)
China, other developing countries hold reasonable concerns, similar positions on current European situation: FM

Xinhua) 08:18, March 21, 2022

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi holds talks with Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra in Tunxi, east China's Anhui Province, March 20, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhou Mu)

HEFEI, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Sunday that the Ukraine crisis is developing in a way that goes beyond itself, with spillovers affecting the whole world, and in this regard, the majority of countries in the world, including China and other developing countries, share reasonable concerns and hold similar positions.

Wang made the remarks at a press briefing after holding talks with Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra in Tunxi, east China's Anhui Province.

Wang told the press that after exchanging views with many foreign ministers from Asian or African countries, he felt that many countries, like China, are following closely the developments of the Ukraine crisis, and share a lot of common language.

"We all believe that the purposes and principles of the UN Charter should be observed, international disputes should be resolved peacefully, and the parties concerned should realize ceasefire and put an end to the war as quickly as possible," he said.

Noting that during discussions at the UN General Assembly on the Ukraine issue, China, Algeria and quite a number of countries abstained in the voting, Wang said abstention is also an attitude. It is to give peace a chance and shows disapproval of using war and sanctions to address disputes, and it is a responsible attitude.

"At the same time, we are of the view that the Ukraine issue has not come to this point by accident. It is the result of the confluence of various factors and an eruption of the tensions that have built up over the years," said Wang, adding that what lies at the heart is the issue of European security, and Nato's move of expanding eastward without limit merits reflection.

He said that from the longer-term perspective, parties in Europe should follow the principle of indivisible security and, based on respecting each other's legitimate concerns, pursue dialogue and negotiation to build a balanced, effective and sustainable regional security architecture.

"First, it is widely believed that when addressing regional and international hotspot issues, war and sanctions are not the only options, and dialogue and negotiation is the fundamental way out," said Wang, adding that the current circumstances make it more important to stick to this direction.

"Second, the momentum of world economic recovery should not be disrupted," said Wang, adding that in the context of the ongoing pandemic, escalating unilateral sanctions will fracture the global industrial and supply chains and hurt the livelihood of people of all countries, who have no responsibility for paying for geopolitical conflicts and major-country competition.

Third, all countries have the right to independently decide their external policies, and should not be forced to choose sides, Wang said.

He added that when dealing with complex issues and divergent views, one should not opt for the simplistic approach of "friend or foe" and "black or white." It is particularly important to resist Cold War mentality and oppose bloc confrontation.

"Fourth, the sovereign independence and territorial integrity of all countries must be respected at all times. This principle applies to all countries and regions. There should be no exception, still less double standards," Wang said.

During the press conference, Wang also put forward China's position on Africa-related issues.

Noting the ongoing Ukraine crisis, Wang stressed that the world is very big and there are many problems. The African continent in particular should not be forgotten and should no longer be marginalized, still less a victim.

"The more turbulent the international situation is, the more we must pay attention to the voice of African countries and increase our support and assistance to Africa," he said.

Wang said as a good brother of African countries, China will continue to stand with Africa, firmly support Africa in maintaining peace and security, firmly support Africa in achieving economic recovery, firmly support Africa in defending its legitimate rights and interests, and make due contributions to Africa's independence and sustainable development.

(Web editor: Peng yukai, Liang Jun)
Chicago police Officers Donald Smith, left, and Tyrone Newell keep watch as commuters safely board and exit their trains at the CTA Red Line State/Lake subway station on April 12, 2022. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

As CTA looks to draw back riders, the agency is grappling with spikes in violent crime and complaints that more riders are breaking rules, leading to issues like smoke-filled train cars.

For much of 2021 and 2020, police issued more tickets for smoking, drinking and other infractions on the CTA, per million riders, than they did the year before the pandemic, a Tribune analysis of ticketing data shows.

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Meanwhile, violent crime on the system was up in 2021 compared with 2020, and was also up at the beginning of this year, according to Chicago police.

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The data sheds light on what it has been like to ride CTA buses and trains during the pandemic. Now, as residents are returning to offices and resuming outings, agencies must think carefully about how they address the situation, because many riders with the option to work from home might need convincing to come back to buses and trains, said Chris Van Eyken, program manager at the New York-based transportation advocacy organization TransitCenter.

Just the perception of the quality of service youre going to get could be a huge barrier for riders, he said.

Police and CTA officials recently announced plans to address both crime and rule-breaking, saying they would be doubling the number of unarmed security guards and adding more police officers and supervisors to patrol the transit system, including on the busy Red and Blue lines and including a focus on gang and narcotics crimes.

The announcement came as crime on the CTA was up nearly 56% in January and February compared with the same time last year, according to Chicago police. Violent crime was up 24%, and property crimes, which include offenses like theft, more than doubled.

Asked about CTA crime at a press conference Friday, Lightfoot said the visibility of police on trains, buses and at stations was critical.

It is the lifeblood of our city, and many of our residents depend upon the CTA, whether bus, rail, or a combination, to get from their homes, to get to their jobs, she said. And we need to make sure that they have confidence that when they swipe in to get on the train, to get on the bus, that theyre going to be safe. And thats why that heightened police presence, and protecting, frankly, the CTA workers, is also important.

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A CTA Red Line train stops at the Lake Street station in Chicago's Loop on March 14, 2022. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

The spike in crime could be partly tied to the stress of the pandemic, said Sheehan Fisher, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. As the pandemic has surged and waned, many have faced restrictions on activities, economic fallout and barriers to accessing normal ways of relieving stress.

Anxiety can lead to irritability and agitation, which can escalate, especially when two people experiencing the same irritability and agitation interact, he said. More severe irritability can lead to aggression.

That could also be part of whats behind rule-breaking on CTA trains and buses, he said.

As that stress comes, they just need to relieve it when it happens, he said. And theyre not so concerned about the social norms of how its appropriate to relieve stress or when its appropriate.

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The overall number of tickets issued for violating CTA rules was lower in both 2020 and 2021 than it was pre-pandemic, ticketing data shows. But it didnt drop as much as the number of riders on CTA trains and buses, meaning more tickets were issued per ride.

Most tickets for violating CTAs rules in 2021 were issued for smoking on the CTA. Possession or consumption of alcohol was the second most common type of ticket.

Ticketing data for 2022 is incomplete, because there can be a lag between when the ticket is issued and when it is scheduled for a hearing by the Department of Administrative Hearings, which is when it would appear in the data, city officials said.

But so far most tickets this year have been issued for smoking. And many riders in recent days said smoking has been among their key issues.

Jordyn Washington, 19, said she has noticed more smokers recently, though she wasnt sure if time spent off transit during the pandemic highlighted the problem when she returned.

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(Especially when the) weathers bad, I gotta get to where I gotta go, she said, as she waited at the UIC-Halsted station on the Blue Line. I guess thats why its frustrating as well. Its like, youre on public transit, why do you gotta make it difficult for other people?

Still, a bigger problem for her was delayed arrival times. She takes public transit nearly everywhere, she said, including from her job, where she works a closing shift and gets off around 10:30 p.m. She often has a lengthy wait at that time of night, she said.

Jack Johnson, 57, returned to the Red Line in recent months after a hiatus during the pandemic. He said hes been surprised at the number of people he has encountered casually smoking on the train during his commute to work from Thorndale to the North/Clybourn station.

There are two things that make Chicago a really livable city, and thats the lake and the transit system, he said. And the lakes pretty static, its not going away. But the transit system seems like its slipping.

Transit officials have pegged recent behavior on fewer riders, saying that has emboldened some of the existing customers to act out.

Ridership in the first two months of 2022 was more than 40% higher than at the start of 2021 and behavior has gotten better as riders returned, but its still worse than CTA would like it to be, spokesman Brian Steele said.

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By the same token, discussion and complaints about rule-breaking are likely to rise as riders return, because more people are around to see a violation take place, he said.

As more people return to the system, we are certain that there will be fewer people violating the basic quality-of-life issues, like smoking, like littering, like playing music too loudly, like soliciting, things of that nature, he said.

Rule-breaking, like smoking on buses or trains, will be among the issues addressed by additional private security guards, Steele said.

The private security guards could help be a deterrent, and will work with police as needed, CTA President Dorval Carter has said. They will also be trained in de-escalation, and to work with people who have been experiencing homelessness and sleeping on trains.

A man sleeps on a CTA Red Line train in Chicago on March 14, 2022. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

The strategy that were deploying  which is really to try to get social services more involved on CTA and providing support to help them deal with their challenges and hopefully get them into a better situation than being on public transit  I think, is the solution, Carter said. I think its also safe to say that theres nothing good about living on public transportation.

CTA has long housed some people, but homeless advocates have noticed an increase in people sleeping on trains during the pandemic, said Julie Dworkin, director of policy for Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

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Thats likely because there have been fewer beds available in shelters, as many lowered capacity to encourage social distancing during the pandemic, she said. Some people have also been reluctant to stay in group settings because of COVID-19. Others might find friends or family reluctant to host them with a contagious virus spreading.

Dworkin wasnt sure how much the CTA security guards would help those sheltering on trains, without new resources to offer them. Any attempts by security or the police to remove homeless people or disproportionately enforce rules against them would be concerning, she said.

Rather, the coalition is calling for dedicated city funding for housing for people experiencing homelessness.

Boosting the use of private security and police raised questions for Kate Lowe, an associate professor in the Department of Urban Planning and Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago who studies transportation.

Social workers trained to support riders and de-escalate issues would be one alternative, she said. Though CTA has said the unarmed guards will receive similar training, thats ultimately not their primary purpose, she said.

Its a Band-Aid, she said. Not addressing underlying issues.

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But to Van Eyken at TransitCenter, security guards could serve as a non-police deterrent, while also supplementing officers. They could take on roles that might not be police specialties, like fare enforcement or connecting someone in need to services.

Agencies need to think of a more holistic approach here and think of ways that they can make all riders feel safe coming back, he said.

sfreishtat@chicagotribune.com
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison will hold talks today on the occasion of the Second India-Australia virtual summit to lay the roadmap on new initiatives and enhance cooperation in a diverse range of sectors between the two countries. The summit is expected to witness the largest ever trade pact by the Australian government in India with Canberra set to announce investments worth Rs 1,500 crore in the country across multiple sectors. The two countries are also expected to conclude an early harvest agreement by the end of this month. An early harvest agreement is aimed at liberalising tariffs on the trade of certain goods between two countries or trading blocs before a comprehensive agreement. As per sources, the two countries will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the field of critical minerals, which will help increase India's access to metallic coal and lithium in Australia and cater to India's growing demand for electric vehicles and growing infrastructure. Further, the Union Minister of Coal and Mines in India, Pralhad Joshi, will visit Australia soon, as per the sources. The Summit follows the historic first Virtual Summit in June 2020 when the relationship between India and Australia was elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. During the upcoming virtual summit, the leaders will take stock of progress made on various initiatives under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. The previous summit delivered eight landmark agreements to drive India-Australia cooperation, which included a joint declaration on Maritime Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) and multiple Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) on cooperation in various fields including cyber technology, mining, defence cooperation, public administration and water resources management. Recently, in September 2021 Prime Minister Modi had held a bilateral meeting with PM Morrison in Washington DC on the sidelines of the Quad Leaders' Summit. The two leaders met again in November of last year on the occasion of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland. PM Morrison also addressed the Bengaluru Tech Summit on November 17 of that year, where he announced the new Australia-India Centre of Excellence for Critical and Emerging Technology Policy and the intention to establish a new Consulate General in Bengaluru, while his Indian counterpart PM Modi delivered the keynote address at the Sydney Dialogue, on India's technology evolution and revolution on November 18. The cooperation between the two countries has also been carried forward at the ministerial level, with the 2+2 Foreign and Defence Ministerial Dialogue. Australia's Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Minister for Defence Peter Dutton met their Indian counterparts S Jaishankar and Rajnath Singh in September 2021 in New Delhi for the First India-Australia 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue. Quad has become an important multilateral forum to strengthen cooperation on issues of mutual interests. S Jaishankar visited Australia in February 2022 to attend the 4th Quad Foreign Ministers' meeting in Melbourne on February 11. Even at the cultural level, the Indian community in Australia continues to grow in size and importance, with a population of about 721,000 in 2020. India is one of the top sources of skilled immigrants to Australia as well as a steady source of students and tourists. (ANI)
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen in Phnom Penh on Sunday and agreed to work together on China's maritime activities in the South China Sea and North Korean issues. Kishida also expressed his respect for Cambodia's proactive efforts to break the deadlock in the situation in Myanmar, reported NHK World. Over-exploitation and illegal fishing by China are hurting the world's marine resources and livelihoods. The conflict is major in China's backyard, the South China Sea (SCS) and East China Sea (ECS), where small nations like the Philippines and Indonesia regularly blame China for violations In their joint news conference, Kishida said a visit to Phnom Penh reminds him of the preciousness of peace. He said he greatly respects the indomitable spirit of the people of Cambodia, who rebuilt their country following a devastating civil war. The leaders of Japan and Cambodia also exchanged views on Russia's invasion of Ukraine and agreed to work together to protect international order, reported NHK World. They agreed not to accept any attempt to change the status quo by force anywhere in the world, referring to the Russia-Ukraine war. The two leaders confirmed close cooperation between their countries at international meetings and other occasions, including meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that Cambodia chairs this year. Kishida said Japan plans to hold a special summit and invite ASEAN leaders, including Hun Sen. He noted that next year the two countries will mark the 70th anniversary of their diplomatic ties, reported NHK World. Hun Sen said as for the Ukraine crisis he calls for an immediate halt to the use of force and peaceful dialogue through diplomacy. He said Cambodia expresses its gratitude and appreciation for Japan's economic support and infrastructure development. Hun Sen added that his country intends to continue cooperating with Japan in security and other fields, reported NHK World. Kishida later told reporters it is important to report exchanges with other Asian nations at the Group of Seven (G7) summit slated for Thursday. He noted that Japan is the only Asian nation taking part in it, and he pledged to promote unity among the international community. (ANI)
Barrick Gold Corporation and the governments of Pakistan and Balochistan have reached an agreement on a framework that provides for the reconstitution of the Reko Diq project in the country's Balochistan province, after 10 years of legal battles and negotiations. The project, which was suspended in 2011 due to a dispute over the legality of its licensing process, hosts one of the world's largest undeveloped open pit copper-gold porphyry deposits, the company said in a statement. The reconstituted project will be held 50 per cent by Barrick and 50 per cent by Pakistan stakeholders, comprising a 10 per cent free-carried, non-contributing share held by the government of Balochistan, an additional 15 per cent held by a special purpose company owned by the government of Balochistan and 25 per cent owned by other federal state-owned enterprises. According to the press release, a separate agreement provides for Barrick's partner Antofagasta PLC to be replaced in the project by the Pakistani parties. Barrick will be the operator of the project which will be granted a mining lease, exploration licence, surface rights and a mineral agreement stabilizing the fiscal regime applicable to the project for a specified period, the release added. "...This is a unique opportunity for substantial foreign investment in the Balochistan province and will bring enormous direct and indirect benefits not only to this region but also to Pakistan for decades to come. In addition to local employment and skills development, local procurement, infrastructure upgrades and improved medical and education systems, Reko Diq could also be the springboard for further exploration and other mineral discoveries along the highly prospective Tethyan Metallogenic Belt," said Mark Bristow, Barrick's president and chief executive officer. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan congratulated the people of Balochistan on agreement with Barrick Gold for the development of RekoDiq mine. "I congratulate the nation and people of Balochistan on successful agreement with Barrick Gold for development of RekoDiq mine after 10 years of legal battles and negotiations. The penalty of approx USD 11 bn is offset, USD 10 bn will be invested in Balochistan creating 8000 new jobs," Imran Khan tweeted. "RD will potentially be the largest gold and copper mine in the world. It will liberate us from crippling debt and usher in a new era of development and prosperity," he said in another tweet. (ANI)
The main speakers included Javid Pymanee, NRF activist, journalist and political analyst, Khalida Nawabi of the Free Afghanistan movement and Marina Omari, Afghan woman activist.

All the speakers detailed the pitiable situation of Afghan women and girls under Taliban rule and the continuous gross human violations being perpetrated by the Taliban rulers.

They condemned the violations of human rights, including arbitrary arrests, executions and abduction of innocent Afghans by the Taliban.

Opposing recognition of the legitimacy of Taliban rule by any country, the speakers also stressed on the importance of the global community standing with NRF at this crucial juncture.

Nawabi also said that the Afghan diaspora fully supports US House Resolution 6993, which seeks to declare Pakistan a state sponsor of terrorism.

The protest was supported by more than 50 Afghan activists, who pledged to continue their efforts to free Afghanistan from the Taliban and Pakistan. (ANI)
Highlighting the human rights violations in the country, a Pakistan activist said that demanding the most basic right, the right to life, has become an act of dissent in the country. Usama Khilji, writer and director of Bolo Bhi, an advocacy forum for digital rights, while writing for Dawn newspaper, said that voicing concerns over being unable to live peacefully and being subjected to forced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, profiling and harassment is a natural, reasonable reaction. However, those who raise such concerns are branded "dissidents from the margins", added Khilji. Their intentions are always questioned, the all-time favourite label of "treason" is slapped on them, and they are showcased as the kind of citizens one must keep away from, said Khilji. A number of residents in Islamabad, who have started to frequent the camp set up outside the National Press Club in Islamabad by the Baloch Students Council, Islamabad, are seeking the release of Hafeez Baloch, a student of M.Phil in physics at the prestigious Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad, and demanding end to racial profiling and harassment at university campuses, said Khilji. Hafeez Baloch was reportedly profiled and harassed. On February 8, during a visit to his native village in Khuzdar, Balochistan, masked men in a black vehicle stormed the tuition academy where he was teaching young students, and forcibly took him away in front of his minor pupils. While his family has filed a complaint with the police in Khuzdar, there is still no information regarding Hafeez's whereabouts. Khilji stated that students in Pakistan should be made to feel secure instead of being threatened by the state as they pursue their education peacefully. They should be granted the right to due process rather than becoming victims of "disappearance", added Khilji. (ANI)
Celltrion announced on the 18th that it has signed a license-in contract with the U.N. Medicine Patent Pool (MPP) for the generic production of Pfizer's oral Covid-19 treatment.

The contract follows Pfizer's decision to expand the accessibility to its Covid-19 pills in low- and middle-income countries through MPP. The license was only granted for 35 companies in 12 countries. In Korea, two pharmaceutical companies, Celltrion and Dongbanf FTL, have obtained the license.

Under the license contract, Celltrion and Dongbang FTL will develop and produce generic drugs and supply them to up to 95 medium- and low-income countries. Celltrion, which is in charge of supplying finished drugs, is planning to complete the development as soon as possible and start commercialization. The finished products will be manufactured by Celltrion Pharmaceutical's Cheongju plant.

By securing the license, Korean companies are able to produce and supply all two generic drugs of oral Covid-19 treatments. In January, three Korean companies, Celltrion, Dongbang FTL, and Hanmi Pharmaceutical have secured a license for MSD's oral Covid-19 treatment.

Korea has also grown into global production hub by manufacturing Covid-19 vaccines on consignment.

Starting with the AstraZeneca vaccine, SK Bioscience has produced Novavax vaccine, becoming the center of Asian vaccine production.

Samsung Biologics currently produces and supplies Moderna's Covid-19 vaccines. It also produces antibody Covid-19 treatments of Lilly, GSK, and AstraZeneca. Hanmi Pharmaceutical will produce a plasmid DNA COVID-19 vaccine 'Zycov-D,' developed by India's Zydus Cadila, on consignment. (ANI/Global Economic)
Almost two weeks after the opposition parties submitted a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser on Sunday summoned session of the Lower House at the Parliament House in Islamabad on Friday. The joint opposition made the requisition for the session along with the submission of the no-confidence motion against the prime minister on March 8. The Speaker summoned the session under Article 54 (3) and Article 254 of the Constitution, The Nation reported. The 14-day constitutional deadline to convene the NA session on the Opposition requisition will expire on March 21. Clause 3 of Article 54 of the Pakistan Constitution says, "On a requisition signed by not less than one-fourth of the total membership of the National Assembly, the Speaker shall summon the National Assembly to meet, at such time and place as he thinks fit, within fourteen days of the receipt of the requisition; and when the Speaker has summoned the Assembly only he may prorogue it", The Nation reported. According to Article 254, "When any act or thing is required by the Constitution to be done within a particular period and it is not done within that period, the doing of the act or thing shall not be invalid or otherwise ineffective by reason only that it was not done within that period," the Pakistani newspaper reported. The opposition leader has expressed frustration over the delay in conducting voting on no-confidence against Khan and claimed that National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser is biased. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that the right to bring about a no-confidence motion is democratic and a constitutional right, adding that the votes cannot be bought this time, reported Geo News. "The speaker was biased since day one, and is still showing his bias," the senior leader claimed. (ANI)
Amid political instability in the country, Pakistan Opposition parties on Sunday lashed out at Prime Minister Imran Khan for using "religion card" in an effort to save his government. The Opposition parties also accused the Imran Khan government of launching a "propaganda campaign" through its social media team against the army over its "neutrality", Dawn newspaper reported. Bilawal also lashed out at Khan for using Islam for party politics and asked him not to use the slogan of Madinah state, the Pakistani newspaper reported. Meanwhile, opposition parties have also slammed National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser for not convening the assembly session within 14 days of its requisition to take up their no-confidence resolution against Khan and demanded that he should be tried under Article 6 of the Constitution, Dawn newspaper reported. The Pakistan Army's top brass, led by General Qamar Javed Bajwa, has reportedly asked Imran Khan to resign after the conference of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Earlier, Pakistan People's Party (PPP) chairperson and Opposition leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari hit out at the National Assembly (NA) Speaker Asad Qaisar for violating the Constitution by not convening the NA session within two weeks of requisition request by the Opposition, the Pakistani newspaper reported. The development comes after the Pakistan National Assembly Speaker summoned a session of the National Assembly of Pakistan in Islamabad on March 25 for a no-trust motion against Imran Khan. The Opposition parties in Pakistan are jettisoning mutual hatred to oust Imran Khan as they submitted the no-trust motion in the National Assembly secretariat on March 8. While the Imran Khan government has exuded confidence to defeat the no-trust motion, the Opposition is sure that they will oust Khan. The resolution needs to be passed by 172 Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) and the Opposition faces the tough task to bring that number not only in the National Assembly but also ensuring that they remain inside the Assembly hall during the voting time. Notably, if Imran Khan is voted out through the motion, it would create history as a vote of no-confidence has never been carried against the Prime Minister in Pakistan. (ANI)
A week before the Taliban seized Kabul, Payenda had resigned from his position after President Ashraf Ghani lashed out at him in a public meeting.

The finance minister didn't think the government was about to fall, however, he felt he had lost the Ashraf Ghani president's trust, The Washington Post reported.

Even after the months of the tragic fall of Afghanistan, the question of who was at fault still haunts Payenda. Payenda shares the blame with his fellow Afghans and himself for the swift collapse of the democratically elected government.

"We didn't have the collective will to reform, to be serious," he said.

The former minister also blamed the Americans for handing the country to the Taliban and betraying the enduring values that supposedly had animated their fight. "It eats at you inside," he said.

"Right now, I don't have any place," he said. "I don't belong here, and I don't belong there. It's a very empty feeling." (ani)

The Taliban in last August took control of Afghanistan since then country is in chaos and in dire need of humanitarian assistance.

Last week, Afghanistan was listed as the world's unhappiest country for the second year in a row.

The World Happiness Report, a publication of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, every year rates happiness with a survey of about 149 countries.

The annual report ranked Afghanistan as last among 149 countries surveyed, while Finland remained the world's happiest country. (ANI)
Pakistani police on Monday booked two Members of the Pakistan Assembly (MPAs) from Prime Minister Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government and several other party leaders for staging a protest outside the residence of a dissident PTI member of the National Assembly Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, local media reported. The members of the Sindh Assembly were booked by the police in the FIR at Boat Basin police station in Karachi under charges of threatening a person, ARY News reported. Moreover, the PTI workers also staged a protest outside the Clifton police station over the arrest of party leader Murad Sheikh and his family members. "Murad Sheikh's residence was raided without a search warrant and his family was also arrested," PTI Karachi leader and MPA Bilal Ghaffar said, adding that the party workers staged a protest at distance from the residence of Vankwani, ARY News reported. Speaking over the registration of cases against party MPAs, Minister for Ports and Shipping and PTI Sindh President Ali Zaidi said that the Sindh government is arresting PTI workers in Karachi and they have also nominated sitting MPAs in the FIR, ARY News reported. The protest come as dozens of PTI MNAs came out in open defiance against the ruling party ahead of the no-confidence motion vote in the National Assembly. Meanwhile, the Opposition parties in Pakistan had submitted the no-trust motion in the National Assembly secretariat on March 8. While the PTI government has exuded confidence to defeat the no-trust motion, the Opposition is sure that they will oust Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. (ANI)
Just days after the state shutdown in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Illinois farmer and brewer Matt Riggs faced a sober reckoning.

We were a draft-only brewery, so I had $100,000 worth of beer packaged in kegs and ready to go, and with the bars and restaurants, closed, I had zero market, said Riggs, owner of Riggs Beer Co. in Urbana.

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But as a fifth generation grain farmer whose family has witnessed the devastation wrought by droughts and floods dating back to the 19th century, the disaster that arrived in March 2020 prompted Riggs to pivot, not panic.

After locating a mobile canner, Riggs began transferring his kegged beer supply, that was originally headed to wholesalers, into aluminum cans, and before long, the companys new retail product was on the shelves at central Illinois grocers, including Wal-Mart and Schnucks.

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Young basil plants in a Gotham Greens greenhouse in Chicago's Pullman neighborhood. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

And since Riggs grows and harvests the grain for the brewery on 60 of the 316 acres at his family farm, the business managed to avoid supply chain disruptions that have hampered many food and beverage operations two years into the pandemic.

The pandemic forced our hand, because I had always liked being draft only, said Riggs, adding that the brewery is now seeing a resurgence in orders for its draft beer in kegs, due to stepped up demand from bars and restaurants.

Its been a weird couple of years, and I wish it would never have happened, but you have to deal with reality, Rigg said.

Despite enduring two years of pandemic-era hardships, many Illinois farmers like Riggs say their decisions to take risks and embrace new business models two years ago have led to some silver linings.

From local growers who avoided supply chain and transportation troubles that continue to impede large companies importing products from overseas, to the surging popularity of home delivered fruits and vegetables, many Illinois food purveyors say they are surviving, and in some instances, thriving.

For farmers who could change their business operations quickly, including the cashless delivery of local foods, it worked out well, and it might not have happened without the pandemic, said Douglas Gucker, a local food systems and small f arms educator at the University of Illinois extension.

Vegetables grow in the Gotham Greens greenhouse in Chicago's Pullman neighborhood. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

They had to quickly morph and change, and for some farmers, the transition went really well, and today, theyre bigger and better, Gucker said.

Given the dependence on weather and trade conditions, farmers face high levels of risk and a modest return in profits even during the best of times, Gucker said.

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But for Illinois farmers who took the initiative, and quickly created e-stores to take advantage of new demand for their products, the now ubiquitous grocery delivery model allowed them to continue operating, even during the early days of the pandemic.

As a farmer, in addition to having plan A, you need to always be ready to move to plan B and plan C as the situation warrants, Gucker said.

Farming is a rewarding life, and also full of risk, and they do this because they love growing and supplying food, but to live, they need to make a living too, Gucker said.

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For farmer John Peterson, the founder of Angelic Organics, the early days of the pandemic brought a 50% surge in demand for his organic vegetables, including a crew of new customers who were alarmed by empty shelves and supply chain shortages at their neighborhood grocery stores.

It was a very hard thing to do, and we were under a lot of pressure, but people seemed desperate, said Peterson, 72, who operates his community supported agriculture farm, known as a CSA, in Caledonia, Ill., about 80 miles northwest of Chicago.

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Some Illinois growers, including Gotham Greens, which operates two urban farms in Chicagos Pullman Park neighborhood, continue to see high demand.

A person holds Butterhead lettuce in the Gotham Greens greenhouse. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

With indoor farming, you take the climate variant out of the equation, and can deliver locally grown produce 365 days of the year, said Viraj Puri, founder and CEO of the New York City-based company, which operates a network of greenhouses across the U.S.

By embracing a sustainable agriculture ethos  the greenhouses use 95% less water and 97% less land than conventional farms  Gotham Greens has a dramatically shorter production and distribution supply chain, allowing them to deliver lettuce and basil within hours, Puri said.

We saw a huge bump in demand since the pandemic started, and it has been steadily increasing, so were doing our best to keep up, Puri said.

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Gotham Greens products grown at the Chicago greenhouses and sold at area supermarkets, including Whole Foods and Jewel-Osco, are not only fresher, but they have a longer shelf life, Puri said.

We have a lot of consistency and reliability in our supply chain, and at a lower cost, because were not having to ship our greens thousands of miles away from where theyre grown, Puri said.

Chicago Region Food System Fund has awarded more than $8.4 million in grants to 105 nonprofit organizations during the pandemic to address hunger and business disruption by supporting local food systems.

While the funding was originally planned as a series of grants awarded from June 2020 through early 2021, officials have extended the grantmaking through 2022.

What we really found interesting, was how quickly people pivoted after the initial shock, said Karen Lehman, director of Fresh Taste, which manages the fund.

One problem exacerbated by the pandemic was the negative impact of the consolidation of food processing and storage facilities across the U.S., Lehman said.

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Some of the meat processing plants didnt keep their workers safe, and they ended up with COVID, Lehman said.

There were bottlenecks and pileups, which really showed the need for decentralization, and not just for meat processing, but for grain millers too, Lehman said.

Plants that make up the Gotham Greens Gourmet Medley grow in the Gotham Greens greenhouse in Chicago's Pullman neighborhood. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

For Liz Stelk, executive director of the nonprofit Illinois Stewardship Alliance, a $227,000 grant from Lehmans organization will provide funding to 27 farms, all of which are within a 300-mile radius of Chicago.

Weve gotten a bunch of different proposals, everything from those in need of a really large, walk-in freezer for storage, those who need to extend their water lines for irrigation, and farms that need trucks to transport their products to markets, Stelk said.

The local food evolution is not only about buying and eating local produce, meat, dairy and other products, but improving equity, food access and economic development, said Raghela Scavuzzo, associate director of food systems development at the Illinois Farm Bureau.

Illinois had seen steady growth in the development of the local food infrastructure leading up to the pandemic, which I think is the reason why our farmers were really prepared and ready to pivot, Scavuzzo said.

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kcullotta@chicagotribune.com
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison on Monday held a constructive virtual summit where they reviewed the bilateral ties and shared their respective visions to advance this partnership, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said on Monday. During a special briefing following the conclusion of the India-Australia virtual summit between PM Modi and Morrison, Foreign Secretary said the Summit was very fruitful with a constructive, and warm exchange of views. "The virtual summit reflects the close ties that exist between India and Australia, as also the shared vision of both Prime Ministers to advance this bilateral partnership," Shringla said. "PM Modi and PM Scott Morrison stressed on the high priority they attach to our bilateral relationship and the keen focus to enhance the comprehensive strategic partnership further between our two countries," he added. Shringla said that the summit today gave an opportunity to review the progress made since the last meeting which took place in 2020. "In reiteration to commitment to a progressive Indo pacific region, both leaders discussed calibrating and cooperating with each other on support to pacific island countries for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief," Foreign Secretary said. "A significant outcome of the virtual summit was a decision to hold annual summits at the level of the Heads of Government, under the comprehensive strategic partnership. Australia would be the third country with which India will have an institutionalized annual summit," he added. Further, Shringla informed that the leaders exchanged their perspectives about regional and multilateral matters and global issues of mutual interest, including shared concerns such as terrorism. (ANI)
China has had its eye on Taiwan for far longer than President Vladimir Putin's malicious intentions for Ukraine. In fact, Putin's recent invasion showed that a Chinese attack on Taiwan may not just be hypothetical either, although there are many lessons that China needs to dissect and digest from Russia's messy invasion first. As local residents became jittery, Taiwanese officials vehemently reject the "Today Ukraine, tomorrow Taiwan" catchphrase. For years, the Taiwanese populace has been apathetic to the possibility of a Chinese invasion, but that has noticeably changed as Chairman Xi Jinping upped the tempo of provocative coercion. The danger of an imminent People's Liberation Army (PLA) invasion is negligible right now, but that will change as China continues to strengthen its military vis-a-vis the USA and Taiwan. Professor Akio Takahara at the Graduate School of Law and Politics, University of Tokyo told an audience in a webinar hosted by the German Marshall Fund: "I think the Chinese are observing very carefully many things about this war in Ukraine...for example, the way of fighting, what sort of weapons are useful and effective, why are the Russians not successful, what's working for the Ukrainian army. All these military aspects of the war are certainly of close concern and observation by the Chinese side. But also the economic impact of it, the sanctions that are being imposed on Russia." Takahara continued: "At the moment, I think the major Taiwan policy is not the use of force, but rather the non-military means of infiltration and the Sun Tzu art of war - winning without actual fighting - so that's going to continue. But at the same time, all these observations and studying is done by the Chinese side." What are the similarities between Ukraine and Taiwan? Obvious are China's territorial claims over Taiwan. Xi, following his Chinese Communist Party (CCP) predecessors, has not discounted the use of military force to forcibly reunite Taiwan. Like Ukraine with NATO, Beijing lists growing Taiwan-USA ties as a provocation. As with Ukraine, Taiwan lives under the dark shadow of an authoritarian neighbor. President Tsai Ying-wen said in late January, "Taiwan has been facing military threats and intimidation from China for a long time. Therefore, we empathize with Ukraine's situation..." Certainly, Taiwan's sovereign status is not as clear as Ukraine's. Taiwan is not recognized by the United Nations, for example. Nonetheless, despite a lack of diplomatic recognition, nearly all recognize that Taiwan is a self-governed, independent country.The Ukraine war reminds us that deterrence failed, and the threat of sanctions was inadequate at stopping Putin's personal regime. China, too, is ruled by a ruthless autocrat. Western assumptions that China would balance the pros and cons need to be reexamined, as dictators surrounded by sycophants may be unpredictable. There are significant differences between Kyiv's and Taipei's plights, however. Taiwan is important to the USA as its ninth-largest trading partner, compared to Ukraine's 67th place. Nor does the USA have a defense pact with Ukraine, whereas its relationship with Taipei is predicated upon the Taiwan Relations Act 1979. Taiwan's geographical position is critical too, especially as the USA has declared China its greatest strategic competitor. It is a link in the so-called First Island Chain, and nearby Japan and South Korea (treaty allies of the USA) would not want to see Taiwan fall to China, as this would interdict their sea lines of communication to the rest of the world. Thus, Ian Easton, senior director of the Project 2049 Institute, said Taiwan "occupies the most critical strategic terrain arguably on the planet today". Importantly, what are China's leaders learning as Russian military bogs down? Lessons from this fluid warzone will take time to crystallize, but one obvious area is logistics. Russia has faced formidable challenges resupplying troops that only had to drive across a land border. On the other hand, the PLA will have to bridge the 160km-wide Taiwan Strait. Then, once they arrive, Chinese troops will find Taiwan characterized by mountainous and urban terrain well suited to defense.Moving troops, vehicles and daily supplies across or over this waterway represents a huge logistical obstacle for the PLA. Furthermore, China would have to land amphibious forces under fire somewhere in Taiwan's ten major ports and only 14 beaches suitable for invasion. Another interesting aspect is the almost universal failure by analysts, including professional militaries, in assessing Russia's and Ukraine's fighting capabilities. The former was overhyped, while the latter is demonstrating unexpected resolve. One wonders what this means for China versus Taiwan. Could conventional analyses that the PLA would smash Taiwan's armed forces be overblown? That is certainly something for the CCP to mull. Furthermore, Russia has recent wartime experience in Chechnya, Syria, Georgia, South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Crimea, yet its difficulties in Ukraine are manifold. The PLA, on the other hand, has not fought a war since 1979 when it invaded Vietnam, so there must be questions over its untested ability to prosecute a full-blown invasion of Taiwan. There are differences in the morale of Russian and Chinese soldiers too. The PLA is unremittingly indoctrinated in the righteousness of its cause to one day conquer Taiwan. The specter of dispirited young Russian conscripts surrendering in Ukraine is unlikely to repeat itself in a Taiwan contingency. Russia's lackluster use of missiles is surprising, especially in its opening salvo. This could reflect a lack of weapon stocks, with the Russian military now resorting to its favored tactic of bombardment by artillery, rockets and dumb bombs. The need to achieve air superiority from the start, and destroying command-and-control nodes, is vital for China, as would the suppression and destruction of air defenses and airfields. China must also be cognizant of the international community rallying around Ukraine. They may not be involved in direct fighting, but they are supplying materiel, and Taiwan would presumably attract similar support. The Ukraine war has become a rallying point for NATO and the USA, something Beijing would not want to happen in Taiwan. Like it or not, that process has already started; the harder China pushes, the more sympathy Taiwan's plight engenders. Ukraine's fierce resistance will be an encouragement that Taiwan can do the same. China needs to take this into account, especially as it reinvigorates Taiwan's will to defend itself. China has invested a lot of psychological-warfare effort in convincing Taiwan that resistance is futile, but that work is being unraveled every day the Ukraine war continues. In fact, a Taiwan International Strategic Study Society survey in March found that 70.2% of Taiwanese respondents were willing to defend against a Chinese attack. This was up dramatically from 40.3% asked the same question late last year. American ambiguity about defending Taiwan may no longer be sufficient to deter China either, as Putin's gambit has shown that the risk calculus of authoritarian regimes is hugely unpredictable. Former Japanese leader Shinzo Abe recently argued, "It is time to abandon this ambiguity strategy. The people of Taiwan share our universal values, so I think the US should firmly abandon its ambiguity." Taiwan must even consider the possibility that the USA will not intervene. Despite President Joe Biden's rare departure from ambiguity when he promised the USA would help defend Taiwan, Beijing will have noted that the nuclear card is a powerful one to play. Early on, Putin mobilized his nuclear forces, and China is currently in the process of doubling its nuclear warheads by 2030. Could Xi threaten the use of nuclear weapons to keep the USA away? Interestingly, the USA recently sent a high-level delegation to Taiwan as a gesture of support. Mike Mullen, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Tsai, "I do hope by being here with you, we can reassure you and your people, as well as our allies and partners in the region, that the United States stands firm behind its commitments." As it stands, there is probably little in Putin's Ukraine invasion that would encourage China to stage an all-out attack on Taiwan.This is especially true as Taipei will be learning lessons too on how to more effectively counter China. Taiwan has already created a task force to learn lessons and, with its defense budget just a fraction of China's, it needs to invest in asymmetric capabilities to get the most bang from its buck. Taiwan will need to greatly expand its drone fleet, including loitering munitions, for reconnaissance and attack purposes. More land- and air-launched anti-ship missiles are necessary to hold any PLA Navy amphibious invasion fleet at bay. Submarines are critical too, with Taiwan currently building eight of them. Taiwan promised to double its annual missile production capacity, up to nearly 500 weapons this year, including land-attack cruise missiles. Taiwan can easily detect PLA build-ups that would presage any invasion, and such missiles could be targeted as forces mass at airfields and ports. Small, man-portable weapons that do not require intensive training are proving their worth in Ukraine too. Since 2017, the USA has authorized USD18 billion in Foreign Military Sales to Taiwan, plus another USD2.3 billion in direct commercial sales. Weapons the USA will look to sell are more man-portable air defense missiles, anti-tank missiles, reconnaissance systems, sea mines and coastal defense/cruise missiles. Stronger US military deterrence near Taiwan might be necessary as well, such as carrier strike groups. Currently, the Taiwanese and American militaries do not train together. Although they share some equipment, and Taiwanese command-and-control equipment is designed to plug into the US system, there are serious question marks over the two countries' interoperability. Taiwan will need to greatly improve its mobilization processes, its training of reservists and perhaps even create whole-of-society territorial defense forces. As has occurred in Ukraine, "citizen soldiers" would play a key role in resisting a PLA invasion.Only five countries actively supported Russia's invasion in the UN General Assembly vote. China must see the possibility that it would be internationally isolated if it started a shooting war - after all, how many true friends does it actually have? Conversely, the sheer size of China's economic power, compared to Russia's, may mean a less unanimous international response against a Chinese invasion. China has actively expressed sympathy for Russia, blaming NATO and the USA for Putin's invasion. The CCP ignores the hypocrisy in its position, and is actually supporting a coordinated joint disinformation campaign with Russia, such as absurd accusations of the existence of American biological weapon laboratories in Ukraine. For China, though, a Rubicon looms before it. Dr. Evan Madeiros of Georgetown University, speaking at the same German Marshall Fund webinar, said: "I think...the Chinese response to Ukraine, may become the sort of iconic example of Chinese foreign policy in the 'New Era'...because China's position on Ukraine is...evolving, I think, in very dangerous directions, dangerous for the stability of the US-China relationship, dangerous in terms of whether or not it will contribute to resolution of the awful war in Ukraine, and really goes to broader questions about the global distribution of power. China faces some very significant choices right now in its foreign policy and, depending on how it chooses, global politics may be changed for decades." China has not transferred any equipment to Russia yet, as Putin requested, but a serious threshold will be crossed if it does, signifying Sino-Russian willingness to actively tear down Western norms and institutions. "Providing military assistance to Russia for its aggression in Ukraine, I think, would close the book on that," warned Madeiros. Takahara added, "From Xi Jinping's point of view, Russia is the most important partner in competing with the United States, so therefore they cannot accuse Russia. They are at a crossroads as it were, or a catch 22 kind of situation, and that's based on the worldview of Xi Jinping who's getting closer and closer to the Russian worldview." Takahara spoke of division in China's leadership, as some CCP members advocate ditching Putin as he turns into a liability. "If the war continues in this way, I think increasingly China will lose credibility in international society. And also, what's going to happen to Putin and his administration?" If Xi continues to support a sinking Putin administration, he will sustain damage at home. "I think this risk is very big for Xi Jinping." Undoubtedly, Russia's self-inflicted military morass is causing concern in Zhongnanhai. Beijing is prickly about Western initiatives, especially those emanating from Washington DC. Any change in policy would have to come straight from Xi, but he does not want Russia humiliated and he will not set aside his friendship with Putin to side with the West. For all its excoriation of the "Cold War mentality", China is perpetrating it as it supports an aggressive Russian invader.Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov admitted: "This is not about Ukraine at all, but the world order. The current crisis is a fateful, epoch-making moment in modern history. It reflects the battle over what the world order will look like." The same epithet could be applied to Taiwan in a future day. (ANI)
India and Australia will hold annual summits at the level of the Heads of Government, under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla announced on Monday. Addressing a special briefing after the conclusion of the India-Australia virtual summit, Shringla added that Australia would be the third country with which India will have an institutionalized annual summit. "A significant outcome of the virtual summit was a decision to hold annual summits at the level of the Heads of Government, under the comprehensive strategic partnership. Australia would be the third country with which India will have an institutionalized annual summit," said Foreign Secretary during a special briefing following the conclusion of the virtual summit between PM Modi and Morrison. Shringla informed that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between Prasar Bharati and the Special Broadcasting Service of Australia. "It would allow for the exchange of programs, expertise in this sector and would facilitate daily slots on TV channels in Australia for DD India, DD News and DD Sahyadri," he said. Foreign Secretary informed that a Letter of Intent was signed between the two countries to work towards concluding the migration and mobility partnership agreement on facilitating migration and mobility between the two countries. "It's something that the two PMs said would be an area of great interest," he said. Shringla also informed that the two Prime Ministers agreed that they would be increasing cooperation between India's National Investment and Infrastructure Fund and Australia's Pension and Sovereign Fund. "It's important because of our interest in attracting Australian investments in our infrastructure development." "India will offer the same tax benefits for Australia's Pension and Sovereign Fund in India as is given in Australia. We are willing to match the tax benefits that Australia gives to its Sovereign and Pension Funds. Once they invest in India, they'll get similar benefits," he added. Earlier today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison concluded the 2nd India-Australia Virtual Summit. The two leaders committed to closer cooperation in trade, critical minerals, migration and mobility, education. (ANI)
"The relevant government institution has requested that Bing China suspend the auto-suggest feature in mainland China for seven days in accordance with Chinese laws," the China office of the search engine said in a statement.

In December, the Chinese authorities ordered Bing to suspend the function for 30 days.

In November, Internet search engine Yahoo pulled out of China due to the increasingly challenging business and legal environment. The Yahoo pullout came on the very same day as the implementation of China's Personal Information Protection Law, which curbs data collection by technology companies.

Yahoo was the second US technology firm to downsize operations there in less than a month following the closure of Microsoft Corp.'s LinkedIn social-networking site. In mid-October Microsoft Corp.'s LinkedIn said it was leaving China due to the country's tougher censorship regulations. (ANI/Sputnik)
Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison were concerned about the violent situation, protection of the citizens, and humanitarian access in Myanmar during the India-Australia virtual summit on Monday. Addressing a special briefing following the conclusion of the summit, Foreign Secretary said both sides spoke about supporting the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) initiative in Myanmar. "Both sides were concerned about the violent situation (in Myanmar) and that the civil population should be protected and humanitarian access to Myanmar was also emphasised," Shringla said. "We stressed that our relationship with Myanmar is historical and based on people to people ties. Both sides spoke about supporting the ASEAN initiative in Myanmar and the International community must also come together for humanitarian assistance to Myanmar," Foreign Secretary said today. The ASEAN's five-point consensus, which includes dialogue, humanitarian assistance, and an end to violence, was reached last year. The Myanmar military junta took control of the country following a coup on February 1 last year. Myanmar's junta has carried out a brutal nationwide crackdown to suppress those opposing military rule. The junta's systematic and pervasive abuses, including mass killings, torture, arbitrary arrests, and indiscriminate attacks on civilians, amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) had said. Since the coup, security forces have killed at least 1,600 people and detained more than 12,000, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Over 500,000 people have been internally displaced since the coup, while tens of thousands have fled as refugees to Thailand and India, the HRW report had further said citing United Nations refugee agency, United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) data. (ANI)
"#LAMITYE22: #IndianArmy contingent arrived on Mahe Island this morning for participating in the 9th edition of Joint exercise LAMITYE-2022, going to be conducted from March 22 to 31 with the #Seychelles Defence Forces," Indian in Seychelles tweeted.

'Lamitye' in the local dialect 'Creole' means friendship.

The eighth bilateral exercise between the two nations was held in April 2018.

India and Seychelles have been conducting this joint exercise since 2001 intending to enhance military cooperation and interoperability between the armies of the two countries.

The focus of the ongoing exercise is to conduct counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations in the semi-urban environment under the United Nations (UN) Charter. (ANI)
The third edition of Connect-IN (India-Nepal) International Entrepreneurship Conclave aimed at bringing Nepali and Indian entrepreneurs together is set to be held in Kathmandu on March 23, the organizers have announced. This conclave is co-organized by the Clock Business Innovations and Embassy of India in Kathmandu. "Our Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) had a few years ago highlighted India's policy towards startups and innovation. He (Indian Prime Minister) said that we have a million problems in our country but also we have a billion minds to solve them. So that's the very spirit behind our support for startups in our government policy and Industrial policy as well," Abhishek Upadhyay, first secretary- commerce at the Indian mission in Kathmandu told reporters. As per the organizers, the event will celebrate stories about passion, hard work, and commitment to fight the odds, especially during the start of any entrepreneurial journey. Before the conclave, the participants had to go through three phases, which are Pre-incubation, Incubation, and Idea audition, as per the organizers. During the pre-incubation period, the Clock Business Innovation went around the nation, on an ideation tour, calling for the application and selection of startups. Following it, an incubation program was held where 20 startups were mentored and trained by personalities from the entrepreneurial ecosystem for nine days. After completion of the incubation period, the next was the Idea audition where the 20 startups presented their business idea to the jury and 4 of them have been selected for the finale. The finale which will be held on Wednesday will be inaugurated in presence of Nepal's Minister for Information and Communication, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki along with the Indian Ambassador to Nepal Vinay Mohan Kwatra. (ANI)
A new school building of Shree Sinam Higher Secondary School was inaugurated in Nepal, built under the Indian government grant assistance. The new building was inaugurated by the First Secretary in the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu, Rohit Mishra along with House of Representatives of Nepal, Yogesh Bhattarai, and constituent assembly member Bhupendra Thebe in the presence of officials from local government representatives, local community leaders, teachers, other officials, parents, and children, according to the Indian embassy of Nepal said in the press release. This is one of the 75 projects that is being inaugurated this year in Nepal as part of "India@75 Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav" which celebrates 75 years of India's independence. The school building is located at Sinam in Taplejung District of Nepal and its new building has been constructed at a cost of Nepali Rupees 31.00 million under India-Nepal Development Cooperation with the Indian Government's financial assistance. The school was set up in 1950 and currently has 1600 students, the statement added. "Since 2003, India has taken up over 523 HICDPs in Nepal and has completed 467 projects. Amongst these, 78 Projects are in Province-1, including two projects in Taplejung District," according to the press release. The press release further stated that the Indian government has gifted 7 ambulances to various health posts in the district of Nepal. "As close neighbours, India and Nepal share wide-ranging & multi-sectoral cooperation. The implementation of this project reflects the continued support of the Government of India in bolstering the efforts of the Government of Nepal in the upliftment of its people in priority sector," according to the press release. (ANI)
Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, the current special envoy of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) reached Myanmar's capital Naypyitaw on Monday, for a three-day visit to the country. Prak Sokhonn is representing ASEAN which has reached a five-point consensus on Myanmar in April 2021. He is on his first official mission to the country. According to the statement issued by the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Deputy Prime Minister will be accompanied by various dignitaries including Secretary-General of ASEAN, Lee Yam Ming, Executive Director of the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management, and a number of senior government officials. The first visit of the special envoy will be aimed at creating a favourable condition leading to the end of violence as well as the utmost restraint by all parties - distributing humanitarian assistance with the support and coordination from ASEC and AHA Centre, and encouraging the political consultations/dialogues among all parties concerned. The visit will take into consideration as basic documents the ASEAN 5 Point-Consensus, the outcomes of the working visit of Samdech Techo Prime Minister Hun Sen to Myanmar on January 7-8, as per the statement. The Myanmar military junta took control of the country following a coup on February 1 last year. Myanmar's junta has carried out a brutal nationwide crackdown to suppress those opposing military rule. The junta's systematic and pervasive abuses, including mass killings, torture, arbitrary arrests, and indiscriminate attacks on civilians, amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) had said. Since the coup, security forces have killed at least 1,600 people and detained more than 12,000, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Over 500,000 people have been internally displaced since the coup, while tens of thousands have fled as refugees to Thailand and India, the HRW report had further said citing United Nations refugee agency, United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) data. (ANI)
Pakistan Opposition has lashed out at Prime Minister Imran Khan for lauding India's independent foreign policy and said that he was the one who had once begged US President Joe Biden for a phone call, revealing the truth of Islamabad's so-called foreign policy. Addressing reporters on Monday, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice-President Maryam Nawaz said "you were begging Biden for a phone call and now you tell us about your so-called independent foreign policy." On Sunday, during a public rally in the Malakand area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Imran Khan said that foreign policy of India was independent and for the betterment of people. Addressing the rally, Khan lauded India and said that it imported oil from Russia despite American sanctions and is an ally of the US as well. Khan told his supporters that his foreign policy would also favour the people of Pakistan. According to media reports, Pakistan's unsuccessful efforts to convince the Americans for a phone call from US President, after Biden was sworn in, had humiliated the country at the international level. (ANI)
People often ask if I enjoy writing negative restaurant reviews, and the answer is almost always no. Who wants to eat bad food on purpose?

But what about taking a whack at a restaurant from one of the worlds most recognizable celebrity chefs, who decided to open the second location of a 10-year-old Las Vegas concept? Also, did you hear that the hot dog on the menu has ketchup on it?

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By some delightful cosmic coincidence, Gordon Ramsay Burger takes the place of another celebrity burger chain, Wahlburgers, owned by everyones favorite funky bunch of burger-slinging brothers, the Wahlbergs.

Gordon Ramsay Burger in the Near North neighborhood on March 16, 2022. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

Of course, Gordon Ramsay has slightly more notoriety as a chef. Though probably best known for berating contestants on Hells Kitchen, a cooking competition show thats been running since 2005, Ramsay had a celebrated cooking career before he ever appeared on camera. In fact, his restaurants currently have seven Michelin stars: three for Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in London; two for Le Pressoir dArgent in Bourdeaux, France; plus one each for Gordon Ramsay au Trianon in Versailles, France and Petrus in London.

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[ Review: Armitage Alehouse is a dreamy escape that deserves better food ]

You may notice all of his most acclaimed projects are overseas. In the United States, Ramsay has focused on approachable restaurants, like this burger concept, Gordon Ramsay Fish & Chips, Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill and the slightly more upscale Hells Kitchen. In fact, Ramsay is getting ready to open a Chicago location of that last one in early 2023.

Call it a cash grab if youd like, but Gordon Ramsay Burger is packed. Thats true when I dined for lunch on a Saturday, and again on a random Monday night. But would anyone be there if it werent for the name on the sign, even if there is very, very little chance of seeing him in the kitchen flipping burgers (or the bird)?

Speaking as someone who has eaten many hundreds of burgers around Chicago over the past five years, I have some thoughts. As Ive hopefully made clear, my favorite burger spots lavish as much attention as possible on the beef. That means no frozen patties, and it helps if the meat is ground in-house. Buns should be soft, yet structurally sound. While toppings, especially onions, are undoubtedly important, they are best in the supporting role.

[ Readers Choice Food Awards: Vote now for your favorite Chicago restaurants, bars, burgers and more ]

But it seems you cant be a chef-inspired burger joint without most of the attention being squandered on the toppings. The menu features a half-dozen burger options, and each has to have a whole host of ingredients. So the Forest Burger ($15) arrives with Swiss cheese, mushrooms, a fried egg, arugula and a porcini aioli, while the Hells Kitchen Burger ($17) has mozzarella, roasted jalapenos, roasted tomato and avocado. The quality of each component is high, but they also steamroll over the flavor of the meat.

Javier Fuentes grills burgers at Gordon Ramsay Burger onMarch 16, 2022. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

Which turns out to be a shame, because the beef at Gordon Ramsay Burger is good. Instead of an onslaught of grease, each bite displays a deeply savory base thats balanced by a slight mineral tang. The 7-ounce patties are made from a mix of chuck, brisket and short rib, and while the kitchen declined to tell me where exactly the meat comes from, I was assured its from some of the best farms out of the Midwest.

[ Review: Is Chicagos most exciting new steakhouse in East Pilsen? A steak-obsessed critic hopes so. ]

But what really sets Gordon Ramsay Burger apart from the pack is the unique cooking process. Chefs baste the beef in butter while its still on the grill, causing it to pick up captivating charred and smoky aromas. Of course, Ramsay isnt personally back there basting the beef with butter, but hes hired a crew to replicate the process.

Theres no build-your-own-burger option on the menu, so the best bet is to order the Backyard Burger ($15) and dispense with the lettuce and tomato, leaving the American cheese, sliced red onion, and crunchy house pickles. Its not the best burger in the area, and its certainly not the cheapest, but fellow burger freaks should probably try it at least once.

The Backyard Burger at Gordon Ramsay Burger. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

The rest of the short menu alternates between a few genuine hits and a fair number of fatty misses. I figured the Southern Yardbird ($17) would be a fried chicken sandwich, but instead its a ground chicken burger, something I never need to try again. The street corn dip ($12) promises elote-style corn, but the meager amount of corn is swamped in an overly creamy sauce, while the crumbled assortment of tortilla chips on the side looked like Id gotten the dregs from the bottom of the bag.

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[ The 25 best burgers in Chicago, ranked ]

Much better are the onion rings ($10), which arrive stacked high on a stick. Featuring a crackly crust and a showering of salty, funky Parmesan, they are much more intriguing than the fries ($7), which pale in comparison to Chicagos many great fresh-cut options. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the sticky toffee shake ($9), made with brown butter ice cream, drizzled with toffee sauce and topped with whipped cream.

Onion rings at Gordon Ramsay Burger arrive stacked high on a stick. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

No review would be complete without mentioning that Gordon Ramsay puts ketchup on the standard Hot Dawg ($13). In fact, there are two hot dogs on the menu and both have the red stuff slathered on them. This seems intentionally provocative considering Chicagos international reputation for being anti-ketchup. But do Chicagoans really hate ketchup that much? The truth is that there are only a few militantly anti-ketchup hot dog stands  Jimmys Red Hots and Gene and Judes come to mind  while the vast majority will add it without blinking, even if they silently judge you while doing so.

[ Review: The Wolfhound Bar and Kitchen redefines Irish food in Chicago, just in time for St. Patricks Day ]

Whether or not ketchup completely smothers the flavor of the hot dog is a topic too big to deal with here, but theres no doubt it adds a lot of sugar. Then again, so does neon-green relish. Honestly, it doesnt really matter, because Ramsay should have spent more time worrying about the bun. Chicagos best hot dogs come on soft, steamed buns, which cradle the hot dog without getting in the way. But the sesame seed bun thats toasted on two sides fights with the oversize sausage, distracting from the main event.

Considering the first location opened in 2012, youd think some of these issues would have been ironed out by now. But if youre up for taking a roundabout route for a straightforward burger, you cant argue with good beef.

Gordon Ramsay Burger

2 E. Ontario St.

312-971-8931

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gordonramsayrestaurants.com

Open: Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Sunday, to 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. >

Prices: Appetizers, $10-$15; burgers, $15-$19; cocktails, $13-$15

Noise: Conversation friendly

Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible, bathrooms on the first floor

Tribune rating: 2 stars (very good) for the beef, 1 star (good) for everything else.

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Ratings key: Four stars, outstanding; three stars, excellent; two stars, very good; one star, good; no stars, unsatisfactory. Meals are paid for by the Tribune.

nkindelsperger@chicagotribune.com

Big screen or home stream, takeout or dine-in, Tribune writers are here to steer you toward your next great experience. Sign up for your free weekly Eat. Watch. Do. newsletter here.
Pakistani power utilities sought permission to raise Pakistani Rupees (Rs) 44 billion additional funds in April by charging extra tariff from the customers of power distribution companies (Discos) and K-Electric. The Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA), on behalf of all Discos, sought over 117 per cent increase or Rs5 in their Fuel Cost Adjustment (FCA) to Rs 9.3 per unit for electricity sold in January to generate about Rs 39 billion additional funds while K-Electric demanded Rs 3.45 per unit additional FCA for electricity sold in February to generate about Rs 4 billion revenue, Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported. The CPPA has claimed that consumers were charged a reference fuel cost of Rs 4.25 per unit in January, but the actual cost was Rs 9.2 per unit, hence an additional charge of about Rs 5 per unit to consumers. Over these demands, National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) summoned both of them for separate public hearings on March 31 and April 4 to examine if their demands for higher fuel cost adjustment (FCA) are justified. If both the demands would be approved by the Nepra, then the rise would nullify the impact of the discount that was announced by Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan for four months, according to Dawn. If the Pakistani government approves the higher electricity rates, then the customers have to pay the revised bills from April, except those using less than 50 units per month. Earlier, Nepra on March 10 allowed ex-Wapda distribution companies to charge an additional fuel cost of Rs 5.94 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) unit from consumers for consumption during January this year. Nepra noted that the energy from costlier residual fuel oil (RFO) and high-speed diesel (HSD)-based power plants were generated of over PKR 43.62 billion during January 2022, Pakistani newspaper Daily Times reported on Friday. Nepra in February has said that the power tariff can be increased by Rs 5.95 against the demand of Rs 6.10. Even, in January, Nepra allowed ex-Wapda an increase of Rs 4.3 per kWh in the applicable tariff of power distribution companies on account of variations in fuel charges for November 2021, Pakistani newspaper The Express Tribune reported on January 14, 2022. (ANI)
38-year-old Siddiqui, who was the Chief Photographer for Reuters in India, was killed in Kandahar province's Spin Boldak district while covering the violence in Afghanistan.

"On Tuesday, 22 March 2022, Danish Siddiqui's parents Akhtar Siddiqui and Shahida Akhtar will initiate a legal action to investigate his killing and bring those responsible, including high level commanders and leaders of the Taliban, to justice," said a statement issued by the Cicero Chambers, a New Delhi-based law firm.

"These acts and this killing constitutes not only a murder but a crime against humanity and a war crime. This was not an isolated incident. The Taliban's military code of conduct, published as the Layha, has a policy of attacking civilians, including journalists. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan documented over 70,000 civilian casualties attributed to the Taliban," the law firm said.

Siddiqui, a native of New Delhi, is survived by his wife Rike and two children.

Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla had condemned the killing of Indian photojournalist and also extended condolences to the bereaved family at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting.

"We condemn the killing of Indian photographer Danish Siddiqui while he was on a reporting assignment in Kandahar in Afghanistan yesterday. I extend our sincere condolences to the bereaved family," Shringla said in July. (ANI)
Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial said the Supreme Court has not yet been convinced about interfering in the proceedings of the National Assembly. The CJP said this while hearing a petition moved by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) seeking the court's intervention to prevent "anarchy" in the country, The News International reported. A no-trust motion is being moved in the assembly and the ruling party and the Opposition have announced rallies in Islamabad. After hearing the arguments by the SCBA counsel, CJP said, "these are the internal matters of the assembly," adding that it would be better to fight these battles in the National Assembly, The News International reported. CJP Bandial also said that the Supreme Court of Pakistan wants to protect everybody's voting rights regarding the Pakistani government's decision that prevents the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers to vote in the no-confidence motion. Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) President Shahbaz Sharif, Pakistan People's Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Jamiat Ulema-e Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman were also present during the hearing. The opposition leader has expressed frustration over the delay in conducting voting on no-confidence against Khan and claimed that National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser is biased. Earlier, on Monday, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that the right to bring about a no-confidence motion is democratic and a constitutional right, adding that the votes cannot be bought this time, reported Geo News."The speaker was biased since day one, and is still showing his bias," the senior leader claimed. Meanwhile, Pakistani PM has to face the no-confidence motion on Friday as the National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser on Sunday summoned the session of the Lower House at the Parliament House in Islamabad on Friday. The joint opposition made the requisition for the session along with the submission of the no-confidence motion against the prime minister on March 8. The Speaker summoned the session under Article 54 (3) and Article 254 of the Constitution, The Nation reported.The 14-day constitutional deadline to convene the NA session on the Opposition requisition will expire on March 21. (ANI)
The Pakistan government and judiciary have come under criticism as several incidents show that justice in Islamabad is served only to powerful individuals and under media and social pressure. Citing the latest example of Noor Muqaddam case, on February 24, a court in Islamabad sentenced Zahir Jaffer to death penalty and his servants were sentenced to 10 years in jail, while his parents were not charged and were acquitted by the court. The case was highly followed in Pakistan and its verdict was extremely anticipated in the country. The murder of Noor came in the spotlight after social media users and friends of the victim started a trend after her brutal murder by Jaffer in his house in Islamabad, according to Pakistan Daily. After much uproar, the Pakistan government announced a speedy trial for the murder and the verdict came after eight months. This shows that the case reached its ultimate point of death sentence to the murderer because the father of Noor was a powerful man as he is an ex-envoy of Pakistan. Apart from that there was a lot of media and society pressure and focus on this case. According to the analysis, the verdict could have been different if the above-mentioned factors were not involved in it. A recent example of this is Qandeel Baloch's murderer's release from jail. The release of her killer shows that the victim's family was not a powerful entity or personality who could follow the case, and being from an unprivileged section of the society, the mother may have no other option than to forgive him. According to Pakistan daily, the country at present stands at 153rd position out of 156 countries in the gender equality index and this is enough to show the plight of women in the country. As per UN estimate, only 1-2.5 per cent cases of crimes against women reached to conviction, which shows how a huge majority decides to remain silent. Experts say that even though the decision in the Noor Muqaddam case is a welcome one but still there is a long way to go for Pakistan. (ANI)
Pakistan People's Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Sunday accused Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan of being a 'foreign funded' agent, who was installed in the country to destroy Pakistan's economy and foreign policy. He was speaking at a press conference at the Zardari House, The News International reported. "You are a foreign-sponsored agent who was planted in our system to destroy the country's economy, slow down the work on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), and isolate Pakistan at the international level with wrong policies," Bilawal was quoted as saying by The News international. Bilawal accused the Pakistani PM of copying the foreign policy from India and said, "He is adopting the foreign policy of India. What is the difference between his foreign policy and that of India right now?" "You have distanced Pakistan from its long-term friends, the United States and the European Union, with which we have trade relations worth billions of dollars," he added. Bilawal said that he will not forgive the Pakistani people who vote in favour of Pakistani PM in the no-confidence motion. "Those who will stand against you will be remembered as a hero in history who helped take down a corrupt and incompetent regime. History will remember those who stood with the Constitution and democratic values..." Bilawal was quoted as saying by The News International. Bilawal stated that the Pakistani PM is running away from the no-confidence motion but they will not allow him to play with the future of their country. The PPP chairman said the PM is running away from the motion but "we will not allow him to play with the future of our country." Bilawal claimed that the Pakistani government considers itself above the constitution and said, "However, there is an institution in the country that is ready to protect our constitutional rights, democratic rights, our votes, and the parliamentarians." Earlier, on Monday, while addressing the reporters, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice-President Maryam Nawaz lashed out at Pakistani PM for lauding India's independent foreign policy and said "you were begging Biden for a phone call and now you tell us about your so-called independent foreign policy." Meanwhile, Pakistani PM has to face the no-confidence motion on Friday as the National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser on Sunday summoned the session of the Lower House at the Parliament House in Islamabad on Friday. The joint opposition made the requisition for the session along with the submission of the no-confidence motion against the prime minister on March 8. The Speaker summoned the session under Article 54 (3) and Article 254 of the Constitution, The Nation reported. (ANI)
"Why not an application be submitted for action against you under the PECA Ordinance?" Daily Times quoted CPNE President Kazam Khan as saying in a statement while addressing Imran Khan.

CPNE president added that no one has abused the freedom of expression more than Khan.

"Mr Prime Minister, you must be well aware of the punishment of slander in Riasat-e-Madinah. The court is requested to review its verdict of Sadiq and Amin regarding the prime minister," he stated according to the media outlet.

The Prime Minister was asked by the CPNE president to name media outlets that are receiving domestic and foreign aid.

"Not just names, give evidence against them as well ... otherwise you need to tender an apology," he told the prime minister, adding that any restrictions on freedom of the press and baseless allegations against media will be challenged at every forum. "CPNE will also approach the court for legal proceedings under the defamation laws." (ANI)
Ahead of no-confidence vote, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has been concerned about political stability as several members of the National Assembly (MNAs) have deserted Khan's party and joined the opposition ranks. Dozens of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf lawmakers came out in open defiance against the ruling party ahead of the no-confidence motion vote in the National Assembly. Notably, in 342-seat National Assembly, the PTI-led ruling coalition has 178 seats and the opposition has 163 seats. As many as 172 seats are required to maintain a majority in the assembly; however, if seven or more lawmakers from the ruling coalition switch loyalties, Imran Khan would lose the majority, according to media reports. The joint opposition made the requisition for the session along with the submission of the no-confidence motion against the prime minister on March 8. The Speaker summoned the session under Article 54 (3) and Article 254 of the Constitution, The Nation reported. According to analyses, whatever the outcome of the no-confidence vote, Khan's leadership of the PTI is already significantly dented, and the party may be staring at a period of political oblivion. In Pakistan's ever-dynamic political situation, last week proved to be particularly precarious for the PTI and set the stage for the political showdown later this week. (ANI)
Nuland met Shringla at Hyderabad House in New Delhi as a follow up on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's discussions with President Joe Biden in September 2021, the two sides reviewed progress in various domains under the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership.

Both sides welcomed regular high-level dialogue and engagement, including productive meetings of bilateral mechanisms which led to intensifying of cooperation across all pillars of the bilateral agenda, the statement read.

According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the FOC provided a valuable opportunity to discuss contemporary regional issues pertaining to South Asia, the Indo-Pacific region, West Asia, and the situation in Ukraine, among others.

Foreign Secretary Shringla and Under Secretary of State Nuland agreed to maintain regular dialogue and consultations on regional issues.

Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to a free, open, inclusive, peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific. Following up on the Quad Leaders' Meetings, they expressed a keen desire to implement quickly the Quad's positive and constructive agenda to deliver for countries in the Indo-Pacific region, the statement added.

Given their shared democratic values and convergences of strategic interests, Foreign Secretary Shringla and Under Secretary Nuland agreed to work together to strengthen the India-US global partnership regarding supply chains, critical technologies, health security, climate actions and clean energy and terrorism.

They noted the close cooperation between their two delegations at the UN Security Council, where India is currently a non-permanent member, and reiterated their desire to intensify cooperation in multilateral fora and international organisations, including the UN.

Meanwhile, both sides looked forward to the India-US 2+2 Ministerial Meeting in Washington DC. They agreed to hold the next FOC at a mutually convenient date in Washington DC. (ANI)
US President Joe Biden on Monday (local time) held discussions with European leaders on Russia's "brutal" tactics in Ukraine and humanitarian assistance to the millions of Ukrainians who have fled the violence. Biden spoke with France President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson where the leaders underscored their continued support for Ukraine, including security assistance to the war-torn country. "The leaders discussed their serious concerns about Russia's brutal tactics in Ukraine, including its attacks on civilians. They underscored their continued support for Ukraine, including by providing security assistance to the brave Ukrainians who are defending their country from Russian aggression, and humanitarian assistance to the millions of Ukrainians who have fled the violence," read a White House press release. Moreover, the leaders also reviewed recent diplomatic efforts in support of Ukraine's effort to reach a ceasefire, as per the release. As per an earlier White House press release, Biden will travel to Poland during his Europe trip to discuss international efforts to support Ukraine and impose "severe and unprecedented costs" on Russia for its invasion. "This week, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. will travel to Poland following his meetings in Brussels, Belgium with our NATO Allies, G7 Leaders, and European Union leaders to discuss international efforts to support Ukraine and impose severe and unprecedented costs on Russia for its invasion," White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said in a statement. The statement said, on Friday, March 25, President Biden will travel to Warsaw, Poland, where he will hold a bilateral meeting with President Andrzej Duda. "The President will discuss how the United States, alongside our Allies and partners, is responding to the humanitarian and human rights crisis that Russia's unjustified and unprovoked war on Ukraine has created," read the statement. Meanwhile, on March 23, Biden will travel to Brussels, Belgium. On March 24, Biden will attend an extraordinary NATO Summit to discuss ongoing deterrence and defence efforts in response to Russia's unprovoked and unjustified attack on Ukraine. The President will reaffirm our ironclad commitment to our NATO Allies and to defend every inch of NATO territory. The President will attend a G7 meeting to further discuss with its Allies and partners the consequences of imposing on Russia for its war of choice. Biden will also join a scheduled European Council Summit to discuss our shared concerns about Ukraine, including transatlantic efforts to impose economic costs on Russia, provide humanitarian support to those affected by the violence, and address other challenges related to the conflict. On February 24, Russia began a special military operation in Ukraine after the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics requested help in defending themselves. What followed the military operation was a slew of sanctions imposed by the western countries targeting the Russian economy. (ANI)
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is employing every tactic to retain his position as the opposition alliance is all set to move a no-confidence motion against his government on Friday (March 25) that was elected in August 2018. The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government even tweaked constitutional laws as per its convenience to muster a strength of 172 lawmakers in National Assembly, reported local media. With National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser summoning the crucial session of the National Assembly on March 25, which is three days longer than the Constitution has stipulated once the required number of parliamentarians have requisitioned a session, the political situation in Pakistan could be further complicated, reported the Dawn newspaper. According to the legal experts, while the speaker may attempt to delay the process and push the vote forward, the vote will need to take place and only the numbers game would matter. The public rallies planned by the Imran Khan government and the opposition on March 27 have added an explosive element to the volatile situation, with a danger of violence breaking out, according to the media outlet. Further, if the police are unable to control the situation, the only option is handing over security responsibility to the armed forces, which was actually being referred by Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid in his speeches. Notably, the situation is being dragged towards such an outcome by the government itself as a straightforward constitutional procedure is being weaponised by the use of mobs and threats, reported the Pakistani publication. Further, a new narrative is being fueled that focuses on accusations of horse-trading as a means to undermine a democratic process. However, the narrative being stitched together may further accentuate the source of the conflict and trigger greater political instability. (ANI)
Here's why this historical fiction is worth seeing: "No" stands proudly in a select sub-category of historical fiction films that work, completely and satisfyingly, as their own movies. It stars Gael Garcia Bernal as one of Santiago's hotshot "creatives." The character, Rene Saavedra, essentially apolitical at the outset, is the son of a political exile. Rene, who commutes to work on a skateboard, has been separated from his activist wife for some time. He is the primary custodian of their young son; at home, he thinks nothing of kicking his son out of the room so he can commandeer the model train set. It helps him think up ad campaigns selling soda, or soap operas.
"These actions damage prospects for peace and regional stability and are detrimental to the ongoing mediation efforts of our special envoy Hans Grundberg," said Stephane Dujarric, the chief spokesman for Guterres. International humanitarian law prohibits attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure.

"We call upon all parties to exercise maximum restraint and avoid any further escalation," Dujarric added. "We strongly urge the parties to engage constructively and without preconditions with Grundberg."

The special envoy aims to advance talks to reach a comprehensive negotiated settlement to end the conflict in Yemen.

On Sunday, the Houthi rebel militia claimed responsibility for attacks on Saudi Aramco oil facilities in Jeddah and other energy facilities in Saudi Arabia. It was the second of such cross-border missile attacks against Saudi Arabia in less than 24 hours.

The Houthi's attacks on Sunday followed a few days after saying they were ready for peace talks when previous attempts to get the militia into such discussions failed.

The spokesman said Grundberg was in Muscat, Oman, on Sunday meeting the Houthi chief negotiator Mohammed Abdulsalam.

Dujarric said they discussed ongoing UN consultations and efforts to address the dire humanitarian situation in Yemen, including a possible truce during the upcoming holy month of Ramadan. Grundberg is continuing discussions with the parties to the conflict.

A Saudi-led coalition supports the internationally-recognized Yemen government, forced from its seat in Saana by the Houthis. (ANI/Xinhua)
ROME (AP)  A court in northern Italy on Monday convicted two German men of manslaughter for a boat collision that killed an Italian couple who were also out on Lake Garda for an evening of relaxation in the summer of 2021.

The court in the city of Brescia gave a 4 1/2-year sentence to Patrick Kassen, who allegedly was at the helm of the Germans' motorboat, and 2 years and 11 months to Christian Teismann, who had insisted he was asleep during the incident, Corriere della Sera daily reported.

Prosecutors alleged that the tourists from Munich were drunk and speeding in the boat.

Killed in the crash on the night of June 19, 2021, were two Italians, Umberto Garzarella, 38, and Greta Nedrotti, 25, who were aboard a smaller vessel after spending part of the evening earlier with friends on shore.

Before the trial, Kassen was quoted by Italian media as saying he didnt realize there was a collision. He had been put under house arrest since July.

It wasn't immediately clear when the Germans would start serving their sentences.

Investigators contended that their motorboat slammed into the smaller vessel. Garzarella was found dead in the boat while Nedrottis body was found two days later by firefighting divers searching the lake.

The Germans insurers have paid the families nearly 3 million euros (just over $3 million) but Garzarellas father has said no amount of money can bring his son back.

Only the two Germans know what happened that night, drunk or not, I cannot judge,'' Corriere della Sera quoted Garzaella's father, Enzo Garzarella, after the court rendered its judgment. They'll have their conscience all their life. This sorrow will remain with them as it will remain with me."
MADRID (Reuters) - About 25,000 Ukrainians have arrived in Spain since Russia launched its invasion on Feb. 24, though only 9,000 of them have registered so far with the authorities, Spanish Migration Minister Jose Luis Escriva said on Monday.

The United Nations refugee agency estimates nearly 3.5 million Ukrainians have now fled their country, with more than two million of them moving to neighbouring Poland. Romania, Hungary and Slovakia also host large numbers of refugees.

In Spain, which is far from the conflict, many of the Ukrainians who have arrived are staying with relatives or friends and have not yet notified the authorities, Escriva said.

"We have expanded the granting of residence permits to include all people who lived in Ukraine at the time of the invasion, not just Ukrainians," Escriva said in an interview with Spanish public news channel TVE.

Escriva said he expects around 9,000 more refugees to register with Spanish authorities this week and to receive European Union temporary protection orders allowing them to immediately obtain residence and work permits in the country.

Ukrainians can freely enter the EU without a visa but require residency permits to remain.

(Reporting by Christina Thykjaer, editing by Inti Landauro and Gareth Jones)
Mikhail Fridman gives a speech at The 3rd Genesis award at the Jerusalem Theater on June 23, 2016 in Jerusalem, Israel. Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images for Genesis Prize Foundation

Petr Aven, Mikhail Fridman, and German Kahn resigned from a Jewish philanthropy group they founded.

The three Russian oligarchs were recently sanctioned by both the EU and the UK.

The foundation said it will not affect the $10 million in aid GPG has pledged to donate to Ukraine.

Russian oligarchs Petr Aven, Mikhail Fridman, and German Kahn have resigned from the board of Genesis Philanthropy Group (GPG), a Jewish grant-making foundation founded by the trio in 2007.

The three oligarchs were hit by sanctions from the EU and UK following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Earlier this March, the billionaires similarly left the board of LetterOne, a $22 billion investment firm founded by Fridman.

From French vineyards to British football clubs, sanctioned oligarchs are scrambling to shift and sell their Western assets to avoid seizure. Now, it appears even their philanthropy efforts (and the tax deductions that often come with) cannot escape international scrutiny.

"In order to assure the ability of GPG to stay true to its mission and build on the foundation we have created over the past 15 years, all three have resigned from the Board of Directors," GPG wrote in the emailed announcement first reported by The Jerusalem Post on Friday.

The oligarchs' resignations will not impact a $10 million donation that GPG previously pledged to donate to the Ukrainian Jewish community, according to the announcement. Half of the emergency aid relief will go toward evacuation efforts and food distribution, with the second $5 million reserved to "support humanitarian needs as the situation develops," per the foundation's website.

GPG did not respond to Insider's request for comment on whether or not the aid has made it to Ukraine, and which local organizations it will be funding.

Petr Aven and Mikhail Fridman, who are described by the EU as "one of Vladimir Putin's closest oligarchs" and "enabler of Putin's inner circle," have said they will "vigorously contest" the sanctions placed against them in recent weeks.

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Mikhail Fridman, a Ukrainian-born Jew, was one of the first Russian oligarchs to speak out against the war in Ukraine in a message sent to LetterOne employees. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, he said sanctioned oligarchs like him have no influence on Putin and it would be "suicide" to challenge him on Ukraine.

Despite growing criticism from Russia's elite who have lost billions since the start of the war, experts previously told Insider that Putin is likely unconcerned about the oligarchs' pushback, and only his tiny inner circle have his ear.

Read the original article on Business Insider
This week in the 318, Caddo Parish agencies began dealing with a number of controversial issues, including the discussion of nonbinary genders in the classroom, a program giving convicted felons the opportunity to become teachers and an illegal street racing culture in Shreveport that has earned the attention of television producers and the ire of Caddo Parish Commissioners.

Parents clash at Louisiana school board meeting over nonbinary teacher. No action taken

Holly Allen speaks in defense of a nonbinary teacher in Caddo Parish School District to school board members Tuesday afternoon, March 15, 2022, at the Caddo Parish School board meeting.

In a regular scheduled Caddo Parish School Board meeting, parents met in opposition and support of a University Elementary School teacher, who identifies as nonbinary.

Action regarding Blaine Banghart was not on the agenda and was not addressed by the board.

Nevertheless, the public comment period devolved into arguments and yelling over the dress code and this educator.

Banghart is a music teacher at University Elementary School in Shreveport who uses the term MX, as opposed to Mr. or Ms.

The teacher received pushback and support after posting a video on TikTok about their inability to be out at work.

More: 'Don't Say Gay' bill would bar discussing sexual orientation, gender identity in schools

Louisiana wanted to make felons teachers. Here's how the Caddo sheriff helped end the program

Caddo Sheriff Steve Prator on July 10, 2020.

Caddo Parish Sheriff's Office announced Monday morning that they will be suspending 'Mister Coffee Bean' program before its debut.

This program was designed to place trained convicted felons in elementary schools in Caddo Parish.

"I had to do all I could to put a stop to something that would have placed young children at risk," Caddo Parish Sheriff Steve Prator said.

The program was designed to educate a select number of felony inmates. Upon graduation, the inmates would be placed into elementary schools as certified teachers.

"Im all for reducing recidivism," Prator said. "But our children are too precious to be part of an experimental initiative. Protecting our children must remain a priority."

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'They destroyed me': Transgender individuals and families speak out against violence

Could a Discovery Channel series help end street racing in Shreveport? Parish to decide

Drag racing crews and fans gather from all of the world in Gilliam,LA Saturday May 2 for the Professional Drag Racers Association 2015 Cajun Nationals.

Members of the Caddo Parish Commission believe the state of Louisiana needs to address a culture of illegal street racing they described as rampant in Shreveport.

"Drag racing continues to be a nuisance in our communities," Commissioner Stormy Gage-Watts said at the commission's Monday work session meeting. "The residue often left is often bigger than the tire tracks."

The Parish Commission voted Thursday to send an official letter "urging and requesting the state of Louisiana to pursue any legislative solutions" that would cut down the occurrence of racing, according to the meeting agenda.

"It is a very dangerous sport and it is just not being tolerated on our streets," Gage-Watts added.

Former Caddo commissioner sentenced to more than 3 years for defrauding feeding program

Commissioner Lynn D. Cawthorne, district 6, during the Caddo Parish Commission meeting, Thursday afternoon, October 21, 2021.

Former Caddo Parish commissioner Lynn Cawthorne was sentenced to 46 months in prison and three years of probation post-release Wednesday in Federal Court for his role in defrauding the government of an amount investigators estimated to be $987,019.72.

Cawthorne and his sister Belena C. Turner pled guilty to the charges last November, a few days before they were set to stand trial.

Cawthorne had been charged with wire fraud and filing a false tax return.

Turner received the same sentence as her brother. She had been charged with wire fraud.

Turner and Cawthorne will be required to pay more than a combined $800,000 in restitution.

More: A Caddo commissioner and his sister pleaded guilty to defrauding a child feeding program

How higher gas prices are affecting some Shreveport and Bossier City drivers

Commuters on Interstate I-20 in Shreveport are stuck in the afternoon traffic jam.

Drivers in Louisiana are feeling the pinch of higher gas prices.

According to BatchGeo.com, the average commuting time in Shreveport is 21.7 minutes, and 89% of us drive alone. That short drive-time is getting more expensive. As of the first week of March, gasoline prices climbed by $ 0.50 a gallon. In some areas, gas stations' prices crept up over $4. a gallon.

For Mike Jones, 61, a small-business man the weight of the increasing cost is getting heavier.

Jones pulls out a small sledgehammer, swinging it down, smashing against several pieces of wood to feed the fire of a BB-Q pit mounted on a trailer, attached to a Dodge RAM truck.

Read more about the local impact of increasing gas prices here.

Check out The 318 every Sunday for a summary of the biggest headlines of the past seven days.

If you're interested in a deeper dive into the week's local business happenings, check out Business in the 318.

If you'd like to know more about art, food and entertainment from this week, check out Shreveport Life.

Kendrick Dante writes for the USA Today Network and is a government watchdog reporter in Shreveport, Louisiana. He enjoys cooking, concerts, and content. Email him at kdbrown1@gannett.com or connect on Twitter @kendrickdante.

This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: The 318: Firestorm sparked over Louisiana Nonbinary teacher
Universal's iconic logo serves as a popular backdrop for photos outside Universal Studios Florida.

I was not prepared for my most recent trip to Universal Orlando Resort.

I visited Universal Studios Florida and Universal's Islands of Adventure numerous times growing up in Florida  and traveled there as an adult  but it had been a few years since my last trip. There was a lot I didn't remember or expect  even as someone who covers parks for a living.

For anyone who has never visited the parks or hasn't gone in a long time, please learn from my mistakes and pack these five things for a smooth (and dry) trip. Your travel companions will thank you.

CAN I GET A REFUND ON THEME PARK TICKETS: Not usually, but here's what you can get.

'TAKE IT SLOW': Florida theme parks have accessibility programs but they still require planning

It's hard to tell, but we were smiling under our 3D glasses and masks at Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon at Universal Studios Florida.

1. Pack comfortable shoes (and Band-Aids)

Unlike Disney World, where guests generally have to take some sort of transit between parks (you can walk from Hollywood Studios to EPCOT), you can easily walk between Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure. Guests who purchase two-park tickets may find themselves traversing both parks multiple times in a day.

There's quite a distance to cover before even getting to the parks, if you're not staying on property. That's because Universal CityWalk stands between the parks and the massive parking structure where guests either park or get dropped off. Unless you're staying at one of Universal Orlando's hotels, you have to walk through the entertainment complex to get to the parks.

I packed two pairs of shoes  sneakers and Crocs  in hopes of avoiding blisters in the same spot but managed to get several blisters because neither pair were broken in enough. I didn't pack nearly enough Band-Aids, but First Aid is available at the parks.

Guests who aren't staying on property must walk through Universal CityWalk  a dining, retail and entertainment complex open to the public  to get to the theme parks.

2. Pack snacks and water bottles

Food can get really expensive really fast. My family of five spent $110 on lunch at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter's Three Broomsticks and just as much (if not more) on snacks.

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I didn't realize we could bring our own snacks. Picnic lunches are prohibited, so I mistakenly assumed other outside food would be, too. Guests are allowed to bring in small snacks and any foods required for special dietary or medical needs, baby food and formula.

I wished I had packed chips or cookies to curb my kids' ever-present munchies between meals. Some treats, such as seasonal Mardi Gras beignets and Butterbeer, were worth the splurge, but a churro that cost as much as a fistful of them at Costco made me a little bitter, even with sugar coating and chocolate dipping sauce.

At least I thought to bring in a water bottle to save on drinks. Water bottles can be refilled at water fountains throughout the parks. Iced tap water is available for free where fountain drinks are sold.

One churro with chocolate sauce at Universal Studios Florida cost as much as a handful of churros at Costco.

3. Pack a poncho or change of clothes

There are ample opportunities for kids of all ages to get wet at both parks.

My kids are a little too old to splash around the fountains in Toon Lagoon and at Curious George Goes to Town in Woody Woodpecker's Kidzone. So I figured we would be fine without extra clothes.

I did not expect every inch of me to get soaked on Popeye & Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges, one of several water rides at the parks. Thankfully it was our second-to-last attraction of the day, but it was no fun feeling and looking like a wet rat afterward.

If you don't want to slosh around, come prepared with a poncho or change of dry clothes, or get ready to pay a premium for branded clothing at just about any gift shop.

4. Pack as much as you can in one bag

A number of popular rides, including Jurassic World VelociCoaster and Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, do not allow any loose articles onboard. This includes cellphones, sunglasses, wallets, purses and backpacks. Guests must check these items into free lockers provided for the duration of the attractions.

I didn't remember this, so anytime this was required, everyone in our party had to empty every pocket. It wasn't a big deal, but we would've saved time if we had kept everything together in one or two bags that can slide in and out of lockers with ease.

It helps to start the day with extra room in your bag if you plan to buy souvenirs.

5. Pack your patience

There will be lines and crowds. There's no getting around them, unless you have a Universal Express pass, starting at $79.99 per person unless you're staying on property (then it's free), or pay for the VIP Tour Experience, which starts at $189 per person.

Time is money, especially at theme parks where waits can top well more than an hour per ride. But I was not paying $400 for Express Passes for our family of five.

Instead I maximized our time by consulting the Universal Orlando app to look up wait times on attractions throughout the day. When waits were too long, such as for Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, which my middle child pined for all day, I tried to spin it as something to look forward to next time. I made a point to celebrate what we were able to enjoy and tried to instill that gratitude in my kids.

The trip was a generous Christmas gift from my in-laws. My husband and I paid for our transportation, food and souvenirs. Everything was paid for out-of-pocket. USA TODAY does not accept free press trips.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Universal Orlando tips: 5 things I wish I did to save money, time
Social Security is a lifeline for millions of retirees and other older Americans who are still in the workforce. Making sure you qualify for every dollar youve got coming to you is not a step you want to skip  and believe it or not, Social Security is not guaranteed. In fact, there are more than a half-dozen ways that you could miss out on benefits that you were counting on and that you paid for with your tax dollars.

Find Out: Best Cities To Retire on a Budget of $1,500 a MonthRead More: 14 Key Signs You Will Run Out of Money in Retirement

You Failed the Social Security Earnings Test

Early claimers who are still working have to pass the Social Security earnings test in order to qualify for benefits. There is no such test once you reach full retirement age. In 2021, the Social Security Administration (SSA) temporarily withheld $1 in benefits for every $2 earned over $18,960, although theres a more forgiving monthly test for those entering the year of full retirement.

You Came Up Short on Credits

In order to receive Social Security payments, you have to first work for a certain amount of time, pay taxes into the system and build up enough credits to qualify for benefits. In 2021, you got one credit for every $1,470 in income earned, up to one credit per quarter or four credits per year. Most people must have 40 credits to receive Social Security benefits, which means you have to work for 10 years before youre eligible.

You Have Debt That Qualifies For Garnishment

Its hard for private lenders to snatch your Social Security payments, but your benefits can be garnished to satisfy certain kinds of other debts. Among them are alimony, child support and restitution, but the states determine what constitutes a valid order for garnishment. If your benefits have been garnished for any of these reasons, contact the appropriate state agency, not the SSA.

If you guessed that tax debt is one of the other exceptions, you would be correct. The Department of the Treasury can garnish up to 15% of your Social Security benefits every month until your tax debt is paid. The Treasury Department can also garnish your benefits for nontax debt, including any federal student loans you might have defaulted on.

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Youre Covered Under the Civil Service Retirement System

Instead of paying into Social Security, some federal employees hired before 1984 have instead been contributing to the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). The CSRS was formed as part of the 1920 Civil Service Retirement Act and was replaced by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) in 1987. CSRS recipients do not receive Social Security benefits unless theyre eligible through another job or through a spouse.

Youre Covered By the Railroad Retirement Act

Some railroad workers are also covered by a retirement system outside of Social Security and are ineligible for benefits. People who participate in the Railroad Retirement Act pay more of their salaries into the fund but receive higher payments when they retire  particularly career employees with at least 30 years on the job.

You Dont Qualify For a Divorced Spouses Benefits

Some people are eligible to receive benefits on their former spouses records, but they have to meet certain qualifications first. You must have been married for 10 years or longer and you must not be remarried, although you can still qualify if your former spouse remarries. There are other requirements, too, so if you were planning on applying for benefits on a former spouses record, make sure you qualify first.

You Moved  Like, Far  in Retirement

In most cases, you can collect Social Security in another country if you live abroad in retirement, although you have to follow strict and specific rules from both the SSA and your host country. The SSA, however, is generally forbidden from sending payments to a handful of countries, but dont worry. None of them are exactly beacons for U.S. retirees.

They include Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Some exceptions can be made for some eligible retirees in those countries, but you can never collect Social Security in Cuba and North Korea.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 7 Reasons You Might Not Receive Social Security Benefits
CHICAGO  On Abbott Elementary, the breakout hit ABC sitcom that was recently renewed for a second season, Jacob is one of the newer teachers at the school. He can be fidgety and naive. Dorky as the day is long. His heart is always in the right (overeager) place. Hes a combination of thrumming nervousness and innate confidence  sometimes overconfidence  and combined, those qualities become extremely funny.

Hes played by Chris Perfetti, who is in Chicago through mid-April starring in a production of the new play King James  a story of two friends in Cleveland who bond over basketball, LeBron James and life itself  at Steppenwolf Theatre.

This is my Chicago debut, Perfetti said. The play was originally slated to premiere almost exactly two years ago, before being canceled due to the pandemic. It was a stroke of luck that Perfetti was available now; usually getting cast on a sitcom means theres little time to squeeze in a play. But because filming on Abbott Elementary had already wrapped by November, Perfettis schedule was free a Steppenwolf run this spring.

We talked about bonding over sports, navigating new celebrity and how he and his Abbott cast mates figure out when to break the fourth wall and glance at the camera.

Q: Tell me a little about King James.

A: The play is very much about sports. Its written by the brilliant Pulitzer nominee Rajiv Joseph, and its this intimate exploration of the space sports occupies in human beings  in our emotional lives and our relationships with one another.

Its a two-hander, just myself and this brilliant actor Glenn Davis, who is also the Steppenwolf co-artistic artistic director, and we play two guys who grew up in the same part of suburban Cleveland. To me, the play is about what men are really talking about when theyre talking about sports. I think Rajiv was attracted to, and I was attracted to, this idea that sports, while being an incredible source of entertainment, is also a vehicle for a lot of people to talk about a lot of other things in their lives.

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Q: What is your own connection to sports?

A: I grew up in a house where sports were very big, but I found out very early on that I wasnt going to have any talent in that regard. I was more attracted to the glimmer of the artsy fartsy things that were going on around me as a kid. So I love sports, I love going to games  and basketball is the best sport to see live, I think  but yeah, there was a bit for me to learn in the preparation of the play. But again, the play is more about friendship and the hell that is life and love and getting older.

Q: LeBron James and his celebrity is referenced in the plays title. Your own life has changed pretty dramatically in the two years since you originally planned to do the play. I wonder if the success of Abbott Elementary has given you the tiniest taste of what it feels like to be recognizable and have people project all kinds of ideas onto you?

A: (Joking) Mm-hmm, Im basically just like LeBron. Were so similar, were living the exact same life. Im so glad that you noticed that and decided to write about it (laughs). He is, in my opinion, someone who is handling this bizarre, crazy, out-of-this-world life in such a graceful way. And that is very much not my life!

I dont know, it hasnt really sunk in yet. The success of the show has been, to be honest, a bit overwhelming. Im really glad that the show is resonating with people. Thats not happened to me so many times, so this time it feels surreal. I mean, Its so cool and feels very, very good. But Ive known what its like to be an actor before this, and its not the reason that I want to be an actor. I had become very comfortable eating brown rice and sardines and not having money and not being recognized on the street. So Im hoping it doesnt disrupt my life very much (laughs).

Q: You and Quinta Brunson, the shows creator, play the newer teachers at Abbott Elementary. Do you remember how your character Jacob was initially described?

A: He was described to me by Quinta as the best friend, or the sibling that you wish you had. He shares a lot of qualities with Janine (Brunsons character) just in terms of being ferociously loyal and well-intentioned  often to a fault  and kind of early on, I realized that he is a social puppy. Hes an overachiever and a bit of a nervous wreck. And certainly to me he is a Shakespearean clown, thats how I see him.

I typically find myself playing darker, brooding, troubled and tragic characters. And Jacob is definitely a rocket launch in another direction.

Q: Since youve been cast in so many dark roles, where does comedy come into play for you  would you call yourself a comedy guy? So many people on the show are known for their comedy chops, thats why I ask.

A: (Laughs) Um. No. Thats funny that you say that because Quinta asked me that when we were shooting the pilot, just how much comedy I had done. I feel like being a good student of the theater and storytelling means you innately understand timing in a way that is useful for things like Abbott. Certainly Ive had a lot of experience in front of a live audience.

Q: I dont want to overthink this, but Abbott Elementary is shot in a mockumentary format, so the characters are playing to this unseen camera crew thats filming them. Is that sort of what youre referring to?

A: For me, it absolutely is, I think youre totally right. I have always thought that Jacob is thrilled to be talking to the crew, and theres all this interaction with the crew that you do not see (laughs). And theres an element of his personality thats performing even when there isnt a camera around. I think hes constantly putting himself out there to be reeled back in. I know people like that, its his way of connecting with people.

Q: How do the glances to the camera actually work? Are they scripted?

A: On the whole, its just a weird alchemy that happens in the moment. We have the most incredible camera operators who have all worked in this format where theyre trying to mine the comedy out of their documentary, so for the most part its something that happens on the day.

Theres this weird ballet thats happening between the actors and the cameras and occasionally our directors will suggest a look to the camera, or once in a while in the script it says, Off of Jacobs incredulous look we cut to ... But its pretty rare.

Most of the time were capturing a million versions in the room. Thats one of the things that I love about the show, but also makes it challenging for someone like me, because its shot in a nontraditional way. Usually theres a formula: Theres a wide shot, then theres two-shots, then there are close-ups of you reacting. And our show is shot differently because its trying to appear like its a documentary, so there are three cameras rolling all the time. So you dont know which pieces theyre going to use. I feel like Im always looking to the camera because Jacob wants to be on camera (laughs). But its mostly a thing we feel out in the room.

Usually the experience of watching myself on screen is nothing less than torturous, but Ive been watching Abbott because Ive just wanted to see which pieces they pick and how it came out. So thats been interesting, to see which of my goofy looks to camera they used.

The genius of what Quinta has done, in addition to writing this six-headed amoeba of very different characters, is that were all six really different actors who come from different corners of the business. And I didnt realize how the combination of each of these characters are really endless. This season we get to see what Jacob and Barbara (Sheryl Lee Ralph) spending time would look like. Or we get to see why Jacob and Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter) are at each others throats. And watching it I realized, oh, theres a million combinations you could do.

Q: Interestingly, Ava (Janelle James) has not tussled with Jacob a whole lot just yet. Is that something that might be coming?

A: I think we can definitely bet on it happening. I think theres so much opportunity for comedy when you put those two people in a room. I think Jacobs afraid of her and he also has a weird idolization of her. He knows shes not great at her job, but if theyre all in a room and Ava says jump, I feel like nobody would jump except Jacob (laughs). Quinta may have completely different ideas, but thats how Ive played my scenes with her.


When COVID-19 closed down businesses, schools and child care centers, and people struggled to keep themselves afloat financially, SCORE Cape Cod was there to help the small-business community.

The organization's annual reports showed a huge increase, nearly 160%, in new businesses started in the region in 2020. The increase in jobs created was even greater, jumping from 152 in 2019 to 1,083 in 2020, a 613% increase.

SCORE is a national nonprofit that has helped small-business owners and entrepreneurs get started with their businesses and learn ways to stay financially healthy since 1964. Volunteer business mentors have helped more than 11 million entrepreneurs and business owners.

Jayme Valdez and Danielle Panzica, photographed in January, opened up The Kitchen Cafe in Brewster in December 2021 after COVID and remote work closed their restaurant in Boston's financial district.

Visiting The Kitchen Cafe: Cape Cod Restaurants: City couple's ocean-loving dog leads them to open Brewster cafe

SCORE Cape Cod has been around since 1972. The organization provided the Times with annual reports from 2019, 2020 and 2021 that showcased the impacts of its efforts on behalf of small businesses on the Cape and Islands.

SCORE volunteer Marc Goldberg said mentors tackled burgeoning need as Cape Codders found themselves facing difficult circumstances when COVID first hit in March 2020.

National numbers show the same trends. The number of new businesses started in 2020 jumped to 45,027 from a 2019 figure of 29,681, an increase of 51%, according to SCORE.

More: SCORE celebrates annual small-business awards

SCOREs Director of Operational Excellence Morgan Martin said COVID was behind the huge increase on the local and national fronts. SCORE services and workshops were ramped up to accommodate the demand, Martin said.

The numbers appear to be returning to pre-pandemic levels. In 2021, there were 25,084 new businesses started, a decline of nearly 20,000, or 44%, from a year earlier.

More: Child care is lynchpin for economic recovery on the Cape

Another metric SCORE reports is the amount of money clients return to the federal treasury for every federal dollar appropriated to the organization. The Small Business Administration provides funding to SCORE to carry out its work.

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In 2019, SCORE clients returned $34.66 to the Federal Treasury for every federal dollar appropriated to SCORE. That number increased to $67.35 in 2020, and $61.45 in 2021.

The amount clients return to the treasury fluctuates with the number of in business clients that the organization helps, according to Martin. The calculation is based on a number of factors, including the amount of funding given to SCORE in any given year, the number of in business clients mentored, and their average revenue.

More: Cape businesses expect housing crisis in spite of robust summer season

In 2020 and 2021, SCORE saw an increase in the number of in business clients served, as they tried to navigate the pandemic to stay in business, Martin said.

Less promising are the numbers of clients who were still in business at the end of the service year. More than 90% of clients were still in business at the end of 2019. That number dropped to 82% at the end of 2020. It fell to 77% at the end of 2021. COVID could still be to blame.

Contact Denise Coffey at dcoffey@capecodonline.com. Follow her on Twitter: @DeniseCoffeyCCT.

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: SCORE has helped Cape Cod small-business owners navigate pandemic
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP)  Arkansas authorities on Monday asked the public to contact them if they can identify the suspects involved in a shooting at a car show that killed one person and left 26 wounded.

Arkansas State Police did not announce any arrests for the Saturday night shooting in Dumas, a city of about 4,000 located about 90 miles (144 kilometers) southeast of Little Rock. The car show is part of a community event held each spring called Hood-Nic, which is short for neighborhood picnic.

State police said they were reserving a phone line for witnesses and victims who have not reported their injuries to contact them. Anyone with information about suspects or information leading up to the shooting is asked to contact state police.

State police spokesman Bill Sadler said they have not been led to believe any of the wounded still hospitalized were being treated for life threatening wounds.

Police have not released any descriptions of the shooters involved. State police on Sunday said the shooting was the result of a gun fight between two people. One person was questioned after being arrested on unrelated charges.
MJ the Musical, the Broadway musical directed and choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon and showcasing the music and moves of the King of Pop, will open its first national tour in Chicago, the producers Lia Vollack Productions, the Michael Jackson Estate and Broadway in Chicago announced jointly Monday morning.

The touring version of the show, which opened to mostly favorable reviews on Broadway at the end of January, will have its technical rehearsals at Chicagos James M. Nederlander Theatre, 24 W. Randolph St., then play from July 15 to Sept. 10, 2023. From there, it will likely travel to dozens more cities.

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Chicago was supposed to be the pre-Broadway tryout city for the jukebox show in 2019, but a combination of worries over controversy surrounding the star, along with scheduling difficulties, torpedoed that initial plan. The pandemic closures further the delayed the show, which features a book by Lynn Nottage and stars the widely acclaimed Myles Frost in the title role as Michael Jackson.

The lengthy booking in the peak tourist months likely will be an economic fillip for the Loop.

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Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.

cjones5@chicagotribune.com
Baton Rouge police officers with an eight-month-old infant who had gone missing overnight (Baton Rouge Police Department / Facebook)

An eight-month-old infant abandoned overnight in a field in Louisiana has been found in what officials dubbed a miracle discovery.

The infant, named Niguel Jackson, was found alive and healthy in a field along Plank Road on 16 March after hours of search by law-enforcement authorities.

Officials said that finding Niguel unhurt and unscathed was nothing short of a miracle.

In a statement, Baton Rouge Police Department said: Today, Baton Rouge Police Officers in collaboration with the Baton Rouge Fire Department, Parish Search and Rescue, East Baton Rouge Coroners Office, Emergency Medical Services, Acadian Ambulance and hospital staff performed search and rescue procedures to locate an 8-month old infant.

They added that the infant was taken to a local hospital for precautionary medical treatment. Its believed that the mother suffered apparent medical issues. No charges are pending at this point in time. This investigation remains ongoing.

The infant had gone missing from the Hooper Road area, local news reported.

A spokesperson for the Baton Rouge fire department said the infant did not have any signs of trauma and was, at the time, being evaluated at an area hospital.

WAFB reported that the mother of the baby assisted first responders in the search for the eight-month-old infant.

Family members had told investigators that the mother had the baby with her when she had left her home for some medical treatment.

The mother had approached a fire station at around 6pm on 15 March, according to a report.

She was then transported to hospital. The morning after, when the mother was being taken to another medical facility, she mentioned the child to officials.

After talking to the family members, officials then launched a massive search that involved firefighters from multiple cities, police officers a helicopter and at least one police dog.

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Curt Monte, who is with the Baton Rouge fire department, told news media that we were able to bring the mother to the scene, city police took the mother, the mother showed them an area on plank road near a church.

Officials said Niguel was found near the Saintsville Church of God in Christ on Plank Road  a religious centre in Baton Rouge.

One of the Niguels grandparents told local media that the baby was so amazing... so sweet and kind amid a report by The Advocate that quoted Mike Chustz, with the East Baton Rouge Emergency Medical Services, as saying he didnt even cry during the rescue.

The medics jumped on him and started treating him right away and... I think hes gonna be fine. You know, its still in a dangerous area but still think that its just a miracle basically to see the condition he was in. I did not expect that at all, Mr Chustz told the legal news portal.

The timing didnt give us a lot of hope but the baby was tough, he added.
By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Joseph Biden will travel to Poland on Friday to discuss the international response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine that has sparked a "humanitarian and human rights crisis," White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said late Sunday.

Biden will travel to Warsaw where he will hold a bilateral meeting with President Andrzej Duda, the White House said. Over 2 million refugees have entered Poland from Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on Feb. 24, the Polish border guard said on Friday.

Biden's Poland trip will come a day after he meets in Brussels with NATO Allies, G7 Leaders and European Union Leaders to discuss international efforts to support Ukraine after Russia's invasion, the White House said.

The White House also said Biden will host a call Monday at 11 a.m. EST with President Emmanuel Macron of France, Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom to discuss their coordinated responses to Russias invasion of Ukraine.

United Nations data showed as of Thursday about 3.2 million have fled abroad from Ukraine since last month, in what has become Europe's fastest growing refugee crisis since World War Two. The U.N. said some of the 2 million people entering Poland from Ukraine have moved on to other countries in the EU but the "the majority are believed to be still in Poland."

On Thursday, Biden will attend an emergency NATO Summit on Ukraine as well as a G7 meeting. He will also join a scheduled European Council Summit to discuss Ukraine "including transatlantic efforts to impose economic costs on Russia, provide humanitarian support to those affected by the violence, and address other challenges related to the conflict," the White House said.

Earlier on Sunday, Psaki said Biden was not planning to visit Ukraine during his European trip this week.

(Reporting by David Shepardson and Ismail Shakil; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Michael Perry)
Biden (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

US president Joe Biden will travel to Poland during his Europe trip to discuss international efforts to support Ukraine and impose severe and unprecedented costs on Russia for its invasion, press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.

Mr Biden will hold a bilateral meeting on 25 March with president Andrzej Duda to discuss how the US, alongside its allies and partners, is responding to the humanitarian crisis that Russias war on Ukraine has created.

The visit follows his meetings in Brussels, Belgium, with Americas NATO allies, G7 leaders, and European Union leaders, the White House said.

More follows
Joe Biden, Andrzej Duda, other NATO heads of state Kevin Lamarque/Pool/AFP/Getty Images

The White House announced Sunday night that President Biden will travel to Warsaw, Poland, on Friday to meet Saturday with Polish President Andrzej Duda and discuss "the humanitarian and human rights crisis that Russia's unjustified and unprovoked war on Ukraine has created."

Poland is hosting thousands of U.S. troops under the auspices of NATO, and has also taken in about 2 million Ukrainian refuges fleeing Russia's invasion. Poland, which spent the Cold War behind Soviet Russia's "iron curtain," joined NATO in 1999.

Biden will travel to Europe on Wednesday to meet with the leaders of NATO member nations Thursday on strengthening the alliance's deterrence and defense in light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. He will also participate in a European Union summit to discuss the coordinated sanctions on Russia and humanitarian efforts for the displaced Ukrainians, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said last week. She said on Sunday that Biden will not travel to Ukraine itself.

The White House also announced Sunday that Biden will hold a virtual meeting on Monday with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and other European leaders.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures as he speaks during a video emergency meeting of the Council of the CSTO focused on the situation in Kazakhstan on January 10, 2022. Alexey Nikolsky/Getty Images

President Biden issued a new warning of "evolving intelligence" of potential Russian cyberattacks.

The statement also called on private companies to "harden your cyber defenses immediately."

Analysts say the IT infrastructure for energy, finance, and transportation poses the biggest risk.

The US has "evolving intelligence" that the Russian government is "exploring options for potential cyberattacks," President Joe Biden said in a statement on Monday.

"It's part of Russia's playbook," Biden said.

The President also called on private sector companies to "harden your cyber defenses immediately" with measures such as multi-factor authentication, up-to-date security software and tools, secure data backups, and routine training drills.

Most of the country's critical infrastructure is controlled by private sectors, which limits the government's ability to secure its digital borders, Biden said.

Cyber warfare between the US and Russia has been relatively quiet in spite of Russia's escalating invasion of Ukraine and subsequent economic sanctions by the US, EU, and UK.

But that's not to say that adversaries aren't trying. Research from Microsoft found that 58% of the nation-state cyberattacks that it observed over the course of a year originated from Russia.

A successful attack could have major implications for US national security, according to a memo from Goldman Sachs, specifically if the IT infrastructure is targeted in the critical sectors of energy, financial services, or transportation.

For example, Lloyd's insurance estimated that a shutdown of the power grid in the Northeast US could cause economic damages of up to $1 trillion.

Thirteen additional sectors have also been designated by the US as being critical to security and public health.

A Russian cyberattack on Ukraine in 2017 inflicted more than $10 billion in damage, according to a US assessment  about 10% of the Ukrainian economy at the time.

Read the original article on Business Insider
It has been a rough season for Jusuf Nurkic.

After seeing his previous two seasons marred by injury, Nurkic was shelved once again in February with plantar fasciitis. He hasn't played since as the Portland Trail Blazers have engaged in one of the most blatant tank jobs in NBA history. They've traded away every healthy player of note on the roster while Damian Lillard remains sidelined beside Nurkic.

None of this sounds like much fun. And Nurkic appeared to reach his fill Sunday night. The Trail Blazers visited the Indiana Pacers, where they suffered a 129-98 loss, their 10th in 11 games. Nurkic, of course, didn't play. He was there in street clothes.

After the loss, this happened.

Jusuf Nurkic takes Pacers fans phone and throws it. pic.twitter.com/KafdHuCSqa  Setting The ace (@SettingThePace3) March 21, 2022

That's Nurkic walking over to confront a Pacers fan, grabbing his phone, tossing it, then getting directly in the spectator's face. A security staffer started to intervene before the video ended.

It's unclear what happened next. It's also not clear what provoked the confrontation. Though it can be safely assumed that said Pacers fan did or said something that set Nurkic off.

Nurkic didn't address media after the game as he's not required to as an injured player. Not much was known Sunday night beyond what the video shows. But Nurkic can surely count on the NBA to reach out to suss out the details.
Mar. 21As the city prepares to mark the date of last year's Table Mesa King Soopers shooting on Tuesday, Boulder business owner Lee Trooper knew his community would be continuing to grieve the 10 lives lost.

Troop, who owns event management company Team Boulder, and Tricia Vieth, store manager at Runners Roost, hoped to help residents move toward healing. On Sunday, they hosted the second Run 4 Boulder Stronger Remembrance Run.

"This is really just an option for people if running or walking is their thing and they feel like being with other people in order to help deal with the tragedy is better for them, then that's what we're offering," Troop said.

Just before 2:30 p.m., more than 30 runners gathered outside the Runners Roost for the 10k to run one kilometer for each of the 10 people who died.

Runner Wendy White, of Boulder, said she was there in remembrance of those whose lives were lost.

"The community has been such a wonderful support," White said. "I wanted to be part of that. Just having grown up here, it was just a shocking event. Something none of us will forget."

Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty was among those running to show their support Sunday.

"One of the remarkable things since the tragedy last year has been the resiliency and strength of the Boulder community," Dougherty said. "Once again, that's on full display here today."

Dougherty thanked Troop and Runners Roost for bringing people together through the event.

Freyja Troop, Lee Troop's wife, also participated to show support for the community. She said the couple shopped at the Table Mesa King Soopers. During their shopping trips, they always saw Teri Leiker, one of the 10 people killed, working.

"She was so sweet," Freyja Troop said.

The other people killed were Boulder Police Officer Eric Talley, 51; Denny Stong, 20; Rikki Olds, 23; Neven Stanisic, 23; Tralona Bartkowiak, 49; Suzanne Fountain, 59; Kevin Mahoney, 61; Lynn Murray, 61; and Jody Waters, 65, were killed in the shooting, which happened just before 3 p.m. on March 22, 2021.

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Runners left the starting line on Broadway just after 2:30 p.m.  a nod to when the first 911 calls reached police on March 22 last year. Participants could run or walk the 10k route to the National Center for Atmospheric Research. In the parking lot of NCAR, which overlooks Boulder, they were invited to grab a water bottle and take a moment to reflect.

At the finish line, Timothy Schultz said it was a good run.

"I love running up there. To do it for this cause was pretty special," Schultz said. "It was nice to see the community come together."

While the run was free to participate in and was not raising money for anything, organizers encouraged runners to donate to the Colorado Healing Fund, which supports local communities with financial, emotional and physical needs after mass tragedies.

This year marked the second remembrance race. Troop said last year, the businesses had partnered to host a fun run race on March 22. In wake of the tragedy, it was rescheduled for 10 days later and revamped as a way to bring people together to show support after the shooting.

After last year's race, Troop said he went by the chain link fence outside of King Soopers, which had been turned into a make-shift memorial. Community members poured out in droves to attach flowers, signs, prayers and messages to the fence. The runners also did their part. Troop said he was touched to see that more than a hundred attached their race numbers to the fence as a sign of solidarity.

"I've lived all over the world and I've never seen the resiliency that the people in this community show," Troop said. "The way people come together, it's a pretty special place to be so strong at a time when we've had a crisis."
Happy Tuesday, Oak Park and River Forest! Here's the news for March 22.

First, today's weather: Cooler with occasional rain. High: 53 Low: 49.

Attention, financial planners and advisors  we're now offering sponsorship opportunities for local firms interested in building their client base in Oak Park-River Forest. Click here to learn more.

Here are the top 4 stories today in Oak Park-River Forest:

1. The glass front door of the BP gas station at 6119 Roosevelt Road was broken with a blunt object, according to Oak Park police. The damage occurred on March 17 and cost an estimated $450 to replace. (Paid source: Oak Leaves)

2. A Maywood man was arrested last week in connection with three stabbings on the Las Vegas strip in January. Bradley Pitts was arrested on three counts of battery with use of a deadly weapon. (NBC)

3. Vals halla Records will celebrate 50 years of business with a Cue the Record event tonight at FitzGeralds. Tickets include an all-you-can-eat BBQ buffet and all-vinyl music from 1972, the year Vals opened in Oak Park. (Vals)

4. Dr. Willie Wilson will host another gas giveaway on Thursday. He plans to give away $1 million worth of gasoline at 50 stations across Chicagoland, including locations in Maywood and River Grove. (Patch)

From our sponsor:

Todays newsletter is brought to you in part by Ring, a Patch Brand Partner. We all know that Ring is the leader in video doorbells for home security. But did you know that Ring now makes a home security system that is getting raves from consumer electronic experts?

To learn more about Ring Alarm Pro, the system CNET called "the future of home security, or to build your own custom system, visit Ring here.

Today in Oak Park-River Forest:

Join the OPRF Museum for a presentation on Universal Suffrage. (7 p.m.)

Poet Ada Limon gives a reading at Dominican University . (7 p.m.)

Set in 1950s Chicago, The Outfit is now playing at Lake Theatre . (7:10 p.m.)

St. Giles Parish leads a quiet prayer session for Lent. (7 p.m.)

Story continues

From my notebook:

Illinois has surpassed 33,000 deaths from COVID-19 since the pandemic began. (Paid source: Tribune )

The Oak Park Public Library is offering educational and philanthropic resources related to supporting Ukraine during the Russian invasion. ( OPPL )

Trinity High School dedicated its newly renovated Alice M. Fox Auditorium this weekend. (THS)

More from our sponsors  thanks for supporting local news!

Featured businesses:

Events:

American Diabetes Association Diabetes Alert Day: Understand Your Risk (March 22)

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Send a friend or neighbor this link so they can subscribe

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Send me a news tip or suggestion at georgi.presecky@patch.com

That's all for Tuesday! See you tomorrow for more local headlines.

 Georgi Presecky

About me: Georgi is a Chicago-based newsletter writer and partner content curator. She spent five years on the entertainment beat for FF2 Media covering film festivals across the U.S. Her feature articles have been recognized with awards from the Illinois Women's Press Association and National Federation of Press Women. As editor-in-chief of the Lewis University newspaper, she and her staff earned honors from the Associated Collegiate Press and American Scholastic Press Associations. She began working for Patch in 2019.

This article originally appeared on the Oak Park-River Forest Patch
The Chicago Board of Education is prepared to spend $1.5 million to settle a pair of lawsuits alleging a special education student sexually assaulted two classmates on different dates in a bathroom of a Southwest Side high school.

A special education student reported in June 2016 that another special education student attacked him on two occasions in a bathroom at Bogan Computer Technical High School. Both boys special education plans called for supervision to the restroom. An attorney hired by CPS recently argued in court that the boys were supervised on trips to the restroom, but their plans allowed for independence within bathrooms.

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The two sides agreed to a $725,000 settlement at the end of February as the case headed to trial, court paperwork shows. The board of education is slated to vote on the payment Wednesday.

The Chicago Board of Education is prepared to spend $1.5 million to settle a pair of lawsuits alleging a special education student sexually assaulted two classmates in a bathroom of Bogan Computer Technical High School. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

The alleged victims attorney, Carolyn Daley, said the alleged attacker went on to sexually assault another special education student in a Bogan bathroom in February 2017. Daley filed a separate suit for those allegations. The board is scheduled to vote on a settlement for $850,000 in that case Wednesday as well.

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In a statement last month, Daley called on the board of education and its employees to change their policies and procedures to ensure that all students, not just students within the special education program, are safe and protected from sexual assault within the schools.

Both Bogan cases were featured in the Tribunes Betrayed series, an investigation that found widespread mishandling of CPS student sexual abuse and assault allegations.

The board last month approved a million-dollar settlement of a separate, but similar lawsuit alleging bathroom sexual assault of a special education student at Jordan Community Elementary School in the Rogers Park neighborhood in 2014.

Chicago Public Schools firmly believes that students who are impacted as a result of a legally-recognized failure on the districts part should be compensated in a reasonable manner that will remedy injuries to the student, the district said in a statement last month about the settlements.

tswartz@tribpub.com
UKs military intelligence said on Monday that Russian forces advancing towards Ukraines capital Kyiv from the north east have stalled and the bulk of it remains more than 25 kilometres from the centre of the city.

Heavy fighting continues north of Kyiv, the ministry of defence said in a statement as Russias invasion of Ukraine approaches the one-month mark.

Russian forces advancing on the city from the north east have stalled. Forces advancing from the direction of Hostomel to the north west have been repulsed by fierce Ukrainian resistance.

The bulk of Russian forces remain more than 25 kilometres from the centre of the city, according to military intelligence.

Despite the continued lack of progress, Kyiv remains Russias primary military objective and they are likely to prioritise attempting to encircle the city over the coming weeks, the statement added.

On 24 February, Russian president Vladimir Putin launched a special military operation in Ukraine to de-militarise and de-Nazify the country.

2/3 Russian forces advancing on the city from the north-east have stalled. Forces advancing from the direction of Hostomel to the north-west have been repulsed by fierce Ukrainian resistance. The bulk of Russian forces remain more than 25 kilometres from the centre of the city.  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) March 21, 2022

On Monday, Ukraines State Emergency Service said that at least four people had been killed after a fire in a shopping mall in Podilskyi district.

Authorities said that the blaze started due to shelling by Russian forces, not far from the center of the capital.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has refused to surrender Mariupol, the strategic port city which has suffered some of the heaviest bombardment since the Russian invasion on 24 February.

:          https://t.co/XmnqdR8FXF pic.twitter.com/NMsnlUVNgl  DSNS.GOV.UA (@SESU_UA) March 20, 2022

On Sunday, Russian troops had urged Ukrainians to lay down their arms in Mariupol, saying they will be given safe passage out of the besieged port city if they agree to the offer.

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However, Kyiv refused the offer and said that there was no question of laying down arms by residents facing the Russian invasion.

Residents in the city, meanwhile, continue to suffer from shortages of food, water and power.

Ukraines president Volodymyr Zelensky warned of a third world war if talks with Vladimir Putin, his Russian counterpart, fail to achieve peace following the invasion of Ukraine.

The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered.

To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.




Ukraine's state nuclear operator announced on Monday that the automated radiation monitoring system in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is not functioning amid Russia's ongoing invasion of the country.

Ukrainian nuclear operator Energoatom said in a Telegram message that there was not any data on "the current state of radiation pollution in the Exclusion Zone, which makes it impossible to adequately respond to threats of deterioration of radiation situations in the Exclusion Zone," according to NBC News.

Energoatom also noted that fire services intended to extinguish potential forest fires were not operating.

"There is a high probability that in the spring and summer the intensity of forest fires in the Exclusion Zone may reach the maximum possible limits, which will lead (in the absence of any fire measures) to almost complete burning of radioactively contaminated forests in the Exclusion Zone and, consequently, to significant deterioration of radiation in Ukraine and throughout Europe," the nuclear operator added.

The Chernobyl nuclear power plant on Sunday at last allowed some workers to go home after about 600 hours inside the facility amid Russia's unprovoked incursion. About 300 people had been held there since Moscow's attacks began on Feb. 24.

On Sunday, 64 people were sent home after they "heroically performed their professional duties and maintained the appropriate level of safety" and were replaced by 46 "employee-volunteers."

Earlier this month, power was restored to the plant after Russian forces reportedly knocked it off the energy grid.
Negotiations between Black and Latino aldermen over redrawing Chicagos ward boundaries have resulted in more performative name-calling than compromises, but the citys cash register keeps ringing for private specialists hired by each side.

Powerful attorneys, map consultants and others working for the City Councils Black and Latino caucuses, as well as the council Rules Committee that is supposed to be mediating the debate, have so far billed Chicagoans more than $720,000, according to invoices the Tribune received from the city through an open records request.

That dollar figure will undoubtedly get bigger because some consultants and attorneys have only billed through the end of 2021. But the remap cost to taxpayers may skyrocket. If at least 41 aldermen cant agree on a map by mid-May, Chicago voters could be asked to choose a map in a ballot referendum as part of the June 28 primary election. The last time a map referendum happened, it spurred a lawsuit that cost $20 million.

The possibility of a referendum became more real last week when 33 aldermen, among them 19 Black council members who are trying to protect the votes they have on the council, filed paperwork to have their proposed map included as a referendum question. The Latino coalition, which is looking to expand its power by drawing boundaries that would add more Latino-majority wards, did the same a few months ago.

So far, the two sides have bickered more than negotiated. Last fall, Northwest Side Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, 35th, accused Rules Committee Chair Ald. Michelle Harris, 8th, of gaslighting Latinos when she said they werent negotiating in good faith, while earlier this year Harris said some Latino aldermen were getting hoodwinked by their colleagues who are convincing them they can win a citywide ballot referendum on the maps.

The battle between the two caucuses echoes previous dust-ups that have occurred during the once-a-decade ward remap process, which on the surface may seem of interest to only political insiders yet has real-world implications for Chicagos 2.7 million residents. Anyone who has tried to build support for a playground renovation near the borders of several wards or attempted to get help dealing with a problem building that sits in a ward represented by a neighboring alderman can attest to the importance of where those lines get drawn.

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Inside the City Council, the alliances also have significant consequences, with remap decisions tilting the scale for which aldermen have more influence both within and outside their wards, including how hundreds of millions of local and federal tax dollars are allocated.

And in order to win, both sides have sought the assistance of high-powered attorneys with deep ties to some of Chicagos biggest power brokers. That includes former Mayors Richard M. Daley and Rahm Emanuel and former Speaker of the House Michael Madigan, who was recently indicted on federal racketeering charges tied to the Commonwealth Edison bribes-for-favors scandal.

Topping the list is attorney Michael Kasper, who has been working for the councils Rules Committee. The committee has proposed a map supported by 33 aldermen, including most of the Black Caucus and many white aldermen. On the other side, representing the Latino Caucus coalition, are attorneys Victor Reyes and Burt Odelson.

Kasper  who, like the other attorneys, charges $295 an hour, the highest rate allowed for city contracts  billed the city $228,659 for map services he provided through the end of 2021, according to the invoices from the citys Finance Department.

Kasper garnered a reputation as the election enforcer for Madigan while Madigan was speaker and also while he headed the Democratic Party of Illinois. Kasper also helped defend Emanuel in a 2010 residency challenge when Emanuel left the White House before he ran for Chicago mayor.

Opposing Kasper, just as he did 12 years ago when he led the unsuccessful charge to boot Emanuel off the ballot in that residency case, is veteran election attorney Odelson. He has turned in invoices related to the map process totaling $146,847 for work through last November, according to the city.

Joining Odelson on the Latino Caucus payroll is Reyes law firm, Reyes Kurson, which billed the city $146,219 for remap work from late May 2021 to the end of November, according to the invoices.

Reyes ties go in several directions. He has been mentioned in the legal case against Madigan, with federal investigators alleging an associate of the powerful House speaker interceded with ComEd to restore legal work with Reyes Madigan-favored law firm that the utility sought to reduce. Reyes has not been charged.

Reyes also was the leader of the Hispanic Democratic Organization, the Daley-backed patronage army that fell from power following a federal investigation into HDO members and others getting city jobs in exchange for political work.

Others being paid include attorney Homero Tristan, working for the Latino Caucus, who has billed the city $46,933, and attorney Clinton Davis, representing the Black Caucus, who has invoiced for $69,913 so far.

BoycePossley, a public relations firm representing the Rules Committee, has billed $28,000, while a Michigan redistricting adviser charged the city $49,833 last year for work he said he did with the Black Caucus to help them ensure proposed ward boundaries were fair and complied with the federal Voting Rights Act. Interpreters and court reporters have billed smaller amounts over the past several months, according to records.

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Latino Caucus Chair Ald. Gilbert Villegas, 36th, defended the cost of the Latino Caucus lawyers.

Voting rights are under attack, in Washington and across the U.S., he said. I wont put a price on making sure people in this city have the best chance possible to make sure their votes count.

Villegas, whos running for Congress to represent a new district on the Northwest Side and nearby suburbs that was designed to give Illinois growing Latino population a chance to send another representative to Washington, has repeatedly hammered Kaspers history with Madigan, and questioned his motives in the remap process.

Theyve sought to sow divisions in the council, and it has worked. (Kasper) has absolutely been behind that, Villegas said.

Harris countered that Kasper is simply trying to help aldermen agree on a map, and said supporters of the Latino Caucus map and their lawyers have largely refused to take part in that process. And she noted Reyes is the one whose firm appeared as Law Firm A in the Madigan indictment, which the Tribune has also reported.

How can they talk so much, when they hired Lawyer A? Harris asked. Theyre paying a lot of money to Lawyer A in the indictment. If I was him, I would tell everyone to be quiet about talking about other people, and I would want to be operating quietly in the background.

The remap fight has dragged on since the early fall, highlighting and deepening the conflicts that have long simmered among aldermen of different ethnicities.

Some Latino aldermen are still smarting from the remap following the 2010 census, believing they should have gotten more majority-Latino wards then.

Black aldermen argue the Latinos are in danger of overextending themselves by creating more Latino wards than they can consistently win.

The argument has taken on a new dimension in the new year, as the two sides cant even agree on how many Latino-majority wards the council created when it finally passed the last map in early 2012 with the bare minimum 41 votes needed to preempt a referendum.

The Latino caucus says it was 14 wards then, meaning the Black Caucus current offer of 14 Latino-majority wards doesnt improve their situation on the council after the census found that in the last 10 years Latinos surpassed Blacks as Chicagos biggest minority population. Black council veterans say the Latino Caucus got 13 wards last time.

While the Rules Committee map proposal has been endorsed by 33 aldermen, if they cant reach the 41-aldermanic threshold the issue will go to a referendum question. If the situation plays out like it did 30 years ago and spurs a lawsuit, Harris has estimated that cost could reach up to $40 million this time around.

The city set aside $2 million in the 2022 budget to pay for costs associated with the remap.

Its an awful lot of money. Its a shame were footing the bill for the lawyers, Harris said. I wish we could get some of our colleagues to sit down and reach an agreement.

jebyrne@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @_johnbyrne
BEIJING (Reuters) - China will give nearly 1 trillion yuan ($157 billion) in tax rebates to domestic small firms to shore up economic stability, state media CCTV quoted a cabinet meeting as saying on Monday.

China will also take targeted measures to boost market confidence and keep capital market development stable and healthy, according to the State Council meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang.

The meeting also said the government will properly handle problems from capital market operations, and will create a stable, transparent and predictable market climate.

China attaches great importance to the impacts brought by the changing global capital market to the Chinese capital market, the cabinet said, adding it will roll out policies to stabilize the economy and stimulate market vitality as much as possible.

($1 = 6.3552 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Ellen Zhang, Stella Qiu and Ryan Woo; Editing by Toby Chopra)
Preliminary visuals from the crash showed massive white clouds billowing from the plane wreckage that covered a large swathe of the mountains (Screengrab/Twitter/CGTN Official)

Preliminary visuals of thick white plumes of smoke coming from a site in China where a Boeing 737 plane carrying 132 passengers crashed on Monday has been shared by state media.

The aircraft crashed in a mountainous area in the countrys southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. There have been no immediate reports of casualties or injuries from the accident.

The crash of the aircraft that belonged to Chinas Eastern Airlines caused a mountain fire, according to officials from the regional emergency department.

Work was underway to bring the mountainside fire under control, said the Guanxi fire service.

NASAs satellite data confirmed the massive fire in the area.

Video footage taken by local villagers shows the aftermath of a plane crash in south China on Monday. The Boeing 737 crashed with 132 people on board.



CGTN has the latest updates: https://t.co/KenJaQ0l9O pic.twitter.com/JMHh7viEeA  CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) March 21, 2022

The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has also sent a team of officials, it said.

The CAAC has activated the emergency mechanism and sent a working group to the scene, the aviation body said in a statement.

Preliminary visuals from the crash, shot by local villagers, showed the massive clouds billowing from the wreckage site that covered a large swathe of the mountainous area.

The plane had completely disintegrated, a rescue official said. Bamboo and trees at the site of the accident were burned completely by the fire from the crash.

Another video from the site showed debris from the plane scattered across the area.

The reason behind the jets collapse has not been made immediately clear.

Chinese president Xi Jinping said he was shocked on learning about the crash and has called for an investigation into the accident, reported Chinas state media CCTV.

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We are shocked to learn of the China Eastern MU5735 accident, Mr Xi said, adding that he has called for all efforts towards the rescue and to find out the cause of the accident as soon as possible.

The six-year-old 737aircraft was en route to Guangzhou from Kunming and had lost contact over the Wuzhou city, the CAAC officials said.

Flight tracking service FlightRadar24 showed the plane cruising at an altitude of 29,100 feet at 0620 GMT but in the next two minutes and 15 seconds, the flight had descended to 9,075 feet.

In the next 20 seconds, it had fallen to a height of 3,225 feet, also its last recorded altitude.
Brenna OBrien, a parent of a second grader and a fourth grader at Chicagos John C. Coonley Elementary School, wasnt sure over the weekend what shes going to do Monday when her kids were supposed to be back in their classrooms.

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Theyd lost four days of instruction due to illness.

Ive repeatedly tested them  weve done PCR tests  and its just repeatedly been negative, she said Saturday evening after receiving an email from Coonleys principal, Brennen Humphrey, with news that more than one person in her fourth graders homeroom tested positive for COVID-19.

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The email said, If you are receiving this message, the Chicago Department of Public Health and CPS are requiring your child in (that homeroom) to wear a mask for 10 days from their last potential exposure, or through March 24, 2022.

Six Coonley classrooms have reverted to universal masking, a Chicago Public Schools spokesperson confirmed, amid a spike in cases at the school.

The pivot back to required masking in the Coonley classrooms is apparently the first in CPS since it dropped its universal mask mandate a week ago, though it continues to recommend masks. After announcing that shift, CPS later clarified that masks would still be required in certain circumstances, such as when someone is exposed to a person with COVID-19.

Starting today, CPS will be mask-optional for students and staff. However, there are still instances where masks will be required. See below for details pic.twitter.com/GSPRLs3G7f  CPS - Chicago Public Schools (@ChiPubSchools) March 14, 2022

Im assuming if you come from this homeroom, you have to wear your mask throughout the entire school building, and there might be other parents that dont like that. I am curious to see whats going to happen next. Are there going to be parents that try to fight that? asked OBrien, an activist and writer who has been critical of CPS handling of the pandemic and has backed parent sickouts to seek more COVID-19 safety measures in schools.

OBrien said shes been following data on cases in the district and that, coupled with reports of waning vaccination effectiveness for children ages five to 11, has her concerns about how much farther cases will spread this week. There were 448 students in quarantine districtwide as of Sunday, including 29 students at Coonley, per the CPS COVID data tracker. The school has had 40 positive cases since the start of March.

Its such an easy thing to wear a mask on your face and the benefit is so great. Were trying to stop a pandemic, said OBrien, who later confirmed she did decide to send her children to school Monday. Take it off when you get home. Take it off when youre at the park. Why are we fighting so hard for our children who are like 30 a room to not wear masks? It does not make sense to me.

The Chicago Teachers Union has also fought the end of universal masking, saying its a breach of a safety agreement forged after a January standoff that prompted the cancellation of five days of classes. The states Educational Labor Relations Board last week narrowly declined the CTUs request for an emergency injunction as the unions complaint is considered.

John C. Coonley Elementary School can be seen Monday, March 21, 2022, in Chicago. Six Coonley classrooms have reverted to universal masking, a Chicago Public Schools spokesperson confirmed, amid a spike in cases at the school. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)

But many parents had pushed for and have welcomed the end of CPS mask mandate; some participated in a lawsuit that prompted school systems around the state to ditch the requirement.

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In response to questions about Coonley, a CPS spokesperson released a statement Saturday saying the district is monitoring case numbers closely, along with the CDPH, and last week, increased our voluntary on-site COVID-19 testing at Coonley from one to two days. We will continue to keep the school community informed of any new information.

The statement also said CPS has made the health and safety of our students and staff our highest priority since the onset of the pandemic. Every health and safety measure implemented has been in accordance with the guidance of the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH), the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

OBrien, of Lincoln Square, said she feels 80% of parents fall in the middle of the mask mandate debate and are not strong for or against it.

The majority of parents will just go with the message that theyre being told and right now the message from the district, the state, the White House is ease up and be mask optional, even though many medical professionals see the next wave coming, OBrien said. Im hoping well make it to summer and be OK. But, I really dont know.

CPS cited a decline in cases and test positivity as reasons why it made masks optional for students and staff members even as it faces opposition from the CTU. A hearing on the CTU complaint had been set for June, around the time the school year will end, but has now been moved to April. The union safety deal is set to expire in August.

CPS  the largest school district in Illinois, with about 330,000 students  was one of the last locally to transition to a mask-optional policy even as Chicago lifted its mandate for most indoor spaces and the statewide school mask requirement ended amid new guidance from the CDC.

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Tribune reporter Tracy Swartz contributed.

drockett@chicagotribune.com
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp's Bing, the only major foreign search engine available in China, said a "relevant government agency" has required it to suspend its auto-suggest function in China for seven days.

The suspension marks the second of its kind for Bing since December, and arrives amid an ongoing crackdown on technology platforms and algorithms from Beijing.

Chinese internet users first spotted the suspension on Saturday.

"Bing is a global search platform and remains committed to respecting the rule of law and users' right to access information," Bing said on its Chinese search site.

Bing did not specify a reason for the suspension. Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Internet companies in China have been hit over the past year by a regulatory crackdown that has imposed fresh curbs on areas from content to customer privacy.

In August, Beijing's top cyber regulator published draft rules dictating how internet platforms can and cannot make use of algorithms. [nL1N2PY05B[

A finalised version of the rules came into effect this month.

(Reporting by Josh Horwitz)
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping called for "all-out" efforts to organise search and rescue for passengers on the Eastern Airlines jet crash on Monday, state television reported.

Expressing "shock" at hearing the news of the crash, Xi instructed officials to the launch an emergency response immediately and to investigate the cause of the crash as soon as possibleaccording to state television CCTV.

China's Premier Li Keqiang also instructed officials to spare no effort in searching for survivors and to provide sufficient comfort to the victims' families, according to CCTV.

(Reporting by Yew Lun Tian; Editing by Toby Chopra)
Connecticut congregations of Jehovahs Witnesses will join their counterparts around the world April 1 in returning to in-person worship for the first time in more than two years.

Theres a level of excitement I havent seen in a long, long time. There might be a just a little apprehension, but were really looking forward to this with great anticipation, said Dan Keel, an elder in the Witnesses Hartford Kingdom Hall.

The instruction never missed a beat in the past two years, but the big thing was that personal contact of being together, he said Friday.

The Witnesses leadership notified the roughly 120,000 congregations around the world this month that they are cleared to return to meeting in person.

But dont expect door-to-door visits from Jehovahs Witnesses to resume any time soon.

Post-pandemic, what will our ministry look like? I cant tell you, said Robert Hendriks, national spokesman for the Witnesses.

The Jehovahs Witnesses shut down their well-known door-to-door evangelism at the start of the pandemic, and so far have given no indication of when  or if  it will resume

For more than a century, part of being a Jehovahs Witness was trying to spread their religious message  typically with several congregants spreading out through a neighborhood to engage residents in conversations about God.

But in March 2020, public health restrictions along with concerns about spreading the coronavirus led Witnesses around the globe to temporarily close their Kingdom Halls and suspend the door-to-door campaigns.

For people like me, our comfort zone is knocking on doors  going in twos to houses, saying hello to neighbors, Hendriks said. We grew up doing that. But were not set in our ways  the last two years have proved its OK to find new ways to reach people.

During the pandemic, the roughly 110 members of the congregation based at the Kingdom Hall on Hartfords Wadsworth Street learned to gather for twice-a-week meetings on Zoom and contact neighbors though mail or on the phone.

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The feeling was that this would be best for our own well-being and for our love of neighbors  why would we potentially risk causing them harm? Keel said. Some people can be asymptomatic. Who knows what kind of harm you might cause if you went door to door?

Like most religions worldwide, the Jehovahs Witnesses had to adapt quickly when the hard lockdowns of March 2020 took effect. Congregations locked their Fellowship Halls and hurried to set up Zoom accounts with meeting schedules, all with hopes that the pandemic would recede in weeks or at worst months.

Even though specific restrictions varied from country to country, the organization made an across-the-board decision to stop nearly all physical contact with its 8.6 million members worldwide.

On March 20 of 2020, we shut down all Kingdom Halls and all in-person public ministry, Hendriks said. It was a decision never made before in the history of our organization. That was a real shock to the system and we learned over the last two years that many, many more shocks would come.

From Danbury to Waterford, more than 50 Kingdom Halls in Connecticut were shut down a month before The Memorial, the religions April 15 observance of Christs death. Its the biggest day of the year for Witnesses, and attendance at the Kingdom Hall is often double or more the usual number.

The estimated 14,000 Witnesses in Connecticut began doing Bible studies and weekly conversations online, often in groups of just 12 or 15.

Two years later, The Memorial is again approaching fast and congregations are hurrying to prepare their long-vacant meeting halls.

I pushed the thermostat override and found the heat doesnt work, Keel said. So were scurrying. This will be the biggest attended meeting of the year. We have 108 members who regularly engage and a few children. On any given weekend, we might have 148, but on The Memorial it approaches 300. Its the most sacred day for us.

James Vernale, another Connecticut congregation member, suggested in-person attendance might be down for normal years because of congregants with lingering COVID concern or medical conditions. Each congregation is installing webcams so their meetings will be hybrid, ensuring access to anyone.

Keel agreed, saying his wife is experiencing a medical issue that will keep her from attending in person. In such cases, congregants will continue to function remotely. And all Witnesses will continue using mail, email and phones to reach neighbors.

Jehovahs Witnesses need to preach, thats that makes us Witnesses, Hendriks said. We take that on when we get baptized as adults. Our testimony isnt simply in the Kingdom Hall.

Since March of 2020, weve written tens of millions of letters, made tens of thousands of phone calls, he said. Twenty thousand people were baptized. We have people who are baptized now who have never seen the inside of a Kingdom Hall or knocked on a door.

Even if door-to-door evangelism remains shelved for a while, Hendriks is still optimistic.

In the last two decades we really emphasized knocking on doors, even though only at one of 100 did someone answer, he said. In the 70s you went on Saturday morning and you were either waking people up, getting them at breakfast or seeing them on their lawn.

As the 80s went into the 90s, Saturday morning became soccer, baseball, Home Depot, the cleaners, the car wash, he said. We want to reach people, but were not stuck on a methodology. There may be some Witnesses who never return to knocking on doors  theyve found more effectiveness in another way.
On March 21, District 2 Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin appeared in a federal court for his alleged actions on Jan. 6, 2021.

The plaintiff in this case, the federal government, filed a trial brief on March 17 and Griffin's legal team filed a brief response on March 18 in federal court. Both documents were filed just days before the trial's scheduled beginning.

"The defendant joined the mob that entered the area restricted on January 6, 2021 for the safety and security of the Vice President of the United States," the federal government's trial brief states. "At trial, the evidence will prove he acted with knowledge and willfulness when taking those actions on January 6, 2021, and the government will prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt."

Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin arrives at the Federal Court House in Washington, Monday, March 21, 2022. Griffin is charged with illegally entering Capitol grounds the day a pro-Trump mob disrupted certification of Joe Biden's presidential election victory on Jan. 6, 2021.

More: Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin questions Capitol riot deaths during CNN interview

Attorneys for Griffin responded to the federal government's trial brief, calling it inaccurate and stating that the government "did not understand the offense of which it had accused hundreds was then underlined by its inaccurate claims, carelessly repeated a great many times in court, that the vice president and vice president-elect remained in the Capitol Building throughout the day of January 6," Griffin's brief response states.

Griffin and others were charged under 18 U.S. Code  1752 concerning trespassing on restricted buildings and grounds.

Griffin was arrested on Jan. 18 after being charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building relating to his participation in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riots.

More: Cowboys for Trump leader claims he was offered plea deal in U.S. Capitol trespassing case

"The government represents that Griffin walked 'over several barriers,'" the defendant brief response states. "The evidence will show that is flatly untrue. The government will not present evidence that Griffin saw a single 'Do No Enter' sign anywhere. It will not present evidence that a single law enforcement officer advised Griffin not to enter the 'restricted area.'"

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Griffin's response also stated that the government planned to show film and photographic evidence of many other people doing similar things as Griffin was doing that day who have not been charged.

Otero County, New Mexico Commissioner Couy Griffin, right, prays before entering the Federal Court House in Washington, Monday, March. 21, 2022. Griffin is charged with illegally entering Capitol grounds the day a pro-Trump mob disrupted certification of Joe Biden's presidential election victory on Jan. 6, 2021.

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"The evidence will show that the government selected Griffin for prosecution based on the fact that he gave a speech and led a prayer at the Capitol, that is, selected him based on protected expression," Griffin's brief states.

Griffin, a Republican and vocal support of former President Donald Trump, also serves as the co-founder and spokesman for political advocacy group Cowboys for Trump.

The Federal Government's trial brief details "evidence at trial and various legal issues likely to be brought before the court," the trial brief states.

More: U.S. Government responds to Griffin motion to dismiss Capitol Riot case

"The defendant, Couy Griffin, was among those thousands who illegally entered the U.S. Capitol grounds that day," the federal government's trial brief states. "The defendant and his associate, Matthew Struck, walked from the downtown mall, over several barriers, and up an internal staircase to ultimately enter the inaugural stage that was in the process of being constructed on the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol building."

Griffin did not enter the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021; however, he was on the west side Capitol steps that had been barricaded in preparation for the Jan. 20 Biden-Harris Inauguration.

The government planned to call three witnesses who are not named in the trial brief. The witnesses are described as "an Inspector from the U.S. Capitol Police, an Inspector from the U.S. Secret Service, and an immunized witness who was with the Griffin before, during and after the events of Jan. 6, 2021."

It is expected to show video evidence of Griffin's location, his statements on Jan. 5 and Jan. 6 when Griffin was in Washington, D.C. and Jan. 14, 2021 when he was back on the dais of the Otero County Commission.

Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin arrives at the Federal Court House in Washington, Monday, March 21, 2022. Griffin is charged with illegally entering Capitol grounds the day a pro-Trump mob disrupted certification of Joe Biden's presidential election victory on Jan. 6, 2021.

It was at the Jan. 14, 2021 meeting when Griffin said he planned on being armed while attending the Biden Inauguration on Jan. 20, 2021.

"I'm gonna be there on Jan. 20  and I'm gonna take a stand for our country and for our freedoms," Griffin said on Jan. 14, 2021. "I'm gonna leave either tonight or tomorrow. I've got a .357 Henry Big Boy rifle lever action that I've got in the trunk of my car and I've got a .357 single action revolver, the Colt Ruger Vaquero that I'll have underneath the front seat on my right side and I will embrace my Second Amendment."

On Jan. 6, 2021, while Congress was working to certify the 2020 Election, outside the Capitol building, about 2,000 people were arriving for a protest that left five people dead including U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick.

The event was in response to unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud in the 2020 Election.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation started a database of defendants and those still at large it said participation in the riot. The database can be accessed at www.fbi.gov/wanted/capitol-violence.

According to the database, only one defendant, Guy Wesley Refitt of Bonham, Texas, was found guilty by a jury on all five felony counts against him.

Refitt was charged with two counts of civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding, entering or remaining in a restricted building with a deadly or dangerous weapon and obstruction of justice.

Refitt is scheduled to be sentenced in June. He remains detained until then.

Nicole Maxwell can be contacted by email at nmaxwell@alamogordonews.com, by phone at 575-415-6605 or on Twitter at @nicmaxreporter.

This article originally appeared on Alamogordo Daily News: Griffin Capitol Riot trial to begin March 21
An annotated map showing subvariant distribution in the US as of March 15. CDC/Insider

Coronavirus cases in Europe are rising again as the BA.2 subvariant of Omicron spreads.

COVID-19 waves in Europe typically precede the US by a couple of weeks.

Experts say the US could even get it worse, as booster uptake in the US has been low.

COVID-19 cases are on the rise again in Europe after a slump over the Christmas holiday period, and experts are raising the alarm about another wave coming to the US.

COVID-19 waves in Europe have tended to precede a rise in cases in the US, and experts have suggested this could be the case here as well.

The rise in cases, shown below, is thought to be the result of a combination of the spread of a more contagious subvariant of Omicron called BA.2 and the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions in many European countries in recent weeks, Eric Topol, a cardiologist and the director of the Scripps Institute, wrote in The Guardian.

A graph showing daily new reported COVID-19 cases as of March 20. Our World in Data

As of March 21, BA.2 made up 82% of sequenced cases of COVID-19 in the UK, 54% in Germany, 48% in France, and 48% in Italy, the variant-tracking website CoVariants.org said.

COVID-19 hospitalization rates are also on the rise in France and the UK, though both governments said that more people were being admitted for other reasons and testing positive for COVID-19 while in the hospital.

These "incidental" COVID-19 cases in hospitals made up more than half of UK hospitalizations, The Sunday Times reported.

BA.2 cases rising in the US

The proportion of BA.2 cases has also been rising in the US.

The subvariant made up an estimated 23% of cases in the week of March 12, up from 13.7% the week before, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

A chart showing that the proportion of cases caused by BA.2 is rising in the US. CDC

States in the northeast have the heaviest burden, with the BA.2 subvariant making up almost 40% of cases there.

An annotated map showing subvariant distribution in the US as of March 15. CDC/Insider

New reported COVID-19 cases in the US dropped to about a 28,000 seven-day average on March 18  the lowest level since July 13 last year.

But it is possible that the actual number of COVID-19 cases is higher than the figures show, Myoung Cha, an executive from Carbon Health, said in a Twitter thread.

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That's because more people are testing at home and not seeking care, he said. Some US states are also starting to close testing sites.

Wastewater surveillance suggests there may be more COVID-19 cases than are being reported. Some sites in the US reported over a 1,000% increase in the levels of genetic material from the coronavirus detected in sewage compared with 15 days earlier, as shown below.

Some localities reported a more than 1,000% increase in detection of genetic material from the coronavirus in wastewater. CDC

The US could get a worse wave

Some experts warn that the US could get a worse BA.2 wave than Europe, with unboosted vulnerable and older people at more risk than those in Europe.

The uptake of booster vaccines has been poorer in the US: As of March 13, only one in three in the US population had received a third shot, compared to about 60% in the UK, Germany, and Denmark.

A graph showing booster uptake in the US and some European countries. Our World in Data

"This is a critical issue, because there is a substantial dropdown of protection, from 90-95% with a third shot to 75-80% without a booster, versus Omicron hospitalization and death," Topol, the cardiologist, said in The Guardian.

On Sunday, he tweeted a graphic of a new variant, writing: "Don't be surprised. Plan for it. Prepare against it."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Downing Street blames Russia for hoax calls to ministers - /Ian Forsyth/Getty Images

The Russian state was behind the hoaxing of Ben Wallace and Priti Patel and could use doctored versions of the calls in a disinformation campaign to support its illegal invasion of Ukraine, Downing Street revealed on Monday.

Number 10 sources said government investigators had established that the Kremlin was behind the dirty tricks operation in which imposters posing as Ukrainian politicians targeted the defence and home secretaries and held conversations with them about the war.

There was also a third attempt to hoax Nadine Dorries, the Culture Secretary, but that failed.

Boris Johnsons official spokesman said: The Russian state was responsible for the hoax telephone calls made to UK ministers last week.

This is standard practice for Russian information operations, and disinformation is a tactic straight from the Kremlin playbook to try to distract from their illegal activities in Ukraine and the human rights abuses being committed there.

Mr Wallace had previously said he believed Russia was behind the incident, but this is the first time the Government has directly blamed the Kremlin.

No10 says it is likely that doctored recordings will now be released by Russia to spread more disinformation.



An inquiry has been launched into how the calls got through to the Secretaries of State, pretending to be Zelenskyy.  Tony Diver (@Tony_Diver) March 21, 2022

Downing Street said that the hoax video calls to UK ministers were an attempt by Vladimir Putins regime to distract from military problems in Ukraine.

We are seeing a string of distraction stories and outright lies from the Kremlin, reflecting Putins desperation as he seeks to hide the scale of the conflict and Russias failings on the battlefield, the spokesman said.

Senior government sources fear the Russians may attempt to doctor footage obtained in the calls in an attempt to embarrass the UK and reinforce the Russian narrative.

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Mr Wallace publicly acknowledged he had been targeted shortly after his call on Thursday in an attempt to get ahead of any attempt by Moscow to circulate footage from it. He also initiated a cross-Whitehall review to tighten up security procedures.

Government wont give impostors the oxygen they crave

The Defence Secretary believed that he was talking to Denys Shmyhal, the Ukrainian prime minister, when he agreed to the video call on Microsoft Teams.

He has never met Mr Shmyhal, but said he became suspicious when the caller, who was posing in front of a Ukrainian flag, began to ask questions relating to UK security. They included potential deployments of British warships to the Black Sea and the prospects of Kyiv dropping its ambition to join Nato.

Mr Wallace ended the call after eight or nine minutes minutes and now fears it could be used by the Russians as propaganda.

After the Defence Secretary disclosed the attempted sting, Ms Patel revealed in a tweet that she had also been the victim to a similar hoax, describing it as a pathetic attempt at such difficult times to divide us.

Sources close to the Home Secretary said she had taken the call but refused to say how long she spent talking with the impostors, saying they would not give them the oxygen they crave.
By Nelson Da Cruz

DILI (Reuters) - The top two candidates in East Timor's presidential poll on Tuesday appeared set for a second round next month, despite the latest vote count showing a commanding lead for Nobel laureate Jose Ramos-Horta.

With all votes counted, Ramos-Horta had secured 46.58%, more than twice the share of his rival Francisco "Lu Olo" Guterres, but still shy of the majority needed to win in one round.

The election body, which carries the latest count on its website, has yet to confirm the second round. But if no candidate secures more than 50% of votes, the poll will proceed to a runoff on April 19.

Speaking at the presidential palace on Tuesday, incumbent president Guterres said he would seek an alliance with all the parties that did not qualify for the second round.

"Let's go to the second round because no candidate came out as a winner and no candidate came out as a loser, now we start again from zero," he said.

Ramos-Horta said earlier he was confident of victory, and that his election would cause a "political earthquake in the national parliament".

The 72-year-old, who previously served as president from 2007 to 2012, said last week that he felt compelled to run again after he deemed actions by the incumbent president had violated the constitution.

Almost two decades after gaining independence from neighbouring Indonesia, East Timor held its fifth presidential election on Saturday - a race crowded with key resistance figures who remain prominent in the running of Asia's youngest nation to this day.

In East Timor, the president is responsible for appointing the government and also has the power to dissolve parliament.

The country has a predominantly Catholic population of 1.3 million people and an oil and gas dependent economy, but has struggled with political stability and development.

(Reporting by Nelson Da Cruz in Dili and Kate Lamb in Jakarta; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor)
El Paso police have arrested two men accused of stabbing of a barback who was trying to stop an assault of a bartender in the Five Points area earlier this month.

Marc Anthony Olivares, 26, and Matthew Luis Acevedo, 24, were each arrested on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to police, jail records and a bond hearing.

The stabbing occurred about 11 p.m. March 9 at Dewey's Corner Pub, 812 N. Piedras St., a block south of El Paso Police Headquarters.

Crime: El Paso police arrest suspect in armed robbery of lotto tickets at 7-Eleven store

Olivares, Acevedo and three women were allegedly already drunk when they arrived at the bar, Assistant District Attorney John Briggs said at a teleconference bond hearing for Olivares over the weekend.

Marc Anthony Olivares

The group got into a disagreement with a bartender, who was punched during the altercation. A barback, William Shukitt, 19, was trying to calm the situation when he was stabbed allegedly by Olivares, Briggs said.

Shukitt was hospitalized in stable condition following the stabbing.

More: Four teens arrested in stabbing of 14-year-old boy outside Peter Piper Pizza

Olivares was arrested Thursday and Acevedo was arrested Monday. Both were booked into the El Paso County Jail in Downtown following an investigation by detectives with the Crimes Against Persons Unit.

Matthew Luis Acevedo

In addition to the aggravated assault charge, Olivares was booked on a bond revocation on a driving while intoxicated charge and nine traffic warrants, according to a jail log.

Archives 2021: Cellphone video shows El Paso bar brawl that led to arrest of 3 in suspected gang activity

Briggs pointed out that Olivares likely was not allowed to drink alcohol while out on bond in the DWI case.

Olivares and Acevedo remained jailed on Monday under a $250,000 bond in the stabbing case.

Daniel Borunda may be reached at 915-546-6102; dborunda@elpasotimes.com; @BorundaDaniel on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Paso police make arrests in stabbing of bar worker in Five Points
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

The president's nominee to the Supreme Court needs a majority vote in the Senate to be confirmed. And in recent years, senators have rarely voted for a nominee of the opposite party.

After the 2020 election, the Senate emerged with 50 Republicans and 50 who vote as Democrats, with Vice President Kamala Harris serving as the presiding officer.

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman nominated to the high court, goes before an evenly divided Senate Judiciary Committee this week. Here's a look at the process.

So what are Jacksons chances of confirmation?

They are pretty good, considering the situation. Because Vice President Harris can break ties, Democrats are confident they can confirm Jackson as long as all the Democrats and the two independent senators who caucus with them vote in her favor.

It's also possible that a couple of Republican senators might vote for Jackson, such as Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who both voted to confirm Jackson last year to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Neither of the senators have announced yet how they plan to vote.

But doesnt the nominee first have to win the approval of the Senate Judiciary Committee?

Not exactly. Typically that is how it happens, yes. But there are ways around it if she does not receive a majority of the votes at the committee and there is a tie.

The committee is evenly split, with 11 Democrats and 11 Republicans. If one of the Republicans votes for her, her nomination could be approved and sent to the Senate floor.

If there's a tie, it gets more complicated.

If the committee deadlocks, does that mean the nomination stalls or dies?

No. A couple of things could happen.

The committee could vote to send the nomination to the Senate floor without a majority recommendation from the committee.

That would also require a majority vote by the committee. It's possible that at least one Republican who opposes her confirmation might nonetheless vote to send the nomination to the floor.

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There is precedent for that in the 1991 confirmation of Justice Clarence Thomas. The Judiciary Committee, chaired then by Sen. Joe Biden, split 7 to 7 on his nomination, but voted to send the nomination to the floor for a final vote. He was eventually confirmed on a 52-48 vote.

If the committee doesn't agree to send the nomination to the Senate floor, then what happens?

Under the Senate rules adopted last year, Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) can file a motion to discharge a nominee from a deadlocked and divided committee. It would require a majority vote of the full Senate, where the vice president could break a tie.

That would allow the Senate to schedule a final debate on the nomination of Judge Jackson and then a vote to confirm her to the Supreme Court.

Isnt there some question about whether Harris, as president of the Senate, can break a tie on a Supreme Court confirmation?

There has been some speculation about that. But most experts tend to agree that she would have the authority.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
A federal judge Monday gave a green light to a lawsuit alleging embattled Chicago Ald. Jim Gardiner had a man harassed, intimidated, and ultimately falsely arrested after hed picked up a cellphone that Gardiners ward superintendent had inadvertently left at a 7-Eleven.

The lawsuit, filed in 2020 in U.S. District Court by construction worker Benjamin George, named Gardiner, his ward boss, Charles Sikanich, the city and several police officers allegedly involved in the harassment campaign.

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In denying Gardiners motion to dismiss, which was also joined by Sikanich, U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey wrote that Georges allegations sufficiently showed the defendants conduct could have had no conceivable legitimate purposes or rational basis.

The ruling means that, barring a settlement, both Gardiner and Sikanich would likely have to answer questions about their alleged behavior in sworn depositions.

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Its now the second federal lawsuit filed against the 45th Ward alderman over the past two years to survive his attempts to get them thrown out.

Earlier this year, another judge ruled that a case could go forward alleging Gardiner violated the First Amendment rights of ward residents who were critical of him on social media by deleting their comments from his official Facebook page and blocking them from posting in the future.

Gardiner has denied the allegations in both lawsuits. His lawyer, Thomas Carroll, could not immediately be reached.

Meanwhile, Gardiner is also under federal criminal investigation involving his conduct in office, including whether he retaliated against constituents for political purposes, sources have told the Tribune. Investigators are also looking into allegations of potential political corruption, sources said.

State campaign records show Gardiner has paid more than $38,000 since last fall to the law firm Loeb & Loeb for legal fees unrelated to the lawsuits that are pending against him.

Georges lawsuit claimed that after he picked up Sikanichs cellphone at a Jefferson Park 7-Eleven in 2019, police officers were sent to his home, where they profanely harassed his roommate.

Later, both Gardiner and Sikanich paid a visit to Georges home, where they used disparaging language and demanded to know why the roommate let George live there, according to the suit.

When George brought the cellphone to the 16th District police station after he got off work that night, he was arrested and charged with theft of mislaid property, even though he explained to officers what had occurred, according to the suit.

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George alleged in the suit that one of the arresting officers told him, I believe you. I wasnt going to arrest you, but this person has power and I have bosses.

The charge was dismissed at the first court date, records show.

jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
Ukrayinska Pravda

VALENTYNA ROMANENKO - WEDNESDAY, 4 MAY 2022, 17:33 Ukrainian defenders continue to destroy units of the Russian occupiers and their equipment with great professionalism. Source: the press centre of the DShV command [Command of the Assault Troops of the Armed Forces of Ukraine] and the press service of the National Guard Details: The assault troops showed a video with the aftermath of the Russian armoured vehicles, together with their crews, destroyed by the artillery of one of the units of the D
Cecily Wong and Dylan Thuras, authors of Gastro Obscura: A Food Adventurers Guide, have created a highly informative, visually exciting book for readers who are curious about different foods and cultures around the world. If youre looking for a new recipe book, this is not it. But if you love reading about the interesting, unusual (and even delicious!) things people enjoy all around the world, this book is definitely a great fit for you.

Readers can learn about strange food-related occurrences, like a molasses flood that burst out of a 5-story storage tank and engulfed a portion of Boston, Massachusetts back in 1919, killing horses, destroying buildings, and even claiming the lives of 21 people. Maybe youre curious about the special stew consumed by sumo wrestlers in Japan (as many as ten bowls for lunch!) in order to achieve their impressive bulk. I was amazed to find out that ancient Persians developed a way to make ice in the desert as far back as 400 B.C., using their own type of icehouse called a yakhchal, which looks something like a multi-story beehiveconical in shape, with a wide base tapering to a point at the top of the structure.

The book covers food traditions in over 120 countries. We love tasty food, but we aim to be explorers rather than gourmands, say Wong and Thuras. Their book is a collection of forgotten histories and endangered traditions, obscure experiences, culinary ingenuity, and edible wonders. Wherever possible, the authors include information on how to visit or experience the foods theyve selected. The book is organized into geographical sections, including Africa, Europe, and even Antarctica. An index is included for easy reference. Color photos and illustrations highlight each entry.

Of course, I had to check and see if New Mexico foods are included in the book, and I was not disappointed. The authors feature both New Mexico chile and traditional foods of the Taos Pueblo. The abundance and fervor for chile sauce is largely thanks to the Chile Pepper Institute at New Mexico State University, the authors write. Mexican-born horticulturalist Fabian Garcia, a member of the first graduating class in 1894, was appointed director of the Agricultural Experimentation Station in 1913. The authors give credit to Garcia for developing the first chile with a standard pod and heat level, which he called New Mexico 9. If you would like to learn more about the Chile Pepper Institute or order some chile pepper seeds and other items, you can visit their website at https://cpi.nmsu.edu/.

The authors also highlight the food at Tiwa Kitchen, owned by Ben and Debbie Sandoval. Bens family lives in Taos Pueblo. He incorporates locally-raised bison on the menu as well as blue corn and red chile grown on Pueblo land. A rare outpost for home-style Pueblo and New Mexican comfort food, Tiwa Kitchen serves dishes that have been passed from generation to generationtaught to Ben by his grandmothers, the authors note. You can learn more about Tiwa Kitchen at https://www.tiwakitchen.com/index.html.

Fans of the late chef/author/television personality Anthony Bourdain will enjoy leafing through this bountiful book of world foods and culture. The publication is a project from Atlas Obscura, an online magazine, education, and tourism company. You can borrow the book in print format at Carlsbad Public Library, or download the e-book edition with the librarys free Hoopla app.

This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Try Gastro Obscura for insight into food, cultures around the world
FREEHOLD - A former Ocean Township police officer from Brielle who flipped and rented homes in the borough admitted in court Monday that he forged documents to get a loan and stole money from tenants by keeping their security deposits.

Cory R. Cole, 51, pleaded guilty to three counts of theft and one count of forgery before Judge Joseph W. Oxley in Superior Court, Freehold.

Each theft charge carries a maximum penalty of up to five years in prison; the forgery charge, 18 months.

Under the terms of the plea bargain, Cole faces 180 days in Monmouth County Jail but can avoid the stint behind bars if he pays $4.200 in restitution to each of two victims before sentencing, Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Lori Linskey said in a written statement.

The plea deal also bars him from contacting the victims.

He is due to be sentenced on Aug. 12.

Cory R. Cole, formerly of the Ocean Township Police Department, is facing a slew of criminal charges related to his real estate ventures.

Cole was indicted in June 2021 on nine counts that included one count of theft by deception, and several theft and forgery charges. The theft by deception charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in state prison if theres a conviction.

The five outstanding charges in the indictment will be dropped at sentencing under the terms of the plea deal.

Tax season: Child Tax Credit claimed by just half of NJ families, says Rutgers study

Investigators found that Cole forged a letter from his former matrimonial attorney to make it look like a court judgment the lawyer won against him for unpaid attorneys fees had been satisfied so he could get a $425,000 loan to buy property in Brielle, Linskey said.

Cole also pocketed two $4,200 security deposits from tenants at two different properties in Brielle, she said.

He claimed his tenants on Fisk Avenue owed him money for unpaid utility bills that he backed up with a forged bill from New Jersey Natural Gas that showed a false outstanding balance, Linskey said.

He cashed out most of the other $4,200 security deposit from a woman with children looking to rent a Borrie Avenue property instead of holding it in his bank account as required, she said.

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Cole also delayed the family's move-in date repeatedly, and they ended up not moving in at all, authorities said.

Investigators also found out that Cole had sent the Brielle School District a forged lease agreement in connection with the rental transaction so the would-be tenant's children could attend school there, Linskey said.

Cole, an 18-year veteran officer, resigned from the Ocean Township Police Department after first being charged in 2020. The plea agreement also forbids him from becoming a police officer or accepting public employment in New Jersey again, a prosecutors office spokesman said.

Ken Serrano covers crime, breaking news, investigations and local issues. Reach him at kserrano@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Ocean Township NJ: Former police officer admits to stealing
VERO BEACH  A two-time Vero Beach mayor died from what police said was a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his home Sunday evening.

Paramedics and police officers were called to the Avalon Avenue residence around 6:30 p.m. by a woman who said she found her husband with a gunshot wound in a bedroom.

Master Police Officer Darrell Rivers said Allen Craig Fletcher, 79, who went by Craig, was pronounced dead at 6:39 p.m. from a head wound.

Fletcher was twice mayor of Vero Beach from 2002 to 2003 and 2012 to 2013 and held four terms on the City Council between 2000 and 2014. He served as mayor 20 years after his father, Alfred Fletcher.

Former mayor's arrest: Craig Fletcher charged with assault after dispute with lawn care worker

From July 2019: Fletcher begins veterans court to get assault charge dropped

From March 13, 2002. Craig Fletcher looks at a coin that was tossed to decide whether he or Tom White would be the mayor of Vero Beach during an organizational meeting at City Hall the day after the election. Craig Fletcher won the toss. He gained the title 20 years after his father, Alfred Fletcher, served as Vero Beach mayor.

Rivers said Fletchers wife called 911 and said she found him as she went into a bedroom to look for movies. She told detectives he asked her to look for movies for them to watch and became angry because she couldnt find one.

She said he went into a bedroom, slammed the door and several minutes later she heard a loud noise.

Detectives talked with another family member at the residence who said Fletcher had repeatedly made threats to shoot himself and also made threats to shoot his wife.

(The family member) explained Vero Beach police officers had filed a risk protection order several years ago because of his behavior  and the judge denied it, according to Detective Jennifer Brumley in the report.

Floridas so-called red flag law, was enacted in March 2018 after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland a month earlier.

The law allows law enforcement agencies to ask judges to temporarily seize firearms from people who show warning signs of violence

The last time police were at the home was in late 2021, Rivers said, when officers were called because of an argument between Fletcher and tree trimmers. Rivers said that instance did not involve a gun.

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In July 2019 Fletcher was ordered to attend veterans court on an aggravated assault charge stemming from accusations he pointed a loaded handgun at a lawncare manager who knocked on the door of his home following a dispute with workers.

Craig Fletcher, former Mayor of Vero Beach, along with his attorney Andy Metcalf, stand before Judge Cynthia Cox while in veterans court on Tuesday, July 23, 2019, at the Indian River County Courthouse in Vero Beach.

His attorney at the time said Fletcher was a U.S. Army veteran during the Vietnam conflict.

A veterans court program outcome can include counseling or therapy and is a collaboration between courts and the Department of Veterans Affairs, a circuit clerk felony division official said. The charge was dropped and removed from state records.

Among many issues before him over the years, Fletcher signed an initial agreement in 2013 to take Vero Beach out of the electric business. That sales agreement eventually fell through because at the time the city couldnt get out of its other contracts. FPL bought the electric system in 2018.

Fletcher also worked to preserve from development islands just south of Indian River Shores within the Indian River Lagoon. He signed a deal in 2003 that preserved the Lost Tree Village Islands.

If you or someone you know may be struggling with suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 any time day or night, or chat online.

Corey Arwood is a breaking news reporter for TCPalm. Follow Corey on Twitter @coreyarwood, or reach him by phone at 772-978-2246.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Craig Fletcher, former Vero Beach mayor dead of self-inflicted gunshot
By Riham Alkousaa and Alexander Cornwell

ABU DHABI (Reuters) - German Economy Minister Robert Habeck, visiting Gulf states to discuss long-term energy supplies, said on Monday they should not profit from global sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

"I'm not asking that they join the sanctions....but I ask not to be a profiteer of European and U.S. sanctions," Habeck told reporters in the United Arab Emirates' capital Abu Dhabi following a visit to Qatar.

He said he has not seen any evidence of sanctioned Russian wealth coming into the UAE, the region's commercial hub which diplomats, company executives and financial sources have said has emerged as a safe haven for Russia's rich.

The minister said he had spoken with Qatari officials about Russian wealth flowing into the country. Qatari authorities did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comment.

Gulf states have tried to strike a balance between Western allies and Russia, with which they have energy and economic ties.

OPEC producers Saudi Arabia and the UAE have also resisted Western calls to use their spare oil output capacity to tame prices that surged as Russia's invasion prompted fears of supply disruptions.

Russia is the largest supplier of gas to Germany and Habeck has launched several initiatives to lessen his country's energy dependence on Moscow.

During his visit to Doha on Sunday, Germany said a long-term energy partnership had been clinched while Qatar said the two countries would re-engage and progress discussions on liquefied natural gas supplies.

In Abu Dhabi's Masdar City, where Habeck toured a solar project, the minister said German firms would sign five memoranda of understanding concerning hydrogen research and development.

The German delegation is expected to hold talks with state oil firm ADNOC and the UAE energy minister.

Habeck said he would discuss Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's recent visit to the UAE, the first to an Arab state since the Syrian war began in 2011, and which comes amid strained ties between Abu Dhabi and Washington.

(Reporting by Riham Alkousaa and Alexander Cornwell; Writing by Lina Najem; Editing by Alex Richardson and Angus MacSwan)
BERLIN (Reuters) - A woman who made a video in which she described a fatal attack by two Ukrainians on a Russian boy in Germany later admitted that the story was incorrect, police said on Monday.

Police believe the video, which is circulating on social media, was designed deliberately to stoke hate and are investigating the matter.

The selfie-style video in Russian, in which an unidentified woman breaks down as she relays a story she says was told her by a friend, comes as politicians warn against allowing Russia's invasion of Ukraine to stoke anti-Russian sentiment in Western Europe.

It was unclear if the woman, who in the video says she had the story from a friend, believed the story when she made the video, and nor was it clear why she had made it.

Police in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia said they had no information about any attack on a Russian-speaker by Ukrainians in the town of Euskirchen, where the incident was alleged to have taken place, and that they were unaware of any death that matched the circumstances described.

"Experts believe this was a deliberate 'fake video' designed to stoke hate," police wrote on Twitter.

They said state security was investigating the matter and asked the public not to spread the video any further.

Germany is home to about 3 million ethnic Russians and experts say they are an important element in the information war between Moscow and the West as many maintain contacts with family and friends back home while being exposed to a far more diverse media environment than in Russia.

(Reporting by Thomas Escritt; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
By Huw Jones

LONDON (Reuters) -Global financial regulators are closely scrutinising the use of cryptoassets during the war in Ukraine after concerns they could be used to evade Western sanctions on Russia.

The $1.8 trillion crypto sector is on the defensive amid warnings from U.S. and European lawmakers that digital asset companies are not up to the task of complying with Western financial sanctions imposed on Russia following the country's invasion of Ukraine.

Some crypto exchanges have rejected calls to cut off all Russian users, raising concerns that crypto could be used as a way to circumvent sanctions.

Ukraine has also raised more than $100 million in cryptocurrencies after posting appeals on social media for donations for military and humanitarian needs in bitcoin and other digital tokens.

"We at the FSB are monitoring the situation, the conflict situation relative to cryptos," Patrick Armstrong, a member of the Financial Stability Board's (FSB) secretariat, told a City & Financial conference in London.

The FSB, which groups financial regulators, central banks and finance ministry officials from the Group of 20 economies, is sharing the information it obtains among its members, Armstrong said.

The European Union on March 9 issued guidance to confirm that sanctions on loans and credit to Russia include cryptoassets, in a bid to close potential sanctions loopholes.

John Glen, Britain's financial services minister, told the same conference that steps already taken by the UK to bring cryptoassets under anti-money laundering and terrorist financing curbs will support law enforcement in cryptoassets.

"We think that these steps will actively support the government's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine," Glen said.

But David Raw, a policy official at Britain's Financial Conduct Authority, said 90% of crypto firms seeking approval for anti-money laundering controls have either withdrawn their applications or been refused because they could not meet the standards.

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All companies carrying out crypto-related activity in the UK face an end of March deadline for obtaining approvals and Raw sought to reassure those still stuck in the authorisation queue.

"It won't be the case that you suddenly have to cease trading," Raw said.

Britain is also cracking down on crypto promotions and Glen said the UK government is still considering whether other rules are needed for blockchain, which underpins crypto assets.

"We are not finished in relation to crypto," Raw said.

(Reporting by Huw Jones, editing by Ed Osmond and Susan Fenton)
Former Gov. Eric Greitens after announcing the release of funds for the state's biodiesel program on May 17, 2018 in Jefferson City, MO. Jeff Roberson/AP Photo

Eric Greitens' ex-wife filed an affidavit accusing the GOP Senate candidate of violent and abusive behavior.

She also said he admitted taking a nude photo of a woman with whom he had an extra-marital affair.

The ex-governor has long denied this, despite being indicted for invasion of privacy and resigning in 2018.

Republican Senate candidate Eric Greitens privately admitted to taking the "revenge porn" photo that led to his indictment on invasion of privacy charges and his resignation as Missouri's governor in 2018, his ex-wife said in a new court filing.

In a signed affidavit made public on Monday, Sheena Greitens accused her ex-husband of violent and abusive behavior amid an ongoing child custody dispute between the former couple. Eric issued a blanket denial of Sheena's allegations in a statement on Monday and his campaign called Sheena "deranged."

The affadavit, which contains graphic descriptions of Eric's alleged behavior, also contains another notable allegation: despite repeatedly denying that he took a compromising nude photo of a hairdresser with whom he had an extramarital affair in 2015 and threatened to blackmail her, Eric privately owned up to taking the photo early last year. Sheena said Eric warned her not to reveal his admission to anyone.

"After Eric admitted to me in late January 2021 that he had taken the photo that resulted in the invasion of privacy charge, he threatened that I would be exposed to legal jeopardy if I ever disclosed that fact to anyone, even family members or a therapist," she wrote.

The Greitens campaign didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment concerning whether he took the photograph.

She went on, "Because of the reach of his influence in Missouri, I believed him, which had the consequence of isolating me from many sources of outside support as his threats escalated and my concerns for my safety and that of my children grew."

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The couple divorced in 2020, and Sheena is now an associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin.

Eric Greitens, previously a rising star in the Republican Party, was elected governor of Missouri in 2016. But in early 2018, a local Missouri TV station aired a recording of an anonymous woman disclosing to her husband that Eric had taken nude photos of her without her consent while she was blindfolded and her hands were taped to exercise rings during an otherwise consensual encounter in 2015.

After a grand jury indicted the then-governor on felony invasion of privacy charges the following month, his political support eroded, and he resigned in July 2018. But he's since sought to re-launch his political career, running for the open Senate seat vacated by retiring Republican Sen. Roy Blunt and causing consternation among top Republicans as polling shows him near the top of the Republican primary.

Eric now faces growing calls from fellow Missouri political figures to drop out, including Republican Sen. Josh Hawley and Republican primary opponents Rep. Vicky Hartzler and Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Judge Brett Kavanaugh testifies to the Senate Judiciary Committee during his Supreme Court confirmation hearing on September 27, 2018. Jim Bourg-Pool/Getty Images

Republican senators aired old grievances about Brett Kavanaugh at Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation hearing.

They accused Democrats of turning Kavanaugh's 2018 confirmation hearings into a "circus."

Kavanaugh was accused of sexual assault. Jackson has not been accused of sexual assault.

Several Republican senators on Monday complained that Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was treated less respectfully during his 2018 confirmation hearings than Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson during hers this week.

The comments came at the very beginning of Jackson's confirmation hearings, a historic moment that could result in Jackson being the first Black woman to sit on the high court. President Joe Biden nominated her to replace outgoing Justice Stephen Breyer.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, addressing Jackson on Monday, said, "When we say that this is not Kavanaugh, what do we mean? It means that Democratic senators are not going to have their windows busted by groups. That's what it means."

"It means that no Republican senator is going to unleash on you an attack about your character when the hearing is virtually over," the South Carolina Republican continued. "None of us, I hope, have been sitting on information about you as a person. For weeks or months, you come into our offices and we never share it with you to allow you to give your side of the story."

Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson listens during confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee Monday, March 21, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo

Graham was referring to the way Democrats handled Christine Blasey Ford's allegation that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her when the two were in high school.

Republicans have repeatedly accused Democrats of weaponizing the confirmation process in Kavanaugh's case and releasing Ford's allegations at a politically opportune time to try and sink his nomination to the court.

After Kavanaugh's appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee had concluded by early September 2018, it was reported that California Sen. Dianne Feinstein's office had a letter from Ford detailing her allegations against Kavanaugh.

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By "the next morning there were headlines all over the country really accusing Judge Kavanaugh of being basically Bill Cosby," Graham said to Jackson on Monday. "None of us are going to do that to you, and if any of us does that to you, all hell will break out, as it should."

"There won't be this constant attack on you like Judge Kavanaugh and other conservative judicial appointments," he added.

'No one is going to inquire into your teenage dating habits'

Sen. Ted Cruz also used his opening statement to air out his grievances about how Kavanaugh was treated.

"You've heard a number of members on the Republican side of the aisle be quite clear on what" the confirmation hearing "should not be," Cruz said, addressing Jackson. "This will not be a political circus. This will not be the kind of character smear that, sadly, our Democratic colleagues have gotten very good at."

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, listens during the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson before the Senate Judiciary Committee Monday, March 21, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

The Texas Republican then pointed to the highly publicized hearings of other conservative Supreme Court nominees, including Robert Bork, who was criticized for his opposition to key rulings that expanded voting rights and civil rights, and Clarence Thomas, who was accused of sexually harassing Anita Hill and other women who worked for him.

Ford, who testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee during Kavanaugh's confirmation hearings, gave a lurid account of how when they were in high school, he pinned her to a bed, groped her, and held his hand over her mouth as she screamed. She also described the effect the alleged attack had on her life, how she came to the decision to make her allegations public, and how that choice impacted her family.

"I am here today not because I want to be. I am terrified. I am here because I believe it is my civic duty," she told lawmakers at the time.

Kavanaugh has maintained his innocence and accused Democrats of ruining his reputation.

Cruz on Monday described Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing as "one of the lowest moments in the history of this committee." He was not referring to Ford's allegations of sexual assault but to the way in which they became public.

"We began a circus that featured Spartacus moments," he said, later adding: "Judge Jackson, I can assure you that your hearing will feature none of that disgraceful behavior. No one is going to inquire into your teenage dating habits. No one is going to ask you with mock severity, 'Do you like beer?'"

Jackson has not been accused of sexual assault or sexual misconduct.

The Senate voted 50-48 to confirm Kavanaugh's nomination, and he has served on the high court since October 2018.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Marilyn Miglin was a model turned cosmetics entrepreneur well-known for her Oak Street salon and regular appearances on the Home Shopping Network.

She was really smart, and she really figured out where the market was, said Chicago lawyer Lloyd Shefsky, a longtime business adviser. She did it all, too  not just the fragrances, but the packaging, the branding, the labeling.

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Miglin, 83, died of complications from a stroke March 14 at her Gold Coast home, said her son, Duke.

Born Marilyn Klecka in Chicago, Miglin grew up on the Northwest Side and graduated from Schurz High School. While in school she danced professionally, both in ballet and musical comedy shows.

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She recalled in a 1983 Tribune article that dancing meant working from early morning until late at night, until my feet swelled, but I couldnt say I cant do it, or Im tired, no matter what.

Miglin attended Northwestern University on a math scholarship and continued dancing, participating in the chorus at the famous Chez Paree nightclub. After college, she toured for two years with Jimmy Durantes troupe.

Back in Chicago, Miglin modeled for Marshall Field & Co. for a time. In 1959, she married Lee Miglin three months after they were introduced. On a trip with him to New York City, she learned that dancers had difficulty finding good makeup in Chicago. So in 1963 she opened a cosmetics store on Oak Street.

Miglin eventually worked with a cosmetics chemist, George Fiedler, to develop her own line of cosmetics. In 1979, she rolled out her own fragrance, Pheromone, after years of research. She began selling Pheromone and other cosmetics in department stores nationwide.

She was just an extraordinary woman, said socialite, author and public relations guru Donna Sugar Rautbord. Pheromone became an immediate hit, and it went into Saks and Fields, which is unheard of. People couldnt believe that somebody could stay in Chicago and from their little laboratory and place on Oak Street be in competition with all the big (cosmetics companies).

In the late 1990s, Miglin began appearing as a pitchwoman on the Home Shopping Network for her line of skin-care products, cosmetics and fragrances.

Just because she had something like a store on Oak Street didnt mean she needed to stay there, her son said. She was open to moving to an online presence, and that was part of her being on the Home Shopping Network. The dynamic of makeup did change over the years, and she had to keep up with it..

Marilyn Miglin, right, at an appearance promoting her new fragrance at Marshall Field's, puts some lotion on the hands of Ann Scavo of Schaumburg in April 1998. (Nancy Stone/Chicago Tribune)

Rautbord credited Miglin for viewing her business as a way to give women added confidence.

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She believed the beauty business was another way, another approach to womens empowerment, Rautbord said. If nothing more, it gave them the courage and the self-respect to go out and do as they wanted to do in life.

To that end, Miglin began working with the University of Illinois Hospital Craniofacial Center. She became involved with the group after meeting Michele McBride, one of the survivors of the devastating 1958 Our Lady of Angels School fire in Humboldt Park, which claimed the lives of 92 children and three nuns. McBride, who died in 2001, suffered burns on 70% of her body.

McBrides sister, Delourdes Dae Hannah, noted that McBride was seeking makeup to cover scars from burns, and the large cosmetics firms offered no choices. Eventually, Miglin and McBride connected, and they worked together on trying to help burn victims find makeup options.

They both did a lot of good in helping (burn victims), who needed to  learn how to apply makeup, and it changed their lives, Hannah said.

Shefsky recalled that Miglins personal style sometimes belied her intelligence.

She wasnt one of those people who acted like she was the smartest person in the room, even though many times she was, he said. But youd sit in a meeting and she wouldnt say anything for 10 minutes, which is an eternity, but at the end of the 10 minutes, shed encapsulate what everyone else had said, and she was now already running in a new direction with it.

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Miglin, who authored a motivational book in 2002, Best Face Forward, never retired.

Miglin was a tireless champion of Oak Street as a high-end shopping destination, and she founded and led the Oak Street Council. She eventually was honored with Oak Street being given the honorary street name of Marilyn Miglin Way.

Miglin was a longtime fixture on Chicagos social scene, as well as a donor and fundraiser for numerous institutions, including the Ogden School and the Anti-Cruelty Society.

Lee Miglin was slain in their home in 1997 by Andrew Cunanan, who two months later killed fashion designer Gianni Versace. Miglin was portrayed by actress Judith Light in a 2018 televised dramatization of Cunanans multistate killing spree, which claimed five victims.

Miglin married business consultant Naguib Mankarious in 1999. He died in 2000.

In addition to her son, she is survived by a daughter, Marlena; and six grandchildren.

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There were no services.

Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.

To purchase a death notice, visit https://placeanad.chicagotribune.com/death-notices/. To suggest a staff-written obituary on a person of local interest, e-mail chicagoland@chicagotribune.com
In an effort to help people affected by Russias invasion of Ukraine, Hampton University is joining the list of institutions to help students continue their education.

This summer, the historically Black university will take in 50 to 100 students who have been studying in Ukraine and allow those students to stay after the upcoming semester.

I just believe so strongly in helping and serving people. Thats it  nothing more, nothing less, President William Harvey said during an interview.

It doesnt matter what students are studying or which program theyre enrolled in, Harvey said. Eligible students merely have be currently studying in Ukraine. The university will cover tuition, housing and meal plans.

Students who wish to stay at Hampton after the summer will be able to enroll at the universitys regular rate, according to a news release.

University administrators formed a committee, which met Thursday, to address some the challenges that are ahead of them including language barriers and immigration, transportation and vaccination issues. Harvey also reached out to international organizations and the Ukrainian ambassador to see how the university can help.

The University of Chicago announced a similar initiative this week that will allow students to study at the institutions campus in Paris. The university will offer online and in-person learning options for students who are unable to continue their studies in Ukraine along with other programming efforts.

In 2019, the private institution partnered with University of the Bahamas to assist students who were displaced by Hurricane Dorian. Harvey made calls to presidents of a couple of airlines who agreed to provide students with flights to Hampton Roads. The outpouring of support led to local retail companies chipping in with gift cards for students so they could buy supplies needed for their stay.

I am not unaware of the difficulties that there are going to be, but I firmly believe that we need to try, Harvey said.
The Virginia Marine Police arrested a woman Monday after they said she led officers on a chase through two cities before she struck two marked state police cars on Mercury Boulevard in Hampton.

Susan Freeman, 32, of Hampton, was charged with driving under the influence of drugs, felony eluding, assault, and driving on a suspended license, according to a news release from the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, which oversees the Marine Police.

The commission said a Marine Police officer saw a 2001 Dodge minivan driving the wrong way  west in the eastbound lanes  at about 7:15 a.m. on Jefferson Avenue in Newport News. The van was also driving at a high rate of speed, the release said.

But when the officer tried to pull the van over, the driver refused to pull over and instead made an illegal U-turn on Jefferson before going north on Interstate 664.

The minivan fled into Hampton and onto Interstate 64 before getting off at the Mercury Boulevard exit. But once Freeman got onto Mercury, police said, she quickly made another U-turn and tried to get back onto the interstate.

Virginia State Police troopers blocked the minivan from getting back onto the freeway, before police said the vehicle hit two marked VSP cars, lost control, and crashed.

Freeman was taken to Riverside Regional Medical Center for treatment for non-life threatening injuries, police said. No officers were injured.

Formed in 1875 as the Oyster Navy, the Virginia Marine Police enforces state and federal commercial and recreational fishery laws and regulations. But Col. Matthew Rogers of the Virginia Marine Police said his officers are fully empowered under state law to make arrests or traffic stops if a crime or violation occurs in their presence.

Peter Dujardin, 757-247-4749, pdujardin@dailypress.com
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are drafting a new policy that would force agents to get approval from senior leaders for any attempt to gain information from reporters through administrative subpoenas, officials told BuzzFeed News in a statement.

The development of a new policy comes more than a year after ICE issued an administrative subpoena during the Trump administration demanding BuzzFeed News identify its sources  an extraordinary attempt by the government to interfere with a news outlet acting under the protections of the First Amendment.

At the time, the move was met with criticism from media rights organizations such as the Committee to Protect Journalists and even former ICE leaders, who called it a blatant overreach. The agency later backed down after BuzzFeed News published a story detailing the demand.

The new policy, which follows a congressional directive included as part of the most recent government funding bill, would make it so ICE personnel must elevate decisions about whether to issue administrative subpoenas to members of the news media to the the most appropriate senior ICE official, such as the ICE Director. The agency must also make sure that its employees know of this new policy through training. ICE officials will also have to provide congressional staffers with a copy of the policy and the associated training details within 90 days.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is committed to protecting the civil rights of all individuals including press freedoms, ICE spokesperson Tamara Spicer said in a statement. Based off language in the FY2022 appropriation bill, ICE is taking immediate steps to begin drafting a policy regarding the issuance of administrative subpoenas to members of the news media. The policy will elevate those decisions to the most appropriate senior agency official for review and approval and will ensure that appropriate training is provided to personnel.

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Jay Tilton, a spokesperson for the Senate Appropriations Committee, told BuzzFeed News late last year that congressional officials learned about the lack of a policy after meeting with the agency.

Through press reporting, the committee became aware that an ICE employee allegedly used ICEs subpoena authority on a member of the press. After further inquiries, the committee learned that contrary to the DOJ, ICE had no policy in place guiding its employees on how to properly engage the press in these matters, he said. Given the fundamental First Amendment issues involved, the committee thought it prudent to direct ICE to develop such a policy using the long-standing DOJ policy as a guidepost.

The administrative subpoena to BuzzFeed News was issued by an agent with the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility, and concerned emails sent to ICE attorneys on a fast-track deportation program and plans to fine certain undocumented immigrants. It demanded that BuzzFeed News provide all documentation including, but not limited to: (1) date of receipt, (2) method of receipt, (3) source of document, and (4) contact information for the source of the document.

The subpoena stated that BuzzFeed News should produce the records to an ICE agent in Virginia by Dec. 22. Failure to comply with this summons will render you liable to proceedings in a U.S. District Court to enforce compliance with this summons as well as other sanctions, the subpoena sent to BuzzFeed News stated. You are requested not to disclose the existence of this summons for an indefinite period of time. Any such disclosure will impede this investigation and thereby interfere with the enforcement of federal law.

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By Krishna N. Das

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India is considering making all adults eligible for booster doses of COVID-19 vaccine, two sources with knowledge of the matter said on Monday, as infections grow in some countries and some Indians find it hard to travel abroad without a third dose.

Only frontline workers and those older than 60 are currently allowed to take booster doses in India, whether free in government centres or paid for in private hospitals.

The government is debating whether to provide boosters to other groups for free, said one of the sources, who both sought anonymity as the government has yet to make a decision.

A health ministry spokesperson wrote in a WhatsApp group for reporters: "no decision yet".

The Serum Institute of India (SII), whose Covishield vaccine dominates India's immunisation programme, said on Monday it stopped the shot's production in December but still had a stock of 200 million doses. It has produced 1.9 billion doses in total.

Its Chief Executive Adar Poonawalla told CNBC-TV18 that they would restart production of the vaccine, a version of the AstraZeneca shot, if demand returned through boosters or any other way.

India's health ministry, meanwhile, has urged states to boost COVID-19 surveillance measures, citing a resurgence in some parts of Asia and Europe. China and Italy have seen a recent rise in cases.

Infections in India, however, have fallen to their lowest in more than a year, with 1,549 new cases reported in the past 24 hours and 31 deaths. India's total infections now stand at more than 43 million, with 516,510 deaths.

The country of about 1.4 billion people has administered 1.81 billion vaccine doses, more than 20 million as boosters.

On Twitter some Indians have said organisers of some events overseas have limited attendance to those who have taken booster doses. Countries such as Israel, for example, do not consider vaccination complete in the absence of booster doses.

(Reporting by Krishna N. Das; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Jonathan Oatis)
AMES, Iowa (AP)  Lexi Donarski scored 20 points and third-seeded Iowa State raced to its first Sweet 16 appearance since 2010 with a 67-44 win over sixth-seeded Georgia on Sunday night.

Emily Ryan had 15 points, nine assists and six rebounds for the Cyclones (28-6), and Ashley Joens added 12 points and grabbed ten rebounds.

Sometimes in life you earn things, and you get it, Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly said. Well, this group earned it. They got it and it's pretty damn sweet.

Jenna Staiti led Georgia (21-10) with 16 points and nine rebounds. The Bulldogs shot 30.6% from the floor and never had a lead.

Georgia is a really talented team and so it all started with defense, Donarski said. We had to set the tone, especially defensively really early, and that just pushed us forward on offense."

Iowa State opened the game with an 11-0 run, capped by a jumper from Joens. Ryan, who made four of her first five shots, hit consecutive 3-pointers to give the Cyclones a 17-7 advantage. A 3 from Joens pushed the margin to 21-7.

We knew coming out strong tonight was huge for us, don't let them get any momentum, Ryan said. I thought we did a good job of not letting them go on any big runs.

Georgia shot just 3 of 16 in the first quarter and 8 of 31 in the first half (26%). It also committed eight turnovers in the first 20 minutes.

Iowa State finished with a 45-38 advantage on the boards despite Georgia's height advantage with the 6-foot-4 duo of Staiti and Jillian Hollingshead.

They did what they do well, and we didn't have an answer for it, Bulldogs coach Joni Taylor said. We knew that taking away the 3 was going to be really important and winning the rebound battle was going to be important. We didn't do either one of those things.

SWEET AGAIN

Iowa State will make its sixth Sweet 16 appearance, all under Fennelly. The Cyclones' last Elite Eight appearance came in 2009, when they lost to Stanford 74-53. Iowa State's last Sweet 16 trip in 2010 resulted in a 74-36 loss to No. 1 Connecticut.

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VICTORY MARK

Iowa State set a new school mark for wins in a season with their 28th victory Sunday. The Cyclones recorded 27 wins in 1999-00, 2000-01 and 2008-09.

SERIES HISTORY

Georgia entered Sunday with a 3-0 all-time record against the Cyclones, with all three games in the NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs won the last meeting, 65-60, in the second round of the 2013 tourney.

UP NEXT

Iowa State advanced to meet Creighton (22-9) in a Sweet 16 matchup on Friday in Greensboro, North Carolina.

___

More AP coverage of March Madness: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who has been trying to mediate an end to the Ukraine-Russia conflict, said on Monday that despite some progress big gaps remained between the sides.

"There's still a long way to go, because ... there are several issues in dispute, some of them fundamental," he said in a speech, according to a transcript provided by his office.

Bennett added that Israel, "together with other friends in the world, will continue trying to to bridge the gap and bring an end to the war".

(Writing by Dan Williams)
CAIRO (Reuters) -Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi hosted Israel's prime minister and the de facto leader of the United Arab Emirates on Monday, two Egyptian security sources said, as talks to revive a nuclear deal with Iran remain in limbo.

Shared concerns over Iran saw the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain forge ties with Israel in 2020 to create a new regional axis at a time of uncertainty over the commitment of key security ally the United States.

Gulf states were excluded from talks to revive a 2015 nuclear pact with Iran that they have criticised for not addressing Iran's missiles programme and regional proxies, including in Yemen.

Egypt's presidency said Sisi and the UAE's Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan held expanded bilateral talks on issues including economic investment, in the Red Sea Resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Sisi stressed Egypt's commitment to security in the Gulf and "rejection of any practices that seek to destabilise it," the presidency said in a statement.

There was no official comment on any talks involving Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, but the Egyptian sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the three leaders were holding discussions that covered the consequences of the war in Ukraine.

The UAE along with Saudi Arabia has resisted Western calls to hike oil output and contain a jump in crude prices caused by the conflict in Ukraine.

Egypt faces new economic pressures due to the war that saw it devalue its currency by 14% on Monday. It has called on financial support from wealthy Gulf states in the past.

Bennett traveled to Abu Dhabi in December, the first official visit by an Israeli leader following the normalisation of relations between the two countries.

Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty in 1979 and last week announced an agreement on direct flights between Tel Aviv and Sharm el-Sheikh.

Bennett visited Egypt last September, the first official trip by an Israeli head of government to the country in a decade.

(Reporting by Ahmed Mohamed Hassan, Additional reporting by Henriette Chacar and Moataz MohammedEditing by Jeffrey Heller and Jonathan Oatis)
WASHINGTON  President Joe Biden will travel to Poland on Friday, a demonstration of support for the eastern flank of the NATO alliance, after a meeting of NATO leaders in Brussels on Thursday to coordinate a response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

In Warsaw, Biden will meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda, the White House announced Sunday. Poland has taken in more than a million of the 3 million Ukrainians who have been displaced since Russia's invasion began last month.

Biden will discuss with Duda how the U.S. and others are responding to the humanitarian and human rights crisis, according to the White House.

Poland has proposed the creation of a peacekeeping force, but officials said they do not know if NATO is yet willing to take such provocative action.

'OUR PEOPLE ARE BEING KILLED': 'Our people are being killed.' Ukrainians flee to tiny, poor Moldova as Russia escalates attacks

HOPE NEVER DIES': Ukrainian pastor seeks unity for Russian-speaking congregation in Texas

Marek Magierowski, Poland's ambassador to the United States, told CNN's "State of the Union: "It's a very preliminary concept."

A bipartisan delegation of U.S. senators visited a refugee center in Poland on Saturday and met with officials from several countries to reinforce U.S. support for providing humanitarian assistance and lethal aid to Ukraines defense against Russias invasion.

Vice President Kamala Harris visited Poland earlier this month, meeting with Polish officials and Ukrainian refugees.

President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden return to the White House on March 20, 2022 in Washington, DC.

She arrived soon after the Biden administration nixed Poland's offer of providing MiG-29 fighter planes to a U.S. air base in Germany for the U.S. to then give the planes to Ukraine. The Pentagon said the prospect of fighter jets controlled by the United States flying from a U.S.-NATO base into airspace that is contested with Russia over Ukraine "raises serious concerns for the entire NATO alliance."

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Republicans, and some Democratic lawmakers, have continued to call for the fighter jets to be sent to Ukraine. But administration officials argue there are better ways to help that won't risk escalating the war.

In advance of his trip to Europe, Biden will talk by phone Monday with the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Britain. Biden will also discuss the Ukrainian crisis with U.S. business leaders Monday.

TERRIFIED CHILDREN, SEX TRAFFICKING: Women in Ukraine fight a different kind of war

US Vice President Kamala Harris, left, holds a roundtable discussion with people displaced from Ukraine at the American School of Warsaw, in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, March 10, 2022.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday's meeting will provide "yet another platform to demonstrate our unity, our support to Ukraine, but also our readiness to protect and defend all NATO allies."

Asked on NBC's "Meet The Press" if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would attend the meeting remotely, Stoltenberg said the summit's "exact format" hasn't been set.

On Sunday, Zelenskyy accused Russia of war crimes over its siege of Mariupol, describing the attack on the city as a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come.

In his nightly address to the nation, Zelenskyy said Ukraine is interested in peace, and stressed that ongoing talks with Russia are necessary.

Contributing: Bart Jansen and David Jackson, USA TODAY; The Associated Press.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Joe Biden to visit Poland after NATO summit amid Russia-Ukraine war
Negotiations between Black and Latino aldermen over redrawing Chicagos ward boundaries have resulted in more performative name-calling than compromises, but the citys cash register keeps ringing for private specialists hired by each side.

Powerful attorneys, map consultants and others working for the City Councils Black and Latino caucuses, as well as the council Rules Committee that is supposed to be mediating the debate, have so far billed Chicagoans more than $720,000, according to invoices the Tribune received from the city through an open records request.

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That dollar figure will undoubtedly get bigger because some consultants and attorneys have only billed through the end of 2021. But the remap cost to taxpayers may skyrocket. If at least 41 aldermen cant agree on a map by mid-May, Chicago voters could be asked to choose a map in a ballot referendum as part of the June 28 primary election. The last time a map referendum happened, it spurred a lawsuit that cost $20 million.

The possibility of a referendum became more real last week when 33 aldermen, among them 19 Black council members who are trying to protect the votes they have on the council, filed paperwork to have their proposed map included as a referendum question. The Latino coalition, which is looking to expand its power by drawing boundaries that would add more Latino-majority wards, did the same a few months ago.

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Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, 35th, and members of the Chicago City Council Latino Caucus, hold a news conference at City Hall on Dec. 1, 2021, calling for transparency in the redistricting map process. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

So far, the two sides have bickered more than negotiated. Last fall, Northwest Side Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, 35th, accused Rules Committee Chair Ald. Michelle Harris, 8th, of gaslighting Latinos when she said they werent negotiating in good faith, while earlier this year Harris said some Latino aldermen were getting hoodwinked by their colleagues who are convincing them they can win a citywide ballot referendum on the maps.

The battle between the two caucuses echoes previous dust-ups that have occurred during the once-a-decade ward remap process, which on the surface may seem of interest to only political insiders yet has real-world implications for Chicagos 2.7 million residents. Anyone who has tried to build support for a playground renovation near the borders of several wards or attempted to get help dealing with a problem building that sits in a ward represented by a neighboring alderman can attest to the importance of where those lines get drawn.

Inside the City Council, the alliances also have significant consequences, with remap decisions tilting the scale for which aldermen have more influence both within and outside their wards, including how hundreds of millions of local and federal tax dollars are allocated.

And in order to win, both sides have sought the assistance of high-powered attorneys with deep ties to some of Chicagos biggest power brokers. That includes former Mayors Richard M. Daley and Rahm Emanuel and former Speaker of the House Michael Madigan, who was recently indicted on federal racketeering charges tied to the Commonwealth Edison bribes-for-favors scandal.

Ald. Jason Ervin and the Chicago Aldermanic Black Caucus present a proposed new ward map for Chicago during a news conference at the Harold Washington Cultural Center on Nov. 22, 2021. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

Topping the list is attorney Michael Kasper, who has been working for the councils Rules Committee. The committee has proposed a map supported by 33 aldermen, including most of the Black Caucus and many white aldermen. On the other side, representing the Latino Caucus coalition, are attorneys Victor Reyes and Burt Odelson.

Kasper  who, like the other attorneys, charges $295 an hour, the highest rate allowed for city contracts  billed the city $228,659 for map services he provided through the end of 2021, according to the invoices from the citys Finance Department.

Kasper garnered a reputation as the election enforcer for Madigan while Madigan was speaker and also while he headed the Democratic Party of Illinois. Kasper also helped defend Emanuel in a 2010 residency challenge when Emanuel left the White House before he ran for Chicago mayor.

Opposing Kasper, just as he did 12 years ago when he led the unsuccessful charge to boot Emanuel off the ballot in that residency case, is veteran election attorney Odelson. He has turned in invoices related to the map process totaling $146,847 for work through last November, according to the city.

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Attorney's Mike Kasper, left, and Michael Dorf, right, argue their points on ward map legislation on June 17, 2014. (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune)

Joining Odelson on the Latino Caucus payroll is Reyes law firm, Reyes Kurson, which billed the city $146,219 for remap work from late May 2021 to the end of November, according to the invoices.

Reyes ties go in several directions. He has been mentioned in the legal case against Madigan, with federal investigators alleging an associate of the powerful House speaker interceded with ComEd to restore legal work with Reyes Madigan-favored law firm that the utility sought to reduce. Reyes has not been charged.

Reyes also was the leader of the Hispanic Democratic Organization, the Daley-backed patronage army that fell from power following a federal investigation into HDO members and others getting city jobs in exchange for political work.

Others being paid include attorney Homero Tristan, working for the Latino Caucus, who has billed the city $46,933, and attorney Clinton Davis, representing the Black Caucus, who has invoiced for $69,913 so far.

BoycePossley, a public relations firm representing the Rules Committee, has billed $28,000, while a Michigan redistricting adviser charged the city $49,833 last year for work he said he did with the Black Caucus to help them ensure proposed ward boundaries were fair and complied with the federal Voting Rights Act. Interpreters and court reporters have billed smaller amounts over the past several months, according to records.

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Latino Caucus Chair Ald. Gilbert Villegas, 36th, defended the cost of the Latino Caucus lawyers.

Attorney Burt Odelson on Dec. 16, 2010, at the George Dunne Cook County Office Building in Chicago. (Michael Tercha / Chicago Tribune)

Voting rights are under attack, in Washington and across the U.S., he said. I wont put a price on making sure people in this city have the best chance possible to make sure their votes count.

Villegas, whos running for Congress to represent a new district on the Northwest Side and nearby suburbs that was designed to give Illinois growing Latino population a chance to send another representative to Washington, has repeatedly hammered Kaspers history with Madigan, and questioned his motives in the remap process.

Theyve sought to sow divisions in the council, and it has worked. (Kasper) has absolutely been behind that, Villegas said.

Harris countered that Kasper is simply trying to help aldermen agree on a map, and said supporters of the Latino Caucus map and their lawyers have largely refused to take part in that process. And she noted Reyes is the one whose firm appeared as Law Firm A in the Madigan indictment, which the Tribune has also reported.

How can they talk so much, when they hired Lawyer A? Harris asked. Theyre paying a lot of money to Lawyer A in the indictment. If I was him, I would tell everyone to be quiet about talking about other people, and I would want to be operating quietly in the background.

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The remap fight has dragged on since the early fall, highlighting and deepening the conflicts that have long simmered among aldermen of different ethnicities.

Some Latino aldermen are still smarting from the remap following the 2010 census, believing they should have gotten more majority-Latino wards then.

Black aldermen argue the Latinos are in danger of overextending themselves by creating more Latino wards than they can consistently win.

The argument has taken on a new dimension in the new year, as the two sides cant even agree on how many Latino-majority wards the council created when it finally passed the last map in early 2012 with the bare minimum 41 votes needed to preempt a referendum.

The Latino caucus says it was 14 wards then, meaning the Black Caucus current offer of 14 Latino-majority wards doesnt improve their situation on the council after the census found that in the last 10 years Latinos surpassed Blacks as Chicagos biggest minority population. Black council veterans say the Latino Caucus got 13 wards last time.

While the Rules Committee map proposal has been endorsed by 33 aldermen, if they cant reach the 41-aldermanic threshold the issue will go to a referendum question. If the situation plays out like it did 30 years ago and spurs a lawsuit, Harris has estimated that cost could reach up to $40 million this time around.

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The city set aside $2 million in the 2022 budget to pay for costs associated with the remap.

Its an awful lot of money. Its a shame were footing the bill for the lawyers, Harris said. I wish we could get some of our colleagues to sit down and reach an agreement.

jebyrne@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @_johnbyrne
Amanda Bynes, right, seen in 2015, was released from her conservatorship Tuesday. (Bauer-Griffin / GC Images via Getty )

A judge on Tuesday ended Amanda Bynes' nearly nine-year conservatorship, according to attorneys involved with the case.

A tentative ruling published Friday by the Ventura County Superior Court and reviewed by The Times had indicated in advance that termination was imminent.

"In the last several years, I have been working hard to improve my health so that I can live and work independently, and I will continue to prioritize my well-being in this next chapter," Bynes told People on Tuesday in a statement released by her attorney, David A. Esquibias.

The "She's the Man" star wasn't the only one in good spirits after the decision.

"Lynn Bynes is very happy that the conservatorship has been terminated and looks forward to Amanda's future endeavours," said Tamar Arminak, the attorney for Amanda Bynes' mother, in a statement Tuesday. "She will always support Amanda and will always be proud of the progress Amanda has made."

Last month, the "Easy A" actor, who's now retired from acting, filed a request to end the conservatorship of her person and estate.

"Petitioner has provided facts that the conservatorship is no longer needed. The Capacity Declaration filed 02/22/22 concludes that conservatee has capacity [to] give informed consent to any form of medical treatment," the tentative ruling by Judge Roger L. Lund said. "The court determines that the conservatorship is no longer required and that grounds for establishment of a conservatorship of the person no longer exist."

The document stated plainly, "The court intends to grant the petition for termination and order the conservatorship of the person of Amanda Bynes be terminated."

A decision regarding the status of a trust belonging to Bynes and handled by her father was also mentioned, apparently in the context of her February request, which The Times has not seen. It appears that the trust, which is not part of the conservatorship, is beyond Lund's purview.

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"As the trust is not part of the conservatorship estate, a petition for accounting would need to be filed in a separate trust case for the court to entertain such a request. However, based on the Conservator/Trustee's response filed 3/10/2022, perhaps an accounting by the trustee can be arranged outside of a formal court case," the document said.

Bynes, who turns 36 in April, was placed under a conservatorship in late 2013, while she was undergoing court-ordered psychiatric care after reportedly starting a small fire that July in the driveway of a Thousand Oaks home.

Prior to that, Bynes had engaged in a range of erratic behavior  including hit-and-run and DUI incidents  before she was finally diagnosed with mental illness. Her parents said in mid-2013 that she was paranoid, using drugs and had spent $1.2 million in only a few months.

She has since gotten sober, graduated from the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising and is engaged to Paul Michael. Bynes has been communicating with fans via her latest Instagram account, which has more than 95,000 followers.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
An Alachua County circuit judge this month dismissed a lawsuit filed by a Santa Fe College student seeking to recover fees paid to the school while the campus was shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Student Rachel Burke alleged in the potential class-action lawsuit that the college committed a breach of contract and was unjustly enriched by refusing to refund fees, according to the ruling by Judge Peter Sieg. But the judge wrote that the complaint was insufficient to support an allegation of an express contract between the college and the student.

Sieg also wrote that the unjust enrichment argument was barred by a law passed last year to help shield colleges and universities from pandemic-related lawsuits. Burkes breach-of-contract claim was dismissed without prejudice, meaning she could file an amended complaint before April 6.

More: UF internal probe concludes no improper pressure exerted on COVID-19 data

Santa Fe College: Fla. governor stops at Santa Fe College, announces $89M investment in workforce training

At UF: UF internal probe concludes no improper pressure exerted on COVID-19 data

The lawsuit is one of a series of similar legal fights in Florida and across the country about the decisions of colleges and universities to shut down campuses and move classes online in 2020.

The University of Florida, Florida State University and the state university systems Board of Governors, for example, have been targeted by lawsuits from students who alleged they did not receive services after making payments.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Lawsuit regarding college fees during Covid shutdown is dismissed
Kanye West has reportedly been barred from performing at the Grammy Awards due to his concerning online behaviour.

The rapper  who is up for five awards this year  had not been confirmed as a performer at the forthcoming ceremony, which will take place on 4 April.

A representative of West confirmed reports from The Blast that he was scrapped from the awards show due to his concerning online behaviour, according to Variety.

The report in The Blast posted on Friday night (18 March) claimed that Wests team had received a phone call informing them that he had been unfortunately removed from the lineup of performers.

Wests representative sent Variety a link to the story, adding only: This is confirmed. They did not respond to requests for further information.

The report claimed that the decision was made in part due to Wests recent outburst against Trevor Noah, who will be hosting next months ceremony. Noah is also the writing partner of Kim Kardashians boyfriend Pete Davidson.

West used a racial slur against Noah in an Instagram post after the Daily Show host said that the situation between the rapper, his ex-wife and Davidson was terrifying to watch.

The musician had his account suspended, with Instagrams parent company Meta confirming to The Independent that it had deleted content from Wests account and temporarily restricted the account from posting, commenting and sending direct messages.

Trevor Noah and Kanye West (Getty Images)

The Blast reported that the choice to scrap West as a performer at the Grammys was partially because of concerns over possible interactions between West and Noah.

Noah has since addressed Wests use of the racial slur against him.

Kardashian filed for divorce from West in February 2021, citing irreconcilable differences. She was declared legally single on 2 March.

West has made several public appeals to Kardashian to reunite their family; the couple share four children  North, Saint, Chicago, and Psalm  together.

He has also repeatedly used Instagram to post outbursts against Davidson, who began dating Kardashian in October last year.

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After one of his social media rants against the Saturday Night Live comedian, Kardashian told West that he was creating a dangerous and scary environment for Davidson.

The Independent has contacted a representative of the Grammys and West for comment.

The first round of Grammy performers were announced earlier this week. Nominees BTS, Olivia Rodrigo, Brandi Carlile, Brothers Osborne, Billie Eilish, and Lil Nas X with Jack Harlow all set to perform on the night.
Prince William and Kate Middleton are touring the Caribbean (PA)

A protest calling for slavery reparations is due to take place in Jamaica as Prince William and Kate continue their Caribbean tour.

The demonstration will be staged near the British High Commission in the capital of Kingston on Tuesday morning from 10.30am.

Arranged by the Advocates Network, a human rights coalition of Jamaican activists and equalities organisations, the event will be supported by 60 reasons for an apology and compensation from the crown in keeping with Jamaicas upcoming 60th anniversary of independence.

During their visit, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will celebrate the nations musical and sporting heritage, with speculation rife Usain Bolt may be involved.

This forms part of the couples Caribbean tour to Belize, Jamaica and The Bahamas from 19 March to 26 March in celebration of the Queens platinum jubilee.

The event will be supported by 60 reasons for an apology and compensation from the crown in keeping with Jamaicas upcoming 60th anniversary of independence (Advocates Network)

It is important as we turn 60 years old as an independent nation that we stand as adults on solid ethical, moral and human justice grounds to say to Britain, who was once our parent, that you have done wrong in enriching yourselves off of chattel slavery and colonialism, co-organiser Nora Blake told The Independent.

Morally this requires an apology, and it is only just that reparations be made. Many precedents have been set for this.

Today we are setting the conversation of our future generations, for them to have something to build a brighter future.

The collective has also penned an open letter to the monarchy calling for an apology and reparations for chattel slavery.

Backed by 100 figures from a wide cross-section of industries including politics, business, the clergy and arts, signatories include iconic reggae artist Big Youth and Mike Henry  one of Jamaicas longest serving MPs.

There are growing calls for Jamaica to follow Barbados in transitioning to republic status (Getty)

We will not participate in your Platinum Jubilee celebration! the letter reads.

We see no reason to celebrate 70 years of the ascension of your grandmother to the British throne because her leadership, and that of her predecessors, have perpetuated the greatest human rights tragedy in the history of humankind.

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We are of the view that an apology for British crimes against humanity, including but not limited to, the exploitation of the indigenous people of Jamaica, the transatlantic trafficking of Africans, the enslavement of Africans, indentureship and colonisation is necessary to begin a process of healing, forgiveness, reconciliation and compensation.

In keeping with Jamaicas 60th anniversary of independence later this year, the network has issued the royals with a 60-point breakdown detailing reasons why this is warranted.

Sources have said William and Kates tour has been dubbed a charm offensive geared at winning over residents across the Caribbean at a time when many are unsure about keeping a royal head of state.

Queen Elizabeth II during her last visit to Jamaica in 2002 (Royal website)

Barbados transitioned to republic status in November as Prince Charles attended to witness the historic moment that the country removed the Queen as head of state and addressed the atrocity of slavery. There are growing calls for Jamaica to follow suit.

Speaking to The Independent, Carolyn Cooper, professor emerita at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica, said: Its quite presumptuous of Buckingham Palace to assume that a royal visit is going to change our conviction that we need to disengage from the British monarchy.

This charm offensive is quite unlikely to work. The people who want to continue to have the Queen as head of state in Jamaica will welcome the visit  one of my friends said they are already pulling out their long gloves and practicing curtsies, because theyre still mentally enslaved, to quote Marcus Garvey.

Its that need for mental emancipation that is so important; weve had flag independence for coming up to 60 years now but that doesnt seem to have resulted in any fundamental transformation of the political institutions that we inherited.

We have to complete the decolonisation process and that means getting rid of the Queen as head of state.

High Priest Wesley Kelly, 72, is based at the Haile Selassie I Royal Ethiopian Judah Coptic Church, one of the oldest Rastafarian churches in Jamaica.

In an interview with The Independent from Kington, Mr Kelly said Britain must atone for its colonial crimes and it would have been more appropriate for Prince Charles to visit Jamaica, as heir to the throne, but only for the sole purpose of dispensing justice to descendants of enslaved African people as opposed to any celebration.

We the Rastafari sons and daughters need our compensation from the British monarchy, he said. Our people remain enslaved under this so-called independence system.

Black people, and specifically Jamaicans, continue to receive a raw deal in Britain, Mr Kelly said, which must be accounted for.

Born one year after the Windrush migration of 1948 began, the high priest continued: Britain enticed our people out of this island and brought them to build up their country, and have sent many back without compensation or justice.

No grandson, no granddaughter  William and Kate  nor prince or princess cant solve this problem. The mother of all, named Queen Elizabeth, must personally rectify the wrongs of the past and give us justice. If not her then her heir, Prince Charles.

Mark Golding, Jamaicas opposition leader, told The Independent in July that matters of removing the Queen as our head of state and reparations for slavery are very significant; theyre fundamental to our identity and our nationhood.

This comes after the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge cancelled a major visit planned for the start of their Caribbean tour after local residents voiced opposition to a royal trip to their Belize village.

Kensington Palace confirmed on Saturday that the couples first planned engagement at a cacao farm in Belize was pulled at the last minute following a protest by local residents about the royal familys colonial ties, as well as William and Kates plans to land a helicopter in a community sports field without permission.

The day before, residents from the indigenous Mayan village of Indian Creek in the Toledo District demonstrated while holding signs reading colonial legacy of theft continues with Prince and not your land, not your decision.

A Kensington Palace spokesperson said the couple were very much looking forward to having the opportunity to thank communities across Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas for the support they had shown the Queen.




A vitriolic fight over then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is looming over the first day of nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation hearing.

Several senators on Monday brought up the 2018 Supreme Court battle, when Kavanaugh's relatively low-key nomination was upended by sexual assault allegations that came out after the Judiciary Commitee had held its hearing with Kavanaugh.

Kavanaugh denied the allegations and was ultimately confirmed, but the fight over his nomination has hung over the Senate. Protesters at the time of the Kavanaugh fight confronted senators around the Capitol complex, and police officers escorted rank-and-file senators, who normally walk around the Capitol alone or with a staffer, to and from votes.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (Iowa), the top Republican on the committee, became the first GOP senator to mention Kavanaugh, contrasting the low-drama start to the hearing to the 2018 hearing. Kavanaugh's hearing first hearing was routinely interrupted by protesters.

"We won't try to turn this into a spectacle based on alleged process fouls. On that front, we're off to a good start," Grassley said.

But he was hardly the last GOP senator to mention the Kavanaugh hearings.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.), the next GOP senator to speak, contrasted how Republicans would treat Jackson with the tensions over Kavanaugh.

"Democratic senators are not going to have their windows busted by groups. It means that no Republican senator is going to unleash on you an attack about your character when the hearing is almost over," Graham said.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) told Jackson that her hearing will have none of the "disgraceful behavior" of the previous fights.

"No one is going to ask you, with mock severity, 'do you like beer?'" Cruz said.

Kavanaugh said during his opening statement during a one-day hearing where he responded to questions about the sexual assault allegations that "I liked beer. I still like beer."

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Former Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.), who has been helping shepherd Jackson's nomination through the Senate, said he wasn't surprised by the mentions of Kavanaugh noting that the 2018 hearing was still a "very touchy issue."

"What we saw today was yes talking about this, but what we say was a very respectful hearing," Jones said.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the Judiciary Committee chairman, asked why Democrats didn't respond to the Kavanaugh references said that the hearing "isn't a history class."

"We all learn from life experiences. ...I don't want to relive that history. I think we're pushing forward, " he said.

Updated 9:30 p.m.
Mar. 21It's been a long time since women first became members of the Blue Mountain Eagle Climbing Club.

But Joan Moyer  the club's first woman president  doesn't want local nature lovers to forget the contributions of women who helped build and maintain the Appalachian Trail a long time ago.

In a special event Saturday celebrating Women's History Month, Moyer summarized those contributions at the Bingaman Nature Center by Antietam Lake.

She spoke along with Linda Enders  the first chairwoman of the club's Rentschler Arboretum Committee, and Carolyn Mohn, a long distance "through hiker" who backpacked across the trail. The arboretum is in Bernville.

The club helps maintain a 65-mile section of the trail between the Lehigh and Susquehanna Rivers, and works to encourage enjoyment of hiking and nature, according to the club's website.

Moyer said the club was founded in 1916 as an all-male hiking club, but women pushed for membership and were allowed to join in the 1930s.

"They wanted adventure, companionship," Moyer said. "In a Georgia club in 1933 there were four women that joined, and they were called the foolish four females."

She said women's interest in Appalachian Trail hiking clubs spiked in the 1930s, and by the late '30s, some clubs had more female members than male members.

In the beginning, Moyer said gender norms for fashion still applied on the trail, and women commonly wore skirts and even high-heeled hiking boots.

But as those norms shifted, so too did the norm of all male-leadership gradually give way, thanks to the contributions of talented women.

Moyer highlighted the work of women like Jean Stephenson, a holder of four law degrees who in the 1950s served in various leadership roles  including acting chair  with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, the group responsible for protecting all 2,193 miles of the trail.

"These women were defenders of the trail," Moyer said.

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Also critical were women like Ruth Blackburn, the conservancy's first official female chair and an expert in land acquisition, whose skills helped create a continuous connected trail in the 1980s.

Moyer's own actions over fifteen years as Blue Mountain club's president were no small feat and included overseeing an extensive cleanup to convert an ex-dump site into a trailhead near Route 61 and helping establish more than 155 acres as protected conservation property along the Kittatinny Ridge.

She said she did face some barriers after being nominated president.

"It had been all men presidents up to that time," Moyer said. "The previous president, the only thing I got from him to start my transition was an old magazine. I was on my own to learn."

Enders spoke of her efforts to lead and reconstruct historical hikes in the area. She became the first female chair of the Rentschler Arboretum Committee in 2008, and still oversees upkeep of the 34-acre nature preserve, along with other areas of the trail.

The presentation ended in a question-and-answer session with Mohn, who in 2017 spent five months backpacking up the trail from Maine to Georgia.

Solo hiking the Appalachian has never been more possible for women, Mohn said.

"My mom would get questions all the time: 'I can't believe you're letting her go out by herself," Mohn said. "Personally, I never had an experience where I didn't feel safe."

Mohn said staying safe for her involved using common sense and establishing a strong "trail family" that she could check in with regularly once reaching trail shelters at night.

"Hikers are very good at keeping an eye out for each other," Mohn said.

Her trail buddies nicknamed Mohn "Spice" because she always carried hot sauce.

She said she met numerous women hikers, including women in their 60s, who were hiking alone and never felt at risk.

"Retired doctors, retired lawyers, you got to meet so many interesting people," Mohn said. "It's about getting to hike, but it's also about making those connections with people."
By Lawrence Hurley

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - If confirmed as its first Black woman justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson would add not only racial and gender diversity to the U.S. Supreme Court but would also bring a varied legal background including a stint representing low-income criminal defendants.

Jackson, 51, served early in her career as a Supreme Court clerk for Justice Stephen Breyer, whose retirement announced in January created a vacancy on the nation's top judicial body that President Joe Biden picked her to fill. Biden, a Democrat, last year appointed Jackson to an influential Washington-based appellate court after she served eight years as a federal district judge.

Jackson's four-day Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing starts on Monday. A simple majority vote in needed in the Senate to confirm Jackson to the lifetime post. She has won three prior Senate confirmation votes for other jobs.

Biden has sought to bring more women and minorities and a broader range of backgrounds to the federal judiciary. He pledged during the 2020 presidential campaign to name a Black woman to the Supreme Court, which has had only two Black justices, both men: Clarence Thomas, appointed in 1991 and still serving, and Thurgood Marshall, who retired in 1991 and died in 1993.

During her April 2021 confirmation hearing for her current judgeship, Jackson said her background - personal and professional - would "bring value" to the bench, but said race does not shape the way she does her job.

"I don't think that race plays a role in the kind of judge that I have been and that I would be," Jackson said in response to a question posed by Republican Senator John Cornyn.

"I'm doing a certain thing when I get my cases: I'm looking at the arguments, the facts and the law. I'm methodically and intentionally setting aside personal views, any other inappropriate considerations. And I would think that race would be the kind of thing that would be inappropriate to inject in my evaluation of a case," Jackson added.

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Jackson would become the sixth woman ever to serve on the Supreme Court, joining current members Amy Coney Barrett, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, the retired Sandra Day O'Connor and the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

APPELLATE JUDGE

The Senate voted 53-44 last year to confirm Jackson as a member of the U.S. Court of the Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where she has authored two majority opinions including one favoring public sector unions that challenged a regulation issued under Republican former President Donald Trump that restricted their bargaining power.

She was part of a three-judge panel that ruled in December against Trump's bid to prevent White House records from being handed over to a congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack by a mob of his supporters. The Supreme Court subsequently declined to block that decision.

Jackson also was part of a three-judge panel that refused last August to block the Biden administration's COVID-19 pandemic-related residential eviction moratorium, a decision later overturned by the Supreme Court.

The Senate confirmed Jackson in 2013 after Democratic former President Barack Obama nominated her as a Washington-based federal district judge. In one of the high-profile cases she handled in that role, Jackson ruled that Trump's former chief White House lawyer, Donald McGahn, had to comply with a congressional subpoena for testimony about Trump's potential obstruction of a special counsel investigation.

"The primary takeaway from the past 250 years of recorded American history is that Presidents are not kings," Jackson wrote.

The ruling was appealed and, after Biden took office, a settlement was reached. McGahn testified behind closed doors.

Jackson in 2019 blocked Trump's plan to expedite removal of certain immigrants and in 2018 ruled against his administration's proposal to make it easier to fire federal employees - decisions later reversed by the D.C. Circuit.

Jackson was raised in Miami and attended Harvard University, where she once shared a scene in a drama class with future Hollywood star Matt Damon, before graduating from Harvard Law School in 1996.

She worked from 2005 to 2007 as a court-appointed lawyer paid by the government to represent criminal defendants who could not afford counsel. Among her clients was Khi Ali Gul, an Afghan detainee at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The United States sent him back to Afghanistan in 2014 when she was no longer involved in the case.

Jackson worked from 2002 to 2004 for Kenneth Feinberg, the lawyer known for overseeing compensation programs including one for victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

She had two stints at the U.S. Sentencing Commission, which issues guidance to judges on criminal sentencing.

Jackson and husband Patrick Jackson, a surgeon, have two daughters.

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham and Scott Malone)
Kid Rock thinks hes uncancellable because he doesnt give a f*** about cancel culture, the US singer has claimed in a new interview.

In a teaser for a conversation with Tucker Carlson, which is scheduled to air on Monday (21 March), Kid Rock discusses why he believes hes immune to cancel culture, despite his controversial comments on homosexuality, Covid vaccines, and US president Joe Biden.

During the clip of the forthcoming interview, Carlson asked Kid Rock  real name Robert Richie  why he thinks he hasnt been cancelled yet.

People arent allowed to say what they think. You are, the Fox News host told Kid Rock, who responded that he was uncancellable because I dont give a f***.

At the end of the day, theres nobody Im beholden to  no record companies, no corporate interests, no nothing. You cant cancel me. I love it when they try, the Cowboy singer said.

The 51-year-olds interview with Carlson comes ahead of his Bad Reputation Tour, which kicks off on 6 April.

In January, the singer announced that he wont play at venues that require Covid masks and vaccines during the tour, refusing to sing his songs while people are holding up their f***ing vaccine cards and wearing masks.

The rock-rapper also criticised snowflakes and offended millennials in his track Dont Tell Me How to Live which he debuted in a music video released on 19 November.

Kid Rock has been criticised over his views on Covid vaccines, offended millennials, and homosexuality (Terry Wyatt/Getty Images)

Last year in July, Kid Rock used a homophobic slur in a message addressing his past use of the same homophobic slur, drawing criticism from social media users.

Video footage showed the musician yelling: You f***ing f*****s over being filmed by concert-goers during a performance in Tennessee.

His subsequent statement on the matter, posted to Twitter, read: If Kid Rock using the word f***** offends you, good chance you are one. Either way, I know he has a lot of love for his gay friends and I will have a talk with him. Have a nice day.

The interview will air on Tucker Carlson Tonight at 8pm ET on Fox News.
(Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Monday that peace talks between Russia and Ukraine had not yet made any significant progress.

Moscow has accused Kyiv of stalling peace talks by making proposals unacceptable for Russia. Ukraine has said it is willing to negotiate but will not surrender or accept Russian ultimatums.

Speaking to reporters on a conference call, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said significant progress in the talks still had to be made for there to be a basis for a possible meeting between President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

"For us to speak of a meeting between the two presidents, homework has to be done. Talks have to be held and their results agreed upon," Peskov said. "There has been no significant progress so far."

Peskov also reiterated claims that Russia was showing more willingness than Ukrainian negotiators to work toward an agreement at the talks.

"Those (countries) who can should use their influence over Kyiv to make it more accommodating and construction at these talks," he said.

(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
Feature: Woes of Palestinian refugees' worsen as international aid dwindles

08:35, March 21, 2022 By Sanaa Kamal ( Xinhua

Palestinian refugee children are seen inside their house at Balata refugee camp in the West Bank city of Nablus, March 16, 2022. Palestinian refugees living in camps scattered throughout the West Bank are facing worsening livelihood as the humanitarian aid from the United Nations decreased due to insufficient funds. (Photo by Ayman Nobani/Xinhua)

RAMALLAH, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian refugees living in camps scattered throughout the West Bank are facing worsening livelihood as the humanitarian aid from the United Nations decreased due to insufficient funds.

Inside the Balata camp in Nablus, Sohad Hammouda lives in a house of no more than 50 square meters with her 11-member family and is constantly worrying about bringing bread to the table.

"In the past, I mainly depended on the assistance provided by UNRWA, in terms of food and some money, but today things have changed, as it (UNRWA) has reduced the assistance it used to provide us," said the 50-year-old woman.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) was established in 1949 as a United Nations agency by a resolution of the General Assembly to provide assistance and protection to approximately 5.6 million Palestine refugees registered with it in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan.

As one of the oldest humanitarian projects the United Nations had initiated, the agency has spent decades helping the displaced Palestinians. But it is facing a major problem.

Officials of the agency said UNRWA has a financial deficit of about 100 million U.S. dollars in this fiscal year, which forced it to downsize its aiding programs, including cutting food rations.

"Instead of getting our food ration every month, we now can only get it every three months. And the quantity is much smaller, barely enough for a month," said Hammouda, while kneading flour to make bread for her children.

To make things worse, Hammouda's husband suffers from kidney failure while their eldest daughter is sick too, which aggravates the financial burden on the family.

"The word refugee means escaping from death to a safe haven, but we escaped from death to the continuous suffering," she said, adding that her family has been living as refugees for decades but still she saw no end to their suffering.

Ibrahim Sharara, aged 76, is a refugee with physical disabilities from the Balata camp. He usually sits in front of his dilapidated dwelling with his neighbors since there aren't enough jobs in the camp, especially for disabled elders.

Sharara said that life inside the refugee camp is not easy, especially since they have been waiting for aid from international institutions to survive.

"I have been living in the camp since 1950, as my family was among the first to reside in this camp to escape death and fear," the Palestinian said.

Both Hammouda and Sharara called for more aid from the international community as most of the refugees in the camp are deeply mired in absolute destitution.

Housing around 28,000 people, the Balata camp is only one of the 19 refugee camps in the West Bank, which all depend heavily on aid from the UNRWA.

"The camp suffers from overcrowding, while the population suffers from UNRWA's downsizing, as the residents depend on one medical clinic that operates during specific hours only," Faryal Kharoub, a community activist in Balata camp told Xinhua, adding they are afraid that the rest of the world is gradually forgetting the suffering of the Palestinians.

Hammouda said she saw no way for herself to live out of the refugee camp, where she has lived for many years, but she hoped that one day her children can get out and live in a prosperous place.

Nevin, one of her daughters, has entered a university to study computer programming.

"Although other students of my age dream of graduating from university to achieve their aspirations in life, I aspire to help my mother with household expenses and help my siblings complete their education," the 20-year-old university student said.

Palestinian refugee students are seen outside a school at Balata refugee camp in the West Bank city of Nablus, March 16, 2022. Palestinian refugees living in camps scattered throughout the West Bank are facing worsening livelihood as the humanitarian aid from the United Nations decreased due to insufficient funds. (Photo by Ayman Nobani/Xinhua)

A Palestinian refugee girl looks out from her house window at Balata refugee camp in the West Bank city of Nablus, March 16, 2022. Palestinian refugees living in camps scattered throughout the West Bank are facing worsening livelihood as the humanitarian aid from the United Nations decreased due to insufficient funds. (Photo by Ayman Nobani/Xinhua)

Palestinian refugee children play in an alley at Balata refugee camp in the West Bank city of Nablus, March 16, 2022. Palestinian refugees living in camps scattered throughout the West Bank are facing worsening livelihood as the humanitarian aid from the United Nations decreased due to insufficient funds. (Photo by Ayman Nobani/Xinhua)

Palestinian refugee children are seen in an alley at Balata refugee camp in the West Bank city of Nablus, March 16, 2022. Palestinian refugees living in camps scattered throughout the West Bank are facing worsening livelihood as the humanitarian aid from the United Nations decreased due to insufficient funds. (Photo by Ayman Nobani/Xinhua)

A Palestinian refugee is seen outside his house at Balata refugee camp in the West Bank city of Nablus, March 16, 2022. Palestinian refugees living in camps scattered throughout the West Bank are facing worsening livelihood as the humanitarian aid from the United Nations decreased due to insufficient funds. (Photo by Ayman Nobani/Xinhua)

(Web editor: Peng yukai, Liang Jun)
Athena Williams grew up in West Garfield Park in a family home that her late father had purchased on contract, a term she said she didnt really understand at the time.

All I knew was that he was paying a check once a month to this white man that came to the house. And the way it was explained to me is that this is how we were paying to buy the building, she said. I grew up thinking that was OK because my father made all the payments, paid it off. What I didnt understand at the time was that was not the traditional way to do that.

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Traditional as in a bank mortgage. Land sale contracts were a form of seller financing where the seller holds the title while the buyer makes payments. The legal protections a buyer would get with a traditional mortgage dont exist (i.e. equity). More advantageous for sellers than buyers, land sale contracts were a discriminatory practice used on Black homebuyers on the citys South and West sides during the 1950s and 60s. They were expected to pay high monthly payments without ever assuming ownership of the home.

Athena Williams stands outside her childhood home at 4428 W. Jackson Blvd. on March 10, 2022, in Chicago's West Garfield Park neighborhood. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

I didnt realize that it was something bad because we were still considered rich, poor people, Williams said. When my father got ready to buy something, he didnt have actual credit because (of) the way he bought the house. Everything my father did, he did with cash. He always felt that if he couldnt pay cash for it, it didnt make sense for us to have it. Thats how we were programmed that this land contract was OK because he was paying cash for it. He didnt have a vehicle to help him build his credit, a vehicle to have equity  that whole equity piece our entire household missed out on because we didnt get that.

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Without that credit and equity these families werent allowed to do many things that could have generated even greater family wealth. Access to debt, the meaning and experience and opportunities of debt, can depend on, for instance, whether you can buy a home; whether your home is appreciating in value; and whether you will be able to pull equity from the home or benefit from its sale. And all of the above factors are shaped by racial disparities, and remake them in turn, according to University of Illinois-Chicagos Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy report, Chicagos Racial Wealth Gap: Legacies of the Past, Challenges in the Present, Uncertain Futures.

Land sale contracts are the focus of Tonika Lewis Johnsons latest art project, Inequity For Sale  a yearlong endeavor that aims to show how institutional racism stole generations of wealth from the Black community when homeownership was denied. The project is being done in collaboration with the National Public Housing Museum, where Lewis Johnson is doing a yearlong residency. The current work is a virtual and physical exploration of homes sold on contract in the Englewood neighborhood and the families affected, resulting in decadeslong inequity and disinvestment that is still seen and felt today. According to data in a 2019 study from Duke University, 75%-95% of homes sold to Black families in Chicago during the 1950s and 60s were sold through land sale contracts. That number amounts to between $3.2 billion-$4 billion (in 2019 dollars) expropriated, which is still an underestimation.

As part of the multiphased project, Lewis Johnson will:

Erect land markers in front of those Englewood addresses that were involved in the land sale contract practice;

Document the stories of residents who endured the discriminatory practice (digitized audiotapes of contract buyers being interviewed in preparation for their litigation where victims talk about their migration story, how much money they came here with and not knowing that they didnt own their home. Its one thing hearing the story come from us today, but to resurrect their voices ... talking about how detrimental this issue is and how much it hurt them financially and in the quality of their life, Lewis Johnson said.);

Create and host a podcast with researchers, authors and housing activists and experts about land sale contracts in Chicago;

And create an interactive map that connects the history with present-day conditions. In an attempt to honor familys names, viewers can click on homes that are listed as land sale contracts and find out the amount of money that was stolen from families. The last three phases will live on the Inequity For Sale website.

Lewis Johnson said she wants to get people to participate in the conversation, contributing suggestions on how the collective result of land sale contracts should be rectified. The coup de grace of the project: Researching present-day businesses, banks that directly benefited from land sale contracts, and placing a land marker in front of one of those companies later this year.

Hopefully, it could be in conversation with one of the institutions, Lewis Johnson said. This is what yall did in the past, this can be part of reconciling this. If they dont want to be a part of it, Im going to put it up anyway. Its going to be really important to have people support that.

According to the Inequity For Sale website, Lewis Johnsons goal is to campaign for a collection of the land sale contract homes to become an official city landmark, and purchase a home to convert into a community art center with a permanent exhibition for her Folded Map project.

These are the people who got swindled out of homeownership, Lewis Johnson said. Regardless of what solution we come up with, we have to remember that the value of these neighborhoods needs to increase in comparison to their white counterparts. Whatever solution we create for redress, it cant make a specific population  in this case, Black people, vulnerable again because when you segregate Black people you make them vulnerable to people who are greedy, even if theyre not racist, there are institutions or businesses that view them as a market to financially take advantage of.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 15 Contract Buyers League members leave furnishings at the Chicago Civic Center on March 30, 1970. The items were earlier removed from homes during evictions with the support of police. (William Yates, Chicago Tribune)

Lewis Johnson said she hopes the information put forth in Inequity For Sale could be used as evidence for the citys reparations subcommittee. Tiff Beatty, the National Public Housing Museums director of arts, culture and public policy, said having the numbers quantified and the land markers placed in front of homes adds another layer that would make it difficult for people to ignore the issue. A Bronzeville resident, Beatty has been part of the conversations about reparations.

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Quantifying those numbers ... will create further conversations, Beatty said. The National Public Housing Museum will then launch into other exhibits that will further advocate for change in this area. Our end goal is to really redress this as a nation because Chicago isnt alone in some of these issues.

Williams, executive director at Oak Park Regional Housing Center (a HUD agency that provides rental/housing counseling and financial education), is already in the conversation as a featured guest on the Inequity For Sale podcast. When asked if she could quantify how much equity was lost with the family home, Williams said that would be hard, given that equity grows over time.

Had we known better and if we were able to have the equity from the property my father had, then our whole household would probably have a different outlook on life, she said.

I just really wanted to provide a project that takes accountability up a notch, Lewis Johnson said. I really wanted to help people shift blame onto who is truly accountable, which is our racist government. And if we all have a common enemy  the racist system that existed before us  then I feel like it would be easier for other races to support this specific cause because theyre not to blame, this system was put in place. Theyve benefited from it, but they didnt create it.

drockett@chicagotribune.com

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Editorial cartoon

Unsafe situation on Orange Blossom Road

I am a four-year resident of Bridgewater Bay, a community that is located on Orange Blossom Road. I am writing to express my concerns about the reconfiguration of Orange Blossom Road due to the recent construction of Siena Lakes (an adjoining property).

Traveling west on Orange Blossom, I have had two near head-on collisions within the past week. Cars traveling east on Orange Blossom seem to be assuming the road converts to a two-lane eastbound road at the end of traffic barrels. And these cars move into the westbound lane. This situation is unbelievably unsafe. A head-on collision with two cars each traveling at 35 mph results in an effective 70 mph collision.

I have been in touch multiple times with Collier County Department of Transportation with no progress to show for these efforts. The apparent lack of interest in correcting an obviously unsafe situation is discouraging, to say the least.

John Mitchell, Naples

Postal system broken

Its well known that the United States Postal Service has a poor record when it comes to delivering mail on a timely basis, but a couple of recent events have me scratching my head. Recently a homeowner in my HOA mailed their monthly payment to the HOA from Palm Beach County Florida on Feb. 26. It arrived at the bank in Tampa on March 7. Thats 10 days to travel 200 miles across South Florida. More recently a reimbursement check was mailed from our accountants office building on Tamiami Trail to my home less than three miles away and took 25 days, only to get returned to the sender and never made it to my mailbox. My address consists of a house number and a street name. Nothing complicated about the address. The check was returned to the sender after two attempts to be delivered. Reuters reported on March 9 that Congress passed a $50 billon U.S. Postal Service relief bill. I sure hope that $50 billion dollar check moves through the U.S. Postal Service system faster than my little reimbursement check did. We seriously need a reliable alternative to U.S. Mail instead of constantly funneling money into a severely broken system.

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Jack Hedenstrom, Naples

China, Russia must be stopped

Every day, all we hear are the effects of COVID-19 and 6 million people who have died, globally, from this tragic disease. Over 1 million in the USA. Why are we letting China off the hook? Why are we not investigating deeply into the labs in China? Why are we not holding China responsible for the chaos the last two plus years? China is sitting pretty and watching the illegitimate war in Ukraine with possible ambitions to pursue invasions of its own. The world has to step up and stop all this.

Russia has continued to heap destruction on a neutral country. Killing Innocent people and the destruction of historic buildings. Between China and Russia our planet Earth, in my opinion, will become a socialist, communist, territory for our children, grandchildren and beyond.

We need strong leadership, not only at the top, but all our senators and representatives of both parties to step up, stop the feuding, and protect the USA. China and Russia appear to be our lethal enemies. They must be stopped.

Anthony Farina, Fort Myers

Sick of DeSantis-bashing, liberal media

Since the Letters to the Editor section of the News Press frequently displays numerous DeSantis-bashing articles, I am finally, out of frustration, compelled to offer my own opinion.

Millions of Americans across our country are envious of the state of Florida having Gov. DeSantis at the helm. The vast majority of my Floridian friends and neighbors feel quite blessed, as I do, that we have a governor who is opposed to government over-reach, and who is a strong supporter of our Constitution. I, am a strong supporter of Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Gov. DeSantis continues to be demonized by the liberal media. Ordinary people like myself are equally criticized and demonized for having convictions that directly conflict with the liberal lefts agenda. I am truly sick of it.

My perception is, that throughout the past few years, journalistic bias has become the norm. For this reason, however, some good has evolved, at least from my perspective. I have discovered multiple news sources that offer an opportunity for folks who really care about what is going on, to actually see both sides of complex situations. I do not need nor will I allow the mainstream media to influence my my thoughts or the way in which I choose to live my life. My God-given intellect allows me to make choices based on fact, and not on someones biased opinions. For those who disagree with me, I am not suggesting anything other than what is needed in this imperfect world, is the tolerance it requires to become educated with the whole picture rather than to be accepting of only a piece of it.

Sharon Dendinger, Fort Myers

Democracy threatened by once-great GOP

Weve gotten comfortable with the notion that democracy is inevitable and self-perpetuating. That notion must be modified when the following events are considered. Trump tries to coerce Georgias secretary of state to "find" 11,780 votes in a fraudulent attempt to alter election results. With Trumps Big Lie that inspires the Jan. 6 Capitol violence a core tenet of our democracy, the peaceful transfer of power, is endangered. Republicans' unproven claims of election fraud result in election officials receiving death threats from deluded Trump supporters. Texas tortured redistricting map ensures that Republicans retain power by diluting the voting strength of minorities. Not satisfied with voter suppression, Republicans enact a law to make it easier to overturn election results that go against them. Crazy conspiracy theories peddled by QAnon and right-wing social media personalities are believed and acted upon. Traditional institutions that have acted as guardrails are weakened. Ideas that previously found consensus through negotiation are so politicized that bipartisanship is seen as weakness. And finally a once-great party, hijacked by a thin-skinned narcissist, is checking all the autocratic boxes.

Joe Frassetto, Naples

Biden an embarrassment

President Biden is an embarrassment. Its anathema that we are tolerating his ridiculous statements. Where are all those pious Trump critics now? Really? What is our country becoming? 2024 cant come soon enough!

Sylvia Wong Herscher, Naples

Paper lives in a little woke bubble

I read in a recent edition of the Naples Daily propaganda machine that Gov. DeSantis somehow got his agenda through a conservative-led Legislature. Amazing! Because of that you have determined that his efforts are polarizing. On the other hand if the actions of President Biden and his merry little band of climate experts get their agenda through it is good and righteous. Who could not love high crime and five-dollar gasoline? You folks need to get out of your little woke bubble and mingle with the people. You may just get another definition of polarizing.

Don Rader, Naples

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Letters to the editor for Monday, March 21, 2022
Machine Gun Kelly

Live Nation Machine Gun Kelly

Machine Gun Kelly is hitting the road!

Ahead of mainstream sellout's release, his forthcoming studio album, Kelly announced he would be embarking on a North American and European tour.

The tour is scheduled to kick off in June in Austin, Texas and will conclude in October in the Netherlands  with tickets going on sale Friday. Kelly, 31, will also have exciting guests joining him on tour, including Avril Lavigne, Travis Barker, blackbear, Trippie Redd, WILLOW, iann dior, PVRIS and 44phantom.

Kelly's highly anticipated album, mainstream sellout, drops on Friday and will include previously released singles "maybe," "emo girl," "thought it was," and "ay!." The album follows Kelly's 2020 album tickets to my downfall.

RELATED: Machine Gun Kelly Hilariously Reveals How Daughter Casie, 12, Taught Him How to Make Pancakes

Earlier this month, Kelly released a music video to his collaboration titled "ay!" with Lil Wayne. In the single, he tapped into his hip-hop roots and rapped.

Machine Gun Kelly tour

Live Nation mainstream sellout Tour Poster

In the music video opening, the musician is seen in what appears to be a dressing room with various clothing racks in the background. He is on the phone with someone and asks them to "call the boys up" to "see if we can shoot this video for 'ay!'" because it "comes out in the morning."

Backed by his crew, the group makes various eccentric, rockstar-like outfit changes as they vibe to the lyrics of the catchy tune. One of the outfit changes includes the hoodie for mainstream sellout. At one point, Kelly's face is creepily morphed in close-up as he sings along, with his mouth replacing both of his eyeballs.

In January, Kelly revealed he changed the name of the album after he and Barker, 46, had already gotten matching tattoos of the original name, born with horns.

RELATED VIDEO: Machine Gun Kelly Designed Megan Fox's Engagement Ring to Represent Their Unique Relationship

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"My bad," he captioned a video of his confession on Instagram.

He sat next to Barker in the clip as he prepared to break the news. "Ok, we're friends no matter what, right?" he asked, to which the Blink-182 drummer said "of course" before they shared a fist bump.

"Remember when we got ... the new album name tattooed on her arms?" he asked, before cutting to a throwback clip of them showing off their "born with horns" tattoos.

The friends appear to be just as in tune as ever, as Barker appeared to guess the big news. "You changed the..." he started before bursting out into laughter with Kelly, who confirmed: "I'm changing the album name."

Meanwhile, the musician said he's no longer "holding back" with his new music during an interview with Willie Geist on Sunday TODAY in October.

"It feels more guitar-heavy for sure, lyrically it definitely goes deeper  but I never like to do anything the same," Kelly told Geist. "Every album is a juxtaposition of the last album. So I went and studied tickets, and I heard the bright sound that I had, and for this album I just turned the lights off."
Woman holding a knife (PHOTO: Getty Images)

SINGAPORE  A Burmese domestic helper who viciously assaulted her 61-year-old employer and robbed her at knifepoint was given six years and 10 months jail on Monday (21 March).

The 36-year-old maids jail term includes four months in lieu of caning. While the woman cannot be caned due to her gender, her offence of robbery with grievous hurt and deadly weapon carries mandatory caning of 24 strokes.

The maid earlier pleaded guilty to one count of causing grievous hurt while committing robbery armed with a deadly weapon, with one count of cheating by personation considered for her sentencing.

While the prosecution had argued for between seven and eight years jail, with an additional six months in lieu of 12 strokes of the cane, the maids lawyer Yvonne Mak, urged the court for a jail term of six years.

Both victim and assailant cannot be named due to a court gag order imposed at the prosecutions application. The victim sought a gag order due to the trauma of the incident.

The helper had disabled a CCTV camera before waking her employer at knifepoint on the morning of 17 January 2020. She then rained blows on the elderly woman with a laptop until it broke, tied her up with cloth and took valuables worth more than $37,000.

Her final act before leaving the flat was to ask her employer, 61, how to get to the airport.

Relationship with employer soured

From November 2019, the maid resided with the victim, the victim's 83-year-old mother, who was mostly bedridden, and the victims niece. Her responsibilities included caring for the mother, in addition to household chores.

However, the maid had difficulty adjusting to life in Singapore, according to Mak. She felt that she had been treated contemptuously by her employer and her family and had been given long working hours with physically strenuous tasks.

A single mother who came to Singapore to provide for her family, she felt that she was trapped in her situation without friends or support.

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The Burmese wanted to return home after two months but was refused by her employer, who demanded that the maid reimburse her $5,000, even though she only earned $300 a month, said Mak.

She then devised a plan to rob her employer. At the time, the victim had three CCTV cameras around her flat: in the victims room, outside her mothers bedroom, and in the kitchen. The maid switched off the CCTV outside the mothers bedroom, and the wires of the CCTV in the kitchen were cut. Court documents did not state who cut the wires.

On the morning of the robbery, the victim had turned off the CCTV in her own room before she slept. She awoke to the sensation of something sharp on her neck and realised the maid was beside her bed. The maid demanded the victims valuables, warned her not to do anything stupid and threatened to kill her.

During the ensuing struggle, the victim cut her hand from trying to grab the sharp object, which she later realised was a kitchen knife. However the maid overpowered her employer and sat on her back. She used the employers laptop to bash the victims head, until it broke.

The maid then tied the bleeding victims limbs with pieces of cloth before taking valuables such as a diamond ring, worth a total of $37,274.15.

The maid then asked the terrified woman how to go to the airport, and the victim replied that she should take the MRT. Before she left, the maid was heard remarking how easy it was to rob someone in Singapore as the neighbours were unaware. She washed up and left the flat with the victim still bound.

The employer eventually removed her restraints and called the police. Police officers who attended to the victim saw her bleeding from her head and found the knife with the victims blood. The victim was found with lacerations on her scalp and hands, and a fracture in her left little finger which has not healed properly.

Meanwhile, the maid went to buy a plane ticket and took a cab to Changi Airport, paying the fare with the victims credit card. She was arrested before she could board her flight.

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WASHINGTON (AP)  The U.S. Marine Corps has identified the four Marines who died when their Osprey aircraft crashed Friday night in a Norwegian town in the Arctic Circle during a NATO exercise.

The men, all assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 261, Marine Aircraft Group 26, 2d Marine Aircraft Wing stationed on Marine Corps Air Station New River, North Carolina, were identified as:

 Capt. Matthew J. Tomkiewicz, 27, of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

 Capt. Ross A. Reynolds, 27, of Leominster, Massachusetts.

 Gunnery Sgt. James W. Speedy, 30, of Cambridge, Ohio.

 Cpl. Jacob M. Moore, 24, of Catlettsburg, Kentucky.

In a statement issued Sunday night, a Marine Corps spokesman said the bodies were removed from the crash site and were in the process of being returned to the U.S.

The cause of the crash remained under investigation, but Norwegian police reported bad weather in the area.

Officials in Norway said the MV-22B Osprey crashed in Graetaedalen in Beiarn, south of Bodoe.
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows arrives with President Donald Trump at the Asheville Regional Airport on Aug. 24, 2020. President Trump was visiting for a tour of Flavor 1st Grower and Packers, a farmer-owned produce packing plant in Mills River.

MACON COUNTY, N.C. - The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation has opened a probe into potential voter fraud by former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows after a Republican Western North Carolina district attorney passed the case on to the state.

District Attorney Ashley Welch asked the North Carolina Department of Justice to consider the matter after she was contacted by media outlets about the Macon County voter registration of Meadows, a former top staffer for President Donald Trump and western NC congressman.

Meadows, who was a key proponent of the court-rejected claims that widespread voter fraud cost Trump the election, registered and voted using the address of a single-wide Macon County mobile home where owners and neighbors say he never lived or visited.

Attorney General Josh Stein's office said March 17 he had asked the SBI to look into Meadows' voter registration after Welch's request, according to DOJ spokesperson Nazneen Ahmed.

"Local district attorney Ashley Welch has referred this matter to the Department of Justice's Special Prosecutions Section, and we have agreed to her request. We have asked the SBI to investigate and at the conclusion of the investigation, we'll review their findings," Ahmed said.

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In a March 14 letter, Welch said that she would recuse herself from the matter. She noted that Meadows, a former congressman from the area, contributed to her campaign for DA and appeared in political ads endorsing her.

She also said she had no knowledge of the case until it was reported in the media.

Until being contacted by the media, I was unaware of any allegations of voter fraud surrounding Mark Meadows, she said

Welch's office released the letter March 17 and declined further comment.

A spokesman for Meadows didnt immediately return a March 17 email seeking comment.

WRAL-TV first reported that state authorities are investigating Meadows' voter registration.

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Public records show that Meadows is registered to vote in two states, including North Carolina, where he listed a mobile home he did not own as his legal residence weeks before casting a ballot in the 2020 presidential election.

Meadows listed a mobile home in Scaly Mountain, North Carolina, as his physical address on Sept. 19, 2020, while he was serving as Trumps chief of staff in Washington, D.C.

Meadows later cast an absentee ballot for the general election by mail. Trump won the battleground state by just over 1 percentage point.

The New Yorker, which first reported the questions about Meadows' voter registration, interviewed the current and former owner of the Scaly Mountain property. The previous owner said Meadows wife rented the property for two months at some point within the past few years but only spent one or two nights there. Neighbors said Meadows was never present, The New Yorker reported.

Jan. 6 committee: Former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows held in contempt by House Jan. 6 committee

Public records indicate Meadows registered to vote in Alexandria, Virginia, almost exactly one year after he registered in Scaly Mountain and just weeks before Virginias high-profile governors election last fall.

Meadows frequently raised the prospect of voter fraud before the 2020 presidential election, as polls showed Trump trailing Joe Biden, and in the months following Trumps loss to suggest Biden was not the legitimate winner. He repeated those baseless claims that the election was stolen in his 2021 memoir.

A Black North Carolina woman who was prosecuted for voting while on probation for a felony has called for Meadows to face similar prosecution. Critics say the felon disenfranchisement law is racist with roots in the post Civil War era where whites in power sought to keep Black from voting.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Ex-Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows probed for alleged voter fraud
Mar. 20A York man has been charged with first- and third-degree murder and related charges in a fatal shooting that took place Saturday at a Wyomissing shopping center, police said.

Nehemias Santiago Montes, 38, was committed to Berks County Prison late Saturday after arraignment before Magisterial District Judge Eric J. Taylor. No bail was assessed due to the severity of the charges.

Wyomissing police gave this account:

Just before 4 p.m. Saturday, officers were dispatched to the Berkshire Square parking lot at Berkshire Boulevard and State Hill Road for a report of a shooting.

Police found two crime scenes, one at the main entrance and exit at State Hill Road and another in the parking area near Walmart.

Numerous spent shell casings were found near Walmart, along with damaged vehicles and a woman with head injuries  Jessica M. Cruz-Rodriguez, 30, York  who was being aided by people on the scene.

The other crime scene contained two vehicles, one of which had apparent bullet holes through the driver's door window and a deceased male, Alexi Omar Rodriguez Serra, 34, Allentown.

Santiago Montes was in the other vehicle. He was taken into custody by arriving officers as he exited his vehicle, where investigators found a firearm.

Police said Cruz-Rodriguez was taken to Reading Hospital, where she was in critical condition Sunday.

Investigators said the violence appeared to be related to a domestic dispute, as Santiago Montes and Cruz-Rodriguez have been in a long-term relationship.

Wyomissing police were assisted by Berks County detectives and members of the Berks County Forensic Unit, along with state troopers and police from Cumru, Muhlenberg and Spring townships, Shillington, West Reading and Penn State Berks. The Wyomissing Fire Department and Western Berks Ambulance also were on the scene.

Wyomissing police are asking anyone who has captured video of the event taking place to contact them at 610-375-6102.
Brenna OBrien, a parent of a second grader and a fourth grader at Chicagos John C. Coonley Elementary School, wasnt sure over the weekend what shes going to do Monday when her kids were supposed to be back in their classrooms.

Theyd lost four days of instruction due to illness.

Ive repeatedly tested them  weve done PCR tests  and its just repeatedly been negative, she said Saturday evening after receiving an email from Coonleys principal, Brennen Humphrey, with news that more than one person in her fourth graders homeroom tested positive for COVID-19.

The email said, If you are receiving this message, the Chicago Department of Public Health and CPS are requiring your child in (that homeroom) to wear a mask for 10 days from their last potential exposure, or through March 24, 2022.

Six Coonley classrooms have reverted to universal masking, a Chicago Public Schools spokesperson confirmed, amid a spike in cases at the school.

The pivot back to required masking in the Coonley classrooms is apparently the first in CPS since it dropped its universal mask mandate a week ago, though it continues to recommend masks. After announcing that shift, CPS later clarified that masks would still be required in certain circumstances, such as when someone is exposed to a person with COVID-19.

Im assuming if you come from this homeroom, you have to wear your mask throughout the entire school building, and there might be other parents that dont like that. I am curious to see whats going to happen next. Are there going to be parents that try to fight that? asked OBrien, an activist and writer who has been critical of CPS handling of the pandemic and has backed parent sickouts to seek more COVID-19 safety measures in schools.

OBrien said shes been following data on cases in the district and that, coupled with reports of waning vaccination effectiveness for children ages five to 11, has her concerns about how much farther cases will spread this week. There were 448 students in quarantine districtwide as of Sunday, including 29 students at Coonley, per the CPS COVID data tracker. The school has had 40 positive cases since the start of March.

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Its such an easy thing to wear a mask on your face and the benefit is so great. Were trying to stop a pandemic, said OBrien, who later confirmed she did decide to send her children to school Monday. Take it off when you get home. Take it off when youre at the park. Why are we fighting so hard for our children who are like 30 a room to not wear masks? It does not make sense to me.

The Chicago Teachers Union has also fought the end of universal masking, saying its a breach of a safety agreement forged after a January standoff that prompted the cancellation of five days of classes. The states Educational Labor Relations Board last week narrowly declined the CTUs request for an emergency injunction as the unions complaint is considered.

But many parents had pushed for and have welcomed the end of CPS mask mandate; some participated in a lawsuit that prompted school systems around the state to ditch the requirement.

In response to questions about Coonley, a CPS spokesperson released a statement Saturday saying the district is monitoring case numbers closely, along with the CDPH, and last week, increased our voluntary on-site COVID-19 testing at Coonley from one to two days. We will continue to keep the school community informed of any new information.

The statement also said CPS has made the health and safety of our students and staff our highest priority since the onset of the pandemic. Every health and safety measure implemented has been in accordance with the guidance of the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH), the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

OBrien, of Lincoln Square, said she feels 80% of parents fall in the middle of the mask mandate debate and are not strong for or against it.

The majority of parents will just go with the message that theyre being told and right now the message from the district, the state, the White House is ease up and be mask optional, even though many medical professionals see the next wave coming, OBrien said. Im hoping well make it to summer and be OK. But, I really dont know.

CPS cited a decline in cases and test positivity as reasons why it made masks optional for students and staff members even as it faces opposition from the CTU. A hearing on the CTU complaint had been set for June, around the time the school year will end, but has now been moved to April. The union safety deal is set to expire in August.

CPS  the largest school district in Illinois, with about 330,000 students  was one of the last locally to transition to a mask-optional policy even as Chicago lifted its mandate for most indoor spaces and the statewide school mask requirement ended amid new guidance from the CDC.

Tribune reporter Tracy Swartz contributed.

drockett@chicagotribune.com
A Round Lake Beach man testified Monday that he feared for his life as he struggled for a gun with twin brothers, one of whom was fatally shot during the encounter.

Lynell Glover took to the witness stand in his defense as his Lake County trial for first-degree murder in the death of Anthony Awad neared its conclusion.

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Awad, 17, of Carol Stream, and his brother were shot in an encounter with Glover in the early morning of Jan. 3, 2021, near Volo, after Glover tracked them to a parking lot where the brothers were parked in Glovers stolen 2012 Chevrolet Camaro.

Glover testified that the Camaro drove away and he followed it a short distance to a spot along Illinois Route 12, where the car stopped. The driver of the Camaro exited his car and walked toward Glover, he told jurors.

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Glover said he got out of his vehicle, and he and the man began scuffling. The Camaros passenger joined the fray, and the brothers began attacking him, Glover said.

At some point, he said, one of the brothers dropped a pistol on the ground. Glover said he fought to gain control of the firearm, and eventually got his hand on it. He said one of his attackers also had a hand on the gun just before three shots were discharged in quick succession. Anthony Awad was hit twice in the leg and once in the neck.

I was scared. I thought I was going to die, Glover testified. I didnt want to harm anybody.

Under direct and cross examination, he denied bringing the gun to the fatal encounter. Earlier Monday, Glovers wife, Lekeya Washington, testified she had left her pistol in the Camaros glovebox when the car was stolen on Dec. 30, 2020, from in front of the familys home.

Lake County prosecutors pressed Glover on differences in the account he gave to jurors, and what he told police in the hours after the shooting. Glover testified Monday that the brothers did not run away until after the three shots were fired.

Lake County authorities later charged Glover with murder. His trial before Judge Mark Levitt is expected to go to the jury Tuesday.
A 21-year-old man who went upstairs to check on a noise at his parents home in Utah surprised a masked burglar in a bedroom early Sunday, March 20, police said.

The intruder, dressed all in black with a bandana over his face, shot the man in the shoulder at 12:30 a.m., Tooele police told KTVX. The gunman fled out the homes back door.

Police suspect it was a burglary gone wrong rather than a targeted attack, KSTU reported. The injured man drove himself to a hospital, where hes reported in stable condition.

Just a couple inch difference. We could have been looking at a fatality, detective Colbey Bentley told KSL. A lot different story than what we have right now. Definitely very lucky right now that what were looking at right now is just a shoulder injury.

Police ask nearby residents in the 1200 block of East and area of 970 North to check security videos for the intruder and call 435-882-8900 if they find anything.

Tooele is a city of 34,000 people west of Salt Lake City.

14-year-old shot and left for dead by people waving down ambulance, California cops say

Home intruder shot in the neck runs to neighbors for help before dying, Texas cops say

Grandpa fatally shoots intruder while grandkids and daughter are home, Oregon cops say
From top left, clockwise: Barbara Buffaloe, David Seamon, Tanya Heath and Randy Minchew.

Columbia voters will make a decision about future leadership within City Hall when they elect a new mayor in the April 5 municipal election.

There are four candidates vying for the position currently held by Brian Treece: Barbara Buffaloe, Tanya Heath, Randy Minchew and David Seamon. Former candidate Maria Oropallo recently dropped out of the race.

The Tribune plans to feature each candidate with a profile, in alphabetical order, in print this week from Monday through Thursday, covering key issues facing the city and what each sees for Columbia going forward.

For starters, here are capsules highlighting all four candidates:

Barbara Buffaloe

Age: 41

Years Lived in Columbia: Over 22 years; Buffaloe moved to Columbia to attend the University of Missouri in the late 1990s and has lived here ever since.

Career: Buffaloe served as the city's sustainability manager for 11 years before stepping down last May.

More: Columbia mayoral election: Barbara Buffaloe touts her experience as a 'convener'

Platform/Important Issues: Buffaloe identified infrastructure, public safety and proper utilization of American Rescue Plan Act funds as important issues she wants to address. "We need a mayor who has the experience of knowing how city government runs," Buffaloe said. "We need someone thinking about how we set the vision for the future."

Leadership Style: She described herself as a convener, saying she has skill in building coalitions and relationships. "I have a somewhat positive outlook on things," she said. "I really do believe when we work together, we can improve things."

Tanya Heath

Age: 53

Years Lived in Columbia: 50 years; She was born and raised in Columbia, moving away for a short time for college.

Career: Heath works as an adjunct professor of strategic communications at the Missouri School of Journalism. Other work experience includes as director of advertising for Mizzou Magazine and as a freelance writer.

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More: Columbia mayoral election: Tanya Heath wants to 'represent regular people'

Platform/Important Issues: Since the start of her campaign, she has said her platform is based on "common sense and collaborative solutions." "I think we really have to take care of garbage, safety and growth of our population," she said.

Leadership Style: Heath said the leadership style she would bring to City Hall is collaborative. "I am bringing forth successful ideas and a difference of opinion from a variety of people so that we can talk through the pros and cons of all the ideas," she said.

Randy Minchew

Age: 64

Years Lived in Columbia: 27 years; Minchew moved to Columbia in 1994.

Career: Minchew is a local business owner and works as vice president of business development at DeLine Holdings. He also serves on the board of directors for Phoenix Programs, a center that aids in addiction recovery.

More: Columbia mayoral election: Randy Minchew runs for 'safer, stronger' city

Platform/Important Issues: Minchew is running under the same platform he used when previously running for city council  "for a safer, stronger Columbia." Other key aspects of his campaign include fixing the trash system, strengthening the police department, road repair, infrastructure, homelessness and economic growth, he said.

Leadership Style: Minchew said he believes he is a good listener and has the ability to make people feel heard. "I approach things with a bit of humility because there's things you don't know that you don't know," he said.

David Seamon

Age: 33

Years Lived in Columbia: 19 years; Seamon has lived in Columbia since the summer of 2003.

Career: He currently serves as a member of the Columbia Board of Education as policy committee chair. He has previously served in the United States Marine Corps. He is taking online courses to achieve an executive master's in public administration from the University of Pennsylvania.

More: Columbia mayoral election: David Seamon aims to bring new voice to City Hall

Platform/Important Issues: Seamon said he believes important issues facing the city include affordable housing, public safety and a needed change to the existing public transportation system.

Leadership Style: Seamon described himself as someone who likes to remain quiet as he works to absorb all available information and input. Then, once he has time to process, he provides his position on the matter at hand, while avoiding being reactionary, he said.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Meet the four candidates for Columbia mayor ahead of April 5 election
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP)  Since construction was deemed an essential industry during the COVID-19 pandemic, engineering consulting firm WSB largely avoided layoffs to its workforce of more than 600 people for the last two years.

Now, soaring gas prices and supply expenses are putting a squeeze on the company, making a recent increase of $90,000 in state unemployment insurance taxes all the more painful, said CEO Bret Weiss.

Its a person for me that could take away, he said. It's going to shift my ability to provide benefits or other opportunities for my staff.

Employers across Minnesota are getting bills for higher unemployment insurance taxes after legislative leaders failed to reach a deal by a Tuesday deadline to avert an automatic hike. The money will be used to repay the federal government for jobless aid and replenish the state's unemployment insurance trust fund, which was depleted earlier on in the pandemic.

Bret Weiss, CEO of engineering consulting firm WSB, sits for a photo at the company's headquarters in Golden Valley, Minn., Wednesday, March 16, 2022. WSB saw a $90,000 increase in their tax bill this week after legislative leaders failed to reach a deal by a deadline to avert an automatic tax hike on businesses by paying back the federal government for jobless aid and replenish the state's unemployment insurance trust fund, which was depleted during the pandemic. (Mohamed Ibrahim/Report for America via AP)

Democratic Gov. Tim Walz proposed $2.7 billion in his supplemental budget to repay the debt and replenish the fund out of the state's $9.25 billion surplus, matching a bill passed by the Republican-controlled Senate last month on a bipartisan vote of 55-11. But House Democratic leaders are still holding out for $1 billion in hero pay for front-line workers who were never able to work from home, a proposal that has been stalled since fall because lawmakers can't agree on how to dole out the funds.

Several meetings in recent weeks between legislative leaders have yielded no progress. Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman, of Brooklyn Park, who said she sees April 30 as the actual deadline because that is when the higher tax payments are due, walked out a few minutes into one meeting with Walz and GOP Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller, of Winona, telling reporters that Republicans weren't willing to negotiate on money for workers.

It's possible that the state could rebate the tax increase or cut future tax bills if a deal is ultimately reached, but Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development officials have said that would be complicated.

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It's silly that we're stuck in this spot again, said David Henrich, president of Bergerson-Caswell, a water well drilling company in Maple Plain that employs 22 people.

Henrich said he's expecting a tax increase totaling thousands of dollars. He likened the impasse to last year's delay on tax relief for federal Paycheck Protection Program loans received by businesses.

We're trying to keep the costs of operating this business at an affordable level because at the end of the day, the consumers are the people who foot the bill for this stuff, he said.

According to the Department of Employment and Economic Development, the unemployment insurance tax rate is calculated differently for every individual business. It's based on how much aid a business used and its total taxable wages up to $38,000 for each employee. Taxes aren't supposed to go up when unemployment benefits result from pandemic-induced closures.

Not all businesses are complaining about the tax increase. Common Roots Cafe in Minneapolis went from 50 employees before the pandemic to eight or nine, prompting more than 80% of its staff to collect unemployment benefits, said owner Danny Schwartzman. For his business, now back up to 20 employees, the tax increase is insignificantly small. He said hiring staff and higher costs associated with supplies have been more pressing concerns.

Schwartzman said tapping the surplus to cancel the tax increase would subsidize large businesses that did well during the pandemic. He said lawmakers should instead use the surplus for targeted relief. Direct subsidies for businesses still struggling due to the pandemic, paid family and medical leave, and increasing access to child care would help businesses and workers most in need, he said.

If you're talking about billions of dollars, which everyone is now, there are suddenly the resources to have that big-picture vision and have some transformative time to deal with equity issues and deal with all these kinds of things that people broadly agree with, he said. Instead we're talking about how do we make sure that all businesses  and most of it will go to large businesses  are paying marginally less on payroll taxes.

 Mohamed Ibrahim is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Minnesota businesses see tax hike amid unemployment impasse at Capitol
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP)  A bipartisan group of elected officials and campaign rivals on Monday urged Missouri's former Gov. Eric Greitens to end his bid for U.S. Senate following claims that he physically abused his ex-wife and children.

"Real men never abuse women and children. Period, end of story, said GOP U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler, a rival Senate candidate, in a recorded statement posted on Twitter. Its time for Eric to get out of the Senate race and to get professional help.

Greitens' ex-wife, Sheena, made the allegations in an affidavit filed Monday in a custody case over their two children. She described his behavior as increasingly erratic after he was accused in January 2018 of having an extramarital affair with his hairdresser in St. Louis and taking a compromising photo of her to keep her from talking about it.

He resigned in June 2018 amid numerous scandals.

Greitens is facing mounting calls to drop out of a competitive primary to be the Republican nominee for retiring U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt's seat.

If you hit a woman or a child, you belong in handcuffs, not the United States Senate, fellow Republican U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley tweeted Monday. Its time for Eric Greitens to leave this race.

In 2017, when Hawley was Missouri's attorney general, he investigated Greitens after The Kansas City Star reported that the governor and some of his staff had Confide accounts, which raised questions about whether his administration followed open records laws.

Hawley has endorsed Hartzler for U.S. Senate.

Even before the latest allegations against Greitens, some Republicans had warned that his nomination could jeopardize their chances of keeping what should be a relatively safe Republican Senate seat.

Fellow GOP Senate candidates Eric Schmitt  Missouri's current attorney general  and Dave Schatz  the top state senator  were among those calling for Greitens to leave the U.S. Senate race Monday, and Democratic candidate Lucas Kunce also said he should drop out. U.S. Rep. Billy Long, another Republican U.S. Senate candidate, called him unfit for office in a Monday tweet.

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Sheena Greitens said in her affidavit that the former governor knocked me down and confiscated my cell phone, wallet, and keys during an argument in April 2018.

She also claimed her ex-husband also struck their three-year-old sons face and yanked his hair. She said one son returned from a visit with him in November 2019 with a swollen face and loose tooth and said his father had hit him. She said Eric Greitens described it to her as a roughhousing accident.

Eric Greitens called the allegations completely fabricated and baseless.

I am seeking full custody of my sons, and for their sake, I will continue to pray for their mother and hope that she gets the help that she needs, he said in a statement on Twitter.
ukraine latest news vladimir putin covid spring statement rishi sunak

Welcome to your early morning news briefing from The Telegraph - a round-up of the top stories we are covering today. To receive twice-daily briefings by email, sign up to our Front Page newsletter for free.

1. Vladimir Putin accused of mass abductions of Ukrainian citizens

Vladimir Putin has been accused of abducting and deporting thousands of civilians from the besieged city of Mariupol and transporting them deep inside Russia.

Ukrainian authorities alleged Russian forces had rounded up several thousand residents from the shattered port before sending them to remote cities hundreds of miles from the border. Read the full story.

2. PM and Chancellor signal a fuel duty cut as they pledge to tackle cost of living crisis in Spring Statement

A cut in fuel duty has been signalled by Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, as they seek to ease the cost of living crisis facing families in the Spring Statement.

Expectations that the levy could be reduced by 5p a litre were raised after the Chancellor pledged to stand by hard-pressed householders facing prohibitively expensive petrol prices and the Prime Minister was said to be pushing for a cut for motorists. Read the full story.

3. Airbrushing childrens lockdown experiences from the Covid inquiry is a shocking oversight

The Covid inquiry has been accused of a shocking oversight after children were not directly mentioned in its aims.

The draft terms of reference for the inquiry have been published, but include just one reference to education and the words child or children are not used. Read the full story.

4. Edward VIII helped Nazis invade France by revealing defence weak spots to known collaborator, historian claims

Edward VIII passed information to the Nazis that aided the fall of France in 1940 and encouraged Germany to bomb Britain into submission following his abdication of the throne to marry Wallis Simpson, a new documentary is set to claim.

Whilst it is well known that the Duke of Windsor spent time with the Nazis, a new documentary reveals that he passed information to the German regime and encouraged a plot to put him on the throne. Read the full story.

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5. Cornwall holiday homes vandalised with graffiti in protest over owners not giving something back

Holiday homes in a picturesque West Country village have been vandalised with graffiti in protest over owners not giving something back to the community.

At least one property in the Cornish seaside village of St Agnes has been defaced with the message: "Second homeowners give something back: Rent or sell your empty houses to local people at a fair price". Read the full story.
Montana airport staff called the police on Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz after he missed his flight.

The interaction with the airport employees became so infectious that law enforcement stepped in.

Mr Cruz missed his flight out of the Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport on Sunday, according to the Reddit user who shared the clip.

The Independent has reached out to Mr Cruz and the airport administration for comment.

The Reddit user who posted a short video of the interaction said Mr Cruz was accosting airline employees ... after missing his flight and that law enforcement had to be called when he wouldnt calm down.

While its hard to hear in the video what Mr Cruz is saying, the Reddit user who posted the video confirmed that Mr Cruz said something along the lines of dont you know who I am?.

Mr Cruz also demanded to speak to a manager about a dozen times. Every bit as much of a [piece of s**t] in real life as youd imagine, the Reddit user said.

Mr Cruz was quickly ridiculed for the incident, with many comparing it to when he travelled to Cancun, Mexico while Texans were dealing with power outages and freezing temperatures in February of last year.

Ted Cruz is flipping out in a Montana airport, probably because hes not in Cancuns more spacious, warm airport, Grant Stern tweeted on Monday.

So Ted Cruz was apparently so out-of-control abusive to airline staff at the airport in Bozeman, Montana, that law enforcement had to get involved. It mustve been snowing, broadcaster Keith Olbermann wrote.

More follows...
A Highland woman now faces criminal charges in a Jan. 30 fatal crash, her second in less than a year.

Lisa Damico, 51, was charged Friday with reckless homicide, a level 5 felony. If convicted, it carries a penalty of 1-6 years in prison.

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She was arrested Friday and initially ordered held without bond, according to court records. Her bail was reset to $15,000 cash during her initial court appearance Monday.

Authorities accused her of running a red light just before 9 a.m. on U.S. 41 and Ramblewood Drive, near Meijer in Highland killing Socorro Keresztes, 70, of Munster.

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A crash investigator estimated Damico blew through an intersection at 93 mph, according to court records. Police found a very large debris field.

Damico was also charged with felony reckless homicide and four misdemeanors last month in an Aug. 18 fatal crash near the Highland Walgreens on Ridge Road and Indianapolis Boulevard that killed Tyler Scheidt, 21, of Highland, who was a pedestrian. She was driving at 85 mph, according to court records.

Scheidts parents have filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against her.

In both crashes, Damico, who said she has epilepsy, denied she had a seizure, while police found seizure medication in her vehicle, according to court documents. She tested negative both times for drugs or alcohol.

Both crashes were a sad situation all around, her lawyer, Michael Campbell, said Monday, offering his condolences to both families. Theres never an intention to harm anyone.

He would get her examined to see why she blacked out in both cases and what the underlying medical cause was, he said.

Its not like she had a chronic history of doing so, he said. Unfortunately, the accidents themselves couldnt have been more tragic.

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My client wished they had never happened, Campbell said.

Damico had admitted Jan. 30 to police she was driving on a suspended license. That was due to the failure to pay a ticket in Porter County, Campbell said.

Had she not missed court, she would have never been suspended, he said.

She was originally charged with reckless homicide and driving while suspended in the Jan. 30 crash, but the latter charge was dropped, he noted.

When police were called Jan. 30 to the intersection of Indianapolis Boulevard and Ramblewood Drive, Keresztes silver Hyundai was half on the curb near the First Financial Bank sign, while Damicos blue Volvo was in the Panda Express parking lot, 250 feet across the street, charges state.

Damico agreed to go to Community Hospital in Munster for a toxicology blood draw. The officer who went to her room knew her from the crash that killed Scheidt, he wrote.

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She appeared to have facial injuries and both ankles were hurt. Damico told him her lawyer said not to talk with investigators.

Earlier at the scene, Damico said she was coming from her boyfriends house in Hammond.

No, no, no, I mean Schererville, she said.

First, she said she was driving south to Jewel, before telling investigators she drove north to go to Meijer.

Initially, she told officers, who were trying to figure out her name, that she didnt have a middle name and lived in Chicago. She then admitted she was driving on a suspended license, records state.

She then remembered her middle name and address.

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Damico said she blacked out, then woke up to see her car was wrecked, not remembering how she crashed, an affidavit states. She thought the damage was only to her car, police wrote.

I know why I blacked out before the accident, she told officers. Damico claimed a friend was cheating on her husband and he found out.

I was thinking and stressing about that, she claimed.

Unprompted, she later told officers she hadnt had a seizure in four years and she didnt have one before the crash, because she knows what that feels like, according to charges.

In Damicos car, officers found a travel bag with clothes and seizure medication, court documents state.

Earlier, witnesses flagged down an officer to Keresztes car. The front end was smashed and he couldnt open the doors to help her, records state.

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Witnesses told police Damicos car weaved in and out of Indianapolis Boulevard before she appeared to go into the east bound turn lane, did not brake before speeding through the red light and slamming into Keresztes car.

A witness said she pulled over and held Keresztes hand until she died, an affidavit states.

The crash was caught on traffic cameras, records state.

A native of the Philippines, Keresztes, the matriarch of her family, was gentle, caring, and selfless and had recently retired in 2020 after working more than 25 years at Franciscan Health, an online fundraising page and her obituary said.

She is survived by an adult daughter and extended relatives.
By Josh Smith and Hyonhee Shin

SEOUL (Reuters) -Outgoing South Korean President Moon Jae-in's administration said on Monday his successor's rush to relocate the presidential office and official residence could "create a security vacuum and confusion" at a time of tensions with North Korea.

South Korean president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, breaking with tradition, announced on Sunday he will move the presidential office from the Blue House to the defence ministry compound, a step estimated to cost $40 million. Elected in a tight vote on March 9, Yoon said he wanted to make the move immediately after his inauguration on May 10.

Moon's press secretary Park Soo-hyun said it was "unfeasible" to relocate the defence ministry, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the offices of the president and secretaries and the security service in the short period of time before Yoon takes office.

"The security crisis on the Korean peninsula is escalating, and a sudden and unprepared relocation... could create a security vacuum and confusion," Park said at a briefing.

A Yoon spokeswoman expressed regret, saying there was no way to force the relocation if Moon refuses to cooperate, but that Yoon would keep his promise to open the Blue House to the public starting May 10 while carrying out his duties at his current office.

Yoon's People Power Party accused the Moon administration of shifting its position after initially saying it hoped Yoon would implement the promise, which mirrored one made by Moon before he abandoned it for security and logistical reasons.

"The president-elect had already reviewed potential security issues that the Blue House raised," the party said in a statement responding to Park's comments, urging Moon's office to help allocate a budget and cooperate on the plan.

Park said the move would be more reasonable if it was not rushed. Moon's administration would share its concerns with Yoon's transition team and make its official position after more consultations, he added.

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Yoon's team has said the Blue House is a symbol of South Korea's "imperial presidency" and a move would improve public access and communications with aides. They have denied critics' suggestion that Yoon was influenced by concerns that the Blue House is in an "inauspicious" location.

A petition uploaded to the presidential office's website on Thursday opposing Yoon's plan to move had gathered more than 340,000 signatures as of Monday.

Conservative Yoon is expected to take a harder line against North Korea than Moon, a member of the liberal Democratic Party who had made engaging Pyongyang a major part of his agenda. South Korean presidents serve for a single five-year term.

Tensions have been rising after North Korea began the year with an unprecedented flurry of missile tests, and Pyongyang has suggested it could resume testing intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) or nuclear weapons for the first time since 2017.

(Reporting by Josh Smith and Hyonhee Shin, editing by Ed Osmond and Bernadette Baum)
By Angelo Amante and Crispian Balmer

ROME (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is due to address the Italian parliament on Tuesday, but a small number of lawmakers say they will shun the speech, arguing that his appearance will not help restore peace.

Their snub highlights a strong pacifist strain in Italy, shaped partly by the country's disastrous involvement in World War Two. But it also reflects a pro-Russia vein that runs deep through some of the country's main political parties.

Unusually for a Western nation, Italy had strong links with the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and these ties improved during President Vladimir Putin's long rule, making the country one of Russia's closest allies within the European Union.

Prime Minister Mario Draghi has redressed the balance since taking office in 2021, promoting a vigorous, pro-NATO line, and all the major parties have condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine, even those that had an especially close relationship with Moscow -- Forza Italia, the 5-Star Movement and the League.

However, at least 20 lawmakers have said they will snub Zelenskiy's appearance and criticised the decision to allow him to address both chambers -- an honour previously awarded to just Spain's King Juan Carlos and Pope John Paul II.

Zelenskiy has already spoken via video to parliaments in Britain, the United States, Israel and Germany, and is expected on Tuesday to repeat his calls for more help to combat Russia.

Senator Gianluigi Paragone told Reuters he would not be listening.

"We have already heard Zelenskiy's preaching and if we did what he wanted, it would lead us straight to war in Europe," said Paragone, who used to be in the 5-Star and has since formed an anti-EU group called Italexit.

ARMS AN ISSUE

Around 17 lawmakers in the Alternative group, almost all 5-Star dissidents, have also said they would boycott the speech.

"It is merely a marketing operation that will not help end hostilities," the lawmakers said in a statement, calling on Rome to do more to promote peace talks and criticising the Italian parliament for having voted to send arms to Ukraine.

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The vote in the lower chamber last week drew cross-party support, but dozens of parliamentarians failed to show up, including many members of the rightist League, whose head Matteo Salvini has previously praised Putin as a great world leader.

At least one League politician, Vito Comencini, confirmed to Reuters that he would skip Zelenskiy's speech.

He declined to explain his decision, but he has made clear his pro-Russia stance on social media, visiting St. Petersburg last week and handing over aid for people from the Donbass area of eastern Ukraine which rose up against Kyiv's rule in 2014.

"They are people who have been living in a war zone since 2014, guilty (only) of demanding that their demands be recognised," Comencini wrote on Facebook.

Salvini himself has dialled down his previous fervent support for Moscow and has said he will listen to Zelenskiy.

However, he has also said he will struggle to back the dispatch of weapons to Ukraine when the motion goes to the Senate in the coming days.

"I say with full honesty, I am in difficulty because a democratic culture does not stop bombs with other bombs, but with democracy (and) dialogue," Salvini told RAI TV last week.

(Writing by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
The murder case involving a Columbus mans fatal shooting in a Pizza Hut parking lot over 15 pounds of marijuana goes to trial this week in Muscogee Superior Court.

It began Monday with one of the five defendants pleading guilty before visiting Judge David Emerson.

Like his four co-defendants, Eric Randall Spencer Jr., 28, had been charged with murder in the April 6, 2018, death of Branden Denson at the 4236 Buena Vista Road restaurant, where robbers took a suitcase of marijuana from Densons Jeep Wrangler, according to police.

In a deal to secure his testimony, Spencer pleaded guilty only to armed robbery, using a firearm to commit a crime and being a convicted felon with a firearm.

Emerson sentenced him to 25 years in prison, with 10 to serve and the rest on probation, following the terms of a deal defense attorney Susan Henderson made with prosecutors.

Among the conditions of his sentence were that he testify truthfully at trial, be banished from Muscogee County, have no contact with the other suspects, and get a job within 90 days of his release from prison

Spencer already was on probation in two other felony cases from 2009, including burglary and robbery by snatching, and that probation period was not to end until Sept. 14, 2029, a probation officer told the court.

Before his plea Monday, attorneys asked the judge to tell reporters in the courtroom to not publish Spencers image, noting he had been attacked in jail, and he and his family had been threatened because of his anticipated testimony.

Emerson said he did not believe he could grant that request.

Headed to trial

After Spencers plea, Emerson proceeded with jury selection for the trial of the other four defendants.

Here are their names, charges and attorneys:

Dover Bartlett Coppins, 27, charged with murder, armed robbery, using a gun to commit a crime and being a convicted felon with a firearm. He is represented by Shevon Thomas.

Tommie Jamal Mullins Jr., 28, charged with murder and armed robbery. He is represented by Stacey Jackson.

Tyree Jaquan Smith, 24, charged with murder and armed robbery. He is represented by William Kendrick.

Johnathon Lemorris Swift, 30, charged with murder and armed robbery. Hes represented by Michael Eddings.

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Asked to outline the evidence as Spencer pleaded Monday, Acting District Attorney Sheneka Terry said the suspects had planned to meet Denson at the Pizza Hut to buy the marijuana with counterfeit money.

Police said Denson waited 10 to 20 minutes in his Jeep before four people in a rented Kia pulled up about 10:30 p.m.

Three people got out the Kia, grabbed Densons suitcase of marijuana and shot him three times in the back, leaving him dead in the drivers seat, detectives said.

This was captured on a nearby business security cameras, but the recording is not clear enough to recognize faces, investigators said.

Denson, 32, also was known by the rap name Billion Dollar BD.

Branden Denson known as Billion Dollar BD

During a 2018 preliminary hearing for Mullins in Columbus Recorders Court, Detective Robert Nicholas testified a witness told police the suspects met with Mullins before the shooting, so that he could assign each a role in the scheme. Police have said they believe Mullins arranged the rendezvous with Denson.

The suspects again met with Mullins after the robbery, and Mullins divided the marijuana between them, and congratulated Coppins for having fired the fatal shots, Nicholas said.
Oscars co-host Amy Schumer revealed that her request to have Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky address the star-studded gathering was rejected.

In a teaser clip for her forthcoming appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show on 24 March, the comedian commented on using the Oscars platform to highlight important global issues  including Russias ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

During the interview, Schumer told host Drew Barrymore that she wanted to have Zelensky speak at the ceremony on 27 March because there are so many eyes on the Oscars but her idea was turned down by the organisers.

I am not afraid to go there, she added, but its not me producing the Oscars.

Responding to Barrymores question about how she would handle the Academy Awards at this time of political turmoil, Schumer acknowledged the pressure to be both sensitive and funny.

I think there is definitely pressure in one way to be like, this is a vacation, let people forget we just want to have this night but it is like well we have so many eyes and ears on this show, she explained.

Noting that the Oscars provided a great opportunity to at least comment on a couple of things, she told Barrymore that she has some jokes that kind of highlight the sort of current condition.

I mean, there are so many awful things happening that it seems hard to focus on which one.

Along with Schumer, actor and stand-up comedian Wanda Sykes and Scary Movie star Regina Hall have been roped in to host the ceremony this year.

The last person the Academy hired for the job was Kevin Hart, who was scheduled to host the 2019 Oscars but was forced to step down soon after his old, homophobic tweets resurfaced online.

One of his now-deleted tweets, posted between 2009 and 2011, read: Yo if my son comes home & trys 2 play with my daughters doll house Im going 2 break it over his head & say n my voice stop thats gay.

This was the first time since 1989 that the Oscars was without a host, relying instead on flashy montages and A-list presenters to carry it. The ceremony did not have an official host in 2020 and 2021 either.

The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered.

To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.
Apple TV+

Pachinko only fleetingly concerns the popular Japanese arcade game, except that as with the gambling pastime, its story is one about chance, and the triumph and misfortune that befalls a family due to forces out of their control. Showrunner Soo Hugh and directors Kogonada and Justin Chons eight-part adaptation of Min Jin Lees celebrated 2017 novel recounts the multigenerational plight of a Korean clan beset by Japanese persecution and oppression both in their fishing village of Yeongdo and in Osaka, where they eventually relocate. Like many modern streaming efforts, it can be drawn out to the point of vexation. Yet at its finestwhich is frequentit proves a stirring portrait of the complicated experiences endured by Koreans (and, in particular, women) under colonial rule, and the consequences those ordeals had for not only themselves, but for their progeny and Koreas national character.

Colin Farrell Will Break Your Heart in After Yang, a Quietly Revelatory Sci-Fi Parable

Beginning in Japanese-occupied 1915 Korea, Pachinko (March 25) pivots around Sunja (Jeon Yu-na), whos born to a hard-working mother and a doting cleft lip-afflicted father whose demise is a formative loss for the young girl. Adolescent Sunja grows up in a country where speaking ill of the Japanese is a grave crime, as she learns when one of the men residing at her mothers boarding house exhibits loose lips during a night of drinking, and is abducted by authorities for his misdeed. The ominous threat of detainment, ruination and worse hangs over Sunja for the remainder of her tale, which soon leaps forward nine years to find her a young woman (Kim Min-ha) working at the bustling fish market. There, shes spiedand wooedby Koh Hansu (Lee Min-ho), a dapper and powerful fish broker with apparent ties to the underworld. A romance blossoms, resulting in pregnancy, although a happily-ever-after is not in the cards, since Hansu is married and has no intention of making an honest woman out of his mistress.

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At the same time that it details Sunjas arduous pre-WWII circumstances, Pachinko situates itself in 1989 with Solomon (Jin Ha), the grandson of Sunja (played, in this period, by Oscar-winning Minari star Youn Yuh-jung), whos been educated in America and works for a bank that doesnt properly value him. To secure the promotion he deserves, he joins the firms Japanese office, where he plans to convince a landowner named Mrs. Han to sell her property. As if that undertaking werent challenging enough, Solomon also begins receiving phone calls from Hana (Mari Yamamoto), his former girlfriend, whos vanished and is rumored to be working the citys streetsa situation that greatly upsets Hanas mother Etsuko (Kaho Minami), whos the second wife of Solomons father Mozasu (Soji Arai), the owner of a local pachinko parlor.

Solomons attempts to persuade Mrs. Han to relinquish her land (to the tune of $1 million) touches upon many of the themesabout heritage, responsibility, honor, independence, and exploitationcoursing throughout Pachinko. Still, that doesnt change the fact that this thread is stretched a bit too thin, and thus the most glaring example of the downside to Hugh, Kogonada and Chons patient approach, which sometimes costs the proceedings a measure of dramatic urgency. Far more assured are the passages concerning Sunja in Yeongdo and, later, in Osaka, where she takes up residence courtesy of Isak (Steve Sanghyun Noh), a pastor whose life she saves, and who repays that debt by marrying herthereby sparing her from a life of shameful single motherhood. Theirs is a bond forged by compassion and selflessness, and its tested by a myriad of obstacles and challenges, most of them stemming from Japanese discrimination and the identity-crisis issues begat by such monstrousness.

Through Sunja and her similarly beleaguered comrades (most notably, sister-in-law Kyunghee, played by Jung Eun-chae and Felice Choi at different ages), Pachinko celebrates the strength and resilience of 20th-century Korean women, whose lives were regularly defined by disconnection, dislocation, and demonization. Kim evokes young Sunjas tenderness, fear and naivety, as well as her toughness and determination, whereas Youn captures the now-elderly characters wisdom, regret, and guilt for surviving when so many others did not. One wishes that the magnetic Youn was given slightly more to do during the course of these eight installments. Nonetheless, her 1989 narrativewhich intermittently has her aiding, and worrying about, Solomonis in certain respects the materials linchpin, tying together the series ideas about the burden of history on both the young and the old, the weight of expectations passed down from one generation to the next, the primacy of time-honored rituals and customs, and the process of forming a stable identity in a land that is not your own, and looks down on you as a second-class citizen.

Oscar winner Youn Yuh-jung in Pachinko Apple TV+

The tension between personal ambition and communal ties, as well as between selfishness and sacrifice, routinely comes to the fore in the series, which weaves its tapestry with a deftness thats never marred by exposition. While Pachinko isnt as idiosyncratically lyrical as his recent film After Yangthanks to its more conventional episodic TV formatKogonadas stewardship remains light, graceful and empathetic, and fellow director Chon likewise imbues the action with a deep reverence for the hardships braved by these protagonists. In ways alternately overt and subtle, they convey the complexities of these sociopolitical eras for Koreans in their native land and abroad, be it through color-coded subtitles for intermingled Korean and Japanese dialogue, or via Solomons twisted-up feelings about honoring those who came before him, resenting the fact that he can never match their suffering (and should be eternally grateful for it), and wanting to be his own man while also staying true to his loved ones.

Pachinko moves gracefully between its chosen decades, juxtaposing key moments in these individuals lives as a means of underscoring their shared heartaches, successes, and dreams. Surprisingly, despite concluding with a non-fiction coda about real-life elderly Korean women who emigrated to Japan in their youth, the series ends with a variety of loose ends, suggesting that a second season is potentially in the cards. With characters this engaging, and storytelling this incisive, that would be a welcome turn of events.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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On the afternoon of March 18, 2022, President Xi Jinping had a phone conversation with Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen.



Xi Jinping pointed out, with the joint efforts of both sides, China-Cambodia relations have withstood tests and grown even more unbreakable. In the face of major global changes and the pandemic, both unseen in a century, China and Cambodia have firmly promoted the building of a community with a shared future, setting an example of forging a new type of international relations. The two sides should engage in high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, speed up the construction of major projects such as highways, airports and special economic zones, and expand cooperation in emerging fields such as finance and digital economy. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the China-Cambodia free trade agreement should be fully tapped to push bilateral trade to a new level. The Chinese side will import more premium agricultural products from Cambodia, carry out more cooperation with Cambodia to improve people's wellbeing, and implement projects related to roads and education in rural areas, so as to help develop agriculture in Cambodia and lift its farmers out of poverty. China will continue to support Cambodia in its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and explore new models of people-to-people and cultural exchanges with Cambodia against the backdrop of the pandemic.

Xi Jinping stressed, China firmly supports the central role of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the regional cooperation architecture, and supports ASEAN in playing a greater role in regional and international affairs. China supports Cambodia in carrying out its duty as the rotating chair of ASEAN this year, and stands ready to work with Cambodia and other ASEAN countries to push for the continuous new development of the China-ASEAN comprehensive strategic partnership.

Hun Sen sincerely congratulated China on the successful hosting of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 and the successful convening of the Two Sessions, and believes that under the strong leadership of President Xi Jinping, China will make more great achievements. The rapid growth of Cambodia-China bilateral trade and the smooth progress of major projects under the framework of Belt and Road cooperation have demonstrated the achievements of the Cambodia-China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership and the building of a Cambodia-China community with a shared future, and shown that Cambodia and China are true ironclad brothers. Cambodia firmly adheres to the one-China principle and firmly supports China's position on issues related to Taiwan and Xinjiang. Cambodia is ready to take the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries next year as an opportunity to deepen exchanges and cooperation in fields such as economy and trade, agriculture, as well as people-to-people and cultural exchanges, and advance the Belt and Road cooperation, so as to lift the Cambodia-China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership to a new level. Cambodia thanks China for providing material supplies, vaccines and other assistance for Cambodia to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, and hopes for stronger anti-pandemic cooperation. As the rotating chair of ASEAN this year, Cambodia will continue to actively promote the development of ASEAN-China relations.

The two leaders also exchanged views on the situation in Ukraine. The two sides agreed to uphold a balanced and fair position and make positive efforts to promote peace talks.
Beijing  A China Eastern passenger jet carrying 132 people crashed in southern China on Monday, aviation authorities said. China's state-run media said the crash led to a fire on a mountain.

Chinese state media said that as of Tuesday, no survivors had been found, according to The Associated Press. Chinese state TV reported there were no foreigners on board.

China Eastern said the cause of the crash was "still under investigation" and it did not provide any detail, but in an official filing with the Shanghai Stock Exchange it expressed "its deep condolences for the passengers and crew members who died in the plane crash."

In this photo taken by mobile phone released by Xinhua News Agency, a piece of wreckage of the China Eastern's flight MU5735 are seen after it crashed on the mountain in Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Monday, March 21, 2022. / Credit: / AP

The Boeing 737-800 from Kunming city to the southern hub of Guangzhou "lost airborne contact over Wuzhou" city in the Guangxi region, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said earlier. "At present, it has been confirmed that this flight has crashed," the CAAC said, adding that it had activated its emergency response and "dispatched a working group to the scene." The plane was carrying 123 passengers and 9 flight crew members, the CAAC said. An earlier state media report had said there were 133 people on board.

A screengrab from video posted on Chinese social media purportedly shows a fire burning on a hillside near the city of Wuzhou, March 21, 2022, after a China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 passenger jet crashed in the area.

State broadcaster CCTV said the plane crashed in Teng county near Wuzhou and "caused a mountain fire," citing the provincial emergency management bureau. The crash site was about 150 miles from the destination of Guangzhou, meaning the aircraft had traveled about 500 miles before coming down.

Tracking data showed the flight was traveling at a normal cruising altitude of about 30,000 feet when it suddenly went into a deep dive. The aircraft then briefly climbed 1,000 feet before the data abruptly ends, about 40 seconds later. The data suggest the plane crashed within about 90 seconds of whatever first sent it plummeting toward the ground.

Chicago-based Boeing Co. said it was aware of the initial reports of the crash and was "working to gather more information." Boeing stock dropped over 8% in pre-market trading early Monday.

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After the crash on Monday, Chinese financial news outlet Yicai, based in the economic hub of Shanghai, reported that China Eastern was going to ground all of its 737-800s pending an investigation, but the airline did not immediately confirm the move.

A China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-89P passenger plane lands at Hong Kong International Airport in this August 1, 2018 file photo. / Credit: S3studio/Getty

The state-run tabloid People's Daily said 117 rescuers were working at the crash site and that 650 more rescuers and firefighters, organized by the Guangxi fire department, were heading to the site. The Guangxi fire service said crews were battling to extinguish a blaze on a hillside sparked by the crash, and satellite data from NASA showed a massive fire in the area. CCTV said China Eastern had established nine separate teams to work on everything from disposal of the wreckage to the crash investigation and passenger family assistance.

An image from China's state-run CCTV shows fire emergency personnel boarding buses in an unidentified location in China to be transported to the scene of a China Eastern Airlines passenger jet crash near the city of Wuzhou, March 21, 2022. / Credit: CCTV/Reuters

"We are shocked to learn of the China Eastern MU5735 accident," Chinese President Xi Jinping was quoted as saying by CCTV. He called for "all efforts" to be taken to rescue any survivors and to find out the "cause of the accident as soon as possible."

There was no immediate response from China Eastern when contacted by CBS News on Monday. The airline changed its website to black and white colors on Monday afternoon.

Flight tracker FlightRadar24 showed no more data for flight MU5735 after 2:22 pm local time, when it reached the area around Wuzhou. It showed the plane dropping sharply from an altitude of 29,100 feet to 3,225 feet in less than three minutes, before flight information stopped.

A flight information board shows a cancelled China Eastern Airlines flight (top L) at the Kunming Changshui International Airport in China's southwestern Yunnan province on March 21, 2022, after another China Eastern flight, MU5735, flying from Kunming to the southern hub of Guangzhou crashed in southwestern China. / Credit: STR/AFP/Getty

The plane was delivered to China Eastern by Boeing in June 2015, according to The Associated Press.

The twin-engine, single aisle Boeing 737 is one of the world's most widely-used passenger jets for short and medium-haul flights. China Eastern operates various versions of the 737, including the 737-800, which crashed on Monday, and the 737 Max, which was grounded worldwide after two fatal crashes.

Robert Sumwalt, a former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said the 737-800 "has had a very good safety record over the years."

But he said it's unlikely there will be survivors.

"I hate to say so, but I do not believe there's any chance that anybody would have survived a crash like this," Sumwalt told CBS News' Seth Doane.

China's aviation regulator only cleared the Max to return to service late last year  the last national regulator to do so in a major travel market.

CBS News correspondent Kris Van Cleave said the 737-800 is part of the "next generation" family of Boeing's 737 line-up. More than 7,000 have been built, with fewer than 25 accidents that rendered the planes unusable since they first took flight in 1997. Van Cleave said unverified video purportedly showing the plane in a steep nose-down dive right before it crashed matches the early flight data available from flight tracking websites. The incredibly steep dive shown in the video  a near-90 degree angle  is very unusual in an aviation accident.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Authority told CBS News in a statement on Monday that it was "aware of reports that a China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 plane crashed" in China. The agency said it stood ready to assist in the crash investigation "if asked" to do so by Chinese authorities, along with the National Transportation Safety Board, but it noted that China would take the lead by default.

One villager told a local news site that the plane involved in the crash had "completely fallen apart" and he had seen nearby forest areas destroyed by a fire caused when the plane crashed onto the mountainside. Fears for the fate of the jet spread on Monday afternoon as local media reported that China Eastern flight MU5735 had not arrived as planned in Guangzhou after taking off from Kunming shortly after 1:00 pm (0500 GMT).

China had enjoyed an enviable air safety record in recent years in a country criss-crossed by newly built airports and serviced by new airlines established to match the country's breakneck growth over the last few decades. A Henan Airlines flight crashed in northeastern Heilongjiang province in 2010, killing at least 42 out of 92 people on board although the final toll was never confirmed. It was the last Chinese commercial passenger flight crash that caused civilian casualties. The deadliest Chinese commercial flight crash was a China Northwest Airlines crash in 1994 which killed all 160 onboard. Most of the passengers onboard the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which disappeared in March 2014 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, were from China.

Texas officials give update on severe weather

GOP Ohio Senate candidates get into heated argument

London Calling: Two years since the U.K. implemented its first COVID-19 lockdown
A petition has been launched calling for the maker of the jacket worn by Russian President Vladimir Putin during a rally in Moscow to denounce him and his invasion of Ukraine.

Mr Putin took the stage at the Luzhniki World Cup stadium in Moscow on Friday 18 March in a $13,000 [10,200] Loro Piana puffer jacket. The rally was in commemoration of Russias 2014 invasion of Crimea.

Echo of Moscow radio correspondent Karine Orlova launched a change.org petition, saying that Loro Piana should publicly denounce Vladimir Putin.

Anyone who likes anything Western is a national traitor, declared Putin and two days later appeared dressed in a $10K Loro Piana coat at a rally in Moscow promoting war in Ukraine. Putin has long been a fan of the brand  time to end this. Please, sign, she tweeted on 19 March.

The luxurious brand, in the meantime, donated 5 million euros for aid to Ukraine, she added on change.org.

But what values does Loro Piana really share? Do they enjoy being represented by such an ambassador as Vladimir Putin? Is this how Loro Piana wants to be remembered in history? she wrote.

Vladimir Putin has been long known as a fan of Loro Piana fine cashmere. He couldnt help himself even after having called the traitors of the nation those Russians who live in the West and enjoy Western goods and values. He lashed out at the Western-oriented Russians  to only appear two days later dressed in the most expensive Italian clothes in the world. The Twitter and Italian media are already raging about Putins outfit, she added.

Ms Orlova concluded by pleading for Loro Piana to immediately publicly denounce Vladimir Putin and demand he stops wearing their clothes. Otherwise, the brands century-long history will be forever overshadowed by the blood of thousands of innocent victims of Putins criminal war.

This map shows the extent of the Russian invasion of Ukraine (Press Association Images)

As of Monday morning, 778 people had signed the petition.

The founder of the fashion brand, Pier Luigi Loro Piana, told Italian newspaper La Repubblica, that Mr Putin wearing the jacket creates some embarrassment from a human point of view.

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Reuters reported in 2013 that the French group LVMH bought 80 per cent of the Italian luxury cashmere clothing brand for $2.57bn.

The group to which Loro Piana belongs has already taken all the steps to distance itself and to be in solidarity with the European positions regarding the human tragedy we are experiencing, Mr Piana added.

I think the jacket worn by Putin is a purchase that dates back a long time ago, but I also believe that these are minor issues compared to the tragedy of a war, he said. As a company, we are completely in solidarity with the positions of the LVMH group. It is clear which side we have chosen to be on. I do not feel guilty for that flaunted jacket worn on stage, but I believe that Putin should reflect on the massacre he is causing the Ukrainian people to live. 

Support for the population, at the moment, is the most important thing, he added. The Ukrainians will have all our moral and practical support.

The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.
Bloomberg

By Arthur Allen | KHN

When Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said March 13 that all Americans would need a second booster shot, it struck many COVID experts as a self-serving remark without scientific merit. It also set off spasms of doubt over the countrys objectives in its fight against the coronavirus.

The decision on how often and widely to vaccinate against COVID-19 is part science, part policy, and part politics. Ultimately it depends on the goals of vaccination at a time when its becoming clear that neither vaccines nor other measures can entirely stop the viral spread.

On March 15, Pfizer made a more limited request of the FDA, seeking authorization of a second booster only for people 65 and older. Advisers for the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are likely to approve a fourth shot for people in that age group because theyre the group most likely to be hospitalized or die of COVID.

The vaccines protection against COVID infection generally wanes within several months in all age groups. But experts disagree on whether frequent boosters, especially for younger people, can do anything about that. Two or three vaccinations protect most people from serious diseasebut do relatively little to prevent infection, which is generally mild or asymptomatic, after three or four months.

Statements like Bourlas create public pressure for a fourth dose that could force the Biden administrations hand before government experts have time to assess the evidence, said John Moore, professor of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College.

Were Barely Keeping a Lid on Our Next Huge Global Crisis

It appears to be based on a yet-to-be-peer-reviewed Israeli study that examined patients only a few weeks after they had received their fourth dose of vaccine. The limited scope of the data raises questions about the duration of that protection, said Dr. Phil Krause, a former deputy director of the FDAs biologics center. Krause helped lead the agencys COVID vaccine reviews before resigning last fall.

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Throughout the pandemic, repeated public proclamations by pharmaceutical company executivesbroadcast widely via the media, often without supporting datahave created pressure for politicians and their scientific advisers to act.

Last summer, Bourla announced the likely need for an initial booster in April 2021, then, in August, President Joe Biden promised the first booster shots would be available to all adults starting the following month. That created an expectation that everyone would get their slice of yummy chocolate cake, Moore said. Who wants to be the cake nazi and say, No cake for you?!

Although FDA and CDC expert panels, and some federal scientists, were hesitant about recommending the first booster for younger populations, the agencies overrode their advice and approved boosters for everyone 12 and older. That continues to be a sore point with many immunologists and infectious disease specialists.

The last thing we need is to have corporate CEOs in March saying this is what you need in December because we know, Moore said. How do you know? CEO announcements have often been made before scientific evidence supporting the claims has been publicly released, meaning scientists have not had time to evaluate their validity.

The desire to react to growing signs of infection is understandable but may be futile in the face of a virus that seems to infect even the well-vaccinated. If we keep chasing the virus with boosters, were going to be making the drug companies very happy, since our antibodies will go down every four months, said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia.

But whether those levels are a good measure of protectionespecially against serious disease, and in which populationsis an open question. The answer is important because, like all vaccines, there is a small risk of adverse reactions from each shot.

Altered Red Blood Cells Could Give Us a More Tolerable COVID Vaccine

Theres some disagreement among experts on how well COVID vaccines to date have prevented serious disease in healthy young people, and whether and how often they should be boosted.

While a recent CDC study showed an increased risk of hospitalization among people ages 18 to 49 several months after second and third vaccine doses, the data categories in the study arent fine-grained enough to show whether many of those who suffered severe disease had comorbidities such as chronic disease or obesity, Offit said.

But others argue theres enough evidence to show that yearly vaccines, perhaps in combination with influenza vaccinations, would be the best solution. Given how safe the vaccines are and how effective they are, I think it probably does make sense for people to get a booster, and the most convenient would be once a year, said Dr. Otto Yang, an infectious disease specialist at UCLA. If COVID turns out to be seasonal, peaking in winter months, vaccination in the fall would provide decent protection, he said.

We are bound to need another booster. We just dont know when or for which variant, said Dr. Daniel Douek, chief of the human immunology section at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

The coronaviruses that cause about a third of all common colds appear to infect people as frequently as once a year on average, said Stanley Perlman, a coronavirus expert at the University of Iowa. Vaccines could never prevent all those infections, yet the federal approach has largely acted as if this were feasible, Offit said.

Were coming off two years where we treated this virus like smallpox, isolating anyone with mild illness, even asymptomatic people, he said. Thats going to have to change. Because neither vaccination nor natural infection is going to protect you from mild illness for a longer period of time.

Why Anti-Vaxxers Are Obsessed With Photos of Jelly Blood

Its important for U.S. health officials to have and share with the public some clarity about the goals of the vaccination program, said Dr. Luciana Borio, a former FDA and National Security Council official who is now a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations. We need people to understand that protection against all illness is not long-lasting, instead of thinking the vaccine is not working.

The goal is not to stop transmission, its mainly to protect the vulnerable at this point, said Dr. Norman Hearst, a family physician and public health researcher at the University of California-San Francisco.

How, in the absence of perfect vaccines, we will protect the vulnerable remains a conundrum. Borio argues that we need systems to rapidly test elderly and immunocompromised people for COVID and quickly give them treatment if their results are positive.

But this is more easily said than done, Hearst said, since people rarely seek medical help for upper respiratory diseases until the illness is too developed for antiviral drugs to work; antivirals generally work best, sometimes only, if they are taken within a few days of onset of symptoms.

For the time being, all debate on a second booster is moot, said John Wherry, chair of the Department of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics at the University of Pennsylvania. Unless Congress reverses itself and decides to give the administration more money to fight COVID, there wont be any free vaccinesor free COVID treatmentsavailable to the public next fall.

We have an acute budgetary problem and were not yet out of the woods, Wherry said. COVID numbers are spiking in Europe again, and concentrations of the virus in wastewater are starting to multiply in some areas of the U.S., indicating that a loosening of COVID restrictions may be causing spread among those who werent infected during the Omicron wave in December and January.

Offit, a vaccine inventor and longtime champion of vaccination, cautions against leaning too hard on COVID boosters for answers.

Whats our response going to be if we have another variant like Omicron that sweeps across people who got two or three doses? he asked. Will we accept this, and say, OK, calm down?

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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DALLAS (AP)  Ten people were shot at a spring break party in Dallas and several others were injured as they tried to escape the gunfire, police said.

One person was in critical condition following the shooting late Saturday at The Space Dallas, a party venue. Nine other shooting victims were taken to hospitals in stable condition and an unspecified number of people were injured while trying to run away, police said. No arrests have been announced.

Joe Morgan, 55, told The Dallas Morning News that he was working crowd control at the venue, where a group of teens was hosting a spring break party. He told the newspaper that he heard gunshots being fired from outside of the venue.

"A lot of the kids were helping the other kids, Morgan said Sunday, adding that he saw people with gunshot wounds to the chest, arms and legs.

The shooting was one of several over the weekend involving multiple victims in Texas. Four people were shot in Austin as the city hosted its annual South by Southwest Festival and four teenagers were shot, one fatally, at a birthday party in Houston.

And in Arkansas, one person was killed and 27 others were wounded after gunfire erupted at a car show on Saturday.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) gives an opening statement during a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing of Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson on Monday, March 21, 2022.





A law enforcement officer was called step in Sunday after Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) got into a heated argument with airline attendees at an airport in Bozeman, Mont., on Sunday, The Daily Mail reported.

A video posted to Reddit shows the senator engaged in conversation with two representatives at the United Airlines desk after he reportedly missed the check-in window for his flight.

A law enforcement officer was then sent to help handle the situation, according to Scott Humphrey, a deputy director of Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport.

"One of our Public Safety Officers (PSO) was in the ticket lobby and was asked to assist with a frustrated passenger at the United ticket counter (which is not unusual)," Humphrey told The Daily Mail. "The passenger had missed the check-in window for his flight and re-booking options were limited out of Bozeman due to Spring Break."

Humphrey added that Cruz was booked on another flight and left the airport later that evening.

"Our PSO didn't realize he was dealing with Senator Cruz until after the fact," he added.

The Hill has reached out to Cruz's office for comment.

The Bozeman airport incident comes more than a year after the Texas Republican made headlines by flying to Cancun, Mexico, while extreme winter weather left millions without power in his home state. Cruz later called the trip a "mistake."

Business Insider noted that Cruz left Bozeman and made it was back to Washington, D.C., before the start of Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, which began Monday.
Police have identified a 28-year-old man shot and killed Saturday afternoon outside a Chesapeake shopping center.

Officers from the Chesapeake Police Department responded at 2:50 p.m. to a report of gunfire at the Holly Point Shopping Center, located at 211 Providence Road. At the scene, police found Julian Peterson, of Virginia Beach, had been shot.

Peterson died on the way to the hospital, police said.

Police have not announced any arrests in the shooting. The incident is under investigation, police said Monday.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP.

Ali Sullivan, 757-677-1974, ali.sullivan@virginiamedia.com
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

President Joe Biden will travel to Poland this week to discuss international support for Ukraine.

The trip follows meetings in Belgium with NATO allies, G7 leaders, and European Union leaders.

The President will discuss the international response to the human rights crisis in Ukraine.

President Joe Biden will travel to Poland this week to discuss international support for Ukraine with world leaders amid the invasion by Russian forces, according to a statement released by the White House on Sunday.

"On Friday, March 25, President Biden will travel to Warsaw, Poland, where he will hold a bilateral meeting with President Andrzej Duda," the statement read. "The President will discuss how the United States, alongside our Allies and partners, is responding to the humanitarian and human rights crisis that Russia's unjustified and unprovoked war on Ukraine has created."

The trip comes amid worsening conditions in Ukraine, including reports of war crimes and starving civilians, as Russia continues its invasion against the independent nation.

Prior to arriving in Poland, Biden will attend meetings in Brussels, Belgium, with NATO allies, G7 leaders, and European Union leaders "to discuss international efforts to support Ukraine and impose severe and unprecedented costs on Russia for its invasion."

Read the original article on Business Insider
By David Lawder

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden's warning of "consequences" for any aid China may give to Russia's Ukraine war effort aims to force Chinese President Xi Jinping to choose a longstanding lucrative trade relationship with the West over a growing strategic partnership with Moscow.

Based on trade flows alone, both China and the United States have a lot at stake after Biden's nearly two-hour video call with Xi on Friday, with the White House confirming that sanctions on Beijing were an option.

Despite growing trade ties to Southeast Asia and an economy that is less dependent on trade over the past decade, China's economic interests remain heavily skewed to Western democracies, trade data reviewed by Reuters showed.

Siding with political ally Russia would make little economic sense for China, according to analysts, as the United States and European Union still consume more than a third of China's exports.

"On the pure economic question, if China were to have to make the choice - Russia versus everyone else - I mean, it's a no-brainer for China because it's so integrated with all of these Western economies," said Chad Bown, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics think tank who tracks China trade closely.

China's ambassador to the United States, Qin Gang, on Sunday emphasized China's close relationship with Russia.

"China has normal trade, economic, financial, energy cooperations with Russia," Qin told the CBS program "Face the Nation" when asked if Beijing would provide financial support to Moscow. "These are normal business between two sovereign countries, based on international laws, including WTO (World Trade Organization) rules."

Targeting Beijing with the type of broad economic sanctions that have been imposed on Russia would have potentially serious consequences for the United States and globally, given that China is the world's second-largest economy and the largest exporter. As China's economy has ballooned to $16 trillion in the past 20 years, its dependence on trade with other countries for its economic well-being has diminished.

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Title: Trade's share of China's economy eases to 1990s levels Trade's share of China's economy,https://graphics.reuters.com/USA-TRADE/CHINA/zdvxokzqzpx/chart.png

As Chinese citizens become wealthier, domestic consumption and services are playing a bigger share in China's economy.

However, China is still more dependent on trade, at about 35% of GDP, than the United States at 23% or Japan at 31%.

The wealthy G7 countries that form the heart of an anti-Russia alliance following last month's invasion of Ukraine still consume more than a third of China's exports. That is a drop from almost half of China's exports nearly two decades ago, but a relatively steady share since 2014, when Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea region.

Title: China exports still dominated by U.S. and Western allies, https://graphics.reuters.com/UKRAINE-CRISIS/TRADE-CHINA/jnvwebqbavw/chart.png

The share of China's exports to Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, with which China recently has forged new trade agreements, has doubled to about 15%, eclipsing Japan in importance. But China's January-February 2022 trade data showed that exports to the European Union grew the most at 24%.

OIL FOR CELLPHONES

Russia's overall trade with China has grown since the West first imposed sanctions on Moscow in response to its annexation of Crimea.

But China's exports to Russia have remained between 1% and 2% for the past 20 years.

Russian imports from China track those of many other countries, with electronics and consumer goods including cellphones, computers, apparel, toys and footwear topping the list.

Title: Russia's top imports from China: electronics, apparel Russia's top imports from China: electronics, apparel, https://graphics.reuters.com/UKRAINE-CRISIS/TRADE-CHINA/lgpdwarzavo/chart.png

China exported 10 times as many cellphones, by value, to the United States alone, at $32.4 billion in 2020, based on UN Comtrade data.

China's imports from Russia are dominated by oil. At $27 billion in 2020, crude oil and other petroleum dwarfs all other imports from Russia, mainly commodities including copper, softwood lumber, liquefied natural gas, coal, metals and ores.

Title: China's top imports from Russia: all about the oil, https://graphics.reuters.com/UKRAINE-CRISIS/TRADE-CHINA/xmvjoezddpr/chart.png

Turning Western sanctions against China would cause significant difficulties for the United States, which heavily depends on China for imports of key consumer goods from computers and cellphones to toys and textiles.

Title: Few alternatives for top U.S. imports from China Few alternatives for top U.S. imports from China, https://graphics.reuters.com/UKRAINE-CRISIS/TRADE-CHINA/jnpwekgdnpw/chart.png

"In America, we don't depend on the Russian economy - hardly for anything," Bonnie Glick, director of Purdue University's Center for Tech Diplomacy, told a Commerce Department forum on Monday.

"But an economic or a trade war with China would have tremendous impacts," Glick said, adding that it was important for the United States to reduce trade reliance on China.

(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Will Dunham and Heather Timmons)
In Michelle Yeoh's words, Everything Everywhere All at Once is "a crazy movie".

"It's big, it's fun, it's exciting, and it's colorful." What she didn't mention is that it is also a very touching story, in the sense that it roots for love despite its nihilistic philosophical approach and hilarious twists.

Directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinertcollectively known as "the Daniels"the multiverse-themed sci-fi film opened on March 11 at the 2022 South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, the United States. It tells the story of a mother from a Chinese immigrant family who, after jumping across infinite universes trying to defeat evil and save her family, finally finds a new perspective on life and love.

South by Southwest, or SXSW, is a long-running tech, film, comedy and music festival, and ran in the Texas state capital until Sunday with in-person events taking place for the first time since the pandemic forced the event's closure in 2020.

Everything Everywhere All at Once is yet another US-made film that features a predominantly Asian cast, following the runaway successes of Crazy Rich Asian in 2018 and the Marvel blockbuster Shang-Chi and the Legend of Ten Rings in 2021.

Michelle Yeoh, widely regarded as an Asian movie legend, and who stars in all of the aforementioned films, says that she's glad to see an increase of such films in the US.

"We all have stories that need to be told. There is a difference between diversity and representation and just paying lip service. You don't want there to be just stereotypical stories we see too many of. I hope that filmmakers give us the proper respect and show it in the proper light," Yeoh tells China Daily.

With this film, Yeoh says it's relatable to all immigrant families. "It's about the disparity, the dysfunction of the family with your daughter and child because this generation doesn't understand that generation. There are many points here."

Playing the husband of Yeoh's character in the movie, actor Ke Huy Quan says that the rising visibility of Asian Americans on the big screen is the reason why he started acting again after 20 years. Quan, probably best known as Harrison Ford's young sidekick Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in the 1980s, stepped away from acting two decades ago because so few roles were available for Asian Americans.

"It's Michelle's 2018 movie that got me to think about acting again. Never in a million years did I think I'd land this role," Quan says, adding if it was a choice between winning the lottery and getting the job, he would have chosen the latter, stating: "It's a dream come true."

Quan says that, since his return to the profession, he has noticed that there are a lot more Asian actors getting leading roles in feature films. "What's been happening in the last few years with Asian representation is really inspiring, and I am very optimistic about it going forward."

Calling this movie "an indie film with blockbuster ambition", director Kwan says he's keen to give Asians more screen time. "My parents emigrated here before I was born, so it's very easy for us to imagine how to write this."

He adds that while there are many people who can relate to that, the goal was to reflect what life was like for the cast.

However, the theme is a universal one, according to the other director, Scheinert. "The multiverse is a fun concept, but when you take it to a logical conclusion, when you take it to infinity, stories break down, the whole movie falls apart, what if we did a multiverse but the movie is distorted?"

"Can you make a movie about meaninglessness?" interjects Kwan. "Can we bring it back and make it something awesome?"

Scheinert retorts: "We have to try."

Judging by the warm reception the movie received on its opening night, the Daniels have succeeded.

One audience member told the cast that he found the movie "incredibly insane and fun" and will watch it again. Another festival attendee said, "I cried and I laughed a lot", because it "transcends generational trauma" and "draws out such a painful thing into such a beautiful story".

The Daniels credit the crew for its success, especially with two iconic Hollywood leading ladies, Jamie Lee Curtis and Michelle Yeoh, joining the team.

Calling Yeoh a goddess, Curtis says she accepted the role purely because "I got to act the opposite of Michelle Yeoh, all of my scenes are with her".

Yeoh adds that Curtis empowered her "to be fearless and to do crazy things", noting that "the two of us had a really, really good time".
(Reuters) - Prologis Inc, the world's biggest warehouse owner, has launched a bid to buy Blackstone Inc's portfolio of logistics properties in what would be the largest ever private real estate deal, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

Prologis has made a non-binding offer of a little over 21 billion euros ($23.14 billion) for Mileway, according to the report, which cited people familiar with the matter.

Blackstone launched Mileway in 2019 to operate the more than 1,000 logistics assets the private equity firm has bought to build up its last-mile business to deliver goods to tenants in its properties.

Of 20 or so prospective buyers approached by Morgan Stanley, the bank managing the process, eight looked seriously at Mileway but only Prologis submitted a non-binding bid, the Financial Times reported.

Blackstone and Prologis declined to comment.

Last month, Blackstone announced plans to recapitalise Mileway, providing a chance to existing investors in the logistics company to retain or increase their shareholding, or exit for cash.

($1 = 0.9076 euros)

(Reporting by Rithika Krishna in Bengaluru)
Employees at one of the most well-known news wire services are privately fuming over their companys ongoing partnership with a Russian state-controlled media organization that has published unverified information about the war in Ukraine.

Multiple journalists at Reuters told POLITICO that staff are frustrated and embarrassed by the companys continued partnership with Tass, the wire service owned by the Russian government. The relationship dates back to 2020, when the news wire first announced a partnership to distribute content from the state-owned news organization. That move raised some eyebrows among staff at Reuters at the time. But it passed largely unnoticed by people outside the company. In the wake of the Ukraine invasion, more scrutiny is being placed on the arrangement, including from Reuters employees.

It was an embarrassment when the partnership was signed two years ago, one Reuters reporter told POLITICO. Now its just wrong, and the silence from the top is worrying and maybe the worst part.

According to two Reuters journalists who spoke to POLITICO on the condition of anonymity in order to candidly discuss internal matters, some staff have sought answers from higher-ups about why Reuters continues to distribute Tass via its business-to-business service Reuters Connect, which allows news organizations that pay for the wire service to access and share Tass content.

Reuters staff have specifically expressed concern about Tass uncritical reporting of information from the Russian government, which critics and media experts say is propaganda.

The Brookings Institution, a left-leaning think tank, reported that Tass has parroted Russia government claims that Ukrainians killed civilians in the Donbas region and dumped their bodies into mass graves, a claim that news organizations and experts say is false. Tass also reported that Ukranian forces had fired on Russians during a cease-fire, and that neo-Nazis had used Ukranian civilians as human shields, a claim which the New York Times said helped create an alternate reality.

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The news organizations ties to the Russian government havent always been purely of a journalistic nature either. Both The Daily Beast and the Washington Post previously reported that U.S. law enforcement officials believed Tass worked with Russias foreign intelligence service to attempt to gather sensitive information on markets and finance from New York City.

As of Sunday, Reuters still listed Tass as one of its partners on its website advertising Reuters Connect.

Asked for comment about the arrangement with Tass, Reuters downplayed its ties to the Russian entity, emphasizing that the Reuters newsroom operates independently of any Reuters Connect agreement.

Reuters Connect is a business-to-business marketplace that allows access to Reuters news content and content from more than 90 third-party providers, including TASS, a spokesperson said. The Connect platform allows users - usually other news outlets - to see content, including video, pictures and graphics, from around the world. All third party content is clearly labelled and carries a disclaimer that states that Reuters does not guarantee the accuracy of, or endorse any views or opinions expressed in, this asset.

When the distribution agreement was initially announced, Reuters leadership offered an enthusiastic assessment of it. According to a press release announcing the deal in 2020, the partnership with Tass was intended to bring media customers access to breaking news and exclusive video from TASS; videos on the Kremlin and Russian President, Vladimir Putin, as well as feature videos and general news.

Im delighted that TASS and Reuters are building upon our valued partnership by having TASS join Reuters Connect, Reuters then-president Michael Friedenberg said in a statement at the time. Their addition shows our ongoing commitment to bring incremental value to Reuters Connect customers. Alongside the vast output of Reuters own world-class newsroom, we continue to provide customers content with unrivalled breadth and depth.

In the wake of the Ukraine invasion, some outside observers and critics have taken notice of the Reuters-Tass partnership.

Why exactly would we trust @Reuters? You are partners with Russian TASS, outspoken former CIA official, entertainment consultant, and Twitter personality John Sipher tweeted earlier this month.

At least one other news organization with Tass ties has taken a different approach. Earlier this month, Getty Images ended its relationship with Tass for violating the photo services editorial policies, saying that it plans to remove all Tass content when their current agreement is over.

We have been monitoring Russian state news agency Tass closely since Russias invasion of Ukraine, a Getty Images spokesperson told Forbes. In order to ensure the integrity of the content we distribute, we require that partners and contributors comply.
Barbara Kruger has a way with words. Big, bold, often visually loud words.

Kruger mixes exceptional graphic design skills with deep knowledge of the structural complexities of art and language, not to mention the media maelstrom in which modern life is lived. For 40 years, the L.A.-based artist has surveyed the social, cultural and political landscape with a deft combination of acute insight and lacerating wit.

No stranger to the citys museums, where her work has been prominently featured at the Museum of Contemporary Art (a terrific 1999 midcareer survey, plus two incisive building murals), the UCLA Hammer Museum (a blaring 2014 entry installation) and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (a somewhat less successful 2008 commission for the three-story elevator shaft inside BCAM, too busy for the available space), the artist is now the subject of a smashing LACMA retrospective.

In the shows title, Barbara Kruger: Thinking of You. I Mean Me. I Mean You. (with Xs over the you and me), the equivocal shifts that ricochet among the personal pronouns I, you and me pry open a space of transparency in which the artist lets viewers know to watch out for the slipperiness of what they are about to see. Who is speaking, who is listening and who oversees  or benefits from  the exchange is not as clear or simple as one might assume.

Take Untitled (Truth), a 2013 digital print on a sheet of vinyl almost six feet high and 10 feet wide. A pair of hands pulls apart a stretchy elastic bandage overprinted with the word truth, all in capital letters in conventional Helvetica typeface. Somewhere between a billboard and a mural, the sign confounds in a productive and probing way.

Is the elasticity of fact, reality or certainty under urgent examination? It would seem so. The crimson word printed over a field of bright green causes a jangling chromatic dynamism of opposites on the color wheel, creating a purely visual sense of alarm.

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The hands belong to a businessman, judging from the glimpse of shirt cuffs and suit jacket. So is this a knowing reference to the power of patriarchy to define  and manipulate, disfigure or distort  veracity?

Lustrous fingernails are manicured and buffed, a distinct inference of social class, while the function of a compression bandage is to bind up wounds and aid in healing. Has the dominion of masculine corporate affluence impaired reality?

That bandage is being stretched and twisted, but the flat, clean, vivid red word is not warped or misshapen in the least. Is the stable truth it declares the one being pictured in Krugers carefully crafted imagery, over which it is superimposed?

The gallery floor where the work is installed further mixes up the message. Initially puzzling descriptions of unseen pictures are featured in a wall-to-wall vinyl text of white letters on a red ground. All relate to the human body.

The vomiting body that screams kiss me.

The praying body that whispers save me.

The numb body that mumbles shock me.

The text, printed on the floor of a large room, can be read only by moving around the space and shooting darting glances between the legs of other museum visitors. Their physical bodies  and your own  get entangled with those pictorial references to bodily experience, bringing a ghostly, incorporeal picture home.

Disembodied experience is now commonplace in contemporary life  a truth  as anyone looking into the flickering light of a cellphone screen can attest. (Feel is something you do with your hands, insists another large digital print on vinyl, its image showing a womans exquisitely manicured hand hovering over a deathly X-ray of skeletal bones.) One primary difference between this survey and Krugers MOCA midcareer retrospective almost a quarter-century ago is that, in the interim, an analog image universe has been almost totally transformed into a digital one.

Kruger has been revising and adjusting things accordingly. One great thing about her work is the way she starts with a visual environment already familiar to the audience. She neither complains about nor dodges the mass media context, instead unpacking it for us.

Born in Newark, N.J., in 1945, Kruger went to art school only briefly, gaining most of her media education through a combination of hands-on experience and independent curiosity. She read widely while working in New York as a graphic designer and picture editor for commercial magazines, including Mademoiselle and House & Garden.

Barbara Kruger, "Untitled (How come only the unborn have the right to life?)," 1986, photograph and type on paper. (Christopher Knight / Los Angeles Times)

Across Wilshire Boulevard from LACMA, in a show at Spruth Magers gallery, 20 collages for the early-1980s work that made her famous are straight-forward paste-ups of the sort once regularly used in commercial publishing. (The collages were shown within the retrospective during its debut last fall at the Art Institute of Chicago, but LACMA didnt have enough space.) Mostly, she employs variations on a sans serif typeface called Futura, created in 1927 by German designer Paul Renner, later persecuted by the Nazis. Among the collages are some of her classics, including paste-ups declaring, Your body is a battleground and How come only the unborn have the right to life?

In the late 1970s, she began to incorporate techniques of abstraction and typographic eccentricity pioneered by Alexander Rodchenko, Varvara Stepanova and others of the early 20th century Russian avant-garde. Their brilliantly adventurous graphics were A Slap in the Face of Public Taste, as poet David Burliuk famously put it in a 1917 manifesto.

Kruger, however, avoids such oppositional positions. Instead, she drew on Pop, Minimalist and Conceptual art of the immediately preceding generation to understand and question, in her words, the systems that contain us.

Not only has the strategy been successful but it has also inspired legions of amateur copycats. The shows witty opening gallery features a slew of them.

In recent years, societys digital transformation has meant reconceiving earlier works for new digital presentations. The show has many examples  among the most effective a 2020 video version of 1988s Pledge, which runs slightly longer than a minute.

Rather than X-out and replace words in the American Pledge of Allegiance for a static graphic, like an editor with a blue pencil crossing out a text until the right word is found, she digitized the evolving process. To the relentless, rhythmic beat of a tick-tock soundtrack, words unfold on the video screen.

Beginning with I pledge allegiance, the last word is supplanted by the sequence adherence  adoration  anxiety  affluenza  I pledge allegiance to the flag You think your way through a vow you can probably recite by heart, stumbling across unacknowledged sentiments and, elsewhere as the text continues, even shocking cruelties and bigotries. Finally, you arrive at a fuller understanding of your participation in the construction of a social contract.

Digital ephemerality runs up against Justice, an inert 1997 statue in white-painted fiberglass. FBI strongman J. Edgar Hoover, known to use secret files of illicit sexual activities to control politicians, is depicted with closeted homosexual lawyer Roy Cohn, brutal mentor to Donald Trump, who engineered the mass dismissal of gay government employees during Sen. Joseph McCarthys early 1950s Lavender scare.

Barbara Kruger, "Justice," 1997, painted fiberglass. (Christopher Knight / Los Angeles Times)

Krugers composition recalls Alfred Eisenstaedts famous 1945 photograph of a sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square on V-J Day. Hoover and Cohn, who is wrapped in an American flag skirt and kicking up a high-heeled pump, are about to lip-lock in an amorous embrace.

Justice mocks the Eisenstaedts celebratory pose. A throwback to pristine 19th century American neoclassical statuary, which idealized establishment values of morality and virtue, the statue asserts that liberation from fascist threat was hardly enjoyed by everyone  then or now.

The show was jointly organized by the Art Institute of Chicago, New Yorks Museum of Modern Art (where it travels in July) and LACMA, where it is overseen by Director Michael Govan and curator Rebecca Morse. Rather tight in its current incarnation, featuring just 33 works, it includes printed vinyl panels, full-room installations, single-channel videos, large-scale LED videos and wallpapers.

It is accompanied by a catalog with two unusual features  both valuable.

One is an absorbing 12-page opening sequence of documentary photographs of Kruger murals, billboards and magazine designs dating from the period of COVID-19 pandemic closures and the months of public protests following the murder of George Floyd. It is disconcerting to see armed soldiers patrolling in front of MOCAs Kruger mural pondering who is beyond the law.

The other is a 30-page closing sequence of previously published essays by a variety of writers, which Kruger used as a classroom syllabus when she taught for many years at UCLA. The subjects range from economics and identity politics to sexuality and comedy.

For an artist whose work relies on the tensions between image and text, the photographs and essays are a catalog framing device of exceptional insight. Together, they evoke an artist successfully determined to locate her work outside the hothouse environment of an often-parochial art world.

My husbands favorite T-shirt is a Kruger design with the pertinent legend: Belief + Doubt = Sanity. Wise words for ordinary daily life, especially in a media-saturated environment filled with dubious promises.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP)  Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh welcomed Monday's announcement by the United States that it considers the violent repression of their largely Muslim ethnic group in Myanmar a genocide.

Myanmar's military government, which has already been sued in the International Court of Justice on genocide charges, said it categorically rejected the U.S. declaration.

As news of the announcement by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spread across the sprawling camps in Coxs Bazar district that are now home to about 1 million Rohingya, many residents expressed their enthusiasm.

We are very happy on the declaration of the genocide; many many thanks, said 60-year-old Sala Uddin, who lives at Kutupalong camp.

It has been 60 years starting from 1962 that the Myanmar government has been torturing us and many other communities including Rohingya, he said. I think a path to take action by the international community against Myanmar has opened up because of the declaration.

The U.S. made the determination Monday to call the repression a genocide based on confirmed accounts of mass atrocities on civilians by Myanmars military in a widespread and systematic campaign against the Rohingya, Blinken said in a speech at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Imtiaz Ahmed, director of the Centre for Genocide Studies at the University of Dhaka, said the declaration was a positive step," but it would be important to see what actions and concrete steps follow.

Just by saying that genocide had been committed in Myanmar against the Rohingya is not good enough. I think we need to see what would follow from that statement, Ahmed said.

He said it was too early to say how the new development would ensure the recognition of the Rohingya refugees, who have long been denied citizenship in Myanmar, and the fundamental questions remained how and when they would go back to Myanmar.

He also said that going for harsh economic sanctions by the U.S. against Myanmar could be the next outcome. He said it was also equally important to see whether the U.S. would take interest in supporting the International Court of Justice in The Hague where Myanmar is facing a trial put forward by Gambia.

Story continues

Myanmar's government is already under multiple layers of U.S. sanctions since a military coup ousted the democratically elected government in February 2021. Thousands of civilians throughout the country have been killed and imprisoned as part of ongoing repression of anyone opposed to the ruling junta.

Currently Bangladesh is hosting more than 1 million Rohingya refugees. More than 700,000 Rohingya have fled from Buddhist-majority Myanmar to refugee camps in Bangladesh since August 2017, when the military launched an operation aimed at clearing them from the country following attacks by a rebel group.

Bangladeshs Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said repeatedly that their repatriation to Myanmar is the solution to the crisis but the government would not force them to leave Bangladesh.

In its first official reaction following the U.S. action, the foreign ministry of Myanmar's military government firmly rejected the accusations. The statement issued Tuesday evening charged that Blinken's declaration was politically motivated and amounted to interference in Myanmar's internal affairs.

However, a statement from Myanmar's main opposition group, the National Unity Government, which considers itself to be the country's legitimate administrative body, said it welcomed Washington's declaration. The group was established by lawmakers who were not allowed to take their seats when the army seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

The NUG acknowledges that discriminatory practices and rhetoric against the Rohingya also laid the ground for these atrocities, said a statement, issued in the name of the group's acting president, Duwa Lashi La. The impunity enjoyed by the militarys leadership has since enabled their direction of countrywide crimes at the helm of an illegal military junta.

Justice and accountability must follow this determination, it said.
(Reuters) - A Russian-backed separatist leader in eastern Ukraine said on Monday it would take more than a week to take control of the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, the Russian news agency Interfax reported.

"I am not so optimistic that two or three days or even a week will close the issue. Unfortunately, no, the city is big," Denis Pushilin, head of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic, said, according to the report.

Mariupol, a port on the Azov Sea, was home to 400,000 people before the war. It has been under siege and bombardment, with no food, medicine, power or fresh water, since the early days of Russia's invasion on Feb. 24.

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Edmund Blair)
Aerial photo of peach blossoms along the Yarlung Zangbo River Grand Canyon, Southwest China's Tibet autonomous region, April 1, 2020. [Photo/Xinhua]

Zhao Jindong, a national political adviser and an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has proposed the establishment of a national park at the Yarlung Zangbo River Grand Canyon in the Tibet autonomous region.

The establishment of a national park would have a great impact on the construction of ecological civilization, the maintenance of environmental security and the promotion of the harmonious coexistence between man and nature, Zhao proposed during this year's session of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, which ended earlier this month.

The Yarlung Zangbo River Grand Canyon is the deepest canyon in the world. With a total length of about 500 kilometers, its altitude spans from 7,782 meters at Namchak Barwa, the highest peak of the eastern Himalayas, to 550 meters around the Yarlung Zangbo River Valley in Metog county.

It is of great strategic significance to intensify the investigation and research of biodiversity in the middle and lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River and to establish a national park in the area as soon as possible, Zhao said.

Places along the middle and lower reaches of the river are rich in biodiversity, and the region is known as a natural vegetation museum.

"It is also one of the areas with the most abundant species of ungulates and carnivores in China or even worldwide, and this region is also a stable habitat for some endangered species, including tigers, leopards, red gorals and dhole (a wild dog species)," said Zhao, adding it is also the only confirmed habitat of the Bengal tiger in China.

Zhao said a national park with a land area of more than 40,000 square kilometers would consist of all of Metog and parts of the counties of Bomi, Manling, Nang and Nyingchi in Tibet's Nyingchi city.

In addition, in order to protect the area's irreplaceable biodiversity and the integrity and authenticity of its natural landscapeespecially concerning the connectivity between the habitat and populations of some rare species, including the Bengal tiger, giant cypress trees, the clouded leopard and the rufous-necked hornbillZhao suggested that the boundary and zoning of the national park be scientifically delimited on the basis of a full investigation and understanding of the region's biodiversity and socioeconomic data.

"Any human activities and development construction related to the Yarlung Zangbo River Basin should follow the principle of giving priority to environmental protection, adhere to the strictest protection measures, and stick to the concept of green development," Zhao said.

Ao Liuquan, Party secretary of Nyingchi city and a CPPCC National Committee member, said the city placed great emphasis on environmental protection during this year's two sessions in Beijing.

"We adhere to the systematic management of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grass, sand and glaciers, and we make sure to keep the city's skies, waters and lands unpolluted," he was quoted as saying by Tibetan media.

Ao said the city has had good air quality every day for four years, topping the nation's 337 cities of prefecture level and above during that period.

"We also helped local residents benefit financially while engaging in environmental protection work," he said. "In 2021 alone, the city's financial bureau allocated more than 270 million yuan ($42 million) for forest protection. Also, more than 18 million yuan has been spent on the salaries of rural residents involved in the project."

Zhao Xiang, director of the Shanshui Conservation Center, said he fully supports Zhao Jindong's proposal, as a national park requires stricter rules for preserving the integrity and authenticity of a natural landscape than a reserve.

"These areas are very fragile and sensitive. Only by performing the strictest protection measures can the ecosystem be protected effectively," Zhao Xiang said.

"If the Yarlung Zangbo River Grand Canyon becomes a national park, I think more people would pay more attention to it, and that may help inspire more people to take more action to protect it."
Joe Biden said the US had issued "new warnings that, based on evolving intelligence, Russia may be planning a cyberattack against us".

"The magnitude of Russia's cyber capacity is fairly consequential, and it's coming," the US President warned business leaders.

The US Government would "continue to use every tool to deter, disrupt and, if necessary, respond to cyberattacks against critical infrastructure".

Mr Biden warned of intelligence pointing to a growing Russian cyber threat and urged US businesses to immediately prepare defences: "If you have not already done so, I urge our private sector partners to harden your cyber defences immediately."

"Owners and operators must accelerate efforts to lock their digital doors.

"You have the power, the capacity, and the responsibility to strengthen the cybersecurity and resilience of the critical services and technologies on which Americans rely. We need everyone to do their part."

Follow the latest updates below.

11:23 PM

Kremlin 'confirms' 10,000 Russian soldiers killed so far in Ukraine

Almost 10,000 Russian soldiers may have been killed in Ukraine so far, just one month since its invasion began, according to data from the defence ministry in Moscow.

Pro-Kremlin newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda (KP) reported that 9,861 soldiers had died in Ukraine and 16,153 had been injured.

The inclusion of the figures appears to have been accidental, as the web page was eventually removed.

KP editor Vladimir Sungorkin told the BBC the information had been the result of a hack, and said the newspaper will publish an explanation in due course.

The figures exceed US intelligence estimates of Russian fatalities in the conflict.

Story continues

09:51 PM

Zelensky demands meeting with Putin; end to war 'impossible' without it

Ukrainian President Zelensky said that a meeting with Vladimir Putin "in any format" is needed to stop the war in Ukraine.

Speaking in an interview with media outlet Suspilne, Zelensky said: "I believe that without this meeting it is impossible to fully understand what they are ready for in order to stop the war."

09:31 PM

Kremlin critic Navalny to hear verdict in new criminal case

Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny expects to hear a verdict on Tuesday in Russia's latest criminal case against him, with prosecutors seeking to transfer him to a maximum security penal colony for 13 years on charges of fraud and contempt of court.

Navalny is currently serving a two and a half year sentence at a prison camp near Moscow for parole violations related to charges that he says were invented to gag him as a longstanding political opponent of Vladimir Putin.

While imprisoned, he has issued messages on social media through his legal team that condemn the war in Ukraine and has urged the Russian people to do the same.

Navalny's spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, said last week that prosecutors had requested a transfer to a maximum-security jail because they said he had committed crimes in the prison camp.

"Probably it will be further from Moscow and lawyers will have difficulty entering this colony and we will not have access to Alexei," she said. "Its not a question of his freedom, its a question of his life... They are the same people that tried to kill him already... This is what we are afraid of."

Navalny was jailed last year following his return to Russia from Germany, where he had sought medical treatment for a poison attack with a Soviet-era nerve toxin during a visit to Siberia in 2020 - which he says Putin is responsible for.

09:25 PM

Ukraine Deputy PM says 8,057 people evacuated on Monday

A total of 8,057 people were safely evacuated on Monday through seven humanitarian corridors from Ukrainian towns and cities under fire, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

Among those brought to safety were 3,007 residents of Mariupol, which has been under constant siege from Russian troops.

09:17 PM

Poland described as most evil, vulgar and shrill critic of Russia

Moscow has made thinly veiled threats against Poland with an essay that stressed the two countries historic ties and attacked imbecilic Polish leaders as vassals of the US, James Kilner reports.

The text, written by Dmitry Medvedev, an ally of Putin and a former president, has echoes of a treatise penned by Vladimir Putin about Ukraine before the invasion.

Mr Medvedev, now the deputy head of Russias security council, described Poland as the most evil, vulgar and shrill critic of Russia.

Sharing his essay on Twitter, he said: While Europe is getting painfully aware of the damage the anti-Russian sanctions are causing it, our most favourite European country is, as usual, going ahead of the locomotive.

Poland, a member of Nato, is one of Ukraines most steadfast allies and has accepted some two million refugees from the war.

Read the full story here

09:06 PM

Pictured: Kyiv shopping centre devastated by explosion

A Ukrainian serviceman walks between debris outside the destroyed Retroville shopping mall in Kyiv on March 21, 2022. At least six people were killed in the overnight bombing of the shopping centre. - AFP/AFP

A Ukrainian serviceman walks between debris outside the destroyed Retroville shopping mall in Kyiv on March 21, 2022. At least six people were killed in the overnight bombing of the shopping centre. - AFP/AFP

A Ukrainian serviceman walks between debris outside the destroyed Retroville shopping mall in Kyiv on March 21, 2022. At least six people were killed in the overnight bombing of the shopping centre. - AFP/AFP

08:38 PM

Pentagon will help gather evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine

The Pentagon accused Russian forces of committing war crimes in Ukraine and said it would help to gather evidence of them.

The Pentagon also accused the Kremlin of conducting intentionally indiscriminate attacks as part of the conflict.

John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, told a news briefing: "We certainly see clear evidence that Russian forces are committing war crimes and we are helping with the collecting of evidence of that.

"But there's investigative processes that are going to go on, and we're going to let that happen. We're going to contribute to that investigative process.

"As for what would come out of that, that's not a decision that the Pentagon leadership would make."

08:26 PM

All Chernobyl staff who wanted to leave have, says nuclear watchdog

All remaining members of the one shift of technical staff that had been on duty at Chernobyl when it was seized by Russian forces last month have now been relieved, the UN nuclear watchdog said.

"Ukraine's regulatory authority said about half of the outgoing shift of technical staff left (Chernobyl) yesterday and the rest followed today, with the exception of thirteen staff members who declined to rotate," the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a statement.

08:10 PM

UN General Assembly expected to vote again this week on Ukraine

The UN General Assembly is expected to vote again this week on the war in Ukraine, with diplomats poised to call out Russia's invasion for creating a "dire" humanitarian situation.

Diplomats are also expected to urge greater aid access and to demand that Russia stop fighting and withdraw its troops.

Ukraine, the US and other allies are hoping to increase on the 141 'Yes' votes cast on March 2 that deplored "Russia's aggression against Ukraine".

Russia, Belarus, Eritrea, North Korea and Syria voted 'No', while 35 member states, including China, abstained.

07:47 PM

Zelensky: Any compromise with Russia would require a referendum

By James Kilner

Ukrainians will get a referendum on any compromises with Russia if a peace deal is agreed, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, but insisted his country would be destroyed before it bowed to any ultimatums from Moscow.

When you talk about certain changes, potentially historic changesit will go to a referendum, Mr Zelensky said in an interview with European broadcasters, without specifying how such a vote would be held.

Our people will have a say and give an answer to formats of compromises, he said. Moscow has suggested the war would end if Ukraine gave up its hopes of ever joining Nato and recognised Crimea and separatist republics as Russian territory.

Ukrainian President Zelensky speaks in a TV broadcast on March 21 2022. - Stringer/AFP

07:35 PM

Western leaders discussed Russia's 'brutal' tactics in Ukraine

President Biden and European leaders discussed Russia's "brutal" tactics in Ukraine during their call on Monday, the White House said.

Biden held a call with the leaders of the UK, France, Germany and Italy to discuss a coordinated response to the war in Ukraine, as well as potential security and humanitarian support for Ukraine.

It comes ahead of his trip to Europe later this week, where he will meet with Nato allies and G7 and EU leaders.

07:17 PM

Russia tells public not to stockpile food amid sanctions

The Russian government has urged the public not to stockpile food or essentials in the wake of economic sanctions, saying that there is "enough for everyone".

Deputy PM Viktoria Abramchenko said: "We are fully covering our needs in sugar and buckwheat.

"There is no need to panic, no need to stockpile those goods. There's enough for everyone."

She said Russia was increasing imports of dairy produce, fruit and vegetables, meat and animal feed from "friendly countries" (such as nearby ex-Soviet nations and India, Turkey and China) to prevent food shortages.

The Russian government today had this message for the public regarding sugar and buckwheat: Dont panic buy. Theres enough for everyone. Not in this Moscow supermarket. pic.twitter.com/U8evl1qcZn  Steve Rosenberg (@BBCSteveR) March 21, 2022

07:02 PM

Polish scheme that allows Ukrainians to convert cash to start on Friday

Poland's central bank has signed an agreement with the National Bank of Ukraine that will allow every Ukrainian adult refugee to convert up to 10,000 hryvnias ($341.88) to Polish zloty starting from Friday (March 25).

"The exchange will be possible at a rounded, official... exchange rate," the bank said in a statement.

Last week, the bank announced it was working with Poland's largest lender, PKO BP, to allow refugees who have fled Ukraine for Poland to convert hryvnia.

Many refugees who have fled Ukraine are struggling to buy even basic necessities because their savings in hryvnia are non-convertible across most of Europe, meaning they have no way to exchange them at reasonable rates.

06:53 PM

US ambassador demands Moscow consular access

The US ambassador to Russia, John Sullivan, used a meeting with the Russian government to demand that Moscow abide by international law and called for guaranteed consular access to US citizens detained in Russia.

State department spokesman Ned Price told reporters it was "completely unacceptable" that the US has been denied consular access to detained American citizens in Russia.

06:46 PM

Biden tells US businesses to 'harden' defences against Russian cyber threat

President Biden has asked US businesses to "immediately" strengthen their defences against potential cyber attacks from the Russian state.

In a statement, the President said: "If you have not already done so, I urge our private sector partners to harden your cyber defences immediately."

Mr Biden cited "evolving intelligence that the Russian government is exploring options for potential cyber attacks".

06:34 PM

Nato official suggests Belarus may soon attack Ukraine

Belarus may soon attack Ukraine and is preparing to consider allowing Russia to position nuclear weapons in the country, according to a senior Nato intelligence official.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Guardian: "The Belarusian government is preparing the environment to justify a Belarusian offensive against Ukraine and the imminent deployment of Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus.

"Ukrainian officials have been warning publicly that Belarus might join the war. While Belarus has allowed Russian troops to use its territory to launch ground and air operations, Nato has not seen any firm evidence that Belarusian troops have participated directly in warfare in Ukraine.

"Im not telling you theyre going to put nukes in there tomorrow. What I mean is theyve taken steps politically to now be able to receive nuclear weapons if such a decision is made."

06:14 PM

Journalists who alerted world to horrors of Mariupol flee after being put on Russian hitlist

Two Associated Press reporters whose images of Mariupol alerted the world to the devastation being wreaked by Russian troops have fled the besieged city after learning they were on a Kremlin hitlist, Telegraph Moscow correspondent Nataliya Vasilyeva reports.

Mstyslav Chernov, an award-winning video journalist, and Evgeniy Maloletka, a prominent photographer, recorded destruction including the bombing of a maternity hospital.

Photographs of a pregnant woman being carried from the wreckage on a stretcher made front pages around the world.

Ukrainian soldiers have rushed the two journalists out of the city amid fears they could be taken by the Russians and forced to denounce their own work as "fake news".

"If they catch you, they will get you on camera and they will make you say that everything you filmed is a lie," one soldier said, according to Mr Chernov. "All your efforts and everything you have done in Mariupol will be in vain."

Read the full story here

06:11 PM

Western leaders agree to remain united on Ukraine

The leaders of the US, UK, Germany, France and Italy spoke to each other via telephone on Monday, where they agreed on the importance of remaining united over Ukraine.

The White House said President Biden hosted the call, which lasted just under one hour, with his fellow leaders to "discuss their coordinated responses to Russia's unprovoked and unjustified attack on Ukraine".

A statement from the Italian prime minister Mario Draghi's office said: "The leaders reaffirmed the importance of the unity of purpose and action shown in the face of the war in Ukraine and its repercussions.

"In the face of the grave humanitarian emergency, the leaders pledged to coordinate efforts to help the Ukrainian population fleeing the conflict or those stranded at home."

06:03 PM

Ukrainian governor says evacuation buses hit by shelling

The governor of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region said buses evacuating civilians from areas with intense fighting were hit by shelling on Monday and four children were wounded in separate incidents.

Reuters could not confirm the report independently.

Russia denies targeting civilians.

"Four children were taken to hospital," Oleksandr Starukh said in an online post, blaming Russian forces.

05:37 PM

Germany to host donor conference to help Moldova with Ukrainian refugees

Berlin will host a donor conference on April 5 to help Moldova to cope with its ongoing influx of Ukrainian refugees, German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said.

The conference, co-organised with France and Romania, was called at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels which was also attended by Moldova's foreign minister Nicu Popescu.

Popescu said that Moldova currently has around "100,000 refugees from Ukraine, which represents four per cent of our population".

He said that for Moldova - one of Europe's poorest countries - the refugee crisis is "having a big impact on the socio-economic situation".

Baerbock said that "no country can cope" with the sheer number of refugees alone, with more than three million people having fled Ukraine since the war began, particularly into Poland.

"That is why we must now do everything together to ensure that we can distribute not only thousands but hundreds of thousands of people in the coming weeks," she said.

A Ukrainian refugee with her dog arrives at a reception centre some three kilometres from the Moldova-Ukraine border, at Palanca Village, on 19 March 2022. - Dumitru Doru/Shutterstock

05:16 PM

Russia's largest airport turns to furlough and job freezes as sanctions hit

Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, the largest in Russia, announced that it has furloughed a fifth of its staff and frozen new recruitment as passenger traffic plummeted as a result of Western sanctions.

"From March 16, some employees of Sheremetyevo International Airport were furloughed," it said, adding that affected staff would be paid two-thirds of their wages.

The airport closed two of its five passenger terminals on March 15 and has taken one of its runways out of service, citing "enforced restrictions on international air transport".

The company has also temporarily frozen all its investment projects.

Privately-owned Ural Airlines, one of Russia's largest carriers, also said last week that it had been forced to furlough some of its staff.

05:05 PM

Pictured: More devastation in Kyiv as shelling continues

The crater of a shell is pictured in a residential area in Sviatoshynskyi district after shelling by Russian troops in Kyiv on 20 March 2022. - Oleksandra Butova/Shutterstock

People face a residential building in Sviatoshynskyi district which has been damaged by Russian shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine on 20 March 2022 - Oleksandra Butova/Shutterstock

Ukrainian firefighters and servicemen work next to a digger amid the rubble of the Retroville shopping mall, a day after it was shelled by Russian forces in a residential district in the northwest of the Ukranian capital Kyiv on March 21, 2022. - Fadel Senna/AFP

04:50 PM

Zelensky: Ukraine will not accept Russian ultimatums to end war

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Ukraine will never bow to ultimatums from Russia, and cities such as Kyiv, Mariupol and Kharkiv will never accept Russian occupation.

Speaking during an interview with the Ukrainian broadcaster Suspilne, Mr Zelensky said: "We have an ultimatum with points in it. 'Follow it and then we will end the war'. Ukraine cannot fulfil the ultimatum."

04:47 PM

UN: At least 925 civilians killed in Ukraine since start of conflict

At least 925 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since Russia's invasion began, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) said.

It said that, as of midnight on the 20 March, 925 civilians have been killed, while 1,496 have been injured.

The true civilian death toll is likely to be significantly higher, as teams like the OHCHR have not been able to verify reports of casualties in besieged cities like Mariupol.

04:38 PM

UK denies contact with Russian TV anti-war protester

The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it has not had any contact with Marina Ovsyannikova, the journalist who staged an anti-war protest during a news broadcast on Russian state TV.

"We have not been in touch with Ovsyannikova. This is yet another lie being peddled by the disinformation machine," the FCO said.

The FCO was responding to a claim made by Kirill Kleymenov, head of news at Russia's Channel One where Ovsyannikova was an employee, that she had spoken to the British embassy before her protest took place.

Ovsyannikova told the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta that during her interrogation about the protest she had been repeatedly asked whether she had any connections with foreign secret services.

04:26 PM

PM Johnson agrees to continue to cooperate with EU on Ukraine

Boris Johnson agreed in a call with the European Council's President Charles Michel to continue to closely cooperate and present a united British-EU response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The Prime Minister also raised the Northern Ireland protocol during the call, and said solutions need to be found in order to protect peace and stability.

04:24 PM

Pictured: How war has devastated the historic cities of Ukraine

From the horror seen in Mariupol to sandbags in the streets in Odesa, The Telegraph tracks how the war has changed the country.

Mariupol

A residential block in Mariupol before the Russian invasion - @AyBurlachenko via REUTERS/File Photo/@AyBurlachenko via REUTERS/File Photo

A residential block in Mariupol after the Russian invasion - @AyBurlachenko via REUTERS/File Photo/@AyBurlachenko via REUTERS/File Photo

Kharkiv

A state building in Kharkiv before the Russian invasion - Alamy / AP Photo / Pavel Dorogoy/Alamy / AP Photo / Pavel Dorogoy

A state building in Kharkiv after the Russian invasion - Alamy / AP Photo / Pavel Dorogoy/Alamy / AP Photo / Pavel Dorogoy

04:10 PM

Russia drops peace talks with Japan over Ukraine

Russia said it is abandoning peace talks with Japan, which were aimed at signing a formal World War II peace treaty, due to Tokyo's tough response on Ukraine.

"The Russian side, in the current conditions, does not intend to continue talks with Japan on the peace treaty due to the impossibility of discussing the core document on bilateral relations with a country that has taken an openly hostile position and is striving to cause harm to the interests of our country," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

03:59 PM

Russia bans 'extremist' Instagram and Facebook

A Russian court on Monday banned Facebook and Instagram, labelling the social media platforms "extremist", as part of wider efforts by the Kremlin to clamp down on social media during the war in Ukraine.

Moscow has accused Meta - the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp - of allowing 'Russophobia' since its forces first invaded in Ukraine in February.

Facebook and Twitter have been inaccessible in Russia since early March and Instagram was blocked in the country a week ago.

Moscow's Tverskoi district court acceded to a request from prosecutors for the two social media platforms to be banned for "carrying out extremist activities".

It ruled that WhatsApp would not be prohibited because it is not used to post public statements.

03:49 PM

Theatre continues to stage Shakespeare despite Russian threat

By Benedict Smith

A Ukrainian theatre is staging performances of Shakespeare even as the surrounding area is targeted by Russian hypersonic missiles.

The Ivano-Frankivsk Theatre in western Ukraine has vowed to be a haven for artists during the war, with productions of Romeo & Juliet and Hamlet taking place in its basement.

The plays are continuing despite the recent Russian bombardment of Ivano-Frankivsk, with some missiles landing just two miles away from the theatre.

On March 19, an ammunition depot in the region was destroyed in what Russia said was its first use of hypersonic Kinzhal (Dagger) missiles.

Writing on Facebook, the theatre said: We have become a haven for artists to support our defenders, preserve our cultural heritage and harden our invincibility.

We collect humanitarian aid, provide psychological support. We work around the clock and are ready to help everyone.

Actors of the Frankivsk Drama Theatre perform the musical 'Hutsulka Ksenia' as part of the project 'Theatre in the bomb shelter' at the Ivano-Frankivsk Drama Theatre, which has become a shelter for artists as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine on March 20, 2022. - Stringer/Reuters

03:35 PM

Ukraine praises Britain for 'courageous' provision of weapons

The Ukrainian defence minister has praised Britain for being among the first countries to provide the country "with serious weapons that have increased our defence capability" amid the war with Russia.

Oleksii Reznikov, speaking at a press conference at the Ministry of Defence in London with British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, said: "We greatly appreciate that this year Britain was the first to provide us with serious weapons that have increased our defence capability.

"Your role is special and your courage and your spirit are in stark contrast to the passivity of some other countries.

"I would like to thank my British friends and personally, my friend and friend of Ukraine Ben Wallace, once again for everything you do for Ukraine. I wish peace and prosperity on the British people. Thank you again and Slava Ukraine (Glory to Ukraine)."

British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov walk from the Ministry of Defence after holding a news conference, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in London, Britain, March 21, 2022. - Peter Nicholls/Reuters

03:28 PM

Wallace: It's time for Putin to admit invasion of Ukraine was wrong

Ben Wallace has called on Vladimir Putin to "admit he has been wrong" about his invasion of Ukraine and said it was time for the Russian president to "leave Ukraine and to help Ukraine get back to normal".

The Defence Secretary, speaking at a press conference with the Ukrainian minister of defence Oleksii Reznikov at the Ministry of Defence in London, said: "President Putin assumed that Ukrainians would welcome him as a liberator; he was wrong.

"He assumed that his army was invincible; he was wrong.

"And he assumed that the international community would not stand strong together; he was wrong.

"It's time now for President Putin to admit he has been wrong, put right the wrongs he has done to the people of Ukraine, leave Ukraine and to help Ukraine get back to normal."

Mr Wallace added that Putin's "illegal" invasion of Ukraine has left the Ukrainian people "suffering horribly" at the hands of the Russian military, who have targeted civilians and infrastructure.

British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace holds a news conference with Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov at the Ministry of Defence, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in London, Britain, March 21, 2022. - Peter Nicholls/Reuters

03:16 PM

Shooting of Kherson protesters 'a disgrace to humankind'

Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said the attack on peaceful protesters in Kherson by Russian forces was a "disgrace to humankind" that showed the world the "ugly face of Russia".

Mr Kuleba urged the world to "hold war criminals to account".

He shared a video on Twitter showing protesters in the occupied city of Kherson being shot by Russian forces.

The video footage shows blood on the ground and people running from the scene, including, he said, a "wounded pensioner".

Screen grabs of video footage shared on social media shows an elderly man wounded from Russian gunfire in Kherson, Ukraine

Screen grabs of video footage shared on social media shows an elderly man wounded from Russian gunfire in Kherson, Ukraine

03:04 PM

Ukraine calls on China to play 'important role' in ending war

Ukraine has called on China to play an "important role" in resolving the war with Russia.

Foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter: "We share Beijing's position on the need to find a political solution to the war against Ukraine and call on China as a global power to play an important role in this effort."

He added that Ukrainian-Chinese relations have been "based on mutual respect, understanding and benefit" for "decades", and urged Xi's government to "find a political solution" to the conflict.

For decades, the Ukrainian-Chinese relations have been based on mutual respect, understanding and benefit. We share Beijings position on the need to find a political solution to the war against Ukraine and call on China as a global power to play an important role in this effort.  Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) March 21, 2022

02:55 PM

US cannot confirm Russian claim on hypersonic missiles, says official

The US cannot confirm nor refute a Russian claim made over the weekend that it fired hypersonic missiles at a Ukrainian target, but the use of such a weapon makes little sense from a military perspective, a senior defence official said.

Reuters reports that the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "It could be that they're trying to send a message to the West."

The source added that the "there's just not a lot of practicality about it" from a military perspective.

The Kremlin said on Saturday that it had used hypersonic Kinzhal (dagger) missiles to destroy a large weapons depot in the western region of Ivano-Frankivsk.

Moscow's Interfax news agency said it was the first time Russian forces had deployed the Kinzhal system since it sent troops into Ukraine on February 24.

02:45 PM

Biden comments have put US-Russia relationship 'on verge of rupture'

President Biden's condemnation of Vladimir Putin as a "war criminal" has endangered the relationship between the two countries, Russia's foreign ministry said.

Moscow summoned the US ambassador George Sullivan in protest at "the recent unacceptable statements made by the head of the White House, Joe Biden, to the President of Russia", which came in response to Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

"Such statements by the American president, which are not worthy of a high-ranking statesman, have put Russian-American relations on the verge of rupture," the Kremlin's foreign ministry said in a statement.

02:39 PM

Concentration camp survivor killed in Kharkiv by Russian shelling

By Justin Huggler in Berlin

A 96-year-old Ukrainian man who survived four Nazi concentration camps has been killed by Russian shelling, it emerged on Monday.

Boris Romanchenko, who survived the Nazis, was killed when a Russian shell hit his home in Kharkiv on Friday.

Boris Romanchenko, a 96-year-old who survived a series of Nazi concentration camps, has been killed by Russian shelling in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. - NEXTA

During the Second World War he was captured by the Nazis and deported to Germany to work as a forced labourer. He tried to escape but was caught and sent to a succession of concentration camps, including Buchenwald, Mittelbau-Dora and Bergen-Belsen.

He devoted the latter years of his life to commemorating the suffering of the victims of the Nazis, and was a vice-president of the Buchenwald-Dora International Committee.

The horrific death of Boris Romantschenko shows how threatening the war in Ukraine is for concentration camp survivors, the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorial said in a statement.

We mourn the loss of a close friend. We wish his son and granddaughter, who brought us the sad news, strength in these difficult times.

02:33 PM

Watch: Russian forces fire on protesters in Kherson

Video footage shared on social media shows Russian forces reportedly firing on protesters in the occupied city of Kherson.

02:29 PM

Key port city of Odesa shelled 'for first time'

Russian forces bombarded Odesa for the first time this morning, according to Ukrainian officials.

The city council said there were no casualties in the attack on the Black Sea port city, although the strike caused a fire.

"These are residential buildings where peaceful people live," Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov was quoted as saying. Russia denies targeting civilians.

It came as a former commander of UK Joint Forces Command warned that Odesa is Russia's next "logical" target.

Sir Richard Barrons told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4: "I think they will now turn to Odesa because that is logically the next place to go in the south and there seem to be more ships in the Black Sea pointing at it."

01:58 PM

Chess player banned for six months over pro-Russia comments

Russian grandmaster Sergey Karjakin has been banned from competition for six months because of his support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) said on Monday.

The 32-year-old Mr Karjakin, who challenged Magnus Carlsen for the world title in 2016, has defended his country's actions on social media in recent weeks, drawing intense criticism from the chess world.

"Sergey Karjakin is found guilty of breach of article 2.2.10 of the FIDE Code of Ethics, and is sanctioned to a worldwide ban of six months from participating as a player in any FIDE rated chess competition, taking effect from the date of this decision, 21 March 2022," the governing body said in a statement.

Mr Karjakin, who was born in Crimea, represented Ukraine until 2009 and has been a vocal supporter of Russian president Vladimir Putin.

b - Photo by Sergei Bobylev\\TASS via Getty Images

01:49 PM

Ukraine may export just 200,000 tonnes of wheat from March to June, analyst says

Ukraine, a major global wheat exporter, is likely to export just 200,000 tonnes of wheat from March to June due to its Black Sea ports being blocked by the Russian invasion, analyst APK-Inform said on Monday.

The consultancy said in a report that 2021/22 July-June wheat exports would not exceed 18.3 million tonnes, while ending stocks will reach 5.9 million tonnes.

Ukraine exported 18.1 million tonnes of wheat from July 2021 to March 2022.

01:37 PM

Russian Defence Attache summoned to the Ministry of Defence

Britain's Ministry of Defence (MoD) said on Monday it had summoned the Russian defence attache for a second time in relation to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and the conduct of Russia's armed forces.

"The 2nd Permanent Under Secretary Laurence Lee protested in the strongest terms against the persistent and unjustified acts of violence being committed against innocent civilians by Russian forces," the MoD said on Twitter.

"Lee emphasised that schools, theatres and hospitals are not legitimate military targets. He warned the UK will be collecting evidence of war crimes and repeated the UKs demand for the Russian Federation to withdraw its forces immediately."

The Russian Defence Attache has been summoned to the Ministry of Defence for a second time in relation to the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the conduct of Russias Armed Forces. pic.twitter.com/bnlIhypBBv  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) March 21, 2022

01:29 PM

Activists spray paint TotalEnergies' HQ west of Paris over Russia ties

Pressure mounted on Totalenergies over its ties to Russia as activists spray-painted its headquarters west of Paris on Monday and France's green presidential candidate accused the company and its boss of complicity with the Kremlin.

TotalEnergies, one of the world's top oil producers and the fourth-largest company in France's CAC 40 bluechip index by market capitalization, has become increasingly isolated among oil majors as it holds on to its interests in Russia despite the latter's invasion of Ukraine.

Environmental activists, led by the French group "Les amis de la terre" (Friends of the Earth), said they had sprayed black paint on the glass doors at the entrance of TotalEnergie's building in the La Defense business district, posting a video of around a dozen activists dressed in yellow vests.

Apres presque 1 mois de guerre de la Russie en #Ukraine et alors que le bilan humain salourdit de jour en jour, Total refuse de cesser ses lucratives activites petrolieres et gazieres en Russie qui financent le regime de Poutine et @EmmanuelMacron ne leve pas le petit doigt  pic.twitter.com/4PPsFvZy6b  Les Amis de la Terre FR (@amisdelaterre) March 21, 2022

01:28 PM

'I dont want to live in a bigger North Korea': Russian brain drain as the young flee Putin

As its economy tanks, thousands escape to Finland, Georgia, Armenia and beyond, Tom Rees, Genevieve Holl-Allen and Andrew Quinn report.

For Aleksandr*, it is not the famous Western goods missing off shop shelves or closed McDonalds restaurants that are tempting him to leave Russia but the dreams, plans and relationships that all went to s---. Friends of the Moscow translator in his late 20s have already left for Turkey, Georgia and Armenia, while many others are thinking about leaving as the Russian economy tanks. Theres basically no way left to get a good income unless youre into corruption, connections, or straight out crime, he says. Theres rumours of Russia being disconnected off the internet. If that happens, Im done with this country. I dont want to live in a bigger North Korea.

You can read our interviews in full here.

01:16 PM

Russian bond trading resumes

Russia's central bank has cautiously reopened bond trading on the Moscow exchange for the first time since the country invaded Ukraine, with the price of Russia's rouble-denominated government debt falling and sending borrowing costs higher.

Stock trading remained closed, with no word on when it might reopen.

The central bank bought bonds to support prices. The bank has imposed wide-ranging restrictions on financial transactions to try to stabilize markets and combat the severe fallout from Western sanctions that have sent the rouble sharply lower against the U.S. dollar and the euro.

Ratings agencies have downgraded Russia's bonds to "junk" status, and the head of the International Monetary Fund has said a default on government debt is no longer "an improbable event."

Russia's finance ministry last week flirted with default by threatening to pay foreign holders of dollar bonds in massively devalued rubles before sending the money in dollars.

01:06 PM

925 civilians killed, UN say

925 civilians have been killed so far during the war, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has announced.

A further 1,496 have been injured according to the official tally, though the true number is thought to be much higher.

12:59 PM

Ukraine says all its ports remain closed to ship traffic

All Ukrainian its ports on the Black Sea and Azov Sea remain temporarily closed to ships seeking to enter or exit, Ukraine's infrastructure ministry said on Monday.

Soon after Russia's invasion on February 24, Ukraine's military suspended commercial shipping at its ports, stoking fear of supply disruption from leading grain and oilseeds exporters.

12:53 PM

Pictured: People examine the damage after shelling of a shopping center in Kyiv

x - AP Photo/ (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

12:52 PM

Two Ukrainian prisoners released from Netherlands prison to fight in Ukraine

Two Ukrainian prisoners were released from jail in the Netherlands so they could go and fight against the Russian army in Ukraine, James Crisp reports.

The men, aged 27 and 29 and from Lutsk in North West Ukraine, were in custody for six months awaiting trial for people smuggling.

They were arrested on a yacht on suspicion of trying to smuggle a group of Albanians into the UK last September, the EurActiv website reported.

The men must not commit any further offences, return to serve their pre-trial detention if requested and serve any sentence the court might impose in the future, a court in Breda decided.

The court set them free late last week after hearing lawyers argue the men were desperate to defend their homeland from the Russian invaders. It said their situation was special and serious and the men were insistent on the desire to fight.

12:49 PM

Watch: Ukrainian girl who sung 'Let it Go' from bunker performs at charity concert in Poland

12:49 PM

Ukraine state nuclear company unable to monitor radiation levels around Chernobyl

Ukrainian state nuclear company Energoatom warned on Monday that radiation levels around the occupied Chernobyl nuclear plant risked rising because its radiation monitoring system and forest fire-fighting service were not working.

Soon after launching an invasion on February 24, Russian forces took control of the territory around the now-defunct power plant that was the site of the world's worst nuclear accident in 1986.

As a result, the system monitoring radiation levels in the 30-km (19-mile) so-called exclusion zone in the forests around the plant is currently not working, Energoatom said in a statement.

"There is no data on the current state of radiation pollution of the exclusion zone's environment, which makes it impossible to adequately respond to threats," it said.

12:40 PM

Johnson won't retract Brexit comment on Ukraine, spokesman says

Prime Minister Boris Johnson did not directly compare the war in Ukraine with Brexit and will not retract comments made during a speech on Saturday that drew criticism, his spokesman said on Monday.

Mr Johnson on Saturday said it was the instinct of British people, like Ukrainians, to choose freedom every time, citing the vote to leave the European Union as an example of that.

"There was not a direct comparison made between fighting in Ukraine (and Brexit)... they're not directly analogous. He was making observations about people's desire for freedom," the spokesman said.

12:36 PM

Russia docks landing support ship near Ukraine's Mariupol

Russia's armed forces claimed on Monday they had docked a large, beachable landing support ship, the Orsk, in the occupied Ukrainian port of Berdyansk, 70 km (45 miles) southwest of the besieged Ukrainian port of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov.

"It is hard to overestimate the possibilities of using this port," said the website of the Russian armed forces news outlet Zvezda (Star).

"Now the southern flank of the special operation can receive everything necessary at any time, including equipment and ammunition."

The Zvezda website said 10 such ships were participating in the operation. It said each could carry up to 20 tanks or 40 armoured personnel carriers.

12:27 PM

Russia's security service urges immediate Meta ban

Russia's FSB national security service asked a court Monday to "immediately" ban US tech giant Meta, accusing it of working against Moscow's interests during its "special military operation" in Ukraine.

The court was considering a request by prosecutors to designate Meta - the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp - as an "extremist" organisation and ban it.

The move is part of sweeping efforts by Moscow to put a tight lid on information available to Russians about the conflict in Ukraine.

"The activities of the Meta organisation are directed against Russia and its armed forces," FSB representative Igor Kovalevsky told Moscow's Tverskoi district court, Russian news agencies reported.

12:23 PM

Ukraine war's impact on wheat threatens hunger in Sudan

More than 80 per cent of Sudan's wheat imports are at risk after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, an aid group warns, exacerbating economic and humanitarian crises that deepened after last year's military takeover.

Fighting and sanctions have disrupted grain shipments from Russia and Ukraine, which between them account for nearly 30 per cent of global wheat exports, threatening hunger and social upheaval in many countries.

The impact will be especially severe in Sudan, one of the world's poorest countries, where a military coup in October led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan brought fresh turmoil and saw Western donor countries cut aid.

"Sudan is in a particularly vulnerable position because 86-87 per cent of its wheat imports is coming from Russia and Ukraine combined," said David Wright, chief operating officer at charity Save the Children.

12:19 PM

Ukraine and Russia hold more peace talks

Russian and Ukrainian peace negotiators held a 90-minute video call on Monday and working groups will continue to meet throughout the day, a member of the Ukrainian delegation said.

"Today we are working the whole day," Ukrainian delegate and lawmaker David Arakhamia was quoted as saying by Ukrainian media.

12:18 PM

Russia responsible for hoax calls targeting British ministers, Downing Street says

Downing Street has publicly blamed Vladimir Putin's Russia for being behind hoax calls targeting British ministers.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and Home Secretary Priti Patel said they had been targeted by calls from imposters last week while No 10 revealed an unsuccessful attempt was also made to contact Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "The Russian state was responsible for the hoax telephone calls made to UK ministers last week.

"This is standard practice for Russian information operations and disinformation is a tactic straight from the Kremlin playbook to try to distract from their illegal activities in Ukraine and the human rights abuses being committed there."

12:11 PM

Nearly 3.5 million Ukrainians flee the country, UN says

Nearly 3.5 million Ukrainians have now fled the country following Russia's invasion, the United Nations said Monday, praising neighbouring countries for showing overwhelming compassion towards their "extreme plight".

More than 10 million people - over a quarter of the population in regions under government control - are now thought to have fled their homes, including the millions of internally displaced people.

UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, said 3,489,644 Ukrainians had fled the country since Russia invaded on February 24 - a figure up 100,600 on Sunday's update.

11-year-old Dasha, a refugee from Donetsk region holds her niece while waiting in a special room of a railway station of western Ukrainian city of Lviv on March 21, 2022, amid Russian invasion of Ukraine. - Photo by Yuriy Dyachyshyn / AFP) (Photo by YURIY DYACHYSHYN/AFP via Getty Images

12:08 PM

Mines from Ukraine drift into the Black Sea, Russia and shipping sources say

Several hundred mines have drifted into the Black Sea after breaking off from cables near Ukrainian ports, Russia's main intelligence agency and shipping market participants said.

The Black Sea is a major shipping artery for grain, oil and oil products.

"Due to storm weather, the cables connecting the mines to anchors were broken," Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said in a press release dated March 19.

"Due to wind and water currents, the mines are drifting freely in the western part of the Black Sea," the FSB said.

The FSB said about 420 mines had broken lose.

11:58 AM

Kremlin returns loaned art to Spain after government war protest

The Kremlin Museum has returned a painting to Spain's Prado gallery and several suits of armour that were loaned for an exhibition postponed after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, two sources from Spanish institutions said on Monday.

The 1605 painting, a full-length portrait of Emperor Charles V by Juan Pantoja de la Cruz, and a collection including armour that the king wore in the painting were returned with the "full cooperation" of the Russian museum, the sources said. The armour is usually on display at Madrid's Royal Palace armoury

The Prado museum and armoury declined to comment about the return of the pieces. Last week, Spain's culture minister said the government had asked for the works to be returned in protest at the war.

11:54 AM

German firms sign deals in UAE as Berlin seeks alternative energy supplies

German companies have signed agreements with firms in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to build up a hydrogen supply chain, Germany's economy ministry said on Monday, as Berlin looks to cut carbon emissions and reduce its reliance on Russian energy.

The deals were signed during a visit by German Economy Minister Robert Habeck to Gulf states to discuss long-term energy supplies. Berlin is investing in cleaner energy and aiming to cut its reliance on Russian energy as part of Western efforts to put pressure on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

Germany's Hydrogenious and Uniper, along with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and Japan's JERA, will undertake a joint demonstration project for hydrogen transport, the ministry said in a statement.

11:45 AM

Ukraine war could delay EU sustainable farming plans

The European Commission may delay the publication of proposals on sustainable farming and nature that had been expected this week, while the impact of the war in Ukraine on food supply has led some countries to resist reform.

The EU is overhauling all sectors to become greener, including agriculture, which produces roughly 10 per cent of EU greenhouse gas emissions. Brussels has mooted targets that include halving chemical pesticide use by 2030, and is drawing up binding laws to make them a reality.

However, the European Commission is considering delaying two new proposals - binding targets to restore nature, and a more sustainable pesticides law - which were to have been made public on Wednesday.

11:25 AM

10,200 visas now granted to Ukrainian refugees

A total of 10,200 visas had been issued under the Government's Ukraine family scheme as at 4pm yesterday, the Home Office said this morning.

According to provisional data, 31,500 applications have been submitted so far.

11:25 AM

Russia needs over a week to take Mariupol, IFX quotes separatist leader as saying

A Russian-backed separatist leader in eastern Ukraine said on Monday it would take more than a week to take control of the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, the Russian news agency Interfax reported.

"I am not so optimistic that two or three days or even a week will close the issue. Unfortunately, no, the city is big," Denis Pushilin, head of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic, said, according to the report.

Mariupol, a port on the Azov Sea, was home to 400,000 people before the war. It has been under siege and bombardment, with no food, medicine, power or fresh water, since the early days of Russia's invasion on February 24.

11:20 AM

Russia has lost 15,000 personnel, Ukraine claims

Russia has lost 15,000 personnel and 1535 armoured vehicles, Ukraine's Ministry for Foreign Affairs has claimed.

Information on Russian invasion



Losses of the Russian armed forces in Ukraine, March 21 pic.twitter.com/ziw1LC2S8A  MFA of Ukraine  (@MFA_Ukraine) March 21, 2022

11:14 AM

Ukraine's gas transmission operator says it has full control of the system

Ukraine's state-run gas transmission system operator said on Monday said it had full control of the network.

"The company retains operational and technological control," it said in a statement.

11:12 AM

In pictures: Refugees continue to flee Ukraine

f - REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne

A refugee woman eats in Brovary, Ukraine, Sunday, March 20, 2022, after 1,600 people, of which half are children according to authorities, were evacuated from the village of Bobrik, reportedly under Russian military control. - AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda

People, mainly women and children, arrive at Przemysl train station on a train from Odesa in war-torn Ukraine on March 21, 2022 in Przemysl, Poland. - Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

11:00 AM

EU set to agree 5,000-strong response force in defence push

The European Union was set to approve Monday a new defence strategy designed to increase the bloc's capacity to act, including setting up a 5,000-strong rapid reaction force.

The plan - in the pipeline for two years - has undergone a last-minute rewrite to increase the focus on the threat from Russia after Moscow invaded Ukraine.

"It's not the answer to the Ukrainian war, but it is part of the answer," EU foreign policy Josep Borrell said ahead of a meeting of the bloc's foreign and defence ministers.

"When we started working, we couldn't imagine that at the last moment of approval the situation would be so bad and Europe would be facing such a big challenge."

11:00 AM

Poland wants to amend constitution to raise spending on defence

The Polish government wants to amend the constitution so that it can raise defence expenditure and confiscate Russian oligarchs' assets following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a government spokesman said on Monday.

The Defence of the Fatherland Act adopted this month says that Poland's defence spending will increase to 3 per cent of GDP, which could result in exceeding budgetary thresholds enshrined in the constitution.

"The Polish army must be immediately equipped to the highest standards, therefore one of the proposed changes to the constitution will be the exclusion of expenditure on the army and armaments from the public debt threshold," Piotr Muller said.

He said a second issue which requires changes to the constitution is the possibility of confiscating the assets of Russian oligarchs and companies which support Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The money could then be spent on humanitarian aid, Mr Muller said.

10:45 AM

German police issue fake news warning over video recounting Russian's death

A woman who made a video in which she described a fatal attack by two Ukrainians on a Russian boy in Germany later admitted that the story was incorrect, police said on Monday.

Police believe the video, which is circulating on social media, was designed deliberately to stoke hate and are investigating the matter.

The selfie-style video in Russian, in which an unidentified woman breaks down as she relays a story she says was told her by a friend, comes as politicians warn against allowing Russia's invasion of Ukraine to stoke anti-Russian sentiment in Western Europe.

It was unclear if the woman, who in the video says she had the story from a friend, believed the story when she made the video, and nor was it clear why she had made it.

10:38 AM

Ukraine's Odesa accuses Russia of attacking city outskirts for the first time

Authorities in Odesa accused Russian forces of carrying out a strike on residential buildings in the outskirts of the Ukrainian city early on Monday, the first such attack on the Black Sea port city.

The city council said there were no casualties although the strike caused a fire. "These are residential buildings where peaceful people live," Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov was quoted as saying. Russia denies targeting civilians.

Read: Well fight to the end: Odesas pistol-packing mayor gets city fired up for Russian attack

10:12 AM

Zelensky calls on Europe to halt all trade with Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on European leaders on Monday to cease all trade with Russia in an effort to pressure Moscow to halt its nearly month-long military assault on his country.

"Please do not sponsor the weapons of war of this country, of Russia. No euros for the occupiers. Close all of your ports to them. Don't export them your goods. Deny energy resources. Push for Russia to leave Ukraine," Mr Zelensky said in a video address.

10:10 AM

Watch: Man rescued from rubble after Russian forces bomb Kyiv shopping centre

10:06 AM

German economy minister urges Arab states not to benefit from Russia sanctions

German Economy Minister Robert Habeck, visiting Gulf states to discuss long-term energy supplies, said on Monday they should not profit from global sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

"I'm not asking that they join the sanctions....but I ask not to be a profiteer of European and US sanctions," Mr Habeck told reporters in the United Arab Emirates' capital Abu Dhabi following a visit to Qatar.

He said he has not seen any evidence of sanctioned Russian wealth coming into the UAE, the region's commercial hub which diplomats, company executives and financial sources have said has emerged as a safe haven for Russia's rich.

10:04 AM

Kyiv mayor announces new curfew from late Monday to Wednesday morning

Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko has announced a new curfew for the Ukrainian capital, beginning later on Monday that would last until Wednesday morning.

The curfew "will begin at 8pm (6pm GMT) and last until 7am (5am GMT) on March 23," Mr Klitschko wrote on Telegram.

09:58 AM

EU sees high risk of child trafficking as 3.3 million Ukrainians flee to Europe

The European Union's migration commissioner warned on Monday that Ukrainian children were in danger of being trafficked they flee their country from the Russian invasion.

Ylva Johansson told a news conference in Estonia that about half of 3.3 million Ukrainians who had fled to EU countries since the start of the war were children.

Ukraine has a high number of orphans and children born through surrogate mothers who had not been picked up by their parents. That increased the risk that they could be abducted or become victims of forced adoptions, she said.

"There is a huge risk of vulnerable children being trafficked," she said.

09:47 AM

India says Australia understands its position on Ukraine

Australia understands India's stance on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, India's foreign secretary told reporters in a briefing on Monday following a virtual summit between the prime ministers of the two countries.

Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said the two countries agreed the Ukraine crisis should not divert the Quad group's attention from the Indo-Pacific region.

09:43 AM

About 25,000 Ukrainian refugees have reached Spain so far, says minister

About 25,000 Ukrainians have arrived in Spain since Russia launched its invasion on February 24, though only 9,000 of them have registered so far with the authorities, Spanish Migration Minister Jose Luis Escriva said on Monday.

The United Nations refugee agency estimates nearly 3.5 million Ukrainians have now fled their country, with more than two million of them moving to neighbouring Poland. Romania, Hungary and Slovakia also host large numbers of refugees.

In Spain, which is far from the conflict, many of the Ukrainians who have arrived are staying with relatives or friends and have not yet notified the authorities, Mr Escriva said.

"We have expanded the granting of residence permits to include all people who lived in Ukraine at the time of the invasion, not just Ukrainians," Mr Escriva said in an interview with Spanish public news channel TVE.

09:21 AM

Pictured: Former Ukrainian MP carries an anti-tank missile in Kyiv

y - REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

09:10 AM

Kremlin claims Russian oil embargo would hurt Europe, not US

The Kremlin on Monday said Europe would be hit hard in the event of an embargo on Russian oil, striking the continent's energy balance, but would not affect the United States.

Some European Union foreign ministers are pushing for an oil embargo as part of further sanctions against Russia, in an effort to punish Moscow over events in Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters the question of any oil embargo was a very complex topic.

09:03 AM

Switzerland must freeze Russian oligarchs' accounts, says Polish PM

Switzerland must freeze the accounts of Russian oligarchs in the country and confiscate their assets, the Polish prime minister said on Monday during a visit to Warsaw by the Swiss President Ignazio Cassis.

"They must be frozen, the assets of Russian oligarchs in Switzerland must be confiscated and I called on the president to see to it that Switzerland approaches this topic decisively," Mateusz Morawiecki told a news conference.

09:00 AM

Israel PM says big gaps remain in bid to end Ukraine-Russia conflict

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who has been trying to mediate an end to the Ukraine-Russia conflict, said on Monday that despite some progress big gaps remained between the sides.

"There's still a long way to go, because ... there are several issues in dispute, some of them fundamental," he said in a speech, according to a transcript provided by his office.

Bennett added that Israel, "together with other friends in the world, will continue trying to to bridge the gap and bring an end to the war".

08:58 AM

Russian assault on Mariupol is 'massive war crime', EU says

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Monday decried Russia's attack on the Ukrainian port city Mariupol as "a massive war crime", as the bloc discussed imposing more sanctions on Moscow.

"What's happening now in Mariupol is a massive war crime, destroying everything, bombarding and killing everybody," Mr Borrell said at the start of a meeting of EU foreign ministers.

08:51 AM

EU foreign ministers to discuss sanctions on Russian oil sector, Borrell says

European Union foreign ministers will discuss slapping more sanctions on Russia, including sanctions on the country's energy and oil sector, the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday.

"The ministers will discuss that," he told reporters ahead of an EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels, responding to a question whether measures against Russian oil exports would be talked about.

"From an Irish perspective we are open to that," Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said.

08:51 AM

Ukraine says situation in Mariupol 'very difficult', rejects surrender ultimatum

Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Monday that Ukraine had "of course" rejected a Russian ultimatum for people in Mariupol to surrender and the situation in the besieged city ere was "very difficult".

Russia offered to open humanitarian corridors from the city from 10 am Moscow time (7am GMT) if residents lay down arms.

"Of course we rejected these proposals," Ms Vereshchuk said. "The situation there is very difficult."

08:49 AM

EU should slap sanctions on Russian oil exports, Lithuania says

The European Union needs to ramp up sanctions on Russia to hit the country's energy sector, Lithuania's Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said on Monday.

"It's unavoidable we start talking about the energy sector, and we can definitely talk about oil because it is the biggest revenue to Russia's budget," he told reporters as he arrived for a meeting with his EU counterparts in Brussels.

08:36 AM

Putin ally Timchenko resigns from Novatek board

Gennady Timchenko, a long-time ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, resigned from the board at gas producer Novatek on Monday after he was targeted by sanctions over Russia's military campaign in Ukraine.

Novatek, Russia's largest private natural gas producer, did not provide a reason for his resignation.

A representave of Mr Timchenko, who had served on the company's board of directors since 2009, declined to comment.

The European Union and Britain last month imposed sanctions on Mr Timchenko and other billionaires with ties to Putin.

Mr Timchenko, already on a US sanctions list over Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea, was Russia's sixth-richest billionaire last year with a net worth of $22 billion, according to Forbes magazine.

08:35 AM

Ukrainian florists lay out 1.5m flowers in central Kyiv

 Ukrainian florists laid out 1.5M flowers in central #Kyiv in the shape of the Trident, the National Symbol of #Ukraine, to honor all  women helping and protecting our country.#StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/mkpak3YzPN  MFA of Ukraine  (@MFA_Ukraine) March 21, 2022

08:32 AM

Some 9,500 visas issued under Ukraine Family Scheme, Javid says

Some 9,500 visas have been issued to refugees under the Ukraine Family Scheme, Sajid Javid has said.

The Health Secretary told LBC:

"I'm pleased that we are supporting Ukraine in every single way that we can, whether that's military aid, humanitarian aid, or indeed, as you just talked about, Nick, about providing sanctuary for those that are fleeing Ukraine. "We have two programs in place to do that at this point in time. One is the family reunion program where, my understanding is, at the weekend there were 9,500 visas issued and then there's the hosting a Ukrainian family program where some 150,000 people have registered their interest. "And it's important that we continue to help in that way. I expect that we will see hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians arrive here in the UK, and they will get all the support that they need."

08:25 AM

Russia claims to have hit military facility in Ukraine's Rivne region

Russian air forces have hit a Ukrainian army military facility in Rivne Region with cruise missiles, Russia's Defence Ministry claimed on Monday.

"High-precision air-launched cruise missiles have struck a training centre for foreign mercenaries and Ukrainian nationalist formations," Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.

08:22 AM

Russia-Ukraine war: The latest pictures

eople walk past a severely damaged school after the Russian shelling, in Zhytomyr city, north-west Ukraine, 20 March 2022. - Photo by ROMAN PILIPEY/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Rescuers carry an injured person inside a shopping mall damaged by an airstrike, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine, in this handout picture released March 21, 2022. - Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout via REUTERS

A refugee woman eats in Brovary, Ukraine, Sunday, March 20, 2022, after 1,600 people, of which half are children according to authorities, were evacuated from the village of Bobrik, reportedly under Russian military control. - AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda

08:17 AM

'Hero' Greek diplomat describes Mariupol horror after escape

A Greek diplomat who remained in the besieged Ukraine city of Mariupol during the bombardment said on Sunday the destruction would rank alongside Stalingrad and Aleppo.

Speaking after flying back to Athens, where he has been hailed a hero, Greek Consul General in Mariupol Manolis Androulakis called on people to "unite their voices to ask for a truce, a ceasefire".

"Mariupol will be included in a list of cities in the world that were completely destroyed by the war, such as Guernica, Stalingrad, Grozny, Aleppo," Mr Androulakis told reporters at the airport.

The diplomat, who has been hailed a hero in Greece, organised many succesful evacuations of Greek expatriates before finally leaving on Tuesday.

"We tried to save as many expatriates as we could," Mr Androulakis said, adding that the "heroes are the people who stayed there and will try to make their lives from scratch".

08:10 AM

Ukraine finally rotates workers at Chernobyl

Ukraine has managed to rotate staff working at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant for the first time since Russia seized it last month as it invaded its neighbour, the UN's nuclear agency said.

Ukraine told the International Atomic Energy Agency that around half of the staff were "finally" able to return to their homes on Sunday after working at the Russian-controlled site for nearly four weeks, IAEA director general Rafael Grossi said.

Those who left were replaced by other Ukrainian staff, Mr Grossi said in a statement late Sunday.

"It is a positive - albeit long overdue - development that some staff at the Chernobyl NPP have now rotated and returned to their families," Mr Grossi said.

08:06 AM

Your morning briefing

Good morning. Here are the latest key developments in the Russia-Ukraine war to get you up to speed.

1. Mariupol will not surrender - despite Russia's threat

Ukraine rejected an ultimatum to surrender the besieged port city of Mariupol to Russian forces, its deputy prime minister told Ukrainian media on Monday.

2. Kyiv shelling leaves at least eight dead

At least eight people were killed when shelling hit houses and a shopping district in Kyiv's Podil district late on Sunday, city authorities said.

3. Boris Johnson condemns 'abhorrent attacks on innocent civilians'

The Prime Minister condemned the "abhorrent attacks on innocent civilians" in Mariupol on Sunday during a call with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky.

4. 'High mortality rate' among senior Russian officers

Six Russian generals and dozens of other senior officers have been killed since the start of the invasion, Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, said.

5. 'We will shoot down the pilot who dropped that bomb'

Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed that Ukraine will shoot down the Russian pilot responsible for attacking an art school where about 400 civilians were taking shelter in the besieged city of Mariupol.

Find more details here.

07:55 AM

China says it will offer more humanitarian aid to Ukraine

The Chinese Red Cross will offer an additional 10 million yuan ($1.57 million) of humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters on Monday.

The comments came at a regular briefing in Beijing and the promise of aid follows previous pledges of aid to Ukraine including one of five million yuan from earlier this month.

07:48 AM

Ukraine says no agreement reached to evacuate Mariupol civilians on Monday

An agreement has been reached on creating eight humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians from besieged towns and cities on Monday but the city of Mariupol is not among them, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk has said.

She said efforts to reach Mariupol with humanitarian supplies continued to fail.

07:38 AM

Yacht linked to Russian oligarch Abramovich cruises off Turkey

A superyacht linked to sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich was cruising a few kilometres off the coast of southwest Turkey on Monday, after skirting European Union waters in recent days, ship tracking data showed.

Mr Abramovich was among several Russian billionaires added last week to an EU blacklist that already included dozens of wealthy Russians, and EU governments have acted to seize yachts and other luxury assets from them.

Last week, Mr Abramovich flew into Moscow after leaving Istanbul in his private jet.

According to flight tracking data it was a second trip by a jet linked to Mr Abramovich between the Turkish city and the Russian capital in three days.

07:36 AM

Ukraine war could lead to global food crisis, says French farming minister

The war between Ukraine and Russia, two of the world's top crop producers, could lead to a food crisis "on the global" scale, French farming minister Julien Denormandie said in Brussels on Monday ahead of a EU agriculture meeting.

EU ministers will discuss the food situation with their Ukrainian counterpart in a video call, he added.

A World Food Programme (WFP) official said on Friday that food supply chains in Ukraine were collapsing, with key infrastructure such as bridges and trains destroyed by bombs and many grocery stores and warehouses empty.

07:28 AM

Video shows devastation caused by attacks on Kyiv

Video sent to me this morning from a Ukrainian MP, showing the devastation caused by Russian attacks on Kyiv. #StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/gWsMUGMDhg  Stewart McDonald MP (@StewartMcDonald) March 21, 2022

07:14 AM

Zelensky says Jerusalem 'right place for peace' talks with Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has suggested Jerusalem could host peace talks between him and Vladimir Putin, his latest attempt to push for a meeting with his Russian counterpart.

Mr Zelensky thanked Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett for efforts to broker talks in a video released on Telegram late Sunday.

"We are grateful... for his every effort. So sooner or later we could start the conversation with Russia. Perhaps in Jerusalem," said Zelensky.

"This is the right place for finding peace. If this is possible."

07:14 AM

UK says bulk of Russian forces more than 25 km from centre of Kyiv

Russian forces advancing on Kyiv from the north-east have stalled and the bulk of its forces remain more than 25 kilometres from the centre of the city, British military intelligence said on Monday.

"Heavy fighting continues north of Kyiv," the Ministry of Defence said. "Forces advancing from the direction of Hostomel to the north-west have been repulsed by fierce Ukrainian resistance."

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 21 March 2022



Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/o31FnBRw3w



 #StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/reAkTEnHFj  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) March 21, 2022

07:11 AM

David Beckham gives control of Instagram account to Ukrainian doctor

David Beckham has handed control of his Instagram account to a Ukrainian doctor working in the city of Kharkiv.

The former footballer, who has 71.4 million followers on the social media site, said he wanted to highlight the "amazing work" of medical staff operating amid the Russian invasion.

Iryna, who is head of the regional perinatal centre and a child anaesthesiologist, posted clips and images to the sportsman's Instagram Stories throughout Sunday, showing how the war had affected the work of her team.

06:01 AM

Death toll climbs after capital hit by bombs

Firefighters work to clear the rubble after a Russian shelling of a shopping mall in the Podilskyi district of Kyiv - State Emergency Services of Ukraine

At least six people were killed in the overnight bombing of a shopping centre in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, an AFP journalist said on Monday, with rescuers combing the wreckage for other victims.

Six bodies were laid out in front of the Retroville shopping mall in the northwest of Kyiv.

The 10-storey building was hit by a powerful blast that pulverised vehicles in its car park and left a crater several metres wide.

The burnt-out mall was still smoking on Monday morning. All of its south side was destroyed, as well as a fitness centre in its car park.

Twisted bits of metal and other debris were strewn across the area for hundreds of metres, as firefighters and soldiers searched the devastation for victims.

:          https://t.co/XmnqdR8FXF pic.twitter.com/NMsnlUVNgl  DSNS.GOV.UA (@SESU_UA) March 20, 2022

A mother nurses her child as she reacts after a residential building was hit by debris from a downed rocket in Kyiv - FADEL SENNA/AFP

05:36 AM

Boris Johnson condemns 'abhorrent attacks on innocent civilians'

The Prime Minister used a Sunday afternoon call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to condemn the "abhorrent attacks on innocent civilians" in Mariupol.

City officials said nearly 40,000 people had fled over the past week, almost 10pc of its population of 430,000.

Boris Johnson told the Ukrainian leader the UK was "committed to stepping up military, economic and diplomatic support" in a bid to bring about an end to the war.

The British leader asked Mr Zelensky what the Ukrainian military required in the struggle against Russia's incursion before vowing to "advance" Kyiv's interests at Nato and G7 meetings planned for this week.

I spoke to President @ZelenskyyUa this afternoon to set out how I will be working to advance Ukraines interests at meetings of NATO and the G7 this week.



The UK will continue to step up military, economic and diplomatic support to help bring an end to this terrible conflict.  Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) March 20, 2022

Held regular talks with  PM @BorisJohnson. Informed about the heroic struggle of  people against the Russian aggression. Grateful for the strong support, including in terms of security. Were committed to strengthen the anti-war coalition & ensure peace in . #StopRussia    (@ZelenskyyUa) March 18, 2022

Mr Johnson is expected to travel to Brussels, where he will hold talks on Thursday with US President Joe Biden and other allies about the Ukraine crisis.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said early on Monday that Mr Biden will also travel to Warsaw, Poland, on Friday for a meeting with president Andrzej Duda.

READ MORE: Vladimir Putin accused of mass abductions of Ukrainian citizens

05:02 AM

Zelensky full of praise for his countrymen and Boris Johnson

Speaking in a video address early on Monday, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said 7,295 Ukrainians were evacuated from zones of combat on Sunday, including nearly 4,000 from Mariupol.

He hailed people in the southern city of Kherson for taking to the streets on Sunday to protest the Russian occupation, showing "Ukrainian courage, armless against the occupiers".

Mr Zelensky also said that he had a call on Sunday with Boris Johnson, a "true friend of Ukraine". to discuss support for Ukraine during this week's summit of the Group of Seven and Nato.

04:34 AM

Ukrainians greet Russians with 'weapons in their hands'

President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN that Ukrainians "have not greeted Russian soldiers with a bunch of flowers", but with "weapons in their hands".

Moscow could not hope to rule the country, given Ukrainians' enmity towards the Russian forces, he said.

Vladimir Putin has been accused of abducting and deporting thousands of civilians from Mariupol and transporting them deep inside Russia. Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, said she was "appalled" by the Kremlin's atrocities in Mariupol.

Speaking in a video address early on Monday, Mr Zelensky said about 400 civilians were taking shelter at an art school in the besieged Azov Sea port city when it was struck by a Russian bomb.

"They are under the rubble, and we don't know how many of them have survived," he said. "But we know that we will certainly shoot down the pilot who dropped that bomb, like about 100 other such mass murderers whom we already have downed."

04:06 AM

Shopping centre on fire after attack on Podilskyi district of Kyiv

State Emergency Services of Ukraine have released more photos of the destruction caused by shelling in the Podilskyi district of Kyiv.

Emergency services reported four people killed by shelling not far from the centre of the capital on Sunday.

Loud explosions were heard as a shopping centre (below) and cars in a parking lot caught fire, they said.

Firefigters extinguish fire broke out after a Russian shelling of a shopping mall in the Podilskyi district of Kyiv - State Emergency Services of Ukraine

irefighters extinguish fire broke out after a Russian shelling of a shopping mall in the Podilskyi district of Kyiv - State Emergency Services of Ukraine

03:54 AM

Chemical plant ammonia leak warning

An ammonia leak at a chemical plant in the Ukrainian city of Sumy has contaminated an area with a radius of more than 5km (3 miles), officials said this morning.

Sumy regional governor Dmytro Zhyvytsky did not say what caused the leak, but authorities urged people in Sumy to breathe through gauze bandages soaked in citric acid.

The leak was reported at 4.30am local time (2.30am GMT) at the Sumykhimprom plant.

Mr Zhyvytsky said the area within a five-kilometre radius around the plant was hazardous.

03:38 AM

Ukraine lists Russian losses

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, said six Russian generals and dozens of other senior officers had been killed since the start of the Russian invasion.

Mr Podolyak tweeted on Sunday that "the high mortality rate among Russia's senior military officers" reflects a "total lack of readiness", adding that the Russian military relies on big number of troops and cruise missiles.

The Russian military has not confirmed the death of any of its generals. But an associate and an officers' group in Russia confirmed the death of one, Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky, the commanding general of the 7th Airborne Division.

These are the indicative estimates of Russias losses as of March 20, according to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/wuyU0L7Xmb  The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 20, 2022

03:19 AM

New Zealand offers non-lethal military help

New Zealand will provide Ukraine with a further NZ$5 million (2.6m) in funds and non-lethal military assistance including some surplus equipment.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the money would be primarily directed to a Nato Trust Fund that provides fuel, rations, communication equipment and first-aid kits to support Ukraine.

"We consider what is happening in Ukraine as a massive disruption to the international rules-based order and because of that it impacts all of us and that's why we have taken these extraordinary measures," Ms Ardern said.

The New Zealand Defence Force will provide tactical equipment such as body armour, helmets and vests that are surplus to requirements, she said.

This brings New Zealand's total assistance to Ukraine to NZ$11 million.

New Zealand has also imposed sanctions on Russia and arranged a special visa for Ukrainians with New Zealand connections.

03:14 AM

Biden to visit Poland - but not Ukraine

US President Joe Biden will travel to Poland on Friday to meet with President Andrzej Duda for discussions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the White House said.

"The President will discuss how the United States, alongside our Allies and partners, is responding to the humanitarian and human rights crisis that Russia's unjustified and unprovoked war on Ukraine has created," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.

Mr Biden's trip will come after a visit to Belgium to meet with leaders from Nato, the G7 and the European Union.

"The trip will be focused on continuing to rally the world in support of the Ukrainian people and against President Putin's invasion of Ukraine," Ms Psaki said of Mr Biden's trip to Europe.

"But there are no plans to travel into Ukraine."

The White House said Mr Biden will host a call on Monday with Boris Johnson, Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, to discuss their coordinated responses to Russias invasion of Ukraine.

02:57 AM

'There can be no question of any surrender'

Ukraine will not give up the city of Mariupol and lay down arms, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said early on Monday.

The Russian defence ministry said Ukrainian and foreign armed units must drop their weapons without exception and leave between 7am and 9am (UK time) on Monday, in exchange for safe passage out of town.

Mariupol residents were given until 5am (local time) to respond to the demand, which included them raising a white flag. Russia did not say what action it would take if the offer were rejected.

"There can be no question of any surrender, laying down of arms," the Ukrainska Pravda news portal quoted Ms Vereshchuk as saying.

"We have already informed the Russian side about this."

Russian Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev said Russian forces would allow two corridors out of the coastal city, heading either east towards Russia or west to other parts of Ukraine.

Ms Vereshchuk said: "I wrote: 'Instead of wasting time on eight pages of letters, just open the corridor.'"

02:44 AM

Frantic search for survivors after four killed in Kyiv shelling

Rescuers attempt to save a person trapped under the rubble - State Emergency Service of Ukraine

Shelling hit residential houses and a shopping district in Kyiv's Podil district late on Sunday, killing at least four people, city authorities said.

The video from a security camera of the Retroville shopping mall in Kyiv allegedly shows the recent attack in the capital's Podil district.



Video: Proof of war in Ukraine/Telegram pic.twitter.com/6vTiQKhXOW  The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 20, 2022

"According to the information we have at the moment, several homes and one of the shopping centres [were hit]," city mayor Vitali Klitschko said on his Telegram channel.

He said rescue teams were putting out a large fire at the shopping centre, while other details are still to be confirmed.

Firefighters work to rescue people stranded beneath the rubble after a blast hits a shopping centre in Kyiv - State Emergency Service of Ukraine

The Kyiv department of the state emergency service said four people had been killed.

Ukrainian police officers stand near a warehouse that was hit by the debris of a downed rocket in Kyiv - FADEL SENNA/AFP

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has killed thousands of people, displaced more than three million and raised fears of a wider confrontation between Russia and the United States.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says the "special military operation" is aimed at disarming Ukraine and rooting out dangerous nationalists.

02:37 AM

In pictures: Kyiv remains under attack

Members of the Ukrainian Territorial Defence Forces point their rifles at a possible drone near a residential building that was hit by debris from a downed rocket in Kyiv - FADEL SENNA/AFP)

Fire burns after a blast hits a shopping centre, in Kyiv - State Emergency Service of Ukraine

A woman leaves her apartment after a warehouse was hit by debris from a downed rocket in Kyiv - FADEL SENNA/AFP

01:53 AM

Russia threatens Ukraine over 'horrible crimes and provocations'

Russia gave Mariupol an ultimatum late on Sunday, urging its defenders to surrender before 5am on Monday.

"We call on units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, territorial defence battalions, foreign mercenaries to stop hostilities, lay down their arms and, along the humanitarian corridors agreed with the Ukrainian side, enter the territories controlled by Kyiv," said Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the Russian National Defence Control Centre.

The Russian defence ministry, addressing Mariupol authorities on messaging app Telegram, wrote: "You are the ones who now have the right to make a historic choice - either you are with your people or you are with the criminals.

"Otherwise, the court martial that awaits you is only a little of what you have already earned because of your despicable attitude toward your own citizens, as well as the horrible crimes and provocations you have committed."

Mariupol, a strategic, mostly Russian-speaking port in the southeast, has been one of the main targets of Moscow's attacks.

01:27 AM

Russia warns authorities not to side with 'bandits'

Mariupol Mayor Piotr Andryushchenko has also rejected Russia's demands.

He said in a Facebook post that he did not need to wait until morning to respond, and cursed at the Russians, according to news agency Interfax Ukraine.

The Russian Ministry of Defence said authorities in Mariupol could face a military tribunal if they sided with what it described as "bandits", the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported.

A Ukrainian man carries his belongings while walking along a road past tanks of pro-Russian troops on the outskirts of the besieged southern port city of Mariupol - REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko

Previous bids to allow residents to evacuate Mariupol and other Ukrainian cities have failed or have been only partially successful, with bombardments continuing as civilians sought to flee.

12:48 AM

'Lay down your arms,' Russia demands

Russia said a "terrible humanitarian catastrophe" was unfolding in Mariupol.

"Lay down your arms," Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, the director of the Russian National Centre for Defence Management, said in a briefing distributed by the defence ministry.

"A terrible humanitarian catastrophe has developed," Mizintsev said. "All who lay down their arms are guaranteed safe passage out of Mariupol."

12:45 AM

Three weeks without water, electricity or gas in Mariupol

City officials and aid groups say food, water and electricity have run low in Mariupol and fighting has kept out humanitarian convoys. Communications are severed.

The strategic port has been under bombardment for more than three weeks and has seen some of the worst horrors of the war. City officials said at least 2,300 people had died, with some buried in mass graves.

Some who were able to flee Mariupol tearfully hugged relatives as they arrived by train on Sunday in Lviv, about 1,100km (680 miles) to the west.

"Battles took place over every street. Every house became a target," said Olga Nikitina, who was embraced by her brother as she got off the train. "Gunfire blew out the windows. The apartment was below freezing."

Maryna Galla narrowly escaped with her 13-year-old son. She said she huddled in the basement of a cultural centre along with about 250 people for three weeks without water, electricity or gas.

"We left (home) because shells hit the houses across the road. There was no roof. There were people injured," Ms Galla said.

Her mother, father and grandparents stayed behind and "don't even know that we have left".

12:17 AM

Putin 'moving his forces into a woodchipper'

A Ukrainian serviceman walks towards the frontline in the city of Irpin, northern Ukraine - ARIS MESSINIS/AFP

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said Ukrainian resistance means Putin's "forces on the ground are essentially stalled".

"It's had the effect of him moving his forces into a woodchipper," Mr Austin told CBS on Sunday.

12:16 AM

'Very violent and bloody' stalemate

Russian forces entered Mariupol in recent days - cutting it off from the sea and devastating a massive steel plant. But taking the city could prove costly.

"The block-by-block fighting in Mariupol itself is costing the Russian military time, initiative, and combat power," the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said in a briefing.

In a blunt assessment, the think tank concluded that Russia failed in its initial campaign to take the capital of Kyiv and other major cities quickly, and its stalled invasion is creating conditions for a "very violent and bloody" stalemate.

12:00 AM

Today's top stories
Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Biden





Russia on Monday said it had summoned the U.S. ambassador to Moscow for a meeting to provide him a "note of protest" over President Biden's criticisms of Russia's war on Ukraine.

The tough statement from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned that that relations between Moscow and the U.S. could be completely severed because of Biden's remarks and steps by the U.S. government to punish Russia over its invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

"It is emphasized that such statements by the American President, unworthy of a statesman of such a high rank, put Russian-American relations on the verge of breaking," the statement read, according to an English translation. "They warned that hostile actions taken against Russia would receive a decisive and firm rebuff."

Biden has in recent days called Russian President Vladimir Putin a "war criminal," a "thug" and a "murderous dictator" because of the atrocities committed by Russian forces during their nearly four-week military invasion of Ukraine.

The Russia statement said it had summoned U.S. Ambassador John Sullivan and handed him a "note of protest" over the "unacceptable statements."

State Department spokesperson Ned Price later confirmed to reporters that Sullivan met Russian officials and said the ambassador raised the cases of U.S. citizens detained in Russia.

"Ambassador Sullivan took advantage of this encounter to demand that the Russian government follow international law, and basic human decency for that matter, and allow consular access to all U.S. citizen detainees in Russia, including those in pretrial detention," Price said during a briefing, declining to characterize the message that the Kremlin sent to Sullivan.

The U.S. and its allies have imposed crippling sanctions on Russian banks and elites in response to the invasion, which has killed thousands and displaced millions in Ukraine.

Story continues

Biden called Putin a war criminal last week in an off-the-cuff statement to a reporter after the White House had resisted doing so before a legal process could play out. Secretary of State Antony Blinken later said he personally agreed with the president's assessment.

Russia has launched strikes on civilian areas in Ukraine, including a theater and art school in Mariupol, and Putin as a result has been accused of committing war crimes. The Biden administration has made clear that any deliberate targeting of civilians would constitute a war crime.

The White House said last week that the U.S. has maintained a line of communication with Russia largely through Sullivan at the embassy in Moscow.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan also spoke with a senior Russian official last week to warn against the use of chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, the most senior-level engagement between the two governments since the invasion began.

Updated at 2:42 p.m.
By Jon Nazca

GIBRALTAR (Reuters) - A luxurious super-yacht linked to the owner of Russia's largest steel pipe maker, who is currently under British and European Union sanctions, docked in Gibraltar on Monday and was then detained by the authorities.

Western sanctions on Russian oligarchs over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine have triggered an exodus of luxury yachts from Europe in recent weeks, with several heading towards the Maldives, which has no extradition treaty with the United States.

Reuters TV footage showed the "Axioma", believed to be owned by Dmitrievich Pumpyansky, owner of steel group TMK, moored at Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory on the southern tip of the Iberian peninsula, flying a Maltese flag.

Britain imposed sanctions on hundreds of Russian individuals and entities last week, enabling authorities to freeze their assets.

Refinitiv data show the 72-metre vessel is owned by a British Virgin Islands holding company called Pyrene investments. An article published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists as part of the Panama Papers leaks names Pumpyansky as a beneficiary of the holding.

Forbes and specialist publication Superyacht Fan also list him as the Axioma's owner.

The Gibraltar government confirmed in a statement that the Axioma had arrived in port after asking permission to enter and "was confirmed to be the subject of an arrest action by a leading international bank in the Supreme Court of Gibraltar".

"The vessel is now subject to arrest by the Admiralty Marshal until further order," it said, without specifying the legal claims from creditors against the vessel or the vessel's owner.

Refinitiv shipping data showed the Axioma left the Caribbean island of Antigua on Feb. 27 and spent the past three weeks crossing the Atlantic before reaching Gibraltar.

Earlier on Monday, a vessel linked to Roman Abramovich, the sanctioned owner of Chelsea football club, docked in the seaside city of Bodrum in southwest Turkey.

(Reporting by Jon Nazca, additional reporting by Joan Faus; Writing by Nathan Allen; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
A still of a broadcast from Russia's Channel one showing Marina Ovsyannikova holding an anti-war banner. Channel One

A top exec at Russia's state-owned Channel One addressed the on-air protest against the Ukraine war.

Marina Ovsyannikova said Russian media was pushing lies about the invasion.

He accused Ovsyannikova of colluding with the UK embassy to stage the protest.

Russia's state-owned Channel One network accused the producer who staged an on-air protest against the Ukraine invasion of colluding with the UK to betray her country.

Kirill Kleimyonov, head of Channel One's news division, claimed in Monday on-air remarks that Marina Ovsyannikova had been in contact with the UK embassy before her protest, and that she "betrayed [her] country and all of us."

"Marina Ovsyannikova spoke with the British embassy. Who of you has ever negotiated with a foreign embassy? Not with the visa center, but with the embassy, with its employee  even if he, as they say, is in civilian clothes. I, for one, never did," Kleimyonov said, without providing evidence for his claim.

"I mean to call a spade a spade, that's all. An emotional outburst is one thing, but betrayal is quite another."

"And when a person betrays her country and at the same time all of us  people with whom she worked side by side for almost 20 years  betrays in a cold, calculated way, for a firmly agreed bonus," he said, again without providing evidence for his claim that she financially benefitted from the protest.

"Betrayal is always a personal choice, you can't save a person from it, as you know. But it is imperative to call a spade a spade," he said.

Ovsyannikova's attorney and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Ovsyannikova interrupted a live broadcast on the Ukraine invasion holding up a sign that said "Don't believe the propaganda" and "They are lying to you here" in Russian, and "No war" in English.

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Russian officials accused her of staging an "unauthorized" demonstration, and she was fined 30,000 rubles ($280) for the protest. There are concerns that she could face further criminal charges.

Russian state media has long been tightly controlled by the Kremlin, with journalists rarely deviating from the official line promoted by the government.

The Russian media has echoed Russian President Vladimir Putin in portraying the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine as a mission to "denazify" the country. A recent bill also outlawed describing the conflict as a "war," compelling many foreign media outlets to leave the country.

Putin also alleged in a speech last week that "fifth columnist" traitors in Russia were seeking to betray the country.

Ovsyannikova, who has since left her job at Channel One, told ABC News on Sunday that she held the protest to expose how Russian state media was feeding the Russian public falsehoods about the war.

"I could show to the Russian people that this is just propaganda, expose this propaganda for what it is and maybe stimulate some people to speak up against the war," she said.

Ovsyannikova also said French President Emmanuel Macron had offered her political asylum, but she refused the offer.

"I am very worried for the safety of my children, first and foremost. And I'm very grateful to Mr. Macron for his offer, but I have publicly refused to take political asylum in France because I am a patriot," she said.

"And now I believe in the history of my country. The times are very dark and very difficult, and every person who has a civil position who wants to make that civil position known must speak up."

Translations by Oleksandr Vynogradov.

Read the original article on Business Insider
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates  Saudi Arabia said Monday that it won't bear any responsibility" for a shortage in global oil supplies after a fierce barrage of attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels affected production in the kingdom, the world's largest oil exporter.

The unusually stark warning marked a departure from the giant oil producer's typically cautious statements, as Saudi officials remain aware that even their smallest comments can swing the price of oil and rattle global markets.

The state-run Saudi Press Agency quoted the Saudi Foreign Ministry as saying that the kingdom declares that it will not bear any responsibility for any shortage in oil supplies to global markets in light of the attacks on its oil facilities.

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The announcement comes as the kingdom remains in lockstep with OPEC and other oil-producing countries in a deal limiting production increases. Gulf Arab oil producers have so far resisted pressure from the Biden administration to pump more crude to help bring down oil prices that have soared amid Russia's war on Ukraine.

The state oil firm Saudi Aramco said Sunday its 2021 net income was $110 billion, more than doubling the $49 billion a year before, The New York Times reported. Aramco, which is 98% owned by the Saudi government, will invest up to $50 billion in increasing its capacity, including a move to shale drilling, the report said.

A photographer takes pictures of the Khurais oil field east-northeast of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, during a tour for journalists on June 28, 2021.

Amid inflation and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, gasoline prices have hit record highs around the world. Gas prices in the U.S. topped $4.25 on Monday, according to auto club AAA, just below the historic record of $4.33 reached earlier this month.

The international community must assume its responsibility to preserve energy supplies," the Saudi statement said, in order to deter attacks that jeopardize the kingdoms production capability and its ability to fulfill its commitments."

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Crude oil up this week

The international oil benchmark Brent crude hovered over $112 a barrel in trading Monday, up more than 4% for the preceding session. The price remained below a peak of nearly $140 hit earlier this month, but still some $15 a barrel more than before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

On Sunday, Yemen's Iran-backed rebels launched one of their most intense series of attacks targeting the kingdom's oil and natural gas production, sparking a fire at a petroleum distribution center in the port of Jiddah, the countrys second-largest city, and disrupting production at a petrochemicals complex in Yanbu on the Red Sea coast.

INFLATION: It's not just high gas prices: The price of citrus fruit increased with inflation, CPI report shows

The overall extent of damage at the installations remained unclear. The Saudi Energy Ministry acknowledged a temporary drop in oil output at the 400,000-barrel-a-day Yanbu site, without elaborating.

The government condemned the attacks as a threat to the security of global oil supplies in these extremely sensitive circumstances."

Even before Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, global energy supplies were struggling to keep pace with surging post-pandemic demand. The West's punitive sanctions on Moscow, among the world's largest oil producers and exporters, unleashed more turmoil on the market.

Biden backs Saudis in Yemeni war

The wave of Houthi strikes began before dawn on Sunday and sporadically pounded sites throughout the kingdom's south and west for hours, with the roar and thump of missile interceptors rattling residents in Jiddah until just before midnight.

The attacks on installations run by the state-controlled national oil company Aramco, among the world's most significant and valuable companies, exposed the gaps in Saudi defenses and recalled the dramatic attacks on two key oil installations in the country's east that temporarily knocked out half of Saudi Arabias total oil production.

The Houthis claimed responsibility for that sophisticated attack in September 2019, which the U.S. and Riyadh later blamed on Iran. Even after shrapnel blasted through the critical Abqaiq oil processing facility, Saudi Arabia delivered no such similar warning about its responsibility for global oil supplies and swinging prices. Instead the kingdom stressed it would speedily return to normal levels of production.

After Sunday's strikes, the White House pledged to support Saudi Arabia's defenses and denounced the Houthis as proxies of Iran. A senior administration official confirmed that the United States has transferred a significant number of Patriot antimissile interceptors to help Saudi Arabia thwart the barrage of Houthi drone and missile attacks.

Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Saudi oil firm profits doubled; it won't pump more as gas prices spike
A school security officer held his knee on a 12-year-old girl's neck for more than 20 seconds while breaking up a fight at a school in Kenosha, Wisconsin, earlier this month, according to surveillance footage.

Released by the Kenosha Unified School District (KUSD) on Friday, the video of the March 4 incident shows the officer, Shawn Guetschow, pulling apart two students fighting in the Lincoln Middle School cafeteria. The video then shows him holding one of them on the ground, pressing his knee on her neck for more than 20 seconds.

The school surveillance footage was released following sustained public pressure on the school district over the incident, which was caught on cellphone camera and subsequently went viral.

Drew DeVinney, an attorney representing the girl's father, Jerrel Perez, told BuzzFeed News in a statement that his client was "appalled" by the video.

"Officer Guetschow gripped his hand around Mr. Perez's daughter's neck and pushed her neck and head into the cafeteria floor. He then placed his knee on her neck and knelt down with the full weight of his body for an unconscionable duration," he said. "This was a cruel and heartless act of violence aimed at a child and is unacceptable in our society."

In addition to his job as a school security officer, Guetschow has been an officer with the Kenosha Police Department for four years. He was not on duty for the department while working at the school. The school district initially placed him on paid leave after the incident, but he resigned March 15, citing the "mental and emotional strain" it has caused his family, as well as the school district's "lack of communication and/or support."

The Kenosha Police Department said Saturday evening that he was still employed with the department, adding, "We continue our investigation, paying careful attention to the entire scope of the incident."

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Guetschow is still employed with KPD. We continue our investigation, paying careful attention to the entire scope of the incident. We have no further update at this time. 09:32 PM - 19 Mar 2022

Law enforcement chokeholds were banned in Wisconsin "except in life-threatening situations or in self-defense" in June 2021. It was part of a series of police reform bills that Wisconsin passed in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests over George Floyd's murder in 2020.

At a March 16 press conference, the girl's father said he plans to sue Guetschow, the Kenosha Unified School District, and the Kenosha Police Department.

"She's humiliated, she's traumatized," Perez said about his daughter. "Every day I gotta hear, 'Daddy, I don't want to go to school.'"

Tanya Ruder, a spokesperson for KUSD, declined to comment further to BuzzFeed News, citing potential legal action.

Perez also said he wants Guetschow to face criminal charges. "If it was me or another parent or any adult that put their knee on a kid, that would be abuse," he said. "Why does that make you any different?"

DeVinney said the girl was evaluated at the hospital for neck injuries and concussion symptoms after the incident. Perez said that she was receiving therapy and is expected to see a neurologist to determine the severity of her injuries.

Perez learned about the incident from police, and his attorney confirmed to BuzzFeed News that a juvenile charge was referred against the girl. When police called Perez, they claimed his daughter got into a fight and that she "supposedly punched" an officer who was involved, he said.

The viral cellphone video of the incident shows the girl throwing punches in the direction of the other student, with Guetschow inserting himself between them. He falls backward while grabbing the girl and hits his head on a table before holding her down.

"At no point did Jerrel's daughter push or strike at this officer," DeVinney said. The girl was a victim of bullying and was defending herself against another student who was assaulting her, he added.
Siri Singh Sahib Corporation calls for peace and support for those affected by the conflict in Ukraine

PR Newswire

ESPANOLA, N.M., March 21, 2022

3HO, Sikh Dharma raise funds for aid, with their European communities leading the way

ESPANOLA, N.M., March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Siri Singh Sahib Corporation, a group of religious and spiritual organizations dedicated to the betterment of individuals and communities worldwide, and its global community of Sikhs, spiritual leaders, Kundalini Yoga teachers, students and volunteers are uniting in a call for peace and support for those affected by the conflict in Ukraine.

The 3HO community and Sikh Dharma International were recently invited to pray for peace at the United Nations Church Center as part of a multifaith prayer service for Ukraine organized by the Parliament of the World's Religions and the Committee of Religious NGOs.

"Our global communities have been watching the events in Ukraine unfold with deep concern," said Sikh Dharma International's Secretary-General, Gurujot Kaur Khalsa. "Some of our community members are in Ukraine with their neighborhoods under attack, and others are fleeing or completely unreachable. We pray for their safety. Still others are volunteering in refugee centers across Europe or are in Russia praying for peace. We stand united in our call for peace and support for those affected."

3HO Europe and Sikh Dharma International are raising money for direct aid to Ukrainian refugees. Those who wish to offer their support can make a donation via the European portal or the North American portal.

3HO Germany, the Malaysian Sangat and the Guru Ram Das Aquarian Academy have partnered with the Sikh American Veterans Alliance and the Raj Khalsa Gurdwara in Virginia to provide up to $50,000 in matching aid funds, which will double the dollars raised by the fellowship.

3HO Europe started the efforts with the global launch of a 40-day meditation for peace on Feb. 27; 40 musicians and 40 teachers have signed up to participate. To join a meditation and prayer session, visit https://tockify.com/3hoeuropecalendar/detail/2/1645988400000.

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About the Siri Singh Sahib Corporation



The Siri Singh Sahib Corporation is a group of religious and spiritual organizations dedicated to selfless service and the betterment of individuals and communities worldwide. The SSSC supports its sister nonprofit and for-profit organizations and serves and elevates its constituent community of Sikhs, spiritual leaders, Kundalini Yoga teachers, students and volunteers around the world. For more information, visit www.ssscorp.org.

Media contact:

Wendy Lane Stevens

wendy.lane@finnpartners.com

503.490.2904

Cision

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/siri-singh-sahib-corporation-calls-for-peace-and-support-for-those-affected-by-the-conflict-in-ukraine-301505942.html

SOURCE Siri Singh Sahib Corporation
The Bolivian soldier who earned the admiration of Cuban exiles by executing Ernesto Che Guevara is dead in 1967 died earlier this month. Thats big news for Miamis historic Cuban exile community.

They consider Teran, 80, who was following orders from his government when he fatally shot Guevara 55 years ago, a hero.

Without apology, exiles despise Guevara for his role in Cubas 1959 revolution, which has landed his image on t-shirts, advertising, and posters. Its a glorifying Guevara that baffles them.

And they have good reason to hate him. Guevara executed more than 500 Cubans in treason trials after the revolution. There is even a website called: The Secret Victims of Che Guevara.

Seven decades after his death, any public honoring of Guevara or his image in South Florida is met with outrage. And it should be.

Miami exile, former Bay of Pigs veteran and CIA operative Felix Rodriguez remembers Teran well. He was there the day Teran executed Guevara.

Sent by the CIA to Bolivia, Rodriguez was among the last people to speak to the Argentine rebel leader on Oct. 9, 1967. Rodriguez has written a book and has been interviewed countless times about his experience that day.

In memory of the late Teran, Rodriguez recapped that day for the Editorial Board in the hopes of explaining Cubans hatred of Guevara, who was leading another Marxist insurrection when he was captured.

In Miami, Rodriguez said his CIA case manager approached him. He had an assignment for him and a handful of other Cuban exiles. The CIA had intelligence that Che Guevara had left the Congo, where he had unsuccessfully tried to create a Marxist uprising, and instead was now in Bolivia doing the same in the countryside.

Was I interested in going to Bolivia to help capture Che, Rodriguez said he was asked; he couldnt say yes fast enough.

Rodriguezs job was to become embedded with the Bolivian soldiers tracking Guevara. Six months after the mission began, Bolivian soldiers encountered Guevara and his rebels. There was a firefight, and Guevara was wounded in the leg and captured. Rodriguez said the problem then became what to do with him. Do we kill him or take him prisoner?

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Rodriguez was ordered to detain Guevara in a Bolivian schoolhouse in the countryside until the highest levels of the Bolivian government decided Guevaras fate. Though he too hated Guevara, Rodriguez told the Board he was not oblivious that he witnessed the last few minutes of a mans life. He also reminded himself of how this man had killed so many Cubans.

Kill Guevara

As the highest-ranking officer at the scene, Rodriguez said he received orders he believes were approved by Bolivias president: Kill Guevara. 

He gave the bad news to Guevara, who had told them as they waited: Dont kill me; I am worth more to you alive than dead.

Rodriguez told him, Im sorry, comandante, but you will be executed. Guevara said: I should have never been captured.

To this day, Rodriguez says those words are up for interpretation. He knows that other Cubans with Guevara had been told to kill themselves instead of surrendering.

Guevara said two more things, Rodriguez remembers: Tell Fidel that the revolution will continue and will spread and tell my wife to remarry. Guevara then gave Rodriguez his pipe, which he later gave to Teran.

Rodriguez says he heard, but did not witness Guevaras execution. For years Teran kept secret that he had been the soldier at the schoolhouse who fired the fatal shot that killed Guevara. Many years later, he said that was the worst day of his life.

Glorifying Che

Rodriguez has never understood the glorification of Guevara. To remind himself of Guevaras cruelty, Rodriguez keeps one story fresh in his mind.

In the early days of the revolution, a tearful Cuban mother showed up at the central holding jail for political prisoners, called La Cabana,

She came to beg Guevara to have mercy on her teenage son, arrested for protesting against the rebels.

Comandante Guevara please release my son; hes only 15 and doesnt know what hes doing. He has been held for two weeks. I havent been able to sleep since he was arrested.

Guevara asked for the teen to be brought to him, Rodriguez said. The mother thought she had convinced the rebel leader; she was wrong.

 Your mother says she hasnt been able to sleep for two weeks because of you! Guevara screamed at the teen, then pulled out his gun, executed the teen in front of his mother, and walked away, smiling at his clever turn.

For Cubans, thats our memory of Guevara, Rodriguez said.

Luisa Yanez is an Editorial Board member for the Miami Herald and coordinator for the el Nuevo Herald Opinion pages.
Students at a vocational school study practical electronics in Handan, Hebei province, in April. [Photo/Xinhua]

The deep-rooted stigma attached to vocational education has prompted many lawmakers and political advisers to call for reforms.

Institutional barriers must be shattered to improve the status of such education in China, as it has long been stigmatized as an option reserved only for failing students, said Hu Wei, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and executive deputy director of the Shanghai branch of the China Vocational Education Association.

People have long held the perception that high school enrollment exams categorize students into regular high schools and secondary vocational schools based on their test scores, and that students with lower scores can only attend vocational schools, he said.

That belief has exacerbated exam-oriented competition and anxiety among students and parents and has deterred efforts to reduce the academic burden on primary and middle school students, Hu said.

Lu Xiaoguang, a member of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC National Committee, said the dividing of students into vocational education and regular education systems should not occur until all students finish high school to cultivate more high-skilled technical workers.

Currently, the divide happens after they have graduated from middle school, and students who go to secondary vocational schools do not have enough academic knowledge to master skills for high-end manufacturing, he told CPPCC Daily.

Online news outlet ThePaper.cn reported that a proposal made by the Central Committee of the China Association for Promoting Democracy to the annual session of the CPPCC National Committee also stressed the need to delay the division.

Regions with resources should allow all middle school graduates to go to regular high schools and start the separation of students at the higher-education level, the proposal said.

Other places can promote the integrated development of regular high schools and secondary vocational schools, and allow students in both to select each others' courses and exchange credits, it said.

Nearly 90 percent of secondary vocational school students in some schools choose to further their studies after graduating, and less than 10 percent start working, which goes against the employment-oriented nature of vocational education, it added.

However, the Ministry of Education recently dismissed appeals for the division of students into regular high schools and secondary vocational schools to be abandoned, calling the latter an important part of the country's high school education system.

Chen Ziji, director of the ministry's department of vocational and adult education, said it is "very necessary "to continue the division because secondary vocational schools can promote diversified development in students and have played an important role in boosting employment, regional economic development and improving people's livelihoods.

According to the latest figures from the ministry, the country had more than 13.1 million students attending secondary vocational schools last year. They accounted for 33 percent of all high school students, down 7 percentage points from 2020.

Zhang Zhiyong, a deputy to the National People's Congress and an education professor at Beijing Normal University, cited a survey conducted by the university's China Institute of Education and Social Development of 1.69 million parents, students, teachers and principals nationwide. Zhang, whose team led the survey, said it found that 30 percent of parents were unwilling to send their children to vocational schools.

The biggest obstacles to the development of vocational education in China include low social recognition, low quality of graduates and insufficient attention from local governments, the survey found.

The average salary of vocational school graduates is lower than for those who attend regular high schools, and such graduates face discrimination in employment and obtaining residency permits, Zhang said.

The preference for an academic background runs deep in society, and employers might even discriminate against students graduating from less-famous universities, let alone vocational school graduates, he said, adding that the government should take actions to address such discrimination.

In order to reverse the stigmatization, an independent exam should be established as the main channel for students to enroll in higher vocational schools and vocational colleges offering bachelor's degrees, Hu said.

Through such an exam, traditional universities and colleges, even those that are well known, could enroll vocational students for technical majors, Hu said.

Skilled workers are the backbone of Chinese brands, and they are cultivated through vocational education, he said, adding that high-quality vocational education teaches students both skills and knowledge while enabling them to learn a trade and become contributing members of society.
Two of the Supreme Court's conservatives said Monday that religious organizations should be fully exempt from nondiscrimination laws and free to hire only people who share their beliefs.

Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito made their views known as the court declined to take up a dispute over a Seattle religious nonprofit groups refusal to hire an applicant who was in a same-sex relationship. They agreed the case was at a preliminary stage and not yet ripe for their review, but they said the court should confront the issue in a future case.

Writing for both of them, Alito strongly suggested how they would rule in such a dispute: To force religious organizations to hire messengers and other personnel who do not share their religious views would undermine not only the autonomy of many religious organizations but also their continued viability.

Churches and religious institutions have a right to employ only people who agree with their religious views, the court has held, provided that the employees at issue perform a ministerial function. That means imparting religious doctrine, for example, or carrying out other kinds of duties that a cleric would perform.

The Seattle case presented an invitation to consider whether a religious nonprofit organization can require all employees to hold the same religious beliefs, regardless of whether they perform a strictly ministerial function.

The case involved a Christian nonprofit group in Washington state that cares for the homeless, Seattles Union Gospel Mission. It rejected an application for a legal aid position because the lawyer seeking the job, Matthew Woods, said he was in a same-sex relationship. The missions employee handbook prohibits homosexual behavior.

Woods sued, claiming the organization violated a state constitutional provision that bans job discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. A judge threw his suit out, saying small businesses and religious nonprofit groups were exempt from a state nondiscrimination law. But the Washington Supreme Court said the judge should reconsider whether Woods, acting as a lawyer, would actually perform a ministerial function.

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The conservative Alliance Defending Freedom, representing the mission, urged the U.S. Supreme Court to say that the exemption to discrimination laws should be a broad one, allowing religious organizations to maintain a community of like-minded believers.

Woods urged the Supreme Court not to take the case and instead to let the Washington state courts sort out whether the job he applied for would qualify for a ministerial exception.

Thomas and Alito said the court should not shy away from a future dispute that directly raises the issue.

The day may soon come when we must decide whether the autonomy guaranteed by the First Amendment protects religious organizations freedom to hire co-religionists without state or judicial interference, Alito wrote.
The Supreme Court on Monday seemed prepared to rule that North Carolina Republicans can step in to advocate for a voter ID law in court that they believe the states Democratic attorney general isnt fighting hard enough to defend.

The case presents a dispute about what happens in states where political parties dont control both the legislature and top elected offices; the law was passed by the states Republican-controlled Legislature, but the governor and his attorney general are Democrats.

The governor has been an implacable foe of this law, David Thompson, representing the Legislature, told the court during 70 minutes of courtroom argument.

North Carolina voters approved an amendment to the state Constitution in 2018 requiring a photo ID to vote in person at the polls. When the state Legislature passed a law to specify how the provision would work, it was vetoed by Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat. But the Legislature overrode his veto, and the measure was enacted.

The next day, the NAACP challenged the law in court. A federal judge found late the following year that the law intentionally discriminated against Black and Latino voters and unduly burdened the right to vote. The states Democratic attorney general, Josh Stein, has defended the law, but Republican legislators say the states defense has been half-hearted, more concerned with administrative issues than countering the discrimination claims.

Lower federal courts said the attorney general is doing an adequate job of defending the law, so the speaker of the state House of Representatives and the president pro tempore of the state Senate asked the Supreme Court to let them intervene in the case. State law explicitly gives them the authority to defend the laws that they pass, Thompson said.

Some of the courts liberals questioned that position.

Whats the conflict? Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked. The attorney general says the law is constitutional.

Justice Elena Kagan, meanwhile, wondered what would happen if the leaders of the state House and Senate were in different political parties.

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Elisabeth Theodore, representing the NAACP, urged the court to block the GOP leaders' move, citing federal court rules that say a party seeking to intervene in a case must overcome a presumption that the existing party is doing an adequate job.

Theres a strong federal interest in having states speak in court with a single voice, she said, rather than having different state agencies duke it out in federal court.

Sarah Boyce, the state's deputy solicitor general, said the attorney general is making the same legal arguments about the laws constitutionality that the Legislature would. Theres no daylight between their position and ours," she said. "Theres no evidence they want to put on that we wont.

But several members of the court said the Legislature should be allowed into the case. A state legislature, in an election case, has a pretty strong interest, Justice Stephen Breyer said.

Chief Justice John Roberts told Theodore, It does seem a little unfair to me that you want to pick your opponents in court. What are you afraid of?

The voter ID law in the background of the case is not one of the nations more demanding ones. The National Conference of State Legislatures classifies it as non-strict.

The law would allow voters who show up to the polls without an ID to cast a provisional ballot which will be counted if they later present a qualifying ID to the county board of elections. But another provision said the ballot must be counted if the voter states that a reasonable impediment prevented getting the required ID.

The NAACP challengers have not been able to identify a single person in the state of North Carolina who would not qualify for the reasonable impairment categories, Thompson said.

The federal appeals court reversed the trial judge on the question of whether the law discriminates. But the photo ID requirement remains blocked because of a separate challenge in state court. A panel of judges said in September of last year that the law was motivated at least in part by an unconstitutional intent to target African American voters.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP)  Schools for all students will open this week, Afghanistan's Taliban-run Education Ministry announced Monday in the clearest sign yet that girls will be allowed back in school.

Girls have been denied education beyond Grade 6 since the Taliban swept back into power last August.

The international community has been relentless in urging Afghanistans Taliban rulers to allow girls to return to school. Earlier this year, the new rulers opened up universities for women, although classes are gender segregated. They also promised girls would be allowed to return to classes in all grades following the Afghan new year, which was being celebrated Monday.

The statement said classes will start Wednesday.

The ministry statement does not refer specifically to girls but it says: The education ministry assures the nation it is committed to the right to education of all its citizens.

The statement says the ministry is also working hard to eliminate all kinds of discrimination, without elaborating. It urges all Afghans to send their children to schools or madrassas, which are religious educational facilities.

The Taliban rulers have not imposed restriction on the types of courses that women attending university can take. But music, which had previously been taught, is no longer available. While the Taliban have not banned music and musicians have occasionally appeared on local TV, music is frowned upon by the hard-line religion-driven rulers.

When they last ruled, music was banned, girls were denied education and women were not allowed to work and were required to wear the all encompassing burqa. The Taliban were ousted in 2001 by a U.S.-led coalition.

After sweeping back into power last August following America's chaotic end to 20 years of war in Afghanistan, a nervous international community watched as Taliban sent women home from work and closed public universities in all but 10 provinces. They allowed only boys to attend school beyond Grade 7.

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The Taliban have not re-imposed the burqa, though women are required to wear the hijab, which can be any covering including a large shawl provided the head is covered.

The Taliban rulers have also allowed women back to work in the health and education ministries and at Kabul's international airport, where they are at passport control and customs. They have also returned to work in the private sector and for non-government aid organizations.

Still, in other ministries women are not back on the job.

The World Food Program will be stepping up its school meals program and will offer cash assistance to high school girls to encourage them to stay in school.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine takes the podium as House speaker Larry Householder, right, and Senate President Larry Obhof, left, greet him during his first State of the State address on Tuesday, March 5, 2019 inside the Ohio House of Representatives' Hall at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio.

After winning his dream job, Gov. Mike DeWine kicked off his first term with an ambitious speech, laying out plans to fix Ohio's bridges, waterways, schools and infant mortality rates.

When he took office in 2019, he pushed to raise the gas tax, created a new way to fund water projects and designated wraparound dollars to Ohio's most vulnerable children.

Then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

DeWine went two years without giving another state of the state address. He oversaw shutdowns, mask mandates and a vaccination effort. His plans for Dr. Amy Acton's role in his administration drastically changed too.

Despite these challenges, DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney thought the governor accomplished or laid the foundation for "a lot of the big ticket items."

"Overall, we would probably look back on it as a pretty good batting average for that speech," he said.

DeWine will deliver his state of the state address Wednesday. We reviewed DeWine's pre-pandemic plans to see which initiatives succeeded, which ones remain in progress and how COVID-19 impacted his agenda.

Raising the gas tax

DeWine started his 2019 speech by telling lawmakers Ohio's roads and bridges had been neglected for too long.

"We now face a crisis today that must be addressed immediately," DeWine said. "We must fill our potholes. We must bolster our bridges. And we must re-build our roads."

To do that, he asked state lawmakers to raise the state gas tax by 18 cents per gallon. A move that would generate $1.2 billion annually.

"It is the smallest amount we can add that will keep our families safe," DeWine said.

Republicans weren't convinced, but lawmakers eventually compromised on a 10.5-cent per gallon increase for gasoline and a 19 cents for diesel fuel.

But gas prices were much lower then.

Gasoline averaged $2.60 per gallon in March 2019, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The pandemic pushed prices down to $1.44. But now Ohioans are paying around $4 per gallon because of the war in Ukraine.

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Republican state Sen. Steve Huffman wants to roll DeWine's gas taxes backat least temporarilybut the governor says local governments still need those dollars.

I think people would be very surprised if they found in six months that their roads are not being repaired, DeWine told reporters.

Huffman's tax cut would cost about $4 billion over the next five years, according to the state Department of Transportation.

Clean water

"From aging infrastructure to failing septic systems to threats of lead contamination," DeWine gave lawmakers a list of reasons for investing in water projects.

"We cannot continue to lurch from water crisis to water crisis," he said.

So, DeWine asked for a new way to fund these projects from surplus budget dollars. It was called H2Ohio.

Lawmakers seeded this fund with a modest amount of state dollars before the pandemic, but H2Ohio got a $250 million boost from the federal COVID relief funds.

"The focus wasn't on where the funding comes from," Tierney said. "But on an agreement to tackle the issue."

The fund has helped pay for 54 water projects across 60 Ohio counties so far.

School funding

DeWine asked for millions of wraparound service dollars for K-12 children.

Tierney said the idea came to him after talking with teachers about the challenges students face outside the classroom.

"If hunger is an issue in that community, the school can use wraparound services to make sure kids are fed," Tierney said.

Lawmakers liked the idea. They allocated money for it in the 2020-2021 budget, but those dollars were folded into the new school funding formula for fiscal years 2022 and 2023.

Ohio Education Association President Scott DiMauro said the change provided schools with a more stable way to fund these services.

What he hopes to hear from the governor on Wednesday is a renewal of his 2019 dedication to "meeting the needs of the whole child."

"Unfortunately, in the context of all this controversy related to race and equity, you seem to have some extremists on the State Board of Education calling into question the need to focus on social emotional learning."

That's something DeWine specifically mentioned in his first state of the state speech.

"He has been on the right side of this issue from early in his administration," DiMauro said. "We hope he stands up against these extremists and shows leadership on these issues."

Infant mortality

DeWine received applause for his promise to cut the infant mortality rate for Black infants.

At the time, Black children were three times more likely to die before their first birthdays than white children.

DeWine said that had to stop, but the work to lower infant mortality rates began years before he took office. State lawmakers created the Ohio Commission on Infant Mortality in 2014, and they funded a pilot project in 2016.

But lowering the rate has proven to be a tricky task. In December 2020, the Ohio Department of Health released a report showing racial disparities getting worse despite years of efforts to close the gap.

Opioids and addiction

The governor dedicated several minutes in his 2019 address to the impact of the opioid crisis.

One idea he put forth was the creation of a "new highly specialized narcotics intelligence unit" called the Ohio Narcotics Intelligence Center.

It received $13 million in the last two-year budget and has offices in Columbus and Cleveland with additional offices scheduled to open in Toledo and Cincinnati.

Most local law enforcement agencies don't have the technology or resources to analyze phones and other digital devices that connect buyers and sellers, according to the Ohio Department of Public Safety. The new center connects those dots.

ONIC has analyzed about 4,300 cell phones and assisted in 820 criminal investigations since its creation.

DeWine also promised to "dramatically increase" the number of specialty or drug courts that divert people into treatment instead of jail.

His success on that front has been a "mixed bag," said Micah Derry, the bail reform campaign director for Arnold Ventures.

He worked on two bills during the last General Assembly, House Bill 1 (which passed) and Senate Bill 3 (which did not).

Both bills were about criminal justice reform, but Derry said SB 3 had the potential to give DeWine "complete success on this state of the state promise."

"HB 1 was a good bill," he said. "But it was a half measure."

Gun legislation

Although the governor didn't mention gun control in the 2019 speech, he laid out an ambitious set of reformsespecially for a Republicanin the first year of his term.

STRONG Ohio was his plan to "do something" in the wake of the Dayton mass shooting that killed nine people and injured 27 more in August 2019.

The bill would have expanded civil commitment or pink slip laws, increased penalties for certain gun crimes and created a voluntary background check system for private firearm sales.

It never got a vote, but state lawmakers did send him two pieces of legislation expanding gun rights instead. DeWine signed a stand your ground law in 2021, and a law eliminating concealed carry permits in 2022.

Gun control advocates called those signatures a betrayal of his "do something" promises, but groups like the Buckeye Firearms Association said DeWine fulfilled the promises he made to them.

Anna Staver is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: From gas taxes to education: How did DeWine's 2019 promises play out?
The Thai woman who returned to her home country after supposedly being saved from a Chinese organ harvesting gang" in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, earlier this month has confessed to fabricating the whole ordeal.



Thai deputy national police chief Pol Gen Roy Inkhapairote confirmed the news of the womans false claims at a joint Thai-Cambodianpolice conference on Friday. The media gathering was reportedly held to disprove the womans story.









After extensive questioning, the 25-year-old woman from Bangkok confessed that she made up the entire story about being saved just moments before a gang of Chinese organ harvesters could operate on her in Cambodia. Prior to her confession, the Khmer Times ran an investigative piece that was later corroborated by the Thai police.



Speaking to investigators, the woman confessed that she lied to expedite her return to Thailand in the hopes of reuniting with her Thai boyfriend. The woman, whose name has yet to be disclosed, has been charged for giving a false statement following her confession. If convicted, she could spend up to three years in jail and have to pay a fine of 6,000 Thai baht (approximately $179).



Even before the confession, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Preah Sihanouk provincial police chief had already expressed their doubts, calling the womans story baseless and implausible. Investigators reportedly checked the hospital where the woman supposedly recovered after being rescued, but there were no records of her.



The Khmer Times investigative piece also shed light on the inconsistencies in her story.



How did the taxi driver know where she had escaped from that he took her, in an unconscious state, back to her starting point? officials told the publication. The fact is that there are thousands of people working in the illegal online and scamming industry. Many of them without making such frivolous and outrageous claims when they find themselves unable to perform whatever tasks they were hired to do.



According to the womans claims, she was allegedly tricked into working at a Chinese-operated call center in Cambodia, which later turned out to be a scam operation targeting Thai people. She said she was tortured after refusing to cooperate before she escaped her captors and hired a taxi driver to bring her to safety in Poi Pet on the Cambodia-Thailand border. The driver reportedly told the woman he had to stop to pick up another man, then suggested resting at a hotel.



The woman told Police Lieutenant General Surachate Hakparn that the last thing she could recall was falling unconscious at the hotel. She claimed to have eventually woken up inside a room near the Vietnam border, surrounded by what she described as surgical equipment.



The alleged victim was saved in the nick of time by Cambodian authorities. She was then rushed to the hospital, where she supposedly spent days recovering before her return to Thailand on March 9.



The womans story has reportedly hurt the reputation of Cambodia, especially Sihanoukville, a city described as a melting pot which has seen the most development in the past several years, Preah Sihanouk Provincial Police Chief Major General Chuon Narin told the Khmer Times.



Something like this should not have happened, Narin added. True or not, the story has caused fear about living in Sihanoukville and Cambodia as a whole.



The Cambodian Special Branch Police Commissioner also denied the womans claim that "there are more than 1,000 Thais being forced to work illegally in Cambodia, in prison-like conditions," adding that they had earlier rescued four Chinese individuals who falsely claimed they were forced to work illegally in the country.



Image: Thai PBS





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Former president Donald Trump has promised to return to the White House at the "American Freedom Tour" in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

With the support of everyone in this room, we will take back the House, we will take back the Senate and we will take back our country, he said.

Mr Trump added: "And then most importantly in 2024, we are going to take back our beautiful White House".

He has continued to drop hints about his 2024 presidential run but has not announced any formal plans so far.

Following his remarks, Congresswoman Liz Cheney on Sunday warned that Mr Trump could face criminal penalties over the 6 January riots at Capitol Hill.

The Republican leader told NBCs Meet the Press that the House investigating committee is considering whether to recommend criminal punishment for the kind of supreme dereliction of duty that you saw with President Trump.

Key points

Donald Trump promises to return to White House

Mike Pence distances himself from Donald Trump

Cheney warns of possible criminal penalties for Trump

Trumps chief of staff was on call planning march to Capitol: report

ICYMI: GOP Senate candidates tussle on stage in Ohio

10:19 , Andrew Naughtie

The two frontrunners in Ohios crowded GOP Senate primary, Josh Mandel and Mike Gibbons, had an exceptionally low-ugly run-in on a debate stage recently  and their campaigns are now arguing who used a vulgar term during their face-off...

This is not an episode of Jerry Springer. Its tonights Ohio Republican Senate debate.



Youre dealing with the wrong guy, Mandel says to Gibbons before calling him a pussy. pic.twitter.com/AbbyQpwXvu  Natalie Allison (@natalie_allison) March 18, 2022

Both Gibbons and Mandel campaigns say it wasnt their guy who called the other pussy over the mic. Heres a clearer video, where it looks like it could be Gibbons. A couple people in the room last night said it was Mandel. A real whodunit of the 2022 midterms. pic.twitter.com/D2usfDqoXe  Natalie Allison (@natalie_allison) March 19, 2022

For all of you who spent your weekend consumed by the mystery of which Ohio GOP Senate candidate called the other a pussy at Fridays debate  heres a video zooming in on Mike Gibbons, who appears to say it. (His campaign maintains it was Josh Mandel.) pic.twitter.com/vNxFj96PYE  Natalie Allison (@natalie_allison) March 20, 2022

Report: Mark Meadows more involved in Jan 6 than previously admitted

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09:43 , Andrew Naughtie

Rolling Stones Hunter Walker has a major story from the ongoing effort to understand the events of 6 January 2021: that according to testimony heard by the select committee probing the riot, then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows was on a call planning the rally that presaged the Capitol riot:

Donald Trumps White House Chief of Staff and a national campaign spokesperson were involved in efforts to encourage the presidents supporters to march on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Thats according to a person who says he overheard a key planning conversation between top Trump officials and the organizers of the Jan. 6 rally on the White House Ellipse  and has since testified to House investigators about the phone call. Trump and his allies have tried to minimize his role in calling his supporters to the Capitol and argue he was simply participating in a lawful, peaceful demonstration.

Read more below.

EXCLUSIVE: Mark Meadows, Trump's chief of staff, was on a planning call for the Jan 6 march on the Capitol, a key witness tells @RollingStone. That's in direct contradiction to Team Trump's claims that his inner circle had nothing to do with the march. https://t.co/BTReCQWpFL  Noah Shachtman (@NoahShachtman) March 21, 2022

Katrina Pierson, who served as Trump's top campaign spokesperson, was also allegedly in the planning discussion. She disputed this in a text message to Rolling Stone. No such call took place, Pierson wrote. https://t.co/BTReCQVRQd  Noah Shachtman (@NoahShachtman) March 21, 2022

ICYMI | Cruz mocked for going after Biden over presidential weakness

09:05 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Ted Cruz was slammed for suggesting that Joe Biden, and not Russian president Vladimir Putin, is largely to blame for the war in Ukraine.

In a recent Fox News interview, the Texas senator discussed how the world has fortunately not seen a nuclear weapon detonated against an enemy power since the Second World War.Weve managed to hold off anyone using a nuclear weapon. I pray to god that doesnt happen, Mr Cruz said.

But Mr Cruz continued that he believes that, under Mr Bidens administration, the chances of that fact remaining true are unlikely to hold.I will say I think the odds of it happening are increasing because I think presidential weakness from the White House invites this, he adds

Johanna Chisholm reports.

Cruz mocked for saying nuclear war more likely due to Bidens presidential weakness

'Cowboys for Trump co-founder charged with campaign violation

08:45 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Couy Griffin, a New Mexico elected official was charged with a misdemeanour campaign finance violation for refusing to register his political group Cowboys for Trump, the states attorney general announced.

The Republican county commissioner from Tularosa in southern New Mexico has been facing off with state election regulators for more than a year over whether he needs to register the group as a political committee.

Mr Griffin expressed concern that registering may lead to other disclosure requirements about contributions and spending and in 2020 sued the New Mexico secretary of state after she insisted the group must register.

Cowboys for Trump co-founder charged with campaign violation

Voices | Biden is right to investigate Putins war crimes. He should investigate American war crimes too

08:15 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

The US and the rest of the international community are right to condemn Vladimir Putin and the Russian army as war criminals. Russians have targeted civilian areas, hospitals, and humanitarian corridors.

Theyve used prohibited munitions like cluster bombs. Theyve killed thousands of innocents and sent millions fleeing as refugees. Russias conduct has prompted a war crimes investigation from the International Criminal Court (ICC), as well as sharp condemnation from president Biden, who labeled Putin a war criminal.

Atrocity anywhere should be treated as atrocity everywhere. Thats why, if the US is to have a shred of moral credibility in calling out war crimes in Ukraine, it must also allow international bodies to evaluate the prolific war crimes of the American military, writes Josh Marcus.

Biden is right to slam Putins war crimes. He should investigate US war crimes too

Donald Trump mocks progressive Lindsey Graham

07:14 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Former president Donald Trump took a jibe at senator Lindsey Graham and called him progressive during a speech at Mar-a-Lago.There are a couple of senators. And we have our progressive senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, Mr Trump said at the Lincoln Day fundraising dinner, according to Insider.

Hes a progressive, but hes our progressive, the former president added. His remarks came after news broke that Mr Graham allegedly threatened to seek to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Mr Trump from office during the Capitol riot.

The senator earlier courted controversy when he called for Russian president Vladimir Putins assassination. Is there a Brutus in Russia? Is there a more successful Colonel Stauffenberg in the Russian military, he had tweeted on 4 March.

Is there a Brutus in Russia? Is there a more successful Colonel Stauffenberg in the Russian military?



The only way this ends is for somebody in Russia to take this guy out.



You would be doing your country - and the world - a great service.  Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) March 4, 2022

US fortified Saudi's Patriot missile supply: official

06:47 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

The Biden administration has transferred a significant number of Patriot antimissile interceptors to Saudi Arabia in recent weeks in a bid to ease tensions between the two countries.

A senior administration official told Associated Press on conditions of anonymity that the decision was in line with president Joe Bidens promise that America will have the backs of our friends in the region.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Sunday condemned Houthi forces in Yemen after they unleashed one of their most intense barrages of drone and missile strikes on Saudi Arabias critical energy facilities.

Kennedy Center in Washington DC drops their Russian lounge

06:19 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has quietly renamed a meeting space previously decorated with Russian art dubbed the Russian Lounge.

According to reports, the relocation took place because of a $5m donation from businessman Vladimir Potanin in 2011.

Mr Potanin, who owns nickel mines in the country, is one of the Russian oligarchs with ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin who has thus far escaped US sanctions over the Ukraine invasion.

John Bowden has more.

Kennedy Center in Washington DC drops their Russian lounge

Oligarchs drop defamation lawsuit over Trump-Russia dossier

06:01 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Three Russian oligarchs who said their reputations were smeared by a dossier examining former president Donald Trumps ties to Russia have agreed to dismiss their defamation lawsuit.

Businessmen Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven and German Khan sued Fusion GPS, a research and intelligence firm, and one of its founders, Glenn Simpson, in 2017.

The oligarchs alleged that they had been defamed by various statements in a Democratic-funded dossier that Fusion had commissioned former British spy, Christopher Steele, to produce on the relationship between Mr Trump and the Kremlin.

Trumps chief of staff was on call planning march to Capitol: report

05:31 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Former president Donald Trumps chief of staff Mark Meadows and a national campaign spokesperson Katrina Pierson were involved in a call to plan a march to Capitol Hill on 6 January 2021, alleged a witness.

Scott Johnston, who overheard the conversation told Rolling Stone that they were very open about how there was going to be a march. Everyone knew there was going to be a march.Mr Meadows and Ms Pierson were in conversation over a call with Kylie Kremer, the executive director of Women For America First.

The witness added that the trio decided against officially permitting the march, citing concerns about security costs and about the optics of a sitting president organising a push towards Congress as lawmakers certified his loss in the 2020 election. Instead, they planned to direct the people down there and make it look like they went down there on their own.

Mr Meadows, meanwhile, is under investigation over allegations that he registered to vote in 2020 at a home where he never resided.

Biden to visit Poland on Europe trip this week

05:07 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

US president Joe Biden will be visiting Poland on his trip to Europe for urgent talks with Nato and allies almost a month into Russias unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

Mr Biden will first travel to Brussels and then to Poland to meet with leaders there, press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement Sunday night.

Poland is a crucial ally in the Ukraine crisis and is hosting thousands of American troops.

Pence distances himself from Trump

04:52 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Mike Pence, the former presidents benevolent sidekick, is beginning to distance himself from Donald Trump as he takes increasingly overt steps toward a White House bid of his own.

Pence, a former congressman and Indiana governor, is working to craft a political identity independent of his former boss.

Last month, he called out Mr Trump by name, saying his former boss was wrong to insist that he had the power to unilaterally overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Although the Republican party remains largely dominated by the former president, Mr Pence, if becomes successful in navigating this moment, it could offer a model for Republicans to benefit from their work with Mr Trump without being tied to his most toxic behaviour, Associated Press reported.

Conspiracy theorists believe Trump is purposely pronouncing China wrong

04:28 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

QAnon conspiracy theorists believe that former president Donald Trumps past mispronunciation of the word China as Chy-na is actually a secret code word meaning Ukraine.

According to the theory, a QAnon believer claims they discovered that there is a place in Ukraine named Chy-na, and believes Mr Trump was secretly referring to this location when he used the term China virus.

Graig Graziosi reports.

QAnon followers believe Trump pronouncing China wrong is secret Ukraine code

Trump promises to take back 'beautiful White House' in 2024

04:15 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Former president Donald Trump, who has continued to drop hints regarding his presidential run, promised supporters that he will return to the White House in 2024 during a speech in Florida on Saturday.

With the support of everyone in this room, we will take back the House, we will take back the Senate and we will take back our country, said Mr Trump, according to a report by Insider.

He continued: And then most importantly in 2024, we are going to take back our beautiful White House.At the Florida rally, he also repeated false claims that he had won the 2020 US presidential election.

Cheney warns Trump of criminal penalties

04:09 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Congresswoman Liz Cheney has said there could be criminal penalties for former president Donald Trump over the 6 January riots at Capitol Hill.

She told NBCs Meet the Press that the committee is considering whether to recommend criminal punishment for the kind of supreme dereliction of duty that you saw with President Trump.

I can tell you I have not learned a single thing since I have been on this committee that has made me less concerned or less worried about the gravity of the situation and the actions that President Trump took and also refused to take while the attack was underway, Rep Cheney, who is vice-chair of the committee, said.

03:49 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Welcome to The Independents live coverage of everything related to Donald Trump and US politics.
TUNIS (Reuters) - A Tunisian military judge on Monday ordered the release of Abd Errazak Kilani, a lawyer and prominent opponent of President Kais Saied, from prison pending trial, Kilani's lawyer told Reuters.

Kilani was imprisoned this month on a charge of inciting police to break the law. The judge, who had the option of releasing Kilani, did not give a reason for the decision. A trial date has not been announced.

Last summer, Saied suspended parliament and seized most powers, in a move his opponents called a coup. He also changed the supreme judicial council reinforcing the one-man rule.

Kilanis arrest this month sparked the anger of human rights groups at home and abroad, who accused President Saied of seeking to impose a dictatorial regime and using the military judiciary to target his opponents.

But Saied rejected accusations and said he did not interfere in the judiciary.

(Reporting By Tarek Amara; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisian President Kais Saied on Monday issued a decree to offer an amnesty to businessmen involved in corruption cases if they put money into state projects, the official gazette said, a move aimed at recovering about $5 billion.

He also issued a separate decree instituting severe prison sentences for those who monopolise or hoard commodities at a time when shortages of some basic goods are hitting Tunisians.

Saied has instituted one-man rule since seizing most powers last summer in a move his foes call a coup. His plans to restructure Tunisian politics face headwinds from an economic crisis that threatens to bankrupt the state.

Though the government he appointed in September has resumed the previous administration's efforts to secure a rescue package from the International Monetary Fund, Saied himself has not articulated any clear economic policy.

Instead he has focused on railing against corruption and market speculators, promising to recoup money that he says has been stolen from the state.

According to the first decree, Saied will appoint a reconciliation committee consisting of judges to consider amnesty for businessmen in return for them implementing development projects in poor areas.

The president has said that 460 people have stolen about 14 billion dinars ($4.8 billion) from Tunisia, and offered a "penal settlement" if they returned the money instead of being prosecuted and imprisoned.

Saied is a former law professor who came to office in 2019 campaigning against corruption and an entrenched political elite.

Tunisia is suffering its worst ever financial crisis, exacerbated by a failure to obtain external funds from its Western partners, who are asking Saied for inclusive dialogue that includes everyone to restore the democratic path.

Fitch ratings agency downgraded Tunisian sovereign debt to junk status on Friday, saying it believed the government would default on loans.

($1 = 2.9450 Tunisian dinars)

(Reporting By Tarek Amara; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty

Earlier this year, two unsuspecting tech bros attempted to start an online business in knitting supply sales, assuming it would be easy to disrupt a market full of hobbyists and grandmas. They could not have been more wrong.

Serial entrepreneurs Dave Bryant and Mike Jackness bought the domain name Knitting.com in February, hoping to capitalize on the unbeatable SEO and become major players in the knitting-supply space. Within days, however, knitters from around the world had descended on their blog, accusing them of being opportunists, sexists, and worse.

In an interview with Input Magazine, Jackness compared the experience to high school bullying and the Salem witch trials. The pair ultimately deleted their blog post and podcast announcing the venture.

But in the knitters eyes, they were the ones being attacked.

Its difficult because they came into it saying, Hey were carpetbaggers, and were going to come in and wreck this and sell it for eight figures in a few years, said Nancy Murrell, a knitter who runs an online directory of independent yarn dyers and designers.

Were trying to build this eco-conscious community out here, and they want to pave the land next to our little farmers market and put up a Walmart.

The Racism Drama Unraveling the Knitting World

Jackness and Bryant may not have actually called themselves carpetbaggers, but they did plainly lay out a very profit-focused business plan. According to the now-deleted blog post and podcast, the pair planned to fill Knitting.com with knitting articles and videos, using it as an SEO-friendly funnel into their actual business of selling knitting products on Amazon. And having a strong domain name was crucial to that plan, as Jackness explained in a podcast episode. Whether communicating with sellers, influencers, or potential employees, he said, youre going to get heardat least theyll open your emailbecause youre from Knitting.com.

Bryant and Jackness have started multiple businesses using this same model; the most recent example being ColorIt.com, which sells adult coloring books. (Before that, Jackness started Treadmills.com, where he sold treadmills, and Icewraps.com, where he soldyou guessed itice wraps.) On top of that, pair also run Ecomcrew.com, where they document their business ventures for the benefit of other aspiring entrepreneurs.

Story continues

In a Feb. 16 EconCrew post, Jackness and Bryant bragged about snagging Knitting.com for $80,000the seller initially wanted $150,000 and claimed they could quickly turn the dormant domain into an eight-figure business. The decision, at least according to the initial blog post, was not a particularly sentimental one: They had previously considered going into model railroading and fishing, but decided those industries had either too small of an audience or too much competition. Knitting, meanwhile, was just right: a big enough audience, endless content opportunities, and a decent number of products they could offer.

In the podcast episode, Bryant noted that a major draw of the knitting market was the lack of competition. He claimed the number of high-quality competitors sat in the low dozens, and that the rest of the market was occupied by grandma who has a little blog that shes run for the last 20 years.

Its pretty unsophisticated competitors, he said.

What Bryant and Jackness apparently did not know is that knitting has one of the largest and most vocal online communities of any leisure pastime. The knitting social media site Ravelry.com, where users trade patterns and swap technique tips, has more than 8 million users, and has set off social and political debates so intense they were profiled in The New Yorker and The New York Times. Knitting Instagram is a thriving world full of so-called knitfluencers, who alternately befriend, feature, and cancel each other with stunning regularity. There are knitting gossip subreddits, knitting YouTube accounts, knitting twitter feuds. There is even a magazine that launched recently in response to the growing wokeness of knitting culture. And knitting blogs, far from being the domain of inattentive grandmas, hold so much sway that one blog post in 2019 set off a racial reckoning that has lasted years.

Conservative Knitters Try to Needle the Woke With New Mag

The purchase of Knitting.comand the buyers swaggering, self-assured announcement of itprovided a rare opportunity for the knitting world to unite in wondering: Who are these bros, and what are they doing in our corner of the internet?

The first sign of backlash came from a post on the subreddit r/craftsnark, where nearly 14,000 knitters go to gossip about their favorite (and least favorite) industry trends and influencers. In a post on Feb. 23a week after Jackness and Bryant announced their business venturea user called ShinyBlueThing posted a link to the businessmen's blog post under the headline: Step 1, Buy knitting domain. Step 2 ... Step 3, Profit!

These guys who dont craft or knit at all spent $80K to buy the domain knitting dot com and think itll be a $10m/year business within a year, the user wrote. Because knitters are an untapped market. Uh. Im going to bitterly side-eye that.

The post garnered nearly 600 comments, and the sentiment spread from there. Knitters flooded the blogs comment section. On Twitter, knitters questioned their credentials, mocked their lack of knitting knowledge, and took liberties with Jacknesss unique last name. (One user even started a parody account under the handle @knittingdotcom.) But they also raised serious questions: Who exactly was going to create knitting content for their website? What were they going to be paid? And why did these tech bros, with $80,000 to blow on a vanity domain name, want to come in and disrupt a market made up of women, people of color, and people with disabilities? Put simply: Who did they think they were?

The market research they described doing was just so laughable, said Murrell. She said Bryant and Jackness seemed to have focused on the Amazons and big-box craft stores of the world, and completely missed that most serious knitters buy from small, eco-conscious businesses with whom they feel a connection.

In a particularly blistering comment under their blog post, a user going by the name Katie Cox tore into the arrogance of entering an established market and assuming that everyone already there was simply missing the piles of potential cash sitting under their noses. She noted that while this is to some degree the nature of startup cultureeveryone wants to be the next Uber of somethingit is particularly insidious when the market you are trying to disrupt is made up primarily of women.

In this situation the fiber arts field is predominantly female, so I hope that this message helps you understand exactly why the term sexist will be thrown your way, she wrote. I feel acknowledging existing competence, particularly among those who are disadvantaged in some way or another, is something you have not adequately addressed.

I wish you as much luck as the individuals who bought the Dune book and also thought they perceived a business opportunity that everyone else somehow missed, she concluded.

Before we were paying attention:

"It's a slam dunk. We could wreck the industry."



After:

"We want to be great industry stewards for this beloved craft."#knittingtwitter pic.twitter.com/Uv10FfEqdB  Knitting.com (@Knittingdotcom) March 12, 2022

In his interview with The Daily Beast, Jackness said his business had been entirely misunderstood. He and Bryant didnt want to shut down small, independent yarn dyers, he said, they wanted to cater to a different market entirely: Beginner knitters who would be buying their needles and yarn from mass-market retailers like Amazon anyway. He admitted that some of the language they used in the podcastin one episode, he suggested they could wreck the knitting industrywas geared toward other entrepreneurs, and may have come off as insensitive to the knitting community. He added that he actually wanted to help other knitting businesses, by getting more people into the craft.

But he also said he saw no reason for Knitting.com to change its business model in response to the criticism.

My hope is that over time, people will see that we're doing good in the community and feel differently about it, he said.

Still, the pair seems to have adjusted at least their communications strategy in response to the backlash. The podcast announcing the knitting.com purchase was removed, and the blog post was replaced with a Knitting Community Response, in which Bryant explains that he really does have a personal connection to the subject: his 6-year-old daughter, who is learning to knit. The purpose of starting a knitting website, he wrote, was to inspire more people who might not ordinarily embark on it (like myself!)

The text on Knitting.com has also been updated, and now states that the company is firmly committed to fair, paid compensation for patterns and content, and to supporting the wonderfully creative craft community already doing incredible work. Bryant even personally responded to one of the more critical Twitter threads, though the reception was less than glowing.

Murell was not entirely convinced by the apology tour. She pointed to the podcast episode in which Jackness said he could wreck the industry, and in which both men said they could never see themselves becoming knitters. To turn around and embrace the knitting community after facing backlash felt a little contrived.

But, she added, she wasnt all that worried about it.

They might cheapen what were trying to do, [but] I dont think they can replace what were trying to do, she said. I dont think they understand what we do.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden's bid to drive a wedge between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin over the Ukraine war will be a key topic of discussion this week when Biden travels to Brussels for talks with European leaders.

The United States and its allies will discuss providing weaponry and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and the Ukrainian refugee crisis at an extraordinary NATO summit, meeting of the Group of Seven economies, and a European Council summit on Thursday.

But after his inconclusive talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday, Biden also plans to coordinate a response to Beijing if it provides material support to Russia's invasion of Ukraine with European leaders, U.S. administration officials say.

"During his visit to Brussels, President Biden will coordinate with our EU partners on all aspects of our response to President Putins unprovoked and unjustified war on Ukraine, and this includes the concerns we share with the EU if China provides material support to Russia," said a senior Biden administration official.

The success of close coordination on economic sanctions, export controls and trade measures imposed on Russia have brought Europe and the United States closer together, a second senior U.S. official said. These democratic leaders have growing concerns about China's potential role in the conflict.

"The challenges that we face ... are the same ones the Europeans face. And so I really do think that there is ... an inflection point here in many ways," the second official said.

European nations and the United States have been working behind the scenes for weeks to try to convince Chinese officials not to back Putin's invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a "special operation," and to push Putin for a cease fire. The war has killed hundreds of civilians, destroyed towns and displaced millions.

The Chinese ambassador to the United States, Qin Gang, told CBS News' "Face the Nation" on Sunday that China was not sending arms or financial assistance to Russia. However, he and other Chinese officials have publicly rejected a push to change course, claiming China is on the right side of history.

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Some diplomats and analysts see signs that Beijing is shifting. Recent statements from Beijing have called for a cease fire, and emphasized the war's cost to the global economy, one European official noted, a split from Russia's position.

In the year since Biden took office, Xi has shown no sign of buckling to various U.S. demands, and has been using closer ties with Russia as a counterweight against pressures exerted on China by the West.

Xi has rejected investigations into the origin of the coronavirus in Wuhan, China, in 2019. He has refused to pressure North Korea to rein in its nuclear weapons program and rejected criticism of Chinese treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang. He has raised tensions with Taiwan and continued a quest to dominate the South China Sea.

However, China's close economic ties to Group of Seven wealthy democracies, which buy about one-third of its exports, could provide leverage in the bid to distance Xi from Putin.

(Reporting By Steve Holland, Andrea Shalal and David Brunnstrom in Washington and John Irish in Paris; Editing by Heather Timmons and Alistair Bell)
By Daphne Psaledakis and Khalid Abdelaziz

WASHINGTON/KHARTOUM (Reuters) -The United States on Monday imposed sanctions on Sudan's Central Reserve Police, accusing it of using excessive force against peaceful protesters demonstrating against last October's military coup.

The U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement the Central Reserve Police, a division of the wider police force, has been at the forefront of the "violent response" of Sudanese security forces to peaceful protests in Khartoum.

Singling out a single day in January, it accused the group of firing live ammunition and, along with anti-riot police and regular police, chasing protesters trying to flee, arresting and beating some, and fatally shooting two and injuring others.

"Since the October 25 military takeover, Sudans Central Reserve Police has used excessive force and violence intended to silence civilian activists and protesters," the Treasury's Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Brian Nelson, said in the statement.

"We condemn Sudans security services for killing, harassing, and intimidating Sudanese citizens."

A police spokesman could not be reached for comment. Military leaders have said peaceful protests are allowed and that protest casualties will be investigated.

Sudan has been rocked for months by protests organized by neighborhood-based resistance committees. Some 88 people have died in the crackdown on protests, and thousands have been injured, many by gunfire.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a separate statement called for an immediate end to violence against peaceful protesters.

"We remain poised to use all tools at our disposal to support the Sudanese people in their pursuit of a democratic, human rights-respecting, and prosperous Sudan," Blinken said.

The Central Reserve Police, a heavily-armed division of Sudan's police force, was used during the early 2000s Darfur war, during which the Khartoum government put down a rebellion in the Western region. An estimated 300,000 people were killed in the war, and then-President Omar al-Bashir and aides face war crimes charges from the International Criminal Court.

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Known locally as "Abu Tayra," referring to the bird that forms a part of their recognizable logo, they have been deployed frequently, along with other security forces, in recent months following the coup.

Members of the forces could be seen among a heavy deployment in central Khartoum during protests on Monday, a Reuters witness said. Protesters faced tear gas, stun grenades, and red water sprays as they attempted to march toward the presidential palace.

Monday's so-called Global Magnitsky sanctions, which target those accused of corruption, human rights abuses and anti-democratic actions around the world, freeze any U.S. assets of the Central Reserve Police and bar Americans from dealing with them.

Billions of dollars in foreign aid were suspended by Western countries and international financing institutions after the coup and military commanders have yet to appoint a prime minister to tackle the economic crisis.

(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis and Katharine Jackson in Washington, Khalid Abdelaziz in Khartoum and Nafisa Eltahir in Cairo;Edited by Caitlin Webber, Chizu Nomiyama and Grant McCool)
By Katanga Johnson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. securities regulator on Monday proposed requiring U.S.-listed companies to disclose a range of climate-related risks and greenhouse gas emissions, part of President Joe Biden's push to join global efforts to avert climate-related catastrophes.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) unveiled its long-anticipated draft rule under which companies would disclose their own direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions, known as Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions.

It would also require companies to disclose greenhouse gases generated by suppliers and partners, known as Scope 3 emissions, if they are material or included in any emissions targets the company has set.

SEC chair Gary Gensler said the agency was responding to investor demand for consistent information on how climate change will affect the financial performance of companies they invest in. But prominent Republicans accused the regulator of overstepping its authority, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce vowed to fight parts of the rule.

The draft proposal, subject to public feedback and likely to be finalized later this year, should help investors get the information they need while increasing the reporting burden for Corporate America.

It would also require companies to disclose the "actual or likely material impacts" that climate-related risks will have on their business, strategy and outlook, including physical risks as well as possible new regulations such as a carbon tax.

Companies that have set emissions goals or announced other plans to transition away from fossil fuels would also have to provide details on how and when they expect to do so.

"Companies and investors alike would benefit from the clear rules of the road," Gensler said.

Senator Patrick Toomey, the Senate Banking Committee's top Republican, blasted the rule, saying it "extends far beyond the SEC's mission."

Progressives and activist investors have pushed for the SEC to require Scope 3 emissions disclosure to hold companies accountable for all the carbon dioxide and methane they help generate. Corporations have been pushing for a narrower rule that will not boost compliance costs.

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"This proposal will be the light in a pathway toward addressing President Biden's priority of disclosing climate risk to investors and all areas of our society," said Tracey Lewis, a policy counsel at advocacy group Public Citizen.

The SEC said the Scope 3 requirement would include carve-outs based on a company's size, and that all the emissions disclosures would be phased in between 2023 and 2026.

It was unclear how many companies would have to make Scope 3 disclosures, given they would have discretion to decide what counts as "material." While 35% of North American companies have set greenhouse gas targets, those plans do not include Scope 3 emissions, according to S&P Global data.

The Chamber of Commerce, the country's biggest business lobby, called the proposal too prescriptive and complained it would force companies to disclose information that was largely immaterial at the expense of more meaningful data.

The Supreme Court has been clear that any required disclosures under securities laws must meet the test of materiality, and we will advocate against provisions of this proposal that deviate from that standard," Tom Quaadman, an executive vice president with the group, said in a statement.

The Investment Company Institute, which represents global investors, said the proposal "will provide investors with comparable, consistent, qualitative, and quantitative information."

LEGAL CHALLENGES

The SEC spent the past week shoring up the draft against potential legal challenges, six sources told Reuters.

Corporate groups say there is no agreed methodology for calculating Scope 3 emissions, and that providing that detail would be burdensome and would expose companies to litigation if third-party data ends up being wrong.

The SEC tried to address that concern by proposing to protect Scope 3 disclosures with a legal safe harbor that already exists for companies' forward-looking statements.

Legal challenges to the rule will likely argue that the SEC lacks the authority to require Scope 3 emissions data, something the agency's Republican Commissioner Hester Peirce said on Monday in voting against the proposal.

Some experts say the SEC clearly has authority in this area because investors urgently need better data. They noted that a record $71 billion flowed into U.S. environmental, social and governance-focused funds last year, according to Morningstar.

(Reporting by Katanga Johnson in WashingtonEditing by Michelle Price, David Gregorio and Matthew Lewis)
Good morning, neighbors! It's me again, Carlos Hernandez, your host of the Orlando Daily.

First, today's weather:

Partly sunny and nice. High: 84 Low: 71.

Attention, financial planners and advisors  we're now offering sponsorship opportunities for local firms interested in building their client base in Orlando. Click here to learn more.

Here are the top five stories today in Orlando:

1. A woman was found shot early Monday in Pine Hills, according to the Orange County Sheriffs Office. The sheriff's office said deputies were called around 4 a.m. to the 2200 block of Kingsland Avenue for reports of a shooting. An investigation is underway. (Click Orlando)

2. People came together in Orlando on Sunday to support Ukrainians fleeing the violence. Dozens of people have gathered at Lake Eola Park for the past several Sundays to host rallies in support of Ukraine. It's very upsetting that every Sunday, there are fewer and fewer people here, but we're not giving up, Orlando resident Uliana Imangulov said. (WESH)

3. Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said with low demand for COVID-19 testing and plenty of other options, the large county-run sites are unnecessary. County officials said without more federal funding, the last county-run testing site at Barnett Park will have to shut down Friday. Additional funding for federal COVID response was recently shut down in the Congress. (Click Orlando)

4. Miami's World Famous House of Mac is coming soon to downtown Orlando's SoDo at 2435 South Orange Avenue. House of Mac was founded by Pitbull's former manager, Derrick Turton, and is known for drawing celebrities. It also rumored that Turton also has plans to open another location somewhere near Lake Eola in the near future. (Bungalower)

5. The Osceola County School District is hosting a job fair today to help with its bus driver shortage. It will be held at 401 Simpson Road in Kissimmee from 8 a.m. to noon. Drivers do not need to have a CDL to apply. The Transportation Services Department will provide those hired with the proper training to get a CDL certification. (WFTV)

Story continues

From our sponsor:

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Today in Orlando:

Toddler Tuesdays at Crayola Experience Orlando. (10:00 AM)

Work Session at Orange County District. (10:00 AM)

Open Skate at RDV Ice Den. (12:00 PM)

From Spain To Your Table! Paella Making Class at Bulla Gastrobar. (7:00 PM)

Orlando Magic Vs. Golden State Warriors at Amway Center. (7:00 PM)

From my notebook:

Pizza Bruno is opening in Orlando's College Park neighborhood . The new location will offer the concept's full pizza and pasta program , including some new dishes thanks to the space's e xpanded kitchen . (Orlando Weekly)

Two Central Floridians struck it rich with $1 million. Idalmis Almarales , of Orlando , and George Schlitz , of Davenport , both took home the $1 million prize from the new 500X The Cash scratch-off game , Florida Lottery officials announced. (Click Orlando)

A land sale involving property just west of Valencia College's East Campus could be ripe for a multifamily project. If apartments come, it would join a number of recent projects in the area. (Subscription: Orlando Business Journal)

More from our sponsors  thanks for supporting local news!



Events:

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You're officially in the loop for today! See you tomorrow for another update.

 Carlos Hernandez

About me: Hello my name is Carlos Hernandez and I am a food writer with over 10 years of experience in the industry. I write the food blog Carlos Eats (http://www.carloseats.com) and also contribute to several newspapers and magazines with food-related blogs and articles.

This article originally appeared on the Orlando Patch
(Reuters) - There is no question of Ukraine giving up the city of Mariupol and laying down arms, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said early on Monday.

"There can be no question of any surrender, laying down of arms," the Ukrainska Pravda news portal cited Vereshchuk as saying. "We have already informed the Russian side about this."

On Sunday, Russia demanded Ukrainian forces lay down their arms in the besieged eastern port city. [L2N2VN0FJ]

(Reporting by Lidia Kelly and Ron Popeski)
STORY: In his latest appeal for help from abroad, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Sunday questioned reluctance by Israel to sell its Iron Dome missile defense system, which he referred to as the 'best'.

"We can ask many times why we aren't getting weapons from you, and why Israel hasn't imposed powerful sanctions on Russia, or isn't putting pressure on Russian businesses. But either way, the choice is yours to make, brothers and sisters, and you must then live with your answer."

But Zelenskiy also welcomed the mediation efforts of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who has held numerous calls with him and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"We are thankful for that, for every effort, so that sooner or later we will start talking with Russia. Maybe in Jerusalem. Thats the right place to find peace, if that is possible."

And early on Monday, Ukraine continued to reject Russia's calls to surrender the port city of Mariupol, which has suffered some of the heaviest bombardments since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Moscow calls it a 'special military operation'.

As the fierce fighting showed little sign of easing on Sunday, hundreds of thousands of Mariupol's residents were left besieged with little food, water and power.

The last EU diplomat to evacuate Mariupol, Greece's consul general, said the city was joining the ranks of places known for having been destroyed in wars.

"Coventry, Aleppo and Grozny, Leningrad."

Meanwhile, video released by Ukraine's State Emergency Service on Sunday night showed a large blast in the suburbs of the capital Kyiv.

Though Reuters was unable to verify the report, the material was geolocated to a district where Kyiv's mayor reported several explosions and at least one death.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has left thousands of people dead, while more than three million have been left displaced.

The UN human rights office said more than 900 civilians had been killed as of Saturday, though the real toll was probably much higher.

Russia denies targeting civilians.

The crisis also has raised fears of a wider confrontation between Russia and the United States.
PARIS (Reuters) - The war between Ukraine and Russia, two of the world's top crop producers, could lead to a food crisis "on the global" scale, French farming minister Julien Denormandie said in Brussels on Monday ahead of a EU agriculture meeting.

EU ministers will discuss the food situation with their Ukrainian counterpart in a video call, he added.

A World Food Programme (WFP) official said on Friday that food supply chains in Ukraine were collapsing, with key infrastructure such as bridges and trains destroyed by bombs and many grocery stores and warehouses empty.

(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)
(Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday that Israel was undertaking many efforts to arrange top-level peace talks between his country and Russia and suggested they might take place in Jerusalem.

Zelenskiy, speaking in his daily video appeal to Ukrainians after addressing Israel's parliament by video link, said Prime Minister Naftali Bennett had been trying to act as an intermediary between Kyiv and Moscow.

"Of course, Israel has its interests, strategy to protect its citizens. We understand all of it," said Zelenskiy, seated at a desk in his trademark khaki T-shirt.

"The prime minister of Israel, Mr. Bennett is trying to find a way of holding talks. And we are grateful for this. We are grateful for his efforts, so that sooner or later we will begin to have talks with Russia, possibly in Jerusalem.

"That's the right place to find peace. If possible.

In the past week, Bennett has intensified his efforts to bring the two sides together and has spoken on several occasions to both Zelenskiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Last week, he flew in secret to Moscow to meet the Kremlin leader.

Zelenskiy, who is Jewish, also addressed again the Russian accusation that he heads an administration that espouses "Nazism".

Switching from his usual Ukrainian to Russian in his remarks, he said: "Russian propagandists have a tough job on their hands today. For the first time, a Ukrainian president spoke to the parliament of Israel and, by video recording, to the people of Israel, a Ukrainian accused of Nazism by Moscow.

"This very fact already proves that things are not as Moscow says."

(Reporting by Ron Popeski, Lidia Kelly and Oleksandr Kozhukhar; Writing by Ron Popeski; Editing by Stephen Coates)
JORGE DUENES/REUTERS

With the fate of Ukraine and its people still unresolved, the story shifted abruptly this past week to the U.S.-Mexico border.

That is where hundreds of Ukrainians are lining up to seek asylum in the United States. Traveling halfway around the world, these battered and bruised souls have come to Americas backdoor looking for safe haven.

Some of these people may have come to accept the invitation of the glorious lady in New York Harbor who has, since 1883, told the world to send your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Others may just want to take cover from the storm while they plan their next move. Still others may simply crave the safety and stability of being with family and friends in the United States.

Given the trauma that theyve suffered over the last three weeks, you had better believe Ukrainians have a yearning to breathe free. Or to breathe at all. According to the latest estimates by the United Nations, more than 3.3 million of them have fled their homeland since the Russian invasion.

But this past week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a directive that was steeped in so much compassion and common sense that, for a moment, I thought it came from another Cabinet department.

According to CBS News, U.S. authorities along the U.S-Mexico border have been told to consider exempting Ukrainians from pandemic-related restrictions so they can seek asylum.

On Thursday, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters that the goal of the directive was to remind Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers that they have the discretion to exempt certain migrants from Title 42. That expulsion policy was first implemented under the Trump administration, ostensibly to prevent the spread of COVID-19, but has been preserved by the Biden administrationto the rage of advocates for migrants from Mexico and Central America.

Refugees From Other Wars Want to Know Why White Ukrainians Get VIP Treatment

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A March 11 memo instructs CBP officers at ports of entry to consider exempting migrants with valid Ukrainian passports from Title 42 restrictions and instead process them under regular immigration procedures, which allow them to enter the United States and make their case for asylum.

The Department of Homeland Security recognizes that the unjustified Russian war of aggression in Ukraine has created a humanitarian crisis, the memo reads.

Bravo. The DHS is finally using its power for good. This is exactly the right thing to do, and precisely the right time to do it.

Its important to acknowledge that, since the policy was first implemented in March 2020, U.S. border officials have used Title 42 to expel migrants over 1.7 million times, according to statistics compiled by CBP. A provision sold to the American people as a way of protecting health has actually been used as a subterfuge to keep out immigrants.

Having said that, Ukrainian refugees are a special case. Theyve survived a special conflict that has captured the attention of the entire world. And so they deserve special treatment. These people are squeezed between two global superpowers who could be on the brink of World War III.

And then there is what theyre running from. Theyre not trying to escape poverty, hurricanes, floods, or street gangs. These people are fleeing pure evil, which has taken the form of Russian President Vladmir Putin.

America has done this before, putting our adversaries on edge by giving a preference to asylum seekers from Cuba in the 1960s, Russia in the 1970s, and Nicaragua in the 1980s.

Imagine the message that America sends to the world by welcoming Ukrainian refugees with open arms: Vladimir Putin tried to kill these people, and were giving them a new life. Whereas Putin saw these people as an annoyance, we see them as a national asset.

Besides, at a time when people around the world are celebrating the courage of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, we should give this modern day David the peace of mind that comes from knowing that his people are in a safe space so he can continue to fight Goliath.

In fact, for the last two weeks, Ive been thinking that the United States ought to put as many as 100,000 Ukrainians in a special lane and fast-track their applications for asylum.

The DHS directive didnt go nearly that far. While a step in the right direction, it is still only, at best, a baby step. The memo advises U.S. immigration agents at the border only that they may consider exempting Ukrainian citizens from the restrictions of Title 42. It doesnt give them a direct order to do so. And in theory, at least, they could offer the same exemption for migrants from anywhere else.

Nonetheless, the policy change should be seen as a win. Sure, it doesnt go far enough. But its not nothing.

Once exempted from Title 42, its possible that Ukrainian refugees could have their asylum claims assessed on a case-by-case basis after being granted one year of humanitarian parole. That accommodation allows individuals to live and work legally in the U.S. on a temporary basis. Given the dire straits these folks were in just a few weeks ago, thats huge.

Of course, Americans are going to complain. Thats what we do. Our #1 export these days is whine.

Those on the right might say our asylum system is overwhelmed and the Ukrainians should have stayed in Europeand not just show up at the U.S.-Mexico border. Those on the left will accuse Uncle Sam of favoritism toward white Ukrainians and demand similar accommodations for refugees from other countries facing their own bloody conflicts.

These charges of racism and double standards are not entirely without merit. Indeed, the hypocrisy of European countries inviting people from this conflictafter being far less welcoming to refugees from Africa and the Middle Eastis on display right now.

Be that as it may, this policy change by DHS is still a no-brainer. As we have learned in the last three weeks, this is an extremely complicated and perilous world. Actions can have catastrophic consequences, and the leaders of mighty nations can feel powerless. There is, we are warned, a lot that we cannot do without starting World War III.

As we proved during the pandemic, Americans dont do powerless well. At present, many of us are mired in angst because we dont know how to go about doing what we want to do: help Ukraine and hamper Russia.

There is a relatively easy way that we can do both these things: We can fast-track those Ukrainian refugees who are, as we speak, lining up at the U.S.-Mexico border and seeking safe-haven in the United States.

This is not a perfect solution. But take a good look at whats happening in Ukraine. Perfect was taken off the menu weeks ago. All thats left is a few servings of good enough.

Americans are decent people. And so, because of Russias brutal invasion, many of us are understandably filled with sorrow and rage. For me, when I think of Russian planes dropping bombs on a theater that offered shelter to children and turning it to rubble, it is mostly rage.

Its hard to know what the United States can do. But it can do this much. It can welcome Ukrainian refugees.

Its not the best we can do, but it is the very least.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Over the past two years, its become more and more difficult to dodge COVID-19, especially as the virus has mutated to become more contagious. We know that high-quality masks help and vaccination drastically reduces our odds of contracting the coronavirus and developing serious illness.

But given the nature of extremely contagious respiratory viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, infectious disease specialists say that most of us will, at some point, get infected. And as the reality of living with endemic COVID sets in, many of us have grown increasingly concerned about getting long COVID if and when that infection occurs.

Because doctors are still researching what causes long COVID in the first place, we dont have any treatments specifically designed to prevent long COVID. As of now, the best way to prevent a lingering case of COVID  aside from not getting COVID in the first place  is to get vaccinated and start treatment as soon as possible if you do get sick.

Vaccination and possibly early use of oral antiviral drugs are the most tangible and science-based means to prevent long COVID, said Richard Becker, an internal medicine physician at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine who is running the UC Health long COVID clinic.

Where were at with understanding what causes and prevents long COVID

Because COVID is a relatively new disease thats been around for only a couple of years, scientists dont yet have a solid understanding of what causes long COVID or how to prevent it.

Researchers who study long COVID generally agree that the lingering health effects people experience after their infection are caused by inflammation throughout the body. Others suspect that people with long-haul symptoms still have small amounts of virus in their bodies that may trigger all sorts of health issues, including fatigue, dizziness, brain fog, tremors and chest or joint pain.

We also know that a lot of long COVID patients started out really sick with COVID.

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Just by the nature of being really sick, a lot of patients will have lingering symptoms like fatigue and shortness of breath, said Jean Paul Higuero-Sevilla, a critical care physician at Yale Medicine who works in the facilitys Post-COVID-19 Recovery Program.

Were in the early stages of understanding long COVID, and as of now there isnt a treatment specifically designed to prevent it.

Figuring out the path of physiology is going to be key to understanding, No. 1, what can be done perhaps to prevent long COVID, and, No. 2, to get us some leads on how to effectively treat long COVID, which currently we dont really have, said Sally Hodder, an infectious disease physician and the director of the West Virginia Clinical and Translational Science Institute at West Virginia University.

The best way to reduce your risk of long COVID is to get vaccinated and take the proper measures to prevent an infection in the first place. That said, experts are working hard to discover just how long COVID develops and how best to treat the symptoms. (Photo: ArtistGNDphotography via Getty Images)

Vaccination reduces the risk of long COVID

The single most effective way to reduce your risk of long COVID is to avoid getting COVID in the first place. But as infectious disease specialists have told us, that is becoming harder to do as COVID becomes endemic. Remember: Endemic doesnt mean the virus no longer causes harm, it just means that the harm it does cause is more manageable on a population level. As long as COVID is around, the risk of long COVID isnt zero.

The best tool to reduce your risk of developing long COVID is to get vaccinated. A study published in January found that vaccination marginally reduced a persons chances of experiencing long-haul COVID-19. Another report from the United Kingdom found that two doses of a COVID vaccine was associated with a 41% decrease in the odds of reporting long COVID symptoms.

Vaccination reduces your chance of getting COVID in the first place, and, based on this research, also appears to lessen the risk of long COVID, Hodder said. But keep in mind that few studies have been done on this so far. So, though this data is promising, more research is needed, Hodder added. There also have been reports of vaccinated people getting long COVID following a breakthrough case.

Early treatment may help lower your risk, too

If youre at risk for developing severe disease, youll want to start treatment as soon as your first symptoms appear. Evidencehas shown that the sicker a person gets with COVID, the higher their risk of it turning into a long COVID case.

Quickly starting the treatments that help keep the infection from worsening may ultimately help reduce your risk of experiencing long-haul symptoms, according to Higuero-Sevilla.

If you get COVID, especially patients that have co-morbidities, they should talk to their doctor about whether they qualify for monoclonal antibodies or antivirals, said Higuero-Sevilla, who advises his high-risk patients  including those with diabetes, obesity, heart disease and lung disease  to call him as soon as they schedule a test.

The oral antivirals available to treat COVID should be started within five days of symptom onset. The monoclonal antibody infusion is designed to start within seven days. These medications arrest viral replication and reduce the amount of virus in your body.

Early diagnosis and treatment with oral antiviral medication or possibly polyclonal antibody may be particularly important for preventing long COVID. This may be the case even for infections producing mild or mild-to-moderate symptoms, Becker said.

Can over-the-counter medications or rest help?

Knowing that inflammation seems to be at the root of long COVID, you may wonder if over-the-counter anti-inflammatories can help with long-haul symptoms. According to Higuero-Sevilla, there really isnt any data to suggest that this medication can cut ones risk of long COVID. We also dont know if prednisone or dexamethasone  two steroids used to lower inflammation in COVID patients  could affect ones risk of long COVID, Becker added.

Doctors recommend resting and staying hydrating if you do catch COVID. But whether these interventions will cut your risk of developing long COVID is unknown. That research is ongoing, Hodder said, and if youd like to participate in studies on long COVID, you can by applying through the National Institutes of Health. Researchers are currently looking for a range of participants  people whove had COVID and didnt get long COVID, people who developed long COVID and people who havent been infected  to get a better grasp on what causes long COVID so we can learn how to prevent it.

Its going to take a while before we know more about it, Higuero-Sevilla said. We dont have the answers yet.

Experts are still learning about COVID-19. The information in this story is what was known or available as of publication, but guidance can change as scientists discover more about the virus. Please check the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the most updated recommendations.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

Related...
Since Joe Biden assumed the U.S. presidency a year ago, his administration has adopted an anti-China stance, identifying China as a strategic competitor to the U.S. But contrasting with the unilateralism of the Trump administration, the Biden administration has emphasized consolidating its global alliance around an anti-China agenda.

Inheriting and upgrading the Trump administration's Indo-Pacific strategy, Biden transformed the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, known as the Quad which includes the U.S., Japan, Australia and India, into a collaborative mechanism targeting China.

Then last September, the U.S. established the Australia-UK-US Trilateral Security Partnership Agreement (AUKUS), aiming to supply Australia with nuclear-powered submarines to strengthen military deterrence against China.

However, a key region of crucial importance regularly highlighted by American strategists as a weak link in the U.S. global strategy is Southeast Asia, where regional countries have repeatedly voiced refusal to take sides in the U.S.-China rivalry.

Diplomatic offensive

Over the past year, the Biden administration has launched a diplomatic offensive to beef up American presence in the region, with senior U.S. officials making repeated trips to Southeast Asia to seek support and cooperation from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in its competition with China.

In July 2021, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines and persuaded Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to withdraw his letter of termination for the 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement, reviving its military alliance. In August, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris visited Singapore and Vietnam, highlighting their importance as "Indo-Pacific partners" of the U.S.

Then in December, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made his maiden trip to Southeast Asia, visiting Indonesia and Malaysia.

But without any concrete offers to further cooperate in realms of economics and trade, the primary policy focus of regional governments, the impact of these trips appears to be limited.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loon of Singapore, a country widely considered to act as the mouthpiece of ASEAN, has said on a number of occasions, often prior to and after visits by U.S. officials, that America's increasingly hardline policies towards China are "very dangerous," while calling for the two countries to find a way to coexist in the region.

In recent years, the economic influence of the U.S. has been steadily declining compared to China, especially after the Trump administration decided to pull out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement culminated under former U.S. President Barack Obama's "pivot" to Asia policy and widely perceived to be designed to counter China's economic influence.

The other TPP members including four ASEAN countries, Japan, Canada, and Mexico later renamed the agreement as CPTPP, which entered into force in December 2018. In the meantime, China has further increased its ties with ASEAN countries. In August 2019, the upgraded protocol of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement came into effect.

Sharp comparison

A decade after China replaced the U.S. as ASEAN's top trade partner in 2009, the total trade volume between China and ASEAN countries reached US$685 billion in 2020, nearly twice that of the U.S., whose trade with the region reached $362 billion.

Recent data released by the General Administration of Customs of China showed that trade between China and ASEAN increased another 28 percent to reach $878 billion in 2021.

In November 2020, China and ASEAN joined Japan, South Korea, Australia, and Zealand in signing the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world's largest trade deal. On January 1, 2022, the RCEP entered into force in 10 of its 15 member states including China and six ASEAN countries. As tariffs on 90 percent of all goods drop to zero, trade between China and the regional countries is set for even more growth.

Moreover, in an effort to further increase regional economic integration, China formally applied to join the CPTPP in September 2021, an ironic development considering the pact was originally created by the U.S. to isolate China. In November, China applied to join the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement, a deal signed between New Zealand, Chile, and Singapore and deemed a model for future digital trade agreements.

In contrast, under pressure from strong domestic opposition to multilateral trade agreements driven by the Trump administration's legacy of protectionism and unilateralism, the U.S. has shown little interest in cooperation with regional countries in realms of trade and economics.

To make up for the apparent lack of a comprehensive economic strategy in the region, the Biden administration launched various initiatives over the past year. In June 2021, Biden had the Group of Seven (G7) adopt the "Build Back Better World" initiative, promising to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in projects in relevant areas, but few of these promises have materialized thus far.

In the virtual ASEAN Summit held in October 2021, Biden announced an investment worth up to $102 million to expand the U.S. partnership with ASEAN. But compared to China's massive infrastructure investment in the region, the amount is far from impressive and considered only of token significance. Just the high-profile Laos-China railway, for example, which just started operation in December, involved a massive investment of $6 billion.

According to Qian Yuming, a research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies, despite frequent visits by U.S. officials and repetitive rhetoric highlighting the importance of regional countries, Washington has paid no serious attention to ASEAN countries over the past years.

"During the Trump administration, high-level talks between the U.S. and ASEAN were suspended for four years," Qian told China Report ASEAN. Even under the Biden administration, the U.S. has still not appointed ambassadors to most ASEAN countries. By the end of January 2020, the U.S. had only appointed ambassadors to Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam. "This shows that the U.S. has no real intentions of developing sustainable relations with ASEAN countries," said Qian.

No economic strategy

In its latest move to beef up its presence in the region, the U.S. released a 12-page document on a new Indo-Pacific strategy on February 12. Explicitly referring to China's growing influence and "harmful behavior" in the region, the policy overview vowed to "refocus security assistance" on the region, highlighted the importance of "a strong India," and called for bringing European countries to the region through the AUKUS security pact.

On the economic front, the paper said that the U.S. would launch an economic framework for the region early this year that would "develop new approaches to trade," set up principles for digital economies, and strengthen supply chains.

Various American media outlets reported earlier that the U.S. would unveil its first broad economic strategy for Asia "within weeks." According to a Wall Street Journal report on February 6, the strategy is aimed at "filling the hole in the U.S.-Asia strategy left by the TPP," but will not include any plan to return the U.S. to multilateral trade deals such as the CPTPP or trade incentives such as tariff cuts or other market-access measures.

Citing various analysts, the report said such a policy would be meaningless for most ASEAN countries. "Without market-access measures, the framework could become simply another club for the U.S. and its rich allies such as Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore," read the article.

Threat to ASEAN

Qian also argued that Washington's recent moves to advance its Indo-Pacific agenda including consolidating the Quad and signing the AUKUS with the UK and Australia would only undermine the principle of "ASEAN centrality," a key concept of the bloc. ASEAN should be the central driver of multilateral frameworks in the Asia-Pacific region.

"Not only does Washington's attempt to incorporate ASEAN into its Indo-Pacific strategy pose a threat to the peace and stability in the region, it challenges the central role ASEAN plays in regional institutional frameworks," added Qian.

Such opinions were common among observers in ASEAN countries. In a commentary published on Chinausfocus.com on February 8, Sajjad Ashraf, former adjunct professor at National University of Singapore, argued that Washington's diplomatic pressure on ASEAN countries to join its global alliance against China threatens the bloc's very existence.

"The Quad and AUKUS have put the ASEAN states, lying at the center of the region, in a quandary," said Ashraf. "Forcing a choice, as the U.S. often wants, could crack the consensual basis on which ASEAN works and threaten ASEAN's existence."

Arguing that "ASEAN has grown on the back of China's phenomenal rise," Ashraf said the region's peace and prosperity rest not on military dependence but economic interdependence.

For Koh King Kee, president of the Malaysia-based Centre for New Inclusive Asia and president of ASEAN Research Center for a Community with Shared Future, most ASEAN countries are well aware of the delicate situation. It is unlikely that ASEAN countries will change their stance or abandon neutrality in the geopolitical rivalry between the U.S. and China.

"The U.S. is thousands of miles away from Southeast Asia, and its interest in ASEAN is mainly geopolitical, thus its relations with ASEAN countries are transactional," said Koh. "For China, ASEAN countries are its immediate neighbors, and China's interests in Southeast Asia are comprehensive and long-term."

But Koh recognized that the increasing diplomatic pressure from the U.S. means ASEAN countries will need "skilled diplomacy" to continue to maintain "neutrality and centrality" in the coming era of big-power competition.

Yu Xiaodong is a senior media professional specializing in international relations based in Singapore.
Military advocates will be focused this week on Wednesdays Senate Veterans Affairs hearing on caregiver support efforts, after significant criticism of plans to scale back stipends for families of injured veterans.

Veterans Affairs officials announced last fall that they would review legacy participants of the Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers to see if they qualify under updated guidelines. But families affected by the change have accused VA officials of simply working to trim the number of participants in the program, causing significant hardship for them.

Families fear financial hit as VA caregiver program prepares to drop thousands of vets

At issue are thousands of dollars a month in support stipends for veterans too injured to live on their own but healthy enough to avoid institutionalization.

The hearing is scheduled for less than a week before the administration unveils its budget request for fiscal 2023, which will likely include a significant increase for Veterans Affairs programming again. Whether lawmakers will support that as families complain about program cutbacks remains unclear.

Tuesday, March 22



Senate Armed Services  9:30 a.m.  G-50 Dirksen

Nominations

The committee will consider several pending nominations, including William LaPlante to be Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Erik Raven to be Under Secretary of the Navy.



Wednesday, March 23



Senate Foreign Relations  10 a.m.  Capitol S116

Pending business

The committee will consider several pending nominations and legislative items.



Senate Armed Services  2:30 p.m.  222 Russell

Western Hemisphere

Defense officials will testify on competition and security cooperation in the Western Hemisphere.



Senate Veterans' Affairs  3 p.m.  418 Russell

Caregiver assistance

VA officials and outside advocates will testify on upcoming changes to the departments caregiver support programs.



Thursday, March 24



Senate Armed Services  9:30 a.m.  G-50 Dirksen

Northern and Southern Command

Gen. Glen VanHerck, head of U.S. Northern Command, and Gen. Laura Richardson, head of U.S. Southern Command, will testify on current operations with their regions and needs in the fiscal 2023 budget.



Senate Foreign Relations  11 a.m.  online hearing

Taiwan

State Department officials will testify on U.S. posture regarding Taiwan.




West Side Story actor Rachel Zegler has revealed she wont be attending the Oscars ceremony because she wasnt invited.

Zegler, 20, made her debut as Maria in Steven Spielbergs film adaptation of the Broadway classic which was released last year.

The film has received a total of seven Oscar nominations this year, including Best Supporting Actress for Zeglers co-star Ariana DeBose and Best Direction for Spielberg.

Despite that, the movies breakout star Zegler hasnt made it to the ceremonys list of invitees.

On Sunday (20 March), Zegler told her Instagram followers she would root for West Side Story from my couch after a social media user expressed excitement over the actors red carpet outfit.

Zegler had posted a series of photos on Instagram, under which a user commented: Cant wait to see what youll be wearing on Oscar night.

Responding to the comment, Zegler said she would be wearing sweatpants and my boyfriends flannel because she hadnt been invited.

In a separate comment, she continued: Idk yall I have tried it all but it doesnt seem to be happening.

I hope some last minute miracle occurs and I can celebrate our film in person but hey, thats how it goes sometimes, I guess, Zegler said, adding, Thanks for all the shock and outrage  Im disappointed too.

Zeglers fans condemned the Academy of Motion Pictures and Arts, which organises the Oscars, for snubbing the actor.

A Twitter user wrote: Its so befuddling how disconnected the Academy is from the younger generation of fans. At a time when they are trying to gain viewership, this does the opposite to an important demographic.

Another social media user tweeted: Im sorry... WHAT THE FLYING F*** IS GOING ON HERE?! Rachel Zegler is the star of a movie that could win best pic. Shes one of the top rising stars in the biz. There are people presenting who have zero connection to the biz. This is ridiculous and needs to be corrected.

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my goodness, folks!! appreciate all the support, i really really do. we live in such unprecedented times, and a lot of work behind the scenes goes into making movie magic happen. that goes for film productions (like the one I am so lucky to be currently shooting in london)  rachel zegler (she/her/hers) (@rachelzegler) March 20, 2022

Born to an American father and Colombian mother, Zegler became the first Latina actress to win the Golden Globe award for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical for her performance in West Side Story. She is also the youngest winner in that category.

In a tweet late last night, Zegler expressed gratitude for the outpouring of support she had received since she revealed she would have to watch the Oscars from her home.

She also said: We live in such unprecedented times, and a lot of work behind the scenes goes into making movie magic happen. That goes for film productions (like the one I am so lucky to be currently shooting in London) and awards shows alike. Lets all just respect the process and Ill get off my phone.

West Side Story is up for the Best Picture, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Design, Best Costume, and Best Production Design Oscars, in addition to DeBose and Spielbergs nominations.

You can find the full list of Oscar nominations here.
Russias military has claimed to have twice unleashed hypersonic missiles in its invasion of Ukraine, apparently destroying an arms depot in the process, during its monthlong onslaught.

On Saturday, the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed it had struck an underground missile and ammunition warehouse in a village that borders Romania, and on Sunday, that it had destroyed a fuel depot near the southern city of Mykolaiv.

Defense Ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov claimed the attack used its newest Kinzhal, or dagger, hypersonic missile, in Ukraine.

The Kinzhal aviation missile system with hypersonic aeroballistic missiles destroyed a large underground warehouse containing missiles and aviation ammunition in the village of Deliatyn in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, Konashenkov claimed.

RIA Novosti, a Russian state news agency, said the attacks were the first time the next-generation weapons have been used since Russian troops were deployed to Ukraine on Feb. 24.

However, on March 9, Ukraines National Guard shared a picture of an unexploded hypersonic missile in the city of Kramatorsk in the breakaway region of Donetsk. Reports did not verify whether it was a dagger missile.

A short-range hypersonic ballistic missile, according to Ukrainian authorities, in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, in a photo released on March 9. (Press service of the National Guard of Ukraine/Handout via Reuters)

Ideal weapon

The advanced missile, which Russian President Vladimir Putin previously described as an ideal weapon, was one of several new weapons he unveiled in his state of the nation address in 2018. During that speech, Putin boasted that the missiles could hit almost any point across the world and evade the United States missile defense shield.

It is believed that Russia first used the hypersonic weapon in support of Bashar Assad during the Syrian civil war in 2016, although it has not been confirmed if it was the exact Kinzhal model.

The missile, designed to be launched from a MiG fighter jet, can fly at 10 times the speed of sound, and unlike other missiles can change course during its flight, making it impossible for air-defense systems to shoot it down. The Kinzhal missile can also be used to deliver nuclear weapons.

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In comparison, while the U.S. Tomahawk cruise missile can travel as fast as 550 mph, the Kinzhal can travel at 7,672 mph. The French Navy and the U.K.'s Royal Navy have since 2011 been jointly developing their own hypersonic missile, which is expected to be completed in 2030.

Ukrainian officials have confirmed Russias attacks over the weekend but said the type of missile used was not confirmed.

Unconfirmed reports

A Russian Air Force MiG-31K jet in 2018 carries a high-precision hypersonic aero-ballistic Kinzhal missile. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP)

According to reports, doubts have swirled over Russias use of the ballistic missile. One report suggested that the lack of secondary explosions from the attack at an ammunition warehouse in western Ukraine is suspicious. Theres also a distinct lack of secondary explosions as one would expect when rocket fuel and explosives cook-off, the online magazine the War Zone noted on Saturday.

The magazine also questioned how an Orlan-10  an unmanned aerial vehicle, commonly known as a drone  was able to fly over the targeted area to film the strike. If a maneuverable hypersonic missile was needed for the attack due to Ukraines air-defense systems, then how could a drone manage to film the strike and get away safely?

Russian analyst Pavel Felgenhauer said the missile would change little on the ground in Ukraine beyond giving a certain psychological and propaganda effect. He added that its use may suggest that the Russian militarys weapons are drying up. Defense strategy researcher Joseph Henrotin reiterated Felgenhauers point, suggesting on Twitter that Russia could be running out of weaponry. Henrotin also claimed that Putin might have used the nuclear-capable missile in a bid to raise the stakes of the war.

On Saturday, the U.N.s human rights office said at least 847 civilians had been killed since Feb. 24, including 155 men, 119 women, 21 boys and seven girls, but said its believed the actual figures are considerably higher.

_____

How are Ukrainian forces taking out so many Russian tanks? Use this embed to learn about some of the weapons systems the U.S. is sending to the Ukrainian army.

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What happened this week in Ukraine? Check out this explainer from Yahoo Immersive to find out.




The White House on Monday urged private companies to bolster their cyber defenses, citing evolving intelligence suggesting the Russian government is exploring "options for potential cyberattacks" targeting U.S. critical infrastructure.

"To be clear, there is no certainty there will be a cyber incident on critical infrastructure," White House deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology Anne Neuberger told reporters during a briefing on Monday afternoon.

"So why am I here? Because this is a call to action and a call to responsibility for all of us," she said.

The administration has warned in recent weeks that Russia could look to target infrastructure in the U.S. or elsewhere with cyberattacks, but officials previously said there were no specific or credible threats against the U.S.

Neuberger said Monday that officials have seen some "preparatory activity" and that the administration briefed companies and sectors who could be affected in a classified setting last week.

"There is no evidence of any specific cyberattack that we are anticipating," she said. "There is some preparatory activity that we're seeing and that is what we shared in a classified context with companies who we thought might be affected."

She said the preparatory activity could include scanning websites or looking for vulnerabilities, but wouldn't provide specific details.

Later, Neuberger said that the U.S. government had detected a "potential shift in intention" on the part of Russia.

The White House distributed a fact sheet urging companies to mandate the use of multi-factor authentication; patch their systems; run emergency drills to prepare response plans; deploy security tools to look for threats; back up data; encrypt data; and take other steps to secure information and bolster security to protect against cyber threats.

"I have previously warned about the potential that Russia could conduct malicious cyber activity against the United States, including as a response to the unprecedented economic costs we've imposed on Russia alongside our allies and partners," President Biden said in a statement. "It's part of Russia's playbook. Today, my Administration is reiterating those warnings based on evolving intelligence that the Russian Government is exploring options for potential cyberattacks.

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Biden later reiterated the warning to a group at a Business Roundtable event in Washington Monday evening.

"The magnitude of Russia's cyber capacity is fairly consequential, and it's coming," he said.

The Biden administration last month attributed cyberattacks targeting Ukraine's Ministry of Defense and banks to Russia. Those attacks occurred before Russia's invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24.

Russian state-sponsored actors have previously targeted the U.S. with cyberattacks, perhaps most notably in connection with the 2016 election interference operation and the massive SolarWinds hack.

Russian cybercriminals were also implicated in the attack on Colonial Pipeline.

The Biden administration has over the past year worked to improve the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure, which is largely owned and operated by the private sector.

Neuberger would not say Monday which specific critical infrastructure sectors could be targeted. Critical infrastructure encompasses a range of sectors, including water, energy, health care, and financial services.

She made clear the Biden administration would respond to a cyberattack by Russia.

"As the president has said, the United States is not seeking confrontation with Russia, but he has also said if Russia conducts disruptive cyberattacks against critical infrastructure, we will be prepared to respond," Neuberger said.

Biden in his own statement said his administration "will continue to use every tool to deter, disrupt, and if necessary, respond to cyberattacks against critical infrastructure."

Updated at 6:47 p.m.
White teen in Louisiana arrested for hate crime after caught on camera tossing cotton balls and hitting Black classmate with a belt. (WWL-TV)

A 15-year-old in Louisiana has been charged with a hate crime after a viral video captured him throwing cotton balls at a Black classmate while whipping him with a belt, local authorities reported.

The student, who attends Vanebilt Catholic High School in Houma, Louisiana, can be seen in the 9 March footage approaching his Black classmate in the crowded cafeteria and then begins tossing handfuls of what appears to be cotton balls at him before beginning to whip the teen with a belt.

On 15 March, WWL-TV reported that the offending teen had been arrested and taken to a local juvenile detention centre where he was later charged with simple battery and a hate crime.

In a Facebook post from the aTerrebonne Parish Sheriffs Office published last week, the authorities confirmed theyd met with both students parents and that an investigation was also being conducted.

Detectives from TPSO said in the same statement that parents of the victim also met with the schools administration over what the local authorities described in the post was a racially motivated video.

The attacked teen is one of the few racialised minorities at the Catholic high school, a family friend of the victim told WWL-TV. The teens parents, who shared a statement with the same outlet, said they were stunned by the horrific event but hoped that an important lesson could be salvaged from the pains that their son had to suffer.

We will continue to pray for our school community as a whole, that we not only get through this together but that we each learn a valuable lesson from what has taken place, the parents said in a statement, WWL-TV reported.

Vanebilt Catholic High School is a private school in Houma and requires all potential students of the school to sit for an interview before gaining admission. Its one of the only Catholic schools in the local area.
Wildfires raged around the world last summer (Getty)

Wildfires blazed around the world last summer, burning land from California to Siberia - and the carbon released is accelerating global warming .

The risk of wildfires has been increased by climate change - and the researchers warn that the carbon released by wildfires could lead to even more wildfires in the future, in whats known as a positive feedback loop.

A report published by the UN last month warned that wildfires are on track to increase 50% by 2050 .

The research was published in the journal One Earth, detailing how the brown carbon released by burning biomass in the northern hemisphere is accelerating warming in the Arctic.

Read more: A 1988 warning about climate change was mostly right

Blazing wildfires are accompanied by vast plumes of brown smoke, made up of particles of brown carbon suspended in the air.

In 2017, the Chinese icebreaker vessel Xue Long headed for the Arctic Ocean to research how brown carbon released by wildfires was affecting the climate.

The researchers investigated how its warming effects compared to those of denser black carbon from high-temperature fossil fuel burning, the second most powerful warming agent after carbon dioxide.

Read more: Melting snow in Himalayas drives growth of green sea slime visible from space

Their results showed that brown carbon was contributing to warming more than previously thought.

Pingqing Fu, an atmospheric chemist at Tianjin University said, "To our surprise, observational analyses and numerical simulations show that the warming effect of brown carbon aerosols over the Arctic is up to about 30% of that of black carbon.

In the last 50 years, the Arctic has been warming at a rate three times that of the rest of the planet, and it appears that wildfires are helping to drive this discrepancy.

The researchers found that brown carbon from burning biomass was responsible for at least twice as much warming as brown carbon from fossil fuel burning.

Read more: Why economists worry that reversing climate change is hopeless

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Like black carbon and carbon dioxide, brown carbon warms the planet by absorbing solar radiation.

"The increase in brown carbon aerosols will lead to global or regional warming, which increases the probability and frequency of wildfires," says Fu.

"Increased wildfire events will emit more brown carbon aerosols, further heating the earth, thus making wildfires more frequent."

Watch: What sea levels will look like by 2050
MarsBars / iStock.com

Many women turn to side hustles as a way to bring in extra income, and sometimes, these side hustles take off in a way that they never anticipated.

Options: 22 Side Gigs That Can Make You Richer Than a Full-Time Job

And Check Out: 5 Lucrative Side Hustles That Can Make You Six Figures

GOBankingRates spoke to women who got rich through their side hustles about how they did it and their best advice for women who want to start a successful side hustle of their own.

Jenna Carson, Partner at MoneyLucid.com

Jenna Carson started the finance and investment resource MoneyLucid.com as a way to make an income that wasnt reliant on anyone else.

I was inspired by the lack of women in the financial space and a strong desire to make myself financially independent, she said. Despite having had other businesses in the past, I had always relied on someone else to support my income stream. I wanted to change that  I wanted to be free!

Carson started monetizing her side gig within weeks, but it took about 12 months before it took off and started bringing in substantial income.

It was a busy 12 months, where the side hustle took up almost as much time as my other full-time work, she said.

Carson eventually quit her full-time job to focus on growing her company.

I work full time on it now and employ staff, she said. I knew it was time to make the leap as soon as my projected income stream for my side hustle was more than from all my other work combined.

Carson believes that more women should take a chance and start a side hustle of their own.

Society tells women that starting a side hustle is hard or impossible, but only each individual knows what they are capable of, she said. Look inside yourself, and if the energy and fire are there, get started!

More: 7 Best Side Hustles for Parents

Dandan Zhu, Real Estate Investor

Dandan Zhus side hustle as a real estate investor and Airbnb operator allowed her to quit her corporate job at age 28 with a humongous cushion to experiment and develop as an entrepreneur.

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When I was 25, I had a great career as a headhunter, she said. Since I was a top biller, I was making over $215,000.

At the same time, she got started in her real estate side hustle by house hacking.

I learned how to sublet and manage tenants every single day because I lived with them, Zhu said. Because I saved up so much money by hacking my apartment and earning such a high income, I was able to save up and buy my first property. A year later, I did the whole thing again  lived cheaply, spent very little and used the money for another down payment on another condo.

Within five years, her condos had increased in price so much that she was able to quit her full-time job and go into full-time real estate investing.

Right as I quit my job in 2016, I sold my first property and quickly bought three more, Zhu said. I emptied out the rest of my savings and took a big risk in 2017 to buy a four-family home, which is to date my best investment.

Zhus success as a real estate investor allowed her to start her own recruitment businesses. She continues to run her side hustle  buying, holding, renting and then selling real estate at a high profit  and also manages 14 rental units across six properties in four states.

For other women considering a side hustle, Id have the following advice: Pick something that has the potential to generate income quickly with your existing skillset, she said. Because I had good people skills and a high pressure tolerance due to my sales job, real estate is the perfect alignment because it allowed me to leverage my best strength  dealing with tough people in tough situations. For you, this could be building a business around your artistic skills and strengths, talents, or other special and unique features of your personality and/or technical skills.

Thalita Ferraz, Editor/Creator

Before she was a full-time content creator and fashion influencer, Thalita Ferraz worked as a customer service representative for American Express.

Creating a website and social media brand has been one of the best things that I could have done, she said. I have always had a passion for fashion and beauty, so when I realized that I was actually going to be able to monetize that drive, I could hardly believe it. It really was one of the best feelings in the world.

But it took some time for her to gain enough of a following to turn her side hustle into a full-time gig.

It took maybe a year of casual posting to actually start making any money out of it, and then once I started hitting certain marks in terms of income, I talked to my husband and we agreed that it was time to go full time, Ferraz said. It took a little while to get any traction, but once the ball started rolling, it kind of didnt stop, and I was able to live an influencer life and actually do what I was passionate about.

Ferraz encourages other women to pursue their side hustle passions as well.

Work on whatever youre passionate about whenever you can, so long as you can still support yourself and your family, she said. Only take the leap to do your side hustle full time once youre confident that the money will continue coming in.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Women Who Became Rich Through Side Hustles Share How They Did It
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A superyacht linked to sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich docked in Bodrum in southwest Turkey on Monday, ship tracking data showed.

The Solaris yacht left Montenegro last week, motoring southeast to Turkey and skirting the waters of European Union member states which have sanctioned Abramovich and several other Russian billionaires.

EU governments have acted to seize yachts and other luxury assets from the sanctioned individuals.

(Reporting by Dominic Evans; Editing by Jonathan Spicer)
Feature: Severe cooking gas shortage hits war-ravaged Yemen

Xinhua) 08:37, March 21, 2022

People wait to refill their cooking gas cylinders on a street of Aden, in southern Yemen, March 20, 2022. (Photo by Murad Abdo/Xinhua)

ADEN, Yemen, March 20 (Xinhua) -- A severe shortage of cooking gas struck several regions of Yemen, multiplying the suffering of millions of people living in the war-ravaged Arab country.

During the past few days, many fuel stations in several main cities run out of cooking gas, forcing numerous bakeries to close their doors.

Officials told Xinhua that the gas shortage continued spreading and included new areas under the control of the internationally-recognized Yemeni government.

In the southern port city of Aden, Yemen's temporary capital, many people were seen lining up at fuel pumps waiting to refill their cooking gas cylinders.

"Every time, I spent several hours standing in line until I refilled my cooking gas cylinder, and this is much less than what I need," Ahmed Jalal, a man living in Aden, told Xinhua, adding that his family needs at least four gas cylinders to cook foods throughout the whole month.

"Because of the cooking gas shortage crisis, the quota is limited," Jalal lamented.

Due to the ongoing war, the production of gas is not enough to meet the high demand of the local market, an official of Aden's local authority told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

"The inequitable distribution of gas also participated in creating this acute crisis as some provinces get fewer quantities of cooking gas supplies," said the official.

In other provinces controlled by the Houthi militia, lack of fuel and cooking gas has had a terrible impact on local people's quality of life and created a new woe.

Hundreds of vehicles are waiting in long lines in Yemen's capital Sanaa to get their tanks refilled as the ongoing fuel shortage keeps getting worse.

Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Houthi militia seized control of several northern provinces and forced the internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of the capital Sanaa.

According to some latest nationwide assessments by humanitarians, 23.4 million people in Yemen, or three-quarters of the overall population, need some form of assistance, said Martin Griffiths, UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator.

The war has also accelerated Yemen's economic problems, pushing more families into destitution, which is among the largest drivers of humanitarian needs, Griffiths said.

Yemen relies on commercial imports for about 90 percent of its food and nearly all its fuel and other essential goods.

Fuel imports have also fallen sharply through Hodeidah port. Fuel volumes in February were less than half the average. This drop is contributing to fuel shortages and price rises, which are likely to become even more acute as the energy prices globally continue to rise, he said.

People wait to refill their cooking gas cylinders on a street of Aden, in southern Yemen, March 20, 2022. (Photo by Murad Abdo/Xinhua)

(Web editor: Peng yukai, Liang Jun)
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Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Sunday held talks with Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra and Tanzanian Foreign Minister Liberata Mulamula.

When holding talks with Lamamra, who is paying a visit to China, Wang said that apart from certain countries that are preoccupied with geographical games, there are many countries like China and Algeria that have long histories and favor peace and justice.

He called on such countries to join hands and enhance unity and coordination to promote the process of democracy in international relations.

Lamamra said that Algeria appreciates China's position on the Ukraine crisis and believes that China's approach, which stands for international fairness and justice, and eyes the promotion of peace, stability and security, is right and promising.

When holding talks with Mulamula via video link, Wang noted that the China-Tanzania friendship has taken root in people's hearts. He said China is willing to view its relations with Tanzania from a strategic and long-term perspective.

Wang said that China stands ready to continue to deepen comprehensive cooperative partnership with Tanzania and make greater contributions to Africa's self-reliant development capabilities.

Mulamula, who is paying a virtual visit to China, said that Tanzania is committed to building its relations with China into a new benchmark for Africa-China ties.
RIYADH (Reuters) - Yemen's Houthi group said on Monday that calls from the United Nations for a truce in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan were "a positive step".

U.N. Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg said on Sunday he was discussing a possible truce during Ramadan, which starts in April, for Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition is battling the Houthi group.

"We see U.N. envoy calls for a humanitarian truce as a positive step," the movement's spokesman Mohammed Abdussalam said.

(Reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi; Editing by Alex Richardson)
Ukraine's president said his country would never accept Russian ultimatums as a condition for peace.

He said any compromises with Russia would need to be decided by Ukrainians in a referendum.

"The question concerns the fact that the people and the government are united," Zelenskyy said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy slammed Russia's ultimatums for peace and said any compromises made with the country to end its invasion would need to be decided by Ukrainians by referendum.

"When you talk about certain changes and they can be historic, we are not going anywhere. We will come to the referendum," Zelenskyy said in an interview with Eurovision News and Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne that aired on Monday.

"Our people will have to say and give an answer to certain formats of compromises which you mentioned before. What will those be? It will be defined by our conversation and understanding between Ukraine and Russia," he said.

Zelenskyy was not referring to any specific plans for a referendum.

Zelenskyy also said Russia has given him ultimatums with demands that it says would lead to the end of the war which, in over three weeks, has left scores dead and seen Ukrainian cities bombarded.

Russian demands of Ukraine in return for a cease-fire and troop withdrawal have included political neutrality, limited military strength, a guarantee to never join NATO, and recognition of the Ukrainian territories of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states.

But Zelenskyy said Russia's demands extended beyond what he can agree to, and that Ukraine won't compromise with any Russian ultimatums.

"The question concerns the fact that the people and the government are united," he said. "You cannot do it with ultimatums."

Zelenskyy said last week that Ukraine wants security guarantees and restoration of the country's "territorial integrity" as part of his peace talks with Russia.

Story continues

"My priorities in the negotiations are absolutely clear: The end of the war, security guarantees, sovereignty, restoration of territorial integrity, real guarantees for our country, real protection for our country," he said in a video address.

Ongoing peace talks between the two sides have not produced concrete changes so far. Monday marks the 26th day of the Russian invasion.

Read the original article on Business Insider
An Amherst woman was sentenced Monday to a year in jail after previously pleading guilty in Amherst Circuit Court to a driving while intoxicated and maiming charge in a two-vehicle crash that injured a high school student.

Jessica Diane Campbell was convicted in January of the Class 6 felony, which occurred May 15, 2021, according to online court records.

Assistant Commonwealths Attorney Adam Stanley said Campbell was over the legal limit of consuming alcohol and caused a head-on collision on Izaak Walton Road that injured an Amherst County High School senior who was driving the other vehicle. The teen driver suffered cuts, scrapes, an ankle fracture and had to be transported to a hospital, according to Stanley.

Campbells blood alcohol content at the time was .14, Stanley said. The legal limit in Virginia is .08. She had a previous DUI, the prosecutor said.

As part of her sentence, her license was revoked indefinitely, Stanley said.

Campbell was given a five-year sentence with all but one year suspended, court records show.

 Justin Faulconer

 Justin Faulconer

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The Governor and First Lady of Virginia made a stop Monday morning in Altavista, visiting the National Center for Healthy Veterans to present the first-ever Spirit of Virginia award.

The inaugural award, given to the center by Suzanne Youngkin, the first lady of Virginia, recognizes unique qualities and standout achievements across the Commonwealth and saluting Virginians for their uncommon contributions in private industries, education, culture, the arts and philanthropy.

The first lady said during the presentation the award is the first of six per year that the administration will give out each year Glenn Youngkin is in office.

The National Center for Healthy Veterans, at 980 Wards Road in Altavista, is an organization that brings in veterans transitioning from life in the armed forces and gives them a place to work and stay as they return to civilian life.

We just cant imagine a better inaugural winner, the First Lady said during her speech, than the National Center for Healthy Veterans at Valor Farm.

Youre service oriented, youre innovative, youre pioneering, youre transformative, all the words that we have put in place to help us call and vet and choose the best and the brightest in the Commonwealth.

The governor also spoke during the ceremony, saying its been a remarkable tour this morning as weve had the chance to not just see things, but feel things.

To see that as this is a one-of-a-kind facility, a living facility, to provide a home, not a house, but a home to veterans in need.

Youngkin said during his speech that his administration is reimagining how we serve veterans and provide veterans with, first, the thank-you that you all deserve.

During the campaign season, Youngkin said it was a goal of his to stop the taxation of veterans benefits, which he reiterated support for on Monday.

His proposal is to exclude up to $40,000 of veterans benefits from being taxed, which he says is a sign that we want you to make your homes in Virginia.

The National Center for Healthy Veterans was chosen as the first award winner, according to Youngkin, because they really felt that the mission here was really special.

The First Lady had visited here once before and this is exactly what the Spirit of Virginia is all about and what the Spirit of Virginia award is all about. So this was just a very special way to start celebrating organizations like this.

The center, launched in 2019, is run by Maj. Gen. Bob Dees and Gen. Jeff Horne, the president and vice president of the board for the group. Its located at a property called Valor Farm; and according to Dees, the center currently has four homes built on the property that veterans are living in, and an additional four homes are expected to be finished within a month.

A community center for the veterans, where they will be able to eat, take classes and fellowship with other veterans, Dees said, will be done in about a month. The entire operation is expected to be up by July.

Its incredibly humbling, Dees said about receiving the award.

We seek to return healthy veterans to America, and the governor and the first lady have recognized the nobility of that cause ... and we think its a great encouragement to us.

Weve got a long way to go; were continuing to marshal support. Many hands make light work and we need many more hands to help us make that vision a reality for Virginias veterans and then far beyond across the nation.

Youngkins visit to Altavista was his second stop Monday in Central Virginia. He appeared in Lynchburg earlier in the morning to sign into law Senate Bill 777, sponsored by Sen. Mark Peake, R-Lynchburg, according to the Lynchburg Sheriffs Office.

The legislation outlaws the Carolina squat, a truck modification in which the front end is significantly higher than the rear end. According to the governors office, a man in Virginia was killed Feb. 16 in a collision involving a truck modified in such a way.

The governor will return to the Hill City at 10:30 a.m. Friday to speak during Liberty Universitys convocation.

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ROANOKE  A red T-shirt with the acronym COVID-19 VA MRC across the back identified Kim Conrad as a volunteer when she walked into Kembel Tax Service in Salem.

She carried a stack of flyers and set them down on Priscilla Kembels desk.

We are with the health department, Conrad said. We were hoping to leave some information about the vaccine clinics.

Conrad is one of many in the region who volunteered to join the Virginia Medical Reserve Corps during the pandemic. Thousands of these volunteers vaccinated Virginians at local clinics, operated call centers and canvassed neighborhoods and businesses with flyers  like Conrad did earlier this month at the Ridgewood Farms shopping center.

I believe in it so much and I wish I would have done it sooner, Conrad said. Im very proud to help them get the word out about vaccines.

More than 17,000 people across the state volunteered as new corps members between January 2020 and November 2021, according to a proclamation from then-Gov. Ralph Northam. Volunteers served more than 673,000 hours, which equates to a monetary value of more than $20 million.

As the pandemic slows, the need for thousands of volunteers at vaccination clinics and call centers has waned. Now, the Virginia Department of Health is looking to find ways to keep medical reserve corps volunteers signed up and active so they can be deployed in the event of another coronavirus surge or another disaster.

Jennifer Freeland, assistant state MRC coordinator at the state health department, said the corps has been a workforce multiplier for local health departments.

A lot of good has come because of the pandemic, she said. We hope to be able to ride on that wave and really build a resilient community and one thats invested in public health and addresses what those unique needs are in their community.

The Virginia Medical Reserve Corps was created in 2002 in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Under then-President George W. Bush, the program was created so the country would have a dedicated list of medical personnel who could be deployed in the event of a natural disaster or a bioterrorism attack.

Corps units have practiced over the years with natural disaster relief efforts and administering flu vaccines. But the COVID-19 pandemic proved to be a challenge.

It was kind of the coming of age of the MRC, Freeland said. You built this, you grew it and you didnt know if it was going to drive down the road or not. But its a Ferrari.

In the Near Southwest region of Virginia, the corps experienced a nearly 700% growth in volunteers. The regions unit covers the Roanoke and New River valleys and stretches north to Alleghany County, south to Pittsylvania County and east to Lynchburg. Geographically, it makes up about one-fifth of the state.

Just before the pandemic hit, the regions corps had 283 volunteers, but now boasts more than 2,500.

The willingness of the greater area in Near Southwest to step forward was one of the largest in the state, Freeland said. One of the really amazing things was the heart of the people in Southwest Virginia to step up and help.

Mary Lou Legg, the Near Southwest corps director, said she did little to no advertising. In the beginning of the pandemic, Northam repeatedly told citizens to sign up.

During one of Northams speeches, Legg watched her computer ding with each new application. In one day, she received 100 applications in less than 24 hours.

As she began sending out volunteer opportunities, the slots filled up in less than 60 seconds. Legg said she couldnt shut the system down fast enough and would have to call people and tell them they werent needed even though they had received a confirmation email.

Legg said she doesnt want to lose the momentum and enthusiasm these new volunteers have brought to the organization. With all of this help, she said communities might be able to do more public health outreach than previously was possible.

Legg said she plans to send a survey to her volunteers to ask them how they would like to continue volunteering. These activities could include leading health education classes, such as Narcan revive training for overdose victims, stop the bleed training or basic CPR. She said volunteers also could set up a program to help teenage mothers and educate them on neonatal care.

We dont really know the exact path going forward, Legg said. We want to keep all those volunteers engaged so that they can stay a part of our organization and we can be even more prepared for the next big thing that hits.

Gary and Marian Silverman, Blacksburg residents, have been members of the medical reserve corps for a number of years. Before moving to Virginia, they joined the corps in Ohio. And after retiring from their careers in Virginia, they were quick to sign up again.

The Silvermans completed about 500 hours each doing contact tracing calls for the New River and Roanoke City and Alleghany Health Districts. Gary Silverman said they chose to volunteer from home to protect their newborn grandchild and Marians 94-year-old mother from exposure.

They said the phone calls changed over time. At the beginning of the pandemic, people were scared to speak to someone from the health department. They were embarrassed they had either been exposed or tested positive. Some were afraid to lose their jobs and others already were hospitalized by the time the Silvermans reached out.

Other people didnt want to share their contacts or were suspicious a government agency was involved.

As time went on, people began to expect the calls and the interactions became more pleasant. Marian Silverman said she called college students at Virginia Tech and Radford University who were thankful for the call and that someone checked in on them.

I really appreciated being able to do it, Marian Silverman said. It gave us something to do, which we thought was extremely meaningful at a time when it all seemed kind of chaotic.

That same desire to help pulled Nina Templeton, also a Blacksburg resident, out of retirement. Templeton retired from her career as an anesthesiologist in January 2020. Years before, she also had retired from being a veterinarian, but kept her license active.

She and her golden retriever Lyle were walking in a park in Blacksburg when they came across New River Health District Director Noelle Bissell and her dogs. Templeton introduced herself and asked Bissell if the district needed vaccinators. The vaccines had yet to be rolled out, but Bissell said they would need the help as soon as they became available. She sent Templeton to Legg to sign up for the medical reserve corps.

Templeton spent 453 hours vaccinating, being an on-site medical director and a call center operator during the pandemic. She brought Lyle, who also is a trained therapy dog, along with her to each vaccination clinic as well.

He was unbelievable what he did for these people, she said. Word spread about him. People came specifically and told the people that were triaging that they wanted to go with the dog or asked if the dog was there that day.

At one clinic, Templeton said Lyle walked away from her and sat next to a woman who was receiving a vaccine. She later found out the woman had lost her husband in a car wreck within a week of that clinic. Somehow, Lyle knew she needed help, Templeton said.

After the demand for vaccines waned and there were fewer medical reserve corps volunteers needed, Templeton still went so she could bring Lyle and offer him to children and adults who needed him.

She said attending events to spread the word about vaccines and working the vaccination clinics was a highlight of her career. People were sometimes hesitant about the side effects and wondering whether they should sign up for a dose, and Templeton loved answering their questions.

Ive done a lot of good in my career, but in many ways, I feel as though this, working with the vaccine effort, was probably the pinnacle, the most important thing Ive ever done in my career, she said. I feel honored that people would trust me.
After seven and-a-half years with Sarpy County, Manny the facility dog died on Jan. 3, following some health-related issues. He was 9.

He liked to be around people, said Jean Brazda, Sarpy County Victim/Witness Chief of Staff. His favorite age range was kids. Whenever he would come to work with me, just about every day, when he would hear kids in the hallway of the courthouse or go to a meeting, he would get excited.

Manny had a morning routine  Brazda would brush his hair, his teeth and get his vest on.

He would walk out the door with myself and my kids, she said. He understood what his role was.

His job was to interact with victims or witnesses in criminal cases, navigating the deposition process with them. Manny would often sit at the feet of those testifying in court, particularly children, to offer comfort and support in an often uncomfortable situation.

He would just be, Brazda said. That was his role.

Manny came to Sarpy County in 2014, following an application process with Canine Companions  who specialize in service dogs  that spanned two years.

The Labrador retriever-golden retriever mix spent 16 months in obedience and socialization training as a puppy. He then completed six months of intensive training at Canine Companions before Brazda trained with him. Worth about $48,000, he came knowing 38 different commands.

Manny was the first and (so far) only courthouse facility dog in the state. He was placed with Brazda at no charge.

Mannys ability to sense tension and sadness was his biggest strength, said Sarpy County Attorney Lee Polikov, a major proponent of the facility dog program. He proved his worth day after day, whether he was sitting with a child who was about to testify in court, visiting the youth at our juvenile facility or simply walking through the halls of the courthouse adding a smile to peoples faces.

At work, Manny had his own calendar for meetings and appointments, and special bed to lay in during his free time.

His second or third week here with me, we went right into a murder trial where he was able to take the stand with one of our young witnesses, Brazda said. We jumped right into work.

From May 2014 to Dec 2021, Manny had contact with 575 crime victims. This does not account for the number of county employees, general public, presentations or juveniles at the Juvenile Justice Center he had contact with regularly.

He held his lap command for more than an hour, applying pressure with his front legs to a young girls lap with his back feet on the ground, as she talked about horrific sexual abuse she endured by a family member. By the end, Mannys back was wet from her tears. She had hugged him the whole time.

Otherwise tough, standoffish youth would get down on the ground with Manny, talking to him in a sweet voice and hugging him at the Juvenile Justice Center.

Theres been research done about the effects of dogs on humans, Brazda said. When someone is experiencing trauma, one of the first things that happen is their ability to speak or tell their story goes away. They cant talk. They dont want to talk. Trauma sets in.

Research out there talks about how the presence of a dog will provide some comfort and security to a person, which lowers their anxiety level. Mannys presence with victims allows them to be comfortably enough to tell us what happened.

In May 2021, cancer was discovered in one of Mannys toes. It was thought the doctor had removed it all, but they later learned it had likely gone into his blood stream.

They believe he had a tumor that appeared behind the sinus cavity in his head, Brazda said. Up to that moment, he was high energy.

The Brazda family lost Manny on the same day as Jeans father.

I think he held on as long as he could, knowing that I needed him, she said. That was his job.

At home, Manny played with his dog brother. On days that were especially busy or emotionally draining, they would play hard, Brazda said.

He wouldnt look like that very structured dog at work when he was home, she said.

Brazda said she has been in close contact with Canine Companions and she has been invited to a training in late April. The hope is that she will be paired with another facility dog, who can work with Brazda and carry on Mannys mission and legacy in Sarpy County.

I think its important that every county attorney office across the state implement a facility dog program, she said. Manny is it for Nebraska. It needs to expand.

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U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, continues to call for the U.S. to step up the delivery of lethal aid to support Ukraines battle against a Russian military invasion, including facilitation of the transfer of MiG-29 fighter jets from Poland.

The world is witnessing the Ukrainians belief in freedom through their tenacity on the battlefield and on the streets of Kharkiv, Mariupol and Kyiv, Ernst told reporters Monday.

The Ukrainian resistance has not surprised her.

It was the same ferocity I witnessed fighting alongside Ukrainians during the global war on terror, said Ernst, the first female combat veteran in the Senate and a commander of Iowa National Guard troops in Kuwait and Iraq. This weekend, once again, I saw the Ukrainian spirit.

Ernst retuned Sunday night from leading a bipartisan delegation of nine colleagues on a weekend visit to Poland and Germany. Members of the delegations were Republican Sens. Shelley Moore Capito, Susan Collins, John Cornyn, Steve Daines Roger Marshall and Jerry Moran, Democratic Sens. Jacky Rosen and Kirsten Gillibrand, and independent Sen. Angus King.

We traveled together to demonstrate Americas unwavering support for the freedom-loving people of Ukraine and affirm the strength of the worlds most powerful alliance, Ernst said. We departed with the conviction that the United States, Ukraine and the free world have the will and the means to unite and stand up to Vladimir Putins tyranny.

In eastern Poland, Ernst said, the delegation heard from Ukrainian leaders in exile, who delivered a clear message to the United States: We need more lethal aid weapons, including air defense system, and we need it ASAP.

She is concerned the U.S. aid is not flowing fast enough, blaming Washington bureaucracy.

If, as Pentagon officials have said, the U.S. mission is a free, independent and sovereign Ukraine, then it must provide more support to enable Ukraine to win the war, Ernst said.

America cannot hold back, she said. She called for the U.S. to facilitate the handover of MiG-29 fighter jets from Poland to Ukraine and backfill the Polish air force with F-16s. Ernst was able to include a provision in the military aid package Congress approves for President Joe Biden to draw down from pre-positioned military equipment around the world, including weapons meant for Afghan security forces.

Ernst, who lived with a Ukrainian family as part of an exchange program while she attended Iowa State University, got a look at the refugee situation when she visited her sister. She is prepared to house refugees at her school, but the refugees are not allowed to pass through Russian lines

So they are trapped behind enemy lines with nowhere to go, Ernst said. It is devastating. Putin rules through fear. The Ukrainian state they will not be ruled by fear. We should not be ruled by fear either. We cannot simply allow Ukraine to be taken by this ruthless dictator because if we allow that he will continue on this path.

Ernst said the senators agreed Putin must answer to an international tribunal for his indefensible attacks on schools, hospitals and other civilian targets.

Its a consensus of America and our NATO allies that Putin must be held accountable for the crimes he has committed after Ukraine wins this war, Ernst said. His barbarous and cruel actions will not go unpunished.
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Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Sunday that the Ukraine crisis is developing in a way that goes beyond itself, with spillovers affecting the whole world, and in this regard, the majority of countries in the world, including China and other developing countries, share reasonable concerns and hold similar positions.



Wang made the remarks in a press briefing after holding talks with Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra in Tunxi, east China's Anhui province.

Wang told the press that after exchanging views with many foreign ministers from Asian or African countries, he felt that many countries, like China, are following closely the developments of the Ukraine crisis, and share a lot of common language.

We all believe that the purposes and principles of the UN Charter should be observed, international disputes should be resolved peacefully, and the parties concerned should realize ceasefire and put an end to the war as quickly as possible, he said.

Noting that during discussions at the UN General Assembly on the Ukraine issue, China, Algeria and quite a number of countries abstained in the voting, Wang said abstention is also an attitude. It is to give peace a chance and shows disapproval of using war and sanctions to address disputes, and it is a responsible attitude.

"At the same time, we are of the view that the Ukraine issue has not come to this point by accident. It is the result of the confluence of various factors and an eruption of the tensions that have built up over the years," said Wang, adding that what lies at the heart is the issue of European security, and NATO's move of expanding eastward without limit merits reflection.

He said that from the longer-term perspective, parties in Europe should follow the principle of indivisible security and, based on respecting each other's legitimate concerns, pursue dialogue and negotiation to build a balanced, effective and sustainable regional security architecture.

"First, it is widely believed that when addressing regional and international hotspot issues, war and sanctions are not the only options, and dialogue and negotiation is the fundamental way out," said Wang, adding that the current circumstances make it more important to stick to this direction.

"Second, the momentum of world economic recovery should not be disrupted," said Wang, adding that in the context of the ongoing pandemic, escalating unilateral sanctions will fracture the global industrial and supply chains and hurt the livelihood of people of all countries, who have no responsibility for paying for geopolitical conflicts and major-country competition.

Third, all countries have the right to independently decide their external policies, and should not be forced to choose sides, Wang said.

He added that when dealing with complex issues and divergent views, one should not opt for the simplistic approach of "friend or foe" and "black or white". It is particularly important to resist Cold War mentality and oppose bloc confrontation.

"Fourth, the sovereign independence and territorial integrity of all countries must be respected at all times. This principle applies to all countries and regions. There should be no exception, still less double standards," Wang said.

During the press conference, Wang also put forward China's position on Africa-related issues.

Noting the ongoing Ukraine crisis, Wang stressed that the world is very big and there are many problems. The African continent in particular should not be forgotten and should no longer be marginalized, still less a victim.

"The more turbulent the international situation is, the more we must pay attention to the voice of African countries and increase our support and assistance to Africa." he said.

Wang said as a good brother of African countries, China will continue to stand with Africa, firmly support Africa in maintaining peace and security, firmly support Africa in achieving economic recovery, firmly support Africa in defending its legitimate rights and interests, and make due contributions to Africa's independence and sustainable development.
A group of terrorists Saturday exchanged shots with members of Tunisias National Guard in Kairouan, North of the North African country.

The police said in a statement that gunmen in a car opened fire but were repelled by a massive retaliatory barrage, without any casualties reported in the exchange.

Those responsible for this cowardly attack were probably  part of a terrorist cell, operating between Kairouan and Sousse in eastern Tunisia, that had been dismantled with arrests made, the police added in the statement.

The attack came on Tunisias independence day and with the country plunged in political crisis.

Also, counter-terrorism forces arrested Tuesday six men forming a terror cell, in Tataouine, southern Tunisia.

The cell, led by a terrorist not known to the security services, indoctrinated youth in the region and had plans to manufacture explosives and poisons to be used in terror operations.

Tunisia has been in a state of emergency since November 2015 after the country suffered its bloodiest attacks in history. Three terror attacks that year claimed by the Islamic state group killed over 70 people, mostly foreign tourists.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry has laid into Libyan rebel General Khalifa Haftar for sending fighters to combat alongside Russian forces, Libya Observer reports.

The ministry added that the Libyan fighters are expected to be flown aboard Russian air force planes.

Haftar who controls much of Libyas eastern territories has not commented on the accusations but Libya Observer notes that Haftars private jet, Dassault Falcon-900 P4-RMA, which he uses in most of his travels, landed on March 16 in Moscow coming from the United Arab Emirates and left on March 18 to Austria and then Italy.

Noman Benothman, a former advisor to the Libyan warlord and now his opponent, indicated that Haftars sons were on the private jet to Moscow which they visited three times in the last ten days, Libya Observer reports.

Russia is an ally of Haftars self-style Libyan National Army.
Moroccan ambassador to Spain Karima Benyaich returned Sunday to her post in Madrid after Head of Spanish government Pedro Sanchez sent King Mohammed VI a letter voicing clear support to Moroccos territorial integrity and autonomy plan for the Sahara.

In a statement to Spanish news agency EFE, Mrs. Benyaich said a new stage, a new page is opening up in the relations between the two neighboring countries.

The return of the Moroccan ambassador marks the end of the diplomatic spat that lasted nearly one year putting on hold several partnership projects. Rabat had recalled its ambassador to Spain for consultation in May last year in protest against Madrids decision to host secretly Polisario leader, under a false identity, in connivance with Algiers.

In his message addressed Friday to King Mohammed VI, Spanish PM said Madrid supports Moroccos autonomy initiative, describing it as the most serious, realistic and credible basis for settling the Sahara issue.

On Friday, the Spanish government presidency issued a statement saying that Spain is committed to respecting Moroccos sovereignty and territorial integrity, as part of a new era in bilateral ties.

We are ushering today a new era in our ties with Morocco, based on mutual respect, the implementation of agreements, refraining from unilateral actions, transparency and permanent communication, said the statement.

This new era will be elaboratedin a clear and ambitious roadmap in order to guarantee stability, sovereignty, the territorial integrity and prosperity for our two countries, underlined the statement.

Several Spanish, American and European influential politicians, MPs, analysts and investors have praised the Spanish supportive stand to Moroccos territorial integrity, saying it opens up promising perspectives for shared prosperity, regional peace and security.

Washington, Paris, Rome and several other capitals from around the world have also welcomed the Spanish position on the Sahara, stressing that the serious, credible and realistic autonomy plan offered by Morocco under its sovereignty is the ONLY feasible solution and the ONLY basis for a just and lasting resolution of the Sahara regional dispute.
Algeria has once again discredited itself and showed the world that its the genuine party to the artificial dispute over the Sahara, after it recalled its ambassador to Madrid for consultation following Spains support for Moroccos territorial integrity and the autonomy plan for the Sahara.

Spains PM Sanchez had sent a letter to King Mohammed VI saying that his country considers the autonomy plan as the most serious, credible and realistic basis for a solution of the dispute.

This new stance entails full recognition of Moroccos sovereignty over the territory, a move that dissipated a fog of diplomatic tension between the two countries.

In a short statement, Algerias foreign ministry said it was surprised by the sovereign decision of a European country and in protest recalled the ambassador.

Some analysts are already evoking the shock effect within an Algerian regime that has squandered its resources on sponsoring, arming and backing diplomatically a separatist thesis in southern Morocco.

Algeria, which often says it is not a party to the conflict, has previously said it will not attend any new talks organized by the UN about the Sahara. Morocco maintains that there will not be any UN negotiations except if Algeria sits at the table as the real party.

Protesting against a sovereign decision made by Spain also shows the scale of shock, despair and frustration among a military junta that has made the separatist cause their main foreign policy goal.

Algeria however fell short of recalling its ambassador from Washington when President Trump recognized Moroccos sovereignty over the territory. The Algerian diplomacy has better brace for a major shift in Moroccos favor and prepare for more such ground-breaking news.
Morocco and Spain ushered a new era based on mutual respect and sincere cooperation after the Spanish Presidency openly expressed support for Moroccos territorial integrity and the autonomy plan for the Sahara region.

Spanish media Larazon said Spains support for the autonomy plan is a recognition of Moroccos sovereignty over the territory.

By the past, Spain used to express support for the UN process but under the table it dealt with the Polisario, going as far as offering the separatists leader access to the country under a false identity and without informing Rabat to help him evade a lawsuit on charges of rape and other rights violations.

The incident angered Rabat which recalled its ambassador last May and asked for a rekindling of the whole relations with Spain based on mutual respect, transparency and respect for Moroccos territorial integrity.

King Mohammed VI had made it clear in a speech on Aug. 20 that Morocco does not accept that its best interests be trampled on. At the same time, my country is keen to have strong, constructive and balanced relations, especially with our neighbors.

Our goal was not merely to overcome this crisis, but to turn the situation into an opportunity to reconsider the foundations and determinants of these relations, said the King.

The Spanish support for the autonomy plan as the most serious, credible and realistic basis for a solution to the Sahara issue thus puts relations between the two neighbors on track of shared prosperity and mutual cooperation including on the key migration issue.

The Spanish stand in support of Moroccos territorial integrity follows Germanys suit, another European country with whom Morocco had some diplomatic tensions against the backdrop of what Rabat had called an antagonistic activism against the US decision to recognize Moroccos sovereignty over the Sahara.

Ned Price, US State Department Spokesman, has welcomed the Spanish position which is aligned on Washingtons.

This wind of change in support of Moroccos territorial integrity is also echoed at the African continent where more than two thirds of AU member states had called for freezing the membership of the Separatist polisario group in their organization.

Meanwhile, Morocco continues to develop its southern provinces where more than 22 countries have opened consulates bringing a tangible dimension to their recognition of Moroccos full map.
Spanish media have largely commented on Madrids shift in its position on the Sahara issue, pointing out that by expressing clear-cut support to the Morocco-proposed autonomy initiative for the Sahara, as the most serious, realistic and credible basis to settle the issue, Spain has adopted a strategic and courageous decision to build a stable, solid, perennial and transparent relationship with the North African Kingdom.

Several editorialists, columnists and geopolitical analysts have thus emphasized the historical and geostrategic significance of this decision in a turbulent world. They noted that the position expressed by the president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sanchez, is of fundamental importance for the future of the partnership between the two countries, especially in the areas of migration management, the fight against terrorism and the building of a partnership based on trust and multidimensional cooperation.

Editorialist of La Razon daily wrote that From a pragmatic point of view, which takes into account the reality of the facts and not voluntarism, the articulation of a broad autonomy as proposed by Rabat seems to us to be the best possible alternative.

The editorial, entitled a realistic solution to the Saharan imbroglio, specifies that Madrids decision constitutes a de facto recognition of Moroccos sovereignty over the Sahara, and a real political milestone and a turning point in relations between the two countries.

Spanish-Moroccan relations, fundamental in global geostrategic terms, essential for Europe and essential for Africa, must continue to be at the centre of a realistic vision, the Spanish newspaper argued, noting that relations between Rabat and Madrid have been particularly stable for decades. Such deep and diverse relations between the two countries can only be part of the sustainability imposed by geography and history.

The new Spanish position is in line with the position of Washington and the main European powers, including Germany, which, little by little, have admitted that the initiative proposed by Rabat is the best possible outcome, says the daily.

In the same vein, the editorialist of El Pais comments that the normalization of relations with Morocco is essential for Spain, and that the dynamics of support obtained by Rabat in recent years over the Sahara issue  from Washington to Paris and Berlin  () has urged Spain to take the initiative.

Along with Europe and Latin America, the issue of the Maghreb is on the podium of Spains international policy, its economy, its cultural synergies and its positioning in the world, says El Pais.

The world has changed a lot, and both the pandemic and the war in Ukraine are currently acting as gas pedals of processes that were already underway and conflicts that should be resolved to avoid multiplying the hot spots of the planet, says the editorialist.

The position of Spain is explained by the enormous value of relations with the Kingdom of Morocco in all economic, commercial, social and cultural sectors, including security and the fight against terrorism, underlines, for its part, the newspaper La Verdad.

With this new decision supporting the Moroccan solution, the government of Pedro Sanchez consolidates mutual trust and strengthens the position of Morocco as a strategic partner, says the newspaper in an article by Javier Fernandez Arribas, an expert in Maghreb affairs.

The approach of Madrid also aims, according to the expert, to definitively resolve the dispute over the Moroccan Sahara and put an end to the suffering of thousands of Sahrawis held against their will in the camps of Tindouf, in Algeria.

These Sahrawis survival depends on international aid, which is becoming scarce because of the numerous complaints against the polisario Front for repression, abuse and restrictions of freedoms.

In addition, the author of the article warns that young disenfranchised Sahrawis are recruited by terrorist groups in the Sahel region.

For the news website vozpopuli.com, Madrids bold decision on the Moroccan Sahara is an effective exercise in realpolitik.

In an article published by the prominent Spanish expert Aldo Olcese, the news outlet notes that the government of his country has joined the group of states that support Moroccos position on the Sahara. It does so after the support that other major countries in the world, such as France, the United States and Germany, have shown in recent months.

Our government has shown courage and determination in taking this very important decision for our international policy and our good neighborly relations with our brothers in the South, he said, adding that expressing it in a letter and an official statement, following the model of the German government, is a priori bold, but represents an effective exercise of realpolitik.

For the Spanish expert, it is a historic opportunity to see now, the relations of Morocco with Spain and Europe, register a spectacular qualitative leap, which will clearly translate into improving our mutual security and our shared economic and social development.

In the same vein, the journalist Fernando Jauregui stresses in an article published by Europa Press agency that the decision of the Spanish government on the Moroccan Sahara is a positive reorientation of foreign policy. It was not a wrong or arbitrary step, but a long-term strategy.

Morocco is a key player in the diplomatic and economic stability of our country, says Jauregui in this article entitled the diplomacy of Pedro Sanchez.

French magazine Le Point also commented on Madrids move that it described as a radical and spectacular change of position on the Sahara issue.

Madrid supports for the first time publicly the position of Rabat putting an end to a major diplomatic row between the two countries, adds the French media in an article posted online under the title Sahara: Madrid now supports Rabats autonomy initiative.

For a radical change, it is a radical change Spain having always advocated until now the neutrality between Rabat and the polisario, notes the magazine, which recalls the statement of the head of Spanish diplomacy Jose Manuel Albares before the press in Barcelona where he said that Spain considers that the autonomy initiative presented in 2007 by Morocco is the most serious, realistic and credible basis for resolving this dispute.

As part of the normalization of relations between the two countries, Pedro Sanchez is planning a visit to Morocco, whose date has not been communicated, while FM Jose Manuel Albares will go to Rabat before the end of the month, according to the Spanish executive.
The European Union (EU) welcomed, Monday, the positive development of relations between Morocco and Spain, saying this development is beneficial for the implementation of the Euro-Moroccan partnership as a whole.

The European Union welcomes any positive development between its member states and Morocco in their bilateral relations, which can only be beneficial for the implementation of the Euro-Moroccan partnership as a whole, EU spokeswoman Nabila Massrali told MAP.

Regarding the Moroccan Sahara issue, the spokeswoman recalled the EUs position expressed in the joint statement with Morocco in June 2019 reiterating its support for the efforts of the UN Secretary General to pursue the political process aimed at achieving a just, realistic, pragmatic, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution to the Sahara issue.

Any solution must be based on compromise in accordance with the resolutions of the UN Security Council, in particular Resolution 2602 of 29 October 2021, said the spokeswoman, insisting that it is important to preserve the stability of the region.

It should be noted that the European position is aligned with that of the UN which favors pragmatism, realism, sustainability and the spirit of compromise.

It thus enshrines the pre-eminence of the Moroccan autonomy initiative as the most credible, realistic and viable solution to the artificial regional conflict over the Moroccan Sahara.

A number of Spanish officials, MPs and personalities have hailed Madrids support to the Autonomy Plan for the Sahara as a positive decision and a step forward to normalize bilateral relations and build a future on solid foundations and trust.

In this vein, Spanish Minister of Agriculture & Fisheries, Luis Planas said Monday the re-establishment of trustworthy relations with Morocco, is an excellent news and a fundamental pledge for Spain.

The relations of trust with our neighbor Morocco, with which we have friendly ties and strategic relations, must be preserved, stressed Planas, former Spanish ambassador to Morocco, in a statement to Spanish national radio RNE.

The result of the position of Spain vis-a-vis the Sahara issue is very important in view of the stakes uniting the two countries, noted Planas.

The restoration of relations of trust is excellent news on all levels, he said, adding that it is a fundamental and very important pledge for Spain, and that relations with Morocco are and must be a state policy.

The Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares, on his part stressed that the stability and prosperity of Spain and Morocco are intimately linked.

Today, we begin a new phase of relations with Morocco and close definitively a crisis with a strategic partner, said the head of Spanish diplomacy at a press conference in Barcelona Friday.

This new stage will be based on mutual respect, respect for agreements, the absence of unilateral actions and transparency and permanent communication, he stressed.

This new stage will be developed () on a clear and ambitious roadmap to ensure the stability and sovereignty, territorial integrity and prosperity of our countries, he said.

Minister of the Spanish Presidency, Felix Bolanos, said Spain, by recognizing the pre-eminence of the Moroccan autonomy initiative as the most serious, realistic and credible basis for the Sahara issue settlement, wants to engage with Morocco in a stable and good relationship.

The world needs cooperation between countries and to work together on common problems, said Bolanos in statements to the press, assuring that the new position of his country on the Moroccan Sahara is part of this logic.

By opening a new page in their bilateral relationship, Spain and Morocco are committed to consolidating a stable and good cooperation, he stressed.

Several other Spanish politicians, including former MPs Juan Vicente Perez Aras and Jose Maria Chiquillo described the decision made by the coalition government as important and positive and a step forward towards exploring all areas of cooperation with a friend, neighbor and a strategic and historical partner for Spain.

The position of the Spanish government is in line with the support expressed by world powers such as the United States, Germany and France, which have stressed the relevance of the Moroccan autonomy proposal as serious and credible to resolve this dispute, they said.

Perez Aras explained that this decision is opening the horizon to unblock the situation of the Sahara in favor of Morocco, exposes the maneuvers of Algeria, which is once again isolated on the international scene, and reflects, at the same time, the wise management of Moroccan diplomacy of the crisis between the two kingdoms.

Morocco has managed to convince its partners of the soundness of its proposal and won the diplomatic bet, he noted.

The preservation of good relations with Morocco is a fundamental pledge for Spain, said Jose Maria Chiquillo.

With the normalization of bilateral relations, Spain and Morocco, two regional powers, strengthen their position on the international scene to make the Mediterranean a haven of peace and prosperity, he said.
Adevinta ASA

Berlin and Oslo, 21 March 2022  Adevinta announces that mobile.de, Germanys largest Motors marketplace, has today finalised the acquisition of Null-Leasing.com, a provider of digital leasing services in Germany. The transaction enables mobile.de to expand its offering as it looks to further build on its existing suite of products and services.



Founded in Hamburg in 2016, Null-Leasing.com is one of Germanys fastest growing online car leasing marketplaces for both new and second-hand vehicles. The acquisition of Null-Leasing.com broadens mobile.de dealers' access to clear and comprehensive leasing deals, enabling them to better market their vehicles in a wide variety of ways  from leasing and financing to cash sales.

Further, the acquisition provides significant benefits to existing Null-Leasing.com users, who can now take advantage of the largest selection of vehicles in Germany. The combined mobile.de and Null-Leasing.com will also offer dealers greater access to easy-to-handle online leasing transactions, as well as additional mobility solutions such as Build-to-order vehicles.



Strengthening our Motors verticals is a key element of Adevintas Growing at Scale strategy, and todays closing is a great step forward in executing on our strategic plans, said Rolv Erik Ryssdal, CEO of Adevinta. We look forward to welcoming the Null-Leasing.com teams to the Adevinta Group and to realizing the positive opportunites that mobile.de and Null-Leasing.com will create together.

Patricia Lobinger, Interim CEO of mobile.de, said: The mobility market is evolving rapidly, driven by several trends including the rising interest in used car leasing and the increasing importance of alternative ownership models. There is also a growing demand for more choice from a user perspective, which underpins what we do at mobile.de.



"Null-Leasing.com is an innovative company that has achieved impressive growth in an attractive market in recent years. Combining the leasing product from Null-Leasing.com with mobile.de's reach will give the leasing business in Germany a substantial growth impulse."

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Sebastian Buhardt and Daniel Seifert, Managing Directors and Founders of Null-Leasing.com, comment: Consumers will also benefit from the merger. Together with mobile.de, we offer a greater variety and an uncomplicated, digital leasing process without tiresome paperwork."





-End-

Notes to Editors



About Adevinta

Adevinta is a leading online classifieds specialist, operating digital marketplaces in 15 countries. The company provides technology-based services to connect buyers with sellers and to facilitate transactions, from real estate to motors, and consumer goods.



Adevintas portfolio spans more than 40 digital brands, covering one billion people and attracting approximately three billion average monthly visits. Leading brands include top-ranked leboncoin in France, Germany's leading classifieds sites mobile.de and eBay Kleinanzeigen, Marktplaats in the Netherlands, fotocasa and InfoJobs in Spain, and 50% of fast-growing OLX Brasil. Adevinta employs around 7,500 people committed to supporting users and customers daily. Find out more at Adevinta.com.

About mobile.de

mobile.de is Germany's largest vehicle market with around 1.5 million advertised cars, commercial vehicles and motorcycles and around 16 million individual users per month (source: AGOF digital facts mobile.de including associated websites, observation time January to December 2020). Both private customers and more than 42,000 registered vehicle dealers use the platform. As a "one-stop shop", mobile.de offers financing and leasing solutions in addition to buying and selling. Founded in 1996, the company employs around 270 people in Germany and is a subsidiary of Adevinta.



About Null-Leasing.com

Null-Leasing.com is an independent, cross-brand comparison portal for leasing offers from all over Germany. The start-up has set itself the goal of digitizing the entire leasing process for both dealers and end customers. Vehicle dealers offer both configurable new vehicles and stock vehicles via Null-Leasing.com. Founded in 2016 by former Google managers Daniel Seifert and Sebastian Buhardt, the company currently employs 20 people in Hamburg and Munich.



Media contacts



Adevinta

Melodie Laroche

Corporate Communications, mobile.de GmbH

+33 (0) 6 84 30 52 76

melodie.laroche@adevinta.com



mobile.de GmbH

Christian Maas,

Communications Director

+49 (0) 30 8019 7226

chmaas@eclassifiedsgroup.com




Photo credit: Chris Jackson - Getty Images

Today is the third official day of Prince William and Kate Middleton's royal tour, after they touched down in Belize on 19 March  and it's a super exciting one for royal fans, as the couple haven't gone on an overseas tour together since visiting Ireland in March 2020 (prior to that, the Duke and Duchess visited Pakistan in October 2019).

While over in Belize, William and Kate have been getting stuck in to meeting the locals, learning about different local traditions and yesterday, even rolled up their sleeves and had a go at making chocolate with the Maya community (for whom cacao is a key export).

Documenting the day, royal correspondent Chris Ship tweeted a series of clips showing the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge taking a tour of a traditional cacao farm and shop in southern Belize (a ten acre site run by the Saqui family).

At one point, a guide showed the couple how to crack open a cacao fruit using a club - to which Kate joked "You make it look so easy!" and William added "If I did that I'd lose a finger!" - before they were offered a go at crushing chocolate nibs.

Singing for your supper round here  pic.twitter.com/b4cks8n6Uh  Chris Ship (@chrisshipitv) March 20, 2022

All in all, it sounds like a jolly fun day out  and something that Prince William admitted that his and Kate's three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, would be "very jealous" about having missed out on.

Currently, it's believed that the Cambridge kids being taken care of by their long-term nanny, Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo, whilst back at home. Spanish born Borrallo has been the Cambridge's live-in nanny since 2014, joining the clan when Prince George was just eight-months-old.

In the past, Prince George and Princess Charlotte have joined their parents on some of their overseas trips  having been in attendance when the Cambridges visited Canada in 2016, and Germany and Poland in 2017  however little Louis has yet to make an appearance.

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Fingers crossed that this year, with travel restrictions having ease, we might get to see all five Cambridges out and about together?

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The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) fired four suspected shots from its multiple rocket launchers on Sunday, Yonhap news agency reported citing unnamed South Korean military officials.

The short-range shots were launched from an unspecified area in South Pyongan province toward the western waters over the time of about an hour from 7:20 a.m. local time.

Presidential spokesperson Park Kyung-mee said in a written statement that the National Security Council (NSC) held an emergency vice-ministerial meeting over the incident, according to the presidential Blue House.

The NSC meeting participants agreed to precisely analyze details on the shots in cooperation with the United States and closely monitor the relevant developments.

Earlier this month, the South Korean military said the DPRK seemed to fail in its launch of an unidentified projectile on March 16. South Korea also said that the DPRK tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) system on Feb. 27 and March 5, but the DPRK said those launches were tests on its reconnaissance satellite development.
Live Auction Raises Total of $50,000 for Multiple Charities

Henry Rifle Auctioned Off for Ukraine

Henry Rifle custom engraved with the UC Ranch Properties and Realtree United Country logos in a 24-karat gold inlay was auctioned off.

United Country Affiliates Raise $50,000 for Various Charities

Auctioneer Jimmie Dean Coffey of United Country Real Estate heads auction that raised $25,000 to aid the people of Ukraine.

DESTIN, Fla., March 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- United Country Real Estate affiliates raised more than $50,000 during a live auction at their annual Training and Awards Convention on March 11. The company is pledging $25,000 of that to aid the people of Ukraine while the rest will be donated to The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Marine Mammal Center and the Remember-A-Vet Wreath Project.

United Country affiliates have made and continue to make huge differences in the communities they serve, across America and now across the globe. In the last 5 years alone, United Country affiliates have raised an amazing $35 million for charities and causes across the nation, said Mike Duffy, president of United Country. Last week, the unique items that were donated and auctioned furthered that effort and will importantly aid the people of Ukraine. I am proud of the leadership and generosity of our team and am in awe of their accomplishments.

Among the unique items that were auctioned off were a Henry Rifle custom engraved with the UC Ranch Properties and Realtree United Country logos in a 24-karat gold inlay; a custom, beautiful Ride the Wave Charcuterie Board by Vierra Design Group; an original duck hunting American flag painting by Jackie Stocking; and a trip to the San Juan Islands in Washington. The items can be viewed on the United Country Real Estate Facebook and Instagram pages.

As the largest network of auction real estate professionals nationwide, United Country had professional auctioneers and ring men conduct the live auction. All proceeds from the sale went to charities selected by the donators. Each winning bid was then matched by United Country to aid efforts in the Ukraine.

The United Country auctioneers assist with a tremendous number of charitable auctions each year, said Jimmie Dean Coffey, auctioneer and director of business development for United Country. Benefit and charity auctions have a long history in the world of auctioneering and with United Country auctioneers in local communities across the nation. I am very proud to see that our United Country affiliates have stepped up once again and raised more than $50,000 at our annual convention for some great non-profit organizations and causes.

Story continues

Learn more about United Country Real Estate at www.UnitedCountry.com or United Country Auction Services at www.UCAuctionServices.com.

About United Country

United Country Real Estate is the largest and leading, real estate company representing lifestyle, country, ranch, farm, recreational, rural, small city and surrounding properties nationwide. The company has been an innovator in lifestyle and country real estate marketing since 1925. United Country supports a combined network of more than 500 offices and 5,000 real estate professionals and auctioneers across the United States, Mexico, Costa Rica and Panama. The company offers a unique, comprehensive marketing program that includes the highest ranked and largest portfolios of specialty property marketing websites, the largest real estate marketing services company, an extensive buyer database of over one million opt-in buyers, the largest auction services team and exclusive national advertising of properties.

Attachments

CONTACT: Angela Smith United Country Real Estate 816-420-6200 pr@unitedcountry.com




The City of Opelika has plans to redistrict the five wards that make up the city and presented the proposed map with the new boundaries at the city council meeting on Tuesday.

The United States Census Bureau counts the people within the country every 10 years so boundaries at the local, state and federal levels can be redrawn according to accurate representation of the population.

In 2020 the U.S. Census Bureau recorded that Opelika grew 17% since 2010, making the total population 30,995. Opelika Planning Director Matt Mosley said he thinks the population is actually higher than what was recorded.

The bureau was late in publishing the census results because of COVID-19 and the data was not available until 2021.

Because of the growth, the city needed to review and redraw the district boundaries to give each district equal representation and equal population numbers.

I respectfully believe that the recommended plan provides fair and effective representation for all the people of the city, provides the opportunity for all voters to elect candidates of their choice, and is fully compliant with the requirement of federal and state law, Mayor Gary Fuller said in his redistricting report.

The city decided to make the target population in each ward 6,199 people.

Over the past 10 years the city had an increase in population in Wards 1, 2, 4 and 5 as new subdivisions were developed outside of the city center. Ward 3 had a slight decrease in population.

According to Mayor Fullers report, the development and annexations that have occurred made the districts disproportionate in size.

The overall goal was to rebalance the populations between districts and accommodate for increases in the fastest-growing areas of the city such as District 2, District 4 and District 5, the report said. The recommended map creates five districts of substantially equal population with a maximum population deviation of less than 5% of the ideal population.

Mosley explained that the redistricting map must comply with the following, and that each district:

Must be as close as possible to an equal population within 5% plus or minus.

Should have a single unbroken border.

Should be relatively compact to the extent possible and nearby areas of population should not be bypassed in favor of more distant populations.

Must be easily identified by manmade boundaries such as center lines of streets, railroads and waterways.

Should keep neighborhoods intact within the same district.

Should avoid the unnecessary paring of incumbents.

No district should be drawn for the purpose of diluting the voting strengths of any language, ethnic or racial minority group, Mosley said. Additionally, were not allowed to design the districts solely on the purpose of race.

One table in the report showed the proposed districts total population, which was 5% more or less than 6,199. Another table showed the proposed districts voting age population demographic breakdown, which is as follows:

Ward 1  4,730 total population over 18 years old; 25.5% white; 64.6% Black; 0.7% American Indian; 1.9% Asian; 0.1% Pacific Islander; 0.4% other; 0.6% multi and 6.3% Hispanic.

Ward 2  4,596 total population over 18 years old; 30.7% white; 60.4% Black; 0.8% American Indian; 3.9% Asian; 0% Pacific Islander; 0.3% other; 0.6% multi and 3.3% Hispanic.

Ward 3  4,838 total population over 18 years old; 66.5% white; 19.3% Black; 1.4% American Indian; 1.1% Asian; 0% Pacific Islander; 0.5% other; 0.4% multi and 10.9% Hispanic.

Ward 4  5,084 total population over 18 years old; 67.2% white; 17.6% Black; 1.7% American Indian; 3.8% Asian; 0.2% Pacific Islander; 0.8% other; 0.2% multi and 8.6% Hispanic.

Ward 5  4,640 total population over 18 years old; 64.5% white; 27.1% Black; 1.2% American Indian; 3.1% Asian; 0% Pacific Islander; 0.7% other; 0.3% multi and 3.1% Hispanic.

Mosley said Ward 1 will be compacted and centered on the Carver neighborhood south and west of downtown Opelika. Ward 2 has two pieces that will be connected by a small portion in the middle. It includes both the Jeter neighborhood and a community close to I-85.

Ward 3 will be around the north side of the historic district and downtown, Ward 4 will remain on the western side of the city, and Ward 5 will remain on the eastern side of the city.

The Opelika City Council will have six months to either approve the proposed plans or make changes to it. A public hearing will be held at the next council meeting on April 5 at 6 p.m. at the Opelika Municipal Court.

Mosley said the city is working to create a webpage that will allow citizens to put in their address to see which ward they are currently in and which ward they will be in according to the proposed redistricting map.
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The United States has a new center of population, and NOAA will mark the spot in the Ozark Mountains later this fall. We are inviting everyone to learn about the science behind this effort.

This past fall, the Census Bureau announced the 2020 U.S. Center of Population, which they describe as a point where an imaginary, flat, weightless and rigid map of the United States would balance perfectly if everyone were of identical weight. This point represents the average location of where people in the United States live. In 2020 the location was Hartville, Missouri, a town of less than 600 people. NOAAs National Geodetic Survey will compute the exact longitude and latitude of the commemorative mark of the 2020 center of population. The commemorative survey mark is designed to be stable for many decades to come, if not centuries, and the location will become part of the larger reference system.

Surveyors rely on the foundational positioning framework provided through geodesy, and their work is essential to modern commerce. When you see someone at a construction site or the side of a road peering into complex optical devices perched on top of a tripod, you are seeing someone surveying, and benefiting from geodesy. The precise measurements they gather help us navigate the Earth (on the land, the sea, and in the air) in an efficient, economical, and predictable way.

It's challenging, though, because the Earth isnt a big ball, it is irregular and elliptical in shape. To make useful measurements of this not-so-perfectly round spinning sphere, scientists have to understand the way it curves, and all of the features across its surface, like mountains and oceans. They also need to calculate the slight changes in its gravity field over time and land movements.

When you try to measure the distance from one place to another in a small area, you can mostly pretend its all made of flat surfaces, says Galen Scott from the National Geodetic Survey division of NOAA. But for larger distances, you have to account for the curvature of the Earth, and thats when it gets complicated.

In the past, geodesists assigned coordinates  similar to unique address points  to various locations by using Earth-based surveying tools to measure distances between locations. Now they use space-based tools like the Global Positioning System (GPS). Consistency is key; NOAA oversees the National Spatial Reference System, which is used throughout the United States and territories and ensures that everyone is working from the same coordinates.

This fall the people of Hartville will celebrate this new reference point by having a bit of a party to show off the center of America. We will share details when they become available.

This is the fifth time in a row that the center of population has fallen in Missouri. Movements were particularly large in years when new states entered the union. NOAA and Census have partnered on this kind of commemoration every ten years since 1960.

Recording population movement and numbers can help with distribution of congressional districts and planning for the allocation of government resources and infrastructure needs over time. Combining the count of people with long-distance measurements provides democracy with important tools.

Geodesy is foundational to understanding Earth, Scott says.
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Dave Clark, chief executive officer of Worldwide Consumer at Amazon and leading supply chain executive, will kick off Auburn Universitys commencement weekend by delivering the keynote address before a graduating class of nearly 5,000 students and their families at spring commencement on Friday, May 6, in Jordan-Hare Stadium. The Friday ceremony will be followed by individual college ceremonies on Saturday, May 7, in Neville Arena.

Having been at Amazon for more than two decades, Clark has held a variety of roles, including serving as senior vice president of worldwide operations. In that role, Clark spearheaded the launch of Amazon Robotics and grew the companys transportation fleet to include Amazons own planes, trailers and last-mile delivery vehicles to speed up order delivery times for customers. Clark currently oversees more than one million employees and partners across Amazons operations, retail, technology and marketing divisions, to name a few.

The impact of Dave Clarks career on our students is immeasurable. I imagine we would be hard-pressed to find a student who has not relied on Amazon at some point during their time at Auburn, President Jay Gogue said. Beyond that, I believe Dave is a wonderful testament to the Auburn Creed and personifies how hard work and education are critical to achieving your personal and professional goals. I look forward to his sage words and practical advice for our graduates.

A native of Orange Park, Florida, Clark graduated from Auburn in 1996 with a bachelors degree in music education. A member of the Auburn University Marching Band, Clark spent a year as a middle school band director following his graduation from Auburn. He then enrolled at the University of Tennessee to pursue a Master of Business Administration in logistics and transportation.

Widely regarded as one of the industrys most influential thought-leaders, Clarks emphasis on harnessing emerging technologies has expanded Amazons retail footprint, ensuring it remains one of the most valuable brands globally. His professional success is largely reflected in Amazons growth strategy, along with his willingness to undertake diverse and challenging roles throughout his tenure with the company. Upon joining Amazon in 1999, Clark served as a fulfillment center general manager and regional manager before eventually becoming vice president of North America operations. With each role, Clark has worked with U.S. and international teams to successfully integrate innovative technologies and diversify the companys cadre of products and services while providing world-class customer service.

Auburn University played a pivotal role in my development and growthto come back years later to support students and their families on such a big day in their lives is meaningful, said Clark. I look forward to giving back to the next generations of leaders at their graduation by sharing some of what Ive learned in my 20-plus year career. Of course, so much of that was influenced by the words that regularly echo across Auburn from its Creed, I believe that this is a practical world and that I can count only on what I earn. Therefore, I believe in work, hard work.

Auburns commencement begins at 5 p.m. CST on Friday, May 6, in Jordan-Hare Stadium. The ceremony will feature the conferral of degrees, greetings by university officials, the recognition of students graduating with academic honors and the keynote by Clark. Families and guests can attend the event, with gates opening at 3 p.m. The ceremony will be streamed live on the universitys commencement website. The individual college ceremonies will follow the Friday event on Saturday, May 7. For more informationincluding historical information about the commencement ceremony, academic regalia, prior speakers and other detailsvisit auburn.edu/commencement.
General Hospital

Days of Our Lives

The Young and the Restless

The Bold and the Beautiful

This Week in Soaps history...

March 21st-25th, 2005

This week on the US Daytime Soaps...Unaware of Braden's bomb, Tad gave the eulogy at Edmund's funeral. Sam publicly blamed Maria for Edmund's death.Ryan evacuated the chapel. Jonathan was relieved that the bomb did not go off.David offered Adam a deal. Ryan went after Braden. Erica insisted that Ethan was lying.Greenlee feared the worst when Ryan told her he would play Braden's game.Sam and Maddie wanted to leave home. Erica continued to insist Ethan was lying. Lily told Jack, Reggie, Erica and Greenlee that Edmund was walking on the night he was killed. Maria and Brooke refused to believe Erica's claims about Ethan and Edmund. Brooke prepared to tell Maria what she knew.Ryan reminisced about his childhood with Braden. Ryan survived the trap set for him as he figured out Braden's plan. Jonathan realized where Ryan had gone but refused to tell Greenlee.Lily inadvertently walked in on Jonathan during a confrontation he was having with Braden.Henry and Katie consummated their marriage after Henry told Katie the truth about his illness.Jennifer tried and failed to get Craig out of Street Jeans. Jennifer told Mike about her one-night stand with Craig.Luke confessed to Julia's murder but Holden suspected he was protecting Lily.Jack told Carly that he didn't think he could trust her anymore.JJ went to live with Keith.Aaron offered Rafael his job back.Bridget told Stephanie that she loved Nick but was sorry about her Mother and Ridge's problems. Ridge didn't show up for Hope's recital.Thomas and Caitlin bonded once again. Hector told Brooke that she must hold on and wait for Ridge, not to let any options pass her by, because things looked one way when they could actually mean something else.Nick and Bridget grow increasingly closer to one another.Morgan told Ridge that he was married and that she was waiting momentarily for his wife to arrive.Gabriela, Helen the housekeeper's daughter, was informed that her mother was involved in a traffic accident.Gabriela ran off after arriving at Stephanie's and learning that her mother had died.John threatened Kate that he could not help Philip in the investigation unless she allowed him to take the drugs, but Kate refused unaware that John managed to salvage a few in the fireplace.Hope gave Bo an ultimatum about their marriage and family after Shawn was injured again in a motorcycle accident, one that could have been prevented if he had not been involved with Billie and their search for Georgia.Patrick was revealed to still have ties with the DiMera organization but was cooperating for fear that loved ones and friends might be injured.Jack was returned to the DiMera castle and learned that Marlena and Roman were still alive, while Jennifer was sensing Jack's presence in her home.Marlena and Roman gave in to their passion after witnessing what appeared to be John and Kate making love.Abe was frustrated with his disability, and Stan/Sami put her "get even plan with everyone in Salem" into high gear as she tormented Billie and Mimi.Jax demanded to know who the mystery woman was interfering in his relationship with Courtney.Ric and Alexis were run off the road by a hit-and-run driver. Though both were injured, they survived as did little Kristina. Alexis confronted Sonny with the intention of getting Kristina removed from his home.Emily confided in Jason that she has been raped by Connor. Emily later faced off with Elizabeth after Liz told Lucky about Emily's sexual assault.Reese assured Durant that she was working on a plan to bring down Sonny. She was later forced to plead with Carly, Jason and Ric to talk Sonny out of launching a revenge plot on a rival named Sandoval.AJ tried to turn Michael against Sonny. Later, Michael was stung by a scorpion.Jonathan saved Tammy from a fire at their apartment house at some serious physical expense to himself.Edmund confessed to Tammy that he started the fire in the barn that almost killed Cassie and JR, and then was even more confused when she found Dinah hanging around at the farmhouse with Edmund.Gus' health took its toll as Harley awaited her fate from the jury.Bill told Harley that Olivia was doing Alan's dirty work when she testified at the trial. Olivia's revenge factor went into overdrive after Billy threatened to break up her marriage to Bill; meanwhile Bill and Olivia committed to their marriage and trust in each other.Marina and Danny seemed to be making plans for the future after Lizzie decided to oust the Coopers from company against Alexandria's advice.Reva almost fainted while talking to Billy, and Beth and Sebastian seemed to find common ground at Holly's expense.John didn't tell Natalie about Cristian while locked in the evidence room, but Natalie was mortified that she still had feelings for John.Michael and Marcie figured out someone was murdering the love crew based on her book.Viki discovered Dorian was responsible for the embezzlement charges and Dorian decided not to call a truce between the two of them.Jessica's alter ego Tess stole money from Antonio's credit card and got a one-night stand to promise to mail one of her threatening letters to Jessica from Australia.Riley found the planted deposit slips in Jen's things and learned she lied about drinking with Rex. Rex and Jen burned the slips and Rex learned Paul was blackmailing someone named Ted. Nora discovered Daniel's real name is Teddy, short for Theodore.Todd held Asa at gunpoint to get the name of the hospital where Blair was stashed and with the threat of police involvement, Asa made plans to hop the country.Grieving over Todd's death, Blair escaped her cell and hid on a ledge to the building. Todd climbed out on the ledge and tried to talk her down.Theresa was disgusted to learn that Whitney wanted Fox to sign over his power of attorney to her so that she could secretly put the baby up for adoption.Beth went ballistic when Edna allowed Luis to take his son to the cottage to spend time with him and Sheridan. Beth threatened to kill Edna and Precious. Edna was later heartbroken when Precious had to leave Edna in order to go take care of her dying aunt.Julian promised Sheridan that he would find out where Katherine was.Whitney went into labor. After delivering a baby boy, Whitney was relieved to learn that her son didn't have any apparent abnormalities. The baby suffered respiratory distress and rather than tell the doctors that her child was the product of incest, Whitney told Eve that she wanted her baby to die.Jack paid Victoria a visit in Italy to try to get her to return to Genoa City. Phyllis placed a call to Victoria to inform her about what had been happening back home. Nikki told Nick and Sharon that she and Victor were on their way to Italy to see Victoria. Victor and Nikki paid a visit to Victoria.Bobby tried to make it up to Brittany after causing her so much pain and anguish. Brittany left the hospital with Bobby, and he took her to her new home.Lily insisted upon making amends with Malcolm, while Dru was very unsure of the meeting.Gloria did her best to persuade Kevin to keep his lottery winnings and not tell Michael.Katherine told Jill that Jill would never run Jabot Cosmetics.Michael had a change of heart and wanted his family to be closer. Nick told Neil that he would give Dru a contract. Ashley flirtatiously asked for Paul's opinion about Jabot's new fragrances. Paul informed Ashley that several months before, the police had investigated a domestic disturbance at Gloria's home in Detroit. Ashley got to see another side of Gloria and began to wonder if she had been wrong about Gloria. Paul told Ashley that Gloria had two sons, Michael and Kevin. Ashley found Michael, Gloria, and Kevin together.Kevin was forced to tell Michael that Michael had won the lottery.Mac introduced Katherine to online dating. Source 3 and
My bb <3

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oh shit, sorry this is the first comment, this is my first day working back at the company and I'm already out of energy to say anything smart.

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haha dw, it's fine!

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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Colvin



https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2368254/



Celebrated war correspondent Marie Colvin is a woman who is as comfortable downing martinis with high society's elite as she is brazenly staring down warlords and fleeing from gunfire. Driven by an enduring desire to bear witness and give voice to the voiceless, Colvin charges into danger, constantly testing the limits between bravery and bravado.



Edited at 2022-03-21 04:14 pm (UTC) She played a war correspondent a few years back, Marie Colvin, who died covering the siege of Homs in Syria.

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Matthew Caruana Galizia, son of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was assassinated in 2017



John Sweeney, formerly BBC, now independent



Illia Ponomarenko, Ukrainian defense reporter for the Kyiv Independent



https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko?s=20&t=BUMjfpesRnvqAn7JJbsSMw



Support journalists covering Ukraine!!Matthew Caruana Galizia, son of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was assassinated in 2017 https://twitter.com/mcaruanagalizia John Sweeney, formerly BBC, now independent https://twitter.com/johnsweeneyroar Illia Ponomarenko, Ukrainian defense reporter for the Kyiv Independent

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I'd like to add photographer Gleb Garanich, he's not on social media but search his name on twitter and you'll find amazing photos (potential trigger warning of course!).





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thank you!!

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Ive been following Tim Maks(NPR journalist in Ukraine) coverage on Twitter. His tweets are also insightful.

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https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-europe-edf7240a9d990e7e3e32f82ca351dede The story of those two AP reporters who were secreted out of Mariupol was pretty wild.

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I skimmed a fraction of this and my heart was already racing.

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I watched an interview today with the editor of the now shut down independent Russian newspaper Novaja Gazeta and there were six photos of their assassinated journalists on the office wall. Can't imagine what that feels like.

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To know you and your colleagues are being hunted for reporting what you see and hear.

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This was when they already knew the paper's days were numbered, the editor talks with such heavy heart in some places, it was a bit hard to listen. She also had an interview with the editor of the also shut down radio station, but it had weird vibes - the guy is good friends with pro-war media people and tries to convince them... Just realized the interview had subtitles, so if anyone wants to watch it - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8CW-WAJq0ts This was when they already knew the paper's days were numbered, the editor talks with such heavy heart in some places, it was a bit hard to listen. She also had an interview with the editor of the also shut down radio station, but it had weird vibes - the guy is good friends with pro-war media people and tries to convince them...

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Novaya Gazeta is not shut down (they are the only one left). They are forbidden from reporting on war, even writing the word, so their reporting is very subtle, but in the result even more powerful.



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Oooh, really? Why did I think it went away along with Dozhdj and Eho Moskvi. That's good to hear.

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Yeah, they are still active, and they are also handing over the Nobel medal to a foundation supporting Ukrainian refugees to auction it and use the money.

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Wonderful thing she's doing. True journalism is so important to this world (if it wasn't they wouldn't target and harm these people), but it's become so filtered down thanks to biased news sources hiring idiots who get paid to pander, as well social media letting everyone think they're a professional.



Also to add, I never realized how posh and well-to-do sounding her accent is. I think I assumed she was putting it on for certain roles. Idk why.

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Yea there are obviously valid criticisms on media but when I see people wave off all media as fake or useless it's so disheartening because journalism is SO important.

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Tweet I like celebrities more when I actively see them protesting like this. I feel like the effort they put in shows more care than a  #stand with xxxTweet

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I remember our professor going over the history of how Putin came into power in our world geo class at Uni. He told us that one of the major reasons he remains in power is because he behaves like a dictator and silences any journalists or opposing people by either throwing them in jail or having them assassinated. I'm not surprised the govt is still killing them because they have gotten away with it for so long.

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I can't imagine having the courage to be either a war correspondent or a true journalist in a repressive regime like russia. it pisses me off so much when our soft ass pundits try to act so oppressed for sometimes catching flack on twitter or at their bougie dinner parties when there are people who are actually putting their life on the line to bring us the truth.

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Right?? Meanwhile you have fuckface desk puppet Tucker Carlson sympathizing with Putin.

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And Candance Owen as well. I hate this timeline.

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i love this!!

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Im so grateful for the journalists on the ground but also terrified for their safety.

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 Flash

China is part of the solution and not part of the problem, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Qin Gang said on Sunday during a televised interview on CBS news program "Face the Nation," elaborating China's position on Russia-Ukraine conflict.

"What China is doing is sending foods, medicine, sleeping bags and baby formula, not weapons and ammunition to any party," he told the host, rejecting claims of China providing military assistance to Russia as disinformation.

"We are against wars, as I said, we will do everything to de-escalate the crisis," he said.

As of China's relations with Russia, Qin said, "China's trusted relations with Russia is not a liability. It's an asset in the international efforts to solve the crisis in a peaceful way."

"China is part of the solution. It's not part of the problem," Qin stressed.

He further explained China's unique role in peaceful settlement of the crisis. "China has good relations with Russia, has good relations with Ukraine. And China keeps close communications with the United States and with Europe," he said. "These enable China to reach to all parties concerned in the crisis."

China will continue to promote peace talks and urge immediate ceasefire, he said.

"We need wisdom. We need courage. And we need good diplomacy," he stressed.

When asked whether Beijing will provide financial support to Moscow, Qin emphasized that trade, economic, financial and energy cooperation China has with Russia are normal business ties between two sovereign countries based on international laws, including rules of the World Trade Organization.

In the nine-minute intense interview, the Chinese ambassador reiterated China's position on the issue. "We have already made it very clear that national sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, including Ukraine, should be respected and protected."
A quick look at the numbers will show just how intertwined Europe and Russia are, and how the Russians have taken aim at the goose that lays the golden eggs. Here are the numbers, all rough and all changing fast. First, the world consumes about 97 million barrels a day(b/d) of oil. The Russians produce about 11 million b/d. They are big producers. They export about 8 million b/d. Now it gets pertinent to todays crisis. The Russians send about 80% of their exports to Europe. And the Europeans get 40% of their oil from Russia. In other words, getting off Russian oil within five years, the European goal, requires finding roughly 6 million b/d of alternatives, whether other oil sources or non-oil energy or energy efficiency measures. This will take more than going to Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates and asking them to be nice and turn up the spigot by, say, one or two million barrels a day.

That is one side. But consider the Russian side. Russia will bring in maybe $300 billion per year from oil exports at current prices. Russias entire gross domestic product before the invasion was only $1.5 trillion, making its economy smaller than that of Italy and about the same size as New York States. Near-term sanctions on Russian oil might have a brutal impact on Europe, but they will have a catastrophic one on Russia. In the long term, even if the war ends shortly and sanctions with it, Russia stands to lose its biggest export market. The Europeans (including the British who are not dependent on Russian oil) have already taken active steps to preserve nuclear power, build renewable generation, and develop hydrogen resources. The Ukraine war just accelerates those efforts while also eliminating Russias nuclear export potential, at least to Europe.

In the United States, politicians are taking a different tack. The Ukraine war shows, to them, the need to expand fossil fuel production and remove environmental safeguards that might slow that process. The nuclear lobbying effort in Europe has increased, as we see it, and we would expect the same to take place in the U.S. What we do not see, though, is a coherent national effort to finance nuclear power. This is surprising considering how much money the construction (and related) industry could make on a wholesale expansion of nuclear power. But that is another matter.

To sum up the economic consequences of this awful conflict, the Russians have taken steps to aggrieve their biggest energy commodity customers to the point that the customers intend to end the relationship. This jeopardizes one major source of income that maintains the Russian economy. This suicidal commercial move could upend the oil and gas markets. After this, the Russians will have to switch to China (or India) as their principal commodity purchaser. And with no other recourse, the Russian oil and natural gas sellers will take whatever a monopsonistic buyer offers to a temperamental supplier. Which is as little as possible. For Europe, the war will lead to a scramble for oil and gas supplies, a renewed effort in the renewable sector, and possibly a nuclear revival or at least a postponement of existing plant closures. We expect similar activity in the United States with more emphasis on fossil fuels production. But in reality, high fossil fuel prices make competitive energy sources like renewables and nuclear look more attractive in the long run. President Putin may have done more to endanger the future of the fossil fuel industry than anyone in its history. For many, the question will now become, Who needs these ongoing geopolitical risks when we can make (at least some) of our own energy nearby?

By Leonard S. Hyman and William I. Tilles

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Russian producers have not been able to sell their spot cargoes in tenders in Europe because no one is bidding.

China generally does not adhere to Western sanctions and could be tempted to buy up heavily discounted oil from Russia.

The worlds largest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, was once again the top supplier of crude to the worlds top importer, China, beating its partner in the OPEC+ deal, Russia, to the top spot for deliveries in January and February 2022.

Chinese crude oil imports from Russia fell by just over 9 percent in the first two months of this year, per data from Chinas General Administration of Customs cited by Reuters, as independent refiners reduced purchases of crude, including of one of their favorite blends, Russian ESPO, due to lower quotas and a crackdown on illicit practices from the Chinese authorities.

Going forward, it is not clear how much Russian crude China will import, considering the fact that China isnt shying away from Russias energy as most of the rest of the world has already done following Putins invasion of Ukraine. However, some large Chinese state-owned banks have halted the issuance of dollar-denominated letters of credit for physical Russian commodities purchases. Being unable to secure such letters of credit, some independent refiners, the so-called teapots, have reportedly started looking for alternatives. On the other hand, China has generally not followed Western sanctions - as is the case with Iran - so its likely that it could see an opportunity to snap up heavily discounted Russian crude.

In January and February, Russia was superseded by Saudi Arabia as the top Chinese oil supplier, after Russia was the biggest supplier of crude to the worlds top importer in December 2021. Chinas imports from Saudi Arabia averaged the equivalent of 1.81 million barrels per day (bpd) in the first two months of 2022, down by 3 percent year over year, per Chinese customs data in tons converted into barrels by Reuters.

Imports from Russia stood at 1.57 million bpd, down by 9.1 percent annually, as Chinese teapots reduced overall imports. Thats because Chinese authorities granted at the end of last year 11 percent lower crude import quotas to independent refiners in the first batch of quota allowances for 2022. The government, intent on reforming the independent refining sector and cracking down on tax evasion and illicit practices at the teapots, is now allowing its independent refiners to import 109 million tons of crude oil in the first batch for 2022, down by 11 percent compared to the first batch of quotas granted for 2021. The three biggest private refiners in ChinaZhejiang Petrochemical, Hengli Petrochemical, and Shenghong Petrochemical  together accounted for around 38 percent of all first-batch import allowances, a document seen by Reuters showed. This suggests that China is now favoring giving quotas to the newer and more sophisticated private refineries as it cracks down on smaller and more polluting independent refiners, some of which are being investigated over alleged irregular tax and trade practices.

In the coming months, however, China could turn to more barrels of Russian crude at hefty discounts, which could make Russia a top supplier of crude to the worlds top oil importer again. Some Russian oil producers are reportedly selling crude to China without bank guarantees.

For example, Russian oil firm Surgutneftegaz continues to sell its oil to Chinese buyers even without bank guarantees, from which many banks have pulled out after the Western allies kicked several Russian banks out of the SWIFT system, Reuters reported exclusively earlier this month, quoting three sources familiar with the matter.

Oil traders are staying away from Russian crude after the Western countries banned selected Russian banks from SWIFT, while Russian producers have not been able to sell their spot cargoes in tenders in Europe because no one is bidding.

But in China, the trade continues, as Surgutneftegaz is now allowing Chinese customers to take oil without providing the bank guarantees, the so-called letters of credit, according to Reuters sources.

China will likely be unable to take all the crude that Western buyers and traders are shunning right now, but it will likely take advantage of discounted Russian barrels when they become available.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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It is also notable that countries that are traditionally hydrocarbon producers, such as Nigeria, Brazil, and the UAE, are investing heavily in renewable energy.

With the price of coal, natural gas, and oil all soaring it might be tempting to deem the global energy transition a failure, but there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic.

Four months after COP26, the global energy picture has changed significantly  and not in the direction that COP negotiators would have hoped. Far from declining, coal use globally surged to record levels over the winter, causing emissions to rise. And that was before Russia invaded Ukraine, causing a global energy crisis that has forced countries, especially in Europe, to look for ways to quickly wean themselves off Russian oil and gas, and reconsider timelines of commitments to cut the use of fossil fuels.

A recent study by McKinsey & Co estimated that the road to net-zero will require $9.2 trillion of investment, every year, between now and 2050. However, a recent research paper in Nature found that, of the $14 trillion spent on economic stimulus in G20 countries in 2020 and 2021, only six percent was allocated to areas that would cut emissions. While that means investments fell well short of the $9.2 trillion required, it amounts to $840 billion  the most investments ever made into cutting emissions in such a short time frame.

While the road net-zero will require significantly more investments, there are reasons to be optimistic.

First, significant investments into alternative marine fuels for the shipping industry are increasingly being made in important trading zones. While the shipping industry only accounts for 3% of global carbon emissions, methane emissions from shipping increased by 150% from 2012 to 2018. Alternative marine fuels will help significantly reduce the industrys emissions.

The Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCEZ) is one of the most important trading hubs in the world. The global ocean fleet is made up of 5,534 ships and the Suez Canal had over 18,000 ships pass through it in 2019 alone. Since COP26, the SCEZ has signed an MOU for a $5 billion project with Norways Scatec to build its first green ammonia plant, has agreed to build a $2.6 billion green methanol plant, and has signed an MOU with the EBRD to develop a national low-carbon hydrogen strategy that could help unlock Egypt's, and this important trading hubs, potential for a greener economy.

Another important factor contributing to the optimism is how countries that are historical hydrocarbon producers are substantially increasing investments to foster their energy transition. This signals their understanding of the need to develop and produce climate-friendly energy sources as their reliance on hydrocarbons for state revenue and economic growth will not last forever.

This week in Nigeria, the government, alongside the European Union and Germany, released the Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP). It aims to address bottlenecks in the renewable energy sector and enable the country to meet the targets of adding 9,000 megawatts of electricity from renewable sources to the national grid before 2030. The ESMP is a critical step for Nigerias transition that simplifies the process of carrying out Environmental and Social Impacts Assessments, reduces costs for local developers, and promotes renewable energy production.

In Brazil, an impressive and important milestone was recently reached. Renewable energy sources now account for more than 80% of the electricity matrix in Latin America's largest nation. This helps substantiate the countrys green agenda reform goals and bodes well for its long-term growth.

The UAE aims to become the first Middle Eastern country to be carbon neutral by 2050, with clean and renewable energy investments worth Dh600 billion ($163.5bn) planned over the next three decades. The country is building large-scale renewable energy projects, including the worlds largest single-site solar power plant in Al Dhafra - a project that will use approximately 3.5 million solar panels to generate enough electricity for 160,000 homes across the UAE and mitigate 2.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. The country also plans to build the Mohammed bin Rashid Solar Park in Dubai with a 5-gigawatt capacity and is also constructing Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant, the Arab worlds first multi-unit operating nuclear plant.

The global energy transition is often described by proponents as a quick one-stop solution and not as a transitional period that will likely get worse before it gets better. Despite the war in Ukraine, there are many reasons to be optimistic about the road towards net-zero.

By Cyril Widdershoven for Oilprice.com

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According to several sources close to the negotiations to resuscitate the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)  including a highly-placed source who works closely with Irans Petroleum Ministry spoken to exclusively by OilPrice.com last week  the U.S. is seriously considering removing the Foreign Terrorist Organisation [FTO] designation from the IRGC [Islamic revolutionary Guard Corps]. If this is done, he added: It will remove the last key sticking point from Iran to agreeing to the new [JCPOA] deal, and allow it to pledge adherence to the FATF [Financial Action Task Force], which has been the last key sticking point for the U.S. and the remainder of the P5 [U.S., U.K., France, China, Russia] and Germany to reach a new deal since Washington unilaterally withdrew from the original one in [May] 2018.

The FTO designation of the IRGC in 2019 has been a red line for the various Iranian negotiating teams since it was placed on the Corps during U.S. President Donald Trumps term in office. For Tehran, not only does the IRGC function as the guardian of the spirit of the countrys Islamic Revolution in 1979 but it is also the principal mechanism through which Iran can spread its own particular brand of Islamic faith across the world by whatever methods it deems necessary. These means, however, almost always require money and for this reason the IRGC has been allowed access to every layer of Irans business and financial networks to the point where now it is inextricably ingrained throughout the entire fabric of Irans economy, as analysed in depth in my new book on the global oil markets.

According to sources in Washington and London, current estimates are that the IRGC has placed top commanders at the heart of more than 200 Iranian companies and even back at the beginning of 2016  around the same time as Implementation Day of the first JCPOA - Emanuele Ottolenghi, a senior fellow with the foundation for Defense of Democracies testified before a sub-committee of the U.S.s House Committee on Foreign Affairs that the IRGC had significant ownership shares in 27 companies that are publicly traded on the TSE. This constituted a minimum 22 percent of its total value, at US$15.8 billion between them. According to Ottolenghi in 2016, the IRGC was active in the Iranian oil, gas, petrochemical, automotive, transportation, telecommunications, construction, and metals and mining sectors, among others. Additionally, the U.S. Department of Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control, in September 2012, described the NIOC itself as an agent or affiliate of the IRGC and therefore subject to sanctions under Iran Threat Reduction Act.

Since the IRGCs designation as an FTO in 2019, however, this inextricable link between it and Irans economy has led to serious negative financial fallout for both. Only a few months ago, OilPrice.com was exclusively told by a highly-placed source close to Irans Finance Ministry that: The key economic problem facing Iran is that the foreign currency reserves now stand at around US$10 billion only [compared to about US$114 billion just before the U.S. withdrew from the JCPOA in May 2018], and the gold reserves are also now insignificant, he said. This means that the Guards [the IRGC] are facing a crunch point when it comes to funding the international network [of proxies used to project Iranian influence], including in Yemen, Lebanon, and Syria payment is made in either [U.S.] dollars or gold, he added.

Therefore, Iran since 2019 has needed an out in the JCPOA negotiations: on the one hand it is not practically possible for the government to remove the IRGC from its business and financial networks, even if it wanted to; but on the other it cannot commit to the FATF if the IRGC is still designated as an FTO with all the external monitoring ramifications that this brings with it. As it stands, Iran is one of just two countries  the other being North Korea  on the FATFs blacklist, with a particular failure on Irans part noted by the FATF in its inability or unwillingness to address its deficiencies even after the Implementation Day of the first JCPOA on 16 January 2016.

According to the FATF: Irans [2016] action plan expired in January 2018[and] In February 2020, the FATF noted Iran has not completed the action plan. The FATF added  and this is where we are now: Iran will remain on the FATF statement on [High Risk Jurisdictions Subject to a Call for Action] until the full Action Plan has been completed. If Iran ratifies the Palermo and Terrorist Financing Conventions, in line with the FATF standards, the FATF will decide on next steps, including whether to suspend countermeasures. Consequently, by removing the FTO designation of the IRGC  although it could, and most likely will, remain on various other terrorist organisation monitoring lists held by the U.S. and others  Iran can pledge adherence to the FATF. Whether it will abide by all or any of its rules and regulations remains to be seen.

From the U.S.s side, the basic negotiating premise since Trump left office has essentially been a variation of the keep your friends close but your enemies closer still adage and that cutting Iran loose of all compliance and monitoring constraints since 2018 has been counterproductive to the interests of Washington and its allies. Superficially the U.S. has been committed to the restoration of all of the original hard-line clauses that were to have been part of the 2015 JCPOA agreement - fully listed and analysed by OilPrice.com at the beginning of negotiations by President Joe Bidens team. Both former President, Barack Obama, and his Secretary of State, John Kerry, wanted them included in the original JCPOA but were persuaded to drop them by France and Germany, according to the Tehran source. Under the surface, though, the key clauses that really mattered to the U.S. (and to the U.K., France, and Germany) were those especially designed to guard against Irans development of longer-range missiles that could hit either Europe or the U.S. directly.

In this context, a notable piece of diplomatic theatre was acted out at a crucial juncture in the JCPOA talks, with the creation of a false conflict narrative from the Iranian Parliament Speakers Special Aide for the International Affairs, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, stating that Biden should not include regional or missile issues in the JCPOA. The key to this comment, the Iran source told OilPrice.com was that it conflated two separate issues  missiles in general and regional missiles  with the Iranians always prepared to agree to curbs on their longer-range missiles (if not to rigidly stick by their promises on this issue) but always wanting to retain their shorter-range ballistic missiles. Iran has a major defence deficit in its conventional air capabilities, so it regards the shorter range missiles as essential to its ability to deter an air force-led attack by a neighbour, such as Saudi Arabia, said the Iran source. In addition, having such missiles and even the suggestion of access to nuclear resources from its own generation capabilities or North Korea or China allows Iran to act as a major power in the region, he added.

The U.S. for its part, said the source, has long been pragmatically accepting of Iran having these shorter-range ballistic missiles, provided they do not threaten Israel. Washington thinks that the threat of an Iran having very short-range missiles will keep the Saudis more dependent on the U.S. for protection than it would be otherwise and will also continue to generate hundreds of billions of dollars of defence contracts for Washington, said the Iran source. Therefore, this statement on regional and missile issues was designed by Iran to be able to claim to its people that the U.S. gave in on Iran keeping its regional missile program, although in reality the U.S. never cared about it, provided that there is no threat to Israel, he added.

This removed one of the major blocks to the re-engagement of the U.S. with a new version of the JCPOA, as Washington had already tentatively agreed to the removal of key sanctions in the oil, gas, petrochemicals and automotive sectors, plus some of those on Irans banking sector, provided that clauses relating to Irans medium- and long-range ballistic missile program are included in it, he added. The removal of the FTO designation on the IRGC and Irans ability, therefore, to commit to the FATF, were the last remaining hurdles to the new JCPOA being done, and millions of extra barrels coming into the oil market over time from Iran, which is what Biden desperately needs right now, so the new JCPOA deal should be announced imminently, he concluded.

By Simon Watkins for Oilprice.com

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Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said that his country will actively work to free up extra crude supplies for the U.S. and Europe

Canada's oil producers have been struggling to grow for years. Lack of export routes outside the United States and pressure from the government and regulators have combined to stifle any serious growth ambitions in the oil sands.

All this changed earlier this month as oil prices soared to over $100 and the U.S. ban on Russian oil imports automatically triggered a surge in demand for heavy Canadian crude.

Bloomberg reported this week that demand for drilling rigs in Canada has jumped to the highest in years. Before the pandemic, Canadian drillers were moving south of the border because that's where the demand for their services was growing. Now, one industry insider expects the drilling season to start earlier this summer.

"This is certainly more activity than we were expecting even three weeks ago," Kevin Neveu, chief executive of Precision Drilling Corp., told Bloomberg.

The report mentions two oil producers in Canada that have plans to boost production, noting that both are relatively small players in conventional oil and gas rather than the oil sands. Yet, the authors insist, these plans are a clear sign of a change in Canadian oil. And that's despite continuing challenges.

The notorious pipeline shortage is still very much present, which means that a planned boost in exports to the United States would come in the form of more oil trains moving south. Canada also plans to increase oil exports to Europe as the latter seeks to diversify its supplier mix in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"My expectation is, by the time I go to Paris [March 23], we will have a pretty good view about what we may be able to do," Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson told the Canadian Press earlier this week, commenting on these plans.

"I mean, we have constraints around pipeline capacity, obviously, but the ability to fully utilize that, at this point in time to help to stabilize global energy markets, and to assist our friends and allies in Europe is definitely something that we are looking at."

It's not just pipeline capacity constraints, either. Canada has one of the most ambitious emission-reduction programs in the world, and the oil and gas industry is a target of much pressure and criticism as the biggest contributor to the country's emission footprint.

The industry is pledging emission reductions, with the six largest oil sands companies last year setting up the Oilsands Pathways to Net Zero Initiative with the aim to cut their combined emissions to almost zero by 2050. These six account for 95 percent of Canada's total production. However, the industry has called on the government to help finance this reduction drive, admitting it will be hard placed to do it on its own.

Meanwhile, demand for Canadian oil is rising but most producers are still reluctant to respond to this in the usual way.

"They can sit with their feet up right now, with money flowing into their pockets, while hardly working," a portfolio manager from Canoe Financial told Reuters earlier this month. "Why would they want to be a growth business again?" Rafi Tahmazian also said.

Apparently, however, some want to be a growth business. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers in January forecast that investment in oil and gas is set to rise by 22 percent this year to $26 billion (C$32.8 billion). According to CAPP, that would be the second year of investment growth in Canadian oil and gas, driven by higher commodity prices.

It is a complicated situation without a doubt. On the one hand, there is the climate-ambitious government with its emission reduction goals, much of which reduction will have to come from the oil and gas industry. On the other, there is an oil-thirsty world whose options were recently reduced sharply as Western sanctions against Russia kicked in.

That many Canadian drillers are still reluctant to return to the growth path is understandable. It is unclear how long the current supply situation will last and how fast it might change. What is clear, however, is that Canada is one of few unsanctioned heavy crude producers globally and, as such, there is a solid market for its production.

The chief executive of Suncor Mark Little said at CERAWeek this month that Canada could raise oil production by 200,000 bpd in short order in response to the surge in demand. And revenues could soar, too, by as much as 46 percent, according to the ARC Energy Research Institute, per the Bloomberg report.

It seems that constraints will contribute to these revenues, too. The pipeline situation remains tight, making moving the crude to where it is wanted harder. The oil sands situation specifically is also challenging: output there cannot be raised as quickly as it can be raised in the U.S. shale patch.

What all this means is that even without trying to boost production, Canadian drillers seem to be in for a bit of a breather after years of problems and more of those ahead.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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Oil prices rallied early on Monday amid EU consultations about potentially joining the U.S. in banning imports of Russian oil.

As of 7:45 a.m. ET on Monday, WTI Crude was up 3.87% at $108.91 and Brent Crude was trading up 3.93% at $112.30.

Separately, prices were driven higher after an attack from the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels over the weekend targeted energy facilities in Saudi Arabia, the worlds top oil exporter and de facto leader of OPEC.

According to the Saudi energy ministry, strikes carried out by drones hit a distribution terminal for refined oil products in the region of Jizan, a refinery on the Red Sea port of Yanbu, and a natural gas plant.

In Europe, several EU countries, including Ireland and Lithuania, believe that the European Union should impose more severe sanctions on Russia, including on its energy sector. EU ministers begin today a week of consultations to decide whether and how to step up sanctions against Russian over its invasion of Ukraine.

France sees a potential ban on imports of Russian energy into the EU as an option, its Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said over the weekend, adding that sanctions are hurting Russia and Vladimir Putin.

Should we in the immediate stop buying Russian oil, should a little bit further down the line we stop importing Russian gas? The president has never ruled out these options, the French minister told LCI television in an interview on Sunday, as carried by Reuters.

However, the European Union and its biggest economy Germany have been reluctant so far to ban imports of Russian energy or impose sanctions on Russian oil and gas exports, considering that Europe depends on Russia for more than one-fourth of its oil supply and one-third of its natural gas supply.

Oil rose to a one-week high in Asia as the war in Ukraine keeps global supplies very tight with traders, mostly through self-sanctioning, avoiding Russian crude, currently being offered close to 30-dollar below Brent with a limited number of buyers queuing up to secure cheap cargoes, Saxo Banks strategy team wrote in a note on Monday.

With supply tightening, the market will be looking for signs of demand destruction, mostly through the cost of diesel and gasoline as well as the impact of temporary covid related lockdowns in China, the banks strategists added.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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France sees a potential ban on imports of Russian energy into the EU as an option, its Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said over the weekend, adding that sanctions are hurting Russia and Vladimir Putin.

Should we in the immediate stop buying Russian oil, should a little bit further down the line we stop importing Russian gas? The president has never ruled out these options, the French minister told LCI television in an interview on Sunday, as carried by Reuters.

Some Western nations have already banned or committed to phasing out Russian oil imports by the end of this year after Putin invaded Ukraine at the end of February.

The United States banned imports of Russian energy, including oil, liquefied natural gas (LNG), and coal two weeks ago, while the UK announced on the same day that it would phase out imports of Russian oil by the end of the year, in response to Vladimir Putins illegal invasion of Ukraine. Russian imports account for 8 percent of total UK oil demand, but the UK is also a significant producer of both crude oil and petroleum products, in addition to imports from a diverse range of reliable suppliers beyond Russia, including the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, and the United States, its government said.

Moreover, Canada prohibited Russian ships and fishing vessels from entering Canadian ports and internal waters. The UK banned on the same day from its ports any vessels owned or operated by anyone connected to Russia and said that authorities would also gain new powers to detain Russian vessels.

However, the European Union and its biggest members, including Germany, have been reluctant so far to ban imports of Russian energy or impose sanctions on Russian oil and gas exports, considering that Europe depends on Russia for more than one-fourth of its oil supply and one-third of its natural gas supply.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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Germany will be importing liquefied natural gas from Qatar, Economy Minister Robert Habeck announced following a visit to Qatar.

Qatar will export liquefied natural gas to Gemany, Habeck said in a Twitter video. Now its up to the companies to set up contracts.

Qatar is in the process of increasing its gas extraction and we need more gas in the short term to replace Russian supplies, Habeck said, as translated by Bloomberg. That is what I discussed with the Emir and the energy minister.

Qatar last year made the final investment decision on a massive LNG expansion program that will raise its annual production capacity from 77 million tons to 110 million tons. The project, with a price tag of $28.75 billion, is set to be completed by the end of 2025.

Germany, meanwhile, is urgently seeking alternative gas suppliers to reduce its dependence on Russia. The country is the biggest natural gas consumer in Europe and the seventh-largest consumer in the world, per EIA data from 2019.

Despite a strong green lobby that has been advocating successfully for a shift to renewable power, the German government has acknowledged the countrys economy will continue needing a lot of natural gas in the observable future.

Habeck did not elaborate on the details of the deal agreed in Doha but said it would be a door opener for the German economy as it would reduce dependence on Russian gas, the Financial Times reported.

We might still need Russian gas this year, but not in the future, the official said, as quoted by DPA. It starts like this  so he who has ears should start to listen, most likely referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

As part of its gas shift, Germany recently announced plans to build two import terminals for liquefied natural gas. To date, the country has none.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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The Yemeni Houthi rebels launched a ballistic missile and drone attack on Saudi energy targets, affecting oil processing rates at a refinery.

A drone attack on Saturday targeted an oil products distribution center in Jizan, in southeastern Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Press Agency reported. A day later, two drones were sent to a natural gas plant in Yanbu and to facilities owned by the Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining Company, or YASREF, the Saudi Ministry of Energy said.

The attack on the YASREF refinery temporarily reduced run rates, but the shortfall will be compensated from available inventories, the SPA reported, citing the ministry.

Later this morning, Saudi Arabia communicated that it would not take responsibility for any supply outages resulting from the attack.

BREAKING: Saudi says it no longer has "responsibility for any shortage in oil supplies to global markets in light of the attacks on its oil facilities." Latest from @jcgnana in the Gulf. https://t.co/RaGNPMRXgk pic.twitter.com/CmjZdqbrj3

 Andy Critchlow (@baldersdale) March 21, 2022



The Houthis appear to have stepped up their attacks on Saudi Arabia. Earlier this month, the rebel group targeted energy industry facilities in Jizan again using a bomb-laden drone, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Saudi oil facilities are a top target for the Houthis, which Saudi Arabia is trying to oust from Yemen after they removed the Saudi-affiliated government of the country in 2014 and have since then assumed power in most of Yemen.

The Yemeni war, which has resulted in the worst humanitarian crisis in modern times, is widely seen as a proxy war between regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran.

With regard to the latest attack, a spokesman for the energy ministry said the attacks did not only affect Saudi Arabia but global energy security and stability of supply.

The most notable attack that the Yemeni rebel group claimed responsibility for was the September 2019 attacks on Saudi Aramcos oil facilities, including an oil field and a processing plant. That attack cut off 5 percent of the daily global oil supply for weeks, sending oil prices soaring.

Meanwhile, the European Union added the Houthis to a blacklist created in 2014 as part of sanction action on the war in Yemen.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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Gazprom has not booked any space for April on the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline link to Germany, according to monthly auction results, which suggest that Russia does not intend to raise its natural gas supply to Europe.

No extra capacity, compared to the current volumes of gas transit, has been offered on the gas transit volumes through Ukraine, either, according to the outcome of the monthly auctions reported by Bloomberg on Monday.

The volume of flows of natural gas from Russia to Europe is anyone's guess after Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. Europeunlike the United Statescannot afford to go completely without Russian gas.

Last week, Gazprom data showed that the Russian gas monopoly reduced its natural gas exports to countries outside the former Soviet Union by 28.5 percent between January 1 and March 15, compared to the same period of 2021.

Gazprom has said throughout this winter that it is fulfilling its contractual obligations, but the volumes it has been sending have been much lower than in previous years.

Low natural gas deliveries from Russia appear to have artificially tightened the European gas market, the IEA's Executive Director Fatih Birol said in January, adding that energy systems "face significant risks" by relying too much on one supplier for a key energy source.

The risks became painfully clear just a month later, after Russia invaded Ukraine, with Europe unable to afford to ban imports of Russian gas, as the U.S. has already done.

If Russian gas flows to Europe were interrupted now, Europe would have enough gas to last it through the end of this winter and the following summer without having to curtail demand, energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie said last week.

The European Commission unveiled earlier this month a plan to make Europe independent from Russian fossil fuels well before 2030, starting with gas. The EU will seek to diversify gas supplies, speed up the roll-out of renewable gases, and replace gas in heating and power generationall this can reduce EU demand for Russian gas by two-thirds before the end of the year, the Commission says.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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The UKs Oil and Gas Authority, the industry watchdog, plans to hold an oil and gas licensing round for the North Sea this year, the Financial Times has reported, noting it would be the first licensing round since 2020.

The news comes weeks after reports that the UK government was considering a ban on new drilling permits in the North Sea. Discussions reportedly involved an immediate pause on licensing and a ban on all permits from 2040.

In this context, the decision to launch a new licensing round is bound to spark controversy amid the UKs push to move away from fossil fuels and into a fully renewable future. It was this push that put an end to new oil and gas licensing rounds two years ago.

Now, however, with the Ukraine war sending oil and gas prices soaring, it is adding some $50 billion to the collective bills of UK households. The cost-of-living crisis resulting from the energy price rally has sent the UK government scrambling for quick fixes to the situation.

In search of more oil, after the government banned Russian imports, Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently visited Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates but, per comments from officials there, was left empty-handed by his hosts, the Wall Street Journal reported last week.

Meanwhile, the renewable energy push at home remains strong. The Oil and Gas Authority will this week change its name to North Sea Transition Authority, while the government drafts so-called climate compatibility checkpoints for all future oil and gas licensing rounds.

The Financial Times notes, however, that these checkpoints were hastily revised recently to include stipulations allowing regulators to overlook environmental considerations if there are national security concerns.

The team [at the NSTA] are getting ready some packages of licences that have discoveries that are pretty much ready to go, said the head of the Oil and Gas Authority, Andy Samuel, as quoted by the FT.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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Wally Weitz has arguably long been Omahas second-most-famous value investor, after a guy named Warren Buffett.

Now Weitz appears set to lend his own thoughts and expertise to Buffett by joining the board of directors of Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway.

Weitzs nomination was announced by Berkshire in its annual proxy statement ahead of the companys April 30 annual meeting, and it will be voted on by shareholders there. Weitz would replace Tom Murphy, who recently resigned from the 15-member board.

Weitz founded Weitz Investment Management in 1983 and currently serves as co-chief investment officer of the Omaha firm that manages more than $4 billion in assets.

Quietly, over many years, Weitz carved out his own niche in the world of value investing  picking stocks that appear to be trading for less than their intrinsic or book value. And he has long attributed part of his success to applying lessons learned by observing Buffett and his methods.

I consider him a mentor, Weitz said in 2014. But while we see each other from time to time, I have learned mainly from watching what he does with Berkshire and reading his letters.

At 72, Weitz is 19 years younger than the 91-year-old Buffett. He is a New Orleans native who began his investment career as a securities analyst in New York. He and his wife, Barbara, decided that her hometown of Omaha was a better place to raise children, so they made the move in 1973.

He initially worked for investment firm Chiles Heider before founding his own firm. Before long, he began attracting national attention with his impressive returns.

He and Barbara, now a member of the University of Nebraska Board of Regents, also formed a family charitable foundation in 2000 that works to alleviate poverty in Omaha.

Weitz would be considered an independent director for Berkshire. At least half of Berkshires directors must be independent.

Wallace Weitz brings to the board his substantial financial experience as an investor in public companies and as a director of a public company, Berkshire said in its filings.

Weitz would also obviously add to Berkshires Omaha ties. Buffett has long said that after he is gone, the board should keep Berkshire rooted in his hometown.

Buffett last fall named daughter Susie to Berkshires board, making her the third member from the Buffett family, along with her father and brother, Howard.

Warren Buffett said at the time that Susies appointment would help preserve Berkshires unique culture long after he is gone.

Weitz can play that role, too. He has long been a fan of Berkshire culture, which is one of the reasons that Berkshires stock has been a major holding in his firms funds from the beginning.

A year ago, he called Berkshire an example of the kind of company he always looks for: one that seeks to serve all of its constituencies  shareholders, employees, customers and communities  in a socially responsible and sustainable manner.

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While concerns are rising across the globe about a new omicron subvariant, Nebraska continues to see falling COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.

Cases fell by nearly half in Nebraska last week, from 650 to 354, according to a World-Herald analysis of federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. The last time Nebraska saw so few cases in a week was nine months ago, in early June 2021.

Nebraska cases have now fallen eight straight weeks since the highly contagious omicron variant peaked in January at more than 29,000 reported weekly cases. Theyre down almost 99% since then.

Nebraska also continues to have one of the nations lowest per-capita case rates, ranking fourth after South Carolina, Kansas and Nevada.

In a number of European countries, cases once again are on the rise as the new omicron subvariant BA.2 takes hold. Its thought to be 30% to 50% more contagious than omicron.

The subvariant also has been on the increase in some parts of the United States, making up 39% of cases in New York and New Jersey as of March 12, according to CDC forecasting. In New England, the subvariant accounted for 38.6% of cases. BA.2 also had gained ground on the West Coast. In the four-state region made up of Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri, however, an estimated 13.8% of cases were BA.2. Nebraska as of Monday was reporting 18 cases of BA.2.

Cases in the U.S. as a whole remain at their lowest point since just after July 4, before the delta wave began. Only a half-dozen states are seeing an increase in cases right now, all at relatively modest levels.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Bidens chief medical adviser, said Sunday on ABCs This Week that the U.S. likely will see an uptick in cases, as has been seen in some European nations, particularly the United Kingdom.

COVID trends in the U.S. have tended to follow those in the U.K. by three or more weeks.

Hopefully, we wont see a surge, Fauci said. I dont think we will.

Fauci told PBS News Hour on Thursday that the rollback of COVID restrictions in the U.K. and BA.2s increased transmissibility are fueling the increase in cases there.

Such restrictions also have been increasingly peeled back in the United States, including in Nebraska. Even schools that once required masks have made them optional. Many are allowing kids to eat in lunchrooms, turning on drinking fountains and planning proms and field trips.

Fauci said the key question is whether an increase in cases in a few weeks would lead to an increase in severe disease that could result in more hospitalizations and deaths.

Some health experts think the immunity provided by vaccination and the vast number of omicron cases will tamp down potential increases. Others say the large number of Americans who havent gotten boosted could leave vulnerable pockets.

Nebraska health officials have been encouraging residents who havent done so to get vaccinated and boosted. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Monday that its advisory committee will meet April 6 to discuss possible future booster doses and the process for selecting what strains to include.

Fauci and other federal health officials have been urging Congress to pass an additional $22.5 billion in COVID relief funds for treatments, tests, vaccines and research, warning that health officials will have to scale back without it.

Republican leaders in Congress, however, have argued that the administration should repurpose COVID funds that havent yet been spent.

How an impasse on funding might affect Nebraska is not yet clear. State health officials said in a statement that they are talking with their federal counterparts and are closely monitoring the proceedings in Congress.

Meanwhile, the number of Nebraskans hospitalized with COVID-19 dropped to an average of 161 a day last week, down 24% from the previous week. By Sunday, the figure had dropped to 123.

Nebraska recorded 21 confirmed or probable COVID-19-related deaths last week, bringing the total for the pandemic to 4,047. The state has reported 477,198 cases.

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The appointment book at Tip Top Tux in Omaha is filling up.

Thats one of many positive signs that springtime in Nebraska could be the most normal period schoolkids have experienced since before the pandemic hit.

With COVID-19 case counts bottoming out now in many schools and communities, school officials in various districts are rolling back their health restrictions.

Theyre making masks optional, ending their daily posting of cases, allowing kids to eat lunches in the cafeteria instead of in classrooms and turning drinking fountains back on.

Theyre allowing school assemblies and field trips, letting parent teacher organizations hold events with food, moving classroom desks back together and planning for restriction-free sports, graduations and proms.

Some school boards have rescinded the emergency powers they delegated to superintendents.

Really the numbers have fallen way off, Nebraska Commissioner of Education Matt Blomstedt said, and there doesnt seem to be something on the horizon, the immediate horizon, that would change that.

Blomstedt, however, added a cautionary knock on wood.

If youve lost track, the last normal school year was three years ago.

Schools shut their doors in March 2020 for the remainder of that school year. They opened again in 2020-21, but with heavy restrictions.

Last August, school officials were optimistic for a more normal year, but after cases spiked they reevaluated and imposed restrictions.

Since the January spike, the situation has improved. Some districts recently reported daily cases in single digits or none at all.

As of last Friday, the majority of Nebraska counties were classified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as in the low-concern green level  among them Douglas, Sarpy, Cass and Lancaster.

To determine a countys level, the CDC looks at the combination of new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 population in the past seven days, the percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients, and total new cases per 100,000 population in the past seven days.

Tehia Wells, store manager of Tip Top Tux at 615 N. 98th St. in Omaha, said that after a couple of rough years where business took a COVID hit, tux rentals for prom  and for weddings  are on the rise.

Whether its Millard or Elkhorn or the OPS schools, kids are excited right now to have something back that they thought they lost, Wells said.

The stores been receiving 30 to 40 appointment submissions a day for kids to come in and get tuxes for prom. Last year, some schools held outdoor proms or street dances instead.

Were seeing kids come in and go all-out for things, she said. Honestly, they dont care about cost even at this point. The parents just want them to have something. They want them to get this back.

Liberty First Credit Union Arena (formerly known as Ralston Arena) and Baxter Arena are both planning for restriction-free graduation ceremonies this spring.

Michael Smith, general manager of Baxter Arena, said the venue is slated to host 17 ceremonies.

For the most part, our planning is back to pre-COVID, he said.

The arena will still have hand-sanitizing stations, and staff will be disinfecting seats between ceremonies and at night, he said. But there are no plans to limit the number of guests a graduate can invite, though some schools may still issue tickets to get in, he said.

I know our teachers, and some of our counselors and administrators who we work with, are excited, too, to get back the choir, to get back the orchestra, the band, to get back those things that were maybe prerecorded at those ceremonies, he said.

The mask mandate that overshadowed last years ceremonies at the venue is gone. Last year, some schools didnt hand a diploma to students at graduation.

Smith said arena staff will be ready to pivot if conditions change.

We are ready for that change if it happens, if we have to move towards those different protocols, but Im optimistic, Im encouraged that were going to be more back to pre-COVID when it comes to May, he said.

Some districts are still deciding how to handle spring events.

Bridget Blevins, spokeswoman for the Omaha Public Schools, said spring events like prom and graduation will have to comply with venue COVID policies. Common venues in past years for OPS have been the Durham Museum, CHI Health Center and Baxter Arena.

OPS students at Burke High School are allowed to invite guests from other schools for the first time in two years for its prom on April 9, according to Burkes newsletter.

Bennington Public Schools officials said the district hasnt decided what, if any, COVID restrictions will still be in place for spring events. The Elkhorn Public Schools and Westside Community Schools both are planning activities like prom and graduation in a pre-pandemic fashion.

School board members in the Papillion La Vista Community Schools are among those that rescinded an order giving the superintendent power to quickly make changes in health protocols.

The board members also last week eliminated the triggers they set in October to determine when masking would be mandated at a school. The district had been imposing masks when a building had 7% of students absent or when an elementary classroom had two cases.

Were just not seeing the cases that there were, said Annette Eyman, district spokesperson.

Papillion La Vista officials are changing all the door signs to reflect that buildings are mask optional. Masks used to be recommended. Thats a subtle change but one that indicates mask wearing is now wholly up to the individual and their personal health needs.

At the start of the year, not every school in Papillion La Vista could send all kids to the cafeteria and maintain proper social spacing. As a result, some students have been eating lunch in classrooms. The district is going to try to get kids back into the cafeterias.

Eyman said theres a lot of reteaching that has to happen with the kindergartners and first graders.

We have kids who have never eaten lunch in a cafeteria, so its not something that is going to happen overnight, she said.

Britny Harrison, whose three children attend Walnut Creek Elementary School in Papillion, said its wonderful to see a more normal spring.

Her son has sensory issues and wearing a mask was a challenge.

Shes glad Papillion La Vista is turning fountains on, so kids wont have to bring bottles for water.

We went through, like, 10 water bottles this year, and they were not cheap, she said.

Workers were turning fountains back on in the district last week, while students were on spring break.

The districts schools now have the green light to hold all-school assemblies. When PTOs hold events, they can have food again.

After spring break, the Millard Public Schools will no longer post daily case counts, officials said.

The Gretna Public Schools alerted parents that it wont be updating its COVID numbers weekly on the website and that its paring down parent notifications.

Officials will be ready to change course, however, if the disease raises its ugly head again, Superintendent Rich Beran said.

The Bennington Public Schools and some other districts have changed how theyll respond when cases turn up in an elementary classroom.

Dee Hoge, assistant superintendent, announced at a March 14 school board meeting that elementary classrooms will no longer require masks if a COVID-19 exposure occurs. She said even one positive case used to trigger a mask mandate to control a potential outbreak.

Principals will still notify families in the case of an exposure and masks will be recommended.

As of last Monday, Bennington also stopped updating active COVID cases per school on its online dashboard and instead will only report monthly districtwide numbers. Hoge said this was because of the statewide and local decrease in cases  so far, the district has reported two cases this month.

The drop in cases has been a welcome change for teachers, who are tapped far less often to cover for ill and absent colleagues.

Its very rare to have a teacher out, said Sarah Starke, who teaches fourth grade at Bellevue Elementary School in the Bellevue Public Schools.

Starke said some curtailed events, like book bingo night and the Pancake Man, can come back now.

We always have a tradition of father-daughter dance at our school, Starke said. We can do that again.

Desks have been pushed back together after being spread apart for social distancing, she said.

Starkes husband, Dave, teaches sixth grade at the districts Bellaire Elementary School.

His sixth graders will resume a tradition.

As sixth graders, we always visit the middle school where theyre going to next year, and we havent done that for two years, he said. So finally, this year, we get to go visit Mission Middle School where most of them are going next year.

Tim Royers, president of the Millard Education Association, said a lot of what happens in schools was taken for granted before the pandemic.

Getting these pieces all back in place I think is important so they can enjoy as much of the experience as they can, Royers said.

He said he detects more optimism in schools. While people are starting to feel a return to normal, theyre also confident they could handle a resurgence of the virus, if necessary, because we have the playbook now, he said.

I still have one eye on the dashboard just in case, kinda like I havent quite put my snowblower away, just in case, he said. You never know if one last ones gonna hit us.

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This week at CNN Travel, we look at the countries dropping all their Covid-related rules for entry, innovative airplane cabin designs, new breathtaking bridges and why Finland is living its best life.

Covid? What Covid?

A small but increasing number of destinations are lifting all of their Covid-related travel restrictions, regardless of vaccination status, including some European favorites.

The United Kingdom, Ireland and Hungary all swelled the ranks this month. The Caribbean island Aruba, the Portuguese archipelago Madeira and north-central Asia's Mongolia have also lifted their main Covid entry requirements.

They join Iceland, Norway and Slovenia, which all shed their Covid rules in February.

Other countries will be watching closely to measure the success or failure of these bold moves as Omicron continues to spread around the world.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's travel advisory list, increasingly a hoarse-voiced Cassandra, still has about 125 destinations in its highest-risk "avoid travel" category -- with the latest addition an Indian Ocean island nation.

Masks on planes

Several UK airlines, including British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, have just made mask-wearing optional for passengers and crew on certain flights. The rules are more than a little opaque, however, and are dependent on the laws of the destination country.

Mask-wearing has been a contentious issue on planes over the past two years. The US Transportation Security Administration has issued more than $644,000 in fines for alleged mask violations since February 2021.

The US mask mandate is currently set to be in place through April 18. Whether it's lifted or extended again, there are bound to be some unhappy (and potentially very unruly) passengers either way. And if some industry advocates get their way, a no-fly list for unruly travelers could help keep bad behavior in check.

Record-breaking bridges

Turkey opened an impressive suspension bridge across the Dardanelles Strait on Friday that just so happens to connect the continents of Europe and Asia. (Turkey is in a very rare club -- nations that occupy parts of two continents.)

It was a massive, record-setting undertaking. Find out its jaw-dropping stats and how much it will cost vehicles to cross.

Meanwhile, China is setting its own record with bridges. In April, a bridge is set to open in scenic Yunnan province with a "singular" feature that has to be seen to be believed.

What's Finland's secret?

The Nordic nation of Finland has just been named the world's happiest country for the fifth year in a row.

The Finns have plenty to smile about, the newly released World Happiness Report says, when it comes to healthy life expectancy, GDP per capita, social support when times are hard, high social trust and more.

Global levels of worry and stress have also dipped a little, though they're still higher than pre-pandemic levels. Check out who else made the top of the list.

Future of flying

Window, middle, aisle; window, middle, aisle.

If you're feeling that airplane cabins are just too same-y, the design shortlist for the 2022 Crystal Cabin Awards should make you perk up.

How about ceiling and wall projections that make you feel like you're underwater? Or maybe a lounge-style couch seat where you can catch up with your travel companion over a drink? Check out the designs here.

New European hotels

From the rock 'n' roll Chateau Denmark in London's swinging Soho to the Greek temple of gastronomy Xenodocheio Milos in Athens, there are a lot of new boutique hotel openings in Europe to get excited about in 2022. Here's our roundup of the best.

In case you missed it

Climbers held the world's highest tea party on Mount Everest.

Extra supplies hauled up the mountain included Girl Scout cookies.

Los Angeles' Koreatown is one of the West Coast's buzziest neighborhoods.

Revisit Anthony Bourdain's "Parts Unknown" trip there in 2013.

These are the most delicious pies around the world, both sweet and savory.

Get set, travel

If you're planning to hit the beach again this spring or summer, you might be looking to refresh your seaside scanties.

Our partners at CNN Underscored, a product reviews and recommendations guide owned by CNN, have put together this roundup of 33 stylist-approved and top-rated swimsuit options for men and women of all body types.

The-CNN-Wire

 &  2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

Top image: Scafell Pike and Wastwater in England's Wasdale Valley. (Credit: Courtesy Britain)
Humble to repair Humble Cemetery markers

On March 10, the Humble City Council announced an agreement to preserve the history in the Old Humble Cemetery and work with Humble ISD to create a retention pond and education area at the corner of Wilson Road by Humble High School.

The council approved a partnership with Texas Cemetery Restoration for restoration, leveling and repair of headstones in the Old Humble Cemetery, located at the corner of Old Humble Road and Isaacks Road.

Mayor Norman Funderburk stated, As you already know, this project has been in the making for quite some time. There is a huge amount of history in this cemetery, including a number of Dunman family members that date back to the Battle of the Alamo and the 1800s. The total amount of this project is set for $9,939.75.

Humble ISD Board Member Chris Parker gave a presentation regarding the need to construct drainage facilities and other associated improvements or amenities for public use on approximately 35 acres owned by the Humble ISD situated at the corner of Will Clayton Parkway and Rustic Timbers Drive.

This area is planned to not only be a water feature, but also an educational area to be used by the neighboring campuses and the members of the community. It will be complete with legacy trees, a walking trail, and more. It will be a fantastic addition to our already amazing city, proclaimed Parker.

The meeting concluded with announcements by Council Member David Pierce.

At the Humble Civic Center we have the Living Well Farmers Market on April 2, at 9 a.m. at Schott Park. Then, on April 3, we have the Houston BBQ Festival at the Humble Civic Center at 12 p.m.

The next venue, the Charles Bender Performing Art Center also has several exciting events. April 23 is the Vitacca Ballet World Premiere at 7 p.m. For tickets, see humblepac.com/events/. Tickets are $20, stated Pierce.

The next council meeting is set for March 24 at 6:30 p.m. in the Humble City Council Chambers.
Lake Houston TIRZ authority to be extended through 2056

At its meeting March 10, the directors of the Lake Houston Redevelopment Authority and Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone No. 10 (TIRZ) approved a formal request to the Houston City Council to increase its current boundaries of authority and extend its life beyond 2027. When approved, the TIRZ will function through at least 2056.

Originally, back in 2017, we looked at doing this per the mayors request but the plan, because of issues with the state legislature, got delayed, Chairman Stan Sarman said. During the development of the Kingwood Mobility Project in 2017 it became clear that areas beyond TIRZs current authority needed to be included in the Northpark Drive overpass and road expansion projects including areas in Montgomery County. The 2017 plan included extending the life of TIRZ for another 30 years to ensure long term capital financing and other issues would not be at risk if the original 2027 expiration date of the TIRZ authority was not extended.

So now we are at the point, in order for us to go forward with completing our project plan on Northpark Drive, we must get this annexation approved through City Council in order to have the funding for our 20% share of the funding for Northpark Drive. It also includes the extension of Lake Houston Redevelopment Authority for 30 more years, Sarman said.

Ralph DeLeon, administrator for the authority, explained the historic overview of the plan in his written introduction to the document that will be submitted to the Houston City Council for approval. In it he noted it all goes back to when the City of Houston annexed the Kingwood area of Harris County Oct. 23, 1996. At that moment the city assumed responsibility for the long term development and coordination of the infrastructure needed to facilitate residential and commercial development of the area. To do so, in December 1997 the Houston City Council established its TIRZ No. 10 for the next 30 years with the authority to plan and manage those responsibilities. That authority will expire in five years (2027) and there are already major projects in progress and in planning where funding arrangements must be secured into the future well beyond five years.

Sarman explained he and DeLeon were working with Kingwoods Houston City Councilman Dave Martin and Mayor Sylvester Turner to approve the expanded TIRZ plan as soon as possible.

In other business:

- The directors approved its monthly financial report which included spending $695,403 in operating disbursements in February. DeLeon explained 84% of the expense was related to payments to the WFG National Title Company for various parcels of property and to HNTB Corporation for its project management work on the Northpark Drive overpass and road expansion projects. In addition, the authority spent $506,169 for capital projects, the majority of which ($457,779) was spent toward the Northpark Overpass project.

- The directors approved the establishment of a new banking account with Texas Capital Bank which is specifically specialized to better serve governmental, not for profit and other institutional clients.

Dustin Hodges of City Councilman Dave Martins office reported Monday, March 7 he and Martin drove with public works people down Kingwood and Northpark Drives to check the timing of the traffic signals as part of Martins current Kingwood traffic light timing and sequencing project.

They are much better than they were but there are still improvements to be made, Hodges said. He noted Martins office will be submitting a routine report to public works about Kingwoods traffic light sequencing starting Friday.

Paula Ikpatt, a project manager with HNTB, updated directors on the status of the two Northpark projects that are currently in final planning stages. Bidding and construction may begin on the overpass project soon. She explained both the Union Pacific Railroad and the City of Houston were currently reviewing the final required plans and agreements necessary to begin.

Everything looks good at this point, Ikpatt said regarding the overpass project. She explained HNTB is currently working closely with the Harris County Flood Control District to make sure the design of the bridge over the big diversion ditch meets all of the drainage requirements.

The next Lake Houston TIRZ 10 Directors Meeting will be April 14 at the Kingwood Community Center.
BLOOMINGTON  Anglers Lake Nature Preserve is a little known gem in south-central Bloomington filled with history, trails, a fishing lake, other ponds and wildlife  especially birds during migration.

The rationale for really arguing for the city to save this place is its an oasis, said Margaret Hollowell of Bloomington, a member of the John Wesley Powell Audubon Society who is among those who have worked to preserve the area.

Its just a place amidst all the streets and highways and houses (where) you can come and appreciate the wonder of nature, she said.

The preserve is an oasis for both humans and animals, including migrating birds.

While hiking there on St. Patricks Day, in addition to the abundant Canada geese and mallards, we saw green-winged teal, snow geese and American wigeons. Earlier in the month I saw hooded mergansers and gadwalls. Wood ducks are known to nest there, although they kept hidden from view this time.

Jerry Erb of Bloomington comes to Anglers Lake to see and photograph birds. He said spring is definitely his favorite time to visit.

You can see a lot more birds before the shrubbery leafs out, he said.

While waterfowl is the main attraction now, in a few weeks the preserve will be a hot spot for migrating warblers. These small, colorful songbirds are often high in the trees and some stay to nest here.

The 11-acre site includes the 5.5 -acre Anglers Lake and some adjacent ponds.

Its intimate setting and small size make it good for short outings with children  just keep them away from the waters edge. In addition to birds, visitors are likely to see turtles, squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits and groundhogs.

As its name implies, Anglers Lake is popular for fishing. Motorboats are not allowed. You can launch your canoe or kayak from near the Lafayette gate  although its not easy and, depending on the lake level, you might get your feet wet or muddy.

According to a history for the site, the lakes and ponds got their start around 1880, when clay was dug out by the Bloomington Brick and Tile Co.

In 1907, it became the Rod and Gun Club, later changing to the Anglers Club with a greater emphasis on family activities. The club closed, residential development sprung up around it and a fire destroyed the old clubhouse in 1976, leading to further deterioration.

The City of Bloomington acquired the property in 1983 at the urging of a coalition of groups that included members of the League of Women Voters, Girl Scouts, nearby residents and local educators in addition to the Audubon Society.

Although the phrase hidden gem can be overused, it truly applies to Anglers Lake  with an emphasis on hidden.

The citys website lists a Mercer Avenue address for the location, but you cant really get there that way. Instead, take Lafayette Street east from Morrissey Avenue until Lafayette dead ends at a gate. A small Anglers Lake sign with an arrow at the intersection of Morrissey and Lafayette is the only hint of where the preserve is.

Park carefully on Lafayette or Meadowbrook Drive, so you dont interfere with neighbors.

You can also turn on Anglers Lake Road, the next street south on Morrissey, and youll find a gravel pullout with a gate where the road curves. From there, walk along the path bordering a detention pond to reach the main part of the preserve. Watch for herons and waterfowl on the water and songbirds in the trees and bushes.

Developing the preserve is an ongoing process, said Hollowell.

There are hiking trails with some wood chips. Hollowell would like to see more signage, field trips and educational programs.

The Audubon Society recently purchased a screech owl nest box for the preserve, which was installed earlier this month by the city parks and recreation department. Scouts also have made a chickadee nesting box and a wood duck box, both of which are in place at the preserve.

Urban natural areas, such as Anglers Lake, are important, said Hollowell.

Its just nice for people to have a short walk and see mourning cloak butterflies, see birds, just being in nature  period, she said. Its just refreshing.

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NORMAL  Officials will announce plans later this month for new leadership at the Normal Police Department after Chief Rick Bleichner announced his retirement Monday.

Bleichner will step down at the end of April after about 11 years in the position. He joined the Normal Police Department in 1991.

I cannot adequately express my gratitude for all the opportunities I have been afforded during my career, Bleichner said in a statement. It has been my greatest professional honor to lead the Normal Police Department.

Bleichner said that after extensive thought, he realized the time was right to step down.

The organization has six new recruits preparing to report to the academy at the end of April and I am confident the department is headed in a positive direction, Bleichner said.

Normal City Manager Pam Reece said the town would announce plans for Bleichners replacement at the end of March.

She said Bleichners ability to build strong community partnerships and his visionary leadership would leave an enduring impact on the department and town.

He has served with the highest ideals of professionalism and integrity and is a role model to many, Reece said in a statement. Chief Bleichner leaves a legacy of leading with humility and a dedication to the importance of mentoring others and promoting a professional culture.

Illinois State University police Chief Aaron Woodruff said he could always count on Bleichner and that he could call on him day or night.

Being a university community, theres no clear, definitive border between when something happens on campus versus off campus, so thats kind of that first thing is having that open communication, said Woodruff, who became the ISU chief of police nearly 12 years ago and has worked with Bleichner for more than 20 years.

McLean County Sheriff Jon Sandage, who also is retiring this year, echoed Reece's sentiments, highlighting Bleichner's "professionalism, his involvement and his dedication to the job."

"He's definitely going to be missed, but there's no doubt in my mind that he has set that agency up to succeed in the future," Sandage said.

Sandage said he has served with Bleichner on various boards and said the local law enforcement agencies meet at least once a month to review impacts on the departments.

"Rick is always great to work with," said Sandage, whose retirement takes effect in December. "He's always upfront and honest, and he has really progressed the Normal Police Department. Rick realizes that amongst all local police agencies, there's a lot of teamwork that needs to be accomplished."

Woodruff said Bleichners efforts to diversify the Normal Police Department stood out to him as one area worthy of recognition. The department made minority hiring a top priority when Bleichner was hired.

Bleichner has served as a co-chair of the nonprofit Minority and Police Partnership program, which was created around 20 years ago with the Bloomington-Normal NAACP.

Obviously, were all struggling with recruiting and retention, Woodruff said. I know hes made that a priority for their department and I think theyve really done a great job of improving in that area, and thats on him. He set that standard and those expectations.

Bleichner joined the police department as a patrol officer and built his way up to serve as a field training officer, a detective and "in all phases of operation and support," the town said.

After becoming a detective, Bleichner was promoted to sergeant in 1999 and to lieutenant to oversee the criminal investigations division in 2001. He was named assistant police chief in 2004.

Bleichner then replaced former Normal police Chief Kent Crutcher in August 2011 after seven years as assistant police chief.

Normals new police chief will arrive seven months after Bloomington also transitioned to a new police chief with Jamal Simington. He could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.

The McLean County Sheriff's Office, meanwhile, will add its new leader in December following the 2022 general election. McLean County Lt. Matt Lane, a Republican, was the only candidate to file for sheriff in the June primary election.

Contact Kade Heather at 309-820-3256. Follow him on Twitter: @kadeheather

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Just days after the state shutdown in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Illinois farmer and brewer Matt Riggs faced a sober reckoning.

We were a draft-only brewery, so I had $100,000 worth of beer packaged in kegs and ready to go, and with the bars and restaurants, closed, I had zero market, said Riggs, owner of Riggs Beer Co. in Urbana.

But as a fifth generation grain farmer whose family has witnessed the devastation wrought by droughts and floods dating back to the 19th century, the disaster that arrived in March 2020 prompted Riggs to pivot, not panic.

After locating a mobile canner, Riggs began transferring his kegged beer supply, that was originally headed to wholesalers, into aluminum cans, and before long, the companys new retail product was on the shelves at central Illinois grocers, including Wal-Mart and Schnucks.

And since Riggs grows and harvests the grain for the brewery on 60 of the 316 acres at his family farm, the business managed to avoid supply chain disruptions that have hampered many food and beverage operations two years into the pandemic.

The pandemic forced our hand, because I had always liked being draft only, said Riggs, adding that the brewery is now seeing a resurgence in orders for its draft beer in kegs, due to stepped up demand from bars and restaurants.

Its been a weird couple of years, and I wish it would never have happened, but you have to deal with reality, Riggs said.

Despite enduring two years of pandemic-era hardships, many Illinois farmers like Riggs say their decisions to take risks and embrace new business models two years ago have led to some silver linings.

From local growers who avoided supply chain and transportation troubles that continue to impede large companies importing products from overseas, to the surging popularity of home delivered fruits and vegetables, many Illinois food purveyors say they are surviving, and in some instances, thriving.

For farmers who could change their business operations quickly, including the cashless delivery of local foods, it worked out well, and it might not have happened without the pandemic, said Douglas Gucker, a local food systems and small farms educator at the University of Illinois extension.

They had to quickly morph and change, and for some farmers, the transition went really well, and today, theyre bigger and better, Gucker said.

Given the dependence on weather and trade conditions, farmers face high levels of risk and a modest return in profits even during the best of times, Gucker said.

But for Illinois farmers who took the initiative, and quickly created e-stores to take advantage of new demand for their products, the now ubiquitous grocery delivery model allowed them to continue operating, even during the early days of the pandemic.

As a farmer, in addition to having plan A, you need to always be ready to move to plan B and plan C as the situation warrants, Gucker said.

Farming is a rewarding life, and also full of risk, and they do this because they love growing and supplying food, but to live, they need to make a living too, Gucker said.

For farmer John Peterson, the founder of Angelic Organics, the early days of the pandemic brought a 50% surge in demand for his organic vegetables, including a crew of new customers who were alarmed by empty shelves and supply chain shortages at their neighborhood grocery stores.

It was a very hard thing to do, and we were under a lot of pressure, but people seemed desperate, said Peterson, 72, who operates his community supported agriculture farm, known as a CSA, in Caledonia, Ill., about 80 miles northwest of Chicago.

Some Illinois growers, including Gotham Greens, which operates two urban farms in Chicagos Pullman Park neighborhood, continue to see high demand.

With indoor farming, you take the climate variant out of the equation, and can deliver locally grown produce 365 days of the year, said Viraj Puri, founder and CEO of the New York City-based company, which operates a network of greenhouses across the U.S.

By embracing a sustainable agriculture ethos  the greenhouses use 95% less water and 97% less land than conventional farms  Gotham Greens has a dramatically shorter production and distribution supply chain, allowing them to deliver lettuce and basil within hours, Puri said.

We saw a huge bump in demand since the pandemic started, and it has been steadily increasing, so were doing our best to keep up, Puri said.

Gotham Greens products grown at the Chicago greenhouses and sold at area supermarkets, including Marianos and Jewel-Osco, are not only fresher, but they have a longer shelf life, Puri said.

We have a lot of consistency and reliability in our supply chain, and at a lower cost, because were not having to ship our greens thousands of miles away from where theyre grown, Puri said.

Chicago Region Food System Fund has awarded more than $8.4 million in grants to 105 nonprofit organizations during the pandemic to address hunger and business disruption by supporting local food systems.

While the funding was originally planned as a series of grants awarded from June 2020 through early 2021, officials have extended the grantmaking through 2022.

What we really found interesting, was how quickly people pivoted after the initial shock, said Karen Lehman, director of Fresh Taste, which manages the fund.

One problem exacerbated by the pandemic was the negative impact of the consolidation of food processing and storage facilities across the U.S., Lehman said.

Some of the meat processing plants didnt keep their workers safe, and they ended up with COVID, Lehman said.

There were bottlenecks and pileups, which really showed the need for decentralization, and not just for meat processing, but for grain millers too, Lehman said.

For Liz Stelk, executive director of the nonprofit Illinois Stewardship Alliance, a $227,000 grant from Lehmans organization will provide funding to 27 farms, all of which are within a 300-mile radius of Chicago.

Weve gotten a bunch of different proposals, everything from those in need of a really large, walk-in freezer for storage, those who need to extend their water lines for irrigation, and farms that need trucks to transport their products to markets, Stelk said.

The local food evolution is not only about buying and eating local produce, meat, dairy and other products, but improving equity, food access and economic development, said Raghela Scavuzzo, associate director of food systems development at the Illinois Farm Bureau.

Illinois had seen steady growth in the development of the local food infrastructure leading up to the pandemic, which I think is the reason why our farmers were really prepared and ready to pivot, Scavuzzo said.

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Australia has imposed an immediate ban on exports of alumina and aluminum ores, including bauxite, to Russia, the government said on Sunday as part of its ongoing sanctions against Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.



"Russia relies on Australia for nearly 20 percent of its alumina needs," the Australian government said in a joint statement from several ministries, including the prime minister's office. It added that the move will limit Russia's capacity to produce aluminium, which is a critical export for Russia.



"The Government will work closely with exporters and peak bodies that will be affected by the ban to find new and expand existing markets," the statement said.



Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto (RIO.L) owns an 80% stake in Queensland Alumina Ltd (QAL) in a joint venture with Russia's Rusal International PJSC (RUAL.MM), the world's second-largest aluminum producer.



Last week, Australia imposed sanctions on two Russian businessmen with links to its mining industry, one of them being billionaire Oleg Deripaska who holds stakes in QAL.



Australia has so far imposed a total of 476 sanctions on 443 individuals, including businessmen close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and 33 entities, including most of Russias banking sector and all entities responsible for the country's sovereign debt, the statement said.



The government also said it will donate at least 70,000 tonnes of thermal coal to Ukraine to meet its energy needs.



Australian coal producers have been bombarded with calls for supply over the past few weeks from Ukraine and other countries like Poland that have been reliant on Russian supplies.



"The Australian Government has worked with the Australian coal industry to source supplies," the statement said.



Whitehaven Coal has quickly arranged a shipment, and the Government is now working with the company and the Ukrainian and Polish Governments to deliver the supplies at the earliest available opportunity, the statement said.



The government also pledged additional military equipment and humanitarian aid for Ukraine.

Source: REUTERS









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
Standard Chartered has announced the 20 successful businesses that will participate in Cohort 2 of the Women in Technology Incubator programme at an induction ceremony at the banks head office in Accra.



The programme is a business incubator specifically designed to provide business support for women-led or women-owned businesses that leverage technology as part of the banks commitment to creating opportunities for female entrepreneurs.



Speaking at the induction, Mansa Nettey, Chief Executive of Standard Chartered Bank Ghana PLC congratulated the entrepreneurs on their selection and shared some fundamental principles with the cohort to benefit their businesses.



The first one will be to stay focused and stay true to your purpose. When the going gets tough, just remember why you set up in the first place. I will also encourage you to persevere because it is not going to be easy. Another key principle is to be disciplined, self-discipline is the difference between those who are successful and those who are not. You need the discipline to do ordinary things for an extraordinarily long period, she encouraged.



The entrepreneurs will be taken through a nine-month-long incubation programme that comprises business advisory and financial interventions, including a highly acclaimed high-value Mini MBA program managed by Ashesi Universitys Ghana Climate Innovation Centre. At the end of the programme, the entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to pitch for and secure financial grants to scale up their business.



Asiedua Addae, Head, Corporate Affairs, Brand and Marketing at Standard Chartered Bank PLC threw more light on the grant allocation component.



At the end of the incubation period, all the entrepreneurs will present their business pitches to a selection committee and five outstanding businesses will receive $10,000 (Cedi Equivalent) each to scale up, she explained.



The new Cohort had the privilege of hearing the experience of Audrey Darko and Tracy Oppong, founders of Sabon Sake and Simpliexpand respectively and grant winners from Cohort 1 of the programme.



The Standard Chartered Women in Technology Programme is currently running in 8 markets including Kenya, Nigeria, UAE, and Pakistan. The programme is run in partnership with the Ghana Climate Innovation Centre, an Institute of Ashesi University.



Standard Chartered Bank Ghana PLC is Ghanas premier bank drawing its history from the Bank of British West Africa established in 1896. We are part of a leading international banking group, with a presence in 60 of the worlds most dynamic markets and serving clients in a further 85. Our purpose is to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity.



Our heritage and values are expressed in our brand promise, here for good. We are committed to promoting economic and social development, doing so sustainably and equitably in line with our purpose. The Bank is made up of client segments supported by functions. Standard Chartered Bank Ghana PLC is listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange.



Ghana Climate Innovation Centre (GCIC) is a pioneering business incubator with a unique focus on developing sustainable enterprises and climate-responsive SME ventures and entrepreneurs in Ghana. Our mission is to develop and support an exceptional set of transformational ventures and entrepreneurs who are pioneering innovation and adaptive or mitigating solutions for economic resilience and climate change issues in Ghana. We do this with a focus on key economic sectors, the provision of premium business advisory and business mentoring services, technical support in the development, prototyping and testing of their innovation, as well as financial grants to qualifying SMEs within our incubator.

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 Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Professor Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, has donated a large quantity of textbooks, note books and exercise books to the Birim South District in the Eastern Region.

Presentation



Also included in the donation are large quantities of pens, pencils and erasers.



The books cover kindergarten, primary and junior high schools and senior high schools (SHSs), with those for SHSs covering both core and elective subjects, as well as reading books.



Apart from the donation, which is worth over GH57,000, he also donated seed money of GH30,000 for a fund to be managed by the Eastern Regional education directorate to be disbursed to teachers in the district as motivation to get them to go the extra mile.



In addition, Prof. Opoku-Amankwa has also pledged 10 per cent of his monthly salary, after tithe, towards the motivation of teachers to organise extra classes for pupils and students in the district.



The donation, which formed part of activities marking his 59th birthday, seeks to support teachers in the district to give of their best to help improve learning outcomes.



Presenting the books, Prof. Opoku-Amankwa said he was committed to seeing the standards of education in the district improved.



Teacher motivation



He said every year, on his birthday, he selected a project to support, mostly in the area of education.



Prof. Opoku-Amankwa said the support, especially that for teachers. was in recognition of the important role of teachers in the learning equation.



He said the motivation fund was to ensure that teachers who go the extra mile to ensure that the children attain the level that we desire are motivated.



Asked when the 10 per cent donation would end, he said: As long as I earn income and pay my tithe.



Prof. Opoku-Amankwa explained that the 10 per cent was part of the GH30,000 seed fund he established.



Gratitude



Receiving the items, the Birim South District Director of Education, Henry Theodore Sintim, said he was excited because the donation was rare in the area, saying, It is not everyone who celebrates his or her birthday by donating learning materials to the district.



He expressed gratitude to the director-general for the kind gesture to support the improvement of learning outcomes in the district.



Mr Sintim used the opportunity to appeal to the director-general to help ensure that more teachers were posted to the district.



One thing that worries us in the district is the low number of teachers, he told the director-general.



For his part, the Birim South District Chief Executive, Asare Danso, said the magnitude of the donation and the intention were much appreciated.



He said setting up the motivation fund to support teachers meant that Prof. Opoku-Amankwa had good intentions for children in the area and people in general.



Mr Danso prayed that God should prolong Prof. Opoku-Amankwas life for him to continue to show love to mankind.









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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Assin Central Member of Parliament, Kennedy Agyapong has stated the reason why he would not establish a factory in his constituency nor to help people who choose to live their lives in the village.



According to him, anyone who decides to stay in a village instead of moving to the towns or big cities has chosen to be poor and must be left alone.



He was answering a question on how he felt having built a factory in his village, which facility was left to run down because of the attitude of the workforce.



I always tell people who want to go and establish businesses in the rural areas that they should be careful based on my experience.



When you take your business to a constituency or any village where you think you can get the raw materials, most of the people in the village think by working for you, they are doing you a favour, Agyapong cautioned.



He said he will never take a One District  One Factory project for his constituency explaining that he would rather support constituents who migrate. ...the serious ones always migrate from the village to the cities to look for jobs."



Those ones it means they are serious in life, it means they are serious in life, so I employ those people. But for Nana Addo to tell me there is a palm in your village so go in for 1D1F, I wont do it because those in the village, they chose their lives. Im sorry but I have to tell you, he stressed.



Those in the villages chose their lives, they want to be poor, leave them (and) let them be poor. Those who will migrate to the cities are looking forward to a better life, such people, you need to assist them, the MP who has interests in different business concerns added.



Agyapong said he has abandoned five-kilometre fish ponds projects he had in Atwima, and a 500-acres plantain farm, stating that the farm had been burnt by some residents who were supposed to be beneficiaries.



Those in the villages chose their lives, they want to be poor so help them to be poor, he emphasized.



The lawmaker, who is into different business concerns, was speaking to students on March 10 during a lecture at the University of Professional Studies  Accra, UPSA.



The programme was under the theme: Raising Champions in the 21st Century, and was organized by the Youth Platform for Africa.

Source: Ghanaweb.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Prophet Kofi Oduro, founder and leader of the Alabaster International Ministry, says he is not happy with the government's misappropriation of COVID-19 funds.



When I look at the wealth that has been looted out of COVID in the continent of Africa, it is sad, he claimed



The outspoken preacher, however, accused government officials of enriching themselves from the public purse at the expense of the ordinary Ghanaian.



We had $1 billion coming into this country and we cannot find where that money even went to. 200 million was blown away in three weeks and we said that we used it in sharing food. Wow!!!!, he lamented whiles addressing social issues in a video on social media



COVID-19 funds have become topical in recent months, with the Minority in Parliament pushing for a bipartisan probe into government expenditure since the pandemic arrived in March 2020.



Pro-government voices insist that such expenditure have been catered for in the budget whiles the opposition insist that there are unaccounted for monies.



The government, aside from internally generated funds dedicated to fighting the pandemic, also benefited from support from bilateral and multilateral partners in the fight against the pandemic.



Meanwhile, the government insists that a major part of the economic downturn the country is experiencing is because of the impact of COVID-19.



President Akufo-Addo has assured, however, that the economy will bounce back sooner rather than later.

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 Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), Vice-Admiral Seth Amoama, has urged parties in all internal conflict areas to lay down their weapons and let peace reign for the good of the nation.



He stressed that conflicts only retarded the development of communities and the nation as a whole and that there would be no mayhem if the parties involved smoked the peace pipe.



It is important that we maintain peace and harmony in our society, as it is only through peace and harmony that we can develop; there is no sustainable development without peace, he said.



Visit



Vice-Admiral Amoama gave the charge when he visited some members of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) who had sustained various injuries or suffered illness in the line of duty and were on admission at the 37 Military Hospital in Accra.



The CDS presented hampers of assorted items to the patients in the various wards, as the visit coincided with his birthday.



In all, about 13 patients were visited in various wards, such as the James Cole Ward, which is solely for Warrant Officers; the Opoku Ward, a female general ward; the Yaa Asantewaa Ward, dedicated to female officers and high-profile female personalities; the Maternity Ward; the Easmo Ward for accident victims; the Allied Ward for burns patients; the Anorf Ward for male high-profile persons and senior officers of the GAF and the Tamakloe Ward for general patients.



Professionalism



In an interview with journalists after the tour, Vice-Admiral Amoama urged personnel of the GAF on duty in conflict areas to discharge their duties professionally and not take sides in the conflict.





He said a number of soldiers had been deployed across various areas, along with the police, to maintain peace.



The feedback I get from the field is that the morale of the troops at post is very high and they are going about their duties professionally, the CDS stated.



Citing the ongoing conflict in Bawku, he said one military officer was in critical condition.



Tour



On arrival at the hospital, the CDS, who was accompanied by leading officers of the GAF, was received by the Officer Commanding the 37 Military Hospital, Brigadier General Azumah Bugri.



The senior officers who were with the CDS included the Director-General of the GAF Medical Services, Brigadier General Ernest Crosby Saka Jnr; the Commander of the Kumasi Military Hospital, Brigadier General Raymond Ewusi, and the General Officer Commanding the Southern Command, Brigadier General Amoah Ayisi.



The CDS team was joined by the Chief Nursing Officer of the 37 Military Hospital, Colonel Francisca Aba Amakyi; the Chief Nursing Officer, Clinical, Colonel Patience Owusu Aidoo, and the Chief Nursing Officer, Administration, Colonel Rahinatu Alando.



In each of the wards the CDS visited, it was obvious the patients did not expect a visit from a top official of the GAF, as they looked surprised.



During the tour of the wards, which lasted about an hour, the CDS interacted with all the patients he visited to know how long they had been on admission and how they were recuperating.



The patients received the gifts with open arms, after which Vice-Admiral Amoama informed them that the visit was to mark his birthday and to wish them speedy recovery.



He said the visit was also to show that the GAF took the health and welfare of their members seriously.



"This visit also indicates that we take issues of the health of personnel and officers of the GAF and their welfare very seriously," he said.



The CDS expressed the hope that the gesture would motivate them and facilitate their recovery process.



He wished them speedy recovery and encouraged them to work hard when they resumed work to safeguard the security of the citizenry.



The CDS also inspected the ongoing cardiothoracic centre project being sponsored by the businessman and Member of Parliament for Assin Central, Mr Kennedy Agyapong.



Background



On January 29, last year, President Akufo-Addo appointed then Rear Admiral Amoama to act as the Chief of the Defence Staff, with effect from Friday, February 5, that year.



Prior to taking over, Rear Admiral Amoama was the Chief of the Naval Staff.



He has held numerous appointments in the GAF, both afloat and ashore, and he has some peacekeeping experience, having served as the UN Military Observer in Rwanda, the UN Liaison Officer in Lebanon and the UN Staff Officer on Sierra Leone.









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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A self-acclaimed prophet, Ebenezer Kuma,36, has been remanded into police custody by the Ofaakor Circuit Court in the Awutu Senya East District of the Central Region for allegedly defiling three girls.



The suspect, who also claims to be a movie actor, reportedly lured the girls, aged, 13, 14 and 16 respectively, into his home on different occasions and forcefully had sex with them.



The Ofaakor District Police Commander, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Samuel Amfo, who disclosed this to the Ghanaian Times yesterday, said the fake prophet, founder of the Faith Christian Ministry, Kasoa, would reappear before court on April 1.



He said accused allegedly forcibly had sex with the girls and convinced parents of the victims that he would train the children to become actors or actresses.



DSP Amfosaid the parents allowed their children to take part in supposed training in his house only for the fake prophet to have sex with them.



He said during the act, one of girls was heard screaming which attracted witnesses to the area, but Kumah attempted to escape but was arrested and handed over to the police.



DSP Amfo said it was after the girls issue came up that the other two mustered courage and informed their parents about their ordeal in the hands of the suspect.



The Police Commander said that investigations by the police had revealed that accused started sexually abusing the 16 year old among the victims, even before she turned 16.



He advised parents and guardians to be sure credible adults handle their children, saying that trusting people easily, and allowing teenage daughters to go to the homes of men for supposed training was totally uncalled for.

Source: The Ghanaian Times









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 New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Oda, Alexander Akwasi Acquah, has initiated the construction of educational facilities for three schools at Akyem Oda.



The projects are a six classroom block for the Oda Presbyterian A and C primary schools; a computer laboratory complex with offices and auxiliary facilities for the St. Luke Roman Catholic Junior High School and a 10-seater place of convenience for the Oda Presbyterian cluster of schools.



Speaking at the sod cutting ceremony, Mr Acquah recalled that following a rainstorm that hit Oda on April 5, 2021, a number of structures, including school blocks, were destroyed.



He explained that he, together with the Municipal Chief Executive for Birim Central, Ms Victoria Adu, and the Senior Presidential Advisor, Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, got the support of the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFUND) and other organisations to re-roof the schools.



Mr Acquah, however, said during his tour of the schools, he identified other needs hence the provision of the facilities for those educational institutions.



He said all the projects had been awarded to local contractors who were expected to complete the projects within three months.



Sod-cutting



For her part, Ms Adu, who cut the sod for the commencement of work, commended Mr Acquah for his quick response in solving some of the challenges in the municipality.



Ms Adu said she had been a former headteacher for the Oda Presbyterian cluster of schools for 18 years and realised that the place of convenience serving more than 1,000 pupils and many teachers was problematic.



She called on the contractors working on the three projects not only to complete them on schedule, but also execute them to meet the contract specification.









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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EuroPrima Industries Limited (EIL), a sales and distribution company, has donated COVID-19 relief items to the Greater Accra Regional Hospital to assist the health institution and frontline staff in the fight against coronavirus.



The items, worth GHC 400,000.00, include 1000 cartons of WIZACT 24H disinfectant spray, 1500 cartons of Santex hand sanitizer, 1000 cartons of Santex liquid hand wash soap and 400 cartons of Santex medicated soap.



Mr Frank Adu Peprah, Head of Finance at EIL, presenting the items to the Hospital, noted that the gesture was part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities for 2022, serving as an important partner in the fight against the spread of the coronavirus.



Also considering the fact that we deal in categories relevant to personal hygiene, home care and disinfectants, which are well recommended as part of the first line of defense against bacteria and virus, and general wellbeing of individuals.



Mr Peprah stated that EIL had made a number of donations across the country at the height of the pandemic, and therefore underscored the need to intensify awareness and as well adhere to the existing laid down protocols for safety and protection.







He said the Hospital, located within its catchment area, played diverse roles in providing quality health services to the public, hence, the need to contribute towards that worthy cause.



Dr Emmanuel Srofenyoh, the Medical Director of the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, on behalf of staff and management expressed gratitude to EIL for the kind gesture.



He gave the assurance that the items would be put to good use, particularly, enhancing the protection of frontline staff to deliver effective services to the people.



The COVID wave seems to have gone down but not completely out, even today we have received one COVID-19 case from a private hospital; it means all the systems and protocols in place should be maintained.



EuroPrima Industries Limited is the official Sales and Distribution Company for Santex Antiseptic Soap, SOKLIN and BOOM Washing Powder, TopCafe and Supreme Instant Noodles in Ghana.



EIL trades in food and household chemicals under categories including powder and liquid detergents; beauty and medicated soap; dishwashing liquids; hand wash; sanitizers; disinfectants; and food and beverages.

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 NDC Member of Parliament(MP) for Banda constituency, Ahmed Ibrahim, has shot down claims that the Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin is the only one who goes out of the country for medical treatment.



The Speaker of Parliament has been criticized for using "taxpayers' money" to go on frequent medical checkups in Dubai.



He is currently on his fifth medical trip to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.



A recent report had alleged that he was asking for an additional US$50,000 for treatment in Dubai. This has however been denied.



Former Central Regional Minister, Kwamena Duncan, recently on Peacefms Kokrokoo, indicated that former Speaker of the 7th Parliament, Prof Aaron Mike Ocquaye wasn't "even going to Togo" for medical checkups.



Watch Kwamena Duncan below





But that has been dismissed by the Banda MP who is also the Deputy Minority Chief Whip. He claims Prof Mike Ocquaye periodically flew to the UK for medical treatment."Prof Mike Ocquaye was going to the UK for treatment but we didnt make it public, it was kept under wraps" he pointed out.Interestingly, he revealed also that, "there are several MPs constantly flying out of the country for treatment".

Ahmed Ibrahim who was speaking in an interview on Neat FMs 'Me Man Nti' programme said one of those MPs is Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu.



According to him, he's the hospital mate of Alban Bagbin.



He, however, revealed that "before an MP will go out of the country for treatment it has been recommended by a Physician in Parliament".







Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Majority Chief Whip, Frank Annor Dompreh Nsawam-Adoagyiri MP has panned his colleague Member of Parliament, Sarah Adwoa Safo over her continuous absence.



The MP for Dome-Kwabenya who according to reports has been on leave since August 31, 2021, has been at the receiving end of flak from her colleagues and some New Patriotic Party (NPP) executives following her continuous absence in Parliament.



Sabotage



The MP for New Juabeng South, Michael Okyere Baafi has accused the Minister for Women, Gender and Social Protection of sabotaging the government and using her seat "as a bargaining chip".



"The NPP MPs go to Parliament except for one person, Adwoa Safo. We dont know where Adwoa Safo is . . . she doesnt come to parliament and its worrying . . . clearly her behaviour shows she wants to sabotage NPP; Im speaking on authority . . . shes to be blamed for all our problems. If youre sick, you dont have to blackmail the party. We need to call a spade a spade . . . " he lamented.



The MP for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong also said: She says she wants to be Deputy Majority, that woman has failed in life. A whole cabinet minister now demanding that she should be made a Deputy Majority Leader before she comes, she should go to hell.



You dont come to Parliament and you are on TikTok dancing? Dome Kwabenya is not for Apostle Kwadwo Safo, get it straight. I am very furious because people are insulting me because I went there to campaign for her.



Mike Oquaye the Speaker, the man that I respect very well, I campaigned against his son because Adwoa used my kids, calling me and begging me to help her. And now everybody is insulting me for doing that but I have not regretted it, she is very responsible when it comes to the kids



what else do you want?



Frank Annor Dompreh, Nsawam-Adoagyiri MP, speaking in an interview with JoyNews Evans Mensah indicated how he has been "very quiet and very tolerant and very diplomatic about this whole happening relative to Adwoa Safo...but the way its going, she is blackmailing the entire system and it is most unfair"



According to him, "If somebody decides to sabotage government and the person care less the effects of his or her actions; it is difficult to control the personIts even difficult to reach herI dont want it to look like Im zeroing in on her alone; its just unfortunate; I entered parliament with her; she was fortunate and she was made a minister. A whole ministry was created for her and then she was also made a deputy leader. Whats she talking about??? She has no basis whatsoever to behave the way shes behaving"



Bow your head in shame



Annor Dompreh also described as totally unacceptable the fact that Adwoa Safo seems to be holding everybody to ransom.



"Her behaviour is most unfair and I dont know what else she wants. Are you the only NPP member who has the credibility and competence to serve? She must bow her head down in shame. She is holding everybody to ransom and it is totally unacceptable... the Majority Chief Whip added.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has sanctioned some major reliefs as part of efforts to recover the economy and set it back to its pre-COVID-19 levels.

The reliefs include the opening of the countrys land borders, the easing of general COVID-19 restrictions and measures to arrest the depreciation of the cedi.



There are also measures to tackle rising fuel prices occasioned by the global economic turmoil brought on by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and measures to address the persistent rise in the prices of goods and services.



Cabinet retreat



The reliefs were sanctioned at a crunch three-day Cabinet retreat that took place at Peduase in the Eastern Region over the weekend.



Easing burden



In a tweet last Thursday, the Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, disclosed that the essence of the retreat was to enable the government to proffer solutions to ease the burden on Ghanaians.



In the coming days, details will be announced, including when and how the borders will be opened, the removal of some testing protocols, shoring up the currency and further cutting expenditures while assuring growth," the minister told journalists on the sides of the retreat.



Details



It is expected that, in the coming days, President Akufo-Addo, the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, other sector ministers, as well as the Bank of Ghana, will provide details on the reliefs and which sectors will experience expenditure cuts.



The reliefs are also expected to answer questions being posed by economic watchers on how the government will respond to current global economic challenges.









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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Former President John Mahamaha surged the government to reopen the countrys land borders, to facilitate socio-economic activities.



He said the long closure of the borders has significantly affected economic activities along border communities.



In a Facebook post calling for a review of the governments COVID-19 restrictions, the former President said the ongoing deliberations by the government concerning the reopening of the borders is long overdue and must be done without further delay.



The long border closures have devastated the economy of our border communities. Governments announcement that it is deliberating at Cabinet about a possible opening of our land borders is long overdue. Lets open the land borders now! former President Mahama said.



He also called for the scrapping of the $50 mandatory COVID-19 test at the Kotoka International Airport



The Minority Caucus in Parliament had also earlier called on the government to open Ghanas land borders to allow for the free movement of persons and goods.



President Nana AddoDankwaAkufo-Addo on March 22, 2020 announced the closure of the countrys land, sea and air borders as part of measures to reduce the importation of the dreaded coronavirus disease.



The air borders were opened on September 1, 2020, and subsequently the sea borders.



Despite several appeals to the government by lawmakers from the land border communities for the borders to be opened, the government has argued that opening the borders would lead to the importation of COVID-19 cases.

Source: The Ghanaian Times









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 Deputy Minister of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, Mr Martin Agyei-Mensah Korsah, has expressed worry about the inability of some contractors to complete projects on schedule despite the availability of funds, in the Upper West Region.



He also expressed dissatisfaction about the attitude of some contractors in delivering their projects below the contract specification, which could not stand the test of time.



Mr Korsah said It is becoming difficult to get value for money. It is very difficult for people to benefit from what the government is bringing to them.



The Deputy Minister expressed these concerns at Jirapa, when he visited government project sites, to ascertain progress of work as part of his monitoring visit to the region.



The projects include the Secondary City Project in Wa and the Agenda 111 project at Issa, in the Daffiama-Bussie-Issa District.



We have officers within the assembly mandated to visit these sites and check, not only for early completion but also for the quality of the work done, Mr Korsah said.



The minister also visited other District Assembly projects, including the Issa Senior High School, Jirapa Girls Module Junior High School, a students dormitory at the Lawra Nurses Training School and a District Court Complex at Nadowli.



Mr Korsah, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Techiman South, also interacted with staff of the assemblies to ascertain their challenges for redress as well as to assure them of governments resolve to support them to deliver quality services to the people.



Concerning the Secondary City Project in Wa, the minister said he could not fathom why the project had been delayed for a year though funds were available for swift execution of work.



Mr Korsah asked staff of the assemblies to revamp their monitoring efforts to be able to hold contractors accountable, to ensure they executed the projects to specifications.



If we do not hold people to check, they will take the country for granted. These contractors must be checked else they will short-change the country. If they do the wrong thing it is the taxpayers money they will use to pay them.



We are doing everything possible to sharpen you for you to deliver quality services to the people. That is how they will feel the local governance, Mr Korsah said.



He gave the assurance that he would present a report and recommendations to the sector minister for termination of the contracts of non-performing contractors.



Extension of the Modernised Agriculture in Ghana (MAG) project as well as provision of working equipment such as vehicles to enable them visit project sites topped the demand of the assembly staff.

Source: The Ghanaian Times









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Member of Parliament for Yendi, Alhaji Farouk Aliu Mahama has presented a cheque of Fifty Thousand Ghana Cedis (Gh50,000.00) to the management of the Yendi Municipal Hospital to support the ongoing construction of an Emergency and Trauma Center at the hospital.



In February 2021, the legislator in partnership US based NGOs, Mission 3:18 and the Global Missions Resource Centre cut sod for the construction of an ultra-modern EMT Center.



The project when completed will boast both human and logistical resource development in healthcare delivery in the Yendi Municipality and other districts within the Eastern Corridor.



Speaking after handing over the cheque over the weekend, Alhaji Farouk Mahama tasked management to use of the money prudently to ensure a speedy completion of the center to attend to health needs of the people.



According to him, the beneficiaries (people of Yendi) reposed so much confidence in him and therefore becomes his responsible to lobby for such developments to the area.



Health is one of my top priorities and I will be doing more to support with a lot of things. This is just the beginning, Farouk Mahama assured.



On his part, Prince Tagoe, Chief Administrator of the Yendi Municipal Hospital on behalf of management and staff expressed gratitude to the Member of Parliament for his numerous support to the hospital in disserve ways over the years.



He noted this will go a long way to to support the completion of the Emergency and Trauma (EMT) Center to satisfy the health needs of the people of Yendi and beyond.





Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Deputy Local Government Minister, Martin Adjei-Mensah Korsah has rubbished reports that the government involved all deputy ministers and Members of Parliament in its crunch cabinet meeting.



He told NEAT FMs morning show, "Ghana Montie", that the speculations are untrue.



Reports are rife that the government for the first time had a broader cabinet meeting to mitigate the countrys economic challenges.



According to some portals, the crunch three-day cabinet retreat chaired by President Akufo-Addo, had in attendance all NPP MPs, ministers, government appointees, and the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) leadership.



The meeting which took place at the Peduase Lodge, from Thursday, March 17, to Sunday, March 20, 2022, deliberated on the effects of the COVID-19 on all sectors of the economy that has led to blowbacks resulting from the ongoing pandemic, increasing trend of terrorism and piracy activities in the West African sub-region, amongst others.



But Martin Adjei-Mensah Korsah says only those who were to be at the cabinet meeting were there. I was not even part because I am a deputy minister.



However, Information Minister, Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah, has announced that the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, will provide details that have been put in place by the government to mitigate the impact of the global economic difficulties on Ghana.



This comes after the said crunch cabinet quarterly retreat at Peduase Lodge in the Eastern Region.

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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The youth wing of Akuapem North constituency has apologized to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and some national executives of the party following the alleged misconduct of Constituency Youth Organizer, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie a.k.a IGP.



According to a statement copied Peacefmonline.com by the ruling party's youth wing, "Mr. Owusu Afriyie in a Press Conference last Friday showed gross disrespect and arrogance towards H.E the president Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo and even went ahead to threaten and blackmail the president with the very important and critical E-Levy Bill".



The group asserted that our values do not allow us to repeat the words and mimic the arrogant posture of the gentleman but we condemn in no uncertain terms what he did and all the things he said".



We want to use this platform to let the president and the whole of Ghana know that, the things he said, do not represent our views and indeed do not in anyway represent who we are as Akuapem youth. We are known and acclaimed globally for our decorum, courtesy and respect and we are known to be humble to a fault and would not under any circumstance put out such words to anyone let alone the President of this land who happens to be a son of the Akuapem Soil. One that we are very much proud of, portions of the statement read.





Read full statement below:



The NPP Youth Wing Of Akuapem North Constituency On The Misconduct Of Their Youth Organiser, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie (IGP)



Good Morning to our friends in the Media and welcome to Akuapem North, the Home of Courtesy.



We have called you here to this morning to simply help us convey our sincerest apologies to the President of the Republic of Ghana, who happens to be our uncle and Father and hails from this constituency, for the most irresponsible conduct displayed by Mr. Kwadwo Owusu-Afriyie (IGP), the Youth Organiser of the New Patriotic Party towards him.



Mr. Owusu Afriyie in a Press Conference last Friday showed gross disrespect and arrogance towards H.E the president Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo and even went ahead to threaten and blackmail the president with the very important and critical E-Levy Bill.



Our values do not allow us to repeat the words and mimic the arrogant posture of the gentleman but we condemn in no uncertain terms what he did and all the things he said. We want to use this platform to let the president and the whole of Ghana know that, the things he said, do not represent our views and indeed do not in anyway represent who we are as Akuapem youth. We are known and acclaimed globally for our decorum, courtesy and respect and we are known to be humble to a fault and would not under any circumstance put out such words to anyone let alone the President of this land who happens to be a son of the Akuapem Soil. One that we are very much proud of.



We also want to use this opportunity to extend our sincerest apologies to the National Chairman Hon. Freddy Blay and the General Secretary Mr. John Boadu for the arrogant and disrespectful posture and manner in which the gentleman referred to them live on Facebook. We are not known for that and this is not the Akuapem Youth.



The Election of Polling Station Executives which ended smoothly yesterday has so far been peaceful, fair and the most transparent process we have witnessed recently in any internal elections. Indeed, we are grateful to the Regional and National Executives of the Party for their leadership and cooperation and the swiftness with which they addressed all grievances during the process. We congratulate the Constituency Elections Committee for such high level of transparency and fairness at the polls and warmly congratulate all winners of the Polling Station Elections. Lets work together to Break the 8.



We want to send a very strong caution to the gentleman, Mr. Kwadwo Owusu-Afriyie to desist from using the name of Akuapem Youth indiscriminately and in a manner that will bring such shame and embarrassment to us, Yes he is the Youth organizer with a specific mandate of mobilizing the youth of the constituency for the party but not a spokesperson for the youth of this constituency. We would have wished he spent same energy to deliver on his mandate. He has so far been the worst performing Youth organizer in the history of NPP in this constituency with zero initiative so far and to embark on such needless attack on the President of the land and leadership of our party is most unfortunate.



For someone who purports to have landed a new job at the AFCTA office and was sharing his congratulatory fliers all over the place under this same president, the least we expected of him was to show respect respect to H.E the President. We hope the venerable Trade Minister is taking notice of such bad character and should immediately sanction him.



We take full responsibility for his disrespect towards the president because clearly, we sat down and allowed this to fester for too long. First, we ignored his persistent attacks on our cherished former MCE and now Presidential Staffer, Hon. Dennis Miracles Aboagye, then he switched to constant attacks on the Vice President, H.E Dr. Mahmud Bawumia, then he went on a rampage on our brother, the National Organiser of the party and the Director General of the National Lottery Authority, the venerable Mr. Sammy Awuku. For a long while, we ignored his ruthless verbal attacks on several low and high profile party people.



Indeed, if we had taken decisive action by calling him to order, we would not have gotten here.



We will not threaten him, we will not give him any ultimatum to apologize for such disgraceful acts. We can only assure the party leadership and H.E the President, that, we will engage him indoors and try to imbibe into him some of the Akuapem Values to make sure he comes out a better person.



Since he came into this constituency as a teacher for almost 10 years now, we have embraced, accepted and lived with him to the extent of voting for him to be an executive of this party and we thought he should have absorbed some of our Akuapem values by now, but this act of misconduct clearly shows, he picked nothing and we would do the needful to ensure we get him to turn out right from now onwards.



We are also expecting the Regional leadership of the New Patriotic Party to quickly take disciplinary actions against him to serve as a deterrent to other party people. This party has structures, this party has rules, this party has leadership and must be respected at all times.



We, the NPP Youth of this constituency having understood clearly what the E-Levy will bring onboard, the Pros and cons as against the alternatives are convinced it is the best option for us as a nation at this point. And we beam with smiles knowing that, upon Passing of the ELevy Bill, our Mamfe to Koforidua Road will see a facelift, the Larteh Junction-Larteh Road will see a facelift, about 200 young businesses will be set up under the YouStart Program in the next 3 years which may lead to the creation of a minimum of of 1,000 jobs in this constituency. With such huge benefits, we are calling on our Member of Parliament, Hon. Nana Ama Dokua Asiamah-Adjei to ensure that she fully represents our interest in parliament and vote in support of the E-Levy Bill anytime its tabled in the house.



We are fully aware of the relationship between the gentleman and our MP and we will sincerely hope he was not speaking her mind. We will urge Nana Ama Dokua to participate fully in all government business but in an unfortunate situation these threats are carried out, we would urge the party to take swift action in imposing sanctions. The Youth and People of Akuapem North gives our full backing in this endeavor. This Party and Government has shown a lot of good faith in our MP and the Youth Organiser and its only fair they reciprocate that.



Once again, apologies Mr. President, we are with youth through thick and thin and we urge you to continue doing the good job you are doing for the people of Ghana and Okuapemman.





Long live the New Patriotic Party

Long live Akuapem North Constituency

Long live Ghana

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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Satellite imagery of Africa. Credit: Public Domain

Historians note a shift from Eurocentric conceptualizations of science during the late nineteenth century. Spurred by a burgeoning print culture and widespread dissemination of news regarding scientific discoveries, "science" as a term began to be applied throughout various cultures as a means of describing rigorous systems of knowledge production. Civilization-specific alternatives, such as "Indian science" or "Islamic science," arose to challenge the supremacy of "European" science. Applying the term enabled marginalized populations under colonial rule to honor their culture's achievements, validate their texts and practices, and claim authority as accomplished civilizations.

A collective of intellectuals in the fin de siecleincluding a medical practitioner and pastor named John Augustus Abayomi Colecritiqued mainstream science for its preoccupation with materialism. These individuals sought to advance systems of knowledge production that acknowledge the impact of spiritual and supernatural forces existing outside ordinary human perception. European science, they said, lacked this connection to the spiritual world.

In "John Augustus Abayomi Cole and the Search for an African Science, 18851898," published in Isis: A Journal of the History of Science Society, Colin Bos asserts these developmentsas well as societal changes in Sierra Leonewere foundational elements behind Cole's descriptions of African science. Analyzing Cole's writings and his 1898 lecture Astrological Geomancy in Africa, Bos reveals how Cole endeavored to elevate and legitimize African knowledge practices, foster unity among Africans, and criticize European imperialism.

In Freetown, the capital city of Sierra Leone, Cole was a member of the English-speaking African bourgeoisie. The years between 1870 and 1900 were a period of increasing marginalization, economic downturn, and political upheaval. Neotraditionalist attitudes emerged in response. Elites who previously embraced imperialism and Anglophone customs were discarding them and reclaiming African names, clothing, and cultural practices. According to Cole, these neotraditionalist gestures were insufficient. Members of Freetown's elite needed to adopt the spiritual sciences of societies found in Africa's "interior."

Drawing upon his experiences in the "interior," Cole's lectures introduced and championed an esoteric African science known as astrological geomancy. According to Cole, astrological geomancyor ifa in Yorubais a divination practice that allows one to predict future events. Shells or stones are cast across a board. The resulting patterns then correspond with houses of the astrological signs. Cole's 1898 lecture featured an ifa demonstration that provided prognostications concerning the Hut Tax War, and he viewed the accuracy of these predictions as evidence of the system's validity. Cole highlighted astrological geomancy's complex, mathematical calculations as well as its mysticism. Bos notes the linkages between Cole's astrological geomancy and Theosophical ideas of the period.

In addition to foretelling Europe's failures, astrological geomancy, Cole asserted, was inherently anti-imperialist. Despite years of colonization, Europeans' materialism inhibited them from discerning this ancient science. Cole's anti-imperial writings, Bos argues, likewise aided in developing civilization-specific science by conceptualizing, and therefore decentering, European science.

"'Science' was a universal term for profound and true knowledge about the world and the process of producing it. That science came from Europe did not reflect its particularly European character, but rather, the continent's status as the locus of universal 'civilization.' By contrast, Cole was one of a number of figures in the late nineteenth-century world whose attempts to understand and defend their own knowledge systems ultimately helped produce a concept of civilization-specific science, including 'European' or 'Western' science. Cole's lectures created an idea of European science that was everything African science was notconcerned with the material world rather than the spiritual, the modern rather than the ancient, the technologically advanced rather than the homespun."

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More information: Colin Bos, John Augustus Abayomi Cole and the Search for an African Science, 18851898, Isis (2022). Colin Bos, John Augustus Abayomi Cole and the Search for an African Science, 18851898,(2022). DOI: 10.1086/718388
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Inspired by the bacteria-killing wings of insects like cicadas, scientists have developed a natural antibacterial texture for use on food packaging to improve shelf life and reduce waste. The lab-made nanotexture from an Australian-Japanese team of scientists kills up to 70% of bacteria and retains its effectiveness when transferred to plastic.

More than 30% of food produced for human consumption becomes waste, with entire shipments rejected if bacterial growth is detected. The research sets the scene for significantly reducing waste, particularly in meat and dairy exports, as well as extending the shelf life and improving the quality, safety and integrity of packaged food on an industrial scale.

Distinguished Professor Elena Ivanova of RMIT University said the research team had successfully applied a natural phenomenon to a synthetic materialplastic. "Eliminating bacterial contamination is a huge step in extending the shelf life of food," she said.

"We knew the wings of cicadas and dragonflies were highly-efficient bacteria killers and could help inspire a solution, but replicating nature is always a challenge. We have now created a nanotexturing that mimics the bacteria-destroying effect of insect wings and retains its antibacterial power when printed on plastic. This is a big step towards a natural, non-chemical, antibacterial packaging solution for the food and manufacturing industry."

The research, published in ACS Applied Nano Materials, is a collaboration between RMIT, Tokyo Metropolitan University and Mitsubishi Chemical's The KAITEKI Institute. In 2015, Australia exported $US 3.1 billion of food and agricultural exports to Japan, making it the 5th largest exporter of such products to the country.

How it works

Dragonfly and cicada wings are covered by a vast array of nanopillarsblunted spikes of similar size to bacteria cells. When bacteria settle on a wing, the pattern of nanopillars pulls the cells apart, rupturing their membranes and killing them. "It's like stretching a latex glove," Ivanova said. "As it slowly stretches, the weakest point in the latex will become thinner and eventually tear."

Ivanova's team developed their nanotexture by replicating insects' nanopillars and developing nanopatterns of their own. To assess the pattern's antibacterial ability, bacteria cells were monitored at RMIT's world-class Microscopy and Microanalysis Facility. The best antibacterial patterns were shared with the Japan team, who developed a way to reproduce the patterns on plastic polymer.

Back in Australia, Ivanova's team tested the plastic nanopatterns and found the one which best replicated insect wings but is also easiest to fabricate and scale up. Ivanova said dealing with plastic was more difficult than other materials like silicon and metals, because of its flexibility. "The nanotexturing created in this study holds its own when used in rigid plastic. Our next challenge is adapting it for use on softer plastics," she said.

Since Ivanova and her colleagues discovered the bacteria killing nature of insect wings a decade ago, they've been working to design the optimal nanopattern to harness insects' bacteria-killing powers and use it on a range of materials. Until recently, it was difficult to find suitable technology to reproduce this nanotexturing on a scale suitable for manufacturing.

But now technology exists to scale up and apply antibacterial properties to packaging, among a range of other potential applications, like personal protective equipment.

Their new research builds on a 2020 study into using insect-inspired nanomaterials to fight superbugs. The team is keen to collaborate with potential partners in the next stage of the researchupscaling the technology and determining the best ways to mass manufacture the antibacterial packaging.

Explore further Insect wings inspire new ways to fight superbugs

More information: Denver P. Linklater et al, Nanopillar Polymer Films as Antibacterial Packaging Materials, ACS Applied Nano Materials (2022). Denver P. Linklater et al, Nanopillar Polymer Films as Antibacterial Packaging Materials,(2022). DOI: 10.1021/acsanm.1c04251
Optical light curve and Icarus model for the companion star of PSR J06102100. Credit: Emma van der Wateren et al., 2022.

Astronomers have performed a comprehensive study of a peculiar "black widow" millisecond pulsar known as PSR J06102100. Results of this research, published March 11 on the arXiv pre-print repository, deliver essential information regarding the behavior and properties of this source.

The most rapidly rotating pulsars, those with rotation periods below 30 milliseconds, are known as millisecond pulsars (MSPs). Researchers assume that they are formed in binary systems when the initially more massive component turns into a neutron star that is then spun up due to accretion of matter from the secondary star.

A class of extreme binary pulsars with semi-degenerate companion stars is dubbed spider pulsars. These objects are further categorized as black widows if the companion has extremely low mass (less than 0.1 solar masses), while they are called redbacks if the secondary star is heavier.

Discovered in 2003, PSR J06102100 is a black widow MSP with a spin period of about 3.86 milliseconds. The companion object has a mass of some 0.02 solar masses and orbits the neutron star every 6.86 hours. Previous observations of this system have detected that it shows optical variations, but found no evidence of orbital variations or radio eclipses.

A team of astronomers led by Emma van der Wateren of the ASTRON Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy in Dwingeloo, the Netherlands, decided to conduct radio observations of PSR J06102100 with several radio telescopes and optical observations of the companion using the European Southern Observatory (ESO), hoping to get more insights into the nature of this source.

"We report on radio timing observations of the black widow binary pulsar J06102100 and optical observations of its binary companion," the researchers wrote in the paper.

The radio timing measurements of PSR J06102100 found no evidence of radio eclipses down to low frequencies or significant orbital period variations over the period of 16 years. The astronomers noted that the absence of radio eclipses in PSR J06102100 is not unique as it was also reported in several other black widow systems. They explain that the absence of eclipses can be caused by either the absence of ionized material, or by the material missing the line of sight.

Furthermore, modeling of the optical light curve of the low-mass companion confirms the irradiation of this object by the pulsar. The researchers added that the companion is likely not filling its Roche lobe (a region around a star in a binary system within which orbiting material is gravitationally bound to that star), while having a relatively high inclination and that the irradiated hemisphere of this object has a surprisingly low temperature (about 2,820 K).

The authors of the paper speculate that the low temperature of the companion's irradiated side, together with a relatively low spin-down rate of PSR J06102100, causes less mass lost in the evaporative wind. This, according to the scientists, may explain the absence of radio eclipses in this system.

More information: E. van der Wateren et al, Irradiated but not eclipsed, the case of PSR J06102100. arXiv:2203.05872v2 [astro-ph.HE], E. van der Wateren et al, Irradiated but not eclipsed, the case of PSR J06102100. arXiv:2203.05872v2 [astro-ph.HE], arxiv.org/abs/2203.05872

 2022 Science X Network
Human activities are affecting the migratory behaviours of some caribou populations. Credit: Mark Bradley/Parks Canada, Author provided

When talking about caribou, most people probably think of some version of Santa Claus's reindeer. Although real-life reindeer sadly do not exhibit any of the fantastical traits associated with helping Santa deliver gifts all over the world, cariboutheir North American counterpart of the same species (Rangifer tarandus)are in fact known to perform epic long-distance migrations.

Despite this, not everyone knows that not all caribou migratecaribou that live in boreal forests are indeed mainly sedentary. Things can get even trickier when we consider populations in which only some caribou migrate, a phenomenon called partial migration.

Why these behavioral differences exist is a fascinating research question, the answer to which is strategically important for the conservation of migratory animals, which are globally imperiled.

In a recently published study, we examined these two types of behaviors in western Canadian endangered caribou and linked a caribou's tendency to migrate with its genetic heritage.

Genetic markers

The main purpose of our study was to investigate whether caribou migratory behavior is associated with genetics. To do this, we examined single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), which are fragments of DNA increasingly used by researchers in genetic studies. SNPs are highly abundant and found in genes all across an organism's entire genetic makeup. This means that they are particularly suitable for studies aimed at determining the association between genetic, ecological and behavioral characteristics.

At first, these kinds of markers were used only for model species such as humans and mice, but thanks to recent technologies, they can now be obtained and analyzed in the context of wild species at a reasonable cost.

Our research group, based at the University of Calgary, studied migratory behavior in 139 radio-collared caribou across western Canada. These caribou belonged to populations located in different environments, ranging from tundra to forests and mountains. We examined GPS locations for each animal using several approaches, including looking at an individual animal's movement and seasonal ranges (the winter and summer areas where the animals live).

As a result, we were able to tell which animals were migratory and which were not, and determined that caribou in the tundra tend to be more migratory than others, performing the longest migration (up to 500 kilometers one way). These findings also supported previous studies.

Wild caribou in the Rocky Mountains of Canada. Credit: Mark Bradley/Parks Canada

Genetic legacy

Our first step was to examine SNPs and determine groups of individuals with similar genetic characteristics. For each of the 139 caribou we tracked, we obtained around 30,000 SNPs. Our caribou mainly belonged to either a northern or southern group, which is consistent with previous studies.

Historically, two caribou genetic lineages evolved in separated glacial refugia (areas without ice, where flora and fauna survived) located north and south of the ice sheet during the ice ages. The historical northern refugia was predominantly composed of tundra habitat, where caribou migrated to follow seasonally available food.

In contrast, the southern portion of the species' range was dominated by forested environments, where caribou were sedentary as a consequence of reduced seasonality of resources. Our findings showed that that caribou belonging to the northern group were more likely to migrate, indicating that migration may be associated with the genetic ancestry of caribou.

We then wanted to know whether there were specific genetic mutations associated with migratory behavior, and consequently identified 57 SNPs associated with migration. Many of these SNPs were found in genes that may influence migration in other species. These genes included those regulating including circadian rhythms, sleep, fat metabolism and hormone production.

Overall, our findings provide initial evidence of a package of ancestral genes common across migratory groups that affects the inclination to migrate.

Humans affecting habitats

Migratory animals are known to positively affect biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Upon arrival at a destination site, migrants deposit nutrients and other substances into resident communities and ecosystems. This is being affected by human activities, and there have been resultant dramatic declines in the populations of migratory ungulates. The disappearance of migratory behavior is now recognized as a global conservation challenge, with alarming new findings for threatened caribou in particular.

Human-caused habitat alterations and climate change have both contributed to caribou decline. This, alongside the local extinction of some populations of mountain caribou, could mean the disappearance of other ecological and genetic behaviors.

If, as we report, migratory behavior is genetically influenced, caribou could be further impacted by the permanent loss of migratory behavior. Migratory behavior, as well as the set of mutations contributing to it, may not be easily re-established once lost.

Genetic mutations, especially those that are beneficial, occur in evolutionary timeframes that are incompatible with the fast decline of caribou. In the face of rapid declines, novel mutations, including those influencing migration, are unlikely to emerge.

This loss could perhaps be averted with the maintenance of seasonal habitats for cariboua strategy that would facilitate migration and give caribou a better fighting chance at population persistence.

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This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
The predatory bug Rhodnius prolixus is one of the main vectors of Chagas disease in the north of South America and in Central America. Credit: Dr Erwin Huebner, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada

In Central and South America, predatory blood-sucking bugs transmit the causative agent of the widely prevalent Chagas disease. As the disease can induce severe symptoms and to date there is no vaccine against the Trypanosoma parasites, the main approach at present is to control the bug using insecticides. A German-Brazilian research team has now studied how trypanosomes change the bug's intestinal microbiota. The long-term goal: to change the bacterial community in the predatory bug's intestine in such a way that it can defend itself against the trypanosomes.

According to estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO), between six and seven million people worldwide, predominantly in Central and South America, are infected with the Trypanosoma cruzi species of trypanosome. This single-celled (protozoan) parasite causes Chagas disease (American trypanosomiasis), which in the acute phase is inconspicuous: only in every third case does the infected person develop any symptoms at all, which can then be unspecific, such as fever, hives and swollen lymph nodes. However, the parasites remain in the body, and many years later chronic Chagas disease can become life-threatening, with pathological enlargement of the heart and progressive paralysis of the gastrointestinal tract.

There is no vaccine against the pathogen and treating the disease in the advanced stage is difficult. That is why the focus in Latin America is rather on controlling the bug that transmits Chagas trypanosomes: the predatory blood-sucking bug of the insect subfamily Triatominae. It ingests the trypanosomes during the sting, which then colonize its intestine. Through its feces that it mostly deposited next to the bite, the bug excretes the pathogen, which is often rubbed into the wound when scratching the extremely itchy bite.

Although the number of new infections has dropped in various regions where insecticides are sprayed on a wide scale, problems are emerging: over the last decade, resistance to common insecticides by several species of predatory bugs has been increasingly observed. These insecticides also have a negative impact on the environment and the local population.

Researchers worldwide are making intense efforts to find alternative methods to help control Trypanosoma cruzi. One possibility might be to modify bacteria in the predatory bug's intestine in such a way that they eliminate the Chagas trypanosomes or inhibit their development.

Example of the hemimetabolic life cycle of the predatory triatomine bug Rhodnius prolixus. Shown are the adult vector, freshly laid, milky-white eggs, mature, reddish eggs and five nymphs. Red arrows mark a blood meal for the molting process and egg production. Pictured in the middle are frequent hosts, such as dogs, opossums and humans. Credit: Fanny E. Eberhard/Goethe University Frankfurt

In collaboration with scientists at the Instituto Rene Rachou in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, parasitologists and infection biologists Fanny Eberhard and Professor Sven Klimpel from Goethe University, the SenckenbergLeibniz Institution for Biodiversity and Earth System Research (SGN) and the LOEWE Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics have now investigated how Chagas trypanosomes change the bacterial community in the predatory bug's intestine. To do so, they used genome analysis, which allowed them to compare the composition of the bacterial community in the bug's intestine, the microbiome, before and after infection with the pathogen (metagenomic shotgun sequencing).

The result: after the infection, the range of bacterial strains in the bug's intestine significantly decreased. Certain strains, including the potentially pathogenic bacterium Enterococcus faecalis, profited from the parasites' presence. Moreover, the researchers succeeded in identifying four bacterial species that probably take on functions important for the bug, such as the synthesis of B vitamins.

Fanny Eberhard explains that "Vitamin B is one of the nutrients that blood-sucking insects do not obtain through their blood meals. Bacteria that produce vitamin B are therefore very important for the bug, are found in practically all individuals and stay in the predatory bug's intestine even across generations. Hence, such bacteria are potentially suitable recipients for genes that produce defensive substances against Chagas trypanosomes."

Professor Sven Klimpel elaborates: "Ultimately, our goal is for the predatory bug to defend itself against Chagas trypanosomes and, in this way, to prevent infection in humans. However, before we can produce bacteria with such properties and then release predatory bugs containing them, we need to understand better how the ecology of the bug's intestine is structured and how the extensive interactions between host, pathogen and microbiome function. Our work is delivering an essential contribution to this."

The research was published in Microbiome.

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More information: Fanny E. Eberhard et al, Exposure to Trypanosoma parasites induces changes in the microbiome of the Chagas disease vector Rhodnius prolixus, Microbiome (2022). Fanny E. Eberhard et al, Exposure to Trypanosoma parasites induces changes in the microbiome of the Chagas disease vector Rhodnius prolixus,(2022). DOI: 10.1186/s40168-022-01240-z
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Would you invest in a winery whose vineyards might not be able to grow grapes in a decade? Take a job at a factory that might be underwater in 15 years? Buy hamburger from a company that's burning the Brazilian savanna to grow soybeans to feed cattle?

Groundbreaking federal regulation expected to be unveiled Monday could change how Americansand American companiesthink about climate change. The Securities and Exchange Commission will meet to discuss whether public companies must disclose the risks they face from global warming.

Much as homebuyers are protected by rules requiring a seller to disclose problems, the new SEC rule would allow investors to judge how well or poorly a company is prepared for the future costs of a warming planet.

The anticipated rule would require publicly traded U.S. companies to tell investors about their greenhouse gas emissions and how they manage risks related to climate change and future climate regulations.

"There's increasing concern that investors are not fully informed of the climate risks companies face," said Michael Gerrard, faculty director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University. "These disclosures will shine a harsh light on companies that have climate exposure who maybe would rather lurk in the dark."

The SEC, which ensures investors get accurate and transparent information about stocks, bonds and corporate profitability, was created by Congress after the 1929 stock market crash. Many Americans had invested in companies that had not been truthful about the risks they faced.

"The SEC was created to ensure it would not happen again. Climate change is a huge risk," said Paula DiPerna, a special adviser to CDP, a nonprofit that runs a voluntary climate disclosure system for companies.

The proposed rule wouldn't only affect large investment companies but also the 56% of Americans who own stock either individually or as part of their retirement and pension plans.

Environmental groups believe investors will reward companies that become more climate friendly once they are required to be transparent about the financial risks global warming poses to their bottom lines.

The financial risks posed by a changing climate are real and expensive. Last year weather and fire disasters caused more than $145 billion in damages, including 20 separate events that each cost at least $1 billion in damage, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported.

In 2021, the average temperature in the contiguous United States was 2.5 degrees above the 20th-century average. It ranked as the fourth-warmest year in the 127-year period of record. The six warmest years have all occurred since 2012.

"Even if you don't care about the climate, you might want to understand how your investments might do," said Sarah Dougherty of the National Resources Defense Council., who previously worked for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

"The core idea is that people need to have good data so they can make informed decisions," she said.

Shareholders have been demanding such information, which some companies already make available voluntarily. If approved by SEC commissioners after a public comment period, the rule would for the first time require companies to provide standardized information that would allow investors to do apples-to-apples comparisons.

In a letter to the SEC, the North American Securities Administrators Association said it supported efforts to bring uniformity to climate change disclosures "because investors are increasingly considering climate change risks in their investment decisions."

BlackRock, an investment management company with $10 trillion in assets, said in comments to the SEC it strongly supported such a rule because it "will help enable investors to make more informed decisions about how to achieve durable long-term returns."

The impact of climate transparency

While many investors and environmentalists support the rule, some business groups oppose it. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce in comments to the SEC said the "inherently uncertain nature" of environmental data means businesses should not be liable for such disclosures.

Many conservative politicians also are pushing back. A March 7 letter from Republicans on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs suggested the rule could limit U.S. energy producers' "access to credit and capital."

Republican state attorneys general say the SEC does not have the authority to require such disclosures. West Virginia's attorney general called it "mission creep" and has threatened to sue the SEC if the rule is adopted.

Environmental groups say the rule wouldn't force anyone to either buy or not buy a given stock, merely level the playing field. If a huge investor or a pension fund wants to know about a company's risk they can get the information.

But "if you're an average consumer you have no way to do that," said Dougherty. "There are some people who have turned this into a political thing but it's really about giving people more data."

The rule has been long in the making. The SEC first announced guidance on climate disclosure in 2010 but didn't enforce it. A Congressional Research Service report in 2013 found many businesses "characterized the SEC's level of enforcement in this area as negligible."

As concerns about climate change have grown in the intervening dozen years, so have calls for greater transparency.

In addition to reporting greenhouse gas emissions and financial risks from climate change, companies might also have to disclose how the transition to carbon-neutral energy production or increased environmental regulation could affect them.

Businesses that invest heavily in fossil fuels, for example, might face lower earnings if it becomes clear there will be less demand for them in the future as the economy shifts to energy sources such as wind, solar and possibly nuclear.

An unanswered question, for now, is whether companies would not only need to report their own greenhouse gas emissions but also those of their suppliers. Some have suggested they should; others think it's too complicated to require. Financial experts are eager to see what is in the proposed rule.

The regulation would only require companies to tell investors what their risks are, not force them to do anything about it.

"It's not the SEC's obligation to require you to reduce your risk," said DiPerna. "The SEC is not the Environmental Protection Agency."

It is the SEC's job, however, to make sure companies are being honest about their claims. If well-defined reporting becomes mandatory, some companies will be shown to not be as green as they claim, said Gerrard.

That's where the rule would have teeth.

"If you're found to be lying to the Securities and Exchange Commission," said DiPerna, "it's securities fraud."

Explore further Climate change disclosures driving awareness and action among companies and investors

(c)2022 USA Today

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
RIPE project: Anthony Digrado, University of Illinois, testing cowpea leaves in field. Credit: Anthony Digrado / University of Illinois

In a collaboration between RIPE researchers and cowpea breeders from Ahmadu Bello University and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, the width of cowpea leaves was found to correlate with above-ground biomass across diverse germplasm and environmental conditions. This easy-to-measure trait can be readily used for selection in breeding programs for cowpea biomass in Nigerian fields.

"Cowpeas are a key source of rich protein for millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond," said Saba Mohammed, Senior Research Fellow for the Institute for Agricultural Research of Ahmadu Bello University. "Cowpea grains are used for a variety of other purposes, whereas its fodder serves as a nutritious feed for livestock and a source of income for farmers who cut and store the fodder for sale during the dry season. Hence, developing cowpea varieties that can produce both grain and fodder optimally is vital, especially since there is a big market for the sale of both the grain and fodder in Nigeria and other areas in West Africa."

This joint work between the University of Illinois, the USDA Agricultural Research Service, Lancaster University, and the Nigerian universities used a critically important collection of 21 cowpea genotypes from Nigeria and other African countries. While looking at productivity differences among the germplasms, the group from Lancaster, led by Elizabete Carmo Silva, found that in their greenhouse, the cowpea with wider leaves tended to produce more biomass.

The Illinois-based team of Lisa Ainsworth and Anthony Digrado had previously grown 50 different genotypes as part of their research on how canopy architecture affects canopy carbon assimilation. They also collected leaf size and above-ground biomass measurements finding a correlation between those traits when measured in the field.

"It was very exciting to find the same correlation in two different studies with different cowpea germplasm," said Digrado, a postdoctoral researcher for the Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE) project. "This meant that leaf width was a robust trait that could be used to quickly and easily screen for plant biomass."

This work is part of RIPE, an international research project that aims to increase global food production by developing food crops that turn the sun's energy into food more efficiently with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research, and U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. Cowpea is one of RIPE's focus food crops.

While the measurements of leaf traits and biomass may have been the same in experiments in Lancaster and Illinois, the plant age at the time of measurement, environment, and the cowpea lines studied in the experiments were not. The experiments in Lancaster were made on cowpea cultivars from Nigeria and plants were measured at just three weeks old. The greenhouse environment was set up to replicate a Nigerian field environment as much as possible.

"We want our research to have an impact where cowpea is being grown," said Carmo-Silva, professor of crop physiology at Lancaster. "In the greenhouse, we were looking at controlled growth conditions and at Illinois, plants were being grown in a dynamic field environment. The key finding is that the correlation holds true with different germplasms and growing conditions."

The findings of this collaborative work were part of a recent study published in Legume Science. Future work will continue to analyze leaf and canopy traits in field experiments in Puerto Rico, Illinois and controlled environment experiments at Lancaster. RIPE researchers will also continue working with colleagues at the Ahmadu Bello University and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture to identify additional photosynthetic traits of interest.

Explore further Fickle sunshine slows down Rubisco enzyme and limits photosynthetic productivity of crops

More information: Anthony Digrado et al, Cowpea leaf width correlates with above ground biomass across diverse environments, Legume Science (2022). Anthony Digrado et al, Cowpea leaf width correlates with above ground biomass across diverse environments,(2022). DOI: 10.1002/leg3.144
Blood flow velocity images obtained from chicken embryo No. 1 using LS-LSAI. (a) An averaged blood flow velocity map over the entire image stack. (b) An instantaneous blood flow image at the time point 0.48 s, when the flow velocity reached the maximum. (c) An instantaneous blood flow image at the time point 1.08 s, when the flow velocity reached the minimum. (d) A magnified view of the white dashed boxed region in (a). (e) Cross-sectional flow velocity profiles taken along the green line in d at various time points. f, the time courses of spatially averaged blood flow over the regions indicated by the blue and green squares in (a). Credit: Compuscript Ltd

In a new publication from Opto-Electronic Advances, researchers from the National University of Singapore, Singapore, discuss confocal laser speckle autocorrelation imaging of dynamic flow in microvasculature.

Quantitative flow measurement and visualization is vital for many scientific and engineering disciplines. The authors of this paper propose a label-free dynamic flow imaging method, confocal laser speckle imaging, for real-time and quantitative imaging of blood flow on the microscopic level. The imaging system developed shares many features of a confocal fluorescence microscope and is, therefore, able to obtain high-quality, detailed flow images from thick tissue samples. The method described here does not require fluorescence labeling or any other sample preparation procedure.

Instead, the contrast mechanism is purely intrinsic and based on optical phase changes caused by flowing blood cells, which can be converted into random light intensity fluctuations. When a tissue sample is illuminated with a laser beam, the acquired images generally contain such random intensity fluctuations, the so-called laser speckles. The confocal laser speckle imaging setup is implemented on top of a line-scan confocal microscope, which forms an illumination line on the sample. A line camera is positioned to selectively capture the speckle signals coming from the illuminated line and effectively reject the out-of-focus light, which is a serious problem leading to reduced contrast and resolution in conventional laser speckle imaging techniques.

By quickly scanning the illumination line across the sample surface, two-dimensional raw speckle images can be acquired at a speed of greater than 200 frames per second. Time series analysis of the speckle images is performed pixel by pixel, a strategy that preserves the spatial resolution in the processed images. Autocorrelation and speckle contrast calculation are both commonly used analysis methods that link the speckle derived parameters to the local blood flow velocity. However, the combination of confocal microscopy with autocorrelation based speckle analysis, which is called Line Scan Laser Speckle Autocorrelation Imaging (LSAI), proves to be superior.

With small animal imaging experiments, the authors demonstrated that LSAI is able to quantify the local flow velocity at individual pixels, which are significantly smaller than the typical diameter of capillaries. Moreover, LSAI is fast enough to capture video-rate flow velocity changes at the same microscopic level. In short, confocal laser speckle imaging brings a breakthrough to in vivo flow imaging with its unprecedented performance.

An immediate application of confocal laser speckling imaging is to map and quantify dynamic blood flow in microvessels. Microvessels are the smallest blood vessels within organ tissues, including terminal arterioles, metarterioles, capillaries, and venules. Inside the microvessels network, the interaction between blood and tissue creates an environment for tissue cells to survive. The circulation of the blood in the microvasculature is so-called microcirculation, which is fundamental for analyzing and understanding the pathophysiology and pathogenesis of a wide range of human diseases. Experimental tools with adequately high temporal resolution and spatial resolution are highly desirable for in vivo visualization, and more importantly, quantitative measurement of the time-dependent blood flow maps in the microvasculature for further clinical and preclinical investigations. The novel confocal laser speckle imaging method developed by the authors of this article overcomes the technical limitations of existing techniques. It may become a standard imaging tool in microcirculation research as well as clinical diagnoses.

Explore further Transmissive-detected laser speckle imaging for blood flow monitoring in thick tissue

More information: Du E, Shen SH, Qiu AQ, Chen NG, Confocal laser speckle autocorrelation imaging of dynamic flow in microvasculature, Opto-Electronic Advances (2022). Du E, Shen SH, Qiu AQ, Chen NG, Confocal laser speckle autocorrelation imaging of dynamic flow in microvasculature,(2022). DOI: 10.29026/oea.2022.210045

Provided by Compuscript Ltd
Thousands of newspapers across the U.S. have shuttered or downsized in recent years, leaving many communities withoutor with highly diminishedlocal news outlets. The collapse of local journalism and rise of 'news deserts," along with the spread of dis- and mis-information, all point to a news industry in crisis.

As commercial news continues experiencing structural and financial issues, media scholar Victor Pickard, Ph.D., the C. Edwin Baker Professor of Media Policy and Political Economy and Co-Director of the Media, Inequality & Change (MIC) Center at the Annenberg School for Communication, advocates for a promising alternative: increased government investment in nonprofit and public media.

Scholarship by Pickard and others finds that public media has myriad social benefits, including more diverse news coverage, increased public knowledge about politics and public affairs, and lower levels of extremist views. Building on this, a new study co-authored by Pickard and Timothy Neff, Ph.D., reveals that countries with independent and well-funded public broadcasting systems also consistently have stronger democracies.

The study, "Funding Democracy: Public Media and Democratic Health in 33 Countries," shows that while other democracies have recognized the value of public media systems, America is a major outlier. Despite having the world's largest gross domestic product (GDP), America spends a comparatively miniscule fractionless than half of a percenton public media funding.

As newsrooms around the country continue to dwindle, a well-informed and politically engaged public is essential for democracy to thrive. In this Q&A, Pickard and Neff, a former MIC postdoctoral fellow and now a lecturer in Journalism at the University of Leicester, explain how democratic health is determined, how the U.S. ranks against other countries, and how our media infrastructure can be changed for the better.

How did you choose which countries to analyze for this study?

TN: We selected 33 countries that spanned The Economist's Democracy Index's seven global regions. Our selection criteria favors countries ranked as either full or flawed democracies, rather than authoritarian regimes, as well as countries that enable comparisons across different types of national media systems. We correlated these countries' democratic rankings with their levels of public media funding and with regulatory structures that support their financial and political independence.

What are the factors you looked at to determine the health of a democracy?

TN: We relied on The Economist's Democracy Index, which measures health across five key dimensions of democracies: electoral process (freeness and fairness of elections); functioning of government (determination of policy by freely elected leaders, without undue influence by other powers or corruption); political participation (citizen engagement with democratic processes); political culture (public support for democracy); and civil liberties (media freedom, freedom to associate, and support for human rights).

Where is the U.S. positioned in terms of democratic health and public media funding, as compared to other countries?

VP: According to The Economist's Democracy Index, the U.S. is now considered to be a "flawed democracy." In terms of its public media funding, it is almost literally off the chart for how little it allocates towards its public media compared to other democracies around the planet. It comes out to .002 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). At $465 million dollars, 2020 federal funding of U.S. public media amounted to just $1.40 per capita. Meanwhile, countries such as the UK, Norway, and Sweden spend close to $100 or more per capita toward their public media.

According to your research, how can public media help strengthen democracies?

VP: While our research specifically shows the correlation between strong public media systems and strong democracies, there is a growing body of research that suggests substantial social benefits from strong public media systems, including well-informed political cultures, high levels of support for democratic processes, and increased levels of civic engagement.

What are some arguments against government support of public media? How do you counter these criticisms?

VP: There is a common fear, especially here in the U.S., that government funding of public media creates a dangerous situation where our news organizations will become mouthpieces of the state. While state capture is a legitimate concern, many democracies around the world have figured out how to create strong safeguards to maintain public media's independence. Moreover, our research bolsters the argument that a robust public media system is beneficialperhaps even essentialfor maintaining a healthy democratic society.

What are your recommendations for the future of public media funding and infrastructure in the U.S.?

VP: Since the market is no longer supporting the level of news mediaespecially local journalismthat democracy requires, there is arguably now an even stronger case to make that public media needs to step into the vacuum to address the widening news gaps as the commercial newspaper industry continues to wither away. News deserts are expanding across the country and around the world. This should be public media's momentan opportunity to revisit its core purpose and assess how it should operate within a democratic society and within an increasingly digital media system. Ideally, we would both restructure and democratize our public media system as we expand this critical infrastructure.

Explore further Dictatorships advancing globally

More information: Timothy Neff et al, Funding Democracy: Public Media and Democratic Health in 33 Countries, The International Journal of Press/Politics (2021). Timothy Neff et al, Funding Democracy: Public Media and Democratic Health in 33 Countries,(2021). DOI: 10.1177/19401612211060255
Credit: Grumpy Turtle Films, Author provided

To our horror, another mass coral bleaching event may be striking the Great Barrier Reef, with water temperatures reaching up to 3 degrees Celsius higher than average in some places. This would be the sixth such event since the late 1990s, and the fourth since 2016.

It comes as a monitoring mission from the United Nations arrives in Queensland today to inspect the reef and consider listing the World Heritage site as "in danger."

As coral reef scientists, we've seen firsthand how the Great Barrier Reef is nearing its tipping point, beyond which the reef will lose its function as a viable ecosystem. This is not only due to climate change exacerbating marine heatwaves, but also higher ocean acidity, loss of oxygen, pollution, and more.

Scientists are at our own tipping points, too. The reef is suffering environmental conditions so extreme, we're struggling to simulate these scenarios in our laboratories. Even though Australia has world-class facilities, we are proverbially beating our heads against the wall each year as conditions worsen.

It's getting harder for scientists to predict how these conditions will affect individual species, let alone the health and biodiversity of reef ecosystems. But let's explore what we do know.

What is coral bleaching and why does it happen?

Corals are animals that live in a mutually beneficial partnership with tiny single-celled algae called "zooxanthellae" (but scientists call them zooks).

Zooks benefit corals by giving them energy and color, and in return the coral gives them a home in the coral tissue. Under stress, such as in too-hot water, the algae produce toxins instead of nutrition, and the coral ejects them.

Without the algae, the corals begin to starve. They lose their vibrant colors, revealing the bright white limestone skeleton through the coral tissue.

If stress conditions abate, the algae can return and coral can recover over months. But if stress persists, the corals can diethe skeletons begin to crumble, removing vital habitat for other species.

At least 1,625 species of fishes live in the Great Barrier Reef. Credit: Grumpy Turtle Films, Author provided

We had hoped for a reprieve

Scientists and managers had hoped for a reprieve this year. Much of the Great Barrier Reef was in the early stages of recovery following the 2016, 2017, and 2020 bleaching events.

In the tropical paradise of northern Queensland, we've been wishing for cloudy days and cooler temperatures, hoping for rain and even storms (but not big ones). These conditions typically come with La Ninaa natural climate phenomenon associated with cooler, wetter weather, which has now happened two years in a row.

But despite these effects of La Nina, climate change meant 2021 was one of the hottest years on record. Now, at the tail end of Australia's summer, the reef is experiencing another marine heatwave and is tipping over the bleaching threshold.

It takes about 7 or 8 days of flying, in a small plane or helicopter, to assess coral bleaching throughout the #GreatBarrierReef. Afterwards, the sense of grief is overwhelming. (Photo from 2016). pic.twitter.com/l7CB6kqkRT  Terry Hughes (@ProfTerryHughes) March 19, 2022

There's not enough time for coral to recover between events. Even the most robust corals require nearly a decade to recover. There is also no clear evidence corals are adapting to the new conditions.

To make matters worse, climate change is supercharging the atmosphere and making even the natural variations of La Nina and its counterpart El Nino more variable and less predictable. This means Australia will not only endure more intense heatwaves, but also flooding, droughts and storms.

How will this hurt marine life?

A healthy Great Barrier Reef is home to at least 1,625 species of fishes, 3,000 species of molluscs, 630 species of echinoderms (such as sea stars and urchins), and the list goes on.

Most shark species cant adapt to warmer waters fast enough to survive. Credit: Grumpy Turtle Films, Author provided

Marine life in coral reefs have three options in warming waters: adapt, move, or die.

1. Can they adapt?

Over generations, species can make changes at the molecular leveltheir DNAso they're more suited to or can adapt to new environmental conditions. This evolution may be possible for species with fast generation times, such as damselfishes.

But reef species with slower generation times can't keep pace with the rate we're changing their habitat conditions. This includes the iconic potato cod and most sharks, which take a around a decade or longer to reach sexual maturity.

2. Can they move?

Some species of reef fishes may start moving to cooler waters before the harmful effects of warming take hold.

But this option isn't available to all species, such as those that depend on a particular habitat, certain resources, or protection. This includes coral, as well as coral-dwelling gobies and several damselfishes.

A citizen science project called Project RedMap, has been documenting the poleward migration of reef fish species due to climate change. Studies have found that larger, tropical fishes with a high swimming ability are more likely to survive in temperate waters, such as some butterflyfishes.

UNESCO representatives are visiting the reef to assess its World Heritage status. Credit: Grumpy Turtle Films, Author provided

3. They can die

The third option is one we don't like to talk about, but is becoming more of a threat.

If marine life can't adapt or move , we'll see extinctions at a local scale, total extinction of some species, and dramatic declines in fish populations.

Listing the reef as 'in danger'

While the reef is bleaching, UNESCO delegates have arrived in Queensland to monitor its health, as the World Heritage site is once again being considered for an "in danger" listing.

The visit will likely include seeing the bleaching currently occurring, the damage to the reef still apparent from past events, and they'll hear firsthand from scientists and managers who've witnessed these impacts.

Listing the Great Barrier Reef as "in danger" would raise the alert level for the international community and hopefully inspire climate action.

Reducing the major source of stress the reef facesclimate changewill require ongoing collaborations between Australian and international governments, with work on local management issues also involving business owners, reef managers, Traditional Owners, scientists, civil society groups, and other stakeholders.

We've known for a long time the most important step to save the reef: cutting emissions to stop global warming. Indeed, future projections of coral bleaching from the 1990s suggested that frequent and severe events would begin from the late-2010sand they've been alarmingly prescient.

The Great Barrier Reef's continuing demise is one of the most visible examples of how our inaction as humans has profound and perhaps irreversible consequences. We are rapidly accelerating toward the tipping point.

Explore further Great Barrier Reef suffers 'widespread' bleaching event

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Credit: Shutterstock

Africa's forests are some of the natural wonders of the world. As someone who has spent decades studying the ecology and management of tropical forests, I'm constantly amazed by the unique forest ecosystems on the continent.

Some of them are most likely unknown to the public at large, yet so fascinating and important to face our world's current biodiversity and climate challenges. Starting in the north-west and ending in the south-east, I'd like to share the ones that are special to me. This is a totally personal choice; others would have chosen other unique African forests, so large is the choice. But for how long?

African forests, like many others, are threatened by over-exploitation, conversion to other land uses and climate change. Many will likely disappear or be degraded to such an extent as to pass tipping points and become something else, something less.

I hope this trip across Africa will help raise interest and trigger the urge to better conserve and manage these unique ecosystems.

Morocco's argan trees

Not far from Agadir, on the Moroccan Atlantic coast, grows the argan tree (Argania spinosa). It is the only member of the large Sapotaceae family growing in the northern hemisphere, the only species of its genus and endemic to an area of about 800,000 hectares.

It's been exploited and managed by humans for more than 3,000 years for argan oil. Argan oil is the most expensive oil in the world, costing up to US$300 a liter in a US$500 million market. Argan oil is perhaps most commonly used as a moisturizer and is often found in products such as lotions, soaps and hair conditioners.

In addition to the oil, argan trees are also a source of wood for fencing, charcoal and fodder for goats. It's a true multipurpose tree, critical especially for women's livelihoods.

Unfortunately, despite its status as a UNESCO biosphere reserve, the argan forest is slowly dying from over-grazing, deforestation and climate change. Hopefully the argan oil boom will help to conserve and restore this unique forest ecosystem.

An argan forest. Credit: Kokhanchikov

Congo Basin rainforest

Flying south-east, over the Sahara Desert and the Sahelian savannas, we reach the Congo Basin rainforest.

The Congo Basin rainforest is the second largest rainforest in the world (after the Amazon). It's home to many forest giants, trees like the Sipo or Moabi. These and other giants are the origin of precious timber but also of important resources for local people, such as food and medicines. It's also home to animals like forest elephants, buffaloes, and lowland gorillas.

Deep in the heart of the Congo Basin forests lies the largest peat swamp forest of the world. Only recently "discovered" by science, this place was known by the Aka community who live there as the place where roamed the Mokele Mbembe, a mythical dinosaur-like monster the size of an elephant.

No one has never seen it but now we know that this peatland forest stores more than 30 billion tons of carbon. Should these be released, by clearing the forest above, into the atmosphere, we will have unleashed a much worse monster than the Mokele Mbembe.

Fortunately, because of its remoteness and difficulty of access, the Congo Basin peatland complex has been naturally protected till now, but it could be threatened soon by oil exploration should we not pay attention.

East Africa's Afromontane forests

At the eastern border of the Congo Basin rise the Ruwenzori mountains. On the mountain slopes are the last Afromontane forests.

Credit: Lena Ha/Shutterstock

These forests are home to the tallest tree in Africa, a whopping 81.5 meters tall Entandrophragma excelsum hidden in a remote valley of Mount Kilimanjaro.

These forests harbor a high level of endemismmeaning many of the trees can only be found hereand biodiversity. They also act as water towers, regulating and providing water for the lowlands and their inhabitants.

These Afromontane forests store more carbon per hectare than the Amazon rainforest. Sadly, in the past 20 years, 0.8 million hectares of mountain forests have been lost to agriculture. This is mostly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Ethiopia. This has resulted in over 450 million tons of carbon dioxide being emitted into the atmosphere.

Miombo woodlands

Continuing our journey down south, we soon reach the immense area of Miombo woodlands. They span an estimated total area of around 2.7 million km from Angola in the west to Tanzania in the east, and down to the northern edge of South Africa.

Over 65 million people rely on these ecosystems for their livelihoods, making use of resources such as fuelwood, timber, charcoal production, fruits, honey, mushrooms, medicinal plants, and fodder for livestock.

One tree species only makes the canopy, Colophospermum mopane.

They are an important ecosystem for large mammal diversity and biomass in southern Africa, including some of the most significant remaining populations of black rhinoceros, elephant, white rhinoceros, hippopotamus, buffalo, giraffe and greater kudu.

The forest is also the only source of a less emblematic but very important animal: the mopane worm. Gonimbrasia belina, by its Latin name, is a very important seasonal source of protein for the populations living near mopane woodlands.

Mopane worm. Credit: Shutterstock

Unfortunately, decline in mopane tree density, lower-than-normal precipitation, and higher-than-normal temperatures have significantly affected mopane worm availability and outbreak events, threatening the already precarious livelihoods of local populations.

Madagascar's Spiny Forest

Crossing the Mozambique channel, we arrive in Madagascar. On the south-west of the "Grande Ile" grows the Spiny Forest. It's a place like nowhere else on Earth, where endemic oddities like the octopus tree (Didierea madagascariensis) and other strange members of the Didieraceae family grow mixed with swollen baobabs (Adansonia rubrostipa) and other bottle trees (Pachypodium geayi).

The Spiny Forest is inhabited by even weirder animals, ghostly white lemurs impervious to thorns, birds that sing communally and a chameleon that spends most of its life as an egg.

Unfortunately like the other unique forest wonders of Africa, the Spiny Forest is threatened by over-exploitation for charcoal production as local farmers have been put out of business by the more and more unpredictable climate and have few other opportunities in the impoverished and dry Madagascar south-west.

We have reached the end of our trip over Africa. Our choices are subjective and we could have presented other forest wonders but we hope this will be enough to convince you of the importance of these ecosystems and of their threatened status because of us, humans. We should better protect and manage these ecosystems as we depend on them for our survival.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Artists impression of a multi-planet system where three are making a transit. Credit: NASA

The field of extrasolar planet studies is undergoing a seismic shift. To date, 4,940 exoplanets have been confirmed in 3,711 planetary systems, with another 8,709 candidates awaiting confirmation. With so many planets available for study and improvements in telescope sensitivity and data analysis, the focus is transitioning from discovery to characterization. Instead of simply looking for more planets, astrobiologists will examine "potentially-habitable" worlds for potential "biosignatures."

This refers to the chemical signatures associated with life and biological processes, one of the most important of which is water. As the only known solvent that life (as we know it) cannot exist without, water is considered the divining rod for finding life. In a recent study, astrophysicists Dang Pham and Lisa Kaltenegger explain how future surveys (when combined with machine learning) could discern the presence of water, snow, and clouds on distant exoplanets.

Dang Pham is a graduate student with the David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of Toronto, where he specializes in planetary dynamics research. Lisa Kaltenegger is an Associate Professor in Astronomy at Cornell University, the Director of the Carl Sagan Institute, and a world-leading expert in modeling potentially habitable worlds and characterizing their atmospheres.

Water is something that all life on Earth depends on, hence its importance for exoplanet and astrobiological surveys. As Lisa Kaltenegger told Universe Today via email, this importance is reflected in NASA's slogan"just follow the water"which also inspired the title of their paper.

"Liquid water on a planet's surface is one of the smoking guns for potential lifeI say potential here because we don't know what else we need to get life started. But liquid water is a great start. So we used NASA's slogan of 'just follow the water' and asked, how can we find water on the surface of rocky exoplanets in the habitable zone? Doing spectroscopy is time intensive, thus we are searching for a faster way to initially identify promising planetsthose with liquid water on them."

Currently, astronomers have been limited to looking for Lyman-alpha line absorption, which indicates the presence of hydrogen gas in an exoplanet's atmosphere. This is a byproduct of atmospheric water vapor that's been exposed to solar ultraviolet radiation, causing it to become chemically disassociated into hydrogen and molecular oxygen (O 2 )the former of which is lost to space while the latter is retained.

This artists impression shows the planet orbiting the Sun-like star HD 85512 in the southern constellation of Vela (The Sail). Credit: ESO

This is about to change, thanks to next-generation telescopes like the James Webb (JWST) and Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescopes (RST), as well as next-next-generation observatories like the Origins Space Telescope, the Habitable Exoplanet Observatory (HabEx), and the Large UV/Optical/IR Surveyor (LUVOIR). There are also ground-based telescopes like the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), and the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT).

Thanks to their large primary mirrors and advanced suite of spectrographs, chronographs, adaptive optics, these instruments will be able to conduct direct imaging studies of exoplanets. This consists of studying light reflected directly from an exoplanet's atmosphere or surface to obtain spectra, allowing astronomers to see what chemical elements are present. But as they indicate in their paper, this is a time-intensive process.

Astronomers start by observing thousands of stars for periodic dips in brightness, then analyzing the light curves for signs of chemical signatures. Currently, exoplanet researchers and astrobiologists rely on amateur astronomers and machine algorithms to sort through the volumes of data their telescopes obtain. Looking ahead, Pham and Kaltenegger show how more advanced machine learning will be crucial.

As they indicate, ML techniques will allow astronomers to conduct the initial characterizations of exoplanets more rapidly, allowing astronomers to prioritize targets for follow-up observations. By "following the water," astronomers will be able to dedicate more of an observatory's valuable survey time to exoplanets that are more likely to provide significant returns.

"Next-generation telescopes will look for water vapor in the atmosphere of planets and water on the surface of planets," said Kaltenegger. "Of course, to find water on the surface of planets, you should look [for water in its] liquid, solid, and gaseous forms, as we did in our paper."

"Machine learning allows us to quickly identify optimal filters, as well as the trade-off in accuracy at various signal-to-noise ratios," added Pham. "In the first task, using [the open-source algorithm] XGBoost, we get a ranking of which filters are most helpful for the algorithm in its tasks of detecting water, snow, or cloud. In the second task, we can observe how much better the algorithm performs with less noise. With that, we can draw a line where getting more signal would not correspond to much better accuracy."

An artists illustration of the exoplanet HR8799e, which was directly imaged using the GRAVITY instrument on the ESOs Very Large Telescope Interferometer. Credit: ESO/L. Calcada

To make sure their algorithm was up to the task, Pham and Kaltenegger did some considerable calibrating. This consisted of creating 53,130 spectra profiles of a cold Earth with various surface componentsincluding snow, water, and water clouds. They then simulated the spectra for this water in terms of atmosphere and surface reflectivity and assigned color profiles. As Pham explained:

"The atmosphere was modeled using Exo-Prime2Exo-Prime2 has been validated by comparison to Earth in various missions. The reflectivity of surfaces like snow and water are measured on Earth by USGS. We then create colors from these spectra. We train XGBoost on these colors to perform three separate goals: detecting the existence of water, the existence of clouds, and the existence of snow."

This trained XGBoost showed that clouds and snow are easier to identify than water, which is expected since clouds and snow have a much higher albedo (greater reflectivity of sunlight) than water. They further identified five optimal filters that worked extremely well for the algorithm, all of which were 0.2 micrometers broad and in the visible light range. The final step was to perform a mock probability assessment to evaluate their planet model regarding liquid water, snow, and clouds from the set of five optimal filters they identified.

"Finally, we [performed] a brief Bayesian analysis using Markov-Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) to do the same task on the five optimal filters, as a non-machine learning method to validate our finding," said Pham. "Our findings there are similar: water is harder to detect, but identifying water, snow, and cloud through photometry is feasible."

Similarly, they were surprised to see how well the trained XGBoost could identify water on the surface of rocky planets based on color alone. According to Kaltenegger, this is what filters really are: a means for separating light into discreet "bins." "Imagine a bin for all red light (the "red" filter), then a bin for all the green light, from light to dark green (the "green" filter)," she said.

Their proposed method does not identify water in exoplanet atmospheres but on an exoplanet's surface via photometry. In addition, it will not work with the Transit Method (aka. Transit Photometry), which is currently the most widely-used and effective means of exoplanet detection. This method consists of observing distant stars for periodic dips in luminosity attributed to exoplanets passing in front of the star (aka. transiting) relative to the observer.

On occasion, astronomers can obtain spectra from an exoplanet's atmosphere as it makes a transita process known as "transit spectroscopy." As the sun's light passes through the exoplanet's atmosphere relative to the observer, astronomers will analyze it with spectrometers to determine what chemicals are there. Using its sensitive optics and suite of spectrometers, the JWST will rely on this method to characterize exoplanet atmospheres.

Explore further A technique to find oceans on other worlds

More information: Dang Pham, Lisa Kaltenegger, Follow the Water: Finding Water, Snow and Clouds on Terrestrial Exoplanets with Photometry and Machine Learning. arXiv:2203.04201v1 [astro-ph.EP], Dang Pham, Lisa Kaltenegger, Follow the Water: Finding Water, Snow and Clouds on Terrestrial Exoplanets with Photometry and Machine Learning. arXiv:2203.04201v1 [astro-ph.EP], doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2203.04201
Cover of the UN's First-ever assessment of water security in Africa, based on 10 indicator scores. Credit: UNU-INWEH

Despite global Sustainable Development Goals and commitments made in 2015, just 29 African nations have made some progress over the past three to five years, 25 have made none, according to the UN's first-ever assessment of water security in Africa.

Published on the eve of World Water Day (March 22) by UN University's Canadian-based Institute for Water Environment and Health, the assessment employed 10 indicators to quantify water security in Africa's 54 countries. Water security is elaborated below.

UNU-INWEH authors Grace Oluwasanya, Duminda Perera, Manzoor Qadir and Vladimir Smakhtin, the Institute's Director, say the assessment is limited by "very poor" data on water security-related issues such as access to drinking water or sanitation, but it nevertheless offers some "preliminary but obvious conclusions."

"Data limitations do not change the main outcome of this assessment, which is strong and clear," says lead author Grace Oluwasanya. "Overall levels of water security in Africa are low. Not a single country let alone a subregion have at present achieved a state that can be seen as 'model' or even 'effective' stage of water security."

Co-author Duminda Perera says that "this assessment for African countries aimed to create a quantitative starting point and a platform for subsequent discussions with national, regional and international agents; it is neither a prescription nor a guide."

"As this quantitative tool develops, it will help generate targeted policy recommendations and inform decision-making and public-private investments toward achieving water security in Africa."

Results in brief

Except for Egypt, all country scores are below 70 (on a scale of 100). Only 13 of 54 countries reached a modest level of water security in recent years, and over a third are deemed to have levels of water security below the threshold of 45.

Together, the 19 countries below the threshold are home to half a billion people.

Egypt, Botswana, Gabon, Mauritius and Tunisia are Africa's top five most water-secure countries in Africa, yet with only modest absolute levels of water security achieved.

Somalia, Chad and Niger appear to be the least water-secure countries in Africa.

There has been little progress in national water security of most African states over the past three to five years, the report finds. The number of countries that made some progress (29) is close to the number of those that made none (25).

Indicator 1

Access to drinking water ranged from 99% in Egypt to 37% in the Central African Republic, and between subregions from 92% in North Africa to 62% in Central Africa. Africa's average basic drinking water service is 71%, "leaving behind some 29% of the total population" or more than 353 million people.

Indicator 2

Access to sanitation is broadly similar at the subregional level, but a few countriesSeychelles and most countries in North Africa countrieshave reached or nearly reached 100%. The most challenged countries are Chad and Ethiopia (under 20% access), with 60% average access to even limited sanitation; thus at least 40% of the total population (483 million people) are left behind.

Indicator 3

Access to hygiene facilities and practices (e.g. hand washing) are greatest in North Africa (67%), worst in West Africa (with Rwanda, Liberia lowest among eight countries with less than 10% access; Chad and the Central African Republic suffer the highest number of deaths from diarrhea).

Indicator 4

Per capita water availability is highest in Central Africa (with the Republic of Congo considered Africa's most water-rich countryover 31,000 cubic meters per capita), while half of North African countries appear to be absolutely water scarceless than 500 cubic meters of water per capita per annum. Due to their population growth, water availability has recently declined in West, Central and Southern Africa sub-region, and, on a country scale, in Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Somalia, Mozambique, and Malawi.

Source: "Water Security in Africa: A Preliminary Assessment"Download at https://bit.ly/3Ku3lSt. Credit: UNU-INWEH

Indicator 5

Water use efficiency appears to be lowest in North Africa (with Somalia lowest at the national level) highest in Central Africa (with Angola highest at a national level). In general, agriculture-dominant countries score lower. An improvement seen in water use efficiency in Africa as a whole is primarily due to efforts in Tunisia, Gambia, Burkina Faso, Rwanda, and Uganda, but poor data quality makes assessment difficult.

Indicator 6

Water infrastructure is deemed best in the Southern Africa sub-region, worst in East Africa. South Africa, with over 25% of all large dams in Africa, is outscored by Ghana, Zimbabwe, and Zambia, likely due to just one mega reservoir in those countries. Half of all countries score very low, reflecting the continent's low level of water storage development. Only Ethiopia and Namibia have increased their storage over recent years, while Ivory Coast and Gabon have shown a decline, partly explained by rising populations with no or minimal increase in storage. Africa-average per capita storage capacity increased by only 3% over five recent years.

Indicator 7

Wastewater treatment scores are highest in North African countries, lowest in East and West Africa, where 12 countries in each region treat less than 5% of wastewater. No country treats more than 75%, only Tunisia, Egypt and Lesotho treat over 50% and 67% of African countries treat less than 5%. The issue is poorly tracked in Africa overall.

Indicator 8

Water governance appears to be most advanced in North and Southern Africa sub-regions, while Central Africa the least advanced. Nationally, Ghana reported reaching 86% of Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) implementation, a significant improvement in just two years. Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, and Comoros are the lowest-performing countries, but again the assessment may be affected by the quality of national reporting.

Indicator 9

Disaster risk has either remained unchanged (North and Southern Africa sub-regions) or increased. North Africa appears to be the least risky subregion, West Africa the riskiest. Egypt appears to be the least risky country, while Cape Verde is the most, followed by Djibouti and Comoros. Some 49 of 54 African countries have seen increased disaster risk scores over five recent years, explained by the impacts of changing climate worsening countries' exposure to natural disasters and outpacing their ability to adapt.

Indicator 10

Water dependency on neighboring nations and water resources variability: Egypt stands out as Africa's most water-dependent country; the Southern Africa sub-region has the most variable water resources. Naturally existing physiographic conditions may, to an extent, determine how much effort is needed for a country to achieve higher levels of water security.

Call for global standards

To compare Africa's situation globally, the authors call for global standards for water security measurement data and assessment.

"Some critical components of water security simply cannot be assessed without introducing surrogates or proxies," as used in the report in the case of drinking water and sanitation, for example.

"With such poor data availability, progress toward water security is difficult to assess accurately."

For example, it is not possible to estimate the percentage of the African population that will have access to safely managed drinking water services or safely managed sanitation by 2030, a key UN Sustainable Development Goal globally agreed in 2015.

"Data availabilityor the lack of itin itself may be an excellent indicator of water security," says Dr. Oluwasanya. "Action needs to be taken immediately by national governments with support from international agents to radically improve data collection efforts for Africa."

What is water security?

The UN's concept of water security encompasses various needs and conditionswater for drinking, economic activity, ecosystems, hazard resilience, governance, transboundary cooperation, financing, and political stability.

Hence water security is not just about how much natural water a country has but also how well the resource is managed. It is defined as "The capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities of acceptable quality water for sustaining livelihoods, human well-being, and socio-economic development, for ensuring protection against water-borne pollution and water-related disasters, and for preserving ecosystems in a climate of peace and political stability."

UNU-INWEH led the UN's development and definition of water security and its related tools are now the most widely-accepted in the world. This was a fundamental milestone, contributing to conceptualization of the SDGs and to on-going efforts to assess national water security in a quantifiable way.

The assessment tool is still a work in progress, Dr. Smakhtin notes, adding that UNU-INWEH's goal is to have by 2025five years before the deadline for meeting the UN's Agenda 2030"an improved, influential and nationally-owned tool" for assessing water security in all African countries.

Explore further Wastewater an untapped resource in COVID-19 fight

More information: Water Security in Africa: A Preliminary Assessment Water Security in Africa: A Preliminary Assessment can be downloaded from the UNU-INWEH website
Recently renewed carbon-cutting commitments still put Earth on a catastrophic path toward 2.7C of warming by 2100.

Nearly 200 nations gather Monday to grapple with a question that will outlive Covid-19 and Russia's invasion of Ukraine: how does a world addicted to fossil fuels prevent carbon pollution from making Earth unliveable?

A partial answer is set for April 4 after closed-door, virtual negotiations approve a nearly 3,000-page report detailing options for drawing down greenhouse gases and extracting them from the air.

"The impacts are costly and mounting, but we still have some time to close the window and get ahead of the worst of them if we act now," said Alden Meyer, a senior analyst at climate and energy think-tank E3G.

"This report will supply the answers as to what we need if we're serious about getting there."

In August 2021, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) laid out the physical science: the pace of global warming and sea level rise, along with shifts in the frequency, duration and intensity of cyclones, heatwaves and droughts.

That was part one in a three-part assessment, the sixth since 1990.

It projected that Earth's surface temperature will rise 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, perhaps within a decade.

A 1.5C cap on global warmingthe aspirational goal of the 2015 Paris climate accordhas been embraced as a target by most of the world's nations.

It's not hard to see why: barely 1.1C of warming so far has ushered in a crescendo of deadly extreme weather across the globe.

Recently renewed national carbon-cutting commitments, however, still put us on a catastrophic path toward 2.7C of warming by 2100.

Global fossil fuel production forecasts to 2040 compared to the levels required to limit global warming to 1.5C and 2C.

'Overshooting' 1.5C

Part two of the IPCC reportdescribed by UN chief Antonio Guterres as an "atlas of human suffering"details past and future climate impacts and the limits of our ability to adapt.

Delaying climate action would severely reduce the chances of a "livable future," it concluded.

Part three is about how to keep planet-warming gases out of the atmosphere, with chapters on the key sectors where rapid and deep change is needed: energy, transport, industry, agriculture, among others.

"We are talking about the large-scale transformation of all the major systems," climate economist and co-author Celine Guivarch told AFP.

The main focus is on weaning the global economy of fossil fuels and moving to low- or zero-carbon sources of energy, from solar and wind to nuclear, hydro and hydrogen.

Helping that transition is the fact that renewable energy is now cheaper than energy generated by fossil fuels in many markets.

The IPCC also details ways to reduce demand for oil, gas and coal, whether by making buildings more energy efficient or encouraging shifts in lifestyle, such as eating less beef and not flying half-way around the world for a week-long holiday.

But humanity has waited so long to take action that switching supply and reducing demand are not enough: we also need to pull CO2 out of the air.

In theorybecause the technology does not yet exist at scalecarbon dioxide removal will compensate for hard-to-decarbonise sectors such as aviation and shipping, and extract excess CO2 if temperatures "overshoot" the Paris Agreement targets.

Humanity has waited so long to take action that switching supply and reducing demand are not enough: we also need to pull CO2 out of the air.

Likely to fail?

"Delivering on the climate commitments that we've made internationally and nationally is far more challenging than we have been prepared to accept," said Kevin Anderson, a professor of energy and climate change at the University of Manchester.

"Right now, we are very likely to fail. But if we don't try, we are guaranteed to fail," he told AFP.

The IPCC "solutions" report draws from hundreds of models projecting development pathways that keep Earth within the bounds of the Paris temperature goals.

"There are scenarios that show high renewables and low nuclear, and scenarios that show the opposite," said Taryn Fransen, an analyst at the World Resources Institute in Washington DC.

"This report lays out those pathways. Now it's up now to our leaders to take that to heart."

Besides feeding into UN political negotiations, which resume in November in Egypt at COP 27, the IPCC findings will also be important "for the conversation going on in the US and Europe around the need to transition away from Russian oil and gas," said Meyer.

The head of the IPCC delegation from Ukraine made this point in a dramatic statement at a closed plenary in February, only days after Russian troops invaded her country.

"Human-induced climate change and the war on Ukraine have the same rootsfossil fuelsand our dependence on them," said Svitlana Krakovska, according to multiple sources.

Explore further UN report to lay out options to halt climate crisis

 2022 AFP
Powdered microalgae that has been washed, dried, and treated with methanol by NTU researchers, with a vial of oil produced from microalgae on the right. Credit: Nanyang Technological University

A team of scientists led by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has developed a method to effectively produce and extract plant-based oils from a type of common microalgae.

As the oils produced from the microalgae are edible and have superior properties as those found in palm oil, the newly discovered method would serve as a healthier and greener alternative to palm oil.

Compared to palm oil, the oil derived from the microalgae contains more polyunsaturated fatty acids, which can help reduce "bad" cholesterol levels in blood and lower a person's risk of heart disease and stroke. The microalgae-produced oil developed in collaboration with scientists from the University of Malaya, Malaysia, also contains fewer saturated fatty acids, which have been linked to stroke and related conditions.

Palm oil is the world's most popular vegetable oil, featuring in around half of all consumer products, and plays a central role in a large range of industrial applications. Farmers produced 77 million tons of palm oil for the global market in 2018, and that is expected to grow to 107.6 million tons by 2024.

However, the rapid expansion of oil palm plantations is blamed for massive deforestation in several countries, destroying the habitat of endangered native wildlife.

To produce the oils, pyruvic acid, an organic acid that occurs in all living cells, is added to a solution with the algae Chromochloris zofingiensis and exposed to ultraviolet light to stimulate photosynthesis. The NTU team has separately developed cost-cutting innovation to replace the microalgae culture medium with fermented soybean residues while improving the yield of microalgae biomass.

After 14 days, the microalgae is washed, dried, and then treated with methanol to break down the bonds between the oils and the algae protein, so that the oils can be extracted. The team has also developed green processing technology to extract efficiently microalgae-derived plant oils.

To produce enough plant-based oil to manufacture a store-bought chocolate bar that weighs 100 grams, 160 grams of algae would be required.

The algae oil innovation presents a possible alternative to the cultivation of palm trees for oil. It also reflects NTU's commitment to mitigating our impact on the environment, which is one of four humanity's grand challenges that the University seeks to address through its NTU 2025 strategic plan.

The results of the study were published in the peer-reviewed academic publication Journal of Applied Phycology in February.

Professor William Chen, Director of NTU's Food Science and Technology (FST) Program, who led the project, said: "Developing these plant-based oils from algae is yet another triumph for NTU Singapore, as we look to find successful ways to tackle problems in the agrifoodtech chain, especially those that have an adverse impact on the environment. Uncovering this as a potential human food source is an opportunity to lessen the impact the food supply chain has on our planet."

A triple-pronged approach to climate change: Algae

Besides serving as a greener alternative to cultivating palm trees for plant-based oils or fat, the NTU-developed technique also has the potential to help cut down on greenhouse gas emissions, as well as food waste.

The scientists say that when scaled up, the production of the plant-based oils with natural sunlight, instead of using ultraviolet lights, would help remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by converting it to biomass and oxygen via photosynthesis. As the microalgae grows, it converts carbon dioxide to biomass at relatively fast rates.

In a separate study, the scientists at NTU's Food Science and Technology program have also developed a process to produce the key reaction ingredient needed to cultivate the microalgae oil, pyruvic acid. This is done by fermenting organic waste products, such as soybean residues and fruit peels, which would not only reduce production costs, but help cut down on food waste.

Prof Chen added: "Our solution is a three-pronged approach to solving three pressing issues. We are capitalizing on the concept of establishing a circular economy, finding uses for would-be waste products and re-injecting them into the food chain. In this case, we rely on one of nature's key processes, fermentation, to convert that organic matter into nutrient-rich solutions, which could be used to cultivate algae, which not only reduces our reliance on palm oil, but keeps carbon out of the atmosphere."

The scientists will be working on optimizing their extraction methods to improve yield and quality. The research team has received interest from several food and beverage partners and could explore scaling up their operations within two years.

Due to the oils' properties, the NTU team will be exploring adding them to plant-based meats to improve their texture and nutritional properties. They also hope to explore pharmaceutical and cosmetic uses in products such as topical creams, lipsticks, and more.

More information: Jun-Hui Chen et al, Screening and effect evaluation of chemical inducers for enhancing astaxanthin and lipid production in mixotrophic Chromochloris zofingiensis, Journal of Applied Phycology (2021). Jun-Hui Chen et al, Screening and effect evaluation of chemical inducers for enhancing astaxanthin and lipid production in mixotrophic Chromochloris zofingiensis,(2021). DOI: 10.1007/s10811-021-02618-6
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

The recent crisis in Ukraine is reigniting the discussion of the appropriate mix of assistance for refugees. According to the UN Refugee Agency, six million refugees already lived in camps in 2021 due to multiple armed conflicts worldwide. Humanitarian organizations (HOs) are working to help people struggling because of regulations that impede integration into host countries. Cash assistance is one way that HOs are helping in addition to providing in-kind assistance in the form of food and non-food items. The intention of the cash assistance is to provide refugees with spending flexibility, restore their dignity and improve the wealth of the host community. However, cash assistance brings its own challenges. New research in the INFORMS journal Manufacturing & Service Operations Management identifies a way to provide incentives for the retailer to voluntarily reduce prices while causing no harm to refugees or host communities.

"We recommend HOs and local governments partner to adopt a price-dependent cash assistance (PDCA) policy that restores the distorted incentive due to the introduction of cash assistance. In doing this, refugees gain the power of meeting their individual needs while retailers sell more products (and make at least the same profit as before) and residents enjoy lower prices," says Telesilla Kotsi, one of the study's authors, a professor at The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business.

Prior research has shown that cash assistance by HOs can be exploited by local retailers' market power in rural settings, which challenges the mission of HOs to help refugees while doing no harm to host communities.

The study, "Donations for Refugee Crises: In-kind vs. Cash Assistance," conducted by Kotsi, alongside Owen Wu and Alfonso Pedraza-Martinez, both of Indiana University, looked at three refugee camps in northwestern Greece.

"A PDCA policy aligns the incentives between the retailer and the HO-government partnership. This new policy for cash assistance acts as a lever for the retailer to voluntarily set desirable prices, which benefits both refugees and their host community," says Wu, a professor in the Kelley School of Business. "It's important for HOs to demonstrate to the local governments that there are economic benefits of welcoming refugees into communities."

This implementable policy can guide HOs to improve their budget allocation for assistance for refugees living in areas where local market power exists.

"If an HO provides cash assistance without considering the retailer's market power, the HO will inadvertently harm the refugees and residents. Our policy provides a rare win-win-win," concludes Pedraza-Martinez, a professor in the Kelley School of Business.

The authors look forward to connecting to the HOs involved in assisting Ukrainian refugees to discuss possible challenges in managing supply chains and allocating assistance between in-kind and cash payments for Ukrainian refugees.

"Despite the research opportunity from the emerging crisis, we hope that peace will prevail around the world and our research will no longer be needed," the authors finally remarked.

Explore further Thinking of welcoming a Ukrainian refugee into your home? Our research can help you be a good host

More information: Telesilla O. Kotsi et al, Donations for Refugee Crises: In-kind vs. Cash Assistance, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management (2022). Telesilla O. Kotsi et al, Donations for Refugee Crises: In-kind vs. Cash Assistance,(2022). DOI: 10.1287/msom.2021.1073
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

With spring migration picking up and warmer days ahead, researchers are preparing for another season of bird bandingan effort to understand how local birds are faring and future challenges they may face.

Bird banding generally involves attaching a numbered, lightweight aluminum band to a bird's leg. The process, which requires a federal permit, allows researchers to track birds as they're subsequently spotted. It can lead to data that would otherwise be difficult to come by: how long birds are living, where they're coming from or returning to, and even how they're responding to climate change.

"I've never seen a person in a picture holding a bird at a banding station not smiling," said Antonio Celis-Murillo, chief of the U.S. Geological Survey's Bird Banding Laboratory.

In addition to the joy that accompanies having a bird in hand, researchers can collect valuable data through banding. Birds are fragile, and they're everywhere, making them trusty subjects and biological indicators, Celis-Murillo said.

"If the birds are doing well," he said, "that means the environment is doing well."

Banding in the Chicago area focuses on a range of species, from songbirds to raptors. Some endangered birds are also banded, including the Great Lakes piping plovers Monty and Rose, who've been tracked over the last few years as they've touched down south for winter and flown back to Chicago.

There are a few banding efforts in the Chicago area, including a program from the Cook County forest preserves, which has banded birds as small as sparrows and employed lifts to reach ospreys nesting high in platforms, and a project from the Chicago Ornithological Society focused on Big Marsh Park, a former site of pollution that today provides bird-friendly habitat.

The forest preserves recently used decades of data to map where some banded birds have landedalong with their sometimes grisly fates.

"It's not always a happy story at the end, but at least there's a story," said Chris Anchor, senior wildlife biologist for the forest preserves. "Otherwise, you have no information."

Today, district biologists band a few hundred birds a year. Lately, banding has focused on raptors, Anchor said, and shorebirds will be next as they pass through Chicago during migration.

During banding, researchers can also carry out bird checkupstaking measurements, drawing blood samples and identifying diseasewhich can assist in tracking illnesses, including those passed between animals and humans. The collected information sets a baseline, sometimes reaching back decades, so researchers can identify trends and sudden changes, Anchor said.

Researchers are currently on alert for bird flu, Anchor said, after three Canada geese in Will County tested positive earlier this month, and the virus was also found in a backyard flock in McLean County.

The collected health information can also be used to spot environmental red flags, such as pollution, as well as signs of healthy habitats.

"Birds are very, very sensitive in general to environmental and pathogenic processes," Anchor said. "It gives you a wonderful look into our surroundings."

The district shares banding data with the U.S. Geological Survey's banding lab, now more than a century old. The data set has about 80 million records of banding and about 5 million records of encounters with banded birds, said Celis-Murillo, chief of the lab. The records have helped tip off researchers to threats, including the pesticide DDT, and assisted in establishing hunting regulations.

Celis-Murillo said the long-term data set is especially important in the age of ecological crises and climate change, as researchers look to the past to understand what's happening nowand develop conservation strategies for warming ahead.

The lab's data has led to some surprising findings, including the first confirmed hybrid golden-crowned sparrow and white-throated sparrow, an Arctic tern spotted in Africa that flew about 4,800 miles from its original banding location in Maine, and updates on the oldest banded birdWisdom, an albatross who is at least 70 years old.

"Every day we are open to surprises," Celis-Murillo said. "We have a myriad of stories of things we never knew, we didn't expect."

There's been a growing interest in community science efforts, a trend that's extended to reports of banded birds. The public has become more engaged in reporting banded birds, Celis-Murillo said, which he credits to the swelling popularity of bird watching coupled with access to cameras and scopes. He expects records of encounters with banded birds to increase.

Locally, some volunteers from the Chicago Ornithological Society operate a banding station at Big Marsh Park on the Southeast Side. The group has banded nearly 400 birds in its first two seasons.

They follow a protocol coordinated by the Institute for Bird Populations, which includes stations across the country collecting data to study birds during summer nesting. Studies using the data have tracked birds' response to the effects of climate change, including earlier springs in Yosemite National Park and drought conditions in northern Mexico.

This will be the third season of banding at Big Marsh, where researchers will use fine mesh nets throughout breeding season to catch songbirds. Clues to breeding success can come in the form of the number of birds caught or the proportion of juveniles to adults, said Stephanie Beilke, a Chicago Ornithological Society board member who helps run the station.

With only two years of data, it's not clear how long local birds in the once industrial dumping ground might be living, but researchers hope to eventually find out. The longer researchers band, the more likely they'll be to recapture, Beilke said.

"It seems like the birds are doing really well here," Beilke said. "We're catching a lot of birds. We're seeing a lot of young birds. We're seeing birds returning."

But it's difficult to know how the birds are doing after just two years, Beilke said.

"There's only so much information you can tell about breeding populations through standardized observation," she said. "Having a bird in the hand tells you a lot more that you can't determine otherwise."

Explore further Fifty years of data show new changes in bird migration

2022 Chicago Tribune.

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Salinispora cultures in the Moore Lab at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography. These bacterial cultures produce salinosporamide A, a potent anticancer currently in phase III clinical trials to treat glioblastoma. Credit: Erik Jepsen/UC San Diego

Years of toil in the laboratory have revealed how a marine bacterium makes a potent anti-cancer molecule.

The anti-cancer molecule salinosporamide A, also called Marizomb, is in Phase III clinical trials to treat glioblastoma, a brain cancer. Scientists now for the first time understand the enzyme-driven process that activates the molecule.

Researchers at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography found that an enzyme called SalC assembles what the team calls the salinosporamide anti-cancer "warhead." Scripps graduate student Katherine Bauman is the lead author of a paper that explains the assembly process in the March 21 issue of Nature Chemical Biology.

The work solves a nearly 20-year riddle about how the marine bacterium makes the warhead that is unique to the salinosporamide molecule and opens the door to future biotechnology to manufacture new anti-cancer agents.

"Now that scientists understand how this enzyme makes the salinosporamide A warhead, that discovery could be used in the future to use enzymes to produce other types of salinosporamides that could attack not only cancer but diseases of the immune system and infections caused by parasites," said co-author Bradley Moore, a Distinguished Professor at Scripps Oceanography and the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Scripps Institution of Oceanography Ph.D. student Kate Bauman streaks new Salinispora cultures for further study in a biosafety cabinet with lab director Bradley Moore. These bacterial cultures produce salinosporamide A, a potent anticancer agent currently in phase III clinical trials for glioblastoma. Credit: Erik Jepsen/UC San Diego.

Salisporamide has a long history at Scripps and UC San Diego. Microbiologist Paul Jensen and marine chemist Bill Fenical of Scripps Oceanography discovered both salinosporamide A and the marine organism that produces the molecule after collecting the microbe from sediments of the tropical Atlantic Ocean in 1990. Some of the clinical trials over the course of the drug's development took place at Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health.

"This has been a very challenging 10-year project," said Moore, who is Bauman's advisor. "Kate's been able to bring together 10 years' worth of earlier work to get us across the finish line."

A big question for Bauman was to find out how many enzymes were responsible for folding the molecule into its active shape. Are multiple enzymes involved or just one?

"I would have bet money on more than one. In the end, it was just SalC. That was surprising," she said.

Moore says the salinosporamide molecule has a special ability to cross the blood-brain barrier, which accounts for its progress in clinical trials for glioblastoma. The molecule has a small but complex ring structure. It starts as a linear molecule that folds into a more complex circular shape.

"The way nature makes it is beautifully simple. We as chemists can't do what nature has done to make this molecule, but nature does it with a single enzyme," he said.

The enzyme involved is common in biology; it is one that participates in the production of fatty acids in humans and antibiotics like erythromycin in microbes.

Bauman, Percival Yang-Ting Chen of Morphic Therapeutics in Waltham, Mass., and Daniella Trivella of Brazil's National Center for Research in Energy and Materials, determined the molecular structure of SalC. For this purpose they used the Advanced Light Source, a powerful particle accelerator that generates X-ray light, at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

"The SalC enzyme performs a reaction very different from a normal ketosynthase," Bauman said. A normal ketosynthase is an enzyme that helps a molecule form a linear chain. SalC, by contrast, manufactures salinosporamide by forming two complex, reactive, ring structures.

A single enzyme can form both of those ring structures that are hard for synthetic chemists to make in the lab. Armed with this information, scientists now can mutate the enzyme until they find forms that show promise for suppressing various types of disease.

The marine bacterium involved, called Salinispora tropica, makes salinosporamide to avoid being eaten by its predators. But scientists have found that salinosporamide A also can treat cancer. They have isolated other salinosporamides, but salinosporamide A has features that the others lackincluding biological activity that makes it hazardous to cancer cells.

"Inhibiting that proteasome makes it a great anti-cancer agent," said Bauman, speaking of the protein complex that degrades useless or impaired proteins. But there's another type of proteasome found in immune cells. What if scientists could devise a slightly different salinosporamide than salinosporamide A? One that poorly inhibits the cancer-prone proteasome but excels at inhibiting the immunoproteasome? Such a salinosporamide could be a highly selective treatment for autoimmune diseases, the type that causes the immune system to turn upon the very body it should protect.

"That's the idea behind generating some of these other salinosoporamides. And access to this enzyme SalC that installs the complicated ring structure opens the door to that in the future," Bauman said.

As Bauman's list of co-authors attests, Moore's group began working on this project more than a decade ago. Former Moore Lab postdoctoral scientists who contributed are Tobias Gulder of Germany's Technical University of Dresden; Daniela Trivella of Brazil's National Center for Research in Energy and Materials; and Percival Yang-Ting Chen of Morphic Therapeutics in Waltham, Mass. Vikram V. Shende is a current postdoctoral scientist in the Moore Lab. The other two co-authors are longtime collaborators on the project: Sreekumar Vellalath and Daniel Romo of Baylor University.

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More information: Bradley Moore, Enzymatic assembly of the salinosporamide -lactam--lactone anticancer warhead, Nature Chemical Biology (2022). www.nature.com/articles/s41589-022-00993-w Journal information: Nature Chemical Biology Bradley Moore, Enzymatic assembly of the salinosporamide -lactam--lactone anticancer warhead,(2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41589-022-00993-w
Figure 1. Schematic of the silicon cuboid dielectric optical nanoantenna. Credit: Compuscript Ltd

In a new publication from Opto-Electronic Advances, researchers from South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China, discuss silicon cuboid nanoantenna with simultaneous large Purcell factor for electric dipole, magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole emission.

The Purcell effect is commonly used to increase the spontaneous emission rate by modifying the local environment of a light emitter. The photon state density near the light emitter can be adjusted through the metal or dielectric nanoantennas, thereby modifying its spontaneous emissivity. Plasmonic nanoantennas exhibit extraordinary surface plasmon resonances that create a highly localized electric field and increase the local photonic density of states, resulting in the enhancement of spontaneous emission rate. However, the effect is accompanied by unwanted large losses due to strong metal absorption. In contrast, dielectric nanoantennas with high permittivity and supporting strong Mie resonances provide the potential to realize low loss manipulation of light scattering. Recent works have shown that dielectric nanospheres of sufficiently large size can exhibit the electric dipole (ED), magnetic dipole (MD) and electric quadrupole (EQ) resonance modes upon the plane wave illumination and they have been used to enhance the MD emission, or to enhance the ED and MD emission with different nanospheres sizes respectively. However, it remains unclear whether these dielectric nanospheres or other more general dielectric nanostructures can be utilized to simultaneously enhance the spontaneous emission from ED, MD and EQ with very low loss and with large magnitude compared to the plasmonic nanostructures.

Figure 2. The Purcell factors as a function of wavelength for electric dipole, magnetic dipole, and electric quadrupole. Credit: Compuscript Ltd

The authors of this article propose a silicon dielectric nanoantenna for simultaneously enhancing electric dipole, magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole emission. They study the scattering cross-section, polarized charge distribution and electromagnetic field distribution for electromagnetic plane wave illuminating the silicon dielectric cuboid nanoantenna, thereby identifying simultaneous existence of ED, MD and EQ resonance modes in this nanoantenna. The calculated maximum Purcell factor of the ED, MD and EQ emitters at different orientations within the nanoantenna is 18, 150 and 118 respectively, occurring at the resonance wavelength of 475, 750, and 562 nm, respectively, matching with the resonance modes in the nanoantenna and corresponding to the blue, red and green colors. The polarization charge distribution features help to clarify the excitation and radiation of these resonance modes as the physical origin of large Purcell factor simultaneously occurring in this silicon cuboid nanoantenna. These theoretical results might help to deeply explore and design the dielectric nanoantenna as an ideal candidate to enhance ED, MD and EQ emission simultaneously with a very small loss in the visible range, which is superior to the more popular scheme of the plasmonic nanoantenna.

Explore further Extraordinary modulation of light polarization with dark plasmons in magnetoplasmonic nanocavities

More information: Silicon cuboid nanoantenna with simultaneous large Purcell factor for electric dipole, magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole emission, Opto-Electronic Advances (2022). Silicon cuboid nanoantenna with simultaneous large Purcell factor for electric dipole, magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole emission,(2022). DOI: 10.29026/oea.2022.210024

Provided by Compuscript Ltd
Closeup of the rocks exposed along Darting Minnow Creek. The round, white ejecta spherules condensed out of ejecta plume from the vaporized Chicxulub rocks and rained down on the Earth in the period after the impact. The ejecta materials at Darting Minnow Creek contain the sulfur that was derived from the Chicxulub crater and the sulfur isotope anomalies that confirm the formation of abundant stratospheric sulfur aerosols that caused extended cooling after the impact. Credit: Benjamin Uveges

While the popular Netflix movie "Don't Look Up" has raised public consciousness to the potential catastrophic effects of asteroid impact to planet Earth, new research sheds light on how the Chicxulub impact 66 million years ago resulted in extinction of 75 percent of animals on Earth, including the dinosaurs.

A large asteroid, approximately 10 kilometers in diameter, struck Mexico's northern Yucatan peninsula, an impact that ejected material roughly equivalent to an area the size of Connecticut and more than twice as tall as Mt. Everest, redistributing it over the globe.

"The impact blast and fallout ignited widespread fires, which together with rock dust, soot and volatiles ejected from the crater, blotted out the sun globally in an impact winter that may have lasted years, resulting in the extinction," says Christopher Junium, an associate professor of Earth and Environmental sciences who leads the Geobiology, Astrobiology, Paleoclimate, Paleoceanography research group in the College of Arts and Sciences at Syracuse University.

Scientists have long implicated fine particles of sulfate in the stratosphere as the primary agent of massive climate change and resulting mass extinction, but were uncertain as to the fate of the sulfur. "There has been uncertainty regarding how much reached the stratosphere where its effects on climate would have been greatly magnified," says Junium.

Outcrop location containing the K-Pg boundary event deposits in Rosebud, Texas along Darting Minnow Creek, a tributary of the Brazos River. Credit: James Witts

In research published this month in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team from Syracuse University, the University of St Andrews in Scotland, the University of Bristol in England and Texas A&M University links high levels of stratospheric sulfur to the impact and its location, which was rich in the sulfate mineral gypsum.

While impacts of comets, asteroids and other planetary bodies are common during Earth's history, the geologic record reveals little about how those impacts changed the course of life. The Chicxulub impact is unique in rearranging the balance of Earth's biosphere and in the geologic record left behind, a thin layer of sediment called the K-Pg boundary, found throughout the world in marine and terrestrial rocks.

Junium; Syracuse colleague Linda Ivany, professor and associate chair of Evolutionary Paleoecology and Paleoclimate; James Witts from the University of Bristol and Syracuse graduate students conducted field work along the Brazos River in Central Texas to collect samples of rock that record the immediate aftermath of the Chicxulub impact. Junium received a St. Andrews Global Fellowship to spend six weeks at St. Andrews, where Aubrey Zerkle, Mark Claire and colleagues analyzed the samples. New geochemical techniques allowed researchers to trace the unique transformations undergone by sulfur aerosols when they rise above Earth's ozone layer and are exposed to UV radiation, creating diagnostic signatures in the stable isotopes of the sulfur gases.

"The unique fingerprints we've measured in these impact sediments provide the first direct evidence for the importance of sulfur aerosols in catastrophic climate change and cooling," says Zerkle, an expert in sulfur isotopes and the sulfur cycle.

Junium explains that the presence of these signatures requires extraordinary amounts of sulfur aerosols in the stratosphere, which slowly returned to Earth as acid rain and washed into shallow marine seas in the aftermath of the impact. "These sulfur aerosols would have extended the duration of post-impact climate change, taking an already beleaguered biosphere to the brink of collapse," he says.

Explore further New evidence suggests it was matter ejected from the Chicxulub crater that led to impact winter
The excavation site. Credit: Far Western Anthropological Research Group

A genomic study of Native peoples in the San Francisco Bay Area finds that eight present-day members of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe share ancestry with 12 individuals who lived in the region several hundred to 2,000 years ago.

Reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study challenges the notion that the Ohlone migrated to the area between A.D. 500-1,000, said Ripan Malhi, a professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, who led the research with Stanford University population genetics and society professor Noah Rosenberg in collaboration with a team of other scientists and members of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe. The Muwekma Ohlone Tribal Council requested, contributed to and oversaw the study.

Previous studies of artifacts and language patterns suggested that the Ohlone were relative newcomers to the region. But the genomic research found a deep signal of continuity between the ancient population and the new one, the team reported.

"We analyzed a large number of ancestral remains for DNA preservation and focused on those with the best DNA preservation for this study," Malhi said. "We also worked with the Ohlone to sample saliva from present-day community members so we could compare the DNA from both groups."

The study focused on nuclear DNA and sequenced near-complete genomes of several ancestral individuals, taking advantage of newer genome-sequencing approaches, Malhi said.

The team also compared ancient DNA from individuals who lived in California and other parts of North America to look for genomic similarities and differences between groups.

The ancestral individuals belonged to two villages near San Francisco Bay, one that persisted from about 490 B.C. to A.D. 1775, and the other that dated to A.D. 1345-1839. At the request of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribal Council, the Far Western Anthropological Research Group excavated both sites prior to large-scale infrastructure construction. Muwekma tribal members participated in all aspects of the fieldwork and were the primary excavators of all burials.

"This was a rare, collaborative, community-engaged research project, with tribal members and archaeologists working side by side for more than a year of fieldwork, resulting in a tremendous repatriation of knowledge to the descendent community," said study co-author Brian Byrd, an archaeologist with the Far Western Anthropological Research Group in Davis, California.

The Tribal Council also requested and approved a study design for the genomics work, and members of the study team regularly met with the council and enrolled tribal members to review the work.

"Part of what we wanted to do is not just rely on the genomics but to have a more holistic approach of having community knowledge or traditional knowledge and genealogical informationalong with all the archaeological documentationto tell the story," Malhi said.

Present-day enrolled members of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe are directly descended from Native Americans who in the late 18th century through the mid-19th century were incorporated into the three Bay Area missions: San Francisco, Santa Clara and San Jose, the researchers reported. After the 1846-48 American conquest of California, the surviving Native American communities found safe havens on established "Californio rancho" lands held by individuals of Spanish, Mexican, Mestizo or Indigenous origins. They continued to be baptized at Mission San Jose and buried at the tribe's Ohlone cemetery through the 1920s.

"Muwekma Ohlone comprise all the lineages who trace their ancestry through the Bay Area Missions of San Francisco, Santa Clara and San Jose, and who were also members of the historic previously federally recognized Verona Band of Alameda County," the researchers wrote.

Using the mission's baptismal, marriage and death records, the tribe traced its genealogical descent from the aboriginal village, districts and tribal groups surrounding the San Francisco Bay Area. The Muwekma Ohlone tribal leadership fully supported the ancient and modern DNA studies conducted on ancestors and present-day enrolled members.

Prior to European contact, the territory now known as California hosted one of the most populous and diverse Native American communities on the continent, the researchers wrote.

"At contact, more than 15,000 Native Americans from five distinct language groups were residing  within 20 kilometers of the bay," they wrote. Studies of the Bay Area's dense archaeological history reveal that "intensive sedentary or semi-sedentary habitation extends back more than 5,000 years" and the region's archaeological record goes back more than 11,000 years.

The Native population was diverse, and European contact disrupted the existing communities, the researchers wrote. There were 21 Spanish missions established in California in the late 1700s and early 1800s, five of them in the Bay Area. Mexico claimed the territory in 1822, and in 1850 California became a U.S. state. A year later, the governor promised that "a war of extermination will continue to be waged between the races until the Indian race should become extinct."

These upheavals led to population losses among the Muwekma Ohlone and other Native tribes, and admixture with Europeans. But a signature of the tribe's ancient history remains embedded in the DNA of contemporary Ohlone community members, the researchers found.

"We were able to find one ancestral component from their genomic analysis that was shared with ancient people from the Bay Area," Rosenberg said. "The Ohlone living today who participated in the study may not be direct descendants of the ancient people whose genomes we sequenced, but the analysis suggests they descended from the broader population to which those ancient people belonged."

Explore further Archaeologists use tooth enamel protein to show sex of human remains

More information: Ancient and modern genomics of the Ohlone Indigenous population of California, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2022). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Ancient and modern genomics of the Ohlone Indigenous population of California,(2022). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2111533119
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Waste materials from oil sands extraction, stored in tailings ponds, can pose a risk to the natural habitat and neighboring communities when they leach into groundwater and surface ecosystems. Until now, the challenge for the oil sands industry is that the proper analysis of toxic waste materials has been difficult to achieve without complex and lengthy testing. And there's a backlog. For example, in Alberta alone, there are an estimated 1.4 billion cubic meters of fluid tailings, explains Nicolas Peleato, an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of British Columbia's Okanagan campus (UBCO).

His team of researchers at UBCO's School of Engineering has uncovered a new, faster and more reliable, method of analyzing these samples. It's the first step, says Dr. Peleato, but the results look promising.

"Current methods require the use of expensive equipment and it can take days or weeks to get results," he adds. "There is a need for a low-cost method to monitor these waters more frequently as a way to protect public and aquatic ecosystems."

Along with masters student Maria Claudia Rincon Remolina, the researchers used fluorescence spectroscopy to quickly detect key toxins in the water. They also ran the results through a modeling program that accurately predicts the composition of the water.

The composition can be used as a benchmark for further testing of other samples, Rincon explains. The researchers are using a convolutional neural network that processes data in a grid-like topology, such as an image. It's similar, she says, to the type of modeling used for classifying hard to identify fingerprints, facial recognition and even self-driving cars.

"The modeling takes into account variability in the background of the water quality and can separate hard to detect signals, and as a result it can achieve highly accurate results," says Rincon.

The research looked at a mixture of organic compounds that are toxic, including naphthenic acidswhich can be found in many petroleum sources. By using high-dimensional fluorescence, the researchers can identify most types of organic matter.

"The modeling method searches for key materials, and maps out the sample's composition," explains Peleato. "The results of the initial sample analysis are then processed through powerful image processing models to accurately determine comprehensive results."

While results to date are encouraging, both Rincon and Dr. Peleato caution the technique needs to be further evaluated at a larger scaleat which point there may be potential to incorporate screening of additional toxins.

Peleato explains this potential screening tool is the first step, but it does have some limitations since not all toxins or naphthenic acids can be detectedonly those that are fluorescent. And the technology will have to be scaled up for future, more in-depth testing.

While it will not replace current analytical methods that are more accurate, Dr. Peleato says this approach will allow the oil sands industry to accurately screen and treat its waste materials. This is a necessary step to continue to meet the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment standards and guidelines.

The research appears in the Journal of Hazardous Materials.

Explore further Lighting the way to cleaner water

More information: Maria Claudia Rincon Remolina et al, Application of machine learning methods for rapid fluorescence-based detection of naphthenic acids and phenol in natural surface waters, Journal of Hazardous Materials (2022). Journal information: Journal of Hazardous Materials Maria Claudia Rincon Remolina et al, Application of machine learning methods for rapid fluorescence-based detection of naphthenic acids and phenol in natural surface waters,(2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.128491
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

As coyotes have spread outside their native range into the eastern United States, they've been known to harass and kill North Carolina's two native species of fox. A new study finds that preserving tree cover may be essential in helping the gray fox survive with coyotes in rural areas, probably because of the fox's unusual ability to climb trees.

In the study published in Ecosphere, researchers used camera traps to find out where gray foxes coexist with coyotes in suburban, rural or wild areas of North Carolina. Surprisingly, they found gray foxes can coexist with coyotes in suburban forest fragments. However, in rural zones, they avoid areas where coyotes live that lack adequate tree cover.

"Coyotes are well known to persecute smaller foxes," said study co-author Roland Kays, research associate professor at North Carolina State University and director of the NC Museum of Natural Sciences Biodiversity & Earth Observation Lab. "They go out of their way, more than you see in other interactions between species, to really bully, chase and kill the smaller foxes. There is some reason for concern if this species is going to survive. How is that going to happen in an urban environment where you also have people?"

Coyotes have spread across North America from their native range in parts of the western United States, taking advantage of the fact that larger predatorssuch as cougars and wolvesaren't found in most of the eastern U.S. anymore.

"The general trend has been a decline in all carnivores, but there are some exceptions, and the coyote is one of the big exceptions," Kays said.

Researchers wanted to know how coyotes might impact where native species like the gray fox are now foundespecially since urbanization could affect how the two species interact by fragmenting their habitats and disrupting food sources.

"Foxes are fairly common in urban areas, perhaps in part because coyote numbers are relatively low," said the study's lead author Arielle Parsons, postdoctoral research associate at NC State. "In the Midwest and western United States, there are indications of 'apparent decline' in fox populations concurrent with coyote population increases. We don't know if it's a true decline yet, but there's evidence it is."

The researchers used wildlife photos taken by volunteers to figure out where foxes and coyotes coexist. The photos came from 915 motion-sensitive cameras that volunteers placed in yards, forest fragments and open areas in suburbs, dense suburbs, rural and wild areas. Researchers used the photos to develop a model of whether the two species are likely to be found together, and at what times.

From 347 pictures of coyotes and 943 pictures of gray foxes, they found that the two species are most likely to be found together in areas of high housing density and low forest coveri.e, the suburbs. Coyotes were generally less likely to live in high density housing areas than the gray fox.

"These two species were more likely to use the same sites in suburban areas, especially small forested wood lots," Parsons said. "We expected them to use these wood lots at different times to avoid each other, but actually we found that they use these suburban forest fragments at the same time."

The researchers hypothesized that they could coexist in the suburbs because coyotes are just moving through, not establishing territories, and there are still relatively few of them.

"If they're just moving through, they may not be as prone to direct competition, or bullying of the gray foxes, or their movements are hard for the gray foxes to predict," Parsons said. "We also think gray foxes might not have a good way to avoid coyotes consistently in suburbs, since habitat is scarce, or avoidance isn't necessary given abundant suburban resources."

In rural areas, the two species were less likely to be seen together. However, gray foxes were more likely to inhabit a site as tree cover increased.

"Gray foxes are very good at climbing trees; they have sharp claws," Kays said. "They're one of the only dog relatives that can climb trees. Coyotes can't. It could be that climbing trees helps them deal with coyotes."

Researchers also saw a slight shift in the gray foxes' timing, with the gray foxes more likely to be nocturnal around coyotes.

Overall, researchers said findings for rural areas suggest gray foxes could be at risk in areas with few houses and little tree cover.

"In rural areas, where we're seeing gray foxes spatially and temporally avoid the coyotes, that's where we could see some impact on the gray fox population," Parsons said. "It could mean the coyote is outcompeting, bullying or even killing gray foxes there. A strong competitive relationship may result in gray foxes not being able to access high quality areas, forcing them to establish themselves elsewhere where resources may not be as abundant. That could be a mechanism behind a decline."

They found an important benchmark of tree cover is important for gray foxes in rural areas: Tree cover in more than 50% of a 1-kilometer radius resulted in gray foxes being more likely to occupy a site.

"Enhancing and preserving tree cover as much as we can is going to be beneficial for gray foxes," Parsons said.

Researchers said another takeaway is that humans can impact how species are able to adapt and coexist.

"There are things we can do to change the ways wildlife species are able to adapt to human-dominated environments," Parsons said. "Reducing habitat fragmentation and preserving forest and green spaces can help enhance the ability for these species to coexist."

The relationship is evolving over time, they added, and could change. Researchers are continuing to study the populations of the two species over the long term.

The study was authored by Kays, Parsons, Kenneth Keller, Christopher Rota, Stephanie Schuttler and Joshua Millspaugh.

Explore further Southeast's gray foxes may be struggling for survival

More information: Arielle W. Parsons et al, The effect of urbanization on spatiotemporal interactions between gray foxes and coyotes, Ecosphere (2022). Journal information: Ecosphere Arielle W. Parsons et al, The effect of urbanization on spatiotemporal interactions between gray foxes and coyotes,(2022). DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.3993
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

A new global study has revealed the extent of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by vegetable oil production, highlighting the need for more sustainable growing solutions.

Scientists from the University of Nottingham's Future Food Beacon carried out the first analysis to consider GHG emissions from almost all possible systems that are currently used to produce palm, soybean, rapeseed and sunflower oil around the world. The study was a meta-analysis, that incorporated all relevant studies concerning the environmental impact of oil production published between 2000 and 2020. The findings have been published today in Science of the Total Environment.

This new study reflects almost 6,000 producers in 38 countries, and is representative of over 71% of global vegetable oil production. Across all oil crop systems, median GHG emissions were 3.81 kg CO 2 e per kg refined oil. Crop specific median emissions ranged from 2.49 kg CO 2 e for rapeseed oil to 4.25 kg CO 2 e for soybean oil per kg refined oil.

Median emissions from soybean oil were higher than for palm oil, despite palm oil getting more negative attention. However, median rapeseed and sunflower oil systems had fewer emissions than both palm and soybean oil, so appear to be more sustainable choices.

When a forest is cut down to make space for agriculture, the carbon stored in the trees and vegetation is released to the atmosphere as CO 2 . A lot of the carbon stored in the soil is often also released. The researchers analyzed the impact of this type of deforestation on crop sustainability. They also considered the carbon costs of agricultural land occupation even in cases where deforestation happened more than 100 years ago (as is likely the case for most of Europe). This is because even though there may be no land-use change carbon being released through using the land for agriculture today, the opportunity to store carbon, such as through re-growing trees, is lost. The researchers showed that land use made a significant contribution to GHG emissions, generally making up half of the total overall emissions.

Dr. Thomas Alcock, Future Food Beacon research fellow and Postdoctoral Researcher at the Technical University of Munich led the research. He says that "the strength of having lots of different production systems included in this study is that we can identify the most sustainable systems for each crop type, and push for these to be adopted more widely. The results, particularly around land use, show that we should target production on low carbon storage potential land, although we also need to consider other sustainability indicators such as biodiversity. Most previous studies only considered recent land use change, but in this study we considered the impacts of continuing to grow crops on an area of land as well, instead of setting it aside for regeneration of forests."

The study highlights the need and scope to improve sustainability within current production systems, including through increasing yields whilst limiting application of inputs with high carbon footprints, and in the case of palm oil through more widespread adoption of methane capture technologies in processing stages.

Explore further Exploring how genetic engineering can have a positive effect on the climate

More information: Thomas D. Alcock et al, More sustainable vegetable oil: Balancing productivity with carbon storage opportunities, Science of The Total Environment (2022). Journal information: Science of the Total Environment Thomas D. Alcock et al, More sustainable vegetable oil: Balancing productivity with carbon storage opportunities,(2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154539
Gov. Kathy Hochul on Sunday announced the lowest number of COVID hospitalizations in the state since Aug. 2, 2021.

As of Sunday, 900 New Yorkers were in the hospital from COVID and only 12 COVID deaths were reported statewide.

Of the 119,475 test results reported, 2,013 were confirmed as positive COVID cases.

The percentage of the state population testing positive remains under 2%, at 1.7% on Sunday.

CDC data indicates 75.9% of New York residents have completed the vaccine series and 89.3% have received at least one dose.

Warren County

Warren County Health Services does not release daily COVID data on weekends.

New York state numbers indicated on Sunday, out of the 192 county residents tested on Saturday, only six positive cases were identified.

The countys seven-day rolling positivity rate was at 2.1%.

The state vaccine tracker showed 51,481 residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and 48,311 of the total 64,265 county residents have been fully vaccinated.

Washington County

New York state COVID data indicated on Sunday that three of the 132 residents tested on Saturday were positive for the virus.

The seven-day rolling positivity rate was at 2.7%.

The state vaccine tracker showed, of the 61,197 county residents, 41,236 have received at least one dose and 39,049 have been fully vaccinated.

Jana DeCamilla is a staff writer who covers Moreau, Queensbury, and Lake George. She can be reached at 518-742-3272 or jdecamilla@poststar.com.

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Yemen's Houthis launches drones attacks against Saudi Aramco oil facilities

Xinhua) 08:41, March 21, 2022

SANAA, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's Houthi militia on Sunday claimed responsibility for a fresh attack against a Saudi Aramco oil facilities in the Saudi Red Sea port city of Jeddah and other vital energy facilities in the Saudi southwestern city of Jazan, the second of such cross-border missile attacks against Saudi Arabia in less than 24 hours.

"We announce that we launched a barrage of ballistic missiles at the Aramco oil facilities in Jeddah and other vital energy facilities in Jazan," Houthi-run al-Masirah TV quoted a statement by the Houthi military spokesman Yehya Sarea as saying.

"The strikes were accurate," he said, vowing of launching more attacks in the coming days.

Earlier in the day, the Houthi militia announced multiple attacks against Aramco oil facilities in several cities in Saudi Arabia, using ballistic missiles and bomb-laden drones.

Meanwhile, the Saudi energy ministry said on Sunday that its oil facilities have undergone three drone attacks in the past 24 hours.

The first attack happened on Saturday, targetting the petroleum products distribution terminal in Jizan. The other two drones attacked a natural gas facility and oil refining factory respectively in Yanbu, western Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi ministry said the attacks caused a fire in Jeddah's oil facilities but there were no casualties.

The ministry stressed that the kingdom strongly condemns these attacks, adding that such "acts of sabotage and terrorism" are "cowardly assaults that violate international laws."

The Houthi cross-border attacks came nearly three days after the militia announced its readiness for peace talks. Previous UN bids to bring the militia onto the table of negotiations had failed.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujjaric welcomed on Sunday "the initiative announced by the Gulf Corporation Council to host the parties to the conflict in Yemen for consultations in (the Saudi capital) Riyadh in the coming weeks in support of the UN efforts."

"We appreciate all initiatives that support UN actions to reach an inclusive negotiated political settlement to the conflict in Yemen."

The Houthi fresh attacks against the energy facilities in Saudi Arabia were the latest in a series of similar missile and drone attacks against Saudi Arabia and its allies in the Gulf region.

In January, the Houthi missile attacks killed three people in the United Arab Emirates and bombed an oil facility in Abu Dhabi.

The Houthi militia said its attacks were in response to air and sea blockade imposed by the coalition forces on the Yemeni ports under the militia control.

The coalition said it aims to prevent arms smuggling to the militia.

The escalation came after the Houthi militia lost several strategic districts in the oil-rich provinces of Shabwa and Marib in central Yemen.

Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthi militia seized control of the northern provinces and forced the Saudi-backed Yemeni government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of the capital Sanaa.

The Saudi-led coalition intervened in the following year to support the Yemeni government.

(Web editor: Peng yukai, Liang Jun)
SHUSHAN  A Saturday afternoon fire displaced a family of four, including a 3-year-old and a 4-year-old.

The Northeastern Chapter of the American Red Cross provided aide to the two adults and two children after a fire broke out in their home on Steele Road in Shushan.

According to a Red Cross news release, volunteers provided health services and financial assistance for shelter, food and clothing. One of the victims is reportedly eligible to receive veterans services as well.

Fire officials could not be reached for more information on Sunday.

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ATLANTIC CITY  This June, the resort will join a worldwide event called Le Diner en Blanc, which promoters call a celebration of public spaces, food and community.

Started in 1988 in Paris, its website calls it a "secret posh picnic (that) has been celebrated in 120 cities in 40 countries around the world."

Le Diner en Blanc Paris celebrated its 30th year in 2018 with more than 17,000 participants, according to the organization's website.

"My dream has become a reality," Mayor Marty Small Sr. said at a news conference Monday announcing the city's inclusion for the first time. "We often say were not just about casinos."

"Everyone brings tables and chairs and it pops up," said co-organizer Kayli Moran, of Philadelphia.

They also bring their own food and drink, and meet in groups of 50 people around town to be led on foot by volunteers to the secret dinner location.

The city's world-class restaurants give people a wide variety of food to take to Le Diner en Blanc, Small said.

It's held rain or shine, according to Le Diner en Blanc International's website, which sets out some pretty strict rules about the size of the tables allowed, and how participants must dress.

"All guests must dress elegantly in head-to-toe white," according to the FAQ page on the website. "This means no ivory, no off-white, and no beige. ... Originality is always encouraged, as long as it stays stylish and tasteful."

And if it rains, guests must bring a white or transparent raincoat, poncho and/or umbrella, according to the rules.

A few things are unknown so far, including the exact date  organizers will only say it will be in June  and the cost to participants.

The exact date will be announced closer to June, said spokesperson Kate Marlys.

It will be the first Le Diner en Blanc event ever held in New Jersey, Marlys said.

Participants pay an average of $55 per person, but the exact fee structure for the Atlantic City event hasn't been decided yet, said co-organizer Natanya DiBona, also of Philadelphia.

"Your city has a great history and we will be playing on that," DiBona said at the Monday media event.

The waiting list opened Monday on the website and the first 500 couples who sign up get an automatic phase one invitation, the organizers said.

Marlys said there is no fee for joining the waiting list, people only pay when they are ready to confirm their participation.

Videos of previous events show people pulling wheeled coolers and specially purchased small, light tables and chairs slung over their arms.

In 2012, Le Diner en Blanc International was formed to encourage these events in cities around the world.

"It's an experience about appreciating public space, good food and good friends," Moran said.

Moran and DiBona have worked with the international organization for 10 years, they said, running events in Philadelphia. It's not their full-time jobs, they said, but something they do because they love it.

In Atlantic City, there aren't many places that can hold 1,000 or more people outside, but the group isn't telling where the location will be.

Organizers said the ticket price pays for entertainers, some decorations, security, portable toilets and permits.

The international organization is a for-profit company organized as an LLC, the organizers said, but costs are kept low to allow more people to participate.

Small said he's been pressuring Showboat Hotel Atlantic City owner Bart Blatstein "to do more, do more, do more," and Blatstein helped arrange for the Philadelphia Diner en Blanc event to move here this year.

A year ago the organizers held the pop-up event for 3,000 people in Rittenhouse Square, Blatstein said, and he broached the idea of coming to Atlantic City then.

"The international (organization) approved the event here, so we are here today," Blatstein said.

REPORTER: Michelle Brunetti Post 609-841-2895 mpost@pressofac.com

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As the state gets closer to getting its recreational cannabis market up and running, New Jerseys Cannabis Regulatory Commission held a series of hearings seeking input on where to spend the new tax revenue the market will generate.

At the South Jersey hearing last week, residents and advocates called for more spending on education, social programs and on multiple other possibilities.

Speakers also said where they did not want the money going. Some of the most emphatic pleas at the meeting Wednesday boiled down to: Dont give it to the cops.

As municipalities discussed the potential impact of legalization over the past several years, the increased expense of enforcement has been raised repeatedly.

The New Jersey League of Municipalities, which does not take a position of legalization, cites several areas where legal cannabis will cost towns money, including the cost of more training for police officers and of checking drivers for sobriety for a substance that will not show up on a breath test designed for alcohol.

But over the course of nearly two hours, multiple speakers called for the state to increase spending on education, housing aid, increased mental health services, direct aid to poor and minority communities and multiple other possibilities, with many speakers specifying that they would not want any spent on police.

I believe that these funds should go directly to socially and economically disadvantaged communities that have been the most harmed by the war on drugs, Rev. Bryan McCallister said at the hearing. I believe we are in fact taking a step backward if these funds were to go to law enforcement.

Several other speakers made similar comments.

This was the last of three hearings held this month to help the Cannabis Regulatory Commission prepare a recommendation on where and how to spend the new tax revenue once legal sales get underway. This one gathered input from South Jersey residents, while the previous hearings were for North and Central Jersey. All three were held remotely.

Under the states Cannabis Regulatory Enforcement Assistance and Marketplace Modernization Act, referred to as the CREAMM Act, most of the money must be reinvested in impact zones, often described as the areas where the war on drugs hit hardest.

There will also be a social equity excise fee imposed on cannabis cultivators, commission member Charles Barker said at the beginning of the hearing.

We have potential for real change in our communities that need it most, he said.

He was joined by fellow commission member Krista Nash and commission executive director Jeff Brown at the hearing. Nash said the commission will have a recommendation for Legislators completed by July 1, including outlining how the spending will advance social equity.

While some investors, and some potential customers, have criticized the slow pace of opening the regulated cannabis market in the state, the process is moving forward. Last Tuesday, the commission accepted the first applications for dispensaries for the adult-use market. By 4 p.m. that day, 172 applications had been submitted, according to commission officials. The application process remains open and more are expected.

Under the CRCs rules, social equity businesses, diversely-owned businesses, microbusinesses, and conditional license applicants will be prioritized in their review and scoring, reads a statement from the commission on the application process. These include businesses owned by individuals with past cannabis convictions, those from designated economically disadvantaged areas, and minority-owned, women-owned, and disabled-veteran owned businesses.

The CREAMM Act established six types of cannabis businesses as cultivators, manufacturing, wholesaling, distribution, retail and delivery, Nash said. The commission wants to make sure the ownership of those businesses reflect the states population.

Multiple speakers called for investment in education and in communities, especially in Black communities and other communities of color.

At some point were going to have to stop pulling people out of the river and start going upstream to figure out why theyre falling in, said Belinda Manning, of Pleasantville, in what she described as a paraphrase of Bishop Desmond Tutu.

She said all of the voices in a community need to be heard for progress to be made.

If we keep doing what weve been doing, were going to keep getting what we got, she said.

While most speakers focused on social justice, a few had other priorities, calling for property tax reductions or new research on cannabis and the cannabis industry.

One speaker wanted the money spent on enforcement to reduce the inconvenience for neighbors of cultivation and manufacturing facilities. He cited the potential for noise and odors.

Many of the speakers said more training could help people get good paying jobs in the new economy.

Over and over, speakers returned to law enforcement, saying minorities were far more likely to be arrested and jailed over drug offenses than whites, even though studies showed similar percentages of use and illicit sales.

We dont want our cannabis taxes going to the police after legalization, said Chris Goldstein, of Willingboro. Citing previous speakers, he suggested public art, infrastructure spending or housing efforts. But dont give cannabis taxes to the police.

He also suggested the state work on keeping the price of regulated cannabis low.

Once the market is up and running, it could mean big money all around. Estimates are that it will quickly be a billion-dollar industry, brining millions of dollars into the state. That would not make it the top industry in the state  it would not even be in the top 10  but it would be an entirely new tax revenue on sales that used to be kept off the books.

California has brought in more than $3 billion in cannabis taxes since 2018, according to a report from the Marijuana Policy Project, a national group that advocates for legalization. The total for 2020, the most recent full year in the report, was over $1 billion.

But California is more than 20 times the size of New Jersey, with an economy larger than Germany, India or the United Kingdom.

Massachusetts may be a better comparison. Its a little larger than New Jersey, with about 2.2 million fewer people. Since 2018, the state brought in $384.5 million in taxes from the cannabis market, not including $62.5 million in revenue to cities and towns, according to the same report.

Contact Bill Barlow: 609-272-7290 bbarlow@pressofac.com Twitter @jerseynews_bill

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PHILADELPHIA  City police are continuing to investigate the disappearance of a city woman, who was last seen at an Atlantic County Wawa earlier this month.

Destiny Sanith, 27, has been missing since March 3, city police said.

Sanith was last seen at her home in the 2600 block of McKean Street, in Philadelphia, at about 2:30 p.m. She was on her way to a friend's house in Southwest Philadelphia but never arrived, police said.

State Police search for missing 27-year-old woman last seen at Folsom Wawa TRENTON  State Police are calling on the public to help them find a missing Philadelphia wo

The following day, Sanith's vehicle was located in Folsom unattended, police said.

New Jersey State Police reported last week that Sanith was last seen at Wawa in the borough.

Sanith is described as being 5-feet, 2-inches. She weighs about 170 pounds, has brown eyes, wavy short-brown hair, and has a Virgo sign tattooed on her right hand.

Anyone with information on Saniths whereabouts is encouraged to contact detectives, at 215-686-3013, or call 911.

Contact Eric Conklin: 609-272-7261 econklin@pressofac.com Twitter @ACPressConklin

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TRENTON  State Sen. Michael Testa, R-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic, says he plans on introducing legislation to permit thousands of dollars in state funds to be used to remove hundreds of boats abandoned in the states waterways.

Local governments and property taxpayers simply do not have the capacity to fund the lengthy and expensive process of hauling away and disposing of all the derelict boats that wash up in their communities, Testa said in a statement Monday. Its clear we need a state fund to pay for the removal of abandoned boats that litter our coasts, bays, and rivers.

Testa will work with research staff and the Office of Legislative Services to draft the bill, said New Jersey Senate Republican Office Communication Director Brad Schnure, adding that he doesnt know when the legislation could be introduced in the state Legislature.

State law calls for fines against owners who leave their boats abandoned.

Junked boats look horrible to visitors and locals alike, but the real problems are far worse, Testa said. They pose a serious navigation hazard for boaters, and they threaten our fisheries, marine businesses, and the fragile environments of our oceanside and bayfront towns. Abandoned boats pose a risk we cannot afford to ignore.

Contact Eric Conklin: 609-272-7261 econklin@pressofac.com Twitter @ACPressConklin

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ATLANTIC CITY  Many attractions are exclusive to shore towns,, such as Margates Lucy the Elephant, the Absecon lighthouse, the Ocean City Boardwalk and now, in Atlantic City, theres Batman.

Not the Batman, but AC Batman.

The citys friendly neighborhood self-proclaimed superhero, Curtis Bordley, 31, has been dubbed AC Batman by residents who have spotted him throughout the city wearing his signature attire.

If Im off work, of course, I would get involved and assist if someone needs help, said Bordley, who works as a full-time dishwasher at Ocean Casino Resort. Batman stands for justice.

Bordley said he doesnt fight crime like the real Batman does, but hopes to build his legacy by becoming a tourist attraction by taking pictures with the many onlookers and tourists who enjoy his Batman cosplay, similar to the Naked Cowboy, who is well known for mingling and performing for tourists in New York Citys Times Square.

Bordley said hes already off to a good start, as one of his videos went viral, and locals and visitors alike post their AC Batman sightings on social media, giving him more exposure.

AC Batman usually roams the streets, sidewalks and Boardwalk on foot. He doesnt have a Batmobile, but he does have his Bat Bike Bordley said, an electric scooter that gets him around.

Bordley is an Atlantic City resident who moved from Egg Harbor Township about seven years ago. He decided to become the Dark Knight shortly after moving to the city in 2015 when he noticed what he calls the amount of sin in the city.

Sin is destruction, said Bordley who considers himself quite religious.

The city is full of love, said Bordley who didnt specify what religion he practiced, but said he believed in God and would like to spread His love throughout the resort.

When Bordley isnt being AC Batman, he likes to play video games, make music under his rap persona Curtisy Live, practice martial arts and is an aspiring actor. Some of his projects include creating music videos and releasing music on his Soundcloud page.

He is also working on a future AC Batman documentary.

Bordley occasionally dresses up as a devil hunter from the video game, Devil May Cry but doesnt stray from his Batman path too often.

Bordley said he started dressing up as Batman since he was 15. He used to wear the Batman suit in his home until 2016, when he finally had the courage to come out in public as Batman.

Ive been mocked and ridiculed for my Batman costume, said Bordley, who has been picked on by friends, family and strangers for doing what he loves.

Bordley has also had people become violent with him because of his Batman suit as well.

Ive been beaten up, jumped, robbed, just because Im Batman, said Bordley who mentioned how he got his jaw broken by a group of people back in 2020 that required him to have his jaw wired shut.

Bordley said he doesnt feel any different in his Batman costume, he just genuinely enjoys the happiness and smiles AC Batman brings people.

Contact Selena Vazquez: 609-272-7225 svazquez@pressofac.com

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On the first day of QC Restaurant Week, customers have already stopped by Meli's Pancake House to grab some food and a picture of their receipt. Coming off St. Patrick's Day and the holiday weekend, owner Melissa Figueroa hasn't had much time for a break.

She and her husband, Onis Figueroa, have taken the uptick in business in stride, and with a bit of relief.

"That's one thing I was really nervous for, being my first year open," Melissa Figueroa said. "It was hard for me to see the potential, but now that I see people coming in and business going up, I'm like, OK, this is going to work."

Visit Quad Cities is showcasing local businesses like Meli's Pancake House through March 27, publicizing specials and giving customers the opportunity to win gift cards for submitting receipts or selfies with food from participating restaurants.

Opened in December 2020, this is Meli's Pancake House's second year participating in QC Restaurant Week. Located at 1320 5th Ave., Moline, Meli's is open 7 a.m.-2 p.m. seven days a week.

The restaurant will have a special each day this week. Tuesday's (March 22) is stuffed French toast, two eggs and two meats for $9.99.

Onis Figueroa's favorite foods to make as head cook of the restaurant  the avocado omelette and avocado Benedict  are also some of his favorite to eat. They also rank among the most popular menu items, he said, along with the meat lover skillet and a variety of crepes.

Both Onis Figueroa and Melissa Figueroa have worked in the Quad-Cities restaurant industry for a long time, which helped them craft their menu, full of breakfast and lunch treats.

While Melissa Figueroa was apprehensive about opening a food establishment during a peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, she said her husband was ready to jump in. It's worked out well, with the food and service bringing in plenty of regular customers from all over the area, Onis Figueroa said.

"It feels good," Onis Figueroa said. "We're making people happy."

Meli's Pancake House is truly a family business, with the couple's younger son working in the kitchen with Onis Figueroa and daughter working up front with Melissa Figueroa. Their older son also worked in the restaurant until he graduated from high school.

Their daughter is going to study business next year, Melissa Figueroa said, and is looking forward to owning a business of her own someday. Melissa hopes the pancake house she opened will stay with the family when she's ready to pass it along.

"We told them to take care of it because one day it could be [theirs]," Melissa Figueroa said.

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A man engaged in a police standoff Sunday in Davenport also was involved in a shots-fired incident Saturday in Moline, police said.

Around 1 p.m. Sunday, the unidentified suspect died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, which was witnessed by onlookers.

The incident occurred along West Kimberly Road, across from NorthPark Mall. Dozens of people, drawn to the scene by a multitude of emergency vehicles, road closures and locked-down businesses, lined Kimberly Road and area businesses at the time of the shooting.

Moline police said they responded to a shots-fired call at 4:23 a.m. Saturday in the 100 block of 5th Avenue. No one was injured in the earlier shooting, and police said the suspect was quickly identified.

At 11:18 a.m. Sunday, police said they learned the suspect was headed back to Moline and was located traveling south on U.S. Highway 61 near DeWitt.

"Moline Police requested assistance from Iowa State Patrol in conducting a traffic stop on the suspect, who was believed to be armed with a handgun and had a warrant for his arrest," Moline police wrote in a statement Sunday afternoon. "The suspect fled in his vehicle and a pursuit with Iowa State Patrol and Scott County Sheriffs Office ensued, ending near Welcome Way and W. Kimberly Rd."

Davenport police also issued a statement, stating the department was alerted at 11:22 a.m. that Moline Police detectives were following an armed suspect from a recent firearms call.

"The Iowa State Patrol and Scott County Sheriffs Office responded to assist Moline Police and initiated a pursuit with the vehicle that entered the city of Davenport," according to the statement.

During the chase, the suspect's vehicle struck two other vehicles before coming to rest against a tree in the 3700 block of Welcome Way, disabling the vehicle. The occupants of the other vehicles were not injured.

"The suspect fled the vehicle on foot while brandishing a firearm and barricaded himself in a bus shelter in the 3700 block of Main Street," Davenport police said. "Officers from the Davenport, Bettendorf and Moline Police Departments, Scott County Sheriffs Office and Iowa State Patrol responded to the scene."

Despite efforts by the Davenport Police Department's Emergency Services Team to negotiate with the suspect for roughly two hours, the incident ended in the man's death.

This incident remains under investigation and no further information was available Sunday.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact the Moline Police Department at 309-797-0401, Crime Stoppers of the Quad-Cities at 309-762-9500, or submit an anonymous tip via the P3 Tips mobile app.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a hotline for individuals in crisis or for those looking to help someone else. To speak with a certified listener, call 1-800-273-8255.

Crisis Text Line is a texting service for emotional crisis support. To speak with a trained listener, text HELLO to 741741. It is free, available 24/7 and confidential.

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The pandemic has laid bare a crisis weve ignored for far too long  our chronic doctor shortage. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the United States faces a shortfall of up to 124,000 physicians over the next decade.

This is a supply problem, as the demand for care will only go up. So we must create more doctors  by expanding medical school capacity and increasing the number of residency slots where budding doctors can complete their training.

The causes of this looming shortage are many. Over half of doctors in this country are 55 or older and heading for retirement. Our aging population is increasing the overall demand for medical care.

Burnout is also becoming a bigger problem. Even before the pandemic, long hours, stifling bureaucracy and a lack of autonomy had been causing many doctors to hang up their stethoscopes early. The horrors and stresses of COVID-19 pushed many more out of active practice.

The shortage does not hit all Americans equally. Rural areas and poorer communities are more likely to lack the physicians they need.

Were in this mess, in part, because of policies that ensued from a flawed, four-decade-old federal government report. In 1981, the Graduate Medical Education National Advisory Committee concluded that America would have a large surplus of physicians. The committee said that medical school enrollment had increased too much during the 60s and 70s.

The report is one reason why no new M.D.-granting medical schools were established until after the new millennium.

By 2006, the Association of American Medical Colleges issued its own report claiming that new medical schools were needed to avoid an impending doctor shortage.

Today, were graduating far too few doctors. Only 36.2% of those who apply to medical school end up matriculating, according to AAMC data from 2021-22.

The United States cuts a sorry figure in the data for medical graduates per 100,000 people among developed countries. In 2019, Ireland topped the list with 24.8 medical graduates for every 100,000 inhabitants. That year, the United States had just 8.1 per 100,000 people. Italy, Slovakia, Belgium and the Czech Republic all had twice as many medical graduates per capita in 2019 as we did.

Med school admissions are, of course, supposed to be competitive. But how many people are denied the chance to become doctors simply because there arent enough desks  not because they wouldnt make great physicians?

Med school applications have been increasing for decades  by two-thirds since 2005. Last year, a record 62,000 prospective students applied.Acceptance rates are stunningly low, with only 7 of every 100 applicants admitted on average. At Harvard, the figure is 2.8.

Theres no escaping it  more slots are desperately needed.

Money is targeting student enrollment. The University of Utah will use a $110 million donation to increase each class size from 125 to 155, as well as to raise the number of residency slots it offers to finish training doctors.

Theres more. UMass Medical School received a transformational $175 million gift from the Morningside Foundation. Western Michigan Universitys Medical School has received gifts totaling $300 million that could lead to a transformational growth in its student body.

Rowan University in New Jersey recently received an $85 million donation for a new osteopathic school of medicine. Belmont University in Tennessee got $10 million from its board of trustees chair to bolster its med school, and Wake Forest secured $25 million from the Howard R. Levine Foundation to go toward a brand-new medical school in Charlotte.

We could also use more residency slots, the postgraduate sites where medical graduates complete their training. This past December, the federal government committed to fund 200 new slots per year over five years through Medicare. Its the largest increase in Medicare-funded residencies in more than a quarter-century.

Private philanthropists and other organizations dedicated to improving health care should seriously consider augmenting efforts like this one by funding residencies themselves.

Given the scope of the doctor shortage, we need many more actors to join the fight. This is a crisis we can stop.

Sally C. Pipes is president, CEO, and Thomas W. Smith fellow in health care policy at the Pacific Research Institute. Her latest book is False Premise, False Promise: The Disastrous Reality of Medicare for All. 2022 Chicago Tribune. Visit at chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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The leaders and members of striking International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Locals 388 and 1191 met Monday at Elks Lodge No. 298 to prepare for Tuesday's much-anticipated return to the bargaining table with Eaton-Cobham Mission Systems.

John Herrig, directing business representative for District 6 of the IAMAW, confirmed contract talks with Eaton are expected to resume as scheduled. It will mark the first time the two sides have officially met since the union voted down a March 4 offer.

Not long after the union's rejection of the contract, Herrig noted Eaton agreed to re-start talks on March 15 but postponed a return to the table until Tuesday.

While the parking lot of the Elks Lodge at 4400 West Central Ave. was packed Monday morning, the picket lines in front of the nearby Eaton facility on Hickory Grove Road were not abandoned.

A vocal contingent of former Local 388 members and a handful of current non-union Eaton workers took up strike signs and waved at passing motorists.

"Solidarity," one non-union Eaton worker said when asked why some employees joined the picket lines. "We are out here in support of our fellow workers who deserve what they're asking for.

"All of our workers need support. Solidarity is our strength."

A woman who said she retired from Eaton after 15 years said she had a "responsibility" to support the union members on strike.

"I was represented by the union," she said. "Of course I want to support the union that supported me."

Tensions between the machinists and Eaton have increased during the past 10 days of the now-32-day strike. The company is advertising for replacement workers in the local press and in a sign on the building. And Kevin McKeown, senior vice president and general manager of the Eaton-Cobham site in Davenport, sent a two-page letter to union members outlining how workers would get their jobs back after a strike and how they could cross the picket lines.

Katie Kennedy, Eaton Aerospace senior manager of global communications and marketing, then claimed a total of 50 union members crossed the picket line since the start of the strike. She raised that number to 55 last Friday.

McKeown's letter was sent March 4, the same day 97% of union members voted down Eaton's second contract offer. Leadership of Locals 388 and 1191 denied members were crossing over in large numbers.

Strikers on the line backed up their representatives, detailing 11 line crossings over the course of the strike.

More than 400 Eaton-Cobham union employees represented by IAMAW Local 388 and Machinist Union Local 1191 hit the picket line just after midnight on Friday, Feb. 18, after more than 98% of the membership voted down a proposed three-year contract from the company.

Eaton, a multinational power management company headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, announced June 1 it had completed its purchase of Cobham Mission Systems, described as a leading manufacturer of air-to-air refueling, life-support, fuel inerting, space propulsion and missile actuation systems, primarily for defense markets. Cobham has a workforce of approximately 2,000 people and manufacturing facilities in the United States and United Kingdom.

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As one of Floridas largest private employers and a big donor to local politicians, The Walt Disney Co. generally has a lot to say about legislation in the Sunshine State.

But when its chief executive tried to remain silent about the divisive bill concerning the teaching of sexual orientation or gender identity in Florida schools, employees called him out. CEO Bob Chapek ended up protesting the bill to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, suspending his companys political giving in the state and publishing a personal apology.

Chapeks about-face is a good example of how change occurs at big companies. Whatever the merits of this particular bill, and Chapeks apology infuriated many of its supporters, most CEOs now recognize the power of employees, customers and other stakeholders in forcing corporations to uphold their stated values. And so they should.

Importantly, no law or regulation required Chapek to step up. None was needed, which is the point we emphasized when confronted several years ago with a clumsy attempt in Springfield to force Illinois companies to diversify their boardrooms.

This page strongly opposed a bill in the General Assembly that at the time would have required at least one woman, one African American and one Latino on the boards of public companies based in Illinois.

Fortunately, the bill was modified to require those companies only to disclose the demographics of their boards and executive ranks (which many were doing already) and to direct the University of Illinois to publish an annual report on the state of corporate diversity.

This years report is out, and the 97 corporations filing the paperwork generally reported some progress. As it stands, 80% employ two or more women directors and 50% have two or more nonwhite directors. Just two companies have all-male boards, and fewer than 20% are all-white.

Good enough? No. We want to see much more progress, and theres reason to believe its coming.

In the wake of social justice protests, many companies that hadnt previously done so were moved to adopt diversity as a corporate value and set goals to become more diverse at all levels. That matters, because, as in the case of Disney, companies are finding it more difficult to say one thing and do another.

This is proxy season, the time of year when shareholders review the performance of public companies and vote on issues at corporate annual meetings. Its also when those companies own up to their results  financial and otherwise, including their progress on Environmental, Social and Governance issues.

Among the most influential stakeholders are institutions that control vast amounts of investment capital. BlackRock Chairman Larry Fink, for instance, has made it his business to pressure companies he invests in to address climate change. If they have no plan for adapting to the reality of global warming, BlackRock may very well decide to direct its megabucks elsewhere.

Thats the kind of pressure CEOs cant ignore.

Similar pressure is building for increased diversity. For years, the key argument against diversity was financial. Rigorous, peer-reviewed research does not convincingly establish a causal relationship between diversity and making more money. Studies on the topic show that the presence of women board members, for instance, does not automatically improve, or worsen, financial performance, despite the efforts of advocates to prove the opposite.

There are, however, good business reasons to push for diversity, rooted in fairness, equal opportunity and, especially, corporate reputation.

Good reputations are difficult to build and fragile to maintain. Failing to address social responsibilities can damage them, making it harder to attract the best job candidates, charge a premium in the marketplace and build loyalty among customers.

Improving board diversity should go beyond hiring a few token directors to meet a superficial quota. Done right, making progress in such a high-profile setting heralds a broader cultural shift throughout a company.

The stereotypical corporate boardroom full of white, male, old fogies making secretive decisions by the light of smoldering cigars is almost a thing of the past. Lets be patient enough to allow real change to take root.

This editorial was written by the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board. 2022 Chicago Tribune. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Genet Moraetes first introduced her cooking to the Quad-Cities through potlucks. She'd take lentils  her favorite food to cook  and other Ethiopian dishes to her workplace at the Rock Island Arsenal, garnering praise and inquiries about selling her food.

The interest led to her operating a booth at the Freight House Farmers' Market in 2016 and later opening Taste of Ethiopia right next door, at 102 S. Harrison St., in 2019. Since opening, Moraetes said she's developed a loyal following, with customers stopping by every week to enjoy her food and company.

"I'm just very thankful for my customers and their support," she said. "If they don't come, there's no business."

Taste of Ethiopia may see some new customers along with the regulars this week, as one of the featured food establishments during QC Restaurant Week, which begins today and ends March 27.

Visit Quad Cities created QC Restaurant Week to encourage Quad-Cities residents to support, sample and explore local restaurants. Those who visit a participating restaurant can fill out an online form and send a picture dining at the establishment or with carryout or with a receipt to enter a chance to win gift cards to local eateries.

The entry form and a list of 55 participating restaurants can be found at the QC Restaurant Week website.

Taste of Ethiopia is offering free Ethiopian coffee and tea to customers who mention QC Restaurant Week. The coffee is roasted and ground in-house with cinnamon and clove and cooked fresh on the stove. The tea features cardamom, cinnamon and clove paired with a black tea bag.

Beyond the drinks, Taste of Ethiopia's menu is filled with traditional dishes and other meals on which Moraetes has put her own twist. Many are served on or with a fermented flatbread called injera. As instructions provided at each restaurant table explain, the customer is supposed to tear a piece of the injera and use it to pick up food, making a parcel to eat.

When not working 13-hour shifts at the restaurant Wednesday through Sunday, Moraetes is exploring other local businesses with her husband. She said her husband cooked at home, giving her a much-needed break.

She learned to cook from family growing up in Ethiopia and has continued to learn from family, friends and others over the years. Moraetes said they brought something unique to the Quad-Cities, in both the food and experience, that had customers coming back for more.

"Our food is for family," Moraetes said. "When you share the food, it tastes different. Even if it's the same thing you eat [somewhere else], we make it different, special. I think we cook it with love."

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The man who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound Sunday during a standoff with police in Davenport has been identified as 23-year-old Sean Gaylord of Rock Island, according to the Davenport Police Department.

The shooting happened around 1 p.m. Sunday in an area along West Kimberly Road across from NorthPark Mall. Police negotiated with Gaylord for about two hours before he died.

The standoff was the culmination of events that police say began Saturday in Moline. Officers from that city were called about 4:23 a.m. Saturday for gunfire in the 100 block of 5th Avenue. There were no reports of injuries, but Gaylord was identified as a suspect.

At about 11:18 a.m. Sunday, investigators learned Gaylord was on U.S. Highway 61 near DeWitt and returning to Moline, police said. The Moline Police Department asked the Iowa State Patrol to stop Gaylord's vehicle because he had a warrant out for his arrest and was believed to have a handgun.

Police said Gaylord fled from the state troopers and they and Scott County Sheriff deputies pursued. That ended when Gaylord's vehicle crashed into two other vehicles and came to rest against a tree in the 3700 block of Welcome Way. He ran away. The other motorists were not injured.

As he ran, Gaylord brandished a firearm, then barricaded himself in a bus shelter in the 3700 block of Main Street, police said. The deputies and troopers were joined by officers from Davenport, Bettendorf and Moline.

Negotiations began, conducted by the Davenport police Emergency Services Team, police said.

Dozens of people, drawn to the scene by a multitude of emergency vehicles, road closures and locked-down businesses, lined Kimberly Road and area businesses at the time of the shooting.

The Davenport police released Gaylord's name on Monday afternoon but said further information was not available.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a hotline for individuals in crisis or for those looking to help someone else. To speak with a certified listener, call 1-800-273-8255.

Crisis Text Line is a texting service for emotional crisis support. To speak with a trained listener, text HELLO to 741741. It is free, available 24/7 and confidential.

Reporter Barb Ickes contributed to this story.

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Parts of the once-wooded Credit Island Park in Davenport are barren with tree loss.

It could not be helped.

Hundreds of dead or dying mature trees have been cut down at the city-owned park because of a trio of deadly impacts. Longstanding floodwaters, the derecho and disease left a huge number of trees at risk of falling.

More than 200 have been removed, and at least 100 more are on the list for removal. Throughout the 450-acre park, towering oaks and other species have been painted with red X marks to indicate they must go.

Credit Island has a dead-tree problem The grass says late fall, but the trees say dead of winter.

"Much of the soil on Credit Island is not suitable for long-term tree growth," said Nicole Gleason, Davenport's director of public works. "Once removal is complete, the city will strategically plant trees, however, the quantity will be far less than the quantity removed to ensure proper root growth and better sustainability through flooding."

Some saplings already have been planted on the south side of the island. Yet to be determined is how many more will be planted and what species are likely to do best in the less-than-ideal soil.

"We purchased 80 saplings last November and organized a volunteer day and planted them all on a Saturday morning," Gleason aid. "Trees that we plant this year will be bigger, 1.5 caliper (referring to the diameter of the trunks)."

The trees planted in the fall include scarlet oaks, pecans, sugar maples, white pines, pin oaks and sycamores.

Additional planting must wait until more trees and their debris are hauled out of the park. The widespread removal has produced large quantities of limbs, trunks and other debris, including some that was marketable.

The city sold some logs to a mill, Gleason said, and some were processed for firewood. The remainder will be turned into compost or mulch.

"Although it is not illegal to transport firewood within Iowa, the DNR encourages you to buy wood from where you will burn it and avoid moving firewood over great distances," she said, referring to the dangers of disease and insects, such as the emerald ash borer.

"Parks Department and Forestry Division are currently working on a plan that will include soil amendments, native-species selection (based on flood resiliency) and a timeline for replacement," Gleason said.

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A man engaged in a police standoff Sunday in Davenport also was involved in a shots-fired incident Saturday in Moline, police said.

Around 1 p.m. Sunday, the unidentified suspect died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, which was witnessed by onlookers.

The incident occurred along West Kimberly Road, across from NorthPark Mall. Dozens of people, drawn to the scene by a multitude of emergency vehicles, road closures and locked-down businesses, lined Kimberly Road and area businesses at the time of the shooting.

Moline police said they responded to a shots-fired call at 4:23 a.m. Saturday in the 100 block of 5th Avenue. No one was injured in the earlier shooting, and police said the suspect was quickly identified.

At 11:18 a.m. Sunday, police said they learned the suspect was headed back to Moline and was located traveling south on U.S. Highway 61 near DeWitt.

"Moline Police requested assistance from Iowa State Patrol in conducting a traffic stop on the suspect, who was believed to be armed with a handgun and had a warrant for his arrest," Moline police wrote in a statement Sunday afternoon. "The suspect fled in his vehicle and a pursuit with Iowa State Patrol and Scott County Sheriffs Office ensued, ending near Welcome Way and W. Kimberly Rd."

Davenport police also issued a statement, stating the department was alerted at 11:22 a.m. that Moline Police detectives were following an armed suspect from a recent firearms call.

"The Iowa State Patrol and Scott County Sheriffs Office responded to assist Moline Police and initiated a pursuit with the vehicle that entered the city of Davenport," according to the statement.

During the chase, the suspect's vehicle struck two other vehicles before coming to rest against a tree in the 3700 block of Welcome Way, disabling the vehicle. The occupants of the other vehicles were not injured.

"The suspect fled the vehicle on foot while brandishing a firearm and barricaded himself in a bus shelter in the 3700 block of Main Street," Davenport police said. "Officers from the Davenport, Bettendorf and Moline Police Departments, Scott County Sheriffs Office and Iowa State Patrol responded to the scene."

Despite efforts by the Davenport Police Department's Emergency Services Team to negotiate with the suspect for roughly two hours, the incident ended in the man's death.

This incident remains under investigation and no further information was available Sunday.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact the Moline Police Department at 309-797-0401, Crime Stoppers of the Quad-Cities at 309-762-9500, or submit an anonymous tip via the P3 Tips mobile app.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a hotline for individuals in crisis or for those looking to help someone else. To speak with a certified listener, call 1-800-273-8255.

Crisis Text Line is a texting service for emotional crisis support. To speak with a trained listener, text HELLO to 741741. It is free, available 24/7 and confidential.

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Eight members of the Rapid City Youth Council recently returned from the National League of Cities conference in Washington, D.C. and shared their experiences Monday.

Approximately 160 youth from across the country attended the conference alongside adults and government officials, and the collaboration between cities was a great learning experience for the representatives from Rapid City.

"When I looked out at that expansive room, I saw that all of these people were change-makers. You couldn't tell the difference between a youth delegate and an adult Congressional member," Youth Council member Dhruv Goyal said. "They were all change-makers in their community... They make a difference and that really empowered me that we could make a change ourselves in our community because they treated us as equals."

The members of the Rapid City Youth Council attended numerous meeting sessions and participated in panel discussions during their trip. Members said they learned about infrastructure needs and how to provide solutions to those needs. They also learned that Rapid City's community issues are similar to other cities across the nation in areas of sustainable water, homelessness, affordable housing, mental health initiatives, and greater access to broadband in more rural areas.

Tae Swanson said she learned how important collaboration is on topics that impact communities across the United States.

"Seeing the other leaders in the room really have a moment where they're like, 'Yes, I know that and see that in my community and I want to help that.' So, really watching that understanding ripple through the room and to watch people bounce ideas off of each other in order to make their community a better place  that moment really stuck with me," Swanson said.

Many of the Youth Council members had life-trajectory changes moments during the conference, realizing that they would like to explore internships in government and possibly move into government themselves.

"It just really clicked with me and my personality," Tristan Eizinger said. "I think it would be something cool to do and to be able to have an impact."

The members of the Youth Council also met with South Dakota's Congressional delegation and had conversations with them about government service.

"I really enjoyed visiting with Sen. John Thune," Peyton Swallow said. "He gave a lot of good advice and opened my eyes to other opportunities. I did want to change my career path after visiting with him and he opened my eyes to government in general and how broad it is."

Natalie Johnson and Megan Stagner both said the connection with other communities during the trip to Washington, D.C., is something they hope to be able to expand on and work to make Rapid City a better place for all.

"When you look around and you see how everyone else was able to understand what you were saying," Johnson said. "There were so many people from different states there... and I could connect with them and understand what they were going through... It was just really powerful."

Contact Nathan Thompson at nathan.thompson@rapidcityjournal.com.

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Young people from across South Dakota will show off their archery skills at the 13th annual National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) State Tournament.

The tournament will be held on Friday, April 1, at Black Hills State University in Spearfish. The event includes both a Bulls Eye Target Tournament and a 3D Target Tournament.

The tournament is sponsored by South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks (GFP) and will include hundreds of young archers from across the state. Students will compete for individual and team honors in three age divisions.

The top three individuals from both genders, as well as team winners, will receive trophies. The overall individual winners from both the Bulls Eye and 3D Tournament will receive a free custom-made bow courtesy of GFP. All students receive a free tournament T-shirt.

Students who participate in NASP within their schools or home school program are eligible for the competition.

It is an honor for GFP to work in cooperation with local school districts on these tournaments, said Brandon Maahs, GFPs NASP Coordinator. Studies have shown that students who participate in NASP like school better and attend school more often. NASP is a positive partnership between GFP and local school districts.

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In the 38 days since a three-alarm fire tore through William Fox Elementary School, students, teachers and parents have had to cope with virtual learning and the loss of their beloved school.

Come Monday, even as sadness lingers for the loss of the school, theres hope in the community as students and teachers will be reunited in new temporary classrooms at First Baptist Church as part of an agreement between the school division and the church.

When students arrive on Monday, they will find personal touches honoring Fox. A church bulletin board reads, Welcome Fox Friends, while another has teacher wish lists posted. Welcome signs hang outside each classroom, complete with a cartoon fox with the teachers name.

Students are clustered by two grade levels, keeping kindergarten and first grade together, and so on.

The loss of the school has felt like a tragedy, parents and teachers say, traumatizing children who watched their school burn down after only a few months of being back in classrooms since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic two years ago.

Moving into First Baptist, while even temporarily, is a welcome reprieve for families.

Its not going to be the same as Fox, but its good [for the] interim, you know, quick turnaround, said Shannon Heady, the parent of a fourth-grader at Fox. Its just been so impressive how fast theyve done all this, and the First Baptist community is so welcoming.

The school division says its working to move the school community to the vacant Clark Springs Elementary in the Randolph neighborhood while it formulates plans to save and restore the more than century-old brick school building in the heart of the citys Fan District.

Parents, however, were nearly unanimous in calling for students to get back to in-person learning, even if it meant a temporary move to another facility as the district continues working to get the Clark Springs building ready.

While Monday begins the sixth week without Fox, RPS officials wasted no time finding a new school.

A mere two hours after Fox went up in flames on Feb. 11, Superintendent Jason Kamras communicated to School Board members that discussions were already in place on moving Fox students to the Clark Springs building.

Kamras, according to a 12:34 a.m. email on Feb. 12, started brainstorming with Fox Principal Daniela Jacobs about transitioning to virtual learning until Clark Springs was ready to welcome students.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch obtained the messages earlier this month through a Freedom of Information Act request.

As Kamras and school division officials on the night of the fire set course on moving students to Clark Springs, early morning emails trickled in, with several community members suggesting the district look into the vacant Saint Gertrude High School building.

Others offered their space, including Ginter Park Presbyterian Church, Monumental Church and the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond.

And Jacobs also sent an email to a handful of RPS officials at 2:51 a.m. with a preliminary action plan including an in-person staff meeting the following Monday.

Jacobs proposed temporary virtual learning plan had school days beginning at 8 a.m. with an entire school morning meeting, followed by a classroom community circle and then launching into the learning day. Two 15-minute breaks were in the schedule, with the school day ending at noon.

The shortened day was decided based on how RPS tackled virtual learning in the previous school year, as the division was trying to limit how much time students would remain in front of screens every day, said Sarah Abubaker, the school divisions spokesperson, in an email Friday.

Additionally, given that it was a traumatic time for students and staff due to the fire, we felt that they all needed an adjusted schedule during the transition period, she wrote.

Fox students will transition back to their traditional school schedule on Monday.

Becca DuVal, a mother of three kids ages 2, 8 and 10, said shes been able to take care of them at home every day, but that its been a challenge during school hours.

She was grateful for the school and art supplies that were sent to families just days after the fire, but shes had to keep a more watchful eye and move furniture around after her youngest child got hold of magic markers from the school supply kit to practice baby graffiti in a textbook and wall that now has a couch in front of it.

Its been madness at my house, DuVal said. It hasnt been cleaned for a month.

The Richmond School Board unanimously voted on March 7 to move students temporarily into First Baptist Church after a division survey found that nearly all Fox parents supported ending virtual learning and moving students into a temporary location until Clark Springs is ready.

Prior to the fire, Fox had a partnership with First Baptist to operate a facilitated learning center during the pandemic.

Since the fire, 170 Fox students have attended one of three facilitated learning centers: First Baptist Church, the Northside Family YMCA and the Humphrey Calder Community Center. These centers are the only official facilitated learning centers for Fox students, Abubaker said.

While some families and school officials felt strongly about potentially moving students to the vacant Saint Gertrude school building nearby, which has been vacant since 2020, Kamras and other officials said it was not viable.

They said a move to the former all-girls Catholic school building would be difficult because of an unstable HVAC system and accessibility issues for people with disabilities. Kamras said the school division evaluated other facilities, but found significant drawbacks in them.

Division officials said First Baptist also poses some challenges, including small classrooms and an inability to provide after-school care because of other programming at the church, but that its size and proximity to Fox made it the best choice for now.

According to RPS officials, First Baptist has requested $5,000 if students remain in the church through June. The price tag would cover custodial and management costs, while additional funding may be requested if utility bills rise.

Clark Springs, which closed in 2013, is in need of at least $375,000 in maintenance and custodial work before it can open, including repairs and patches to its roof, inspections of its plumbing and kitchen equipment and ceiling tile replacements, Kamras told the School Board earlier this month.

He has said the school divisions insurance carrier would cover the cost of getting Clark Springs ready.

School division officials say Clark Springs is slated to be available on April 19. However, if the Fox community chooses to do so, they may remain at the church for the rest of the school year.

At a playdate on the grounds of Clark Springs organized by Fox families last week, parents said they were grateful that First Baptist had made their facilities open for the meantime.

A small group of teachers who also attended the event Wednesday said they were also pleased about going back to in-person learning, but felt strongly that moving to Clark Springs should be the priority.

As students joyfully ran all around him at the playground at Clark Springs, laughing and shouting with their classmates, David Dejnozka, a fourth-grade teacher and parent of two students at Fox, said the school and its grounds are a more ideal environment.

We have to go [to First Baptist]. We understand that. Its going to be challenging for everyone, he said. But I think after 10 weeks, we would hope that Clark Springs will be ready to go. ... Anything less than that would be a disappointment.

School division officials say a survey is slated for early April to gauge whether the Fox community wants to complete the school year at the church.

Mo Jones, the mother of a kindergartner at Fox, said her daughter has been going to school virtually at the facilitated learning center at the Northside YMCA.

While she said her job has granted her some flexibility to work around the changing school schedule with the upcoming move to First Baptist, she said she does not have a preference yet for whether the school should stay there or relocate to Clark Springs before the end of the year.

She said she will wait to see how things work out at the church in the coming weeks, and that she wants the school division to listen to what parents and teachers think is best for the community.

Everybody matters because we all play a part, Jones said. Everyones opinions should be valued and considered equally.

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Police confirmed two people were killed after gunfire struck five people in downtown Norfolk early Saturday. Sierra Jenkins, a 25-year-old education reporter with the Virginian-Pilot was one of two victims that died.

Police say they received calls about a shooting just before 2 a.m. near the 300 block of Granby Street. Norfolk Police sent additional officers to the scenes as reports of multiple gunshot victims surfaced shortly after, according to a news release.

There were a total of five gunshot victims. Two men were found suffering from non-life-threatening injuries. One man whom police identified as Devon M. Harris, 25, of Portsmouth was pronounced dead at the scene.

Officers also discovered Jenkins at the scene. She was suffering from a life-threatening gunshot wound and taken to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital where she was later pronounced dead.

Pilot reporter Jane Harper reported Saturday that Jenkins' was scheduled to cover a breaking news shift Saturday. The newsroom tried to get in touch with her and eventually asked another reporter to fill in, it wasnt long after that the Pilot learned of her death.

Sierra was a bright and talented woman with so much going for her. Her passion for journalism was undeniable and our community is better because of her reporting, said Kris Worrell, editor-in-chief of Virginia Media. Sierra was funny and energetic and full of enthusiasm. We are absolutely heartbroken.

Jenkins grew up in Norfolk. As a graduate of Granby High School, she went on to earn a journalism degree from Georgia State University. Before reporting on education policy, she covered breaking news for the Pilot and had worked there since December 2020.

As homicide detectives continue their investigation, police ask anyone with information about this incident to contact the Norfolk Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP or submit a tip through the P3Tips mobile app.

Police have not announced any arrests in relation to this incident.
Virginia Democrats on Saturday overwhelmingly elected Susan Swecker to another four-year term as the partys chairwoman.

Swecker, chairwoman since 2015, received nearly 80% of the tally from the partys State Central Committee in a virtual convention, with 213 votes to 31 for Josh Stanfield, head of Activate Virginia, and 24 for Jim McBride, a member of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee.

Thank you Virginia Democrats for re-electing me as your Chairwoman, Swecker said on Twitter. I hope to make you proud.

Swecker prevailed despite the partys election losses last fall as Glenn Youngkin led a GOP sweep for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general. Republicans, who had not won a statewide contest in Virginia since 2009, also gained control of the Virginia House of Delegates, taking a 52-48 edge.

During much of her seven-year tenure, Democrats held the governorship under Terry McAuliffe and Ralph Northam. Amid pushback to the Donald Trump presidency, Democrats also took majorities in the states U.S. House delegation and in the General Assembly before Republicans took back the House of Delegates in the November election.

In 2015, Swecker took over the position as the partys leader that then-Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones had held for about a year.

Swecker, originally from Highland County, has been a fixture in state Democratic politics for more than 40 years. She became chair of the Highland County Democratic Party at 22 and says her first paid job in Virginia politics came when she worked in Virginia for President Jimmy Carters re-election bid in 1980.

A member of the Democratic National Committee, Swecker was executive director of the state Democratic Party from 1986 to 1988. She directed John Kerrys Virginia presidential campaign in 2004 and backed Hillary Clintons bid for the 2008 Democratic nomination.

Other officials the Democrats elected to posts Saturday are:

Gaylene Kanoyton, first vice chair for organization;

Marc Broklawski, second vice chair for rules;

Ricardo Alfaro, vice chair for technology and communications;

Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, vice chair for outreach;

Clarence Tong, vice chair for finance;

Isaac Sarver, secretary; and

Abbie Easter, treasurer.
The inevitable has happened: Virginias behavioral health system has been sued. The petition, filed by the Giles County Department of Social Services, alleges that due to a violation of [the states] Mandatory Admission Provisions a child in foster care spent four days in police custody despite a temporary detention order requiring her involuntary admission to the commonwealths public psychiatric hospital for children and adolescents.

Virginias involuntary psychiatric treatment law is unique among the 50 states: It requires state facilities to accept any patient declined admission by private hospitals. Simultaneously facing record-high patient populations and record-low staffing levels, the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services began suspending admissions to state hospitals in the summer of 2021. As a result, people experiencing mental health crises have been handcuffed to gurneys in emergency departments for days, only to eventually be released without receiving any mental health treatment.

In May 2021, I began warning members of the General Assembly that a lawsuit was imminent. Virginias legal exposure results not only from admission freezes at state hospitals, but also from people being kept in police custody  deprived of their liberty  for periods of time which exceed that allowed by law.

While the lawsuit only addresses the former complaint, it is the latter that carries the greatest legal liability. The state is not required to have a system of involuntary treatment, but when the state does provide involuntary hospitalization, it must do so in accordance with the legal process it has adopted.

The weakness of Giles Countys petition is its sole focus on harm that could have occurred as a result of nonadmission. The lawsuit states: The ... violation of Virginias Mandatory Admission Provisions constitutes a clear and present danger to [those] subject to temporary detention orders and other persons who may be harmed by the actions of [those] who are not admitted for treatment as ordered.

By basing the lawsuit on likelihood of harm, Giles County has presented DBHDS with the strong argument that it is more dangerous to admit a person to involuntary treatment when staffing levels are inadequate to ensure patient safety than it is to deny admission under such circumstances.

There is precedence for this argument: The Virginia Department of Corrections has a history of refusing to receive inmates from local jails by the legal timeline when doing so would result in overcrowded, and unsafe, state prisons. Thus, the statutory shall is read as directory, rather than as mandatory. I imagine DBHDS will make the same argument here.

Regardless of the outcome of Giles Countys petition, what is undeniable is that its a symptom of a collapsed mental health service system. While reflexive responses of Virginia must build more hospital beds or scrap the whole system and start from scratch are understandable, they fail to acknowledge the commonwealth already has the third-highest number of inpatient psychiatric beds on a per capita basis; and if Virginia continues to underfund mental health care at the extent it has for decades, no new system will result in better outcomes.

Virginia is the 10th wealthiest state in the country, but it ranks 39th in per capita spending on community-based public mental health services. Annual spending on mental health services in the commonwealth would need to double to also have the 10th best funded mental health care system.

Until Virginia is willing to make an investment of that magnitude, additional lawsuits and preventable tragedies are inevitable. I was heartened to read Gov. Glenn Youngkins recent opinion piece in The Washington Times, where he promised to bolster behavioral health services and called on the commonwealth to strive for a best-in-class [mental health care] system that serves all Virginians.

Current state revenue streams are insufficient to achieve these goals set forth by the governor. Novel funding sources, such updating Virginias century-old tax code must be found. This includes initiating a tax on consumer services and adopting a progressive income tax structure.

Building more hospital beds does not result in preventing the need for hospitalization. Thankfully, there is a robust body of research identifying interventions that do. Evidence-based treatment such as assertive community treatment, intensive outpatient treatment and 23-hour crisis receiving centers are community-based services proven to dramatically reduce the incidence of hospitalization.

Unfortunately, inadequate funding means most Virginians who need these services cannot access them. People with mental illnesses deserve prompt access to culturally competent and evidence-based services in their home communities, no matter where they live in the commonwealth. It is time for our elected leaders to make this happen. All it takes is money and political will.
Enjoy Tuesday. It will be several days before we have a day this nice again.

The damaging thunderstorms that will make headlines along the Gulf Coast on Tuesday and Tuesday evening are not likely to make it as far north as Virginia. But the larger system producing those storms does make its mark here on Wednesday.

Wednesday is not a full washout in Richmond, but several rounds of showers will go through, primarily in the morning and early afternoon. A gusty thunderstorm cannot be ruled out just yet for the latter part of the day, but increasingly, it looks like most of the energy to develop those storms will remain much farther south. Aside from the rain, a south breeze keeps clouds in place for much of the day as afternoon temperatures nudge into the 60s.

Thursday through the weekend does not look especially wet, but it does look progressively colder, which may finish with an especially cold night on Sunday. The colder air does not come in a single blast, but rather in little pieces starting Thursday night, as afternoon temperatures retreat into the mid 60s Friday and then the 50s for the weekend. There are signs of some chilly showers passing in and out a couple of times Saturday, but nothing that looks consistent enough to make a change of plans yet.

The gusty winds will return this weekend, making it feel like the 40s during the afternoons of both Saturday and Sunday, so make plans to stay warm if you are heading to some of the outdoor festivals planned in and around Richmond.

While still a few days away, the evolving weather pattern suggests a frost or freeze on Sunday night into Monday morning. If youve been thinking about some outdoor planting, its a good idea to wait a little longer. Warm weather fans have quietly been spoiled recently. Through the first three weeks of the month, March is averaging 5 degrees above normal.

The cold spell coming this weekend is not a sign of things to come for the following week. Most of the data suggest that the last couple of days of March will be closer to normal. Normal highs at the end of March are in the middle 60s. Normal lows are in the lower 40s.

Climate check

Phil Klotzbach, a well-respected tropical meteorology research scientist at Colorado State University, led a new 30-year analysis on hurricanes that was published Monday.

Klotzbach and the team examined all tropical cyclones (the more standardized name for hurricanes and typhoons) globally from 1990-2021 and found some trends in the data that much of the meteorological community has suspected anecdotally.

The total number of storms reaching hurricane status is decreasing globally, largely driven by the decrease in their numbers in the western North Pacific Ocean, where they are most common. This is primarily due to the more prevalent La Nina conditions in the Pacific Ocean over the past 30 years, which leads to less favorable formation conditions there.

Globally, short-lived named storms, those with a lifespan of two days or less, have increased, which Klotzbach and the team attribute to better satellite detection technologies.

However, even with the decreased number of total storms reaching hurricane status, the number of storms reaching Category 4-5, with winds of at least 130 mph, has not changed. This means that as a percentage of total storms, the number of Category 4-5 storms has been increasing since 1990. This last point is most consistent with the current state of climate science as reported by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2021. It reads:

The proportion of intense tropical cyclones (Category 45) and peak wind speeds of the most intense tropical cyclones are projected to increase at the global scale with increasing global warming (high confidence).

Another striking finding, also consistent with a warming climate, is a significant increase in the number of storms that intensify very rapidly. Globally, there was not much change in the frequency of storms increasing their maximum wind speed by 35 mph (30 knots) in less than 24 hours. But moving that threshold up to 58 mph (50 knots) in 24 hours, finds a significant increase, from an average of 18 in 1990 to more than 30 in 2021.

It is important to remember each individual hurricane season has different drivers, especially in the Atlantic where the variability from year-to-year is so large. Not every hurricane season will be worse than the previous one, but when summed up over the last 30 years and added to the massive amount of coastal development, human vulnerability to tropical cyclones is undoubtedly on the rise.

The Colorado State team will issue its first outlook for the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season on April 7. You can learn more about how they develop their outlooks at the CSU Tropical Meteorology Project, and follow Klotzbach on Twitter: @philklotzbach
Ricky Gardner has worked full time as a freelance food delivery driver for almost 10 years  longer than most major services have had a presence in the Research Triangle region of North Carolina.

But soaring gas prices could force him out of the industry.

Ask me in a week and Ill let you know if I can keep doing this, he said. I think were going to be losing a lot of drivers who cant afford to fill up.

Average gas prices in North Carolina have topped $4 per gallon for the first time in 14 years. Russias invasion of Ukraine has disrupted global oil prices as pandemic-crippled supply chains face further complications.

Fuel costs wont stabilize any time soon, experts predict, and transportation services may suffer.

Unfortunately this isnt the end of seeing prices rise at the pump, AAA spokeswoman Tiffany Wright previously said in a statement. Sanctions and regulations against Russia have limited its ability to sell its oil on the global market, which has intensified global supply concerns in what was already a tight market due to the pandemic.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemics undulating presence over the last two years  oscillating between hard lock downs and optimistic reopenings  home delivery services have kept many small businesses afloat. Companies such as DoorDash, Grubhub, Uber Eats, Postmates and Takeout Central connected restaurateurs with their customers when in-person interchange was frowned upon or banned.

Such operations are still booming despite lifts on restaurant capacity limits, but rising gas prices could thin the driver pool. Gardner  who spent about eight years with 919 Dine in Cary, North Carolina before joining Takeout Central, based in Chapel Hill  said fuel costs whittle away at drivers bottom lines.

Its going to hurt us, he said. If the company paid for gas itd be a different story, but we do. So its coming out of my income.

Uber Eats driver Malaysia Odom echoed Garners sentiment.

It hurts because youre using the money you make today to put gas in your car for tomorrow, she said.

Several companies said theyre investigating ways to retain their workers, perhaps raising delivery fees and other costs to forestall the looming driver shortage.

With gas prices as high as they are, every dollar counts, said Zach Greenberger, head of strategic business development and global supply management at Lyft.

Lyft will add a fuel surcharge of 55 cents to each ride given by drivers to offset surging gasoline prices.

The company said earlier this week that it would be following DoorDash and Uber who also announced surcharges this week, and on Wednesday it released details of its plan.

The company said in a blog post that the surcharge will be effective beginning next week, with all of the money going directly to its drivers. The measure will remain in place for at least the next 60 days, Lyft said.

Takeout Central spokesperson Sarah Lynn said the company hopes to shore up driver income, even if service costs increase.

Were currently drafting up a longer-term plan to help sustain drivers while gas prices are inflated, which may include temporarily increasing our delivery fee, which always goes 100% to drivers, she said. We want to best support our loyal drivers without putting the burden on customers, so the first step were taking is giving a bonus immediately to our consistent drivers who are suffering the most from rising prices. This is coming straight from Takeout Central....

Lyft, an app-based taxi and food delivery service, is enacting new rewards programs to save drivers money.

We care deeply about the driver experience and weve taken concrete steps to help, given rising gas prices, said company spokesperson C.J. Macklin. Our investments in programs like our GetUpside partnership and the Lyft Direct cash back debit card are designed to directly save drivers money at the pump. Well continue to explore other ways to help the driver community.

Doordash spokesman Eli Scheinholtz said dashers, the companys drivers, have always earned 2% cash back at the pump and can access discounted maintenance services for their vehicles. He did not indicate whether the company had immediate plans to adjust driver compensation in response to increasing fuel prices.

But as much as we fill up, its getting to be hard to see the profit, said Gardner, who refills his tank every two days on average. In the past, it cost him about $150 a week. That expense could nearly double as prices trend toward $5 per gallon.

So I dont know  does that mean people will be getting their stuff slower because there arent as many drivers? Gardner said. I dont know, maybe. But I know its another annoying way that everything is costing too much money these days.

Delivery company DoorDash said Tuesday it will refund its drivers for some U.S. gasoline purchases to help offset higher prices at the pump.

DoorDash said it will give drivers 10% cash back when they buy gas using DasherDirect, the companys debit card designed for drivers. Drivers will get the cash back for any gas purchase, whether or not they are completing deliveries at the time.

The San Francisco-based company said it will also start paying weekly bonuses for drivers who drive the most miles. Drivers who travel 225 miles will earn an extra $15, for example.

Gig companies are increasingly concerned about the impact of higher gas prices on their drivers. Earlier this week, Uber said it would start charging customers a fuel fee to offset higher costs for its delivery and ride-hailing drivers.

DoorDash said it isnt passing its costs on to customers right now. Its programs are scheduled to run through April.

The Associated Press contributed information to this report.
Christiansburg Institute Executive Director Chris Sanchez believes the work represented by three new wayside signs on history in downtown Christiansburg are just as important as their content.

The signs each contain historical information educating readers about a different aspect of Montgomery County African American history  one focused on slavery in Montgomery County, another on education and the last on community life.

Their purpose and design was to be to chronicle what was happening in the African American communities in Montgomery County along the same timeline as the commemorations of this monument to the sons of Montgomery families who were killed during the Civil War, Christiansburg resident and Carilion Clinic Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer Nathaniel L. Bishop said to the crowd gathered on Sunday afternoon for the unveiling of the three signs.

As he spoke, Bishop gestured to two other landmarks on the square near the United States Postal Service office, 2 E. Main St.: The Constitution Oak  planted to celebrate the states destruction of voting rights for black Virginians  and the Confederate monument.

The signs unveiled on Sunday are the culmination of a four-year-long effort.

In 2018, the Christiansburg Institute (CI), Montgomery Museum of Art & History and local community members began coalescing for what would become the Truth & Reconciliation Coalition: African American Memory & Storyboard Project, overseen by a joint committee including Montgomery Museum Executive Director Casey Jenkins, Sanchez, and other representatives from the CI, Montgomery Museum and community.

The content of the signs was compiled over the next few years.

2018 to 2021, that represents committee meetings monthly, researching, oral interviews, genealogy, going out in the community and conducting onsite research, Sanchez told The Roanoke Times. ...All the historical information, from the text and its curation to all of the images, which came from either our archival collection at CI or the Montgomery Museums collection.

Sanchez said the project involved a lot of tough but important conversations.

The research happened adjacent to conversations about what this means  what it means in the state of Virginia, what it means for Montgomery County  just as other monuments in Richmond were being blasted across the national scene, people were talking about Confederate monuments. This was all happening, Sanchez said. ...This happened when George Floyd was murdered, this happened throughout a series of massive powder keg racial events in the American public and the American life.

Sanchez said the projects focus quickly shifted from the Confederate monument on the square to telling a fuller story by including signs detailing the communitys African American history.

The Christiansburg Town Council approved the project at a town council meeting in 2021 and the town put in a new walkway while the CI and museum worked on fundraising for the signs.

The storyboard project and getting the storyboards up is a massive victory, its a huge celebration, but the conversations and the healing that happened on the community level to get the storyboards up is whats also extremely important, Sanchez said. It took the Black community and the white community coming together  local community members, elected officials and this town government  saying, Yes, this is part of our story. And that was a huge inter-generational moment.

The signs are up for all to view, but that doesnt necessarily mean the square is complete.

The way we have this configured here is we can bring more storyboards into the space as well an art piece, Jenkins said. And all of that would be informed by making sure we have the same voices around the table.

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Before bidding farewell to Samuel Aldrich Crozer, one of Roanokes pioneering industrial magnates, some final keystrokes remain to be applied to that chapter of his biography and the accompanying history of his enterprises in this part of the world.

Crozer, a visionary 19th century Philadelphia-area investor, had interests here that included iron and steel manufacture, mining, railroads, and real estate. Crozers operations were touched on in a previous column.

There it was pointed out that in addition to his vast skills in entrepreneurship and predicting business trends, he was a man of exceptional piety whose contributions in both cash and kind to assorted charities associated with the Baptist faith were legion.

Which brings us to the May 31, 1883, grand opening of the Crozer furnace built in southeast Roanoke, just east of the Norfolk & Western Railway shops. The location of the furnace was not far from the confluence of Tinker and Glade creeks.

Noting Raymond Barnes July 30, 1960, Roanoke World-News recapitulation of the furnace opening, two populations of celebrants reported present that day were not likely to have met the approval of the new plants owner or others of a similarly religious mind.

On the moment the oven was first fired some of the fundamentalists present viewed with satisfaction this sample of what the drunks weaving in and out of the crowd could expect hereafter unless reformation set in promptly.

That there were individuals known to be partial to strong libation present should be of no surprise to anybody familiar with the copious historical accounts of the young boomtowns sodden patronage of its sprawling saloon scene.

Most of the usual vices were contained on the Salem Avenue corridor that was the heart of Roanokes merry-making district. Yet remarkably, the vice available was sometimes inadequate to the occasion and resupply had to be sought elsewhere.

Evidently such was the case for the grand opening of Crozers furnace operation.

Frowns were directed by the more serious-minded at gay ladies sent to Roanoke by madams of Lynchburg to lend their charms to the celebration, Barnes wrote.

Local services must have been under pressure on account of the crush of out-of-town dignitaries present for the grand opening. One such dignitary most certainly not on the aforementioned list was Crozers daughter, on hand for mistress of ceremonies duties for first firing of the furnace.

Because she was the honorary torchbearer suggests she had been sent to serve as her fathers representative for the occasion. If Samuel A. Crozer was present that day, Barnes left out any mention of it that may have been contained in contemporary accounts he sourced for his column.

It is unclear whether the elder Crozer was ever in Roanoke for any length of time. Given that he was known as a meticulous businessman  the evidence being the vast multistate fortune he amassed  its hard to imagine he didnt stop by Roanoke to check on his holdings at some point.

The local holdings were impressive. Details were provided in an excerpt from The Virginias: A Mining, Industrial, and Scientific Journal Devoted to the Development of Virginia and West Virginia, Volume 3, June 1882 unearthed by Dyron Knick at the Virginia Room of the Roanoke Library.

Plant construction was contracted by Witherow & Gordon of Pittsburgh working according to the most modern and improved plan. Three Whitwell patent hot blast furnace stoves 18 feet in diameter and 65-feet tall with 10 2-inch flues and boilers 34 feet long, 46 inches in diameter.

A 75-by-150 foot stock house was a central structure with the ore and coke hoisted from there to the top of the oven by means of what was described as a set of Cranes automatic engines. Other brick structures included cast and engine houses. The cast house required a 150 by 50 foot iron roof.

A 60-foot chimney, 8 feet in girth, handled the exhaust.

The present plant is being built in such a manner that, should occasion require it, the building can be doubled in size.

One-hundred tons of pig iron per day was the plants initial production capacity with a labor force of 150 hands necessary to do it.

Raw materials would come from Crozer mines on Cripple Creek in Wythe County, elsewhere in Washington County, and material produced through ore rights at the old Cloverdale furnace mines in nearby Botetourt County.

The same publication that reported on the Crozer project also introduced news of another new furnace to be located on property written about here before, the Oliver farm on Tinker Creek. Investors named Van Vorhis and Stetson from New York had bought the iron lands of the farm there to build a furnace for the production of mill iron.

That project, which was predicted to operate on an extensive scale, and other similar operations were soon coming to the area, the journal reported. With that came a further prediction that matched a similar claim for another locality in the region in this case that Roanoke would become the Pittsburgh of the South, not in name only, but in fact.

Other predictions had held that Glasgow, a town in Rockbridge County of the same era, would be the new Pittsburgh of the South because of many of the same attributes that prompted the same prediction for the Roanoke Valley. The boom and bust of Glasgow was a topic for another column here.

As we now know, neither grandiose prophesy came true. Glasgow and Roanoke turned out all right anyway.

If youve been wondering about something, call Whats on Your Mind? at 777-6476 or send an email to whatsonyourmind@roanoke.com. Dont forget to provide your full name (and its proper spelling if by phone) and hometown.
DANVILLE  People who fly agree it is an amazing experience that never gets old.

However, theres a vast gender gap. In 2020, men comprised nearly 94% of active-duty pilots, according to Air Force Personnel Center data from October 2020. The numbers are similar for airline pilots and even drones (also known as small unmanned aircraft systems).

The Danville Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol is trying to bridge that gap.

Katherine Kit Lippert, a Danville nurse, was working in intensive care when a patient revealed her husband had experienced a heart attack and died while he was flying their airplane, and the patient landed the plane safely.

That day, Lippert decided she would learn to fly because she often flew with her pilot husband. It was an easy decision because she grew up around airplane talk.

My father flew in WWII and my mother was a flight instructor prior to getting married, she said.

She used to fly from Ohio to Missouri to go to college. One of her students, John Lane, started an airport and big training facility in Lebanon, Ohio.

Lippert has flown for decades and is now known as Maj. Kit Lippert, instructor pilot for the Danville Squadron of Civil Air Patrol, the Auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force.

She says the most challenging part about learning to fly was the studying part and attempting to understand weather.

Upset recovery flights and spinning the plane are the parts she enjoyed most.

Upset recovery is when a pilot learns how to get the plane out of inadvertent spins and unusual attitudes and get it level again, she said.

What Lippert had that most young women dont have was inspiration from others, and a female role model: a mother who was a pilot.

Encouragement

When another female pilot, Charlene Sufficool, first got to the U.S. Air Force Academy in 2012, she wanted to be an engineer or work in Intel. Her father was a mechanic for the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds flying team, but it never occurred to her that she could be a pilot.

I never really thought of it as a possibility for me, she said.

But one of her commanders kept encouraging her.

He was like, No, really, I think you could be a female fighter pilot, she said.

His insistence changed her career goals. Now, Capt. Sufficool flies A-10 jets with the 354th Fighter Squadron at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona.

It took a commander who believed in me as a woman to help me see what I could be, she said, and for me to believe in myself.

Again, confidence and inspiration from an outside source.

I feel free

Danville Civil Air Patrol Cadet Second Lt. Kayleigh Morris, a teenager, recently flew solo as a part of her flight training  a result of role models and encouragement from people who believed in her.

She had seen the squadrons flight instructor is a woman.

My Papa wanted to get his pilots license when he was in the Army, she said. But he didnt get to.

And what does this youthful pilot experience when she flies?

I feel free, she explained. Like nothing else in the world matters at that point in time. And I can just fly. Just being where the clouds are and looking down at Gods creation. And seeing how beautiful it is.

Morris also has earned a Civil Air Patrol recreational drone pilot qualification.

She also has female role model: her mother. Capt. Kristie Morris is an accomplished drone pilot who has earned multiple Civil Air Patrol drone pilot ratings as well as an FAA drone pilot license.

She is the director of operations for Civil Air Patrols drome program for the Virginia Wing and is helping move the needle in terms of using drones as a method of getting youth and adults  especially young women  interested in aviation and the STEM subjects that are involved in learning to fly drones.

Drones as entry point

Drones are a powerful entry point for getting youth interested in aviation.

Morris knows that often young women arent taught they are capable of being as good  or better  than the boys in aviation and STEM fields. In her previous experience as an apprentice coordinator for Southside Virginia Community College, Morris saw firsthand the critical need to encourage females to pursue STEM careers.

Currently Morris provides vendor support for Microsofts Girls in Engineering and Career Pathways for Women in Tech events.

Drones are  versatile and exploding with new technology  are reinventing certain areas of military tactics, delivery systems, agricultural aerial quality control, search and rescue, damage assessment after catastrophic weather events and anything else that needs to be observed lower and slower than airplanes can fly.

Females who learn to fly drones can have a rewarding career where female pilot participation is low and underestimated.

The Civil Air Patrol uses multiple platforms to broaden teenagers knowledge and confidence about careers. They use airplanes, drones, rockets, robotic, and other attention-getting aerospace education kits that are also available to schools, including homeschool teachers.

The Squadron meets Tuesday evenings at Danville Regional Airport.

Learn more online at https://vawg.cap.gov/units/danville.
Senators of the Roanoke and New River valleys passed more bills through the Virginia General Assembly this winter compared to their regional counterparts in the House of Delegates, though numbers alone understate the variety of laws made.

Looking at legislators who represent areas in and around the Roanoke and New River valleys, seven senators batted a collective .512 this assembly session, with 64 of their 125 bills receiving favorable final votes from both chambers.

In the other chamber, 11 delegates shot almost 40% from the House floor during the 2022 lawmaking session, completing passage through both chambers of 60 out of 151 introduced bills, according to a count by The Roanoke Times.

The 140-member state legislature as a whole passed about 40% of its bills during this session, according to data from the Virginia Public Access Project. In total, almost 900 bills out of 2,250 introduced survived both chambers, VPAP data shows.

Heres a look at some of the regional delegations bills that survived the General Assembly this year:

Crypto currency continues its emergence as a financial force, with Del. Chris Head, R-Botetourt, leading passage of House Bill 263, allowing banks the option to handle customers virtual currencies, like Bitcoin and Ethereum. The legislation is good business, Head said, keeping current with similar laws in states like Texas.

As were moving into cyber currency being so much of the asset base for so many people right now, the only place that you can work through is something in the cloud, or buy your own piece of hardware to keep your keys that way, Head said of current crypto storage methods. But if you want to have a third party to do that, that you can trust  this would give banks the opportunity.

Head also aided passage of a few bills intended to combat staffing shortages among healthcare workers during times of public health emergency.

Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath, saw passage of a few bills intended to fill gaps in the states mental health care system. He has long championed the cause of improving mental health care in Virginia.

We have to focus on building out the best public system we can. The reality is that that we have a long way to go, Deeds said. The overall approach to me is a whole lot more important than the specific bills.

Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin County, had several bills passed to protect animals. Its a cause he takes up every session, he said during an interview this week.

If I had to sum up the General Assembly session in a sentence, Id say: the more things change, the more they stay the same,  Stanley said.

Localities are required to post their approved meeting minutes online, according to the only bill introduced by Del. Marie March, R-Floyd, that cleared both chambers.

My most simple bill did make it through, March said Friday. Ill probably be carrying some more [Freedom of Information Act] bills. Thats something that Republicans and Democrats agree on.

Patrick County will assess the potential for reopening its only hospital, in accordance with a bill by Del. Wren Williams, R-Patrick. The 25-bed critical access hospital has been shuttered since 2017.

Roanoke County this winter requested the option to return surplus property tax to its citizens, after collecting a $14 million budget surplus in 2021. Both Republicans representing Roanoke County, Sen. David Suetterlein and Del. Joe McNamara, had bills passed allowing localities to return property tax.

McNamara also introduced a bill to eliminate the states 2.5% grocery tax, but that legislation is still undecided, left in conference to be discussed when the legislature reconvenes again, likely soon.

Suetterlein was also patron to a bill that limits the duration of any executive order issued by the governor, capping it at 45 days. Several other bills to curtail the powers of the governor during an emergency were passed by the General Assembly this year.

Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, and Del. Terry Austin, R-Botetourt, both introduced successful bills to remove a requirement for the Department of Wildlife Resources to charge fees for public use of boat ramps. But an impact statement attached to those bills says DWR has yet to implement any fee requirements.

Austin was also patron to a bill that establishes parameters for college athletes to be paid for commercial use of their name, image and likeness, in line with other states that have done similarly.

Another bill from Austin designates a portion of U.S. 220 in Botetourt County as Norvel LaFallette Ray Lee Memorial Highway, named after the Tuskegee Airman, World War II veteran and gold medal boxer born in Eagle Rock in 1924.

Not included in the count of bills, a resolution by Del. Les Adams, R-Pittsylvania, designates October as local history month.

Another House Resolution co-signed by several regional delegates was passed to condemn the Chinese Communist Party for persecuting people who partake in a spiritual practice called Falun Gong. Since 1999, Falun Gong practitioners have endured Chinese state-sanctioned torture, detainment, forced labor and organ harvesting, according to HR 9, signed by Head, March, McNamara and Williams.

Some of the legislation that passed both houses is already signed by the governor, while much still awaits final approval.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin has a deadline of April 11 to sign many of the bills into law, or he can amend a bill for the legislature to reconsider when it reconvenes for whats commonly known as the veto session, scheduled for April 27.

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LYNCHBURG  A woman who lives in Lynchburg and has family in Ukraine, with support from the restaurant where she works, has spent the past few weeks raising money and awareness to help her relatives and other individuals affected by the devastating war in Ukraine.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, Angela Brustle said the ensuing war has been devastating to watch  and concern for the safety of her many aunts, uncles and cousins, who either have fled or are trying to flee the country, or are sheltering in place, has been a heavy burden.

Watching this all kind of unfold, and being here, it can kind of feel helpless, Brustle said. Its horrible watching it on the news. Its horrible hearing it from my family members, whats going on. The situations very tense right now, so I feel like in the present moment, while they might be OK right now if I called them, tonight there might be a strike. So its just, you dont really know whats going to happen, and you dont know where its going to happen. Youre just kind of sitting on the edge of your seat and just praying for safety for everybody.

Brustles parents moved to upstate New York in the 1990s in hopes of creating a better life with more opportunity for themselves and their growing family following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The 24-year-old was the first in her family to be born in the United States, but Brustle said she was raised heavily connected to her Ukrainian cultural and ethnic heritage.

I definitely grew up in Ukrainian culture, having both of my parents speaking Russian and Ukrainian in our home. That was my first language growing up. They did a lot to implement our culture into our household, Brustle said.

She visited her relatives and friends in Ukraine every couple of years growing up, as often as her family of five could make the trip. Their last visit was in 2019.

Brustle moved to Lynchburg in 2015 and entered nursing school at Liberty University, where she has one year of the program left. After settling into the area, she took a job as a server at Isabellas Italian Trattoria restaurant in the Boonsboro Shopping Center.

Cheri Barauskas, owner of Isabellas, which was founded 22 years ago, saw how the war and fear for family and friends safety was affecting Brustle. Driven by empathy for her employee and Ukrainians as fellow humans, Barauskas asked Brustle how she could help.

Within a week of the invasion, the restaurant launched a fundraising initiative  called Angelas Ukraine Family Fund  that donates money directly to Brustles family members in Ukraine. This way, Barauskas explained, all funds are ensured to go fully toward humanitarian aid and relief, allowing the family to use the money as they see fit.

Initially, Isabellas pledged to match donations received up to $2,000, but the restaurant quickly exceeded that goal, Barauskas said. Checks will be written and sent weekly to Brustles family in Ukraine as long as the drive continues.

One hundred percent of the funds are going to the family. The family will make the decisions about how to distribute and get the funds to the family members in need in Ukraine, she said. Whatever resources are given to this family, I know the familys going to use them in the best way to help their community.

Barauskas said running the fundraiser provides an opportunity for local people to do something to help in a tragic situation.

The Lynchburg communitys support and generosity has been tremendous, Brustle and Barauskas said. Customers have donated money and have offered basement apartments in their homes if any of Brustles family members or other Ukrainian refugees can make it to the area.

Already, Brustles family has received some of the money.

Since my familys already been able to receive some of the funds, theyre blown away by the generosity, she said. Its been really nice to be able to help them in this one way. It seems like its not much, but to them, its a lot. Its a huge deal that our community is thinking about them, and theyre very, very grateful to Isabellas and Lynchburg.

Food, water and other supplies are some of the things this money has provided so far, Brustle said.

After she finishes her current semester of nursing school at LU, Brustle hopes to travel to Poland and work with refugees and humanitarian efforts. One of her two older brothers already is on the ground there, along with his wife, who is a counselor, she said. They are learning what the needs are and lending help any way they can, working with an international Christian ministry called Word of Life.

Theyve put together bags of resources for women and children who have gone through trauma, like coloring books, and just things to pass out, Brustle said.

Her other brother, Andrew Moroz, a teaching and vision pastor at Gospel Community Church in Lynchburg who shared his story with The News & Advance in an article published earlier this month, hopes to go to Poland soon as well, Brustle said.

One of Brustles cousins, who was fleeing to Poland a couple weeks ago in news initially shared by Moroz, arrived safely across the border with her two children.

I talked to her just the other day and just kind of asked her what she does during the day, Brustle said. Every morning, she wakes up, she watches the news, she checks in with all of her neighbors and all of our family thats still there. Theyre very strong. She keeps telling me that shes OK, and its all going to be OK, but its hard. Its hard to even hear that.

Meanwhile, another cousin who is sheltering in place told Brustle they had lost electricity twice during the week, and do not think the war will be over anytime soon.

At this point, Barauskas said Isabellas fundraising will continue indefinitely. Even after the war, it will take years to rebuild, and the business aims to help financially as much as it can.

The need will be there for years to come, Barauskas said.

Donations can be made at Isabellas restaurant or by calling (434) 385-1660.
SPOTSYLVANIA  Of all the places to find an insider on Russian politics, particularly one who knows what makes President Vladimir Putin tick, who would have thought to look in the woods of Spotsylvania County?

For there, in a $1.6 million home with lakefront views and bookcases stacked 10 shelves high  as well as walls decorated with photos of people and places from around the world  lives Franz J. Sedelmayer. Born and educated in Germany, he also graduated from the University of Utah, served in the German Army Airborne, then joined the family business, selling defense products.

But perhaps the greatest schooling the 58-year-old received came in the 1990s, during the seven years he did business with the Russian Federation. Convinced that counterterrorism was a growing  and lucrative  field and that Russia was more open to business, thanks to the policies of then-President Mikhail Gorbachev, Sedelmayer made a bid to teach special operations tactics to Russian police forces.

And he was successful, thanks in part to relationships built and friends made, including Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, a former KGB officer who was deputy mayor of St. Petersburg at the time.

He used to be a guy like us, right up our avenue, he was a reliable person to deal with in my days in St. Petersburg, Sedelmayer said in a 2021 video. He was one of the guys who was a handshake guy. We agreed on something with him and it would be done.

But Sedelmayer would see with his own eyes  and through the devastation to his own business bank account  how Putin changed as he rose to power. How that absolute power morphed into corruption as the man nicknamed Volodya was willing to do whatever it took to retain his chokehold.

It didnt happen all at once, but slowly and steadily, as Putin chipped away at the foundations of a free society, Sedelmayer said. He created a Russia that not only has bombed the military and civilian targets of its neighbor, Ukraine, but also punished its own citizens who protest the action. Anyone who even mentions war and peace can be arrested, said Sedelmayer, who keeps in touch with associates in both countries and throughout Europe.

Where Putin is today was unthinkable 20 years ago, he said.

Last year, Sedelmayer predicted that Putin  who in previous campaigns seized land from the country of Georgia and the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine while the world watched  would continue to flex his muscles whenever he needed to drum up support at home.

We can expect a lot more violence to come in the next years, Sedelmayer said in 2021.

Killing everything

Sedelmayer was more than an observer of Russian-style tactics, which he said at times made him feel like he was caught in an episode of The Sopranos, an HBO series about a New Jersey crime family.

He was a victim of their way of doing business  or at least the authorities tried to make him one. After hed built a successful business, SGC International, Sedelmayer equipped and trained police forces, including the KGBs first SWAT team based on Western principles.

In those days, all [Russian] law enforcement were military people, Sedelmayer said during an interview at his home. You see they havent changed their tactics, theyre bombing everything in [Ukraine], theyre killing everything on the ground. Thats their understanding of a surgical strike.

Likewise, police would kill everyone  including hostages in such situations  and consider the operation successful, he said.

Our mission became to introduce them to Western-style modern law enforcement. So any piece of equipment we sold came with training, including how to put on handcuffs because most Russian cops didnt even have handcuffs in those days, he said. They were tying them up with wires or rope, it was like the Middle Ages. They had cars that wouldnt run, crime labs that didnt work, it was just a complete disaster.

As his company progressed, the local police force wanted a piece of the financial pie and tried to take over his business. Sedelmayer appealed to Putin because the two had spent scores of hours together when the German first did business in Russia, Sedelmayer wrote in a 2019 opinion piece for The New York Times.

He sat in my headquarters on Stone Island as we conversed, in the almost-perfect German he likes to speak, over beer and Bavarian food. My trust in those early days was based on the fact that he acted rationally and appeared to be sincere in his interest in St. Petersburg, Sedelmayer wrote. Putin signed the registration papers for my security company and personally registered them. He advised and counseled me. He helped me expand my business.

But when his business was threatened, Putin turned a blind eye. Even though Sedelmayer had signed a 25-year lease on his military training compound, then-President Boris Yeltsin seized it for use as a state retreat.

Putin let it happen, Sedelmayer said, because by then, he had taken a Kremlin post and was on his rise to power.

A determination

The German businessman wasnt about to sit by and do nothing. Sedelmayer sued the Russian Federation, which others had tried but hadnt succeeded because the country always claimed sovereign immunity.

Sedelmayer not only won his case but he also received a settlement of more than $7 million from Russia  almost three times the amount for which he had originally sued.

He became the only man to collect money from Vladimir Putin, according to the subtitle of the book Welcome to Putingrad. He and John Weisman, a regular on the New York Times bestseller list, wrote it in 2017 after Sedelmayer got his last payment from Russia.

Its both a compelling narrative  humorous at times and borderline terrifying at others  as well as look at the mindset and collective memory of a people whose leaders historically have ruled with a hammer. Its also a story thats particularly relevant these days, said Paul Miller, who lives in the same lakefront neighborhood as Sedelmayer.

Franz is a talker, outgoing, its what he does, as he brings people together by connecting them and has a determination to get things done, Miller said. Franz is a good friend and great neighbor.

Miller said Sedelmayer shares a trait with the late Colin Powell, Army officer and former secretary of state. He believes in looking into things for himself and is careful with experts, who as Powell said, sometimes have more data than judgment.

Superman lost

He took his case to a Stockholm arbitration court, but it was hardly one-and-done. Part of Russias successful campaign to avoid payouts included wearing down its opponents.

Sedelmayer faced 143 different court cases in three countries. It took him two and a half years to win a judgment but another 12 years for it be enforced  and for him to collect his money.

In the cigar room of the expansive home he shares with his Russian-born wife Vlada, Sedelmayer laughed easily  and often  when recounting his experiences. Most times, there was barely the trace of an accent, but when asked why he was successful when others failed, it wasnt clear if he said he was hungry or ornery enough.

He actually said hungry, but both adjectives might apply.

Sedelmayer pushed full-court press against a system headed by someone who thinks himself Superman, said Jack Gosnell, U.S. consul general in St. Petersburg from 199194, on the book jacket. Superman lost.

Sedelmayer represented himself at times and had two attorneys at others  and ended up paying about $2 million in legal fees. They sometimes sought measures that hadnt been tried before to get Russia to pay up. One example involved Lufthansa, Germanys largest airline.

Every time Lufthansa planes flew into Russian territories, they had to pay Russia fees for using their airspace. Sedelmayer convinced the courts to make him a garnishee of those fees, to be a third party to whom the money would be paid as part of his claim.

Russia didnt like that and told Lufthansa that if it was going to pay Sedelmayer, then stay out of Russia.

That whole thing creates a political problem for everyone, which I love because eventually somebody has to pay me because Im not going anywhere, Sedelmayer said.

He got such a good education about beating the state-held system, Sedelmayer became a consultant who helps others in the same situation. And hes been paid to share his story in prestigious settings from Harvard University Law School to gatherings of London litigators.

World War III?

While many of the photos in his home show him laughing, Sedelmayer turns serious when he talks about Ukraine. Hes glad to see the United States and its allies standing up to impose sanctions against Russia after it invaded Ukraine.

We should have done it literally 10 or 12 or 15 years ago and we didnt and now the only choice we have is war or no war, he said. Think about it.

He believes his homeland of Germany and his adoptive home of America  hes here on a five-year investors visa  and other NATO countries must give Ukraine the tools they need to survive. Not troops, but armament. Otherwise, there will be no end to Putins destruction.

Sedelmayer learned to play hard ball and believes nations who want to preserve democracy better do the same thing.

They should give the Russians a hard time, Sedelmayer said. You have to beat them in the field, you have to help the Ukrainians. Its not going to lead us to World War III. If we dont do that, thats what will lead us to World War III.
Even though the timing and final format of Virginias upcoming biennial budget is uncertain, one thing is for sure; there will be an historic investment in public education.

House and Senate leadership, along with former Gov. Ralph Northam and Gov. Glenn Youngkin, should all be applauded for their part in this record-setting budget.

However, breaking records should not be the main goal for Virginias elected officials as the current budget process is completed. Instead relevance, fairness, and impact should be the focus as this plan for the future is finalized.

At the end of the day (or the end of the Session in this instance) a budget is simply a manifestation of our core values. If having the best system of public education in the nation is one of our core values here are three suggestions for budget conferees to consider as they complete this vitally important document.

First, Virginias crumbling schools have been a topic of conversation for several years, dating back to the McDonnell administration. As a matter of fact, the Coalition of Small and Rural Schools of Virginia highlighted a crumbling school in every region of the commonwealth this summer as just a small sampling of the much greater problem.

Based on the House and Senate budget recommendations, we know that at least $500 million will be available from the commonwealth for school divisions to use on facilities once the budget is approved.

While the Senate version pumps one-time grants into local school divisions, the House version, which is supported both by Del. Israel OQuinn from Southwest Virginia and Del. Barry Knight from Virginia Beach, creates a recurring fund that focuses on high poverty schools and struggling localities.

This plan will have both immediate impact and future opportunity for schools by incentivizing improvements through rebates and assistance with interest. What makes the House version historic is that it will leverage $2 billion worth of school construction in this biennium and even more in the future.

Because a one size fits all approach does not work to address the diverse needs we experience in different regions of Virginia, and options like increasing local sales tax are not available, I recommend that a compromise be reached that ensures all school divisions receive a one-time grant for school infrastructure while still providing localities, especially those with limited resources, an incentive to build a new school for the first time in generations.

This can be done simply by applying $250 million of the recommended $500 million toward both the Senate and House plans for addressing school infrastructure.

This will ensure that every school division receives some help now and that many distressed localities can actually begin to plan to make improvements in the future because a recurring fund has been established.

This is a win for all localities/divisions, the Senate and the House, Republicans and Democrats, and the previous and current governors. Lets make this happen because it benefits Virginians from the Mountains to the Metro.

Next, it is imperative to raise teacher pay in Virginia as much as possible. The Senate version of the budget provides a 5% raise in each year of the biennium with a one-time $1000 bonus, while the house offers a respectable 4% raise in both years, with a 1% bonus each year. As generous as both recommendations sound, they will not push Virginia above the current national average for teacher salaries.

A 10% raise over the next two years will push Virginia above the FY 2020 national average, but by the end of the biennium we will be in FY 2024 and our ranking will fall once again. This is unacceptable for a state that ranks in the top 10 in many financial statistics. Virginias final budget must provide a 5% raise in both years of the biennium.

Finally, the At-Risk Add On (ARAO) is the most equitable funding formula that Virginia uses to fund public education. The ARAO takes into account the number and percentage of high poverty students each division has and distributes funding proportionally.

This is vital because a consensus of educational research shows that it costs more to educate a child who lives in poverty due to the additional barriers to learning they face. When you consider that Tazewell County spends $8,521 per pupil in state and local dollars on education while Falls Church spends $18,614 per pupil, and that the average salary for a family in Dickenson County is $29,000 while the average income for a family in Loudoun County is $142,000, it is easy to see why the At-Risk Add On is so important to rural and other high poverty school divisions.

As a result, it is imperative that the final budget include the Senates recommendation for increasing the At-Risk Add On, which was nearly $210 million higher than what the House proposed. To do otherwise will only exacerbate the already unconscionable funding gap between high poverty and affluent school divisions.

The current General Assembly is set to break records for education funding. As we recently saw in the Winter Olympics, records are broken every day. Instead of aiming to set a new record, I implore the General Assembly, and budget conferees specifically, to aim even higher. Rural school divisions, and other high poverty school divisions, have been overlooked for far too long in Virginia.

By providing both grants and rebates for school infrastructure, increasing teacher pay by 10%, and lessening the funding gap between affluent and high poverty schools through investing in the At-Risk Add On, this General Assembly will not only break records but they will leave a lasting legacy that will be remembered for decades to come.

Perrigan, superintendent of Bristol Virginia Public Schools, is the president of the Coalition of Small and Rural Schools of Virginia and a member of the Commission on School Construction and Modernization.
For the most part, Russias oligarchs have chosen the cautious path of not complaining about Russian President Vladimir Putins invasion of Ukraine, and of refraining from biting the hand that has so generously fed them for decades, while keeping them out of politics. But even if theyre not complaining, some are fleeing, particularly in the wake of Putins Wednesday speech drumming up national anger against traitors.

Hours after Putins speech, several private jets left for Dubai, most likely carrying wealthy Russians who decided not to wait to find out whether Putin was questioning their loyalty to him.

Using flight tracking service FlightRadar24, Danish analyst Oliver Alexander reported at least four jets leaving Moscow for Dubai, describing it as an "exodus.

Earlier he had noted in a post that "heavy air activity over the skies of Russian Federation, departing from Moscow to Northern Ural Mountains and Siberia in the last hours."

Unlike Western destinations, Dubai has not banned Russian air traffic and is welcoming any assets the Russian wealthy can move there to avoid international sanctions.

According to the Washington-based Center for Advanced Defense Studies, even before the invasion, some 40 businessmen or officials owned dozens of properties in Dubai.

There is no official data how many Russian rich moved their families and wealth to Dubai, but the readership of Dubai-based website Russian Emirates, has almost doubled to nearly 300,000 views in a week. With 83,000 views, the most popular question on the website is: "Can I get UAE citizenship?

Putins Wednesday speech called for the patriotic self-purification of Russian society, reminiscent of the days of Stalin, or Hitler. In the televised speech, as thousands of Russians attempt to flee, Putin said the country should undergo a "self-cleaning of society" to get rid of the "bastards and traitors.

Some 15,000 people across Russia have been detained since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, and as many as 200,000 have left their country. Now, some oligarchs fear they are becoming targets, as well. Those fears are well-founded.

In his speech, Putin said he did not judge those with villas in Miami or the French Riviera, or those who couldnt get by without oysters or foie gras or so-called 'gender freedoms.

The problem is they mentally exist there, and not here, with our people, with Russia, he said.

"But any people, the Russian people especially, are able to distinguish true patriots from bastards and traitors, and will 'spit them out,'" he said of those who do not back the Kremlin. He also accused the West of attempting to splinter Russian society and comparing the West to Nazi Germany pre-WWII.

The U.S., the EU and the UK have responded to the invasion of Ukraine with economic sanctions on Russia, including measures targeting oligarchs in Putins inner circle. The US created the task force to target their lucrative assets, including yachts, artwork and mansions, while European countries already started seizing oligarchs properties and assets.

Some oligarchs have cautiously spoken out against the war, but none has directly criticized Putin or his actions. The latest to do so has been Mikhail Fridman, a banking magnate currently residing in the UK and worth some $13 billion.

Fridman complained about the EU sanctions, describing them as groundless and unfair, in an interview with Bloomberg, adding that he currently has an allowance of $3,300 per month and has to apply for a license to spend money. "I don't know how to live, I may have to clean the house myself," he said.

In the meantime, Putin himself officially earns $140,000 per year, owns an 800-square-foot apartment and two Soviet-era cars, but no one knows for sure how wealthy he really is, though by many counts, he is the richest man in the world. Some estimates put his wealth at around $200 billion, most of which is held in property and hidden behind complex financial schemes organized by his confidantessome of which was revealed in several recent data leaks, including the Panama Papers.
LAKE CITY, S.C.  Affordable housing, employee recruitment plans, water and sewer system improvements and employee bonuses are some of the ways Lake City officials will use $3.2 million in American Rescue Plan money.

The city has received $1.6 million with the rest of the federal aid arriving in October, City Administrator William Hall said.

President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act in March 2021. It included $350 billion in aid to states and local governments. Across the United States, state and local governments reported at least $117 billion of expected revenue in 2020, according to an analysis by the Associated Press. Today, many cities and states have excess money, boosted partly by the American Rescue Plan money.

Lake City, Hall said, didnt declare any revenue losses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The city waived late fees and penalties for eight months on its water bills, and didnt disconnect any customers.

We worked with them for 90 days to get them caught out, Hall said. Thats really lost revenue, but we watched our expenses. Even though our revenues were down, we were very cautious with our expenses. We knew we were facing a challenge. So, what we did was cut back on expenses. We literally had some money go back into the fund balance.

The adjustments to spending balanced the revenue losses experienced by the utilities department, he said.

The American Rescue Plan money will be used to improve the community, Hall said. The American Rescue Plan money must be used by 2026. Lake City officials are working on plans that will improve the quality of life for Lake City residents, Hall said.

Approximately 6,700 people call Lake City home.

We are working on projects that will best benefit the community, Hall said.

The city has received positive feedback about the citys American Rescue Plan projects that are in the works or under consideration, Mayor Lovith Anderson said.

Our infrastructure is old. A lot of has been here since the 1960s, Anderson said. It needs to be upgraded. We are trying to take on a monumental task and get as much of it upgraded as we possibly can.

Residents are happy when the city can fix streets and prevent water lines from breaking and squirting water all over the place, Anderson said.

We want to make sure our equipment and operations are in good shape, and everybody knows whats going on, he said.

The city also is experiencing staffing problems, Anderson said, and is launching incentives to attract potential and retain employees to Lake City. The incentives, in some instances, go beyond signing bonuses.

First, all city employees worked through the pandemic and received bonuses for keeping the doors open and providing city services. Those bonuses totaled $309,100, which was taken from the federal aid the city received in October 2021.

Retention, recruitment and housing

Lake City officials are going a couple of steps farther than signing bonuses in order to attract first responders.

Signing bonuses are received today and spent tomorrow, Hall said.

What we are offering in the city of Lake City is a little more tangible to recruit first responders and have them live in the communities they serve. We are going to contribute $5,000 toward a purchase of a home, he said.

The home will appreciate over the years and be worth more than $5,000 over the years, he said.

That $5,000 now turns into $10,000, he said.

The money is put in escrow in the first-responders home, Hall said.

Its an investment into our communities as well as an investment into the essential staff members we want to bring into our family environment here at the city of Lake City, Hall said.

Lake City Police Chief Joseph Cooper said its important for police officers to live in the communities they serve. Their presence makes a difference to the people in the neighborhood.

It gives them more of a one-and-one.  I think you will patrol better and take care of the community better. At the end of the day, I think it gives the community some peace of mind that they have a police officer actually live in your community, he said.

Housing, Cooper said, has been an issue in the hiring of police officers.

Lake City wants to offer police officers more than a job, Cooper said. The city wants to offer recruits a career in law enforcement.

We want them to stay longer and invest in what we have, Cooper said.

The city has a dedicated Realtor and mortgage broker that will help recruits find housing and financing for a mortgage, Hall said.

In our conversation with our mortgage broker, a normal mortgage company is looking for a 620 on your credit score. The good thing about this program is we have a mortgage broker who has agreed to work with people that have a 580-credit score. Thats a major ask and a major offering to people, Hall said.

For recruits that dont have a 580-credit score, the broker will put them on a plan to build their credit, Hall said.

Affordable housing

City officials want to use some city-owned property to construct affordable housing, Hall said. The city is working with a local architectural company construct affordable housing for city residents.

The moms and pops that are living paycheck-to-paycheck, Hall said. Now, we have houses that are on the plans to be built that are $175,000 to $180,000, but these will be in the $90,000 range, he said. It will be something we can say that will be truly affordable for people that work 9-to-5 seven days a week or two jobs to keep food on the table, he said.

Infrastructure repairs are scheduled:

Refurbishing the Checkerboard Water Tank and Matthews Street Water Tank for a total cost of $600,000. The two water tanks need to be maintained to pass upcoming state inspections. The federal aid money was allocated toward these projects, but city officials have applied for state grants for the projects. If the grants are approved, the federal aid money will be earmarked for other projects, Hall said.

Repair the sewer cave-in on Carver Street and Floyd Avenue. The cost of those repairs are $160,000. We are replacing the whole line, Hall said.

The $1.5 million Martha Law Drive sewer replacement project is on the list. Grants applications are being written and the scope of the project still is being finalized, Hall said.

Sewer system maintenance is a project slated to receive money from the federal aid Lake City will receive this October.

The City Council will continue to seek ways to use the federal aid to improve the community, Anderson said.
DARLINGTON  St. Johns Elementary and Rosenwald Elementary/Middle School could be closed and replaced by a new school.

The Darlington County School District Board of Education discussed the possible school closures at its regular meeting last week. The district will hold two public hearings this week.

A public hearing will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday at St. Johns auditorium. Another public hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday in the Rosenwald multipurpose room.

At last weeks Board of Education meeting, the Board reviewed the proposal to merge St. Johns Elementary and Rosenwald Elementary/Middle School in a new building.

Residents spoke against the proposal at the meeting.

Heres a little background on the proposal.

Darlington County School District had an independent study conducted in 201 for all of the schools in Darlington County. The document is called the 2012 facilities plan.

It presented a clear assessment of each school and recommendations on how to improve each school to create a better environment for students. This document has been at the heart of the school districts construction and capital expenditure decisions.

The facility study was updated in 2019.

Rosenwald and St. John elementary were targeted for replacement because of their age and inability to adequately serve the students.. Action plans were started, but 2020 arrived and the COVID-19 pandemic became top priority.

The Board has decided to pick up the conversation and revisit and prioritize the needs noted in the 2019 study. Rosenwald and St. Johns schools were first on the list.

At the school board meeting, the audience was full of Rosenwald supporters sporting their maroon and white.

Dwayne Duke, mayor of Society Hill, pleaded with the Board to keep Rosenwald.

I read from the newspaper that we have $30 million. Why cant we take that money, divide it between the two schools and ensure that both buildings are up to par instead of building a new school and having our students move away from a place they are comfortable with? He said. Please dont take our school away from us. We need our school to make our town grow. We want to bring our town back.

Society Hill is one of the oldest towns in Darlington County.

Rosenwald Elementary/Middle school also is historic.

Rosenwald schools were funded by Julius Rosenwald. Rosenwald amassed great wealth from being the president of Sears, Roebuck & Co.. which is known today as Sears.

Alongside the partnership of Booker T. Washington, these men built thousands of schools for black students in 15 states. Rosenwald Schools were the first schools to help improve the racial schooling gaps in the South. Only about 500 of these structures survive today, according to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Dr. Tim Newman along with Joe Carter from Jumper Carter Sease architects gave a presentation to showcase the different environments between the older and newer schools and for the public to see the cost of renovations and what needed to be done to make the buildings up to par.

We should be clear. Tim Newman, superintendent of Darlington County School District, said. Yes, the building today is safe for students. Is it adequate enough for students? No. But it is safe for students. Is it equitable compared to where our new schools are? No. It is not close to being equitable.

The presentation focused on St. Johns Elementary School because it is a bigger school and costs more money. The Board noted Rosenwald would likely face the same challenges because both of the buildings are of age.

I want Rosenwald to stay in Society Hill. That is all we have left. Chris Robinson, a Society Hill resident and graduate of Rosenwald, said. That is a legacy for me to pass down to my great-grandkids. They have closed Rosenwald High School and they want to close the last school we have left.

Another concerned resident spoke about the possibility of the merger.

I am sad to see the possibility of St. Johns leaving, but I trust the school board to make the right decision. St. Johns means a lot to me. said Josh Byram, a Darlington native and St. Johns Elementary School graduate. I was raised in this school from the time I was a young kid. This school not only means a lot to me, it means a lot to Darlington. It has been here for 200 years and signifies a lot of history and changing moments. We are able to see history in that building as opposed to reading it in a book.

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 Gearing up and rounding up before start of Senate hearing on the SCOTUS nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson | Main | Recalling the text of the applicable law which helps account for Judge Jackson's sentencing rulings 

March 21, 2022

"Punishment without Trial: Why Plea Bargaining is a Bad Deal"

The title of this post is the title of this exciting panel discussion being hosted this week by the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. It is also the title of this book authored by Professor Carissa Byrne Hessick, and she is the featured speaker at the event. But, as detailed in this event description, the panel is full of headliners:

When Americans think of the criminal justice system, they picture a trial. The right to a trial by jury is supposed to undergird our entire justice system  but that bedrock constitutional right has all but disappeared thanks to plea bargaining. In 2018, more than 97 percent of defendants pleaded guilty. Join the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center for a panel discussion featuring Professor Carissa Byrne Hessick on how plea bargaining undermines justice. In her latest book, Punishment Without Trial: Why Plea Bargaining is a Bad Deal, Hessick makes the case against plea bargaining and illustrates why and how we need to fix it if we ever hope to achieve lasting criminal justice reform. Panelists Carissa Byrne Hessick, Ransdell Distinguished Professor of Law, University of North Carolina School of Law; Director, Prosecutors and Politics Project

The Honorable Justice Michael Donnelly, Ohio Supreme Court

Ric Simmons, Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer Professor for the Administration of Justice and Rule of Law, The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law

Michael Zuckerman, Visiting Assistant Professor, The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law About the event This is currently a hybrid event and registrants may attend in person or via Zoom. Note however, that depending on university guidance, the event may become online only. Both in-person and virtual attendees should register via the Zoom registration form and select their attendance preference there. For in-person attendees, the event will be held in Room 244 Drinko Hall, 55 West 12th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210-1391, and boxed lunches will be available to take away following the event.

March 21, 2022 at 12:02 PM | Permalink

Comments

One prosecutorial leveraging technique that I personally experienced in a Kentucky state (District) court was a prosecutor offering me a 6 month plea deal on a misdemeanor charge, after I had already served 7.5 months in jail. I would have had to wait 2 more months in jail to get a jury trial. Like many, I just pleaded guilty to get out of jail and get back to my life in the free world. There was no justice at all. In that case, I had to file a pro se Motion for Habeas Corpus to get a Circuit Judge to Order the District Judge to set a money bond for me, after 5 weeks in jail. The District Judge was so arrogant that he did not attend the Circuit Court hearing, even though he was the named Respondent (and he sent no attorney to represent him either). He was somehow surprised that the Circuit Judge granted my Writ of Habeas Corpus and Ordered him to set a bond for me. The District Judge then retaliated against me by setting a $5,000 bond (which I could not pay), with home incarceration and electronic monitoring, and I could only leave home to visit my attorney's office or come to court. He refused to permit me to work (if I could have posted the $5,000), so I couldn't even pay my rent or car insurance. Thankfully, that District Judge retired from the bench 3 years ago now.

Posted by: Jim Gormley | Mar 21, 2022 12:25:38 PM

If anyone is interested in a presentation of both sides rather than just one (which is open to doubt in this setting), the FedSoc presented a debate here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3i92-ojQ8to. The participants were Clark Neily, Vice President of Cato for criminal matters, and me. The moderator was Justice Clint Bolick of the Arizona Supreme Court.

Just three suggestions in the interim: First, if you think plea bargaining is a bad deal, don't do it and make the government meet its high burden at trial. Second, tell the truth, just as you want others to do -- it you're not guilty, say so. Third, read Rule 11, Fed. R. Crim. P. and digest the numerous safeguards it requires before a negotiated plea can be accepted by the court (which can then reject the bargain anyway even if all the safeguards are met).

Posted by: Bill Otis | Mar 21, 2022 2:50:12 PM

@Bill Otis: I wonder if you would agree that the "trial penalty" exists; and, at least in principle, it could at times be so steep as to be unjust?

What constitutes "too steep" is a whole other question, and I personally have no issue with most cases being resolved with pleas.

Posted by: Marc Shepherd | Mar 21, 2022 9:19:19 PM

FYI, I listened to about 2/3rds of Bill's video. Good to see him in action.

Posted by: Marc Shepherd | Mar 21, 2022 10:27:18 PM

Like Marc, I wonder if Bill would be willing to take a stance on how much of a "plea discount" is generally appropriate in a well-functioning criminal justice system? I think pleas have a role in our system, but think there are some reasons to be concerned that they can play an outsize role at sentencing. Surely whether the defendant puts the government to its burden at trial should be a less important sentencing factor than the degree of wickedness of what the defendant has done, the harm caused to society by the defendant's crimes, the defendant's prior criminal record, and so on.

For instance, the UK system has a maximum 33% discount available (for very early pleas) -- that seems more than adequate to persuade people who are slam-dunk guilty to plead out. To place that in context, that's roughly the distance between a criminal history category of IV (which is pretty substantial) and a CHC of I (0-1 criminal history points) in the federal guidelines.

Plea bargaining opponents, to what extent can you defend your stance without assuming the number of criminal charges should go down, or is this advocacy inextricably linked to the idea that we should have fewer prosecutions? The criminologists tell us that the likelihood and speed of punishment have a stronger deterrent effect than its severity. And I feel that abolishing pleas will create great public pressure for long probation/parole sentences as a matter of course (so we can skip the trial if the defendant commits a new crime and just deal with the new offense as a probation/parole violation without the resource commitments or protections of a trial).

Posted by: Jason | Mar 21, 2022 10:34:28 PM

Marc Shepherd --

Whether called a trial penalty or a plea bonus, it's the same thing, to wit, a defendant who truthfully admits his behavior is both more honest and a better bet for rehab than one who doesn't, and therefore should get a lower sentence. I have no problem with that. Indeed it's nothing but common sense.

Could the trial penalty/plea bonus at least theoretically, at times, be so steep as to be unjust? Probably so, but with the qualifications (1) perfection is unattainable in this and every other system; and (2) the injustice is abated if the defendant knew up front what the difference could be and made his own decision to roll the dice.

Of course the better answer to all this is to refrain from the behavior that will present you with the trial vs. plea choice. In other words, don't sell fentanyl, don't have sex with five year-old's, don't swindle Medicare about of a few million bucks, etc., etc. The problem begins with the defendant's choices, not ours, and this fact needs to be remembered rather than blinked.

Posted by: Bill Otis | Mar 21, 2022 10:34:34 PM

Marc Shepherd --

Thanks for watching most of the debate. It looks in the video as if I don't have horns, but I was actually just hiding them. Doug knows how sneaky I am.

Posted by: Bill Otis | Mar 21, 2022 10:38:21 PM

Jason --

Good questions. In particular, I agree with this: "Surely whether the defendant puts the government to its burden at trial should be a less important sentencing factor than the degree of wickedness of what the defendant has done, the harm caused to society by the defendant's crimes, the defendant's prior criminal record, and so on."

Just so. The basic thing we want to do with sentencing is have a sober and proportionate response to the crime, with due although not obsessive regard for the defendant's history and attitude.

The question whether to place a limit on the plea discount, and if so how much that should be, is really tough. I have no experience with it. I'd like to see some scholarship on it before going in one direction or the other.

Your final paragraph is also quite interesting. Plea bargaining isn't going away because the defense bar lives off it and the government depends on it. Judges like it too because their workloads otherwise would be out of control. And defendants like it because they typically get a pass on a number of counts they'd be ice-cold on at trial, plus they get a favorable (or at least not vastly unfavorable) sentencing recommendation. No practice could be as prevalent as plea bargaining has become unless each of the institutional actors got something important out of it. They do, so it's going to around for a good long time.

Posted by: Bill Otis | Mar 22, 2022 12:48:18 AM

The plea bargain is not a new idea. What IS relatively new (last half-century) is that upwards of 97% of cases are resolved that way. In the video, Bill Otis referred to the higher rate of traditional crimes in the 1960s and '70s: he mentioned murder, rape, burglary, car theft, assault, etc.

But there has been an explosion of new federal crimes created over the last 50 years. A Congressman can brag to his constituents that he's tough on criminals when he votes a new crime or a steeper punishment into the federal code, even though the behavior was already a crime at the state level.

I recall Justice Scalia testifying before a Congressional committee about the immense burden on the Federal courts, because the government keeps expanding the criminal code. Generally, Congress has not created new judgeships at the same pace as it has created new crimes.

In an imaginary world where plea bargains were suddenly illegal --- I am not suggesting that will happen, or should --- I doubt the government would be willing to fund enough judges and prosecutors to try all of those cases. Instead, the government would simply have to be a lot more selective about what it chooses to prosecute.

Perhaps the federal government would leave more cases to the states, as perhaps it should anyway.

Posted by: Marc Shepherd | Mar 22, 2022 8:28:45 AM

Those of us in the state system are less than thrilled with the process by which federal prosecutors choose which, otherwise, state offenses become federal offenses.

The real issue for trial penalties vs. plea bonus is the existence of lesser-included offenses and wide ranges of punishment. Generally speaking, defense attorneys and pro-defense groups like lesser-included offenses and wide ranges of punishment. The existence of a lesser-included offense (e.g. simple possession vs. "trafficking") caps the potential punishment facing those who have committed less serious offenses. The existence of a wide range of punishment allows judges to "individualize" sentences. But these two factors make it easy to incentivize or over-incentivize a plea of guilty.

For example, in a homicide case in which there is some evidence of self-defense, a possible plea offer might be to voluntary manslaughter (basically recognizing a claim of imperfect self-defense). But if the case goes to trial, maybe the jury credits the self-defense evidence and acquits or the jury finds that the self-defense evidence is pure fiction and finds the defendant guilty as charged or perhaps the jury concludes that the appropriate verdict is voluntary manslaughter. Without knowing all of the evidence and jury tendencies in the jurisdiction, it is impossible to tell if voluntary manslaughter is the "right" result or an over-generous offer from the State to give an incentive to plead guilty (and avoid the slim risk of an acquittal) or the State trying to find a way to salvage a case that shouldn't have been charged with the risk, however, slim of murder pressuring an innocent defendant to plead guilty. We want something like voluntary manslaughter because we believe that a homicide committed under the influence of sudden passion is less serious than a "cold-blooded" homicide, and we would rather have a jury make that decision than the judge simply considering sudden passion as a mitigating factor at sentencing. But the existence of the lesser shifts power to the prosecutor who decides whether the lesser charge is appropriate and can make it very hard for a defendant to go to trial on the greater charge rather than pleading to the lesser.

Posted by: tmm | Mar 22, 2022 10:49:41 AM

I am aware of a Mexican drug Lord who was delivered to the DEA y local police and prosecutors in Belize, and then flown to the S.D. of N.Y. for indictment and arraignment. For sentencing purposes, his drug quantity was about 400,000 kilos of cocaine. The Government wanted him to plead guilty and agree to debrief. But this Drug Lord knew that if he debriefed, other Drug Lords would kill his entire family. So, he eventually made a blind guilty plea to the Court, without any agreement with the Government. He wanted his 3 points for timely acceptance of responsibility, to avoid a life sentence. The DOJ actually flew an attorney to NYC to argue that he shouldn't get his acceptance of responsibility unless he agreed to debrief. The District Judge (since elevated to the 2nd Circuit) granted to 3 points down for acceptance of responsibility, and explained to the DOJ attorney that the rules plainly do not require the defendant to agree to debrief with the Government (DEA). The Defendant ended up with a 38 year sentence (he was about 35 at the time). If the Government's suggested rule required debriefing, then the Judge suggested the Court would end up having to try all of the big drug cases, because no pleas would be possible. The defendant's punishment was that U.S. Agents advised his family that they would not be permitted to enter the U.S. or visit him in prison during his long sentence.

Posted by: Jim Gormley | Mar 22, 2022 11:41:24 AM

For the precise details of the case I described about, take a read thru United States v. Teyer, 322 F. Supp.2d 359 (S.D.N.Y. 4/29/2004) (Gerard E. Lynch, D.J.)

Posted by: Jim Gormley | Mar 22, 2022 11:50:28 AM

To further respond to Jason's suggestions on a cap, I am seeing two issues.

First, I am unclear how a cap would work with charge bargaining. As noted above, there are a significant number of cases in which the government has sufficient evidence to get to the jury on a higher charge, but there may be some evidence supporting the defense, a risk of witnesses not cooperating, and the risk of jury nullification (which varies by offense). If making a plea offer to a lesser-included offense requires you to dismiss a charge, then it becomes less likely that the government would ever offer to reduce the charges in plea negotiations.

Second, and this is where the devil is in the details, how the cap works with extended negotiations would have to be worked out. While it doesn't happen in every case, I have had my fair share of cases in which there have been several rounds back and forth of negotiations. If the cap is based on the initial offer by the State, then you will get high initial offers. If the cap is based on the "best" offer by the State, the cap would weigh over the consideration of every revised offer with the government knowing that continuing to try to find a deal that the defendant will accept is limiting the consequences if the defendant decides to go to trial.

Third, how do defense counter offers play into the cap? A plea is not finalized until the court accepts it, and a defendant can always change his mind up until the plea hearing. If the government's acceptance of a counter-offer makes the counter-offer the cap, then prosecutors will be more reluctant to accept counter offers. I know some defense attorneys (not many, but some) who will make counters without first getting approval from their clients. Such tactics could potentially put a chill on negotiations if those tactics would gain the additional benefit of capping sentences.

Posted by: tmm | Mar 22, 2022 2:57:44 PM

tmm --

The significant complications you spell out are a big part of the reason I took a pass on should-there-be-a-cap question.

Posted by: Bill Otis | Mar 22, 2022 3:23:46 PM

Thanks, tmn. I believe the UK system relies much less on charge bargaining than we do, which would make direct application of a "cap" regime more logistically challenging in at least non-simple individual cases. I don't have a fully fleshed-out proposal, but one possibility would be to allow the defendant to move for sentence reduction after a no-plea conviction if the court found that there had been undue and unfair pressure on the defendant to forego a trial. That is admittedly a mushy standard that would have to be refined by caselaw. You could use a percentage (say, 150% of the plea offer?) as a safe harbor below which no undue/unfair pressure claim would be considered. All of that implicates a broader conversation about the extent to which prosecutors vs. judges should control sentencing outcomes -- I suspect I am more on the "judges" side than Bill is.

I also don't envision a flood of these claims, as the defendant would have to take the risk of going to trial and hoping that the judge would find undue/unfair pressure if he lost. And if we assume that prosecutors generally make fair plea offers bereft of undue/unfair influence, defendants would know going in that having such a motion granted would be a long shot. The point is that having some sort of review mechanism would create a check on prosecutors applying undue/unfair influence and would promote confidence in the fairness of the system.

At a minimum, you could at least run and publish aggregate statistics by prosecuting office to create some degree of accountability. I think the public should know, for instance, if USA or DA Jones' office is recommending on average sentences three times as long after trial as it had been willing to recommend on a plea. That suggests, depending on your vantage point, that the office is either being unduly lenient with plea offers or is seeking undue sentences for defendants who go to trial. I can accept that a 3X variance could be warranted in select individual cases, but it would be hard to justify if it showed up in a large fraction of cases. And I think that would be computed on "best" offer -- if the prosecutor is willing to endorse sentence X as sufficient to promote the interests of justice, it's not unreasonable to ask why he decided 3X was not greater than necessary after trial.

Posted by: Jason | Mar 23, 2022 11:50:15 AM

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(L-R) Health Minister Ong Ye Kung, Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong address reporters at a virtual media briefing by the multi-ministry task force on COVID-19 on Friday, 11 March 2022. (PHOTO: Ministry of Communications and Information)

SINGAPORE  A tweet reacting to the recent news that Japan is lifting all COVID-19 curbs amid an easing of the Omicron wave in one of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic sums up the inconsistent approach of Singapore's fight against the disease.

"How is Japan already out of the woods while we must remain vigilant in solidarity with our healthcare workers?", said the tweet, echoing stock phrases that have been repeatedly used by Singapore's multi-ministry task force on COVID-19 (MTF) to rally its residents.

It reflected the xian feeling, or ennui, of a population that has endured almost 800 days since the very first COVID case was confirmed in Singapore.

In that time, the country has put up with everything ranging from varying degrees of lockdowns with confusing names like Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) to the mishandling of cases in foreign worker dormitories, with the costly oversight at the start of the pandemic still causing considerable inconvenience and mental stress to these workers due to heavy curbs on their daily movements.

With 1,015,017 coronavirus cases and 1,198 deaths as of Sunday (20 March), the city-state is in far better shape than the likes of Hong Kong or Malaysia. Singapore also has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world at almost 87 per cent.

However, it remains very much in a strange state of stasis.

According to the MTF, Singapore is now in the endemic phase of the pandemic, or living with COVID. But almost a year after this message was first propagated, confusion persists over what it means.

This reporter asked the same question in a previous commentary six months ago: what exactly does "endemic" mean? The answer remains unclear.

Living with COVID curbs

Singapore, Singapore - January 9, 2022: People wearing face masks cross a road before large sculptures of tigers on a street in Chinatown, put up as part of Chinese New Year celebrations. 2022 marks the start of the Year of the Tiger.

In the past year or so, border restrictions have been gradually lifted, and mass events of more than 1,000 are now allowed. However, dine-in is still only allowed for groups of up to five fully vaccinated individuals, a move taken last November after months of back-and-forth adjustment of restrictions.

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Masks are compulsory everywhere. Entering most venues still requires the use of the controversial TraceTogether app, even though the MTF has said it is no longer taking a "blunderbuss" approach to contact tracing.

Nightlife remains severely curtailed, and for some mysterious reason, it is "too early" to lift curbs on live music and the sale of alcohol after 10.30pm, according to Finance Minister and MTF co-chair Lawrence Wong. This arbitrary cut-off time is difficult to understand  is COVID more infectious and actively lurking to infect alcohol drinkers when it is closer to midnight and beyond?

Given the policy U-turns of the last 12 months, it is difficult to escape the perception that Wong and his fellow co-chairs Health Minister Ong Ye Kung and Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong have often made reactive decisions in the fight against the pandemic.

Ong's invocation of the "fog of war" cuts no ice for many. The MTF's ultra-cautious approach is akin to a child dipping his big toe into the deep end of the pool, but going no further.

A weary public that has been observing the Lunar New Year, Hari Raya and other holidays without festive joy in the past two years is looking to the MTF ministers to lift sagging spirits, but to no avail.

What's the point of streamlining?

Mahota Kitchen failed to ensure safe distancing of at least one metre between groups of customers and was ordered to close down for 10 days in October 2021 (PHOTO: Enterprise Singapore)

Last June, it was Gan who first sketched out the broad outlines of what an endemic phase might look like: an acceptance of COVID cases and deaths, gradually re-opened borders and self-testing. The true barometer of whether tighter restrictions would be triggered is the number of serious cases and patients in intensive care units.

The unspoken expectation of all this was that curbs on social activities would be lifted further, and we could all get back to normalcy in time.

Today, self-testing is par for the course. For instance, General Category (Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) and Category I travellers entering Singapore now only need to do an unsupervised self-swab Antigen Rapid Test (ART) within 24 hours of entry.

However, the MTF ministers have failed to square off their multiple reassurances that case numbers in the tens of thousands were expected with the same level of decisiveness when updating Singapore's safe management measures (SMMs).

Instead, the authorities twice announced on 24 February and 4 March a postponement in the streamlining of COVID curbs, citing an ongoing surge in daily cases.

The MOH statement on 4 March reads like a cryptic tongue twister, "Although the measures are largely streamlining in nature and not expected to significantly increase transmission risk or affect our epidemic situation, we will hold back the streamlining of measures for a while more, in solidarity with our healthcare workers."

On 11 March, MTF finally announced that the streamlining will take effect on 15 March. It remains unclear when COVID curbs will be eased.

Even The Straits Times, the solidly pro-establishment national broadsheet that invariably gets to pose the first question at MTF pressers, politely questioned the logic of delaying the move when a case surge was already expected.

While the streamlining of measures has occurred, there is little discernible difference with what came before. Even Wong acknowledged, "This is not meant to be an easing of rules - it's meant to be a streamlining exercise."

Constantly shifting goalposts

Healthcare workers dressed in personal protective equipment (PPE) attend to a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patient at the Formula One Pit building, which was converted into a treatment facilities for seniors who are infected with COVID-19 on February 19, 2022 in Singapore. (Photo by Suhaimi Abdullah/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

As it is, the fluid and unpredictable pandemic is already a significant stress factor across society. But the lack of consistency in COVID-related policies and messaging only further elevates public exasperation.

For months, Singaporeans were told that SMMs were necessary in order to buy time for the elderly and other vulnerable groups to get vaccinated. Then it was about protecting the unvaccinated, despite measures already in place to bar them from entering most venues.

Today, with less than 14 per cent of the population still unvaccinated, the message is that COVID curbs remain in order not to overtax the healthcare system.

Like their counterparts around the world, Singapore's healthcare workers have displayed immense courage and professionalism. They deserve every reward that a grateful nation can conceive of. But they should not be used an excuse for a lack of conviction.

If the burden on the healthcare system remains a concern, the MTF should think about redeploying the army of safe distancing ambassadors to healthcare and quarantine facilities, instead of sending them to restaurants with a measuring tape to ensure customers are sitting one metre apart.

If the MTF is concerned about the impact of high case numbers, it should acknowledge that the endemic phase for Singapore still has a long way to go. The guidance for the public to live with COVID entails expectations that curbs would be significantly eased in tandem.

Instead, Singaporeans are being told that mass events can take place and tourists are welcomed in larger numbers even though such eased measures are far from risk-free, while curbs on serving alcohol in F&B outlets by a certain timing and dining in groups of no more than five must be in place as the risk of COVID is still prevalent.

The longer this contradiction endures, the more the MTF's message is undermined.

Having covered the pandemic in Singapore from day one, this reporter can say emphatically that the MTF has to deliver a clear and consistent message on the measures required to live with endemic COVID, or risk further losing the confidence of a worn-out citizenry.

The views expressed are the writer's own.

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Left to right: Non-Resident Ambassador-designate of the Republic of Singapore to the State of Israel Lim Chuan Poh, Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology Orit Farkash-Hacohen, Israeli Ambassador to Singapore Sagi Karni. PHOTO:Miri Shimonovich

SINGAPORE  More than 50 years after Singapore set up diplomatic relations with Israel, the city-state will open an embassy in the Jewish state.

In a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) on Monday (21 March), MFA said the embassy in Tel Aviv will "serve as a focal point and support Singapore companies seeking to expand their collaboration with potential Israeli partners.

The two countries set up diplomatic ties in 1969, a few years after they began a covert military partnership, with Israel playing a key role in helping to build the fledgling Singapore defence force.

While Israel has had an embassy in Singapore at different locations for more than five decades, Singapore only opted to set up an honorary consulate in Tel Aviv at the start of their diplomatic relations, an arrangement that continues to this day. Currently, Lim Chuan Poh is Singapore's non-resident ambassador-designate to Israel.

The announcement to open the embassy was made at the start of the official three-day visit by Singapores Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan to Israel. It is the most high-profile visit by a Singapore leader since Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loongs official five-day visit to Israel in 2016, where he met then Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders.

In the book, Beating The Odds Together  50 Years of Singapore-Israel Ties, Simona Halperin, who was Israels ambassador to Singapore from 2017 to 2019, wrote about the importance of Lees visit to Israel. The visit was a significant step in outing the 50-year partnership between the two nations that grew wide and deep, spanning areas such as education, science, economy, technological collaboration, arts and culture, Halperin said.

On Monday, Dr Balakrishnan met with Alternate Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Yair Lapid and Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology Orit Farkash-Hacohen.

In his meetings, Dr Balakrishnan reaffirmed the longstanding ties between Singapore and Israel in multiple fields. Both sides welcomed closer cooperation in areas such as innovation and technology, trade and investment, research and development, and education. The Singapore-Israel Industrial Research & Development Foundation (SIIRD) is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2022 and has funded about 190 projects since its inception in 1997, providing about US$120 million to projects between Singapore and Israel.

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Dr Balakrishnan highlighted that Singapore and Israel should deepen collaboration in emerging areas such as agri-food tech, health-tech, artificial intelligence (AI) and digitalisation. The setting up of the embassy is to strengthen the innovation partnership between Singapore and Israel, MFA said in its statement.

In a tweet on his official Twitter account, Lapid welcomed the establishment of Singapore's embassy in Tel Aviv. This decision is further evidence of the good and special relations between our countries," Lapid said.

Singapore Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan (left) and his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid (right). (PHOTO: Yair Lapid/Twitter)

Dr Balakrishnan and Farkash-Hacohen also signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in AI between Singapores Smart Nation and Digital Government Office and Israels Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology.

On his discussions with Lapid regarding regional and international developments, Dr Balakrishnan emphasised that Singapore has long supported a negotiated two-state solution, consistent with relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions, with Israel and Palestine living side-by-side in peace and security.

Singapore hopes that both the Israeli and Palestinian sides would find ways to engage in direct negotiations on the basis of a two-state solution. All parties should refrain from any unilateral actions that could increase tensions and undermine the prospects for peace, MFA said.

On Sunday, MFA said in a statement that Dr Balakrishnan conveyed Singapores intention to establish a representative office in Ramallah in the Palestinian Territories to coordinate Singapore's technical assistance to the Palestinian Authority (PA) and support the work of Singapores non-resident representative to the PA.

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Average winter temperatures in Caledonia, Michigan, hover around freezing, and youre lucky if you see the sun. But at Revolution Farms, winter is peak growing season. Rows of crisp romaine and bibb, delicate arugula, frilly red and green sweet crisp, and other varieties are sprouting, maturing or being harvested and packaged before making the short trip to local grocers, restaurants and a few wholesalers within a few hours drive.

The greens are able to grow no matter whats happening outdoors, thanks to the farms three-acre, state-of-the-art indoor facility. Not your typical greenhouse, Revolution relies on two methods of farming: a fully hydroponic deep-water culture system and a hybrid, known as a moving gutter system. If we can grow in Michigan, where we have extreme temperature swings between winter and summer and major humidity level and sunlight changes, we could grow anywhere, says John Green, Revolution Farmss aptly named co-founder, chairman and CEO.

When weather doesnt matter

The idea for Revolution Farms grew from another unlikely place: Eleuthera, Bahamas, where Greens daughters attended the Island School, a high school program focused on sustainability and environmental education. I was amazed when I saw how they were growing lettuce in these extreme temperatures, with no soil as part of the process, says Green, who is on the schools board. I thought, Wow, if we could do that in Michigan, we could provide 12 months of consistent, predictable growing.

At the time, Green was also the board chair of the Grand Rapids Downtown Market, and he and his partners were already exploring ways to improve the quality of produce in their community. Ninety-five percent of the lettuce being purchased was coming in from California, so there was a freshness issue, plus cost and the environmental impact, he says. After having conversations with local retailers, we found that there was definitely interest in alternatives.

After researching new agriculture and farming methods, hydroponics seemed to be the best fit. Using their current methods, greens take between 22 and 28 days from seeding to harvest before the cycle can start over again. That means about 12 turns of lettuce a year, whereas traditional farming might yield only three. So in 2017, we jumped off the cliff and started to design the greenhouse and put the systems in place, Green says. The farm now produces about one million pounds of greens per year.

Floating crops, moving greens

Revolution Farmss deep-water culture area includes eight large pools, each filled with 30,000 gallons of water. Romaine, butterhead bibb, sweet crisp and arugula float on rafts, their roots plunged not in soil, but water infused with a custom mix of nutrients blended to optimize flavor and quality, says head grower, Tam Serage.

Recently the farm added the hybrid moving-gutter system, which is used to grow various types of lettuce used in its salad mixes. The greens are nestled in long gutters filled with a soilless mixture and through which nutrient-rich water flows. The greens start out close together to maximize space, then spread out thanks to gutters that move from growing to harvesting stations.

The two systems maximize versatility and quality. If we see consumer tastes are changing, we can very quickly pivot, Green says. What hasnt changed, however, is his customers taste for his greens balanced and predictable flavor. Its not as harsh, and its very consistent because of the enclosed environment, where we dont have the effects of wind or sun, he says.

Crops are also processed and packaged on-site, which reduces the risk of contamination, like the listeria outbreak recently linked to packaged romaine, Serage says. And without the need for a cross-country journey to your salad bowl, during which nutrient levels and freshness wane, you get fewer wilted leaves and highly nutritious greens.

Green growing methods

Hydroponic farming isnt new, but it is becoming more popular. The global hydroponics market is expected to roughly double its 2020 market share of $9.5 billion to nearly $18 billion by 2026. And while the ability to grow crops year-round is a big part of that growth, of course, so are the environmental benefits.

For starters, driving produce across town or even across the state rather than from far-flung, warmer climates cuts fuel usage and pollution. Hydroponic farming also, ironically, requires a lot less water  about 90 percent less than traditional farming methods. We use a closed-loop system, meaning we filter and recirculate our water, Serage says. That means we also dont have the discharge or runoff into the environment that can otherwise impact lakes and rivers. And, because Revolution Farms grows in a greenhouse using hydroponics and a moving gutter system, it uses only about 10 percent of the land that would otherwise be required to grow the same amount on a conventional farm.

Salad days

Green admits to making mistakes along the way, like all start-ups do. But by staying focused on what he and his team does best, Revolution Farms has fulfilled a need in its community while championing sustainable farming methods. At the end of the day, we believe in the product were putting out there, he says. We are representative of our consumers, and we all have the same goals in terms of flavor, nutritional value, cost and environmental impact.

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SIOUX CENTER, Iowa -- Alex and Derek Koops spend as many as 16 hours creating an unusual form of art.

Want to see it? Well, you'd better not blink, because the art produced by the twin brothers may be gone in a matter of seconds.

"That's the thing with art in motion," Alex Koops said. "It isn't meant to last."

The Koops make domino art. They design and set up projects built out of thousands of dominos.

With pulleys, ping-pong balls and other obstructions, the brothers -- both Dordt University juniors -- construct Rube Goldberg-style models that will cause a chain reaction when the dominos fall.

Not only do the Koops have a popular DaksDominos YouTube channel, they're also contestants on "Domino Masters," a new series hosted by "Modern Family" star Eric Stonestreet.

The series -- where "teams of domino enthusiasts go head-to-head in a toppling tournament to create mind-blowing masterpieces, with infinite possibilities and thousands of tiles and unique kinetic devices" -- features 16 three-member team competing in a bracket format.

Along with their friend Lyle Broughton, of Hopkinton, Mass, the Koops Brothers will represent Team Dominerds, beginning at 8 p.m. Wednesday on Fox.

"On YouTube, we have about 200,000 subscribers," Derek said. "On Fox, the audiences will be so much larger."

With a greater audience comes greater pressure.

"When we're filming YouTube videos, there are no time constraints," Alex explained. "On 'Domino Masters,' everything is timed and we're racing against the clock."

Luckily, the Koops have more than a decade of domino art under their belts.

"About 10 years ago, we saw a guy by the name of Kinetic King on (the NBC's talent competition) 'America's Got Talent,'" Derek said. "He built all of these crazy contraptions that we thought were really cool."

Following YouTube videos of the Kinetic King as well as other domino artists, the brothers soon started making chain reaction art pieces of their own.

"Eventually, our parents knew what to buy us for Christmas and birthday presents," Alex said. "Now, we own more than 20,000 dominos."

Their hobby soon began taking over mom and dad's house.

"Luckily, our parents have a second living room that is the perfect place to set up dominos," Derek said.

Hopefully, the Koops will find a way to monetize their art.

"I'm a business major and Derek is a digital media major," Alex said. "We consider our YouTube channel a business, plus we're already creating projects for other companies."

This includes McDonald's in Australia, which hired the brothers to create a McChicken sandwich, made entirely of dominos.

It may sound good being able to turn a hobby into a business. But isn't it disappointing to see all of your hard work topple over like, well, a row of dominos.

"Actually, buildings things out of dominos is very relaxing," Alex said. "There is something really therapeutic watching rows of dominos fall, one right after another."

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SIOUX CITY -- The former manager of a Sioux City mobile home park has pleaded guilty of stealing thousands of dollars in rental payments.

Vickie Corio, 45, of Sioux City, entered her plea March 14 in Woodbury County District Court to one count of second-degree theft, which was reduced from first-degree theft as part of a plea agreement.

According to terms of the plea agreement, a five-year prison sentence will be suspended, and Corio will be placed on probation for five years. She also has agreed to pay restitution of $28,082 to Regency of Iowa mobile home park. Five counts of forgery will be dismissed.

Corio admitted that from Feb. 1, 2020, through Dec. 6, 2020, while manager of the trailer park at 4101 Gordon Drive, she rented lots without informing Regency, then collected rental payments and kept the money.

During that time, court documents said, Corio deposited or cashed 38 money orders from tenants into her own personal bank account.

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SIOUX CITY -- The Lawton-Bronson Community School District is seeking a judgment against a computer maker it says is responsible for a fire that damaged several rooms in a school building.

The school district claims a faulty computer charging station, laptop computer or other computer components, all made by Hewlett-Packard Company, led to the Sept. 25, 2018, fire at the district's junior-senior high school in Lawton.

The fire caused more than $75,000 in damage to the building, according to the lawsuit, initially filed in Woodbury County District Court and removed to U.S. District Court in Sioux City on Wednesday by Hewlett-Packard.

The fire started just before 5 p.m. after students had left for the day. The fire was traced to a business classroom, where a rack of laptop computers caught fire.

In its lawsuit, the school district said the computer charging cart had a capacity to charge 24 computers, and was charging 17 at the time of the fire. The fire was caused by a malfunction in the charging cart, one of the laptops or another computer component, the district said, and would not have occurred if Hewlett-Packard's products were not defective.

No one was injured in the fire, and classes were canceled for four days while the district cleaned up after the fire.

The district said Hewlett-Packard is liable for all damages to the school building and should pay the repair costs.

Hewlett-Packard has yet to file a response to the lawsuit.

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BATTLE CREEK, Iowa -- A fight over a woman precipitated a shooting Sunday in Battle Creek, according to court documents.

At 6 p.m., Derek Mefferd allegedly fired a 9mm handgun multiple times at a male victim at a residence in the 600 block of Sixth Street.

Mefferd, 43, of Battle Creek, is charged with attempted murder and assault while displaying a dangerous weapon.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Ida County District Court, the victim was "beating up" Mefferd before the shooting. The woman, whom the men were fighting over, pulled the victim off of Mefferd into a hallway. Then, Mefferd appeared in the room threatening the victim with a handgun. The documents state that Mefferd fired at least one round into a wall upstairs.

"The fighting started again downstairs and (the victim) was struck in the lower right leg from a gunshot. (Mefferd) fired multiple times more into the floor around (the victim), at least four more times," the documents state.

Mefferd also struck the victim on the left side of his head with the pistol, according to the documents.

The Ida County Sheriff's Office said in a statement that when deputies arrived on the scene at 6:17 p.m., they found the 37-year-old victim lying in the front yard. The victim was taken by ambulance to Horn Memorial Hospital in Ida Grove and, then, transferred to MercyOne Siouxland Medical Center, where the statement said he is in stable condition.

The statement said a standoff with Mefferd ensued, but he eventually surrendered and was taken into custody at 11:50 p.m. Mefferd was taken by ambulance to Horn Memorial Hospital and treated for minor injuries. Then, he was taken to the Ida County Jail, where he is being held in lieu of $25,000 bond.

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DES MOINES -- The Iowa Supreme Court on Friday suspended a Sioux City lawyer's license for three years for repeatedly failing to respond to his client.

The court said that Brien O'Brien will have no possibility for reinstatement during the three-year suspension.

The suspension stems from a 2019 child custody case in which O'Brien agreed to represent the father and accepted a $2,750 retainer. After filing an answer in the case on the client's behalf, he never again spoke with his client or responded to messages. The client eventually had to hire another lawyer to represent him.

O'Brien has a history of disciplinary actions in Iowa and Nebraska.

The Nebraska Supreme Court disbarred him in 2002 for violating trust account rules and lying to disciplinary authorities during their investigation. The Iowa Supreme Court reciprocated that action by suspending O'Brien's license for three years.

After a 2004 conviction for failing to file Iowa income tax returns, O'Brien's license was suspended another six months. His license was temporarily suspended in 2021 for failing to respond in another disciplinary matter.

The supreme court publicly reprimanded O'Brien in 2017 for rules violations, and he has been privately reprimanded at least seven times, including for neglect and client communication failures.

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SIOUX CITY -- Believe or not but Sioux City can lay claim to a bit of culinary history.

The loosemeat sandwich -- crumbly globs of ground beef served sauceless inside of a hamburger bun -- was invented here in 1924.

Legend has it that the newfangled finger food -- nowadays, a staple at church picnics, school lunches and informal get-togethers -- was named after the Ye Olde Tavern, an eatery owned by its inventor Dave Higgins.

Some 97 years later, Chef Clay Lillie is providing his own culinary spin to the ubiquitous tavern at The Shack, a new restaurant at 211 Fourth St.

Specifically, Lillie -- a veteran of high-end restaurants like Daga's on Broadway, The Key Club, Clyde's and Bev's on the River -- has created a menu of sliders that were inspired by Sioux City's contribution to fast food.

In the Sux City Slider, tavern meat comingles with a slice of cheddar and a pickle. The Chili Chz sends in the support team of chili, cheese, mustard and sour cream for a stupendously mess-making sandwich.

The Taco Tavern adds some south-of-the-border flair to a traditional loosemeat sandwich by adding taco meat, cheddar, salsa and sour cream inside of a slider bun.

"People know about Miles Inn's Charlie Boy (a peppery tavern) and they know about Tastee In & Out's Tastee (a slightly saltier variation)," Lillie explained. "The Shack takes the tavern and gives it a different flavor."

Opened in November 2021 in a storefront that was previously home to Schweddy's Hot Dog Shop, The Shack was the brainchild of Lillie, his wife Cherry Lillie and longtime Sioux City bar owner Mac Dolan.

"We wanted to give the Shack a vibe that was different then anywhere else in town," Cherry Lillie said inside the mellow and beachy eatery.

The cool vibes continue with a menu of alcoholic slushes with colorful names like a Panama Red strawberry daiquiri, a Pina Express pina colada and a Sour Diesel margarita.

The Shack's most popular slushie is the Manog Mac, which is made with mangoes and a healthy dash of a salty, sour and spicy condiment caleld chamoy.

"The mango gives the drink a nice pop of flavor while the chamoy makes your lips pucker a bit," Cherry Lillie said. "It's a nice combination."

For Lillie, opening up The Shack was the culmination of a dream.

"I've spent my entire career, working for other people and creating menus for other restaurants," he said. "This is the first time that I've had the chance to make something that truly reflects my own personality."

So, what might that be?

"I want The Shack to have a friendly, easy-going vibe where you can be mellow but still enjoy yourself," Lillie said.

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A top aide to U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry said the Nebraska congressman followed the proper protocol when he requested to vote by proxy and the matter is "a total non-issue."

The remarks are, in part, a response to the criticism directed at Fortenberry for using the pandemic-inspired proxy vote as he stands trial for three felony counts in Los Angeles.

"I don't know why this is blowing up," Fortenberry's chief of staff Andy Braner said of the proxy vote request.

The issue started after Fortenberry wrote a letter, dated Tuesday, to the clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, informing the clerk that he would not be attending votes but would vote by proxy.

Fortenberry, who represents Nebraskas 1st District, is on trial for three felony counts alleging that he misled authorities about whether he knew that a Nigerian billionaire had funneled $30,000 to his campaign at a 2016 fundraiser in Los Angeles. The trial opened Thursday.

His trial was delayed because of the surge of COVID-19 omicron cases in California, Braner said, so Fortenberry submitted a request to vote by proxy due to "the ongoing public health emergency."

Braner previously told the Omaha World-Herald that Fortenberry sought approval from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to vote by proxy and received it, but Pelosi's office denied that.

For the last two years, Speaker Pelosi has ruled, the only reason for members to be absent for votes is due to the COVID emergency, Braner said in a statement Thursday. As Mr. Fortenberrys trial (originally scheduled for February) was delayed due to the COVID shutdown of the California courts, (Pelosis) office allowed for Mr. Fortenberry to vote proxy (now).

I would also note, there have been hundreds of members submit a similar letter to navigate COVID effects on a variety of scheduling conflicts. This isnt something abnormal.

Drew Hammill, a spokesman for Pelosi, told the Nebraska Examiner on Thursday that Pelosis office did not evaluate Fortenberrys letter, nor does it approve or deny any member's reasons for asking a colleague to vote on their behalf.

The statement implies that there was a special dispensation given (by the Speaker), and that is not accurate," Hammill told the Examiner.

Pelosi does not grant permission for individual representatives to vote by proxy, according to the Clerk's Office. Instead, starting in 2020, Pelosi allowed representatives to vote by proxy, but only if they were unable to attend the vote due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Representatives must submit a letter to the clerk requesting to vote by proxy. The Clerk's Office then compiles the letters on record. Since Fortenberry sent his letter, more than 50 other representatives submitted similar letters, all citing "the ongoing public health emergency" as the reason for their absence, according to the Clerk's Office website.

"We followed the rules," Braner said.

While Republican House leadership has blasted the proxy vote practice, some GOP members have voted by proxy, including Fortenberry. The congressman announced Jan. 18 he had been diagnosed with a moderate case of COVID-19 and that he would vote by proxy and work from home.

In Fortenberry's current absence, Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., will serve as his proxy. Braner said Fortenberry is in communication with Moolenaar to make sure his district is represented in upcoming votes.

World-Herald Staff Writer Todd Cooper contributed to this report.

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Nebraska lawmakers looking to give money back to taxpayers will have two very different options to consider in the coming week.

One would give more money back to property taxpayers while cutting top individual and corporate income tax rates. The changes would be phased in over five years.

The other would give $200 cash to every Nebraskan this year while cutting the tax rate on a middle-income tax bracket starting next year.

Both options have been introduced as amendments to LB939, introduced by Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn, the Revenue Committee chairwoman. Lawmakers are slated to debate the bill again on Tuesday.

As advanced on first round, the bill would reduce the top individual income tax rate by 14.6% over three years and cut the top corporate rate by 22% over four years. It would not make any property tax changes or send money to lower- and middle-income Nebraskans.

Linehan worked on the property tax amendment with Sen. Tom Briese of Albion. She said she backed the property tax change to help win support for LB939 and overcome a potential filibuster.

"We're trying to build a package that we can get to 33 (votes)," Linehan said. "We've got to keep this rolling."

The bill cleared the first of three rounds of debate on a 40-1 vote but several senators said they backed it only to keep the bill in play until the states fiscal picture became clearer. Since then, the fiscal picture has brightened, with the state now projected to collect $775 million more than previously expected for the two years ending June 30, 2023.

Briese said many lawmakers and constituents put a high priority on easing property taxes. The amendment would further that goal by allowing property owners to claim refundable income tax credits equal to a portion of what they paid in community college property taxes.

The new credit program would be similar to one created by LB1107 two years ago. The existing program offsets a portion of what property owners pay in school property taxes. For this year, the LB1107 credit program will offer $548 million worth of credits, equal to about one-quarter of school property taxes.

The proposed community college credit program would start at $50 million this year and ramp up to $195 million by 2026. At full implementation, the program could offset around three-quarters of community college property taxes.

"What we're putting in place is meaningful and substantial tax relief for all Nebraskans but it's done in a fiscally responsible manner," Briese said.

The Linehan-Briese amendment would still ratchet down the top corporate and individual income tax rates to 5.84% but at a slower pace. Under current law, the top corporate rate is 7.5% for this year and is slated to drop to 7% next year. The top individual rate is 6.84% now.

With the amendment, the bill would reduce state revenues by an estimated $74.5 million for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023. That's about $10 million more than under the current version of the bill.

By 2027, after all of the pieces are fully implemented, it would shrink state revenues by about $660 million a year.

Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha introduced the other amendment. It would provide every Nebraskan with a $200 debit card this year at a cost of about $400 million but take a more conservative approach to reducing income taxes.

Instead of cutting the top rate, it would take the next lower rate from the current 5.01% down to 4.01% in one year. The change would reduce state revenues by an estimated $97 million.

Cavanaugh said his approach would achieve the goal of returning money to taxpayers, while ensuring that the state does not overextend itself on tax cuts. He said it also provides more relief to middle-income Nebraskans than the current version of LB939.

"When it comes to things like this, we should do it slowly," he said. "It doesn't mean we can't come back in the future and take another step."

Cavanaugh's amendment would benefit single filers making more than $28,086 a year and married filers making more than $56,182, after accounting for personal exemptions and standard deductions.

Changing the top tax rate, as proposed in LB939, would benefit single filers making more than $40,676 and married filers making more than $81,352.

Cavanaugh and others have objected that LB939 directs most of the tax cuts to the wealthiest Nebraskans and leaves out large number of lower- and middle-income taxpayers. But Linehan has said that cutting the top tax rate is key to making Nebraska competitive with neighboring states.

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A new report from Nebraska's Inspector General of Corrections details "rampant substance abuse," overcrowding and a lack of meaningful mental health care available at the state's community corrections facilities in Lincoln and Omaha.

The 34-page report, published in late February, was the result of a monthslong investigation conducted by Inspector General Doug Koebernick and his office after eight inmates walked away from the facilities in April 2021 alone.

In the first 11 months of 2021, 36 community corrections inmates  all but one of whom were less than a year from being eligible for parole  escaped the low-level custody facilities that are meant to help incarcerated men and women transition into life after custody by allowing inmates to maintain off-site jobs.

After his office investigated trends in walkaway incidents  interviewing staff members and escapees  Koebernick highlighted the lack of mental health care, "significant shortcomings" in the use of electronic-monitoring systems to track inmates and disparities in the punishment of men and women found guilty of escape as contributing factors in walkaways.

But above all, Koebernick and assistant inspector general Zach Pluhacek wrote in the report, inmates and staff pointed to stress as the root of problems among the incarcerated population at Community Corrections Center-Lincoln, the larger of the state's two community custody facilities and the focus of the report.

"When people go to community corrections centers, you would think that they wouldn't have a lot of stress because they're so much closer to leaving prison," Koebernick told the Journal Star.

"But, in reality, a lot of people  all of these new things are going on in their lives where they're reconnecting with the family, or they're trying to find a job or they're thinking about where to live. And so all these things actually add a lot more stress onto them."

Staff and inmates told the inspector general's office that the inherent pressures of transitioning out of custody are exacerbated by overcrowding and substance abuse  separate issues that are magnified by understaffing, according to the report.

Designed to house just more than 300 men and 82 women, the Lincoln facility houses nearly 600 inmates, with eight men often sharing rooms designed for four.

Even after a 2016 staffing analysis conducted by the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services recommended each case manager at the facility have their case load limited to 40 inmates, that ratio sits at approximately 100-to-1 in the Lincoln facility's four main housing units.

Staff members told the inspectors that the overcrowding makes it difficult for employees to police behavior, track inmates' whereabouts and identify who is responsible for contraband, all while assisting with reentry.

The report notes that "virtually everyone" who spoke to the office acknowledged that drug use  namely methamphetamine and K2, or synthetic marijuana  is widespread.

I have no control in this facility, one staff member told the office. They know there is no retribution for going off the rails.

James Jansen, warden of Community Corrections Center-Lincoln, told the inspector general's office that administrators take a hard line against those suspected of trafficking contraband into the facility while also weighing their pending reentry into society.

Those suspected of dealing drugs within the facility  and drug users who repeatedly relapse as they transition back into the community  are routinely sent to state prisons, Jansen told Koebernick's office.

But the unbridled access to substances in the facility persists, according to the report.

The inspector general's foremost recommendation to Scott Frakes, the Department of Correctional Services' director, was to "right-size" the population at the Lincoln facility while seeking work release opportunities outside of Lincoln and Omaha.

Frakes, though, rejected the recommendation in his response to the report, noting the cost of operating smaller facilities elsewhere or contracting with county jails to house work release inmates, as the report had suggested.

The head of Nebraska's prison system since 2015, Frakes noted the state has invested $22 million into the Lincoln facility in "creating a healthy environment for the people who live and work there."

Among the five specific recommendations Koebernick's office made, Frakes didn't outright accept any of them, rejecting two and requesting modifications to three.

And in his responses, the director wrote that he doesn't agree that escapes are tied to the size, location or quality of mental health care offered at either community corrections facility.

"I'm very surprised by what he had to say," Koebernick said, referring to Frakes' response. "Because the facts just don't back it up."

In a written statement to the Journal Star, Frakes said the department has found the most prevalent reason inmates walk away from the facilities has to do with the state of a personal relationship  a reason Koebernick also said came up frequently in his office's review.

"Poor impulse control, substance use, self-sabotage ... and other issues can also result in the decision to leave," Frakes said. "Sometimes, it is a combination of reasons."

Frakes also rejected the notion that the Lincoln facility is overcrowded. Asked if the department has plans to reduce the population there, Frakes said the facility has a "statutory operational capacity of 575 people."

"The current count is 588 people," Frakes said, "with a total of 660 beds."

The increase in population at the Lincoln facility in the past six years  two additional housing units have opened there since 2016  has come as access to mental health care at the facility has decreased.

Substance-use counselors are the only designated mental health professionals on staff at the Lincoln facility, and two of four such positions were vacant when the inspector general's office completed its report. Additional mental health care services are provided by staff from other facilities.

But staff and inmates who spoke with Koebernick's office described "waiting days or weeks for responses to their requests for help from mental health staff, if they are seen at all," according to the report. Services are targeted to individuals with specific levels of care defined by the Department of Correctional Services.

Nebraska previously allowed people incarcerated at the state's community corrections centers to pay for mental health services from area providers, but that option has been revoked, according to the report, even though state statute allows it.

Koebernick's office asked Corrections Department administrators about the policy change, "but received no specific response to the questions asked," according to the report.

In his response to the office's recommendation that the department should provide all community corrections inmates with appropriate mental health treatment, Frakes wrote that all inmates do have access to treatment "consistent with the community standard of care" but agreed that a review of treatment provided is warranted.

In his statement to the Journal Star, Frakes said the internal review is ongoing and being led by the department's medical director. He said the review will help determine best approaches to ensure that all mental health needs at the facility are met.

Frakes also committed to a review of community corrections staff policy and the use of electronic monitoring systems to track inmates based on recommendations by Koebernick's office.

The report found that staff haven't used the tracking devices to their full potential, noting a lack of random checks allows technical issues and off-course inmate behavior to go unnoticed for "lengthy periods of time."

In one instance, staff found that an inmate at the Lincoln facility had been making unauthorized stops outside the facility every day for six months, including one afternoon where he stopped at the playground of an elementary school for 20 minutes near dismissal time.

"This inmate is serving a 30- to 35-year sentence for first-degree sexual assault of a minor," Koebernick's office wrote in the report.

Frakes declined to share details on the department's review of the monitoring devices, citing security concerns.

The inspector general's investigation also uncovered disparities in punishments for men and women found guilty of escape after walking away from the corrections facilities.

Of the 36 walkaways Koebernick's office reviewed, 24 inmates were found guilty of escape, including 18 men and six women.

All 18 men lost "good time," a form of sentence reduction that inmates earn by maintaining good behavior. Most of the men lost six months' worth of good time, the maximum punishment for escape.

Only one woman  who forfeited 30 days of good time  lost any, according to the report.

But Frakes rejected the inspector general's recommendation to review disciplinary records and address issues of equity in administrative sanctions. In his response, Frakes said the process allows for discretion in determining appropriate punishment while ensuring inmates their due process rights.

The inspector general of the prisons system was created by the Legislature in 2015 to "provide for increased accountability and oversight" of the state's corrections division.

Koebernick told the Journal Star that he hoped the report wasn't taken as an indictment of staff at the two community corrections facilities, who he said are doing their best despite being "dealt a really difficult hand."

"They care a lot about those people out there," he said.

And Koebernick said he knows his office's reports aren't always well-received by Frakes and his department. But he's confident in the report, he said.

In his response to Frakes, Koebernick wrote that he is hopeful the department won't minimize the issues the report uncovered. The inspector general declined to modify his recommendations, as the director had requested.

"I disagree with him," Koebernick said.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7223 or awegley@journalstar.com. On Twitter @andrewwegley

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Whats John Baylors No. 1 piece of advice for students studying for the ACT? Its plastered on the royal-blue T-shirts he gives to his students.

Hammer the grammar.

This time of year, Baylor  well known as the radio voice of Husker volleyball  has students hanging on his every word in classes that promise to boost exam scores. All high school juniors in Nebraska are gearing up to take the test that could help them earn thousands of dollars in scholarships.

Baylors company OnToCollege promises pupils a typical jump of 3-5 points, with one of his student's most successful improvement being 11 points.

Those types of score improvements are possible for anyone, Baylor said. ACT scores are only partly based on natural gifts. The test-taking skills, grammar rules and practice questions he reviews in his class can impact students' scores greatly.

Theres a very strong correlation between outcomes and effort," he said. "Usually, disappointing scores are the result of a pretty casual approach to school and a casual approach to test-taking.

Deb Selby of OnToCollege said inspiring students to put in the leg work isnt hard for Baylor.

His teaching is very motivating and very energetic, and thats his personality, she said. Hes quirky, but they (students) like that. Its different. Its not somebody whos stiff out of the box.

Not surprisingly, Baylor is no stranger to being in front of people. Before his career as a test prep instructor, he went to Los Angeles in 1991 to become an actor.

The highlight of his acting career was appearing in the background of a Spanish champagne commercial with actress Sharon Stone.

Eventually, the glitz and glamour of the Southern California lifestyle wore off, and after 2 1/2 years, Baylor moved back to Nebraska. He followed his other passion  sportscasting  to KLIN radio.

He's been the voice of Husker volleyball on the radio for 28 years.

However, it wasnt until 1994 that Baylor introduced a hesitant Lincoln community to the service he began in LA.

They had never heard of ACT preparation, he said. I had to explain it to a fair number of high schools. It started very small.

Now Baylor serves dozens of schools, not only in Lincoln and Omaha, but all over Nebraska and the U.S. His company provides online curriculum and lectures for any school or individual to purchase.

For nearby schools, Baylor provides in-person lectures, but plenty of instruction is also done by the other tutors on his team. Selby said the company employs 34 people, including marketing employees, IT specialists, tutors and more.

Nebraska law requires all juniors at public high schools to take the ACT, and there's certainly an incentive to do well.

The best-paying job a student can have is jumping their score, Baylor said.

Taking the test can open the door for numerous scholarship possibilities, he said. Selby agrees, as she has seen lives change from a boosted ACT score.

Some students who never wouldve set foot in a college or university classroom have had the opportunity because of OnToColleges assistance.

My favorite part of the job are the success stories, Selby said. When they suddenly realize theres something else out there for them, its magical.

A people-centered focus is what drove Baylor to create OnToCollege. He loves his students, and he loves having fun with them. The combination of humor, hard work and connection make OnToCollege different than other programs, he said.

I just love when I hear from kids, Taking that class, interacting with you, changed some of my thoughts about what I would then do, Baylor said. Thats what gets me really excited.

Reach the writer at jthompson@journalstar.com

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[March 21, 2022] iQor Opens Third Call Center in the Caribbean iQor, a managed services provider of customer engagement and technology-enabled BPO solutions, celebrates the grand opening of its third contact center in Trinidad and Tobago. This newest center opens in the city of Chaguanas to meet the growing demand for BPO digital services. The new facility expands the company's nearshore footprint in Trinidad and increases the number of omnichannel customer support jobs provided by about 800, for a total of approximately 2,200 iQor employees in Trinidad. The expansion has enabled iQor to support multiple new clients in financial services, hospitality, medical, utilities, and retail. iQor teams provide these clients sought-after customer service in general customer care, inbound and outbound sales, tech support, reservations, and collections. "iQor Trinidad and Tobago invests heavily to attract, retain, and develop its employees to be the best in the industry. With this expansion, we look forward to joining the local community in Chaguanas and hiring from a large pool of skilled Trinidadians to provide meaningful customer experiences to the world's top brands," said iQor President and CEO Gary Praznik. Chaguanas is located approximately 30 minutes from Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago. It offers convenient access to the airport, hotels, and several colleges/universities including the University of Trinidad and Tobago and the University of West Indies. Located outside the Caroni Bird Sanctuary, iQor's newest multi-level, 40,000-square-foot facility features 600 seats and emplyee-friendly amenities.

Like iQor's Wallerfield and Barataria sites, which are near full capacity due to strong client demand, the Chaguanas location offers a full range of omnichannel customer support such as voice, chat, email, SMS, and social media powered by the latest digital technologies including intelligent automation, conversational AI, and speech analytics to create excellent employee and customer experiences. The new contact center opening in Chaguanas follows the recent expansion of the Wallerfield location in the third quarter of 2021. iQor added 15,000 square feet and more than 200 employees to the Wallerfield site to accommodate increased client needs in the hospitality and home maintenance industries. iQor will host a grand opening ceremony at the new contact center (63 Ramsaran St., Chaguanas) at 10:00 a.m. AST on March 23, 2022. Trinidad and Tobago Senator the Honourable Paula Gopee-Scoon, Minister of Trade and Industry, and Chaguanas Mayor His Worship Faaiq Mohammed, along with other officials and iQor leaders, will speak at the event. iQor is hiring work-in-office and work-at-home call center positions in Chaguanas, Wallerfield, and Barataria. Individuals seeking rewarding employee experiences with unlimited growth potential are encouraged to visit iQor Trinidad's Facebook page or apply.iqor.com. About iQor iQor is a managed services provider of customer engagement and technology-enabled business process outsourcing (BPO) solutions comprised of 35,000 amazing employees spanning 10 countries. We are passionate about delivering an outstanding omnichannel customer experience for brands across the globe. Harnessing intelligent CX technology that can scale teams anywhere, our BPO solutions create happy employees and delighted customers. Our irresistible culture results in a smile with each interaction to create optimal customer experiences. We enable diverse teams to scale our BPO digital solutions from local to global to create the CX experience brands demand to win and keep customers. Read, see, and hear more at iQor.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220321005740/en/

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Care and Feeding is Slates parenting advice column. Have a question for Care and Feeding? Submit it here or post it in the Slate Parenting Facebook group.

Dear Care and Feeding,

My husband and I are divorcing, and he is moving across the country next month. I will have primary custody of our 10- and 12-year-old boys who get along fine with one another.

I have two questions. First, what is a positive and healthy way for my 10-year-old son to think about our familys breakup? My mantra is I will finally be free, and I would like a mantra for my son to think about when he is feeling bad. He and his father love each other but will now only spend time together a couple times a year, including half the summer. My son knows he is loved, and I have told him that we will get through this and time heals wounds, but it does not make him feel better. Maybe there is no mantra.

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Second, how do I get my son the help he needs, when he refuses therapy but talks about suicide? We have extended family but there is no one he would want to confide in. He does not want to talk to strangers, and says its enough for him to open up to me. He was interested in potentially getting antidepressant medication to feel better, but not if it meant he had to talk to someone. A couple years ago when my husband first moved out of the house (but stayed in the same state), my son had a couple Zoom sessions with a therapist. Last spring when he did not want to return to full time in-person school after months of virtual school, I had him see the school psychologist a couple of times. Now he says he will stay home from school if I make him see a therapist at school. Enticing him with an ice cream or other treats does not work. I called a suicide hotline and the person I spoke to said he does not seem to be in crisis but to keep an eye on him and get him therapy.

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My son is a glass half-empty type (theres a history of depression on his fathers side), so he is not taking the divorce and his fathers departure well. A few weeks ago he said he wanted to commit suicide. A couple times a week since then, he mentions death but not always suicide. For example, he said life isnt fun and he doesnt like being a kid without any control. How should I address this?

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Want to Help My Son

Dear Want to Help,

At this point, your son has repeatedly expressed a desire to harm himself and that means that you have a duty to report his suicidal ideation to a mental health professional who is better equipped to treat him than you are. This is no longer a situation you can manage on your own, nor is it a situation where your son, as a minor, can decline medical intervention.

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Resist the urge to downplay his repeated conversations about suicide as characteristic of a glass half-empty personality. This isnt just related to a gloomy disposition. And a family history of depression isnt the same as a concrete and specific medical diagnosis for your son. You should make an appointment for him to receive assessment and treatment.

Though your divorce may have triggered the recent conversations you and your son are having, positive messaging or a mantra about the divorce wont address what seems like a broader, longer-term and more serious underlying issue. Seek treatment on your sons behalf. Even if hes initially unhappy about it, the right medical intervention could go a long way toward helping him feel better not just about your changing family dynamic but about his life in general.

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Dear Care and Feeding,

My 9-year-old daughter, otherwise quite independent and active, has started wetting her pants. It happens daytime and nighttime, though more often in the day. Weve talked about it, been supportive and open, and tried different strategies like going to the bathroom as soon as we pick her up from school, frequent reminders, taking her to the pediatrician to rule out obvious physical causes. She never had developmental issues to link this to, and shes been potty trained since 3 with basically no accidents for 5 years, until now. Weve asked her what she thinks could help and she says she doesnt know. It obviously bothers her and causes her to be self-conscious, and I notice that to hide it shes taken to wearing multiple layers of leggings or underwear. We also got her special underwear for bedwetting, but the problem doesnt seem to be ebbing. Ive searched around and not found much. Is this a thing? How do we help?

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Out of Ideas

Dear Out of Ideas,

It sounds like youve done as much as you can to address the physical aspect of the issue. If your pediatrician has ruled out physical causes for thisand you may want to visit the doctor again or at least give them a call so that you can talk to the doctor some more, since the problem has not abatedconsider that there might be a psychological reason this is happening. Your daughter may be experiencing anxiety, panic, anger, helplessness, or other emotions she may not know how to identify or articulate. If you havent already, consider taking your daughter to see a therapist. It may help her (and you) figure out why shes wetting herself. Rooting out the cause is key to finding the best strategies for addressing the issue. Good luck!

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Catch Up on Care and Feeding

 If you missed Mondays column, read it here.

 Discuss this column in the Slate Parenting Facebook group!

Dear Care and Feeding,

My daughter, Becky, is 41 and divorced. My son is 42 and married. For previous family trips Becky has always brought a friend so she doesnt feel like an odd man out. My daughter-in-law and son would never exclude her. We have no objection to her attending solo at all. This year, shes not sure any of her friends will go and shes very upset, saying she will have to see if shes willing to go. We would hate for her not to attend. Do you have any advice?

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Nervous in New Jersey

Dear Nervous,

Everyone handles divorce differently and it sounds like, for your daughter, divorce has made it difficult for her to attend family functions without a partner. If you, your son, and your daughter-in-law have all encouraged your daughter to attend family trips on her own and shes expressed discomfort with doing so, there may not be a way to compel her to attend by herself. She knows what makes her feel at ease, as a divorced woman, and it sounds like shes more comfortable in social settings with the family if she brings someone along.

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It may be worth having one more conversation with her, gently expressing how much youd enjoy spending time with her on the trip, but if her mind is made up that shed rather not attend without a friend, you may have to accept her choice.

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Want Advice From Care and Feeding?

Submit your questions about parenting and family life here. Its anonymous! (Questions may be edited for publication.)

Dear Care and Feeding,

My 16-year-old daughter is being viciously bullied by her peer group at school. Im just not sure what to do about it at this point. Some context: My husband and I are both working professionals, and we do very well. We live in an affluent suburb, and most of the neighbors and school district are in a similar favorable financial situation.

When Erikas 16th birthday was coming up, and we were asking what she wanted for her birthday present, she asked for us to get her some work on her nose, as well as cheek augmentation. Everyone gets it according to her, and while I cant say for certain, I do think a lot of her friends have been under the knife. While the financial side of it was absorbable, and her brother Evan got a more expensive car for his 16th, after discussing it with my husband, we told her no, we didnt think she needed to get plastic surgery. Shes beautiful just the way she is and getting a surgical procedure done as some sort of fad seems wrong.

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Im not entirely sure when it started, but she went from being one of the more popular kids to being a social outcast. She comes home from school crying more often than not, and has shown me some very vicious text messages from former friends about how ugly she is and how shell never succeed without working to improve herself. This has led to renewed begging to let her get the face work. I still think this is insane, but presented with evidence of actual bullying over it, Im no longer certain what to do.

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Worried Mother

Dear Worried Mother,

Im so sorry to hear that your daughter is being bullied and that the harassment has led to her wanting to change her appearance. It isnt surprising that shed want to take drastic measures to try to make the attacks stop, but cosmetic surgery wont necessarily change anything about whats happening to her at school. You likely understand that as an adult. It doesnt sound like she does. If shes only pursuing surgical options in hopes of receiving external validation from her peers, shes allowing her friends too much power. Their actions have already caused her emotional and psychological harm. Now she wants to change her face for them.

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As a family, you do need to take significant steps to address this. Big steps. Consider changing schools. Consider notifying school administration. Consider counseling. But surgery cant become part of the conversation until shes certain that shed only want to undergo the desired procedures because of her own preferences, not because shes being body-shamed by classmates. This is difficult territory to navigate, but be sure that you prioritize restoring your daughters psychological and emotional health before entertaining any requests for physical augmentation.

Stacia

For More Parenting Coverage, Listen to Mom and Dad Are Fighting

More Advice From Slate

My daughter has always been an independent soul, from the time she was a tiny baby. In grade school she loved to sneak out and sleep in her treehouse, and shes done every Outward Boundstyle activity she can get her hands on. Now shes in her last year of high school and has just presented me with an extremely detailed plan she has concocted to spend the summer planting trees in the Canadian wilderness, which is apparently a thing you can do? For money? Im worried that this is a terrible idea and shes more likely to fall out of a tree than arrive at university intact. Should I shut this plan down?
In 2017, the federal judiciary undertook reforming its own sexual harassment and discrimination policies after multiple women came forward to allege abuse by Alex Kozinski, the former Chief Judge of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In 2020, the House Judiciary Committee heard testimony about a continued lack of transparency given ongoing judicial workplace harassment and abuse (I testified at that hearing). Last week, another House Judiciary subcommittee hearing took place, this time focused on bipartisan legislation, the Judiciary Accountability Act, that could create statutory workplace protections for judiciary employees. The JAA would bar discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, race, sex, national origin, age or disability, and offer protections for whistleblowers. The federal courts have taken the position that the proposed legislation interferes with the internal governance of the Third Branch.

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Among those who testified Thursday were Laura Minor, a former employee for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, who resigned as the agencys Equal Employment Opportunity Officer in 2013 after repeatedly flagging concerns regarding the flaws in the judiciarys reporting procedures and the need for cultural change. Caitlyn Clark, who clerked for U.S. District Judge C. Ashley Royal in the Middle District of Georgia, testified about being fired from her clerkship after disclosing that she was pregnant. She was fired ten days before she gave birth. Also testifying was Caryn Devins Strickland, a former assistant federal public defender, who sued the federal judiciary as a Jane Doe, over its protocols for handling harassment complaints. Ally Coll, president of the Purple Campaign, a nonprofit focused on addressing workplace harassment, testified as well.

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Deeva Shah has been involved with this issue from the outset. An attorney at Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP, shes worked with Law Clerks for Workplace Accountability and testified at the 2020 hearing about the need for substantial reform. In 2020, Olivia Warren also testified about harassment she experienced while clerking for Judge Stephen Reinhardt. Both Shah and Warren attended Thursdays hearing, where Shah represented Minor as well as three other people who provided written testimony. The views represented here are the lawyers alone, and not those of their employers or clients. Our discussion has been lightly edited for clarity:

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Dahlia: So weve been holding these hearings since 2018. I wanted to ask both of you whats changed and what feels the same?

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Liv: Im impressed by how much Congress has learned about this issue, and the bipartisan engagement. Theres a lot more fluency with the structure of the judiciary, the power disparities throughout, and the absence of basic procedural fairness, much less any enforcement mechanisms. Members on both sides of the aisle demonstrated a deeper and more nuanced engagement with workplace discrimination in the judiciary, especially the fear of retaliation and the top-down cultural problems. The 2020 hearing involved a lot of education, and its clear that Congress is listening. What hasnt changed is that judiciary employees continue to face harassment and discrimination. And the same problems persist with each iteration of the judiciarys internal procedures: a lack of transparency, lack of due process, and lack of unbiased adjudication.

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Deeva: Echoing Livs impression regarding Congressional engagement and education, I am also impressed by the depth of public and media engagement on this issue. Two years ago, although we saw widespread shock after Livs testimony, the responses showed a lack of awareness on these issues. Public statements attempted to minimize this as an issue of oneor at most, a fewbad apples. Journalists frequently deferred to the judiciary on whether the 2019 changes to its reporting procedures were effective, even though Livs testimony provided an example of how certain changes were already ineffective.

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But since 2020, and especially after Thursdays hearing, it has become harder to take those surface-level responses seriously. Despite the judiciarys insistence that procedures have changed, the allegations have not. More current and former judiciary employees have come forward and shared (1) allegations of harassment and discrimination and (2) clear examples of how even the current reporting procedures are flawed in significant ways. One of the anonymous letters submitted for the record makes clear that even when a claim is substantiated, employees could still have no remedy. Another anonymous letter details the use of NDAs, which effectively prevent other employees from ascertaining patterns or practices of misconduct. The media has noticed that the judiciary either cannot or will not shine a necessary light on this problem, as Laura Minor testified.

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Dahlia: Before Thursdays hearing the Working Group of judges and officials who have been tasked with reforming the judiciarys sexual harassment and misconduct policies released several proposed reforms. Everyone concedes they are another step in the right direction but what are they missing?

Deeva: I cant really concede that these changes are a step in the right direction, because the recommendations are either too vague to make any such prediction, or may be ineffective because of cultural and structural problems. For example, the Working Group recommends that employee complaints be overseen by a judge from outside the court from which the complaint originated. But at last weeks hearing, the Subcommittee heard from Caitlyn Clark, a former law clerk who experienced a clear cut case of pregnancy discrimination. Clarks case was heard by a judge in another district, yet that did not resolve the lack of impartiality inherent in those proceedings.

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As another example, the Working Group correctly recognizes that the judiciary is one of the few workplaces that does not include the additional monetary remedies available to employees in other agencies or organizations. Although the Working Group recommends that the judiciary assess incorporation of additional monetary remedies, it is unclear what this recommendation means, how long assessment will take, or whether and what change will occur. And expanded remedies are pointless if judges are unwilling to impose those remedies on each other. As Minor said at the hearing, in her 23 years in the judiciary, although judges hold many of us accountable, they cannot and do not want to hold each other accountable.

That brings me to my final concern: Almost all other federal employees can rely on basic workplace protections codified by law, statutes including the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Family and Medical Leave Act. Those protections ensure that employees do not have to depend on an employers unenforceable promise of good faith and impartiality to address harassment and discrimination. Judge McKeown and Robinson  both on the Working Group  provided written testimony to the Subcommittee which states that [j]udiciary employees are protected by those employment laws and policies. That is wrong: in fact, the judiciary has taken the exact opposite stance in Stricklands case and argued that Judicial Branch employees are precluded from bringing employment-based claims in federal court. Judiciary employees can only enforce these rights through the EDR process, where they cannot access the statutory remedies, and cannot have any guarantee of access to evidence, discovery, hearings, or other procedural safeguards. A heartfelt promise from an employer is not akin to statutory protection enforceable in court, especially when those procedures continue to fail.

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Liv: I agree that the proposed reforms are missing enforcement mechanisms and remedies that the JAA provides. And while I appreciate the suggestion for a nationwide climate survey, its unclear why the judiciary is now considering this long overdue change, which advocates have repeatedly pushed for since 2017. The judiciarys repeated insistence that the workplace issues are really just incivilityincluding in Chief Justice Robertss annual reportmake me very skeptical that people will feel they can answer openly and honestly in a long overdue nationwide climate survey. As Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) stressed, these statements do not invite the candid reflection needed to fix the cultural problems.

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Dahlia: One exchange that felt like it was decidedly new happened when Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY) questioned federal judges about Alex Kozinski and Stephen Reinhardt. It was the first time a judge has been questioned directly about what they knew about what I had described at the time as an open secret.

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Liv: I think Judge McKeowns answers made clear there is no plausible deniability for the judiciary. She carefully parsed that she had heard about then-Judge Kozinskis unusual personality and antics, but not the kind of allegations that these individuals came forward with. I am very concerned that Judge McKeown and the rest of the Ninth Circuit have not engaged in a meaningful reflection and investigation about how and why they were purportedly unaware of such flagrant misconduct. If Judge McKeown knew about Kozinskis antics, and the longtime Circuit Executive Cathy Catterson knew about Reinhardts bark and bite, how and why did they not identify these as obvious red flags? Finally, the judiciarys knowledge of this conduct is not unknowable: there is extensive documentary evidence that could be explored on this question. And I think its hard to imagine the judiciary can move forward in good faith when even the people at the helm of their efforts refuse to ask how we got here.

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I know that many people applauded this exchange, as did I. But Representative Joness four questions are the most accountability any of the several hundred employees who went through those chambers have had, and we deserve more.

Deeva: If we take the judiciarys response here at face value, its emblematic of the amount of deference and good faith that judges show each other. Although judicial deference is a core tenet in judicial decision-making, that level of deference in the employment context shows a lack of impartiality and creates an atypical presumption of good faith any complainant must overcome. In no other employment context do we immediately give managers such deference, while we also allow them to serve as the investigators and adjudicators.

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Dahlia: Is there anything to be hopeful for? Some takeaway to persuade us that this isnt the same old Groundhog Day hearings?

Deeva: As I said at the outset, I am hopeful about the amount of awareness and education we are seeing. I am also optimistic about how the tone has shifted from complete deference to the judiciary to an acceptance that, in this context, the judiciary is just another employer and should be treated as one. On the other hand, I worry that continued hearings may do harm: the numerous law clerks Ive spoken to since the hearing note that the judiciarys repeated insistence on self-policing hurts an employees likelihood of reporting and also further diminishes the credibility of the judiciary in their eyes.

On a personal level, testifying two years ago felt a lot more terrifying, especially as a young lawyer just starting out in her career and hoping to practice before the federal courts. Now, I have heard from judges and judiciary employees that this advocacy work is seen, by at least some, as a necessary part of changing an institution we all care about and practice within for the better.

Liv: I, too, am heartened by how many lawyers are now willing to get involved in these cases, which were long viewed as too controversial by even law professors, much less attorneys practicing full time in federal courts. Honestly, it is hard to be hopeful when I am so exhausted by the actual thousands of hours of my time that this has consumed over the past five years. But I do sleep very well at night, because I know I have done all I possibly can. And I wont stop.
Late on Monday morning, the Senate Judiciary Committee met for what appeared to be either the first day of Judge Ketanji Brown Jacksons Supreme Court confirmation hearings, or the fifth year of Justice Brett Kavanaughs.

Jackson, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, is the first SCOTUS nominee from a Democratic president since the Kavanaugh confirmation in 2018, which was forced to reconvene in a dramatic second session following a sexual assault allegation against the nominee. In Mondays opener, consisting of opening remarks from each member of the committee, one Republican senator after another emphasized that they would show Jackson the respect Democrats never conferred on Kavanaugh.

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When we say this is not Kavanaugh, what do we mean? South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who had the most memorable non-Kavanaugh outburst of the day in that 2018 hearing, said. It means, Democratic senators are not going to have their windows busted by groups, thats what it means. It means no Republican senator is going to unleash on you an attack on your character when the hearing is virtually over. None of us, I hope, have been sitting on information about you as a person for weeks or months  never [to] share it with you to allow you to give your side of the story.

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Jacksons respectfulbut firm!questioning from Republican senators, Graham said, will make her the beneficiary of Republicans having their lives turned upside down during the Kavanaugh hearings.

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We wont try to turn this into a spectacle, Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the current ranking member who chaired the committee in 2018, said at the beginning of his opening remarks.

Unlike the start to the Kavanaugh hearings, he continued, we didnt have repeated, choreographed interruptions of Chairman Durbin during his opening statements, like Democrats interrupted me for than an hour during my opening statement on the Kavanaugh hearings.

Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse referred to that episode as the time when a bunch of yokels had to be arrested and carried from the room. A confirmation hearing for a lifetime appointment to the nations highest court, he insisted, is no time for people to be acting like jackwagons.

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Texas Sen. Ted Cruz included a plug for his podcast in his opening remarks. But he, too, promised these hearings would be different from the circus of the Kavanaugh confirmation.

Judge Jackson, I can assure you that your hearing will feature none of that disgraceful behavior, he said. No one is going to inquire into your teenage dating habits. No one is going to ask you, with mock severity, do you like beer?

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There will be two long days of hearings, on Tuesday and Wednesday, during which well find out how well this Republican pledge to be firm but respectful, contra the alleged tenor of Democrats during the Kavanaugh hearings, holds up.

There are reasons for skepticism. Several Republicans on the Judiciary Committee are considering runs for president, and will be tempted to treat these hearings as star-making turns, as some committee Democrats did in 2018. Consider, for example, Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, whos already fired up the QAnon signal by suggesting Jackson has a sympathetic place in her heart for child traffickers. Most Republicans ignored this line of attack, but Sen. Marsha Blackburn also repeated this slur, and Graham himself suggested it was fair game.

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But if these hearings do turn out to be more of an exercise in friendly hand-holding than the Kavanaugh hearings were, there will be a couple of good reasons for that. Neither of them is that Republican senators are just nicer people than their Democratic counterparts.

The first reason Jackson may not get the Kavanaugh treatment is that she has not been credibly accused of sexual assault. Its incredible that anyone needs reminding, but it was Christine Blasey Fords credible allegation that prompted the tension of those hearings, and the outcry from activists. They were looking into much more than teenage dating habits, as Cruz termed it.

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Beyond that, Republicans have a political interest in not overplaying their hand. They have a 6-3 advantage on the court now, and they will have a 6-3 advantage on the court if Jackson is confirmed. At the time of Kavanaughs hearing shortly before the 2018 midterms, Justice Anthony Kennedy was the swing vote on the court, and Kavanaugh was chosen to lock in a more solid 5-4 advantage. (Since then, Justice Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed in the final weeks of the 2020 election, locking in the conservative supermajority.) Republicans are right that Democrats choreographed interruptions of Chairman Grassley to begin the Kavanaugh hearings made for a grating first couple of hours. But when the stakes are bigger, so are the stunts.

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Since Jacksons appointment wouldnt change the balance of the court, and Republicans are already riding a tailwind into the midterm elections, their prevailing political concern is to not rock the boat. That doesnt mean to let her go unchallenged. Republicans will work to secure a couple of talking points that echo their midterm messaging. They will try to show, for example, that Jackson is soft on criminals, just like those lousy Democrats who lust for defunding the police. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, meanwhile, has said that in his interview with her, she wouldnt offer opposition to expanding the Supreme Court. Some Republican senators during opening statements telegraphed this line of attack: Democrats and Justice Jackson are soft on crime and want to pack the court! These confirmation hearings will ultimately be an exercise in engineering talking points, for which a side must settle when they cant engineer outcomes.

Republicans know they arent likely to stop Jacksons confirmation. They know they are likely to pick up seats in the midterms. Their priority is to not screw up the latter by embarking on a quixotic mission to achieve the former. This political calculationnot some innate goodness they possess that Democrats in 2018 didntwill dictate the firm, but respectful balance they hope to strike.

If they can help themselves.
In her February speech accepting President Bidens nomination to the Supreme Court, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson thanked family, friends, colleagues, law clerks, and mentorsbut saved her last expression of gratitude for Constance Baker Motley.

A ground-breaking attorney born in 1921, Motley was the first Black woman in the United States to serve as a federal judge, and was a chief legal tactician of the civil rights movement. She helped litigate Brown v. Board of Education, one of the most important cases in American constitutional law; she desegregated schools and universities in the South; she represented Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Birmingham; and she won nine of the 10 cases she argued before the Supreme Court.

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Today, I proudly stand on Judge Motleys shoulders, Jackson said in February, calling Motleys life and career a true inspiration to me as I have pursued this professional path.

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She added that not only did she share Motleys steadfast and courageous commitment to equal justice under law, but a birthday too. The two women were born 49 years apart, to the day.

But the parallels run deeper still: Jackson, an eminently qualified jurist, was already facing mischaracterizations of her extensive courtroom experience. They began before she was nominated for the court, a repeat of what Motley endured more than five decades before.

By the 1960s, Motley had made an indelible and historic mark on American law. One of the cases she argued in front of the Supreme Court was Hamilton v. Alabama, a unanimous 1961 decision establishing the right of defendants in capital cases to assistance of counsel at arraignment.

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But Motley was passed over for a seat on a federal appeals court because opponents of her nomination turned her greatest asset into a liability, recasting her work to fulfill the promise of the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitutions Fourteenth Amendment as bias.

In their minds, Motleys pathbreaking career as a civil rights lawyera Black lawyer at thatmeant she could not be fair to all.

Fifty-six years later, critics of Judge Jacksons historic nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court used the same tired playbook, seizing on Jacksons two-year stint as a public defender to portray her as a pawn of the imagined radical Left.

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This line of criticism reveals either disdain for the American constitutional systemor a basic misunderstanding of it. And it is a dangerous echo of the reasoning that kept Motley from a seat on a higher court on the federal bench.

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Public defenders, those lawyers who by court appointment serve on behalf of indigent people accused of crimes, are vital to the integrity of the American judicial system. They uphold the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees the right to a fair trial and the assistance of counsel, and that is a critical part of our Bill of Rightsa portion of the Constitution that enshrines individual rights long understood to be sacred features of the American republic. Those individual rights include religious liberty, freedom of speech and assembly, the right to bear arms, and the prohibition against unlawful search and seizure.

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Written by James Madison, the father of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights distinguishes this country from illiberal and authoritarian regimes in which governments can deprive people of their lives and liberties without due process of law.

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Clarence Gideon, whose case, Gideon v. Wainwright, established the powerful precedent for public defenders, was a white man with an eighth-grade education. Charged in 1961 with breaking and entering, Gideon was denied counsel and forced to represent himself in a Florida court. He was found guilty and sentenced to five years in prison.

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When the case made it to the Supreme Court, the court ruled assistance of counsel is a fundamental right essential to a fair trial and necessary to safeguard of liberty.

Reason and reflection require us to recognize that in our adversary system of criminal justice, any person hauled into court, who is too poor to hire a lawyer, cannot be assured a fair trial unless counsel is provided for him, the ruling stated. The court called this an obvious truth.

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With that landmark case, the U.S. Supreme Court further defined the Sixth Amendment and all Americans rights, unanimously holding that states must provide counsel to accused criminal defendants who cannot afford to hire their own attorney.

That Judge Jackson served as such an attorney is a testament to her qualifications as a justice. Its all the more important considering the Supreme Court has never had a justice who had formally worked in this role.

The American people, and the U.S. senators elected to serve them, should reject critiques of Jackson for her past work as a public defender, not just as assault on the integrity of this distinguished and worthy nominee, but for the implication that the right to fair trial is somehow not integral to the American system of government. In fact, this right is foundational to the American Constitution and essential to the guarantee of due process of law for every person in this country.
At any one time, NPRs Brian Mann is probably following about a dozen legal proceedingsall of them seeking some kind of accountability for the opioid crisis. But none of them quite like the hearing he went to a couple weeks back.

What made it remarkable were the two dozen people giving searing testimony about the way addiction had upended their lives. Bankruptcy courts dont usually do things like this. This is not a normal thing in bankruptcy court to have victim testimony, Mann said. But as part of the agreement, three members of the Sackler family did agree to sit through it and listen as these families held up photographs of the dead and talked about what theyd lost. It was powerful and heart-wrenching. One parent forced the court to listen to a 911 call that still haunts her. In it, shed just found her son dead from an overdose.

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To the people testifying, the billionaire Sackler family is a bunch of high-end drug dealersexecutives who led Purdue Pharma as that company aggressively marketed OxyContin in doctors offices and hospital wards all over the country. This hearing was part of a settlement deal: The Sacklers have said theyll give up control of their drug company, theyll even cough up $6 billion dollars. In exchange: They want to be shielded from personal liability. A lot of people, including the U.S. Justice Department, have said, Is that how justice is supposed to work? We dont really think so,  Mann said. But these family members have been forced to live in this space for a long time, seeking justice, wanting some accountability. And at the end of the day, they think this is the best deal theyre going to get. They think this is the closest theyre going to get to justice.

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On Mondays episode of What Next, I spoke with Brian Mann about what accountability in the opioid crisis would look like, with half a million Americans dead. And is this accountability at all? Our conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

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Mary Harris: How did the Sacklers become the focus of so much anger from families and, of course, litigation too? When did that start?

Brian Mann: The Sacklers were brilliant at managing their image for a long time to distance themselves from opioids and from the main product that Purdue Pharma, their private company, made.

Yeah, I mainly knew them as the name on art galleries.

They were everywhere as one of the leading philanthropic families in the world. And there was also a very careful effort towhen they would talk about their wealth to the extent that they did, it was not connected to where all this money come from.

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I want to be fair here and contextual here. There were a lot of peopleregulators, law enforcement, doctors, pharmacists, all kinds of corporationsthat were all part of this. The Sacklers and others were donating crap tons of money to create think tanks and endowed chairs and new medical wings. So everybody got pulled into this vortex. Everybody was making money off of opioids. Opioids were a great quick fix for a lot of medical problems. So, hospitals and doctors loved them.

But slowly, as the opioid crisis deepened, there started to be more and more reporting connecting the dots back to this company. As early as 2007, which is pretty early in the opioid crisis, the Justice Department had clearly figured out that this company was doing really dangerous things.

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What do you mean when you say that?

Basically what they said was youre marketing opioidsthis very addictive, very dangerous medication that probably should only be used in the most extreme casesto doctors and to hospitals that they should give it out for relatively minor things. And youre assuring them that this new formulation that youve created is far less addictive. And we dont think the evidence really supports that. And in fact, as early as 2007, Purdue Pharma pleads guilty to federal crimes that they had marketed OxyContin improperly.

But what weve learned in the years since is that almost as soon as that deal was cut with the Justice Department, members of the Sackler family started pushing again for even more aggressive sales of opioids. This is after we knew people were dying. We knew addiction rates were soaring. They partnered with a consultant called McKinsey, and McKinsey promised to turbocharge their opioid sales.

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After this agreement with the Department of Justice?

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After this agreement, and so again, in 2020, 13 years later, Purdue Pharma pleads guilty again to federal criminal charges, admitting that they continued to market and push the sales of opioids improperly. And so this is a company that has twice pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges for pushing these very dangerous drugs during years when hundreds of thousands of Americans were dying.

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At this point, thousands of lawsuits have been filed against Purdue Pharma, which has driven the company into bankruptcy. For the Sackler family, this bankruptcy has been an opportunity. As a condition of settling their companys financial affairs, the Sacklers have demanded full immunity from civil liability for themselves. Even though the family is far from bankrupt.

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Basically, the very simple way of thinking about it is that to use this maneuver, you find something that you can stick into bankruptcy thats relatively disposable.

Like a company and assets, something that you can just get rid of.

In the case of Purdue Pharma, heres this company thats bankrupt and the Sacklers say, OK, yeah, the company is bankrupt. That ship is sinking. Were standing over here safe on our island. And were also facing a wave of lawsuits that could swamp our island. Heres what well do: Well contribute x number of dollars to that sinking ship problem that you have out there. And in exchange for that, were immune. Were no longer part of this at all. Thats the trade-off. You want a little bit more money out of that sinking ship? Fine, well contribute. But then in exchange for that, were going to demand immunity from any lawsuits going forward.

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Lots of companies and organizations have found that they can find something to throw into bankruptcy thats relatively worthless. And then they contribute x number of dollars to that process. And their rich organization or their rich individuals or their rich family, in trade for that contribution, they get a clean slate. They walk away. And thats what were about to see happen with the Sacklers. Theyre at the finish line as we speak.

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You say that the familys never acknowledged any wrongdoing, but they havent been completely silent. I noticed that you were at a different hearing in December 2020 in front of Congress, where the Sacklers actually spoke. What did they say there when confronted by lawmakers about what theyd done at Purdue Pharma?

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The narrative that they put forward is that they were ethical and lawful board members, and to the extent that Purdue Pharma has acknowledged criminal behavior, they say they were not aware of it. And theres this remarkable moment when Dr. Kathe Sackler, who was on the board, said, basically, Based on what I knew then, I dont know what I could have done differently.

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Whats interesting is that when you hear her voice, she sounds reflective. Thats what stood out to me. It sounded like she really knew how to say the words, but it was hard to know if they were genuine.

Its really challenging. Ive been reporting on the opioid crisis now for several years, and Ive listened to a lot of different corporate executives talk about their role in making decisions that just factually did flood the country with these highly addictive, very dangerous opioids. And I hear that tone of voice a lot. Theyre clearly struggling with it to some extent, but at the end, theres just this shrugwhat could we have done differently? And I dont know how to interpret it. I cant get into Kathe Sacklers heart, obviously, or the mind of all these other executives. But this resistance to accountability is profound.

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And stepping back from whats in their hearts and minds, were a society that locks up a lot of people for selling drugs, right? We put a lot of people behind bars for a long time for selling drugs. And the fact that we look at people in corporate America who sold massive quantities of drugs at times when it was clear that those drugs were devastating whole communitiesthe fact that there is no clear mechanism to hold them accountable, it raises questions that I just cant answer.

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Lets talk about this bankruptcy settlement and what it might mean. If it goes through, its $6 billion. How is that money theoretically going to be distributed?

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It has been structured in a really deliberate way to funnel the money into drug treatment and health care and harm reduction to actually ease the opioid and addiction crisis. There are very clear pipelines that will send the money to public health departments, to things like foster care programs in areas where so many parents have died or fallen into addiction that children need that kind of care.

And families themselves can apply for compensation, right?

There is about a $750 million fund that is compensation for victims. But it is important to say, and this has been controversial, that the lions share of this money is not going to victims of past addiction. The lions share will go to easing the crisis going forward and toward helping more people get treatment. A lot of the public health experts I talked to think this will move the needle. Its not enough money to begin to solve it, but there will be more people getting care.

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The good this agreement will do will be multiplied by money coming out of other, even bigger opioid settlements. In one case from over the summer, three other drug distributors reached their own deal to give up $26 billionmoney that can make a real difference in peoples lives.

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But theres a dark side to this cash flow, too. In Purdues case at least, the money going to victim compensation will come, in part, from the continued sale of opioids.

Then, theres the issue of the Sacklers themselves, whom many see as ducking accountability.

What a lot of people are saying is Hold on a second. Wait. Thats not how American justice is supposed to work. If I want to sue the Sacklers, I should get to go to court and make my argument. Thats what the Constitution promises me under due process provision, and what youre saying as a bankruptcy judge is you can build a firewall around themthats crazy. Lots of people are really alarmed by that, including the U.S. Justice Department, which has declared this whole arrangement unconstitutional.

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So there are big critics of this sacrificial animal process, but so far, it keeps making its way through.

I want to talk about that immunity and how far it goes, because at that hearing the other day, one of the people who testified was a criminal court judge, a guy named Bill Nelson, whose son died of an overdose. He seemed really frustrated that Richard Sackler wouldnt show his face. But he also made the point that I put drug dealers away with a single wrap of a gavel. And I do it without blinking an eye. And I wish I could do the same to you. Why cant there be criminal charges here, or why arent there?

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In the paper trail of this long interaction between law enforcement and regulators and Purdue Pharma and the Sacklers, there clearly have been moments when the Justice Department and others have come up to the line and really strongly considered bringing criminal charges against at least some members of the family. Thats never happened. Instead, theyve entered into these deals; theyve secured payments from the Sacklers. Its important to say that its very hard to hold corporate actors accountable for criminal behavior. You have to have really big smoking guns. You have to have very clear intent. The paper trail has to be almost unavoidably clear that some kind of criminal conspiracy happened.

And what seems obvious is that the Sacklers and Purdue Pharma have worked very aggressively to make sure that those charges were never filed. And also, when you look now at whether the U.S. Justice Department or a state attorney general might take on some kind of a criminal probe or a criminal prosecution, it would be a very big legal fight against a family that has very deep pockets to hire the best legal team in the country. And so far, thats a windmill that no prosecutor has been willing to take on.

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It sounds a little bit like theyve been able to pay their way out of accountability.

Thats the obvious takeaway for a lot of people. The Sacklers are going to pay $6 billion in exchange for immunity from civil lawsuits. Thats a luxury that most of us cannot afford. And its clear that is whats happening here: Theyre going to pay for walking away.

And in terms of this controversial question about criminal charges, the Sacklers say, We did nothing illegal, so you would be barking up the wrong tree. But what others have said is that the Sacklers have managed this very carefully so that criminal accountability would be difficult to prove. And so I dont think theres a strong chance that theyll ever face criminal charges.

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Youve covered so much of this opioid litigation all around the country. I wonder how you as a reporter come down on this moment on how these legal remedies work and dont work for the victims. Because it sounds like the subtext of our whole conversation is that the legal system allows for all these loopholes and ways to manipulate a complicated system.

Yeah, its terrifying, honestly, because that clearly happened, and Ive heard judges, Ive heard victims, Ive heard regulators all say the entire system here did fail, and in some cases it failed by designlobbying of Congress, defanging the regulatory agencies, hiring former regulators to come work at higher salaries in these big pharma firms. There was this whole ecology where a lot of people made a lot of money and made their careers because this was just a profitable business, and they did that while more and more people were dying. And through this legal process, there have been reforms. There have been efforts to reach new agreements with the drug industry to tighten up their act and to get better. But the fact that this all happened out in plain sightthat everybody sort of let it keep going on, even as we saw more and more people dyingits not a pretty picture.

A really big question that I think about a lot is what is the next thing like this? If we allowed something this obviously destructive to keep happening year after year, what else will regulators look the other way over? What else will law enforcement decline to really lean in and prosecute because of powerful interests? Its really scary.

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Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, Ukrainian journalists have done heroic work reporting on Russian military atrocities, the refugee crisis, and everyday life in a country at war. They have done their jobs under unthinkable pressure, risking their lives to reveal the invasions devastation to the world. Their journalism has helped to counter propaganda promoted by both Russia and Russian sympathizers, such as Tucker Carlson and Tulsi Gabbard, who are eager to sow suspicion and skepticism toward Ukraine. When theyre off the job, many of these reporters are also helping their families flee the violence and facilitating aid for those who remain.

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One journalist reporting from the heart of the war is Oleg Skrypnik. A former reporter in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region, Skrypnik now serves as chief editor for 10 affiliated news outlets in 10 different Ukrainian citiesincluding Kharkiv, where he is based. He currently divides his time between Kharkiv, a city under continual Russian bombardment, and Western Ukraine, where his family has temporarily relocated. With the help of a translator, we spoke on Friday about reporting between bombings, refuting American propaganda, and coming around to President Volodymyr Zelensky. Our conversation has been edited for clarity.

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Mark Joseph Stern: Are you in Kharkiv right now?

Oleg Skrypnik: No, Im with my family in Western Ukraine waiting for 200 helmets and 200 bulletproof vests so I can bring them to Kharkiv. Its weird because it feels safe here. Were located far away from the airport and ammunition storages. But we are near the train tracks. I just hope its safe.

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How much of the invasion have you witnessed yourself?

Ive witnessed military atrocities, bombing, shelling. When I was relocating my family to Western Ukraine, we passed an airport in a small city. Two minutes later, Russians started bombing the airport.

I have a lot of experience in military reporting. I worked in Donetsk for eight years and saw lots of bombings there and even worse conditions. Now, in Kharkiv, Im exhausted, but prepared physically and morally for the experience. Its 50-50: Sometimes you hide, sometimes you dont. But we all know that if a bomb hits the place where we are, thats it.

I know youve spent a lot of time working in Kharkiv during Russias brutal bombardment of the city. What has it been like reporting in the midst of a war?

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At the beginning, in Kharkiv, we had to hide in the subway. It was complicated to write there. We did try to post news but it was tricky. Now we work when there is no bombing alert, no shelling alert. But we dont always get the alerts in time because Russians, they dont schedule it. Whenever the Russian planes try to strike, civilians get killed.

There are a lot of rules about getting to places and reporting in war situations. If its a hot spot and something is happening there, the government mostly lets international reporters and TV reporters go. For online media, they issue a permit for what you can and cannot put online. Its a problem for reporters. The most crucial thing is to understand what you must not ever publish online. For example, the location of our military, of course. Thats prohibited and no one has to tell anyone not to do it. We would never place information like where the bomb hit exactly, because that gives the Russian occupants information on how to track the buildings. But we can talk about Russian losses and how many Ukrainian soldiers were killed just to inform the community.

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Some right-wing American politicians and media figures like Tulsi Gabbard, Tucker Carlson, and Glenn Greenwald have begun promoting the lie that the U.S. funds biological weapons research in Ukraine. Have you seen this?

Oh, yes. Even in these hard times, a sense of humor helps us a lot to cope with all the hardships we face. So we have a joke: The only biological weapon that we have here in Ukraine are the corpses of Russian soldiersand, after several days, their socks.

Their socks?

Yes, because they start to smell after a few days.

I see.

We used to have some people before the war who were also inclined to say these bad things about Ukraine, but we dont have them any longer. There was one party called the Opposition PlatformFor Life. Even after eight years of war in Donbas and Crimea, they said Russia isnt bad, Russia is our brother, the United States and the European Union are bad. It looks like Russia put a lot of effort and money to develop this propaganda, to falsely claim that Russians are peacemakers who do nothing bad. We now see that it is completely the opposite. And the Opposition PlatformFor Life is no longer here. [Note: Zelensky suspended the party due to its alleged links to Russia.]

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Meanwhile, over here, American right-wing media is promoting Russian propaganda. Whats your reaction to that?

I would recommend some of these American journalists to come to Kharkiv and spend a night in Kharkiv under shelling, when your hands are shaking and you cant sleep. I had the experience of working in Donbas when it all started back in 2014, and even now my hands are shaking. It doesnt matter if you are brave or not. When you are trying to hide from all these shellings and bombs, you cannot breathe or function normally.

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What do you think about the broader media coverage of the war?

I see serious support from international media in coverage of what is happening in Ukraine. But I dont understand why Marina Ovsyannikovawho held her no war sign when she got into the middle of the newshas gotten so much attention. Because for eight years, her state-sponsored network has been saying that Ukraine has fascists in the government, only Russia is good, and the European Union and America are bad. I would like to see more news about what is happening in Ukraine and not about how Russian journalists or producers came up with this one slogan after eight years of lying to their people and the whole world.

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Im curious how reporting on your own countrys invasion affects your journalistic standards. Do you feel an obligation to, for instance, remain neutral about whos to blame?

For eight years, I stuck to journalistic standards in war reporting. I always told my journalists to be neutral, show both sides, dont support any political party. But since the war started, I have lost a lot of friends and colleagues. And it was my personal decision to write Russia and Putin without capital letters. All in lowercase. What Russia is doing to our people and our nation is not acceptable, and these emotions should be seen by the whole world. Everybody in the world should see and know what is happening to Ukraine, including its journalists.

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Much of the world, including the U.S., has rallied behind President Zelensky in recent weeks. What do you make of his leadership so far?

I have to say that I did not vote for him. As a citizen, I was not very happy that he won. I thought he was a weak politician and our journalists criticized himyou know, as journalists, we always criticize presidents. We didnt know what kind of agenda he would have during the war and we were worried. But President Zelensky, he did not escape, he didnt leave his nation, he did the right things. Of course, his subordinates do make some mistakes. But this is wartime. Its clear there will be mistakes. The president didnt give away Donbas and Crimea. His agenda is that Russia has to return those parts of Ukraine that were taken from us back in 2014. He has incredible support from the whole nation because he does the right things. He talks to people. Hes not sitting in a bunker and recording some addresses to the nation like Putin is doing. For the first time, he can say hes the president of all Ukraine.
Welcome to State of Mind, a new section from Slate and Arizona State University dedicated to exploring mental health. Follow us on Twitter.

This past December, Bloomberg News reporter Caleb Melby found himself watching some TikToks. They were from the company Cerebral, an online mental healthcare startup. Melby and his co-author Polly Mosendz watched a lot of Cerebral videossome were fairly generic mental health affirmations, but others advertised how easily medication for anxiety, depression, and ADHD could come right to your door.

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In their recent Bloomberg News article, Melby and Mosendz describe a company that promised to fill holes in Americas fragile mental health care network, but instead followed the Silicon Valley playbook, moving fast and growing at all costs. In this case, that means prescribing controlled drugs like Adderall and Xanax over the internet. On Sundays episode of What Next: TBD, I spoke with Melby about what happens when the internet and mental health care collide. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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Lizzie OLeary: Cerebral was founded in January of 2020, just months before COVID began to erode millions of Americans sense of health and well-being. Around the same time there was a key legal change around prescribing. What happened?

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Caleb Melby: Because people could no longer go to see other prescribers in-person in a lot of cases, the Drug Enforcement Administration changed the rules in something called the Ryan Haight Act, a 2008 law that banned, in most circumstances, the prescription of controlled substances in telehealth settings. Now, for the first time since 2009, basically you could now get drugs that are controlled substanceswhich are so named and so regulated because you can get addicted to them, or they have other major potential complicationsprescribed online. That includes amphetamine drugs like Adderall, antianxiety drugs like Klonopin and Xanax. These are drugs that, in addition to having important medical uses, are also popular for recreational use.

It seems understandable and fair that this was a necessary way for people who needed those meds to access them at the time.

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Yeah, absolutely. And its also true that a lot of folks had less access than others, even before that rule change. So even before Ryan Haight was rolled back, if you were poor, or you were uninsured, or you were in a geographically remote place, the chances that you had access to the same level of mental health services were not great. And the idea that you could now get these prescribed to you online created access, in a way, that hadnt existed previously.

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Can you explain how Cerebral works?

The company offers three tiers of service. One is medication plus a care counselor who is not necessarily licensed, but theyre there to talk to you about coping mechanisms, mindfulness, and stuff like that. Theres another tier, which is the therapy-only tier, and then theres therapy plus medicine, and thats where you gain a licensed therapist plus medicine.

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How much does this cost?

For your first month, you can start for as little as $30 a month. After that, its a monthly subscription between $85 and $325 a month, depending on the tier of service you choose. Now, anybody whos familiar with trying to get mental health care in this country, including people who may be insured but who a therapist who doesnt take their insurance, you know those numbers are quite low, and at that price point, you can meet a lot of unmet demand.

The company youre describing sounds like a lot of startups, frankly: the subscriber model, the different tiers, different ways of bringing people in. Is that an appropriate comparison?

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Absolutely. And that was a comparison made by people who worked within the company. One thing to keep in mind is that Cerebral is backed by SoftBank. Thats the same major venture investor that backed Uber and WeWork. A lot of folks we spoke with talked specifically about Uber, this idea that the people providing the service are doing a piecework model. Nurses are getting paid per visit. And for patients, its meant to be this same hyper-ease that Uber offers. The wait times are going to be lower and its going to be cheaper, and youre going to be able to get the help you need that youre not going to be able to get in the brick-and-mortar health care system near you.

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And, the companys growth is also very similar to a lot of other venture-backed startups. Its worth $4.8 billion, as of December, and launched in January 2020. Thats a $5 billion company in two years. Thats super-fast growth. They operate in all 50 states now. They recently announced a partnership with the National Health Service in the U.K. Things are moving very, very quickly.

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Cerebral also got a boost from partnering with one of the worlds most recognizable advocates for mental health: Simone Biles.

When she suspended competing back in July of last year, it was this lightning moment with focus on mental health from such a beloved athlete. Now, shes on the front page of the Cerebral website. Shes featured in ads where she talks about mental health broadly, and her anxiety specifically. Certainly, she has become the face of this company.

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One thing that you were struck by, when reporting this story, is just how popular Adderall has become in America and how widespread its use is.

In the second quarter of 2021, which is the most recent data we currently have available, the amount of amphetamines prescribed in the U.S., of which Adderall is one, jumped by the highest rate it had since early 2012. Roughly, the equivalent of 9 million maximum-dosage Adderall XR pills, which gives you a sense of the market that is available for companies to prescribe these medications.

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Before I came to talk to you, I did a little search and Googled get ADHD meds online. My first sponsored ad was for Cerebral. I wonder what that tells you, if anything, about the company?

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Ahead of our story, we did an even more brazen Google search, which was just buy Adderall, and the companys advertising is the first thing that comes up. But you have a whole bunch of things happening at once. We are all, as we said, at home trapped under those circumstances, when youre feeling distracted, irritated, procrastinating. Those are, theoretically, symptoms of ADHD, but they could also be, as one nurse said in our story, just symptoms of being an adult in 2022. You have this surge of ADHD influencers and mental health influencers on TikTok, and on Instagram, who are talking about their own diagnoses, and thats creating more conversations, and more people are wondering whether they might have ADHD, as well.

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Does that change patient or caregiver experiences? If someone is coming in and saying, I am here because I want Adderall.

I can tell you from the nurses we spoke to that that does happen, and they were deeply troubled by that. A prescribing nurses job is to hear your symptoms, ask some probing questions, try to get the bottom of things and try to make the best decision they can with the information they can gather. A lot of them, first of all, told us that 30 minutes to do that, even back the physical realm, is quite hard to do. But nurses we spoke with said patients would get irate. They saw these ads. You can go to the website, and if a patient is paying a subscription, and they arent getting the medication they want, that can become quite frustrating for them. If they believe they need a medication, and theyre not getting it, then the question becomes, What am I paying my subscription for?

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That seems like a very difficult incentive structure for providers to work with. You are subtly, or not so subtly, incentivized to prescribe what someone wants.

Right. It gets to this whole idea of a review culture for medicine. Ill be Caleb the nurse for a second here. If I decide the patient shouldnt be getting a prescription, but that patient wants one, they could grow irate and leave a bad review that might come up in conversations with my managers.

Some of your reporting is raising in my mind ease of prescription access that recalls some aspects of the early years of doctors prescribing a lot of opioids. I wonder if that occurred to you during your reporting, or if it occurred to some of the nurses and providers you talked to?

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A lot of the nurses brought this up. And again, these nurses are from all over the country. Some are in Appalachia, in Florida, and Massachusetts, places that were hit very hard by the opioid crisis. These are professionals who are working through the opioid crisis, so it was something on their mind. And it is the sort of thing where you dont want to make the allusion to that lightly, because its incredibly heavy and dark time in American history. But it was something we heard again and again, the rate of prescribing, the demand for this particular drugit did feel familiar to them.

Ive been thinking a lot about how the telehealth model might make medical interactions feel different. If it feels more like a service or like you are purchasing a product than the kind of interaction that someone might have at a doctors office or a therapists office, does that change the expectations of patients going into this process?

Yes, absolutely. You can see, in the way these companies structure themselves, it looks a lot like a lot of direct-to-consumer companies. Were moving to a new paradigm.

State of Mind is a partnership of Slate and Arizona State University that offers a practical look at our mental health systemand how to make it better.
It is not an issue to be communicated through injudicious press releases, Slovak defence minister said.

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The Polish government declared on March 8 that it was ready to move its MiG-29s to the military base in Ramstein, Germany, and put them at the disposal of the US troops there. They in turn asked the Americans to provide their used fighter jets with similar parameters; Poland is ready to agree on conditions to purchase these jets.

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The Polish government has called on the NATO countries who also operate MiGs to do the same. Slovakia is one of them.

Based on some media reports, including in the Financial Times on Sunday, Americans would pass the MiGs on to Ukraine.

"These ongoing consultations are a subject of non-public talks directly between allies and they definitely should not be communicated through injudicious press releases," Slovakia's Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad (OLaNO) reacted when asked about the Polish call on March 8.

The Ukrainian government has been pushing for NATO to introduce a no-fly zone over Ukraine, or at least provide fighter jets to the Ukrainian military to fight Russian aggression.

The United States, however, called Poland's request "a surprise offer."

"To my knowledge, it wasn't pre-consulted with us that they planned to give these planes to us," State Department Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing as quoted by the Reuters newswire.

The United States has sought to speed up weapon deliveries to Ukraine. But the prospect of flying combat aircraft from NATO territory into the war zone "raises serious concerns for the entire NATO alliance," the Pentagon said, as quoted by Reuters.

"We will continue to consult with Poland and our other NATO allies about this issue and the difficult logistical challenges it presents, but we do not believe Polands proposal is a tenable one," said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby.

The operation of Russian-made MiG-29 fighter jets and the presence of the Russian servicemen for the machines in Slovakia have been a concern, increasingly so after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Slovak government admitted last week that they were looking for ways to ground the MiGs earlier than the planned 2023 deadline and send the Russian technicians home.

Defence Minister Nad, however, rejected the notion that Slovakia give its MiGs to Ukraine.

Before giving up the MiGs, Slovakia needs to resolve the issue of who will protect its airspace. The government said they were in talks with "a geographically close ally", which could be Poland or Czechia, to protect Slovakia's skies. Slovakia expects the delivery of the American F-16 fighter jets it purchased three years ago by 2023.

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Two years into the pandemic, office life has not been restored to its previous form.

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Unlike many other sectors, the business service centre (BSC) sector experienced very few difficulties with the pandemic-induced transition to across-the-board home office operation. Two years into the pandemic, office life has not been restored to its previous form and BSCs are in the process of deciding whether it ever should. Most of them may not return to the way things were.

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The pandemic has made it easier for BSC employees to work remotely, and we do not envision a complete reversal back to the traditional office set up once the pandemic passes," Lygia Fullbrook, director of KPMG in Slovakia and the sector leader for shared service centres, told The Slovak Spectator. The centres will likely focus on combining the best of both worlds, the hybrid model, matching the flexibility of remote working together with working from the office for team development and learning needs, she added.

This model, which has been labelled as hybrid work, will reduce office spaces. According to the survey conducted among members of the Business Service Center Forum (BSCF), 55 percent of its member companies are planning some reductions over the next few years, while 35 percent are not planning any changes and 8 percent need for more space, according to BSCF vice chair Martin Bednar.

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Related article Life-longeducation is the answer to the lack of a skilled labour force Read more

Most BSCs had previous experience with remote work, but now they are also thinking about how to design their offices for the hybrid working model, which needs to be different than in the past. While the offices at Henkels business service centre in Bratislava remain the same size, the share of pure workstation areas has decreased while the number of project areas, focus rooms, and team rooms has significantly increased.

Any kind of creative, collaborative work has to be supported by the office infrastructure, said Christian Schulz, President of Henkel Slovensko and Head of Global Business Solutions+ Bratislava. In the past, around 70 percent of the entire office environment at Henkel had work stations; now its less than 50 percent.
The system will be temporarily placed at the military base Sliac.

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NATO troops tasked with setting up the anti-missile defence system Patriot have started arriving in Slovakia. More are expected to come in the following days. The system will be temporarily placed at the military base Sliac.

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Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad (OLaNO) confirmed the news. He noted that Patriot is not a replacement for the old Russian system S-300, but another feature for the protection of Slovakias airspace.

Last week, CNN reported that Slovakia preliminary agreed to give the S-300 system to Ukraine but only after finding a proper replacement. The minister has now clarified that the Patriot systems are in Slovakia on a temporary basis.

Other areas of deployment are currently consulting with experts on the capabilities of the Patriot system so that the protective umbrella covers the largest possible territory of Slovakia, including the priority goals set by us for the protection, he wrote on Facebook. Nad also thanked Germany and the Netherlands for offering the system.

Nad added that Slovakia will try to replace the S-300 system with another system that would be fully compatible with Slovakias allies and provide Slovakia with high defensive capabilities.

He noted that the S-300 systems are unacceptable for any defence cooperation due to their age, technical condition and insufficient capacities. The use of these systems also makes Slovakia dependent on the Russian Federation.

Germany and the Netherlands have offered Slovakia a Patriot system within NATOs effort to strengthen the eastern flank of the alliance, which Slovakia is a part of. Within an enhanced forward presence, some 2,100 NATO troops should arrive in Slovakia following parliament's approval last week.
The jobs people from Ukraine can search for are designed for them.

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The Profesia recruitment company has launched a special job search on its website designed for people who have fled to Slovakia from Ukraine.

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It is also possible to switch the website to Ukrainian.

Im glad we are managing to connect companies and people searching for a job, Ivana Molnarova, head of Profesia, wrote on Facebook. We are managing to employ specific people.
https://sputniknews.com/20220321/13000-afghan-children-died-in-2022-95-of-country-lacks-adequate-food-amid-sanctions-on-taliban-1094066210.html

13,000 Afghan Children Died in 2022, 95% of Country Lacks Adequate Food Amid Sanctions on Taliban

13,000 Afghan Children Died in 2022, 95% of Country Lacks Adequate Food Amid Sanctions on Taliban

In the aftermath of the *Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, the US canceled billions in aid to the war-torn country and froze its financial... 21.03.2022, Sputnik International

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The Afghan Ministry of Public Health reported recently that 13,700 Afghan newborns have died from malnutrition and hunger-related diseases since the start of 2022 alone.Malalai Rahimi, the head of Malalai Maternity Hospital in the capital of Kabul, told the outlet that poverty and a lack of access to medical care was responsible for the rise in infant mortality. Another doctor with Medecins San Frontieres in the western city of Herat reported the week prior that half of those we admit for critical care are also malnourished and 60% have critical cases of the measles.In postwar Afghanistan, malnutrition is almost universal. UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Ramiz Alakbarov said in a March 15 statement that a staggering 95% of the population is not eating enough food, with that percentage rising to almost 100% for female-headed households. The Afghan population is roughly 39 million, including 2.6 million who fled the country as refugees.The humanitarian situation in Afghanistan was already grim, thanks to decades of almost nonstop war, including the US occupation that began in October 2001, when the US invaded and overthrew the Taliban government in retaliation for allowing **al-Qaeda to plan the September 11 terrorist attacks in the country. According to a 2016 report by the Costs of War Project at Brown University, some 241,000 people were killed in the war, 71,300 of whom have been identified as civilians, and indirect deaths attributed to disruptions caused by the war - such as shortages of medicine, stresses caused by the conflict or being a refugee, or illnesses caused by food and water shortages or spoilage - were estimated to be another 360,000 people.Filling that gap has been tough: the UN has pledged $1.1 billion in donations and the European Union another $1.15 billion, and the US a reported fraction of those amounts. In February, the US unfroze $7 billion of the Afghan central banks money still in a US Federal Reserve account, but took $3.5 billion and gave it to the families of September 11 victims. The White House said it would seek to facilitate access to the other half for the benefit of the Afghan people.*The Taliban - a group under United Nations sanction for terrorist activities**Al-Qaeda - a terrorist group banned in Russia and many other countries

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https://sputniknews.com/20220321/american-delusions-of-pitting-china-against-russia-1094061665.html

American Delusions of Pitting China against Russia

American Delusions of Pitting China against Russia

Nice try Joe. US President Joe Biden has tried to pressure Chinese leader Xi Jinping to join Washingtons campaign to isolate Russia. But Beijing told the... 21.03.2022, Sputnik International

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Bidens call with President Xi last Friday was an attempt to look big and strong, warning China that if it helped Russia mitigate Western economic sanctions then China could also face similar American financial punishment.Its a sign of the times of declining US global power that China effectively told the American side to wind their necks in. China will not be coerced by anyone, said its foreign minister Wang Yi commenting on the earlier video call between the two leaders.The American political class is so out of tune with reality. It seems to still think that whatever they say is a writ for the rest of the world to obey. But the rest of the world is learning to ignore the US duplicity and blatant attempt to dominate through diktat.President Vladimir Putin and President Xi unveiled a strategic partnership last month that precisely rejects US hegemonic ambitions and Cold War geopolitics of divide and conquer. Russia and China are calling for a multipolar international order based on mutual partnership and respect. Such a vision is intolerable for US-led Western capitalism.Beijing understands that the ongoing conflict in Ukraine is a direct result of American and NATO hostility towards Russia. Years of aggression and destabilization through supporting Neo-Nazi paramilitaries like the Azov Battalion have blown up into the present violence.For Biden to arrogantly demand Xi to join Western economic warfare against Russia is American hubris taken to sublime levels.Washington has succeeded in getting its European vassals to shoot themselves in the foot by thwarting energy trade with Russia. Now, the Americans want China to do the same. Chinas global economic power is driven by a vast supply of Russian gas and oil. The Americans want to sabotage Chinas ascent as an economic power to offset their own historic demise as a bankrupt capitalist has-been, and for that Washington is demanding Beijing to forfeit its relations with Moscow. You could hardly make this American conceit up.China can see through the nauseating hypocrisy of Biden and others in Washington. The American posturing and pontificating towards Russia about alleged violations of international law in Ukraine are sickeningly absurd given the litany of criminal wars and destruction from the US and its NATO gangsters. Biden himself is personally responsible for facilitating criminal wars in dozens of countries during his decades-long political career in Washington. But its not just about hypocrisy.The fact is the Americans and their unipolar hegemonic mindset and ambitions of dominance have led to the crisis in Ukraine. China understands that the only way to avoid conflict is for a mutual security treaty to be established for Europe, one that involves mutual negotiations with Russia. But such negotiations and security treaty are anathema to the Cold War logic of Washington and its NATO partners. Russia tried to negotiate through diplomatic proposals but was continually rebuffed by the US and NATO.Another crucial aspect of Americas delusions about pitting China against Russia is that Beijing knows full well that the very same nefarious game is being played by Washington with regard to Taiwan.The Americans are brazenly weaponizing the island territory to undermine Chinas national security and strategic balance. Even though Washington officially recognizes Taiwan as an integral part of China under Beijings sovereignty, the Americans are doing everything to inflame tensions between the mainland and the island. The US under Biden is weaponizing Taiwan with the apparent objective of inciting conflict with China. This is analogous to what Washington and its NATO allies have done to Ukraine.When Biden tried to lecture Xi last week about China being expected to not support Russia what the American was trying to do was pressure Beijing with moral blackmail to join US-led efforts to subjugate Russia. The Americans are so full of their own self-righteous arrogance and propaganda they dont even realize when they look stupid.President Xi reportedly gave Biden a brush-off and reminded him of Chinas priority concern over Americas nefarious machinations on Taiwan.China supports Russia as a matter of international principle and shared vision of a more viable global order based not on American hegemony, but rather on mutual respect. China also knows that if Washington were to ever succeed in somehow subjugating Russia to its diktat, the US would move quickly to target China for its next act of imperialist bullying.Joe Biden is the personification of US presumed global power: frail and oblivious to its own demise in a changing world. Ordering China around is like a drunk in the Last Chance Saloon ordering another round he can no longer pay for.

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https://sputniknews.com/20220321/babylon-bee-suspended-on-twitter-over-satirical-article-about-rachel-levine-named-man-of-the-year-1094043562.html

Babylon Bee Suspended on Twitter Over Satirical Article About Rachel Levine Named 'Man of the Year'

Babylon Bee Suspended on Twitter Over Satirical Article About Rachel Levine Named 'Man of the Year'

Last March, Rachel Levine became the first openly transgender person to be approved for a federal position. Prior to that Levine served as Secretary of Health in Pennsylvania between 2017 and 2021. During this time, she oversaw the state's response to the coronavirus pandemic.

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Twitter has suspended the account of the news satire website The Babylon Bee over an article about US Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine, according to the website's CEO Seth Dillon. He posted a message from the social media platform saying that The Babylon Bee violated Twitter's rules "against hateful conduct".Dillon said the account will be restored in 12 hours, but the countdown will begin when the website deletes the article, something the CEO emphasised the website won't do. The Babylon Bee's article about Rachel Levine parodied an article in USA Today that named the official Woman of the Year. "The Babylon Bee's Man Of The Year Is Rachel Levine", read the headline in The Babylon Bee's story.The article then constantly made fun of Rachel Levine, who transitioned to a woman in 2011 and had a sex reassignment surgery in 2014, being born a man.CEO Seth Dillon has since signalled that he views Twitter's suspension as censorship. In a statement on social media, he said he received messages from people asking "how they can help". Dillon wrote the following:From 1947 until 1975 members of the LGBTQ community were banned from working in the federal government. Despite the change, people continued to face discrimination from their employers. Only in 2020 did the US Supreme Court approve a law making it illegal to fire an individual based on their sexual orientation or identity.Let's stay in touch no matter what! Follow our Telegram channel to get all the latest news: https://t.me/sputniknewsus

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Max Gorbachev

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Max Gorbachev

society, big tech, suspension, transgender rights, lgbtq, discrimination, hateful content
https://sputniknews.com/20220321/biden-admin-sends-patriot-missiles-to-saudis-per-urgent-request-despite-apparent-tensions---report-1094038143.html

Biden Admin. Sends Patriot Missiles to Saudis Per Urgent Request Despite Apparent Tensions - Report

Biden Admin. Sends Patriot Missiles to Saudis Per Urgent Request Despite Apparent Tensions - Report

The defensive munitions are reportedly needed to fight off drone and missile attacks by Houthi rebels in Yemen, with the latest attack taking place on Sunday... 21.03.2022, Sputnik International

2022-03-21T01:54+0000

2022-03-21T01:54+0000

2022-03-21T02:30+0000

saudi arabia

yemen

biden administration

patriot missile system

us

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Washington has sent a whole barrage of Patriot air defense missile systems to Saudi Arabia in the past month, just as many fear that the allies have been drifting apart, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing unnamed senior US officials.According to the newspaper, the Kingdom has been asking for more Patriot interceptors since last year, pointing to a shortage of missiles. The source shared that that the decision took several months due to the high demand for this type of interceptor from other US allies. The systems and other military equipment were transferred to Saudi Arabia from other countries in the Middle East, the source added.Until now, the Biden administration has not showed explicit support for its ally's offensive in Yemen. After Biden moved into the White House, the POTUS declared his intention to remove the Houthis from the US terrorist organizations list, where Trump had put them "as a gesture of goodwill."Oil Production SpatRiyadh's refusal to boost oil production came as an unpleasant surprise for Biden, as American consumers are struggling with soaring gas prices, which Biden claims is solely "Putin's fault." Eagerly seeking to "punish" Russia over Ukraine, Washington banned oil and gas imports from the country, apparently counting on alternative energy sources.And in yet another slap in the face, the Saudi Aramco oil giant announced it would build a massive oil refinery in partnership with China, as it again seeks to profit from rocketing crude prices. According to CNBC, Saudi Aramco's 2021 net profit has more than doubled to hit $110 billion.

https://sputniknews.com/20220315/saudi-media-group-makes-multibillion-dollar-offer-to-buy-chelsea-fc-1093880434.html

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saudi arabia, yemen, biden administration, patriot missile system, us
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https://sputniknews.com/20220321/blast-hits-plant-for-production-of-explosives-in-greece---fire-service-1094048699.html

Blast Hits Plant for Production of Explosives in Greece - Fire Service

Blast Hits Plant for Production of Explosives in Greece - Fire Service

ATHENS (Sputnik) - A blast has occurred at a plant for the production of explosives in the Greek town of Grevena, the national fire service said on Monday. 21.03.2022, Sputnik International

2022-03-21T10:12+0000

2022-03-21T10:12+0000

2022-03-21T10:12+0000

greece

explosion

plant

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Firefighters and special forces for combating natural disasters were sent to the scene, the service added.According to the ERT broadcaster, three people have gone missing after the incident. They are presumed to be security personnel.The plant has been destroyed by the blast, the report said, adding that two ambulances and the police have arrived at the scene to check if there are people blocked inside the facility.

greece

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greece, explosion, plant
https://sputniknews.com/20220321/bojo-accused-of-intervening-to-order-animal-charity-evacuation-from-afghanistan-1094057123.html

BoJo Accused of Intervening to Order Animal Charity Evacuation From Afghanistan

BoJo Accused of Intervening to Order Animal Charity Evacuation From Afghanistan

The British prime minister has repeatedly rejected allegations that he assisted the approval of the animal charity's evacuation of cats and dogs from Kabul... 21.03.2022, Sputnik International

2022-03-21T14:11+0000

2022-03-21T14:11+0000

2022-03-21T14:11+0000

uk

afghanistan

boris johnson

whistleblower

evacuation

animal

/html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content

https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/08/19/1083712028_0:264:1200:939_1920x0_80_0_0_b772742be3fc940ce9ae6c54a8c40473.jpg

A second whistleblower has claimed that UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered the controversial airlift of the animal rescue charity Nowzad in Afghanistan in August 2021, adding that top officials "must have" deliberately lied about the matter. Downing Street has not commented on the issue yet.Stewart argued that "it was widespread 'knowledge' in the FCDO Crisis Centre that the decision on Nowzad's Afghan staff came from the prime minister".Stewart suggested that her actions "are likely to result in" her dismissal from FCDO, adding, "I loved my job. I loved working with my regular team and department, and am devastated to be leaving them".Her remarks follow evidence given in December 20201 by Raphael Marshall, who also worked for the FCDO and who argued that the UK government left British nationals and Afghan allies at the mercy of the Taliban during the chaotic exit from Afghanistan in August of last year. According to him, at one point Downing Street prioritised the evacuation of animals over people.The PM rejected the allegations as "total rhubarb", asserting that "the [UK] military always prioritised human beings and that was quite right". Farthing, for his part, said that he believes Johnson did not intervene to help him evacuate animals from Afghanistan, and that he had "absolutely no dealings with anybody in government" aside from Conservative MP Trudy Harrison.London has repeatedly touted its evacuation efforts in Kabul as a success against the backdrop of Labour's criticism that the Conservative government was "asleep at the wheel" on the evacuation of Afghan assistants. In all, about 15,000 people were evacuated from Afghanistan by the UK in late August, according to a Whitehall spokesperson.The Taliban entered Kabul on 15 August after a weeks-long offensive, prompting the civilian government to collapse. The development has forced thousands of Afghans to seek a way to escape from the country for fear of reprisals by the militants.Let's stay in touch no matter what! Follow our Telegram channel to get all the latest news: https://t.me/sputniknewsus*Under UN sanctions for terrorist activities.

afghanistan

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2022

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uk, afghanistan, boris johnson, whistleblower, evacuation, animal
https://sputniknews.com/20220321/chief-of-russias-roscosmos-says-bioweapon-developed-in-ukraine-affects-fertility-1094047956.html

Chief of Russia's Roscosmos Says Bioweapon Developed in Ukraine Affects Fertility

Chief of Russia's Roscosmos Says Bioweapon Developed in Ukraine Affects Fertility

During Moscow's special operation, launched in Ukraine on 24 February, the Russian armed forces have so far found 30 bio laboratories in the country that were... 21.03.2022, Sputnik International

2022-03-21T10:38+0000

2022-03-21T10:38+0000

2022-03-21T10:38+0000

russia

ukraine

dmitry rogozin

us

victoria nuland

biological weapon

special operation

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Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, has claimed that a bioweapon developed in Ukraine has a negative impact on the reproductive system of women and the immunity of "certain ethnic groups", including the ethnically Russian population of the country.Rogozin recalled that from March 2017 to April 2018 he was at the helm of a government commission on biological and chemical safety, a panel that he said often dealt with the issue of the US "encircling" Russia with its biological laboratories.Russian MoD Says US Biolabs Meant to Create Bioagents Targeting Certain Ethnic Groups Rogozin's remarks come after the Russian Defence Ministry revealed earlier this month that one of the goals of the biological research laboratories in Ukraine suspected of having been funded by the US was the creation of bioagents capable of targeting certain ethnic groups.Kirillov stressed that the Russian Defence Ministry had obtained documents confirming that the high-risk biological research in Ukraine was led by US specialists. He added that the documents also showed that the US Defence Department funded the biological research in Ukraine, spending over $200 million to study pathogens of birds, bats, and reptiles in Ukraine and the possibility of transmission of African swine fever and anthrax through these animals.US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland previously admitted that "Ukraine has biological research facilities", saying that Washington was "working with the Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces should they approach". She, however, did not elaborate on whether Washington took part in the biological research in Ukraine.Russia started a special military operation in Ukraine on 24 February in response to calls from the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics for protection against intensifying attacks by Ukrainian troops. The Russian Defence Ministry said the operation is only targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure and the civilian population is not in danger.Let's stay in touch no matter what! Follow our Telegram channel to get all the latest news: https://t.me/sputniknewsus

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russia, ukraine, dmitry rogozin, us, victoria nuland, biological weapon, special operation
https://sputniknews.com/20220321/finnish-president-suggests-closer-defence-ties-with-us-sweden-as-alternative-to-nato-1094040854.html

Finnish President Suggests Closer Defence Ties With US, Sweden as Alternative to NATO

Finnish President Suggests Closer Defence Ties With US, Sweden as Alternative to NATO

Amid the NATO debate that has flared up anew in both nations, opinion polls in both Finland and Sweden suggested a historic paradigm shift, with a majority of... 21.03.2022, Sputnik International

2022-03-21T05:11+0000

2022-03-21T05:11+0000

2022-03-21T05:11+0000

situation in ukraine

finland

sweden

nato

scandinavia

news

ukraine

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According to Finnish President Niinisto, Finland has two security options: NATO membership or closer partnership with the US and Sweden.Deeper defence cooperation with the United States and Sweden might be an alternative to joining NATO, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto suggested in an interview with the Financial Times, in which he discussed the merits and disadvantages of joining the military alliance.Niinisto ventured that while joining NATO "might seem like our worries are over", different alternatives include risks that Finland has to recognise, including an escalation of the situation in Europe.Regardless, Finland is now poised for a change in its current position, Niinisto emphasised.Per Niinisto, closer ties with the US and Sweden have been discussed in recent meetings with the leaders of those countries, including Niinisto's snap meeting with US President Joe Biden at the White House in early March. At that meeting, "Swedish-Finnish-American cooperation was discussed, and we got a lot of understanding from Washington", Niinisto said. Talks with the US and Sweden were also held at defence minister and prime minister levels.Historically, both Sweden and Finland have been non-aligned, yet have been been drawn all the nearer the alliance, becoming "enhanced members" of its Partnership for Peace programme. They regularly take part in NATO-led drills and contribute to its overseas operations. In recent months, though, the NATO debate has flared up anew in both nations.Furthermore, opinion polls since Russia's special operation to demilitarise and de-Nazify Ukraine have indicated a record-high 62 percent of Finns support NATO accession, a first-time majority. A similar trend has manifested itself in Sweden, with a historic plurality supporting joining NATO. However, in both countries, the leadership is pronouncedly more wary, with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson suggesting that NATO membership would "destabilise the security situation in Europe".Let's stay in touch no matter what! Follow our Telegram channel to get all the latest news: https://t.me/sputniknewsus

finland

sweden

scandinavia

ukraine

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Igor Kuznetsov

Igor Kuznetsov

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Igor Kuznetsov

finland, sweden, nato, scandinavia, news, ukraine
https://sputniknews.com/20220321/french-foreign-minister-calls-for-concerted-efforts-to-prevent-global-food-crisis-1094054983.html

French Foreign Minister Calls for Concerted Efforts to Prevent Global Food Crisis

French Foreign Minister Calls for Concerted Efforts to Prevent Global Food Crisis

PARIS (Sputnik)  Countries around the world should pull together efforts to avoid a global food crisis in the light of the situation in Ukraine, French... 21.03.2022, Sputnik International

2022-03-21T13:06+0000

2022-03-21T13:06+0000

2022-03-21T13:10+0000

france

food

crisis

world

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It is not the sanctions against Russia but the war in Ukraine that is destabilizing the global food security system, the minister said.French Agriculture Minister Julien Denormandie said that he would discuss the issues of food security with his Ukrainian counterpart, Roman Leshchenko.On February 24, Russia began a special operation to demilitarize and "denazify" Ukraine, responding to calls for help from the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics in countering the aggression of Ukrainian troops. The Russian Defence Ministry said the special operation is targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure only and the civilian population is not in danger.

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france, food, crisis, world
https://sputniknews.com/20220321/gop-lawmakers-concerned-about-elon-musks-business-links-to-china-1094060599.html

GOP Lawmakers Concerned About Elon Musk's Business Links to China

GOP Lawmakers Concerned About Elon Musk's Business Links to China

In February, it was reported that Tesla would start construction of a new facility in Shanghai, with the company trying to achieve Elon Musk's goal to double... 21.03.2022, Sputnik International

2022-03-21T16:13+0000

2022-03-21T16:13+0000

2022-03-21T16:13+0000

us

tesla

elon musk

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Tesla founder Elon Musk is facing intense scrutiny in Washington over his business links to China, according to The Wall Street Journal.Some American lawmakers are reportedly concerned that China could gain access to classified information through SpaceX's foreign suppliers. Chris Stewart, a Republican representative from Utah, told the WSJ that even though he supports Musk and his companies, "anyone would be concerned if there are financial entanglements with China".Florida Senator Marko Rubio told the outlet that "any company operating in China is going to be pressured and exploited by the Chinese Communist Party."Additional concerns have been raised over human rights issues, since Musk's Tesla has opened a showroom in the region of Xinjiang. The region has been subject of controversy recently, as China has been accused of violating the human rights of the Uyghur Muslim minority in the province.Although China has denied the allegations, the US Congress moved to sign a bill that would block imports from Xinjiang unless businesses prove that the products were made without the use of forced labour.Elon Musk has not commented on lawmakers' concerns regarding his business links to China.In February, reports said that Musk's electric car company Tesla planned to start the construction of a new facility in Shanghai after the tech entrepreneur announced a goal to double the production of electric vehicles in the region. The new Tesla factory will be located near an already existing one in Lingang.

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2022

Daria Bedenko

Daria Bedenko

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Daria Bedenko

us, tesla, elon musk
https://sputniknews.com/20220321/how-might-hunter-bidens-laptop-from-hell-story-backfire-on-us-president-1094058638.html

How Might Hunter Biden's 'Laptop from Hell' Story Backfire on US President?

How Might Hunter Biden's 'Laptop from Hell' Story Backfire on US President?

The Hunter Biden "laptop story" remained buried by major US mainstream media for 17 months until The New York Times suddenly admitted that damning emails... 21.03.2022, Sputnik International

2022-03-21T15:31+0000

2022-03-21T15:31+0000

2022-03-21T15:31+0000

us

world

opinion

joe biden

hunter biden

burisma

ukraine

volodymyr zelensky

natos 1999 military intervention in yugoslavia

yugoslavia

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"This story underscores that the American MSM, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter were deliberately collaborating with the American deep state and the Democratic Party to secure the 2020 Presidential Election for Joe Biden", says former US Senate candidate and investigative journalist Mark Dankof.This "'fix-is-in" suppression of the story, originally discovered by the New York Post in October 2020, is nothing new, notes the journalist. The same "fix-is-in" approach was also adopted by the previous US administrations of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama and included the NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia in 1999; the 2003 invasion of Iraq under a completely false pretext; the "criminal use of NATO" in Libya and "the accompanying extra-judicial assassination" of Muammar Gaddafi; the support of Islamists in Syria to oust President Bashar al-Assad; the US-backed coup d'etat in February 2014 in Kiev; and then-Vice President Joe Biden's role in firing the Ukrainian prosecutor investigating Burisma, according to Dankof.The former Senate candidate notes that much in the same vein, the US mainstream media and American politicians remain tight-lipped about Russias legitimate national security concerns which are driving the nation's special operation in Ukraine. Similarly, the existence of American biolabs in Ukraine had been ridiculed as a "conspiracy theory" by the US MSM - until Victoria Nuland at least partially confirmed their existence - while Volodymyr Zelensky's threats to nix Ukraine's non-nuclear status were completely overlooked, according to Dankof.Will NYT Story Add Insult to Injury for Joe Biden?Even though most of the US mainstream media has ignored the NYT's latest piece addressing the ongoing federal investigation into Hunter Biden and his laptop, it may add to Joe Biden's already poor approval ratings, according to Dankof.Although some pollsters note that Joe Biden's rating improved after his State of Union address, in which he castigated Russia over the Ukraine special operation, FiveThirtyEights presidential approval tracker indicates that in the last two weeks or so, the president's approval rating has only ticked up from 41.1 percent to 42.9 percent.Given Biden's plummeting ratings and the Democratic Party's inability to push through its initiatives, the GOP is expected to make major gains in the 2022 midterms, according to observers.If the Republican Party "doesnt regain control of Capitol Hill with the catastrophic performance of Biden in the aftermath of a rigged Presidential Election in 2020, it ought to hang it up", Dankof says.Origins of Hunter's Laptop StoryHunter Biden's laptop story originates in the New York Post's October 2020 bombshell article that exposed alleged corruption by the former vice president's son and apparent involvement of Joe Biden in Hunter's business deals. For his part, Joe Biden vehemently denied that he had the slightest knowledge about his son's work and financial gains.The laptop in question, containing a trove of potentially damning documents, was reportedly abandoned by Hunter Biden at a Delaware repair shop in April 2019. However, the laptop story was ditched by Big Media and Big Tech amid the 2020 presidential cycle.GOP lawmakers subjected Silicon Valley giants to criticism over suppressing the Hunter laptop story following the NYT's admission that emails extracted from the laptop had been "verified." Republican Representative Claudia Tenney told the New York Post on 19 March that Congress must "rein in Big Tech censors". For his part, Republican Senator Ted Cruz highlighted that "Big Tech leaders who participated in censoring the truth should answer to Congress and the American people in sworn testimony".Meanwhile, some lawyers familiar with the Hunter Biden case do not rule out that the president's son could be indicted. I expect him to be indicted, said attorney Clint Lancaster, as quoted by National Review. Just based on what I saw in his financial records, I would be surprised if hes not indicted.E. Michael Jones holds a different stance: he believes that the Hunter Biden scandal will remain swept under the rug and that the Bidens will be allowed to get away with this. "The Clinton family has never been held accountable for their crimes. Justice, as Thrasymachus said in Plato's Republic, is the opinion of the powerful", Jones stresses.

https://sputniknews.com/20210530/how-story-of-broken-nato-non-enlargement-pledge-upends-wests-effort-to-depict-russia-as-aggressor-1083035472.html

https://sputniknews.com/20220319/are-bidens-afghanistan--ukraine-blunders-behind-nyts-change-of-heart-about-hunters-laptop-1094010235.html

ukraine

yugoslavia

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Ekaterina Blinova

Ekaterina Blinova

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Ekaterina Blinova

us, world, opinion, joe biden, hunter biden, burisma, ukraine, volodymyr zelensky, natos 1999 military intervention in yugoslavia, yugoslavia, nato, hillary clinton
https://sputniknews.com/20220321/india-may-increase-investment-in-russian-oil-and-gas-fields-if-west-leaves-market-oil-minister-says-1094051987.html

India May Increase Investment in Russian Oil and Gas Fields If West Leaves Market, Oil Minister Says

India May Increase Investment in Russian Oil and Gas Fields If West Leaves Market, Oil Minister Says

Energy firms such as British Petroleum, Shell, Centrica, and others have announced their withdrawal from Russian oil and gas fields in response to Moscow's... 21.03.2022, Sputnik International

2022-03-21T13:34+0000

2022-03-21T13:34+0000

2022-03-21T13:34+0000

india

russia

us

ukraine

kiev

donbas conflict

oil

crude oil

narendra modi

vladimir putin

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India has brushed aside US warnings against energy ties with Russia amid the ongoing military operation in Ukraine. Indian Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has categorically stated that if Western energy firms vacate the Russian market, New Delhi will not hesitate to take advantage of the opportunity.The oil minister, who spoke with Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak on 12 March on energy matters, replied to parliamentarians wondering if there would be diplomatic and economic ramifications if India increased energy investments in Russia.New Delhi sees rising opportunities in Russia at discounted rates as Shell, British Petroleum, ExxonMobil, and several others responded to Moscow's special military operation in Ukraine by exiting their investments worth around $30 billion from Russian energy fields.India's public sector units  ONGC Videsh Ltd, Indian Oil Ltd, Bharat Petro Resources Ltd, Oil India Ltd -- have invested over $16 billion in oil and gas fields such as Sakhalin-1, Imperial Energy, Vankorneft, TaasYuryakh, and License-61 since the early 2000s. Russian entities, including Rosneft, own a majority stake in the Indian refiner Nayara Energy.The Indian minister said that some of those Indian investments are very profitable. Using the Sakhalin-1 project as an example, the minister said that the Indian firm ONGC Videsh Ltd has earned over $3.7 billion with a 20% investment of $337 million two decades ago.ExxonMobil operates the Sakhalin-1 project on behalf of an international consortium of Japanese, Indian, and Russian companies. "In response to recent events, we are beginning the process to discontinue operations and developing steps to exit the Sakhalin-1 venture", the Texas-based ExxonMobil said on 1 March.The BJP politician, however, underlined that the media reports about Western firms already withdrawing their investments from Russian energy fields are not authentic.The minister assured the parliamentarian that there would be no adverse impact on hydrocarbon energy agreements with Russia.Impact on US-Indian Relations Over Rupee-Ruble Trade With RussiaIndia's top refiner, Indian Oil, signed an agreement to purchase 3 million barrels of crude oil from Russia this month. Although India buying Russian oil wouldn't violate US sanctions against Moscow, the Indian government has planned payment in national currencies to continue trade in other commodities. The US has imposed sanctions on several Russian financial institutions.When asked if rupee-ruble transactions will harm New Delhi's relationship with Washington, Minister Puri responded to parliamentarians by saying that India and the US have a robust bilateral energy partnership that will continue to grow.The minister said that energy imports from the US are around $13.5 billion, including $10 billion in crude oil."As far as oil imports from Russia are concerned, contrary to what is being played up in the press, these are minuscule", Puri said.Indian oil and gas public sector undertakings imported approximately less than one percent of its total crude oil imports from Russia in 2021-2022 (April 2021 to January 2022).On 15 March, when a reporter asked about India's decision to buy discounted Russian oil, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the US message to "any country" is to "think about where you want to stand when the history books are written".Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation in the Eastern European country on 24 February at the request of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics.President Putin stressed that the operation was started to stop the eight-year-long atrocities by Kiev in Donbass, adding that Russia's goal is the demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine.Let's stay in touch no matter what! Follow our Telegram channel to get all the latest news: https://t.me/sputniknewsus

https://sputniknews.com/20220310/indias-diamond-merchants-show-unwavering-confidence-in-supply-chain-from-russia-despite-sanctions-1093749470.html

ukraine

kiev

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Rishikesh Kumar https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/08/04/1080055820_0:0:388:389_100x100_80_0_0_40018ee210946d65d49ffba4f4c008e1.jpg

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india, russia, us, ukraine, kiev, donbas conflict, oil, crude oil, narendra modi, vladimir putin, exxon mobile, sakhalin-1, indianoil, india's oil and natural gas corporation (ongc), shell, british petroleum
https://sputniknews.com/20220321/inside-aum-shinrikyo-doomsday-cult-that-microwaved-traitors-and-killed-dozens-with-chemicals-1094062102.html

Inside Aum Shinrikyo: Doomsday Cult That Microwaved 'Traitors' and Killed Dozens With Chemicals

Inside Aum Shinrikyo: Doomsday Cult That Microwaved 'Traitors' and Killed Dozens With Chemicals

The group had a syncretic belief system, meaning it combined different religions  Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity. In addition to that, members of the cult incorporated ideas from Yoga and the writings of Nostradamus.

2022-03-21T17:22+0000

2022-03-21T17:22+0000

2022-03-21T17:23+0000

society

aum shinrikyo

cult

doomsday

terrorist attack

sarin

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Sunday marked 27 years since the Japanese religious movement Aum Shinrikyo carried out a gruesome chemical attack on more than a thousand passengers in the Tokyo subway.On 20 March 1995, members of the doomsday cult boarded trains during rush hour carrying packages with sarin, a nerve agent banned by the United Nations Chemical Weapons Convention.Seconds after the chemical compound was released, people started choking and vomiting. Some individuals became paralysed and almost a thousand experienced vision problems. The attack left 14 people dead, while more than 30 were severely injured.The terrorist act came 15 months after members of Aum Shinrikyo killed eight individuals and injured more than 500 in the city of Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture. They sprayed a sarin aerosol that was released from a converted refrigerator truck. At the time, police didn't trace the attack to the group.The history of Aum Shinrikyo looks very similar to other cults  at the centre of it stood a person who warned of an impending doomsday, saying only those who join Aum would be saved. But Shoko Asahara (nee Chizuo Matsumoto) was not just an individual, he claimed he was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, while Shiva (one of the principal deities in Hinduism) had appointed him the god of light. He also alleged that he was able to levitate, while the groups followers could read anyones mind.In the 1990s, Shoko announces that Aum Shinrikyo would run in the general elections and was confident that it would gain seats in the parliament. However, the movement flopped, something Asahara blamed on an external conspiracy.Reports say the loss led to a hardening of views inside the group, with Aums followers having begun to believe that the "unenlightened" did not deserve salvation. This stance also affected relations within the group  anyone who dared to voice opposition to the group's policy was reportedly beaten and subjected to cruel procedures. One of these involved people being purified in a bath of very hot water.Around 30 members of the cult allegedly went missing, with reports saying their bodies were destroyed in a large microwave incinerator. Among the groups followers was the president of the Okamura ironworks, as well as several chemists. They were tasked with producing chemical weapons in order to overthrow the government. The group not only produced sarin, but also VX, an extremely toxic synthetic gas.Following the 1995 attack, police arrested Shoko Asahara and his close associates. On 6 July 2018, he was executed along with six other individuals. Asahara claimed he was innocent. On New Years Day 2019, a man rammed his vehicle into a group of pedestrians, injuring nine people, one of them seriously. Local media reported, citing people close to investigation, that the man did this intentionally as he wanted to avenge the executed members of Aum Shinrikyo.

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2022

Max Gorbachev

Max Gorbachev

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Max Gorbachev

society, aum shinrikyo, cult, doomsday, terrorist attack, sarin
UNGA Emergency Special Session on Ukraine to Be Resumed Wednesday After Relevant Request

The United States, France, Ukraine, Estonia, Georgia, Canada, Germany and a number of other countries requested the resumption on Wednesday of the emergency special session of the UN General Assembly on Ukraine, according to a letter to the UN General Assembly President, read by Sputnik.



"Pursuant to operative paragraph 16 of General Assembly resolution ES-11/1, adopted at its eleventh emergency special session on 2 March 2022, we request the resumption of the eleventh emergency special session of the General Assembly to consider humanitarian consequences of the aggression against Ukraine on Wednesday, 23 March 2022, or soon thereafter," the letter says.



After that, UNGA President Abdulla Shahid circulated his letter, in which he said the session will be held on March 23 at 10 a.m. (2 p.m. GMT).



"I have the further honor to inform you that the seventh plenary meeting of the eleventh emergency special session of the General Assembly will be held at 10:00 a.m., on Wednesday, 23 March 2022, in the General Assembly Hall, UN Headquarters, New York," according to Shahid's letter.
https://sputniknews.com/20220321/oil-embargo-would-hit-energy-balance-in-europe-kremlin-warns-1094045658.html

Oil Embargo Would Hit Energy Balance in Europe, Kremlin Warns

Oil Embargo Would Hit Energy Balance in Europe, Kremlin Warns

Earlier this month, US President Joe Biden announced a ban on all energy imports from Russia, as part of the White House's sanctions on Moscow over its ongoing... 21.03.2022, Sputnik International

2022-03-21T09:07+0000

2022-03-21T09:07+0000

2022-03-21T09:59+0000

energy

russia

ukraine

oil embargo

special operation

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Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has warned that "everyone", including Europe, would be hit hard in the event of an embargo on Russian oil.The Kremlin spokesman added that a possible decision to boycott Russian oil "will seriously affect the energy balances on the European continent for the worse".The statement comes amid a push by some European Union foreign ministers for an oil embargo as part of further sanctions against Russia over its ongoing special operation in Ukraine.The operation, ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin on 24 February, aims to demilitarise and de-Nazify Ukraine. The Russian military is only targeting Ukraine's military infrastructure with high-precison weapons, which pose no threat to Ukrainian civilians, according to the Russian Defence Ministry.In retaliation, Washington and its allies imposed packages of "severe" sanctions on Russia. The Kremlin condemned these restrictive measures as an "unprecedented economic war" waged against Russia by the West. In particular, Moscow said that the West's aggressive stance against Russia makes the situation in the energy sector very complicated.Let's stay in touch no matter what! Follow our Telegram channel to get all the latest news: https://t.me/sputniknewsus

ukraine

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energy, russia, ukraine, oil embargo, special operation
https://sputniknews.com/20220321/outrageous-and-ungrateful-israel-fuming-over-zelenskys-knesset-speech-1094047314.html

'Outrageous and Ungrateful': Israel Fuming Over Zelensky's Knesset Speech

'Outrageous and Ungrateful': Israel Fuming Over Zelensky's Knesset Speech

The Ukrainian president, who spoke to Israeli lawmakers via Zoom, tried to evoke guilt by drawing comparisons between Russia's military operation in Ukraine... 21.03.2022, Sputnik International

2022-03-21T10:34+0000

2022-03-21T10:34+0000

2022-03-21T10:34+0000

middle east

israel

russia

ukraine

volodymyr zelensky

knesset

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On Sunday, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered a speech to Israeli MPs after addressing lawmakers in the US, Germany, and the United Kingdom.Initially, the plan was that Zelensky would address Israeli politicians from the stage of the Knesset in Jerusalem. But the idea was eventually scrapped with the excuse that the plenum was on a scheduled break.Historic Speech?Instead, he was offered to speak to lawmakers via Zoom, while the parliamentarians were given the option to not attend his address.Some seized on the opportunity and skipped the event. But the majority listened in, along with more than a thousand ordinary Israelis who gathered on Tel Aviv's Habima Square to watch the address live.In his speech, the Ukrainian president was trying to speak to the hearts of the masses. He compared the actions of the Russians currently carrying out a special military operation in Ukraine to those of the Nazis. Zelensky claimed that Moscow was carrying out a "final solution" against the Ukrainians and urged Israel to help his people, just as the Ukrainians "came to the rescue" of the Jews some 80 years ago.By "helping out", Zelensky referred to a number of measures. He demanded that Israel provide Ukraine with its Iron Dome missile defence system. He called for severe sanctions to be introduced on Russia and urged for more Ukrainian refugees to be taken in.Zelenskys criticism was probably meant to evoke guilt among Israelis, but once the speech was over, it turned out that his remarks had quite an opposite effect.Outrageous and UngratefulIsraeli experts, politicians, and journalists have taken to social media platforms to vent their dissatisfaction with the speech, which slammed Israel on all possible fronts.Some said his Holocaust analogy was "outrageous". Others treated his criticism as sheer "ungratefulness", especially given the efforts Israel has been making to help the Ukrainian people.Since the Russian military operation kicked off on 24 February, Israel has absorbed more than 5,000 Ukrainian refugees, with many others still on their way. The country has also exerted efforts to mediate between Moscow and Kiev. It has poured in millions of dollars into setting up a makeshift hospital in the west of Ukraine, while Israeli NGOs have collected money, food, clothes, and medicine to assist the country.Ordinary Israelis did not appreciate Zelensky's criticism either, and too took to social media platforms to express their anger with the Ukrainian leader.However, comments about the Holocaust were far from the only issue that stirred anti-Zelensky sentiments, with many twitterians slamming the Ukrainian head of state for demanding that Israel neglect its national interests and take sides.Over the years, Israel and Russia have established stable trade relations and tight cooperation on a number of issues. Moscow, which protects the air space in Syria, clinched a deal with Tel Aviv on military coordination in Syria to prevent accidents following the 2018 downing of a Russian Il-20 plane off the Syrian coast during Israeli airstrikes on Latakia.Russia also helps mediate between Israel and the Palestinians, especially in the Gaza StripIsrael would not want to risk jeopardising those ties. It is also not ready to provide the Ukrainians with the equipment they are seeking to obtain.The harsh criticism of Zelensky appears to have done the trick. During the night, the Ukrainian president released a message where he thanked Israel for all its efforts. But as Russia's military operation continues, and Israel stays firm on maintaining its relative neutrality, another serving of harsh remarks might be just a matter of time.

ukraine

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2022

Elizabeth Blade

Elizabeth Blade

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Elizabeth Blade

middle east, israel, russia, ukraine, volodymyr zelensky, knesset
https://sputniknews.com/20220321/over-1mln-iraqis-may-have-suffered-from-use-of-uranium-shells-by-us--1094060037.html

Over 1Mln Iraqis May Have Suffered From Use of Uranium Shells by US

Over 1Mln Iraqis May Have Suffered From Use of Uranium Shells by US

CAIRO (Sputnik) - Over one million Iraqis may have suffered from the use of depleted uranium ammunition by the United States during its two military operations... 21.03.2022, Sputnik International

2022-03-21T15:44+0000

2022-03-21T15:44+0000

2022-03-21T16:17+0000

iraq

us

uranium

ammunition

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Sunday marked the 19th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq by the US-led coalition. The official reason for the invasion was an alleged link between the regime of then-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and international terrorism, as well as a CIA claim of stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, which has never been proved. As a result of the invasion, Hussein was overthrown and executed.According to the expert, the US army used depleted uranium ammunition for the first time in Iraq during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, when it used up to one million of such shells.Al-Azzawi said that today, up to "15% of children born in the city" suffer from congenital birth defects caused by the use of prohibited weapons by Washington, with 5% ultimately dying.The expert noted that radioactive weapons have affected Iraqis even after the war. Landfills of Iraqi military equipment destroyed during the US military campaigns are a source of constant radiation and a hotbed of dangerous diseases. According to al-Azzawi, currently, there are up to 22 such dumps in Iraq. Moreover, sandstorms contribute to the spread of radiation, the expert added.According to the scientist, first the US, then the authorities appointed by the occupation administration, glossed over and denied the existence of the problem for many years.Naturally occurring uranium is composed of three isotopes, mainly of U-238, but also the U-235. The uranium remaining after the separation of the U-235 isotope from uranium ore is called depleted. In military industry, depleted uranium is used, specifically, for the production of ammunition capable of destroying strong concrete constructions. According to experts, depleted uranium can cause cancer and other serious diseases.

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iraq, us, uranium, ammunition
https://sputniknews.com/20220321/prince-william-and-kate-middleton-show-off-their-dancing-skills-in-belize---photos-1094045740.html

Prince William and Kate Middleton Show Off Their Dancing Skills in Belize - Photos

Prince William and Kate Middleton Show Off Their Dancing Skills in Belize - Photos

The couple arrived in the Central American nation as part of their Caribbean tour during which they will visit several Commonwealth nations. The tour is aimed... 21.03.2022, Sputnik International

2022-03-21T09:28+0000

2022-03-21T09:28+0000

2022-03-21T10:39+0000

uk

society

viral

uk royal family

prince william

kate middleton

queen elizabeth

commonwealth of nations

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An unwritten rule dictates that members of the UK Royal Family are required to exercise great self-restraint when it comes to emotions, unless of course you hear Central American music, then you hit the dance floor and sha-sha-shake it like there's no tomorrow. And that is exactly what Prince William and Kate Middleton have done during their visit to Belize.During their stay, the Cambridges met with representatives of the Garifuna community in the beachfront village of Hopkins. According to UK media outlets, the couple was warmly welcomed by residents and was introduced to local culture. They also participated in festivities, which included dancing to local music.Laura Cacho, 57, who organised the meeting said the Duchess was the first to move to the beat. After a small bit of encouragement Prince William, second in line to the throne, hit the dance floor and judging by the photos and comments from local residents the two royals showed some serious moves.After burning off some calories the pair visited a cacao farm, where world-famous Mayan chocolate is made. Prince William seemed even more impressed. The 39-year-old voiced a desire to give up royal life (Hi, Prince Harry) and get into the chocolate-making business.The Cambridges arrived in Belize as part of their Caribbean tour, aimed at marking the Queen's Platinum Jubilee (70 years on the throne). The tour got off to a rocky start. Initially, the royals were scheduled to visit Indian Creek village and its cacao farm, but the residents staged a protest. According to local media, residents of the village were frustrated that no one spoke to them about the visit.Other reports suggest that the demonstration had an anti-colonial sentiment. Belize is a member of the Commonwealth, an association of 54 countries that are former British colonies or current dependencies.It is believed that during the tour Prince William and Kate Middleton will drum up support for the UK monarchy and strengthen ties between the countries. This is important as several Commonwealth nations are considering their association with the British Crown, i.e., becoming republics and replacing Queen Elizabeth as their formal head of state.Barbados cut its association with the British Crown in November. Jamaica, the next stop on the royal tour, is also considering such a move.Let's stay in touch no matter what! Follow our Telegram channel to get all the latest news: https://t.me/sputniknewsus

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2022

Max Gorbachev

Max Gorbachev

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Max Gorbachev

uk, society, viral, uk royal family, prince william, kate middleton, queen elizabeth, commonwealth of nations
https://sputniknews.com/20220321/roger-stone-russia-is-acting-defensively-in-ukrainian-conflict-1094055465.html

Roger Stone: Russia is 'Acting Defensively' in Ukrainian Conflict

Roger Stone: Russia is 'Acting Defensively' in Ukrainian Conflict

Russia started its military operation in Ukraine on 24 February to "demilitarise and de-Nazify" the country. Moscow has also indicated that Russian troops do... 21.03.2022, Sputnik International

2022-03-21T14:01+0000

2022-03-21T14:01+0000

2022-03-21T14:01+0000

us

russia

ukraine

roger stone

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https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/105899/53/1058995378_0:0:3251:1830_1920x0_80_0_0_0d1f4e0d3dd81a73918c5fb06c656b33.jpg

US conservative politician and long-time Trump ally Roger Stone has said that Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a military operation in Ukraine for defensive reasons.In an interview with Real America's Voice, Stone elaborated on the ongoing armed conflict in Ukraine and shared his opinion on the US-funded biolabs found there. According to the Russian Defence Ministry, these labs were aimed at creating biowarfare weapons and studied the spread of dangerous pathogens - something that Washington has denied.According to him, "Ukraine is not even remotely about what they're telling us". In a push to "punish" Russia for launching the military operation in Ukraine, the West has imposed harsh sanctions targeting Russia's economy, businesses, culture, sports, and media outlets. The West condemns the operation and calls it an "invasion".Russia, for its part, has said that the goal of the military operation is to "demilitarise and de-Nazify" Ukraine following calls for help from the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics. Moscow said that Russian troops exclusively target Ukraine's military infrastructure and do not pose a threat to civilians.The military operation, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was a "tough" decision that was made following weeks of demanding security guarantees from the US and NATO. The latter, however, has repeatedly dismissed Moscow's calls for non-expansion eastward, citing its open-door policy.Let's stay in touch no matter what! Follow our Telegram channel to get all the latest news: https://t.me/sputniknewsus

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us, russia, ukraine, roger stone
https://sputniknews.com/20220321/russia-refuses-to-discuss-peace-treaty-with-japan-foreign-ministry-says-1094060871.html

Russia Refuses to Discuss Peace Treaty With Japan

Russia Refuses to Discuss Peace Treaty With Japan

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia is refusing to continue negotiations on peace treaty with Japan over Tokyos sanctions against Moscow, the Russian Foreign Ministry... 21.03.2022, Sputnik International

2022-03-21T16:06+0000

2022-03-21T16:06+0000

2022-03-21T17:38+0000

russia

japan

sanctions

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The ministry also said that Russia is blocking extension of Japans status as a sectoral dialogue partner in the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation.Japan lays claim to the Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan, and Habomai islands in Russias Kuril Island chain, known in Russia as the Southern Kurils, citing an 1855 bilateral treaty on trade and borders. Moscow insists that its sovereignty over the islands, which became part of the USSR after WWII, is undisputed. The negotiations held after WWII never resulted in a peace treaty. In 2018, Japan and Russia agreed to speed up negotiations. However, Japan joined Western countries in imposing sanctions against Russia as Moscow began a military operation in Ukraine on 24 February. The decision to start the operation was made in response to calls for help from the republics of Donetsk and Lugansk.

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https://sputniknews.com/20220321/russia-to-retaliate-against-expulsion-of-10-diplomats-from-sofia-ambassador-says-1094053995.html

Russia to Retaliate Against Expulsion of 10 Diplomats From Sofia, Ambassador Says

Russia to Retaliate Against Expulsion of 10 Diplomats From Sofia, Ambassador Says

Russia will retaliate against the expulsion of ten diplomats from the Bulgarian capital city of Sofia, Russian Ambassador to Bulgaria Eleonora Mitrofanova said on Monday.

2022-03-21T12:45+0000

2022-03-21T12:45+0000

2022-03-21T12:45+0000

russia

bulgaria

diplomatic expulsions

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The Bulgarian authorities did not explain the reasons for expelling the Russian diplomats, Mitrofanova added.On Friday, Bulgaria declared ten Russian diplomats personae non gratae. Latvia and Estonia also announced that they have decided to expel three employees of the Russian embassies in their countries, while Lithuania has expelled four.

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https://sputniknews.com/20220321/saudi-arabia-appears-to-be-fed-up-with-americas-foreign-policy---heres-why-1094052725.html

Saudi Arabia Appears to Be Fed Up With America's Foreign Policy - Here's Why

Saudi Arabia Appears to Be Fed Up With America's Foreign Policy - Here's Why

Reports suggest that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has already invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to his country. The two are expected to discuss Beijing... 21.03.2022, Sputnik International

2022-03-21T13:17+0000

2022-03-21T13:17+0000

2022-03-21T13:17+0000

middle east

saudi arabia

oil

us

crown prince mohammed bin salman

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The United States continues to look for solutions to stabilise the oil market after prices on crude reached new heights following a decision to ban all energy imports from Russia.Last week, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in a bid to press them to speed up oil production. But his pleas fell on deaf ears. So did earlier demands by US President Joe Biden.Experts are now warning that Saudi Arabia, which has been an American ally for decades, is drifting away from Washington. What has prompted Riyadh to make such a decision? Here are the top three reasons that have contributed to the change in policy.Pride and DignityWhen Joe Biden assumed office in January 2021, he made sure to call all America's allies. First, he spoke with the leaders of Canada, the UK, and Mexico. Then with Asian leaders. Saudi Arabia was nowhere on the list.Even when Biden did remember Riyadh, a month after his inauguration, the phone call he placed was not to the country's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), who serves as the de facto ruler of the kingdom. The American president preferred to speak to his father, King Salman. Sputnik has previously reported that the decision to ignore the 36-year-old was not taken lightly by him, and a Riyadh-based analyst suggested that MBS was waiting for the right moment to get his revenge.Farewell to Arms?In the 1970s, the US struck a deal with Saudi Arabia under which Washington would arm Riyadh in exchange for a promise to trade its oil in dollars, a move that has elevated the US dollar to the world's reserve currency.Since then, the US has been providing the kingdom with various types of advanced technologies. Washington has also been helping the Gulf nation to train its personnel, to repair and maintain the country's equipment. It has made Riyadh fully dependent on American arms.Yet, with time the White House started to drift away from earlier agreements. Partially, this was due to the US decision to leave the Middle East and focus on advancing American interests in Asia. And partially because of Saudi Arabia's alleged human rights violations and specifically the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, whose death has been attributed to MBS, allegations that the kingdom has repeatedly denied.When Biden took over the Oval Office, he continued that policy, which began under Barack Obama, and has indicated that he would re-examine Washington's arms sales to the kingdom. Riyadh didn't take that decision lightly.Reliable Partner?In 2011, the Saudis saw America's precocious nature for the first time, when Washington ditched one of Riyadh's regional allies, Egypt's then President Hosni Mubarak and embraced the Muslim Brotherhood, a movement deemed a terrorist grouping by a number of nations.Several years later, in 2015, relations between the two states were put to the test again when Washington signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran. That agreement sent chills through Riyadh as it enabled Tehran to advance its nuclear programme under strict Western supervision and authorities in the kingdom were worried the deal would result in the Islamic Republic acquiring nuclear weapons, something that the Saudis have been concerned about.Under President Donald Trump the US unilaterally pulled out of the nuclear agreement with Iran, and the Saudis breathed a sigh of relief but when Biden took over the negotiations around the deal resumed, and recent reports suggest that another deal will be reached in a matter of days.The Saudis have already indicated that this deal is a red line for the kingdom. If the agreement is signed, Tehran will see its assets unfrozen by the US and its allies. Trade with the Islamic Republic would be resumed, and Riyadh is worried that the Iranians will use that money to arm its Revolutionary Guard Corps and its allies across the Middle East, including Yemen's Houthi rebels.Those rebels have long been a headache for the Saudis. Since 2015, when Riyadh started its intervention in Yemen at the request of the then-president, the Houthis have been launching attacks on the kingdom and its regional ally, the United Arab Emirates. They have been attacking their oil fields, vessels, and strategic sites. Washington preferred to overlook it, and removed the rebels from the list of terror organisations.Enough is Enough?Now, as the White House contemplates doing the same with the Revolutionary Guard, the Saudis are indicating that they have had enough.MBS has even invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit the oil-rich nation. Reports also suggest that Saudi Arabia is now considering selling its oil to China using the Chinese yuan as the prevailing currency. Although a deal is far from being final, the mere fact that such an option is being considered, might be an indication to the White House that its dominance in the Gulf is nearing an end.Let's stay in touch no matter what! Follow our Telegram channel to get all the latest news: https://t.me/sputniknewsus

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https://sputniknews.com/20220321/saudi-arabia-blames-any-possible-oil-supply-disruption-on-houthi-attacks-1094057018.html

Saudi Arabia Blames Any Possible Oil Supply Disruption on Houthi Attacks

Saudi Arabia Blames Any Possible Oil Supply Disruption on Houthi Attacks

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Saudi Arabia is laying the blame for any possible disruption of its global oil exports at the feet of Yemen's Houthi movement, following... 21.03.2022, Sputnik International

2022-03-21T13:50+0000

2022-03-21T13:50+0000

2022-03-21T13:50+0000

saudi arabia

middle east

houthi

oil

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On Sunday, Saudi Aramco facilities in several cities were targeted by ballistic and cruise missiles launched from Yemen.The ministry urged the international community to realise the danger of Tehran allegedly supplying drones and missiles to the Houthis, who use them to attack Saudi production sites of oil, gas and refined products.The conflict between the Yemeni government forces and the Houthis has continued for over six years. The situation was further aggravated after the military coalition led by Saudi Arabia joined the conflict on the Yemeni government's side in 2015 and began conducting occasional air, land and sea operations against the Islamist rebel movement. The Houthis often retaliate by firing projectiles and bomber drones at objects in the Saudi territory.

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https://sputniknews.com/20220321/spain-abandoned-western-sahara-position-to-win-moroccos-cooperation-on-migrants-psoe-doc-reveals-1094063237.html

Spain Abandoned Western Sahara Position to Win Morocco's Cooperation on Migrants, PSOE Doc Reveals

Spain Abandoned Western Sahara Position to Win Morocco's Cooperation on Migrants, PSOE Doc Reveals

Spain ruled the colony of Spanish Sahara from 1884 until granting the territory independence in 1976. Although Morocco claimed sovereignty over the territory... 21.03.2022, Sputnik International

2022-03-21T19:24+0000

2022-03-21T19:24+0000

2022-03-21T19:22+0000

western sahara

morocco

spain

migrants

european union

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On Friday, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares announced an abrupt change in Madrids policy toward Western Sahara, backing a Moroccan plan to give the non-self-governing territory autonomy under Moroccan rule. Internal documents from Spains ruling party purport to reveal Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchezs motivation for abandoning a United Nations independence referendum in Western Sahara.According Algerian news outlet La Patrie, which obtained the document and published a story on Monday about its contents, the deal has been in the works for several months and aims to heal the worst crisis with Morocco in decades and improve the defense of Spanish citizenship, of Spain's interests, in particular, of our security, our sovereignty, our prosperity and our territorial integrity, including Ceuta and Melilla. The latter are two exclaves on the North African coast that are ruled by Spain but surrounded by Morocco."The position expressed by the Spanish government is absolutely in contradiction with international legality, Polisario said in a Saturday statement about Madrids reversal. The group, headquartered in the Tindouf refugee camp in western Algeria, called on other Spanish political factions "to exert pressure on the Spanish government to correct this grave error.Indeed, the following day 11 Spanish parties sent letters to Sanchezs office demanding answers about the change.The shift in Spanish policy is a pronounced about-face from last year, when against Rabats protests, Spain welcomed Brahim Ghali, secretary-general of the Saharawi liberation front POLISARIO, into a Logrono hospital for COVID-19 treatment. In June 2021, Sanchezs government pressured the Biden administration to reverse course on Western Sahara and renounce a decision by the prior Trump administration to recognize Moroccos claims to rule the territory to its south.However, earlier this month Washington made clear its intention to stay the course set by former US President Donald Trump. "We continue to view Morocco's autonomy plan as serious, credible and realistic," US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told reporters during a March 8 presser in Rabat with Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita.Spain conquered the territory during the European Scramble for Africa in the late 19th century, from which it extracted phosphates for explosives and fertilizer and gained access to rich fisheries off the coast. After international pressure and indigenous resistance by Polisario forced Spain to give the territory independence in 1975, Morocco claimed sovereignty over it and extracted the same resources. Since then, Polisario has pressured international governments and corporations not to invest in such operations in Western Sahara without approval of the Saharawi people.After the Spanish departure, Polisario fought a 15-year war against Morocco that ended in 1991 with a UN-brokered ceasefire and a promise to hold an independence referendum in the territory. That promised vote has never been held, even while Moroccan extraction and settlement continued, and in November 2020 the peace agreement collapsed after Moroccan security forces dispersed a Saharawi protest at a border crossing into Mauritania. A month later, Trump announced his administration would back Moroccos claims to rule Western Sahara in exchange for Morocco agreeing to normalize relations with Israel, as several other Arab states had recently done under US pressure.In October 2021, a year into the new war, Saharawi human rights activists and diplomats told Sputnik that the situation in Western Sahara had declined precipitously, with Moroccan officials harassing and suppressing activists and Saharawi nationalists and blocking the press from reporting on the incidents.Let's stay in touch no matter what! Follow our Telegram channel to get all the latest news: https://t.me/sputniknewsus

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western sahara, morocco, spain, migrants, european union
https://sputniknews.com/20220321/sri-lankan-debt-crisis-causes-paper-shortages-nation-forced-to-cancel-school-exams-1094064551.html

Sri Lankan Debt Crisis Causes Paper Shortages, Nation Forced to Cancel School Exams

Sri Lankan Debt Crisis Causes Paper Shortages, Nation Forced to Cancel School Exams

Sri Lanka has canceled school exams for two thirds of its students after running out of paper and ink. 21.03.2022, Sputnik International

2022-03-21T20:02+0000

2022-03-21T20:02+0000

2022-03-21T20:04+0000

sri lanka

paper

crisis

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The south Asian nation is in the midst of its worst financial crisis since gaining independence in 1948. Shortages of food, medicine and fuel have affected the 22 million residents of Sri Lanka and now two thirds of the countrys 4.5 million students may be unable to take tests to determine if they can move onto the next grade. The Department of Education of the Western Province stated it was unable to import paper and ink due to a lack of cash.Tests have been postponed indefinitely.Sri Lanka has seen its foreign currency reserves fall more than 70% over the past two years. It currently has $2.36 billion in reserves while $4 billion in debt payments are due by the end of this year.Protests gripped Sri Lankas capital city of Colombo earlier this month. Protesters and members of Sri Lankas opposition party have called on the government to step down due to their bungling of the debt crisis.Tax cuts in 2019 and the COVID-19 pandemic decimating the tourism and remittance industries have been cited as the largest causes of the crisis. Opposition party member Harsha de Silva also blamed the countrys overnight ban on chemical fertilizers, which led to protests from farmers. The ban has been reversed.The government has announced that it will seek a bailout from the IMF. It also recently secured a $1 billion line of credit from India to bring in food, fuel and pharmaceuticals to the cash-strapped country.Sri Lankan finance minister Basil Rajapaksa in December 2021 assured parliament that the government would not default on its loans or ask for an IMF bailout.

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https://sputniknews.com/20220321/trevor-noah-says-he-wanted-to-counsel-not-cancel-kanye-amid-uproar-over-yes-use-of-racial-slur-1094056754.html

Trevor Noah Says He Wanted to Counsel, Not Cancel Kanye Amid Uproar Over Yes Use of Racial Slur

Trevor Noah Says He Wanted to Counsel, Not Cancel Kanye Amid Uproar Over Yes Use of Racial Slur

Kanye West is no stranger to making headlines across the world for non-music-related reasons  after all, there is no such thing as bad publicity in show business. But it seems the musicians latest actions may have proved that this is not true.

2022-03-21T14:10+0000

2022-03-21T14:10+0000

2022-03-21T15:53+0000

society

celebrities

kanye west

kim kardashian

trevor noah

divorce

racism

grammy awards

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The "concerning behaviour" refers to the statements West made about his ex-wife Kim Kardashian and her new boyfriend his week. In a post on Twitter, the host of The Daily Show said he didnt want to "cancel" the hip-hop star, but rather counsel him. His statement comes as Kanye West has been removed from the list of performers at this years Grammy Awards, Variety reported, citing a representative of the artist. According to the magazine, Wests representative received a call from the organisers of the show, who said that the rapper was suspended due to "concerning behaviour" online. The musician is nominated in five categories in this year's ceremony, including Album of the Year.The "concerning behaviour" refers to statements West made about his ex-wife Kim Kardashian and her new boyfriend, SNL star Pete Davidson, as well as a racist remark he made about Trevor Noah. The latter criticised the musicians harassing behaviour towards his ex-spouse amid their divorce.West responded by posting a picture of Noah, whose mother is from South Africa, and editing the lyrics of the famous song "Kumbaya", changing them to "koon baya", thereby including a racist term used to describe a black person who acts against the black community.The post sparked waves of negative comments, with people chastising the musician for using the term, while Instagram suspended Kanyes account for 24 hours. Noah, who hosts this years Grammy Awards, said the remark broke his heart.As for the racist slur, Noah reminded West about the "biggest trick" racists ever played on black people  teaching them to strip each other of their blackness whenever they disagree."Tricking us into dividing ourselves up into splinters so that we would never unite into a powerful rod", the comedian wrote.Last February, Kim Kardashian filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. The two started dating in 2012 and tied the knot in 2014 in Italy. They have four kids - daughters North, 8, and Chicago, 4, and sons Saint, 6, and Psalm, 2.Amid the divorce process, Kanye accused Kardashian of kidnapping their children, antagonising him, as well as of ignoring his parenting advice. He also made threats against her boyfriend Pete Davidson. Earlier this month, he released a music video where a playdough figure of him kidnaps and buries a figure of Pete Davidson alive.

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society, celebrities, kanye west, kim kardashian, trevor noah, divorce, racism, grammy awards
https://sputniknews.com/20220321/us-sending-secretly-acquired-soviet-air-defence-systems-to-ukraine-reports-say-1094062022.html

US Sending Secretly Acquired Soviet Air Defence Systems to Ukraine, Reports Say

US Sending Secretly Acquired Soviet Air Defence Systems to Ukraine, Reports Say

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United States is sending secretly acquired Soviet air defence equipment to Ukraine, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. 21.03.2022, Sputnik International

2022-03-21T17:04+0000

2022-03-21T17:04+0000

2022-03-21T17:04+0000

us

ukraine

air defense

defence

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The report said, citing US officials, that the Soviet air defence equipment includes SA-8, which the United States acquired so it could examine Soviet technology at the time.The US Department of Defence declined to comment on the matter, the report said.The S-300 is not one of the air defence systems being sent to Ukraine, the report noted.On February 24, Russia began a military operation in Ukraine in response to requests for help from the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics in countering intensifying attacks by Ukrainian troops. The Russian Defence Ministry said the special operation is targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure only. Several days into the operation, the Defence Ministry accused the Ukrainian forces of using typical terrorist methods, such as hiding behind civilians and positioning weapons systems in civilian areas.

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us, ukraine, air defense, defence
Whenever the starter car calls the field to line up behind the gate, the well-travelled trotter Cindy Lynn is already in the zone.

On Monday night (March 21) at Woodbine Mohawk Park, Cindy Lynn will contest the 94th dash of her career and chase after her 21st win when hitting the track in Race 9 on the 10-race card.

Whether she nets her third-straight score or not, the man who campaigns the savvy veteran and the man in the race bike know what they can expect from the seven-year-old daughter of Credit Winner.

I think the thing that makes her a little bit special is her gait, said trainer Joe MacIsaac who along with his partner, Carolyn Williston, bred and own Cindy Lynn. Shes one of the best-gaited trotters Ive ever been around. Shes got a pretty flawless gait and shes very easy on herself. The guys that drive her, they seem to like to drive her.

Just ask Bob McClure.

The reinsman, who won his first OBrien trophy as Canadas 2020 Driver of the Year following a career-best season in purse earnings, has a plethora of superlatives that come with the privilege of piloting a smooth-sailing trotter.

Shes so handy that if you had to take her back, you could do it without any fuss at all, said McClure. Ive won with her off the helmet and Ive won with her off the front. Shes literally push button. Shes all racehorse. You can take her off the gate  you can literally do anything you want with her. Shes perfect gaited. You can drive her like a pacer.

For MacIsaac, who has amassed 218 conditioning wins, Cindy Lynn, named after one of Willistons best friends, was an eager student well before her first race on Jan. 25, 2018, which yielded a fourth-place finish at Flamboro Downs.

You never know, but you saw that she had the will and the talent. Sometimes, we shut the mares down a little earlier and breed them. But with her, I thought she had some racing in her.

Even after a pair of less-than-impressive qualifiers ahead of her first start, one at Woodbine Mohawk Park and the other at Flamboro Downs, Cindy Lynn still showed signs that racing longevity was in her future.

She has a quick turn of speed, but most of all, she loves to race, said MacIsaac. Thats her favourite thing. She loves going to the track and being out there. You could see that from the very beginning.

Cindy Lynn, whose milestone first victory came in her second career engagement (also at Flamboro), didnt have a memorable debut at Woodbine Mohawk Park just over four years ago when she broke stride and finished ninth.

Thankfully for her connections, her performances at the Milton oval, like her talent, grew exponentially over time.

Shes been a regular, give or take a handful of races, at the seven-eighths track since late September 2018.

Last year, Cindy Lynn was limited to just five starts, the result of an ailment-riddled campaign.

We went through a bad little spell with her, said MacIsaac. I think she was as good as shes ever been in her life in early 2020. She won some nice races and was pretty high up in class. I just kept running into problems with her, unfortunately. I thought I had her okay and I brought her into race one night. I thought she warmed up okay but something happened and it got her pretty sore. Jody [driver, Jamieson] had to pull her up. You hate seeing that. You want to make sure they are sound and ready, so I guess it was just one of those things. She didnt have to stay in the stall long, we just let her heal and gave her the time she needed. But she came back out of it well and she seems to be really good right now.

Her recent form certainly backs up MacIsaacs view.

So far in 2022, Cindy Lynn has three wins from nine starts. She was recently displaced from record books for fastest yearly mile by a trotting mare on a Canadian seven-eighths track.

It wouldnt be a longshot to see her reclaim that crown.

For a mare to race at Mohawk and in the condition races, youve got a pretty nice horse on your hands, offered MacIsaac. Shes okay to work around, but she can be a little feisty at times. Thats in the family, though. They are all a little bit like that. But for the most part, at the track, shes perfect.

Pre-race, Cindy Lynn is like a prizefighter waiting for the opening-round bell.

She likes to race, and she like to compete, said MacIsaac. Thats her thing. She doesnt like being in the paddock long or hanging around a bunch of people. She likes to be out there waiting for the race to start. The good ones have a good attitude. Some mares, if they have a little streak in them, they kind of seem to be a little tougher on the racetrack. Thats just the way I see them.

The lens in which the longtime horseman views his stable star pans beyond her next start.

There will be a time, sooner rather than later, MacIsaac noted, when Cindy Lynn will make the transition from racehorse to broodmare.

I think she has some value as a broodmare. You get to a point when that time will come, where you will have to make that decision. We were toying with the broodmare idea this year, but its up to her. If she shows any kind of issues, it will probably be the time do it. Right now, she looks like she has put together another season on the track. Whatever decision we make, well do the right thing for her.

For now, the trotter will continue to do her own thing.

And, as shes done throughout her career, shell do it well, in victory or otherwise.

Shes an absolute angel, said McClure, who is closing in on 2,950 wins. I was talking recently with Sylvain [Filion] after I drove her. There isnt a nicer horse to drive. Shes as close to perfect as youll get. Shes two fingers, literally. You could drive her with your pinky. She steers so well. She can follow the [starter] car all the way to the turn so you can leave so fast. Shes as close to perfect to drive as youre ever going to find.

(Woodbine)
COVID-19 community levels were reported as low in Culpeper, Fauquier, and Orange as of this past Friday and medium in Rappahannock and Madison, according to the latest update exactly two years into the pandemic from Rappahannock-Rapidan Health District.

Most U.S. cases of COVID-19 during the winter surge were caused by the Omicron sub-lineage called BA.1. As the virus continues to spread, it will also keep mutating.

We are now seeing a new Omicron called BA.2. This Omicron BA.2 sub-lineage constituted 1 in 10 cases a week ago and now makes up a quarter of sequenced viruses nationwide, according to the RRHD update.

Currently, the prevalence of BA.2 is the highest in the Northeast. In the region spanning New York and New Jersey, CDC estimates 39.0% of circulating viruses are BA.2.

Preliminary research overseas, including from Qatar and Denmark, suggests that those that were already sick with Omicron are unlikely to get sick again with BA.2. Early findings out of South Africa and the United Kingdom also suggest that vaccines still provide protection against severe disease.

We will monitor the situation with BA.2 and update you as we learn more. We are hopeful that between vaccinations and natural immunity, most infections will be mild and our hospitals will continue to remain at manageable levels, RRHD stated in its update.

Monday, March 21, 2022 marked the two-year anniversary of the first patient with COVID-19 admitted to University of Virginia Health System for care. UVA Health hosted a special event in the main lobby at UVA Medical Center in Charlottesville to reflect and pay tribute to the extraordinary dedication contributions and sacrifices of team members.

The public can leave messages of reflection and hope at this gratitude board: uvahealth.kudoboard.com/boards/st5EVJ5Z/reflectionsandhope

UVA Culpeper Medical Center President Donna Station expressed her thoughts.

As I reflect over the past two years, and what our team has endured, Im reminded of how each team member has displayed amazing courage. The selfless commitment in the early days when we knew so little, to the continuous emotional roller coaster, to the experience of the most recent surge event, Staton posted on the gratitude board.

Each team member has their own personal Covid story. These stories cover a wide range of events from homeschooling children, financial hardship, vaccination concerns, to even personal loss of a loved one. Thank you for standing with us through this unprecedented time in healthcare.

On this day in 2020, UVA Health received its first patient infected with COVID-19. We recognize the resilience of our healthcare workers, families, and friends during this challenging journey, according to a health system post on Monday. Today is a day to reflect, remember, and recognize the incredible efforts and sacrifices of our healthcare workers and community members.

As of March 10, Virginia Dept. of Health streamlined its COVID reporting for localities so that the information is no longer daily, but reported for longer timeframes.

Culpeper County reported 4,134 cases by date of illness in the past 13 weeks compared to 11,388 during the entire two years, according to VDH.

The sheer volume of cases from Omicron lead to noticeably more COVID-19 deaths. There were 46 deaths the past 13 weeks in Culpeper, nearly a third of the total 142 deaths in the county during the two-year pandemic.

Strain is easing on the local hospital. As of the week ending March 4, beds in use were 46.6 beds of 98 total at UVA Culpeper Medical Center, according to federal data.

The 7-day average of COVID-hospitalized patients for that week was four patients.

For the week ending March 4, there were 90 COVID-19 confirmed patients in the ER, compared to a high of 390 to end 2021.

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A Labyrinth Walk for Peace in support of Ukraine will be held at 1 p.m. on Sunday, March 27 at Unity church of Charlottesville, 2825 Hydraulic Circle.

Virginia Labyrinths is co-sponsor for the community event at which donations will be accepted with 100% of proceeds going to UNICEF for humanitarian aid efforts for Ukrainians enduring war since the Feb. 24 Russian invasion.

A labyrinth is different from a maze in that one follows a specified pattern of ancient geometry to enter, and then exits in the reverse order after reaching the center. Walking a labyrinth is usually done in silence and is used as a time for prayer, reflection, or contemplation, according to a release.

The Labyrinth has been used by cultures around the world for thousands of years, said Mary Ann Wamhoff, Labyrinth Facilitator. We will walk with a specific intention for peace between Russia and Ukraine, and safety for the Ukrainian refugees and children.

Unity of Charlottesville, co-sponsor, built its Shalom Labyrinth in 2013 as an exact full-scale replica of the labyrinth at the Chartres Cathedral in Chartres, France. The Shalom Labyrinth invites people to turn within and come to a deeper understanding of themselves to find peace and inner tranquility, the release stated.

Our labyrinth is open to the public as a place of quiet, refuge and contemplation, said the Rev. Don Lansky, minister of Unity Church.

As the brutal conflict in Ukraine continues, we join millions of good-willed people around the world who are praying for peace. Our hope is that this event will bring people of many faiths together and raise money to assist Ukrainian refugees through this difficult time.

Unity is located near Albemarle High School. 434/978-1062 or unitycharlottesville.org.
Country

United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, 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Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and 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
The new (since late 2021) Taliban IEA (Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan) government is forming an army. This force wont be as large as the former IRA (Islamic Republic of Afghanistan) force, which had a paper strength of 300,000 and was subsidized by the Americans. The Taliban defeated the IRA force via bribes or threats to key commanders and government officials in charge of supplying the troops with food, fuel and other supplies. American aid supplied over a billion dollars a year for this and over the years more and more of it was stolen.

Before the IEA the Taliban budget was much smaller because most of it came from criminal activity; mainly extortion plus payments from the heroin cartels for protecting the heroin production and smuggling routes to the borders with Pakistan, Iran and Tajikistan. The heroin cartels also bribed some government and security officials. Giving and taking bribes is an ancient Afghan tradition, as is extortion and all manner of what most other nations consider bad behavior.

Part of the process for forming the IEA army was the establishment of a RCC (Ranks Clearance Commission) to determine which members of the IRA force would be useful and willing to serve in the new, smaller, IEA force. Most of the IRA military senior officers and technical specialists got out of the country before the Taliban gained complete control in late 2021. The IEA declared amnesty for all members of the IRA military and police but few formally accepted, with most just walking away and going back to civilian life. At least a hundred of these former troops and police were killed by vengeful Taliban gunmen and it took the IEA leadership months to bring that under control.

The RCC did find some reliable IRA officers and tech specialists that were still in Afghanistan and willing to take a job with the new, much smaller IEA force.

The IEA does need an organized, disciplined force to deal with internal security problems. This includes Islamic terrorist groups who see the IEA as an enemy rather than an ally and provider of sanctuary. These problems come from some ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) factions, the non-Pushtun resistance (Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazara) groups, and a growing number of Afghan Taliban factions that oppose Pakistani control of the IEA. In many ways the IEA faces more internal resistance than the original Taliban government that lasted from the mid-1990s to late 2001. The American intervention after September 11, 2001 allowed the Northern Alliance (the non-Pushtun alliance) to go on the offensive and drive the Taliban out of the country by the end of 2001.

The 2022 IEA has more income from the heroin cartels and a much wealthier Afghanistan to tax. That prosperity is fading fast and even many Pushtun are angry about that. When the IEA took power, the national population was at least 33 million, which is 57 percent more than 21 million late 2001. Kabul is still the largest city, but with five million residents. That includes about half the urban population in Afghanistan. In late 2001 Kabul had a population of half a million. Despite the population growth, over two-thirds of the population still lives in the countryside.

The biggest problem the IEA has is the national economy. Until 2020 the GDP has grown continuously since 2001 with average family income increasing noticeably each year until 2020 when GDP declined 5 percent because of the covid19 world recession. In 2001 there were only 10,000 phones in the country, all very expensive land lines in cities. Now there are over 22 million inexpensive cell phones with access even in remote rural areas. Back in 2001 less than ten percent of the population had access to any health care, under the IRA at least 80 percent did and life expectancy has risen from 47 years, the lowest in Eurasia, to 62. This left Bangladesh to occupy last place. This is apparently the highest life expectancy has ever been in Afghanistan and the UN noted it was the highest one decade increase ever recorded. Afghans have noticed this even if the rest of the world has not.

While GDP declined five percent in 2020, the decline abated and economic activity is growing worldwide. Afghanistan was on its way to three percent GDP growth in 2021 before the covid19 recession appeared. GDP growth was expected to resume in 2022, by about three percent. With the Taliban takeover, GDP is expected to shrink 20-30 percent in 2022 and not recover for years, if ever as long as the IEA is in charge. Most Afghans expect the situation to get worse than just the GDP decline because no donor nations believe Taliban assurances about being peaceful. There is already violence on the Pakistan border, mainly about where the border actually is. The Iran border is still violent because of continued drug smuggling and violence against Afghan Shia.

The neighbors still believe the IEA will collapse after a few years because of internal unrest and growing poverty which most Afghans will compare to the previous two decades. The main cause of an IEA collapse is the economy that, since 2001, has more than quadrupled. This was much faster than population growth as per-capita GDP nearly tripled. At the same time growing government corruption and growth of the drug cartels distorted income distribution. By 2021 the drug cartels represented nearly 10 percent of GDP and only benefitted ten percent of the population, including the Taliban payroll plus bribes paid to political leaders and security forces commanders. Heroin and other drugs were by far the most profitable economic activity in Afghanistan. Despite that most Afghans are hostile to the drugs and the many local addicts it created. Neighboring countries have the same attitude.

Generous foreign aid took care of most government expenses and that led to a lot of foreign investment. This foreign aid and investment averaged over a hundred billion dollars a year since 2002 and most of it was not spent in Afghanistan, but in the countries delivering the aid. This is normal, but there was enough being spent in Afghanistan to keep the IRA government in power and the GDP expanding.

Foreign aid and investment declined considerably after most foreign troops were withdrawn in 2014. The Taliban expected to quickly take over but that did not happen because most Afghans now had something to fight for and they kept the Taliban out of power until 2021. At the end the IRA government had an annual budget of $6 billion with about four billion dollars going to pay government workers. Most of the government employees were in the security services and the corruption was greatest there.

The IEA has to deal with more Afghan anti-Pakistan violence than the IRA had to. The IEA is more pro-Islamic terrorist than the IRA and tolerates the presence of the TTP (Pakistan Taliban) that seeks to impose a religious dictatorship on Pakistan. The IEA appears to have made a similar deal with ISIL, or some of the ISIL factions in Afghanistan, because the number of ISIL attacks in Pakistan have increased this year and these attacks are often coming from ISIL factions operating across the border in Afghanistan. The Pakistani military apparently underestimated the degree of anti-Pakistan attitudes among IEA leaders.

The IEA army wont be large enough to deal with all the local unrest and the only source of help is the Pakistani military. The heroin cartels are a major source of income for the Pakistani military because the Pakistani generals provide export of most of that heroin via the port of Karachi and several major airports. Then there are the vital chemical imports needed for the conversion of opium to heroin. There are twice as many Pushtuns in Pakistan than Afghanistan and in 2022 these Pakistani Pushtuns are getting organized to oppose the Pakistani military and its control over the elected Pakistani government and the unelected IEA in Afghanistan. Because of this, getting troop reinforcements from Pakistan is not a practical solution to the inadequate size of the IEA army.

The IEA took power but it turns out that holding onto it will be far more difficult.
Chinese FM holds talks with Algerian, Tanzanian counterparts

Xinhua) 08:48, March 21, 2022

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi holds talks with Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra in Tunxi, east China's Anhui Province, March 20, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhou Mu)

HEFEI, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Sunday held talks with Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra and Tanzanian Foreign Minister Liberata Mulamula.

When holding talks with Lamamra, who is paying a visit to China, Wang said that apart from certain countries that are preoccupied with geographical games, there are many countries like China and Algeria that have long histories and favor peace and justice.

He called on such countries to join hands and enhance unity and coordination to promote the process of democracy in international relations.

Lamamra said that Algeria appreciates China's position on the Ukraine crisis and believes that China's approach, which stands for international fairness and justice, and eyes the promotion of peace, stability and security, is right and promising.

When holding talks with Mulamula via video link, Wang noted that the China-Tanzania friendship has taken root in people's hearts. He said China is willing to view its relations with Tanzania from a strategic and long-term perspective.

Wang said that China stands ready to continue to deepen comprehensive cooperative partnership with Tanzania and make greater contributions to Africa's self-reliant development capabilities.

Mulamula, who is paying a virtual visit to China, said that Tanzania is committed to building its relations with China into a new benchmark for Africa-China ties.

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi holds talks with Tanzanian Foreign Minister Liberata Mulamula via video link in Tunxi, east China's Anhui Province, March 20, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhou Mu)

(Web editor: Peng yukai, Liang Jun)
A Saltville man was killed and a woman seriously injured after the vehicle they were traveling in crashed into a utility pole last Wednesday.

According to a release from the Virginia State Police, the 2007 Nissan Murano was traveling south on Crescent Road when it ran off the right side of the road, overcorrected, ran off the left side of the road and struck the utility pole.

The driver of the Murano, 20-year-old Christopher D. Stiltner, was transported to Johnson City Medical Center, where died from his injuries on Friday.

A passenger, Candran L. Kestner, 22, also of Saltville, was transported to the hospital for treatment of serious injuries. Two children riding in the backseat of the vehicle were not injured in the crash, the release said.

State police continue to investigate.
Editors note: Information is provided by the Cowlitz County Corrections Department and local law enforcement agencies. Each individual named in this report is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Burglary  Kelso police officers Friday arrested Cody Kreger, 35, of Kelso, on suspicion of burglary, criminal trespassing, resisting arrest, obstructing a public servant and parole violation.

Protection order  Kelso police officers Friday arrested Billy Nelson, 34, of Kelso, on suspicion of violating a protection order and carrying a concealed weapon.

Assault  Woodland police officers Saturday arrested Victorino Fabian Lopez, 38, of Woodland, on suspicion of assault.

Harassment  Kalama police officers Sunday arrested Scott Bird, 31, of Kalama, on suspicion of felony harassment.

Burglary and harassment  Kelso police officers Sunday arrested Timothy Russell, 29, of Kelso, on suspicion of felony harassment, burglary, malicious mischief and assaulting a police officer.

Retail theft  Longview police officers Sunday arrested Lucas Bunn, 26, of Kelso, on suspicion of retail theft, theft and criminal trespassing.

Stolen vehicle  Longview police officers Sunday arrested Jarrod Eastlick, 33, of Kelso, on suspicion of possession of a stolen vehicle.

Assaults

1100 block of 10th Avenue, Longview. Saturday. Fight between two people in a carport.

1900 block of First Avenue, Longview. Sunday. Jail incident.

Burglaries

200 block of Hillsdale Drive, Woodland. Saturday. Storage unit broken into.

2800 block of Maple Street, Longview. Saturday. Residential burglary, multiple electric guitars stolen.

700 block of Industrial Way, Longview. Saturday. Business broken into, possibly through hole cut in fence.

900 block of Nevada Drive, Longview. Sunday. Window broken at home, unsure if anything was taken.

400 block of Hazel Street, Kelso. Sunday. Commercial burglary.

Stolen vehicles

200 block of North Seventh Avenue, Kelso. Saturday. White 1997 Ford F150. WA C13500V.

300 block of North First Avenue, Kelso. Saturday. White 2012 Chevy Traverse. WA BRX1398. May be video of plates being removed.

300 block of Allen Avenue, Castle Rock. Sunday. White 1996 Nissan Pathfinder.

Thefts

400 block of Three Rivers Drive, Kelso. Friday. Backpack stolen.

100 block of Freddie Lane, Longview. Sunday. Stolen money.

1000 block of 15th Avenue, Longview. Sunday. Cart full of items taken.

Vandalism/malicious mischief

800 block of Hudson Street, Longview. Sunday. Graffiti on building.

2800 block of Parkview Drive, Longview. Sunday. Gate damaged after being driven into.

Vehicle prowls

1100 block of Vandercook Way, Longview. Saturday.

400 block of Roake Avenue, Castle Rock. Sunday.

300 block of North Seventh Avenue, Kelso. Sunday.

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The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has warned Google Chrome browser users of multiple vulnerabilities. Check details here.

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) has issued a warning to Google Chrome browser users. The warning is for the Chrome users who are on the version prior to 99.0.4844.74. In a notification, the CERT-In said that multiple vulnerabilities have been reported in Google Chrome browser, "which could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code, bypass security restrictions or cause a denial of service condition on the targeted system".

On where all the vulnerability and security threat lay, the nodal body said, "Use after free in Blink Layout, Extensions, Safe Browsing, Splitscreen, ANGLE, New Tab Page, Browser UI and Heap buffer overflow in GPU". The notification by CERT-In further informed that the exploitation of these vulnerabilities could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code, bypass security restrictions, or cause a denial of service condition on the targeted system.

Looking for a smartphone? To check mobile finder click here. Also read:

How to make your Google Chrome browser safe

In order to prevent cyber attack, the agency recommended users to upgrade to Google Chrome version 99.0.4844.74.

Recently CERT-In also informed that multiple vulnerabilities have been reported in various Microsoft products too. These could be exploited by an attacker to access sensitive information, bypass security restrictions, perform denial of service (DoS) attack, escalating privileges, perform spoofing attacks or executing arbitrary codes on the targeted system.

The software that were affected include Windows, Microsoft Office, Microsoft defender, Microsoft Exchange Server, Browser, Developer Tools, among others.
It seems that next-gen of flagship mobile chipsets will be sacrificing power efficiency in favour of performance boost. This is according to a new leak that claimed ARMs upcoming Cortex-X3 cores to be more power hungry than its predecessor.

The new Cortex-X3 cores are expected to make its way into next generation mobile chipsets including the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and Samsung Exynos 2300. Furthermore, it may even feature inside the MediaTek Dimensity 10000.

In a report by South Korean leaker Meeco, ARMs Cortex-X3 cores will be less efficient than the already power hungry Corte-X2 cores found inside the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and Exynos 2200. The leaker further elaborated that the new cores offer just a slim performance boost over its predecessor, but will be 10% less efficient when clocked at 3.0 GHz or higher.

Furthermore, Meeco claimed that the cores wont offer groundbreaking raw CPU performance. However, it will be boasting incredible AI performance, allegedly up to 100% increase!

In the same post, Meeco also said that these figures are based on Samsung and TSMCs next-gen nodes. Moreover, the leaker also claimed that Qualcomm is planning to return to in-house cores such as the ones found in Snapdragon 865 rather than utilising ARMs, but this would only be the case in 2024 at the earliest.

As always, please take these leaks with a grain of salt as nothing is confirmed as of yet. However, if it proves to be true, itll be interesting to see how these new chips will affect battery life.

What do you guys think? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below and make sure to follow TechNave on Facebook and Twitter for all the latest trending tech news!
Lome, Togo. Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Governments and humanitarian groups can use machine learning algorithms and mobile phone data to get aid to those who need it most during a humanitarian crisis, we found in new research.

The simple idea behind this approach, as we explained in the journal Nature on March 16, 2022, is that wealthy people use phones differently from poor people. Their phone calls and text messages follow different patterns, and they use different data plans, for example. Machine learning algorithmswhich are fancy tools for pattern recognitioncan be trained to recognize those differences and infer whether a given mobile subscriber is wealthy or poor.

As the COVID-19 pandemic spread in early 2020, our research team helped Togo's Ministry of Digital Economy and GiveDirectly, a nonprofit that sends cash to people living in poverty, turn this insight into a new type of aid program.

First, we collected recent, reliable and representative data. Working on the ground with partners in Togo, we conducted 15,000 phone surveys to collect information on the living conditions of each household. After matching the survey responses to data from the mobile phone companies, we trained the machine learning algorithms to recognize the patterns of phone use that were characteristics of people living on less than $1.25 per day.

The next challenge was figuring out whether a system based on machine learning and phone data would be effective at getting money to the poorest people in the country. Our evaluation indicated that this new approach worked better than other options Togo's government was considering.

For instance, focusing entirely on the poorest cantonswhich are analogous to U.S. countieswould have delivered benefits to only 33% of the people living on less than US$1.25 a day. By contrast, the machine learning approach targeted 47% of that population.

We then partnered with Togo's government, GiveDirectly and community leaders to design and pilot a cash transfer program based on this technology. In November 2020, the first beneficiaries were enrolled and paid. To date, the program has provided nearly $10 million to roughly 137,000 of the country's poorest citizens.

Our work shows that data collected by mobile phone companieswhen analyzed with machine learning technologycan help direct aid to those with the greatest need.

Even before the pandemic, over half of the West African nation's 8.6 million people lived below the international poverty line. As COVID-19 slowed economic activity further, our surveys indicated that 54% of all Togolese were forced to miss meals each week.

The situation in Togo was not unique. The downturn resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic pushed millions of people into extreme poverty. In response, governments and charities launched several thousand new aid programs, providing benefits to over 1.5 billion people and families around the world.

But in the middle of a humanitarian crisis, governments struggle to figure out who needs help most urgently. Under ideal circumstances, those decisions would be based on comprehensive household surveys. But there was no way to gather this information in the middle of a pandemic.

Our work helps demonstrate how new sources of big datasuch as information gleaned from satellites and mobile phone networkscan make it possible to target aid amid crisis conditions when more traditional sources of data are unavailable.

We're conducting follow-up research to assess how cash transfers affected recipients. Previous findings indicate that cash transfers can help increase food security and improve psychological well-being in normal times. We are assessing whether that aid has similar results during a crisis.

It's also essential to find ways to enroll and pay people without phones. In Togo, roughly 85% of households had at least one phone, and phones are frequently shared within families and communities. However, it is not clear how many people who needed humanitarian assistance in Togo didn't get it because of their lack of access to a mobile device.

In the future, systems that combine new methods that leverage machine learning and big data with traditional approaches based on surveys are bound to improve the targeting of humanitarian aid.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Renewables firmed by storage now offer a cheaper, more reliable alternative. Credit: Shutterstock

Russia's invasion of Ukraine is happening half a planet away from Australia.

But the ripple effects are plain to see at every petrol station and, potentially soon, your electricity bill.

As a result of the invasion and Western sanctions on Russian exports, energy prices have skyrocketed.

If that makes you think nations should have taken steps to secure alternatives to fossil fuels years ago, you're not alone. As it is, the much higher energy prices are likely to accelerate the exit of coaland gasfrom our energy grids.

This should be a wake-up call. It doesn't matter that Australia is far from the battlefield. Everyone in the world will be affected in some way.

What's the link between the invasion and Australian energy prices?

You might think Australia's domestic supply of coal and gas means we'd be immune to price rises. Not so.

Due to formal sanctions and informal shunning of Russian exports, oil, coal and gas are now extremely expensive on a global scale. Thermal coal prices have increased five-fold to an unprecedented ~$A500 per ton. Oil is ~$140 a barrel and up 60% year on year. Natural gas in Europe is around 50% higher than last October, but since the invasion, prices have spiked as high as ~200% higher than 2021 levels.

Coal buyers are locking in supply, concerned that Russian sanctions will continue. Russia is the third largest exporter of coal and its existing customers are now under pressure to find alternative supplies.

Russia's aggression is not just resulting in a major humanitarian and political crisis. It is also causing pain at the bowser for Australian consumers due to the surge in oil pricing and may soon result in higher electricity bills.

Australia's east-coast electricity market is still heavily reliant upon coal. While many coal-fired power stations have existing supply contracts, the much higher global coal price may increase the cost of any extra coal purchases by existing power stations.

Not only that, but our gas-fired power stations are facing potential increases in operating costs due to much higher global gas prices.

Unfortunately, we may see the result in rising power bills. The price of future contracts for wholesale electricity next year in NSW are now twice what they were a year ago. Assuming this flows through to end-users, prices for residential customers could increase by as much as 1015%.

So what should Australia do?

While it's too late to dodge this bullet, we can prepare for future shocks by doubling down on firmed renewables. The faster we move, the less we'll be hit by the price and reliability risks of coal.

Renewables draw energy from sources unaffected by war. Credit: Shutterstock

Already under pressure from cheaper renewable technologies, coal power station operators now find themselves potentially facing much higher costs in the short-term. There's no relief for coal in the long term either, with the rapid rise of renewables and other zero-carbon technologies.

Not only that, but most of our coal power stations are near the end of their lives, and industry doesn't want to build new ones. That means coal will become more and more expensive, as the plants become increasingly unreliable.

Wind and solar technologies are now much cheaper per unit of energy generated and can be integrated with energy storage to provide dispatchable "firmed" energy. The faster we transition to renewables firmed by storage, the better.

If we do this, our new grid will also be more reliable. Continuing to rely upon coal is like relying upon a 1970s car to travel from Sydney to Melbourne on the hottest day of the year.

State governments around the nation are already embracing this approach, with the New South Wales government moving ahead with plans for 12 gigawatts (GW) of new renewables and storage and the Victorian government announcing plans for 9GW of offshore windfarms.

Governments must carefully design policies to avoid guaranteeing profits for private sector players while socializing any losses across taxpayers and energy consumers. In NSW, alternatives are being considered.

As European and many other nations scramble to reduce their dependency on Russian coal, oil and gas, Australia now has a once in a generation opportunity to become a leading exporter of new clean energy.

We have truly enormous clean energy resources in the form of free sunlight and wind. To export it, we can either run underseas cables to neighboring countries, or convert cheap renewable power into green hydrogen and ship this to the world just as we currently do with LNG.

What else can we expect to see?

Surging fossil fuel prices has supercharged the existing disruption to an already rapidly changing domestic energy industry. In the past month, Origin announced it would abandon coal more rapidly, with the closure of its NSW coal-fired power station, Eraring, in 2025.

Meanwhile, AGL has been pursuing a "demerger" with a view to splitting off its coal assets and pursuing new energy technologies. This comes as Australian tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes and Canadian asset fund Brookfield offered to buy AGL for $8.25 a share, though they were not successful. Their plan was to accelerate the closure of AGL's coal assets, which would move AGL from the highest carbon emitter in Australia to a clean energy company. The age of coal power is ending, and much faster than most of us realize.

This crisis should spur us to build a future-proofed fleet of "firmed" and well-distributed renewables with a known cost structure.

By doing this, we will protect ourselves from the pain of geopolitically driven fossil fuel prices. And we will have a platform ready if we want to provide clean energy to the world in the form of green hydrogen.

We have had decades to make full use of our wealth of renewable energy resources. We haven't embraced this as fully as we should have.

It turns out localized clean energy production is not just necessary to tackle climate change. It will prove a vital resource as we navigate the highly turbulent decade we have found ourselves in.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
A life-size model of part of a bronchial tree built from anatomical data. A section of the magnetic tentacle robot is seen on the right. Image courtesy: University of Leeds. Credit: University of Leeds

Engineers and scientists have developed proof of concept for a robot that can reach some of the smallest bronchial tubes in the lungs to take tissue samples or deliver cancer therapy.

Known as a magnetic tentacle robot, it measures just 2 millimeters in diameter, about twice the size of the tip of a ballpoint pen.

Magnets on the outside of the patient will be used to guide the tentacle robot into place.

The device has been developed by a team of engineers, scientists and clinicians based at the STORM Lab at the University of Leeds, which is pioneering the use of robotic systems to assist in endoscopy and catheter procedures, where a fine tube is inserted into body.

The researchers have published their findings in the journal Soft Robotics.

The proof of concept was based on laboratory tests involving a 3D replica of a bronchial tree modeled from anatomical data. The next phase of the research will investigate the effectiveness of the device in navigating lungs taken from a cadaver.

Limits of existing technology

Currently, doctors use an instrument called a bronchoscope to carry out an examination of the lungs and air passages. The procedure involves passing a flexible tube-like instrument, about 3.5 to 4 millimeters in diameter, through the nose or mouth and into the bronchial passages.

Because of its size, the bronchoscope can only travel as far as the upper levels of the bronchial tree.

To delve deeper into the lungs, a catheter or fine tube measuring about 2 millimeters in diameter is passed through the bronchoscope and then into the smaller tubes of the lungs.

But doctors are limited in how they can move a bronchoscope, making it difficult to navigate the instrument and the catheter to where they are needed.

The magnetic tentacle robot, however, has been developed to be much more maneuverable, and uses a robotic guidance system that is personalized for each procedure.

Professor Pietro Valdastri, Director of the STORM Lab who supervised the research, said, "A magnetic tentacle robot or catheter that measures 2 millimeters and whose shape can be magnetically controlled to conform to the bronchial tree anatomy can reach most areas of the lung, and would be an important clinical tool in the investigation and treatment of possible lung cancer and other lung diseases.

"Our system uses an autonomous magnetic guidance system which does away for the need for patients to be X-rayed while the procedure is carried out."

The video shows how controlling the motion of external magnets can change the shape the magnetic tentacle robot, allowing it to move between a series of obstacles. The video has been speeded up by a factor of five. Credit: University of Leeds

Innovative technology

To develop the robotic system, the research team had to overcome two major challenges.

Firstly, they had to make a device that was small, flexible and able to navigate the twists and turns of the anatomy of the bronchial tree.

Secondly, they needed an autonomous system to guide the magnetic tentacle robot into place, doing away with the need for a doctor to manually maneuver an instrument into place, which often involves the patient being exposed to X-rays, and can be technically challenging for medical staff.

Small and flexible robot

To reduce the size of the robot while retaining controllability of motion, the researchers manufactured it from a series of interlinked cylindrical segments, each 2 millimeters in diameter and around 80 millimeters in length. The segments were made of a soft elastomeric or rubber-like material which had been impregnated with tiny magnetic particles.

Because of the presence of the magnetic particles, the interlinked segments can move somewhat independently under the effect of an external magnetic field. The result is a magnetic tentacle robot which is highly flexible, able to shape shift and small enough to avoid snagging on anatomical structures in the lungs.

Guidance system

Magnets mounted on robotic arms on the outside of the patient would be used to guide the device into the lungs in a process that would be tailor-made for each procedure.

The route through the bronchial tree is planned from pre-operative scans of a patient's lungs and programmed into the robotic system. As the magnets outside of the patient move, they develop forces on the magnetic particles in the segments of the catheter, causing them to change shape or directionenabling the robot to be maneuvered through the lungs and to a site of a suspicious lesion.

Once at the target location, the robot is used to take a tissue sample or deliver treatment.

It may be several years before "magnetic tentacle" technology is available in a hospital setting.

The STORM lab at the University of Leeds is revolutionizing the technology used in endoscopic and catheter investigations.

They have created a protype of a low-cost endoscopeused to investigate the upper gastrointestinal tractwhich could be used in low to middle income countries where lack of access to expensive equipment is hampering screening programs.

Magnetic technology is also at the heart of a robotic colonoscopy system that is easier for staff to operate and kinder for patients.

More information: Patient specific magnetic catheters for atraumatic autonomous endoscopy, Soft Robotics, 2022.
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Each year industries across Europe allow a valuable source of heat energy to simply escape out their chimneys. An EU-funded project called ETEKINA has reimagined a decades-old technology called heat pipe heat exchangers that allow companies to re-use the heat they generate. So far three sites that installed the prototype technology have slashed their fuel costs by 40%an aluminum casting production plant in Spain (Fagor Ederlan), a steelworks in Slovenia (SIJ Metal Ravne) and a ceramic producer in Italy (Atlas Concorde).

Hussam Jouhara, a professor of thermal engineering at Brunel University London is the technical coordinator of the project and shared his thoughts about the project with ESCI.

Interviewer: Professor Jouhara, you and the team in the ETEKINA project have found a way to add a new type of heat exchanger to recover heat from one industrial process and reuse it in another part of the factory. What's at the core of this technology?

Hussam Jouhara: A heat pipe is a thermal superconductor. The key is you don't need to force a fluid using pumps or fluid piping between the hot region and the cold regions to facilitate the heat transfer process. The heat pipe itself can do that in a passive manner as long as you allow it access to the hot stream and the cold stream under the correct heat transfer conditions.

When you look at the system from the outside, it looks rather simple. Tubes come in between two chambers, and these tubes are just absorbing the heat and delivering the heat to where it is required. But if you look deeper inside each tube, you have a very complex science. You're dealing with two phase heat transferliquid changing its phase from liquid to vapor and in the process carrying the latent heat to deliver it to the condenser section where this vapor condenses, which then heats the heating fluid.

Can you give some examples about the different liquids you may be using or the different materials?

In the ETEKINA project we used two fluids inside those heat pipe systems. One fluid is ultra-pure water. But when we have high temperature applications, we also have fluids that are capable of being used effectively inside the heat exchanger itself to make the heat pipes function safely. As these fluids are confined inside the system, there is only a small amount of them that is being used.

The ETEKINA project started four years ago. What was your intention for the project? What started you on this idea?

The idea of putting the ETEKINA project together was really just to demonstrate the importance and the potential of the heat pipe technology and how it can be used to recover waste heat from very challenging streams that other conventional systems couldn't manage to recover and reuse the heat that is being recovered in the plant itself. This then leads to reducing the plant's carbon footprint and reducing the energy demand and enhancing the plant energy efficiency in general.

I do also think that ETEKINA is contributing by enhancing the efficiency of these systems, using the right technology that will facilitate that. The target for ETEKINA was 40 percent recovery of the available heat that is being wasted from the exhaust streams. I am pleased to say that after four years and having installed the three units, the consortium managed to get the 40 percent as the minimum.

We are actually above that in all three demo cases. This is something that is a pleasure to report, and it is a success for the whole consortium.

The other intention was to deliver a high TRL heat pipe heat exchanger design that can be delivered directly to the wider industrial community. In addition to that, the involved RTDs in this project have developed system modeling capabilities that can help any interested industry in modeling various waste heat recovery options to achieve the highest thermal efficiency possible.

I think it's a critical questionwhy is it that it's only now that we have been able to design, build and implement this heat pipe technology? The principle is around forty years old.

You must have a proper understanding of the chemistry. You must understand the material science. You must have proper understanding of the business case to ensure this is something that will make a proper business sense to any company that will adopt it. You have also to understand very complex heat transfer phenomena; mainly two-phase transfer, two phase flow, complex terms. You need to combine the knowledge of all of these to comprehend the requirements for the design.

And it's been a real pleasure working closely with our manufacturing company in Wales in the UK to develop the capabilities of manufacturing those heat pipes. We design the manufacturing process and installation together.

Can you give some examples of what you mentioned the heat pipe technology will be dealing with, for example the steel case? Do you know what kind of temperatures we are dealing with? What is the situation in a steel furnace?

We have a demo case in Italythe Ceramic producer Atlas Concordeand the requirement is to provide high pressure hot water up to a hundred and seventy degrees for use in the process itself in various areas. And this water will be heated using the waste heat that we recovered from our heat exchanger.

The unique feature about the heat exchanger we built was that the exhaust stream is running through a section which is at near atmospheric pressure. So, there is no real investment that you need for high pressure equipment on the exhaust stream, which makes the system cost effective. In addition, we have managed the fouling that is expected as of the particulate loading in this exhaust.

The steel works SIJ Metal Ravne in Slovenia have requirements for multiple heat sinks. The heat sink fluids are the fluids that are being heated from the heat that is recovered. So, in Slovenia, the unit there had two heat sinks. The first recovers the heat from a high temperature exhaust coming in, and this heat has direct use in preheating air that is used in the combustion chamber, which will directly lead to reduction in the fuel that is being used to give them the temperature they require in the process.

This exhaust will leave that section with enough energy also that can be recovered to heat water to 90 degrees. The company is not only reusing the heat, that they recover. It also exporting energy to the wider area, making it more integrated with the community.

As for the aluminum alloy production line Fagor Ederlan in Spain, which is the unit in one of our partners facilities, that unit is dealing with very high temperatures. High temperatures that usually require very complex designs and a very iterative approach to ensure that under any circumstances you don't have any cross-contamination between the two streams, and you manage the high temperature to give the process high temperature heats and fluid to that they can use in the process. It is something that we actually managed in ETEKINA in a cost-effective way and successfully installed the unit.

Each of the units that we delivered in this project dealt with a complex and challenging exhaust stream in a specific way. That's what is so unique about the heat pipe technology. It can deliver solutions to complex scenarios.

Also, from an investor point of view you have amazing numbers.



In this project it's not only an academic challenge. It is an applied project. We had to deliver three systems with a return on investment figure within 24 months or less. Otherwise, we can't convince the wider industry to adopt it.

Therefore, as you said, the business case for the units was rather amazing, and the validation came from the data that we collected so far. We are achieving our goal if these units are to be installed or designed for a similar process anywhere in Europe or worldwide.

So what's next? Are we going to save the world with this technology?

Well, I'm hoping so. The thing is nowadays in Europe, if you think about our continent, the cost of emissions is extremely expensive. The interesting thing about this project is that halfway through ETEKINA and running some experiments in one of the sites, we realized that we could do even more things with this technology.

While working in this project and working with very capable partners, we unlocked another idea that we are now exploring under another project. And that project hopefully will save the world again because it will not only recover the wasted heat, but it will also recover wastewater.

And what kind of exploitation do you see for ETEKINA on a commercial level?

Now we have a technology that is at the right technology readiness level (TRL) that will enable the manufacturer in this case, Econotherm, to have much wider markets to deliver these units to industries at the right business case level.

You can still see chimneys emitting vapors. It does tell you that there is something else that we can do, and there is something we can do to eliminate those chimneys and recycle everything in the plant itself, which is not a dream. It can be a reality with the right approach.

What kind of impact does ETEKINA have on academia?

We had the target of delivering new solutions for well-established, leading industries in their fields. But in parallel, we work together as universities and research institutes.

For example, we have achieved new modeling capabilities. Usually, these modeling capabilities make for very expensive research. That is, if it is to be done in the lab, it would be extremely expensive to be able to do that research and using IT equipment. And we had these published.

These are now available to the wider research community everywhere in the world who have access to these articles. That makes the makes ETEKINA as useful to academia as it was useful for the industrial sector.

Explore further Expanding the horizons of sustainable ceramics

Provided by European Science Communication Institute (ESCI)


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RAMALLAH, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye on Sunday said that Israeli measures, including settlement expansion, undermine any chances of establishing a Palestinian state.

The reality on the ground is gradually deteriorating, and the two-state solution will not be achieved through negotiations "because the Israeli government doesn't want to," said Ishtaye during a meeting with Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan in the West Bank city of Ramallah, according to an official statement.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced earlier that his government would not hold any talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority or any Palestinian official.

"The Israeli government put on its agenda no talks with President Abbas, no peace negotiations and no Palestinian state," said Ishtaye, calling on Singapore to recognize the Palestinian state.

Direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, which were sponsored by the United States for nine months, stopped in 2014 following deep differences on issues related to Jewish settlements and the recognition of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders. 
The numbers went up Tuesday on the doors of tiny houses on Altama Avenue that will soon offer stable housing to Glynn Countys homeless.
A 30-year-old Houston man was in the Brazos County Jail on Sunday after being accused of firing a gun at his girlfriend and assaulting her.

Kendrick Lewis was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon and criminal trespassing.

Officials said in an arrest report that Bryan police officers responded to a disturbance Saturday afternoon. The woman told officers the two had been fighting and Lewis pulled her across a parking lot by her hair, according to the report.

She told officers that Lewis pointed a gun at her and fired it after she called police, the report states.

Aggravated assault with a deadly weapon  family violence is a first-degree felony, punishable by up to 99 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Lewis' bail was set at $250,000.
NAIROBI, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Africa's quest for inclusive growth, climate resilience and stability is in jeopardy amid fragile water security in the continent, according to a United Nations report issued on Monday.

The report, "Water Security in Africa: A preliminary Assessment," was launched in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, ahead of World Water Day, which falls on Tuesday this year.

Access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation continues to elude a large swathe of the continent's population, said the report compiled by the Canada-based UN University Institute for Water Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH).

"Levels of water security in Africa overall are unacceptably low. Not a single country or sub-region has yet achieved the highest level of the model or even the reasonably high effective stages of national water security," the report said.

The report, which covers 54 African countries, evaluated 10 indicators to conclude that about 500 million people spread across 19 countries in the continent are water-stressed.

According to the report, only 13 out of the 54 countries have achieved some modest level of water security in the last five years, while one-third are deemed to have water security below the global threshold of 45 percent.

So far, 29 African countries have made some progress toward meeting the UN's Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) on universal access to clean drinking water and sanitation in the last three to five years, but 25 have made none, the report said.

Egypt, Botswana, Gabon, Mauritius and Tunisia are the top five most water-secure countries in Africa at present, while Somalia, Chad and Niger are the most water-stressed.

The report decries negligible performance in critical indicators like access to clean drinking water, access to sanitation, hygiene and health, water governance and availability, efficiency of water use and infrastructure, saying they bode ill for human health and prosperity in Africa.

According to the report, Africa's water crisis could further escalate amid rapid population growth, urbanization, climatic stresses, governance hiccups and competition among critical sectors like agriculture and manufacturing.

In addition, the report said, water quality deterioration is a major health threat facing African communities, with 115 people succumbing every hour to ailments linked to contaminated water, poor sanitation and hygiene.

Experts called for innovative financing, policy reforms and equitable sharing of the commodity to reverse declining water security in the continent.

Grace Oluwasanya, a lead author of the UNU-INWEH report, said that enhanced data collection should be combined with proactive engagement among policymakers, industry and communities to tackle the fragility of water security in Africa. 
For students with a passion for public speaking, Kearney was the place to be March 16-18.

Speakers from across Nebraska competed against one another at the 2022 Nebraska State Speech Competition at Kearney High School.

Classes A and B competed Wednesday, while Classes C-1 and C-2 competed Thursday and classes D-1 and D-2 competed Friday.

Grand Island schools were represented on the winners podium several times at this years competition.

Heartland Lutheran High School (Class D-2): Abigail Niemeier represented Heartland Lutheran on the State Speech winners podium taking the fourth spot in poetry.

Grand Island Central Catholic (Class C-1): Ayonya Birthi, a junior, earned the fourth-place medal in Persuasive Speaking. Her speech was about advocacy  the definition, examples of the process and the importance of advocating.

Madison Dvorak, a GICC sophomore, finished sixth in Humorous Prose. Her speech was an interpretation of Are We There Yet by Andy Griffiths, which tells the story of a familys problems encountered during a car ride.

Thomas Armstrong, a freshman competitor at GICC, received the sixth-place medal in Informative Speaking. In his speech, Armstrong explained the origin, historical representation and symbolism of a deck of cards.

Northwest High School (Class B): Keyara Caspar was one of the top Class B Informative speakers at State Speech, placing fifth.

Grand Island Senior High (Class A): Anne Martinez and Elaine Abrajan are this years State Champions in Duo Interpretation. Their performance of Real Women Have Curves by Josephina Lopez  a heartfelt comedy/drama about a close-knit group of female garment workers in Los Angeles and the tribulations/triumphs they face together  earned them the top spot.

Martinez also placed in Poetry Interpretation, her program about the pain and pride of the Spanish Language earning her fifth place.
In but two years (1926-1928) St. Marys Cathedral in Grand Island was completed, a marriage of faith and engineering.

Mike Kube, a member of St. Marys Cathedral, knows quite a bit about the juxtaposition of science and the divine. Kube is an accomplished civil engineer, having been on the Bureau of Reclamation team who worked on the Calamus Dam, among other water projects, like irrigation canals and pipeline distribution systems.

Its when he talks about his church-home that the intersection of beliefs many hold against one another intersect. This cathedral 100 years ago  somebody has spent the money and time and sweat equity and built a facility  a beautiful facility.

A Catholic Diocese of Grand Island article Beginnings of a Parish describes the architectural inspiration of one of Grand Islands beloved church-homes: Bishop James A. Duffy spent months in traveling to study building styles before deciding on Gothic architecture  noted for the pointed arch, the traceried window, buttresses, spires, pinnacles and internally, the ribbed-groined vault.

Kube has lent his engineering skills to several modern-day projects at St. Marys.

I have an engineering background, and helped work on the bathroom, he said. Theres a rehab in the basement and try to improve the appearance of the sanctuary and the cathedral. I love the cathedral. Thats always been my passion.

Kube, who describes himself as a good, reasonable parishioner, was already Catholic when a move to Grand Island landed him close to his church-home.

When I first came to Grand Island, I lived in the house right across the street from the cathedral, Kube recalled. He had recently completed his engineering studies. Youre in college and you kind of do your own thing. You waiver and things go wrong, and things arent good. And you find yourself. The cathedral  being in the shadow of the steeples  was always kind of attractive to me.

Since strengthening his faith from the shadows of St. Marys, Kube has volunteered at Grand Island Central Catholic School and is the Pro-Life Director for the Grand Island Diocese. His passion for being pro-life has been stoked by reason, he said: My logic aspect  and I didnt create this  is if the unborn is growing, it must be alive. If it has human parents it must be human being, and all human beings are worthy of being saved.

Kube emphasized the belief the reasons for abortions themselves  not whether its wrong or right  are just as important.

Theres a reason why vulnerable ladies get pregnant and want an abortion. What can we do? he said. Theres a general mindset about being pro-life is anti-abortion. Yeah, we are against abortion, but being pro-life is really looking the physical, emotional needs of those that are suffering.

Each person has a gift they can use to ease suffering and help others, Kube said. For some it might be building projects. Others, it could be music or a green thumb.

Its Gods faith that put me here, and theres a reason we are all identified, Kube said. We all have individual DNA, were all unique. Bishop (Joseph G.) Hanefeldt always says to me, know your gifts. Once you know your gifts, how do you help and serve others?

Kube grew up in a farming community in northeast Nebraska with a loving and large family. He has carried his love for farming with him to Grand Island, having a farm near Dannebrog.

In part, he uses his farm to help the nonprofit Growing Hope Globally.

It helps raise money for those in need. Its mostly essential American Africa and the poorest of the poor, but its not really raising money for giving them money. Its for helping them develop their human resources to learn.

Kubes little sweet corn plot produces crop he sells in Grand Island, the money going to Growing Hope Globally. He credits others sharing their gifts with making his contributions possible.

My investment is sweat equity and my wife helps me out with selling sweet corn. I find that you can reach out to seed corn dealers or the fertilizer (sales) they donate. What Ive learned about that is you create friends and develop relationships that are outside your normal scope. My scope is my family, the people in the chancery office and the cathedral.

Whether learning about those not necessarily within your circle or studying the Bible, there is always more to learn, Kube said. Whether its your Catholic faith  the spirituality and the beauty of the Catholic faith, or the Bible in general there is so much we dont know. The history behind the things we do and the traditions that we have behind it. Were always growing.

Kube recently visited examples of architecture abroad, he said.

I went to Europe three or four years ago. We toured some cathedrals, and I always loved the cathedrals  Gothic arches, peak to peak, the curved arches. It has a sense of symmetry and beauty  rightness  fulfilling personally and physically.

Jessica Votipka is the education reporter at the Grand Island Independent. She can be reached at 308-381-5420.

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A 33-year-old man who allegedly started a home on fire in southwest Greeley County Sunday afternoon was captured five hours later outside the Happy Jack Chalk Mine, almost two miles from where the fire was started.

Martin Markvicka was taken into custody at about 9:45 p.m.

A news release says the fire started around 4:45 p.m. By the time law enforcement arrived the suspect had already fled on foot, says the release.

The Howard County Sheriffs Office and Central Nebraska Special Response Team assisted the Greeley County Sheriffs Office in searching for the suspect.

The news release says Markvicka was found with 20 grams of methamphetamine.

As of Monday, he was being held at the Valley County Jail.

The fire is being investigated by the Nebraska Fire Marshalls Office.
Grand Island Rotary will host its 12th annual Taste of Grand Island from 5-8:30 p.m. April 2, in the Aurora Coop Pavilion at Fonner Park.

The event will feature some of Grand Island and central Nebraskas finest food and drink selections. Those attending will have a chance to taste unlimited food samples, take part in six beverage tastings, and take a chance to win raffle prizes including trips to Disney, Nashville and the U.S. Open.

The event is open to only those age 21 and older.

Tickets are $30 in advance and $35 at the door. Proceeds will help support causes including Youth Leadership Tomorrow and Rotarys End Polio Now program.

Tickets are available through Noon Rotary members, at the Grand Island Tourism office, 201 W. Third St., and through Leadership Tomorrow, www.leadershiptomorrow.org

For a full list of event vendors, raffle items and sponsors visit the Taste of Grand Island Facebook page
MOUNDS  Illinois State Police are investigating two shootings just a day apart in Mounds.

On March 18 and 19, ISP Division of Criminal Investigation Zone 7 was requested to investigate two shootings that resulted in a total of 3 non-life-threatening injuries.

At 4:46 p.m. March 18 they were requested to investigate an earlier shooting in the 100 block of McKinley Street, police said.

A 17-year-old male suffered injuries caused by gunfire and had to be transported to an area hospital, police said.

The following day at 3 a.m., police were requested to the scene of another shooting.

The exact location of the second shooting was not listed by police other than Mounds.

At the second shooting, a 52-year-old man and a 26-year-old man suffered injuries, police said.

They were both transported to the hospital.

The investigation is open and ongoing.

If anyone has any information on the events that occurred, they can contact the ISP DCI - Zone 7 at 618-542-2171, extension 1207.

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BEIRUT, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati has reaffirmed his government's commitment to restoring normal ties with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, the Council of Ministers said Monday in a statement.

Lebanon would "take all necessary measures" to enhance cooperation with Saudi Arabia and other GCC countries," and there is "the need to stop all political, military, security and media activities that originate from Lebanon and affect the sovereignty, security and stability" of these countries, Mikati said in the statement.

Lebanon would tighten border control to prevent drug smuggling to the GCC member states, he added.

Lebanon has witnessed rising tensions with Gulf states over the past year in the light of drug smuggling attempts from the country to the Gulf region. In addition, the Gulf states have more than once expressed displeasure with the dominant political position of Hezbollah, a Shiite Islamist party in Lebanon, and its support of Yemeni Houthi rebels. 
INA, IL  Rend Lake College recently received a sizable gift to help drive the next generation of automotive professionals.

The Automotive Parts & Services Association of Illinois recently donated $31,000 to create a scholarship endowment for RLC students in the Automotive Technology program.

RLC students looking to complete a degree or certificate in Automotive Technology will be eligible to apply for the new scholarships. At least $1,500 in scholarships will then be available each year, beginning with the 2023-24 term.

The APSA of Illinois is the states leading trade association that advocates for businesses and individuals in the automotive aftermarket industry.

We are very grateful for the Illinois APSA chapters desire to help Rend Lake College students, said Kay Zibby-Damron, Rend Lake College Foundation Chief Executive Officer. This new perpetual scholarship will be a tremendous benefit to part-time and full-time students who are pursuing a certificate or degree in Automotive Technology. APSA understands the importance of creating opportunities for students to learn a skill and be ready to enter the workforce upon completion of the program. We certainly appreciate their generosity.

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Oral histories have been around for centuries and now they are being used to document and detail the experiences individuals across Southern Illinois.
A woman says a male broke into her Santee motel room, held her at gunpoint, raped her twice and robbed her, according to an Orangeburg County Sheriffs Office incident report.

The woman says she was spending the night at the motel when she decided to walk to a gas station at 4:30 a.m. Saturday.

While the woman was at the store, she saw a male, female and a child in a vehicle.

The gas station attendant told the male to leave because he was loitering, she said.

The woman then walked back to her motel room.

A moment later, she heard someone knocking on her door.

When she opened the door, she saw the loitering male from the gas station, according to the report.

She claims the male placed his hand over her mouth and forced her back into the room and raped her.

The male told her they were going to take a ride, she said.

She reported getting into his silver Honda. The woman claims he held her at gunpoint while he drove to a vacant lot off of Hannah Drive.

Once they got to the location, the male allegedly assaulted her, robbed her of a substantial amount of money and raped her again, the report states. The male left her there.

The woman walked to a nearby home and called for help at 6:52 a.m.

Deputies found the woman in the yard.

She was very upset and crying when deputies found her. Deputies noted it looked as though her clothes had been stretched.

At the site where the alleged assault and rape took place, deputies discovered shoeprints that matched the womans. There was another set of shoeprints that were much larger, the report states.

There were also tire impressions in the dirt road that appeared to come from a small vehicle.

Less than 100 feet away, deputies found two passports, a pair of black glasses and a blue face mask.

There were also impressions on the ground where it appeared a struggle had taken place, the report states.

The name of the motel where the woman was staying was redacted from the incident report.

If anyone has any information in the case, they are asked to call the sheriffs office at 803-534-3550 or Crimestoppers at 1-CRIME-SC (274-6372). Callers dont have to give their names.

Contact the writer: mbrown@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5545. Follow on Twitter: @MRBrownTandD

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WALHALLA (AP)  South Carolina officials say they won't file charges against a boater who fatally shot a man that he helped rescue from the water.

A statement from the Oconee County Sheriff's Office says 10th Judicial Circuit Solicitor David Wagner ruled that the Tuesday shooting of 29-year-old Nathan Drew Morgan by an unnamed 74-year-old man was in self-defense.

Morgan, a Walhalla resident, was shot aboard a pontoon boat on Lake Keowee.

Morgan and a woman were in distress, having fallen off their Jet Ski into the lake, Oconee County sheriff's officials said earlier. The two had no life jackets and the Jet Ski was circling.

The 74-year-old man and his wife on a pontoon boat drove over to help fish the pair out of the lake, the sheriff's office said. The couple on the boat told authorities Morgan became agitated once he got on board and started assaulting them.

Investigators were told he may have wanted to get back on the Jet Ski. They also believe there may have been an argument between Morgan and the woman he was with before they fell into the water. Sheriff Mike Crenshaw told The Journal of Seneca that Morgan may have been intoxicated.

The woman who was with Morgan pushed him back into the lake in an attempt to defuse the situation, the sheriff's office has said. The couple on the pontoon helped him aboard again, and the man shot him after a second encounter, saying he feared for his and his wife's lives. Authorities have declined to name the couple.

Morgan died on the boat from a gunshot wound to the chest, the Oconee County Coroner's Office said.

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The headline read: S.C.s parade of sheriff scandals growing. Could an old law help?

With plenty of pushback on why it will not help  the law dates back to 1837  lawmakers ought to consider updating it or tossing it out altogether, but only in exchange for a new law that can rein in rampant graft, corruption and lawlessness within the ranks of the very people who are sworn to uphold the states laws.

The story, by Post and Courier investigative team members Glenn Smith and Tony Bartelme, highlights the discovery of a law that one government watchdog says could provide oversight and deter misconduct in the sheriffs offices of South Carolina.

John Crangle, described as the states gruffest government watchdog, has been lobbying state lawmakers to do something to address the widespread misconduct.

Then, he discovered the law that has largely been forgotten and ignored. It says the attorney general and solicitors should conduct routine examinations of sheriffs and other county offices.

Title 1, Section 1-7-730, titled Examination of offices of county officers, says the AG and solicitors should: ... examine into the condition of the offices of the clerk of the court of common pleas and general sessions, of the sheriff and of the register of deeds in the counties of the respective solicitors and ascertain if such officers have discharged the duties which now are, or shall be, required of them.

The results of those examinations would then be shared annually with the General Assembly and state courts.

Maybe that sounds too simple, but a spokesman for the AGs office said the law has not been followed, nor will it be. He said solicitors would not even have enough auditors to comply, adding the AGs office is a prosecutorial agency, not a regulatory one. And, he said, the AGs office has, in fact, prosecuted a large number of such elected officials.

Fair enough, perhaps, but saying the old law is outdated and unenforceable does nothing to address a problem that can no longer be ignored. Its not as though there are only a couple of cases of wrongdoing within the states sheriffs ranks. As reported, 15 sheriffs  a full one-third of the counties sheriffs  have been charged with crimes since 2010. They can be removed from office by the governor and they can be tried, but that only addresses cases where wrongdoing has been discovered.

In short, the states sheriffs are nearly above the law  a factor that most assuredly points to why there exists so much graft and corruption. True, people can vote sheriffs out of office, but so long as they are flying under the radar with no oversight, what they are doing in office remains cloaked unless and until they are caught. And prosecuted.

No, there needs to be accountability. Ethics training, as Gov. Henry McMaster has called for, is a good and right step, but it will hardly address the issue. Besides, these adults who are sworn to uphold the law likely already know when they are not only crossing ethical lines, but also venturing into criminal behavior.

Toss out the old law, lawmakers, if you so choose. But it is incumbent upon you to address this persistent problem. Find a way to hold these elected officials accountable, to make their conduct in office transparent.

Shed some sunlight on the goings-on. Sunlight, after all, sanitizes.

This editorial is from the Index-Journal of Greenwood via The Associated Press.

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WASHINGTON -- Brave journalists have long risked their lives to document the horrors of war. But why has coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine felt so intimate, so explicit and so shockingly gory? Does this say something about the times we live in, and the ability technology has given us to broadcast -- and consume -- just about anything? Or does it reveal more about the news media's own affinities and biases?

The war in Yemen, now in its eighth year, has been every bit as brutal. The war in Syria has been far deadlier, and both sides have employed chemical weapons. Yet in those and other conflicts, we were not shown such raw and immediate images of the dead, among them the now-iconic New York Times close-up of a mother and two young children killed by Russian mortar fire in the Kyiv suburb of Irpin.

It's not that journalists didn't see and document such atrocities in other wars. Photos of children starving in Yemen, or the image of Phan Thi Kim Phuc running naked down a road in Vietnam after being burned with napalm have shocked the conscience. But news organizations traditionally have been squeamish about publishing images of people who had been killed in conflict, with an especially strong taboo about showing victims' faces.

As an editor, I helped police those boundaries. Our goal was to inform readers while preserving the dignity of the dead and their families. We aimed to avoid turning our customers' stomachs to no productive end.

That was before social media, however. In 1994, when the bloodiest genocide since World War II took place in Rwanda, there was no way for observers to capture incidents of mass slaughter with the cameras on their phones and then instantly disseminate the images worldwide. The husband and father of those victims in Irpin first learned of the death of his family from pictures he saw on Twitter. In that moment, "I lost everyone and lost the meaning of life," he told The Post.

Mainstream news organizations could reasonably ask themselves whose sensibilities they imagine they're protecting, given the ubiquity of social media. They could also point to other contexts in which showing images of people as they died and after their deaths were universally considered to be in the public interest -- the nine-minute cellphone video of Derek Chauvin's knee on George Floyd's neck, for example.

Still, I have to wonder whether something more than technology is involved in the way this war, as opposed to other wars, is being presented. The unmistakable subtext of the coverage is: These are people just like us, and we could be at risk like them.

The vast majority of the victims in Ukraine are European, white and Christian. Quite a few speak at least a little English. With their puffer coats and their rolling suitcases, they look familiar as they climb onto the trains that speed them into exile. Their children play with Muppets dolls and Legos.

Whether intentionally or subconsciously, news organizations make this war more vivid and more tragic by focusing so tightly on victims and refugees. We get to see them as individuals, not as an undifferentiated mass. Viewers and readers are invited, if not forced, to imagine ourselves in similar circumstances. It is no wonder that so many members of Congress, reflecting the views of their constituents, are pressing the Biden administration to intervene more robustly, despite the obvious risks of entering an armed conflict with Russia.

Civilians killed and displaced by the 2003 invasion of Iraq suffered no less grievously. But the fact is that we rarely get intimately acquainted with the victims (who, in that case, were neither European nor White nor Christian) when U.S. forces are the ones firing the cruise missiles and lobbing the artillery shells.

I don't believe these are willfully biased decisions being made by editors. And I have nothing but awed respect for the reporters covering the Ukraine war, including Brent Renaud, the American journalist and filmmaker killed on Sunday at a checkpoint outside Kyiv.

"This was not his first war. This was not his first highly complex situation. He was not a cowboy," said Ann Marie Lipinski, curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, where Renaud spent the 2018-2019 academic year as a Nieman fellow. "He was such an unusual man, with a very deep sensitivity, a shyness that made people at ease. There was a profound humanity about him. It was OK to love your subject."

Wounded in that same incident was Juan Arredondo, Renaud's collaborator and Nieman classmate, who has undergone surgery at a hospital in Ukraine.

Bless the journalists with that kind of courage and compassion. And may the same empathy be extended to war victims everywhere who are every bit as human as the people of Ukraine.

Follow Orangeburg native and Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson on Twitter: @Eugene_Robinson

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Bo Y te vua gui van ban gop y phuong an to chuc thi tot nghiep THPT nam 2022 cho cac hoc sinh bi anh huong boi dich Covid-19. Thi sinh la F0 ang cach ly tai nha co nguyen vong thi tot nghiep THPT nam 2022, phai co on xin du thi va ky xac nhan ong y cua phu huynh.
The students in the Class of 2022 at Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine (RowanSOM) have had this day circled on their calendars since they donned their first white lab coats four years ago. And, shortly before noon on Friday, March 18, nearly 200 of this year's graduating class joined thousands of medical students across the country in realizing a long-pursued dreamfinding out where they matched to the residency program that will begin their careers as doctors.



This year, after two years of virtual events, RowanSOMs celebration was again live and in person at Luciens Manor in Berlin. Accompanied by their guests, the RowanSOM students received greetings from school administrators, before receiving the thin envelopes that contained the precious information about their futures. A few minutes later, the entire crowd counted down the final few seconds before the students simultaneously opened their envelopes. Within seconds, the banquet room exploded in sound as the future physicians cheers of joy and tears of happiness melted into a celebratory cacophony that was occasionally muffled by embraces from family members, loved ones and fellow students.



The RowanSOM Class of 2022 continued a decades long legacy of achievement on Match Day. The schools 98 percent Match rate was significantly higher than this year's national average Match rates for graduates of either allopathic (MD) or osteopathic (DO) medical schools.



In a message to the RowanSOM community, Dean Dr. Thomas Cavalieri praised the Class of 2022, noting they achieved that milestone in difficult conditions while living and learning through a pandemic during the last two years of their medical education. He noted that the students matched to highly competitive programs across the countryincluding Alabama, Ohio, California and Hawaiiwhile also sending a large number to residency programs in New Jersey. Indeed, 80 of the students will be continuing their medical training in residency programs at RowanSOM or the schools partner programs, and half of the class will pursue residencies in the important primary care disciplines.



Anesthesiology, dermatology, urology, orthopedic surgery, radiology and urology were among the highly sought specialties where RowanSOM students secured positions. Among the prominent national programs where they matched were Brown University, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Duke University, Georgetown University Hospital, and University of California Irvine Medical Center.

This year, more than 42,000 graduating medical students applied for a match through the National Residency Match Program. Last year, only 38,106 positions were available through the Match with several specialties only able to accept small numbers of graduates each year.
Four Casper police officers exchanged gunfire with the man who barricaded himself in an Evansville home for 18 hours on Friday and Saturday, the agency reported Monday.

Police said the man, identified as Blaine Clutter, fired his gun multiple times during the standoff. Early on Saturday, he fired at officers and they shot back, according to a press release from the Casper Police Department.

Officers entered the badly damaged home at 11 a.m. on Saturday and found the man dead. The cause of his death has not yet been determined.

The four Casper officers who exchanged gunfire with Clutter have been placed on paid administrative leave, the department said.

Police, man exchanged gunfire during standoff Its still unclear whether the man, identified as 29-year-old Blaine Clutter, died by his own hand or from police gunshots.

"This action has been taken out of an abundance of caution, pending a full investigation," the agency wrote. "This protocol is in place to ensure the integrity of the investigation as well as to safeguard the mental health of the officers after a traumatic event."

Casper police were one of multiple agencies who responded to the standoff, which occurred near Evansville Elementary. It is unclear whether officers from other agencies also exchanged gunfire with Clutter.

No officers were injured during the standoff. Nor were any other members of the public.

The matter is now being investigated by the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation.

Joshua Wolfson is the editor of the Casper Star-Tribune. Find him on Twitter @joshwolfson.

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A man found dead Saturday in an Evansville home after an 18-hour standoff with police exchanged gunfire with multiple Casper officers, authorities said Monday.

Its still unclear whether the man, identified as 29-year-old Blaine Clutter, died by his own hand or from police gunshots.

His rental home was severely damaged by authorities as they tried to convince him to come out. Witnesses reported authorities used heavy equipment to tear away parts of the structure.

A statement from the Natrona County Sheriffs Office on Monday said that there was an exchange of gunfire between the armed barricaded subject and law enforcement during the negotiation.

Casper police said in a separate statement Monday that Clutter fired his gun at officers, who then shot back. That exchange happened early Saturday morning. His body was found at 11 a.m.

Clutters father, Anthony Hernandez, said Monday that officers told him they are not sure whether Clutter died by their bullets or his.

No officers were injured during the standoff and negotiation. Nor were any members of the public.

Officers from Evansville and Casper police, as well as the sheriffs special response team, were stationed outside Clutters home near Evansville Elementary from around 5:45 p.m. Friday until 11 a.m. Saturday. According to the Casper Police Department, the incident began when officers attempted to serve Clutter with a warrant. The statement did not describe how the situation escalated.

Hernandez said that Clutters mother and girlfriend were also at the home, but taken into custody on their own warrants. He also indicated two children, not Clutters, were at the house initially but removed from the scene after police arrived.

Residents in the area described officers using a bullhorn to try to communicate with Clutter. Natrona County Sheriffs spokesperson Kiera Grogan said officers made multiple attempts to communicate and negotiate with him, but could not comment on whether he responded.

When Star-Tribune journalists visited the home Monday morning, its windows appeared gutted, with items falling out onto the ground. Residents said in comments posted to Facebook that theyd seen law enforcement using a backhoe to remove windows and doors from the house. Large tracks consistent with a backhoe could be seen in the dirt outside the back of the house.

Hernandez said he believed based on conversations with officers that they had used a ram and backhoe to open up the homes windows and doors. He also believes they deployed smoke bombs, tear gas and water from a fire engine in an effort to get Clutter out of the house.

According to Hernandez, officers used a drone to look inside the home and eventually locate Clutters body.

The house is a rental, Evansville Police Chief Mike Thompson said. He said it was too early in the investigation to know what will happen to the home, or how the damage will be covered, but that the sheriffs office has been communicating with the homeowner.

Thompson said he had visited with the school district on an issue kind of related to this, but not since the aftermath of the incident.

A GoFundMe campaign has been set up to raise money for Clutters funeral expenses. As of early Monday afternoon, nearly $2,000 has been raised.

The four Casper police officers who exchanged gunfire with Clutter have been placed on administrative leave, according to the department. Thats standard protocol for any incident involving officers who shoot during an interaction with residents.

This action has been taken out of an abundance of caution, pending a full investigation, the agency wrote. This protocol is in place to ensure the integrity of the investigation as well as to safeguard the mental health of the officers after a traumatic event.

No officers from the sheriffs office or Evansville police used their guns, officials from those departments said Monday.

The incident closed roads in the area and restricted access only to law enforcement.

There were two dogs in the home at the start of the standoff, Thompson said. One escaped the home, Thompson said, and has not been found. Hernandez said the other was killed during the incident.

Natrona County Coroner investigator Taylor Jessee said the office would be performing an autopsy Monday. Jessee said results will take two or more weeks but will not be released to the public.

The local law enforcement agencies, along with the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation, are investigating the incident.

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.
A Barrackpore woman returned to her house in the early hours of last Saturday and found an i
Ukrainian President spoke during a in front of the Swiss House of Parliament in Bern.

To the Swiss people

Dear Mr. President, dear Ignazio!

My greetings to all Swiss friends of Ukraine! To all the people of Switzerland!

I am grateful to you for supporting our people.

Thank you for defending freedom together with all those who value it.

This is very important now. Nowadays. At a special time period.

And especially important - from you.

When terror became the national idea of one of the largest nations in the world. The basis of their foreign policy.

When the crimes of terrorism are committed not by some outcast or group of persons and not by an organization, but by the state. Which has a nuclear arsenal.

When a permanent member of the UN Security Council deliberately destroys everything for which the UN was built. Having unleashed a cruel, bloody, senseless war against us.

But we now have a chance. A chance to show not only to Russia, but also to any aggressor in the world, any terrorist state, that war will destroy not the victim, but the one who came with it.

And, perhaps, this is the last chance for humanity - to stop the wars. Stop the state terror.

And I'm telling you now. Switzerland. A state that has a very long history of peace. And an even longer history of influence. In many areas - a decisive influence on the world.

Even before I became President, I was thinking what life of our beloved Ukrainians I would like to see.

I have often been to your country. And I know very well how you live. And one day, standing near Chillon Castle, I asked my friends - we were one company - why can't we live like this?

To have such a standard of living. A high level. And with the same freedom. In such friendly communities. And with such confidence in our own strength.

And I sincerely wanted the Ukrainians to live like the Swiss. So that we can jointly decide everything about our own lives. About our land. Not expecting anything from politicians, unnecessary words, but voting in a referendum.

So that we can be sure, despite all the financial crises in the world, that our state will withstand and remain a leader. A leader of trust, a leader of stability. A dream for all people. Successful, not very successful - no matter what level, just for all people.

So that the Ukrainians, like the Swiss, can feel that they live in real communities that care about what is common to all - for the good of all.

Maybe these are all ordinary things to you. For us, these are reforms. And this is the path we are taking and we wanted to take.

And we passed the relevant laws. For all this to work. We gave opportunities. Opportunities for our people.

So that we gradually reach your standard of living.

And we did it until the black day. February 24. The day of the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of our land, Ukraine.

And then everything changed.

It has changed for each of us, Ukrainians. I'm sure it has changed for all Europeans. And it has changed for all world democracies.

It has changed for you, too.

I am grateful to you and your state for supporting us in such a difficult time. I am thankful that you did not stay away, didn't say that it wasn't related to you at all

Because, in fact, it is impossible to stay away from the fact that in the 21st century, in the heart of Europe, hundreds of rockets and bombs are flying at peaceful cities.

It is impossible to stay away when the army of the world's largest state, albeit only in size, directs all its deadly potential to destroy us, to destroy hospitals, ordinary schools, churches, universities, maternity hospitals, residential areas.

It is impossible to be indifferent when children are killed. As of this morning, the Russian army has killed 112 Ukrainian children.

And just as I wanted the Ukrainians to live like the Swiss... I also want you to be and become like the Ukrainians. In the fight against evil.

So that there is no question about banks. About your banks. Where the money of all those who started this war is kept.

It's painful and it's hard. But it is also a struggle against evil.

It is necessary to completely freeze all the assets of these people and their accounts. It's a big fight, and you can do it.

I want you to become Ukrainians who feel what it is like when whole cities are destroyed, peaceful cities. Destroyed on the orders of those who like to live in communities - different, European, in your communities, in beautiful Swiss communities.

Who enjoys real estate in your country.

And it would be fair to deprive them of this privilege. To deprive of what they are taking from us.

And I want you to be as Ukrainians in the issue of business. Business that works in Russia in spite of everything. Despite this war.

Despite all our murdered children. Despite the people killed. Despite the destroyed cities. Like our city of Mariupol, heroic Mariupol, which has been under complete blockade for weeks. Imagine - no food, no water, no electricity. Just under the bombs.

"Good food. Good life." This is the slogan of Nestle. Your company that refuses to leave Russia. Even now - when there are threats from Russia to other European countries. Not only to us. When there is even nuclear blackmail from Russia.

And I want all of you, Swiss people, to become like all of us, Ukrainians. I want us not to lose our common chance now.

A chance to restore peace, a chance to stop any wars in the world. Because when Switzerland is with you, you are definitely successful. Because when Ukraine is with you, you are definitely strong.

Last year we agreed on a big conference with the President of your country. Conference in Lugano. For the sake of economic transformation, for the sake of Ukraine's reforms.

It was to take place this July. As well as the next summit of the first ladies and gentlemen.

And I believe, I know we can hold them. This year. On your land.

For the restoration and development of Ukraine. So that you have the opportunity to show again and again all the best that is in your hearts. In our hearts.

In the hearts of all those people who are fighting for freedom and fighting for life.

I am grateful to you. I am grateful to Switzerland!

Glory to Ukraine!

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JERUSALEM, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said on Sunday that his country intends to open its first embassy in Israel, according to Israel's foreign ministry.

Balakrishnan made the announcement in a meeting with his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid, the first meeting between the two ministers, the Israeli ministry said in a statement.

Singapore "intends to open an embassy in Israel for the first time since the establishment of the relations," Balakrishnan told Lapid, according to the ministry statement.

Lapid, who also serves as Israel's alternate prime minister, welcomed the announcement. "This is further evidence of the good and special relations between the two countries," he wrote on Twitter.

Singapore's foreign office said in a separate statement that the new embassy will be located in Tel Aviv and will "serve as a focal point and support Singapore companies seeking to expand their collaboration with potential Israeli partners."

Balakrishnan visited Israel as part of his Middle East trip that also covers Bahrain and Palestine.

Israel and Singapore established full diplomatic ties in 1965. Israel has an embassy in Singapore but Singapore has so far refrained from a reciprocal move. 
Great people of great Ukraine!

In this video, I want to appeal separately to the Ukrainian cities and the brave inhabitants of these cities. To the free south of Ukraine, where the sun shines only to welcome guests, not to random "tourists" on tanks. To Berdyansk, Kakhovka, Enerhodar, Melitopol and, of course, Kherson.

To Kherson, where today we saw slaves shooting at free people. Slaves of propaganda that replaces their consciousness. Slaves who used to pack everyone in paddy wagons. Even an old woman with a clean white poster. Even a girl with an A4 sheet on which only one word is written - "peace".

These slaves sent by Russia have never seen so many free people in the squares and streets. They have never seen thousands of people who are not afraid of them, of slaves with weapons in their hands. Slaves perceive freedom as savagery, as danger. They are scared. The fear that propagandists know how to turn into hatred. And then - shots at peaceful free people.

Kherson, hold on! We will never forget these shots. Shots from your city. We were all with you in your square and streets. 40 million Ukrainians of our state. Millions and millions of Ukrainians in the world. We've all seen you stand. Weve seen who you are. We have all felt how you want to regain your freedom. On land, where, watching the Milky Way, the Chumaks went for salt, the enemies felt terrible.

And as soon as we can break through to you, every occupier who shot at peaceful Kherson residents just for the blue-yellow color will have a black stripe.

And the same awaits the Russian military pale from the fright who were driven out today in Enerhodar. Peaceful Ukrainians drove them out with bare hands.

The occupiers in Berdyansk, Melitopol and Kakhovka will have a black stripe. Wherever the occupiers kidnap our people. Those who they think are organizing the resistance. But we are not Russia. Remember. And there is no need to organize resistance here. Resistance for Ukrainians is a feature of the soul. And I really want you, all our Ukrainians in the south, to never think even for a moment that Ukraine does not remember you.

Whenever you are in pain, when you resist in spite of everything, please know that our hearts are broken at this time, because we are not with you.

And we ask God to support you until we can drive strangers out. This is a feat that you are protesting. This is happiness that we have such people. That we are all Ukraine.

".   .   !" -   

During this invasion, heroes have constantly declared themselves among millions of our people. Once - ordinary Ukrainians, and now - fighters. Men and women who stand up for our state. Everywhere: in the south, in the east, in the north, in the center, in the west and abroad. Stand up so that the enemy does not believe that this is a reality.

But we will make them believe. And we will make them remember that they are not welcome.

And they will never be. In Kyiv, which stands bravely and majestically above the Dnieper. In Kharkiv... Proud, tidy, educated Kharkiv. Which they beat, and it does not obey. Chernihiv. Ancient! Chernihiv, which since the time of the Horde has not faced such atrocities committed by the Russian military now.

Sumy, Okhtyrka and Lebedyn... Izyum, Derhachi ... Volnovakha, Popasna... Borodyanka, Hostomel, Makariv... Mykolaiv...

Mariupol! Hardworking and honest city! Mariupol. Which the occupiers are simply destroying. Destroying to ashes. But it will survive them all. Worthless slaves who do not know how to take care of their own country. Of their own people. And they go to someone else's.

We are fighting for every Ukrainian! And we remember everyone! We are grateful to everyone. Both to the people and to these beautiful cities.

As well as to Lviv, as well as to Ivano-Frankivsk, Khmelnytskyi, Chernivtsi, Ternopil, Lutsk, our Uzhhorod... Kropyvnytskyi, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih... Vinnytsia, Rivne... Cherkasy, Poltava... Odesa!

Those who may be infrequently mentioned in speeches. But who care about our common future. About Ukraine. And about freedom - for each of us. Who shelter people who have been forced to leave their home. Who work for defense. Who send humanitarian goods. Who deploy the evacuated businesses. Who heal, who help. Help all of us, and therefore themselves.

Great people of great Ukraine!

And I say this not accidentally - great Ukraine. Because I appeal to everyone in our country and to those abroad. In cities and villages. Those who are free and who are temporarily under occupation. In Crimea, in Donetsk, in Luhansk. Where they must also fight for freedom, not sit and wait.

I appeal to all Ukrainians. Wherever we are. Do everything to protect our state.

To save our people. Fight. Fight and help. Drive these slaves out! Drive the occupiers out! So that Ukraine lives. So that all of us live with it.

Free and peaceful. Which we love so much.

Glory to Ukraine!

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Some restaurant and bar owners around Tucson believe that the local flavor on the walls of their eateries is just as important as the flavors found in their signature dishes.

Across the city, brilliant, brightly colored paintings and other works created by Tucson artists are prompting people to think, gaze and smile while noshing on their chimichangas, shrimp and grits and pollo bolognaise.

Each restaurant has its own taste when choosing works.

Here are some local spots to get you started.

The Parish

6453 N. Oracle Road; theparishtucson.com

For the last 10 years, The Parish has been all about tasty Southern fusion cuisine and good vibes, whether you are hitting the North Oracle restaurant on Mardi Gras or on a typical Friday night for dinner.

Local art has always been part of that, according to co-owner and chef Travis Peters.

It was a very conscious decision to include local art in the space, Peters said. If you know anything about me, nearly everything I do is to celebrate Tucson, to promote the city. My moms family has been here since 1875. Tucson is very much in our blood. It has been very good to me.

The first art hanging at The Parish were pieces created by students at Arts for All, a nonprofit organization that offers programs to children with and without disabilities.

A lot of these kids might not have access to the arts otherwise, Peters said. It was a big honor for us.

Peters said while they have had curators for the art over the years, there has never been a set time frame when pieces go up or come down. These days, you can find a wall of funky, mustachioed men and other works by artist Donovan White, and several surrealist oil and mixed media pieces by David M. Ehlen.

We know a lot of local artists, Peters said. We will reach out to people if we really love their stuff.

Peters said while the paintings at The Parish are for sale, the works at his other restaurant, The Delta, 135 S. Sixth Ave., downtown, were commissioned specifically for that space.

Among the pieces you will find there: velvet paintings of the owners moms by Diane Bombshelter; a graffiti collage in the back hallway, courtesy of Monty Ses Esposito; an entire wall curated by Pop-Cycle on North Fourth Avenue; and a Warhol-esque, pop art series of gramophones by Thomas Gardner.

Cafe Maggie

745 N. Fourth Ave.; facebook.com/CafeMaggie4thAve

Cafe Maggie owner Chander Vemulapalli is carrying on a tradition when he allows artists to hang their works in his place of business.

Vemulapalli has owned the cafe, formerly the long-lived Epic Cafe at the corner of North Fourth Avenue and East University Boulevard only for about a year, but the art is something that goes back decades, he said.

The cafes large ceilings allow for large works, abstract paintings by Kyle Zuehlke, surrealist pieces by J.M.G. Clark and a landscape on canvas by Leanne C. Miller.

Vemulapalli said he doesnt accept any liability if works are damaged by customers.

If I have someone fighting with their spouse and a painting gets in the middle of it, that is not my problem, he said.

By the same token, he does not take any commission if a painting sells.

Vemulapalli said that there is no specific theme to the works that are hung at Cafe Maggie. He has veto power, but has yet to say no to anything.

The art brings more life to his cafe, he said, and offers a place where artists can promote their pieces.

Vemulapalli said Cafe Maggie recently started a monthly after-hours arts night in which it stays open after closing time and allows local artists who arent on the walls to showcase their works in a gallery format.

The synergy of helping an artist get a little more exposure and helping the cafe get a little more exposure is a win-win as far as Im concerned, he said.

Mr. Heads Gallery & Bar

513 N. Fourth Ave.; facebook.com/mrheads

While Cafe Maggie caters more to Fourth Avenues day crowd, offering quiche and cookies with a side of surrealism, Mr. Heads Gallery and Bar a few blocks south is more for the craft beer and whiskey shot crowd.

But, like Cafe Maggie, Mr. Heads is all about the local art.

The works at Mr. Heads can be striking. Black and white cutout characters by Donovan White line the exposed-brick walls. A large mural portraying a skeleton with saguaros coming out of the skull by local graffiti artist Rock CYFI Martinez greets customers on the bar's back patio.

An exhibition of works from local artist Sean Terry, the artist who painted the giant cassette tape in the karaoke lounge at the recently relocated Bumsteds at Wonderwall, recently ended but was popular.

Terrys paintings range from an anthropomorphic white rabbit a la Alice in Wonderland with a Salvador Dali melting clock in his paw, to javelinas with long legs, like the robots in War of the Worlds, towering over Mission San Xavier del Bac.

We were selling one of his pieces a week, said bar manager Ben Sattler. He does some really cool stuff. His style hits home with Tucsonans.

Sattler said owner Micah Blatt, a glass artist, started the bar more than a decade ago in part to showcase his work and the work of his friends.

It is 100% commission-free, Sattler said. We want to make it a good experience for everybody involved.

Gusto Osteria

7153 E. Tanque Verde Road; gustotucson.com

Over the years, Glenn Gus Gerson has made his Italian restaurant Gusto Osteria a place where east-side art aficionados are offered a feast for the eyes in addition to the feast on their tables.

Gerson started decorating his restaurant with works by Jos Villabrille, whose large-scale murals can be found in shopping centers and restaurants all over town.

He would have big pieces that would give us nice cover, Gerson said. He is such an amazing artist.

Gerson relies these days on about five different local creators, led by watercolor artists Tracy Lynn Ross and Susan Meyer, to make his dining room look like a bonafide gallery.

Come in for Gersons eggplant Parmesan and pork ricotta, both house specialties, and youll find paintings of dogs, birds, scenic views and Southwestern themes.

Pieces can be found on every wall. Works rotate seasonally.

These are the best artists I have had here, Gerson said, If we sell one of their pieces, they are usually ready with another. They put everything together nicely.

The only problem, Gerson says, is when a piece he loves goes to a customer. You can find several paintings that have hung in his restaurant now hanging in his home.

My wife and I always say we are lucky to have these artists, Gerson said. They take good care of us.

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HANOI, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his visiting Malaysian counterpart Ismail Sabri Yaakob on Monday affirmed their consensus on orientations to promote bilateral ties, Vietnam News Agency reported.

During their talks here in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi, the prime ministers agreed to increase the exchange of high-ranking delegations and at all levels, optimizing bilateral cooperation mechanism between the two countries, well implementing the action program for the strategic partnership during the 2021-2025 period, among others.

Sharing the view that economic, trade and investment cooperation has been a bright spot in the bilateral ties, they agreed to work to raise two-way trade to 18 billion U.S. dollars or even higher by 2025, and step up the trading of goods of their strength such as agricultural and aquatic products, Halal products and electronic components.

The two sides will also study the building of a mechanism on information sharing regarding trade remedies.

The leaders believed that cooperation in national defense and security has brought about pragmatic results, and consented to push for the early signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on bilateral defense collaboration, and to enhance cyber security and maritime cooperation.

They also compared notes on measures to boost partnerships in other areas like food security, labor, education, justice, science and technology, culture, sports, and tourism.

Following their talks, the leaders witnessed the exchange of several cooperation documents, including an MoU on recruitment, employment and repatriation of laborers, and another on legal cooperation between the Vietnamese and Malaysian governments.

Ismail Sabri is paying an official visit to Vietnam from Sunday to Monday. 
GFA World Aims to Help 'Vanishing Generation' Rediscover God

1 in 3 young adults says church is 'boring'; Set Apart 2022 event, June 20-26, aims to bring God back into focus

GFA World ( www.gfa.org ) aims to help re-energize the faith of those 18-30, a group vanishing from the church because many of them say God "seems missing." Organizers anticipate the Set Apart 2022 conference, featuring ministry leaders Metropolitan KP Yohannan, Francis Chan and George Verwer, will attract hundreds of young adults to GFA World's campus at Wills Point, Texas, June 20-26. Learn more at gfa.org/setapart/

NEWS PROVIDED BY

GFA World

March 21, 2022

WILLS POINT, Texas, March 21, 2022 /Christian Newswire/ -- One of America's largest Christian organizations is on a quest to help re-energize the faith of those ages 18-30, a group vanishing from the church.

Nearly two-thirds of 18-29 year olds who grew up in the U.S. going to church have dropped out, according to research. The number of young church dropouts rose to a staggering 64% in 2019.

A 5-year-long study by faith-based research group Barna found almost a third of the young adults described church as "boring," one-quarter of them said faith is "not relevant," and 1 in 5 who attended church as a teenager said God "seems missing" from their experience.

Now GFA World (www.gfa.org), a key player in global evangelical ministry, aims to ignite a new spiritual zeal among Gen Z (late teens and early 20s) and also Millennials, those age 26 and up.

The Texas-based organization is holding its first-ever Set Apart (www.gfa.org/setapart/) retreat June 20-26, with the goal of helping hundreds of young adults discover a deeper calling and trade their smartphones for a time of "listening to God's voice." Watch the Set Apart promo video here: https://youtu.be/JPaQSuxNZ7k

"We've become addicted to our phones, getting a buzz out of seeing our posts on Facebook and hearing the 'ding' when someone responds," said Bishop Daniel Punnose, vice-president of GFA World and leader of the young adult conference to be held at GFA World's campus in Wills Point, 50 miles east of Dallas.

Experiencing Radical Faith

"We want to give young people an experience of the Christianity that has not only sustained the church for 2,000 years, but has turned the world upside down," Punnose said. 'To live a life that's counter to our self-centered culture, this generation needs to see a purpose for their lives that is not centered on themselves, but on Christ."

Francis Chan bestselling author of "Crazy Love"  will be one of the speakers at the event, along with George Verwer, founder of Operation Mobilization, and K.P. Yohannan, founder of GFA World.

"There's such a busyness and craziness to our minds right now," Chan said. "People need to understand better than ever before how to just be quiet and rest in the Lord, meditate on his word (and) enjoy his presence."

During Set Apart 2022, young people will learn to listen to God's voice, meditate on the Bible, and spend time alone in prayer. The experience, Punnose said, promises to bring them closer to God and help them refocus their lives on things that matter. And long beyond the week-long retreat, participants will return home equipped with the tools to stand firm in their faith and live purposely for Christ even in the midst of a world of distraction.

"Most conferences are about going to hear someone talk about God; this retreat is about spending a whole week meeting with God," Punnose said.

Those 18-30 can go to www.gfa.org/setapart/ for more information and to sign up.

GFA World (www.gfa.org) is a leading faith-based global mission agency, helping national workers bring vital assistance and spiritual hope to millions across the world, especially in Asia and Africa, and sharing the love of God. In a typical year, this includes thousands of community development projects that benefit downtrodden families and their children, free medical camps conducted in more than 1,200 villages and remote communities, over 4,800 clean water wells drilled, over 12,000 water filters installed, income-generating Christmas gifts for more than 260,000 needy families, and teaching to provide hope and encouragement in 110 languages in 14 nations through radio ministry. GFA World has launched programs in Africa, starting with compassion projects in Rwanda. For all the latest news, visit the Press Room at https://gfanews.org/news.

SOURCE GFA World

CONTACT: Gregg Wooding, 972-567-7660, gwooding@inchristcommunications.com
The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) chooses its words carefully. And when they say, "A regional severe weather outbreak -- including potential for significant/damaging tornadoes -- remains evident," they believe a dangerous and robust storm system is taking shape.

"SPC Outlooks use phrases such as have been used over the past few days only when environmental conditions appear supportive of more widespread and higher-end severe weather potential," Bill Bunting, Chief of Forecast Operations at the SPC, told CNN.

The overall storm system starts Monday in Texas before moving into the Deep South on Tuesday.

More than 30 million people are at risk of severe storms capable of producing a tornado through Tuesday. If you live in or near these cities listed below, you want to prepare.

Dallas/Fort Worth, TX

Austin, TX

Houston, TX

Shreveport, LA

New Orleans, LA

Jackson, MS

This dynamic system has multiple hazards, from huge hail to strong tornadoes.

"Long story short is that all variables finally come together for this event," the National Weather Service (NWS) in New Orleans wrote Monday morning.

The last several events have not seen all these severe weather variables working together simultaneously.

The combination of warm, humid air clashing with drier air and an intense stream of winds high in the atmosphere is not only causing news organization meteorologists like myself to take notice, but researchers as well. These scientists are deploying today across the South to study this storm system to learn more about these dangerous storms.

Storm timeline

"Storms will begin to fire by noon on Monday and quickly become severe across eastern Texas and much of Oklahoma," CNN meteorologist Chad Myers told me this morning.

A slight risk, Level 2 of 5, for severe storms includes portions of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas. A higher, enhanced risk, Level 3 of 5, and includes most of the eastern half of Texas. An even higher moderate risk, Level 4 of 5, includes Austin, Texas.

"Several tornadoes, including the potential for a few strong tornadoes, along with very large hail and damaging winds are expected this afternoon through tonight," the SPC projected.

"The initial threat will be large hail. As the day progresses to late afternoon, some of the storms may begin to rotate, adding the threat of tornadoes to the area," Myers said.

The tornadic threat will impact places like Dallas, Texas.

"There's a 10% or greater probability of an event of a stronger tornado," Patricia Sanchez from the Dallas NWS told us about the Metroplex. "The ingredients and all the instability and shear of the winds are going to be favorable for that."

After dark, the storms will continue progressing eastward. They will likely line up, charging eastward with all forms of severe weather possible. Before midnight, the strongest weather will approach Little Rock, Shreveport and Houston, Myers said.

One thing we will need to pay close attention to, will be the individual storms that form ahead of this line, he adds. They will be east of the line and, therefore, earlier to arrive than the line of storms itself.

The individual storms, called supercells, will likely rotate and create the greatest threat of tornadoes, noted Myers. "So, pay attention and watch out for the timing on these!"

The storms will continue into Tuesday with even the possibility of a third round into Houston and eastern Texas Tuesday morning, but our attention will shift eastward to Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama throughout the day.

The worst of it will be centered in Louisiana and Mississippi where a moderate risk, Level 4 of 5, includes Baton Rouge in Louisiana and Jackson in Mississippi.

"The risk for tomorrow is going to be more so during the daytime, which is a good thing in terms of people being more awake and alert," Joanne Culin, of the NWS office in Jackson, Mississippi, told CNN. "Unfortunately, we will tap into more of that daytime instability and fuel for thunderstorms."

Just to the south of the bull's-eye is New Orleans, which is within the enhanced risk, Level 3 of 5.

"Strong damaging winds," are possible, said Tim Erickson of the NWS office in New Orleans. "Tornadoes will not be out of the question at all," he added.

This area just north of New Orleans is where scientists are starting to deploy mobile radars, lightning mapping arrays and dozens of more instruments in a joint research project called PERiLS.

"Our target area is east-central Mississippi and west-central Alabama," Tony Lyza, coordinator for NOAA's involvement in PERiLS, told CNN.

CNN meteorologist Jennifer Gray contributed to this article.

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This week at CNN Travel, we look at the countries dropping all their Covid-related rules for entry, innovative airplane cabin designs, new breathtaking bridges and why Finland is living its best life.

Covid? What Covid?

A small but increasing number of destinations are lifting all of their Covid-related travel restrictions, regardless of vaccination status, including some European favorites.

The United Kingdom, Ireland and Hungary all swelled the ranks this month. The Caribbean island Aruba, the Portuguese archipelago Madeira and north-central Asia's Mongolia have also lifted their main Covid entry requirements.

They join Iceland, Norway and Slovenia, which all shed their Covid rules in February.

Other countries will be watching closely to measure the success or failure of these bold moves as Omicron continues to spread around the world.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's travel advisory list, increasingly a hoarse-voiced Cassandra, still has about 125 destinations in its highest-risk "avoid travel" category -- with the latest addition an Indian Ocean island nation.

Masks on planes

Several UK airlines, including British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, have just made mask-wearing optional for passengers and crew on certain flights. The rules are more than a little opaque, however, and are dependent on the laws of the destination country.

Mask-wearing has been a contentious issue on planes over the past two years. The US Transportation Security Administration has issued more than $644,000 in fines for alleged mask violations since February 2021.

The US mask mandate is currently set to be in place through April 18. Whether it's lifted or extended again, there are bound to be some unhappy (and potentially very unruly) passengers either way. And if some industry advocates get their way, a no-fly list for unruly travelers could help keep bad behavior in check.

Record-breaking bridges

Turkey opened an impressive suspension bridge across the Dardanelles Strait on Friday that just so happens to connect the continents of Europe and Asia. (Turkey is in a very rare club -- nations that occupy parts of two continents.)

It was a massive, record-setting undertaking. Find out its jaw-dropping stats and how much it will cost vehicles to cross.

Meanwhile, China is setting its own record with bridges. In April, a bridge is set to open in scenic Yunnan province with a "singular" feature that has to be seen to be believed.

What's Finland's secret?

The Nordic nation of Finland has just been named the world's happiest country for the fifth year in a row.

The Finns have plenty to smile about, the newly released World Happiness Report says, when it comes to healthy life expectancy, GDP per capita, social support when times are hard, high social trust and more.

Global levels of worry and stress have also dipped a little, though they're still higher than pre-pandemic levels. Check out who else made the top of the list.

Future of flying

Window, middle, aisle; window, middle, aisle.

If you're feeling that airplane cabins are just too same-y, the design shortlist for the 2022 Crystal Cabin Awards should make you perk up.

How about ceiling and wall projections that make you feel like you're underwater? Or maybe a lounge-style couch seat where you can catch up with your travel companion over a drink? Check out the designs here.

New European hotels

From the rock 'n' roll Chateau Denmark in London's swinging Soho to the Greek temple of gastronomy Xenodocheio Milos in Athens, there are a lot of new boutique hotel openings in Europe to get excited about in 2022. Here's our roundup of the best.

In case you missed it

Climbers held the world's highest tea party on Mount Everest.

Extra supplies hauled up the mountain included Girl Scout cookies.

Los Angeles' Koreatown is one of the West Coast's buzziest neighborhoods.

Revisit Anthony Bourdain's "Parts Unknown" trip there in 2013.

These are the most delicious pies around the world, both sweet and savory.

Get set, travel

If you're planning to hit the beach again this spring or summer, you might be looking to refresh your seaside scanties.

Our partners at CNN Underscored, a product reviews and recommendations guide owned by CNN, have put together this roundup of 33 stylist-approved and top-rated swimsuit options for men and women of all body types.

The-CNN-Wire

 &  2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

Top image: Scafell Pike and Wastwater in England's Wasdale Valley. (Credit: Courtesy Britain)

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A month after the US Food and Drug Administration delayed key steps toward authorizing Covid-19 vaccines for children under 5, many parents are more eager for the shots than ever.

Dr. Daniel Leonard, a pediatric hospitalist who is working on the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine trial for these kids, said people are driving in from several states away to take part.

"We're here in south central Nebraska, and while many may not think that this would be the epicenter of scientific progress, the influx that I've had with people from Colorado, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa -- some driving eight or nine hours each way overnight to participate in the study," he said. "They are dedicated."

About 18 million US children under 5 are still not eligible for the protection of a Covid-19 vaccine. Children are less likely than adults to be hospitalized or to die from Covid-19, but at least 400 children age 4 and younger have died from Covid-19, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Experts say the wait for a vaccine may not be much longer.

Moderna has said that it expects to report trial data in children 2 to 5 years of age in March, and it may seek sign off from the FDA "if the data is supportive and subject to regulatory consultation." Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine is currently authorized in the US only for adults.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said Sunday that he expects to have a vaccine for children 6 months to 4 years old "potentially in May, if it works."

"And we will be ready with manufacturing," Bourla added on CBS' "Face the Nation." Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine is already authorized for people as young as 5.

Johnson & Johnson, which makes the other Covid-19 vaccine authorized in the United States, has a late-stage trial of a vaccine for 12- to 17-year-olds but nothing for this younger group.

Waiting for more data

For a while, it had appeared the US would have a vaccine for children under 5 early in the first months of 2022.

Initially, the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine for this age group was being tested with just two doses, but the results weren't what scientists had hoped for and the companies said they would test a third dose. But at the request of the FDA, the companies submitted a request for an emergency use authorization of two doses of the vaccine and said they would continue to test a third doses as the two doses moved through the regulatory process.

I

n mid-February, the plan changed again. Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said the agency needed to see data from an ongoing trial of a third vaccine dose in these younger children in order to move forward with emergency use authorization. A February 15 meeting of the FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee was delayed.

Families would have to wait for the third-dose data after all.

"The immunogenicity analysis really showed that the immune response really wasn't where it should be," Dr. William Towner, who leads the Clinician Investigator Program for the Southern California Permanente Medical Group, said of the vaccine trials. "I think the data is pretty strong that for children, this will be a three-dose series."

Two doses didn't seem to do the trick, agreed Dr. James Versalovic, the pathologist-in-chief at Texas Children's Hospital, where some Pfizer and Moderna pediatric trials are under way. "The data just weren't as robust as we had hoped for in terms of immune response," particularly with children in the 2 to 4 range.

Scientists working on the littlest kid trials have the benefit of observing what happens with other age groups. After seeing breakthrough infections in 2021, Versalovic said, scientists learned quickly that adults and adolescents needed booster doses.

"Taking these lessons to heart, we just pivoted in late December and just kept going forth full-tilt with a third dose and following these children during the trials," he said. Children who have gotten a third dose need to be followed for at least two months before the data can be submitted to the FDA.

Investigators across the country confirmed that they are working as quickly and as carefully as they can to gather the data. Bourla said Sunday that the company should have data on its three-dose vaccine trial for this age group by April.

"The studies must be done correctly, and if it takes a bit longer, that's OK; let's do it right," said Dr. Sharon Nachman, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Stony Brook University who has been working on the Pfizer trials. "I think they need to be careful assessing what the immune response is. How long does it last? And really, what did that third dose mean?"

Another Pfizer investigator, Dr. Jennifer Nayak, a pediatric infectious disease specialist who is affiliated with Strong Memorial Hospital of the University of Rochester Medical Center, said it makes more sense to evaluate all the data rather than some of it.

"Really, what it comes down to is trying to get as much data as we can and be as careful as we can and make the best recommendations," Nayak said.

Dr. Jonathan Hand, an infectious disease specialist working on the Pfizer trial in New Orleans with Ochsner Medical Center, said that all the careful work that goes into these trials should reassure parents once a vaccine is made available.

"Data integrity and patient safety are so critical to this process," he said.

The good news, investigators say, is that they haven't seen any safety issues.

"The data is quite clear that there's good safety. It's not all published and it's not all public, but the vaccines are safe," said Dr. Janet Englund, who is working on the Pfizer trial at Seattle Children's.

Keeping up with variants

The biggest questions that remain are exactly how protective the vaccines are, what the right vaccine schedule is and what the right dose is.

The results to be released in the coming weeks and months should answer that question.

"We've always said that the number one goal is to prevent hospitalization, but families would like them to prevent transmission in the household, particularly if they have people in the household that are at risk like the elderly," Englund said.

One challenge is that the vaccines are being tested in what scientists call a "different viral period." The Covid-19 vaccines were developed off the initial variant and tested during the Delta surge. Now, researchers are collecting data on the third shot while the Omicron variant is the most dominant.

"Omicron kind of changed all bets," Towner said. "Omicron was highly mutated and obviously spread very quickly."

If it's authorized, there's a chance that little kids could get a vaccine on a different schedule than what adults and adolescents get. Rather than wait four or five months before a third dose, like with older ages, they could get a third shot as soon as two months after the second shot.

"Children are not simply small adults. They are growing and developing throughout childhood," Versalovic said. That affects how the vaccines work.

Another Pfizer investigator, Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Department of Pediatrics at Stanford Medicine and a committee chair with the American Academy of Pediatrics, said they should know what they have soon. "I do think we are getting closer to some answers," she said.

As with any vaccine trial, Dr. Claire Boogaard, a pediatric infectious disease specialist and medical director of the Covid-19 vaccine program at Children's National in Washington, said it is important to remember that scientists are still learning about the disease as they look for ways to fight it. With variants, a lot can change quickly.

"We want to encourage everyone to just be flexible, because that's actually what the science requires," Boogaard said. "The reality is, there are a lot of variables at play."

All the scientists working on these trials said they understand parents' desire to protect their children. When the FDA postponed the meeting of its vaccine advisers, Marks said he understood parents' frustration.

In the meantime, he urged parents to keep taking Covid-19 precautions: Make sure everyone around the child is vaccinated and rely on "masking procedures," although that' has become more difficult as mask mandates fall.

As soon as the FDA gets the necessary data to make a decision about vaccines for younger children, Marks said, it will proceed "very rapidly."

The-CNN-Wire

 &  2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

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PHOENIX  A Republican lawmaker is finally going to get a chance to try to sell colleagues on his idea of killing early voting and requiring all ballots to be hand-counted.

Sen. Kelly Townsend, R-Apache Junction, agreed to allow Rep. John Fillmore, also a Republican from Apache Junction, to use a procedural maneuver to put the idea up for a vote Monday in the Senate Government Committee, which she chairs.

It is identical to a bill he introduced earlier this year.

But Fillmore never got a hearing after House Speaker Rusty Bowers, R-Mesa, put the kibosh on the whole idea by assigning his bill to an unprecedented 12 committees instead of the normal one or two. That assured no way for it to move forward.

I think he didnt get a fair shake in the House, Townsend told Capitol Media Services. So Ill let him have it heard in the Senate.

The procedure being used bypasses the need for any House hearings. Thats because its being attached to an unrelated measure that already has been approved there.

And if Fillmore can get it through the Senate, then it would need only ratification by the full House, without any need for House committee hearings.

Of course, that assumes it gets that far.

I dont know that it goes any further than the committee, Townsend said.

But it does provide the opportunity for Fillmore to publicly argue  and get a roll-call vote from the Republican-dominated committee  why he believes the way voting and counting is done now should be scrapped.

Its starts with the hand count that, according to what is now HB 2289, would need to be completed within 24 hours.

There are a lot of ballots. In 2020, more than 3.4 million were cast.

But Fillmore said that doesnt make the task  and the deadline  impossible.

The measure spells out that no voting precinct could have more than 1,500 registered voters. And while turnout this past year was unusually high, about 80%, Fillmore figures that most elections from now on will result in only about 60% of registered voters making their way to the polls.

He figures that the eight or more poll workers could divide up the ballots and easily conduct the hand count whatever is cast there, on site, once the polls close. And Fillmore said they can do it within 24 hours, no matter how many races are to be decided.

What makes him think that counting by hand is more accurate than running the ballots through tabulating machines?

Its not that its necessarily more accurate, Fillmore told Capitol Media Services.

Its just that the trust is given more to the hand count than electronic means, he said. Its the integrity of the hand count thats greater in my opinion.

Put simply, he believes people are more likely to trust a tally done by a human being than one by a machine.

Of course, Fillmores formula of having each election worker being able to count perhaps 120 ballots is based on the premise that each individual will not make a mistake, whether by accident or intentionally. Thats because the legislation provides for no separate verification or second look.

That possibility of human error is why the hand count in the audit ordered by Senate President Karen Fann, R-Prescott, despite all of the criticism, actually made sure that each ballot was reviewed by three people. But Fillmore said that does not dissuade him from his plan to have each election worker count and see only his or her stack of ballots.

That might have been the audit, Fillmore said.

Were not doing the audit, he continued. Were doing a hand count in the precinct in which the person is registered.

And Fillmore said the people doing the counting would have no reason to fudge the results of the votes of their friends and neighbors.

The idea of an in-precinct hand count of all ballots, in turn, leads to the other half of the plan: Eliminate virtually all early ballots that would have to be tallied at a central location.

That has proven widely popular, with close to 90% of people in the 2020 general election voting with an early ballot. But it also has become the target of those who contend, starting with former President Trump, that it was rigged, or so full of errors as to make the result unreliable and require overturning the results that gave Arizonas 11 electoral votes to President Biden.

Instead, Fillmore proposes to limit the ability to cast what his legislation calls an absentee ballot to only a select few: those who plan to be out of state on Election Day, people physically unable to go to the polls because of being hospitalized or in a nursing home, those with a visual impairment, and those in the military who, under federal law, are permitted to vote by mail.

That is even more restrictive than the law was in 1991 when the legislature approved no-excuse early voting.

Before that, individuals could get an absentee ballot just because they expected to be away from their home voting precincts on Election Day. There also were ballots for those who were physically unable to go to the polls, for people 65 and older, and if the polling place was at least 15 road miles from the voters home.

Fillmore, for his part, said he is happy with the more limited set of restrictions in his bill.

Take the issue of being away from the precinct.

Fillmore said that affects pretty much everyone who is going to work. But he said thats no excuse, as state law requires employers to provide at least three hours of time off to go vote.

Nor does Fillmore believe that even those who will be out of county should be automatically entitled to an absentee ballot.

Quite frankly, out of how many millions that we have, how many people are going to say, Well, Ill be out of the county that day? he said.

Fillmore said if he can get the bill out of committee it becomes a starting point for lawmakers to have a larger discussion on what kind of voting system Arizona should have.

To me, the system now is broken, he said. So lets take a starting point and go back to the basics.

Howard Fischer is a veteran journalist who has been reporting since 1970 and covering state politics and the Legislature since 1982. Follow him on Twitter at @azcapmedia or email azcapmedia@gmail.com .

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PHOENIX  If you like the look of a green lawn but hate the water use and cost, state lawmakers want you to have options.

Without dissent, the Senate gave preliminary approval Monday to a measure that would ban homeowner associations from telling residents they cant take out their natural lawns and replace them with artificial turf. The House already approved similar wording.

Mondays action came after some homeowners complained they faced fines for choosing what they consider a better ecological option than grass.

But Dennis Legere, founder of the Arizona Homeowners Coalition, told lawmakers this measure wouldnt provide carte blanche for residents to put in anything they want, no matter how it looks.

He pointed out that House Bill 2131 would allow HOAs to adopt reasonable rules regarding the installation and appearance of artificial turf. The associations could also regulate how much of a property can be covered with artificial grass.

But the legislation, sponsored by Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, makes it clear the rules cannot be so strict as to bar all types of artificial grass. Also, the limit on the percentage that can have artificial turf cannot be smaller than the amount of property covered by natural grass.

Lobbyist Kathy Senseman, who represents a homeowner in the middle of a fight with her association in Paradise Valley, argued theres no reason for a prohibition.

Wed like natural grass and artificial grass to be treated the same, she said, calling it more than just a personal preference.

Homeowners that have done this have saved between 60% and 70% of their water usage since doing it, Senseman said. We believe in property rights. We believe in that water conservation.

The idea is not particularly radical, she added.

Most new homes are putting in artificial grass to begin with. We just dont think that HOAs that allow natural grass should be able to also say, You can have natural grass; you just cant have artificial.

Sen. Sally Ann Gonzales, D-Tucson, said that makes sense to her.

We live in a desert, and we need to conserve water, she said. We cant have organizations prohibiting artificial turf or grass.

Aside from the permission for HOAs to set reasonable aesthetic standards, the measure has one other key exception.

It spells out that associations can prohibit installing artificial turf if they have unique vegetation and geologic characteristics that require preservation by the association.

Senseman said there are reasons for that wording.

In Tucson, for example, they will have a lot of natural landscaping, which is part of the overall appearance of the community, she said. The preference there would be to not add artificial grass.

Rep. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, said there are communities built around what is already there that do not want the character changed. Consider, he said, The Boulders community that straddles Scottsdale and Carefree. It is named after huge granite boulders on the property.

Adding artificial turf, he said, would not be appropriate.

Then theres Hoffmans own residence, in a development built in the middle of about 2,000 pecan trees. The rules there, he said, require 90% of the land to be unpaved. More to the point, Hoffman said, the natural turf keeps the area cooler, which he said is better for the pecans.

This isnt the first time state lawmakers have moved to adopt restrictions on HOA rules.

For example, legislators have overridden regulations that bar residents from posting signs about candidates and political issues. Certain rules barring off-street parking also have fallen to legislative action.

And just this year, the House adopted a proposal to allow HOA residents to fly flags honoring first responders. That measure, HB 2010, awaits Senate action.

Originally, the law allowed the display of only state and federal flags. That was expanded to include the flags of any branch of the service; the POW/MIA flag; and the Gadsden Dont Tread on Me flag.

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An emergency can happen at any time. When it does, are you prepared?

From knowing what to do when a tornado strikes, power goes out, a water pipe breaks or fire breaks out to establishing a fire exit plan, checking smoke detector batteries and updating insurance policies, preparedness is key to working through the situation.

These and many more topics will be addressed during the 9th Annual Wagoner County Emergency Preparedness and Safety Expo planned Saturday, March 26 at Coweta High School. The event is co-hosted by the Coweta Chamber of Commerce and Wagoner County Emergency Management and presented by ONEOK.

From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., more than four dozen vendors will showcase their products and services to the community in the high school gymnasium and in the outdoor parking lot. Event sponsors include Mercy Regional EMS, Native Oklahoma Insurance, Disaster Restoration Services, Green Country Federal Credit Union, Bob Gilbert Towing, BancFirst Coweta, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Oklahoma, AiroSmith and FNB Coweta.

Meanwhile, the Oklahoma Blood Institute will conduct a Wagoner County Schools Blood Drive Challenge in the high school wrestling facility from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Donate in the name of your favorite school in Coweta, Wagoner, Porter and Okay and help the district earn points for cash awards sponsored by the Expo and BancFirst Coweta. School affiliation is not required to donate.

OBI officials say there is a critical need for blood in facilities all across Oklahoma. Donors who give will receive a special t-shirt and the choice of a ticket to the National Cowboy Museum or Oklahoma City Zoo.

At 9:45 a.m., opening ceremonies will be held in the parking lot for the 2022 Firefighter Challenge, a competition for firefighters to demonstrate their skills, agility and stamina against the clock. The competition is presented by Oklahoma Pipeline Awareness Liaison (OPAL) and begins at 10 a.m. Events will run throughout the day.

A free Kids Challenge will give youngsters the opportunity to do what the big firefighters do on a miniature scale.

The Emergency Preparedness and Safety Expo is an event the entire family can enjoy. A large crowd is expected as the expo returns following a two-year absence during the height of the pandemic.

Our vendors are excited to get back to having face-to-face interaction with the community, said Expo Chairman Sarah Wells. We want to educate the general public on what to do in the event of an emergency, how to prevent accidents from happening and who to call when those situations do arise.

The number one thing we hope to arm them with is information on how to prevent accidents from happening, Wells continued. Accidents will happen, and there are things that are not preventable. We want to make sure people have access to resources to help get them through those challenging times.

There will be non-service provider vendors as well.

While patrons stroll through the gymnasium and parking lot to visit vendor booths and see displays, youngsters ages 12 and under can participate in a fun scavenger hunt.

The expo will feature interactive displays and opportunities to get up-close looks at emergency service vehicles including fire trucks, police cars, storm chasing vehicles and helicopters. Patrons can also meet emergency service responders who work on their behalf to keep them safe every day.

There will be helicopters on display from three different agencies including News on 6, Grand River Dam Authority Police and LifeFlight.

Kountry Boys Smoked Q and SKT Concessions will offer concessions outdoors and, of course, there will be door prizes.

The Emergency Preparedness and Safety Expo is a terrific opportunity for patrons to see what products and services are offered in our community and surrounding areas, said Coweta Chamber Director Christy Wheeland. Please mark your calendars and make plans to attend!

Participating vendors include AiroSmith, Inc., AR Exteriors, BancFirst Coweta, Better Business Bureau, Best Quality Roofing & Construction, Blue Sky Bank, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Oklahoma, Camp Bandage, Century 21, Cherokee Nation Emergency Management, Cherokee Nation Marshal Service, Coweta Insurance Agency and Coweta Police Department.

Others include Davids Signs & Designs, Wagoner County Disabled American Veterans, Disaster Restoration Services, Sarah Wells Farm Bureau Insurance, Firstar Bank, FNB Coweta, Freedom Insurance Group, Generator Supercenter, Grand River Dam Authority Police, Green Country Federal Credit Union, Scentsy  Diana Harris, LifeShare of Oklahoma and The Locator 911.

Also participating are Mercy Regional EMS, Native Oklahoma Insurance, News on 6 Storm Trackers and Helicopter, Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security; Oklahoma Firefighters Burn Camp, RCB Bank, ServPro of Mayes and Wagoner County and Sun Solar Solutions.

Additional vendors include Tulsa Fire Educational Clowns, Wagoner County Emergency Management, Wagoner County Health Department, Wagoner County Republican Party and Wagoner County Sheriffs Office.
Tom Gilbert Chief Photographer I joined the Tulsa World in 1988 after graduating from the University of Central Oklahoma. I lived in Saudi Arabia before graduating from Broken Arrow High School. I'm married to Karen Gilbert and have three grown children. Phone: 918-581-8349 Follow Tom Gilbert 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

Dead Armadillo is turning blue this spring. Blue as in blueberry. Tony Peck Dead Armadillo's brewmaster introduced their new beer called Blue Dome Wit, a Belgian-style witbier.

"It's a new beer from us. It's our spring seasonal this year, and we are changing things up a little bit. We are going to do some different seasonals this year and kind of shake things up." said Peck. "It's a traditional Belgian wit brewed with Belgian yeast and a bunch of blueberries in it. It comes off super subtle, good blueberry nose and blueberry on the back end, but still tastes like a really good Belgian wit.

I like that when you can get the fruit flavor but still have the beer taste too. It comes in at 5.4% ABV and 18 IBUs (International Bitterness Units). So super-low IBUs just to style and super crushable and easy, especially when it's a nice 70-degree day. It's just easy to sit in the Boneyard and have a couple of these babies and just relax."

The beer is available in four-packs in liquor stores around Tulsa and hotels and restaurants in the Blue Dome District, centered at third and Elgin.

Dead Armadillo started as a contract brewery in 2013 with Oklahoma City's Roughtail Brewing while searching for a Tulsa location. They found that location in an old garage at 1004 E Fourth St., where they are currently.

The Fourth street location has gone through numerous updates, including the Boneyard, their outdoor Biergarten.

Recently, they have expanded their taproom from 500 square feet to 2000 square feet.

"We started the taproom renovation in April of 2020, right after the pandemic hit, we weren't brewing beer, and we had labor standing around twiddling our thumbs," said Peck.

"We are handy for the most part. I'm certainly no plumber or an electrician, but we know enough to be dangerous, and we certainly are comfortable with demolition. We did all the demo, tearing out the old taproom, unhooking the bar and unhooking all the plumbing, and moving things to get it out of the way for construction.

It took us nine months...going through the permitting process and all of that wrapping it all up in December, right before Christmas, 2020. So we've just had our first full year with the new taproom."

The west end of the new taproom has two large windowed garage doors that overlook downtown Tulsa. A great place to watch the sunset over it.

Amber was their flagship beer when they first started and that beer is still in production, but Tulsa Flag has taken on the title of the flagship, literally. When the Tulsa flag was chosen or not chosen to be Tulsa's new flag, the creators wanted a beer to go with it. So Tony brewed it.

"Tulsa Flag is our number one seller. Tulsa Flag took off from the beginning...the can design by Get Wit helped with it jumping off the shelf at people. It's exciting, and it's cool to see that brand grow. I didn't know if it would take off and then peter out because it wasn't the new cool thing, and it wasn't the new flag. People love it, especially hotels and restaurants and just different bars and stuff. Even Reasor's and Walmart, and QuickTrip, they love having that Tulsa beer," he said.

Past Beers of the Week:

Tom Gilbert 918-581-8349 tom.gilbert@tulsaworld.com

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NEWS PROVIDED BY

CityServe

March 21, 2022

BAKERSFIELD, Calif., March 21, 2022 /Christian Newswire/ -- Dave Donaldson, CityServe International co-founder and chairman, submits the following and is available for comment:

Standing outside the train station right at the border of Poland and Ukraine, our leadership team decided to gather for prayer.

As we united to pray, I heard a panic scream, so loud, that it emanated through the stream of Ukrainian refugees rushing past us. Quickly slipping through the stampede, I discovered a woman crying out in desperation--an anguish I have rarely witnessed in my travels to disaster areas and slums around the globe.

Fearing our interpreter's response, I asked him, "What is she saying?"

His choked up reply should break even the calloused of hearts, "She is saying, 'Where's my child? Where's my daughter?'" He explained, "While there is so much good happening here, there is also much darkness that this war has unleashed. Human traffickers are everywhere on the Ukrainian borders stealing young women." For young women, this train station has become a haunted house. Just this week, we learned the police arrested 50 suspected traffickers.

I witnessed the Polish police respond to the screaming mother's pleas for help, however, their body language was loud and clear--any attempt to find her daughter would be futile.

As I write this, my keypad is splattered with teardrops... I clearly remember the terror on that mother's face. The only way to describe my emotions in that moment is a caldron of anger and a sense of helplessness.

Prior to writing this story, I questioned whether I should share what I witnessed, and wondered, "What good will it do if it will only make people sad and fearful of experiencing the same fate as this mother?"

Yet, this story underscores, in the most graphic way, the importance of supporting local churches along the Ukrainian border.

It is imperative to realize that at this moment when most Ukrainians are fleeing for their lives, the local church may be their only safe place from the predictors of war, and evil predators. One young woman shared with us that evildoers are using social media to lure Ukrainians into their homes in order to "murder us and sell our body parts". No one should have this kind of fear while fleeing for their lives, with the hope to survive.
Election deadline: The deadline to request an absentee ballot for the April 5 general election is 5 p.m. Monday.

Along with bond packages in Liberty and Owasso public schools, board of education seats going before Tulsa-area voters include seat No. 2 in Bixby, Jenks, Mounds, Owasso, Sand Springs and Union; Ward 4 in Catoosa; seat No. 3 for Tulsa Technology Center; and Districts 4 and 7 in Tulsa Public Schools.

Meet the Candidates: With early walk-in voting set for March 31 and April 1 at county election offices, several candidate forums for four local school board races are scheduled over the final two weeks of the campaign.

Jenks Public Schools Parent-Teacher Organization is scheduled to host a candidate forum at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Jenks High School Building 6 auditorium. However, one of the two candidates for the Zone 2 seat, Ashley Cross, announced via Facebook on Wednesday that she will not participate in the event. Cross is challenging current board President Terry Keeling for the seat, which represents the districts far southeastern corner.

On March 28, the Tulsa Classroom Teachers Association will host a live-streamed event at the Wilson Teaching and Learning Academy for the candidates in Tulsa Public Schools District 4 and 7 races. The District 4 forum will start at 6 p.m. and the District 7 event will start at 7 p.m.

Broken Arrow Young Professionals are hosting a candidate forum via Facebook Live at 7 p.m. March 30 for Union Public Schools Zone 2 seat. Dr. Chris McNeil and Shelley Gwartney finished first and second atop a three-candidate field in the February primary election for the seat.

Help wanted: Tulsa Public Schools is hosting a job fair Wednesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the districts Maintenance Facilities Building, 1555 N. 77th East Ave. The two-day event is specifically for openings with the districts custodial, maintenance, grounds and police departments.

Additionally, Union Public Schools is hosting a teacher job fair Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Union High School. The event will have same day interviews available, and the district is offering sign-on bonuses for teachers certified in special education, secondary math, secondary science and English as a Second Language.

Teacher of the Year: At Monday nights school board meeting, Catoosa Public Schools will formally recognize its 2021-22 Teacher of the Year, Travis Norwood.

A math teacher at Catoosa High School, Norwood has been with the district since 2012.

New live feed: Starting with Mondays meeting, Owasso Public Schools will stream its school board meetings via YouTube.

School board calendar: The boards of education for Bartlesville, Catoosa, Liberty, Owasso, Skiatook and Tulsa have meetings scheduled for Monday.

Broken Arrow Public Schools board is scheduled to meet Tuesday.

The State Board of Education is scheduled to meet Thursday in Oklahoma City.

The Tulsa school board has special meetings scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Thursday and 8 a.m. Friday.

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One of the things I struggle with more than anything else in sheltering people and keeping them safe is getting to the point of choosing who comes into the shelter and who doesnt, if we have to go to that, said Mack Haltom, executive director of the Tulsa Day Center.
There isnt one specific weather event that changed my life and made me want to be a meteorologist. It was just the love of the science.

Over the past decade, I have worked as a meteorologist all over the country, including here in Oklahoma for the past six years. After months of preparation, I am happy to be the first meteorologist in the Tulsa Worlds 116-year history.

I was born and raised in San Antonio. I knew at an early age that being a meteorologist was something I wanted to explore. I used to spend evenings shadowing the chief meteorologist at the NBC station in San Antonio, watching and admiring what she did. I was hooked.

After graduating from high school, I started asking myself all those questions that most young adults do. What do I want to do with my life? What are my next steps? Well, at the time, my next steps took me to Baylor University, where I studied journalism and communication. I always loved to write. I was on the yearbook staff as a student, so I thought I would explore that avenue.

I interned at numerous media outlets, including local news stations and magazines. By my senior year at Baylor, I heard about a program that would allow me to move to New York City for a semester and work there  so I had to take it. I spent four months interning and writing for the producers of Good Morning America. It was an experience unlike any other.

After my time in New York, it was time to go home and graduate. At the time, I was working for a meteorologist in Waco, Texas, who pushed me to continue my studies in meteorology. He knew and I knew thats where my heart was.

So I enrolled as a post-baccalaureate student at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio to study meteorology and math. After a couple of years, I graduated and landed my first job as a meteorologist. I was finally living my dream.

My work as a broadcast meteorologist has taken me from Victoria, Texas, to Knoxville, Tennessee. I then traveled from the Smoky Mountains to the Rocky Mountains and settled in Denver. While working in Denver, I met my husband. He then followed me to Tulsa.

I worked for five years as a broadcast meteorologist in Tulsa before I started a family and took a step back for a bit. While I loved being a stay-at-home mom to my two beautiful children, I missed the daily grind of forecasting the weather.

Thankfully, this new opportunity came up at the Tulsa World and allowed me to combine two of my passions  meteorology and writing. So often people will ask me why certain weather events take place. This job at the Tulsa World will allow me to bring that to you.

Lee Enterprises, which owns the Tulsa World, has meteorologists serving its readers in Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, Virginia and now Oklahoma. Together we will collaborate and share content about the most relevant weather topics.

I think its safe to say weather is something that brings us all together. It is something that affects each of us on a daily basis, and the desire to be informed, especially in Oklahoma, is there.

My hope is not only to give you your daily forecast but also to dive deeper into those bigger questions. You can find my daily video forecast each morning on tulsaworld.com and in our daily weather email newsletter, as well as on the Tulsa Worlds and my social media.

I want to answer your weather questions, so call me, email me or message me on social media. I will answer those questions on Sundays in print and online.

I will also write a column each week dubbed Weather Wednesdays in print and online. We have a number of special reports I will do that look at how Oklahoma weather keeps changing and what that effects.

I will be live on tulsaworld.com and on the Tulsa Worlds Facebook and Twitter pages when severe weather pops up.

I look forward to being there for you when it comes to weather and provide a chance for us to have a relationship where you know you have a meteorologist who is here to answer your questions and help you better understand the weather around you.

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The state Senate on Monday approved a proposal that calls feminine hygiene products medically necessary and seeks to make them more accessible to those in need.

Senate Bill 1499 would tackle period poverty by providing free menstrual cycle products to low-income females and refunding sales taxes on other feminine hygiene products.

Senators passed the bill by a 36-6 vote. It now moves to the state House.

Originally, I wanted to just provide a refundable sales tax exemption on these medically necessary products, but once I saw the statistics, I wanted to go even further, Sen. Jessica Garvin, R-Duncan, said in a press release.

My bill now also seeks to create a revolving fund in the Department of Health to help provide these products for free to those who need them.

Medical students have helped lead the charge to make sanitary products more accessible, according to Garvin. The Oklahoma State Medical Association Student Section had requested a program with a revolving fund to provide free feminine hygiene products to those in need, according to the release.

SB 1499 would use $1 million from sales tax revenue for the Oklahoma State Department of Health-managed revolving fund, starting in 2024, and local health departments would apply for the funds.

A 2019 study by the Alliance for Period Supplies says two-thirds of those in poverty have had to choose between buying food and menstrual products. The study also found that 1 in 4 girls in the U.S. has missed school because of not having menstrual products, the press release states.

Aside from missing class and school, students are often forced to use the same menstrual items for long stretches of time, which puts them at higher risk for cervical cancer, toxic shock syndrome and other health issues resulting from product overuse, according to an activist campaign for free tampons.

Garvins legislation would also create a refundable sales tax exemption for the sale of feminine hygiene products, including tampons, panty liners, menstrual cups, sanitary napkins and other products for menstrual cycles.

According to Period Equity, a legal organization working to end the taxation of feminine products, Oklahoma brings in an estimated $3.7 million annually on taxes from menstrual products, according to the press release.

If SB 1499 becomes law, tax filers would give their receipts to the Oklahoma Tax Commission for any qualifying purchases during the previous year and would be refunded the amount of sales tax paid on their menstrual products, according to a news release.

Tulsa-area state legislators and how to contact them

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A state program designed to lure employees off unemployment and back into the workforce last summer drew over 50,000 applications from workers hoping to snag the extra $1,200 offered.

But problems with most of the applications led to more than 8-in-10 applications being rejected for various reasons, according to state officials.

The result was that out of those 50,000 applications, about 8,000 were approved for the $1,200 Return to Work incentive offered by the state to workers returning to the labor force last summer.

While the incentive program has ended, some claims on appeal could still receive the benefit if successful, according to the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission.

The launch of the program came as state officials called an early end to a temporary federal program that provided the unemployed an additional $300 per week on top of their regular unemployment benefits.

The federal program, which began as a $600 per person weekly benefit to unemployed workers, was scheduled to end nationwide by Sept. 6.

The state incentive program was funded through COVID-19 federal stimulus dollars, officials said at the time.

About 90,000 workers were receiving the $300 weekly federal benefit when the program was announced in May.

While the unemployment rate was relatively low when the program was announced, it has declined more in recent months.

When the return-to-work incentive was announced on May 17, the state unemployment rate was 4.4%.

The Oklahoma unemployment rate in January  the latest available figure  was 2.7%, ranking it tied with Montana for the fifth lowest rate in the nation for that month.

Oklahoma Employment Security Commission Executive Director Shelley Zumwalt credits the end of the $300 per week federal benefit with helping to drive down the state unemployment rate.

I think overall the decision to end benefits in June actually contributed to where we are now, more so than the back-to-work incentive, Zumwalt said.

Zumwalt touted the states recovery since the throes of the pandemic, noting that the state in December was third in the nation for unemployment rate at 2.8%.

Were also ranked third for our recovery after our pandemic, Zumwalt said.

So whether the back-to-work incentive was a part of that and played a major role or a minor role I think is probably up for debate, Zumwalt said. That was the first time we had done something like that, and it took an innovative approach to try to solve a problem that the state had never encountered with the pandemic.

The return-to-work program was designed to make $1,200 grants to people who received unemployment benefits during at least one of the first two weeks in May and subsequently worked six consecutive weeks on a new job.

The first payments to qualified participants went out in July.

But by then the agency had already disallowed 90% of the applications because the applicants had not received unemployment benefits during the first two weeks of May, officials said at the time.

Others were rejected because of blurry paystub photos or because the information provided did not match applicants pay stubs.

A state senator said she was not surprised by the results of the incentive.

Sen. Carri Hicks, D-Oklahoma City, hosted an interim study in September conducted by the Senate Business, Commerce and Tourism Committee.

The group looked for reasons many workers were staying on the sidelines even as the economy improved.

Even ending federal pandemic benefits early, it didnt push people back into the workforce because they had unmet needs, Hicks said.

What we were able to see with the interim study was that ultimately folks were making the decision to either stay out of work because of child care or because of an unsafe work environment, Hicks said.

Many parents are having difficulty finding stable, affordable child care, or in some cases, any child care, she said.

Hicks said several child care deserts are across the state.

Thats one of the issues that we need to fix first before expecting people to go back to work, she said.

When it was mentioned that Oklahoma has one of lowest unemployment rates in the nation, Hicks she believes unemployment rate figures for the state are artificially low.

I think it shows most people are working two and three different jobs just to make ends meet, she said.

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OKLAHOMA CITY  A bill moving through the Legislature would remove some fees charged to offenders convicted of certain crimes.

Senate Bill 1458, by Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Roger Thompson, R-Okemah, passed the Senate last week and now heads to the House for consideration.

Thompson said the fees would be made up through the appropriations process rather than have the offender pay them.

We are not cutting state agencies, Thompson said. We are funding it. We are just going to take it off the backs of the people.

Jari Askins, administrative director of the courts, said a number of assessed fees go to executive branch agencies for specific programs or to help with the operation of the agency.

During economic downturns, the totals amounted to something many offenders couldnt pay, she said.

In 1992, voters passed State Question 640, which required a supermajority in both legislative chambers to raise taxes. Otherwise, a tax increase would have to be approved in a vote of the people.

For years afterward, lawmakers added and raised fees to help state government operations because it was too hard to raise taxes, Askins said.

Charlie Hannema, a spokesman for Gov. Kevin Stitt, said the issue was an agenda item for Stitt.

Changes like this are possible because of Governor Stitts leadership and work with the Legislature to remain fiscally conservative and build the largest savings account in state history at more than $2.3 billion, Hannema said in a statement.

Stitt believes that Oklahomans should not be required to pay fees that have nothing to do with the crimes they committed, Hannema said.

If these programs are still worthy of funding, the governor believes they should be appropriated by the Legislature instead of funded in perpetuity by fees assessed on defendants, Hannema said.

Bob Wyatt, president of the Oklahoma Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, said some offenders coming out of prison face hundreds or thousands of dollars in fees they cant pay.

Because they have felony convictions and are not preferred employee candidates, it is more difficult to find jobs and pay the fees, he said.

In addition, many have families and are required to make child support payments, some of which might already be in arrears, Wyatt said.

He said the inability to pay fees probably affects 50% of those coming out of prison. Some wind up back behind bars because they cant pay, he said.

When you look at all of these fees, you are often shocked, he said. How is this related to the crime charged?

The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control receives fees for forensic science and drug education.

The Oklahoma Department of Corrections receives fees for community sentencing.

The Attorney Generals Office receives fees for victims services.

The Oklahoma Department of Health receives fees for trauma care.

The Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services receives fees for drug abuse education and treatment.

We pulled a list of the fees paid by criminal defendants and highlighted those that go to executive branch agencies, Hannema said. Those are the ones that were included in this legislation.

Hannema said it is important to note that the measure does not reduce fines, which are part of the punishment, or the ability to award a victim restitution.

I think it is a serious problem statewide and has been for a number of years, said Oklahoma County Public Defender Bob Ravitz.

Some who cant pay return to criminal acts, he said.

Some who cant pay quit seeing their probation officers and participating in programs on which their release is conditioned, Ravitz said.

This has been a tremendous problem for at least 20 years in this state, and it needs to be rectified, Ravitz said.

Tulsa County Public Defender Corbin Brewster could not be reached for comment.

In 2010, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that three fees attached to civil-case filings were invalid because they didnt go toward funding the court system.

The high court nullified a $10 fee that funded child-abuse investigations, a $20 fee that funded adoption registries and a $3 fee that funded victims services.

Access to the court is violated if those seeking to litigate have to pay for unrelated programs, the justices said.

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OKLAHOMA CITY  The Oklahoma Senate on Monday passed a bill that would put a moratorium on the corporate franchise tax.

It would end it in tax year 2023 and years going forward.

Senate Bill 1481, by Sen. John Michael Montgomery, R-Lawton, passed by a vote of 38-8 and heads to the House for consideration.

The measure would result in a decrease in revenue of $57.2 million for fiscal year 2024.

Oklahoma levies an annual franchise tax on corporations that do business in the state. The maximum annual tax is $20,000.

Sen. Carri Hicks, D-Oklahoma City, asked Montgomery where the state would make up the lost revenue that goes to agencies the state is constitutionally obligated to fund.

Budget negotiations are ongoing, he said. We will see how that comes out as we go forward.

Montgomery said the state is seeing an uptick in revenue and it was fitting to have a discussion about giving rebates to taxpayers.

Montgomery said the tax is not being repealed, but the legislation puts a moratorium on it.

Taxpayers in 1992 passed State Question 640 that requires a super majority in both chambers or a vote of the people to raise taxes.

Last year, lawmakers reduced the personal income tax and corporate income tax.

House Bill 2962 reduced the top personal income tax rate to 4.75 percent from 5 percent.

The cost was expected to be $236.7 million for fiscal year 2023.

House Bill 2960 lowered the corporate income tax rate to 4 percent from 6 percent at a cost of $110.2 million for fiscal year 2023.

An uptick in revenue was expected to offset the reduction in both taxes.

Sen. Julia Kirt, D-Oklahoma City, asked Montgomery if businesses have asked for the change.

A number of businesses are certainly interested in this change, Montgomery said.

Kirt said she was concerned about removing a tax that has not been indicated as a top concern of businesses or local residents.

She said the Tax Foundation, a national non-partisan organization, rates Oklahoma 10th for the best business tax climate.

Kirt said she would argue there are plenty of tax cuts that benefit businesses.

I personally have been in business 56 years and this bill has been a long time coming, said Sen. Mark Allen, R-Spiro.

Other measures moving through the Legislature would also cut taxes.

Senate Bill 401, by Sen. Adam Pugh, R-Edmond, would end the personal income tax on military retirement benefits at a cost of $5.7 million.

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In February, the nation lost someone who may be the closest weve ever seen to a saint in medicine. Most physicians and anyone involved in global health is familiar with Dr. Paul Farmers selfless work.

After taking some time to reflect on Dr. Farmers life, I am even more amazed by his global impact. For those who dont know him, Dr. Farmer was a physician and medical anthropologist based in Boston but traveled the world in promoting health.

After spending many years of his youth volunteering at hospitals in Haiti, a young Farmer attended Harvard Medical School. He planned to return to Haiti after graduation to open a medical clinic, which led to his co-founding of the Partners in Health clinic. That began as a modest single room facility and later grew into an international nonprofit system of 16 medical centers with over 7,000 employees.

Dr. Farmers reach spanned several countries and multiple continents. In addition to Haiti, Partners in Health clinics and health strategies were deployed all over the world, including in Rwanda, Uganda and Peru. Along with his expertise in health care infrastructure development, Dr. Farmers mastery of public health concepts saved countless lives.

From his work on infant mortality, to HIV transmission, his efforts will be felt globally for decades.

Through Partners in Health, Dr. Farmer may have helped more people access health care than anyone in history. I believe it was his understanding of social determinants of health that really made his presence on Earth so impactful.

As a self-described practitioner of social medicine, he had a clear understanding of upstream contributors to poor health.

By looking at Dr. Farmers work abroad, we can learn a lot about health here in the states. Poverty, food insecurity and poor education may be more severe in developing countries, but the impact of those social determinants of health is not diminished here.

The delivery of health care has only a modest impact on health compared to social factors: While health care accounts for approximately 10% of an individuals overall health, social determinants of health account for up to 70%.

Unfortunately, we often misunderstand health as a spectrum. Poor health starts well before someone becomes ill. This is why current and popular solutions to addressing health disparities are access, access, access.

But our overemphasis on health care access is nothing more than a bandage if we do not address the cause of the cut in the first place.

Dr. Farmer understood that without access to healthy foods, we cannot fend off chronic diseases. He knew that living in impoverished communities is a risk factor for poor health. He was well aware that communities with sub-par education are also communities with sub-par health.

I am also certain he would agree that the realities of living in poverty impact psychological, mental and physical health.

We do not have to go overseas to see these struggles. I see them affecting my patients in Tulsa every day. People in every city in our country face these issues.

All of us, whether in health care or not, should take a page out of Dr. Farmers book and work to address the issues of poverty, food insecurity and poor education plaguing our communities.

I truly believe that even if we do not set foot in another country, we can honor Dr. Farmers legacy by applying his practices stateside. There is plenty of need here at home.

Dr. Farmer died in his sleep from an acute cardiac event on Feb. 21 in Rwanda, where he was involved in medical education. He was 62.

I cannot think of a better way to honor his incredible lifes work than working to address the health inequities here in America. I sincerely hope that Dr. Farmer would have agreed. Bless his wonderful soul.

Jabraan Pasha, M.D., is the associate program director for the internal medicine residency program at the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa School of Community Medicine and faculty director of student recruitment and pipeline programs. He is a member of the Tulsa World Community Advisory Board.

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It took a few years for Rep. Sheila Dills, R-Tulsa, to gain support for improving oversight on charter schools. Shes finally getting traction on those reforms.

The Oklahoma House unanimously passed three bills recently sponsored by Dills that would enhance requirements on financial accountability, attendance standards and oversight on board and charter sponsors.

These are long overdue, commonsense proposals that would better even the playing field with traditional public schools.

Dills entered the Legislature on a pro-education and youth platform, pushing for legislative changes after a highly critical state audit of Epic Charter Schools. The political pushback was swift. She found herself ignored and moved from positions on education committees.

To her credit, Dills remained persistent and engaged in the issues.

Charter schools, including virtual charter schools, are public schools. But, they have been allowed to operate under a different state oversight board and management requirements than traditional public districts. It opened a door for the mismanagement of funds as found by the state auditor.

Dills passed similar reforms in the House last year, but those didnt get a hearing in the Senate. We applaud her for returning to seek approval of these measures:

House Bill 3643 would make several changes to how virtual charter schools are governed and report finances. It takes aim at third-party administrators called education management organizations. It was through one of those organization that the Epic founders moved millions of taxpayer funds into their private accounts. I would specify that public funds remain public funds, subject to state audit and paybacks of misused money. The bill passed 95-0.

HB 3644 would strengthen standards and responsibilities on all charter school boards and their sponsoring organizations. Charter governing board members would have the same training requirements as local school board members. It passed 94-0.

HB 3645 would define attendance standards for virtual charter schools more in line with local public schools. It passed 93-0.

These proposals are good steps toward strengthening choices in public education.

In addition, we continue to advocate for all public education to be overseen by a single state school board. Currentlyand in the proposed Senate Bill 1621two state boards govern different public schools. Its a duplication of duties, causing territorial power struggles. Dills has put forth sensible solutions to problems found in the relatively new charter school law. We encourage the Senate to take up and pass these measures.

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A US$250 million baby diaper factory owned by Turkeys Hayat Group was inaugurated in Binh Phuoc Province, southern Vietnam on Sunday.

The inauguration was attended by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his delegation of government officials, who were on a working trip to Binh Phuoc.

The diaper factory belongs to Hayat Vietnam Company under Turkeys Hayat Group -- the world's 5th largest baby diaper manufacturer.

Costing $250 million and covering 32 hectares, the factory is expected to become Hayats production center in Southeast Asia, exporting about 40 percent of its output to Thailand and Malaysia with the total value estimated at $50 million a year.

The facility is designed with zero emissions and the ability to minimize environmental impact and save water and raw materials.

Hayat Vietnam Company also invested in a 5.3MWp solar energy system to maximize production line performance.

Hayat aims to save 6.5MWh of electricity as part of its commitment to sustainable development in Vietnam.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (R) visits Hayat Vietnam Company in Binh Phuoc Province, Vietnam. March 20, 2022. Photo: B.A. / Tuoi Tre

Hayat Group established Hayat Vietnam Company at Becamex Binh Phuoc Industrial Park in Chon Thanh District, Binh Phuoc Province in late 2020.

The group has invested $100 million and created jobs for more than 500 workers in Vietnam.

At the ceremony, PM Chinh said he was pleased with Binh Phuoc's achievements in sustainable development over the past years.

The province still needs to improve its infrastructure, digital transformation, and climate change adaptation to reach its full potential, he continued.

The premier asked investors to further contribute to the improvement of the local human resources, mobilize financial resources for development, boost management capacity, pay attention to environmental protection, increase the use of renewable energy, and ensure the social security and legitimate interests of workers.

Local authorities and investors should also make sure that site clearance is done properly when implementing projects, and that affected residents are given a better place to live, the leader added.

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More steps to enhance nation's carbon management system

(China Daily) 09:12, March 21, 2022

A wind power plant in Dingxi, Gansu province. [Photo/Xinhua]

Accelerated steps should be made to build up China's carbon footprint management system on batteries for new energy vehicles as well as the carbon emissions market to guide the country's low-carbon development, lawmakers and political advisers said during the two sessions that ended recently.

"It is strategically important for China to establish a carbon footprint management system on batteries needed for NEVs, including related standards and rules," said Zeng Yuqun, a member of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases released. The European Union proposed that only rechargeable industrial and electric vehicle batteries, for which a carbon footprint declaration has been established, can be placed on the market.

"China has leading advantages in battery technology, manufacturing and industrial chains, but there are gaps in its battery carbon footprint with Western countries," said Zeng, who is founder and chairman of battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd, known as CATL.

"The United States and countries from Europe have incorporated battery carbon footprint evaluation into their strategic plans and formulated relevant supporting regulations," he added.

It also echoed the suggestion of Lei Jun, founder, chairman and CEO of Xiaomi Corp, who said NEVs have become a key battlefield for global competition in the auto industry, and a complete, clear and accurate carbon footprint accounting system is the premise and foundation for the low-carbon development of NEVs.

Lei, who is also a deputy to the 13th National People's Congress, suggested establishing industry standards and methods for carbon footprint accounting, as well as carbon footprint certification and incentive programs for emissions reductions.

Carbon neutrality was in the spotlight during the two sessions, as the country pledged to peak carbon emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.

He Lifeng, head of the National Development and Reform Commission, said on the sidelines of the two sessions that China is confident of achieving its dual-carbon goals.

"It will create new development and business opportunities, such as spurring the development of emerging sectors and the upgrading and renovation of old equipment," He said.

At the two sessions, CITIC Capital Holdings CEO Zhang Yichen, who is a member of the 13th CPPCC National Committee, suggested accelerating the construction of the country's carbon market.

Zhang said the country should step up legislation related to the carbon market, gradually introduce more market players and establish a regulatory department of the carbon market with functions similar to those of the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.

"At the same time, more efforts are needed to strengthen cooperation with universities and scientific research institutes to boost team building and talent training in fields like carbon accounting, carbon trading and carbon data management," he added.

China will take well-ordered steps to achieve peak carbon emissions and carbon neutrality. The county will work harder to make coal usage cleaner and more efficient, while reducing the use of coal and replacing it with alternative energy sources in a well-ordered way, said this year's Government Work Report.

Li Shufu, founder of Geely Automobile and a deputy to the 13th National People's Congress, urged the adoption of methanol-powered vehicles to help achieve carbon neutrality in transportation.

Methanol is a clean fuel that can be made from abundant coal resources in the country and is widely seen as an ideal alternative fuel, Li said.

China also included the development of methanol vehicles in its plan for the green development of its industrial sectors during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25) and highlighted the replacement of fossil-fuel vehicles with clean-burning methanol.

"Methanol automobiles are expected to enjoy the same policy support as other NEVs so that more companies will be encouraged to join in the sector. In the end, carbon neutrality in the transportation sector will be stepped up," Li said.

(Web editor: Peng yukai, Liang Jun)
Crisis of historical identity

I recently finished a review for the News Weekly on an increasingly relevant book called Columbus and the Crisis of the West. Columbus, being the one to bridge the New and Old worlds, is a major figurehead in the shared history of Western Civilization.

The legacy of Western Civilization has faced increasing scrutiny over the last few decades, and the famous explorer has also come under fire - both for his pivotal role in our history and for controversy around his governance in the New World.

The author Robert Royal wrote the book to rebut some myths and misconceptions about Columbus and to correct the record on the legacy of the U.S. and the West. Aiming to debunk certain claims, the book still provides a balanced account of the controversies. Royal includes testimonies and records both critical and affirming, and shows that most situations are rarely black and white, with the actions of those involved often being a mixture of good and bad.

As I read and gained a fuller appreciation of the facts around Columbus, colonization, and how what we now know as The West came to be, the thing that stood out most is the sheer ignorance of history conveyed by the modern generation - intentional or otherwise.

Royal rightly points out that one of major factors in the overwhelmingly negative portrayals of Columbus and other historical figures by contemporary critics is the significant bias in academia and falling standards in the education system. The next generation are not just being taught an incomplete version of our history, but often a seriously twisted version of it.

Omissions and Misconceptions

For example, it seems more common now that when Christopher Columbus comes up in discussion, theres someone around who says something like didnt that guy rape women?. This claim implicating Columbus in rape and violence against natives isnt entirely new but has become widely touted as fact.

For context, the original claim is actually that he allowed the slavery and rape of natives while he was governing the new colony. And whats more, this claim is considered to be weak or exaggerated among historians. Yet still more often than not, we hear Columbus decried as a rapist.

The ignorance is often not deliberate, however the main drivers behind unfairly negative portrayals like this one are intentional omissions and cherry-picking of data by those who should know better

Political/environmental activist and author Kirkpatrick Sale chose in his book to selectively quotes Friar Francisco de Vitoria in a way that appears to support Sales claim that the European philosophical tradition sanctioned imperialism and ecological exploitation. In doing so, he completely ignores the context of said quote and the vast majority of Vitorias work in developing the principles that eventually formed the foundation of international law and the recognition of universal human rights.

Those like Sale have received a wide uptake of their work among teachers, journalists, and the public, despite a lack of historical support for their misleading views. To give another brief example, an erroneous view now commonly held among academia is that of the noble savage; peaceful, passive natives living in perfect harmony with nature until the Europeans arrived and ruined everything.

Contemporary critics seem to have a tendency to portray historical figures as either purely good (the natives) or purely evil (the Europeans & Columbus), yet the reality is far more mixed, and not in their favour. In fact, the archaeological record and testimony of observers paint a macabre picture of many Native American societies.

Besides some tribes who were relatively peaceful following the ravaging of disease, human sacrifice, cannibalism, and brutal torture of captives (perhaps even brutal by Inquisition standards) were far more common than your liberal professor wants you to believe.

The results of ignorance

These are but a handful of examples that show a sharp decay in the integrity of academia and education regarding history. The result of this trend has been to produce a movement of entitled, misguided, and (ironically) violent anti-Western activists that seek to expunge many of our greatest people and their achievements from memory, replacing them with caricatures that are entirely oppressive, tyrannical, and evil.

Outbursts of this ignorant activism manifested in 2020, when rioting, vandalism and looting broke out in several U.S. cities, with smaller riots in other locations across the UK, Canada, and Australia. Leaders of these movements claimed to be fighting systemic racism.

Several statues were pulled down including a few of Columbuss. One of the statues belonged to Black abolitionist Frederick Douglas (yes, you read that correctly) with more being toppled the following year.

The antidote is responsibility

This movement and its adherents are merciless and misguided. While they declare their targets to be tyrannical and oppressive by a moral standard they cannot attain themselves, they forget that the very society and institutions they spit on gave them the freedom to get on their soap boxes in the first place, without fear of retribution.

Royal puts it much more eloquently: the radical critique of the West could not have happened without the very values  equality, human dignity, liberty  that spring from the Western tradition itself, and more specifically the Christian universalism that sees every human person, however imperfect, as a child of God, something that has existed in no other civilization

If the institutions and experts will no longer do their job to correct this propagation of ignorance, then we must take responsibility for our own education. We can empower ourselves and the next generation to debunk the malicious critique of our heritage, faith, and values.

If we dont, we will continue to see history butchered and rewritten to serve political agendas, and the consequences will be dire. The danger is summed up in a prophetic line from Orwells often quoted 1984; Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.
Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob was welcomed by his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Minh Chinh in Hanoi on Monday morning, as part of his official visit to Vietnam on Sunday and Monday.

PM Yaakob and a delegation of high-ranking Malaysian officials landed at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on Sunday afternoon to commence his visit at the invitation of PM Chinh.

During the welcome ceremony on Monday, the two government leaders exchanged warm greetings and reviewed the guard of honor, the Vietnam News Agency reported.

They joined talks at the government headquarters following the ceremony.

This is PM Yaakobs first official visit to Vietnam after taking office in August 2021.

The Malaysian premier is scheduled to meet Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, and Chairman of the National Assembly Vuong Dinh Hue during the trip.

The visit aims to further strengthen the bilateral relations and synergy between the two countries after the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is also an opportunity for both sides to promote trade and investment cooperation.

Vietnam and Malaysia formed their diplomatic relations in 1973 and established a strategic partnership in August 2015.

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The Red Cross unit in Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City held on Sunday a meaningful activity allowing local residents to exchange scrap for rice and soy sauce.

More than 20 volunteers of the Red Cross Society in Tang Nhon Phu A Ward, Thu Duc City began preparing for the exchange event early in the morning.

People only needed to give such recyclable materials as some empty bottles, used plastic bins, or old cardboard to receive three kilograms of rice and a bottle of soy sauce in return.

Those with a large amount of scrap were handed 10 kilograms of rice.

Tu Ngoc, a scrap collector in Tang Nhon Phu A Ward, stated that the activity meant a lot to him.

Ngoc said he had to work for days in order to afford 10 kilograms of rice.

Thanks to the exchange, he was able to receive the rice with just some plastic bottles.

Ngoc could not remember how old he is, adding that his main focus is to take care of his sick mother.

A man gives recyclable materials in exchange for rice in Tang Nhon Phu A Ward, Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City, March 20, 2022. Photo: Ngoc Phuong / Tuoi Tre

Nguyen Thi Tu, 85, said she often collects and stores scrap at her home.

I can no longer earn money, and thanks to this activity, I can exchange the materials I have been collecting for some rice, Tu continued.

Nguyen Thi Ngoc Linh, 58, who provides rooms for rent, said she had been looking for a way to deal with the scrap left by her tenants, who are mostly university students.

I exchanged the materials for the rice and handed it to my tenants to support their lives as well as to help them become more aware of environmental protection, Linh elaborated.

An elderly woman reacts after exchanging her scrap for rice and soy sauce in Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City, March 20, 2022. Photo: Ngoc Phuong / Tuoi Tre

Le Thi Nga, a 45-year-old volunteer, believed that the activity has helped her better understand the value of scrap and the importance of waste sorting.

The exchange is mainly aimed at providing support to local residents, according to Le Kieu Hong Nguyet, chairwoman of the Red Cross Society in Tang Nhon Phu A Ward.

The organization had prepared more than 700 kilograms of rice and other necessities, Nguyet continued, adding that the money from selling the scrap will be added to the local fund for the poor.

Volunteers of the Red Cross Society in Tang Nhon Phu A Ward sort the scrap contributed by a local resident in Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City, March 20, 2022. Photo: Ngoc Phuong / Tuoi Tre

Recyclable materials collected through the activity in Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City, March 20, 2022. Photo: Ngoc Phuong / Tuoi Tre

A resident receives rice and soy sauce after exchanging recyclable materials in Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City, March 20, 2022. Photo: Ngoc Phuong / Tuoi Tre

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Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has urged the Ministry of Health to study vaccinations against COVID-19 for children aged between three and five.

PM Chinhs request was detailed in a dispatch issued on Saturday by the Government Office regarding the purchase of vaccines and the promotion of domestic vaccine production.

Accordingly, the PM requested the Ministry of Health to mull over vaccinating children aged three to under five against COVID-19.

He also asked the Ministry of Health to consider rolling out the fourth shot to adults and the third to children aged 12-17, and have a plan to buy more vaccines and step up domestic vaccine production so as to ensure safety and efficiency.

The head of government has ordered the health ministry to review the delay in the purchase of vaccines for children from five to 11 years old three times now.

The ministry, however, has yet to purchase COVID-19 vaccines for this age group while affirming in its report to the government that it reached an agreement for the signing of a purchase contract with Pfizer.

The ministry added that it is also waiting for information from foreign aid vaccine sources.

As of Sunday, Vietnam had administered 201,828,138 COVID-19 vaccine doses to its 98-million population, including 17,061,722 shots given to children from 12 to 17 years old, according to the national COVID-19 vaccination portal.

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A woman in Son La Province, northern Vietnam turned herself in to police after severing her husbands penis and testicles during a midnight conflict, local police reported.

Police in the provinces Yen Chau District are investigating a case in which Ha Thi N., 36, cut off the entire genitals of her husband and then threw them away in a fit of anger on Sunday.

N. presented herself to police after she committed the crime, a leader of the districts Chieng Hac Commune administration, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) on Sunday afternoon.

The incident occurred at 0:30 am the same day, when N. used a knife to cut the entire genitalia of her 29-year-old husband Nguyen Van H., police reported.

The victim was taken to Son La Province General Hospital at 5:30 am that morning for emergency aid in the state of his penis and testicles having been removed and his blood pressure falling sharply to 90/60 mmHg.

The patient suffered a complex injury, but after receiving timely treatment and care, he has come out of danger, doctors said.

The couple had previously experienced many marital conflicts and they dealt with them satisfactorily," according to local authorities.

"But this morning they fell again into disagreement, which led to N.s act of offense.

Investigators have questioned the woman and are searching for the victims private organs.

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'Who is a food stylist?' and 'What does a food stylist do?' are popular questions when people first learn about food styling.

This article tells the story of a young Vietnamese man who has been working as a food stylist for more than 10 years.

His name is Bui Ly Tien Nguyen, who was born in the 1990s.

He proudly claims that he is one of about 20 people in Vietnam now working as a food stylist.

By definition, a food stylist is a person responsible for preparing food in a certain way so that it can be photographed or filmed to meet various requirements.

With their esthetics and techniques, they style food in their own way to get perfect images for posters, cookbooks, cooking shows, TV commercials, and more.

Bui Ly Tien Nguyen prepares food as a food stylist, a type of profession that may not be popular with many people in Vietnam. Photo: Q. Ng. / Tuoi Tre

In fact, there is no formal training for this kind of profession, not even in the best cooking schools in the world.

Therefore, food stylists usually work on a freelance basis. Nguyen is also a freelancer.

It is a myth that food styling is just about buying food, preparing it to make it look good, and then taking photos, Nguyen said.

"If it is that easy, anyone could do it," he added.

"In fact, there are about twenty food stylists working in Vietnam."

It is the stylist's creativity that sets them apart from ordinary people when it comes to styling food to make it more appealing and attractive.

"With the same fish and the same vegetables, we have to find a way of styling that appeals not only to the appetite but also to the emotions of the viewer," he further explained.

Instant noodles are shown in this photo taken from food stylist Bui Ly Tien Nguyen's website with his permission.

"This is a key issue and a food stylist's unique style will determine whether or not they can make an impact with such details."

Nguyen decided to drop out of a fourth-year college program when he realized he was not really interested in his technical major there.

"In fact, I felt extremely confused since the first year," the young man admitted.

Describing himself as a man who tends to live in a comfort zone, Nguyen deferred his decision until his fourth year.

He left the college with one more semester ahead of graduation, not daring to check in with his parents.

"At that moment, I knew I had to change my life," Nguyen recalled.

An avocado smoothie is styled in this photo taken from food stylist Bui Ly Tien Nguyen's website with his permission.

Self-study to become a food stylist

Although he was not good at cooking, Nguyen said that he had dreamed of becoming a chef.

"Even as a child, I loved watching movies and TV commercials about cooking. At that time, I often asked to be allowed to prepare and design the food after it was cooked by other family members," Nguyen recollected, adding that perhaps he was cut out for it even then.

More than ten years ago, when Nguyen wanted to become a professional stylist in this field, there were few food stylists in Vietnam.

He searched the Internet for information, watched video clips of foreign food stylists, and imitated them in the early days.

Braised snakehead fish is styled in this picutre taken from food stylist Bui Ly Tien Nguyen's website with his permission.

A stylized cake is shown in this photo taken from food stylist Bui Ly Tien Nguyen's website with his permission.

He tried and failed many times until he had the perfect layouts to take shots and upload them to his social media account.

Eventually, he was contacted by some early clients after his photos gained traction in the meantime.

At that time, Nguyen set a goal to change jobs. He took it upon himself to spend a year doing something good enough to get his parents to understand why he had left the college.

For the first two years on his new job, Nguyen focused on developing his own style.

He accepted all the proposed projects without thinking too much about the pay. After many years of work, he is now a professional food stylist and can live comfortably with what he earns from it.

Nguyen sometimes finds it challenging to balance a stable income and vibrant creativity.

"If I just try to fulfill customers' wishes, I have a good income, which means I work for a living," he explained.

"But in the long run, that is not good because I lack emotion and creativity.

"On the contrary, if you work for your passion, you can choose what you really want to do, and you will also be more serious with yourself.

"This will dent your income but you will have the more emotional experience you can create."

A styled noodle soup is shown in this photo taken from food stylist Bui Ly Tien Nguyen's website with his permission.

In light of these considerations, Nguyen found his own way by forcing himself to develop his own creative projects in addition to those he receives from clients.

At a certain time, he focuses only on styling a particular foodstuff such as instant noodles, ice cream, or milk.

He only moves on to another type when he has a high level of skill and experience.

Becoming an established food stylist

Nguyen has been a food stylist for many projects of numerous food brands for more than a decade.

Since there are no food stylists in cooking schools, he has become a teacher, passing on his experience to young people who want to follow suit.

In some cases, some of his initiatives have been copied by others. Nguyen seems to be a pioneer in presenting food on a bamboo background, which has become quite popular.

While most people display their food on a white background, he prefers to do so on a somber backdrop.

He is not bothered by the imitation.

"No problem, I am happy to know that they may find my creative ideas valuable," he said.

Fried chicken is styled in this photo taken from food stylist Bui Ly Tien Nguyen's website with his permission.

Noodles are presented in this picture taken from food stylist Bui Ly Tien Nguyen's website with his permission.

Cakes and sandwiches are styled in this photo taken from food stylist Bui Ly Tien Nguyen's website with his consent.

A cup of green tea is presented in this photo supplied by food stylist Bui Ly Tien Nguyen.

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A new mental health first aid training initiative for the screen industry will up-skill production and post-production leaders.

Ahead of Screen Forever next week, Ausfilm, Fox Studios Australia, Netflix, and Industrial Light & Magic, and have partnered to work with a new wellbeing enterprise led by Ben Steel (The Show Must Go On).

The initiative is offering 60 free place across 5 online Mental Health First Aid courses commencing in June.

Expressions of interest are invited from producers, line-producers / production managers, post producers, post supervisors and VFX producers.

Mental health first aid teaches you how to notice the early signs of mental health challenges before a condition worsens, and how to intervene. Screen leaders learning these skills will feel more confident in knowing what to do, what to say, and how to offer support to a colleague or employee, says Debra Richards, Netflix Director APAC Studio & Production Affairs.

Ausfilm CEO, Kate Marks says Access to this essential training for screen industry leaders across physical production, VFX, picture and sound post-production and music services, targeting people who manage teams is vital. Many of our industry leaders are not trained or know how to initiate and navigate sensitive and supportive mental health conversations with staff. We are honoured to be partnering with Fox Studios Australia, Industrial Light & Magic, and Netflix on this very important and timely initiative.

It was important for us to put our weight behind this initiative and make an overall contribution to help support the growth and improvement of the mental health and wellbeing of our sector. Its something that we as a company believe in and are pleased to support ac-cess to training that we know will have meaningful impact, says Luke Hetherington, Executive in Charge of Industrial Light & Magics Sydney and Singapore studios.

The existence of this initiative in our sector interrupts the stigma around mental health. It is important for us to support and promote access to training that we know will have a meaningful impact in the screen industry says John Hughes, Head of Fox Studios Australia.

I have been working with production and screen business expert Margaret Tillson behind-the-scenes all last year on this  and we cant wait to reveal our full plans to the industry later this week, says Ben Steel.

Register at: forms.gle/jZzTuheBDncQd11G7
Season 2 of Bridgerton returns to Netflix this Friday.

The focus shifts in S2 to Lord Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) and his search for a wife. Simone Ashley also stars as Kate Sharma, the female lead.

The series is already renewed for third and fourth seasons.

What happens when duty is in conflict with the hearts true desire? There is potential for a considerable scandal, indeed.

From Shondaland and Creator Chris Van Dusen, the second season of Bridgerton follows Lord Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey), the eldest Bridgerton sibling and Viscount, as he sets out to find a suitable wife. Driven by his duty to uphold the family name, Anthonys search for a debutante who meets his impossible standards seems ill-fated until Kate (Simone Ashley) and her younger sister Edwina (Charithra Chandran) Sharma arrive from India. When Anthony begins to court Edwina, Kate discovers the true nature of his intentions  a true love match is not high on his priority list  and decides to do everything in her power to stop the union. But in doing so, Kate and Anthonys verbal sparring matches only bring them closer together, complicating matters on both sides. Across Grosvenor Square, the Featheringtons must welcome the newest heir to their estate while Penelope (Nicola Coughlan) continues to navigate the ton whilst keeping her deepest secret from the people closest to her.

Friday March 25th on Netflix.
Season 18 of Greys Anatomy will return to Star / Disney+ on Wednesday.

The show took a mid-season break in the US, then resumed on February 24.

Disney has not indicated why it still has a one month lag for Australian viewers.
"If You Love Poker You Should Be Playing the Sunday Million" Says PokerStars' Sam Grafton

March 19 2022 Calum Grant

The latest instalment of EPT Prague is now in the books following a fantastic series that took place in King's Casino Prague. There were several record-breaking fields, with the likes of the 1,100 Eureka Main Event and 2,200 Eureka High Roller smashing previous attendance numbers. The 5,300 EPT Prague Main Event was also very close to seeing its biggest ever turn out.

The next destination for the European Poker Tour is in Monte Carlo in April 2022. However, the next major event in the PokerStars calendar is the Sunday Million 16th Anniversary edition.

One of the most recognised tournaments in all of online poker, the Sunday Million 16th Anniversary edition begins on Sunday, March 20 at 5:05 p.m. GMT. The buy-in for the $10 million guaranteed tournament is $215. However, there are plenty of ways to get your seat on the cheap.

During EPT Prague, PokerNews sat down with PokerStars ambassador Sam Grafton and discussed the prestigious online event.

"This Sunday Million Anniversary event that comes each year is fantastic. It's one of the biggest tournaments online and the value there is incredible." Grafton told PokerNews. "The first prize is humongous and obviously the great pleasure of online poker for me in London, is that you can win life-changing money from the comfort of your own home."

"If you love poker you should be playing the Sunday Million"

On whether predominantly live players have a chance in these large online fields, Grafton feels that they do not have too big of a disadvantage.

"If you do well at live poker you're going to do well in the Sunday Million, there's nothing that's so remarkable about that field," he said. "If you love poker you should be playing the Sunday Million. These tournaments transcend the nature of online versus live and anyone that enjoys poker will be loving life if they play it."

Pokerstars Team Pros Reveal Their Sunday Million Strategy Tips

Grafton Kicks Off EPT Prague in Style

Sam Grafton won the opening event of EPT Prague

Grafton kicked off EPT Prague in the best possible way, winning the 10,200 NLHE Bounty High Roller, which was also series' opening event. It was the first EPT title of his career and he claimed the 80,360 up top as well as several 5,000 bounties.

Despite being one of the biggest names in online and live poker, and having a resume that few players can rival. You would think that the excitement winning a tournament would be lost on a play like Grafton but that is definitely not the case for the PokerStars ambassador.

"Just winning a large tournament is a very special feeling, whether that's a 100 or 10,000 tournament," Grafton said. "Obviously it's a big achievement to get second into third. But to actually finish in first place, the way it feels is quite special and always has been."

Grafton secured his maiden EPT title after despatching online legend Niklas Astedt in heads-up play and the Englishman had nothing but praise for his opponent and other players who made the final table.

"I admire him [Astedt] a tremendous amount. I really think he's one of the most talented poker players of the last ten years. And to win against him and play a final table with people like Alexandros Theologis and Andras Nemeth, who are all great players, made it a very special win."

Following his chat with PokerNews, a second high roller Spadie Trophy nearly went home with Grafton, but he was denied by Rodrigo Selouan in the 25,000 Single-Day High Roller IV event. Nevertheless, the runners-up prize of 220,050 made EPT Prague an event to remember for one of poker's most jovial characters.

Vanessa "Niffller" Kade Wins PokerStars Sunday Million 15th Anniversary ($1,514,920)

Return of the UKIPT

Live poker is once again buzzing with the return of events like EPT Prague but it doesn't just stop there. PokerStars have brought back the UK & Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) into the live poker calendar following a six-year hiatus and it has got Grafton buzzing with excitement.

"The return of the UKIPT is something I also really wanted. Again there's a somewhat limited schedule, but I think the UKIPT can grow."

It's no surprise why Grafton is excited about the return of the UKIPT as it holds a sentimental place in his poker journey.

"That's a tour that made a big difference in my life, not only in terms of the improvement in my game but the friendships I made," he said. "The fact that that's coming back, that there's going to be a UKIPT in my hometown of London. Nothing's going to stop me from being there, so that's really exciting as well!"

The first stop of the UKIPT takes place at The Hippodrome Casino, London and runs from April 1-10. The PokerNews live reporting team will be in attendance to make sure you do not miss a hand from the festivals renaissance.

Enjoy the 16th Anniversary Sunday Million With a $600 Bonus

New depositing PokerStars customers can claim a welcome bonus worth up to $600. Download PokerStars via PokerNews, create your free account, and decide how much you want to deposit. Your deposit is matched 100% up to $600 in the form of a bonus. In fact, your first three deposits in the first 60-days after making your first deposit are matched up to a combined total of $600.

The bonus releases into your playable balance in $10 increments each time you generate 180 redemption points, which in turn are earned at a rate of five per $1 contributed to the cash game rake or spent on tournament fees (6.5 points per 1, 5.5 points per 1, and four points per CAD$).
"Insomania" Nabs Day 1 Chip Lead in $5M GTD GGMasters Overlay Edition

March 21 2022 Calum Grant

The three Day 1 flights of the $5 million guaranteed GGMaster Overlay Edition have to a close, with 6,327 players advancing to Day 2. Across the three starting flights there were 33,034 entries and to make the second day of action, the players needed to have survived 20 15-minute levels.

The story of the tournament prior to getting underway was whether the $5 million guarantee would be hit, or if there was going to be a heavily anticipated overlay. At the time of writing on March 17, there was an overlay $3.93 million. That figure has now been heavily cut down to just $416,744 according to the GGPoker Client.

GGMasters Overlay Edition Final Table Payouts

Late Registration remains open until the start of Day 2, which begins on Monday, March 21 at 5 p.m. GMT. The current first-place prize is a tidy $343,564, while those who finish in the money will lock up at least $310. With players still being able to enter, these figures could change but as it stands the final table payouts look something like this:

Place Prize 1 $343,564 2 $257,637 3 $193,200 4 $144,880 5 $108,645 6 $81,472 7 $61,096 8 $45,815

"Pichai Rianjaroen" Bags Best in Asia Flight

"Pichai Rianjaroen" finished atop of the chip counts in the GGMasters Overlay Edition Asia Flight, which saw the likes of "Henriquecps1" and "Wang Yu" round out the top three biggest stacks.

The Asia flight saw 10,481 entries with only 2,022 players making it through to Day 2.

Notables who made it through this stage include poker streamer Tsolmon-Erdene "Tsoomoo Venus" Ochir (175,460), Twitch partner Mark "Weazel_1991" Rubbathan (59,041) and professional mixed martial artist Elias Theodorou, who will be looking to spin up his 3,798 short stack.

GGMasters Overlay Edition Asia Top Five Chip Counts

Place Player Country Chip Count 1 Pichai Rianjaroen Costa Rica 246,616 2 Henriquecps1 Brazil 242,842 3 Wang Yu China 237,765 4 0215-nam Hong Kong 231,953 5 GG Moon Mongolia 210,928

Turkey's "Insomania" Dominates Europe Flight

Rebecca Rebuitti (left) and Jessica Teusl (right)

As expected, the European flight proved to be the most attended Day 1. The event's 17,964 entries were more than the two other starting flights combined and delivered 3,420 players into Day 2.

"Insomania" had the most successful session and virtually bagged a whopping stack of 270,313, which was good for the overall chip lead. Brazil's "Muido" and Russia's "swod1986" also had a fruitful day on the felt, piloting over sizeable stacks to the next stage.

Natural8 Streamer Rebeca Rebuitti ended the day with an impressive stack of 135,833. Jessica Teusl will also be joining Rebuitti on Day 2, with her above-average stack of 123,070. Online poker legend Niklas Astedt, who had just returned from EPT Prague, also finished with 102,531 chips.

GGMasters Overlay Edition Europe Top Five Chip Counts

Place Player Country Chip Count 1 Insomania Turkey 270,313 2 Muido Brazil 244,230 3 sword1986 Russia 238,205 4 Junnyy Hong Kong 237,261 5 arapo Cyprus 221,041

Qui and O'Donnell Progress from Americas Flight

The final starting flight of GGMasters Overlay Edition was the smallest of the day, garnering just 4,589 total entries. There were 885 players who survived, with Chuqi "PaoloMaldini" Qiu (246,553) seeing out the day as the leg's chip leader.

"10p4uk" claimed second spot with final count of 227,439. Kevin "AzUncle" O'Donnell (216,756), who has $2,230,284 in live tournament earnings, accumulated the third-highest amount of chips.

GG Twitch Squads Kevin Martin (7,904) also booked his seat when the tournament returns.

GGMasters Overlay Edition Americas Top Five Chip Counts

Place Player Country Chip Count 1 Chuqi "PaoloMaldini" Qiu China 246,553 2 10p4uk Russia 227,439 3 Kevin "AzUncle" O'Donnell United States 216,756 4 aapkabaap India 196,419 5 I_AdesanYa United Kingdom 195,363

GGMasters Overlay Edition Top 10 Chip Counts

Place Player Country Chip Count Big Blinds 1 Insomania Turkey 270,313 225 2 Pichai Rianjaroen Costa Rica 246,616 206 3 Chuqi "PaoloMaldini" Qiu China 246,553 205 4 Muido Brazil 244,230 204 5 Henriquecps1 Brazil 242,842 202 6 sword1986 Russia 238,205 199 7 Wang Yu China 237,765 198 8 Junnyy Hong Kong 237,261 198 9 0215-nam Hong Kong 231,953 193 10 10p4uk Russia 227,439 190

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My story

When I moved from Jamaica to Japan five years ago, I felt broken and lost having left on the first anniversary of the death of my first husband. Strengthening my relationship with Jesus Christ was one of the furthest things from my mind. I didnt think about finding a church family or connecting with other Christians when I got here. I just knew I needed a physical change.

My brother-in-law, residing in Canada,, asked for my location and used it to search for churches in my area. He found one and thats where I have been since. Many times, I have considered what the outcome wouldve been if he hadnt done that. At that point in my life, I was still grieving, being alone with my thoughts was dangerous.

I was constantly wrestling with trusting God while grieving. I couldnt understand why God would put me through that kind of suffering. Being far from home and everything familiar made it easy for me to slip into constant depression.

Our adversary continuously feeds our thoughts, it occurs, especially, when we are going through our struggles. He plants seeds of doubts, fear, and hopelessness within our minds.

Its not always easy

My favorite Bible verse has always been Count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations knowing that the testing of your faith worketh patience (James chapter 1 verse 2). However, when faced with the most challenging situation, I had forgotten to hold on to this verse and instead I focused entirely on how things had been unfair for me.

Ive realized that our circumstances tend to dictate our feelings. As humans, we are programmed to react according to how pleasing the situation is for us.

When things are unfavorable, we easily get distracted. We focus on how we can deal with these struggles mostly by ourselves. I am not saying we shouldnt give ourselves time to grief when distressed but it is important that we not allow it to steal our joy and control us.

It is also important for us to know in whom our trust lies. Trials and temptations are designed to either pull us closer to God or away from him. How we deal with them will determine the outcome.

Protect our minds

Our trials and temptations can be both physical and mental. Hence, it is important to protect our minds. If your mind is anything like mine, then its a constant battlefield. I tend to overthink and over analyze things which sometimes results in me drawing the wrong conclusion.

Our mind is one of the tools the enemy uses to get to us. If he can control our thoughts, he can control us. Hence the importance of rebuking negative thoughts before they take root was brought to my attention. I recognize that not all our thoughts originate within us, it becomes a part of us when we entertain them.

Our thought process

It is also important to identify the things that consume our minds the most. The first thing we think about when we wake up or the last thing on our minds before we go to bed.

Our thoughts are manifested in our actions and behavior. Anything that consumes our minds control us. If it has nothing to do with God then its a distraction and is something we need to ask God to help us to overcome.

Trust Gods plan

Moving to Japan, my goal was to escape, I was tired of being in the same place, hearing and seeing the same things. Little did I know that God had a greater plan. While residing here, I got involved in church and during the times spent away from my family and friends I started writing poetry. I later realized that these poems are able to help others who are facing difficulties.

Your challenges are not to destroy you but they are to build you and enable you to become a wholesome believer.. Everything is for a greater purpose. We may not understand but we can trust that God knows exactly what he is doing.

As the verses state, We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed, perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed (2 Corinthians chapter 4 verses 8-10).

Dont allow negative thinking to distract you from your purpose or to pull you from God. I challenge you to be open to God and ask him to search your heart and mind and to remove the thoughts that serve as distractions within your lives.
Adrien Brody won an Oscar in 2003 credit:Bang Showbiz

Adrien Brody was asked to boycott the Oscars by Jack Nicholson.

The 'Succession' actor became the youngest ever winner of the Best Actor statuette at the age of 29 in 2003 for his role in 'The Pianist' and he knew it was too big an occasion for him to "sit out", despite his fellow nominee - who was up for his work on 'About Schmidt' - inviting all the men on the shortlist to his house to discuss how best to respond to the war in Iraq, as the ceremony was due to take place four days after the US invasion.

Adrian told how Jack handed out Scotch and cigars and urged him, Nicolas Cage, Sir Michael Caine and Daniel Day-Lewis - who had all won the award in the past - to boycott the ceremony.

He recalled to Sunday Times Style magazine: I said, I dont know about you guys, but Im going.' I said, I kind of have to show up. My parents are coming. This doesnt come around too often. I know you guys are all winners. You can sit it out. But I cant. 

All five men ultimately attended the event, but Adrien acknowledged the war in his speech.

He said on stage: "Im filled with a lot of sadness tonight because Im accepting an award at such a strange time. My experience of making this film made me very aware of the sadness and the dehumanisation of people at the times of war, and the repercussions of war.

Meanwhile, the 48-year-old star - who split from his girlfriend, sold his car, disconnected his phones and gave up his home, as well as mastering the piano to play Polish Jewish musician Wladyslaw Szpilman in 'The Pianist' - admitted he still can't watch his award-winning performance because of the memories it brings back.

He said: "I cant even watch the film. I cant. I kind of cry when I talk about it.

I got sick from it. It was cumulative. I had a starvation diet, then had to gain it back. My metabolism shifted. I thought Id experimented and lost, that my body was going to be different from now on.

"At the time there was an opportunity to work with Werner Herzog, but I read the script and I hadnt recovered. My character had dysentery and an ant hill on his head. He was consistently tortured. It seems silly now but I really hadnt recovered.
The application process took several weeks before it was even close to being sent off, but it was worthwhile considering it resulted in being one of only four Georgia students selected, Nebel said.

"It feels very rewarding, like my work on campus for people in my community is getting fully realized. It's more tangible," he said. "I was the student advocate for the Preferred Name Policy, which passed over the summer in 2021. It took me from October 2019 to July 2021. It was a lot of work, but it meant a lot to me, as a trans student, and a lot of people in my community on campus."

Nebel was nominated by his professor Hassan Hussain, whose research focus is multilingualism and multiculturalism in the Middle East. Hussain's mentorship is a great fit as Nebel aspires to go into sociolinguistics upon completing graduate school.

"I grew up acutely aware of how very small things can have a very big impact," Nebel said. "My inspiration is looking at how society either worsens or improves the quality of life for the people I care about and to see how I can make a difference."

Nebel will attend an orientation next month and start the fellowship program on Sept. 1, 2022. He expects to graduate in May 2023.

Since 2013, 10 UNG students have been named Newman Civic Fellows including Justin Bray in 2021. For more information, visit the Newman Civic Fellowship website.
As they return from spring break, University of North Georgia (UNG) students will receive "Nighthawks Together" wellness bags to help them finish the semester strong.

"The purpose of the bags is just to remind students to take care of their well-being and to give them a few resources so they can make better decisions about staying home sick or whether they should continue with engagement," Meri-Leigh Smith, associate director of wellness and health promotion, said.

Residential students received bags from their respective resident assistants while commuters can receive bags at the Student Counseling, Student Health Services, Campus Recreation and Wellness offices, and other various locations around campus. The Blue Ridge, Cumming and Oconee campuses have the bags at the general reception area students walk by daily.

Smith said more than 4,000 bags have been created for distribution on UNG's five campuses. They include information cards listing COVID-19 symptoms, reusable pocket-sized card thermometers distinguishing symptoms of cold versus flu, hand sanitizer, tissue packs, soap sheets, and a mask. Half of the bags will be distributed this spring and the other half will be available in the fall.
The former 25th Street Theatre site is set to once again host a crowd this week, but new Waco Fire Department facilities there will be the main attraction.

The fire department will hold a family-friendly public grand opening from 6-9 p.m. Wednesday for the new department headquarters and community space at 1006 N. 25th St., along with the new Fire Station No. 6 on the same property. The headquarters was built to resemble the bygone theater, which set the standard for Waco movie houses when it opened in 1945, and the new facility incorporates an overhauled version of the theaters large neon sign, with the word station replacing theatre.

Were very excited to move into our new facility, Fire Chief Gregory Summers said Friday.

The previous headquarters at 1016 Columbus Ave. was built in 1932 and holds tremendous historical and sentimental value, the chief said.

The new headquarters provides us with amenities that we didnt have at the Columbus Avenue location, and the forethought of restoring the sign of the 25th street theatre adds an ambiance that captures the history of the past, Summers said.

Additionally, the facility holds a community room for use by civic groups, neighborhood associations and for firefighters needing classroom space for training.

The city announced plans to buy the property in 2018, initially hoping to remodel the 25th Street Theatre facility that had been vacant for years. Officials said they found the building had deteriorated too much to repurpose, and moved forward with demolition instead. In 2020, the city awarded a $4.6 million contract for the new facility to CWA Construction Inc.

A ribbon cutting and red carpet starting at 6 p.m. will be a warm up for Wednesdays events. The actual grand opening will start at 6:45 p.m. Tours of Fire Station No. 6 will be conducted at 7 p.m.

Food trucks, popcorn and a dog adoption trailer will also be featured. A kid-favorite animated movie will be shown outdoors starting at 7:45 p.m. or after sundown, so attendees may want to bring chairs and blankets along.

The city built old Fire Station No. 6 at 2800 Bosque Blvd. in 1940, and department dispatch protocols have changed with the times, the chief said. So, firetrucks and ambulances can arrive at an emergency within six minutes after a 911 call.

Our response times are consistent with the National Fire Protection Association standards, and moving to this new facility can only improve upon that standard, Summers said.

The departments goal is to assemble 15 people at the scene of an emergency within 8 minutes, 90% of the time. Crews meet this standard in the area surrounding the new facility, he said.

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Together by the Brazos

Together by the Brazos, a dinner supporting Talitha Koum Institute and Lake Brazos Rotary Club, will run from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday at the Olive Branch restaurant, 215 S. Second St. The event will feature signature cocktails, charcuterie, a cash bar, four-course dinner with wine pairings, silent auction, and live music by Trammell Kelly and Pat McKee. Tickets cost $100 per person.

Proceeds will be split, with 70% going to Talitha Koum and 30% going to the Lake Brazos Rotary Club Foundation, which supports local causes using matching funds from Rotary International.

For more information, including sponsorships, email Michelle_Holland@baylor.edu.

Hazardous waste disposal day

The city of Waco will have a household hazardous waste disposal day from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the Waco Solid Waste Operations Center, 501 Schroeder Drive. This service is for all residents of Waco, Bellmead, Hewitt, Lacy Lakeview and Woodway.

Residents are encouraged to preregister at forms.office.com/g/NpFLHmT8TA and to be prepared to wait in line.

For more information, call 254-299-2612.

Attic Treasures donations

Historic Waco Foundations Attic Treasures fundraiser is accepting donations from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through April 23 at 4328 W. Waco Drive. No adult clothing or shoes are accepted.

For more information, call 254-753-5166.

Mission Waco banquet

Mission Waco/World is observing 30 years of services this year and will have an anniversary banquet from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at The Base at Extraco Events Center.

Reservations may be made at missionwaco.brushfire.com/events/526815. For more information, email jbrammer@missionwaco.org.

Submit printed or typed items to Briefly, P.O. Box 2588, Waco, 76702-2588; or email goingson@wacotrib.com.
ASHLAND  A new city flag will rise on Ashland flagpoles this spring, and the city is one step closer to choosing a winning design.

On March 8, the Ashland City Council met to consider submissions to a flag design contest spearheaded by the Ashland Creative District Committee.

Caleb Fjone, the executive director of the Ashland Area Economic Development Corporation, said the intention of the meeting was for the council to narrow the designs down to their three favorites, which would then be voted on by the public in April.

The competition opened for submissions in December, and contestants had until Feb. 28 to enter their designs. Twelve people submitted 120 total designs for the contest.

The submissions were presented one by one to the council on a television in the City Council Chamber at City Hall. The names of the designers were not disclosed to the council members to avoid potential biases. The names of the designers also will not be disclosed during the public vote in April.

The council was joined via Zoom by Michael Green, a flag design expert at the helm of Indianapolis-based Flags for Good, which assists cities and organizations in designing flags and donates a portion of its sales to charity groups.

Green said there are general flag design principles that the councils selected submissions should follow. Flags should be simple, incorporate meaningful symbolism, use two or three basic colors, be distinctive and avoid lettering and seals.

He pointed to the Nebraska state flag, with its seal and small lettering, as an example of a design style that should be avoided.

Effective city and government flags include those of Chicago (with four red stars centered horizontally between two sky blue lines) and Ukraine (with its horizontal bands of blue and yellow), which Green said are simple but powerful.

The flags should also serve as a starting point for other city marketing strategies. Lincolns new flag, for instance, is used as the citys Twitter avatar, he said.

A flag, really in this modern day and age, is the beginning of the larger brand system for the city, Green said.

Many of the Ashland flag submissions incorporated the blue and green colors used in the citys current logo, and compasses  in reference to the cardinal points embedded into the intersection of 15th and Silver streets. Wagon wheels were another recurring symbol.

After deliberation, the council settled on three designs: one with a blue and green compass positioned in the center and a blue stripe bisecting the flag horizontally. Another features the sun rising from the horizon and a curving stream in the foreground. The third design, which Fjone said was reworked slightly since the council meeting to include more color contrast, displays a compass offset to the left side, with the right side of the compass visible from the edge of the flag.

With the designs chosen, a vote will take place in April at the Ashland Community Resource Center. Ashland-Greenwood Public Schools students will vote at school. An election date is yet to be determined.

The flag contest is part of efforts to establish a state-recognized creative district in Ashland. The Ashland Creative District Committee is a partnership among the Ashland Area Economic Development Corporation, the Ashland Arts Council and the City of Ashland.

To receive the designation, the committee is required to demonstrate community engagement  the flag contest was introduced for that purpose, Fjone said.

(This brings) creative minds to the table, and we will be able to express what we like as a community and display it on a flag, Fjone said.

The creative district program would allow Ashland to designate a portion of the city as a hub of art, culture and heritage. The benefits to having a Creative District could include attracting more artists and creative people to the community, create new economic activity, enhance property values and revitalize and beautify historic buildings through grants.

Sam Crisler is a reporter for The Ashland Gazette. Reach him via email at samuel.crisler@wahoonewspaper.com.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has confined a massive amount of the world's wheat, maize, and barley, and global food and fertilizer costs are rising. Wheat prices have risen 21%, barley 33%, and certain fertilizers 40% since the invasion last month.

The conflict in Ukraine has sent shockwaves across the world's energy markets. The world is now confronted with a more serious crisis: a scarcity of food.

It is estimated that a significant amount of the world's wheat, maize, and barley is imprisoned in Russia and Ukraine due to the conflict. An even more substantial portion of the world's fertilizers is stranded in Russia and Belarus. Consequently, global food and fertilizer costs are increasing at an alarming rate. Since the invasion last month, wheat prices have jumped by 21%, barley prices have surged by 33%, and certain fertilizer costs have increased by 40%.

Major problems, including the pandemic, transportation limits, high energy costs, and recent droughts, floods, and fires, have exacerbated the upheaval, resulting in higher prices and tighter supply.

Following the financial meltdown, economists, humanitarian groups, and government officials have expressed concern about the consequences, including a rise in global hunger.

The coming tragedy exposes the ramifications of a massive conflict in the present era of globalization, which has never been seen before. Experts predict that prices for food, fertilizer, oil, gas, and even metals such as aluminum, nickel, and palladium will continue to rise rapidly as the impacts of climate change cascade.

Farmers in Ukraine are on the verge of missing out on important planting and harvesting seasons. Because of the high cost of electricity, European fertilizer companies reduce their output by a substantial amount. Farmers from Brazil to Texas are reducing the amount of fertilizer they use, endangering the size of the next harvests.

China, which is suffering its worst wheat harvest in decades due to severe floods, plans to purchase a significant portion of the world's declining wheat supply. And India, which generally only exports a modest quantity of wheat, has already seen international demand more than treble compared to the previous year.

According to federal statistics, supermarket prices in the United States were already up 8.6 percent from a year earlier in February, the highest rise in more than 40 years. Economists predict that the conflict will cause those prices to rise even more. The effect will be considerably higher food expenditures for people all across the globe.

For those already on the verge of food insecurity, the new spike in food costs may be the straw that breaks the camel's back. Hunger increased by around 18 percent during the epidemic, bringing hungry people to between 720 million and 811 million, after remaining relatively stable for five years. According to a report released earlier this month by the United Nations, the war's effect on the global food market alone might cause 7.6 million to 13.1 million people to go hungry.

Global Food Program expenditures have already risen by $71 million each month, enough to reduce daily meals for over 4 million people in developing countries. "We'll be taking food from the hungry and distributing it to the needy," Mr. Beasley said.

In addition, rising costs and famine give a possible new dimension to the world's perception of the conflict. Could they serve to inflame anti-Russian sentiment and demands for military intervention? Or would the fury be directed at the Western sanctions assisting in the entrapment of food and fertilizer?

While practically every country will see increased food costs, certain areas may struggle to get enough food to meet their needs.

Armenia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and Eritrea have gotten practically all of their wheat from Russia and Ukraine, and they need to find other sources of supply. However, they are up against far bigger purchasers, including Turkey, Egypt, Bangladesh, and Iran, who have sourced more than 60% of their wheat from the two warring nations in recent years.

Moreover, since China, the world's largest producer and consumer of wheat, is projected to purchase far more wheat than normal on international markets this year, they will be bidding on a considerably smaller quantity of wheat. Chinese officials reported on March 5 that heavy floods last year had caused a delay in planting a third of the country's wheat crop and that the country's forthcoming wheat harvest now seemed to be in jeopardy.

Russia and Ukraine are two of the worst places in the world for the global food market to be involved in a war. The United States and China have combined to account for nearly 30 percent of global wheat exports, 17 percent of corn exports, 32 percent of barley exports, which is a critical source of animal feed, and 75 percent of sunflower seed oil exports, which is an important cooking oil in some parts of the world.

Because of sanctions that have practically walled Russia off from the rest of the world, the country has been unable to export food in huge quantities. Ukraine, on the other hand, has been physically cut off. Russia has closed off the Black Sea to exports, and Ukraine does not have enough train cars to convey food overland from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean.

The upcoming crop is becoming more concerning, which is especially concerning in Ukraine. After supplies were transferred to the military, Ukraine's agricultural minister appealed to friends for 1,900 train cars of petroleum on March 11, claiming that the country's fields had run out of fuel after supplies were diverted to the military. He said that Ukrainian farmers would be unable to cultivate or harvest if they did not have access to that fuel.

There are more roadblocks. According to the United Nations, up to 30 percent of Ukraine's agriculture might be turned into a conflict zone if the country's economy collapses. And with millions of Ukrainians leaving the nation or joining the fighting on the front lines, there are considerably fewer people available to labor in the fields.

The wheat grown in Russia and Ukraine is difficult to replace. According to the United Nations, inventories in the United States and Canada are already at or near capacity, while Argentina is restricting exports and Australia is already operating at or near capacity. Wheat prices have increased by 69 percent in the last year. Corn and barley prices have risen by 36 percent and 82 percent, respectively, among other important agricultural exports from Russia and Ukraine.

The war poses another longer-term shock to the food markets: a scarcity of fertilizer due to the fighting.

The fertilizer price has already driven Matt Huie, a farmer in the Texas city of Corpus Christi, to cease spreading fertilizer to the grazing grounds that feed his hundreds of cows, ensuring that they would be skinnier when they are slaughtered. He is now concerned that he may have to cut fertilizer application for his next corn harvest, diminishing the crop's yield. In his words, "we've entered unknown terrain."

Russia is the world's biggest fertilizer exporter, accounting for around 15 percent of global fertilizer exports. This month, just as farmers across the globe were getting ready to sow their crops, Russia informed its fertilizer companies that shipments would be suspended. Sanctions were already making such deals harder to complete.

Sanctions have also been levied on Russia's closest ally, Belarus, a prominent producer of potash-based fertilizer, which is essential for producing several important crops, such as soybeans and maize. But even before the Ukraine war, Belarus's fertilizer exports were blocked because of sanctions over its seizure of an expatriate dissident who had been a passenger in a Ryanair jetliner forced to land in the country.

Following up on this warning to clients, many European fertilizer firms said earlier this month that they were reducing or stopping output due to rising energy costs. Natural gas is used in the production of several fertilizers.

The world's most important fertilizers prices have now more than quadrupled or tripled in the last year alone.

New fears Russia-Ukraine war could bring global food shortages
WAVERLY  Wartburg College has hired its first-ever female president after a five-month search drew a strong pool of diverse candidates currently leading at institutions around the world, according to the college.

Rebecca Neiduski, formerly the dean of the School of Health Sciences at Elon University in North Carolina, was introduced Monday. She is the 18th president in the institutions 170-year history.

Her first day is July 1.

My entire career has been built on the values of Wartburgs mission statement. Throughout my career, I have challenged and nurtured others to reach their greatest potential and provided leadership and service at universities, in the classroom, and around the world, she said in a statement. Being raised as a Lutheran, by Lutheran school teachers, instilled in me a deep commitment to the integration of faith and learning.

She replaces Darrel D. Colson who will retire at the end of the 2021 academic year after a 13-year tenure that started July 1, 2009.

As we gather, I recognize that we all have been and continue to be living in a time of great change and with a high degree of uncertainty. Welcoming a new president is yet another change, she told a crowd inside Wartburg Chapel on Monday. The most important thing I want you to know is that I am fully committed to you and to this community. And I am excited to work with you as we begin this new chapter.

Theres a strong and powerful legacy here at Wartburg College. It began with the students and leaders who came before us. Their vision and perseverance created both a strong foundation and generational success. Everyone I have met through this hiring process shares the history of Wartburg with tremendous pride.

A 14-person search committee  comprising the Board of Regents and faculty, staff and student representatives  unanimously recommended Neiduski as a candidate with a strong communication skills; a history of leadership in diversity, equity and inclusion efforts; a history of fundraising success; and a track record for leading innovation to the Board of Regents, reads an announcement from the college.

Dr. Neiduski rose to the top of a very competitive group of candidates, and we are thrilled her path has led her to Wartburg, said Mike McCoy, chair of the Wartburg Board of Regents, in a press release. We all were impressed by her ability to embrace Wartburgs mission and vision and be a relationship builder. She has the depth of experience and the leadership ability to lead Wartburg into the future.

The regents unanimously agreed to extend an offer to the new president, who will be responsible for leading the execution of the colleges newly adopted strategic plan, Our Brightest Days: Realizing Purpose, Leading Change.

Prior to Neiduskis work at Elon, she was the chair and program director for the department of occupational therapy at Concordia University-Wisconsin and an associate professor of occupational therapy with tenure at Maryville University in St. Louis.

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WATERLOO -- The next Legislative Public Forum of the 2022 Legislative Session will be held from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Friday, March 25, at the Hawkeye College Van G. Miller Learning Center, 120 Jefferson St. The forum will focus on the topic of the environment. It will also be aired at Facebook Live posted at https://www.facebook.com/cvlforum This is the Facebook page for the Legislative Public Forums.
Im excited to join the team at Fidelity Bank & Trust and become an active member in the community. I knew Waverly was a place Id like to raise my family as my wife and I welcome our first child in April, said Schaufenbuel.
Willamette University welcomes Kristen Gore, a senior statistician at HP in Corvallis, as its newest assistant professor of computing and data science.

An instructor and statistics enthusiast, Gore had led the data strategy for the companys newest generation of print technology since 2020. In this role, she designed a comprehensive sampling strategy for the entire printer manufacturing process, maintaining high standards for product quality and reliability.

She also provided counsel for key projects spanning its global print and personal systems organizations, led quality audits, and regularly taught classes, developing topics such as practical data analysis, design of experiments and statistical process control for multidisciplinary teams around the world. In 2020, she was chosen to be a faculty member in the HP Scholar Program, a six-week developmental series which gave over 1800 students an accelerated overview of HPs gaming, software and data analytics, print, supply chain, and sales businesses.

Community engagement opportunities at HP led Gore to chair its Multicultural Business Impact Network, which participates in local outreach programs such as LEGO Robotics for elementary students. In 2020, she co-led HP Corvallis first annual community scholarship program, awarding $25,000 to underrepresented students pursuing a STEM undergraduate degree. She regards this as one of the most meaningful experiences shes engaged in at HP.

Gore earned bachelors degrees in meteorology and statistics in 2009 at North Carolina State University. By 2014, she had earned her MA and PhD in statistics at Columbia University, New York, where she received the Howard Levene Outstanding Teaching Award as a graduate student instructor.

Returning to a university setting is exciting for Gore, who loves sharing her enthusiasm about the statistics field and encourages the responsible governance of it.

The field is so powerful because all of the major facets of our life are governed by algorithms, and were the ones programming them, she said. Sometimes our biases can creep in, and that means we have to be more careful to do it correctly so we dont perpetuate inequality.

Her corporate experience, regional connections and passion for supporting diverse and inclusive communities will enrich her classes at Willamette. She looks forward to the universitys close-knit atmosphere and collaborating with students and faculty. Her first day is Aug. 1.

Its a huge honor and opportunity to participate in the development of future STEM leaders, she said.
Just in case you were on a deserted island for 8 years and missed the storm that has brewed in Ukraine

Every issue that is festering from the Western reaction to Russia removing Western War Assets in Ukraine is due to the Western Elites responses to the situation

When USA sanctions Russia.sanctions will hurt one as bad as the other. Yet in the Eus case.sanctions imposed upon Russia? Only perform a double tap shot to the back of the EU head, in its seemingly suicide attempt

In the case of the EU. Action plus reaction equal outcome. Their (EU) reaction has been the worst possible reactions given the true circumstances

That leads to a simple thought, Why would they do this? Even the tiniest lapdog fights for its real family! The EU is not even attempting to try to save her own people with in the EU Block

Either they are stupid, utterly weak, totally paid for and or they want to commit suicide?

WtR
Not long ago; Saakashvili was sent to Ukraine to help the poor people to recover from Russian invasions, yes many many many Russian invasions and those invasions just never stop (~Sarc~)

Russia just keeps sending an armada across the border and poor little Ukraine is barely able to stop the beast of a bear. Why Ukraine must build a wall against Russia on the border and Ukraine needs lots of money and weapons to help fight against Russian aggression (~Sarc~)

I wrote this article in the near past and got attacked server wise over it by the TSA and DHS in the U.S.  Rinse, Repeat, Rinse & Repeat

Now Senator McCain has been asked to join Sassy in his endeavors of saving Ukraine and help stop these Russian invasions that happen daily, sometimes hourly, according to western news (~Sarc~)

Now lets get serious a moment; the image of Sassy and McCain is of two of the most pathetic terrorists on earth. These two terrorists are supported by the U.S. and allowed to run loose on the world. Sassy has been curtailed somewhat by all the arrest warrants for him, but McCain still roams freely from terrorist group to terrorist group, handing out money and promises of support by the government of the USA

Is it me only or has anyone else noticed that when peace is prevalent in an area of the world, McCain shows up and talks with US supported forces and miraculously money appears, weapons appear and the direction toward peace switches and death rears its ugly head again?

McCain is one sick person and should be sent ASAP to an mental home. Yet we support his right to waste tax payer money and travel all over the world supporting terrorists

You wonder who really is running the U.S., because it sure is not our president and it makes me claim once again, The USA is run by thousands and thousands of wannabe Hitlers and Napoleons!

It really is time to clean them up and out of politics

Have a nice day

Post by Kyle Keeton

Windows to Russia
Hey Everyone,

I was drinking my morning cup of wonderful coffee here in Russia and thinking about Part 3 of my Visa Trip to Ukraine.

As you know Part 2 left me less than enchanted with the police of Ukraine and at that point I had decided to get some rest and start the new day at the American Embassy. So that is what I did

Now this visit to the Embassy was exceptionally fun and fruitful. This was the turning point of the trip from hell  into the trip with the light at the end of the tunnel. I have no complaints about the service that I got from the American Embassy and the day spent with them was a good reminder of American Bureaucracy. (Can anyone say Headache Time!) I got to converse with multiples of Americans and meet some new friends for future adventures. One friend in particular was an 80 year old professor that was a shear joy to talk with and exchange information

The American Embassy in Ukraine was a whole different world than the American Embassy in Russia. I wrote an article about the American Embassy in Russia. (Article)

Can we say Night and Day? There is a huge difference between the Embassies. In the American Embassy in Ukraine we (America) have gone all out to make sure that Ukraine knows that America has money and is a heavy fortified Embassy. We have lots of money spending, show and tell in the American Embassy in Ukraine.

In Russia the American Embassy is 180 degrees the opposite direction. Give me the Russian Embassy any time. Low profile and less flash is an attribute. The same job is accomplished with a whole lot less overhead.

One thing that stood out to me was the political undertones from the American Embassy in Ukraine that infiltrated into the Ukraine Governmental section. America is and has been buying the Ukraine government for some time now. Biden just bought and paid for Ukraines help to rearm Georgia. That is a No  No and should be stopped. American politics need to stay out of Ukraine or any other country for that matter

The American Embassy was very nice and in the usual governmental grind of gears, they accomplished all that I needed to have accomplished and all that they in their power could accomplish. I got a new passport, so at least I could get a visa and get home to Russia.

I had two choices of what I could do.

1. I could apply for a new passport from America and wait at least 10 days before I would get it. (Cost $100.00)

(Or)

2. I could get an Emergency Passport and make my way back to Russia and deal with the new passport with the Moscow American Embassy. (Cost $100.00 and no fee in Moscow for another new passport)

Lets put it this way: If I had chosen choice one (1), I would still be in Ukraine, twiddling my thumbs.

So my second day in Ukraine was winding down as I left the American Embassy in Ukraine with another passport that made it a little easier to transverse the streets of Kiev

Note: Remember  When you apply for a new passport the old passport is null and void even if you find it later. Next article Part 4  I get a phone call from the Ukraine Embassy

Windows to Russia!

comments always welcome.
Alarmed at the anti-Russian hysteria sweeping Official Washington  and the specter of a new Cold War  U.S. intelligence veterans took the unusual step of sending this Aug. 30 memo to German Chancellor Merkel challenging the reliability of Ukrainian and U.S. media claims about a Russian invasion.

Via AntiWar, ConsortiumNews and ZeroHedge

MEMORANDUM FOR: Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany

FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS)

SUBJECT: Ukraine and NATO

We the undersigned are longtime veterans of U.S. intelligence. We take the unusual step of writing this open letter to you to ensure that you have an opportunity to be briefed on our views prior to the NATO summit on September 4-5.

You need to know, for example, that accusations of a major Russian invasion of Ukraine appear not to be supported by reliable intelligence. Rather, the intelligence seems to be of the same dubious, politically fixed kind used 12 years ago to justify the U.S.-led attack on Iraq. We saw no credible evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq then; we see no credible evidence of a Russian invasion now. Twelve years ago, former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, mindful of the flimsiness of the evidence on Iraqi WMD, refused to join in the attack on Iraq. In our view, you should be appropriately suspicions of charges made by the US State Department and NATO officials alleging a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

President Barack Obama tried yesterday to cool the rhetoric of his own senior diplomats and the corporate media, when he publicly described recent activity in the Ukraine, as a continuation of whats been taking place for months now  its not really a shift.

Obama, however, has only tenuous control over the policymakers in his administration  who, sadly, lack much sense of history, know little of war, and substitute anti-Russian invective for a policy. One year ago, hawkish State Department officials and their friends in the media very nearly got Mr. Obama to launch a major attack on Syria based, once again, on intelligence that was dubious, at best.

Largely because of the growing prominence of, and apparent reliance on, intelligence we believe to be spurious, we think the possibility of hostilities escalating beyond the borders of Ukraine has increased significantly over the past several days. More important, we believe that this likelihood can be avoided, depending on the degree of judicious skepticism you and other European leaders bring to the NATO summit next week.

Experience With Untruth:

Hopefully, your advisers have reminded you of NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussens checkered record for credibility. It appears to us that Rasmussens speeches continue to be drafted by Washington. This was abundantly clear on the day before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq when, as Danish Prime Minister, he told his Parliament: Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. This is not something we just believe. We know.

Photos can be worth a thousand words; they can also deceive. We have considerable experience collecting, analyzing, and reporting on all kinds of satellite and other imagery, as well as other kinds of intelligence. Suffice it to say that the images released by NATO on August 28 provide a very flimsy basis on which to charge Russia with invading Ukraine. Sadly, they bear a strong resemblance to the images shown by Colin Powell at the UN on February 5, 2003 that, likewise, proved nothing.

That same day, we warned President Bush that our former colleague analysts were increasingly distressed at the politicization of intelligence and told him flatly, Powells presentation does not come close to justifying war. We urged Mr. Bush to widen the discussion  beyond the circle of those advisers clearly bent on a war for which we see no compelling reason and from which we believe the unintended consequences are likely to be catastrophic.

Consider Iraq today. Worse than catastrophic. Although President Vladimir Putin has until now showed considerable reserve on the conflict in the Ukraine, it behooves us to remember that Russia, too, can shock and awe. In our view, if there is the slightest chance of that kind of thing eventually happening to Europe because of Ukraine, sober-minded leaders need to think this through very carefully.

If the photos that NATO and the US have released represent the best available proof of an invasion from Russia, our suspicions increase that a major effort is under way to fortify arguments for the NATO summit to approve actions that Russia is sure to regard as provocative. Caveat emptor is an expression with which you are no doubt familiar. Suffice it to add that one should be very cautious regarding what Mr. Rasmussen, or even Secretary of State John Kerry, are peddling.

We trust that your advisers have kept you informed regarding the crisis in Ukraine from the beginning of 2014, and how the possibility that Ukraine would become a member of NATO is anathema to the Kremlin. According to a February 1, 2008 cable (published by WikiLeaks) from the US embassy in Moscow to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, US Ambassador William Burns was called in by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who explained Russias strong opposition to NATO membership for Ukraine.

Lavrov warned pointedly of fears that the issue could potentially split the country in two, leading to violence or even, some claim, civil war, which would force Russia to decide whether to intervene. Burns gave his cable the unusual title, NYET MEANS NYET: RUSSIAS NATO ENLARGEMENT REDLINES, and sent it off to Washington with IMMEDIATE precedence. Two months later, at their summit in Bucharest NATO leaders issued a formal declaration that Georgia and Ukraine will be in NATO.

Just yesterday, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk used his Facebook page to claim that, with the approval of Parliament that he has requested, the path to NATO membership is open. Yatsenyuk, of course, was Washingtons favorite pick to become prime minister after the February 22 coup detat in Kiev. Yats is the guy, said Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland a few weeks before the coup, in an intercepted telephone conversation with US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt. You may recall that this is the same conversation in which Nuland said, Fuck the EU.

Timing of the Russian Invasion

The conventional wisdom promoted by Kiev just a few weeks ago was that Ukrainian forces had the upper hand in fighting the anti-coup federalists in southeastern Ukraine, in what was largely portrayed as a mop-up operation. But that picture of the offensive originated almost solely from official government sources in Kiev. There were very few reports coming from the ground in southeastern Ukraine. There was one, however, quoting Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, that raised doubt about the reliability of the governments portrayal.

According to the press service of the President of Ukraine on August 18, Poroshenko called for a regrouping of Ukrainian military units involved in the operation of power in the East of the country.  Today we need to do the rearrangement of forces that will defend our territory and continued army offensives, said Poroshenko, adding, we need to consider a new military operation in the new circumstances.

If the new circumstances meant successful advances by Ukrainian government forces, why would it be necessary to regroup, to rearrange the forces? At about this time, sources on the ground began to report a string of successful attacks by the anti-coup federalists against government forces. According to these sources, it was the government army that was starting to take heavy casualties and lose ground, largely because of ineptitude and poor leadership.

Ten days later, as they became encircled and/or retreated, a ready-made excuse for this was to be found in the Russian invasion. That is precisely when the fuzzy photos were released by NATO and reporters like the New York Times Michael Gordon were set loose to spread the word that the Russians are coming. (Michael Gordon was one of the most egregious propagandists promoting the war on Iraq.)

No Invasion  But Plenty Other Russian Support

The anti-coup federalists in southeastern Ukraine enjoy considerable local support, partly as a result of government artillery strikes on major population centers. And we believe that Russian support probably has been pouring across the border and includes, significantly, excellent battlefield intelligence. But it is far from clear that this support includes tanks and artillery at this point  mostly because the federalists have been better led and surprisingly successful in pinning down government forces.

At the same time, we have little doubt that, if and when the federalists need them, the Russian tanks will come.

This is precisely why the situation demands a concerted effort for a ceasefire, which you know Kiev has so far been delaying. What is to be done at this point? In our view, Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk need to be told flat-out that membership in NATO is not in the cards  and that NATO has no intention of waging a proxy war with Russia  and especially not in support of the ragtag army of Ukraine. Other members of NATO need to be told the same thing.

For the Steering Group, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity:

William Binney, former Technical Director, World Geopolitical & Military Analysis, NSA; co-founder, SIGINT Automation Research Center (ret.)

David MacMichael, National Intelligence Council (ret.)

Ray McGovern, former US Army infantry/intelligence officer & CIA analyst (ret.)

Elizabeth Murray, Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Middle East (ret.)

Todd E. Pierce, MAJ, US Army Judge Advocate (Ret.)

Coleen Rowley, Division Counsel & Special Agent, FBI (ret.)

Ann Wright, Col., US Army (ret.); Foreign Service Officer (resigned)

Post by Kyle Keeton

Windows to Russia


Poroshenko behaving like Saakashvili. Two puppets that think and act like idiots

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik)  Russia requested an urgent meeting of UN Security Council members at 11 a.m. on Monday (16.00 GMT) to discuss the situation in the Sea of Azov, Russias First Deputy Envoy to UN, Dmitry Polyanskiy, told reporters. In connection with the dangerous development of the situation in the Sea of Azov and the events that followed them, Russia requested an urgent convocation of an open meeting of the Security Council on the morning of November 26 under the agenda item Maintenance of int

Source: Russia Requests Urgent UN Security Council Meeting Over Azov Sea Issue  Sputnik International

Lets see:

Ukraine the puppet goes looking for trouble. 

Martial Law in Ukraine. 

Ukraine failed state. 

Syrian rebels gas debacle. 

Rapid economic deterioration taking place in the west. 

Iranian sanctions have failed. 

Europe wont back US sanctions. 

China helping Venezuela. 

China defying sanctions. 

Riots in France. 

One hundred + (more or less) reasons to start WW3. 

My question is:

Couldnt Ukraine/USA have waited until after Christmas/New Year to try to start shit?

Guess that is too much to ask for

WtR

PS: Remember: Poroshenko  A CIA militant coup installed him as president in Ukraine

And remember that American media called for the bridges destruction

Ukraine should blow up Putins Crimea bridge: Russian President Vladimir Putin opened the Kerch Strait Bridge connecting Crimea, Ukraine, with mainland Russia on Tuesday. Putin did so by in a typical show of bravado by leading a column of transport vehicles across the bridge.Ukraine should now destroy elements of the bridge.

Source: Ukraine should blow up Putins Crimea bridge

I would be watching out for the snakes in the water all the time, if I was Russia
How involved is the US national security machinery in Ukraine? The answer to that question is contained in a sampling of information available from the US embassy in Ukraine and the Pentagons contract awards announcements. Other publications (links provided below) have also been consulted.

Vietnam 2.0 is in the making in Ukraine. The US civil-military establishment, Republicans and Democrats alike, want a shooting war with Russia, even though it was the US that caused the carnage in Ukraine, not the Russians. Yet, that inconvenient reality has been nullified by the US propaganda campaign which, of course, the Russians have responded to with their own.

Surreptitious escalation of US military involvement in Ukraine is the order of the day. Consider this comment from US Senator Jack Reid (Democrat): One step that should be explored, he said, is taking Ukrainian forces outside the country and training them on the provided weapon systems, so theyre ready. Second is the possibility of transferring some of these systems from other countries into Ukraine, which doesnt raise quite the visibility of the transfer, he said. And then theres the possibility of taking some of our systems and beginning todeploy them to training areas particularly so that they can train on them and have them ready to move into areas of conflict, he said He also said Ukraine has an extensive military industrial base that could be used to produce the weapons, but that would take time and financing.

Its becoming apparent that the US Army, US Air Force and US Navy want, respectively, the 21st Century versions of the Battle of Prokhorovka, Hiroshima/Nagasa ki, and the Battle of Midway. Maybe the plan is to make proxy wars so hot that world war will follow with Russia (and China). Its doubtful that the US Marines want another Iwo Jima or that US special operations warfighters want to be dropped into no-win situations (they are smarter than that).

No matter, Americans shoot up war like a junkie shoots up heroin. Destroying Syria and Iraq as functioning states did not provide the high, nor did the War on Terror, or the War on Drugs, or Afghanistan (10,000 US soldiers remain there). The next score needs to be higher-dose, longer lasting, real man, you know what Im saying.

California-Ukrai ne (US Embassy website)

So California is Ukraines buddy? Just great.

CaliforniaUkrai ne State Partnership Program: SPP Mission is to promote democracy, free market economies and military reform, by establishing long-term institutional affiliations and personal relationships at the state and local level. The California  Ukraine partnership directly supports both the goals of the US Ambassador to Ukraine and Commander, U.S. European Command. As part of the Governors Cabinet, the Adjutant General of the California National Guard facilitates partnerships throughout the state and local governments in California as well as the private sector. Recently, a tuberculosis clinic in Odessa was renovated with funds provided by this office

Defense Cooperation between US and Ukraine (US Embassy website)

Joint Contact Team Program-Ukraine (JCTP). The mission of the Joint Contact Team Program (JCTP) is to deploy US military teams to Ukraine to acquaint the Ukrainian military with various aspects of western militaries. The program was developed in 1992 to assist the armed forces of Ukraine, as the military of one of the emerging democracies of Central and Eastern Europe.

International Military Education and Training (IMET): The IMET Program provides training in the United States to selected foreign military and related civilian personnel. The overarching security cooperation objective is to promote stability, democratization, military professionalism, and closer relationships with NATO.

Foreign Military Sales/Foreign Military Financing: The FMF program assists the Ukrainian military in conducting defense reform by providing funds for Ukraine to purchase US military equipment and services.

Defense Contracts for Ukraine (Pentagon Website)

September 2015: Aerovironment Inc., Monrovia, California, was awarded a $9,049,306 firm-fixed-price foreign military sales contract (Ukraine) for the small UAV RQ-11B Raven analogy system. Work will be performed in Monrovia, California, with an estimated completion date of May 11, 2016. One bid was solicited with one received. Fiscal 2010 other procurement funds in the amount of $9,049,306 were obligated at the time of the award. Army Contracting Command, Natick, Massachusetts, is the contracting activity (W911QY-15-C-010 2).

September 2015: Harris Corp., Rochester, New York, was awarded a $65,669,054 firm-fixed-price , incrementally funded foreign military sales contract (Ukraine, Lithuania, Lebanon, Chad, Niger, Mauritania, Kenya, Somalia, Uganda, Ethiopia) with options for Harris Radio Systems, (multiband (AN/PRC-152A: AN/PRC-117G), high frequency (HF) and dismount), antennas, BMS software, data terminals, touch tablets, field service representatives, and training for installation, operation and maintenance. Work will be performed in Rochester, New York, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2016. One bid was solicited with one received. Fiscal 2015 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $38,950,534 were obligated at the time of the award. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W91CRB-15-C-502 9).

July 2015: AM General, South Bend, Indiana was awarded a $372,936,476 firm-fixed-price multi-year foreign military sales contract (Afghanistan, Iraq, Kenya, Lebanon, Ukraine, Tunisia) with options for 2,082 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs) and contractor unique spare parts. Work will be performed in Mishawaka, Indiana with an estimated completion date of April 29, 2016. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Fiscal 2015 other procurement funds in the amount of $372,936,476 were obligated at the time of the award. Army Contracting Command is the contracting activity (W56HZV-15-C-015 5).

Training the Ukrainian Military

July 2015 (from Defense Industry Daily): Ukraine will receive external link an additional $500 million from the US government to finance the training of Ukrainian military personnel. The Obama administration modestly increased US training to include Defense Ministry forces in June external link, after US personnel were first deployed to train Interior Ministry troops in April. The announcement comes several days after a report external link published by the Center for New American Security identified several strategic deficiencies with US policy on defense assistance.

Propaganda Generates Profits: Bellicose Neighbor=Joint Procurement

The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are discussing external link the possibility of collaborative defense procurement. The NATO states border an increasingly belligerent Russia and may also seek to join the development activities of the Nordic Defence Cooperations external link (NORDEFCO) Military Cooperation Areas in a bid to maximize rising defense investment. Estonia already meets NATOs target defense spend of 2% GDP, with Latvia and Lithuania planning to meet this target by 2020. Lower per-unit costs through larger equipment buys are likely to drive joint investment, with air defense systems specifically mentioned. The US and Poland have been keen to develop the Baltics air defense systems, with Sweden also planning a revamp of its capabilities.

John Stanton is a Virginia based writer. Reach him at captainkong22@gm ail.com
Troy Driver, accused of killing Naomi Irion, has been formally charged with murder and will be held without bail at the Lyon County Jail.

The arraignment happened Friday, April 8th at a hearing at the Canal Township Justice Court in Fernley. Driver appeared via zoom from Yerington.

The Lyon County District Attorneys Office says Troy Driver fatally shot Naomi Irion before burying her body in the desert, according to an amended criminal complaint.

Lyon County District Attorney Stephen Rye filed the amended criminal complaint Tuesday adding first-degree murder and other crimes to the kidnapping charge already facing 41-year-old Troy Driver.

Driver is accused of kidnapping Irion from the Fernley Walmart parking lot on March 12, and killing her on or before March 25 - the same day Driver was arrested for kidnapping.

Four days later, authorities say investigators acted on a tip and found her body in a grave near the Churchill County line.

Drivers been held in the Lyon County Jail in Fernley on $750,000 bondable bail since his arrest.

Hes now accused of first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon, first-degree kidnapping, robbery, burglary of a motor vehicle and destroying evidence, according to the new complaint Rye filed Tuesday in Canal Township Justice Court in Fernley.

Drivers public defender, Mario Walther, didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

The complaint said Driver shot Irion in Churchill County northeast of Fernley, where he took her for the purpose of committing sexual assault and/or purpose of killing her.

The document also alleged that Driver destroyed her cell phone and left pieces in Lyon, Churchill, Pershing, Humboldt and Eureka counties.

The Lyon County Sheriff's Office says Driver shot Irion in the head and chest.

The local community has been rallying around this family since this all started - there are a couple of events this weekend.

Kim Lovett, a Fernley resident says, "For this to happen is a scary thing, that even in our quiet little sleepy town that we have predators out there that would do something like this."

A devastated community that carried hopes of finding Naomi for weeks, and went on countless searches with her family. They said this outcome wasn't one anyone wanted. Some of the resident we spoke with extended their condolences to Naomi's family, and want them to know they are supported. Tisha Leija, another Fernley resident visibly upset told us, "I can't even imagine... the first thing I thought of was poor mom...poor mom...very sad. "

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The man accused of kidnapping Naomi Irion will stay in Lyon County Jail on $750,000 bondable bail.

41-year-old Troy E. Driver was arrested and booked into the jail last Friday. He's officially now charged with first degree kidnapping, a felony.

"Should the defendant post bail, he will not be released from custody until a GPS monitoring device is installed," Judge Lori Matheus, Canal Township Justice Court said.

The judge set Driver's preliminary hearing for April 12 for 1:30pm.

Irion's family attended the court hearing.

"It does look like they're going to be posting bail, from what I understand, so he's the only one who can help us bring Naomi home," Casey Valley, Irion's brother said. "He's the only one that we know about."

If he does get released from jail, Driver will be ordered to stay out of Fernley. He also must not contact Irion's family.

Driver has a criminal history. According to old articles in the Ukiah Daily Journal, he pleaded guilty to accessory to murder after the fact for his role in a 1997 homicide in Willits, California. He was 17 years old at the time of the murder. The article says Driver stuffed the body of an alleged drug dealer, Paul Steven Rodriguez in a trunk and then left it in a wooded area. The article says he pleaded guilty to three charges of robbery and one of burglary. A judge sentenced him to 15 years in prison but the article said he could have been released after serving 12.

"It is upsetting to me that there is people out here in the general public that have these capabilities with this kind of past and people should be more aware of that," Naomi's brother, Casey Valley, said. "We talk about sex offenders all the time but where is the list with this guy?"

Deputies also announced Friday, March 25th that Driver's Chevy truck was impounded and is being processed for possible evidence.

This photo below, shows the truck being taken into evidence. David Ausano took the picture from his porch in Fallon, the night of March 25, 2022.

A second public search was organized for Saturday, March 26th, 2022 by Naomi's brother, Casey Valley.

In a Facebook post, he asked community members to gather at Love's Travel Stop on Commerce Center Drive in Fernley, Saturday at 10am. Valley says, "this will be the first of a few areas of a concentrated search." He also requested no pets or children.

During the search on March 26th, more than 110 people showed up to help find Naomi. Diana Irion says she's been getting massages from all over the country from people who want to help her family.

Casey Valley tells us, "Today's search covered more ground, if not just as much, as last weekends search."

--------------------------------------------------------

On Thursday, March 24th, Lyon County Deputies said they identified a potential witness vehicle and occupant(s) that appears in the Walmart parking lot minutes before Naomi was abducted. They say they've contacted the occupant of the car.

The 4-door sedan enters the east Walmart parking lot at approximately 5:15 a.m. and then drives around the median on the east side before parking at the the southeast corner of the Walmart building.

Police were able to locate the vehicle with help from the public.

Irion was last seen March 12th at the parking lot at the Fernley Walmart. Her car was found a few days later and is undergoing processing for possible evidence.

The Lyon County Sheriff's Office held a press conference on Tuesday, along with Irion's family where again they asked for the public's help in finding her, adding they are getting "hundreds" of tips everyday.

They also mentioned that her car, which was found a few days after her disappearance, is still undergoing processing for any related evidence.

Her family also made another plea for help, with her mother saying, "please save my daughter. Bring her home." Because Irion's possible kidnapping happened near I-80, her mother also said that her daughter could be anywhere in the U.S. by now.

Irion's sister and brother also spoke, mentioning that tips to law enforcement can stay anonymous, if need be. He also said that another search will happen this Saturday.

During the weekend, the Lyon County Sheriff's Office released new surveillance video from the Walmart parking lot where Naomi was reportedly last seen.

The footage shows the suspect standing in front of the Walmart entrance, pacing the east side of the building, before walking toward the front of cars with their headlights on.

Authorities say this footage was recorded minutes before Naomi was abducted.

If you were in the east Walmart parking lot between 4:30 and 5:30 a.m. on March 12th, 2022 and have not been contacted by law enforcement, reach out to the Lyon County Sheriffs Office, Major Crimes Bureau.

The Lyon County Sheriffs Office can be reached at 775-463-6620, Secret Witness at (775) 322-4900 or by email at detective@lyon-county.org.

Authorities said a cell phone ping led officers to the Wadsworth area last week.

She was last seen wearing a blue Panasonic company shirt, gray cardigan sweater, gray pants, brown boots and was carrying a black purse. She had an iPhone, Airpods and a fidget spinner.

She is 511 tall, weighs about 230 pounds and has green eyes. Her hair is currently dyed black and she has a septum piercing and smiley face tattoo on her right ankle.

On Thursday, March 17th, Lyon County deputies announced that they were working with the Pyramid Lake Police Department and the FBI near Highway 427 in Wadsworth searching for evidence related to the disappearance of Naomi Irion.

They asked the public to stay away from the area as not to damage any evidence.

Her family made a public plea on Thursday for her safe return.

Authorities also thanked the Fernley community for their help. Her family members said that they are in contact with police about the case's progression.

On Friday, supporters gathered at the Round Table Pizza in Fernley to make signs to post around town in hopes of someone recognizing Irion's photo and calling police with information.

The newest released photos show Irion on the morning she was last seen and also include a person of interest.

The investigation now indicates that the suspect may be driving a dark 2020 or newer Chevrolet, 2500, High Country 4-Door Pickup Truck.

Authorities say the forensic evidence collected by investigators show that her disappearance is 'suspicious' in nature and that the driver of the truck "has a direct connection to her disappearance and her current whereabouts."

Previous video surveillance showed that person walking from a nearby 'homeless camp' looking in cars.

The unknown person then gets into the driver's seat of Irion's Mercury Sable and then leaves with her in the passenger seat.

During the course of the investigation, evidence was discovered leading investigators to believe Naomis disappearance was suspicious in nature.

Her 1992 blue Sable has a Nevada license plate of 595T37 was located in a industrial park in Fernley and has since been searched and forensically analyzed.

The first vehicle photo with the plate is Naomi's actual vehicle. The second vehicle photo is a stock photo and not her actual car.

If you have any information, contact Lyon County Sheriff's Office with case number 22ly01068 at 775-463-6620, or call or text your anonymous tip to Secret Witness at 775-322-4900.
Weather Alert

...MORE WINDY DAYS ON THE WAY, WITH COLDER TEMPERATURES AND RAIN/SNOW SHOWERS FOR MOTHER'S DAY WEEKEND... --Thursday and Friday-- * A pair of systems brushing through the region will bring gusty winds both days, with even stronger winds possible on Friday. Winds will bring travel difficulties both in the air and on the ground. Travel restrictions for high profile vehicles are possible. Check with CalTrans/NDOT for the current road information. Please see the latest hazard text products for the latest information on anticipated wind speeds. * Area of blowing dust are possible both afternoons downwind of the Carson Sink, possibly affecting portions of I-80, US 50, and Highway 95. In addition, backcountry and ski recreation could be impacted along with choppy conditions on area lakes. * A few light showers with minimal liquid totals are possible in far northern Nevada and northeast California. --Mother's Day Weekend into Early Next Week-- * It will remain breezy throughout the weekend, with a secondary max in wind speeds on Sunday due to a strong cold front. This front will usher in a much colder air mass and high temperatures on Mother's Day will be 15-20 degrees below normal. * There will be rain and snow showers with the front, but again, liquid amounts will be minimal. There are solid chances for snow levels to fall to all valley floors by Sunday evening, which may catch many off guard, though it is hard to get snow to stick to roadways in lower elevation valleys this late in the spring. * Well below normal temperatures and chances for light showers will continue into Monday and Tuesday next week. While still some uncertainty due to winds and cloud cover, it's possible we could have frost and freeze concerns Sunday and Monday nights.

...WIND ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM TO 9 PM PDT THURSDAY... * WHAT...Southwest winds 20 to 35 mph with gusts up to 55 mph expected. Wind prone areas may experience gusts in excess of 60 mph. Southwest winds 15 to 25 mph with gusts to 45 mph and waves of 2 to 4 feet expected on Pyramid Lake. * WHERE...Greater Reno-Carson City-Minden Area and Western Nevada Basin and Range including Pyramid Lake. * WHEN...From 11 AM to 9 PM PDT Thursday. * IMPACTS...Gusty winds could blow around unsecured objects and high profile vehicles will be prone to tip over. Tree limbs could be blown down and a few power outages may result. Blowing dust may locally reduce visibility downwind of dry lake beds and sinks. Small boats, kayaks and paddle boards will be prone to capsizing. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Travel restrictions for high profile vehicles are possible. Check with NDOT for the latest on road conditions. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Now is the time to secure loose outdoor items such as patio furniture, holiday decorations, and trash cans before winds increase which could blow these items away. The best thing to do is prepare ahead of time by making sure you have extra food and water on hand, flashlights with spare batteries and/or candles in the event of a power outage. Check lake conditions before heading out on the water and be prepared for a sudden increase in winds and wave heights. Consider postponing boating activities on the lake until a day with less wind. &&
With popular landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge, its namesake urban park, and a host of other urban attractions, camping typically isn't the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about exploring the San Francisco Bay Area.

Well, we're here to tell you it should be.

In a state that is home to nine national parks including Yosemite and Redwoods, camping competition can be fierce. Yet those familiar with the unique coastline and impressive diversity of public lands around the Bay Area know full well that proximal camping options rival some of the most coveted campgrounds in the state.

Whether you're traveling through or residing in the Bay Area and simply looking for a nearby outdoor overnight, one need drive no further than a few hours drive from the urban core. In many cases only a fraction of that drive time is necessary to access campground gems set among scenic coastal backdrops, redwood groves and rolling oak savannah hills.

Below is a list of some of our favorite Bay Area campgrounds located within a 100-mile radius, stretching from the Sonoma Coast to northern Big Sur. While most campgrounds listed below are accessible by vehicle, some require a short walk or hike in. Note that reservations are recommended during weekends and holidays where applicable.

GERSTLE COVE CAMPGROUND, Salt Point State Park



Gerstel Cove Campground in Salt Point State Park has 30 drive-in sites located on the ocean side of Highway 1. While other campgrounds are available in the park, Gerstle Cove Campground offers the nearest ocean access and remains open year-round. As the name suggests, the campground is adjacent to Gerstle Cove, a State Marine Reserve that hosts a healthy underwater kelp forest. The rich marine ecosystem makes Gerstle Cove a popular spot for divers staying at the campground.

The campground is situated around a single loop, and the outer campsites offer more privacy than others. There are no showers. Reservations are possible year-round and strongly encouraged April through September.

PROS: Easy access to Gerstle Cove. Exploring Salt Point State Park.

CONS: Can be booked weekends April through September.

REGION: Sonoma Coast + Napa Area, CA

CONGESTION: High

PREFERABLE SEASON(S):Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall

CAMPING FEE: $35.00

DAY-USE/PARKING PASS REQUIRED: $8.00

TENT/CAR SITES: 30

PICNIC TABLES: Yes

DOGS ALLOWED: Yes, at campground but not on trails or beaches
The drawbridge operator controlling a Florida drawbridge was charged Thursday with manslaughter for the death of woman who fell when the bridge opened.


Wilconi Joint Venture Update

Perth, Mar 21, 2022 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Wiluna Mining Corporation Limited ( ASX:WMC ) ( FRA:NZ3 ) ( OTCMKTS:WMXCF ) is pleased to advise of the attached Resource Update announcement by our Joint Venture partner A-Cap Energy Ltd.The Wilconi Joint Venture (WMC currently 80%, with A-Cap earning 75%) was established in 2019 to explore and develop the large-scale Wiluna nickel-cobalt laterite resource.WMC also owns 100% of the mineral rights to nickel-cobalt-PGE sulphides (Ni-Co-Cu-PGE) including the high-grade Bodkin discovery in the Wiluna Nickel Project, which the Company is exploring with planning in progress for a new EM geophysical survey (see ASX release 17 August 2021).WMC's tenure in the richly endowed Wiluna Nickel Project comprises 40km of strike extent of the Perseverance ultramafic sequence that is prospective for tier-1 (Ni-Co-PGE) discoveries.*To view the A-Cap Energy announcement, please visit:About Wiluna Mining Corporation Ltd

Wiluna Mining Corporation (ASX:WMC) (OTCMKTS:WMXCF) is a Perth based, ASX listed gold mining company that controls over 1,600 square kilometres of the Yilgarn Craton in the Northern Goldfields of WA. The Yilgarn Craton has a historic and current gold endowment of over 380 million ounces, making it one of most prolific gold regions in the world. The Company owns 100% of the Wiluna Gold Operation which has a defined resource of 8.04M oz at 1.67 g/t au. In May 2019, a new highly skilled management team took control of the Company with a clear plan to leverage the Wiluna Gold Operation's multi-million-ounce potential.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

Federal officials in New Mexico are seeking the forfeiture of $455,000 in accounts seized last year in connection with felony charges against former House Majority Leader Sheryl Williams Stapleton.

The U.S. Attorneys Office in New Mexico has asked a federal judge to order the forfeiture, alleging in a complaint that funds held in five accounts were unlawfully obtained from federal grant programs.

Stapleton was indicted last year in 2nd Judicial District Court on 26 state felony charges, including racketeering, money laundering and fraud.

The charges stem from her alleged role in routing money intended for vocational education at Albuquerque Public Schools to businesses and charities in which she had an interest.

Stapleton and her attorney, Ahmad Assed, say she is innocent of any criminal activity and intends to clear her name in court.

FBI agents in September seized $452,419 held by the state District Court in Albuquerque after it was seized earlier by New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas office.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Kotz filed a civil complaint this month asking a federal judge in Albuquerque to order the forfeiture of those funds.

The March 12 complaint also seeks $2,750 held in a separate account and a 2017 Volvo XC60 derived from proceeds traceable to an offense in violation of federal law.

Assed said most of the money sought in the forfeiture was in accounts controlled by Robotics Management Learning Systems LLC, a Washington, D.C., firm paid by APS to provide software and training for teachers and students in the districts career technical education program.

Im sure that the bulk of the monies that are sought for forfeiture  a good portion of the $452,000 that they are referencing  have nothing to do with Sheryl, Assed said.

We are going to put forward our efforts at defending against items that are in fact related to Sheryl that we feel the government should not be able to forfeit, he said. And I believe there are inaccuracies in this complaint.

A message left Friday for Robotics attorney Marc Lowry was not returned.

Stapleton was an APS employee and coordinator of the districts career technical education program, which received funding from the federal Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act.

The complaint alleges that a substantial part of the money held in those accounts was obtained from federal funds.

One of the accounts was opened in July 2007 in the Robotics name, the complaint alleges. The firm also opened a PO box in Albuquerque. APS sent 52 payments to that PO box totalling $3,044,450 from April 2013 to March 2020.

The complaint also alleges that Robotics made sizable deposits into bank accounts opened in the names of a business and a charity in which Stapleton had an interest.

Stapletons family restaurant, A Taste of the Caribbean, opened a bank account in October 2015, the complaint said.

Bank records showed that Robotics made 56 deposits totalling $313,000 from 2015 to 2018, it said.

Stapleton opened another bank account in April 2009 under the account title UJIMA Foundation/Charlie Morrisey, which state records identify as a charitable nonprofit corporation, the complaint said. Bank records show that Robotics made 96 deposits totalling $417,660 to that account between 2013 and 2019, it said.

A Democrat and longtime representative, Stapleton resigned from the Legislature in July two days after agents from the Attorney Generals Office served search warrants at her home, family business and offices.

Sheryl Williams Stapleton
NO ROADSIDE SELLING ALLOWED: John Seaver recently emailed, I am a business owner in Albuquerque and I sell some of the same products that pickup trucks sell on Tramway from Encantado all the way to Paseo del Norte, from corn to firewood. I am an entrepreneur myself, so I get making a buck. I pay so many taxes such as gross receipts, property taxes, and of course federal and state income taxes, not to mention all the insurances I carry to protect employees and property.

To park a vehicle on the side of the road and sell wood or chile ristras seems like an unfair advantage, and using state highways to do this not only is illegal but is also dangerous  and I might add unfair to the businesses that are legit. Why does the (New Mexico) Department of Transportation allow this on Tramway and other state roads? I see this on N.M. 528 heading up the hill to Rio Rancho. I see trucks right as you enter Corrales on that highway.

And Wallace Anderson emails It appears all the selling on Tramway is acceptable and legal. Counted nine vendors on a Sunday while driving from Lomas to Spain. It is illegal, and dangerous and I wonder why we cant enforce the law against this flea market we have going on in this city. I have addressed this numerous times with city officials and DOT and yet no action or enforcement. Why cant this be controlled?

Kimberly Gallegos, spokeswoman for the NMDOTs District 3 office, says NMDOT does have a rule in place for no vending in the right of way. Our maintenance patrols stop and talk to vendors when this is being done and actually provide them with a no-vending-in-right-of-way letter, informing them of the rules on state right of way. While we are not law enforcement, we do work closely with them and meet bimonthly to discuss ongoing issues. When we notice hot spots of right-of-way vending, NMDOT passes this information along to them. Vendors are given a warning and a copy of the letter. If they are seen again, law enforcement is notified.

STAY OUT OF THE BIKE LANE: Joanne emails, I have a question about a road I drive on every day, Constitution, going east, that ends at Indian School. If Im turning right onto Indian School, do I deviate into the bike lane before I come to the stop, or do I stay in the traffic lane and turn right from there? I notice that the style of turning is pretty split for those who are approaching this stop sign where they have to turn either left or right  some cross over and turn from the bike lane and others, like myself, turn from the traffic lane. They could really use a double right/left arrow painted on the asphalt in the traffic lane and a bike rider symbol in the bike lane. There is a break in the solid white lines for the entry into the store there, but then it turns solid again. Im confused, as Im sure others are! I didnt find any answers on the web. I know that this occurs in other parts of the city.

Joanne is doing it right.

Rebecca Atkins of the Albuquerque Police Department says when making a turn at a stop sign where there is a bike lane, drivers should stay in their lane while making the turn. They should not be entering the bike lane. Additionally, as drivers make that turn, they should yield and look out for bicyclists before turning.

There are also roadways where a bike lane and a turn lane are one in the same; in that instance, bicyclists and motorists should be on the lookout for one another.

LOMAS MEDIANS ON WISH LIST: Randy Noah called to ask when landscaping is planned for the Lomas medians leading up to Interstate 25.

He says right now there is no landscaping  meaning its the usual dirt, rocks, weeds and trash  and the medians are a huge eyesore.

Scott Cilke of Albuquerques Department of Municipal Development says the medians on Lomas are on our list of objectives and will be worked on as budgets allow in the future.

Editorial page editor DVal Westphal tackles commuter issues for the metro area on Mondays. Reach her at 823-3858; dwestphal@abqjournal.com; or 7777 Jefferson NE, Albuquerque, NM, 87109.
SEOUL, South Korea  Thirty years after going public with her story of abduction, rape and forced prostitution by Japans wartime military, Lee Yong-soo fears shes running out of time to get closure to her ordeal.

The 93-year-old is the face of a dwindling group of South Korean sexual slavery survivors who have been demanding since the early 1990s that the Japanese government fully accept culpability and offer an unequivocal apology.

Her latest  and possibly final  push is to persuade the governments of South Korea and Japan to settle their decades-long impasse over sexual slavery by seeking judgement of the United Nations.

Lee leads an international group of sexual slavery survivors and advocates  including those from the Philippines, China, Indonesia, Australia and East Timor  who sent a petition U.N. human rights investigators last week to press Seoul and Tokyo to jointly refer the issue to U.N.s International Court of Justice. The group wants Seoul to initiate arbitration proceedings against Japan with a U.N. panel on torture if Tokyo doesnt agree to bring the case to the ICJ.

Its unclear whether South Korea, which will swear in a new government in May, will consider bringing the matter to the U.N. when it faces pressure to improve relations with Japan amid a turbulent moment in global affairs. The country has never fought a case under such proceedings, and anything less than a lopsided victory might be seen at home as a defeat.

Its hard for Lee to be patient when other survivors keep dying.

She worries about their plight being forgotten or distorted by Japans apparent efforts to downplay the coercive and violent nature of the World War II sexual slavery and exclude it from schoolbooks.

She cried as she described how she was dragged from home as a 16-year-old to serve as a sex slave for Japans Imperial Army, and the harsh abuse she endured at a Japanese military brothel in Taiwan until the end of the war  a story she first told the world in 1992.

Both South Korea and Japan keep waiting for us to die, but I will fight until the very end, Lee said in a recent interview at The Associated Press office in Seoul, across the street from the Japanese Embassy. She said her campaign is aimed at pressuring Japan to fully accept responsibility and acknowledge its past military sexual slavery as war crimes and properly educate its public about the abuses, through textbooks and memorials.

I think time has so far waited for me so that I can clench my teeth and do everything that I can to resolve this issue, Lee said.

Grievances over sexual slavery, forced labor and other abuses stemming from Japans brutal colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula before the end of World War II have strained Seoul-Tokyo relations in recent years as the animosities spilled over to trade and military cooperation issues. The disputes have frustrated Washington, which wants stronger three-way cooperation with its Asian allies to confront challenges posed by North Korea and China.

The upcoming government change in Seoul has inspired cautious hope in Japan about improved ties. After winning the election earlier this month, conservative South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol vowed future-focused cooperation with Japan.

Still, the countries may find it difficult to focus on the future if they cant narrow their disagreements over the past.

Lee, who in 2007 testified at the U.S. House of Representatives before it passed a landmark resolution urging Japan to acknowledge the wartime sexual slavery, no longer believes Seoul and Tokyo can settle their history dispute without a U.N. process.

Years of bilateral diplomatic talks were largely fruitless. A haphazard settlement reached between the countries foreign ministers in 2015  including Fumio Kishida, the current prime minister of Japan  never lived up to its goal of finally and irreversibly resolving the issue.

Lee and other survivors said Seoul officials didnt consult them before making the deal, under which Japan agreed to contribute 1 billion yen ($8 million) to a South Korean fund to help support the victims. They questioned the sincerity of the Japanese government  then led by right-wing Prime Minster Shinzo Abe, who had long been accused by South Koreans of sanitizing Japans war crimes  because Japanese officials stressed the payments shouldnt be considered as compensation.

South Korean court rulings in recent years calling for Japans government and companies to provide reparations to victims of sexual slavery and forced labor have been angrily rejected by Tokyo, which insists all wartime compensation issues were settled under a 1965 treaty normalizing relations between the two nations.

Historians say tens of thousands of women from around Asia, many of them Korean, were sent to front-line military brothels to provide sex to Japanese soldiers. At the time of the 2015 deal, 46 of the 239 women who registered with the Seoul government as victims were still alive in South Korea, but there are now only 12.

Japan has repeatedly expressed regret over its wartime actions. It conducted a study of the practice and established a fund from private contributions in 1995 to compensate victims in the Philippines, South Korea and Taiwan before it expired in 2007.

Many South Koreans believe Tokyos previous comments and actions lacked sincerity and fell short of legal reparations before they were further ruined by conservatives whove continued to downplay or question Japans wartime past. Theres also frustration over views that Japanese schoolbooks sugarcoat past brutalities.

A U.N. report from 1996 concluded that sex slaves were taken through violence and outright coercion. A statement from Japan in 1993 acknowledged that women were taken against their own will, through coaxing, coercion, but the nations leaders later denied it.

Japans Foreign Affairs Ministry now says its government has found no documents showing the use of coercion in the recruitment of the so-called comfort women and refuses to describe the system as sexual slavery. Tokyo has urged Seoul to abide by the 2015 agreement and described recent lawsuits filed by South Korean sexual slavery victims seeking compensation as extremely regrettable and absolutely unacceptable.

Lee began campaigning last year for Seoul and Tokyo to jointly refer their sexual slavery-related disputes to the ICJ in The Hague, the U.N.s highest court. After a muted response from both governments, Lee is now demanding that South Korea call for a U.N. panel to examine whether Tokyo is failing to carry out its obligations under the 1984 Convention against Torture by denying or downplaying its past brutalities.

South Korea can either file a complaint against Japan with the conventions committee against torture or sue Japan at the ICJ for violations of the convention, said Ethan Hee-Seok Shin, an international law expert who is helping with Lees efforts. In handling disputes between countries, the convention allows for any one party to refer the matter to the ICJ if the countries cant agree within six months on an arbitration panel. ICJ decisions are binding upon U.N. member states.

This issue doesnt die with the survivors, Lee said. If I cant take care of it, the problems get passed to our next generation. __ AP writer Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo contributed to this report.
NEW YORK  After Donald Trump was caught on video bragging about sexually assaulting women, Mike Pence stayed on his ticket. As the coronavirus ravaged the U.S., the then-vice president praised the administrations response. And after a violent mob threatened his life during an attack on the U.S. Capitol, Pence rejected entreaties to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.

But after years of being a subservient sidekick, Pence is beginning to distance himself from Trump as he takes increasingly overt steps toward a White House bid of his own.

Last month, Pence called out Trump by name, saying his former boss was wrong to insist that he had the power to unilaterally overturn the results of the 2020 election  a power vice presidents do not possess. In a separate speech before top Republican donors, Pence urged the GOP to move on from Trumps 2020 grievances and declared there is no room in this party for apologists for Vladimir Putin after Trump praised the Russian leaders maneuvering as genius before his brutal invasion of Ukraine.

The moves show how Pence, a former congressman and Indiana governor, is working to craft a political identity independent of his former boss. The strategy carries substantial risk in a party still dominated by Trump and his lie that the 2020 election was stolen. But if Pence successfully navigates this moment, it could offer a model for Republicans to benefit from their work with Trump without being tied to his most toxic behavior, which has consistently hurt the party with crucial suburban voters who often determine elections.

When youre in the role of vice president, theres certain opportunities that affords and certainly certain constraints, Marc Short, who served as Pences chief of staff at the White House, said of Pences recent moves. You sort of assume a different identity for those four years because your job is to support the president and what hes doing.

Aides stress that Pence, who spent decades in conservative radio and politics before joining Trumps ticket in 2016, has a host of views and principles that are deeply held, including some that deviate from Trumps. They expect him to frequently invoke those views, including his fierce opposition to abortion rights, as he campaigns for Republicans ahead of this years midterms.

They note in particular that Pence has long been a critic of Putin, and expect him to keep speaking out on Ukraine. In a trip that seemed to cast Pence with a presidential aura, he made an unannounced visit to the Ukrainian border with Poland shortly after the invasion, where he crossed into Ukraine and helped deliver aid to the flood of refugees who were escaping the war.

The Rev. Franklin Graham, the evangelist and president of Samaritans Purse, the international Christian relief organization that organized Pences visit to the Ukrainian border, said Pences evolution was a natural one.

People are seeing the real Mike Pence. As vice president, you have to toe the line of the president and you have to be in step with everything the president says, Graham said. Now, people are seeing who he is and what hes standing for and what he says. So its not repeating what the president says. Its saying what he believes.  Hes speaking for himself now and not President Trump.

Pence has spent the past several months traveling the country, delivering policy speeches, raising money for midterm candidates and visiting early-voting states, while working on a pair of books. In the coming months, he is planning a return visit to Iowa, which holds the partys first nominating contests of the presidential election cycle, as well as two visits to South Carolina, another early-voting state.

His political group, Advancing American Freedom, announced a $10 million ad campaign targeting congressional Democrats and urging them to support an expansion of American energy production in response to Russias invasion of Ukraine. And he is preparing to release a new Freedom Agenda aimed at providing candidates a positive policy agenda that makes clear to voters what Republicans are not just against, but what theyre for.

He has also been spending time with top donors. Before his visit to Ukraine, Pence flew to Israel where he had dinner with former prime minister and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, whom Trump has reportedly criticized, and met with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. Pence also spent time with billionaire donor Miriam Adelson, on whose plane he flew, marking the second time the two have met in recent months.

The efforts also make clear the lane Pence could occupy if he chooses to compete in what may be a crowded 2024 GOP primary contest that could include Trump himself. While there remains a portion of the party that will never forgive him for abiding by his constitutional role on Jan. 6, allies believe that Pence could be in a unique position to merge the traditional conservative movement with successes of the Trump-Pence administration.

Still, early polls show that Trump remains the decisive favorite among GOP voters if he chooses to mount another run. Without Trump in the race, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis so far appears to be the early favorite.

Other potential candidates are trying to make similar moves. Mike Pompeo, who served as Trumps CIA director and secretary of state, for instance, recently traveled to Taiwan and met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, while Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, in a high-profile speech at the Reagan Library, praised Trumps record while also criticizing him for signing bipartisan criminal justice reform legislation.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, speaking Monday at Saint Anselm Colleges New Hampshire Institute of Politics, a frequent stop for presidential candidates, continued to offer his own criticism of Trump, slamming those who have spoken admiringly of Russian President Vladimir Putin and calling Trump dead wrong about the election.

Its over, everybody. You know the reason I know? Joe Biden is sleeping in Donald Trumps bed, Christie said. And we need as a party to move forward. We cant look backwards. We cant be a party of vindictiveness and vendettas. We cannot be a party of settling scores for me. We have to be a party of creating opportunity and inspiration for us.

Pence so far has been coy about his plans for the future. Asked on Fox Business whether he intended to run, Pence said all his focus currently is on 2022.

In 2023, Im confident the Republican Party will nominate a candidate who will be the next president of the United state of America, he went on. And at the right time, my family and Ill reflect and consider how we might participate in that process.

For now, Trump has kept mum on Pences attacks, unusual for someone who responds to the most minor slights. Trumps spokesman did not respond to questions, but some speculate that the former president doesnt want to antagonize Pence before his book publishes and he begins a publicity tour.

Still Trump has made clear that his anger has not subsided.

Mike and I had a great relationship except for the very important factor that took place at the end, Trump told the Washington Examiner in an interview last week. I havent spoken to him in a long time.

He also ruled out the possibility of another Trump-Pence ticket.

I dont think the people would accept it, said Trump, who has mused about other vice presidential prospects.

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Associated Press writer Kathy McCormack in Manchester, N.H. contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON  An elected official from New Mexico went to trial Monday with a judge  not a jury  set to decide if he is guilty of charges that he illegally entered the U.S. Capitol grounds on the day a pro-Trump mob disrupted the certification of Joe Bidens presidential election victory.

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden is scheduled to hear attorneys closing arguments Tuesday for the case against Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin, whose trial in Washington, D.C., is the second among the hundreds of people charged with federal crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, siege.

The judge heard testimony Monday from three government witnesses. Griffins lawyer said he doesnt plan to call any defense witnesses.

The case against Griffin is unlike most of the Capitol riot prosecutions. He is one of the few riot defendants who isnt accused of entering the Capitol or engaging in any violent or destructive behavior. He claims he has been selectively prosecuted for his political views.

Griffin, one of three members of the Otero County Commission in southern New Mexico, is among a handful of riot defendants who either held public office or ran for a government leadership post in the 2 1/2 years before the attack.

He is among only three riot defendants who have asked for a bench trial, which means a judge will decide his case without a jury.

Griffin, a 48-year-old former rodeo rider and former pastor, helped found a political committee called Cowboys for Trump. He had vowed to arrive at the courthouse on horseback. Instead, he showed up Monday as a passenger in a pickup truck that had a horse trailer on the back.

Griffin is charged with two misdemeanors: entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds and disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds.

A key question in Griffins case is whether he entered a restricted area while Pence was still present on Capitol grounds, a prerequisite for the U.S. Secret Service to invoke access restrictions.

Griffins attorneys said in a court filing that Pence had already departed the restricted area before the earliest that Griffin could have entered it, but Secret Service inspector Lanelle Hawa testified that Pence never left the restricted area during the riot.

Hawa said agents took Pence from his office at the Capitol to a secure location at an underground loading dock on the Capitol complex. Pence remained in the loading dock location for four to five hours and never left the security perimeter before the joint session of Congress resumed on the night of Jan. 6, Hawa testified.

Defense attorney Nicholas Smith asked Hawa if it was Pences decision to remain there for hours.

I cant answer that, she said.

Smith said prosecutors apparently believe Griffin engaged in disorderly conduct by peacefully leading a prayer on the Capitol steps.

That is offensive and wrong, Smith told the judge during his brief opening statements.

Prosecutors didnt give any opening statements. Their first witness was Matthew Struck, who joined Griffin at the Capitol and served as his videographer. Struck has an immunity deal with prosecutors for his testimony.

After attending then-President Donald Trumps Stop the Steal rally on Jan. 6, Griffin and Struck walked over barriers and up a staircase to enter a stage that was under construction on the Capitols Lower West Terrace for Bidens inauguration, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors played video clips that showed Griffin moving through the mob that formed outside the Capitol, where police used pepper spray to quell rioters.

I love the smell of napalm in the air, Griffin said in an apparent reference to a line by Robert Duvalls character in the war movie Apocalypse Now.

After climbing over a stone wall and entering a restricted area outside the Capitol, Griffin said, This is our house  we should all be armed, according to prosecutors. He called it a great day for America and added, The people are showing that they have had enough, prosecutors said.

Struck testified that he and Griffin went to the Capitol to find a place to pray. Smith asked Struck if anybody appeared to be riled up by the prayer that Griffin led.

They started chanting, Pray for Trump,' Struck replied. It looks like theyve been calm and theyre listening to Couy.

In a court filing, prosecutors called Griffin an inflammatory provocateur and fabulist who engages in racist invective and propounds baseless conspiracy theories, including that Communist China stole the 2020 Presidential Election.

Griffins attorneys say hundreds if not thousands of other people did exactly what Griffin did on Jan. 6 and havent been charged with any crimes.

The evidence will show that the government selected Griffin for prosecution based on the fact that he gave a speech and led a prayer at the Capitol, that is, selected him based on protected expression, they wrote.

More than 770 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol riot. More than 230 riot defendants have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors, and at least 127 of them have been sentenced. Approximately 100 others have trial dates.

Earlier this month, a jury convicted a Texas man, Guy Wesley Reffitt, of storming the Capitol with a holstered handgun in the first trial for a Capitol riot defendant. Jurors also convicted him of obstructing Congress from certifying the Electoral College vote on Jan. 6, of interfering with police officers who were guarding the Capitol and of threatening his two teenage children if they reported him to law enforcement.

Reffitts conviction on all charges could give prosecutors more leverage in negotiating plea deals in many other cases or discourage other defendants from going to trial. The outcome of Griffins trial also could have a ripple effect, helping others to decide whether to let a judge or a jury decide their case.

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Associated Press writer Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix contributed to this report.

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This story has been corrected to show the attorney who said That is offensive and wrong was Nicholas Smith, not David Smith.
KYIV, Ukraine  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late Monday he was prepared to discuss a commitment from Ukraine not to seek NATO membership in exchange for a cease-fire, the withdrawal of Russian troops and a guarantee of Ukraines security.

Its a compromise for everyone: for the West, which doesnt know what to do with us with regard to NATO, for Ukraine, which wants security guarantees, and for Russia, which doesnt want further NATO expansion, Zelenskyy said late Monday in an interview with Ukrainian television channels.

He also repeated his call for direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Unless he meets with Putin, it is impossible to understand whether Russia even wants to stop the war, Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy said that Kyiv will be ready to discuss the status of Crimea and the eastern Donbas region held by Russian-backed separatists after a cease-fire and steps toward providing security guarantees.

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KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:

 AP video journalist gives riveting first-hand account of the siege of Mariupol

 Russia demands Mariupol lay down arms but Ukraine says no

 No city anymore: Mariupol survivors take train to safety

 Biden warns US companies of potential Russian cyberattacks

Go to https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine for more coverage

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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

KYIV, Ukraine  The Ukrainian army said it forced Russian troops out of Makariv, a strategically important Kyiv suburb, after a fierce battle. That prevents Russian forces from encircling the capital from the northwest, the Defense Ministry said.

LVIV, Ukraine  Russian forces shelled along a humanitarian corridor on Monday, wounding four children who were among the civilians being evacuated, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nighttime video address to the nation. He said the shelling took place in the Zaporizhzhia region, the initial destination of those fleeing Mariupol.

The Ukrainian government said that about 3,000 people from Mariupol were evacuated on Monday.

Zelenskyy said he spoke with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and French President Emmanual Macron to coordinate their positions before Western leaders meet on Thursday.

Our position will be expressed and will be expressed strongly, believe me, Zelenskyy said.

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UNITED NATIONS  France and Mexico are pressing U.N. members to mention Russias invasion in a resolution on the worsening humanitarian situation in Ukraine.

But South Africa is arguing against that approach, saying that inserting political issues may block consensus on helping civilians. A French-Mexican draft resolution expected to be voted on this week in the 193-nation U.N. General Assembly makes clear that Russias invasion of Ukraine is responsible for its humanitarian crisis.

A rival South African draft resolution circulated late Monday makes no mention of Russia, referring instead to all parties.

Unlike the Security Council, there are no vetoes in the General Assembly. But assembly resolutions are not legally binding, as Security Council resolutions are, though they do have clout in reflecting world opinion.

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TOKYO  Japan on Tuesday denounced Russia over its decision to discontinue peace treaty talks over the disputed Kuril islands and withdraw from joint economic projects in retaliation for Tokyos sanctions over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The two countries never signed a peace treaty formally ending World War II hostilities because of their dispute over the Russian-held islands north of Hokkaido, which Moscow took at the end of the war.

The latest situation has been all caused by Russias invasion of Ukraine, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters Tuesday. He called Russias response extremely unjustifiable and absolutely unacceptable.

Japan has imposed a series of sanctions on Russia in recent weeks, including freezing some individual assets, banning exports of luxury goods and high technology equipment to the country and revoking Russias most-favored nation trade status.

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WASHINGTON  President Joe Biden on Monday warned U.S. companies that Russia could be preparing to launch cyberattacks against critical infrastructure amid the war in Ukraine.

Biden told the business leaders they have a patriotic obligation to harden their systems against such attacks. He said federal assistance is available, should they want it, but that the decision is theirs alone.

Biden said the administration has issued new warnings that, based on evolving intelligence, Russia may be planning a cyberattack against us.  The magnitude of Russias cyber capacity is fairly consequential, and its coming.

The federal government has warned U.S. companies about Russian state hackers since long before the country invaded Ukraine.

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KYIV, Ukraine  Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has hailed protesters in an occupied city for their courage in confronting the Russian troops who fired shots to disperse the demonstration.

Russian troops on Monday used stun grenades and fired in the air to break up demonstrators in the southern city of Kherson.

Speaking in a video address, Zelenskyy said that we saw slaves shooting at free people, slaves of propaganda that replaced their conscience.

He added that the war has turned ordinary Ukrainians into heroes and the enemy doesnt believe its all real.

There is no need to organize resistance, Zelenskyy added. Resistance for Ukrainians is part of their soul.

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WASHINGTON  The White House said President Joe Biden and the European leaders he spoke with on Monday discussed their concerns about Russias tactics in Ukraine, including attacks on civilians, and underscored continued humanitarian and security support for Ukraine.

They also reviewed diplomatic developments in support of Ukraines efforts to reach a cease-fire. Biden spoke with the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and the UK. These leaders will meet again later this week in Brussels.

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WASHINGTON  A senior U.S. defense official says the Russians have increased the number of military aircraft sorties over Ukraine over the past two days, doing as many as 300 in the last 24 hours. The official said Monday that Ukraine has also increased the pace of its military flights, but declined to provide numbers.

Officials have made it clear that Russia has vastly more aircraft, and flies a great deal more than Ukraine does, but that Russia still does not have air superiority over the country yet.

The official said that most of the military flights involve air-to-ground strikes, mainly on stationary targets, and that the Russian aircraft are not spending a lot of time in Ukrainian airspace. The Ukraine military has continued to use its short and long-range air defense systems and drones to target Russian aircraft.

The Russians have also increased naval activity in the northern Black Sea, but there are no indications at this point of an amphibious assault on Odesa. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the militarys assessment.

Associated Press writer Lolita Baldor contributed to this report from Washington.

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BEZIMENNE, Ukraine  A long line of vehicles lined a road in Bezimenne, Ukraine, as residents from the besieged city of Mariupol sought shelter at a temporary camp set up by the rebel Donetsk government.

Many of the cars had pieces of white cloth tied to door handles and carried homemade signs saying children in Russian.

Donetsk government officials said about 5,000 Mariupol residents have taken refuge at the camp since the start of the war.

Mariupol authorities have said several thousand people were taken to Russia against their will and that only about 10% of the citys former population of 430,000 has managed to flee.

A woman named Yulia told The Associated Press that she and her family sought shelter in Bezimenne in eastern Ukraine after a bombing destroyed six houses behind her home.

Thats why we got in the car, at our own risk, and left in 15 minutes because everything is destroyed there, dead bodies are lying around, she said.

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WARSAW, Poland  Leaders from Poland and The Netherlands discussed further sanctions on Russia for its war against Ukraine, including banning imports of Russias oil and gas and closing European ports to Russian ships.

Polands Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki hosted the Dutch leader Mark Rutte for talks Monday about ways of stopping Russias aggression on Ukraine and of helping Ukraines fighters and civilians.

We talked today about a blockade of all European ports to Russian ships and also on all sorts of sanctions, including on oil and gas, Morawiecki said.

Rutte said Putin has made a very big mistake by bringing war again to Europe.

We will not accept this kind of aggression against a sovereign and democratic nation, Rutte said.

And these are not empty words. We are showing we are willing to put out money where our mouth is, he said.

Morawiecki said they also discussed the gathering of evidence from the refugees of the really terrible, cruel crimes committed during the war in an effort to make sure that the crimes are punished.

More than 2.1 million refugees fleeing the war have come to Poland.

Unlike Poland and The Netherlands, Ukraine is not a member of the European Union. Poland backs giving it candidate status in a fast-track procedure.

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MOSCOW  A Moscow court banned Facebook and Instagram on Monday for what it deemed extremist activity in a case against their parent company, Meta.

The Tverskoy District Court fulfilled a request from prosecutors to outlaw Meta Platforms Inc. and banned Facebook and Instagram for what they called extremist activities. The prosecutors have accused the social media platforms of ignoring government requests to remove what they described as fake news about the Russian military action in Ukraine and calls for protests in Russia.

The courts ruling bans Meta from opening offices and doing business in Russia. Meta declined to comment when contacted by the AP.

Prosecutors havent requested to ban the Meta-owned messaging service WhatsApp, which is widely popular in Russia. The authorities also emphasized that they do not intend to punish individual Russians who use Facebook or Instagram.

Instagram and Facebook were already blocked in Russia after the communications and media regulator Roskomnadzor said they were being used to call for violence against Russian soldiers. In addition to blocking Facebook and Instagram, Russian authorities also have shut access to foreign media websites.

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MARIUPOL, Ukraine  Witnesses fleeing the besieged port of Mariupol say they are leaving behind a city that has been almost entirely destroyed by Russian bombardment and heavy fighting.

Maria Fiodorova crossed the border from Ukraine into Medyka, Poland, on Monday after an arduous, five-day journey. The 77-year-old woman told The Associated Press that the city is almost 90 percent destroyed, with every building razed to the ground.

Video captured by The Associated Press shows residents pushing carts and carrying bags of food and supplies along debris-ridden streets and passages. The siege has caused shortages of food, water and energy supplies, according to city officials who say at least 2,300 civilians have been killed thus far in Mariupol.

Residents have fled Mariupol not knowing what, if anything, will be left  if and when they return.

Another Ukrainian woman who made it to the Polish border said she left behind a sister in Mariupol who reported that Russian soldiers there are not allowing anyone to leave.

She told me that they have already switched to a Russian time zone, that there are lots of Russian soldiers walking around the city. Civilians cannot leave, Yulia Bondarieva, who fled Kharkiv for Medyka, told the AP. She feared that her sister and family would soon run out of food and water.

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WARSAW, Poland  Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki says he is encouraging Switzerland to take bolder steps in cutting off Russian oligarchs who support Russian leaders from the billions of U.S. dollars they have in Swiss banks or in business there.

Morawiecki spoke Monday at a joint news conference with visiting Swiss President Ignazio Cassis. They held talks about the situation in Ukraine, which was invaded by Russian troops Feb. 24. Morawiecki noted that Russias richest businessmen have deposited billions of U.S. dollars in Swiss banks, were doing business there and had other assets.

He said the assets could be used to help Ukraine rebuild from the wars destruction.

Cassis noted that Switzerland has joined the European Unions sanctions on Russia and has also has frozen the bank accounts and business of Russian oligarchs who are on the EU sanctions lists and also of some others.

Polands government is working on amendments to the constitution that would allow for the seizure of Russias assets in Poland.

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BERLIN  Germanys Buchenwald concentration camp memorial says Boris Romanchenko, who survived camps at Buchenwald, Peenemuende, Dora and Bergen-Belsen during World War II, was killed Friday when his home in Kharkiv was attacked.

The memorial cited relatives in a series of tweets on Monday. It said his granddaughter said that he lived in a multistory building that was hit by a projectile. Romanchenko was vice president of the International Buchenwald-Dora Committee.

Romanchenko was 96, German news agency dpa reported.

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NEW YORK  Russias central bank has cautiously reopened bond trading on the Moscow exchange for the first time since the country invaded Ukraine.

The price of Russias ruble-denominated government debt fell Monday, sending borrowing costs higher. Stock trading has remained closed, with no word on when it might reopen.

The central bank bought bonds to support prices. It has imposed wide-ranging restrictions on financial transactions to try to stabilize markets and combat the severe fallout from Western sanctions that have sent the ruble sharply lower against the U.S. dollar and the euro.

Ratings agencies have downgraded Russias bonds to junk status. Russias finance ministry last week flirted with default by threatening to pay foreign holders of dollar bonds in massively devalued rubles before sending the money in dollars.

Stocks last traded on Feb. 25, the day after the invasion started and sent the main stock index sharply lower.

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VILNIUS, Lithuania  The Dutch prime minister says that the European Union should be careful when imposing new sanctions on Russian gas and oil companies because some nations are still heavily dependent on these resources,

We must be sure that energy independence has sufficient gas and oil in the system. It is very important for the Netherlands, Germany, France, and the countries of eastern Europe, Mark Rutte told reporters after meeting Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda. We need to do this as soon as possible, but we cannot do that tomorrow.

Nauseda replied saying that Lithuania invested heavily into energy security for decades and now is ready for a full boycott of Russian oil and gas.

Now that the masks have fallen, it is time to move forward implementing decisions that are absolutely necessary for Europe to feel safer, more independent and resistant to external shocks, Nauseda said.

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KYIV, Ukraine  Ukraines nuclear regulatory agency says the radiation monitors around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, site of the worlds worst meltdown in 1986, have stopped working.

In a statement Monday, the agency also said there are no longer firefighters available in the region to protect forests tainted by decades of radioactivity as the weather warms. The plant was seized by Russian forces on Feb. 24.

According to Mondays statement, the combination of risks could mean a significant deterioration of the ability to control the spread of radiation not just in Ukraine but beyond the countrys borders in weeks and months to come.

Management of the Chernobyl plant said Sunday that 50 staff members who had been working nonstop since the Russian takeover have been rotated out and replaced.

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KYIV, Ukraine  A cluster of villages on Kyivs northwest edge is on the verge of humanitarian catastrophe, regional officials said Monday.

Bucha and other nearby villages have been all but cut off by Russian forces. Associated Press journalists who were in the area a week ago saw bodies in a public park in the town of Irpin, including a woman with a mortal wound to her head. Basement shelters beneath apartment buildings were filled, and not a day goes by without smoke rising from the area.

At a crematorium on Sunday in Kyiv, the bodies of three civilians from the area were delivered in the back of a van.

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LVIV, Ukraine  Authorities in Odesa have accused Russian forces of damaging civilian houses in a strike on the Black Sea port city on Monday.

The city council said no one was killed in the strike and that emergency services quickly extinguished a fire. Mayor Hennady Trukhanov visited the site and said we will not leave Odessa and we will fight for our city.

Odesa is in southwestern Ukraine and has largely avoided the fighting so far, though Russia has ships operating off the Black Sea coast.

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KYIV, Ukraine  Ukraines prosecutor general said a Russian shell struck a chemical plant outside the city of Sumy a little after 3 a.m. Monday, causing a leak in a 50-ton tank of ammonia that took hours to contain.

Russian military spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed the leak was a planned provocation by Ukrainian forces to falsely accuse Russia of a chemical attack.

Konashenkov also said an overnight cruise missile strike hit a Ukrainian military training center in the Rivne region. He said 80 foreign and Ukrainian troops were killed.

Vitaliy Koval, the head of the Rivne regional military administration, confirmed a twin Russian missile strike on a training center there early Monday but offered no details about injuries or deaths.

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NEW YORK  Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says more progress must be made in talks with Ukraine before Russian President Vladimir Putin can meet his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Peskov says that in order to talk about a meeting of the two presidents, first its necessary to do the homework, its necessary to hold talks and agree the results.

He adds that so far significant movement has not been achieved in the talks and that there are not any agreements which they could commit to at a joint meeting.

Ukraine and Russias delegations have held several rounds of talks both in person and more recently via video link. Zelenskyy has said he would be prepared to meet Putin directly to seek agreements on key issues.

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BRUSSELS  EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell is accusing Russia of committing war crimes in Ukraine, most notably in the besieged port city of Mariupol where hundreds of civilians have been killed.

Borrell says that whats happening in Mariupol is a massive war crime. Destroying everything, bombarding and killing everybody in an indiscriminate manner. This is something awful.

He says Russia has lost any moral high ground and he underlined that war also has law. Borrells remarks Monday came as he arrived to chair a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

The International Criminal Court in the Netherlands is gathering evidence about any possible war crimes in Ukraine, but Russia, like the United States, does not recognize the tribunals jurisdiction.

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney says his country is certainly open to other mechanisms for accountability in terms of the atrocities that are taking place in Ukraine right now.

Coveney says social media images of the war are driving a fury across the European Union for those responsible to be held to account.
MEDYKA, Poland  Yulia Bondarieva spent 10 days in a basement as Russian planes flew over and bombs were falling on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. Having reached safety in Poland, Bondarievas only wish now is for her twin sister in the besieged city of Mariupol to get out, too.

They have been in the basement since Feb. 24, they have not been out at all, Bondarieva said. They are running out of food and water.

Bondarieva, 24, managed to speak to her sister on the phone recently. The fear of what will happen to her in the encircled and bombed-out city that is going through some of the worst fighting in the war has been overwhelming.

She does not know how to leave the city, Bondarieva said after arriving in the Polish border town of Medyka.

Before the war, Mariupol had a population of about 430,000, and about a quarter got out shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. Leaving the besieged city later became nearly impossible. Tens of thousands escaped over the past week by way of a humanitarian corridor, including 3,000 on Monday, but other attempts have been thwarted by the fighting. The Mariupol City Council has asserted that several thousand residents were taken into Russia against their will.

Bondarieva said her sister told her of Russian soldiers walking around the city in Mariupol, and people not being allowed out.

Civilians cannot leave, she said. They dont give them anything.

In a sign of the dangers for civilians trying to flee, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late Monday that Russian shelling along a humanitarian corridor had wounded four children who were among those being evacuated. He said the shelling took place in the Zaporizhzhia region, the initial destination of those fleeing Mariupol.

The battle for the strategic port on the Azov Sea raged on Monday, with Russian and Ukrainian soldiers fighting block-by-block. Its not known how many have died so far in Mariupol. City officials on March 15 said at least 2,300 people had been killed, with some buried in mass graves. There has been no official estimate since then, but the number is feared to be much higher after six more days of bombardment.

Maria Fiodorova, a 77-year-old refugee from Mariupol who arrived Monday in Medyka, said 90% of the city has been destroyed. There are no buildings there (in Mairupol) any more, she said.

For Maryna Galla, just listening to birds singing as she arrived in Poland was blissful after the sound of shelling and death in Mariupol. Galla took a stroll in the park in Przemysl with her 13-year-old son, Danil. She hopes to reach Germany next.

Its finally getting better, Galla said.

The United Nations says nearly 3.5 million people have left Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion , the largest exodus of refugees in Europe since World War II.

Valentina Ketchena arrived by train at Przemsyl on Monday. She never thought that at the age of 70 she would be forced to leave her home in Kriviy Rig, and see the town in southern Ukraine almost deserted as people flee the Russian invasion for safety.

Kriviy Rig is now half empty, said Ketchena. She will stay now with friends in Poland, hoping to return home soon. It (is a) very difficult time for everyone.

Zoryana Maksimovich is from the western city of Lviv, near the Polish border. Though the city has seen less destruction than others, Maksimovich said her children are frightened and cried every night when they had to go to the basement for protection.

I told my children that we are going to visit friends, the 40-year-old said. They dont understand clearly what is going on but in a few days they are going to ask me about where their father is.

Like most refugees, Maksimovich had to flee without her husband  men aged 18 to 60 are forbidden from leaving the country and have stayed to fight. I dont know how I will explain, she said.

Once in Poland, refugees can apply for a local ID number that enables them to work and access health, social and other services. Irina Cherkas, 31, from the Poltava region, said she was afraid her children could be targeted in Russian attacks.

For our childrens safety we decided to leave Ukraine, she said. When the war ends we will go back home immediately.

Poland has taken in most of the Ukrainian refugees, more than 2 million so far. On Sunday evening, Ukrainian artists joined their Polish hosts in a charity event that raised more than $380,000.

The star of the evening was a 7-year-old Ukrainian girl, whose video singing a song from the movie Frozen in a Kyiv bomb shelter has gone viral and drawn international sympathy.

Wearing a white, embroidered folk dress, Amellia Anisovych, who escaped to Poland with her grandmother and brother, sang the Ukrainian anthem in a clear, sweet voice as thousands of people in the audience waved their cellphone lights in response.

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Keyton reported from Przemsyl, Poland.

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Follow the APs coverage of the war between Russia and Ukraine: http://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
DENVER  A judge has granted a request by prosecutors to drop a second-degree murder charge against a former television station security guard who shot and killed a pro-police demonstrator following protests in downtown Denver in 2020.

The Denver Post reports that District Judge Brian Whitney granted the request on Monday to drop the charge against 32-year-old Matthew Dolloff. Dolloff had pleaded not guilty in the shooting death of 49-year-old Lee Keltner during a confrontation after a Patriot Muster demonstration and another by left-leaning counter-protesters.

Keltner had participated in the Patriot Muster rally before he was slain. Dolloffs attorneys argued he shot Keltner in self-defense. Dolloff had been hired by KUSA-TV to protect a producer covering the Oct. 10, 2020 protests.

Denver District Attorney Beth McCanns office had confirmed this month that she planned to dismiss the charge because prosecutors could not refute beyond a reasonable doubt his claim that he fired in self-defense.

During their confrontation, Keltner slapped Dolloff in the head and Dolloff shot Keltner with a handgun as Keltner fired pepper spray at him, according to an arrest affidavit.

Lee Keltners sister, 48-year-old Suzan Keltner, and supporters protested the outcome outside the courthouse Monday.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

One of Downtowns most recognizable buildings is undergoing a rebrand that will see a name change and renovations designed to suit New Mexicos style.

Starting April 1, Hyatt Regency Albuquerque will become The Clyde Hotel, hotelier and owner Jim Long told the Journal.

Albuquerque is on the cusp of really transforming, he said.

With that in mind, Long hopes that the Clyde Hotel will dovetail quite nicely with what he sees as a changing Albuquerque.

Coupled with the fact that we see an immense opportunity to create New Mexicos first luxury, business-style hotel  we saw this as a perfect opportunity to rebrand as a Heritage hotel and let the hotel tell its unique story, he said.

Long, who has owned the Hyatt Regency Albuquerque since 2013, said the building has accommodated that brand since its inception in 1990. But it was time for a rebrand and the name change honors Clyde Tingley, a former governor for New Mexico and former chairman for the Albuquerque City Commission, who Long said brought the state into the modern era.

In total, the renovations to the hotel  which will include a new logo on the outside of the building, as well as updates to the 392 guest rooms, lobby and dining areas  are expected to be completed within two years, Long said.

Renovations to the lobby, dining and bar areas will come first and are expected to take nine months. And the restaurant and lobby bar  currently known as HQue and Forque Kitchen and Bar, respectively  will see their names change to 1922 and Carries, the latter paying homage to Tingleys wife, Carrie Wooster Tingley.

The focus is to give Albuquerque its first, true business-style hotel, Long said, which he envisions as a place where businessmen and women can transact and interact with one another.

People need a great business hotel to meet and to interact, he said. I think all great cities have such a place. If you think about New York, you have the Waldorf and the Plaza Hotels; youve got The Brown Palace in Denver; youve got the Palmer Hotel in Chicago.  You have these kinds of hotels that are an important element of the business community and the community at large.

The hotels design will take on a Pueblo-deco and Western grittiness style that Long said has influences from the 1930s and 1940s.

New Mexico-based architect Carla Davis has worked on the designs for the project, he said. Davis has previously worked with Long and Heritage Hotels & Resorts on other design aspects for their hotels in the state. Though Long didnt have a number set on the cost of renovations, he did say it would cost several millions when all is said and done.

A contractor for the renovations has not been named.

Now under the Heritage Hotels & Resorts brand, The Clyde Hotel is the third hotel offering in Albuquerque and 10th across New Mexico. The company owns other hotels and resorts in Taos, Santa Fe and Las Cruces, according to its website.

The Clyde Hotel is listed as the second tallest building in Albuquerque at 256 feet, according to Emporis, a global provider of building information.

This story has been updated to include the accurate number of hotel rooms at The Clyde Hotel.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

Wintry weather isnt done with New Mexico just yet, but sunny spring days are on the horizon.

Todd Shoemake, a National Weather Service meteorologist, said light snow showers will linger in central New Mexico on Tuesday.

The morning will start out chilly in Albuquerque, with a forecasted low of 31 degrees and high of 47.

Tuesday there will be some slick roads, and perhaps some blowing snow and more of those strong crosswinds, Shoemake said.

The city has a 40% chance of precipitation. Rain and snow showers are possible before noon.

Winds of 15 mph are possible in the city.

Northwest New Mexico near Farmington could see 45 mph wind gusts, and the states northeast corner could experience gusts of 50 mph throughout the day on Tuesday.

The storm system will continue to exit the state on Wednesday.

Well be left with brisk northerly wind over much of New Mexico through the day Wednesday, but (wind) speeds will be decreasing, Shoemake said. We might see a little bit of lingering shower activity in the early morning.

Albuquerque will be mostly sunny on Wednesday, with a forecasted high of 56 degrees.

Thursday will begin to warm up across the state, with Albuquerque expected to reach 67 degrees.

Precipitation will have ended and winds are expected to decrease even more, Shoemake said.

The weekend should be mostly clear and sunny.

The city could hit 74 degrees on Friday and Saturday, with 76 degrees expected for Sunday.

Theresa Davis is a Report for America corps member covering water and the environment for the Albuquerque Journal.
Instagram Celebrity

The 'Real Steppers' spitter is pronounced dead after he's taken to a hospital for 'life threatening injuries' following a shooting incident in the 3400 block of Walters Lane in District Heights.

Mar 21, 2022

AceShowbiz - Rapper Goonew has sadly died. According to his manager, the "Real Steppers" spitter was killed during a fatal shooting incident in District Heights, Maryland. He was only 24 years old.

Announcing the heartbreaking news was his manager. The manager confirmed to The Washington Post that the hip-hop artist, who was also known as Big Whizzle, passed away on Friday, March 18.

"The 24-year-old Maryland rapper had a gift for smearing time, phrasing his rhymes slightly in front of the beat, making the present moment feel weightless and imprecise," an obituary from the outlet read. "It gave his music an enchanted atemporality, but for Goonew, it all felt perfectly natural."

The Prince George's County Police Department initially shared the news, tweeting that a shooting had taken place at 5:45 P.M in the 3400 block of Walters Lane in District Heights. "Once on scene, they located an adult male suffering from a gunshot wound. The victim was taken to a hospital for life threatening injuries. At approx. 7:30 pm, the victim was pronounced dead," read the tweet. A reward of up to $25,000 is also available for information that leads to an arrest, per a PGPD news release.

PGPD detailed the fatal incident that took place in Distric Heights, Maryland.

Goonew had been involved in a shooting in 2019 but he survived. The "No Diss" rapper, whose real name is Markelle Antonio Morrow, tweeted a year later, "I Ain't Never Show This Pictures But July 5th Last Year They Told My Mother I Was Dead I Came Back I'm Blessed & thankful I'm Still Here."

Goonew first made a name for himself in 2017 after working with Lil Dude, before signing with Hoodrich Pablo Juan. He had released several mixtapes, including "Hey Auntie", "Big 64" and "Goonwick 2".

Goonew's death came just days after rapper Baby Cino tragically passed away. The 20-year-old emcee was shot just moments after being released from the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami. He'd been arrested on a gun charge.

The "Big Haiti Shottas" spitter, who was reportedly still wearing an inmate wristband, reportedly suffered several gunshot wounds. They included one to his head, according to the Miami Herald.
Netflix Movie

The Netflix apocalyptic satire movie wins the top honor for Original Screenplay as 'The Power of the Dog' and 'Belfast' were ineligible for the Writers Guild Awards.

Mar 21, 2022

AceShowbiz - "Don't Look Up" has come out as a surprise winner at the 74th annual Writers Guild of America Awards. The Netflix apocalyptic satire movie, which was written by Adam McKay, won the Original Screenplay category after edging out the likes of "Being the Ricardos", "The French Dispatch", "King Richard" and "Licorice Pizza".

"Belfast", a strong Oscar contender in the original category, as well as Jane Campion's "The Power of the Dog", were not eligible for this year's WGA Awards. Meanwhile, Maggie Gyllenhaal's "The Lost Daughter" was ineligible on the adapted side, giving a way to "CODA", written by Sian Heder, to win in the Adapted Screenplay category.

Another winner in the movie field, Documentary Screenplay, was nabbed by Marc Shaffer for "Exposing Muybridge". The show also honored Barry Jenkins with Paul Selvin Award, while comedian and writer Dick Cavett received Evelyn F. Burkey Award.

Accepting the award from Colman Domingo, Jenkins called the honor "an affirmation to keep working the way we are." He also quoted Ralph Ellison as saying, "Good fiction is made of what is real, and reality is difficult to come by."

Jenkins reminded amid so much information, "we have to do the work to find what's true about humanity and human experiences and put them into our stories to share our version of reality that can't be denied."

Meanwhile, Cavett received the award from late-night host Seth Meyers. In his acceptance speech, Cavett thanked writers and Burkey herself, whom he called a "real character."

Ashley Nicole Black-hosted virtual ceremony which was held on Sunday, March 20. Some presenters seemed to be present on a traditional WGA Awards stage, with some presenters appearing remotely.

The show also handed out trophies for the winners in TV categories and aired footage of Bob Saget at a previous WGA Awards ceremony in a tribute to the late comedian.

FILM WINNERS

Original Screenplay: " Don't Look Up ", Screenplay by Adam McKay, Story by Adam McKay & David Sirota; Netflix

", Screenplay by Adam McKay, Story by Adam McKay & David Sirota; Netflix Adapted Screenplay: " CODA ", Screenplay by Sian Heder, Based on the Original Motion Picture La Famille Belier Directed by Eric Lartigau, Written by Victoria Bedos, Stanislas Carree de Malberg, Eric Lartigau and Thomas Bidegain; Apple

", Screenplay by Sian Heder, Based on the Original Motion Picture La Famille Belier Directed by Eric Lartigau, Written by Victoria Bedos, Stanislas Carree de Malberg, Eric Lartigau and Thomas Bidegain; Apple Documentary Screenplay: "Exposing Muybridge", Written by Marc Shaffer; Inside Out Media

SPECIAL WINNERS

Paul Selvin Award: Barry Jenkins

Evelyn F. Burkey Award: Dick Cavett
Instagram Movie

When unveiling that she won't be attending the ceremony, the lead actress of the Oscar-nominated film says that she hopes 'some last minute miracle occurs' so she can celebrate the film in person.

Mar 21, 2022

AceShowbiz - Rachel Zegler has opened up about her feelings upon learning that she's not invited to the 2022 Oscars. When revealing that she won't be attending the award-giving event, the lead actress of Oscar-nominated film "West Side Story" said that she's "disappointed."

On Sunday, March 20, the 20-year-old star claimed via Instagram that she didn't receive an invitation to the annual ceremony, which is set to take place on Sunday, March 27 in Los Angeles with Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes serving as hosts. After a fan commented on her post that he/she can't wait to see what she'll be wearing on Oscar night, the "Shazam! Fury of the Gods" actress wrote, "I'm not invited so sweatpants and my boyfriend's flannel."

"Idk y'all, I have tried it all, but it doesn't seem to be happening," Rachel, who is currently shooting Mark Webb's "Snow White" in London, continued, hinting that she had tried to obtain a ticket. She added, "I will root for 'West Side Story' from my couch and be proud of the work we so tirelessly did three years ago. I hope some last minute miracle occurs and I can celebrate our film in person, but hey, that's how it goes sometimes, I guess. Thanks for all the shock and outrage. I'm disappointed too. But that's okay. So proud of our movie."

After many of her fans expressed dismay on social media, Rachel took to Twitter to thank her fans for their support. "My goodness, folks!! appreciate all the support, i really really do," she tweeted. "We live in such unprecedented times, and a lot of work behind the scenes goes into making movie magic happen."

"That goes for film productions (like the one I am so lucky to be currently shooting in london) and awards shows alike," Rachel continued. "Let's all just respect the process and i'll get off my phone x R."

Rachel Zegler thanked fans for their support after she said she's 'disappointed' for not being invited to the 2022 Oscars.

A source told E! News that movie studios are given an allotment of tickets to the Oscars, which means it would have been up to the team at Disney-owned 20th Century Studios, the production company behind "West Side Story", to extend Rachel an invite. The source added, "It would be different if she was a nominee and or a presenter."

Last month, the Academy announced a reduction in seating capacity for the venue, the Dolby Theatre, due to COVID-19. According to Variety, the organization also scrapped its annual ticket lottery in an effort to limit the number of attendees.
Instagram/WENN/Drew Altizer Celebrity

Volodymyr Zelensky personally reaches out to the Hollywood couple after their GoFundMe campaign earned nearly $35 million that goes to refugee and humanitarian aid efforts.

Mar 21, 2022

AceShowbiz - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has personally reached out to Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher following the couple's support to the country. The sixth and incumbent president of Ukraine called the Hollywood stars after they raised nearly $35 million for the country.

On Sunday, March 20, Zelensky posted on Twitter a photo of a computer screen showing him, Kunis and Kutcher having a conversation via a video call. In the caption, the president praised the pair for the efforts to help the country amid the war with Russia.

"[email protected] & Mila Kunis were among the first to respond to our grief. They have already raised $35 million & are sending it to @flexport & @Airbnb to help [Ukraine] refugees," he wrote. "Grateful for their support. Impressed by their determination. They inspire the world. #StandWithUkraine."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher for raising over $30 million for Ukraine.

Kunis posted a similar photo on her Twitter page, but added no caption. Kutcher, meanwhile, retweeted a message from the politician on his own account.

In a statement released on Monday, Zelensky called Kunis and Kutcher a "star couple who sincerely believe in us, in our victory, in our future." He added, "They help IDPs [internally displaced refugees] by raising funds. And the two of them have already raised [close to] $35 million."

"I thanked them on behalf of our people, on behalf of all of us. This is a good result for one couple of our friends in America," Zelenskyy said. He continued, "We are working to make the whole world our friends."

Kunis, who was born in Ukraine in 1983 but came to the U.S. with her family in 1991, and Kutcher launched a GoFundMe page to help people in her home country in early March. They also pledged $3 million of their own money.

As of Sunday, the campaign has raised over $34 million. In a video message posted on Thursday, March 17, Mila said they were "overwhelmed with gratitude of the support" from over 65,000 people that have donated through the campaign.

Kutcher added, "Our work is not done. We're going to do everything we can to ensure that the outpouring of love that came from you all as a part of this campaign finds a maximum impact with those in need."
SAN DIEGO, March 20, 2022  Dogs can use their incredible sense of smell to sniff out various forms of cancer in human breath, blood and urine samples. Similarly, in the lab a much simpler organism, the roundworm C. elegans, wriggles its way toward cancer cells by following an odor trail. Today, scientists report a device that uses the tiny worms to detect lung cancer cells. This worm-on-a-chip could someday help doctors noninvasively diagnose cancer at an earlier stage.

The researchers will present their results today at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS). ACS Spring 2022 is a hybrid meeting being held virtually and in-person March 20-24, with on-demand access available March 21-April 8. The meeting features more than 12,000 presentations on a wide range of science topics.

Early diagnosis of cancer is critical for effective treatment and survival, says Nari Jang, a graduate student who worked on the project. Therefore, cancer screening methods should be quick, easy, economical and noninvasive. Currently, doctors diagnose lung cancer by imaging tests or biopsies, but these methods often cant detect tumors at their earliest stages. Although dogs can be trained to sniff out human cancer, they arent practical to keep in labs. So Jang and Shin Sik Choi, Ph.D., the projects principal investigator, decided to use worms called nematodes, which are tiny (~1 mm in length), easy to grow in the lab and have an extraordinary sense of smell, to develop a noninvasive cancer diagnostic test.

Lung cancer cells produce a different set of odor molecules than normal cells, says Choi, who is at Myongji University in Korea. Its well known that the soil-dwelling nematode, C. elegans, is attracted or repelled by certain odors, so we came up with an idea that the roundworm could be used to detect lung cancer. Other researchers have placed nematodes in petri dishes and added drops of human urine, observing that the worms preferentially crawled toward urine samples from cancer patients. Jang and Choi wanted to make an accurate, easy-to-measure form of the test.

So the team made a chip out of polydimethylsiloxane elastomer that had a well at each end connected by channels to a central chamber. The researchers placed the chip on an agar plate. At one end of the chip, they added a drop of culture media from lung cancer cells, and at the other end, they added media from normal lung fibroblasts. They placed worms in the central chamber, and after an hour, they observed that more worms had crawled toward the lung cancer media than the normal media. In contrast, worms that had a mutated odor receptor gene called odr-3 did not show this preferential behavior.

Based on these tests, the researchers estimated that the device was about 70% effective at detecting cancer cells in diluted cell culture media. They hope to increase both the accuracy and sensitivity of the method by using worms that were previously exposed to cancer cell media and therefore have a memory of cancer-specific odor molecules. Once the team has optimized the worm-on-a-chip for detecting cultured lung cancer cells, they plan to move on to testing urine, saliva or even exhaled breath from people. We will collaborate with medical doctors to find out whether our methods can detect lung cancer in patients at an early stage, Choi says. They also plan to test the device on multiple forms of cancer.

In other studies using the worm-on-a-chip, the researchers identified the specific odor molecules that attract C. elegans to lung cancer cells, including a volatile organic compound called 2-ethyl-1-hexanol, which has a floral scent. We dont know why C. elegans are attracted to lung cancer tissues or 2-ethyl-1-hexanol, but we guess that the odors are similar to the scents from their favorite foods, Jang says.

The researchers acknowledge support and funding from the National Research Foundation of Korea.
OYO, a worldwide travel technology business, has promoted the former CEO of Hotels and Homes- India to the CEO, India.Rohit Kapoor has been elevated from his present position as CEO of India and Southeast Asia to a global role as its marketing head. Ankit Tandon, the company's Global Chief Business Officer, will also take on the additional duty of Southeast Asia as its CEO, with a focus on Indonesia and the Middle East region.

From April 1, Kapoor, Tandon, and Gupta will assume their new roles. All three executives will report to Ritesh Agarwal, the company's founder and CEO. In his new role, Kapoor will work to transform OYO's brand identity into a more aspirational and well-liked consumer-tech brand, as well as boost its affinity with strategically critical customer segments including family and the value proposition for OYO's core demographic of SMB customers and millennials.

In his new role, Kapoor will work to transform OYO's brand identity into a more inspirational and well-received consumer-tech brand, as well as boost its rapport with strategically critical customer segments including family and the value proposition for OYO's core demographic of SMB customers and millennials.

Kapoor will also concentrate on introducing the OYO brand to the company's European vacation homes division, which currently utilizes numerous brands across the various North European nations in which it operates. Kapoor has been key in revamping the INSEA business during Covid's difficult era in his current position as CEO Of INSEA. Over the previous two years, Kapoor has been instrumental in OYO's business model transformation, which has resulted in the company's contribution margins increasing from 5% to 18%.

Tandon has been assigned to one of OYO's main territories, SouthEast Asia, which focuses on the high-growth markets of Indonesia and Malaysia, as well as other East Asian and Middle Eastern countries that he previously led in conjunction with Amit Gupta. As a result, according to the announcement, Ankit's role would be expanded to CEO - SEA and ME. Tandon's job as Chief Business Officer, where he has been instrumental in strategic initiatives such as M&A and Business Performance Management, will enable this.

As the travel sector recovers, Gupta's new responsibility will be to focus on increasing OYO India's business.

"Rohit has proven to be a wonderful asset for OYO," stated Ritesh Agarwal, Founder and Group CEO of OYO. He added He has a proven track record of revitalising and improving every business unit he has overseen for the organisation. Through his remarkable first-principles approach and thorough grasp of OYO as a business operator, we will be relying on him to improve brand and marketing.

Ankit Tandon will provide momentum to the high-potential SEA market as it emerges from the Covid-induced lockdowns. Agarwal continued, " I am convinced that, with his background in founding and developing several business components at OYO, such as our mid-segment hotels business, he will offer considerable value to what we believe is one of OYO's most important regions."

Ankit Gupta has been important in building OYO's business, including our flagship mid-market brand, OYO Townhouse, which our clients like. I am convinced that he would accelerate OYO's growth in India and propel it to new heights. In their new jobs, I am looking forward to working closely with all three," Agarwal added.

"I have always been renewed by taking on new possibilities, typically in areas less covered by me," Rohit Kapoor, Global CMO, OYO, remarked. The task of sharpening OYO's brand and marketing function and winning our customers' hearts and minds is probably the most exciting role I've ever had, because it will allow me to "build one of the rare oxymoronic aspirational-budget brands not just in India, but across multiple regions around the world, each of which has a different cultural context in how they will interact with the brand."

I have witnessed the organisation evolve for the last seven years and am delighted to have been one of the early members," said Ankit Tandon, OYO's CEO for Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Several roles over the years have shaped my leadership skills, including building important portfolios, including OYO's mid-segment hotels business with brands like OYO Townhouse, building the operations capability stack, and leading the Global Programme Management Office (GPMO) to deliver several high-impact projects for OYO."

In my new role, I'm looking forward to working with the SEA & ME team and all of our executives to execute this year's plan and position the market for great development in the years ahead," Tandon said "My two-year career at OYO has been immensely enriching, as we have altered ourselves to emerge successfully from the pandemic," Ankit Gupta, India CEO of OYO, stated. Our commitment to provide a unique customer and patron experience has allowed us to become even more innovative in the ecosystem, thanks to our deep focus on tech-enabled innovation. I'm looking forward to working with the OYO India team in the future to achieve high-profit growth."
.Concept BIU, Indias Media Monitoring, PR Measurement & Analytics front runner launched a high-end, fast, holistic, and customizable social media analytics & intelligence service. This service arms the corporate clients & their agencies with accurate and timely social media updates, trends & on-ground intelligence at the click of a few buttons. With this initiative, Concept BIU becomes the only media monitoring and PR Analytics service provider from India that is fully equipped to give clients a 360-degree view of the media landscape and relevant intelligence for sharper brand strategy.

ConceptBIU has helped companies stay a step ahead of the competition for nearly two decades through its media monitoring and media analytics services. They offer the broadest and deepest coverage of the media universe in India and international markets. ConceptBIU acknowledges the need for communication professionals to continuously monitor, evaluate and interpret news to design communications programmes for positive and widespread influence. Their multimedia analytical prowess across traditional mediums such as print and online news, and new-age digital platforms including social media, blogs, and consumer forums, make them a preferred partner for their clients.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Ankoor Choudharri, CEO Concept BIU, said, Social media is increasingly gaining a major role in a Brands Corporate & Marketing IMC mix. Keeping this in mind, we have introduced a Fast, Holistic & Customizable Social Media Analytics Service in order to help brand custodians design fool-proof brand strategies. This service has been designed after considering Clients current and future requirements, advanced analytics and world-class technology matrices.

ConceptBIU's team comprises expert media professionals and skilled techies who can decipher volumes of information to deliver relevant insights. Led by visionary leaders, they provide clients with the information they need, along with relevant actionable insights.
Dynapar QPS, a leading over-the-counter (OTC) solution for musculoskeletal pains from Troikaa Pharmaceuticals, has signed up Indian athlete and Tokyo2020 Olympic Gold Medalist, Neeraj Chopra, as its first-ever brand ambassador. As a part of the association, Neeraj Chopra features in the brands latest marketing campaign #ChampionsKaChampion, the first in a series of campaigns planned.

Dynapar QPS (Quick Penetration Solution Technology) is the worlds first topical preparation of Diclofenac which enhances the penetration of the active ingredient, Diclofenac, through the skin for quicker and better pain relief, without burning sensation and odour. Through the brand ambassadors onboarding and association, the brand envisions establishing Dynapar QPS as an advanced, OTC pain-relief solution available in the country while highlighting its distinguishing advantages.

Commenting on the association, Dr. Ketan R. Patel, Chairman & MD, Troikaa Pharmaceuticals, said, We are happy to have an athlete of Neeraj Chopras stature to associate with our Made in India, globally patented brand, Dynapar QPS. He has won the highest honour in his field, made India proud, and has no equal amongst his contemporaries; qualities that reverberate with Dynapar QPS. Neeraj Chopra and Dynapar QPS are true champions.

Dynapar QPS latest campaign, #ChampionsKaChampion, featuring the new brand face, launched with a brand film released pan-India in nine languages, which is available on all digital platforms. The brand film focuses on the struggles, endurance, and determination of athletes, and their resilience to overcome their biggest obstacle, pain, to achieve their goals. The brand film is a planned move to establish the current positioning of the brand, Champions Ka Champion, and place the product as a winner in its therapeutic segment.

Speaking about the association and the latest campaign, Neeraj Chopra, Dynapars brand ambassador and the reigning Olympic Champion in javelin throw, said, I am excited to partner with Dynapar QPS, Indias most advanced pain reliever*. Pain is an important part of every athletes life, and being able to overcome that pain to reach ones goals is what makes one a champion. The #ChampionsKaChampion campaign reflects my own journey in overcoming pain throughout my career.
Gulf Oil Lubricants is one of the top brands in India, known for its rich history and associations with the world of sports. Gulf Oils consistent marketing has resulted in strong brand awareness and usage of the Gulf Brand in India. The lubricant market is highly competitive. Being a low involvement category, brands have to be quick on their feet and must stay continuously connected with their audiences. The digital transformation has changed the equation with the end customers. Today, the role and power of digital has help helped brand Gulf Oil come closer and engage intensely with their business partners and customers.

The emphasis toward digitisation has helped Gulf Oil to stay relevant and deliver value to their strong customer base. The company has launched digitisation initiatives for distributors, retailers, mechanics, and truck drivers to stay strongly connected. Their flagship programme, the Garage Mitr App, is an excellent example of how they have created an ecosystem for Gulf Car and Bike stops by providing CRM tools to all the independent garages to have a better connection with the end customers.

In an exclusive conversation with Adgully, Amit Gheji, Head - Marketing, Gulf Oil Lubricants India, speaks about their digital initiatives and how they have leveraged digital to stay connected with their business partners and end customers.

The digital landscape has changed rapidly. How are you leveraging the power of digital with your customers, retailers and mechanics?

Yes, the digital landscape has evolved. There are now more platforms, mediums, and touch points than ever before that are providing chances to connect with the target audience on a personal level. We are using digitisation to create a digital ecosystem for our consumers, distributor, retailers, and mechanics by introducing digital solutions for each stream at Gulf Oil India. By doing so, we hope to acquire speed to market with real-time feedback, respond to market needs, react to competition and remain top-of-mind for our target audience.

We have already launched digitisation initiatives for distributors, retailers, mechanics, and truck drivers. Our flagship programme, the Garage Mitr App, is an excellent example of how we are working to create an ecosystem for Gulf Car and Bike stops (Gulf branded Independent workshops) by providing CRM tools to independent garages to have a better connect with end-customers.

Lubricants is a very low involvement category, especially among the end customers. How do you plan to leverage digital and educate your customers about your various product offerings?

Being in a low involvement category should not be an excuse for lack of innovation. Any category can be made exciting and engaging to consumers, as long as marketers and advertisers understand their consumers and have their lateral thinking caps on. We have extensively used digital to engage and educate our customers about our product offerings. But we also do it in the right context so that the consumers dont feel like its an intrusion in their space.

Our digital marketing campaigns are sharply targeted towards a specific audience and it shows in the success metrics as we enjoy among the highest engagement rates on our social media handles across all industry players. Our engagement rates on other digital media also consistently beat industry benchmarks. This is possible because we educate our consumers about our product offerings via content/ marketing campaigns which are contextual, insightful and engaging.

What is the role of digital in your retailer loyalty program? How has it helped the brand Gulf Oil retain your retailers and widen your distribution and reach?

Digitisation has played a huge role in the retailer loyalty program. For our top retailers, we established Unnati, a retailer loyalty programme developed by our Trade Marketing team. The app Unnati that resides on these top retailers smartphones allows them to see how much Gulf product they have purchased, what their monthly target is, and if they meet the target, then what rewards they can get. This app is installed on the phones of our big retailers. The retailer can take advantage of the various rewards after the monthly target is fulfilled. The rewards come in the form of vouchers that may be redeemed both via Instant Money Transfer and through Big Bazaar stores.

This has helped to strengthen our relationship with the retailers and made them more loyal and likely to keep buying our brand.

Marketing is a two-way conversation. What has been the response from your business partners, the retailers and mechanics for your digital initiatives? What are some of the promotional pushes you are using for them to actively participate in the digital initiative?

The response so far has been amazing. Other than Unnati and Garage Mitr apps, we have an app called Masterscan for other mechanics to earn their incentives. We have fully eliminated the physical cash coupon structure for mechanics and replaced it with a digital payment mechanism across our ecosystem.

I believe that our continuous reward system for our distributors, retailers, and mechanics is the most significant factor in allowing our value chain to remain engaged in our digital ecosystem. This aids in the development of brand loyalty and trust among our network.

Have you created an app for all your business partners to stay engaged? Whats your engagement strategy to stay engaged with your end consumer?

Yes, we developed an app for our distributors, mechanics, retailers, and also Gulf car and bike stops in order to include every stakeholder in our digital ecosystem. Our engagement strategy at Gulf Oil is simple: we use digital to stay top-of-mind for a longer period of time and reach directly to customers and consumers.

One of the best examples is Jamoora Tesan, a mobile on-demand audio podcast for truckers that helps Gulf Oil to stay top-of-mind while they are on the road. Every week, Jamoora Tesan features 10 minutes of entertaining and educational content about truckers lives, truck maintenance, and financing, all with subtle Gulf Oil brand integration. Although the podcasts impact on sales cannot be directly linked, CVO (commercial vehicle oil) has performed best for us as a category in the last two years, when mobility has been badly impacted.
Hindware, a leader in complete bathroom solutions today announced a new brand identity to reinforce its connect with customers and supplement its position in the sanitaryware industry. As part of the exercise, the company introduced a revamped logo, launched a new range of colored faucets, Hues and roped in leading female actor, Tamanna Bhatia as the Brand Endorser to build a stronger connect with consumers in southern markets and across India.

Hindware has been at the forefront of industry-first designs and innovations for decades, as the company grows to new heights it aims to build a deeper connect with audience for a new tomorrow. At an event, Hindware unveiled its new brand logo in Black & White color echoing supremacy and suavity. Additionally, the company revealed the new logo for Hindware Italian Collection, in White, Gold and Black color, representing luxury, triumph and success, while Italian written in artistic calligraphy font to signify elegance. The essence of the new logo for Hindware Italian Collection further relates with confidence, boldness and power, and hints of the legacy brand logo  Hindware, can be observed denoting a balanced premium tone with a promise of quality and performance. This approach helps Italian Collection to establish credentials and enter the consideration set of the consumer who are seeking products thats stylish, contemporary, innovative, and importantly dependable. With the overall rebranding exercise, the company intends to position Hindware Italian Collection as a premium brand with strong legacy and trust of its proverbial brand, Hindware.

Along with the new premium brand logo, Hindware Italian Collection have attached yet another feather to their caps by announcing the product launch of Hues by Hindware Italian Collection. Hues by Hindware Italian Collection pursues to connect with audiences seeking to design bathrooms with color and pristine finish in metro and mini-metro cities. The new bathroom range entails a complete portfolio of faucets called Edge, Element and Avoir available in stunning colors - Gold, Rose-Gold and Chrome Black. The product range has a sharp and edgy design to match basins and water closets of every bath space. Each color palette connotes beauty, and elegance in the most impactful way, capable of instantly elevating the look of any bath space. Exclusively, the collection is designed to be aesthetically appealing and built with the most durable finish available today.

Leading female actor, Tamanna Bhatia has also been signed in as the brand endorser for the launch of Hues faucets by Hindware Italian Collection. As part of the association Tamanna will be supporting Hindwares brand value and further strengthening its position in the premium offerings by Hindware Italian Collection.

Commenting on the announcement, Mr. Sudhanshu Pokhriyal, Chief Executive Officer, Bath & Tiles, Brilloca, said, Our marketing strategies are at the core of evolving industry dynamics and therefore, keeping in mind the market sentiments and audience appeal, we have taken a conscious call to introduce a new identity for Hindware and Hindware Italian Collection. With this, we reflect modern outlook and our rich legacy; the goal of this rebranding is to enhance the connect with customers in the present times. Aligned to the new brand identity, we are pleased to launch a vibrant and stylish range of luxurious facets, Hues by Hindware Italian Collection. The colored faucets have a stunning, long-lasting finish that will light up your bathroom and give it an aesthetic look.

He further added We are excited to have Tamanna Bhatia as our brand endorser, she personifies the elegance and style proposition of our products. Alongside her, we are certain to strengthen the brands connection with consumers especially in southern India.

Commenting on the association, Tamanna Bhatia said, I am extremely happy to be associated with India's leading bathware solutions brand, Hindware. I am someone who is obsessed with beautiful bathroom settings. That's why I resonate with the company's vision. Much to my taste, their collection is inspired by confidence and rich designs. 'Hues' by Hindware Italian Collection looks tremendously exquisite, and the colour tones will definitely add a touch of luxury to bathroom settings. I truly relate to the brand and look forward to a long fulfilling association ahead."

On the announcement Charu Malhotra Bhatia, Vice-President, Marketing, Brilloca Limited said, We are happy to have actor Tamanna Bhatia on board as our brand endorser; I am certain the association will help us enhance our consumer connect in the southern markets. Hindware has always celebrated and championed the amalgamation of thoughtful features and beautiful designs and Tamanna accurately brings alive the extravagance of the brand with her attitude of nothing but the best. We welcome her to the Hindware family.
Dil Khol Ke  the vibrant city of Mumbai has opened its heart with warmness, enthusiasm and spirit of camaraderie as the five time champions Mumbai Indians have splashed in a hue of colors covering the entire city, in welcoming the fellow nine franchises to its home.

A dash of yellow to Welcome Chennai Super Kings  Whistle Podu Dil Khol Ke,, while Kolkata Knight Riders are welcomed to the city with their iconic Korbo Lorbo Jeetbo Dil Khol Ke slogan. The #WelcomeDilKholKe billboards, customised to each of the visiting teams, have been set up across key locations in the city, uses a creative rendition to bring alive the spirit of sports, excitement and affection.

These warm heartful messages are greeting players, officials and the fans of each of these franchises representing different parts of the country as they set base across Mumbai for the Indian Premier League, 2022. There is anticipation in the air, as fans, too look forward to return with fervor into the stadium to support their teams.

Mumbai Indians spokesperson said, The billboards installed across the city captures the creative expressions of the spirit of Mumbai  the city of dreams which welcomes every individual to its land of opportunity. We, Mumbai Indians are a reflection of the city, its ethos and this campaign is a tribute to the warmth of the people of Mumbai in welcoming all the franchises of our IPL family. With IPL back in India and in Mumbai, Mumbai Indians look forward to welcoming its loyal blue & gold Paltan back to the stadiums. We take pride in having one of the most passionate fan army  the Paltan who have backed the team for a decade and more with their unrelenting energy and enthusiasm.

The Indian Premier League, set to be played across Mumbai and Pune, starts on March 26, 2022. Mumbai Indians start their campaign on March 27 against Delhi Capitals at Brabourne Stadium.
Manipal Hospitals, the second-largest healthcare services provider in India, today announced a strategic partnership with ConnectedLife built with Google Cloud to use Fitbits wearable technology with ConnectedLifes virtual platform to monitor patient progress and empower Continuity of Care Post-High-Risk Surgeries. Through this virtual platform, the clinical teams at Manipal Hospitals will gain a holistic view of the patient post-discharge, tailor their intervention precisely to the patients needs, and monitor them in their journey towards a healthy post-surgery recovery.

This digital initiative aims to use wearable technology to stay connected with patients post surgeries like total knee replacement, angioplasty, cardiac bypass surgery, and other high-risk surgeries.

The advanced digital solution can remotely capture heart rate, oxygen saturation level, and activity metrics (sleep quality, steps taken, and pain score) both pre-and and post-operatively. The technology optimizes patient care via triggering reminders to take medications or participate in physiotherapy and triggering warnings if there are significant deviations outside normal physiological parameters.

Early data indicates patients on the programme have seen improved adherence to medication and exercise schedule with associated improvements in physical activity. Within this programme we are able to give patients in post-operative care a better view of their activity, sleep and other health metrics that can help empower them in managing their day-to-day wellbeing.

This is the beginning of a new and exciting chapter in the history of Manipal Hospitals and in the Indian healthcare eco-system. Today, we have an excellent opportunity to develop a cohesive program for the continuity of care after hospitalization. Through this partnership, we are expecting post-surgery care to become seamless, as wearable technology will help us monitor certain critical parameters of patients who have undergone total knee replacement surgery, angioplasty, cardiac bypass surgery, and other high-risk surgeries, said Dr Sudarshan Ballal, Chairman, Manipal Hospitals.

In the long run, it will help facilitate Manipal Hospitals to determine if the post-operative data collected from the ConnectedLife with Fitbit dashboard match with functional outcomes and improved patient satisfaction post-surgery. This data will allow us to understand and develop new methods in cost-effectiveness, compliance, comfort, and ease of use, all while giving us accurate data on the vitals, said Mr. Dilip Jose, MD & CEO, Manipal Hospitals.

The intuitive, user-centric platform will help every person, from at-risk patients to chronic sufferers. We will be able to better understand their condition and then collaborate with care teams to achieve better health outcomes. Through its patient-centric platform, we will be able to replace lengthy manual processes with 24/7 insight-based care and monitoring, and thus enabling recovery outside of hospitals, Mr Jose added.

Alok Shankar, Country Manager for Fitbit India said, We continue to work with ConnectedLife to facilitate engagement with strategic partners like Manipal Hospitals to develop and implement solutions that play a key role in building the digital health ecosystem in India. This programme gives people a better view of their health metrics, which can help empower them to better manage their recovery.

We are honoured to partner with Manipal Hospitals and Fitbit in bringing about a digital transformation within the Indian health eco-system to continuity of care post-high-risk surgeries. For ConnectedLife this is an incredible opportunity to deliver at scale and further advance the application of easy-to-use smartphone and wearable technology, and novel data analytics and AI, and population health management tools. With our trusted, secure and scalable enterprise infrastructure, ConnectedLife will deploy new features and capabilities based on patient and clinician feedback every two to four weeks, and maintain the strictest accountability for data acquisition, privacy and protection, said Mr. Daryl Arnold, Founder & CEO, ConnectedLife.
Metadome, a deep tech startup company with core expertise in Visual Computing has launched an innovative #MetaWaliHoli campaign across the social media channels. Celebrating the festival of colors, the users will now be able to experience the Metaverse version of Holi. With newly introduced filters for smartphones, the use



Keeping in mind the essence of this festival of spring, this newly created experience will provide options to experience the splash of lustrous colors virtually. The users can follow a shareable link to open up a filter, where users can access various colors splashing on their mobile screens, followed by more tints applied on the face in a random pattern which will provide a natural Holi look. Further, the users will be able to record videos of the animation or take screenshots and share on social media and WhatsApp.



Commenting on the campaign, Kanav Singla, Founder & CEO Metadome said, Our endeavor has been to create immersive experiences by reimagining spaces alongside making it available to all. After struggling for a long period under lockdowns due to pandemic, things are finally starting to normalize but the pandemic is still far from over yet. By launching this filter we at Metdome are encouraging a safe environment to enjoy the festival of colors. The colors used to play Holi contain harmful chemicals that can damage your skin. By using this filter people can have a different experience of holi without causing any harm to their skin. Therefore, I would like to encourage all to play #MetaWaliHoli this year.
Ronit Baugh has joined Jet Airways as the GM & Head of Communications. Previously Baugh has served im Oxfiord University Press, India as the Communications & Public Affairs Lead and prior to that he has been the Brand & Communications Lead at Shiv Nadar University. He started his career in marketing communications at Indigo Airlines and then assumed the role of Corporate & Marketing Communications Specialist at Star TV Network. He has also served as the Deputy Manager, of Corporate Communications at Aircel and as the External Communications Manager at Vistara- Tata SIA Airlines Ltd.

On his new role, Baugh said: Im thrilled to be joining the iconic airline at this incredibly transformative moment in its journey, and to becoming a small  and hopefully, significant  part of the first-ever airline revival story in the history of Indian aviation. I look forward to the opportunity of helping write the next chapter of the brand Jet Airways story, along with all colleagues and stakeholders.
Adgully is back with a new edition of its annual feature  TRENDING NOW  where we present the strategies and views of a cross-section of industry leaders as they go about reclaiming lost time and market opportunities and build for a stronger future, armed with the lessons of the pandemic period.

Trending Now has been bringing insights from industry leaders on how their organisations are gearing up to seize the opportunities in 2022, break through the Covid disruptions and find growth and remain resilient.

In conversation with Adgully, Manish Chowdhary, Co-Founder, WOW Skin Science, speaks about the effects of pandemic on the consumers, the biggest challenges and opportunities in the year ahead, importance of grooming, self-care and more.

What are the trends that you expect to dominate in your sector in 2022?

The pandemic has impacted consumer consciousness and buying pattern in a very big way. They are now more hygiene and health conscious. There is a sense of positivity in the market as more and more people have got their vaccine jab. Yes, there is a fear of a new wave, but there is also a pandemic fatigue, which is driving consumers to go out and lead a more normal lifestyle. One of the biggest consumer trends is the demand for clean, green, sustainable beauty and wellness products. More and more consumers are turning towards products that are nature-based, organic and cruelty-free. They want simple, easy-to-use, and multi-use products. We see these driving business and product decisions in our personal care, beauty and wellness sector.

What are the challenges and new opportunities that you see emerging in the year ahead?

This year, we see the biggest challenge as also the biggest opportunity for us. The challenge is to cater to the increasing demand for clean, green beauty products. We have to work extensively around product and packaging to ensure they are good for our consumers and good for the planet as well. This means going to the drawing board again and again to figure out the right permutation. However, this is also the biggest opportunity for us to reinvent ourselves and capture consumer attention. Since beauty care is a very personal thing for consumers, so it is a good strategy to pre-empt a consumer need and offer personalised beauty products. Meeting the consumer need in a timely manner will help in building not only awareness, but also consumer loyalty.

How is this years turnout expected to be in this sector as compared to the last two years?

As a beauty brand, the pandemic did not impact us in a great way, as we continued to sell our products via online. With more awareness about clean, healthy skin and hair, we saw demand for body washes, shampoos, moisturisers, serums continue to grow. With the importance of selfcare increasing in the consumer consciousness, we see the wellness and beauty care sectors to experience a steady growth. As a brand, we will focus on strengthening those areas of our business. This provides us with an opportunity to develop and deliver products that enhance the sense of wellbeing and provide visible results to the consumers. We expect a steady growth to happen, however, it is tough to put numbers to it during this time. We hope to see increasing returns on our branding investments in the coming months.

What are the changes that have happened in this sector in the last two years?

Self-realisation, self-confidence, and being comfortable in your own skin are the main trends driving consumer buying pattern currently. That is why we are seeing increasing demand for effective and targeted beauty care products. Looking good now is about how healthy your skin and hair feels in their natural state. That is why people are investing more on skin care and hair care rather than on makeup and styling products.

Consumers are no longer interested in crowding their vanity shelves with multitudes of products, instead they want core beauty care solutions that deliver visible results and have long term benefits. So, there is a renewed focus on natural, nature-based, and organic products. The increased consumer demand is now driving the launch of new and indigenous, nature-based brands on a regular basis in the market.

How strong will the recovery be? How strong will this sectors growth be compared to the last two years as well as the pre-Covid period?

The market is in recovery and will be steady as people start to come out of the pandemic-induced isolation. Grooming and self-care will continue to be very important for the consumers. They will be willing to spend more on feel-good products, multi-use products and treatment products to look and feel healthy. The skincare products market alone is expected to grow at over 8 per cent annually for the next three years. So, recovery and growth will be steady with the market opening up to newer brands, products and new consumer sets.
Federal Department of Finance

Bern, 21.03.2022 - From 23 to 24 March 2022, Federal Councillor Ueli Maurer and a delegation from the Swiss financial sector will pay a working visit to the United Arab Emirates and attend Expo 2020 in Dubai. The focus will be on the Swiss Finance Day at Expo 2020, as well as talks on cooperation in financial and tax matters.

At Expo 2020 Dubai, Switzerland portrays itself as one of the world's most important financial centres. On 23 March 2022, in the presence of Federal Councillor and Finance Minister Ueli Maurer, a high-ranking delegation from Swiss banks and insurance companies will present the Swiss financial centre's contribution to innovation and sustainability in the Swiss pavilion. Digitalisation is opening up promising opportunities for the Swiss financial centre to strengthen and expand its leading position internationally. The Swiss Finance Day panel discussions will be livestreamed on www.finance.swiss, the joint information platform of the Swiss financial authorities and the financial sector.

In addition, the visit to the United Arab Emirates will make it possible to pursue the financial dialogue between the two countries and to exchange views on the economic situation, as well as on financial and tax topics and open market access. The financial dialogue will be led by State Secretary Daniela Stoffel and Mohamed Bin Hadi Al Hussaini, Minister of State for Financial Affairs.

On the outward journey, Finance Minister Ueli Maurer will meet Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, and his counterpart Ali Bin Ahmed Al Kuwari in Doha to deepen the dialogue on financial and tax issues that began in summer 2021.

More information on the Swiss Finance Day at Expo 2020 Dubai, including details of the panel discussions, can be found on the website www.finance.swiss.

Address for enquiries

FDF Communications

Tel. +41 58 458 60 33, info@gs-efd.admin.ch

Publisher

Federal Department of Finance

https://www.efd.admin.ch/efd/en/home.html




Looking back over the past several weeks, the durum market has remained flat with no impressive moves one way or the other. That said, most lo
Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, health care has seen quite a transformation.

Health care workers have felt a strain as demand for their skills grew. Hospitals saw increased activity with spikes in cases and new variants, in addition to their normal services, leading to a shortage of workers. This has been felt in rural areas especially, where access to health care can be tougher to find and miles away in some cases.

These arent new problems, but COVID has put a magnifying glass on these issues in most rural areas.

We didnt realize how bad it was, said Charles James Jr., North American Healthcare Management Services CEO and Illinois Rural Health Association president. For those with transportation insecurity, especially our Medicare patients and even some of our own staff that has to transport children to daycare, it has been extremely pronounced.

That has led to a lot of stress, both professionally and personally, on health care workers, James said.

We get a lot of health care providers with massive trauma, he said. Along with that, a lot say they just cant take it anymore, or on their own. The ultimate ramifications of that trauma experienced are going to be long term.

Melissa VanDyne, executive director at Missouri Rural Health Association, said one major reason job openings in the sector arent immediately filling is due to a lack of supply.

Its not just doctors and nurses, but we are seeing it across the board, VanDyne said. Its in what we call allied health services too  your food and custodial  really everything in and around health care.

This isnt an issue directly focused on rural facilities, VanDyne said, as urban health care facilities are dealing with shortages as well. Where rural areas are taking an additional hit is in their ability to attract workers with salary.

We are seeing instances where nurses, especially, are opting to go to more urban settings because they can get paid more, she said. Now our rural facilities are having to compete even more than they already were. Increasing salaries hurts their overall revenue streams and our rural hospitals hurt financially already.

James said there are opportunities to be found in federal programs. Rural communities can push loan repayment programs through the U.S. Health Resources and Services Association, and he hopes more will be brought on to incentivize more health care workers.

The medical expense in general is a huge barrier to people becoming primary care, he said. Only 2% of our medical graduates are going into primary care.

The rapid growth of telehealth has been among the positives to emerge from the pandemic. Being able to meet with physicians remotely has helped those who can not easily get to a health care facility, but that benefit can only go as far as the infrastructure will carry it.

VanDyne said there are pockets of her state where poor internet connectivity and cellular service dont allow for those benefits to be seen. She said the improvement of broadband connectivity needs to be tied to increasing rural health care access.

There are pockets where we just dont have coverage, she said. The fiber may be there, but it isnt live or it doesnt quite get where it needs to go. We are hoping that funding will help bridge that gap in rural areas.

The issue of telehealth and how it will be viewed by insurance is something that needs to be addressed as well, VanDyne said. During the public health emergency, there were additional reimbursement costs coming in for virtual appointments. When those additional funds stop, telehealth could take a step backward.

The federal government did release a lot of CMS waivers as far as regulations and reimbursement for telehealth, and we are pushing to get those permanent, she said. We have to work on that reimbursement structure to make sure it stays as close to an in-person visit as a telehealth visit.

One area telehealth has been helpful is in mental or behavioral health, James said. Improving the infrastructure for rural mental health is a focus for many organizations, he said, and the pandemic has shown increased demand. He hopes it can be become a bigger part of the overall health care complex.

Behavioral health needs to be considered primary care, he said. Its a nationwide issue that, from an economic perspective, costs us enormously in lost productivity and health care expense. I do a lot of individual rural health clinic program assessments where we look at the top diagnoses, and anxiety was routinely at the top of those.

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Although durum prices remain in double figures, the market itself has been less than stellar.

Durum continues to be a lackluster market. It's stayed very tranquil over the last couple weeks when we've seen pretty extreme volatility in the other wheat markets and corn and soybeans, said Jim Peterson, market director for the North Dakota Wheat Commission. Time will tell whether that's a positive or whether it works against durum, and it kind of loses its luster to pull acres in 2022 if it doesn't keep pace with the strength, albeit with volatility, that weve seen in the other markets.

Current bids for old crop durum range around $13 locally and seems to catch most bids for nearby durum. New crop durum is at $10 a bushel. Although there may be some higher bids being offered, Peterson noted theyre just not posted or theyre not as transparent.

Looking at nearby durum bids, he pointed out that spring wheat was $9.50 to close to $10 as of March 14.

(Thats) certainly not equal to durum, but when we look at new crop position  the harvest 2022 period  there are some $9.50 bids for spring wheat cash. So when you compare that to $10 durum, I think spring wheat wins out, he said. Well see if we get more market action from the durum industry to try to incentivize acres for 2022.

As for why the market is being a bit lackluster, its because most mills and end-users appear to be covered for the near-term. How deep that is and how long it lasts, time will tell. Peterson suspects there will have to be some kind of push to come in and cover prior to the June timeframe.

One thing thats worked against durum on the demand side, he noted, is that pasta plants in the U.S. and domestic mills have run into significant supply chain issues, including difficulty getting packaging materials, some worker shortages, and difficulty getting trucks to move the product. Also, on the rail end, there have been some periodic shortfalls.

So thats all kind of throttled back production at the pasta plants which, in turn, means less demand from the mills, which leads to less pull from the country level. So hopefully that will straighten itself out, he said.

Looking at USDAs March supply and demand report, domestic use was pegged at 77 million bushels (MB), which would be the second-lowest in the last 10 years. Compared to last year when domestic food use was 88 MB, which was an all-time record, this year is a pretty dramatic decline in durum food use. Peterson said that part of that is mills substituting some spring wheat in products in where they can, and the other is just not being able to keep product moving out to the store shelves.

They realize theyve missed some demand, but hopefully we can get these supply chain issues cleared up and see some better pasta pull going forward, he said.

Other factors included in the supply and demand report, USDA kept imports at 40 MB, half of which is pasta imports coming in and the other half is projected durum from Canada for grinding. Thats near the five-year average, but up from 37 MB a year ago.

Well see if that holds. Regarding the imports from Canada, while higher than a year ago, its a little suspect whether they reach that level, he said.

The next big report for the market is the upcoming Planting Intentions Report, which will come out March 31. The survey of producers was taken the first part of March.

Every year there are some variables that come into play that make the report something more to react to rather than to hold firm going into the year, he said. But, obviously with the volatility weve seen in corn and especially the bread wheat markets in early March, it will be interesting to see what those numbers show. Are durum acres going to be higher? If so, to what level?

He added that there are still some early estimates that point to lower durum acres even though weve seen some very strong prices through the winter.

Its all tied to what's happening with other crops. Other crops have made a more aggressive bid for 2022 acres, he said. Spring wheat has had a pretty good rally since the first part of March.

Another report due out March 31 is the updated stocks on hand as of March 1. USDA is projecting almost no change in ending inventories for June of 2022 vs. June of 2021, even with the smallest crop since 1961. If USDA comes in with numbers that are less than expected, that could be a factor that could help bring more life back into the durum market.

So far, U.S. domestic demand has been disappointing, he said.

Looking at export sales, Peterson explained the price premium for U.S. and Canadian durum has really limited sales into Europe and also North Africa. The U.S. has 7 MB of shipments and sales on the books vs. 25 MB a year ago.

A concerning factor going forward, is we only have 700,000 bushels on the books remaining left to be shipped this marketing year. A year ago we had nearly 6 million, so were definitely going to need to see some new demand come in during the April/May time frame, he said.

Recent tenders that have come from Algeria and Tunisia were at $17 per bushel (U.S.) delivered.

The U.S. does have sales on the books to some key buyers, including Italy, Algeria, Spain, Guatemala, Panama, Mexico and Japan, its just that those volumes are all lower than typical.

Canadas market has also been weaker during February. Their cash prices to producers are down to $15-$15.50 (Canadian). New crop bids are down around $12, so not much different than the U.S. market.

Canadian exports in the August/January period totaled 48 MB. That compares to 110 MB a year ago, a decline of 56 percent. By region, their exports to the U.S. are only 6.5 MB to date, but thats double what they were a year ago, which was a fairly small number. Peterson expects that Canada will probably need to get close to 20 MB in sales to the U.S. to meet USDAs projection.

Canada, he noted, has had good demand from Japan and Venezuela, but similar to the U.S., theyre seeing about a 70 percent decline into Italy and about a 50 percent decline into Morocco.

Looking ahead to the 2022 crop, early speculation out of Canada is indicating a 9 percent increase in durum acres, which would take them back up to about 6 million acres. The early estimates were prior to the bread wheat rally in early March. There are other estimates that call for an increase of just 3 percent. Canadas planting survey results wont come out until the end of April.

Looking at the world durum crop, Peterson said the European Union crop is expected to be about 5 percent larger and the French crop, right now, is in very good shape. But where a lot of the world focus is going to be in North Africa, in particular Morocco, which had its driest period in 30 years.

Any further rains will likely be too late to benefit the crops, so Morocco is going to need more durum imports this year, he said. Algeria has been catching some spotty rains, so well see what happens.

For the U.S., the market will get a first glance at potential durum acreage when the Planting Intentions Report comes out the end of March. Back in December/January, a 10 percent increase seemed reasonable, but thats been pared back of late.

Well see whether acres show that producers do intend to plant more durum acres this spring or not, he said.

The big thing for both the world and U.S. and Canadian producers, is what type of demand recovery we are going to see going into this next year. The shortage of supply, the high prices, supply chain issues all have worked to probably cut demand more than expected. Hopefully well see a recovery in both international and U.S. domestic demand as we go into the 2022 crop year, he added.

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With relatively high row crop prices and government support payments in response to the coronavirus pandemic over the last two years, dealers say many farmers have been looking to upgrade equipment, both new and used.

Dennis Blair, sales rep for the Ag-Power John Deere dealer in Richmond, Mo., says demand for new equipment has been robust.

Weve got more equipment on order this year than weve ever had, he says.

Blair says producers have been looking for a variety of equipment, and he cant pinpoint any one thing that is most in demand.

Its whatever they can get their hands on, he says.

It has been a challenge keeping equipment on the lot and available, Blair says, but producers can put in orders.

Its been tough, he says. Were able to order for 22. Weve got stuff on order.

Blair says a lot of new farm equipment and technology are ordered 6 to 12 months in advance. This was something his company did even before supply chain issues, so there is some experience with planning ahead.

Were used to that, he says. But its still tough to get stuff.

Even with increased inventory, Blair says demand has stayed ahead.

Weve got more stuff than weve ever had, but we still cant keep up, he says.

However, Blair says the upside is many people are looking to buy equipment.

Thats the good part of it, he says.

Danny DesCombes, owner of DesCombes Agri-Business in Clinton, says he has seen many producers looking to buy new equipment as well.

The demands there, he says.

Due to both availability and price, used equipment is a popular option for many farmers, DesCombes says.

If you can get it for $15 to $20,000 cheaper, that gets your attention, he says.

The continual push for newer and better equipment and technology has long been part of the agricultural experience, and DesCombes plans to honor that at the upcoming 50th anniversary celebration for his familys business.

He says for the celebration he is going to have a Vermeer 605A baler, one of the earliest round balers, next to a brand-new state of the art baler.

DesCombes says it shows how far ag equipment technology has progressed.

The monitor and the computer, thats really changed things, he says.

Justin Palmer, salesman for the Ag-Power John Deere dealership in Stanberry, Missouri, says a variety of items are popular with farmers looking to buy right now.

Right now it seems like combines, planters, tractors, he says. Really 8,000 series tractors are pretty hot.

When buying equipment, Palmer says farmers are focused more on the equipment itself, and the special features and options like what the interior looks like are not as crucial.

It doesnt seem like the options are near as important, he says.

Beyond the world of equipment and machinery, farmers are also looking for new ways to improve with crop technology and weed control. Kevin Bradley, University of Missouri weed scientist, says researchers have been looking at ways to control weeds beyond just herbicide use, including electrocuting weeds and destroying weed seeds.

Electrocuting weeds involves using a Weed Zapper to kill weeds, with a copper boom attached to the front of the tractor that electrocutes any plant it contacts, as well as a generator hooked onto the back of the tractor.

I think right now its probably more of a potential,

future-type deal for commercial, big-time agriculture, Bradley says.

He says it is more of a weed rescue tool than a weed management tool.

Its not a full-season management tool, he says. You need a height differential (between weeds and crops). I think its a cleanup tool. If we get weeds above the soybeans, weve already seen yield loss. Too many people want to jump the gun and say this is a weed management tool, and its not, its a rescue tool.

Bradley says the tools to destroy weed seed, such as the Seed Terminator, are closer to widespread commercial use.

Its probably a little farther along, he says. Its starting to be sold in the U.S.

He says many dealers are working with different companies to provide the seed harvesting and destroying equipment, which can either be retrofitted to combines or sold on some new combines for sale.

Some weed seed can still escape from the header or other parts of the combine, but the seed destructors seem to help.

Its not 100%, its not a silver bullet, but they do grind up weed seed, Bradley says. It is a substantial reduction in the waterhemp seed going into the soil.

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David Burton is a county engagement and community development specialist for University of Missouri Extension, based in Springfield.

In 2021, Burton had the idea to celebrate National Good Neighbor Day with a 1,000 Acts of Neighboring challenge for Greene County, Missouri. The county far surpassed that goal, and there were 5,731 acts of neighboring submitted statewide.

Burton says it was encouraging to be part of the project and see so many people working to be good neighbors. He has plans to do it again in 2022.

MFT: What was the 1,000 Acts of Neighboring challenge?

BURTON: I define neighboring as the art and skill of building relationships with the people who live in the closest proximity to you. The neighboring challenge was my attempt in 2021 to celebrate National Good Neighbor Day in Greene County. This was the third year Ive worked to promote the holiday. In 2021, the goal was to get 1,000 acts of neighboring reported via our website, and the best examples would be recognized.

At the end of Good Neighbor Week in Missouri, we had 5,731 acts of neighboring submitted from across the state by nearly 100 groups and individuals. In Greene County, residents documented 2,433 acts of neighboring. Some individuals and groups went all-in on this neighboring idea and helped us exceed our goal.

The 2022 Good Neighbor Week will look different and have a goal of 10,000 Acts of Neighboring. Im pushing for more recognition of Missouri Good Neighbor Week. I also want to put more effort into helping groups or businesses do customer and community events that can reach more people statewide.

MFT: What are some examples of things people did to be a good neighbor?

BURTON: I am out to change the narrative about neighboring in the American culture and across Missouri. A good neighbor is not someone who is quiet and leaves their neighbors alone. Instead, a good neighbor is someone who is actively engaged in their neighborhood and community and in building positive relationships with others.

As part of our neighboring challenge, we gave out awards to some of the best examples statewide and in the communities of Greene County. Here are a few of my favorites.

D&L Florist (Houston, Mo.) distributed 2,850 individual roses to neighbors in and around Houston in celebration of National Good Neighbor Day

Milton and Judith Moore (Agency, Missouri) prepared 13 quarts of homemade Hot Cocoa Mix. They distributed the quarts to their nearest neighbors with instructions and a note celebrating National Good Neighbor Day.

Elaine Montgomery (Springfield, Missouri) organized a Socialize & Safe Disposal event in north Springfield with donuts, coffee, and lemonade for the 95 who attended. Neighbors could bring documents like old bank statements and outdated confidential paperwork for professional and secure shredding.

Diana Simpson in Ash Grove provided materials to four of her neighbors to assemble an emergency first aid kit for the home.

The neighbors of Buck Van Hooser in Ash Grove  David Hawkins, Joe and Mary Hawkins, Mike and Dena Coale, and Travis Underwood  performed yard and fieldwork for a neighbor while he was recovering from cancer.

Linda Dunn and her husband, of Republic, purchased 10 bags of flavored popcorn, made cards to attach, and delivered them to the 10 closest neighboring homes, including three new to the neighborhood. This is the third year they have participated in National Good Neighbor Day.

MFT: How can acts of neighboring help build strong rural communities?

BURTON: This neighboring project aims to encourage the development of engaged neighbor relationships, foster healthy neighborhoods, develop grassroots leaders, and fund neighborhood connectors in under-served communities. There is an abundance of research on this subject. Knowing your immediate neighbors can decrease crime where you live by 60%. Knowing your neighbors can improve your physical and mental health in several ways. One example is that chronic loneliness has the same physical impact as smoking one pack of cigarettes a day. Taking steps to get to know your neighbors can lead to discovering new skills and abilities in you and your neighbors. That often leads to more community volunteerism and leadership.

Americans are a consumer culture, so people ask: What is in it for me even with something like this? For some, it is the idea of improved health. Many studies demonstrate the importance of social interaction and its positive impacts on health. For some, their motivation is that they are tired of being lonely and isolated. We have a growing epidemic of loneliness in this nation, and the answers may be right next door! Other people embrace this idea because they understand that they can positively impact their neighborhood, which can then impact their community. Starting ultra-local is much more effective. Subdivisions where neighboring is done well see lower crime rates, improved resale values and help for neighbors that need it.

MFT: What has been the most rewarding part of this experience for you?

BURTON: The most exciting part has been seeing the interest in neighboring grow in southwest Missouri. Every opportunity to speak on the subject is a chance to get someone excited about adopting engaged neighboring practices. These small steps forward will all make a difference. Scientist Steve Maier expressed a rule of physics in this way: Significant change will occur with minimal force if applied over an extended period of time. I have found that neighboring is a slow Crockpot type of process. ...

But seeing more people talking about and trying to be an engaged neighbor is the best part. Last week standing in line at the grocery store, I heard a customer compliment the checker. I didnt hear the response of the checker, but the customer ended with, This is Republic. We are all working on being good neighbors here. That was encouraging!

MFT: Where can people learn more?

BURTON: To learn more about our Engaged Neighbor program or the impact of neighboring, go to extension.missouri.edu or contact burtond@missouri.edu or 417-881-8909. Becoming an Engaged Neighbor and Missouri Good Neighbor Week pages can also be found on Facebook. National Good Neighbor Day is Sept. 28 this year.

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NEW ORLEANS, La.  Bayer representatives discussed a number of topics at their booth during Commodity Classic on March 10, including the Bayer Carbon Program, the new DEKALB SmartStax PRO with RNAi technology for corn rootworm, and Asgrow XtendFlex soybean innovations for 2022.

Bayer Carbon Program

Pamela Bachman, digital agriculture and sustainability manager at The Climate Corporation, provided an update on the Bayer Carbon Program and how it offers growers simplicity, flexibility, and payment certainty on a per acre basis through the adoption of climate-smart farming practices such as no-till, strip-till and cover crops.

We started our carbon program in 2020 and we first on-boarded about 200,000 acres at that point, she said. Each year were building on that more as we try to make it simpler for growers.

Through the program, Bayer rewards farmers for generating carbon credits by adopting climate-smart practices designed to help agriculture reduce its carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions.

Were asking growers to do carbon-smart practices  cover cropping and no-till  and Bayer will pay for those practices, Bachman said. On the backend, were doing all the calculations and taking on the work. We want to make it as easy as we can for the grower.

Data entry for the program is currently manual, but Bachman sees Bayers Climate FieldView technology as the backbone for more automated and easier data entry moving forward.

We want to get all that data in one place and have a seamless transfer of that data to make it easier for the grower, she said.

Bayers sustainability commitments are aimed at reducing field greenhouse gas emission by 30 percent by 2030.

What Im excited about is that these types of practices have a lot of on-farm benefits  things like improved soil health, help with moisture retention. Hopefully, over time, well see help with yields because the farm is becoming more resilient. Thats really exciting for me, Bachman said.

DEKALB SmartStax PRO

SmartStax PRO technology represents the next generation of corn rootworm control from DEKALB. While SmartStax technology contains two Bt proteins to create two mods of action against corn rootworm, SmartStax PRO technology builds on that by using those same proteins and adding a new mode of action through RNAi to increase farmers ability to control corn rootworm.

This innovative technology is new for 2022, said Sean Cohen, Channel brand manager with Bayer. Farmers now get three modes of action with RNAi, and its another tool to help control corn rootworm in corn growing areas across the country.

Corn rootworm has the ability to cause significant damage to a crop, as damaged roots impact a plants nutrient and water uptake, and increase the risk of root lodging. With SmartStax PROs new mode of action, farmers now have the potential to provide even better corn rootworm protection to help them maximize their yield potential.

Asgrow XtendFlex soybean innovations

With Asgrow XtendFlex soybeans  the industrys first triple-stacked soybean trait containing tolerance to dicamba, glyphosate, and glufosinate  farmers can drive out weeds and drive up profitability.

Ryan Tierney, Asgrow product manager, says the XtendFlex trait system offers a number of soybean options for producers in the Northern Plains and the Upper Midwest, covering many different areas of geography.

We have a product called AGO3XF2, and that product is one of the largest varieties planted in the Dakotas, Tierney said. It has a parent that were familiar with in AGO3X7 that farmers in the region have grown to love. Its grown to be a very versatile bean  a bean that does really well in a lot of different environments and it also has some nice IDC (iron deficiency chlorosis) tolerance, as well. Farmers are really excited to get that in the field.

AGO3X7 is new for the 2022 growing season, and trial results show it to be one of Asgrows most versatile products.

Its a go anywhere, do anything variety, Tierney said. Its a go-to variety for a number of different environmental challenges.

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How many kinds of birds do you see in your back yard or around the neighborhood? Five or six
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We hear much these days about paradigm shifts and resets. Much of the chat comes from crucibles like the World Economic Forum. The WEF is a kind of "masters of the universe" boys club that meets to greet, eat, and ski at fabulously expensive hotels and restaurants in Davos, Switzerland. The globalist press covers these champagne and caviar festivals because the Fourth Estate loves to hobnob with power and money. The holy grail these days seems to be the pursuit of a "great reset," or stakeholder capitalism  in practice, a Beijing model, more like capital communism. A Chicom theologian would argue that their "capitalism" is just a phase on the way to totalitarian social stability. For monopolist mandarins in America and Europe, the COVID-19 crisis is indeed a golden opportunity to remake the world  "capitalism with a Chinese face," if you will.

For Western oligarchs, the Sino model means better control, hegemony, and wealth concentration. For the global lumpenproletariat, unfortunately, the great reset means conformity, subordination, wokeness, utopian rhetoric, and new-age social leveling.

The "stake" in stakeholder capitalism goes through the heart of individual liberties.

Some of the necessary paradigm shifts have already been successful above and below the radar. Above the horizon, hiding in plain sight, the guy who blew the whistle on Big Brother in America is now an international fugitive. The Snowden leak is unique to the extent that he seems to have been motivated by morals at the expense of professional ethics. Conscience, alas, is a character defect in the intelligence business.

After Edward Snowden's sierra hit the fan, DNI Jim Clapper actually went up to Congress and denied the advent of universal surveillance in Snowden's Top Secret National Security Agency reveal. General Clapper claimed that "metadata" collection (nee wiretapping) did not represent warrantless surveillance of individual citizens.

The theater of federal arrogance is now compounded by parallel commercial digital fascism. Mark Zuckerberg, for example, has rebranded his global Facebook data hustle as META Inc. You can't make this stuff up. Data-mining is a polite euphemism for wiretapping, spying, or surveillance. Big Government and Big Tech are now joined at the hip by visions of meta control.

Congress then kissed that fish on the mouth and sent another big check to Big Brother in Bluffdale, Utah.

So much for congressional oversight; the real truth about intelligence abuse and domestic spying is that the American Intelligence Community, including the FBI, are above the law  free agents, politicized Deep State civil "servants." And thus do elections and maybe democracy itself become less relevant over time. Without accountability, republican democracy is a mirage.

Big reset there.

The urban Deep State, the real deciders, as Bush Junior might say, consists of a toxic majority in large cities, blue states, and nearly all bloated federal bureaucracies, like the NSA, across America these days. The American election of 2016 was an inflection point, when the apparatchik left came out of the closet with their azimuths on fire. An outsider, God forbid, threatened to drain the Beltway swamp. Alas, elections in America matter now only if the unelected nomenklatura, today well left of center, agree with the electorate.

Big reset there, too.

Below the radar since 9/11, a digital hardware paradigm shift is underway also, out in the desert sands. Bluffdale, Utah is now ground zero for a mega-shift in the metadata trade. Heretofore, the national intelligence meme was a "needle in a haystack" model  to wit: industrious agents and analysts labored in the bowels of a dozen or more intelligence agencies, like George Smiley, looking for the pins of enemy capabilities and the needles of enemy intentions.

At some point on the Clapper-Obama watch, some genius said, "Needles be damned," let's collect and store all the haystacks instead. When your safety pin pops up on Big Brother's radar, the NSA can access your present and her past. At any time, any citizen's future is also a virtual federal hostage, indefinitely.

Abuse here is not just likely; it's inevitable, Clapper's faux reassurances notwithstanding. Ironically, the Bluffdale paradigm and curtailment surveillance was born out of the ashes of Islamist 9/11 infamy. The literal response to Islamic religious fanaticism is now virtual digital fascism.

Who wins that fight?

To be sure, Orwellian spying is possible only with industrial-scale collaboration. The Davos crowd was in on the meta-mega-collection paradigm caper from the start. Here, the tradeoffs are obvious: big data in exchange for a laissez-faire internet. Uncle Sam now has access to communications and internet "back doors" across the world, and that includes all commercial and domestic digital scat at your house, coast to coast.

The price of vague promises about national security is now an absolute loss of privacy, another Chinese model. The motto for the 21st-century Animal Farm should now be "Trust Me," courtesy of the Intelligence Community.

The siting of mega-collection and storage in Bluffdale is no happenstance, either. That desert oasis has three distinctions: isolation, sister wives, and a state prison. The NSA, a DOD agency, has a sweetheart deal with Utah State Police, where local cops are paid $50 per hour for perimeter security. In exchange, the NSA is unlikely to see any citizen dissent or unsightly protests anywhere near Bluffdale's harems or the NSA data facility.

Indeed, for social buffering, Bluffdale is also host to the headquarters of one of the creepiest of many polygamist sects in Utah, the Apostolic United Brethren. Here, local AUB bulls corral herds of Salt Lake Valley underage heifers. No one in Bluffdale is likely to ask too many questions about another sugar daddy, even if it's Uncle Sam. Rural religious cults are happy to be left to their own kinky devices. Indeed, the Utah state Legislature has reduced polygamy to a misdemeanor, like littering.

Now, there's a grand cultural reset with "Me Too" appeal. Social recidivism in Utah, Nevada, and Arizona never makes it above the fold in any major media outlet.

No Congress and no citizen ever voted for the Bluffdale Data Center (AKA Bumblehive) or metadata collection. So much for democracy. That reset, that paradigm shift flew under the radar and out of the smoke and the opportunism generated by 9/11, then COVID. Ironically, there's precious little evidence, after 22 years, to suggest that Big Brother or Uncle Sam is winning the wars against terror, Islamism, or the spread of theocracy. Indeed, on the theological front, reset in Utah, like Islamism, is just another victory for social declension.

Never mind. If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear.

There is zero correlation between investments in electronic super-snoops and national security dividends so far in the 21st century. Arguably, with the spread of theocracy in the Ummah, Islamic religious fascism (AKA Islamofascism) is a growth model. Extremism is winning. See Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Libya, and now maybe Detroit and east London.

So let's give credit where credit is due. The caviar crowd at Davos is correct about resets and wrong about the rule of law, progress, or the blessings of global communal memes. Progressive doesn't mean progress any more at Davos than it does in Detroit or San Francisco. The great reset is what authoritarian elites do because they can: fix governance and economic apparats by any means, to accommodate what Marxists used to call the "vanguard of the proletariat." In practice, Davos is a consortium of Deep State oligarchs, allied with Louis Vuitton liberals and dot-com deep pockets.

Big Government and Big Tech are in the same business: virtual voyeurism  the former driven by control, the latter driven by coin. Glen Greenwald put it best, defining the domestic threat as "the unholy trinity of the intelligence community, the corporate press, and Big Tech."

When Uncle Sam next takes a knee facing East, American supplications should not stop in Mecca, but continue to Beijing, where the future of an ominous global reset is being written by totalitarians and painted with bold red letters.

Davos voyeurs may poach your mail and pick your pocket today, but tomorrow they will still be unable to read the handwriting on the Great Wall.

G. Murphy Donovan is the former chief of the USAF Intelligence Research Division (Friendship Annex), National Security Agency, Fort Meade, Maryland.

Image via Max Pixel.
It's that time again: wartime. We find ourselves back in Orwell's Eurasia, with an Emmanuel Goldman we are supposed to despise, two-minute hates, and a torture room with rats somewhere waiting for us if we choose to go against Big Brother. Instead of placards glued to brick walls, we have memes on Facebook telling us that if we do not believe what the government says, we are pro-Putin Russian spies.

War history is told in two ways, usually: a chronology of battles for the history books and the emotional record left behind by war propaganda. The chronology of battles cannot get written until years after the fact, when we know who won the war, so we can go and orient all the blow-by-blow battle details into a coherent storyline culminating in the ending. This is why so many have said that the victors write history.

The record left by war propaganda is always trickier, partly because the way things felt in the heat of the moment, when nobody knew who was going to win, ends up being memorialized and preserved for posterity. We read Homer's Iliad and feel all the emotion of wartime as if we didn't know the Trojans are going to lose (even though of course we do). The epic ends with the funeral speeches by Hecuba, Andromache, and Helen  the mother, wife, and sister-in-law of a fallen Trojan prince. Even though the Greeks won militarily, the Trojans come out commanding so much more sympathy that Virgil, Livy, and other Roman writers would openly ally Rome's heritage to the Trojans rather than to the Greeks.

Some great leaders such as Queen Isabel of Castile, Queen Elizabeth I, Louis XIV, Thomas Jefferson, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Simon Bolivar achieved massive victories in large part due to their exceptional abilities to steer public opinion and appeal to the masses. Some of these figures become far less sympathetic over time as generations look back on what they said.

So now we find ourselves in that uncomfortable position of not knowing how things will turn out. Doomsday scenarios are like opinions (and a certain body part), as the saying goes  everyone has one. The experts in this crisis have not been operating at their best. But we really have no idea what the story of this war will be when the war is over, including who won, who got dragged in, who lost the most, and who was really the right side. If you think you know those things, you aren't skeptical enough of yourself or the sources you trust.

The propaganda war will matter a great deal. World War II was rather unusual in U.S. history, as most conflicts, such as the Mexican-American War and the military entanglements in Indochina, Latin America, and the Middle East, follow a trajectory from moral certainty to moral uncertainty:

There is usually a clear-cut good guy and bad guy at the beginning, but as the war progresses, it is not that clear-cut. A large portion of the U.S. population jumps to support the side the U.S. is supporting at the beginning but then comes to back away from that view later on. The U.S. inevitably looks better at the beginning of its military adventure than it does at the end.

So if the Russia-Ukraine war follows the same pattern, we can safely predict the following:

When news first broke of Russia's invasion, it was clear in our heads that Ukraine was the good guy, and Russia was the bad guy. When the war is done, and we have had a lot of time to digest all the rapid-fire information coming out, and new revelations break, it will not be that black and white. Objective observers will concede that Ukraine and her Western allies engaged in some unethical conduct before the war. They will also admit that Vladimir Putin's posture was neither blameless nor entirely senseless. A small fringe on the left and right will have opposed the U.S. position in this conflict from the beginning and will not have changed. A sizable proportion of die-hards will have taken the side of Ukraine/Biden and will have stuck with that opinion through thick and thin, regardless of whatever revelations come out. But another sizable proportion of the U.S. population will have had second thoughts. A significant number of people will have supported Biden's Ukraine position at the beginning and will find themselves doubtful or resistant to that position by the end. If past patterns hold, this group, people who changed their minds, will prevail as the group with the most enduring influence on how the war is remembered. The nuanced view is always toxic at the beginning but the most respectable one over time. At the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the United States appeared to all the world as a heroic knight in shining armor coming to the defense of a battered and innocent ally, Ukraine. After the war is over, a certain segment of the world will have decided that the United States was not heroic or innocent in this, but was engaged in ruthless geopolitics that put billions of innocent human lives at risk.

Why might we lose the moral high ground?

One of the cardinal rules in politics is "the cover-up is worse than the crime." When we fight for hearts and minds, we fight for credibility. We need our audience to trust that we are not the type of people to hide or lie about things. That way, when there is no way to know for certain what happened, our version of events is always the first to be trusted.

The Biden administration has got caught in multiple lies and hypocrisies. People around the world cannot feel safe assuming that Biden's account is automatically more reliable than anyone else's including Putin's.

First, there was the basic dishonesty in the way Biden characterized Putin and the action in Ukraine. Some might call it simple hypocrisy, but I classify it as dishonesty because it has involved direct misrepresentation of past actions by people involved.

Let's start with the current president and his role in the Iraq war. Joe Biden was a senator from Delaware at the time that George W. Bush's administration was pushing for an invasion of Iraq. In the 2008 vice presidential debates between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin, Palin caught Biden fibbing about whether he voted to invade Iraq or not. Palin pointed out that he did vote for the war, while Biden pretended he voted for something other than the authorization for the military to enter Iraq by force and oust Saddam Hussein.

By 2008, the invasion of Iraq had become the major issue weighing the Republicans down, especially people like Bush and McCain; the populace had soured on post-9/11 patriotism and no longer accepted the rationale for invading Iraq without questioning it. As a senator, Biden supported the invasion, while as a vice presidential candidate, he beat around the bush. Does Biden believe that large countries are not allowed to use military force to dislodge governments that threaten their national interest?

There was no dearth of information available to a U.S. senator when Biden had to make that determination about Iraq, a country reeling from crippling U.S. sanctions and located 6,200 miles away. If he believes that nations should not do things like that, then he voted foolishly against his own ideals twenty years ago, showing a streak of cynicism, or he is misrepresenting his ideals and demonizing Russia because it's someone other than we.

Unfortunately, the U.S. invasion of Iraq was simply too huge of an event for people to ignore. Iraq did not border the United States, but was halfway around the world; this contrasts against the reality that Ukraine borders Russia and is home to a large number of Russians. The justification given by the U.S. was that Iraq was part of an axis of evil along with Iran and North Korea, none of whom seems to have been directly involved with the attacks of 9/11. Not only did the U.S. invade, but the U.S. set up a brand new government and remained in Iraq to occupy it well into Obama's presidency, with Joe Biden serving as vice president.

This brings us to the Biden administration's position on Nazis and white supremacists. For years, Biden's camp told us Trump posed an existential threat to the United States because he was supported by neo-Nazis and white nationalists.

Then came 2022. Vladimir Putin justifies his invasion of Ukraine in part by saying he needs to "de-Nazify" the Ukrainian government. Many in Biden's camp came forward swiftly to dismiss any talk of de-Nazification as propagandistic bluster and fake news.

But bloggers soon unearthed a lot of reportage, some as recently as only a year ago, about the deadly threat posed by the Nazi-affiliated, white nationalists, and fascists in Ukraine  groups that appear closely tied to the governing party in Ukraine today. For about a decade, left-wing media had been writing about the Ukrainian Nazis' disturbing influences in the government (something contrasted against the ban on Nazi parties in most of Europe), as well as the Ukrainian Nazis' anti-Semitism and general xenophobia.

Then came the controversy over "biolabs." Here, the United States lost even more credibility. Many otherwise skeptical people accepted the story from the U.S. at face value for weeks, which was that there were no U.S.-sponsored biolabs in Ukraine, and anyone who said there were was parroting lies from the Kremlin.

Unfortunately, during questioning by Marco Rubio before Congress, undersecretary of state Victoria Nuland was forced to admit there were biolabs in Ukraine that the United States was concerned about falling into the hands of the Russians. The U.S. government issued a series of disclaimers. Their official story was that the labs were left over from the Soviet era, which ended over thirty years ago, and the United States was merely doing research there, funded under the defense budget, for the innocent purpose of protecting people from dangerous pathogens. The more government officials parsed the difference between "bioweapons" and "biodefense" and "bioresearch," the more they looked like bumbling liars caught telling a fib. In a matter of days, the story changed from "evil Russia makes up a preposterous story about biolabs" to "Americans' amateurish adventures in lethal biological warfare research culminates in preposterous fibs even the sweetest grandmother could tell weren't true."

Meanwhile, impossible claims that the Ukrainian freedom fighters were bringing Putin to his knees unraveled. As almost 8% of Ukraine fled as refugees, reports surfaced of Ukraine forcing old men and teenagers with no training into suicide missions against Russian forces. It became clear that the United States could not even tell the truth about what was happening from day to day in the war, and no amount of Tik-Tok pep talks and fulsome coverage on NBC was going to change the fact that Ukraine's government was not going to win.

It was the perfect time for New York Times' humiliating article revealing that the story about Hunter Biden's laptop from 2020 was not Russian disinformation, as pro-Biden and anti-Trump people had claimed for well over a year. In fact, the pro-Trump and anti-Biden people who had published about the shocking contents of Biden's laptop were telling the truth.

Time will tell us whether the U.S. can ever recover its credibility. Perhaps the mix-ups, tangled webs, little white lies, and grand deceptions will culminate in a tragic thermonuclear war, and we won't even have functioning brain cells to assimilate all that's happened. Assuming a finale falling short of nuclear winter, we know for certain that the U.S. will be at a major disadvantage when the history books are written.

American propagandists do wonderfully when they play offense. On the defensive, caught in lies, struggling to talk themselves out of a hole they dug themselves into, American government officials often perform terribly. Perhaps this is the Puritans' legacy: having convinced themselves of the holiness of their cause, Americans' only response when caught in unholiness is to double down on their public rectitude. Such an attitude works with a certain part of the domestic populace, at least for a while. Abroad, where people's starting point is not undying worship of American ideals, the doubling down can often decimate the nation's credibility. We'll see what happens in this case.

Image: tomaszmichalkania via Pixabay, Pixabay License.
The complacent, the self-indulgent, the soft societies are about to be swept away with the debris of history, said President John Kennedy on April 20, 1961. Only the strong, only the industrious, only the determined, only the courageous, only the visionary who determine the real nature of our struggle can possibly survive.

On that fateful April day, Kennedy honored his commitment to speak to the American Society of Newspaper Editors. Many presidents would have ducked it. Three days before, with Kennedys authorization and the CIAs guidance, thousands of Cuban-Americans launched a disastrous landing at what we know as the Bay of Pigs. While Kennedy spoke, the final act of this sad drama was still unfolding.

Today, can anyone imagine President Joe Biden facing a roomful of skeptical editors and owning up to his disastrous blunders in Ukraine. This is no more likely than him learning anything, as JFK did, from the mistakes he has made.

Honesty has never been part of Bidens nature. For years, America tolerated his lies because he and they seemed inconsequential. He was just one vote out of 100 in the U.S. Senate. And as vice president, a position predecessor John Nance Garner described as not worth a bucket of warm piss, Biden remained more or less harmless.

America should have been more alarmed when Biden launched his presidential campaign in April 2019 with a lie, claiming that President Donald Trumps racism motivated him to run. Biden spoke specifically of Trumps comments about a 2017 clash in Charlottesville, Virginia, and twisted them grossly out of context. We are in the battle for the soul of this nation, said Biden, warning that if Trump were reelected, He will forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation, who we are, and I cannot stand by and watch that happen.

On the world stage, Trump had established what the character of the nation was. Not unlike President Teddy Roosevelt, Trump projected strength. He backed North Korea down, checkmated China, and froze Russia in place. For all his misgivings about Trump, leftist comedian Trevor Noah joked uneasily last week that the Saudis would never have defied Trump the way they did Biden.

Biden set himself up for the fall. On day one of his administration, he shut down the Keystone pipeline. From that day forward, his White House did all in its power to limit the domestic production of fossil fuels. Russias Vladimir Putin had to watch in wonder as the worlds one energy-independent superpower rendered itself as vulnerable to Putins energy whims as its weak sisters in the European Union.

Putin had to watch in wonder, too, as the worlds mightiest military focused not on improving its fighting strength, but on making life more comfortable for transgender recruits, on hectoring the existing troops with divisive critical race theory, and terminating those troops who refused to sacrifice their bodies to unproven science.

Image: Joe Biden (edited). YouTube screen grab.

In transforming the military as he did, Biden drove away the strong, the industrious, the determined, and the courageous. If a compliant American media chose not to notice, the rest of the world did, including many of the worlds bad actors, Putin prominent among them. The consequences of this purge were obvious to all when Afghanistan fell almost as quickly as did the lost brigade at the Bay of Pigs.

In either case, the failure was due to American vacillation and confusion. The difference is that Kennedy faced up to his mistakes and learned from them. He got rid of the people who led the nation astray. Biden fired no one. He has not, will not, and cannot face up to his mistakes.

The big lie about his administration, one that the media has perpetrated, is that Biden is sufficiently competent mentally to lead a world in crisis. It was obvious to anyone looking during the 2020 campaign that he was nowhere close to being competent. The media shielded the American people from this obvious truth, and today we are paying the price for their mendacity.

Bidens conditionand it is that, a conditionwill only grow worse. Were there a vice-president waiting in the wings with even a hint of wisdom or intelligence, the Democrats would be preparing a graceful exit for the one man bland enough to stop Donald Trump. But in Kamala Harris, chosen only based on race and gender, they have a vice president who embarrasses even them.

Those who have chosen to remain silent include congressional Republican leaders. I get it. They are playing the long game. They think that if they remain calm and cooperative, Americans will see them as the sane party and reward them with control of both House and Senate. There would be more wisdom in that strategy if the election were to be held in April, but it is not, and November is a long eight months away. A lot of things can happen in eight months, few of them good.

Eighteen months after the Bay of Pigs, Kennedy was given another chance to show his skills as a leader. The stakes were as high as they could be. During the Cuban missile crisis, a miscalculation could have led to nuclear war. This time, Kennedy did things right. He showed enough public backbone to impress the Soviets and enough wisdom to allow a backchannel deal amenable to both parties.

For I am convinced that we in this country and in the free world possess the necessary resource, and the skill, and the added strength that comes from a belief in the freedom of man, said Kennedy during his speech to the newspaper editors. I think we as a people still possess that skill and strength. I am just not sure the occupants of the White House do.

Dr. Mark Christian is an MD and the President of The Truth and Freedom Foundation, an educational platform dedicated to America's founding principles. His new book is The Apostate: My Search for Truth.


Meeting with Congress, Zelensky Asks for More Weapons and a No-Fly Zone reads a recent headline from the New York Times.

It does not take great strategic acumen to realize that trying to put up a no-fly zone over Ukraine  whose airspace is now controlled by the Russians  would inevitably lead to a direct clash with the military assets of the Russian Federation.

Zelensky is thus, in effect, asking that the United States  as well as other NATO nations  enter into a shooting war in Russia.

What Zelensky is doing, in reality, is calling for is World War III. Such a war could very quickly escalate into a nuclear confrontation between Russia and the West. With both sides armed with thousands of nuclear warheads, this kind of conflict would result in a fathomless death toll and would almost certainly end the world as we know it.

Zelensky is effectively requesting that we commit suicide over Ukraine. It would be immense foolishness on our part to accommodate his ludicrous request given the fact that Ukraine is a poor, deeply corrupt country in which we have no vital national security interest.

We should not be at all surprised by Zelenskys self-destructive recklessness and lack of judgment. He has demonstrated both of those in abundance ever since he took office, and now his people are paying a terrible price for his incompetence.

Conceited and foolish, Zelensky gave Putin the proverbial middle finger when the latter asked for accommodation and understanding. He even started talking about Ukraine obtaining its own nuclear weapons, replacing some of those it gave up in 1994 return for guarantees from Russia, the US, and Britain of Ukraines independence and existing borders in the Budapest Memorandum

Blinded by his own arrogance Zelensky completely misread Putin. So deep runs Zelenskys naivete that he refused to believe that Putin would invade even though Russian armies stood assembled on his countrys borders, and he received reports from western intelligence services that an incursion was imminent. Rather than responsibly facing the gravity of the situation, the overconfident former comedian made light of those warnings.

When the incursion finally occurred, he was clearly surprised and shocked. His subsequent behavior further exposed his lack of judgment and puerility when in the days that followed, he bitterly complained that Biden and NATO were not coming to his aid. The inexperienced and gullible man that he is, he apparently believed that if his country was ever attacked, Western powers would promptly dispatch their militaries to fight the Russians in Ukraine, even though such military support was not explicitly promised in the Budapest Memorandum.

As a result of his wretched bungling, Zelenskys country is now being wrecked. Tens of thousands of his fellow citizens have already lost their lives and millions have fled their homes. Having wrecked his own country, Zelensky now wants to wreck the whole world by pulling the West into a nuclear war with Russia.

This foolhardiness is completely in character with his previous actions. In a way, his position now is rather understandable. Zelensky is now desperately trying to save his own skin and bury his mistakes in the rubble of a wider conflict. Even though Zelensky has shown himself to be utterly incompetent as a political leader, he remains a superb performer. A master comedian and entertainer, he surely knows how to work his audience. (Watch, if willing, this clip from a 2016 performance in which Zelensky plays piano with his manhood.)

A consummate showman, after Russias invasion Zelensky embarked on a worldwide Zoom offensive in which he has been artfully tugging on the heartstrings of Western politicians and populations. So moving are his performances that even the official translators are reduced to tears. His presentations are complete with well-produced, emotionally moving videos depicting the suffering of his own people. Their suffering is indeed great, but it is Zelenskys own incompetence that got them into their terrible predicament.

YouTube screengrab

In one of the most brilliant PR campaigns in recent history, the hapless architect of this tragedy has managed to recast himself as a global hero. Rather than facing up to his own ineptitude, Zelensky now wants to set off a worldwide conflagration.

If we listen to this heedless and dangerous man and get involved in a shooting match with Russia, we may easily find ourselves paying the same  or worse  price than Zelenskys own people are paying even as we speak. Given how tense things already are, the prospect of our cities turning into rubble beneath rising mushroom clouds no longer seems a distant possibility.

Zelensky is trying his best to nudge us toward this scenario. We must not take his insidious bait.

It is enough that Zelensky has ruined his own country. We must not let him ruin the rest of the planet as well.

Vasko Kohlmayer was born and grew up in former communist Czechoslovakia. You can follow his writings by subscribing to his Substack newsletter Notes from the Twilight Zone. He is the author of The West in Crisis: Civilizations and Their Death Drives.
On Friday, March 18, in Bnei Brak, a city near Tel Aviv, Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky passed away at the age of 94. I'm sure that means very little to you. Unless you are an ultra-Orthodox Jew whose life is dedicated to the study of the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible), your life will not have intersected with Rabbi Kanievsky's. However, he was important enough to Israel's ultra-Orthodox community that, on Sunday, over 750,000 men (or almost 8.5% of Israel's total population) poured into the streets of Bnei Brak to be part of his funeral.

Still, why should that matter to you? It matters because a religious text that's around 2,500 years old in its present form and existed in other forms before then, and that recognizes and seeks to tame and elevate human behavior, has such power. Compared to that, today's wokism, firmly grounded in fantasy, cannot and will not last.

Because the Daily Mail has the best photographs, I'll quote from its report:

Born in Pinsk, Belarus, he had moved to the country when he was a child and when it was still British-ruled Palestine. He remained there for the rest of his life, becoming revered by many in the Jewish religious world, and was one of the few remaining leaders of the ultra-Orthodox community in Israel born before the Holocaust. [snip] Police closed several highways in Israel's densely populated Tel Aviv area to traffic for several hours, and other main thoroughfares were expected to be gridlocked. Authorities urged the public not to drive into the area by car. [snip] A separate women's section was created in the streets of Bnei Brak for the funeral that the Magen David Adom, Israel's equivalent of the Red Cross, said was likely to be one of the largest ever gatherings in 'Israeli history.'

Rather to my surprise, Reuters livestreamed all two hours of the event, which you can see here. I've also embedded below two more concise versions of the events so you can get a sense of the absolutely overwhelming sea of humanity:

And again, check out the Daily Mail's photos, which come from all the major news agencies.

Aside from being a fascinating insight into a culture that few of us know about, why does this matter? It matters because it's a reminder that, as Geoffrey Clarfield and Salim Mansur so elegantly explained, there is a civilizational conflict going on. In the West, one level is Islam versus Western values. We see that clearly because of 9/11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Another level, though, is more profound, for it occurs within the West and sees an epic struggle between traditionalism and faith, on the one hand and...well, the technical terms are secularism or postmodernism on the other hand, but I tend to think of what's happening on the left as insanity.

Those hundreds of thousands of Jewish men are the ballast of faith. They are the living embodiments of a faith tradition stretching back, unbroken, for at least 2,500 years. That's when scholars believe that the Torah was set down in its present form, in the 6th century B.C. But the Torah existed long before that, in myriad written and in oral versions.

Then, beginning in the years after Christ's birth, the world's Christians embraced these core concepts, especially those articulated in the Ten Commandments. Even Islam revolves around the Bible, which inspired Mohamed's visions.

The core concepts in the Bible are unchanging: there is a God, God made men and women, marriage creates cultural stability, people should have children, slavery is immoral, coveting destroys social cohesion, etc. Dennis Prager has an excellent series explaining how these core biblical concepts create strong, healthy, prosperous communities:

Against that continuity of faith and morality, nothing leftists do or say will last. Why? Because traditional faiths, whether Western or Eastern, recognize human nature and exhort people to embrace principles that optimize the realities of human nature to benefit the greatest number of people.

Meanwhile, post-modernism and the societal deconstructionism that comes with it reject reality. In the post-modern world, slavery is virtuous if the master, rather than being an individual, is the government. Male and female are just societal constructs that can be overridden by wishing, surgery, and hormones. Race, a category that denies people's individualism and their divine spark, is immutably and completely determinative. Rampant, uncontrolled, untamed sex makes everyone happy.

The most important difference, though, as those 750,000 or more mourners show, is that religious people have babies, lots and lots of babies. Secular people do not. Secular Europe is dying (including Russia, which no longer has the wherewithal to throw bodies into battle as it once did), while religious communities are demographically booming.

Yeah, that's a lot of messaging to take out of a unique event in Israel, but I do think it's worth noting.

Image: Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky's funeral. YouTube screen grab.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez must think Joe Biden is a master communicator. What else could explain her use of the annoying technique of pretending to whisper while addressing people? I suppose the intent is to connote a secret being shared, but the artificiality of the exercise defeats any such effect.

An alternate explanation might be that she realizes that she is spouting nonsense and wants to make sure nobody outside a fellowship of morons hears her words.

Whatever the reasoning behind the technique, the purported economics major at Boston University clearly doesn't understand either capitalism or socialism as she pretends to explain them to her fan base.
It's bad all over for the man who's "been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades." as former CIA director Bob Gates famously put it in his memoirs.

The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia wouldn't take his phone calls. The European states are stepping forward as the chief problem solvers to the Ukraine dilemma. Venezuela apparently laughed in his face when he asked them to pump more oil. El Salvador's president tweeted about America as a nation in decline, rotting from within.

The most powerful country in the world is falling so fast, that it makes you rethink what are the real reasons.



Something so big and powerful cant be destroyed so quickly, unless the enemy comes from within. https://t.co/EAHz5nt7ec  Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) March 20, 2022

Now China's mocking him. Start here:

I think Biden mightve burned his bridges with China. The countrys official spokesperson is openly mocking his peace efforts.



Syria is making peace with its enemies in ME. UAE and Saudi arent taking his calls. Venezuela is mocking him. And hes trying to bully India.  Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) March 21, 2022

I wasn't sure what he was referring to, but a trip to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Twitter sites revealed an amazing raft of piss and vinegar all directed at the U.S. and Joe Biden.

First, what looks like the mockery of Joe's diplomacy:

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that when the West talks about the "int'l community", they mean: pic.twitter.com/RZNOwDymX2  Lijian Zhao  (@zlj517) March 17, 2022

After yesterday's threats by Biden to China with sanctions for supporting Russia:



Attempts by the United States to put pressure on China because of Ukraine are irresponsible and useless, said a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  Spriter (@spriter99880) March 18, 2022

And some other knife-twistings, this one a shot at Bidenflation:

Some Cold War-era recrudescences about the U.S. being a "war-monger."

#US arms manufacturers seem to gain even faster than the soaring prices. Profit-driven decisions? pic.twitter.com/NauUtapO1s  Lijian Zhao  (@zlj517) March 21, 2022

The US and NATO should focus on promoting peace in Ukraine and stop fueling the tensions by sending ammunition. They need to join hands with Europe and Russia to work for lasting peace through dialogue. https://t.co/fxXWg3jA6i  Spokesperson (@MFA_China) March 17, 2022

The US should save the label of bullying small countries for itself. It is a textbook example of being a big country bullying small countries. pic.twitter.com/vy1W8TXiy1  Spokesperson (@MFA_China) March 16, 2022

Enriching #US arms dealers, bankers and oil tycoons while leaving foreigners bleeding is immoral & irresponsible. Paying lip service to peace while fueling the flames of war is hypocritical.  Hua Chunying  (@SpokespersonCHN) March 21, 2022

Apparently, the #US is a country which likes "war" and always in all kinds of "wars". pic.twitter.com/p5QuFTIqsF  Hua Chunying  (@SpokespersonCHN) March 20, 2022

And some hypocrisy about refugees.

According to reports, only 7 #Ukrainian refugees have been accepted by the #US and another 5 detained while #Europe has accepted 3 millions. Why can't US accept more people and provide less weapons? pic.twitter.com/E1v9aU4fRI  Hua Chunying  (@SpokespersonCHN) March 20, 2022

How many Ukrainian refugees has China accepted? And more importantly, how many want to go there?

All of these characters making these rude tweets are authorized Chinese government spokespersons, people who have access to Twitter as ordinary Chinese do not. You can bet this stuff is coming from the Chinese government, from its very own homegrown Jen Psakis. They're mocking Joe. They respect him not. And Biden's efforts to deal with China as a means of checking Russia seems to be having no useful effects whatsoever. They're literally laughing at him.

It doesn't get more pathetic than this.

Image: Twitter screen shot
I've long known about hydrogen peroxide's antibacterial properties. When I was a kid, my mother always had a bottle of Gly-Oxide in the house for cold sores, bitten tongues, and other minor mouth ailments. And since I'm a bit nervous about E. coli and salmonella (long, irrelevant story), I usually have some vinegar and hydrogen peroxide under the kitchen sink for rinsing fruits and vegetables.

Recently, I got a letter from a friend about the fact that both he and his wife had pneumonia that wouldn't retreat even with a hospital stay and antibiotics. What finally ended the pneumonia was a nebulizer with saline solution and food-grade hydrogen peroxide.

Intrigued, I investigated and discovered myriad articles (purportedly from doctors) discussing hydrogen peroxide and respiratory health (e.g., Nebulizing Hydrogen Peroxide for Respiratory Health and Dr. Mercola's Nebulized Hydrogen Peroxide  A Simple Remedy for COVID-19, from March 2021).

However, and this is very important, I also discovered mainstream media articles, complete with quotations from doctors, saying that whatever you do, don't nebulize hydrogen peroxide. This September 2021 Reuters article is a good example:

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does not list hydrogen peroxide as a treatment for COVID-19 (here). Hydrogen peroxide is traditionally used for minor cuts and scrapes (here). These rumors prompted organizations like the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA) (www.aafa.org/about-aafa.aspx) to post an advisory on their website, seen bit.ly/3APNtWa and on the organization's Facebook page (here) warning against inhaling hydrogen peroxide. "DO NOT put hydrogen peroxide into your nebulizer and breathe it in. This is dangerous. It is not a way to prevent nor treat COVID-19," they warned, in response to the social media trend. According to AAFA, "Hydrogen peroxide can be used as a cleaner and stain remover and can cause tissue damage if you swallow it or breathe it in." The organization cites toxicology records (here) from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. [snip] Dr Jamie Alan, associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Michigan State University told Health.com, "Hydrogen peroxide is a free radical, meaning it's an unstable atom that can damage cells. If it's inhaled, it goes to the lungs where it can damage cell membranes." Panagis Galiatsatos, M.D., an associate professor at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, shared Alan's sentiment. Dr. Galiatsatos told Reuters via phone that claims regarding hydrogen peroxide as an effective treatment for COVID-19 "are all false."

At this point, I was stymied. Do I believe the traditional medical establishment, or do I trust random people, including random doctors, giving their opinion on the internet? Once upon a time, trusting the medical establishment would have been a no-brainer. Now, though, given that the establishment hasn't covered itself with glory and has aggressively rejected any early treatment for COVID...let's say my trust is diminished. Still, those warnings are scary.



Image: Hydrogen peroxide model. Public domain.

However, with hydrogen peroxide now stuck in my brain like a burr, I was fascinated to learn that a recent medical study identifies aerosolized hydrogen peroxide (presumably the food-grade kind) as a new weapon in the war against one of the most pernicious infectious diseases in care facilities such as skilled nursing facilities or old age homes:

New data published today suggest that adding aerosolized hydrogen peroxide (aHP) to hospital infection prevention protocols can effectively reduce Clostridioides difficile infections (CDI), one of the most common healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), among patients in large, acute-care facilities. The findings, which offer the first, long-term evaluation of an aHP disinfection system for reducing CDI in a clinical setting, appear in the American Journal of Infection Control (AJIC), the journal of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC). "Our study showed that persistence in utilizing an aerosolized hydrogen peroxide system had a significant impact on reducing C. difficile infections hospital-wide," said Christopher L. Truitt, Ph.D., Wayland Baptist University, and the paper's lead author. Individuals infected with C. difficile can be asymptomatic or have symptoms ranging from mild diarrhea to severe and life-threatening inflammation of the colon. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and The Joint Commission, C. difficile is responsible for 223,000 HAIs resulting in more than 12,000 deaths and $6.3 billion in costs in the United States annually.

Why do I hear echoes of stories about hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin in the above report? Could it be that's because it involves a commonly available, affordable substance that seems to have amazing properties but that is completely frowned upon by the establishment, especially when it comes to treating COVID before a hospital stay is necessary?

Given the warnings against inhaling hydrogen peroxide, I'm not about to start sucking it in on a daily basis. However, I am going to keep an eagle eye out for medical journal studies announcing that hydrogen peroxide does indeed have anti-viral properties. I'm willing to bet that the odds are good that precisely such an article will appear in the next year.
Last week's presidential election in South Korea featured two candidates who advanced radically different visions to the electorate.

Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party of Korea campaigned on a platform of progressive policies such as 30% gender quotas for females. "I think it's very important to acknowledge the inequalities and issues of gender inequality that women suffer structurally in our society," he emphasized.

Lee's opponent was Yoon Suk-yeol of the conservative People Power Party. Yoon ran on an openly anti-feminist platform. He called for the abolition of the Ministry of Gender Equality and accused its officials of treating men like "potential sex criminals." He promised to enhance punishments for false accusations of sexual violence. Yoon also charged that Marxist-inspired feminist ideology undermines healthy relationships between men and women.

Yoon's charges were buoyed by a 2021 poll in which 84% of Korean men in their twenties, and 83% in their thirties, said they had experienced "serious gender-based discrimination." And the anti-feminist group "New Men on Solidarity" reportedly has 15,000 Facebook followers.

Yoon's improbable campaign was propelled by outrage over a feminist group named Megalia that promoted an image of a thumb and index finger held closely together, seemingly mocking the size of the male genitalia.

Last Wednesday, Yoon emerged the winner, carried largely by male voters who felt marginalized by the Democratic Party's gender policies. An exit poll showed that 59% of men in their 20s and 53% of those in their 30s marked Yoon on their ballot paper.

Pundits from the mainstream media were aghast. The Washington Post ran an editorial bearing the alarmist title, "How South Korea's 'Anti-Feminist' Election Fueled a Gender War." Writer Haeryun Kang warned that the election "signals a major threat to women's rights over the next five years and could herald increasing governmental and social backlash against feminist movements."

The Guardian claimed the election result augurs a "'pivotal moment' for public discussion of women's issues." Time magazine opened its lengthy analysis by citing an anecdote in which a man allegedly removed a cell phone from his girlfriend's hand, presumably an act of unrelenting patriarchal oppression.

But rather than analysis by anecdote, the debate is better served by an examination of the data. These are the actual statistics that compare the status of men and women in South Korea:

Life Expectancy: Men in South Korea have much shorter life spans than women: 80.5 years versus 86.5 years. Occupational Deaths: A national survey of occupational deaths found higher mortality rates across the board. For example, among machine operators and assemblers, the mortality rate was 380 males per 100,000 workers, compared to only 158 females per 100,000 workers. Suicide: In 2020, there were 35.5 male and 15.9 female deaths by suicide per 100,000 population  more than a twofold difference. University Enrollments: In 2005, identical numbers of high school students enrolled in college. Since then, the gap steadily widened. By 2018, 73.8% of females, compared to only 65.9% of males, were enrolling in universities. Dating Violence: A survey of dating violence among university students found that females were far more likely than men to be abuse perpetrators: 39.4% of females admitted to assaulting their partners, compared to only 24.7% of men.

The media's reflexive hysteria over Yoon's election reveals how the media consistently misrepresent the gender equality debate.

First, the legitimate concerns of male voters are dismissed as childish, buffoonish, or "misogynistic." Among the many media discussions of the South Korean election, mention of the five areas listed above was scant to nonexistent.

Second, media reports often cherry-pick the numbers. For example, the Time magazine article reported that young women's "suicide rates jumped by more than 40% during the pandemic," somehow ignoring the much higher overall rates among men.

Third, media accounts are rife with emotion and hyperbole. For example, the headline of the Guardian article reads, "Devastated: Gender Equality Hopes on Hold as 'Anti-Feminist' Voted South Korea's President." Note the scare quotes around the term "Anti-Feminist."

Fourth, articles consistently confuse equality of opportunity with sameness of outcome. I've never met a woman who aspires to work as a coal miner, logger, or asbestos-remover. But the scarcity of women in these fields is not caused by sex discrimination. Rather, it's the result of individual choice.

There's a broader lesson to be gleaned from the media's hyperventilation over Yoon's alleged "weaponization" of the gender equality debate. The reality is, the feminist movement long ago abandoned its quest for equal opportunity for women.

Image: .
"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command."

George Orwell, 1984

On March 13, 2022, USA Today, which purports to be the media outlet representing the broadest spectrum of Americans, identified "Rachel Levine" as one of its "Women of the Year." Aside from being a bad person who, in 2020, locked old people in the charnel houses known as nursing homes while protecting his own mother by pulling her out of one, every fiber of Levine's mortal being is imbued with XY chromosomes. The Babylon Bee, which is the most brilliant media outlet in America, promptly countered with a post entitled "The Babylon Bee's Man Of The Year is Rachel Levine." For this truth, Twitter locked down the Bee's account.

This story is not inconsequential. Instead, it sums up everything that is wrong with today's "news" media and social media: they are leftists, they are science-deniers, they are Democrat party hacks, and they are Orwellian tyrants. Despite the dark cloud of dishonesty and fear these two types of media outlets are spreading, there are a few truths to be had here.

Richard Levine, whether he amputated his penis or not, is a man. He has no idea what it is to be a woman, just as a chipmunk has no idea what it is to be a sea lion. He is, however, fascinated with the idea of women  so much so that he wants to appropriate their identities. For leftists, appropriation is bad only if you copy a racial identity (or even a racial hairstyle). It's good if you crudely (in Richard's case, very crudely) mimic the opposite sex.

For Richard, this was a great gig, because it catapulted him into the orbit of the Biden White House and got him appointed as a four-star admiral in the United States Public Health Service. Leftists became inordinately excited about Richard's promotion, claiming he was the first "woman" to hold that position. Despite a complete absence of accomplishments (plus that little problem with being responsible for the deaths of dozens of elderly people in Pennsylvania, while saving his own mother), Richard was instantly a hero.



Image: This pathetic human husk is not a woman. YouTube screen grab.

Science (and do remember that the Democrats are the "party of science") was irrelevant to leftists' excitement. What was important was deconstructing Western culture, which is premised upon biological realities (different DNA, different reproductive capacities, different strength, etc.) or religious standards ("Male and female created he them; and blessed them ...").

It is, therefore, no surprise that USA Today, the favored newspaper of mid-range hotel lobbies, excitedly announced that Richard Levine was one of its "Women of the Year." The man who killed people in Pennsylvania and did nothing to save them across America in 2021 is applauded for COVID leadership. You can just imagine some recent LGBTQIA+++ Smith grad during the "Women of the Year" brainstorming session in the newsroom, putting forth Richard's name to gasps of admiration from the assembled employees.

What's also unsurprising is that The Babylon Bee (or, as Glenn Reynolds calls it, "the paper of record"), instantly nominated Richard as its "Man of the Year."

And sadly, what's really not surprising is that Twitter, the same social media outlet that censored any mention of Hunter Biden's laptop  the same laptop the New York Times admitted is real  censored The Bee, too. It promises to release the Bee from Twitter prison if the Bee will recant, but The Bee refuses to do so, knowing that it has scientific and moral truth on its side:

We're told our account will be restored in 12 hours, but the countdown won't begin until we delete the tweet that violates the Twitter Rules. pic.twitter.com/85tdmrqJpU  Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) March 20, 2022

I've received some messages from people asking how they can help. I can think of a few ways:



1. Never censor yourself. Insist that 2 and 2 make 4 even if Twitter tries to compel you to say otherwise. Make them ban tens of millions of us.  Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) March 21, 2022

3. Become a premium subscriber. If enough of you do that, we won't need traffic from big tech platforms to generate revenue.https://t.co/Hr8l6jWJTB  Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) March 21, 2022

If you like what I wrote and wish to share it, don't even bother trying Facebook or Twitter. Instead, use alternative media accounts (MeWe, Gab, Truth Social, etc.), or simply send emails to your friends. As Seth Dillon said, it's time for the marketplace to break the chains with which the media tyrants have bound us.
This week, a small YouTube channel with 47,000 subscribers, Yankee Wally, disappeared. Several years of videos are gone. Most people, most readers here, probably never heard of this channel. But this should concern us all. This was an attack on freedom of speech, the necessary freedom to criticize those with power, privilege, money, and fame, or to express simple disgust towards a public figure. This small YouTube channel covered matters of significance to the United Kingdom, specifically the line of succession. These are not insignificant issues for U.K. subjects, and there are reasons for skepticism about recent births connected to the royal family.

Yankee Wally was the work of Sadie Quinlan, a Welsh pensioner with a colorful life history, a small flat, and a couple of cats. She's not shy about criticizing minor royal Prince Henry (AKA Harry) and his aging, former D-list cable actress and American citizen wife, Meghan Markle. Occasionally, Sadie joked that if they visit the U.K., she has enough money for a ticket to London and rotting tomatoes to express her opinion of the couple. Lobbing rotten fruit is a time-honored way the English public shows disapproval. This public expression was aided by the government immobilizing criminals in the stocks or pillory, where overripe produce was an expected part of the punishment.

All a rotten tomato can hurt is an ego. Although Meghan fans characterize Yankee Wally as a "one topic hate account," Sadie's topics included her dental adventures, cats, neighbors, daughter, love of the queen, and tips for making meals of prepackaged foods.

Just before Yankee Wally vanished, BuzzFeed published "Meghan Markle's Biggest Troll is her Half Sister Samantha." Partway down, the focus abruptly shifts to Yankee Wally. Sadie and Samantha are depicted as diabolical allies determined to spread lies about Meghan. Ellie Hall tries her best to paint a picture of irrational hateful scheming. But these quotes from Sadie point to deeper concerns. "'I'm not a stalker. I don't want to see Harry and Meghan in my life. But at the same time, let's get them  those children  off the line of succession. Because they don't belong on it. They don't belong on it and it's wrong to put them on it,' she said. 'I am not going to accept those children of his as heirs to the throne. No way. No way on God's green earth will I ever accept that, because those children were born from surrogates." Sadie is also quoted as saying, "'So that's what would stop me,' she said. 'For Meghan to tell the truth, and the truth, the biggest lie, is the surrogacy.'"

A royal birth chamber was traditionally a crowded place. Considering the power and lifestyle enjoyed by monarchs' children, witnesses  lots of witnesses  were the best insurance against questions about birth details in pre-DNA times.

Modern British royal birth transparency efforts trace back to turmoil in 1688. King James II's wife, after several pregnancies and no live children, had a healthy son. Claims that the infant was smuggled into the queen's bedroom led to the scandal known as the Warming Pan Baby. This birth was followed by formal hearings, abdication, mother and baby fleeing England, and invasion.

In our time, royal infants, including William and Harry, Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice and their kids, and William's three children, were shown to the world on the steps of the hospital where they had been born. Birth certificates were released and announcements displayed at the front of the palace. The dates of the christenings and the names of the six godparents of each child were announced in advance, and photos were published.

There's not enough room here for all the controversies surrounding Meghan and Harry, so this is just an overview of some controversies about the children.

News of Archie's June 6, 2019 birth included Meghan already being home from the hospital. His first birth certificate was issued on May 17, 2019, with an illegible signature of a "deputy" (the word is handwritten) registrar, above text certifying the document as a true copy. On June 5, 2019, according to the Mirror U.K., a revised birth certificate was issued, changing the mother's name from Rachel Meghan to Duchess of Sussex (a title, not a name, and legally, there's a difference). The names of his godparents are sealed. One brief video showed such a completely wrapped baby that photographers asked to see his face. Harry moved a tiny sliver of blanket, revealing a glimpse of cheek and one closed eye. A single photo was released after the christening.

The parents and palace didn't release Lilibet's birth certificate. They just announced that she was born in Santa Barbara County, California on June 4, 2021. Meanwhile, the California vital records online database shows no child born in California with first name Lilibet, last name Mountbatten, Wales, Windsor, or Markle, mother first name Rachel (Meghan's first name on her birth record, which is available on the website). I checked multiple times in the summer and fall of 2021 and today.

A serious question is whether Archie and Lilibet were carried by surrogates. Under U.K. law, no matter whose DNA is used, the woman who gestates the child is the legal mother, and surrogacy contracts are not binding. Children born of surrogacy, or adopted, are not eligible to inherit royal or aristocratic titles in the U.K. or be in the line of succession.

Those who removed Sadie's videos might have been hoping to thwart anyone seeking evidence to dispute the characterization of Yankee Wally as a "one topic hate account." But even the BuzzFeed story describes Sadie and Samantha investigating two children listed on the Royal Family Succession website. Succession is a serious matter, and researching it is not indicative of irrational hatred of an individual.

Americans haven't been ruled by anyone from the British line of succession for some time. So why should Americans care? There are several reasons. Harry came to America with Meghan, and he called our First Amendment "bonkers." They're actively campaigning to remove "misinformation" from the internet. Using the foreign, royal title "Duchess of Sussex" and private cell phone numbers allegedly provided to her by Kirsten Gillibrand, Meghan called women U.S. senators to lobby in favor of paid family leave. Her political ambitions are not limited to complaining and lobbying and may reach as far as Meghan Markle for president.

Even if Sadie posted nothing but pure negative emotions and no legitimate political questions, a citizen with ambitions to political power in America should be the first person to stick up for Sadie's right to say such things. The fact that Sadie's videos are more honestly described as questioning and frustrated than targeted hate makes the removal of her videos not only despicable but suspicious.

Photo credit: YouTube video screen grab (cropped).
Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has suspended the activities of 11 opposition political parties in Ukraine's parliament and issued a decree that combines three privately owned television networks into one media platform controlled by the government, according to media reports. Zelensky accused the opposition parties of colluding with Russia and trying to divide Ukrainians while claiming that the television networks spewed Russian propaganda. The exigencies of war, as so often happens, impel so-called "democratic" governments to impose undemocratic measures in the name of defending democracy.

Western media and commentators, and many Western political leaders, have portrayed the Russia-Ukraine War as an existential conflict between autocracy and democracy  as Vladimir Putin against the "free world." We are repeatedly told by David Frum, Max Boot, Bill Kristol, and the crowd at MSNBC that our failure to defend Ukraine is a failure to defend "democracy." Those war hawks will undoubtedly defend Zelensky's moves as necessary steps to ensure the survival of an independent Ukraine. And they may indeed be necessary in wartime. Political opposition in wartime can hamper a nation's war effort. That is why Putin, for example, is cracking down on protesters within Russia (which his government does as a matter of course, war or no war). That is why American presidents like Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, and Franklin Roosevelt cracked down on dissent within the United States during the wars they presided over.

Fortunately for us, the United States had deep democratic roots (independent courts, separation of powers, federalism, etc.) that sustained our democracy after the exigencies of war faded. Ukraine's democratic roots, however, are thin. If Zelensky's government survives this war, will the war measures be lifted? Will the opposition political parties be free to oppose Zelensky's government? Will a free press be permitted to criticize government policies?

The great American political philosopher James Burnham in his book The Machiavellians (written during the Second World War) emphasized the importance of political opposition to the cause of freedom. "It is only when there are several different major social forces, not wholly subordinated to any one social force," he wrote, "that there can be any assurance of liberty, since only then is there the mutual check and balance that is able to chain power." Burnham warned against relying on any single leader or group of leaders to preserve freedom. "There is no one force, no group, and no class that is the preserver of liberty," he explained. "Liberty is preserved by those who are against the existing chief power." "Not unity but difference, not the modern state but whatever is able to maintain itself against the state, not leaders but the unyielding opponents of leaders, not conformity with official opinion but persisting criticism," Burnham continued, "are the defenses of freedom."

It may be in America's strategic interest to continue aiding Zelensky's government and armed forces in the current war, but we would be well advised to refrain from portraying the war as an existential struggle between autocracy and democracy and applauding Zelensky's government as a champion of freedom.

Image: Pres. Administration of Ukraine.
If you have been following the global mainstream media or listening to the utterances of the powerful in Washington, you will be convinced that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is the sole hope for mankind.

Zelensky recently received standing ovations for his rousing speeches delivered via satellite to the British Parliament in London, the E.U. parliament in Brussels, and Congress in Washington. European politicians were so overwhelmed that they nominated him for a Nobel prize.

The likes of David Frum are claiming, "Ukraine may be the first example in human history of a country that under the pressure of war is becoming *more* tolerant and *more* liberal[.]"

Most of Washington, across party lines and the media organizations, has a consensus on Ukraine. These people want to send millions of dollars worth of weaponry to Ukraine. Some even want boots on the ground in Ukraine.

The recent bipartisan 1.5-trillion-dollar spending bill dedicated $14 billion in emergency funding for the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and $3.5 billion for sending new military equipment and $3 billion for deploying U.S. troops to Ukraine.

They reiterate that the U.S. is duty-bound to defend Ukraine because Ukraine is a democracy, while Russia is a totalitarian state.

So what has been Zelensky's and the Ukrainian regime's record on democratic values?

Whenever a democratic nation is at war owing to an attack, the leader attempts to unite the country. This includes citizens and equally important opposition leaders, and the media. The media and the opposition are free to say what they please, but the leader urges them all to unite for the country.

Over the weekend, Zelensky invoked his emergency powers under martial law to suppress several opposition political parties and implement a "unified information policy."

In a national address, Zelensky announced a temporary ban on "any activity" by 11 political parties.

This ban applies to Ukraine's largest opposition party, "The Opposition Platform  For Life," which has 44 seats in Ukraine's national parliament  i.e., the Ukrainian people elected them to parliament.

According to Ukrainian news outlet LB, the leader of the For Life party, Yuriy Boyko, had demanded that Russia "stop the aggression against Ukraine," but the party has been accused of being pro-Kremlin.

Much before the Russian intervention, in May 2021, Viktor Medvedchuk, another the leader of For Life party, was accused of treason against Ukraine. Russian president Vladimir Putin is godfather to Medvedchuk's daughter.

Ukraine's National Bureau of Investigation has accused the former president, Petro Poroshenko, of corruption, treason, supporting "terrorist organizations" and being pro-Kremlin.

Critics have said that anti-corruption laws were used to restrict the activities and punish anti-Zelensky oligarchs.

One has to remember that Ukraine was once part of the Soviet Union; there are myriad Ukrainians who still have relatives in and other ties with Russia. Yet this was used to suppress political opposition.

The media weren't spared, either.

Zelensky's news information policy involves "combining all national TV channels, the program content of which consists mainly of information and/or information-analytical programs, [into] a single information platform of strategic communication" to be called "United News."

Zelensky cited the measure as essential to fight Russian disinformation and "tell the truth about the war."

This muzzling of the press isn't a recent ploy. Last year, Zelensky was accused of using draconian measures to restrain the press.

In February 2021, the National Security and Defense Council at Zelensky's initiative banned three TV channels  NewsOne, Channel 112, and ZIK, owned by Ukrainian lawmaker Taras Kozak  for being pro-Kremlin.

Kozak was also charged with treason for Kremlin ties.

Last year, the Kyiv Independent reported that Zelensky demanded that news outlets have pro-Ukraine (read: pro-Zelensky) coverage. There were also attempts to cancel the screening of a documentary film critical of the Ukraine government.

Beyond media muzzling

When war broke, Ukrainian men aged 18 to 60 were banned from leaving after Zelensky enforced martial law. There was also conscription of reservists of the same age group.

In a democratic nation, the leader may urge his citizens to take up arms, but force can never ever be applied.

To understand this better, consider a hypothetical scenario in the U.S.

What if the Biden administration or its allies accused a critical media figure such as Tucker Carson or a political rival such as President Donald Trump of treason? What if Democrat-supported government agencies began investigating President Trump by accusing him of financial impropriety or colluding with a foreign power without any valid evidence? Imagine that Democrat allies begin cheering for the arrest of both Trump and Carlson.

Well, you don't have to imagine that...

But imagine if Biden actually went one step farther and arrested Republicans and shut down Fox News.

Zelensky seems to be doing exactly what liberals have always intended to do. Perhaps that is why they are fond of him.

Zelensky recently berated the Israeli Knesset for enabling a second Holocaust ("Final Solution") by not providing the Ukrainians with advanced weaponry. Israeli officials and Israel's national Holocaust Memorial condemned Zelensky's statements as a trivialization and distortion of the historical facts of the Holocaust.

Zelensky also blasted Swiss banks and Nestle for business with Russia.

Perhaps the war has driven him to desperation, but Zelensky is increasingly sounding like a tyrant, the very force he claims to be standing up to.

What about the Ukraine regime's human rights record?

Indian students and African and Asian individuals have described the racist behavior meted out to them by Ukrainian authorities as they attempted to escape.

The Azov battalion, a unit of the Ukrainian army that uses the Nazi Wolfsangel symbol as its emblem, has been accused of having neo-Nazi links. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights accused members of the Azov battalion of war crimes in the early stages of the conflict in Ukraine.

Following Russia's invasion, there have been reports of the Ukrainian government using citizens as human shields.

War-torn Ukraine is now a hotbed for mercenaries, defense contractors, and prison inmates who were released by the Ukrainian authorities to fight Russian forces.

What happens when these individuals get their hands on advanced weaponry sent by the U.S.?

What are the odds that they may seize this weaponry and resell it to terrorists or criminal elements?

What cannot be denied is the plight of millions of Ukrainian people, who are suffering because of this war. Words cannot describe their pain of being displaced, abandoned, orphaned, and wounded.

But there has to be a distinction between the people and their governments.

Given Ukraine's record on corruption, global powers must ensure that aid and support reach the Ukrainian people and are not siphoned off by Ukrainian officials.

The media are attempting to make the case for war, painting Zelensky and the Ukrainian regime as spotless white and Putin and Russia as pure black.

The truth, as always, is the grays.
(Image source from: Twitter.com/trspartyonline)

KTR has a request for NRIs from Telangana:- Telangana IT Minister K Taraka Rama Rao (KTR) is currently touring in USA and he met various NRIs. He came up with a request for them so that they can assist their villages financially so that there would be vast development in their native villages or towns. KTR received a warm welcome from them in USA. KTR is garnering investments for the state and he would visit various states of USA in his current trip. KTR interacted with the party cadre of TRS in USA along with various NRIs in Los Angeles yesterday. He explained about the new government scheme 'Mana Ooru Mana Badi'. KTR asked the NRIs to modernize the villages and help for the renovation of government schools and colleges.

Telangana government has plans to develop 26,000 government schools in the state in various phases through the scheme Mana Ooru Mana Badi. "NRRIs coming forward and providing financial assistance is of a great help for the scheme. It is our responsibility to develop our own villages so that the next generation gets the best quality education" told KTR. The young leader will also meet entrepreneurs, businessmen, industrialists, IT-enabled services, companies and other investors to invite investments for the state. Telangana received vast investments over the years and is one of the Indian state with exceptional revenues.

(Video Source: T News Telugu)
(Image source from: Twitter.com/DVVMovies)

NTR about his bonding with Ram Charan:- Tollywood Superstars NTR and Ram Charan teamed up for the first time for RRR. But these two Superstars are well bonded for years and this was exposed during the events of RRR. During the pre-release event that took place last night, NTR wished that his bond with Ram Charan will continue forever. "I pray to God sincerely that this bonding should stay forever. Our friendship should cross all the obstacles and stand strong. Charan, you have to be beside me" told NTR. The bonding between the top actors was discussed for a long time and they are just flawless during their promotional interviews and public outings.

NTR also heaped praise on SS Rajamouli and his team who worked really hard for the film. The event was packed and NTR, Charan's fans attended in large numbers. Ram Charan kept his speech simple and thanked everyone for their support. Rajamouli's speech was lengthy and emotional. The team will fly to North India for the rest of the promotions and they will return back to Hyderabad on March 23rd. RRR is hitting the screens on March 25th. RRR is made on a budget of Rs 450 crores and the film will have a record release which is the highest for any Indian movie.
North Andover, MA (01845)

Today

Except for a few afternoon clouds, mainly sunny. High 69F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Mainly cloudy. Low near 45F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph.
Resolute China sharpens focus on innovation

China Daily) 09:14, March 21, 2022

Workers produce chips for export at an electronic enterprise in the Sihong Economic Development Zone in Sihong county, Jiangsu province, on Feb 23. China will pursue an innovation-driven development strategy and strengthen the foundation of the real economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic. XU CHANGLIANG/XINHUA

Digital field, R&D spends, core tech, monetary and fiscal policies to underpin growth

As China's two sessionsthe annual sittings of the national legislature and the top political advisory bodyended on March 11, they showed the world how in the world's second-largest economy, the intersection of democracy, policymaking and lawmaking contributes to high-quality development, the dream of almost every country these days.

Premier Li Keqiang highlighted the need for China to further implement the innovation-driven development strategy and strengthen the foundation of the real economy at the opening of the fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress earlier this month.

Delivering this year's Government Work Report, Li said China will promote scientific and technological innovation for industrial upgrading, eliminate the bottlenecks in supply chains and realize high-quality development through innovation.

The remarks came at a time when the global economy went into a recession amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Changing geopolitical environment and growing trade protectionism added complexities to the economic development of countries globally.

"To achieve innovation, core technology is a key," said Ni Guangnan, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

Ni said that over the past year, China has made new breakthroughs in core technologies, including information technology. Domestic central processing unit chips, operating systems and other basic digital technologies have been put into wide use.

"Although the overall market share (of these domestic basic digital technologies) is small, the absolute number of such products has reached 10 million," he said.

"It fully demonstrated that China, as a super large market, has great advantages in driving innovation. The country's scientific and technological innovation capabilities have also been significantly improved."

For instance, in terms of innovation in semiconductors, the government has intensified efforts to develop chips at home so as to reduce reliance on the foreign semiconductor industry. This generated unprecedented levels of enthusiasm and funneled capital from Chinese entrepreneurs into the domestic semiconductor industry, with even carmakers jumping on the auto chip bandwagon.

According to market consultancy Preqin, China surpassed the United States in terms of semiconductor financing last year. Chinese chipmakers, integrated circuit designers and other semiconductor startups received $8.8 billion in funding last year, more than six times the $1.3 billion invested in comparable US companies.

Ding Wenwu, president of China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund Co Ltd, said although investments in the chip design segment increased over the past decade, more efforts are needed in the fields of chip materials, equipment and manufacturing.

"Chip design has a lower technological threshold and quick investment returns. But chip materials, equipment and manufacturing are the areas where China lags developed countries such as the US," Ding said.

More innovations will spring forth in the near future as during the two sessions, the government said the country will "roll out more policy support to encourage businesses to make innovations and focus on tackling bottleneck technologies".

An employee checks equipment at the data center of China Unicom in Zhongwei, Ningxia Hui autonomous region, on March 1. China made fresh digital breakthroughs last year. WANG PENG/XINHUA

China will work to raise the proportion of weighted pretax deduction of the research and development expenses of small and medium-sized sci-tech enterprises from 75 percent to 100 percent, grant tax breaks to enterprises that invest in basic research, and improve policies on accelerated depreciation of equipment and tools and on preferential corporate income tax for new and high-tech enterprises.

"Our policy of tax and fee reductions is like applying fertilizer and water, and the initiative for mass entrepreneurship and innovation aims to help more market entities take root and grow," said Premier Li at a news conference after the closing of the fifth session of the 13th NPC on March 11.

"When public creativity is leveraged, and the vitality of market entities unleashed, one could well anticipate vibrant economic growth," he said.

The 2022 draft plan for national economic and social development, released by the National Development and Reform Commission, specified that faster breakthroughs in core technologies such as biomedicines, high-end instruments, green and low carbon energy transformation and basic software will be a priority.

China will also intensify efforts to develop national laboratories, major research projects and innovation centers in Beijing, Shanghai and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the plan said.

Liu Qingfeng, a deputy to the 13th NPC and chairman of iFlytek, a smart translation company, said such policy support has stimulated the vitality of high-tech companies and inspired more entrepreneurs to pursue innovations.

"Companies should promote systematic innovation based on original innovations and continuously improve the ability of integrating key technologies into industries. More efforts are also expected to be made to guide tech and market talent to join in," Liu said.

A 5G smart robot and maintenance engineers inspect power supply equipment of the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway in Chuzhou, Anhui province, on Jan 17. SONG WEIXING/FOR CHINA DAILY

This year's Government Work Report also highlighted the efforts of developing digital economy, building more digital information infrastructure, applying 5G technology on a larger scale and advancing digitalization of industries.

Accelerated efforts will also be made for the development of fields like the industrial internet, artificial intelligence, key software and critical hardware, the report said.

As digital technology has become a focus area, Lu Jin, chairman of China National Gold Group Co, said in an interview with China Media Group that the company will beef up technology development and plans to invest about 300 million yuan ($47.24 million) this year to build "digital mines" to promote the digital management and control of mining, so as to further improve mining quality and efficiency.

In one of the companies' gold mines in China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, unmanned vehicles and drones, rather than human workers, did all transportation and inspection work, which greatly improved mining efficiency and production safety.

"It is the continuous research and development on forefront digital technologies that brought about 1.4 billion yuan to 1.5 billion yuan of profit from this mining area alone last year," Lu said.

According to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, a government think tank, China's digital economy reached $5.4 trillion in 2020 in terms of market size, which grew 9.6 percent year-on-year, the fastest worldwide.

"China's digital economy, which is indeed in the fast lane, has become a new driver of the country's economic growth amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It has and will play an important role in driving economic recovery globally," said Gong Ke, former president of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations and executive director of the Chinese Institute of New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Strategies.

According to China's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), the country will scale up spending on research and development by more than 7 percent annually during the period to drive more technological breakthroughs.

Consulting firm McKinsey &Company said in a report that 7 percent annual growth in R&D spending will set the country on the path to becoming the world's largest spender on R&D.

Peng Wensheng, chief economist and head of research at China International Capital Corp, said: "As demographic dividends gradually decrease, China's economy will rely more on technological innovations in the future. To achieve such technological progress, continuous R&D investment is the key."

However, Peng said China still has a long way to go to bridge the gap with developed countries like the US, both in R&D investment in basic research and R&D investment as a proportion of GDP.

"China's R&D investment must be increased 'substantially' in the coming decades to get rid of what we call the late-mover disadvantage," he said.

(Web editor: Peng yukai, Liang Jun)
Samsung Foundry, the Korean behemoths contract chip manufacturing unit, is struggling with poor yield rates, a report last month revealed. The companys yield for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 was reportedly just 35 percent. Meaning, only 35 chips out of 100 manufactured meet the required quality standards. TSMC, on the other hand, has a production yield of 70 percent for the same chipset. Due to such poor yields of Samsung Foundry, Qualcomm is said to have moved to TSMC for manufacturing its next-gen chips. Thankfully for Samsung, things are improving, at least thats what the company says.

At its 53rd annual shareholders meeting earlier this month, Samsung Devices Solutions CEO Kyehyun Kyung assured that the company is improving the yield rates of its advanced process nodes. It is slow but steady progress, but the Korean firm is getting there, the Samsung co-CEO said. However, he didnt share any numbers to back his claim. So its unclear how much of an improvement Samsung Foundry has made. And more importantly, is the progress promising enough to regain the trust of big clients such as Qualcomm?

When the report of poor yields came out, Samsung suggested some foul play by top-level executives. It reportedly launched an internal investigation to determine if the yield data was fabricated to misplace funds allocated for improvements. While we dont know whether there has been any foul play, its pretty much certain that Samsung Foundry is not yet ready to compete against TSMC in the contract manufacturing space.

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Samsung still has a lot of work to do in the foundry business

For years, Samsung has failed to close the gap to TSMC in the foundry business. The Korean firm has been playing second fiddle to the Taiwanese giant in the contract manufacturing space despite it being the worlds biggest memory chip maker. Perhaps the companys widely known technological shortcomings  evidenced by the flagship Exynos processors of the yesteryears  have limited its growth. While it seems to have finally got the better of some of those shortcomings, Samsung Foundry still has a lot of work to do.

Qualcomm having its next-gen chips manufactured by TSMC instead of Samsung is a massive business loss for the Korean company. Hopefully, itll be able to turn it all around quickly before it gets too late. Otherwise, TSMC may run away with all major manufacturing contracts. Time will tell whether Samsung has what it takes to level the battlefield.
Posted on: March 21, 2022 12:24 PM

The Anglican Communions Director of Unity, Faith and Order, Dr Will Adam; and the Director for Administration and Logistics, Stephanie Taylor, will leave their positions in the coming months to pursue new roles. Both are currently based at the Anglican Communion Office (ACO), the London-based secretariat of the global Anglican Communion.

Will Adam has been appointed to serve as the next Archdeacon of Canterbury and Residentiary Canon of Canterbury Cathedral, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Stephanie Taylor will become Director of Governance at the Isle of Wight College, a further and higher education institution.

Speaking of his new appointment, Will Adam said: its a great honour and pleasure to be invited to take up this role. Canterbury is a place very close to my heart  as it has been for pilgrims from around the world for centuries. Im excited by the opportunities for mission and ministry in Canterbury Diocese and the Cathedral as they work towards building a flourishing and sustainable future for their communities. I cant wait to get to know the parishes, churches and communities of the Archdeaconry as we work together in Gods service.

The Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, the Most Revd Dr Josiah Idowu-Fearon, commented: I am pleased that Will Adam will be taking up this significant post in Canterbury. He comes with long experience as a parish priest and pastor which has been informed by his work in the world Church. We will miss him at the Anglican Communion Office but congratulate Will and the Cathedral and Diocese of Canterbury on this news.

Welcoming his appointment, the Bishop of Dover, the Right Revd Rose Hudson-Wilkin, said: I am looking forward enormously to Will joining the senior staff team of our diocese. He comes to us with a breadth of experience and an openness and willingness to learn more - so that together as the Body of Christ we may continue the journey towards becoming a flourishing community. I have every confidence that Will and his family will settle well into our diocese and enjoy the varied tapestry of life that Canterbury has to offer. We hold him and his family in our prayers as they say their farewells and prepare to join us.

Speaking of her new appointment, Stephanie Taylor said: the Isle of Wight College has an outstanding reputation serving the local community. I am delighted to have been appointed Director of Governance, and to have the opportunity to continue and develop my career in governance serving my local community. I will also be taking up Gods call to serve in new ministries and will be volunteering with my local NHS hospital chaplaincy team.

For the past eight years it has been the greatest honour to have been a servant of the global Anglican Communion. After this period of pandemic when we have all experienced a renewed sense of the importance of our local communities it will now be a privilege to serve my local community in two beloved institutions so instrumental to the education and health of the people of my island home.

The Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, the Most Revd Dr Josiah Idowu-Fearon, commented: Stephanie Taylor has had a significant, but largely hidden, ministry within the Anglican Communion. She has been instrumental in organising six very successful Primates Meetings  including the one taking place next week  and two plenary meetings of the Anglican Consultative Council in Zambia and Hong Kong.

She has effectively and efficiently managed the transition brought about by the re-organisation of the Anglican Communion Office last year and ensured the continued good governance of the Communion.

All of her colleagues in the Anglican Communion Office will miss her infectious enthusiasm and calm, reassuring presence. We wish her well and pray for her new role at the Isle of Wight College.

Reacting to news of the departures, the Chair of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) and former Archbishop of Hong Kong, the Most Revd Paul Kwong, said: I regret to hear that Mrs Stephanie Taylor and Dr Will Adam will be moving on from ACO respectively in the next couple of months.

It has been a joy and privilege working with them in ACO and ACC over the last few years. Their dedication and contributions have made a big difference in ACO.

The skills of administration, governance and logistics that Stephanie brings to ACO have made a lasting impression in us. I am confident that they will thrive equally and even further in their new roles. They will be greatly missed.

I wish them all the best in their new ministries.

The Vice Chair of the Anglican Consultative Council, Canon Maggie Swinson, said: I have been privileged to see Stephanie develop during her time at the ACO as she has developed herself and the new Director of Administration & Logistics role. The Communion has benefitted from her technical expertise and superb organisation skills. Her role in the planning of ACC and other meetings means she is well known across the Communion and will be missed by very many of us. I wish her well in her new role.

I have worked with Will during and before his time at the ACO. He has a great depth of expertise in ecumenism from which we have benefitted. More recently he has played a key part in building the new team at the ACO  we will miss his presence in the ACO.

To read the Anglican Communions press release, please click here, and to read the Diocese of Canterburys press release, please click here.
There are troubling signs on the horizon that the reprieve from the virus may be temporary. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images/TNS)
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(ANSA) - ROME, MAR 21 - The number of Italians trapped in Ukraine and wanting to leave the wartorn country has fallen to 239, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said Monday.

This is down from 276 Sunday, he said, while there were 400 a week ago.

"WE will bring out all those who are contacting us," he said.

Di Maio said Italy was not putting any vetoes on the EU's fifth package of Russia sanctions, on the margins of an EU foreign ministers' meeting. (ANSA).


(ANSA) - ROME, MAR 21 - Premier Mario Draghi on Monday hailed the way the Italian public and institutions have responded to help the people of Ukraine after the Russian invasion during a visit to a civil protection hub in Palmarova, on the northeastern region of Friuli Venezia Giulia.

"The way we responded to the emergencies of the last year years has been to integrate the decisions of (central) government with those of the regions and the (town and city) councils," Draghi said after seeing four lorries loaded with medicines and medical equipment leave the hub to take aid to Ukraine.

"This institutional alliance is an asset that we must keep, including in the reception of 60,000 Ukrainian citizens up to now and who-knows-how-many more in the future.

"It will be fundamental. The key decision that the government took was to listen to the Italian people, their willingness to help, their enthusiasm, their goodness.

"Support for the reception (of refugees) will not be lacking".

(ANSA).


Ukraine: Slovenia to send back diplomats to Kyiv We are working to make the EU do the same, PM

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, MAR 21 - Slovenia is planning to sent its diplomats back to Kyiv this week, the Slovenian news agency reported, quoting the Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa. "We are working to make the EU do the same. Ukraine needs diplomatic support," Jansa announced on Twitter on Sunday evening. The diplomats will return to Kyiv on a voluntary basis, STA said.



(ANSA).





 Copyright ANSA - All rights reserved
ANSAmed - Weekly diary from 21/3 to 27/3

(ANSAmed) - ROMA, 21 MAR - The following are the main events scheduled in the Euro-Mediterranean area from March 21 to March 27: MONDAY MARCH 21 ISTANBUL - Hearing in the case of rights activist Osman Kavala.



DOHA - DIMDEX International Maritime Defence Conference kicks off (until 23/3).



GENEVA - IPCC Session to approve report on solutions to fight global warming (until 1/4).



VARIOUS CITIES - International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.



BRUSSELS - Informal meeting of EU foreign ministers.



TUESDAY MARCH 22 TOZEUR - 2nd edition of the International Theatre Festival in the Sahara kicks off in Tozeur, Douz and other areas in the Tunisian desert (until 26/3).



VERONA - Concert by Almar'a, the orchestra of Arab and Mediterranean women.



BRUSSELS - EU General Affairs Council.



BRUSSELS - EU, meeting between Commissioner Margaritis Schinas and Italian Tourism Minister Massimo Garaviglia.



WEDNESDAY MARCH 23 MADRID - Protest called by the main trade unions against price increases in energy and basic necessities.



BRUSSELS - EU, Commissioner Jutta Urpilainen meets with Antonio Vitorino, Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and then meets with Tedros Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization.



BRUSSELS - EU, the European Commission presents a roadmap for EU food security in the wake of the war in Ukraine.



THURSDAY MARCH 24 MARSEILLE - 9th edition of the Aflam Arab Film Festival kicks off (until 3/4).



ALGIERS - 25th edition of the Algiers International Book Fair (SILA) kicks off (until 1/4).



BRUSSELS - NATO, special session.



GENEVA - EU, Commissioner Jutta Urpilainen meets with Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and then Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees.



FRIDAY MARCH 25 RAMALLAH (Palestinian Territories) - Local elections, second phase.



OUARZAZATE (Morocco) - Amazigh (Berber) World Assembly (AMA).



VARIOUS CITIES - World Youth Climate Action Day.



SATURDAY MARCH 26 MALTA - General elections.



DOHA - Doha Forum kicks off, global platform for dialogue (until 27/3).



MADRID - Victims of Terrorism Association protest against the government.



SUNDAY MARCH 27 No major events scheduled. (ANSAmed).




BEIRUT - Lebanese Energy Minister Walid Fayad concluded his visit on Monday to Qatar, where he was seeking support in aid and energy supply.



Lebanon's battered economy is in the midst of its worst financial crisis in decades.



Fayad was received by his Qatari counterpart Saad Sharida Kaabi on the sidelines of the 7th General Conference of the Arab Union for Electricity (AUE).



Lebanese authorities are currently supplying Beirut residents with only two hours a day of electricity, while in other areas of the country there has been no state-supplied energy for weeks now.



Electricity has been rationed in Lebanon since the time of the Lebanese civil war from 1975 to 1990, and there are many private generators run by local elites who are tied to the ruling oligarchy.



Qatar is a leading producer of natural gas, to which several Western countries are turning in light of the energy repercussions of the Ukrainian crisis.



It said in principle it was ready to help Lebanon, but Sharida Kaabi reminded Lebanon of the need to adapt to market conditions, characterised by a significant increase in prices.
ISTANBUL - About 14,000 Russian citizens, including anti-war activists, journalists, academics, bloggers and businessmen, have temporarily moved to Turkey since the beginning of Russia's military operation against Ukraine, said Turkish daily Hurriyet.



It said most of them cited a deterioration in living conditions in Russia as the reason they decided to leave.



Hurriyet said 49,000 Ukrainian citizens have arrived in Turkey since the start of hostilities.



Russians and Ukrainians can travel freely to and in Turkey, and can stay in the country without a visa for three months for tourism.



One of the reasons Russians who want to leave the country are choosing Turkey is because Ankara has not closed its airspace to Russia, as European countries have done.




BEIRUT - Syrian government forces blocked a convoy of US military vehicles at a checkpoint in northeastern Syria during an ongoing patrol by US forces present in the area in support of the Kurdish-Syrian militias, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

It said the episode generated tension in the Tell Tamer area, in the Hasake region, where Russian military forces and Arab-Syrian militias co-opted by Turkey are present.

Sources on the ground reported that the Syrian government military refused to let the US convoy of six armored vehicles into the localities of Qabr Saghir and Qubur Gharajina.

This is the fifth such incident recorded in the Hasake region in the past three weeks, according to SOHR.




Syria: NGO reports US-PKK exercises to defend oil wells Kurdish fighters backed by US military in the east

(ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, MARCH 21 - A vast joint military exercise between US forces and Kurdish and Arab militias led by the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) took place in eastern Syria on Monday to protect oil wells in the area close to the border with Iraq, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).



It said the exercises took place on Monday around the oil installations known as Conoco, east of Dayr az Zor.



In recent days, similar joint military maneuvers between American forces and Kurdish militias had taken place around the Al Omar oil well, one of the largest energy sites in the eastern Syrian region.



The United States - which leads the global anti-Isis Coalition - and PKK forces have been claiming for years that they are present in the rich region of eastern Syria to fight terrorism.



Local insurgents affiliated with the Islamic State continue attacks almost daily, despite ISIS's formal military defeat in Syria in March 2019.



(ANSAmed).




Tunisia: pilgrimage to El Ghriba synagogue returns From 14 to 22 May, after two years cancelled due to Covid

(ANSAmed) - TUNIS, 21 MAR - The traditional Jewish pilgrimage to the ancient El Ghriba synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba will take place from May 14 to 22, after being cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, said Perez Trabelsi, president of the Jewish community of Djerba and president of the organizing committee.



In an interview with TAP news agency, Trabelsi said about 5,000 Jewish pilgrims are expected to arrive from various countries, including France, Italy and Morocco.



He said Djerba is ready to welcome these visitors amidst excellent conditions, as the date of the pilgrimage coincides with the start of a promising tourist season.



He said the region will also host other important events this year, including the Francophonie Summit.



Preparations for these events are nearing completion, and all parties involved have fulfilled their agreements to provide an impressive image of Tunisia and the island of Djerba, Trabelsi said.



Trabelsi has headed the organising committee of this event for 45 years, and he highlighted the economic and cultural benefits the pilgrimage brings to the region.



He said the event brings together Jews from all over the world and "has an aspect of commemoration as well as identity, especially for Tunisian Jews who have chosen to settle in Europe and the Jewish state in the 20th century".



He said this spiritual moment that culminates in the arrival at the El Ghriba synagogue, which is the largest Jewish place of worship in Africa, is a symbol of the inter-religious mix that characterizes Djerba.



"We still have confidence in Tunisia to guarantee the continuity of this annual ritual," Trabelsi said. (ANSAmed).




Turkey: activist Osman Kavala remains in prison Next hearing set for April 22

(ANSAmed) - ISTANBUL, 21 MAR - The human rights activist Osman Kavala, who has been in jail for over four years, will remain incarcerated at least until the next hearing in his trial, which has been set for April 22.



Judges in the 13th criminal section of the Istanbul court made the decision at a hearing on Monday.



Kavala has been in Silivri prison in Istanbul province since 2017, charged with having financed anti-government protests in 2013 and having played a role in the attempted coup in 2016.



In December 2019, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) had asked for his release, but Ankara never implemented the ruling, and in February the Council of Europe opened an infringement procedure against Turkey for this.



Kavala is a businessman and activist for the rights of the Kurdish and Armenian minorities of Turkey.



Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan considers Kavala an opponent.



Erdogan has repeatedly attacked Kavala publicly, and last year he threatened to expel the ambassadors of 10 Western countries - including the USA, Germany and France - who, on the fourth anniversary of Kavala's arrest, had launched an appeal for his release. (ANSAmed).




ISTANBUL - A new hearing began Monday at the Caglayan court in Istanbul in the trial against human rights activist Osman Kavala.



Kavala, 64, is accused of having financed anti-government protests in 2013 and of having played a role in the 2016 coup attempt.



In recent weeks, the prosecutor had presented his final assessment of the case to the court and asked for an aggravated life sentence for Kavala and other defendants.



Kavala has been in prison for over four years and Ankara has never put into practice a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) that asked for his release as early as December 2019.



For non-compliance with the ECHR decision, the Council of Europe opened an infringement procedure against Turkey in February that could lead to Ankara's expulsion from the Council or the removal of its right to vote.



Kavala is a businessman committed to defending the rights of Kurdish and Armenian minorities in Turkey and is considered an opponent by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.



Erdogan did not like Kavala's support for the mass anti-government protests in 2013 and also accused him on various occasions of having worked for the Hungarian tycoon George Soros.



Last October, Erdogan threatened to expel ambassadors to Turkey from 10 Western countries - including the US, France and Germany - who had presented a public appeal for the activist's release on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of his arrest.




Lebanon: Energy minister seeks support in Qatar Qatar tells Lebanese they must adapt to price increase

(ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, MARCH 21 - Lebanese Energy Minister Walid Fayad concluded his visit on Monday to Qatar, where he was seeking support in aid and energy supply.



Lebanon's battered economy is in the midst of its worst financial crisis in decades.



Fayad was received by his Qatari counterpart Saad Sharida Kaabi on the sidelines of the 7th General Conference of the Arab Union for Electricity (AUE).



Lebanese authorities are currently supplying Beirut residents with only two hours a day of electricity, while in other areas of the country there has been no state-supplied energy for weeks now.



Electricity has been rationed in Lebanon since the time of the Lebanese civil war from 1975 to 1990, and there are many private generators run by local elites who are tied to the ruling oligarchy.



Qatar is a leading producer of natural gas, to which several Western countries are turning in light of the energy repercussions of the Ukrainian crisis.



It said in principle it was ready to help Lebanon, but Sharida Kaabi reminded Lebanon of the need to adapt to market conditions, characterised by a significant increase in prices.(ANSAmed).




Western Sahara: EU calls Spain U-turn 'positive development' Says commission spokesperson Nabila Massrali

(ANSAmed) - BRUSSELS, MARCH 21 - European Commission Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Nabila Massrali said in response to questions from the Spanish press that the European Union "welcomes any positive development between its member states and Morocco in their bilateral relations".



She said such gestures "can only be beneficial for the implementation of the EU-Morocco association agreement as a whole".



Massrali was speaking in reference to the Spanish about-face regarding the conflict in Western Sahara.



Madrid announced its support for the position of Rabat, which is the proposal to consider that area a Moroccan territory with special autonomy.(ANSAmed).




Yemen: WSJ says US sends Patriot systems to Saudi Arabia Riyadh govt had asked for them to defend against Houthis

(ANSAmed) - ROMA, 21 MAR - The Biden administration has sent a "significant" number of Patriot anti-missile systems to Saudi Arabia in the past month, said The Wall Street Journal, citing informed sources.



Saudi Arabia has long been asking the United States for Patriots, claiming it has run out of supplies.



It wants them in order to repel drone and missile attacks by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in neighboring Yemen.



US-Saudi relations have deteriorated since Joe Biden became president.



This is mainly due to the White House's decision to remove the Houthis from a list of terrorist groups, as well as accusations against Mohamed bin Salman, the de facto leader, over the death of journalist and activist Jamal Khashoggi.



The WSJ sources said the Patriots were only sent now due to high demand for weapons from other US allies, and not because the White House was deliberately delaying the decision.



(ANSAmed).




Future contracts for London transport schemes which support jobs across the country are at risk without long-term funding from the Government, the capitals mayor is warning.

Sadiq Khan is visiting the Siemens Mobility facility, where half the 94 new Piccadilly line Tube trains are due to be built, in Goole in East Yorkshire on Monday.

The trains, which passengers will see from 2025, will improve frequency, reliability and capacity on the line, replacing the previous 1970s fleet.

Half the fleet will be built at the Goole factory, which employs up to 700 people in engineering and manufacturing, 250 in construction, and 1,700 in the broader supply chain.

Future Transport for London (TfL) contracts which support those jobs are at risk unless the Government agrees a long-term capital funding deal, Mr Khan will say.

TfLs supply chain stretches across the country and London has a strong relationship with regional suppliers.

TfL has time-limited options built into its contract with Siemens Mobility to build new Bakerloo, Central and Waterloo and City line trains, saying that, with sufficient funding, these options could be activated, providing ongoing work.

Mr Khan said: Visiting this Yorkshire factory and the state-of-the-art Piccadilly Line trains being built, it is clear how strong Londons relationships with our regional suppliers are  demonstrating just how vital skills and expertise around the country is to Londons success and how investment in TfL is vital to jobs and a UK-wide recovery.

Without sufficient capital investment in TfL, future contracts with regional suppliers are at risk. The best way to secure these highly skilled jobs into the future is for ministers to break the continuous cycle of short-term funding deals handed to TfL, which only holds back London and the rest of the country from innovation, jobs and economic growth.

When London succeeds, the country succeeds  and vice versa. This week, the Government has the opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to levelling up and deliver the capital funding TfL and its supply chain need. Without it, both London and the wider country will be held back.
A prank video call with Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has surfaced after Britain blamed Vladimir Putins Russia for several hoaxes targeting Government ministers in the hope of securing sensitive or embarrassing information.

Mr Wallace suggested the invasion of Ukraine must be going so badly for the Kremlin as it resorted to releasing video fakes as the footage was published on Monday evening.

Home Secretary Priti Patel has also acknowledged having spoken to imposters posing as the Ukrainian prime minister, while an unsuccessful attempt was also made to target Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries.

Things must be going so badly for the Kremlin that they are now resorting to pranks and video fakes. Not the actions of a confident Government, but then again after the Salisbury Cathedral sightseeing story, anything is possible.. pic.twitter.com/GE6B1VNGNt  Rt. Hon Ben Wallace MP (@BWallaceMP) March 21, 2022

An official teaser of the call with Mr Wallace appeared on a YouTube account claiming it was a video-prank with Vovan and Lexus, a pair previously attributed to a hoax aimed at the Duke of Sussex.

Mr Wallace is shown speaking from Poland as the caller, purporting to be Denys Shmyhal, says Ukraine wants to continue a nuclear programme to protect itself from Russia, a claim Russian state media has baselessly claimed in the past.

A Ministry of Defence source said the video was garbage, adding: Its a doctored clip.

What you dont hear is the Defence Secretary also saying that the UK cant have anything to do with alleged Ukrainian nuclear ambitions, because the UK is committed to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

This also happened to me earlier this week. Pathetic attempt at such difficult times to divide us. We stand with Ukraine. https://t.co/Lv5s2WtzyE  Priti Patel (@pritipatel) March 17, 2022

Mr Wallace did not appear to say anything particularly embarrassing or alarming in the video, but it did tout a full interview within a few days.

It was understood discussions were under way with YouTube to get the video removed.

Lexus and Vovan have previously targeted Sir Elton John, a vocal critic of Russias gay propaganda laws, critics of the Kremlin and world leaders including Canadas Justin Trudeau.

Critics have accused the pair, real names Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov, of having links to Russian security services, something they deny.

Mr Wallace said at the time of the incident last week he believed Russia was to blame and Downing Street has now publicly pointed the finger at the Kremlin.

The Prime Ministers official spokesman said: The Russian state was responsible for the hoax telephone calls made to UK ministers last week.

This is standard practice for Russian information operations and disinformation is a tactic straight from the Kremlin playbook to try to distract from their illegal activities in Ukraine and the human rights abuses being committed there.

We are seeing a string of distraction stories and outright lies from the Kremlin, reflecting Putins desperation as he seeks to hide the scale of the conflict and Russias failings on the battlefield.

(PA Graphics)

Senior Government sources fear the Russians may attempt to doctor footage obtained in the calls in an attempt to embarrass the UK.

Mr Wallace publicly acknowledged he had been targeted shortly after his call on Thursday in an attempt to get ahead of any attempt by Moscow to circulate footage from it.

He also launched a cross-Whitehall investigation to understand how he ended up on the video call.

Meanwhile on Monday, Boris Johnson hinted at more military support to Ukraine following a call Joe Biden and other allies ahead of a summit meeting of Nato leaders on Thursday.

The Prime Minister discussed his horror at the Russian presidents use of increasingly brutal tactics in Ukraine, including siege warfare and targeting civilians.

Downing Street said the leaders  also including Frances Emmanuel Macron, Germanys Olaf Scholz and Italys Mario Draghi  affirmed their commitment to equipping the democratically-elected government in Kyiv with the tools it needs to defend itself.

With the US president set to attend the Nato summit in Brussels, No 10 said Mr Johnson looked forward to discussing how to increase military support to Ukraine to qualitatively improve their defensive capability.

In Ukraine, officials rejected a Russian demand for the port city of Mariupol to surrender as the bombardment of population centres across the country continued.

In the capital Kyiv a shopping centre was hit on Sunday, killing eight people, while ammonia leaked from a chemical plant in north-eastern Ukraine after it was shelled.

According to the latest MoD assessment, the Russian advance on Kyiv remains stalled in the face of determined Ukrainian resistance, with the bulk of Moscows forces still more than 15 miles from the centre.

Nevertheless, analysts believe the capital is still the Kremlins main military objective, although it is thought the Russians will try to force it into submission through encirclement rather than attempting a direct assault.

The UNs refugee agency said around 3.5 million people had fled Ukraine since the February 24 invasion while millions more are still in the country but have been forced out of their homes.

Some 10,200 visas have been issued under the Ukraine family scheme as of 4pm on Sunday, the Home Office said.

A total of 31,500 applications have been submitted so far, according to provisional data published on the departments website.

Around 150,000 people have expressed an interest in hosting refugees through the Homes for Ukraine programme.
The visa application process for Ukrainian refugees is putting vulnerable women and children in danger because it is too complicated and difficult and too lengthy, a British volunteer in Poland has said.

Ruth McMenamin has been welcoming refugees arriving at Warsaw central station, where volunteers are providing meals, toiletries, Polish sim cards and healthcare support.

During a call with the UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) helpline at the weekend, she said she was told that it will take around a week for those who have applied under the sponsorship scheme to get paperwork so they can travel.

The new scheme  for Ukrainians without UK family members  opened for applications on Friday.

Refugees from Ukraine gathered at Warsaw central station (Ruth McMenamin)

A Government spokeswoman said officials are moving as quickly as possible to help people fleeing Ukraine find safety in the UK, and that call handlers are not giving out exact timescales to complete an application.

In guidance issued on Friday, Ukrainian refugees were told not to travel to the UK until they receive a decision on their application.

Ms McMenamin said the wait poses very real dangers for women and children and is not good enough.

The 34-year-old from Bristol told the PA news agency: The UK Government needs to put more resources behind this to speed it up.

The length of the process is putting women and children in danger.

Ms McMenamin is on a three-month sabbatical from her job in marketing and travelled to Poland 10 days ago to help people fleeing Ukraine.

A private space has been cordoned off at the station so women and children can rest safely, she said, however it has limited capacity so women are still being forced to sleep on the station floor while they wait.

Beds made up in a waiting room at Warsaw central station (Ruth McMenamin)

There have been reports of sexual assault and trafficking and posters have gone up in the station warning of the risks, she said.

There is no sign of British officials at the station to help people with their applications, Ms McMenamin said.

She added: What were finding is that people are willing to go elsewhere because its easier and safer to do so.

Edward Pinkney, a 34-year-old from Middlesbrough who is also volunteering at the station, said: Most people are wanting to head to other European countries because the UK arrival process is quite complicated and its unclear how long they will have to wait. They want to get to safety as quickly as possible.

PA has asked the Home Office and Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities how many applications under the scheme have been made, how many have been approved, and how long it expects people will need to wait between submitting their application and receiving paperwork enabling them to travel to the UK.

No figures have so far been provided. But it is understood some visas have already been granted under the sponsorship scheme and that data will be published in due course.

Officials believe the process is speeding up and that there are sufficient caseworkers for both schemes to ensure visas can be issued as soon as possible.

The Government said it is moving as quickly as possible to ensure that those fleeing horrific persecution in Ukraine can find safety in the UK.

A spokeswoman said: The UKVI helpline advises people on what support is available to them.

It is incorrect to say UKVI call handlers give out exact timescales to complete an application  they are processed as quickly as possible but this may vary depending on a variety of factors.

Refugees at Home, a charity which connects people who have a spare room with refugees and asylum seekers in search of somewhere to stay, said it was receiving dozens of enquires from Ukrainians seeking advice.

Meanwhile the Home Office said it had issued 10,200 visas under the Ukraine family scheme as of 4pm on Sunday. A total of 31,500 applications have been submitted so far, according to provisional data published on the departments website.

Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: We remain deeply concerned that the Ukraine Family scheme aimed at supporting Ukrainian refugees is too slow and complex to help some of the most vulnerable refugees, such as children who are alone and may find it difficult to apply for a visa.

As we have since the beginning of this dreadful conflict, we continue our plea to Government to waive all visa requirements for Ukrainians  just as our EU neighbours have  so that all those who want to come to the UK can do so quickly. Security checks could easily be carried out on arrival.

What is vital is that people can flee the bombing and shelling quickly and easily as possible.

Tim Naor Hilton, chief executive of Refugee Action, said: Refugees should not be stuck for weeks at borders while they wait for paperwork.

This shambles shows it was totally inappropriate for the Government to rely on visas to help people flee the Russian invasion.

It must learn its lesson and create an ambitious refugee resettlement programme that prioritises those most in need and is ready to go as soon as a crisis such as Ukraine or Afghanistan happens.

And while its incredible that so many people are willing to open up their homes to refugees, we are terrified the free-for-all matching process is wide open to be exploited by people traffickers and other people happy to prey on vulnerable refugees.

Ministers must step in and properly regulate sponsor matching to make sure that vulnerable people who have come here for protection are safe.
An auction of a rare piece by Bristol-based street artist Banksy to raise money for children in Ukraine is now only accepting bids above 40,000.

The 2005 work CND Soldiers, which depicts two soldiers graffitiing the symbol of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament on a wall, is being sold via silent auction on the website MyArtBroker.com.

The work was put up for sale by an anonymous donor on Friday with a starting bid of 20,000 and all the money raised will be sent directly to the Ohmatdyt Childrens Hospital in Kyiv.

MyArtBroker said on Monday that new bids must be at least double the original starting bid.

Joey Syer, head of urban and contemporary at MyArtBroker said: We are humbled by the incredible generosity shown in a flurry of bids over the weekend, doubling the starting bid in hours.

We are now only entertaining bids over 40,000.

Ohmatdyt is the largest childrens hospital in the country and is still providing lifesaving treatment as the crisis continues, MyArtBroker said.

In a statement on its website, the auction house described the continued functioning of the hospital as a matter of national security for Ukraine.

As well as treating critically ill children, it is admitting people of all ages injured in Russian attacks.

People wave banners and hearts aboard a small flotilla of boats leaving Bristol harbour in support of Ukrainian refugees (Ben Birchall/PA)

Elsewhere in Bristol on Monday, a small fleet of boats staged a flotilla on the harbour with the vessels decked out in the blue and yellow of Ukraines flag, with banners welcoming refugees.

The stunt was organised by the network City of Sanctuary, which brings together community and faith groups, schools and charities who work to welcome those fleeing war and persecution.

Later, a number of people gave speeches on College Green about their experiences of war.

Krystina Hynda, a 20-year-old Ukrainian who moved to the UK at the age of nine, said she lived in constant fear of news that her family may have been killed.

The neuroscience student said her wider family lived in the western province of Lviv, and only her parents were in Britain.

Many of the speakers at the event criticised the two-tier system for refugees fleeing Africa and the Middle East compared to those from Ukraine.

They called for the Nationality and Borders Bill to be scrapped.

A show of support for refugees on Bristol Harbour (Ben Birchall/PA)

Baher Al Abd, 20, fled the war in Syria and moved to the UK in 2019 after spending several years in Lebanon.

Mr Al Abd, who is studying politics and international relations at the University of Bristol, said he was routinely asked by immigration authorities why he hadnt stayed to fight, or how a refugee managed to get into university.

Some of the most controversial aspects of the Nationality and Borders Bill are measures making it a criminal offence to knowingly arrive in the UK illegally.

It also seeks to introduce life sentences for those who facilitate illegal entry into the country.

The bill is set to enter a protracted phase of ping pong between the House of Commons and the House of Lords after peers rejected a number of aspects earlier this month.

The Lords vote to remove clause enabling the offshoring of asylum seekers to overseas processing centres, similar to those used by Australia.

They also removed the provision making it a criminal offence to deliberately come to the UK without permission, and demanded powers to push back migrants crossing the English Channel must not be used in a way that would endanger life at sea.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine and subsequent U.S. sanctions have added new kinks to the global supply chain, especially when it comes to crude oil supply. The latest sanctions came last week when President Biden declared a ban on imports of Russian oil, natural gas, and coal.

While Russian oil accounted for less than 8% of U.S. energy imports in 2021, Port of Corpus Christi CEO Sean Strawbridge told Yahoo Finance Live (video above) that "we certainly can expect to see higher fuel prices in the near term until the Ukrainian crisis is resolved."

The ban, which goes into effect next month, means that "those American companies that are buying that crude oil have to find alternative sources of crude oil and at a time when global demand for energy continues to rise," Strawbridge added. "When you take large producers of energy off the table, like Russia and Venezuela, and certainly as we've seen with Iran for many years, it just puts more stress on the overall supply."

Crude prices (CL=F) hovered around $110 per barrel on Monday as negotiations between Russia and Ukraine fail to gain traction. Consumers have felt the pain of rising gas prices as the average price reached $4.25 a gallon as of Monday.

The Port of Corpus Christi, which is located on the south-central coast of Texas, anticipates "about four more cargos arriving between now and when the ban will actually take effect," he added.

Once the sanctions do kick in, the Port of Corpus Christi is poised to pick up the slack and deliver.

We're No. 1 in crude oil exports with about 60% market share, we're No. 2 in liquified natural gas, and we're No. 3 in refined product," Strawbridge said. "So that makes us the largest single gateway for American energy exports to our allies and our partners.

In this aerial drone view from a drone, a petroleum tanker ship passes through the Aransas Channel from the Gulf of Mexico en route to the Port of Corpus Christi in Texas on May 27, 2020. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

More challenges ahead for oil production and refining

There are a number of challenges to simply ramping up crude oil production, as the Biden administration has urged American companies to do.

One is getting more permits, regulatory permitting by the federal government for those producers to produce more natural gas, and then getting that natural gas to the coast where it can be liquified," Strawbridge explained. "And that's really where one of the challenges lies right now is liquefaction capacity has no room for growth until we build more facilities.

President Biden has maintained that his administration's policies have not made the U.S. more susceptible to shocks from the ban of Russian energy imports.

In the United States, 90% of onshore oil production takes place on land that isnt owned by the federal government," Biden said on March 8th in a press conference. And of the remaining 10% that occurs on federal land, the oil and gas industry has millions of acres leased. They have 9,000 permits to drill now. They could be drilling right now, yesterday, last week, last year. They have 9,000 to drill onshore that are already approved.

Data from the Bureau of Land Management showed that 9,713 permits for federal and Indian lands were approved and available to drill in 2021.

A pumpjack of Wintershall DEA extracting crude oil at an old oil field in Emlichheim, Germany, Friday, March 18, 2022. Germany still relies heavily on imports of oil, gas and coal from Russia. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Strawbridge noted that one limiting factor for drilling capacity is that those facilities are extremely capital intensive. They take a long time to be built.

He also highlighted that the ports largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) customer, Cheniere Energy (LNG), is currently at max capacity in Corpus Christi, producing about 15.5 million tons of LNG a year.

Although Cheniere announced that it will be adding another 11 million tons of production, that expansion will not actually yield actual results, actual cargo to be loaded on vessels, until likely closer to 2025, Strawbridge said.

Issuing permits for drilling is not the only hurdle to expanding LNG production.

For LNG to be transported, it must also go through a liquefaction process. According to Strawbridge, the U.S. government could also lessen federal regulations when it comes to liquefaction facilities.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is the primary regulator that issues the permits for those facilities," Strawbridge said, "and FERC has to fast track some of those permits in order for us to see more liquefaction capacity to be able to take that abundant, natural gas that we have from the production fields, liquefy it, put it into vessels. and then ship it to our allies and our partners who need it the most.

An oil truck drives along a highway after delivering oil to an oil refinery plant in Three Rivers, Texas, the United States on Feb. 24, 2022. (Photo by Nick Wagner/Xinhua via Getty Images)

Furthermore, not all crude oil is created equal, Strawbridge noted. While the U.S. tends to export refined petroleum products like gas and diesel, it is a net importer of raw crude oil. Refineries also vary in their ability to handle different specifications of crude oil based on the raw material and refining process.

Here in the Gulf, a lot of the refineries are tooled for what's called a heavier barrel. And those heavier barrels are usually sold at a discount to the index rates" such as WTI (MCL=F) and Brent (BZ=F), Strawbridge said. "They're a little cheaper feedstock, which creates a little more margin for those refineries.

The concern for those refineries will be getting those heavier barrels, which typically come from Russia and Canada.

Because we've got an abundance of crude oil in the United States  the Permian basin alone producing more than any other OPEC nation now, with the exception of Saudi Arabia  we are seeing a retooling of a lot of these Gulf refineries," he added. "But those retoolings are very capital intensive and they take a tremendous amount of time.

Dani Romero is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter: @daniromerotv

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FILE PHOTO: A Volkswagen logo is seen as it launches its ID.6 and ID.6 CROZZ SUV at a world premiere ahead of the Shanghai Auto Show, in Shanghai

By Paul Lienert

(Reuters) - Volkswagen AG plans to invest $7.1 billion over the next five years in North America and add 25 new electric vehicles there by 2030, a top executive said on Monday.

The German automaker expects 55% of its U.S. vehicles sales to be fully electric by 2030, according to Scott Keogh, president and CEO of Volkswagen Group of America. That compares with a 70% target for electric vehicles in Europe by 2030.

VW will begin to phase out its gasoline-powered models in North America, with the aim of exiting sales of combustion-engine vehicles early in the next decade.

Keogh said the company will begin building the ID.4 electric crossover this year and plans to sell its new ID.Buzz electric microbus in the United States in 2024. The company has not decided whether to build the ID.Buzz in North America.

VW will build the ID.4 at its Chattanooga plant in Tennessee, and is upgrading its Mexican plants in Puebla and Silao to starting building electric vehicles, motors and related components by mid-decade.

Keogh said the company also plans to build up battery production in the United States, where it has a partnership with South Korea's SK Innovation.

(Reporting by Paul Lienert in Detroit; editing by Grant McCool)
Given the worrisome drop in cancer screenings seen since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, health care facilities across the United States have been mobilizing to make-up for lost time.

The overarching goal is to mitigate the considerably harmful impact delayed cancer detection can have.

A paper published on Monday in the journal Cancer offers good news and bad news on this front. The bad news, which comes as no surprise to researchers, is that cancer screening rates have largely remained below pre-pandemic levels at least through early 2021, especially for colorectal cancer. The good news is there has been considerable buy-in from health care providers to reverse these concerning deficits.

The reason that screening is promoted in the first place is because its been shown to save lives, Dr. Heidi Nelson, the medical director of the American College of Surgeons and a coauthor of the new paper told TODAY. Screening allows us to find cancers early, when theyre more treatable. This reduces the risk of suffering from advanced cancer.

A study published in JAMA Oncology in April 2021 estimated that through July 2020 alone, the disruptions stemming from the pandemic led Americans to miss more than 9 million screenings for breast, colorectal and prostate cancers. Such findings followed a June 2020 projection by National Cancer Institute (NCI) Director Dr. Norman E. Sharpless that pandemic-driven missed screenings would lead to an additional 10,000 deaths from breast and colorectal cancers alone.

The most commonly diagnosed cancers in the United states include breast, prostate, lung, skin (melanoma) and bladder cancer, according the NCI. Those that cause the greatest deaths include lung, pancreatic, colorectal, breast and prostate cancer.

Dr. Jennifer Croswell, a medical officer in the NCI Division of Cancer Control & Population Sciences, told TODAY that COVID-19 has impacted cancer care along its whole continuum. That includes screening, but also diagnostic follow-up and treatment.

During the spring of 2021, Nelson and her coauthors enrolled nearly 750 U.S. cancer programs into a massive initiative to drive up cancer screening rates. Groups such as the American College of Surgeons Cancer Programs and the American Cancer Society are collaborating in this effort and are working on three major fronts:

Community. This includes social media and local news campaigns to alert the public to the importance of cancer screening.

Health care settings. Health care providers have been urged to get patients back into receiving cancer screenings and to reassure them about COVID-related safety precautions in health care settings.

Individual patients. Urgent reminders and alerts are being sent to patients to get them to come in for cancer screenings.

Nelson and her colleagues compared the monthly cancer screening rates the health care providers reported during the pre-pandemic months of September 2019 and January 2020 with the rates in the corresponding pair of months one year later.

The vast majority of programs saw declines in screening rates by September 2020 and January 2021.

The most concerning finding was the median 17.7% drop in the screening rate for colorectal cancer. There were smaller median declines in screening for cervical and breast cancer, of 6.8% and 1.6%, respectively. The median lung cancer screening rate, however, actually increased slightly, by 1.2%.

The drop in colorectal cancer screening was in line with the 2021 JAMA Oncology paper. This found that the colorectal screening rate was 13.1% lower in July 2020 compared with 2019, while screening for breast and prostate cancers had almost entirely rebounded from their springtime plunge by that first mid-summer of the pandemic.

Nelson suggested that the colorectal cancer tests likely dropped substantially because a colonoscopy, which is recommended to detect such cancer starting once most people turn 45, is an invasive procedure. People concerned about coronavirus transmission may have shied away.

On the bright side, Nelson said it was really gratifying that so many cancer facilities have engaged with the initiative to increase screenings. She and her colleagues are currently busy collecting data to assess the impacts of this effort.

Even though there were real gaps in screening rates, Nelson said, Im optimistic that we will see that weve reversed the trends and hopefully put some of this is behind us.

Cancer care continues despite the pandemic, and we need to make extra efforts to make sure that everyone gets the care that they deserve, added Dr. Quoc-Dien Trinh, co-director of the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Womens Prostate Cancer Program in Boston.

Related: Why you should get cancer screenings and when
With public safety becoming an increasing concern in several major U.S. cities, some residents, workers and commuters are becoming more conscious of their surroundings.

The homicide rate increased last year in 22 major American cities by 5 percent compared to 2020, according to the Council on Criminal Justice. Some companies are taking heed. Amazon revealed last week that it was temporarily relocating employees from its downtown Seattle office to a nearby location, following an uptick in crime in the area. The 1,800 workers there still have the option of working remotely.

In addition to concerns about crime, other societal issues such as the opioid epidemic, pandemic-induced financial distress and the lack of affordable housing in several urban hubs are impacting some areas. As of January 2020, there were an estimated 580,466 homeless people nationwide, marking the fourth consecutive annual gain as counted by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Not isolated to any one state, Sacramento; Portland, Ore.; San Francisco; Houston; Denver, and Seattle are among the cities grappling for solutions. Ensuring residents and visitors are at ease on city streets is becoming more of a priority for elected officials and business owners alike, as they continue to try to encourage people to return to their places of work.

Staying alert on city streets is a reality of urban life, but a spate of random attacks on the subway and in parts of New York City  one of the global fashion industrys epicenters  has some workers and their employers reiterating the need for caution.

For the 28-day period ended March 13, the New York City Police Department reported 8,967 incidents of crime  a nearly 43 percent increase compared to the same period last year. With the exception of the murder rate, which declined by 20.6 percent, all other crimes were significantly up compared to a year ago.

Following a 40-year-old woman dying after being pushed onto the tracks in the Times Square station and a 62-year-old man suffering a leg injury after being pushed onto the tracks in the Fulton Street station in January, there have been multiple unprovoked attacks since then  including shootings on homeless men in Manhattan and Washington, D.C.

While such incidents are reason for concern, and in some instances new practices, others were more nonplussed. Representatives for several fashion and apparel companies and public-facing entities like Sothebys and Christies declined to comment on whether employees are being advised about public safety in light of two employees being stabbed at the Museum of Modern Art on March 12.

With many office buildings in New York City still only partially occupied, some see the public safety issue as a key one in enticing employees to return to their desks. The Partnership for New York Citys president and chief executive officer Kathryn Wylde said: A combination of a fear of subway crime and street crime, especially against Asian American women, has created a real resistance in some of the work office to returning to their workplace, as well as using mass transit. These issues are far more important to restoring our economy than fear of COVID[-19] right now.

What would help to rectify the problem would be physical action along the lines of the efforts that have recently been put in place by the state and city that are focusing on getting homeless and mentally ill people out of the subway trains and stations and legislative action along the lines of what Mayor Eric Adams [supports] that empowers the police and prosecutors to be more effective in getting dangerous people off the streets, Wylde said.

As of now, New York Citys office occupancy is more than 30 percent and barring any resurgence of the coronavirus, employers expect that on an average weekday 50 percent of their workforce will be back in the office by the end of this month, she said.

In response to safety concerns across the city, Fashion Institute of Technology has enhanced its street lighting, installed an Eighth Avenue security booth with 24/7 presence and increased security officers including street patrol ones, who now wear reflective vests for increased visibility. The FIT community is encouraged to be vigilant, careful and observant of their surroundings and to participate in the colleges safety and security programs. All of these initiatives have been implemented in the past three months, a FIT spokeswoman said.

With 200 employees and about to hire more for the upcoming bridal market, Kleinfeld owner Mara Urshel plans to meet with her executives to decide on a speaker, perhaps from the police department, who can advise the staff about what to look for, who to call immediately and what sort of response they should have, in the event that someones behavioral or body language is making them unsettled.

While employees havent talked too much about the recent incidents, Urshel said: I feel that its on everybodys mind because its happened too often. I have been thinking that we have taken so many precautions for everyones health with sanitation, masks, disinfecting the rooms, installing Plexiglass and all of that.

But the random attacks on the street and in the subway are what you never expect, she said. They could happen any time and anywhere, which is obviously whats going on. Theres no safe place basically.

If any employee has to work late  7 or 7:30 p.m.  the company sends them home in a car.

Mentioning the mass thefts of luxury merchandise that occurred last year in California and a few other states, Urshel said: There are all kinds of things. It has to be connected to the pandemic because it never happened at this rate. There have been prejudices against Asian people because of the virus. And there are certainly other racial stamps.

During more informal gatherings at Natori, employees are reminded to be careful and street smart in their day-to-day dealings, especially interns or those who are coming from out-of-town, said designer Josie Natori. We want to make sure that employees and interns are safe. We have such a family atmosphere in our company and we care about all of that stuff, she said.

There have been conversations about how it is better to stand in the back of the crowd awaiting a subway on the platform versus standing in the front on the edge of the platform. I would never. It doesnt matter if youre going to have to wait for the next train. Never, never. There are too many crazy people, who dont know where they are mentally, Natori said. But I am really hopeful that the current administration is doing something about it. There are too many people who should be taken care of medically and taken off the streets.

Despite that, Natori said she doesnt feel very safe just walking around. Im very careful just watching. And I hate being like that because I love New York.

Encouraged about the future under Mayor Adams and that his administration is doing something about the situation, Natori said: I think New York is amazing no matter what they say. Its been quiet, but its coming back.

Nicole Miller art director Leanna Perry said on a scale of one to 10  with one being not concerned at all  she would be about a three. I know there is a lot more crime happening on the subways, but the way I dress is a little more punk that most people. I feel like I wouldnt be the first person to get attacked if there were going to be an incident, she said.

She makes a point of staying aware when traveling around at night, preferring to be accompanied with friends and never using headphones at night. The thing I am most scared about is the people who have been pushed onto the tracks. To combat that, I will stand with my back against the wall if possible, so that nobody can come up behind me. But looking around and staying vigilant is the best move.

One of her colleagues, Audrey Powell, said she is trying to be more cautious on the subway and more aware of her surroundings. Powell wont take the subway after 9:30 or 10 p.m. but that has always been her practice.

I just try to stay aware of whats going on in the news, then take that information and be aware of where Im going. We work near Times Square. Its a really populated area. When Im in the Times Square station, I make sure to stand in the middle of the platform and not get in a car when there is just one other person. As a young woman, you have to be especially cautious, the 25-year-old said.

Teddy Sadaka, owner of Apparel Production, said the city is a mess and disgusting. Overseeing about 40 employees, he said: Each one of them is petrified, not only because they are Asian. That makes things difficult, but there are mentally unwell people in the subways and the city does nothing about it, he claimed. Its a mess but its been going on for a while. This new mayor is only making it worse.

At least 50 percent of the companys employees are commuting from Queens to its garment center location for 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekday shifts. They are hoping that during that rush hour there is police [in the stations] to provide more protection. Off-hours, its worse, Sadaka said.

To improve public safety, a greater police presence is needed and a mayor, who is going to place the unwell in a home or a hospital. They dont belong in the subway, Sadaka said. Its very sad that people are homeless. They have lost everything they had in life, but someone has to help them. Someone has to give them a place to live like human beings, not in the subway with the rats, the tunnels and the whole mess down there.

From his perspective, city officials have the power to change the situation with an ample police force and services to transport the disenfranchised to a stable living arrangement. Put them in a home or the YMCA. The city has enough money to buy an apartment house for them. They put them in the hotels [temporarily on a monthlong basis during the pandemic]. Now theyre roaming the streets like the living dead.

Asked about the prospect of appealing to city officials, Sadaka raised his voice. They can see it themselves. Go to the subway. Look in the streets. Theyve got eyes  why do I have to tell them?

Nearing his 70th birthday, he said that he has been walking the streets of the city since he was a boy. His mother started the company in 1947. It was a lot better then but now its a mess, Sadaka said.

Zoila Cruz, who runs Zoilas Sample Room at 213 West 36th Street, said her six employees have no choice but to take the subway from the outer boroughs. Sometimes they are uncomfortable but what can they do? They have to work. There are a lot of mentally unwell people especially between 34th and 35th Streets on Eighth Avenue, and there are a lot of needles. Its too busy, too violent, Cruz said.

Sometimes workers will commute using the Herald Square subway station instead of the Penn Station subway station, but the latter is much more convenient, Cruz said. Controlling the drug problem and addressing the homelessness issue is needed, she said. Noting how sometimes individuals openly use the subway stations as bathrooms, she said sometimes just walking fast, fast, fast is the best tactic, Cruz said.

The recent arrest of a 30-year-old man for shooting a handful of homeless men in New York City and Washington, D.C. has prompted more public discussion about how to help those without housing. Another recent incident  the stabbing of two employees Saturday afternoon at the Museum of Modern Art  rattled some. The 60-year-old suspect, Gary Cabana, was arrested in Philadelphia Tuesday. Following the March 12 stabbings at MoMA, other New York City museums wasted no time in taking safety precautions. A Guggenheim spokeswoman issued a statement describing the MoMA incident as tragic and extending support to our colleagues there. Taking this situation very seriously, the Guggenheim has put in place additional security measures at its entrance. Bags will continue to be inspected and enhanced screenings have been implemented as the public enters the space, the statement read.

A Metropolitan Museum of Art spokesperson issued a statement While there has been no threat to The Met, we are grateful to see the NYPD for providing additional resources at the museum over the weekend. As always, the safety of our staff and visitors is our first priority and The Mets security department continues to operate at the highest level of vigilance.
FILE - This undated file photo provided by NerdWallet shows Liz Weston, a columnist for personal finance website NerdWallet.com. The IRS is overburdened and understaffed, which means even the smallest error could delay the processing of your tax return for months. The biggest mistake is opting for paper filing, which could take longer to process and is often more likely to contain errors. Instead, file your return electronically and ask to receive your refund via direct deposit. Be particularly careful to accurately report any advance child tax credit payments you received last year, and try to make sure your income matches whats been reported to the IRS. Making an account on the IRS website can help. (NerdWallet via AP, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

There may never be a good time to draw the IRS attention, but this year you really want to avoid extra scrutiny.

The IRS is so understaffed and overwhelmed that even a tiny mistake could delay your refund for months. A return that requires manual processing  basically, any action by an IRS employee  could join a massive queue that started building at the beginning of the pandemic and has yet to be resolved. If something goes wrong, good luck getting through to a human: The IRS answered about 1 in 10 calls last year, down from about 1 in 3 before the pandemic, according to the National Taxpayer Advocate.

To avoid tax hassles, the best approach is to be careful, thorough and digital when you file your return.

DONT FILE A PAPER RETURN OR ASK FOR A PAPER CHECK

Lets start with the basics: File electronically and request direct deposit of any refund you might be due, says April Walker, lead manager for tax practice and ethics with the American Institute of CPAs. If your income was $73,000 or less in 2021, you can use the IRS Free File tax preparation option.

If you file electronically, you can begin tracking the status of your refund on the IRS site within 24 hours , says CPA Lei Han, associate professor of accounting at Niagara University in Niagara Falls, New York. If you file a paper return, tracking typically wont be available for four weeks, Han says.

Paper returns dont just take longer to process, notes Kent Lugrand, president and chief executive of InTouch Credit Union in Plano, Texas. Paper returns are also much more likely to contain errors  either that a taxpayer made or that an IRS employee introduced while transferring the data from a paper return into the agencys computer system. Electronic filing, by contrast, wont let you file a return with many common mistakes such as mathematical errors or failing to sign your return. You have to fix those before you can submit the return, Lugrand says.

E-filing software may not detect other problems, such as incorrect Social Security, bank routing or bank account numbers, so check all numbers carefully, Walker recommends.

MAKE SURE YOUR NUMBERS MATCH

The IRS automated matching system looks for discrepancies between the income you report and forms filed by your employer and financial institutions. A mismatch can cause the agency to freeze your refund and trigger a notice demanding more information.

If you invest outside a retirement account, beware: Brokerages are notorious for sending out preliminary 1099-B forms  which track investors gains and losses  to meet the IRS mid-February deadline , and then sending corrected forms a month or so later. If you rely on the preliminary form, you may end up having to file an amended return , which would have to be manually processed and could delay your refund for months.

Sometimes the W-2 or 1099 forms you get contain errors. If thats the case, try to get the error corrected and the form reissued before you file, Han recommends. Consider filing an extension if you need more time to get the issue resolved, she says.

PROPERLY REPORT CHILD TAX CREDIT AND STIMULUS PAYMENTS

Your return also could be derailed by a mismatch between the child tax credit or stimulus payments you report versus what the IRS says you got last year, Walker says.

Taxpayers who received monthly child tax credit payments in 2021 will have to reconcile those payments with the amount for which they were actually eligible. The IRS based the payments on income data from a prior year, so some families may have received too much while others will qualify for additional money when they file their returns, Han says. In addition, eligible people who didnt receive the third stimulus payment, or who qualified for more than they got, can claim the recovery rebate credit on this years tax return.

In January, the IRS began sending out notices to taxpayers who had received payments in 2021: Letter 6475 summarized how much stimulus money the taxpayer got, while Letter 6419 reported total advance child tax credit payments.

If youre married and received the payments, you likely received two letters about the child tax payments  one for each spouse, Walker says. If your family has one child and received $300 a month for six months for a total of $1,800, for example, you typically would get two IRS letters, each reporting $900.

Some people thought the second letter was a duplicate, and so they might have thrown it away, Walker says.

If youre missing any of this paperwork, dont just rely on your memory or your bank records, Walker says. You can create an account on the IRS site and view IRS records to find the correct figures.

If you just wing it on that number, its probably going to cause a delay, Walker says.

_____________________________________

This column was provided to The Associated Press by the personal finance site NerdWallet. The content is for educational and informational purposes and does not constitute investment advice. Liz Weston is a columnist at NerdWallet, a certified financial planner and author of Your Credit Score. Email: lweston@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @lizweston.

RELATED LINKS:

IRS free file: Do your taxes for free https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free

NerdWallet: Personal finance defined: The guide to maximizing your money https://bit.ly/nerdwallet-personal-finance-defined-guide-to-maximizing-your-money
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has urged an end to the detention of other dual nationals still held in Iran, saying without their release the meaning of freedom is never going to be complete.

Speaking in public for the first time at a press conference following her release from detention, the British-Iranian mother paid tribute to her husband Richard Ratcliffe for his campaign to keep her plight in the spotlight.

But the 43-year-old, who landed back in Britain on Thursday after the UK finally agreed to settle a 400 million debt dating back to the 1970s, criticised the Government for the length of time it took to secure her release.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe also highlighted the continued detention of British-US national and wildlife conservationist Morad Tahbaz, who, according to his family, has gone on hunger strike after he was taken back into prison after just 48 hours on furlough.

She told reporters at Portcullis House: I believe that the meaning of freedom is never going to be complete as to such time that all of us who are unjustly detained in Iran are reunited with our families.

To begin with Morad, but also the other dual nationals, members of religious groups, or prisoners of conscience who are  I mean, we do realise that if I have been in prison for six years there are so many other people we dont know their names who have been suffering in prison in Iran.

Screen grab from the Twitter feed of Tulip Siddiq @TulipSiddiq of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe being reunited with her husband Richard Ratcliffe and their daughter Gabrielle at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire (Tulip Siddiq/Twitter)

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was detained on April 3 2016 by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard at Imam Khomeini airport after a holiday visit with Gabriella to her parents, thanked those who campaigned for her release, saying she was powerless in prison.

Referencing her husband thanking the Government a few moments earlier, she said: I do not really agree with him on that level.

She said she had seen five foreign secretaries over the course of six years, adding: That is unprecedented given the politics of the UK. I love you Richard, respect whatever you believe, but I was told many, many times that Oh were going to get you home.

That never happened.

She said this resulted in her finding it difficult to place trust in them, adding: I mean, how many foreign secretaries does it take for someone to come home? Five?

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe told reporters: Whats happened now should have happened six years ago.

With daughter Gabriella in the front row of the audience, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe said the journey back home was tough as she told of the moment she was reunited with her family back in the UK.

That moment was precious, she said.

Ive been waiting for that moment for such a long time. And I was overwhelmed, specifically to get to know Gabriella and Richard after such a long time.

It was a very, very emotional moment.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP)  Former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, now a leading Republican Senate candidate, was physically abusive and demonstrated such unstable and coercive behavior that steps were taken to limit his access to firearms, according to new allegations from his ex-wife revealed in court records on Monday.

The sworn affidavit from Sheena Greitens is part of an ongoing child custody dispute in Missouri. A public affairs professor at the University of Texas, she sought divorce from Eric Greitens after a sex scandal which led to his resignation as governor in June 2018. She's now asking the court to move the custody case to Austin in part to spare her children from renewed public attention as Eric Greitens tries to mount a political comeback.

Eric Greitens campaign did not immediately comment Monday. An attorney for Greitens couldnt be reached for comment. The allegations could complicate his bid to emerge from Missouri's Aug. 2 primary as the GOP nominee and potentially jeopardize his party's chance to hold onto a key Senate seat in the general election.

In the affidavit, Sheena Greitens casts her ex-husband as someone who threatened to use his political connections and influence in order to destroy her reputation to win custody of the children.

Prior to our divorce, during an argument in late April 2018, Eric knocked me down and confiscated my cell phone, wallet and keys so that I was unable to call for help or extricate myself and our children from our home, Sheena Greitens wrote in the filing. I became afraid for my safety and that of our children at our home, later adding that his behavior included physical violence toward our children, such as cuffing our then-3-year-old son across the face at the dinner table in front of me and yanking him around by his hair.

Once a swing state, Missouri has become more reliably Republican in recent years. But the race to succeed retiring Sen. Roy Blunt is nonetheless receiving national attention because some in the GOP establishment are anxious that, with the allegations released on Monday and previous scandals, Greitens would face vulnerabilities against a Democrat. And with the Senate evenly divided, the GOP can't afford to lose what would otherwise be a safe seat.

Greitens was a rising GOP star after his 2016 election, a charismatic former Navy SEAL officer and Rhodes Scholar who founded a nonprofit benefiting veterans. He didnt hide his ambition, either, reserving the website EricGreitensForPresident.com.

Republicans werent the only ones who courted him. A former Democrat, Greitens was approached by House Democratic campaign officials about running for Congress before the 2010 elections.

But that all seemed to fade after he was indicted on an invasion-of-privacy charge in February 2018 in St. Louis, accused of taking a compromising photo of his hairstylist without her consent during a 2015 extramarital affair. In short order, a Missouri House committee began investigating campaign finance issues, and Greitens faced a second felony charge in St. Louis, accused of providing his political fundraiser with the donor list of his veterans charity.

Sheena Greitens said her ex-husband admitted to her that he had, in fact, taken a compromising photo of his hairstylist that led to the felony invasion of privacy charge. But she says in the affidavit that he warned her that she could face legal trouble of her own if she ever disclosed that fact. She later learned that was not the case.

Eric Greitens mostly kept a low profile after his resignation in 2018. That changed last year after the Missouri Ethics Commission found probable cause that Greitens campaign broke campaign finance law, but also found no evidence of any wrongdoing on the part of Eric Greitens, individually.

Greitens said the ruling fully exonerated him.

Sheena Greitens' affidavit, however, offers a bleak picture of his waning days as governor. At one point, she said, Eric Greitens purchased a gun but refused to tell her where it was. He also threatened to kill himself unless I provided specific public political support, she wrote.

The behavior was so alarming, she wrote, that on three separate occasions in February, April and May 2018, multiple people other than myself were worried enough to intervene to limit Erics access to firearms."

At one point, Eric Greitens made a reference to the fact that he had the children  and she didn't  while trying to persuade Sheena Greitens to delete emails she had sent to the family therapist seeking help, according to the affidavit.

Eric threatened to accuse me of child abuse if I did not delete the emails and convince the therapist to delete them, she wrote.

She also said that during the same phone call, Eric Greitens berated her as a hateful, disgusting, nasty, vicious ... lying b - - - h while accusing her of providing information about him to prosecutors and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper.

A few weeks later, he grew angry and confronted her when she tried to fly with the children to her parents house, she said.

He threatened to come to the airport and have me arrested for kidnapping and child abuse, saying that because of his authority as a former governor who had supported law enforcement, the police would support him and not believe me."

In 2020, after informing Eric Greitens that she accepted a job at the University of Texas, she said he threatened to use his political influence to get my job offer revoked.

Her ex-husband's reemergence in politics has been taxing, Sheena Greitens said in the affidavit. Meanwhile, his past ability to influence law enforcement and appoint judges, as well as the even greater power he would obtain as a senator are extremely intimidating, she wrote.

Now that Eric is a candidate for federal office, public interest in my life, my relationship with Eric and the breakdown thereof, and the existence of issues of custody between Eric and me are being re-kindled and brought back into central public discussion, Sheena Greitens wrote.

The weight of these facts and the intimidation they cause justifies moving the case to Texas, she wrote, where the reach of his power and influence is significantly less.

___

Slodysko reported from Washington.
Ransomware attacks on the supply chain are undermining national security, according to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection intelligence bulletin obtained by Yahoo News, and will cause further congestion at ports of entry and delays in shipping nationwide.

Hackers and ransomware groups are targeting American logistics and shipping companies, the bulletin states, and the ongoing attacks threaten to cripple the already strained supply chain, limiting customs enforcement capabilities and undermining national security.

Cybercriminals are targeting multibillion-dollar industries, including the logistics supply chain to make a profit, disrupt international economies and trade, and cause social, economic and potentially political instability, states the CBP bulletin, which is dated March 7.

On Monday, President Biden announced new measures to defend against the threat of cyberattacks from Russia.

President Biden at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on Friday. (Ken Cedeno/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

There is now evolving intelligence that Russia may be exploring options for potential cyberattacks, the White House said in a press release, announcing several cybersecurity measures.

The President has launched public-private action plans to shore up the cybersecurity of the electricity, pipeline, and water sectors and has directed Departments and Agencies to use all existing government authorities to mandate new cybersecurity and network defense measures, the White House announced.

Internationally, the Administration brought together more than 30 allies and partners to cooperate to detect and disrupt ransomware threats, rallied G7 countries to hold accountable nations who harbor ransomware criminals, and taken steps with partners and allies to publicly attribute malicious activity.

The CBP bulletin mentions last years ransomware attack on a major German-based logistics firm, last months attack on a Swiss airport management service and two German oil suppliers. BlackCat, the Russian ransomware group behind last years Colonial Pipeline attack, is likely behind these events, the alert says, citing an analysis of ransomware attacks from January 2021 though February 2022.

The bulletin focuses in part on the recent cyberattack on Expeditors International, the Seattle-based freight forwarding company that is the sixth largest in the world. On Feb. 20, the company announced an unspecified cyberattack forcing a shutdown of its computer systems.

The document stops short of saying who is behind this attack, but it does detail the threat posed by BlackCat.

Expeditors International of Washington state was the victim of a recent cyberattack. (Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The recent cyberattack on Expeditors International will likely exacerbate current issue with global trade and supply chains, the bulletin states. Expeditors International are members of CBPs Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism and facilitate every aspect of transportation, from storing products to ensuring safe and legal passage through customs, the bulletin notes.

Ransomware persists to be the most common and destructive form of cyberattacks, allowing malicious entities to threaten data leaks on illicit markets, and expose information on critical infrastructure, the bulletin states. Large-scale attacks on the logistics industry pose the risk of increased illicit activity through ports of entry due to the shutdowns of computer systems which are essential to CBP processing and security procedures.

While U.S. officials have been bracing for potential Russian-based cyberattacks on U.S. banks or critical infrastructure, cybersecurity and intelligence officials have been focused on recent and ongoing ransomware attacks by groups tied to or acting in support of the Kremlin. Those attacks have targeted the U.S. supply chain, according to law enforcement and intelligence documents and cybersecurity and intelligence officials.

The attacks against manufacturing and logistics companies come amid growing concern that Russian oligarchs and government officials could be using ransomware payments to evade sanctions imposed by the U.S. The Justice Department turned up the heat with its March 2 launch of Task Force KleptoCapture, which is aimed at seizing yachts and other assets of those sanctioned.

The Justice Department will use all of its authorities to seize the assets of individuals and entities who violate these sanctions, said Attorney General Merrick Garland. We will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to investigate, arrest, and prosecute those whose criminal acts enable the Russian government to continue this unjust war. Let me be clear: If you violate our laws, we will hold you accountable.

On March 7, the Treasury Department sent an alert warning financial institutions that Russian oligarchs and government officials may be using ransomware payments to skirt U.S. sanctions.

Attorney General Merrick Garland. (Leigh Vogel/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Everyone talks about critical infrastructure and financial as the two major areas that Russia would attack, and thats potentially true in a military conflict sense, but when you want to nail the United States, you go after manufacturing, you go after the supply chain, you go after those types of endeavors because its going to start to have a major impact on your economy, and thats where we see a lot of these ransomware groups targeting. said David Kennedy, a former NSA hacker who is currently the CEO of TrustedSec, a company providing incident response related to Russia-based ransomware attacks.

Theres a lot going on right now, and a lot of the ransomware groups that operate out of Russia are actually targeting a lot of the companies here in the United States ... and theyre basically a wing or extension of the Russian military side of the house, Kennedy told Yahoo News.

The CBP bulletin warns that the ransomware attack on Expeditors International will have a potentially dramatic impact on the global economy.

Since Expeditors International has a presence in 100 countries and provides critical logistics and customs services for airfreight and maritime shipping, the effects of the cyberattack are likely to have a detrimental economic impact on the greater supply chain this attack is likely to intensify congestion at U.S. ports, and pose risks for customs enforcement capabilities, the bulletin states.

With computer systems disabled, terrorists or criminals could be able to smuggle in illicit goods, the bulletin states.

Basically when its down, its down, we have no clue who or what is coming or going and no real way to check, a CBP official with direct knowledge of the impact of the Expeditor attack said of the companys disabled computer system. [We] dont know who or what is coming or going, flying blind so to speak, and that is really, really bad.

The attack on Expeditors also raises questions about the ability of CBP and the DHS to secure the supply chain.

Ramin Talaie/Corbis via Getty Images

Membership in CBPs trade partnership is granted to a company only after an extensive application process and is given only to companies deemed most secure and low risk, according to CBPs website.

Its unclear how the hackers breached the network security at Expeditors International or why CBPs security standards did not prevent the attack.

CBP declined to comment, citing policy not to speak about products categorized as Law Enforcement Sensitive such as the March 7 bulletin.

Expeditors International has not said if this attack was ransomware, but the CBP bulletin references a ransom note and communications between the company and the group holding its data hostage. Expeditors International did not return Yahoo News phone calls requesting comment. The company has provided updates on the cyberattack on its website. The most recent, dated March 13, notes that the company is working with law enforcement and has made some progress putting aspects of its business back online.

We continue to make further meaningful restoration and related progress with our business continuity plan coordinating our operations, the statement posted to the companys website says. Systems resumption will continue to expand this week and into the next few weeks, barring unforeseen circumstances. Our cooperation with law enforcement and collaboration with private sector security organizations continues in an effort to prevent future attacks. We are overwhelmed by the perseverance and encouragement throughout and beyond our network.

The CBP bulletin also cites a November report by cybercrime intelligence firm Intel471, which warned that cybercriminals were trying to sell network access of critical infrastructure and technology systems to be used to install ransomware to steal data.

A hacker at work.

Greg Otto, who wrote the blog post referenced in the CBP bulletin, told Yahoo News hed seen cybercriminals on the dark web claiming to sell credentials to U.S. freight forwarding companies in recent months.

With how bad the supply chain is across the world right now, for any big logistics company  especially one that does shipping overseas  an attack like this couldnt come at a worse time, Otto said. If you cant have access to your IT systems, which track your inventory, which track manifest logs, then you could have no idea whats in some of those containers or what gets added or taken off, so its a ripe area for criminal exploitation.

Otto has seen an uptick in interest by cybercriminals hawking credentials purportedly to companies involved in aspects of the supply chain. He said there are often a few months between when he sees credentials pop up online and news that a company has been hit by a cyberattack.

Its critical that companies take aggressive steps to secure their networks, Otto said, including checking to see if credentials are being sold on the dark web, and taking more basic steps to fortify known vulnerabilities.

The CBP bulletin and a separate Department of Homeland Security alert from last week stated that companies are failing to keep up with security issues and are not patching systems or conducting proper defensive security measures.

The seal of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. (Marco Bello/Reuters)

Hackers take advantage of known vulnerabilities in computer and network systems. Several companies have either failed to address or adapt to security shifts to get ahead of cybercriminal capabilities. Targeted sectors include, but are not limited to, construction and engineering, retail, commercial services, insurance, transportation, telecommunications, and pharmaceuticals, the CBP bulletin states.

Cyber groups now have the capability to wipe or reformat backup systems, the bulletin states, including at billion-dollar industries such as oil companies or logistics enterprises.

As a result, it is likely that it will take considerably longer for companies to defend against, and resolve, ransomware attacks, thus undermining national security, CBP services and economic prosperity, the bulletin states.

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas referenced vulnerability to cyberattacks during a Thursday call with reporters and noted that ransomware attacks last year increased 300% from the year before.

A March 11 DHS bulletin echoed those concerns, warning that cybercriminal groups and nation-state hackers  including those operating in Russia or carried out by the Russian government  are exploiting known vulnerabilities to steal data for later use in ransomware attacks.

The bulletin focuses on a specific vulnerability, Log4j, which it notes Russia exploited in its January attacks on websites in Ukraine.

In January 2022, suspected Russian cyber actors exploited the Log4j vulnerability to conduct disruptive and destructive operations against Ukraine, including distributed denial-of-service attacks, wiper malware deployment, and the defacement of multiple Ukrainian Government websites, the DHS bulletin notes. Russia also uses common vulnerabilities to compromise critical infrastructure in the United States and allied and partner countries and, in some cases, possibly to demonstrate its ability to damage infrastructure in a crisis.
HONG KONG (AP)  Hong Kongs leader Monday said that the city would lift flight bans on countries including Britain and the U.S., as well as reduce quarantine time for travelers arriving in the city as coronavirus infections in its latest outbreak plateau.

The citys chief executive Carrie Lam announced during a press conference Monday that a ban on flights from nine countries  Australia, Canada, France, India, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Britain and the U.S.  would be lifted from April 1. A flight ban on most these countries has been in place since January, as authorities sought to stem the outbreak of the highly transmissible omicron variant in Hong Kong.

Travelers entering the city can also quarantine for as little as seven days in quarantine hotels  down from 14 days  if they test negative for the virus on the sixth and seventh days of their quarantine. Such travelers must also be fully vaccinated and test negative for the coronavirus before entering the city.

Lam also said that plans for a citywide mass-testing exercise, which was first announced in February, would be suspended.

The experts are of the opinion that its not appropriate for us to devote finite resources to the universal mass-testing, said Lam. The SAR government will continue to monitor the situation. When the conditions are right, we will consider whether we will be implementing the compulsory universal testing.

The changes announced Monday signal a shift in Hong Kongs handling of the coronavirus pandemic, as authorities sought to provide a direction for Hong Kong businesses and its residents after two years of aligning with mainland Chinas zero COVID policy.

Lam said that the changes come as part of an interim review of the citys measures, and that various stakeholders in the city will be consulted for any longer-term roadmaps when it comes to public health and economic development.

We have to listen more carefully to the experts, both locally and from the mainland, said Lam.

For any longer-term public health strategy, we will have to take into account both factors that is maintaining Hong Kongs accessibility to the mainland, and also ensuring her continued connectivity with the outside world.

On Monday, Lam also announced that social distancing measures will stay in place, although they will be lifted in stages from April 21 if infections do not surge, Lam said. A ban on dining in after 6 p.m. will be lifted, and public gatherings will be capped at four people, up from two.

Other businesses that were ordered to shutter temporarily, such as gyms and massage parlors, will also be allowed to reopen.

Hong Kong reported 14,063 infections on Monday, the lowest in over three weeks. At the peak of its outbreak, the city reported over 50,000 cases daily, and has reported over 1 million infections and nearly 5,700 deaths since the current outbreak began at the end of last year.
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson opened the hearings for her historic Supreme Court nomination by emphasizing her love for the U.S., the Constitution and her family.

"My parents taught me that unlike the many barriers that they had to face growing up, my path was clearer, so that if I worked hard and believed in myself, in America I could do anything or be anything I wanted to be, said Jackson, who if confirmed would become the first Black woman to serve on the nations highest court.

When I was born here in Washington, my parents were public school teachers, and to express both pride in their heritage and hope for the future, they gave me an African name: Ketanji Onyika, which they were told means lovely one, she said.

Jackson was joined in the hearing room by her parents, husband and daughters.

Girls, I know it has not been easy as Ive tried to navigate the challenges of juggling my career and motherhood, Jackson said to her two children. I fully admit I did not always get the balance right, but I hope that youve seen with hard work, determination and love, it can be done.

Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, second from left, sits with her husband, Patrick Jackson, left, and daughters Leila, third from left, and Talia during her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing. (J. Scott Applewhite/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Jackson said she was thankful for the confidence that President Biden had placed in her. She noted she had already met with 45 senators, including each member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. She also praised retiring Justice Stephen Breyer, for whom she clerked early in her career and whose seat she has been nominated to fill.

Members of this committee, if I am confirmed, I commit to you that I will work productively to support and defend the Constitution and this grand experiment of American democracy that has endured over these past 246 years, Jackson said, adding, During this hearing I hope that you will see how much I love our country and the Constitution and the rights that make us free.

Mondays hearing was reserved for opening statements, with Tuesday and Wednesday set for full days of questioning from the panel, allowing each senator 30 minutes on the first day and 20 minutes on the second. Jacksons confirmation would not shift the current 6-3 conservative majority on the court.

Jackson gives an opening statement at her confirmation hearing on Monday. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

The nominee was introduced by Judge Thomas B. Griffith, a former federal judge appointed by George W. Bush, who said, There should be nothing unusual about my support for a highly qualified nominee who has demonstrated through her lifes work her commitment to the rule of law and the federal judiciary.

Lisa Fairfax, Jacksons roommate at Harvard, both as an undergraduate and at law school, who now serves as a presidential professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, also introduced the nominee and touted her abilities as a friend, mother and judge.

Theres her wonderful sense of humor, her gift of storytelling, her heart of gold that always shows up, Fairfax said. From the first call you make for advice about your career to the first knock you hear on the door after learning youre diagnosed with cancer. You never have to ask  she is always there.

During their opening statements, Democrats touted the historic nature of the nomination.

Jackson hugs professor Lisa Fairfax, a friend and colleague, during the hearing. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

This is not a normal day for America, said Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., who is Black. We have never had this moment before. And I just want to talk about the joy. I know tomorrow in the coming hearings we're going to have tough, hard questions. But please let me just acknowledge the fact that this is not normal. It's never happened before.

Biden introduced Jackson as his nominee on Feb. 25 after a monthlong selection process following Breyer's announcement of his retirement. The president had previously nominated Jackson to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia last summer, to which she was confirmed by a vote of 53-44.

Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina voted in her favor. Graham, however, has changed his tone on Jackson, calling her Supreme Court nomination a win for the radical left.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told reporters after the hearing that he expected Jackson to fend off any Republican criticisms in the coming days.

We had 22 senators speaking to her, many making accusations and asking questions, and she had to sit blessedly calmly and wait for her day tomorrow. So I trust her response will be a good one."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and then-President Trump during the United Nations General Assembly in 2019. (Evan Vucci/Associated Press)

The last time (and maybe the first time) most Americans heard of Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president was at the center of a scandal that would lead to the impeachment of then-President Trump.

Trump in 2019 threatened to hold up weapons deliveries to Ukraine  caught even then in a simmering war with Russian proxies  unless Zelensky helped him dig up political dirt on rival Joe Biden.

Today, the shadow of that scandal lingers. How much did Trumps toying with Ukraine, cozying up to Russian President Vladimir Putin and, ultimately, Trump's acquittal on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress influence Putins decision to invade Ukraine?

Putin had already bitten off bits of Ukraine with the illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014, and a swath of neighboring Georgia six years earlier. But nothing compared with the massive attack he launched across Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, on Feb. 24.

Numerous experts and current and former officials say Putin was emboldened by the Trump years. The former KGB officer turned president ably manipulated Trump into publicly backing his denials of having interfered  to Trumps benefit  in U.S. elections. And, according to former aides, Putin convinced Trump to accept his claim that Ukraine was part of Russia.

It is impossible to know all of Putins thinking as he launched the ferocious war that has already claimed thousands of Ukrainian and Russian lives and obliterated parts of the fledgling democracy that sought to strengthen ties with the West.

By most accounts, Putin stewed in grievances for years  the expansion of NATO farther east into his sphere of influence, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and a post-Cold War world order that marginalized Russia  waiting for an opportunity to build back his vision of a grand Russian superpower empire.

He sensed that opportunity with the election of cynical, norms-busting Trump, who at one point declared the North Atlantic Treaty Organization obsolete and has repeatedly, to this day, praised the Russian leader.

"I think Putin saw how Trump viewed Ukraine  as a pawn, Marie Yovanovitch, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who testified against Trump in the impeachment trial, said in a recent TV appearance. Putin saw that we had an administration that was willing to trade our national security for personal and political gain.

Fiona Hill, a highly regarded Russia expert who served on Trumps National Security Council and also testified during the impeachment trial, said the former administration did take steps against Moscow on other issues, expelling diplomats and imposing sanctions. But at a critical period, when Ukraine was fighting Russia and needed weapons, Trump had his own political future in mind.

It sent a message to Putin that Ukraine is a plaything for him  and for the United States. And that nobody's really serious about protecting Ukraine, Hill added. And that was ultimately a sign of weakness.

It was not Trump alone. During the Obama administration, Putin invaded parts of eastern Ukraine, annexing the Crimean peninsula and installing Russian proxies to fight Ukrainian forces in the Donbas region  with minimal U.S. or international rebuke.

Trump supporters and some Republicans say President Biden has to share in the blame. The ugly withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan in the summer last year, ending a 20-year war but sacrificing that nation to chaos, also illustrated an administration unable to lead, they say.

Putin watched the United States do "just about everything it could to undermine alliances and partnerships under Donald Trump," former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder said in a recent conference sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations. Then, Daalder added, Biden took over and talked about "America being back" and yet struggled, initially, to rebuild those alliances.

Still, Trumps actions, and the lack of significant consequences he faced, represented a unique opening, a bright green light for Putin in Ukraine.

Trump's impeachment  the first of two  began in the Democratic-led House on Dec. 18, 2019, and ended with a trial and acquittal in the GOP-controlled Senate on Feb. 5, 2020. It stemmed from an infamous call on July 25, 2019, that the then-president made to Zelensky, a fellow novice politician, who had just been elected.

In the call, a transcript of which the White House released after a whistleblower complaint, Zelensky pleaded for more military weaponry  including the Javelin missile systems that are now helping to stall Russian advances on Ukrainian cities. Trump agreed but said that first, he wanted Zelensky to "do us a favor."

The favor involved investigating Biden's son Hunter and his lucrative position with the Ukrainian oil conglomerate Burisma. Zelensky resisted, with his staff insisting on a formal request for an investigation if the U.S. wanted one. His staff also emphasized to State Department officials that Zelensky was leery about getting involved in U.S. politics.

Trump had already frozen the aid, a $391-million package of military equipment and other assistance that had been approved by Congress with bipartisan support. At least 25 Ukrainians died in fighting in the east in the weeks that followed, according to an investigation at the time by the Los Angeles Times, although a direct link is impossible to prove.

Only after members of Congress on both sides of the aisle learned about the halt in aid was it finally released on Sept. 11, 2019. It was the first time the U.S. provided lethal military aid to Ukraine, an important, albeit delayed, milestone.

That chapter, which resulted in the president, former presidents, impeachment, sadly was an encouragement to Putin and weakened Ukraine even in this fight, said Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), who led the first Trump impeachment inquiry.

What Americans need to understand about that sordid chapter of our history is Ukraine was even then at war with Russia ... Ukrainians were even then dying every week, sometimes every day," Schiff said.

"What that told Putin, tragically, is the United States doesnt care about Ukraine, it doesnt care about its people, it doesnt care about its democratic aspirations. It doesnt care if Ukrainians get killed by Russians. I think thats the message Trumps conduct sent, that we would use Ukraine as a political plaything.

Schiff added that Putin anticipated if he started a broader invasion of Ukraine, he could count on Trump either to praise him or to criticize Biden.

Trump has done both.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said last week that Putin was more influenced by Biden.

"I think Putin has wanted Ukraine for a long time. He was waiting for an opportunity where he thought America was in retreat, pulling back from the rest of the world," McConnell told "PBS NewsHour." "There was a vivid picture of the evacuation of Afghanistan for everybody in the world to see that America was coming home and pulling in our horns and not inclined to take the forward position we have in the past. It was like a green light to Vladimir Putin."

But Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who has been critical of Trump, said it was absurd to excuse the former president or think his presence in the White House would have deterred Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

"Vladimir Putin, [North Korea's] Kim Jong Un, Xi [Jinping] of China were getting everything they wanted with Trump," Kinzinger told CNN on Thursday.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's consul general in Mariupol, the last EU diplomat to evacuate the besieged Ukrainian port, said on Sunday the city was joining the ranks of places known for having been destroyed in wars of the past.

Manolis Androulakis has assisted dozens of Greek nationals and ethnic Greeks to evacuate the ruined city since Russias invasion of Ukraine. He left Mariupol on Tuesday and after a four-day trip through Ukraine he crossed to Romania through Moldavia, along with 10 other Greek nationals.

"What I saw, I hope no one will ever see," Androulakis said as he arrived on Sunday at Athens International Airport and was reunited with his family.

"Mariupol will become part of a list of cities that were completely destroyed by war; I dont need to name them- they are Guernica, Coventry, Aleppo, Grozny, Leningrad," Androulakis said.

According to the Greek Foreign Ministry, Androulakis was the last EU diplomat to leave Mariupol, where many residents have been trapped under heavy bombardment for more than two weeks as Russian forces seeks to take control.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that Russia's siege of Mariupol was "a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come".

At least 10 ethnic Greeks have been killed and several have been injured since Russia started attacking Mariupol. More than 150 Greek citizens, vessel crews and ethnic Greeks have been evacuated from the region, the Greek Foreign Ministry says.

Mariupol, a city of more than 400,000 before the war, has historically had a sizeable population of ethnic Greeks who have been active in trade and shipping in the region since the Byzantine period.

(Reporting by Lefteris Papadimas and Vassilis Triandafyllou; Editing by Frances Kerry)
Editor's note: This page recaps the news from Ukraine on Sunday, March 20. Follow here for the latest updates and news from Monday, March 21, as Russia's invasion continues.

Ukraine has rejected a Russian offer to allow two safe corridors out of the besieged city of Mariupol in exchange for Ukrainian fighters laying down their arms.

The Russian news agency TASS reported the offer, citing Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the Russian National Defense Control Center, and said residents of the southern port city were given until 5 a.m. Monday to respond.

Mizintsev didn't have to wait that long for an answer. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk rejected the idea outright.

There can be no talk of any surrender, laying down of arms. We have already informed the Russian side about this, she told the news outlet Ukrainian Pravda. I wrote: 'Instead of wasting time on eight pages of letters, just open the corridor.'"

The pounding of Mariupol intensified Sunday and a top U.S. official expressed concern about the prospect of Russian-organized "concentration and prisoner camps" as Russia's bloody assault on Ukraine waded deeper into its fourth week.

The Mariupol city council accused the Russian military of bombing an art school where about 400 people had taken shelter. There was no immediate word on casualties at the school, but the city council said on social media the building was destroyed and people could remain under the rubble.

"Russia continues the genocide of the Ukrainian people and civilians of Mariupol," the post said. "Every war criminal will answer for his crimes against humanity, against the people of Mariupol."

The assault on Mariupol prompted a local police officer, in a video verified by the Associated Press, to appeal for help to President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron.

The city council also claimed Russian soldiers have forced more than 1,000 city residents to be relocated to Russia.

"The occupiers illegally took people out of the Levoberezhny district and a shelter in the building of a sports club where more than a thousand people (mostly women and children) were hiding from constant bombing," the council said.

Ukrainian passports were taken from people who were given a piece of paper that "has no legal weight and is not recognized throughout the civilized world," the city council said. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said Sunday that she could not confirm those reports but expressed concern about the prospect of Russian-organized "concentration and prisoner camps."

U.N. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, speaking on CNN's "State of the Union," said it is "unconscionable for Russia to force Ukrainian citizens into Russia and put them in what will basically be concentration and prisoner camps."

Latest developments

 An ammonia leak at a Sumy chemical plant has been contained, according to officials. The Sumykhimprom plant has been regularly shelled by Russian troops in recent weeks, according to the Associated Press.

 Emergency services say at least four people were killed by overnight shelling near a city center in Kyiv late Sunday, according to the Associated Press.

 President Joe Biden will host a call Monday with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to discuss their coordinated responses to Russias unprovoked and unjustified attack on Ukraine, the White House said.

The war has driven 10 million Ukrainians from their homes, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi tweeted. About 3.3 million have fled the country, and the rest have been "displaced inside the country," he said.

President Joe Biden's planned trip to Europe this week does not include a stop in Ukraine, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki tweeted Sunday. The trip will include a stop at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Thursday, and Biden will travel Friday to Poland.

Management of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, site of the worlds worst nuclear accident in 1986, said Sunday that 50 staff members who had been on the job since the plant was seized by Russian forces on Feb. 24 have been rotated out and replaced. Officials feared their exhaustion could lead to an accident.

Researchers tracking Russian equipment losses that were photographed or recorded on video say Russia has lost more than 1,500 tanks, trucks, mounted equipment and other heavy gear. Two out of three of those were captured or abandoned.

Russia said it used a hypersonic missile Friday to strike a western Ukraine target, the Interfax news agency reported. Hypersonic missiles can move at up to five times the speed of sound. The Russian military said these missiles are capable of hitting targets from 1,200 miles, or roughly the distance from New York City to Kansas City.

Britain officials: Kyiv remains Russias primary military objective

Despite a continued lack of progress, Kyiv remains Russias primary military objective, according to British military officials.

Heavy fighting continues north of the city in north-central Ukraine, but "the bulk" of Russian forces remain more than 15 miles from the center of the city, Britains Ministry of Defense said in an intelligence update.

Russian forces advancing on the city from the north-east have stalled, the update reads. Forces advancing from the direction of Hostomel to the north-west have been repulsed by fierce Ukrainian resistance."

The ministry says Russia will likely prioritize attempts to encircle the city in the coming weeks.

 Bailey Schulz

New Zealand offers non-lethal military assistance to Ukraine

New Zealand plans to provide $5 million New Zealand dollars ($3.5 million) in non-lethal military assistance to support Ukraine. Funds will primarily go toward the NATO Trust Fund, which provides fuel, military rations, first aid kits and more to Ukraine.

This is the first time New Zealand has provided direct funding to a third party organisation for non-lethal military assistance of this kind, Prime Minister Jacinda said in a statement. "By contributing directly to the NATO Trust Fund, Ukrainian forces on the ground can benefit from the additional assistance immediately."

New Zealand will also make a variety of surplus defense equipment available to share with Ukraine, including body armor, helmets and vests.

 Bailey Schulz

Ammonia leak at Sumy plant

An ammonia leak at a chemical plant in eastern Ukraine has potentially contaminated a 3-mile radius, according to Sumy regional governor Dmytro Zhyvytskyy. He did not say what caused the leak.

The Sumykhimprom plant, located on the eastern outskirts of Sumy, has been regularly shelled by Russian troops in recent weeks, according to the Associated Press.

People are advised to leave the affected area or take shelter. Zhyvytskyy said the city of Novoselytsia was at risk, but Sumy was not under immediate threat due to the direction of the wind.

 Bailey Schulz

Contributing: The Associated Press

Deputy National Security Adviser: US can broaden sanctions against Russia

Deputy National Security Adviser Daleep Singh said Sunday that the U.S. has the ability to broaden its sanctions against Russia.

(We can) take the measures, take the sanctions we've already applied, apply them in more targets. Apply them to more sectors, Singh told CBS' 60 Minutes. More banks, more sectors that we haven't touched.

It's mostly about oil and gas, but there are other sectors too, he added. I don't want to specify them, but I think Putin would know what those are.

When asked what Putin would need to do to have sanctions lifted, Singh said "we're nowhere near that point."

The first thing (Putin) has to do is to stop a reckless and barbaric attack on the civilians of Ukraine," he said. "That's not happening.

 Bailey Schulz

Zelenskyy: Russia's siege of Mariupol will be remembered for centuries

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the siege of Mariupol would go down in history for what he described as war crimes committed by Russian troops and raised the specter of a "third world war" if negotiations with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin fail.

To do this to a peaceful city, what the occupiers did, is a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come, Zelenskyy said in a video address to his nation Sunday.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Russia is killing citizens in Ukraine because its invasion has stalled, describing the tactic as "disgusting."

Weve seen deliberate targeting of cities and towns and civilians throughout the last several weeks, Austin said on CBS' "Face The Nation."

The United Kingdoms Defense Ministry assessment released Sunday mirrored Austin's concerns. The ministry said Russia has increased its indiscriminate shelling of urban areas, resulting in widespread destruction and large numbers of civilian casualties.

"Over the past week Russian forces have made limited progress in capturing these cities," the ministry tweeted Sunday. "It is likely Russia will continue to use its heavy firepower to support assaults on urban areas as it looks to limit its own already considerable losses  at the cost of further civilian casualties."

Zelenskyy appealed to Putin to hold talks with him directly and said ongoing negotiations with Russia were not simple or pleasant" but are necessary.

"I think that we have to use any format, any chance, in order to have a possibility of negotiating, possibility of talking to Putin," Zelenskyy told CNN's Fareed Zakaria.

"But," he added, "if these attempts fail, that would mean that this is a third World War.''

 David Jackson

As civilian casualties mount in Ukraine, Russia also taking major losses, including five generals

It's impossible to get precise figures for the civilian casualties in Ukraine, but even low estimates paint a grim picture. On the other hand, Russia is paying a hefty price as well, apparently including the loss of five generals.

At least 847 civilians, including 64 children, have been killed since Russia launched its offensive Feb. 24, the U.N. Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner reported Saturday. The agency acknowledged the actual figures are much higher. Agents also estimated the violence had left nearly 1,400 civilians injured, including 78 children. The Ukraine government estimates that 2,300 people have died in the ongoing siege of Mariupol alone.

Estimates of Russian deaths also vary widely. The Ukraine government puts the Russian death toll at more than 14,000. Even conservative figures are in the low thousands  a much faster pace than in previous Russian offensives, threatening support for the war among ordinary Russians. Russia had 64 deaths in five days of fighting during its 2008 war with Georgia. It lost about 15,000 in Afghanistan over 10 years, and more than 11,000 over years of fighting in Chechnya.

In this satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC, multiple civilian buildings burn on Sunday amid Russian strikes on the Livoberezhnyi District of Mariupol, Ukraine.

Less than four weeks into its invasion, Russia appears to be down five generals. Ukraine said Saturday that Lt. General Andrei Mordvichev was killed by an airstrike north of Crimea, adding that he was the fifth Russian general killed in the war.

NATO summit to bolster support of Ukraine, show unity

The U.S. and NATO are trying to straddle the line between assisting Ukraine in its efforts to fight off the Russian invasion and getting directly involved.

At a special summit this week, NATO is expected to discuss enhancements of the military, humanitarian and financial support it members are providing Ukraine, officials said, while stiffening economic sanctions on Russia and President Vladimir Putin. At the same time, the officials caution about the need to keep the conflict from increasing in scope.

In several news show interviews Sunday, U.S. and global security officials said potential topics of discussion at the summit include the prospect of deploying a peacekeeping force in Ukraine and the chances of Russian-Ukrainian peace talks. And they again warned Russia against using chemical weapons in Ukraine.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on NBC's "Meet The Press" the summit will serve as a "platform to demonstrate our unity, our support to Ukraine, but also our readiness to protect and defend all NATO allies."

-- David Jackson

Zelenskyy asks Israel for help, cites similarities in Ukraine's struggle with what Jews endured

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy drew a parallel between what his besieged countrymen are enduring during the Russian invasion and the misery imposed on the Jewish people by the Nazis as he pleaded for help and a stronger stance against Russia's attack from Israel.

In a video address to the Israeli parliament Sunday, Zelenskyy urged the lawmakers to take action against Russia, accusing its President Vladimir Putin of trying to carry out a final solution against Ukraine. The term was used by Nazi Germany for its genocide of some 6 million Jews during World War II.

Our people are now wandering in the world, seeking security as you once did, Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy, who is Jewish, also pointed out a Russian missile struck Babi Yar, the spot in Kyiv where over 30,000 Jews were slaughtered in 1941 by the Nazis and now serves as Ukraines main Holocaust memorial. You know what this place means, where the victims of the Holocaust are buried, he said.

Rep. Liz Cheney: US must stop telling Russia 'what we won't do'

The United States and NATO must stop publicizing their unwillingness to get too involved in the Ukraine war, Rep. Liz Cheney said Sunday. The West must make it clear that all options are being considered  and that use of chemical weapons could alter our calculation. She said "telling the Russians what we won't do" is not helpful, adding that it's very important that Russian President Vladimir Putin not "reap any rewards" for his aggression.

"Putins actions so far have demonstrated first of all, that the Russian military is nowhere near as capable as the world perhaps thought it was," Cheney said. "Probably not as capable as Putin thought it was."

Pope denounces 'cruel and sacrilegious inhumanity' of war

Pope Francis denounced Russias repugnant war against Ukraine as cruel and sacrilegious inhumanity. In some of his strongest words yet since Russias invasion on Feb. 24, Francis on Sunday told thousands of people in St. Peters Square that every day brings more atrocities in what is a senseless massacre.

There is no justification for this, Francis said, in an apparent reference to Russia, which sought to justify its invasion as vital for its own defense. But Francis again stopped short of naming Russia as the aggressor. Pontiffs typically have decried wars and their devastating toll on civilians without citing warmongers by name.

Francis also called on all actors in the international community to work toward ending the war. Again this week, missiles, bombs, rained down on the elderly, children and pregnant mothers, the pope said. His thoughts, he said, went to the millions who flee. And I feel great pain for those who dont even have the chance to escape, Francis added.

Russia regrouping, Ukraine military says

Russian forces focused on sorting out logistics and regrouping on Saturday rather than undertaking offensive operations, Ukraine military officials reported in a Sunday morning update. The military maneuvers, or lack thereof, have experts around the world increasingly concerned that a stalemate could be on the horizon, with "enormous casualties" possible as troops focus on civilian targets.

A report from the Institute for the Study of War concluded that Ukrainian forces have defeated the initial Russian campaign of the war, but the report also highlighted activity of Russian forces, which have shown signs of "digging in around the periphery of Kyiv and elsewhere."

"Stalemate is not armistice or cease-fire. It is a condition in war in which each side conducts offensive operations that do not fundamentally alter the situation. Those operations can be very damaging and cause enormous casualties," Frederick W. Kagan, George Barros and Kateryna Stepanenko wrote in an assessment published Saturday.

The findings echo what experts told USA TODAY last week. A quagmire is the realistic 'goal, said Michael OHanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Russias number of dead and wounded in Ukraine is nearing the 10% benchmark of diminished combat effectiveness, said Dmitry Gorenburg, a researcher on Russias security at the Virginia-based CNA think tank. The reported battlefield deaths of four Russian generals  out of an estimated 20 in the fight  signal impaired command, he said. On Saturday, Ukraine said it had killed a fifth Russian general.

Russians will need massive troop numbers to hold cities they capture

When it comes to the grinding job of capturing and holding cities, conventional military metrics suggest Russia needs a 5-to-1 advantage in urban fighting, analysts say. The formula for ruling a restive territory in the face of armed opposition is 20 fighters for every 1,000 people  or 800,000 Russian troops for Ukraines more than 40 million people, said Michael Clarke, former head of the British-based Royal United Services Institute, a defense think tank.

Thats almost as many as Russias entire active-duty military of 900,000, and it means controlling substantial Ukrainian territory long term could take more resources than Russia can commit, he said.

Unless the Russians intend to be completely genocidal  they could flatten all the major cities, and Ukrainians will rise up against Russian occupation  there will be just constant guerrilla war, Clarke said.

Ukrainian refugees flee to Moldova amid harrowing Russian attacks

Of more than 3 million refugees who have fled Ukraine since Russia's Feb. 24 invasion, about two-thirds have gone to Poland. But an estimated 350,000 have entered Moldova, one of Europe's poorest countries. Most are women and children, as most men of fighting age have been ordered to stay behind to defend their country.

Now, government workers and aid groups are trying to help, conducting a hurried symphony across multiple languages, from Russian and Romanian, which is spoken in Moldova, to French and English. They're fingerprinting and photographing refugees, double-checking documents and providing emergency cash to the most needy.

The Ukrainian refugees in Moldova include Kristina Paleshev, whose five kids have been waking up at night startled by any loud noises, frightened that they are again under attack.

"We want to go back. I love my country and my town," Paleshev, 38, said, as a tear rolled down her cheek. "Im crying because our people are being killed.

 Trevor Hughes

Zelenskyy restricts political parties tied to Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has ordered the suspension of activities of 11 political parties with links to Russia. The largest of them is the Opposition Platform for Life, which has 44 out of 450 seats in the countrys parliament. The party is led by Viktor Medvedchuk, who has friendly ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the godfather of Medvedchuks daughter.

Also on the list is the Nashi (Ours) party led by Yevheniy Murayev. Before the Russian invasion, British authorities warned that Russia wanted to install Murayev as the leader of Ukraine.

Speaking in a video address early Sunday, Zelenskyy said given a large-scale war unleashed by the Russian Federation and links between it and some political structures, the activities of a number of political parties is suspended for the period of the martial law. He added that activities by politicians aimed at discord and collaboration will not succeed.

Zelenskyys announcement follows the introduction of the martial law that envisages a ban on parties associated with Russia.

20 babies from surrogate moms in bomb shelter

In peacetime, Ukraine has a thriving surrogate industry, one of the few countries where foreigners can contract women to carry their pregnancies. Now at least 20 of those babies are stuck in a makeshift bomb shelter in Ukraines capital, waiting for parents to travel into the war zone to pick them up.

Theyre well cared for at the moment. Surrogacy center nurses are stranded with them, because constant shelling makes it too dangerous for them to go home. Russian troops are trying to encircle Kyiv. As Ukrainian defenders hold them off for now, the threat comes from the air.

Nurse Lyudmilla Yashchenko says theyre staying in the bomb shelter to save their lives, and the lives of the babies, some of whom are just days old. They have enough food and baby supplies for now, and can only hope and wait for the newborns to be picked up, and the war to end.

Ukrainian refugees: Millions of refugees are fleeing Ukraine. Where are they going?

Contributing: The Associated Press

More coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ukraine updates: No Mariupol surrender; Zelenskyy calls on Israel
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridges Caribbean tour faces further protests with Jamaican campaigners accusing the Queen and her predecessors of perpetuating slavery.

As the country marks its 60th anniversary, a coalition of Jamaican politicians, business leaders, doctors and musicians have called in an open letter for the British monarchy to pay slavery reparations.

We note with great concern your visit to our country Jamaica, during a period when we are still in the throes of a global pandemic and bracing for the full impact of another global crisis associated with the Russian/Ukraine war, the letter states, according to a section quoted by The Independents race correspondent Nadine White.

NEW: A protest is due to take place in #Jamaica on Tuesday as Prince William & Kate visit the country during their royal tour. Organisers have also penned an open letter to the monarchy calling for slavery reparations. More on this soon. #Jamaica60 #AdvocatesNetwork pic.twitter.com/JUYSk1MUTv  Nadine White (@Nadine_Writes) March 20, 2022

We see no reason to celebrate 70 years of the ascension of your grandmother to the British throne because her leadership, and that of her predecessors, has perpetuated the greatest human rights tragedy in the history of humankind.

It is believed the group will stage a protest on Tuesday outside the British High Commission in Kingston, with the royals due to arrive that day in Jamaica where they will stay until Thursday when they depart for the Bahamas.

The apparent opposition in Jamaica comes after the tour began in controversial circumstances when opposition from villagers in Belize, who cited a range of issues including objections to the Cambridges helicopter landing site, forced a royal trip to a farm on Sunday to be scrapped.

It was replaced with a visit to a chocolate producer before the royals travelled to the cultural centre of the Garifuna community in Hopkins.

The Cambridges were on Monday due to visit stunning ancient Maya ruins deep in the heartland of Belize.

William and Kate will be given a tour of the site and have the chance to take in Caana, or sky palace, which remains the tallest man-made structure in Belize.

The duke visited Belize as a teenager in 2000, when he reportedly learned jungle survival techniques with the Welsh Guards who were receiving training from the British Army Training Support Unit as part of Exercise Native Trail.

William was beginning a gap year before university at the time and while in the jungle, the then 18-year-old duke learned his A level results.

Belize is home to the worlds second largest barrier reef, thanks to decades of work to protect this incredible marine environment. In 2017, offshore oil exploration was banned, resulting in the reef receiving UNESCO World Heritage Status  pic.twitter.com/0r1uKRYT63  The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) March 21, 2022

The last engagement of the day will see the couple attend a reception hosted by the Governor General of Belize at the Maya ruins at Cahal Pech, near San Ignacio.

This special reception will be held in celebration of the Queens Platinum and William will give a speech.

During their first full day in Belize on Sunday, the couple toured a cocoa farm and danced during a cultural visit to a nearby village.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will visit stunning ancient Maya ruins deep in the heartland of Belize as their tour of the Caribbean continues.

William and Kate will be given a tour of the site and have the chance to take in Caana, or sky palace, which remains the tallest man-made structure in Belize.

The duke visited Belize as a teenager in 2000, when he reportedly learned jungle survival techniques with the Welsh Guards who were receiving training from the British Army Training Support Unit as part of Exercise Native Trail.

It was an incredible experience to see first hand how this world famous chocolate was made  using all organic products, all grown on their land or nearby. We can see why this is loved all around the world! pic.twitter.com/awkCzgd2ix  The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) March 20, 2022

William was beginning a gap year before university at the time and while in the jungle, the then 18-year-old duke learned his A level results.

The last engagement of the day will see the couple attend a reception hosted by the Governor General of Belize at the Maya ruins at Cahal Pech, near San Ignacio.

This special reception will be held in celebration of the Queens Platinum and William will give a speech.

During their first full day in Belize on Sunday, the couple toured a cocoa farm and danced during a cultural visit to a nearby village.
DUNWOODY, Ga.  The City of Dunwoody has reached an agreement with Camp Run-A-Mutt following multiple noise complaints from nearby residents.

The business, which opened in May 2018, touts itself as the premier cage-free dog day care and boarding with 11,000 square feet for dogs to play and socialize. In 2021, it was voted in the Georgia Business Journal as the best dog day care and boarding in Dunwoody.

But on March 1, the city and Camp Run-A-Mutt filed a consent order in municipal court, limiting the hours the dogs are allowed to be outside.

The consent order states Camp Run-A-Mutt will restrict the dogs to outdoor activities between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and no dogs will be allowed outside for outdoor activities on Sunday. Outdoor activities do not include a single, non-barking, supervised dog that was taken outside to use the bathroom.

Additionally, the consent order states Camp Run-A-Mutt will strengthen its policy on barking dogs so that if a dog barks three times, it will draw immediate attention from a handler, and if the dog barks a fourth time, it will be restricted indoors for the remainder of the day.

This agreement shall not be construed as an admission by the respondent that a nuisance has occurred, the order states.

A hearing was initially scheduled on March 1 for the citys petition to abate a public nuisance, but both parties agreed on the consent order the night before. A status conference is slated for Sept. 14 to determine whether there will be a hearing on the matter.

Neighbors voice complaints

Nearby residents have been up in arms over Camp Run-A-Mutt since the business announced plans to open at the former Dunwoody Academy child day care center in the back of the Shops of Dunwoody in 2017.

At the time, residents argued they were worried the loud barking would carry into their backyards and potentially drive down property values. But while city code allows commercial property, including animal care facilities, to be within 100 feet of residential property, the closest residence to Camp Run-A-Mutt is more than 200 feet away.

Records show neighbors from Trailridge Way in the affluent Dunwoody West neighborhood submitted several complaints about the dogs habitual barking at Camp Run-A-Mutt to the citys Planning and Zoning Division on May 24, 2021.

City of Dunwoody spokeswoman Jennifer Boettcher said that case was handled separately from the nuisance filing on March 1.

Code Enforcement Supervisor Shane Peeples issued Camp Run-A-Mutt a verbal warning as a result of the neighbors complaints, and in June 2021, the Planning and Zoning Division cited Camp Run-A-Mutt to appear in Dunwoody Municipal Court for possible noise violations.

The city states this is the highest level of enforcement the Code Compliance Division can take.

Facility spent $10,000 to mitigate sound

While the matter was still pending, Camp Run-A-Mutt took several steps to be a good neighbor and spent upwards of $10,000 in sound mitigation measures to address the complaints.

In a letter sent to the Dunwoody City Council and city staff in August 2021, Shaun Adams, a former attorney with Andersen, Tate and Carr, stated that Camp Run-A-Mutt maintained that any noise stemming from the property during acceptable hours of operation fell within the reasonable noise expectation of a doggy day care with outdoor facilities of its size and scope.

Despite this, Adams stated, the client desires to be a good neighbor and a continued asset to the Dunwoody community and has worked diligently to implement sound mitigation measures that do not alter the service and care that their customers expect when leaving their dogs with them during the day.

Adams stated that after the complaints were filed, Camp Run-A-Mutt hired a professional to educate the handlers on techniques to reduce barking, purchased additional equipment and toys to keep the dogs entertained and proceeded to send unruly dogs home.

The business also hired more staff, started using silent dog whistles, conducted research and review of best practices for similar dog day cares, started offering private training for customers to help them control dog barking and installed misters to keep dogs cool and settled during warm days.

Additionally, Camp Run-A-Mutt installed acoustiblok, a type of soundproofing insulation and acoustic insulation, on the back fence to block noise directed toward the nearby neighborhood. Adams stated the acoustiblok typically takes 8 to 12 weeks for production, but Camp Run-A-Mutt paid to have it expedited and installed.

Adams stated Camp Run-A-Mutt received more than 45 letters and emails from customers in support of their operation and the service they provide to the surrounding community soon after the complaints were filed.

In December 2021, Camp Run-A-Mutt pleaded no contest, and the city dropped all fines based on the cost the business spent on noise mitigation measures.

Camp Run-A-Mutts attorneys did not respond to the Criers request for comment on the March 1 public nuisance filing by press time on March 21.
From left, State Rep. Angelika Kausche and State Sen. Michelle Au speak at a town hall March 20 in Johns Creek to brief constituents on the current Georgia General Assembly session. Sen. Au is seeking election to the Georgia House, following a special redistricting session that changes the composition of the senate district she represents.
YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. The number of people who have crossed from Ukraine, including from Donbass, into Russia grew 12700 in one day and as of March 21 stands at 348,000, TASS reported citing law enforcement agencies.

TASS reported that the total number includes more than 73,000 children.
YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan held a phone conversation with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Sergey Lavrov on March 21.

Mirzoyan and Lavrov discussed issues related to the Armenian-Russian cooperation, mutual-visits on the high and highest levels and the events dedicated to the 30th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Russia, the foreign ministry said in a readout of the call.

The FMs addressed the course of implementation of the agreements reached under the trilateral statements of 2020 November 9, 2021 January 11 and 2021 November 26.

The Armenian FM presented the situation created as a result of Azerbaijani provocations and ceasefire violations in the Armenia-Azerbaijan borderzone and in Nagorno Karabakh.

FM Mirzoyan also presented to FM Lavrov Armenias stance regarding launching the negotiations around a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan and in this context attached importance to the role of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship.

The normalization process of the Armenia-Turkey relations was also discussed.

Mirzoyan and Lavrov also exchanged views on issues related to regional and international security.
YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. All rights of the Armenians of Artsakh and the issue of the status of Nagorno Karabakh are principled and key matters for Armenia, Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan told lawmakers during the parliamentary foreign affairs committee session on the governments 2021 report of its 2021-2026 action plan.

Opposition Hayastan faction MP Armen Rustamyan asked if the FM can clearly announce that Armenia entered negotiations to rule out Artsakhs status within Azerbaijan, to rule out an enclave status of Artsakh and to restore Armenias commitment to be the guarantor of the right to self determination of the people of Artsakh.

FM Mirzoyan answered by saying that the ruling Civil Contract party issued its views on these questions, and these views are anchored on the goals of building peace in the region and ensuring stable development.

According to the FM, the campaign programs of Civil Contract received sufficient public support in order for Civil Contract to form the government and implement their programs.

The outline of our government is to build peace in the region. Certainly a most important part of this is the re-launch of peace talks around Nagorno Karabakh, the negotiation and subsequent signing of a comprehensive peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The matters of the rights of Armenians of Artsakh and the status of Nagorno Karabakh are principled and key issues for us, Mirzoyan said.

Speaking on a different question regarding the connections, demarcation and delimitation, Mirzoyan said there is a common understanding that in case of unblocking the roads will be under the sovereignty and legislation of the countries through the territory of which they pass.

As a result of the November 26, 2021 meeting between the Armenian, Russian and Azerbaijani leaders in Sochi, as well as the December 15 Brussels meeting between the Armenian, Azerbaijani and European Council leaders an agreement was reached to restore the Yeraskh-Julfa-Ordbubad-Meghri-Horadiz railway, Mirzoyan said. And now works are underway to stipulate these agreements de jure, he added.

I wouldnt be mistaken to say that now there is a common perception that all roads, railways that will be unblocked, all transport infrastructures must function under the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the countries through which they pass, Mirzoyan said.
YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. International organizations Freedom House and Human Rights Watch have published their 2021 reports on Azerbaijan.

The report of the Human Rights Watch says after the 2020 Nagorno Karabakh war, the truce is largely held, but periodic skirmishes made for a fragile situation on the post-war front lines.

The report also says that Azerbaijan started reconstruction works in areas that came under its control following the war. It also notes that ethnic Armenians face risk of injury or captivity when they travel, tend to livestock, or engage in farming near the front lines.

These and other issues, including Nagorno Karabakhs long-term status, perpetuated tensions and pointed to the need for greater international involvement, Human Rights Watch said.

The report also notes that in March, the Azerbaijani government released, under a presidential pardon, nearly 40 opposition activists, religious believers, journalists, human rights defenders, and other perceived critics imprisoned on politically motivated charges. But dozens of others remained wrongfully imprisoned, while authorities targeted critics and other dissenting voices, it added.

In its Freedom On The Net 2021, the Freedom House rated Azerbaijan as not free.

Azerbaijan is ruled by an authoritarian regime controlled by a single family, the Aliyevs, who have been in power for almost three decades. While occasionally taking actions to placate Western critics, the government has never undertaken structural reforms, the Freedom House said.

Corruption is rampant, and the formal political opposition has been weakened by years of persecution. The authorities have carried out an extensive crackdown on civil liberties in recent years, leaving little room for independent expression or activism, the Freedom House said.
YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian-Russian allied, strategic partnership continued developing in 2021, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan said at the session of the parliamentary standing committee on foreign affairs.

The agenda of the bilateral relations between Armenia and Russia has significantly expanded, involving new directions of deepening and expanding the cooperation in commercial, industry, agricultural, energetic, transport, ICT, social, healthcare and humanitarian spheres, the FM said.

He reminded that the 8th Armenian-Russian inter-regional conference was held in Yerevan on October 18-19 2021, as well as the 20th session of the Armenian-Russian inter-governmental commission on economic cooperation took place on December 21-22, co-chaired by the deputy prime ministers of the two countries.
YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. Armenia continued high level dialogue with the United States, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ararat Mirzoyan said at the parliamentary foreign affairs committee session on the governments 2021 report of its 2021-2026 action plan.

He mentioned that during the year he had a meeting with the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and that the Secretary of the Security Council Armen Grigoryan was on a visit to the United States.

An agreement was reached to organize the next session of the Armenia-U.S. Strategic Dialogue, he said.
YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. Within the framework of the European Commissions Team Europe initiative, Portugal handed over the first batch of Pfizer vaccines to Armenia.

200,070 doses of the Pfizer vaccine against COVID-19 were delivered. Another batch consisting of an equal amount of doses will be delivered in early April.

We are grateful to Poland for its coordinating role and we are very happy that this process is entirely EU funded, EU Ambassador to Armenia Andrea Wiktorin said.

She added that the EU is ready to provide more, but this requires the Armenian government to officially make such request.

First Deputy Minister of Healthcare Lena Nanushyan thanked the partners for supporting Armenia in these difficult times not only with providing vaccines but also with technical support.
YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. Armenia continues deepening the traditional friendly relations with Iran and for this purpose Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met two times with Irans President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said at the session of the parliamentary standing committee on foreign affairs.

In order to deepen the traditional friendly relations with Iran, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met on August 5, 2021, with Irans President Ebrahim Raisi during his working visit in Iran. The next meeting took place in Dushanbe on September 17 of the same year. The further development of the Armenian-Iranian multilateral relations and the developments taking place in the region were discussed during these meetings, the FM said.

He said that in the end of the year the government of Iran adopted a decision on opening a general consulate in Armenias town of Kapan, adding that the Armenian side is discussing the issue of opening a general consulate in Tabriz.

Active talks are underway with Iran to establish a North-South international transportation route, the FM said.
YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Vahagn Khachaturyan received today US Ambassador to Armenia Lynne Tracy, the Presidential Office said.

The US Ambassador congratulated Vahagn Khachaturyan on assuming office, wishing success.

Issues relating to the cooperation between Armenia and the United States in different areas were discussed during the meeting.
YEREVAN, 21 MARCH, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 21 March, USD exchange rate up by 0.17 drams to 488.77 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 0.43 drams to 539.75 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.10 drams to 4.69 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 0.71 drams to 642.05 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price down by 206.99 drams to 30419.78 drams. Silver price down by 1.51 drams to 396.55 drams. Platinum price stood at 16414.1 drams.
According to information published by "The Wall Street Journal" on March 21, 2022, the United States sent Soviet-made air defense missile systems to Ukraine including 9K33 Osa NATO designation SA-8 Gecko that were secretly acquired by the U.S. in the past to study the technology of Russian military equipment.

Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link



SA-8 Gecko air defense missile system of the Czech army. (Picture source Army Recognition)

The Ukrainian army is mainly equipped with military equipment acquired from Russia including air defense systems S-300V long-range surface-to-air missile systems, 9K35 Strela-10 NATO designation SA-13 Gopher, 9K33 Osa-AKM NATO designation SA-8 Gecko and 75 2K22 Tunguska SA-19 Grison anti-aircraft gun system.

Recently, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has requested the United States and NATO countries to provide more air defense systems to the Ukrainian armed forces to counter the air superiority of the Russian armed forces. Sending this type of Soviet-made military equipment will strengthen the air defense of Ukrainian territory and can easily be used by the Ukrainian armed forces who already know and use this type of equipment.

Army Recognition also reported on Sunday, march 20, 2022, that the United States is in talks with Slovakia and Bulgaria to provide Soviet-made S-300 air defense missile systems which are in service in these two countries to help Ukraine in the fight against the Russian army.

The 9K33 OSA NATO designation SA-8 Gecko is a Russian-made highly mobile, low-altitude, short-range tactical surface-to-air missile system that entered into service with the Russian army in 1971.

The SA-8 Gecko air defense missile system is based on a six-wheeled truck chassis designated BAZ-5937. SA-8 Gecko is armed with 6 missiles ready to fire, mounted on the roof of the vehicle. All versions of the 9K33 feature all-in-one 9A33 transporter-launcher and radar vehicles which can detect, track and engage aircraft independently or connected to an air defense system network.

The engagement range for the SA-8 Gecko missile is approximately 29 km and engagement altitudes of between 505000 m. The 9M33M2 "Osa-A" missile extends the ranges out to 1,500 - 10,000m and engagement altitudes to 25  5,000 m. The 9M33M3 missile greatly enhances the altitude engagement envelope to 10  12,000 m, and as such are also able to fly further (about 15 km/9 miles) but the system is not able to engage targets at longer ranges, due to other factors such as the radar tracking of the missiles.
Bennett was elected the Prime Minister of Israel after a long rule by Benjamin Netanyahu

New Delhi: Israel on Sunday announced that its Prime Minister Naftali Bennett would pay a visit to India on April 2  a visit that is considered to be significant in the wake of the West Asian nations strategic ties with New Delhi and also because of the altered geopolitical situation in the world after Russia attacked Ukraine.

India and Israel, which marked the 30th anniversary of full-fledged diplomatic ties this January, have a close defence relationship as Tel Aviv had supplied several state-of-the-art weapon systems to India and are the members of a four-nation strategic arrangement in West Asia, dubbed as the middle-eastern Quad. The United States and the United Arab Emirates are the other two members of the grouping.

Another aspect for which Bennetts New Delhi visit would be keenly tracked by strategic observers his talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the Russia-Ukraine war. India is a time-tested friend of Russia, while the Israeli PM had recently made efforts to broker a truce between Russia and Ukraine.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the Israeli Prime Ministers Office (PMO) said, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will pay his first official visit to India on Saturday, 2 April 2022, at the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The leaders first met on the sidelines of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow last October, at which Prime Minister Modi invited Prime Minister Bennett to pay an official visit to the country. This visit will reaffirm the important connection between the countries and the leaders, and will mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of relations between Israel and India.

The Israeli PMO added, The purpose of the visit is to advance and strengthen the strategic alliance between the countries, and to expand bilateral ties. In addition, the leaders will discuss the strengthening of cooperation in a variety of areas, including innovation, economy, research and development, agriculture and more.

Israel, which is a key partner of India, also want to collaborate in areas like agriculture and climate change.

The relations between our two unique cultures  the Indian culture and the Jewish culture  are deep, and they rely on deep appreciation and meaningful collaborations. There are many things we can learn from the Indians, and this is what we strive to do. Together we will expand our cooperation to other areas, from innovation and technology, security and cyber, to agriculture and climate change.

Bennett was elected the Prime Minister of Israel after a long rule by Benjamin Netanyahu.
Gyanagaudar's family members, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai were among the others present at the airport to receive the body

Mortal remains of Naveen Shekharappa Gyangoudar, who was killed in Russian shelling in Ukraine's Kharkiv on March 1, arrive in Bengaluru. (ANI)

Bengaluru: The mortal remains of a medical student from the state, who was killed in Russian shelling in war-torn Ukraine, arrived at the airport here on Monday.

Naveen Shekarappa Gyanagaudar, a Final Year Medical student at Kharkiv National Medical University, died on March 1, in the conflict zone.

Gyanagaudar's family members, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai were among the others present at the airport to receive the body.

The body was then taken to Gyanagaudar's native place, Chalageri village of Ranebennur taluk in Haveri district.

Stating that it is unfortunate that Gyanagaudar lost his life in the conflict zone, Bommai speaking to reporters said, "His mother was crying for the body to come.

Initially, we were also sceptical about the possibility of bringing the body from the war zone. It was a herculean task, which was successfully conducted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his huge diplomatic strength and image."

Thanking the Prime Minister, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and officials, for bringing thousands of students back home from Ukraine, he said, "this (bringing body) was just impossible because most of the time we can't get the bodies of our soldiers from war zones, but here getting a citizen's body that too from a third country, is just a miracle."

Gyanagaudar's parents have decided to donate the body to a private hospital in Davangere' after paying their last respects.
Abhishek Banerjee mocked the Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation, accusing them of suffering from 'cataract'

Kolkata: A day before facing questioning in the coal smuggling scam again in New Delhi, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjees MP nephew Abhishek Banerjee mocked the Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation, accusing them of suffering from cataract that he alleged made the two agencies blind to the crimes of BJP leaders.

On Sunday, the Diamond Harbour TMC MP said at Kolkata airport: It is sad that those who were seen in videos taking money wrapped in papers and have proof against them of siphoning off money of Sudipta Sen (Saradha Group owner) are now big leaders of the BJP. One of them is the Assam CM, another is the Leader of the Opposition here. But the ED and CBI do not summon them because cataracts cover their eyes, Thus, these agencies lose their credibility.

The young TMC national general secretary, on the fresh summons by the ED directing him to appear on Monday, said: I had an eye surgery four days ago. Doctors advised me bed rest. I am still going to appear because I know how to live with my head high. The people of Bengal do not bow down their heads.

Before flying to the national capital, Mr Banerjee pointed out: I earlier made an appeal at the Delhi high court challenging the jurisdiction of the ED to summon me in New Delhi for a case which is in Kolkata. The hearing continued for four months. But the judgment was reserved for three months. It came only after the Assembly election results in five states. Though I have faith in the judiciary, the two incidents cannot be coincidental. When my petition had to be dismissed, why was it not heard for so many months? I will move the Supreme Court as I have the option to approach a higher court.

His wife Rujira Banerjee Narula, who was also sent a fresh summons by the ED, is expected to face grilling by the Central agency on March 22.
India, Australia vow closer ties, plan annual summits

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australian PM Scott Morrison on Monday held their hour-long virtual summit in which both nations decided to strengthen their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with measures like holding annual summits, inking of an MoU in the critical mining sector and joint investment and collaboration in the supply of critical minerals such as lithium that Australia is rich in, talks on inking an interim Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) as soon as possible, strengthening ties in defence and security, space and education, signing of a letter of intent towards signing a Migration and Mobility Partnership Agreement, and talks on seeking Australian investment in Indias National Infrastructure Investment Fund (NIIF).

As Australian PM Morrison, in his opening remarks, attacked Russias unlawful invasion of Ukraine and spoke about the implications it would have for the Indo-Pacific region due to this coercion, foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla later said at a special briefing that both the Ukraine issue and Chinas role in the Indo-Pacific region were discussed between the two leaders, with Australia showing some understanding of Indias position. Both leaders called for an immediate halt to violence in the Ukraine conflict.

The foreign secretary said Mr Modi had also discussed the situation in the Ladakh sector with the Australian PM and conveyed that there cant be normality in Sino-Indian ties unless there is peace and tranquillity on the borders. The Australian PM also conveyed his views on Chinas role in the South China Sea.

In his opening remarks, Mr Modi focused on an open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region and the need for the Quad (that includes the United States and Japan, besides India and Australia) in the region. It was also recognised that despite the Ukraine conflict, the focus must continue on the Indo-Pacific region where there is cooperation between the two countries and also within the Quad. In a statement, New Delhi said: Both the leaders also appreciated the increasing strategic convergence between the two countries as fellow democracies with shared values and common interests, which include a free, open, inclusive, and prosperous Indo-Pacific. Both leaders also discussed the situation in Myanmar after the military coup there in February last year and supported the Asean initiatives for peace there.

Mr Shringla said a Young Officers Defence Exchange Programme -- that is named after former Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Bipin Rawat, who died last year in a helicopter crash -- between the two nations had been decided upon to increase service to service contacts. Australia also announced a Maitreyi Scholarship and Fellowship programme for 10 Indian students at a time. An educational task force has also decided to work towards mutual recognition of educational qualifications, Mr Shringla said. There were also discussions on facilitating migration and mobility of students and professionals between the two countries. The two leaders also decided to increase cooperation between Indias NIIF and Australias Pension and Sovereign Fund, which is called the Future Fund. India will offer the same tax benefits for Australias Pension and Sovereign Fund to invest in India as is given in Australia.

In his opening remarks, Australian PM Scott Morrison raised the issue of the Ukraine conflict and said the war in Europe should never have happened. With an obvious eye on China, he pitched for an inclusive and prosperous Indo-Pacific region. Mr Morrison said the two nations would redouble efforts to ink the CECA to unlock opportunities in the trade sector. Mr Modi, on his part, expressed confidence that there would be consensus soon between the two nations in all aspects to sign the CECA. He spoke about the cooperation between the two nations in various sectors, including defence and security, and also establishment of an annual summit mechanism between both countries for a structural arrangement.

A statement by the external affairs ministry said: Both the leaders expressed satisfaction at the progress made under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership established during the 1st Virtual Summit in June 2020. Prime Minister Modi expressed his satisfaction at the enhanced scope of the relationship which now covers diverse areas such as trade and investments, defence and security, education and innovation, science and technology, critical minerals, water management, new and renewable energy technology, Covid-19 related research, etc.

The MEA added: Prime Minister Modi thanked H.E. Mr Scott Morrison for the special gesture in returning 29 ancient artefacts to India. These artefacts comprise sculptures, paintings and photographs, across centuries, some dating back to the 9th-10th century, from different parts of India. The artefacts include 12th century Chola bronzes, 11th-12th century Jain sculptures from Rajasthan, 12th-13th century sandstone Goddess Mahisasuramardini from Gujarat, 18th-19th century paintings and early gelatin silver photographs.
by Nirmala Carvalho

Pope Francis did not take into account Dalit demands for a Dalit prelate when he decided to appoint Bishop Francis Kalist of Meerut (Uttar Pradesh) to the archbishops see in Tamil Nadu, a state where Dalits are the majority of the local Catholic community. The main Dalit association now threatens to appeal to the Indian government. Apostolic Nuncio Girelli wrote to the group a month ago saying the choice would not be based on ethnicity, caste, language or social status.

Pondicherry (AsiaNews)  Pope Francis appointed Bishop Francis Kalist of Meerut as the new archbishop of Pondicherry and Cuddalore, in the eponymous ecclesiastic province (Tamil Nadu), which has been the scene of a major controversy as some local lay Catholic associations urged the pontiff to name a Dalit to the post.

In a state where Dalits represent the vast majority of the population, this demand led to high-profile protests based on claims that Dalit priests are discriminated and excluded from episcopal appointments. Currently, only one out of 18 dioceses in Tamil Nadu has a Dalit bishop.

With the appointment of Mgr Kalist, a non-Dalit, as archbishop of Pondicherry-Cuddalore, Pope Francis has not met the demand of these groups, even though he opted to break with the status quo.

While the 64-year-old was born in Reethapuram, a town in Tamil Nadu, he became a priest in the Diocese of Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, where he has served as bishop since 2008.

This is the first time in decades that a bishop from a northern diocese has been moved to an episcopal see in the south of the country. However, this solution has not mollified Dalit lay associations who have already restarted their protests.

The Dalit Christian Liberation Movement (DCLM), which met Apostolic Nuncio to India Leopoldo Girelli just a few weeks ago, held a protest yesterday and hoisted a black flag outside the church of Our Lady of Fatima in Vrithachalam.

If this appointment of the non-Dalit archbishop Francis Kalist in Pondicherry-Cuddalore is not revoked to give way to the appointment of a Dalit archbishop there, then we will be forced to raise with the Indian Government the issue of casteism, practice of Untouchability and discrimination against Dalit Christians in appointments of bishops and prelates, reads a statement signed by DCLM president M. Mary John.

We will also protest in public to appeal to Pope Francis to stop appointing bishops in India till the local hierarchy takes steps to appoint Dalit archbishops and bishops in adequate numbers, it added.

In a statement the nunciature noted: Archbishop Girelli has replied that there is no discrimination in the selection of episcopal candidates and in the appointment of new bishops.

It explained that, The responsibility of the Apostolic Nuncio is only to verify the priestly integrity of the candidates in order to establish their suitability for the office of Bishop, making no distinction based on ethnicity, caste, language or social status.

What is more, The Apostolic Nuncio also pointed out that the episcopal ministry in the Church is to be intended as a service to the people and not as a position of power.

Finally, Caste with its consequent effects of discrimination and caste mentality has no place in Christianity.
On March 8 the Coronado Island Film Festival (CIFF) teamed up with the Coronado Historical Association to host a special screening and Q&A event at the Sacred Heart Parish Hall. Guests were treated to a viewing of the 2015 film Bridge of Spies." From left, Coronado Historical Association president David Landon, Gary Powers Jr., and Jean Landon.
In an editorial Gulf News calls the visit of the Damascus leader to Dubai and Abu Dhabi at the weekend "historic". Relations with the country are "fundamental" to restoring regional order, coupled with the "urgent need" for an "Arab" presence in Syria. US disappointment. Assad "uses" Christians to attack Israel.

Damascus (AsiaNews) - Relations with Syria are "fundamental" for restoring regional order while the country, torn apart by more than a decade of fighting, is in "urgent need" of a strengthened role and presence of the Arab world. This is what is stated in an editorial published today by Gulf News, an English-language daily from Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the scene of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's recent trip, where he met Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed. The visit has been described by the popular daily as "historic" and of "great significance" in a phase defined as "critical" for the Arab world.

Last weekend's visit was the first time the Damascus leader had been to an Arab - and Gulf - nation since the war began in March 2011. For a long time, the Emirates themselves had supported militia groups, rebels and jihadists in the Syrian conflict from an anti-Assad perspective who, today, appears to have been fully rehabilitated by regional diplomacy and the Gulf monarchies. In the past, the Emirates themselves were among the first countries in the region - and in the Arab world - to re-establish relations with the Syrian leadership, with the reopening of their embassy in December 2018.

The meetings between Assad, Vice President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum and Deputy Chief of the Armed Forces Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan shows the Emirati leadership's willingness to "improve" regional cooperation. The aim, explains Gulf News, is to achieve the "much-needed stability" in a region subject to "volatility and conflict" over the past decade. Bin Zayed himself said during the summit that Syria is "a key pillar of the Arab security system" and that is why it is necessary to "strengthen cooperation". Assad had already hosted a delegation of senior Emirati officials in Damascus in November last year, including Foreign Minister Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

After more than a decade of civil conflict in Syria, the UAE believes there is an urgent and crucial need," Gulf News explained, "to strengthen the Arab role in that country, a role based on open dialogue and constructive engagement to resolve the ongoing conflict. Boycotting Syria, a founding member of the Arab League, will not help achieve a peaceful solution to the crisis. A strong Arab role is also the key to preserving unity and territorial integrity". A "solution" in Syria would ultimately help "realise" the aspiration of the people, "preserve" unity and "save" the economy by taking as a reference "the UN and the Geneva process" to bring dialogue between the government and the opposition and ensure a new political and institutional face for the nation.

Since the beginning of the war in 2011, which killed more than 350,000 people, Assad has made a few international trips, but has always visited friendly or allied nations, such as Vladimir Putin's Russia and Iran. His visit to the Emirates in recent days has drawn criticism from the United States, which says it is "deeply disappointed and disturbed" by Abu Dhabi's political rehabilitation of the Syrian president.

Over the weekend, the Alawite leader also returned to the Christian issue, saying that "the displacement of Christians is the main objective" of Israel, under the pretext of defending its survival. We must defend", Assad added, "the regional fabric and its different identities" by fighting against those who "want a nation of one colour". The accusation was contained in a message sent to participants at the three-day meeting promoted by the Syrian Church in recent days, attended by leading Vatican, Syrian and Middle Eastern figures including the Chaldean Patriarch and his Maronite counterpart. The Christians," Assad concluded in a statement relayed by the Sana news agency and state television, "are not guests in Syria, not even temporary citizens, but partners, and the requirements for this collaboration are work and production.
by Vladimir Rozanskij

Moscow (AsiaNews) - Pope Francis' decision to consecrate Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on March 25 has revived Catholics in both countries, subjected for almost a month to an epochal trial of unprecedented proportions: the Ukrainians having to face the invader; the Russians being part of the invading people, without even being able to raise their voices to stop or limit a violence exercised even in the name of a pseudo-religious ideal.

The members of the Russian Catholic Bishops' Conference met for their 55th assembly in the village of Listvjanka near Irkutsk in Siberia (see photo), the easternmost diocese of the four existing in the territory of the Federation, under the presidency of the Archbishop of the Mother of God in Moscow, Msgr. Present were Mgr Josif Werth, bishop of the Transfiguration in Novosibirsk, Mgr Kirill Klimowicz, bishop of St Joseph in Irkutsk, Mgr Klemens Pikkel of St Clement's in Saratov and the auxiliary bishop of St Petersburg Nikolaj Dubinin. Representing the nuncio, Mgr Giovanni D'Aniello, were the secretary, Jesuit Fr Stephan Lipke, and the councillor of the Moscow Nunciature, Mgr Petr Tarnavsky.

The bishops appealed to Catholics and all those who believe in God's mercy to join in the universal prayer for the gift of peace in Ukraine, Russia and the whole world, to be accompanied by fasting and works of charity during the Lenten period. All parishes and communities throughout Russia are invited to plan in every possible way to participate in the consecration announced by the Pope, preferably at the conclusion of a Eucharistic celebration, using the special "prayer for peace" inserted in the missal. The words of the pope who teaches that "reality is greater than the idea" were recalled, and it is therefore fundamental to strive for mutual understanding, and to be heralds of "words of reconciliation" (2 Cor 5:19-20).

The dramatic moment being experienced also coincides with the end of restrictions due to the pandemic in Russia, and the return to the fullness of community assembly. Catholics in over 300 parishes in Russia are mobilising themselves to live out these days of intense prayer, exchanging indications and exhortations on church websites, which are often one of the few means of communication not affected by the restrictions of recent days.

On the Facebook page of the "Parish Notices", in which all Moscow's Catholics take part, people talk about the prayer of the 25th as a "historic event to be lived together with Christ, Mary and the Pope", which will be followed in the evening in the large hall of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in the capital, recently restored amidst much controversy. The hall of the former Soviet Committee for Sport has become a new reference point for Muscovite Catholics, along with the churches of St Louis of the French and the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

The Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow Kirill (Gundjaev) also invited the faithful to join the Catholics in some way, addressing a special prayer in these days to the Mother of God. As published on the patriarchate's website, he recalled that "we are living in a very difficult historical moment, in which all our thoughts, anxieties and invocations are linked to the events taking place in Ukraine, but even in the most difficult times our people have sought help from the Most Holy Mother of God, who has always been the protector of Holy Rus'". The Patriarch invited all to recite every day the special "Moleben" to Mary "for all the pains of the soul and for every worry", adding a special invocation for peace.

In Ukraine, Catholics and Orthodox are also united in prayer for peace, together with all believers of various religions and people of good will. Representatives of all the religious communities in Odessa have released a video on YouTube with a common appeal for peace between Christians, Jews and Muslims, who for centuries have been united in the life of the "peaceful" city.

Prayers are especially addressed to the martyred Mariupol, the target of the most violent attacks in recent days: The city was named after a relative of the Tsar at the end of the 18th century, who had encouraged the exodus of 30,000 Greeks from the Crimea, where coexistence with the Tatars had also caused enormous suffering. In time, the local inhabitants decided to consecrate themselves to the Mother of God, becoming the true Mariopolis, "city of Mary", mother of Ukraine, Russia and the whole world.
by Shafique Khokhar

More minority girls have been kidnapped for the purpose of forced marriage and conversion to Islam. Two of these kidnappings took place a week apart in the same neighbourhood. We call on Prime Minister Imran Khan and the Sindh government to take serious action against the criminals, pleaded the mother of one of the girls.

Karachi (AsiaNews)  Three Christian girls were kidnapped over the past three weeks in order to be forcibly married, reviving a real nightmare for the country's religious minorities.

The latest case involves Merab, the second girl to be kidnapped in Orangi Town, a huge settlement within Karachi, home to about 1,200 Christian families.

The 15-year-old was taken on 7 March 2022 by a man called Noman, who has a criminal record. Three accomplices have been arrested so far, but not the kidnapper and Merab is still with him.

My daughter is a minor and very innocent, said Sumaira, the girls mother. We call on Prime Minister Imran Khan and the Sindh government to take serious action against the criminals.

Noman is threatening us and has said that no one can do anything against him, added the woman who urged Christians to pray for her daughter, that she may return home safe and sound.

A little over a week earlier, on 25 February, Mariam, 18, was kidnapped in the same area, as she made her way to the training facility at Baqai Hospital.

A brilliant second-year midwifery student who helped her widowed mother and younger siblings, she had no boyfriend, and told her older sister not to talk to strangers because "nobody can be trusted these days".

Then there is the case of Persicla, a 15-year-old Christian girl kidnapped, this time in front of her parents in her house in Sumundhari, in Faisalabad.

Dilawar, the childs father, said they were sleeping in their room when a Muslim man, Muhammad Qasim, broke into their home and took away their daughter. After that, he threatened them with death if they told anyone about it.

According to Naveed Lazar, human rights activist and information secretary of the Pakistan Christian Association, seven Christian girls have been kidnapped in the past seven months from Orangi Town and about 120 girls have been forcibly converted to Islam in the last five years.

Such violent actions target mainly the poorest families. Lazar condemned the rising number of cases, urging the authorities to act immediately and provide people with security.
Today's headlines: Japan wants to convince India to condemn Russia; two men died in Sri Lanka while standing in line for fuel; another ferry accident in Bangladesh; Hong Kong is easing restrictions against Covid-19; Moscow urges citizens to sue neighbours; Saudi Aramco reports +124% in profits

MYANMAR

The Biden administration has determined that the violence committed in Myanmar in 2017 by the Burmese military against the Rohingya constitutes crimes against humanity and genocide. The announcement will be made today by Secretary of State Antony Blinken. American officials told Reuters that Washington hopes the announcement will increase pressure from the international community on the Burmese military, which after seizing power in a coup last year is fighting a civil war against the country's ethnic militias.

JAPAN - INDIA

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida asked his counterpart, Narendra Modi, to take a stronger stance in condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine, during his visit to New Delhi. However, the Indian Prime Minister in his statements did not mention either Moscow or Kiev directly, limiting himself to a general call for peace. The other Quad members, Australia and the United States, have also tried unsuccessfully to put pressure on India, the main buyer of Russian arms and recently also of oil.

SRI LANKA

Yesterday in Sri Lanka two men in their seventies died in two separate accidents as they were queuing for fuel. Due to the worst economic crisis since the country's independence, there are continuous blackouts due to lack of oil and kerosene. The country's only refinery closed yesterday after running out of crude oil.

BANGLADESH

At least five dead and a dozen missing is the death toll after a ship collided with a ferry in Dhaka yesterday. The vessel was carrying more than 60 passengers. Ferry accidents are common in Bangladesh, with experts blaming poor maintenance and low safety standards.

HONG KONG

Starting next month, Hong Kong will resume international flights from the US, UK and seven other countries, while arrival quarantine will be reduced from 14 to seven days. Social distancing measures will also be gradually relaxed from today. Hong Kong currently has one of the highest Covid-19 mortality rates in the world.

SAUDI ARABIA

Saudi Aramco's profits grew 124% to $ 110 billion last year. The announcement was made by the Saudi energy giant after an attack by Yemen's Houthis on several Aramco locations and facilities. Opec countries have so far resisted Western pressure to increase production to lower crude prices.

RUSSIA

Notices began to appear on chat rooms in Russian apartment buildings urging people to report neighbours who speak out against the government's military operations to security bodies. A complaint form is even being circulated, indicating the address and details of people "offline", and similar reports have already been sent to Kazan and the Kaliningrad region, where the police have blocked the phones of those who spread "non-credible data".

TURKMENISTAN

Serdar Berdymuhamedov officially took office as president of Turkmenistan, after winning the elections with 72.97% of the vote, despite many suspicions of fraud in the collection of ballots, in elections held without any participation of international observers. The inauguration ceremony was held at the Palace of Spirituality in Asgabat, and the new leader proclaimed a "new and irrevocable era of democratic transformation of our country, respecting our centuries-old traditions of people power".
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Join Edith Salas of Salas Properties & host Jenn Barlow as they visit the Coronado Shores community. The towers have amazing views including the world famous Hotel del Coronado, downtown San Diego, San Diego Bay, the City of Coronado, Point Loma, and the Pacific Ocean.
Athens, TX (75751)

Today

Variable clouds with thunderstorms - possibly severe in the afternoon. Damaging winds and large hail with some storms. High near 75F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected..

Tonight

Isolated thunderstorms during the evening, becoming fair overnight. Low 54F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%.
EV

Abandoned Tesla in Mariupol, you can always find some petrol, but when electricity is out, then its out.. pic.twitter.com/JTYeKnj3Dx  Aldin ???????? (@aldin_ww) March 19, 2022

The user Aldin shared a video of an abandoned Tesla Model 3 in Mariupol, a city that Russian forces have almost completely destroyed and left without electricity. It was enough for this Twitter user to say that you can always find some petrol, but when electricity is out, then its outAlthough the car is really stopped in the middle of the destroyed city, it was a poor conclusion based on false premises. The first is that thewas abandoned because it ran out of electricity when it had a flat rear tire. The wheels suggest it is a Model 3 Performance , with notoriously difficult-to-replace tires even when no dictator is around trying to invade your country.The second is that you can always find gasoline. Fuel pumps work with electricity, which means that a power shortage will also make them stop. Supposing you have a jerry can, it will not last for long with an engine that throws away 60% of its energy just with fumes and heat. If fuel distribution stops, all you have is what is available. With everybody needing gas or diesel, it will end sooner than later.The last mistake Aldin commits is to suppose that when electricity is out, then its out There are multiple ways to generate electricity. On the other hand, we have never heard of anyone being able to make gasoline at home. People always had to convert engines to other fuels to keep their cars going in times of oil scarcity: gasogene or ethanol, for example.Check the people that have solar panels at home. Although some people do not have enough of them to produce as much electricity as an EV would need to take long trips, they can help to fully charge it in a few days. Those savvier with electric devices can also create devices to generate electricity. An electric motor or an alternator can play that role powered by wind, water, or even a bicycle.Apart from that, electric vehicles are very efficient machines, which means they need way less energy to move around than combustion-engined cars. An example of that also comes from Ukraine, where Lieutenant Tetiana Chornovol uses her red Chevrolet Volt as an ecologically clean killing machine.As The New York Times tells us, she commands two teams of a half-dozen or so people each, firing Ukrainian-made, tripod-mounted missiles, which they transport to ambush positions in their personal cars. The red Volt is one of them. The worlds first mass-produced plug-in hybrid helps her move silently to places where she can hit Russian invaders with Stugna-P missiles.Although the Volt has a combustion engine under the hood, it is mainly used to recharge the battery pack. That makes it a very efficient and versatile machine: it could feed either on gasoline or pure electricity, whatever was available in times of war. We suspect Lt. Chornovols Volt gets juice directly from plugs. May it keep helping her defend her home.
Western companies and totalitarian regimes are old friends. Despite their differences, money is their only common denominator. France, for example, owns a 15.1-percent stake in Groupe Renault, the French automotive colossus that has gingerly resumed production in Russia.

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Following a comprehensive 12-month study financed by the UK government, ATI published a report called Our Vision for Zero-Carbon Emission Air Travel. The studys main conclusion is that, in order to achieve the net-zero goal by 2050, the first green aircraft should enter service by 2035. This means that the hydrogen technology for airplanes should be ready for demonstration as soon as 2025.According to Chris Gear, the projects director, urgent investment in green energy plus big changes in regulations and infrastructure are key for ensuring that the UK will be at the forefront of the green aviation revolution.ATI also makes a bold prediction  if half of the commercial aircraft would be powered by hydrogen by 2050, up to four gigatons (Gt) of carbon emissions could be avoided. Thats the equivalent of global aviations carbon emissions over a period of four years. Further, this would lead to a massive 14 Gt cut by 2060.In order to get there, Britain should roll out a midsize hydrogen-powered airplane by 2035 and a narrowbody version by 2037. ATI introduced its midsize aircraft concept in 2021. Boasting a wingspan of 177 feet (54 meters), it would be equipped with two turbofan engines and several tanks that would carry liquid hydrogen at -250 degrees Celsius (-418 degrees Fahrenheit).This future commercial aircraft could fly 279 passengers from London to far away destinations, such as San Francisco, Beijing, or Rio de Janeiro, as fast as conventional aircraft, promising an impressive range of 5,250 nautical miles (6,000 miles/9,723 km).Efforts in the aerospace industry should be geared towards the development of liquid hydrogen technology, which ATI predicts will become more affordable than SAF (sustainable aviation fuel) by the mid-2030s, as well as the infrastructure.ATI will continue to publish a series of reports showcasing the detailed conclusions of the FlyZero study, which will also be incorporated in the hydrogen aircraft technology that the Institute is currently developing.
This rendering by Instagram's "jlord8" doesn't use the latest-generation Chevy Silverado as a base, but the 2014 Cheyenne concept. Shown at the 2013 SEMA Show, it was a sportier take on the then-new third-gen Silverado with carbon-fiber elements, blue accents, and Camaro Z/28 wheels.The digital Buick conversion retains only the single-cab layout of the truck, though. No stripes, different wheels, and, more importantly, a different grille. The latter is of the "waterfall" variety, with vertical several vertical slats filling the massive gap between the headlamps. Needless to say, this front fascia makes the Silverado look dull.The wheels seem inspired by the BBS-style rollers that Buick offered on the Grand National back in the 1980s. And enhance the sporty appeal of this "what if?" truck even further.Speaking of "what ifs," it would be totally cool for Buick to join GMC in badge-engineering the Chevrolet Silverado. Yes, it won't happen, but just think about the opportunities here. Not only could we get yet another version of the mighty Silverado, but Buick would also get a high-selling truck. One that could also become extremely popular in China, Buick's largest market right now.On the other hand, a Buick Silverado doesn't make much sense now since GMC already offers a luxury version of the truck. And Chevrolet's top trims already cover the premium market. Oh well...While it may seem like it at first glance, a Buick-badged truck isn't unheard of. The company started making light commercial vehicles in 1907. They were called Model 2 through Model 4 and covered the 1/2- and 3/4-ton markets.Buick also introduced a light truck called the SD4 in 1922. Based on a passenger car platform, it was built in only 2,700 units before GM decided that only Chevrolet and GMC should focus on trucks.
Certain events only take place over the weekend or during a single day. But TX2K22 made sure to account for the sometimes-pesky spring weather and had enough leeway between March 16th and 20th. And it was for good reasons, as the sunny days saw crowds of 12k strong in attendance at Houston Raceway Park (Baytown, Texas), according to the organizers.Naturally, that meant someone had to keep them entertained. Case in point, the videographer behind the Drag Racing and Car Stuff channel on YouTube was on point during TX2K22 and already has a cool specimen of a nail-bitingly close race to highlight. And it is one of the very traditional Mopar vs. GM varieties, just in case you were wondering what gives.By the way, there is virtually no reason at all to consider these battle-hardened racers and their spectacular rides anything but monsters. The decals clearly show that we are not dealing with stock representatives of the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon and Cadillac CTS-V breeds. The former crimson beast wears the brand of Bailys Hyperformance Factory from Fort Worth, Texas. Meanwhile, the latter is an older acquaintance of D.R.A.C.S., the turbocharged 2009 Cadillac CTS-V from Vengeance Racing Logically, the audience was fully expecting an epic battle for ages. And they sure got one, frankly. The turbo Caddy CTS-V rolled better off the line and had the advantage when passing the Christmas tree as the opponent almost pulled a wheelie off the starting block. Then, Bailys monster sure seemed to catch up... Or maybe it was just the shooting angle of the video embedded below.Anyway, in the end, this proved to be a veritable photo finish. And the victor came up on top with an 8.146s pass (at 171 mph/275 kph) against the other dragstrip warriors 8.153s run (at 169 mph/272 kph)! But we are not going to spoil the chance of finding out whos who...
Treser was a German tuning company created by an engineer who used to work for Audi and help develop the mighty Audi Quattro. After he left the carmaker, he established a small shop that worked on Ingolstadt's products, made them look meaner, and tweaked their engines to produce more power. The European Treser version provided up to 250 horses for this model, which was insane for those times from a turbocharged 2.3-liter inline-five engine. Remember that this is a front-wheel drive vehicle that competed against the BMW 5 Series and the Merc's E-Class. Well, it didn't win, but at least it tried.Walter Treser hit a barrier in the U.S.: he couldn't upgrade the engines due to stricter emission regulations, so the customers had to live with just the standard 140 hp. But the tuner didn't give up and sold the car anyway with an aero body kit. The car that you see here has it. Even though some parts look like they were repaired, the overall appearance is of a mean vehicle built for speed. But due to the weak engine, it is like an econobox with a wild body kit. The wheels, though, are just awesome. You can hardly say that you often got to see that design.Moreover, Treser insisted on putting his company name on the car and installed small badges on the front and rear bumper. He also added the Treser writing on the trunk lid, just below the fat lip spoiler. The icing on the cake is found on the fenders, where some gutter-like cladding adorns the wheel-wells. Well, the Mercedes-Benz 300 Gullwing had something like that in the '50s.Inside, Doug DeMuro emphasizes the Audi Treser Super 5000 unique features, such as the quirky automatic climate control unit or the steering wheel design. Although, I have to admit that the latter looks better than the original one found in those times Audis. As for the infotainment screen, I wouldn't go that far to call that squared LCD more than an on-board computer display. Moreover, I had a watch that was bigger than that. Last but not least, that metallic label looks like it was mounted by someone who had never held a screwdriver in their hands before.As for driving, the Audi 5000 was good for its times, but not above the BMW 5 Series E34 or the E-Class W124 . True, its well-composed interior didn't have rattles and unusual noises. But it was a front-wheel drive vehicle, which made it less scary than the RWD sedans built by the other two German premium carmakers. Although, as Doug notices, it feels livelier than a 140 hp sedan, and he's right. I still remember that the 5000 felt very quick on its feet.But now, since the car is up for sale on Doug's website Cars and Bids , the potential buyers should check if they can get a proper Treser powertrain installed and give the car the performance it deserves according to its looks.
kWh

Even though the winter season is mostly over, Im sure some of Taigas customers will be pleased to know their electric snowmobiles are on the way. Reservation holders who opted for the Nomad model will soon receive their zero-emission snow toys, with this being just one of the three models of electric snowmobiles to be released by Taiga Motors.The other two models available are Ekko and Atlas, which are going to roll out once the companys Shawinigan factory in Quebec becomes operational. For now, a smaller number of Nomad units are produced at a facility in Montreal.Taigas 2022 Nomad electric snowmobile is a versatile vehicle suitable for anything from family outings to trail riding and workhorse tasks. It has a clean design, is easy to use, and requires little to no maintenance. It weighs 654 lb (297 kg) and measures 128.9 (327 cm) in length, 61 (155 cm) in height, with a stance of 42.3 (107.4 cm).The snowmobile has a towing capacity of 1,125 lb (510 kg), a maximum payload of 126 lb (57 kg), and comes with a direct drive system, just like the other two models. Taiga boasts of the snowmobile featuring a nearly indestructible toothed belt that reduces maintenance to a minimum while maximizing performance. A 90 hp electric motor and a 23battery are included as standard, or you can opt for the performance package and get a 120 hp motor paired with a larger battery.In the standard configuration, the Nomad offers up to 62 miles (100 km) on a charge, while with the bigger battery, you can squeeze up to 83 miles on a single charge. As for the recharging of the battery, the snowmobile can get to 100 percent in up to 14 hours with Level 1 charging and 3.5 hours with Level 2 charging. Level 3 charging is also available and will get the battery to 80 percent full in just 30 minutes.The Taiga Nomad electric snowmobile starts at approximately $17,500.
Also known as the Loyal Wingman on account of the development program that gave birth to it, the drone has been rechristened this week, at the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Base Amberley, in Queensland, as the MQ-28A Ghost Bat.The BATS will eventually be available for global operators, but the Ghost Bat designation will only be employed for those deployed with the Australian military. The rest of the world will continue to know the drone as the Airpower Teaming System.The introduction of the new popular name is a rare and special moment in aviation history for our RAAF partners and industry team of over 35 Australian suppliers, said in a statement Glen Ferguson, director Airpower Teaming System Australia and International.Selecting the Ghost Bat, an Australian native mammal known for teaming together in a pack to detect and hunt, reflects the unique characteristics of the aircrafts sensors and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance abilities, and is a fitting name for this pioneering capability.The drone is still undergoing testing, and for the remainder of 2022, the efforts of its engineers will focus on sensor and missionisation capabilities. Back in November last year, Boeing introduced into the test program a second drone to expand and speed up capabilities.Ghost Bats general specs are not fully known. We do know the drone is 38-feet (11.7 meters) long and can travel for as much as 2,300 miles (3,700 km) on a single mission. Its main goal is to provide surveillance and reconnaissance, but can also perform electronic warfare if need be.
ABS

EV

That right, folks, ABS for bicycles exists and has been available for some time now. While it may seem a bit crazy to do something like this, Bosch, the team behind thewe're looking at today, shows us why such systems are being developed and why our future bicycles may be nothing like the ones we grew up with.In light ofMonth here on autoevolution, I talked to Bosch about the e-bike industry and how their presence seems to be shaping this mobility sector. Well, during our conversation, one feature that came up was ABS. Since I wasn't familiar with this particular component for bicycles and e-bikes, I naturally looked into Bosch's work. That's what we'll be looking at today.Now, for us, ordinary folk, the ones that grew up without fancy hydraulic brakes, locking up your brakes may have been something you didn't experience often. However, as time went on and technology got better , components dropped in price, and these days, nearly any bike you buy over $600 can be equipped with hydraulic brakes. The question is, do you really need them?Well, most manufacturers seem to think so. But that begs the question: Why? One reason manufacturers are pushing for hydraulic brakes is that they offer more stopping power than mechanical brakes, be they on a disc or rim. But part of the story also has to do with the incompatibility between different hydraulic brake brands; it's a way for manufacturers to ensure the selling of their own components. Yet, when we think of braking systems on e-bikes, we need to analyze things differently Something magical happens when you start adding things like a battery pack, motor, torque sensors, controllers, and extra lines, your bike is bound to get heavier. Now, take a heavier bike, add some fifth-grade laws of physics to it (something about objects in motion), and you may need to seek the stopping power of hydraulic brakes. Back to square one, it is.Since e-bikes look as though they're here to stay, and hydraulic brakes are strong and making people money, Bosch decided they would tackle some of the issues associated with hydraulic braking and solve them with modern solutions . How did they do this? Simply by creating an ABS.According to Bosch, 34% of all bicycle accidents happen because riders lock up their front wheel, a mistake I, too, have made. Doing a scorpion with a bike is one thing, but performing one with an e-bike, hauling butt, and doing it with a heavy machine (some weighing as much as 60 lbs or more), can be fatal , especially if helmets are omitted.Now, just like ABS on your car, Bosch's is meant to keep your brakes from locking up while offering the maximum stopping power possible. But for this ABS, rather than pumping your brakes, if wheel lock is anticipated by the sensors monitoring each wheel, the control unit mounted to the handlebar will only modify "the braking pressure." Nothing about classic pumping is mentioned.The system doesn't just work on the front wheel alone; the rear wheel gets some attention too. Here, if the rear sensor senses any disruption to safe braking conditions, the ABS is triggered, and it ultimately helps keep the rear tire from lifting and flipping you over. However, this feature seems to be more the result of the ABS acting on the front brake. After all, how often have you seen someone flip because they braked only on the rear?So, how good is thig setup? Well, with the ABS in place, Bosch is reporting a reduction in accidents of 29%, results obtained from a "Bosch accident research study." a near 30% reduction in accidents? Seems pretty legit, considering some OEMs are selling this system for around 500 EUR (552 USD at current exchange rates). Oh, and speaking of weight, you'll be making your e-bike heavier with about 800 grams (1.76 pounds) or so. But that doesn't matter anymore.Diving deeper into the system, I found out that a brake component manufacturer was called upon to develop the system, Magura, so give them a big thank you for providing levers, lines, discs, pads, basically all other components of the braking system.As cool as all of that sounds, how come we haven't seen much or heard much about this system? After all, it's been around since 2017 or so. Nothing of what I'm about to say is official, but I think it has a lot to do with that massive bulge hanging off your handlebar. Then you've got extra brake lines and extra gear too. Seems a bit much, and I may not be the only one who feels this way. What about you? Do you feel you'd mount this system to your bike, or would you look for alternatives
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

It all started with a complaint about potential windshield looseness in a 2016 model. Not long after, the automaker identified other claims of windshield leaks, unwanted noise, and even flapping. Through the month of November 2021, the manufacturer continued to analyze field data.In parallel, Kia North America identified glass looseness on certain sections of the windshield. Come December 2021, the automaker discovered insufficient primer application. Kia, therefore loaned a 2014 model for inspection, only to find the same kind of looseness on certain sections of the windshield. The company then removed the windshield from this vehicle, only to confirm insufficient adhesion due to not enough primer thickness.The companys South Korean office told the North American division that a deviation in the application of primer at the assembly plant is the root cause for this condition. Following that exchange of information, Kia North America didnt have a choice. Following more than 256 warranty claims, 25 techline cases, and 24 customer complaints, the manufacturer decided to call back no fewer than 30,362 units from the 2014 to 2016 model years.These cars were produced between February 1st, 2013, and January 7th, 2016, as per documents filed with the. Strangely, the safety boffins couldnt explain who is responsible for the poor windshield adhesion that led to this callback.Dealers will be informed of this problem on May 10th, the day Kias retailers will also be notified of the remedy procedure. More specifically, service techs will have to reinstall the windshield with proper primer application.Customers, meanwhile, will be notified of the recall on May 13th.
ICE

EV

PHEV

From the start, you might consider Christian von Koenigsegg as being biased towards internal combustion engine () vehicles, but keep in mind he runs a car company  and an exclusive one as such. So, its natural for this man to have an eye on all the new technologies like the raxial flux motor . This means hes open to innovations since his company is doing some of the most important ones at the moment. Automatically, this is a clear sign that he doesnt simply dismiss EVs. His position, however, reveals some things we all might want to consider.In the interview with Auto Motor und Sport, he says that its hard to differentiate between electric vehicles that are now on sale. The CEO gives a simple example: a customer will drive certain cars, will enjoy different types of engines, and will pick what he likes most from a bunch of options. Some might go for a four-cylinder, while others might like V12s. Who knows, maybe a diesel ends up as being more suitable.His argument is that we can understand whats under the hood of different types of ICE cars, and we make our informed or sentimental choices based heavily on this fact. Its not always happening this way, but when we buy a car we really want, the engine matters a lot.Most car enthusiasts feel theres a difference between a V8 and a V12. A flat-four is kind of fun. A flat-twelve is really cool. It has a lot to do with the fact that we grew up with them and have experience with them and that the differences are relatively obvious. () I dont think we will ever perceive the differences in the way we have with combustion engines, said Christian von Koenigsegg.While he may be pessimistic about what enthusiasm EVs will bring to the table, he remains confident in their ability to provide engineers with a lot of fun. The CEO says there are multiple competing solutions on the market, and thats good for consumers.Its hard to disagree with him because we have, on one hand, EVs that are silent, offer crazy power numbers, 0-62 mph (0-100 kph) times that seem to break the laws of physics in some cars like the Model X Plaid or the Rivian R1T or the Hummer, and on the other hand, we find the sounds made by V8s, V10s, V12s and even in-line five-cylinder cars to be intoxicating.For now, we think it's good that drivers have to chance to choose between a plethora of options: ICE, mild hybrid (mHEV), plug-in hybrid (), range-extender (REEV), EVs, or even fuel-cell vehicles (FCEVs) are all amazing in their own way. Each car can find its way onto the next owner because that person has certain transportation needs. Moreover, this keeps the competition alive, which should also keep the innovation going. There's no real downside, apart from the environmental impact of using so many materials. The future might change this, and it won't be necessary for the better.But Christian von Koenigsegg says we cant know for certain whats best yet when it comes to EVs because there are multiple components involved that need to work together to provide the best powertrain possible.Watch the interview down below for yourself and share with us what you found interesting if youd like that.
EV

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) posted a reward of $1,000 for anyone who can help identify the driver of the rented 2018 Tesla Model S . The officers have seen the multiple videos available and started an inquiry that uncovered the fact this car doesnt belong to the irresponsible motorist. Initial information available on social media shortly after the incident implied thiswas the property of the reckless driver.The Police are saying the car was abandoned at the scene, while confirming that a misdemeanor hit-and-run was completed. Detectives have opened an investigation, but theres no description of the driver. The footage that can be found online and linked in the initial story shows the Tesla flying through an intersection, crashing, and hitting two other cars and some trashcans. Those that attended the stunt went after the car after it stopped moving and checked on those that were inside. Unfortunately, the video cuts right as theres a chance of seeing whos behind the wheel.LAPD made public the info on the $1,000 reward for those who can help with apprehending the person responsible on YouTube and Twitter, and a Tesla expert was the first to offer his help. The man says hes able to perform some forensics on the vehicle and can gather more information, including rough location of the vehicle over time if the logs are intact.But his effort might not be needed after all. Rumors on social media state that the Police are already in contact with the driver, and YouTuber Alex Choi provided the details of the encounter that led to the unfortunate event. The renter is quoted as saying that he was doing 55 mph (88 kph), and gave it a little more as he had a full car of people and a cat in there.LAPD reminds everyone that, when involved in a traffic crash, we have to stop and check on the other parties, make sure they are alright, call 9-1-1 if they need medical attention, and to exchange information.For now, the $1,000 reward is still available. The Police are asking anyone with relevant information to contact Detective Juan Campos, Central Traffic Detectives, at (213) 833-3713 or e-mail him at 31480[@]lapd.online. For those that want to remain anonymous, theres also an online form on LAPD s website named Anonymous Web Tips. The form can be accessed here According to the California Vehicle Code, a misdemeanor hit-and-run can lead to six months in county jail and/or a fine of $1,000. Circumstances of the event can also add probation and restitution for the damage to property to the sentence.
Imagine driving up to a place that has embedded the automated valet parking technology in a vehicle that has everything it needs to drive itself through parking lots and even adjacent spaces. All you need to do is reach the dedicated drop-off spot, and then select the automated parking valet system to do the rest.Unlike other automated parking systems, this one does not need a driver inside the vehicle, so you will have to step out. Your passengers will have to do the same, and it would be wise to take out your luggage as well. From there, you can tell the vehicle that you are ready for it to leave and park itself through the Mercedes me app. Mercedes-Benz calls the technology Intelligent Park Pilot (they write it in full caps, though), and it has been demonstrated on an EQS . However, the tech is not standard on the EQS, and the parking lot that works with this system needs to have a specially designed system from Bosch to make things happen. Once those two conditions are met, the system should work without a hitch.As you may have observed, LTE and 3G data signals get dangerously low in parking garages, especially in underground structures, while GPS or radio connectivity is also an issue in situations like these. That is the reason such services are not possible without the help of additional installed infrastructure.The first demonstration was conducted in conjunction with the InterContinental Downtown Los Angeles Hotel, which has 889 rooms available.Once the hotel guests decide to leave, all they need to do is use the app to instruct the vehicle to return in front of the hotel at the designated pick-up spot. Sounds like the future, right? Well, wealthy people have had this, and still have this, if they have a car with a chauffeur.If you fear that this service will lead to the elimination of parking valets, do not worry, as Mercedes-Benz notes that people will still be required to plug EVs and PHEVs into charging stations, wash them if desired, as well as maintain the systems that make this service possible We should also note that few people might get this system anyway, so it will take at least a decade, to be optimistic, until this becomes even close to being mainstream. To be fair, we may be wrong on this, so do not bet money on it happening or not happening.Mercedes-Benz describes it as being a step in the direction of fully automated driving, which is true, but the company will still need several government approvals in multiple countries before offering such a service.
When you stumble upon a two-wheeled rarity that looks as tidy as this 2006 Ducati Paul Smart 1000 LE , you know youve struck gold! The Italian gemstone we're about to examine is one of only 2,000 such entities in existence, and its digital odometer reads a very modest fourteen miles (23 km).Recently, this Terblanche-designed stunner was fitted with a youthful battery and fresh timing belts, but the remainder of its hardware is still entirely stock. The PS1000LE draws power from an air-cooled 992cc desmodromic L-twin, whose force travels to the bikes rear chain-driven wheel by means of a six-speed gearbox.Featuring two valves per cylinder, a single belt-driven camshaft., and a compression ratio of 10.0:1, the fuel-injected mill is good for up to 92 ponies at 8,000 rpm. When the tachometer shows 6,000 revs, youll get to experience a maximum torque output figure of 67 pound-feet (91 Nm).The engines oomph can launch Ducati s special-edition pearl from zero to 60 mph (96 kph) in just 3.1 ticks of the stopwatch. With a dry weight of 423 pounds (192 kg), the 06 MY Paul Smart 1000 LE is able to hit a respectable top speed of 135 mph (217 kph).Its construction packs a tubular steel trellis frame, which rests on 43 mm (1.7 inches) upside-down Ohlins forks at the front and a piggyback monoshock at six oclock. Up north, braking duties are handled by dual 320 mm (12.6 inches) discs and four-piston Brembo calipers, while the rear hoop flaunts a single 245 mm (9.6 inches) brake disc thats paired with a twin-piston caliper.This unscathed stunner is being auctioned off on Bring a Trailer by Graham Rahals Ducati dealership, and youve got until Thursday afternoon (March 24) to make an offer  if your wallet can handle it, that is. At the moment, one would have to spend almost forty grand in order to best the top bidder, who is offering a whopping $36,000 for Bolognas collectible beauty.
StoreDot is an Israeli battery developer popular for its innovative XFC (extreme fast charging technology) that can fully charge a battery within five minutes, although the startup wants to push the boundaries of fast charging even further. Within a decade, the company aims to deliver 100 miles of range with just a two-minute charge.Olas investment in the aforementioned company gives it exclusive rights to manufacture in India batteries that integrate this technology. To that end, the Indian manufacturer plans to set up a Gigafactory for producing cells, as demand generated by its e-scooter Futurefactory keeps on growing. Ola describes the facility as the worlds largest 2W factory and it is where its highly acclaimed S1 and S1 Pro e-scooters are produced.Commenting on his latest financial decision, Olas CEO, Bhavish Aggarwal, explained that the future of EVs lies in better, faster, and high energy density batteries that are capable of rapid recharging and delivering higher range. It is why his company is investing in core cell and battery technologies, ramping up in-house capabilities.Ola Electrics S1 and S1 Pro electric scooters were unveiled last summer as affordable two-wheelers that can deliver high performance. The S1 version can reach speeds of up to 90 kph (56 mph) and offers a range of up to 121 km (75 miles) on a charge. The S1 Pro can go as fast as 115 kph (71 mph) and boasts a range of 181 km (112 miles) on a charge.However, the batteries are not removable, which makes them a bit inconvenient to charge. The standard version of the e-scooter is priced at $1,360, while the S1 Pro will set you back around $1,770.
4MATIC

Kim Kardashian is a certified car girl, or so she proclaims herself. The American socialite and businesswoman prides herself on a very expensive, custom collection. And Pete Davidson gets to enjoy all of her cars and even take a few of them out for a ride every once in a while.But this time, when Kim returned from her business trip having launched her Skims Swim line, Pete Davidson was there to pick her up in his car on Sunday morning at the Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles, California. The vehicle he drove was a Mercedes-Benz S-Class . There are several engine options for this luxury sedan across the world. But in the U.S., only the S 500 and the S 580, both withall-wheel drive are available. Although Pete Davidson doesn't refer to himself as a "car guy," it would make more sense he would go for the more powerful one, the S 580.The German brand placed a 4.0-liter V8 biturbo engine with a mild-hybrid drive at the core of the S 580, which delivers 496 horsepower (503 ps), and a maximum torque of 516 lb-ft (700 Nm) to all wheels via a nine-speed 9G-TRONIC automatic transmission and the 4MATIC four-wheel drive system.The luxury sedan can accelerate from zero to 60 mph (0-96 kph) in 4.4 seconds and has a top speed of 129 mph (208 kph).The Keeping Up with the Kardashians star landed from Miami, after having flown on her private jet, a Gulfstream G650ER , which she fully customized to match her house. And, while Pete doesnt have cars as expensive as she does, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class is certainly very luxurious and comfortable.
SUV

At the end of last week and for the first time since the onset of the international health crisis, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Kate Middleton, made an appearance for St. Patricks Day Parade in Aldershot, outside London, UK. The ceremony included an appearance by the Irish Guards and mascot Turlough Mor, aka Seamus. It also included, though not officially, a brand new 2022 Range Rover 4x4, the fifth-generation model that will only start deliveries to UK customers this spring  and arrive even later to international buyers.According to the Daily Mails This Is Money , the brand newwas used as a Royal car and has been made part of the Royal fleet as early as November last year. But this was the first time one was seen on public roads, aside from those times when JLR employees drove it for tests. William and Kate arrived in it for the days festivities and were driven home in it once they were over. If tradition is anything to go by, it will probably be seen at other formal events, too.Reached for more info, Jaguar Land Rover would only say that JLR does not comment on Royal vehicles. Again, this is standard practice where JRL and the Royal Family are concerned: the brand has been supplying the Royal Family with standard or custom vehicles for decades and is one of their best-known partners . As such, it makes sense for the highest-profile members to get to drive brand-new vehicles before anyone else. It also makes for great publicity.That is not to say that the relationship is exclusive. Members of the Royal Family have similar partnerships with Bentley and Rolls-Royce and occasionally choose to drive other brands  like that time when Prince Charles got a Tesla as a present.
Marriages fall in 2021 leading to lower birth rates in China, despite declining divorce rate

09:59, March 21, 2022 By Du Qiongfang ( Global Times

The number of Chinese couples tying the knot dropped sharply in 2021 which an expert said would continue to cause a decline in China's birth rate, despite that the number of Chinese couples who got divorced in 2021 also dropped, a temporary effect caused by the cooling-off period stipulated by the newly enacted Civil Code last year.

A total of 7.63 million couples registered to get married across the nation in 2021, a record low for the past 36 years since 1986 when the Ministry of Civil Affairs started to release such statistics.

He Yafu, an independent demographer told the Global Times on Sunday that the decline in the number of marriage registrations will inevitably result in the decline of the birth rate in China, since most children are born within marriages in China.

The number of marriage registrations across the nation has been decreasing sharply over the past three years with the number of couples who got married less than 10 million in 2019, less than 9 million in 2020, and less than 8 million in 2021.

The number of couples who tied the knot in 2021 was only 56.6 percent of the number in 2013 when the number of marriage registrations reached a peak, according to news website yicai.com.

According to He, marriage registration numbers in China have been declining for eight consecutive years due to a declining number of young people, more men than women of marriageable age and the decision to put off marriage until they are older.

Besides, due to Chinese women's rising educational and economic development, their willingness to get married is even lower than that for men.

Meanwhile, statistics from the Ministry of Civil Affairs showed that the number of Chinese couples who got divorced also reduced dramatically last year compared with the number in 2020.

According to the latest statistics from the ministry, a total of 2.14 million couples registered their divorce across the nation in 2021, only accounting for 57.3 percent of the total number of 3.73 million couples in 2020.

Before 2020, the number of couples who got divorced had increased in three consecutive years with 3.69 million in 2017, 3.8 million in 2018 and 4.04 million in 2019, according to The Paper.

Many places which had previously released their marriage statistics for 2021 said the decreasing number of divorced couples was due to the cooling-off period set up for divorce registration in the Civil Code which was enacted on January 1, 2021.

For example, in Hefei, capital city of East China's Anhui Province, 16,851 local couples got divorced in 2021, an unconventional drop of over 51 percent compared with the number of 34,591 couples in 2020, according to Hefei Evening News.

According to local civil affairs workers, as many as 30,107 local couples applied for divorce between January and November in 2021 but only 16,851 couples eventually got divorced, with 44 percent of divorce applicants withdrawing their applications actively or passively after the cool-off period.

However, He pointed out that the decline in the number of divorces is probably a temporary effect resulting from the cool-off period, since China's divorce rates had increased between 2013 and 2020, consistent with the rising trend of divorce globally.

Due to insufficient childbirth encouragement policies, He predicted that China will probably face negative population growth this year.

(Web editor: Liang Jun, Hongyu)
With all the violence now taking place in Eastern Europe, nations further to the West are very interested in getting assurances from their allies, especially the U.S., that, if need be, some serious firepower can be sent to defend them. And there are few things that scream firepower than the mighty Big Ugly Fat Fella.

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SUV

The company that made a name for itself with small cars made for cities will officially unveil its first SUV later this year. To be specific, the Smart #1, which will be the firstfrom Smart, will be unveiled on April 7, 2022, if all goes according to plan. So, why are we so late with the spy shots?Well, as we previously explained, this model was co-designed with the folks at Geely, so its key functions have already been tested back in China. Moreover, it sits on a Geely-designed platform, which means that the French would say Les jeux sont faits on the whole design part, and the development team is just testing some adjustments for the European market.Now, while these may be the first spy shots of this prototype while it is being tested in Europe, Smart has released an official set of spy shots last month. The former confirm the validity of the latter, and both vehicles look like the concept vehicle that Smart showcased at the 2021 IAA in Munich last yea r.As you will scroll through the photo gallery, you will notice a Nissan Leaf right next to the Smart SUV. The Smart #1 looks like a giant next to the Japanese hatchback, while the latter may finally have the upper hand when the design is concerned.Last month, Smart also revealed the measurements of its upcoming SUV, and it is the biggest vehicle they have ever offered. The Smart #1 is 4,290 mm (168 inches) long, 1,910 mm (75 inches) wide, and 1,698 mm (66 inches) tall.You can now take back all those jokes about MINI, as Smart is doing the same thing now, just with a delay of a few years. Will it be too late? We do not think so, as the marque needed to offer a larger vehicle in its range that was also electric, so here we are.As for the name, Smart has less than a month to change #1 to just about anything else, but it looks like the company has no such plan.
BREAKING: Yesterday was a huge day for Tesla Giga Berlin. Tesla officially received their operating permit. This now officially enables them to start production & to deliver cars to customers! ????



The more than 200 things Tesla needed to show officials are now complete - Source pic.twitter.com/36KGzbNTwZ  Sawyer Merritt ???????? (@SawyerMerritt) March 19, 2022

This time tomorrow the wildest party in Germany will rock Giga Berlin to mark the official start of production . After much drama that threatened to derail the Giga Berlin plans entirely, Tesla finally received the full approval to build and deliver vehicles from the new facility in Gruenheide. It might be close to impossible for Tesla to crack full self-driving, but they achieved something even harder, as the Whole Mars Catalog Twitter account joked: obtaining a permit for a new car factory in Germany.With the final permit secured, Tesla Giga Berlin can now ramp up production to fulfill growing demand from European customers. The grand opening ceremony scheduled for tomorrow will also mark the first deliveries of made-in-Germany Tesla Model Y. Elon Musk is expected to personally hand over the keys to 30 lucky owners starting at 1:30 pm CET (5:30 am PST/8:30 am EST).Getting here was no easy job. Giga Berlin is already more than a year behind schedule and Tesla had to overcome countless problems, from environmental protests to all sorts of delays including silly ones like forgot to pay the bills. Tesla received approval in January to build 2,000 Model Y for testing purposes with the strict condition they would not sell those to customers.Later on, just as the German authorities were analyzing granting the final approval to Tesla, the environmentalist groups like the Nabu (Naturschutzbund Deutschland or Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union) and the Grune Liga filed a lawsuit to stop Tesla Giga Berlin over water-related fears . This led to a conditional approval for the Gigafactory, where Tesla needed to fulfill 400 conditions and requirements. Although this seems daunting, Tesla ticked all the checkboxes and got the final approval.Berlin Gigafactory plays an essential role in Teslas plans to meet European customers demands. At the moment, the Model Y and Model 3 vehicles sold in Europe are produced in China at Giga Shanghai. The Chinese gigafactory has already exceeded its planned capacity, and its said that no more vehicles beyond existing orders will be delivered to Europe by the end of 2022
They pick a Pixel to power Android Auto , pretty much because its a Google phone running a Google app. This cant go wrong.And yet, those who bought the brand-new Google Pixel 6 figured out the hard way that not even a Google phone can run Android Auto flawlessly. And in some cases, it actually cant run it at all.There are hundreds of posts on Googles forums indicating that Android Auto either disconnects at random times or just fails to even launch when a Google Pixel 6 is used to power the experience behind the wheel.Google has already confirmed its looking into all these reports, so right now, users struggling with the whole thing have no other option than to wait for an update.In the meantime, the Internet came to the rescue, and someone online has discovered a solution that more and more people try out to confirm it indeed does the magic.The whole thing comes down to buying an adapter that would be used to connect the phone to the head unit in the car. No matter what cable you use that is, as it looks like even high-speed and high-quality cords fail to get Android Auto running properly with a Pixel 6.Many people discovered that using a USB adapter (lots of affected users claim this one brought things back to normal, but others could fix the problem as well) prevents Android Auto from disconnecting even during longer trips. And in case Android Auto fails to launch, it now loads just fine.As far as Google is concerned, a full fix is still in the works, but nobody knows for sure when its supposed to land. If anything, one such adapter doesnt cost more than $10, so youre not losing a fortune if it fails to make a difference.
The 96th Test Wing , headquartered at the Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, is the one in charge with test flying and evaluating new U.S. Air Force (USAF) hardware, from airplanes to weapons. Given how the USAF is now engaged in an all out modernization effort, weve talked about these guys before.Now they come back into the spotlight thanks to a stunt they pulled back in January, and made public this month by the military branch: the first and last come-together of all five fighters in the test wings inventory.So, the stunning images we have in the attached gallery show the F-15EX Eagle II, the F-15E Strike Eagle, the F-15C Eagle, the F-16 Fighting Falcon, and the A-10 Thunderbolt II, as they flew over Eglin and the Emerald Coast at the end of Janury.According to the 40th Flight Test Squadron, who actually flew the planes, this was the only opportunity the unit had to take the planes to the sky at the same time. Thats because some of the planes are brand new (the Eagle II was delivered to Eglin in April 2021), and the A-10 was only there for three weeks for smart weapons integration testing.From a historical perspective, I think its a good image to capture the changing of the guard in flight test from F-15C to F-15EX and the unique nature of test squadrons operating multiple aircraft, said in a statement Col. Douglas Creviston, 96th Operations Group commander.
Dutch shipyard Damen Yachting is one of the world's most renowned luxury yacht builders. Over the years, Damen has been designing and constructing more than 100 Amels superyachts and continues to build incredible vessels that satisfy the customer's needs.The new Amels is the first of five 197-foot (60-meter) models designed by world-famous naval architect Espen ino. Commissioned by a repeat client, the next-generation Amels Limited Editions was introduced for the first time back in 2019.The shipyard has moved quite fast with the development of the superyacht. The Amels 60 arrived last year, in July, at Damen's facility in Vlissingen for the outfitting phase. Since then, a dedicated team has worked to bring the first hull of a new series of Limited Editions to life.Designed for the future, the luxury vessel features a bold exterior with geometric shapes and a sleek profile. This modern look is underlined by the custom color scheme selected by the owner, namely the metallic Pebble Grey hull with Matterhorn White.And it's not just the exterior by Espen ino that makes it a one-of-a-kind superyacht. The outside seamlessly blends with the outside thanks to the large windows and open spaces that surround the vessel. The owner of this first Amels 60 hull selected Winch Design to draw the unique interiors, which capture the "home at the beach" vibe.The rooms feature warm tones, and the materials used nicely reflect the light. The team of designers wanted to make the custom interiors the ideal place for relaxation at sea. Stones and different types of wood were also used to produce distinctive and textured finishes.To mirror the exterior, its interior design has a "subtle masculine edge" to it. Moreover, the asymmetric furniture placed in the rooms not only optimizes the available space but allows the natural motif to easily integrate with the geometric, angular exterior.The Amels 60 is all about space. It boasts a large sun deck, a foldable Owners suite balcony, and a swim platform that expands the exterior space. The yacht can accommodate up to 12 guests onboard. There's also room for a crew of 12, plus the captain.Passengers can access all of the Amels 60's decks via a spiraling staircase located at the center of the yacht. The windows mullions in the main salon appear to stretch through the deck to the Sky Lounge above. The continuous lines, along with the open spaces, give the interior an airy feel.The Amels 60 also has a stunning beach club. There, passengers can get closer to the sea and enjoy stunning views since this area connects to the water's edge. Since it's a luxury superyacht, water toys must be included in the package. On the foredeck, the Amels 60 can house a 30-foot (9-meter) tender.In terms of performance, the superyacht relies on hybrid power and propulsion technology to navigate across the sea. It can travel at 13 knots (15 mph/ 24 kph) for up to 5,179 miles (8,334 km), and it can reach a top speed of 15.5 knots (18 mph/ 29 kph).The Amels 60 has recently emerged from its shed at the shipyards facility in the Netherlands, showing its stunning custom paint scheme. The luxury vessel it's expected to be delivered to its owners later this spring.
A couple of years ago, the European aircraft manufacturer unveiled three aircraft concepts that would use hydrogen as fuel, two of them equipped with turbofan engines and the third one with a turboprop configuration, powered by modified gas-turbine engines.The most innovative of the three boasts a blended-wing body design that would allow it to conduct transcontinental flights of over 2,000 nautical miles (2,300 miles/3,700 km), with up to 200 passengers onboard.Since then, Airbus has been working diligently on the Zeroe technology, including cryogenic tanks for hydrogen storage and the related airport infrastructure. It has also signed agreements with SAS Scandinavian Airlines, Air New Zealand, and EasyJet in order to get feedback from these potential customers as it progresses with the aircraft design.A new milestone for this bold project is the recent partnership with Delta Air Lines. Simple Flying reports that Delta signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Airbus, as part of its Flight to Net Zero initiative, for the development of hydrogen aircraft. Delta, therefore, becomes the first U.S.-based airline to join the Zeroe project.It seems that the agreement doesnt involve financial investments, but the American airline will collaborate with Airbus on researching and developing the future hydrogen aircraft. This will include working on the aircraft concept, the aviation ecosystem, and coalition building. Delta will study the potential integration of the innovative Airbus aircraft into its fleet, focusing on range limits, refueling time, and airport compatibility.The two companies will also evaluate the costs and infrastructure plus regulation requirements for nationwide implementation.The Airbus hydrogen aircraft are planned to enter service within the next decade. Until then, the technology will be tested on Airbus A380 aircraft, starting in 2026.
It may not have been all that impressive, but the USS Langley, America's first converted aircraft carrier, would define American naval doctrine for the next century. It's an anniversary the noble American ship celebrates this year.In honor of the men and women who served aboard this historic ship, let's take a look back at some of the highlights of its remarkable but short career. Unlike most American warships, USS Langley went through about as many evolutions as the average Pokemon.The first and by far the most humdrum and dreary assignment under its belt came upon the day of its launch, August 14th, 1912, an occasion attended by the sitting United States President William Howard Taft. It was upon launch that the ship then christened the USS Jupiter that it took the role of a lowly Proteus class collier, a type of bulk cargo ship.Interestingly, this class of collier is most notable for being the first U.S. warships to feature a turbo-electric transmission powerplant courtesy of General Electric. As well as for having the bulk of the fleet lost in and around the area we know as the Bermuda Triangle.These include USS Cyclops, USS Proteus, and USS Nereus. As for the Jupiter, it served admirably during the First World War. Carrying soldiers, vehicles, and even aircraft to the war's western front.But it wouldn't be until after the war that this ship would take its historic new role. Authorized by the Navy on July 11th, 1919, the Jupiter sailed to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard of Portsmouth, Virginia. There it was refitted with the world's first purpose-built carrier flight deck.As wood was the most abundant material available in the early 1920s, it and a bare minimum of steel reinforcement constituted its construction. While at Portsmouth, the ship was rechristened the USS Langley.In Honor of Samuel Pierpont Langley, a contemporary of the Wright Brothers who very nearly beat the Wright Brothers to the title of the first man in the air. His iconic Aerodrome is still in the Smithsonian Institution's collection to this day.By March 1922, the USS Langley was ready to sail once more. Given the hull number CV-1, a Vought VE-7 "Bluebird" took off from Langley's deck on October 17th, 1922, with Lt. Virgil C. Griffin behind the controls.From there, the ship toured the waters of North America on a publicity tour for the U.S. Navy in the winter of 1923. For the next 12 years after 1927, the ship was stationed out of California and Hawaii on and off.By 1936, the ship was back in dry dock in California to be refitted as a seaplane tender. Thus ending the aircraft carrier career for the ship, but the twilight of the ship with more lives than most alley cats was still to come.At the outset of the U.S. entering the Second World War after the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbor, USS Langley away from the fray, at a dock in the Philippines. Far off from the chaos unfolding on American territory many miles away.The subsequent invasion of the islands by Imperial Japanese airpower forced the ship to flee to the Dutch East Indies, where it became a key part of the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDACOM) naval forces in the region. The ship continued to bring the fight to the enemy into the winter of 1942. On one fateful day, February 27th, 1942. the ship was intercepted by a fleet of over a dozen Imperial Japanese Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" bombers.The attack rendered the prized American ship dead in the water. At just past noon on that same day, the orders were given by the captain to abandon the ship. The mighty Langley went to its grave that afternoon, scuttled before it could be captured by the enemy.Only 232 men survived the attack, with many more killed when the USS Pesos rescue ship was sunk by Japanese torpedos. Though the USS Langley's career as an aircraft carrier was short, it proved the concept of a mobile command center from which Navys could launch aircraft was, in fact, possible and practical.All valuable information for the next round of American carriers, the Saratoga and Lexington. Both of which were commissioned in direct response to the lessons learned on the Langley. The rest, as they like to say, is just history.Check back for more military vehicle profiles and so much more here on autoevolution.
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President Biden will travel to Poland as part of his upcoming trip to Europe to discuss Russia's invasion of Ukraine with NATO and European allies, the White House said on Sunday night.

Driving the news: Biden is due to leave Washington, D.C., for Brussels on Wednesday. He will travel to Warsaw, Poland, which shares a border with Ukraine, this Friday, "where he will hold a bilateral meeting with President Andrzej Duda," per an emailed statement from press secretary Jen Psaki.

Yes, but: There were no plans for Biden to travel to Ukraine, Psaki tweeted.

What to expect: Biden and Duda "will discuss how the United States, alongside our Allies and partners, is responding to the humanitarian and human rights crisis that Russias unjustified and unprovoked war on Ukraine has created," Psaki said in her statement.

Meanwhile, a bipartisan delegation of American senators traveled to Germany and Poland over the weekend to meet with the countries' officials and also U.S. Special Operations Command Europe representatives.

Editor's note: This article has been updated with details of the U.S. senators' European trip and Psaki's Twitter comments.
Russian forces shelled the northwestern Kyiv district of Podilskyi late Sunday, striking a shopping center and houses and killing at least eight people, Ukrainian officials said.

The big picture: Russian naval forces were launching missile strikes on "targets across Ukraine" from blockaded coastal areas, per a U.K. Defense Ministry update as the invasion entered a 26th day. The besieged port city of Mariupol was hit by particularly intense attacks from land, sea and air.

Smoke rises in Mariupol as civilians are evacuated under the control of pro-Russian separatists March 20. Ukrainian officials said Russian forces had bombed a city art school sheltering about 400 civilians earlier in the day. Photo: Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

A man leaves with a few belongings from a building damaged by Russian rockets in Kharkiv on March 20. Photo: Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Soldiers and police examine the aftermath of a missile strike near a residential building in the Bilychi neighborhood of Kyiv on March 20. Photo: Matthew Hatcher/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

A Ukrainian police officer cordons off an area near a residential building that was hit by the debris from a downed rocket in Kyiv on March 20, as Russian forces tried to encircle Ukraine's capital. Photo: Fadel Senna/AFP via Getty Images

Go deeper ... Dashboard: Russian invasion of Ukraine

Editor's note: This article has been updated the death toll in Kyiv.
A Russian missile strike destroyed a shopping center and killed at least eight people in a residential district of Kyiv on Sunday in one of the strongest bombings of Ukraine's capital since the start of Russia's invasion, the New York Times reported.

The latest: Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced a new curfew for the city starting Monday and ending Wednesday in a post on Telegram.

What they're saying: Shops, pharmacies, gas stations, institutions will not work tomorrow, Klitschko said.

Therefore, I ask everyone to stay at home or in shelters  at sound of an alarm. Only those with special permits will be able to move around the city.

Klitschko said in another post that firefighters had extinguished a fire in the Podilskyi residential district from the strike, which also damaged six apartment buildings and the premises of two schools and two kindergartens.

He warned residents to wear masks because of air pollution from the strike and fires.

The big picture: There was no visible evidence of any military vehicles or hardware at the mall, according to the Times.

The strike is another example of Russian forces targeting civilian buildings in Ukrainian cities.

They have bombed multiple civilian targets  including a children's hospital  in Mariupol.

Go deeper: Ukraine rejects Russian demands to lay down arms in Mariupol
The Biden administration on Monday formally declared that Myanmar's military committed genocide against the country's Rohingya minority and crimes against humanity.

Driving the news: The designation comes five years after Myanmar's military intensified a bloody campaign against the Rohingya in Rakhine State. Thousands were killed and more than 745,000 people from the mostly Muslim ethnic minority fled to neighboring Bangladesh.

Myanmar's security forces have been accused of mass rape, murder and arson.

The International Court of Justice in 2020 ordered Myanmar authorities to protect Rohingya from genocide, saying they should comply with obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

What he's saying: "Beyond the Holocaust, the United States has concluded that genocide was committed seven times. Today, marks the eighth. I've determined that members of the Burmese military committed genocide and crimes against humanity against Rohingya," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday.

Blinken said he reached that decision "based on reviewing a factual assessment and legal analysis prepared by the State Department, which included detailed documentation by a range of independent impartial sources ... as well as our own rigorous fact-finding."

"The attack against Rohingya was widespread and systematic, which is crucial for reaching a determination of crimes against humanity. The evidence also points to a clear intent behind these mass atrocities: The intent to destroy Rohingya in whole or in part."

Blinken also focused on the Feb. 1, 2021, military coup in Myanmar, saying that while "today's determination of genocide, crimes against humanity is focused on Rohingya, it's also important to recognize that for decades, the Burmese military has committed killings, rape and other atrocities against members of other ethnic and religious minority groups."

Under military rule, "there's nobody that the Burmese military won't come for. No one is safe from atrocities under its rule."

After Myanmar's military seized power, the U.S. announced sanctions against the country.

Between the lines: While the Biden administration has called the Chinese government's actions against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in China's Xinjiang region a genocide, the administration had not been so explicit with regards to the Rohingya people, per Politico.

Blinken had ordered a review of the atrocities committed against the Rohingya, according to Reuters.

The big picture: Myanmar has rejected the genocide accusations, saying its crackdown in 2017 was in response to "terrorists" in the region.

The Rohingya, who are denied citizenship in Myanmar, have been described by the UN as the "world's most persecuted minority."

Go deeper: Myanmar soldiers confess to massacre of Rohingya Muslims

Editor's note: This story has been updated with comments from Blinken.
In a written reply to RFE/RLs Armenian Service, Armenias Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that there is no sufficient number of requests for evacuation by plane to organize such flights yet.

There have not been and are not enough citizens of Armenia wishing to be repatriated that would make us consider the expediency of organizing a charter flight for them, it said.

The ministry said that Armenians fleeing Ukraine mainly travel to five countries, namely: Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova. It said that they had been crossing land checkpoints to enter those countries on different days and in different numbers.

In none of the mentioned countries there has been a sufficient number of Armenian citizens wishing to return home, the ministry added.

The ministry did not provide information on how many Armenian citizens had actually expressed a wish to return home. Nor did it say how many citizens of Armenia or ethnic Armenian citizens of Ukraine had left the country since the start of the Russian invasion in late February.

Taking into account the fact that there are several checkpoints in Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova and citizens of other countries and not only Armenia cross these checkpoints, it is objectively impossible to control such a flow of people and register citizens of Armenia, especially that not all citizens of Armenia apply to Armenian embassies and consulates, the ministry said.

The Office of Armenias High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs told RFE/RLs Armenian Service last week that it was trying to help Armenians leaving Ukraine and arriving in adjacent countries with documentation issues. It said that it was also receiving applications from families who wished to go to Armenia, but had no such opportunity. The Office did not report the exact number of such families, though.

Last week, Armenian authorities said that at least 4,000 citizens of Ukraine had arrived in Armenia since the start of the war in that country. It did not specify how many of them were ethnic Armenians.

Ukraine is home to an estimated 350,000 ethnic Armenians. According to local Diaspora organizations, at least 11 ethnic Armenians, including eight civilians, have been killed in Ukraine since the start of the war.
Pativ Unem initiated hearings in Armenias National Assembly on the matter on Monday. The hearings were attended by the other opposition faction, Hayastan, and representatives of a number of extra-parliamentary parties. Members of Armenias ruling Civil Contract party did not attend the event.

Pativ Unems Hayk Mamijanian, who presented the amendment, said that they suggested that the prime minister and the foreign minister two or three times a year report to lawmakers behind closed doors about the security situation in the country and negotiation processes on foreign affairs.

We dont want a situation in which anyone could dare [tell lawmakers] that they are negotiating around whatever they want, said Mamijanian in an apparent reference to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinians remarks about Armenian-Azerbaijan talks a few months before the September-November 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Mamijanian said that provisions under which lawmakers can summon foreign-policy makers to report on international negotiations are practiced in a number of countries.

Pativ Unem faction leader Artur Vanetsian highlighted the importance of adopting the bill in the light of the recent developments, in which Azerbaijan recently presented a five-point proposal on starting peace talks with Armenia and Armenia asked international mediators to organize negotiations with Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan is putting forward new principles, which, according to the opposition, are principles of renouncing Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh  red.]. And the negotiations are being conducted by the government whose policy has already led Artsakh and Armenia to the current disastrous state, Vanetsian said, adding that the amendment they propose will help bring in a new element to the governments accountability.

Former opposition lawmaker Naira Zohrabian, who was among those invited to attend the parliamentary hearings, was skeptical that the government would approve the bill.

They will sooner report to [Azerbaijani President Ilham] Aliyev and Milli Majlis [Azerbaijans parliament] than to the Armenian parliament or Armenian society. I think that the countdown to the final loss of Artsakh has started. And we have no time for delay, she said.

In explaining why members of the ruling Civil Contract faction did not attend the hearings pro-government lawmaker Hrachya Hakobian said: We did not want to participate in a discussion that leads to nowhere.

Hakobian said that the government is already fully accountable to the public as all of its members answer questions of lawmakers in parliament every second week.

Moreover, there was an offer to the opposition to be informed about issues that could not be discussed in front of cameras during closed-door meetings, but they did not want to participate in such meetings, Civil Contracts member added.

Representatives of the Armenian opposition have also voiced concerns about possible Armenian concessions in the current dialogue with Turkey.

Hakobian described all opposition concerns that the government would sign any documents behind the publics back as unfounded.
Ultimately, there is nothing inadmissible in Azerbaijans proposal that was passed to Yerevan on March 10 except that these issues do not fully address the possible agenda of comprehensive peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and our answers were aimed at completing that agenda, Ararat Mirzoyan said in the National Assembly on Monday.

Armenias Foreign Ministry said on March 14 that it had applied to the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs (the United States, Russia and France) requesting that they organize Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations on a peace treaty on the basis of the UN Charter, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Helsinki Final Act.

It followed a statement by Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov that Baku had submitted a five-point proposal to Yerevan to normalize relations.

Baku insists that a future peace treaty with Yerevan should be based on five fundamental principles, including mutual recognition of each others sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual reaffirmation of the absence of territorial claims to each other and a legally binding obligation not to make such claims in the future, abstaining from threatening each others security, delimitation and demarcation of the border with the establishment of diplomatic relations and unblocking of transport links.

We consider the rights of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh and the addressing of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh to be key and fundamental. We are ready to start negotiations on this complete basis and it is with this proposal that we applied to the OSCE Minsk Group, the minister said, answering questions of lawmakers.

He stressed that negotiations have not started yet.

Once political settlement is acceptable to the parties, it should be put on paper and fixed in an agreement... We do not make any contradiction between territorial integrity and the right [of peoples] to self-determination or in the demarcation of borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan. We strongly believe that it does not concern the rights of Nagorno-Karabakhs Armenians, their status, etc., Mirzoyan stressed.

The top Armenian diplomat again reminded that Armenia does not regard the Nagorno-Karabakh issue as a territorial dispute or a matter of territorial encroachment on Azerbaijan.

It is solely and fully a question of the rights of Nagorno-Karabakh, Mirzoyan underscored.

The OSCE Minsk Group has not yet responded to Armenias application. Azerbaijan has not responded to Armenias offer to hold peace talks on the basis of the Minsk Group either.

Earlier on Monday it was reported that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held separate telephone conversations with his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts. The subject of a possible peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan was reportedly discussed during both phone calls.
Contributing columnist Jose Gaspar is a news anchor/reporter for Telemundo Bakersfield and KGET. Email him at elcompa29@gmail.com. The views expressed here are his own.
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Kern got a special mention in Gov. Gavin Newsom's May budget update last week, and if things go well, it might get substantially more than that.
Federal authorities have charged a 27-year-old Windsor Locks man with using the internet application Snapchat to allegedly sexually exploit at least seven girls, in Connecticut and elsewhere.

The U.S. Attorneys office said Monday it had charged Justin McKenney with multiple federal crimes, one of which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison if convicted. McKenney remains in custody, according to federal authorities.

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McKenney is accused of enticement of a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity, receipt of child pornography, possession of child pornography and transfer of obscene material to a minor.

McKenney was charged following an investigation by the Glastonbury Police Department into the alleged assault of a minor by someone she met on Snapchat. Federal prosecutors said the investigation revealed that McKenney, posing as a high school student and using Snapchat, began communicating with the victim in September 2021, and allegedly enticed her to engage in sexual activity.

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Between October 2021 and February 2022, federal prosecutors said, McKenney used Snapchat to engage in sexually explicit communications with at least six other girls in other states. McKenney sent sexually explicit messages, and sexually explicit images and videos of himself, to minor victims, and he received sexually explicit images and videos from minor victims, prosecutors said.

This prosecution is part of the U.S. Department of Justices Project Safe Childhood Initiative, which is aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse and exploitation. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, go to www.justice.gov/psc.

To report cases of child exploitation, go to www.cybertipline.com
Per AP News, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has filed a lawsuit against Amazon, advocating for the reinstatement of an employee it claims was fired in retaliation for leading protests over safety concerns regarding the company's Covid-19 protocols in April 2020.

Gerald Bryson worked at Amazon's Staten Island warehouse (JFK8) until he was fired at the start of the pandemic. At one point during a protest, Bryson got into a heated exchange with another worker, his attorney confirmed. Amazon cited the incident as grounds for Bryson's firing, claiming he violated the company's vulgar-language policy.

In a recent filing cited by Engadget, the NLRB highlights a video recording that confirms Bryson's use of foul language, but also reveals that the other employee, a white female, used foul language as well and directed a racial slur at Bryson. The female employee was let off with a warning.

Bryson will be able to resume his position at Amazon if the court approves the NLRB's request.

Related: An Amazon Driver Was Told She Would Be Fired If She Didn't Continue Delivering Packages Despite Tornado Warnings: Report

In December, New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is suing Amazon over Covid-19 safety measures, also filed a request to force the company to reinstate Christian Smalls, another fired employee who is a leader in the Amazon Labor Union, which aims to unionize JFK8.

The NLRB's lawsuit comes as Amazon faces union votes at both the Staten Island facility where Bryson worked and at the company's Bessemer, Alabama warehouse. In-person voting will begin next week for those at the Staten Island facility and is already underway via mail-in ballot for those in Bessemer.

The NLRB has also requested Amazon post a copy of the court order at the JFK8 facility in all breakrooms, bathrooms, bathroom stalls and any other locations where notices for employees are typically found, and for English and Spanish versions to be made available on internet sites or apps the company uses to commnicate with its employees. Additionally, the labor board has asked for the order to be read aloud during at a least one mandatory meeting.

Related: Amazon Sued by New York Over 'Flagrant Disregard' for Covid-19 Safety

Kathy Drew King, a regional director for the NLRB office overseeing the lawsuit, said in a statement, "No matter how large the employer, it is important for workers to know their rights  particularly during a union election  and that the NLRB will vociferously defend them."

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Houston recording artist Just Brittany irritated a lot of people who don't live inside the beltway Sunday night, when she released a video for a song called "Not Houston Freestyle." The song is a takeoff on something Omeretta The Great recorded recently, where she rapped about her disgust for people claiming her city of Atlanta when they're not really from there.

Brittany starts her version with, "Shout out to 713, 281, 832; I see they dont like coming with facts because people be worried about clout first; How you in interviews claiming you Houston, when you? You were raised on the outskirts."

Brittany, who has released seven albums, popped into the mainstream when she starred on Rick Ross' competition show "Signed" on VH1 in 2017. She also was in a relationship with Missouri City rapper Z-Ro, who she accused of abusing her in 2017. A grand jury declined to indict Z-Ro on felony assault charges, instead charging him with a misdemeanor, which was later dismissed when he completed an intervention program.

Her history with Z-Ro, who put out a Houston classic with his smash hit "Mo City Don Freestyle" in 2005 made a line in her "Not Houston Freestyle" notable: "What high school, what zip code, what color signs are yall's streets?; How you Houston reppin', when yall got yall own county and police?"

Missouri City, which is partly located in Fort Bend County and has its own police department, has blue and red street signs, making them markedly different than the standard green street signs throughout Houston.

In case there was ever any doubt if you were Houston or not, Brittany lays it out in the song's final 30 seconds:

"Baytown is not Houston;

Pearland is not Houston;

Humble is not Houston;

Mo City  not Houston;

Galveston  not Houston;

Cypress is not Houston;

Sugar Land  not Houston;

Woodlands is not Houston;

Katy is not Houston;

Pasadena is not Houston;

Tomball is not Houston;

Port Arthur  not Houston."

Port Arthur being thrown in there raised some eyebrows since Bun B is from Port Arthur, but reps both his hometown and Houston, including drawing more than 73,000 fans to NRG Stadium for his H-Town Takeover at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo earlier this month. Brittany appeared on Bun B's song "Sext Me" in 2010.

Plenty of people on Twitter showed their displeasure with Brittany with many pointing out that they're from Port Arthur and aren't trying to claim anything.

As for Brittany, she definitely has her Houston credentials verified. She went to Worthing High School and graduated as valedictorian from Jesse Jackson Academy, which was located a couple miles from the University of Houston before it closed.

For her part, Brittany appeared to be a good sport about the negative comments she was receiving from the song.

"Yooooo Galveston mad at me, PA, say they want to fight, Baytown said I'm built like a hot pocket, yall got me laughing," Brittany wrote in a post on Instagram that she has since deleted. "I can't even read all the comments but sheesh. Its all love yall relax."
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A man in East Texas has taken his mobile home and turned it into a large tin castle, with more than 20 rooms and most of it made out of tin and other pieces of salvage.

Wayne Fisher, 68, first started working on this project 45 years ago, according to KLTV.

Fisher said he started reading some do-it-yourself magazines and began reclaiming salvage from across the city of Tyler and fixing it up to add to his home. The home is located in the 13000 block of Highway 155, south of Loop 323.

He made friends with people who dealt with salvage and lumber across the city, and he was able to purchase those items from them.

It turned out to be a life-long hobby, Fisher told mySA.com. It captivated my interest and I just went from there.

Eighty percent of the home is taken from those pieces of salvage, he told KLTV, a project hes done all by himself.

He used primarily corrugated barn tin on the outside, which makes the home look like a tin castle, he said. His goal was to make the outside of the building look like a barn.

I've often been caught working up in the yard and somebody comes by and says that they would love to have a copy of my blueprints, Fisher told KLTV, saying that all those blueprints are inside his head.

He said hes now finished adding extra rooms to the property, but is now focused on finishing and furnishing the rest of the home. Fisher said maintenance on the home is an everyday job.

The Smith County Appraisal District website said the assessed value of the home is about $69,000, but the market value of the home is $101,654, according to data from the 2015 tax year.

Fisher lives in this East Texas "castle" with his Boston terrier, who's named Tyler.

Click through the slideshow to see more photos of the home.

twhite@mysa.com

Twitter: @tylerlwhite
Dozens of JetBlue passengers spent time sitting on an idle plane on the tarmac at a Massachusetts airport Monday night after staff left for the night.

A Massachusetts woman traveled to New York City on business this weekend and said she experienced several issues with her JetBlue flights both to and from Worcester.

She said the problems appeared to stem from a lack of airline staffing.

Flight records obtained via Flightaware show JetBlue Flight 676 left New York's JFK Airport about 35 minutes later than normal for the short 150-mile journey to Worcester Regional Airport.

The flight records show the plane landed at the small airport outside the city of Worcester around 12:15 a.m. but did not actually park at the gate until after 1 a.m.

"It was silence, then the pilot said, 'I have something embarrassing to tell you guys  there is nobody to get you off the flight,'" Sabrina Ruelle told sister station WCVB on Tuesday. "They had no staff available to get us off the airplane!"

Police showed up to help assist with the situation.

"The state police were there and they were going to have to evacuate us, but then they got a hold of a JetBlue manager and had to have him drive from his house to the airport to let us off the airplane," Ruelle said.

Ruelle said she was trying to get home to her 6-month-old son and felt particularly bad for the families on the plane with young children.

"I saw this one woman who was feeding her baby before we got on the flight," Ruelle said. "You could tell they were already exhausted, and they were stuck on that flight the whole time and the baby was crying."

JetBlue officials said it is working to understand what happened.

"We are working with our business partner who operates our ground team in Worcester to determine why a crew member was not in place at the jet bridge to ensure this remains an isolated incident," a spokesperson for JetBlue said in a statement Monday.

"Our records show customers on JetBlue flight 676 Monday were required to wait 45 minutes to deplane after landing. While we comply with all DOT regulations in the event of a tarmac delay, we know any delay is a frustrating situation and apologize for the wait."

Ruelle said she was also delayed five hours on her JetBlue flight from Worcester to New York City on Sunday morning because the airline didn't have a flight attendant available.

Flight records show the Sunday morning flight was scheduled to leave Worcester just after 7 a.m. but didn't get off the ground until just before noon for what was a 32-minute flight to New York.

The JetBlue spokesperson told WCVB that Sunday's delay was partially weather-related, a result of Saturday's winter storm that canceled flights and interrupted the placement of crew members.
We always knew that Vladimir Putin was evil. He ordered the murders of dissidents and journalists in Russia, and he caused countless other deaths in Chechnya, Syria and other places.

But this terrible war in Ukraine takes him to a despicable new low. This is not just another war, or war on a fairly minor scale like his other violations of international law. This is a major, bloody attack on a neighboring country that did nothing to offend Russia  and in fact was trying hard to avoid anything like it.

The death toll would have been in the thousands under the best outcome, and now we see that the carnage will be far worse. Thanks to the courageous resistance of the Ukrainian people  and the incompetence of the Russian army  many, many more people will die and more of Ukraines cities will be destroyed.

Having been slowed or stopped on almost every front, Putin is resorting to even more brutal tactics. He has ordered the indiscriminate bombing of apartment houses, villages, hospitals, etc. to try to bludgeon the Ukrainian people into surrender. Civilian deaths are not just collateral damage now, they are a targeted population.

It is unspeakably evil and destructive, and it is all happening because of one deluded man. Yet in doing all this, Putin has revealed himself to be amazingly stupid as well.

He believed his own propaganda and thought the war would be a cakewalk. He didnt realize how much Ukrainians value their independence and dont want to be part of his country.

He thought the West would slap a few sanctions on him and he would ride it out. Instead the shaky Russian economy has been hit with devastating penalties that will probably push it into a recession.

He thought he would show NATO whos boss and rattle the organization as never before. Instead he has united a once-divided alliance and shown exactly why its core mission  protecting Europe from Russia  is as vital as its ever been.

All of these miscalculations and blunders have left Russia isolated on the world stage and reviled in academia, sports, the arts, etc. The decent Russians who can get out are fleeing in a massive brain drain, and many of those who have to stay have finally seen what a thug and a fool Putin is.

Putin isnt bright enough to realize all this, and he will stubbornly believe that he can just double-down on the brutality and achieve something he can call a victory. He cant, and even if he did, his troops could never hold Ukraine.

Its horrible, and it will get worse.

Some day, somehow, the Russian troops will eventually leave and Ukraine can begin to heal. Some day, it will once again be a prosperous and joyous nation.

Whenever that happens, Vladimir Putin will probably no longer be the leader of Russia. He will meet the fate that befell so many other tyrants, and it will be the best thing that has happened to Russia and the entire world in decades. Let us all pray it happens as soon as possible.

Thomas Taschinger, TTaschinger@BeaumontEnterprise.com, is the editorial page editor of The Beaumont Enterprise. Follow him on Twitter at @PoliticalTom
Thi Soares/Getty Images/iStockphoto

The head librarian at a branch in Llano County was fired this month after refusing to remove books a group of local residents complained were "pornographic" and "inappropriate." The librarian, Suzette Baker, told KXAN News that she was terminated from her position after her boss gave her a final warning for "creating a disturbance, insubordination, violation of policies and failure to follow instructions."

"The books in my library in Kingsland were not taken off the shelves, we did not move them, I told my boss that was censorship," Baker told KXAN, adding that one of the books targeted was about the life of a transgender teen. "It is her biography of her life growing up ... Obviously this group thought that was too much for their children to read. Which no one is forcing their kids to read anything."
Driver German Echeverry moves through the parking lot at the Hartford Regional Market, off Reserve Road. A study is calling for expanding the use of the market, now mostly used for wholesale distribution, to give struggling farmers a new, wider reach for getting fresh produce, dairy and meat to the public, beyond traditional farmer markets. (Mark Mirko/The Hartford Courant)

Hartford  The Hartford Regional Market  well-known for its seasonal sales of flowers and produce by local farms  could take on a much higher profile in a redevelopment aimed at lessening Connecticuts vulnerability to food shortages such as those seen during the pandemic.

A new study recommends the regional market in the citys South Meadows be reshaped as a central location for local farmers to bring what they grow so it can be distributed more widely throughout the state, well beyond what they can do on their own.

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The vision also includes significantly expanding food processing at the market to allow those farmers  individually or in groups  access to commercial kitchens that could turn produce, dairy and meat into other grocery items that could be sold throughout the year, not just during the growing season.

Driver Ronald "Woo" Wooten checks his mirror view while his truck is loaded at the Hartford Regional Market, off Reserve Road in the city's South Meadows. (Mark Mirko/The Hartford Courant)

The study, commissioned by the Capital Region Development Authority, warns that 75% of the food bought and eaten in Connecticut comes from west of the Hudson River. The pandemic could be just the first brush with empty grocery shelves, the study says.

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Whether its COVID, climate change or some other market disruption, being at the end of the train, if you will, it amplifies the problem even louder for us, said Bryan Hurlburt, the states agriculture commissioner. COVID really did highlight the supply chain situation that happens in America. If a couple of large meatpackers go down in Pennsylvania or Nebraska, it impacts us. Its not this far away distant thing. Its a real problem for Connecticut.

There is a three-day supply of produce on store shelves, Hurlburt said.

The study said local farmers could make Connecticut more self-sufficient. The regional market is centrally located, at the intersection of Interstate 84 and Interstate 91, and within 30 minutes of 786 Connecticut farms.

So by creating space, opportunities and facilities to help farmers, you can really elevate the system quickly, Hurlburt said.

COVID-19 forces new look at market

A fresh look at the regional market came two years ago after Gov. Ned Lamont raised questions about the long-term role of the market while the state paid for much-needed repairs. The issue turned more urgent after COVID-19 disrupted supply chains to grocery stores.

There is a bottleneck preventing growth of Connecticut farmers into the broader grocery market. The majority of the states farmers are smaller and they rely on going directly to consumers at farmers markets or farm stands.

This preliminary rendering shows one concept for a revitalized Hartford Regional Market. But officials say it is a very early design and would likely change. (HR&A Advisors, Inc)

Farmers are spending four or five days a week driving all over the state selling at farmers markets, said Thomas Jansen, a principal at HR&A Advisors, Inc., a New York-based real estate development consultant heading the study. At the same time, they are not large enough to sell directly to distributors, just because of the size of their farm. This is what this is designed to solve.

Caitlin Taylor and her husband, Aaron, and their two business partners come up against this problem consistently at their organically-focused Four Root Farm in East Haddam.

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In tomato season, for instance, tomatoes ripen quickly and must be harvested daily; and yet, it is rare that the seven-acre farm produces 1,000 pounds a day, about the minimum volume accepted by commercial canning companies in the state, Taylor said.

There is a really thriving ecosystem of farmers doing amazing work in the state, Taylor said. And there is a missing middle [size] of infrastructure to support the distribution and aggregation of food produced at a relatively small and medium scale.

Tomatoes, for example, could be made into ketchup or tomato sauce that could be locally branded and more easily land on store shelves and in restaurants because it can be delivered in bulk at predictable, regular intervals, Hurlburt said.

In Wallingford, at Geremia Farms, a seven-acre farm now run by the third generation of the Geremia family, Joe Geremia said a centralized location is just more efficient for farmers.

This is not a new thing, Geremia said. Its been done all over North America with much success.

The study cites several examples elsewhere in the country that have thrived with a similar model, including Red Tomato in Rhode Island and Cleveland Central Kitchen.

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In addition to her farm, Taylor is an architect who designs food-related buildings and systems. Her firm, MASS Design Group, contributed to the study.

The Hartford Regional Market is a popular place for farmers to sell flowers and produce directly to consumers in the spring and summer. New plans call for a widely expanded role to help farmers get what they grow to grocer shelves, into restaurants and to institutional buyers such as schools and hospitals. (Richard Messina )

Not the first redevelopment plan

The 32-acre regional market, on Reserve Road, focuses primarily on bigger-scale commercial distribution, which would remain. And a redevelopment wouldnt necessarily mean a larger complex, but there would be a new emphasis, according to the study.

There are no estimates for the cost of redevelopment, but it could easily run into the tens of millions for new buildings and equipment. Some of the existing buildings date back to at least the 1950s.

The market could include an expanded restaurant and classrooms for educational programs geared to agriculture.

The HR&A study suggests that financing could include federal funding through COVID-19 relief and infrastructure programs. Private investment could come from distributors and processing companies that see an opportunity for their businesses.

Wilmer Ortiz of Musto Wine Grape Co. loads a truck at the Hartford Regional Market. (Mark Mirko/The Hartford Courant)

The plans are in the early stages, and it would take at least a year to ramp up the effort should it gain the support, according to Michael W. Freimuth, CRDAs executive director.

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This wouldnt be the first time there was a revitalization plan for the regional market.

In 2014, a study recommending a $100 million redevelopment went nowhere as the state wrestled with a deep budget deficit.

Later, in 2018, another study suggested the regional market could become more of a tourist destination.

This latest plan also comes amid debate over the future of the nearby trash-to-energy plant and whether Brainard Airport should remain open or closed.

These new plans for the regional market, however, have caught the attention of Connecticut Foodshare, the statewide food bank.

In terms of food insecurity, it brings more food  and particularly more fresh produce  to the state of Connecticut, Jason Jakubowski, Foodshares president and chief executive, said. They are not putting up four walls and a door. What they are talking about is creating a food campus, an area dedicated to food storage, food processing, food distribution.

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Jakubowski said in his views the lack of centralized food distribution system for local growers locked out farmers from contracts, for the most part, from the U.S. Department of Agricultures Farmers to Families Food Box program during the height of the pandemic.

Those boxes distributed fresh produce for those in need at locations in Connecticut such as Rentschler Field in East Hartford.

We were in a situation in which 100% of the food that we were distributing as part of that program during the emergency was from out of state, Jakubowski said. I know that is still a bone of contention among a lot of the farmers in Connecticut.

Jakubowski said Foodshare had leased space at the regional market in the past, but its aging refrigeration systems often broke down. But Jakubowki said Foodshare was ready to step up to the plate with some investment of our own. However, the plans still need to be further developed, he said.

Freimuth said a revitalized regional market would boost the states agricultural industry and help keep more farms open.

We want our shelves full, our farms protected and not candidates for subdivisions and we want local food, Freimuth said. What are we willing to invest to get these?

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Kenneth R. Gosselin can be reached at kgosselin@courant.com.
Updated at 04:20 p.m. ET on 2022-03-21

The United States has declared as a genocide the Myanmar militarys 2017 deadly crackdown against the Rohingya Muslim minority that killed thousands and forced an exodus to neighboring Bangladesh, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Monday.

Human rights activists welcomed the move as overdue and essential for stepping up pressure on the military, and making it accountable for crimes against humanity. According to American investigators, the military was responsible for atrocities including mass killings, gang rapes, mutilations, crucifixions, and the burning and drowning of children.

Blinken said that as of Monday, the United States had concluded that other than the Holocaust, genocide had occurred eight times  the eighth time against the Rohingya.

I have determined that the members of the Burmese military committed genocide and crimes against humanity against Rohingya, Blinken said in remarks at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington on Monday.

The attack against Rohingya was widespread and systematic, which is crucial for reaching a determination of crimes against humanity.

Blinken said that among the sources for the determination was a joint report published in November 2017 by the museum's Simon Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide and the human rights group Fortify Rights. The report was based on a survey of more than a thousand Rohingya refugees living in Bangladesh, all of whom were displaced by the violence in 2016 or 2017.

Three quarters of those interviewed said that they personally witnessed members of the military kill someone. More than half witnessed acts of sexual violence. One in five witnessed a mass casualty event, that is, the killing or injuring of more than 100 people in a single incident, Blinken said.

These percentages matter. They demonstrate that these abuses were not isolated cases.  This demonstrates the military's intent went beyond ethnic cleansing to the actual destruction of Rohingya.

Ten Rohingya men with their hands bound kneel as members of the Myanmar security forces stand guard in Inn Din village of Rakhine State, Myanmar, Sept. 2, 2017. [Reuters]

Following Blinkens announcement, New York-based Human Rights Watch said that the U.S. needed to coordinate its long overdue action with other countries to pursue justice for the mass crimes committed against the Rohingya.

The U.S. government should couple its condemnations of Myanmars military with action, John Sifton, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. For too long, the U.S. and other countries have allowed Myanmars generals to commit atrocities with few real consequences.

The rights watchdog said that to deter future abuses, Washington should impose tougher sanctions on the foreign currency revenues the Myanmar military makes from oil and gas revenues, and increase the enforcement of existing sanctions.

The military utilizes the bulk of these revenues to support its expenditures, which include extensive purchases of arms and attack aircraft from Russia, China, and other countries, the group said in its statement.

Similarly, the U.K.-based Burma Human Rights Network said Washingtons recognition of the Rohingya genocide was overdue but greatly welcomed.

By formally declaring a genocide took place against the Rohingya, the U.S. is firmly acknowledging the scope and horror of the juntas violence, the groups Executive Director Kyaw Win said in a statement Monday.

This declaration must be followed by further action. The junta must be completely cut off from the world, deprived of cash flow and weapons, and resisted until they fall from power.

Years-long patterns

In 2018, U.N. investigators found that Myanmars military carried out mass killings and gang rapes of Muslim Rohingya with genocidal intent. The rights group Doctors Without Borders has estimated that at least 6,700 Rohingya died in the 2017 crackdown.

But to date, the U.S. government had described it as ethnic cleansing  not using the genocide designation, which carries more legal weight.

Under Article 2 of the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, genocide is defined as acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.

The atrocities were committed during the tenure of the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi who in December 2019 defended the military against allegations of genocide at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The Nobel Peace Prize winner and one-time democracy icon now languishes in prison  toppled by the same military in its Feb. 1, 2021 coup.

Hamida, a Rohingya woman, cries as she holds her 40-day-old son, who died as a boat capsized near Shah Porir Dwip, in Teknaf, Bangladesh, Sept. 14, 2017. [Reuters]

Myanmar, a country of 54 million people about the size of France, recognizes 135 official ethnic groups, with majority Burmans accounting for about 68 percent of the population. The Rohingya ethnicity is not recognized.

The Rohingya have faced decades of discrimination in Myanmar and are effectively stateless. They have been denied citizenship. Burmese administrations have refused to call them Rohingya and instead use the term Bengali.

The 2017 crackdown was triggered by a Rohingya insurgent group's attack on police outposts in Myanmars Rakhine state, leading to a disproportionate military response that caused about 740,000 Rohingya civilians to flee to neighboring Bangladesh  what the military and Aung San Suu Kyi, then the civilian ruler of Myanmar, called a clearance operation.

But a State Department-commissioned investigation found that the Rohingya were in a highly precarious situation in the months and years leading up to the attacks on the police stations, and their situation was fast deteriorating, according to Daniel Fullerton of Public International Law & Policy Group, who managed the probe.

The collected data revealed years-long patterns of gradually worsening violence and widespread human rights violations targeted against the Rohingya, which began to dramatically increase in severity and frequency in the year leading up to the major attacks of 2017, Fullerton said in testimony at a U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom hearing last May.

The militarys retributory attacks for the Rohingya insurgents August 2017 assault on police posts was swift  and brutal.

These attacks included brutal large-scale ground assaults, indiscriminate shootings, mass killings, executions, crucifixions, rapes and gang rapes, beatings, mutilations, the burning and drowning of children, the widespread destruction of Rohingya homes and villages, among many other brutal acts, investigator Fullerton said.

There were credible reports of Rohingya community leaders being gathered into buildings and burned alive, of imams being beaten and having their beards burned off, and of Rohingya religious or community leaders being shot or stabbed in front of the members of their village. Symbolic burnings of mosques, madrassas, and Korans were widely documented, he said.

Blinken spoke of the planning that went into pre-attack preparations  such as military personnel blocking exits to villages before they began their attacks, [and] sinking boats full of men, women and children as they tried to flee to Bangladesh.

He said that the immeasurable pain wrought by every heinous abuse ripples outward from the individual victims to the survivors and to the wider community.

Therefore, he said, the U.S continues to provide significant support to help meet the humanitarian needs of Rohingya and all affected by their persecution. He said Washington had provided nearly $ 1.6 billion since 2017 for Rohingya refugees shelter and education, specialized mental health and for the psychosocial support for the victims of trauma.

Generosity of Bangladesh

Blinken said he wanted to recognize the exceptional generosity of Bangladesh in hosting over 900,000 Rohingya refugees, and the South Asian countrys recent efforts to vaccinate this stateless community against COVID-19.

In Dhaka, Bangladeshs Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal on Monday welcomed the Biden administrations decision to declare the militarys 2017 oppression of the Rohingya a genocide.

The U.S. announcement would help restore the civil rights of the Rohingya in Myanmar and speed up their repatriation, he told BenarNews.

The international community and all people should know about the genocide and other inhuman atrocities committed against the Rohingya in Myanmar.

In no-mans land on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, Dil Mohammad, a Rohingya leader, said Washingtons declaration was a positive development.

The massacre of the Rohingya in Myanmar is a classic example of genocide. The international community believes it but they did not officially recognize it, the Rohingya leader in Bandarban district told BenarNews.

If the international community speaks in one voice against the brutality of the military, the decades-old genocide and atrocities targeting the Rohingya would cease and our return to our homeland be ensured.

Kamran Reza Chowdhury in Dhaka and Sunil Barua in Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh contributed to this report.
United States Under Secretary of Political Affairs Victoria Nuland (right) and Bangladeshi Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen address the media in Dhaka after the U.S.-Bangladesh Partnership Dialogue, March 20, 2022.

Bangladesh needs to do more to make a notorious security force accused of human rights violations accountable for its actions, a senior United States diplomat said after a bilateral meeting in Dhaka this weekend.

However, Victoria Nuland, under secretary for political affairs at the U.S. Department of State, acknowledged that the human rights situation in Bangladesh had improved somewhat since Washington in December sanctioned the elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), which local and international rights activists have accused of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.

We have concerns about how RAB has performed  about extrajudicial killings, about disappearancesMore work [needs] to be done, Nuland told reporters Sunday after the eighth U.S.-Bangladesh Partnership Dialogue held in Dhaka.

That said, we have seen progress in the last three months with regard to mitigating these things.

Nuland noted that her counterpart, Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen, had requested that the sanctions on RAB be lifted.

Momen told reporters that he presented to Nuland a dossier on the measures Dhaka had been taking to improve RABs human rights record, although when BenarNews last month asked the Bangladesh government what it was doing to address the U.S. concerns, the home minister said the government did not need to take any extra measures.

On Dec. 10, Washington imposed financial sanctions on the Bangladeshi security force and six of its current and former officers, saying they were responsible for serious human rights abuses. In addition, Benazir Ahmed, a former director general of the force, was barred from entering the U.S. due to his involvement in gross violations of human rights.

At the time, a spokesman for RAB claimed that the force did not violate human rights but protected the rights of people and maintained law and order in the country.

RAB, which comprises members of the police, army, navy, air force, and border guard, is accused of more than 600 enforced disappearances in the past 12 years, a similar number of extrajudicial killings, and use of torture, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement.

Founded in 2004, the force is tasked with internal security, intelligence gathering related to criminal activities, and government-directed investigations, according to the U.S. Treasury.

The meeting on Sunday was the first between officials of the U.S. and Bangladesh since Dhaka summoned the U.S. ambassador one day after the sanctions were imposed.

In talks with Nuland, Bangladesh Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen also raised deep concerns about the sanctions on RAB, saying they were affecting the units ability to carry out its duties, a foreign ministry statement said. He urged the sanctions be lifted, the statement added.

He expressed concern that the [U.S. sanctions] might encourage radical elements in the country and might cause a deterioration in law and order and create regional instability, the statement said.

Nuland said she expressed Washingtons willingness to engage with Bangladesh to help improve the human rights situation in the country.

Last August, while responding to a Human Rights Watch report on enforced disappearances linked to RAB, Foreign Minister Momen said that allegations contained in it were fabricated.

And RAB and government officials have often said that allegations of extrajudicial killings were just that, because when suspects were killed, it was usually in incidents of crossfire or when law enforcement was trying to protect itself.

Imtiaz Ahmed, a professor of international relations at Dhaka University, told BenarNews that the U.S. sanctions on RAB should have come after discussions with the Bangladesh government.

But they were imposed suddenly. So the government termed the U.S. sanctions political, he said.

[But] since the sanctions, the number of extrajudicial killings in Bangladesh has come down.

According to data compiled by human rights organization Ain-O-Salish Kendra, the last crossfire incident in Bangladesh by a security force took place on Dec. 10, the very day the U.S. imposed sanctions on RAB. None has occurred since the sanctions were imposed.

By comparison, 51 incidents of crossfire by security forces took place in the rest of 2021, of which 30 were carried out by RAB.
U.S. Indo-Pacific commander Adm. John C. Aquilino, left, looks at videos of Chinese structures and buildings while on board a reconnaissance airplane flying over the Spratlys group of islands in the South China Sea, March 20, 2022.

China has fully militarized at least three of its artificial islands in the South China Sea, equipping them with missile systems and fighter jets, a top U.S. commander has said.

The Associated Press quoted U.S. Indo-Pacific commander Adm. John C. Aquilino on Sunday saying the construction of missile arsenals, aircraft hangars, radar systems and other military facilities at Mischief Reef, Subi Reef and Fiery Cross appeared to have been completed.

The function of those islands is to expand the offensive capability of the PRC (Peoples Republic of China). ... They can fly fighters, bombers plus all those offensive capabilities of missile systems, Aquilino said. They threaten all nations who operate in the vicinity and all the international sea and airspace.

This is in stark contrast to Chinese President Xi Jinpings reassurance that China would not militarize the islands.

Beijing has developed at least seven artificial islands in the South China Sea, creating 3,200 acres of new land since 2013, according to the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

This is the first time U.S. officials have mentioned the deployment of Chinese fighter jets to the islands, according to Greg Poling, AMTIs director, who said no one has ever spotted fighter jets in the Spratlys so far as we know.

In 2015, during a visit to the White House, Xi said: Relevant construction activities that China are undertaking in the island of South  Nansha (Spratly) Islands do not target or impact any country and China does not intend to pursue militarization.

An airstrip constructed by China is seen beside structures and buildings at the man-made island on Mischief Reef in the South China Sea, March 20, 2022. (AP)

Xi also said China is committed to maintaining peace and stability in the South China Sea.

Aquilino told AP that over the past 20 years weve witnessed the largest military buildup since World War II by the PRC.

They have advanced all their capabilities and that buildup of weaponization is destabilizing to the region, he said.

He also said that any military and civilian plane flying over the disputed South China Sea could easily get within range of the Chinese islands missile system.

China has yet to respond to Aquilinos statement in the report but Beijing has said it is committed to managing differences and disputes through dialogue, and addressing disputes through negotiation, consultation, and peaceful manner, and exploring ways to achieve mutual benefit through cooperation.

Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam hold competing claims to the South China Sea, but Chinas claims are the most expansive. An international tribunal in 2016 rejected Chinas claims but Beijing refused to accept the ruling.

Continued drills

Meanwhile in China, the Hainan Maritime Safety Administration on March 19 issued a new navigation warning banning ships from entering an area in the Gulf of Tonkin for 20 days, until April 9, because of military exercises.

This area was closed for live-fire drills from March 4 to 15. The Taiwanese intelligence agency said on March 10 that the closure might have been for the Chinese military to carry out search-and-rescue for an aircraft which reportedly crashed in the sea earlier this month.

A Chinese flag flies from Mischief Reef on Feb. 8, 1999, years before a massive reclamation of land transformed it into major Chinese base in the South China Sea. (AP)

China has not acknowledged any plane crash.

Part of the closed area lies within Vietnams exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry protested, asking China to respect its EEZ and continental shelf.

Chinas Foreign Ministry replied, saying that it is reasonable, lawful and irreproachable for China to conduct military exercises on its own doorstep.

Vietnam and China reached an agreement to demarcate their share of most of the Gulf of Tonkin in 2000 but their negotiation on the mouth of the gulf has stagnated.

Taiwanese intelligence officials have warned that as the world is focused on the war in Ukraine, China is taking advantage of the situation to test the limits of the U.S. and other South China Sea claimants.
WASHINGTON  Violent repression of the largely Muslim Rohingya population in Myanmar amounts to genocide, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday, a declaration intended to both generate international pressure and lay the groundwork for potential legal action.

Authorities made the determination based on confirmed accounts of mass atrocities on civilians by Myanmars military in a widespread and systematic campaign against the ethnic minority, Blinken said in a speech at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

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It is the eighth time since the Holocaust that the U.S. has concluded a genocide has occurred. The secretary of state noted the importance of calling attention to inhumanity even as horrific attacks occur elsewhere in the world, including Ukraine.

Yes, we stand with the people of Ukraine, he said. And we must also stand with people who are suffering atrocities in other places.

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The government of Myanmar, also known as Burma, is already under multiple layers of U.S. sanctions since a military coup ousted the democratically elected government in February 2021. Thousands of civilians throughout the country have been killed and imprisoned as part of ongoing repression of anyone opposed to the ruling junta.

The determination that a genocide has occurred could lead other nations to increase pressure on the government, which is already facing accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

As we lay the foundation for future accountability, were also working to stop the militarys ongoing atrocities, and support the people of Burma as they strive to put the country back on the path to democracy, Blinken said.

Ethnic Rohingya women and children sit by a fire on a beach after their boat was stranded on Idaman Island in East Aceh, Indonesia, June 4, 2021, after leaving a refugee camp in Bangladesh, officials said. (Zik Maulana/AP)

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Blinkens announcement emphasizes, especially to victims and survivors, that the United States recognizes the gravity of these crimes.

Our view is that shining a light on the crimes of Burmas military will increase international pressure, make it harder for them to commit further abuses, she said.

Rohingya, from Muslim Myanmars western Rakhine state, faced systematic persecution at the hands of the Buddhist majority for decades under both the military junta that ruled the nation for decades as well as the democratically-elected government.

More than 700,000 Rohingya have fled from Buddhist-majority Myanmar to refugee camps in Bangladesh since August 2017, when the military launched an operation aimed at clearing them from the country following attacks by a rebel group.

The status of the plight of the Rohingya had been under extended review by U.S. government legal experts since the Trump administration, given potential legal ramifications of such a finding. The delay in the determination had drawn criticism from both inside and outside the government.

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While this determination is long overdue, it is nevertheless a powerful and critically important step in holding this brutal regime to account, said Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley.

Human rights groups also welcomed the determination, which is similar to findings already made by other countries, including Canada, France and Turkey.

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The U.S. determination of the crime of genocide against us is a momentous moment and must lead to concrete action to hold the Burmese military accountable for their crimes, said Tun Khin, president of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK.

Human Rights Watch said the U.S. and other governments should seek justice for crimes carried out by the military and impose stronger sanctions against its leadership.

The U.S. government should couple its condemnations of Myanmars military with action, said John Sifton, the groups Asia advocacy director. For too long, the U.S. and other countries have allowed Myanmars generals to commit atrocities with few real consequences.

A 2018 State Department report documented instances of Myanmars military razing villages and carrying out rapes, tortures and mass killings of civilians since at least 2016. Blinken said evidence showed the violence wasnt isolated, but part of a systematic program that amounts to crimes against humanity.

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The evidence also points to a clear intent behind these mass atrocities, the intent to destroy Rohingya, in whole or in part, through killings, rape, and torture, he said.

Previous determinations of genocide by the U.S. include campaigns against Uyghurs and other largely Muslim minorities in China as well as in Bosnia, Rwanda, Iraq and Darfur.

Associated Press writers Darlene Superville and Matthew Lee contributed.
PITTSFIELD  Police are investigating a pair of shootings that occurred over the weekend.

No one was injured in either incident. The first occurred around 7:45 p.m. Saturday in the 300 block of Columbus Avenue, according to a news release from the Pittsfield Police Department. A vehicle and residence were struck by gunfire, and officers found multiple shell casings in the area.

The second shooting happened around 5:25 p.m. near the intersection of Tyler and Burbank streets. Shell casings were also discovered in the area.

Anyone with information about the shootings is asked to contact Detective Kim Bertelli-Hunt at 413-448-9700, ext. 532. Information can also be provided anonymously via the Detective Bureau Tip Line at 413-448-9706, or by texting PITTIP and your message to TIP411 (847411).
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.
Business writer

Tony Dobrowolski's main focus is on business reporting. He came to The Eagle in 1992 after previously working for newspapers in Connecticut and Montreal. He can be reached at tdobrowolski@berkshireeagle.com or 413-496-6224.
Reporter

Heather Bellow, a member of the investigations team, joined The Eagle in 2017. She is based in the South Berkshire County bureau in Great Barrington. Her work has appeared in newspapers across the U.S.
WASHINGTON  Companies would be required to disclose the greenhouse gas emissions they produce and how climate risk affects their business under new rules proposed Monday by the Securities and Exchange Commission as part of a drive across the government to address climate change.

Under the proposals adopted on a 3-1 SEC vote, public companies would have to report on their climate risks, including the costs of moving away from fossil fuels, as well as risks related to the physical impact of storms, drought and higher temperatures caused by global warming. They would be required to lay out their transition plans for managing climate risk, how they intend to meet climate goals and progress made, and the impact of severe weather events on their finances.

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The number of investors seeking more information on risk related to global warming has grown dramatically in recent years. Many companies already provide climate-risk information voluntarily. The idea is that, with uniform required information, investors would be able to compare companies within industries and sectors.

Companies and investors alike would benefit from the clear rules of the road in the proposal, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said.

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The required disclosures would include greenhouse gas emissions produced by companies directly or indirectly  such as from consumption of the companys products, vehicles used to transport products, employee business travel and energy used to grow raw materials.

The SEC issued voluntary guidance in 2010, but this is the first time mandatory disclosure rules were put forward. The rules were opened to a public comment period of around 60 days and they could be modified before any final adoption.

Climate activists and investor groups have clamored for mandatory disclosure of information that would be uniformly required of all companies. The advocates estimate that excluding companies indirect emissions would leave out some 75% of greenhouse gas emissions.

Investors can only assess risks if they know they exist, Mike Litt, consumer campaigns director of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, said in a prepared statement. Americans retirement accounts and other savings could be endangered if we dont acknowledge potential liabilities caused by climate change and take them seriously.

Climate risks and harms are growing across our communities with threats to our economy, said Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., chair of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. Investors, pension fund managers and the public need better information about the physical and transition-related risks that climate change poses to hard-earned investments,

On the other hand, major business interests and Republican officials  reaching down to the state level  began mobilizing against the climate disclosures long before the SEC unveiled the proposed rules Monday, exposing the sharply divided political dynamic of the climate issue.

Hester Peirce, the sole Republican among the four SEC commissioners, voted against the proposal. We cannot make such fundamental changes without harming companies, investors and the SEC, she said. The results wont be reliable, let alone comparable.

The SEC action is part of a governmentwide effort to identify climate risks, with new regulations planned from various agencies touching on the financial industry, housing and agriculture, among other areas. President Joe Biden issued an executive order last May calling for concrete steps to blunt climate risks, while spurring job creation and helping the U.S. reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.

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Biden has made slowing climate change a top priority and has set a target to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 52% below 2005 levels by 2030. He also has said he expects to adopt a clean-energy standard that would make electric power carbon-free by 2035, along with the wider goal of net-zero carbon emissions through the economy by 2050.

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This is a huge step forward to protect our economy and boost transparency for investors and the public, White House national climate adviser Gina McCarthy tweeted as the SEC acted.

The premier business lobby, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the American Petroleum Institute, the oil industrys top trade group, expressed objections in letters to the SEC last year.

Frank Macchiarola, senior vice president of policy, economics and regulatory affairs at API, said Monday the group is concerned that the SECs proposal could require disclosure of information that isnt significant for investors decisions, and create confusion for investors and capital markets.

As the (SEC) pursues a final rule, we encourage them to collaborate with our industry and build on private-sector efforts that are already underway to improve consistency and comparability of climate-related reporting, Macchiarola said in a statement.

The threat that opponents could take the SEC to court over the regulations has loomed.

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Last June, a group of 16 Republican state attorneys general, led by Patrick Morrisey of West Virginia, raised objections in a letter to SEC Chairman Gensler. Companies are well positioned to decide whether and how to satisfy the markets evolving demands, for both customers and investors, they said. If the (SEC) were to move forward in this area, however, it would be delving into an inherently political morass for which it is ill-suited.

Morrisey previously threatened to sue the SEC over expanded disclosures from companies of environmental, social and governance information.
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George Bratsenis is still one of Connecticuts most hard-boiled criminals, even if, at age 73, he no longer fits the picture. He is in prison, where he has spent most of his life. He is dying of cancer and suffering from COPD.

Half a century ago, he was a fixture in police files in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey, robbing banks and sticking up jewelry stores. In 1980, a mob-connected Stamford police lieutenant recruited him for a crew that murdered a drug dealer and stole a kilo of heroin.

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Bratseniss most recent stretch in prison is the result of armed, bank robberies in Darien and Trumbull in 2014. Law enforcement officials call them vintage Bratsenis. He and a partner, Bomani Africa, hit the banks with stopwatch precision, leaping onto teller counters, pointing guns, emptying drawers, timing everything and setting a fire to cover their escape.

Bratsenis faces what amounts to a life sentence as a career criminal for the two bank robberies. But in January he learned that he has another problem.

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Authorities in New Jersey allege that between his last two bank robberies in April and September of 2014, he and Africa committed a political murder-for hire there that is stunning even in a state where politics usually get the quaint descriptive rough and tumble.

In a sensational court appearance on January 25, well-known New Jersey political operative Sean Caddle pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder for hire and claimed he paid Bratsenis and Africa to kill Michael Galdieri, another political operator who had worked with Caddle in the past.

A day later, Africa, 61, was in federal court in New Jersey, pleading guilty to conspiring to commit murder-for-hire and admitting that he was one of the killers Caddle paid.

Bratsenis has not been charged.

He was in court in New Jersey on February 22, but the hearing was postponed without explanation. Lawyers for both Bratsenis and Africa would not discuss the case.

Bratsenis and Africa are suspected of stabbing Galdieri to death in his Jersey City apartment and setting the apartment on fire in May 2014, according to authorities. Caddle is accused of meeting Bratsenis and paying him the following day.

Federal prosecutors have not revealed a motive for the case. But filings in court show that Caddle, 44, has been cooperating with investigators since at least last fall and agreed to plead guilty months ago.

Hes signed on as a cooperating witness, his attorney, Edwin J. Jacobs, told U.S. District Judge John Michael Vazquez in Newark during the plea proceeding.

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Caddle broke into politics in New Jerseys Hudson County. Among his clients were U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, and Raymond Lesniak, a retired Democratic state senator. Caddle also worked in Colorado and Texas.

Just what led to the murder-for-hire conspiracy remains a mystery, but there are signs that an answer may lie in prison.

Caddles brother James Caddle and Bratsenis were confined together for more than three years in New Jerseys in Northern State Prison in Newark, according to state corrections department records obtained by NJ Advance Media. James Caddle was locked up from 2007 to 2010 on kidnapping, burglary and robbery charges. Bratsenis was in the same prison from 2006 to 2010 for weapons and bank robbery charges in New Jersey, according to federal court records in Connecticut.

Bratsenis and Africa also met in the New Jersey prison system, according to the Connecticut records. Bratsenis is a Stamford native. Africa, formerly known a Baxter Randolf Keys, is from Philadelphia.

Bratsenis was incarcerated for a bank robbery conviction and Africa was incarcerated for a robbery conviction, a 2016 prosecution memo filed by the U.S. Attorneys office in New Haven says. From 1999 through 2006, Bratsenis and Africa were both assigned to Block 2C, eight cells apart in cells 32 and 40.

It was while they were together in prison that Bratsenis and Africa agreed to rob banks together when they got out, according to the memo.

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Bratsenis is a serial bank robber who grew up playing Little League in Stamford. After graduating from high school he joined the U.S. Marine Corps, and was honorably discharged after serving in Vietnam. He was trained as a tunnel rat  one of the troops who did the dangerous work of infiltrating, emptying and destroying underground enemy fortifications.

In a hand written letter he once wrote from the notorious Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, complaining about conditions to the director of the federal Bureau of Prisons, Bratsenis opens and closes with Semper Fi, the U.S. Marine Corps motto.

After military service in the 1960s, Bratsenis slipped into a life of drugs and crime, his lawyer wrote in a Connecticut court filing. By the 1980s, he was running with a crew of wise guys and crooked local police officers who were robbing and killing drug dealers after luring drug dealers north from Florida, according to a former federal prosecutor involved in the matters.

In 1984, he was charged in a conspiracy with then Stamford police Lt. Lawrence Hogan and two others to murder drug dealer David the Turk Avnayim. The same year, Bratsenis was sentenced to 30 years in prison for a variety of offenses and, after completing that sentence, was transferred to New Jersey to serve time for crimes there.

The first bank Bratsenis and Africa are accused of hitting after release by New Jersey was a Peoples United branch on Old Kings Highway in Darien. Bratsenis is accused of waiting outside in a getaway car while Africa walked in at 2:14 p.m. wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt, gloves and a mask and carrying an umbrella.

Upon entering the bank, Africa dropped the umbrella, pulled out a gun and jumped over the teller station counter, according to a court filing, Africa told the teller to open the first and second drawer, and said I will shoot you if you dont give me all your money! Africa took a substantial amount of cash and placed it in a leopard colored pillow case. Africa then jumped the counter and left the bank. Africa was last seen running to the back of the bank next to the railroad tracks. Bratsenis picked Africa up on the other side of the railroad tracks from the bank and they both left the scene.

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The following month, May 2014, Galdieri was found stabbed to death in his burning Jersey City apartment.

In September 2014, Bratsenis and Africa decided to hit Peoples branch on Madison Avenue in Trumbull. Early on September 25, they stole a car at gun point outside a professional building on Hawley Lane. The following day, Africa drove to the bank in the stolen car. Bratsenis drove his sisters white pickup truck.

Prosecutors said Africa again jumped over the teller counter, demanded money while pointing a long-barreled pistol at one of the tellers. Bratsenis. wearing a cut-off sweatshirt arm with eye holes as his mask, was also armed and took money from the cash drawers. After a minute, one of the two yelled Time. Both men fled, Bratsenis carrying money in a bag and Africa spilling some of what he was trying to carry away in his hands. They made off with $29,937.

Outside, prosecutors said, they lit the stolen car on fire as a distraction and drove off in the white pickup truck.

Three days after the robbery, the Trumbull police identified Bratseniss sister as owner of the pickup. She is identified in court filings by the initials K.M.

K.M. acknowledged that she owned a 1995 white Chevy S-10 pick-up truck, but reported to the officer that her brother George Bratsenis drove the pick-up, federal prosecutors said. K.M. explained that Bratsenis, who lived on Jewett Avenue in Bridgeport, had recently been released from prison after serving 27 years for bank robberies.

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Police spotted Bratsenis driving the pick-up later in the day, Sept. 29,and pulled him over.

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A search of the truck turned up, among other things, a long-blade butchers knife, 13 surgical gloves, five black work gloves and a cut-off sleeve of a sweatshirt with eye holes. Bank surveillance cameras show the cut-off sleeve matched Bratseniss mask.

Federal authorities in both Connecticut and New Jersey are saying nothing about the butchers knife, which has become a topic of speculation as a result of Galdieris stabbing death.

Adding to the speculation is plea from the family of Joyce and John Sheridan, a politically active couple who also were stabbed to death. . Sheridan was a confidant to New Jersey governors, an influential Republican and former state transportation commissioner. On Sept. 28, 2014, he and is wife were stabbed to death in their Princeton, N.J. home, which was then set on fire. One of the Sheridan sons has asked that his parents death be reexamined and that the knife found in Bratseniss truck be subjected to forensic testing.

Africa was arrested in 2015. Both he and Bratsenis have been held in pretrial detention since their arrests - an extraordinarily long period of time in a federal criminal case. Federal authorities will not give a reason for the delay in resolving the cases against them.

After Bratseniss capture and return to prison, Africa was at large for several months. He pulled off a final bank job on Dec. 13, 2014. Federal investigators believe the two cased the banks and planned robberies in advance  including the third one, a Niagara Bank branch in Trumbull. Intercepted jail house conversations between Bratsenis and his girlfriend suggest he believed Africa should have been more aggressive about stealing money and sharing it with the girlfriend.

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But like he, he, he knows, you, what you are going through and everything, Bratsenis told his girlfriend, the conversations show. He, he should be right up there and step to the plate. I mean like see thats the difference of between him and me. Im, Im gonna go. You know I gotIm gonna go do what I gotta do. You know, you know that. You know me well enough to know that.

Thats why I (expletive) love you so (expletive) much, his girlfriend replied.
SEATTLE - Attorney General Bob Ferguson has filed consumer protection lawsuits against two companies and their owners for sending more than 210,000 deceptive letters to small business owners in Washington state.

The letters deceptively appear to originate from the government, and demand payment for a Certificate of Status or a workplace poster that are available from the government free of charge or for a fraction of the monetary demand. More than 15,000 Washington businesses paid these two defendants more than $1.2 million in response to their deceptive letters.

Fergusons two lawsuits, both filed in King County Superior Court, assert CA Certificate Service, which also does business as WA Certificate Service, and Labor Poster Compliance violated the state Consumer Protection Act hundreds of thousands of times. The lawsuits name the four co-owners of CA Certificate Service  James L. Beard, Dean G. Marshlack, Chad M. Davis and Joshua T. Strawn  and two co-owners of Labor Poster Compliance, James L. Beard and Chad M. Davis. The four defendant owners are located in the St. Petersburg, Florida area, and their companies operate nationwide.

The two companies sent at least 210,784 letters into Washington state since March 2019. Ferguson asserts these letters unlawfully duped small business owners into making unnecessary payments to the companies.

At least 14,743 Washington business owners paid $82.50 to CA Certificate Service  a total of approximately $1.2 million. The Attorney Generals Office estimates over 318 Washingtonians paid Labor Poster Compliance $79.25  a total of more than $25,000.

Ferguson's office says he will also soon file motions for preliminary injunction to shut down the companies operations in Washington and prevent further mailings of their deceptive letters while the cases are ongoing. The Attorney Generals Office continues to receive complaints about the letters and Washingtonians have so far filed 90 complaints.

The Attorney Generals Office plans to ask the court to require both companies to pay back the money they obtained deceptively from Washington business owners, seek civil penalties of up to $7,500 per violation of the Consumer Protection Act and pay attorneys costs and fees.

Small businesses power our economy, Ferguson said. With this lawsuit, I intend to get the impacted business owners their money back  with interest.

If you suspect you are the target of similar scams, contact the Attorney Generals Office. You can file a complaint online at atg.wa.gov/file-complaint or call the office at 1-800-551-4636.

How CA Certificate Services scam works

Several times each week, CA Certificate Services owners use computer software to pull business owner information from the Washington Secretary of States web site. It grabs publicly available information like the business name, registration date, principal address and its unique identifier number.

Shortly after registering their business, the company mails letters to Washington business owners through its print and mail vendor located in Florida. CA Certificate Service uses a different business name, WA Certificate Service, when it sends the letters with a localized Washington return address.

The letters and envelopes imitate official government mail, and create a false sense of urgency that the business owner is required to purchase a Certificate of Status for $82.50 to complete the business registration process.

Declarations from Washingtonians that will be included with the motion for preliminary injunction note that several people believed the letters were real government correspondence because they followed their business registration date so closely. A few of those Washingtonians wrote that after mailing in their payment they felt suspicious, and conducting their own research they realized it was a scam. Many cancelled their checks or asked the business to send their money back.

One King County resident wrote that she asked the company for a refund shortly after mailing in her check in November 2019 but does not recall receiving it. She received a certificate from the Secretary of States Office the month after sending in her check. She subsequently filed a complaint with the Attorney Generals Office.

The Secretary of States Office does not require purchase of this certificate to complete the registration process. A Certificate of Status, also called a Certificate of Existence, simply shows a business is current and authorized to conduct business in Washington. Washingtonians can purchase the certificate directly from the Secretary of State for a $20 fee.

From March 2019 through mid-December 2021, the companys owners distributed more than $3.6 million amongst themselves from its national earnings. Three of the men  Marshlack, Davis and Strawn  each generally received 30 percent of those illegal gains, while Beard received 10 percent.

The company has similar operations that target businesses in Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio, Utah and Virginia. The Michigan Attorney General, the Utah Department of Commerce and the Virginia Attorney General have previously sued the company. In March 2019, the Washington Secretary of State issued an alert about the scam, but the company continued to operate in the state. Georgia and Ohio have also issued alerts to warn business owners about the misleading and deceptive letters.

Labor Poster Compliance: similar owners, same type of scam

Since December 2021, Labor Poster Compliance has disseminated almost 16,000 deceptive letters into the state that appear to be bills sent by or on behalf of a governmental agency. Like CA Certificate Service, it obtains business owner information from data made publicly available by the Secretary of State.

The company sends a letter that urges people to pay $79.25 for an all-in-one workplace poster that it claims has required disclosures of certain state and federal laws. The company further cites federal laws that require placement of this poster in the business, and includes threats of penalties and legal action for non-compliance.

However, because some of the businesses had no employees, posting workplace posters is not required. Further, business owners can obtain workplace posters for free from the Washington Department of Labor and Industries, Washington Employment Security Department and the U.S. Department of Labor.

Assistant Attorneys General Shidon Aflatooni and Sebastian Miller, investigator Scott Henderson, paralegals Khalid Ali and Courtney Amidon and legal assistants Kristina Winfield and Chris Kiefer are handling these cases for Washington.

Fergusons prior enforcement actions standing up for small business owners targeted in scams

In March 2016, a King County Superior Court judge ordered civil penalties and restitution of $1.15 million in Fergusons lawsuit against Mandatory Poster Agency. The judgment included $793,540 in civil penalties and up to $362,625 in restitution for victims.

The Michigan-based company duped thousands of Washington small businesses into paying for documents many people thought were coming from a state agency. The judge found Mandatory Poster Agency violated the state Consumer Protection Act 79,354 times.

Mandatory Poster Agency sent envelopes marked Important: Annual Minutes Requirement Statement to roughly 80,000 Washington businesses between 2012 and 2013. Ferguson asserted the company deceived more than 2,900 small businesses into paying $125 each to prepare documents that looked like they came from the government.

Also in March 2016, a Thurston County judge ordered LA Investors, LLC, a California company that duped new Washington property owners into buying overpriced deeds, to pay more than $3.6 million for its deceptive practices.

The court found the company violated the state Consumer Protection Act at least 256,998 times by sending deceptive mailers. It sent official-looking notices implying that consumers needed to buy a dramatically overpriced $89 copy of their deed. Deeds typically cost only a few dollars from a local county office, and many property owners can obtain a copy of their deed for free online.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The theme for this year's Women's History Month is "Women Providing Healing, Promoting Hope." The following is part of a series highlighting women who provide healing and hope to the greater Mecosta County area.

BIG RAPIDS  Keeping the community safe is no easy task, but it is one that Big Rapids Department of Public Safety patrol officer Heather Butts takes very seriously and is what motivated her to become a police officer.

This job puts you in the public and you deal with the public on a daily basis, Butts said. You have the opportunity to help the community as a whole. Keeping people safe  keeping my community safe  the idea of that is really important to me.

Butts demonstrated the idea of "providing healing, promoting hope" recently when she assisted a deaf man from Germany get out of a sticky situation and received a Chiefs Letter of Recognition' for her actions.

Butts said the man had an online relationship with a woman for about three years, had sent her money, and came here to visit her, but discovered he had been scammed.

It wasnt real, and he had been tricked, she said. A cab driver brought him here from the airport to what he thought was her (the woman's) residence, but when they got there it turned out not to be a residence.

The cab driver, fearing for the mans safety, as well as the unknown womans safety, took him to a gas station and called the police, she said.

He didnt have any family in the area, and didnt have anywhere to go, Butts said. Because he didnt speak the language, and was deaf, I called the airline and asked for a return ticket for him. There was pushback from the airlines, and they didnt want to change his flight without charging him $2,200.

She then looked into what it would cost to just purchase a return ticket, and it was going to be $1,200, she said.

The airline agreed to refund him $1,200, but it was going to take seven to 10 days, Butts said. I told them that was not acceptable, and barked my way up the chain till I got to a supervisor that was finally listening to me.

She explained that the man was deaf and disabled and had nowhere to go because he didnt know anyone here.

They finally swapped his ticket out and he got to go home that day, she said. The taxi driver took him back to the airport. They printed out his boarding pass and he was ready to go.

I appreciate that they (the department) recognized me, but to me, it is just part of my job, she added.

'DO WHAT WORKS FOR YOU'

Butts grew up in Hersey and graduated from Ferris State University. She spent several years as a stay-at-home mom after she and her husband moved to Kentucky.

When both of her children were in school, she decided to pursue her career in police work.

She is approaching her one-year anniversary with Big Rapids DPS and is looking forward to many more years of helping her community.

I really like that everyday you never know what it is going to bring, she said. When you come to work each day, you never know what is going to happen, and it is really neat to have a job like that.

The one thing she doesnt like about the job is that sometimes you have to do things you would prefer not to have to do, she said.

Sometimes you have to do the hard thing, even though it isnt necessarily what someone wants you to do, she said. There are consequences for actions, and sometimes you may not want to follow through with those consequences for others, but it is important to do so  to do the right thing.

Butts said it is important to recognize Womens History Month and recognize the accomplishments of women because many times women tend to not give themselves the credit they deserve.

I feel like women are capable of absolutely anything, but sometimes we tend to view ourselves as the weaker sex, she said. Women are amazing and have immense strength that we often underestimate. I think women underestimate themselves a lot, and I dont think we should.

She added that she would encourage other women to get into police work. Currently, women make up just 13% of police officers in Michigan, and 12.6% nationwide.

There are not enough women in policing, and I feel like the nurturing or compassionate side of women is missing in law enforcement, she said.

I would encourage young girls when approaching their career choice to do what works for you, she continued. Dont let society, or another person, stop you from doing what you want to do. Just go out there and do it.

When she is not busy taking care of her community, Butts stays busy with her childrens various activities and taking care of her horses.

I love to ride horses, and that is pretty much all I do in my spare time, Butts said. My daughter loves horses too, so we do that together.
With Putin assigned to villainy forever, China finds itself in a terrible place. The world knows Beijing is supporting evil Vlad even though there is no formal "treaty." Why? Because China doesn't sign treaties.

But you can't cozy up to a person responsible for the deaths of thousands of civilians without paying a price. And that's what President Xi has done with evil Vlad.

I believe China will disappoint Putin as the extent of the Russian's war crimes becomes more vivid. Does Xi really benefit from associating with a baby killer?

No, he does not.

China wants to dominate the world and in order to do so has to diminish the United States. Therefore, Xi will usually side with those opposed to America, which Putin absolutely is.

But in the end, China has to do business with the USA and the west. And he will.

See you beginning tonight at six eastern for the best news analysis anywhere. The No Spin News will enhance your life.
At the Belvedere Restaurant in New Britain's Little Poland section Sunday, former Mayor Lucian Pawlak, right, talks about local fundraising efforts on behalf of Ukraine. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, left, and Commander Carl Harvey of the Ukrainian American Veterans post in New Haven listen. (Don Stacom)

Calling Russias war on Ukraine barbaric, genocidal and criminal, Sen. Richard Blumenthal assured New Britain Polish-American and Ukrainian American leaders Sunday that hell press for more U.S. military and relief aid.

If I have one plea to the president of the United States, it is provide more air defense to the people and the brave freedom fighters of Ukraine, he said.

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Russias reported use of powerful missiles against Ukraine this weekend makes the need for action more urgent, he said.

Most alarming, just within the last 24 hours they have begun to use hypersonic missiles, Blumenthal said, calling that a dangerous escalation.

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A trip to Poland earlier this month was a chance to see firsthand the devastation that Russias attack has brought down on neighboring Ukraine and its people, Blumenthal said.

His pro-Ukraine audience at the Belvedere, a popular Polish restaurant in the citys Little Poland section, applauded Blumenthals promise to press President Joe Biden for more  and faster  military and humanitarian aid.

A series of speakers told of campaigns in the city and across Connecticut to raise money and clothing donations for Ukrainian refugees pouring into Poland.

State Rep. Peter Tercyak said parishioners in churches across New Britain said prayers for Ukrainians on Sunday morning.

People in our communities understand this threat, Tercyak said.

The reason that Polish people are so much in support of Ukraine is because Ukrainians are now fighting our fight. Theyre not just fighting for their freedoms and right but for ours, said Andre Blaszczynski, president of the Polish American Foundation of Connecticut.

Representatives of the New Haven post of the Ukrainian American Veterans distributed letters seeking medical equipment and supplies for the Lviv region, where soldiers and civilians alike have sustained injuries.

There are a lot of boots on the ground in this area, former Mayor Lucian Pawlak told the group.

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Ive got an appeal from the veterans. Last night the Pulaski Club around the corner (raised funds). Next Sunday the Blues Society stepped up and well do a benefit. Im so proud of our communities coming together, Pawlak said.

New Britain State Rep. Peter Tercyak, center, addresses a gathering of Ukrainian Americans and Polish Americans on Sunday morning in New Britain. They heard U.S. Sen Richard Blumenthal pledge to press President Joe Biden for more military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine. (Don Stacom)

I came to the United States in 1956. On Elm Street there was a John Pawlak  he was Ukrainian, said Pawlak, whose father, also named John Pawlak, was Polish. So how can I not respond to whats going on now? John and John  they shared a common last name; they became buddies.

Several people at the Belvedere pressed Blumenthal about specifics on the weapons systems the United States could provide, and others asked or whether NATO or other entities might mine the Black Sea to impede Russias Navy.

Blumenthal, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he is barred from discussing details of weapons systems or possible military tactics, but emphasized that hell press Biden and Congress for as much help as possible for Ukraines self-defense.

He said what he saw of Ukrainian refugees this month was hard.

Refugees come across the board literally carrying their clothes on their backs, their pets, their stuffed animals, he said. Theyre all women and children because the men have stayed to fight.

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The anguish and grief in their eyes is heartbreaking and harrowing. It was one of the most moving moments of my life to talk with them - we spent the whole day at the border crossing where just hours before the Russians bombed the town just 12 miles away, Blumenthal said.

In the midst of all this evil, destruction and death, there is still good. The Polish people have opened their arms, their hearts and their homes, he added.

State Sen. Rick Lopes said people throughout Greater New Britain support helping Ukraine.

Theres a great deal of thanks that our government is try to step up and do more things - but theres also a feeling that we could and should be doing more, Lopes said. I think thats pretty universal.

Adrian Baron, president of the citys Polonia Business Association, praised the owners of the Belvedere for making the restaurant available Sunday morning. It has hosted Ukraine fundraisers for the past month and a half, but was one of several Little Poland businesses to get a threatening letter in response.

Baron said the threats has not hurt fundraisers. Instead, the Little Poland Festival has decided to include Ukrainian folk dancers and free exhibit space to Ukrainian-American groups.

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This year we might even have a Putin dunk tank, Baron said.
Councilwomen Andria McClellan listens to members of the community make comments about the Norfolk casino land deal during their meeting at City Hall in 2019. (Sarah Holm/The Virginian Pilot)

Norfolk  Norfolk City Councilwoman Andria McClellan announced Monday a campaign for state Senate in 2023.

Im running because I want to see Norfolk and Virginia do more than change  I want to see our communities transform to meet the needs of all of our residents, McClellan said in a Twitter post Monday morning.

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McClellan is running in Senate District 21, a seat without an incumbent after redistricting this year. The district comprises most of Norfolk, excluding East Ocean View. Shell face off against Mike Pudhorodsky for the Democratic primary nomination, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.

McClellan has represented Superward 6 in Norfolk City Council since 2016.

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The race is her second bid for state Senate, according to VPAP. In 2013, McClellan unsuccessfully vied for the Democratic primary nomination in a special election to fill the 6th District seat vacated in 2013 by then-newly-elected Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam. She also sought but lost the Democratic nomination for the Virginia Lieutenant Governors race in 2021.

McClellan grew up attending Virginia Beach schools and earned degrees from the University of Virginia and University of Pennsylvania. She lives in Ghent with her husband and three sons, according to her city council biography page.

On McClellans list of concerns: education, climate, broadband and small business, her candidate website says.

The state has made good progress, but theres still an urgent need to invest more in education, tackle the climate crisis, address gun violence, increase affordable housing, expand access to high-speed internet, and so much more, McClellan said on Twitter.

As councilwoman, McClellan supported an overhaul of the citys zoning code in 2018 that included more flood protection measures. Among other positions, she vice-chairs the Southside Network Authority Board, which aims to expand high-speed broadband service in Hampton Roads through a 119-mile fiber ring.

Ali Sullivan, 757-677-1974, ali.sullivan@virginiamedia.com
Ajoint project between the Central Bank of Canada and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will be researching the possibility of an entirely digital Canadian dollar, it was announced yesterday.

The digital dollar would be a state-issued cryptocurrency, or central bank digital currency (CBDC). (For more detail on CBDCs and how they work, you can read our previous article here.)

Its not just Canada  countries from all around the world appear to be accelerating the research and implementation of CBDCs as we enter the second quarter of 2022.

In our New Years post, OffG hypothesized that the introduction of central bank digital currencies would be a major news thread of 2022, and that prediction looks to be coming true before winter has even turned into spring.

CBDC pilot schemes were already active in the Bahamas and Nigeria before the end of 2021, and Jamaica is rolling out their own later this year after a pilot scheme last year.

Dozens of others are not far behind, including the US, UK and the entire Eurozone. Swedens e-Krona is currently in the testing phase. Joe Biden has called research into CBDCs a matter of highest urgency.

Ukraine is right at the forefront of CBDC research and has been prepping for such since 2016. There were plans to implement one later this year, though its possible the war has changed them.

The Russian central bank was developing a digital ruble before the invasion of Ukraine, and it is now being suggested as a way to circumvent Western sanctions.

China was already leading the race to total digitalization of their currency, and have used the vulnerability to Western sanctions as an excuse to push ahead even harder.

India, South Africa, Malaysiathe list goes on and on.

In short, pretty much the whole world has been at least considering the move to entirely digital money.

Why should this concern you?

Well, because a digital currency would mean every single transaction you make can be monitored and recorded by the state, as well as your bank.

The implications for the right to privacy are obvious, but privacy is the least of it.

Much of the research being done on CBDCs concerns making them programmable.

Meaning either the state issuing the money, or the company paying it as wages, could put controls on how or where it is spent.

To quote a Telegraph article from last Autumn:

Digital cash could be programmed to ensure it is only spent on essentials, or goods which an employer or Government deems to be sensible.

As I wrote in October last year:

Governments and employers making sure the money they issue can only be used on sensible things, and not be used in socially harmful ways? It doesnt take much imagination to see just how this system could evolve and re-shape society into a truly dystopian nightmare.

and that was before.

It wasnt hard to imagine then, now we dont need to imagine. They have shown us exactly how they would use that power.

Just a month ago, the government of Canada was tracking down Freedom Convoy protesters  and even those who just donated money to the protests  and ordering banks to freeze their assets.

Consider how much easier an entirely digital currency would make that process.

Not only would it be easier to seize peoples assets, but you could stop people donating to the wrong causes in the first place by changing the programming of your digital money.

Reader funded alternate news sites  very much including OffG  could find themselves branded harmful misinformation, and placed on the funding blacklist.

People who refused the vaccines, or dont publicly denounce Russia (or any passing enemy of the moment), could have sanctions placed on their bank accounts.

Western governments are currently declaring financial war on dozens of private citizens who have not been charged  let alone convicted  of any crime, just because of their nationality. Its being done under the guise of punishing dirty Russians, but what can be done to an oligarch can be done to anyone.

Essentially, anyone who doesnt support current thing would be living under the threat of financial ruin.

The possibilities are as endless as they are terrible. Central Bank Digital Currencies are a death knell for the very idea of individual freedom.

Its almost impossible to overstate the important of this.

As I said in my recent interview on Perspectives with Jesse Zurawell, if youre only concerned about one thing this year, it should be this.


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China sends oral medicine to fight in the frontline against COVID-19

Global Times) 10:01, March 21, 2022

Chinese pharmaceutical giant, China Meheco Group Co, shipped the first batch of coronavirus oral medicine made by Pfizer to the frontline of fight against COVID-19 in China, China Meheco announced on its official WeChat account.

The medication named Paxlovid was imported from Belgium and arrived on Saturday at China Meheco's logistics center in Daxing, Beijing, with all procedures completed such as warehouse entry inspection. Before long, the company received an emergency dispatch order from regulators to ship the drug to support the local government in the fight against the coronavirus.

On Sunday morning, a special truck carrying the medicine departed from the Daxing logistics center headed for Changchun, capital of Northeast China's Jilin Province, which has been hit by a strong wave of COVID-19 recently. The drug is expected to arrive at Changchun on Sunday and will be sent immediately to the coronavirus frontline upon arrival, the company noted in a statement.

According to China Meheco, the firm recently signed an agreement with Pfizer to take charge of Paxlovid's commercial operations in the Chinese mainland.

Earlier, the drug was included into the latest coronavirus diagnosis and treatment plan approved by the National Medical Products Administration.

China Meheco saw its shares undergo abnormal fluctuations in recent days after the company's stocks surged to the trading limit 10 times in 13 trading days, between March 2 and 18, with a price surge of almost 200 percent.

The company issued a notice on March 18 saying that the drug's ultimate use and sales are relatively uncertain and it is expected that this will have no significant impact on the company's near-term business performance.

As of Sunday evening, China confirmed nearly 20,000 COVID-19 cases. Of them, 12,876 cases are based in Jilin.

(Web editor: Liang Jun, Hongyu)
In an effort to reduce gun violence in Norfolk and the greater Hampton Roads area, the Hampton Roads Black Caucus held a gun buyback event on Saturday, March 20, 2022, afternoon exchanging gift cards for firearms. (Stephen M. Katz/The Virginian-Pilot)

norfolk  Local leaders and community members are considering strategies to tamp down gun violence after a series of shootings this weekend across Hampton Roads left four people dead and 11 others wounded.

Among the options mentioned at community events this weekend in Norfolk: a city review of business practices at local bars after violent incidents, community gun buybacks and providing more alternatives for young people to engage in positive activities.

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Joel Jones, a spokesperson for the Hampton Roads Black Caucus, was among those who volunteered at the groups gun buyback event Saturday outside Military Circle mall in Norfolk.

About 30 firearms were turned over Saturday in exchange for gift cards. Many were easy-to-conceal pistols. Others had been left behind when their owners died, Jones said. All were guns that  if stolen or in the wrong hands  could be used to commit crimes.

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It really hit home about what we were doing, Jones said of the recent violence across the region, adding any one of those firearms could have been a part of that.

At an Engage Norfolk event Sunday at Scope  which was aimed at helping citizens learn more about how they can get involved in their community  Mayor Kenny Alexander and City Councilwoman Andria McClellan took time during their remarks to the crowd to address the multiple shootings that happened in the city Friday and Saturday.

Three people were killed and five injured during four separate incidents in Norfolk this weekend. Among those killed was 25-year-old Sierra Jenkins, an education reporter for The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press who got caught in the line of fire as she was leaving a bar in downtown Norfolk early Saturday. Employees of Chichos Pizza Backstage said the popular Granby Street bar was closing when an argument started outside and gunfire erupted. Five people were shot and 25-year-old Devon M. Harris was also killed.

This has to stop, Alexander told attendees at Scope. He urged anyone who has a family member with a gun that could be misused, or who is using drugs, or engaging in other activities that could lead to violence, to take action.

If we dont do something, we are just as much of a problem as they are.

Tyree Wise, 26, crouches down Sunday, March 20, 2022, at a memorial for Sierra Jenkins and others shot outside Chichos Pizza Backstage. Wise ran track in high school with Jenkins, who was shot and killed early Saturday while leaving the bar. "When she set her mind on something she did it," Wise said. "We were all so proud of her and all she accomplished." (Jane Harper)

Since the start of the year, Norfolk police reported 14 homicides  13 of which involved firearms, according to a Virginian-Pilot tally. The department was not able to confirm the figures over the weekend or provide comparable data for the number of killings at this time last year.

But gun violence has grown increasingly prevalent in the city recent years. Norfolk led the region in terms of the sheer number of people slain last year. The city recorded 61 homicides in 2021  a 60% jump from 38 two years before and 50 homicides in 2020.

Alexander said he expects the City Council will discuss the weekends violence  as well as ways to address it  at its session on Tuesday.

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Its not isolated. Its happening too much, Alexander said afterward. We have to find solutions.

The mayor said he and other city leaders have been asking for more enforcement, including law enforcement and code enforcement. And he wants the city to re-examine businesses where the violence is occurring to see what, if anything, theyre doing to trying to prevent it  as well as what they may be doing, or not doing, that attracts violent people to their businesses.

Knowing how to de-escalate a situation is very important, Alexander said. He believes if bartenders and security officers are trained to try to calm angry patrons, they could help limit the number of shootings.

Chichos management previously told the Pilot the argument that touched off Saturdays shooting happened outside the bar and that all customers were patted down before entering, so they dont believe the shooter brought the gun inside.

The mayor also called on residents to do what they can to help stop the violence.

Its going to take families and individuals to take accountability for this violence to end, he said.

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The Hampton Roads Black Caucus plans to host more gun buyback events, but Jones said members largely want to connect with people with influence, such as grandmothers who can teach their family members about gun safety.

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The group also has reached out to young people affected by gun violence, hoping they can urge their peers to turn in their weapons.

I think if we work together, collectively, to reduce gun violence, we can make a difference and give people the opportunity to survive out here, HRBC president Ron Taylor said.

U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, who was among the many elected officials who spoke at Scope, believes finding ways to keep young people better engaged is key.

You constantly have to work on prevention, Scott said. Making sure that young people are getting an education, and have proper adult guidance, quality activities to take part in after school and summer jobs are essential, he said.

When you give people alternatives, you reduce crime, Scott said.

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Jane Harper, 757-222-5097, jane.harper@pilotonline.com

Ali Sullivan, 757-677-1974, ali.sullivan@virginiamedia.com
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Scores of friends and family attend a vigil for Sierra Jenkins on Sunday night at Granby High School in Norfolk. (Stephen M. Katz/The Virginian-Pilot)

Scores of family members and friends gathered at Granby High School in Norfolk Sunday night to honor 25-year-old Sierra Jenkins, who was fatally shot when gunfire erupted on Granby Street early Saturday.

Many in attendance were dressed in orange  Jenkins favorite color  and carried candles to light in her memory.

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As people gathered, murmurs of disbelief and denial rippled across the crowd.

One by one, Jenkins mother, father, aunts, uncles, teachers and dear friends addressed the group.

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The prevailing message: Stop the violence.

Jenkins, a reporter at The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press, was one of two people killed outside Chichos Pizza Backstage in downtown Norfolk as the popular nightspot closed. Jenkins had been there with her best friend, according to her family. The restaurant and bar was closing when an argument started outside, and Jenkins was caught in the line of fire as she left.

In all, five people were shot in the incident shortly after 1:30 a.m. Police have not announced any arrests in the shooting.

[ Virginian-Pilot reporter among those killed in Granby Street shooting in downtown Norfolk ]

Brianna Bennett, a close friend of Jenkins, was the first to speak at the vigil. She noted that Jenkins was killed by the very violence the young reporter had sought to end.

She was fighting the violence we have in our community. Maybe we can help finish what she could not finish, Bennett said. It starts with the community. There are a lot of you here, and that is enough to start something.

Tiff Crawford, for whom Jenkins had babysat, said she had taken Jenkins to lunch on Wednesday. The pair talked for two hours about Jenkins aspirations.

She told me how she loved being a journalist because she served her community, Crawford said, her voice shaking as tears fell down her cheeks. Sierra would want us to take care of each other, not just us, but the whole city. We have got to come together and stop this violence.

Jenkins grew up in Norfolk and graduated from Granby High School. After attending Tidewater Community College, she transferred to Georgia State University, majoring in journalism with a minor in African American studies. She graduated in December 2019, walking the commencement stage with her mother, Moniquekia Thompson, who earned her bachelors degree at the same time.

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Jenkins interned at Atlanta Magazine and CNN, and then worked as a news assistant for CNN Health. She was hired in December 2020 to be a breaking news reporter at The Pilot and Daily Press.

According to Sonja Lassiter, Jenkins godmother, Jenkins moved back to Norfolk to help change the community she so loved.

She had work that she wanted to do, Lassiter said.

Lassiter urged those in attendance to use Jenkins light to plant seeds in the community for young people and to allow this loss to change lives for the better.

So that we can have other Sierras that will become journalists, that will become agents of change, because we need change in our community, Lassiter said.

Jenkins mother, Moniquekia Thompson, echoed Lassiter, stating, You take my babys peace that she left with you and apply it to yourselves. Change. Do Better. Love one another.

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Caitlyn Burchett, caitlyn.burchett@virginiamedia.com
There is a lot more put into preparing and serving food than just making it look and taste good  it also has to be safe to eat.

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There is a lot more put into preparing and serving food than just making it look and taste good  it also has to be safe to eat.

There are well-defined rules to preparing and serving food safely, so to get people prepared and informed, Prairie Oasis Seniors Centre hosted a food preparation safety course on Saturday.

Taught by retired food safety inspector Brad Kelso, the class consisted of mostly the centres kitchen staff, as well as a few outside people looking to get food safety certification.

Anyone can teach the course, Kelso said, but he said he enjoys it because he has the education and decades of real-world experience he can relate to the course material. This course is recognized by Manitoba Health, as well as required by Red River College and Assiniboine Community College for their courses in culinary arts and hotel management.

It also helps others get up to date with Canadian rules and regulations. Kelso said one of his biggest clients is Westman Immigration Services, and he is willing to give their clients extra help so they can educate themselves and pass their exams for their certification.

Companies and provincial government bodies like Prairie Mountain Health can require staff to have training, Kelso said, but Manitoba is the only province that does not require food safety training before someone can open a food-related business.

"Its been a sticking point for people like me. The government has said for many years they will change the regulations, but they never have," he said. "Winnipeg had it in their bylaws long before Manitoba. Every other province has it in their regulations that there must be someone on shift with food safety handling training and certification."

The course involved going through a series of chapters in an easy-to-read manual, as well as videos demonstrating everything from prep to different types of foodborne illness. Kelso also related many personal experiences over his long career investigating food poisoning cases and working with everyone from government agencies to cruise ship companies.

The original idea was to have Kelso come teach the centres kitchen staff on current proper food handling practices and kitchen management, said the centres director, Amanda Fast. To have the class run, however, they needed a minimum of 10 people, so they opened up registration to the public and spots quickly filled.

As restaurants open and look to hire staff, many will be looking for safety training from applicants. Fast said food industry managers are also keen on giving themselves a refresher course as kitchens and dining halls become busier.

Its a good course for anyone not just to get some professional kitchen training, but learn more about safe food handling for themselves when preparing meals for large private gatherings.

The centre runs Meals on Wheels and Everyone Eats Brandon out of their kitchen, so it is in their best interest to keep staff up to date on kitchen safety rules so they can direct anyone coming in to use the kitchen to prepare food for their clients.

"Theres a lot of interest from people who want to cook for large functions like church potlucks, and they may not know all those fine line rules about food safety," Fast said. "We do have a number of volunteers who come in to cook, and we want all our staff to have the knowledge to answer questions they may have about the rules."

Getting into the food business has been a side hustle for some attendees like Elizabeth Morrow, who works on the activity side of the centre, and she wanted more training to be safer.

She has her own food business and uses the centres kitchen to prepare food, so she is keen on learning more about safe handling practices.

"I was a little surprised when I started doing my side gig and found out I didnt need to take it because it wasnt mandated," she said. "But they are saying now that at least one person should have it. Im my only employee, so I feel I have to take it."

Morrow added she found the course easy to understand and follow. Most of the information was in laymans terms to which she could relate.

Even though some food franchise companies have their own regulations.

Jaydeepsinh Mahida said as one of the managers of Pizza Pizza in Brandon, food safety certification is the most important aspect of their job. The company offers food safety courses internally, but he found the course very helpful, especially in terms of proper sanitation and food preparation.

"When we are making pizza, food safety is our main thing," he said.

His co-manager, Kushang Patel, said they are considering offering this same training to their delivery drivers as an option for the safety of their customers and staff overall.

 kmckinley@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @karenleighmck1
The Ohitika/Ogichidaa (Warrior) Wellness Mens Group is celebrating a year of activities encouraging resiliency, mental wellness and pride in culture among Indigenous men.

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The Ohitika/Ogichidaa (Warrior) Wellness Mens Group is celebrating a year of activities encouraging resiliency, mental wellness and pride in culture among Indigenous men.

The Ohitika/Ogichidaa liaison team held a special meeting on Friday and Saturday at the Victoria Inn, said co-ordinator Jason Gobeil. The days served as a time for critical conversations around what it means to be a warrior and community helper while encouraging the program to grow in participating communities.

The concept of the Ohitika/Ogichidaa is based on the philosophy of promoting the courage and compassion that needs to be embodied in the spirits of Indigenous men. Together, the liaison team ensures Indigenous men are heard, acknowledged and valued in society.

"Being able to connect in person, theres a different exchange of energy," Gobeil said. "Were making sure that were not only looking at our relationship with our spirit but our relationship with the land."

Ohitika/Ogichidaa is continuing to grow and includes nine different active communities  Brandon, Roseau River First Nation, Winnipeg, Long Plain First Nation, Dakota Tipi First Nation, Dakota Plains Wahpeton First Nation, Sioux Valley Dakota Nation, Birdtail Sioux First Nation and Canupawakpa Dakota First Nation.

The Ohitika/Ogichidaa liaison team was created to establish leaders in communities to help facilitate activities for men. Gobeil said they have created a strong team that can deliver initiatives while supporting each other.

It remains pivotal to foster meaningful relationships between men and these communities, Gobeil said, because it solidifies the energy that exists within the First Nations.

"Right now and over the last few years when we talk about reconciliation, its not just about reconciliation with non-Indigenous peoples. Its reconciling with histories that we werent told or raised with as well," Gobeil said. "This has been a revival of culture, a revival of history, a revival of our knowledge, and really essentially making sure we understand who we are and what our roles are."

Ohitika/Ogichidaa members are not only warriors, but helpers for their families and communities and take pride in growing these roles, Gobeil said. These actions are in turn reaffirming the value and pride members take in their identity as Indigenous men.

"We all carry skills and we all carry knowledge whether youre 99 years old or 18 years old," Gobeil said. "Thats the beauty of taking out the hierarchy and sitting in a circle. We are all looked at as equals. We all have an ability to respond or that responsibility to respond to ourselves. But at the same time, we dont look at one person as being the keeper of all knowledge  we all feed into that."

Together members are reviving the long-sleeping warrior society in communities, Gobeil said, while reawakening, reconnecting and reclaiming their Indigenous identities.

"Were not going anywhere," Gobeil said. "Youre going to see men walking with pride. Youre going to see men walking with their braids showing and understanding the importance of our cultural teachings and our connections with spirit."

Roseau River First Nation community liaison Neil Alexander joined the Ohitika/Ogichidaa program after being encouraged to by his mentors and community elders. Roseau River now offers multiple initiatives and has had three in place that have been running for more than a year.

Alexander began helping to facilitate Ohitika/Ogichidaa in Roseau River, where they are known as the Guardians of Southwest Manitoba, hosting mens night covering a variety of different topics, including inter-generational trauma, while promoting healing in those who participate.

"Weve come a long way in the last year," Alexander said. "I think everybody walked away feeling pretty good."

He appreciates the vibe and the community they have been able to grow through the connections Ohitika/Ogichidaa has built.

Alexander said he could feel the bonds of brotherhood growing in the room as they discussed a variety of different topics. He especially appreciated getting the community updates because it offered an opportunity to learn and bounce ideas off each other.

Sioux Valley Dakota Nation community liaison Wakpa McKay was intrigued by Ohitika/Ogichidaa and the unique activities included in the programming for men. He knew immediately he wanted to get involved with the program because he returned home to learn traditional knowledge and teachings featured in the program.

"I thought this would be such a great way for me to learn my culture, but at the same time help my community," McKay said.

McKay added the team meeting marked an important opportunity for camaraderie with other men while having conversations about different communities learning about their struggles and accomplishments.

"I could learn from them, and vice versa. That was a great opportunity," McKay said. "We got really used to each other right away."

He left the conference feeling more confident in his ability to share what he learned in Sioux Valley and to help Ohitika/Ogichidaa grow and increase participation in mens night.

McKay added he is looking forward to the future with Ohitika/Ogichidaa including the Fathers Day Walk in June, a special community event celebrating the first anniversary of the program and the individual events and programs coming to different communities.

 ckemp@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @The_ChelseaKemp
Reawakening spiritual knowledge and teachings that have been passed down for countless generations, the latest session of Healing the Family Within will help 60s Scoop survivors learn traditional parenting skills.

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Reawakening spiritual knowledge and teachings that have been passed down for countless generations, the latest session of Healing the Family Within will help 60s Scoop survivors learn traditional parenting skills.

Each Healing the Family Within workshop has been designed to build off previous classes and help 60s Scoop survivors, family members and service workers heal from the trauma created by Indigenous children being removed from their families and communities, said cultural support worker Deborah Tacan.

"Were going to go now into traditional parenting and how our grandparents, our ancestors parented and some of the profound teachings and learning why they did some of the things the way they did," Tacan said. "When you think about it, there are thousands of years of parenting that came down and that was interrupted through colonization."

"Healing the Family Within  Building a Foundation in Traditional Parenting Teachings" takes place Wednesday from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Mahkaday Ginew Memorial Centre in Brandon. The session will include information on traditional parenting, carrying another spirit, the sacredness of children, hands-on activities and time to share. Participants will also talk about the history of the 60s Scoop and its effects while highlighting the strengths of survivors.

"We bring all of that and we talk about the teachings that are still within us and we are waking them up. We are waking them up because they are sleeping as a result of everything," Tacan said. "All of a sudden, we start hearing the positive things, we start seeing the positive things and we choose to start to change stereotypes."

The 60s Scoop was the forced adoptions of Indigenous children in Canada as part of a process of assimilation. It is estimated between 20,000 and 40,000 First Nation, Metis and Inuit children were removed from their families and communities and adopted out into non-Indigenous households during this period. The adoptions spread to children across the world including Australia, Europe, New Zealand and the United States, along with Canada.

Survivors of the 60s Scoop are now adults trying to unite with their birth families and communities  a part of this journey is looking for an identity and to understand where they belong.

Healing the Family Within is part of healing from the disruptions of residential schools, the 60s Scoop, the reserve pass system and other forms of trauma that have affected Indigenous families and communities, Tacan said.

These interruptions broke the cycle of traditional Indigenous parenting and have left a lasting historical trauma in communities.

Survivors need validation, Tacan said  validation of the hurt, losses and grief they experienced, along with recognition of the strengths and wisdom they still carry.

The goal of Healing the Family Within is to bring those teachings back  this includes talking about the sacredness of life, sharing sacred creation stories and celebrating the place of children as Wankazi, "the little sacred ones."

Indigenous people want to bring back these practices and teachings as part of the healing process from the 60s Scoop, she added, breaking the damaging cycle of colonization.

"Colonization is not over, we know that. Its still continuing on today," Tacan said.

It is a challenging situation because many grandparents and parents are survivors of residential schools or the 60s Scoop and never had the opportunity to grow up in a loving home and community.

It has created a challenging situation because for many, they were taken away as children old enough to remember their real homes, but after spending time away never felt like they could fit in again, Tacan said.

"That bonding and attachment are not there. So they come back and they start raising families and they dont have those parenting skills," Tacan said."

Through the process of colonization Indigenous youth were pushed to embrace western perspectives and values that looked down on teachings that had been treated as sacred for countless generations, she said.

Speaking as a 60s Scoop survivor, Tacan said, she needs that foundation to understand what parenting is, what her children need, understanding the stages of development because she was not taught this growing up.

60s Scoop survivors were sent to homes that in many cases were non-Indigenous and learned the basics of family life through western perspectives. This led to a painful loss and separation from their Indigenous culture and communities.

These traumas have been internalized and led to negative stereotypes that need to be unpacked to help change survivors worldviews.

Teaching traditional parenting helps survivors come back to their culture, she said, while reaffirming their Indigenous identity and place in the community.

"We all have our idea and our thoughts about a family and were healing that family that we carry within the side of ourselves. We carry hurt, we carry wounds because of a result of what happened to our families," Tacan said. "Were helping them to know their identity, to know who they are because a lot of them feel lost."

 ckemp@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @The_ChelseaKemp
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP)  Samoa has reported scores of new COVID-19 cases each day since detecting its first case of community transmission last week.

The Catholic Cathedral in Apia on the island of Upolu, Samoa, July 8, 2015. Samoa will go into lockdown from Saturday, March 19, 2022 as it faces its first outbreak of the coronavirus after a woman who was about to leave the country tested positive. (Dean Purcell/New Zealand Herald via AP)

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP)  Samoa has reported scores of new COVID-19 cases each day since detecting its first case of community transmission last week.

The South Pacific island nation of 200,000 people has been in lockdown since Saturday as it deals with its first outbreak of the pandemic.

The outbreak was discovered when a woman who was about to travel tested positive for the virus last Thursday and indicates the virus likely had been spreading undetected for days or even weeks.

Traditional boat is located in Apia, Samoa, July 22, 2015. Samoa will go into lockdown from Saturday, March 19, 2022 as it faces its first outbreak of the coronavirus after a woman who was about to leave the country tested positive. (Dean Purcell/New Zealand Herald via AP)

Samoa reported another 95 new cases in 24 hours to Saturday and another 85 on Sunday.

Only 15 of the 196 active cases were imported from overseas, according to the the latest government statement available Monday. More than 2,200 tests have been done since Friday, the statement said.

Samoa and several neighboring Pacific island nations were among the last places in the world to avoid virus outbreaks. But the more transmissible omicron variant has changed the equation, and one by one the island nations have been succumbing to COVID-19.

Since the start of the year, Kiribati, Tonga, the Solomon Islands, the Cook Islands and American Samoa have all experienced their first big outbreaks.

All Samoan schools are closed, public gatherings are banned, and all stores and other services are shut down, except those considered essential.

The lockdown is initially scheduled to last until Tuesday but many expect it will be extended.

About 65% of all Samoans have had at least two doses of a coronavirus vaccine, according to Our World in Data.

Samoa has had previous virus scares and lockdowns after returning plane passengers tested positive while isolating, but had managed to avoid any community outbreaks until now.

Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Nauru are among the few remaining Pacific island nations to have avoided omicron outbreaks.
Energy giant ExxonMobil is warning millions of Victorians who rely on gas for heating, cooking and hot water face the threat of price spikes and possible supply shortages if the Andrews government proceeds with a proposal to halve gas use by the end of the decade.

United States-based ExxonMobil  operator of the Bass Strait oil and gas fields off Victorias coast  is growing increasingly concerned about the prospect of aggressive targets to slash gas consumption as the government builds a strategy to reduce the states high reliance on the fossil fuel.

Victoria is the states biggest user of natural gas in heating, hot water and cooking. Credit:John Woudstra

While the targets have not yet been formalised, government officials at a meeting that included gas industry representatives and environmental groups in February cited modelling for multiple scenarios that indicated a 25 per cent cut by mid-decade and a 50 per cent cut by 2030, two sources familiar with the presentation have confirmed.

The Andrews government is conducting public consultations for a Gas Substitution Roadmap that will outline plans to achieve Victorias emissions reduction targets including using electrical appliances for heating rather than gas, improving energy efficiency and focusing on alternative fuels such as hydrogen or biogas. Although natural gas remains widely used in Australia and across the world, efforts are under way globally to cut the use of all fossil fuels as part of an accelerating push to avoid catastrophic global warming.
Turning back to fossil fuels due to the global energy shock caused by Russias invasion of Ukraine would be madness and risk mutually assured destruction, the United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has warned in a speech to an energy and climate summit.

European energy suppliers are racing to find alternatives to Russian coal amid mounting sanctions against Moscow for invading Ukraine. Credit:Bloomberg

After the naive optimism that marked the Glasgow climate talks, the goal to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees is in intensive care with emissions caused by energy soaring to new highs in 2021 as the world economy rebounded from the pandemic, said Mr Guterres.

Mr Guterres laid the blame at the feet of wealthy nations in general and called out Australia in particular.

If we want to stop global warming, we need to go to the source  the G20, said Mr Guterres in a speech to a climate summit in London hosted by The Economist magazine on Monday evening Australian time.
Kimberley Kitchings husband has told a roll call of politicians at her funeral in Melbourne that his wife deserved to be treated better than she had been by a group of Labor figures he described as a cantankerous cabal.

Senator Kitching, who was 52, died on March 10 from a suspected heart attack. There has been turbulence in the party since her death, with her supporters claiming she had been ostracised and bullied by some Labor colleagues who were from different factions. These claims have been denied.

Kimberley Kitchings husband Andrew Landeryou speaks at his wifes service. Credit:Eddie Jim

Scores of current and former politicians from across the political spectrum attended Senator Kitchings funeral at St Patricks Cathedral in East Melbourne on Monday afternoon.

One of Senator Kitchings closest friends, former opposition leader Bill Shorten, used his eulogy to urge Labor figures to move onwards from her death and channel their energy to the task of winning the upcoming federal election. However, her husband, Andrew Landeryou, suggested he could not forget the way she had been treated by the party machine.
Scott Morrison was quick to set up a character test for Anthony Albanese about the death of Victorian Senator Kimberley Kitching when the issue came up in the Prime Ministers press conference in Queensland on Tuesday.

The Prime Minister wasted no time when asked about the Labor leader one day after the funeral for Kitching on Monday, where her husband Andrew Landeryou criticised a cantankerous cabal within Labor who treated her badly before she died on March 10. These claims have been denied.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Credit:Renee Nowytarger

Mr Morrison turned this into a test for Mr Albanese on whether the Labor leader was tough enough to face the media when the questions get difficult.

Heres what Mr Morrison had to say:

I mean, honestly... yesterday was an important day for Kimberley Kitchings family. And Im pleased that she was able to be honoured in the way that she was. Certainly for her family and friends and there were people from both sides of politics there to pay tribute.

I welcome the fact that shell be honoured within the Labor Party with an ongoing recognition award for those in Labor Party. I think that that is very fitting. But that does not dismiss the fact that serious allegations have been made  not by the Liberal Party but by members of the Labor Party about a toxic culture within the Labor Party.

Which the leader of the Labor Party, Anthony Albanese, is in hiding [about] and wont address. He cant just dismiss away hard issues. Thats not what prime ministers can do. And this someone who wants to be prime minister.

You face up to these things, as my government has, and dealt with difficult issues and worked them through, and had the reviews and had the inquiries. And ensured that weve made the system better for all of the Parliament.

But what weve got from Anthony Albanese at the first sign of hard questions  and were not even into the campaign yet  he has gone into complete hiding. Frankly, I think that it is pretty gutless.

But Mr Albanese has not been silent on the concerns aired by Kitchings friends about bullying within the caucus.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The Labor leader was asked about it in media interviews last week and as recently as Saturday while campaigning in the marginal seat of Robertson on the NSW Central Coast.

I received no complaints about the treatment of Senator Kitching from Kimberley at any time, Mr Albanese said on Saturday.

That is not to say that, of course, from time to time in politics, its a competitive business, it is one where I think we could all be kinder to each other, frankly, within the Parliament, within our own parties, and across the aisle.
Principals will be able to enforce mask rules in schools following a spike in student COVID-19 cases, but Queenslands chief health officer will not move to mandate them.

Queensland authorities will also not move to implement new public health measures as a result of rising cases.

Amid more than 43,000 active cases in the state, recent figures show about 14,000 Queensland students had contracted the virus, as Education Minister Grace Grace raised concerns about lagging vaccination rates in five to 11-year-olds.

Queensland Health figures show from Monday this week, there have been more than 5400 new cases in students, with more than 3200 recorded on Tuesday.
More Australians are leaving capital cities for the bush than before the coronavirus pandemic, contributing to a jump in regional rents that experts warn will put people at greater risk of homelessness without government action.

Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) chief executive Cassandra Goldie said COVID-19 and the floods in Queensland and NSW had only aggravated the national rental problem.

Regional rental prices have increased at a greater rate than capital city rates over the course of the pandemic. Credit:Peter Rae

Were in the middle of a renting crisis in many parts of regional Australia, she said.

In flood-affected areas, its clear the rental market cannot house the families on low and middle incomes who have been made homeless temporarily. The real concern is that this then becomes permanent.
Hampton  In an effort to help people affected by Russias invasion of Ukraine, Hampton University is joining the list of institutions to help students continue their education.

This summer, the historically Black university will take in 50 to 100 students who have been studying in Ukraine and allow those students to stay after the upcoming semester.

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I just believe so strongly in helping and serving people. Thats it  nothing more, nothing less, President William Harvey said during an interview.

It doesnt matter what students are studying or which program theyre enrolled in, Harvey said. Eligible students merely have to be currently studying in Ukraine. The university will cover tuition, housing and meal plans.

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Students who wish to stay at Hampton after the summer will be able to enroll at the universitys regular rate, according to a news release.

University administrators formed a committee, which met Thursday, to address some the challenges that are ahead of them including language barriers and immigration, transportation and vaccination issues. Harvey also reached out to international organizations and the Ukrainian ambassador to see how the university can help.

The University of Chicago announced a similar initiative this week that will allow students to study at the institutions campus in Paris. The university will offer online and in-person learning options for students who are unable to continue their studies in Ukraine along with other programming efforts.

In 2019, the private institution partnered with University of the Bahamas to assist students who were displaced by Hurricane Dorian. Harvey made calls to presidents of a couple of airlines who agreed to provide students with flights to Hampton Roads. The outpouring of support led to local retail companies chipping in with gift cards for students so they could buy supplies needed for their stay.

I am not unaware of the difficulties that there are going to be, but I firmly believe that we need to try, Harvey said.
The nations red-hot property market has finally cooled, with soft auction clearance rates collected across the country for the second week in a row, amid reports buyer inspection numbers also dipped.

Despite a strong start to the year in Sydney and Melbourne, both cities have since slid from clearance rates in the 80s to register 68.3 and 67 per cent respectively  with the national average mirroring the downward trend at 68.6 per cent.

Sydneys auction clearance rate for Saturday had a six in front of it. Credit:Peter Rae

Those figures sit 10 per cent lower than this time last year, with Domain data further revealing that Brisbanes auction clearance rates reached only 69 per cent on Saturday  some 13 per cent lower than this time last year.

I think what were seeing now is the true colours coming out of the auction market, said Domain head of research and economics Dr Nicola Powell.
China faces its worst air disaster in three decades after a plane carrying 132 people plunged into mountains in the countrys south-east.

China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735 was on its way from Kunming to Guangzhou on Monday afternoon (AEDT) but lost contact just over an hour into its flight. Its last contact with flight trackers was made 900 metres above sea level in the mountains that surround Wuzhou.

A piece of wreckage of the China Easterns flight MU5735. Credit:Xinhua via AP

Villagers were first to arrive at the forested area where the plane went down. The crash sparked a blaze big enough to be seen on NASA satellite images. Hundreds of rescue workers were swiftly dispatched from Guangxi and neighbouring Guangdong province.

More than seven hours after communication was lost with the plane, there was still no word of survivors.
London: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British aid worker who was detained in Iran for six years, has spoken publicly about her ordeal for the first time since she gained her freedom last week.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 44, said she should have come home to Britain six years ago. She appeared before the media on Tuesday (AEDT) in blue and yellow - the colours of the Ukrainian flag - alongside her husband Richard, who campaigned for her freedom, and their daughter Gabriella, who turns eight this year.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was detained in Iran for six years. Credit:Getty

Zaghari-Ratcliffe was freed last week after the British government agreed to pay a historic debt owed to Iran, worth 400 million ($713 million), relating to an order for military tanks which were never delivered because of sanctions imposed on trading with the country after the revolution. Two other prisoners were part of the deal: Anoosheh Ashoori returned to Britain with Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Morad Tahbaz was released on furlough, but his daughter said he has since been detained.

Weve only just found out, before we started this afternoon, that hes been returned to the prison, his daughter Roxanne told the news conference at the British Parliament, alongside Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
Broker aggregators PLAN Australia, Choice Aggregation, and FAST have appointed Andrew Wild and Hannah Carter as growth managers to drive the networks growth across NSW.

PCF (PLAN, Choice, FAST) Group managing director Stephen Moore said the new additions were a clear commitment to grow each brand with quality brokers and their businesses.

They are both superstars, Moore said. Andrew and Hannah have extensive experience and connections, and a unique understanding of whats needed to achieve in the modern market.

The aggregators, which are owned by Loan Market, appointed Wild and Carter to focus on attracting new broker business to the group.

Andrew is fantastic with people and has a strategic mind. He comes from national sales and leadership roles and provides great insights and understanding through social media tactics, efficiency through technology in business, as well as training and development, Moore said.

Read more: Loan Market acquires NAB-owned aggregation groups

Wild (pictured below) said he looked forward to introducing brokers to MyCRM and integrating all aspects of their business.





The business has many experienced partnership managers supporting brokers and I also look forward to working closely with them in promoting the offering of the brands, he said.

Hannah has so much enthusiasm and energy which is infectious, added Moore.

She started her career at FAST and has moved around different businesses within the industry and is now back home - she is very innovative and has a positive impact across the team.

Carter (pictured top) said she believed her new role was a great opportunity to join the aggregator group.

I think the role is really unique: its almost like being a broker for brokers, finding the home and community thats best suited to them, she said.

The aggregators offered a choice of three business models to suit different needs for brokers, which provided a unique match for different models depending on brokers needs.

The main focus was to help brokers grow with a three-fold core proposition: to help brokers save time, keep them safe, and provide support when brokers need it.

Andrew and Hannah love the broker industry; they are big promotors of it and actively endorse brokers across the network, said Moore. They focus on quality. Quality people, processes, and attitudes. They understand how busy brokers are and they want to provide quality support to them.

The aggregator group shared a positive outlook on the year ahead, despite external challenges.

Our view is we still have growth to go right across the country, despite some property markets plateauing, we are still seeing good growth in the broker market share, said Moore.
Bryan, OH (43506)

Today

Partly cloudy in the morning. Increasing clouds with periods of showers later in the day. High 61F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Periods of rain. Low near 50F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall near a half an inch.
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(BoI) on Monday said it has invested nearly Rs 109 crore in National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd (NARCL).

"We hereby inform that on March 21, 2022, bank has invested Rs 108.81 crore in National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd (NARCL), under preferential share issue," the bank said in a regulatory filing.

The bank's shareholding in NARCL will come to 9 per cent as on March 21, 2022.

Incorporated in July 2021, NARCL is an asset reconstruction company backed by the government.

Shares of BoI closed at Rs 47.50 apiece on BSE, down by 1.14 per cent from previous close.

(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.)
Global aerospace major India on Monday said that it is in touch with for providing its new aircraft A350 for .

Speaking at a company event here to showcase the new generation aircraft A350, India President Remi Maillard said: "We are in talks with all airlines."

On Air India, he said that the company currently has a relationship with Tata Group's other airlines namely Vistara, and AirAsia India.

Besides, he said that the is Airbus's defence products manufacturing partner here in India.

Last month, Tata Sons Chairman N. Chandrasekaran said the group is committed to making a world-class airline which it deserves to become.

He also mentioned upgrading the aircraft fleet to expand the network both on the domestic and international fronts, and to ensure best possible hospitality to passengers.

In January 2022, the Centre handed over the management control of national carrier to a subsidiary of Tata Sons.

According to Maillard, India is set to witness a massive growth in outbound passenger traffic.

The company forecasts that India will be the fastest growing aviation market amongst the G20 countries.

"Wide body aircraft growth has remained stagnant for both passenger and cargo aircraft," he said.

As per estimates, India is expected to witness growth of 6.2 per cent in international air traffic, whereas the global average will be at 3.9 per cent.

On Monday, the aircraft manufacturer showcased the A350 family of widebody and the long-range aircraft.

The aircraft can seat upto 480 passengers depending on the configuration.

Furthermore, India said the aircraft offers the lowest cost per seat of any large widebody.

The A350 aircraft can fly non-stop on ultra-long haul routes of 18,000 km.

At present, Airbus has received 915 orders from 50 customers globally for different variant of the aircraft.

--IANS

rv/shb/

(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.)
BENGALURU (Reuters) - Indian Ltd has signed a five-year deal to import muriate of from Chemical Ltd, according to a government statement released on Monday.

The deal runs from 2022 to 2027, according to the statement.

India is boosting fertiliser imports from nations such as Canada and to ensure sufficient supplies for the coming summer sowing season after a disruption of shipments caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

(Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel)

(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 portrait of Sierra Jenkins, reporter at The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press, taken in 2021. (Studio 110 Photography/Studio 110 Photography)

For her birthday, Maurice Jenkins gave his daughter a new IKEA coffee table with plans to come by her new apartment Saturday to put it together.

Instead, early that morning, he found himself rushing to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, hoping that the news he had received by phone wasnt quite as bad as it sounded; maybe, just maybe, hed get there and everything would be OK.

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Then his phone rang again  a detective telling him to get to the hospital now.

When I got that call, I just knew, Jenkins said. My daughter was gone.

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Sierra Jenkins, a reporter at The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press, was one of two people killed early Saturday outside Chichos Pizza Backstage in downtown Norfolk as the popular nightspot closed. In all, five people were shot after an argument started on Granby Street shortly after 1:30 a.m.

She was 25. She had celebrated her birthday just six days earlier.

We were each others person, said her best friend of 14 years, Demmi Nimer. Im not prepared to live life without her.

Jenkins and Nimer were part of a group of nine that had gone out Friday night. The girls had been friends since middle school. Even though they went different directions after high school, they remained as close as sisters, Nimer even naming Jenkins as godmother to her daughter Tristen. Nimer now lives in Memphis but was in town this weekend for a funeral.

Im devastated, Nimer said by text, too upset to talk by phone. When the shooting started, a bullet also struck the purse of Nimers sister, hitting her cellphone. It all happened so fast, Nimer said. I was with her when everything happened and just wish I couldve done more to help her.

The affable young reporters death sent shock waves through the journalism community, eliciting messages of sympathy from news organizations around the country. Dorothy Tucker, president of the National Association of Black Journalists, called it a tragic loss of a beautiful, young, intrepid reporter.

Sierra Jenkins, a reporter at The Virginian-Pilot and the Daily Press, is shown with her goddaughter, Tristen Desire Smith. (Courtesy of Demmi Nimer)

Throughout the day condolences poured in on social media, including from Gov. Glenn Youngkin, state Del. Danica Roem and U.S. Rep. Elaine Luria.

Roem, herself a former journalist, wrote on Twitter that her heart shattered at the news.

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In your mid-20s in the newsroom, youve just come into your own, Roem said. Youve had the experience to find the story and drive to break it, all while growing as a person. To rob her life is just beyond tragedy.

Friends and colleagues called Jenkins a hardworking, dedicated and curious reporter with infectious energy; she had a bubbly personality and a big heart, someone who seemed wiser than her 25 years. Smart and idealistic, she wanted to make her mark on the world, said her editor, Brian Root.

Jenkins had been scheduled to work the breaking news shift Saturday when an editor tried to reach her to cover the shooting. Then word that Jenkins was among the victims began to spread. Among the first to hear was Denise Watson, features editor for The Pilot and Daily Press, who had served as a mentor to Jenkins.

Watson described Jenkins as someone who was enthusiastic about her work and careful with details. She was particularly interested in social issues, looking for ways to find stories that could bring about change. She wanted her work to make a difference.

She was such a bright light, Watson said. She was everything youd want in a colleague and reporter. And she had just started. Theres no telling what she could have done.

Jenkins grew up in Norfolk and graduated from Granby High School. After attending Tidewater Community College, she transferred to Georgia State University, majoring in journalism with a minor in African American studies. She graduated in December 2019, walking the commencement stage with her mother, Moniquekia Thompson, who earned her bachelors degree at the same time.

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She interned at Atlanta Magazine and CNN and worked as a news assistant for CNN Health, then was hired in December 2020 to be a breaking news reporter at The Pilot and Daily Press.

I knew the first time we spoke that Sierra would be a great addition to our news staff, said Kris Worrell, editor-in-chief of Virginia Media. She was so passionate and ambitious, and ready to bring all that talent home.

Kiana Murden, who went to high school with Jenkins and now lives in New York, said Jenkins was thrilled to work for her hometown newspaper. Jenkins later moved to the education beat.

Sierra Jenkins graduated from Georgia State University in 2019. (Courtesy of Maurice Jenkins)

She was really excited to make an impact on the community and enhance it any way she could, said Murden, who works for Vogue as a beauty commerce writer. She was excited about what she was covering.

Murden, a year ahead of Jenkins in school, said the two hit it off when they were on the track team. Jenkins was the kind of friend everyone wants to have  easy to talk to, trustworthy and fun to shop with, Murden said. They kept in contact through college, following and supporting each other in their journalism careers.

She walked into a room and lit up the room, Murden recalled. She had goodness at her core.

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Julianna Morano was only at The Pilot and Daily Press for a few months as an intern in late 2021. But after working with Jenkins on a story about book banning in Virginia Beach, Morano began looking to Jenkins as a mentor. Jenkins went out of her way to help her, Morano said, and was the one shed always sit next to at Expansive, the downtown Norfolk complex where The Pilot has offices.

She was definitely my favorite person I met there, said Morano, who will soon start writing for The Fresno Bee in California. She was more than just a co-worker or a journalist. She was so much more.

Features reporter Saleen Martin said she felt a connection to Jenkins from the start. Dedicated and sweet, with an endearing tooth gap and a unique sense of style (she loved to wear fun earrings), Jenkins was an understanding friend whom Martin said she had come to depend on.

Jenkins death doesnt seem real, Martin said. It really hurts to think about her not being able to do the things she wanted to do. Whoever did this, they robbed a lot of people of a really good person. This shouldnt have happened. You shouldnt just go out with friends and this happens.

Jenkins began covering education last year, once asking veteran Daily Press reporter Peter Dujardin for tips on finding good story ideas. Dujardin called her a reporters reporter, always on the hunt for ideas and with a knack for finding good ones, from the serious to the fun and offbeat.

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Maurice Jenkins said his daughter wasnt the partying type at all, but more of a homebody. After living with her grandmother upon returning to Hampton Roads, she had recently rented an apartment in Virginia Beach. She was proud and excited to be living on her own, another notch in her life journey.

Always a responsible child  the kind who didnt need to be told to do her homework, Jenkins had begun to carve out what she wanted in life as a teen, getting a job at Moes Southwest Grill in Wards Corner as soon as she was old enough. She wanted to buy a car, her father said, because she didnt want to depend on anyone.

If Sierra was taking something on, she was going to do it, he said. That was her character.

In the year before her death, Jenkins had paid off her student loan debt and bought her third car. The second was a Mitsubishi Eclipse she got her senior year of high school and drove to Georgia for college and then home to Virginia. The Eclipse now sits in her fathers driveway, used to teach Jenkins stepsister to drive. Jenkins was a caring sister, the oldest of five, a mixture of full, half and stepsiblings.

Father and daughter were close, often trying out different restaurants for Sunday brunch. They texted or talked every day.

Daywatch Weekdays Start your morning with today's local news >

Sierra  and I dont say this because she was my daughter  she was the perfect child, Maurice Jenkins said. An absolute Daddys girl. Just a caring and a loving individual.

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Sierra Jenkins, shown in an undated photo. (Courtesy of Maurice Jenkins)

Nimer, her best friend, said Jenkins cared deeply about everything, whether it was people, work or her community. She was particularly passionate about the Black community and Black women, making sure they had a voice. Root, her editor, said Jenkins cared a lot about the learning loss of schoolchildren during the pandemic, as well as inequality in education.

Jenkins last story was about a Hampton University program to take in students impacted by the war in Ukraine, reflecting her passion for telling the stories of students. That story will run in Tuesdays newspaper.

Norfolk police still have not released many details about Saturdays shooting, including suspects or possible motive. Neither Jenkins or Nimer knew the other people who were shot. Maurice Jenkins knows only that his daughter was leaving after a night of fun when someone began shooting.

When he left the hospital Saturday, he went to Chichos, his hospital badge still on his shirt, needing to go where it happened. He cant explain it, but he felt her there.

I think Im going to be going down there a lot, Maurice Jenkins said. When theres not much going on, on a Saturday morning, I think Ill probably go. People on Granby Street might see me as the guy sitting on a chair at Chichos.

Thats the last place my daughter was alive and well. I can go and sit and feel her there and reflect on my baby.
TataNeu, the super app from the Tata group, is to be launched on April 7, said sources in the know, although it will be invitation-only to begin with. A few weeks back, the super app was opened to non-Tata employees for the first time.

Every Tata employee was allowed to invite five people they know to access the app and the response has been phenomenal, said one source in the know. The biggest novelty for consumers is that they will enjoy, for the first time, a multi-category loyalty programme that will work across the categories that TataNeu has on its ...
Chinese Boeing crashes with 132 passengers on board, no sign of survivors

A Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 with 132 people on board crashed in mountains in southern on a domestic flight on Monday and media said there was no sign of survivors.

The plane was flying from the southwestern city of Kunming, capital of Yunnan province, to Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong, bordering Hong Kong.

There was no immediate word on the cause of the crash. Read more

Govt updates draft papers with Q3 nos; net profit at Rs 235 cr

The government has filed updated draft papers with market regulator Sebi for an initial public offer of LIC, incorporating December quarter financials of the insurance behemoth, an official said on Monday.

In the run-up to the mega IPO, on February 13, the government had filed the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the regulator giving details of financial results till September. The DRHP got Sebi approval early this month. Read more

Ukraine rejects Russian demand for surrender in Mariupol

Ukrainian officials defiantly rejected a Russian demand that their forces in Mariupol lay down arms and raise white flags Monday in exchange for safe passage out of the besieged strategic port city.

Even as Russia intensified its attempt to bombard Mariupol into surrender, its offensive in other parts of Ukraine has floundered. Read more

N Biren Singh takes oath as Chief Minister of Manipur

N Biren Singh takes oath as the Chief Minister of Manipur in Imphal, for the second term, on Monday.

Singh was unanimously elected as leader of the legislature party of the BJP in a meeting held on Sunday, which was attended by the party's central observers, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and Union law and justice minister Kiren Rijiju. Read more
Around 22,500 Indian nationals returned to India from between February 1 and March 11, Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh said on Monday.

The Ukrainian authorities shut down the country's airspace for civilian aircraft after the Russian invasion on February 24.

India started evacuating its citizens from Ukraine's neighbouring countries such as Poland, Romania and Hungary from February 26. A total of 90 evacuation flights were operated under Operation Ganga, including 14 Indian Air Force flights, the minister said.

In his reply to a written question in Rajya Sabha, Singh said, "Around 22,500 Indian nationals have returned from to India from February 1 to March 11, 2022."



"The air fare for all the flights operated under Operation Ganga has been borne entirely by the government and nothing has been charged from the students," he added.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The high-powered panel of experts constituted by the to study the three repealed farm Acts has said a great majority of the agricultural organisations it had interacted with were in support of them.

Of all the farm organisations it had talked to, around 86 per cent of them, representing almost 33 million of the farming community, had supported the laws.

While advocating retaining the Acts, the panel, whose recommendations are of little consequence now, has suggested that states be allowed flexibility in implementing and designing the laws, with prior approval from the Centre.

It has said a repeal or long suspension of the Acts would be unfair to the silent majority who supported the laws.

The panel was constituted by the in January 2021 while staying the implementation of the three laws.

It initially had four members, including agricultural economist Ashok Gulati, Shetkari Sanghatana (Maharashtra) President Anil Ghanwat, former South-Asia Director of the

International Food Policy Research Institute Pramod Kumar Joshi, and the president of a faction of the Bhartiya Kisan Union, Bhupinder Singh Mann.

Mann later opted out of the panel.

Pune-based farmer leader Anil Ghanwat on Monday said at a press conference that he had on three occasions written to the Supreme Court, requesting the release of the report of the committee but in the absence of a response, he was doing it.

The panel in its report said it interacted with 73 organisations, representing almost 38.3 million farmers. Around 86 per cent of them fully supported the Acts while four groups, representing around 5.1 million, did not do so.

Another seven organisations, representing 360,000 farmers, supported the Acts with some modification.

That apart, the panel invited comments. It received 19,027 representations and suggestions. Two-thirds of respondents there supported the Acts, the panel said.

The panel noted the farmer groups protesting on the Delhi borders did not participate in any of the interactions but their objections and concerns as highlighted in the media were reckoned on while it gave its recommendations.

On the farmer unions demand to legalise the minimum support price (MSP) system, the panel said it was not based on logic and was therefore infeasible.

Any product that is produced needs to be traded at a viable price. MSP is an indicative floor price to protect the farmers against any undue fall in prices, especially at the time of harvest. The government does not have the financial coffers to buy whatever is produced of all 23 commodities that are currently under the cover of MSP, the report said.

The MSP and procurement support policy, as designed for cereals during the Green Revolution time, needs to be revisited, given that huge surpluses of wheat and rice have emerged.

The panel gave a few options on how to proceed, looking at least 10 years ahead.

One of the options that the committee deliberated upon is to allocate the current expenditure by the central government on procurement, storage and PDS of wheat and rice across states based on an objective formula giving due weightage to production, procurement and poverty. The states should be given the freedom to devise their own approaches to support farmers and protect poor consumers in their respective states, the report said.

The committee has recommended that procuring crops at a declared MSP can be the prerogative of the states in accordance with their specific agricultural policy priorities.

Another option the panel suggested is to give freedom of choice to the beneficiaries of the public distribution system to choose cash transfers equivalent to MSP + 25 per cent for every kg of grain entitlement or get it in kind (wheat or rice).

A road map for gradual diversification from paddy to more sustainable high-value crops, especially in the Punjab-Haryana belt, needs to be formulated, the panel said.
said on Monday its antibody-based cocktail to prevent and treat COVID-19 retained neutralising activity against variants, including the highly contagious BA.2 sub-variant, in an independent lab study.

This is the first data looking at the impact of AstraZeneca's Evusheld treatment on "cousins" of the variant following a recent global spike in cases. The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker said in December that another lab study found that Evusheld retained neutralising activity against .

Data from the latest study by Washington University in the United States showed the therapy reduced the amount of virus detected in samples - viral load - of all tested Omicron sub-variants in mice lungs, said.

The study has yet to be peer reviewed.

Evusheld was tested against the BA.1, BA.1.1, and BA.2 sub-variants of Omicron and it was also shown in the study to limit inflammation in the lungs - a critical symptom in severe COVID-19 infections.

"The findings further support Evusheld as a potential important option to help protect vulnerable patients such as the immunocompromised who could face poor outcomes if they were to become infected with COVID-19," John Perez, head of Late Development, Vaccines & Immune Therapies at AstraZeneca, said.

Last week the World Health Organization said figures showing a global rise in COVID-19 cases could herald a much bigger problem, as the Omicron and BA.2 variants spread amid the easing of restrictions and testing.

Evusheld was found to cut the risk of developing symptomatic COVID-19 by 77% in trials, Britain's drug regulator said last week, after approving the therapy for preventing infections in adults with poor immune response.

Evusheld has also been shown to save lives and prevent disease progression when given within a week of first symptoms.

While vaccines rely on an intact immune system to develop targeted antibodies and infection-fighting cells, Evusheld contains lab-made antibodies designed to linger in the body for months to contain the virus in case of an infection.

The therapy is currently under a European review. It has already been authorised in the United States.



(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, Aditya Soni and Susan Fenton)

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Australian Prime Minister on Monday expressed his understanding of India's position on the crisis in Ukraine, and he and PM felt that the conflict should not be a reason for diverting attention from the Indo-Pacific, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine figured at a virtual summit between the two prime ministers.

At a media briefing, Shringla said Morrison expressed understanding of India's position on the Ukraine issue.

There was serious concern about the ongoing conflict and humanitarian situation in Ukraine and both Modi and Morrison emphasised the need for cessation of hostilities and violence in Ukraine, Shringla said.

Both sides felt that the conflict in Europe should not be a reason for us to divert attention from the Indo-Pacific region, he said.

Unlike its partners -- the US, Japan and Australia -- India has not condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and has been maintaining that crisis should be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy.

Shringla also said that India and Australia were keen to finalise the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement as it will unlock new opportunities to expand bilateral trade and investment ties.

The foreign secretary said the two leaders exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest including shared concerns over terrorism.

Shringla said Modi also referred to the situation in eastern Ladakh and he emphasised that peace and tranquillity in the region was essential for normalisation of India's ties with China.

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Oil minister on Monday allayed fears of short supply of amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict and said that imports from Russia are miniscule at just 0.2 per cent of total such imports till January this fiscal.

"About the increased oil concerns...we require total of five million barrels per day. Sixty per cent of it comes from Gulf. We have imported from Russia, just 0.419 million metric tonnes...that is 0.2 per cent of total requirement (during April-January this fiscal)," Puri said in the Rajya Sabha while replying to a supplementary to a starred question.

"We are monitoring the situation. As far as oil imports are concerned from Russia, contrary to what played up in media, it is miniscule," the minister said.

According to the written reply tabled in the House, in financial year 2020-21, India imported 85 per cent of its requirements and 54 per cent of its natural gas requirement.

According to Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell (PPAC), India's major sources of crude oil imports are Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Nigeria and the US. Indian Oil & Gas Public Sector Undertakings had imported approximately less than 1 per cent of its total crude oil from Russia in the year 2021-2022 (till January).

India imported only 0.419 million metric tonnes (mmt) of crude oil from Russia, as compared to overall crude oil imports of 175.900 mmt (in April-January this fiscal).

In the current situation of high volatility in global energy markets, the Government of India is closely monitoring the situation. No adverse impact on hydrocarbon energy agreements is currently foreseen, the minister stated in the written reply.

He also stated that even now the total amount (of crude oil supply) contracted will be three days supply from Russia to India and that also spreads over next three to four months.

Replying to another supplementary, he said, "Our oil companies have invested about USD 16 billion in Russia (since Vajpayee government's term). Some of those investments are very profitable."



About plans of certain companies to exit from Russia, he told the House, "The discussion on whether western oil entities are exiting from some of these (oil and gas) facilities (in Russia)...we are in discussion with some of these western oil entities.

"The facts on the ground vary. There is nuanced approach. Some have indicated intent to exit. The others say that they will not make fresh investments...We are in discussion with highest levels of those companies. If those companies were to exit finally...we will certainly look at all those economic opportunities available."



In 2020-21, India imported 14 mmt of crude from the US. This represented 7.3 per cent of our requirement as against less than 1 per cent from the Russian Federation.

"In the current (fiscal year) the imports from the US are likely to grow to 16.8 mmt or a value of about USD 10 billion of crude oil. If I add the amount of gas which we are importing and coal, I think the figure comes to USD 13.5 billion of imports from the US. There is a robust relationship and I see it continue for some time," he added.

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Prime Minister on Monday expressed sadness at the crash of a passenger flight in China's Guangxi.

A Chinese passenger plane with 132 people on board crashed in the southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Monday, the regional emergency management department said.

The aircraft of Eastern Airlines, which flew from Kunming to Guangzhou, crashed in Tengxian County in the city of Wuzhou, causing a mountain fire, the department was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency.

"Deeply shocked and saddened to learn about the crash of the passenger flight MU5735 with 132 on board in China's Guangxi," Modi tweeted.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of the crash and their family members," he said.

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The legendary on Monday became the first para athlete to receive the Padma Bhushan, the country's third highest civilian award.

The 40-year-old Jhajharia received the prestigious award from President Ram Nath Kovind at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Jhajharia is a multiple-time medal winner, having won his maiden gold during the 2004 in Athens, his second gold medal during the Rio Games in 2016, and a silver medal during the 2020 Tokyo edition last year.

The javelin thrower competes in the F46 events in the and was among the four Paralympic medallists to be conferred with the this year.

Tokyo Paralympics double medallist shooter Avani Lekhara received the Padma Shri for her excellent showing last year.

Lekhara won a gold medal in the 10m air rifle standing event and a bronze in the 50m rifle 3 positions event.

Alongside Jhajharia and Lekhara, gold medal-winning javelin thrower Sumit Anil, gold medallist in badminton Pramod Bhagat were the other Paralympic stars to be conferred with the honour.

That he has achieved a first was not lost on Jhajharia.

"This is the first time a para athlete has got the Padma Bhushan, and I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi for this. Now I will have more responsibility towards the country, to win more medals for India," Jhajharia said.

"To the youth, I will say work hard. One minute of work will not get you anything. I have worked hard for the past 20 years, 2002 was the first time I won a gold medal," he added.

Lekhara tweeted, "Honoured and grateful to be awarded the Padma Shri. This award is a testament to not only my efforts, but the sacrifices of my family and the support of everyone involved in my career helping me achieve all I have.

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India is considering making all adults eligible for booster doses of Covid-19 vaccine, two sources with knowledge of the matter said on Monday, as infections grow in some countries and some Indians find it hard to travel abroad without a third dose.

Only frontline workers and those older than 60 are currently allowed to take booster doses in India, whether free in government centres or paid for in private hospitals.

The government is debating whether to provide boosters to other groups for free, said one of the sources, who both sought anonymity as the government has yet to make a decision.

A spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. The Serum Institute of India (SII), whose Covishield vaccine dominates India's immunisation programme, said on Monday it stopped the shot's production in December but still had a stock of 200 million doses. It has produced 1.9 billion doses in total.

Its CEO Adar Poonawalla told CNBC-TV18 that they would restart production of the vaccine, a version of the AstraZeneca shot, if demand returned through boosters or any other way.

Health ministry, meanwhile, has urged states to boost Covid-19 surveillance measures, citing a resurgence in some parts of Asia and Europe. China and Italy have seen a recent rise in cases.

Infections in India, however, have fallen to their lowest in more than a year, with 1,549 new cases reported in the past 24 hours and 31 deaths. Indias total infections now stand at more than 43 million, with 516,510 deaths.

The country of about 1.4 billion people has administered 1.81 billion vaccine doses, more than 20 million as boosters.

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When the pandemic hit, the Pamunkey Regional Library had to shut its doors. But, it still worked to offer resources to folks. (Pamunkey Regional Library)

King William  Pamunkey Regional Library is seeking a funding boost to address a serious loss of staff and the potential closure of branches, its director said.

The library system provides services to King William, King and Queen, Hanover and Goochland counties and the city of West Point. Tom Shepley, director of Pamunkey Regional Library, made a plea for more money at the King William Board of Supervisors budget work session on March 2.

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The library has upped its budget request to King William County from $444,597 in the present financial year to $593,168 in FY23.

This is the largest request increase that we have asked for in the 13 years that I have been at the library, Shepley told the board.

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He said the library made a flat budget request last year even though expenses increased. He said the library has been asking for benchmarking funding that compares the library system with others for the last four years.

We have found that our salaries are not comparing well with other public libraries  we have 140 people that are under the $12 minimum wage. The great resignation as they have been calling it started with us when we went to reopen, he said.

When the libraries reopened following the COVID-19 related closure in July 2020, the library system lost staff. Shepley said the problems were exacerbated because 65 percent of staff are over 60. Many of the workers perform part-time jobs.

There arent a lot of people who can do that work, Shepley said. We found it harder and harder.

He said many workers remained at home when the libraries reopened in 2020. We ended up with 45 vacancies in July of 2020. This is an ongoing challenge for us.

Shepley said the funding increase would cover improved wages for staff with the aim of bringing salaries up to $15 an hour.

King Williams contribution makes up 10% of the librarys funding. Hanover, which has six branches, contributes 63% of the budget and King and Queen contributes 4% of the systems funding.

Shepley told the board Hanover is funding a major part of the librarys request. Goochland is also funding a significant portion but King and Queen told outside agencies it was not entertaining increases.

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Shepley warned of the option to close branches so that our expenditures would meet what money we have.

Obviously there is a need but there are a lot of needs  certainly we want to do as much as we can by trying to balance what other needs we have, said Supervisor Travis Moskalski.

Pamunkey Regional Library runs the Upper King William Branch Library on Sharon Road, West Point Branch Library on Main Street, King and Queen Branch Library on Newtown Road as well as seven other branches in Richmonds rural periphery.

David Macaulay, davidmacaulayva@gmail.com
India buying more volumes of crude oil from Russia is still less than 1 per cent of the total oil imports while the volumes from the US will rise significantly, Petroleum Minister said on Monday.

Replying to supplementaries during the Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha, he said India bought 419,000 tonnes of crude oil from Russia during the first 10 months of the current fiscal year that began in April 2020, which was 0.2 per cent of the total import of 175.9 million tonnes.

In 2020-21, India imported 633,000 tonnes of 0.3 per cent while in 2019-20 the purchases were 2.93 million tonnes or 1.3 per cent of total imports, he said.

The statement comes against the backdrop of Indian firms picking up distressed Russian cargoes being offered at deep discounts. While Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has bought 3 million barrels through a trader, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) has picked up 2 million barrels.

"We require a total of 5 million barrels per day. That is our (crude oil) consumption. 60 per cent of it comes from the Gulf," he said. "Even if we were to scale these up considerably, it would still be a drop, literally a drop, in a larger bucket."



Stating that oil imports from Russia are "minuscule", he said, "even now, the total amount contracted will be less than three days' supply from Russia to India and that also spread over the next three to four months."



On the US, Puri said India has a robust bilateral energy relationship with Washington.

In the financial year 2020-21 (April 2020 to March 2021), India imported 14 million tonnes of crude from the United States, representing 7.3 per cent of total imports.

"In the current year, based on our imports from the United States and if I look at the projection, these are likely to go up from 14 million tonnes to 16.8 million tonnes or a value of about USD 10 billion of imports of crude oil from the US," he said.

Adding imports of LNG and coal, the trade will be close to USD 13.5 billion, he said. "So, it is a robust relationship on the energy front, and I see this continuing for some time."



On the impact of western sanctions on Indian investment in Russia, the minister said Indian state oil firms have invested USD 16 billion in oil and gas projects in Russia.

Some multinationals including ExxonMobil and Shell have announced exit from the Russian projects after Moscow invaded Ukraine.

This, Puri said, is nuanced. "Some have indicated an intent to exit. Others have said they will not make a fresh investment. But, as I said, we are monitoring the situation."



Discussions are happening at the highest levels of those companies. "I have no doubt that if those companies were to exit finally and if there are economic opportunities, that become available, we will, certainly, look at all those possibilities."



ONGC Videsh Ltd has a 20 per cent stake in the Sakhalin-I project in Far East Russia from where the operator ExxonMobil has announced exit.

"We got worried when we read those reports because if the operator is exiting, then the facilities' production will be undermined. But we were told that no. Production facilities will continue," he said.

On the four-month freeze on petrol and diesel prices despite the cost of raw material (crude oil) climbing from USD 81-82 per barrel to USD 111 on Monday, he said the concerned oil firms will take a decision.

"The concerned oil companies have not passed this (increase in crude oil price) on to the consumer. When they will, etc., these are decisions which they will have to take," he said.

Puri said India had in November last year joined other consuming nations such as the US, Japan and Korea to release stocks from strategic oil reserves. That "release had some sobering impact (on international oil prices)."



But India did not join the recent stock release at the behest of the IEA.

"India had signalled an intent, a support, but we have not done the release," he said. "Releases from strategic reserves can have a limited impact in a given situation but when the international market is so roiled as it is today, high prices, I think, are of limited concern.

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In a significant development, the Monday refused to order transfer and clubbing of over 80 criminal cases lodged by home buyers against directors and other officials of firms, saying it would not queer the pitch and make life difficult for a trial judge.

A bench headed by Justice Uday Umesh Lalit did not agree to the fervent submission of the counsel of Shiv Priya, one of the jailed officials of the group, like coal scam cases, the trials in 85 criminal matters, which are of similar nature, can be transferred to one court from seven different courts in the national capital.

The bench, also comprising Justices S Ravindra Bhat and P S Narasimha, said the coal scam cases involved government servants as accused as well and moreover, the Prevention of Corruption Act provides for transfer and clubbing and this was not available in other statutes under which the former directors of the private firms are charged.

Every complainant will have different versions and it will create problems for the court. How does it help the cause of justice? The trial judge concerned will not be able to deliver the judgement. We cannot do that. There has to be a power where we can vest everything in one jurisdiction, the bench said.

When senior advocate Brijender Chahar, appearing for Shiv Priya, persisted with his submissions saying that the most of the complaints are of similar nature alleging cheating, the bench said the projects and the company involved could be different and it will not help the judge in conducting the trial.

It gave the example of a stock scam case involving Harshad Mehta and said that the special court was set under a law of Parliament.

The crux of all the FIRs is that the home buyers were cheated.

Why should we queer the pitch and make life difficult for the judge by clubbing the cases and sending them to one court, the bench said and dismissed the plea.

Shiv Priya alleged that he has been in jail for the last three years and charges have been framed in one case out of total 85 matters investigated by the Economic Offence Wing of Delhi police.

Meanwhile, the bench also dealt with the separate plea of Anil Kumar Sharma, jailed former CMD of Amrapali group, seeking relief on medical grounds and directed the Director, AIIMS, to set up a board of doctors to examine him and give a report to it.

In the circumstances, we direct that the petitioner (Sharma) be produced before a board consisting of medical professionals as the Director, AIIMS deems appropriate within two weeks from today and the copy of the order shall be transmitted to the Director, AIIMs so that a date for medical examination by the board can be fixed.., the bench said.

It asked the AIIMS to apprise the Mandawali prison authority to ensure the presence of Sharma before the medical board for examination on the date fixed.

The (medical) board may thereafter on such an examination make a report to this court within seven days of such an examination and list this matter on April 18 along with the report, the bench said, adding that it would decide the future course of action after perusing the medical report.

It has been alleged that Sharma has been facing some health conditions.

The apex court has been monitoring the case related to the company after many homebuyers approached alleging malpractices and non-delivery of homes or flats. Former group directors of Amrapali Anil Kumar Sharma, Shiv Priya, and Ajay Kumar are behind bars on the top court's order.

Chander Prakash Wadhwa, jailed former chief financial officer (CFO) of and Anil Mittal, statutory auditor of the of companies were also arrested in connection with the case.

The arrested persons have allegedly been instrumental in creating a large number of bogus companies for diversion of funds of home buyers by employing persons known to them as directors or appointing them in key management posts in those companies.

The apex court in its July 23, 2019, verdict had cracked the whip on errant builders for breaching the trust reposed by home buyers and ordered the cancellation of the registration of the Amrapali Group under law RERA and ousted it from prime properties in the NCR by nixing the land leases.

The apex court had directed a probe by the Enforcement Directorate into alleged money laundering by realtors, providing relief to over 42,000 home buyers of Amrapali Group with the verdict.

The Supreme Court, which is trying to bring in funds for the stalled projects, had then directed the state-run NBCC to complete the stalled projects of the Amrapali Group.

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As many as 29 antiquities, including on the themes of Lord Shiva and his disciples, Lord Vishnu and the Jain tradition, have been repatriated to India by and Prime Minister has inspected them, government sources said on Monday.

These antiquities come from different time periods, with the earliest dating to 9-10 century CE.

In a historic move, 29 antiquities have been repatriated to India by Australia, government sources said.

The antiquities range in six broad categories according to themes 'Shiva and his disciples', 'Worshipping Shakti', 'Lord Vishnu and his forms', Jain tradition, portraits and decorative objects.

These are primarily sculptures and paintings executed in a variety of materials - sandstone, marble, bronze, brass and paper, the sources said.

Representing a large geographical region in India, antiquities are from Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and West Bengal.

Prime Minister Modi inspected these antiquities which returned from Australia, the sources said.

Modi and his Australian counterpart will hold a virtual summit on Monday.

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The on Monday granted the permission to transfer two petitions to it from the Jodhpur District and Sessions court in the 1998 in which actor is an accused.

Hearing of these two petitions will now take place in the high court along with the one already pending before it.

Khan had moved a petition in the high court seeking transfer of these two petitions to it so that all the three cases are heard at one place.

"After a brief hearing, Justice PS Bhati granted permission to transfer the two petitions to the high court, where one petition by the state is already pending. Hearing of all these cases will now take place at one place, which will save valuable time," said Khan's counsel HM Saraswat.

Khan had challenged his five years' conviction in a case relating to hunting of two blackbucks in the District and Session court on April 5, 2018. Another petition by the state challenging Khan's acquittal in a case under the Arms Act had already been pending in the same court.

Apart from this, the state had also challenged the acquittal of five others comprising actors Saif Ali Khan, Neelam Kothari, Sonali Bendre and Tabbu apart from a local. This petition had been pending hearing in the high court.

"While all these three different petitions belonged to the same matter, we had prayed for transferring the two petitions pending in the District & Session court to the high court so that all the three matters could be heard in the same court", said Saraswat.

At earlier occasions, the state's counsel had sought time to file his reply but during the final arguments on the petition, he did not object to the two pleas being transferred to the high court.

After this, the court had kept the order reserved, which was finally pronounced on Monday, paving the way for the resumption of hearing, which has been stalled since long.

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needs to be held accountable for the tragic loss of lives in in the ongoing war, and it must be ensured that such terrible events never occur in the Indo-Pacific region, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday at a virtual summit with PM Narendra Modi.

In his opening remarks, Morrison also referred to a recent meeting of the leaders of the Quad grouping on the crisis and said it provided an opportunity to discuss the "implications and consequences" of the developments in Europe for the Indo-Pacific.

Delving into key aspects of India- ties, Modi said the conclusion of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) will be important for economic revival and economic security for both sides.

"We have good cooperation going on in Quad as well. This collaboration of ours reflects our commitment to free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific. The success of the Quad is critical to regional and global stability," he said.

Modi said the ties witnessed remarkable progress in the last few years and that there has been close cooperation between the two sides in trade and investment, defence and security, education and innovation, and science and technology.

"Our collaboration has grown rapidly in many other areas such as critical minerals, water management, renewable energy, and COVID-19 research," he added.

Modi said he was happy over the establishment of a mechanism of the annual summit between the two countries as it ensures a structural system for regular review of the ties.

In his remarks, Morrison referred to the "distressing" and terrible situation in Europe which he said must "never happen in our own region".

"The tragic loss of lives underlines the importance, of course, of holding to account. The cooperation between like-minded liberal democracies is key to an open, inclusive, resilient and prosperous Indo-Pacific and I welcome your leadership within the Quad to keeping its focus on those important issues," Morrison said.

He said the events that are taking place in should never occur in the Indo-Pacific.

"I very much want to thank you for the partnership that we had while we are obviously distressed at the terrible situation in Europe. Our focus, of course, is very much on what is occurring in the Indo-Pacific and ensuring that those events never occur here in the Indo-Pacific," Morrison said.

On March 3, the leaders of the Quad countries held a virtual meeting to discuss the Ukraine crisis.

Unlike its Quad partners -- the US, Japan and -- India has not condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and has been maintaining that the crisis should be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy.

"Our region is facing increasing change and much pressure and I think the Quad leaders call recently which gave us the opportunity to discuss Russia's unlawful invasion of Ukraine, but also gave us the opportunity to discuss the implications and consequences of that terrible event for our own region in the Indo-Pacific and the coercion and the issues that we face here," Morrison said.

His comments on coercion are seen as an apparent reference towards the Chinese increasing muscle-flexing in the Indo-Pacific.

Morrison said the comprehensive strategic partnership between India and reflected the ambition that both shared and hold for the relationship.

"The pace and scale of the cooperation have been remarkable," he said, adding that "our ambition is to make it even closer".

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The administration of more than 181 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses has contributed to India's success in the management of the third wave, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Monday.

He said the country presented an exemplary model of Covid management with the Centre and states working in unison in a federal democracy.

India's COVID-19 management is a story of "leadership, innovation, dedication, partnership, sharing and leveraging technology", Mandaviya said in his keynote address at the 'Aksha Lessons from India', an event organised by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation here.

The event was organised to take key lessons and share experiences and best practices from India's COVID-19 management and vaccination journey.

The minister said, "India presented an exemplary model of Covid management with Centre and states working in unison in a federal democracy. Jan Andolan and Jan Bhagidari are key pillars of India's Covid management strategy."



Mandaviya reminded the audience that several studies had made ill-informed predictions and assumptions on the impact of the pandemic in the country but "India's political leadership took decisive actions at crucial times in a strategic manner by learning from and amalgamating best global practices with our own approach to manage the pandemic".

Appreciating the contribution of healthcare workers in the fight against the pandemic, Mandaviya applauded their motivation and dedication. In this context, the minister also highlighted the innovative ways in which the prime minister encouraged them to contribute their best.

On the government's efforts in controlling the pandemic, Mandaviya said that it was a "joint effort by multitude stakeholders like NGOs, CSOs (civil society organisations), industry, development partners".

"Administration of more than 181 crore Covid vaccine doses has contributed to our success in management of third surge," he said. He underscored the fact that despite the huge diversity of geographies and population, India demonstrated how a huge vaccination drive can be mounted at scale.

Mandaviya also stated that in keeping with Indian ethos and tradition, the country supplied COVID-19 vaccines to the world even before our own vaccine requirement was fully met.

He also added that we did not exhibit any arrogant behaviour but shared what India produced. We have provided medicines such as HCQ to many countries. We did not compromise on quality or bargain with the price.

The minister further said that India's success story presents takeaway for other countries to emulate, just as we are always open to learning from global best practices.

Country heads and representatives from development partners such as WHO, UNICEF, UNDP, USAID, ADB and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) were present at the meet.

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan noted that the Union government acted on a proactive mode since the onset of the pandemic to address the various challenges of vaccine roll-out across the country, vaccine production as well as vaccine hesitancy among the people.

He highlighted that India has already covered 96 per cent of India's 15-plus population with the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Dr Rodrigo Ofrin, Country Director, WHO, outlined the sheer number of people, vaccination centres, cold chains and other associated networks employed in the mammoth vaccination exercise across India.

He praised the country's vaccine manufacturing capability, stating that India is already a vaccine superpower in the world as over 70 per cent vaccines for various antigens in the world are manufactured in India.

Shoko Noda, UNDP Resident Representative, said that India's vaccination drive is unparalleled across the world. She further said that India's vaccination success story is a reflection of the commitment and dynamism displayed by the leadership of the country towards meeting the challenge of the pandemic.

Yasumasa Kimura, Deputy UNICEF India Representative, congratulated India for the world's largest vaccination drive. He said that India's vaccination model has been very important in defining the global trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Anjali Kaur, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Asia, USAID, underlined that India's mammoth vaccination exercise served as a model for other countries.

Takeo Konishi, Country Director, Asian Development Bank, noted that despite huge geographical, cultural and political challenges, India has demonstrated a roadmap to the world on overcoming numerous challenges.

Dr Chris Elias, President, BMGF, appreciated India's remarkable achievements and incredible efforts towards managing the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said, "Innovation is a regulatory decision to balance speed with safety with respect to vaccines, which India has taken promptly and proactively. It has developed CoWIN as a public good, which can be used elsewhere also to increase the delivery pace of vaccines.

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Indian have surged in auctions held by the countrys state-run miner, with domestic buyers rushing to secure supplies as global disruptions push up the cost of imported fuels.

Customers paid Ltd. an average premium of more than 340% above baseline prices in two sales this month, according to people familiar with the results, who requested anonymity as they are not permitted to speak publicly. That compares to premiums of about 100% in auctions in January.

Coal India, the worlds top producer of the fuel, sells about 15% to 20% of its output through an online auction system in which consumers make offers above a minimum set price. Rates paid are typically far higher than the long-term contracts that account for the majority of sales.

Thermal coal loaded at Australias Newcastle port, a benchmark for seaborne supply in Asia, soared to a record last week as buyers shun Russian shipments and seek alternatives to pricey natural gas. Thats tightening a global market that was already squeezed by disruptions in other exporter nations.

Spot e-auction prices reflect general market sentiment. It is the market response for coal that determines the premium, said in a statement. The company declined to confirm specific details of the price.

Even with high premiums, locally produced coal remains far cheaper than importing the fuel from Australia or Indonesia. Coal with a heat value of 6,000 kilocalories per kilogram was sold for about 11,700 rupees ($153.70) a ton in March 11 auctions by . Thats less than half the price of a similar variety of coal at Newcastle on the same day.

Coal India is also seeking to make the first major price increase since 2018 to long-term contracts, arguing that a hike is necessary to handle spiraling costs. India relies on coal to generate about 70% of its electricity.
Ukraine defied a Russian demand that its forces lay down arms before dawn on Monday in Mariupol, where hundreds of thousands of civilians have been trapped in a city under siege and already laid to waste by Russian bombardment.

Russias military had ordered Ukrainians inside the city in the country's southeast to surrender by 5 am, saying those who did so would be permitted to leave, while those who stayed would be turned over to tribunals run by Russian-backed separatists. There can be no question of any surrender, laying down of arms in Mariupol, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk responded.

Russias assault on Ukraine, now in its fourth week, has stalled along most fronts. Moscow has failed to seize a single major Ukrainian city much less capture the capital Kyiv or swiftly topple the government of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

But Russia has pounded residential areas, causing massive destruction. Nowhere has suffered worse than Mariupol, a port on the Sea of Azov, home to 400,000 people before the war. It has been under siege and constant bombardment, with no food, medicine, power or fresh water, since the invasion's early days.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov praised the city's heroic defenders, saying that by continuing to hold out they had helped thwart Russia's march on other big cities across the country.

A part of Mariupol now held by Russian forces, reached by Reuters on Sunday, was an eerie apocalyptic wasteland. Several bodies lay by the road, wrapped in blankets.

Windows were blasted out of the surrounding apartment blocks and walls were charred black. People who had come out of their basements sat on benches amid the debris, bundled up in coats.

Meanwhile, US President has added a stop in Poland to his trip this week to Europe for urgent talks with Nato and European allies, as Russian forces concentrate their fire upon cities and trapped civilians in a nearly month-old invasion of Ukraine. Biden will first travel to Brussels and then to Poland to meet with leaders there.

Russias foreign ministry, on the other hand said, it had summoned US Ambassador John Sullivan to tell him that remarks by Biden about Russian President Vladimir Putin had pushed bilateral ties to the brink of collapse.

President Biden said last week that Putin was a "war criminal" for sending tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine.
India is in final talks to begin exports to Egypt, the biggest importer, while negotiations are also going on with countries such as and Turkey, after Russias invasion of Ukraine upended global supplies.

The country is in discussions to sell to Bosnia, Sudan, Nigeria and Iran too, the commerce ministry said in a statement at the weekend. India is the worlds second-largest producer, while Bangladesh was the largest buyer of the nations in 2020-21, it said.

The government has given assurances to make sufficient railway capacity available to meet any immediate surge in demand for wheat exports, while port authorities have been asked to increase the number of terminals and containers dedicated to wheat, according to the ministry.

Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority, an arm of the commerce ministry, held a meeting of stakeholders last week on how to increase shipments. Indias wheat exports climbed more than fourfold to about 6 million tons in the 10 months ended Jan. 31, from 1.38 million tons a year earlier, according to the authority.

Wheat output will likely rise to a record 111.3 million tons in 2021-22, from 109.6 million tons a year earlier, farm ministry data show.
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Co. faces a new crisis after a 737 jet fell out of the sky in China, renewing concerns about its best-selling family of planes and extending one of the most turbulent periods in the aviation titans century-long history.

The 737-800 aircraft operated by Eastern Airlines Corp. nose-dived Monday into mountainous terrain with 132 people on board, prompting the carrier to ground its fleet of the workhorse jets.

The model is part of the so-called next generation of 737s that have amassed a good safety record since they were introduced in the 1990s.

The tragedy puts a harsh spotlight back on after two of its 737 Max jets crashed in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people and leading to one of the longest groundings in aviation history. The latest incident didnt involve a Max.

Still, its a setback for Boeings efforts to rebuild confidence in its safety culture and 737 family of jets, the companys largest source of revenue. It also jeopardizes the Chicago-based manufacturers nascent recovery in China, a critical step needed to rebound from three years of financial losses. had been on the verge of returning its Max aircraft to commercial service in the country, whose regulators were the first to ground the model in 2019.

Mondays crash comes at an extremely delicate time, with Boeing finally aiming to re-start 737 Max deliveries into after a three-year halt, Seth Seifman, an analyst with JPMorgan, said in a note to clients. Chinese authorities comments in the coming days and weeks will, therefore, be critical for gauging the impact of this tragedy on Boeings recovery.

Boeing said Monday that its supporting its airline customer and is prepared to assist authorities in the U.S. and . Its shares fell 4.2% to $184.73 at 1:51 p.m. in New York. The stock had dipped 4.2% this year through Fridays close.

Chinas airlines have been among the largest customers for the 737. Before the Max grounding, the nation took as many as one-third of the narrow-body jets that rolled out of Boeings Seattle-area factory each year.

In a sign of the potential thawing in its largest overseas market, Boeing last week sent the first Max across the Pacific Ocean to its Chinese delivery center south of Shanghai.

After burning through more than $20 billion in grounding-related costs, Boeings financial turnaround hinges on its ability to resume shipping 737s at a higher volume. Executives had targeted delivering around 500 Max jets this year. Thats already in question after a sluggish start, Seifman said. The pace of production will also be closely watched for the impact on suppliers such as Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc., which manufactures most of the jets airframe for Boeing.

What Bloomberg Intelligence Says

The event may extend the time it takes for the original-equipment manufacturers bonds to narrow the discount at which they trade to triple-B tier industrial peers. Paring inventory and generating cash are key to cutting debt and relieving strain on the companys financial-risk profile.

-- Matthew Geudtner, BI credit analyst

The crash also raises the potential for more confusion and backlash among travelers, some of whom avoided flying on the Max after the damaging revelations that emerged from the earlier accidents.

Then-Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg was ousted for his handling of the crisis in 2019 as Boeing faced scrutiny from Congress, regulators and law enforcement. In recent weeks, the companys safety lapses have been highlighted in Downfall: The Case Against Boeing, a Netflix documentary.

Given BAs problems with the 737 Max, there is some chance that consumers may not want to fly on a 737 until the cause of the China Eastern crash is determined not to be a design or manufacturing issue, Cowen analyst Cai von Rumohr said in a note, referring to Boeing by its stock symbol. Hence, isolating the cause of the crash will be critical.

Its too soon to know what caused the China Eastern accident, and investigations can take months or years to unfold. The lost airplane was relatively young, flying commercially for about seven years. Leading causes of such accidents tend to be maintenance issues, pilot error or sabotage, with design or manufacturing issues less likely, von Rumohr said.

Boeing has delivered more than 7,000 jets from its 737NG lineup, making it the best-selling aircraft family in the planemakers history. The company delivered the final passenger version in 2019, although it still uses the frame for military aircraft like the sub-hunting P-8 Poseidon.

The single-aisle jets are a staple of U.S. domestic flying. Among the largest U.S. airlines, American Airlines Group Inc. has the most 737-800s, with 267 in service and 36 temporarily stored at the end of 2021, according to a regulatory filing. Southwest Airlines Co. has 207, while United Airlines Holdings Inc. has 141 and Delta Air Lines Inc. has 77.

United said its in contact with Boeing and the FAA about the China Eastern crash while still flying its 737-800s. Deltas aircraft are operating safely and routinely, a spokesman said, declining to comment further. American referred questions to the FAA, while Southwest didnt immediately comment.
A Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 with 132 people on board crashed in mountains in southern on a domestic flight on Monday and media said there was no sign of survivors.

The plane was flying from the southwestern city of Kunming, capital of Yunnan province, to Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong, bordering Hong Kong.

There was no immediate word on the cause of the crash.

"Can confirm the plane has crashed," Eastern Airlines said in a statement in which it also gave details of a hotline for relatives of those on board.

Media cited a rescue official as saying the plane had disintegrated and caused a fire destroying bamboo trees. The People's Daily quoted a provincial firefighting department official as saying there was no sign of life among the scattered debris.

The aircraft, with 123 passengers and nine crew on board, lost contact over the city of Wuzhou, China's Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) and the airline said.

The flight left Kunming at 1:11 p.m. (0511 GMT), FlightRadar24 data showed, and had been due to land in Guangzhou at 3:05 p.m. (0705 GMT).

The plane, which Flightradar24 said was six years old, had been cruising at an altitude 29,100 feet at 0620 GMT. Just over two minutes and 15 seconds later, data showed it had descended to 9,075 feet.

In another 20 seconds, its last tracked altitude was 3,225 feet, indicating a vertical descent of 31,000 feet per minute, Flightradar24 said.

Online weather data showed partly cloudy conditions with good visibility in Wuzhou at the time of the crash.

President Xi Jinping called for investigators to determine the cause of the crash as soon as possible and to ensure "absolute" aviation safety, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

A Boeing spokesperson said: "We are aware of the initial media reports and are working to gather more information." Shares of Boeing Co were down 6.4% at $180.44 in premarket trade.

Shares in China Eastern Airlines in Hong Kong closed down 6.5% after news of the crash broke, while its U.S.-listed shares slumped 17% in premarket trading.

'GOOD RECORD'

Aviation data provider OAG said this month that state-owned China Eastern Airlines was the world's sixth-largest by scheduled weekly seat capacity and the biggest in China.

The 737-800 model that crashed on Monday has a good safety record and is the predecessor to the 737 MAX model that has been grounded in China for more than three years following fatal crashes in 2018 in Indonesia and 2019 in Ethiopia.

China Eastern has 109 of the 737-800s in its fleet and another 40 of the smaller 737-700s of the same generation, according to FlightRadar24.

The safety record of China's airline industry has been among the best in the world over the past decade.

"The CAAC has very rigid safety regulations and we will just need to wait for more details to help shed light on the plausible cause of the accident," said Shukor Yusof, head of Malaysia-based aviation consultancy Endau Analytics.

Investigators will be looking to recover the plane's two so-called black boxes - the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder - to help shed light on the crash.

Crashes during the cruise phase of flight are relatively rare. Boeing found in a report last year that only 13% of fatal commercial accidents globally between 2011 and 2020 occurred during the cruise phase.

According to Aviation Safety Network, China's last fatal jet accident was in 2010, when 44 of 96 people on board were killed when an Embraer E-190 regional jet flown by Henan Airlines crashed on approach to Yichun airport in low visibility.

In 1994, a China Northwest Airlines Tupolev Tu-154 flying from Xian to Guangzhou crashed, killing all 160 people on board and ranking as China's worst-ever air disaster, according to Aviation Safety Network.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
By Sabine Siebold and Ingrid Melander

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The should step up sanctions on Russia to target its lucrative energy sector, the foreign ministers of Lithuania and Ireland said on Monday at the start of a week of intense diplomacy aimed at agreeing more steps against Moscow.

The and its Western allies have already imposed a panoply of sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, including freezing its central bank's assets.

The humanitarian crisis in the besieged port city of Mariupol is increasing pressure on Europe to do more.

"Looking at the extent of the destruction in Ukraine right now, it's very hard to make the case that we shouldn't be moving in on the energy sector, particularly oil and coal," Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said before a meeting of EU ministers.

But whether to target Russian oil, as the United States and Britain have done, is a tough and divisive choice for the 27-nation EU, which relies on Russia for 40% of its gas.

Diplomats told Reuters that Baltic countries including Lithuania are pushing for an embargo as the next logical step, while Germany, which very much depends on Russian gas, is warning against acting too quickly because of already high energy prices in Europe.

"It's unavoidable we start talking about the energy sector, and we can definitely talk about oil because it is the biggest revenue to Russia's budget," Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said "the pictures that reach us from Ukraine are heart-breaking".

"This makes it even clearer that the EU, that the world that believes in a rules-based order, has to isolate this regime," she said as she arrived at the EU meeting. But she declined to answer a question on what could trigger sanctions on Russia's energy sector.

DEPENDENT ON RUSSIA

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told a separate meeting that the EU was still dependent on Russian oil and gas and could not cut itself off by tomorrow, making clear there were limits on what the bloc could do at this stage.

Diplomats have said a Russian chemical weapons attack in Ukraine, or a heavy bombardment of the capital Kyiv, could be a trigger for an energy embargo.

Moscow itself has warned that EU sanctions on Russian oil could prompt it to close a gas pipeline to Europe.

U.S. President Joe Biden arrives in Brussels on Thursday for talks with NATO's 30 allies, the EU, and in a Group of Seven (G7) format including Japan, designed to harden the West's response to Moscow.

The Kremlin has so far not been moved to change course in Ukraine by series of EU sanctions, including on 685 Russians and Belarusians and on Russian finance and trade.

A fifth round of sanctions will include adding more names to the EU blacklists with France saying that if the situation worsens even further in Ukraine there should be no "taboos" in terms of sanctions, officials said.

Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. Putin has called Russia's actions a "special operation" meant to demilitarize Ukraine and purge it of what he sees as dangerous nationalists. Ukraine and the West say these are baseless pretexts for an aggressive war.

Defence ministers will also discuss a "strategic compass," a new EU military strategy meant to adapt the bloc to a new geopolitical reality.

"A massive war crime is happening in Mariupol," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said as he arrived for the meetings. "Russia is doing a lot of war crimes."

(Reporting by Sabine Siebold, Robin Emmott, Ingrid Melander, Bart Meijer, John Irish Writing by Robin Emmott and Ingrid Melander, Editing by Angus MacSwan)

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countries on Monday accused the Russian armed forces of committing war crimes in Ukraine, but appeared unlikely to impose new sanctions on Moscow despite a clamour across Europe for those responsible for attacks on civilians to be held to account.

With civilian deaths mounting in the besieged port city of Mariupol, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock highlighted the increase in Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and theatres.

The courts will have to decide, but for me these are clearly war crimes", Baerbock said.

Before chairing a meeting of the 27-nation bloc's foreign ministers here, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said what's happening in Mariupol is a massive war crime. Destroying everything, bombarding and killing everybody in an indiscriminate manner. This is something awful.

The encircled southern city on the Sea of Azov has seen some of the worst horrors of the war.

Multiple attempts to evacuate residents from Mariupol have failed or only partly succeeded. City officials said at least 2,300 people had died in the siege, with some buried in mass graves.

Underlining that war also has law, Borrell said the Criminal Court in the Netherlands was gathering evidence about any possible war crimes in Ukraine, but Russia, like the US, did not recognise the tribunal's jurisdiction.

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said his country was certainly open to other mechanisms for accountability in terms of the atrocities that are taking place in Ukraine right now.

Coveney said Russia's invasion of Ukraine was probably the first war being played out on social media, where people see images happening live, and they're outraged by it.

This is driving a fury across the EU within the public as to why can't we stop this, he told reporters.

They want people held to account for the decisions taken and the brutality that we have seen.

The imposition of a new round of sanctions asset freezes and travel bans appears unlikely for now.

Notorious for their often slow handling of fast moving events, EU nations have rallied in just over three weeks since the invasion began on February 24 to slap sanctions on 877 people, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, senior ministers and pro-Kremlin oligarchs.

A further 62 entities -- companies, banks, airlines and ship builders -- have also been hit in near record time. But the issue of imposing restrictive measures on energy remains extremely sensitive, given the dependence of many EU countries on supplies of natural gas.

A group of countries led by Germany wants a pause on new measures for now, amid concern about high energy prices and fears that might halt gas exports to Europe.

Some also want to save sanction ammunition for any new and major war atrocity, like the use of chemical weapons.

We are doing everything to close loopholes in the sanctions that have already been agreed, Baerbock said.

But Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, whose country borders and Belarus, warned against sanctions fatigue.

We cannot get tired, imposing sanctions. We cannot get tired, offering assistance and help to Ukraine, he said.

He said the EU must start thinking about what kind of attack by Russia would constitute a red line for tougher measures.

He said the shelling of cities and civilians did not appear to be enough to persuade some member countries but somewhere there, there has to be one.

Landsbergis also said that Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia needed their defences bolstered by partner countries.

I think we need to see more equipment, and first of all the actual defence plans (for) the Baltic countries that would reflect the changed strategic reality of the region, he told the media.

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Hopes to find the survivors among the 132 people travelling by the crashed Chinese aircraft in the thick forests in the southern Guangxi province on Monday receded as the night fell making efforts by scores of rescuers difficult.

The Boeing 737 aircraft of Eastern Airlines, which flew from Kunming to Guangzhou, crashed in Tengxian County near the city of Wuzhou, causing a mountain fire in the worst air disaster in the country in over a decade.

State television showed teams of rescuers armed with search lights scurrying through the sprawling area in the forests on the remote mountainous area Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region as darkness enveloped the forest region.

The 132 people included 123 passengers and nine crew members, the Civil Aviation Administration of said on its website.

While the airline has announced that no foreigners were on board, families of some crew members from the crashed Eastern Airlines flight have arrived in the company's branch office in Yunnan Province and they were being assisted to work on follow-up issues, state-run CGTN-TV reported.

A "shocked" Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered "swift action to identify the cause of the crash and to strengthen the safety overhaul of the civil aviation sector to ensure the absolute safety of the sector and people's lives, Xinhua reported.

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) has promptly mobilized rescue forces in the city of Wuzhou to the crash site of the Eastern Airlines flight, the Southern Theater Command said on Monday.

According to the official media, the plane sharply descended onto the mountainous area and crashed.

Footage shot by locals in their phones showed the area of the crash was engulfed by massive mountainous fire with explosions heard in the background.

There is no official word here yet on the number of casualties or survivors except speculation about the unlikelihood of survivors.

The crash shattered China's airlines record of over 100 million continuous hours of safe flight as of February 19.

The last domestic fatal air accident was in 2010, when an Embraer passenger plane crashed in Yichun, Heilongjiang province, killing 42 people.

As soon as the plane crashed in the forest area, Chinese officials rushed hundreds of fire brigades as well as rescue teams to find the survivors before the night fell.

The fire has been put out and the rescue operation is underway, said Chen Jie, an official with the regional emergency management department.

In his instructions issued soon after the incident, President Xi said he was shocked to learn about the incident involving China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735 from Kunming to Guangzhou.

He ordered the immediate launch of emergency response, all-out search and rescue efforts and proper settlement of the aftermath, Xinhua reported.

He said swift action should be taken to identify the cause of the crash and to strengthen the safety overhaul of the civil aviation sector to ensure the absolute safety of the sector and people's lives.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang urged efforts to console the families of the victims and provide them with assistance, release accurate information in a timely manner, conduct a serious probe into the incident, and take strong measures to strengthen the safety of civil aviation.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FFA) said via Twitter that it was ready to assist in investigation efforts if asked.

Boeing China said it was aware of the media reports of the and is working to gather more information.

Meanwhile, China Eastern Airlines - one of China's three major air carriers - has grounded its all Boeing 737-800 after the crash on Monday, company officials said.

The airline also made its website have a black-and-white homepage after the crash as it prepared to announce the casualties.

According to news portal The Paper, a staff member at Guangzhou's Baiyun Airport said that flight MU5735 from Kunming to Guangzhou has not arrived at its destined time, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.

The domestic flight was scheduled to take off from Kunming at 1.10 pm (local time) and arrive at Guangzhou at 2.52 pm (local time) and is now marked out of reach on Baiyun airport's app.

(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.)
Iran's supreme leader on Monday signaled support for Tehran's nuclear negotiations to secure sanctions relief, a rare reference to the still-halted talks as world powers near a diplomatic turning point.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stressed the importance of Iranian economic self-sufficiency during a lengthy televised speech on the occasion of Nowruz, the Persian New Year.

But he quickly added: I do not say that you should not seek to lift the sanctions. Those who are trying and working in that field, there is no problem.

Khamenei, whose pronouncements are considered vital as he has the final say on all state matters in Iran, has remained largely silent on the negotiations to restore Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers.

His vague but supportive comments signaled that Iranian negotiators retained political space and flexibility.

Former President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the nuclear accord in 2018. President Joe Biden promised to revive it. Painstaking talks in Vienna have dragged on for the past year. Iran, its economy strangled, has urged sanctions relief but sought to resist tough Western demands.

Negotiations nearly reached completion earlier this month before Moscow demanded that its trade with be exempted from Western sanctions over Ukraine, throwing the process into disarray.

Negotiators have yet to reconvene in the Austrian capital, and it's unclear exactly what hurdles lie ahead.

The essence of the issue is to run the country in such a way that sanctions cannot hit the country seriously, Khamenei said, praising the hard-line government of President Ebrahim Raisi for boosting Iran's trade with its neighbors and shipping Iranian crude abroad despite sanctions.

There is another way for us to use oil revenues for the country's infrastructure."



In his remarks, Khamenei also weighed in on Russia's war in Ukraine echoing some of President Vladimir Putin's talking points without ever mentioning Russia at all.

You look at Ukraine, its president who was appointed by Western governments, what a sharp tone he now uses to address the West, Khamenei said, extolling Iran's resistance to foreign interference and military development since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The choice of our nation was not surrender to arrogance, it was resistance, it was maintaining independence.

generally considers Russia an ally and feels united with Putin's anti-American and anti-Western stances.

(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.)
Nicosia [Cyprus] March 21 (ANI): A shadow conflict, a sort of "war between wars" has been going on for years between and Iran, as well as between and Iran's proxies in Lebanon and Syria. This shadow conflict has escalated since the beginning of the year.

The main weapons used in this shadow conflict are and cyberwarfare and both sides try to keep a lid on this war because, as a rule, they maintain secrecy about their clandestine operations, wishing to invoke plausible deniability.

Both sides engaging in this secret war try through their military censors to prevent the publication of news or the journalistic investigation of the drone attacks or the cyber warfare waged and prohibit open discussion of these operations.

However, on some occasions, one side admits that a strike was made in retaliation for a hostile action of the other side.

One such occasion occurred on 13 March, when Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) issued a statement taking responsibility for firing ballistic missiles against Israeli strategic centers in the Iraqi city of Erbil.

Initial press reports spoke about an attack on the US consulate in Erbil but, as the consulate was new and unoccupied, it was later reported that the missiles hit neighboring residential areas. There was no casualty, and no damage was done to the US consulate.

The Revolutionary Guards later clarified that it carried out the attacks on Israeli strategic targets in Iraqi Kurdistan and added that Israeli attacks would be met with a harsher and more destructive response.

Al Mayadeen, a Lebanese television station close to Hezbollah and Iran, has reported that the target of the attack was the headquarters of Mossad, the Israeli national security agency, in Erbil and that four Israeli officers were killed and seven wounded.

The tv station added that the strike was carried out in retaliation for the air attack last February when Israeli launched from Iraqi Kurdistan hit a base in Kermanshah in western and caused substantial damage.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that a strike with in mid-February launched from Iraqi Kurdistan caused heavy damage to Tehran's drone network, destroying, according to some estimations, hundreds of drones.

The New York Times quoted an unnamed senior official who said that six suicide drones had crashed into the side destroying dozens of Iran's drones.

According to its established practice, the Israeli government has not admitted responsibility for the attack.

It should be noted that the secret war between and is mainly waged in cyberspace, with tit-for-tat cyber-attacks, which are often carried out by proxy groups that are very hard to identify and usually it is extremely difficult to prove who is responsible.

In most cases, cyber warfare basically aims at the infrastructure of the "enemy" causing serious problems to water supply, ports, hospitals, databases and government websites.

On March 14 one of the largest cyberattacks ever was launched against Israeli government websites. It was in the form of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) and denied service for some hours to several websites, including those of the office of the Israeli Prime Minister and the Ministries of Health, Interior, Justice and Welfare.

In DDoS, attackers overwhelm their victims' servers with a flood of data requests to paralyze them.

The government of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett declared a state of emergency to investigate the extent of damage caused and check whether critical infrastructure services were affected.

Israeli government officials made no announcement as to who was behind the attack, but various media reports were quick to point the finger at .

This DDoS attack could be Iran's retaliation for Israel's cyber-attack last October when Iran's 4,400 petrol stations were blocked from accepting state-subsidy smartcards, which for 12 days caused a serious disruption in the country.

The world became aware of the dangers posed by cyber warfare back in 2010 when a malicious computer worm called Stuxnet caused substantial damage to Iran's nuclear program.

It caused the fast-spinning of more than one-fifth of Iran's centrifuges (machines used for separating nuclear material) to tear apart the machines.

The Stuxnet is widely considered to be a "game-changer" in the industry because it was the first targeted, weaponized cyber-attack against an industrial control system.

As a rule, some of the cyber-attacks exchanged between hostile countries pass without the general public taking any notice - because the governments of the countries attacked wish to avoid embarrassment. In other cases, the attacks become known after many months.

In practice, Israel and Iran have stepped up their involvement in cyber warfare in the past five years.

Iran's nuclear facilities are believed to be one of Israel's main targets in this secret cyber warfare. A big explosion in Iran's nuclear facility in Natanz in April 2012 is attributed to a cyber-attack.

As Israeli military installations are very well protected, Iranians in recent years have focused their attention on civilian targets, which are much more vulnerable to hackers.

One such cyber-attack was made on 24 April last year when Israel's Water Authority Systems were hacked to increase chlorine levels. In one station water pumps malfunctioned but the supply was not contaminated.

According to a report in Haaretz, "Iranian hackers working on behalf of the cybertechnology command of the Revolutionary Guards attacked computer systems at an Israeli hospital (Hillel Yaffeh Medical Center), the Shirbit insurance firm and the LGBT dating site Atraf, and there were other unreported attempts that failed to cause damage."

The fact that drone and are becoming increasingly frequent shows that the secret conflict between Israel and Iran is escalating and there is a real risk that a misstep could spark a real war.

(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.)
Oil prices jumped $2 on Monday as Ukrainian forces dug in against heavy Russian attacks, while major oil producers reported they are struggling to produce their allotted quotas under a supply agreement.

Brent crude futures climbed $1.96, or 1.8%, to $109.89 a barrel at 0039 GMT, adding to a 1.2% rise last Friday.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose $2.09, or 2%, to $106.79, extending a 1.7% jump last Friday.

Prices moved higher after Ukraine's deputy prime minister, Iryna Vershchuk said early on Monday there was no chance that the country's forces would surrender in the besieged eastern port city of Mariupol.

With little sign of the conflict easing, the focus returned to whether the market would be able to replace Russian barrels hit by sanctions.

"The market continues to fret about supply disruptions, with data suggesting they are already impacting," ANZ analysts said in a note.

The latest report from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia, together called OPEC+, showed some producers are still falling short of their agreed supply quotas.

OPEC+ missed its production target by more than 1 million barrels per day (bpd) in February, three sources told Reuters, under their pact to boost output by 400,000 bpd each month as they wind back sharp cuts made in 2020.

The two OPEC countries that have the capacity to instantly raise output, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have so far resisted calls from major consuming nations to step up production faster to help drive down oil prices.

The poor supply outlook and high prices prompted the Energy Agency on Friday to outline ways to cut oil use by 2.7 million bpd within four months - including car-pooling, lower speed limits and cheaper public transport.

That would help offset the 3 million bpd of Russian crude and products that the estimated would be off the market by April.

(Reporting by Sonali Paul in Melbourne; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)

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By Marcy de Luna

HOUSTON (Reuters) - jumped by more than $6 on Monday, with Brent crude climbing above $114 a barrel, as nations considered joining the United States in a Russian oil embargo and after a weekend attack on Saudi oil facilities.

Brent crude futures were up $6.52, or 6%, at $114.45 a barrel by 1442 GMT, adding to a 1.2% rise on Friday.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose $5.90, or 5.6%, to $110.60.

Prices moved higher ahead of talks this week between governments and U.S. President Joe Biden in a series of summits that aims to harden the West's response to Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

EU governments will consider whether to impose an oil embargo on Russia.

Early on Monday, Ukraine's deputy prime minister Iryna Vershchuk said there was no chance the country's forces would surrender in the besieged eastern port city of Mariupol.

"Optimism is seeping away about progress in talks to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine and that's sent the price of oil on the march upwards," Susannah Streeter, senior analyst at UK-based asset manager Hargreaves Lansdown, said.

With little sign of the conflict easing, the focus returned to whether the market would be able to replace Russian barrels hit by sanctions.

"With the possibility that more than a million barrels of Russian oil a day will be snubbed, given that the Netherlands and Germany combined received around a quarter of Russia's crude and light oil exports, demand would shoot up for crude supplies from OPEC+ nations."

Over the weekend, attacks by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi group caused a temporary drop in output at a Saudi Aramco refinery joint venture in Yanbu, feeding concern in a jittery oil products market, where Russia is a major supplier and global inventories are at multi-year lows.

The latest report from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia, together known as OPEC+, showed some producers are still falling short of their agreed supply quotas.

were also sensitive to talk of Hong Kong lifting COVID-19 restrictions, which could increase demand, and in response to the growing list of U.S. companies retreating from Russia - including Baker Hughes, ExxonMobil, Shell, and BP.

(Additional reporting by Noah Browning in Londo, Sonali Paul in Melbourne and Florence Tan in SingaporeEditing by David Goodman, Bernadette Baum and Barbara Lewis)

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Scotland's capital city of on Thursday passed a resolution calling for deepening of existing cooperation with Taiwan, a media report said.

city council pledged to continue evaluating the possibility of signing a memorandum of understanding with and to submit a report to further promote and deepen existing cooperation between the two sides, News reported.

The resolution that was passed in an online plenary session also affirmed the ongoing exchanges between and related to green and renewable energy, smart cities, technology, culture, and education, the report said.

The director-general of the Taipei Representative Office in the U.K.'s Office, Jason Lien, attended the virtual plenary meeting and delivered a speech highlighting the close cooperation between Taiwan and the Scottish city in recent years.

Thanking the city council for its support, Lien said he hopes the two sides can continue to deepen bilateral relations on the basis of shared values such as democracy and freedom.

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Spring season is arriving, and the Texas Tech grounds crew has planted tulips and other different kinds of flowers around campus. These beautiful red tulips can be found in areas around the English building and across from Chitwood Hall. At 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, at the English building at Texas Tech.
is considering offering a $1.5 billion credit facility to and a decision is expected soon, a top Chinese official said on Monday, as part of efforts to help the island nation amid its worst economic crisis in decades.

Chinese ambassador to Qi Zhenhong told reporters the two sides were also discussing a separate loan of up to $1 billion which the Sri Lankan government had requested.

He added that the South Asian nation was offered a loan of $500 million from the Development Bank on March 18.

has to repay about $4 billion worth of debt this year, including a $1 billion sovereign bond maturing in July. But its reserves dipped to $2.31 billion as of end February, down around 70% from two years ago.

The country is also struggling to make payments for imports of essentials such as fuel and medicines and enforcing nationwide power cuts due to a lack of fuel for power generation.

"We believe our ultimate goal is to solve the problem but there may be different ways to do so," Qi said in response to questions on possible restructuring of the Chinese loans.

is Sri Lanka's fourth biggest lender, behind financial markets, the (ADB) and Japan.

Over the last decade China has lent Sri Lanka more than $5 billion for the construction of highways, ports, an airport and a coal power plant. But critics say the funds were used for white elephant projects with low returns, which China has denied.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa asked China to help restructure debt repayments when he met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in January, but China is yet to respond to the request.

Repayments to China are estimated at about $400-$500 million, a finance ministry source told Reuters.

Rajapaksa said last week Sri Lanka will work with the Monetary Fund to help solve the country's economic crisis with official talks to begin in mid-April.

Before the pandemic China was Sri Lanka's main source of tourists and the island imports more goods from China than from any other country.

Sri Lanka is a key part of China's (BRI), a long-term plan to fund and build infrastructure linking China to the rest of the world, but which others including the United States have labelled a "debt trap" for smaller nations.

(Editing by Swati Bhat and Jacqueline Wong)

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has frozen 22 billion euros ($24 billion) worth of assets belonging to the Russian Central Bank, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Sunday.

"We have frozen the assets of the Central Bank of in the amount of 22 billion euros. In addition, we have frozen assets in private individuals' accounts in French financial institutions in the amount of 150 million euros," Le Maire told the RTL radio.

also froze real estate in the country worth half a billion euros, which is about 30 properties and apartments owned by Russian citizens, according to the minister.

"In total, this is almost a billion euros, or 850 million euros, that we have frozen," Le Maire added.

On February 24, launched a military operation in responding to calls for help from the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in defending themselves against the aggression of Ukrainian troops. The Russian Defense Ministry said the operation was targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure only.

In response, the and its allies have imposed comprehensive sanctions against Russia, its financial and energy sectors.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that if "negotiations" with Russian President fail then "that would mean that this is a third World War."

"I'm ready for negotiations with him. I was ready for the last two years. And I think that without negotiations we cannot end this war," reported CNN.

"I think that we have to use any format, any chance in order to have a possibility of negotiating, possibility of talking to Putin. But if these attempts fail, that would mean that this is a third World War," he added.

The humanitarian situation in Ukraine's south-eastern city of Mariupol continued to worsen as thousands of civilians were estimated to be killed in the city since the beginning of hostilities, even as Russian and Ukrainian forces trade charges over who is to blame for the deplorable situation.

Russia's defence ministry has consistently levelled charges of serious human rights violations on the Azov battalion of the Ukrainian armed forces. The Azov battalion has been alleged to consist of "neo-Nazi" Ukrainian nationalist elements.

"There is a terrible humanitarian catastrophe in Mariupol as a result of the lawlessness brought about by Ukrainian nationalists. Desperate and mindless bandits, realizing the impossibility of receiving any assistance from Kyiv, terrorize those neighbourhoods of the city that are still under their control," the head of the Russian National Defense Control Center, Mikhail Mizintsev, said on Sunday.

He added that the Ukrainian nationalists in the besieged city are killing between 80 and 235 civilians that try to flee each day, Sputnik News Agency reported.

"It has been established that from 80 to 235 innocent citizens die every day at the hands of the Nazis, this is a terrible statistic for the last three days only. These are the people that are trying to leave the city on their own, the militants simply shoot them," Mizintsev said.

The Russian official went on to say that up to 130,000 civilians are being held hostage by Ukrainian nationalists in Mariupol.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian authorities have accused of bombing civilian sites including a theatre sheltering civilians and an art school.

Mariupol City Council, who had shared an image of the destroyed theatre building, said Russian forces had "purposefully and cynically destroyed the Drama Theater in the heart of Mariupol," CNN reported.

At the same time, Thousands of Mariupol residents who managed to escape from Russian bombs are starving to death in occupied Manhushi and Melekin.

The Head of Donetsk Military-Civil Administration, Pavlo Kyrylenko claimed on Sunday said that the Russian occupying forces are refusing to provide food, water and safe passage.

"Head of Donetsk Military-Civil Administration, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said thousands of Mariupol residents who managed to escape from Russian bombs are starving to death in occupied Manhushi and Melekin. Russian occupying forces refuse to provide food, water and safe passage," tweeted The Kyiv Independent.

The coastal city of Mariupol has seen some of the most brutal fightings in the ongoing conflict between and .

As many as 2,500 civilians have died in Mariupol, Ukrainian officials estimate, and hundreds of thousands of people are trapped in the city -- with officials warning those who remain are without electricity, water and heat, CNN reported.

has been facing immense pressure from the community to stop its military operations in which has created an immense humanitarian crisis with thousands of refugees from fleeing to the neighbouring countries to the west.

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Oil prices surged for a third day as the war in Ukraine neared the one-month mark with no conclusion in sight.



Brent topped $111 a barrel, up 14 per cent since its close last Wednesday. The European Union will consider a Russian oil

embargo this week, with US President Joe Biden due in the region for NATO, Group of 7 and EU summits, Reuters reported.



The Kremlin said any such ban would harm everyone.

In studying new sanctions, it is unavoidable to talk about the energy sector, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said before a meeting of EU foreign and defense ministers in Brussels. The group will talk about oil because its quite easily replaceable and generates the most revenue for the Russian budget, he said.



The global oil market has been pitched into turmoil by Russias invasion of Ukraine, with the US and Europe imposing penalties on Moscow and crude buyers shunning the countrys cargoes. Brent neared $140 a barrel earlier this month to hit the highest since 2008, before easing. Prices have seen unprecedented volatility, with frequent intraday swings of about $10 and broader commodity seizing up amid a widespread liquidity crunch.



This mornings price bounce suggests that the oil surge is resuming and may have the legs to carry on for weeks to come, said Stephen Brennock, an analyst at PVM Oil Associates. Russian supply uncertainty will likely be a familiar theme for the foreseeable future and will keep price volatility at the higher end of the spectrum.



The Biden administration is stepping up its response to Russias invasion. Later Monday, officials will brief energy companies including Exxon Mobil as well as banks on the war and ensuing sanctions. Separately, Biden is due to call counterparts in Europe before traveling to the region later this week.
Shares of Kishore Biyani- led companies continued to be under pressure on Monday. Most of the listed companies traded at their all-time lows after they informed exchanges that the Group has called for a meeting with their respective shareholders and creditors meetings on April 20 and 21 over approval of Rs 24,713-crore deal with .

Future Retail, Future Supply Chain and Future Lifestyle Fashions hit their respective all-time lows on the BSE in Monday's intra-day trade. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 0.19 per cent at 57,756 points at 11:25 AM.

Among individual stocks, Future Retail tanked 9 per cent to hit a new low of Rs 35.35. The stock fell below its previous low of Rs 38 (hit on March 17, 2022) and has tanked 16 per cent in the past two trading days. The stock has more-than-halved or has shed 54 per cent from its 52-week high price of Rs 76.25 touched on June 16, 2021.

In the past one week, the market price of Future Retail, Future Lifestyle Fashions and Future Enterprises have tumbled between 15 per cent and 21 per cent, as compared to a 2.3-per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex.

Future Retail said that it was committed to taking all actions necessary to seek value adjustments and reversal of takeover of stores by the Reliance Group.

On Saturday, March 19, 2022, Future Enterprises, Future Retail, Future Consumer and Future Supply Chain, informed exchanges about dates and other procedures for the virtual meetings of shareholders and creditors. CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS



According to the order passed by the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on February 28, the meeting of the shareholders would be held on April 20. The meeting to seek the approval of creditors would be held on the next day, April 21, 2022.

The NCLT had given a go-ahead for convening meetings of shareholders and creditors of respective companies for approval of the scheme of merger and transfer of the business to . CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS


Atul rose 2.27% to Rs 9933.60 after the company said its board will consider a share buyback on 25 March 2022.

As on 31 December 2021, promoters held 44.94% stake in Atul.

Atul is an integrated chemical company. On a consolidated basis, the company's net profit declined 17.58% to 155.43 crore on 44.86% increase in net sales to Rs 1,380.31 crore in Q3 December 2021 over Q3 December 2020.

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Aurobindo Pharma jumped 6.76% to Rs 683.50 after the company announced the signing of sub-license agreement for manufacturing a generic version of Pfizer's COVID-19 oral treatment nirmatrelvir.

The agreement has been signed with the the UN backed Medicines Patent Pool (MPP), headquartered in Geneva, for manufacturing and supplying the generic drug product to 95 countries including India.

Earlier, MPP had signed voluntary licensing agreement with Pfizer for sub-licensing this COVID-19 treatment product to qualified generic drug makers.

Nirmatrelvir in combination with ritonavir co-pack has received emergency use/conditional authorization for COVID-19 treatment in certain populations by USFDA, the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (UKMHRA and nearly 50 other countries).

K. Nithyananda Reddy, vice chairman & managing director, Aurobindo said, We are extremely happy to partner with Medicines Patent Pool to bring this treatment option for COVID-19 to low & middle income countries. Aurobindo has already developed and commercialized ritonavir which is used as a booster along with nirmatrelvir.

We are excited to work on this molecule and will soon make it available commercially at an affordable price for these markets after due process of registration and approval in various countries including DCGI in India. This combination will be a very valuable addition to our portfolio along with Molnaflu (molnupiravir) for the treatment of COVID-19.

For nirmatrelvir and ritonavir molecules, like other antivirals, Aurobindo enjoys backward integration with in-house API manufacturing which equips it with stronger control on supply chain and cost efficiencies.

The product will be manufactured at the company's state of the art manufacturing facilities in India that are approved by global regulatory agencies including USFDA and UKMHRA.

The company has adequate capacities to meet the global demand across the 95 countries including India.

Hyderabad-based Aurobindo Pharma develops, manufactures and distributes generic pharmaceuticals, branded specialty pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients.

The company's consolidated net profit slumped 79.5% to Rs 604.29 crore on a 5.7% decline in net sales to Rs 5,949.83 crore in Q3 December 2021 over Q3 December 2020.

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Hindalco Industries Ltd is quoting at Rs 592, up 2.64% on the day as on 12:54 IST on the NSE. The stock is up 74.25% in last one year as compared to a 16.42% gain in NIFTY and a 63.59% gain in the Nifty Metal index.

Hindalco Industries Ltd rose for a third straight session today. The stock is quoting at Rs 592, up 2.64% on the day as on 12:54 IST on the NSE. The benchmark NIFTY is down around 0.76% on the day, quoting at 17155.9. The Sensex is at 57381.01, down 0.83%. Hindalco Industries Ltd has added around 14.68% in last one month.

Meanwhile, Nifty Metal index of which Hindalco Industries Ltd is a constituent, has added around 13.06% in last one month and is currently quoting at 6183.8, up 2.31% on the day. The volume in the stock stood at 98.33 lakh shares today, compared to the daily average of 173.78 lakh shares in last one month.

The benchmark March futures contract for the stock is quoting at Rs 596.6, up 3.12% on the day. Hindalco Industries Ltd is up 74.25% in last one year as compared to a 16.42% gain in NIFTY and a 63.59% gain in the Nifty Metal index.

The PE of the stock is 29.55 based on TTM earnings ending December 21.

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Tata Steel had imported four heavy lifts from China through Paradip Port. Since the packages could not be traversed through road from the port to the destination at Kalinga Nagar in Jajpur district, the task of transferring the load was awarded to OSL.  PTI

BHUBANESWAR: Riverine navigation has begun at Odisha's Paradip Port. Orissa Stevedores Limited (OSL), one of the largest loading/unloading firms in the country, has transferred heavy lift cargo via riverine navigation from Paradip Port.

OSL, led by business magnet Mahimanana Mishra, has been successful in discharging heavy lifts of about 400 tonnes (mt) at Paradip Port as well as positioning the cargo at the Luna river jetty via riverine navigation.

Luna Jetty is about 45 km away from Paradip Port.

Tata Steel had imported four heavy lifts from China through Paradip Port. Since the packages could not be traversed through road from the port to the destination at Kalinga Nagar in Jajpur district, the task of transferring the load was awarded to OSL.
Benchmark indices hit the day's low and traded with losses in early afternoon trade. The Nifty was trading below the 17,150 level. Metal, media and pharmaceutical stocks saw buying while banking and financial shares came under selling pressure.

At 13:23 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 540.93 points or 0.934% to 57,323. The Nifty 50 index lost 163 points or 0.94% to 17,124.25.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.37% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.46%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1543 shares rose and 1891 shares fell. A total of 145 shares were unchanged.

Gainers & Losers:

Coal India (up 4.7%), Hindalco Inds (up 2.62%), Maruti Suzuki (up 2.23%), ONGC (up 1.67%) and Tata Steel (up 1.49%) were top gainers in Nifty 50 index.

Britannia Inds (down 3%), Grasim Inds (down 2.83%), UltraTech Cement (down 2.65%), Tata Consumer Products (down2.53%) and SBI Life Insurance Company (down 2.44%) were top losers in Nifty 50 index.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL) gained 2.7% after the steel maker said its wholly-owned subsidiary, Jindal Steel & Power (Mauritius), prepaid a $357 million loan to its lenders.

The company said that this prepayment will help clear the entire debt on Jindal Steel & Power (Mauritius) (JSPML). This loan had corporate guarantees from JSP India, which will also get released.

Avantel gained 3.35% to Rs 945 after the company has received an order for an amount $13,66,000 from Lockheed Martin Corporation. The order is for the supply of Satcom Equipment.

Alembic Pharmaceuticals advanced 3.97% to Rs 755.35 after the drug company announced the receipt of final approval from the US Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) for its ANDA for Lacosamide Tablets. The approved abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) is therapeutically equivalent to the reference listed drug product (RLD) Vimpat Tablets of UCB, Inc. Lacosamide Tablets are indicated for the treatment of partial-onset seizures in patients 4 years of age and older. It may not be indicated for certain other uses due to unexpired exclusivities for the RLD for such uses.

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The domestic equity barometers ended at the day's low on Monday. The Nifty closed below the 17,150 level. Barring metals, most of the sectoral indices on the NSE ended in the red.

As per provisional closing data, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, fell 571.44 points or 0.99% to 57,292.49. The Nifty 50 index lost 169.45 points or 0.98% to 17,117.60.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index declined 0.68% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.38%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1561 shares rose and 1953 shares fell. A total of 144 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty FMCG index slipped 1.84% to 36,106.85. The index had advanced 3.35% in the past three sessions.

Marico (down 3.83%), Britannia Industries (down 3.45%), Godrej Consumer (down 3.41%), Tata Consumer Products (down 3.10%) and United Breweries (down 2.73%) declined.

Further, Hindustan Unilever (down 2.41%), Nestle India (down 2.23%), Dabur India (down 1.80%), United Spirits (down 1.69%) and Radico Khaitan (down 1.11%) edged lower.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Reliance Industries (RIL) shed 0.49% to Rs 2467.55. Reliance Retail Ventures (RRVL), subsidiary of RIL and holding company of all the retail companies under the RIL Group, has announced acquisition of 89% equity stake in Purple Panda Fashions, which owns and operates the Clovia business, with an investment of Rs 950 crore through a combination of secondary stake purchase and primary investment.

Atul advanced 1.28% to Rs 9837. The company said that a meeting of the board of directors will be held on 25 March 2022, to consider a proposal for buy-back of equity shares.

SMS Pharmaceuticals jumped 11.91% to Rs 108.05. The company received non-exclusive license to manufacture and supply of nirmatrelvir through the Medicine Patent Pool (MPP), an oral COVID-19 medicine developed by Pfizer.

Zydus Lifesciences fell 1.71% to Rs 366.80. The company received Prior Approval Supplement (PAS) approval from the USFDA to market Mycophenolate Mofetil for Injection USP (US RLD: CellCept injection).

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals added 2.67% to Rs 455.75. The company said that it has received final approval by the United States Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) for its lacosamide tablets.

Wockhardt zoomed 11.98% to Rs 327.25 after the company and Serum Life Sciences UK announced collaboration for manufacturing multiple vaccines in the United Kingdom. Serum Life Sciences UK is a subsidiary of the Serum Institute of India.

Strides Pharma Science jumped 5.04% to Rs 350.95 after the company announced d a sub-license agreement with Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) to commercialize a generic version of Pfizer's COVID-19 oral treatment in 95 low and middle-income markets.

Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL) gained 2.33% to Rs 488 after the steel maker said its wholly-owned subsidiary, Jindal Steel & Power (Mauritius), prepaid a $357 million loan to its lenders.

Avantel surged 13.86% to Rs 1041.10 after the company received an order for an amount $13,66,000 from Lockheed Martin Corporation. The order is for the supply of Satcom Equipment.

Aurobindo Pharma jumped 6.10% to Rs 679.30 after the company announced the signing of sub-license agreement for manufacturing a generic version of Pfizer's COVID-19 oral treatment nirmatrelvir.

Alembic Pharmaceuticals advanced 3.81% to Rs 754.15 after the drug company announced the receipt of final approval from the US Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) for its ANDA for Lacosamide Tablets.

Global Markets:

European stocks advanced while Asian markets ended mostly higher on Monday. Markets in Japan are closed today for a holiday.

Global markets continue to be roiled by events in Ukraine as the war continues. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned at the weekend that if peace talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin fail, it would mean the start of a third global war.

Ukrainian and Russian officials have met intermittently for peace talks, which have failed to progress to key concessions.

Investors are also evaluating a rise in COVID-19 cases in Europe stemming from an emerging subvariant of the omicron strain of the virus.

China's one-year loan prime rate was kept unchanged at 3.7% on Monday. Investors have been watching for hints of policy support from Beijing following a Chinese state media report last week that reportedly signaled support for Chinese stocks.

Wall Street's three major indexes closed higher on Friday, with the biggest boost from recently battered technology stocks, after talks between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping over the Ukraine crisis ended without big surprises.

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Vedanta Ltd is quoting at Rs 401.5, up 6.09% on the day as on 12:54 IST on the NSE. The stock is up 79.56% in last one year as compared to a 16.42% gain in NIFTY and a 63.59% gain in the Nifty Metal index.

Vedanta Ltd rose for a third straight session today. The stock is quoting at Rs 401.5, up 6.09% on the day as on 12:54 IST on the NSE. The benchmark NIFTY is down around 0.76% on the day, quoting at 17155.9. The Sensex is at 57381.01, down 0.83%. Vedanta Ltd has added around 14.68% in last one month.

Meanwhile, Nifty Metal index of which Vedanta Ltd is a constituent, has added around 13.06% in last one month and is currently quoting at 6183.8, up 2.31% on the day. The volume in the stock stood at 165.36 lakh shares today, compared to the daily average of 150.02 lakh shares in last one month.

The benchmark March futures contract for the stock is quoting at Rs 404.75, up 6.58% on the day. Vedanta Ltd is up 79.56% in last one year as compared to a 16.42% gain in NIFTY and a 63.59% gain in the Nifty Metal index.

The PE of the stock is 9.56 based on TTM earnings ending December 21.

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Ahead of Rajya Sabha polls, Assam Chief Minister on Sunday announced that many MLAs, who are eager to join the Bharatiya Janata Party are in talks with the party.

Expressing confidence over BJP's victory in two Rajya Sabha seats slated to go for polls, Sarma said, " does not know that many of their MLAs are going to join . Also, candidates are not bound to follow the whip issued in the party in Rajya Sabha polls. By this calculation, we will manage to get both the seats."

has fielded Pabitra Gogoi Margherita for Rajya Sabha polls whereas has fielded Assam PCC president Ripun Bora.

ally United People's Party Liberal (UPPL) has nominated Rwngwra Narzary for the election to be held on two seats in Assam. BJP has announced its support to UPPL candidates for the second seat.

Earlier this month the apex poll body had announced polls to fill 13 Rajya Sabha seats across six states falling vacant in April. These include Assam (two seats), Himachal (one seat), Nagaland (one seat), Tripura (one seat), and Kerala (three seats). Apart from this five seats from Punjab are also falling vacant with five members from the state retiring on April 9.

Scrutiny of nominations will take place on March 22. The last date for withdrawal of candidatures has been scheduled on March 24. The counting of votes of the poll scheduled on March 31 will take place on the day of polling from 5 pm onwards.

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With the Gandhis engaging with G-23 leaders after their recent offensive in the wake of the party's poll debacle, some of them may find a place in the decision-making process in the revamped Congress party in line with their demand for collective leadership.

Sources said some of these leaders may be accommodated in the Congress Working Committee or in a new body like the Parliamentary Board, which the G23 had suggested for taking all policy decisions including finalising chief ministerial candidates and tie-ups with like-minded parties in states.

The G23 is also reported to be seeking the ouster of some loyalists from key AICC positions and top on their target are AICC general secretary Organisation K C Venugopal, chief spokesperson and general secretary Ajay Maken. Sources said one or more may be shifted in order to placate the dissident group.

After the fresh offensive by the 'Group of 23', calling for collective leadership and strengthening the party, the sources said the Congress leadership is working on a resolution plan with these leaders.

Party sources said during Jawaharlal Nehru's time, the Parliamentary Board was an important body of the Congress party and used to take key policy decisions.

The G23 leaders have also called for talks with like-minded parties to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Parleys are on with some of the G23 leaders to work out an amicable solution and agree to some of their demands. While has met Ghulam Nabi Azad and discussed their demands, has also met former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Sources said the Gandhis have also deputed some negotiators to talk to the G23 leaders and work out a solution amicably. Some more rounds of talks are likely in the next few days in this regard.

''While Hooda may be asked to lead the party's charge in Haryana which goes to polls in 2024, some other leaders may be accommodated in the CWC or a new Parliamentary Board,'' a source said.

Deliberations are already underway to hold another CWC meeting followed by a Chintan Shivir after the Budget session of Parliament, the sources said.

Organisational polls are already underway in the party to elect the new president and PCC chiefs.

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Acceptance of the CPI(M)'s invitation to attend a seminar being organised as part of its Party Congress has put senior Congress leaders, and K V Thomas, in a dilemma with KPCC chief K Sudhakaran barring them from attending the ruling party's programme.

The Left party has invited Thiruvananthapuram MP, Tharoor and former Union Minister Thomas to attend various seminars ahead of its 23rd Party Congress scheduled to be held at Kannur in the state from April 6-10.

Congress' unit President K Sudhakaran has said the party had barred its leaders from attending the programme as it was strongly fighting the CPI(M)-led government over the proposed K-Rail project.

However, Tharoor told the media that the topic of the seminar, to which he was invited was not related to any issues pertaining to or K-Rail.

"The people do not like Congress leaders participating in the programme organised by the . The Congress party members despise, loathe such leaders who associate with (Chief Minister) Pinarayi Vijayan, who is moving forward with the K-Rail project. If he (Tharoor) wants to participate, he can. It's his wish. He can take the permission of Sonia Gandhi and do accordingly," Sudhakaran said.

Keen to attend the event, both Tharoor and Thomas are reportedly planning to approach the Congress high command seeking permission of party supremo Sonia Gandhi to attend the programme.

"They had invited me and I accepted. This time they have invited me to take part in a seminar as part of its Party Congress. There is nothing wrong in engaging with political dialogues. And the topic of the seminar is not K-Rail or anything related to Kerala," Tharoor said.

Meanwhile, state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has said the Left party had invited Congress leaders for various seminars but they were barred by that party's leadership.

"But they don't have any issues in joining hands with the BJP to protest against the state government," Balakrishnan has told the media, referring to the opposition parties opposing the SilverLine project.

He said the Congress was taking stands favouring the BJP.

"It is the BJP's direction not to participate in the CPI(M) programmes. If they (Congress leaders) are ready to participate, we will welcome them. If they are not, then the political pauperism of the Congress party will be evident to the people of the state," Balakrishnan said.

The KPCC was already irked with the stands taken by Tharoor over various matters as recently, he refused to join a signature protest against K-Rail but later changed his mind after facing backlash from the party.

The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) has been staging widespread protests over the proposed ambitious semi-highspeed SilverLine rail project, also known as K-Rail, of the Left government.

The government had on January 15 published the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the project with an estimated cost of the project as Rs 63,941 crores.

The DPR says the project is expected to complete by 2025 and will reduce journey time from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod from 12 hours to just 4 hours.

The 529.45 km long project is executed by Rail Development Corporation Limited (K-Rail), a joint venture of Government of Kerala and Ministry of Railways, for implementing the railway infrastructure in the state. The Centre is yet to approve the project.

Congress is opposed to the project over its viability, claiming it will overshoot its estimated cost while the main opposition party as well as the BJP also insist it is unscientific and impractical.

(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 setback in the High Court notwithstanding, the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government on Monday once again said it desires to have three capitals, one in each region, to ensure inclusive and balanced growth.

Replying to a query from the ruling members C Ramachandraiah, Ummareddy Venkateswarlu and D Srinivas in the Legislative Council, Minister for Finance and Planning Buggana Rajendranath said the State has adopted the policy of decentralisation with an intent to take administration close to the citizens and, thereby, bring the common man into the mainstream of development.

The government desires to have three capitals one in each region to ensure inclusive growth, he said.

With focus on decentralised development, he said the government issued a notification for formation of 26 districts. This will ensure that the administration is more proximate to people, he added.

On March 3, a three-member Bench of the High Court, headed by Chief Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra, ruled that the State Legislature lacked competence to make any legislation for shifting, bifurcating or trifurcating the capital.

Also, the court ordered them to complete the infrastructural development like roads, drinking water, drains, electricity in the Amaravati Capital City and Region within a month.

(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.)
Pushkar Singh Dhami will continue as the chief minister, with the ending the suspense over the post on Monday, 11 days after returning to power for the second consecutive term in the state. .

The swearing-in ceremony of 45-year-old Dhami will be held on March 23.

The BJP's dilemma on the choice of a chief minister for was caused by Dhami's loss in Khatima, a seat he had been winning since the 2012 Assembly polls.

Party's central observer and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh announced Dhami's name after a brief meeting of the legislative party here.

The meeting was attended by Union ministers Meenakshi Lekhi and Prahlad Joshi. While Lekhi was present there as a central observer, Joshi was the party's poll incharge for the state.

Making the announcement soon after the meeting at the party office here, Singh said he congratulates Dhami on being elected as the leader of the legislative party.

The BJP has reposed faith in Dhami once again for the post of the chief minister as he knows well how to run a government, the defence minister said.

There was no name other than Dhami and all MLAs unanimously supported him, he said.

Soon after being elected the leader of the BJP legislative party, Dhami thanked people of the state for voting the BJP to power for a second consecutive term.

"The state's development will be given a fillip and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's grand vision for the development of will be turned into a reality," he said.

Uttarakhand will be made a leading state over the next 10 years, he said.

The BJP had won 47 of the 70 seats in the Assembly polls, the results of which were announced on March 10.

(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.)
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], March 21 (ANI/PRNewswire): The world's leading producer of naturally brewed soy sauce, Kikkoman Corporation, today announces the launch of the 'Meet-Use-Experience' initiative as part of its 'Kikkoman Honjozo Authentic Soy Sauce Experience' that started in October 2021.

A first of its kind, it is the largest sampling of Kikkoman Soy Sauce - Honjozo Authentic All-Purpose Soy Sauce - in India. 15,000 bottles of Kikkoman Soy Sauce will be distributed to the largest Indian cities - namely, the following seven Tier I cities - Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune.

The 'Meet-Use-Experience' initiative will launch and run on an accelerated basis for another six months.

This initiative involves distributing 10,000 bottles of 500 ml Kikkoman Soy Sauce to 10,000 restaurants in the HORECA market for the first time. As per Zomato India, these 10,000 outlets where Kikkoman will distribute these free samples represents 1 in every 10 restaurants in the largest seven metro cities.

Every restaurant outlet thus approached will have the opportunity to 'meet, use, and experience' Kikkoman Soy Sauce for the first time ever, and join millions of restaurants around the world already using Kikkoman Soy Sauce in their kitchens. This initiative plans to rapidly accelerate the distribution and recognition of Kikkoman Soy Sauce across the largest cities in India.

This initiative will not be limited to reaching out to working chefs, but also will approach up-and-coming chefs - students - to have them become more aware of Kikkoman Soy Sauce's potential, early in their careers. 5,000 bottles of Kikkoman Soy Sauce will be provided to top culinary institutes and catering colleges in these same seven cities.

An estimated 2 million Indians are studying to be chefs and hospitality professionals - the next generation of the culinary and hospitality industries - and these students will have a chance to gain awareness about the versatility of Kikkoman Soy Sauce and its power to elevate any dish from the simplest to the most sophisticated.

Kikkoman's initiative to work with top culinary institutes started with an online seminar back in May 2021 where an on-line session was held with over 100 students from OCLD (Oberoi Centre of Learning and Development). Sampling these 500 ml bottles to students represents Kikkoman's investment in the next generation of up-and-coming professional chefs.

Kikkoman believes that there is immense potential for Kikkoman Soy Sauce to become an essential seasoning in every Indian home and restaurant kitchen. The time frame for the Indian market is over the next 100 years and beyond. Kikkoman has many plans for the years ahead, but the first step is to familiarise professional chefs and student chefs with how Kikkoman Soy Sauce can enhance any dish, to create new deliciousness.

Kikkoman's 'Honjozo Experience' movement comprises three elements--developing talent and fostering exchanges among chefs; educating everyone on the use of soy sauce through cooking sessions and contests; learning about the contribution Kikkoman Soy Sauce can make by experimenting through R & D in food culture.

From professional chefs to student chefs--all chefs are going to innovate, experiment and learn to use the soy sauce to cook up a storm. Through cooking contests, videos, discussions and workshops, and more, the 'Honjozo Experience' movement will bring together chefs, students, restaurants, hoteliers, the media, industry leaders as well as government representatives to explore how Kikkoman Soy Sauce can enhance any and every dish served in India.

Brewed naturally, using only the four basic ingredients of soybeans, wheat, salt and water, Kikkoman's soy sauce works like magic to elevate the flavour of any dish to another level. Due to this factor, hundreds of Indian chefs have already started using this soy sauce after the launch in February 2021.

Moreover, Kikkoman plans to continue collaborating with many chefs in India as part of a great 'adventure' to experiment and co-create new delicious experiences using Kikkoman Soy Sauce with the objective of enhancing dishes across all cuisines, be it Chinese, Asian, Japanese, Western or Indian dishes.

With a history spanning over 350 years and based in Japan, the current Kikkoman corporate entity was established through the merger of 8 families in 1917. The company's internationalization strategy began some 60 years ago, with its entry into the United States market. Kikkoman has become a global business, expanding to over 100 countries, with 11 soy sauce production sites worldwide that distribute its products all over the world to millions of consumers.

Kikkoman India is solely responsible for importing all Kikkoman products, and shall manage all production, marketing, sales, and distribution in India.

This story is provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PRNewswire)

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New Delhi [India], March 21 (ANI/SRV): After a transformative stance of taking the entire school admission process online, professional courses and global expansion seem to be the next step in Eduminatti's cards.

In the next phase, the company aspires to enlist universities from Europe, Canada, Australia and USA on its portal and provide professional course help to the prospects. Following a successful run with school listings, Eduminatti seeks to expand its services to professional courses.

Estimating favorable returns through its next venture, Eduminatti also seeks global expansion in the near future through collaborations. The firm is currently working in collaboration with Jain International School, Bangalore, Ecole Globale International Girls School, Dehradun and a few other well-known schools in India.

A sudden flare of online Ed-tech firms caused the education sector to participate in a prominent historical revolution. As per the research done by the (https://eduminatti.com/category/international-schools-in-india) international schools in India, the shift from the offline learning environment to the digitization of classes was one such notable transformation.

COVID- 19 affected all the students worldwide, provoking the Ed-tech giants to induce ways to make education convenient and accessible for scholars worldwide. Taking a lead in this stride, Eduminatti- an Ed-tech firm based in Dehradun, has emerged as a torchbearer, paving the way towards innovation and strategic market excellence. The firm saw tremendous growth over the past year by amassing students, parents, and educators under a common portal.

Eduminatti commenced as an austere school listing website which rapidly progressed to become an all-in-one complete admission assistant. Presently Eduminatti has enlisted more than 25,000 schools with independent reviews and expert comments, proving to be a massive help for the users. Supposedly, you are looking for (https://eduminatti.com/category/boarding-schools-in-india) boarding schools in India, it will take you just a few clicks to get complete information about the best boarding schools in the country.

Eduminatti has also collaborated with the top institutes and educational experts across the country. The platform also has various inbuilt features like EMI Calculator, Compare Schools, Common Application, and Expert Counseling, designed specifically for the parents to ease their child's admission process.

One of the most striking features on this platform include the Common Application Portal that helps the parents and users to apply for admission in multiple schools. This AI-based application is capable of scheduling, updating admission status, and suggesting schools as per the user's requirements.The users who secure admission through Eduminatti's services also receive a laptop/ tab with various in-built applications.

Inventing Pandemic Pedagogy

Pandemic pedagogy opened doors to the vast ocean of online education which eventually became one of the most sought-after sectors attracting big investors. Ed-Tech Giants like Byjus, Unacademy, Vedantu, etc were major players who saw a massive rise in their valuation during the pandemic.

How Eduminatti stands out from other Ed-tech giants

Eduminatti with its unique features has caught the attention of the market and has materialized to be a reassuring and flourishing startup. It has created an immersive and engaging online environment that tends to make school search a cakewalk for its users. With a string of dynamic features, Eduminatti allows its users to assess schools and their facilities on various parameters. The expert panel on dispense for the users to obtain career counselling has been a massive success with the user base. Eduminatti has more than 25,000 schools enlisted on its portal belonging to all the major cities across the country.

Positive Feedback Motivating Further Developments

Jyoti Gupta, who just shifted to Bangalore due to her father's CISF transfer notice, found Eduminatti to be a lifesaver. "It is very convenient to be able to see the various features of the school side by side. It helped me a lot in selecting a school as per my preferences. The expert counselling section is just perfect! I find it amazing that I was able to get into a great school in such a small amount of time without any hassle."

"Eduminatti has certainly made the complex process of school search easier, especially for new parents," says Rashi, mother of Reyasnsh. "The best part of the whole ordeal was that everything was done online!" she further added.

The reactions and feedback from the users have encouraged the firm to extend its services. It envisions expanding its reach to the colleges offering professional courses to the students. It is also in talks with the top international universities for collaborations and scholarships.

The strategy that Eduminatti has adopted to gain muscle is focusing on the admission needs of the students and parents. Defying the prevailing market fads, Eduminatti brings something different on the platter. The projections hold good for the firm as top investors are eyeing to auspice the venture estimating tremendous potential.

This story is provided by SRV Media. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/SRV)

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HYDERABAD: With exams approaching and teachers working hard to complete the syllabus in government schools, several government primary school teachers have complained that they are unable to focus on teaching.

This, they said, is because they have to do additional clerical work allotted by the government. Several government teachers and headmasters have said that the education system is hopeless,

especially when it comes to primary education.

There is already a shortage of teachers wherein two teachers are

teaching 400 students. From them, if one teacher is on leave, the other one cannot teach the students as she/he has to fill all unwanted feedback forms given by the government, said the headmaster of a

government school.

These teachers are supposed to keep track of mid-day meals including

food storage, shortage and supply. Not only that, they have to attend to register admissions, registration of students for scholarships, issue bona fide and TC certificates, all of which are keeping these teachers busy, distracting their attention from their main job of teaching the

students.

The government teachers said they are managing to complete the syllabus. But, as they are supposed to finish these extra clerical works, and with shortage of teachers, they are forced to teach children through TV lessons and ask other sharp students to take over the class

and teach the rest of the students.

Another headmaster from a government school said that there is no service staff, no attender, no clerk, which is increasing the workload on teachers.

Why do the government teachers have to take care of registering online attendance, mid-day meals, and uniforms? The entire registration process takes hours to complete. When will the teachers focus on students, especially when a half-day system is followed, asked the headmaster. The areas from where such problems are reported are Medak, Sangareddy, Adilabad, Patancheruvu etc. The government teachers have pleaded with the state government to reduce the unnecessary additional tasks or hire staff for the

same.
New Delhi [India], March 21 (ANI/NewsVoir): Red Fort Festival - Bharat Bhagya Vidhata, one of the most anticipated events in India and one of the world's largest cultural extravaganzas, will be held from March 25th until April 3rd, 2022, at the country's iconic 17th- century monument in New Delhi, Red Fort.

A joint collaboration with the Ministry of Culture celebrating Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, the 10-day event will feature a spectacular thematic cultural fusion showcasing India's rich history and a kaleidoscopic diversity in art, heritage, culture, cuisine and more.

"Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav means elixir of energy of independence. It means elixir of inspirations of the warriors of freedom struggle; elixir of new ideas and pledges and nectar of Aatmnirbharta," said Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Union Culture Ministry along with Red Fort's Monument Mitra, Dalmia Bharat Limited has conceptualized the event.

"The inaugural Red Fort Festival - Bharat Bhagya Vidhata highlights our culture and traditions as has never been seen before. We hope that this will enable visitors, and especially our youth, to build connections between our nation's current progress and our ancient glory, by understanding values that are India-centric as well as globally relevant," Puneet Dalmia, Managing Director, Dalmia Bharat Limited. "Through each and every specially curated initiative at the Red Fort Festival - Bharat Bhagya Vidhata, we hope to enable visitors to immerse themselves into India's cultural, celebratory and community-led legacies. We are grateful to our Hon'ble Prime Minister, Modiji, and the Government of India, for giving us this opportunity to serve our nation as a Monument Mitra and we are confident that everybody that visits the event will take back with them unique and unforgettable experiences that bind us as a nation and a community."

As part of the government's Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav to celebrate 75 years of Indian independence, Red Fort Festival - Bharat Bhagya Vidhata promises a rich cultural treat to visitors. Some of the highlights will include a projection mapping show on India's history on the exterior walls of the monument; an exhibition of the nation's achievements through the years; a host of cultural programs featuring the grandeur of the country's vibrant arts and craftsmanship, a culinary explosion of regional cuisines and specially curated song and dance performances that pay homage to the country's unity in diversity.

Highlighting the history of India in engaging and interactive sequences, the Red Fort Festival - Bharat Bhagya Vidhata is planned as an annual event, underlining themes such as the freedom struggle, ideas, resolve and achievements at 75 and beyond.

As part of its endeavours in the path breaking initiative, Dalmia Bharat Limited aims to instill a sense of national pride and ensure sustenance for communities by improving jobs and opportunities.

The concept of Monument Mitras is the brainchild of the Ministry of Tourism, along with the Ministry of Culture and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). It is part of the "Adopt A Heritage" project that seeks to preserve India's rich cultural heritage and monuments and provide tourists with a comfortable and exciting experience tourist through basic and advanced amenities through participation from corporates and individuals. The 'Adopt A Heritage' project, was launched on September 27, 2017, on the occasion of World Tourism Day by President Ram Nath Govind, enabling corporate entities, public sector companies or individuals to become Monument Mitras (friends).

Website - (https://eventsatredfort.org).

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.)
New Delhi [India], March 21 (ANI/ATK): Top10stockbroker is a multi-solution website that not only purveys suitable stocks for embellishing your investment portfolio but is your one-stop destination to explore various trading platforms and other services required for ensuring a smooth experience in keeping up with the stock market.

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The India Africa Trade Council organized the India Ethiopia Trade Conference which was attended by the Business community in South India especially Tamil Nadu. The President of Indian Economic Trade Organization Dr. Asif Iqbal welcomed the Ambassador of Ethiopia in India HE Dr. Tizita Mulugeta and pledged the commitment of support between the two nations for a robust partnership. There is a huge interest in India for Ethiopia, a country with great scope for bilateral trading opportunities in Pharma, Medicines, IT development, Textiles, Garments and Industrial development by Indian companies. The Ambassador was also accompanied by the Minister, Counsellor from the Ethiopian Embassy in New Delhi Demesev Kebede Tekle who presented the latest reformed business policy of Ethiopia that is very prospective for investors. The Minister for NRI Affairs of Tamilnadu Cingee Mastaan delivered the address and welcomed Ambassador of Ethiopia to Chennai. He read out the commitment of the Chief Minister of Tamilnadu who is pushing foreign relations to a new reformed policy in the state.

During the Event the Ambassador presented the Ethiopian Coffee to the Minister and the MEA official and will explore the option of formally launching the coffee during the visit of the Investment Council of Ethiopia in April 1st week. The Economic Investment Council will be visiting Mumbai and Chennai to cover the opportunities and invite prospective businessmen to invest in Ethiopia in sectors of Pharmaceutical, Garments, Textiles, Agro processing.

The event was attended by the Head of MEA Secretariat Mr. Venkatachalam Murugan IFS who also spoke about accelerating Indias relationship with the African region and welcomed delegates from Tamilnadu state to pledge support for the various other island nations around the African region. Previously he was heading the East and South Africa (ESA) division in the Ministry of External Affairs, Govt of India. Dr. B. Ramakrishnan(BRK), Director of COMESA spoke about Indias efforts in strengthening relations especially when India is celebrating 75 years of Indias Independence. India has also in the past extended various credit lines to Ethiopia through the Exim Bank a line of credit of USD 75 million (over Rs 500 crore) for financing Industrial parks. An agreement was signed between Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) in July 2020. Modern diplomatic relations between India and Ethiopia were established at the level of legations in July 1948, after the independence of India.

Some of the major Indian companies in Ethiopia are Cadila Pharmaceuticals PLC, S & P Energy Solution PLC, Tata International Limited, Karuturi Global PLC, Kanoria Africa Textiles PLC, Mohan Group of companies, Anmol Products Ethiopia PLC and many others

During the conference, the letter of Appointment was given to Stephin Kureekal George as the Trade commissioner for the India Africa Trade Council-Ethiopia. He will drive the relationships between the two countries. Kerala being a hub for many GCC countries can be a great destination for Ethiopia due to its proximity and its past linkages to India, We welcome investments for Ethiopia and will act as a catalyst to connect this country with our state of Kerala said Mr. Stephin Kureekal George who will be opening the trade office soon.

The ongoing Government of India assistance in developmental projects in Ethiopia continued with sanctioned Lines of Credit worth more than US$1 billion to the Government of Ethiopia for construction of sugar factories and power transmission lines. Ethiopia is one of the largest recipient of long term concessional credit from India in Africa.

The Ambassador also presented the opportunities to the main guests from Tamilnadu and also expressed great interest in supporting the trade relations between the two countries and invited the trade community to explore all the available choices for investors.

India Africa Trade Council (IATC) is working on building bilateral trade relations by assisting Indian companies that are looking at various projects coming up in African region for promoting growth in commerce and trade, especially in Indian Pharma which likely to increase as the Ethiopia market expands. The India Africa Trade Council previously hosted the Additional Secretary of the Africa region, Ministry of External Affairs during which the mechanisms between India and Africa were concluded.
Less than a year after investing $100 million in Blinkit for a 9.3% stake, is reportedly in talks to merge with the company in an all-stock deal. Blinkit shareholders will get a 10% stake in Zomato A Business Standard report said that Blinkit would be valued at around $750-800 million dollars, which is much lower than the unicorn status it had achieved last August with the funding round where participated. Blinkit is going through a severe cash crunch, bringing the unsustainability of the quick commerce model into focus even as competition is increasing in this space. This has prompted to extend a $150 million loan to Blinkit to support its capital requirements in the near term. The loan amount is in line with Zomatos stated intent of investing up to $400 million in quick commerce in India over the next two years. Formerly called Grofers, the start-up rebranded into Blinkit in December as it pivoted to 10- minute grocery delivery, entering the quick commerce segment. So, what is behind Zomatos plan to acquire Blinkit? Zomato has become a strategic investor in the hyper-local e-commerce segment and has picked up stakes in smaller start-ups. While Zomato says its core food-related businesses that include food delivery, dining-out and B2 supplies unit Hyperpure will remain its key focus, it wants to invest in building the ecosystem around the food delivery business so that the cost of running a better food delivery business goes down with time. In the past year, it has made cash investments worth $225 million in Blinkit, Shiprocket and Magicpin towards its objective of building out quick e-commerce in India. However, Zomato is still a loss-making company.

While its Average Order Value has increased over the last three years to Rs 400, in Zomatos own words, the food delivery business is only showing early signs of maturity.

Its contribution margin as a percentage of the Gross Order Value is 1.1%, although this is an improvement from negative 15% in 2019. Zomato estimated that a 5% contribution margin in its food delivery business at the current scale can ensure break-even at the EBITDA level. Moreover, Zomato will continue to fund the growth in its core food businesses till they become profitable.

Zomato has previously said it stands ready to infuse additional capital into the hyperlocal e- commerce in which it has taken minority interest, and consolidate its stake, leading to a potential merger in the future. However, the quick timeframe between Zomatos first investment in Blinkit and the potential merger has raised eyebrows. This could also mark the beginning of the consolidation in Indias ultrafast grocery delivery space.

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Chinas Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng has warned that the Asia-Pacific would suffer from unimaginable consequences and be pushed into an abyss if a Ukraine-like crisis were to occur in the region.

His comments followed President Xi Jinpings Friday video call with his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden, during which the two leaders vowed support to a diplomatic settlement to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Whats new: The Hainan provincial government is expected to launch an international carbon emissions trading exchange in the beach holiday destination city of Sanya in the second half this year, local state-run newspaper the Hainan Daily reported.

The announcement was made during a meeting held Friday by the local financial supervision bureau of Hainan province. The exchange, whose establishment was recently approved by the bureau, is a key step in implementing Chinas green development strategy, the report said.
Short-distance rural tourism grew more popular in Chinas capital during this years Labor Day holiday amid curbs on travel to control the pandemic. Bookings for hotels and homestays outside urban areas started earlier than usual for this years five-day national holiday, with volumes climbing since April 10. Despite Covid control measures, most scenic spots in suburban areas remain open, though visitors are required to present negative Covid-19 test results to enter

May 04, 2022 03:50 PM
Surprise checks were carried out at 1890 wholesalers and supermarkets across the state and 59 cases have been registered under the essential commodities Act. (Representative AFP Photo)

VIJAYAWADA: Vigilance and Enforcement ADG Shankabrata Bagchi said on Sunday that the agency is holding massive raids all over AP against hoarding of refined edible oils and illegal sale of oils at exorbitant prices in the context of the Russia-Ukraine war.

He said the agency conducted 1890 raids and registered 994 cases for violation of norms. We have started a WhatsApp number and appealed to the people to give information about the hoarding and excessive charging of rates for oils, he said.

Complaints can be sent to the 9440906254 WhatsApp number. Meanwhile, the government started selling oils at fair prices in Rythu Bazaars and asked the people to make good use of the facility.

Addressing the media, Bagchi said stern action will be taken against those found hoarding of and doing black marketing in edible oils.

Surprise checks were carried out at 1890 wholesalers and supermarkets across the state and 59 cases have been registered under the essential commodities Act. Hoarded stocks were seized.

About 889 cases were registered and stocks seized for selling edible oils at more than the MRP, 38 cases were filed under food safety act and 8 criminal cases were registered for adulteration during the last one month.

He said that 5.67 tonnes of Priya brand edible oil stocks was seized in Krishna district. One case was registered in Srikakulam and 56.624 metric tonnes of edible oil worth Rs 93 lakh seized there. Three cases were registered in Visakhapatnam and 164.434 metric tonnes of oil worth Rs 2.67 crore was seized.

In East Godavari, 10 cases were registered and 181.100 metric tonnes of oil worth Rs 3.43 crore was seized.

In West Godavari, six cases were registered and 91.327 metric tonnes of oil worth 11.43 crore seized. In Krishna district, nine cases were registered and 57.687 metric tonnes worth `86 lakh was seized.

In Guntur district, nine cases were registered and edible oil worth Rs 4.51 crore seized. In Ongole, 15 cases were registered and 151.375 metric tonnes of oil worth Rs 2.28 crore seized.

In Nellore, four cases were registered and oil worth Rs 6.30 crore was seized. In Chittoor, one case was registered and material worth Rs 33 lakh seized.

In Kadapa district, two cases were registered and 53.15 metric tonnes worth Rs 82 lakhs was seized. In Anantapur district, 2 cases were registered and 125.272 metric tonnes worth Rs 1.96 crore was seized. In Kurnool district, 4 cases were registered and 134 tonnes worth ` 2.91 crore was seized.
RTHK: Ukraine rejects Putin ultimatum to surrender Mariupol

Ukraine rejected a Russian ultimatum to surrender the besieged southern city of Mariupol on Monday, as renewed overnight shelling killed at least eight people at a shopping mall in the capital Kyiv.

Almost 350,000 people are trapped without water and electricity in the port city of Mariupol, which has been bombarded by Russian troops for almost a month in what has been described as a "massive war crime" by EU policy chief Josep Borrell.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, Russian bombs struck targets overnight, allegedly damaging a chemical plant in the north of the country causing an "ammonia leakage" that sparked a temporary alarm.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Europe to significantly dial up pressure on Moscow to halt its nearly month-long assault, saying the continent must cease all trade with Russia.

"No euros for the occupiers. Close all of your ports to them. Don't export them your goods. Deny energy resources. Push for Russia to leave Ukraine," Zelenskyy said in his latest video address.

Ukrainian leaders also stressed they were standing firm against attackers in Mariupol, which is suffering a critical humanitarian crisis.

Defenders of the port city have "played a huge role in destroying the enemy's plans and enhancing our defence," said Ukraine's Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov.

"Today Mariupol is saving Kyiv, Dnipro and Odessa. Everyone must understand this."

The Kremlin's military command had warned authorities in Mariupol had until "5am... on March 21" to respond to eight pages of demands, which Ukrainian officials said would amount to a capitulation.

Rejecting the ultimatum by Russia to surrender Mariupol, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Moscow should instead allow the trapped residents to escape.

"We can't talk about surrendering weapons," Vereshchuk told the Ukrainska Pravda online newspaper.

Mariupol is a pivotal target in Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine  providing a land bridge between Russian forces in Crimea to the southwest and Russian-controlled territory to the north and east.

A Greek diplomat who remained in the city through the bombardment said the devastation would rank alongside history's most ruinous wartime assaults.

"Mariupol will be included in a list of cities in the world that were completely destroyed by the war, such as Guernica, Stalingrad, Grozny, Aleppo," Manolis Androulakis, believed to be the last EU diplomat to leave the city, as he arrived back in Athens late on Sunday.

Russia marched on its neighbour on February 24, pressing on despite sweeping unprecedented sanctions imposed by Western allies.

Its bombs hit several targets across the country overnight, laying waste to a shopping mall in Kyiv, whose mayor announced a new curfew from late on Monday to Wednesday morning.

In the north, Ukrainians were told to temporarily take shelter after an ammonia leak at a nearby chemical factory, amid intense fighting with Russian forces in the area.

Sumy regional governor Dmytro Zhyvytsky said "Russian artillery shelling" had hit the Sumykhimprom fertiliser plant as he warned residents within a 2.5 kilometres radius to seek shelter before an all-clear was sounded mid-morning.

Away from the frontlines, foreign ministers of the European Union gathered in Brussels to mull fresh sanctions against Russia.

Some members within the bloc are pushing for an embargo on Russian oil and gas, but Germany has rejected the call outright, warning it could spark social instability.

The Kremlin on Monday heaped on the warnings against such a ban, saying it would have a direct impact on everyone.

"Such an embargo will have a very serious impact on the world energy market, it will have a very serious negative impact on Europe's energy balance," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov

Energy prices and supply security issues will be on the table at an EU summit on Thursday in Brussels, to be also attended by President Joe Biden.

The US leader will also join in a Nato summit and G7 talks in Brussels, before travelling to Poland on Friday.

There he is expected to hold talks with President Andrzej Duda to discuss a joint response to the humanitarian crisis that has seen more than two million Ukrainians flee to Poland alone.

Humanitarian conditions continued to deteriorate in the mostly Russian-speaking south and east, where Russian forces have been pressing their advance, as well as in the north around Kyiv.

Aid agencies are struggling to reach people trapped in besieged cities.

Around 10 million Ukrainians have fled their homes, roughly one-third going abroad, the UN refugee agency said.

The humanitarian crisis remains most acute in Mariupol.

In his video message on Sunday, Zelenskyy had accused Russia of bombarding a Mariupol school sheltering hundreds, calling it an act of "terror that will be remembered even in the next century".

"Russian forces have come to exterminate us, to kill us," he said.

It was the latest potentially devastating strike on a shelter for civilians. Last Wednesday, a theatre where authorities said more than 1,000 people had sheltered was hit, with hundreds still presumed missing in the rubble.

Mariupol officials have said occupying forces have forcibly transported around a thousand residents to Russia and stripped them of their Ukrainian passports  a possible war crime.

A group of children stuck in a Mariupol clinic for weeks are among those who have been taken to Russian-controlled territory, said a carer and a relative of a clinic worker.

The 19 children, aged between four and 17 and mostly orphans, had been living in freezing cellars hiding from shelling in harrowing conditions.

Amid the carnage, Zelenskyy has again suggested he and Putin hold direct talks.

After addressing Israeli lawmakers Zelenskyy  who is accused by Russia of being a Nazi, but is Jewish  thanked Prime Minister Naftali Bennett for efforts to broker talks, which he suggested could take place in Jerusalem.

"Sooner or later we could start the conversation with Russia. Perhaps in Jerusalem. This is the right place for finding peace. If this is possible," Zelenskyy said.

Authorities in Turkey, where Russian and Ukrainian representatives have been negotiating, said the two sides were close to a deal to stop the fighting.

But the Ukrainian leader appeared to draw some red lines.

"You cannot just demand from Ukraine to recognise some territories as independent republics," he told CNN. "We have to come up with a model where Ukraine will not lose its sovereignty." (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2022-03-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Another two flights taking back Chinese citizens evacuated from Ukraine return safely

Xinhua) 13:05, March 21, 2022

BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Another two temporary flights carrying Chinese citizens evacuated from Ukraine returned home safely on Monday.

At 8:03 a.m., the first flight arrived in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, and the second flight arrived at 8:39 a.m. in Zhengzhou City in central China.

Prior to Monday, 17 temporary flights taking Chinese nationals back from Ukraine have already returned home safely.

(Web editor: Peng yukai, Liang Jun)
Krishna Babu said the highest number of 133 students were from Visakha-patnam district, followed by Krishna (128). (Representional Image/ PTI)

Vijayawada: A representative group of the 918 students from the state repatriated from Ukraine will meet Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday.

Principal secretary M.T. Krishna Babu, chairperson of Task Force Committee for evacuation of students, said one student from each district will meet the CM at 3 pm to thank him.

The task force had deployed officers in countries neighbouring Ukraine  Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia  from where Indian students were evacuated by the ministry of external affairs. Teams were also stationed at Delhi, Mumbai, Benga-luru, Visakhapatnam, Hyd-erabad and Chennai.

Krishna Babu said the highest number of 133 students were from Visakha-patnam district, followed by Krishna (128). At the bottom end of the table, 20 students had been brought back from Srikakulam and from Vizianagaram 16.

While the government brought back 692 students, 226 returned on their own.
This May 21, 2019, photo shows people attending a rally against anti-abortion laws at the Dimond Courthouse Plaza in Juneau, Alaska. Alaska voters this year will be asked if they want a constitutional convention, and simmering anger over the legislature's failure to settle the issue of how big a check residents should receive from the state's oil wealth fund could provide a tail wind for groups seeking to change the constitution on a range of hot button topics, such as abortion. (Michael Penn/The Juneau Empire via AP)
FILE - Former Vice President Mike Pence speaks at the Florida chapter of the Federalist Society's annual meeting at Disney's Yacht Club resort in Walt Disney World, Feb. 4, 2022, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. After years of being a subservient sidekick, Pence is beginning to distance himself from former President Donald Trump as he takes increasingly overt steps toward a White House bid of his own. Stephen M. Dowell/Lake Buena Vista Sentinel via AP, File)
Carroll, IA (51401)

Today

Light rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers in the afternoon. High 53F. Winds ENE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Showers early becoming less numerous late. Low 46F. Winds NE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
In recent weeks, Russian President Vladimir Putin has appeared in a number of unusual photos.

When he chaired a Security Council meeting in a large columned hall at the Kremlin on Feb. 21 three days before the invasion of Ukrainehe kept his distance, sitting several metres away.

In other photos, Putin is seen sitting at one end of a six-metre long table, while various leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyevare are seated at the other end.

Yet in other photo-ops, Putin is standing or sitting close to female Aeroflot flight attendants, congratulating them on International Women's Day (March 8).

The following song lyrics are a rewrite of the 1980 hit single "Don't Stand So Close To Me" by the English rock band, The Police.

The "Ministry of Truth" is a reference to one of the four ministries of the government of Oceania in George Orwell's 1949 dystopian novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four.

"His film on Putins palace" is a reference to Russian anti-corruption activist Alexei Nevalny's 2021 documentary Putin's Palace, which can be viewed for free on YouTube, in both Russian and English.

DONT SIT SO CLOSE TO ME  The Secret Police

Young country, the subject

Of Putins fantasy

He wants it so badly

Knows where he wants to be

Inside him, theres longing

Blue sky and yellow grain

Denial and war crimes

The man must be insane

Dont sit, dont sit so

Dont sit so close to me

Dont sit, dont sit so

Dont sit so close to me

His friends are so nervous

Who doesnt like to spend?

Sometimes wars not so easy

No generals to defend

Fixation, starvation

One lie upon a lie

He wont stop God watching

So many people die

Dont sit, dont sit so

Dont sit so close to me

Dont sit, dont sit so

Dont sit so close to me

State news is just Nyetflix

The indies off the air

Ministry of Truth spews

Disinformation blare

His yes-men are seated

One hundred feet away

The hostess-close photos

Say da to Womens Day!

Dont sit, dont sit so

Dont sit so close to me

Dont sit, dont sit so

Dont sit so close to me

De-nazi the Ukraine

The land led by a Jew

Meanwhile a No-Fry Zone

No Coke or Pepsi too

Navalny, in prison

Invites the world to see

His film on Putins palace

Overlooks the Black Sea

Dont sit, dont sit so

Dont sit so close to me

Dont stand, dont stand so

Dont stand so close to me

David Buckna
Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on Monday demanded that the Centre procure 100 per cent paddy for minimum support price (MSP) and not rice from Telangana in rabi season as was being done in Punjab.

He asked why the state government should do milling and supply raw rice or boiled rice to the Centre. However, the Chief Minister dropped his earlier Delhi visit plan for now to take up this demand with the Centre. He said a delegation of ministers and MPs would leave for Delhi on Tuesday to meet union ministers concerned to voice their demand and based on the response they get, he would take a call on when to visit Delhi to meet the Prime Minister and union ministers.

Addressing a press conference at Telangana Bhavan here, Rao said, "The Centre prescribes MSP for paddy and not for rice. It's the duty of the Centre to procure paddy from states for MSP and it is the Centre's wish what to do with that paddy. The Centre has to decide whether to produce raw rice or boiled rice out of paddy. In what way states are bothered or concerned about this? The Centre is procuring 100 per cent paddy from Punjab and Haryana in two seasons of kharif and rabi. We demand the Centre to procure paddy in the same manner from Telangana in two seasons."

Rao warned the Centre of launching an intense agitation like Telangana movement if it failed to procure paddy in rabi from Telangana for MSP adding that TRSLP meeting passed a unanimous resolution in this regard.

"During rabi last year, paddy was sown in 55 lakh acres in Telangana. This time, it fell down to 35 lakh acres due to the government discouraging paddy cultivation and encouraging farmers to opt for alternate crops after the Centre refused to procure boiled rice from Telangana. Of this, farmers sown paddy in three lakh acres for the purpose of seeds and in two lakh acres to meet their food needs. The Centre has to procure balance from 30 lakh acres," Rao explained.

The Chief Minister also demanded that the Centre announce a national uniform procurement policy. "There can't be different policies for Punjab or Gujarat. All states should be treated equally." he said.

The Chief Minister asked party leaders and cadres to hold agitation programmes across the state on March 24 and 25, demanding 100 per cent paddy procurement by the Centre.

Rao also demanded that the Centre extend Constitutional protection and safety to farmers in terms of MSP for all the foodgrains and not just paddy. He said he would launch a nation-wide agitation to press these demands by involving farmers.

"I recently met Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait and other farmer leaders in Delhi and discussed all these issues. We discussed how to step up pressure on the Centre to achieve these demands," Rao added.
Photo: Pixabay

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is warning Canadians that a brand of oysters is being recalled due to possible norovirus contamination.

The federal government is warning consumers that the Stellar Bay Shellfish brand is being pulled from the marketplace, explains a food recall warning on Sunday (Mar. 20).

The recalled products have been sold in British Columbia, Alberta, Quebec and Ontario.

The items recalled are:

Stellar Bay Shellfish

Oyster, Kusshi

Oyster, Kusshi Large

Stellar Bay Gold

To find out the harvest area, harvest date and process date, click here.

The recall was triggered by a CFIA investigation into a foodborne illness outbreak where there have been reported illnesses association with the consumption of these products.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is conducting a food safety investigation, which may lead to the recall of other products.

What you should do

If you think you became sick from consuming a recalled product, call your doctor

Check to see if you have the recalled products in your home or establishment

Do not consume the recalled products

Do not serve, use, sell, or distribute the recalled products

Recalled products should be thrown out or returned to the place of purchase

Consumers who are unsure if they have purchased the affected products are advised to contact their retailer

Symptoms

People with norovirus illness usually develop symptoms within 24 to 48 hours, but symptoms can start as early as 12 hours after exposure.

Main symptoms include diarrhea, vomiting, nausea and stomach cramps. Other symptoms may include low-grade fever, headache, chills, muscle aches and fatigue.

Most people feel better within one or two days, with symptoms resolving on their own, and experience no long-term health effects. In severe cases, patients may need to be hospitalized and given fluids intravenously.
Photo: Jacob C. Green

After more than 20 years delivering babies into the world, Dr. Stefanie Green decided to specialize in delivering suffering people out of it.

She was among the first Canadian physicians to offer medical assistance in dying, known as MAID, once it became legal in this country in 2016.

Green has now written a book, "This is Assisted Dying: A Doctor's Story of Empowering Patients at the End of Life," describing the first year of her new practice.

She provides heartbreaking details of patients she helped, and the ones she could not because of the restrictive nature of the new law, which limited the procedure to people whose natural deaths were "reasonably foreseeable."

She describes the gratitude of grieving family members but also the man who accused her of murdering his aunt. The loving last words exchanged between a husband and wife, lying naked together in bed, and the patient whose parting words to her good-for-nothing grandson were "clean up your crap."

Green also describes in painstaking detail the care that goes into assessing a patient's eligibility for an assisted death and the series of lethal injections designed to gently ease a patient into sleep, then a deep coma before the heart finally stops.

The book, Green said in an interview, was partly an attempt to stimulate discussion about the end of life, a topic most people are afraid to talk about. But it was also therapeutic for her.

"The real raw truth is that, as soon as I started doing this work, I was kind of overwhelmed with the incredible experiences I was having  The work itself and the intimate relationships that I was kind of thrown into right away and the interactions I saw between people and their families were just extraordinary," said Green, who heads the Canadian Association of MAID Assessors and Providers.

"At some point I decided I wish I could tell someone what's happening, what I'm doing, what I'm seeing, what it feels like, what it looks like, how it works, you know, dispel those myths  It's almost like I needed to tell someone."

In an odd way, Green said her work as a maternity doctor was "a good fit" with providing medical assistance in dying, dealing with intense emotions and the family dynamics attending both the happy and unhappy events. Among family and close associates, she refers to assisted deaths as "deliveries."

Indeed, she said helping to end people's suffering has been the most rewarding experience of her career  although initially that was a sentiment she felt she had to keep to herself.

"What I was feeling was gratification that I was in a position as a clinician  as a person  to offer this assistance. But it occurred to me that I probably shouldn't tell anyone," she writes in the book.

"What would they think? 'I helped someone to die today and I feel really great about it.' I might be seen as a psychopath."

But for Green, the experience was "profound" and a "privilege" to help people in need. She recounts in the book how "the sense of relief was palpable" when she told someone they were eligible for an assisted death.

"Once my patients were no longer fearful of how they might die, they focused intently on living and allowed themselves to more fully embrace the life they had left. MAID, in this way, was less about dying and more about how people wanted to live."

Six years on, there are still relatively few Canadian doctors and nurse practitioners who assess eligibility or provide assisted deaths  about 1,300, Green estimates.

In part, she thinks that's because of the initial ambiguity of the new law and confusion over how the term "reasonably foreseeable death" should be interpreted. She admits in the book that fear of interpreting the term too broadly  and potentially facing 14 years in prison if she did  led to agonizing decisions to turn down some desperate patients, about whom she still feels guilty.

The foreseeable death requirement was dropped from the law earlier this year, in response to a Quebec court ruling that struck it down as unconstitutional. Intolerably suffering people who are not near the natural end of their lives are now eligible for assisted deaths, although they face more stringent eligibility rules than those who are near death.

But Green said there's been no rush of Canadians clamouring to take advantage of the expanded access. Moreover, she said MAID providers have been "very, very cautious" about applying the expanded eligibility criteria, with some refusing to provide the procedure for anyone who is not near death because the eligibility rules are "too complex and they can't commit the time to it," particularly during a pandemic.

It's about to get more complicated too. Among the amendments to the law passed last March was one that will lift the ban on assisted deaths for people suffering solely from mental illnesses in 2023. That will likely require a whole new set of safeguards and eligibility rules for that group of patients.

And a joint parliamentary committee must still grapple with whether to expand access to include mature minors and whether to allow advance requests for assisted dying from people who fear losing mental capacity due to dementia or other competence-eroding conditions.

The latter is popular among Canadians but is particularly complicated, in Green's view. In the book, she notes that people often say they'd like to be able to spell out in advance the conditions under which they would want an assisted death  for instance, when they no longer recognize family members.

But she asks, would the condition be met the first time a patient fails to recognize a family member? "The second time? When it's consistent? Over how long a time period?"

She also questioned: Who decides when the condition has been met? And what if that patient seems to be living comfortably in a specialized care facility, getting enjoyment out of small things even if they are no longer the person they once were?

"Whose suffering should we take into account? The person who was or the person who now is? It's simply not so simple."
Photo: The Canadian Press

More than 500 workers at a Chevron Corp. refinery in the San Francisco Bay area went on strike early Monday in a contract dispute.

The United Steelworkers union said in an email that the strike affecting the refinery in the city of Richmond,began at 12:01 a.m. It came after workers voted down Chevrons most recent contract offer and that Chevron refused to return to the bargaining table.

Chevron said in a statement Sunday night that it has negotiated with the union for months and believes a contract offered by the company was fair and addressed union concerns.

The company said that refinery operations will continue despite the strike and that it does not anticipate any supply chain issues. If the strike were to shut down the refinery, that could negatively affect gasoline prices in California  which has the highest regular gas price in the nation at $5.86 per gallon, according to the American Automobile Association.

The union said it had negotiated a national agreement for oil workers on wages and working conditions, but about 200 individual bargaining units still had to negotiate local issues.

Chevron said that in Richmond, the union's demands exceeded what the company believes to be reasonable and moved beyond what was agreed to as part of the national pattern bargaining agreement.

The old contract with Chevron in Richmond expired Feb. 1, and workers had been reporting to their jobs on a rolling 24-hour extension, the union said.

The San Ramon, California-based Chevron said on its website that the refinery produces gasoline, diesel and jet fuel and lubricating oils.
Photo: The Canadian Press

The Russian military says it has hit a shopping mall on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv because it has been used to store rockets.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov charged Monday that the Ukrainian forces were using the shopping mall to reload multiple rocket launchers and store rockets used for shelling Russian troops. He said that a battery of multiple rocket launchers and ammunition for them were destroyed in the strike. The defense ministry spokesmans claims could not independently verified.

The shopping center in the densely populated Podil district was reduced to a smoldering ruin after being hit late Sunday by shelling that killed eight people, according to Ukrainian emergency officials. The attack shattered every window in a neighboring high-rise.

MOSCOW  The Russian military says it will continue using its state-of-the-art hypersonic missile to hit particularly important targets in Ukraine.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Monday that the Kinzhal hypersonic missile has proven its efficiency in destroying heavily fortified special facilities.

He said that a Kinzhal missile was used Friday to hit a Soviet-era arsenal for storing missiles near the western town of Deliatyn in the Carpathian Mountains, the first time the new weapon was used in combat. It also was used in a strike on the fuel depot in Kostiantynivka near the Black Sea port of Mykolaiv over the weekend. Konashenkov noted that Kinzhal was used for these strikes due to its high kinetic energy and its ability to penetrate defenses.

Konashenkov said that Kinzhal missiles were fired at a distance of more than 1,000 kilometres.

Kinzhal, one of an array of hypersonic weapons developed by Russian in recent years, has a range of 2,000 kilometres and flies at a speed 10 times the speed of sound. Its carried by specially redesigned MiG-31 fighter jets.

NEW YORK -- Russia has warned that relations with the U.S. are on the verge of a breach and summoned the U.S. ambassador for an official protest against President Joe Bidens criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A Russian Foreign Ministry statement Monday referred to recent unacceptable statements by Biden about Putin. Biden referred to Putin last week as a war criminal in relation to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The Foreign Ministry says that at the meeting with U.S. ambassador to Moscow John Sullivan it was emphasized that remarks such as these by the American President, which are unworthy of a state figure of such a high rank, put Russian-American relations on the verge of a breach.

STOCKHOLM  Swedens Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said Monday that a NATO drill in Norway that was planned before the invasion of Ukraine sends an important signal that there is co-operation, co-operation and a readiness to defend our territory.

The visit to the exercise Cold Response shouldnt be interpreted as a step toward a Swedish NATO membership, Andersson told reporters.

Sweden has a close partnership with NATO and that has deepened during the crisis.

Support for joining NATO has surged to record levels in non-Alliance members Finland and Sweden.

LONDON  Britain is accusing the Russian state of being behind hoax calls to two government ministers by an imposter posing as the prime minister of Ukraine.

Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said the hoaxer was able to speak to him on a video call Thursday. Home Secretary Priti Patel said she had received a similar call, and Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said an unsuccessful attempt was made to speak to her.

Wallace said he became suspicious and hung up after the caller posed several misleading questions. He accused Russia of dirty tricks.

Prime Minister Boris Johnsons spokesman, Max Blain, said Monday that the Russian state was responsible for the hoax calls made to government ministers last week.

NEW YORK  Russias central bank has cautiously reopened bond trading on the Moscow exchange for the first time since the country invaded Ukraine.

The price of Russias ruble-denominated government debt fell Monday, sending borrowing costs higher. Stock trading has remained closed, with no word on when it might reopen.

The central bank bought bonds to support prices. It has imposed wide-ranging restrictions on financial transactions to try to stabilize markets and combat the severe fallout from Western sanctions that have sent the ruble sharply lower against the U.S. dollar and the euro.

Ratings agencies have downgraded Russias bonds to junk status. Russias finance ministry last week flirted with default by threatening to pay foreign holders of dollar bonds in massively devalued rubles before sending the money in dollars.

Stocks last traded on Feb. 25, the day after the invasion started and sent the main stock index sharply lower.

VILNIUS, Lithuania  The Dutch prime minister says that the European Union should be careful when imposing new sanctions on Russian gas and oil companies because some nations are still heavily dependent on these resources.

We must be sure that energy independence has sufficient gas and oil in the system. It is very important for the Netherlands, Germany, France, and the countries of eastern Europe, Mark Rutte told reporters after meeting Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda. We need to do this as soon as possible, but we cannot do that tomorrow.

Nauseda replied saying that Lithuania invested heavily into energy security for decades and now is ready for a full boycott of Russian oil and gas.

Now that the masks have fallen, it is time to move forward implementing decisions that are absolutely necessary for Europe to feel safer, more independent and resistant to external shocks, Nauseda said.

KYIV, Ukraine  Ukraines nuclear regulatory agency says radiation monitors around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, site of the worlds worst meltdown in 1986, have stopped working.

In a statement Monday, the agency also said there are no longer firefighters available in the region to protect forests tainted by decades of radioactivity as the weather warms. The plant was seized by Russian forces on Feb. 24.

According to Mondays statement, the combination of risks could mean a significant deterioration of the ability to control the spread of radiation not just in Ukraine but beyond the countrys borders in weeks and months to come.

Management of the Chernobyl plant said Sunday that 50 staff members who had been working nonstop since the Russian takeover have been rotated out and replaced.

LVIV, Ukraine  Authorities in Odesa have accused Russian forces of damaging civilian houses in a strike on the Black Sea port city on Monday.

The city council said no one was killed in the strike and that emergency services quickly extinguished a fire. Mayor Hennady Trukhanov visited the site and said we will not leave Odessa and we will fight for our city.

Odesa is in southwestern Ukraine and has largely avoided the fighting so far, though Russia has ships operating off the Black Sea coast.

KYIV, Ukraine  Ukraines prosecutor general said a Russian shell struck a chemical plant outside the city of Sumy a little after 3 a.m. Monday, causing a leak in a 50-ton tank of ammonia that took hours to contain.

Russian military spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed the leak was a planned provocation by Ukrainian forces to falsely accuse Russia of a chemical attack.

Konashenkov also said an overnight cruise missile strike hit a Ukrainian military training center in the Rivne region. He said 80 foreign and Ukrainian troops were killed.

Vitaliy Koval, the head of the Rivne regional military administration, confirmed a twin Russian missile strike on a training center there early Monday but offered no details about injuries or deaths.

BRUSSELS  EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell is accusing Russia of committing war crimes in Ukraine, most notably in the besieged port city of Mariupol where hundreds of civilians have been killed.

Borrell says that whats happening in Mariupol is a massive war crime. Destroying everything, bombarding and killing everybody in an indiscriminate manner. This is something awful.

The International Criminal Court in the Netherlands is gathering evidence about any possible war crimes in Ukraine, but Russia, like the United States, does not recognize the tribunals jurisdiction.
Photo: The Canadian Press Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly responds to questions in the Foyer of the House of Commons, Tuesday, March 15, 2022, in Ottawa. Joly says Canada will soon impose new sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Canada will soon impose new sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said Monday.

"There will be more sanctions. We need to make sure we put maximum pressure on Vladimir Putin, his close guard and also the oligarchs, that is our goal," Joly said following a speech to the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations.

With further details on sanctions to come later this week, Joly told reportersOttawa will do everything in its powerto ensure Russia is isolated diplomatically, economically and politically, while providing Ukraine with weapons.

Joly called Russian President Vladimir Putin unpredictable and said his invasion of Ukraine is a threat to world stability.

"We need to make sure Ukrainians win this war. Vladimir Putin cannot prevail," she said. "This is a question that is existential to the West and the world's stability."

She praised the courage of Russians who have dared to demonstrate against the war, and she said she appreciates that the numerous sanctions Canada, the United States and the European Union have imposed are hitting the Russian population hard.

We know that the Russian people themselves are suffering from these decisions, and I want to thank and support all those dissenting voices within Russia who have taken so much personal risk and shown so much courage in speaking out publicly against the situation in Ukraine," she said.

But she said the sanctions are necessary to pressure the Russian government to end its invasion, which has driven nearly 3.4 million people from Ukraine, according to the United Nations.

In her speech, Joly discussed how the invasion of Ukraine had turned geopolitics on its head, prompting western countries to reassess their military spending.

I think our Armed Forces need to be better equipped under the circumstances," she said, noting Germany's decision to increase its defence budget to two per cent of its total budget. Several other NATO countries are making similar moves, she added.

Joly did not mention what Canada's plans are, noting those decisions are up to Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland. But there's little doubt, Joly said, that the world has changed since Feb. 24, the date of the Russian invasion, and we will take note of it."

She also insisted that China play its role on the United Nations Security Council, noting the country has abstained on votes since the beginning of the conflict. Joly told the crowd there are concerns that Russian success in Ukraine could motivate China to take a similar approach in Taiwan.

China must play a constructive role as a member of the Security Council, must ensure that the conflict does not escalate ... and that is the position that I have asked my diplomats to relay to Chinese diplomats, she told reporters.

Joly said resources have been added to Canadian embassies in Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia, including extended hours to deal with Ukrainian refugees. Other embassies in Europe, notably in Paris, London and Rome, have been mandated to support those in countries bordering Ukraine.
Photo: The Canadian Press FILE- Britain's Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge attend the 1st Battalion Irish Guards' St. Patrick's Day Parade at Mons Barracks, March 17, 2022 in Aldershot, England. Prince William and his wife Catherine are embarking on a tour to Central America and the Caribbean, even as some countries in the region mull cutting ties to the British monarchy. The couple will visit Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas on the week-long journey that starts Saturday, March 19, 2022. (Chris Jackson/Pool via AP, file)

Dozens of well-known leaders in Jamaica including professors and politicians are demanding an apology and slavery reparations as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge prepare for a trip to the former British colony.

The group is rejecting the visit of Prince William and Kate scheduled for Tuesday, part of a larger trip to the Caribbean region that coincides with the 60th anniversary of Jamaicas independence and the 70th anniversary of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

We see no reason to celebrate 70 years of the ascension of your grandmother to the British throne because her leadership, and that of her predecessors, have perpetuated the greatest human rights tragedy in the history of humankind, read a letter published Sunday ahead of the couples visit and signed by 100 Jamaican leaders.

The weeklong royal tour of Central America and the Caribbean that began on Saturday was taken at the behest of the queen, who is Williams grandmother. The trip aims to strengthen Britains ties with Commonwealth countries, but its off to a rocky start and comes as some countries consider cutting ties to the monarchy like the eastern Caribbean island of Barbados did in November.

Local opposition forced the royal couple to cancel a visit to a cacao farm in Belize that was planned for Saturday, while the upcoming trip to Jamaica has angered some who say they are still waiting for an apology and slavery reparations.

Jamaica lawmaker Mike Henry, who has long led an effort to obtain reparations that he estimates at more than 7 billion pounds, told The Associated Press in a phone interview that an apology is only the first step for what he described as abuse of human life and labor.

An apology really admits that there is some guilt, he said.

Hundreds of thousands of African slaves toiled in Jamaica under more than 300 years of British rule and faced brutal conditions. There were numerous bloody rebellions, with one woman called Queen Nanny leading a group of formerly enslaved Africans known as Jamaican Maroons whose guerrilla warfare became renown and battered British forces. Queen Nanny remains the sole female of Jamaicas eight national heroes.

During their two-day stay in Jamaica, Prince William and Kate are expected to celebrate Bob Marleys legacy, a move that also has riled some Jamaicans.

As a Rastafarian, Bob Marley embodied advocacy and is recognized globally for the principles of human rights, equality, reparations and repatriation, stated the letter of those demanding an apology.

The group said that it would be celebrating 60 years of freedom from Britain, adding that it is saddened that more progress has not been made given the burden of our colonial inheritance. We nonetheless celebrate the many achievements of great Jamaicans who rejected negative, colonial self-concepts and who self-confidently succeeded against tremendous odds. We will also remember and celebrate our freedom fighters.
Members of Afghan diaspora in the United States, including women's rights activists and supporters of the National Resistance Front (NRF) organized a protest rally in Washington DC in front of the White House on Sunday.

The main speakers included Javid Pymanee, NRF activist, journalist and political analyst, Khalida Nawabi of the Free Afghanistan movement and Marina Omari, Afghan woman activist.

All the speakers detailed the pitiable situation of Afghan women and girls under Taliban rule and the continuous gross human violations being perpetrated by the Taliban rulers.

They condemned the violations of human rights, including arbitrary arrests, executions and abduction of innocent Afghans by the Taliban.

Opposing recognition of the legitimacy of Taliban rule by any country, the speakers also stressed on the importance of the global community standing with NRF at this crucial juncture.

Nawabi also said that the Afghan diaspora fully supports US House Resolution 6993, which seeks to declare Pakistan a state sponsor of terrorism.

The protest was supported by more than 50 Afghan activists, who pledged to continue their efforts to free Afghanistan from the Taliban and Pakistan.

(ANI)
Six months after Afghanistan fell to the Taliban, which led to massive exodus of Afghan nationals, The Post reports that the country's ex-finance minister is now driving an Uber in Washington. Khalid Payenda, aged 40, abdicated his role as finance minister a week before the Taliban seized Kabul after his links with former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

Talking about his everyday incomes, Khalid Payenda told the Washington Post that one night earlier this week, he made a little more than $150 for six hours work, not counting his commute a mediocre night. In Afghanistan, he once oversaw a US-supported $6bn budget.

Following his arrival to the US, Payenda was reunited with his family. The Washington Post quoted Payenda telling one passenger his move from Kabul to Washington had been quite an adjustment.

The former Afghan finance minister said he was grateful for the opportunity to be able to support his family but, right now, I dont have any place. I do not belong here and I dont belong there. Its a very empty feeling.

Khalid Payenda is also working as an adjunct professor at the Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University.

The War-torn Afghanistan currently experiences a humanitarian and economic setback. Its assets were frozen and cut off from international aid that would be in need of recognition of the Taliban government which tookover from the US-supported administration.

Payendas said, I saw a lot of ugliness, and we failed, he said. I was part of the failure. Its difficult when you look at the misery of the people and you feel responsible.

Furthermore, the former Afghan finance minister said, I saw a lot of ugliness, and we failed, he said. I was part of the failure. Its difficult when you look at the misery of the people and you feel responsible.

Khalib Payenda said the United States were disloyal to its commitment to democracy and human rights after making Afghanistan a centrepiece of post-9/11 policy. Maybe there were good intentions initially but the United States probably didnt mean this, Payenda said.

In a message to an official of World Bank in Kabul on the day the capital fell, Khalid Payenda said, We had 20 years and the whole worlds support to build a system that would work for the people.

All we built was a house of cards that came down crashing this fast. A house of cards built on the foundation of corruption.

Also Read: Ex-Ukrainian MP's wife tries to flee with 28 million dollars, 1.3 million euros in cash stashed in suitcases
Maple Leaf Cement records consolidated profit of PKR2.757bn

21 March 2022

In 1HFY22 Maple Leaf Cements consolidated profit stood at PKR2.757bn (US$15.27m) as against PKR1.625bn for the corresponding period last year, representing an increase of 70 per cent.

A total sales volume of 2.406Mt was achieved in the 1HFY22, depicting a 4.5 per cent decrease over 2.52Mt sold during the corresponding period last year.

Domestic sales volume was 2.336Mt, defining almost the same level of demand, with slight pressure on cement consumption in the local market compared to the corresponding period last year.



The companys export volumes decreased by almost 52.6 per cent to reach 70,020t from 147,707t in the corresponding period. This decline is mainly attributable to the Afghanistan market due to the slow economic activity post-American departure from the country and low margins.

Further, cement dispatches to the rest of the world are still not feasible due to high production costs in Pakistan compared to the global market and increased shipping costs.

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DR Congo sees cement price hike after reintroduction VAT

ICR Newsroom By 21 March 2022

The price of cement in central Democratic Republic of Congo has increased from COF15,500 (US$7.70) to COF21,210 from 17 March, according to local news sources. The hike follows an agreement between the provincial division of the Ministry of Economy, representatives of three cement companies in central DRC and cement suppliers after days of discussions.



Corneille Mukuni Mukuni, the head of the provincial division of the Ministry of Economy explained the price rise as the reintroduction of VAT after a five-year suspension by the Ministry of Finance. We have seen the overheating of the price of the bag of cement on the ground. This is how we were obliged to invite the cement sellers, as well as the representatives of the three cement factories working in Kongo-Central. After two days of debate, we found that this overheating is due, not because the economic operators want to increase the price, but it is the State which put back the VAT on the cement, explained Mr Mukuni Mukuni.

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Kurnool, which was a major outbreak centre for the epidemic since March 2020, has effected a turnaround and there are no fresh daily cases anymore. (Representational image/AP)

ANANTAPUR: Even as many districts in the state continued without any new infections of Covd-19, Anantapur has been reporting the maximum number of cases for the past few days. A total of 49 cases were recorded in the state on Sunday, of which a majority were from Anantapur. The town's linkages with Karnataka are suspected to be a reason for this spurt.

Kurnool, which was a major outbreak centre for the epidemic since March 2020, has effected a turnaround and there are no fresh daily cases anymore. So with Kadapa, Nellore and Vizianagaram districts. Other districts including Chittoor, Visakhapatnam and Krishna have been reporting lesser number of cases.

On Sunday, Anantapur district reported 19 Covid positive cases while West Godavari reported eight cases and East Godavari, Srikakulam and Guntur five cases.

Though, Chittooor saw high numbers of infections for several months, there on Sunday was only one case in areas including Tirupati.

Even East Godavari reported a large number of cases -- 3.16 lakh  while the total figure for Anantapur was confined to 1.77 lakh. But, the scenario looked worse in the past few days. Medical and health authorities said a collection of samples from different parts including the border areas may show a rise in the number of positive cases.

Many cases with respiratory issues probably due to post Covid complications are being reported, they are not treated as Covid cases. For instance, a person with respiratory problems was shifted to a private nursing home in Anantapur town and was tested positive for Covid-19. But doctors reportedly told the family members that they were unable to diagnose the complication.

In addition, there random collection of samples has not been on proper lines, from travellers from Karnataka to Anantapur. There are more than 15 border roads that link Anantapur with Karnataka.

An official from the health department said there was no collection of samples even at NH Roads at border areas and this leads to an increase in the number of positive cases.
Kenya considers duty increase on imported clinker

ICR Newsroom By 21 March 2022

The Kenyan government is considering an increase on duty on imported clinker to rein in trading malpractices. It says some errant cement companies have been abusing the low tax regime of 10 per cent in the region and now wants to take countermeasures to reduce clinker imports.



Some of these cement companies are importing clinker and the same companies are mining clinker and exporting it to neighbouring countries. So we need to come out together to discipline that behaviour because you cannot import a raw material and still at the same time export the same raw material, Kenyas Trade and Industry Principal Secretary, Johnson Weru, told The East African in an interview last week.

In 2020-21 National Cement Co and Mombasa Cement, the only two companies to produce clinker in Kenya, submitted a proposal that duty on imported clinker be increased to 25 per cent from 10 per cent, arguing they have sufficient capacity to supply the aggregate local demand for clinker in Kenya.

But Bamburi Cement, Savannah Cement, Rai Cement and Ndovu Cement, which rely on imported clinker for cement production, went up in arms against the proposal saying the move will lead to unfair competition and destroy investments.

Kenya has a clinker shortage of 3.3Mta, 40 per cent of demand, with 59 per cent of the deficit being imported duty-free from Egypt, according to the National Independent Clinker Verification Committee. However, the total clinker production capacity in the country is around 8Mta.







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We all know there are angels among us. Doubtless weve all witnessed them many times. I was blessed to see them in action this past month, when Andy Govan, a kind, gentle soul, died suddenly at age 65.

A whole band of them descended upon his widow, Lisa, lifting her up in so many ways. Some of them planned food and drink for the visitation, seeing to every last detail. Some of them stood by her, being present for her, checking on her, their steady presence a blessing. Some traveled across the country to be with her during the terrible week, and others drove a full day to give her a hug, and got in the car the next day and drove back home.

My brother, who lives in New York, offered his condo for Mary Jane, Lisas childhood friend who travelled from L.A. for the week. I came by to give Lisa a hug, and there they all were, some of her oldest friends. Sally and Abbie and Woo and Lisa all were crowded together in the kitchen as Mary Jane prepared a wonderful meal of fresh salmon and roasted leeks with new potatoes. The table was set with linens and stemware, and wine was flowing.

I hugged her tight, and began to cry as she patted me!

This woman is broken-hearted. Her grief is immense. She is terrified of life without Andy. She has lost her sister and her parents. She needed to feel that she was going to be okay, that somehow, life was going to go on.

And these women showed her that. They grounded her with old stories from their shared pasts and they related easily and honestly to each other, not monitoring their words or their feelings. And this was a comfort.

Mary Jane dressed Lisa in her own stylish clothes, complete with sleek black gloves and pointed high heel boots and a fabulous wool jacket. She did her makeup, adding bright red lipstick as a final flourish. And they had to laugh, especially Lisa.

And as the mirth filled them and lifted them up for a few minutes, it opened a crack for healing to begin. Or maybe just enough for Lisa to know that it could.

* * *

Ferris Robinson is the author of three childrens books, The Queen Who Banished Bugs, The Queen Who Accidentally Banished Birds, and Call Me Arthropod in her pollinator series If Bugs Are Banished. Making Arrangements is her first novel. Dogs and Love - Stories of Fidelity is a collection of true tales about mans best friend. Her website is ferrisrobinson.com and you can download a free pollinator poster there. She is the editor of The Lookout Mountain Mirror and The Signal Mountain Mirror.
According to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations 2020 Crime in Tennessee report, there has been a 37% increase in murders throughout the state compared to 2019. The news is better for the citizens of Chattanooga, who saw a 3% reduction in criminal homicides from 2020 to 2021.

Its a small reduction, but it is trending in the right direction said Hamilton County District Attorney General Neal Pinkston, and much of that success can be attributed to the close partnership our office has with the Chattanooga Police Department.



While that reduction in homicides is notable, the need homicide victims is still there. That is why General Pinkston and the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference (TNDAGC) and Tennessee Voices for Victims are working together to launch support groups for those affected by homicide statewide. The groups, which will be led by trained counselors, aim to provide connectivity and understanding and give attendees the tools they need to create a new normal in their lives.



Here in Hamilton County, were committed to helping those affected by homicide find comfort and peace of mind, General Pinkston said. While our staff works tirelessly to serve and protect citizens of Hamilton County, we understand this is a process of healing that is personal. We hope these support groups can be beneficial for members of our district and go the extra step to build an even stronger sense of community.



We are thankful for the opportunity to work alongside district attorneys like General Pinkston across the state to bring these much-needed support groups to every corner of the state, said Verna Wyatt, Tennessee Voices for Victims co-founder. Loss  especially to homicide  is traumatic, and everyone goes through grief differently. Finding a community of support is crucial, and we get to witness the positive impact these groups can have on those who have gone through loss or suffering. We look forward to providing this support statewide.



Ms. Wyatt said the support groups will be virtual, which saves travel time and cost especially since the gas prices are rising, and allows participants to join the group in the privacy of their own home. The goal is to connect people who have experienced the murder of a loved one, she said. There is something comforting about being in the presence of others who understand your pain. She said a trained facilitator (counselor) will guide the group in processing the pain of grief complicated by murder. There is no cost to victims to participate.



Those who would like to participate in a homicide loss support group can do so by going to the DA's conference website https://www.tndagc.org/support/ and sign up. They will then be contacted by TVFV and a group will be initiated when there are two or more participants in the judicial district to begin the group. In Hamilton County specifically, they can call (423) 209-7400.



This project was supported by Award No. 2018-V2-GX-0024 awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice through the Tennessee Office of Criminal Justice Programs. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office for Victims of Crime or the State of Tennessee Office of Criminal Justice Programs.
Georgia Northwestern Technical College (GNTC) will hold a job fair for GNTC students and graduates on Thursday, April 7.

The job fair will be open to GNTC students and graduates from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Building B Atrium on GNTCs Whitfield Murray Campus in Dalton. More than 30 employers will attend the event.



We have done our best to ensure this job fair is worth attending for any GNTC student, regardless of their program of study, said Matt Bryant, career services coordinator at GNTC.

I encourage anyone who is approaching the conclusion of their GNTC program to attend.

Industry representatives will be on-hand to provide information and discuss employment opportunities with attendees.



Area employers participating in GNTCs job fair will include: AdventHealth, Dalton Police Department, Coca-Cola, Dalton Utilities, Engineered Floors, Hamilton Health Care System, Mohawk Industries, Shaw Industries Group Inc, Trinseo, Textile Management Associates, CHI Memorial, Hanwha Q Cells, PruittHealth, U.S. Xpress Inc., Premier Truck Group, CFL Flooring, Hitachi Astemo/Nissin, Family Resource Agency of North Georgia, Novalis, Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., Georgia State Patrol, Audia Plastics, Alliant Health Plans, FieldTurf, Barnsley Resort, GEDIA Georgia, The Recreational Group/Controlled Products, Mtn. View Auto Group, Challenger Turf, Primary Healthcare Centers, Dalton Box, The Dixie Group and Tarkett.



Whether you are seeking a position for the near or distant future, events like this are a great opportunity to network and discover new career possibilities, Mr. Bryant said. You never know what interaction might plant the seeds that grow into that next big chapter of your professional life.



For more information about GNTCs Job Fair, contact Career Services via email atcareerservices@gntc.edu.


The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will broadcast general conference on Saturday and Sunday, April 2 and 3, from 12-2 p.m., and 4-6 p.m.

A session for women and young women, including those who turn 12 in 2022, will also be held on Saturday evening at 8 p.m. All sessions will be broadcast on ChurchofJesusChrist.org, BYUtv and other media.

Speakers will include the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and General Authorities and General officers of the Church. Messages will focus on Jesus Christ.

This year, prophet and president Russell M. Nelson, Dallin H. Oaks and Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency sent a letter encouraging everyone to listen to, study, and apply the counsel given. The general conference messages will be published on the Gospel Library app, on ChurchofJesusChrist.org, and in Church magazines for further viewing and study.

General conference is held twice a year during the first weekend of April and the first weekend of October. The first general conference was held in 1830. According to a fact sheet, general conference is now interpreted into 93 different languages and broadcast around the world.

Because general conference is always a time to receive personal revelation and hear the word of The Lord as taught by apostles and prophets, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the greater Chattanooga area invite friends, families and individuals of all faiths to participate.


The Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commission will have a one-day meeting on Friday, March 25 starting at 9 a.m. at Buffalo Ridge Refuge in Humphreys County. The meeting will be the first for Angie Box (Jackson) as TFWC 2022-23 Chair. Other officers elected during the February meeting were Vice Chairman Tommy Woods (Piney Flats) and Secretary Jimmy Granbery (Nashville).



An overview and history of Buffalo Ridge Refuge, the site of this months meeting will be presented by Donald Hosse, Wildlife Program Coordinator. The area comprises more than 2,100 acres in southern Humphrey County and is also the site for TWRAs Law Enforcement Training.



The commission will hear a report on the upcoming 2022 Tennessee National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) which the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency will host. The tournament will be held March 31-April 1 in Murfreesboro. There will be about 90 schools represented competing in three divisions.



Capt. Matt Majors will present the roles and responsibilities of the TWRA Honor Guard. Information will include the services which the Honor Guard provides and the venues where the agency has been represented.



TWRA Region III Fisheries Program Manager Mark Thurman will discuss the history of TWRAs effort to restore muskellunge populations. An overview of the restored populations, hatchery-supported fisheries, and the value of these fisheries.



Hellbenders have been in declines in Tennessee since the 1980s. Efforts to increase the numbers will be discussed by TWRAs Biodiversity Division.



The TWRA has a fully certified dive team which performs several tasks for both the agency and partners across the state. A brief history and why the dive team exists will be discussed.
Chattanooga Police on Friday made two shoplifting arrests at the Home Depot off Gunbarrel Road after attempts were made to get away with over $1,000 worth of merchandise.

The complainant told police they were about to detain a suspected shoplifter and that a second suspect might be in a red Lexus, which had a license plate reported as stolen from Knoxville.

Police were told the red car drove nearby to a Best Buy, and police found the vehicle in that area. Police detained the driver. They also arrested the suspected shoplifter, Ray Anthony Sledge, 59, who they said had stolen a large amount of merchandise from the store and had cutters that would have cut through the spider wrap around the merchandise.







The video showed Sledge tossing merchandise over the fence to Ms. Donahue. Police watched video of Sledge and the driver, Kiana Nesha Donahue, driving to the Home Depot.The video showed Sledge tossing merchandise over the fence to Ms. Donahue.





Police charged Sledge, 59, of 12 Mississippi Ave., with two counts of theft of property, use of stolen plates, criminal conspiracy, and other charges.
Criminal Court Judge Barry Steelman on Monday denied a new trial for Derek Morse in the 2017 triple murders in Lookout Valley, though a witness testified that he was not involved.

The court agrees there was no newly discovered evidence, said Judge Steelman. I dont think the court could give Skyler Allen credibility.

Defense attorney Chris Lanier brought in Allen, who plead guilty to two counts of accessory after the fact for his involvement in the murders. Allen said he witnessed Michael Shavers and Jacob Allison commit murder in 2014 from the back of Morses vehicle.

He said while driving around with them, selling and smoking marijuana, one of the two got a call and started laughing. Allen said they went to a trailer park and pulled up to a trailer. He said Shavers got out and fired a gun over the top of the vehicle. Allen said he lay down in the back of the vehicle but sat up to see Shavers pointing a gun to a mans head.

You see stuff like that in movies, but you dont see it in real life, said Allen.

Allen said in Mondays testimony he lied to police in his initial interview but has been adamant that Morse was not involved in the murders. In his initial interview, he told police Morse was with him when the murders took place, but Monday he said Morse was at his house cleaning.

Prosecutor Cameron Williams said a victim identified Morse as a shooter at trial. Morses vehicle was also at the scene. He said Morses guns were at the scene. Allen said he sold him the guns the day before.
A Red Bank woman is facing an attempted first-degree murder charge.

Last Tuesday, Red Bank Police responded to a report of a stabbing on Hendricks Boulevard. When police arrived, they found a man standing outside of a residence who told police that he had been stabbed by his girlfriend, Ashley Necco Hester. The victim was transported to the hospital for treatment.

Detectives with the Red Bank Police Department then were dispatched to the scene to investigate the stabbing incident. The resulting investigation indicated that there had been an argument between the victim and his girlfriend.

Police said the knife appeared to have blood on it. However, she did not admit the stabbing. Ms. Hester admitted she had put a "butterfly" knife in the freezer.Police said the knife appeared to have blood on it. However, she did not admit the stabbing.

Police said the boyfriend was bleeding from the back and quite a bit of blood was coming out.

Ms. Hester was subsequently arrested and has been charged with attempted first-degree murder.
The nomination of federal appellate judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court is one of the top national stories being covered in the media today. With this nomination receiving so much media coverage, it is an excellent time for a primer on the nomination and confirmation process. The same basic process applies to all Article III federal judges, whether for the trial-level district courts, the circuit courts of appeals, or the Supreme Court. The process also demonstrates one of the ways in which the three different branches of our federal government serve as checks and balances on each other.



A Vacancy Occurs.



The confirmation process requires, first of all, a vacancy. Vacancies can occur because of a sitting judges retirement, impeachment, or deathor for lower courts, the sitting judges elevation to a higher court. President Joe Biden nominated Judge Jackson to fill an anticipated vacancy on the Supreme Court created by Justice Stephen Breyers announcement that he will retire at the end of the current Supreme Court term. If Judge Jackson is confirmed to the Supreme Court, that will in turn create a vacancy in her current seat on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. It is common for the nomination process to begin upon announcement of an upcoming vacancy.



The President Receives Recommendations.



The Constitution gives the President the sole power to appoint justices and judges to federal courts, but only with the advice and consent of the United States Senate: [The President] shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint , Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for . . . . U.S. Const. art. II,  2. When a vacancy occurs or is announced, the President receives recommendations from a wide variety of people. Recommendations from Senators carry the most weight, as do recommendations from members of the Presidents own political party.



The President Narrows the Candidates to a Manageable List.



The President relies on key staff members in his or her administration to manage this early part of the process. These staff members conduct informal investigations on the various candidates backgrounds, gathering information on the candidates integrity, intellectual capacity, judicial temperament, and health. The staff also check for embarrassing information on candidates that might hinder confirmation or bring discredit on the administrations judgment. Based on these informal investigations, what started as a long list of candidates is narrowed to a manageable few. Key at this phase is the strength of support from Senators and important members of the Presidents party.



The Top Candidates are Subjected to More Searching Investigations and Interviews.

With a shorter list of candidates, more comprehensive investigations follow. First, each candidate is asked to fill out an exhaustive questionnaire on his or her professional experience, personal background, and financial condition. The FBI, the IRS, and the American Bar Association then conduct searching investigations on each candidate. The investigations are so thorough that even a candidates kindergarten teacher might receive a visit. After the investigations, the President interviews the top candidates for the Supreme Court personally, and may interview candidates for lower court positions personally, as well.



The President Submits the Name of His or Her Selection to the U.S. Senate.



Once the President settles on a nominee, the persons name is submitted to the United States Senate, where the nomination is referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The nominee completes another exhaustive questionnaire for the Judiciary Committee, and the committees staff conducts yet another investigation. The nomination is then scheduled for a public hearing at which the nominee is expected to answer questions from Senators. For a Supreme Court nominee, all of the committee Senators attend and ask questions. For lower court nominees, generally not all committee Senators are present.



Judicial Committee Refers the Nomination to the Full Senate for a Vote.



At the conclusion of the hearing, the Judiciary Committee votes on whether to recommend confirmation to the full Senate. If a majority of the committee members vote in favor, or in some instances where the committee is evenly split, the nomination goes to the full Senate. The full Senate does not take evidence or conduct a hearing. It does allow the Senators to argue their positions for or against the nomination. Limitations may be placed on how long Senators can argue. When it comes time for a vote, the positive votes of a majority of the one hundred Senators are necessary for confirmation.



President Signs Commission.



If the Senate votes in favor of confirmation, it sends the President a formal notice of its action. The President then signs a commission designating the candidate a federal judge. Once the commission is delivered to the candidate, he or she can take the oath of office, becoming a federal judge. Article III of the Constitution provides that [t]he Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour . . . . U.S. Const. art. III,  1. The newly confirmed judge thus continues to serve until his or her resignation, death, or impeachment begins the process once again.



Curtis L. Collier

United States District Judge

Chair, Eastern District of Tennessee Civics and Outreach Committee



Carrie Brown Stefaniak

Law Clerk to the Honorable Curtis L. Collier

Past President, Chattanooga Chapter of the Federal Bar Association



Kristen A. Dupard

Law Clerk to the Honorable Curtis L. Collier
A policeman fires tear gas shell to disperse the mob as Section 144 has been imposed after a clash between two groups over installation of a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, in Bodhan town of Nizamabad district, Sunday, March 20, 2022. (PTI)

Hyderabad: The situation in Bodhan town of Nizamabad district remained peaceful on Monday a day after members of two groups indulged in protests and stone pelting over installation of a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, police said. Four cases were registered and a total of 12 people who were involved in stone pelting were arrested so far, they said.

According to police, a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji was placed at a junction in Bodhan town by one group on Saturday which was objected to by members of another group resulting in protests by both the groups on Sunday after which the protesters hurled stones at each other.

Police resorted to a lathicharge and lobbed teargas shells to disperse the two groups and brought the situation under control, though one police constable was injured during the stone pelting.

The situation in Bodhan town is peaceful and under control, a senior police official told reporters over phone on Monday and said patrolling has been intensified and pickets have been set up.

Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which was promulgated on Sunday continued in the town on Monday and depending on the situation a decision on lifting or extending prohibitory orders will be taken, the official said.

Meanwhile, a bandh was being observed by some Hindu organisations in Bodhan town in protest against the lathicharge. In view of the bandh call, as many as 213 people were taken into preventive custody, the official said.

At some places, owners voluntarily shut their shops and business establishments while in other places they remained open, police said.

Members of one group belonging to a political party stated that the Bodhan Municipal council had passed a resolution over installation of the statue while workers of another political party maintained that there was no permission for installing it and demanded that the statue be removed from the junction.
On the March 20 episode of 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days Season 5, Gino and Jasmine get engaged. While the couple had their issues, it seemed to subside for the rainy proposal. Heres everything we know about Gino and Jasmines proposal and engagement.

Jasmine and Gino, 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days | TLC

Gino asks Jasmine to marry him

Five days before Gino has to go back to his old life in Canton, Michigan, he decides its time to pop the question to Jasmine. Earlier this season, he asked Jasmines mother for her permission and blessing for their marriage. Then, he bought an engagement ring, hoping to get engaged to her on this trip to Panama.

Gino, 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days | TLC

On the last day of their trip to Jasmines hometown, Chiriqui, Panama, they spend the day in the hot springs. Later in the day, Gino and Jasmine take a walk in the rain overlooking the hills and mountains. Gino gets down on one knee and proposes to Jasmine.

He says, Jasmine, ever since I met you on March 8, weve had such an amazing connection together, ever since that day. You make me feel very loved. Ive never felt so loved before like you love me. And you make me the happiest man. So, Jasmine, will you marry me? She replies, Gino, of course, yes!

Jasmines engagement ring

Gino places his engagement ring on her finger. Jasmines engagement ring has a gold band and a diamond. As fans recall, this is the ring that Gino bought for $270 in a previous episode.

Jasmines engagement ring, 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days | TLC

When asked about the ring after the proposal, Jasmine awkwardly admitted that she didnt like the ring. Gino asked her, Do you like it? She replied, I mean, its a beautiful ring. I love it. I like it. But maybe because I know my fingers, they are so skinny. This is kind of big.

She tells him, I dont know if it is a diamond or not. Gino admitted he didnt remember if the engagement ring was a real diamond or not. She said, It screams Gino, this ring. Thats why I love it. It screams Gino.

Whats next for Jasmine and Gino?

Gino admitted, Jasmine and I have been through a lot of craziness in the last 10 months, but here we are, and she said yes. He said, Shes like one in a billion, trillion. So Im the luckiest man, you know?

He admits, I know theres still a lot of work to do for me to bring Jasmine over to the USA, but this is the first step in a long road. And Im glad we are, you know, on that path together.

As fans know, Gino is eager to start a family with Jasmine. However, Jasmine has hesitation about having children immediately with Gino, especially not before marriage.

There have been rumors that Jasmine is already in the US with Gino. However, fans will have to keep watching to find out more about Gino and Jasmines relationship. 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days airs Sundays on TLC and discovery+.

RELATED: 90 Day Fiance: Johnny Takes Full Responsibility for Ellas Cheating in Instagram Post
On the March 20 episode of 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days Season 5, Ximena Morales and Mike Berk break up officially. While there may be many red flags in their relationship, what was the final straw for this couple? Heres why Ximena and Mike decided theyre better off apart.

Mike Berk and Ximena Morales, 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days | TLC

Mike accuses Ximena of using him for money

At the end of their date together playing pool, Ximena and Mike discuss their relationship. Since Mike returned to Colombia to Ximena for their second trip, they havent been able to connect.

Mike says, Ximena has been treating me with the cold shoulder almost this entire trip. And Im really just tired of walking on eggshells, reading between the lines, thinking about whats going on in Ximenas head.

Mike Berk and Ximena Morales, 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days | TLC

On their date, Mike asks Ximena, I just want to ask. You dont love me, you need your space, I just cant stop thinking that your feelings changed when I stopped saying yes to buying everything.

Ximena immediately becomes defensive after reading the translation of Mikes words. She tells the cameras, This really offends me. It makes me really angry because a person who loves someone doesnt say that. Hes humiliating me, hes throwing things in my face.

She continues, If Mike thinks that I was only with him for the money, [then] he never really knew me. He really didnt.

Why did Ximena ultimately break up with Mike?

After Mike accuses Ximena of using him for money, she gets upset and tells him the truth. She says, What? You have things that I dont like. Thats what totally changed my feelings. So, and you still pay my rent, so thats not it.

Ximena says, From now on, were friends, you dont sent me money. You dont help me with anything and I pay for my things. She tells Mike, You will no longer be my boyfriend, nor will I be your girlfriend. Well be friends, if you want.

After Ximena breaks up with Mike, he tells her, Anything I paid for, I wanna take back with me to New York. She replies, If you want to take everything in my house, take it all. I dont need it. Today our relationship is over. And Im serious.

Other reasons why they werent compatible

Earlier this season, Ximena expressed how she didnt like Mikes habits and behavior. She described it as super gross and weird. She said earlier this season, He has thousands of things that are degenerate, slobbish, piggish. And I dont know how to explain to him to change all those things.

It seems that they just werent a goot match. Early on, Ximena made it clear Mike is not her usual type of guy. She explained how hes totally different than any of the men shes dated in her past. However, she had hope she could look past his physical appearance.

Mike and Ximenas break up doesnt surprise most 90 Day Fiance fans. Ximena already broke her NDA by posting pictures of her new man.

Fans are eager to find out what happens next week, when Mike refuses to leave Ximenas house because he paid her rent. 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days airs Sundays on TLC and discovery+.

RELATED: 90 Day Fiance: 7 Couples Rumored To Be Cast on Happily Ever After? Season 7
The FX comedy Atlanta presents a unique take on the Black experience living in Atlanta, GA and in show business. Donald Glover and his brother Stephen write the show with Stefani Robinson and the writing staff. They show the characters in their environment at home, but also Earn (Donald Glover) and Paper Boi (Brian Tyree Henry)s music career. Atlanta Season 3 will attempt to interrogate the curse of whiteness, Stephen Glover said.

Donald Glover | Coco Olakunle/FX

The Glovers were on a Television Critics Association Zoom panel with their cast and fellow creators. Atlanta Season 3 premieres March 24 at 10 p.m. on FX and streams Fridays on Hulu.

Atlanta Season 3 and the curse of whiteness

Stephen Glover said he heard a television pundit talk about racism from the White perspective. That contributed to inspiring Atlanta Season 3s theme.

Season 3 is about curses and the curse of whiteness, he said. I cant remember the guys name on CNN, but he had that speech where he talks about White people freeing themselves from the curse of racism, and we talked about that in the writers room a lot. And I think youll see that in a lot of the episodes, this idea.

The Atlanta creators experienced oblivious White people around the world

Robinson and Glover spoke on the panel about encountering racists while filming Atlanta Season 3 in London. Even prior to that, Stephen Glover said well-meaning international fans still made racial faux pas.

RELATED: Atlanta Season 3: Heres Everything We Know

Years ago, I remember we went to Canada, and there was somebody there who was, like, Oh, yeah. Theres no racism in Canada. You guys must be happy to be here. Theres no racism here. He said. And we were, like, Really? Like, you would go to Europe, and its kind of like James Baldwin and all of these people. Its like, Theres no racism here. You Black people can finally be yourself.

Atlanta Season 3 will return to the city of its title and interrogate the way racism affects White society too.

When you are from the South and you are American especially, you can see things differently, he continued. And I think White people have blind spots, obviously, to race and things that are going on, and they are affected by this too. Its not just Black people who are going through it and having a hard time. You are actually affected by it too. So, I think the first episode does a perfect job of showing how both sides are affected by this.

For Atlanta Donald Glover had to research White people

The first episode of Atlanta Season 3 shows a Black boy taken away from his mother by Child Protective Services and placed with a family of White mothers and siblings. Their attempts to be color blind are even worse. Donald Glover said to make Atlanta Season 3 accurate, he and his staff had to do some research on White people.

We had decided in the writers room we want season 3 to be about white people, he said. And then we were, like we had to do research, like a lot of research. We had to really think not like us, which was really kind of cool because it gives you a really cool, interesting perspective on a lot of things. I felt like that was the most fun. Yeah, Season 3 is really about, I guess, whiteness and curses.

RELATED: Atlanta Star Zazie Beetz Offers Update on Seasons 3 and 4
Sydney Mikayla has been playing Trina Robinson on General Hospital since 2019. However, her final episode for the soap opera recently aired as the actor had decided to leave the series.

Amid Mikaylas departure, the 19-year-old penned a heartfelt post to some of her fellow cast members.

Eden McCoy and Sydney Mikayla | Scott Kirkland/ABC via Getty Images

Sydney Mikayla is leaving General Hospital to focus on school

In the fall of 2021, Mikayla started her college education at the University of California, Los Angeles. As such, she had decided to leave General Hospital in order to focus on school.

Executive producer Frank Valentini told Soap Opera Digest in early March, Sydney asked to leave in order to focus on college. We love her and are sad to see her go, but of course support her decision and wish her the best.

Mikayla also shared that she really wants to dive in to her college experience at UCLA.

I have loved working on GENERAL HOSPITAL, but I feel like this is the right time to dive in and enjoy my college experience to the fullest, she said. The cast has become family and bringing the character of Trina to life has been one of the best experiences of my career thus far. Thank you to Frank and the entire team for believing in me and giving me this wonderful opportunity. I will miss working with everyone every day, but I am excited to see what is to come for the show.

Sydney Mikayla wrote a heartfelt post about her cast members

On March 17, the day her final episode aired, Mikayla took to Instagram to share some photos and videos of her time on General Hospital. She also wrote a heartfelt message to some cast members with whom she got the chance to work closely.

I will always miss goofing off on set with you, Mikayla wrote of William Lipton (Cameron Webber). You have incredible energy and your amazing songwriting will always put a smile on my face.

She also said of Eden McCoy (Josslyn Jacks), You never fail to inspire me. You are such a talent to work beside and I couldnt have asked for a better on screen bestie.

Mikayla, then, added about Nicholas Chavez (Spencer Cassadine), You were an amazing first onscreen love interest. For this to be your first acting job, I think youve got a major career ahead (you have to say you knew me when.

For newbie Avery Pohl (Esme Prince), Mikayla wrote, The sweetest and kindest person ever! Although I havent known you for very long, youve told me your goals, and your brilliance is going to change the world. I mean that.

Mikayla also sent a message to her on-screen mom, Brook Kerr (Portia Robinson): Your words of wisedom have been heeded, and Ive learned to take advantage of and be grateful for everything youve taught me along away.

I will miss you so, she said of Maura West (Ava Jerome). You are a gem, and Im so grateful to have worked with you.

Finally, Mikayla dedicated a portion of her post to fellow African-American actors on General Hospital. She wrote, Thank you for showing me how to continue to represent our community well.

Sydney Mikaylas role will be taken over by Tabyana Ali

Before Mikayla joined the show, the role of Trina was played by Tiana Le. Now that Mikayla is leaving, the role will be recast again. This time, actor Tabyana Ali is taking over.

Ali has appeared on the Disney Channels game show Win, Lose, or Draw. She also had guest appearances on series such as New Girl and The Big Show Show. In 2021, she appeared in the movie Horror Noire.

Earlier this month, Ali wrote on Twitter about joining the cast of General Hospital: Im so grateful to have this opportunity! Thank yall for the warm welcoming. Im so happy to be in this position.

RELATED: General Hospital: Sydney Mikayla Shares She and William Lipton Were Once Screaming on FaceTime
One of the reasons why Andy Cohen considers Kandi Burruss to be the most business savvy housewife out of any franchise is because of her business acumen. Outside of music, The Real Housewives of Atlanta star owns restaurants, an adult toy line, cosmetics and fashion lines, and more. Her first restaurant is a soul food eatery, OLG, which is the subject of her latest spinoff. Burruss employees have been with her since the beginning, but one of them doesnt think Burruss pays them enough.

Kandi & the Gang cast 2022 | Paras Griffin/Getty Images

Restaurant staff complains about not earning enough money

In Ep. 2 of the spinoff series, the staff goes out for drinks to catch up and discuss some of their grievances with the processes and procedures at OLG Initially, they talk about the new Director of Operations, Phillip, and his assertive approach to management. Brandon thinks Phillip can be too harsh. As a group, no one is convinced that he will even last at OLG long as management turnover is high.

Source: YouTube

RELATED: RHOA: Kandi Burruss Says Bethenny Frankel Wanted to Collaborate on Music

The conversation then turns to payment. Shawndreca claims minimum wage in Atlanta is $15 an hour and shes only being paid $12 an hour. She compares it to employees at the local Dollar Tree, who she says is getting paid $17 an hour. Shawndreca thinks she deserves more because of the length of time shes been working at OLG, as well as what she has to deal with from customers.

Patrick, Burruss cousin/godson grows irritated when Shawdreca complains. In his green screen interview, he says hes always going to be loyal to Burruss and says that if Shawndreca is not happy, she can leave. He later tells Burruss about what Shawndreca said, leaving Burruss frustrated by the gossip and says that Shawndreca can speak directly to her about her unhappiness with pay.

Kandi Burruss responds to the complaint

Burruss likes to reward her longtime employees. Since the restaurant opened five years ago, Shawndreca has been a hostess at the restaurant from the beginning. Some of the managers and members of Burruss family dont think Shawndreca is a good fit for the job anymore due to customer complaints about her attitude. Many of the online reviews about the service note Shawndreca doesnt have a hospitable demeanor, which Burruss agrees to a certain extent.

Source: YouTube

RELATED: How The Notorious B.I.G. Offended Kandi Burruss and Her Group Members

Despite Burruss keeping her around, she was offended by Shawndrecas claims that shes underpaid. In response to her rant about pay, Burruss tweeted, Minimum wage in Georgia is actually $7.25. Soooo she was tripping. She is not getting minimum wage.

In a separate tweet, she elaborated. Minimum wage in Georgia is $7.25. So $12 is definitely not minimum wage, she wrote. And the restaurant runs on a budget. Not an unlimited budget. Im just saying.

There have also been health inspection concerns at the restaurant

Aside from the issues with her staff, OLG has also not had the best track record with the health department. Her steakhouse has also been the subject of bad inspection results. Per a 2021 report from Radar Online, the restaurant hasnt scored higher than a C rating.

The investigator noted on the inspection report that the restaurant was guilty of displaying active managerial control to prevent foodborne illness. Additionally, they saw sliced cheese, raw salmon, and sliced tomatoes being kept at a temperature above 41 degrees. Another observation was that the main kitchen did not have hand soap, and the sliced cheese, raw hamburger, shrimp, chicken and crab cake werent being stored at the proper temperature.

RELATED: RHOA: Kandi Burruss Denies Defending Kenya Moore
Love Is Blind Season 2 fan-favorite Natalie Lee fell in love with Shayne Jansen but rejected his hand in marriage. Even though he seemed shocked at the moment, Natalie revealed she gave him a heads up.

Love Is Blind stars Natalie Lee and Shayne Jansen | Adrian S. Burrows Sr./Netflix

Natalie Lee rejected Shayne Jansen at the altar during Love Is Blind

During the engaged couples getaway in Mexico, many viewers believed in Shayne Jansen, 32, and Natalie Lees, 29, relationship, initially pegging them as one of the only couples to get married.

However, the night before the wedding, the once-solid couple had a huge fight in which Shayne reportedly told his fiancee that he hated her and called her the worst thing thats happened to him. Crushed by those words and realizing the two had issues to work out before they tied the knot, Natalie rejected his hand in marriage at the altar.

RELATED: Love Is Blind: Natalie and Shayne Are Reportedly Not on Good Terms Anymore

After he agreed to marry her, a thousand times over, referring to her as his best friend. While she admitted she fell in love with him and pointed out how much shes grown due to their relationship, the 29-year-old said she couldnt marry him that day.

A shocked Shayne didnt know what to say, and Natalie quietly reassured him of her feelings before pointing out that they have really big issues to sort through. Although he seemed to understand initially, the two got into an argument outside, still rehashing their hurtful exchange from the night before. Speaking to the camera, Natalie admitted she likely wouldve married Shayne had that fight not happened.

Natalie said she warned Shayne she would say no before the wedding

While Shayne seemed surprised by her answer, Natalie revealed in an interview with the Los Angeles Times that she already gave him a heads-up that she would say no.

However, she doesnt believe he faked his reaction, instead explained she thinks he thought she would change her mind at some point before the wedding. But I was very transparent; it was going to be a no, she revealed.

When a conversation between Shayne and Natalie about their final fight led to Natalie in tears  and Shayne suggested that Natalie was pinning all of the blame onto him. pic.twitter.com/Vtybcs1yeV  BuzzFeed (@BuzzFeed) March 6, 2022

Even though she had no intentions of marrying Shayne, the 29-year-old still donned a wedding dress and walked down the aisle, escorted by her father. In the show, she said walking with her father affirmed her decision to reject Shayne because he didnt make her feel safe like her dad does.

Also, in the interview, Natalie claimed the producers of the Netflix dating series didnt make them go through the wedding. However, she decided to go through it because they had friends and family flying in for the ceremony. Once she made up her mind, the consulting manager noted people were already arriving, so she walked down the aisle anyway.

Natalie also revealed why rekindled romance with Shayne didnt work

After their failed wedding, Natalie made it clear she wanted to continue dating Shayne as she was still in love with him. Even though he initially claimed he had no interest, the two attempted a relationship following the show.

However, they revealed that it didnt work out at the reunion, mainly due to their inability to get over comments made during that fight. Speaking to the LA Times, Natalie gave a little more insight, admitting his gaslighting during their disagreements also played a role.

Shayne and Shaina forged a deep connection in the pods but they each got engaged to someone else. Now they come face to face for the first time.



Love is Blind  new episodes are now on Netflix pic.twitter.com/5Tx4psDgDI  Netflix (@netflix) February 18, 2022

She explained she realized their arguments and conversations arent healthy, adding she believes Shayne is a reactive person when he gets emotional.

Because she tends to de-escalate as her first reaction, Natalie felt it led to unhealthy situations, ultimately presumably ending their romance for good. In a lengthy Instagram caption, Shayne noted he would always love his fiancee and is remorseful for how he behaved. Love Is Blind is streaming on Netflix.

RELATED: Love Is Blind: How Natalie Realized She Couldnt Marry Shayne
Its nerves all the way around on HGTVs Rock the Block when designers Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent express being stressed out about being judges.

Berkus and Brent approach host Ty Pennington, letting him know they have a few jitters about the tough competition. Look whos back! Pennington exclaims as the designers approach him. Meanwhile, Brent and Berkus are worried.

Brent jokes, Whyd you do this to us again?

Nate and Jeremiah are judging the FROG

But Pennington is thrilled to see the design couple. Nate Berkus, Jeremiah Brant, so good to see you guys back on the Block! he says.

Jeremiah Brent and Nate Berkus | Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for Living Spaces

Berkus says, Thank you. Were excited to be back as judges because we have a level of empathy for having been in this competition last year.

Pennington tells the designers theyll be judging the FROG. Which is the finished room over the garage. The second-floor loft in the main home.

Berkus and Brent came in second place last year as contestants on Rock the Block. They ended up selling their six-bedroom flip for $635,000 in less than two months, via Realtor.com. They used about $40,000 of their $225,000 renovation budget to enrobe the entire home in brick.

Egypt Sherrod describes this Rock the Block as especially stressful

But Brent says, Im so stressed out about this. This remark surprises Pennington because all Brent and Berkus have to do is judge others. Brent explains why hes a little stressed about the job  namely judging design couple Egypt Sherrod and Mike Jackson.

I know, but this is so hard and its all about perceived value and what we find to have value, he explains. Berkus is ready to dive in and they meet up with Sherrod and Jackson at the site.

RELATED: Egypt Sherrod and Mike Jackson Juggle Work and Family on HGTVs Married to Real Estate (Exclusive)

Were back! Brent exclaims. Thats when Sherrod says they didnt warn them how exhausting the experience was. Im feeling a bit stressed because I dont know if my design skills are on the level of Nate and Jeremiah judging, Sherrod says in a confessional. Im really feeling insecure today!

Ty Penningon said Rock the Block Season 3 was stressful

The designers anxiety is widespread this season. Pennington said competition is especially intense. As a creative designer, designing a space that you like, maybe that youre gonna live in, is one thing, he told TV Insider.

But designing a space that has to sell to a certain market, you really have to keep things conservative enough that someones gonna come in and say, Oh, yeah, I could move in here right now. And so you have to realize, you know, black walls in my bedroom may not work because its about whos going to be able to sell it for the most on the block, and not everybody is a fan of having really dark walls in their bedroom, Pennington said.

You have to really judge that area, what the markets coming for, what people are looking for, Pennington added. And what I think is so great about Rock the Block, too, is they really want to make sure all the designers knew that Charleston aesthetic, that low-country, architectural vibe, and how you can bring some of those elements into the house.

Rock the Block F.R.O.G. Showdown premieres Monday, March 21, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HGTV.

RELATED: Nate & Jeremiahs New Show: Jeremiah Brent Reveals What Its Like to Work With Husband Nate Berkus  Hes My Favorite Person
RHOSLC star Lisa Barlow introduced Jennie Nguyen to the group, bringing her on as the newest Housewife. However, her residence didnt last long as Bravo fired her after one season due to offensive posts she shared on her Facebook page. Although Barlow initially denounced her friends actions, she recently expressed her beliefs that Bravo should give her a second chance.

The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City stars, Meredith Marks, Lisa Barlow, and Jennie Nguyen | Natalie Cass/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images

Lisa Barlow thinks Jennie Nguyen deserves a second chance

In mid-January 2022, someone took screenshots of new The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City cast member Jennie Nguyens Facebook account and posted it on Reddit.

Due to the posts insensitive nature, many criticized the Black Lives Matter movement, numerous fans called for her firing, and Bravo quickly cut ties with her. Cast member Lisa Barlow introduced Nguyen to the other ladies, but she promptly unfollowed her friend after the news broke.

#RHOSLC For a first, I agree with WhitneyLisa needs to stop talking

( from TMZ) Lisa regarding Jennie, "Everyone deserves a second chance" pic.twitter.com/vzUvxVyfNv  LoveAndyC (@LoveAndyC) March 14, 2022

RELATED: RHOSLC: Lisa Barlow Surprised By Jennie Nguyens Racist Facebook Posts

Additionally, Barlow spoke out against the Utah native several times. However, a couple of months later, she changed her tune, telling TMZ she thought Nguyen deserves a second chance.

She explained most are trying to be a little better every single day and believes at times, people have to make mistakes to learn. Referring to the firing as a tough decision, Barlow claimed, it was really hard for everybody involved. She also noted the two have only texted once since her exit.

Barlow previously unfollowed Nguyen and spoke out against her

When the Housewives were able to break their silence regarding the controversial posts, Barlow unfollowed her friend and quickly spoke out in an Instagram post.

She claimed she felt true hurt and disappointment with Nguyens content and noted she doesnt condone or align with her friends posts.

Obsessed with the way Lisa says Jennies name #RHOSLC pic.twitter.com/pY1QXvDyME  Real Housewives Gifs (@housewifegifs) October 18, 2021

The Housewife called them harmful and hurtful and pointed out that actions have the most impact. Barlow then appeared on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, where she condemned Nguyens content again, calling herself anti-racist.

The tequila brand owner also admitted the posts totally surprised her, claiming she had not noticed the type of posts the former Housewife made.

Bravo fired Nguyen for insensitive social media posts

The posts, many as recent as 2020, were controversial as they criticized the Black Lives Matter movement and expressed anti-vaccination sentiments. After they went public, she quickly offered an apology and explanation, claiming she thought she was speaking out against violence with her content.

The stay-at-home mom also said she has since learned why her words offended viewers and promised to continue educating herself. She closed with, I regret those posts and am sincerely sorry for the pain they caused, before turning off her Instagram comments.

Following the firing, she broadcasted live on Instagram with someone named Michael, a Black man, where she said she wanted to take accountability for the content.

However, Nguyen claimed she hired a social media, implying someone else might have made the posts, and named her experience growing up as the only Vietnamese person in Long Beach, California, as evidence for why shes not racist. Both statements didnt go over well with the general audience as they dont believe shes genuinely remorseful. The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City airs on Bravo.

RELATED: RHOSLC: Jennie Nguyen Addresses Posts After Firing; Fans Arent Buying Her Story
TL;DR:

Stevie Nicks wonders if her air of enchantment is a result of her poor vision.

Stevie Nicks once had a chilling run in with a ghost at an 18th-century French chateau.

She didnt enjoy her time at the chateau, and it was just because of the ghost.

Stevie Nicks | Ebet Roberts/Redferns

Stevie Nicks has always leaned into themes of magic and spirituality in her songwriting. At an 18th-century French chateau, Nicks says that she actually came toe-to-toe with the supernatural. After a terrifying night and equally frightening morning, Nicks concluded that shed like to sit down for a chat with the chateaus ghosts.

Stevie Nicks said she has a magical outlook on life

Though many have speculated that Nicks practices witchcraft, she denies this rumor. Still, she admits that she enjoys looking at the world with an air of enchantment. She wonders if this outlook is a result of her poor vision.

Happy Birthday, Stevie Nicks! Thanks for the great music and magic! pic.twitter.com/1OWaRCmYJM  The Capitol Theatre (@capitoltheatre) May 26, 2019

For most of my life, every light blurred and became a star, she told Rolling Stone. I had this incredible light show going on because of the way I saw. Maybe that contributed to my magical outlook on life. I dont look at anything but in a romantic way.

She revealed that she had a paranormal experience at a French chateau

While recording the Mirage album, Fleetwood Mac stayed at the Chateau dHerouville, an 18th-century chateau in France. One night, Nicks says she awoke to the sound of flapping wings. After a moment, she felt something brush against her cheek, and the light flashed back on. Terrified, she ran to her secretarys room.

The following day, Nicks warily moved about her bedroom when suddenly, the French doors swung open with such force that they knocked over a desk.

I just sat there and watched as these paned doors, two stories high, flew open, Nicks said. The glass doors opened on a wrought-iron balcony overlooking a wishing well. It was quite dramatic, and the desk went over like whamp!

She told the chateau staff about the occurrence.

I went into the kitchen, and the people who worked there said it was the ghost of the chateau, she explained. He is a good ghost, he will not hurt you, he just wants to make himself known, they said. Nothing was broken, was it?

Nicks realized nothing had broken, even though a vase and delicate candle were sent flying when the desk fell. This made her feel significantly better.

The place is very old, she said. You get the sense of what it must have been like to live there hundreds of years ago. It hasnt changed much, and it feels as if its full of ghosts. If the ghosts are friendly and willing to talk, I am ready to sit down at any time. I would love to.

Stevie Nicks had an overall miserable experience at the chateau

Though the prospect of chatting with the chateaus ghost excited Nicks, she had an overall miserable time recording at Chateau dHerouville.

We got there and Lindsey and Stevie [Nicks] became the biggest babies Ive ever seen, Fleetwood Mac producer Ken Caillat told Tape Op. It was like, I dont have any TV. I dont have anything to do. Im bored. We literally had a cook who would cook whatever you wanted. So theyd say, We want steak. We want orange juice. I would walk by their rooms, they had separate rooms, and there would be pitchers of fresh-squeezed orange juice that they just didnt like.

Chateau dHerouville | Fin Costello/Redferns

Caillat said that Nicks and Buckingham complained until they were finally able to go home.

Lindsey and Stevie were like, I wanna go home. I wanna go home. Waaah, he said. So we stayed as long as we could, and we finally flew home. Stevie was so miserable.

Perhaps if shed been able to converse with the chateau ghosts, Nicks would have had a better time.

RELATED: Christine McVies Mother Had an Eerie Premonition About Stevie Nicks
The Challenge finalist Kailah Casillas and Ex on the Beach star Sam Bird secretly married after three years of dating. They announced the news in an Instagram post and YouTube video that documented their elopement.

MTV stars Kailah Casillas and Sam Bird | Jason Kempin; David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images

Kailah Casillas and Sam Bird are married

After a year-and-a-half of engagement, The Challenge star Kailah Casillas and Ex on the Beach UK native Sam Bird tied the knot. She posted a picture of her and Sam in wedding attire, captioning it, we eloped!

She continued, I never dreamt of having a big wedding, so we decided to take a trip to Gibraltar and do it the most intimate way possible, just us. I cant wait to spend the rest of my life with you.

Congrats to Kailah and Sam pic.twitter.com/r0v9TJrqdf  Jay (@jaychallenge1) March 13, 2022

RELATED: The Challenge: Kailah Casillas Addresses Why She Didnt Return for Season 36

The Real World cast member also noted they vlogged the trip and encouraged her followers to check it out. In the six-minute video, the couple noted they didnt want to plan for a wedding and instead found a place overseas to elope in two weeks.

After getting their paperwork done, the two took wedding pictures before saying their vows and officially marrying. Several MTV stars, including Marie Roda, Jenna Compono, Kyle Christie, Jemmye Carroll, Mark Long, Wes Bergmann, Nany Carmen, Darrell Taylor, and Kam Williams, congratulated the couple.

Sam proposed to Kailah during a vacation in Greece

Shortly after Ex on the Beach season 4 ended, Sam and a newly single Kailah began hanging out, eventually starting a relationship in early 2020.

Due to the global lockdown, they had to quarantine and chose to do so together in Sams hometown of London, England. While locked down for a couple of months, they started a couples YouTube channel before heading back to America.

Congratulations to @kailah_casillas and Sam!! really happy for yall  pic.twitter.com/V7Neag6ar8  Sam  (@bayy_casillass) August 27, 2020

The couple hung out with The Challenge champ, Wes Bergmann, in Missouri for a few weeks to participate in his podcast and then visited her hometown of Delray Beach, Florida. Sam and Kailah then returned to the UK before jetting off to Spain and a surprise getaway to Greece.

While there, Sam proposed to Kailah, who emphatically said yes. She shared several videos, including many that showed off her ring, and then announced the news on social media. She explained shes marrying my favorite person in the world, and Sam noted he couldnt wait to spend the rest of our lives together.

Kailah and Sam have a podcast and home renovation business together

The Real World star competed on The Challenge: Total Madness (2019), where she publicly cheated on her boyfriend of three years, DJ Mikey Pericoloso, with a persistent Stephen Bear.

Although she and Mikey lived together at the time, Kailah opted to visit Bear in his hometown. The relationship ultimately didnt work out, and she moved back to Florida, where she shared an apartment with The Challenge veteran, Nany Gonzalez.

Im so excited to announce that @SamRobertBird and I will be joined by @amandaknox on @BigDocEnergyPod! We talked for an hour about her case, the murder & much more. (Sam even asked her about her recent controversial tweet ) STAY TUNED! pic.twitter.com/fLVjnD4TFj  BigDocEnergy (@BigDocEnergyPod) November 17, 2020

Meanwhile, Sam wrapped up an appearance on Ex on the Beach Season 4, where he attempted to win his ex Georgia Steel back, but she already moved on. After his filming, he and Kailah hung out in Florida for a couple of weeks before confirming their relationship status.

The couple has lived in England, where they host a podcast together, Big DOC Energy, and run a home renovation business. The Challenge airs on MTV.

RELATED: The Challenge Star Kailah Casillas Engaged To Sam Bird After 8 Months of Dating
Hyderabad: Health minister T. Harish Rao on Sunday directed medical and health officials to take immediate measures to roll-out specialty orthopaedic services across all tertiary government hospitals in the state.

Earlier, he met orthopaedic doctors from government and leading private hospitals at MCR-HRD here. We are ready to perform high-end orthopaedic surgeries, and total knee and hip replacements in the state. All major knee replacement surgeries covered under Arogyasri will be conducted in government hospitals, Rao said.

Enough budgetary allocation is available for all government hospitals. We have allocated Rs 500 crore for medicines, Rs 500 crore for upgrading medical infrastructure, he said.
Comedy actor Mike Myers is returning to the small-screen in Netflixs The Pentaverate, which he created and will star in. The comedy limited series centers on a secret society created after the dark plague that controls world events. Audiences now the what the show is about and who stars in its leading cast. But soon-to-be fans will be interested to know The Pentaverate is a spinoff from Myerss movie from 1993.

Mike Myers The Pentaverate limited series | via Netflix

Mike Myers stars a Canadian journalist looking for answers in The Pentaverate

Secret and allusive societies have been a topic of discussion for a long time. Many people question whether or not societies like the Illuminati truly exist. In Netflixs The Pentaverate, five men were tagged as heretics by the Catholic church after the black plague. In return, they formed a secret society named the Pentaverate to maneuver world events to their whim.

Myers will play the role of Canadian news journalist Ken Scarborough who finds himself wanting to expose the secret society and save the world. The comedy actor will return to his method of playing multiple characters in the series.

Mike Myerss So I Married An Axe Murderer mentioned the same society The Pentaverate is based off

RELATED: Bridgerton Season 2: Release Time, Episode Titles, Synopsis, and More

When looking up The Pentaverate, it is tagged as a spinoff series. It is based on Myerss 1993 romantic black comedy film, So I Married an Axe Murderer. The movie centers on a character named Charlie MacKenzie, played by Myers. Charlie is afraid of commitment until he meets Harriet (Nancy Travis). She is a local butcher who Charlie starts to suspect is a serial killer.

How does The Pentaverate fit into Myerss black comedy movie? According to Mashable, the premise of the Netflix series is based on a joke from the movie. Myers also played Charlies father, Stuart MacKenzie. In a scene, Stuart sits in the living room next to his sons best friend Tony Giardino (Anthony LaPaglia).

He tells Tony about a well-known secret society made up of the five wealthiest men in the world known as the Pentaverates. These men and society run every event in the world and control the newspaper. Tri-annually, they meet at a secret country mansion in Colorado known as The Meadows.

Stuart goes into detail explaining the Pentaverates elite members, including the Queen of England, the Vatican, the Gettys, the Rothschild family, and Colonel Sanders. He rants about how much he hates the Colonel and accuses him of using a chemical in his fried chicken.

The Netflix series will premiere in 2022

RELATED: Never Have I Ever Season 4 Is Officially in the Works, but Its the Final Season

Knowing the interesting backstory to how The Pentaverate series came to blossom makes waiting for the premiere date even harder. It is only fitting that Myerss return to the small-screen is in a six-episode series he created based on one of his own movies and jokes.

The Pentaverate will be available to stream to global audiences on May 5, 2022. Until the debut of The Pentaverate, Myers fans can watch So I Married an Axe Murderer and his other multi-character roles like Austin Powers and the franchises characters.

RELATED: All of Us Are Dead Zombies Focus More on Realism, Says Makeup Artist
It took a lot of effort on Robert Pattinsons part to obtain the body that he did for Twilights shirtless scene. But despite all the training the actor did, he was still a bit insecure when he bared his chest. Thats because he compared his body to his co-star Taylor Lautners.

Taylor Lautner once shared that Robert Pattinson would be some good competition for shirtless scenes

Robert Pattinson | Jim Spellman/WireImage

Twilights Taylor Lautner went through an intense training regimen to achieve the body that he had.

I was in the gym five days a week, two hours a day. At one point, I was going seven days straight. I had put on a lot of weight, and then I started losing it drastically, so I was worried. It turned out I was overworking myself, Lautner said to Interview magazine. My trainer told me that I couldnt break a sweat, because I was burning more calories than I was putting on. The hardest thing for me was the eating. At one point I had to shove as much food in my body as possible to pack on calories.

Most fans might say his workout paid off, as he was able to gain 30 pounds of muscle between Twilight and its sequel. Pattinson also eventually had to train himself, as he had a shirtless scene to prepare for in the film. MTV News once asked Lautner how he felt about Pattinson possibly being competition.

I dont know [who would win]. Rob, hes getting some muscle, Lautner said. Theres some good competition.

Lautner was also asked if he gave Pattinson any advice, given that Lautner was able to bulk up successfully.

No, he definitely doesnt need any pointers at all, he joked. Hes got it covered.

Robert Pattinson worried about being shirtless because he compared his body to Taylor Lautners

Pattinson once shared that he was a bit concerned about going shirtless for the Twilight sequel. But those insecurities stemmed from seeing how fit and hardworking his co-star Lautner was. Especially since Pattinson claimed he had a bit of a difficult time bulking up, and sometimes resorted to camera tricks for his physique.

You also have to worry about how youre going to look, Pattinson told 15a20 (via Huffpost). I had never been so worried about that before, but after seeing how much Taylor works out for the movies, I thought, Well, everybody is really going to judge me now. I always tried to think about positions where I could tense the muscles, and suck in my belly. I think I just gave the most vain answer I could come up with.

Still, however, the actor didnt want to rely solely on camera tricks. He also did whatever he could to mold his body and not be completely upstaged by his co-star. So much so that when filming ended, Pattinson rewarded himself for a job well done.

In this movie, I thought, Okay, its the last one, Im getting a six-pack, and I tried, but its very hard, said Pattinson. I worked out so hard for six months, so after filming the sex scene, the first thing I thought was, Time to eat!

Robert Pattinson turned to junk food after he felt his abs wouldnt be as good as Taylor Lautners

Some fans werent convinced that Pattinson had the abs he showed off. In an interview with MTV News, Pattinson briefly addressed some fans believing his abs were fake.

Everyone says I painted on my abs in [New Moon]  I did not! Taylor has his painted on too, he joked.

The Batman star also shared that he felt his abs wouldnt match up to Lautners. Because of this, he went on a junk-food binge.

During [filming in] Brazil, the day before I had to do my shirtless scene, I realized [my abs] werent as good as Taylors, so I just ate every bit of chocolate in the mini-bar. I started eating cheeseburgers and stuff, he said.

RELATED: Twilight: Robert Pattinson Once Wanted Edward Cullen to Try and Kill Kristen Stewarts Character
300 houses some of the most iconic battle sequences in modern filmmaking. However, most movies about moments in history only hold so much of the truth. An ancient warfare expert breaks down the first major battle sequence in Zack Snyders 300 to explain the tactics, how they apply to real historical combat, and gives it a score.

300 is a fictionalized retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae in the Persian Wars

Gerard Butler | Ian West  PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images

300 takes place in 480 B.C. when a war is taking place between Persia and Greece. King Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) leads a massive army. However, King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) isnt willing to give up so easily. At the Battle of Thermopylae, he leads an army of warriors massively outnumbered. However, they have the famous Spartan battle tactics to help them survive for as long as possible.

Leonidas and the men understand that death awaits them in this conflict. Meanwhile, Leonidas wife, Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey) tries to rally support to help her husband on the battlefield. However, their sacrifice would ultimately bring Greece together to unite against their common enemy.

Warfare expert Roel Konijnendijk analyzes 300 battle sequence and calls it controversial

Insider invited Roel Konijnendijk, who has a doctorate in ancient history and lectures at the University of Oxfords New College, to talk about 300 battle tactics. He breaks down the iconic first battle sequence that finds the two forces clashing with spears and shields held up.

So, this is the supposed Greek concept of othismos, which literally means pushing, Konijnendijk said. About 100 years ago, a scholar in Oxford, who clearly had rugby on his mind, decided that this should be conceived as a literal mass shoving. We have no evidence of that. Nobody ever says that thats the case, but for some reason, this really caught on.

Konijnendijk continued: So, for the last 100 years, its been controversial. But, generally speaking, people didnt want to fight like that. Spears are right in your face, so theres a lot of reasons to want to avoid this.

Next, Konijnendijk discusses the sequence in the same battle where Spartans begin to individually charge at their enemies and kill as many as they can.

This moment when they switch from fighting in formation to going after individuals who are still existing, that seemed very realistic for most of these fights, Konijnendijk said. Make sure you can kill as many of them as possible because thats when theyre vulnerable. Thats when theyre not fighting back. So, thats when you can just spear them in the back. Thats exactly what happens in this scene.

Konijnendijk added: Its only very much later in Spartan history where they say, We dont chase the fleeing enemy. If you chase the enemy, then youre caught out of formation and you become vulnerable. But, at this time, of the Persian War, the Spartans had no rules against this, and indeed, its a true story. You cant really dispute that, but in sense of the tactics and the weapons, it feels like a fantasy movie. Maybe three or four out of 10.

Zack Snyders impact on the action genre

The battle sequences in Snyders 300 are some of the most famous ones of recent times. Many movies try to emulate the slow-motion brutality that unfolds throughout the movie. This gives the audience the opportunity to really take in the films most violent imagery, looking like an ancient painting of sorts.

Warner Bros. released a sequel titled 300: Rise of an Empire. However, the film didnt manage to capture the same lightning in a bottle. Nevertheless, the original films impact remains important.

RELATED: John Wayne Made Hollywood History by Making His Characters Fight Dirty
During previous spring break activities, Will Rogers Memorial Museums Historical Guide Andy Hogan demonstrated trick roping moves at the Will Rogers Birthplace Ranch overlooking Oologah Lake.
Chickasha, OK (73018)

Today

Thunderstorms in the morning, then partly cloudy late. High 68F. Winds NNW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Clear. Low near 45F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph.
Twenty of the top 22 Christian pages on Facebook in 2021 were run from Europes southeast corner.

Nikola Galevskis wasnt one of them.

The pastor of Soulcraft Evangelical Church in Skopje, North Macedonia, actually prefers Twitter, which in the Balkans mostly attracts leftist and antireligious voices. He uses the handle Protestant Imam, which is a tongue-in-cheek gesture of openness to the Muslim population that makes up about a third of his country.

The community teases me, and I tease them, Galevski said, but it helps develop their life with Christ.

He has around 5,000 followers on Twitter, and some of his videos on YouTube went viral when his wife, Anet, was dying of cancer. Galevski shared about the struggle of her death in his weekly sermons, which were posted online. Orthodox Christians, nonbelievers, and Muslims joined him in his mourning, and when Anet died, views jumped into the tens of thousands.

But that pales in comparison to the top Christian Facebook page, Be Happy Enjoy Life, which reached 75 million users every month, according to an internal Facebook document obtained by MIT Technology Review. Ninety-five percent of viewers did not sign up to follow that page but instead had its content pushed into their news feeds by Facebooks algorithms.

That page is one of 15,000 in the Balkans that is believed to be a troll farm, pumping out disinformation and figuring out new and better ways to command eyeballsmany of them belonging to Christians scrolling in America.

An internal Facebook document written by a senior-level data scientist said, Our platform has given the largest voice in the Christian American community ...

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Exiting Methodists take church property

More than 130 congregations have split from the United Methodist Church using a conscience clause to leave with church property ahead of an official division over LGBT issues. Methodist bylaws say that all property is held in trust of the denomination, using legal language put in place by John Wesley and Francis Asbury. In 2019, however, a special general conference created an exemption. Congregations can leave with property if they exit for reasons of conscience, approve departure with a two-thirds vote, and finish by late 2023. It is unclear whether the departing churches will form a new denomination or become nondenominational. The next general conference, where Methodist delegates will be asked to vote on A Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace Through Separation, is scheduled for late August.

Support for church choirs disappears

The last of the major publishers of church choir music has closed its doors. Brentwood Benson, which published the Ready to Sing series that was a staple for many small-church choirs, announced its closure in December 2021. The Lorenz Corporation, which was founded in 1890 and absorbed Word Music in 2017, went bankrupt during the COVID-19 pandemic. And Lifeway Christian Resources stopped publishing physical choral music, though it will still produce some material in a digital format. The changing landscape is attributed to the rapid decline in church choirs, compounded by the disruption of COVID-19.

COVID-19 lawsuit dismissed

Bolivias Minister of Justice disqualified an Association of Evangelical Churches lawsuit over COVID-19 vaccine passports. The churches, joined by a labor leader and two doctors known for promoting unproven treatments ...

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Darwyn Sanchez teaches Honduran children that God loves everyone, but sometimes they question him. How could that be true, they ask, when only some children receive gifts from the Americans?

Those sponsored through the US-based Lifeline Christian Mission received letters, school supplies, and toys. But other students at the same schooland sometimes even in the same familywerent chosen, said Sanchez, Lifelines Honduran assistant country director. And those kids wondered what was wrong with them.

There is good fruit from the sponsorship program  but we need to grow, Sanchez said. We need to give dignity to the people, and we need to change the strategies.

Lifeline has ended its one-to-one child sponsorship in Latin America and Haiti and has started a five-year transition to a new model of caring for children. The mission organization now promotes group sponsorships, which allow groups of Christians to support classrooms of children or entire communities, instead of individuals.

It is always a challenge for ministries to give up models they have relied onmore so when, like sponsorships, they provide a solid financial foundation for the ministry.

Despite the risk, Lifeline has decided to go ahead.

Ultimately, it became a question of doing what we thought was right, said Joel Augustus, executive vice president of field ministries, what God was leading us to do.

Lifeline is one of many organizations that are ending or massively restructuring their child sponsorship programs due to concerns that its largely just a fundraising tool, promotes white saviorism, and isnt best for children, said Phil Darke, ...

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Whenever I take my shoes off at the security entrance of the Muskegon Correctional Facility, I feel like I am stepping onto holy ground. In the Michigan prison and its classroom, a true gift exchange happens that seems filled with the presence of God.

Christians involved in prison ministries, advocacy organizations, and prison educational programssuch as the Hope-Western Prison Education Program, which I am part oftrace their work back to Jesus teaching in Matthew 25.

Today, its not the least bit shocking that someone like me, a professor of ethics and theology, would visit prisoners. I wont lose my friends or my job over it. I wont be arrested or assaulted. Instead, it is one of the richest classroom experiences I have ever had.

But for Jesus listeners, the risks of visiting incarcerated people were enormous. Anyone who brought a prisoner much-needed food, clothing, medical care, comfort, or hope risked being seen as guilty by association, imprisoned, or even killed.

And yet, early Christians did not focus on their own danger but rather saw what they did as a fitting way to follow in the steps of Jesus, who cared for, suffered for, and liberated others.

The extensive way early Christians visited and cared for those in prison was countercultural. There were not any sort of prison ministries in the Jewish or Roman cultures of that time. Visiting the prisoner wasnt mentioned in Old Testament lists of righteous actions.

And yet, visiting prisoners quickly became a practice the early church was known for. They came to see prison ministry as the fitting response to Jesus statement about the blessed ones who would inherit the kingdom prepared for you ...

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The AP Assembly witnessed stormy scenes on Monday on the alleged use of Pegasus software by the former TD government. (file photo: Facebook)

VIJAYAWADA: The AP Assembly witnessed stormy scenes on Monday on the alleged use of Pegasus software by the former TD government. In the end, a house committee was appointed to probe whether there was a purchase and use of Pegasus software by the Naidu government.

All legislators objected to the illegal use of Pegasus, expressed anger over the threat to their rights and sought a transparent probe. Assembly speaker Tammineni Sitaram announced that a House Committee to probe the matter would be announced in a day or two.

The controversy erupted in AP after West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee allegedly stated that Naidu bought the spyware during the TD term (obviously to spy on the opposition). The AP Assembly as debated the matter on Monday. Minister Buggana Rajendranath said a spyware like Pegasus would infringe on personal freedom. He recalled that CM Mamata had said Chandrababu had bought Pegasus software and this was a highly unethical act by Naidu.

He said Naidus action was a violation of human rights. He used it to spy on politicians and this needs to be investigated by a house committee.

YSRC MLA Abbai Chowdary said Naidu killed democracy by using spyware software. He sought a transparent probe. Another MLA Gudivada Amarnath termed Naidu an immoral politician and said the silence of Naidu on Banerjees statement was proof about the purchase of the spyware by the TD government.

MLA Rambabu said Banerjee has no connection with YSRC and she was rather associated with Naidu. Naidu tapped phones of all YSRC leaders through Pegasus spyware and did not spare BJP leaders who were part of the TD government at that time, he said and sought a detailed investigation.

Speaker Sitaram announced that a house committee was being set up. The committee members would be announced on Tuesday or the day after tomorrow, he said.

In the Legislative Council, several YSRC MLCs called for the formation of a House Committee to probe the anomalies in the purchase and the of Pegasus spyware during the TD term.

MLC Prasada Rao called for a house committee or a police inquiry. MLC Mohammad Iqbal said the spyware even posed a threat to national security. He was critical of the previous TD government, saying it lured 23 YSR Congress MLAs and even offered minister posts to some of them to weaken the YSR Congress, through use of such spyware.

He alleged that former intelligence chief Venkateswara Raos son was involved in purchase of critical intelligence surveillance equipment from a firm based in Israel and sought a thorough probe. Several YSR Congress MLCs described the tapping of phones as a shameful act and demanded a probe by the CBI.
There is a problem with the Old Testament. At a key juncture in salvation history, the God of Abraham commandeers one nation in order to destroy another. The aggressor nation attacks the second nation because God has judged the latter guilty. The aggressor is merciless, sparing neither women nor children, expelling the inhabitants from their land, and destroying sacred sites and symbols of religious practicein effect, wiping them off the map. And, according to the Hebrew scriptures, all this happened by the terrible will of the sovereign Lord of Hosts.

It is a harrowing moment in the history of Gods people. But I am not referring to the conquest of Canaan by the tribes of Israel. I am referring to the assault on the northern kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians (a little over 700 years before the birth of Jesus) and the campaign against the southern kingdom, especially the city of Jerusalem and its temple, by the Babylonians about 130 years later.

As the historical and prophetic books of the Old Testament testify, the violence against Israel, north and south, wrought by these pagan empires was nothing less than the judgment of Abrahams God against Abrahams children. Their sin? Defection from Gods will for their covenant life as revealed in the law of Moses. They were in covenant with the Lord as a community, and they suffered the covenant punishments as a community. The result: mass ruin, political chaos, incalculable suffering, and death (for some) and exile (for others). It is a fearsome thing to fall into the hands of the living God, evenor especiallyas his chosen people.

This set of events is not typically the first to come to mind when people, including Christians, wonder about the ethics of the Bible or the character of the Bibles God. Hands down, that event is instead the destruction of the Canaanites by Israel at Gods command. But there are two reasons for framing Christian answers to questions about the Canaanite conquest with the Assyrian and Babylonian devastation of Israel and Judah:

First, because the human suffering superintended by God according to the Law and the prophets is even-handed; Israel is not exempt. Second, because Christians who read the sacred texts of Israel as their ownthat is, as the churchs canonical Scripturesare typically Gentiles. We Gentile Christians are prone to viewing the Jews as foils in the biblical story, by which I mean that we tend to see them as examples of what not to do. And that is when we arent indulging the temptation to follow Marcion in simply expunging parts of the Old Testament from the canon altogether.

But for Christians there is no such option. The question is not whether Gentiles accept the Old Testament but whether it accepts us. The apostles answered in the affirmative, and we have claimed to be Abrahams children by faith ever since. But just for that reason the Scriptures of Israel are a given for us: a nonnegotiable constituent of the deposit of faith, comprising the twofold written testimony of the apostles and prophets to the good news of Israels God. Like it or not, this testimony includes the book of Joshua. How, then, ought we Gentiles who profess faith in the second and greater Joshua to receive and understand this book as the word of the Lord to and for us today?

Facts and interpretations

In response to this question, Charlie Trimm has written a wonderful book, The Destruction of the Canaanites: God, Genocide, and Biblical Interpretation. Even wading into these waters is admirable, since the subject of Joshua and Canaan has become something of a genre unto itself in academic and pastoral scholarship. The books and articles on the topic are many.

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Trimm, a professor at Biola University, cuts through the noise in this slim volume, which seeks not to resolve the matter but to frame possible answers for readers. Those readers are not bad-faith interlocutors. They are every one of my undergraduate students and not a few fellow adult Christians. Honest people want to know what to do with the conquest. They want to believe in the God and Father of Jesus Christ, and Joshua is an obstacle. I thus have no doubt that Trimms bookconcise, accessible, judicious, and well-researchedwill prove an invaluable resource in pastoral and classroom settings for years to come.

Trimm organizes the book in two parts. In part 1, he gives an overview of warfare in the ancient Near East, summarizes contemporary scholarship on genocide, and introduces readers to the Canaanites. This provides a foundation for part 2, where he outlines four major options for Christian interpretation of the conquest. Before turning to these options, it is worth mentioning a few facts that stand out in the opening chapters.

First, unlike what some of us may have read or assumed, the practice of herem, or the ban (i.e., devoting all the residents of a city to God by slaughter), was not common in the ancient Near East. In fact, outside of a few possible mentions in other nations records (and these may have been exaggerations), it appears that Israel is unique in this respect.

Second, genocide is hard to define. Must it include a racial, ethnic, or religious element? Must it aim at the annihilation of an entire group? How should such a group be defined? (For example, could it be a political party, or must membership in it be nonvoluntary?) Does motivation matter or only consequences? For example, is all settler colonialism essentially genocidal? What about the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima?

Third, the difference between various commands given to Israel regarding the Canaanites is striking. Exodus 23, Leviticus 18, Numbers 33, and Deuteronomy 67 all contain opposing and sometimes opposed instructionsalmost none of which mention herem by name or even describe killing en masse. These discrepancies present numerous moral, historical, exegetical, and theological possibilities for interpreting the conquest.

Trimm boils down these possibilities to four, each a matter of reevaluation. The question, challenge, or problem of the conquest might be resolved by reevaluating (1) God, (2) the Old Testament, (3) the interpretation of the Old Testament, or (4) the violence in the Old Testament.

The first option takes the Bible at its word: the God of Abraham commands and approves of genocide. But genocide is intrinsically evil. Therefore, the God of Abraham is evil and thus to be repudiated, disbelieved in, or both. This is the view of new atheist Richard Dawkins, for whom the God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction. It is also the view of Eastern Orthodox theologian David Bentley Hart, who writes that in most of the Old Testament the God of Israel is presented as quite evil: a blood-drenched, cruel, war-making, genocidal, irascible, murderous, jealous storm-god. Trimm assumes, however, that believing this means ceasing to be a Christian. It is the only option of the four that he rules out.

The second option argues that while the Old Testament records examples of extreme divine violence, we should not accept those violent texts as authoritative for us and should disassociate God from them. Proponents here, including Walter Brueggemann, Eric Seibert, Thom Stark, and Gregory Boyd, have no interest in exhuming the Marcionite project. They want to preserve the Old Testament. But they see no possibility for harmonizing the conquest with either our consciences or the life and teachings of Jesus. Christians, then, must acknowledge that texts in which God sanctions violence are not authoritative for the church and do not reflect the true character of God.

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The third option suggests that the problem lies not in the texts but in our interpretation of them. Perhaps the events narrated in Joshua ought to be allegorized; or to be understood metaphorically, commending nonlethal action or banishment; or to be categorized as hyperbole, so that the Canaanites are not so much exterminated as disarmedthat is, dispossessed and thereby transformed from a threat into mere neighbors.

Both this and the previous option must confront two related questions, though. Did the events depicted in Joshua occur in history? And even if they did not, does the text not clearly refer to slaughtered Canaanites? Even if the dead are merely textual, the text in question is Holy Scripture, by whose word we are (so we believe) formed into the image of Christ. Does Joshua contribute to that formation?

With Job before the whirlwind

The fourth option defends both the historicity of the conquest and its moral and theological legitimacy. Trimm offers many ways of doing this. One is that the wickedness of the Canaanites is the proximate cause of Gods judgment on them through the Israelites. This point is strengthened by the fact that Israel receives virtually identical judgment later in the story. Another route is the uniqueness of the conquestits unrepeatability, in the phrase of theologian Willie James Jenningsas something rooted in Gods covenant promise of the land to Abraham.

A third suggestion sees in the conquest a type or figure of final judgment, in which a far graver sentence is issued than loss of earthly life. (The philosopher Phillip Cary observes that we are all Rahab, living in the walls of spiritual Jericho. Will we open our homes to the Lord? Will our trust in him spare our souls?) Last, some connect the conquest not only forward to the razing of the temple and the expulsion from the land but backward to the Exodus and the Flood. In the story of Noah, in particular, we see Gods fierce judgment at work, when the watery chaos of the grave swallows up the inhabitants of the land, one and all. The book of Revelation offers similarly comprehensive visions of death and destruction.

The philosopher Howard Wettstein has written that the herem texts place us with Job before the whirlwind. We groan and lament yet receive no answer; indeed, we receive questions in lieu of answers. Charlie Trimm has done something similar. He has given the church possibilities. It falls to us, with fear and trembling, to decide.

Brad East is assistant professor of theology at Abilene Christian University. He is the author of The Doctrine of Scripture and The Churchs Book: Theology of Scripture in Ecclesial Context.

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Update (March 21, 2022): After a years-long legal battle between Christian rapper Flame and Katy Perry, Joyful Noise did not overtake Dark Horse.

A ruling this month in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that the pop star didnt have to pay damages for copyright infringement for similar synthesized segment that appears in both songs.

Perry and her team had been ordered to pay $2.8 million by a federal jury in 2019, but the district court voided the decision the following year.

Flame (Marcus Gray)s attorney issued a statement last week saying they were disappointed by the courts rejection of the unanimous verdict from the initial trial.

The case was significant for the music world because of its potential to set a precedent for how the courts will consider future cases alleging copyright infringement.

The appeals decision analyzes Gray and Perrys songs, focusing on a repeated pattern of notes, called an ostinato. The patterns sound familiar in both songs but are slightly different.

The Ninth Circuit concluded that the two songs similar ostinatos result only from the use of commonplace, unoriginal musical principles, and thus could not be the basis for a copyright infringement claim, wrote Eric Ball and Ryan Kwock, attorneys at Fenwick, a firm specializing in technology and intellectual property.

While Katy Perry comes out victorious as non-infringing in this case, the opinion simultaneously signals the weaknesses in the Dark Horse songs copyright itself, they said. If the ostinato in Joyful Noise is unprotectable, then the similar elements in the ostinato in Dark Horse could be unprotectable, too, thus opening the door to more songs using similar-sounding elements without running the risk of infringement.

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Update (August 1, 2019): Katy Perry and the creators of Dark Horse were ordered to pay $2.8 million in damages after being sued by Christian rappers for copyright infringement, The New York Times reported.

The jury calculated the payout for Flame (Marcus Gray) and his collaborators after determining that 22.5 percent of the pop hits profits came from beat taken from his song, Joyful Noise.

The bulk of the damages will come from Capitol Records, which was fined at $1.3 million. Perry owes $550,000, with her producers and their companies paying the remainder.

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Update (July 29, 2019): She stole a beat, cause she liked it? A federal jury sided against Katy Perry, ruling on Monday that her song Dark Horse copied from a Christian rap song, the Associated Press reported.

Flame (Marcus Gray) will be rewarded copyright damages due to the similarities between Perrys hit and his 2009 song Joyful Noise.

He has yet to offer comment on the victory after a weeklong trial, which CT reported on below.

According to the AP:

Perry and the songs co-authors, including her producer Dr. Luke, testified during the seven-day trial that none of them had heard the song or heard of Gray before the lawsuit, nor did they listen to Christian music. Grays attorneys had only to demonstrate, however, that Joyful Noise had wide dissemination and could have been heard by Perry and her co-authors, and provide as evidence that it had millions of plays on YouTube and Spotify, and that the album its included on was nominated for a Grammy.

Fellow Christian rapper Lecrae was featured on Joyful Noise, which came out in 2009, but dropped his name from the suit.

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Original post (July 25): The mainstream pop and Christian hip-hop (CHH) worlds collided again this month, as a five-year-old lawsuit claiming Katy Perry stole beats from a CHH song made it to court.

Last week, Perry took the stand before a civil jury in downtown Los Angeles and maintained that she was not familiar with Flames Joyful Noise (featuring Lecrae) when she created her 2013 magic-themed, pop-meets-trap hit Dark Horse. Despite her origins as a Christian musicianthen performing as Katy HudsonPerry said that she was mostly always listening tosecular music.

A US District Court judge rejected a summary judgment bid by Perry and several other songwriters last summer, and the trial will continue on Friday, when Flame (Marcus Gray) is expected to testify again.

Flame originally claimed in a 2015 lawsuit that his song had been irreparably tarnished by its association with the witchcraft, paganism, black magic, and Illuminati imagery evoked by the same music in Dark Horse.

Judge Christina Snyder deferred to the opinion of the plaintiffs musicologist who argued that the songs were similar enough on "five or six" musical criteria and shared unique melodic descents that he believed the plaintiffs' claims.

The same musicologist also took the stand in court last week to support the plaintiffs case and testified, I have not seen another piece that descends in the way these two do."

Perry dismissed an argument that her decision to cut the opening beat of the song at her 2015 Super Bowl performance was related to the lawsuit.

Several weeks after the lawsuit was filed in July 2014, Lecrae, who was featured on Joyful Noise, distanced himself from lawsuit and later dropped his name from the suit. "I'll say this -- I have no qualms with Katy Perry. Love her and if she wants to talk at any point in time, I'm more than willing to that," Lecrae told MTV News.

I was in Hong Kong [when] the press release went out, and its not my songit's my guy Flame's song and I respect everyone's intellectual propertiesbut that statement about the witchcraft and stuff, that's not my statement and I don't stand behind that statement.

Dark Horse was released in September 2013 and reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts in January 2014. Six years earlier, Flames album was nominated for a Grammy for Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album, and Joyful Noise also received a Dove Award nomination.

Along with Flame, fellow artists Da T.R.U.T.H. (Emanuel Lambert) and Chike Ojukwu are also listed on the lawsuit.

CT first reported on the dispute in 2014, noting that Perry, a pastors daughter, began her career as a Christian artist and said she kept the faith even after her first single I Kissed a Girl. She has since spoken out to say she is no longer a Christian.
Several weeks before Russias invasion, Ray Peng, the chairman of United Missions of Taiwan, was gathered in Asia with international missionaries who prayed for both Ukraine and Taiwan. Many in the group approached him, as the only Taiwanese in the room, to express their concern for his homelands situation.

Yet later when Peng scrolled through his Facebook newsfeed, his friends back on the island were posting cheery photos of hot pot gatherings and vowing to lose weight after stuffing themselves over the Chinese New Year holiday. It felt like his fellow missionaries were talking about a different Taiwan.

It was really weird, said Peng. I dont know how to explain it.

He compared the typical nonchalance of the Taiwanese people to his in-laws who live in the earthquake-prone city of Hualien on the east coast of Taiwan. An earthquake once hit while Peng visited them and he was immediately concerned by its strength. But his in-laws brushed it off as they were accustomed to the tremors. Likewise, Taiwanese who have lived under the threat of invasion by mainland China their whole lives go on with daily life without thinking too much about it.

But the cracks began to show on February 24.

The Russian invasion has resonated with many Taiwanese emotionally as they have watched news clips from Ukraine of what could one day become their own reality. Online, some declare its Ukraine today, Taiwan tomorrow, while pundits debate whether the US military would really come to Taipeis aid in the case of an invasion by Beijing. TV news stations have recommended what to include in emergency packs (such as Japanese canned bread).

Yet on Sunday mornings, many churches dont broach the topic outside of naming Ukraine as a prayer item.

Follow CTs Ukraine-Russia coverage on Telegram: @ctmagazine (also available in Chinese and Russian

Congregants in the pews span a variety of political views on China-Taiwan relationsfrom those who want Taiwans independence on the one hand to those who wish to unify with China on the other. Still, Christian leaders seek to view the ongoing geopolitical conflicts through a biblical lens and find hope in their faith in a time of uncertainty.

An island divided

While Taiwan is 5,000 miles from Russias war in Ukraine, the invasion has struck a chord in the island of 23.6 million residents, which faces its own existential threat.

China claims Taiwan as its territory and has long threatened to use force to bring Taiwan into its fold. Cross-straits relations have ebbed and flowed over the past 70 years, yet the threat has recently intensified due to a confluence of factors: the deterioration of relations between China and the United States; Chinese President Xi Jinpings consolidation of power and strengthening of Chinas military; and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wens increasingly close ties to the West. A top US admiral made headlines last year when he said China could launch an invasion of Taiwan in the next six years.

If anybody relates to the situation of being a small democratic country living in the shadow of a larger nondemocratic one, I think the Taiwanese have a very unique perspective on that, said Ukrainian American Alex Khomenko, who has been protesting the war in his current home of Taipei.

Many Taiwanese churches keep politics and faith separate. Pastors avoid discussing perceived political topics from the pulpit to prevent division and arguments. Politics in Taiwan is very divisive: Often legislators from the Beijing-friendly Kuomintang (KMT) party and the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) break into fistfights over legislation.

At the root of the division is identity. Supporters of the DDP often belong to families who have lived for generations in Taiwanincluding under Japanese colonizationwhile supporters of the KMT have connections to those who fled with the Nationalist army from China to Taiwan at the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. Their backgrounds factor into how they view Taiwan, China, and their relations.

To maintain peace, many churches try to stay neutral. David Doong understands this challenge firsthand: As the general secretary of the Chinese Coordination Centre of World Evangelism (CCCOWE), a coalition of Chinese churches outside mainland China, he needs to remain diplomatic on numerous topicsincluding Taiwans status.

He instead stresses what the churches have in common.

Since we are joined together by the gospel, we need to return to Gods Word. The gospel has criticism for all of our ideologies, he said.

Doong does not take a political stance when preaching but instead tries to teach what the Bible says about a given topic. He believes a pastors job is to equip his or her congregants to view all issues from a Christian worldview. Yet at some point, the situation may become so urgent that pastors have the responsibility to speak out.

But when is it that time? Its really an art and many times you cant see it clearly until after the fact, Doong said. Pastors are in danger of either becoming self-righteous or staying silent, he added. It really needs wisdom."

Hong Kongers in exile

The silence on politics in Taiwans churches surprised Timothy Lee when he first moved from his homeland of Hong Kong to Taiwan to attend seminary six years ago. He had assumed that because Taiwan was a democracy, churches would be more open to discussing current issues than in Hong Kong. Instead he found there was even less space to discuss anything considered political in the church.

This has made it difficult for some Hong Kong transplants to join Taiwanese churches. Thousands of people left Hong Kong after Beijing passed the National Security Law in 2020, quashing dissent in the territory. But when Hong Kong Christians wanted to speak about what theyve experienced in the last two years, they found Taiwanese Christians were uncomfortable and believed discussing politics was not appropriate at church.

Lee struggled to find a meeting space for the Hong Kongers in his Taiwan Fellowship, which now has 100 attendees. Churches dont want to be associated with the group because Hong Kong is a divisive political issue. Currently the congregation gathers twice a month at China Evangelical Seminary in Taipei, where Lee works.

The news of the invasion of Ukraine was particularly concerning to Lee and other Hong Kongers in Taiwan. They have already left their homes, many uncertain if they can go back. The war brought back memories of their exodus and renewed fears that their new home could also face destruction.

I think Hong Kongers in Taiwan have a greater fear of China because weve seen in the past two years how it handled Hong Kong, Lee said. We never thought they would do this to Hong Kong, but they ignored the international responses and sanctions. So if the international community doesnt do anything in response to the Ukraine invasion  will [Taiwan] also face this danger?

The war has also impressed upon Lee the importance of preparing the next generation of Hong Kongers in Taiwan, many of whom are students. Its a group that has experienced much in the last few yearsthe disappearance of freedoms in Hong Kong, the emotional toll of the 2019 anti-extradition law protest, the stress of a global pandemicand has been left feeling hopeless and uncertain about their future. He wants to help them find their identity as Christians and as exiled Hong Kongers, explore what they can do in Taiwan, and set a direction for the future.

Lee believes that as geopolitical changes arrive at Taiwans doorstep, its church will be forced to become more vocal about these issuesas some of Hong Kongs churches did during the 2019 protests. Hes already seen the church take some steps: After the invasion of Ukraine, major seminaries in Taiwan have released statements calling for prayer for the people of Ukraine and Russia, which was uncommon in past crises.

Outspoken Presbyterians

One denomination that bucks the trend of silence is the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT), the largest Protestant denomination on the island. Historically the PCT has been politically active in support of Taiwans sovereignty. In a 1977 statement, the denomination asked the KMT government to declare Taiwan an independent country. Still, even within the denomination, churches are diverse and vary in their outspokenness.

Ng Tiat-gan, the head of research and development in the General Assembly Office of the PCT, said he hopes China does not invade; however if it does, Taiwanese Christians need to stand up and defend their land. We need to understand God gave us this piece of land and to seek his special mission.

The PCT released a statement calling for churches to pray for Ukraine as well as Taiwans own security and peace.

Ask the Lord to help us, through the inspiration of the war in Ukraine, to have the will to persevere in defending our homeland, it stated.

The denomination is also looking for tangible ways to help Ukrainians beyond prayer, such as working with aid groups and seeking to help a PCT pastor in Finland who is opening his church up to Ukrainian refugees.

Ng wasnt particularly surprised to see Russian President Vladimir Putin invade Ukraine, but he was amazed by Ukrainians response in standing up against Russia.

Taiwans situation is different from Ukraines in many ways, Ng said. But the invasion of Ukraine caused many Taiwanese people to see that when faced with an enemys bullying, you need to stand up. Its not about who will come to help youmany Taiwanese say the United States will comebut we might find that we need to stand up and be self-reliant, and then people will come help.

Seeking peace

Timothy Liao, who teaches national defense at National Taiwan University, believes that no matter the outcome of the current conflict in Ukrainewhether it ends in a ceasefire; with Ukraine destroyed; or with Russia in declinegeopolitics in the second half of the 21st century will change drastically.

This will have a big impact on missionaries, whose lives have already been upended by COVID-19, and how they spread the gospel. Liao believes missionaries need to understand these global trends in order to find new strategies to reach different countries and people groups.

Liao personally believes the invasion of Ukraine should cause Taiwan to take a careful look at whether it is prepared to face war, what it would do if faced with a precarious situation with China, and how it can seek ways to preserve peace. He wants Taiwan to carefully weigh its current actions in light of what may occur in the future.

For instance, Taiwan recently joined Western-led sanctions on Russia, leading Russia to place the island on a list of unfriendly countries. Liao is concerned that this could lead to Taiwan becoming more isolated, losing access to Russias natural gas and getting banned from Russian airspace, which flights from Taiwan usually traverse to reach Europe.

He cautions Taiwanese Christians from quickly demonizing or creating heroes out of people in the conflict. Rather they should try to understand what is happening from different angles so they can have a more balanced perspective and, like Paul says, make petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving  for all peoplefor kings and all those in authority, that we may lead peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness (1 Tim. 2:12).

His church refrains from discussing politics. Yet Liao believes seminaries and Christian think tanks should teach Taiwans pastors about the realities of geopolitics so they can better shepherd their congregations.

While the Taiwanese church is filled with differing viewpoints, Doong believes that a crisis could unite the people, much like what is happening now in Ukraine. He and the other Christian leaders interviewed by CT gave several suggestions for how the Western church could support Taiwans church should an invasion happenstarting with intercession.

How do you want the Christians in China to pray for and to show compassion toward [Taiwan believers] if war started to take place? Peng said.

Liao echoed this call.

In this chaotic environment, Christians need to hold fast to a faith from on high: No matter what difficulties or dangers of war we face, we all need to have a posture of prayer, he said. The most we can do for the churches of other countries is to pray for them, to pray for peace in the world.

As the world order changes, Christians need to prepare themselves for the difficult times ahead, Doong said, pointing to the exilic paradigm described in the book of Daniel and the letters of Peter.

A Christians hope was never in the rise and fall of worldly kingdoms, he said. In the end, this is our hope: that Gods kingdom will come and everything we relied on in this world will be gone.

Doong noted that this is easy to say during peacetime but much more difficult to live out in times of war. Thats why he believes its important to learn from the Ukrainian church in its sufferingnot as something to pity but as the glorious witnesses of the true gospel.

Angela Lu Fulton is a reporter and editor living in Taipei, Taiwan.

Editors note: You can now follow CT on Telegram You can now follow CT on Telegram @ctmagazine (also available in Chinese ).

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Hillsong Church not built on any one person, leader says amid Brian Houston scandal

Through tears, Hillsong Churchs Interim Global Senior Pastor Phil Dooley reminded congregants on Sunday that their church is built on Jesus, not just on any one person in the wake of new allegations of misconduct against founding pastor Brian Houston.

I thought I was over my tears because Ive cried a lot of them, Dooley said during his first address to the global evangelical church network since it was revealed last Friday that two women filed serious complaints against Houston in the last 10 years. He stressed he and his colleagues are repentant.

Seeking to get ahead of what it called rumors, Hillsong Church revealed Friday that Houston violated the churchs code of conduct by entering the hotel room of an unidentified woman for 40 minutes while under the influence of alcohol and prescription drugs during the churchs annual conference in 2019.

It remains unclear if Houston and the woman had sex. Houston doesnt recall having sex, and the woman has not said if they had sex. Both of their accounts of what happened are not entirely reliable because they were impaired by alcohol, Dooley suggested in meeting with church staffers last week. Houston was also under the influence of anxiety medication.

Houston also exchanged an inappropriate text message with a staffer in 2013, along the lines of, If I was with you I would like to give you a kiss and a cuddle or a hug, resulting in her resigning shortly after. Hillsong Church blamed Houstons actions in this case on sleeping tablets.

We as a leadership of Hillsong Church have repentant hearts in this season. I want to say we are sorry for anyone who has been a victim of any form of harassment, said Dooley, who took over for Houston earlier this year as Houston fights criminal charges of allegedly concealing decades-old sex abuse allegations against his father.

Some of us here or wherever you are listening understand the pain because you have experienced it yourselves. And others of us are doing our best to empathize with you, Dooley continued. Where youve been hurt, we pray for healing, strength and courage to move forward in your life.

Dooley insisted that despite the challenge Hillsong Church faces, the networks leaders want anyone who attends Hillsong Church campuses to feel safe. He vowed the church will continue to respond to the crisis with love, grace and truth.

I pray that we can and we will get through this together. We will continue to pray for Pastor Brian, Bobbie and the entire Houston family at this time. And we believe for Gods grace, love, peace and hope to be upon them, he added.

While Brian Houstons influence has long loomed large over the global megachurch he founded in 1983, Dooley quietly reminded members that the denomination was not built on their embattled founder.

Let me remind you, he said. Our church ... is built on Jesus, not just on any one person. Beyond a board, beyond an eldership, we need these elements, they matter and we want to make sure they are done well. But our hope and our trust is in Jesus. We are guided by the word of God and the Holy Spirit of God, and we will continue to ask God for wisdom and guidance and strength in this season.

Dooley compared the churchs current suffering to the biblical Job  the man from the land of Uz who was blameless and upright and feared God and shunned evil before he was struck with sudden calamity by the devil in a test of his faith.

Someone shared with me today, a verse from Job, probably fitting, Dooley quipped as some audience members chuckled.

The whole book that might be worth reading. [But] Just one verse Job 14:7. It says, at least there is hope for a tree. Even if it is cut down. It will sprout again and its new shoots will not fail, he said. I believe that. Through all that is going on at this time, Ive never lost my hope that God is still at work in all of us. That God loves his Church. That He loves you and He loves me. And he still has a plan for our church, Hillsong Church, for our lives as we move forward together.

Houston, who served as Hillsongs global senior pastor, stepped down earlier this year and announced he would remain absent for the rest of this year as he faces trial. Houston is charged with concealing sex abuse committed by his father, Frank Houston, in the 1970s.

Last August, police charged Houston with concealing child sex offenses, alleging that he knew information relating to his fathers sexual abuse of a young boy during the 1970s that he failed to bring to the attention of authorities.

Houston, who served as head of the Australian branch of the Assemblies of God from 1997 to 2009, was alleged to have been told about an allegation relating to his fathers abuse of a young boy in 1999. The indecent assault occurred in 1970 when Frank Houston was serving as the head of the Assemblies of God in New Zealand.

During his tenure, Frank Houston was found to have abused several young boys in New Zealand and Australia, and Brian Houston reportedly forced his father to resign with a pension upon learning of the claims.

After being charged, Brian Houston has professed his innocence and released a statement saying he has been transparent in the matters related to his father.
Evangelical pastor Jimmy Evans calls Putin the 'new Hitler on a rampage'

An evangelical pastor in Texas recently preached a sermon on Bible prophecy in which he declared that Russian President Vladimir Putin is the new Hitler on a rampage."

Pastor Jimmy Evans, the founder and apostolic elder of the multi-site Trinity Fellowship Church in Texas, appeared as a guest preacher at Ed Youngs Fellowship Church last Sunday, where he preached the culmination of a four-part sermon series on End Times prophecy.

During the March 13 sermon, titled What in The World is Going on? the 66-year-old pastor and founder of XO Marriage discussed the eschatological belief that Russias invasion of Ukraine could be part of the End Times prophecy being fulfilled.

Today, I would say that Vladimir Putin is Gog, Evans said, referencing the figure mentioned in Ezekiel 38. Now, if this is going to happen years in the future, Gog could be somewhere else. But now we have a leader in Russia who is a very evil man.

He said Russia is bombing women and children, bombing nursing homes, bombed a mosque this week and killed the people in it that were hiding there.

Evans believes that Putin wants to reassemble the Soviet Union, a collection of communist governments dominated by Russia that officially collapsed in 1991.

Ukraine is not his end game, the pastor asserted.

This is a new Hitler on a rampage. This is the most aggressive military action that has been taken since World War II, he added, believing that Putin more than likely will continue to conquer parts of Europe.

While some evangelical pastors and biblical scholars believe that Ezekiel 38s mention of Gog and Magog joining other nations in attacking Israel is modern-day Russia, other scholars disagree.

Using a map to show that Ukraine is positioned to the far north of Israel, Evans cites Ezekiel 38:1-6 to surmise that all of the nations mentioned in the Scripture as going to attack Israel are politically and militarily aligned.

Rosh is Russia at the top of the map. Youll notice Ukraine is there to the left. The Ukraine, biblically, could be part of Rosh, especially East Ukraine, which is historically Russian. So, the Ukraine could be part of that Magog. Ezekiel 38 mentions Magog, he said.

Today, that is Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan. Gomer and Togarmah, Meshech and Tubal, that is modern-day Turkey. Put, that is Lybia, could be Algeria, parts of Tunisia. That is northern Africa. And Ethiopia and modern-day Sudan. These are all the nations that are mentioned there. By the way, Persia is Iran.

What do these nations have in common? he asked. They are all allies of Russia, and they all hate Israel. These are all Muslim nations except for Russia. And Russia is very, very angry at Israel right now. [Over] 2,600 years ago, the prophet Ezekiel sits down and writes this prophecy. It is exactly what is happening the world might now. All these nations are in their place, they are all politically and militarily aligned, and they all hate Israel. They would attack Israel in a heartbeat if they could.

According to Evans, the End Times was the most prophesied about period of time in human history.

The Bible tells us exactly whats going to happen in the End Times, and it is happening right before our very eyes, he added. Just about every generation of Christians since Jesus has believed they were living in the End Times.

Earlier in the sermon, Evans read Joel 3:1-2 and explained that God is saying, when I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem, theres also going to be Armageddon.

Evans claimed Israel is the only nation in the history of the world that has been dispossessed twice and has come back to be reestablished as a country.

The first time they were dispossessed was around 500 B.C. Because of their sins, God allowed the Babylonians, Nebuchadnezzar, to defeat the Jews. They took them captive from Israel, took them to Babylon. While they were in Babylon, Persia defeated Babylon, Evans described. At the end of the 70 years, they were able to go back and literally revive their nation.

They only went back from one nation. They only went back from Persia. They only went back from Babylon where they were taken.

The second time that Israel was scattered, Evans said, was in A.D. 70, when the Romans crushed a Jewish uprising and destroyed Jerusalem, scattering the population.

Evans believes that the founding of the modern state of Israel in May 1948 was the fulfillment of prophecy in the Old Testament book of Isaiah and is a sign that the End Times are near. He said that in Isaiah 11, God declares that He will, for the second time, regather my people from all the nations.

Evans said that in Matthew 24:32-34, Jesus was basically telling people that the generation that sees the beginning of the end will see the end of the end.

Every generation has had signs of the End Times. Every generation has had earthquakes. Every generation has had famines. Every generation has had pestilences. Every generation has some evil person that they thought was the anti-Christ, Evans said.

But, were the only generation that has the existence of Israel. Thats what makes us different. Thats why we know we are living in the End Times. Israel has to exist for dozens of End Times prophecies to come true.

An important question, Evans said, is how long is a generation. He pointed to Psalm 90, which says, the days of a mans life are 70 years or if by reason of strength, 80 years.

Evans speculated that, since modern Israel will turn 74 later this May, it is possible that we have six years left.

So if a generation is 80 years. We have six years, Evans said. Im not setting dates. Im just telling you what the Bible says.

The belief that the founding of the modern state of Israel was predicted in the Bible and signals the start of the End Times is not without its critics, including within Christian theological circles.

Some, such as adherents to Replacement Theology, believe the modern state of Israel is not foretold in the Bible, but rather the biblical prophecies thought of as applying to it actually are about Christianity.

Last year, Grey Matter Research and Infinity Concepts released a survey that reportedly found that 51% of Evangelical Protestants in the United States believe that the Jews are still Gods chosen people. In comparison, 17% believe that Christians have replaced them, 19% said they were unsure and 10% said they believe Jews were never Gods chosen people.

From the Jewish and Israeli perspective, the Evangelical community is often viewed as a monolithic group that is both pro-Israel and pro-Jewish, Mark Dreistadt of Infinity Concepts told The Christian Post last year.

We knew this was not true but felt it was important to quantify the diversity as best we could. By looking at theological viewpoints, charitable giving, and support priorities we were able to see the mosaic of diversity emerge.
Twitter takes action against The Christian Post over tweet calling Rachel Levine a man

Twitter has taken action against The Christian Posts account in response to a tweet that said Rachel Levine, a trans-identified Biden official, is a man.

In an alert emailed to CP on Sunday, the social media giant notified the Christian news publication that the tweet violated its policy against what it deems as hateful conduct by stating a biological fact and has temporarily limited some features of the account, including the ability to post new articles.

Other limitations include being unable to like, follow or retweet posts. Twitter also told CP that the restrictions could be lifted 12 hours after deleting the tweet about Levine, the assistant secretary for health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

CP posted the news article titled, USA Today names Rachel Levine among its 'Women of the Year on its social media accounts last Tuesday. A trans-identified member of the Biden administration, Levine was born male and went by his birth name of Richard before deciding to self-identify as a woman.

On Friday, Twitter emailed CP a notification explaining that CPs account had been flagged for possible violations of Twitters hateful conduct policy and possibly violating Frances LCEN law on internet content.

Publishing content that is obviously unlawful under Article 6 of the LCEN law or that amounts to hate speech under the LCEN law can lead to civil and criminal penalties, stated the emailed notification.

If you believe the withheld content does not violate the French law, you may challenge the above decision by filing an appeal. You can also challenge this decision in a French court of justice.

On the same day, Twitter emailed CP explaining that another complaint had been made claiming that the tweet violated German law. However, the social media site explained that its staff investigated the reported content and have found that it is not subject to removal under the Twitter Rules  or German law.

CP appealed the suspension and was informed by Twitter on Monday morning that the appeal is under review, but restrictions will continue to be imposed on the account.

Please note that while we review your appeal, you wont be able to access your Twitter account. Well take a look and will respond as soon as possible, stated Twitter.

In addition to CP, Twitter also took action against the Christian satirical site The Babylon Bee for posting a joke about honoring Levine as their Man of the Year, with the social media site locking them out of their account.

They could, of course, delete the tweet themselves. But they won't, tweeted Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon from his personal account on Monday. It's not enough for them to just wipe it out. They want us to bend the knee and admit that we engaged in hateful conduct.

Last October, Twitter temporarily blocked Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., from using his account after he posted a tweet calling Levine a man.
Andy Stanleys tweet about the Bible is seductive and harmful

The recent now-deleted tweet by Andy Stanley, son of famed pastor emeritus of the First Baptist Church, Atlanta, reads:

The Christian faith doesnt rise and fall on the accuracy of 66 ancient documents. It rises and falls on the identity of a single individual: Jesus of Nazareth.

Stanleys tweet was taken from a sermon he preached on March 6 at Browns Bridge Church in Cumming, Georgia.

When first reading the tweet on social media, I was saddened and sickened. This kind of statement was all too familiar to me. I had often heard it made by the moderates and liberals who were in control of the Southern Baptist Convention back in the '80s. I had defended the faith against this kind of approach to the Scriptures in the Baptist Associations where I had served  a time when my support for the Bible as divine and totally without error was in the minority and marginalized.

This kind of doctrinal error is what conservatives worked and sacrificed to save the Southern Baptist Convention from and succeeded. Moreover, other denominations that embraced what Stanley was teaching ended up on the trash heap of spiritual impotence or blatant apostasy.

It was, therefore, quite painful for me to hear a prominent preacher with the considerable influence of Stanley, one who has affirmed his own belief in inerrancy, declare something so contrary to that affirmation.

Unfortunately, Stanleys view of the Bible is not uncommon today in many seminaries and various mainline denominations that were once faithful. It holds if one argues for the highest view of Scripture as the Church did in the past, then one is in danger of a form of idolatry, elevating the Bible above Jesus, and therefore, guilty of the sin of Bible worship. In other words, you can make the Bible even more important than Jesus. You can give the Bible a prominence the Lord himself didnt give it.

This is a seductive and harmful argument for those who may not know any better. Its really a departure from the doctrine handed down by the Church, which has always maintained Christ, the Living Word, so identified himself with the Written Word, the Holy Scriptures, that no teacher can diminish the authority of one without also equally diminishing the authority of the other.

No one ever held a higher view of Scripture than Jesus did. In fact, over and again, Jesus encouraged everyone to judge his entire person and work by what the Scriptures said. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus declared he didnt come to oppose or supersede the Scriptures, but to fulfill them exactly  completely  to fulfill every jot and tittle (Mt. 5:17-20).

Years ago, after leaving the pastorate to become the Christian Action Leagues executive director, I joined a church where a man came before the congregation as a pastoral candidate. First, the candidate made a general statement about his doctrinal beliefs and church polity and then fielded questions from the audience.

One statement the candidate made was a red flag for me. He said he believed Southern Baptists had elevated the Bible above Jesus. So, before the entire church, I asked him to please explain what he meant.

To the point of embarrassment, the candidate kept avoiding a direct answer to the question by talking about things that werent pertinent. When he finally got around to addressing it, he did so in vague generalities, which essentially amounted to no answer at all.

At last, I sought to pin him down and asked: Please tell us plainly. Do you believe the Bible is the infallible and inerrant Word of God? Yes or No? His response was honest, but revealing when he replied, No, I dont.

At this point, the candidate became very angry and began to attack my person with insults, declaring he believed the Bible as much as me. I responded that not only did he not believe the Bible as much as me, but he didnt believe it as much as the people in that church. I then said to him, You believe the Bible contains the Word of God, but you dont believe its all the Word of God. Correct? He acknowledged my assessment of his beliefs was accurate.

Well, I agree with the candidate, one lady said as she jumped to her feet to defend him. Hes right! I think our denomination has wrongly given more prominence to the Scriptures than to Jesus. To which I replied to her, Please tell me how any of us can know anything authoritative about Jesus outside of the Bible?

The candidate then replied, I know! By experience!

Experience? I responded. And by what standard shall we measure the reality or truth of ones experience without a Bible that does not err, and is authoritative in everything? I asked. How can we tell whether our experience is from God or the devil? Are we to believe our experience can never lead us astray  that our experience will never lead us to a counterfeit Christ?

No one said anything further and the candidate withdrew his name for consideration, saying he could never be in a church with someone like me. Others, however, argued that I had just saved the church from many troubles and possible failure.

The crux of the matter is abundantly clear for those willing to think and look to the Scriptures. What Stanley espouses is not what Jesus believed and taught about Scriptural authority. Lets not forget Jesus Himself submitted to the Scriptures. Our Lord so identified Himself and his ministry with Scripture that he affirmed to the degree that one accepts the Scriptures is the degree to which one may know Him.

It should trouble us greatly anytime someone holds a different view of the Written Word than the one held by the Living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. It ultimately leads to making our own opinions, beliefs and experiences the authority rather than Gods revelation. Such only leads to error, compromise, and a falling away from the faith.

Originally published at Christian Action League of North Carolina.
She was in Kyiv the day Russia invaded Ukraine. Heres what she saw

Kateryna Shapovalenko woke up at 5 a.m. Feb. 24 to the sound of missiles slamming into buildings in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. Confused and terrified, the 23-year-old woman began receiving calls from her friends and family confirming her worst fears: Russia was invading.

February 24th was a very terrible moment. I think it was the worst-ever experience of my entire life, Shapovalenko said in an interview with The Daily Signal. I was shocked. I was really terrified. My heartbeat just skyrocketed.

Shapovalenko detailed how she, and many others in Kyiv, quickly packed some belongings and ran. For many, there was no final destination, only the cruel reality that they could no longer stay in Ukraines capital city.

When I got out from my apartment, I was starting to go to some safer place to meet my friends, she said. It was very lively on the street. So many people were trying to go somewhere. Many people with suitcases packed with their most essential belongings.

Adding to the chaos and confusion, credit and debit cards and cash-payment apps stopped working. Shapovalenko said that made it difficult to purchase supplies for the long journey ahead.

Shapovalenko headed to the Kyiv Metro subway station, where a grim sight greeted her.

Inside the Metro, I saw so many people, she said. It was really terrible and terrifying. And people were really frustrated and desperate. They didnt know what was actually happening around them.

Shapovalenko eventually managed to escape to neighboring Poland, where she made her way to Germany and eventually the U.S. She is currently safe in Arizona, but says she has family and friends back in Ukraine.

Half of my family, they managed to stay in a village in the northern part of Ukraine, which is safer, Shapovalenko said. Whereas my uncle and auntie, theyre staying in Chernihiv, which is a city on high attack by the Russians.

But through all the pain and ruin inflicted by Russian President Vladimir Putin on the Ukrainian people, strong themes of resistance run. The successful defiance demonstrated by the Ukrainians against their would-be Russian occupiers has surprised those who expected Ukraine simply to collapse.

I think currently the entire world is really surprised by the way the Ukrainians responded, said Shapovalenko, who compared the fight the Ukrainians are waging against Russia to Americas Revolution against the British:

There were lots of patriots who wanted to fight back and see the thing through. And there, they were a minority. There was the British army. They were fighting for their king, but [the Americans] were fighting for their freedom. So, I think we can see some similarities with Ukraine  Its our land. People dont want to leave.

When asked about what she thinks the future holds for Ukraine, Shapovalenko offered a hopeful view. She said she thinks the shared suffering will solidify a sense of Ukrainian self and bring disparate Ukrainians together.

I think this particular war will completely transform Ukraine in a positive way, she said. Because before this war, people were thinking, What would be the Ukrainian idea? What unites us? But right now, we see that the only [thing] that unites all of Ukrainians is freedom.

We want to be all together, she said. We stand all together for freedom. And I think after the war, people will be very united, and they will value every single time they spend with their families.

For now, Shapovalenko will remain in America. Its too dangerous right now to go back to Ukraine, she said.

But she also said the war has changed how she views her destiny within the future of Ukraine and its people.

This particular war transformed me completely, she said. I hadnt planned on coming to the U.S. right now. It was a forced decision, because I wanted just to save my own life. After this, I really want to come back to Ukraine and continue working on making Ukraine the best place in the world.

Originally published at The Daily Signal.
8 lessons for Christian living from 19th century preacher D.L. Moody

A new book examines the important lessons Christians can learn from the life and teachings of one of the most important American evangelists of the 19th century.

Dwight L. Moody (1837-1899) was an influential preacher, having spoken to millions, founded multiple schools, and having played a leading role in the Sunday School movement.

Theologian and D. L. Moody Center President James Spencer has written a book titled, Useful to God: Eight Lessons from the Life of D. L. Moody, which was released on March 2.

These lessons, each having its own chapter in the book, include: being humble, studious, surrendered, prayerful, undistracted, free from the love of money, imbued with power from on high, and being consumed with a passion for the lost.

In the introduction, Spencer recounted that he was inspired to write the book in 2018 after he had seriously considered leaving ministry work due to burnout.

Spencer recalled joining the Moody Center at the time and being inspired as he read through the private and public works of the 19th century evangelist.

God continues to use Moodys story, wrote Spencer. My hope is that in considering why God used D. L. Moody, you will be inspired, as I am, to show the world what God can do through an individual who is totally surrendered to him.

In an interview with The Christian Post, Spencer spoke about his book, focusing on issues including the lessons Spencer himself has struggled with, the importance of learning about Moody, and how Moody would likely approach the modern debate over social justice. The following is an edited transcript of that interview.

CP: In the Introduction, you wrote that as you studied Moody's life, "I realized I had been too independent, too willing to tie God to my own agendas, and too focused on achievement." Do you believe this is a common problem among Christians who try to undertake ministry work?

Spencer: Yeah, I do. I think part of it is just the way were sort of brought up today. Were encouraged to be very independent, were encouraged to be ambitious, and were encouraged to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps.

I dont think its uncommon among Christian ministers, and it definitely wasnt an uncommon problem for me.

CP: When introducing the life of Moody in Chapter 1, you wrote that while Moody "is not mentioned in scripture," it was still important to learn about his "life and ministry." Do you believe American Christians need to learn more about past Christian figures that postdate the first century, be it Moody or other notable Christian evangelists?

Spencer: As I studied Moody, what I realized was that a lot of the problems that were dealing with today, really originated in history.

Moody lived through times like the Civil War, he went through Reconstruction, segregation. He also lived through a very challenging time of industrialization, urbanization and immigration.

I think that not looking at these characters, Moody and others, who walked faithfully through those times  not perfectly through those times, but faithfully through those times  is really a detriment to us. I think we benefit greatly by understanding how they navigated these situations and really diving into that history a little more deeply.

CP: Of the lessons you discussed in the book, have there been one or two of them that you have personally struggled in applying to your life?

Spencer: Definitely surrender. And I think thats fairly common.

One of the things Moody talks about is actually the struggle he had with surrendering his ambitions and really following after the Lord. And so I think that one is for me, the most difficult one. How do we know which ambitions are our own and which ones are coming from the Lord and how do we then surrender, set those aside, so that were really following His agenda?

So I think its a multi-layered problem. Its not only just that I am a little bit interested in following my own path, but it is also about figuring out where God will want me to go. I think surrender is definitely one that I have had challenges with.

I think the other one is prayer. Prayer has been an area of growth for me as I wrote the book, as I studied Moody. I think as an academic, while I would incorporate prayer into my academic studies, it never really hit home to me the way that it has been lately.

Prayer was another one of those where I really struggled with.

CP: In the chapter talking about the need to be studious, you wrote that while it's "possible to think of God's law, or even the Old Testament as a whole, as strange, unnecessary, or outdated ... such a perspective prevents us from knowing God more deeply." In what ways does the Old Testament help us know God more deeply?

Spencer: What I found is that the Old Testament really does give us insights into what Gods intention was.

God is a sovereign, wise and benevolent God, Who creates a world intended for human flourishing. And then, of course, with the fall, that all begins to unravel. Ultimately, the Old Testament is the revelation of God. It gives us insight into how we can live in the presence of the Lord.

The Old Testament forms a crucial background even in understanding Christ and the New Testament. I think my line there was really intended to react to some pastors and other theologians who have been advocating to leave the Old Testament aside. And I definitely think that, just like we talked about with history, leaving the history of God by the wayside, not studying it, not thinking about it, not considering it as part of our spirituality, would be a real loss.

CP: In one chapter, you described the model of humility that Moody showcased in life, which included doing things like not having his photo included in news stories about his preaching or even with his books. What do you believe are some small steps that modern-day preachers and pastors can take to convey humility in their public careers?

Spencer: I think one of the big ones is not speaking to issues that we dont understand. I think many times what we see with celebrity preachers or more popular theologians, is that they speak from an unstudied standpoint, and I think thats due to their celebrity. Theyre trying to be a spokesperson. I think they are trying to help; I think it comes from a good place. But ultimately, it is a little bit less than humble to speak on issues that we really dont fully understand, we havent taken the time to research and consider ourselves.

I think the way that we exercise humility is by exercising restraint on what we talk about, when we talk about it, and who we talk about it to. I think that has to go into the calculations of more public pastors and public theologians, so that were not putting ourselves in positions where were going to say something that is a little less than helpful to the Body of Christ.

CP: In your discussion about Moody and social concerns, you wrote that although Moody "tended to focus on individual sin rather than societal concerns, he also knew that the problem of individual sin was not the only problem humanity faced. The problems of society also called for reform." As you may know, in evangelical circles, there has been some debate over the concept of "social justice" and whether social justice is compatible with Christian teaching. How do you believe Moody would have responded to this debate?

Spencer: Id love to think that D. L. Moody would have pointed to James definition of pure and undefiled religion, which involves two things: remaining unstained for the world, but also visiting widows and orphans in their affliction.

I think Moody didnt see the proclamation of the Gospel as something that you do in word only. He saw it as something that you did in deed and in truth. That the Gospel should transform the way that we interact with the world.

Where I think he starts to draw an interesting line is in how Christians interact from a governmental perspective. He wants Christians to embody that pure and undefiled religion, as a unified body, caring for the poor, having compassion for people, really diving into and creating communities that express Christian unity.

But  I know he wasnt as interested in Christians participating in the political realm. I dont think he would have been wholly against it, but there are a few times in his writings where he laments it. He laments the distraction that comes from things as basic as womens suffrage. He detaches from the [Prohibition] movement early on because he just feels like it is distracting him and others from the work of the Gospel.

I think Moody wanted a more purely theological engagement, a more purely churched engagement with society in that way. But he definitely would have pointed to James and said, Listen, we get to do both. As Christians, we dont just proclaim the Gospel, we also demonstrate the Gospel through the way that we love God and love others.

CP: What do you hope readers take away from your book?

Spencer: The basic thing I hope they come away with is just the conviction that we need these characteristics to be developed within the Body of Christ. If God used D.L. Moody in this way, and this is why God used D.L. Moody because he had some of these characteristics, and because he committed himself to developing these characteristics, surely we need these characteristics today just as much as he needed them then.

Secondarily, Id really love for people to find insight and wisdom in the work of D.L. Moody. Hes written multiple books, hes got some great stuff. For a guy who was not a theologian, he really understood how to speak about the faith in a way that was accessible and authentic and genuine and really gives some excellent insights into what the Christian life might look like.

And then, thirdly  a desire to dig deeper into the Scriptures. So I included a lot of biblical reflections within the book, in the hope that people would then dive into the Bible and really hear from God directly, as opposed to indirectly through the book.
Christians talk about Disney, but not to Disney

I attended the recent annual shareholder meeting of Disney, at which there was a discussion about the company's muted response to the misnamed "Don't Say Gay" bill. The contents of the bill have been widely misreported. For example, it is claimed that the restrictions forbid the discussion of sex in schools. But the prohibition is much narrower than that. Here's the relevant portion:

"Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards." FLSenate.gov

So the restriction is on "classroom instruction" and is a restriction on what the school can say, not what students can say. It is not a blanket prohibition in schools, or even in elementary schools - the prohibition is for K-3 only. Further, it doesn't forbid discussion of all sexual matters, just those on orientation and identity. In short, the bill says that teachers can't foist LGBTQ discussions on very young children.

It is understandable, therefore, that Disney was hesitant to crusade against the bill initially, making no public stance against it prior to the annual meeting. Disney's customer base is middle-class families with children. It's hard to imagine (no matter how many imagineers they put on the project) that the typical mom and dad with two small kids that I see on the plane whenever I fly to Orlando are outraged by a proposal to delay trans talk until the kids are in 4th grade. When polls accurately describe the proposal, it receives wide public support (EXCLUSIVE POLL: Over 60% Of Americans Back Floridas Limits On K-3 Lessons On Sexual Orientation And Gender Identity | The Daily Wire), including majority support among Democrats and Independents, and wider margins of support from Black and Latino participants than the general public.

At the annual meeting, CEO Bob Chapek was under fire during the question and answer period for not taking a public stance against the bill. He explained that he and other members of the team had entered into private discussions with the governor about the bill which were designed to stop it from being "weaponized against trans and gay" youth. He said that he had been encouraged by those meetings and that Governor DeSantis made clear that he was also opposed to using the proposal as a weapon. Further meetings were planned for the future. Later, Chapek elaborated on the decision not to denounce the bill publicly, "As we have seen time and again, corporate statements do very little to change outcomes or minds, he said. Instead, they are often weaponized by one side or the other to further divide and inflame. Simply put, they can be counterproductive and undermine more effective ways to achieve change." (Disney CEO breaks silence on Florida's 'Don't Say Gay' bill (nypost.com)).

This act of restraint is remarkable given Disney's history of corporate politicking, especially under the previous CEO Bob Iger, (who publicly undermined Chapek by Tweeting against the bill). Polling shows that Americans of both major parties are skeptical about public statements by CEOs about political matters. It was not until a major backlash came from a combination of media, employees and activist investors that Chapek reversed himself, apologizing profusely, condemning the bill and pledging a 5 million dollar grant (of shareholder money, not his own personal money) to Human Rights Campaign and other LGBTQ-ideology-promoting activist groups. HRC promptly rejected the grant. Chapek listed the many times that Disney had signed on to various campaigns from HRC, to prove what an "ally" it has been. As of now, Disney is still under attack for its initial attempt at working quietly behind the scenes with the governor, including calls for a worker walk-out.

Given such an environment and history, it is remarkable that Disney hesitated at all. All of the pressure at the annual meeting came from one side. The Christian voice was silent; the other voice was organized, loud, and magnified by allied media.

What might happen if Christians had spoken before, during, and after that meeting? Given Disney's initial desire not to get embroiled in a political donnybrook, having two sides debating this issue would have at least created the opportunity for Disney's leaders to point out that there are different shareholder groups with different agendas and that Disney's managers work for all the shareholders, not just some of them.

What I have seen is that conservative Christian media runs a lot of stories that trigger outrage from their audience, and outrage is justified. But outrage is not enough. It is, at best, an initial emotional response, which should then lead to redemptive engagement with the people who have behaved outrageously. It's time for Christians to stop merely talking about Disney (and the like) and start talking to them. Do you have Disney stock in your IRA or 401(k), etc.? If so, you have authority. Start to use it.
Majority white Illinois church with no ties to slavery donates over $50K to reparations fund

A predominantly white congregation in Illinois has donated over $50,000 to a reparations fund to benefit African Americans in the area.

First United Methodist Church of Evanston donated $50,080 late last month to the Reparations Stakeholders Authority of Evanston through the Evanston Community Foundation.

The RSAE is a nonprofit organization that is overseen by African American community leaders and will provide grants to various local community projects. It does not receive taxpayer money.

This fund is not tied to a separate reparations fund created following a resolution passed in June 2019 by city officials aimed at ending systemic racism and advancing equality that is funded by "recreational cannabis" sales.

First UMC Senior Pastor Grace Imathiu told The Christian Post that the donations came from an effort to raise money for the fund on Easter Sunday last year.

In the spring of 2021, the church council approved a motion to dedicate the 2021 Easter offering to reparations. We were hoping for at least $500. In less than five weeks, 91 members had donated $50,080 toward the fund, Imathiu said.

Imathiu told CP that she found the RSAE appealing because their "programs and projects will impact the local African American community."

Although the congregation was established in 1854, Imathiu told CP the church had not directly benefited from slave labor during the Antebellum Era.

Nevertheless, explained Imathiu, the congregation wanted to set an example by showcasing an experience of renewed courage to confront and repent our past injustices, as well as a sense of renewed determination and bravery that we can do big hard things as a community and an experience of great hope for our future together as One Evanston.

In recent years, some churches and seminaries in the United States have created funds to pay reparations for slavery, generally because they had historic connections to the abolished practice.

For example, Virginia Theological Seminary of Alexandria, an Episcopal seminary founded in 1823, announced the creation of a $1.7 million reparations fund in 2019 in response to the school having direct ties to slavery.

The VTS fund is supposed to pay for projects such as assisting African American clergy and helping to support work by historically African American congregations.

Others within American Christianity have been critical of slavery reparations in general, arguing, among other things, that it punishes the wrong people and fosters unnecessary division.

John Carpenter of Covenant Reformed Baptist Church in Yanceyville, North Carolina, has previously denounced the idea as something that creates social Justice Contras.

Calling for reparations ignores the enormous sacrifice already given to end slavery and the (failed) attempt to re-organize the South (i.e. reconstruction), like the 300,000 lives lost, tweeted Carpenter in 2019.

I dont know if those calling for reparations are intentionally race baiting but I dont see how they cannot see that their campaign is certain to inflame racial animosity. Its irresponsible.
Denzel Washington says his gifts were given by the grace of God

Academy and Tony Award-winning actor and director Denzel Washington continues to give God the glory for his many talents, most recently as a guest on the fourth season premiere of a late-night comedy talk show.

In the 23-minute video interview on Showtime's Desus & Mero, hosted by podcasters Desus Nice and The Kid Mero, Washington speaks of his love for NewYork, pizza, his upcoming film The Tragedy of Macbeth, how he prepares for his roles and what hes learned after the many years in Hollywood.

During the conversation, the New York native testified that by the grace of God, he was given the natural ability to act.

Washington said despite having the natural ability, he still had to study to be as good of an actor as he can be.

"That's why I did," He said. "And it paid off."

Later in the video, Washington was asked to name "one of the most important lessons in Hollywood that everyone should know."

One of the most important lessons in life that you should know is to remember to have an attitude of gratitude, of humility, understand where the gift comes from, Washington advised.

The actor assured the young men that everything hes done, Its not mine, its been given to me by the grace of God.

He encouraged everyone to use what they have to help others, as he said he has done.

Youll never see a U-haul behind a hearse, Washington assured. Egyptians tried. What did they get? They got robbed!



Washington often uses his U-haul analogy. He shared it during his commencement address at the University of Pennsylvania in 2011.

Washington expounded on the quote in a 2014 conversation with young actors posted on actor Tyrese Gibsons Facebook page.

Youll never see a U-Haul behind a hearse. Now, Ive been blessed to make hundreds of millions of dollars in my life. I cant take it with me, and neither can you. Its not how much you have but what you do with what you have, he told the actors.

In a 2017 interview with The Christian Post, Washington shared part of his Christian testimony, saying that when he was 20 years old, it was prophesied that I would travel the world and preach to millions of people. I thought it was through my work and it has been.

My mother said to me, when I was 59, she said, Denzel, you do a lot of good. You have to do good the right way, and you know what Im talking about, Washington continued. I dont drink anymore; I dont do any of those things. Im all about the message, to the degree that I know it, and Im unashamed and unafraid to share it!

So you have to be unafraid and unashamed to share it in the way your millennial generation knows how, he told this CP reporter at the time.

In September 2021, Washington was among the featured speakers at The Better Man Event hosted by First Baptist Orlando. He engaged in a sit-down discussion with one of his spiritual mentors, Pastor A.R. Bernard of the Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn, New York.

In every prayer, all I hear is: Feed my sheep. Thats what God wants me to do, Washington, a father of three, shared.

The actor said his response is often, Whats that mean? But what I found out in the last couple of years is there are all kinds of sheep.

So thats why I talk to experienced shepherds to help guide me, he said.
India: Christian pastor dragged out of his home, stabbed to death by 5 masked men

Five masked men stabbed a 50-year-old pastor to death in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh. While police are blaming it on extreme communists, Christians suspect he was murdered by Hindu nationalists, according to reports.

The unidentified men broke into the house of Pastor Yallam Shankar, dragged him out and stabbed him to death in Bijapur districts Angampalli village, the U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern reported Saturday, adding that the pastor is survived by his wife, two sons and grandchildren.

Indias PTI news agency suggested that Maoists, or extreme communists, killed him on suspicion that he was a police informer.

As per preliminary information, a group of suspected armed Naxals entered the house of local pastor Yallam Shankar, and dragged him out. They attacked him with sharp-edged weapons, killing him on the spot, an official was quoted as saying.

The official added that a Maoist group left a handwritten note to claim responsibility for the murder.

However, a local group called Progressive Christian Alliance of Chhattisgarh, said in a statement that Christians in Angampalli village had received death threats by Hindu nationalist groups.

The group added that anyone can use the name of a Maoist group to mislead the investigation.

Pastor Shankar, a former village head, was the Senior Pastor of Bastar for Christ Movement Church, ICC said, adding that he was influential and known for defending Christians from the radical Hindu nationalists.

The Christians in this area have been facing intense opposition from the radical Hindu nationalists, a local Christian was quoted as saying. Several times Pastor Shankar defended Christians from radical Hindu nationalists, and that could be the reason for this extreme form of persecution of killing.

Local Christians also said that two days before the murder, radical Hindu nationalists had threatened the pastor, saying they would kill him if he continued to preach.

Open Doors USA, which monitors Christian persecution in over 60 countries, has reported that persecution against Christians and other religious minorities has increased in India since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party took power at the federal level in 2014.

For Indias Christians, 2021 was the most violent year in the countrys history, according to a report by the United Christian Forum, which recorded at least 486 violent incidents of Christian persecution in the year.

The UCF attributed the high incidence of Christian persecution to impunity, due to which such mobs criminally threaten, physically assault people in prayer, before handing them over to the police on allegations of forcible conversions.

Police registered formal complaints in only 34 of the 486 cases, according to the UCF.

Often communal sloganeering is witnessed outside police stations, where the police stand as mute spectators, the UCF report states.

Hindu extremists believe that all Indians should be Hindus and that the country should be rid of Christianity and Islam, an Open Doors fact sheet explains. They use extensive violence to achieve this goal, particularly targeting Christians from a Hindu background. Christians are accused of following a foreign faith and blamed for bad luck in their communities.

Christians make up only 2.3% of Indias population and Hindus comprise about 80%.
Church removes pastor facing charges for possessing child porn abuse of kids as young as 13

A New Hampshire Baptist pastor, who was arrested and now faces five felony charges for possession of child sexual abuse images, has been removed from his job, his church has said.

The congregation strongly denounces the actions of Stephen Bates as ungodly, unholy, unnatural, perverted and reprehensible, deacons of the Bible Baptist Church of Nashua, an independent Baptist congregation, said in a statement.

Court documents show the 46-year-old ex-pastor is facing five charges of possessing child sexual abuse images, not just one, as was known earlier, NBC Boston said, adding that police found two flash drives in his pants pocket, which had child sexual abuse images in various folders involving children as young as 13.

During a review of the content on the drives numerous images of child pornography were located, stated the Nashua Police Department on Tuesday. As a result of him possessing child pornography Pastor Bates was arrested.

The church said in the statement: We have worked with and will continue to support our local law enforcement in this matter and our wish is that justice be served. Our hearts break for all his victims and we sorrow with them for the hurt, pain, and irreparable damage he has caused. We encourage anyone victimized by Stephen Bates actions to contact local law enforcement.

The investigation began in August 2016, when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children contacted Nashua Police with a tip indicating that child pornography had been accessed by a device with an IP address associated with Bible Baptist Church.

After the arrest, police said in a statement, From the onset of the investigation, Pastor Bates was contacted several times by investigators with the Nashua Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations. Pastor Bates was considered a person of interest during the earlier investigations but until today there wasnt sufficient evidence to charge him with any crimes.

Offices of the Homeland Security Investigations in Denver, Colorado, and Blaine, Washington, conducted investigations into the distribution of child pornography and child sexual exploitation in 2019 and 2021. They also discovered the source of the crimes being an IP address associated with the church.

Additionally, in 2020, when police in Tallahassee, Florida, investigated the publishing of child pornography online, they learned that the account responsible for publishing the images utilized an IP address associated with the Bible Baptist Church.

Police have said no local victims have been identified, but also encouraged any parishioners with concerns to come forward.

Bible Baptist Church was founded in 1980 by a group of ex-Catholics. Bates became the churchs pastor in August 2005 following a unanimous vote.
Is it OK for Christians to attend same-sex weddings? Al Mohler answers

Christians shouldn't attend same-sex wedding ceremonies, as attending would be to an inherent show of support, according to Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler Jr.

In an episode of Mohlers The Briefing podcast that aired Friday, the Evangelical theologian was asked by a listener about what to do if one is invited to a same-sex wedding ceremony.

Mohler responded by noting that the whole context of the wedding as a public event is the public exchange of vows and the public declaration of the rightness of this relationship.

Remember that the traditional word used of those who are attending a wedding is that they are celebrants," he added. "They are there to celebrate the wedding. It is virtually impossible to go to  a wedding of a same-sex couple and go and smile and not give affirmation to what you believe to be fundamentally contrary to nature and injurious to human flourishing.

Mohler went on to say that if you are consistently biblical in your thinking, you simply can't go to a wedding that actually isn't a wedding, for a marriage that you don't believe is actually a marriage.

One of the principles that has guided the Christian church through the centuries is that the Church cannot sanction and Christians should not celebrate weddings that are illicit or unlawful according to Scripture.

Now that can include some situations in which it would be a man and a woman standing at the altar, but we would believe there are biblical reasons why they should not be joined together, why it would not be a biblical marriage, it is not a rightful wedding. You extend that to the LGBTQ revolution and we have a whole new set of complexities, but in reality, this isn't a new question.

Mohler tackled other listener-submitted questions in the podcast episode, including, when is a child too young to have a conversation about transgender ideology.

The one thing we must always do is say what is true, Mohler replied. But understanding how much to say and how much to explain at any one moment to any given child, well, that is something that only faithful parents can actually well understand.

There's a difference between age 4 and 14. But it is parents more than any experts nor anyone outside the home who will have the best understanding of how and when to have certain discussions with children.

Tim Wilkins of the conference More Than Words penned a column in 2018 that was reposted by The Christian Post in which he tackled the issue of Christians attending same-sex weddings.

I do not believe a Christian should attend such a wedding for this basic reason ... this is not a get-together or a social event, wrote Wilkins, in an opinion piece that was originally published on Cross Ministry. God Himself is being called on to oversee this solemn event and those in attendance are witnesses of it.

Having said that, I am not opposed to inviting the couple to a dinner at a local restaurant sometime later where I treat them to a meal. Why? There is no theological conflict here and such a meal would provide an opportunity to enjoy the meal and conversation.
Russia accused of bombing 135 hospitals, shelters housing hundreds as death toll rises in Ukraine

An art school sheltering about 400 civilians and a theater with more than 1,000 others are among the many buildings destroyed or damaged by Russias military in Ukraines embattled city of Mariupol, as some fear residents are being transported to concentration and prisoner camps in Russia.

Officials in Ukraine have accused Russian troops of bombing Art School No. 12 in Mariupol, an eastern city on the Sea of Azov that once was home to 400,000 people but has been encircled by the Russian military for the past two weeks.

The city council reported that about 400 people were taking shelter at the school.

It is known that the building was demolished and there are still peaceful people under the rubble, the city council said in a statement, according to The Associated Press.

The alleged bombing of the school comes just days after Russian forces were accused of bombing a theatre in the city that was said to have sheltered over 1,400 civilians. On Friday, Ukrainian commissioner for human rights, Lyudmyla Denisova, said that as many as 130 people had been rescued from the theatre while over 1,300 were still trapped. The number of casualties has not been reported.

Ukraines First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Emine Dzheppar claimed last week that Russian forces had not allowed Ukraines security services to rescue people from the theatres rubble.

Inhumanity of Russian troops has no limits, she tweeted.

In a tweet Monday, Dzheppar stated that Russian forces had shelled 135 hospitals since the invasion began last Feb. 24.

Russia wants civilians to be unable to receive medical care, she claimed. Russia is a war criminal.

Since Russia began its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, at least 925 civilians have been killed and 1,496 injured as of a Monday update from the United Nations. Among those killed are 39 children.

Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes, the U.N. statement reads.

Mariuples City Council accused Russian forces of forcibly taking thousands of residents to camps and redirecting some of them to remote cities in Russia.

Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko voiced concern about alleged deportations of Ukrainian citizens into Russia, comparing such actions to the treatment of Jews in Germany during the Holocaust.

What the occupiers are doing today is familiar to the older generation, who saw the horrific events of World War II, Boychenko was quoted as saying by CNN National Security Correspondent Alex Marquardt.

On Telegram, Ukraines human rights spokesperson Lyudmyla Denisova reported that Mariupol residents were transported across the border to a city in Russia that is about 60 miles from Mariupol. From there, Denisova alleges, Ukrainians are shipped by train even deeper into Russia.

The New York Times reports that Mariupols assistant mayor, Pyotr Andryuschenko, claimed that between 4,000 and 4,500 residents have been forcibly taken across the border to Taganrog.

Allegations that Russia is transporting Ukrainians deep into Russia could not be verified. Although Russia hasnt addressed the allegations, the AP notes that Russian media reported busloads of refugees arriving from Ukraine in the last week.

The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said on CNNs State of the Union that she had only heard about the allegations of Mariupol residents being relocated across the Russian border.

I cant confirm it. But I can say it is disturbing, Thomas-Greenfield said. It is unconscionable for Russia to force Ukrainian citizens into Russia and put them in what will basically be concentration and prisoner camps. So, this is something that we need to verify. Russia should not be moving Ukrainian citizens against their will into Russia.

Reports indicate that around 350,000 residents of Mariupol were hiding in shelters and basements as of last Friday. The city council claims that, on average, 50 to 100 bombs are dropped on Mariupol each day.

In his daily address Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the citys destruction will go down in history as a war crime.

The terror the occupiers did to the peaceful city will be remembered for centuries to come. And the more Ukrainians tell the world about it, the more support we find, Zelensky said.

In her interview with CNN, Thomas-Greenfield was asked about the possibility of Russia using chemical weapons in Ukraine. She said the Russians came to the U.N. Security Council Friday with the spurious accusations that the U.S. was supporting Ukraines chemical weapons programs.

What we see happening is, again, this is a false flag effort by the Russians. They are advancing what they might intend to do. Weve seen that happen before. They are the ones whove used chemical weapons. They used them in Syria. Theyve used chemical weapons against their own people, she continued.

And we are concerned that they may use chemical weapons in Ukraine, she added. Weve been clear. If they escalate to this level, we will respond aggressively to what they are doing. Youve seen the consequences so far of our actions against Russia and against Putin, and they are feeling those consequences, and they will feel more if they take this unfortunate decision to use chemical weapons.

Russia President Vladimir Putin said his troops would allow safe corridors out of the city only if Ukrainian fighters lay down their arms.

Russian National Defense Control Centers head Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev was quoted as saying by the Russian news agency TASS that residents of the city had been given until 5 a.m. Monday to respond to the offer, USA Today reported. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk rejected the idea outright.

There can be no talk of any surrender, laying down of arms. We have already informed the Russian side about this, she was quoted as saying. I wrote: Instead of wasting time on eight pages of letters, just open the corridor.

Earlier this month, the Russian military exploded a bomb at the entrance of a Ukrainian Orthodox monastery in the Donetsk region just hours after President Zelensky said he was ready to hold peace talks with Russia in Jerusalem.

The Holy Dormition Svyatogorsk Lavra had sheltered more than 500 evacuees, including 200 children. A bomb exploded 54 yards away from the entrance, injuring several refugees, according to the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security (CSCIS).

In Russia, police have arrested thousands of people protesting against Ukraines invasion amid widespread censorship of social media and news outlets.

Moscow wants Ukraine to stop military action, never join NATO, acknowledge Crimea as Russian territory, and give independence to separatist-controlled regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Zelensky said earlier he would be willing to halt the military action in Ukraine, not seek NATO membership and give independent status to the contested territories. Still, he insisted his forces would not give in.

Im ready for a dialogue, but were not ready for surrender, Zelensky told ABC News earlier this month.

About 100 Christian leaders in the United States, more than 280 priests and deacons of the Russian Orthodox Church, and over 400 ministers of Evangelical churches in Russia have called for reconciliation and an immediate end to Russias ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

We mourn the ordeal to which our brothers and sisters in Ukraine were undeservedly subjected, the Russian Orthodox clerics wrote in their open letter. The Last Judgment awaits every person.

The clerics added: No earthly authority, no doctors, no guards will protect from this judgment. Concerned about the salvation of every person who considers himself a child of the Russian Orthodox Church, we do not want him to appear at this judgment, bearing the heavy burden of mothers curses.
Supreme Court rejects appeal by Christian charity sued by gay lawyer

The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a Christian charity's appeal requesting the justices review a lawsuit filed over the organization's refusal to hire a man in a same-sex relationship.

Seattles Union Gospel Mission (SUGM) petitioned the Supreme Court last year regarding its ongoing legal battle with Matthew S. Woods, who had applied for an attorney position with the charity in 2016 but was denied due to him being in a same-sex relationship.

In an order released Monday, the court declined SUGMs petition for a writ of certiorari, with Justice Samuel Alito releasing a statement with the order respecting the decision.

Joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, Alito argued that the Supreme Court has yet to confront whether freedom for religious employers to hire their co-religionists is constitutionally required.

Because of the interlocutory posture of this case, I concur in the denial of certiorari at this time, stated Alito. But the day may soon come when we must decide whether the autonomy guaranteed by the First Amendment protects religious organizations freedom to hire co-religionists without state or judicial interference.

Alito went on to note that the state supreme court decision in the case may warrant our review in the future, but threshold issues would make it difficult for us to review this case in this posture.

Woods, a professed Christian who had volunteered at SUGM's legal aid clinic while he was a law student, applied for a staff attorney position in 2016.

SUGM refused to hire him due to its belief that Woods same-sex relationship violated Christian teaching, prompting Woods to file a complaint in November 2017.

In March 2021, the Washington Supreme Court reversed a lower court ruling in favor of SUGM, then remanded the case back to the lower court in order to determine if the charity was eligible for a ministerial exemption.

Justice Barbara A. Madsen wrote the state Supreme Court's majority opinion, arguing that the charity was not a church or religious entity principally responsible for the spiritual lives of its members.

Moreover, Woods sought employment with SUGM as a lawyer specifically, not as a religious minister or teacher, and there is no indication that religious training is necessary for the staff attorney position, ruled Madsen.

It is best left to the trial court to determine whether staff attorneys can qualify as ministers and, consequently, whether Woods discrimination claim under [Washington's Law Against Discrimination] must be barred.

SUGM is being represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a law firm that has successfully argued religious freedom cases at the Supreme Court.

In our view, religious organizations have the right to hire those who share their beliefs without being punished by the government. In fact, six federal appellate courts have already recognized this principle, said ADF Legal Counsel Jake Warner in an earlier interview with The Christian Post.

But the Washington state Supreme Court stands alone against this principle, and it's important enough that we believe that the Supreme Court needs to clarify that the First Amendment protects the right of religious organizations to decide who gets to share their religious message to the public.
Sen. Josh Hawley: Supreme Court nominee has 'alarming' record on child porn offenders

With Judge Ketanji Brown Jacksons confirmation hearings for the U.S. Supreme Court slated to begin next week, a senator on the influential U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee is warning about her record on the Sentencing Commission and how it reflects her views on punishment for child pornography offenders.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee that will question Jackson in confirmation hearings next week, sent out a Twitter thread Wednesday expressing concerns about an alarming pattern when it comes to Judge Jacksons treatment of sex offenders, especially those preying on children. He asserted that Judge Jackson has a pattern of letting child porn offenders off the hook for their appalling crimes, both as a judge and a policymaker.

Ive been researching the record of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, reading her opinions, articles, interviews & speeches. Ive noticed an alarming pattern when it comes to Judge Jacksons treatment of sex offenders, especially those preying on children  Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) March 16, 2022

Shes been advocating for it since law school, he added. This goes beyond soft on crime. Im concerned that this is a record that endangers our children.

Hawley provided screenshots of some of Jacksons commentary on child porn offenders, including a declaration that she had [mistakenly] assumed that child pornography offenders are pedophiles. Jackson suggested that there was a category of nonpedophiles who obtain child pornography that are nonsexually motivated offenders.

Jackson contended that the group of nonpedophiles who commit child pornography offenses do so because of the challenge or a desire to use the technology. She described this group of nonpedophiles as very sophisticated technologically and not necessarily interested in the child pornography piece of it.

Hawley also listed specific examples illustrating how Jackson deviated from the federal sentencing guidelines in favor of child porn offenders. In a case involving a sex offender who had multiple images of child porn, the sentencing guidelines called for a prison sentence of up to 10 years. Jackson gave the offender three months in prison.

Sentencing guidelines called for a prison sentence between eight and 10 years for a criminal with thousands of images of child porn who also hoped to travel across state lines to abuse a 9-year-old girl. Jackson gave the man a sentence of 57 months, less than five years. In another case, she sentenced a child pornographer who possessed more than 600 images and videos and posted many on a public blog to 60 months in prison, far short of the 151-188 months suggested in the guidelines.

In another case, Jackson sentenced a child pornographer who posted multiple images online to 60 months in prison, even though the recommended sentence was 70 to 87 months.

Another man who possessed more than 100 child pornography videos, including a video of his own 10-year-old daughter, received a 71-month sentence from Jackson as opposed to the recommended 97-121 months.

Jacksons past comments in support of critical race theory, which Encyclopedia Brittanica defines as an intellectual and social movement and loosely organized framework of legal analysis based on the premise that race is not a natural, biologically grounded feature of physically distinct subgroups of human beings but a socially constructed (culturally invented) category that is used to express and exploit people of colour, are also receiving renewed attention.

Christopher Rufo, an outspoken opponent of critical race theory, took to Twitter Thursday to share some of Jacksons remarks about Derrick Bell, whom he described as the father of critical race theory. Jackson spoke about Bell when addressing students at the University of Michigan Law School for a Martin Luther King Day lecture in 2020.

Ketanji Brown Jackson is a lifelong admirer of the father of critical race theory, Derrick Bell, who wrote that the Constitution was like "roach powder," that whites might commit "racial genocide," and that his motto was "I live to harass white folks." pic.twitter.com/fhGEf0kFk0  Christopher F. Rufo ?? (@realchrisrufo) March 17, 2022

Ketanji Brown Jackson is a lifelong admirer of the father of critical race theory, Derrick Bell, who wrote that the Constitution was like roach powder, that whites might commit racial genocide, and that his motto was 'I live to harass white folks,'" he said. In her speech to the law school students, she praised his book Faces at the Bottom of the Well, written in the early 1990s, as influential to her upbringing.

My parents had this book on their coffee table for many years, and I remember staring at the image on the cover when I was growing up; I found it difficult to reconcile the image of the person, who seemed to be smiling, with the depressing message that the title and subtitle conveyed, she recalled. I thought about this book cover again for the first time in 40 years when I started preparing for this speech, because, before the civil rights gains of the 1960s, black women were the quintessential faces at the bottom of the well of American society.

Responding to her speech, Rufo insisted that Jacksons math doesnt add up because She was born in 1970 and Faces at the Bottom of the Well wasnt published until 1992, when she was 22 years old and a student at Harvard  during the exact timeframe that Derrick Bell was engaged in his nationally-publicized protest. He maintained that the books publication date and her age make her story that her parents had Faces at the Bottom of the Well  a key text of critical race theory on their coffee table when Jackson was growing up false.

President Joe Biden nominated Jackson, who serves as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, to become an associate justice on the Supreme Court last month. If confirmed, Jackson would become the first female African American Supreme Court justice in U.S. history. Jacksons nomination comes ahead of long-serving Justice Stephen Breyers impending retirement.

Jacksons confirmation hearings are scheduled to begin on Monday, where the nominee, as well as the leading senators on the Judiciary Committee, will have the opportunity to make opening remarks. Senators from both parties will also question Jackson about her judicial record and legal philosophy before witnesses are called to testify for and against her confirmation.

After the hearings conclude, senators on the Judiciary Committee, which consists of an even split of Republicans and Democrats, will vote on whether to advance Jacksons nomination to the full Senate. If the nomination makes it to the Senate floor, she must receive support from a majority of senators in order to secure a spot on the court. The Senate consists of an equal number of Democrats and Republicans, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote in favor of the Democrats.

Ketanji Brown Jackson is a lifelong admirer of the father of critical race theory, Derrick Bell, who wrote that the Constitution was like "roach powder," that whites might commit "racial genocide," and that his motto was "I live to harass white folks." pic.twitter.com/fhGEf0kFk0  Christopher F. Rufo ?? (@realchrisrufo) March 17, 2022
Citigroup will cover travel costs for employees to have abortions out of state

A major financial institution has announced that it will pay for its employees to have abortions out of state, prompting backlash from the pro-life community.

One of the largest banks in the United States, Citigroup announced its intention to pay for employees abortions in a definitive proxy statement submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ahead of its annual shareholder meeting, scheduled for April 26.

The SEC requires that shareholders of a company whose securities are registered under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 receive a proxy statement prior to a shareholder meeting, whether an annual or special meeting.

Page 20 of the proxy statement includes compensation and human capital management highlights designed to illustrate how Citigroup is continuously innovating in how we recruit, train, compensate, promote and engage with our workforce and encouraging career growth and development by offering broad and diverse opportunities to colleagues.

In addition to paid parental leave, some of the opportunities offered to Citigroup employees touted in the proxy statement involve the company taking a definitive stance on hot-button issues in the culture war.

In response to changes in reproductive healthcare laws in certain states in the U.S., beginning in 2022, we provide travel benefits to facilitate access to adequate resources, the statement reads.

While Citigroup did not mention any particular state by name, the most notable pro-life law passed in 2021 is the Texas Heartbeat Act. The law bans abortions once a heartbeat can be detected, usually around six weeks gestation. Multiple courts at the state and federal level have upheld the law as pro-abortion groups want the law struck down.

Multiple pro-life groups and politicians reacted unfavorably to Citigroups new policy. In a tweet, the pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List characterized Citigroups new policy as inconsistent with the vow of forward-thinking companies to implement policies to empower working moms.

Forward-thinking companies: We will implement policies to empower working moms@Citi: Here's some cash to cover travel/accommodation costs so your child can be aborted



How poorly you think of working moms. Shame on you. https://t.co/hF49lv0ZGA  Susan B. Anthony List #ModernizeOurLaw (@SBAList) March 16, 2022

The pro-life advocacy organization told Citigroup that providing employees some cash to cover travel/accommodation costs so your child can be aborted shows how poorly you think of working moms.

George P. Bush, who is running as a Republican for Texas attorney general, threatened to take action against the financial institution if elected. In a tweet Wednesday, Bush lamented the travel benefits offered by Citigroup as nothing but a PR stunt by a woke company to support a culture of death.

Noting that Texas is a pro-life state, Bush vowed to hold actors who attempt to find loopholes in our laws accountable.

The travel benefits offered by Citigroup are nothing but a PR stunt by a woke company to support a culture of death. Texas is a pro-life state, and if elected Attorney General, I will hold actors who attempt to find loopholes in our laws accountable.https://t.co/mahRp3925N  George P. Bush (@georgepbush) March 17, 2022

Republican state Rep. Matt Schaefer contends that Citigroup is violating Texas law by vowing to pay for travel expenses so women working in the state can have abortions.

According to Texas state law: If any person shall designedly administer to a pregnant woman or knowingly procure to be administered with her consent any drug or medicine, or shall use towards her any violence or means whatever externally or internally applied, and thereby procure an abortion, he shall be confined in the penitentiary not less than two nor more than five years.

Its a criminal offense to furnish the means for procuring an abortion knowing the purpose intended. See article 4512.2, Tx revised civil statutes. Punishable by 25 yrs prison per abortion. @Citibank officials need to check the law before paying for abortion expenses. #txlegepic.twitter.com/tIJp0kyBB4  Matt Schaefer (@RepMattSchaefer) March 16, 2022

Whoever furnishes the means for procuring an abortion knowing the purpose intended is guilty as an accomplice, the law declares. Schaefer suggested that Citigroup fell into this category, encouraging the financial organization to check the law before paying for abortion expenses.

Citigroup also indicated that it continues to broaden gender affirmation medical coverage and incorporate it in our basic medical plan coverage around the world. In other words, the health insurance provided to Citigroup employees pays for people to have sex-change operations and receive hormone drugs.

The enactment of Citigroups policy comes ahead of the U.S. Supreme Courts expected ruling in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health. In this case, the state of Mississippi is asking the justices to uphold a 15-week abortion ban. A ruling in favor of Mississippi would weaken the precedent set by Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide.

Citigroup is not the only major company to institute a policy paying for women to obtain abortions following the enactment of the Texas Heartbeat Act.

Shortly after the law went into effect last year, the CEO of Match Group, the parent company of the dating site Match.com, announced that she was setting up a fund to ensure that if any of our Texas-based employees or a dependent find themselves impacted by this legislation and need to seek care outside of Texas, the fund will help cover the additional costs incurred.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is freed from Iran; reveals details of interrogation, torture in prison

A British-Iranian mother, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, has arrived in Britain to be reunited with her husband and 7-year-old daughter and has shared grim details about her six-year detention in Iran on the false accusation of plotting to overthrow Irans government.

Aid worker Zaghari-Ratcliffe, along with a fellow dual national, Anoosheh Ashoori, who had been sentenced to 10 years in prison for allegedly spying for Israels Mossad and two years for acquiring illegitimate wealth, arrived in Oxfordshire Thursday afternoon, Reuters reported.

Zaghari-Ratcliffes husband, Richard, and her daughter, Gabriella, received her at the British military airbase of Brize Norton, and the family will be at a government-run safe house for a week.

Ours has been a cruel experience in some ways, but its also been an exposure to such a level of kindness and care, he was quoted as saying after meeting his wife for the first time in six years. This will be a chapter in our lives, but there are many more chapters to come.

He also said, as quoted by The Times, People come out with an extra will to make up for lost time and to stop others having to battle against the bad guys that they feel are responsible. And that can take different directions. While Im sure shes happy today, I cant tell where her head will be in six months. Im sure shes feeling a lot less angry today than she was a week ago. Theres nothing like freedom for changing your perspective.

She now wants to focus on being a full-time mother, though an eventual campaigning role remains a possibility.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 45, who worked with a Thomson Reuters Foundation charity as a project manager, was arrested at Tehran airport in April 2016 while she was returning to Britain with her daughter, Gabriella, after visiting her parents. A court later convicted her of plotting to overthrow Irans clerical establishment.

She was first sent to Evin prison in Tehran, which has a reputation for being the worst prison in that country, then released in 2020 but kept under house arrest. Last year, she was sentenced to a new term in jail on the charge of propaganda against the state.

Ashoori, 67, was arrested in 2017 and sentenced in 2019.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Ashoori were released after Britain agreed to pay a decades-old debt of $520 million to Iran relating to a contract for undelivered tanks, Reuters said, adding that an Iranian-American environmentalist, Morad Tahbaz, whos also a British citizen, had been released on furlough as part of the deal.

After her arrival, Zaghari-Ratcliffe shared how intense interrogations and inhumane conditions in prison affected her health.

The questioning by Iranian officials was so aggressive that she once fell off her chair, she said, according to The National, which also quoted her saying that on another day, she cried so much she ended up fainting.

Iranian officials also told her she was lying about her marriage and that she did not know her husband and that he was a spy and that he had lied about where he worked.

They kept telling me I had lost my job and that if interrogation took too long my husband would leave me, she recalled.

Talking about her arrest, she said, I couldnt sleep a wink for the first week. My heart palpitated so hard that when I put my head on the blanket it felt as if it would explode, according to The Telegraph.

Zaghari-Ratcliffes employer kept her job open and also promoted her in her absence, The Daily Mail reported.

Former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, had called on Christian leaders in 2017 to intervene for her release, condemning London and Tehran for putting diplomacy before the life of the woman.

I think whats going to help most is if this case can be taken right out of political point scoring and I think religious leaders are well-placed to do that, Williams told Premier in an interview at the time.

I think there [are] some basic moral issues here which Christian leaders are in a good position to raise, the former archbishop added, alluding to Britains debt.
Ukrainian Orthodox churches in 'jeopardy' if Russia expands control in Ukraine, USCIRF warns

The top religious freedom watchdog panel in the United States has warned that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church could be in jeopardy if Russia expands control over the neighboring Eastern European country that it began invading last month.

The independent and bipartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which is tasked with advising Congress and the federal government on religious freedom matters, said Tuesday that there could be egregious religious freedom violations if Russia is successful in taking over Ukraine.

Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in late February as many are concerned that President Vladimir Putin might have his eyes set on recapturing the global influence held by the former Soviet Union. Since then, hundreds of civilians have been killed while millions have been forced to flee their homes.

We are horrified by Russias attacks on Ukraine, the senseless loss of life, and the lack of respect for human rights. There is a direct relationship between religious freedom violations and the dismantling of civil society in and by Russia, USCIRF Commissioner James W. Carr said in a statement Wednesday.

The Russian government uses distortions of religious history to support its claim that Ukrainians have no independent ethno-religious identity or state tradition.

In the background of Russias invasion of Ukraine is an ongoing rift between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church centered on the political tension between Russia and Ukraine.

In 2019, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, which holds authority over the worlds 300 million Orthodox believers, recognized the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as independent, meaning it no longer falls under the jurisdiction of Moscow Patriarch Kirill.

Months earlier, the Russian Orthodox Church voted to cut ties with the Patriarchate of Constantinople after a Ukrainian church was granted independence.

After the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was granted autocephaly, several churches under Moscows jurisdiction severed their ties with the Russian church, moves that infuriated Russian nationalist sentiments, Carr warned.

Additionally, hundreds of churches joined the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

These parishes and their leadership are in jeopardy if Russian control expands, Carr added.

USCIRF Commissioner Khizr Khan said in a statement that areas of Ukrainein which Russia captured in 2014 have seen the Russian government use baseless charges of religious extremism and terrorism to silence dissent, justify endless raids and mass arrests, and close religious institutions that do not conform to its narrow interpretation of traditional religion.

Indigenous Crimean Tatar Muslims  who oppose the Russian occupation of their homeland  are routinely charged with terrorism based on their ethno-religious identity rather than any substantive evidence, Khan stated. Many of these individuals receive prison sentences of up to 20 years. The Russian governments aggression toward religious freedom is an indicator that much worse will follow, as we certainly see a risk of this pattern being repeated as Russia expands into Ukraine.

Over the years, Russia has been criticized for policies that infringe upon religious freedoms.

In 2016, Putin signed into law a bill that criminalized missionary work and evangelism outside of houses of worship.

Christian groups referred to it as the anti-missionary bill. Many feared that the law would be used to crack down on evangelists and house churches not affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church.

Passage of the law motivated evangelist Franklin Graham and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association to move a planned global summit for the persecuted church out of Moscow. The event was later held in Washington, D.C.

Following the laws passage, reports surfaced of pastors and missionaries being deported or arrested.

One year after the law was enacted, the Norway-based Forum 18 recorded 181 cases prosecuted under the law, most of which involved Evangelical Protestants.

In Ukraine, Russian shelling has damaged numerous religious buildings, USCIRF notes. One of those buildings is a 16th century Orthodox monastery where over 500 people took shelter. Another was a mosque in Mariupol, where 80 civilians were taking refuge.

While nearly 300 Russian Orthodox clergies have signed a letter voicing their opposition to the war, Patriarch Kirills comments have seemingly provided a religious justification for the war.

In late February, Kirill reportedly called Russias opposition in Ukraine evil forces who have fought against the unity of Russia and the Russian Church prevail.

The Orthodox Public Affairs Committee, which advocates on behalf of Orthodox churches worldwide, condemned Kirills remarks, saying in a statement that his words enable Putin by giving religious cover to this unconscionable and unjustified conflict.

Kirills statements ring hollow and have the stench of direct government interference, the OPAC statement shared with The Christian Post reads. Is this because he owes his position and the lucrative benefits he receives to Vladimir Putin? Why does he not speak out for his Ukrainian Flock? Why does he endorse the Russian military, even presenting them with a holy icon?

Russia is no longer an empire, the statement continues. It is a nation-state that tried to recover from the legacy of the economic misery and humanitarian failures of the Soviet Union. Patriarch Kirill owes his allegiance to Jesus Christ, not to Vladimir Putin, an ever-increasing tsar-pretender.
American pastor providing trauma kits to Ukrainians to 'save their lives'

An American pastor is working directly with the Ukrainian Army to provide the Eastern European country with combat field trauma supplies to help those wounded in the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Pastor Bill Devlin, a veteran of the Vietnam War and Purple Heart recipient who serves as the outreach pastor for Infinity Bible Church in Bronx, New York, has traveled to Ukraine along with a team of four other people, including three other military veterans and an ABC News reporter. Devlin was invited to the country by the Ukrainian Army.

Devlin left the United States for Warsaw, Poland, on Saturday, he told The Christian Post. After arriving in the Polish capital, he boarded what he was told was a "four-hour bus ride to Ukraine that ended up being a 12-hour bus ride.

We went from Warsaw to the Polish-Ukrainian border and we were in a commercial bus with 45 other people," he said. "These were Ukrainians going back into Ukraine and then we were held up at the Poland-Ukraine border for two hours and then when we finally got into Ukraine, it was another hour and a half to Lviv.

After arriving in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv at 3 a.m. Tuesday, Devlin began working on getting battle combat trauma medical kids in from the U.S. and from Germany. The pastor expressed hope that a shipment would arrive within a week.

Devlin is working with the Ukrainian army and the Ukrainian Civil Defense Forces to provide combat field trauma supplies, examples of which include tourniquets to stop bleeding and Quikclot, which consists of "a medicine or a gauze that allows quick clotting on a traumatic wound from a gunshot or from shrapnel, he added. These materials can save their lives.

All of those items are for Ukrainian soldiers, army, civil defense forces, any civilians that are hit with a bullet or theyre hit with shrapnel, he said. Before heading to Lviv, Devlin stayed at a military base in western Ukraine that was previously targeted by Russian missiles in an explosion that killed nine people. He explained that our safety is not a concern for us, adding, Were more concerned with helping the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian Civil Defense Forces and also the Ukrainian Army.

Along with helping to provide life-saving trauma supplies, Devlin sees his presence in Ukraine as consistent with his role as a pastor to provide spiritual, emotional and psychological support and also to pray with people, to be a pastor to people, to share Gods love and to give them hope.

Devlin cited food and medical supplies as the greatest items of need in Ukraine. He noted that he loaded the entire commercial bus that he traveled in from Warsaw to Ukraine with food, with medical supplies and with clothing.

While Devlin plans to stay in Ukraine for a couple of weeks, others he's traveling with plan to stay for four or five months, depending upon the need, he said. There may be an opportunity in a few days to go to Kyiv, he added, stressing that any trip to the Ukrainian capital city was going to be based upon the need because we do not want to go anywhere unless were invited.

Devlin also met with Ukrainian Catholic leaders, reinforcing the role that the religious community is playing in addressing those impacted by the Russia-Ukraine conflict. He reported that Infinity Bible Church is helping financially to support his overseas trip and efforts to help those in the midst of the war, and encouraged Christians in the U.S. and around the world to donate for relief supplies by visiting widowsandorphans.info, the website for an organization where he serves as volunteer CEO.

As Devlin indicated in an interview with CBS News John Batchelor, he also intends to train local people in self-defense during his time in Ukraine. He described such training as necessary for civilians that need to know how to best defend their cities and towns and villages.

Throughout his trip, Devlin has posted videos on Facebook live documenting the situation on the ground. In a video posted from the bus station in Warsaw, Poland, Devlin revealed that the transportation hub served as a location where Ukrainian refugees are coming to pick up clothing.

Somebody, the government, who knows, [a nongovernmental organization] has set up a tent here and these poor folks are going through bags and boxes of clothing in order to bring it back to wherever theyre staying. So these folks came with nothing and now, someone has set up this tent here in order for them to get some clothing for their families.

In other video footage shared with CP, Devlin said he didn't see one adult male at the border checkpoint between Ukraine and Poland. It was all women, teenagers and little children, strollers, lots of luggage there as people were getting out of Ukraine and going to Poland.

In a separate video, Devlin detailed how he was in a huge warehouse where all kinds of goods are coming in from around the world. He relayed to CP that he was working with private individuals who were seeking to ship a container of trauma supplies from the U.S. to the border between Poland and Ukraine.

While Devlins overseas trip marks his first visit to Ukraine, he has traveled all over the world to help those in the path of war and violence in the past. In 2016, Devlin spent $4,000 to supply weapons to a Christian militia in Iraq seeking to fight off the radical Islamic terrorist group Islamic State. He also spent time in prison in Sudan after visiting two Presbyterian pastors facing potential death sentences by the Sudanese government.
(Bloomberg) -- Soaring oil prices are padding the fortunes of U.S. shale and gas tycoons, even vaulting one into the ranks of the worlds 500 richest people for the first time.

American oil and gas industrialists on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index now have a collective net worth of $239 billion, a jump of nearly 10% since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. The growth is being fueled by near-record high energy prices as sanctions by the U.S. and Europe threaten to choke off Russian exports.

Brent crude prices have spiked as much as 32% since the invasion began and were at about $106 a barrel on Friday. Thats caused markets in everything from airlines stocks to tech shares to gyrate, but its been a boon to many companies that make money producing, selling or transporting fossil fuels.

Harold Hamm, 76, co-founder of shale giant Continental Resources Inc., has moved up 28 places on Bloombergs wealth index to 93rd and now controls an $18.6 billion fortune. Richard Kinders net worth has grown to $8.5 billion, thanks to his stake in pipeline and energy-storage firm Kinder Morgan Inc, while rising demand for liquefied natural gas has helped Freeport LNG founder Michael S. Smith crack the 500 wealthiest list for the first time.

Growing Production

Even before the Ukraine war, the U.S. oil and gas industrys revenues had been growing rapidly as demand rebounded from pandemic lows. One segment of the hydrocarbon industry thats reaping more profits is private companies.

Previous oil booms in places like Texas and New Mexico have been fueled by publicly traded companies, as behemoths such as Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. consolidated their holdings in a rush to pump more product. That all changed with the pandemic. Public companies that once gorged on cheap debt have been forced to scale back by cautious shareholders, while private companies have seized the moment to boost production.

On the private side, those pressures from shareholders arent nearly as acute, said Andrew Dittmar, a director at energy-analytics and software firm Enverus. It makes good economic sense for private firms to invest in growing production.

Its also helped boost the fortunes of private operators. Jeffery Hildebrand, 63, the founder and sole owner of Houston-based Hilcorp Energy, is now worth more than $12 billion, while Endeavor Energy Resources founder Autry Stephens, 84, has capitalized on his companys vast holdings in the Permian Basin to expand his net worth to $5.2 billion.

One closely held company thats done well is liquefied natural gas exporter Freeport LNG, which shipped its first commissioning cargo as recently as September 2019. The sale of a 25% stake in November to a Japanese energy company valued Freeport at an implied $9.7 billion.

That has propelled Michael Smith, who owns about 63% of the company, into 409th place on Bloombergs wealth list with a fortune of $6.2 billion.

Smiths Houston-based company is poised to benefit if Europe -- which currently gets 40% of its natural gas from Russia -- turns to the U.S. to procure more supplies.

Even if that doesnt happen, the increased demand would raise prices and help the companys bottom line. Prices of LNG -- gas thats been chilled into a liquid to make it easier to transport -- have surged.

Michael Smiths bet on the U.S. gas industry has paid off, said Talon Custer, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst. And they have options to grow.

Heather Browne, a spokeswoman for Freeport LNG, declined to comment on Smiths net worth or the companys plans.

Freeport LNG has faced delays in recent years expanding its export infrastructure because of difficulty obtaining government permits and low gas prices. But Russias invasion of Ukraine could speed up those plans as government and industry officials reassess their reluctance to ramp up production, Smith told Bloomberg News last week.

Hopefully this will change the narrative, he said.

2022 Bloomberg L.P.
Full-fledged Fiesta is back for 2022 and we're celebrating by highlighting the sometimes unsung party people of San Antonio's biggest event. Get to know the people who make the celebration happen in our pre-party series "Faces of Fiesta."

While Fiesta is all fun and games, the preparation that goes into the 10-day party is serious stuff. Time off work is requested, party groups are assembled, wardrobes are laid out, and Amols' Party and Fiesta Supplies trips tops the errands lists. For more than 70 years, the San Antonio-owned and family- operated party mecca has served as a source for all thing Fiesta.

But for the last two years, San Antonio has been in a Fiesta flux due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It took hold of the city weeks before the 2020 celebration was set to take place. City leaders initially postponed the event to the fall before it was canceled altogether as the threat of transmission persisted. For the first time ever, Fiesta took place in June instead of its usual spring schedule in 2021. Even at that, the party was smaller than usual, with many headliner parties sitting out. This year, the full-scale Fiesta is taking place and Amols' remains part of the time-honored tradition of stocking up on coronas, hats, sashes, and more.

You know it's Fiesta time in San Antonio when the Amols' parking lot looks like a Black Friday scene. Owner Jeffrey Weiss, the grandson of founder Julian Amols, says Fiesta hype is starting to look like pre-pandemic times. Weiss, who's been at the helm of the store for 31 years, says the real gauge of anticipation will happen in about two weeks, but things are looking good.

"I can say it's been very nice so far. It's nice to see some sense of a return to pre-COVID business activity" he tells MySA. "We have not seen this since 2019. I'm really happy with what I see so far."

We tapped the Fiesta expert for few party-themed questions.

What's your can't-miss Fiesta event?

NIOSA.

What's the Fiesta food you'll spend all of your tickets on?

Anitcuchos and gorditas.

What did you miss the most about Fiesta over the last two years?

Eating the food and missing the spirit, seriously. Every April, there's a feeling in the air in San Antonio. It's electric, it's exciting, it's colorful. You can't put it into words, but there's definitely a feeling and I definitely missed that. It's like when you feel like it's Christmas time. Going through the April (without Fiesta), that was just awful to have nothing going on.

What's your biggest piece of advice for new Fiesta-goers?

Go seek and explore the smaller events that don't get as much hype. There are some really cool ones. And that's good advice for people who've lived here forever, too. If you ever just actually go down and look at that list of all the events, I bet there are some you've never heard of. Sometimes we'll go do a few of those and it's really pretty cool.

Weiss suggests the Southwest School of Art Fiesta Arts Fair.

What do you always make sure to bring to Fiesta?

I always bring water and plenty of cash.

Whats your favorite Fiesta memory?

My favorite Fiesta memory was watching my grandfather, the founder of the company. He was Shriner, so he was a clown in the parade when I was a kid. I would go and watch him and wait for him to pass by us. That was really exciting for us all when we were young, just waiting to see our grandfather in his clown makeup and outfit.
Aven Horn, a 16-year-old from Anson, Texas, made history on Saturday with the selling of her award-winning cross-bred steer Vanilla Ice.

The white steer sold for a whopping $1 million to former rodeo chairman and president Don D. Jordan after being crowned "Grand Champion" on Friday night. At Saturday's Grand Champion Junior Steer Market, Jordan's winning bid obliterated the previous auction record of $625,000, set in 2019.

As reported by ABC 8's Sammy Turner, this year's rodeo held a special place for Jordan, who at the age of 90 was looking to make a timely splash in honor of the event's 90th anniversary.

Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer

"The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and I were born in the same year, so we've spent a lot of birthdays together," Jordan told Turner.

Per the Houston Chronicle's Hannah Delinger, Jordan hopes someone will soon raise the bidding bar even further.

"I guarantee you that someone will beat it," Jordan told Delinger.

As for Horn, winning the event was a bittersweet moment. The 16-year-old fought off tears while posing with Vanilla Ice, who is destined for the slaughterhouse like the other championsthey are all neutered and unable to be put out to stud.

Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer

"[Vanilla Ice]'s so loving and loves being petted on," Horn told Dellinger. "He's a 1,300-pound animal and he's so gentle and would never do anything to hurt anyone. He was really, really sweet. He was good."

Horn will receive $75,000 of the $1 million paid for Vanilla Ice. The rest of the proceeds will go toward agricultural scholarship programs funded by the rodeo.
As Russian tanks rolled into neighboring Ukraine late last month and the Russian government blocked its citizens' access to Facebook, use of the Tor network - which lets people use the Internet without revealing their identities or locations - shot up in the country.

Tor - short for "the onion router" - encrypts Internet traffic using a fancy mathematical formula. (Imagine sticking some Web traffic data into one end of a math machine, and it coming out the other end garbled, at least to anyone without access to the math.) Next, it sends that traffic on a wild ride, bouncing it among volunteer computers around the world so that traffic can't easily be traced back to you.

It's one of a few ways people can hide their online activities from governments, companies and even family members. Some people use Tor because they're activists concerned for their safety, Tor Project fundraising director Al Smith said. Others are trying to hide Christmas presents from their spouses.

Russia's censorship of how the war is playing out in Ukraine might be getting people to think about their own privacy and how they could communicate with friends and family safely during a conflict. The U.S. government hasn't blocked access to major social media sites as Russia and China have, but Americans still have plenty of reasons to hold their data close to the vest. Many communicate with family in countries with Web surveillance - such as China - while others just want to hide from constant targeted advertising.

Finding reliable private messengers and browsers is easier said than done, though. When some companies say their products are "private," they mean your data isn't visible to other users. Others hide your data even from themselves.

"Every entity and company might mean something slightly different by private," Smith said. "You almost have to be an expert to understand which tools to use."

Here's what to look for when you evaluate the privacy of browsers or messengers.

- Is the messenger end-to-end encrypted?

Usually, the privacy settings you see in your favorite apps are actually visibility settings - what can other users learn about you from looking at your profile and activity?

But "privacy" involves broader questions. Companies can hide your data from onlookers while retaining access to it themselves, for example. That opens a host of privacy concerns, Smith said. What if the company sells or shares that data? What if the government demands access?

Some privacy products use encryption to hide data from third parties, from themselves or both. When data is cloaked during transit and viewable only to the sender and receiver, it's considered "end-to-end encrypted." While your data's security depends partly on the app's encryption protocol - or the math they use to scramble the data - end-to-end encrypted services are more private because the company itself doesn't have access to your information.

Facebook Messenger and Telegram allow you to create one-off encrypted chats, but these messengers are not end-to-end encrypted by default. That means copies of your data could be stored on the companies' servers. Apple's iMessage and Facebook's WhatsApp are end-to-end encrypted by default. But if your iMessages are syncing to iCloud, Apple has the encryption key and could turn them over to law enforcement. As for WhatsApp, it's unclear how much data the product shares with its parent company, Meta, which has been under the spotlight for its data-sharing practices.

Signal is end-to-end encrypted by default, doesn't have the key to decrypt your messages and isn't owned by an advertising giant. For more tips on keeping your messages out of the wrong hands, check out Help Desk's guide to private texting.

- Does the browser hide your traffic, or just forget it?

If you open an incognito window on Google's Chrome browser, it forgets everything you did after you close the window. But it doesn't hide that you did it. That means Google, your Internet service provider and anyone they shared the data with could see which sites you visited.

Standard browsers don't cloak your Web activity. If you're worried about state censorship or surveillance, that's not a good setup. Opt for the Tor browser or the Brave browser's "Tor windows," which the company says come with relatively fewer privacy protections. There's also the Onion Browser, which runs on Apple's iOS for mobile devices. (The Tor Project makes a Tor browser version for Android.)

Similarly, virtual private networks (VPNs) hide your Internet activity from snoops, but they also can log it. That means state actors could ask for records of the sites you visit. Here, the Tor browser is a safer option.

If corporate surveillance and targeted advertising are your main concerns, a browser or extension that blocks trackers may do the trick. Firefox, DuckDuckGo, Brave and Safari all come with tracker-blocking tech.
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Online fine arts education allows anyone to learn how to express themselves

People's Daily Online) 13:23, March 21, 2022

Online arts classes, which offer a flexible schedule for learning, have opened up a convenient space for amateurs to get a start in the world of art. Tang Yingshan, a professor from The Open University of China in Beijing, launched an online fine arts education program that is open to learners from all over the world and who have no prior expertise in the field.

Tang Yingshan records an online course video. (Photo provided by the interviewee)

Everyone can create a masterpiece painting is what Tang believes and also the key selling point for his online fine arts education program. Bai Li, who had previously engaged in colorimetric studies at the Henan Academy of Sciences in central Chinas Henan Province for more than 20 years, became a student of Tangs class despite having thought that oil painting was too difficult to learn.

Shan Lin, a woman from Guilin, south Chinas Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, has been learning fine arts online for 17 months, which is longer than she had originally thought she would be doing it for. I like beautiful things, but I have never learnt oil painting, except for some basic fine arts classes that I had, said Shan.

Shan takes oil painting classes mainly in her spare time, such as watching instructional guide videos during lunch breaks and practicing during her off-work hours. There is a flexible learning timetable and the guide videos can be played repeatedly for us to better absorb the knowledge, Shan expressed, adding that the courses are cost-effective and teachers from arts schools were invited to give classes to them.

Xiao Fei gives guidance to students online. (Photo provided by the interviewee)

Since it was launched, the online fine arts education program has provided a series of courses. By January 2022, more than 36,000 people had enrolled in it, including those from Hong Kong and Taiwan, as well as international students from the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia, Switzerland, Japan, Malaysia, and Kenya.

Among the learners, there are people from all walks of life, including office workers and retirees, apart from others. Since the age difference between the learners is large, the question of how to popularize arts knowledge among these people tests the wisdom of the teachers.

According to Bai and Shan, students at the beginner level are introduced into the world of arts by imitating world-famous paintings, such as those by Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet, so that they can understand more about the artists styles and techniques.

Bai Li draws from life. (Photo provided by the interviewee)

As I have observed, everybody has a potential for drawing, especially when it comes to the use of colors in drawing, said Xiao Fei, a teacher of the advanced class for the online fine arts education project, and who also serves as a professor at the school of fine arts at Jiangxi Science and Technology Normal University in east Chinas Jiangxi Province. What we do is to help people learn to observe and express the world like painters do, or did, said Xiao.

With the courses specially tailored for them, as well as the introduction of activities held to boost interaction during the classes, the students can learn fast. After learning basic drawing techniques after one year, Bai signed up for an advanced class. At present, she is already getting ready to graduate from the advanced class.

In May, an exhibition will be held in Beijing to display the oil paintings made by students attending the online fine arts education program, which is going to be the second of its kind. Happiness is my biggest gain from learning oil painting, said Bai, whose work will be among those exhibited, having added that painting gives her a chance to forget about her age and feel full of vigor once again.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
Texas game wardens had to get a bit creative while rescuing a hunting dog name Maria who found herself lost at the bottom of a well in South Texas during a recent hunting trip.

According to the game wardens blotter, during the course of the quail hunt on a property in Jim Hogg County, Maria had chased an injured bird through a thicket and didn't return, which worried her owners. They began an immediate search and eventually found her trapped about 50 feet down at the bottom of a well on the property.

Game wardens in Jim Hogg County, typically tasked with enforcing the state's hunting and wildlife laws, were quick to arrive and used a makeshift pulley system to lower a kennel to the bottom. Inside the kennel, they placed hunted quail to entice Maria inside, wardens said. After some time, the pup eventually moved into the crate.

Courtesy Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

Maria was hoisted up to safety and had quite the look of gratefulness. Miraculously, none of her bones were broken. She was checked out by a veterinarian as a precaution, game wardens said.

Texas game wardens publish blotters of their activity, however unusual, every so often. Here are their other reports:

Fortune Favors the Bald (Tire)

A local sheriffs office reached out to Texas Game Wardens about reports of a stolen vehicle driving from New Mexico into Texas. A warden spotted the suspect in the vehicle vehicle under an irrigation pivot and called for backup. Once they arrived, the suspect attempted to evade officers by driving through fields. When he lost the tread on a tire, he stopped the vehicle and was met by the warden and a local deputy. The subject, who was a suspect in a New Mexico murder case, was taken into custody for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, evading in a motor vehicle and multiple other offenses. Cases and investigations for both states are pending.

Stuck in the Middle with You

Val Verde County game wardens received information about a fishing boat that ran aground on the Rio Grande River. The area recently accumulated excess silt from the Amistad Dam. Combined with decreasing water levels on the river, the exposed silt became sticky and effectively acted as quicksand. The two boaters were unharmed but were unable to vacate the vehicle without sinking into the mud. One of the wardens moved to an overlook point and located the boat. The wardens confirmed there was no way to reach them through waterways or on land. A call was placed for a helicopter with hoist capability. A municipal helicopter reached the individuals, and the rescue was completed successfully. The boaters did not require medical attention.

Mama Mia

A landowner notified Henderson County game wardens about someone who shot a deer on their property from the road. The landowner received word that the suspected shooter was bragging about the act on social media. A quick search of social media revealed the suspects mother posted about grinding up deer meat for chili. The wardens contacted the mother. She said her son shot a deer on their property, and she was processing it. The wardens interviewed the suspected shooter and he quickly confessed to shooting the deer on the callers property from the road. It was further determined that the mother believed the deer was shot on their property and was very upset when she learned the truth.

Help! I Need Somebody!

A Karnes County Game Warden patrolling a local highway came across a deer laying in the middle road. Realizing it could be a safety hazard, the warden turned around to remove the buck. After exiting his vehicle, he noticed someone walking near the front gate of a residence in the dark. The warden thought it could be the landowner coming out to ask about the deer. Upon further observation, he realized the man was stumbling. The man said he hit the deer with his motorcycle which was heavily damaged and was now laying in the bar ditch up ahead. The motorcyclist did not know how long he had been in the ditch but thankfully he was wearing a helmet. The warden notified dispatch and requested an ambulance over a possible broken hand. EMS and a sheriff's deputy arrived on the scene. The warden called the mans wife, informed her of what happened and that he was in the care of EMS.

Heres Your Sign

A Texas Game Warden received a call from a landowner concerned about road hunters driving near his property, shining a light and shooting guns. The warden met up with a deputy sheriff who had just intercepted the vehicle with three male subjects. In the bed of the truck, the warden found multiple loaded weapons, two dead jackrabbits, two dead raccoons and a piece of deer backstrap. After a roadside investigation, it was determined that the three subjects had spent the night driving around on the public roads, shooting animals and stop signs. Two adults were arrested for hunting from a vehicle and one juvenile was released pending charges. A total of seven firearms and two varmint game calls were seized for evidence.
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP)  A man who pleaded guilty to killing two women and committing a string of rapes in Texas has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, prosecutors said.

Reginald Kimbro, 28, pleaded guilty Friday in Fort Worth to two counts of capital murder in the deaths of two women who were raped and strangled. Kimbro was sentenced in each case to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He also pleaded guilty Friday to raping four other women, the Tarrant County district attorney's office said.
New details from a March 11 search warrant targeting the office of Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo shows senior county employees were in contact with the eventual winner of a large county contract prior to opening up contractual bids to the public.

The three county employees  a policy director, senior advisor, and chief of staff  under investigation formed part of an evaluation committee for a county-funded vaccination push. In June 2021, Harris County awarded a $10.9 million contract to Houston-based marketing firm Elevate Strategies for the creation of a COVID-19 vaccine outreach campaign. Newly surfaced details from the search warrant show committee members were in contact with Elevate Strategy leaders months before open bidding on the contract began.

Four other companies also applied for the contract, including the UT Health Service Center, which offered a lower bid and rated higher on evaluations, Tina Macias of KHOU 11 reported. However, texts and emails included in the search warrant show county employees were already communicating with Elevate Strategies CEO Felicity Pereyra about the campaign as early as January 2021.

In an email to Pereyra in January 2021, one employee wrote "Let us know your thoughts and proposed budget after you've had a chance to review... I would be happy to discuss further by phone if that would be helpful."

In an April text message, one employee wrote to another "This vaccine outreach thing is getting ridiculous. We need to slam the door shut on UT [Health Service Center] and move on." The following month, one employee asked another "if he could make the outreach RFP meeting that's happening now?" The employee replied "No. Take it away. And don't let UT get it."

Elevate's contract was eventually terminated in September after the company came under scrutiny, according to KHOU 11. Hidalgo's attorney Ashlee McFarlane called the information in the release "misleading" and an "act of political theater from a politically motivated investigation."

"Ultimately, this was about dedicated public servants trying to get the best team to fight COVID-19 in Harris County," McFarlane wrote. "Since she came into office, Judge Hidalgo has held herself and her staff to the highest ethical standards and is the only official to refuse donations from all County vendors."

No charges have been filed. However, employees could potentially face charges of tampering with a government document and misuse of official information, according to the search warrant.
I first saw "Dark Passage," the 1947 thriller, when I was in my early 20s and about to move from the UK to San Francisco.

I'd become a little obsessed with all things noir, absorbing the long shadows, morally dubious heroes and double-crossing femme fatales in "The Maltese Falcon," "Touch of Evil," "Double Indemnity" and dozens more. But Id read that one movie captured the city I was about to move to like no other film. Plus, it starred two of the biggest movie stars on earth, ever  real-life husband and wife Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.

Except that it doesnt, at least for the first hour of the movie. Bogart, who at the time was a bona fide global icon, doesnt show his famous smirk and sad eyes until an hour into the running time despite him being in every scene.

The movie starts with a panoramic shot of San Quentin prison, where convicted wife-killer Vincent Parry has hidden himself in an oil drum on a truck leaving the prison grounds to make his escape. Parry rattles around the back of the truck as it drives down Paradise Drive near Tiburon until his barrel bounces off the back.

After beating up a man who identifies Parry from a police radio dispatch, a guardian angel in the form of Lauren Bacall appears from the bushes.

Its hard to describe how mesmerizingly beautiful Bacall looks in this movie. Her glow epitomizes the golden age of Hollywood like no other star.

John Kobal Foundation/Getty Images

Right from the off, it's clear that something different, and at the time experimental, is happening as the story unravels. Nearly every shot is from behind the eyes of our escaped hero, but its not clear why we can hear Bogies famous drawl but never see his face. Bacall's Irene Jansen gives Parry a ride south through the Waldo Tunnel (now iconically adorned with rainbows and named after Robin Williams) and over the Golden Gate Bridge.

They make their way past Crissy Field to Jansen's Telegraph Hill apartment, and its almost as gorgeous as our heroine. The Malloch Building is a thing of architectural wonder, still standing today at 1360 Montgomery Street. The Streamline Moderne Art Deco style, built in 1937, appears like an Airstream cruise ship jutting out over the cliff. The curved lines, silver sgraffito-painted walls, spiral stairs and nautical chrome flair surround one of the coolest elevators in San Francisco. It still glows at night and climbs up and down the Montgomery Street side of the building, a shot often repeated in the movie.

Visiting the building now is worth the 400-stair climb up the Filbert Street steps (or the narrow drive to the steep northern reaches of Montgomery). The building has been meticulously maintained over the decades and looks exactly as it does in the movie, and occasionally one resident stands a full-size Humphrey Bogart cut-out in the window.

At her luxurious pad, apartment 10 in the Malloch, swing music plays as the mysterious Jansen reveals she is a true-crime fan girl who likes spending her days loitering around the federal penitentiary, and believes Parry is an innocent man  though no one else in San Francisco does. Together, the two start to flirt as only Bogie and Bacall can, and rush around the city attempting to prove his innocence.

The absence of Bogart's mug in the first hour of the movie is made up for in some of the best footage of the city ever put on screen. Director Delmer Daves shows us many corners of 1940s San Francisco, from a neon-lit Geary Street to the shadowed sidewalk steps on Kearny to the long-gone rail car cafe, Harrys Wagon, in the Fillmore.

The plot then takes a gloriously ridiculous turn as we find out why we havent yet seen our heros face.

On the advice of a charismatic cabbie, Parry has the genius idea to get plastic surgery in the middle of the night at the home of a scary surgeon on Nob Hill. And finally we, and Bacall, get a look at Bogarts smile.

Bogart and Bacall's chemistry is as sizzling as ever. The movie was the third of four movies the married couple made together in the 1940s. (A fifth was planned but was halted in pre-production when Bogart was diagnosed with the esophageal cancer that would take his life in 1957.)

At the time, the face swap twist was pretty audacious and Warner Bros. used it to sell the picture. Now, it seems like a big, fun gimmick that detracts from the nuanced story of doomed lovers on the run in the closing act.

After Parrys friend George is found dead at his apartment on tiny Florence Street on Russian Hill (just around the corner from the house at at 1001 Vallejo St. in the center of "The Matrix Resurrections"). Parry holes up in a run-down boarding house  the Kean Hotel at 1018 Mission St. That single-room occupancy hotel is still there under the same name and still in bad shape; the place was cited in 2014 for a cockroach infestation, among other things.

The movie's attention to location detail is so accurate director Daves took a camera up to the roof of the Kean Hotel to capture a three-second shot of the city, mirroring Parry's view from his window.

(Big spoilers ahead for a movie that came out 75 years ago.)

After discovering that Jansens friend Madge (played wonderfully as a conniving spinster by Agnes Moorehead) is, in fact, the jealous lover who killed Parrys wife, he escapes the cops to track her down to her penthouse at 1090 Chestnut St. on Russian Hill. (Check out Reel SF's excellent run down of all the locations, then and now, in the film.) Parry manages to get a confession from Madge  proving his innocence  moments before she falls out the 13th-floor window to her death. Thats now a third stiff on Parry.

As the SFPD closes in, Parry knows he must leave the city forever, so heads to the Greyhound station on Mission and Fifth to take a bus to the Mexico border in Arizona. (The old bus arches can still be seen on the ground floor of the Pickwick Hotel, kitty-corner from the SFGATE newsroom.)

At the bus depot, Parry gets his ticket but is told his bus won't leave until another seat is sold. In a phone call that surely influenced the "Shawshank Redemption" finale, Parry tells Jansen that if he survives a bus trip to the border, she should come find him in the little Peruvian seaside town of Piata in a few years.

Its not the faceless Bogie, Bacall's sultry beauty or even the stunning shots of San Francisco that make "Dark Passage" one of the most memorable films of the era. Its the next, small scene and its poignant magic that stays with you.

Parry watches two lonely souls seated on a bench at the bus station  a desolate single mom with two small children and a lost man, both waiting alone to take buses to somewhere in America. Parry approaches a jukebox and plays the song he and Jansen fell in love to at her apartment. The song, "Too Marvelous For Words," triggers a connection in the strangers and they start to talk  "You know we got something in common. Being alone."

With that, the man, woman and two kids become a family and board the same bus to Arizona, allowing the driver to leave San Francisco as the cops swamp the station. Our innocent fugitive escapes San Francisco and makes it to Peru, where Jansen finally finds him sipping a rum cocktail. Seventy-five years later, it's a finale that still makes the heart flutter.
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AG Moody warns of new synthetic opioid ISO

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody is warning residents of a deadly new synthetic opioid officials are becoming aware of called Isotonitazene.

Commonly referred to as ISO, a derivative of etonitazene, its classified as a Schedule 1 illegal narcotic.

Moody

For years, we have been warning about the dangers of fentanyl and how just one pill laced with this synthetic opioid can kill, Moody said. Now, there is a new, deadlier drug being found in Florida.

Isotonitazene, also known as ISO, is so strong that it can kill just by coming in contact with someones skin or being accidentally inhaled. ISO has already been linked to overdose deaths in Florida, so please, never take any illicit drug and know that using just one time could cost you your life.

The Pasco County Sheriffs Office issued a new dangerous drug alert about ISO, stating its 20 times more potent than fentanyl.

ISO can be absorbed by the body by skin contact, ingestion or inhalation, the alert states.

Signs of an overdose include blue/purple fingernails, blue/purple lips, difficulty breathing, unconsciousness, clammy skin, vomiting, pinpoint pupils, drowsiness, all of which can occur within minutes of exposure. Anyone who observes someone presenting these symptoms, the sheriffs office says, should call 911 immediately.

The sheriffs office says when deputies first came into contact with the powdery substance they thought it was fentanyl. But after being examined in a lab, it was identified as a newer, stronger drug than fentanyl.

Testing by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Crime Lab revealed that ISO has been found in multiple Florida counties since 2020.

At least two deaths were linked to ISO in Pasco County last year.

Like fentanyl, its being mixed with other drugs and sold in the illicit drug market. Most drug users dont know the pills they buy are mixed with fentanyl, or ISO.

ISO is a dangerous substance that we have, unfortunately, seen in Pasco County, Sheriff Chris Nocco said. As law enforcement continues to have to address the healthcare crisis of substance abuse, our goal remains to save lives and protect our community, which is why we have highlighted and brought awareness to the impact this dangerous substance has in our community.

Intelligence chief at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA)-Miami division, Justin Miller, told Wink News, the DEA is seeing ISO more in Central Florida, and particularly on the Gulf Coast.

Its an illegal narcotic, no medical use, Miller said. As you see other synthetic opioids such as ISO, or other compounds as well, that are just as potent  and potentially more so than fentanyl  that its going to have a direct correlation within with drug overdoses and fatalities.

The DEA reports that since April 2019, ISO entered the illicit drug market nationally and is responsible for numerous deaths. Like fentanyl, ISO can be laced with cocaine and methamphetamine and sold as a counterfeit pill.

Moody has published a PSA video message warning people about ISO. Her office also created a Dose of Reality website about the dangers of opioid misuse, how to receive support for addiction and where to safely dispose of unused prescription drugs.
The PGP is one of Canada's most popular immigration streams.

IRCC: No details yet on Parents and Grandparents Program 2022 The PGP is one of Canada's most popular immigration streams.

IRCC: No details yet on Parents and Grandparents Program 2022 The PGP is one of Canada's most popular immigration streams.

IRCC: No details yet on Parents and Grandparents Program 2022 The PGP is one of Canada's most popular immigration streams. Kareem El-Assal Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

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In a March 14, 2022 email to CIC News, IRCC said it has yet to be determined when the application process for the Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP) 2022 will open.

Under the new Immigration Levels Plan 2022-2024, the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is aiming to welcome 25,000 immigrants under the PGP this year, and this will rise to 28,500 immigrants in 2023, and 32,000 immigrants in 2024.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, details on the new PGP application process were typically released each January, but in 2020 and 2021, IRCC provided this information in the autumn.

The PGP is one of Canadas most popular immigration streams. In autumn 2020, for instance, IRCC received about 200,000 submissions from Canadian citizens and permanent residents that submitted expression of interest forms outlining their desire to sponsor their parents and grandparents. Due to the significant interest in the PGP, which far exceeds the number of spots available under its Immigration Levels Plan, IRCC has held a random lottery in recent years. Sponsors selected in the lottery are then invited to submit permanent residence sponsorship applications to IRCC.

Are you a Canadian citizen or permanent resident? Schedule a Free Super Visa Consultation with the Cohen Immigration Law Firm

When the PGP application window is open, IRCC requires that sponsors meet the following eligibility criteria:

Be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, or a registered Indian under the Canadian Indian Act;

Be at least 18 years old;

Reside in Canada;

Meet the minimum necessary income level for the PGP. Co-signing applications is possible for married and common-law partners as they can combine their income as part of their application. Sponsors need to be able to provide their proof of income to IRCC via their Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) Notices of Assessments;

Agree to sign a legal undertaking committing to financially support the sponsored individuals for 20 years and promise to repay any social assistance claimed by the sponsored individuals during this period.

In its email, IRCC encouraged prospective sponsors to consider applying for a Super Visa.

The Super Visa enables parents and grandparents to initially come to Canada as visitors for two years. The Super Visa can be renewed multiple times over a 10-year period. IRCC accepts Super Visa applications all year round. There is also no cap and no country quota.

The Super Visa can be a good option for those who want to bring their parents and grandparents to Canada in the near future. Sponsors can still apply for permanent residence under the PGP even if their parents and grandparents have obtained a Super Visa.

Are you a Canadian citizen or permanent resident? Schedule a Free Super Visa Consultation with the Cohen Immigration Law Firm

 CIC News All Rights Reserved. Visit CanadaVisa.com to discover your Canadian immigration options.
Business planning SaaS (software-as-a-service) software maker Anaplan is being acquired by private equity firm Thoma Bravo for $10.7 billion.

Founded in the UK and now based in San Francisco, Anaplan offers cloud-based finance and planning software and counts almost 2,000 customers worldwide, including Coca-Cola, Shell, Thomas Cook and VMware. The company went public in 2018, two years after rival SaaS firm Workday considered an acquisition attempt.

Under the terms of the deal, Anaplan shareholders will receive $66 a share in cash, while the companys current chief executive Frank Calderoni will continue to lead the company.

Anaplan is a clear leader in connected planning, solving critical business priorities for the worlds largest enterprises as they implement strategic and complex digital transformations, said Holden Spaht, managing partner at Thoma Bravo said in a press release. We have followed Anaplan for years and have seen the incredible value they bring customers through their best-in-class planning platform. We look forward to leveraging Thoma Bravos extensive operational and investment expertise in enterprise software to support Anaplan in its future growth.

The deal represents the latest in a string of high-profile leveraged buyouts of software companies in the last 18 months.

The software sector experienced rapid growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, attracting interest from private equity firms looking to capitalize on this growing trend. In November 2021, Advent International and Permira announced the $14 billion buyout of cybersecurity company McAfee, while Elliott Management and Vista Equity embarked on a $16.5 billion takeover of Citrix in January of this year. Thoma Bravo itself acquired cybersecurity firm Proofpoint for around $12 billion last year.
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Oklahoma City, OK (73106)

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Locally heavy thunderstorms in the morning will give way to partly cloudy skies late. High 64F. Winds NW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

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Concurs prelungit de selectare a unui expert/experta sau grup de experti in consolidarea capacitatilor centrelor regionale de suport in afaceri ale intreprinderilor sociale (Hub-uri)
One week ago, Marina Ovsyannikovaa producer at Channel One, part of the Russian state-TV apparatus that has been a key vector of Vladimir Putins lies about his invasion of Ukraineburst onto the set of an evening news show and held a sign over the anchors shoulder. It was topped by the English words no war, scratched between drawings of the Ukrainian and Russian flags, and continued, in Russian, Dont believe the propaganda, they are lying to you here; Ovsyannikova also tried to talk over the anchor before the shot quickly cut away. Before making her stand, Ovsyannikova recorded a video message that was later made public. I am ashamed that I let the Russian people be zombified, she said in the video, before calling on her fellow Russians to join her in protest. They cant jail us all, she said.

Ovsyannikovas bilingual protest, aimed explicitly at both domestic and Western audiences, quickly succeeded in making headlines around the world. Concern spread, too, for her well-beingreports circulated that she had been detained and faced prosecution under a new law that harshly criminalizes antiwar speech (including the word war)but by Tuesday night, she was freed, having only been fined around three hundred US dollars for calling for protests in her video, with no extra punishment for the TV stunt itself. Ovsyannikova told reporters outside court that she had been interrogated for more than fourteen hours and denied a lawyer. She has since sat for interviews with a range of major international news outlets. On Wednesday, she told Reuters that she remained extremely concerned for her safety; on Thursday, she told France 24 that her young son has accused her of destroying the familys life together, but that she thinks he will come to understand in time. Yesterday, she appeared on ABCs This Week, where she started speaking in English before switching to Russian because it is a great language of Pushkin and Tolstoy. She continued, via a translator, that her dissatisfaction with the current situation has been accumulating for many years.

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Ovsyannikova has tendered her resignation from Channel One. While her protest was uniquely visible, shes not aloneas the BBC put it last week, state-aligned Russian TV channels have recently been hit by a quiet but steady stream of resignations. Zhanna Agalakova, an anchor for whom Ovsyannikova once worked as a writer, reportedly also quit Channel One; Lilia Gildeyeva and Vadim Glusker reportedly left NTV, while Maria Baronova, a former top editor at RT, resigned in the days after the invasion and has herself since spoken out about her departure in international media. VGTRK, the state-TV holding company, is rumored to have lost staffers, too, with Denis Kataev, of the banned independent network TV Rain, reporting in The Guardian that many more are considering their futures amid a nasty internal atmosphere. This is a new feeling for people who work in these strict, pro-government places, Kataev wrote last week. Ovsyannikovas protest, he added, will likely go down in the history books, as both a radical act of dissent and a revolutionary development for TV in Russia.

Gildeyeva, of NTV, didnt only quit her state-TV job, but fled Russia altogether. She, too, is not alone. Even prior to the war, independent reporters had been forced to leave Russia as Putin intensified a clampdown on press freedom; since the invasion, the clampdown has intensifiednot least via the new speech lawand so, too, has the journalistic exodus. According to Agentstvoan investigative site that was born from the ashes of Proekt, which Putin outlawed last year, and itself now operates out of neighboring Georgiaat least a hundred and fifty journalists have left Russia since the invasion, with many heading to Georgia, Armenia, Serbia, or Turkey given those countries relative openness to Russian nationals. Last week, The Guardians Pjotr Sauer and Ruth Michaelson met with reporters exiled in Istanbul. Sonia Groysman, of TV Rain, said that she and her colleagues wanted to continue working after Putin blocked their network, only to learn of an impending raid on their offices. At that point, she says, it was game over.

The post-invasion exodus has been much broader than just journalists, with Russians from across civil society choosing to get out. Writing for the New York Times last week, Sophie Pinkham compared the flight of Russias modern liberal intelligentsia to the departure of dissident emigres in the Soviet period, noting that while the West (not to mention Western media) was often keen to welcome the latter and help spread their ideas, the former are running into the effects of visa restrictions, financial sanctions, and generalized anti-Russian sentiment. Yesterday, The New Yorker published a big piece, headlined The Scattering, by Masha Gessen, who relocated from Moscow to New York eight years ago amid official threats to her family. Gessen writes that it is now impossible to imagine returning to Moscowmy cityand that even if I did about four out of every five people I knew, well or at all, would be missing. Gessen, too, observes a difference from the Soviet era. The old Russian emigres were moving toward a vision of a better life; the new ones were running from a crushing darkness.

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In 1970, Albert O. Hirschman, an economist, published Exit, Voice, and Loyalty, a book that would become influential in social-scientific circles. Hirschmans argument is multifaceted and rooted primarily in market dynamics, but its basic concepts, in particular, are more broadly applicablethose who are dissatisfied with a given status quo have two main choices: leave (exit) or speak up (voice). The situation for journalists in Russia right now shows this choice at work again, as well as the complex interplay between the options. In the face of rising domestic threats, some independent outlets have relocated many of their staffers without knowing what to do next; othersthe Latvia-based Meduza, for examplealready set up shop outside of Russia, and are using that external base to continue to broadcast uncomfortable truths into the country, at least to those Russians able to circumvent official Web blocks via VPNs and other workarounds. Novaya Gazeta, an independent newspaper that is still based in Russia, recently curtailed its coverage of the invasion to protect its staff, but has continued to cover antiwar dissent. Last week, it ran a front-page image of Ovsyannikovas protest, but with the word war pixelated. The paper, Meduzas Kevin Rothrock noted, is shredding Kremlin censorship by obeying itan act, he added, known as malicious compliance.

Ovsyannikova used the full extent of her voice and does not plan to exit Russia, even though she could yet face harsher punishment for her TV protest; donors have gathered the funds for her to flee, and France has offered her asylum, but she has refused. She sees staying put as a question of loyalty as we would commonly understand that termeven if, in Putins Russia, it has come to require the propagandistic whitewashing still practiced by many of Ovsyannikovas former colleagues. I am a patriot, she explained on ABC yesterday. I want to live in Russia. My children want to live in Russia. We had a very comfortable life in Russia. And I dont want to immigrate and lose another ten years of my life to assimilate in some other country.

I believe in the history of my country, she added. The times are very dark and very difficult, and every person who has a civil position who wants to make that civil position known must speak up. Its very important.

Below, more on Russia and Ukraine:

A questionable partnership: Sources at Reuters told Politico s Max Tani that staffers there are frustrated and embarrassed by the companys ongoing partnership with TASS, a Russian state-owned wire service ; the relationship largely went unnoticed externally when it was announced in 2020, but Putins invasion of Ukraine has meant that more scrutiny is being placed on the arrangement, including from Reuters employees. Reuters downplayed its ties to TASS, Tani reports, noting that while a business-to-business service offered by Reuters still provides TASS content to subscribers, the arrangement is independent of the Reuters newsroom.

Press freedom in Ukraine: Oleh Baturyn, a journalist based near the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Kherson, has reportedly resurfaced after going missing and spending eight days in captivity. In a Facebook message posted via his sisters account and reported by the Committee to Protect Journalists , Baturyn did not identify his captors but said that in nearly eight days of captivity he was humiliated and threatened with execution. The positive news of Baturyns release came as concern intensified as to the well-being of Viktoria Roshchina, a Ukrainian journalist who has been missing since last week. On Friday, her employer said that it believes she is in Russian military captivity .

A new approach: Politico s Ruby Cramer has a profile of Terrell Jermaine Starr , a US journalist based in Ukraine who is redefining what it means to be a journalist who is as much a participant as an observer. Starr reports by way of highly personal and opinionated accounts on Twitter, in frequent cable news hits and in his podcast, Black Diplomats first-person dispatches that bleed into humanitarian work, first in Kyiv, now in Lviv, Cramer writes. After a Russian missile attack struck nearby, he appeared live on MSNBC to talk through the psychological trauma of what it means to be a refugee. He has helped transport three families to the border, tweeting along the way.

Meanwhile, in Germany: RTL, a German broadcaster, hired Karolina Ashion, a Ukrainian journalist, to host a ten-minute daily Ukrainian-language news show aimed at Ukrainians who have resettled in Germany since the invasion. Ashion only made it to Germany about a week ago herself, following an arduous journey from Kyiv via Moldova and Romania, the APs Philipp Reissfelder writes . Her male colleagues, who arent allowed to leave Ukraine if they are between 18 and 60, are still broadcasting out of a bomb shelter in the countrys capital, she said.



Other notable stories:

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Jon Allsop is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Review of Books, Foreign Policy, and The Nation, among other outlets. He writes CJRs newsletter The Media Today. Find him on Twitter @Jon_Allsop.
EASTLAND, Texas (AP)  Fire crews in Texas made progress Saturday against a massive complex of wildfires that have killed a deputy sheriff and burned at least 50 homes, officials said.

Progress has been made, but fire activity has picked up with rising temperatures and lower humidity, said Matt Ford, spokesperson for Texas A&M Forest Services. He said about 25% of the flames were contained, up from about 4% late Friday as the fire burned thick brush and grass fields.

The fires had burned about 130 square miles (330 square kilometers), including about 70 square miles (185 square kilometers) in the Eastland Complex, according to the agency. That area is around 120 miles (193 kilometers) west of Dallas.

Gusty winds were expected to return Sunday, again raising the wildfire threat to critical levels in western and central Texas, Ford said.

We are predicting weather severity to increase Sunday, said Ford. Fire activity may increase based on weather conditions (but) containment lines are holding thus far.

The National Weather Service forecast for the area called for high temperatures in the low 80s on Sunday with winds of 15-20 mph (24-32 kph) and gusts up to 30 mph (48 kph).

The forecast also calls for a 90% chance of rain on Monday, which Ford said would be welcome, but the winds could shift and drive the fire in another direction.

Any kind of water source or rain is going to be beneficial, in extinguishing the flames, Ford said. Well hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

Gov. Greg Abbott said late Friday that at least 50 homes had been destroyed by flames with more possibly to be found. He declared a disaster in the 11 counties hardest hit by wildfires. The Texas A&M Forest Services warned that fires could also affect parts of Oklahoma and Kansas, and Nebraska and warned of an extreme fire risk in those states.

The Eastland County Sheriffs Office released more details on the death of Deputy Sgt. Barbara Fenley. In a statement, the office said she was going door to door, getting residents to evacuate their homes Thursday and it was last heard that she was going to check on an elderly individual.

With the extreme deteriorating conditions and low visibility from smoke, Sgt. Fenley ran off the roadway and was engulfed in the fire, the sheriffs statement said.

About 18,000 people live in Eastland County and about 475 homes were evacuated in the area, Ford said.

We do have assessment teams on the ground investigating exactly how many homes were lost, Ford said.

Several months of dry, windy weather have fueled deadly wildfires in Kansas and Oklahoma, including one a few weeks ago. In remote, western Nebraska ranching country, a large wildfire has been burning for several days. Meteorologists said they were hopeful that the expected rain showers early next week across the Plains would reduce the risk.

The fires caused hazy conditions hundreds of miles away and prompted automated phone messages from the Houston Fire Department and the citys Office of Emergency Management on Friday alerting area residents to smoke and ash.

Weve been so dry that even an inch of rain would make a difference, said Robb Lawson, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Wichita, Kansas.

Smaller fires were burning in other parts of Texas, and Thursdays low humidity and high winds created an ideal scenario for the blazes to quickly grow out of control. Texas A&M Forest Service had warned of a wildfire outbreak this week because of the forecast.

A nursing home in Rising Star was evacuated and residents were taken to a community center, Eastland County Today reported.

The National Weather Service in Fort Worth warned Friday that much of western and central Texas faces an elevated fire risk due to gusty winds and drought conditions. The weather service urged residents to check for local burn bans and use caution with anything that could start a grass fire.

We had a fairly dry summer last year and that continued into the fall and winter, said National Weather Service meteorologist Madison Gordon. With winter passing, we now have a lot of fuel available in fields.

A Baptist church in downtown Ranger, Texas, about 85 miles (140 kilometers) west of Fort Worth, was destroyed Thursday when flames engulfed the 103-year-old building. The police department and other historic buildings were also burned, Dallas TV station WFAA reported.

Roy Rodgers, a deacon at Second Baptist Church, said the third floor and roof collapsed and the rest of the building had extensive smoke and water damage. Rodgers said the church plans to hold its next Sunday service in a parking lot across the street, where the congregation will decide what to do.

Its heartbreaking, said Rodgers, a church member since 1969. A lot of people are taking it pretty hard because a lot of people have ties to the church.

The fire, which was fueled by high winds, may have started from a barbecue pit, Ranger Fire Department Chief Darrell Fox said.

We had everything ready throughout the county, Fox said. But when we have the winds like there was  and the humidity down to nothing, this is what youre going to get.

The fires caused hazy conditions hundreds of miles away, with the Houston Fire Department and the citys Office of Emergency Management on Friday morning sending out automated phone messages alerting area residents to smoke and ash.

About the photo: Jared Calvert exits the former Ranger Law Enforcement Center in Ranger, Texas Friday March 18, 2022. Fire crews in West Texas hope to make progress Saturday against a massive complex of wildfires that have killed one person and burned at least 50 homes, officials said. (Ronald W. Erdrich/The Abilene Reporter-News via AP)

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP)  A possible tornado overturned multiple mobile homes in a south Alabama community as severe storms swept through Friday morning, authorities said.

Escambia County Sheriff Heath Jackson told WALA-TV that about nine mobile homes were destroyed and two people were taken by ambulance to the hospital. No deaths were reported, and Jacksons office said in a statement that none of the injuries was severe.

We had one guy that was in his mobile home when the storm hit. He was asleep. He said when he woke up, he was in the woods. So, you know, obviously the good lord was looking out for him, Jackson told the station.

Everyone was accounted for but the damage was substantial, he said. Photos on social media showed what appeared to be pieces of a mobile home atop a pickup truck and pink insulation and broken lumber scattered scattered around a residential area.

Its devastating, and those people have nothing left. We are so thankful that nobody was killed or severely injured, Jackson said.

It wasnt immediately clear whether the damage was caused by a tornado or straight-line winds. The National Weather Service typically assesses areas hit by severe weather to determine the cause.

The National Weather Service issued several tornado warnings for south Alabama, but Adams said there wasnt one in effect for the area at the time. In the Florida Panhandle, the Okaloosa County Sheriffs Office said it was assessing damage after a possible tornado strike and shared a photo of a mobile home with part of its roof missing.

Flash floods covered streets in southern Mississippi, and the weather service said trees and power lines were knocked down in southwest Georgia.

The storms left more than 13,000 homes and businesses in the dark in Alabama and flash flooding was reported south of Birmingham, where heavy rains that left downtown streets under water were blamed for one death Wednesday. More rain was expected, along with wind gusts as strong as 60 mph (97 km/h), hail and possibly tornadoes.

A tornado watch covered southern counties in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, plus the western tip of the Panhandle. More than a dozen school systems in the area canceled classes, extracurricular activities or switched to virtual teaching for the day because of the weather threat.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
AZUSA, Calif. (AP)  Six people were injured Saturday afternoon after a Los Angeles Sheriffs Department helicopter crashed in the Angeles National Forest near Azusa, the LA County Fire Department said.

All six passengers were airlifted to Pomona Valley Medical Center, Sheriff Alex Villanueva told The Los Angeles Times. One of the passengers is in critical condition, two are in moderate condition and two others have minor injuries, he said.

The Times reported that five of the passengers on the Air Rescue 5 helicopter were deputies with the Sheriffs Department, and the sixth was a doctor from UCLA.

The passengers suffered a variety of injuries, including fractures and broken ribs.

They are in stable condition, some more banged up than others, but thankful to be alive, Villanueva told the Times. The fact that there were no fatalities is nothing short of a miracle.

The crash occurred at 4:58 p.m. near the San Gabriel Reservoir, which is near Highway 39 and East Fork Road near Azusa.

The Times reported that the green Air Rescue 5 helicopter was responding to a call for service in the area at the time of the crash. The San Dimas station received a call that a helicopter went down at 4:58 p.m., the sheriffs department said.

The damaged aircraft is now lying on its side in Azusa Canyon near the San Gabriel Dam. Multiple emergency vehicles are at the scene.

The rescue helicopter makes hundreds of flights annually into some of the toughest terrain, often flying into narrow canyons and dealing with difficult topography.

The helicopter crew has saved thousands of lives over the years, Villanueva told the Times.

The National Transportation Safety Board has launched an investigation into the crash, spokesman Eric Weiss said.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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 
If a visitor to Israel had the time to take a month to really get to know the country, I would recommend the period that has just concluded  from Passover through Israeli Independence Day. Its Israel in a nutshell. And it also happens to be a time of year when most of the days are picture-perfect  warm and sunny with cool nights.
If a visitor to Israel had the time to take a month to really get to know the country, I would recommend the period that has just concluded  from Passover through Israeli Independence Day. Its Israel in a nutshell. And it also happens to be a time of year when most of the days are picture-
Is Blake Masters behind the smears against Mark Brnovich in the U.S. Senate r ace? By Rachel Alexander

web posted March 21, 2022 Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich is running for U.S. Senate, challenging Democrat Mark Kelly, and much of the criticism against him may be coming from the out-of-state Silicon Valley billionaire-funded candidate Blake Masters who is also running as a Republican, inside sources say. Brnovich has a lengthy record as a solid conservative  the most proactive conservative Ive ever encountered in my lifetime, filing numerous lawsuits against the Biden administration and championing issues like election fraud , illegal immigration and draconian COVID-19 policies  yet someone is constantly feeding stories to conservative media claiming hes a RINO. The latest story making the rounds is that Brnovich was hanging out with Maricopa County Recorder and election-fraud denier Stephen Richer, a Republican who started a PAC composed of GOP election-fraud deniers like himself. Since Brnovich is diametrically opposed to election-fraud deniers, the accusation doesnt even pass the smell test. Richer claims there wasnt any fraud in the 2020 presidential election in Maricopa County, whereas Brnovich is currently investigating the results of the independent ballot audit ordered by the Arizona Senate. Brnovichs shadowy opponents conveniently omit facts, such as after the Maricopa County Supervisors agreed to conduct a partial hand counted audit immediately after the election, he demanded that they double the number of ballots. He also ordered them to comply with the Arizona Senates subpoena. Well, the truth about the photo of Brnovich speaking at an event standing several feet away from Richer in the small audience is that Brnovich had been invited to speak to an organization called Teneo . Brnovich accepts many invitations to speak. He had nothing to do with Richer; the two arent friends, theyre merely both lawyers. And while there have been efforts to make Teneo look like a lefty organization, its homepage says, We believe in limited, constitutional government. We support individual liberty and free enterprise. We place trust in a robust civic society and a strong national defense. We acknowledge a transcendent order, whether founded in tradition, philosophy, or theology. Doesnt sound very lefty to me. And if they have some members or associations that arent solidly conservative, that doesnt mean a conservative cant speak to them  using that criteria, Brnovich couldnt speak to the Federalist Society due to its association with people like Orrin Hatch.

Blake Masters speaking to Teneo with Richer in audience And ready for the most ridiculous part about the accusation? Masters himself spoke at one of their meetings, one photo shows him arm in arm in a row with Richers in the row, and another shows him speaking while looking at Richer a couple feet away  exactly like the photo of Brnovich speaking while Richer is looking at him! Inside sources tell me that Masters or his campaign are feeding these stories to conservative media about Brnovich, not telling them the full story in order to fool them into writing inaccurate hit pieces. Masters presence at those meetings makes it highly likely he was the one leaking the stories. Masters also got caught slamming Brnovich on Twitter recently, claiming Donald Trump wanted nothing to do with Brnovich when Trump came to Arizona for a rally  but Brnovich had actually just met Trump at the airport in Phoenix that day and posted a photo of the two together. Masters hasnt bothered deleting the inaccurate tweet. Masters visited Mar-a-lago in November and created a perception that Trump had endorsed him because Trump showed up at his event, but that wasnt true either. And if Trump was going to endorse him, wouldnt he have done it by now, four months later? And according to The Week, Masters doesnt even believe there was actual election fraud in the 2020 election. The main attacks against Brnovich right now consist of slamming him for not finishing the investigation of the election audit results yet. Well, you know what happened to the last prosecutor who indicted Maricopa County Supervisors? He was disbarred . And the supervisors turned around and awarded themselves huge amounts of taxpayer dollars over the stress of being prosecuted  one made off with $3.5 million, another $975,000. Thats right, if this investigation is rushed, Brnovich will end up disbarred and useless to us, and the left will be able to point to it as just more corrupt conservatives. Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs filed 12 bar complaints against Brnovich and his staff attorneys over his election integrity disputes with her, which were fortunately dismissed . But former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas successfully beat 13 bar complaints before the supervisors filed one against him and won. I practiced law for 12 years, including as a prosecutor for Maricopa County, the elections attorney for Maricopa County, and an Arizona Assistant Attorney General, and I guarantee you a lot of people simply dont understand how long investigations like this take because they havent been in the trenches. Its common knowledge that criminal prosecutions can take years  so why is Brnovich being held up to some different standard to rush and get convictions, risking technical errors that will end up getting cases thrown out? Masters is clearly desperate because despite all the funding from an out-of-state Silicon Valley billionaire, he isnt getting any traction in the race. The latest polls in the race show Brnovich averaging 29%, Masters at 12%, and the other candidates with even less support. Masters has no record, hes never been in office. Conservatives are skeptical of him because the billionaire funding him sat on the board of Facebook for years. Its one thing to bring fresh novice blood to a political office where you have a RINO incumbent politician that needs to go. But portraying Brnovich as a RINO is dishonest considering his long, documented record in office, not to mention his years prior working as the director for constitutional government at the Goldwater Institute. Hes now put his neck out there making himself a target by suing the Biden administration repeatedly, as well as Hobbs, the City of Tucson and more. Dont be fooled, and think seriously about the character of whoever is planting fake stories with conservative media, using them and making them look sloppy and inaccurate. Rachel Alexander and her brother Andrew are co-Editors of Intellectual Conservative . She has been published in the American Spectator, Townhall.com, Fox News, NewsMax, Accuracy in Media, The Americano, ParcBench, Enter Stage Right and other publications. Home
Clinton, IA (52732)

Today

Rain showers in the morning will evolve into a more steady rain in the afternoon. High 58F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch..

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Treason and patriotism in Canada and the current-day world  updated to 2022 (Part Four) By Mark Wegierski

web posted March 21, 2022 It is by no means the case that only the claims to loyalty by totalitarian and authoritarian regimes are subject to question. It may be noted that some liberal democratic regimes in late modernity have evolved away from what was once the residual traditional content of their culture. There has emerged, therefore, the problem of "a tyranny from another direction", not from the far right or far left, but perhaps from "the center." Around 1998 in the United States, there erupted a debate around a symposium sponsored by the journal First Things, edited by Richard Neuhaus. Father Neuhaus (at that time a Roman Catholic priest, formerly a Lutheran minister) had once been a close aide of Martin Luther King, Jr. However, as the U.S. situation soured over the decades, Neuhaus became increasingly rightward-leaning. The main theme of the symposium was the criticism of so-called "judicial usurpation", i.e., that the various decisions of the U.S. Courts were driving the country in a direction undesired by the majority of the population. Laws supported by enormous majorities in the country were struck down by activist Courts, whereas any popular initiatives to change the direction of the country, were also being immediately declared unconstitutional. In the flush of debate, some of the symposium's participants suggested that, if the popular will continued to be so manifestly blocked, perhaps armed insurrection was not out of the question. The responses of the so-called neoconservative wing of the U.S. Right to these ideas were unreserved and ferocious. The symposium participants were accused of an "anti-Americanism" comparable to that of the Sixties' Far Left. It seemed to have escaped the notice of the neoconservatives that pointing out the apparently illiberal and undemocratic nature of the current U.S. system has been a staple of conservative ideas in the U.S. since at least the 1960s. From a traditionalist and/or conservative standpoint, there is precious little democracy or popular will left in a regime dominated by the managerial-therapeutic system of mass-media, mass-education, mass-bureaucracy, juridical legalism, etc., which seems to be exerting all efforts to make any kind of conservatism virtually impossible. Must then even the most patriotic American offer support to this system? In the 1990s, the burgeoning so-called Patriot Militia movement might have suggested the direction where the most patriotic-minded Americans were conceptually migrating. And it may be noted that left-liberals were not unwilling to deploy the sharp coercive arm of the state (elements of the FBI, BATF, etc.) against those they considered their enemies. Ironically, when the former "Sixties' rebels" (i.e., mostly Baby Boomers), more-or-less achieved control of the government in the 1990s, including its coercive instrumentalities, far less attention was paid to "CIA/FBI wrongdoing" in that time. And today, left-liberals virtually worship the U.S. intelligence apparatus, which conservative critics have called the Deep State. It could be argued that President Obama had combined the continuation of George W. Bushs War on Terror abroad  in order to pacify neoconservative criticism  while pursuing an increasingly radical domestic agenda. No matter how many drone strikes and bombings he ordered abroad (to the applause of the neocons), the Left was also cheering him on, because it was getting what it wanted at home. Among Obamas highly questionable actions in domestic policy have been the choosing of and continuing support for a highly egregious Attorney-General; the enactment of what amounts to an administrative amnesty for illegal immigrants  in a flaunting of Congresss unwillingness to bring in such measures through legislation; and the nomination of very divisive figures to the Supreme Court. So, one may indeed be arriving at a stage in history when one may well begin to question the legitimacy of the U.S. regime, despite its apparently emphatically democratic nature. Would the rejection of and resistance to the current U.S. regime necessarily be considered as treasonous by American patriots? What kinds of rejection and resistance may be seen as legitimate, and which as illegitimate? To be continued. Mark Wegierski is a Canadian writer and historical researcher. Home
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 21)  Aksyon Demokratiko is seeking an original copy of the written demand of the Bureau of Internal Revenue to the Marcos family to pay their unsettled tax liabilities.

Party chair Ernest Ramel told CNN Philippines' The Source on Monday that they are drafting a letter to the BIR to seek proof of the agency's written request to the family of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos to settle their estate taxes that have ballooned to over 203 billion.

"I was on the line of presumption of regularity since they (BIR) did say that they sent so I take their word for it," Ramel said.

"Just to satisfy the curiosity, I'm sure even the public would like to see it, did they really write, and what was in there?" he noted.

On December 2, 2021, BIR wrote a demand letter to the Marcos heirs to follow up on their tax liabilities, as reported by the agency to Aksyon Demokratiko last March 14.

READ: BIR says it sent written demand to Marcos family to pay tax liabilities in late 2021

In Saturday's presidential debate sponsored by the Commission on Elections, party president Isko Moreno again brought up the issue, noting the hefty amount could aid those hit by the pandemic and rising fuel prices.

Fellow presidential candidates Ping Lacson, Leni Robredo, and Leody de Guzman expressed a similar sentiment. Former senator and survey frontrunner Bongbong Marcos skipped the debate.

The Department of Finance said it earlier pushed the BIR to collect the money as an additional source of government revenue.

In 1997, the Supreme Court ruled that the Marcos family must settle their unpaid estate taxes.

Former BIR director Kim Henares said on Facebook on Sunday that it is wrong to claim that estate taxes, or taxes on the properties left by the deceased, are not a liability of former senator Marcos or the other heirs of his father.

"Failing to do so opens these persons to possible criminal liabilities," Henares said, citing the Tax Code of 1977.
Alas, the best outcome in Ukraine now may be a relatively quick Russian victory By Selwyn Duke

web posted March 21, 2022 Its hard finding an American, anywhere, who believes Russias invasion of Ukraine is a good thing. Im no exception. War is ugly, and innocent people suffer as the pseudo-elites play their geopolitical chess games driven by power-lust, pocketbook and politics. This also isnt about rooting for the good guys. For Vladimir Putin cannot be counted among them, and, for that matter, neither can ex-actor and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy or our globalist leaders. Rather, this concerns something else. When I was on some medication a while back and wanted to take Benadryl as well, for a more frivolous reason, I hesitated because I couldnt determine how the drugs would interact. I didnt take the Benadryl; as someone close to me put it, You dont want to risk dying over something stupid. The same point could be made here as our leaders, who cant even figure out what boys and girls are, tiptoe around WWIII in the backyard of the nation with the worlds largest nuclear weapons stockpile: Do we really want to risk dying in an atomic holocaust over something stupid? This isnt emotion-driven fear-mongering. Trends forecaster BCA Research is predicting a 10 percent chance of a civilization-ending nuclear war within the next year  and I fear the probability may be greater still. Before anyone starts going on about the moral imperative of taking up the cudgels for Ukraine  with the pretensions about how higher gas prices are worth it (vaccinating was the previous moral obligation)  lets review the stupidity in question. In 1991-92 the Soviet Union, in the grip of reformers, allowed the Berlin Wall to come down, dissolved into 15 nations, pulled the Red Army back within Russian borders and even began behaving, arguably, in a more pro-American fashion. For example, Russia did not use its veto in the Security Council to block the U.S. war to drive Saddam Hussein, an ally, out of Kuwait, commentator Pat Buchanan reminded us in 2007 . When 9/11 struck, Putin gave his blessing to U.S. troops using former republics as bases for the U.S. invasion. In other words, we had a perhaps once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reboot our relationship with Russia. We possibly couldve even turned the Bear into an ally, a valuable asset in what is the current cold war against our main geopolitical adversary: China. For certain is that the United States and Russia have far more in common than either country does with Beijing, sharing both European heritage and essentially the same foundational religion. But our globalist pseudo-elites didnt seize this opportunity. What they did instead was take NATO  which had lost its raison detre as it was created to counter an empire no longer extant, the USSR  and expand it to Russias very borders. In fact, despite then-U.S. secretary of state James Baker assuring Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990 that NATO would extend not one inch [farther] eastward, there are now on Russias borders four NATO members: Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Our globalist pseudo-elites perhaps couldnt help themselves, being both relatively stupid and morally corrupt. They possibly couldnt dispense with the Cold War mentality and shake the one-worlder obsession with never, ever shrinking but always expanding international alliances and unions. But you dont have to believe Putin is a good guy  you just have to not be a dumb guy  to grasp that getting along with a fellow nuclear power is both an imperative and requires being reasonable. Now, question: How would we react if China forged a mutual defense alliance with Mexico and then, later, drew Canada, Cuba and the Bahamas into it? Would we view this as friendly? We certainly made clear with our Monroe Doctrine and during the Cuban Missile Crisis that such meddling was a red line for us. And so has Putin made clear repeatedly  after decades of NATO expansion  that NATO inroads into Ukraine constitute a red line for him. Despite this, our pseudo-elites entertained Ukraines NATO membership for years and armed the nation with Western weapons. And the stupid bull-in-a-china-shop foreign policy just continues flowing forth and escalating the crisis. Kamala Harris recently said while doing diplomacy in Europe that she appreciated President Zelenskyys desire to join NATO. Were currently waging total economic war on Moscow, too (though Russia expert Clint Ehrlich claims the sanctions have increased Putins approval rating 10 points). There also are more Western arms shipments into Ukraine, which Moscow now warn s are legitimate targets. Are you at ease with this? Demagogues would call my talk un-American; this label has already been applied to Ukraine realists just as those rejecting vaccines and COVID regulations were called unpatriotic. This is not only a childish reaction in a very dangerous time but is the precise opposite of the truth. Reality: Our Founding Fathers warned against entangling alliances and involving ourselves in European wars. Yet against all reason, this is precisely what our pseudo-elites are doing  in spades. They are the ones being un-American. To be clear, I was never one to say Better red than dead even back when red meant communist and Russia was still the Marxist Soviet Union (you know, back when our leftists had sympathy for it and long before they started kowtowing to Beijing). If China or Russia lands troops on our shores, then we do what we must; we perhaps even fight to the last man. But just as the Cuban Missile Crisis was at our doorstep, Ukraine is in Russias backyard. And you must tread softly in another great powers backyard  like it or not. For that power cannot back down at its own doorstep without losing unacceptable face and credibility. Its quite as when chasing a man who has repeatedly avoided conflict to his very front door, screaming and shouting and refusing to leave. You may force his hand and have a fight youll end up wishing you didnt start. Note, too, that many have reveled in likening Putin to Adolf Hitler. While Nazi comparisons are overdone (including by Putin himself), if anyone really believes this, what are the implications? Well, imagine its April 1945, Hitler knows WWII is lost and hes sitting in his bunker. Now also imagine, however, that he has Putins 6,000 nuclear weapons a buttons touch away. What would he do? We all know. The point: Many have theorized that Putin may be physically and/or even mentally unwell. A renowned psychiatrist posits that he may even have Paranoid Personality Disorder. He also wields something uncomfortably close to absolute power in Russia, and it has been said that he has staked everything on this war and cannot lose it. So while we cant read his mind, do we really want to risk turning him into a man with nothing to lose, a man who maybe, just perhaps, could descend to a point where all he wants is to see the world burn? Not over a Red Dawn kind of situation , either, mind you  but Ukraine? If I could snap my fingers and undo Russias invasion, I would; I also would if I could reverse the decades of foolish NATO expansionism. But thats water under the bridge. So whats the solution now? As Professor Thomas Sowell has pointed out, sometimes in life there are no solutions, only trade-offs. The best trade-off here, I believe, is a quick Russian victory in Ukraine. For the longer this crisis continues, the greater the chances that our pseudo-elites and a possibly unhinged Putin could spark nuclear carnage. Secondarily, also worth mentioning is that the longer the war continues, the greater the probability there will be a dangerous accidental release from the Ukrainian bio-labs (Son of COVID?), which Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland recently admitted do exist. Perhaps this is worth it to certain pseudo-elites. Some have posh fallout shelters they can retreat to, after all, and killing off billions sure would be a great reset. But for the rest of us, it would be a pretty stupid reason to die. Contact Selwyn Duke , follow him on MeWe , Gettr or Parler , or log on to SelwynDuke.com . Home
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 22)  President Rodrigo Duterte has signed the law amending the 85-year-old Public Service Act, allowing full foreign ownership in various sectors.

Republic Act 11659 allows 100 foreign ownership in telecommunications, railways, subways and airlines. It also retains the 40 percent cap for public utilities such as the distribution and transmission of electricity, petroleum products, pipeline transmission systems, water pipeline distribution systems, wastewater pipeline systems, seaports, and public utility vehicles.

During the ceremonial signing of R.A. 11659 on Monday, Duterte said the law is expected to generate more jobs, improve basic services and allow exchange of skills and technology with the countrys foreign partners.

I believe that through this law, the easing out of foreign equity restrictions will attract more global investors, modernize several sectors of public service and improve the delivery of essential services, he said.

Indeed, the enactment of this amended law, as well as the amended Foreign Investments Act, shall help stimulate the economy, especially for local businesses, he added.

Duterte also thanked Congress for the timely ratification of the amendments, which is among his administrations legislative priorities.

By easing foreign equity restrictions in key industries, the law will spur critical investments to fast-track inclusive recovery and development that will leave no Filipino behind, said Senator Grace Poe, main author and sponsor of the measure.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Joey Salceda, sponsor of the measure in the lower house, has estimated that Foreign Direct Investments are expected to increase by 299 billion over the next five years following PSA amendments
(CNN)  Two Harvard University students have created a website connecting thousands of Ukrainian refugees with hosts around the world offering them a safe haven.

The idea was born when Avi Schiffmann attended a pro-Ukraine demonstration while visiting San Diego, where he came face to face with hundreds of Ukrainian Americans sharing distressing stories and pleading for help.

"I remember thinking, 'I know how to design websites with big platforms,' so how could I not do anything to help?" Schiffmann, 19, told CNN. "They need assistance, immediately and on a really big scale, and I had to find a way to make that happen as soon as possible."

As of Friday, at least 847 civilians -- including 64 children -- have been killed in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began in late February, according to the latest update from the United Nations Human Rights Office.

More than three million people have since fled Ukraine, according to the International Organization for Migration. Thousands more head to the border every day. Meanwhile, millions of Ukrainians remain in a country where active conflict has cut off access to basic supplies and medicine.

Schiffmann, who resides in Seattle while he takes a semester off school, reached out to fellow classmate and friend Marco Burstein to share his idea.

Although Burstein was in Massachusetts and entangled in the middle of a busy semester, the 18-year-old computer science major signed up for the effort.

For three days -- and only a few meals in between, according to Schiffmann -- the pair spent every waking moment designing, editing and perfecting a website dedicated to assisting refugees.

Ukraine Take Shelter launched on March 3. Within a week more than 4,000 people had created listings offering shelter to Ukrainian refugees.

"For me, I'm behind a computer across the world, which is what I'm good at, but it's very disconnected sometimes," Schiffmann said. "To see so many people from countries in every corner of the world doing something to help these refugees, who need and deserve safety, is really inspiring."

This isn't the first time Schiffmann has used his passion for web design to help strangers.

During the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, he built a website to track the impact of Covid-19. That same year, he also designed a website that tracked Black Lives Matter protests taking place across the United States.

"I see it like this: Almost everybody has a smart phone and internet connection," Schiffmann said. "There's always something happening around the world, an earthquake, a war, a pandemic, and there is always a way to use technology to improve the lives of people in these humanitarian crises."

To date, there have been more than one million users on Ukraine Take Shelter and over 25,000 listings. Short- and long-term hosts across the world have offered whatever they can, from living room couches and spare bedrooms, to entire homes and apartments.

Schiffmann and Burstein are now working on a way to allow the website to also aggregate listings from major rental platforms, such as Airbnb and Vrbo, as well as listings posted by nonprofit and government organizations.

The website has caught the attention of many, including the Ukrainian government, which responded to one of Schiffmann's tweets.

"Dear Avi Schiffmann, many thanks for your important work," Ukrain'e official government Twitter account wrote.

'This puts power back into the hands of refugees'

While designing Ukraine Take Shelter, Schiffmann's and Burstein's priority was making it as easy to use as possible.

"When I researched what tools Ukrainian refugees had to get connected to hosts, they weren't very efficient," Schiffmann said. "This website allows refugees to not have to sit on a curb in some European country during the winter while they wait for one overwhelmed group or another to connect them."

"Now they can see tens of thousands of listings around the world ready for them to match with, and all they have to do is call or text them immediately," he said.

The website design is simple. Refugees enter the nearest city where they hope to flee. Then they can go through available listings, each with a description of the accommodation.

Finally, the refugee can click on the phone or email button to get the personal contact information of the listing holder.

The site has been translated into dozens of languages, including Ukrainian, German and Polish.

"This puts power back into the hands of refugees by allowing them to take the initiative, go straight to the website, enter their city and immediately find listings," Schiffmann said. "They don't need to rely on anyone else to help them find a safe place. There's millions of refugees, and it's going to be millions more, so balancing efficiency and security as well as safety is critical."

Of course, there are safety concerns. UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths told CNN that human traffickers might take advantage of refugees.

"There may be predatory people who will be taking some of these women and girls away," he said. "That's an added, indecent part of this terrible conflict."

To mitigate the risk, Ukraine Take Shelter includes warnings on each listing to guide refugees on how to safely contact a host, request a video call, and recognize possible red flags. The site also provides examples of questions to ask.

Schiffmann and Burstein said they worked with experts to make sure the site was built with strong cybersecurity.

"It can't get hacked into, and even if someone tries. There is nothing dangerous that can geolocate the refugees or put their lives at risk," Schiffmann said. "There are safety features to make sure the refugees are in constant contact with the hosts until they arrive."

The pair are currently partnering with major companies, which they can't reveal yet, to work on making sure all the listings are verified to better guarantee refugee safety.

'We want to help you find peace again'

When a refugee searches the website for a host in the nearest city to them, they are met with dozens if not hundreds of options.

Some are young couples who don't have much to offer but a mattress on the floor. Others are big families offering whatever space they can.

"We want to help you find peace again," one host from the US wrote in a listing.

Many also offer to help refugees with basic necessities like food and clothes. Others offer babysitting help. Those who can't offer their homes can be found providing various forms of assistance, from donating money to pet sitting for those who need it.

"I have a place for one person...I know it's not so much, but I can provide a roof and food until he/she can find a job or a stable situation," another host offering to share their apartment in Paris said on the website.

Another host, in Poland, said: "We would like to offer a double room in our home. We don't have a big house but you will be safe, warm and fed. We have a young child so feel we could best help someone with also a young child or baby."

Among the thousands of interactions taking place through Ukraine Take Shelter was one story Schiffmann said would stick with him for the rest of his life.

A family in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, were looking to escape the country.

After matching with a host offering their French countryside home, the family fled. Only three days later, they discovered their entire home, including the basement where they had been sheltering, was completely destroyed.

"That's what made me realize how real this was, that this website isn't just helping people find housing, it's saving their lives," he said.

After the war ends and the website is no longer needed, the pair hope to expand their efforts to help asylum seekers find a place to call home -- if even for a brief moment.

"I have plans to expand to all refugees in general, refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, any victims of natural disasters or wars," Schiffmann said. "It is just as important they can find available housing, too, and we're going to make that happen."

This story was first published on CNN.com ''I couldn't sit there and do nothing': These teens created a website matching Ukrainian refugees with hosts offering shelter'
(CNN)  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is issuing his most fervent appeal yet for ceasefire talks with Vladimir Putin, but the so-far immovable Russian President is delivering a ruthless response by escalating atrocities against civilians.

Zelensky told CNN's Fareed Zakaria on Sunday he is ready to talk to Putin at any time. His offer came more than three weeks into a war that appears to be entering a new, more deadlocked stage on the battlefield. And while that counts as an extraordinary military success for outgunned Ukraine, it will also leave its cities and people even more vulnerable to brutal Russian bombardments.

"It's a stalemate. But we should note it's a bloody stalemate," ex-CIA Director David Petraeus, a retired general who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, said on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday. "Also, arguably, it's a battle of attrition."

Moscow's troops are digging in around Kyiv amid increasing doubts about their capacity to capture the capital. Pitched battles are taking place in the south, where the Russians are targeting Black Sea access in the cities of Mariupol and Odessa, and in the east of the country. Russians have reportedly taken heavy casualties along with the loss of a string of senior officers. And the Kremlin is increasingly resorting to murderous stand-off barrages from missiles and artillery and even, in an alarming escalation, hypersonic weapons after their initial expectations faded of a blitzkrieg that could quickly seize control of Ukraine.

In the latest outrage on Sunday, Russian bombs slammed into an arts school in besieged Mariupol where 400 people had been sheltering from the fighting, according to city officials. Both the government in Kyiv and Mariupol city authorities flatly rejected the terms of a Russian ultimatum that the city surrender by Monday morning. Hundreds of thousands of people are trapped in the city and there are appalling reports of food and water running out and desperate conditions. Some experts fear this is a dark omen of a fate that could befall Kyiv.

Zelensky tells CNN he wants to talk to Putin

The onslaught against civilians appears to be both a deliberate attempt by Moscow to break Ukraine's remarkable morale and resistance  and to bomb an independent, sovereign nation, which Putin says has no right to exist, to smithereens to crush its dreams of joining the West.

Western governments have responded by pouring anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles into Ukraine in what is now a proxy war with Russia, which would have seemed an unbelievable prospect only a few weeks ago. Anxiety is still acute that the conflict could spill over into a broader conflagration between the US and Russia  the world's top nuclear powers.

This is the tense situation that will greet Joe Biden when he makes the most critical trip by a US president to Europe in many years this week, albeit one with limited expectations of a breakthrough in diplomatic efforts to end the war.

Ahead of Biden's mission, some details are now emerging of the potential parameters of negotiations aimed at reaching a ceasefire. Zelensky wants in-person talks with the Russian leader to hammer them out.

"I'm ready for negotiations with him. I was ready for the last two years. And I think that without negotiations we cannot end this war," Zelensky told Zakaria in an exclusive interview.

"I think that we have to use any format, any chance in order to have a possibility of negotiating, possibility of talking to Putin. But if these attempts fail, that would mean that this is a third World War," he said.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, a member of NATO that also has friendly ties to Moscow, has offered to host both Zelensky and Putin to facilitate negotiations to end the war. But all international diplomatic gambits have so far failed to make even minor progress with Putin.

The strategic obstacles to ending the war

There is widespread skepticism that the Russian strongman, who has a record of inflicting withering civilian carnage in Syria and Chechnya, has any intention of talking peace yet. While there is a strong argument that Putin has badly miscalculated and visited a strategic and economic disaster on Russia, there is also a scenario in which continuing the war makes sense in his idiosyncratic worldview.

There is no sign yet that the debilitating sanctions and heavy Russian losses have changed his calculations. And destroying whole Ukrainian cities in blunt force, mid-20th-century-style warfare and punishing its people make a stark statement about his intolerance for the expansion of NATO  a bloc Ukraine once hoped to join. The vast refugee exodus into Western Europe, meanwhile, will pressure the democracies he is dedicated to destabilizing and threaten one of the greatest historic US foreign policy triumphs  a free, secure and peaceful Europe for nearly 80 years after World War II. And should there be a new Cold War with the West, initiated by Putin's frightening rhetoric about nuclear arms, it would revive a period when Moscow could wield global power and hold rivals hostage with its threats of escalation.

Also weighing against hopes of an immediate breakthrough are the extraordinary national and geopolitical shifts caused by the largest land combat in Europe since the 1940s.

Putin justified the war with a twisted version of history by warning that Ukraine  a founding member of the Soviet Union  had no right to its sovereignty or independence and that Ukrainians were culturally and ethnically Russian.

But a sense of Ukrainian nationhood and identification with Europeans have been solidified by the extraordinary show of unity and resistance among civilians and a massive EU effort to support Kyiv and millions of refugees.

As a result, any solutions that involve Ukraine cutting itself off from the West would be tough for Zelensky to sell to his people, especially after so many civilians have been killed in the nation's fight for its life.

Putin  after effectively wagering the entire sanctions-pummeled Russian economy and his national and international credibility on the invasion  cannot afford to be seen to have lost. That means he will drive a hard bargain in any ceasefire talks, if he eventually decides he is ready for diplomacy.

In a broader strategic sense, meanwhile, the West needs Putin to be perceived as the loser of the conflict, as it seeks to deter further Russian adventurism  potentially into NATO states, which could trigger a disastrous confrontation between Moscow and the West that could escalate into a nuclear war.

"Putin must not win this war," Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union" on Sunday.

Kallas, who will be at the hastily called NATO summit that Biden will attend this week in Brussels, said that the alliance's strategy should focus on each member strengthening its defense and isolating Russia at "all the political levels."

Nuts and bolts of diplomacy show why a ceasefire will be so hard to reach

As well as the broad strategic questions that make a ceasefire an elusive prospect in the short term, the intricate details of the diplomacy underscore the gulf between Russia and Ukraine  following multiple rounds of inconclusive talks between their delegations.

According to Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin, Putin laid out his requirements for a ceasefire with Ukraine in a call with Erdogan Thursday.

"Mr. Zelensky is ready for (negotiations). Mr. Putin, on the other hand, is of the opinion that positions are not yet close to each other for talks at the leadership level," Kalin said in an interview with the Turkish Hurriyet newspaper published Saturday.

Putin would require Ukraine to declare neutrality, to renounce NATO membership, and to disarm and to declare neutrality based on an Austrian model, which Kyiv has already dismissed as an unrealistic possibility, Kalin said. A European diplomat, however, told CNN last week that the Austrian-style neutrality framework was not dead.

Putin also wants the "denazification" of Ukraine, Kalin added. The Russian leader's comparison of the Kyiv government to Nazis is not only a false charge, it implies that in order for there to be peace, Zelensky and his ministers must step down in favor of a government acceptable to Moscow -- a condition that would be hard for Ukraine to accept and that would effectively end the democracy it is fighting to save.

Zelensky has already made one apparent concession to Russia, saying that Ukraine has to acknowledge it can't join NATO. He has called for a full Russian withdrawal from his country and Western security guarantees to avoid a future incursion  a framework that might run afoul of Russia's desire to purge Ukraine of Western influence. And the status of pro-Russian separatist areas in eastern Ukraine, including Crimea, previously seized by Moscow, is likely to be a tough question that could take years to solve.

There is also deep skepticism that Russia is sincere in ending the war or that it could be trusted to live up to the terms of any agreement. The working assumption in the West is that Putin will seek to control Ukraine one way or the other in the future, according to diplomats who spoke to CNN's Kylie Atwood and Jennifer Hansler.

"We've seen lies, lies and more lies," one European diplomat said. Another added: "We are just not sure if you can trust the Russians to maintain their word, if they say they would respect this neutrality."

This story was first published on CNN.com "The Ukraine war is now a 'bloody stalemate'"
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During Womens History Month, its important to recognize that feminism is not one size fits all  thats where intersectionality comes in.

Intersectionality recognizes that discrimination doesnt exist in a vacuum and acknowledges that multiple facets of a persons identity  race, class, disability, sexual orientation and more  can overlap and impact a persons life in unique ways.

A major facet of supporting intersectional feminism means advocating for the rights and lives of marginalized groups  so here are some small changes you can make in your life to benefit all.

Expand the media you consume

The most effective way to educate yourself about discrimination others face is to listen to firsthand accounts and experiences.

Most bookstores have sections for books written by Black, Latino or LGBTQ authors, as do public libraries.

But if books arent your thing, Spotify has whole categories for podcasts dedicated to social issues. For instance, the Play Your Part community page is full of podcasts on current events and civic action, while The Dinner Table and PRESENTE focus on the Black and Latino communities, respectively  and both were made by women.

Remember to not only consume media created by marginalized communities when it pertains to discrimination. Theres wonderful music, movies and fiction books out there that can be enjoyed by anyone at any time  for starters, I recommend Spotifys EQUAL, a community page for music created by diverse women around the world.

Support diverse organizations

If youre interested in taking a more active approach to intersectional feminism, check out a student organization dedicated to a social issue you care about.

Penn State has a number of resources for minorities and those who want to support them  the Paul Robeson Cultural Center, the Jeffrey A. Conrad Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity and the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center are a great place to start for anyone interested.

All of these centers and their associated student organizations regularly host lectures and webinars from experts as well as fundraising events for relevant causes.

These events are often free for students and are a great way to educate yourself, expand your horizons and learn more about other Penn State students experiences.

Shop at small businesses

Shopping at small, POC or LGBTQ-owned businesses is a great way to support your community, foster meaningful connections and provide a change of pace to your everyday shopping experience.

An easy way to put this into practice is through using the internet. For instance, Google Maps provides information on whether a business is Black-owned.

Next time you go out, check out a POC or LGBTQ-owned store or restaurant instead of going to a chain  better yet, encourage others to shop or dine there if youre happy with your experience.

I recognize that as college students, we often dont have the budget to only shop at small businesses rather than large corporations like Amazon. But just one purchase and positive review can make a huge difference in the life of the person who owns the business.

MORE LIFESTYLE CONTENT

Penn State alumni directing, starring in production of Fallout packed with emotionally deep topics Penn State alumni are set to star in and direct the new play Fallout by Mary Gage from Mar
Stand-up comedian Tom Segura is set to perform his "I'm Coming Everywhere" World Tour at 7 p.m. on Aug. 25 at the Bryce Jordan Center, according to the BJC's tweet on Monday.

Tickets for his tour will go on sale at 10 a.m. on Friday.

Those interested in tickets can purchase them here.

MORE LIFESTYLE CONTENT

How did Penn State students spend their spring break? Spring break is known as the one time of year when students can let loose and release all of
On Sunday, the 3/20 Coalition hosted its Osazes Community Gathering, Social Hour & Free Lunch and "Art and Activism" poetry slam at the State College Municipal Building as part of the Together We Rise community observance in honor of the three-year anniversary of Osaze Osagie's death.

Osagie was a 29-year old Black man who was killed by a white State College police officer on March 20, 2019, when three officers arrived at his apartment to serve a mental health warrant.

Osagie, who had autism and a history of schizophrenia, allegedly ran toward one of the police officers with a knife. After an unsuccessful attempt to tase him, he was allegedly shot three times in the back by Officer M. Jordan Pieniazek.

The three officers involved in the shooting have not been charged.

Sylvester Osagie, Osazes father, filed a lawsuit in November 2020 against the borough of State College, and Judge Matthew W. Brann of the U.S. Middle District Court of Pennsylvania previously set a long-term trial date in 2022.

3/20 Coalition Chair Tierra Williams said Burger King Whoppers with Coca-Cola was Osaze's favorite meal, so she said the coalition chose to serve it to the community to honor him and to give back to the coalitions volunteers, who she said give time and talent to the organization.

Then at 2 p.m., Williams gathered attendees in front of the municipal buildings pillars, where she initiated a two-minute moment of silence to signify the time three years ago when police arrived at Osaze's apartment. Two minutes later, she said, he was dead.

A dance routine from Ambitions Performance Company at Penn State followed the moment of silence, which kickstarted the "Arts & Activism" poetry slam event.

Ambitions President Jenna Paritee said dance can be a good visual representation of certain issues and topics that might be harder to decipher if someone simply lectured about them.

The combination of music and movement evokes a different kind of emotion, Paritee (senior-human development and family studies) said. Im just hoping that we were able to showcase our talents in a way that really complemented the mission of the organization.

That mission, Paritee said, revolves around the recurring nature of the coalitions events and activism, which Paritee said helps community members remember what happened  keeping it fresh in their minds.

The arts are a really good thing for longevity, Paritee said.

Williams echoed Paritee and said the coalition will continue to fight and make noise until things change, which she said the coalitions members and the community should remember.

People have to understand that, with the movement, youve got to keep going, Williams said. Some people fall off. Some people get tired. But you have to keep going and keep going and keep going.

For Tori Monroe, secretary of Ambitions, the dance was a way to tell a story that takes an actual, physical form.

When you hear someone talk, or when you listen to music, you interpret it yourself, Monroe (freshman-architecture) said. With dance, its there. Its concrete. Youre actually looking at a visual story, which I think is something very important when it comes to something as important as this.

When creating the choreography, Monroe said the members of Ambitions considered how multidimensional Osaze's story is, which she said has a lot of moving parts.

In our dance, we hit a lot of different topics throughout, Monroe said. Along with the community and also telling a story and spreading awareness, it was a holistic way of activism.

Kennedy Walker, a member of Ambitions who also performed, agreed with Monroe and said she hopes the groups act brought out emotions, thoughts and every single aspect of the 3/20 Coalitions event in a way that helped attendees reflect.

It was an honor to be here, Walker (freshman-material science engineering) said. It was very beautiful to see people come together.

Thats what Jayson Brown, another member and performer with Ambition, said he aims to promote through his art  a taste of culture that promotes community.

Its always good to spread awareness  to remind people what we bring to the community, Brown (freshman-marketing) said. Were all in this together.

The Ambitions performance kickstarted the Art & Activism poetry slam, during which community members shared pieces they had written for Osaze and his family or for the Black Lives Matter movement in general.

We wanted to give people the chance to express themselves with dance, with poetry, with artwork, with anything else that they wanted to do, Williams said. All of these things align in social justice and what needs to be done.

Among those who shared pieces were Penn State professors Charles Dumas and Cynthia Mazzant, as well as Iyun Osagie, Osazes mother.

Williams said giving Iyun a platform was one of her primary goals in creating and hosting the event.

Steven Deutsch, a retired senior scientist and professor of bioengineering, who now lives in State College as a community member, also shared his works.

Deutsch, 75, said he was invited to present by Williams and, having heard Williams own poetry presented before at various readings, said he was eager to accept the invitation out of respect to her and her work.

While Deutsch said he was initially skeptical of the idea of a poetry slam, he said he ended up having fun with the event and also enjoyed the music and dancing.

Deutsch said he most enjoyed listening to the others reading their own works of poetry and art  works he said serve a greater purpose in sharing the stories of Black lives and experiences.

[Poetry is] one way to look at events as horrible as [Osazes death] without directly confronting the event, Deutsch said. Poetry sets a tone or mood of reflection on these events, and I think you carry it with you for a while.

Williams said the events the coalition hosted Sunday and all other events the organization has hosted in the past have changed and rocked the State College community for the better.

[Our activism] will be written down, and it will be remembered in the right way, Williams said. Which side [of history] will you be on?

MORE BOROUGH COVERAGE
Spring is finally here, which means my seasonal depression is cured.

Thinking about the cold, snowy nights and the sun setting around 5 p.m. gives me nightmares  not really, but winter is my least favorite time of year.

Mother Nature has wasted no time giving us beautiful weather in State College, so heres what I look forward to as we enter my favorite season.

Enjoying the warm weather

This is the most obvious reason, but the warmer the weather gets, the happier I become  although I dont like it when its too hot.

Warm weather allows for pretty outfits, a good outside run and a refreshing drink. I love to see people enjoying the weather in their shorts and stylish sunglasses. When the weather is warm, its a time when most faces are adorned with smiles  with masks on, the happy eyes are extremely telling.

This spring will truly be a treat- with masks mandates lifted in certain areas around campus, I look forward to seeing happy, smiling faces again.

Having longer days

One of my favorite things about spring, besides the weather, is knowing that the days will continue to get longer  theres nothing worse than feeling like the day is over because of how early the sun sets.

Longer days mean more time to enjoy being outside. I typically like to sit in the park and get my work done  hence, the more daylight, the more work I get done.

Upcoming family cookouts

Family cookouts are one of the top reasons why I look forward to spring  its always a party when the Williams family gets together.

Every year, my uncle has a cookout where he cooks on the grill  theres foods varying from burgers, hot dogs, ribs, chicken and more  my favorite part is the fried ice cream.

I havent seen a lot of my extended family since before the coronavirus pandemic, so this year will be the year of reconnecting and catching up.

Going to Rita's Italian Ice

You know spring is nearby once Ritas opens up. My favorite thing to get is a small vanilla misto shake with pina colada water ice  so delicious.

I never knew there was a Ritas in State College until I drove past it one day on North Atherton Street  its easy to miss.

I havent gone there yet, but every year on the first day of spring, Ritas gives out free water ice.

Chilling poolside

I never know when the pool at my apartment opens up, but I cant wait for that day to come. My friends and I already have plans to meet up there and take lots of pictures when the weather gets warm enough to do so.

Im one of those people who goes to the pool and never gets in, but I bring my speaker, blast my music and enjoy the view.

Theres so much to look forward to as spring makes its way through  goodbye snow and hello sunshine.
The Colorado House of Representatives unanimously approved legislation Monday that seeks to allow sex workers to report violent crime without fear of being arrested.

If enacted, House Bill 1288 would grant victims and witnesses of violent crime immunity from prostitution-related charges when reporting the crime to police. The bill will now be sent to the state Senate for consideration in the coming weeks.

This bill recognizes the humanity of these folks who are vulnerable people who shouldn't have to become victims and be punished for a pretty crime such as prostitution, said bill sponsor Rep. Brianna Titone, D-Arvada. It's wonderful that my fellow representatives agree with this commonsense policy.

In addition to receiving bipartisan support, the bill also has bipartisan sponsorship, with two Republican men and two Democratic women leading the legislation.

Titone said she started working on the bill last year after her friend, Pasha Ripley, told her about when she was brutally beaten and raped by a client while Ripley was a sex worker.

The last thing he said as he walked out the door was, Who are you going to tell? What are you going to do? Because if I go to the police, its very likely that I would be arrested, Ripley said while testifying in support of the bill during a committee meeting.

Supporters of the bill described sex workers as easy targets who are specifically chosen by criminals because they are less likely to go to the police.

Of adult sex workers, 82% have been physically assaulted, 83% have been threatened with a weapon, 68% have been violently raped and 84% were or are currently homeless, according to the Academic Journal of Womens Health.

Under the bill, victims would receive immunity from prosecution-related crimes when reporting human trafficking, stalking, kidnapping, assault and murder.
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The missing puzzle could show light on how the beginning of life for flora and fauna came to exist by some cosmic accident or a one in billion chance, on dust ball-Earth eons ago. Researchers may have the link to account for all the evolution happening for millions of years.

Engines of creation from the first single-cell to the most complex-celled creatures owe their existence to an RNA molecule that started everything from a primordial soup.

RNA Molecules

The RNA molecule is the secret before life begins, able to duplicate, adopt morphic changes, and develop the structure we see in all cells today, reported the Express UK.

Researchers can now highlight what has happened in the past. How a simple organic compound becomes a plethora of creatures from apes to men, one idea is that primitive earth had developed ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules about four billion years ago, noted Live Science.

The turning point for life on earth may be the constant changes from a single molecule to a complex flora and fauna, both living and extinct, beginning from RNA. Though accepted, the concept of the RNA molecules was never reproduced in a laboratory, which was hard to prove, but breakthroughs are happening now. Work done by the biologist Professor Ryo Mizuuchi and a team from the University of Tokyo is shedding light on an unreachable past eon ago and looking for the missing puzzle piece to the beginning of life on earth.

Read Also: Vladimir Putin Net Worth 2022: Does Anyone Know Russian President's Hidden Wealth?

Proposing that from chemical systems to complex biology as the engine of evolution, it was called a long-term RNA replication experiment testing the hypothesis. This process was not the same as other empirical studies because it was premised in an RNA replication system based on Charles Darwin's theory of Evolution, mentioned Smithsonian Magazine.

The Japanese scientist used ribonucleic acid that was in continuous change resulting in structural mutations and be coming up with new characteristics along the way. Utilizing natural selection would be the dominant trait to allow the cell to survive. Like amoebas to complex animals as an example.

Evolutionary Transition

Professor Mizuuchi remarked that the study of ribonucleic acid could be where did all life stem from; a mystery. He added that one RNA species led to an ever-evolving system; a network of five RNAs having different ways to react would have been conflicting.

Evolutionary biology calls it the competitive exclusion principle says its almost impossible for five RNAs to exist simultaneously. These molecules should find a way to use resources one at a time to evolve successfully. But five of them existed simultaneously.

How can molecules do what they just did? It's a non-living chemical species able to generate evolutionary changes in defiance of the rule. Compared to a simple molecular replication system, complex organisms enable have constant changes in the cell. It is the missing puzzle piece of the beginnings of life with more to be known for reaching an answer; the study is posted on the Nature Communications journal.

Related Article: People With Neanderthal Genes Gives Them Three Times More Severe COVID-19

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Magic Leap just unveiled an advanced prototype of its Magic Leap 2 headset and the consensus among reviewers is that its a great product.

Founded 12 years ago, Magic Leap first offered up a series of proof-of-concept prototypes that started out being bigger than a big refrigerator. Then, four years ago, the company introduced its first headset, aimed also at the consumer market. The technology wasn't ready for the world, or maybe the world wasn't ready for the technology, but the company sold only a few thousand units. Magic Leap was barely hanging on until it raised more money to continue.

The prototype, unveiled last week, delivers universal improvement in all aspects of the device's technology, usability and functionality. And two features put Magic Leap into contention as a device that can co-dominate enterprise augmented reality (AR), along with Apple.

How to think about the AR market

It's helpful to divide the enterprise AR market into five general categories:

AR, but not glasses. This is the leading category, as smartphones can perform basic AR, but the non-wearability of phones makes this category uninteresting. Glasses, but not AR. Alphabet's Glass Enterprise Edition 2, the headset formerly known as "Google Glass," is an example of a wearable device that places contextual information in the wearer's field of view. This category is a heads-up display, as the virtual information visible to the user is positioned based on the movement of the head, rather than anchored to physical objects. Full AR glasses. This category, represented by Magic Leap's first product and by Microsoft's HoloLens 2, gives the user an unobstructed view of the world, with virtual objects or words anchored to physical objects  for example, with the virtual 3D model of a building sitting on a real desk. AR/VR glasses. In this category, VR hardware provides an AR experience. Instead of an unobstructed view, the user instead sees a real-time video of the surrounding environment with virtual objects superimposed on that video. All-day AR glasses that look like regular glasses. This is the Holy Grail of augmented reality, which is still years away from being real.

Over the next few years, I'm predicting Apple will lead with its category 4 headset  a VR headset designed to be used for AR.

Apple has been working hard on augmented reality for many years, and whenever Apple executives talk about AR, they obsess over the Bionic Virtual Meeting Room, which Ive talked about before. Here's Apple CEO Tim Cook back in 2016 describing Apple's favorite AR scenario  the virtualized meeting.

As Cook describes it, Apple's AR will enable people to meet with holograms of other people. Or, people will meet in the real world, but all have a shared view of virtual objects  holographic 3D presentations, essentially. Or both.

Apple obsesses over meetings as the killer app for the glasses I predict will be branded Apple Reality. In addition to a universe of consumer applications, industrial, medical, military and manufacturing uses will surely follow as well.

Apple recently won new patents involving the Bionic Virtual Meeting Room and updated some older patents with new claims and new technologies. For example, it is patenting methods for heat management in AR/VR glasses and noise mitigation to deal with electronic noise from radar, projection, and other elements of the glasses.

Apple is sweating the details in advance of what will surely be the biggest launch ever in the AR space, probably next year (with a possible announcement later this year).

Given Apple's history with successful new-category launches, plus the depth of patents in the companys portfolio, it's reasonable to predict Apple's dominance in this market for both consumers and enterprises.

Two great new Magic Leap features

While Magic Leap was once aimed at both businesses and consumers, the new version is 100% targeted at enterprise markets  especially military, manufacturing, and healthcare.

Reviewers say the new Magic Leap 2 hardware is greatly improved in every detail. It features double the field of view over the previous version, longer battery life, higher fidelity imaging, better hand- and eye-tracking, a more-powerful processor, and a lighter power pack.

Magic Leap 2 has nine cameras, including two on the hand controller and four that track eye movement. The hand controller also uses infrared sensors to track hand movement.

As with the first version, the Magic Leap 2 has a "puck" component to offload weight from the headset. It contains the battery and main processor and can clip to a belt and which is connected to the headset with a physical cable. It's got a quad-core Zen 2 processor from AMD that offers triple the processing power of the original version.

Battery life is now 3.5 hours (it used to be roughly two hours). A larger optional pack offers more battery time  possibly as many as eight hours  but adds weight.

Magic Leap 2, which is scheduled to ship later this year, has two great features for enterprises that may enable it to successfully co-exist with Apple Reality. The first is unique among major headsets: intelligent dimming.

First-ever AR dark mode

The glasses have a new dimming feature, becoming like sunglasses. While the dimming darkens your view of the world around you, virtual objects remain bright. This contrast radically improves visibility and legibility and enables the headsets to be used in bright rooms and in direct sunlight  a must-have feature for field enterprise applications.

Better still, it can selectively darken parts of the room to make AR objects clearer and sharper, and the user can adjust this dimmer with sliders. The effect can turn an AR object, which looks like a see-through hologram, into a VR object, which appears to be solid. It can make VR objects look like they're in a spotlight in a dark room, even in a bright room.

The Magic Leap 2 has three categories of dimming. Global dimming, which is controllable by the user; automatic dimming, which adjusts to the level of light in the room; and dynamic dimming, where you can dim any part of the field of vision.

Unlike Apple's Reality glasses, which are technically VR glasses that function mainly as AR glasses, Magic Leap's dimming feature enables AR glasses that can function like VR glasses.

Spacial audio helps make virtual meetings more natural and can provide direction for instructional content. For example, a sound can lead the user to a specific place or in a specific direction. It can not only place sound up and down, left or right, but it can even locate sound closer or further away.

When you're having a virtual meeting, and hear a holographic colleague speak to, say, your left, you can hear them better by turning your head to face them.

Magic Leap 2's second killer feature for enterprises is that it's truly open source. Magic Leap's operating system is based on the Android Open Source Project, which is maintained by Google. Magic Leap hopes this openness will encourage the development of a robust ecosystem of enterprise developers. I think they're right.

Magic Leap will probably reap the benefits of using a non-proprietary operating system. It's not at all clear that organizations like the Pentagon or major healthcare providers will want to jump through the hoops of a proprietary Apple ecosystem. So Magic Leap will offer a welcome alternative.

Microsoft could have been a contender

For a while, it looked as if Microsoft would dominate the high-end enterprise AR market. Even as recently as a year ago, Microsoft announced a $22 billion contract for the US Army. Together, Microsoft and the Army are working on a HoloLens-based military system called the Integrated Audio Visual System (IVAS). But the project is in disarray. Congress has since reduced the funding. One report suggested that the Army might cancel the contract altogether.

Another report claims that Microsoft has canceled version 3 of the HoloLens. The HoloLens 3 project, code-named Calypso, was intended as a full-blown wearable computer. (Microsoft denies the report.)

Yet another rumor has Microsoft pivoting to develop mixed reality in a partnership with Samsung. It's not clear what's happening with HoloLens at Microsoft, but it doesn't appear that things are going well.

Why I expect a market dominated by Apple and Magic Leap

Four years from now, it's likely that Apple will dominate AR glasses the way it currently dominates smartphones. And like smartphones, Apple's attention will focus on the consumer, with the enterprise as a relative afterthought.

Apple's entry into this space will prove a mixed bag for mixed-reality companies like Magic Leap. It will capture market share, but also legitimize and mainstream the larger market.

Magic Leap is actually in a very good position to co-exist with Apple. The reason: Magic Leap is beating Apple to market with actual augmented reality, where the user is looking at the real world through glass, rather than watching a video of the real world, as will be the case with Apple's first offering.

In other words, while Apple's product may dominate overall, Magic Leap's won't compete directly with it. It will be real AR, aimed at the enterprise exclusively and offering open-source Linux as the OS. That combination  real AR, plus screen dimming  means Magic Leap will be vastly preferable for field and factory work over Apple Reality.

Meanwhile, Microsoft is lost in the weeds. Samsung will probably partner with it or someone else and fail to make a serious impact. Google is way behind. Snap is too obsessed with consumers. Meta really believes in VR instead of AR. And the dozens of other players are too poorly funded and will end up mostly getting acquired.

That leaves Apple and Magic Leap as the most likely contenders to dominate enterprise AR.
03/21/2022

Photo (c) Ratiger - Getty Images COVID-19 tally as compiled by Johns Hopkins University. (Previous numbers in parentheses.)

Total U.S. confirmed cases: 79,735,691 (79,732,549)

Total U.S. deaths: 971,198 (970,116)

Total global cases: 470,949,009 (469,983,184)

Total global deaths: 6,078,815 (6,076,070)

FDA to consider second booster shot

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced plans to convene its Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee on April 6 to consider whether Americans need a second booster shot against COVID-19. Both Moderna and the partnership team of Pfizer and BioNTech made formal applications to the FDA last week.

The agency said the group will discuss considerations for future COVID-19 vaccine booster doses and the process for selecting specific strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus for COVID-19 vaccines to address. Officials from other federal health agencies will also participate.

"As we prepare for future needs to address COVID-19, prevention in the form of vaccines remains our best defense against the disease and any potentially severe consequences," said Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. "Now is the time to discuss the need for future boosters as we aim to move forward safely, with COVID-19 becoming a virus like others, such as influenza.

U.S. 28-day infection rates still falling

For much of the last two years, the U.S. has led the world in the total number of coronavirus cases -- and in fact, it still does. But Johns Hopkins University now ranks nations by the number of cases recorded in the last 28 days. Using that metric, 10 nations are ahead of the U.S with more new cases.

South Korea leads the world in 28-day cases with 7.5 million. Vietnam and Germany are next with 5.1 million cases each.

The U.S. now ranks 11th in the world over the last 28 days, just behind Italy. By the latest count, the U.S. has recorded just 1.2 million cases over the last four weeks.

Vaccine makers see falling demand, crowded market

Moderna and the partnership team of Pfizer and BioNTech were the first out of the gate with COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S., and they were soon followed by Johnson & Johnson. But that hasnt stopped other drug manufacturers from working on vaccines of their own.

Novavax and a partnership featuring Sanofi and GSK are the latest to finalize testing of their own vaccines. Meanwhile, millions of Americans have been vaccinated and the virus appears to be in retreat in much of the country.

We think theres likely going to be long-term ongoing demand for Covid vaccines, for boosters at least, Matt Linley, analytics director for Airfinity, a London-based health analytics company, told the medical publication STAT. But it will be a lot smaller than it is. We believe its kind of peaked.

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Shenzhen.anjuke.com scored 41 Social Media Impact. Social Media Impact score is a measure of how much a site is popular on social networks. 2/5.0 Stars by Social Team

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Corsicana, TX (75110)

Today

Variable clouds with thunderstorms - possibly severe in the afternoon. Damaging winds and large hail with some storms. High 79F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected..

Tonight

Mostly clear. Low around 55F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.
'The motherland is behind you': Chinese Ambassador to Ukraine recounts moving details of evacuation mission in Russia-Ukraine conflict

14:18, March 21, 2022 By Zhao Si'an and Xing Xiaojing ( Global Times

Editor's Note:

Since the escalation of the situation in Ukraine, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs quickly activated the consular protection emergency mechanism to ensure the safety of Chinese compatriots in Ukraine and urgently organized, guided and coordinated the evacuation of Chinese citizens in the country.

On the afternoon of March 9, as the last batch of Chinese students evacuated from Sumy, Ukraine arrived at the railway station in Lviv, a city in western Ukraine, Chinese Ambassador to Ukraine Fan Xianrong officially announced that the task of evacuating Chinese compatriots from Ukraine was completed.

In an exclusive video interview with the Global Times (GT) reporters Zhao Si'an and Xing Xiaojing, Ambassador Fan (Fan) disclosed for the first time that the embassy's evacuation was executed under "the most complicated environment and the most dangerous situation."

"We are racing against time and to save lives. We are not sleepless just tonight, but sleepless every night," he said.

Students, before evacuation, pose with the Chinese Ambassador to Ukraine

Fan Xianrong (center) for a photo in eastern Ukraine's Sumy city on March 9, 2022. Photo: Courtesy of the Chinese Embassy in Ukraine

Students evacuated from eastern Ukraine's Sumy city pose with the Chinese Ambassador to Ukraine Fan Xianrong (center) for a photo in Lviv, Ukraine on March 9, 2022. Photo: Courtesy of the Chinese Embassy in Ukraine

GT: What was your feeling when you made the statement in Lviv train station? How did you feel at that time?

Fan: Looking back on it now, I still feel overwhelmed. At that time I had mixed feelings, as I was very happy to see the safe arrival of our students, while at the same time knowing how hard it was for them to evacuate all the way from Sumy, experiencing all kinds of dangers or even threats to life.

In Sumy, many Chinese students were trapped in between the crossfire and military blockades. They could not get out even if they could find a bus. We had an arduous process of negotiation with local authorities to finally arrange their trip, but our hearts were clenched the entire time during their 30-hour evacuation as there were many unpredictable risks along the way.

The successful evacuation of Sumy-based students also marked the successful conclusion of the entire evacuation operation of more than 6,000 Chinese nationals in Ukraine, which was indescribably difficult. As the oldest member in our embassy, I had not seen a real war before.

Given the fast-changing situation, our decisions needed to be quick and accurate, and did not allow for a single mistake. I always say that we are racing against time, and racing to save lives. It was not just one single day of sleeplessness for us, it was "sleepless every night."

That's why at the Lviv station, all our embassy staff and the students cried out "Long live China, long live the Chinese people, and long live the Communist Party of China!"

GT: How did the overall plan for evacuating Chinese citizens come about? How many evacuation routes were arranged? How many resources were mobilized? Can you give us an overview?

Fan: Of the 6,000 Chinese nationals in Ukraine, the embassy coordinated the evacuation of more than 5,000 people. Under such tense environments in Ukraine, all of them are safe and sound except for one who got injured. Bullets have no eyes, but our arrangements and the love and unity among our compatriots safeguarded the evacuation.

Regarding the evacuation routes, we gave it a lot of thought. For example, we thought about whether to adopt the original plan which was to charter flights. There was no problem for China to arrange them but the security situation in Ukraine did not allow us to do that. We also considered evacuation by sea to gather all Chinese to Odessa, but the urgent need for ships made the plan unviable. Finally, we were left with one route, that is by road, from east to west and then to neighboring countries.

Chinese Ambassador to Ukraine Fan Xianrong. Photo: Courtesy of Chinese Embassy in Ukraine

GT: What were some of the "most complex" challenges during this evacuation process? What valuable lessons have we learned?

Fan: During the just concluded evacuation, we experienced the most complex and dangerous environment and the most difficult operation. It involved the most worrisome group, and had the most embassies and consulates coordinating in the joint efforts.

Compared to previous evacuation operations, this time it was organized amid a large-scale military campaign. Nearly half of all the 6,000 Chinese citizens in Ukraine were students. They are not old enough for the situation, and their families were not around.

We coordinated with 10 of our embassies and consulates in neighboring countries. Under joint efforts by the central government and the Foreign Ministry, we sent back one person after another in a relay, which is a reflection of the strength of our country.

What enlightened us for the future is that the instructions of the central government and the strong deployment capabilities of the Foreign Ministry are the premise and guarantee for us Chinese embassies to deliver a satisfactory result. Another is that we must have a sense of responsibility to take the initiative. The operation also told us to give full play to the strength of our compatriots in the countries where we are stationed.

GT: Many Chinese citizens drove to Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and other countries bordering Ukraine during the evacuation. What arrangements have the embassy coordinated with these countries to facilitate customs clearance for Chinese nationals?

Fan: Without the assistance of relevant countries, we would not have completed this evacuation mission. First, there was the Ukrainian side, which opened green channels for us, and provided buses and special trains. In one single operation to evacuate students based in Sumy, I liaised with the vice premier of Ukraine more than 300 times. The Russian side also helped ensuring the safe passage of our Chinese citizens.

There was also help from other countries neighboring Ukraine. For example, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, and Hungary granted Chinese nationals temporary visa-free entry. Some had lost their identity certificates but were also allowed in by only showing digital versions, which is usually "impossible," and this has shown a friendly attitude toward Chinese nationals.

It showed that without China's growing influence and good relations with countries concerned, it would have been impossible to perform a "chorus" of cooperation during the operation.

Chinese students on a train to Lviv, western Ukraine on March 9, 2022 Photo: Courtesy of the Chinese Embassy in Ukraine

GT: We learned that while an embassy staffer was escorting 88 students to Moldova via bus, three bombs exploded near the bus in less than an hour. What else did you and your embassy staff encounter?

Fan: The story you mentioned looked like a movie scene but it was a true story, and there was a sequel. When the diplomat was returning from escort, the driver was so tired that the car swerved into a ditch but luckily it did not overturn, otherwise the consequences would have been unthinkable. On another occasion, one of our diplomats was checking out a site when he was suddenly held at gunpoint.

Talking about the moment of "brushes with death," the streets may have explosions at any time, and every time we escorted the students it was through a shower of bullets However, the time calls for "heroes in harm's way." [Protecting our people] is the responsibility and mission of us diplomats, and we never have any regrets.

GT: In the tense situation, the video of the Chinese national flag waving high at the Chinese Embassy in Ukraine touched many. Scenes of the embassy staff arranging and coordinating the evacuation of Chinese citizens in the basement made people feel safe. How do you live and work in the cramped space in the basement of the embassy?

Fan: The tensions escalated suddenly, and the embassy took the protection of the Chinese citizens in Ukraine as its top priority, wanting to evacuate them to safe places as soon as possible. However, the usual working environment and working order was completely disrupted. The alarm went off and the explosions were getting closer and closer, so we had to move to the basement.

The basement is actually a warehouse. The space is small. Everyone had to crowd to work in it. The corridor was also crowded with people. There was a curtain on the door, but it couldn't stop the cold wind from blowing in, so everyone crowded together to work. When they were sleepy, they just found a place to rest in the back. However, everyone was thinking about how to do their work well, and they didn't complain about how hard the work was.

The entire embassy staff and family members all participated in the work in solidarity. It is precisely because we have a team with strong political consciousness and excellent capability, especially being able to endure hardships, that ensured the successful completion of this evacuation work.

GT: Do you have any impressive stories to share during the evacuation process?

Fan: There is a young diplomat in our embassy, born in 1997. From 5am in the early morning of February 24 when the first bomb exploded, he started to answer the consular phone which has not stopped for a moment ever since. The phone ran out of battery and was charged the whole time and it was burning hot. From 5am to 10 pm, he did not stop for a minute, his voice had been hoarse from speaking that entire time. He took about 1,000 calls that day. The young diplomat is the same age as those who just graduated from college but he already possesses such dedication and understanding of his mission as a diplomat - the work is hard on one hand but honorable on the other.

Chinese Ambassador to Ukraine Fan Xianrong works in the embassy's basement during the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Photo: Courtesy of Chinese Embassy in Ukraine

Another point I would like to make is that without the help and warmth of our fellow compatriots, the evacuation would not have been such a success. For instance, Chinese citizens with cars took the initiative to find those who don't and took them along to evacuate. When there was a loaf of bread, they would share half of it with their compatriots. When they arrive at their destinations, there would be local student unions, associations, and chambers of commerce helping them settle in. It is such simple stories that merge into one big story of the successful evacuation of all our fellow citizens.

GT: On the day when Russia-Ukraine conflicts broke out, what were you and your colleagues doing?

Fan: News about the Ukraine situation has been in circulation since the end of 2021 but the public has remained calm and orderly, and Chinese citizens had been working, studying, and living normally. At around 5am local time on February 24, a huge explosion sound pierced the quiet night sky and separated us from normal life. We were all awoken and suddenly entered a "state of war." The sudden change took us by surprise but soon we calmed down and began to think about our next step to cope with the situation.

GT: As the Ambassador, you released a letter to all Chinese compatriots in Ukraine on February 27. Could you provide the background of the letter and the feedback you received after it was released?

Fan: The sudden change of the situation in Ukraine was unexpected. If you don't understand the situation, it is likely to lead to panic and may cause emotional problems. Moreover, the false rumor that "Ambassador Fan has escaped" had made the compatriots who did not know the truth to panic even more, and the situation would have been very dangerous if people just evacuated blindly.

After comprehensive consideration, the embassy believed that it was necessary to clarify the false rumors, so as to appease the emotions and boost confidence among the compatriots. It was to tell them that the embassy was by their side and the motherland was behind them. Considering that there were still many Chinese students in Ukraine, the embassy needed to also remind them of the precautions to take in a crisis situation.

The original plan was to write only one letter. But in order to let everyone see the current status of the ambassador, and to make everyone feel like they were talking to the ambassador, we finally chose to release a video and text at the same time, to tell compatriots that the members of the Communist Party of China and the Chinese ambassador would never abandon the people and would never flee.

Evacuated Chinese citizens arrive at Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province on March 5, 2022. Photo: Xinhua

GT: Diplomats are also parents and children in their own families, and the safety of embassy staff also worries the hearts of their families. How did you and the embassy staff console your families?

Fan: We have multiple identities: We are diplomats for our country but also members of our families. We don't want to make our families worry too much, but as the old saying goes, "Loyalty and filial piety cannot be met at the same time," and we gave our priority to fulfilling diplomatic mission.

My father, an 80-year-old who lives in Chongqing and is not so highly educated, got very anxious when he saw the news on TV. I could only tell him that it's safe here to ease his mind. But the reality is that air-raid sirens are still sounded every night at 3 or 4 am, waking us up every night and we have to take shelter immediately.

We try to protect ourselves while performing our duties, wearing bulletproof undershirts and helmets. The concerns at home actually give us a sort of spiritual support and strength.

GT: Could you please tell us about the embassy's next priorities and arrangements?

Fan: Although the evacuation of Chinese citizens in Ukraine has been completed successfully, our mission as diplomats is not over. We will continue to perform our duties in Ukraine and do our best to handle relevant matters.

(Web editor: Liang Jun, Hongyu)
According to reports, Vladimir Putin has "finally consented" to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in person for peace negotiations.

After the bombing of an art school and theater in Mariupol, where people were a refuge, the Russian despot is expected to meet with Zelensky at some time.

Zelensky Warns Putin of World War 3

Since the crisis began on February 24, the two presidents have let their diplomatic teams undertake peace negotiations on neutral ground, but a BBC journalist today verified the two would meet in person.

Putin has accepted that he will have to lead the discussions at some point in the future, according to BBC's Lyse Doucet. Yesterday, Zelensky warned that Russia would "go down in history as a perpetrator of war crimes" and condemned the invaders' bombing and siege of Mariupol, the southern port city that airstrikes and missiles have hammered for weeks.

Since the beginning of the war on February 24, when Putin initiated what he calls a unique military operation to demilitarize and "denazify" Ukraine, Mariupol, a critical link to the Black Sea, has been a target.

Ukraine and the West accuse Putin of launching an unjustified aggressive campaign. As of Friday, the UN human rights office reported that at least 847 people had been killed and 1,399 injured in Ukraine, 112 children were slain, according to the Ukrainian prosecutor general's office.

In addition, Russia bombed an art school and a theater where hundreds of people had sought refuge from air raids. Satellite photographs published on Saturday revealed the crumbled remnants of the theater, where at least 1,300 people are believed to be trapped, including women and babies, Daily Mail reported.

Read Also: China: Experts Predict Major Economic Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown, But Xi Jinping Vows To Minimize Hit

Zelensky Mention the Significance of NATO for Ukraine

While a 15-point plan between Russia and Ukraine is taking form, a top advisor to Zelensky claimed on Tuesday that it is completely made up of Russian demands. The list included demands that Ukraine withdraws its desire for NATO membership, proclaim neutrality, and, most importantly for Russia, never allow military bases or weaponry from Western allies such as the United States to be stationed within its borders.

Despite indicating last week that his nation would never join NATO, Zelensky underlined that membership would be a big gain for Ukraine and could have helped avert hostilities with Russia entirely, as per Newsweek via MSN.

As the one-month anniversary of Russia's invasion approaches this week, the Ukrainian leader spoke out. According to US intelligence services, Ukraine has fought the onslaught on numerous fronts and has delivered thousands of fatalities to Russia's military forces in a few weeks. The magnitude of the loss is equivalent to the US losses in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past decade.

The civilian population of Ukraine has also suffered significant losses. According to UN reports, over 800 people have perished since the fighting began.

President Zelensky, on the other hand, stated that the terrible war was doing havoc on Ukraine's civilian population. In recent weeks, millions of Ukrainians have abandoned their motherland.

As the expense of the Biden administration's response rises, US senators continue to urge for additional military and humanitarian help to be delivered to Ukraine.

The United States has pledged not to get involved in a scenario that may lead to a direct military war with Russia, but it has sent anti-air, anti-tank, and other heavy equipment to Ukraine's armed forces. There have been strong cautions to Russia's potential partners not to do the same.

These concerns culminated in a meeting in Europe last week between White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan and top Chinese officials to discuss whether Russia would get economic or military help from Beijing in its invasion. China's envoy to the United States denied that such assistance would be provided on Sunday, according to Independent.

Related Article: Biden, Xi Converse for 2 Hours About Pursuing Peace in Ukraine: What Else Did They Talk About?

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If you go back far enough, it's surprising ancient Egypt existed at all, so you might say just about everything they did counted as surprisingly advanced. "Really, they had bowling balls seven thousand years ago?" you might say. "They had clocks, and didn't just look up at the sun? Wow, I assumed everyone back then lived in holes and communicated using grunts."

Metropolitan Museum of Art "Wait, they made benches like this in 1500 BC? They didn't just sit on logs?"

But even once you get past the basics of the idea that civilization started earlier in some parts of the world than others, a few aspects of ancient Egyptian tech seem extra impressive.

Like medicine. You might have heard that medicine way back then was all based in belief in magic, and well, you'd be right, according to most of the papyruses we found dating to around 1500 BC. But then we found another, dubbed the Edwin Smith Papyrus (dubbed by Edwin Smith, who bought it in 1862). It's a scientific medical treatise, describing maladies and treatments organ by organ. It describes surgical methods, the functions of different parts of the brain, and how best to deal with someone with a damaged spinal cord. Ancient Greece, for comparison, didn't have info this detailed even a thousand years later.
The Mummy is a perfect film  at least thats what we keep hearing on the internet these days. Back in 2019, to mark the films 20th anniversary, we got scores of thinkpieces heralding the unimpeachable brilliance of the late 90s blockbuster, which starred Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, and the palpable feeling that an entire generation of young people were simultaneously experiencing a sexual awakening, thanks to Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz.

Denofgeek.com

Buzzfeed.com

Thrillist.com

Just last year, The Guardian published an article calling the film an absolute joy and the perfect comfort watch. Social media is positively crammed full of posts asserting that the movie is perfect. Not to mention that were getting merchandise, including T-shirts and bumper stickers, similarly celebrating its apparent cinematic superbness.

Amazon.com

Superyaki.com

And, sure, we get that a lot of people who saw it at a formative age can appreciate The Mummy as a goofy, harmless $80 million thirst trap. But it is, and always has been, aggressively racist.

For starters, take the casting; in a decision that, if made today, would very likely enrage a large percentage of the same media outlets now vocally saluting the nostalgic favorite, the titular Ancient Egyptian Mummy, Imhotep, is played by the definitely not-at-all Egyptian Arnold Vosloo, who is from South Africa and has Dutch and German ancestry. And his girlfriend, the Pharaoh's mistress, is portrayed by Wayuu actress Patricia Velasquez.
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Scattered thunderstorms during the evening becoming more widespread overnight. Low 63F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Americans may still apply for stimulus checks and other funds, but some will need immediate action.

Thousands more people are slated to get stimulus checks and other incentives regularly. This includes recurring payments such as stimulus checks and universal basic income (UBI) instead of one-time payments.

Stimulus Check in New York

Not many groups have experienced high unemployment as much as artists did throughout the pandemic. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which supports the arts and humanities, created the Creatives Rebuild New York (CRNY) program to address this issue.

The CRNY project will offer artists $125 million in relief funding. Over 2,400 artists in New York will receive $1,000 payments for 18 months. Furthermore, the program would provide 300 artists two-year career opportunities at a salary of $65,000 per year. Now is the moment for qualified artists to apply for their cash grants with no strings attached.

However, you only have until March 25th to make your claim, leaving you a little over two weeks to do so. To earn up to $22,503 from the IRS, you'll need these five documents: W-2 form, Child tax credit letter and form, Child and dependent care tax credit form, Earned income tax credit and Stimulus check letter, as per The Sun.

How To Check the History of Federal Payments I Received?

You may check Your Online Account on the IRS website to discover which Economic Impact Payments you've received and how much they're worth..

Before you can access any information, you must first sign in; but after you do, you will be able to see the first, second, and/or third payment amounts from the Economic Impact Payments under the 'Economic Impact Payment Information' section of the Tax Records page.

Alternatively, you might not even need to visit the IRS's website to check things out. Notice 1444 was about the first Economic Impact Payment that was sent in the 2020 tax year. If you have your IRS sent checks, Notice 1444-B was for the second Economic Impact Payment that was delivered in the 2020 tax year, and Notice 1444-C was for the third Economic Impact Payment that was sent in the 2021 tax year.

Letter 6475, which confirms the total amount of the third Economic Impact Payment and any plus-up payments you were received in the 2021 tax year, is the other letter you are likely to get - it has only been sent out since March 2022, so it may not have come yet, according to Marca.

Read Also: Gas Price Hike: US Committee Concerned Oil Industry Is 'Exploiting' Russia-Ukraine War

The Possibility of Fourth Stimulus Check

The context is that, while Democrats in the US House of Representatives approved legislation enabling extra stimulus checks with relative ease, the measure failed in the Senate. Because the Democrats can't afford to lose a single vote in the House of Representatives, a member of President Biden's party has objected to additional such payments for the time being.

Democrats have attempted to extend the child tax credit payments until 2021. Hundreds of billions of dollars were provided to eligible children in the United States. However, while those checks expired in December, there is one final advantage associated with them that Americans should be aware of.

The first half of the enhanced child tax credit is covered by the monthly stimulus installments. The remaining half will be distributed as a tax credit. If you're qualified, you'll be able to claim it on your federal tax return this year, BGR reported.

Related Article: Fourth Stimulus Check May Be Given This Year as Democrats Unveil New Quarterly Payments Proposal

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MILFORD  Police charged a 60-year-old man with attempted murder after they said he shot a relative in the back Sunday.

The man, Eric Stoughton, appeared in court Monday, where he remained in custody immediately after his arraignment in the case.

In a prepared statement, Milford police said officers responded to a report of shots fired in the area of 165 Housatonic Drive about 10 a.m. Sunday.

According to a police report, officers found the alleged victim outside the home suffering from a gunshot wound to the shoulder.

As police helped the victim, police said Stoughton came out of the home and was identified by a witness as the shooter. Police took him into custody at the scene.

The police report said police found a Smith & Wesson .38 Special revolver with two spent casings inside.

A witness reportedly told police that Stoughton and the victim had been arguing about a greenhouse in the backyard.

Stoughton had allegedly been drinking when the witness said they were talking with the victim outside the home and Stoughton emerged, pointing a gun at them. He then ran after the victim while pointing and firing the gun, the witness told police.

The witness said the two had never fought at that level before.

The victim was taken to the hospital and is listed in stable condition. According to the police report, the bullet struck a rib and remained lodged inside the victims shoulder. Police described the wound as non-life-threatening.

During Stoughtons arraignment Monday on charges of attempted murder, first-degree assault, attempted first-degree assault, reckless endangerment, and illegal discharge of a firearm, a bail commissioner said Stoughton had a prior breach of peace conviction and admitted to some substance issues.

Assistant States Attorney Matthew Kalthoff asked Judge Peter Brown to set a high bond, saying Stoughton presented a danger to the victim.

The defendants limited prior record notwithstanding, this is the very sort of case that merits a significant bond, the prosecutor said, adding later that the case is very strong based on the way the investigation came together.

Deputy Assistant Public Defender Kevin Semataska, who represented Stoughton during Mondays hearing, asked for a lower bond, noting Stoughton is a lifelong Connecticut resident with children living close by.

The judge set bond at $750,000, and ordered that Stoughton be monitored via GPS if he is released. The judge also ordered Stoughton to surrender any guns he has and stay away from the alleged victims in the case.
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BRIDGEPORT  Facing criticism the city may not be getting the best deal, the commission that helps manage the citys Stratford-based Sikorsky Memorial Airport will hold off on renewing Atlantic Aviations lease to seek other proposals.

Were very happy with that and we will be bidding, Robert Christoph Jr., the developer of the Steelpointe site on Bridgeports harbor and owner of another prominent Sikorsky tenant, Three Wing Aviation, said Monday. We just really believe in that airport, see what weve been able to do at Three Wing and want to continue the great growth.

Christoph added, And listen, if we get beat Im happy with that, too. In the end its an overall win for Bridgeport and Stratford by doing this process.

Atlantic is a nationwide firm that has operated hangars at Sikorsky for over three decades and provides fliers a host of services, from fueling and de-icing to baggage services, catering and hotel arrangements. Three Wing, purchased by Christoph about three years ago, is a similar, long-standing business.

Mayor Joe Ganims administration was moving forward with giving Atlantic a new, 20-year lease, highlighted by a spike in the rent from approximately $310,000 annually to $1.1 million, plus $300,000 in new fees and significant infrastructure investments. That additional rent revenue would, Sikorsky Manager Michelle Muoio told the airport commission in February, eliminate the airports annual budget deficit.

So that was pretty exciting, Muoio had said.

But Christoph, who during his and his familys years of development dealings with Bridgeport has rarely publicly criticized the city, in an interview earlier this month accused officials of skipping a competitive process to seal the deal with Atlantic.

I have asked (why the lease was not bid). I get a response that this is a great deal for Bridgeport and we should go forward with it, which is not an answer, Christoph had told Hearst Connecticut Media. I do not have a beef with Atlantic. I think theyre a great organization. They are impressive. Theyve done good things in their growth. Its just the lack of competitive process I find appalling.

He reiterated his concerns to the airport commission, composed of Bridgeport officials Ganim, City Council President Aidee Nieves, Finance Director Ken Flatto, City Clerk Lydia Martinez, and Stratford Mayor Laura Hoydick, when that group met Friday to take up the Atlantic lease renewal.

Muoio and executives with Atlantic have argued a competitive process occurred when Bridgeport last year issued a request for information from private entities interested overall in investing in Sikorsky. But Christoph has countered there were also flaws in that process and it was not a transparent one.

On Friday Flatto made a motion supported by his fellow commission members to seek other proposals for the hangers and land occupied by Atlantic, arguing while the existing tenant made an excellent presentation there was no harm in being open to others.

Nieves, who had previously expressed reservations with the 20-year length of Atlantics proposed new lease, on Monday said she too was uncomfortable supporting that new deal without knowing what else might be out there.

I just felt it should be a competitive process, she said.

In an emailed statement Monday, Muoio said the city and the airport are appreciative of its tenants interest in continuing to operate successful businesses on the field.

It is through our based tenants and service providers that we can best support local aviation demand and the needs of Fairfield County, she said. An RFP will be published soon and we look forward to receiving responses to provide to the Airport Commission for additional consideration.

Officials with Atlantic did not respond Monday to requests for comment. But on at Fridays commission meeting two Atlantic executives  General Manager Michael Phillips and Regional Director Shawn Rose  urged the airport commission to approve the new lease with their company.

Phillips said Atlantic has been a proud steward of its space at Sikorsky and warned that if Atlantic were no longer a tenant there, the airport would lose 30 good-paying, full-time jobs and some of Atlantics loyal customers too.

And Rose said Bridgeports handling of Atlantics lease is no different than how other airports operate.

We worked hard to offer a complete, sound, major investment into the lease, he said.

Phillips also noted Friday there are no personal hard feelings with Christoph and Three Wing.

Hi, Bob. We also like you, Phillips said after Christoph called Atlantic a great operator and said he was a fan of theirs.
As anticipated, the Connecticut Public Health Committee raised Senate Bill 367 recently, which would ban the sale of all flavored e-cigarettes except those that taste like tobacco. This legislation is no surprise: leadership in the Public Health Committee has made a flavor ban a top priority, and Gov. Ned Lamont has been a longtime advocate, even including it in his 2020 budget proposal. He has committed to signing it into law if the Legislature passes it.

When it comes to e-cigarette flavor bans, Connecticut has plenty of company, mostly here in the Northeast. Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island have all banned the sale of these products; Maine cities Portland and Bangor have also done so. But prohibition never works as planned. Connecticut legislators should put aside their assumptions and evaluate the impact that a ban on flavored e-cigarette products would have on their constituents health, which will differ from their intent.

While the original objective of e-cigarettes has largely been forgotten, its worth remembering that these products came onto the market because there was a demand for a less harmful alternative to combustible cigarettes for those already addicted to nicotine. Chinese pharmacist Hon Lik is credited with their invention in 2003, which he began working toward after his father died of lung cancer.

When used as originally intended  as a harm reduction tool for current smokers  e-cigarettes have been a resounding success. While combustible cigarettes burn tobacco and release more than 7,000 chemicals into a smokers lungs, of which at least 250 are harmful or carcinogenic, e-cigarettes operate by heating a liquid that contains nicotine. According to Public Health England, the leading health agency in the United Kingdom, eliminating the burning process decreases the harm associated with combustible cigarettes by 95 percent. Virtually every public health agency, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, acknowledges that nicotine products exist on a continuum of risk, on which e-cigarettes are at the lower end near traditional nicotine replacement therapies. Meanwhile, Public Health England specifically endorses them as a smoking-cessation tool, and randomized controlled trials show that those who use e-cigarettes are able to sustain abstinence from combustibles at nearly twice the rate of traditional nicotine replacement.

Flavors are essential to the harm reduction benefits. In one study of 4,515 smokers who had switched to e-cigarettes, all participants called flavors very important to their decision to switch, and 40 percent reported that tobacco-only flavoring would have made their switch less likely. Another study found that smokers were more likely to switch completely from combustibles to e-cigarettes when they used flavored products.

As elsewhere, Connecticut legislators insist flavors are the root cause of the spike in teen vaping, even naming the campaign to prohibit their sale Flavors Hook Kids. Research suggests otherwise, with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finding in 2019 that 55.3 percent of teens who use e-cigarettes say they initially tried one out of curiosity, compared to 22.4 percent who cited flavors as their primary reason for initiation. There is no doubt we must keep these products out of youths hands, but in many ways, Connecticut is already doing so: the teen vaping rate here is below the national average, which fell 40 percent from 2020 to 2021 to 11 percent of high school students.

More can be done, but flavor bans are not the way to accomplish legislators objectives. These bans may even worsen health outcomes: a study of a flavor ban in San Francisco found the policy to be associated with an increase in combustible cigarette smoking compared to areas without a flavor ban. In Massachusetts, too, the flavor ban did not achieve its objective, instead simply driving the sale of flavored e-cigarettes across state lines to New Hampshire. In a region as densely compact as the Northeast, Connecticut could expect the same.

With nearly 12 percent of Connecticut adults addicted to combustible cigarettes, public policy should not sacrifice less harmful nicotine alternatives that could benefit more than 420,000 constituents to fulfill a campaign slogan. State legislators should weigh these costs and reject the e-cigarette flavor ban in Senate Bill 367.

Sarah Wall is the Northeast government affairs manager for the R Street Institute, a nonpartisan free-market think tank based in Washington, D.C. She lives in Hamden.
The United States People's Convoy, which was inspired by Canadian truckers who opposed coronavirus pandemic mandates, struggled to move forward in Washington, D.C. on Saturday because of a solo cyclist.

The coalition had already made its way to the U.S. capital earlier this month as it continues to protest pandemic restrictions that have already been largely removed. The truckers who attended the demonstrations have caused frustrations among residents in the area due to the resulting slow traffic on major roads around the notoriously traffic-jammed city.

U.S. People's Convoy

But on Saturday, one cyclist was able to bring the massive convoy to a near halt by riding in front of the line of truckers very slowly. The lone biker's actions have caused the groups of truckers to sound their horns in frustration.

On social media, a video recording of the incident has gone viral as of Sunday morning and has received more than 4.2 million views. One post by a direction action group in the city, ShutDownDC, included a video of the situation with the caption, "Big powerful convoy slowed down by... a single bicyclist," as per Independent.

The group also praised the people who have been fighting back, albeit peacefully, against the large freedom convoy since they arrived in the region. In another video recording, one of the truckers could be seen pulling alongside the cyclist and could be heard saying, "Hey, what are you doing? You got a bunch of trucks behind you."

Read Also: COVID-19 in the US: Dr. Anthony Fauci Warns Potential Surge in Cases Amid 'Blip' in the UK

The situation comes as last week, a long line of People's Convoy drivers of vehicles covered in American flags blocked traffic around the capital. Many of the protesters who painted their cars had done so in the colors of the Betsy Ross and Confederate flags, which are known to be associated with the far-right and are involved in racist controversy.

According to the Dailymail, the demonstrators also placated the words, "2022 convoy," "faith over fear, your choice," "freedom," and "the people are united" on their windows. Originally, the convoy wanted to make it to DC by United States President Joe Biden's State of the Union address on Mar. 1 but was unable to reach the region in time.

Freedom Convoy Causes Heavy Traffic

Heavy traffic, delays, and road closures were expected along I-395 from Virginia heading into D.C. last week as the convoy arrived. Police also noted that there was heavy traffic volume at Inbound 14th Street Bridge Toll Road (HOV), Inbound 395 at Exit 3 to 12th Street Tunnel, and Eastbound on Maine Avenue at the split to I-395 split/Wharf.

The DC Homeland Security & Emergency Management used its AlertDC Twitter account to announce that the DC Police Department was closely monitoring to prepare the implementation of traffic control measures in the area as needed.

Since Mar. 4, residents have seen several truck convoys in the D.C. region, with drivers staying at the Hagerstown Speedway and holding rallies. They made loops on the Beltway and also met with Congressional leaders before making their way into the District itself, WUSA9 reported.

Related Article: Gas Price Hike: US Committee Concerned Oil Industry Is 'Exploiting' Russia-Ukraine War

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Crude Oil Outlook:

Crude oil prices have once again surged higher as the EU weighs banning oil imports from Russia.

Resistance from mid- and late-February, around 95, has proved itself as support in recent days.

According to the IG Client Sentiment Index , crude oil prices have a mixed bias in the near-term.

Oil Explodes Higher, Again

After losing nearly -30% from the early-March highs, crude oil prices stabilized in recent days and have once again found reason to push to the topside. While the Russian invasion of Ukraine has seemingly hit a point of attrition, Russias refusal to withdraw its troops has provoked the European Union into escalating sanctions once more. The news that the EU may soon ban Russian oil imports comes after the United States did so last week, threatening a further disruption of global energy supplies. Crude oils three-day rally of over +16% underscores the volatile environment likely to persist.

Oil Volatility, Oil Price Correlation Tightens

Crude oil prices have a relationship with volatility like most other asset classes, especially those that have real economic uses  other energy assets, soft and hard metals, for example. Similar to how bonds and stocks dont like increased volatility  signaling greater uncertainty around cash flows, dividends, coupon payments, etc.  crude oil tends to suffer during periods of higher volatility. Sustained heightened geopolitical tensions continue to translate into higher oil volatility, allowing for oil prices to move higher in an atypical manner that will continue for the foreseeable future.

OVX (Oil Volatility) Technical Analysis: Daily Price Chart (March 2021 to March 2022) (Chart 1)

Oil volatility (as measured by the Cboes gold volatility ETF, OVX, which tracks the 1-month implied volatility of oil as derived from the USO option chain) was trading at 70.74 at the time this report was written. The surge in oil volatility  driven by uncertainty around near-term energy supplies  has coincided with higher oil prices. The 5-day correlation between OVX and crude oil prices is +0.92 while the 20-day correlation is +0.90. One week ago, on March 14, the 5-day correlation was +0.86 and the 20-day correlation was +0.94.

Crude Oil Price Technical Analysis: Daily Chart (October 2020 to March 2022) (Chart 2)

Crude oil prices are finding follow through higher after the morning star candlestick pattern marked support at a familiar area around 95, where the mid- and late-February highs carved out resistance. A move back up to the 100% Fibonacci extension of the November 2020 low, October 2021 high, December 2021 low move is likely (114.20), and beyond towards the 123.6% Fibonacci extension (126.42); the yearly high comes in a bit higher, at 130.50. If the EU bans oil imports from Russia, a move back to the highs seems preordained; while refutation of such a development could easily see crude oil prices slump back towards 95 over the course of a few days.

Crude Oil Price Technical Analysis: Weekly Chart (January 2008 to March 2022) (Chart 3)

Crude oil prices had previously breached the May 2011 high established at 114.83, closing above said level in the first week of March. But gains proved fleeting, with the May 2011 high, pitchfork resistance, and the 100% Fibonacci extension serving as a formidable confluence of resistance. With a mostly bullish momentum backdrop  crude oil prices are above their weekly 4-, 8-, and 13-EMA envelope, weekly MACD trending higher, and weekly Slow Stochastics just out of overbought territory  it remains the case that buy the dip remains the preferred approach.

IG CLIENT SENTIMENT INDEX: CRUDE OIL PRICE FORECAST (March 21, 2022) (CHART 4)

Oil - US Crude: Retail trader data shows 57.24% of traders are net-long with the ratio of traders long to short at 1.34 to 1. The number of traders net-long is 11.85% higher than yesterday and 4.10% lower from last week, while the number of traders net-short is 15.20% higher than yesterday and 17.09% lower from last week.

We typically take a contrarian view to crowd sentiment, and the fact traders are net-long suggests Oil - US Crude prices may continue to fall.

Positioning is less net-long than yesterday but more net-long from last week. The combination of current sentiment and recent changes gives us a further mixed Oil - US Crude trading bias.

--- Written by Christopher Vecchio, CFA, Senior Strategist
Memphis, TN (38152)

Today

Cloudy in the morning, then thunderstorms developing later in the day. A few storms may be severe. High near 85F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely. A few storms may be severe. Low 62F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Barbara Faye Boyles, 75, of Raceland, Kentucky passed away Tuesday, May 3, 2022, at her residence. Barbara was born August 1, 1946, in Load, Kentucky a daughter of the late Homer and Gladys Johnson Boyles. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by one nephew Robert Boyles. Bar
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Sunday that he has not made a decision on Judge Kentaji Brown Jackson's Supreme Court nomination during her Senate hearing scheduled to begin on Monday.

Jackson has become the first Black woman nominated to the country's highest court after United States President Joe Biden's nomination. During an interview, McConnell said that the Committee is poised to question the nominee and present to her tough questions.

McConnell's Vote on Jackson

The minority leader said he has not yet made his final decision of how he was going to vote for Jackson. However, McConnell said that he was going to conduct a respectful deep dive into the SC nominee's record which he believes is appropriate for a lifetime appointment.

Since Jackson's nomination, it has remained unclear how Republican lawmakers planned to question the judge but others have already stepped up their criticism of the Black woman. The minority leader last week reportedly said that he was concerned over Jackson's experience as a public defender that he argued could lead her to favor criminal defendants, as per CNBC.

Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri conducted a review of Jackson's record last week and said that he noticed an "alarming pattern when it comes to Judge Jackson's treatment of sex offenders, especially those preying on children." However, independent fact-checkers later debunked the lawmaker's claims.

Read Also: Capitol Riot Case: Ex-West Virginia State Lawmaker Pleads Guilty, Could Serve Up to 5 Years in Prison

On Sunday, Sen. Dick Durbin denounced Hawley's attacks on the SC nominee, saying in an interview that the Missouri official's analysis of Jackson was "inaccurate and unfair." Durbin noted that Hawley was part of a fringe within the Republican Party. He argued that the Missouri lawmaker did not have the credibility he thought he had.

According to the Washington Post, comments from various GOP senators have hinted that Jackson's confirmation hearings will be less contentious than recent ones. This is seen as an attempt by the Republican Party to avoid being seen as attacking a historic nominee and because her addition to the court will not cause a drastic shift to the ideological balance.

Supreme Court

McConnell previously had a one-on-one meeting with Jackson where he questioned the nominee regarding her potential support of court-packing. The idea is that the proposal will add more seats to the Supreme Court as part of an attempt to increase or expand the influence of the party that is currently in control of the White House.

The minority leader said that the issue will be one of the key issues in the confirmation hearing of the Black woman. However, Sen. Doug Jones, who is Jackson's guide for the process, said that the SC nominee told McConnell that adding seats to the court was a decision that should be made by Congress.

South Carolina's Sen. Lindsey Graham is another one of Jackson's critics and has voiced a number of complaints. The Republican senator referred to the SC nominee as a "radical left" nominee. The lawmaker's remarks come as many GOP members are expected to stand in opposition to Jackson's confirmation to the country's highest court, Politico reported.



Related Article: Gas Price Hike: US Committee Concerned Oil Industry Is 'Exploiting' Russia-Ukraine War

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Of the many tales of Soviet heroism from World War Two, the siege of Leningrad  modern day St Petersburg  ranks high in the Russian psyche.

For almost 900 days, between September 1941 and January 1944, the citys three million inhabitants lived under constant German artillery and aerial bombardment.

Leningrads Blokadniki, the name given to survivors of the siege, suffered in freezing, filthy, and disease-ridden subterranean shelters. Some 800,000 died amid the rubble of Russias historic capital  600,000 of them from starvation.

Every day was a battle against mental and physical collapse, with residents resorting to unspeakable measures  including cannibalism  to stay alive.

Refugee women trek across the landscape in Leningrad

Refugees pictured earlier this month fleeing Ukraine and and making their way to the Krakovets border crossing

On January 27 every year  the anniversary of the citys liberation  Vladimir Putin lays a wreath at the Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery in St Petersburg. It is a much-publicised demonstration of the centrality of the siege of Leningrad to the Russian presidents identity.

For Putin it is personal. He was born seven years after the war ended and raised in the still battle-scarred city.

His father had been seriously wounded during the battle to defend it, and his older brother, Viktor, had died from diphtheria during the siege at just one year old.

So his is a family truly scarred by the horrors of siege warfare  and yet, Putin has no hesitation in inflicting the same misery and suffering on innocent Ukrainians.

Indeed, last Thursday, in his daily address President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed directly to Russians: Citizens of Russia! How is your blockade of Mariupol different from the blockade of Leningrad during World War Two?

A woman crying during the suffering in Leningrad in which some 800,000 died

A woman sobs as she leaves a house damaged by a Russian airstrike in Gorenka, outside the capital Kyiv, Ukraine on March 2, 2022

Children playing amid the chaos in Leningrad

And children pictured playing at a Polish refugee camp on March 13, 2022

The parallels between Leningrad and Russias onslaught on the cities of Mariupol and Kharkiv are striking.

Ukrainian civilians are forced to cower underground to avoid incessant indiscriminate bombardment. Should they venture out they risk being shot or blown up in the street. Water, food, fuel, and medicines are being denied them. Bodies lie unclaimed. Mass graves are being dug.

And yet I believe that Putin, a terrible amateur historian  his rambling speeches and pseudo-historic essays saturated with the rhetoric of siege and the Great Patriotic War  will not have made the connection. He is a man lacking any self-awareness, blinded by his own prejudices and vitriol, a man who once famously said that traitors, even worse than enemies, must be crushed.

And for Putin, that is exactly what Ukraine is. Not an independent sovereign nation, but a treacherous Russian territory that has betrayed its Motherland and must be punished.

The terrible civilian costs of siege tactics are not the only echoes of Hitler and Leningrad in Putins invasion of Ukraine. In the Fuhrers mind, Leningrad represented all things Bolshevik, a symbolic target that needed to be captured at all costs.

Wehrmacht forces should have moved on Moscow, but Hitler diverted vast amounts of resources and manpower to Leningrad.

A military miscalculation that marked a turning point on the Eastern front, hugely significant in Nazi Germanys ultimate defeat. In Ukraine, Putin is making the same error, seemingly blinded to strategic reality by an irrational desire to capture Kyiv, a symbol of the modern Ukraine which he so hates. It is increasingly clear that the capital is unlikely to be entirely encircled. Russias manpower and supply lines will not stretch that far.

The wreckage of artillery shells in Leningrad in 1941

And the devastation in Ukraine's Zhytomyr on March 11, 2022 caused by Putin's rockets

Yet, despite this, Putin remains set on Kyiv, diverting crucial assets that would be better used in the south and east, where Russian troops have gained some momentum. Putin believed his forces would capture Kyiv with ease, that the entire edifice of Ukrainian statehood would collapse at the first push, that he would triumphantly reclaim the historic cradle of Russian Orthodoxy. He refuses to accept that this is not to be the case.

It is a strategic miscalculation that once again demonstrates Putins complete inability to move beyond his own prejudices. It may end up costing him his war in Ukraine.

For a man who talks so much about Leningrad, he has totally failed to learn its most important lesson.

Mark Galeotti is honorary professor at the University College London School of Slavonic and East European Studies and author of A Short History of Russia
Like all too many of us, my attention is unfailingly grabbed by headlines revealing crimes of unusual depravity. For example, this one, from the New York Times just over a week ago: She Killed Two Women. At 83, She Is Charged With Dismembering a Third.

That's not something you read every day. And about a woman, possibly never. Or at least, I had never heard before of a female killer in the habit of dismembering her victims.

So I read on, to discover the criminal history of Ms Harvey Marcelin, who had murdered 'her then girlfriend in 1963', and a year after being released in 1984, 'stabbed to death another woman she had been living with'.

Remarkably, Marcelin was freed again on parole in 2019  and earlier this month was charged with yet another murder of a woman, 68-year-old Susan Leyden.

Harvey Marcelin was freed on parole in 2019... and earlier this month was charged with yet another murder

Ms Marcelin 'was listed as male in earlier court records, but now identifies as a woman, according to a law enforcement official', according to the New York Times

Brooklyn police found dismembered parts of Ms Leyden in a shopping cart and  Exhibit A  'her head inside Ms Marcelin's home'.

Reports of earlier parole hearings unearthed the fact that Marcelin admitted to having 'problems with women'. Not as much as women have had problems with her.

Exasperates

Only is it, actually, 'her'? Well, no. Or not, officially, at the time of the first two murders. As a single sentence in this sensational report explained: 'Ms Marcelin was listed as male in earlier court records, but now identifies as a woman, according to a law enforcement official'.

So, on the basis of that recent 'self-identification', this now enters the records of the police as the work of a prodigously violent female serial killer.

You might think that this is very American: I mean, in the sense that it is the country where, in more than any other, you can 'reinvent yourself'.

But the same thing is happening in the UK (though not yet with such a grotesque crime)  and in a way that exasperates many campaigners for women's rights.

What especially concerns them is how sexual assaults on women  including rape  by male-bodied people self-identifying as female are officially registered as crimes 'by women'.

This was raised during the recent Parliamentary debate on International Women's Day by the Conservative MP Sir Bernard Jenkin (whose wife, Anne, is a longstanding campaigner for greater involvement of women in politics, founding the group Women2Win).

Sir Bernard told MPs: 'Nearly all violence against women is committed by men, but there is a new and growing category of violence against women committed by people who call themselves women but are biologically male.

Sir Bernard Jenkin has raised the issue in Parliament

'We should always respond positively to people with genuine gender dysphoria, and I deliver this speech with kindness in my heart, but the Sexual Offences Act 2003 defines rape as when a person 'intentionally penetrates the vagina, anus or mouth of another person  with his penis without consent'.

'The Crown Prosecution Service reports that between 2012 and 2018 more than 436 cases of rape were committed by women. The penis is a male organ, so these rapes are committed by men presenting themselves as women.'

The same point was made with characteristic force by J.K. Rowling last December, after Police Scotland  following the SNP administration's decision to remove the requirement for medical checks before people obtain a 'gender recognition certificate'  declared: 'The sex/gender identification of individuals who come into contact with the police will be based on how they present or how they declare, which is consistent with [our] values.'

The Harry Potter author tweeted (echoing the 'newspeak' of George Orwell's novel 1984): 'War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength. The Penised Individual Who Raped You is a Woman.'

J.K. Rowling made the same point as Sir Bernard in a post on Twitter

Why does this matter, apart, that is, from the linguistic confusion? As Kate Coleman of the Keep Prisons Single Sex campaign points out: 'Males and male crime are hidden in the female data and statistics. This has serious implications for the accuracy of statistics and service planning.'

For example, the 'service planning' which led to Karen White, born Stephen Wood, and who had committed multiple rapes, being sent to a women's prison, New Hall in Yorkshire.

Outcry

During three months there, the male- bodied Karen White sexually assaulted four other inmates. It was only this, and the outcry that followed, which forced the prison service to apologise, and White was transferred to a male prison in Leeds.

Subsequently, official figures showed that transgender inmates make up about 1 per cent of the 'female jail population', but are responsible for 5.6 per cent of sexual assaults in women's prisons.

So, numerically, the problem is very small: but, proportionately, it is an obvious  and highly predictable  anomaly.

'Predator' Karen White used a 'transgender persona' to attack vulnerable women, a court heard in 2018. Pictured (left) in 2018 while serving time in a womans prison, and (right) in 2016, before arrest

It's one thing to talk about 'rapes by women with penises'  thus defying the reality of biological sex  quite another to deny that it happens. But that is the attitude in the NHS, at least if Baroness Nicholson (formerly the Liberal Democrat MP Emma Nicholson) is right.

In a Lords debate last week on single-sex wards, she reported a case in which a 'male-bodied' transgender person had raped a woman on the same ward, but the hospital had initially insisted that this was not possible, as 'there was no male there'.

According to Nicholson, CCTV subsequently revealed that the thing the hospital said was impossible, did happen: the NHS has accepted it, and the police are preparing a prosecution.

Baroness Nicholson told a Lords debate last week of a case in which a 'male-bodied' transgender person had raped a woman on the same hospital ward

Last summer, Nicholson wrote a piece for the Mail  this newspaper has long campaigned on the need for single-sex wards  protesting that 'without consultation, NHS Trusts across the country have issued guidance saying patients should be accommodated based on the gender they say they identify with.

'As a result, a biological male who is 'physically intact'  that is, who possesses a penis  has the right to choose to be accommodated on a female ward and to use women's lavatories and facilities.'

She claimed that 'some nurses have lost their jobs' after objecting to this.

Realism

For what it's worth, I have a compromise solution for hospitals and prisons. Post-operative transgender women  that is, minus the dangly bits  should be allocated to female wards/prisons; but those who are still in possession of a penis should be restricted to male facilities.

That would make the appropriate recognition of people who have undergone great suffering in reassigning to what they feel is their true gender, while also recognising the concerns of women about their safety and sexual privacy from male-bodied people in intimate surroundings.

And I would also like to see a little more realism in the reporting of crimes, if only to avoid the impression that women have suddenly become far more likely to commit violent assaults or sexual offences.

This is also argued by Professor Kathleen Stock in her recent book Material Girls (which was one of the reasons she was hounded out of her academic post at Sussex University, for 'transphobia').

Professor Kathleen Stock faced abuse from trans rights activists on campus at the University of Sussex, in wake of writing her gender critical book Material Girls. The feminist campaigns to protect female-only safe spaces.

She observed: 'In a context where men  understood as adult human males  are responsible for nearly three times as many violent assaults as women, headlines such as 'Gang of women repeatedly stamp on man's head' (Daily Mirror, June 26, 2018), 'Sheffield woman found with over 1,000 indecent images of children hauled before the court' (Daily Star, July 19, 2019), and 'Woman who bragged about being a paedophile approached boys at Remembrance event' (Wales Online, May 15, 2020) seem to demonstrate a flagrant disregard for women's interests.'

The point is that all these headlines were about male-bodied criminals who identified as female.

As Professor Stock said when I raised this with her, in the light of the grotesque case of Harvey Marcelin: 'I think these crimes were male crimes, and I don't see any problem with reporting them that way  and if females were committing them, that would be worth reporting too, of course.'

None of this means that we shouldn't treat transgender people with complete respect. Indeed, I feel that respect strongly for someone I know who was once Don and is now Deirdre. But we have to describe the world as it is  and that includes biology.
A life-sized portrait of John Bercow dominated the grand Corner Drawing Room in the grace-and-favour home he occupied during his ten-year tenure as Speaker of the House of Commons.

It was the first painting anyone saw as they entered Speaker's House, said to be the parliamentary estate's grandest residence.

But the picture, which cost the taxpayer a grotesque 37,000, was quietly moved to the other side of the room last year as Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Kathryn Stone carried out her probe into claims of bullying by the pugnacious parliamentarian.

The Speaker's advisory committee on works of art, run by MPs, is now debating whether to authorise it to be consigned to a dusty cellar  permanently.

A life-size portrait of John Bercow hung in his grace-and-favour home during his ten years as Speaker of the House of Commons

Dean Russell, the Conservative MP for Watford who chairs the advisory committee, says: 'We recognise the concerns that have been raised around the Bercow portrait and we are actively developing a policy which will be used to assess how the House approaches works such as these.'

Meanwhile, the plaque at the bottom of the picture frame reserved for Bercow's title and coat of arms, in expectation of him entering the House of Lords, remains blank.

But after Ms Stone's report branded him a 'serial liar' and 'serial bully' earlier this month, there will be no peerage for him.

Gyles Brandreth recalls his first theatre trip seeing Judi Dench in Romeo and Juliet

Writer, broadcaster, entertainer and former MP Gyles Brandreth, back on tour with his one-man show, is telling audiences about his first theatre trip in 1960, when he saw a young Judi Dench in Romeo And Juliet.

Dame Judi's parents were in the audience when, as Juliet, she asked her nurse: 'Where is my mother? Why she is within.'

At which point a voice from the stalls trilled: 'Here we are, darling.' To this day, Dench cringes with embarrassment when reminded of the incident.

It's not just Ukraine causing red lights to flash at the Ministry of Defence. Argentina has again asserted sovereignty over the Falklands after British military flights to the islands sparked renewed tensions.

Minister for Defence Procurement James Heappey pledges: 'Our forces in the South Atlantic are at the appropriate level to ensure the defence of the Islands.'

Mrs T would expect no less.

Labour equalities spokeswoman Anneliese Dodds opened the party's women's conference at the weekend  an odd choice, given that just the week before she had refused to provide a definition of the word woman.

'It depends on the context,' she told BBC Woman's Hour.

Cue a stinging riposte from broadcaster Dame Esther Rantzen. 'You know you're a woman if you play a principal boy in a pantomime (and not the Dame),' she says. 'You know you're a woman if you sing soprano (and not countertenor). And you know you're a woman if you present Woman's Hour.'

Quote of the day: Tory chairman Oliver Dowden at the party's spring conference in Blackpool, said: 'Next week marks two years of Sir Keir Starmer as Labour leader. In that time he's really managed to stamp his personality on his party: dull . . . uninspiring . . . and bereft of ideas.'

On the day P&O Ferries, owned by Dubai-based DP World, axed 800 staff, racehorse Dubai Devils won the 15.05 at Hexham at 9-1. Perhaps its owners should give some of their prize to the fighting fund for the sacked ferry workers.

Lords a-sleeping? A peer into past

The row over whether Lord Young of Norwood Green, 79, was 'fast asleep' during a debate last week brings to mind some episodes from the past.

The 7th Earl of Onslow, who died in 2011, once said: 'It will be sad if I look either up or down after my death and don't see my son fast asleep on the same benches where I have slept.'

The 8th Duke of Devonshire even dozed off while speaking. 'I dreamt I was addressing that just assembly,' he said, 'when somebody woke me up and by Jove I was.'
Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan may be best known for portraying a well-to-do member of society in the hit Netflix series, but her latest turn in front of the camera sees her taking on the role of saucy makeup maven.

The 35-year-old actress, who is from Galway, Ireland, has quickly become a household name in the 15 months since Bridgerton rocketed to the top of Netflix's most-watched list, while captivating viewers with its scandalous storylines and raunchy sex scenes.

Indeed, the series has proven so popular that it has even inspired its own collection of makeup, courtesy of beauty brand Pat McGrath Labs, which enlisted Nicola to serve as a spokesmodel for the regency-themed products.

But while the collection and its accompanying photo and video campaign may well pay tribute to the hit series, Nicola could not look further away from her rather frumpy character, Penelope Featherington.

Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan took a break from corsets and frumpy gowns in order to star in a stunning new beauty campaign for Pat McGrath Labs

The 35-year-old has been named as the beauty brand's latest celebrity 'muse' - and her first role sees her promoting a line of makeup inspired by the second season of Bridgerton

Nicola shot to global fame in December 2020 when she appeared as Penelope Featherington in the Shonda Rhimes-led show, which will premiere a second season on March 25

Instead of the over-the-top colorful gowns and wacky accessories that the actress is seen sporting on the show, Nicola donned a chic black dress to pose for the campaign image, which also sees her sporting a bold glittery eyeshadow from the Pat McGrath Labs x Bridgerton Mthrship: Belle of the Ball palette.

Pat McGrath Labs' Bridgerton II collection features a range of regency-style products

The palette is one of the standout stars of the collection, which also features a blush palette, Blushing Delights, lipstick, a body shimmer, and a kohl eyeliner.

As well as posing for the campaign imagery, Nicola is also seen putting the products to the test in a video clip that she uploaded to her Instagram account, where she voiced her excitement at being chosen as one of Pat McGrath's muses - an honor only given to a handful of women in the past, including Naomi Campbell.

'Cannot believe this is actually real but Im so excited to announce that Im the new @patmcgrathreal muse,' the actress wrote in her caption.

'What an absolute dream come true thank you Pat Im truly on cloud nine.'

In the video, which was shot at The Plaza Hotel in New York City, Nicola is seen enjoying afternoon tea in her hotel room while reading through a Pat McGrath-themed newspaper that was no doubt inspired by the infamous Whistledown newsletter from the series.

The actress - who made her name while appearing in Derry Girls - appears in a photo and video campaign for the collection

She shot the video campaign at the Plaza Hotel in New York City

The collection includes an eyeshadow palette, a blush palette, and a body shimmer

After flicking through the newspaper, Nicola proceeds to put on a full face of glam, primping and pouting in front of the mirror, before flashing a cheeky wink at the camera.

The actress, who is a self-confessed makeup devotee, added in an interview with Harper's Bazaar that she has long been a fan of the brand, explaining that Pat's focus on 'lush skin' and 'bold colors' are 'her thing down to a tee'.

She added that glowing skin is also a focus for the makeup artists on the series, revealing that she and her co-stars would do a sheet mask each morning on-set to ensure that their complexions looked radiant and hydrated before any cosmetics were applied.

Speaking about the upcoming launch of her second Bridgerton collection, makeup artist Pat said 'can't wait' for beauty lovers to get the chance to 'unleash their inner royal' through the products.

The Bridgerton II collection is set to debut on March 24 - one day before the second season of the popular show premieres on Netflix.

However, critics have already warned viewers to expect far less racy romances in the sequel series than they saw in the first, with early reviews revealing that season two features far less nudity and sex.

Nicola will return to screens in the second season of the show later this month, however critics have already warned viewers to expect much less sex than the first season

Off-screen, Nicola has become a regular at A-list events, where she is often lauded for her fashion-forward ensembles

The latest installment of Bridgerton, which is based on a book series by the same name, also sees last season's leading couple - Daphne Bridgerton, played by Phoebe Dynevor, and the Duke of Hastings, played by Rege-Jean Page - taking a backseat.

Page left viewers devastated in April of last year when he announced that he would not be returning to the show for its second season, instead choosing to focus his attentions on other projects - adding much fuel to speculation that he may be in the running to serve as the next James Bond.

While Dynevor will return to the role of Daphne, the focus of Bridgerton this season will be on her character's brother Anthony, played by Jonathan Bailey, and his romance with Kate Sharma, played by Simone Ashley.

According to The Times' Carol Midgley, any fans who are hoping to see just as much - if not more - racy action on their screens in season two may well be disappointed.

'Any viewers tuning into the bosom-heaving Regency drama's second series hoping for more of the same, however, may find themselves slightly deflated,' she wrote in her review.

'While last time it was a mere three minutes into episode one before the copulating commenced, this time more restraint is shown. In fact the entire first episode is sex-free, as is the second...'
For most people their bedroom offers a peaceful solace where they can drift off to a restful sleep.

But these bizarre design fails, shared from internet users around the world, are sure to give you nightmares.

The hilarious online gallery, collated by BoredPanda from the Facebook group 'beds with threatening auras' includes some strange interior design decisions - from a wall covered in eyeballs to a bed shaped like a church altar.

Some of the strangest examples include a bed shaped like a giant pair of feet and a room decorated with a series of very creepy china dolls.

Here, Femail reveals the peculiar bedroom designs which are sure to give you a terrible night's sleep.

Toe-curling! This giant, foot-themed bed, shared by a Russian social media user, left internet users cringing

Shell shocked! This giant sea-themed bed, located in a hotel in St, Pocatello, US, left internet users baffled

Bed, bath and beyond! This bed, in an unknown location, was built above a bathtub to save space in a tiny flat

Oh God! This bed, located in Bristol, was made out of wood with stairs on either side to resemble a church alter

Hit the stones! This rock-hard bed, in an unknown location, is sure to give a terrible night sleep

Somebody's watching me! One baffling bedroom, located in the US, was stuffed full of antique china dolls

Hair-raising! One bizarre bedroom in the US was covered in white curtains, fluffy rug and matching bed trimming

Jaw dropping! One US bedroom featured a dinosaur-themed bed which looked far too realistic

This dull and dreary bedroom, located in the US, was supposed to look rustic but instead looked slightly menacing

Careful wet paint! This bedroom located in France was decorated head to toe with colourful graffiti

Now that's a firm mattress! One bed, located in Johannesburg, was made entirely of marble tiles

No frills! One bed was decorated with an extremely elaborate pink silk bed spreda with matching pillow cases

Slip into a deep sleep! This bed, located in the US, featured bedding covered in pictures of snakes

Saving space! This flat, in London, left internet users around world baffled with its strange design

This bedroom, located in a hotel in San Luis Obispo, US, featured walls made of stone and a bright yellow floor

That's an eyeful! This frightening bedroom was decorated with a series of giant eyeballs on the walls while a ghost stood in the corner
A new poll reveals that most Russians favor the actions of President Vladimir Putin, which is about pushing back NATO expansionism. They even consider nuclear weapons an option for the military against EU nations. Propping up Volodymyr Zelensky as the face of Ukrainian resistance as the West claims their help is needed causes more tension in Europe.

West Sanctions Affects Russian Economy

Vladimir Putin warned NATO and the US, but they did not listen until info that Ukraine was buying nuclear weapons and attacks on the separatist Donbas and Lugansk regions forced the Kremlin to move. Blaming Russia for the carnage in Ukraine due to its invasion and sanction heaped on it, reported the Express UK.

America and its allies have applied sanctions to stop the Kremlin, significantly affecting the Russian economy, leading many to lose jobs and forcing factories to close. The sanctions have significantly affected ordinary Russians with high food prices, and the ruble value has its worst decline.

The West may have made it worse by allowing the Kremlin to get more support and expansion of unfortunate attack on EU members of NATO anytime soon.

NATO Underestimated Russia

It is a miscalculation that Russians will back down, indicated in a new poll supporting Vladimir Putin, with 86.6 percent of those surveyed as in favor of reprisal attacks on former Soviet bloc members Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary.

Read Also: Vladimir Putin Net Worth 2022: Does Anyone Know Russian President's Hidden Wealth?

Once part of the USSR or the Warsaw pact that lasted until the end of the cold war, after World War 2, leaders felt they had to prepare for a western invasion. Before invading Ukraine, Putin demanded the West pull back NATO forces in Eastern Europe, but they ignored it, noted Reuters.

Last December, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Rybakov told the media that the West has been pushing too close to Russian borders and demanded to remove these elements as they were in 1997, citing the Daily Star Post.

Russians Back Putin's Actions

Poll numbers show that 46 percent agree the Kremlin attacked the EU, with 40.6 percent thought expansion of reprisal is valid.

Nuclear weapons are acceptable to 75 percent of Russians to strike the West, and its leader should fear the consensus. More than 40 percent said nuclear attacks were okay, while 34 percent are all for it. Active Group company surveyed during March 11-14 with a total of 1,557 respondents via telephone calls.

Poland was always wary of Russia that it would reclaim its place, and it would not settle for what had been happening for years, but NATO dismissed the idea.

Last Monday, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawieck of Poland asserted that Ukrainian soldiers were struggling not just for their independence but for the liberty of their Eastern European neighbors and called the assault of Russia in Ukraine as part of a geopolitical strategy devised by the Kremlin.

A week ago, the Polish PM and other EU leaders were in Kyiv to meet the Ukraine President there.

Related Article: Indian Central Bank Adopts a Trade Agreement With Russia; Defies Western Sanctions Against Moscow

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Kmart Australia has addressed rumours circulating among shoppers that staffed checkouts are being removed from stores.

The speculation began after customers shared their concerns with thousands on Facebook, claiming the department store is 'phasing out' manned checkouts and will only offer self-serve machines.

'Shame on Kmart for switching totally over to self-service only, which I found out today. They will no longer serve you it is - self service only now,' one customer claimed online.

Another wrote: 'Heard that Kmart is going self-service only at my local soon. Pretty disappointing, not everyone likes self-serve.'

But Kmart Australia confirmed this is only a rumour and there will always be staff to assist customers.

Kmart Australia has addressed speculation circling among customers that the department store is 'phasing out' staffed checkouts and only offering self-serve machines

Among the speculation, one customer wrote: 'They are taking away jobs from people young and old who have already experienced hardship with the pandemic and the extraordinary weather event causing devastation to families and homes.'

Others agreed and said they would be disappointed if only self-service machines were offered nationwide.

A Kmart Australia spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia that stores 'will always have' team members available to assist customers.

'At Kmart, we strive to deliver an enjoyable and convenient shopping experience to all our customers whether they choose to shop with us in-store or online,' the spokesperson said.

'Since late 2015, we began introducing self-service registers to our stores as part of our commitment to customers in allowing them to access a more efficient service, especially during peak trading periods.

'We understand there are many different ways you can shop with us at Kmart and we assure all of our loyal customers that at every step, we will always have a Kmart team member available to support them.

'Whether it be to greet them at the front entrance, help process transactions, finding their favourite items in store or pack an online order ready for collection or delivery.

'We look forward to servicing all our customers in the many different ways they like to shop.'
A foodie hub in Melbourne has launched a competition among some of the city's top eateries to create the most unique sweet treat.

The aim for restaurants is to prepare a must-try menu item that will entice diners to the city to restart the economy following the pandemic.

Each of the unique desserts will take part in the Chapel Champions Awards and the people of Melbourne will be asked to vote for the most delicious.

Seafood restaurant, Tommy Ruff, added the Icey Angler to their menu with a dessert that resembles a takeaway meal but comes with deep-fried Magnum, cinnamon sweet potato chips, raspberry coulis and white chocolate dipping sauces.

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Legendary Chapel Street, in Melbourne, has launched this a competition among some of the city's top eateries to create the most unique sweet treat

Bakehouse, Bistro Morgan, has created a decadent Creme Egg Toastie with marshmallows, caramel and the easter treats melted in a sourdough sandwich.

Customers will love Burgertory's Justin Trudo(nut) Fries that are coated in salty and sweet maple syrup with bacon and come served on a vanilla ice cream base.

With Easter right around the corner Rustica Sourdough's Hot Cross Bun Donuts are the perfect snack with sultanas, currants, sugar, a white chocolate cross and come filled with cardamom brandy creme patisserie.

With Easter right around the corner Rustica Sourdough's Hot Cross Bun Donuts are the perfect snack with sultanas, currants, sugar and come filled with cardamom brandy creme patisserie

For those who enjoy sweet and salty treats the Meat Meets Sweet from Alisons Corner Shop features a baked apple coated in pistachios.

It's topped with pomegranate and crispy pork scratchings.

Dessert Culture's Biscoff Bingsu is one for all Korean snow ice fans as the dairy-free dessert comes topped with fresh strawberries and Biscoff flakes.

For those who enjoy sweet and salty treats the Meat Meets Sweet from Alisons Corner Shop has a baked apple coated in pistachios, topped with pomegranate and crispy pork scratchings

Chapel Champions Awards 'Sweet Treats' entries: Tommy Ruff - 'Icey Angler': Deep-fried Magnum, cinnamon sweet potato chips, raspberry coulis and white chocolate dipping sauces.

Deep-fried Magnum, cinnamon sweet potato chips, raspberry coulis and white chocolate dipping sauces. Bistro Morgan - 'Creme Egg Toastie': Marshmallows, caramel and Creme Eggs melted in a sourdough sandwich.

Marshmallows, caramel and Creme Eggs melted in a sourdough sandwich. Burgertory - Justin Trudo(nut) Fries: Doughnut fries that come coated in salty and sweet maple syrup with bacon and c vanilla ice cream.

Doughnut fries that come coated in salty and sweet maple syrup with bacon and c vanilla ice cream. Rustica Sourdough - Hot Cross Bun Donuts: Sultana, currant and sugar dough with white chocolate cross and cardamom brandy creme patisserie.

Sultana, currant and sugar dough with white chocolate cross and cardamom brandy creme patisserie. Alisons Corner Shop - Meat Meets Sweet: Baked apple coated in pistachios, that's topped with pomegranate and crispy pork scratchings.

Baked apple coated in pistachios, that's topped with pomegranate and crispy pork scratchings. Dessert Culture - Biscoff Bingsu: Biscoff-flavoured snow ice with strawberries and Biscoff flakes.

Biscoff-flavoured snow ice with strawberries and Biscoff flakes. Reverie Cafe - Paris Prahran Choux: Pastry filled with praline creme, custard, milk chocolate, almonds and roasted coffee beans.

Pastry filled with praline creme, custard, milk chocolate, almonds and roasted coffee beans. Cinnamon Scrolls - Australia's Largest Cinnamon Rolls: 10 pull-apart scrolls available in Tim-Tam, Twix, Oreo, Kinder Surprise, Peanut Butter, Snickers, Lotus Biscoff, and Salted Caramel flavours. Advertisement

Sweet Treats has become the most popular category of this year's Chapel Champions Awards that the public can vote in from April 25 for the winners to be announced May 16

Poll Which one is your favourite? Icey Angler Creme Egg Toastie Justin Trudo(nut) Fries Hot Cross Bun Donuts Meat Meets Sweet Biscoff Bingsu Paris Prahran Choux Australia's Largest Cinnamon Rolls Which one is your favourite? Icey Angler 0 votes

Creme Egg Toastie 1 votes

Justin Trudo(nut) Fries 2 votes

Hot Cross Bun Donuts 7 votes

Meat Meets Sweet 2 votes

Biscoff Bingsu 6 votes

Paris Prahran Choux 5 votes

Australia's Largest Cinnamon Rolls 1 votes Now share your opinion





For a French classic the Reverie Cafe is set to impress with their Paris Prahran Choux that features praline creme, custard, milk chocolate and roasted coffee beans.

Australia's largest cinnamon scroll is also included in the competition and available in eight delicious flavours all from Chapel Street's Cinnamon Scrolls.

Sweet Treats has become the most popular category of this year's Chapel Champions Awards that the public can vote in from April 25 for the winners to be announced May 16.

The winner of the 'Sweet Treats' category will receive a grand prize of $6,000 cash along with a marketing package.

Some lucky voters who participate in the public voting system from Melbourne will also go in the running to receive cash prizes from Chapel Champions Awards.
Two years ago this Wednesday, the first lockdown began. In some ways it seems a lifetime ago. But we are only just beginning to see the longer-term effects of the decision to plunge us all into isolation  specifically the impact it had on our minds.

Figures released last week show that NHS mental health services received a staggering 4.3 million referrals in 2021. The Royal College of Psychiatrists, which analysed NHS data, said England has suffered the biggest hit to its mental health in generations.

As many of us predicted at the start of the pandemic, our response to the virus, including locking down society, was not going to be without consequences. Im now finding the NHS deluged with mental health problems  I cant overemphasise how overwhelming it feels to be an NHS psychiatrist now.

As many of us predicted at the start of the pandemic, our response to the virus, including locking down society, was not going to be without consequences

The acuity  how unwell someone is  is on a level Ive never seen before, because people have been sitting at home deteriorating and not getting the help they need in a timely fashion.

HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS ARE UP Hospital admissions owing to Covid are up again. Thanks to the vaccine, the numbers are nowhere near as concerning as at the beginning of the pandemic. From today, 200,000 over-75s become eligible for a booster. If youre eligible, get yours as soon as possible. Those of us working in hospitals thank you. Advertisement

This is partly because many mental health services effectively shut down or were working remotely or with skeleton staff, and partly because people were isolated, without family and friends around to prompt them to get help sooner.

Nearly every single referral I now receive has some mention of the pandemic. Some of them are predictable: loneliness, isolation, and a lack of structure and routine has resulted in increased rates of depression and anxiety.

PTSD rates have also increased from people who spent time on an ICU or witnessed loved ones or  in the case of doctors and nurses  patients dying.

In fact, a therapist friend told me she currently has four doctors as patients who cite the pandemic as reason for their current difficulties.

Panic attacks have increased among those who experienced shortness of breath when unwell.

Some of those referred have a history of mental health problems and the effects of the pandemic have triggered a relapse, sometimes after many years of being well.

For others, they have no history but the stress, disruption and unfamiliarity of the situation they found themselves in has resulted in them becoming unwell for the first time.

Lockdown was stressful for some, but boring for others. As a result, drug and alcohol use has sky-rocketed.

In the summer of 2020, psychosis rates were 50 per cent higher than the previous summer, which I suspect is a result of people sitting at home using substances, particularly cannabis.

To give you an idea, in A&E we might typically see one case of drug-induced psychosis a week. Yet on just one night shift towards the end of lockdown, I saw four patients with it  this was not uncommon at the time, and rates have remained surprisingly high since.

I cant help but think it could have been different. While our scientists and politicians scoffed at Swedens approach  they didnt have a national lockdown  and warned it would lead to more deaths, in fact their approach is starting to be vindicated.

An in-depth study published last month found lockdowns only reduced Covid mortality by 0.2 per cent.

It concluded lockdowns caused enormous economic and social costs and were ill-founded and should be rejected as a pandemic policy instrument.

This study received little media interest, I suspect because it would embarrass those calling for stricter lockdowns and criticising those who were more cautious.

Whats more, a recent study in the Lancet found Sweden fared better when it came to Covid deaths, too  where Britain had an excess death rate of 126.8 per 100,000, Swedens had 91.2 per 100,000.

In contrast to the UK and much of Europe, Sweden managed to keep facilities like day centres and schools open. This had a tremendous impact on the wellbeing of the nation.

Its National Board of Health and Welfare reported a continued decline in the number of people seeking treatment for anxiety and depression, particularly among the young. Its thought a large part of this is likely down to the decision to keep primary and lower-secondary schools open throughout.

Even in upper-secondary schools, only children who tested positive or who had been formally contact-traced were asked to stay at home. Entire schools and classes were quarantined rarely and only in exceptional circumstances if advised by a local infectious disease doctor.

Thats a marked contrast to the UK, where as many as a million were sent home from school during the pingdemic.

An analysis of national grades published by the Swedish National Agency for Education found no evidence that the pandemic had negatively affected childrens educational attainment. Contrast this with the deluge of referrals to childrens mental health services here.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists found that nearly 200,000 young people had been referred to mental health services in just three months  almost double pre-pandemic levels.

While many of us now regard lockdown as a distant memory, for some it simply proved too much. We are on the brink of an unprecedented mental health crisis of a magnitude which we can only begin to imagine, and it is a direct result of the pandemic and lockdown.

She's been robbed of motherhood

Given everything thats happening in the world at the moment, the news that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has finally been released after six long, horrific years in an Iranian jail is particularly welcome.

Its good to have something so wonderful to finally celebrate. But we can only imagine her agony not just owing to the atrocious conditions but also being separated from her family, particularly her daughter, who was only two years old when she was imprisoned.

The news that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has finally been released after six long, horrific years in an Iranian jail is particularly welcome.

Ive had a few patients who have been political prisoners and sought asylum here afterwards, and have seen how being wrenched from their family has profound, long-lasting effects. Its difficult to rebuild relationships and forge a normal life after being away, particularly from children.

I remember one man saying how he was not just robbed of his liberty, but also the chance to be a father. Nazanin too has been robbed of being able to be a mother to her daughter.

It will be a long road to heal these wounds and I hope the family get the right psychological support to help the process.

 Menopausal women have been reportedly forced to barter for 50 bottles of HRT online owing to a pill shortage, which follows raised awareness and fading stigma about the menopause. While Im horrified that women are having to resort to the black market, I trust this will be temporary and Im pleased it seems that were starting to take the menopause seriously. The negative view that dogged HRT for two decades may be lifting. Ive seen so many women diagnosed with depression when describing the menopause, yet for years GPs refused to give out HRT and wrongly prescribed antidepressants.
You may feel youve had your fill of superblouses. Maybe youve looked the other way since they became a feature of lockdown.

Or maybe youve dabbled a bit, but are not convinced your wardrobe needs any more puff sleeves or pie-crust collars.

Thats roughly where I would be were it not for the refusal of this super-confident piece to give up pole position on the fashion podium and its impressive ability to get you out of a hole with minimum effort.

Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s I was a fan of French label Paul & Joe, specifically its special, often silky, occasionally OTT blouses which were my party go-tos. I wore them in winter with velvet suits, in spring with smart denim, I wore them with black trousers (swooshy or bootcut) and white trousers in summer and was probably never better dressed. And by better I mean just the right amount for the occasion.

On trend: Toni Collette

The right superblouse does all the work (almost) of a cocktail dress with a fraction of the effort, and at a third of the price. You can instantly dress up trousers, or wear with jeans and smart sandals and look like youve made a serious effort. Now its, once again, all about a party top and trousers, I dont need any persuading.

That said, this time around Im inclined to go for print and colour and keep the rest fairly plain. Im saying no to big ruffles, giant collars and anything in stiff cotton poplin. (A superblouse isnt a superblouse, in my book, unless its soft and light or satiny.)

Im saying yes to volume, interesting sleeves, pretty details and strong prints, though Im also tempted by black and ivory. Otherwise my tip would be, prepare to spend a bit more because you are investing in a blouse that can do the work of a great dress, and youll get ten times as much wear out of it.

SUPERBLOUSES: THE 2022 RULES Go for volume not fitted. Pick soft silky fabrics. Team with straight trousers. Go for brights or black. Advertisement

Keep your eyes peeled: there are plenty of superblouses out there but guaranteed there will be a motherload of them in a couple of months.

Paul & Joe is not the party destination it once was. These days I would look at mid-market French brands (they have an affinity for special blouses) such as Zadig & Voltaire, Sezane or Isabel Marant Etoile.

Zadig & Voltaire does a silk and viscose open-neck top in a purple on ecru toile print (310, zadig-et-voltaire.com) that looks great with jeans; Sezane has a silk blouse with an embroidered ruffle and collar (100, sezane.com) which looks pretty with a few buttons undone, under a jacket.

And, inching into designer territory, Isabel Marant Etoile has a luxe peasant blouse in fine cotton with puff sleeves a round neck and lace detailing (280, isabelmarant.com), which comes in honey but looks beguiling in black and ivory. Black and ivory are the exception to the cotton rule, so long as the cotton is very fine.

A dramatic peasant blouse in black, teamed with black wide-leg trousers (or the reverse in double white) plus jewellery, is an easy way to look smart in the months to come.

Note: you can wear your superblouse with a skirt  the superblouse plus super-short mini was big on the catwalk  but trousers counterbalance the flourishes of a superblouse nicely, making sure you never look overdressed.

Next port of call would be Essentiel Antwerp, a label that specialises in dramatic tops. Among the ones that fit the bill is a loose fit, round neck, light pink, red and purple print top with voluminous three-quarter flamenco sleeves (145, essentiel-antwerp.com). It sounds a lot but works semi-tucked in to tailored ivory trousers, or navy for now.

It also has a glossy white and green plaid print top with three-quarter kimono sleeves (160). This, plus cropped white trousers and gold or glossy red slingbacks is an instant cocktail party look.

If these all seem a bit too super, then you could try Zaras simple pink and blue floral print blouse (29.99, zara.com); it has a V-neckline with a bow that ties high on the neck. Or go for one of its basic silky blouses (22.99) in this years emerald green. Got to start somewhere.
Britons are very particular about their tea, and one woman has gone viral for all the wrong reasons after shunning the kettle in favour of using cold tap water and a microwave.

Alex Murphy, 34, a US woman living London, filmed herself making her boyfriend Paul Klein, 30, a steaming hot cup of tea in 'the American way'.

But her method, which involved using a microwaves rather than a kettle, has left Britons horrified after going viral on TikTok.

Her boyfriend was equally unimpressed and ended up tipping the contents of the mug on the floor.

Paul Klein, 30, was not impressed with a steaming hot cup of tea in 'the American way', made by his girlfriend in the microwave

Happy couple: Alex Murphy and her boyfriend Paul Klein pictured celebrating Christmas with their dog

In the clip, Alex adds cold tap water to a mug with a teabag inside, before adding milk and sugar, and then places it in the microwave to heat.

She then removes the teabag, gives it a final stir and presents it to Paul.

Upon taking a sip, he is visibly repulsed, staring down at the mug in shock.

He asks: 'What is that? That is disgusting. Sorry, I don't mean to be rude  but that is not a cup of tea.'

To make tea 'the American way' Alex added cold tap water to a mug with a teabag inside (left). She then topped up with the milk, and at least she didn't create further uproar by puttig it in first

In the microwave it goes! Rather than boiling the kettle, Alex used an unorthodox method of heating up the water (left). Quick stir: Once it was hot, Alex gave the brew a stir with a spoon and removed the teabag

This is not a cup of tea: Alex horrified her boyfriend Paul by revealing she'd microwaved his cup of tea (left). Paul reacted by throwing away the cup, but viewers on TikTok insisted they would have done the same (right)

He is left horrified when she reveals she microwaved it, and throws the mug on the ground.

Alex, who previously appeared on Dancing on Ice in 2020 with Joe Swash, shared the video on TikTok.

The clip was viewed 10 million times and racked up 1.5 million likes.

TikTok viewers said the footage was 'painful' to watch and even though Paul's reaction of throwing away the cup may seem extreme, they insisted it was 'justified'

One person said: 'That was an appropriate response. the real red flag is how you made that tea.'

'No way he should leave you at once,' another user insisted.

Someone else commented: 'That was so painful to watch u make.' [sic]

'Throwing the cup was justified. If you say otherwise clearly you're not British,' added another person.

When they're not having tiffs over tea, the happy couple enjoy romantic dinners out. Alex admitted her boyfriend usually makes his own hot drinks, and her efforts were a once off

Another critic said: 'When she used tap water I screamed.'

Despite the controversy, Alex insists it was the way she was taught to make tea  and she hopes the British public will forgive her.

'This is how I grew up making it,' the content creator explained.

'It was a one-off  Paul usually makes the tea.

'He hated it. Everyone hated it! I never expected how many people would be so triggered.'
A mother who was left horrified by the amount of clothing waste created by her two growing daughters has become a runaway success with her rental service for youngsters.

Confronted by piles of stashed away hand-me-downs when her second daughter was born, Charlotte Morley, 41, knew she could not go on hoarding or discarding worn clothes every three months when her girls grew.

Charlotte, who lives in Twickenham, with her managing director husband Nick Morley, 47, and their children Rosa, five, and Edith, three, spent every night of her maternity leave from her then job as head of digital product for an online marketplace, tinkering with ideas.

With no business experience, she created the children's clothing rental service, The Little Loop, in April 2020 and it is now thriving after she won 140,000 investment during an appearance on Dragon's Den in January 2022.

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Charlotte Morley was inspired to create a rental clothes service for children's garments after becoming horrified

After coming up with her idea, Charlotte passed the auditions for the BBC's Dragon's Den. She would use her spare room to store boxes of clothes

On the show, she wowed dragons Deborah Meaden and Steven Bartlett - bagging 70k from each. Charlotte with her daughters, Rose and Edith in Bath

'When my kids were babies they were growing every few months and they continued to grow out of things all the time as they got bigger. I was buying new clothes every three months,' Charlotte said.

'The cycle of buying clothes for your children never ends, it's something every parent has to go through.

'It was so expensive, but more than that, it made me a bit sick that there were so many clothes.'

Charlotte stepped into the limelight in January 2022, after she passed the auditions for the BBC's Dragon's Den, and wowed dragons Deborah Meaden and Steven Bartlett - bagging 70,000 from each.

They were impressed by the eco credentials of her business, which allows parents to spend from 18 to 36 a month on credits to rent ethically sourced and high quality clothes suited to their child's age and stage of life.

The mother and entrepreneur explained costumers can pick as many items as they want and keep them for as long as they want

The Little Loop allows parents to spend from 18 to 36 a month on credits to rent ethically sourced and high quality clothes for the ages. Pictured: Charlotte's husband, Nick, with bags of clothes

Getting the Dragons' validation was a huge milestone for Charlotte, who had sacrificed and worked hard to make her business a reality. Pictured: Boxes of outgrown clothes

She said: 'It took so much work to walk in there. It was a bit daunting, but surreal.

'I genuinely didn't expect the result I got. I didn't think it would go as well as it did. I cried because I was so overwhelmed.

'When the Dragons gave me the feedback that they did, it was massive validation for all the hard work and sacrifice I had made.

'They thought the idea was brilliant. It was an amazing experience.

After six months of market research, as well as hours toiling away in mums' groups and chatrooms, The Little Loop was born on April 16, 2020, just weeks into the UK's first national Covid lockdown. The girls in rented Christmas dresses

The idea for Little Loop first started while sifting through piles of clothes which had been donated to her by a friend, who herself had received them from another friend. Pictured: Charlotte's first orders

'Then, the day after, I was back at the warehouse packing orders, laundering things and folding clothes.'

With motherhood making her more environmentally conscious, hearing that 350,000 tonnes of wearable clothing worth around 140 million ends up in a landfill in the UK every year, according to the Clothes Aid charity, sickened Charlotte.

She said: 'When I had my second child and the hand-me-downs were getting taken out of the cupboard, there were just so many, but even then, I had to buy new clothes, beacuse they didn't fit and they didn't suit my second daughter.

'When you have children suddenly you care about something other than yourself, and you have to care about the planet, as it's our future, so I wanted to do something about all this waste.'

Charlotte pictured working from home for the The Little Loop's upcoming launch weekend in April 2020

With motherhood making her more environmentally conscious, hearing that 350,000 tonnes of wearable clothing worth around 140 million ends up in a landfill in the UK every year, according to the Clothes Aid charity, sickened Charlotte. Pictured: boxes of unworn clothes

Then, in the middle of 2019, shortly after Edith was born, she recalls sitting on the floor, sifting through piles of clothes which had been donated to her by a friend, who herself had received them from another friend.

She was amazed that these clothes had been worn by seven children by the time they reached Edith, instead of being wasted in a wardrobe and left to wither away.

She said: 'This started giving me ideas and I wondered if there was a better way altogether of clothing our kids.'

And, after hours of thinking and research, her eureka moment struck.

Charlotte first started by using her daughters' old clothes. Passionate about her project and the environment, Charlotte convinced a number of big sustainable and ethical clothing brands to join her venture

A second motivation for Charlotte's company was to make parent's lives easier by taking having a surplus of clothes out of the equation

She said: 'I used to sit at night breast feeding my daughters and I couldn't stop thinking about it.

'The more I thought about it, rental became an obvious choice. You're not owning clothes, but you're accessing them.

'Being a parent is such a stressful job and making life a bit easier for all parents was something that really drove me.'

After six months of market research, as well as hours toiling away in mums' groups and chatrooms, The Little Loop was born on April 16, 2020, just weeks into the UK's first national Covid lockdown.

Still working solo and out of her home, Charlotte had a room which was filled to the ceiling with boxes of clothing

She launched with around 400 items of clothing - which included t-shirts, dresses, jeans, dungarees and 'nice everyday clothes' for tots aged between two and three - they also had 40 excited customers. Rosa and Edith in rented clothes

Passionate about her project and the environment, Charlotte convinced a number of big sustainable and ethical clothing brands to join her venture.

She said: 'It is a shared wardrobe. What that means practically for the customers is that they pay for a membership, receive 100 credits to spend on clothes, then can swap those clothes through The Little Loop as many times as they like, for no extra cost.

'We enable parents to shop sustainably without compromising on convenience or cost.'

Launching with around 400 items of clothing - which included t-shirts, dresses, jeans, dungarees and 'nice everyday clothes' for tots aged between two and three - they also had 40 excited customers.

For Charlotte, being a self made businessperson and makes her proud. Working hard has allowed her to invest her money and time into her empire.

Investing over 100k of her own savings into the business, she also received an Innovate UK grant of around 160k after deciding she could no longer hoard boxes of outgrown clothes

Still working solo and out of her home, Charlotte had a room which was filled to the ceiling with boxes of clothing.

Then, investing over 100,000 of her own savings into the business, she also received an Innovate UK grant of around 160,000.

She said: 'We funded everything with our personal savings at the start.

'It was quite scary to use our own money, our own savings.

Charlotte now has daily orders and the expanding business has seen her move into a 1,000 square foot warehouse in Battersea

Charlotte still works 70 hours a week, diligently folding, cleaning, ironing, and packing clothes each day. Rose and Edith modelling their rented wardrobe

'But we did everything slowly and grew with the business.

'Whenever we've put more money in, it felt like the right thing to do.'

Moving into a 1,000 square foot warehouse in Battersea, south west London, in November 2021, Charlotte still works 70 hours a week, diligently folding, cleaning, ironing, and packing clothes each day.

And, incredibly, none of the now 7,000 items of clothing they have acquired have been thrown out.

Nearly two years since taking the brave leap into the unknown, Charlotte says she feels proud of her achievement, after being inundated with hundreds of compliments from ecstatic parents.

Charlotte, who now has hundreds of customers, said: 'We have had so many parents who tell us we've made their lives easier and better. That makes me the happiest.

Charlotte hopes she can inspire her daughters to believe they can achieve anything they want in life as they grow up. Rosa and Edith modelling their mum's rented clothes

Nearly two years since taking the brave leap into the unknown, Charlotte says she feels proud of her achievement, after being inundated with hundreds of compliments from ecstatic parents

'Parenting is so hard, so making life easier is just amazing.'

And as a mother of two beautiful daughters, Charlotte - who uses a Starling business bank account to make managing business finances and particularly business outgoings easy and efficient - hopes she can inspire them to believe they can achieve anything they want in life as they grow up.

She said: 'I'm a self made businessperson and that makes me very proud. I have worked so hard all my life, and everything I've done has allowed me to invest my money and time into this.

'I'm now seeing the rewards for my hard work.

'I want to be a brilliant mother to my daughters, so that they believe they can achieve anything, too.'
A school cook has vowed to never dye her hair again after claiming a horror allergic reaction to black dye left terrified kids screaming at the sight of her grossly swollen face.

Horrifying photos show how Jessie Sullivan's face ballooned and her skin erupted in a red, lumpy rash after reportedly dying her hair using the Schwarzkopf product last Saturday.

The 43-year-old gran, from Beckenham, London, said she was temporarily blinded for three days and went into anaphylactic shock after suffering a severe allergic reaction to the Schwarzkopf Live dye in shade Cosmic Blue.

Jessie thought she wouldn't need a patch test because she'd previously used the product every four months for years without a problem, although she admitted the pack she used expired in 2021.

When the school cook woke up the following day, her face had ballooned so much that her eyelids closed over leaving her unable to see and red welts erupted across her scalp and neck.

Jessie Sullivan, 43, from Beckenham, London, said she was temporarily blinded for three days and went into anaphylactic shock after suffering a severe allergic reaction to the Schwarzkopf Live dye in shade Cosmic Blue

The school cook as she normally looks. Jessie has been using the same shade of hair dye for years, and admitted she didn't do a patch test because she'd never had a problem previously

The skin on Jessie's head and neck is still red, sore and crusty as she heals from the hair dye ordeal

While at her GP's surgery on Monday, Jessie went into anaphylactic shock and was rushed to hospital where she was given a shot of adrenaline and put on a drip of steroids, antibiotics and pain medication.

Days after her terrifying hospital trip the mum-of-four opened her front door to a stranger she'd sold a high chair to.

The woman's two children were so scared by the sight of her ballooned face they screamed in horror and mortified Jessie handed the high chair over for free.

Schwarzkopf said they were sorry to hear about her experience and urged all users to do allergy tests every time before using the hair dye.

Jessie wore a bandana to her grandson's birthday party to avoid scaring more children with her appearance after the hair dye disaster

Emergency: The school cook ended up in hospital after going into anaphylactic shock at her GP's surgery and was given a shot of adrenaline

Jessie said: 'The itching came first then the swelling and my tongue felt funny. I woke up the next day and couldn't open my eyes.

'When I looked in the mirror, I was absolutely devastated.

'I went to the doctors to get some antibiotics and steroids. They knew it was an allergic reaction but the day after, I couldn't even take my daughter to school and I couldn't physically go to work.

'I called the doctors to say my tongue really hurt and it just went blank.

'I went into anaphylactic shock and my throat was swelling so the paramedics came and I was given a shot of adrenaline.

Jessie, pictured left before her hair dye disaster, had been using the same shade for years without any problems (left). She was prescribed steroids, antibiotics and a special shampoo but her face is still swollen (right)

'They blue-lighted me to hospital and said if I went into shock again it wouldn't be great.

'A couple of days later I sold a high chair to a woman and she came to the door [to collect it].

'I was so used to my eyelids being swollen and sore that I completely forgot and both of the two children with her just screamed.

'I said, "Oh my god, I'm so sorry' and I gave them the high chair for free".'

Jessie is still recovering from the incident and has sore patches of crusty skin on her face and neck

After making an appointment at her GP's surgery on Monday she went into anaphylactic shock and was rushed to Princess Royal University Hospital in Orpington, south London.

Jessie said she didn't do a patch test before colouring her locks as she's used it previously with no problems.

Jessie said: 'It's the colour I normally use and I've never had a problem with it. I've been using it for years which is why I didn't do a patch test.

'It said on the box that it expired in 2021 but it still shouldn't have done that.'

Jessie was giving her hair a makeover in time for her and her grandson's birthday but ended up forced to wear a bandana to the party.

Jessie said: 'My skin on my head and neck is very crusty.

'It's not nice at all, I'm still really sore. I'm still in a bad way but it's manageable.

Coering up: Jessie is tryting to hide the sore patches on her head when she goes out by using a bandana or towel

'I had to wear a bandana to my grandson's birthday party which hurt. It was burning the hell out of me but I couldn't go to a kid's party like that.

'It's my birthday as well so it's nice to do your hair and get dressed up and it's something to do when the kids go to their dad's.'

Jessie was prescribed steroids, antibiotics and a special shampoo but her face is still swollen and she was forced to take time off work.

She's vowed never to dye her hair again and is speaking out to warn others of the importance of doing a patch test.

After being left with a dramatically swollen face, Jessie has vowed not use home hair dye again and 'grow old gracefully'

Jessie said: 'It's been doctors, doctors, doctors. I'll never dye my hair again. I'm going to grow old gracefully. I'll never touch it again.'

A Schwarzkopf spokesman said: 'We were sorry to hear about Jessie Sullivan's experience and wish her a speedy recovery.

'We would also ask her to contact us so that we can offer expert help to identify the cause of her reaction.

'We urge everyone to read the instructions and do an allergy alert test before using hair colour, even if they have used the brand or specific colour before, as allergies can build up over time.'
Meanwhile another commented: 'She wants another baby!'

Fans have been going wild over clip online, calling the trip 'a second honeymoon'

Mother-of-three could be seen boogying towards her husband while he smiled

Duke and Duchess were snapped dancing during visit to cultural centre in Belize

Duke and Duchess were snapped dancing during visit to cultural centre in Belize

Kate Middleton, 40, and Prince William, 39, are currently on trip to Caribbean

Royal fans have been going wild over a clip of Kate Middleton 'flirting' with Prince William by playfully dancing up to him on the second day of their Royal Caribbean tour.

The Duke, 39, and Duchess of Cambridge, 40, kicked off the second date of their tour by indulging their love of music and chocolate as they were shown around the Maya cacao farm in the coastal town of Hopkins in a last-minute addition to their schedule on Sunday.

The royals were treated to a welcome dance after they were shown around the village, with both Kate and William taking to the dance floor at Garifuna Cultural Centre.

In a clip shared online by a royal fan account, the mother-of-three can be seen playfully shimmying towards her husband, while the Duke watched on with a huge beam on his face.

Many royal fans went wild over the clip online, with one commenting: 'She wants that fourth baby!'

Royal fans have been going wild over a clip of Kate Middleton, 40, dancing with Prince William, 39, in a rare moment of public affection on the second day of their Royal Caribbean tour

Another wrote: 'Almost seems like theyre on a second honeymoon.'

A third commented: 'That's absolutely priceless. Looks like they had a great time, and of course fitted in very well and much enjoyed by all whom they visited.'

'Still in mission of another baby Cambridge maybe,' another added.

One wrote: 'This is both super cute and super funny, they are a perfect match.'

Many royal fans went wild over the clip online, with one commenting the mother-of-three is 'flirting' with the Duke of Cambridge

Royal fans' excitement over the rare public display of affection between the Duke and Duchess comes after Kate confessed she felt 'broody' on several recent visits.

During a visit to Copenhagen's Children's Museum last month, Kate heard about the Understanding Your Baby research project which trains health visitors to help new parents as they begin to notice and interpret their babies' behavioural cues.

After meeting with two eight-month-old baby boys and their parents, she joked: 'It makes me very broody.

'William always worries about me meeting under one-year-olds. I come home saying, 'let's have another one'.'

In the clip, the mother-of-three can be seen playfully shimmying towards her husband, while the Duke watched on with a huge beam on his face (pictured)

After dancing towards her clearly delighted husband in front of the crowd, Kate went on to put her arm around William

The royal couple were both left beaming by the playful moment at the cultural center in Belize yesterday

Days later during a visit to Wales, the Duke and Duchess shared a sweet exchange as they met a group of mothers and babies, with Kate, 40, beaming as she rubbed William's back and told him to 'look at the lovely babies'.

Their current trip to Belize, taken at the behest of William's grandmother Queen Elizabeth II, is intended to strengthen the UK's ties with Commonwealth countries as the queen marks 70 years on the throne.

Dressed in a blue shirt and dark blue chinos, Prince William and Kate were taken round by a farmer on the second day of their eight-day trip round the Caribbean to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.

The Duchess opted for a stunning blue floral midi-dress by designer Tory Burch, which retails for 500, and nude platform wedge sandals by royal favourite Stuart Weitzman.

Kate was the first on the makeshift dancefloor, joining nine local school children at the Garifuna Cultural Centre in the picturesque beach-front village of Hopkins. Her husband watched as she stole the show before he was tempted to join the performance dancing with Ms Cacho

She finished off her look with a fan-shaped clutch bag by British designer Anya Hindmarch, which she had recycled from a look during her tour of Canada with William back in 2011.

Local organiser Laura Cacho, 57, who danced with the future king, said about the couple: 'They were shaking their waists like nobody's business.'

Kate was the first on the makeshift dancefloor, joining nine local school children at the Garifuna Cultural Centre in the picturesque beach-front village of Hopkins.

The couple were in hysterics as they danced together at a traditional Garifuna festival on the second day of a Platinum Jubilee Royal Tour of the Caribbean

The Duke of Cambridge dances during a traditional Garifuna festival on the second day of a Platinum Jubilee Royal Tour of the Caribbean

Her husband watched as she stole the show before he was tempted to join the performance dancing with Ms Cacho.

She said afterwards: 'He shook his waist to the music. He had beautiful rhythm. It was a pleasure for me. Kate was excellent as well and definitely has Garifuna culture in her.'

The couple's introduction to local culture also saw them offered plantain coconut broth, Hudutu, and a sweet sava porridge called Sahau with Belizian celebrity chef Sean Kuylen.
Devastated Peaky Blinders fans are predicting the death of Tommy Shelby after he was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour in last night's episode.

Tommy (Cillian Murphy) learned the hallucinations, seizures and weakness he has been suffering from are not caused by a gypsy curse, as he had previously thought, but symptoms of a tuberculoma, a growth caused by the same bacteria as tuberculosis.

In his case, it was found in his brain stem and is too advanced for an operation, meaning he likely has a year to 18 months to live.

The revelation prompted heartbroken viewers to predict Tommy will die before the end of the series.

Tommy (Cillian Murphy) learned the hallucinations, seizures and weakness he has been suffering from are not caused by a gypsy curse, as he had previously thought, but symptoms of a tuberculoma, a growth caused by the same bacteria as tuberculosis

In his case, it was found in his brain stem and is too advanced for an operation, meaning he likely has a year to 18 months to live. Pictured, the letter revealing the diagnosis

One tweeted: 'The rest of this series is going to be Tommy trying to take everyone down in flames before the tumour kills him isnt he #peakyblinders.'

Another posted: '#PeakyBlinders who knew the thing to kill Tommy wouldnt be a person but a tumour.'

A third added: 'Peaky Blinders has always been dark but this season is seriously so dark. Now Tommy, after everything hes been through, has a tumour. I hope they give him a nice ending, come on he deserves it. Let a doctor save him.'

The episode opened with the heartbreaking funeral of Tommy and Lizzie's daughter Ruby, who died from tuberculosis at the end of last week's episode.

The gangster was moved to tears by the traditional Gypsy ceremony and vowed to his late daughter that the 'devils who did this will pay'.

Although there is a logical medical explanation for his daughter's death, he believes it was the result of gypsy magic and went to seek revenge on those he thinks are responsible: the Barwell family.

The revelation prompted heartbroken viewers to predict Tommy will die before the end of the series

The Barwell family were last seen in series three, when Tommy went to seek 'absolution' from Madame Barwell.

During the meeting, he presented her with a sapphire that his wife Grace had been wearing when she was shot dead. He had learned moment before that the jewel had been 'cursed by a Gypsy'.

Madame Barwell told Tommy that the jewel was indeed cursed. Tommy left it with her. In last week's episode, his widowed sister-in-law Esme Shelby Lee (Aimee-Ffion Edwards) told Tommy that Bethany brought the stone back to her camp.

'She gave the sapphire to her sister, Ivadni Barwell, Ivadni put the stone around the neck of her daughter, a little girl,' Esme continued. 'Straight away the little girl began to cough. She died that night. Seven years old.

'I'm guessing it will be the girl's mother who lay the curse... Perhaps she waited until your little girl was seven, so you'd know how it feels.'

The episode opened with the heartbreaking funeral of Tommy and Lizzie's daughter Ruby, who died from tuberculosis at the end of last week's episode

Tommy killed the Gypsy family he believes was behind the curse that killed his daughter

Tommy discovered he has a son he never knew about. The boy, who calls himself Duke (pictured), was fathered before he left to fight in France in the First World War

In last night's episode, Tommy tracked down Ivadni at her camp and shot her dead at point blank range before turning his machine gun on the rest of her family.

Moments later, he discovered he has a son he never knew about. The boy, who calls himself Duke, was fathered before he left to fight in France in the First World War.

Tommy returned home to find Lizzie waiting for him. She was outraged that Tommy killed someone in Ruby's name and asked: 'This woman you killed, did she have children?'

She explained doctors at the sanatorium were urgently trying to get in touch.

Later Tommy hosted a meeting for fascists, with Lady Diana Mitford (Amber Anderson), Sir Oswald Mosley (Sam Clafin), Jack Nelson (James Frecheville), and IRA chief Laura McKee (Charlene McKenna) all in attendance.

Later Tommy hosted a meeting for fascists, with Lady Diana Mitford (Amber Anderson), Sir Oswald Mosley (Sam Clafin), both pictured, Jack Nelson (James Frecheville), and IRA chief Laura McKee (Charlene McKenna) all in attendance

When Nelson - Gina Gray's 'Uncle Jack' - questioned if Tommy truly believes in the fascist cause, Tommy assured him: 'I am here and I am serious'.

He performed a Nazi salute and shouts: 'Perish Judah!', or death to Jews. It was enough to convince the table that he is committed to the Nazi cause.

In exchange, Nelson tells Tommy he can open a supply route of heroin through Boston.

Meanwhile Ada Thorne (Sophie Rundle), who has a biracial daughter, was targeted by Nazi youths who throw a stone through her window.

Her son Carl revealed he is a racist, referring to his own half-sister as 'that' and warned Ada that she will be taken from her when the Nazis 'take power'.

Tommy recruited Gina Gray (Anya Taylor Joy) as a reluctant spy. Gina is sleeping with Oswald Mosley (pictured) and will accompany him to an upcoming meeting with senior Nazis in Germany. Tommy tasked her with reporting back on what is said in the meeting and threatened to expose her affair if she did not comply.

Ada revealed to her son that he is half gypsy, half Jewish.

The meeting with the fascists became too much for Tommy to bear and he left early, walking outside to fire a machine gun into the night sky.

Despite his apparent loyalty to the cause, he still plans to take down the fascists from within and he immediately prepared a memo for Sir William Churchill.

Next he recruited Gina Gray (Anya Taylor Joy) as a reluctant spy. Gina is sleeping with Oswald Mosley and will accompany him to an upcoming meeting with senior Nazis in Germany.

Tommy tasked her with reporting back on what is said in the meeting and threatened to expose her affair if she did not comply.

The episode ended with Tommy finally reading an urgent letter from his doctor, which explained he has a tuberculoma.

The doctor travelled to visit Tommy at home and laid out the full extent of his condition, explaining it was probably caused by the same tuberculosis bacteria that killed his daughter.

The episode ended with Tommy finally reading an urgent letter from his doctor, which explained he has a tuberculoma

The doctor (pictured) travelled to visit Tommy at home and laid out the full extent of his condition, explaining it was probably caused by the same tuberculosis bacteria that killed his daughter

'Once this disease enters a household it can run wild, it can be transmitted with a simple kiss,' the doctor explained. 'Mr Shelby, as I am aware, you are still grieving, but you must understand that this is very serious.'

He went on to explain that the growth is 'inoperable' and is behind the symptoms Tommy has already been experiencing.

Asked how 'bad it will get', the doctor continued: 'As the tumour grows, the rate of physical and mental deterioration will increase. Eventually you will need people around you constantly, who love you very much...

'I understand you have defeated many enemies Mr Shelby. Now you have a new one, inside you, you cannot defeat it but you can keep it at bay for a while, if you live correctly, if you are determined.'

Tommy chose to keep the diagnosis secret from Lizzie, who walked in on the meeting with the doctor.

He ended by pleading to the spirit of Polly for more time, admitting he is 'just an ordinary mortal man'.
Prince Harry has been praised by Netflix documentary makers for his 'love and dedication' to Afghanistan as he promoted their new film on streaming service where he has a 122 million contract.

The Duke of Sussex, 38, who is currently living in his $14 million mansion in California having stepped back from royal duty last year, spoke with Elizabeth and Gulistan Mirzaei about their film Three Songs for Benazir last week.

In a screengrab of the conversation shared to Twitter, the filmmakers wrote: 'Last week, we had the honor and privilege to speak with Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex about our film Three Songs for Benazir.

'Prince Harry's love, and dedication to Afghanistan is truly inspiring and we are so grateful to have had the opportunity to share our story with him.'

Although the video of the discussion doesn't appear to be available online as yet, it's unclear what Prince Harry's involvement with the film is, or whether the conversation was purely for promotional reasons.

The royal, who served two tours in Afghanistan during his decade in the Army, signed a reputed 120million deal with Netflix in 2020.

Prince Harry's 'love and dedication to Afghanistan' was praised by Netflix documentary makers today as he appeared to promote a new film about the country on the streaming service

Although the video of the discussion doesn't appear to be available online as yet, it's unclear what Prince Harry's involvement with the film is, or whether the conversation was purely for promotional reasons

In the photograph, the Duke can be seen sitting in his California mansion while wearing a relaxed grey linen shirt.

He appeared to be relaxing in front of a large tapestry hung onto a white wall, while there was also a green shrub in the corner of the screen.

The 22-minute documentary, which was released on the streaming service earlier this year, tells the story of Shaista, a young man who is a refugee living in a displaced-persons camp in Kabul.

Shaista struggles to balance his dreams of being the first from his tribe to join the Afghan National Army, with pressure from his family to start having children with his new wife Benazir.

The royal, who served two tours in Afghanistan during his decade in the Army, signed a reputed 120million deal with Netflix in 2020 (pictured in Afghanistan)

In the photograph, the Duke can be seen sitting in his California mansion while wearing a relaxed grey linen shirt (pictured right)

The appearance from the Duke to apparently promote the Netflix film comes weeks after the streaming began taking steps to get the Duke and Duchess to produce some shows in 2022 - after they signed a reputed 120million deal to make TV.

The couple founded Archewell, which will make documentaries, feature films, scripted shows and children's programming in September 2020, and went on to announce the deal with Netflix.

In a statement at the time, the Sussexes said: 'Our focus will be on creating content that informs but also gives hope. As new parents, making inspirational family programming is also important to us.'

They added that Netflix's 'unprecedented reach will help us share impactful content that unlocks action.'

The 22-minute documentary, which was released on the streaming service earlier this year, tells the story of Shaista, a young man who is a refugee living in a displaced-persons camp in Kabul

Shaista struggles to balance his dreams of being the first from his tribe to join the Afghan National Army, with pressure from his family to start having children with his new wife Benazir (pictured, looking at an advertisement in Kabul)

However there has been very little content produced, or announced, by the couple since.

The streaming giant, whose huge cash deal was one of the first to be announced after they quit as frontline royals, placed the advert for a production designer on Instagram in January for Meghan's debut series Pearl.

The animated show, created by the Duchess of Sussex, is about a young girl who is inspired by influential women in history and counts Sir Elton John's husband David Furnish and star documentary maker Liz Garbus among its executive producers.

Harry's latest appearance comes after it emerged Prince Harry and Meghan 'are being lined up to present the Best Picture Oscar' next week despite both pulling out of Prince Philip's memorial service.

Prince Harry and Meghan 'are being lined up to present the Best Picture Oscar' next week despite both pulling out of Prince Philip's memorial service in London

The Duke and Duchess were said to have been approached at the end of last year, but it is not yet known whether they have agreed to attend the event, held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday, March 27  just two days before the London service.

According to reports, Harry and Meghan had initially been lined up to present the award for Best Actress in a nod to their work on women's rights, but the plan was scrapped after Kristen Stewart was nominated for her role in Spencer, a film about the life of Diana.

A source told The Sun newspaper: 'It would be seen as a final kick in the teeth for the royal family if he did  he's too nervous to fly to London without police protection, but happy to stand up in front of a huge live audience at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. Not great optics.'
The United States federal government has officially concluded that Myanmar's military forces committed genocide against a Muslim minority in Rohingya during an attack in 2017 that included mass killings and rape.

On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to publicly announce the determination at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. The decision will rule what various human rights groups have been advocating for in the last few years.

Myanmar's Genocide in Rohingya

Prior to the determination, the United States government has avoided declaring the atrocities made against the Muslim minority in the Rohingya population a genocide. The brutal attacks have forced nearly a million people to flee their homes with the United Nations recommending that top military officials of Myanmar face genocide charges.

In a statement on Sunday, Senate Foreign Relations Committee member Sen. Jeff Merkley, a Democrat, praised United States President Joe Biden's administration for the decision. He said that, while the determination has been long overdue, the decision is now a powerful and critically important step in holding the brutal regime accountable for its actions, as per CNN.

Blinken's expected announcement comes roughly 14 months after he took office where he pledged to conduct a new review of the brutal violence. Various American officials worked with an outside law firm to gather evidence in an attempt to acknowledge the seriousness of the atrocities.

Read Also: Russia-Ukraine War: Vladimir Putin Agrees To Meet Volodymyr Zelensky; Ukraine President Warns of World War 3 if Peace Talks Fail

However, at the time, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declined to make a determination over the killings. One senior State Department official said that the U.S. government's determination will make it more difficult for the Myanmar military to conduct further abuses in other regions.

According to Reuters, officials at Myanmar's embassy located in Washington and a junta spokesperson did not immediately reply to requests for comments regarding the situation. In 2018, a UN fact-finding mission concluded that the Myanmar military's campaign included "genocidal acts." However, at the time, Washington referred to the actions as "ethnic cleansing," which is a term that has no legal definition under international criminal law.

Combatting Future Atrocities

Another senior State Department official said that the U.S. government's determination signals to the world and especially to the victims and survivors of the atrocities in Rohingya that America recognized the gravity of what was happening.

On the other hand, Myanmar's military junta has repeatedly denied committing genocide against the people of Rohingya, who have been continuously denied citizenship in Myanmar. Officials said that they were only conducting an operation against terrorists during the 2017 attack.

The U.S. State Department has formally used the term genocide six times since the Cold War to describe massacres in Bosnia, Rwanda, Iraq, and Darfur, the Islamic State's attacks on Yazidis and other minorities, and China's treatment of its Uyghur minorities.

Blinken is also expected to announce $1 million in additional funding to support the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM). It is a United Nations body based in Geneva that is responsible for gathering evidence for potential future prosecutions. One U.S. official said that the government was going to enhance its position to build international support, CNBC reported.



Related Article: Xi Jinping Eases Joe Biden, United States' Concerns on China Aiding Russia, Opposes Ukraine Invasion

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The daughter of a millionaire who recently sold his billion-pound business has got married in spectacular fashion.

Riley Uggla, who starred in the seventh season of Made In Chelsea, has married her businessman boyfriend Alex Rimmer in a lavish ceremony at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire.

Her Canadian-born father is Lance Uggla, founder of information provider IHS Markit, which he sold in 2020 for $39billion - leaving him to reportedly pocket more than $100million in the S&P Global deal, according to BNN Bloomberg.

The bride, who shares two children with her now-husband and founded Riley Studio, a gender-neutral fashion brand, stunned in three ensembles during her big day, which featured former MIC co-star Lucy Watson as a bridesmaid.

The daughter (pictured) of a millionaire who recently sold his billion-pound business has got married in spectacular fashion

Riley Uggla (pictured with MIC star Lucy Watson), who starred in the seventh season of Made In Chelsea, has married her businessman boyfriend Alex Rimmer in a lavish ceremony at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire

Her Canadian-born father is Lance Uggla, founder of information provider IHS Markit, which he sold in 2020 for $39billion - leaving him to reportedly pocket more than $100million in the S&P Global deal, according to BNN Bloomberg. Pictured, the bride and groom dancing

The bride (left), who shares two children with her now-husband, stunned in three ensembles during her big day, which featured former MIC co-star Lucy Watson as a bridesmaid

The bride and groom appeared to exchange their vows at the end of a long white aisle, underneath glittering gold chandeliers, and surrounded by their friends and family

Looking effortlessly elegant, the bride opted for a billowing wedding dress, featuring cut-out details, as well as a statement sweet-heart neckline.

With her blonde hair pulled back into a stylish up-do, Riley donned a fashionable veil, boasting white edging. Her long-sleeved dress was teamed with a bouquet of white flowers.

For her second outfit of the day, the mother-of-two sported a strapless white gown, which she sported during her first dance.

Later, when throwing the bouquet to her loved ones, she opted for a puff sleeve number, featuring a silky skirt.

Later, when throwing the bouquet to her loved ones, the bride opted for a puff sleeve number, featuring a silky skirt

Meanwhile, her bridesmaids sported bronze long-sleeved maxi gowns with demure necklines

The bridesmaids held white flowers and kept their hair in neat buns to match the sophisticated theme of the day. Pictured, the table arrangements

Looking effortlessly elegant, the bride opted for a billowing wedding dress, featuring cut-out details, as well as a statement sweet-heart neckline

Meanwhile, her bridesmaids sported bronze long-sleeved maxi gowns with demure necklines.

They held white flowers and kept their hair in neat buns to match the sophisticated theme of the day.

The bride and groom appeared to exchange their vows at the end of a long white aisle, underneath glittering gold chandeliers, and surrounded by their friends and family.

In snaps shared to social media by their loved ones, the couple were seen also treating guests to a magical firework display at the palace.

For her second outfit of the day, the mother-of-two sported a strapless white gown, which she sported during her first dance

With her blonde hair pulled back into a stylish up-do, Riley donned a fashionable veil, boasting white edging. Her long-sleeved dress was teamed with a bouquet of white flowers.

In snaps shared to social media by their loved ones, the couple were seen also treating guests to a magical firework display at the palace

A white three-tier cake was also displayed during the reception, featuring dainty floral artwork.

Blenheim Palace is the UK's only non-royal palace, the family seat of the Duke of Marlborough, a World Heritage Site and the birthplace of Winston Churchill.

It's been used as decor for many successful films, from Harry Potter to the Favourite and James Bond.

Riley and her businessman partner welcomed their first child Mason in 2019, followed by a daughter, Elle, in July 2021.

Blenheim Palace (pictured) has been used as decor for many successful films, from Harry Potter to the Favourite and James Bond

Riley and her businessman partner welcomed their first child Mason in 2019, followed by a daughter, Elle, in July 2021. Pictured left, the wedding car, and the party, right

Two of the bride's bridesmaids pose up a storm while wearing the elegant dresses during the big day

Blenheim Palace (pictured) is the UK's only non-royal palace, the family seat of the Duke of Marlborough, a World Heritage Site and the birthplace of Winston Churchill

Her father, Mr Uggla, who grew up in western Canada before moving to the UK in the mid-1980s to study accounting and finance at the London School of Economics, founded IHS Markit in a barn in St Albans.

In 2014, its shares began trading in a flotation that valued the firm at $4.8billion (2.8billion), according to the Evening Standard.

But six years later, it was sold to S&P Global for $39billion, with Mr Uggla telling FT: Nobody has forced me. Its just too exciting.

In April 2020, Mr Uggla used $24million in IHS Markit shares to start a foundation focused on education and the arts.

He has also helped with a school his former wife, Julie-Anne, built in Zambia and is a trustee and honorary member of the Tate art gallery foundation.
Queen Letizia of Spain was a vision in monochrome today as she attended a design awards ceremony in Valencia.

The mother-of-two, 49, put her best fashion foot forward when joining her husband King Felipe at the Innovation And Design National Awards at Palacio de Congresos de Valencia.

Known for her stylish credentials, Letizia opted for an elegant white blouse from Spanish brand Maksu and a black skirt for her outing.

Queen Letizia of Spain was a vision in monochrome today as she attended a design awards ceremony in Valencia, with her husband King Felipe (pictured together)

The mother-of-two, 49, put her best fashion foot forward when joining her husband King Felipe at the Innovation And Design National Awards at Palacio de Congresos de Valencia

Known for her stylish credentials, Letizia opted for an elegant white blouse from Spanish brand Maksu and a black skirt for her outing

The sophisticated round-neck blouse, which featured pleated details and buttons on the side, as well as the flared skirt are both items the royal has worn before.

She first donned the white garment in Easter 2021. This time around she highlighted her waist with a favourite belt from Burberry.

Keeping jewellery to a minimum, the style star let her statement outfit steal the show, adding just a small gold hoop to complement the look.

The sophisticated round-neck blouse, which featured pleated details and buttons on the side, as well as the flared skirt are both items the royal has worn before

Keeping jewellery to a minimum, the style star let her statement outfit steal the show, adding just a small gold hoop to complement the look

The couple (pictured, Letizia) took to the stage at the ceremony where they presented awards to the successful candidates

The elegant royal opted for subtle make-up and styled her glossy brunette hair with loose-waves for a relaxed look. She kept on her face mask in line with local regulations.

The couple took to the stage at the ceremony where they presented awards to the successful candidates.

The National Awards for Innovation and Design are presented to companies and professionals who have stood out in the field of design and innovation.

Last week, Letizia was hosted by the Spanish Federation of Rare Diseases as the organisation celebrated its 25th anniversary at the City of Leon Auditorium.
A woman who lost her husband, her mother, and two of her three children in a deadly tornado in Iowa earlier this month has opened up about the 'roller coaster of emotion' she has experienced in the past two weeks  and how her only surviving child is her 'rock.'

Kuri Bolger, 33, and her family from Blue Springs, Missouri were visiting her mother and stepfather in Winterset, Iowa, when a tornado touched down around 4:30 p.m. on March 5.

With winds recorded up to 136 mph, the tornado ripped up trees, overturned cars, and killed seven people, including most of Kuri's family.

Now Kuri  who spent ten days in the hospital with a broken leg and pelvis  is remembering her husband, Michael, 37, daughter, Kinlee, five, son Owen, two, and mother, Melissa Bazley, 63.

'Its a roller coaster of emotion. I think theres going to be really hard days and days that its a little bit easier, but just remembering that you just have to keep going,' she told Good Morning America.

Kuri Bolger, 33, lost husband Michael, 37, daughter, Kinlee (center), five, son Owen (left), two, and her mother, Melissa Bazley, 63, in a tornado earlier this month; eldest son Brysen (right), eight, survived

'Its a roller coaster of emotion. I think theres going to be really hard days and days that its a little bit easier, but just remembering that you just have to keep going,' she said

The Blue Springs, Missouri family was visiting her mother and stepfather in Winterset, Iowa

The Bolgers were in town for a visit and has spent the previous day at an alpaca farm.

Hours before the tornado, Kuri and her mom had worked out together, posing for a photo in which they flexed their muscles.

After the tornado blew through, Kuri's arm was trapped for hours, according to Facebook, before she was rescued and hospitalized.

Only she, her stepfather, one of her brothers, and her eight-year-old son Brysen survived.

'Thank God he made it through and everybody was able to save him because, at this point, he's my rock,' Kuri said of her son.

While Brysen suffered a sprained foot, Kuri broke several bones and underwent multiple surgeries in the ten days she was hospitalized.

She and her mom had just done a workout together hours earlier. The day before, they all went to an alpaca farm

After the tornado blew through, Kuri's arm was trapped for hours, according to Facebook, before she was rescued and hospitalized

Kuri called her eight-year-old son Brysen (center), who also survived, her 'rock'

Kuri described her husband, a pipe fitter whom she'd been with for 13 years, as her best friend who 'did everything for everyone else'

She is now out and coping with the loss, saying she is grateful to have good memories and a lot of photos and videos.

'My mom would always have her phone out and I'm like, "Mom, put your phone down. We're, just hanging out." But now I have all those memories, things we can look back at, and I am so thankful for that,' she said.

Kuri described her husband, a pipe fitter whom she'd been with for 13 years, as her best friend who 'did everything for everyone else.'

On Facebook, she shared a loving tribute to him, writing: 'You took care of our family better than anyone ever could. Take care of our babies and I promise to take care of B and take him on the best adventures. I will miss you until we are together again Mike.'

Her daughter, Kinlee, was a 'sweet, kind soul' who would 'be friends with anybody and everybody.'

She said that her mother was a 'free-spirit' who loved her grandkids

Her daughter, Kinlee, was a 'sweet, kind soul' who would 'be friends with anybody and everybody'

'Take care of our babies and I promise to take care of B and take him on the best adventures,' she wrote to her husband on Facebook

Her son Owen was fearless but also polite, her 'favorite little wild boy'

Sharing a video of the little girl on Facebook, she wrote: 'I wish I had just one more day with you to say goodbye. Kinlee June you were my favorite girl in the whole world.'

Her son Owen was fearless but also polite, her 'favorite little wild boy.'

'Take daddy, sissy, and mimi on the best adventures. I'll miss you until we get to be together again. Kissies and huggies my little love,' she wrote to him on Facebook.

Finally, her mother was a 'free-spirit' who loved her grandkids.

Kuri said the experience has reminded her of the importance of kindness, and she is grateful for the over-$554,000 in donations that have poured in on GoFundMe.

'I know everybody says life is short but you just never know. You never know. It just reminded me to be kind,' she said.

Kuri was hospitalized for ten days after the tornado and underwent multiple surgeries

A friend posted updates on Facebook, showing some of her injuries

Kuri is pictured with Brysen, her stepfather, and one of her brothers, who all survived the tornado

Kuri said the experience has reminded her of the importance of kindness, and she is grateful for the over-$554,000 in donations that have poured in on GoFundMe

The tornado on March 5 was Iowa's deadliest since May 2008, when one tornado destroyed nearly 300 homes and killed nine people in the northern Iowa city of Parkersburg. Another tornado a month later killed four boys at the Little Sioux Boy Scout ranch in Western Iowa.

Rodney Clark, 64, and Cecilia Lloyd, 72, both from Winterset, were also named among the victims killed in the March 5 tornado.

Officials reported that a number of homes were damaged or destroyed, roads were blocked by downed lines, and tree branches were shredded by the strong winds.

At one point, power outages affected more than 10,000 in the Des Moines area. About 800 customers remained without power the following evening.

Northern Illinois University meteorology professor Victor Gensini said there have been plenty of examples of deadly storms in March even though they are more common in April and May.

Saturday's storms were not nearly as unusual as the mid-December tornado outbreak that Iowa saw last year, he said.

The remains of a home is scattered among debris as cleanup efforts are underway in Winterset, Iowa, on Sunday

People stand among debris as cleanup efforts are underway in Winterset, Iowa, on Sunday

The tornado on March 5 was Iowa's deadliest since May 2008, when one tornado destroyed nearly 300 homes and killed nine people in the northern Iowa city of Parkersburg

'The storms that produce these tornadoes  these supercell storms  they don't care what the calendar says,' Gensini said.

'It doesnt have to say June. It doesnt have to say May. They form whenever the ingredients are present. And they were certainly present yesterday.'

Scientists have said that extreme weather events and warmer temperatures are more likely to occur with human-caused climate change.

Gensini said Saturday's storms likely caused more than $1 billion in damages over their entire track when the severe damage in Iowa is combined with wind damage as far away as Illinois.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds issued a disaster proclamation for Madison County, which allows state resources to be used to assist with response and recovery efforts. Madison County Emergency Management Director Diogenes Ayala said 52 homes were damaged or destroyed across nearly 14 miles.
Savannah Guthrie has revealed that she suffered a miscarriage and underwent two rounds of in vitro fertilization before welcoming her second child.

The Today host, 50, and her co-anchor Hoda Kotb, 57, opened up about their struggles with infertility and being 'older' moms while starring on the cover of the April 2022 issues of Good Housekeeping.

Guthrie, who has a seven-year-old daughter, Vale, and a five-year-old son, Charley, admitted that she started to doubt she would ever have children and become a mom as she got older.

'I stopped even letting myself hope or believe I could [get pregnant], because the years were getting on. It wasnt that I thought it was impossible; I just thought it wasnt likely. I didnt want to get my hopes up,' she told the magazine.

Savannah Guthrie, 50, revealed in a new interview with Good Housekeeping that she suffered a miscarriage and underwent two rounds of IVF while trying to have a second child

Guthrie and her Today co-anchor Hoda Kotb, 57, opened up about their struggles with infertility and being 'older' moms in the magazine's April 2022 issue

'I just tried to tell myself that it would be OK if it didnt happen: "Maybe its not meant for me, and thats OK because Ive already been blessed so much in my life. Im not entitled to have a baby too,"' she recalled.

'Looking back, that mindset was probably a self-defense mechanism.'

Guthrie was fourth months pregnant with Vale when she married her husband, Michael Feldman, in 2014. After welcoming their daughter in August of that year, she had a miscarriage and did two rounds of IVF to get pregnant with her son.

The mother of two was 44 when she welcomed Charley in December 2016.

Kotb, who is mom to adopted daughters Haley, five, and Hope, two, also spent years thinking that parenthood wasn't in the cards for her. She was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 42 years old and came out of treatment unable to conceive.

'I remember that my oncologist called and we were talking about freezing my eggs. She basically said that given my age and [my breast cancer treatment], it was pretty close to a dead end,' she told Good Housekeeping.

The Today stars are all smiles while posing together on the cover of the new issue

'I was in my room and I just sobbed. I thought, "Well, thats that, isnt it? Like, you almost blame yourself. Why didnt I do this? Why didnt I do that?" So I just pushed it away, because the reality seemed impossible to bear,' she recalled.

'How do you survive knowing you cant have what you desire and what you feel like you actually physically need?'

Kotb later realized she was meant to be a mom and pursued adoption with the support of her ex-fiance, Joel Schiffman, with whom she shares her two daughters.

She announced on the Today show last month that she and Schiffman, 63, had broken up after eight years together, saying they are 'better as friends and parents.'

'I dont think I wouldve adopted if it hadnt been for Joel. Having a stable relationship in that moment was really important. Once that fell into place, it didnt seem as scary to me,' she told Good Housekeeping.

The mother of two shared that she also reached out to actress Sandra Bullock, who has two adopted children of her own.

Guthrie, who has a seven-year-old daughter, Vale, and a five-year-old son, Charley, admitted that she once doubted she would ever have children

After she and her husband, Michael Feldman, welcomed their daughter in August 2014, she had a miscarriage and did two rounds of IVF to get pregnant with their son, Charley (pictured)

'I stopped even letting myself hope or believe I could [get pregnant], because the years were getting on,' Guthrie told Good Housekeeping

'Id always felt a weird connection to her, though I only knew her from the show. But she was my age, and I just thought, "Wow, shes really cool." I called her, and we talked,' Kotb explained. 'She said adopting was the most important thing shed ever done.

'When I had made the decision to adopt and was on the plane to pick up my [first] daughter, I called her again. She said, "Its about to begin!" Sometimes all you need is a model before [you realize], I can handle it.'

Guthrie and Kotb both agreed that there are benefits to being an 'older' mom, saying they are more patient and calmer than they were when they were younger.

'Hoda and I are both at a point in our careers where we have a lot more certainty about our schedules  that helps,' Guthrie said. 'By this time in life youve seen a few things and you know how to weather the ups and downs.

'Im glad my kids dont have the stressed, anxious, and insecure 30-year-old version of me. The peace and calmness that comes with age is a great thing for kids to see in action,' she explained, though she sometimes wonders if she'd be less tired if she was younger.

'We live in New York City, and there are a lot of older parents, so you dont stick out like a sore thumb,' she noted. 'But sometimes I wonder, on a Saturday afternoon when Im really tired, "Do younger parents feel this way?" And the answer is yes. I know them, theyre my friends  and theyre exhausted.

Kotb, who is mom to adopted daughters Haley, five, and Hope, two, also spent years thinking that parenthood wasn't in the cards for her

Kotb was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 42 years old and came out of treatment unable to conceive

'All parents have those moments of low energy and times theyre frustrated. Thats just the nature of it.'

Kotb added that having children later on in life has given her a new perspective.

'All of a sudden all the things about having little kids that seem like a problem, you see in a whole different way,' she said. 'And I find myself being so much more patient and calm than I ever would have been at a younger age.'

The Today anchors shared that it is helpful to work closely with another mom who understands what they are going through day to day.

Since they both have high-pressured jobs, they know that finding a balance between their careers and motherhood can sometimes feel next to impossible.

Kotb said talking to her co-star makes her 'feel less alone, while Guthrie shared that they 'trade parenting tips or ideas.'

Kotb credited her ex-fiance, Joel Schiffman (pictured), with helping her become a mom, saying she doesn't think she 'wouldve adopted if it hadnt been for Joel'

Kotb also reached out to actress Sandra Bullock, who has two adopted children of her own. She and Schiffman adopted Haley in February 2017 (left) and Hope in April 2019 (right)

The journalist announced on the Today show last month that she and Schiffman, 63, had broken up after eight years together, saying they are 'better as friends and parents'

'I dont know what balance is. Sometimes youre out of whack  and sometimes you have a good day. I dont even think in those terms,' Guthrie explained. 'My family is my priority  its not even a close call  but I have a job that I just love. And so I try to do both to the best of my ability.'

The moms also shared their key takeaways as parents, with both of them agreeing that they have to be good examples for their children.

'I want my kids, particularly my little girl, to have a positive body image. I say all the right words, but Im not sure thats what she sees every day,' Guthrie said. 'It really makes you look hard at yourself, and theres nothing I care more about than for her to grow up feeling confident and strong and just loving herself.

'And so for me...I said to myself, "Well, youd better straighten this out right now, youd better get your head on straight," because this little girl is watching you.'

Kotb shared that she has found it's important to be honest and authentic because your children will notice if you're not.

'Our kids sense every single thing we do, and they feel everything. They know if youre being real and they know when youre not,' she explained.

'You have to really figure out who you are, because your kids are taking notes. Just be truthful and be true to yourself, and your kids are going to turn out just fine.'
Crown Princess Victoria was the picture of elegance as she stepped out to attend a gala this evening.

The Swedish heir apparent exuded elegance in a floor-length dress as she arrived at an event held in Stockholm by The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, Sciences and Antiquities.

Mother-of-two Victoria opted for a dark blue tulle gown featuring mesh sleeves and subtle silver detailing, which she teamed with a white satin sash and ribbon-clad brooch.

The 44-year-old royal first debuted the 229.99 gown, from high street label H&M, in 2020 when she posed in the dress to mark her 10th wedding anniversary with her husband Prince Daniel.

Crown Princess Victoria was the picture of elegance as she stepped out to attend a gala this evening

The Swedish heir apparent exuded elegance in a floor-length dress as she arrived at an event held in Stockholm by The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, Sciences and Antiquities

The gown, which is no longer available to buy, is made from recycled polyester and features a super-flared skirt and strips of ruffled tulle around the entire dress.

And it seems Victoria may have been taking inspiration from fellow royal, Queen Letizia of Spain, who wore the same gown as the pair attended a glamorous state banquet at the Royal Palace in Stockholm last year.

Looking typically polished, Victoria wore her brown tresses slicked back in a chic up-do, finishing off the look with a pair of dainty teardrop pearl earrings.

The royal opted for a light and dewey make-up look, wearing peach blush with some subtle highlight and a light smokey eye.

Mother-of-two Victoria opted for a dark blue tulle gown featuring mesh sleeves and subtle silver detailing, which she teamed with a white satin sash and ribbon-clad brooch

The 44-year-old royal first debuted the 229.99 gown, from high street label H&M, in 2020 when she posed in the dress to mark her 10th wedding anniversary with her husband Prince Daniel

King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf, is patron of the academy while Victoria and her mother, Queen Silvia, are both first honorary members.

The Academy was founded by Queen Lovisa Ulrika on 20 March 1753, as the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters. The Academy's annual event is usually held on March 20th.

The ceremony, to mark its foundation, Vitterhetsakademien, acknowledges leading researchers through prizes, awards, and medals.

The Academy promotes and supports research by funding research projects, research positions, publications, conferences, projects in internationalisation and digitisation, travel grants, and scholarships.

The gown, which is no longer available to buy, is made from recycled polyester and features a super-flared skirt and strips of ruffled tulle around the entire dress

The royal opted for a light make-up look, wearing peach blush with some subtle highlight and a light smokey eye

It provides expertise when asked by government committees or official commissions of inquiry or when its own interests require it.

The outing comes after Victoria celebrated her name day earlier this month in the first full return to the celebrations since 2019 after the event was cancelled in 2020, and pared back in 2021 due to Covid.

According to Swedish tradition, various names are associated with certain dates, and Crown Princess Victoria's is celebrated on 12th March.

The Swedish royal was joined by her husband Prince Daniel, 48, and their children Princess Estelle, 10, and Prince Oscar, 6 at Stockholm's Royal Palace.
After more than 30 seasons, countless paternity tests, and a seemingly infinite number of screaming matches, The Maury Show is officially coming to an end this fall.

NBCUniversal announced the end of a TV era on Sunday, with host and executive producer Maury Povich, 83, admitting that he's been ready to retire for some time.

'Six years ago when I was ready to retire, my the NBCUniversal family asked me to continue the show,' Maury said in a statement. 'Even though I told them I was ready for assisted living, out of loyalty to NBCUniversal and my more than 100 staff and crew members... I agreed to one more deal.

'I'm so proud of my relationship with NBCUniversal and all those who worked on the Maury show but as I occasionally tell my guests on Maury, "Enough, already!"'

As the show heads into its final episodes, DailyMail.com takes a look back at some of the wildest and most memorable moments that have aired since 1991, from a woman whose fraternal twins had two different fathers to an unfaithful husband who was caught cheating backstage.

After more than 30 seasons, countless partnity tests, and a seemingly infinite number of screaming matches, The Maury Show is officially coming to an end this fall

Woman discovers that her twin babies have two DIFFERENT fathers

The Maury Show certainly attracted characters over the years, but it also attracted guests in some incredibly unique situations.

In 2008, a 19-year-old woman named Alejandrina appeared on the show with her ex-boyfriend Jose, claiming he was the father of her fraternal twins, Jayla and Julius.

Alejandrina promised that she had not slept with anyone else while she was with Jose.

It turned out, that was a lie.

But the shocking reveal came when Maury read out the results of the paternity tests for Jayla and Julius, confirming that he was only the father of one of the children.

In 2008, a 19-year-old woman, Alejandrina, appeared on the show with her ex-boyfriend Jose, claiming he was the father of her fraternal twins, Jayla and Julius

The shocking reveal came when Maury read out the results of the paternity tests for Jayla and Julius, confirming that he was only the father of one of the children

Called superfecundation, the phenomenon in which two eggs are implanted with sperm from two different occurances of sexual intercourse is quite rare.

Perhaps the most shocking twist of all was that this was not the first time that such a result had played out on the show.

Years earlier, a woman named Regina brought her ex Eric on the show, and found out that he had only fathered one of her twins.

In a Reddit Q&A in 2015, Maury admitted it was 'the most surprised I ever was.'

'When I opened the envelope  and I don't know the answers before anybody else does  he was the father of one of the twins, but not the other.

'And they were fraternal twins. And science says that's a million-to-one shot, that there could be two fathers of twins. And it's happened twice. So the million-to-one shot has come in twice.'

Called superfecundation, the phenomenon in which two eggs are implanted with sperm from two different occurrences of sexual intercourse is quite rare

Woman appears on Maury 19 times, getting 17 paternity tests for her daughter

Sholonda appeared on The Maury Show more than any other guest  and all for the same reason.

In total, she would appear 19 times, getting 20 DNA tests for three children, including 17 for just one daughter.

Her first appearance was in 2004, when she admitted that she had cheated on her husband, Tywrell  and didn't know for sure that he had fathered her daughter, Kayla. A DNA test showed that he was not the father.

Sholonda was back for several shows in 2005, when paternity tests ruled out several more men as Kayla's father. One of the men was Tywrell's cousin Aaron.

Sholonda appeared on The Maury Show more than any other guest, each time for a paternity test

In total, she would appear 15 times, getting 20 DNA tests for three children, including 17 for just one daughter

She returned for four more shows in 2006, and again in 2007.

Meanwhile, Sholonda and Tywrell stayed together  a paternity test proved he was the father of her second daughter, Tywreana  and even intended to renew their vows in 2013.

But those plans were interrupted when Tywrell admitted to sleeping with Sholonda's sister.

Six years later, in Sholonda's 19th appearance, Tywrell admitted to sleeping with Sholonda's oldest daughter, Deanna, as well.

'This is maybe one of the most painful moments I've ever had on this show,' Maury admitted.

In addition to not knowing who fathered her daughter Kayla, Sholonda learned that her husband cheated on her on several occasions

White European model claims she 'identifies as a black woman' after deep tan, hair extensions, and plastic surgery

Two years after Rachel Dolezal infamously resigned as president of the NAACP chapter in Spokane, Washington after it was discovered that she was only pretending to be white, in 2017 Maury welcomed on model Martina Big, a white woman from Germany who 'identifies as a black woman.'

Claiming to be 28 years old and a size six, she used tanning, melanin boosting injections, and her own 50-tube sunbed to achieve her 'dark, crispy brown' complexion.

She filmed her Maury appearance wearing a tight yellow dress and a 'Black Girls Rock' necklace.

In 2017, Maury welcomed on model Martina Big, a white woman from Germany who 'identifies as a black woman'

'I am the proud owner of black skin,' she told the audience on the show

The German tanning addict, who claims her breasts are 'Europe's biggest,' insisted to Maury: 'I am black. That is my race. I can't wait to go to Africa because I hear the food is tasty.'

'I am the proud owner of black skin,' she said. 'If they start fading, I won't feel less black. I will ask them for more.'

Martina, who describes herself as '80 per cent black' because she still 'has a lot to learn,' was joined by husband Michael, who also had tanning injections but said identifies as 'medium.'

When asked if she thinks she's offending people who were born black, she said: 'No, I don't want to. I know some feel attacked but it's not my intention. I do it for myself and only talk to people who want to talk with me about this.'

Man insists he didn't father three women's babies and appears with all of them on the show  bit DNA tests prove he is the father

'Deadbeat lowlife' Harry was confronted on the show by three exes  all of whom were sure he was the father of their children.

'These three women have one thing in common: a man named Harry. And they are all furious that Harry has gone out of his way to deny their children,' Maury said.

Tykeza said he was dad to her three-year-old son Omir, Monisha said the same of her year-and-a-half-old daughter Jamaiyah, and Ti'Eshia insisted she was 100% positive he fathered her six-month-old son Ta'Marion.

But Harry was so insistent that he wasn't the father that he called Maury up to appear on the show.

'Deadbeat lowlife' Harry was confronted on the show by three exes, all of whom were sure he was the father of their children

But Harry was so insistent that he wasn't the father that he called Maury up to appear on the show

'That's because he already has kids and he doesn't want to take claim of these three,' Ti'Eshia said.

Harry claimed that Tykeza had 'been around the block too many times,' that Monisha 'stole my last name' for her baby, and that Ti'Eshia's son was 'bow-legged' and thus could not be his.

'I know I am not the father of all three of these kids,' he said.

When Maury confirmed that Harry was, in fact, the father of all three children, the women stoof up and celebrated together.

'I know I am not the father of all three of these kids,' he said

When Maury confirmed that Harry was, in fact, the father of all three children, the women stoof up and celebrated together

Husband gets caught on camera cheating on his wife backstage

When Cristal brought her husband, Dennis, on the show, she was convinced he was cheating.

'I decided to stay with Dennis even though he cheated on me three times. He promised he was gonna change,' she said. 'But I feel like Dennis is still cheating on me.'

She said that a woman told her Dennis had gotten her pregnant, and he was addicted to porn.

The pair were already yelling at one another when Maury revealed that the night before, Dennis was put in the greenroom, where a decoy was set up to tempt him  and he failed the test.

When Cristal brought her husband, Dennis, on the show, she was convinced he was cheating

Dennis was put in the greenroom, where a decoy was set up to tempt him - and he failed the test

It wasn't long before Dennis was making out with the woman, caught on camera for his wife to see

It wasn't long before Dennis was making out with the woman, caught on camera for his wife to see.

'No, no, no! I don't know her!' he insisted, even as the video evidence was right in front of his eyes.

'It doesn't mean nothing, though,' he said. 'I love you.'

To add insult to injury, Maury revealed that a lie detector test determined that he was lying about sleeping with other women.
An American expat has explained how confusing she finds Australian text message slang when making plans with one of her best friends.

Jaylee, who grew up in California but now calls Australia home, shared a video to TikTok with examples of texts she couldn't understand at all when she first read them.

'Deciphering my Aussie friend's text messages. It's like learning a whole new language,' she said.

The first text message read 'tomoz arvo', a shortened version of tomorrow afternoon.

Jaylee, who grew up in California but now calls Australia home, shared a video to TikTok with examples of texts she couldn't understand at all when she first read them

Jaylee said she initially thought it was referring to tomato and avocado together on a sandwich before the true meaning was explained.

The next response to one of her messages was 'yeah casj'.

At first Jaylee thought this was an unfortunate typo until she noticed other friends sending her the same word. She discovered it's short for 'yeah casual' which roughly translates to 'cool'.

One of the more 'obvious' texts she was sent read 'looking for a park', something that usually means someone is trying to find a parking space.

Jaylee understands it now, but at the time she took the phrase to literally mean 'a green, grassy place with a jungle gym'.

At first Jaylee thought this was an unfortunate typo until she noticed other friends sending her the same word. She discovered it's short for 'yeah casual' which roughly translates to 'cool'

Her video was so popular the young American expat produced a follow up video, where she featured 'how ya goin', 'did you hear about that seccy' and 'bevvy'.

'We say seccy because security guard is long and we're lazy,' one of her followers said.

'To be fair "how are you doing" doesn't make much sense either,' said another.
Pregnant women who catch Covid are twice as likely to give birth prematurely, a study has found.

US scientists monitored 43,000 expectant mothers over the year to March 2021, including 1,300 who tested positive.

As well as the increased risk of having a premature birth, Covid-infected mothers were more at risk of sepsis and blood clots.

Experts speculated that Covid infections may exacerbate underlying conditions like problems with the uterus and cervix, making an early birth more likely. They said children born before their due date may be at a higher risk of suffering from mental and heart problems.

Researchers said the study should be used to encourage mothers-to-be and women planning to have a child to get vaccinated.

Almost half of pregnant women in England (48 per cent) were vaccinated when they gave birth in November 2021, the latest date available.

US scientists found Covid-positive pregnant women were twice as likely to have an early birth as those who did not catch the virus (Stock image of a pregnant women being jabbed)

The study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, was carried out before vaccines were offered to pregnant women in the UK and US.

My daughter might still be alive if she'd been vaccinated, says father of 24-year-old A mother who died after falling ill with Covid would probably still be alive had she been jabbed, her devastated father has said. Sadie Exley, 24, was pregnant with her second child when she suddenly started suffering from migraines and chest pain. She was diagnosed with a blood clot in her lung, and then caught Covid. Her condition deteriorated and a week later she was taken to hospital having become paralysed on one side. The shop worker was transferred into intensive care at Leeds General Infirmary but tragically died earlier this month after a brain haemorrhage. Thankfully, doctors were able to save her baby son Elliot who was delivered by caesarean section at 29 weeks weighing just 2lbs 1oz. Her father David said doctors had told him they thought 'she'd still be here' had she not been taken in by anti-vaxxer misinformation. 'Covid does a lot of things,' said the 57-year-old. 'It works on your weaknesses within your body.' Mr Exley claimed his daughter wasn't vaccinated as Elliot's father had 'watched YouTube videos and was against it'. Miss Exley, who worked at B&M in her home town of Batley, West Yorkshire, was also mother to two-year-old girl, Harper. Advertisement

Pregnant women were initially told not to get Covid vaccines when they were first rolled out, as is standard practice with most medicines.

Original jab trials didn't include them for ethical reasons, so experts had to wait for more data to accrue.

A mountain of studies have since shown them to be safe and effective in the group, prompting campaigns to encourage mothers-to-be to get jabbed.

Scientists extracted data on patients from healthcare provider Kaiser Permanente. Infections were only included if they were PCR-positive.

Results showed 143 Covid-positive women (10 per cent) gave birth before the 37-week mark.

For comparison, 3,438 expectant mothers (eight per cent) who did not have Covid gave birth early.

But after analysis taking into account age, deprivation and body weight, scientists said Covid-positive women were at much higher risk of an early birth.

Senior researcher and lead author Assiamira Ferrara said: 'These findings add to the growing evidence that having Covid during pregnancy raises risks of serious complications.

'Coupled with the evidence that the Covid vaccines are safe during pregnancy, these findings should aid patients in understanding the risks of perinatal complications and the need for vaccination.'

She added: 'This study supports the recommendation for vaccination of pregnant individuals and those planning conception.'

Previous research has also suggested pregnant women face an increased risk of complications if they catch Covid.

Edinburgh University scientists also found in a paper published in January that expectant mothers who caught Covid within 28 days of their due date were twice as likely to give birth prematurely.

And they were up to four times more likely to have a stillbirth.

In the paper, experts did not speculate on why mothers-to-be who catch Covid late in pregnancy are most at risk  but the internal stress of carrying a baby can weaken the immune system.
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Daily Covid reporting is starting to be abandoned by health officials around the United States as the cases continue to decline and the much of the world looks towards the end of the pandemic. The World Health Organization (WHO) is still warning that it is too early to put Covid in the past.

On Friday, South Dakota officially ended daily COVID-19 data reporting, a part of the larger movement around the country of states rolling back pandemic related protocols in preparation of 'ending' the pandemic and moving to a more endemic stage of the virus. Cases will now be reported weekly.

In doing so, the Sunshine State joins Arizona, Hawaii, Kentucky, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma and South Carolina as states that have recently cut back on Covid reporting. Florida and Nebraska cut daily reporting last year, making it ten states.

It comes as daily case figures in the U.S. continue to fall, down 12 percent over the past week to 30,345 per day, and down 96 percent from the Omicron variant-fueled surge's mid-January peak of around 800,000 cases a day.

There are some signs that the nation's good fortunes could reverse, though. The WHO reports that global Covid cases have started to increase in recent weeks, and New York - which often serves as a type of canary in the coal mine for America's Covid situation - is starting to see cases worryingly jump as well.

Many U.S. based health experts are hopeful that the nation will dodge a devastating Covid surge this spring, and potentially even summer, if the current situation holds up.

Dr Scott Gottlieb, former director of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and board member at Pfizer, told ABC's This Week on Sunday that he expected cases to slightly increase in the coming weeks but not develop into a full blown Covid surge.

'I don't think we're going to see a big wave of infection, but we're going to see some uptick from where we are right now. Right now, we're at very low levels of infection,' he said.

America's current daily infection rate is at its lowest point since last summer, and even slightly increases in cases will be manageable - if not expected - due to how favorable the situation is right now.

'I think we're going to continue to see low levels of infection through the summer,' he added.

'But before we get there, we're probably going to see some tick-up of infection like the Europeans are seeing right now, maybe not as pronounced.'

The WHO reports that two weeks ago, Covid cases increased by eight percent globally, up to 11 million. This comes after weeks of falling case numbers.

The biggest jump was found in the Western Pacific region, where cases jumped 25 percent week-to-week. There was a 14 percent jump in Africa and two percent rise in Europe, as well.

European nations which often trend ahead of the U.S by a few months during the pandemic are among those to have experienced worrying rises. In the UK, cases have jumped around 40 percent over the past week, to 100,000 per day.

There are also a few early signs that this uptick in cases could find its way to America as well. New York has recorded a 17 percent increase in Covid infections over the past two weeks, the first state to record a substantial jump in nearly two months.

Manhattan, New York City's largest population hub, has recorded a 17 percent increase over the past week as well, fueling the greater surge across the state.

The state is still under 1,000 cases per day, though, a very small total that pales in comparison to the nearly 40,000 case per day mark reached at the Omicron variant's peak.

The WHO warns that these case rises are only the start of what could be a brutal spring season for parts of the world.

Margaret Harris, a WHO official, said at a news conference Friday that the pandemic is 'far from over' and that the world is still in the middle of it all.

'These increase are occurring despite reductions in testing in some countries, which means the cases we're seeing are just the tip of the iceberg,' Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, said last week.

Recent rises in the U.S. and in much of the world are being fueled by the 'stealth' variant, or the BA.2 lineage of Omicron, as it is officially known.

The lineage is now dominant in the UK, Denmark and many other European nations, as it quickly was able to over take the BA.1 original version of the variant.

BA.2 has not been able to take hold in the U.S. the same way it did in much of Europe, though. According to most recent data revealed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last week, BA.2 makes up 23 percent of active Covid cases in the U.S., with BA.1 still being dominant.

The Omicron variant as a whole makes up every single sequenced case in the U.S., per the CDC, with the highly transmissive, vaccine-resistant, strain totally snuffing out the Delta variant this year.

BA.2's share of Covid infections in America is rapidly growing, though, with the variant only accounting for 11 percent of sequenced cases last week, and only six percent the week previous that.

The BA.2 Omicron 'stealth' variant (pink) now makes up around 23% of U.S. COVID-19 cases, up from 11% last week and 6% the week before. The Omicron variant makes up every single sequence case in America

It is most prevalent in New Jersey and New York, and Northeastern regions of the U.S., accounting for around 40 percent of cases in both designated areas, explaining the recent surge in cases in the region.

The strain is not yet the dominant Covid strain anywhere in America, while it has taken over in many parts of Europe.

Gottlieb has a positive outlook on the rising strain. Experts believe that people who have been infected with the BA.1 strain of the variant should have natural immunity against BA.2, since both lineages are similar enough to each other, natural antibodies should provide cross-immunity.

'What we know is that the immunity that you get from omicron is very protective against this BA.2 variant,' Gottlieb told CNBC's Squawk Box last week.

'There's no reason to believe the contours of this wave will be very different than BA.1 and probably less so because we have so much Omicron immunity.'

While the WHO is still issuing some grim warnings, a majority of signs point to the U.S. being fine this spring. The organization has been among the more cautious voices throughout the pandemic, and as a global organization its outlook includes areas beyond just the U.S. and western Europe.

America has an especially high vaccination rate, per CDC data. Nearly 90 percent of U.S. adults have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and nearly 100 million have received a booster shot.

More jabs could be on the way as well, with Moderna submitting data to regulators last week to have a fourth vaccine dose approved for all U.S. adults. Pfizer, the company's main competition in the U.S. vaccine rollout, also submitted data for a fourth shot for Americans 65 and older.

The nation's Covid mortality rate is relatively low as well. America is averaging 1,054 deaths per day, a 13 percent drop over the past week
Having a loved one go into a coma as a result of a severe COVID-19 infection can be a terrifying, anxiety-inducing, experience, but the patient's odds for survival are higher than likely believed, a new study finds.

A joint research team from Cornell University, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital found that 70 percent of patient who are put into a coma when placed on a ventilator for sever Covid symptoms end up surviving the virus.

The findings demonstrate how low the mortality rate of Covid is, even early in the pandemic before many of the treatments available now had been discovered.

Experts are also highlighting the fact that these findings should reduce anxiety among family members, because was feels like a moment where a miracle is needed for survival actually has much better odds than expected.

Researchers found that a person placed into a coma and onto a ventilator for COVID-19 treatment is 72% likely to eventually recover, a much higher rate than many people may expect. Pictured: Nurses care for Covid patients in Apple Valley, California, on March 11

'It gives nurses and physicians the confidence to tell families, 'look this can take several weeks,' Dr Daiwai Olson, a neurology professor at the University of Texas in Austin told the Boston Globe.

'We have had moms want to stay at the bed side, and we can tell them go home and take a shower, it may take three weeks' for the patient to regain consciousness.'

Researchers, who published their findings in the Annals of Neurology, gathered data from 795 patients from hospitals in the New York City and Boston area during the first two waves of the pandemic, from March to July 2020.

While now, doctors have an arsenal of treatments, tools and two years of experience to lean on when treating the virus, the virus was still novel during the study period and had caught the world by surprise.

Of the study group, 571 patients survived, or 72 percent.

The median recovery time was 30 days, though each individual day that required a coma slightly decreased a person's likelihood of survival.

Some experts are also hopeful that family members will come across these findings when deciding whether to pull a family member off of life support.

Generally, a loved one does not want someone to spend an extender period of time in a vegetated state, and would instead want their body to be able to rest.

There is also a finality to pulling someone off of life-support that can allow the family to start the grief process.

There is always the fear of making the call too prematurely, though, and this study provides reason to believe there is value in

'The underlying message [from this study] is simple: If you give people enough time most, but not all, people who have severe COVID will ultimately recover consciousness,' Dr Brian Edlow, a co-senior author and neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, told the Globe.

'We found that in the past, if the patients came in with post cardiac arrest, people thought the prognosis was universally poor, but we have learned that waiting longer [for them to wake up] is the way to go,' Dr Jose Suarez, of Johns Hopkins University, said.

This study was also performed very early in the pandemic, where doctors knew less about the virus, how to treat it, and how to act in specific situations for each patient.

A study published earlier this month by researchers at the University of Minnesota found that patients treated at Covid-specific facilities were more likely to survive than those treated at regular hospitals.

Experts attributed these findings to the experience a doctor gains over time treating patients with the same virus repeatedly.

'COVID-19dedicated hospitals had multiple benefits, including providing high-volume repetitive treatment and isolating patients with the infection,' researchers wrote.

'This experience suggests improved in-hospital mortality for patients treated at dedicated hospitals owing to improved processes of care and supports the use of establishing cohorts for future pandemics.'

Now with two years under their belt, and effective monoclonal antibody and oral treatments, the likelihood of survival in hospitals is likely even higher.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk defied Moscow's ultimatum to surrender Mariupol by 5:00 a.m. on Monday as residents in the area continued to hunker down amid attacks from Russia's military forces.

The director of the Russian National Defense Management Center, Col-Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev, told Ukrainians during a news briefing on Sunday to lay down their arms. He said that a terrible humanitarian catastrophe has developed in the region and he guaranteed safe passage out of Mariupol to anyone who complies with his demands.

Surrender Mariupol

Mizintsev allegedly offered to open humanitarian corridors on Monday morning that stemmed from Mariupol and went east and west outward of the port city. However, Russian authorities only offered safe passage if all Ukrainian troops and foreign mercenaries laid down their arms and left by the allotted time frame.

The Russian official said that when Ukrainians successfully complete the surrender of Mariupol the humanitarian corridors would be opened by 10:00 a.m., Moscow time. The process would be followed by the safe passage of humanitarian convoys that would carry food, medicine, and other supplies into the city, as per WFTV9.

In an interview with Ukrainska Pravda, an online newspaper, Vereshchuk, a social activist and politician, said that now was not the time to discuss surrendering weapons at the behest of Russia. She demanded that Moscow should instead open humanitarian corridors and allow roughly 350,000 people trapped in the area to leave the battlefield.

Read Also: Russia-Ukraine War: Vladimir Putin Agrees To Meet Volodymyr Zelensky; Ukraine President Warns of World War 3 if Peace Talks Fail

Previously, Russia's Ministry of Defense said that Ukraine had until the given 5:00 a.m. Mar. 21 deadline to respond to Moscow's proposals. They warned that more than a "court-martial" awaits anyone who did not surrender to Russia.

According to The Moscow Times, since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the southern port city of Mariupol has become a pivotal target in President Vladimir Putin's strategy. It provides a land bridge between Russian forces stationed in Crimea to the southwest and Russian-controlled territory to the north and east.

Russia-Ukraine War

Mariupol has been under siege by Russian troops for nearly four weeks before the proposal for surrender by Moscow. However, Vereshchuk said that, instead of wasting time on eight pages of letters, Moscow should just open humanitarian corridors in exchange for nothing because it was the right thing to do.

The two sides have blamed each other for the failure to open such a humanitarian corridor in the last few weeks. Mizintsev said that Ukrainian "bandits, "neo-Nazis," and nationalists who were engaged in what he called "mass terror" and went on killing sprees in the city were to blame.

The southern port city has suffered one of the heaviest bombardments that have left people in the area with little, if any, food, water, or power. The city council has claimed that thousands of residents have been "deported" to Russia in the last week.

Since Feb. 24, when the first wave of Russian forces invaded Ukraine, the death toll has been recorded in the thousands while roughly 10 million others have been displaced. Many also fear a wider confrontation between Russia and the United States, The Guardian reported.



Related Article: US Confirms Russia Launched Hypersonic Missiles on Ukraine; UN Reports 850 Civilians Killed Since Day 1 of Invasion

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Given what we now know about viruses and how potentially lethal they can be, the idea of inhaling or swallowing one to treat an infection sounds like the last thing we would want to do.

But thats exactly what doctors could soon be prescribing. In fact, you may even be advised to take a virus supplement, much like you would a probiotic, to boost your good gut microbes.

But unlike the coronavirus, the viruses used as a treatment or preventative measure only target and kill bacteria.

They dont attack healthy cells. Known as phages, they are being researched as an alternative to antibiotics to treat conditions such as urinary tract infections (UTIs), acne, infected foot ulcers and tuberculosis.

This research has been driven by the rise in superbugs. Thanks to decades of blanket antibiotic use, increasing numbers of bacteria are mutating into lethal organisms resistant to our available medicines.

Given what we now know about viruses and how potentially lethal they can be, the idea of inhaling or swallowing one to treat an infection sounds like the last thing we would want to do

The potential for phage therapy is huge for anyone who has an antibiotic-resistant infection, says Joanne Santini, a professor of microbiology at University College London.

Indeed, in one remarkable story, in January doctors in Belgium reported on the success of phage therapy for a 30-year-old victim of the suicide bombing at Brussels Airport in 2016.

The patient, whod undergone five operations, had been on antibiotics for nearly two years due to an infection in a wound in her thigh  it had become infected with a superbug, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and wouldnt heal.

But within weeks of a phage being added to her medication, her broken thigh bone started to mend, and she can now walk and cycle, according to the journal Nature Communications.

The latest research also suggests phages may mean current antibiotics remain effective for longer. And a team of microbiologists has submitted plans to set up the first UK phage bank to store phages, so theyre ready for other researchers and doctors to use when necessary.

You can help find wonder viruses  and even get one named after you You can help discover potentially life-saving phages (viruses that kill bacteria) via the Citizen Phage Library. The aim is to build a database of phages so that if a patient needs treatment, there is a national resource that can offer this quickly, says Dr Ben Temperton, an associate professor of microbiology at the University of Exeter, who set up the project. People are sent kits that contain three glass jars. They fill these with water from their local areas, such as ponds or rivers, and send them back to our lab. We filter out the bacteria and whats left are viruses. We add these to a sample of bacteria we want to find phages for  if there are phages in the sample that kill the bacteria, they will increase in number. The phages are checked to ensure they dont have any dangerous genes, then theyre added to the database. They are stored in liquid nitrogen, and if theyre needed, more will be cultured. The low-cost process takes two to three weeks, in contrast to the time and money needed to develop new antibiotics, says Dr Temperton. The citizen who sent it in can name the phage. My ten-year-old son was among the first to catch a phage  down the road from where we live in Devon, in the River Lemon. He named it LemonAid. LemonAid was found to infect and kill Acinetobacter baumannii, which the World Health Organisation lists as one of the drug-resistant bacteria that poses the greatest threat to human health. A phage named KylieMinegg was isolated from a chicken coop and killed Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria from cystic fibrosis patients, too. The collection kits should be available within a month at citizenphage.com. Advertisement

Phages  short for bacteriophage, meaning bacteria eater  are found everywhere that bacteria exist, including in our bodies and the environment, such as soil or water. Phage therapy involves first identifying the bacteria thats caused an infection, then finding a virus (i.e. the phage) known to kill that particular bug.

This is currently done by contacting phage researchers to see if they have anything that might help  but scientists worldwide are setting up online phage banks, where researchers log and share information about phages.

Once identified and sourced, these phages can be cultured in a lab and used to destroy the bacteria that is causing the disease.

Whats particularly promising is that, while phages can be used as a single treatment to target a specific bacteria, doctors can also develop phage cocktails which contain a mix of phages for more complicated infections.

Phages can also be used alongside antibiotics to maximise the effect on the bacteria, because they work via different mechanisms.

If we combine phages with antibiotics, we attack the bacteria on two fronts and the bacteria struggle to become resistant to both, says Dr Ben Temperton, an associate professor of microbiology at the University of Exeter.

How phages work is partly down to their distinctive structure. Many have an icosahedron head  a bit like a die with 20 faces  which contains their DNA, on a tail that has leg-like fibres. These fibres bind to receptors on bacteria, and are different on every phage.

Once a phage binds to a bacterium, it injects its own DNA into it and hijacks the cell in order to replicate inside, until the bacterium reaches full capacity. At this point the cell bursts and dies, and the phages inside it are released into the body, where they continue to kill that bacteria. If they dont find any, they simply die.

Because they are so targeted towards attacking one type of bacteria, phages are seen as a massive step towards personalised medicine for many diseases, says Martha Clokie, a professor of microbiology at the University of Leicester, who has researched phages for more than 20 years.

To widen access to phage therapy, last week Professor Clokie submitted plans to create the first UK phage centre, which involves creating physical banks of phages.

While this is very much cutting-edge, strictly speaking, phages are not new  they were discovered just over 100 years ago at the Pasteur Institute in Paris.

Could they boost cancer treatment? At Imperial College London, Amin Hajitou, a professor of targeted therapeutics, is taking a unique approach to bacteria-eating viruses, developing them into a delivery system to make treatment for brain cancer work better, and even cure genetic conditions. For some chemotherapy medications, no more than 10 per cent will reach the tumour, he says. We cant simply increase the dose as they are toxic, so we must develop better delivery technologies. A phage is ideal to develop into a delivery system since it doesnt harm human tissue. We know that cancer cells have specific markers for growth factors  we modified a phage so that it displayed ligands that bind to receptors for these growth factors. As soon as it binds, the phage enters into cancer cells. The next step is to modify phage DNA so that when it gets into the tumour, it will produce a therapeutic protein that kills the cancer cell. I expect to move this research into clinical trials in the next two or three years. For genetic diseases, such as cystic fibrosis, the phage could deliver a gene that corrects a protein causing the disease, restoring normal function. Advertisement

But when scientists in the West created antibiotics in the 1940s, phages fell out of favour here. However, they continued to be developed in Eastern Europe. They are particularly popular in Georgia (the bombing victims phage came via the Eliava Institute in Tbilisi), Russia and Poland.

Phage therapy is so widely accepted in parts of Eastern Europe that not only are phages prescribed by doctors, you can also buy an off-the-shelf product from pharmacies, says Professor Clokie, who has worked in Georgia.

There is a pharmacy in the Eliava Institute where people queue around the block to buy little pots of phages which they swallow, she says. These phages are prepared to respond to common strains of bacteria, and are effective against infections such as Klebsiella [found in wounds and pneumonia, for example], Staphylococcus [which affects skin] and E. coli [which affects the gut].

Phage therapy is seen as a safe approach partly because phages are found naturally in our bodies, and form part of our gut microbiome  the community of microbes that play a key role in health.

While most people are familiar with the idea of good and bad gut bacteria, we now understand that phages are an important part of that microbiome, says Dr Temperton.

The phages in our guts are different from those that are being developed as treatments. As Dr Temperton explains: Treatment with phages involves finding phages that are specialised to kill certain bacteria. These can often be found in the environment as they are different to those in the patients own microbiome, so the bacteria has not had the opportunity to develop resistance to them.

But from what we know about phages, theyre as safe as medicine can be, and certainly safer than many antibiotics in terms of side-effects.

Phage therapy is so widely accepted in parts of Eastern Europe that not only are phages prescribed by doctors, you can also buy an off-the-shelf product from pharmacies, says Professor Clokie, who has worked in Georgia

This is because unlike antibiotics, which kill both good and bad bacteria, a phage targets a specific type, so wont disrupt the natural balance in our microbiome (or cause side-effects such as abdominal pain and nausea).

Professor Clokie suggests phages could be especially good for treating skin ulcers, lung infections and UTIs, as the phage can be targeted directly to the problem. This is because its relatively easy to identify the bacteria, and therefore the phage that suits them.

For instance, skin infections such as cellulitis are typically linked to staphylococcal infection.

Our studies suggest you can apply a Staphylococcus phage on the surface of ulcers, for instance, and stop deep infection that could lead to deadly sepsis or amputation, says Professor Clokie.

The main focus at this point, however, is tackling superbugs.

Because the problem of antibacterial resistance is so prominent there is a real risk that infections contracted from simple cuts or routine operations could become deadly, says Dr Antonia Sagona, an associate professor of infection and microbiology at the University of Warwick.

A recent study by the University of Oxford estimated that more than 1.2 million deaths worldwide in 2019 were a result of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections, making them a leading cause of deaths now, reported The Lancet.

Increasingly, the only option for some people is to try phage therapy because all available medicines are ineffective, says Professor Clokie. Sadly that isnt possible in most cases in the UK as it isnt approved, but we are seeing more interest from doctors who want to try phage therapy on compassionate use as a last resort.

There have been a few early-stage phage clinical trials worldwide to date, which have produced mixed results. But there have been multiple case reports showing the success of phage therapy in clearing infections.

These include the only patient treated with personalised phage therapy in this country.

In 2019, Isabelle Carnell-Holdaway, then 15, developed a multi-drug-resistant Mycobacterium infection following a double lung transplant. Her doctors gave her a 1 per cent chance of survival and contacted U.S. specialists to search for a phage to save her.

Isabelle, from Kent, was given a three-phage cocktail. After six weeks there was a clear improvement in the infection, her doctors from Great Ormond Street Hospital in London reported in the journal Nature Medicine.

Phages are not a magic bullet  research suggests bacteria can become resistant to them, as with antibiotics, says Dr Temperton. But if this happens, phages are so diverse that you can simply search for new ones or evolve the ones you have [e.g. through genetic engineering] to overcome the resistance, he explains. Its much cheaper and faster [than looking for alternative antibiotics].

Also, if phage resistance occurs, it could actually make the antibiotics effective against that infection once again, adds Dr Franklin Nobrega, a lecturer in microbiology at the University of Southampton.

In a 2020 study by Yale University in the U.S., E. coli bacteria (a common cause of food poisoning) resistant to antibiotics were mutated to be resistant to phages, too. The scientists found that in developing phage resistance, the bacteria had to change the structure of a protein (called TolC) that was key in making it resistant to antibiotics.

In effect, the phage resistance increased antibiotic sensitivity, according to the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The upshot is that phage therapy seems to give us more options for treating serious resistant infections, says Dr Nobrega.

In any case, phages should not be used in the same blanket way that we have used antibiotics, as it could lead to resistance. They should complement the use of antibiotics and be used alone when antibiotics dont work.

Take a virus pill for a healthy gut Most people are familiar with the idea of friendly bacteria in our gut being linked to wellbeing, and many now take probiotics to boost them. But potentially as important are the friendly viruses, suggests Martha Clokie, a professor of microbiology at the University of Leicester. These help keep disease-causing bad microbes in line. Within a decade it should be possible to get phages [good viruses that attack bacteria] over-the-counter just like any supplement, she says. We know some groups such as children with asthma have less diversity in their phages, so they might benefit from a supplement to restore the natural balance of the microbiome [the colony of microbes that live in the gut]. Joanne Santini, a professor of microbiology at University College London, adds: The major advantage of phages is that you can use ones that specifically target and kill bad bacteria and do not directly harm our microbiome. Theres no reason they couldnt be used as a general supplement, much like probiotics, in future, to rebalance the microbiome and get rid of bad gut bacteria. Advertisement

Another key question is whether using a virus in this way triggers an immune response that causes harm or simply blocks the phage.

While studies suggest we release some antibodies in response to phages, there were no side-effects, says Amin Hajitou, a professor of targeted therapeutics at Imperial College London.

Also, the antibodies do not stop the phage performing its therapeutic effect, even if we repeat the phage treatment, meaning we can administer multiple doses quite safely.

While there is a lot of research into phages being done around the world, the UK is at the forefront, says Dr Nobrega.

For example, Professor Clokies work has led to the groundbreaking discovery of phages (in soil within saltmarsh estuaries in Hampshire) that attack antibiotic-resistant strains of some particularly resilient superbugs, such as C. diff, a deadly bacterium commonly found in hospitals.

When I started some 20 years ago, most doctors questioned the validity of phage therapy, but now there is a lot of interest in it for many conditions, says Professor Clokie.

In my lab, we focus on the use of phages for recurrent UTIs and are planning clinical trials which are two to three years away. These will provide much-needed efficacy data and progress us to a point where phages can be used more routinely. There has also been very promising research for treating asthma.

There is still so much to learn, but there is incredible promise. Phages can potentially benefit anyone who has a resistant infection, says Professor Clokie. She, like Dr Sagona and others working in this field, often receive emails from people with infections who have run out of treatment options but may benefit from phages.

In the UK doctors can, under some strict conditions, apply to use personalised phage therapy that is approved in other parts of the world, as a last resort. Professor Clokie says: We have started to consider using phages under compassionate use guidelines, but this has its challenges, referring to the lengthy approval process.

Dr Sagona believes that because there are so many requests for phage therapy, gradually there will be a change in regulations to make it more available.

One of the goals of phage research in the UK is that, as well as targeted phage treatments, we will one day be able to buy phage cocktails from the pharmacy  as they do in Georgia, she adds.

Within a decade, and upon approval in the UK, phages can be available for patients as topical products, drinks or powder, targeting specific bacteria causing infectious diseases.

It could happen even faster, as phages in this format are already used safely in other countries. It depends solely on the Department of Health and governmental decisions, and not on the science; the science is already there.

Professor Clokie adds: Within a decade or so, if suitable funding is put into this research area, it will be plausible to get a phage product from a pharmacy for a general infection. Patients who have infections that dont respond  or who have asthma or cystic fibrosis, for instance  may need a bespoke approach from a specialist.

Phages may even help detect infection. At Dr Sagonas laboratory in Warwick, they have genetically modified phages to produce luminescence (light) when they detect specific bacteria in a sample, such as blood, saliva or urine.

The plan is to develop this into diagnostic tests people can take at home. Currently recurrent bacterial infections are analysed by PCR test (or similar methods) and it can take a few days to get specific results, says Dr Sagona.

Phages are particularly useful here as they infect only live, disease-causing bacteria. PCR tests dont distinguish between live and dead cells, which can lead to false positive results, she says. She and her team are working to create a universal test with enough sensitivity to detect common pathogens.

If this was the first time youve heard the term phage, clearly it will not be the last.
Cryptocurrencies are facing mounting scrutiny from global financial regulators, over concerns digital assets could be used to evade Western sanctions on Russia.

Unlike mainstream payment companies, most crypto exchanges have rejected calls to cut off all Russian users, including Binance and Kraken, raising concerns that crypto could be used as a way to circumvent sanctions.

However, the founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX which was recently valued at $32 billion, has slammed peers for reacting in such a way warning it could have negative repercussions for the sector.

Cryptocurrency is facing mounting scrutiny from global financial regulators, over concerns digital assets could be used to evade Western sanctions on Russia in the midst of its attack on Ukraine

Thirty-year-old crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried said: 'I'm very frustrated with the messaging that our industry has had on this.

'I think it has not been helpful. I think it has been basically anti-regulatory, is how it's been perceived, and I think that's how it sounds, and I think that has caused a pretty big perception issue.'

Bahamas-based FTX immediately cut off support to all sanctioned parties and severed access to all Russian banks, even those that are not sanctioned, so the exchange could not be used as a gateway between Russia and the rest of the world.

FTX still allows non-sanctioned Russian users to trade, with anti-money laundering checks, and is in communication with the US Treasury about what it is doing in Russia.

In America, Democratic US senators introduced a bill last Thursday that would enable the government to sanction foreign cryptocurrency firms doing business with sanctioned Russian entities and prevent them from transacting with US customers.

Meanwhile, the European Union issued guidance on 9 March to confirm that sanctions on loans and credit to Russia include cryptoassets, in a bid to close potential sanctions loopholes.

John Glen, Britain's financial services minister, told the a City & Financial conference in London that steps already taken by the UK to bring cryptoassets under anti-money laundering and terrorist financing curbs will support law enforcement in cryptoassets.

'We think that these steps will actively support the government's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine,' Glen said.

Meanwhile Patrick Armstrong, a member of the Financial Stability Board's (FSB) secretariat, said at the same conference: 'We at the FSB are monitoring the situation, the conflict situation relative to cryptos.'

All companies carrying out crypto-related activity in the UK face an end of March deadline for obtaining approvals

The FSB, which groups financial regulators, central banks and finance ministry officials from the Group of 20 economies, is sharing the information it obtains among its members, Armstrong said.

But David Raw, a policy official at Britain's Financial Conduct Authority, said 90 per cent of crypto firms seeking approval for anti-money laundering controls have either withdrawn their applications or been refused because they could not meet the standards.

All companies carrying out crypto-related activity in the UK face an end of March deadline for obtaining approvals and Raw sought to reassure those still stuck in the authorisation queue.

'It won't be the case that you suddenly have to cease trading,' Raw said.

Britain is also cracking down on crypto promotions and Glen said the UK government is still considering whether other rules are needed for blockchain, which underpins crypto assets.

'We are not finished in relation to crypto,' Raw said.

However, established institutions are slowly coming around to the idea of teaming up with newcomers in crypto tech.

Securities settlement house Euroclear is the latest firm to have joined a consortium of banks building a payment system for tokenised assets.

Belgium-headquartered Euroclear said it had bought a small stake in the three-year old consortium Fnality as it moves deeper into distributed ledger technology (DLT) or blockchain, the technology which underpins cryptoassets like bitcoin.

Euroclear which settles stock and bond trades, the final leg of a transaction where cash is swapped for legal ownership of an asset, said the aim was to settle tokenised assets, or digital securities, against digital cash on DLT in a faster and more efficient way.

Fnality aims to replace some of the cumbersome processes and paperwork involved in transferring value between financial organisations by using digital versions of currencies.

The Bank of England gave the green light last year to a new type of account at the central bank to cater for a wider range of anticipated payments systems, including those based on blockchain.
Rishi Sunak is facing a backlash from businesses over his plans to hike National Insurance contributions from April.

Pressure has grown to 'spike the hike' ahead of the Spring Statement.

Spike the hike: Rishi Sunak has shown no sign of backing down over the National Insurance tax grab, set to raise 12billion

But Sunak has shown no sign of backing down over the tax grab, set to raise 12billion.

Almost nine in 10 firms, at 89 per cent, do not want the hike to go ahead next month, according to recruitment firm Randstad.

Three in 10 would support the rise if it was delayed until next year. Randstad found that the increased levy  paid by employees and employers  would likely hit the economy by causing more retirements and discouraging businesses from hiring.

Victoria Short, Randstad's chief executive, said: 'This is one of the biggest personal tax increases in modern times. But millions will also be hit as bosses pass on their own higher national insurance contributions [through increased prices].'
Online trading platform Plus500 has made its entry into Japan with the acquisition of EZ Invest Securities, just months after making its first step into the US market.

The FTSE 100-listed Israeli firm said the acquisition represented a major growth opportunity and further strengthened its strategic position 'as a global multi-asset fintech group'.

It follows its first move into the US futures and options market with the acquisition of Cunningham Commodities and Cunningham Trading Systems earlier in the year.

Expansion: Plus500 entry into Japan comes just months after its entry in the US

Plus500 did not disclose the financial terms of the deal to buy EZ Invest, which specialises in the trading of securities and derivatives.

Plus500 chief executive David Zruia said: 'This acquisition represents an important strategic step for Plus500 as we continue to strengthen our position as a global multi-asset fintech group, by further diversifying our geographic footprint.

'I am excited about the opportunities available in the substantial Japanese retail trading market and, given Plus500's considerable technological expertise and robust financial capability, I am confident that we will be able to maximise this opportunity.'

Plus500 shares were up 0.5 per cent to 14.65 in early trading on Monday.

The acquisition comes as Plus500 benefits from recent favourable tax rate changes in Israel, which have boosted its coffers.

However, the meteoric rise in online trading, which began during the early days of the pandemic and boosted firms like Plus500, is beginning to slow down.

Plus500 reported a 26 per cent fall in pre-tax profit in 2021, as revenues fell 18 per cent.

However, its performance is still well ahead pre-pandemic levels, with revenues and profits before nasties more than double what it made in 2019.

Customer numbers show a similar picture, as new customers in 2021 declined by a third compared to 2020, while the number of active customers dropped slightly.

However, the group's active customer base remains at double its pre-pandemic levels.

Plus500 lets investors trade on complex financial instruments such as contracts for difference through its website and mobile app.
Energy consultant Inspired Energy shares have slumped 18.2 per cent after warning of a hit to earnings in the event Russian state-owned energy firm Gazprom's UK arm shuts down.

Over the weekend it was reported that Gazprom UK is facing a possible collapse after the firm's boss, Alexei Miller, was sanctioned by the UK.

Miller is linked by authorities with Vladimir Putin, prompting businesses such as McDonald's, Siemens and Biffa to try to cut ties.

London-based Inspired said it could see a 3million impact on revenues if Gazprom Energy does go bust.

Energy consultant Inspired Energy saw its share price slump 18.2% after warning of a hit to earnings in case Russian state-owned energy firm Gazprom's UK arm shuts down

Inspired Energy shares are currently down 17.7 per cent to 13.58p.

If Manchester-based Gazprom UK were to close, Inspired said it would impact 5 per cent of its revenues, as it would lose a swathe of customers with direct and indirect contracts with the Russian group.

In a bid to reassure shareholders, it added that the company would still comfortably be able to meet its banking covenant and liquidity tests and 'therefore, continue to operate as a going concern'.

Mark Dickinson, chief executive of Inspired, said: 'Whilst the potential impact on the financial performance of the Group should Gazprom cease to trade in the UK would be disappointing, these factors are unfortunately outside of the Group's control.

'We have proactively considered the impact of this event in its entirety and are already focused on the mitigating actions we can take by supporting clients with contract replacement. Inspired remains focused on helping its clients manage their costs and sustainability challenges through this crisis.

'With regard to the invasion of Ukraine, I am sure many share our shock at the abhorrent actions of the Russian regime and our hope that the war and resulting humanitarian crisis ends soon with a peaceful resolution.'

Founded in 2000, Inspired operates three divisions: Energy Solutions (Assurance and Optimisation), Software Solutions and ESG Solutions, providing expert energy advisory and sustainability services to over 3,400 businesses in the UK and Ireland who typically spend more than 100,000 on energy and water per year.

The company has said it will release its full-year results on 30 March.

Gazprom does not directly sell Russian gas  it resells gas from the National Grid, which includes supplies from the North Sea and other sources.

It said on Monday that it was continuing to supply gas to Europe via Ukraine in line with requests from European consumers, with bids staying at 104.7 million cubic metres for March 21, largely unchanged from the weekend.

Its UK arm supplies more than a fifth of the gas used by UK companies but does not serve households.
I have just broken up with my partner of four years, and living together has become extremely difficult.

We own our one-bedroom flat jointly and are looking to sell, but we know that this can often take months. Neither of us is in a position to buy the other out.

Although my ex-boyfriend is keen to sell as soon as possible, he is refusing to leave until the property is sold.

We are both still paying our share of the mortgage and can't afford to move out and rent at the same time.

Splitting up: Homeowners who have had a relationship break down are often desperate to sell as quickly as possible - but is a 'quick sale' company the best route to go down?

In my desperation to be free from this situation, I have found a number of companies online which claim they will buy your home in seven days if you are willing to take a discount on the price.

Although I don't want to sell the flat for less than we paid, I would be willing to sell it for less than the market value if it meant we were able to move on with our lives as soon as possible.

What is your advice regarding these companies? Are they legitimate and is it worth considering? Via email

Ed Magnus of This is Money replies: Desperate times often see us hunt desperate measures to escape certain situations.

Type 'sell home quickly' into Google and a plethora of companies appear promising to buy your home - typically within a week.

The big catch is that you'll have to accept a discounted price for your home. This is often between 10 and 25 per cent below what you might have received on the open market.

To most, it will seem obscene to consider such a financial sacrifice. However, these companies can appeal to people who need a quick exit.

The CMA's six red flags What the Competition and Market Authority warn to watch out for from these 'quick sale' firms: 1. Last-minute price reductions 2. Hidden fees 3. False claims about being a cash buyer 4. Claiming to offer 100% of market value 5. Requesting exclusive selling rights to your property 6. Take weeks or even months to buy your property, despite promising a quick sale

This could include a range of situations, including those in the midst of a bad break-up or divorce.

It could also appeal to those struggling to meet mortgage payments, or facing the prospect of their property being repossessed by their mortgage lender.

There is no denying that selling your home can be a long and grueling process.

The average time it takes to sell a property from the first day of marketing to legal completion is currently 178 days, according to Rightmove - that's almost six months.

It typically takes 36 days for a property to go from being listed for sale to finding a buyer, and then a further 142 days on average to go through the surveying, mortgage approval and legal processes and complete.

The 'quick sale' companies will often try to appeal to sellers by telling them that they will not only save time and hassle, but also avoid estate agency fees and legal fees.

However, for all the perks they will claim to offer you, there are plenty of red flags to watch out for.

The Competition and Markets Authority has identified six business practices that home sellers need to watch out for when choosing a quick sale company.

These include subjecting sellers to last-minute price reductions, and tacking on hidden fees just before completion is due.

Some quick sale companies will also claim they pay 100 per cent of the property's value or close to it - any home seller should be doubly suspicious of their valuation in this scenario.

Quick sale companies will typically offer between 75 and 90 per cent of the property's market value, and sellers should find out what their home is really worth before agreeing to anything

According to TheAdvisory, a website offering advice and support to home sellers, 97 per cent of these quick sale companies are not 'genuine' cash buyers, despite many claiming to be.

The Advisory says the vast majority of these firms are lead generators which sell your personal details and information about the property on to small-time investors.

They may use this promise to trick sellers into signing an option contract, which they use to prevent you from being able to sell elsewhere whilst the buyer or mortgage funding is secured.

To help with your question we spoke to Paula Higgins, founder and chief executive of the HomeOwners Alliance, Gavin Brazg, founder of TheAdvisory, and Henry Pryor, a professional buying agent.

Should she go for a quick sale?

Paula Higgins replies: What a tricky situation. Splitting up is often a stressful and painful event.

While untangling your finances is not easy, it is an important step for you both.

First of all, don't rush into thinking a quick sale will solve all your difficulties.

It is not in either of your interests to sell at below market rate, as this could seriously impact your finances later if you are keen to buy a home.

Henry Pryor adds: I have come across examples like this one before. Divorcing couples faced with having to share a bedroom or bathroom sometimes want to get out at any cost.

There is nothing fundamentally wrong with the quick sale business model, so long as consumers understand that they are paying for the convenience.

It's a bit like We Buy Any Car, but for houses.

Moving on: Our reader is keen to move out of the shared property as soon as possible - even if it means she makes less money from the sale (picture posed by model)

What are the other options?

Paula Higgins replies: Take a good look at other options if you find the living situation unbearable.

Have you thought about renting out the property to cover the mortgage and give you both time and space?

And before you contact a quick sale company, do speak to local agents in your area and explain you want a quick sale. They could very well have interested cash buyers on their books.

Selling via an eBay-style online property auction is another way to sell quickly, but be aware that buyers need to pay a hefty reservation fee to the agent which will result in a lower price for you.

If you do consider an auction, make sure you compare the online property sites as they are not all the same.

Walk away immediately if a quick sale firm... 1. Asks for an upfront payment of any kind 2. Asks for any cancellation or withdraw fee within their paperwork 3. Asks you to sign a 'lock-in contract,' 'option agreement' or 'RX1' form 4. Claims to provide a guaranteed sale for close to 100 per cent of the market value 5. Claims it (or the industry) is 'regulated' by a government body 6. Claims it can sell your house to investors for more than 90 per cent of its market value 7. Wants to put a 'restriction' against the title of your property with HM Land Registry 8. Does not have a clearly visible Company Registration Number on its website 9. Cannot provide 'proof of cash funds' upon your request

How to choose a reputable quick sale company

Gavin Brazg replies: You'll need to sort through the hundreds of websites out there all claiming to be UK's 'most trusted' or 'most regulated' or 'most highly rated' cash house buying company.

The fact is, almost all of these claims are false. In truth, there are only a handful of reliable and trustworthy cash buying companies in the UK.

The rest are either fake cash buyers, serial 'price reducers', or using 'bait and switch' techniques to get you tied into an Option Contract - which does not guarantee you a sale.

Walk away immediately if a company either asks for an upfront payment of any kind, or asks for any cancellation or withdrawal fee within their paperwork.

Also walk away if the company asks you to sign a 'lock-in contract', 'option agreement' or 'RX1' form.

A good rule of thumb is that whoever offers the most at the 'phoning around stage' usually pays the least when it comes to the 'handing over the cash stage.'

Paula Higgins adds: If you have exhausted all other options, by all means take a look at quick sale companies.

Read their terms and contract very carefully before you sign so you fully understand your obligations.

Many quick sale companies need to find a third-party buyer, which can take time, or will agree a price with you and then reduce the offer at the last minute.

Read the small print: Experts say anyone considering a quick property sale firm should check the terms and conditions carefully before signing anything

Take a close look at the termination clauses in the contract as you may be liable for fees if you change your mind or sell to someone else.

If you do decide to want to sell quickly, make sure the company is a member of the National Association of Property Buyers.

Its members will buy the properties direct and have signed up to higher standards of service.

Experts' final verdict on quick sellers

Henry Pryor replies: People do use these firms, and despite whining about how much estate agents charge, there are some people who will take 10 per cent hit just to get a quick deal.

My advice to people thinking of selling this way is to try everything else first.

There is nothing wrong with these firms as such, but you pay for the privilege of getting your money quickly.

In this market - in which buyer demand is exceeding the supply of available homes - that shouldn't be necessary.

Gavin Brazg replies: For a minority of sellers, using a genuine cash house buying company can provide them with a quick and guaranteed sale.

However, to even consider going down this road, you first need to make peace with the fact none of these companies will likely pay more than 75-80 per cent of an independent RICS (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors) valuation survey.

If that hasn't put you off, then do make sure you pick a trustworthy company.
Fake heiress Anna Sorokin has blasted back at her parents after her father said he would welcome her home to Germany.

'I'd rather be in jail than live with my parents,' she wrote in a text to a DailyMail.com reporter.

She did not elaborate further.

Earlier Monday, we had published an exclusive interview with Sorokin's father Vadim Sorokin. He told how his daughter has never once said she loves him  yet demands money from him nearly every day.

He told how he built up his business from scratch to help give his daughter a head-start in life.

Anna, 31, is now languishing behind bars in a US immigration center awaiting deportation back to Germany having swindled hundreds of thousands of dollars by pretending to be the heir to a $60million fortune.

Her story has been turned into a hit Netflix series, Inventing Anna, starring Julia Garner, which reveals how the 31-year-old passed herself of as Anna Delvey, the daughter of an oil tycoon, who conned the super-rich of New York and persuaded banks to lend her mountains of cash.

In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, Vadim Sorokin, Anna's father, told how he built up his business from scratch to help give his daughter a head-start in life. Smiling but shaking his head, Vadim said: Anna's always had expensive tastes but I dont know where she gets it from'

Anna's father said she had a normal upbringing in Germany. She didnt get drunk too much, maybe one or two times at parties, but thats normal for youngsters that age

Anna at her 2019 trial in New York where she was found guilty of grand larceny and theft and sentenced to four to 12 years in prison

In real life, her father is a humble man, originally from Moscow, who moved to a small town in Germany with his wife and Anna to forge a better life.

Father of two Vadim, 58, said: 'I speak to Anna three of four times a week from the immigration center in New York and the conversation is always the same  she needs money.

'She is paying people to run around for her in jail, to clean her clothes for her. She has an ability to wrap people around her little finger.

'I dont think shes evil inside but she needs, for the first time, to figure out what she's going to do with her life,' said Anna's father Vadim Sorokin

Ive sent her thousands of dollars in the past. At the moment because she is in detention the amounts are smallbut even in there she hasnt learned how to control her finances.

'I don't think she has ever once said that she loves me but would tell me instead: "Im your only daughter and you have to help me and give me money. Ive no way of doing it myself."

'But she did find a way  a dishonest and shameful way  and it's landed her in prison and now in an immigration center awaiting deportation.

'Where will she go if she is kicked out of America? We have room for her here in the family home and while we'll support her, we won't enable her to repeat her previous mistakes.

'Regardless of what happened, you can always make good out of something bad, added Vadim. 'Every day is a new beginning. I dont think shes evil inside but she needs, for the first time, to figure out what she's going to do with her life.'

Last week, Anna gave DailyMailTV an exclusive jailhouse interview in which she finally expressed remorse for her scams.

'No money in the world is worth going to jail  even for a day,' she warned.

'I'm just trying to make the best out of the situation I'm dealing with right now. I could have done so many things different and I would have never seen the inside of the jail. But it just is what it is.'

Anna was born on January 23, 1991 in Domodedovo, a working-class suburb to the south of Moscow, where Vadim worked as a truck driver and his wife owned a small convenience store.

Vadim's most treasured snap is one of them both on the Russian coast with Vadim putting a protective arm around his then 11-year-old daughter

As a young girl, she was very interested in fashion magazines and wanted to look like the models and make herself as beautiful as possible,' Anna's father told DailyMail.com

Anna (left) had lots of friends as a girl growing up in Eschweiler, Germany. But as she got older, her tastes and interests became much more sophisticated and she became more and more distant with them until they lost contact entirely,' her father said

When she was aged 16 in 2007, the family moved to Eschweiler, a small industrial town roughly 30-miles west of Cologne.

Vadim became an executive at a transport company before starting his own company specializing in heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.

He used his newfound wealth to buy his daughter private tutors in German, English and French  even dancing  and he and his wife often drove for miles to pick up designer clothes and shoes for their daughter. much of which would stay in the wardrobe unworn.

To escape the humdrum of Eschweiler, Anna moved briefly to London in June 2011 to attend Central St. Martins, a prestigious art school, but soon dropped out and returned to Germany.

The following year she briefly worked for a PR firm in Berlin before relocating to Paris, where she had a $400-a month internship at a French fashion magazine.

Her parents subsidized her rent and even gave her a car.

Smiling but shaking his head, Vadim, who also has a son, said: Anna's always had expensive tastes but I dont know where she gets it from.

We tried to accommodate this but when we were in Russia it was difficult. When we came to Germany, these sorts of clothes were more available, but we still had to travel quite far out of Eschweiler to buy them for her.

Anna was born in Domodedovo, south of Moscow, but her family moved to Germany when she was 16 in the hope of giving her and her brother a better life

Anna grew up in Eschweiler, Germany but she wanted more and moved to London, Berlin and Paris before landing in New York

Anna Sorokin, aka Anna 'Delvey', expressed remorse for her scams for the first time in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com last week

I remember she had a prom after finishing her exams in school and she went to it in these expensive high-heels, the only girl to do so. Some clothes she wouldnt even wear.

Most people in Eschweiler are not really fashion conscious and dont have the same taste for luxury as Anna, which is why she went to London, then Berlin and then Paris. She felt this town wasnt quite good enough for her.

She wanted to live like Paris Hilton but we werent able to give that to her.

Eschweiler, 30 miles west of Cologne, has a population of 56,000.

In 2013, with the lure of Europes great capital cities not enough, Anna instead set her sights on New York, where she maneuvered her way into the Big Apples elite social circles by passing herself off as German-born socialite Anna Delvey who had a $67million fortune overseas.

Able to weave skillful lies with extraordinary aplomb, she falsified records and lied to banks to lend her tens of thousands of dollars and convinced several luxury Manhattan hotels to let her stay on credit only to leave without settling the bill.

Between November 2016 and August 2017 she travelled for free by private jet after persuading well-heeled New Yorkers to cover the cost of the plane tickets.

In total her deception amounted to $275,000 . She was convicted of fraud in 2019 and sentenced to between four and 12-years in prison.

She was released last February but was arrested again weeks later, this time by immigration officials for outstaying her US visa, and she is currently fighting deportation to Germany at the Orange County Detention Center in Goshen, New York.

In the Netflix series written about her life, Anna is portrayed as cold and unable to show emotion as someone who struggled to make friends in Germany.

However Vadim pulled out a number of touching family album photographs of his daughter happily posing with her friends in Eschweiler and on picnics in the countryside.

Sorokin at her New York trial in 2019, where she was reprimanded by Judge Diane Kiesel for refusing to enter court because the Ann Taylor outfits provided by her lawyer were not up to her standards

Sorokin is currently behind bars at the Orange County Correctional Facility in Goshen, New York, 70 miles north of Manhattan

The Russian-born criminal was convicted of scamming New York banks and socialites out of thousand claiming to a German heiress named Anna Delvey

Sorokin (right) lived the high life in New York. Here she poses for a picture with friends at the Tumblr Fashion Honor celebrating the Rodarte brand at the Jane Hotel in 2014

His most treasured snap is one of them both on the Russian coast with Vadim putting a protective arm around his then 11-year-old daughter.

He said: We had a lot of fun when she was little, I would play with her a lot.

I dont have too many complaints, she didnt get drunk too much, maybe one or two times at parties, but thats normal for youngsters that age.

She had a good circle of friends too, theyd do things together all the time, theyd come to our house and shed go to theirs. Theyd go on trips together. She was happy.

She wanted to live like Paris Hilton but we werent able to give that to her Vadim Sorokin

But as she got older, her tastes and interests became much more sophisticated and she became more and more distant with them until they lost contact entirely.

Most of her friends now have families and are still here in Eschweiler. Anna wanted to escape that life and has never come back.

Vadim said he found out about his daughters arrest via the Internet and said he was unable to attend her trial because he needed to stay at home to work. He is also yet to watch the Netflix series, in which he too is portrayed by an actor.

I havent seen it yet, he said. 'But from what people tell me, it doesnt seem to be accurate all that much. Its mainly fiction.

Asked what he wants for his daughter now, whether she stays in America or comes home to Germany, Vadim paused slightly and then added: I dont know what motivates Anna nor what demons are within her. Will she become a mother? Unlikely. Will she find a job here in a small town? Thats unlikely too.

All I want is for her is to finally find a place for herself in this world.
Ministers have been urged to halt Britain's drift towards privacy laws that help the rich and powerful dodge scrutiny.

There are concerns freedom of speech is being undermined by judges increasingly prioritising personal privacy over the public's right to know.

Russian oligarchs and others with secrets to hide have been allowed to exploit their wealth to abuse laws that were never intended to suppress good journalism, media organisations have warned.

Now the Daily Mail's publisher, Associated Newspapers, together with the publishers of The Times, The Daily Telegraph and the i newspaper, have submitted proposals for reforming the law to a government consultation.

For example, the Data Protection Act  intended to police companies dealing with customer data  is being used to suppress legitimate journalistic inquiries, they said.

Last year Justice Secretary Dominic Raab vowed to overhaul the Human Rights Act to include 'correcting' the balance between freedom of expression and privacy

Reform to this law would bring Britain into line with other advanced democracies such as Sweden, Germany, Australia and New Zealand, where journalism is exempt from data protection legislation. Last year Justice Secretary Dominic Raab vowed to overhaul the Human Rights Act to include 'correcting' the balance between freedom of expression and privacy.

He said at the time: 'We do, in this country, have a tradition which emphasises and prioritises free speech and open debate.'

Mr Raab added that MPs should make laws, but there had been creeping 'judge-made privacy laws that we've seen develop in this country over recent years'.

In response to his department's consultation, the media organisations have called for journalism to be given greater protections. They warned in a written response submitted last week: 'The importance of a free, diverse and inquiring Press has only increased in the age of online misinformation.'

They said judges' increasing tendency to favour privacy over freedom of speech had been 'of grave concern to the media', adding: 'It is notable that the issue has recently also come to the fore of public debate, with concerns raised in Parliament about how individuals with vast resources are able to wield publication law as a weapon to stifle investigation and debate on matters of public interest.'

After Ukraine was invaded last month, Tory MP Bob Seely told the Commons that Russian oligarchs who were 'Putin's henchmen' had teamed up 'with amoral lawyers' from the UK to shut down scrutiny. One of the publishers' proposals is that any allegation of harm should not include reputational damage.

Currently, the law allows the rich and powerful to cite their privacy rights to prevent information being published that could damage their reputation, even if it is provably true.

Instead, judges would be obliged to take into account the benefit to the public in general of maintaining a free and engaging media  as well as considering the public interest of the story in question.

There are also calls for journalism to be given greater protection in relation to the Data Protection Act.

Media groups say it is used to try to gain information about investigations and sources, and to take up journalists' time and resources. Recognised news publishers should be exempt when data is being used for the purposes of journalism, the proposals say.

Yesterday Sayra Tekin, director of legal at the News Media Association, said: 'The review of the Human Rights Act represents an important opportunity to strengthen the right to freedom of expression and, in particular, to protect press freedom.'

Dawn Alford, executive director of the Society of Editors, said: 'As the consultation recognises, freedom of expression is a unique and precious liberty on which the UK has historically placed significant emphasis. However, in recent years we have seen this liberty significantly undermined by judges increasingly prioritising personal privacy over the public's right to know.'

Only last month, the Supreme Court confirmed it will normally be unlawful to identify those arrested but not yet charged, on the basis it would breach their right to privacy.

The move could put off victims or witnesses from coming forward and heightens fears in the wake of recent Scotland Yard scandals that police will be able to act without proper scrutiny.
A Hungry Jack's customer has unleashed a violent tirade at a driver he accused of taking too long ordering at the drive-through, smashing his car window with a pole.

Renly Coghlan was ordering food at Hungry Jack's with three friends on Friday night in the West Australian town of Gosnells, south-east of Perth, when a man started screaming at them.

He posted footage of a heavily tattooed customer with a large beard approaching his car, before flicking his car door handle and elbowing the window.

The man then smashed Mr Coghlan's window with a steel pole.

'I had glass all through my ears and hair, my partner was pulling it out of my skin,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

A man smashed the window of a vehicle after the driver took too long ordering at a fast food drive-through (pictured, the victim's car)

Mr Coghlan said the man, who was two vehicles behind his car in the queue, started screaming obscenities because he was making a large order.

'I'd only just gotten my license, it was actually my birthday,' Mr Coghlan said. 'I was ordering for four so it was a decent-sized order.

'He starts screaming out, yelling at me saying I should've ordered inside. He called me a "f***ing c***".'

Mr Coghlan said he then yelled out to the man that he 'should've come earlier', before driving to the waiting bay as the Hungry Jack's prepared his order.

'I watched in my mirror as he paid and collected his order, then pulled into a park about 15 metres to my left,' he said.

'He then left his food in his car and tapped on my window. He started rattling the door handle and asked me to get out of the car. I'd locked my doors.'

Renly Coghlan was ordering food at Hungry Jack's with three friends on Friday night in the WA town of Gosnells when a man (pictured) started screaming at them for taking too long

Mr Coghlan, who said he frequents the fast food restaurant, said he told the bearded man he was 'whinging' and 'being an idiot' which further enraged him.

'I mocked him for a little bit, that's when he started elbowing the window,' the driver said.

'He said: "I'll go back to my car and get a pole". He starts brandishing it around. At this point I thought I'm just going to get out of here, forget my food.'

While attempting to reverse out of the spot Mr Coghlan said the tattooed man kept blocking him, before he warned him he'd hit his car if he had to in order to escape.

Mr Coghlan (pictured) said he told the bearded man he was 'whinging' and 'being an idiot' which further enraged him

'He said if I hit his car he'd break my window,' he said, before Mr Coghlan backed into his car attempting to flee. 'He then smashed my window.'

Mr Coghlan said he clipped the tattooed man as he was attempting to leave, before 'hammering it out' to get away from him.

One of his passengers called police, with staff at the Hungry Jack's telling him the man had only been waiting five minutes before he started yelling.

A report has been filed with police and Mr Coghlan wants to press charges against the man.

Comments were surprisingly mixed, with some people saying he should have ordered faster.

'He said if I hit his car he'd break my window,' he said, before Mr Coghlan backed into his car attempting to flee. 'He then smashed my window'

'I find it extremely frustrating too... I don't condone what he did.. but I get it,' a woman replied.

'Maybe next time just order faster or think about what you want before you go into drive through. Or order online and pick up when you arrive,' another recommended.

But the majority of social media users slammed the behaviour of the tattooed man, saying they'd had their own experiences with impatient customers at fast food restaurants.

'Do some of yall seriously get so impatient that your next reaction is to get out and smash someones window?' a Facebook user asked.

'A person who is so over come by frustration they resort to this has no place being out in public,' another commented.
A well-known Greek greengrocer claims he was 'wrongfully accused' of indecent exposure during a showdown with police which had him 'fearing for his life'.

St Bernards Fruit and Veg Market owner John Kapiris has shared extraordinary footage of the confrontation at his Adelaide business on Friday, which has prompted an internal police review.

The video shows him and his 15-year-old son embroiled in a heated and expletive-filled exchange with police before being pepper sprayed and handcuffed.

Mr Kapiris claims police attended his Rostrevor business in Adelaide's north-east on Friday while investigating reports of a man exposing himself several kilometres away.

He told Daily Mail Australia he had been not been in the vicinity of the reported incident but acknowledged he had been staging photos for his famous 'dropped-pants specials' in front of a Aldi sign recently erected in front of his business.

The popular shop owner is known for the amusing skits, where he takes his trousers off to entertain customers - but always leaves his underwear on.

Adelaide businessman John Kapiris and his teenage son were pepper-sprayed in a heated exchange with police on Friday

Mr Kapiris explained he was wearing underwear while staging the photos.

He was charged with a series of offences including indecent exposure, disorderly behaviour, resisting police and refusing to provide his name and address.

Mr Kapiris vowed to fight all the charges when he appears in court in May and also plans to sue police.

'I've been wrongly accused of a crime that I didn't do,' he said.

'They thought I was the suspect but our cameras will show I was here all day.

'I was being nice to them at the start but they didn't want to listen and started pushing me. That rubbed me up the wrong way.

'I have the upmost respect for police but what they did was very unfair.'

Mr Kapiris claimed he feared for his life during the confrontation where he suffered asthma and panic attacks.

John Kapiris (pictured during the confrontation with police) told Daily Mail Australia he will fight all the charges when he faces court in May

The footage shows an officer demanding him to place his hands behind his back and begins pushing Mr Kapiris.

The business owner's 15-year-old son is seen rushing to jump to his father's defence as the pair are pepper-sprayed.

The boy can be seen running away wincing in agony.

'I would have rather been zapped with a taser rather than be pepper-sprayed,' Mr Kapiris told Daily Mail Australia.

'Three days later, my hands are still burning.

'It left me very shaken. I suffer from very bad asthma and anxiety.

'I thought I was going to die.'

Mr Kapiris' 15-year-old son was pepper-sprayed which rushing to his father's defence

Prior to his arrest, John Kapiris said he had been staging photos for his dropped-pants specials' in front of recently-erected Aldi sign (pictured) near his business

He has called on South Australian Police to better train their officers.

It's been a stressful few days for the well-known businessman after an Aldi sign was erected on a bus shelter outside his store.

He took aim at the supermarket giant in a fiery 45-second video last Thursday, telling them they had 48 hours to remove the poster or he'd 'burn it' down or 'rip it off with a forklift'.

Mr Kapiris insists he never caused any damage to the Aldi sign which has since mysteriously been removed, much to his relief.

But he admitted business has been quiet in recent days, prompting him to post another video to hit back at the public backlash he's copped online since the confrontation with police.

SA Police has launched an internal review which will include reviewing footage from officers' body-worn cameras.

Daily Mail Australia contacted South Australia Police for comment, which is yet to respond.
President Joe Biden has added a visit to Poland to his trip to Europe this week for urgent discussions with NATO and European allies as Russian forces intensified their firing on cities and trapped populations in a nearly month-old invasion of Ukraine.

According to a statement provided by Biden's press secretary, Jen Psaki, on Sunday night, Biden will go to Brussels first, then to Poland to meet with officials.

Biden Will Discuss Humanitarian Crisis Ukraine Faces

Poland is an important ally in the Ukraine crisis. Thousands of American troops are stationed there, and it has taken in more refugees from Ukraine's conflict - over 2 million - than any other nation in Europe's greatest refugee crisis in decades.

Biden will travel to Warsaw on Saturday for a bilateral meeting with President Andrzej Duda, 12News reported. Biden will speak about how the US is reacting to "the humanitarian and human rights crisis that Russia's illegal and unprovoked war on Ukraine has caused," according to Psaki.

The US president will meet with European leaders on Monday, ahead of his trip, to discuss the war. According to the White House, Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy, President Emmanuel Macron of France, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom are all slated to attend.

According to the White House, Biden will also hold a conference call with European leaders on Monday at 11 a.m. EST (15:00 a.m. GMT) to discuss their coordinated responses to Russian aggression.

He will also attend a European Council meeting to discuss Ukraine, according to the White House, "including transatlantic efforts to impose economic consequences on Russia, give humanitarian relief to those affected by the bloodshed, and handle other difficulties related to the war."

Read Also: Hunter Biden Scandal: Dems, Big Tech Work on Burying Story of President's Son; White House Deflects Foreign Dealing Concerns

Ukraine Official Urges Joe Biden to Meet Volodymyr Zelensky

Per Al Jazeera via MSN, Psaki had previously stated that Biden would not be visiting Ukraine during his European trip this week. Since last month, more than 3.3 million people have fled Ukraine, making it Europe's fastest-growing refugee crisis since World War II.

Some of the two million migrants who entered Poland have moved on to other EU nations, according to the UN, but "the bulk is considered to be remaining in Poland."

A senior administration official has proposed that when Joe Biden travels to Europe for the NATO summit on March 24, he is expected to visit his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.

Biden should show he is "brave" by visiting Zelensky face to face in Ukraine, according to Ihor Zhovka, the Ukrainian president's deputy chief of staff, who told CNN on Thursday that other international leaders have done so. Biden will travel to Brussels to talk with NATO leaders about Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which is now in its third week.

The White House has been a vocal opponent of establishing a no-fly zone in Ukraine, claiming that shooting down Russian planes may lead to a global escalation of the European crisis, as per Newsweek.

Related Article: Jen Psaki Struggles To Defend President Joe Biden's Decision To Provide Ukraine $800 Million Worth of Military Supplies

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
An Australian coffee lover has revealed the extraordinary amount she paid for a latte while visiting Sydney.

Traci Chen, a migration lawyer from Melbourne, shared a clip of her coffee purchase to TikTok after popping into the newly built Crown Towers at Barangaroo on Sunday.

'Omg I just got charged $8.90 for a cup of coffee... Sydney things,' Ms Chen wrote.

Many commenters on the video were surprised at the hefty bill.

'That's preposterous for essentially milk, what's going on?' one person said.

Traci Chen from Melbourne revealed her very expensive coffee purchase while visiting Crown Towers in Sydney (pictured)

'Oh yeah, I feel that here in Melbourne too,' another said.

'Petrol is going up to,' a third added.

'Just go to a 7-11 store, it's $1 there,' a fourth said.

Ms Chen explained the price for her coffee included an extra $1 for soy milk and another 80c for a 'Sunday service charge'.

She also added that she hadn't realised the price as she ordered and when the cashier told her the amount of the bill she was 'too shy to back out'.

The nearly $10 price is exceptional with coffee prices elsewhere in Sydney generally much lower.

Crown Towers is an upmarket venue amidst Sydney's financial hub of Barangaroo, which would contribute to the steep price tag.

Crown has also had issues with the government green lighting their casino license that would likely cause a premium price on their food and drink offerings as it tries to generate revenue.

But on a larger level wholesale coffee prices around the globe are on an upward trend due to a number of factors, which could result in a surge to the average price of a flat white.

The coffee growing and processing industry has been disrupted by Covid as workforces were affected by isolation and lockdown requirements.

The same goes for the supply chain which exports the coffee beans and delivers them to wholesalers.

Coffee bean prices are generally increasing worldwide because of a number of factors

Climate issues have also affected production.

For example, Australia's second largest coffee supplier Brazil had an almost 40 per cent reduction in their Arabica coffee bean production for 2021 due to frost and drought, according to Bloomberg.

Worldwide, wholesale coffee prices have generally doubled in the last 12 months largely because of these two factors.

Recent rising petrol prices, caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and associated boycotts of Russian oil, are also expected to affect coffee prices in the long term.

Industry insiders are expecting the rise in supply chain fuel costs to be passed onto consumers.

'We have forward contracts so we're using that stock now [but] in the next four to six months as we're locking down the next stock... we're definitely anticipating a price rise,' importer Steve Fulton from Soho Coffee Roasters said.
A Chemist Warehouse store has re-stocked a different kind of rat, with video showing a group of rodents rummaging through aisles at the pharmacy.

The footage of rats swarming the Newtown Chemist Warehouse store in Sydney's inner-west was videoed on the weekend and posted on Instagram.

It shows a number of rats combing through the different aisles and running on the rubbish-strewn floors of the pharmacy.

A Sydney Chemist Warehouse store has re-stocked a different kind of rat, with video showing a group of rodents rummaging through aisles at the pharmacy

Some of the rodents stop in their tracks to inspect stock that has fallen onto the ground as other rats knocked over products as they ran past the aisles.

The clip was re-shared to Instagram by user Newtown Affirmations, who mainly posts memes and imagery related to Newtown, the inner west and the government.

The page captioned the re-shared footage: 'underground rat rave at the Newtown Chemist Warehouse last night.'

Several followers of the Instagram page saw the amusing side to the ghastly video, while others shared their disgust or placed the blame on other nearby stores for the infestation.

'Good to know the RAT shortage is over,' joked one user.

'I get all my meds from there @chemistwarehouseaus this is literally grim,' said another.

A third added: 'I was in there the other night and could've SWORN I was seeing rats running around in my periphery.'

The sickening footage shows a number of rats combing through the different aisles and running on the rubbish-strewn floors of the pharmacy

Several followers Instagram users saw the amusing side to the ghastly video, while others shared their disgust or placed blame on other nearby stores for the infestation

Many commented on the large size of the rodents and tagged their friends.

One local resident insisted that nearby businesses irresponsibly dumping their waste was to blame for the infestation.

Newtown Affirmations has since posted numerous other memes related to the clip.

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Chemist Warehouse for comment.
ABC TV's ailing Q&A program has only itself to blame for it disastrously low ratings, according to its most controversial guest.

In 2015, onetime terror suspect Zaky Mallah caused a sensation when he asked a question from the Q&A audience about his incarceration aged 19 as the first person charged under Australia's new anti-terrorism laws in 2003.

Mallah was acquitted of planning a terrorist attack in Sydney in 2003 by a NSW Supreme Court, and served two years in Goulburn prison after pleading guilty to threatening to kill ASIO officers.

Mallah's question to the Q&A panel was pre-approved and answered by the former Liberal minister Steve Ciobo, but it was a final comment ruled 'out of order' by then host Tony Jones which sparked outrage among conservative politicians and media about the ABC.

The controversial guest was banned from the show and the ABC issued an apology.

But seven years on, it is Mallah who thinks the show is 'too woke and lefty' and needs to 'bring back the biff' to attract viewers.

Zaky Mallah, Q&A's most controversial guest (above), said the program has become too 'woke' and risks being axed, so he has a suggestion to make it exciting again for viewers

During his appearance in 2015, Mallah suggested it was 'Liberals like' Ciobo who were sparking young Muslins to go to Syria and join ISIS.

Then Prime Minister Tony Abbott called for a national inquiry into the ABC which he said had 'made a very, very serious misjudgement' allowing Mallah to air 'extreme views'.

He asked the national broadcaster, 'whose side are you on?', banned ministers from planned appearances on the show the following week and declared 'heads will roll'.

It was Zaky Mallah's final comment about the Federal Government supposedly causing young Muslim men to go to Syria that Tony Jones (above) jumped on, but sent his ratings soaring the next week

The June 22, 2015show on which Mallah appeared, when Q&A was a flagship program broadcast on Monday nights, attracted what was then considered a lower-rating 560,000 viewers.

But the following week, after days of controversy, when Jones was forced to address the issue, Q&A scored its biggest average audience of that year to date, of 797,000 capital city viewers.

This compares with the 175,000 audience scored ten days ago on the show from which host Stan Grant booted audience member Sasha Gillies-Lekakis for his controversial views about Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

A week later, the audience plummeted to the current low of 168,00 viewers in the five mainland capitals, with the ABC saying audience measurements for the show meant 'a total average audience of 518,000 viewers across metro and regional broadcast markets and ABC iview'.

In a video sent to Daily Mail Australia, the now 38-year-old Zaky Mallah mocked Q&A's 'all new low' and speaking to the program's producers said, 'your show is on the verge of being axed.

'Unless something is done, Q&A is going to be "bye bye", so I've come here to save the day. I'm the national broadcaster's superhero.'

Zaky Mallah was convicted of threatening ASIO officers, found not guilty of terrorism and went to support the Free Syria Army in 2011 before his controversial appearance on the ABC

A firm Q&A supporter, Mallah said the show's axing would be 'a great loss. It holds severyone to account ... politicians, society. It held me to account. It would be sad to see it go.'

Mallah says on the video his 2015 Q&A appearance caused 'a scandal so great' he was a media focus for weeks, and the show shot to number one.

He then says 'so let's get down to business. If you want your ratings to increase and in fact skyrocket, invite me on your program.

'This time as a panel member ... under a few conditions.'

Mallah's says he wants to be paid $5000 per appearance, the freedom to express his views 'without any censorship' and 'don't kick me the f**k out of the show'.

'If you agree to these conditions I am more than happy to be back on the program Q&A 2022 and help increase audience viewership'.

The furore Mallah's appearance in 2015 created was not because of the original question he asked, and unlike Russian Australian Gillies-Lekakis on March 10, he was not kicked off the show.

Zaky Mallah's first question was followed up by a challenge to Steve Ciobo suggesting it was Liberals like him that were responsible for young Australian Muslims joining ISIS

Then parliamentary secretary to the foreign affairs minister, Steve Ciobo attacked Zaky Mallah saying he'd like him to be deported, which led to Malllah's jibe about Ciobo

Mallah's actual question was: 'As the first person to be charged with terrorism under the harsh Liberal Howard government in 2003, I was subject to solitary confinement, a 22 hour lockdown, dressed in most times in an orange overall and treated like a convicted terrorist while under the presumption of innocence.

'I had done and said some stupid things including threatening to kidnap and kill, but in 2005 I was acquitted of those terrorism charges.

'Question to the panel. What would have happened if my case had been decided by the minister himself and not the courts?'

Steve Ciobo, then parliamentary secretary to the minister for foreign affairs, immediately denounced Mallah, saying he'd be 'pleased' to see him deported from Australia.

Mallah drew applause when he replied 'as an Australian I'd be happy to see you out of this country'

But he followed this up by saying, 'The Liberals have just justified to many Australian Muslims in the community tonight to leave and go to Syria and join ISIL because of ministers like him'.

Tony Jones immediately said, 'I think thats a comment were just going to rule totally out of order'; by the following morning the ABC had issued a statement saying it had been wrong to involve Mallah in the program.

Ciobo had also said on the same Q&A program it was his understanding Mallah was acquitted on the terrorism charge on 'a technicality' and 'because the laws at that time weren't retrospective'.

Zaky Mallah went on The Project following the scandal that erupted from his Q&A appearance and clashed with host Waleed Aly about Muslim Australians and the war in Syria

However, at Mallah's 2005 acquittal, Justice James Wood stated Mallah 'was an idiosyncratic, and embittered young man, who was to all intents something of a loner, without significant prospects of advancing himself.

'While I accept that (Mallah) enjoyed posing as a potential martyr, and may from time to time, in his own imagination, have contemplated creating a siege and taking the lives of others, I am satisfied that in his more rational moments he lacked any genuine intention of doing so,' Justice Wood said.'

He also criticised newspaper, radio and TV outlets, plus an anti-terror command agent posing as a journalist, for championing Mallah's apparent desire to go and fight in Syria as 'an angry young man'.

In 2011, Mallah travelled to Syria to film the Syrian Civil War and declared himself in support of the Free Syrian Army.

On his return, he was interviewed by several different journalists and published a guide for Australians wanting to help Muslims in war zones without violating the law.

Q&A host Stan Grant (above) boots out a pro-Russian member of the audience on the program's edition about the war in Ukraine on March 10

Unlike audience member Sasha Gillies-Lekakis (above), who was booted off Q&A for his pro-Russian views about Ukraine, Zaky Mallah stayed on the show but the ensuing controversy was much bigger

The day after Mallah's Q&A appearance, a News Corp newspaper published a story headlined, 'TERROR VISION. How dare the taxpayer funded ABC allow this man to spout his bile on national TV?'.

Mallah attacked two female News Corp journalists on Twitter with sexualised and misogynist comments, which he now says he knows 'were awful' and that he 'respects women. I'm not a misogynist'.

Tony Jones' apology on the Q&A program the week after Mallah's appearance was principally for those tweets.

Mallah was subsequently interviewed by Waleed Aly on The Project, with Aly strongly disagreeing with Mallah's claim that the Australian government's stance against ISIS spurred young Muslim Australians to join it.

In his latest video pitch to Q&A, Mallah is wearing the same hat adorned with a gold cannabis leaf, that he wore on the program in 2015.

The day after Zaky Mallah's appearance on Q&A, then Prime Minister Tony Abbott (above) called for national inquiry into the ABC, banned his ministers from the show and said 'heads will roll'

In 2011, Zaky Mallah travelled to Syria to join with the Free Syrian Army and film thei fight with ISIS led terrorists, a trip which he says informed him about the true nature of the Middle eastern conflict

'So if you want Q&A to get back on to its feet, get back to me,' Mallah says on the video.

'Let's do this together.'

Mallah suggested that if Q&A were to be axed it could have a final program featuring himself, Steve Ciobo, Tony Abbott and the female journalists he targeted in his tweets.

'Let them argue, fight, talk over each other and express their views, Jerry Springer style,' he said.

'This will bring in viewers. Let us brawl and punch on. Bring back the biff. The program has become too woke, too lefty.'

After his last appearance, ABC management said Q&A would never again allow Zaky Mallah to appear in its audience.

According to a formal complaint published on its website the ABC's 'vetting of Mr Mallah failed to detect some comments on social media that should have confirmed him as an inappropriate studio guest'.

A Nine newspapers column about the ABC's latest ratings low with Q&A quoted an unnamed ABC executive who said there was 'no chance the program would be axed or moved in the foreseeable future, and certainly not this year'.

But some viewers found the ABC 'too woke, irrelevant, boring' and Q&A was 'a symptom of all that is wrong with the public broadcaster, and proof that it has outlived its usefulness'.
Students at an elite private school are walking on all fours and cutting holes into their uniforms for tails as they identify as cats or foxes.

A handful of students believe they are animals and have asked to be called 'furries' by their peers at Brisbane Girls Grammar School.

Girls have been caught 'preening' themselves, licking the backs of their hands and walking around with their arms hanging towards the ground 'as if they're on all fours'.

Students at an elite private school are walking on all fours and cutting holes into their uniforms for tails as they identify as cats or foxes (stock image)

A handful of students believe they are animals and have asked to be called 'furries' by their peers at Brisbane Girls Grammar School

'When a girl went to sit at a spare desk, another girl screamed at her and said she was sitting on her tail; there's a slit in this child's uniform where the tail apparently is,' a concerned parent told Courier Mail.

'Girls who identify as felines preen themselves, licking the back of their hands, and the foxes walk around with their arms leaning towards the ground, as if they're on all fours; the kids are all talking about it.'

The bizarre trend has sparked concern among parents who have been left speechless by the 'woke' behaviours.

A Girls Grammar spokesperson denied staff had 'been made aware of any students who identify as furries.'

Brisbane psychologist Judith Locke said she was unsurprised by the emergence of the new trend.

She claimed it was only a matter of time before people began to identify as animals after romanticising them in their lives, in film and television.

'But there's a real challenge around the acceptance of people's decisions on how they see themselves these days; it is a fraught area.'

A Girls Grammar spokesperson denied staff had 'been made aware of any students who identify as furries'

Dr Locke said the behaviour should be addressed if it was disrupting classroom learning or taking a toll on the wellbeing of the student.

She said it could also be used by students who were delaying 'age-appropriate developments'.

Adolescent psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg said he had only come across one client who identified as an animal in his 25 years of practice.

The client was a young boy who identified as a dog.

Dr Carr-Gregg said once the stressors in his life were removed, the boy resorted back to identifying as a human being.

Daily Mail Australia contacted Brisbane Girls Grammar School for comment.
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A series of wildfires ravaging Texas since late last week have destroyed 86 homes, with one of the blazes reducing nearly an entire town to ash.

Four fires in Eastland County, about 120 miles west of Dallas, have burned 54,000 acres over the weekend and killed a sheriff's deputy who was helping people evacuate.

The wildfires, dubbed the Eastland Complex, began Thursday and were still raging Sunday at three of the four sites, officials said. A new wildfire in Eastland County was reported Sunday. It has burned around 250 acres and is 20% contained.

The blazes have reduced 86 homes to rubble and ate up about 85% of Carbon, a small town with a population of 225, within three hours of igniting, reported the Dallas Morning News.

Texas' Eastland Complex Fire destroyed 86 homes and wiped out the majority of the small town of Carbon since spreading last Thursday

The four fires have burned 54,000 acres over the weekend and are only about 30% contained, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service

The wildfires were dubbed the Eastland Complex and consist of the Kidd Fire, Wheatfield Fire, Oak Mott Fire and Walling Fire

The fires began Thursday and quickly grew by feasting on dry brush and spreading due to wind gusts up to 40 mph.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a declaration disaster in 11 counties on Friday and ordered flags to be lowered to half staff in Eastland County in honor of Sheriff's Office Sgt. Deputy Barbara Fenley, his office announced.

According to the Sheriff's Office, Fenley was going door to door on Thursday, getting residents to evacuate their homes and the last time she communicated she indicated she was going to check on an elderly person in Carbon, Texas.

'With the extreme deteriorating conditions and low visibility from smoke, Sgt. Fenley ran off the roadway and was engulfed in the fire,' the sheriff's statement said.

Residents of Carbon spent the weekend combing through the destruction and salvaging what they could.

More than 42k acres burned in the #EastlandComplex fire (between Abilene & Ft. worth)  hundreds of homes evacuated. There are other wildfires as well. This video from Carbon, Texas@LiveStormsMedia @MichaelBeardWX pic.twitter.com/353l4Dq2ru  Ginger Zee (@Ginger_Zee) March 18, 2022

The ongoing blazes have since reduced 86 homes to rubble and ate up about 85% of Carbon, a small town with a population of 225. Above, Abby Felchner, Bre Riggs and Priscilla Maynard combed through the debris of a friend's torched house

Eastland County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Deputy Barbara Fenley (pictured) was killed Thursday while helping resident escape the blaze

Wendy Forbus, a local business owner and pastor, helped recovery efforts on the ground as her husband Jody, the town's fire chief, surveyed the damage from a helicopter, the Dallas Morning News Reported.

'The fire jumped from field to field like it had a life of its own. Everywhere you turn, it looks like a bomb went off. I've seen this place up in smoke before, but never quite like this,' Forbus told the news outlet.

'It's like a nightmare here. We can only do the best with what we've been given, but it feels like every time you think the worst is behind you, more gets taken,' she added.

The couple lost their home to a fire in 2006 and Jody vowed to fight flames ever since, joining the fire department shortly after.

Paramedic Chris Gibson came to assist Carbon from Erath County, about 40 miles east, on Thursday night and told the Dallas Morning News that the smoke was so thick he couldn't make out the face of the person standing in front of him.

'If you can picture hell on earth, that's what Carbon looked like. It happened so fast, it didn't even matter we were there. The city was left to fend for itself,' he said, adding that the only thing stopping another blaze from igniting is 'sheer, blind luck.'

'Things like trees can smolder for weeks, and the humidity isn't nearly as high as we expected. We are far from in the clear, so we wait for what we hope never comes,' he said.

Residents of Carbon spent the weekend combing through the destruction and salvaging what they could. Above is the remains of a destroyed home in Carbon

Workers with the American Red Cross Greater North Texas provided assistance to those affected most by the Eastland Complex fires

Some first responders faced back-to-back 20-hour shifts since Wednesday. Above, Red Cross workers provided relief to residents impacted by the fires

Some first responders faced back-to-back 20-hour shifts since Wednesday and Gibson said he predicts some to come down with respiratory infections in the coming weeks due to smoke inhalation.

'There's something to be said about firefighters in Texas: They never, ever give up. I wish they didn't have to prove it like this,' he added.

Seth Griffin went to his parents' home in Carbon when he heard the fire was spreading. 'When I finally got here, the fire was only a block away. I knew I wouldn't survive if I went inside. That's 16 years down the drain,' he told the Dallas Morning News.

'This is no way to see the world  your world. But I can't change it,' he added.

His mother, Mary Griffin, was at First Baptist Church of Eastland on Saturday as the fires continued to spread. 'It just kept getting stronger and stronger,' she told Fox 26.

'We had officers say, 'Y'all need to leave,' and I was just grabbing stuff because I had to leave,' she said.

First Baptist Church is collecting supplies for those who lost everything and housing members of Texas Task Force 1 while they fight the flames, Mandi Whittlesey, its music minister, told the news outlet. 'We just need people to come, tell us where to take it or come and get it, because it's here.'

About 18,000 people live in Eastland County. In the town of Gorman, about 475 homes were evacuated, but officials don't yet know how many structures may have burned, Texas A&M Forest Service spokesman Matthew Ford said.

Videos of the blaze posted to social media show the blaze form into what appears to be a 'fire tornado'

The flames from the Eastland Complex Fire seen on Thursday night. Since it has started the wildfire has burned through 45,000 acres

Priscilla Maynard is pictured in front of a burned home Friday near Carbon, Texas as a firefighters struggle to contain a wildfire spreading throughout Eastland County

Visibility is low due to the fire which has caused hazy conditions for up to hundreds of miles away

Fenley has been the only fatality reported as of Sunday. The 51-year-old deputy leaves behind a husband and three sons.

'She didn't care who you were or what you did. She was always going to be there; Doesn't matter if you were 5 years old or 85 years old, she was going to take care of you,' her son Jon told NBC 5.

The Cisco Police Department posted a tribute to their 'sister' and said she will be deeply missed.

'She was a special servant and an attribute to our profession. We will kneel in prayer for her family, friends and colleagues as they mourn. RIP dear friend, you will be missed.'

Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush commended Fenley's bravery.

'Deputy Fenley was killed while trying to save citizens from the fires burning across West Texas last night. Her service to our state will not be forgotten,' Bush posted on Twitter.

A pickup truck is marked with an 'X' on Friday in Carbon, Texas to signify it had been checked and cleared by personnel

A family is pictured walking through smoke on Thursday after evacuating the Continental Villa mobile home park in Abilene, Texas

Eastland County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Deputy Barbara Fenley, who died helping people in the wildfire on Thursday, leaves behind a husband and three sons

'She didn't care who you were or what you did. She was always going to be there; Doesn't matter if you were 5 years old or 85 years old, she was going to take care of you,' her son Jon (pictured with Fenley said)

On Friday, the National Weather Service in Fort Worth warned that much of Western and Central Texas faces an elevated fire risk due to dry, windy conditions and urged residents to check for local burn bans and use caution with anything that could start a grass fire.

'We had a fairly dry summer last year and that continued into the fall and winter,' said National Weather Service meteorologist Madison Gordon. With winter passing, 'we now have a lot of fuel available in fields.'

The fires caused hazy conditions hundreds of miles away, with the Houston Fire Department and the citys Office of Emergency Management on Friday morning sending out automated phone messages alerting area residents to smoke and ash.

Videos of the blaze posted to social media show the blaze form into what appears to be a 'fire tornado' while another clip showed the full extent of the massive blaze from above as seen from an airplane at night.

A Baptist church in downtown Ranger, Texas, about 85 miles west of Fort Worth, was destroyed Thursday when flames engulfed the 103-year-old building. The police department and other historic buildings were also burned, Dallas TV station WFAA reported.

Roy Rodgers, a deacon at Second Baptist Church, said the third floor and roof collapsed and the rest of the building had extensive smoke and water damage. Rodgers said the church plans to hold its next Sunday service in a parking lot across the street, where the congregation will decide what to do.

'It's heartbreaking,' Rodgers said. 'A lot of people are taking it pretty hard because a lot of people have ties to the church.'
A contract that threatened expulsion for gay or trans students was withdrawn

Brian Mulheran announced his decision to the school community in a letter

It comes as the school's principal stepped down over another contract furore

Teacher said he had effectively lost his job over refusing to sign the document

Staff face being sacked if they are openly homosexual while working at school

A controversial Christian school in Queensland is making staff sign contracts warning them they can be sacked if they are openly homosexual.

Citipointe Christian College is embroiled in scandal again, barely a month after its principal Brian Mulheran was forced to stand down after asking parents to sign an enrolment contract allowing it to expel a gay or gender-fluid child.

The contract at the Brisbane school, obtained by The Guardian, says a teacher's conduct shouldn't be 'incompatible' with its hardline teachings.

'Nothing in his/her deliberate conduct should be incompatible with the intrinsic character of their position, especially, but not only, in relation to the expression of human sexuality through heterosexual, monogamous relationships, expressed intimately through marriage,' the document reads.

'Your failure to abide by such requirements expressed in the above clauses could constitute a breach of your employment contract and subsequent dismissal.'

Citipointe Christian College is forcing staff to sign contracts warning them they can be sacked if they are openly homosexual (pictured, students at the school)

Citipointe Christian College principal Brian Mulheran issued a statement to parents last month saying he would leave his role and was 'heartbroken over the controversy

The school has described homosexuality as 'immoral' in several pieces of literature and said it will only recognise students by their 'biological sex'.

The school went as far as comparing being gay to paedophilia and incest.

'We believe that any form of sexual immorality (including but not limited to adultery, fornication, homosexual acts, bisexual acts, bestiality, incest, paedophilia and pornography) is sinful and offensive to God and is destructive to human relationships and society.' the contract said.

'The College believes that by creating each person, God in his divine love and wisdom gifted them their gender, as male or female. The College therefore acknowledges the biological sex of a person recognised at birth and requires practices consistent with that sex.'

Mr Mulheran said in a letter to parents last month that he had decided to 'stand aside and take extended leave in order to reflect on what has transpired and provide the College community time to heal'.

Former Citipointe Christian College student Felicity Myers poses for a photo outside Citipointe Christian College in Brisbane on January 31

A section of the contract which states that homosexual acts are 'sinful and offensive to God and is destructive to human relationships and society'

The contract said 'the college will only enrol the student on the basis of the gender that corresponds to their biological sex' and said homosexuality is 'sinful' like bestiality, incest and pedophilia.

'Our College community needs time to heal after the events of this week,' Pastor Mulheran wrote.

'Just as importantly, Citipointe needs to be ready to welcome students on Monday with a positive outlook to start the new school year.

'With this in mind, I feel it is right for me to stand aside and take extended leave in order to reflect on what has transpired and provide the College community time to heal.'

Mr Mulheran explained his intention was to give Christian families a choice about how their children were educated.

'A Christian education according to the beliefs of our church is a legitimate choice for parents and students. Like all faith-based schools

'I am heartbroken that by doing so, our College, and our community have suffered so much,' he said.

Mr Mulheran said he was thankful to people who offered support to the school.

'However, I have been devastated talking to our students who have suffered hurtful and hate-filled verbal assaults simply because of their beliefs or for attending the College,' he said.

'As I said in my letter informing parents that the contract has been withdrawn, I am sorry that some students felt that they may be being discriminated against at Citipointe.

'We would never discriminate against any student on the basis of their sexuality or gender identity.'

'I wish our students and families all the best as they start the new school year.'

Citipointe Christian College's principal, Pastor Brian Mulheran (pictured) stepped aside after trying to defend the contract as the college being 'clear and transparent' about its Christian beliefs

Mr Mulheran's letter to parents said he would 'take extended leave' so he could reflect on the controversy surrounding the school's gender contract

It came just days after Pastor Mulheran said the school would revert to its previous terms of enrolment after 'reconsidering' the contract.

'We have considered that the process we followed in drafting and disseminating the amended enrolment contract could have been done in a better way,' Pastor Mulheran said.

He said the way the 'declaration of faith' was presented had caused concern 'within members of the College community, including our students'.

'The College believed that the amendments made to the enrolment contract were lawful and did not constitute discrimination.

'The College will not, and does not, discriminate in its operations.

'We deeply regret that some students may feel that they were, or would be, discriminated against because of their sexuality or gender identity.

'The College does not and will not unlawfully discriminate against a student in respect of their sexuality or gender identity.'

Citipointe Christian College offers offers classes from Prep through to Year 12

The principal said the school would enter into 'respectful dialogue' with the college community before considering any further changes to its enrolment terms.

The contract's withdrawal follows a week of intense opposition to the proposal by the school at Carindale, in Brisbane's south-east, which it asked parents to sign a week before Queensland school's resume on Monday, February 7.

The wording of the contract describes homosexuality as immoral and said it will not recognise a student's claim to a gender identity.

It also states it will only acknowledge gender assignment given at birth.

'We believe that any form of sexual immorality (including but not limiting to adultery, fornication, homosexual acts, bisexual acts, bestiality, incest, paedophilia and pornography) is sinful and offensive to God and is destructive to human relationships and society,' part of the contract states.

The contract included new terms referring to a student's 'biological sex' that parents must agree to for a child to be enrolled.

Failure to agree to the terms will 'afford Citipointe Christian College the right to exclude a student from the College who no longer adheres to the College's doctrinal precepts including those as to biological sex...'

The issuing of the contract sparked a change.org online petition to have the contract recalled which drew over 150,000 signatures.

A number of former students staged an impromptu protest outside the school on Monday, draping pride flags across the school's fence.

State MP for the area Corrine McMillan also took to social media to say she was 'appalled' by the enrolment contract.

'Families seeking a Christian education should not have to contend with discrimination based on their child's gender or sexuality,' she posted.

'All policies and rules in all Queensland schools must reflect the Queensland Anti-discrimination and Human Rights Acts.'

In a statement posted on the school's website earlier this week, Pastor Mulheran said the school 'has always held these Christian beliefs'.

'We have tried to be fair and transparent to everyone in our community by making them clear in the enrolment contract.

The statement said the contract allowed parents and students to make 'an informed choice' about whether they could support the school's approach to Christian education.

'Citipointe does not judge students based on their sexuality or gender identity and we would not make a decision about their enrolment in the College solely on that basis,' Pastor Mulheran claimed, in contrast to the wording of the contract.

He said the school had based the contract on legal advice it had received allowing it to vary its terms because it had been established for 'religious purposes'.

Former Citipointe student Bethany Lau, who started the online petition for the contract to be recalled, said Citipointe 'is using their religious beliefs to openly discriminate against queer and trans students, as well as threatening to take away their education.'

Another former student who said he had since come out as gay said he felt compelled to sign the petition because of the truth of sexual orientation and gender identity.

'We say we need to change the narrative but we continue to live in a world that's homophobic,' he wrote.

'At a time when they should be focusing on a Covid-safe return to school and student wellbeing, this school is looking for ways to proactively harm student wellbeing and teach students how to hate each other,' another person posted.

A number of former students staged an impromptu protest outside the school on Monday, draping pride flags across the school's fence.

The school offers classes from Prep to Year 12.

Queensland schools return on Monday, February 7, two weeks after the original start date, to allow more five to 11-year-old students to receive a first Covid-19 vaccine.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Queensland Education Minister Grace Grace had opposed the contracts.
A man who caused horrific injuries after slamming a 20kg weight on a fellow gymgoer's head has been jailed.

Shocking CCTV footage of the incident at a gym near Darwin almost 18 months ago has emerged after Shane William Ryan, 33, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court on the day his trial was due to begin.

The court heard the two men were working out at the Next Level Gym in the Palmerston suburb of Rosebery, south-east of Darwin, early one morning in October 2020.

CCTV played in court shows Ryan picking up a 20kg plate and walking towards the victim lying on a bench on his back lifting dumbbells.

CCTV footage has emerged of the shocking moment Shane William Ryan dropped a 20kg weight on a fellow gymgoer near Darwin. He was sentenced to 19 months jail on Monday

He lunged towards the victim and dropped the weight on fellow gymgoer's head, causing the victim to fall to the ground.

Ryan appears to have injured his ankle and walks away as the victim sits on the floor in agony clutching his face and head, which were bleeding.

He eventually returned to the man to help him and call an ambulance, the court heard.

The injured man suffered a fractured skull, a cut to his eyebrow, swelling to his face and 'significant and ongoing' psychological impacts, the NT News reported.

Justice John Burns described Ryan's actions as 'very dangerous' as he was jailed for 19 months.

The victim (pictured after the attack) suffered a fractured skull in the sickening incident

The incident occurred at Next Level Gym (pictured) in Rosebery on Darwin's outskirts in October 2020

The court heard relations between the pair had been 'amicable' and 'friendly' and that there was no motive for the unprovoked attack as the judge noted no evidence of 'significant premeditation or planning'.

Ryan insisted he 'accidentally' injured the fellow gymgoer but accepted his actions were deliberate, the court heard.

'The victim was vulnerable as he was lying on his back and had weights in his hands, he was unable to protect himself  he also had no reason to believe that you would attack him as you did,' the judge told Ryan in court.

'The lack of an obvious motive for you to have engaged in this offence is troubling.

'Where there is obvious motive for an offence it is often possible to assess the likelihood of the offender reoffending.

'That is simply not possible in circumstances where there is no obvious motive and you have chosen not to shed any light on that issue.'

Ryan must serve at least 10 months behind bars before he's eligible for parole.
Australians should get boosted against Covid to ward off a potentially deadly super strain over the winter - despite Omicron now being as harmful as the common cold to those who are fully vaccinated, a top expert has warned.

The BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron - believed to be as mild but more contagious than the original strain - is now the dominant variant in Australia and worldwide.

But official data released by authorities in the UK this month showed Omicron had led to only 35 deaths per 100,000 infections, compared to 40 fatalities for the flu.

Deakin University Chair of Epidemiology Professor Catherine Bennett said Australia's 95 per cent double vaccination rate had significantly reduced the threat posed by the virus.

'Omicron is now hard to tell apart from the cold,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'For most of us we are now protected against severe disease and the hospital numbers we were experiencing are now a thing of the past.'

Australians have been warned to get boosted against Covid to ward off a potentially deadly super strain over the winter. Pictured is a masked shopper in Sydney

Data self-reported to the UK's Covid app on Monday found the top five symptoms of the virus - a runny nose, headache, sore throat, fatigue and sneezing - were also symptoms similar to the common cold.

However, Professor Bennett warned it was vital for Australians to get their third booster jab to help flatten the curve of infections before the next variant of the virus emerges.

'Just because this strain is milder doesn't mean the next one will be the same,' she said.

'Experts are nervous about Delta and Omicron circulating together and combining the worst of both strains.'

Delta, Omicron's more harmful predecessor, had a death rate of 49.5 people per 100,000 among the fully-vaccinated in NSW between August 25 and September 7.

Among the unvaccinated, the Delta death rate during that time period was 561 per 100,000 - 10 times higher.

BA.2 meanwhile is thought to be up to 60 per cent more transmissible than the original Covid strain and 25 per cent more contagious than the first Omicron variant.

There were 40,001 new cases of the virus on Sunday, more than double the 19,139 infections on February 28.

The basics on BA.2 and other Covid-19 variants BA.2 is part of the growing family of Omicron Coronavirus variants. It is a version of Omicron that has surged recently but it is not new. It was first detected way back in November 2021. There have also been also BA.1 BA.3 and B.1.1.529 strains of Omicron. BA.2 is understood to be more contagious than these but not deadlier. There have been over 10 main variants of Covid-19 but hundreds or even thousands of sub-variants. Delta, the strain many believe to have been the deadliest, had more than 200 sub-variants. The main Covid strains still designated 'variants of concern' are: Alpha: earliest sample documented sample from the UK in September 2020

Beta: South Africa, May 2020

Gamma: Brazil, November 2020

Delta: India, October 2020

Omicron: several countries November 2021 Advertisement

The BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron is believed to be as mild but even more contagious than the original Omicron strain

Deakin University Chair of Epidemiology Professor Catherine Bennett said Australia's 95 per cent double vaccination rate had significantly reduced the threat posed by the virus. Pictured is a Covid vaccine dose being administered in Sydney

Professor Bennett said booster shots would not only protect the vulnerable from infection over the winter period - when transmission rises as people stay indoors - but also prevent the healthy from being infected with the virus.

Professor Catherine Bennett said booster shots would help protect the vulnerable from infection over the winter period

She said that would help shield them from 'long Covid', a term used to describe symptoms of the virus that remain for more than six months after infection.

'Even in the young and healthy, a booster can reduce your chance of being infected with the virus or having symptomatic infection,' the expert said.

'Then you'll be less likely to have long Covid. That means not having a head cold you can't shake for months and months.

'We're also learning about the increased long-term risk of cardiovascular problems in those who have had Covid. Reducing symptomatic infections is still a really good thing to do.'

The warning comes as the emergence of milder strains prompts National Cabinet to consider relaxing isolation requirements for close contacts.

Two weeks ago, National Cabinet asked the national expert health panel, the AHPPC, to provide urgent advice about how states could end quarantine for close contacts.

If the AHPPC agrees to the plan, close contacts with mild symptoms will be encouraged to undertake voluntary self-isolation while symptomatic.

Data self-reported to the UK's Covid app on Monday found the top five symptoms of the virus - a runny nose, headache, sore throat, fatigue and sneezing - were also cold symptoms

Currently, household close contacts must isolate for seven days from the last time they were in contact with the person with Covid-19.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the change was part of 'living with the virus' while acknowledging winter would be challenging as Australians tackle Covid and the flu.

'Now that we are living with the virus, it means we are living with everything again,' he said.

Mr Morrison said Australia was 'pretty much' in phase D of the national transition strategy, including tackling community outbreaks without widespread lockdowns.

Australia's Covid-19 rules are set to get a major update ahead of winter, with National Cabinet considering relaxing isolation rules for close contacts (pictured, residents enjoying a night out in lockdown-free Melbourne )

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said he'd had multiple discussions with NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet about what the changes would mean for case numbers.

'Logic tells you it will drive [up] the number of cases. It's about balance: How many extra cases can we have before it influences the number of people who end up in hospital,' Mr Andrews said.

'We're very keen to move down this path but we need to do it with a proper understanding [of cases].'

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the change was part of 'living with the virus' while acknowledging winter would be challenging as Australians tackle COVID-19 and the flu

On Friday, Australia's Chief Health Officer Paul Kelly said a decision on the isolation periods would be finalised in the coming weeks.

Mr Andrews warned that the winter months, along with the new BA.2 sub variant - had to be weighed up when it came to loosening restrictions.

'We're very keen to try and have the smallest number of rules, the least intrusive we can possibly have but at the same time, we have to be focused on keeping people safe,' he said.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Greg Hunt is optimistic about the future of the pandemic in Australia, saying the country's response has beaten expectations.

Mr Morrison said Australia was 'pretty much' in phase D of the national transition strategy, including tackling community outbreaks without widespread lockdowns (pictured, Melbourne residents clink glasses at a pub)

Mr Hunt, who's retiring at the upcoming federal election, believes Australia remains in an enviable position globally.

'We are a stronger and a better country than many acknowledge,' he told Sky News on Sunday.

'The resilience of Australians, the fact that we have had one of the lowest rates of loss of life in the world, one of the highest vaccination rates.'

Mr Hunt said the federal government, the general population and thousands of nurses, doctors, pathologists and health sector workers had helped the country bounce back from Covid-19.

He said his one regret about the pandemic was not spending more time with his family.

'I've never been as good a dad as I would have liked to have been,' Mr Hunt said.

'You try to be present, but even when you're there in person you may not be fully present because of the demands of the role, which is what you sign up for.

'But having said that, I leave optimistic about Australia.'
Something wakes me with a start at 3.45am and it is only after several moments that I recognise the smell of burning.

Has the hotel been hit? Or a nearby building, perhaps? Yet the corridor outside is clear and the sirens are silent.

Others who remain in central Kyiv are asking the same question over breakfast. It seems the phenomenon is caused in part by the smoke of battle drifting from the northern and western suburbs to envelop the whole city.

But it is also the result of the front line denying the dustmen of this vast metropolis access to the rubbish dump where they disposed of their domestic waste in peacetime.

Ukrainian firefighters and security teams at the scene of a building hit by Russian missiles

The city woke up with smoke and the smell of burning in the morning amid Russian attacks

Plastic flowers are seen amid debris in a damaged apartment at an apartment block that was hit by the debris of an intercepted Russian rocket in the early hours of the morning

Besieged Kyiv is now having to burn its refuse within the city limits, and today there is smog along the Dnieper River. The scent of Bonfire Night lingers in every bedroom.

I have been impressed to see how the citys dustmen continue their work even as the sirens wail and the grumble of war echoes in the streets.

The military, the emergency services and the civilian volunteers grab the plaudits in this crisis. But I have seen the impact on other wartime cities  Tripoli in Libya being one  when the sanitation system collapses. So far, this has not happened here.

And so we have arranged to be embedded for a morning with one of Kyivs dustcart crews. We find they are able to provide a unique perspective on how life in Kyiv has changed since Russian forces arrived at her gates.

Dmytri, who has driven dustcarts for three years, is also a patriot and philosopher. Everyone has their own front line in this damned war, he says as he reverses his wagon towards the next group of bins. This is ours.

Binmen Sergei, 32 (wearing blue), Volodymr, 26, (yellow vest) and driver Dmytro conduct their collections in a suburb of Kyiv.

A view of empty Peremohy Square amid Russian attacks in Kyiv

Rubbish collectors say there fleeing residents has made their collections fewer, although the amount of staff conscripted to fight has made the work more challenging than ever

He is the husband of Lesia and father of 19-year-old Maxym, who is waiting to be called-up to one of the territorial defence units.

He is proud of what he and his colleagues are doing. It is not the most romantic occupation in the world, he admits.

These guys  he is referring to Sergei and Volodymyr, the two binmen on his team, who earn only 700 a month  might not know about higher mathematics and Kafka, but they do not run away and hide on the border.

You either do a job like this, or you protect your motherland in the trenches. The sanitary and epidemiological situation in the city is crucial to our survival. And there is also a psychological aspect. When the residents see that we are still operating, and bread is still being baked, they are reassured.

They understand that they are not lost and so the city is calm. We get a lot of thumbs-ups on our rounds.

The binmen now operate in daylight hours rather than from 8pm to 6am as before, because of the wartime curfew.

Dmytri says that with perhaps half of Kyivs population of more than three million having left the city the amount of rubbish they are collecting has dropped by a corresponding amount.

But with so many of my colleagues having to leave to join their territorial defence units, those of us left are having to cover far more streets than before.

His beat used to cover the right bank of the Dnieper up to the suburb of Bucha.

But these days Bucha is a battered and largely deserted element of the front line.

Today he and his crew are collecting rubbish among the late Soviet high-rise estates of the Darnytskyi district on the left bank. The type of rubbish they find has also changed.

We are not seeing the cardboard packaging for big luxury goods like TVs and computers because people are not buying them and any cardboard is now being used to protect windows from blast.

One of his own regular binmen is not with him today because his flat was damaged the previous night by an airstrike.

A soldier puts flowers next to the photos of victims of the war against Russia, Maidan Square

Ukrainians are seen amid Russian attacks in Kyiv, Ukarine on March 19

The dustcart crews have been taught to lie next to the kerbs protecting their heads if caught in an attack. Their wagons are now dispersed at night rather than parked in neat lines. But the biggest change to their operations has been the loss of the citys main landfill site.

It is about 25 kilometres outside Kyiv near an airport where there has been a lot of shelling. Its just too dangerous.

The rubbish  each crew collects the contents of about 170 industrial-sized metal bins on every shift  is now disposed of using incinerators.

Other humble professions have also stuck to their task. Along the route we spot that rarest of sights  a Kyiv hairdresser that is still in operation. Yes, says Evgenii at the Papillon salon, he can give me a quick trim. He has 15 minutes before the next appointment.

I tell him his is the first barbers shop I have seen in the city that is open for business.

Its true, many hairdressers have left, he says. But we now cut the hair of our soldiers for free and to be honest its also a psychological release to be at work rather than sit at home and worry. Life must go on.

Svetlana, is seen with red carnations to put in her house amid Russian attacks in Kyiv

A view to Ali's flowers shop which got destroyed as a result of shellfire in the area

His wife and children are now refugees in Germany. The ordinary people there are so kind to them. Is it the same in Britain? I say I believe that it is. On a wall behind us a large television screen is tuned into a Ukrainian news channel: A perpetual loop of devastation and casualty evacuation. How will this end for my country? Evgenii asks me. I say I dont know.

We reach the et, voila! moment, or the Ukrainian equivalent. He looks like Sherlock Holmes, remarks one of the waiting customers. Im not sure if I want to look like Sherlock Holmes, but never mind. Evgenii refuses payment  we are all doing our bit  and we say our goodbyes.

We pass a bronze statue outside the fire station on Volodymyrska Street. It depicts two rescue workers sharing a bottle of water.

But someone with a keen sense of the citys mood has tied a white rag around the bottles neck so it now resembles a Molotov cocktail rather than a refreshing drink.

On this side of the river the golden domes of old Kyiv shimmer in the sunlight, as they have done for 1,000 years.

But every wartime day one comes upon something that is both extraordinary and new.

Today it is the 1.5million fresh-cut tulips that were destined to be sold by the citys florists. Now the majority of those customers are refugees.

Yet rather than let them go to waste the flowers have been laid on the cobbles in front of the iconic St Sofias cathedral in the shape of a trident  Ukraines national symbol.

The display is 120 metres long and 80 metres wide.

Drone pictures of the 1.5M flowers laid in St Sophia Square in central Kyiv, to make the shape of the Trident, the national symbol of Ukraine

As we watch more are being delivered by a tractor and trailer; sunset orange, purple, delicate mauves, yellow and crimson. These are to be given away to passers-by. Every pedestrian  they are few  seems to be carrying a bunch.

It is the brainchild of Tetiana Mytrofanova, the owner of the Chasing Two Hares restaurant on Andriyivskyy Descent.

She tells me: From having the idea to its execution was only twelve hours. A floral wholesaler friend of mine, Andrei Blavatckyi, provided the tulips. We had ten vehicles going backwards and forwards to his warehouse outside Kyiv and it took four hours for us to finish the display.

She is a worried mother with a son in the front line. These flowers are to show that Ukrainian women want peace and love, not war. I am sure this conflict will be over by next week.

The world hopes shes right. In the meantime her flower display  the biggest trident in the world  is a beautiful act of defiance as the edge of this city continues to burn.
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Fresh as the day they were painted, five spectacular tombs around 4,000 years old have been unearthed in Egypt.

The graves were discovered earlier this month in the Saqqara Necropolis, 15 miles south of Cairo.

Some are believed to be from the Old Kingdom  spanning roughly 2700BC to 2200BC  while the others are from the First Intermediate Period, lasting a century after.

Mostafa Waziri, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, displays a small statue at a tomb decorated with hieroglyphic inscriptions at a recently discovered tomb near the famed Step Pyramid, in Saqqara, south of Cairo.

Recently discovered, finely-decorated ancient tombs at an infamous Pharaonic necropolis lie just outside the capital of Cairo.

Reporters prepare to enter a recently discovered tomb at the Saqqara area, in Giza, Egypt.

They climb down inside the recently-discovered tombs, exploring further into the complex.

The ministry of tourism and antiquities said the tombs were likely those of senior officials, including regional rulers and palace supervisors.

Mostafa Waziri, of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said Egyptian archaeologists began excavating in September.

'All of those five tombs are well-painted, well-decorated. We believe that we can find more tombs in this area,' he said.

Film from the ministry's showed burial shafts, walls decorated with hieroglyphics, figurines and images of sacred animals and afterlife items.

The Saqqara site is part of a sprawling necropolis at the ancient capital of Memphis. It contains numerous pyramids, including the Step pyramid of Djoser.

The ruins of Memphis were designated a Unesco World Heritage site in the 1970s.

A wooden statue is seen at a recently discovered tomb near the famed Step Pyramid.

The Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) in Egypt, holds a figurine inside the tomb of a man named Henu in the Saqqara area near Giza.

Figurines are seen inside the tomb of a man named Henu.
The United States Senate will decide on Judge Ketanji Brown's nomination to the Supreme Court to become the first Black woman to serve on the court.

Starting this week, the Senate Judiciary Committee will undertake four days of confirmation hearings for President Joe Biden's nominee for the US' highest court. Over four days, the committee will look into Jackson's career.

On Monday, she will deliver her opening statement, followed by opening remarks from committee members, AP News reports. She won't be questioned until Tuesday and Wednesday, when each of the 22 members of the committee will have 30 minutes to do so. They will have 20 minutes apiece if there is a second round of questioning.

On Thursday, when legal experts and officials from the American Bar Association testify on Jackson's legal record, the nominee will be away from the heating chamber.

Following the hearings, the committee will vote on whether or not to submit her nomination to the entire Senate. Democrats would like to confirm Jackson before the end of the two-week spring recess on April 8.

Historic Moment for the US Supreme Court

For nearly two centuries, the court was solely made up of white men. Only two Black males have served on the Supreme Court: Justice Clarence Thomas and the late Thurgood Marshall, who were confirmed in 1991 and 1967, respectively. On the court, there has never been a Black woman.

During his 2020 campaign, Biden stated that he would nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court if given the opportunity.

However, according to The Hill, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) accused Jackson of being too lenient on sex-related crimes. The charge was met with stinging criticism from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and the White House. However, her supporters claim that her background as a criminal defense attorney is an advantage.

She'll also be questioned about her work with the United States Sentencing Commission regarding Guantanamo Bay captives and her opinions on court expansion.

Read Also: Joe Biden To Visit Poland To Discuss International Support for Ukraine; Ukrainian Official Urges US President To Talk to Volodymyr Zelensky

Jackson's Background

Jackson, 51, graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College. Then graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1996. After graduating from law school, Jackson served as a clerk for Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, whom she will replace if confirmed.

In a video shared by US President Joe Biden on social media, Jackson described the 83-year-old Breyer as "an incredible boss and mentor."

According to Al Jazeera, Jackson worked in private practice and the Office of the Federal Public Defender in the District of Columbia's appeals division, among other positions. She told a Senate committee last year that her work as a public defender was a chance to help the underprivileged and promote "core constitutional values."

She also worked for the US Sentencing Commission as an associate special counsel and vice-chair.

Jackson was nominated to the US District Court for the District of Columbia by former US President Barack Obama in 2012, and she was approved the following year. After being nominated by Biden, she got confirmed to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit in 2021.

Related Article: Capitol Riot Case: Ex-West Virginia State Lawmaker Pleads Guilty, Could Serve Up to 5 Years in Prison

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Vulnerable people in England will begin receiving invitations for the spring Covid booster from today.

People aged 75 and over and those who are immunosuppressed will be able to book from 7am.

The booster will be made available to around five million people, with 600,000 expected to receive invitations in the first week.

Local NHS teams will also be contacting care homes to arrange the jab for people who are eligible and have been invited.

The move comes after the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommended the spring top-up as a precautionary measure.

Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said: 'Spring boosters will help top up the immunity of the elderly and the most vulnerable to ensure they are protected and will help us continue to live with this virus.

Most vulnerable in society will be able to request their booster from today, government says

The Department for Health thinks there will be 600,000 invitations in the first week alone

'Thanks to the NHS for rising to the challenge yet again to get people boosted. Please come forward as soon as you are contacted.'

The NHS said it will invite people to arrange a jab through the national booking service, which can be accessed online at nhs.uk/covidvaccine or by calling 119, when it is their turn.

Recent research from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) estimated just over 157,000 hospitalisations had been avoided through the vaccination programme since December.

But the NHS said hospitals had still treated over 100,000 since the start of the Omicron wave.

Vaccine numbers are going up but a shocking 50 per cent of 35-39's are still not boosted

Booster programmes elsewhere have already happened The rollout of the fourth Covid jab for the elderly and vulnerable has already started in Scotland. Wales has suggested it will wait until later in the year to administer its extra jabs. And in Northern Ireland a fourth booster is being handed out this spring. Advertisement

Nikki Kanani, GP and deputy SRO for the NHS Covid Vaccination Programme, said: 'Sadly, we are still seeing large numbers of people seriously unwell in hospital with Covid so it remains vital that those most at risk come forward when they are invited to do so.

'The response so far from the public to the largest and most successful vaccination programme in NHS history has been incredible, with more than nine in 10 people aged 75 and over getting their initial booster.

'The NHS Covid vaccination programme is once again ready to get people protected, so when you are invited please do come forward for your spring dose.'

Health chiefs are expecting high uptake of spring boosters among people aged 75 and over after 4.5 million of them had their top-up jab over autumn and winter.

The NHS said it has recruited additional call handlers for the 119 service to help people book their vaccine appointments, while hundreds of sites including community pharmacies, vaccination centres and hospital hubs will administering the booster.
A black liquor store owner is suing a white police officer who punched him in the face, wrestled him to the ground and cuffed him after he called cops about holding a suspected shoplifter at gunpoint.

Body camera footage showed officers walking past the suspect and ordering Kevin Penn to put down his weapon before an officer punches him and two others pin him to the ground and arrest him.

Mr Penn, who suffered a broken jaw, had his teeth knocked out and needed to get his mouth wired shut after the altercation on March 15, 2020, is now suing the officer who threw the punch, Justin Rippen, in federal court.

His lawsuit alleges the incident is an example of the systematic use of 'excessive force' by Decatur Police Department that the Alabama city often ignores.

The suit alleges Penn's constitutional rights were violated by illegal seizure, false arrest and excessive force, and is seeking financial compensation for the damages suffered.

Surveillance footage showed a black business owner, who called 911 to report a robbery in his store in Alabama, being punched in the face by a responding police officer on March 15

Mr Penn (pictured) suffered a broken jaw, had his teeth knocked out and needed to get his mouth wired shut after the altercation, according to his lawyer

Police ultimately determined that a shoplifting had occurred at the store (pictured) and arrested a suspect, whose name has not been released

The incident happened at Star Spirits & Beverages in Decatur, Alabama, on March 15, 2020, but was given additional attention when surveillance footage began circulating online in June that year amid protests over police brutality and racism following the death of George Floyd.

Mr Penn had requested police attend his shop and told 911 dispatchers that he was holding a shoplifter at gunpoint.

At a press conference in June 2020, Decatur Police Chief Nate Allen presented body camera footage from the incident in an effort to be 'transparent' about the ongoing investigation.

The video shows officers coming into the store and the suspect, later identified to be a person involved in an alleged shoplifting at Mr Penn's store, lying on the ground.

An officer walks past the suspect and tells Mr Penn to put down his weapon.

Mr Penn refuses, saying: 'I have a right to have my gun.'

Mr Allen claimed that was when Mr Penn moved his hand over a gun lying on a counter next to him.

'We do know there was a gun there, we do know that the magazines were there, we do know that he was reloading the magazine,' Allen told reporters.

Mr Penn's lawyer Carl Cole said his client had showed his gun to the officers to let them know he was armed.

Mr Penn had also removed the clip and ejected the bullets from the weapon, Mr Cole said.

The video shows Mr Penn telling officers he is going to file a complaint as they came close to him.

Surveillance video shows Kevin Penn, owner of Star Spirits & Beverages, speaking to officers responding to the robbery report. Mr Penn had told 911 dispatchers that he was holding a shoplifter at gunpoint

Police said one of the officers (seen right) punched Mr Penn after mistaking him for the suspect

Officers are seen wrestling Mr Penn to the ground before they arrested him on a charge of obstructing a robbery investigation

The body camera footage does not clearly show what happens next, but surveillance video from the store shows an officer punching Mr Penn and being joined by two other officers to wrestle him to the ground.

Mr Penn was handcuffed and arrested on a charge of obstructing a robbery investigation, according to court records.

Decatur police Officer Rippen wrote in the records that Mr Penn 'refused to obey lawful commands to put down and back away from a firearm while officers were attempting to investigate a robbery'.

The shoplifting suspect was arrested the same day, but his identity was not released.

Mr Penn's lawsuit alleges the city regularly receives complaints that officers 'react with unjustifiable violence and false charges when a citizen speaks up or otherwise asserts his rights as an American citizen'.

The suit also accuses officers of 'using common charges like obstructing governmental operation, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest' against local citizens.

'It is well known in the Decatur legal community that Decatur officers frequently use these charges, commonly referred to as POP (p*** off police) charges, without a legal basis,' the lawsuit states.

Mr Penn's lawyer on the new lawsuit, Hank Sherrod III, said using the obstructing governmental operations charge 'is standard procedure for most police jurisdictions and 100% used in north Alabama'.

The lawsuit says city officials failed to ensure officers were properly trained and supervised.

An officer is heard asking Mr Penn to put down his gun (circled in white) and Mr Penn refusing to do so. Mr Penn's lawyer said he showed the officers his gun so they would know he was armed

Body camera footage released by the Decatur Police Department shows the moments leading up to when the officer punched Mr Penn (right) in the face

City leaders were aware of numerous situations 'in which citizens were subjected to unconstitutional stops, searches, arrests and uses of force but took no action to investigate and discipline officers', the lawsuit says.

City Attorney Herman Marks said last week that his department has not yet received the lawsuit and declined to comment.

Decatur Mayor Tab Bowling said he regrets a lawsuit has been filed but referred questions to Mr Marks.

Mr Penn spent six weeks with his jaw wired shut as he recovered following the incident.

Mr Sherrod said misdemeanor charges filed against Mr Penn following the incident are still pending.

'I dont know why theyre still active or they havent set a court date,' Mr Sherrod said.

Mr Sherrod said his client 'promptly' filed a lawsuit regarding the assault and false arrest complaint after he was punched 'and the city did nothing.

'Mr Penn hasn't heard from the city to this day', he added.

Officer Rippen was not disciplined, the lawsuit says, and that there was not an investigation until the video became public in June 2020, three months after the incident happened.
A mother-of-five who became Britain's youngest grandmother after her 14-year-old daughter gave birth has revealed it 'doesn't feel right being a granny'.

Kelly Healey was only 30 when her teenage daughter Skye Salter gave birth to Bailey, now three, in August 2018.

When she found out Skye was expecting, Ms Healey offered 'love and support' because 'what was done was done' - but the mother-of-five admitted that she 'never expected' to find out she was going to be a grandmother so young.

Kelly Healey (right) was only 30 when her teenage daughter Skye Salter (left) gave birth to Bailey, now three, in August 2018

When she found out Skye was expecting, Ms Healey offered 'love and support' because 'what was done was done'. Pictured: Skye with her son Bailey

Speaking to The Sun, she said: 'I never expected to find out I would become a nan while still in my 20s.

'But there was no point in yelling at Skye about contraception and safe sex. What was done was done.

'All I could do was offer love and support. As a mum you just deal with these things.

'I act like I'm in my early 20s, so it doesn't feel right to be a granny.

'My friends think it's hilarious I've got a grandson. He's always getting mistaken for my son.'

Skye was living with her step-mother and father in Cranford, West London, when she did a digital test out of the blue and found out she was expecting in 2018.

She was quickly referred to West Middlesex Hospital in Isleworth where she had an ultrasound and doctors revealed she was already 36 weeks and four days pregnant.

The teenager had been sexually active and did the test as a precaution before making an appointment to get the contraceptive implant.

The mother-of-five admitted that she 'never expected' to find out she was going to be a grandmother so young. Pictured: Skye with her son Bailey

Skye was living with her step-mother and father in Cranford, West London, when she did a digital test out of the blue and found out she was expecting in 2018. She was quickly referred to West Middlesex Hospital in Isleworth where she had an ultrasound and doctors revealed she was already 36 weeks and four days pregnant. Pictured: Skye with her son Bailey

Skye, now 17, told The Sun: 'I was stunned. I had a secret feeling I might be pregnant which is why I'd suggested the test. The dad is a local lad around my own age'

Skye was left in shock the news and was told by medics that 'an abortion was not an option' because she found out about the pregnancy so late.

Skye, now 17, recalls: 'I was stunned. I had a secret feeling I might be pregnant which is why I'd suggested the test. The dad is a local lad around my own age.

'I couldn't believe it. I was potentially days off becoming a mum. Just weeks earlier I had been doing PE and climbing up and down hills.

'Of course, finding out I was pregnant so late meant abortion wasn't an option.

'But I couldn't have done that anyway. Seeing my baby's heartbeat on the screen, my heart filled with love.

'I knew from that point onwards I would always take second place, and my baby boy would take first.'

Meanwhile, Ms Healey revealed that her own mother doesn't feel 'ready' being a great-grandmother at just 48.

Skye was left in shock the news and was told by medics that 'an abortion was not an option' because she found out about the pregnancy so late. Pictured: Skye

Meanwhile, Ms Healey is getting used to being a gran and says young Bailey is always 'mistaken for her son' whenever they are out. Pictured: Skye with her son Bailey

She told the newspaper: I'm not sure my mum was ready to be a great-gran at 48, though. I think that makes her the youngest great-gran in the UK, too.'

It comes as mother-of-three Gemma Skinner is believed to have become Britain's youngest grandma at 33 after her 17-year-old daughter gave birth last October.

Ms Skinner, whose daughter Maizie gave birth to a little girl, said she was mistaken for the baby's aunt by nurses in the hospital.

The mother-of-three from Amersham, Buckinghamshire, told The Sun: 'At first I didn't want to be called 'nan' or 'granny'  but now I'm loving it.'

Ms Skinner said that she is having a great time taking her new grand-daughter out and about, with everyone thinking that she is the girl's mother.

She has three daughters of her own with her youngest, four-year-old Bella, also becoming an auntie with the birth of the new baby.
Under the ornate arches of Przemysl railway station, Tanja Veklendko and her children are safe at last.

They escaped Ukraine to arrive in the Polish city, where they were immediately given help by the Red Cross, which is being funded with donations from Mail readers.

But Tanja and her three children have left behind her husband and she cannot stop weeping. They fled Krivoy Rog, a city in central Ukraine, after explosions rocked their home.

She said: Near my house there is a military base and the other night they were bombing constantly from four in the morning. We were so afraid, so I took the kids and I fled. My husband is still there, I start crying every time I think of that.

The Red Cross is helping thousands arriving daily at Przemysl station, which is close to the Ukraine border.

Magdalena Michutka Kuras, a nurse and paramedic volunteering with the Polish Red Cross, said: We have a big sign, in both Ukrainian and Polish, saying, You are safe here.

Its a powerful message. They say that we are giving them hope for a better future.

Tanja Veklenko and her children at Przemysl railway station

Refugee family leave Chop, Ukraine by train on March 18, with Hungary now the second-most popular destination for refugees fleeing Ukraine

We try to provide them with psychological support because they are separated from their loved ones and worried about their families who are still in Ukraine. They are afraid for fathers, husbands and brothers who are fighting in Kyiv.

Clutching a bag of toys to hand out on the platform, she said: There are about 2,000 people on each train. We receive people who are dehydrated after a very long trip without water, without food.

'They are tired, they are sick. They have high fevers and blisters on their feet after walking many, many kilometres to the border.

Despite the harrowing stories, she said it was the overwhelming kindness that had surprised her the most since she started volunteering in Przemysl.

She said: There are a lot of volunteers from many different organisations and we work together as one. Everyone is smiling. Everyone is happy to help.

A view of destroyed theatre hall, which was used as a shelter by civilians, after Russian bombardment in Mariupol

Firefighters arrived in force at a residential building in the bombed city center of Kharkiv

The Mail Force Ukraine Appeal has raised over 8million. At the request of Lord and Lady Rothermere, the Mails parent company DMGT has donated 500,000. The charity is distributing the money to where it is needed most.

As well as the Red Cross, a 1million donation is being made to UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency, which is helping families caught in the worst refugee crisis since the Second World War.

Another 250,000 has been announced for The Halo Trust, the bomb disposal charity made famous by Princess Diana, to help buy vehicles and mine detecting equipment.
Nine in ten GPs fear for patient safety because appointments are too short and there are too few family doctors, a poll reveals today.

The pressure means they risk mistakes or missing life-threatening diseases as they rush through a record number of consultations.

Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt will today join leading GPs to call on ministers to boost NHS staff numbers.

GPs are calling on the government to recruit more GPs, as 87% fear patients are not always safe at surgeries (stock photo)

Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt (pictured) is joining doctors in their efforts by talking at the launch of the Rebuild General Practice campaign

Professor Martin Marshall (pictured), of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said he has never seen GP numbers as low as they currently are

The Conservative MP will speak at the launch of the Rebuild General Practice campaign, which will warn primary care is in crisis, with the NHS in England having lost almost 2,000 GPs since 2015.

The campaigns poll of 1,395 family doctors reveals 87% fear patients are not always safe at surgeries and 70% believe the risk is increasing. Some 86% say they do not have enough time per patient and 77% think there are not enough GPs.

Doctors typically see 45 patients a day  20 more than unions consider safe. The campaign demands 6,000 new GPs by 2024, better staff retention and reduced workloads. GPs held a record 366.7million appointments in 2021, around 6.5 for every person in the land.

Professor Martin Marshall, of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said last week: Ive been a GP for just over 30 years... Ive never seen things as low as they are now. A number of GPs I know are just constantly worried that theyre going to make a prescribing error or a diagnostic error.
As an investigative journalist, activist and former MP, she is already known to be a fearsome figure in Ukraine.

But Tetiana Chornovol looked even more formidable yesterday as she took on her new role  fighting off Russian invaders with anti-tank weapons.

She was seen in full military uniform examining footage of a tank that she had struck while defending Kyiv.

Miss Chornovol, 42, is one of many high-profile members of Ukraines territorial defence service who have paused their day jobs to take up arms.

The former member of the Ukrainian Parliament, service member and operator of an anti-tank guided missile weapon system, carries an anti-tank missile at a position on the front line

Miss Chornovol repositions the weapons mid Russia's invasion of Ukraine in the Kyiv region

The former MP is pictured at a position on the front line, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in the Kyiv region

She is a service member and operator of an anti-tank guided missile weapon system examines the Russian tank which she destroyed in a recent battle at a position on the front line

Before becoming an MP in 2014, she was one of the leaders of the Euromaidan revolution  a wave of pro-European, anti-corruption demonstrations that erupted in 2013.

She has frequently been attacked for her hard-hitting investigations as a journalist  even facing trumped up murder charges for her role in protests.

During the Euromaidan protests, Miss Chornovol was brutally beaten up, suffering a broken nose and huge bruises on her face.

Russias annexation of Crimea followed soon after the unrest culminated in Ukraines government being ousted.

Miss Chornovols husband, Mykola Berezovyi, was killed fighting pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine in 2014.

The mother of two is now using his AK47 in the fight to repel Vladimir Putins army and save her countrys freedom.
Moscow journalist Marina Ovsyannikova said her decision to go on live state-run TV to decry propaganda was spontaneous and that she wanted to remind the world 'it's Putin's war, not Russian people's war.'

During her first interview with American media, the 43-year-old journalist also said she did not accept French President Emmanuel Macron's offer of asylum because 'she is a patriot' and wants to live in Russia, despite fearing for her and her two children's safety.

'I want to say to everyone, the Russian people are really against the war,' Ovsyannikova, branded 'the bravest woman on TV,' told George Stephanopoulos on ABC's This Week. 'It's Putin's war, not Russian people's war.'

'[It] was a spontaneous decision for me to go out live on air, but dissatisfaction with the current situation has been accumulating for many years because the propaganda on our state channels was becoming more and more distorted,' she added.

The journalist had said she was 'extremely concerned' after being handed a $296 fine by a Russian court - a mere fraction of the retaliation expected, raising fears that more punishment awaits her.

On Sunday, Ovsyannikova highlighted that the situation in Russia was 'not black and white,' and that many ordinary Russian citizen's are being affected by the sanctions issued by the West.

'...The severe sanctions that the West is imposing on all of the people is probably a correct decision, but you must understand that not just the oligarchs and Putin's closest circle are suffering from these sanctions.'

Ovsyannikova said her own 11-year-old daughter had been left starving at school after she was unable to buy her lunch when the credit card she used was blocked.

Moscow journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, 43, gave her first interview to American media on Sunday, speaking to George Stephanopoulos on ABC's This Week

Ovsyannikova, a worker at Russia's Channel One, held a placard reading 'Stop the war. Don't believe propaganda. They're lying to you' during the prime-time news last week

Putin has strong-armed state channels into referring to a 'special military operation' instead of a 'war' or 'invasion', has denied suffering mass casualties, and sought to paint Ukraine as the aggressor with 15 years in jail for anyone who defies him

"The propaganda on our state channels was becoming more and more distorted."



Russian state TV editor, Marina Ovsyannikova speaks to her protest on live television: "I was hoping that my performance, in a way, would help people change their mind." https://t.co/q2P3KQgXol pic.twitter.com/xQ7uvkgq0N  This Week (@ThisWeekABC) March 20, 2022

Putin has strong-armed state channels into referring to a 'special military operation' instead of a 'war' or 'invasion', has denied suffering mass casualties, and sought to paint Ukraine as the aggressor with 15 years in jail for anyone who defies him.

But Ovsyannikova decided to flout the law last week, storming on to the set of state-controlled Channel One waving an anti-war sign.

A highly regarded employee of the channel, the mother-of-two held a placard reading 'Stop the war. Don't believe propaganda. They're lying to you'.

The journalist said she knew she couldn't keep working at Channel One and delivering inaccurate and egregious news to Russian citizens.

'I came to work and, after a week of coverage of this situation, the atmosphere on the first channel was so unpleasant that I realized I could not go back there.'

Ovsyannikova said she thought of assisting an anti-war protest at Moscow's square - likely referring to the city's Red Square - but quickly realized being jailed was going to be 'rather useless.'

'I decided maybe I could do something else, something more meaningful where I could attract more attention and show to the rest of the world that Russians are against the war,' she said on Sunday.

'I could show the Russian people this is just propaganda, expose this propaganda for what it is and maybe stimulate some people to speak up against the war and I was hoping that my performance in a way would help people change their mind,' she added

Last week, Macron said his country would be willing to give Ovsyannikova diplomatic protection and asylum and would personally raise her case with Putin.

Ovsyannikova, who said she could not eat or sleep after Russia's distorted propaganda of the war started, also touched on her decision not to leave Russia.

'I'm very grateful to Mr. Macron for his [asylum] offer, but I have publicly refused to take political asylum in France because I'm a patriot,' she said.

'I want to live in Russia. My children want to live in Russia. I don't want to immigrate and lose another ten years of my life to assimilate in some other country.'

While she is aware of her country's 'dark history,' Ovsyannikova said she believed it is pivotal for Russian citizens to speak up against Putin's actions.

Marina Ovsyannikova, a Russian journalist who hijacked prime-time TV news to denounce the war in Ukraine, has said she is a patriot and does not want to leave Russia

Ovsyannikova had previously said she ' absolutely don't feel like a hero' after the stunt and did it to 'open people's eyes' - including her own mother who she said has been 'zombified' by state propaganda.

The mother-of-two also said she was unsure she would be able to go through with the protest until the last moment, and had to bypass several layers of security to get in front of the cameras with her sign denouncing the war.

'It was really scary - scary is not even the word for that,' she said on Wednesday. 'I wasn't sure whether I could go through with it right until the last moment.

'On Channel One - and the main news programme in the country - there are several layers of security, and it's not that easy to get into the studio.

'And theres a member of law enforcement sitting right in front of the studio who makes sure that these kinds of incidents dont happen. I wont go into details because it was a loophole in Channel Ones security arrangements.'

She added: 'The protest had two goals: show the whole world that Russians are against the war, and to show Russian people directly: "Don't be such zombies; don't listen to this propaganda; learn how to analyse information; learn how to find other sources of information, not just Russian state television."

'I am concerned for my safety, if I'm honest. I'm quite I believe in what I did, but now I understand the scale of the problems that I'll have to deal with.'

After the stunt, Ovsyannikova released a pre-recorded video statement calling on ordinary Russians to protest and 'stop the madness'.

Her exceptional act of defiance against Putin quickly went viral, winning praise from world leaders and sparking calls for her to be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.

But once she was arrested, there were fears she would disappear, as many critics of the Kremlin do.

Ovsyannikova, a former editor for Channel One, was fined just $296 by a court over the protest - sparking fears that more punishment could still await her

Her lawyer said he could not make contact with the journalist or find her at the notorious police station she was said to be held in, raising concerns for her safety.

Then Ovsyannikova suddenly appeared at Moscow's Ostankino district court, where a judge ordered her to pay a $296 fine (30,000 rubles) and released her.

She could have faced a maximum punishment of 10 days in detention for calling for illegal protests.

However, the charge was based only on the video  not her interruption of the news broadcast.

So it is feared that her ordeal is far from over as Kremlin cronies yesterday called for her to be locked up for several years.

Ovsyannikova could still be slapped with the more serious new criminal charge brought in to stamp out 'fake news' about Russia's invasion.

The new law has made it a crime to call the conflict a 'war' instead of military operation and carries a jail sentence of up to 15 years.

Or, she could face more serious consequences that have been meted out to those who challenge the Kremlin's authority directly.

Poisonings and assassination attempts are not uncommon fates among Putin's critics, with prominent examples including Alexei Navalny, Alexander Litvinenko and Sergei Skripal.

Russia's state-run Tass news agency reported that Moscow's Investigative Committee, a major crime unit, had opened a case on the journalist.

It was said to be gathering evidence against her for 'knowingly spreading false information' about the use of Russia's armed forces.

On the steps of the court after her release, Ovsyannikova, who was previously married to a director at state-controlled Russia Today, revealed that she had been barred from contacting her lawyers during a 14-hour interrogation.

'It's been a really difficult day in my life,' she said, looking very tired.

'I've gone two days without sleep, more than 14 hours in custody, they didn't allow me to contact those close to me or to receive any legal counsel... so I found myself in a really tough situation.

'I want to thank everyone for their support,' Miss Ovsyannikova said, adding that she was too exhausted to answer any more questions and 'needed to rest' before she could reveal more.

She had been swiftly detained after interrupting Russia's most famous anchor, Ekaterina Andreeva, on its main nightly news section, Vremya, which is watched by 250million people.

A friend of the journalist, who was able to bypass security as an employee at the directorate of information programs at the channel, said that she had been planning her protest for days.

Ovsyannikova, whose father is Ukrainian and mother is Russian and is believed to have been born in Odessa, is said to have grown increasingly angry over the bloody invasion.

'The anger has been building up with her ever since the war started. Two days ago, she told me how she was going to do it,' the friend told The Guardian.

Pictured: Ovsyannikova's status as a senior television editor at the station meant she was able to get access to the broadcasting centre, and was not stopped by any armed guards

During his morning video address on Tuesday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the journalist for her brave efforts to tell the 'truth'.

'I am grateful to those Russians who do not stop trying to convey the truth... To those who fight disinformation and tell the truth, real facts to their friends and loved ones.

'And personally to the woman who entered the studio of Channel One with a poster against the war,' he said.

A pre-recorded video was released after the protest in which she called the events in Ukraine a 'crime' and said she was ashamed to work for what she called Kremlin propaganda.

'I'm ashamed that I allowed myself to tell lies from the television screen. Ashamed that I allowed Russians to be turned into zombies,' she explained.

'We just silently watched this inhumane regime.'

State-controlled Russian media refer to the war as a 'special military operation', painting Ukraine as the aggressor, and have been spewing anti-Ukraine rhetoric, including calling its elected government neo-Nazis.

Marina Ovsyannikova, the editor at the state broadcaster Channel One who protested against Russian military action in Ukraine during the evening news broadcast at the station late Monday, leaves the Ostankinsky District Court after being fined for 30,000 rubles

The Kremlin has also blocked social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook in it efforts to control the country's citizens with its propaganda.

Before her TV career, Ovsyannikova was a competitive swimmer who crossed the Volga river in Russia and the Bosphorus waterway in Turkey.

She graduated from Kuban State University before achieving a master's degree from Russia's Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.

Almost 15,000 people have been detained across Russia during anti-war protests while media outlets and journalists who deviate from Mr Putin's narrative are being targeted.

One of Russia's top presenters, Liliya Gildeyeva, 45, was among at least three other journalists to quit their jobs on state-controlled media in defiance in recent days.

She had been the leading anchor on Gazprom-Media's NTV channel since 2006, where she had worked for more than a decade-and-a-half.

'At first I left, I was afraid they wouldn't let me go, then I wrote my resignation letter,' she told blogger Ilya Varlamov.
Scott Morrison is trailing in the polls and hoping to make up ground by splashing some serious cash in his March 29 Budget ahead of the May election.

The Government has revealed it will be offering 'targeted' support - expected to take the form of one-off cash handouts - to Aussies struggling with cost of living pressures.

Mr Morrison is also under pressure to cut the 44 cents-a-litre fuel duty amid soaring costs at the bowser due to the Russia-Ukraine war pushing up oil prices.

The Budget will also contain a boost to welfare payments as well as a slew of infrastructure projects. Here's what we know so far.

If you're a low or middle-income earner

Scott Morrison may extend the Low and Middle Income Tax Offset (LMITO), an end-of-financial-year rebate of up to $1,080 for those earning under $126,000.

If he does this, Australians earning between $48,000 and $90,000 will get the maximum amount of $1,080 while those earning between $37,000 and $48,000 and between $90,000 and $126,000 will get a smaller amount depending on their salary.

Scott Morrison is expected to extend the Low and Middle Income Tax Offset (LMITO) , an end-of-financial-year rebate of up to $1,080. Pictured: Sydney office workers

The offset was due to end when stage two tax cuts came into play but was extended twice after the cuts were brought forward to 2020 due to the pandemic.

However, some economists predict the PM will not extend the tax cut and will opt for cash handouts instead.

A one-off cash payment of between $200 and $400 to low-income Aussies has been speculated.

At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic the government handed out four one-off payments including two worth $750 in March and July 2020 and two worth $250 in December 2020 and March 2021.

The cash went to 6.5million people including 3.6million pensioners, 1.1million students and working-age welfare recipients and 1.5million others including veterans and parents who receive family tax breaks.

If you're a driver

Mr Morrison is under pressure to temporarily reduce the fuel tax of 44.2cents-a-litre but has so far refused to reveal if he will do this.

A cut of 10 cents would decrease the price of a tank by $6 but reduce the Government's income by $1.5 billion over six months.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has ruled out freezing the six monthly increase in fuel duty, saying this would not make enough difference to motorists.

The PM is considering one-off payments to millions of low income earners as prices of food and petrol soar. Pictured: Petrol prices in Sydney

If you're a parent

The Government has brought forward childcare changes which were announced in last year's Budget from July 1 to March 7, meaning they are already in place.

The Federal child care subsidy rate for a second child aged five or under has been increased for all families earning $180,000 or less.

The move costing taxpayers $1.7billion over four years will benefit about 250,000 families across Australia by an average of $2,260 a year.

A family on $40,000 will save $54 per week, a family on $120,000 will save $144 and a family on $180,000 will save $162.

Families with two children in childcare will save up to $162 per week on childcare fees from March 7

This table shows how much a family will save depending on their income

However, an estimated 700,000 families will not benefit at all because the policy only affects rates for a second child in care.

If Labor wins the election in May, it will increase child care subsidy rates for every child whose family earns less than $530,000.

The policy would save families between $600 and $2,900 a year and cost taxpayers $6.2 billion over four years.

If you're on welfare

Under a biannual adjustment, the Jobseeker rate, age pension, disability support pension, and carer payments increased by up to $20 per fortnight from March 20, benefiting 4.9 million people and costing the budget $2.2billion extra over the year.

The rate for a single person receiving an age pension, disability support pension or carer payment increased by $20.10 a fortnight to $987.60.

The JobSeeker payment, rose by $13.20 to $629.50 per fortnight for a single person without children. The Parenting Payment increased by $18.10 to $874.10.

Fortnightly maximum rent assistance increased to $145.80 for singles and up to $193.62 for families.

If you're a tradie

The Budget will include dozens of major infrastructure projects to provide thousands of jobs for tradies.

These include $483 million for a 970 gigalitre dam at Urannah in Queensland which will help nearby producers develop 20,000 hectares of irrigated land.

The Budget will include dozens of major infrastructure projects to provide thousands of jobs for tradies (pictured)

Some $668 million will go towards infrastructure in southeast Queensland under a new city deal. Pictured: The PM and Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk sign the deal on March 21

There will also be $678 million for the sealing of 1,000km of the Outback Way, a 2,720 kilometre route that links Laverton in Western Australia with Winton in Queensland via Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.

Some $2.26 billion has been pledged for Adelaide's North-South corridor motorway and $668 million for infrastructure in southeast Queensland under a new city deal.

Perth's city deal has received a $74million top-up and $40million has been pledged for bridges.

If you're a woman

Last year saw the first women's Budget statement after the Coalition faced criticism for the treatment of former staffer Brittany Higgins.

This time around specific measures to improve gender equality include $189million over five years to strengthen prevention and early-intervention efforts in family, domestic and sexual violence.

The Government has also pledged $104million to prevent technology and devices being used to perpetrate or facilitate family, domestic and sexual violence.

If you work in health

The Budget will include a range of measures to improve Australia's health system.

Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services will benefit from a four-year rolling funding agreement and annual increases from July 1, 2023.

The Budget will include a range of measures to improve Australia's health system. Pictured: A Nurse administers a vaccine

Some $61.2million will go towards the Australian Genomic Cancer Medical Centre to research and develop drugs for people with advanced cancers.

The Government's national ice action strategy will received $315million over four years to extend the programme.

Medicare is expected to cost taxpayers around $126billion over four-year forward estimates.

If you work in defence

Mr Morrison has announced a new $10billion nuclear submarine base will be built on the east coast, with Port Kembla and Newcastle in NSW and Brisbane in the running as possible locations.

The new base will house at least eight nuclear-powered submarines to be built by 2040 using US and UK technology under the AUKUS alliance signed last year.

Almost 20,000 new troops will be drafted into the ADF in the biggest military expansion in 40 years to tackle threats posed by Russia and China.

The ADF will recruit thousands of additional soldiers, sailors and aviators in the biggest expansion to the army in over 40 years. Pictured: A CH-47 Chinook Heavy-Lift helicopter in Brisbane in January

Some 18,500 soldiers will be brought in by 2040 in a $38billion beef-up. The move will take the uniformed force from 60,000 to almost 80,000 in 18 years.

The new troops will work on Australia's promised nuclear submarines, Hunter class frigates, Arafura Class patrol boats, defensive missile systems, cyber security and space security.

The Government will also spend $4.3billion to help build a new dry dock facility in Henderson, Western Australia, with construction to start in 2023.

Some $282 million will be spent in the Northern Territory for 34 capability projects and maintenance and servicing work.

If you're a scientist

The Government will spend $804million over the next ten years to fund scientific research and exploration of areas of Antarctica that no country has been before.

Some $60million will be spent on drone fleets and other autonomous vehicles to map inaccessible and fragile areas of east Antarctica.

Australia is beefing up its operations in Antarctica after warnings that China is becoming more assertive in the region. Pictured: A scientist drilling ice at Totten Glacia in 2018

A further $35million will purchase four new medium lift helicopters that can travel 550km to access untouched parts of the continent.

The investment comes as China 'pushes the boundaries' of the Antarctic Treaty System, according to a report by the Lowy Institute.

Some $3.4million of Australia's investment will go towards 'enhancing Australia's international engagement to support the rules and norms of the Antarctic Treaty system'.

If you work in resources

The critical minerals industry will benefit from a $200million Accelerator grants program, $50million to support research and development and an updated industry strategy.

If you're at school

Disadvantaged young people will benefit from an expanded Transition to Work employment service to help them find jobs.

If you're a farmer

Under a new tax regime, farmers will treat revenue from the sale of carbon credits as primary production income to reduce their tax bills.

The move is designed to encourage carbon abatement activities such as planting trees and help Australia deliver on its net zero emissions target by 2050.

These changes will provide farmers with an estimated $100 million benefit through the tax system over the forward estimates.
Parents are being warned of an potentially deadly new TikTok trend in which kids are challenged to hold their breathe until they pass out.

The 'thumb blowing pass out challenge' has led to dozens of children being treated for seizures and head injuries, with one ambulance officer saying call outs surged in recent days.

'There were four calls in one hour in southeast Queensland and all of those children needed transport to hospital,' Queensland Ambulance Service spokeswoman Jen Kinsela told 7News.

Ms Kinsela urged parents to talk to their children about dangerous online trends as they may not be fully aware of the risks.

Paramedic Jen Kinsella (pictured) said she had seen a surge in call outs to children who had done the viral TikTok stunt, having to rush four different children to hospital in just one hour

An urgent alert has been issued about the 'thumb blowing pass out' challenge (pictured: a schoolgirl attempting the dangerous stunt in a TikTok video)

'I don't think it's a matter of not using social media but it's really about informing them,' she said.

One Australian mother said she became aware of the stunt when she heard a loud thud from her 13-year-old son's room.

'I ran up the stairs and as I got up the top of the stairs I could hear him like groaning,' she said.

She discovered that her son had done the challenge while in his room alone had narrowly avoided smacking his head on the desk.

'His bedroom window is only a metre-and-a-half away from his bed... If he had fallen through there... I wouldn't want to think about what would have happened,' she said.

The Sydney mother said she was speaking out to raise awareness around the trend.

The dangerous TikTok challenge is growing in popularity but has been around for at least a decade

The challenge works by causing hyperventilation then stopping the flow of oxygen to such an extent that someone passes out.

This can lead to kids hitting their head when they fall, or suffering seizures or brain damage. Several children died as a result.

One 12-year-old boy in the UK had to be placed in an induced coma for 36 hours to prevent permanent damage after he experienced severe pins and needles along with disorientation hours after doing the stunt.

'We were in disbelief that this could be so dangerous. It's caused death before and many more children have suffered brain damage. Children at that age don't understand things like this,' his mum Celia said.

'There's no fear or danger. It's really important children understand the risks and we'd encourage parents to talk to their children about this.

'I'm not angry or cross, because children are children. But no one wants to go through the 36 hours we did.'

Nylah Anderson, 10, a bright young girl who spoke three languages from Pennsylvania in the US died after doing the challenge and spending several days in the ICU.

And Joshua Haileyesus, a 12-year old from Colarado in the US, also died after he completed the stunt he saw on TikTok.

Joshua's father, Haileyesus Zerihun, told the station that a few days before his son was found unconscious, he bragged to his brother about being able to hold his breath for a minute.

'Unbeknownst to his parents, Joshua had been playing this dangerous game completely unaware of the risks involved,' a GoFundMe page said.

'I don't know why people would do such things. This is not a joke. This is not a thing to play with.'

Parents are urged to speak to their teens about the dangers surrounding dangerous stunts such as the 'thumb blowing pass out' challenge (pictured)

The challenge has been around in different forms for years with a Gold Coast teen previously almost dying from playing the same game at school.

'It is just so dangerous because it sounds so innocuous to a kid, breathing out and crouching down, it doesn't sound like it could really hurt you,' their mum warned.

'But it can, you can lose oxygen to your brain, and end up brain damaged. You could fall and hit your head.'

TikTok said videos promoting dangerous challenges violate their community guidelines and are actively removed when found.
An Australian journalist reporting from Ukraine has hit back at a 'sexist' troll who slammed the mother-of-two's decision to travel to a war zone.

Nine News reporter Amelia Adams shared a photo on Twitter from Lviv on Friday, in the war-torn country's west, as she covers the Russian invasion.

The heartbreaking image shows rows of empty prams lined up in Lviv Square, totaling 109 to represent each Ukrainian child so far killed in the conflict.

But the post drew criticism from an anonymous troll, who used the topic as an opportunity to take a jibe at Adams, denouncing her parenting choices.

Channel Nine journalist Amelia Adams (pictured) has fired back at a Twitter troll who slammed her decision to report in war-torn Ukraine

'As a mother of young children yourself, I find it inconceivable that you would risk leaving your children motherless by entering a war zone just to make a name for yourself,' they wrote.

However Adams quickly fired back at the comment, and said that she and her family were managing the work arrangement just fine.

'Thanks for your concern, but Ive been in TV for nearly 20 years, and a parent for eight of those,' she wrote.

'Im here to do my job, and my children are proud of me.'

The foreign correspondent later uploaded the exchange on her Instagram, captioning the post: 'Good morning to everyone except the Twitter trolls.'

Adams shared a devastating photo from Lviv, in Ukraine, on Friday (pictured) of empty prams lined up in the city to represent the children so far killed during the Russian invasion

Adams' sister Lucy Reynaud also shared the screen grab on social media, praising her sibling for standing up to critics.

'Do we think this person also took the time to troll male reporters who are there in Ukraine with my sister about their children potentially being fatherless?' Ms Renaud wrote.

'Imagine working in a war zone for three weeks and still taking the time to fight sexism. My sister is a total rockstar.'

Adams' colleagues also rushed to her defense on the Twitter post, applauding her important work delivering updates on the Ukraine crisis.

'Not only are your children and husband proud, but your work family is too. Role model & exemplary human you are,' Nine court reporter Tiffany Genders wrote.

Weekend Today host Charles Croucher said: 'We (and by we I mean all of your family in the US and Aus) love you and the work youre doing Millie.'

Adams told the anonymous troll her children were 'proud' of their mother, but thanked them for their 'concern'. Pictured: Amelia Adams reporting from Ukraine

Pictured: People look at damage at a school that was hit by a Russian attack on March 20 in Zhytomyr, Ukraine

'You are incredible! An incredible Mum! An incredible journo! An incredible woman! An incredible friend! I love that my daughter watches you and ask if youre my friend? I proudly tell her yes. Rose watches you in awe! Thank you for being an extraordinary role model for all of us!' Nines Davina Smith added.

It comes just weeks after Adams faced a similar situation after an online troll branded her a 'disappointment' for working while her husband stays home with the kids.

Adams fired back: 'Strange how I solo parented frequently for several years when my husband travelled for work, yet no one ever (let alone repeatedly) criticised him or called him a disappointment.'
Another Sunday, another This Week on iTP rundown where we list the top five stories on the site in the past week!

This week's top stories is a blend of science tech stories as well as cloud-related news that will certainly concern those who use cloud services, particularly Google's.

Ready to learn about the top stories on iTech Post this week? Read on and find out!

The ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine looks like it is no where close to dying down and it is definitely not without consequences, especially for Russia. Our fifth top story of the week is about one of these consequences.

It has been reported Russia has just two months left before it runs out of data storage. This is due to Western cloud providers pulling out of the country as part of the sanctions being dealt on Russia.

Needless to say, the Russian government is scrambling to look for solutions and is reportely considering a number of options.

The first science tech story on the top five list focuses on the two astronauts of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) who were scheduled to perform a spacewalk.

Specifically, astronauts Kayla Barron and Raja Chari were tasked to go on a spacewalk in order to work on the ongoing upgrade of the station's power system.

3. Google Announces 'Significant Price Increases' for Google Cloud's Services

If you think that only Russia had cloud-related concerns in the past week, this article is about to tell you differently. Unfortunately for those who use Google Cloud's services, the tech giant announced significant price increases for them.

However, there is still some time before this happens as the price increases are scheduled to take effect on Oct. 1.

According to our report, "the increase in Google's Cloud Storage Class A will double from $0.10 per 10,000 operations to $0.20." Google Cloud's Coldline Storage B, on the other hand, operations will cost $0.10 per 10,000 operations instead of the current $0.05.

Always a firm believer than man can make it to the moon once more, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said that this is achievable by 2029. Musk made this declaration in a reply to a tweet he was tagged in on Twitter.

It should be noted that Musk's SpaceX and NASA are actively working with each other on the Artemis Mission, whose goal is to bring man back to the moon before doing the same on Mars.

1. NASA's Space Launch System Rollout a Success! Next Stop: The Moon

Speaking of the Artemis Mission, it looks like we are getting closer and closer to launching Artemis I as this week's top story shows. This week's top story is about the successful rollout of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS).

Specifically, both the SLS as well as the Orion spacecraft have been rolled out to Launch Pad 39B. This is an essential step to making the Artemis I launch possible. It should be noted that the Artemis I is meant to be an uncrewed mission.
Ukrainian refugees waiting for UK visas are being forced to sleep rough amid anger over red tape delays.

Host families have slammed the nightmarish bureaucracy that is said to be prolonging the process for women and children who have fled the conflict.

And volunteers have warned that delays could be putting refugees at risk amid claims of trafficking.

Refugees who have fled Ukraine have been left waiting for UK visas, forcing them to sleep rough - angering many who have volunteered there homes (pictured: a refugee woman eats in Brovary, Ukraine)

In Europe refugees have been staying in temporary shelters, such as the ballroom at the Mandachi hotel in Romania (pictured)

Under the first phase of the Homes for Ukraine scheme, Britons can sponsor refugees for a visa and offer them a rent-free room in their house.

Once a host family has been found, refugees must complete visa application forms  providing identity documents and answers to detailed questions in English. There is then a further wait before the visa is issued, with government information saying the process can take up to six weeks.

Ruth McMenamin, a volunteer in Poland, said that UK-bound refugees were sleeping in train stations and emergency accommodation as they awaited permission to travel.

The marketing head, who works for a travel company in the UK, added: There are dangers in having to wait around for applications to be processed as these women and children have nowhere to live. There are reports of trafficking.

The process needs to be sped up. Other countries are allowing people to go straight there.

Although the first refugees under the scheme are due to arrive this week, host families have said they have absolutely no idea how long the process will take.

The requirement of certificates is holding up refugees who want to come to the UK, forcing them to stay in temporary accommodation or worse while they wait (pictured: refugees in Stuttgart, Germany)

Lee Havenhand, 33, and his wife Rebecca, 30, are to share their three-bedroom home with a mother and two daughters.

The couple, who live near Doncaster were matched with the family through a Facebook site and were inspired to help after having visited Ukraine regularly for holidays.

Engineer Mr Havenhand said he helped the family, from Lviv in western Ukraine, with the visa process by filling in the required forms for them. But he added: Its a good job we did because the forms are an absolute nightmare. They took us six hours because of the amount of information and evidence that is required.

It asks for childrens birth certificates  which is a problem for many people who have already fled their homes. They also ask for proof of fathers consent, which is not always possible if he has gone off to fight in the war.

Its a shambles. We just have to cross our fingers that it is going to go through soon.

A 58-year-old woman, who is to share her home in Derbyshire with a Ukrainian woman and two daughters, also said the process was absolutely impossible.

The married woman, who asked not to be named, said the refugees she had been matched with had travelled from a village near Lviv to Berlin but wanted to move to the UK as the elder daughter spoke English. However, the traumatised family have been sleeping on the floor of a rest centre while they wait for visas.

There is no way on Gods given earth that they could have filled those forms in, she said. There are huge risks because of the information and detail I had to give as well  certainly enough to steal your identity. To make it worse, nobody knows how long it will take.

A government spokesman said it is making changes to the visa process so it is quicker and simpler for Ukrainian refugees. These include expanding capacity at Visa Application Centres and allowing valid passport holders to miss in-person appointments.
Two in three people believe smacking a child is wrong and should be outlawed in England, an NSPCC poll has found.

Wales is today bringing in legislation to ban the physical punishment of children. Scotland introduced its own ban 16 months ago.

The NSPCC survey of 3,000 adults in England found that 64 per cent were in favour of outlawing smacking  with 36 per cent against.

An NSPCC poll has found that two in three people believe smacking a child is wrong and should be outlawed in England

The charity said its Childline service has delivered more than 500 counselling sessions to children about physical punishment.

One 16-year-old girl told counsellors: It can be a proper smack or there was one occasion where [mum] pulled my hair and I fell to the floor and she continuously hit me.

I dont want to get mum in trouble, but I cant carry on being afraid of her.

Research by University College London has found physical punishment is ineffective and harmful and can increase child aggression.

Welsh law will now view it as assault.

Previously, it was permissible as reasonable punishment if it did not cause swelling, bruises, cuts or grazes.
A triple-vaxxed Rural Fire Service (RFS) volunteer will soon leave due to a new vaccine mandate.

Adam has been a volunteer firefighter with New South Wales RFS for 33 years and spent 20 years of that time as a captain however, he will soon be dismissed from his position for failing to reveal his vaccination status.

On February 14, NSW RFS announced it would require proof of vaccination from all volunteers, it was the last emergency service to do so.

Adam is triple vaccinated but told 2GB on Monday that he believes the RFS is overstepping its boundaries by asking volunteers to reveal medical details.

On February 14 NSW RFS announced it would require proof of vaccination from all volunteers, it was the last emergency service to do so

'At what point do we say enough, no more? The government has been managing our lives for the last two years and at what point do you say hold on, I've had enough of this,' he said.

'I have a document in front of me from the commissioner, and it said only 29 per cent of volunteers have responded so far.

'I don't work for the commissioner, I work for the people of New South Wales.'

Adam then said he didn't understand why a mandate on volunteers was necessary as government statistics show almost 95 per cent of people aged 16 and over have received two vaccine doses.

Adam said that he will be moved to a reserve list in June, meaning he will no longer be allowed to respond to emergency calls.

Adam, a triple-vaxxed RFS volunteer of 33 years, said he will leave the service because he believes it is wrong for volunteers to be expected to give private information

Adam said only 29 per cent of RFS volunteers had given their vaccination status and have until June to disclose it or face being moved to a Reserve list

There's growing concern that the mandate could lead to a massive reduction in volunteers despite an early survey by the RFS indicating most members were happy to introduce a mandate.

In February, the NSW RFS said in a statement that almost 80 per cent of its 2,000 fire brigades said they 'either support mandatory vaccination or would be no worse off if it was introduced'.

The RFS said it would work with the remaining brigades to find a solution.

'424 brigades did not support it, or there would be a significant impact on the brigade's ability to respond to local emergencies,' it said.

'The RFS will urgently work with those brigades to understand any local issues and how mandatory vaccination can be implemented so service delivery continues.

In February the NSW RFS said in a statement that almost 80 per cent of its 2,000 fire brigades said they 'either support mandatory vaccination or would be no worse off if it was introduced'

'In limited cases, there may be exemptions to ensure that brigade can continue to respond to emergencies in their area.'

Adam said during his interview that only 29 per cent of RFS volunteers had given their vaccination status and have until June to disclose it or face being moved to a reserve list.

RFS said it is working hard for more volunteers to respond.

'The RFS will also be urgently working to increase the number of volunteers who have reported their vaccination status to the Service,' it said.

'Its expected this process will be complete by 30 June 2022 at the latest, and members who are unable to prove their vaccination status will be moved into a "reserve" membership category.

'This means that Reserve members may only be used at the authorisation of the Brigade Captain where an operational response cannot be carried out due to a lack of available members.

'In these instances, Reserve members will be restricted to response in their local area only.'
At 71, Princess Anne is still one of our most energetic royals  and now the secret to her vitality might be out.

Wherever she goes, she carries an essential source of sustenance with her. She always has a kiwi fruit, her daughter Zara revealed.

The answer is uncovered in the bestselling royal biography Queen Of Our Times, by the Daily Mails Robert Hardman.

Kwiwi fruit has more vitamin C than an orange plus a large dose of vitamin K.

Princess Anne (pictured at the Cheltenham Festival last week), 71, is an avid fan of kiwi fruit, according to her daughter Zara

It is also often described as a superfruit and can aid the digestion of meat and other protein.

Like her elder brother the Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal  who is off to Papua New Guinea next month to celebrate the Queens Platinum Jubilee  is not a great fan of lunch.

She often prefers to produce a kiwi fruit, pictured, from her bag instead.

Queen Of Our Times  The Life Of Elizabeth II, is published by Macmillan.
Edward VIII encouraged the Nazis to bomb Britain into submission in World War Two and crown him as King.

The former king, who abdicated in 1936 to marry the divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson, also passed information to Germany that aided the fall of France in 1940, according to a new documentary.

The programme, Edward VIII: Britain's Traitor King, will air on Channel 4 on March 27 and is based on the work of historian Andrew Lownie.

It uses evidence such as captured German documents that are held in the Royal Archives to support the claims.

The damning allegations come after years of academic research into how close to the Nazis the Duke of Windsor was and the effect of his friendships on the war.

The documentary details how the Duke gave information on weaknesses in the French military to a Nazi informant, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Edward VIII encouraged the Nazis to bomb Britain into submission in World War Two and crown him as King. Above: The then former king Edward VIII and his wife Wallis Simpson meeting Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler in 1937

The former King was living in Paris and had written four reports on the French First Army describing its poor leadership and morale.

The reports were ignored by British officials but captured German diplomatic cables showed that Edward then gave the information to his close friend, Nazi informant Charles Bedaux.

The subsequent German invasion of France targeted the weaknesses Edward had identified.

During the invasion, Edward and Mrs Simpson fled to Lisbon, Portugal where they socialised with German agents and sympathisers.

The former king, who abdicated in 1936 to marry the divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson , also passed information to Germany that aided the fall of France in 1940, according to a new documentary

In another captured diplomatic cable from the German ambassador to Portuguese authorities, the Duke is said to have told representatives of Francoist Spain that 'continued severe bombing would make England ready for peace'. Above: A fireman carries a young child out of the rubble of a building hit by a bomb in London during the Blitz

In another captured diplomatic cable from the German ambassador to Portuguese authorities, the Duke is said to have told representatives of Francoist Spain that 'continued severe bombing would make England ready for peace'.

Then-Prime Minister Winston Churchill removed the Duke from Europe, making him the Governor of the Bahamas.

While travelling there, Edward sent a coded telegram to a Nazi associate saying he was willing to return to Europe.

Dr Lownie argues that this indicates Edward was aware of Operation Willie, the German plan to put the Duke back on the throne as the head of a puppet state.

In 1937, Edward and Wallis, met Hitler and his officials during a tour of Germany. Whilst there, Edward was infamously photographed giving a Nazi salute (above)

The allegations are also detailed in Dr Lownie's upcoming book Traitor King, which will be published in May.

The documents used by Dr Lownie as evidence have been in the Royal Archives for decades but a recent policy change allowed greater access for researchers with new documents emerging.

In 1937, Edward and Wallis, met Hitler and his officials during a tour of Germany.

Whilst there, Edward was infamously photographed giving a Nazi salute and later also toured industrial facilities and even a concentration camp, whose guard towers were said to have been explained to him as meat stores.

The former king was reported to have said as late as 1941 that Hitler was the 'right and logical leader of the German people'.

King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson enjoying a luxurious Mediterranean cruise in the wake of the abdication crisis, which saw him give up his throne for George VI
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky could address the Australian parliament during budget week, Scott Morrison flagged.

While speaking to Brisbane's 4BC radio station, it was revealed the prime minister was in discussions about a potential address to parliamentarians as early as the following week.

'We are in regular contact with the president and the prime minister,' Mr Morrison said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (pictured) could address the Australian parliamentas early as next week after Australia sent millions in aid, coal and weapons to help it resist Russian invasion

'We would welcome any opportunity for him to speak to the Australian people.'

Liberal MP and former diplomat Dave Sharma says he's confident every member of parliament would welcome hearing from the Ukrainian president directly about how Australia can support and assist efforts against Russia.

'If he thinks it could be helpful we should welcome it with open arms,' Mr Sharma told Sky News.

Australia has issued 5,000 'normal' visas for Ukrainians, 750 of whom have since arrived in the country, the prime minister said.

The potential parliamentary address may detail how Australia can further support and assist Ukrainian efforts against the Kremlin. Russia continued their assault on Kviy, Ukraine (pictured) as airstrikes destroyed the city on Sunday

Mr Sharma says Australia needs to be conscious of Ukrainians wanting to return home after the conflict following the announcement of three-year temporary visas for those fleeing the conflict.

The temporary visas allow the holder to access Medicare, work and for children to go to school.

'Beyond that it will depend very much on what Ukraine ends up looking like and whether there is a chance of them resettling or not and whether they would like to return to their homes or not,' he said.

'I think it is a little premature to be having those conversations right now but certainly down the track those are the things we will need to consider.'

Australia has also donated an additional $21 million worth of Australian Defence Force stock and put aside 70,000 tonnes of thermal coal for Ukraine's power stations in an effort to prop up its resistance against Russia.

An additional $30 million in humanitarian assistance will focus on protecting displaced women and children and addressing food shortages.
For far too long, British judges have allowed the rich and powerful to use privacy laws to evade legitimate scrutiny.

Under the Human Rights Act, judges are meant to balance privacy against the public right to know. But too often oligarchs and others with secrets use the courts to suppress legitimate journalistic inquiries.

Justice Secretary Dominic Raab has vowed to redress the balance, and the publishers of the Mail, Times, Telegraph and i newspapers have now submitted proposals to a consultation process.

Principally, they recommend that judges be obliged to take into account the general public benefit of a free media, as well as the public interest in the specific story at issue.

They also call for journalism to be exempt from the Data Protection Act, as in Germany, Sweden, Australia and New Zealand.

This legislation was intended to police companies dealing in private customer data, not stifle journalistic endeavour.

Free expression is the cornerstone of a free society. Judges must always remember that it is a right, not a privilege.
President Joseph Biden will travel to Poland on Friday to discuss the international response to 'the humanitarian and human rights crisis that Russia's unjustified and unprovoked war on Ukraine has created,' White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said late Sunday.

Biden's trip to Warsaw will come a day after he meets in Brussels with NATO Allies, G7 Leaders and European Union Leaders to discuss international efforts to support Ukraine as Russian forces continue to pummel their neighbor.

In Poland, Biden will hold a bilateral meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda. However, Biden will not visit Ukraine during his trip to Europe, Psaki said earlier Sunday after officials in Kyiv issued an open invitation to the president.

More than 2 million refugees have entered Poland from Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on Feb. 24, the Polish border guard said on Friday.

The White House also said Biden will host a call Monday at 11 a.m. EST with President Emmanuel Macron of France, Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy and Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom to discuss their coordinated responses to Russias invasion of Ukraine.

United Nations data showed as of Thursday about 3.2 million have fled abroad from Ukraine since last month, in what has become Europe's fastest growing refugee crisis since World War Two.

Polish President Andrzej Duda will welcome President Joe Biden in Warsaw on Friday

Refugees from Ukraine are seen standing in line for free train tickets in the hall of the main railway station in Przemysl, southeastern Poland, on Sunday. Ten million people - more than a quarter of the population - have now fled their homes in Ukraine since Russia's invasion on February 24, the United Nations refugees chief said

Ukraine refugees queue up outside National Stadium in Warsaw on Sunday to get a national identification number after Polish President Andrzej Duda signed into law an amended bill on assistance to Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion

The UN said some of the 2 million people entering Poland from Ukraine have moved on to other countries in the EU but the 'the majority are believed to be still in Poland.'

On Thursday, Biden will attend an emergency NATO Summit on Ukraine as well as a G7 meeting. He will also join a scheduled European Council Summit to discuss Ukraine 'including transatlantic efforts to impose economic costs on Russia, provide humanitarian support to those affected by the violence, and address other challenges related to the conflict,' the White House said.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said earlier Sunday that a visit by Biden to war-ravaged Ukraine was 'not on the table.'

'This is a country at war. I can't imagine that that would be on the table,' Thomas-Greenfield told CNN's State of the Union host Jake Tapper on Sunday morning when asked about Biden visiting Ukraine.

Ahead of the trip this week, Biden was pictured Sunday on a bike ride in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where he is visiting his vacation home for the weekend.

Evacuees from the villages occupied by Russian soldiers arrive in the town of Brovary, near Kyiv, on Sunday

A resident, carrying her dog, leaves her apartment after a warehouse was hit by debris from a downed rocket in Kyiv on Sunday

Ukraine is experiencing its 25th day of attack from Russia with the United Nations saying 900 civilians have died since invasion on February 24. Pictured: Ukrainian firefighters and security teams response to a building hit by Russian missiles in Kyiv, Ukraine on Sunday March 20

Meanwhile, Ukraine was experiencing its 25th day of attack from Russia, which has seen seen the death of 900 civilians, according to the United Nations.

Local authorities in the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol say that the Russian military bombed an art school where about 400 people had taken refuge  reducing the building to rubble, although there is no immediate word on casualties.

Terrifying footage emerged apparently showing Russia firing deadly thermobaric TOS-1A rockets, which can allegedly melt human organs.

Authorities in Ukraine's eastern city of Kharkiv say at least five civilians, including a nine-year-old boy, have been killed in the latest Russian shelling

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's chief diplomatic adviser Ihor Zhovka said Biden 'should not be afraid' to visit Kyiv 'if you are brave' enough.

The invitation comes as Biden plans to travel to Brussels for a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit this upcoming week.

President Joe Biden is visiting Europe this week, but will not be making a stop in war-torn Ukraine despite invites from officials to survey the damage from war with Russia. Pictured: Biden takes a bike rid in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware on Sunday, March 20, 2022

Zhovka has requested that Biden facilitate Ukraine's upcoming acquisition of U.S. weapons, which include fighter jets and missiles.

The adviser also slammed Ukraine's allies, alleging Zelensky is 'disappointed' in the U.S. and NATO's apparent rejection to fulfill the nation's request to impose a no-fly zone over its airspace.

'If NATO is not able to provide us with a humanitarian no-fly zone, please provide us with fighter jets, please provide us with anti-missile air defense systems,' Zhovka said during a CNN interview, Mediaite reported. 'So, my president will keep doing this. He spoke about this in the U.S. Congress. He's talking about this on a daily basis.'

Biden, who has not publicly issued a decision on Zelensky's request, was warned earlier this week that imposing the no-fly zone would be an 'act of war'. It remains unclear how Biden will proceed.

Ukrainian President Zelensky's chief diplomatic adviser Ihor Zhovkva (pictured) invited Biden to visit Kyiv next week amid Russia's ongoing invasion of the country, saying 'one should not be afraid to  if you are brave'

He explained that Zelenksy is 'disappointed' in the U.S. and NATO's apparent rejection to fulfill Ukraine's request to impose a no-fly zone over its airspace

Zhovka also noted how leaders of three other nations have visited Kyiv and met with Zelensky.

'Well, you know, just this week, three prime ministers of three friendly nations  Poland, Czech Republic, and Slovenia  visited, personally, Kyiv, and they met personally with President Zelensky,' he responded.

'So why [doesn't] President Biden come to Ukraine to meet with the president?'

When questioned about the danger of Biden traveling to Kyiv, Zhovka said: 'Well, definitely it is dangerous when you have a war against my country, a war in Europe.'

It is unclear if Biden will accept Zhovka and Zelensky's invitation, which comes as Ukraine is set to receive a new shipment of U.S. weapons within days, including javelin and stinger missiles.

'The (weapons) will be on the territory of our country in the nearest future. We are talking about days,' Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov confirmed in a televised interview Saturday.

Ukraine's allies have delivered planeloads of weapons shipments to bolster its military against the Russian invasion. Russia has criticized such deliveries from NATO member states.

Ukraine and the West claim that Russia's invasion is floundering in part due to fierce Ukrainian resistance, poor planning and low morale among Russian forces.

According to one US intelligence estimate, 7,000 Russian troops, including four generals, have been killed since the Russian invasion on February 24 and between 14,000 and 21,000 troops have been injured in the fighting.

Moscow's Defense Ministry says that less than 500 soldiers have been killed.

Ukraine's military has also suffered heavy losses, likely to be much higher than the 1,300 troops which Kyiv has confirmed as killed.

According to Ukraine's military, Russia has lost 466 tanks, 115 helicopters, 914 vehicles, 95 aircraft, 213 artillery systems, 44 anti-aircraft weapons and 60 fuel tanks. Russia has not responded to Kyiv's latest estimates, and the information could not be independently verified.

The estimates come as Russia used its latest hypersonic missile for the first time during its attack on Ukraine, a military spokesman said.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said the hypersonic missiles, known as Kinzhal, destroyed an underground warehouse storing missiles and aviation ammunition of Ukrainian troops in the western Ivano-Frankivsk region.

Konashenkov also said the Russian forces used the anti-ship missile system Bastion to strike Ukrainian military facilities near the Black Sea port of Odesa.

The World Health Organisation said it has verified 43 attacks on hospitals and health facilities, with 12 people killed and 34 injured.

US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said on Thursday that American officials were evaluating potential war crimes and that if the intentional targeting of civilians by Russia is confirmed, there will be 'massive consequences'.

The United Nations political chief, undersecretary-general, Rosemary DiCarlo, also called for an investigation into civilian casualties, reminding the UN Security Council that international humanitarian law bans direct attacks on civilians.

She said many of the daily attacks battering Ukrainian cities 'are reportedly indiscriminate' and involve the use of 'explosive weapons with a wide impact area'. DiCarlo said the devastation in Mariupol and Kharkiv 'raises grave fears about the fate of millions of residents of Kyiv and other cities facing intensifying attacks'.

Hundreds of civilians were said to have taken shelter in a grand, columned theatre in the city's centre when it was hit on Wednesday by a Russian airstrike. On Friday, their fate was still uncertain, with conflicting reports on whether anyone had emerged from the rubble.

Officials say communications are disrupted across the city and movement is difficult because of shelling and fighting.
US officials have identified the four Marines who died when their military aircraft crashed in Norway on Friday during a NATO training exercise.

The four fallen soldiers are Captain Matthew J. Tomkiewicz, 27, of Fort Wayne, Indiana; Captain Ross A. Reynolds, 27, of Leominster, Massachusetts; Gunnery Sergeant James W. Speedy, 30, of Cambridge, Ohio, and Corporal Jacob M. Moore of Catlettsburg, Kentucky.

The four were killed when their MV-22B Osprey aircraft went down while they were taking part in a NATO military exercise called Cold Response.

They were all assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 261. Norwegian civil authorities and the Marine Corps. worked together to recover the bodies of the deceased, which are in the process of being brought to the U.S. through dignified transfer.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation, but officials said that the Marines faced harsh weather conditions during the exercise that could have played a factor.

Officials identified the four Marines who died when their military helicopter crashed in the Arctic Norway on Friday during a NATO training exercise as Captain Ross A. Reynolds, Corporal Jacob M. Moore, Gunnery Sergeant James W. Speedy and Captain Matthew J. Tomkiewicz

The Marines died when their MV-22B Osprey aircraft went down while they were taking part in a NATO military exercise called Cold Response

'The pilots and crew were committed to accomplishing their mission and serving a cause greater than themselves,' said Major General Michael Cederholm, of the Second Marine Aircraft Wing, wrote in a letter to the families of the fallen Marines, according to a press release from the II Marine Expeditionary Force.

'We will continue to execute the mission while keeping these Marines and their service on the forefront of our minds. We will never allow these Marines' sacrifice to go unnoticed or unappreciated. Keep these Marines and their loved ones in your thoughts and prayers,' Cederholm added.

Tomkiewicz was as an MV-22B Osprey pilot who joined the Marine Corps in 2015. His decorations include the National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.

Reynolds was also an MV-22B Osprey pilot who joined the Marine Corps in 2017. His decorations include the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon and multiple certificates and letters of appreciation.

Speedy was an administrative specialist who joined the Marine Corps. in 2009. His decorations include the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal with two gold stars, the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, the Marine Corps Drill Instructor Ribbon, and multiple certificates and letters of appreciation.

The bodies of the deceased are in the process of being brought to the U.S. through dignified transfer. The Marines were traveling in a MV-22B Osprey, like the one pictured above

The cause of the crash is still under investigation, but officials said that the Marines faced harsh weather conditions during the exercise

The aircraft crashes south of Bodo, in Norway, on its way to a base in the area

Moore was an MV-22B Osprey crew chief who joined the Marine Corps in 2018. His decorations include the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.

Multiple NATO allies and partners offered an outpouring of support after the tragedy, including the Royal Norwegian Air Force, Royal Norwegian Navy, Norwegian Joint Headquarters, Norway's 330 Squadron and Hoved Redning Ssentralen  a civil emergency rescue and response organization.

Military forces in Italy, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom also offered support. ' We are grateful for their efforts and professional commitment to long and enduring relationships,' reads a press release from the II Marine Expeditionary Force.

'We are broken-hearted, left trying to imagine our lives without Ross. We are in shock and are devastated by his loss. We will miss his smile, his hugs, his laughter. We will miss his energy and goodness,' Reynolds' family said in a statement to Boston news outlet WCVB.

'We appreciate all those who have reached out to support us at this difficult time. We pray for Ross and the other Marines lost in this tragic accident. Our hearts go out to their families and their loved ones. We share their grief and will keep them in our thoughts and prayers. As well as the rest of his squadron, that now has to fill a large void in their lives,' Reynolds' family added.

'My condolences and the condolences of all our residents to the families of these great Americans. Ross was and his family were active as a scout and later as an Eagle Scout. Ross was always the 'kid carrying the flag,' Leominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella said in a statement to WCVB on Sunday evening.

'We are a tight and loyal community and stand ready to support his parents, sister and his wife Lana during this difficult time. God bless these brave Marines and all who have served and serve for keeping us a free America,' he added.

The MV-22B Osprey aircraft was reported missing at 6.26pm on Friday, the Joint Rescue Coordination Centres (JRCC) said.

There are 3,000 U.S. Marines in northern Norway participating in the Cold Response 22 NATO exercise, which is held every two years to help train NATO forces how to operate in the Artic

THE MV-22 OSPREY The MV-22 Osprey is the primary assault support aircraft for the U.S. Marines. It uses two engines positioned on the wing tips to allow the aircraft to take off and land vertically. It's design allows the aircraft to carry about 24 Marine combat troops twice as fast and five times further than standard helicopters. The Marine's V-22 Ospreys have been involved in a number of deadly crashes in the past. In 2017, three Marines died when a MV-22 Osprey went down off the coast of Australia. In 2000, a V-22 Osprey crashed at the Marana Regional Airport near Tucson, Arizona, killing 19 Marines on board. Advertisement

A rescue helicopter and a Norwegian military Orion plane searching the area spotted the wreckage from the air at 8.17pm after receiving an emergency signal.

'We've discovered an aircraft that has crashed. We've seen no sign of life,' Nordland police chief of staff Bent Eilertsen told Reuters on Friday.

'We've been told it's an American aircraft with four Americans on board,' he said.

'Norwegian civil authorities are leading the search and rescue efforts at this time,' The Second Marine Expeditionary Force said in a statement. 'We are grateful for their efforts and will assist them... in all manners possible.'

While tensions are high between NATO and Russia following the invasion of Ukraine last month, NATO said in a statement that the training exercise was unrelated and scheduled eight months in advance.

'It is not linked to Russia's unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine, which NATO is responding to with preventive, proportionate and non-escalatory measures,' NATO officials said in a statement.

Because of the bad weather, the rescue aircraft could not land. Instead, police and rescue services were trying to reach the site by land, but it was unclear how long this could take.

'It's dark, the weather conditions are bad and there is a risk of avalanches,' Eilertsen said.

There are 3,000 U.S. Marines in northern Norway participating in the Cold Response 22 NATO exercise, which is held every two years to help train NATO forces how to operate in the Artic.

The exercise runs between March 14 to April 1.

The Marine's V-22 Ospreys have been involved in a number of deadly crashes in the past.

In 2017, three Marines died when a MV-22 Osprey went down off the coast of Australia.

In 2000, a V-22 Osprey crashed at the Marana Regional Airport near Tucson, Arizona, killing 19 Marines on board.

The plane was on a training exercise and had been due to land at around 6 p.m. at a base in Bodo (above). Weather was bad in the area, with conditions worsening
Under-fire senator Penny Wong has fired back at claims Labor 'always has an excuse' for in-party scandals as she defended herself against claims she and her fellow 'mean girls' bullied Kimberley Kitching before her death.

In her first public interview since the scandal broke last week, Ms Wong denied suggestions Labor had failed to own up to its failures in the past.

Bombshell reports have claimed Senator Kitching was ostracised by Ms Wong and fellow senators Katy Gallagher and Kristina Keneally before the 52-year-old's death from a heart attack earlier this month.

'It does appear that when its the Labor party, there's always an excuse for this kind of behaviour,' Nine News reporter Chris Uhlmann said. 'But its never accepted when it's on the conservative side.'

Ms Wong said the party had taken steps to improve the party's culture, adding that no 'party is perfect'.

Kimberley Kitching died earlier this month from a heart attack at the age of 52. Claims have emerged the late senator was being ostracised by senior Labor members before her death

'We should be held to a common standard on our behaviour,' she said.

'There have been a lot of changes that have been made [in the Labor party]. I don't think any party is perfect, but we have made many changes both in getting more women into parliament and ensuring we have much better processes in place than when I first came into parliament.

'Now we have a bullying code of conduct, we have complaints mechanisms people can go to - they are well known.'

Elsewhere in the interview, Senator Wong rubbished claims she and her fellow 'mean girls' bullied Ms Kitching in the months leading up to her fatal heart attack.

Senator Wong admitted she said 'insensitive' things to Senator Kitching before her death, but again denied any culture of bullying towards the former powerbroker.

She admitted telling Senator Kitching 'if you had children you might understand why there's a climate emergency', but insisted it wasn't a 'personal attack'.

Penny Wong defended her treatment of Kimberley Kitching in an exclusive interview with Nine's political reporter Chris Uhlmann on Sunday

'My motivation was to express the distress that many children feel about climate change,' Ms Wong said.

'But what I said was insensitive. I regret it. I apologised, as I should.'

When the reporter snapped back 'only when it became public', Senator Wong replied: 'She never raised it with me. We have a lot of robust exchanges, but I regret making the remark.'

Senator Wong lamented having to respond to rumours the day before Senator Kitching's funeral.

'We put out a statement that makes clear we have chosen not to respond. We haven't done that because we're not able to, but because we didn't think it was the right thing to do,' she said.

The Labor senator also denied claims that she had led the charge to kick Senator Kitching off the tactics committee over her support for Linda Reynolds following the Brittany Higgins rape allegations.

'Politics is really hard, and people are under a lot of pressure,' Senator Wong said.

'I have no doubt at times we say and do things without thinking of the impact on others. We should reflect on that.'

She also defended the fellow 'mean girls', saying there were several claims being made that were 'not true'.

'Katy, Kristina and I work every day to try and further the interests of the Labor Party and the country. We've spent years in public life seeking to promote women,' Senator Wong said.

'There are views that are being shared and claims that are being made, which are not true.'

Labor frontbencher Bill Shorten has suggested the Senator Kitching was stressed about her pre-selection for her Victorian Senate seat.

But Senator Farrell, who counted himself as a close friend of the late senator, said there was no reason for her to have felt that way.

'I don't think there was any prospect at all of her losing her pre-selection, to be perfectly honest,' Senator Farrell told Sky News' Sunday Agenda program.

'She was supposed to call me the day she died to talk about that and I was certainly of the view that she would be re-endorsed, there was no other candidate I don't believe to replace her.'

Labor Senator Penny Wong (right) has rubbished claims she and fellow 'mean girls' Katy Gallagher (left) and Kristina Keneally (right), bullied Kimberley Kitching in the months leading to her fatal heart attack

Anthony Albanese said on Sunday he received 'no complaints' from Senator Kitching over claims she was bullied by other women in the party.

'I received no complaints (from Kimberley) at any time,' he said.

'That is just a fact. That is not to say that, of course, from time to time in politics, it's a competitive business [and] one where I think we could all be kinder to each other... within the Parliament, within our own parties, and across the aisle, and I would always urge people to do so.'

Mr Albanese also rejected reports Senator Kitching was 'scared' of the ALP leader.

'That is just not true. Kimberley and I travelled together, have a look at the photos from the trip,' he said.

Mr Albanese was referring to a delegation he led to Taiwan that included Senator Kitching.

'She was vivacious, she was the life of the room she was in. And it is tragic to think that she has departed far too soon,' he said.

The tense exchange came as bombshell texts emerged showing Senator Kitching messaged a friend about Senator Wong the night before she lodged a bullying complaint.

'Wong has been bad,' the message obtained by The Australian reads. 'She would love to never see me again.'

Senator Kimberley Kitching sent a text message to a close friend saying that Senator Penny Wong never wanted to see her again the night before she lodged bullying claims (Pictured, mock-up text)

Kitching sent the text late at night on the November 4 last year. The next day she lodged her bullying complaint to Deputy Leader Richard Marles.

Senator Kitching had earlier met with Mr Marles in June where she told him she believed she was being 'frozen out' by the Senate leadership team and claimed to have been unfairly dumped from the tactics committee meetings.

The situation was reportedly never resolved.

Former Labor MP Emma Husar has also claimed bullying within the party, claiming it caused her so much stress she too developed a heart condition.
Envoy rejects talk China is aiding Russia militarily

Chinadaily.com.cn) 15:32, March 21, 2022

Qin Gang, China's ambassador to the United States, is seen on the CBS News show Face the Nation on March 20, 2021. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

China's ambassador to the United States said Sunday that allegations that his country is providing military assistance to Russia in its conflict with Ukraine is "disinformation".

"We reject that. What China is doing is sending food, medicine, sleeping bags and the baby formula," Ambassador Qin Gang told Margaret Brennan on the CBS News show Face the Nation.

Face the Nation is a weekly American news and morning public affairs program airing Sundays on the CBS radio and television network.

Brennan repeatedly pressed Qin on the premise despite the fact that the US and NATO are providing Ukraine with billions of dollars of military and other assistance and imposing sweeping economic sanctions on Russia. Ukraine is not a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

"So President Biden asked Beijing not to provide any kind of support to Russia. Is it your intent to go ahead and give a lifeline to Vladimir Putin?" Brennan asked.

Qin replied: "On Friday, President Xi Jinping and President Biden had a video call. It was candid, deep and constructive. President Xi Jinping gave China's position very clear, that is China stands for peace, opposes war."

Xi said during the call that China is ready to provide further humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and other affected countries.

"All sides need to jointly support Russia and Ukraine in having dialogue and negotiation that will produce results and lead to peace," Xi said, adding that the US and NATO should also have dialogue with Russia to address the crux of the Ukraine crisis and ease the security concerns of both Russia and Ukraine.

"China is a peace-loving country. We hate to see the situation over Ukraine come to today's, like this, and we call for immediate cease-fire, and we are promoting peace talks, and we are sending humanitarian assistance," Qin continued.

"Will you send money and weapons to Russia, though?" Brennan persisted.

"Well, there's disinformation about China providing military assistance to Russia," Qin replied. "We reject that," he said, adding that China is not sending "weapons and ammunition to any party and we are against a war, as I said, you know, we will do everything to de-escalate the crisis".

Qin said Sino-Russia relations were "built over many years  we have a long, shared border, as long as over 4,000 kilometers (2,485 miles), and we have a lot of common interests. The trusted relations with Russia give us a unique position.

"China's trusted relations with Russia is not a liability. It's an asset in the international efforts to solve the crisis in a peaceful way," he said. "And China is part of the solution. It's not part of the problem."

"China has normal trade, economic, financial, energy cooperation with Russia," Qin said. He called the relationship "normal business between two sovereign countries  based on international order, laws, including WTO rules".

"China upholds the UN Charter purposes and principles, including respect for national sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, including Ukraine. On the other hand, we do see there's a complexity in the history of the Ukraine issue."

Qin added that, "China has good relations with Russia, has good relations with Ukraine, and China keeps close communications with the United States and with Europe. They enable China to reach out to all parties concerned in a crisis. So China's unique role can help the peaceful settlement of the crisis."

"What we need is good diplomacy based on vision, wisdom and the courage, and looking ahead (to) the enduring approach to the security issue in Europe."

(Web editor: Peng yukai, Liang Jun)
Brazil's Supreme Court has recently decided to unban Telegram in the country after it agreed to freeze accounts involved in spreading misinformation.

According to a New York Times article, the company behind the instant messaging app didn't respond to the Supreme Court's orders as it missed the emails that contained them.

"I apologize to the Brazilian Supreme Court for our negligence, " said Pavel Durov, Telegram's chief executive.

The Telegram ban, which went unnoticed, only lasted two days.

Telegram's Quick Ban Details

The Brazilian Supreme Court previously sent an order of suspension to Telegram on March 17 due to the company refusing to fully cooperate with its concerns with disinformation in the app, per a previous iTechPost article.

At this point, it had also sent multiple requests for cooperation to Telegram. However, the company failed to address the Supreme Court's concerns.

Meanwhile, WhatsApp's parent company, Meta, and Twitter have complied with the Supreme Court's orders.

Read More: Meta's Facebook Protect Takes It Too Far, Locks Out Phone Owners

In addition to the disinformation concerns, Brazil's Supreme Court banned Telegram due to its noncompliance with its judicial orders directing Telegram to remove messages containing disinformation.

The Telegram ban was ordered and dropped by Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes, a prominent opponent of President Bolsonaro who is overseeing several investigations into the country's president and his allies.

Telegram's Response to Brazil's Ban

In response to Brazil's ban, Telegram mentioned that it deleted classified information shared by the account of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and removed the accounts of President Bolsonaro's prominent supporters who have been accused of spreading fake news.

Additionally, the company made several changes to its app in Brazil to prevent the spread of misinformation on it, which was something that got Brazilian officials worried before the presidential elections in October. It also started promoting verified information in Brazil and marking false posts as inaccurate.

Telegram is largely considered a social media and messaging app due to its scattershot and lax moderation, according to a Vox article.

The company also has its employees monitoring the 100 most popular channels in Brazil that turnaround 95% of public posts in the country.

"The app has always been willing to collaborate with the authorities," said Telegram's newly-hired lawyer in Brazil, Alan Thomaz. "What happened was a misunderstanding regarding communication."

Effects of Telegram's Ban on the Public

The Brazilian Supreme Court initially ordered Apple, Google, and local phone carriers to block Telegram in five days, while Anatel has given one day to put an official halt to Telegram's operations.

Anatel is Brazil's National Telecommunication Agency.

However, as Telegram complied with the Supreme Court's orders over the weekend, the former dropped the ban only after two days of ordering it.

As a result, the general public did not notice the Telegram ban at all.

Related Article: Brazilian Court Turns to Apple, Google to Block Uncooperative Telegram
Kimberley Kitching's husband has delivered a stinging broadside against Labor's 'mean girls' accused of bullying the 'committed and determined' senator before she died aged 52.

In a powerful speech at Senator Kitching's funeral on Monday, shattered husband Andrew Landeryou revealed: 'Her friends and ferociously loyal staff are angry about how she was treated'.

He did not name Kristina Keneally, Penny Wong and Katy Gallagher - who have denied ostracising Senator Kitching - but referred to a 'cantankerous cabal' of her detractors.

'Kimberley's political and moral judgement was vastly superior to the small number who opposed her internally,' he said.

'And of course there is a lot I could say about the unpleasantness of a cantankerous cabal  not all of them in Parliament  that was aimed at Kimba, and the intensity of it did baffle and hurt her.

'She deserved so very much much better.'

Penny Wong (pictured) went to Senator Kitching's funeral after denying she had bullied her Labor colleague

Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Kristina Keneally (left) arrives ahead of the funeral service for Senator Kimberley Kitching

Bill Shorten (pictured entering the cathedral with wife Chloe and daughter Clementine) said Senator Kitching's death will leave a 'black hole' in many lives

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce arrives ahead of the funeral service in sunglasses and a hat

Defence Minister Peter Dutton arrives ahead of the funeral service for Senator Kimberley Kitching

Australian Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese sat next to Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews

Senator Kitching was remembered as fiercely intelligent and loving. Pictured: The order of service

Flowers in the cathedral spelled Senator Kitching's nickname, Kimba

A who's who of politics - including Anthony Albanese, Peter Dutton, Barnaby Joyce and Daniel Andrews - packed the St Patrick's Cathedral in east Melbourne for the moving service at 2.30pm.

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott also attended but Scott Morrison was up in Brisbane.

Senator Kitching, who had friends on all sides of politics, died on March 10 after pulling over her car in suburban Melbourne during a suspected heart attack.

During the attack, Senator Kitching phoned her husband but then went silent. By the time he reached her side, she had passed away.

In a speech at the start of the service, he described her as 'very clever, very, very pretty and well spoken'.

'Kimberley's beauty and grace and elegance mesmerised me,' he said, recalling their first meeting.

Mr Landeryou said when he found his wife dead he found two 'poignant' reminders of her kindness on the passenger seat: a bottle of champagne for a dinner party that night and a pie she had bought for his lunch.

'Despite a frantically busy and stressful day she had taken time of all things to buy me a pie from a bakery I like.

'Other than call me I think it was the last thing she did,' he said.

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott also attended but Scott Morrison was up in Brisbane

Sky news host and former Liberal staffer Peta Credlin arrives for the funeral

Victorian Premier Dan Andrews paid his respects at the funeral on Monday afternoon

Left: Senator Kitching holds roses in a photo shown at her funeral. Right: Mourners leave messages

Former leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten, wife Chloe Shorten and daughter Clementine arrive ahead of the funeral service for Senator Kitching

Choking back tears, Mr Landeryou said his wife's death was 'absurd and unjust,' adding: 'I would gladly swap places with her.'

'I'm not going to blame any one person or any one meeting,' he said.

'Her friends and ferociously loyal staff are angry about how she was treated. Of course they are.

'And I have no quarrel with them about that. They know what they saw with their own eyes.

'I'm angry I failed to persuade her to slow down,' he said.

Senator Kitching's allies have accused Labor's senate leadership team comprising Wong, Keneally and Gallagher of treating her poorly before her death, including forcing her to do late night shifts and dumping her from the tactics committee.

Last week Senator Wong revealed she apologised to Senator Kitching in 2019 after insulting her childless fellow Labor senator by saying: 'If you had children you would understand'.

Left: Labor MP Anne Aly. Right: Former Labor senator Sam Dastyari

In a powerful speech at Senator Kitching's funeral on Monday, shattered husband Andrew Landeryou (pictured) revealed: 'Her friends and ferociously loyal staff are angry about how she was treated'

Labor MP Tony Burke (left) and Nationals MP Bridget McKenzie (right)

Victorian Liberal MP Tim Smith arrives ahead of the funeral service for Senator Kimberley Kitching at St Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne

Secretary of the Victorian branch of the CFMEU John Setka arrives for the funeral

The Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Penny Wong (centre) arrives ahead of the funeral service alongside Labor MP Josh Burns (right)

Penny Wong arrives at Kimberley Kitching's funeral wearing a black mask on Monday

Some guests were carrying flowers as they entered the cathedral grounds

Before her death Senator Kitching was being treated for a thyroid condition which caused her to lose weight in recent years but was improving.

She was under stress because he preselection for a senate spot was up in the air, meaning her career could come crashing down after just six years.

Mourners had begun flooding into the church more than an hour-and-a-half before the service was due to commence.

They were greeted by bright sunshine on what was nothing short of a perfect Melbourne afternoon.

Scores of photographers and cameramen lined the church entrance as mourners arrived.

Only a day earlier, Melburnians had watched the funeral of another great local in Shane Warne.

Among the crowds at the church gates were undercover police officers, who kept a close watch on those who entered the grounds.

Journalists both past and present also attended, including News Corp firebrand Andrew Bolt, who was close friends with Ms Kitching's husband.

Flowers continued to arrive even as the service commenced.

Former Opposition Leader Bill Shorten speaks during the funeral service

One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson arrives. She was close friends with Senator Kitching and they went to Afghanistan together in 2018

Nationals Senator for Queensland Matt Canavan arrives ahead of the funeral service for Senator Kimberley Kitching

The Leader of the Government in the Senate Simon Birmingham arrives for the funeral

Australian Attorney-General Michael Cash (centre) arrives ahead of the funeral service

Outgoing Liberal MP Nicole Flint attended the service to remember Senator Kitching

Senator Kitching was farewelled by a large crowd which packed the Cathedral

So full was the church that some people were forced to stand at the back of the to watch.

The large attendance was testament to the politician's high regard.

One former reporter and now political spin doctor said Ms Kitching was a breath of fresh air. 'She was one of the good ones,' he said.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese said on Sunday he received 'no complaints' from Senator Kitching over claims she was bullied by other women in the party.

'I received no complaints (from Kimberley) at any time,' he said.

'That is just a fact. That is not to say that, of course, from time to time in politics, it's a competitive business [and] one where I think we could all be kinder to each other... within the Parliament, within our own parties, and across the aisle, and I would always urge people to do so.'

Mr Albanese also rejected reports Senator Kitching was 'scared' of the ALP leader.

'That is just not true. Kimberley and I travelled together, have a look at the photos from the trip,' he said.

Mourners attended Kimberley Kitching's funeral after the respected Labor senator died of a suspected heart attack aged 52

Three Labor senators (pictured) accused of bullying colleague Kimberley Kitching before her fatal heart attack have denied the allegations

In October 2019 Senator Wong told Senator Kitching 'if you had children, you might understand' in a discussion about climate change.

Ms Kitching - who was unable to conceive with husband Andrew - had argued the party should not support students who ditched school to attend climate protests.

Senator Kitching's supporters said the comment hurt because she wanted to have children but could not.

In a statement, Senators Keneally, Wong and Gallagher said 'allegations of bullying are untrue' but admitted that 'robust contests and interactions' are frequent in politics.

Senator Wong has now revealed she apologised for the horrendous remark when it was reported by the ABC in November 2019 in an article that didn't name her.

'After these matters were publicly reported more than two years ago, Senator Wong discussed the matter with Senator Kitching and apologised,' the statement said.

'Senator Wong understood that apology was accepted. The comments that have been reported do not reflect Senator Wong's views, as those who know her would understand, and she deeply regrets pain these reports have caused.'

In October 2019 Senator Wong told Senator Kitching (pictured in May last year) 'if you had children, you might understand' in a discussion about climate change

Mr Albanese refused to set up an inquiry into the bullying allegations and repeatedly refused to answer questions about the matter, claiming they are disrespectful to Senator Kitching.

After blasting the Coalition over the poor treatment of women, the scandal threatens to derail his bid to become Prime Minister in May.

Scott Morrison said Mr Albanese had gone into hiding. 'Where is Anthony Albanese? I mean, where is he on this issue,' he said.

The full statement by Wong, Keneally and Gallagher This has been a difficult time for the Labor family. Senator Kitching's tragic death has been a shock to us all. People are grieving and hurting. Our priority at this time has been Senator Kitching's husband, Andrew, her family and her loved ones. Their grief is profound, their loss immeasurable. Out of respect for them, and for Senator Kitching, we have not responded to allegations that have been made, despite them not being true. This has been hard, but we believed it to be the right thing to do to maintain some dignity for all concerned. Given the hurtful statements that continue to be made we feel it necessary to respond. The allegations of bullying are untrue. Other assertions which have been made are similarly inaccurate. All of us have spent many years in the service of the public. We do so because we want to make a contribution to the nation. Politics is a challenging profession. Contests can be robust and interactions difficult. All of its participants at times act or speak in ways that can impact on others negatively. We have and do reflect on this, as individuals and as leaders. It is for this reason Senator Wong wishes to place on record a response to specific claims regarding an exchange in a meeting with Senator Kitching. After these matters were publicly reported more than two years ago, Senator Wong discussed the matter with Senator Kitching and apologised. Senator Wong understood that apology was accepted. The comments that have been reported do not reflect Senator Wong's views, as those who know her would understand, and she deeply regrets pain these reports have caused. All three of us will be attending Senator Kitching's funeral. This follows engagement with Senator Kitching's family about our attendance. We will do so to recognise and respect her contribution to public life. Advertisement

Senator Kitching - who was from the Labor Right faction - made allegations of in-party bullying to Deputy Leader Richard Marles in June and then to workplace safety consultants in November.

She told Mr Marles she believed she was being 'frozen out' by the left-dominated Senate leadership team and claimed to have been unfairly dumped from the tactics committee meetings.

Mr Marles reportedly said he would 'sort it out' but nothing happened.

In an awkward interview with Ally Langdon on the Today show on Friday, Mr Marles refused to say if he had let Senator Kitching down.

'I'm not going to walk down that path,' he spluttered.

'Right now we want to honour Kimberley Kitching, who she was, what she achieved, the warm and wonderful person that she was and that's what I'm focused on.'

Defence Minister Peter Dutton said Ms Kitching's friends and family deserved answers about how she suffered in her final years in parliament.

'There are many people, close friends of Kimberley's within the Labor Party, making these allegations and if I was leader or deputy leader of the Labor Party I would want to know the answers,' he said.

Meanwhile, bombshell texts have emerged showing Ms Kitching messaged a friend about Ms Wong the night before she lodged a bullying complaint.

'Wong has been bad,' the message obtained by The Australian reads.

'She would love to never see me again.'

Shadow Minister for Home Affairs Kristina Keneally (right) and Katy Gallagher in 2019

Senator Kimberley Kitching sent a text message to a close friend saying that Senator Penny Wong never wanted to see her again the night before she lodged bullying claims (Pictured, mock-up text)

Senator Kitching sent the text late at night on the November 4 last year. The next day she lodged her bullying complaint.

The relationship between Senator Kitching and Wong - a key figure of the Labor Left - was reportedly stony and the pair had previously fallen out.

Former Labor MP Emma Husar has since come forward with reports of bullying within the party, claiming it caused her so much stress she also developed a heart condition.

Ms Husar, who once represented the Western Sydney seat of Lindsay, claims she was also a victim of Labor's 'incredibly toxic' culture.

Ms Husar left Parliament after Labor mounted an investigation into ultimately unproven charges of sexual harassment against her.

Senator Kitching was a vocal human rights campaigner who spoke five languages and was respected across the political divide.

She was instrumental in passing Australia's Magnitsky Act to allow sanctions on individuals who violate human rights.
The Senate Judiciary Committee begins historic confirmation hearings Monday for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who would be the first Black woman on the Supreme Court.

Barring a significant misstep by the 51-year-old Jackson, a federal judge for the past nine years, Democrats who control the Senate by the slimmest of margins intend to wrap up her confirmation before Easter.

Jackson is expected to present an opening statement Monday afternoon, then answer questions from the committee's 11 Democrats and 11 Republicans over the next two days. She will be introduced by Thomas B. Griffith, a retired judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and Lisa M. Fairfax, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School.

Jackson appeared before the same committee last year, after President Joe Biden chose her to fill an opening on the federal appeals court in Washington, just down the hill from the Supreme Court.

Her testimony will give most Americans, as well as the Senate, their most extensive look yet at the Harvard-trained lawyer with a resume that includes two years as a federal public defender. That makes her the first nominee with significant criminal defense experience since Thurgood Marshall, the first Black American to serve on the nation's highest court.

In addition to being the first Black woman on the Supreme Court, Jackson would be the third Black justice, after Marshall and his successor, Justice Clarence Thomas, 73, who has been hospitalized with an infection.

Republicans have signaled they could use Jackson's nomination to try to brand Democrats as soft on crime, an emerging theme in GOP midterm election campaigns. Biden has chosen several former public defenders for life-tenured judicial posts. In addition, Jackson served on the U.S. Sentencing Commission, an independent agency created by Congress to reduce disparity in federal prison sentences.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., highlighted one potential line of attack. 'I've noticed an alarming pattern when it comes to Judge Jacksons treatment of sex offenders, especially those preying on children,' Hawley wrote on Twitter last week in a thread that was echoed by the Republican National Committee. Hawley did not raise the issue when he questioned Jackson last year before voting against her appeals court confirmation.

The Senate Judiciary Committee begins historic confirmation hearings Monday for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who would be the first Black woman on the Supreme Court. Republicans are set to bring up her past and use the hearings to paint Democrats as soft on crime

Senator Josh Hawley, pictured with Jackson on March 9, is expected to bring up her past treatment of child sex offenders during the hearings

The American Bar Association, which evaluates judicial nominees, on Friday gave Jacksons its highest rating, unanimously 'well qualified.'

Janette McCarthy Wallace, general counsel of the NAACP, said she is excited to see a Black woman on the verge of a high court seat.

'Representation matters,' Wallace said. 'It's critical to have diverse experience on the bench. It should reflect the rich cultural diversity of this country.'

The White House pushed back forcefully against the criticism as 'toxic and weakly presented misinformation.' Sentencing expert Douglas Berman, an Ohio State law professor, wrote on his blog that Jacksons record shows she is skeptical of the range of prison terms recommended for child pornography cases, 'but so too were prosecutors in the majority of her cases and so too are district judges nationwide.'

Hawley is one of several committee Republicans, along with Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who are potential 2024 presidential candidates, and their aspirations may collide with other Republicans who would just as soon not pursue a scorched-earth approach to Jackson's nomination.

Biden chose Jackson in February, fulfilling a campaign pledge to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court for the first time in American history. She would take the seat of Justice Stephen Breyer, who announced in January that he would retire this summer after 28 years on the court.

Jackson once worked as a high court law clerk to Breyer early in her legal career.

Democrats are moving quickly to confirm Jackson, even though Breyer's seat will not officially open until the summer. They have no votes to spare in a 50-50 Senate that they run by virtue of the tiebreaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris.

But they are not moving as fast as Republicans did when they installed Amy Coney Barrett on the court little more than a month after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and days before the 2020 presidential election.

Barrett, the third of President Donald Trump's high court picks, entrenched the court's conservative majority when she took the place of the liberal Ginsburg.

Last year, Jackson won Senate confirmation by a 53-44 vote, with three Republicans supporting her. It's not clear how many Republicans might vote for her this time.

Jackson is married to Patrick Johnson, a surgeon in Washington. They have two daughters, one in college and the other in high school. She is related by marriage to former House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who also was the Republican vice presidential nominee in 2012. Ryan has voiced support for Jackson's nomination.

Jackson has spoken about how her children have kept her in touch with reality, even as she has held a judge's gavel since 2013. In the courtroom, she told an audience in Athens, Georgia, in 2017, 'people listen and generally do what I tell them to do.'

At home, though, her daughters 'make it very clear I know nothing, I should not tell them anything, much less give them any orders, that is, if they talk to me at all,' Jackson said.

Republicans have signaled they could use Jackson's nomination to try to brand Democrats as soft on crime, an emerging theme in GOP midterm election campaigns . Biden has chosen several former public defenders for life-tenured judicial posts

In addition to being the first Black woman on the Supreme Court, Jackson would be the third Black justice, after Marshall and his successor, Justice Clarence Thomas

The path to Supreme Court confirmation can be a grueling one

The path to confirmation to the Supreme Court can be speedy or take months
A group of Good Samaritans came to a Florida Highway Patrol trooper's aid after he was attacked on an interstate in Tampa.

The shocking moment was caught on the officer's dashcam video, showing the trooper as he makes contact with 24-year-old Alexander Hernandez Delgado, who was illegally walking along the interstate Friday, Fox News reported.

Delgado reportedly told the trooper that he was walking along the highway because his mother had kicked him out of the house, according to the unidentified trooper's arrest report.

'I then searched the subject and attempted to place him in the back of my patrol car. The subject became argumentative and stated that I am bothering him and that he would like to be left alone,' the trooper wrote in the report.

Scroll down for video

The Florida Highway Patrol trooper, pictured right, confronts Alexander Hernandez Delgado as the 24-year-old was illegally walking along a Florida interstate

Alexander Hernandez Delgado, 24, was arrested and charged with battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting an officer with violence

Video of the encounter then shows Delgado pull away from the officer, with that moment captured above

Delgado then punches the unidentified officer in the face, the trooper's arrest said

Video of the encounter then shows Delgado pull away from the officer before apparently punching the trooper in the face.

The scuffle continues as Delgado repeatedly hits the trooper in the face as the two go off-camera towards the median, where the trooper reported Delgado hit him several more times.

As the trooper eventually manages to tackle Delgado, an 18-wheeler and another car can be seen pulling over before several bystanders rush to help the officer subdue Delgado.

'The FHP thanks all the Good Samaritans that stopped on I-4, in both directions, on Friday morning, March 18th in Tampa to help our Trooper,' a spokesman for the FHP said in a statement.

The trooper sustained only minor injuries, receiving a bloody nose as a result of the attack, officials said.

As the trooper eventually manages to tackle Delgado, an 18-wheeler and another car can be seen pulling over before several bystanders rush over to help the officer subdue Delgado

Delgado was subdued by a group of Good Samaritans who witnessed the assault on the officer

Delgado was taken to the Hillsborough County Jail and charged with battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting an officer with violence.

The incident comes two months after police bodycam footage captured the moment nine officers unleashed a hail of gunfire and killed a man who was also walking along a Tennessee interstate - while armed with a box cutter - after a tense 30-minute standoff.

Landon Eastep, 37, was agitated and carrying a box cutter in his hand along I-65 in Nashville on January 27 when police shut traffic on the busy highway and pleaded with him to turn himself in.

'C'mon brother, just drop the knife, get your hand out your pocket,' Mt. Juliet Police officer James Kidd is heard saying in bodycam video released later that day.

Eastep was carrying a boxcutter in his left hand when he quickly pulled his right hand out of his pocket holding an unknown 'silver, shiny cylindrical object'

Video footage recorded by police bodycam, witnesses and highway surveillance cameras captured the moment nine officers shot and killed Eastep (pictured)

The cops formed a semi-circle around the man, who friends said has battled mental health issues, and continued to beg him to take his hand holding the weapon out of his jacket pocket.

'I don't want you dead on the side of the interstate. Nobody wants that,' said Kidd, who was from a nearby jurisdiction and off-duty at the time, in the eight-minute video released by the Metro Nashville Police Department.

'These folks right here they've got kids. Look, I've got kids in the car, kids standing by. Don't give them that show, brother.'

Metro Nashville Police Department spokesman Don Aaron said Eastep 'made an abrupt motion' and pulled an unknown 'silver, shiny cylindrical object' from his right pocket.

He was shot multiple times and pronounced dead at a local hospital, Aaron said.

No officers were injured in that incident.
Police have revealed the identity of one of two bodies found chained together in a dam.

The bodies of a man, identified as Darryl Smith, and woman in her early 40s were found chained together by a kayaker at the Gordonbrook Dam, about 250km northwest of Brisbane, on Saturday about 3.30pm.

Detective Senior Sergeant Paul McCusker said the woman has not yet been identified and it is unknown how the pair died or what their relationship was.

The bodies of a man, identified as Darryl Smith (above), and woman in her early 40s were found chained together by a kayaker at the Gordonbrook Dam on Saturday about 3.30pm

'A post mortem is being undertaken tomorrow, and it's not until that's undertaken, and our inquiries, that we will be in a position to state how these two people have died,' he told reporters on Monday.

'What I can tell you is the two people were connected by a chain, that's correct.'

Police believe the bodies may have been in the dam for several days as Mr Smith's white 2004 Holden Commodore station wagon with Queensland registration 306BS3 had been parked in the area since March 13.

Nine News reports people in the nearby campground saw the vehicle with the words 'gone to get fuel, be back soon' written on it.

Mr Smith's white 2004 Holden Commodore station wagon with Queensland registration 306BS3 had been parked in the area since March 13 and people reported seeing a note written on it

Sgt McCusker said the bodies were likely weighed down before becoming dislodged and floating loose, leading to the grim discovery.

'There is a suggestion they may have been weighed at that time, yes,' he said.

'I'm not in a position to confirm how they were chained together but I can confirm they were.'

He also would not confirm if there was a not written on the car but said police were not looking for a third party involved in the deaths.

'We go to these investigations very open minded as to what may have occurred at this stage,' Sgt McCusker said.

Police have urged anyone that saw Mr Smith around that date to contact them as the investigation continues

He added that it was difficult to determine the relationship between the pair without the identification of the woman and refused to comment on whether Mr Smith was known to police.

The Courier Mail reports Mr Smith also went by the name Matthew Goldman and owned a shop with his wife, Sarah, in Kingaroy called Goldmans Oracles n Gifts.

Sgt McCusker said it was unclear where the pair had been staying prior to their death but a air mattress found near Mr Smith's car indicated they had been sleeping at the dam.

Police have revealed the last known photo of Mr Smith alive which was taken at the Wondai Post Office on March 10.

Police have urged anyone that saw Mr Smith around that date to contact them.

'We would love to hear from any of the public who may have seen the van or seen Mr. Smith or a female he may have been travelling with at the time in the Kingaroy area,' Sgt McCusker said.
Dan Murphy's is opening its first ever bar, but bizarrely all beverages it sells will be alcohol free.

The bar named ZERO% will open next week in the Melbourne bayside suburb of Hampton.

The bottle shop giant said it noticed sales of alcohol-free drinks more than doubled in the past two years and it wanted to capitalise on that market.

Dan Murphy's managing director, Alex Freudmann (pictured), said the stand alone bar is catering to a 'new wave' of drinkers - those adopting a non-alcoholic alternative

The company said the bar would cater to a 'new wave' of drinkers with all beverages on offer containing 0.5 per cent alcohol or less.

'ZERO% is in the middle of a vibrant high street, and it's the perfect place to stop by for a lunchtime drink or after work with friends, ' Dan Murphy's managing director Alex Freudmann said.

'It has been designed with the customer and discovery at heart.'

Bar-goers can choose from zero alcoholic beers and wines by the glass with a mixologist creating a 'bespoke cocktail menu'.

The bar, which has been six months in the making will, be open seven days a week and run as a trial until the end of June.

Mr Freudmann said many Gen-Z and millennials wanted to swap out the alcohol without forgoing the bar ambiance.

The bar, ZERO%, has been six months in the making and will open its doors next week. Patrons can order a slew of beers, wines, and cocktails that contain 0.5 per cent alcohol or less

'The aim of our bar is to create a destination where customers can discover the great quality and variety of the new wave of non-alcoholic drinks,' he said.

'Customers are increasingly choosing to drink less but better, and we are committed to giving them access and knowledge to make responsible lifestyle choices.'

An independent study conducted by DrinkWise showed the consumption of non-alcoholic drinks was led by younger people.

About 32 per cent of consumers said they were drinking less since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, some of which was due to non-alcoholic drinks.

Australians aged 18-44 were twice as likely to drink alcohol-free products than those 45 and over.
A woman has revealed how she was scammed out of almost $600 after getting a Facebook friend request from someone posing as shock jock Kyle Sandilands.

Marina, from Sydney, answered a question on what appeared to be the Kyle and Jackie O page, then got a response claiming to be from the KIIS FM breakfast presenter.

She said the reply from Sandilands told her she had won $1,000.

Then the person said they needed her details to pay her the prize.

Marina (pictured) was caught up in an online scam after getting a friend request from someone pretending to be Kyle Sandilands

'I didn't think much of it as it was a reply after my comment,' she told 7News.

Marina was then asked to fill out a questionnaire, which she did.

At the end, it said to click for further prizes and discounts, so she kept going along.

But then she was asked to provide her bank details so she could get her prize money.

Marina messaged the person asking why, and was told it was just a procedural matter, that she was going to be 'charged $0.01 to activate account'.

So she paid it, not having any idea of what would happen next.

The next day, Marina got a phone call from her bank that left her scared and panicked.

Kyle Sandilands (pictured right) and his KIIS FM co-host Jackie O, are two celebrities whose names have been used by scammers

Scammers often use the names of celebrities such as Kyle Sandilands when trying to rip people off

'My bank called to question if I'd authorised an $89 payment and a $500 payment as the seller was overseas,' she said.

Marina said she had not, 'and then I started panicking'.

She was fortunate her bank spotted it and called her so quickly. The bank refunded her $589 after cancelling her card.

Marina realises how lucky she was the bank checked with her. 'If they didn't they would have kept taking my money out,' she said.

A spokesman for Sandilands told Daily Mail Australia that he had seen the story

'He'll be discussing and commenting on it during (Tuesday's) radio broadcast,' he said.

KIIS FM released a statement saying it never asks people for their card details.

'Do your research when you're asked for this sensitive information... If it looks dodgy, if it looks fake, it's probably not us,' the radio station said.
P&O Ferries 1.82-an-hour foreign agency workers from India, the Phillipines and war-hit Ukraine have been pictured being transported to the scandal-hit operators ships in Dover.

The workers have been brought in to replace 800 sacked staff - with some of the temps living in tents to save cash.

Labour MP Karl Turner said they were expected to work mammoth 12-hour shifts for eight weeks at a time.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union say they are earning less than the 8.91 minimum wage, with one secretary claiming they got as little as 1.82.

Poorly-paid agency workers were pictured being transported to P&O Ferries ships in Dover

Workers from India, the Phillipines and war-hit Ukraine were pictured being taken to work

The moored ship used fishing boats to transport its new workforce - after sacking 800 staff

And this morning the union representing the hundreds of sacked staff said the Dubai-owned company had 'imported' foreign workers to fill the jobs.

RMT Secretary-General Mick Lynch said: 'They should face the severest sanctions possible and if needs be the government must use it's powers which it has used oligarchs later and this is oligarch from Dubai, the sultan of Dubai, that has caused this to happen and we have got to see a direct intervention today about what they are going to do

'These people are coming over here racing their horses they are taking over logistic travel across the world.

'We think they are importing Indian workers, Filipinos and Ukrainians at the moment to work on these vessels.

Labour MP Karl Turner said they were expected to work mammoth 12-hour shifts in some cases

People protest outside the offices of DP World, who own P&O Ferries, after the company fired hundreds of employees

The P&O ferry the Pride of Kent moored at the Port of Dover in Kent on Friday last week

Why do staff think employment law may have been breached? Employment law states bosses have to consult during a statutory notice period before they can make people redundant. It is this lack of consultation that has led trade unions to think that P&Os actions could have been unlawful. Rustom Tata, chairman and head of the employment group at law firm DMH Stallard, said: For those staff who have been, or are about to be dismissed, they will certainly have claims for unfair dismissal, The law also says businesses who want to make over 100 redundancies have to tell the government 45 days before it happens. This is a breach of the Trade Union & Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. P&O have sent redundancy letters with offers of enhanced compensation. Some have taken this as a signal the company realise it could have handled the process better. Advertisement

'That cannot be acceptable. We cannot dismiss our people to bring in other people on a discount rate.

'We were due to have a meeting with the business on Friday, then on Thursday they sacked all our members.'

Mr Turner said in an interview yesterday: 'What P&O has accepted previously in meetings with me and the RMT, they've said $2.40 an hour (1.82).

'That was only admitted by them because we got some correspondence from the P&O management a couple of years ago which was leaked to the RMT.

'We produced those documents to ministers at the time. It's grotesquely exploitative.

'On the Pride of Rotterdam, they work eight weeks on and two weeks off,' he said. 'They do 12-hour shifts with a short break to eat.

'They can't afford to get decent accommodation.

'They get terrible multioccupancy-type accommodation in Hull, very often staying in hostels for about 9 a night.

'Some have been known to pitch tents for a fortnight.'

In 2019, P&O Ferries reflagged its ships from Britain and they are now registered in countries including Cyprus and The Bahamas.

Downing Street condemned the way P&O Ferries informed 800 staff they were being sacked to be replaced with cheaper agency workers.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said maritime minister Robert Courts had raised the issue with the company's chief executive.

People protest outside the offices of DP World, who own P&O Ferries in London on Friday

Unions threaten legal action and lawyers suggest workers could bring unfair dismissal claims

P&O Ferries crisis: The lowdown What's going on? P&O Ferries has made 800 workers redundant and replaced them with cheaper agency staff. Can it do that? Unions have threatened legal action and lawyers suggested workers could bring unfair dismissal claims. Tom Long, partner at law firm Shakespeare Martineau, said the move 'appears to contravene the requirements needed for a normal mass redundancy'. Booked a ferry? P&O Ferries was updating guidance over Twitter every half an hour yesterday. On some routes, including Dover to Calais, it advised customers to show up as usual and make their way to check-in booths run by ferry company DFDS. On others, such as between Larne and Cairnryan, the firm suggested customers only travel if essential. Other options? If you are travelling in the near future you can book on an alternative carrier. DFDS and Irish Ferries offer routes between Dover and Calais. There are no direct alternatives for the other routes but Stena Line offers services to Ireland and Holland. Refunds? The firm has not commented but its terms and conditions say it will refund the 'total fare' of a crossing if 'we cannot ship you at all with us or arrange a suitable alternative ferry crossing, or if you do not wish to take any alternative journey offered by us'. Advertisement

'The way these workers were informed was completely unacceptable,' the spokesman said.

'Clearly the way that this was communicated to staff was not right and we have made that clear.

'Our sympathies are with these hard-working employees affected during this challenging time who have given years of service to P&O.'

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer branded the company's actions 'disgusting'.

'It just makes my blood boil. It is a complete betrayal of the workforce. It's just disgusting,' he told BBC Radio Humberside.

'This is a company that had furlough during the Covid crisis. It is absolutely disgusting what they are trying to do. They mustn't be allowed to get away with it.

'I just wish the Government had done what we said and strengthened employment rights so they couldn't do this kind of thing.

'The Government said it was going to deal with this sort of situation. It hasn't done it.'

Northern Ireland's Economy Minister Gordon Lyons has described the sacking of the 800 P&O workers as 'disgraceful'.

In a statement to the Assembly, Mr Lyons said: 'At the outset let me be clear; neither I, as a constituency representative in East Antrim or as Minister of the Economy, nor my officials in the department, were afforded the courtesy of advanced notice of the P&O announcement.

'I regard their actions as disgraceful. P&O has literally ripped up the employment rule book, and, in the process, simply discarded 800 of their loyal and most diligent workforce.

'Even now, I can scarcely believe how callously they behaved.

'I understand that there could be up to 50 staff from Northern Ireland directly impacted by this announcement. Many of us in East Antrim know some of the workforce.

'The stories I heard of staff being escorted off ships, by men in balaclavas, carrying handcuffs, was as sinister as it was outrageous.

'Deploying such a tactic here, in Northern Ireland, to an unsuspecting workforce is so ill-judged and shocking, our condemnation alone is simply not enough.'

Economy Minister Gordon Lyons said that employment law is a devolved responsibility within Stormont.

He added: 'I have heard much made about the financial situation within P&O; I have some sympathy with any business operating in these challenging times.

'But that does not mean they can just break the law.

'The law actually recognises that businesses may need to restructure or downsize, and that has happened many times before.

'Our laws allow for that, but recognise there is a process to be followed. They make clear in regulation, what that process involves.

'So, I do not believe P&O have acted either within the spirit, or the letter, of our employment law.'
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Vladimir Putin has been accused of deporting Ukrainians to 'filtration' centres before forcibly taking them to remote Siberian towns after confiscating their phones and documents.

'Several thousand' people have so-far been taken, Mariupol city council claimed, before being processed through 'filtration camps' and sent to 'remote cities' in Russia where they will be obliged to stay for years and work for free.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said before he chaired a meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers in Brussels that 'what's happening in Mariupol is a massive war crime. Destroying everything, bombarding and killing everybody in an indiscriminate manner. This is something awful'.

Russian news agencies have reported that buses carrying hundreds of refugees from the besieged southeastern port city Mariupol had arrived in Russia in recent days. Moscow officials also said a trainload of over 280 Ukrainians were being 'rescued' from Mariupol, showing footage of them thanking Russian forces.

Mariupol mayor Vadym Boichenko likened the alleged forced deportations to transportation of prisoners by the Nazi regime during World War II. Boichenko said: 'What the occupiers are doing today is familiar to the older generation, who saw the horrific events of World War II, when the Nazis forcibly captured people. It is hard to imagine that in the 21st century people can be forcibly taken to another country.'

Mariupol is in the throes of a humanitarian emergency after being encircled by Russian troops, cut off from energy, food and water supplies and facing a relentless bombardment.

Russian Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev late on Sunday demanded that Ukrainian troops and 'foreign mercenaries' in the Black Sea port Mariupol lay down their weapons and surrender in return for letting tens of thousands of civilians trapped in the heavily besieged city leave safely.

Mizintsev said those who laid down their arms and raised white flags would be allowed to leave via 'humanitarian corridors'. Civilians would then be evacuated afterwards. He gave Ukraine until 5am to respond.

Daria Morozova, of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, said that all of those who remained behind would face a military tribunal for 'all the crimes of the Ukrainian national battalions.' She said inspectors would be sent into the city once it had been 'completely cleansed' by Russian troops.

But Mariupol rejected the demands within minutes, with Pyotr Andryushenko - an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol - saying that Russian promises of amnesty could not be trusted and that troops defending the city were determined to fight down to the last man.

City workers dig graves on public land so they can bury civilians and soldiers killed in the Russian bombardment on the city of Mariupol, in the south of Ukraine, on Sunday

Vladimir Putin has been accused of deporting Ukrainians to 'filtration' centres before forcibly taking them to remote Siberian towns after confiscating their phones and documents (pictured, civilians trapped in Mariupol are evacuated in groups under the control of pro-Russian separatists on Sunday)

A man walks along a road past a tank belonging to pro-Russian separatists troops on the outskirts of the besieged southern port city of Mariupol on Sunday

Vladimir Putin has been accused of deporting Ukrainians to 'filtration' centres before forcibly taking them to remote Siberian towns after confiscating their phones and documents (pictured, Ukrainians from Mariupol are evacuated in groups under the control of pro-Russian separatists)

Russian news agencies have reported that buses carrying hundreds of refugees from the besieged southeastern port city Mariupol had arrived in Russia in recent days (pictured, a civilian gets checked by pro-Russian separatists as he flees the besieged southeastern port city of Mariupol)

'Several thousand' people have so-far been taken, Mariupol city council claimed, before being processed through 'filtration camps'(pictured, a civilian gets checked by pro-Russian separatists as he flees the besieged southeastern port city of Mariupol)

Mariupol has been surrounded by Russian forces for two weeks, which are now trying to push into the city. If it falls, it would be the biggest city captured by Russian troops so far, and would open up a 'land corridor' from rebel-held areas of Donbass to Crimea for reinforcements to pass along

Local residents carry bottles with water as Russia's invasion continues to take a toll on Ukraine in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol

Civilians trapped in Mariupol city under Russian attacks, are evacuated in groups under the control of pro-Russian separatists, through other cities, in Mariupol, Ukraine on March 20

Pro-Russian separatists gave directions to civilians trying to escape the heavily bombarded city of Mariupol

Pro-Putin soldiers were wrapped up against the cold as they allowed civilians to leave Mariupol on Sunday, March 20

Pro-Russian separatists seemed to be carrying out strip-searches on some of the fleeing Ukrainian civilians in Mariupol on Sunday

Civilians trapped in the besieged southeastern city of Mariupol, which is under Russian attacks, are evacuated in groups under the control of pro-Russian separatists on Sunday

Mariupol is in the throes of a humanitarian emergency after being encircled by Russian troops, cut off from energy, food and water supplies and facing a relentless bombardment (pictured, civilians flee the city on Sunday)

Mariupol officials have rejected the demands for troops to lay down their weapons in exchange for an amnesty, with Pyotr Andryushenko, an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, saying that Russian promises of amnesty could not be trusted and that troops defending the city were determined to fight down to the last man

Feared Chechen special forces are fighting house-to-house in besieged Mariupol while 'hundreds' of women and children remain trapped in the rubble of a city theatre destroyed by Russian invaders

Video released by pro-Putin Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov shows heavily armed fighters from the region pounding a high-rise building in the bombed-out city during a fierce gunfight with Ukrainian soldiers

The propaganda video then cuts before showing some of the Chechen fighters emerging from the building with children in their arms while supposedly 'liberating' civilians

Here's how YOU can help: Donate here to the Mail Force Ukraine Appeal Readers of Mail Newspapers and MailOnline have always shown immense generosity at times of crisis. Calling upon that human spirit, we are supporting a huge push to raise money for refugees from Ukraine. For, surely, no one can fail to be moved by the heartbreaking images and stories of families  mostly women, children, the infirm and elderly  fleeing from the bombs and guns. As this tally of misery increases over the coming days and months, these innocent victims of this conflict will require accommodation, schools and medical support. Donations to the Mail Force Ukraine Appeal will be used to help charities and aid organisations providing such essential services. In the name of charity and compassion, we urge all our readers to give swiftly and generously. TO MAKE A DONATION ONLINE Donate at www.mailforcecharity.co.uk/donate To add Gift Aid to a donation  even one already made  complete an online form found here: mymail.co.uk/ukraine Via bank transfer, please use these details: Account name: Mail Force Charity Account number: 48867365 Sort code: 60-00-01 TO MAKE A DONATION VIA CHEQUE Make your cheque payable to 'Mail Force' and post it to: Mail Newspapers Ukraine Appeal, GFM, 42 Phoenix Court, Hawkins Road, Colchester, Essex CO2 8JY TO MAKE A DONATION FROM THE US US readers can donate to the appeal via a bank transfer to Associated Newspapers or by sending checks to dailymail.com HQ at 51 Astor Place (9th floor), New York, NY 10003 Advertisement

Mariupol city hall official Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Sunday that residents of areas under Russian control were being sent to 'filtration camps' and that Moscow's men were 'checking their phones and seizing their Ukrainian documents'.

The Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine on Sunday said that 2,973 people have been evacuated from Mariupol since March 5, including 541 over the last 24 hours.

US ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told CNN the deportation accounts were 'disturbing' and 'unconscionable' if true but that Washington had not confirmed them.

Thomas-Greenfield added: 'To force people from Ukraine to go into Russia is abolsutel unacceptable; it's unconscionable. It's something we need to confirm, but I don't put it past the Russians to take such a horrific action. That would be another escalation, but not beyond the realm of possibility given horrible' Russian pressure on Mariupol has been.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss condemned the 'abduction and deportation' of Ukrainians from the besieged city of Mariupol, in a move that has been likened to Nazi Germany. She said she was 'appalled' by the reports and vowed for Putin to be 'held to account' for his treatment of civilians during the invasion.

Meanwhile Russia's offer of an amnesty was made just hours after a Russian missile strike hit a school sheltering some 400 people, though there was no immediate word on casualties. Last week, Russia had bombed a theatre in the city being used to shelter children - potentially trapping hundreds of people in underground bomb shelters. There is still no word on casualties from that strike either.

Following Russia's offer of an amnesty in Mariupol, Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk called on Russia to stop 'wasting time on eight pages of letters'. She said Moscow should open humanitarian corridors for civilians to leave the city instead of using them as bargaining chips.

Vereshchuk told news outlet Ukrainska Pravda: 'There can be no talk of any surrender, laying down of arms. We have already informed the Russian side about this.' Mizintsev warned of a 'humanitarian catastrophe' that will be faced by all those who remain behind after Moscow's deadline for surrender elapsed.

Russia and Ukraine have made agreements throughout the war on humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians, but have accused each other of frequent violations of those.

Meanwhile on Friday feared Chechen special forces are fighting house-to-house in besieged Mariupol while 'hundreds' of women and children remain trapped in the rubble of a city theatre destroyed by Russian invaders.

Video said to have been released by pro-Putin Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov shows heavily armed fighters from the region pounding a high-rise building in the bombed-out city during a fierce gunfight with Ukrainian soldiers.

The propaganda video then cuts before showing some of the Chechen fighters emerging from the building with children in their arms while supposedly 'liberating' civilians. The footage emerged as hundreds of people were still feared trapped under the rubble of a theatre in the devastated city. Evacuees have also told of the 'hell' they have been subjected to at the hands of Putin's men.

Refugees walk along a road as they leave the city during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the besieged southern port of Mariupol, Ukraine

Bodies of civilians killed during the Russian bombardment of Mariupol are laid out in a park as they await burial by soldiers defending the city, on Sunday

Local residents take cover as they hear blasts during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol

'Horror' in Mariupol: A survivor's account Svitlana Zlenko, who said she left the city with her son on Tuesday this week: 'Yesterday we left Mariupol under the shelling at our own risk, stayed the night in the field, in the gray zone, did not make it to the curfew, there was frost outside, thank God we are alive. They are alive to scream that everyone who stayed in Mariupol needs help. This is not a city of hero, this is a city of fear, death and horror. !!!!!! We did not have a humanitarian convoy, no one took us out, there is no city administration in the city, we ran after cars under shelling, united into columns, glued the inscriptions children on the cars. I personally put my own son in the car to the sound of a flying shell in the next yard. No one saved us, we saved ourselves and God. There is no connection in the city, no water, gas, ambulance, people with torn limbs bleed in the yards and no help, and these are peaceful people, our acquaintances and relatives. The dead are just caught on the spot, and the relatives can't find them later. Most often, this happens when searching for water, queues at wells or while cooking soup on a fire. !!!! Yes, we were collecting snow, melting it on a campfire and cooking pasta. My family was in the refuge of high school number two, three days ago a shell flew there, knocked out part of the windows, a woman in her hip was wounded with a scint, she was lying on the first floor of the high school all night and prayed to give her poison so that she would not feel pain, there is no one to take her to the hospital. Every day and every night there are fireworks, whistles, shaking walls and the horror of 'where will it fly' The survivor part of the 3rd city hospital works heroically, they are operating, they are saving. this woman was taken by a red cross within a day, may God grant her all is well. Two shells flew into my entrance, two into my yard, and the same man ripped off his leg with the same shell. My mother Angela and three brothers Roman (16 years old), Vasya (11 years old) Vladislav stayed in the city center for 9 years, at home on the fifth floor. Mother-in-law Lyubov and mother-in-law Anatoly on the ninth floor, opposite the Moscow State University, where the houses to the 9th floor are cut with shackles. There are almost no shelters in the city, there are not enough, no bunkers with ventilation, at best ground floors, my mom's house has no one. People need to be taken out, women, children, elderly people, give them buses, green corridor, make an agreement!! I pray for the loved ones, every Mariupolian and Ukrainian soldier. The enemy came to us and left us no choice, but there is nothing more valuable than human life. It needs to end!!!!!! No food, no medicine, if there is no snow with such urban fights, people will not be able to go out of water, people have no water left. Pharmacies, grocery stores - everything is robbed or burned, the dead are not taken out, the police recommends to the relatives of those who died of a natural death, to open the windows and lay the bodies on the balcony, and then take them to the house of prayer. I know you think you understand, but you will never understand unless you were there. Now I can hear the sound of sirens and I'm not afraid because in Mariupol there was no power for 16 days and when planes were dropping bombs on us, we couldn't even know it. I beg everyone to stop this!!!!!! If tanks protect the city standing in front of residential houses with people who then burn, then they are not protecting people. I do not understand war strategies, I pray with all my heart for Ukraine, but I do not understand why they destroy my relatives and my city. I don't know what will happen next, but I pray that this will not happen again in any of the cities of Ukraine and the world, and with no family and mother. A girl who gave birth to a baby in the hospital, where a shell flew in, pregnant, died in the same hospital, failed to give life, mother shaking in fear, covering her son in the hallway of each entrance to the sound of shaking windows, walls and flying shell, old man and, left without a chance to survive, wounded civilians, dying in the streets fighting. They show you how houses burn, but they don't show you how people burn. I need to burn myself to make you believe this shouldn't continue!!!!??? I beg you to stop this. And let your heart choose life This 21 day changed everyone, everything changed, so much now doesn't matter and costs nothing, only if everyone left in the Mariupol hell wouldn't shake in fear and horror Praying for the people of Mariupol.' Advertisement

Russian troops had by Friday reached Mariupol city centre and civilians remain hiding in bunkers while fighters battle on the streets. Mariupol Mayor adym Boichenko said: 'Tanks and machine gun battles continue. There's no city centre left. There isn't a small piece of land in the city that doesn't have signs of war.

Nick Osychenko, the CEO of a Mariupol TV station, said that as he fled the city with six members of his family, aged between 4 and 61, he saw dead bodies on nearly every block.

'We were careful and didn't want the children to see the bodies, so we tried to shield their eyes,' he said. 'We were nervous the whole journey. It was frightening, just frightening.'

Serhiy Taruta, a Ukrainian politician, said that around 130 people had been rescued from the theatre but hundreds of others are unaccounted for - possibly buried under rubble in one part of the bomb shelter, and cannot be evacuated because rescue services have been destroyed by Russian troops.

'No one understands. Services that are supposed to help are demolished, rescue and utility services... are physically destroyed. A lot of doctors have been killed. This means that all the survivors of the bombing will either die under the ruins of the theater, or have already died,' he wrote on Facebook.

Dmytro Gurin, a Ukrainian MP from Mariupol, told the BBC that some people have managed to evacuate but that others are trapped in the shelter and rescuers are struggling to reach them because Russian troops continue to shell it. A rescue mission is underway, he insisted.

Meanwhile survivors of the siege who managed to flee described the city as 'hell', saying that people are being left to bleed or burn to death in the streets because doctors cannot reach them and hospitals have been destroyed, with the bodies covered by a thin layer of soil in makeshift burials.

Svitlana Zlenko, who said she left the city with her son on Tuesday last week, described how she spent days sheltering in a school building - melting snow to cook pasta to eat while living in constant terror of Russian bombs which flew overhead 'every day and every night'.

She described how a bomb hit the school last week, wounding a woman in the hip with a piece of shrapnel. 'She was lying on the first floor of the high school all night and prayed for poison so that she would not feel pain,' Svitlana said. '[She] was taken by the Red Cross within a day, I pray to God she is well.'

She added: 'There is no food, no medicine, if there is no snow with such urban fights, people will not be able to go out to get water, people have no water left. Pharmacies, grocery stores - everything is robbed or burned.

'The dead are not taken out. Police recommend to the relatives of those who died of a natural death, to open the windows and lay the bodies on the balcony. I know you think you understand, but you will never understand unless you were there. I pray that this will not happen again in any of the cities of Ukraine, or of the world.'

Russia kept up its bombardment of other Ukrainian cities on Monday, hitting a shopping mall and several apartments in the capital Kyiv in the early hours - reducing the former to rubble. Bombings in the surrounded city of Sumy also hit an ammonia plant, sparking an evacuation.

A huge explosion has rocked a shopping centre in Kyiv as rescuers pulled bloodied victims from the rubble as police said at least eight people had been killed amid fears dozens of others were missing on Sunday night.

The blast smashed the sprawling 'Retroville' mall and was so powerful it pulverised vehicles in its car park - leaving a massive crater - as well as bodies scattered in the carnage.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko this morning said it was one of several bombs to be dropped on the city overnight, with others flattening homes. Offices and a gym were also hit.

Rescuers were continuing to trawl through the chaos this morning as they desperately searched for any more survivors of the latest horror attack to rock Ukraine.

Russian forces have increasingly resorted to long-range rocket strikes as their army has stalled. Heavy fighting continues to the north of Kyiv, Britain's Ministry of Defence said Monday, but advances from the north-east have been halted. Attackers in the north-west have been 'repulsed by fierce Ukrainian resistance', the ministry added.

Capturing Kyiv remains the 'primary objective' of Russia's invasion and Putin's men are 'likely to prioritise attempting to encircle the city over the coming weeks', the ministry added.

Klitschko said on his Telegram channel: 'According to the information we have at the moment, several homes and one of the shopping centers [were hit].' He said 'rescuers, medics and police are already in place' and reported 'at this time - one victim'. It is unclear if he referred to a fatality or injury.

In another post, he said: 'Rescuers are extinguishing a large fire in one of the shopping centers in the Podolsk district of the capital. All services - rescue, medics, police - work on site. The information is being clarified.'

The burnt-out mall was still smoking on Monday morning. All of its south side had been destroyed, as well as a fitness centre in its car park. Twisted bits of metal and other debris were strewn across the area for hundreds of metres, as firefighters and soldiers searched the devastation for victims.

'Enemy shelling' had caused fires on several floors and set several cars ablaze, emergency services said on Facebook. They released security camera footage showing a massive explosion and a mushroom cloud, followed by a series of smaller blasts.

Firefighters pulled at least one man covered in dust from the twisted debris, according to more video released by the emergency services. Soldiers cordoned off the site and told journalists to move back, warning of danger from unexploded munitions without elaborating further.

Neighbours in a housing block whose windows were shattered by the blast said they had seen a mobile rocket launcher near the mall for several days previously.

At least 902 civilians have been killed and 1,459 wounded in Ukraine as of midnight on March 19, the UN human rights office said.

A huge explosion has rocked a shopping centre in Kyiv as rescuers pulled bloodied victims from the rubble as police said at least eight people had been killed amid fears dozens of others were missing on Sunday night

The blast smashed the sprawling 'Retroville' mall and was so powerful it pulverised vehicles in its car park - leaving a massive crater - as well as bodies scattered in the carnage

Rescuers work at the site of the shopping mall damaged by an airstrike, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv this morning

Firefighters put out the fire at the wreckage of a damaged shopping mall in Podilskyi district of Kyiv following Russian airstrikes overnight on Sunday

Firefighters work at the site of a bombing at a shopping center in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, after it was hit by a Russian missile strike

Ukrainian firefighters and servicemen search for people under debris inside a shopping center after bombing in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Monday

At least six people were killed in the overnight bombing of a shopping centre in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, on Monday (pictured, a Ukrainian service member searches through the rubble for survivors)

Destroyed cars are seen at the site of a military strike on a shopping center in the Podilskyi district of Kyiv early on Monday

Ukrainian servicemen carry a body at the site of a military strike on a shopping center in the Podilskyi district of Kyiv as they search for survivors on Monday morning

CCTV has captured an explosion near a shopping centre in the Podilskyi district of Kyiv late on Sunday night

Up to 1,200 people are thought to have been using the theatre as a shelter when Russian bombs struck and completely destroyed it - despite signs saying 'children' being clearly visible outside

Rescuers are trying to dig through the rubble to get to the bomb shelters, but the city's mayor warns the building is still being shelled meaning work is slow and 'very, very dangerous'

Hundreds of people are feared to be trapped in the underground bomb shelters of Mariupol theatre which was destroyed by a Russian airstrike on Wednesday evening

Service members of pro-Russian troops are seen atop of tanks during Ukraine-Russia conflict on the outskirts of the besieged southern port city of Mariupol
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Health Secretary Sajid Javid gave his strongest hint yet that fifth doses would be offered this autumn

Fifth Covid jabs could be rolled out this autumn, the Health Secretary has suggested in the strongest hint yet that the vaccination programme will be expanded again.

Grilled this morning about whether another booster campaign was in the works, Sajid Javid claimed it was 'possible... probably for those that are 50 and over'. But he added a 'final' decision was yet to be made.

Over-75s, care home residents and patients with weak immune systems will begin receiving invitations for a spring Covid top-up from today, in order to bolster the immunity levels of millions.

If they are offered another jab in the autumn, it will be their fifth. Some immunocompromised adults will have already had five by then.

Mr Javid also revealed No10's 'level of concern has not changed' over the past two weeks, despite the rise in infections and hospitalisations. He said the numbers 'are still way below their peak'.

He also urged people to treat Covid like any other infectious disease, and 'behave sensibly' if they were feeling unwell or experiencing symptoms  including socialising less and staying indoors to avoid spreading the virus. He gave the advice ahead of England ending its free testing offer from next Friday.

Five million Britons became eligible for second boosters today, with the first 600,000 expected to be invited this week.

The move comes after the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommended the spring top-up as a precautionary measure.

Vaccine numbers are going up but a shocking 50 per cent of 35-39's are still not boosted with their third dose of the vaccine

Most vulnerable in society will be able to request their booster from today, government says

It has now been six months since England's rollout of third shots was launched. Scotland embarked on its top-up campaign more than a week ago.

Experts expressed concern that the current uptick in cases and hospitalisations could be an early sign of waning immunity from boosters, prompting calls for 'more oomph' in the programme.

Mr Javid claimed the spring roll-out  which will cover over-75s, care home residents and anyone with weakened immune systems  will 'top up their protection against this virus and allow them to go about their daily lives with more confidence'.

When the plans were first announced, officials claimed that it would mean some severely immunocompromised people who already had four jabs would get a fifth. The group can include blood cancer patients and transplant recipients.

It also raises the prospect that hundreds of thousands could even be offered a sixth dose this autumn, if a third round of boosters are approved.

Ministers have made no secret of plans for an annual Covid jabbing programme, which could cost in the region of 600million. It is expected that Covid vaccines could eventually be rolled out every year in a similar way to the flu jabs. These are already offered to over-50s for free every winter.

SAGE scientists have also backed the strategy, saying it will likely be part of the coronavirus' gradual transition to becoming endemic.

But other scientists have claimed a never-ending cycle of boosters might not be needed, if the virus continues to become milder over time.

Britain's Covid cases have been rising for the last two weeks, with the country now recording about 80,000 new infections a day, on average.

Hospitalisations have also been heading up over this period, and are now at a similar level to late January, when the Omicron wave was subsiding.

But half of hospital patients with Covid are thought to be 'incidental' cases  those who test positive after being admitted for another reason, or beat the illness only to fall ill with something else.

It may mean the recent rise in hospital admissions is more likely to reflect infection rates in the community, rather than severe illness.

Ministers are not concerned about rising Covid cases, Health Secretary says Ministers remain unconcerned by rising Covid cases, the Health Secretary revealed today. Britain's daily tally of Covid infections has risen for the past two-and-a-bit weeks with cases now averaging about 78,000 every day. There are also now about 14,000 Covid patients in hospital, up from around 12,000 a week ago. Although figures show about half of these are 'incidental', where someone was admitted for another illness such as a fall before testing positive. Asked about the data on BBC Breakfast, Mr Javid said ministers 'level of concern hasn't changed'. 'Thats because although case numbers are rising, infections are rising and indeed hospital numbers are rising, they are still way below their peak. 'And its also important for us when we review this, understand why they are rising and that is primarily due to the increased social mixing were seeing after the countrys opened up. 'But also the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron which we know is on the one hand more infectious but, on the other hand, we know that our vaccines work just as well against this sub-variant. 'And so taking all that into account, of course we keep the data under review, but theres no particular cause for concern at this point.' Advertisement

The uptick coincides with surging cases of an even more transmissible version of Omicron, named BA.2. It quickly became the dominant strain.

Ministers in England, however, say the increases were to be 'expected' following the country's 'Freedom Day' on February 24  when the final Covid measures were dumped.

Asked about Britain's rising Covid cases on BBC Breakfast, Mr Javid said: 'Our level of concern hasnt changed and thats because although case numbers are rising, infections are rising and indeed hospital numbers are rising, they are still way below their peak.

'And its also important for us when we review this, understand why they are rising and that is primarily due to the increased social mixing were seeing after the countrys opened up.

'But also the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron which we know is on the one hand more infectious but, on the other hand, we know that our vaccines work just as well against this sub-variant.

'And so taking all that into account, of course we keep the data under review, but theres no particular cause for concern at this point.'

There are also now about 14,000 Covid patients in hospital, up from around 12,000 a week ago.

But commenting on the figures, Mr Javid said: 'Those that are actually there for Covid is a much smaller number and so that does give us a lot of confidence that we are learning to live with Covid.'

As part of the strategy from next Friday England will no longer offer free lateral flow or PCR tests to most people.

In Scotland, the swabbing regime will end in May, while in Wales they will no longer be available at the end of July. Northern Ireland is yet to set a date.

Mr Javid urged people to take a 'common sense' approach following the end of testing.

He said: 'If youre not feeling well, if youve got the symptoms of Covid, then its not a good idea to mix with other people  the right idea is to try to spend some time trying to stay away from others.

'(Tests) are still free, but from April 1, they wont be in terms of a universal offer  from that point we will focus our tests on those that are most vulnerable or in vulnerable settings.

'And I think thats the right way forward, post-April 1 if people have Covid symptoms, then they should just behave sensibly  like you would expect someone to really behave if they had flu symptoms in the past  and that is to socialise a bit less, stay indoors and and wait till you feel better.'

Asked if people should still get tested, even if they have to pay for it, Mr Javid added: 'I think that will be a decision for that individual. If you are someone who is vulnerable then the test will still be available for free.

He said some high street retailers were selling tests for 'something like 2 each', adding: 'So people who want to have one  even if theyre not in a vulnerable group  thats an option thats still available for them.

Mr Javid also urged Britons to start living with Covid like any other infectious disease during an interview on Good Morning Britain, saying: 'When it comes to someone that may be having to take time off work or socialising less because they believe they might be positive, that is handled in the same way that all other infectious diseases are handled.'

Vulnerable people in England will begin receiving invitations for the spring Covid booster from today. People aged 75 and over and those who are immunosuppressed will be able to book from 7am.

Local NHS teams will be contacting care homes to arrange the jab for people who are eligible and have been invited.

The NHS said it will invite people to arrange a jab through the national booking service, which can be accessed online at nhs.uk/covidvaccine or by calling 119, when it is their turn.

Nikki Kanani, GP and deputy SRO for the NHS Covid Vaccination Programme, said: 'Sadly, we are still seeing large numbers of people seriously unwell in hospital with Covid so it remains vital that those most at risk come forward when they are invited to do so.

'The response so far from the public to the largest and most successful vaccination programme in NHS history has been incredible, with more than nine in 10 people aged 75 and over getting their initial booster.

'The NHS Covid vaccination programme is once again ready to get people protected, so when you are invited please do come forward for your spring dose.'

Health chiefs are expecting high uptake of spring boosters among people aged 75 and over after 4.5 million of them had their top-up jab over autumn and winter.

The NHS said it has recruited additional call handlers for the 119 service to help people book their vaccine appointments, while hundreds of sites including community pharmacies, vaccination centres and hospital hubs will administering the booster.
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A Chinese airline has grounded all of its Boeing 737-800 aircraft today after 132 people died when their passenger jet crashed in China this morning after suddenly nose-diving and plummeting 30,000ft in two minutes an hitting the ground at 350mph.

State media reported all 737-800s in China Eastern's fleet were ordered grounded, the model is the predecessor to the controversial 737 Max model but is regarded as safe despite a series of crashes over its long history,

Boeing shares sank by more than 4 percent this morning, in the latest catastrophe to hit the firm after the 737 Max crashes caused by faulty flight control software led to the indictment of Boeing's top pilot, a $225 million settlement with investors and a $2.5 billion payout to the families of those killed.

The China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735 suffered a catastrophic 'loss of control event' and nosedived before smashing into the Chinese hillside, erupting in a huge fireball and causing a forest fire visible in NASA satellite images taken from Space, near the city of Wuzhou in Teng county in the southern province of Guangxi.

A rescue official reportedly said the plane had completely disintegrated while a fire sparked by the crash ripped through bamboo and trees before being put out. China Eastern expressed 'deep condolences' after confirming the fatalities of 123 passengers and nine crew who were onboard, adding that all the victims were Chinese.



What do experts think could have caused the horror crash that is feared to have killed all 132 on board? Experts believe MU5735 likely went down due to a 'loss of control event'. But they also raised other possibilities that could have downed the jet, including: High altitude stall The aircraft may have nosedived due to a 'high altitude stall' which cut off the power. Arthur Rowe, specialist fellow in gas turbine performance and operability centre for propulsion engineering at Cranfield University, said this could have lead to the loss of control event. Controls malfunction Another possible cause was that the controls malfunctioned in the cockpit. Professor Rowe said they may have 'jammed', adding that 'unresponsive control surfaces, especially on the tail', are what could have downed the jet. Sabotage: There were also fears sabotage could have played a part, but this was deemed unlikely due to it being a domestic flight in China. Professor Rowe said the Covid restrictions on entering the country reduced the chance of this being at play. Not engine related: The expert did not believe the plane went down due to any engine related issues. Professor Rowe pointed out that aircraft 'can fly perfectly well with no engine power', but admitted it was only for a limited time. Sensory issues such as ice protection failures: Senor issues could also have caused the plane to have spiralled out of control. Tao Yang, associate professor of engineering at Nottingham University, said 'most of the aeroplane accidents are related to sensors failure - ice protection fails'. Advertisement

Horrifying CCTV footage emerged on social media supposedly showing the jet racing vertically towards the ground in the moments before the smash.

FlightRadar tracking data showed the aircraft cruising at 29,100ft at 2.20pm. Around two minutes later it had plummeted to just over 9,000ft and 20 seconds after that it had fallen to just 3,225ft. The data indicates a vertical descent of 31,000ft per minute or around 350 mph.

Altitude data also appears to show aircraft regain height at around 7,5000ft before beginning its final descent.

President Xi Jinping said that he was 'shocked' by the incident and immediately ordered an investigation into the cause.

It is not yet clear what forced the sudden dip and crash, but aviation experts told MailOnline it may have been 'a loss of control event, possibly following a high altitude stall of the aircraft' or a sensory failure in the cockpit.

The plane, flight number MU5735 from Kunming to Guangzhou, is believed to be a Boeing 737-89P, which is not part of the MAX series that has been dogged by problems in recent years.

Shares of Boeing fell 5.6 percent to $182.06 in mid-morning trading. Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The crash will renew calls for China to make its aviation safety record - which is considered good but allegedly sees an underreporting of safety lapses - more transparent.

China's Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said the aircraft lost contact over the city of Wuzhou.

The CAAC said in a statement: 'The CAAC has activated the emergency mechanism and sent a working group to the scene.'

The Aviation Safety Network said: 'We are following multiple unconfirmed reports about a possible accident involving China Eastern Airlines flight #MU5735 a Boeing 737-89P (B-1791) en route from Kunming to Guangzhou, China.'

President Xi said: 'We are shocked to learn of the China Eastern MU5735 accident.

He also called for 'all efforts' towards the rescue and to find out the 'cause of the accident as soon as possible'.

One villager told a local news site the plane involved in the crash had 'completely fallen apart' and he had seen forest destroyed by the fire caused by the crash.

A local official added: 'The exact location of the accident was Langnan township in Teng county.'

Families of those onboard gathered in China Eastern Airlines' Yunan branch late on Monday and were assisted by staff as they wait for news of their loved ones.

The flight departed the southwestern city of Kunming at 1.11pm (5.11pm GMT), FlightRadar24 data showed. But tracking ended at 2.22pm (6.22am GMT) at an altitude of 3,225 feet with a speed of 376 knots. The plane had been cruising at an altitude 29,100 feet at 6.20am GMT, according to FlightRadar24 data.

Just over two minutes and 15 seconds later, the next available data showed it had descended to 9,075 feet. In another 20 seconds, its last tracked altitude was 3,225 feet. It had been due to land in Guangzhou, on the east coast, at 3.05pm (7.05am GMT).

Shocking CCTV footage emerged on social media supposedly showing the jet racing vertically towards the ground in the moments before the smash

A rescue official reportedly said the plane had completely disintegrated while a fire sparked by the crash ripped through bamboo and trees before being put out (pictured, the crater where the plane landed)

A wildfire caused by the high-impact smash into the mountainside is pictured after the plane crash landed earlier on Monday

The China Eastern plane smashed into countryside near Wuzhou city, Guangxi region, and 'caused a mountain fire', state broadcaster CCTV said. Pictured: Footage of the crash posted on social media

The plane, flight number MU5735 from Kunming to Guangzhou, got into trouble over the city of Wuzhou, before it plummeted 29,100ft into a mountainside on Monday

Altitude data also appears to show aircraft regain height at around 7,5000ft before beginning its final descent, although commentators have warned the figures could be anomalies

Rescuers set out to the plane crash site of Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, earlier today

Rescuers conduct search and rescue work around the plane crash site in Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

Boeing 737-800's have had a series of deadly crashes in past: 2006 : Gol Transportes Aereos flight broke up and crashed in Brazil with all 154 on board dying

: Gol Transportes Aereos flight broke up and crashed in Brazil with all 154 on board dying 2007 : Kenya Airways flight crashed into a swamp on the way to Nairobi with all 108 passengers and six crew dying

: Kenya Airways flight crashed into a swamp on the way to Nairobi with all 108 passengers and six crew dying 2009 : Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul crashes in a field near the Polderbaan while trying to land at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport with nine people dying

: Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul crashes in a field near the Polderbaan while trying to land at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport with nine people dying 2010 : Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed into the Mediterranean Sea after taking off from Beirut, with all 90 passengers and eight crew dying

: Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed into the Mediterranean Sea after taking off from Beirut, with all 90 passengers and eight crew dying 2010 : Air India Express flight overran the runway on landing at Mangalore International Airport, with 158 passengers and six crew dying and just eight survivors

: Air India Express flight overran the runway on landing at Mangalore International Airport, with 158 passengers and six crew dying and just eight survivors 2016 : Flydubai flight from Dubai to Rostov-on-Don in Russia crashed on the final approach, with all 62 people dying

: Flydubai flight from Dubai to Rostov-on-Don in Russia crashed on the final approach, with all 62 people dying 2018 : Air Niugini flight from Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia, to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, with a stop-off at Chuuk International Airport, undershot the runway and landed in a lagoon, with one person dying

: Air Niugini flight from Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia, to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, with a stop-off at Chuuk International Airport, undershot the runway and landed in a lagoon, with one person dying 2020 : Pegasus Airlines flight skidded off the runway at Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen Airport before splitting into three pieces of fuselage, leaving three dead

: Pegasus Airlines flight skidded off the runway at Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen Airport before splitting into three pieces of fuselage, leaving three dead 2020 : Air India Express flight overshot the runway while landing in heavy rain and crashed into a gorge at Calicut International Airport, with both pilots and 18 passengers dying

: Air India Express flight overshot the runway while landing in heavy rain and crashed into a gorge at Calicut International Airport, with both pilots and 18 passengers dying 2022 : China Eastern Airlines flight crashed while en-route to Guangzhou, China Advertisement

A huge force of 23 fire trucks and 117 rescuers were said to have been deployed in a bid to search for survivors, though it was later confirmed all 132 people on board had perished.

The website of China Eastern Airlines was later presented in black and white, which airlines do in response to a crash as a sign of respect for the assumed victims.

Arthur Rowe, specialist fellow in gas turbine performance and operability centre for propulsion engineering at Cranfield University, told MailOnline: 'It looks most likely a loss of control event, possibly following a high altitude stall of the aircraft.

'As usual there are multiple possible causes. Jammed or unresponsive control surfaces, especially on the tail are one.

'An inappropriate combination of autopilot settings is another - I'm not familiar with the details of this aircraft's flight controls though.

'Sabotage, although that's probably unlikely on a domestic Chinese flight given the Covid restrictions on entering the country.

'It's unlikely to be engine related as aircraft can fly perfectly well with no engine power - for a limited time obviously.'

Professor Bharath Ganapathisubramani, from Southampton University's engineering and physical sciences department added: 'Having looked at this and discussed with colleagues, we think that it is far too early to even speculate on possible causes.

'If the Flight Data Recorder and slash or the Cockpit Voice Recorder are found and are in a usable condition, we should know much more in a few months' time, with a final, definitive answer to what caused the tragedy likely to emerge in a year or so - based on the typical timelines of such events.'

Tao Yang, associate professor in engineering at Nottingham University, said: 'The plane was completely out of control and at this stage it is very difficult to say what has happened.

'However, most of the aeroplane accidents are related to sensors failure - ice protection fails.'

The China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 plummeted rapidly then appeared to have smashed into the hillside near the city of Wuzhou in Teng county

A Chinese airliner with 133 people on board has crashed in the southern province of Guangxi, erupting in a horror fire across a mountain

The China Eastern plane smashed into countryside near Wuzhou city, Guangxi region and 'caused a mountain fire', state broadcaster CCTV said

Parts of the plane were strewn across the countryside following the crash and fireball on Monday afternoon in China

Rescuers are seen in footage from CCTV piling on to a bus as they start their mission to search for survivors of the plane crash today

The plane (file photo of it is pictured) stopped transmitting data just southwest of the Chinese city of Wuzhou, according to data from Flight Radar. Chicago-based Boeing Co. did not immediately respond to a request for comment

Boeing Max 737's two deadly crashes: What happened? Boeing was forced to ground the 737 Max after the crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia happened less than six months apart. The first disaster happened October 29, 2018, when a Max flying as Lion Air flight JT 610 fell into the Java Sea 15 minutes after taking off from Jakarta. All 189 aboard the plane died, including 180 Indonesians, one Italian and one Indian. The second crash occurred on March 10, 2019, when Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302, which also was a Max jet, took off from Bole International Airport in the Ethiopian capital and crashed. All 157 people onboard the plane died. US carriers American, United and Southwest had to cancel flights for the holidays, including over Christmas and into the new year, after the plane was grounded around the world. Boeing reported on July 14, 2019, that customers canceled orders for 60 of the grounded 737 MAX jets in June. The aircraft maker removed another 123 planes from its backlog over doubts that the deals will be completed. Advertisement

Aviation data provider OAG said this month state-owned China Eastern Airlines was the world's sixth-largest by scheduled weekly seat capacity and the biggest in China.

It has had a relatively strong performance in the domestic market during the coronavirus pandemic despite tight curbs on international flights, OAG said.

It is one of China's top three airlines, operating scores of domestic and international routes serving 248 destinations.

The aircraft was delivered to China Eastern from Boeing in June 2015 and had been flying for over six years.

The twin-engine, single aisle Boeing 737 is one of the world's most popular planes for short and medium-haul flights.

China Eastern operates multiple versions of the common aircraft, including the 737-800 and the 737 Max. The 737 Max version was grounded worldwide after two fatal crashes.

China's aviation regulator cleared that plane to return to service late last year, making the country the last major market to do so.

The popular 737-800 variant has a maximum seating capacity of 189 and is equipped with CFM-56 engine, according to the planemaker's website.

The engines are made by a joint venture between General Electric Co and France's Safran SA.

The safety record of China's airline industry has been among the best in the world in the past decade.

But it is also less transparent than in countries like the US and Australia where regulators release detailed reports on non-fatal incidents, said Greg Waldron, Asia managing editor at industry publication Flightglobal.

'This makes it hard to get a sense of the true situation with Chinese carriers,' he said. 'There have been concerns that there is some underreporting of safety lapses on the mainland.'

According to Aviation Safety Network, China's last fatal jet accident was in 2010, when 44 of 96 people were killed when an Embraer E-190 regional jet flown by Henan Airlines crashed on approach to Yichun airport in low visibility.

The 737-800 model that crashed today has a good safety record and is the predecessor to the 737 MAX model that has been grounded in China for more than three years following fatal crashes in 2018 in Indonesia and 2019 in Ethiopia.

Boeing was forced to stop the 737 Max after the crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia happened less than six months apart.

The first disaster happened October 29, 2018, when a Max flying as Lion Air flight JT 610 fell into the Java Sea 15 minutes after taking off from Jakarta.

All 189 aboard the plane died, including 180 Indonesians, one Italian and one Indian. The second was on March 10, 2019, when Ethiopian Airlines slight ET 302 took off from the Ethiopian capital and crashed.

All 157 people onboard the plane died. The plane was grounded around the world and thousands of holidaymakers and travellers missed their flights.

Boeing reported on July 14, 2019, that customers cancelled orders for 60 of the grounded 737 MAX jets in June. The aircraft maker removed another 123 planes from its backlog over doubts that the deals will be completed.

In 1992, a China Southern 737-300 jet flying from Guangzhou to Guilin crashed on descent, killing all 141 people on board, according to Aviation Safety Network.

Most of the passengers onboard the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which disappeared in March 2014 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, were from China.

Passengers check in at the self-service machines of China Eastern Airlines in Kunming Changshui International Airport in China's southwestern Yunnan province after the earlier plane went down

Passengers sit in front of the self-service machines of China Eastern Airlines in Kunming Changshui International Airport in China's southwestern Yunnan province after the crash

Passengers arrive at Kunming Changshui International Airport in China's southwestern Yunnan province today after the horror jet crash earlier today

A flight information board shows a cancelled China Eastern Airlines flight (top) at the Kunming Changshui International Airport today

Flight Radar shows the plane taking off but not reaching its destination in the early hours

A graphic by the aviation monitoring website shows the plane plummet part-way through its journey

Flight Radar data shows how the plane plummeted thousands of feet before correcting then again falling before the horror crash

The website released data showing the aircraft's altitude during its descent as well as its speed during the incident on Monday

The web site of China Eastern Airlines was later presented in black and white, which airlines do in response to a crash as a sign of respect for the assumed victims

CCTV said a 'China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 plane carrying 133 people has crashed in Teng county, Wuzhou, Guangxi, and caused a mountain fire. Pictured: File photo of the area
A former Apple employee has been charged after defrauding the company of $10 million through taking kickbacks, committing theft, and money laundering.

Included the charges the employee has been indicted for are conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud as well as conspiracy to launder fraud proceeds. Two vendors have also been accused in relation to the crimes committed by the former Apple employee.

Should he be convicted, the forfeiture of properties and financial accounts connected to the crime will be sought by the United States Attorney.

Former Apple Employee Charged with Fraud

A former Apple employee named Dhirendra Prasad has been charged after committing fraud against the tech giant.

According to a report by CNET, Prasad was able to defraud the company by committing "theft, taking kickbacks and money laundering." Prasad was an Apple employee from 2008 to 2018 and was a part of the Global Service Supply Chain department.

The accused is facing five charges, including conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, conspiracy to launder fraud proceeds, tax evasion, and conspiracy to defaud the United States government.

Per the court filing filled by prosecutors, Apple lost around $10 million thanks to Prasad. The filing has specifically accused Prasad of faking repair orders and stealing parts as well as asking the tech giant to pay for services and items it never even received.

What Will Happen if Prasad is Convicted?

Per the CNET report, the fortfeiture of properties as well as accounts lined to Prasad is being sought should he be convicted. It is said that these properties and financial accounts are worth around $5 million.

It should also likewise be noted that two vendors have also been charged in separate cases in connection to the fraud Prasad committed. Specifically, they have been accused of conspiring with Prasad to commit money laundering as well as fraud.

Read Also: Apple Supplier Foxconn Weary of China, Pivots to Saudi Arabia

Money Laundering, Wire Fraud, and Other Terms You Should Know

To fully undertsnad the charges against Prasad, let us define some of the important terms in connection to the alleged crimes.

According to Investopedia, money laundering is defined as "the illegal process of making large amounts of money generated by a criminal activity, such as drug trafficking or terrorist funding, appear to have come from a legitimate source."

Investopedia notes that the money earned through this process is considered dirty money and the process "launders" it to make it look clean, hence the term used for it.

As previously mentioned, Prasad has also been charged with mail and wire fraud. Investopedia defines wire fraud as a type of fraud that typically involves the internet or a form of telecommunications, such as an email, phone call or even a text message.

Mail fraud, on the other hand, has been defined by the Cornell Law School as the use of United States mail when committing a criminal act of defrauding someone.

Related Article: Police Officer Reports Son For Fraud Over Large App Store Bill
Footage has emerged of Russian forces firing thermobaric missiles at the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, confirming the illegal use of devastating weapons against a civilian population.

The clips, published by Russia Today and the Donetsk People's Republic (DNR), show a TOS-1a 'Heavy Flamethrower system' launching a salvo of rockets towards the southern port city which has already endured more than a fortnight of heavy bombardment, resulting in hundreds of casualties.

Dozens of the thermobaric weapons were unleashed, trailing smoke as they soared through the air towards their helpless civilian targets, while the earth around the launcher was set ablaze.

Thermobaric bombs, also known as vacuum bombs or fuel-air bombs, are far more devastating than conventional explosives and work in two stages.

When a thermobaric charge is deployed, the first blast sprays a fuel vapour throughout the surrounding area, before a second blast ignites the vapour cloud in the air.

This results in a huge explosion, triggering a high-temperature fireball which sucks up the oxygen in the surrounding area and creates a massive blast wave.

The fireball can melt through defences and vaporize bodies caught close to the explosion, while the high-pressure blast wave can demolish buildings and rupture human organs.

The Ministry of Defence reported earlier this month that thermobaric weapons had been deployed in Ukraine, but this footage represents the first visual confirmation of their use against civilians in Mariupol.

This image, taken from a video clip released by the Donetsk People's Republic, shows a TOS1a launch system deploying a salvo of thermobaric rockets

Dozens of the thermobaric weapons were unleashed, trailing smoke as they soared through the air towards their helpless civilian targets, while the earth around the launcher was set ablaze

The TOS-1a launcher, adorned with the 'Z' logo which has become a symbol of Russian aggression in Ukraine, is seen in this video released by the Donetsk People's Republic

Thermobaric explosives release an aerosol consisting of very fine particles, such as metal, flammable dusts or chemical droplets. An ignition source then ignites the cloud of particles and their rapid combustion causes an explosion and a vacuum in the surrounding vicinity

Mariupol has been under a Russian heavy bombardment for more than a fortnight, resulting in widespread devastation and hundreds of casualties

Local residents take cover as they hear blasts during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol

Bodies of civilians killed during the Russian bombardment of Mariupol are laid out in a park as they await burial by soldiers defending the city, on Sunday

The science behind vacuum bombs Thermobaric weapons - also known as vacuum bombs - are high-powered explosive that use the atmosphere itself as part of the explosion. They are among the most powerful non-nuclear weapons ever developed. The bomb works by using oxygen from the surrounding air to generate a high-temperature explosion, making it far deadlier than a conventional weapon. A thermobaric bomb dropped by the US on Taliban in Afghanistan in 2017 weighed 21,600 pounds and left a crater more than 300 meters (1,000 feet) wide after it exploded six feet above the ground. Thermobaric weapons were developed by both the US and the Soviet Union in the 1960s. In September 2007, Russia detonated the largest thermobaric weapon ever made, which created an explosion equivalent to 39.9 tons. Advertisement

Footage of Russia's deployment of the terrifying thermobaric weapons comes as Ukraine resoundingly rejected Russia's demand that troops in Mariupol lay down their arms and surrender to allow civilians to be evacuated.

Russian Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev laid out Moscow's offer late last night, saying Ukrainian troops and 'foreign mercenaries' who laid down their arms and raised white flags would be allowed to leave via 'humanitarian corridors', followed by civilians.

But Mariupol rejected the demands within minutes, with Pyotr Andryushenko - an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol - saying that Russian promises of amnesty could not be trusted and that troops defending the city were determined to fight down to the last man.

Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk called on Russia to stop 'wasting time on eight pages of letters' and open humanitarian corridors for civilians to leave the city instead of using them as bargaining chips.

She told news outlet Ukrainska Pravda: 'There can be no talk of any surrender, laying down of arms. We have already informed the Russian side about this.'

Mariupol has been under siege for two weeks with little access to food or water and no power.

Tens of thousands of civilians remain trapped in the besieged city on Ukraine's southern coast, but temporary ceasefire agreements to allow citizens to flee via humanitarian corridors have been repeatedly broken by Russian troops.

This image shows earth around the launcher set ablaze as the TOS-1a fires dozens of rockets towards Mariupol

Members of the DNR militia are seen loading the rockets into the TOS-1a launcher

Mariupol has been under siege for two weeks with little access to food or water and no power. Tens of thousands of civilians remain trapped in the besieged city on Ukraine's southern coast, but temporary ceasefire agreements to allow citizens to flee via humanitarian corridors have been repeatedly broken by Russian troops

This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies on Saturday, March 19, 2022 shows the aftermath of the airstrike on the Mariupol Drama theater, Ukraine, and the area around it

Service members of pro-Russian troops are seen atop of tanks during Ukraine-Russia conflict on the outskirts of the besieged southern port city of Mariupol

One of the videos of the TOS-1a, released by members of the DNR, declares the rockets are being deployed in Mariupol to 'target Ukrainian nationalists'.

The narration and terrifying footage of the rockets sent to deal yet more damage to Mariupol were accompanied by brash, propagandistic music.

'The DNR's People's Militia with support of the Russian armed forces during a special operation in Ukraine are targeting positions of nationalists around Mariupol with the help of the TOS-1a,' the narrator announced proudly.

General Sir Richard Barrons, a former head of the UK's joint forces command, previously told MailOnline that the consequences of thermobaric weapons in Ukrainian urban centres would be devastating.

'Unleashing thermobaric weapons and the mass concentrated use of heavy artillery will cause the indiscriminate, unnecessary and unwarranted slaughter of tens of thousands of innocent people,' he said.

Vacuum bombs can have devastating effects even for those who are not caught close to the epicentre of the blast.

Those on the fringe are likely to suffer many internal, invisible injuries, including crushed organs and severe concussions.

According to the Journal of Military and Veterans' Health, thermobaric weapons affect organs where there is a tissue interface of varying densities, such as the lungs, bowel and inner ear.

'It predominantly affects the pulmonary, cardiovascular, auditory, gastrointestinal, and central nervous systems,' it says.

When the blast wave hits, the alveoli of the lungs can be ruptured and leak fluid, resulting in a condition known as 'blast lung' which can prove deadly.

The cardiovascular system may also be affected by an air embolus in the heart or coronary arteries, while the blast wave can also severely damage the inner ear, resulting in deafness, extreme pain and balance problems.
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Spring breakers were seen lounging on beaches, posing for selfies and splashing in the waves on the traditional changeover Sunday as crowds get fired up for another week of partying.

Thousands of students flocked to the beaches at Fort Lauderdale on what is usually a quiet Sunday, but this year's spring break has been different and is expected to be the largest ever following a two-year delay because of Covid restrictions.

The crowds of people dressed for the weather in tiny bikinis and colorful swim trunks and were undeterred by the visible presence of police officers on horseback looking to keep a lid on the celebrations.

As a result of the two-year absence of spring break celebrations, the mayor of Miami Beach has beefed up beachside police numbers and said the city is 'under siege' from raucous revelers.

Last week, hotels were booked solid in both Miami Beach and South Padre Island, Texas, swelling the population of both vacation towns with young men and women looking to cut loose for a few days of partying on the beach.

An estimated 570,000 students will flock to Florida, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Port Aranas, a town on the barrier island just north of South Padre, is also expected to go from a population of 3,000 to 350,000, according to the local chamber of commerce.

Spring break typically peaks during the final two weeks of March when the majority of schools and colleges break up for a week.

Last week saw the celebrations kick off in earnest, featuring wet t-shirt contests, twerking and public smooching sessions, but they didn't pass without incident.

Crowds of young people - most donning tiny bikinis and brightly colored swim shorts - flocked to the beaches in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday

Young people were seen splashing around in the water at Fort Lauderdale while enjoying some alcoholic drinks with friends

Traditionally, the Sunday between the two busiest weeks of Spring Break is quiet with many people heading home and others arriving, but this year is different following a two-year delay due to Covid restrictions

Many people in the crowds were seen posing for pictures with their friends and drinking as they enjoyed the sunshine

An estimated 570,000 students will flock to Florida over spring break, according to the Tampa Bay Times, following a two-year hiatus

The crowds of young people were seen drinking and relaxing in the Sunday sun ahead of another big week of partying

On Sunday morning, spring breakers were running for their lives after shots rang out in Miami Beach, Florida.

Flocks of panicked college students fled the area surrounding Kantina Restaurant on Ocean Drive, a popular South Beach thoroughfare known for its bars, dining and nightlife, after multiple gunshots were fired.

The fleeing party-goers were seen trampling each other and dropping their belongings, such as cell phones and shoes, as they sought shelter in alleyways and other hiding spots, according to a DailyMail.com journalist at the scene.

At least one woman was shot in the leg and another individual removed from the premise on a stretcher. Paramedics transported at least one other person to a nearby hospital in an ambulance. The conditions of the injured remain unknown at this time.

It was the second shooting to reportedly involve spring break holidaymakers over the weekend. Ten people were shot at a spring break party in Dallas and several others were injured as they tried to escape the gunfire, police said.

One person was in critical condition following the shooting late on Saturday night at The Space Dallas, a party venue. Nine other shooting victims were taken to hospitals in stable condition and an unspecified number of people were injured while trying to run away, police said. No arrests have been announced.

Joe Morgan, who was working to control the crowd, told the Dallas news provider WFAA that the suspects got in their car and started firing at the crowd after being searched by security guards who attempted to confiscate their weapons.

MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA - MARCH 20: Spring breakers were running for their lives after shots rang out in Miami Beach, Florida on Sunday morning

DALLAS: Ten people were shot at a spring break party in Dallas and several others were injured as they tried to escape the gunfire on Saturday night

There were also a number of incident last week, including on Friday, when three people were injured, one critically, after shots rang out at a beach in South Padre Island, Texas. Police say the gunman in that shooting remains at large.

The incessant partying led to a mass overdose at a house party on Tuesday, with six victims being hospitalized after using fentanyl-laced cocaine.

Last Sunday, four men were found unresponsive at a Fort Lauderdale property, according to Local10. They were hospitalized, and it is unclear if they were spring breakers, or what had caused their illness, which came days after five West Point cadets overdosed on fentanyl in Wilton Manors, just outside Fort Lauderdale.

But by yesterday afternoon beaches in Fort Lauderdale were filled again with crowds of young people relaxing in the sun, sipping liquor from cups and splashing around in the water.

Despite it being the traditionally quiet Sunday in the middle of the two busiest weeks in spring break, with many heading home and others only just arriving, the beaches remained packed with many police officers on horseback keeping a close eye on proceedings.

Fort Lauderdale and Miami Beach police departments have increased the number of police officers patrolling tourist hotspots during the break this year and many will be working overtime.

While 2020 saw a dismal 1,500 people a day flying to Florida and 2021 saw a crowd of about 65,000 spring breakers, the Tampa Bay Times estimated that 570,000 students will be on vacation in the Sunshine State to party on the beaches this year.

Police said they were readying themselves ahead of a huge influx of students and on Sunday they were seen keeping a close eye on proceedings

The visible police presence comes after a number of incidents, including shootings and students overdosing, were reported last week

Police are expecting another big week of celebrations as the two busiest weeks of Spring Break continue in earnest

The Sunday between the two busiest weeks is traditionally fairly quiet but this year saw thousands of people flock to the beaches at Fort Lauderdale

Young people in bikinis were seen mixing in with Fort Lauderdale locals all making the most of the bright sunshine on Sunday

A group of students are seen drinking beers while relaxing on the beach at Fort Lauderdale during Spring Break 2022

Police on horseback were seen patrolling the beaches and nearby roads to keep partygoers in check after a number of reported incidents in recent days

A couple of partygoers pose with a man in a costume as revellers enjoyed the sea and sand at Fort Lauderdale on Sunday

This year, Fort Lauderdale officials said they were readying themselves by enforcing safety measures before the expected arrival of Spring Breakers from all across the country.

Police and fire rescue officials in Fort Lauderdale, often dubbed as 'Spring Break Central,' told reporters at a news conference on Friday that they expect to reach unprecedented levels since the coronavirus pandemic.

Sunday's shooting in Miami saw police placed on high alert while young adults continued drinking, dancing, laying out and playing games.

Three people were injured Friday night after a gunman opened fired on Padre Island National Seashore in Texas, a beach known for its wild parties.

According to Corpus Christi police, a man in his 30s suffered serious injuries and was in critical condition. A 16-year-old girl and 19-year-old man also suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Police said the suspect remains at large and it remains unclear if the gunman was a vacationer or local resident.

Last week, on St. Patrick's day, a crowd of spring breakers celebrating in Miami Beach rushed into a stampede after someone pulled out a gun on South Beach near Ocean Drive. Although no one was shot, one person was injured during the mad dash to flee the area, the Miami Herald reported.

Despite the chaos, officials claim spring break turnout remained lower than normal this year with some alleging sky-rocketing transportation costs likely played a factor in students' plans.

Students vacationing at Panama City Beach in Florida said they spent more on airfare this year than on prior spring breaks.
An Oxford University college may be unlawfully discriminating against Christians after allegedly cancelling an event booking following 'ill-founded complaints' by students.

Worcester College apologised for hosting a Christian Concern youth training camp and is said to have cancelled a further booking after students said it had left them 'distressed'.

Students claimed attendees at the 'Wilberforce Academy' event were carrying out 'aggressive leafleting' and approaching them to discuss gay conversion therapy.

But an independent review found no evidence of the claims made by students at the college, which is led by the former head of the equalities watchdog David Isaac.

The college had said it was concerned by views expressed at the conference on 'reproductive rights' and 'conversion therapy', which 'do not align with our values'.

The event is a one-week conference for university students and young professionals which discusses Christian faith within contemporary culture and in the workplace.

The college said it did not accept the review's findings, which also found that university staff could not find a copy of the leaflet. And the Free Speech Union has now warned the college that it may be unlawfully discriminating against Christians.

The college has insisted that it did not cancel any booking, but it is understood that Christian Concern had a provisional booking and were told they could return in 2022 - but they were subsequently told they could not hold the event there this year.

A session at last year's Wilberforce Academy event for young Christians in Oxford is pictured

The FSU urged Mr Isaac to apologise and reinstate the event in September following the inquiry led by lawyer Michael Stewart, reported the Daily Telegraph.

Toby Young, general secretary of the FSU, said in a letter that the 'uncritical acceptance of claims that the conference harmed students was a serious error'.

Worcester College is led by the former head of the equalities watchdog David Isaac

He added: 'The college should have investigated and faced down students' ill-founded complaints. No higher education institution should apologise for free speech.

'You do not need reminding that refusing to provide the College's services because of Christian Concern's religious beliefs would constitute unlawful discrimination.

'We continue to stand by Christian Concern and will provide whatever legal and financial assistance we deem appropriate should this matter escalate.'

Officials at Worcester College did not engage with the investigation but have since agreed to meet with Christian Concern, which is an evangelical pressure group based in London.

A Worcester College spokesman said: 'Worcester College wishes to clarify that, contrary to what is being said in the media, no conference booking has been cancelled.

'The college does not accept many of the findings in Christian Concerns own report, and we are disappointed that this report has been published without us having the opportunity to discuss it in advance.

Worcester College apologised to students after hosting the Christian Concern training camp

'The college looks forward to a constructive meeting with Christian Concern and the chance to discuss properly the issues raised. We support free speech and it remains one of the core values of the college.'

The self-styled 'People's Republic of Worcester College' was previously led by Dr Kate Tunstall, who was called 'Red Kate'

The issue was even raised in Parliament last September following media coverage of Mr Isaac's apology to students. During a debate on the government's proposed Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill, MP Fiona Bruce mentioned the story.

The politician said at the time: 'The Wilberforce Academy has been held at Oxbridge colleges for the last 11 years. I have actually spoken at one of its conferences; the students who attend the conference are serious young people seeking to inform themselves about issues of the day. We need to encourage that, not shut it down.'

Mr Isaac, who took over as the new Provost of Worcester College in July 2021, is understood to have ordered an investigation into the hosting of the camp after receiving a complaint from the president of the student union.

Mr Isaac was the previous chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), during which time it released guidelines to protect 'freedom of expression amid growing criticism of no-platforming decisions'.

Last year's Christian Concern youth training camp the Wilberforce Academy was in Oxford

He was also previously chairman of the LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall.

Toby Young, general secretary of the Free Speech Union, warned the college it may be unlawfully discriminating against Christians

Andrea Williams, chief executive of Christian Concern, said: 'The inquiry has found, as we anticipated, no evidence that any delegates have done anything to warrant apologising for, being cancelled or discriminated against for their Christian beliefs.

'Worcester College capitulated to complaints from a handful of students who appear to have felt 'offended' following debate on some of the most important social issues of our time.

'It is disappointing that such a prestigious university and college should be cancelling Christian beliefs, debate and free speech.'

The self-styled 'People's Republic of Worcester College' was previously led by Dr Kate Tunstall, a French literature expert, who was called 'Red Kate' for her support for the Labour Party and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

As interim Provost, she was the most prominent figure of a 150-strong faction of rebel Oxford academics threatening to boycott Oriel students over the Cecil Rhodes statue, and once tried to ban the centuries-old customs of standing for dons and saying grace before meals.
Topless and teary-eyed, this is the moment a wealthy public schoolboy lies to police just minutes after fatally stabbing his friend.

Newly released footage shows 17-year-old knifeman Joshua Molnar telling police how he had found injured Yousef Makki lying on the ground.

He also tells the officer that he 'doesn't know' what happened, that he had found his friend 'coughing up blood' and that he had tried to save his life.

In fact, Molnar, from a wealthy family in Hale, had been the one who had plunged a knife into his friend's chest.

'Talented' Yousef suffered a 12-centimetre deep wound to the chest inflicted with the flick knife during the March 2019 incident.

The 17-year-old, who despite his 'humble' background had earned a scholarship to attend the 13,380 per year Manchester Grammar School (MGS), died in hospital shortly after.

Molnar was later cleared of murder and manslaughter on the basis of self-defence, but was sentenced to 16 months' imprisonment for possession of a knife.

He was also sentenced for perverting the course of justice by lying to police at the scene.

Bodycam footage of Molnar's lies had been shown at his 2019 trial and at Yousef's inquest. But efforts have been made by a coroner to stop the video ever being published.

Now, following a length legal battle, the shocking footage is due to be broadcast as part of a Channel 4 documentary - Killed By A Rich Kid.

'Talented' Yousef, suffered a 12-centimetre deep wound to the chest inflicted with the flick knife during the incident, in March 2019. The 17-year-old, who despite his 'humble' background had earned a scholarship to attend the 13,380 per year Manchester Grammar School (MGS), died in hospital shortly after. Molnar was later cleared of murder and manslaughter on the basis of self-defence, but was sentenced to 16 months' imprisonment for possession of a knife

Newly released footage shows 17-year-old knifeman Joshua Molnar telling police how he had found injured Yousef Makki lying on the ground

Yousef Makki inquest coroner says more children may die from Britain's deadly knife culture A coroner probing the stabbing of Yousef Makki has said more children may die as a result of Britain's deadly knife culture after finding the schoolboy was killed with a weapon bought 'with ease during school breaktime'. Yousef, 17, died following a confrontation with his friend Joshua Molnar in upmarket Hales Barnes, Cheshire, during the early evening of March 2, 2019. The teenager, who earned a scholarship to attend the 13,380 per year Manchester Grammar School, suffered a 12-centimetre deep wound to the chest inflicted with a flick knife. Molnar, then also 17, was cleared of murder and manslaughter on the basis of self-defence, but was sentenced to 16 months' imprisonment for possession of a knife and perverting the course of justice by lying to police at the scene. Mutual friend Adam Chowdhary, who was present during the fatal incident, was cleared of charges of perverting the course of justice and conspiracy to rob, and given a four-month detention order for possession of a knife. An inquest into Yousef's death at Stockport Coroners Court concluded in November, with Senior Coroner Alison Mutch ruling the 'precise circumstances' of his death 'cannot, on the balance of probabilities. be ascertained'. However, in a report published on Friday, she has written to Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi to highlight concerns over the UK's deadly knife culture. She says: 'The inquest heard evidence that there was a culture amongst some teenagers who saw the possession of knives as being impressive and did not understand the risks that are inherent in the carrying of knives. 'The knife that Yousef was stabbed with was a that had been purchased with ease during break time at school. 'It was clear from the evidence that schools and education play a vital role in attitudes to carrying knives by teenagers.' Advertisement

In the video, taken moments after Yousef's stabbing in March 2019, Molnar can be seen topless while speaking to police.

As paramedics arrive to tend to Yousef who is on the ground by a tree, a police officer is captured on his own body-cam telling sobbing Molnar: 'Right, come over here. What's happened?'

Molnar says: 'We were walking over the motorway.... Then Yousef Makki's walked ahead. We've come round the corner and he's just fallen over.

'We've come round the corner. We've come sprinting over and the guy was just coughing up blood... I've taken my shirt off and I've put pressure on it.

'But he hasn't been able to say anything and he's been, like, gasping for breath.'

The officer asks him: 'How's that happened?'

Molnar replies 'I don't know' and repeats he had been around the corner when the incident happened.

He later suggests those responsible had driven off in a silver hatchback.

The footage then shows another friend, Adam Chowdhary, also 17, and from another wealthy family, come into view and another officer says that he is 'trying to leave'.

Chowdhary is told to take a seat in a patrol car. Chowdhary, who was present during the fatal incident, was cleared of charges of perverting the course of justice and conspiracy to rob, and given a four-month detention order for possession of a knife.

When he is asked 'who's done this?' the youth replies: 'I don't know, I was walking far, look, ask him, ask how far back I was.

'That's why I was shocked. Because I was so far back he lifts up I see his belt. I was like, whoa, what's that?

'Or I see something, I see his pants or something and I'm like, whoa what's that?'

Molnar, asked 'who would have done this?', is captured moments later telling an officer: 'I don't know.'

When he is urged to 'just be honest mate', he answers: 'A lot of people that come from different areas, from Stretford and stuff like that, to Hale to try and rob people from their stuff.

'That's what happens most of the time and, erm, the other week someone's tried to take my stuff.'

Asked who had done this he blames 'a group of black guys'.

Yousef was just 17 when he was fatally stabbed through the heart by Molnar, a former public schoolboy from a wealthy Hale family, during the confrontation on March 2, 2019.

A jury acquitted Molnar, now 20, of murder and manslaughter later that year, although he was handed a 16-month detention and training order after admitting possessing the knife which inflicted the fatal injury and lying to police at the scene.

He says he acted in self-defence, alleging Yousef pushed and punched him and called him 'p*ssy'.

Joshua Molnar (left, pictured with mother Stephanie), then 17, who was sentenced to 16 months in a young offenders' institution after he pleaded guilty to possessing a knife

Adam Chowdhary, also then a pupil at Manchester Grammar School, was given a four-month detention order for possession of a knife

Yousef's family say this was 'totally out of character' and told last year's inquest Yousef acted as a peacemaker during a row between Molnar and Chowdhary.

The court heard that, on the day of his death, the three teenagers had convened in an underground car park under a supermarket shortly after attending the Square shopping centre in Manchester.

Chowdhary told the inquest Josh Molnar had been 'impressed' when they showed him the flick knives he and Yousef were alleged to have had in the car park, which they had jointly ordered in a break from lessons at school two weeks earlier.

The group then attended a country lane near Manchester Airport together after Chowdhary had arranged a small cannabis deal.

However, Molnar was beaten by two associates of the alleged dealer and his 2,000 Starling bike was thrown over a hedge.

Greater Manchester Police told the inquest it believes this 'pre-cursor event' was, in fact, a planned revenge attack and not a drug deal.

It followed a review of police investigations into incidents in Wilmslow that Molnar was involved in two weeks earlier.

Molnar denied any involvement and was never prosecuted, but the boy's cousins attacked him in revenge, the inquest heard.

Senior Coroner Alison Mutch has written to Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi to highlight concerns over the UK's deadly knife culture

He said he blamed Chowdhary, who had cycled away from the confrontation, and later the same day took his 300 jacket as 'compensation' until the bike was returned.

Molnar also accused of Yousef of having 'just watched' as the assault took place.

The last time Yousef was captured alive was at 6.34pm and 46 seconds, when the three reconvened later that evening.

The inquest heard the fatal stabbing occurred, unseen by any camera, at about 6.36pm.

As Yousef lay dying, the panicking defendants hid the knives in bushes and down a drain, dialled 999 and desperately tried to staunch the blood pouring out of Yousef's chest wound.

Chowdhary, now 19, from Hale Barns, who described Yousef as his 'best friend' at MGS, was acquitted of perverting the course of justice.

He was given a four-month detention order after admitting possession of a flick knife, one of two he claimed he and Yousef had jointly ordered during a break from lessons at MGS.

Following an inquest in November, Senior South Manchester Coroner Ms Mutch recorded a narrative conclusion, saying: 'Yousef died from complications of a stab wound to chest.

'The precise circumstances in which he was wounded cannot, on balance of probabilities, be ascertained.'

However, in a report published on Friday, she has written to Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi to highlight concerns over the UK's deadly knife culture.

She says: 'The inquest heard evidence that there was a culture amongst some teenagers who saw the possession of knives as being impressive and did not understand the risks that are inherent in the carrying of knives.

'The knife that Yousef was stabbed with was a that had been purchased with ease during break time at school.

'It was clear from the evidence that schools and education play a vital role in attitudes to carrying knives by teenagers.'

The inquest had earlier heard that Yousef was from humble beginnings, from a single-parent Anglo-Lebanese family, but had a brilliant mind.

Police at the scene in Gorse Bank Road, Hale Barns, Cheshire, where Yousef was stabbed to death

Flowers, photographs and tributes pictured outside Manchester Grammar School following his death

Yousef's body is carried out of a funeral ceremony at he Dar Al-Hadi Foundation in Ardwick

His mother 'scrimped and saved' to buy his 1,000 school uniform after he won a scholarship to the 13,000-a-year Manchester Grammar School.

Paying tribute to her brother, Yousef's sister Jade Akoum said during the inquest: 'He was a peacemaker. He was everything you would want in a brother or son.

'Every day we miss him. It is a huge void we will never get back.'

His mother Debbie Makki, 55, died of Sepsis in May 2020.

Before her death, she wrote a statement to the court: 'I don't think people realise how something like this affects your whole life.'

Tonight the case will covered in a new Channel 4 documentary Killed by a Rich Kid.

In the documentary, Yousef's tearful sister Jade Akoum, who is leading a campaign for the case to be revisited, tells her partner as he consoles her: 'I'm trying to be strong but he was my brother.

' All the details that they said and how he died and we weren't there for him and I'll never forgive myself that I couldn't be there

'He died on his own miles away from where he comes from and we were thinking he was safe.'
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Britain's 'biggest headstone' costing an estimated 200,000 to create and kitted out with a solar-powered jukebox may have to be removed after Sheffield Council revealed it had been erected without permission.

The 37 tonne headstone is crafted from solid Carrara marble and features two life-sized statues of the man it commemorates, a 6'2 bare-knuckle boxer named 'Big Willy Collins' who died in July 2020 aged 49 of a heart attack while on holiday with his family in Majorca.

The huge headstone, unveiled only five days ago in honour of 'traveller king' Willy Collins - who left behind nine children and around 400 nieces and nephews - could soon be torn down by council bosses, who say it was built without approval.



Cllr Alison Teal, Executive Member for Sustainable Neighbourhoods, Wellbeing, Parks and Leisure at Sheffield Council said: 'We are aware of a large memorial which has been erected in Shiregreen Cemetery.

'This memorial was built without permission, and we are currently considering our next steps.'

The memorial, which is crafted from Carrara marble and features two life-sized statues of Big Willy, could be torn down after it was revealed by Sheffield Council that it was built without their approval

Mourners who visit his final resting place can also connect to the speaker through Bluetooth to play their own songs

Upon his death, tributes poured in from across the UK and his beloved home city, where he was known by many as the King of Sheffield

The gargantuan memorial is surrounded by Irish flags and features a statue of the Pieta, with Mary cradling Jesus

The marble memorial features two life-sized statues of Big Willy's six-foot-two frame (pictured)

The headstone, erected at Shiregreen Cemetery in Sheffield, features LED lights that can change colour, and is under 24-hour CCTV monitoring, which his large family have access to in order to see and 'speak' with him.

It also has depictions of Jesus Christ and biblical scenes, as well as a solar-powered jukebox playing the late father-of-nine's favourite tracks.

Mourners who visit his final resting place can also connect to the speaker through Bluetooth to play their own songs.

But Cllr Teal said the monumental headstone could violate strict planning laws governing the size and dimensions of graves, according to Yorkshire Post,

She said: 'All plans for grave memorials should be submitted to the council and must receive approval from Bereavement Services before they are erected.

'For submissions, applicants must provide several details, including the material and size of the memorial, the proposed inscription and a sketch.

'A memorial should be less than 75mm thick and no taller than 1.35m from ground level.

For the funeral service in 2020, friends and family let off blue flares and travelled on quad bikes to honour the bare knuckle boxer

The headstone also features LED lights that can change colour, and is under 24-hour CCTV monitoring

The huge headstone and tribute to the late father-of-nine weighs in at 37 tonnes

Willy died aged 49 after collapsing while on holiday with his family in Majorca in July 2020

One of 16 children, Willy was the patriarch of the large Collins family

His cortege was led by people in velvet suits and crowns with a white funeral carriage being pulled by six plumed horses wearing yellow and blue feathers

Willy is said to have doted on his children and grandchildren

The headstone features the tribute: 'My daddy, my best friend, my first love and forever my king'

Hundreds lined the streets in the city in August 2020 for Big Willy's final send off, with his body being carried in a gold-plated casket, transported by a horse-pulled carriage

She continued: 'Cemeteries are a place where people can come, pay their respects and visit loved ones who are no longer with us.

'We understand memorials are deeply personal, however we must have rules in place to ensure fairness.'

Mary Collins, 30, the eldest of Big Willy's daughters, told the Yorkshire Post when it was unveiled last Thursday, March 17: 'We bought all the plots as it's a family grave, so we're not taking over more space than it should be.

'From behind, all of the plots are ours, but when someone dies the headstone starts at the head. We're not worried, and it's well taken care of.

'We jet wash that road all the time. We have a lot of respect.

Kathleen (pictured) was married to Will for more than 30 years

Tributes paid to Willy said that he 'still means the world to us' [the family]

Horses in yellow and blue feathers pulled a white funeral carriage holding a 22-carat gold coffin that Willy Collins was laid to rest in in 2020

The bare knuckle boxer's body was in a gold coffin when he was buried in the Sheffield cemetery in 2020

The cortege also had 40 Rolls Royces, about 12 bikers and other vintage cars. Some people leading the cortege wore golden hats

Friends and family of Willy Collins gather as they pay tribute to 'Big Willy' in his childhood home town in Sheffield in 2020

Cars and bikes lined up on Pitsmoor Road, where Willy grew up, as part of his grand funeral cortege that took place in 2020

The cortege started outside the Old Ball pub in Darnall, went through Pitsmoor, where Willy grew up, and continued through the streets of Sheffield to Shiregreen Cemetery

The father-of-nine was a well-known member of the traveller community who died suddenly while he was on holiday for his wife's birthday in Majorca

'My father's grave is on a hill, so it has to be raised anyway. It's in line with other headstones.'

After the council's intervention on Sunday, Ms Collins said she had arranged a meeting on Monday with the council to discuss the memorial's future.

The family declined to reveal the price of the elaborate headstone, saying it was against 'traveller traditions' to brag, although local stonemasons estimated it could have cost around 200,000 to build.

One of 16 children, Willy was the patriarch of the Collins family, and is said to have doted on his children and grandchildren, and to have had around 400 nieces and nephews.

Upon his death, tributes poured in from across the UK and his beloved home city, where he was known by many as the King of Sheffield.

His gold coffin was 22 carats and his vault at the cemetery was lined with tiles depicting the Last Supper

Willy, who was born in Ireland, moved to Sheffield in 1980 and grew up in Pitsmoor

Friends and family dressed in their finest for the funeral of the patriarch two years ago following his death while on holiday

Collins used to train at Brendan Ingle's gym in Wincobank and although he and his wife lived in various places, Sheffield was always home with the couple eventually settling in Darnall

His cortege was led by people in velvet suits and crowns with a white funeral carriage being pulled by six plumed horses

Boxers such as Tyson Fury, Kell Brook and Billy Joe Saunders sent messages to the family after the shock news of Willy's death in 2020

Collins was a father-of-nine and all his younger relatives used to call him 'Big Daddy'

Hundreds lined the streets in the city in August 2020 for Big Willy's final send off, with his body being carried in a gold-plated casket, transported by a horse pulled carriage.

His cortege was led by people in velvet suits and crowns with a white funeral carriage being pulled by six plumed horses wearing yellow and blue feathers, 40 Rolls Royce cars and some bikers and vintage cars.

Mary Collins, 30, Willy's daughter, said: 'It's a sad day but it's also a way to show the world what he meant to us.

'Our father was a family man and he means the world to us - he still means the world to us. We've given him everything we've got and he deserves it.

'If you met him once for five minutes you would never forget him.

'We now have somewhere where we can meet and talk about him and for others to remember him.

'He was my best friend. Not a day goes by where we all don't think of him.'
The desperate search for a missing 20-year-old man has ended in tragedy more than three months after he mysteriously vanished without a trace.

Logan Losurdo, a former vice-captain of Tuggerah Lakes Secondary College, had been missing from the NSW Central Coast since November 26.

His body was found 11 days ago but investigators were unable to identify the remains until Monday due to the state of decomposition.

A police spokesperson confirmed to Daily Mail Australia that they were called to Soldiers Beach, Norah Head, about 11am pm Thursday after reports human remains were found on the shore.

Logan Losurdo (pictured) went missing on November 26. The search for him ended tragically when his remains were found on a NSW shoreline

'Police have since confirmed the remains to be those of a 20-year-old man, who was last seen in the Magenta area on the Central Coast in November 2021.

'A report will be prepared for the information of the Coroner.'

The 'Help find Logan Losurdo' Facebook page announced that it was with 'very heavy hearts' that they confirmed Logan had been found dead.

'Our hearts are breaking for all Logan's family and friends,' the post read.

'We ask you please respect their privacy at this difficult time.

'Fly high Logan.'

Friends and acquaintances left messages about the heartbreaking news.

'My deepest condolences to the family and friends of this lovely young man. Gone too soon,' one said.

Another said: 'Im so very sad to hear this. Rest In Peace dear Logan. Sending love to his family and dear friends, especially to those who never gave up looking.'

Mr Losurdo was reported missing at about 8.15pm on November 26.

Central Coast man Logan Losurdo delivering a keynote address to the AVID Australia Summer Institute in 2018 as a 17-year-old Tuggerah Lakes Secondary College student

Officers from Tuggerah Lakes Police District  with the assistance of SES volunteers, PolAir, Water Police, Marine Rescue, NSW Surf Lifesaving and the Volunteer Rescue Association conducted extensive land and sea searches in the Magenta and The Entrance areas.

Several of Mr Losurdo's personal belongings were located in The Entrance North area.

A video of Mr Losurdo from his school days showed him describing his difficult upbringing and receiving a standing ovation from his peers.

He was delivering a keynote address to the AVID - Advancement Via Individual Determination - Australia Summer Institute in 2018 as a 17-year-old senior at Tuggerah Lakes Secondary College.

Logan was enrolled in the AVID program by a teacher who was also his carer.

In the speech, Logan shows photos of himself as child while recounting that he lived with his mother and brothers until the age of 12.

'My brothers and I were exposed to things on a daily basis that no young person should,' he told the audience.

Logan Losurdo (pictured) was missing missing for more than three months before his body was found

'These were things like drug abuse, domestic violence, serious criminal activity, police raids, Family and Community Services visits - these were just the norm for our family.

'Every day was a fight and every day there was another lie to tell somebody about what was really happening.'

Dressed in his school blazer and tie, Logan said his modes of operation to survive while growing up were 'fighting and running'.

'Everybody was always fighting with someone at home, often these fights would be violent. They could happen at any moment. The yelling, the arguments, were the soundtrack of my childhood.'

He recalled the moment as a child he was taken to Sydney from the Central Coast by his mother for a 'special' day out.

During a trip to Timezone, she told him she was not his mother.

Logan Losurdo (pictured) endured great hardships as a child and 'felt like my whole life was a complete lie'

Logan said he came to learn the woman he knew as his aunt was really his biological mother.

'I felt like my whole life was a complete lie, my identity, my everything, had just been ripped out of me,' he said.

He then described how a teacher became the carer for him and his brothers, redirecting him towards education as a way out of his predicament in emergency care.

On the Facebook page dedicated to finding Mr Losurdo, among the hundreds of messages of condolence on Monday night, some mentioned seeing his speech from AVID.

'I watched his video some time back and was impressed at this young mans achievements despite a very difficult life.

'My heartfelt condolences to his family. I cannot imagine how they are feeling. RIP Logan,' one wrote.

'That is so terribly sad. Have been following this since he disappeared and was always wishing for a good outcome. Condolences to his family and friends,' wrote another.
Britain could welcome hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing the fighting in Ukraine over the coming weeks, Sajid Javid said today.

After the Government's Homes for Ukraine scheme opened at the weekend, the Health Secretary vowed those arriving in the UK would get all the support they needed.

The UK has issued 9,500 visas to Ukrainians with family ties to Britain after receiving more than 30,000 applications, while 150,000 people had expressed an interest in hosting refugees through Homes for Ukraine.

His assurance came as the latest intelligence assessment by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) warned that Russian forces were seeking to encircle the capital, Kyiv.

A refugee woman holds a baby while waiting on a bus for Ukrainian police to check papers and belongings in Brovary, Ukraine

Today, Sajid Javid vowed refugees arriving in Britain would get all the support they needed

Mr Javid defended comments by Home Secretary Priti Patel who insisted security checks were needed on refugees from the war to prevent Russian spies infiltrating the country.

Speaking at the Conservative Spring Forum in Blackpool at the weekend, Ms Patel said it was 'naive' to assume that just because most people arriving in the UK were women and children there could not be Kremlin agents among them.

Mr Javid said that while any checks should be 'proportionate' the Salisbury nerve agent attack in 2018 underlined the need to be vigilant.

'We saw in our country Russian agents came here with a deadly nerve agent, a chemical weapon, and they used it in Salisbury. We know it killed people and Russia was directly responsible for that,' he told Sky News.

'They infiltrated our country with agents, with a chemical weapon, and used it and so it is right there are some level of security checks. We also know that extremists and extremist organisations operate in that region.'

Mr Javid said the government was supporting Ukraine 'in every single way we can'.

'That includes military aid, humanitarian aid, or indeed providing sanctuary for those that are fleeing Ukraine,' he told LBC.

'I expect that we will see hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians arrive here in the UK, and they will get all the support that they need.'

There has been anger at Ukrainian refugees waiting for UK visas being forced to sleep rough.

Host families have slammed the 'nightmarish' bureaucracy that is said to be prolonging the process for women and children who have fled the conflict.

And volunteers have warned that delays could be putting refugees at risk amid claims of trafficking.

Ukrainian refugees queue to get one of the 100 daily appointments at the documentation office to apply for temporary protection approved by the European Union in Torrevieja, Spain

Under the first phase of the Homes for Ukraine scheme, Britons can sponsor refugees for a visa and offer them a rent-free room in their house.

Once a host family has been found, refugees must complete visa application forms  providing identity documents and answers to detailed questions in English. There is then a further wait before the visa is issued, with government information saying the process can take up to six weeks.

Ruth McMenamin, a volunteer in Poland, said that UK-bound refugees were sleeping in train stations and emergency accommodation as they awaited permission to travel.

The marketing head, who works for a travel company in the UK, added: 'There are dangers in having to wait around for applications to be processed as these women and children have nowhere to live. There are reports of trafficking.

'The process needs to be sped up. Other countries are allowing people to go straight there.'

Although the first refugees under the scheme are due to arrive this week, host families have said they have 'absolutely no idea' how long the process will take.

Lee Havenhand, 33, and his wife Rebecca, 30, are to share their three-bedroom home with a mother and two daughters.

There has been anger at Ukrainian refugees waiting for UK visas being forced to sleep rough (pictured: a refugee woman eats in Brovary, Ukraine)

The couple, who live near Doncaster were 'matched' with the family through a Facebook site and were inspired to help after having visited Ukraine regularly for holidays.

Engineer Mr Havenhand said he helped the family, from Lviv in western Ukraine, with the visa process by filling in the required forms for them. But he added: 'It's a good job we did because the forms are an absolute nightmare. They took us six hours because of the amount of information and evidence that is required.

'It asks for children's birth certificates  which is a problem for many people who have already fled their homes. They also ask for proof of father's consent, which is not always possible if he has gone off to fight in the war.

'It's a shambles. We just have to cross our fingers that it is going to go through soon.'

A 58-year-old woman, who is to share her home in Derbyshire with a Ukrainian woman and two daughters, also said the process was 'absolutely impossible'.

In Europe refugees have been staying in temporary shelters, such as the ballroom at the Mandachi hotel in Romania (pictured)

The married woman, who asked not to be named, said the refugees she had been matched with had travelled from a village near Lviv to Berlin but wanted to move to the UK as the elder daughter spoke English. However, the 'traumatised' family have been sleeping on the floor of a rest centre while they wait for visas.

'There is no way on God's given earth that they could have filled those forms in,' she said. 'There are huge risks because of the information and detail I had to give as well  certainly enough to steal your identity. To make it worse, nobody knows how long it will take.'

A government spokesman said it is making changes to the visa process so it is 'quicker and simpler' for Ukrainian refugees. These include expanding capacity at Visa Application Centres and allowing valid passport holders to miss in-person appointments.

According to the latest MoD assessment, the Russian advance on Kyiv remains stalled in the face of determined Ukrainian resistance with the bulk of Moscow's forces still more than 25km (15 miles) from the centre.

Nevertheless, analysts believe the capital is still the Kremlin's main military objective although it is thought the Russians will try to force it into submission through encirclement rather than attempting a direct assault.

'Forces advancing from the direction of Hostomel to the north-west have been repulsed by fierce Ukrainian resistance,' the MoD said.

'Despite the continued lack of progress, Kyiv remains Russia's primary military objective and they are likely to prioritise attempting to encircle the city over the coming weeks.'
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A derelict 18th century farmhouse has been dismantled stone by stone and rebuilt at a museum - to showcase what rural life was like in the 1950s.

Spain's Field Farm stood for centuries in the North Pennines on a hillside between the villages of Rookhope and Stanhope before specialists transported it 20 miles to Beamish open-air museum, where it was painstakingly put back together.

Overall, the museum, based in Stanley, County Durham, recovered 1,170 tonnes stone and timber from the isolated two-bedroom property.

The first recording of the farm, which was passed down through their generations, was in 1382, while the earliest stonework dated back to the 1700s

The farm was donated by members of the Jopling family, who lived in it until the 1950s, and was moved to the museum using a grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Mary Foster, who lived at the farm twenty years before she married in the 1940s, laid the first stone at the museum in August 2018 before she passed away aged 101 in 2020.

Her daughter, Yvonne Jopling, who was present when the farm was opened to the public on Saturday, said her mother had been 'absolutely thrilled' with the historic project.

The home is the latest attraction unveiled as part of the 20million Rebuilding Beamish project, which used nearly 11million in National Lottery funding.

The project has seen the construction of other exhibits including a 1950s town and a coal mining pit village.

Spain's Field Farm (pictured before it was dismantled) stood for centuries in the North Pennines before specialists transported it 20 miles to Beamish open-air museum, where it was painstakingly put back together

Overall, the museum, based in Stanley, County Durham, recovered 1,170 tonnes stone and timber from the isolated property, which dates back to the 1700s. Above: The exterior of the property after it was rebuilt

Work on dismantling the house began in 2016. Workers took the building down stone by stone and parts of the interior that were salvagable, such as the original wooden doors, were taken as well.

Because the building's original roof had been largely destroyed, the workers had to build a new one but still used as much of the original stones as possible.

The building does now boast a staircase which was not previously in the property. Its original inhabitants would have used a ladder to get to the second floor.

Ms Jopling said: 'It's a privilege to have the house rebuilt, it's a wonderful thought that Spain's Field is going to live on.

'My mum was absolutely thrilled. I realise how unique it is to have this happen, it's very special.

'Spain's Field now opens the door to generations of many more people who will have the opportunity to appreciate how these hardy and resilient people lived and worked in Weardale in the past.

'I have had the unique privilege of being part of this project, witness to the dedication of the team who have restored our much-loved old family home for posterity.'

When the Jopling family lived in the property, it had no electricity or running water. The Joplings were almost entirely self-sufficient. They grew their own vegetables and made butter, bread, cheese and jam.

Shannon Turner Riley, a member of the Remaking Beamish design team, said in a video produced by the museum: 'It was taken down stone by stone. Al the internals came down and then it was transported here to the museum where it had been rebuilt.'

She added: 'The hope is with Spain's Field that we will be able to show life in Weardale and farming life around the 1950s as it was.'

A map showing the property's original location between the villages of Stanhope and Rookhope, along with where it is now

The farm was donated by members of the Jopling family, who lived in it until the 1950s, and was moved to the museum using a grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund

Before being dismantled, the farm house's exact appearance was recorded using 3D laser technology

In its new guise, the farmhouse has been decorated and arranged to make it look as it would have done in the 1950s

Before being dismantled, the farm house's exact appearance was recorded using 3D laser technology.

Workers discovered a Georgian bread oven and a 17th century cannonball when they were taking the building down.

Also found in the property were 1950s copies of the magazine Farmer's Weekly, along with furniture, farm tools and horse tack.

The farm became derelict after changes to farming legislation and regulations after the Second World War made many farms unprofitable. Many upland farms like Spain's Field were abandoned and have since become ruins.

In the 1950s, Spain's Field was occupied by Mrs Forster's three siblings - Elizabeth, George and Joseph Raine.

The family left the property in the 1950s to look after their mother but the farm was still used to house sheep and cattle up until the 1970s.

The home has two upstairs bedrooms, a kitchen, two livestock sheds - which are known as byres -, a dairy, pantry, stable, cat house, pig sty and outside toilet.

The farm itself is believed to date back to at least the 14th century, when it is likely to have been a wooden longhouse.

But the harsh climate meant that the farmhouse and buildings were regularly rebuilt - meaning none of the original medieval building remains.

Rhiannon Hiles, Beamish's Chief Executive, said the project was a way of bringing the stories of the past back to life.

Because the building's original roof had been largely destroyed, the workers had to build a new one but still used as much of the original stones as possible

A video produced by the Beamish Museum revealed the sorry state that the property was in before it was dismantled and rebuilt

Mary Foster (pictured at the site), who lived at the farm twenty years before she married in the 1940s, laid the first stone at the museum before she passed away aged 101 in 2020

She said: 'Bringing the story of this farm and its location in the Durham Dales to the museum has been such a wonderful experience and a real labour of love.

'We carefully recorded the farm as it stood on its original site before taking it stone by stone and rebuilding the beautiful farm house and outbuildings in their new setting looking down across the Beamish valley.

'The stories that we are able to tell here have been shaped by the people who lived, worked and farmed at Spain's Field and the surrounding area.

David Renwick, Director of North at The National Lottery Heritage Fund in England, said it had brought people together.

He said: 'We're excited to see another element of the Remaking Beamish project come to life thanks to National Lottery players.

'The painstaking process of moving 1,170 tonnes of stone and timber to recreate Spain's Field Farm has paid off.

'This new attraction gives visitors a chance to explore the important rural heritage of Weardale and understand what life would have looked like on an upland farm in the 50s.

'We know that sharing and showcasing heritage can play a huge part in bringing people together, and the opening of Spain's Field Farm and its work with the community to unlock those stories, is a fantastic example of that.'
A dual national British-US wildlife conservationist detained by Iran has gone on hunger strike.

Wildlife conservationist Morad Tahbaz, 66, who also holds Iranian citizenship, was taken back into custody after originally being allowed out on furlough last week.

His sister, Tahrane Tahbaz, told Today on BBC Radio 4: 'He was taken back to prison after 48 hours. He wasn't really on furlough. It seemed more like a visit than a furlough.

'He didn't have an ankle bracelet put on him. He was with security and, after 48 hours, he was taken back under security - back to the prison.

'We haven't heard from him since and we have heard through a relative just a few hours ago that he's been taken from the prison and he's been taken to an undisclosed location and that he's gone on hunger strike.'

The family of a British-US national detained by Iran were led to believe that he would be part of the same release deal as Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori, his sister has said.

Morad Tahbaz, 66 - British-US national temporarily released from prison in Iran only to find himself back in custody two days later

Mr Tahbaz was originally allowed out on the same day last week that charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe (pictured)

Morad Tahbaz, 66, who also holds Iranian citizenship, was originally allowed out on the same day last week that charity worker Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe and retired civil engineer Mr Ashoori were released and then allowed to return to Britain.

However, since then he has been taken back into custody.

His sister, Tahrane Tahbaz, told Today on BBC Radio 4: 'Frankly, for four years we were led to believe that he would be part of the deal when it was made.

'And that's what we were told. And the deal was made, the money was paid.

'And he wasn't part of the deal - and he's still there - and we're very worried.'

A FCDO spokesperson said: 'Morad has now been moved from Evin prison to a residential location in Tehran. 'We have been in touch with Morad's family throughout the day and continue to lobby the Iranian authorities at the highest levels to allow him to return home immediately, as the Iranian government committed to doing.'

Britain said it secured Mr Tahbaz's furlough, along with the release and return of the two other dual nationals.

This came after Britain finally agreed to settle a 400 million debt dating back to the 1970s which had fuelled tensions between the countries for decades.

His Tehran-based lawyer said that two days after Mr Tahbaz had been released and went to his family's home in the city, Iranian security forces forced him to return to Evin Prison.

Morad Tahbaz has been sent back to prison in Tehran after a two-day furlough despite the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

Tahbaz's sister, Taraneh Tahbaz, said the situation was a 'farce' as she blasted the government for failing to secure the permanent release

Mr Tahbaz, who has cancer, was arrested during a crackdown on environmental activists in January 2018.

He is a prominent conservationist and board member of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation which seeks to protect endangered species.

Mr Tahbaz was sentenced to 10 years in prison with his colleagues on vague charges of spying for the US and undermining Iran's security.

The FCDO and the United States are working closely with each other to try to secure his permanent release.

Family members had hoped that Mr Tahbaz, who was born in Hammersmith, west London, would be freed under the deal which saw Mr Ashoori and Mrs Zaghari-Ratlcliffe arrive back on British soil in the early hours of Thursday.

It is not clear if Mr Tahbaz has been fitted with an ankle tag by the Iranians which the FCDO had been told was set to happen.

A US State Department spokesman: 'We continue to work night and day to secure the release of our wrongfully detained citizens, including US-UK citizen Morad Tahbaz.

'Simply put: Iran is unjustly detaining innocent Americans and others and should release them immediately.'

Foreign Office minister James Cleverly said the Government is working to secure the return of Mr Tahbaz, telling BBC Breakfast on Thursday: 'He also has American nationality, which has in the eyes of the Iranians  not in ours  made his case more complicated.'

He added: 'We will continue to work to secure his release and, obviously, we work in close co-ordination with the US on these issues as well.'
A top solicitor who downed 150-worth of red wine before pinching women's bottoms in his village pub faces being struck off after pleading guilty to sexual assault, a court hears.

Thomas Cadman, 42, has avoided being put on the sex offence register after a court was told he squeezed victims' buttocks while they were out with their husbands and friends.

He walked up to his victims and groped them at The Red Lion pub in Wiltshire - where the most expensive bottle of red wine on current drinks menu is an Australian red wine costing 41, and the least expensive a 19 French red - after drinking red wine on a tab worth 150.

While he worked as the deputy director general at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, before his resignation, he assaulted one of the women on two occasions - first by grabbing her buttocks and secondly by pushing his hand across her buttocks a short time later.

Cadman's victims were left feeling fearful following the incidents, and both expressed concerns about inadvertently crossing his path in public or being home alone.

He pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual assault at Swindon Magistrates' Court and was sentenced to a nine-month community order.

The 42-year-old solicitor also has to pay a 900 fine, 85 in costs and a 95 surcharge and the court was told he now faces a ban on practicing for a minimum term of five years following his conviction.

Thomas Cadman, 42, pictured, has avoided being put on the sex offence register after a court was told he squeezed victims' buttocks in view of their husbands and friends

While he worked as the deputy director general at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, he walked up to his victims and groped them at the pictured Red Lion pub in Wiltshire

The court was told Cadman invited fellow villagers to his home in Blackford Lane, Castle Easton, over Christmas, despite being investigated for the sexual assaults at the Red Lion pub

The court heard Cadman, pictured, invited fellow villagers to his home in Blackford Lane, Castle Easton, over Christmas, despite being investigated for the sexual assaults

The women, who both live near the defendant, were present in the courtroom for his sentencing hearing.

'If I were to see him in the village and no one is around, what would happen?', one of the women wrote in a victim impact statement.

The other says she has to keep her husband informed of her location at all times, fearing something else could happen - especially when she sees him near her house.

'I feel uncomfortable near men, especially on the train. I think someone's going to touch me', she said, adding: 'I'm worried about it happening again and being overpowered.'

The other victim claims Cadman invited fellow villagers to his home in Blackford Lane, Castle Easton, over Christmas, despite being investigated for the sexual assaults - labelling him as being 'very blase' about it.

She said: 'It would scare me if I saw him and I would not know what to do. I don't like being on my own in my house anymore.'

Christine Agnew QC, defending, said her client has 'expressed and experienced genuine remorse' since the assaults and has voluntarily abstained from alcohol - which he was using to cope with work pressures faced as the deputy director general for the London-based Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

The CIA represents the interests of alternative dispute resolution practitioners that use a voluntary alternative to the accepted practice of using the courts to settle civil disputes.

Cadman, who lives with his partner and her stepdaughter, was asked to resign from his role at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators after he made them aware of the allegations and did so in November 21.

Ms Agnew said that his partner 'never considered their relationship to be in jeopardy' after the sexual assaults.

Ms Agnew also told the court that if Cadman were to have to register as a sex offender, it would 'impact him professionally' and he would be unable to continue working with charities.

She said that Cadman suffered a blackout when he committed the sexual assaults after drinking 150-worth of red wine, adding that he has 'no recollection of the incidents whatsoever'.

She said that the defendant is likely to be struck off as a solicitor by the Solicitors Regulation Authority for a minimum term of five years following his conviction.

Ms Agnew said that Cadman suffered a blackout when he committed the sexual assaults at the Red Lion pub after drinking 150-worth of red wine, adding that he has 'no recollection of the incidents whatsoever'

A nine-month community order means that Cadman avoids having to register as a sex offender

The court was provided with seven character references, including one from Lieutenant Colonel Lawrence Burr OBE, the Vice President of The Epee Club, an over 100-year-old fencing club - and many others were from women.

The probation service recommended a community sentence with rehabilitation activity requirement (RAR) days and unpaid work, deeming him a 'low risk' of reoffending.

Ms Agnew asked for a community order lasting less than 12 months so that the defendant, who had 'previous impeccable character', does not have to register as a sex offender.

Court legal advisor Jenna Morgan told the bench, chaired by Christine Smith, that they must not make a lesser sentence just so Cadman was not placed on the register.

She advised them that the minimum term for a period of unpaid work is 12 months.

But magistrates did not follow the unpaid work recommendation, making a nine-month community order with 20 RAR days and a 900 fine. He must pay costs of 85 and a 95 surcharge.

The reduced sentence means that Cadman avoids having to register as a sex offender.

If he had been given a usual 12-month order, he would have had to register for five years.
Vanced YouTube app has previously suspended its operation after the cease and desist order by Google.

As reported by The Verge, the team has removed all of the downloadable links for the Vanced app and will be discontinued.

Vanced has become such a popular app in the market and has reached a wide audience based only on their user experience. The suspension of the app definitely shocked its audience. As a result, numerous theories about its pullout in the market have emerged, and here are a few.

Vanced has been discontinued. In the coming days, the download links on the website will be taken down. We know this is not something you wanted to hear but it's something we need to do. Thank you all for supporting us over the years.  Vanced Official (@YTVanced) March 13, 2022

Vanced Cease & Desist Order From Google

One of the theories behind the abrupt shutdown of Vanced is believed to be the cease and desist order given by Google because of using YouTube. The team confirmed this to be true. The legal reason behind halting Vanced is that the app was infringing the logo and branding of the original YouTube app.

Everyone can see that the logo Vanced made and the original YT logo look totally similar. Another legal reason that they breached is using the logo without prior permission from Google, the owner company of YouTube.

In addition, to the cease and desist order they received, Vanced is also asked to remove all the distribution of the links to download the Vanced app.

Vanced Providing Illegal Features

Vanced users heavily suspect that the features in the Vanced app are mostly illegal which is why it was suspended. The team clarified that the only feature in the Vance app that is considered to be illegal is the video downloader feature. However, Vanced never added a download feature in the app. This theory is definitely possible since the feature has never existed in the first place.

Vanced Developers Residing in Russia

The whole world is now experiencing extremely destructive political turmoil in Eastern Europe. With that, Vance users believe that some of the app developers are Russian since Google has been actively participating in imposing sanctions on Russia for its militarized operations in Ukraine.

Vance's team clarified that this theory is far from the truth. Vanced stated that none of its developers lives in Russia or Ukraine, nor do any of its developers have affiliations with those two countries.

Read Also: Famous YouTuber MrBeast Shares His Thumbnail Strategy to Get Those YouTube Clicks: Here's How

Vanced NFT Theory

Vanced fans also suspected that one of the reasons for the shutdown is that the team developed an NFT. Some Vanced users believe the cease and desist order was given by Google due to the team profiting from the app to earn money from NFT.

However, the team clarified that the NFT was made as a joke and as a hobby project which was only made public because of its huge success. Vanced also added that the NFT was never sold at the end.

Vanced YouTube Ad-Blocking

Vanced users are convinced that the app was taken down due to the piracy nature of the app. In particular, users believe it to be the ad-blocking YouTube feature in the app that Google does not like.

Numerous users are under the impression that YouTube only earns heavily due to the advertisements in their platform. However, Vanced added that YouTube also earns from merchandise and YouTube Premium subscriptions.

On the other hand, the Vanced team stated that the YouTube ad blocking is not the reason they were given the cease and desist letter. Numerous applications have been launched to block ads on YouTube.

It would have been mentioned in the C&D letter that Vanced received that blocking advertisements is illegal and in violation of the terms of service for YouTube, as well. However, the terms of service for YouTube do not even mention that ad-blocking is prohibited.

Will Vanced Return?

It is highly doubtful that Vanced will ever return. Vanced has already bid farewell to its users and its website has posted referral links to similar softwares Brave and Adguard.

What will happen to the Vanced app now? It will still work for the time being, but in about two years, it may become too outdated to ever function.

Currently installed versions will work just fine, until they become outdated in 2 years or so.  Vanced Official (@YTVanced) March 13, 2022

Related Article: How Much Does a YouTuber With 1 Million Subscribers Make? Requirements, Online Calculator, and MORE
Police have charged a man with murder after a New York casino worker and mother-of-two was found dead at a housing project in the Bronx with her throat slit and a cleaned knife on her chest.

Bjana James, 37, was discovered at the Betances Houses NYCHA building on East 147th street on Saturday at 2.45pm in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx, police said.

She was pronounced dead at the scene and detectives deemed the incident a homicide.

On Saturday, New York police arrested 35-year-old Nashan Walsh, who is thought to have been Ms James' boyfriend, and charged him with murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon.

A spokesman for the New York Police Department said officers were called to the apartment block, where both Walsh and Ms James lived, at 2.38am on Saturday and found Ms James 'unconscious and unresponsive' with a slash wound to the throat'.

A knife, which US media said had been wiped clean, was found on her chest when she was discovered, the NYPD confirmed.

Ms James' family said that she was last heard from on Wednesday, when she sent a text saying she feared for her life.

Ms James' younger sister said that she texted a friend saying her boyfriend was 'acting strangely and screaming about someone lacing his marijuana.'

Bjana James, 37, was found at the Betances Houses NYCHA building on East 147th street on Saturday at 2:45 p.m. in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx

James' family said she has left behind two children, a 12-year-old son named Junior and an 8-year-old daughter named Maya (pictured above)

'She said "I'm scared. He's going to kill me!'' said her sister, who requested anonymity.

James' cousin, who only identified herself as Shelly, said the boyfriend returned to the apartment eventually.

'(She texted me) "He's here! He's back!" and ever since she wrote that we didn't hear from her again,' she said. 'Something wasn't right, she always replies.'

Family members tried to get in touch with James Thursday but she didn't reply. She was found Saturday morning.

'Her brother came first, turned her knob, it was open,' said Shelly. 'Thank God her mother didn't get in. Something just wasn't right.'

James' mother, Stacey, was seen heartbroken at the scene of her daughter's death on Saturday

Stacey said that Bjana was living with an ex-con who was also a lifelong friend of her daughter

Her mother, Stacey, said that she was living with an ex-con who was also a lifelong friend of her daughter.

'I can still hear my daughter talking,' Stacey James, 61, said. 'My daughter was loved...People really loved my daughter. What could have gotten out of hand in an argument that could not be handled?'

'I'm trying to hold my composure,' added Stacey James. 'But I know in some time, I am going to break down.'

Ms James' family said she leaves behind two children, a 12-year-old son named Junior and an eight-year-old daughter named Maya, who were staying with their grandmother at the time of their mother's death. She worked at a casino in nearby Yonkers.

Friends and families lit candles at a small memorial at the apartment just hours later to celebrate Bjana James' life.

'She was a loving person,' James' cousin said. 'She left her two kids behind. We have to go break the news to her kids. We didn't think this would happen.'

New York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell has overseen a devastating crime wave in her first three months in office

Crime in New York City has skyrocketed in 2022 after increased numbers in 2021.

There were 32 murders in February - three more than the same month last year.

Multiple other categories saw shocking jumps, including car theft, which soared by nearly 105 percent; grand larceny, which jumped nearly 80 percent over the previous year; robberies, which surged 56 percent; a 44 percent bump in burglaries and a 22 percent spike in assaults. Rapes also saw a terrifying 35 percent rise in February.

The crime wave comes during Mayor Eric Adams' first few months in office. The former NYPD cop has vowed to crack down on the influx of incidents on the city's streets and subway system - which has seen a rash of violent incidents in recent weeks. Former Mayor Bill De Blasio's policies contributed to the current crime wave, experts said.

The New York subway has been ground zero for the latent crime wave after an alarming 73.3 percent increase in underground incidents - including 182 in February alone.

Hate crimes have also doubled since last year  with anti-Asian attacks more than tripling and anti-Jewish complaints up by a whopping 54 percent over the same time last year, from 134 to 207 incidents.

One recent poll revealed that nearly 75 percent of all New York City voters consider crime to be a 'very serious' problem.
Boris Johnson has expressed regret after sparking a political uproar by comparing Ukraine's defiance of Russia's invasion to the UK's vote to quit the EU,

The comments in a speech to the Tory spring conference on Saturday sparked cross-party criticism, including from a strong of prominent Conservative backbenchers.

Addressing the event in Blackpool on Saturday the Prime Minister said it is the 'instinct of the people of this country, like the people of Ukraine, to choose freedom', with the Brexit vote a 'famous recent example'.

More than 13,000 people, soldiers and civilians, are believed by the UN to have been killed since Putin's war of aggression began last month.

This morning a source told the Times the comparison 'sounded better written down than it did when spoken'.

Ministers have been forced to come out to bat for the PM since he made the remarks.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid today said Mr Johnson was not suggesting 'at all' a comparison between the Ukrainian fight against the Russian invasion and the Brexit 2016 vote.

The minister told Sky News: 'What I heard from the Prime Minister was the... basically the desire for self-determination in everyone, no matter what country they're in, no matter what their circumstance, is strong.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid today said Mr Johnson was not suggesting 'at all' a comparison between the Ukrainian fight against the Russian invasion and the Brexit 2016 vote.

A military officer stands guard near the wreckage of a damaged shopping mall in Podilskyi district of Kyiv after Russian air strikes

'I don't think in any way he was connecting the situations in Ukraine and the UK, and if we want to know what the Prime Minister thinks about Ukraine and responding, I mean, we can see for ourselves in terms of the support that he's provided, rock-solid support compared to any other world leader.'

He added: 'I think it's spurious to say that he was connecting somehow the UK and Ukraine in that way.

'I think most normal people listening to that wouldn't have drawn that conclusion.'

In his speech, Mr Johnson said: 'I know that it's the instinct of the people of this country, like the people of Ukraine, to choose freedom, every time.

'I can give you a couple of famous recent examples.

'When the British people voted for Brexit in such large, large numbers, I don't believe it was because they were remotely hostile to foreigners. It's because they wanted to be free to do things differently and for this country to be able to run itself.'

Chancellor Rishi Sunak offered on a tepid defence of the PM today, telling Sky News yesterday: 'Clearly they are not directly analogous and I don't think the Prime Minister was saying that they were directly analogous either.'

Mr Sunak added: 'People will draw their own conclusions. People can make up their own minds.'

Former European Council president Donald Tusk, who fought Russian backed-Communism in Cold War Poland, said the Prime Minister's words 'offend Ukrainians, the British and common sense'.

And senior backbench Tory Tobias Ellwood, the chairman of the Defence Committee, said the comparison 'damages the standard of statecraft' being exhibited in the response to the invasion.

But fellow Tory MP Robert Halfon told BBC Breakfast: 'I don't think it is as big a deal as some people are making out.

'The way I see it is the Prime Minister was saying we're a vibrant democracy. We're such a vibrant democracy, we've had a referendum. Ukraine wants to be a vibrant democracy and the Russians are trying to stop that.'
Sajid Javid's Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) was today slammed for staying silent over whether thousands of carers who were sacked for not getting a Covid vaccine can get their jobs back.

The House of Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee has said there are still 'a lot of loose ends that must be addressed'.

Up to 40,000 workers were effectively fired when the highly controversial 'no jab, no job' policy was introduced in November.

Health chiefs then U-turned on the legislation, which was also going to be placed on NHS workers from April 1.

Hospital staff weren't affected by the mandate because it had yet to come into force, but care homes had already been forced to get rid of any unjabbed carers.

Industry bosses warned it was too late because many wouldn't bother coming back to the hugely understaffed sector, which was already short of 100,000 carers before Covid struck.

The Department of Health has once again been criticised for its continuing silence on if the 40,000 care home staff sacked over the 'no jab, no job' policy brought in in November 2021 but not revoked should be reinstated (file image)

This chart shows the percentage of care home staff employed in England who have had each of the Covid vaccines as of March 17, the latest available data

And this chart shows the percentage of NHS health staff who have had each of the Covid jabs as of March 17, the latest available data

Get ready for FIFTH jabs this autumn: Sajid Javid says over-50s will 'probably' need another Covid booster later this year Fifth Covid jabs could be rolled out this autumn, the Health Secretary has suggested in the strongest hint yet that the vaccination programme will be expanded again. Grilled this morning about whether another booster campaign was in the works, Sajid Javid claimed it was 'possible... probably for those that are 50 and over'. But he added a 'final' decision was yet to be made. Over-75s, care home residents and patients with weak immune systems will begin receiving invitations for a spring Covid top-up from today, in order to bolster the immunity levels of millions. If they are offered another jab in the autumn, it will be their fifth. Some immunocompromised adults will have already had five by then. Mr Javid also revealed No10's 'level of concern has not changed' over the past two weeks, despite the rise in infections and hospitalisations. He said the numbers 'are still way below their peak'. He also urged people to treat Covid like any other infectious disease, and 'behave sensibly' if they were feeling unwell or experiencing symptoms  including socialising less and staying indoors to avoid spreading the virus. He gave the advice ahead of England ending its free testing offer from next Friday. Five million Britons became eligible for second boosters today, with the first 600,000 expected to be invited this week. The move comes after the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommended the spring top-up as a precautionary measure. Advertisement

Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville, one of the committee's members, praised the DHSC for the information and scientific evidence behind the decision to revoke the jab mandate policies.

But she said: 'There are issues that still give cause for concern.'

In an memorandum provided to the committee, the DHSC said it is 'engaging with the NHS' to review recruitment policy to consider 'vaccination status' when hiring new staff.

Baroness Bakewall said that any such move 'needs proper evaluation in light of the pandemic experience'.

And she said it was 'disappointing' that the DHSC remained silent on whether sacked staff can or should be reinstated.

The DHSC said that the matter of rehiring staff was to be decided by 'each individual employer'.

Baroness Bakewall added: 'This change still leaves a lot of loose ends that must be addressed.'

In a statement, the Lords expressed their 'surprise and disappointment' over the DHSC's failure to provide estimates on how many staff were dismissed due to the policy, or who left employment in anticipation of the NHS mandate.

No10's 'no jab no job' policy for care home staff was imposed in November, just as the UK was bracing for the impact of the Omicron variant.

Care home bosses warned the move would cripple the already understaffed sector.

A similar policy was going to be imposed on NHS staff in April this year but Mr Javid performed a U-turn after warnings that sacking the estimated 80,000 unjabbed NHS could lead to crippling staff shortages.

Both compulsory jab polices were officially revoked on March 15.

It followed a public consultation, where 90 per cent of the responses supported the removal of the requirement for care staff.

At the time, Mr Javid defended the vaccine mandate by saying it was the 'right policy when the original decision was taken'.

But he added that the situation had changed following 'clinical evidence regarding the current Omicron variant of Covid, which is intrinsically less severe than Delta, and the high rate of vaccination across the population'.

Fears that the highly infectious variant could cripple the health service and send the UK back into the darkest days of the pandemic proved false.

Omicron, while much more virulent than other Covid variants, is more mild in terms  and jabs still worked against it.

The Lords Committee's criticism over the Department silence over if staff sacked over the ditched health mandate should now be reinstated comes after figures in the care industry have demanded an apology.

Some care home staff said they resented being treated as 'guinea pigs' for the move, with some managers claiming they had to sack a sixth of their workforce due to the mandate.

Unions have also demanded an apology from the Government to social care staff for what they have been put through, labelling it as 'they least they could do'.

As of March 17, the latest available data, 52.2 per cent of almost 550,000 care home staff in England had received a Covid booster jab.

The uptake rate is higher for NHS staff, with 1.2million having had at least three doses of Covid vaccines out of the 1.5million workforce, about 78 per cent.

About 67 per cent of the eligible British population has had a Covid booster, about 38.6million people.

A DHSC spokesperson told MailOnline that employers must decide if they wish to reinstate staff dismissed over the old policy.

'The matter of re-hiring staff who have been dismissed or resigned because of regulations is an issue for each individual employer and they may want to seek independent legal advice,' they said.

The spokesperson added that Covid jabs remain the best defence against the virus and employers of health and care staff should continue to encourage them to get the vaccines.
Thought to be first time vaccine used for treatment instead of prevention

Ian Lester, from Pontypridd, tested positive for Covid for nearly eight months

A Welsh man who spent over half a year battling Covid at home is thought to have become the first person in the world to be cured of the virus by getting vaccinated.

Ian Lester, from Pontypridd, who has a rare genetic immunodeficiency, got infected in December 2020, before jabs were widely available.

During his seven-and-a-half-month illness, the optician suffered with chest tightness, headaches and extreme fatigue.

He wasn't able to get vaccinated when immunocompromised people were invited to get the jab because he was still testing positive for the virus.

But scientists at Cardiff University decided to give him two doses of Pfizer's jab, one month apart, in the hope it would work as a therapeutic and help his immune system finally clear the virus.

Results showed levels of the virus plunged 64-fold within a fortnight of the first jab, showing how quickly the vaccine had an effect.

Mr Lester was eventually declared Covid-free in August, 72 days after getting his first vaccine.

The case, detailed in a medical journal, is thought to be the first time a vaccine has been used as a treatment for Covid. The current jabs are used to prevent people who are not infected from becoming seriously unwell if they catch it.

Ian Lester, from Pontypridd, caught Covid in December 2020 and suffered from chest tightness headaches and extreme fatigue during his seven-and-a-half-month-long infection

Scientists at Cardiff University eventually rid him of the virus in August 2021 by giving him two doses of the Pfizer vaccine (pictured). The jab boosted his antibody and T-cell levels, allowing him to fight off Covid

Dr Mark Ponsford, one of the doctors who treated Mr Lester, described seeing the eventual negative test as 'a pretty astonishing moment'.

He said the vaccine was 'remarkably' well-tolerated by Mr Lester who previously had a limited response to conventional jabs.

HOW COULD COVID VACCINES WORK AS A THERAPEUTIC? A Welsh man who spent over half a year battling Covid at home is thought to be the first person in the world to be cured of the virus by getting vaccinated. Ian Lester, from Pontypridd in Wales, who has a rare genetic immunodeficiency, was infected for seven-and-a-half months. Around five months into his infection, a team of scientists from Cardiff University suggested testing whether vaccinating him would rid the infection. People usually have to wait until they are virus-free before getting the vaccine. The current jabs are used to prevent people who are not infected from becoming seriously unwell if they catch it. But the scientists believed the vaccine could trigger an immune response to 'support viral clearance'. They administered two Pfizer jabs, one month apart. Results showed an 'enhanced' T cell and antibody responses 14 days after the first dose, while levels of the virus in the infected man's nose and throat swabs fell 64-fold. The team found the vaccine triggered an antibody and T cell response sufficient to clear the infection, which was not triggered by the body in response to the virus. Some 72 days after getting his first jab, Mr Lester was declared virus-free. The team said the case suggests Covid vaccines enable the immune system to eradicate the virus. Advertisement

Scientists say the results suggest that Covid jabs can kick-start the immune system of immunosuppressed people with 'persistent' infections, which can leave them battling illnesses for decades in rare cases.

Mr Lester suffers from Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome, a rare genetic disorder which prevents him from being able to form blood clots.

Sufferers are more susceptible to infections, and can bruise and bleed easier.

Mr Lester said he was 'shocked' when he tested positive in December 2020, as his only symptoms were a loss of taste and smell.

He informed the immunology centre at University Hospital of Wales, where he had been treated for Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome since childhood.

Doctors sent him regular PCR tests to take at home, over concerns that those with immune deficiencies could stay contagious for longer.

His swabs continued to come back positive. And his symptoms  including extreme fatigue, sleeping problems, headaches and chest tightness  continued to worsen the longer he had the virus.

Mr Lester said: 'Although most people are able to stop isolating after 10 days of contracting the virus, I was an exception to the rule. Each test came back positive, time and time again.

'Months passed, which felt like a lifetime when you're not able to go anywhere or see friends or family.

'Each positive Covid swab (which were taken every 10-14 days) left me feeling more deflated and anxious.'

He added: 'I began to feel like I was a prisoner in my own home and the days blurred into months.

'By June 2021, when social gatherings were being allowed again, I was feeling very frustrated and started to doubt I would ever become negative.'

Mr Lester's condition was different from long Covid, when people still experience lingering virus symptoms after they are rid of the infection.

He wasn't eligible for anti-viral drugs because he wasn't hospitalised.

Doctors suggested using Pfizer's Covid vaccine to help fight the virus, which Mr Lester said he was 'more than willing to try'.

People usually have to wait until they are virus-free before getting the vaccine.

Professor Stephen Jolles, of the immunology centre, said his team decided on the 'unique therapeutic approach' given the impact of the persistent positive PCR tests on Mr Lester's physical and mental health.

Get ready for FIFTH jabs this autumn: Sajid Javid says over-50s will 'probably' need another Covid booster Fifth Covid jabs could be rolled out this autumn, the Health Secretary has suggested in the strongest hint yet that the vaccination programme will be expanded again. Grilled this morning about whether another booster campaign was in the works, Sajid Javid claimed it was 'possible... probably for those that are 50 and over'. But he added a 'final' decision was yet to be made. Over-75s, care home residents and patients with weak immune systems will begin receiving invitations for a spring Covid top-up from today, in order to bolster the immunity levels of millions. If they are offered another jab in the autumn, it will be their fifth. Some immunocompromised adults will have already had five by then. Mr Javid also revealed No10's 'level of concern has not changed' over the past two weeks, despite the rise in infections and hospitalisations. He said the numbers 'are still way below their peak'. He also urged people to treat Covid like any other infectious disease, and 'behave sensibly' if they were feeling unwell or experiencing symptoms  including socialising less and staying indoors to avoid spreading the virus. He gave the advice ahead of England ending its free testing offer from next Friday. Five million Britons became eligible for second boosters today, with the first 600,000 expected to be invited this week. The move comes after the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommended the spring top-up as a precautionary measure. Advertisement

'We wondered whether therapeutic vaccination could help in finally clearing the virus by inducing a strong immune response within the body,' Professor Jolles said.

Mr Lester received two doses of Pfizer's jab, one month apart, which 'very quickly' triggered a strong antibody response that was 'much stronger' than that triggered naturally, the scientists said.

The case report, published in the Journal of Clinical Immunology, shows there was also a strong T-cell response  the arm of the immune system thought to be crucial to fighting off the virus.

The team did not clarify how quickly his body reacted to the jab, other than saying how detectable levels of virus in his swab plunged within two weeks of the first jab.

A negative test in August finally confirmed the virus had been eradicated, 218 days after it was first detected.

Mr Lester said: 'I was over the moon and beyond relieved to finally be negative and get my life back on track.'

Discussing the moment that Mr Lester tested negative, Dr Ponsford, from Cardiff University's School of Medicine, said it was 'pretty astonishing'.

He added: 'To our knowledge, this is the first time mRNA vaccination has been used to clear persistent Covid infection.

'Importantly, the vaccine was well tolerated by the patient and successfully induced a strong antibody and T-cell response.

'This was remarkable given Ian's response to conventional vaccinations in the past has been extremely limited.'

Researchers will still need to test the vaccine as a treatment in more patients with prolonged infections before concluding that it can work.

Dr Ponsford said: 'We have all seen how vital vaccination is to the ongoing fight against the global pandemic.

'But our study is the first to highlight the exciting potential for it to be used as a treatment in persistent infection.

'While genetic causes of immunodeficiency are rare, there are many more individuals whose immune system have been suppressed because of their medical conditions and treatments.

'We should be alert to persistent Covid infection in this setting and develop the tools to respond accordingly.'


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A First World War German shipwreck has been uncovered by big tides and recent storms at a Cornish beach more than a century after it became stranded on a reef while being towed by the Royal Navy.

It is believed that the SV (Sailing Vessel) Carl, which was built in Maryport, Cumbria in 1893, and registered in Hamburg, was impounded at the start of the First World War in 1914, as it was a German ship in Cardiff docks.

There has even been speculation that that the ship was suspected of being an enemy minelayer.

A German shipwreck has been uncovered by big tides and recent storms at Boobys Bay near Padstow

Parts of the wreck, which was impounded by the Royal Navy in 1914 in Cardiff, are visible on the bay

Archive photo of the wrecked SV Carl when it was beached at Booby's Bay, Cornwall, after coming loose while being towed from Cardiff harbour by the Royal Navy for scrap

Three years later, during a fierce storm on October 7th 1917, the Carl broke free whilst being towed to London to be broken up for scrap, and grounded on a reef at Boobys Bay near Padstow.

Now, 105 years later, the metal ribs of the 60ft steel-hulled SV Carl are emerging from the sand, exposing more of the wreck than has been seen for years.

Locals say they see parts of it exposed during storms every year, but the amount exposed has been increased since 2014.

In a letter sent to the Padstow Echo in 1966, Lieutenant Commander Langford of the Royal Navy, recalled his mothers eyewitness account of the SV Carl coming aground at Boobys Bay and the tugs that tried to refloat her.

'The Carl went aground on the outer reef. Two Admiralty tugs came from Devonport to try to refloat her', Lieutenant Langford wrote in his letter.

Archive photo of the wrecked SV Carl when it was beached at Booby's Bay, Cornwall. There has even been speculation that that the ship was suspected of being an enemy minelayer

It was buried under the sand at Booby's Bay in Padstow more than a century ago but is often uncovered during winter storms, with some or all of it exposed

It is believed that the SV (Sailing Vessel) Carl, which was built in Maryport, Cumbria in 1893, and registered in Hamburg, was impounded at the start of the First World War in 1914, as it was a German ship in Cardiff docks

In a letter sent to the Padstow Echo in 1966, Lieutenant Commander Langford of the Royal Navy, recalled his mothers eyewitness account of the SV Carl coming aground at Boobys Bay and the tugs that tried to refloat he

This photo from 2020 shows significant portions of the ship, including parts of the masts and its metal hull

'They got her off the reef, but as soon as they had done so, the towing hawser on each tug parted, Carl went ahead out of control and grounded on the inner reef.

'She was there examined by salvage experts who found no damage whatever to the hull.

'The Admiralty tugs therefore had another try to tow her off, but once more both ships towing harnesses parted.

'Carl broke her back and became a total loss.

'But for the unusual misfortune of both towing hawsers parting on two successive attempts Carl would in all probability have been salvaged.'

With a coastline stretching around 250 miles, it is estimated that there have been over 6,000 ships wrecked off the Cornish coast.
The family of student found dead in her halls of residence have paid tribute to her, saying they pray that 'there will come a day when girls and women are safe'.

Sabita Thanwani, a City University student, was found dead at student accommodation in Clerkenwell, central London, shortly after 5am on Saturday.

In a statement issued through the police, they described the 19-year-old as 'an angel' who 'was pure and did not see bad in anyone'.

Sabita Thanwani, 19, was murdered at student accommodation in Clerkenwell, central London on Saturday morning

Police launched a manhunt for her boyfriend Maher Maaroufe, 22, (pictured left and, right, at the Arbour House where Sabita was killed). On Sunday he was arrested on suspicion of murder and assault on police

Maher Maaroufe, 22, who had been in a relationship with her was arrested on Sunday on suspicion of murder. He remains in police custody.

The family statement said: 'Sabita Thanwani was our daughter. Our angel. Her life, that we hoped would be long, was cut tragically short.

'She was ripped away from those who loved her so very dearly; her mum, dad, brother, grandparents, extended family and friends.

'Sabita was the most caring and loving person we have ever known. She inspired us every day of her precious 19 years of life. Her mission was to help everyone.

'She was studying psychology at City University to make this happen. Her whole life was ahead of her, a life where her radiant smile and incredible heart could only spread warmth and kindness.

'In her short life, she helped so many. Sabita was pure and did not see bad in anyone, because there was no badness in her own awesome heart.

Sabita Thanwani's family have paid tribute to her, saying they pray that 'there will come a day when girls and women are safe'. Above, a murder investigation has been launched into her death

Miss Thanwani was found with serious neck injuries at Arbour House, in Sebastian Street (above)

'We will never ever stop loving or missing our beautiful, irreplaceable Sabita. The girl that was an angel upon the earth is now an angel in heaven.'

Miss Thanwani was found with serious neck injuries at Arbour House, in Sebastian Street.

Despite the efforts of the emergency services she was pronounced dead at the scene.

Mr Maaroufe, a Tunisian national of no fixed address, who is not a student, has been arrested.

A manhunt was launched by detectives in a bid to trace him, and he was arrested on suspicion of murder and assault on police on Sunday.

The family statement continued: 'We can only pray that lessons will be learnt and that somehow, there will come a day when girls and women are safe.

'We will never be able to thank the Metropolitan Police enough for their dedication and tireless work in finding justice for our Sabita. From our hearts, we thank everyone for their love and support.

'We ask that our privacy is respected and as a family we can quietly grieve.'
Boris Johnson is facing fresh questions over help given an animal charity that lobbied his wife Carrie after a second whistleblower said he was behind efforts to get staff out of the fall of Kabul.

The Prime Minister has denied that he personally intervened to help Paul Farthing's Nowzad organisation flee the advance of the Taliban last year.

But a senior Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office mandarin effectively ended her career this morning by publicly accusing Mr Johnson of involvement.

In evidence published by the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, Josie Stewart - who has worked for the FCDO since 2015 including for the British Embassy in Kabul - said: 'It was widespread ''knowledge'' in the FCDO crisis centre that the decision on Nowzad's Afghan staff came from the Prime Minister.'

Ms Stewart, who volunteered to work on the response to the fall on Kabul, said: 'I saw messages to this effect on Microsoft Teams, I heard it discussed in the crisis centre including by senior civil servants, and I was copied on numerous emails which clearly suggested this and which no-one, including Nigel Casey acting as 'Crisis Gold', challenged.'

She said she agreed with 'the majority of the substance and all of the essence' of evidence given to MPs by whistleblower Raphael Marshall last year.

And she accused FCDO permanent secretary Sir Philip Barton and Nigel Casey, the Prime Minister's special representative for Afghanistan, of having 'intentionally lied' to the Commons committee when they defended the PM.

Carrie was lobbied personally by members of Nowzad in order to get them and their animals out of Kabul in August

The Prime Minister has previously denied intervening to allow Paul 'Pen' Farthing and members of his Nawzad charity flee Kabul at the expense of locals as the extremists closed in last summer.

Downing Street has repeatedly denied intervening in any individual cases in the final days of the mission as thousands of people who sought to flee the Taliban were left behind.

But an email shared with a Commons inquiry last year showed a Foreign Office official saying in August that the Prime Minister had just 'authorised' the animals' rescue.

And the BBC reported another email from the same day saying then-foreign secretary Dominic Raab was 'seeking a steer from No 10 on whether' to call Nowzad staff forward.

Ms Stewart said emails in her inbox referenced 'the PM's decision on Nowzad'.

Her revelations follow evidence given by Mr Marshall, who also worked for the FCDO.

The Prime Minister has denied direct involvement in the evacuation of animals from the charity.

Ms Stewart, who said she leaked information to a BBC journalist such was her concern about the handling of the Afghanistan crisis, said she accepted that speaking out would likely mean she lost her job.

She said: 'I feel a strong sense of moral injury for having been part of something so badly managed and so focused on managing reputational risk and political fallout rather than the actual crisis and associated human tragedy.'

Ms Stewart said statements provided to the committee by ministers and senior civil servants had been 'misleading'.

She said she did not believe there was any deliberate decision 'to prioritise animals over people' but that 'the decision to approve Nowzad's Afghan staff under LOTR (leave outside the rules) was not in line with policy, as there was no reason to believe these people should be prioritised under the agreed criteria'.

She said although letters from Sir Philip Barton, the Foreign Office's permanent under-secretary, and Foreign Office minister Lord Ahmad were 'factually accurate' when they said 'Nowzad staff were included by officials in the potential cohorts to be considered for evacuation if space became available under LOTR', she said this was 'misleading'.

'From what I heard and saw, Nowzad staff were included as a late addition only in response to this 'PM decision'. This occurred against the previous judgment of officials,' she said.

Sir Philip Barton (pictured) told the Foreign Affairs Select Committee that Nigel Casey, the PM's special representative for Afghanistan, had not received any correspondence referring to Boris Johnson allegedly intervening in the Nowzad case

She added: 'I do not find it credible that Philip Barton, or those who drafted his letter dated January 17 2022, would not have been aware of this.'

Ms Stewart accused Sir Philip and Nigel Casey, the Prime Minister's special representative for Afghanistan, of having 'intentionally lied' to the Commons committee.

She said she 'cannot fathom' why they would do so but that 'they must have done so', adding: 'I have tried to imagine but cannot conceive of any way this could have been an honest mistake.'

The two men are due to face the Foreign Affairs Committee this afternoon.

David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, said: 'This is further confirmation that the Prime Minister put the lives of animals ahead of humans on a personal whim and then lied about doing so.

'In every crisis he faces, Boris Johnson shows himself to be a serial liar with no respect for the office he holds or the public he leads.'

Sir Philip apologised to MPs in January for 'inadvertently' misleading them over the row about the evacuation of animals from Afghanistan.

He told the Foreign Affairs Select Committee that Mr Casey had not received any correspondence referring to Boris Johnson allegedly intervening in the Nowzad case.

But emails revealed by the BBC's Newsnight programme showed Mr Casey asked an official 'to seek clear guidance for us from No 10 asap on what they would like us to do' in the case.

Sir Philip, the Foreign Office's permanent under-secretary, wrote to the committee's chairman, Tory MP Tom Tugendhat, to apologise for having given 'inadvertently inaccurate answers'.

However, he said that 'on the day the email was sent, Nigel was almost entirely focused, in his role as Gold in our crisis response, on the terrorist threat to the evacuation'.

Mr Johnson has denied claims he personally authorised the evacuation of animals being looked after by the Nowzad charity, labelling the allegation 'total rhubarb', as the row over who gave the airlift the green light continues to rumble on.
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Freed Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has today revealed her difficult path back to normality after being held captive in Iran for six years - while also taking aim at Government for taking more than half a decade to bring her home.

In her first televised press conference since returning to the UK, the British-Iranian national admitted she was still getting to know her family 'better' again following 'six years of hell' in Tehran.

In an emotional press conference, she praised her 'amazing' husband Richard's tireless campaigning efforts and said her reunion with him and daughter Gabriella had been 'precious' and 'glorious'.

Mr Ratcliffe meanwhile said their family needed time to 'heal' after a traumatic six years, but that he was 'immensely pleased and proud' that his wife was home.

He also joked with reporters that he was 'negotiating' with his wife about the pair sharing the same bed once again, revealing that she had been sleeping alongside their young seven-year-old Gabriella following her return on Thursday.

The charity worker, 44, who has been held as a prisoner in Iran since 2016, was flown back to the UK last week after the Government settled a historical 400million debt owed to Iran over a cancelled 1970s order for British tanks.

Mr Ratcliffe, who has campaigned tirelessly for her release over the last six years, praised the efforts of the Government in helping secure her return.

But sitting beside her husband, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who turned up to the media briefing wearing yellow and blue, the colours of Ukraine, questioned why it had taken so long.

'The journey back was tough. I grant what Richard said about the Foreign Secretary, but I don't really agree with him on that level,' she told journalists.

'I have seen five foreign secretaries over the course of six years. That is unprecedented given the politics of the UK.

'I love you Richard, I respect what you believe. But I was told many many times: "Oh, we are going to get you home". That never happened.

Today, her husband Richard, who has campaigned tirelessly for her release since 2016, tentatively praised the efforts of the Government in helping secure her return. But sitting beside her husband Richard, Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who turned up to the media briefing wearing yellow and blue, the colours of Ukraine, questioned why it had taken so long for the UK to get her home

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has today given her first broadcast interview following her release from imprisonment in Iran

Sitting beside her husband, Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who turned up to the media briefing wearing yellow and blue, the colours of Ukraine, questioned why it had taken so long to get her home

While Mrs Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe praised her husband Richard's tireless campaigning efforts on her behalf, she appeared to disagree on his praise for the Government, saying her release should have happened 'six years ago'

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe says she should have been freed 'six years ago' Freed Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has today taken aim at the UK Government over the handling of her release from Iran, asking: 'How many foreign secretaries does it take to get me out?'. Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe told reporters at a press conference today that it should not have taken 'six years' to get her home. The British-Iranian national, who turned up to the media briefing wearing yellow and blue, the colours of Ukraine, said: 'The journey back was tough. I grant what Richard said about the Foreign Secretary, but I don't really agree with him on that level. 'I have seen five Foreign Secretaries over the course of six years. That is unprecedented given the politics of the UK. 'I love you Richard, I respect what you believe. But I was told many many times: 'Oh, we are going to get you home'. That never happened. 'So there was a time when I thought: 'You know what, I'm never going to trust you', because I've been told many many times that I'm going to be taken home. 'But that never happened. How many Foreign Secretaries is it going to take for someone to get out? Five? 'It should have been one of them eventually. So now, here we are. What happened now should have happened six years ago. 'It shouldn't have taken six years. And I think we have gone through a lot, it has been a tough journey.' Earlier in the conference Mr Ratcliffe had praised the Government's efforts in getting his wife home. Advertisement

'So there was a time when I thought: 'You know what, I'm never going to trust you', because I've been told many many times that I'm going to be taken home.

'But that never happened. How many Foreign Secretaries is it going to take for someone to get out? Five?

'It should have been one of them eventually. So now, here we are. What happened now should have happened six years ago.

'It shouldn't have taken six years. And I think we have gone through a lot, it has been a tough journey.'

She also said her experience in Tehran would continue to 'haunt me' and that it would be 'very difficult' to talk about what she had been through.

'There is no other way around it. It will be with me.'

Meanwhile she saved praise for her husband's campaigning adding: '(I would like to thank) My amazing husband who has been tirelessly campaigning for me, and my daughter who has been very very patient with mummy coming home.

'The coming back was very tough. You realise you are coming back to a daughter that is nearly eight. I left her when she was nearly two. I'm getting to know them better now,' she added.

Earlier in the conference, which also included a talk from Roxanne Tahbaz, the daughter of British-US-Iranian detainee Morad Tahbaz, who remains in prison in Iran, Mr Ratcliffe had praised the Government's efforts in getting his wife home.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a charity worker from north London, left the UK for Iran in 2016 for a family visit. But during the visit she was imprisoned on false espionage charges.

Speaking during the conference, Mr Ratcliffe said: 'I have lots of thank-yous to say. Thank you to the Government. Thank you to the Foreign Secretary did promise to get Nazanin home and she did.

'That has been a long struggle, lots of people working behind the scenes.

'We haven't always agreed, but we had lovely three days with them after Nazanin came home, very nurturing, very kind people, and they got her home.

'It is for us over, a new chapter, a process of healing and recovery and going back to normal.'

He added that he was 'immensely pleased' to have his wife home, saying: 'It has been a long struggle. I'm immensely pleased and proud of my wife, proud to have her home, starting a new chapter, and get to be a normal family again.'

However he said it would be 'baby steps' for him and his family, revealing he was not yet 'allowed' to sleep alongside his wife and daughter Gabriella.

Mr Ratcliffe said: 'It is baby steps for us. I'm super proud of her, he strength, her grace.

'We are still negotiating whether daddy is allowed in the same bed as Gabriella and Nazanin.

Earlier Richard praised the Government's efforts in getting his wife (pictured today) home from Iran, where she had been imprisoned on false espionage charges

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a charity worker from north London, left the UK for Iran in 2016 for a family visit. But during the visit she was imprisoned on false espionage charges

Mr Ratcliffe added that he was 'immensely pleased' to have his wife home, saying: 'It has been a long struggle. I'm immensely pleased and proud of my wife, proud to have her home, starting a new chapter, and get to be a normal family again'

Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, will hold a short private meeting with her, Richard and Ms Siddiq, prior to the press conference

MP Tulip Siddiq, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, her daughter Gabriella and her husband Richard Ratcliffe (R), posing with Speaker of the House of Commons Lindsay Hoyle

House of Commons Lindsay Hoyle (R) speaking with Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe (rear R), her husband Richard Ratcliffe (L) during a meeting at the Speaker's house, in London

Detention of Iranians at Heathrow Airport may have led to Nazanin's detention - claims ex- foreign secretary The detention of an Iranian delegation at Heathrow Airport almost a decade ago may have been behind the arrest of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, former foreign secretary Jack Straw has claimed. Mr Straw said the Iranian team arrived in the UK in 2013 to discuss the repayment of a historical 400 million pound debt Britain owed for a consignment of tanks that was never delivered. Although they had been properly issued with visas, the negotiators were held by border officials and sent back to Iran a few days later, Mr Straw said. He believes the subsequent detention of Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe may have been Iran's way of retaliating. Britain's agreement to settle the debt - relating to the cancellation of an order for 1,500 Chieftain tanks after the overthrowing of the Shah of Iran in 1979 - was key to securing the release of Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her fellow detainee Anoosheh Ashoori. Mr Straw, who was Labour's foreign secretary from 2001 to 2006, said the whole affair may have arisen because of the way Britain antagonised Tehran. Mr Straw, was Labour's foreign secretary from 2001 to 2006 'There was full disclosure about why they needed visas and they were given those visas. They got on the aeroplane, they arrived at Heathrow,' he told BBC Radio 4's The World at One. 'There was no welcoming party. Instead, border officials detained them, locked them in an immigration centre for two or three days and then deported them. 'The Iranians subsequently claimed they were ill-treated. I have no idea whether that was the case, but it was certainly not what they were expecting nor what we should have done.' No member of the Iranian government was permitted to come to the UK following the sacking of the British embassy in Tehran by protesters in 2011, which Mr Straw said possibly explains the delegation's treatment. 'What I surmise, and it is only surmise, is that at this stage the more hardline elements in the regime decided they were going to take some kind of direct action,' he said. 'They decided that if somebody suitable presented themselves, which I am afraid Nazanin did when she arrived there in 2016, they would arrest her and charge her with spurious spying charges.' During his time at the Foreign Office, the tank debt had not been raised as an issue that needed resolving, Mr Straw said. Advertisement

'We'll get there. I think we'll do this (interview) and then we will disappear off and heal a bit.'

He also said it was 'nice to be retiring' from the public-eye after six years of campaigning, including a 21-day hunger strike.

Ahead of the media event, chaired by local MP Tulip Siddiq, Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe was seen arriving at Portcullis House with the Hampstead Labour politician, her husband Richard her daughter Gabriella.

Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, also held a short private meeting with her, Richard and Ms Siddiq, prior to the press conference.

Ms Siddiq, who had never previously met Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, despite years of campaigning for her, said she was 'emotional' meeting the charity worker.

'We knew we were going to meet each other and she had called me to say that I was one of the first people she wanted to see', Ms Siddiq said.

'So she came to West Hampstead and we hugged each other for ages and we were both quite tearful and it was quite emotional meeting her.

'She knew so much about me and I knew so much about her and she did thank me profusely but I said to her 'it wasn't me, this was a shared victory and everyone here in this community campaigned for you and, obviously, full credit to Richard - he was the one who was relentless in his campaigning'.'

It comes after Ms Siddiq shared an image of her and the charity volunteer following her return to the UK last week.

She said: 'We can't stop smiling!! Incredible to have my brave constituent Nazanin back home. She's eternally grateful to all of you for campaigning so hard for her release.'

Meanwhile, Ms Siddiq today said she will be asking the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee to investigate claims by former foreign secretary Jack Straw that the detention of an Iranian delegation at Heathrow Airport almost a decade ago may have been behind the arrest of Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

Mr Straw said the Iranian team arrived in the UK in 2013 to discuss the repayment of a historical 400 million pound debt Britain owed for a consignment of tanks that was never delivered.

Although they had been properly issued with visas, the negotiators were held by border officials and sent back to Iran a few days later, Mr Straw said.

He believes the subsequent detention of Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe may have been Iran's way of retaliating.

Britain's agreement to settle the debt - relating to the cancellation of an order for 1,500 Chieftain tanks after the overthrowing of the Shah of Iran in 1979 - was key to securing the release of Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her fellow detainee Anoosheh Ashoori.

Mr Straw, who was Labour's foreign secretary from 2001 to 2006 and has written a book about UK-Iran relations, said the whole affair may have arisen because of the way Britain antagonised Tehran.

'There was full disclosure about why they needed visas and they were given those visas. They got on the aeroplane, they arrived at Heathrow,' he told BBC Radio 4's The World at One.

'There was no welcoming party. Instead, border officials detained them, locked them in an immigration centre for two or three days and then deported them.

'The Iranians subsequently claimed they were ill-treated. I have no idea whether that was the case, but it was certainly not what they were expecting nor what we should have done.'

No member of the Iranian government was permitted to come to the UK following the sacking of the British embassy in Tehran by protesters in 2011, which Mr Straw said possibly explains the delegation's treatment.

'What I surmise, and it is only surmise, is that at this stage the more hardline elements in the regime decided they were going to take some kind of direct action,' he said.

'They decided that if somebody suitable presented themselves, which I am afraid Nazanin did when she arrived there in 2016, they would arrest her and charge her with spurious spying charges.'

During his time at the Foreign Office, the tank debt had not been raised as an issue that needed resolving, Mr Straw said.

'I dearly wish that it had come up. I am pretty certain that if it had been flagged to me properly I would have said, 'Hang on a second, we just need to pay this money,'' he said.

Responding to the claims: Ms Siddiq said: 'I owe it to Nazanin to ask questions as to why it took so long to bring Nazanin back and why the debt wasn't paid for so long, which we know was key,' she said.

Ahead of the media event, Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe was seen arriving at the House of Commons with the Hampstead MP, her husband Richard and daughter Gabriella

The British-Iranian national, 44, was reunited with her husband Richard and daughter Gabriella in the early hours of Thursday morning at Brize Norton after 'six years of hell' languishing in a jail in Tehran

British-Iranian mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was held prisoner in Iran for six years, is pictured smiling with Labour MP Tulip Siddiq for Hampstead and Kilburn

Terry Waite: Nazanin needs time to recover from her 'trauma' in Iran and says a returning to life after captivity is like having 'The Bends' Terry Waite has urged Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe to treat trauma like a doctor would treat the bends. Mr Waite, who lives in Suffolk, 'eased himself back into normal life' and urged Nazanin to do the same. He was captured in Lebanon in January 1987 and held captive - most of it in solitary confinement. He also had contact with Nazanin when she was in an Iranian jail, urging her to 'take every say as it comes'. Mr Waite said: 'After a long period away, you really need time to readjust. Things have changed, you have changed, the family have changed, her daughter has grown - it's wonderful to see everybody again, but it does take time to readjust and get accustomed to the new situation that you are in. 'I went away - I lived in Trinity Hall, Cambridge where I had a fellowship for the middle part of the week, and went home at weekends. And that was really a very good thing to do. People said at the time 'aha, everything's breaking up'  far from the truth. 'Someone once said to me, and I've repeated this many times, when you come out of an experience of trauma, take it easy, take it as if you're coming up from the sea  if you come up too quickly, you'll get "the bends".' Advertisement

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was jailed on security charges after being detained in 2016 at Imam Khomeini Airport following a holiday visit to Iran, where she introduced her daughter to her parents.

The charity worker was flown back to the UK last week after the Government settled a historical 400million debt owed to Iran over a cancelled 1970s order for British tanks.

She was flown into RAF Brize Norton where she was met by her husband and seven-year-old daughter, who she last saw when she was only two years old.

After her arrival, television cameras gathered outside the family's North London house waiting to capture Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's much anticipated return home on Thursday. But they were sorely disappointed to discover the family had instead been whisked away to a safehouse.

The safehouse in question was in fact Dorneywood - an 18th century mansion sat on a sprawling estate which includes a swimming pool, croquet lawn and 215 acres of lush green woodland, the Telegraph reported.

Typically used by Chancellors of the Exchequer, the grace-and-favour home is owned by the National Trust and the Prime Minister can permit any member of the government to occupy it.

Some of the home's previous occupants are current Chancellor Rishi Sunak, Health Secretary Sajid Javid, and former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott - who famously enjoyed a game of croquet on the front lawn.

The family enjoyed two days of peace at the mansion, with Nazanin and Richard getting reacquainted before cooking pizza in the industrial-size kitchen with seven-year-old Gabriella.

But the family are yet to return to their West Hampstead home, and were yesterday relocated to another safehouse. The location has not been disclosed.

A smiling picture of Gabriella and her mother cooking up a pizza in Dorneywood's huge kitchen was shared on social media by Mr Ratcliffe.

It was swiftly reposted by the family's local MP, Labour's Tulip Siddiq, who has also campaigned relentlessly for Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's freedom.

Siddiq tweeted: 'Nazanin told me that this is what she missed most while she was imprisoned - every day moments with her little girl. Today was Gabriella's choice of making homemade pizzas for lunch'.

But the pair were asked to take the images down by Foreign Office officials over fears their location could be compromised.

The family have now been moved on to another undisclosed location with the family of 67-year-old Anoosheh Ashoori, who was also released alongside Nazanin earlier this week.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe spent the first two days settling back into the UK with her family in a Government-owned Georgian mansion in Buckinghamshire (Dorneywood mansion pictured in the Buckinghamshire countryside)

Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 44, was reunited with her husband Richard and daughter Gabriella in the early hours of Thursday morning at RAF Brize Norton, but the family were swiftly whisked away to the countryside

The family spent two days at Dorneywood - an 18th century mansion sat on a sprawling estate which includes a swimming pool, croquet lawn and 215 acres of lush green woodland

They enjoyed two days of peace at the mansion, with Nazanin and Richard getting reacquainted before cooking pizza in the industrial-size kitchen with seven-year-old Gabriella

The five foreign secretaries who took six years to free Nazanin - and the Boris bungle which made things worse In the six years of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's detention in Iran, four UK foreign secretaries held office. But how successful were they in securing her freedom? 1. PHILIP HAMMOND (July 2014- July 2016) Philip Hammond, was in post when Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was detained in April 2016. He told the Commons at the time that he had raised her case 'a number of times' with the then Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif. 'We continue to lobby the Iranians regularly about all our consular cases in Iran, including that of Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe,' he said. He then moved jobs to become Chancellor of the Exchequer. 2. BORIS JOHNSON (July 2016July 2018) Boris Johnson scored some of his worst criticism when as foreign secretary in November 2017, he told the House of Commons that Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was 'simply teaching people journalism'. This was in spite of her defence that she was on holiday visiting her parents. Three days later, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was dragged before a court hearing in Iran, which used Johnson's remarks as evidence. 3. JEREMY HUNT (July 2018-July 2019) Mr Hunt met Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband Richard and won plaudits for pressing Iran for her release. In November 2019, after he left office, Mr Hunt argued Britain should pay a 400million historic debt to Iran to help secure her freedom. 4. DOMINIC RAAB (July 2019-September 2021) Throughout his tenure as foreign secretary, Mr Raab insisted his department was working 'tenaciously' to free Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe. He argued against the use of an ankle tag and fought to improve her conditions. But Nazanin herself was apparently disappointed when Mr Raab failed to attend a Commons debate about her situation in April last year. 5. LIZ TRUSS (September 2021-Present) Ms Truss earned praise across the House of Commons when Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's freedom was finally secured this month after six years of imprisonment. Advertisement

Nazanin landed back on British soil in the early hours of Thursday, along with fellow dual national Ashoori, after the UK finally agreed to settle a long-standing debt to Iran.

Ashoori, 67, was arrested in August 2017 while visiting his elderly mother in Tehran. He was detained in Evin prison for almost five years, having been accused of spying.

Both have consistently and vigorously denied the allegations.

Their release came after months of intensive diplomatic negotiations between London and Tehran.

However Morad Tahbaz, a wildlife conservationist who also holds Iranian citizenship and who was said to be part of the deal to bring Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Mr Ashoori back, was taken back into custody after originally being allowed out on furlough last week

Roxanne Tahbaz, speaking at the same press conference as Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe today, said the situation regarding her father was 'incredibly urgent'.

'Nazanin's family's been really kind and wonderful to us, so we are genuinely happy for them.

'But obviously it does trigger something for us and it's very, very devastating that we're in this position.

'But we look at their family and their joy, and hope that we'll have a very similar experience very soon.

Asked for her message to the UK Government, Ms Tahbaz said: 'I think it's very clear that it's incredibly urgent at this stage, and the bottom line is we want them home.'

Mr Ratcliffe, who campaigned tirelessly for his wife's release and was instrumental in securing her freedom, told the Times that Nazanin would like to focus on being a full-time mother in the immediate future but that she has not ruled out returning to a campaigning role.

He told the newspaper: 'People come out with an extra will to make up for lost time and to stop others having to battle against the bad guys that they feel are responsible.

'And that can take different directions. While I'm sure she's happy, I can't tell where her head will be in six months. I'm sure she's feeling a lot less angry today than she was a week ago. There's nothing like freedom for changing your perspective.'

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's neighbours told MailOnline that she cannot wait to return home and take Gabrielle to school for the first time like any other mother.

Her parents-in-law John and Barbara have joked that their son's North London home needs to be cleaned up urgently because it is in an 'appalling' state after years of living without her - and they are considering heading up from Hampshire to do it themselves.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's friends and neighbours in North London said Richard and Gabriella are 'obviously absolutely overjoyed that mummy is home'.

'There is so much going on and they need time to adjust but Richard said that they just wanted to settle back into normal life - taking walks in the park, going out for a coffee.'

The neighbour added: 'Richard said that Nazanin was most excited about taking Gabriella to school in the morning and picking her up at the end of the day like any other parent. I'm so happy for them.'

Back at last: The Zaghari-Ratcliffe family are finally reunited after Nazanin was detained for nearly six years in Iran

The family have been reunited after the mother-of-one's harrowing six-year stint in an Iranian jail on trumped-up spy charges (pictured before her arrest)

Another neighbour said: 'They left here on Wednesday afternoon and Richard said that they were unlikely to be back for a couple of days.

'I think that now they are all back together, coming home for the first time will feel like taking their first steps towards returning to normality.'

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe worked as a project manager for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, which covers the lives of people around the world who struggle to live freely or fairly.

In an interview by the charity after her release, Thomson Reuters Foundation CEO Antonio Zappulla described her as 'a very dedicated and bubbly colleague', adding: 'I didn't know just how resilient she is. I have nothing but admiration. Nazanin's life was upended, but her spirit was never broken. She is a truly remarkable woman, with a truly remarkable family.'

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's two days of bliss in Dorneywood with her family came after Channel 4 said it will air a documentary about Richard Ratcliffe's campaign to free his wife over the past six years.

The single-episode documentary, called 'Nazanin', follows the life of Mr Ratcliffe as he balanced a political campaign with raising Gabriella.

The broadcaster said it includes how the youngster coped with separation from her mother, and the moment Mr Ratcliffe realised her detention was linked to a 400 million debt dating back to the 1970s.

As Gabriella rushed into her mother's arms  the intimate moment obscured from the camera as they stood behind a screen  we heard, amid the tears, the excited babble of a little girl's voice. 'You smell nice,' Gabriella told her mummy, dissipating the tension as only a child can, before Nazanin replied: 'Do I? But I haven't had a shower for 24 hours!'

Finally reunited: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, pictured holding her seven-year-old daughter Gabriella and with her husband Richard, and Anoosheh Ashoori with family members including his daughter Elika after landing in the UK

Pure joy: Nazanin shares an emotional moment with her seven-year-old daughter Gabriella after landing back in the UK

It also follows the final days of negotiations with the British Foreign Office in Tehran and Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's journey home.

A spokesperson for Channel 4 said: 'Nazanin is an intimate, access-driven documentary  part love story, part political thriller. It has a human story with a big heart and mixes original, observational filming with never before seen material filmed by Nazanin herself about her ordeal.'

Nazanin will air later this year.

Cancer-stricken British-US national who was released from Iranian prison on the same day as Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is now on hunger strike after he was sent back to jail following 48 hours of freedom

By Dan Sales for MailOnline

A dual national British-US wildlife conservationist detained by Iran has gone on hunger strike.

Wildlife conservationist Morad Tahbaz, 66, who also holds Iranian citizenship, was taken back into custody after originally being allowed out on furlough last week.

His sister, Tahrane Tahbaz, told Today on BBC Radio 4: 'He was taken back to prison after 48 hours. He wasn't really on furlough. It seemed more like a visit than a furlough.

'He didn't have an ankle bracelet put on him. He was with security and, after 48 hours, he was taken back under security - back to the prison.

'We haven't heard from him since and we have heard through a relative just a few hours ago that he's been taken from the prison and he's been taken to an undisclosed location and that he's gone on hunger strike.'

The family of a British-US national detained by Iran were led to believe that he would be part of the same release deal as Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori, his sister has said.

Morad Tahbaz, 66 - British-US national temporarily released from prison in Iran only to find himself back in custody two days later

Mr Tahbaz was originally allowed out on the same day last week that charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe (pictured)

Morad Tahbaz, 66, who also holds Iranian citizenship, was originally allowed out on the same day last week that charity worker Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe and retired civil engineer Mr Ashoori were released and then allowed to return to Britain.

However, since then he has been taken back into custody.

His sister, Tahrane Tahbaz, told Today on BBC Radio 4: 'Frankly, for four years we were led to believe that he would be part of the deal when it was made.

'And that's what we were told. And the deal was made, the money was paid.

'And he wasn't part of the deal - and he's still there - and we're very worried.'

A FCDO spokesperson said: 'Morad has now been moved from Evin prison to a residential location in Tehran. 'We have been in touch with Morad's family throughout the day and continue to lobby the Iranian authorities at the highest levels to allow him to return home immediately, as the Iranian government committed to doing.'

Britain said it secured Mr Tahbaz's furlough, along with the release and return of the two other dual nationals.

This came after Britain finally agreed to settle a 400 million debt dating back to the 1970s which had fuelled tensions between the countries for decades.

His Tehran-based lawyer said that two days after Mr Tahbaz had been released and went to his family's home in the city, Iranian security forces forced him to return to Evin Prison.

Morad Tahbaz has been sent back to prison in Tehran after a two-day furlough despite the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

Tahbaz's sister, Taraneh Tahbaz, said the situation was a 'farce' as she blasted the government for failing to secure the permanent release

Mr Tahbaz, who has cancer, was arrested during a crackdown on environmental activists in January 2018.

He is a prominent conservationist and board member of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation which seeks to protect endangered species.

Mr Tahbaz was sentenced to 10 years in prison with his colleagues on vague charges of spying for the US and undermining Iran's security.

The FCDO and the United States are working closely with each other to try to secure his permanent release.

Family members had hoped that Mr Tahbaz, who was born in Hammersmith, west London, would be freed under the deal which saw Mr Ashoori and Mrs Zaghari-Ratlcliffe arrive back on British soil in the early hours of Thursday.

It is not clear if Mr Tahbaz has been fitted with an ankle tag by the Iranians which the FCDO had been told was set to happen.

A US State Department spokesman: 'We continue to work night and day to secure the release of our wrongfully detained citizens, including US-UK citizen Morad Tahbaz.

'Simply put: Iran is unjustly detaining innocent Americans and others and should release them immediately.'

Foreign Office minister James Cleverly said the Government is working to secure the return of Mr Tahbaz, telling BBC Breakfast on Thursday: 'He also has American nationality, which has in the eyes of the Iranians  not in ours  made his case more complicated.'

He added: 'We will continue to work to secure his release and, obviously, we work in close co-ordination with the US on these issues as well.'
Disneys new CEO Bob Chapek has fallen out with his predecessor Bob Iger after Iger delayed his retirement to 'help' Chapek tackle the COVID pandemic.

The executives, who were once very close, now no longer speak after Iger infuriated Chapek by delaying his exit three times.

Iger, who handpicked Chapek to succeed him, announced plans to stay on for a fourth time to help steer the firm through the early days of COVID in March 2020, as it was forced to shutter its money-spinning theme parks, and movie theaters that showed its films closed.

CNBC reported that Chapek, who earned a total salary of $26 million in 2021, was furious at Iger, didnt need a white knight and had not asked for any help.

The men, who were once close, barely exchanged words at a party held late last year to commemorate Iger's retirement from the entertainment giant. He stayed on as executive chairman after quitting as CEO, but stepped down from that role at the end of 2021.

Their rift is also said to have caused issues for Chapek as he seeks to ingratiate himself among other Disney executives who remain loyal to Iger thanks to his glittering tenure at the helm of the entertainment giant, which began in 2005.

Iger also caused ructions after he recently spoke out forcefully against Florida's so-called Don't Say Gay bill, which bans the teaching of lessons on sexuality, gender identity and sexual orientation from kindergarten up to third grade.

Chapek has been condemned by staff for refusing to take his own vehement stance against it, and has since expressed regret. He is said to have angered many of Disney's thousands of Orlando-based staffers, although polls show that the bill itself is supported by a majority of Americans.

New Disney boss Bob Chapek (right) no longer keeps in contact with former head exec Bob Iger (left), it has been reported, following a falling out that occurred between the two around the time Iger resigned from the company two years ago

Iger, 71, resigned in February 2020 weeks before Disney parks shut as a result of the pandemic, with the longtime company head himself appointing loyal lieutenant, former theme parks and resorts chief Chapek, as his successor.

'I can't think of a better person to succeed me in this role,' Iger said at the time, a day before the company closed its 12 Disney parks in the US.

Chapek, 61, slated to start in March, said of the transition: 'I've watched Bob [Iger] lead this company to amazing new heights, and I've learned an enormous amount from that experience.'

However, as the initial stages of the Covid-19 quarantine closed in, Iger, who had initially announced he would step down as CEO after 15 years at the helm and become executive chairman in 2019 before pushing that date back three times over the course of two years, again had a change of heart about leaving the big seat.

In April, Iger stunned onlookers when again announced that he would be staying on as the company's top executive, citing the severity of the coronavirus crisis and subsequent park closures.

'A crisis of this magnitude, and its impact on Disney, would necessarily result in my actively helping Bob [Chapek] and the company contend with it,' Iger told New York Times columnist Ben Smith, who broke the news of Iger's abrupt about-face.

Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom sits deserted in July 2020. Disney's former CEO Bob Iger reportedly infuriated his handpicked successor Bob Chapek by delaying his retirement for a fourth time to stay on and steer the entertainment giant through the pandemic

'Particularly since I ran the company for 15 years!,' the CEO, who sparked controversy in 2019 when it was revealed he earned $66 million a year - about 1,000 times the salary of a typical Disney employee - noted in his email.

Iger reportedly told Smith that he was not going to leave the company, and would instead stay to help his second-in-command navigate the emergency.

Chapek, forced to the sidelines in a secondary role until this January, was infuriated by the slight, sources told NBC.

Insiders close to the matter reportedly told the outlet that Chapek, who had been handpicked by Iger as a replacement and had not expressed a need or desire for his predecessor's help, was vexed by his senior's seeming - and continued - reluctance to give up his position, having done so three times before.

Chapek reportedly felt like 'a hapless second banana,' sources told the outlet, frustrated with having to report to his old boss instead of assuming his role at the top of the heap.

Following the publishing of the Times piece in April 2020, Disney brass, seemingly wary of a budding conflict between the two veteran execs, issued a statement that announced still co-CEO Chapek had been promoted to the company's Board of Directors and reiterated that he would be taking over the company completely in the near future.

'It was a turning-point moment,' an insider told NBC of Chapek's reaction to the piece, which featured a full interview with his former boss.

The tension between the two worsened from there, according to the outlet, spoke to roughly a dozen sources whom revealed the pair have since been on the outs since, and not on speaking terms.

An irreparable rift has formed between the two men, pictured here during a joint presentation in September 2021, since Iger (right), supposed to resign in 2019, chose to stay on as head - with an infuriated Chapek forced to share the reigns to the company

Bob Iger's VERY long goodbye from Disney While lionized by staff for propelling the Walt Disney Company to glittering new heights, Bob Iger angered his successor Bob Chapek with a drawn-out goodbye. Chapek was named as Disney's new CEO in February 2020, as COVID cases began to hit the US. Iger was named as executive chairman by Disney, with the entertainment giant keen to have him on hand to help ease Chapek into the top role. Tensions erupted in spring 2020 after Iger announced he was staying because of the unprecedented challenge posed to Disney by the COVID pandemic. That saw it forced to shutter its parks globally, with box office receipts also slumping off a cliff after movie theaters closed. Iger stayed on as chairman until New Year's Eve 2021, when he finally stepped down and was replaced by Susan Arnold. The New Yorker was born to a middle class family, and started his career as a manual laborer at ABC, where he earned $150-a-week. He dreamt of becoming a TV anchor, but went on to become an extremely successful producer. Iger was named president of Walt Disney International in 1999, four years after the firm bought ABC, and was promoted to CEO in 2005. Advertisement

Speaking to the station under the condition of anonymity, the insiders said Inger grew increasingly angry with Chapek over a string decisions he made after the Times piece without his input.

Calls Chapek made without the chairman's blessing, according to the outlet, included a dramatic reorganization of the company in October that saw 28,000 theme park staffers laid off to deal with accruing costs spurred by pandemic related closures, and a shift in focus to the company's streaming service, Disney+.

They also included the revelation of actress Scarlett Johanssons $35 million salary for starring in Marvel movie Black Widow.

The huge payday was leaked after Johansson sued over the movie's release on Disney+, rather than at movie theaters.

The conflict reportedly embarrassed Iger, sources told NBC, who remarked that while no longer CEO, the company chairman still prided himself on the company's relationships with A-list talent.

Chapek was also criticized for not condemning a Florida bill passed on Tuesday limiting LGBTQ discussion in schools, forcing Chapek, who has emphasized 'inclusion' as one of his focuses as CEO despite a slew of controversies in recent months, to try and quell the backlash with a statement to staff last Monday.

In the memo, Chapek reiterated the park's policies: 'I want to be crystal clear: I and the entire leadership team unequivocally stand in support of our LGBTQ+ employees, their families, and their communities.

'We are committed to creating a more inclusive company - and world.'

Weeks prior, Iger, whose reign was largely unmarred by such disputes, notably took a public stance against the legislation.

Several longtime Disney staffers said Chapeks handling of the situation led to 'the worst week theyve ever had working at the company,' Deadline reported last week.

According to the outlet, sources close the company have said that employees have been calling Iger in recent weeks to air complaints over Chapek.

Chapek's 'inclusion' campaign has so far seen the company nix the phrases 'ladies and gentleman, boys and girls' during the 'Happily Ever After' fireworks show at Magic Kingdom.

Early last year, prior to the campaign, the Jungle Cruise, a staple of Disneys theme parks for nearly 70 years, got an overhaul to address years of complaints that it offered a racist view of indigenous people as uncivilized 'savages' - decisions reportedly made without Iger's input.

Another instance that led to the rift between the two, according to the insiders, was the power struggle that came after Chapek's decision to nix the responsibilities of many of Iger's veteran division leaders and instead consolidate them under his right-hand man, Kareem Daniel.

Daniel, 46, serves as the head of the company's latest faction, its Media and Entertainment Distribution group, implemented to aid in its shilling of streaming platforms Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+.

The move by Chapek, sources said, comes as the exec attempts to streamline the company so he, through Daniel, can make decisions across all of the platforms - instead of heads from each company making their own decisions.

Historically, the division heads would run their own businesses.

The decision reportedly angered the company's then-head of strategy Kevin Mayer, who left Disney in 2020 to become TikToks CEO, months after Iger chose Chapek as his replacement, as well as a slew of other Iger-era staffers - including Iger himself, the sources said.

The insiders said that Iger never agreed with giving Daniel so much control, with the former CEO feeling that stripping division heads of the ability to greenlight what shows are on their respective services wasnt the right move for Disney, due to the complex and diverse differences between each platform.

Chapek, however, disagreed, envisioning a unifying digital experience for its customers - a campaign employees have dubbed 'One Disney.'

Late last year, tension between the former friends was palpable at a going-away party for Iger, held at his posh Los Angeles estate in Brentwood.

At the gathering, which saw roughly 50 guests - most of them Disney staffers - Iger spoke at length about his time at Disney in front of the crowd, spending more than 10 minutes praising former colleagues.

However, noticeably absent from the exec's songs of praise was Chapek, who Iger barely mentioned, sources told NBC.

'It was extremely awkward,' said one of the guests, who asked to remain anonymous because the party was private. 'The tension was palpable.'

According to the insiders, Iger now regrets how the changing of the guard has transpired.

But the exec has so far remained adamant that he's not returning to Disney, telling the Times in January: 'I was CEO for a long time - you cant go home again.

'Im gone.'
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Russian soldiers have opened fire on civilian protesters in the captured Ukrainian city of Kherson and wounded at least one person, local media has reported, as Vladimir Putin's troops stepped up their war of attrition against civilians by shelling the city of Odessa.

Footage taken in Kherson and shared by media with links to the Ukrainian military, showed one man bleeding heavily from the leg after being shot during a demonstration. Russian forces used firearms as well as stun grenades to try and disperse the protesters, the Interfax news agency reported.

It came as Vladimir Putin's warships opened fire on civilian areas in the Black Sea port city of Odesa today, marking the first time residents have been targeted. Officials said several houses were destroyed and a fire sparked, but there was no immediate word on casualties.

Missiles also rained down on the 'Retroville' shopping centre in northern Kyiv on Monday - killing eight people amid fears dozens more were buried in the rubble with emergency workers searching for them. CCTV footage from the city of Kharkiv also emerged showing a strike on a supermarket queue last week.

And in the heavily besieged city of Mariupol, more than 300 miles to the east of Odesa, officials rejected a Russian demand that fighters protecting the city surrender in return for letting an estimated 300,000 trapped civilians evacuate. Pyotr Andryushenko - an adviser to the city's mayor - said Russian promises could not be trusted and that troops defending the city were determined to fight 'down to the last man'.

Kherson has been the scene of near-daily protests since it became the first major city to fall to Russian forces early during the war. On Sunday, demonstrators managed to turn back a military convoy after blocking a road. Putin's men have been accused of firing 'warning shots' before, but until now had not opened fire directly on activists.

Ukraine says thousands of civilians have been killed by Russian forces since Vladimir Putin gave the order to attack on February 24, with his men stepping up indiscriminate shelling of cities after an initial offensive stalled. Officials in Mariupol say up to 20,000 people may have died in that city alone, but there is no accurate country-wide figure.

The UN says it has confirmed 902 civilians killed and 1,459 injured, but caveats the figure by saying it is almost certainly lower than the actual total.

Those in Odesa fear that the punishment inflicted on Mariupol may now be headed their way, as capturing the Black Sea city - Ukraine's main port - is known to be a key Russian objective. General Sir Richard Barrons, a former commander of UK Joint Forces Command, told the BBC that Odesa will be the next target if or when Mariupol falls.

At least one person has been injured after protesters came under fire by Russian troops in the occupied city of Kherson, according to local reports, with images from the scene showing a man bleeding heavily from his leg (above)

Russian troops opened fire on protesters with guns and stun grenades, according to local media, after crowds gathered to demonstrate against the occupation of their city

Video captured the moment several blasts hit the crowd (left and right), apparently from stun grenades, sending people running for cover and leaving at least one man wounded

Protesters run from the sounds of gunfire and the bang of stun grenades as local media reports Russian forces opened fire on a demonstration happening in the city of Kherson

Civilians who had been demonstrating against the Russian occupation of Kherson flee after coming under fire

Russian battleships shelled the city of Odesa on Monday, local officials said, marking the first time that residential areas of the Black Sea port have come under attack

Russian troops have failed to advance in multiple areas in Ukraine, but are piling the pressure on Mariupol and demanding that troops stationed there surrender. Kyiv continues to be under bombardment, while Odesa has seen civilian areas shelled for the first time. In Kherson, Russian troops opened fire on protesters

Putin 'deports Ukrainians to camps' Vladimir Putin has been accused of deporting Ukrainians to 'filtration' centres before forcibly taking them to remote Siberian towns after confiscating their phones and documents. 'Several thousand' people have so-far been taken, Mariupol city council claimed, before being processed through 'filtration camps' and sent to 'remote cities' in Russia where they will be obliged to stay for years and work for free. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said before he chaired a meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers in Brussels that 'what's happening in Mariupol is a massive war crime. Destroying everything, bombarding and killing everybody in an indiscriminate manner. This is something awful'. Russian news agencies have reported that buses carrying hundreds of refugees from the besieged southeastern port city Mariupol had arrived in Russia in recent days. Moscow officials also said a trainload of over 280 Ukrainians were being 'rescued' from Mariupol, showing footage of them thanking Russian forces. Mariupol mayor Vadym Boichenko likened the alleged forced deportations to transportation of prisoners by the Nazi regime during World War II. Boichenko said: 'What the occupiers are doing today is familiar to the older generation, who saw the horrific events of World War II, when the Nazis forcibly captured people. It is hard to imagine that in the 21st century people can be forcibly taken to another country.' Mariupol is in the throes of a humanitarian emergency after being encircled by Russian troops, cut off from energy, food and water supplies and facing a relentless bombardment. Advertisement

Discussing Russian tactics in Mariupol, he said: 'They couldn't walk in, they couldn't drive in with their tanks, so they've pounded it to rubble. And that's what we should expect to see anywhere else that really matters to them.

He continued: 'I think they'll maintain pressure on Kyiv because it's the political centre of gravity, but they know that it's too big an objective, it's too well defended to force the way into anything like the whole of the city.

'What we'll probably see is some bombardment of it, maybe attempt to force down some narrow routes  but so far the Ukrainians have very effectively pushed that away.

'And I think the next big strategic prize could be Odessa because that would isolate Ukraine's economy from the Black Sea.'

Russia's war in Ukraine, now in its 26th day, shows no signs of abating. The invasion has wreaked devastation and destruction, exacting a heavy toll on civilians. The U.N. says more than 3.38 million people have fled Ukraine.

The key port city has seen some of the heaviest fighting since the Russian invasion. Russian and Ukrainian soldiers are fighting block-by-block for control of the city where at least 2,300 people have died, some buried in mass graves.

Ukrainian officials rejected a Russian offer that its troops be granted safe passage out of the encircled city, which would hand Mariupol to Russia, allowing Russian forces in southern and eastern Ukraine to unite.

'There can be no talk of any surrender, laying down of arms,' Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk told the news outlet Ukrainian Pravda.

It was not clear how many casualties there were in the Russian bombing of the art school, Zelenskyy said in a video address early Monday. 'They are under the rubble, and we don't know how many of them have survived,' he said.

The strike was the second time in less than a week that officials reported an attack on a public building where Mariupol residents had taken shelter. Last Wednesday, a bomb hit a theater where more than 1,000 people were believed to be sheltering. It was unclear how many people were killed in that attack.

Russian shelling Sunday near the city center of the capital, Kyiv, killed eight people, according to emergency officials. The attack devastated a shopping center and damaged a nearby high-rise building. Russian troops are now trying to surround the Ukrainian capital, which had nearly 3 million people before the war.

Russian airstrikes destroyed the 'Retroville' shopping mall in the north of Kyiv on Monday, killing at least eight people and leaving others buried in the rubble

A burned-out car sits in what used to be the parking lot outside a Ukrainian shopping mall in the northern suburbs of Kyiv

A man picks his way through the wreckage of cars and a gym in the northern Kyiv suburb of Podilskyi after it was destroyed in a Russian air strike

A shopping mall in Kyiv is seen destroyed in the early hours of Monday after it was hit by a Russian airstrike overnight, as Putin's forces keep up their bombardment of the capital

The ruins of Sport Life gym complex outside the Retroville shopping centre is seen near Kyiv after being blown up by Russia

People gather amid the destruction caused after shelling of a shopping center, in Kyiv, Ukraine

Ukrainian firefighters help to extinguish a blaze at Retroville mall, after it was destroyed by a Russian airstrike

Ukrainian self defence troops pick their way through the ruins of a destroyed shopping mall in northern Kyiv on Monday

Rescuers work at the site of the shopping mall damaged by an airstrike, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv this morning

Firefighters search through the wreckage of a shopping mall in the northern Podilskyi district of Kyiv after it was hit by Russian missiles in the early hours

Burned-out vehicles and destroyed buildings are seen at the Retroville shopping mall in Kyiv after it was blown up by Russia

An overhead view shows the extent of the devastation at the Retroville shopping mall to the north of Kyiv on Monday

Emergency workers search through the rubble of a destroyed shopping mall in northern Kyiv after it was bombed by Russia

Ukrainian servicemen search through rubble inside the Retroville shopping mall after a Russian attack in northwest of Kyiv

A shopping mall in northern Kyiv was struck in the early hours of Monday, killing at least eight people. But successful Ukrainian counter-attacks were underway to the west of the city, as Makariv was re-captured

A member of the Ukrainian armed forces picks their way through the rubble of a shopping centre in the north of Kyiv

Ukrainian military units move through the inside of a shopping centre after it was shelled by Russia late Sunday

A Ukrainian soldier stands guard with inside a shopping centre after it was shelled by Russian forces on Monday

Switzerland is urged to extradite Putin's mistress Opponents of Vladimir Putin in Ukraine, Russia and Belarus are uniting with a petition demanding that Switzerland expels the strongman's 'lover' Alina Kabaeva amid claims she is hiding with their secret children in a luxury villa. Kabaeva, 38, is a former Olympic gymnast and gold medalist who is widely believed to be Putin's mistress and mother to secret children whom he has never officially recognised. The petition comes amid reports that Kabaeva, once named 'Russia's most flexible woman', was sent to a private chalet in Switzerland earlier this month amid the invasion of Ukraine. 'It's time you reunite Eva Braun with her Fuhrer,' the strongly-worded petition said. 'Despite the current war, Switzerland continues to host an accomplice of Putin's regime.' The West has so far not sanctioned Kabaeva, who as well as being Putin's rumoured secret partner is also chairman of the board of directors at National Media Group - a major Kremlin-obedient TV and newspaper behemoth - with a salary of almost 8 million a year. Advertisement

Ukraine's prosecutor general said a Russian shell struck a chemical plant outside the city of Sumy a little after 3 a.m. Monday, causing a leak in a 50-ton tank of ammonia that took hours to contain.

Russian military spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed the leak was a 'planned provocation' by Ukrainian forces to falsely accuse Russia of a chemical attack.

Konashenkov also said an overnight cruise missile strike hit a Ukrainian military training center in the Rivne region. He said 80 foreign and Ukrainian troops were killed. A Ukrainian official confirmed a strike, without disclosing casualty figures.

AP journalists on the scene of Russian shelling in Kyiv witnessed the flattened ruin of the shopping center, which was still smoldering Monday morning. The force of the explosion shattered every window in the high-rise next door and twisted its metal frames.

In the distance, the sound of artillery rang out as firefighters picked their way through the destruction in the densely populated Podil district.

AP video journalist Mstyslav Chernov has recounted his harrowing experience as the only international journalist, along with AP photographer Evgeniy Maloletka, in besieged Mariupol before fleeing this week.

'We were the last journalists in Mariupol. Now there are none,' he said in his account.

Experts say bogged-down Russian forces are launching long-range missiles at cities and military bases as Ukrainian forces carry out hit-and-run attacks and seek to sever Russian supply lines.

Denied an easy and early victory, Russia's military is reverting to the scorched earth tactics of its past offensives in Syria and Chechnya, and pounding population centers with airstrikes and artillery barrages that leave civilians like those in Mariupol unable to safely venture out for food or water, bury the dead or to flee.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Ukrainian resistance means Russian President Vladimir Putin's 'forces on the ground are essentially stalled.'

Bodies of civilians killed during the Russian bombardment of Mariupol are laid out in a park as they await burial by soldiers defending the city, on Sunday

City workers dig graves on public land so they can bury civilians and soldiers killed in the Russian bombardment on the city of Mariupol, in the south of Ukraine, on Sunday

Local residents take cover as they hear blasts during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol

Civilians trapped in Mariupol city under Russian attacks are evacuated by Russian-backed separatists, as officials say people are being forcibly deported into Russia

Mariupol has been surrounded by Russian forces for two weeks, which are now trying to push into the city. If it falls, it would be the biggest city captured by Russian troops so far, and would open up a 'land corridor' from rebel-held areas of Donbass to Crimea for reinforcements to pass along

A large Russian missile landed in someone's kitchen sink in Ukraine today (pictured), fortunately it did not cause too much damage

'It's had the effect of him moving his forces into a woodchipper,' Austin told CBS on Sunday.

Western military analysts say that even if Mariupol is taken, the troops battling for control there may be too depleted to help secure Russian breakthroughs on other fronts.

Britain's defense ministry said Monday that Ukrainian resistance had kept the bulk of Russian forces more than 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the city center, but that Kyiv 'remains Russia's primary military objective.'

Russian and Ukrainian officials have held a series of talks, but no substantive solution to the conflict has emerged from that dialogue.

Speaking to Israeli legislators via video link on Sunday, Zelenskyy thanked Israel for its efforts to broker talks with Russia. He praised Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett for trying to help 'find a negotiation track with Russia . so that we sooner or later start talking with Russia, possibly in Jerusalem.'

President Joe Biden meanwhile travels to Europe this week, where he will attend a summit with NATO leaders that will look for ways to strengthen the bloc's own deterrence and defense, immediately and in the long term, to deal with the now openly confrontational Putin.

On Monday ahead of his trip, Biden will discuss the war with European leaders. President Emmanuel Macron of France, Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy and Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom are expected to take part, the White House said Sunday.

Biden has added a stop to Poland during his trip, travelling to visit a crucial ally of Ukraine which has taken in more than 2 million Ukrainian refugees.

Biden will travel to Warsaw on Friday, for a bilateral meeting with Poland's President Andrzej Duda, where he plans to discuss how the U.S. - along with its allies and partners - are responding to 'the humanitarian and human rights crisis that Russia's unjustified and unprovoked war on Ukraine has created,' said press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement Sunday night.

Biden and NATO have said repeatedly that while they will provide weapons and other defensive support to non-NATO member Ukraine, they are determined to avoid any escalation on behalf of Kyiv that risks a broader war with Russia.

Video taken from the inside of a Ukrainian infantry fighting vehicle in Mariupol shows the crew opening fire on Russian armour as they attempt to roll into the city and capture it

A Russian tank is shot by a Ukrainian fighting vehicle inside the city of Mariupol, in footage released by Ukraine
A faceless Cybersecurity researcher is now helping Ukraine launch a counterattack against Conti, a ransomware group that sided with Russia and is continuously targeting Ukraine.

Cybersecurity Hacker Defends Ukraine

A cybersecurity researcher, a Ukrainian hacker, only known as 'Conti Leaks' on Twitter has exposed the latest leak of newer malware source code from the Conti ransomware operation.

Conti is a well-known group of threat actors that provides ransomware as a service (RaaS), allowing affiliates access to its infrastructure in order to launch attacks. Conti is a highly sophisticated ransomware gang that was formed in mid-2020.

Conti is believed to have connections with Russian intelligence apart from being based in Russia and having predominantly Russian group members.

Due to their involvement in the development of numerous malware families, they are considered to be one of the most active cybercrime organizations in the world.

Unfortunately, the Conti Ransomware group stated that they will side with Russia in this geopolitical aggression. With that, Conti Leaks, a Ukrainian cybersecurity researcher decided to retaliate and defend Ukraine through publicly leaking data and source code belonging to the Russian threat actors.

Conti Leaks uploaded a link on Twitter yesterday, March 20. Conti Leaks published a link to the source code for Conti version 3 on VirusTotal, as well as a link to the source code on Twitter.

In spite of the fact that the archive has been password-protected, the password should be easily deduced from subsequent tweets.

As reported by Bleeping Computer, the recent open-source code posted on Twitter contains much newer data dated to have been created on Jan. 25, 2021.

Conti Leaks released the source code in Visual Studio solution to permit other actors to access the file and access to compile the ransomware locker and decryptor.

Since the source code compiles without errors, other threat actors can easily modify it so that it can be used with their own public keys or that it can include new functionality.

As an example, BleepingComputer successfully compiled the source code and generated three executables, cryptor.exe, cryptor dll.dll, and decryptor.exe, without encountering any problems.

Conti Leaks is targeting Conti as a way to retaliate against their actions in supporting conflict in Eastern Europe. However, there are also imposed dangers in releasing publicly multiple ransomware source code.

This can be utilized by other actors in creating their own ransomware operations, this scenario has been very common and has been done in the past.

Read Also: YouTube Vanced Shutdown Theories: Will the Ad-Blocking App Return?

Conti Sides With Russia

Conti has been compromised heavily during these times ever since they revealed their support for Russia's actions. This is not the only attack Conti Leaks made against the Russian-based ransomware group.

As reported by TechCrunch, the ransomware group has been compromised with 400 files, each of which contains tens of thousands of internal chat logs from the Conti group, all written in the group's native Russian

The leaked data set has about 400 files containing tens of thousands of internal chat logs of the Conti group in their native Russian.

From January 2021 to January 2021, the data includes approximately a year's worth of messages, which corresponds to approximately six months after the group's formation in mid-2020.

Related Article: Anonymous Continues Hacking of Russia, Targets Streaming Services
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During Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the world has marvelled at the way in which president Volodymyr Zelensky's forces refused to capitulate to the superior military might of their enemy.

Much has been made of the poor tactics of Vladimir Putin's generals, along with Russia's demoralised troops and malfunctioning equipment.

But more than 80 years ago, the similarly small Finland took on the might of the Soviet Union when dictator Joseph Stalin ordered an invasion of the country after its government refused to agree to demands to give up substantial territory.

The Winter War of 1939-1940  which began less than three months after the start of the Second World War  saw Finland's forces use innovative tactics to defy Russia's hopes for a quick, emphatic victory that could have landed Stalin control of the whole country.

Instead, Soviet troops  who numbered around one million  were fiercely resisted for nearly three months, with dramatic photos showing how vehicles and equipment had to be abandoned in the face of the opposition and freezing conditions.

In that time, Russia suffered more than 300,000 casualties  including 126,900 deaths - and lost up to 3,500 tanks and around 500 aircraft.

By comparison, Finland lost 25,900 men out of an original force of around 300,000.

Stories of Finnish heroics include that of a Finnish farmer who became the deadliest sniper in history after killing 505 Soviet troops.

In the fighting, Finland also pioneered the use of the improvised grenade the Molotov cocktail, which was named after the Soviet Union's foreign minister.

Ultimately however, the sheer numerical superiority of the Soviet Union's forces took its toll and Finland's government was eventually forced to sign a peace agreement that forced them to give up around ten per cent of their territory.

Despite the defeat, Finland emerged with its sovereignty intact and its international reputation enhanced, whilst the Soviet Union was kicked out of the League of Nations and was condemned by other world leaders.

The Winter War of 1939-1940  which began less than three months after the start of the Second World War  saw Finland's forces use innovative tactics to defy Russia's hopes for a quick, emphatic victory that could have landed Stalin control of the whole country. Above: Russian soldiers captured by Finland

Instead, Soviet troops  who numbered around one million  were fiercely resisted for nearly three months, with dramatic photos showing how vehicles and equipment had to be abandoned in the face of the opposition and freezing conditions. Above: An abandoned Soviet tank

The Winter War began in November 1939 when Finland refused to agree to the Stalin's demand to give up territory so he could push Russia's border westwards.

At the time, Stalin feared an attack by Nazi Germany - which ultimately came in June 1941  and claimed the need to protect the capital Leningrad (now St Petersburg) from attack.

In September 1939, Adolf Hitler's forces had invaded and overcome neighbouring Poland after a little over a month of fighting.

In temperatures that were as low as -45F, Soviet troops attacked Finland on several fronts with troops, thousands of tanks, planes and artillery pieces.

Finland had access to only a few dozen tanks, around 100 aircraft and very low levels of munitions.

Led by Marshal Carl Gustaf Mannerheim, the Finnish troops repelled wave after wave of assaults.

Finnish sniper Simo Hayha emerged a hero after racking up the most sniper kills in the history of warfare

Soviet troops were shown up in their fight against Finland, but ultimately triumphed due to their numerical advantage. Above: A burning Soviet tank

A Russian soldier smiles whilst raising his hands in the air as a Finnish serviceman aims a pistol at him

The Winter War began in November 1939 when Finland refused to agree to the Stalin's demand to give up territory so he could push Russia's border westwards. Pictuered: Joseph Stalin

Elsewhere, Finnish ski troops turned the landscape to their advantage to attack isolated Russian units.

Finnish sniper Simo Hayha emerged a hero after racking up the most sniper kills in the history of warfare.

Aged 33 when the war broke out, Hayha quickly acquired a fearsome reputation, striking the enemy unseen and unheard from hidden positions up to 300 yards from his target.

Nicknamed The White Death, Hayha was a prime target for the Soviets, who targeted him with mortars and heavy artillery to halt his killing spree, which once claimed 25 men in one day.

Despite the perils of his situation, Hayha professed to never feel fear, and would obsessively clean his weapon to make sure it worked in -20C temperatures.

Other tricks included freezing the snow around his hideout, so it would not fly up in the air when firing with an M/28-30 rifle, and covering his mouth to stop the steam rising from his breath.

With his white hood and a long jacket Hayha was perfectly camouflaged inside the covered foxholes he dug into the icy landscape of eastern Finland, which the USSR invaded on November 30 1939

In temperatures that were as low as -45F, Soviet troops attacked Finland on several fronts with troops, thousands of tanks, planes and artillery pieces. Above: A Soviet bomber during the conflict

Finland had access to only a few dozen tanks, around 100 aircraft and very low levels of munitions. Soviet railway guns are seen battering the Mannerheim Line, Finland

Soviet soldiers are seen being taken into battle on a sled drawn by a tank during the Winter War. Exhausted Finland had been forced to fight without the assistance of Britain and France  who were already at war with Germany

Soviet ski troops are seen advancing into Finland during the Winter War of 1939-1940. The Russians ultimately triumphed due to their sheer numerical superiority

A Finnish soldier stands guard as Russian prisoners walk past during their daily exercise in the grounds of a prison camp in northern Finland

A downed military plane is seen in Finland during the Winter War of 1939-1940. The sheer numerical superiority of the Russian army finally held sway, after Soviet troops had used enormous artillery bombardments to overrun defences

Hayha's luck ran out after 98 days, when he was hit in the jaw and spent a week unconscious in hospital before waking up on the precise day his countrymen signed the Moscow Peace Treaty on March 13, 1940.

Exhausted Finland had been forced to fight without the assistance of Britain and France  who were already at war with Germany.

The sheer numerical superiority of the Russian army finally held sway, after Soviet troops had used enormous artillery bombardments to overrun defences.

The Moscow treaty ended the conflict on Soviet terms, with the Finns agreeing to hand over western Karelia and part of the Hanko Peninsula for a naval base.

Ultimately, this worked out at around 10 per cent of Finnish territory.

However, after the start of Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union, the Finnish government allowed German troops passage through the country.

They later even joined the fight against the Soviets in what became known as the 'War of Continuation'.

It is also believed that the poor performance of the Soviet Union during the attack on Finland prompted Hitler to launch his invasion of the country.
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A 'warped and twisted' Islamist terrorist accused of murdering Sir David Amess 'pulled out a knife' and 'said sorry' to the slain MP before stabbing him 21 times, a court has heard.

Ali Harbi Ali had allegedly thought he would die a martyr's death after the attack but was instead bundled to the floor and restrained by two unarmed PCs after allegedly stabbing Sir David to death at a constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex on 15 October last year.

Ali allegedly considered killing an MP for years and carried out six separate reconnaissance trips to Michael Gove's home, the Old Bailey heard today.

Ali had also conducted online 'research' on Dominic Raab, Keir Starmer and Tory MP Richard Fuller before the alleged attack.

He planned his attack on Communities Secretary Mr Gove in a series of chilling phone notes, the court heard. He considered posing as a journalist but said the 'best outcome' would be 'bumping into him' on a morning jog.

Plans for a night attack included 'luring' him out by ringing the doorbell or 'causing a scene outside', it is claimed. Another note read: 'Door is wooden and swings into house, could be kicked in.'

The 26-year-old appeared 'relaxed and chatty' when he arrived at Belfairs Methodist Church and began talking to Sir David, the MP for Southend West, about the Iraq War, the Old Bailey heard.

Ali's phone then made a notification sound and he said 'sorry' before pulling out a knife he had bought from Argos five years earlier and stabbing the father of five 21 times as he desperately tried to defend himself, it is claimed.

Two constituents who came on the scene found the killer waving the 21-inch blade while shouting 'I killed him, I killed him' before telling them he wanted all the 523 who voted for airstrikes in Syria 'to die', the court heard.

The jury heard Ali assumed that firearms officers would arrive on the scene and 'shoot him dead as a martyr', but was instead confronted only by two plain clothes officers from Essex Police who pinned him down.

Ali went to the constituency surgery of Tory MP Mike Freer a month before Sir David's death, the Old Bailey heard.

He also visited the Houses of Parliament, according to prosecutor Mark Little QC. 'Being blunt about it, he's not a tourist ... looking at Big Ben and taking some photographs,' he said.

As the alleged terrorist denied murder and preparing for terrorist acts, the court also heard:

Ali researched and planned potential attacks on MPs from at least May 2019 and being self-radicalised between 2014 and 2015;

A note entitled 'Plans' on his phone from 2019 appeared to examine possible options for attacking Mr Gove, including one which said: 'Bump into him jogging, best outcome';

He tricked his way into meeting Sir David by pretending to be one of his constituents;

Ali 'irritated' the MP by 'what Sir David could do for the town' when surgery was only about 'specific issues';

Sir David suffered 21 stab wounds to his face, arms, legs and torso, as well as defensive injuries;

Ali told two constituents who arrived on the scene, 'I'll go and finish him off if he's not dead';

'Killer' had a conversation with a woman on speakerphone, who was 'screaming': 'Why have you done it?';

Ali wanted to be ' shot, killed, a martyr for the terrorist cause' but was met with two unarmed local PCs after harrowing 999 call from a constituent;

Ali decided his target would be the '523 MPs who carried out a vote to carry out airstrikes in Syria';

Identified them on theyworkforus.com and had visited Mike Freer MP's constituency surgery in Finchley.;

Knife Ali took with him had a 12-inch blade which he bought from Argos five years earlier;

Mr Little said Ali was alleged to have had a conversation with a woman on speakerphone, who was 'screaming' at him: 'Why have you done it?'

Ali Harbi Ali, 26, appeared in the dock at courtroom two at the Old Bailey today wearing a collar-free black robe and black-rimmed glasses

Sir David Amess was stabbed to death at a constituency surgery at Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex on 15 October last year

'Killer's years of sinister research on MPs' and 'planning trip' to Parliament Ali carried out 'research' on MPs including Justice Secretary Dominic Raab, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Tory MP Richard Fuller as he scoped for a target, prosecutor Tom Little told the Old Bailey today. The prosecution claim the alleged killer also carried a series of reconnaissance visits to homes and offices belonging to prominent politicians, including - SIX VISITS TO MICHAEL GOVE'S HOUSE Mr Little said evidence suggested Ali made six separate trips 'scoping out' Mr Gove's house in West London in 2021. Evidence recovered from Ali's phone also suggested he had been on Mr Gove's road, the court heard. He planned his attack on Mr Gove, the Communities Secretary, in a series of chilling phone notes. One read how the 'best outcome' would be 'bumping into him while jogging' in the morning, or he could pose as a journalist. Plans for a night attack included 'luring' him out by ringing the doorbell or 'causing a scene outside'. Another note read: 'Door is wooden and swings into house, could be kicked in.' VISIT TO Tory MP'S CONSTITUENCY SURGERY A MONTH BEFORE SIR DAVID'S DEATH Ali carried out research on Finchley and Golders Green MP Mike Freer, including turning up at one of his constituent surgeries on September 17 2021, a month before Sir David was stabbed, it is claimed. Mr Little said: 'He (Ali) was seen that day by Rachel Shawcross, Mike Freer's election agent. 'She saw a person matching the defendant's description staring in to the surgery.' Mr Little said: 'Not only did the defendant go to locations, a home address and a surgery address, but he also conducted reconnaissance at the Houses of Parliament.' 'TERRORIST PLANNING' TRIP TO PARLIAMENT The prosecution said mobile phone data placed Ali in the proximity of the Houses of Parliament seven times between July and September 2021. He said: 'Being blunt about it, he's not a tourist ... looking at Big Ben and taking some photographs. 'This is terrorist planning.' Advertisement

Ali appeared in court today wearing a collar-free black robe and black-rimmed glasses.

He was accompanied by three security guards, with members of Sir David's family sitting in the well of the court.

Addressing the jury, prosecutor Tom Little QC said he had planned to attack an MP for at least two years.

'He did not make a spur of the moment decision - it was not the first time that he had planned an attack or a similar attack,' Mr Little said. 'Indeed, he bought the knife five years before for just such an attack.

'He had for a number of years been determined to carry out an act of domestic terrorism.

'To that end, from at least May 2019 he researched and planned potential attacks on Members of Parliament and the Houses of Parliament.

'This included specific reconnaissance trips to a constituency surgery of Mike Freer MP and to the home address of Michael Gove MP.

'That researching and planning is the other offence he faces, namely preparing for acts of terrorism. To that offence he also has, we say, no defence.'

The prosecutor said: 'The man that was brutally murdered by this defendant was Sir David Amess MP.

'He had been a member of Parliament for many years, at the very time that he was attacked by this defendant he was meeting constituents.

'The defendant tricked his way into meeting Sir David Amess by pretending to be one of his constituents when he was not.

'Having arranged the meeting by fraud, he travelled across London armed with the knife that he was to use to murder Sir David Amess.

'This was nothing less than an assassination for terrorist purposes. It is a crime to which, we say, he has no defence.'

Mr Little described the victim as 'simply doing his job, helping members of the public' when he was attacked.

He said: 'This is a case involving a cold and calculated murder, a murder carried out in a place of worship.

'A murder carried out because of a warped and twisted and violent ideology.

'It was a murder carried out by that young man (Ali) who for many years had been planning just such an attack and who was, and is, a committed, fanatical, radicalised Islamist terrorist.'

Mr Little, prosecuting, said Ali arrived at the constituency surgery meeting where he appeared 'relaxed and chatty'.

The court heard Ali kept using his telephone, but assured Sir David he was not recording their conversation.

Ali then told Sir David he moved to the area recently, and 'irritated' him by asking the long-term MP 'what Sir David could do for the town'.

Ali's phone then made a notification sound and he said 'sorry' before pulling out a knife and stabbing the father of five to death, the court heard

Ali carried out reconnaissance at Michael Gove's house, the Old Bailey heard

The unfolding horror: 'Terrorist' said 'sorry' before stabbing MP 21 times as constituent made harrowing 999 call to police Ali arrived at the constituency surgery meeting in October last year looking 'relaxed and chatty' after getting the train from London, prosecutor Mark Little said. The court heard Ali kept using his telephone, but assured Sir David he was not recording their conversation. Ali then told Sir David he moved to the area recently, and 'irritated' him by asking the long-term MP 'what Sir David could do for the town'. Mr Little said: 'The surgery was meant for people with particular issues, not general conversation. However, the defendant then said he wanted to talk about foreign affairs. 'He said that he knew Sir David had initially supported the Iraq war but had changed his mind. Sir David looked confused at this.' Mr Little said Ali's phone then made a notification sound, and the attack began. Mr Little said: 'The defendant said 'sorry' and then pulled out a knife and stabbed Sir David Amess. Sir David screamed. The defendant stabbed him again. 'Indeed, he stabbed him multiple times in a vicious and frenzied attack.' Two members of Sir David's staff, Rebecca Hayton and Julie Cushion, then called for help. The court heard Yvonne Eaves and Darren King, who arrived on the scene for their own meeting with Sir David, then saw Ali waving a bloodied knife and saying: 'I killed him.' Mr Little said: 'When Yvonne Eaves and Darren King offered to go and see Sir David, the defendant said this: 'No don't come nearer. I'll go and finish him off if he's not dead'.' Ali is then alleged to have said: 'I want him dead. 'I want every Parliament Minister (sic) who signed up for the bombing of Syria, who agreed to the Iraqi war, to die.' Ali stared straight ahead in court as a section of Ms Eaves' 999 call was played in court. Mr Little said Ali was alleged to have had a conversation with a woman on speakerphone, who was 'screaming' at him: 'Why have you done it?' Ali is alleged to have mentioned Syria in his reply. The court heard Ali assumed that firearms officers would arrive on the scene, but was instead confronted only by two plain clothes officers from Essex Police. Mr Little said: 'The defendant hoped that he would be shot, killed, a martyr for the terrorist cause. However, this was not outside the Houses of Parliament, Central London, but Leigh-on-Sea and the first police attenders were not firearms officers but Pc Scott James and Pc Ryan Curtis. 'They were on duty in plain clothes when they heard on their radio that a man had been stabbed numerous times.' Mr Little said the pair, armed only with a baton and incapacitant spray, 'bravely decided' to enter the building after hearing of Sir David's injuries. A section of bodyworn camera footage showed police officers Ryan Curtis and Scott James in a short, tense confrontation with the armed Ali within the church building. One of the officers could be heard yelling: 'Drop that knife.' Ali, seen in the middle of room, was then told: 'It's only going to go one way, please drop that knife.' The police officers then managed to pin Ali to the floor and arrested him. Ali showed no emotion in the dock as the brief clip was played. Advertisement

Mr Little said: 'The surgery was meant for people with particular issues, not general conversation.

'However, the defendant then said he wanted to talk about foreign affairs.

'He said that he knew Sir David had initially supported the Iraq war but had changed his mind. Sir David looked confused at this.'

Mr Little said Ali's phone then made a notification sound, and the attack began.

Mr Little said: 'The defendant said 'sorry' and then pulled out a knife and stabbed Sir David Amess.

'Sir David screamed. The defendant stabbed him again. Indeed, he stabbed him multiple times in a vicious and frenzied attack.'

Two members of Sir David's staff, Rebecca Hayton and Julie Cushion, then called for help.

The court heard Yvonne Eaves and Darren King, who arrived on the scene for their own meeting with Sir David, then saw Ali waving a bloodied knife and saying: 'I killed him.'

Mr Little said: 'When Yvonne Eaves and Darren King offered to go and see Sir David, the defendant said this: 'No don't come nearer. I'll go and finish him off if he's not dead'.'

Ali is then alleged to have said: 'I want him dead.

'I want every Parliament Minister (sic) who signed up for the bombing of Syria, who agreed to the Iraqi war, to die.'

Ali stared straight ahead in court as a section of Ms Eaves' 999 call was played in court.

Mr Little said Ali was alleged to have had a conversation with a woman on speakerphone, who was 'screaming' at him: 'What have you done it?'

Ali is alleged to have mentioned Syria in his reply.

Returning after the lunch break, Mr Little said Ali had carried out a 'revenge attack done, he was claiming, in the name of Allah'.

Mr Little said: 'This was the use of serious violence designed to intimidate the public and to influence the Government for the purposes of advancing both a religious and ideological cause - a murder, we say, therefore done for terrorist purposes.'

The court heard Ali assumed that firearms officers would arrive on the scene, but was instead confronted only by two plain clothes officers from Essex Police.

Mr Little said: 'The defendant hoped that he would be shot, killed, a martyr for the terrorist cause. However, this was not outside the Houses of Parliament, Central London, but Leigh-on-Sea and the first police attenders were not firearms officers but Pc Scott James and Pc Ryan Curtis.

'They were on duty in plain clothes when they heard on their radio that a man had been stabbed numerous times.'

Mr Little said the pair, armed only with a baton and incapacitant spray, 'bravely decided' to enter the building after hearing of Sir David's injuries.

A section of bodyworn camera footage showed police officers Ryan Curtis and Scott James in a short, tense confrontation with the armed Ali within the church building.

One of the officers could be heard yelling: 'Drop that knife.'

Ali, seen in the middle of the room, was then told: 'It's only going to go one way, please drop that knife.'

The police officers then managed to pin Ali to the floor and arrested him.

Ali showed no emotion in the dock as the brief clip was played.

The court heard a post-mortem examination showed Sir David suffered 21 stab wounds to his face, arms, legs and torso, as well as injuries to both hands that were consistent with defending himself.

Mr Little said Ali decided his target would be the '523 MPs who carried out a vote to carry out airstrikes in Syria'.

He identified them using the website theyworkforus.com, Mr Little said.

The court heard the knife Ali (pic today) took with him to Leigh-on-Sea had a 12-inch blade which he bought from Argos five years earlier, potentially for terrorist purposes

Mr Little said Ali initially visited Mike Freer MP's constituency surgery in Finchley.

The prosecutor said: 'That, of course, was a lot closer to home. He also identified from looking at 'journalistic pictures' the home address of Michael Gove MP.

'He decided against attacking Mr Gove as he learned Mr Gove had split up from his wife and the house had got sold.'

Ali turned up at Mr Freer's constituency surgeries on September 17 2021, a month before Sir David was stabbed, the court heard.

Mr Little said: 'He (Ali) was seen that day by Rachel Shawcross, Mike Freer's election agent.

'She saw a person matching the defendant's description staring in to the surgery.'

Mr Little said: 'Not only did the defendant go to locations, a home address and a surgery address, but he also conducted reconnaissance at the Houses of Parliament.'

He said Ali carried out further research in September 2021 on the likes of the current Justice Secretary Dominic Raab and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer QC.

Ali was a 'committed, fanatical' terrorist, the Old Bailey heard

He then accessed the Wikipedia page for Southend-on-Sea, the Wikipedia page for Sir David Amess, and then, on September 27 and 29, Sir David's own website, the court heard.

He used National Rail Enquiries and TheTrainline to search for a journey from Barking to Leigh-on-Sea on October 14, it was claimed.

Meanwhile, mobile phone data placed Ali in the proximity of the Houses of Parliament seven times between July and September 2021.

He said: 'Being blunt about it, he's not a tourist ... looking at Big Ben and taking some photographs.

'This is terrorist planning.'

The court heard Ali gave a number of interviews with police.

In one, Ali is alleged to have recalled the attack on Sir David.

Ali is alleged to have said: 'I just remember stabbing him a few times in the places where I stabbed him and I think the 'finisher' was probably on his neck ... at that point I knew that unless the ambulance gets here within the next second, he's gonna bleed out.'

He added: 'You don't send off a bunch of messages saying that you're committing a terror attack if you don't actually commit a terrorist attack.'

Mr Little said evidence suggested Ali made six separate trips 'scoping out' Mr Gove's house.

Evidence recovered from Ali's phone also suggested he had been on Mr Gove's road, the court heard.

A note entitled 'Plans' on his phone from 2019 also appeared to examine possible options for attacking Mr Gove, the court heard, including one which said: 'Bump into him jogging, best outcome'.

The court heard the knife Ali took with him to Leigh-on-Sea had a 12-inch blade which he bought from Argos five years earlier, potentially for terrorist purposes.

Mr Little said mental health did not form any part of Ali's defence.

'What the defendant did and what he intended were within his control,' he said. 'In short, he was responsible for his actions.'

Concluding the prosecution opening, Mr Little said: 'At the time of the killing and in interview, the defendant made clear, crystal clear, that the killing of Sir David was in revenge.

'In other words, that he had taken the law into his own hands despite living in a democratic society. That is, we say, no defence.'

Mr Little said the law 'does not tolerate vigilantes' or terrorists.

Mr Justice Sweeney swore in jurors this morning, telling them it was their job to assess the evidence 'coolly, calmly, carefully and dispassionately', and 'guard against any emotion intruding'.

He warned them against allowing themselves to be influenced by media reports or comment elsewhere on the internet.

Ali denies murder and one count of preparing acts of terrorism between May 1, 2019 and September 28, last year.

The trial was adjourned until tomorrow. It is due to last for up to three weeks.
A Met firearms officer accused of a catalogue of sex attacks against eight women appeared in court today charged with 12 additional offences.

PC David Carrick, 47, was first charged with raping a woman in a hotel room on September 5, 2020 after meeting her on a Tinder date.

The new charges against Carrick, who was part of the Met's Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command, cover two counts of rape, one of attempted rape, and two of assault by penetration, against three new complainants, between 2003 and 2015.

David Carrick, sketched during a previous court hearing, has been charged with a total of 41 offences against 11 women

The 41 offences against 11 women Carrick is charged with  Eighteen counts of rape;  Nine counts of sexual assault;  Five counts of assault by penetration;  Three counts of coercive and controlling behaviour;  Two counts of false imprisonment;  Two counts of attempted rape;  One count of attempted sexual assault by penetration;  One count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent. Advertisement

Three further counts of rape and four of sexual assault relate to one complainant already a part of the prosecution, with the new offences said to have taken place between 2018 and 2020.

Carrick, who now faces a total of 41 charges, appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court via videolink from HMP Belmarsh.

'There is already a 29-count indictment against Mr Carrick,' said Patrick Hill, defending, said.

'One of the complainants, the first, is a complainant who is already before the Crown Court. These are further charges.'

He earlier denied the 29 offences against eight women between 2009 and 2020: thirteen counts of rape; five counts of sexual assault; three counts of assault by penetration; three counts of coercive and controlling behaviour; two counts of false imprisonment; one count of attempted rape; one count of attempted sexual assault by penetration; one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent.

The additional 12 charges will merge with the existing indictment and Carrick, from Stevenage, Herts, was remanded in custody ahead of a further hearing at the Old Bailey tomorrow.

Carrick, (pictured left in the dock, right at work) from Stevenage, Hertfordshire, will appear at the Old Bailey tomorrow

Earlier Peter Burt, Senior District Crown Prosecutor for CPS Thames and Chiltern, said: 'We remind all concerned that criminal proceedings against the defendant are active and that he has a right to a fair trial.

'It is extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.'
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Prince Andrew smiled and laughed today as he went out riding on a warm spring morning at Windsor Great Park.

The Duke of York, who was accompanied by two grooms, has generally been staying away from the public eye after being forced by the Queen to give up all his royal duties in the wake of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

The 62-year-old has stepped down from public life and was also not present at Westminster Abbey last week for the Commonwealth Service which was attended by senior royals including Charles, Camilla, William and Kate.

It comes two weeks after Andrew was confirmed to have paid up to 12million to his US sex accuser Virginia Roberts, now known as Virginia Giuffre - bringing the civil case against him in New York almost to a close.

Prince Andrew (centre) goes out riding with two grooms on a warm spring morning at Windsor Great Park today

The Duke of York, pictured at Windsor Great Park this morning, has generally been staying away from the public eye

'Stipulation of Dismissal' documents were filed with a court on March 8, with lawyers on both sides calling for the legal action to be dismissed, indicating the settlement has been paid.

As the order was published, the Treasury confirmed no taxpayer funds were used for either the payment to Virginia Roberts or for the Duke of York's legal fees.

A freedom of information request asked whether any money from the Sovereign Grant to the Royal Family or any other government money was used. The Treasury insisted: 'No public money has been used to pay legal or settlement fees.' The joint order filed with the New York court said each party would pay their own costs and fees.

When Judge Lewis Kaplan signs the order, the civil case will formally come to an end. Andrew has faced repeated calls to confirm how he funded the settlement  and whether the Queen or even Prince Charles contributed.

Reports have suggested they both may have helped Andrew pay or loaned him the money until the sale goes through of a 17million Swiss ski chalet he owns with ex-wife, Sarah, Duchess of York.

The 62-year-old royal was pictured going for a ride in Windsor this morning after being forced to give up all his royal duties

Prince Andrew is accompanied by two grooms while going for a ride at Windsor Great Park in Berkshire this morning

Mrs Giuffre had sued Andrew for alleged sexual abuse. She claimed he had sex with her when she was 17 after he was trafficked by his friend, the late billionaire paedophile Epstein.

The duke will make a 'substantial donation' to a charity for sex abuse victims set up by Mrs Giuffre, now a 38-year-old mother-of-three. He said he now regrets his association with Epstein.

Andrew, who was forced to step down from royal duties and public life as a result of the scandal, previously claimed he had no recollection of meeting Mrs Giuffre and has always strongly denied her allegations.

But he agreed to the settlement last month. The prince has been staying away from the public eye but has also been spotted in recent weeks driving his Range Rover in Windsor while wearing white Apple airpods.
A paramedic has been cautioned after repeatedly attending musical theatre rehearsals whilst on duty.

Craig Young told bosses he would be unavailable for two hours during an evening shift as he would be attending an official health care meeting.

But instead the 35-year-old attended a 'musical theatre group rehearsal' of Anything Goes in uniform and lied about it, a disciplinary hearing was told.

He was fired last year and has now been given a five year caution order.

Craig Young, 35, who was a Trainee Advanced Paramedic at the Scottish Ambulance Service, attended a 'musical theatre group rehearsal' of in uniform and lied about it

The panel at a Health and Care Professions Tribunal (HCPTS) said his 'dishonesty' would shock and appal members of the profession and the public.

The caution order does not stop Mr Young from working in the next five years, but is taken into account if a further allegations are made against him.

HCPTS heard that Mr Young had previously asked his control centre to ask if he could attend rehearsals 'whilst on duty'  when he should have asked managers for direct permission.

The panel heard Mr Young was employed as a Trainee Advanced Paramedic by the Scottish Ambulance Service, and had served for around 13 years.

Between September 2018 and January 2020, Mr Young was said to have been rehearsing for his role in the production of Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse musical Anything Goes  due to be staged at Edinburgh's King's Theatre.

The panel heard he had previously phoned the Ambulance Control Centre (ACC) on several occasions to ask if he could attend the rehearsals whilst on duty.

The panel was told ACC workers had been 'happy' for him to 'stand by at the rehearsal hall' so long as he was 'still available to attend incidents' and his 'mobilisation was not delayed'.

Between September 2018 and January 2020, Mr Young was said to have been rehearsing for his role in the musical Anything Goes  due to be staged at Edinburgh's King's Theatre (above). File picture

However, the panel acknowledged this was not the 'appropriate route' of authorisation, and said he should have instead asked his line manager for permission.

Instead, senior managers had 'no knowledge' he was attending rehearsals whilst on duty, and were adamant that their permission 'would not' have been granted.

The panel noted some locations were acceptable for paramedics to be on standby  such as sitting in 'McDonald's' or 'the drivers' lounge at the bus station'.

But Mr Young's musical theatre rehearsals were deemed 'very different' to these more 'passive activities'.

The panel heard that on one evening in mid-January 2020, Mr Young had attended his rehearsals in his official ambulance service vehicle and uniform but told his control centre he would be attending a Lothian Unscheduled Care Service (LUSC) meeting instead.

He told the ACC he would be unavailable for two hours during the meeting other than for 'purple' calls  the most serious of emergency calls involving incidents such as cardiac arrest.

But the panel heard when another colleague requested permission to attend a LUSC meeting the following day, they discovered no such meeting had taken place the evening before.

An investigation was launched and, during an interview the following month, Mr Young said he had 'thought' there was a meeting and had 'panicked' upon realising there wasn't.

He said he had parked at a Scout Hall to 'get his head sorted'  but later admitted he had known the meeting was the following day and lied about going to rehearsals.

He was later fired by the SAS.

The tribunal branded his lying 'deplorable', 'unprofessional' and 'unacceptable', and ruled he had committed misconduct by 'prioritising his own interests' over his duty.

It said: 'The Panel considered that undertaking this leisure activity whilst on paid duty without making his managers aware of what he was doing would be considered deplorable by fellow practitioners.

'The Panel considered that [Mr Young]'s actions on 12 January 2020 in misleading individuals, about where he was and what he was doing whilst on duty, and being unavailable to respond to patients that may have needed his services was serious professional misconduct.

'The Panel had no doubt that giving dishonest accounts to his employer about his actions...was conduct that was both unprofessional and unacceptable.

'The Panel considered that members of the profession and the public would be shocked and appalled to learn of Mr Young's actions.'
President Joe Biden will hold a call with western allies on Monday ahead of his upcoming trip to Brussels and Poland as Ukraine refuses to surrender the port city of Mariupol to Russia.

Biden will speak with President Emmanuel Macron of France, Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy and Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom at 11 a.m. EST to discuss their coordinated responses to Russias invasion of Ukraine.

The five men will also be in Brussels on Thursday an emergency NATO Summit on Ukraine as well as a G7 meeting. He will also join a scheduled European Council Summit to discuss Ukraine 'including transatlantic efforts to impose economic costs on Russia, provide humanitarian support to those affected by the violence, and address other challenges related to the conflict,' the White House said.

Biden will then head to Poland on Friday for a meeting with President Andrzej Duda. Poland has taken in the most refugees from Ukraine as 3.2 million people fled the war-torn nation.

The conversation also comes as Moscow turned to deadlier methods in the Ukraine as the battle reaches a stalemate.

Footage has emerged of Russian forces firing thermobaric missiles at Mariupol, confirming the illegal use of devastating weapons against a civilian population.

President Joe Biden will hold a call with western allies including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson (center) and French President Emmanuel Macron (right)

It comes as Ukraine rejected Russian demands that troops in Mariupol, a port on the Black Sea, surrender in return for letting tens of thousands of civilians trapped in the heavily besieged city leave safely - saying promises of amnesty cannot be trusted and they are determined to fight 'to the last soldier'.

Russian Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev laid out Moscow's offer late Sunday, saying Ukrainian troops and 'foreign mercenaries' who laid down their arms and raised white flags would be allowed to leave via 'humanitarian corridors'. Civilians would then be evacuated afterwards. He gave Ukraine until 5am to respond.

Daria Morozova, of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, said that all of those who remained behind would face a military tribunal for 'all the crimes of the Ukrainian national battalions.' She said inspectors would be sent into the city once it had been 'completely cleansed' by Russian troops.

But Mariupol rejected the demands within minutes, with Pyotr Andryushenko - an adviser to the city's mayor - saying that Russian promises of amnesty could not be trusted and that troops defending the city were determined to fight down to the last man.

Meanwhile, clips, published by Russia Today and the Donetsk People's Republic (DNR), show a TOS-1a 'Heavy Flamethrower system' launching a salvo of rockets toward Mariupol, which has already endured more than a fortnight of heavy bombardment, resulting in hundreds of casualties.

Dozens of the thermobaric weapons were unleashed, trailing smoke as they soared through the air towards their helpless civilian targets, while the earth around the launcher was set ablaze.

Thermobaric bombs, also known as vacuum bombs or fuel-air bombs, are far more devastating than conventional explosives and work in two stages.

When a thermobaric charge is deployed, the first blast sprays a fuel vapour throughout the surrounding area, before a second blast ignites the vapour cloud in the air.

This results in a huge explosion, triggering a high-temperature fireball which sucks up the oxygen in the surrounding area and creates a massive blast wave.

The fireball can melt through defences and vaporize bodies caught close to the explosion, while the high-pressure blast wave can demolish buildings and rupture human organs.

The Ministry of Defence reported earlier this month that thermobaric weapons had been deployed in Ukraine, but this footage represents the first visual confirmation of their use against civilians in Mariupol.

This image, taken from a video clip released by the Donetsk People's Republic, shows a TOS1a launch system deploying a salvo of thermobaric rockets

Dozens of the thermobaric weapons were unleashed, trailing smoke as they soared through the air towards their helpless civilian targets, while the earth around the launcher was set ablaze

The TOS-1a launcher, adorned with the 'Z' logo which has become a symbol of Russian aggression in Ukraine, is seen in this video released by the Donetsk People's Republic

Thermobaric explosives release an aerosol consisting of very fine particles, such as metal, flammable dusts or chemical droplets. An ignition source then ignites the cloud of particles and their rapid combustion causes an explosion and a vacuum in the surrounding vicinity

Mariupol has been under a Russian heavy bombardment for more than a fortnight, resulting in widespread devastation and hundreds of casualties

Local residents take cover as they hear blasts during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol

Bodies of civilians killed during the Russian bombardment of Mariupol are laid out in a park as they await burial by soldiers defending the city, on Sunday

The science behind vacuum bombs Thermobaric weapons - also known as vacuum bombs - are high-powered explosive that use the atmosphere itself as part of the explosion. They are among the most powerful non-nuclear weapons ever developed. The bomb works by using oxygen from the surrounding air to generate a high-temperature explosion, making it far deadlier than a conventional weapon. A thermobaric bomb dropped by the US on Taliban in Afghanistan in 2017 weighed 21,600 pounds and left a crater more than 300 meters (1,000 feet) wide after it exploded six feet above the ground. Thermobaric weapons were developed by both the US and the Soviet Union in the 1960s. In September 2007, Russia detonated the largest thermobaric weapon ever made, which created an explosion equivalent to 39.9 tons. Advertisement

Mariupol has been under siege for two weeks with little access to food or water and no power.

Tens of thousands of civilians remain trapped in the besieged city on Ukraine's southern coast, but temporary ceasefire agreements to allow citizens to flee via humanitarian corridors have been repeatedly broken by Russian troops.

And Russia has been accused of deporting Ukrainians to 'filtration' centres before forcibly taking them to remote Siberian towns after confiscating their phones and documents.

'Several thousand' people have so-far been taken, Mariupol city council claimed, before being processed through 'filtration camps' and sent to 'remote cities' in Russia where they will be obliged to stay for years and work for free.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said before he chaired a meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers in Brussels that 'what's happening in Mariupol is a massive war crime. Destroying everything, bombarding and killing everybody in an indiscriminate manner. This is something awful'.

Russian news agencies have reported that buses carrying hundreds of refugees from the besieged southeastern port city Mariupol had arrived in Russia in recent days. Moscow officials also said a trainload of over 280 Ukrainians were being 'rescued' from Mariupol, showing footage of them thanking Russian forces.

Mariupol mayor Vadym Boichenko likened the alleged forced deportations to transportation of prisoners by the Nazi regime during World War II. Boichenko said: 'What the occupiers are doing today is familiar to the older generation, who saw the horrific events of World War II, when the Nazis forcibly captured people. It is hard to imagine that in the 21st century people can be forcibly taken to another country.'

This image shows earth around the launcher set ablaze as the TOS-1a fires dozens of rockets towards Mariupol

Members of the DNR militia are seen loading the rockets into the TOS-1a launcher

Mariupol has been under siege for two weeks with little access to food or water and no power. Tens of thousands of civilians remain trapped in the besieged city on Ukraine's southern coast, but temporary ceasefire agreements to allow citizens to flee via humanitarian corridors have been repeatedly broken by Russian troops

This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies on Saturday, March 19, 2022 shows the aftermath of the airstrike on the Mariupol Drama theater, Ukraine, and the area around it

Service members of pro-Russian troops are seen atop of tanks during Ukraine-Russia conflict on the outskirts of the besieged southern port city of Mariupol

One of the videos of the TOS-1a, released by members of the DNR, declares the rockets are being deployed in Mariupol to 'target Ukrainian nationalists'.

The narration and terrifying footage of the rockets sent to deal yet more damage to Mariupol were accompanied by brash, propagandistic music.

'The DNR's People's Militia with support of the Russian armed forces during a special operation in Ukraine are targeting positions of nationalists around Mariupol with the help of the TOS-1a,' the narrator announced proudly.

General Sir Richard Barrons, a former head of the UK's joint forces command, previously told MailOnline that the consequences of thermobaric weapons in Ukrainian urban centres would be devastating.

'Unleashing thermobaric weapons and the mass concentrated use of heavy artillery will cause the indiscriminate, unnecessary and unwarranted slaughter of tens of thousands of innocent people,' he said.

Vacuum bombs can have devastating effects even for those who are not caught close to the epicentre of the blast.

Those on the fringe are likely to suffer many internal, invisible injuries, including crushed organs and severe concussions.

According to the Journal of Military and Veterans' Health, thermobaric weapons affect organs where there is a tissue interface of varying densities, such as the lungs, bowel and inner ear.

'It predominantly affects the pulmonary, cardiovascular, auditory, gastrointestinal, and central nervous systems,' it says.

When the blast wave hits, the alveoli of the lungs can be ruptured and leak fluid, resulting in a condition known as 'blast lung' which can prove deadly.

The cardiovascular system may also be affected by an air embolus in the heart or coronary arteries, while the blast wave can also severely damage the inner ear, resulting in deafness, extreme pain and balance problems.
Scott Morrision has announced a $60million tourism package to bring back international visitors to the regions hardest hit by international border closures.

Australia welcomed back foreign travellers for the first time in two years last month after the federal government locked down the country on March 20, 2020.

The tourism sector was hit hard by the border closure, with many businesses forced to close as a result.

The cash injection, which will be focused on places such as North Queensland, will be welcomed by the sector.

The cash injection, which will be focused on places such as North Queensland, will be welcomed by the sector (Pictured: A woman at a beach in Queensland)

Scott Morrison said the government wants to ensure that Australia is at the top of everyone's list

'As the world reopens, and travellers get out and see the world again, we want to ensure that at the top of every must-see-list is Australia,' the Prime Minister said.

'I have been listening to tourism industry operators about what they will need to rebuild their international tourist businesses and this funding boost will deliver on these needs.'

He said the package is about getting people on planes and getting them here.

'The return of our international tourism market will support hundreds of thousands of tourism jobs, strengthen our economy, and back our world-class tourism operators and the many regions reliant on international visitors, like tropical North Queensland.'

Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Dan Tehan said the additional funding would complement the work already underway to strengthen our tourism recovery.

Scott Morrison said the package is about getting people on planes and getting them here.

Australia's international border was slammed shut to non-Australians in March 2020

'Since our international borders fully reopened, Tourism Australia has been promoting Australia to the work through a $40 million international marketing campaign,' Mr Tehan said

'This campaign is just the start of a long-term strategy to restart tourism to Australia, with further investment in tourism marketing campaigns internationally to come in the second half of the year.

'Our Government is working with the sector on a long-term strategy to grow the value of the visitor economy to $230 billion by 2030.'

Australia's international border was slammed shut to non-Australians in March 2020.

While domestic travel enjoyed brief boom periods in the last two years, intermittent lockdowns, state border restrictions and most recently the Omicron wave have weighed down on the industry.
Helicopter footage captured the terrifying moment a woman walking her dogs in LA was mugged by a murder suspect who was being chased by police.

The unnamed man was filmed yanking a blue purse from the frightened woman on Sunday, before trying to grab the door handle of a passing SUV in an attempted carjacking - only for the driver of that vehicle to speed off before they could come to any harm.

The drama began when police became involved in a high speed car chase through West Los Angeles involving a murder suspect in a deadly shooting.

Aerial footage from NBC Los Angeles captured the suspect lead officers on a high-speed pursuit chase, starting on the freeway before making its way into busy intersections where the suspect's black Mercedes Benz ran multiple red lights, nearly getting into several accidents.

Once the suspect reached a dead end he exited his vehicle and made a run for it, and he was seen running down a dark alley and hopping a fence.

The suspect's high speed car chase ends in a dead end where he flees on foot before he is apprehended

While fleeing the suspect runs into a woman walking two dogs and he immediately tackles her to the ground and snatches a blue purse and runs off

While fleeing, the is seein suspect runs into a woman walking two dogs on a sidewalk and he immediately tackles her to the ground and the two tussle before he snatches what appears to be a blue purse and runs off, leaving her on the ground.

As he crosses the street he comes across a silver SUV and appears to try and carjack the vehicle before it takes off and then he enters a nearby Starbucks where police pull up and the chase ends.

After evacuating the coffee shop the suspect is taken out in handcuffs and moments later the woman who was attacked by the suspect walks up to police to retrieve her stolen purse.

The fatal shooting and subsequent car chase comes as critics are blaming DA Gascon's 'soft' policies for LA's spike in violent crime.

As the suspect crosses the street he comes across a silver SUV and appears to try and carjack the vehicle before it takes off and then he enters a nearby Starbucks

After evacuating the coffee shop the suspect is taken out in handcuffs and the woman who was attacked is seen retrieving her stolen purse from police

Police were involved in a high speed car chase through West Los Angeles involving a murder suspect in a deadly shooting in Long Beach earlier that day

Los Angeles has seen a 54 percent increase in murders since 2019, with spikes in street shootings and armed holdups also taking place.

Gascon, a 67-year-old former assistant chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, took over as district attorney in the heavily Democrat city in December 2020 and immediately embarked on a progressive justice reform agenda - eliminating the use of sentencing enhancements for gang membership, certain uses of guns and for prior convictions.

Since taking office, Gascon has refused to meet with prosecutors to explain the logic behind his policies, the union said.

He is now said to be reversing course amid growing fury and a fear he'll face a recall like woke San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin, whose policies critics say prioritize the welfare of criminals over victims.

A recent poll showed that 68 per cent of San Francisco residents plan to recall Boudin in June, suggesting that his prosecutorial career is on borrowed time.

Union Vice President Eric Siddall likened the DA to a failed experiment.

'Over a year ago, Gascon began a massive social experiment by redirecting prosecutorial resources away from enforcing the law while simultaneously ignoring large portions of the penal code,' Siddall said.

'The result is an emboldened criminal element that knows the DA will not hold criminals accountable. This experiment needs to end.'

Meantime, an effort to recall him is underway - which recently saw a former LAPD chief who previously endorsed him rescind his support.

Amid growing frustration with the progressive prosecutor, more than 600 deputy district attorneys throughout LA County endorsed his recall almost two weeks ago during an Association of Deputy District Attorneys (ADDA) meeting.

The effort to oust Gascon from office started in December.

Last week, two senior prosecutors - Maria Ramirez and Victor Rodriguez - revealed they were suing their boss after they claim they were demoted for making complaints about his policies, according to Fox News.
Orders for armored safe rooms in luxury LA homes is skyrocketing due to rising crime rates and a number of high-profile celebrity robberies.

One company told The Hollywood Reporter that demand has increased more than 1,000 percent over the past three months for the pricy home additions, which can cost $1 million or more.

Though crime has risen in all areas, it's a spate of burglaries and robberies targeting wealthy neighborhoods that has residents concerned.

In February an intruder reportedly broke into Kat Von D's $15 million Hancock Park residence while she and her son were asleep.

Just a month earlier, actress Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli said their LA-area house was broken into - while in December TikTok personality Bryce Hall shared a clip of him confronting an intruder who entered his West Hollywood, California, residence.

That same month, Jacqueline Avant, the wife of famed music producer Clarence Avant, was shot and killed by an AR-15-toting convicted robber during an armed robbery of the couple's $7 million Beverly Hills home.

These incidents are in addition to a spate of home burglaries authorities are blaming on 'crime tourists' from South America - who come to the United States to target wealthy communities for burglaries and return home with their loot while out on bail.

More and more wealthy homeowners in Los Angeles have been adding panic rooms, also known as safe rooms, to their homes as demands for installations have been increasing by more than 1,000 percent over the past three months, according to Building Consensus / Panic Room Builders, a firm specializing in the building of safe rooms

The criminals specifically target communities with lax criminal justice laws, cops said, including bail and sentencing reforms championed by District Attorney George Gascon.

Properties selling for $4 million and up are the primary market for these safe rooms, which are often normal living spaces that can only be accessed through a hidden or reinforced door.

Panic rooms are just going to be one of those amenities that gets tacked on to every list of, OK, every new home moving forward above price point must have this,' one real estate agent told the Hollywood Reporter.

Real estate agents selling properties that have hidden doors leading to safe rooms are not allowed to reveal the existence of these secret spaces until the home has been sold and is under contract

However, real estate agents are never allowed to disclose the existence of these safe rooms until the property is sold and under contract. They are also prohibited from revealing the panic rooms' exact location to potential buyers and appraisers.

'You never know who's potentially casing a house. The last thing you want to do is show them, 'Here's the panic room, and here's how you access it,'' Jon Grauman of The Agency, a luxury real estate firm in Los Angeles, said.

Holcomb added on to his industry colleague, sharing that he has previously had to remain tight-lipped in these type of situations.

'We once had a property and an appraiser come and was measuring the home, and they could not figure out why there was this kind of dead space,' he said. 'And we weren't allowed to tell them what it was. They just had to assume it was dead space, when in fact behind a secret panel was a safe room.'

Founded 25 years ago, Panic Room Builders provides safe spaces 'where individuals, families or executives can protect themselves from violence while authorities answer a call for help,' according to its website. The firm's safe rooms can range from levels one through eight in terms of security. For example, a safe room classified at 'level three' might have walls or its access door made with Kevlar, while another model labelled as 'level eight' can be covered in thick steel.

It's not uncommon to build 2,000-to-3,000 pound hidden doors that lead to these spaces, with some event built with 10,000 pounds of steel, according to Cryer, who also said that installation estimates can considerably vary.

'You could kit out a small closet for about $100,000, $150,000. And then it's north of there,' he said, adding that most of Panic Room Builders' clients are millionaires, if not billionaires for the most part.

'We've done one in London that had two rooms, full suites and that was over a million dollars,' he added.

Most rooms comes with the industry's latest biometrics technology, including using fingerprint recognition and retina scan usually hidden behind a bookcase or a wall, that grant access to these safe spaces.

Hidden panic buttons that instantly contact local authorities when pushed upon are also provided, Cryer said, adding that the firm is constantly working with local law enforcement officials to improve the invulnerability of these spaces.

Hidden doors that weigh between 2,000-to-3,000 pounds are not uncommon in requested orders to build safe rooms as some homeowners want to maximize the space's security and limit its access. Pictured: An ultrahigh-security vault door that leads to a panic room

There is also an emphasis on comfort and several other immunities such as cable TV, air conditioning and bathrooms inside these safe rooms. Pictured: a design project for a luxury safety rooms

Clients also place importance on comfort.

'It's gone from a steel, cold room where it's a bunch of cameras,' Cryer said. 'Now it's more of a serene feeling. We say it's an everyday use room, which when needed can be turned into a safe haven. So, you wouldn't know what room in the house was the safe room. You wouldn't have a clue.'

Cable TV, bathrooms, toilets, air conditioning and other amenities can be added to these spaces, while others sometime use it as a storage space.

'Within the room itself, you could be in there for up to 24 hours,' Cryer added. 'I mean, it depends where you are in the world. And in most of L.A., you could be waiting a couple of hours before the police get to you.'

Some homeowners, however, don't want to rely on local authorities to save them so they have chose to fill their safe rooms with artilleries, making them look more like bunkers.

'There were packs of food that wouldn't go bad for two years. Television, microwave, small bathroom  I mean, it was like a little self-sufficient, almost studio apartment, if you will. Ready to take on the zombie apocalypse,' The Agency's Emil Hartoonian told the Hollywood Reporter.

Other buyers aren't interested with maximizing the perimeter of their homes with as much security as possible, rather preferring to find a way out.

'We've even done bunkers and tunnels. We've done a project out in Malibu. They wanted a secret tunnel out to the beach. So they could escape, like a secret bunker,' Cryer said.

The new home features comes as Los Angeles has seen a 16 percent increase in robberies since last year, a rise in the number of street shootings since 2020 and an increase in the number of armed holdups.

Los Angeles has observed a 16 percent increase in robberies since last year, a rise in the number of street shootings since 2020 and an increase in the number of armed holdups

A movie theater, converted from a safe room, in a six-bedroom home in Pacific Palisades, California, listed with Farah Levi of The Agency. The safe room was built by the home's old owner, who dealt legal arms for a living

Increased demand for these security-focused amenities also comes in the wake of dozens of California burglaries authorities say have been committed by gangs of South American 'crime tourists' - who have conducted similar raids across the country in recent months, including sprees in Indiana, Texas, New York, Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

Law enforcement experts say the foreign cells of professional burglars - mostly from Columbia and Chile - enter the country illegally or exploit a 2014 visa waiver program intended to spur tourism from dozens of trusted countries.

The Electronic System for Travel Authorization allows citizens from 40 nations to be prescreened to travel to the U.S. for tourism or business for up to 90 days without obtaining a visa, a process that lets travelers undergo less scrutiny to enter the country

Police in California, Texas, Indiana, Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, New York and New Jersey have all reported robberies they believe were conducted by the so-called 'crime tourists'

After entering the country, they reportedly carry out strings of break-ins and other crimes, bringing home up to hundreds of millions of dollars in stolen goods, the FBI estimates.

FBI Special Agent Daniel Gimenez said members of a criminal tourist gang in Texas made between $20,000 to $100,000 per jobs.

Earlier this year, the FBI busted one of the groups in Virginia who exploited the state's lax bail laws to steal more than $2 million in a string of burglaries targeting high-end homes of Asian and Middle Eastern families before skipping bail and fleeing back home.

The network of thieves were also connected to a series of burglaries at homes across the Carolinas, Georgia and Texas, as well as a $1.2 million jewelry heist in Orange County.
A Holocaust survivor who endured the horrors of no less than four Nazi concentration camps during the Second World War has been killed in a Russian rocket attack in Ukraine.

Boris Romantschenko, a 96-year-old who survived Buchenwald, Mittelbau-Dora, Bergen-Belsen and Peenemunde concentration camps, died on Friday when a Russian rocket slammed into his apartment block in the second city of Kharkiv.

The news was reported by the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation and confirmed by Romantschenko's son and granddaughter.

The foundation, which operates the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora camp memorials and supports education around the Holocaust and Nazi Germany, said: 'We are deeply saddened by the death of Romantschenko.

'We mourn the loss of a close friend. We wish his son and granddaughter, who brought us the sad news, a lot of strength in these difficult times,' the foundation's statement read.

Romantschenko was the long-time Vice-President of the Buchenwald-Dora International Committee in Ukraine, and regularly engaged in memorial and remembrance parades.

His death comes as the result of Russia's sustained bombing campaigns of residential centres across Ukraine as they continue their attempts to pound the nation into submission.

Boris Romantschenko, a 96-year-old who survived Buchenwald, Mittelbau-Dora, Bergen-Belsen and Peenemunde concentration camps, died when a Russian rocket slammed into his apartment block in the second city of Kharkiv

Kharkiv has sustained brutal Russian bombing campaigns, many of which have hit residential and administrative areas as well as military targets (A damaged building after shelling is seen in Kharkiv, Ukraine, 20 March 2022)

A view of a destroyed building of the Kharkiv District Council in Kharkiv, Ukraine, 20 March 2022

During a 2012 anniversary celebration of the liberation of Buchenwald, Romantschenko (second from right) returned to the concentration camp square and declared in Russian: 'Our ideal is to build a new world of peace and freedom' - part of the Buchenwald Oath taken by camp survivors

Boris Romantschenko was born on January 20, 1926 in Bondari near the city of Sumy in Northeastern Ukraine.

Although he was not Jewish, he was taken by German soldiers when he was 16 years old and deported to the German city of Dortmund in 1942 to work as a forced labourer, as part of Nazi intimidation tactics against the Ukrainian population at the time.

A failed escape attempt in 1943 saw him arrested and sent to Buchenwald concentration camp, but he also spent time in the subcamp of Mittelbau-Dora, as well as Bergen Belsen and Peenemunde - where prisoners were forced to build V2 rockets for the Nazi war effort.

Despite the horrendous conditions, Romantschenko managed to survive three years of captivity at the hands of the Nazis.

During a 2012 anniversary celebration of the liberation of Buchenwald, the Holocaust survivor returned to the concentration camp square and declared in Russian: 'Our ideal is to build a new world of peace and freedom' - part of an oath taken by camp survivors.

A picture posted on Twitter by the Buchenwald-Dora foundation showed an aged Romantschenko, dressed in the blue and white stripes of a concentration camp inmate, stood in front of the infamous phrase 'Jedem Das Seine' which adorns the gates at Buchenwald.

Translated as 'to each his own' or 'to each what he deserves', the phrase was used cynically by the Nazis in tandem with 'work sets you free' as they put millions of Jews to death.

The foundation said it has partnered with 30 other remembrance groups and associations to set up an 'aid network' to support former Nazi persecutees in Ukraine, including through donations of food and medicine.

It also plans to offer practical help to survivors fleeing Ukraine by picking them up from the Ukrainian border or finding them accommodation in Germany.

There are still some 42,000 survivors of Nazi crimes living in Ukraine, according to the aid network.

Director of the Buchenwald-Dora foundation Jens-Christian Wagner confirmed Romantschenko's death and said the elderly Holocaust survivor had not strayed far from his apartment for months for fear of being infected with Covid prior to the Russian invasion.

Russia's assault on Ukraine, now in its fourth week, has been stalled by the Ukrainian army and territorial defence forces who have inflicted major losses on the invaders. But Moscow's failure to seize a single major Ukrainian city has seen Putin's forces resort to using their air superiority and heavy artillery to conduct sustained bombing campaigns of residential areas (Kharkiv pictured)

Nearly a quarter of Ukraine's 44 million people have already been driven from their homes, including 3.4 million who have fled abroad, according to the United Nations, one of the fastest exoduses ever recorded (damage to a house in Kharkiv pictured yesterday, March 20)

Romantschenko miraculously survived three years of captivity at the hands of the Nazis and four different concentration camps (Liberated prisoners of Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar, 16 April, 1945)

In this file photo taken on January 27, 2020 a barbed wire fence encloses the memorial site of the former Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald near Weimar, eastern Germany

Wagner in February warned that Ukrainian Holocaust survivors in the east of the country were at risk as Russia began its invasion.

He said the war is 'particularly tragic for the Ukrainian concentration camp survivors who suffered with the Russian prisoners in the camps and who are now sitting in the air raid shelter and are threatened with their lives by Russian bombs.'

'This is what they call the ''operation of denazification'',' said the head of Ukraine's presidential office, Andriy Yermak, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin's widely disbelieved claim that ridding Ukraine of Nazis was one reason for Moscow's invasion.

'The whole world sees Russia's cruelty,' Yermak added.

Russia's assault on Ukraine, now in its fourth week, has been stalled by the Ukrainian army and territorial defence forces who have inflicted major losses on the invaders.

But Moscow's failure to seize a single major Ukrainian city has seen Putin's forces resort to using their air superiority and heavy artillery to conduct sustained bombing campaigns of residential areas, causing massive destruction and considerable civilian casualties.

Nearly a quarter of Ukraine's 44 million people have already been driven from their homes, including 3.4 million who have fled abroad, according to the United Nations, one of the fastest exoduses ever recorded.

A UN tally includes more than 900 confirmed civilian deaths but the true total is thought to be much higher.
Elon Musk and SpaceX have aided Ukraine in helping them stay online during territorial turmoil experienced in the country. Their Starlink Satellites are vital in the operations of Ukraine's elite drone unit.

SpaceX's Starlink Satellites in Ukraine

SpaceX's Starlink satellites have played a significant role in ensuring Ukrainian drone teams can perform their tasks even if the onground internet system has been destroyed.

It also helps in relaying messages while in defense operations in the middle of power outages. Starlink satellites have provided the needed instrument for communication in times like this in Ukraine.

In addition, it has been reported that the Russian weaponry has been destroyed by the Ukrainian drone unit. A drone pilot in the Aerorozvidka unit of Ukraine stated that "If we use a drone with thermal vision at night, the drone must connect through Starlink to the artillery guy and create target acquisition."

The Times of London reported that the Ukrainian drone unit deploys their drones equipped with thermal cameras to spy on Russian military vehicles such as tanks and command trucks at night.

According to Business Insider, Hundreds of "priority targets" including Russian tanks, command trucks, and other vehicles have been destroyed in nighttime raids by Aerorozvidka.

Furthermore, the drones have been modified so that they can drop anti-tank grenades on targets.

According to Yaroslav Honchar, the unit commander based in Kyiv, Russian forces seize all movement during the night and typically conceal their tanks between houses in villages where conventional artillery cannot reach them.

However, the elite drone unit, which is composed of dozens of squads of expert drone pilots, has set its sights on these stationary vehicles as a potential target. All of these strategies are also made possible by Elon Musk's Starlink satellites in the country.

Read Also: SpaceX CEO Elon Musk Believes Moon Landing in 2029: Does This Mean NASA Artemis?

SpaceX's Starlink: Mykhailo Fedorov Pleads to Elon Musk

SpaceX has supported Ukraine in the challenges they are experiencing. Ukraine's partnership with Starlink was strengthened when Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov tweeted Elon Musk and pleaded to help provide Ukraine with an internet connection.

Fedorov tweeted:

"While you try to colonize Mars -- Russia tries to occupy Ukraine! While your rockets successfully land from space -- Russian rockets attack Ukrainian civil people! We ask you to provide Ukraine with Starlink stations and to address sane Russians to stand."

After the tweet, Elon Musk responded positively and immediately addressed the problem by providing Ukraine with an internet connection.

Starlink terminals are coming to Ukraine! Thank you @elonmusk, thank you everyone, who supported Ukraine! pic.twitter.com/xHDYHunhsW  Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) February 26, 2022

Elon Musk has been responding to Ukraine's needs. Starlink user terminals have been delivered to the people of Ukraine. These terminals will assist the people of Ukraine in gaining access to the internet despite the fact that Russia has bombed their internet transmission facilities.

This comes after Russia declared its specialized military operations in Ukraine. The Russian military has devastated public infrastructures. The damages left Ukrainian unable to connect to the world since their internet towers were bombed by the Russian troops.

Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov has constantly expressed his gratitude to Elon Musk and his companies, Tesla, SpaceX, and Starlink for their consistent humanitarian efforts to Ukraine.

A new batch of Starlink stations! While Russia is blocking access to the Internet, Ukraine is becoming more open to the entire world. Ukraine is the truth. The truth always wins. Thank you, @elonmusk, the Government of Poland, and Orlen. pic.twitter.com/TP0kpn3rPS  Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) March 18, 2022

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also expressed his gratitude.

Talked to @elonmusk. Im grateful to him for supporting Ukraine with words and deeds. Next week we will receive another batch of Starlink systems for destroyed cities. Discussed possible space projects . But Ill talk about this after the war.    (@ZelenskyyUa) March 5, 2022

Elon Musk's SpaceX's Starlink satellites were first sent on March 1 and the second shipment was made on March 10. Musk also tweeted about his awareness of the danger of internet satellites.

As a result, SpaceX is now helping Ukraine avoid signal jamming, helps in cyber defense efforts, and addresses underlying threats of Starlink satellites. Recently, Musk sent another batch of Starlink satellites last March 16 and 19.

Related Article: Cybersecurity Hackers Defending Ukraine After Conti Ransomware Gang Sides With Russia
Around 100 migrants were brought into Dover today as the numbers rescued or intercepted by UK authorities after making the perilous Channel crossing topped more than 3,000 so far this year.

Three migrants were rescued by the RNLI from a rubber dinghy as groups of men and women were picked up by Border Force and taken to Dover Marina, Kent.

The three young men ditched the engine of a tiny mustard yellow dingy vessel to be helped from the 21-mile Dover Strait.

They were brought to safety by a lifeboat around 1pm with their deflated boat in tow and handed over to Kent Police once reaching the shore at Littlestone.

Another group of 20 young men, some wearing red blankets over their lifejackets waved as they walked up the gangway for processing, having arrived around 12pm after being rescued by Border Force.

Around 30 more migrants including women then arrived before a further 50 people were intercepted, all before around 1pm.

It comes as more than 3,231 migrants in 102 boats have now crossed the Channel by boat so far this year up until March 18.

During the same period to March 21 last year, the figure was 806 migrants, making it an increase of 300% this year.

The Home Office is yet to confirm how many migrants have been rescued crossing the Channel today and yesterday.

A discussion of amendments to the Nationality and Borders Bill, which will give Border Force more powers to stop and redirect vessels suspected of carrying irregular arrivals, is slated for tomorrow.

The Home Office is yet to confirm how many migrants have been rescued crossing the Channel today and yesterday. Pictured: A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, onboard a Border Force vessel

Three young men ditched the engine of a tiny mustard yellow dingy vessel to be helped from the 21-mile Dover Strait

30 more migrants came including women and then a further 50 people were intercepted, all before around 1pm

Despite fine weather, a change in wind direction and strength has made it difficult for crossings since Friday and there were no arrivals over the weekend.

Border Force detained 308 people on Friday, according to official government figures.

So far in March, 1,747 migrants have arrived in 55 boats.

A record-breaking 405 migrants crossed the Channel in 12 boats last Tuesday - more than any other day so far this year.

It comes as more than 3,231 migrants in 102 boats have now crossed the Channel by boat so far this year. Pictured: Today crossings into Dover, Kent

A total of 28,526 migrants crossed the Dover Strait last year, according to the Home Office - significantly higher than the 8,410 who arrived in 2020.

Minister for Justice and Tackling Illegal Migration, Tom Pursglove MP, said: 'The rise in dangerous Channel crossings is unacceptable.

'Not only are they an overt abuse of our immigration laws but they also impact on the UK taxpayer, risk lives and our ability to help refugees come to the UK via safe and legal routes. Rightly, the British public has had enough.

'Through our Nationality and Borders Bill, we're cracking down on people smugglers and fixing the broken system by making it a criminal offence to knowingly arrive in the UK illegally and introducing a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for those who facilitate illegal entry into our country.'

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, following a small boat incident in the Channel

Meanwhile, a Sudanese man aged in his 20s who is believed to have only reached the Calais region a few days earlier in hope of reaching the UK was hit by a vehicle while walking in the road in Northern France.

He died at the scene near the village of Nouvelle-Eglise at 6am on Thursday.

It is the fifth migrant death in the Calais region so far this year - with the man only arriving a few days previous according to Voix Du Nord.

A spokesman for charity Care4Calais tweeted: 'This shocking number brings home how dangerous and precarious refugees lives are in northern France.

'It's tragic for people who have suffered so much in their home countries and then on their journeys to die so needlessly.

'This death show again the need for a sensible system of processing asylum claims that would allow refugees safe passage to the UK.

'This would at one stroke reduce the terrible risks and dangers people have to face to try to reach safety.

'Instead, the UK Government still insists on pushing through its anti-refugee bill, which will only make things worse.

'We now know it is possible to have a visa system to bring people to the UK safely, so why on earth are some still dying as they try to cross the channel?'

It comes as more than 3,200 migrants have now crossed the Channel by boat so far this year. Pictured: Today's crossings of over 100

It comes as more than 3,200 migrants have now crossed the Channel by boat so far this year.

According to Home Office figures, the number to be rescued or intercepted by UK authorities to 3,231 in 102 boats in 2022.

So far in March, 1,747 migrants have arrived in 55 boats.

The large number of migrants on Friday included a group of around 40 men who landed on the beach at Dungeness in Kent.

French authorities stopped a further 248 in 15 incidents from making the crossing according to the Home Office.
The Biden administration has sent Patriot anti-missile interceptors to Saudi Arabia this year, it emerged on Monday, as part of an effort to warm troubled relations with a key Middle East ally that could help ease pressure on gas prices.

The decision has not been formally announced.

But a senior administration confirmed that significant numbers of missiles had been sent in recent weeks and told the Associated Press that the move was in line with President Joe Biden's promise that: 'America will have the backs of our friends in the region.'

Saudi Arabia had warned for months that it was running short of interceptors after a string of attacks by rockets and ballistic missiles launched by Yemen's Houthi rebels.

But the request for more Patriots came at an awkward time in relations between Washington and Riyadh. The Biden administration has attempted to reshape the alliance because of concerns about Saudi Arabia's human rights record and the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Biden called the country and 'pariah' during the 2020 election campaign and has refused to deal directly with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

And his administration removed the Houthis from a list of designated terrorists.

The Biden administration has dispatched more Patriot antimissile interceptors to Saudi Arabia in recent weeks as it tries to woo the country into producing more oil to meet global need

President Joe Biden (l) called Saudi Arabia a 'pariah' during the 2020 campaign and has refused to deal directly with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (r)

Firefighters battled a blaze at an oil facility in the southern border town of Jizan, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday after Yemen's Houthi rebels fired drone and missile strikes

In this photo provided by the Saudi Press Agency, a damaged car is parked at an Aramco terminal in the southern border town of Jizan, Saudi Arabia

Last September, the Associated Press reported that the U.S. moved its own Patriot defense system out of the Prince Sultan Air Base outside Riyadh.

The Associated Press reported in September that the U.S. had moved its own

But in the meantime, the calculus in Washington has changed as it looks for alternative sources of world oil to Russia after its invasion of Ukraine while Saudi officials say the Houthi attacks have accelerated.

The impact of their strikes was on display at the weekend.

Saudi firefighters battled a fire at an oil facility in the Saudi port city of Jeddah on Sunday. And the rebels also targeted power stations and oil facilities across the country's south and west earlier in the day.

Jake Sullivan, White House national security adviser, condemned the attacks.

'The Houthis launch these terrorist attacks with enabling by Iran, which supplies them with missile and UAV components, training, and expertise,' he said, referring to unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones.

At the same time, Saudi Arabia appears to be dragging its feet on the issue of global energy supplies.

With average national gas prices rising to more than $4 a gallon, the White House has been forced to turn to alternative sources of oil.

Oil prices hit 14-year highs earlier this month forcing gas prices across America way above $4 a gallon, forcing Washington to rethink its stance on Saudi Arabia

The UK has also made overtures to Saudi Arabia about increasing its output. Prime Minister Boris Johnson met Prince Mohammed at the royal palace in Riyadh last week

It has already dispatched officials to Venezuela - another major producer blacklisted for its record on human rights and democracy - and Saudi oil presents another possible source to replace oil lost through the embargo on Russia.

Last month Biden sent Brett McGurk, the National Security Council's Middle East coordinator, and the State Department's energy envoy, Amos Hochstein, to Riyadh to discuss a range of issues - principally the war in Yemen and global energy supplies.

But nothing has changed so far and the Saudis have yet to pump more oil.

At times the average price in the U.S. rose about $4.30. But oil prices have eased in recent days and the average price at the pump is now about $4.25.

The cost of doing business with the hardline regime was also on display last week.

Saudi Arabia put four people to death last Thursday, bringing to 100 the number of executions since the start of the year, according to an AFP tally based on official statements.

The latest executions reported by the official Saudi Press Agency come amid fresh condemnation of the kingdom's human rights record after 81 people were put to death in a single day last week.

Half of those put to death were from the country's Shia minority region which has seen anti-government demonstrations since the Arab Spring swept through the region in 2011.
The 'Uberisation' of GP services is putting patients at risk, former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has warned.

The Tory MP claimed the greater reliance on technology 'cannot be a good thing' for patient care or safety.

Speaking today at the launch of campaign Rebuild General Practice, Mr Hunt called for Britons to always be seen by the same family doctor.

People would be 'more relaxed' about phone, video or even text consultations if they have an ongoing relationship with their GP who 'knows them and their family', he said.

It comes as results from a survey of more than 1,000 GPs today revealed nine in 10 believe patients are not always safe at their surgeries, with staff shortages and not enough appointments being the main areas of concern.

Speaking today at the launch of campaign Rebuild General Practice, Jeremy Hunt (second from right, pictured alongside Dr Kieran Sharrock, an executive member of the British Medical Association's GP committee, journalist Hannah Vaughan Jones, Dr Rachel Ward and Dr Brian McGregor) said this 'cannot be a good thing' for patient care or safety and called for Britons to always be seen by the same family doctor

Pre-pandemic, around eight in 10 appointments were carried out in-person.

But the figure currently still stands at around 60 per cent, despite family doctors being told to get back to routine services.

Doctors say that some patients prefer virtual consultations because they are more convenient.

But phone and video consultation can lead to tell-tale symptoms being missed, campaigners say.

Mr Hunt, now chair of the Health and Social Care Committee, said: 'I'm afraid were moving towards the Uberisation of general practice, where you see a different GP every time you contact the NHS, just like you see a different Uber driver.'

'And that cannot be a good thing for the safety of care,' he added.

Mr Hunt added: 'If we had more people with their own GP, an ongoing relationship with their GP, then people are actually much more relaxed about a phone conversation or a video call or a text message exchange because they know that it's in the context for someone who knows them and their family.'

He also called for patients to see the same doctor for all their GP appointments, rather than whichever practice medic was available.

Department of Health is criticised for its silence over care home staff sacked for being unvaccinated can get their jobs back Sajid Javid 's Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) was today slammed for staying silent over whether thousands of carers who were sacked for not getting a Covid vaccine can get their jobs back. The House of Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee has said there are still 'a lot of loose ends that must be addressed'. Up to 40,000 workers were effectively fired when the highly controversial 'no jab, no job' policy was introduced in November. Health chiefs then U-turned on the legislation, which was also going to be placed on NHS workers from April 1. Hospital staff weren't affected by the mandate because it had yet to come into force, but care homes had already been forced to get rid of any unjabbed carers. Industry bosses warned it was too late because many wouldn't bother coming back to the hugely understaffed sector, which was already short of 100,000 carers before Covid struck. Advertisement

A study in Norway found those who consistently see the same doctor for 15 years are 30 per cent less likely to go to hospital and 25 per cent less at risk of dying than those who saw different doctors.

Pointing to the findings, Mr Hunt said: 'That is because it is fundamentally safer to make a diagnosis if you know a patient's context, you know their family, their social situation.

'You're more likely to see those red flags when you should.'

But Professor Martin Marshall, the chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, last week warned that continuity of care was 'not sustainable'.

He told the Health and Social Care Committee: 'The evidence in favour of continuity of care is really strong.'

Patients are more likely to be satisfied, have a good experience, agree and comply with advice they are given and have better health outcomes if they are seen by the same doctor, Professor Marshall said.

They are also less likely to use emergency departments and hospital services, he said.

But Professor Marshall added: 'We have to accept that the old model of one GP and one patient for 40 years is not sustainable.

'That is not what society is like, but there are ways of delivering trusting relationships in a new society, and that is what we need to work on.'

Mr Hunt was speaking at the launch of Rebuild General Practice, a campaign funded by the British Medical Association and the General Practice Defence Fund.

He said he joined the group because there is a 'crisis' in the sector, and accused the Government of 'sticking its head in the sand' on the GP shortage. Mr Hunt was the Health Secretary between 2012 and 2018.

His committee is conducting an inquiry into why cancer services in England lag behind other leading European nations.

Mr Hunt said: 'GPs are a very, very important part of the solution in terms of spotting cancers early.

'But if the time they have with patients is constrained and, in particular, if they're not seeing the same patients regularly, I personally think it's a big mistake to move away from continuity of care.'

It comes as a survey of 1,395 GPs by Rebuild General Practice found nine in 10 GPs believe patients are not always safe at their practices.

Doctors said staff shortages and insufficient time with their patients were the main factors affecting safety.

The questionnaire also revealed that eight in 10 doctors have felt stress, anxiety or depression in the last year.

Asked about the survey on Times Radio, current Health Secretary Sajid Javid said: 'We're investing more in NHS workforce than ever before in history, and just in the last year there's some 44,000 more people working for the NHS  that includes around 5,000 more doctors.

'And we have more doctors in training at medical school than any other time in history.'

Mr Javid said it takes time to train doctors, who do a 'phenomenal job' and are given support in 'many ways'.

He added: 'For example, over the winter, which can be particularly tough, we offered a 250million GP Access Fund  that was money that has gone into GP practices across the country.

'We work on other retention plans and ideas with GPs and their representatives, and it's important that we keep doing that.

'I remember when I was Chancellor, we changed some of the rules around pensions for NHS workers, including many GPs, and that was all about helping to retain more, so we'll keep that under review and continue to support our GPS in every way that we can.'
One of the nation's top diplomats is ruling out U.S. participation in a new peacekeeping force for Ukraine being proposed by Poland, as the administration continues to try to walk the line of arming Ukraine while avoiding potential escalation.

'The president has been very clear that we will not put American troops on the ground in Ukraine. We don't want to escalate this into a war with the United States,' U.S. ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas Greenfield said Sunday.

She restated the U.S. commitment to defending NATO allies, amid longtime fears of nations on Russia's eastern border.

'But we will support our NATO allies,' she said. 'We have troops, as you know, in NATO countries. And the president has made clear that if there is an attack on any of our NATO countries, under Article 5, that we will support those countries and defend those countries,' she said, referencing the NATO charter. The U.S. has been boosting troop deployments in the region.

She made the comments on CNN's 'State of the Union,' on a day when the White House announced President Joe Biden would travel to Warsaw after his trip to Brussels this week.

'We don't want to escalate this into a war with the United States,' said US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who has rejected US participation in a Polish proposal for a peacekeeping force in Ukraine

Her comment comes as the administration has repeatedly rejected other steps it views as escalatory, including a 'no-fly' zone, and a proposal to have Poland transfer MiG fighter jets to NATO for the transfer to Ukraine.

Poland put forward the idea amid a mass refugee migration and an increasing toll on civilians in Ukraine, as Russia repeatedly hits residential buildings, theaters, hospitals, and other civilian targets. The Kremlin denies it is deliberately targeting civilians even as its missiles and mortar fire has turned a series of residential buildings into rubble.

Thomas-Greenfield, who blasted Russian disinformation at the UN earlier this month, said she couldn't comment on how NATO might respond to the Polish proposal.

'What I can say is American troops will not be on the ground in Ukraine at this moment. The president has been clear on that. And other NATO countries may decide that they want to put troops inside of Ukraine. That will be a decision that they have to make,' she said.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki says Poland will present the idea at a NATO gathering this week

A general view of the damaged shopping center that was targeted by a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, 21 March 2022

It is reported that, 8 people were killed in the Russian attack on shopping mall. Poland says the peacekeeping force would be used to protect civilians

The peacekeeping mission would be able to defend itself. The U.S. is wary of commitments the administration fears could escalate the war

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Friday that his country would submit such a proposal at the next NATO summit. President Joe Biden is scheduled to attend the NATO meeting Thursday, as leader huddle for how to respond to the humanitarian crisis resulting from Russia's invasion, while also coordinating military aid to the Ukrainian forces.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of Ukraine's ruling party, announced the idea after participating in a visit to Kiev, along with leaders of the Czech Republic and Slovenia, sketching out a proposal for armed peacekeepers who would be able to defend themselves.

'I think that it is necessary to have a peace mission - NATO, possibly some wider international structure - but a mission that will be able to defend itself, which will operate on Ukrainian territory,' Kaczynski said.

'It will be a mission that will strive for peace, to give humanitarian aid, but at the same time it will also be protected by appropriate forces, armed forces,' he said.

Ukraine and Russia have sought to negotiate several 'humanitarian corridors,' but there have been numerous instances where Ukrainian authorities say people seeking to flee the carnage have been fired upon.
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A Tesla driver was filmed flying 50ft through the air one of L.A.'s steepest streets on Saturday in what is believed to have been a stunt for TikTok.

The LAPD is looking for the driver and wading through hundreds of tips identifying him as TikTok and YouTube influencer Dominykas Zeglaitis, who goes by the online name Durte Dom.

He took credit for the stunt in multiple TikTok videos, claiming he was high on THC gummies at the time. Others however say he was not there, and is trying to profit off of the viral video by selling the gummies he claimed made him high enough to carry out the stunt.

The LAPD offered a $1,000 reward for information but is no longer accepting tips after being inundated with information.

Detective Calvin Dehesa told DailyMail.com on Monday that it wasn't a 'priority' to find Durte Dom and that the driver of the vehicle would be released soon after being picked up because they are only being charged with a misdemeanor.

He added that police are trying to contact him but do not know exactly where he is. Residents of the street are furious about the lack of action.

It's unclear what model the car was but the cheapest Tesla is around $47,000.

The Tesla flying through the air past dozens of young car enthusiasts who had gathered for a 'Tesla meet up'

The rented Tesla is shown flying through the air at Baxter Street on Saturday night while a group of TikTokers watch on

The Tesla landed on its nose but miraculously, the driver was not hurt in the crash nor was anyone else

Another view shows the Tesla flying past a group of youngsters who had gathered to watch the stunt on Saurday

One man told FOX 11 that he was at home with his pregnant wife when the car went flying past, out of control. He said he was worried it was going to crash into his home.

Another neighbor is now raising money on GoFundMe to buy himself a new Subaru. He claims his was destroyed by the Tesla when it landed.

Another influencer who was there is Alex Choi. He filmed the stunt from the side, capturing the crowd of car enthusiasts watching.

Dom claimed credit for the stunt in multiple TikTok videos on Sunday and Monday.

The LAPD is looking for the driver and wading through hundreds of tips identifying him as TikTok and YouTube influencer Dominykas Zeglaitis, who goes by the online name Durte Dom.

Jordan Hook is now raising money on GoFundMe to buy himself a new Subaru. He claims his was destroyed by the Tesla when it landed

The LAPD says it is in the process of contacting him and Alex Choi, the other influencer present, to find out more about who was responsible.

In a tweet on Sunday, the LAPD said: 'We are asking the public to no longer send us any more tips regarding @dominykasor.

'We have reached out to him on his social media account. We are asking any witnesses to also come forward.'

Musician Jordan Hook, whose Subaru was damaged, says there was a cat in the Tesla when the stunt was performed.

'Last night, I woke up to the sound of a jolting crash outside my window a little after midnight.

'I came out to see a destroyed Tesla rammed into the back of my Subaru.

'My wheels were turned in towards the curb, and when the Tesla hit my car it jumped the curb, wrenching the wheels under and twisting them up so that it is now un-driveable...jumping a car (with a cat inside) on a neighborhood street in the middle of the night just for likes and followers is NOT COOL,' he said in the fundraiser.
Sneaky New Yorkers taking advantage of a city clear-air initiative are making up to $225,000-a-year by reporting idling trucks to the city, then claiming a cut of the $350 fine.

Leaving a truck engine idling for more than three minutes is an offense in NYC, with anyone who submits video proof to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) handed an $85 bonus by the department, for every proven violation they submit.

Environmental lawyer Ernest Welde, 47, says he submitted proof of thousands of violations last year, which are yet to be processed, but which he estimates will earn him between $200,000 and $225,000.

And busybody former Marine Paul Slapikas, 81, says he netted $64,000 in 2021 by doing the same thing. Truckers caught with idling engines have been known to lash out at anyone they suspect of filming them - so Slapikas, who lives in Queens, has devised a clever routine to throw them off the scent.

He stands in front of an idling truck acting like a lost tourist- equipped with a camera hanging from his neck and a city map and a flip phone. But he is secretly recording idling trucks with a concealed iPhone and once he's done he walks away satisfied, potentially just earning his cut of the fine.

Welde bragged: 'The money, it's awesome!' with Slapikas agreeing while joking that 'They say the streets are paved with gold.'

In 2018 NYC's Department of Environmental Protection launched Citizens Air Complaint Program allowing everyday New Yorkers to file 'citizen complaints' of idling vehicles.

In 2018 NYC's DEP launched Citizens Air Complaint Program allowing everyday New Yorkers to file 'citizen complaints' of idling vehicles

Once the company operating the trucks pays the summons, the person who files the complaint earns 25 percent of the $350 fine, which typically comes out to $85.

In 2021 the city coughed up more than $724,000 in bounties and a total of $1.1 million since 2019 while officials collected $2.4 million in fines last year, up 24 percent from when the program began in 2018, the New York Times reported.

Welde also highlighted the dangers involved. He said: 'I go out thinking I'm going to get assaulted.

'I've had my bags stolen by truck drivers. I've been physically assaulted. I've had to call the police a couple of times.'

As well as the risk of injury, there is also the frustration of bureaucracy, with Welde yet to receive much of the six-figure amount he thinks he is owed for documenting last year's violations.

The clean-air vigilantes say the system can also be idiosyncratic in approving violations.

Sometimes, a claim will be refused because a firm's logo isn't visible on the truck, even though its registration is.

And investigators will sometimes insist that footage sent over does not prove that a truck was idling, even if its engine can be heard rumbling while it is parked.

According to DEP deputy commissioner Angela Licata the delays may be due to it being a new system that is still evolving and because of the strict requirements in order for a complaint to be successfully prosecuted in court.

'We also can appreciate that these individuals are spending a lot of time and energy on this,' she said. 'We don't want them to become frustrated.'

The environmental attorney, who told the Times he does this because he is actually passionate about improving air quality, admits the profit is also a great incentive.

Participants must submit a 3-minute time and date stamped video that shows an audibly running engine and the name of the company on the door

The environmental program is meant to reduce emissions from gasoline and diesel motor vehicle engines, which are contributors to health related impacts, including asthma, respiratory and cardiovascular harm, DEP says.

In New York City it is illegal for a commercial vehicle to idle for longer than three minutes and illegal to idle more than one minute while adjacent to a school.

But while the program is meant to help the environment, only a small group of people participating in the program are taking advantage and they say they are motivated by the easy money to be made.

In order to get their cut, participants are expected to submit a 3-minute time and date stamped video that shows an audibly running engine and the name of the company on the door, DEP said.

According to DEP deputy commissioner Angela Licata (pictured) delays in payment may be due to it being a new system that is still evolving

By all measures the program has been a huge success- since its launch the city went from getting a handful of complaints to more than 12,000 last year, the New York Times reported.

In fact, there are only about 20 New Yorkers who are actively participating, submitting nearly 85 percent of the complaints to the city, according to a 2021 data analysis of the program.

Another activist, Eric Eisenberg. told the Times that last year an Amazon driver and two colleagues noticed him recording their idling truck and knocked him to the ground and held him down, with one of the men telling him 'Yeah, it's like that, papa,' according to a suit he filed in January.

But the gig is not as easy as it seems, with some citizens saying they get threatened and even assaulted by angry truck drivers.

But the money is well earned. After filing the complaint it is on the reporter to track them through the system and they are also responsible for requesting their rewards months later once the fine is paid because the city does not pay the reporters automatically, the Times reported.

The complicated nature of the gig is why there are only a handful of participants.

Welde says his friends are interested but they almost never follow through.

'Everyone I say this to is like, "That's awesome, I want to do it," and no one does it,' he said.

Slapikas said his once his friends hear about what it entails, they don't even consider it.

'They don't have the motivation to do it themselves  it's a full-time job,' he said.
A Colorado school district has infuriated parents after announcing plans to ax valedictorian prizes in what they have branded the latest 'equity'-obsessed focus on mediocrity over excellence.

'The practices of class rank and valedictorian status are outdated and inconsistent with what we know and believe of our students,' Cherry Creek School District staffers said in a statement to families last Monday declaring the change.

'We believe all students can learn at high levels, and learning is not a competition,' the letter, first reported by KDVR, asserted.

According to the letter, instead of the highest-ranking student delivering a farewell address at graduation - a stalwart tradition at US and Western schools and universities - schools will acknowledge academic achievements 'through various other ways.'

Some of the concepts the district said would be replacing the practice include an honor roll, cords given at graduation that mark academic achievement, and separate award ceremonies for department- and school-related student prowess.

'Taking this away is not going to fix the problem,' one district parent, Kristen Stone, told Denver station KDVR of the change.

'Its not going to fix the stress that we are seeing for other students - plus, its taking away from those who want to work towards it.'

'The practices of class rank and valedictorian status are outdated and inconsistent with what we know and believe of our students,' Cherry Creek School District staffers said in a statement to families last Monday declaring the change

District parents reacted with ire to the announcement, with many, such as district parent Kristen Stone (pictured here during an interview with KDVR) arguing the policy makes light of students' hard work, criticizing the move as an empty gesture in an overly 'woke' social climate

The guidance - put into effect immediately by the western Arapahoe County district, less than an hour west from Denver - will do away with the concept of class rankings at all public high schools in the region, officials said, in an effort to not exclude any students.

The letter contends that the district consulted a swathe of schools, colleges and universities in Colorado before ultimately deciding to nix the distinctions, effective immediately.

It revealed that during this period, district staffers reached out to the University of Denver for their input on the then prospective program, with university brass seemingly giving them their stamp of approval.

The district said in the letter the university said it is 'not concerned with schools eliminating class rank or valedictorian recognition,' citing how university officials do not factor such distinctions into their admissions process.

The bulletin goes on to assert that 'many college and university admission committees stopped considering class rank years ago, as very few high schools still report a class ranking.'

It then maintains that further assessments will be conducted on Cherry Creek students, to keep track of their academic progress.

Cherry Creek school district's 2021 valedictorian ceremony is pictured - but the awards will be phased out in 2026 as part of a push for 'equity' that has angered parents

Others were also quick to lambast the idea of removing the valedictorian designation.

'Now everyone gets a trophy and we are eliminating some of the highest honors because its not fair to those that dont earn it?' one Twitter user wrote.

The Denver Post, meanwhile, slammed the guidance in a widely distributed op-ed piece, sarcastically saying that 'Cherry Creek schools [now] redefine "valedictorian" as "mediocrity."'

The policy, which is far from the first of its kind - with a Boulder Valley school district doing away with the distinction 15 years ago and a Colorado Springs district nixing it in 2018 - comes in an age where participation trophies and other 'woke' practices have become increasingly prevalent in several spheres of society, including public schools.

According to the letter, instead of the highest-ranking student delivering a farewell address at graduation - a stalwart tradition at US and Western schools and universities - schools will acknowledge academic achievements 'through various other ways'

According to political pundit and New York Times bestselling author Vivek Ramaswamy, US public schools are going down the tubes because they have been infected with woke culture that has sacrificed the idea of excellence by indoctrinating students.

Diversity is a good thing when its about the diversity of thought, Ramaswamy told Fox News last year.

But today what's happening, especially in our schools, is we have taken this notion in the name of diversity - we have sacrificed true diversity itself.

Ramaswamy added: We have also sacrificed the idea of excellence and when we have gotten rid of excellence, I think our schools are going down the tubes.
Batya Ungar-Sargon is deputy opinion editor at Newsweek and author of 'Bad News: How Woke Media Is Undermining Democracy'

Last week was a big one for liberal elites admitting things most Americans already know are true, but were suppressed by the mainstream media and especially Big Tech.

The New York Times  the ideological gatekeeper of the increasingly out-of-touch progressive left  reported that a laptop abandoned in a Delaware repair shop was actually Hunter Biden's.

The Times also realized another thing most Americans already know that only a small portion of Americans think COVID still poses a 'great risk' to their health.

And the Times admitted that lockdowns, masking, vaccines and boosters have not caused 'large differences in case rates' of COVID-19.

It was refreshing to see these truths printed outright in a mainstream liberal publication.

After all, as recently as January, saying that masks were useless was enough to get you kicked off of YouTube. So was challenging the vaccine mandate or protesting lockdowns.

Of course, publishing a bombshell report about a presidential candidate's troubled son, who profited off overseas business deals could get your outlet suppressed on Twitter, Facebook and trashed in the media.

Conservatives have long decried this as a bias against them from socially liberal Silicon Valley, but it's actually much worse than that.

It's a bias in favor of those in powerin favor of elites. It's a bias against the middle and working classes.

Each of these examples reveals this bias in a different way. Let's start with COVID.

A largely white-collar, knowledge industry email class was easily able to start working from homehomes that saw historic bumps in value.

Conservatives have long decried this as a bias against them from socially liberal Silicon Valley. But it's actually much worse than that. It's a bias in favor of those in powerin favor of elites. (Left) Image recovered from Hunter Biden's laptop (Right) Cover of New York Post showcasing Hunter Biden laptop story, which was suppressed by Big Tech

But rather than recognize the economic privilege of getting to stay inside making banana bread and buying Peloton bikes, the pajama class dressed this privilege up as virtue, which correlated strongly with their lingering terror around getting COVID.

It was a terror that working-class AmericansAmazon delivery drivers and grocery store stockers and truckers and police officerscould not afford; they had to continue to work throughout the worst of the pandemic, delivering food and safety to members of the liberal elite ensconced in their homes denouncing anyone who opposed the draconian lockdown measures of blue states as a 'grandma killer.'

Lockdowns reduced millions of small business owners to poverty and swelled the stocks of big box megastores' stocks, as the elites brayed for more; their boredom shopping sprees gave Amazon record profits, while middle class business owners with their savings gone and their businesses dead committed suicide.

And throughout, liberal elites somehow convinced themselves that they were the good guys, the ones who cared about the collectiveas opposed to those evil individualists who refused to see their life savings go up in smoke without complaint.

The COVID divide was never about blue vs. red.

It was about elites vs. the middle and working classes.

And Big Tech took a side.

It's this class divide that was exposed in the latest release of a Morning Consult tracking poll cited in the Times last week.

When it came to views of COVID, the survey found that Americans who identify as liberal, slightly liberal, and moderate, were more similar in their views to Americans who identify as conservative, slightly conservative and very conservative than they were to those who identified as very liberal.

Nearly 50 percent of those identifying as 'very liberal' still believe COVID presents a 'great risk' to their healthcompared to just 22 percent of liberals, 18 percent of slightly liberals and 27 percent of moderates.

But here's the thing: 'Very liberal' is not a political ideology. It's a socio-economic category.

Again, this is about class.

Twitter and Facebook overtly suppressed information that might have swayed voters toward Donald Trump. (Above, left to right) President-elect Joe Biden, his wife Jill Biden, son Hunter Biden and members of the Biden family, stand on stage Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020

A recent Pew Research Center study found that just 6 percent of Americans are on the progressive left, and it's the whitest of all the sub-groups of the Democratic coalition; nearly seven in 10 Americans on the progressive left are white, while just 6 percent of black Democrats and 7 percent Hispanic Democrats identify as such.

Progressives are also much more likely to have a four-year college degree than other Americans, and they are the most cautious when it comes to COVID.

And it's these over-educated, overly cautious progressives whose side Big Tech has taken when it comes to COVIDat the expense of the middle and working class, at the expense of poor black and Hispanic children, and at the expense of the truth.

Something similar was afoot in the censoring of Hunter Biden's laptop.

The laptop contained compromising photos and information about then-candidate Joe Biden's son Hunter, including emails detailing how Hunter traded on his family name and his father's political leverage to do business overseas.

The New York Post reported on the contents of the laptop in October 2020, a month before the electionand for their troubles had their Twitter account suspended for the next six weeks.

Twitter and Facebook overtly suppressed information that might have swayed voters toward Donald Trump.

Of course, a major part of this was politics; Silicon Valley's billionaire class gave exorbitantly to Joe Biden to oust Donald Trump, and its giving was not limited to cash donations.

But this, too, was also about class.

Because from the start of the pandemic, Trump had taken the side of keeping the economy running, dueling with liberal governors intent on prolonged lockdowns.

And for many Americans worried about the economythose whose jobs didn't afford them the opportunity to work from home and see the values of their houses skyrocketthat was a decisive factor in their vote.

It was especially decisive for Hispanic voters.

'The economy and its intersection with COVID became voters' top priority,' Equis Research found in an analysis of Hispanic voters in 2020.

This intersection pushed many Hispanic voters to vote for Trump, who they gave high marks for the economic stimulus package, the rapid development of vaccines, his push to reopen the economy and his emphasis on living without fear of COVID.

When you consider that Hispanics are the second-largest group of workers in the labor force and over-represented in jobs like construction, agriculture and hospitalityjobs you can't do from your Upper East Side apartmentthis makes a lot of sense.

Meanwhile, the Democrats' voter base is increasingly made up of the wealthy; Democrats represented 65 percent of taxpayers with a household income of $500,000 or more in 2020, according to IRS data, while 74 percent of taxpayers with incomes of less than $100,000 now vote Republican.

Trump's motives need not have been noble for it to be a fact that he was viewed by many working-class Americans of all races as a tribune who represented their interests when it came to COVID.

And it was their interests that were erased by Big Tech.

Then to cap it all off last week, in the spirit of liberals admitting things everyone else already knows, The New York Times editorial argued that America has a free speech problem.

Trump's motives need not have been noble for it to be a fact that he was viewed by many working-class Americans of all races as a tribune who represented their interests when it came to COVID. (Above) Trump, speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Feb. 26, 2022, in Orlando, Fla

'For all the tolerance and enlightenment that modern society claims, Americans are losing hold of a fundamental right as citizens of a free country: the right to speak their minds and voice their opinions in public without fear of being shamed or shunned,' wrote the Times editorial board, citing new data which found that 84 percent of Americans are afraid to voice their opinions for fear of retaliation.

In response, journalists at even more elite publications denied the findings and called for the editorial board to resign. (Is anyone surprised that other studies have found the only group in America that doesn't feel silenced are people farthest to the left?)

Many denied that cancel culture exists, or that anyone faces repercussions for their opinions, despite the ironic fact that the Times itself fired two journalists for falling afoul of just the sort Twitter mob that drives people with unpopular opinions to lose their jobs.

And finally, the inevitable: Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez summarized the op-ed as 'protecting bigots from feeling embarrassed in public.'

It's the calling card of over-educated elites the world over, of whom AOC is the patron saint: Anything that infringes on the economic agenda of rich liberals is bigotry.

But a shift is afoot.

There's one thing you can tell for sure from a New York Times editorial admitting to the existence of a trend it has fulsomely participated in: The ruling class has had its fill of seeing the Democrats plunging in polls ahead of a midterm electionas a result of exactly the kind of class battles dressed up as moral ones outlined above.

Hey Big Tech  now it's your turn.
A member of the Sarah Lawrence 'sex cult' told jurors of the panic and fear on a roommate's face when he was allegedly coerced into forcing a large dildo into his mouth by defendant Lawrence Ray.

Claudia Drury, 31, began her testimony Friday, telling jurors at Manhattan Federal Court how Ray's campaign of charisma resulted in her being hospitalized in a psychiatric facility and ultimately led her into a life of prostitution.

On Monday, the court was shown emails in which Drury praised Ray's selflessness and the supposed psychological 'help' he was providing to her and college friends including Santos Rosario, Dan Levin, Felicia Rosario and Ray's co-accused and alleged 'lieutenant' Isabella Pollok.

At the time, she referred to Ray, 62, as, 'the hero of the story.'

Ray was introduced to the group by his daughter Talia who was also a student at the elite liberal arts college in Bronxville, just north of Manhattan.

Taking the stand for a second day on Monday, Drury continued her account of the alleged gas-lighting, physical and sexual abuse that she claims she suffered at Ray's hands.

On one occasion, she recalled, Ray showed her a photograph of friend and fellow student Levin.

Claudia Drury (center in white sneakers) was seen arriving at Manhattan Federal Court ahead of her second day of testimony on Monday

The 31-year-old witness for the prosecution has claimed she was forced into prostitution by alleged sex cult leader Larry Ray, 62

In her testimony Monday, the alleged cult victim recalled how Ray, 62, allegedly coerced her roommate Dan Levin into forcing a large sex toy into his mouth

She explained: '[Ray] told me that he was having a confrontation or conversation with Dan about Dan's sexuality and that in the course of this Isabella was folding laundry and Dan kept eyeing a dress.

'Larry asked Dan, "Do you want to wear the dress?" He told me Dan really did and so he made Dan put on the dress and go down to get mail wearing the dress.'

On his return to the Upper East Side apartment in which the students and Ray were, for the most part, living, Drury said the confrontation 'escalated.'

'From there it escalated to Larry telling Isabella to go get her bag of sex toys and dildos and to get the biggest one, and he [Ray] showed me a picture of Dan trying to fit it in his mouth,' she added.

'This was all framed as something Dan wanted  that was helpful and clarifying for Dan.'

But according to Drury, Levin's face was 'contorted' in the photograph in which he was looking directly at the camera.

She said: 'He looks panicked and questioning and scared. It's not a look I've actually ever seen on anyone's face again.'

During another incident recalled by Drury in court, Ray made a 'noose' out of tinfoil and had Levin place it round his testicles while he interrogated him  tightening the noose whenever he deemed the younger man to be 'playing with the truth.'

Drury told the court how Ray (right) allegedly forced her into a life of prostitution, abused her, and threatened to kill her after ingratiating himself with her and her friends at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York

The jury heard on Monday how Ray allegedly abused 'cult' victim Dan Levin (pictured) whenever he deemed the younger man to be 'playing with the truth'

PICTURED: Alleged cult victims Santos Rosario, (far left) Dan Levin (middle) and Claudia Drury, in evidence photos submitted to the court

Drury went on to tell the court how the campaign of control escalated during the summer of 2013, when she and several others travelled to Pinehurst, North Carolina, to help with yardwork at Ray's stepfather's property.

She described increasingly physical and disturbing confrontations between Ray and others.

Felicia Rosario  the sister of Talia Ray's one-time boyfriend Santos  was of particular concern.

Rosario, who was a qualified psychiatrist with schooling from Harvard and Columbia was, Drury recalled, 'Different than I had ever seen her.'

She elaborated: 'She started talking very childishly and acting very childishly. She was completely normal before this point.'

Drury said that she saw Ray hit Rosario and keep her from entering the house by pushing her back with a broom as she begged to be let in.

She also said he cut the Harvard and Columbia sweatshirts that Rosario liked to wear, and that she walked around the house wearing them like that.

Drury alleged Ray convinced Rosario that she needed to hand herself into the law and confess a host of acts of sabotage and damage to property.

At this point, she said, Ray was controlling what students ate  forbidding carbohydrates  and forcing them to work sometimes until three or four in the morning to re-do mistakes that he found in their work.

Ray ultimately ingratiated himself with his daughter Talia's friends at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, Santos Rosario (pictured left with Talia) Daniel Levin, Felicia Rosario (right) and Isabella Pollok

Isabella Pollok is accused of being Ray's 'lieutenant' and conspirator

Sarah Lawrence College is an elite liberal arts college in Bronxville, just north of New York City

'Someone went out and got hamburgers and fries and milkshakes. [Ray] said, "This is your last meal, Felicia. You can have carbs; you can have whatever you want,"' she told the court.

The following day he drove her to hand herself in but later returned claiming that she had had a 'breakthrough' on the journey and no longer needed to go to jail.

Ray is accused of 17 counts including sex-trafficking, extortion, money laundering, violent crime in aid of racketeering, racketeering conspiracy

Yet despite this alleged abuse and a relationship that drove a wedge between Drury and her parents  and between Drury and reality  she told the court: 'I was very dependent on Larry. The relationship meant pretty much the world to me at that point.'

Court recessed shortly after morning break for an undisclosed reason and will reconvene at 9am Tuesday.

Earlier, ahead of today's testimony, a juror was excused from duty due to a family medical emergency.

Taking the stand for the first time Friday, Drury told how, over the course of weeks and months, she was won over by the man she described as initially, 'magnetic and charismatic,' and prone to philosophizing with his daughter and her student friends for hours on end  gaining their trust and soliciting their confidences.

He was someone, she said, who seemed to be helping her friends deal with a host of issues. She wanted help too.

She said: 'Very early on I remember the first time we actually talked when I went with him to dinner in Bronxville,' the town where Sarah Lawrence is located.

'The first thing I highlighted was that growing up I would tell stories, embellishing things and I expected to grow out of it, but I hadn't, and it was getting obvious.'

She told prosecutor Danielle Sassoon: 'Larry really listened.'

He also talked  six, seven hours at a time  ultimately ingratiating himself with and holding court over Drury and friends, Santos Rosario, Daniel Levin, Felicia Rosario, Pollok and his own daughter Talia.

She told the court how he preached a philosophy he claimed to have written, 'Q4P' (Quest for Potential) and spoke of the importance of honesty.

The court heard how Ray's alleged campaign of control escalated during the summer of 2013, when Drury and several others travelled to Pinehurst, North Carolina, to help with yardwork at Ray's stepfather's property (pictured)

Evidence photos show the home where 'cult' members were forced into grueling physical labor

Talia Ray is seen with Larry Ray's stepfather Gordon at his Pinehurst property

Little by little he began to introduce sex into the conversations  never with the larger group, she said, but with her.

Drury admitted that she had always been very uncomfortable and lacked confidence about her body and couldn't believe that anybody would find her attractive.

She credited this insecurity along with Ray's coercion with her decision to have sexual encounters with 'Sam', a married man from whom Ray bought power tools.

Any resistance on her part was attributed to psychological problems and while he encouraged her to be sexually open, Ray battered her psychologically  and sometimes physically  convincing her of a slew of wrongdoings that started with damage to his property and would ultimately escalate to the allegations that she had poisoned him and five others.

The pattern, she said, was that she would 'try to be good' but fail and be confronted by Ray or Pollok who would lay out her 'wrongs' and demand confession and reparation. Pollok is due to stand trial separately later this year.

PICTURED: Larry Ray outside his stepfather's home in Pinehurst, North Carolina

At one point the cycle became so extreme that Drury claims she lost all sense of reality or her grasp on it, believing Ray when he told her she wanted to kill her parents or that she had thoughts about Pollok committing suicide.

Earlier in the trial, prosecutors said Ray held sway over the college student, forcing some of them into prostitution and making others wear diapers as punishment.

Assistant US Attorney Lindsey Keenan began her opening statement last week with a description of a gruesome October 2018 alleged attack.

Keenan said Ray and his 'trusted lieutenant' found the victim they had 'forced into a life of prostitution' at a hotel, where Ray tortured her for hours to make sure she'd continue her sex work.

The prosecutor said Ray used 'violence, fear, sex and manipulation' to gain sex, power and money.

Ray's lawyer told the jury that Ray committed no federal crimes as he encircled himself with college-age 'storytellers' who claimed to have poisoned him and arranged to have him physically attacked.

'You'll see that Larry Ray is not guilty,' attorney Allegra Glashausser said.

Claudia Drury, 31, first took the stand in Manhattan Federal Court Friday, describing how she was destabilized and groomed by alleged cult leader, Larry Ray

Demurely dressed in black pants and cardigan, Drury (pictured in a court sketch from last Friday's proceedings) glanced at Ray (lower right) only once, to point at him where he sat and name him her alleged abuser

Ray, who once served as the best man at a wedding of disgraced former New York City police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, has been incarcerated since his 2020 arrest.

He is a well-known New York scammer with a murky past. In addition to spending times behind bars for his role in a securities fraud scam, he has worked on Wall Street, owned nightclubs, been an FBI informant and inserted himself in into powerful networks by brokering meetings.

He had previously been sentenced to five years probation for his role in a securities fraud scam.

The allegations involving the latest case were laid out in a lengthy article by New York magazine's The Cut in 2019, that included accounts from some of the purported cult members.
Republicans on Monday signaled that President Joe Biden's Supreme Court nominee Kentanji Brown Jackson can expect tough days of questioning when they opened her confirmation hearing with reminders of the bitter attacks on Justice Brett Kavanaugh and by linking her to dark money groups.

Biden last month nominated Jackson, 51, for a lifetime job on America's top judicial body to succeed retiring liberal Justice Stephen Breyer, setting up a confirmation battle in the closely divided Senate.

If confirmed, she would be the first black woman to sit on the nation's highest court.

But while Democrats hailed the historic nature of her nomination, Republicans signaled that they plan to pore over her record as a judge and public defender in an effort to portray her as soft on crime.

Sen. Lindsey Graham pointed out that Democrats had previously used the Senate filibuster to block confirmation of Janice Rogers Brown, a black conservative, who was nominated by then President George W. Bush.

'As to the historic nature of your appointment, I understand,' he said.

'But when I get lectured about this from my Democratic colleagues, I remember Janice Rogers Brown, an African-American woman, that was filibustered by the same people praising you.'

And he said the Democrats had blocked Miguel Estrada, when he was Bush's 2001 nominee to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

'So if you're a Hispanic or African-American conservative, its about your philosophy,' he said. 'Now its going to be about the historic nature of the pick.'

Jackson entered the busy hearing room to be greeted by committee members and well-wishers as she took her place alone at the witness table.

Meanwhile, supporters gathered outside the Supreme Court.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday began its consideration of President Joe Biden's nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson to be the first black woman on the U.S. Supreme Court

Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Dick Durbin (l) shakes hands with Jackson while Republican Chuck Grassley looks on before Monday's hearing began

Democratic Senator Dick Durbin criticizes 'baseless' and 'unfair' allegations Brown-Jackson is 'soft on crime'

In his opening statement, Senator Dick Durbin, the Democratic committee chairman, launched a pre-emptive strike on some of the attacks that have been trailed for weeks in conservative media.

He described her history within the criminal justice system and noted that she came from a law enforcement family.

'Yet despite that shared family experience despite your record, we've heard claims that you're quote soft on crime,' said Durbin.

'These baseless charges are unfair.'

For her part, Jackson said she was humbled to be nominated and described how her parents grew up during the era of racial segregation in the South.

'My parents taught me that, unlike the many barriers that they had had to face growing up, my path was clearer, such that if I worked hard and believed in myself, in America I could do anything or be anything I wanted to be,' she said.

She promised to 'support and defend' the Constitution if confirmed.

'I have been a judge for nearly a decade now, and I take that responsibility and my duty to be independent very seriously,' she said.

'I decide cases from a neutral posture. I evaluate the facts, and I interpret and apply the law to the facts of the case before me, without fear or favor, consistent with my judicial oath.'

Her opening statement came at the end of a day that heard Republican after Republican lay out their reservations and preview their questions for days two and two of the hearing.

Republican Senator Chuck Grassley presses her on ties to 'dark money' groups

Ranking Republican Chuck Grassley brought up 'the troubling role of far left dark money groups, like Demand Justice have played in this administration's judicial selection process.'

Demand Justice backs reform of the Supreme Court and Grassley said he wanted to know 'why they strongly support Judge Jackson.'

Sen. John Cornyn said he would have questions about that too.

'I'm also interested as others have mentioned, in your opinion, why pro-abortion, dark money groups like Demand Justice, and anti-religious liberty groups are pouring millions of dollars into a public campaign in support of your nomination?'

Some have already previewed their attacks in the media.

Republican Josh Hawley last week said he had found an 'alarming pattern' in Jackson's treatment of sex offenders.

The hearing began in a packed committee room on Monday and will run for several days

Sen. Josh Hawley, a member of the committee, last week made clear that he will go after Jackson's record of sentencing offenders guilty of crimes involving child pornography

And on Monday he detailed seven cases that came before Jackson as a judge, listing the sentences she imposed and comparing them with federal guidelines for cases involving child pornography.

In 'each of these seven, Jackson handed down a lenient sentence that was below what the federal guidelines recommended and below what prosecutors requested,' he said.

'And so I think there's a lot to talk about there and I look forward to talking about it.'

Jackson's confirmation - replacing Breyer, another liberal - will not alter the court's 6-3 conservative majority.

That has led some analysts to suggest Republicans may not marshal their full opposition.

Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz slam Democrats for their treatment of Kavanaugh

But Sen. Lindsey Graham, who backed Jackson's nomination for a lower court, made clear that his vote was far from certain.

He complained that liberal groups had opposed his favored candidate, Michelle Childs, a federal district judge based in his home state of South Carolina.

'If that's the way the game is going to be played, then I'll have a response,' he said. 'And I don't expect it to reward that way of playing the game.'

And he said he hoped the hearings would not descend into the animosity that accompanied the 2018 confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, when he said Republicans were spat at.

Jackson smiled broadly as she arrived for the hearing flanked by Grassley (l) and Durbin (r)

Durbin looks on as Grassley promised a 'thorough' and 'exhaustive' examination

Sen. Ted Cruz also brought up those hearings, when Kavanaugh was grilled over allegations of sexual assault and harassment, and faced multiple questions about parties he attended as a teenager.

'I can assure you that your hearing will feature none of that disgraceful behaviour,' he said.

'No-one is going to inquire into your teenage dating habits.

'No-one is going to ask you with mock severity, "Do you like beer?"'

Democrats highlight how Jackson confirmation would make Supreme Court history

Their tone struck a contrast with Democrats who noted the historic nature of the nomination.

'Not a single justice has been a black woman,' said Durban in his opening statement. 'You Judge Jackson can be the first.

'It's not easy being first. Often you have to be the best. In some ways, the bravest.

'Many are not prepared to face that kind of heat, that kind of scrutiny that our deal in the glare of the national spotlight.

'But your presence here today, your willingness to brave this process will give inspiration to millions of Americans who see themselves in you.

If confirmed she would become the third black justice, following Thurgood Marshall, who retired in 1991, and Clarence Thomas who remains on the court.

Democrats who control the Senate by the slimmest of margins hope to complete her confirmation before Easter.

And Durban also headed off criticism that she would be nothing but a 'rubber stamp' for Biden.

'For these would be critics,' he said, 'I have four words: Look at the record.'

The senior Republican member, Sen. Chuck Grassley, promised a thorough, 'exhaustive' examination.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, holds papers during Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee Monda

Supporters of Supreme Court Justice nominee Judge Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson gathered outside the US Supreme Court as the hearing began

Republicans, he said, 'won't try to turn this into a spectacle, he said

'What we will do, however, is ask tough questions about Judge Jackson's judicial philosophy,' he continued.

In any Supreme Court nomination the most important thing that I look for is the nominee's view of the law, judicial philosophy and view on the role of a judge in our constitutional system.

'I'll be looking to see whether judge Jackson is committed to the Constitution as originally understood.'

He also made clear that her time as a criminal defense lawyer would come under particular scrutiny, explaining that it was fair game to probe 'criminal defense lawyers who disagree with our criminal laws and want to undermine laws that they have policy disagreements with.'

Jackson is expected to deliver her opening statement later on Monday.

The committee's 22 members will then spend Tuesday and Wednesday questioning her about her record and philosophy.

Her nomination fulfilled Biden's 2020 election promise to name a black woman to the court.

'Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is a brilliant legal mind with the utmost character and integrity,' the president tweeted in support on Monday morning. 'She deserves to be confirmed as the next justice of the Supreme Court.'

Democrats sought to rebut criticism of Jackson's time as a judge, and before that as a public defender and a member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

'Judge Jackson is not anti-law enforcement. She's not soft on crime,' said Sen. Pat Leahy, again repeating the fact that members of Jackson's family have worked in law enforcement.
The cast members of Apple TV+ original "Pachinko," pose during the premiere event of the series in Los Angeles, March 16 (local time). From left are Jin Ha, Youn Yuh-jung, Kaho Minami, Jimmi Simpson, Anna Sawai, Kim Min-ha, Lee Min-ho, Jung Eun-chae, Noh Sang-hyun, Jeong In-ji and Soji Arai. Courtesy of Apple TV+









By Lee Gyu-lee







Apple TV+'s new original multilingual project "Pachinko" is no doubt one of the most anticipated series of this year with its big-name cast members, starring Oscar-winning actress Youn Yuh-jung and actor Lee Min-ho.







Based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Min Jin Lee, the eight-part series tells the story of a Korean immigrant family across four generations from the perspective of Sunja (Kim Min-ha), the family's matriarch. The story starts from the early life of Sunja, born to a hard-working family in the southern port city of Busan during the Japanese occupation of Korea (1910-45), to the later years of her life, building up a life for her son, slot machine (pachinko) parlor owner Mozasu (Soji Arai) and Wall Street whiz kid Solomon (Jin Ha).







The series is created and written by Soo Hugh and co-directed by Kogonada and Justin Chon.







The epic historical saga touches on the devastation, tragedy, and survival of Koreans under Japanese rule as immigrants struggling to find a sense of belonging in a foreign land while holding onto their roots.







A scene from the series, "Pachinko" / Courtesy of Apple TV+





Actress Youn, who plays the main character Sunja in her older days, shared that the series has taught her a lot about Korea's history and about Zainichi heritage, a term referring to ethnic Koreans who moved to Japan during the colonial rule.







"It was actually my first time hearing about Zainichi. I asked Soji  a third-generation Zainichi  if it was a derogatory term and he said there's a sense of pride in that word. It refers to Korean Japanese who are proud of their Korean heritage," Youn told The Korea Times. "(Through working on this series) I came to realize how important it is to learn history. I don't know how many times I've cried hearing about the stories from that time."







Sunja is a tough and wise woman who manages to go through a series of obstacles throughout her life, becoming pregnant to a married man, Hansu (Lee Min-ho), and moving overseas to raise her son.







Youn expressed that she felt connected to her character.







"Life is a series of choices. Like choosing who to marry or date, it's all about making choices. Sunja had the toughness that came from trying to survive and in some sense, I felt that we are similar," Youn said.







Actress Youn Yuh-jung plays older Sunja in the series "Pachinko." Courtesy of Apple TV+





Ha plays a Zainichi Korean, Solomon, who studied and works in America. To win an upper-level position, he returns to Japan to score a major deal  to purchase land owned by a Korean woman.







The Korean-American actor also shared that he could relate to his character.







"The ways that I feel similar to Solomon are in his experiences of not fitting in and of wanting to assimilate whether that's in Japan or America," he said.







Jin Ha plays the role of Solomon in the series "Pachinko." / Courtesy of Apple TV+

"(But in the ways we're different,) I think he's trying to forget the trauma of his past and his family's past. But for me, maybe I started out that way  to fit in  but now at my age, I feel a lot more connected to my roots. And I feel that we need to, in order to heal, go back and reflect on where we came from and where our parents and grandparents came from in order to understand where we stand now and how to move forward in a more healthy way."







The story moves back and forth between the time of Sunja's days as a young adult and her as an older woman in the 1980s.







Actress Kim leads the storyline of Sunja's early days with a delicate performance portraying the character's vulnerability and strength even under constant repression during the Japanese occupation.







Kim, who earned the role through four months of auditions, said she immersed herself in the character throughout the production.







"I just tried to be Sunja instead of making something up to look a certain way. I just focused on the feelings and thoughts she has in each situation. The important thing the directors told me was to live and breathe in the moment. And this direction helped me the most, more than anything," she said. "There was more of a sense of responsibility than the pressure in delivering the story of not just Koreans but of a woman, daughter, mother and lover."







A scene from the series "Pachinko" / Courtesy of Apple TV+





The actress shared that she conversed with Zainichi Koreans to prepare for her role and was shocked to hear their story.







"Since I didn't go through that time period, I asked a lot of questions on how it wasthe stories about Zainichi from the book were very shocking so I asked if they were true and they said it was," she said. "They said there's no distortion or exaggeration about the story so it shocked me even more."







Lee, who plays young Sunja's lover and Zainichi Korean fish broker, Hansu, added that he felt the weight of portraying a character from a devastating time in Korea's history.







"Every work tries to capture reality but this series was different in terms of its depth. I tried to focus on understanding the emotion and sentiment of the people from that era," he said, adding the series showed him new experiences and meant a lot to him.







"We are grateful to live in this era. Back then, there were no choices and no room to dream of a better future  I could empathize with the things Hansu says and the decisions Sunja makes," he said. "I tried to look at the images from that time and what devastated me was that there were no pictures of Koreans smiling. It hurt to see that there were no hopes and dreams but only those who are pushing along with their lives."







From left, director Kogonada, executive producers Theresa Kang-Lowe, Soo Hugh, and Michael Ellenberg pose during an interview with the Korean media outlets, in Los Angeles, Thursday (local time). Courtesy of Apple TV+





Although the series follows the story of Koreans, the showrunner, Hugh, and director, Kogonada, noted that it is a universal story of humanity.







"There's no doubt that Sunja is the anchor of the story but it's also about humanity in general," Hugh said. "There's an episode told from Hansu's perspective and another episode is about a child getting his dad taken away  it's Sunja's story but there's also a broader scope to it."







Kogonada added that the series captures the perseverance and endurance that people as family still go through.







"I think this story is specific to Korean history, but it is also deeply universal. Even today, we know that people are being displaced, and families are having to make choices on how to survive. And this is a common story throughout history," he said. "So we knew that this would be a story for everyone because it's an ongoing quest for perseverance and endurance as a family."







Hugh hinted that there will be another season of the series, adding that there are more stories to tell from the book than just the eight episodes of the first season.







"Pachinko" will hit the streaming platform on Friday, on which the first three episodes will premiere. Following that, each episode will be released every Friday.


Fresh CCTV footage of Russian soldiers driving their tank to a gas station in Kherson, Ukraine, to loot for food has highlighted the logistical problems faced by Putin's ill-prepared invasion force.

Kherson is the first and only major Ukrainian city to have fallen fully under Russian control, but there have been widespread reports of fuel supply issues and food shortages as the Ukrainian army and civilian defence forces continue to fight the invaders.

Western intelligence suggests the Kremlin's troops were not prepared for a protracted military conflict, and their advances have been largely stalled, leaving frontline troops desperate for food.

It comes amid reports that captured Russian troops were found to be carrying rations that had expired several years ago, while many of those who were taken as prisoners or surrendered have protested they did not want to go to war in Ukraine.

Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) military scientist Justin Bronk told MailOnline that extremely poor planning, morale and coordination among Russian forces means their 'initial aims of overthrowing the Ukrainian government in Kyiv and setting up a client state in its place are no longer achievable.'

Bronk also said that the Ukrainian army has successfully targeted Russian supply lines, meaning that tired and hungry soldiers on the frontlines will be forced to ransack towns and villages in search of provisions.

Meanwhile, one senior US defence official speaking on condition of anonymity told Voice of America that the increase in Russia's indiscriminate bombing campaigns witnessed in cities such as Mariupol and Kyiv is 'a desperate attempt to gain some momentum because they are stuck where they are'.

CCTV footage taken from a gas station in Kherson and timestamped March 20 shows a group of Russian soldiers pulling up outside the gas station in what appears to be a BMD-2 tank.

The soldiers hop out of their vehicle before the video cuts to footage from above the cash register, where the troops are seen ransacking the store. Discarded products such as toilet rolls and packets of food litter the floor as the Russian soldiers grab armfuls of supplies

It is the latest in a string of videos from around Ukraine displaying Russian troops looting everything from convenience stores to farmyards in search of provisions to sustain their occupation. The Ukrainian army has organised several counter attacks, ambushing Russian supply lines to prevent aid from reaching frontline troops (Russian armoured vehicle smoulders in the aftermath of a counter attack)

Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) military scientist Justin Bronk told MailOnline that extremely poor planning, morale and coordination among Russian forces, coupled with strong Ukrainian resistance, means their 'initial aims of overthrowing the Ukrainian government in Kyiv and setting up a client state in its place are no longer achievable' (destroyed Russian tank pictured)

CCTV footage taken from a gas station in Kherson and timestamped March 20 shows a group of Russian soldiers pulling up outside the gas station in what appears to be a BMD-2 tank.

The soldiers hop out of their vehicle before the video cuts to footage from above the cash register, where the troops are seen ransacking the store.

Discarded products such as toilet rolls and packets of food litter the floor as the Russian soldiers grab armfuls of supplies.

It is the latest in a string of videos from around Ukraine displaying Russian troops looting everything from convenience stores to farmyards in search of provisions to sustain their occupation.

Bronk told MailOnline that the Ukrainian army has done an excellent job of ambushing Russian supply trucks and fuel tankers, cutting off many of Putin's frontline troops from vital supplies, while simultaneously managing to hold open their own resupply corridors.

Prof Michael Clarke, RUSI's former director general, said last week that the Russian forces appeared 'completely unprepared for a major campaign' and praised the 'effective counter attacks' of Ukrainian forces in stalling Russia's momentum and inflicting major losses.

Conservative estimates put Russia's troop losses at around 7,000, with between 15-20,000 more injured according to US officials, while Ukraine alleges that the Russian death toll is in fact far higher.

But the Russian army's failure on the ground has led to more death and destruction, with Putin's troops instead resorting to sustained bombing campaigns designed to pound Ukraine's urban centres into submission.

The port city of Mariupol, some 250 miles east of Kherson, has suffered constant Russian air and missile strikes for over two weeks, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of civilians with thousands more trapped with little food or water.

Video footage emerged earlier today of a Russian TOS-1a 'Heavy Flamethrower system' launching a salvo of devastating thermobaric rockets towards the city, representing a marked increase in the ferocity of their attacks.

Bodies of civilians killed during the Russian bombardment of Mariupol are laid out in a park as they await burial by soldiers defending the city, on Sunday

Local residents take cover as they hear blasts during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol

This image, taken from a video clip released by the Donetsk People's Republic, shows a TOS1a launch system deploying a salvo of thermobaric rockets aimed at Mariupol

Russia also kept up its bombardment of other Ukrainian cities today, hitting a shopping mall and several apartments in the capital Kyiv in the early hours - reducing the former to rubble.

Bombings in the surrounded city of Sumy also hit an ammonia plant, sparking an evacuation.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Kherson, footage was captured of Russian soldiers shooting at protestors who had congregated in the city's main square to demonstrate against their occupation.

Video taken by protestors showed one man bleeding heavily from the leg after being shot during a demonstration.

Russian forces used firearms as well as stun grenades to try and disperse the protesters, the Interfax news agency reported.

Kherson has been the scene of near-daily protests since it became the first major city to fall to Russian forces early during the war.

At least one person has been injured after protesters came under fire by Russian troops in the occupied city of Kherson, according to local reports, with images from the scene showing a man bleeding heavily from his leg (above)

On Sunday, demonstrators managed to turn back a military convoy after blocking a road.

Putin's men have been accused of firing 'warning shots' before, but until now had not opened fire directly on activists.

Ukraine says thousands of civilians have been killed by Russian forces since Vladimir Putin gave the order to attack on February 24, with his men stepping up indiscriminate shelling of cities after an initial offensive stalled.

Officials in Mariupol say up to 20,000 people may have died in that city alone, but there is no accurate country-wide figure.

The UN says it has confirmed 902 civilians killed and 1,459 injured, but caveats the figure by saying it is almost certainly lower than the actual total.
A house-hunting Asian couple have told of their shocked and anger after they were banned from viewing a property by the seller who branded Indians 'time-wasters' seeking a 'day out'.

Sareena Suman, 34 and her 33-year-old husband Ajay were refused a viewing of the 375,000 detached house and told 'there are many other properties you can waste people's time on.'

They spotted the four-bed house in Birmingham on online estate agent Purplebricks' website and immediately fell in love with it.

But when they messaged vendor and mother-of-three Claire May, 40, asking for a viewing, her response left them speechless.

She told them: 'I am no longer taking viewings from the Indian and Asian community who are not serious buyers. But just look around properties for sale...as a day out.

'There are many other properties you can waste people's time on so I suggest you go view one of them.'

The only information available to Mrs May when she denied the pair a viewing was Sareena's name.

Sareena Suman, 34 and her 33-year-old husband Ajay were refused a viewing of the 375,000 detached house and told 'there are many other properties you can waste people's time on'

Picture of Great Barr home in Birmingham that the Suman's wanted to view before vendor and mother-of-three Claire May, 40, refused them permission to even look at the property

Since Mrs May banned the Indian couple from viewing her home, Purplebricks stopped marketing the property. A recent picture shows the Purplebricks sign in a skip

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Sareena said: 'It has made me question if everyone is thinking that about me. Do they describe me as 'That Asian girl'? Is my colour or my race a thing to describe me or stereotype me?'

Sareena and Ajay - both British-born Indians - have been married for ten years and want to move so they can expand their family.

MailOnline found the house at the centre of the racist message unoccupied when we called, with the Purplebricks sign discarded in a skip on the front drive.

Neighbours in the street  many of whom are Asian or black  said they were surprised at Mrs May's response.

Now using her maiden name Claire Devine, the Irish-born mother-of-three had lived in the property with her children and former husband until two years ago, but has now moved to Sutton Coldfield, four miles away.

When MailOnline called at her new home, Mrs May denied being racist and said 'there's a lot more to the story than you know.'

'I'm not the slightest bit racist,' she said.

Brought up in the border town of Strabane, Co Tyrone, Ms Devine is one of six children born to Peter and Maureen Devine.

Sales trainer Sareena was in disbelief at the response and said she has gone through a rollercoaster of emotions since receiving the racist message.

The only information available to Mrs May when she denied the pair a viewing was Sareena's name. Pictured: Ajay Suman, left 33, with Sareena Suman, 3

Picture of the response Sareena received from Claire May. Neighbours in the street  many of whom are Asian or black  said they were surprised at Mrs May's response

She said: 'I had to read the message 15 times before it sank in. At first, it was laughable and I laughed because I didn't know how to feel. And afterwards the sadness kicked in and I got upset.

'Now, I'm not as angry as I was because I've come to terms with it but it's just the shock I can't get over. Where we live currently there's a minority of Asians and it's made me look at everyone differently.

'I've never felt like that before. I'm now conscious about what I'm saying and if someone is looking at me, she added.'

The property was particularly special to 34-year-old Sareena because it was near her family home where she grew up.

The property was particularly special to 34-year-old Sareena because it was near her family home where she grew up. Picture of of Sareena Suman, Ajay Suman with baby Saint

The Suman's chose not to respond to the seller but reported them to Purplebricks.

The couple have two children and have had to sit down with their eldest son, six-year-old Jhye, to explain racism to him.

Sareena added: 'I've always taught my eldest that words are just words.

'But I found that I had to have that conversation about racism with him.

'The whole experience has made me scared for him.'

Sareena is scared that her five-month-old son Saint will experience racism as he grows up too.

She is particularly wary about moving back to Great Barr - despite its sentimental value to her - because she is now aware of the type of people who live there.

Ajay encouraged Sareena not to fire off a response back to Mrs May because he felt she wasn't worth the energy.

A Purplebricks spokesperson said: 'The sentiments expressed in this message are completely opposed to Purplebricks' views and values.

The couple were prevented from going inside Mrs May's home and couldn't seen the kitchen

They were also stopped from seeing the bathroom (pictured) after Mrs May's intervention

'As soon as we saw this comment, we told the vendor that we wouldn't sell their house and refunded their fee.

'The house is no longer on the market with Purplebricks.

'We also contacted the buyer to express how appalled we were by this message and apologise that they've had this experience.'

It comes two months after MailOnline exclusively revealed how gay couple Luke Whitehouse and Lachlan Mantell were refused a viewing on another Purplebricks house because of their sexuality.

The Christian owners Luke Main and Dr Joanna Brunker quoted passages from the Bible and said they could not sell it to 'two men in a partnership.'

Luke and Lachlan - who have been together for eight years - had fallen in love with the house in Coulsdon, Surrey.
A judge has today called on the Ministry of Defence to change how it handles paying for private school fees for members of the military over fears the current system leaves the public purse 'perilously exposed'.

Judge Advocate Alistair McGrigor slammed the current way boarding school allowances for the children of Army, Navy and RAF personnel are handed out through a scheme known as the Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA).

The scheme is offered to service personnel by the MoD to assist with funding a place in boarding school for their children, so their spouse can accompany them on assignments without disrupting the child's education.

What is Continuity of Education Allowance Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) is offered to service personnel by the MoD to assist with funding a place in boarding school for their children, so their spouse can accompany them on assignments without disrupting the child's education. It is open to service personnel across the Army, Navy and the RAF. CEA is available for children aged eight years and over and can be used in boarding schools and day schools. Service personnel are only eligible for the allowance if they are living with their spouse, known as 'serving accompanied'. Under the current scheme CEA is paid directly to servicemen and women rather than the schools and they are then expected to pass the money on. Advertisement

Service personnel are only eligible for the allowance if they are living with their spouse, known as 'serving accompanied'.

Under the current scheme CEA is paid directly to servicemen and women rather than the schools and they are then expected to pass the money on.

But Judge McGrigor said the current payment system presents an 'obvious temptation' to gambling addicts, alcoholics and people with money troubles and that it is setting those 'pre-disposed to dishonesty' up to fail.

His comments come after a British Army soldier swindled 21,000 in CEA to pay off his uncle's medical bills in Nepal.

Sergeant Arjunkumar Limbu claimed he decided 'my uncle's life is more important than my children's education' and sent the money, intended for his child's school, to his sick relative instead.

Sergeant Limbu's case is the latest in a string of high-profile incidents involving fraud of the CEA scheme.

Last year, three high ranking officers were hauled before a Court Martial for defrauding the public purse with fraudulent CEA claims.

One MBE-winning major was sacked in March after defrauding the Army out of 13,000. Just two months later, another high ranking Army official was jailed for 20 months and sacked after fraudulently claiming more than 44,000 in allowances to send his children to a top boarding school.

However the highest profile case last year was that of Major General Nick Welch, who was jailed 21 months and stripped of his rank after cheating taxpayers out of nearly 50,000 through the CEA scheme.

He was the highest ranking officer to be court-martialed for more than 200 years when he appeared in March.

Sergeant Arjunkumar Limbu claimed he decided 'my uncle's life is more important than my children's education' and sent the money, intended for his child's school, to his sick relative instead

The highest profile case last year was that of Major General Nick Welch (pictured left), who was jailed 21 months and stripped of his rank after cheating taxpayers out of nearly 50,000 through the CEA scheme. One MBE-winning major, Major Lloyd Hamilton (pictured right), was sacked in March after defrauding the Army out of 13,000

In the latest incident to be brought before a court martial, Bulford Military Court, Wilts, heard how Sgt Limbu swindled the tapay out of 21,000 in fraudulent CEA payments.

From a Major General jailed for cheating taxpayers out of 50,000 to an MBE-awarded Army chief who fraudulently claimed 13,000 after a split from his wife: The most high profile cases of CEA fraud Major General Nick Welch In March last year, Major General Nick Welch was jailed at Bulford Military Court for 21 months after being convicted of fraud. He falsely claimed more than 48,000 in allowance to pay for his children's school fees. The 57-year-old abused the Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) to send two of his children to boarding schools in Dorset until he was reported by a 'frustrated' Colonel neighbour. Welch, who was Assistant Chief of the General Staff based at the Ministry of Defence's headquarters in London, had claimed he couldn't afford the school fees, even on his 'lofty' salary of 120,000-a-year. Welch had claimed he and his wife Charlotte, 54, were living in Putney, south-west. But freelance consultant Mrs Welch in fact spent the majority of her time at the family's 800,000 country home in Dorset. As well as the custodial sentence to be served in a civilian prison, Welch was retrospectively dismissed from the Army, meaning he will not be able to benefit from the rank of retired major general. He was also ordered to pay back the fraudulently claimed money. Major Lloyd Hamilton MBE-awarded Major Lloyd Hamilton was sacked after illegally claiming 13,000 in taxpayers' money to send his children to one of the UK's most expensive boarding schools. The 47-year-old Royal Engineer, who has an MBE for charity work, was stationed in Cyprus when he duped the MoD by illegally claiming for private school fees. Hamilton was only eligible for the allowance as long as his Cambridge-educated IBM manager wife Liz was living with him. But after the breakdown of their marriage she stayed at their 500,000 four bedroom home in Hamble, Hampshire. Hamilton continued to claim the cash to send his two children to the 49,875 a year Queen Elthelburga's Collegiate in Yorkshire but in February last year was convicted of fraud. Brigadier Charles Beardmore In 2017, Brigadier Charles Beardmore, 51, who earns more than 100,000 a year, pleaded guilty to negligently performing his duty at Merville Barracks in Colchester, Essex. He admitted that in 2014 he failed to reveal his wife Charlotte, 53, was not living with him for more than 90 days in a single year and he continued to claim Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) for his sons. Despite admitting an offence the court heard he had not been 'dishonest' and that he would pay back the undisclosed sum. Lieutenant Colonel Adam Roberts Last year Lieutenant Colonel Adam Roberts became one of the most senior British Army officers to be jailed after fraudulently claiming more than 44,000 in allowances to send his children to a top boarding school. Lt Col Adam Roberts 'knew exactly what he was doing' as he lied on Army allowance forms eight times so he could claim public funds he was not entitled to, a court martial heard. He received Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) from the military to keep two of his three sons at Old Buckenham Hall, a boarding school in Ipswich, Suffolk, where fees are 25,000 a year. A court martial found Lt Col Roberts, who was commanding officer of the 105th Regiment Royal Artillery before the offences came to light, lied by claiming he was living with his wife. However, the court heard while Lt Col Roberts was living in Sandhurst, Berkshire, and Paisley, Scotland, his wife was up to 420 miles away in Colchester, Essex, but he continued to claim CEA on the basis he was 'serving accompanied'. A board found him guilty of eight counts of fraud but acquitted him of two others. At a sentencing hearing at Bulford Military Court, Wiltshire, Lt Col Roberts, who was a Major at the time he committed the frauds, was dismissed from the military and sent to prison for 20 months. Advertisement

Sgt Limbu was entitled to CEA to assist with his son's education at the 12,000 a year St Edmund's School in Canterbury Kent.

The 273-year-old school has had notable students such as Lord of the Rings actor Orlando Bloom, and is attended by the choristers of Canterbury Cathedral.

The court heard funds were sent to the 44-year-old married father of two, but he failed to forward these on to the school and instead sent them to his sick uncle in Nepal. He kept 4,800 for himself.

Judge McGrigor dismissed Sgt Limbu from the Army after he pleaded guilty to one count of fraud by abuse of position.

He then addressed the court on the wider issues surrounding the CEA, which he said was 'vulnerable to abuse'.

He said: 'In my 25 years as a former RAF prosecutor and now Judge Advocate, I have come across a number of cases of this type, whether it be due to gambling, alcohol dependency or other personal financial problems.

'I have never understood the reason for CEA to be paid via the serviceperson with a requirement to pay the equivalent sum onto the school within 30 days or so.

'Whilst the vast majority of service personnel do just that, it seems to me for the minority of service personnel pre-disposed to dishonesty for whatever reason, this system sets them up to fail and leaves the public purse perilously exposed as it can rarely recover the money involved.

'Today's case is one in point in that the service has lost a useful and effective senior NCO, the defendant has lost his career and livelihood, and MoD is out of pocket in the sum of over 15,000.

'It is possible that none of this would have happened if CEA was paid direct to the school and such obvious temptation removed.

'Whilst there may be a good reason for CEA to be paid in this way that I am unaware of, I would appreciate an assurance from those Head of Armed Forces Remittance that direct payment to the school has been carefully considered and rejected.'

Captain Daniel Lawlor, prosecuting, explained how Sgt Limbu was given 21,847.37 by the MoD.

He had been given three invoices, one for each school term of the 2018-19 academic year, but did not pay the fees.

Gurminder Ghuman, defending, said: 'There are two types of crime. One type is simply committing a crime because you feel like doing it or because you want to benefit personally.

'The second is criminal in the eyes of the law, but in your own heart you know you are doing it for someone else to benefit.

'After his father's sad demise, he and his uncle became very close. When he heard his uncle was struggling financially because of his medical condition, he thought that was the only thing that could save his uncle from dying.

'He decided "my uncle's life is more important than my children's education".

'He did not gain personally, he did not buy luxury holidays or cars. Unfortunately he couldn't save his uncle, he sadly died.

'He knows what he did was wrong but he says he had no other choice.'

Judge McGrigor, sentencing, said: 'You must understand that CEA is a special benefit for service personnel so as to allow their children to benefit from continuity of education and thus assist operational effectiveness.

'It is vulnerable to abuse and when it is abused this erodes public trust in the Ministry of Defence. This could potentially lead to the benefit being withdrawn.

'You were a very dependable and useful soldier for 17 years which makes this a tragedy for you and your family.'

Sgt Limbu, formerly of the 9 Regiment Royal Logistics Corps, was dismissed from the Army and ordered to pay the Ministry of Defence 4,800.

This is the latest in a number of recent cases of school fee fraud heard at Bulford Military court.

The most senior Army officer to face a court martial in more than 200 years, Major General Nick Welch, was jailed in March 2021 after he defrauded the taxpayer out of almost 50,000 to pay for his children's private school fees.

The 57-year-old abused the Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) to send two of his children to boarding schools in Dorset until he was reported by a 'frustrated' Colonel neighbour.

Welch, who was Assistant Chief of the General Staff based at the Ministry of Defence's headquarters in London, had claimed he couldn't afford the school fees, even on his 'lofty' salary of 120,000-a-year.

Welch had claimed he and his wife Charlotte, 54, were living in Putney, south-west London. But freelance consultant Mrs Welch in fact spent the majority of her time at the family's 800,000 country home in Dorset.

It comes after Army Major Lloyd Hamilton, who was awarded an MBE for his charity work, was sacked from the forces after illegally claimed taxpayers' money to send his children to one of the UK's most expensive boarding schools.

Welch was caught after an anonymous tip from neighbours claimed he and his wife were never at their London address.

But the complaint was dismissed at the time by Mrs Welch, who told her friend the Colonel who reported them must have been 'daunted' by her husband's rank

She wrote in a text message: 'Perhaps they are daunted by Nick's rank, all of their husbands are two or three ranks below.'

It comes after Army Major Lloyd Hamilton, who was awarded an MBE for his charity work, was sacked from the forces after illegally claimed taxpayers' money to send his children to one of the UK's most expensive boarding schools

The most senior Army officer to face a court martial in more than 200 years, Major General Nick Welch (pictured here speaking to then Prime Minister David Cameron during the Afghan conflict), was jailed in March 2021 after he defrauded the taxpayer out of almost 50,000 to pay for his children's private school fees

As well as the custodial sentence to be served in a civilian prison, Welch was retrospectively dismissed from the Army, meaning he will not be able to benefit from the rank of retired major general.

He was also ordered to pay back the fraudulently claimed money.

Just weeks earlier, Major Lloyd Hamilton, who illegally claimed taxpayers' money to send his children to one of the UK's most expensive boarding schools, was sacked from his role.

The 47-year-old Royal Engineer, who has an MBE for charity work, was stationed in Cyprus when he duped the MoD by illegally claiming for private school fees.

Hamilton was only eligible for the allowance as long as his Cambridge-educated IBM manager wife Liz was living with him.

But after the breakdown of their marriage she stayed at their 500,000 four bedroom home in Hamble, Hampshire.

Hamilton continued to claim the cash to send his two children to the 49,875 a year Queen Elthelburga's Collegiate in Yorkshire but in February last year he was convicted of fraud.

In June, Lt Col Adam Roberts became the second high-ranking military official to be jailed after he fraudulently claimed more than 44,000 in allowances to send his children to a top boarding school.

He had lied on Army allowance forms eight times so he could claim public funds he was not entitled to.

In the latest incident to be brought before a court martial, Bulford Military Court (pictured), Wilts, heard how Sgt Limbu swindled the tapay out of 21,000 in fraudulent CEA payments

He received CEA from the military to keep two of his three sons at Old Buckenham Hall, a boarding school in Ipswich, Suffolk, where fees are 25,000 a year.

A court martial found Lt Col Roberts, who was commanding officer of the 105th Regiment Royal Artillery before the offences came to light, lied by claiming he was living with his wife.

However, the court heard while Lt Col Roberts was living in Sandhurst, Berkshire, and Paisley, Scotland, his wife was up to 420 miles away in Colchester, Essex, but he continued to claim CEA on the basis he was 'serving accompanied'.

A board found him guilty of eight counts of fraud but acquitted him of two others.

At a sentencing hearing at Bulford Military Court, Wiltshire, Lt Col Roberts, who was a Major at the time he committed the frauds, was dismissed from the military and sent to prison for 20 months.

MailOnline has attempted to contact the Ministry of Defence press office for comment.
A wealthy property developer set his barn conversion on fire then shot himself in the head after a row with his partner, an inquest heard today.

Roger Selway, 53, from Cardiff, was found dead in the barn on Mill Road in Ynysybwl, Pontypridd, by his partner Ruth Ayres after the pair disagreed about putting it up for sale.

Dozens of armed officers stormed the isolated beauty spot after the shooting when neighbours saw smoke coming from the country home.

An inquest held at Pontypridd Coroner's Court today heard that Mr Selway was found following a house fire, and was discovered with a shotgun wound to his face.

Roger Selway, 53, was found dead in a barn conversion on Mill Road in Ynysybwl, Pontypridd

His partner, Ruth Ayres, described seeing Mr Selway walking upstairs holding some sort of lighter. She said she started to smell something like petrol before the upstairs was engulfed in flames. Above, the Mill Road home

South Wales Fire and Rescue Service attended the address due to the amount of smoke coming from the roof. The property (above) had to be deemed safe before some emergency service responders could enter

The incident took place back last year after pictures emerged of a property engulfed in flames.

At the time, officers from South Wales Police said they were called to the barn at 7.30am on Tuesday, April 27, last year, following a report of a sudden death and a house fire.

Reading evidence at the inquest today, Assistant Coroner David Regan said statements described Mr Selway being found after he 'shot himself in the face'.

Evidence provided by pathologist, Dr John Williams, showed Mr Selway's injuries were in keeping with this and his medical cause of death was provided as a 'shotgun injury to the head'.

The hearing was told Mr Selway had been arguing with his partner, Ruth Ayres, for a week or so leading up to his death.

It was said the couple, who had been together for six years, had a disagreement as to whether or not they'd sell the barn.

In a statement provided to the court Ms Ayres described what the atmosphere was like on the day before his death.

She said: 'Roger went to work as normal. Roger telephoned me during the day because a skip company had apparently taken too much money from his account.'

Ms Ayres also said that he told her an estate agent would be stopping by at around 3pm to look at the barn, but she told him she couldn't attend to them at the time.

The statement continued: 'Roger came home at around 5pm and seemed absolutely fine. We talked normally.'

Later in the evening she said they had a disagreement about messages he had received from 'two other females'.

At around 6am the next day, Ms Ayres said she woke up and later took her daughter to Pontypridd train station to catch the train to go to school. She arrived back at the property at around 7.30am.

The hearing was told Mr Selway, who was born in Cardiff, was home when she returned.

She said: 'I told him I had nothing to say to him. I told him I was not selling the barn, and said go to his mother's house.'

Moments later Ms Ayres described seeing Mr Selway walking upstairs, and said he was holding what looked like some sort of lighter and something that was long and plastic.

She said she started to smell something like petrol, so she decided to call the police.

Forensic officers at the scene of the tragedy in Ynysybwl, Pontypridd, South Wales last year

Mr Selway's death was not treated as suspicious by officers investigating at the time

'I was absolutely terrified at this moment, so I ran outside the house,' the statement continued. 'I heard a loud bang, and I remember thinking "Roger must have fallen".

'I could see Roger lying on his back. I saw straight away that Roger had shot his face.'

The inquest was told Ms Ayres was told to leave the property and stay with a neighbour until emergency services arrived at scene.

Ms Ayres also told the coroner that her former partner had 'a lot of stresses and worries' before he died.

She said: 'He had been diagnosed with cancer twice in the last two years. He was diagnosed with melanoma in March 2020. He had lots of stress at work and Covid happened.'

The inquest was told Mr Selway had never previously expressed any suicidal thoughts, and had never used drugs or consumed high levels of alcohol.

It was also said he was never known to be violent, and that Mr Selway had previously 'seemed happy'.

Evidence presented at the hearing said the barn had a gun room. Mr Selway would shoot together with his brother, but he was never known to have held a shotgun.

When Ms Ayres raised the alarm to the emergency services, she is reported to have said: 'He has shot himself. He has shot himself, and set fire to the house.'

The death took place in the former mining village of Ynysybwl, near Pontypridd, south Wales

A shotgun was found beside Mr Selway, but the property had to be deemed safe before some emergency service responders could enter.

South Wales Fire and Rescue Service attended the address due to the amount of smoke coming from the roof.

In his evidence provided to the court, paramedic Jamie Shaw said there was a 'strong smell of petrol' at the property.

He said: 'We could see the deceased on the top of the steps. He had injuries incompatible with life. We left the property through the kitchen area as it was deemed safe.'

Concluding the hearing, Assistant Coroner Regan said: 'The upstairs of the property was on fire. It's likely the fire was started by Mr Selway.

'In these circumstances I'm satisfied that he intended to end his life on the day that he died, so it's therefore appropriate for me to reach a conclusion that he died as a result of suicide, and that is my finding.'

For confidential support, call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch. See www.samaritans.org for details.
A British Army instructor sexually assaulted a female officer cadet while she was playing the piano, a court martial heard today.

Staff Sergeant Dean Foster allegedly told the 'scared' trainee officer 'I really fancy you', before approaching her from behind and pressing his groin into her.

The married instructor, whose wife was pregnant at the time, had poured himself and the cadet two glasses of wine and is also accused of kissing her face as he pushed his groin into her waist.

The married officer is alleged to have committed the assault while his victim was playing the piano

Minutes later, 'tipsy' SSgt Foster is alleged to have locked the doors to the ante room they were in at Sandhurst Military Academy with just them inside, and later 'followed her'.

The cadet today told how she feared she was going to be raped by SSgt Foster, who she said she 'trusted' and 'viewed really highly as a person'.

SSgt Foster denies sexual assault following the incident at the world-famous military academy in Berkshire.

The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst is where British Army officers are trained. Both Prince William and Harry, Duke of Sussex attended the academy.

Today Bulford Military Court, in Wiltshire, heard SSgt Foster and the cadet, who can't be named for legal reasons, agreed to meet at the ante room in the evening to discuss her worries about her training.

But, the cadet was shocked and felt 'uncomfortable' when SSgt Foster began 'opening up' about how he was 'unhappy with his wife's pregnancy'.

Prosecuting, Lieutenant Colonel Michael Culver said: 'She noticed he was holding a bottle of rose wine and two wine glasses and he poured one for each of them.

'It was against the rules for them to drink alcohol together, and they knew that.

'When she got to the end of the piece she went and sat near him, he appeared visibly upset about his wife's pregnancy.

'She went back to the piano... SSgt Foster complimented her playing and also said 'I really fancy you' or words to that effect.

'He approached her from behind and pressed his groin against her right hip, he then moved to the other side and pressed his groin against her left hip.

Staff Sergeant Dean Foster (pictured) is accused of sexually assaulting a female officer cadet while he was in his role as an army instructor

'After pressing against her left hip, he kissed the left side of her face before moving away and sitting down.'

Giving evidence, the cadet said she had 'got to know SSgt Foster really well' before the incident.

'I confided in him about personal matters, I trusted him and viewed him really highly as a person', she told the court.

The cadet felt 'uncomfortable' when he poured the wine.

She said: 'It didn't feel right... I didn't feel comfortable drinking with a member of staff.

The incident is alleged to have taken place at Sandhurst Military Academy (pictured), in Berkshire

'I felt pressured into taking it and drinking it because he was a member of staff.'

The cadet, who said SSgt Foster appeared to drink a whole bottle of wine, said she also felt uncomfortable that SSgt Foster was 'opening up' about his marital issues with her, adding that much of the conversation was 'awkward small talk'.

After telling her 'I really fancy you' she told how he approached as as she played the instrument.

'I played for a while and he came over... He leaned in really closely and pushed his groin against my waist,' she said.

'I was frozen. I was (thinking) 'what's going on?' I was so scared.

'He went round my other side and did the same again, then he kissed the side of my neck, under my ear and that was for a couple of seconds.

'I remember feeling really scared and didn't know what to do, I thought if I just carried on playing the piano he would just go away.'

He is currently on trial at Bulford Military Court (pictured) in Wiltshire, where he claims the cadet has made a 'false allegation'

Minutes later, SSgt Foster locked the door. The cadet said: 'I felt so scared as in my mind the next logical step I though he was going to try to rape me.'

She told him 'I'm going to bed now' and the pair left the room - but the cadet said he 'followed' her so she walked quickly to her friends and informed them what happened.

She hoped to deal with the matter internally at Sandhurst, but days later said she was told SSgt Foster would only be disciplined for drinking alcohol with a cadet.

Instead, the cadet reported the alleged sexual assault to the Royal Military Police.

Bulford Military Court also heard the morning after the alleged assault, SSgt Foster messaged the cadet 'thanks for putting up with me last night and thanks for letting me listen to you play'.

SSgt Foster, of the Royal Logistical Corps, denies sexual assault, claiming the officer cadet has made a 'false allegation'.

The two-day trial continues.
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This is the moment a shopping mall in Kyiv was wiped out by a Russian missile strike overnight, leaving at least eight people dead as Vladimir Putin's men step up their bombardment of Ukrainian cities.

Footage released by the Russian Ministry of Defence showed a missile slamming into the Sport Life gym outside the Retroville mall late Sunday, flattening the building and leaving the mall heavily damaged.

At least eight civilians were killed in the strike, according to Ukrainian police, with dozens more feared trapped in the rubble. It is not clear exactly what kind of missile was used, but the blast was powerful enough to blow out all the windows at the from of the mall and to flip over and incinerate vehicles in the car park.

Russia's military claimed that Ukrainian missile launchers were being stored near the mall, though there was no word from the Ukrainian military about whether its forces were present at the time of the strike.

It came as Pentagon officials said Russia is shelling Ukraine with dozens of rockets each day in a 'near-desperate' attempt to swing the tide of war in their favour and gain leverage in negotiations. British intelligence says the Russian advance in Kyiv has stalled, and is actually being repulsed in areas to the north-west.

Russia is expending 'a lot of munitions' in an effort to bomb Ukraine into submission, a senior US defence official said today, but still as 'a significant majority' of ballistic missiles and more than half of its cruise missiles available - meaning the strikes will continue for some time.

Russia has released footage of an overnight missile strike on a shopping mall near Kyiv, which Ukraine says killed at least eight civilians and reduced part of the building to rubble

Footage shows a missile slamming down on the Sport Life gym complex next to the Retroville shopping mall, levelling the building which Russia said had been used to store military vehicles

Russian airstrikes destroyed the 'Retroville' shopping mall in the north of Kyiv on Monday, killing at least eight people and leaving others buried in the rubble

A burned-out car sits in what used to be the parking lot outside a Ukrainian shopping mall in the northern suburbs of Kyiv

The ruins of Sport Life gym complex outside the Retroville shopping centre is seen near Kyiv after being blown up by Russia

A man picks his way through the wreckage of cars and a gym in the northern Kyiv suburb of Podilskyi after it was destroyed in a Russian air strike

Ukrainian servicemen search through rubble inside the Retroville shopping mall after a Russian attack in northwest of Kyiv

Emergency workers search through the rubble of a destroyed shopping mall in northern Kyiv after it was bombed by Russia

Russia also intensified its efforts to bomb the Black Sea port city of Mariupol into submission today, after the city rejected an offer of surrender in return for the evacuation of civilians - saying that promises of safety for its fighters couldn't be trusted, and that they intended to fight 'to the last man'.

Ukrainian authorities also said Russia shelled a chemical plant in northeastern Ukraine, sending toxic ammonia leaking into the air, and hit a military training base in the west with cruise missiles.

The encircled southern city of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov has seen some of the worst horrors of the war, under Russian pounding for more than three weeks, in what Ukrainian and Western officials have branded a war crime.

Hours before Russia's offer to open corridors out of the city in return for the capitulation of its defenders, an art school where some 400 people were taking shelter was hit by an airstrike, according to Ukrainian officials.

'They are under the rubble, and we don't know how many of them have survived,' Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. In a video address, he vowed that Ukraine would 'shoot down the pilot who dropped that bomb.'

Russian Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev had offered two corridors - one heading east toward Russia, the other west to other parts of Ukraine - in return for Mariupol's surrender. He did not say what Russia would do if the offer was rejected.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said authorities in Mariupol could face a military tribunal if they sided with what it described as 'bandits,' the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported.

According to TASS news agency, Mizintsev added if the people of Mariupol side 'with gunmen', a tribunal 'is just a small thing what you deserve due to this mean attitude towards your own citizens and also horrible crimes and provocations staged by you'.

He added: 'Among them are the explosions of a kindergarten, two schools, a maternity clinic, a drama theatre building and a lot of other things.

'We are confident that the residents of Mariupol, who will be unable to get out of this blockade, will have the final say here.'

Ukrainian officials rejected the proposal even before Russia's deadline of 5am Moscow time for a response came and went.

'There can be no talk of any surrender, laying down of arms,' Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk told the news outlet Ukrainian Pravda.

A shopping mall in northern Kyiv was struck in the early hours of Monday, killing at least eight people. But successful Ukrainian counter-attacks were underway to the west of the city, as Makariv was re-captured

An overhead view shows the extent of the devastation at the Retroville shopping mall to the north of Kyiv on Monday

The ruins of a truck parked near the site of a Russian airstrike on a mall in northern Kyiv is seen after the explosion

The ruins of a Ukrainian shopping mall in the northern outskirts of Kyiv is pictured on Monday morning, after it was hit by Russian missiles in the early hours

Rescuers work at the site of the shopping mall damaged by an airstrike, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv this morning

People gather amid the destruction caused after shelling of a shopping center, in Kyiv, Ukraine

The strike on the art school was the second time in less than a week that officials reported an attack on a public building where Mariupol residents had taken shelter. On Wednesday, an airstrike devastated a theater where more than 1,000 people were believed to be sheltering. At least 130 people were reported rescued Friday, but there has been no update since then.

Mariupol officials said at least 2,300 people have died in the siege, with some buried in mass graves.

City officials and aid groups say Russian bombardment has cut off Mariupol's electricity, water and food supplies and severed its communications with the outside world, plunging the remaining residents into a chaotic fight for survival.

'What's happening in Mariupol is a massive war crime,' EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.

Mariupol had a prewar population of about 430,000. About a quarter were believed to have left in the opening days of the war, and tens of thousands got out over the past week by way of a humanitarian corridor, though other attempts have been thwarted by the bombardment.

In the Black Sea port city of Odesa, authorities said Russian forces damaged civilian houses in a strike Monday. The city council said no one was killed.

Russia's invasion has driven nearly 3.4 million people from Ukraine, according to the United Nations. The U.N. has confirmed over 900 civilian deaths but said the actual toll is probably much higher. Estimates of Russian deaths vary, but even conservative figures are in the low thousands.

Some who were able to escape Mariupol tearfully hugged relatives as they arrived by train Sunday in Lviv in western Ukraine.

'Battles took place over every street. Every house became a target,' said Olga Nikitina, who was embraced by her brother as she got off the train. 'Gunfire blew out the windows. The apartment was below freezing.'

Mariupol is a key Russian target because its fall would allow Russian forces in southern and eastern Ukraine to link up. Its capture would also help Russia establish a land bridge to Crimea, which was seized from Ukraine in 2014.

More than three weeks into the invasion, the two sides seem to be trying to wear each other down, experts say, with Russian forces launching long-range missiles at cities and military bases as Ukrainian forces carry out hit-and-run attacks.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces on the ground are 'essentially stalled.'

At least one person has been injured after protesters came under fire by Russian troops in the occupied city of Kherson, according to local reports, with images from the scene showing a man bleeding heavily from his leg (above)

Russian troops opened fire on protesters with guns and stun grenades, according to local media, after crowds gathered to demonstrate against the occupation of their city

Video captured the moment several blasts hit the crowd (left and right), apparently from stun grenades, sending people running for cover and leaving at least one man wounded

Protesters run from the sounds of gunfire and the bang of stun grenades as local media reports Russian forces opened fire on a demonstration happening in the city of Kherson

Talks between Russia and Ukraine have continued by video conference but failed to bridge the chasm between the two sides, with Russia demanding Ukraine disarm and declare itself neutral and Ukraine saying Russian forces must withdraw from the whole country.

Ukrainian delegation member Davyd Arakhamia told Ukrainska Pravda that there was a 90-minute session between top negotiators Monday morning, to be followed by a full day of talks in various working groups.

U.S. President Joe Biden was expected to talk Monday with the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Britain about the war. The Russian Foreign Ministry warned that relations with the U.S. are 'on the verge of a breach,' citing 'unacceptable statements' by Biden about Putin - an apparent reference to the American calling the Russian a 'war criminal.'

In Ukraine's major cities, hundreds of men, women and children have been killed in Russian attacks.

Ukraine's prosecutor general said a Russian shell struck a chemical plant outside the eastern city of Sumy just after 3 a.m. Monday, causing a leak in a 50-ton tank of ammonia that took hours to contain.

Russian military spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed the leak was a 'planned provocation' by Ukrainian forces to falsely accuse Russia of a chemical attack.

Konashenkov also said an overnight cruise missile strike hit a military training center in the Rivne region of western Ukraine. He said 80 foreign and Ukrainian troops were killed, though the figure could not be independently confirmed.

Britain's defense ministry said that Ukrainian resistance had kept the bulk of Russian forces more than 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the city center, but that Kyiv 'remains Russia's primary military objective.'

Russian troops are shelling Kyiv for a fourth week now and are trying to surround the capital, which had nearly 3 million people before the war. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced a curfew extending from Monday evening through Wednesday morning.

A cluster of villages on Kyiv's northwest edge, including Irpin and Bucha, have been all but cut off by Russian forces and are on the verge of humanitarian catastrophe, regional officials said. Associated Press journalists who were in the area a week ago saw bodies in a park.

In another worrying development, Ukraine's nuclear regulatory agency said radiation monitors around the decommissioned Chernobyl power plant, the site in 1986 of the world's worst nuclear meltdown, have stopped working.

The agency said that problem, and a lack of firefighters to protect the area's radiation-tainted forests as the weather warms, could mean a 'significant deterioration' in the ability to control the spread of radiation in Ukraine and beyond.
A New York City career criminal who has been accused of smearing human feces on the face of a subway commuter, only to be released back onto the streets, has finally been locked up after another violent assault.

Frank Abrokwa, 37, acted belligerently and was seen showing a rude hand gesture as he was led into Manhattan Criminal Court to be arraigned on charges of criminal mischief and harassment. He has now been sent to the notorious Rikers Island jail.

Abrokwa's latest alleged law-break is said to have tossed a dumbbell through a glass window at a Harlem storage facility on Friday, shattering a window there, after threatening a worker.

He was accused of violating the conditions of his supervised release related to a previous case - the stomach-churning feces incident in which he was caught on video rubbing his own excrement on a woman at the East 241st Street station in The Bronx on February 21.

The vile, apparently unprovoked, attack took place came just three days after New York City Mayor Eric Adams unveiled the Subway Safety Plan to deploy 1,000 cops to secure the crime-plagued transit system.

During his arraignment on Monday, a judge set Abrokwa's bail at $15,000 and ordered him to undergo a psychiatric evaluation, after the barefoot defendant caused a scene in court by yelling at the top of his lungs, hurling profanities and daring the judge to give him bail.

As of Monday afternoon, the 37-year-old remained jailed at the notorious Rikers Island detention complex. He is due back in court on April 11.

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A defiant Frank Abrokwa, 37, is pictured showing a rude hand gesture as he is led into Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday for violating the conditions of his release

Abrokwa, a career criminal, is accused of throwing a dumbbell through a window less than a month after allegedly smearing feces on a woman's face

Finally, a Manhattan judge set Abrokwa's bail at $15,000 and ordered him to undergo a mental health evaluation. During his arraignment, the barefoot man yelled and used profanities

The latest incident involving Abrokwa took place on Friday at the Treasure Island Storage Facility in Manhattan, where he allegedly broke a window after demanding a refund

According to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, the latest charges against Abrokwa are related to an altercation that took place at the Treasure Island Storage Facility on West 145h Street, where the suspect arrived at 6.30pm.

Abrokwa was described as being 'upset' and proceeded to yell at the general manager of the business as he was assisting another customer.

Abrokwa later walked away, and the manager spotted him carrying a dumbbell.

'[The manager] then went to find the defendant to assist him and while walking towards the defendant he observed a window that had been shattered,' according to a complaint.

While the manager was cleaning up the broken glass, he said Abrokwa came up to him, saying: 'I want my refund. I'm leaving Monday that is why I broke the glass.'

On February 21, Abrokwa was caught on video attacking a woman without any provocation at the East 241th Street station in The Bronx

Abrokwa smeared human faces on the commuter's face and back, as seen in the video

Abrokwa, whose record includes more than 44 arrests, was arraigned on charges stemming from the feces attack on March 1 (pictured), but a judge released him

Abrokwa then left, but he returned to the storage facility the following day and was quoted as telling another employee: 'If I don't get my refund by Monday, I'm gonna come back here and catch a felony.'

Abrokwa was previously arraigned on March 1 on charges of forcible touching, menacing, disorderly conduct and harassment stemming from the feces attack, but a judge released him without bail, saying that she did not have a reason to hold him because she didn't have depositions to review in his other arrests.

Abrokwa was immediately arrested for allegedly spitting on a Jewish man back in September

'S**t happens. Haha,' Abrokwa said after his arrest in the feces-smearing case, according to a criminal complaint. 'This is a s***ty situation. Haha.'

After being released without bail, Abrokwa was immediately taken into custody for allegedly threatening to murder a Jewish man in Brooklyn last September.

Menachem Minkowitz, 46, told the New York Daily News that he was leaving a deli in Crown Heights, minding his own business, when Abrokwa appeared out of nowhere and targeted him because of his Jewish garb.

'Everything happened so quick,' he said. 'A person comes up and spits on me. I said, 'What the f**k is wrong with you?' And he said, 'F**king Jew.'

Police said Abrokwa yelled at the man, 'I'm going to kill you!' before taking a swing at him.

'I saw the evil in his eyes,' Minkowitz added. 'I love people, but I saw the evil in his eyes. It was bad.'

Abrokwa was arraigned in that case on March 2 on counts of aggravated harassment, menacing in third degree as a hate crime, menacing in the third degree and disorderly conduct, and was then released under supervision.

Abrokwa, seen here in a photo released by the NYPD in September, allegedly spat on and made anti-Jewish comments to a 46-year-old Jewish man in the Crown Heights

The 37-year-old's vast criminal record also includes a January 7 arrest for allegedly punching a 30-year-old man on a subway platform at 125th Street and Lenox Avenue, followed by a February 5 arrest for allegedly hitting a 53-year-old man at the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

But each time, thanks to New York's lax new bail reform laws, the career criminal did not have to post bail and was freed to continue roaming city streets.

In mid-February, Abrokwa was arrested for allegedly threatening a hardware store employee with a screwdriver during a robbery, but like his previous run-ins with the law, it ended with the suspect being turned loose.

A week later, on February 21, Abrokwa was seen on surveillance video walking along the platform at the East 241th Street when he lunged at a woman sitting on a bench and smeared his feces on her face after she ignored his attempts to talk to her.

When the woman leans forward, he walks behind her and presses a plastic bag containing his waste against the back of her head and her back.

New York City has been in the throes of a massive crime wave, with the rates of shootings, robberies, rapes and assaults all registering dramatic increases.

There have been 504 subway crimes reported this year as of March 20, compared to 288 during the same period in 2021, representing a 75 percent increase, according to New York Police Department (NYPD) statistics released on Monday.
Moscow warned that relations with the United States are 'on the verge of a breach' and summoned the U.S. ambassador to officially protest President Joe Biden's characterization of Vladimir Putin as a 'murderous dictator.'

A Russian Foreign Ministry statement on Monday referred to 'recent unacceptable statements' by Biden about Putin, a reference to Biden's criticism of the Russian president last week for his invasion of the Ukraine.

The Russian government met with U.S. ambassador to Russia John Sullivan and said, in that conversation, 'it was emphasized that remarks such as these by the American President, which are unworthy of a state figure of such a high rank, put Russian-American relations on the verge of a breach.'

Last week, Biden described Putin as 'a murderous dictator, a pure thug who is waging an immoral war against the people of Ukraine.'

He had earlier called Putin a 'war criminal,' which Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said was 'absolutely unacceptable and inexcusable.'

The summoning was a sign relations between Washington and Moscow are worsening as the Kremlin continues its invasion of Ukraine and the U.S. leads western allies in tightening the economic noose around Russia in response.

Moscow warned that relations with the United States are 'on the verge of a breach' and summoned the U.S. ambassador to officially protest President Joe Biden's characterization of Vladimir Putin as a 'murderous dictator'

U.S. ambassador to Russia John Sullivan was summoned by the Kremlin for a special meeting for Moscow to complain about President Biden

Tensions between Washington and Moscow are on the rise as President Joe Biden prepares to go to Brussels later this week for a special NATO meeting

Biden heads to Brussels later this week for a special NATO meeting on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He'll also make a stop in Poland for a meeting with President Andrzej Duda.

It's part of big diplomatic push Biden is making to keep allies in line on their financial sanctions that are crippling the Russian economy as its invasion of Ukraine reaches a stalemate.

Biden spoke with Western allies - President Emmanuel Macron of France, Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy and Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom - Monday morning ahead of his trip for nearly an hour.

The five men will also be in Brussels on Thursday an emergency NATO Summit on Ukraine as well as a G7 meeting. He will also join a scheduled European Council Summit to discuss Ukraine 'including transatlantic efforts to impose economic costs on Russia, provide humanitarian support to those affected by the violence, and address other challenges related to the conflict,' the White House said.

At the NATO meeting, Poland will propose a plan to organize an international peacekeeping mission in Ukraine. Poland has taken in the most refugees from Ukraine as 3.2 million people fled the war-torn nation.

But the United States has rejected the peace-keeping idea, saying President Biden will stick to his pledge not to put U.S. boots on the ground in Ukraine.

Biden will not go there either.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said there were no plans for the president to travel to Ukraine during this week's trip.

'The trip will be focused on continuing to rally the world in support of the Ukrainian people and against President Putin's invasion of Ukraine,' she wrote on Twitter.

Meanwhile, Russian and Ukrainian officials are talking but have made no progress toward a cease fire.

American officials have questioned Russia's intentions with the talks.

'The negotiations seem to be one-sided, and the Russians have not leaned into any possibility for a negotiated and diplomatic solution,' Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said on CNN on Sunday.

Firefighters responding to a large-scale fire at a warehouse following shelling in Severodonetsk, Luhansk region, Ukraine

Firefighters are seen inside the Retroville shopping mall after a Russian attack on the northwest of the capital Kyiv

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has offered to meet with Putin but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says more progress must be made in the talks beforehand.

Peskov says that 'in order to talk about a meeting of the two presidents, first it's necessary to do the homework, it's necessary to hold talks and agree the results.'

He adds that 'so far significant movement has not been achieved' in the talks and that 'there are not any agreements which they could commit to' at a joint meeting.

Ukraine and Russia's delegations have held several rounds of talks both in person and more recently via video link.
The mayors of New York City and Chicago met Friday to exchange ideas on tackling crime, which continues to skyrocket in both cities - a trend that began during the worst days of the COVID pandemic and continues to dog both cities.

New York's Eric Adams and Chicago's Lori Lightfoot, both Democrats, have in recent weeks sparred with their cities' top prosecutors and accused them of pushing for lenient policies that don't hold criminals accountable.

Crime in NYC is up by over 45 percent compared to this time last year as Adams battles a growing crisis at Rikers Island - the city's main jail - as well as a spike in hate crimes and an overburdened court system.

In Chicago, crime is up by 34 percent.

Violent incidents in public transit have left residents of both cities terrified for their safety. Transit crimes have shot up by 80 percent in NYC, according to the city's latest crime statistics. The Chicago Transit Authority, meanwhile, recorded a spike in crime of 56 percent in January and February, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Both mayors held a closed door meeting before a 'hastily scheduled' news conference, WTTW reports.

'We are gonna be great partners in the work that we're all doing,' Lightfoot told reporters.

New York Mayor Eric Adams and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot met on Friday to discuss ways to collaborate on fighting crime in their cities

'We're going to learn from Chicago what they're doing on their El [subway] line, so that we can see best practices,' Adams said Friday, as subway crime is up by 80% in New York

Crime in NYC is up by over 45 percent compared to this time last year as Adams battles a growing crisis at Rikers Island - the city's main jail, a spike in hate crimes and an overburdened court system

In Chicago, crime is up by 34%. Subway crimes rose by 56% in January and February

During his turn on the lectern, Adams, who took office on January 1, stressed that both municipalities will need help from the entire community to bring crime levels back down.

'By the time the police interacts with a young person with a gun, the system already failed. We call the police to do everything. We are now bringing in the idea of having community's involvement and stopping and damming the rivers that feed the sea of violence in our cities. And we're going to do it as a partnership,' the new mayor said.

40-year-old consultant Michelle Go was killed after a homeless man shoved her in front of a subway car in January. Her murder started calls for safety in NYC's subway system

In one of New York's first notable crimes of the year, Deloitte consultant Michelle Alyssa Go was pushed in front of an oncoming train at West 42nd Street and Broadway the morning on January 15.

Go, who was 40 years old and lived on the Upper East Side, was randomly targeted.

Last month, an elderly Chicago couple was walking home from the Transit Authority's Blue Line when a man started following them and began beating them.

Bob Tataryn and his wife, Kathryn, were walking in the Windy City's upscale Irving Park neighborhood, where houses go for $550,000 to $750,000. As the suspect continued to stalk the couple, Bob confronted him and asked why he was following them.

The man started punching them. It was only when Bob yelled that his wife was battling cancer, that the assailant left.

Most tickets issued for violating Chicago transit rules in 2021 and this year were for smoking, the Chicago Tribune reports, with some experts attributing it to rising anxiety and irritability during the pandemic.

'There are two things that make Chicago a really livable city, and that's the lake and the transit system,' said Chicago resident Jack Johnson, 57. 'And the lake's pretty static, it's not going away. But the transit system seems like it's slipping.'

Bob Tataryn and his wife, Kathryn, were walking home from the Chicago Transit Authority Blue Line stop on February 17 when they were brutally attacked

Both mayors held a closed door meeting before a 'hastily scheduled' news conference

What's going on in Chicago's public transit system? The Chicago Transit Authority is battling in violent crime and general rule-breaking. Crime in the system rose by 56% in January and Februray. Violent crime was up 24%, and property crimes more than doubled. Violent crime was also up last year compared to 2020. Most ticket issued this year and in 2021 have been for smoking on the trains. One rider says she's recently noticed more smokers. 'Why do you gotta make it difficult for other people?' she asked. Homelessness advocates have also noticed an increase in people sleeping on the train, probably due to the lower number of beds available in shelters. City officials have announced plans to double the number of unarmed security guards and add more police officers and supervisors to patrol the system Source: Chicago Tribune Advertisement

On Friday, Adams emphasized that their collaboration will partly focus on subway crimes.

'We're going to learn from Chicago what they're doing on their El [subway] line, so that we can see best practices,' Adams said at a press conference on Friday, according to New York magazine.

'We're going to travel throughout the country and see what others are doing. Washington D.C. [which Adams visited last week] has seen an uptick [in crime]. All over the country, we're seeing that, and we are going to put our heads together and operate as a team. How do we make our transit line safe, as well as our streets safe?

'That is the energy we are bringing. We have to work together. Cities will determine the success of America. We know that, and it's time for the federal government to know that.'

In his first months in office, Adams has announced a plan to move more officers from behind their desks and into the streets as crime surges.

On Friday, he endorsed the announcement by Chicago Police Supt. David Brown that the department would no longer require some officers to have at least 60 college credits.

'We're going to look to duplicate that in New York City,' Adams said.

Lightfoot added: 'I know we are going to be great partners in the work we are all doing to make sure our residents can live safe and vibrant lives.'

Adams said that Lightfoot, who previously served as president of the Chicago Police Board, 'clearly understands it is the combination of prevention and the intervention' that will stop crime..

'We have to turn off the faucet that is continually feeding the river of violence in our cities,' he said. 'There is a tint of racism to this.'

Along with rising crime, New York is facing staffing and safety issues at Rikers Island - its biggest jail complex where most detainees go to await trial - and a court system that is overburdened with cases and remained backed up during much of the COVID pandemic, partly because of safety restrictions.

Last week, two inmates at Rikers died while in custody.

On Thursday, inmate George Pagan, 49, died at Elmhurst Hospital around 8.30am, according to WNBC. An unidentified inmate died on Friday at the jail's Eric M. Taylor Center.

Last year, 16 inmates died, the most since 2013, as severe staffing shortages plagued the facility.

In January, there were 48 stabbing or slashings at the jail, according to a 78-page report by the federal monitor overseeing Rikers.

Violence is a frequent occurrence at Rikers Island, the jail complex where most of the city's detainees go to await trial

Last year, 16 inmates died, the most since 2013, as severe staffing shortages plagued the facility

'The first few months of 2022 have revealed the jails remain unstable and unsafe for both inmates and staff.

'The volatility and instability in the jails is due, in no small part, to unacceptable levels of fear of harm by detainees and staff alike. The Department [of Correction] is trapped in a state of persistent dysfunctionality, where even the first step to improve practice is undercut by the absence of elementary skills and the convolution of basic correctional practices and systems.  This leaves the Department at an impasse  in a place where many of the requirements of [a 2015 order by a federal court to improve conditions] are simply unattainable,' the report stated.

Homelessness is also a contributing factor to headline-grabbing crimes. In 2017, 54 percent of people leaving state prisons were released to city shelters, according to New York magazine, a pipeline that affects safety at the housing facilities as well.

Last month, the New York Police Department announced a plan to send out 658 cops assigned to non-patrol posts, like the department's press office, as part of an 'enhanced deployment strategy.'

The two-part plan will move 300 officers to the 4pm to 12am shift every night, according to two memos obtained by the New York Post, including one sent by Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell on Monday. The officers will be put on 'high visibility posts' based on crime trends.

It also calls for individual precincts to move four officers into the streets every day.
A drug lord awaiting extradition to the United States donned a prison guard's uniform and strolled out of Colombian maximum security prison Friday thanks to a '$5 million' get out of jail card.

Juan Castro, the reported 'second-in-command' of multinational Colombian cartel Gulf Clan, was caught on camera slipping out of the La Picota penitentiary in Bogota, Colombia, last week without incident.

Sporting a prison guard's uniform, he walked through seven doors, including one which was left open by National Penitentiary and Prison Institute inspector Milton Jimenez.

Jimenez was arrested without incident Friday for his alleged involvement in the scheme - and is set to appear in court Tuesday.

He could face up to 12 years in prison if he is found guilty of helping Castro escape.

Prison director Juan Gordillo, an assistant director and 55 guards have also been suspended following the brazen daylight incident.

Juan Castro, identified as the second-ranking leader within the Gulf Clan, escaped from a prison in Bogota, Colombia, on Friday. Colombian authorities suspended the prison director, an assistant director and 55 jail guards. Castro was awaiting extradition to the United States

Surveillance camera shows Colombian cartel leader Juan Castro walking through a prison door during his escape

La Picota prison (pictured) director Juan Gordillo, an assistant director and 55 guards have been suspended following the escape of Colombian cartel leader, Juan Castro

Castro's escape comes almost a month after Colombian authorities foiled a similar plot by Gulf Clan and other Mexican cartels to break Gulf Clan leader Dario Usuga out of prison and avoid his extradition to the United States.

Castro was arrested in May 2021 and faces drug trafficking and money laundering charges in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

A preliminary reported obtained by Colombian newspaper El Tiempo indicates that Castro was not in his prison cell at 11 p.m. on Thursday night.

Castro reportedly was in one of the prison complex's courtyards  where it is believed he was ironing out the details of his daring escaped  and returned to his cell approximately at 12:30 a.m.

He them changed into the jail guard's uniform and walked out of the cell accompanied by Jimenez, who led him past five monitoring points.

Colombian cartel Juan Castro may have fled from Bogota, authorities say

Gulf Clan leader Dario Usuga was arrested by Colombian security forces in October 2021 (above). He was awaiting extradition to the United States

Investigators discovered that some of the security cameras were not functioning as Castro walked towards the exit doors. One of the cameras that was working showed him looking down towards the ground to conceal his face from being detected. Castro, who was carrying a cellphone, was not ordered to identify himself at the two check-in points he passed prior leaving the jail.

Authorities stopped short of ruling out that Castro may have fled Bogota or even Colombia on an airplane.

Castro had been involved with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and several other paramilitary groups since the age of 16. He was arrested at least 12 times and twice escaped from prison.

Juan Castro had been arrested on May 7, 2021, in Santander, Colombia. He escaped from a Bogota prison on Friday

In 2018, he forged a plan that allowed him to serve the remainder of a sentence under home confinement, alleging he was very sick.

As part of a plan to get under the radar, he faked his death on December 13, 2018 and became one of the Gulf Clan's high-ranking leaders in the southern region of Narino.

Narcotics investigators discovered in 2019 that Castro had become the leader of the Cordillera Sur, a cell of the Gulf Clan.

His drug trafficking gang had alleged ties with the National Liberation Army, dissident members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, as well as the Sinaloa Cartel and Jalisco New Generation Cartel  the two most powerful criminal organizations in Mexico, who also happen to be bitter rivals.

Castro was facing homicide, extortion and illegal firearm possession charges in Colombia.

As a result of his escape, President Ivan Duque announced 'a comprehensive reform of the Colombian penitentiary and prison system' after the corruption scandals involving the National Penitentiary and Prison Institute.

At the beginning of this month, the Colombian government dismissed the head of the prisons and the director of the largest prison in the country for the unusual exit permits granted to businessman Carlos Mattos, arrested for allegedly paying bribes in a lawsuit with the South Korean automaker, Hyundai.

Mattos was seen leaving La Picota prison twice in a National Penitentiary and Prison Institute vehicle in videos obtained by television network Caracol. He was seen walking unguarded and entering a building where his office was located.

'The system cannot continue to have these behaviors without exemplary sanctions,' Duque said Friday.

The Gulf Clan is considered Colombia's largest drug-trafficking group.

The organization consists of about 1,600 fighters and is involved in the production and trafficking of cocaine, as well as illegal mining.

Colombia's government accuses the cartel of threatening and killing local activists - known as social leaders - in the country.
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol speaks during a meeting after the launch of the presidential transition team in Seoul, Friday. Joint Press Corps-Yonhap



President-elect advised to create special financial zone, fintech complex



By Lee Min-hyung



Foreign financial firms have urged the incoming administration to be led by President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol to ease complex regulatory hurdles and reduce corporate taxes to make Korea become more attractive to overseas investors.



Such views reflect a years-long controversy that platform giants such as Naver and Kakao took advantage of regulatory blind spots when expanding their financial businesses here. Existing lenders have cried foul over the rapid rise of the platform operators, saying that they would not have been able to do so if they had had to abide by the same regulations that conventional financial firms are required to follow.



For some time now, major foreign-owned financial firms have conveyed their stance regarding these issues, but have made little progress, leading to the recent exodus of overseas banks and insurers.



In November 2021, Citibank Korea decided to wind down its consumer banking business in Korea, leaving Standard Chartered Bank Korea as the only foreign lender operating retail banking services here. Overseas insurers also consider Korea to be a less attractive venue due to sluggish growth, with major players such as Allianz and Prudential selling their Korean units in recent years.



Most of them have essentially failed to overcome the tight administrative procedures and stringent regulatory requirements compared to major markets. Even those who did abide by regulations here share similar complaints and said that they may have to follow in the same footsteps as others due to declining profitability.



However, with the launch of the Yoon administration in May, officials from the industry voiced the need for the President-elect to build a more market-friendly environment, so foreign companies can actively engage in businesses here.



Foreign financial businesses advised the incoming Yoon administration to let go of some outdated administrative procedures and build a more future-oriented financial environment here.



"It is important for the new administration to improve some financial policies and tax rules on overseas financial firms and foreign officials working for them here," a ranking executive at an overseas lender said.



Last year, the Korean government imposed a corporate tax of up to 27.5 percent, which is higher than the OECD average of 22.9 percent. For this reason, many critics have long argued that it will be hard for the government to achieve its dream of building another Asian financial hub here without lowering the tax burden. In contrast, Singapore and Hong Kong levy just around a 17 percent corporate tax rate.



To drive the long-term growth of Korea's financial market, the official stressed the need for the government to map out policies with an international mindset, in order to attract more foreign capital and enhance its financial status across the globe.



"The government should adopt a strategy of building a special financial zone and fintech complex at the same time here, so both of them can generate synergies. Authorities should provide English-language documents and revise policies accordingly. This will not just help create more employment, but drive the overall growth of the fintech industry here."




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Covid cases in the UK have soared by a third in a week and daily hospital admissions have hit a two-month high, with the country's resurgence showing no signs of slowing.

Another 226,524 cases were logged on the virus dashboard today, which includes positive swabs logged over the last three days. The figure is 33 per cent higher than that recorded last Monday.

And the number of daily admissions among people infected with the virus exceeded 2,000 for the first time since mid-January (2,054). For comparison, daily hospitalisations peaked at around 2,600 during the Omicron wave in December.

But just 44 per cent of 'patients' in hospital in England are unwell with the virus, with the majority primarily under NHS care for other reasons, such as a hip or knee operation.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the data provides 'a lot of confidence that we are learning to live with Covid' and that No10 wasn't concerned about the uptick, which ministers warned was inevitable once restrictions were eased in England.

Meanwhile, 169 deaths within 28 days of a positive test were logged, an increase of a quarter in a week. Fatalities can also reflect rising infection rates because they are based on swabs.

It comes as millions of vulnerable Britons were today invited forward for a fourth dose as part of the spring booster campaign. Over-75s, care home residents and patients with weak immune systems are all on the list to get another top-up dose to bolster their immunity levels.

Vaccine numbers are going up but a shocking 50 per cent of 35-39's are still not boosted with their third dose of the vaccine

The UK's Covid outbreak is rising on all fronts. England detected 188,925 cases, while 29,678 were registered in Scotland, 2,566 in Wales and 5,355 in Northern Ireland.

Health chiefs have stopped counting infections over the weekend as part of the 'living with Covid' strategy, so the figures include all positive swabs logged with the UK Health Security Agency over the last three days.

It is the highest ever three-day figure since the recording change was brought in and is 32.5 per cent higher than the 170,985 UK-wide cases logged last Monday.

It comes after the UK's biggest surveillance study  one of the most reliable ways of measuring the outbreak  suggested 2.6million, or one in 20 people, in England were infected on any given day in the week to 12 March.

And rates reached their highest ever level in Scotland, where one in 14 people were estimated to be carrying the virus, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid gave his strongest hint yet that fifth doses would be offered this autumn

The uptick coincides with surging cases of an even more transmissible version of Omicron, named BA.2. It quickly became the dominant strain.

Ministers in England, however, say the increases were to be 'expected' following the country's 'Freedom Day' on February 24  when the final Covid measures were dumped.

Some 2,054 infected people were admitted to hospitals across the UK on Tuesday, the highest figure since January 13.

And 14,948 people with Covid were in hospitals across the four nations on Friday, the largest number since February 3.

But data from England shows just 44 per cent of the 12,000 patients in hospital are primarily there because of the virus.

The Health Secretary today confirmed to Times Radio that the majority have not been admitted because of the disease.

Mr Javid said: 'At the moment, in English hospitals we have around 11,500 people that are Covid-positive, but of those people the NHS estimates almost 60 per cent are not there because of Covid  they are there for something else.

'That might be a hip operation or something, but they happen to be Covid-positive.

'So those that are actually there for Covid is a much smaller number and so that does give us a lot of confidence that we are learning to live with Covid.'

On rising infections, he added: 'We are seeing an increase in the number of cases at the moment and indeed hospitalisations, that said the numbers are significantly below the Omicron peak.'

He insisted the Governments 'level of concern hasnt changed' despite rising Covid case numbers.

He told BBC Breakfast: 'Our level of concern hasnt changed and thats because although case numbers are rising, infections are rising and indeed hospital numbers are rising, they are still way below their peak.

'And its also important for us when we review this, understand why they are rising and that is primarily due to the increased social mixing were seeing after the countrys opened up, but also the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron which we know is on the one hand more infectious but, on the other hand, we know that our vaccines work just as well against this sub-variant.

'And so taking all that into account, of course we keep the data under review, but theres no particular cause for concern at this point.'

Mr Javid also revealed today that fifth Covid jabs could be rolled out this autumn, in the strongest hint yet that the vaccination programme will be expanded again.

Grilled this morning about whether another booster campaign was in the works, Sajid Javid claimed it was 'possible... probably for those that are 50 and over'. But he added a 'final' decision was yet to be made.

The move comes after the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommended the spring top-up as a precautionary measure.

It has now been six months since England's rollout of third shots was launched. Scotland embarked on its top-up campaign more than a week ago.

Get ready for FIFTH jabs this autumn: Sajid Javid says over-50s will 'probably' need another Covid booster this year Fifth Covid jabs could be rolled out this autumn, the Health Secretary has suggested in the strongest hint yet that the vaccination programme will be expanded again. Grilled this morning about whether another booster campaign was in the works, Sajid Javid claimed it was 'possible... probably for those that are 50 and over'. But he added a 'final' decision was yet to be made. Over-75s, care home residents and patients with weak immune systems will begin receiving invitations for a spring Covid top-up from today, in order to bolster the immunity levels of millions. If they are offered another jab in the autumn, it will be their fifth. Some immunocompromised adults will have already had five by then. Mr Javid also revealed No10's 'level of concern has not changed' over the past two weeks, despite the rise in infections and hospitalisations. He said the numbers 'are still way below their peak'. He also urged people to treat Covid like any other infectious disease, and 'behave sensibly' if they were feeling unwell or experiencing symptoms  including socialising less and staying indoors to avoid spreading the virus. He gave the advice ahead of England ending its free testing offer from next Friday. Five million Britons became eligible for second boosters today, with the first 600,000 expected to be invited this week. The move comes after the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommended the spring top-up as a precautionary measure. Advertisement

Experts expressed concern that the current uptick in cases and hospitalisations could be an early sign of waning immunity from boosters, prompting calls for 'more oomph' in the programme.

Mr Javid claimed the spring roll-out will 'top up their protection against this virus and allow them to go about their daily lives with more confidence'.

When the plans were first announced, officials claimed that it would mean some severely immunocompromised people who already had four jabs would get a fifth. The group can include blood cancer patients and transplant recipients.

It also raises the prospect that hundreds of thousands could even be offered a sixth dose this autumn, if a third round of boosters are approved.

Ministers have made no secret of plans for an annual Covid jabbing programme, which could cost in the region of 600million. It is expected that Covid vaccines could eventually be rolled out every year in a similar way to the flu jabs. These are already offered to over-50s for free every winter.

SAGE scientists have also backed the strategy, saying it will likely be part of the coronavirus' gradual transition to becoming endemic.

But other scientists have claimed a never-ending cycle of boosters might not be needed, if the virus continues to become milder over time.

As part of the strategy to live with Covid like flu, from next Friday England will no longer offer free lateral flow or PCR tests to most people.

In Scotland, the swabbing regime will end in May, while in Wales they will no longer be available at the end of July. Northern Ireland is yet to set a date.

Mr Javid urged people to take a 'common sense' approach following the end of testing.

He said: 'If you're not feeling well, if you've got the symptoms of Covid, then it's not a good idea to mix with other people  the right idea is to try to spend some time trying to stay away from others.

'(Tests) are still free, but from April 1, they won't be in terms of a universal offer  from that point we will focus our tests on those that are most vulnerable or in vulnerable settings.

'And I think that's the right way forward, post-April 1 if people have Covid symptoms, then they should just behave sensibly  like you would expect someone to really behave if they had flu symptoms in the past  and that is to socialise a bit less, stay indoors and and wait till you feel better.'

Asked if people should still get tested, even if they have to pay for it, Mr Javid added: 'I think that will be a decision for that individual. If you are someone who is vulnerable then the test will still be available for free.

He said some high street retailers were selling tests for 'something like 2 each', adding: 'So people who want to have one  even if they're not in a vulnerable group  that's an option that's still available for them.'

Mr Javid also urged Britons to start living with Covid like any other infectious disease during an interview on Good Morning Britain, saying: 'When it comes to someone that may be having to take time off work or socialising less because they believe they might be positive, that is handled in the same way that all other infectious diseases are handled.'

Vulnerable people in England will begin receiving invitations for the spring Covid booster from today. People aged 75 and over and those who are immunosuppressed have been able to book from 7am.

Local NHS teams will be contacting care homes to arrange the jab for people who are eligible and have been invited.

The NHS said it will invite people to arrange a jab through the national booking service, which can be accessed online at nhs.uk/covidvaccine or by calling 119, when it is their turn.

Nikki Kanani, GP and deputy SRO for the NHS Covid Vaccination Programme, said: 'Sadly, we are still seeing large numbers of people seriously unwell in hospital with Covid so it remains vital that those most at risk come forward when they are invited to do so.

'The response so far from the public to the largest and most successful vaccination programme in NHS history has been incredible, with more than nine in 10 people aged 75 and over getting their initial booster.

'The NHS Covid vaccination programme is once again ready to get people protected, so when you are invited please do come forward for your spring dose.'

Health chiefs are expecting high uptake of spring boosters among people aged 75 and over after 4.5 million of them had their top-up jab over autumn and winter.

The NHS said it has recruited additional call handlers for the 119 service to help people book their vaccine appointments, while hundreds of sites including community pharmacies, vaccination centres and hospital hubs will administering the booster.
Boris Johnson has returned his questionnaire to the Partygate police, but has not yet been interviewed as officers begin grilling 'key witnesses' over alleged lockdown-breaching events in Downing Street.

Officers on the Special Enquiry Team have spent the past seven weeks investigating allegations that a string if events in 2020 and 20201 broke lockdown laws.

The Metropolitan Police today revealed more than 100 questionnaires had so far been sent out to those thought to have been involved, asking about their alleged involvement.

The move came after the initial responses to the forms prompted more individuals to be identified.

No cases have yet been referred to the Acro Criminal Records Office, which processes fines, but the Met said the investigation was being handled 'as quickly as possible'.

Officers on the Special Enquiry Team have spent the past seven weeks investigating allegations that a string if events in 2020 and 20201 broke lockdown laws.

Boris Johnson (pictured today in Downing Street) has returned his questionnaire. The Metropolitan police today revealed more than 100 had so far been sent out.

A statement this afternoon said: 'Detectives investigating allegations of breaches of Covid-19 regulations in Downing Street and Whitehall have begun to interview people, as witnesses, as part of their ongoing enquiries.

'In addition to the detailed review of all available material, including returned questionnaires, detectives from the Operation Hillman investigation team have started interviewing key witnesses.

'As a result of responses so far, further individuals have been identified and questionnaires sent to them. As the investigation continues, we may need to contact more people as further information comes to light.'

Last week it was revealed the SET has been expanded, The highly specialised group originally consisted of eight senior officers.

But the Daily Mail revealed the squad has taken on more staff who will help investigate 12 gatherings in Downing Street and Whitehall that allegedly breached Covid rules.

But as the probe threatens to drag into a second month, many Tories are growing frustrated with its slow progress, given the implications for the Prime Minister and his team if they are fined.

Officers have yet to hand penalties to anyone and are still in the process of sending out questionnaires to attendees.

Boris Johnson  pictured with his aides and bottles of wine during lockdown  has returned his questionnaire.

However, the Prime Minister has not yet been interviewed in connection with the alleged gathering

The Met statement added: 'We are progressing the investigation as quickly as possible

'As yet, we have not made any referrals to the ACRO Criminal Records Office for the issuing of Fixed Penalty Notices. However, every questionnaire response is being assessed alongside all available evidence, and should this reach the evidential threshold, then referrals will be made.'
At least 12,000 students at the City University of New York have signed a petition to cancel an opera about Emmett Till, the victim of a high-profile 1955 lynching in Mississippi, saying that the school should no longer host the show because it was written by a white woman.

John Jay College of Criminal Justice student Mya Bishop created the Change.org petition in an attempt to halt the continuation of 'Emmett Till, A New American Opera' at the school's Gerald W. Lynch Theatre.

In the petition's description, she wrote that the show is all about playwright Clare Coss' 'white guilt' rather than the appalling killing of Till, 14, for allegedly flirting with a white woman.

His murder remains one of the most notorious race-hate killings in US history, and helped galvanize the era's iconic civil rights movement against racial injustice.

The show, which features black composer Mary D. Watkins' work, 'explores themes of social justice, the flaws within the justice system, white silence and allyship, racial inequality and the complexities of the human experience,' its synopsis reads.

However, Watkins hit back at the petition and labeled it, 'an insult to me as a black woman and to the company members who are African-American'.

More than 11,000 people have signed a petition created by John Jay College student Mya Bishop to end the 'Emmett Till, A New American Opera' at Gerald W Lynch Theatre

The show's playwright is Clare Coss, who was inspired to the write the opera piece after being 'impacted by the barbaric lynching of 14-year old Emmett Till in the Mississippi Delta, and the failure of justice'

But in her attempt to cancel the show, Bishop is accusing Cass of framing and filtering the production's real-life events, which took place in the 1950s, through the lenses of a 'fictional progressive white woman' - a teacher in the show.

'Clare Coss has creatively centered her white guilt by using this show to make the racially motivated brutal torture and murder of a 14-year-old child about her white self and her white feelings,' the petition reads.

Speaking on their behalf, a representative for Coss and Watkins countered Bishop's allegations, saying that the plot is actually centered around Mamie Till-Mobley, Till's mother.

Emmett Till, 14, was a black teenager who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955, after being accused of offending a white woman in her family's grocery store

The fictional white teacher 'represents the concepts of white silence and white supremacy,' Nina Flowers told The New York Post.

Coss, 87, who claims to have been impacted by Till's death in 1955 while she was a junior at Louisiana State University, also released her own statement on what made her want to work with Watkins on the opera piece.

'Mary was 15 in 1955 and I was 20, each of us deeply and differently impacted by the barbaric lynching of 14-year old Emmett Till in the Mississippi Delta, and the failure of justice,' she wrote.

'To illuminate lifelong heartfelt painMary through her profound music, me through wordsour dual partnership advanced and expanded with the artists who joined us along the way. To work with Mary Watkins is a privilege.'

Watkins echoed her theatrical partner's response to the controversy surrounding the project and slammed Bishop.

'It is very disturbing that people are condemning this piece without having seen or heard it,' she wrote.

Referring to the students signing the petition, she said: 'They have jumped on the fact that the playwright is white and assumed all kinds of things about the content of the show. Even though there are many artists of color involved in this project, the critics are assuming that we have had no impact on the final shape of the piece and that the playwright has somehow forced all of us to tell her story.'

'It is an insult to me as a Black woman and to the company members who are African-American,' she added.

Mary D. Watkins blasted the student author's reasons for starting the petition, sharing that 'it is an insult to me as a black woman and to the company members who are African-American'

The university brands itself as a 'social justice school' and its community as 'fierce advocates for justice,' according to its website.

Meanwhile, the involvement of black tenor Robert Mack in the opera has also been criticized, with the petition stating that it 'exacerbates the adultification of black children which has historically led to their brutalization.'

Representatives for Watkins and Coss did not respond to a request for comment.

CUNY John Jay College did not immediately respond to an inquiry from DailyMail.com

Tickets for the opera show, adapted from Coss' 2013 opera show 'Emmett, Down in My Heart,' are available online. Just two showings remain - on March 23 and March 24.
The owner of a war-zone mobile hospital in eastern Ukraine has told a Ukrainian TV interviewer that he has instructed his doctors to 'castrate' captured Russian soldiers.

Gennadiy Druzenko, 49, made the extraordinary remark during an interview with Ukrainian TV - saying: 'I have always been a great humanist and said that if a man is wounded, he is no longer an enemy but a patient.

'But now [I gave] very strict orders to castrate all [captured Russian] men, because they are cockroaches, not people.'

But he later clarified, saying no order to castrate prisoners had been given and that his hospital 'saves lives, period.' However, he then added on Facebook: 'We are going to kill. Not prisoners - [but] brutal b*****ds who rape my land.'

The owner of a war-zone mobile hospital in eastern Ukraine has told a broadcast that instructed his doctors to 'castrate captured Russian soldiers'

Gennadiy Druzenko, 49, pictured told Ukraine-24 channel about Russian military prisoners of war

Since 2014, some 500 doctors - male and female - have worked with Druzenko's mobile hospital.

A lawyer by training, he set up the First Voluntary Mobile Hospital which deploys civilian doctors and nurses in the conflict zone close to the separatist republics in eastern Ukraine.

He also told famous Russian TV host Yevgeny Kiselyov on the Ukraine-24 channel: 'Believe, all doctors who saved the patients - Russians will die here. Die in large numbers.

'Those who [come here] will remember their nightmare on Ukrainian soil.

'Like the Germans remember Stalingrad.'

The head of the committee Alexander Bastrykin (pictured), a former university classmate of Vladimir Putin, initiated a criminal case over his castration demand

The Russian Investigative Committee opened a criminal case into the comments, which means that if Druzenko is captured he will face trial under Russian law.

'The head of the Ukrainian Mobile Hospital project, Gennady Druzenko, called for violence against captured soldiers of the Russian Armed Forces live on a Ukrainian TV channel.

'He gave this instruction to the doctors of mobile hospitals.'

The head of the committee Alexander Bastrykin, a former university classmate of Vladimir Putin, initiated a criminal case over his castration demand which is 'contrary to the law and the norms of medical ethics.'

Druzenko is set to be put on Russia's international wanted list.
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Vladimir Putin has been accused of kidnapping nearly 2,500 Ukrainian children from Donetsk and Luhansk and 'deporting' them to Russia in scenes reminiscent of 'Nazi' transportations.

Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused Russia of 'abducting' children using 'forced displacement' and warned the alleged deportations 'are a gross violation of in particular international humanitarian law.'

It comes hours after Moscow was accused by Kyiv's intelligence agency of deporting Ukrainians to 'filtration' centres before forcibly taking them to remote Siberian towns after confiscating their phones and documents.

'Several thousand' people have so-far been taken, Mariupol city council claimed, before being processed through 'filtration camps' and sent to 'remote cities' in Russia where they will be obliged to stay for years and work for free.

The Ukrainian foreign ministry called on the international community to 'respond to the illegal removal of children' because depriving children 'of parental care puts their lives in further jeopardy in Russia' and warned 'the perpetuators of these crimes will be brought to justice'.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said before he chaired a meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers in Brussels that 'what's happening in Mariupol is a massive war crime. Destroying everything, bombarding and killing everybody in an indiscriminate manner. This is something awful'.

Russian news agencies have reported that buses carrying hundreds of refugees from the besieged southeastern port city Mariupol had arrived in Russia in recent days. Moscow officials also said a trainload of over 280 Ukrainians were being 'rescued' from Mariupol, showing footage of them thanking Russian forces.

Mariupol mayor Vadym Boichenko likened the alleged forced deportations to transportation of prisoners by the Nazi regime during World War II. Boichenko said: 'What the occupiers are doing today is familiar to the older generation, who saw the horrific events of World War II, when the Nazis forcibly captured people. It is hard to imagine that in the 21st century people can be forcibly taken to another country.'

Mariupol is in the throes of a humanitarian emergency after being encircled by Russian troops, cut off from energy, food and water supplies and facing a relentless bombardment.

Russian Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev late on Sunday demanded that Ukrainian troops and 'foreign mercenaries' in the Black Sea port Mariupol lay down their weapons and surrender in return for letting tens of thousands of civilians trapped in the heavily besieged city leave safely.

Mizintsev said those who laid down their arms and raised white flags would be allowed to leave via 'humanitarian corridors'. Civilians would then be evacuated afterwards. He gave Ukraine until 5am to respond.

Daria Morozova, of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, said that all of those who remained behind would face a military tribunal for 'all the crimes of the Ukrainian national battalions.' She said inspectors would be sent into the city once it had been 'completely cleansed' by Russian troops.

But Mariupol rejected the demands within minutes, with Pyotr Andryushenko - an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol - saying that Russian promises of amnesty could not be trusted and that troops defending the city were determined to fight down to the last man.

Vladimir Putin has been accused of kidnapping nearly 2,500 Ukrainian children from Donetsk and Luhansk and 'deporting' them to Russia in scenes reminiscent of 'Nazi' transportations (pictured, a graveyard in Mykolaiv, Ukraine)

Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused Russia of 'abducting' children using 'forced displacement' and warned the alleged deportations 'are a gross violation of in particular international humanitarian law' (pictured, Ukrainian children are evacuated by train out of the country to Europe)

City workers dig graves on public land so they can bury civilians and soldiers killed in the Russian bombardment on the city of Mariupol, in the south of Ukraine, on Sunday

Vladimir Putin has been accused of deporting Ukrainians to 'filtration' centres before forcibly taking them to remote Siberian towns after confiscating their phones and documents (pictured, civilians trapped in Mariupol are evacuated in groups under the control of pro-Russian separatists on Sunday)

A man walks along a road past a tank belonging to pro-Russian separatists troops on the outskirts of the besieged southern port city of Mariupol on Sunday

Vladimir Putin has been accused of deporting Ukrainians to 'filtration' centres before forcibly taking them to remote Siberian towns after confiscating their phones and documents (pictured, Ukrainians from Mariupol are evacuated in groups under the control of pro-Russian separatists)

Russian news agencies have reported that buses carrying hundreds of refugees from the besieged southeastern port city Mariupol had arrived in Russia in recent days (pictured, a civilian gets checked by pro-Russian separatists as he flees the besieged southeastern port city of Mariupol)

'Several thousand' people have so-far been taken, Mariupol city council claimed, before being processed through 'filtration camps'(pictured, a civilian gets checked by pro-Russian separatists as he flees the besieged southeastern port city of Mariupol)

Mariupol has been surrounded by Russian forces for two weeks, which are now trying to push into the city. If it falls, it would be the biggest city captured by Russian troops so far, and would open up a 'land corridor' from rebel-held areas of Donbass to Crimea for reinforcements to pass along

Local residents carry bottles with water as Russia's invasion continues to take a toll on Ukraine in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol

Civilians trapped in Mariupol city under Russian attacks, are evacuated in groups under the control of pro-Russian separatists, through other cities, in Mariupol, Ukraine on March 20

Pro-Russian separatists gave directions to civilians trying to escape the heavily bombarded city of Mariupol

Pro-Putin soldiers were wrapped up against the cold as they allowed civilians to leave Mariupol on Sunday, March 20

Pro-Russian separatists seemed to be carrying out strip-searches on some of the fleeing Ukrainian civilians in Mariupol on Sunday

Civilians trapped in the besieged southeastern city of Mariupol, which is under Russian attacks, are evacuated in groups under the control of pro-Russian separatists on Sunday

Mariupol is in the throes of a humanitarian emergency after being encircled by Russian troops, cut off from energy, food and water supplies and facing a relentless bombardment (pictured, civilians flee the city on Sunday)

Mariupol officials have rejected the demands for troops to lay down their weapons in exchange for an amnesty, with Pyotr Andryushenko, an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, saying that Russian promises of amnesty could not be trusted and that troops defending the city were determined to fight down to the last man

Feared Chechen special forces are fighting house-to-house in besieged Mariupol while 'hundreds' of women and children remain trapped in the rubble of a city theatre destroyed by Russian invaders

Video released by pro-Putin Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov shows heavily armed fighters from the region pounding a high-rise building in the bombed-out city during a fierce gunfight with Ukrainian soldiers

The propaganda video then cuts before showing some of the Chechen fighters emerging from the building with children in their arms while supposedly 'liberating' civilians

Here's how YOU can help: Donate here to the Mail Force Ukraine Appeal Readers of Mail Newspapers and MailOnline have always shown immense generosity at times of crisis. Calling upon that human spirit, we are supporting a huge push to raise money for refugees from Ukraine. For, surely, no one can fail to be moved by the heartbreaking images and stories of families  mostly women, children, the infirm and elderly  fleeing from the bombs and guns. As this tally of misery increases over the coming days and months, these innocent victims of this conflict will require accommodation, schools and medical support. Donations to the Mail Force Ukraine Appeal will be used to help charities and aid organisations providing such essential services. In the name of charity and compassion, we urge all our readers to give swiftly and generously. TO MAKE A DONATION ONLINE Donate at www.mailforcecharity.co.uk/donate To add Gift Aid to a donation  even one already made  complete an online form found here: mymail.co.uk/ukraine Via bank transfer, please use these details: Account name: Mail Force Charity Account number: 48867365 Sort code: 60-00-01 TO MAKE A DONATION VIA CHEQUE Make your cheque payable to 'Mail Force' and post it to: Mail Newspapers Ukraine Appeal, GFM, 42 Phoenix Court, Hawkins Road, Colchester, Essex CO2 8JY TO MAKE A DONATION FROM THE US US readers can donate to the appeal via a bank transfer to Associated Newspapers or by sending checks to dailymail.com HQ at 51 Astor Place (9th floor), New York, NY 10003 Advertisement

Mariupol city hall official Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Sunday that residents of areas under Russian control were being sent to 'filtration camps' and that Moscow's men were 'checking their phones and seizing their Ukrainian documents'.

The Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine on Sunday said that 2,973 people have been evacuated from Mariupol since March 5, including 541 over the last 24 hours.

US ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told CNN the deportation accounts were 'disturbing' and 'unconscionable' if true but that Washington had not confirmed them.

Thomas-Greenfield added: 'To force people from Ukraine to go into Russia is abolsutel unacceptable; it's unconscionable. It's something we need to confirm, but I don't put it past the Russians to take such a horrific action. That would be another escalation, but not beyond the realm of possibility given horrible' Russian pressure on Mariupol has been.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss condemned the 'abduction and deportation' of Ukrainians from the besieged city of Mariupol, in a move that has been likened to Nazi Germany. She said she was 'appalled' by the reports and vowed for Putin to be 'held to account' for his treatment of civilians during the invasion.

Meanwhile Russia's offer of an amnesty was made just hours after a Russian missile strike hit a school sheltering some 400 people, though there was no immediate word on casualties. Last week, Russia had bombed a theatre in the city being used to shelter children - potentially trapping hundreds of people in underground bomb shelters. There is still no word on casualties from that strike either.

Following Russia's offer of an amnesty in Mariupol, Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk called on Russia to stop 'wasting time on eight pages of letters'. She said Moscow should open humanitarian corridors for civilians to leave the city instead of using them as bargaining chips.

Vereshchuk told news outlet Ukrainska Pravda: 'There can be no talk of any surrender, laying down of arms. We have already informed the Russian side about this.' Mizintsev warned of a 'humanitarian catastrophe' that will be faced by all those who remain behind after Moscow's deadline for surrender elapsed.

Russia and Ukraine have made agreements throughout the war on humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians, but have accused each other of frequent violations of those.

Meanwhile on Friday feared Chechen special forces are fighting house-to-house in besieged Mariupol while 'hundreds' of women and children remain trapped in the rubble of a city theatre destroyed by Russian invaders.

Video said to have been released by pro-Putin Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov shows heavily armed fighters from the region pounding a high-rise building in the bombed-out city during a fierce gunfight with Ukrainian soldiers.

The propaganda video then cuts before showing some of the Chechen fighters emerging from the building with children in their arms while supposedly 'liberating' civilians. The footage emerged as hundreds of people were still feared trapped under the rubble of a theatre in the devastated city. Evacuees have also told of the 'hell' they have been subjected to at the hands of Putin's men.

Refugees walk along a road as they leave the city during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the besieged southern port of Mariupol, Ukraine

Bodies of civilians killed during the Russian bombardment of Mariupol are laid out in a park as they await burial by soldiers defending the city, on Sunday

Local residents take cover as they hear blasts during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol

'Horror' in Mariupol: A survivor's account Svitlana Zlenko, who said she left the city with her son on Tuesday this week: 'Yesterday we left Mariupol under the shelling at our own risk, stayed the night in the field, in the gray zone, did not make it to the curfew, there was frost outside, thank God we are alive. They are alive to scream that everyone who stayed in Mariupol needs help. This is not a city of hero, this is a city of fear, death and horror. !!!!!! We did not have a humanitarian convoy, no one took us out, there is no city administration in the city, we ran after cars under shelling, united into columns, glued the inscriptions children on the cars. I personally put my own son in the car to the sound of a flying shell in the next yard. No one saved us, we saved ourselves and God. There is no connection in the city, no water, gas, ambulance, people with torn limbs bleed in the yards and no help, and these are peaceful people, our acquaintances and relatives. The dead are just caught on the spot, and the relatives can't find them later. Most often, this happens when searching for water, queues at wells or while cooking soup on a fire. !!!! Yes, we were collecting snow, melting it on a campfire and cooking pasta. My family was in the refuge of high school number two, three days ago a shell flew there, knocked out part of the windows, a woman in her hip was wounded with a scint, she was lying on the first floor of the high school all night and prayed to give her poison so that she would not feel pain, there is no one to take her to the hospital. Every day and every night there are fireworks, whistles, shaking walls and the horror of 'where will it fly' The survivor part of the 3rd city hospital works heroically, they are operating, they are saving. this woman was taken by a red cross within a day, may God grant her all is well. Two shells flew into my entrance, two into my yard, and the same man ripped off his leg with the same shell. My mother Angela and three brothers Roman (16 years old), Vasya (11 years old) Vladislav stayed in the city center for 9 years, at home on the fifth floor. Mother-in-law Lyubov and mother-in-law Anatoly on the ninth floor, opposite the Moscow State University, where the houses to the 9th floor are cut with shackles. There are almost no shelters in the city, there are not enough, no bunkers with ventilation, at best ground floors, my mom's house has no one. People need to be taken out, women, children, elderly people, give them buses, green corridor, make an agreement!! I pray for the loved ones, every Mariupolian and Ukrainian soldier. The enemy came to us and left us no choice, but there is nothing more valuable than human life. It needs to end!!!!!! No food, no medicine, if there is no snow with such urban fights, people will not be able to go out of water, people have no water left. Pharmacies, grocery stores - everything is robbed or burned, the dead are not taken out, the police recommends to the relatives of those who died of a natural death, to open the windows and lay the bodies on the balcony, and then take them to the house of prayer. I know you think you understand, but you will never understand unless you were there. Now I can hear the sound of sirens and I'm not afraid because in Mariupol there was no power for 16 days and when planes were dropping bombs on us, we couldn't even know it. I beg everyone to stop this!!!!!! If tanks protect the city standing in front of residential houses with people who then burn, then they are not protecting people. I do not understand war strategies, I pray with all my heart for Ukraine, but I do not understand why they destroy my relatives and my city. I don't know what will happen next, but I pray that this will not happen again in any of the cities of Ukraine and the world, and with no family and mother. A girl who gave birth to a baby in the hospital, where a shell flew in, pregnant, died in the same hospital, failed to give life, mother shaking in fear, covering her son in the hallway of each entrance to the sound of shaking windows, walls and flying shell, old man and, left without a chance to survive, wounded civilians, dying in the streets fighting. They show you how houses burn, but they don't show you how people burn. I need to burn myself to make you believe this shouldn't continue!!!!??? I beg you to stop this. And let your heart choose life This 21 day changed everyone, everything changed, so much now doesn't matter and costs nothing, only if everyone left in the Mariupol hell wouldn't shake in fear and horror Praying for the people of Mariupol.' Advertisement

Russian troops had by Friday reached Mariupol city centre and civilians remain hiding in bunkers while fighters battle on the streets. Mariupol Mayor adym Boichenko said: 'Tanks and machine gun battles continue. There's no city centre left. There isn't a small piece of land in the city that doesn't have signs of war.

Nick Osychenko, the CEO of a Mariupol TV station, said that as he fled the city with six members of his family, aged between 4 and 61, he saw dead bodies on nearly every block.

'We were careful and didn't want the children to see the bodies, so we tried to shield their eyes,' he said. 'We were nervous the whole journey. It was frightening, just frightening.'

Serhiy Taruta, a Ukrainian politician, said that around 130 people had been rescued from the theatre but hundreds of others are unaccounted for - possibly buried under rubble in one part of the bomb shelter, and cannot be evacuated because rescue services have been destroyed by Russian troops.

'No one understands. Services that are supposed to help are demolished, rescue and utility services... are physically destroyed. A lot of doctors have been killed. This means that all the survivors of the bombing will either die under the ruins of the theater, or have already died,' he wrote on Facebook.

Dmytro Gurin, a Ukrainian MP from Mariupol, told the BBC that some people have managed to evacuate but that others are trapped in the shelter and rescuers are struggling to reach them because Russian troops continue to shell it. A rescue mission is underway, he insisted.

Meanwhile survivors of the siege who managed to flee described the city as 'hell', saying that people are being left to bleed or burn to death in the streets because doctors cannot reach them and hospitals have been destroyed, with the bodies covered by a thin layer of soil in makeshift burials.

Svitlana Zlenko, who said she left the city with her son on Tuesday last week, described how she spent days sheltering in a school building - melting snow to cook pasta to eat while living in constant terror of Russian bombs which flew overhead 'every day and every night'.

She described how a bomb hit the school last week, wounding a woman in the hip with a piece of shrapnel. 'She was lying on the first floor of the high school all night and prayed for poison so that she would not feel pain,' Svitlana said. '[She] was taken by the Red Cross within a day, I pray to God she is well.'

She added: 'There is no food, no medicine, if there is no snow with such urban fights, people will not be able to go out to get water, people have no water left. Pharmacies, grocery stores - everything is robbed or burned.

'The dead are not taken out. Police recommend to the relatives of those who died of a natural death, to open the windows and lay the bodies on the balcony. I know you think you understand, but you will never understand unless you were there. I pray that this will not happen again in any of the cities of Ukraine, or of the world.'

Russia kept up its bombardment of other Ukrainian cities on Monday, hitting a shopping mall and several apartments in the capital Kyiv in the early hours - reducing the former to rubble. Bombings in the surrounded city of Sumy also hit an ammonia plant, sparking an evacuation.

A huge explosion has rocked a shopping centre in Kyiv as rescuers pulled bloodied victims from the rubble as police said at least eight people had been killed amid fears dozens of others were missing on Sunday night.

The blast smashed the sprawling 'Retroville' mall and was so powerful it pulverised vehicles in its car park - leaving a massive crater - as well as bodies scattered in the carnage.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko this morning said it was one of several bombs to be dropped on the city overnight, with others flattening homes. Offices and a gym were also hit.

Rescuers were continuing to trawl through the chaos this morning as they desperately searched for any more survivors of the latest horror attack to rock Ukraine.

Russian forces have increasingly resorted to long-range rocket strikes as their army has stalled. Heavy fighting continues to the north of Kyiv, Britain's Ministry of Defence said Monday, but advances from the north-east have been halted. Attackers in the north-west have been 'repulsed by fierce Ukrainian resistance', the ministry added.

Capturing Kyiv remains the 'primary objective' of Russia's invasion and Putin's men are 'likely to prioritise attempting to encircle the city over the coming weeks', the ministry added.

Klitschko said on his Telegram channel: 'According to the information we have at the moment, several homes and one of the shopping centers [were hit].' He said 'rescuers, medics and police are already in place' and reported 'at this time - one victim'. It is unclear if he referred to a fatality or injury.

In another post, he said: 'Rescuers are extinguishing a large fire in one of the shopping centers in the Podolsk district of the capital. All services - rescue, medics, police - work on site. The information is being clarified.'

The burnt-out mall was still smoking on Monday morning. All of its south side had been destroyed, as well as a fitness centre in its car park. Twisted bits of metal and other debris were strewn across the area for hundreds of metres, as firefighters and soldiers searched the devastation for victims.

'Enemy shelling' had caused fires on several floors and set several cars ablaze, emergency services said on Facebook. They released security camera footage showing a massive explosion and a mushroom cloud, followed by a series of smaller blasts.

Firefighters pulled at least one man covered in dust from the twisted debris, according to more video released by the emergency services. Soldiers cordoned off the site and told journalists to move back, warning of danger from unexploded munitions without elaborating further.

Neighbours in a housing block whose windows were shattered by the blast said they had seen a mobile rocket launcher near the mall for several days previously.

At least 902 civilians have been killed and 1,459 wounded in Ukraine as of midnight on March 19, the UN human rights office said.

A huge explosion has rocked a shopping centre in Kyiv as rescuers pulled bloodied victims from the rubble as police said at least eight people had been killed amid fears dozens of others were missing on Sunday night

The blast smashed the sprawling 'Retroville' mall and was so powerful it pulverised vehicles in its car park - leaving a massive crater - as well as bodies scattered in the carnage

Rescuers work at the site of the shopping mall damaged by an airstrike, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv this morning

Firefighters put out the fire at the wreckage of a damaged shopping mall in Podilskyi district of Kyiv following Russian airstrikes overnight on Sunday

Firefighters work at the site of a bombing at a shopping center in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, after it was hit by a Russian missile strike

Ukrainian firefighters and servicemen search for people under debris inside a shopping center after bombing in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Monday

At least six people were killed in the overnight bombing of a shopping centre in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, on Monday (pictured, a Ukrainian service member searches through the rubble for survivors)

Destroyed cars are seen at the site of a military strike on a shopping center in the Podilskyi district of Kyiv early on Monday

Ukrainian servicemen carry a body at the site of a military strike on a shopping center in the Podilskyi district of Kyiv as they search for survivors on Monday morning

CCTV has captured an explosion near a shopping centre in the Podilskyi district of Kyiv late on Sunday night

Up to 1,200 people are thought to have been using the theatre as a shelter when Russian bombs struck and completely destroyed it - despite signs saying 'children' being clearly visible outside

Rescuers are trying to dig through the rubble to get to the bomb shelters, but the city's mayor warns the building is still being shelled meaning work is slow and 'very, very dangerous'

Hundreds of people are feared to be trapped in the underground bomb shelters of Mariupol theatre which was destroyed by a Russian airstrike on Wednesday evening

Service members of pro-Russian troops are seen atop of tanks during Ukraine-Russia conflict on the outskirts of the besieged southern port city of Mariupol
Russian protester Marina Ovsyannikova has been accused of being a spy who 'spoke to the British embassy in Moscow' shortly before she interrupted a live news broadcast on the country's main state channel.

The 43-year-old journalist gained international attention when she walked behind a news presenter with a stunning anti-war TV message that said 'Stop the war. Dont believe propaganda. Theyre lying to you'.

The claim came from Kirill Kleymenov, deputy general director of Channel One and a top presenter, who called out her 'betrayal' and implied she was a 'traitor'.

He suggested she had consorted with British diplomats in her dramatic statement against Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine.

The former Russian Channel One editor Marina Ovsyannikova, who held an anti-war poster on Russian TV (pictured), has been accused of being a British spy by a Russian news host

Ovsyannikova (pictured) was accused of speaking with the British embassy based in Moscow before her live on-air protest by her former boss Kirill Kleymenov

Kirill Kleymenov (pictured) said Ovsyannikova had betrayed her country and called her a traitor, although he did not provide any evidence to back up his claims she was in contact with the British embassy

'Prior to [going on air with her anti-war poster], according to our information, Marina Ovsyannikova spoke with the British embassy,' said Kleymenov.

'Which one of you was on the phone with a foreign embassy?'

Ovsyannikova carried a poster and walked in on Russia's most-watched news show and told viewers 'They're lying to you here' and 'Stop the War!'

Her boss at the channel, Kleymenov, hit back: 'Emotional impulse is one thing.

'But betrayal is something else.'

He alleged in her TV stunt she betrayed her country 'and at the same time all of us, people with whom he has worked side by side for almost 20 years'.

Ovsyannikova was fined just $210 by a court over the protest - sparking fears that more punishment could still await her

'She betrays coldly, prudently, for a firmly agreed [financial] bonus - by the way, so as not to lose her previous one.

'The woman with the poster timed the action exactly to receive her next salary payment - so betrayal is always one's personal choice.'

He went on: 'It is necessary to call things by their proper names.

'Otherwise, if the famous action for 30 pieces of silver coins were called an impulse of the soul, the history of the world would be different.

'Just in case, I wish everyone good health.

'To all without exception. Even traitors. They have to continue to live with this burden.'

The mother-of-two also said she was unsure she would be able to go through with the protest until the last moment, having to bypass several layers of security to get in front of the cameras

Kleymenov provided no further evidence of British involvement, or his accusation that she was paid for the stunt.

The accusation comes amid a collapse in relations between Britain - along with other Western countries - and Russia over Putin's invasion of sovereign Ukraine.

Ovsyannikova turned down an offer of political asylum in France but may face criminal charges in Moscow.

The British embassy is understood to have no record of any phone call with Ovsyannikova.
Joe Rogan has chastised liberal media outlets for creating a false 'narrative' surrounding Hunter Biden's lost laptops, after it was revealed incriminating text messages, photos and financial documents found on the devices were authentic.

During a Saturday airing of The Joe Rogan Experience, Rogan called out journalists for suppressing the story, first reported by The New York Post and DailyMail.com in the weeks before the 2020 election. He spoke days after The New York Times finally admitted Hunter Biden's laptop was real, having haughtily dismissed the story as 'misinformation' in the run-up to last year's White House contest.

'This is the problem that I had with the New York Post article and the Hunter Biden laptop being suppressed,' Rogan told guest, former CIA officer and security expert Mike Baker on air during the podcast.

'Its not that Im a Trump supporter,' Rogan first disclaimed. 'I didnt vote for him, Ive never voted for any Republican in my life.'

He continued: 'Youre looking at something thats real information, and youre hiding it from people cause you dont like the result you think is going to come out of that information.

'That's not how we're supposed to be doing things.'

Joe Rogan criticized the media for creating a 'narrative' over Hunter Biden's lost laptops, after it was revealed incriminating content on the computers were real

The Post broke the story of the contents of the first of three 'misplaced' laptops belonging to Biden in October 2020, which came into computer repairman John Paul Mac Isaac's possession after an 'inebriated' Biden brought it in for repairs to his Delaware shop in April 2019 and never picked it back up.

Files found in Biden's personal computer included emails showing shady business dealings by the current US president's son with foreign officials, and texts that showed him repeatedly using the 'N-word' and accidentally overpaying a prostitute $25,000 from an account linked to his dad.

It also uncovered a 2015 effort by Biden to set up a meeting between Vadym Pozharskyi, an adviser at a Ukrainian energy firm, and his father, then-vice President Joe Biden, and other instances of the scion looking to cash in on his family connections.

After the Post broke the story of the laptop's contents, mainstream outlets - such as the left-leaning New York Times and Bezos-owned Washington Post - largely shied away from reporting on the topic, deeming it to be unproven 'misinformation.'

Speaking with former CIA officer and security expert Mike Baker on Saturday's Joe Rogan Experience, the podcaster tore into left-leaning outlets for initially dismissing reports on the laptop's contents as misinformation

Social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook also censored initial reports concerning the contents of the laptop, with the platforms similarly categorizing reports on the computer, which were made public after Mac Isaac alerted feds of the computer's existence.

'They dont just love a story, they love a narrative,' Rogan, 54, said of mainstream outlet's silence over the scandal, which has since began to garner mainstream coverage after the laptop - as well as two others also bearing incriminating, embarrassing content - were confirmed to belong to Biden.

'Theyre willing to ignore facts to push that narrative,' Rogan told Baker, 60, who now serves as a national correspondent for The Times.

'Thats what scares me. What scares me is I think there are objective journalists that work for the Washington Post and The New York Times and theres real solid journalists out there, but I dont necessarily know if youre getting all of the information.

'I think its safe to say that some f*ckery is afoot,' the former Fear Factor host said.

Files found in Biden's personal computers included emails showing shady business dealings by the current US president's son with foreign officials, and photos of him nude and doing drugs with purported prostitutes

The Times last week published a story that served as an abrupt-about face on its stance concerning coverage of the story, which contains allegations of corruption, adultery, fraud against the president's second-eldest son.

In the report, The Times conceded that it had authenticated some emails found on Biden's laptop.

According to the paper, the investigation involved 'a cache of files that appears to have come from a laptop abandoned by Mr. Biden in a Delaware repair shop.'

'The email and others in the cache were authenticated by people familiar with them and with the investigation,' The Times reported.

Saturday, Rogan tore into both The Times and Hunter's father, President Joe Biden, who famously and repeatedly denounced reports regarding the laptops as untrue, of knowingly deceiving the American public with what they knew to be a 'lie.'

'The New York Times, just now, is admitting the Hunter Biden laptop is real,' the UFC commentator said of The Times' report.

'We remember from the debates with Trump bringing it up to Biden, and Biden saying its bullsh*t.

'Its a lie,' Rogan went on to declare. 'Its a flat-out lie. Everybody knew it was a lie.'

The host then remarked how Twitter locked The Post out of its platform for seven days in October 2020 sharing its report, detailing the incriminating emails and photos allegedly found on the first of Bidens laptops.

Newly unearthed emails show Hunter's father, President Joe Biden, did indeed meet with his son's Russian, Ukrainian and Kazakhstani business associates while he was vice president after Hunter organized a dinner for them in April 2015

Emails on Hunter's abandoned laptop, obtained by DailyMail.com in 2021, revealed how Joe Biden's son and his colleagues leveraged their US government connections and plotted a propaganda campaign for the grafting Romanian tycoon.

The FBI obtained the device from Mac Isaac sometime in 2020, and found that the Case ID on the receipt from the Delaware man's shop linked Biden to transactional money laundering investigations.

Mac Isaac was reportedly harassed after The Post's reports of the laptop's contents went public.

The laptop, however, was just one of three owned by Biden that have come out of his possession and contained sensitive information.

Each hold sensitive information on Biden's father, and embarrassing - and in many cases, incriminating - photographs, videos and communications sent by Hunter himself.

The second was seized by federal agents in October, shortly after reports first surfaced regarding the contents of the first, a 2015 MacBook Pro, and a third, which is still missing, taken by Russian drug dealers after they partied with Biden in Vegas, he told a prostitute in a conversation caught on camera.

Leaked from the third laptop, is footage of a naked Biden seemingly doing drugs with an also nude prostitute in a Las Vegas hotel room.

The alleged incident would mean Hunter lost a total of three computers, each likely to hold sensitive information on President Joe Biden

After filming himself having sex with the woman using his laptop in January 2019, Hunter left the camera rolling as he recounted a Vegas bender in which he spent '18 days going round from penthouse suite to penthouse suite,' sometimes costing $10,000 a night.

'I spent f***ing crazy amounts of money,' Hunter said. 'I was with these guys. The one guy was, not like you anyway each night he'd be like 'there's going to be so many people here, crazy f***ing party' and each night it's nobody.'

Biden claimed Russian drug dealers stole the laptop for blackmail while he was close to overdosing in the Las Vegas hotel room, DailyMail.com revealed last year.

Biden's claims raise the possibility that he was targeted as a vulnerable conduit to his father, as part of a foreign intelligence operation.

The Wilmington, Delaware computer repair shop where a reportedly 'inebriated' Biden left the first laptop, which was later handed over by the shop's owner to the FBI. The owner was reportedly harassed after The New York Post's reports of the laptop's contents went public

A December 2018 text message exchange found on the laptop obtained by DailyMail.com shows Hunter asking corporate attorney George Mesires: 'How much money do I owe you. Becaause (sic) n***a you better not be charging me Hennessy rates'

In another exchange the following month, Hunter flippantly addressed Messires as 'n***a' again and cracked jokes saying 'I only love you because you're black' during a seemingly somber conversation

Under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), anyone advocating for foreign entities to US government officials, or acting as a publicist for a foreign entity in the US, must add themselves to a Department of Justice public register.

However, an exception applies for attorneys representing a client in a foreign court case, who are not required to register under FARA.

Emails from the first computer show Hunter's colleagues, partners in law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, Christopher Boies and Michael Gottlieb, seeking to set up meetings with the US Ambassador to Romania, after discussing among themselves whether he would intervene in Popoviciu's case.

Hunter brought in political heavyweight and family friend Louis Freeh, the former director of the FBI, to use his US law enforcement contacts for Popoviciu's advantage, and was offered a referral fee as a result.

Louis Freeh, the former director of the FBI and close family friend of the Bidens

Hunter and his colleagues also discussed a media campaign, including to major U.S. publication the Wall Street Journal, to support their client who was later found guilty of bribery.

None of them were required to register for this work under FARA, due to various exemptions including those for lawyers of foreign defendants.

The FOIA also seeks information on Rudy Giuliani, who was dispatched by former President Trump to dig up dirt on Hunter Biden's business relationships with Ukraine.

Giuliani tipped off the New York Post about the bombshell Hunter Biden laptop.

In 2020, Senate Republicans investigated Hunter Biden's $50,000-a-month seat on the board of Ukrainian energy firm Burisma, then mired in corruption, while his father helped shape policy toward Kiev.

The matter was at the center of former President Trump's first impeachment - Trump had pressured Ukrainian officials to investigate Hunter's business dealings. Giving the appearance of a conflict of interest, Hunter's board seat alarmed some State Department officials.

The elder Biden leveraged $1 billion in aid to Ukraine to force the country to fire prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who was investigating Burisma at the time. But the then-vice president's office said the U.S. wanted Shokin gone because he was not investigating corruption among the country's politicians.

But while the investigation found no evidence that Biden as vice president improperly manipulated policy in favor of his son, it did discover that Biden the younger abused his connections and engaged in suspicious - and in many instances, illegal - behavior

But while the investigation found no evidence that Biden as vice president improperly manipulated policy in favor of his son, it did discover that Biden the younger abused his connections and engaged in suspicious - and in many instances, illegal - behavior.

The Republicans' investigation also found that Hunter had received massive sums of money - some in the seven-figure range - from foreigners in China, Russia and elsewhere while his father was in office.

Politico reports that the FOIA request threatens to revive an old feud between the Biden White House and the Times' money and influence reporter Ken Vogel, who has spearheaded coverage of the president's son.

Then-deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield wrote to the Times' executive editor Dean Bacquet and accused Vogel of 'egregious journalistic malpractice.'

Then-rapid response director Andrew Bates has also sparred with Vogel on Twitter.

'SCOOP from Philadelphia: KEN VOGEL (@kenvogel) is a COWARD,' Bates tweeted in Feb. 2020.

The laptop, one of three to be 'lost' by Biden, contained embarrassing - and in some cases, incriminating - pictures, videos and communications of the president's son

Bates claimed that Vogel's report on Hunter Biden's Ukraine dealings in May 2019 'for the first time amplified this misinformation campaign into the mainstream.'

Emails found on the laptop pointed to an effort by Hunter to set up a meeting in 2015 between Vadym Pozharskyi, an adviser at a Ukrainian energy firm. The FBI had since seized the laptop from the Delaware computer repair shop owner, who says Hunter dropped it off to him in 2019 and never came to retrieve it.

In an article on reporting on the Federal Election Commission's decision that Twitter had not violated election law in restricting sharing of the Post piece, the Times initially called the Post report 'unsubstantiated.' Later in the day, the September 2021 report was quietly updated to remove the word 'unsubstantiated.'

The Biden campaign at the time denied the meeting between the then-candidate and Ukrainian officials ever took place, saying it was not on his official calendar.

Emails found on the laptop pointed to an effort by Biden to set up a meeting in 2015 between Vadym Pozharskyi, an adviser at a Ukrainian energy firm

Meanwhile, mainstream left-leaning media outlets were silent when Dailymail.com revealed text messages, exchanged in late 2018 and 2019, recovered from Hunter's laptop showing him repeatedly using the n-word in conversations with his white lawyer George Messires.

The salacious and embarrassing texts were revealed in June 2021.

The president's son joked in a January 2019 text to corporate attorney George Mesires about a 'big penis', and said to the lawyer: 'I only love you because you're black' and 'true dat n***a'.

In another text a month earlier he wrote to the Chicago lawyer saying: 'how much money do I owe you. Becaause (sic) n***a you better not be charging me Hennessy rates.'

The laptop's contents showed instances of Biden looking to cash in on his family connections, such as these correspondences between him and WFP USA founder Rick Leach and Kazakhstan banker Marc Holtzman

Mesires replied: 'That made me snarf my coffee.'

Hunter added: 'That's what im saying ni', cutting off the racial slur mid-word, then texted a picture to Mesires.

The picture was not downloaded on Hunter's laptop, from which the text exchange was recovered by DailyMail.com.

But Mesires replied: 'Why are you so tan?'

'I'm sorry for sexting you accidentally that was meant for another friend named Georgia,' Hunter replied.

Liberal-leaning media outlets were again silent when texts obtained by DailyMail.com and the New York Post revealed that Hunter had allegedly overpaid an escort by $25,000 during a drug-filled bender at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles, from which texts show he was later banned for drug use after the hotel found a whole in the wall of a room where he had stayed.

Secret Service agents showed up at his door to tell him the card he'd used was linked to his father, according to the texts.

The United States' most popular left-leaning publications and news networks  including The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN and MSNBC  made no mention of the story in the days after it was broken by the Post, and confirmed by DailyMail.com.
A Metropolitan Police officer accused of raping and sexually assaulting two female colleagues told a 'crying' woman that 'the only reason I f*** you from behind is so that I don't have to look at your face', a misconduct hearing has been told.

The sergeant, known only as Former Officer A, is also alleged to have subjected both women to physical assaults between 2013 and 2017.

The first woman, who cannot be named, made a formal complaint regarding abuse in December 2017.

Andrew Waters, counsel for the Appropriate Authorities, said there was a degree of similarity between his alleged behaviour with both women.

Setting out the alleged offences against the first woman, Mr Waters said: 'On 30 October, 2013, she alleged that he had assaulted her after they had had a heated argument.

She couldnt recall how the argument had begun but said that he had locked her in a bedroom, that he had screamed at her face and that he had grabbed her.

He had done all of that before dragging her to the corridor.'

New Scotland Yard, the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service, in London. The former officer was a sergeant within the force before his resignation

Two neighbours subsequently made a call to Essex Police, who attended the scene and recorded it as a non-crime domestic incident.

The former officer accepts there was an argument, but denies assault and instead alleges he was slapped.

The next allegation is of both vaginal and anal rape in either January or February 2014, the panel heard.

Mr Waters continued: She had told the officer that she did not want sexual intercourse to which he responded, the only reason I f*** you from behind is so that I dont have to look at your face".

[She] says shed been crying throughout the sex and the officer would have seen.

[The officers] response is that he did not engage with [her] without her consent.

The second victim, also a serving police officer, first made a complaint of abuse in October 2017.

At the beginning of the hearing, Mr Waters advised the misconduct panel to keep their eyes open to the issue of credibility as this is a case of her words against his, referencing a 'very substantial divide' between their respective accounts.

The former police sergeant allegedly raped the second woman in either late 2015 or early 2016 in the living room of his home, the panel heard.

Mr Waters added: [He] penetrated her with his fingers before undressing her and walking her to the dining room.

She says that she was stiff, wanting it to be over and she alleged that [he] bent her over the table and had vaginal sex with her from behind.

When he had finished, he is alleged to have asked: That wasnt right was it?', suggesting that he recognised the sex was not consensual.

However, he denies any non-consensual sex and claims to have said something along the lines of, that wasnt the best - in reference to his own performance.

The former officer is also accused of a series of assaults, the first of which relates to an argument following a New Years Eve party in 2014.

Mr Waters said he had hit the woman 'around the head with a whisky bottle'.

He accepts that theyd gone out to a pub that night for New Years Eve. He accepts that there was an argument initiated, he says, over a barmaid at the pub.

They walked back to her house. He says, in essence trying to get away from him, she crossed a road and jumped over a wall into a nearby park. He persuaded her to come back over the wall onto the correct side.

He accepts that he says he was going to have a drink and picked up a bottle of scotch. His account is that she lunged towards him and he put his hands up instinctively to protect himself and to stop her.

He says he doesnt know for sure but he accepts that the bottle of whiskey that was in his hands may have made contact with her but he says categorically he didnt hit her.

He also assaulted the woman in a car park of the Jack Brown Patrol Base, east London, the hearing was told.

Mr Waters continued: An argument escalated between them and she alleged that [he] ran at her, grabbed her throat and pushed her onto the car.

She alleged that he grabbed her jaw and that he jumped onto her car bonnet...

He denies that there was any assault at all and instead alleges that, following an argument, she got into the car and started to drive forward very slowly, nudging him.

The officer said he stood with his back to the car as he wanted her to stop and believed this might be the safest position in case she pulled away.

The final assault allegation dates back to August 8, 2017, after one of the former officers counselling sessions had made him angry after he was diagnosed with depression, said Mr Waters.

Former Officer A is also accused of two instances of damaging property. The first is at Jack Brown Patrol Base where he is accused of throwing his radio into the wall, causing a large hole.

The second is following an argument at a birthday party when he is said to have smashed framed family photos, leaving glass on the floor.

He denies both allegations, claiming he accidentally knocked a single photo frame onto the floor, broke it and swept up the pieces.

The former sergeant is accused of breaching the standards of professional behaviour in relation to discreditable conduct and that his actions brought discredit on the police force and/or undermined public confidence in it.

It is alleged that these matters amount to gross misconduct, which is so serious that dismissal would be justified.

The former officer was granted anonymity for the duration of the hearing by the legally qualified chair overseeing proceedings.

This will be reviewed if the allegations are found proven.

The hearing, expected to conclude on April 4, continues on Tuesday.
Russia has banned Facebook and Instagram for 'extremist activities' after prosecutors claimed social media giant Meta was posing fake news about the war with Ukraine.

The Tverskoy District Court has fulfilled a request from prosecutors to outlaw Meta Platforms in the country, accusing it of ignoring government requests to remove material about the ongoing conflict and calls for protests in Russia.

The courts ruling bans Meta from opening offices and doing business in Russia.

Prosecutors have not requested to ban the Meta-owned messaging service WhatsApp, which is widely popular in Russia.

The authorities also emphasised that they do not intend to punish individual Russians who use Facebook or Instagram.

Instagram and Facebook were already restricted in Russia earlier this month after the communications and media regulator Roskomnadzor said they were being used to call for violence against Russian soldiers.

In addition to blocking Facebook and Instagram, Russian authorities have also shut access to foreign media websites.

The ban comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin blocked Facebook for 'discrimination towards Russian media' earlier this month

A Ukranian serviceman walks between debris outside the destroyed Retroville shopping mall in a residential district after a Russian attack on Kyiv today

Facebook and Instagram have today been banned in Russia amid attempts to control the message over military action in Ukraine

The courts verdict comes amid multipronged efforts by Russian authorities to control the message amid the military action in Ukraine, which the Kremlin describes as a special military operation intended to uproot alleged neo-Nazi nationalists.

A new law fast-tracked on March 4 by the Kremlin-controlled parliament, a week after Russia launched the attack on Ukraine, envisions prison terms of up to 15 years for posting 'fake' information about the military that differs from the official narrative.

Meta declined to comment when approached.
Ashley Biden's diary was shown and shopped around a Trump fundraiser before it was purchased by Project Veritas for $40,000 in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election.

The New York Times published new details Sunday about Project Veritas' alleged efforts to obtain and authenticate the first daughter's diary - as the conservative group remains under federal investigation over the matter.

The Times reported that Biden received a call from a man working for Project Veritas saying he found a diary and thought it belonged to her.

He allegedly didn't tell Biden he was affiliated with the conservative group.

But according to the Times the call was meant to trick Biden into confirming that her diary was real.

It could complicate Project Veritas' legal case, as the group has wanted to be classified as a publisher, and thus have journalistic First Amendment protections.

But using deception - as the caller did when he used a fake name - is not typical journalist behavior.

In a statement to DailyMail.com, Project Veritas' press secretary R.C. Maxwell said, 'As is typical, the New York Times misses the real story by years much as they did with a certain laptop.'

'Similarly, the Times has long accused Project Veritas of engaging in a "coordinated disinformation campaign" while now admitting Veritas' reporting confirmed Ashley Biden's diary was real and Veritas' activities surrounding the diary were all employed "to authenticate the diary,"' Maxwell said.

Ashley Biden's (right) diary was shown and shopped around a Trump fundraiser before it was purchased by Project Veritas for $40,000 in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election

The head of Project Veritas, James O'Keefe, was pulled out of his apartment wearing just underwear and handcuffs during an early morning raid in November

In court filings, prosecutors suggested Project Veritas was complicit in the theft of some of Biden's other belongings, which interviews with the Times show the group obtained to confirm the diary was Biden's.

After going to rehab in Florida in 2019, Biden moved into a two-bedroom house rented by a friend in Delray Beach, Florida, staying there while her father competed in the Democratic primaries in the spring of 2020.

But in June, for the final months of the campaign, Ashley Biden relocated back to the Philadelphia area, leaving some of her belongings at the house, with plans to move back in the fall before the lease expired in November.

Her roommate allowed an ex-girlfriend named Aimee Harris and her two children to move in according to previous reporting by the Times.

Harris was reportedly going through a bitter custody battle and struggling financially.

Her 'social media postings and conversations with friends suggested that she was a fan of Mr. Trump,' a Times report from December said.

Ashley Biden (right) at age six is seen with her father, now President Joe Biden, when the then-senator was running for president the first time in August 1987

Ashley Biden (right) sits with her parents Jill Biden (left) and Joe Biden (center) at the Democratic National Convention in 2008, when Biden was then Sen. Barack Obama's running mate

Ashley Biden (left) walks alongside her father President Joe Biden (right) as they leave church in November in Wilmington, Delaware

Ashley Biden is photographed arriving at a White House state dinner in October 2016

Harris soon found out that Ashley Biden had lived at the address previously and left some of her things at the home, according to the earlier Times report.

What happened next is the subject of the investigation.

Project Veritas told a federal judge that in September 2020 someone described as 'a tipster' called and left a voicemail, telling the conservative group that 'a new occupant moved into a place where Ashley Biden had previously been staying and found Ms. Biden's diary and other personal items.'

The 'diary is pretty crazy,' the message said. 'I think it's worth taking a look at,' the caller added.

Project Veritas confirmed that the group paid money for the diary.

They did it through an unnamed proxy from two people identified by their initials - A.H. and R.K.

The group said they purchased the diary lawfully.

The Times identified those individuals as Harris and Robert Kurlander.

Kurlander was a longtime friend and former housemate of Harris, who previously pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge in a drug-related money laundering scheme and was sentenced to 40 months in prison.

Robert Kurlander tweeted at Trump and Donald Trump Jr. in October 2020, just weeks before election day, telling them that 'Ashley and Hunter are disasters'

Kurlander tweeted at Trump and Donald Trump Jr. in October 2020, just weeks before election day, asking 'where are Biden's two kids? Why aren't they campaigning like your 4 kids? Your great awesome kids. You can tell a lot about the family by the children !!!!!'

'Ashley and Hunter are disasters,' he continued. 'Reflection of the parents. Joe !!!'

He's continued to share pro-Trump tweets since.

The new Times report said that Kurlander contacted Elizabeth Fago, a Florida-based businesswoman, who was nominated by Trump in December 2020 to serve on the National Cancer Advisory Board.

It was Fago's daughter who called Project Veritas' tip line on September 3, 2020, The Times said.

According to the Times, three days later, Harris and Kurlander - who brought along the diary - attended a fundraiser at Fago's house in Jupiter, Florida.

The fundraiser was also attended by Donald Trump Jr.

The Times said it was unclear if Trump Jr. saw the diary at the party.

Mark Paoletta, a lawyer who worked for Vice President Mike Pence, who was doing some lobbying work for Project Veritas and its head James O'Keefe, told Republican lawmakers this fall that Trump Jr. found out about the diary at the fundraiser - but showed no interest in it and said whoever was in possession of it should report it to the FBI.

Paoletta later called back the group of Congressional Republicans to say that he wasn't sure his characterization of Trump Jr.'s reaction was accurate, The Times reported.

After the fundraiser, Project Veritas sought to acquire the diary, flying Harris and Kurlander to New York to meet with several of the group's operatives at a hotel on Manhattan's West Side.

No deal was struck during that trip, so Harris and Kurlander returned to Florida.

One of O'Keefe's top lieutenants, Spencer Meads, was sent to Florida to further investigate the diary.

In court filings, Project Veritas said its operatives obtained additional items that belonged to Ashley Biden that 'sources' said were 'abandoned.'

'The sources arranged to meet the Project Veritas journalist in Florida soon thereafter to give the journalist additional abandoned items,' Project Veritas' lawyers wrote.

In filings, prosecutors cast doubt on Project Veritas' actions being above-board.

'Put simply, even members of the news media "may not with impunity break and enter an office or dwelling to gather news,"' prosecutors wrote.

Prosecutors challenged the group's 'repeated claim that they had "no involvement" in how the victim's property was "acquired."'

O'Keefe was pulled out of his apartment wearing just underwear and handcuffs during an early morning raid in November, two days after other Project Veritas employees had their homes raided by the FBI.

O'Keefe, according to court filings, told his team in an October 12, 2020 email that he decided not to publish a story about the diary.

'We have no doubt the document is real,' he said, but he added that it would be 'characterized as a cheap shot.'

Four days later, Project Veritas wrote to the then-Democratic nominee Joe Biden and his campaign to say they had obtained Ashley Biden's 'abandoned' diary and wanted to question the now-president on-camera.

Around the same time, Project Veritas finalized the deal to buy the diary from Harris and Kurlander for $40,000 - wiring them the money.

'Should we not hear from you by Tuesday, October 20, 2020, we will have no choice but to act unilaterally and reserve the right to disclose that you refused our offer to provide answers to the questions raised by your daughter,' Project Veritas' chief legal officer Jered T. Ede wrote.

Biden's lawyers responded by calling the ask an 'extortionate effort to secure an interview.'

They refused to acknowledge whether the diary belonged to Ashley Biden, but told Ede it should be regarded as stolen property and called it 'ludicrous' that it was abandoned.

The lawyers said 'serious crimes' might have been committed.

Biden's lawyer Roberta Kaplan told Ede, according to The Times, 'This is insane; we should send to SDNY.'

Biden's lawyers did alert prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, which is now in charge of the probe.

During the back-and-forth, on October 24, the conservative site National File published excerpts of the diary, and later the full thing.

The postings didn't get a lot of attention.

The site said it obtained the diary from someone at another organization that refused to publish it.

O'Keefe was reportedly furious, The Times said, and some people at Project Veritas believed someone leaked it from within their organization.

In a court filing last year, O'Keefe's lawyer said Project Veritas arranged for Ashley Biden's possessions to be delivered to a police station in Florida in early November 2020, near the Delray Beach property.

Lawyer Adam Leo Bantner (pictured) was captured in bodycam footage dropping off bags of possessions that belonged to Ashley Biden in November 2020 to the Delray Beach Police Department

'Project Veritas gave the diary to law enforcement to ensure it could be returned to its rightful owner,' O'Keefe said in a statement in November.

A Florida lawyer named Adam Leo Bantner dropped off the bags the day after Biden was declared the winner of the presidential election.

Citing the police report and bodycam footage, The Times said Bantner told officers that his client told him that the property was 'possibly stolen' and he 'got it from an unknown person at a hotel.'

Bantner describes the bags as 'crap' to an officer, who then responds he's going to throw the bags in the garbage because there was no 'information' or 'proof of evidence.'

'Like I said, Im fine with it,' Bantner replied.

The police report said that officers determined the items in the bags belonged to Ashley Biden, alerting both the Secret Service and the FBI, which collected them.
People line up for COVID-19 testing at a screening center near Seoul Station, Monday. Yonhap



Daily new infections have slowed since last Wednesday



By Lee Hyo-jin



The peak of the Omicron wave in Korea may have passed, according to the health ministry, with daily new infections showing signs of slowing down. But concerns linger over another upsurge as the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron has been increasing its presence here amid eased social distancing rules.



The country added 209,169 new infections for Sunday, a significant drop from 334,708 cases the previous day, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The figure has been declining steadily after hitting an all-time high of 621,281 last Wednesday.



The agency reported the second-largest number of COVID-19-related fatalities at 329, with 1,130 patients in critical condition.



The government previously said the Omicron wave would reach its peak between March 12 and 22, after which the country may see a downward trend in infections.



"Daily infection cases have been falling for four straight days after hitting an all-time high last week," Interior and Safety Minister Jeon Hae-cheol said during a COVID-19 response meeting on Monday.



He also announced the government's plan to introduce the oral antiviral treatment Molnupiravir, developed by U.S.-based pharmaceutical company Merck. Also known by the brand name Lagevrio, enough doses for 100,000 people will be shipped by the end of this week.



The country still has a sufficient supply of Pfizer's antiviral treatment Paxlovid  enough for some 80,000 patients  with more to come in April. The medicine are being distributed at a rapid pace, with hundreds of thousands of new recipients added each day.



The Ministry of Health and Welfare viewed that the country may have weathered the worst of Omicron last week.



"Although we would have to look further at the virus situation for this week, we view the current situation positively. The average number of daily infections last week stood at 400,000, slightly above our prediction of infections peaking at 370,000," ministry spokesman Son Young-rae told reporters during a briefing, Monday.



"If the current trend continues throughout this week, we could say that last week was the peak."



But Son stressed that the government will monitor daily new cases reported on Wednesday and Thursday, as Monday's caseload may not properly reflect the virus situation due to fewer tests being conducted on the weekend.



The health authorities cautiously projected the downward trend to continue, given that in other countries, the Omicron wave began to recede after about 20 percent of the population had been exposed to the virus.



As of Monday, the country's total caseload neared 10 million at 9,582,815, accounting for about 18.5 percent of the population, with the percentage expected to surpass 20 percent by the end of this week.



But despite the downslope, concerns linger over a possible upsurge in infections, due to the increasing presence of the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron (BA.1), additional relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions which took effect on Monday and waning immunity of vaccinations.



Sub-variant BA.2, also known as "Stealth Omicron," has been found to be about 30 percent more transmissible than BA.1, causing daily infections to double in some European countries including the United Kingdom.



In Korea, BA.2 accounted for over 41.4 percent of new infections last week, up from 26.3 percent the previous week.



In addition, under relaxed social distancing regulations starting from Monday, up to eight people are allowed to hold private gatherings, up from the previous six. Multiuse facilities such as cafes and eateries may receive sit-in customers until 11 p.m.



Inbound travelers who have been fully vaccinated no longer have to self-isolate upon arrival, except for those flying from high-risk countries including Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine and Myanmar.


The family of a young beauty industry boss who was killed when her BMW crashed head-on into a lorry have paid tribute to their 'beloved daughter'.

Daisy Jean Huddle, 20, was killed when her black BMW 1 Series was involved in a horror smash with a white truck between Stanwick and Raunds, Northamptonshire.

Despite the efforts of paramedics she was pronounced dead at the scene on the A45 at around 1.15am on Friday, March 18.

Today her heartbroken family, who live in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, paid tribute to the talented fashion graduate who had recently started her own business.

Tributes from family and friends have poured in for Daisy Jean Huddle (pictured), 20, after she was killed in a head-on collision with a lorry on the A45 on Friday

Paramedics tried to save Daisy when they arrived on the scene, but she was pronounced dead at around 1.15am on Friday

The 20-year-old (pictured in front of her BMW) had been focusing on growing her graphic design and print business

In a statement issued via police, they said: 'Daisy was a beloved daughter, big sister, granddaughter, niece and friend to many.

'In her short life she left a remarkable stamp on this world.

'Having graduated from the Fashion Retail Academy in London with a BA (Honours) Marketing & Communications for Fashion, she spent the last year setting up her own graphic design and print business specialising in designs for people in the beauty industry with clients all over the world.

'Daisy was happiest when she was home with her family or out with her friends, making memories and lasting impressions everywhere she went and on everyone she met.

'She lived her short life to the fullest and will be missed by many people near and far but a star that will never be forgotten.'

Northamptonshire Police said the family were being supported by specially trained officers and asked for their privacy be respected.

Any witnesses or those with information are asked to call the force on 0800 174615, quoting incident number 27 of 18/03/22.

Last year Daisy had graduated from the Fashion Retail Academy in London with a BA (Honours) in Marketing & Communications for Fashion

Daisy's family said she was happiest when she was able to spend time with her friends and family

One friend described the 20-year-old as 'the life of the party and full of life'

Other heartbroken friends posted moving tributes to 'beautiful' Daisy on social media.

Writing on Facebook, one friend said: 'This is not a post I thought I would be making, especially at the age of 22 and one of my my best friends at the age of 20 but Daisy Jean Huddle, I miss you so so much and I can't believe your really gone.

'It still doesn't feel real, you have the most beautiful soul inside and out and you are the most kindest, sweetest girl I have ever met, there was not a bad bone in your body.

'I'm so so sorry that your time is up and you've been taken from us so young, you did not deserve this. You were the life of the party and full of life, heaven has gained another Angel.

'Daisy I promise you I will NEVER forget about you and I will always love you.'

Lots of friends posted online to mourn the loss of Daisy, with her family saying she 'she lived her short life to the fullest and will be missed by many people'

Another friend said Daisy had the 'most beautiful soul' and not a 'bad bone' in her body

Another added: 'From the minute I met you, you were my number 1 supporter, you always believed in my potential and held my hand through every struggle.

'My bestie, my soul sister, you never left my side. I'm so blessed you came into my life.

'The softest, purest, kind hearted, lovable most selfless person I've ever known.

'You got me through the grief of my dad, now your advice can only get me through the grief of you.

'I will love and miss you forever and ever baby girl, my heart will always ache.'

A third wrote: 'Friday 18th March 2022 8:53am I received the call that changed my life forever, the call to tell me you've passed away.

'I can't put into words how heartbroken we all are. You were the most beautiful soul inside and out Daisy.

'I am so grateful I got the pleasure of meeting you and having you as a best friend.

'Thank you so much for bringing joy into so many people lives and just being perfect in every possible way.

'Life is so unfair and you were taken far too soon. I promise I will never forget you Daisy and I will carry on partying for the both of us.

'My love for you will last a life time buba. My very own angel in the sky.'
Swedish police said Monday at least two people were injured and one person has been arrested in Malmo, Sweden's third largest city, after an incident at a high school.

Police said the situation was under control, adding they had responded to 'a suspected serious crime.'

The Aftonbladet daily said students were being kept inside classrooms.

The two women, both in their 50s, 'were employees of the school', the police said in a statement following the attack at Malmo Latinskola, a secondary school in the centre of Malmo, the country's third largest city.

Police and ambulances personal work at the scene of a incident at a school in Malmo, Sweden on March 21, 2022 which reportedly left several people wounded

Police commandos enter a building at the scene of a reported shooting at a school in Malmo

Local media said the alleged attacker called the emergency number to say where he was and that he had put down his weapon and admitted to having killed two people.

He was armed with a knife and an axe, according to several Swedish media.

The suspect was arrested without difficulty shortly after the arrival of the first patrol, according to the police account.

Earlier in the evening, police had initially reported two injured among the around 50 people in the school at the time of the incident.

The two victims 'were taken to the hospital but their lives could not be saved', the authorities said.

The students had gathered at the school to work on a musical after 5pm, SVT said

'This is absolutely terrible,' school principal Fredrik Hemmensjo told the daily.

Police were alerted around 5.15 pm (4.15pm GMT) and a first patrol was able to enter the school.

Footage shows heavily equipped and armed police inspecting the interior of the building.

The school remained cordoned off with police tape several hours later, and numerous police cars and ambulances were still at the scene.

After initial reports of screaming in the school, 'we have had more information that pointed to a serious crime being committed and that violence was occurring in the school,' police spokesman Nils Norling told AFP.

'The first police patrol on site was able to arrive at the school and arrest a male suspect. They were also able to see that there were two injured people inside the school,' he said, speaking in front of the building.

Police officers work at the scene of a reported shooting at a school in Malmo, Sweden on March 21

Police officers work at the scene of a incident at a school after a shooting was reported

No motive has been established so far.

After extensively inspecting the scene and interviewing witnesses, the authorities are convinced the suspect acted alone.

'A lot of work remains ahead of us to understand what happened and the motivation behind this appalling act,' said Asa Nilsson, one of the heads of the investigation.

Emergency services attend the scene at a school in Malmo, Sweden on Monday, March 21,

Swedish police said Monday at least two people were injured and one person has been arrested in Malmo, after an incident at a high school

A press conference is scheduled for 9.30am (8.30am GMT) on Tuesday.

In January, a 16-year-old boy was arrested after wounding a student and a teacher in the town of Kristianstad, also in southern Sweden,

The case had been linked to a similar attack in August in the town of Eslov, around 50 kilometres (30 miles) away, when a student attacked a 45-year-old school worker.

No link has been established at this stage with the Malmo incident.

In October 2015, three people were killed in a racially-motivated attack at a school in the western town of Trollhattan by an assailant later killed by police.
Former Missouri Governor Eric Greitens was a rising star within the GOP before disturbing charges of blackmailing a woman he had an extramarital affair with as well as campaign finance improprieties forced him to resign in June 2018. National Republican figures fear his scandal-plagued career could cost them an otherwise safe Senate seat in November's midterm elections

Eric Greitens, the former Missouri governor who's now running for Senate, emotionally and physically abused his ex-wife and two children and threatened his former spouse with legal action to keep her from revealing his 2015 affair with a hairstylist, new court documents revealed on Monday.

In a new filing stemming from their ongoing custody battle, Sheena Greitens cast her ex-husband as someone who threatened to use his political connections and influence in order to destroy her reputation to win custody of the children.

'Prior to our divorce, during an argument in late April 2018, Eric knocked me down and confiscated my cell phone, wallet and keys so that I was unable to call for help or extricate myself and our children from our home,' Greitens recalled in the documents.

'I became afraid for my safety and that of our children at our home.'

She also accused him of 'physical violence' against their young kids, 'such as cuffing our then-3-year-old son across the face at the dinner table in front of me and yanking him around by his hair.'

At another point he confronted her when she tried to take herself and their children to her parents' house, Sheena Greitens claimed.

He 'threatened to come to the airport and have me arrested for kidnapping and child abuse, saying that because of his authority as a former governor who had supported law enforcement, the police would support him and not believe me.'

The explosive new details could pose a problem for Greitens' Senate campaign. In recent weeks he emerged as the frontrunner in a competitive crop of Republicans running to replace retiring GOP Senator Roy Blunt. The primary election will be on August 2.

Some in the Republican establishment are anxious that, with the allegations released on Monday and previous scandals, Greitens would face vulnerabilities against a Democrat. And with the Senate evenly divided, the GOP can't afford to lose what would otherwise be a safe seat.

The latest explosive allegations brought forward by his ex-wife, Sheena Greitens, are part of an ongoing custody battle over their two young sons

A former Navy SEAL and Rhodes scholar, Greitens had been courted by both parties before choosing to cast his lot with the GOP.

However his rising star was derailed in 2018, after a St. Louis court indicted the then-governor on an invasion-of-privacy charge for taking a semi-nude photo of the hairstylist he was having an affair with in 2015. The photo had been taken without the woman's consent.

The same woman later accused Greitens of tying her up in his basement and tearing her clothes off without her consent.

In her Monday affidavit, Sheena Greitens claimed her husband admitted to taking the compromising photo but warned her that she could face legal trouble of her own if she ever disclosed that fact. She later learned that was not the case.

Shortly after his extramarital affair broke, a Missouri House committee began investigating campaign finance issues, and Greitens faced a second felony charge in St. Louis. He was accused of providing his political fundraiser with the donor list of his veterans' charity.

The back-to-back scandals led to his resignation from the governorship in June 2018.

During those last days leading Missouri, Sheena Greitens claimed her husband displayed behavior so alarming that 'multiple people' other than herself attempted to 'limit Eric's access to firearms.'

Sheena Greitens accused her ex-husband of emotional and physical abuse and of 'cuffing' their then-three-year-old son 'across the face at the dinner table in front of me and yanking him around by his hair' (Pictured: The family of four speak to media in 2016)

She said he at one point purchased a gun but refused to tell her where it was.

Greitens also threatened to kill himself 'unless I provided specific public political support,' she wrote.

The former governor also called his ex-wife a 'hateful, disgusting, nasty, vicious ... lying b****,' she claimed.

Upon discovering that she had emailed their family therapist seeking help, Greitens allegedly threatened to accuse her 'of child abuse if I did not delete the emails and convince the therapist to delete them.'

She also claimed he threatened to use his public profile to get her out of a job as recently as 2020.

Upon her acceptance of a job at the University of Texas, Sheena Greitens alleged her ex-husband vowed to 'use his political influence to get my job offer revoked.'

She had filed Monday's affidavit in a bid to get their ongoing custody battle moved from Missouri to Texas.

'Now that Eric is a candidate for federal office, public interest in my life, my relationship with Eric and the breakdown thereof, and the existence of issues of custody between Eric and me are being re-kindled and brought back into central public discussion,' Sheena Greitens wrote.

Greitens appears in a mugshot in St. Louis, Missouri on February 22, 2018

Texas was safer, she claimed because 'the reach of his power and influence is significantly less.'

The disgraced former governor kept a low profile after his resignation, but re-emerged last year after the Missouri Ethics Commission found 'probable cause' that Greitens' campaign broke campaign finance law, but also 'found no evidence of any wrongdoing on the part of Eric Greitens, individually.'

Greitens said the ruling 'fully exonerated' him.

He released a statement on Monday calling his ex-wife's allegations 'completely fabricated.'

'Being a father is the joy of my life and my single most important responsibility. I will continue to love and care for my beautiful sons with all of my being, and that includes fighting for the truth and against completely fabricated, baseless allegations,' Greitens said this afternoon.

He added that he was still looking for full custody of their children and that he hoped their mother 'gets the help that she needs.'

Greitens then went on to imply her Monday affidavit was a coordinated opposition effort on the part of national Democrats.

'I understand that while I was with my boys last week, she was in Washington, DC. Sadly, political operatives and the liberal media peddle in lies,' the Republican said.

'However, I have faith, and I know that ultimately truth will always prevail.'

Greitens' Senate campaign has already been opposed by prominent Republicans, including Missouri Senator Josh Hawley.

Rep. Vicky Hartzler, who is running against Greitens, told the Springfield News-Leader he showed a 'pattern of criminal behavior that makes Eric unfit to hold any public office.'

'He should drop out of the U.S. Senate race immediately and seek immediate professional help,' the federal lawmaker said.

But a recent poll by the Trafalgar Group shows that, at least until the new allegations broke, Greitens was enjoying a narrow lead among fellow Republican candidates.

Greitens managed to net 30.5 percent of support in the survey taken from February 22 to February 24.

After him, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmidt came in second with a 23 percent share, followed by Hartzler with 16.6 percent.
The Republican National Committee is warning Democrats to uphold election integrity in the 2022 midterms after a GOP Election Integrity team effort caused Harris County, Texas' Democratic Election Administrator to resign for failing to count all the ballots from the primary elections earlier this month within the required 24 hours.

'Democrats who undermine election integrity should consider themselves warned as midterms approach: Republicans will ensure that those who fail to uphold secure and transparent elections will pay a price,' RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel told DailyMail.com

Harris County Election Administrator Isabel Longoria resigned earlier this month for failing to count votes in the mandated manner.

The RNC had a call with Longoria in the afternoon of election day March 1, 2022, along with other members of the Democratic Party, to discuss the primary ballot counting in the Texas county.

Longoria admitted on the call, according to the GOP, that she would not be able to complete ballot counting within the 24-hour required period, instead saying it would take '500 hours'.

The Harris County GOP filed a lawsuit requesting the Election Administrator 'continuously' count ballots until all were tallied  at a maximum of 24-hours after the polls closed at 7:00 p.m. on the evening of March 1.

Votes were not finished being counted until 30 hours after the polls closed at 1:00 a.m. on the morning of March 3.

'The RNC started investing in Texas election integrity long before the primary elections by training hundreds of poll watchers, engaging dozens of attorneys, and having staff in the rooms where election administration decisions were made,' Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel told DailyMail.com.

RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel told DailyMail.com: 'Democrats who undermine election integrity should consider themselves warned as midterms approach: Republicans will ensure that those who fail to uphold secure and transparent elections will pay a price'

The warning comes after a GOP lawsuit in Texas caused Harris County Election Administrator Isabel Longoria (pictured) to resign after failing to count all ballots within 24 hours of polls closing

'Building this infrastructure allowed us to hold Harris County Democrats accountable for their failure to count ballots in an accurate and timely manner,' she added. 'This culminated in Harris County Election Administrator Isabel Longoria's rightful resignation.'

The Saturday after the election, Longoria announced about 10,000 ballots had not yet been counted, including 6,000 Democrat ballots and 4,000 Republican  an issue discovered by the secretary of State's review for ballot reconciliation.

Exactly one week after the election on March 7, Longoria resigned, effective July 1, 2022.

The resignation came following pressure, including from the RNC Election Integrity Team, for her to step down from her post.

'The RNC is the only organization with the resources, bandwidth, and drive to put boots on the ground at polling places and lawyers in the room on election night,' McDaniel said of the pressure campaign and legal efforts that led to Longoria's resignation.

The RNC Election Integrity team is aimed at ensuring election laws are upheld, especially after many pro-Trump Republicans continue to push claims that the 2020 presidential election was riddled with fraud, cheating and other irregularities.

Elections were a little different in 2020 due to the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic, which allowed for nationwide expanded mail-in ballot measures.

Harris County GOP Chairwoman Cindy Seigel testified before the House Administration Committee on the election failures in Harris County and said while Democrats accuse Republicans of voter suppression, she claimed the real voter suppression is when thousands of ballots are counted late in an unstable process  which is what happened in Harris County.

Here Longoria admits that she had the 10,072 ballots, but her staff was too exhausted to count them pic.twitter.com/lKNVpUWoMB  Snipe Snopes (@MerissaHansen89) March 12, 2022

When the 24-hour mark hit in the Texas elections, Longoria wanted to close down Central Count and stop counting overnight, but the RNC EI team refused the request and advised Harris County GOP to file its lawsuit to impound election machines should counting be stalled.

The judge ruled counting must continue and updates be provided every two hours.

The primary election, which took place the same night of President Joe Biden's State of the Union address on March 1, has narrowed the field for which candidates will be on the general election ballot in the November 8, 2022 midterms.

Texas is a battleground where Republicans are hoping to keep their majority as it's the most populous red state, but continually some urban blue areas are expanding outward  especially as young people flock to the Lone Star State.
The only survivor of an MS-13 attack which butchered four Long Island teenagers has told a court of how his friends were lured to their deaths by a moll dubbed 'Little Devil.'

Elmer Alexander Arteaga Ruiz, 22, came face to face with that accomplice - real name Leniz Escobar - in court Monday as she was tried for orchestrating the 2017 killings.

Escobar - whose boyfriend was a high ranking member of the gang - was pictured for the first time Monday as her smirking mugshot was released by prosecutors for the first time. She faces charges including murder and racketeering.

Asked about 22 year-old Escobar's nickname, Ruiz said: 'It fit her well.'

Escobor is accused of luring Ruiz and four other boys to a wooded area of Central Islip in Long Island in April 2017, the New York Post reported.

She is said to have snitched on the teens for claiming to have been MS-13 gang members on social media, with its real members deciding to execute them for that they branded a show of disrespect. They were also accused by the gang of being members of the rival 18th Street Gang.

Recalling the moment his friends were hacked to death, Ruiz told the court: 'They came through a hole in the fence.

'There were eight or nine. They covered their faces with sweaters. They came and formed a semi-circle. They told us get down on our knees.

'They said, Dont move. Whoever moves, dies.

Leniz 'Little Devil' Escobar, 22, is on trial on federal racketeering charges for allegedly luring four high school students to their deaths at the hands of MS-13 gang members in 2017

'I ran because the first words they said was that we were going to die, they were going to kill us, and they had weapons...

'I took off running and there were two people who started to follow me,' he said. 'Thank God I managed to escape.'

Ruiz said he and his friends had made the MS-13 posts in a bid to impress women and that he and his young pals were 'just high school kids who were trying to look tough.'

Ruiz was the only one of the friends to get away. The others, Michael Lopez Banega, 20, Justin Llivicura, 16, Jorge Tigre, 18, and Jefferson Villalobos, 18, were all butchered in what prosecutors described as a 'frenzy of violence' and 'wailed in pain and filled the park with their terrified screams.'

A federal jury on Monday heard opening statements in Leniz Escobar's trial in Central Islip stemming from the savage 2017 attack, in which four young men ranging in age from 16 to 20 were butchered with machetes and knives by more than a dozen MS-13 gangsters.

The 22-year-old defendant has pleaded not guilty to racketeering charges in the four deaths that prosecutors described as 'a horrific frenzy of violence.'

The victims' mutilated bodies were found in the park two days later laying on top of one another surrounded by blood.

Justin Llivicura (left) and Jefferson Villalobos (right) were hacked to death in a Central Islip, New York, park in April 2017

Michael Lopez Banega (left) and Jorge Tigre (right) were the other two victims killed by MS-13 members after allegedly being lured by Escobar

Prosecutors say Escobar was 17 years old in April 2017, when she helped orchestrate the massacre as an associate of the notoriously ruthless gang before falsely claiming to be a victim in the ambush.

MS-13 had been seeking to settle a score, prosecutors allege, and believed the young victims - - to be members of the rival 18th Street Gang. The victims families have denied that any of the slain men were in a gang.

The sole survivor of the savage attack, 22-year-old Elmer Alexander Artega Ruiz, took the witness stand on Monday, testifying how he was allegedly lured to the woods by Escobar to smoke marijuana, and was then surrounded, along with the four other victims, by MS-13 members, who ordered them all to kneels, reported Newsday.

Feared gang is behind thousands of US murders MS-13 is a transnational gang that has committed horrendous acts of violence across America. The gangs motto is mata, viola, controla which means kill, rape, control'. There are more than 10,000 MS-13 members in the US and more than 30,000 worldwide. MS-13 leaders in the US often communicate and take orders from gang leaders in El Salvador. Long Island communities have been strongly impacted by the violence and suffering spread by MS-13. Police suspect the gang was involved in at least 25 killings on Long Island between 2016 and 2018. Advertisement

During opening statements on Monday, Assistant US Attorney Megan Farrell said that the victims were 'just high school kids' whose only crime was flashing MS-13 gang signs on social media to 'look tough and get attention,' reported New York Post.

Their macho posturing, however, was interpreted by the MS-13 cohorts as a sign of disrespect punishable by death.

According to prosecutors, Escobar, known then by the moniker 'Diabalita,' or 'Little Devil,' was seeking to curry favor with MS-13 and alerted its members to the victims' location in a wooden area.

Farrell described Escobar as a 'devoted associate' of the gang, where her boyfriend was a high-ranking member.

On April 11, 2017, the four victims founded themselves in a Central Islip park, surrounded by more than a dozen MS-13 gang members brandishing machetes, knives and tree limbs.

Farrell told the jury that the killers ordered the five high schoolers to get down on the ground.

'The defendant pretended to be one of the victims and got down. The real victims took off running, but [Artega Ruiz] was the only one fast enough to escape. The other four were hacked to death,' the prosecutor said, describing the victims' terrified screams filling the night air.

Under MS-13 rules, the killings had been 'pre-authorized' by gang leadership, prosecutors said, and contributors to the carnage stood to gain membership or ascend the organizations ranks.

Farrell said that a day after the slaughter, Escobar 'bragged about her important role in the murders' and told her boyfriend that 'she did it to be happy and was happy it happened.'

Authorities said Escobar later tossed her cellphone from a moving vehicle  as well as a SIM card that had been removed and damaged so badly law enforcement couldnt recover its contents.

The mutilated bodies of the victims were discovered on April 13, 2017, in a Central Islip park. They were slaughtered with machetes, knives and tree limbs

The casket of Justin Llivicura is carried from St. Joseph the Worker Church after Llivicura's funeral on April 19, 2017, in East Patchogue, New York

'Additionally, Escobar discarded the bloody clothing that she had been wearing on the night of the murders,' prosecutors wrote in a court filing.

In his opening statement, Escobar's defense attorney, Keith White, attempted to distance his client from the attackers and argued that she did not know that the victims would be killed.

On Day 1 of the trial, which is expected to last three to four weeks, the jury also heard testimony from Nassau County Detective Donal Britton, who described the gruesome scene that officers came upon in the park after the killings.

'They were lying on top of each other,' he said of the victims. 'There was a lot of blood.'
GOP Sen. Ted Cruz said Monday that only Democrats smeared potential Supreme Court justices, as he assured Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson that her hearings this week wouldn't feature any 'disgraceful behavior' from Republicans.

'This will not be a political circus. This will not be the kind of character smear that, sadly, our Democratic colleagues have gotten very good at,' Cruz pledged. 'No one is going to inquire into your teenage dating habits. No one is going to ask you with mock severity, "Do you like beer?"'

Cruz pointed to Judge Robert Bork's confirmation battle in the 1980s - which Bork lost - as well as those for Justices Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh, all nominees picked by Republican presidents.

Sen. Ted Cruz (left) assured Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson (right) on day one of her Supreme Court confirmation hearings that they will 'not be a political circus,' hammering Democrats for what they pulled with past nominees appointed by Republican presidents

The Texas Republican pointed out that Bork's confirmation hearings 'went so into the gutter' the the judge's name became a verb: 'to bork someone.'

Cruz quoted Thomas who called his confirmation hearings - that got briefly derailed when he was accused of sexual harassment by lawyer Anita Hill - a 'high-tech lynching.'

'And I would note the chairman who presided over that disgrace was Joe Biden,' Cruz said.

Cruz then pointed to the Kavanaugh hearings.

'One of the lowest moments in the history of this committee where Democrats on this committee sat on allegations, didn't refer them to the FBI, didn't ask for investigations, hid them and then leaked them against the wishes of the complainant,' Cruz scoffed.

'And we began a circus that featured Spartacus moments, featured such nuts as Michael Avenatti, whom CNN breathlessly for some months described as a possible Democratic presidential candidate - that's before presumably he became a felon in recent months,' Cruz continued.

'Judge Jackson, I can assure you that your hearing will feature none of that disgraceful behavior,' the Texas senator added, noting how she wouldn't be asked about her beer-drinking or teenage dating habits.

That reference was to allegations made against Kavanaugh by Christine Blasey Ford.

Blasey Ford said that a teenage Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a party in Maryland.

One of the most memorable moments of his confirmation hearing came when Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar asked Kavanaugh if he 'liked beer' and if he had a drinking problem.

Cruz talked about how he appeared with a liberal commentator on his podcast who said that both sides were guilty of smearing Supreme Court picks.

'Look, I understand that's a pretty good talking point,' Cruz said. 'It just happens not to be true.'

'It is only one side of the aisle, the Democratic aisle,' Cruz added.
A paranoid schizophrenic who strangled his girlfriend to death with a skipping rope as their four-month-old daughter slept in her cot beside them has been jailed for life.

Nigel Diakite, 20, launched a brutal attack on young mother NTaya Elliott-Cleverley after she planned to leave him.

The then 19-year-old claimed he could not remember the incident at their home in Wavertree, Liverpool, despite confessing to the killing afterwards.

Diakite, who was 19 at the time, blamed his mental health problems for the attack and accused his partner of assaulting him in the early hours of January 29, 2021.

But a jury today convicted him of murder following a trial at Liverpool Crown Court.

Mr Justice Stephen Morris subsequently sentenced Diakite to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 19 years.

The court heard that, in a WhatsApp voicemail sent by Diakite, Ms Elliot-Cleverley could be heard breathing heavily after she had been beaten and before she died.

The couple met in 2019 and started a relationship, before Ms Elliot-Cleverley moved into his flat in Prince Alfred Road.

During lockdown they spent much time in the flat and in the main they appeared a happy couple, but neighbours said they heard arguments.

Their baby daughter was born in September 2020 and Justice Morris said evidence suggests both were thrilled at the birth and were good parents.

However, a combination of the newborn child and difficulties during the pandemic put pressures on their relationship, the court heard.

Mohammed 'Nigel' Diakite (left), 20, was today sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering his girlfriend N'Taya Elliott-Cleverley (right) at their home by strangling her to death in a 'terrible' and 'unprovoked' attack

Diakite's support worker visited the home on Prince Alfred Road in Wavertree (pictured) and found Cleverley-Elliott's body on her bed next to the cot her baby was asleep in

On October 6, police were called to the flat after Diakite had assaulted her and put his fingers down her throat.

Judge Morris said Ms Elliot-Cleverley then intended to move out with the baby, while Diakite would remain at the home and their relationship would continue.

But she was found dead in a pool of blood following a 'persistent and violent attack' in the early hours of January 29 last year.

Ms Elliot-Cleverley suffered numerous blunt force injuries to her face and strangulation injuries to her neck, while there was also evidence of smothering.

Diakite sustained no injuries himself.

A post-mortem revealed 56 separate sites of injury to her body including injuries to her neck consistent with strangulation with a ligature.

The cause of death was mechanical asphyxiation.

Judge Morris added: 'She was subjected to a brutal and terrifying attack that came about without warning.'

The judge said in a WhatsApp voicemail sent by Diakite, Miss Elliott-Cleverley could be heard breathing heavily after she had been beaten and before she died.

He continued: 'NTaya must have been not only terrified by her own ordeal, but tormented by the fact all of this was happening with her baby daughter sleeping in the cot next to her.'

Diakite called his support worker Celia Cole and left the scene, before Ms Cole and others discovered the body.

He made his way to Liverpool city centre and, just after 2.20am, had a 36-minute call with his friend Ismael Donzo.

During the call, recorded by Mr Donzo, Diakite confessed to killing Miss Elliott-Cleverley.

The court heard Mr Donzo met Diakite and drove him to police, when he was arrested.

The killer was assessed by doctors and presented with symptoms akin to PTSD but did not present as acutely psychotic.

In February last year, he was diagnosed as acutely psychotic and prescribed medication.

He was later transferred to the Spinney mental health hospital for urgent treatment, where he remains.

After leaving the Liverpool flat (pictured) Diakite called his friend and confessed to killing his partner

Diakite put forward a defence of diminished responsibility, but this was rejected by the jury

By January earlier this year, he had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

He put forward a defence of diminished responsibility, but this was rejected by the jury.

Diakite fled the Ivory Coast as a child because of the war and both of his parents died when he was young.

He arrived in Europe when he was 13 or 14, before entering the UK in February 2018.

The court heard GP records showed he had mental health problems.

Deborah Cleverley, Miss Elliott-Cleverleys mum, read her own statement in court today.

Ms Cleverley fought back tears as she says recalled finding out her daughter had been found murdered.

She said: 'No words will ever be enough to describe the way I feel about the horrific way NTaya was taken from us.

'Every day is filled with pain and sadness. Thinking how scared my little girl must have been. I am tortured by her final moments.'

Chantelle Mason, Miss Elliott-Cleverleys sister, told the court: 'She was not just my sister, she was my best friend.

'I have this loneliness inside me that will never go away. Half of me is gone forever.'

Diakite was sentenced to life in jail with a minimum term of 19 years.

This will be minus the time he has already spent in custody. After that period is served, he must apply to the Parole Board for his release.

If and when he is released, he will be on licence for the rest of his life.
The Biden administration is warning about the danger of Russian cyber attacks on U.S. businesses or infrastructure amid the war in Ukraine  and warning the U.S. will respond.

A new White House fact sheet highlights the potential for Russia to launch 'malicious cyber activity' in response to sanctions the U.S. imposed on Russia since it invaded Ukraine last month  and the administration is revealing it has seen 'preparatory activity.'

'I think the President was very clear. We're not looking for a conflict with Russia. If Russia initiates a cyber attack against the United States, we will respond,' said Senior White House cybersecurity official Anne Neuberger, who briefed reporters at the White House on Monday.

The White House is not saying such an attack has occurred since the new sanctions, a matter that has surprised some Russia observers. But Moscow may be taking steps to prepare for such an event.

'There is now evolving intelligence that Russia may be exploring options for potential cyberattacks,' according to the fact sheet.

'If Russia initiates a cyber attack against the United States, we will respond,' warned Senior White House cybersecurity official Anne Neuberger

Russia has also been engaging in cyber activity against Ukraine amid its invasion  although it has not taken down the power grid, for example.

'We do continue to see Russia conducting both, as you know, significant malicious activity in Ukraine, major kinetic attacks, which have disrupted and killed lives, as well as cyber activity. And we believe the unprecedented economic costs the United States and partners have loving is significant in that way,' Neuberger said.

But she also noted: 'To be clear, there is no certainty there will be a cyber incident on critical infrastructure.

She urged U.S. industry to make use of cyber defenses  and stressed that some firms left themselves vulnerable by failing to undertake accessible software patches.

'I joke  I grew up in New York: you had a lock and an alarm system. The houses that didn't, or left the door open, clearly we're making it easier than they should have, right? No comment about me. So clearly what we're asking for. Walter digital doors make it harder for attackers. Make them do more work,' she said.

The U.S. imposed unprecedented sanctions on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine

The U.S. banking sector has taken steps to protect its online infrastructure, but the administration warns some industries have been lax

President Biden heads to Europe Wednesday to meet with allied leaders

Russian President Vladimir Putin's surrogates have launched a range of cyber attacks, according to past U.S. intelligence estimates. The U.S. says there is not certainty U.S. infrastructure would be attacked

Some experts have expressed surprise that Russia does not appear to have hit back with forceful cyberattacks as of yet

'We continue to see adversaries compromising systems that use known vulnerabilities for which there are patches. This is deeply troubling,' Neuberger said.

Biden administration officials held classified briefings with companies and 'sectors' last week to provide 'practical and focused advice,' she said. Now, the administration is making a public warning to achieve 'broader awareness' and to serve as a 'call to action.'

'There was some preparatory activity that we're seeing and that is what we shared in the classified context,' she said.

The fact sheet urged a number of steps 'with urgency.' They include: use of 'multi-factor' authentication, using modern security tools, installing patches, encryption, and backing up data.

'But the reality is that much of the Nations critical infrastructure is owned and operated by the private sector and the private sector must act to protect the critical services on which all Americans rely,' the administration said.

US is sending RUSSIAN air defense systems to Ukraine to help fight Putin: Pentagon says there is 'clear evidence' of war crimes and is now delivering Soviet equipment they 'secretly acquired from Moscow decades ago'

The Pentagon said on Monday it had seen clear evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine as it emerged that the U.S. was shipping Soviet-era air defense systems to bolster Ukrainian resistance.

On day 26 of the Russian invasion, a senior defense official said Russia had stepped up air sorties over Ukraine but that its ground advance remained largely stalled.

Last week President Joe Biden unveiled a fresh package of weapons for the government in Kyiv.

But it made no mention of old Russian-made equipment, such as the decades old SA-8 surface-to-air missile systems, which are reported to be on their way.

The weapons will be familiar to Ukraine's armed forces, which have used them since the break-up of the Soviet Union.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. collected several systems - including the S-300, known as the SA-10 to N.A.T.O - during the Cold War to study their Soviet technology and better understand their armaments.

'We are continuing to work with our allies and key partners to surge new assistance, including Soviet- or Russian-origin antiaircraft systems and the necessary ammunition to employ them, every day to Ukraine,' a U.S. official told the newspaper.

The U.S. has dug into its small store of Soviet-era weapons systems and it sending air defense equipment - such as the SA-8 mobile unit like the one shown here - to Ukraine

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the there was 'clear evidence' that Russian forces were committing war crimes in Ukraine

The US is also working to get more S-300 air defense systems to Ukraine

Washington has pushed back on calls by the Ukrainian government of Volodymyr Zelensky for a N.A.T.O. no-fly zone to protect civilians.

Instead it wants Ukraine to establish its own with air defense systems.

Other efforts to supply Kyiv include working with Slovakia in an effort to send an S-300 from its arsenal.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited the country last week, but has yet to finalize an agreement that would involve the U.S. providing it with a replacement.

The S-8 marked a step forward for Soviet defenses when it entered service in 1971.

It was the first mobile defense missile system which had its own engagement radars all carried on a single vehicle.

Its five-strong crew could halt their truck and have it ready within five minutes to engage planes almost 20 miles away.

The urgent need for air defense systems has been underscored by the latest developments in Ukraine.

Determined resistance has stalled Russian forces' attempts to seize the Ukrainian capital.

Instead, the Russian invasion has switched to the sort of scorched earth efforts seen in Syria and Chechnya with airstrikes and artillery barrages on civilian areas.

U.S. officials say it appears to be an effort to destroy the morale of the Ukrainian people and their will to fight.
One of Andy Warhol's iconic silk-screen print of Marilyn Monroe from 1964, 'Shot Sage Blue Marilyn,' will be auctioned off at Christie's in Rockefeller Center with a record-setting reserve price of $200 million.

The sky-high asking price - which will merely start the bidding before buyers up their ante - will put the piece within the highest-selling artworks of all time. The highest-ever-selling Warhol piece thus far, 'Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster)' was auctioned off for $117.1 million nine years ago at Sotheby's in London.

Hedge-fund billionaire Ken Griffin paid the estate of Si Newhouse at least $200 million for the orange version of the 'Shot Marilyn' series, according to The Wall Street Journal - in total, there are ten versions of the print, all in different colors, such as sage blue, blue, orange, red and turquoise.

Greek shipping tycoon Philip Niarchos won the red version at auction for $3.6 million in 1994, during a slump in the art market. In 2007, however, Chicago collector Stefan Edlis sold his turquoise print for $80 million. Newspaper executive Peter Grant paid just $5,000 for the light-blue version in 1967.

The three-foot-tall print was inspired by a promotional photo of Monroe from the 1953 noir thriller 'Niagara.' Warhol reimagined the black-and-white headshot, giving the actress striking blue eyeshadow, ruby-red lips and a bubblegum-pink face that contrasts with the print's sage-blue background

Legendary American pop artist Andy Warhol is pictured in front of two of his 'Shot Marilyn' prints at the Tate Gallery in Millbank in 1987. One of the prints, 'Shot Sage-Blue Marilyn,' is going up for auction at Christie's at the asking price of $200 million

Andy Warhol's iconic silk-screen print of Marilyn Monroe from 1964, 'Shot Sage Blue Marilyn,' will be auctioned off at Christie's in Rockefeller Center for a record-setting reserve price of $200 million

The most expensive painting ever sold, Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi, was also sold at Christie's. In 2017, Badr Bin Abdullah Al Saud purchased the piece, painted in the 1500's, for an unfathomable $475.4 million, according to The Wall Street Journal.

For reference, the estimate for that work's going price was $100 million - half that of 'Shot Sage Blue Marilyn,' meaning the Warhol print could end up eclipsing it.

The three-foot-tall print was inspired by a promotional photo of Monroe from the 1953 noir thriller 'Niagara.' Warhol reimagined the black-and-white headshot, giving the actress striking blue eyeshadow, ruby-red lips and a bubblegum-pink face that contrasts with the print's sage-blue background.

The piece's name came after a visitor to Warhol's studio, performance artist Dorothy Podber, allegedly fired a shot into a stack of canvases in 1964.

Famously, Podber asked Warhol if she could 'shot' the stack of Marilyn paintings - the artist assumed that she intended to photograph them. Instead, she pulled out a gun and fired in the East 47th Street studio, damaging the red and blue versions of the print, which Warhol repaired after kicking Podber out.

Monroe died of a drug overdose in 1966, two years after the prints were made. She was 36 years-old, with Warhol's imagery helping cement her place as a pop culture icon.

The highest-ever-selling Warhol piece thus far, 'Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster)' was auctioned off for $117.1 million nine years ago at Sotheby's in London

The most expensive painting ever sold, Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi, was also sold at Christie's (pictured)

Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi was purchased in 2017 by Badr Bin Abdullah Al Saud purchased the piece, painted in the 1500's for an record-setting $475.4 million

Before its recent move to the auction block, 'Shot Sage-Blue Marilyn' has been exhibited in galleries worldwide, including Leon Kraushar in New York, which also held Warhol's pop-art portraits of Jackie Kennedy and Elizabeth Taylor; the Guggenheim Museum; the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris; Tate Modern in London; Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid; the Royal Academy of Arts in London; the Museum Ludwig in Cologne; the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin; and the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, among others.

It is owned by a foundation set up by well-known Zurich dealer Doris Ammann, who died at 76 last year, and her late brother Thomas, a dealer who helped catalogue Warhol's official inventory until Thomas Ammann's death in 1993.

Warhol created about 8,000 paintings and sculptures between 1952 and his death in 1987. His works are an indicator for the art market at large because they go to auction so regularly - about 200 times per year.

Despite the reaction of the global economy due to the conflict in Ukraine, auction houses have reported months of robust sales, and the outcome of the auction will test the vivacity of the global art marketplace.

Alex Rotter, Christie's chairman of its 20th and 21st century art departments, said at a press conference about the sale that 'whenever a painting like this comes to market, it changes the market, and not just for Warhol.'

'This painting symbolizes everything thats relevant to us about the 20th centuryyou can see all its beauty and tragedy in her face.'
Two Pennsylvania state troopers and a man were run over and killed alongside I-95 in Philadelphia early Monday morning by a woman who had been stopped on suspicion of driving under the influence just moments before.

Troopers Martin F. Mack III, 33, and Branden T. Sisca, 29, were on the shoulder helping a man into the back of a cruiser when a woman tried to drive past the three men at a high speed just before 1 a.m.

'The impact was so great that it threw the troopers over into the northbound lanes of Interstate 95,' Pennsylvania State Police Capt. James Kemm said in a press conference, according to KYW.

Witnesses attempted CPR but all three men were pronounced dead at the scene.

The woman who struck them had been stopped on suspicion of DUI moments earlier, but officers had to leave her after they got a call about a man walking down the highway.

She remained at the scene, state police said. It is not clear if she was detained, but police say that a DUI investigation is now underway.

Pennsylvania state trooper Branden T. Sisca, 29, died early Monday morning after he was struck by a driver suspected of driving drunk

Trooper Martin F. Mack III, 33, also died of his injuries after witnesses tried to perform CPR

The troopers were responding to a call about a man who was walking down I-95 in Philadelphia. Above, a police cruiser sits in the highway as police respond to the craash

A woman tried to pass them but struck all three of them. She had reportedly been stopped by the troopers earlier that night but was left when they got a call about the man walking

Video from WPVI shows a police cruiser along the divider with its airbags deployed.

A silver SUV with extensive damage to the front sat nearby.

Police officers rode down I-95 North in a procession Monday morning, hours after the three men died near milepost 18.

After the woman struck the men, the vehicle hit a barrier and continued a short distance before coming to a rest on the highway's right-side shoulder, authorities said.

Officers had reportedly stopped the woman on suspicion of DUI but left her when they were dispatched to respond to the man walking along the highway.

It is not clear why he was walking or why he was being taken into custody. His name has not been released as police try to contact his family.

Trooper Mack, 33, joined the state police in November 2014.

He was a 2006 graduate of Monsignor Bonner High school and went on to attend Albright University in Reading, according to WCAU.

Mack was an assistant lacrosse coach at Harry S. Truman High School.

'The players just wanted to say that Marty Mack taught them a lot, not just as lacrosse players, but in life as well,' head coach Mike Walczak told KYW. 'They loved the opportunities they got to spend with him and the lessons that he taught them will never be forgotten.'

He was married with two children and lived in Bristol Township, Bucks County.

Sisca, 29, joined the force in February 2021. He graduated from West Chester University in 2014.

Both troopers spent their entire careers assigned to the Patrol Section of Troop K in Philadelphia.

Commissioner Robert Evanchick said: 'Our department is heartbroken with the tragedy that occurred early this morning in Philadelphia. We ask our fellow Pennsylvanians to keep the families of our troopers and the pedestrian in their thoughts'

Police rode down I-95 on Monday morning, hours after the incident killed two troopers and a man in custody

'Our department is heartbroken with the tragedy that occurred early this morning in Philadelphia,' said Commissioner Robert Evanchick in a statement.

'We ask our fellow Pennsylvanians to keep the families of our troopers and the pedestrian in their thoughts. This is an extremely difficult time.'

Gov. Tom Wolf ordered all flags in state and public buildings throughout Pennsylvania to be flown at half-staff until sunset Friday in honor of Mack and Sisca.

'This is a heartbreaking tragedy that occurred while these troopers were protecting and serving,' Wolf said.

'This mournful incident is a stark reminder of the risks - and sacrifices - our law enforcement officers undertake every day to keep us safe. My heart goes out to their families and the communities they lived in and served.'

Authorities are not investigating the incident as a DUI.

'A young driver is potentially facing extremely serious consequences,' said Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, according to KYW.
Lee Yong-soo, a Korean sexual slavery survivor who has been demanding since the early 1990s that the Japanese government fully accept culpability and offer an unequivocal apology, wipes away a tear during an interview in Seoul, March 16. AP-Yonhap



Thirty years after going public with her story of abduction, rape and forced prostitution by Japan's wartime military, Lee Yong-soo fears she's running out of time to get closure to her ordeal.



The 93-year-old is the face of a dwindling group of South Korean sexual slavery survivors who have been demanding since the early 1990s that the Japanese government fully accept culpability and offer an unequivocal apology.



Her latest  and possibly final  push is to persuade the governments of South Korea and Japan to settle their decades-long impasse over sexual slavery by seeking judgment at the United Nations.



Lee leads an international group of sexual slavery survivors and advocates  including those from the Philippines, China, Indonesia, Australia and East Timor  who sent a petition U.N. human rights investigators last week to press Seoul and Tokyo to jointly refer the issue to U.N.'s International Court of Justice. The group wants Seoul to initiate arbitration proceedings against Japan with a U.N. panel on torture if Tokyo doesn't agree to bring the case to the ICJ.



It's unclear whether South Korea, which will swear in a new government in May, will consider bringing the matter to the U.N. when it faces pressure to improve relations with Japan amid a turbulent moment in global affairs. The country has never fought a case under such proceedings, and anything less than a lopsided victory might be seen at home as a defeat.



It's hard for Lee to be patient when other survivors keep dying.



She worries about their plight of being forgotten or distorted by Japan's apparent efforts to downplay the coercive and violent nature of the World War II sexual slavery and exclude it from school books.





Lee Yong-soo, a Korean woman who was sexually enslaved by Japan's World War II military, wipes away a tear during a news conference at the Korea Press Center in Seoul, March 17. AP-Yonhap



She cried as she described how she was dragged from home as a 16-year-old to serve as a sex slave for Japan's Imperial Army, and the harsh abuse she endured at a military brothel in Taiwan until the end of the war  a story she first told the world in 1992.



''Both South Korea and Japan keep waiting for us to die, but I will fight until the very end,'' Lee said in a recent interview at The Associated Press office in Seoul, across the street from the Japanese Embassy. She said her campaign is aimed at pressuring Japan to fully accept responsibility and acknowledge its past military sexual slavery as war crimes and properly educate its public about the abuses, through textbooks and memorials.



''I think time has so far waited for me so that I can clench my teeth and do everything that I can to resolve this issue,'' Lee said.



Grievances over sexual slavery, forced labor and other abuses stemming from Japan's brutal colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula before the end of World War II have strained Seoul-Tokyo relations in recent years as the animosities spilled over to trade and military cooperation issues. The disputes have frustrated Washington, which wants stronger three-way cooperation with its Asian allies to confront the challenges posed by North Korea and China.



The upcoming government change in Seoul has inspired cautious hope in Japan about improved ties. After winning last week's vote, conservative South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol vowed ''future-focused'' cooperation with Japan.



Still, the countries may find it difficult to focus on the future if they can't narrow their disagreements over the past.





Lee Yong-soo, a Korean sexual slavery survivor who has been demanding since the early 1990s that the Japanese government fully accept culpability and offer an unequivocal apology, participates in a protest outside the John F. Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, Mass., where Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe spoke, April 27, 2015. AP-Yonhap



Lee, an influential activist who in 2007 testified at the U.S. House of Representatives before it passed a landmark resolution urging Japan to acknowledge the wartime sexual slavery, no longer believes Seoul and Tokyo can settle their history dispute without a U.N. process.



Years of bilateral diplomatic talks produced largely fruitless back-and-forth. A haphazard settlement reached between the countries' foreign ministers in 2015 - including Fumio Kishida, the current prime minister of Japan  never lived up to its goal of ''finally and irreversibly'' resolving the issue.



Lee and other survivors said Seoul officials didn't consult them before making the deal, under which Japan agreed to contribute 1 billion yen ($8 million) to a South Korean fund to help support the victims. They questioned the sincerity of the Japanese government  then led by right-wing Prime Minster Shinzo Abe, who had long been accused by South Koreans of sanitizing Japan's war crimes  because Japanese officials stressed the payments shouldn't be considered as compensation.



South Korean court rulings in recent years calling for Japan's government and companies to provide reparations to victims of sexual slavery and forced labor have been angrily rejected by Tokyo, which insists all wartime compensation issues were settled under a 1965 treaty normalizing relations between the two nations.



Historians say tens of thousands of women mostly from around Asia, many of them Korean, were sent to front-line military brothels to provide sex to Japanese soldiers. At the time of the 2015 deal, 46 such women were alive in South Korea, but now there are only 12.



While Japan in the past has repeatedly expressed regret over its wartime actions, many South Koreans believe such comments lacked sincerity and were further ruined by conservatives who've continued to play down or question Japan's wartime past. There's also frustration over views that Japanese school books sugarcoat past brutalities.



A U.N. report from 1996 concluded that sex slaves were taken through ''violence and outright coercion.'' A statement from Japan in 1993 acknowledged that women were taken ''against their own will,'' but the nation's leaders later denied it.





Lee Yong-soo, a Korean sexual slavery survivor who has been demanding since the early 1990s that the Japanese government fully accept culpability and offer an unequivocal apology, touches the face of a statue of a girl symbolizing the issue of wartime "comfort women" during its unveiling ceremony in Seoul, Aug. 14, 2019. AP-Yonhap
Climate change activists have caused major traffic delays after blocking off a major Sydney highway during peak-hour.

A Blockade Australia protester suspended himself on a pole 10m above the main road in Port Botany - a major industrial hub in the city's south.

NSW Transport Minister David Elliott said the protest was 'nothing short of transport vandalism'.

'I can't imagine a fellow Australian being so selfish, self-centred and arrogant,' Mr Elliott told 2GB's Ben Fordham.

One protester suspended himself on a pole 10m above the main road in Port Botany, Sydney on Tuesday morning to protest about the 'climate emergency'

Police were in attendance at Port Botany on Tuesday morning (pictured)

Blockade Australia activists began their protest about 6.20am Tuesday morning on Bumborah Point Road at Port Botany.

Live traffic revealed there were significant delays to peak hour traffic with cars and trucks backed up for nearly a kilometre on nearby Foreshore Rd and Botany Rd.

A stream of the protest was up on Blockade Australia Twitter account but had been taken down by 8am.

'Suspended from the monopole, Tom (23) is blocking one of the main roads in and out of Port Botany,' the caption said.

'He is taking this action because the exploitative and extractive Australian system is driving ecosystem and social collapse.'

One protester was pulled down from the light pole about 7.30 but a second kept filming the protest perched above the backed up traffic as workers stood in the street waiting.

'The system is endangering us all  (the protest) needs to be done.' the man can be heard saying on the video.

Police have urged motorists to avoid the area, with heavy vehicles told to detour to Bunnerong Rd.

The protesters filmed himself dangling from the light pole as police rescue crews worked below (pictured)

In November last year, two climate protesters associated with Blockade Australia shut down the world's biggest coal port by abseiling off a key piece of equipment.

The two female protesters entered the Port of Newcastle and attached themselves to a key piece of machinery that loads and unloads coal, shutting down the port.

The activists, named only as Zianna and Hannah, climbed to the top of the equipment and suspended themselves out of reach.

Frustrated workers wait in the gridlocked traffic as the protester perches above them (pictured)
Any deal agreed in peace negotiations with Russia will be submitted to a referendum in Ukraine to let the people 'weigh in', President Volodymyr Zelensky has today said.

Speaking to Ukrainian media outlet Suspilne, the country's leader said: 'I explained it to all the negotiating groups: when you speak of all these changes (in a future accord) and they can be historic... we will come back to a referendum.'

'The people will have to weigh in on certain kinds of compromise.'

President Zelensky added that a part of the talks will discuss what the compromises cover and spoke at length about whether Ukraine should join NATO.

He said Ukraine will not be admitted to NATO because its member states 'are afraid of Russia' as 'we have all already understood'.

Any deal agreed in peace negotiations with Russia will be submitted to a referendum in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky has today said

But he added now Ukrainians need 'other security guarantees'.

President Zelensky also said: 'There are NATO countries that want to provide security guarantees...who are ready to do what the alliance would do if we were members,' the Ukrainian leader said.

'And I think this is a normal compromise.'

On Sunday in an interview with Fareed Zakaria for CNN's GPS, Zelensky said he is thankful to NATO members for supporting Ukraine 'economically or militarily' but added that the war 'wouldn't have started' had Ukraine been a part of it.

'So now I'd like to receive security guarantees for my people,' the Ukrainian leader said.

In the interview Mr Zelensky, who has a 17-year-old daughter called Oleksandra, and a nine-year-old son, Kyrylo, also opened up about his children's reactions to the conflict.

He said: 'My children know, for sure, what is happening. And I don't know whether it's good or bad. I have not explained anything to my children.

'They have said to me that war is raging in Ukraine, and at our home we have the same freedom of speech as we have in our country.

'And they know what we are fighting for. They understand all of that.

'I think that my children should not be prohibited from seeing any kinds of videos of what Russia has made.

'My son has to be aware of it, because while my son is alive, that means that some Ukrainian Army member is giving up his own life for that - for this.'

Moscow insists on a guarantee that Ukraine never be admitted to NATO, an organisation created to protect Europe from the threat of the Soviet Union at the start of the Cold War.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, NATO has expanded to include countries on Russia's borders.

US President Joe Biden, who travels to Europe this week to attend a summit with NATO leaders, discussed the war with politicians including Boris Johnson today

This comes as a number of international leaders have held a series of talks, but no substantive solution to the conflict has emerged from that dialogue.

Yesterday Mr Zelensky spoke with Israeli legislators via video link, thanking Israel for its efforts to broker talks with Russia.

US President Joe Biden, who travels to Europe this week to attend a summit with NATO leaders, discussed the war with politicians including Boris Johnson, President Emmanuel Macron of France, Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany and Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy today.

Mr Biden and NATO have said repeatedly that while they will provide weapons and other defensive support to non-NATO member Ukraine, they are determined to avoid any escalation that risks a broader war with Russia.
The coroner won't investigate the tragic death of a two-year-old boy with Covid in Sydney because doctors are confident the virus was the cause.

Carter Cheung was previously healthy and had no existing health conditions but sadly died after spending just a day being treated at The Children's Hospital at Westmead.

Carter fell ill last Wednesday night before being rushed to hospital early Thursday morning and died on Saturday morning.

NSW Health confirmed the case and asked for the privacy of Carter's family to be respected.

Carter Cheung's (pictured) father spoke out this week to thank the community for its support

Friends of the family setup a GoFundMe page this week.

'Some of you may have heard, recently, Damien and his family tragically lost their two year old boy, Carter,' the page read.

Carter's dad Damien then replied to wave of support the page generated.

'This means so much to me  I don't know how to express this  I didn't know so many people cared so much about Carter,' he said.

Currently children under five are not eligible for a Covid vaccination, but clinical trials are underway.

NSW recorded 14,970 positive Covid results on Monday with health officials saying a new sub-Omicron strain called Omicon BA.2 is expected to cause a surge in case numbers in the next few weeks.

Speaking on Tuesday morning Professor Peter Collignon urged people to practice caution but not to panic.

'Children under the age of five obviously aren't eligible for vaccines. So what do we do about that?' Professor Collignon told Today.

'I think we have got to take reasonable precautions... So you should do as much as you can outside and avoid crowded places.'

'But by the same token, this actually happens every winter with other infections such as influenza, unfortunately we get occasionally children who die from that as well.'

Carter was rushed to The Children's Hospital at Westmead (pictured) last Thursday and was diagnosed with Covid

'The risk is very low in children. Children are much lower risk than their parents for instance. And particularly their grandparents. But it shows we need to do everything we can to decrease our personal risk and particularly that means through vaccination for those who can get vaccines.'

Professor Collignon added that with the current high rates of vaccination for Covid the risks are on a similar level to influenza.

The only difference being there could be two or three waves of Covid per year where influenza there is typically one wave each year.

Professor Colliignon added that with the Omicron, and now the B.2 Omicron, strains the virus seems to progressively getting more contagious but they also appear less damaging.
The Pentagon said on Monday it had seen clear evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine as it emerged that the U.S. was shipping Soviet-era air defense systems to bolster Ukrainian resistance.

On day 26 of the Russian invasion, a senior defense official said Russia had stepped up air sorties over Ukraine but that its ground advance remained largely stalled.

Last week President Joe Biden unveiled a fresh package of weapons for the government in Kyiv.

But it made no mention of old Russian-made equipment, such as the decades old SA-8 surface-to-air missile systems, which are reported to be on their way.

The weapons will be familiar to Ukraine's armed forces, which have used them since the break-up of the Soviet Union.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. collected several systems - including the S-300, known as the SA-10 to N.A.T.O - during the Cold War to study their Soviet technology and better understand their armaments.

'We are continuing to work with our allies and key partners to surge new assistance, including Soviet- or Russian-origin antiaircraft systems and the necessary ammunition to employ them, every day to Ukraine,' a U.S. official told the newspaper.

The U.S. has dug into its small store of Soviet-era weapons systems and is sending air defense equipment - such as the SA-8 mobile unit like the one shown here - to Ukraine

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the there was 'clear evidence' that Russian forces were committing war crimes in Ukraine

The US is also working to get more S-300 air defense systems to Ukraine

City workers dig graves on public land so they can bury civilians and soldiers killed in the Russian bombardment on the city of Mariupol, in the south of Ukraine, on Sunday

Washington has pushed back on calls by the Ukrainian government of Volodymyr Zelensky for a N.A.T.O. no-fly zone to protect civilians.

Instead it wants Ukraine to establish its own with air defense systems.

Other efforts to supply Kyiv include working with Slovakia in an effort to send an S-300 from its arsenal.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited the country last week, but has yet to finalize an agreement that would involve the U.S. providing it with a replacement.

The S-8 marked a step forward for Soviet defenses when it entered service in 1971.

It was the first mobile defense missile system which had its own engagement radars all carried on a single vehicle.

Its five-strong crew could halt their truck and have it ready within five minutes to engage planes almost 20 miles away.

The urgent need for air defense systems has been underscored by the latest developments in Ukraine.

Determined resistance has stalled Russian forces' attempts to seize the Ukrainian capital.

Instead, the Russian invasion has switched to the sort of scorched earth efforts seen in Syria and Chechnya with airstrikes and artillery barrages on civilian areas.

U.S. officials say it appears to be an effort to destroy the morale of the Ukrainian people and their will to fight.

A man walks along a road past a tank belonging to pro-Russian separatists troops on the outskirts of the besieged southern port city of Mariupol on Sunday

Mariupol has been surrounded by Russian forces for two weeks, which are now trying to push into the city. If it falls, it would be the biggest city captured by Russian troops so far, and would open up a 'land corridor' from rebel-held areas of Donbass to Crimea for reinforcements to pass along

'We certainly see clear evidence that Russian forces are committing war crimes and we are helping with the collecting of evidence of that,' Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told a news briefing.

'But there's investigative processes that are going to go on, and we're going to let that happen. We're going to contribute to that investigative process. As for what would come out of that, that's not a decision that the Pentagon leadership would make.'

His comments come after Biden last week said he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin was a 'war criminal.'

That view was quickly echoed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

'Yesterday, President Biden said that in his opinion, war crimes have been committed in Ukraine,' he said.

'Personally, I agree. Intentionally targeting civilians is a war crime.

'After all the destruction of the past three weeks, I find it difficult to conclude that the Russians are doing otherwise.'
The force continues to search for the agile 30-year-old and is asking anyone with information on his whereabouts to get in touch

This is the daring moment a man abseiled down a block of flats in Preston, Lancashire to evade arrest after police turned up.

Footage shows the tracksuited escapee climb out of a four-storey window before using ropes to shimmy down the block of flats.

The man appears to use dog leads or belts tied together to lower himself halfway down before leaping from the second floor.

Wanted man Jamie Carlisle uses a rope to shimmy down the block of flats in Preston

Carlisle hits the ground hard, landing next to one of the police cars

He hits the ground hard, landing next to one of the police cars, before hurling himself over a metal fence and continuing his getaway on foot.

Lancashire Police said the man is Jamie Carlisle and he is wanted in connection with threats to damage property in the city.

The force continues to search for the agile 30-year-old and is asking anyone with information on his whereabouts to get in touch.

Lancashire Police said the man is Jamie Carlisle and he is wanted in connection with threats to damage property in the city

A police spokesman said: 'Officers attended an address off Samuel Street, Preston, yesterday (March 17) as part of our enquiries to trace wanted man Jamie Carlisle.

'Carlisle is wanted in connection with making threats to damage property following reports of a public order earlier this month.

'We are aware of a video circulating on social media showing a man climbing down from a fourth story window and jumping to the ground in order to evade police.

'We are continuing to actively search for Carlisle and we would urge anyone with information to contact us.

'Carlisle could be violent and we would advise the public not to approach him but instead call us with his location and a description of his clothing.

'Anyone with information is urged to call 101'.
More than 40 Tory MPs have written to the boss of a university to demand it rescinds a decision to withdraw the offer of an honorary degree to Tony Sewell.

The Daily Mail revealed last week that Nottingham University withdrew the offer after Dr Sewell wrote a controversial report for the Government which concluded there was no evidence that the UK was institutionally racist.

Now a group of parliamentarians has written to the universitys vice-chancellor, Professor Shearer West, to demand a U-turn.

They said the extreme, hasty and regrettable decision was all the worse because Nottingham had given honorary degrees to Chinese diplomats who denied Uighur genocide.

Dr Tony Sewell was appointed chairman of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities by Boris Johnson in 2020

And they argued that giving Dr Sewell, who was appointed chairman of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities by Boris Johnson in 2020, the honour would help to restore the good name of what was once a well-regarded institution.

The letter was signed by 43 MPs  including Sir John Hayes, chairman of the Tory Common Sense group, and Robert Halfon, chairman of the Commons education committee  and five lords.

It stated: We are extremely alarmed at the decision of your university to withdraw Dr Sewells offer of an honorary degree, simply because he earned the ire of a few frustrated ideologues for his widely-welcomed work on the Governments Race and Ethnic Disparities Report.

The letter added: He is a distinguished civic champion for the life chances of some of Britains least well-off children.

The MPs said the universitys explanation that the award had been withdrawn because he had become the subject of political controversy was plainly absurd.

Other recipients of honorary degrees from the university include the former Chinese ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming, who dismissed Uighur re-education internment camps as fake news, and Najib Razak, the ex-Malaysian PM who was jailed for 12 years for embezzlement.

Last week, Nottingham University said: These awards predate the introduction of criteria to preclude the award of honorary degrees to figures who have been the subject of political controversy.
A young girl who was on a trip to New York City with her mother was punched in the head by an 'emotionally disturbed' man on Monday in Midtown Manhattan.

Yelena Contreras Molerio, 36, from Miami, was walking on the street with her nine-year-old daughter close to Central Park, when she was sucker-punched on the left side of her head.

The suspect was quickly caught after a veteran doorman working at the nearby Plaza Hotel apprehended Raheem Ramsarran, 27, and managed to hold onto him until police arrived.

The attack happened on a mild and sunny spring morning, at about 11:20am, on the corner of Central Park South and Grand Army Plaza.

It is the latest attack in a string of random assaults on the New York public whether it be on the city's subway system or above ground.

Monday morning's attack on a nine-year-old girl happened at about 11:20am on the corner of Central Park South and Grand Army Plaza

Doorman, Neil Johnson, 60, was working the front door at the famous luxury hotel when he heard the commotion and ran over to the little girl and her mother to help. He said the youngster was clutching her head and was clearly in pain.

'I saw the woman crying and they're running away from this guy and he's walking fast toward them. So got to do something. I got in between them and this crazy guy. And then another guy joined me, who apparently saw the whole thing happened. So we just made sure that this person couldn't go,' he told the New York Post .

Johnson, who has worked at the hotel for 24 years, said he had not seen anything like the incident he witnessed on Monday.

'There's always been fights and stuff like that but nothing that disturbing. This was just off the charts as far as sanity goes,' he noted. 'That little girl is never going to want to come to New York City ever again.'

Ramsarran was caught within 15 minutes of the alleged assault and is now in police custody.

'We saw a man with a backpack, a red hoodie and a beige jacket screaming at people and people literally running away from him and he was just like yelling,' Kimberly Thomas, 24, told the Post moments after the assault happened.

'I thought he was chasing someone. I didn't know he hit someone,' she added.

Although no arrest record exists for Ramsarran, police were called to his address in Queens in 2018 and 2019 over reports of an emotionally disturbed person.

On one of the occasions he said that he felt suicidal, was not on medication and wanted to go to hospital.

'After he realized he couldn't go any further, we weren't going to let him, he stayed there and started yelling, 'Where are the cops? Where are the cops?' Johnson said.

Another nearby worker, Ahmed Ahmed, 41, who runs a food cart and was close by when the attack happened said that it appeared to him that the girl was pushed.

'I seen this guy he had a bag and he ran into a small girl. [I saw him] push the girl on the ground and then run.

A revolting attack where a man smeared feces over the face of a 43-year-old woman was caught on camera, last month

Monday's attack comes after a string of high-profile random assaults.

They include the vicious battering of a woman with a hammer by a homeless man in Queens and the smearing of feces on another woman in the Bronx - after which the alleged perpetrator, a violent criminal with a history of 44 arrests, was released without bail.

These incidents were in addition to the murder of Asian woman Christina Yuna Lee, 25, who was tailed to her apartment by another homeless man, Assamad Nash, 35, and stabbed to death in her own apartment.

One month earlier, Michelle Go, 40, was waiting on the platform at the Times Square subway station was killed when she was shoved onto the tracks.

The New York subway has been ground zero for the latent crime wave after an alarming 73.3 percent increase in underground incidents - including 182 in February alone.

Hate crimes have also doubled since last year  with anti-Asian attacks more than tripling and anti-Jewish complaints up by a whopping 54 percent over the same time last year, from 134 to 207 incidents.

One recent poll revealed that nearly 75 percent of all New York City voters consider crime to be a 'very serious' problem  the highest number since polling began in 1999.

The one small ray of light for New York is that shootings declined slightly in February, by 1.3 percent over the same period in 2021.

'The men and women of the New York City Police Department are proactively addressing the deep-rooted causes of criminal behavior,' Police Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell said in a statement at the time.

'The NYPD will never relent, and the department has made far too much progress over the decades  and invested far too much in the communities it serves  to fall back by any measure. New Yorkers deserve better.'

Many of New York City's most recent violent crimes have been perpetrated by repeat offenders - a development that comes after Manhattan's District Attorney Alvin Bragg, 48, downgraded many crimes to misdemeanors.

Last month, the mayor announced that the NYPD would deploy 1,000 additional officers and separate teams of health workers to the city's subway system to crack down on the influx of underground crime.
Russia has lost almost 10,000 soldiers in less than four weeks in Ukraine, according to its own figures.

The death toll  an incredible tally for a war that the Kremlin believed would be over within days  was published by a pro-government website, but quickly taken down.

There was speculation that it was uploaded by a pro-Ukrainian employee. Russia had previously admitted to 498 deaths  but that was on March 2.

The news came as satellite photos showed further evidence that Putin's forces were going on the defensive and digging in ahead of a 'long war'.

Last night's figures said 9,861 soldiers had died in Ukraine, with 16,153 injured. About 15,000 Soviet troops died in Afghanistan after the 1979 invasion  but that was over ten years.

Ukraine has put the Russian dead at 15,000  but the latest figures are higher than US estimate of 7,000.

The death toll was part of an update from Moscow's defence ministry  and, while they were quickly removed from the website of Komsomolskaya Pravda, a pro-government tabloid, they remained on the archive last night.

Though the figures offer an insight into Ukraine's military successes, there were signs last night that the war was turning Russia's way.

Service members of pro-Russian troops and tanks during Ukraine-Russia conflict in Mariupol last week

A destroyed Russian vehicle near Pryluky in Chernihiv, Ukraine. The vehicle appeared to have been penetrated with high caliber bullet

Russian President Vladimir Putin (pictured) listens to the Governor of Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area Dmitry Artukhov during their meeting in Moscow on Monday

Maxar satellite images taken on March 17 show Russian armoured equipment in Ozera, northwest of capital Kyiv

Dead Russian soldiers understood to be loaded onto a train at night

Locals of Odessa (pictured on Monday) learn war tactics and how to handle weapons as Russian troops surround the city

A UK intelligence report  seen by the Daily Mail  said Moscow's forces are making significant breakthroughs.

They have more effectively used drones to strike Ukrainian targets on the ground.

Russian forces have also destroyed a number of Turkish-made TB2 drones, which have proved highly effective against its troops and equipment.

Ukrainian ground-to-air defence systems may also have been destroyed, the report suggests, as increasing numbers of missiles have been finding their targets.

Russian rockets have struck a training base for foreign fighters  killing 35 and wounding 134 troops  an aircraft repair facility and underground silos storing Kyiv's stockpile of Western weapons.

The report explains how Russia, after replenishing its artillery supplies, has 'steadily increased its bombardment of various cities, particularly Mariupol, Kharkiv, Sumy and Chernihiv'.

UK defence analysts have also expressed concern that Russia's Kinzhal hypersonic missile can bypass anti-missile defence systems.

Analysts also questioned previous Western assessments that Ukrainian air defences remained effective.

The intelligence report says Russia intends its 'total destruction' of Mariupol to 'serve as a warning to other cities'.

It said: 'The pattern of destruction of food and water supplies, targeting of civilians, indiscriminate use of firepower to advance, is already being repeated elsewhere. This is based on effective lessons learned [by the Russians] in Syria.'

A police officer stands guard at the wreckage of a damaged shopping mall in Podilskyi district of Kyiv

An unexploded rocket is pictured in the cemetery of Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine, on Monday

A view to the site of an explosion as a result of a missile strike into the shopping mall in Kyiv on Monday

In another alarming assessment, Kyiv fears there is a 'high likelihood' of Belarus joining Russia's invasion.

Its armoured forces are expected to head south, 'likely towards Lviv', in western Ukraine.

On a visit to London, Ukraine's defence minister Oleksii Reznikov said: 'Several small cities have simply been wiped off the face of the earth.

'Moscow is afraid of our army so they are fighting civilians.'

The Kremlin's forces appeared to be digging in a strong defensive position around Kyiv as satellite imagery released on Friday appeared to show Russian mines planted northwest of the capital.

An American think-tank remarked that 'Russian forces did not make any major advances on March 21' and did not 'conduct major offensive operations', continuing to push on with 'low-quality reserves' and riddled with logistics issues.

On Sunday the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that Russia is preparing its people 'for a long war' as the 'occupation forces have lost their offensive potential'.

A civilian pictured cleaning up the debris from his apartment building, damaged by bombing in Kyiv, Ukraine

Slava Chikov prepares to cover the shattered window of his living room with a plastic sheet in a building damaged by bombing in Kyiv

Service members of pro-Russian troops in the body of a truck during Ukraine-Russia conflict on a road near Mariupol

The latest assessment of Putin's offensive campaign from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) on March 21 said Russian forces 'continued to make slow but steady progress and shell civilian infrastructure in Mariupol' and 'did not conduct offensive operations in northeastern Ukraine and have been unable to solve logistics issues'.

It further added: 'Russian forces did not conduct any offensive operations toward the northeastern Ukrainian cities of Chernihiv, Sumy, or Kharkiv in the last 24 hours.'

The report added that Putin's forces deploy 'low-quality reserves, including combat-support elements and low-readiness units from the Eastern Military District, to replace losses in frontline units'.

A satellite image shows damages and burning buildings in Irpin, near Kyiv, Ukraine yesterday

On Friday Denys Monastyrsky told The Associated Press that Ukraine will need Western assistance to cope with the massive task of defusing explosives once the war is over.

He said: 'A huge number of shells and mines have been fired at Ukraine and a large part haven't exploded, they remain under the rubble and pose a real threat.

'It will take years, not months, to defuse them.'

Ukrainian troops have also have planted land mines at bridges, airports and other key infrastructure to prevent Russians from using them.

'We won't be able to remove the mines from all that territory, so I asked our international partners and colleagues from the European Union and the United States to prepare groups of experts to demine the areas of combat and facilities that came under shelling,' Monastyrsky added.

According to The Times, a military source told the paper that planting mines was a part of Russia's new 'defensive posture' and 'indicates they are in it for the long haul'.

On Sunday Ukraine's General Staff of the Armed Forces also said in a Facebook post: 'The opponent continues to bear losses, has significant problems with the composition of units and parts of the personal composition, logistics.

'At the same time, Russian propagandists started preparing the population of the Russian Federation for a long war.

'Official communication channels are spreading propaganda about alleged success in conducting the so-called 'special military operation', public measures are being carried out to support the war in Ukraine.'

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Zelensky says any peace deal with Russia would have to pass a referendum in Ukraine as Boris Johnson discusses crisis with Joe Biden and EU leaders

Any deal agreed in peace negotiations with Russia will be submitted to a referendum in Ukraine to let the people 'weigh in', President Volodymyr Zelensky has today said.

Speaking to Ukrainian media outlet Suspilne, the country's leader said: 'I explained it to all the negotiating groups: when you speak of all these changes (in a future accord) and they can be historic... we will come back to a referendum.'

'The people will have to weigh in on certain kinds of compromise.'

President Zelensky added that a part of the talks will discuss what the compromises cover and spoke at length about whether Ukraine should join NATO.

He said Ukraine will not be admitted to NATO because its member states 'are afraid of Russia' as 'we have all already understood'.

Any deal agreed in peace negotiations with Russia will be submitted to a referendum in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky has today said

But he added now Ukrainians need 'other security guarantees'.

President Zelensky also said: 'There are NATO countries that want to provide security guarantees...who are ready to do what the alliance would do if we were members,' the Ukrainian leader said.

'And I think this is a normal compromise.'

On Sunday in an interview with Fareed Zakaria for CNN's GPS, Zelensky said he is thankful to NATO members for supporting Ukraine 'economically or militarily' but added that the war 'wouldn't have started' had Ukraine been a part of it.

'So now I'd like to receive security guarantees for my people,' the Ukrainian leader said.

In the interview Mr Zelensky, who has a 17-year-old daughter called Oleksandra, and a nine-year-old son, Kyrylo, also opened up about his children's reactions to the conflict.

He said: 'My children know, for sure, what is happening. And I don't know whether it's good or bad. I have not explained anything to my children.

'They have said to me that war is raging in Ukraine, and at our home we have the same freedom of speech as we have in our country.

'And they know what we are fighting for. They understand all of that.

'I think that my children should not be prohibited from seeing any kinds of videos of what Russia has made.

'My son has to be aware of it, because while my son is alive, that means that some Ukrainian Army member is giving up his own life for that - for this.'

Moscow insists on a guarantee that Ukraine never be admitted to NATO, an organisation created to protect Europe from the threat of the Soviet Union at the start of the Cold War.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, NATO has expanded to include countries on Russia's borders.

US President Joe Biden, who travels to Europe this week to attend a summit with NATO leaders, discussed the war with politicians including Boris Johnson today

This comes as a number of international leaders have held a series of talks, but no substantive solution to the conflict has emerged from that dialogue.

Yesterday Mr Zelensky spoke with Israeli legislators via video link, thanking Israel for its efforts to broker talks with Russia.

US President Joe Biden, who travels to Europe this week to attend a summit with NATO leaders, discussed the war with politicians including Boris Johnson, President Emmanuel Macron of France, Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany and Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy today.

Mr Biden and NATO have said repeatedly that while they will provide weapons and other defensive support to non-NATO member Ukraine, they are determined to avoid any escalation that risks a broader war with Russia.
With a smile worth a million pounds, this baby receives a kiss from mum and a woolly hat  courtesy of Daily Mail readers.

One-year-old Lisa is safe and warm at last after a terrifying week under Vladimir Putin's bombardment.

The youngster spent nights with mother Yuliia, 42, and her brothers  ten-year-old Mykhailo and Tymofii, 12  cowering in the basement of their home in Kharkiv. Above ground, Russian forces mercilessly bombed the north-eastern city, where apartment blocks, schools and hospitals were all pounded. In the cold and dark, all that Yuliia could do was hope and pray that the walls would protect them from the deadly explosions outside.

Comfort: Lisa in new beanie with mum Yuliia at a Unicef shelter in Lviv, Ukraine

They were given food and clothing, and most importantly, peace

'It was cold and dirty,' she recalled. 'The children slept fully dressed.' Eventually, she grabbed their travel documents and some baby food, and they fled.

'When the planes started flying above our heads, it was very scary,' she said. 'The children were horrified.' Her husband stayed in Kharkiv to take care of his elderly mother.

Her sons are still haunted by their panic-filled train journey to the western city of Lviv. 'There were no seats left on the train. The children were just sitting on the bags at the end of the carriage. And outside the window was explosions and smoke. They were very scared,' she said.

In Lviv, the family were given shelter by Unicef, the United Nations children's charity which is receiving funding from Mail Force.

They were given food and clothing, and most importantly, peace.

'All we had are the documents and clothes that we wore when leaving,' said Yuliia. 'But it's comfortable here. And most importantly, it's quiet.'

To meet the needs of thousands of families, Unicef has given 30 tons of clothing, blankets and hygiene items to centres across Ukraine.

A spokesman said: 'Many families left the regions of the country where the fighting is taking place, having only taken the things that they could carry in their hands. Thanks to your donations, families like Yuliia's can now find much-needed winter clothing.'

Yuliia added: 'I couldn't change the children's clothes because I didn't have anything. And now I have jackets, trousers, hats and everything I need.'

The Mail Force Ukraine Appeal has raised more than 8million. At the request of Lord and Lady Rothermere, the Mail's parent company DMGT has donated 500,000. The charity is distributing the money to where it is needed most. As well as the Red Cross, a 1million donation is being made to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) which is helping families caught in the worst refugee crisis since the Second World War.

Another 250,000 was announced at the weekend for The Halo Trust, the bomb-clearing charity made famous by Princess Diana, to help buy new vehicles and mine-detecting equipment.
A British Army corporal has been found guilty of going into a female soldier's room for a cup of tea before kissing her neck, pushing her onto the bed and exposing himself to her.

Mathew Fieldhouse - who has since been promoted to sergeant - tried to undo woman's belt before undoing his own, a court martial had been told.

The married man, whose wife was pregnant at the time, began playing with himself while saying 'come on' before she fled to another room, the court heard.

The hearing was told the victim was junior to him and going through a difficult time. She felt as though the 37 year old, who she considered a friend, 'took advantage of her vulnerability'.

The woman had wept as she told the court the experience had left her feeling 'disgusting'.

But she did not report the incident for some time as she thought no one would believe her because of the 'person that he is'.

Sgt Fieldhouse had denied one count of sexual assault.

Bulford Military Court, Wilts, heard Sgt Fieldhouse, of the 25 Training Regiment of the Royal Logistic Corps, had told her he was having marital problems.

Mathew Fieldhouse, 37, had denied exposing himself to an army colleague

Bulford Miltary Court Centre where the court martial was heard

The woman told the court Sgt Fieldhouse, who goes by the nickname 'Mouse', was known for his flirty banter and would make sexual comments but that these were always laughed off.

Rupert Gregory, prosecuting, said: 'The defendant went to the complainant's block and she invited him to her room for a cup of tea.

'He came into her room, put his hands on her and picked her up by her hips and began kissing her on her neck.

'She was nervous. She did not know how to react. He put her on the bed with one knee on the bed and tried to unbuckle her belt.

'He unbuckled his belt, took out his penis and began masturbating saying 'oh come on'.

'She ran out of the room to two rooms away into another private's room and told him what had happened.'

In the alleged victim's video interview, played to the court, the woman explained she was going through a difficult time and Sgt Fieldhouse would chat to her about numerous things.

She said she had not thought anything about inviting him to her room because she had many male friends.

Sgt Mathew Fieldhouse - who was a corporal at the time - allegedly tried to undo woman's belt before undoing his own

The woman said: 'He picked me up and put me on the bed and started kissing me. I started laughing, I was in shock. I don't know if he thought 'oh she's liking this'.

'I feel like if I had not had laughed or if I had said something then it would not have carried on.

'He picked me up and put me on the bed and started kissing me.

'I felt really uncomfortable while he was doing it. I don't see him in that way - he's not the most attractive guy in the world.

'He pulled his boxers down and grabbed his penis and was doing some movements or whatever, playing with himself. That's when he was like 'oh, come on'.

'I thought 'this is too much' and something was triggered and I just went out. I felt disgusting.

'He would say things in front of other people as well, like everyone says 'it's Mouse, he would not do anything'.

'It was flirty banter but I did not think he would ever act upon it. I would laugh it off, I never took it seriously.'

The woman wept as she added: 'I was not myself. It felt like he took advantage of my vulnerability because of the stuff I was going through.

'I didn't say anything to anyone because I didn't think anyone would believe me because of the person that he is.'

The woman said a colleague even laughed when she told her what happened, saying 'Mouse would not do that' but when he realised she was being serious, he urged her to report it.

Sgt Fieldhouse 'completely denied' the incident in a police interview, reasoning that he would not enter rooms without being accompanied.

He will be sentenced in May.
gettyimagesbank





Police have begun a preliminary investigation into online posts talking about hiring a hit man to kill President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, officials said Monday.







In the posts uploaded on pro-government online communities, unidentified writers talked about hiring a foreign hit man to assassinate Yoon before he takes office May 10, according to the National Police Agency.







Some people alerted police about these postings that began to appear on online communities after Yoon was elected March 9 and have since spread.







The writers have yet to be booked but can face multiple charges, including conspiracy and violation of the Communications Network Act, police said. (Yonhap)


An 'unempathetic and manipulative' rapist who was found guilty of raping two female students and sexually assaulting a third while under investigation has been jailed for 17 years.

Charles Goodwin, 21, a mixed martial arts fighter and business management student at Liverpool University, was convicted in January of raping two women and sexually assaulting another.

Goodwin, who told Liverpool Crown Court he was 'a hopeless romantic', was ruled to be dangerous and the judge imposed a three year extended licence.

The court was told Goodwin had forced himself on his first victim in a taxi, before raping her three times in a 'sustained attack' in which he slapped her and grabbed her throat in student accommodation in Manchester.

He was arrested but released on bail and then under police investigation, the court heard.

Goodwin's second and third victims were attacked in student accommodation in Liverpool, the court heard.

Judge Garrett Byrne said part of Goodwin's 'modus operandi' was to get his victims drunk to take advantage of their vulnerability.

He said: 'What was clear from all the evidence given by victims is that you had no care whatsoever as to whether or not they were consenting, their consent was a matter of complete indifference to you.

'You treated each of them not as a human being, deserving respect, but as a plaything or toy.

'You took the view once they were within your control you could do to them as you pleased.'

Goodwin, of Hilbre Street, Liverpool, was found guilty following a trial of four counts of rape, one count of assault by penetration, one count of attempting to choke, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and two counts of sexual assault.

The judge said he was satisfied Goodwin was dangerous and ordered an extended licence period of three years on top of his sentence.

Charles Goodwin (pictured), a mixed martial arts fighter, who described himself in the trial as 'a hopeless romantic' has been jailed for 17 years

The aixed martial arts fighter and business management student at Liverpool University, was convicted in January of raping two women and sexually assaulting another

The rapist, who told Liverpool Crown Court he was 'a hopeless romantic', was ruled to be dangerous and the judge imposed a three year extended licence

Goodwin's lawyer told Liverpool Crown Court that his difficult relationship with his mother in childhood had shaped some of his negative attitudes.

But Judge Bryne told Goodwin, who showed no emotion at all throughout the hearing, that while his complicated early life might go someway to explain it but there was no compelling mitigation and he had shown no remorse and still denies the offences.

Goodwin, of Hilbre Street, Liverpool city centre but formerly of Salford, had been found guilty of three charges of raping one student in Manchester, attempting to choke her, assault by penetration and assaulting her.

A jury heard how he began indecently touching her in a taxi on the way to her student accommodation.

During the 13 day trial they heard that he had told her that she deserved to be 'treated like a princess' and picked her and carried her in but once inside he stripped them both and they had consensual sex.

Terrifyingly he then began choking her, repeatedly slapped her across the face and despite her repeated requests to stop he raped her three times and used degrading language.

After that attack in January 2020 he next struck the following September after starting studying at University of Liverpool.

Goodwin was previously arrested and released without charge after aggressively raping and throttling a student in Manchester. Just eight months later he raped a student in Liverpool and sexually assaulted another days later

He was convicted of raping a second student at her accommodation in the city, though cleared of two other rapes of her, and two offences of sexually assaulting a third student just three days later. He had been cleared of assaulting a fourth student by penetration.

The court heard that after the first attack in Manchester he was initially released on bail but after time limits expired he was then released under investigation.

Judge Byrne told the defendant that a shocking aspect of the case is that after he was arrested for those matters, he was released and went on to rape the second student and sexually assault the third student twice.

'The fact that you were under investigation for the first set of offences did nothing to inhibit you or cause you to stop. The reverse is true - you deliberately put yourself into social situations where you could predate on young women to sexually abuse and to satisfy your carnal desires.

'Part of your modus operandi was to encourage the victims to drink as much alcohol as possible so that they would lower their defences and in one case, to ply her with so much alcohol that she did not know what she doing, so that you could take advantage of their vulnerability.'

He said he was satisfied he had plied the second victim with alcohol to facilitate the rape at student accommodation in Liverpool. And while she lay unconscious in bed, mostly covered by a sheet, he photographed her and sent it to her friend with a disgusting comment.

'You did this - not with the innocent motivation which you tried to persuade the jury of - but with a more sinister intent. It was designed to prolong her humiliation and to display your power over her to her friend.'

Judge Byrne said that he had taken advantage of the vulnerability of his third victim due to the amount she had drunk which had been clear to see.

The court had been told that he was immature but the judge told him that did not operate to any significant degree. 'I saw you give evidence. You struck me as a highly intelligent, cold, unempathetic, and manipulative person who know perfectly well that what you were doing was wrong. '

Katy Appleton, defending, said today, 'He acknowledges some flaws in his behaviour namely his arrogance and his attitude towards women.'

She said his relationship with his mother had shaped some of his negative attitudes towards woman and he accepted he disrespected women,

She said that there had been elements of 'abandonment and harm' which may have affected his ability to empathise with his victims and creating a power struggle.

'His emotional intelligence is not developed,' she added.

In impact statements the first victim told how she was left suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and had felt suicidal and self harmed. She was unable to continue her studies and had to move back home.

She was physically as well as psychologically harmed and the offences, which she described as 'the worst experience of her life' have affected her ability for form intimate relationships and does not feel safe or in control.

The other rape victim told how she felt unable to stay in her student accommodation and was left feeling 'sad, lost and anxious'. She now has difficulty socialising and feels her formerly bubbly personality has changed.

During his 13-day trial Liverpool Crown Court (pictured) heard how he had been on police bail after the first attack but went on to commit the other attacks

The third student told how she had to take time off from her studies, became anxious and suffered from panic attacks.

Goodwin, who had a girlfriend at the time, admitted having sexual activity with all four women but maintained they had all consented and denied all 12 charges.

The offences of which he was convicted took place between January 15 and September 30, 2020.

Goodwin previously showed no reaction when the jury returned their unanimous verdicts after just over six hours deliberations.

But his father and grandfather, who stood in the public gallery as the verdicts were returned, afterwards shouted out at the seven men and five women jurors.

'Shame on this court, disgusting,' said his dad.

Goodwin's granddad shouted, 'A young man's life has been totally scotched and ruined.

'How can you believe someone's lies to the court? It is really no way to deal with these offences.'

During his 13-day trial Liverpool Crown Court heard how he had been on police bail after the first attack but went on to commit the other attacks.

Judge David Swinnerton told Goodwin, 'I am going to order a pre-sentence report to be prepared by probation to include the extent to which you present a danger to women and the outcome of that may affect sentence.

'Please prepare yourself for a lengthy period of imprisonment,' he added.

The offences of which he was convicted took place between January 15 and September 30, 2020.

Matthew Curtis, prosecuting, had told the jury, 'The prosecution say the defendant did not care whether the complainants consented or not. In short, he got what he wanted with no care for them or the immediate consequences of his actions.'

Goodwin, who had a girlfriend at the time, admitted having sexual activity with all four women but maintained they had all consented and denied all 12 charges.

He said the choking of the first victim, aged 19, had also been consensual and admitted calling her offensive misogynistic names as it 'turned him on.'

During his evidence he described himself as a combination of 'a hopeless romantic and Charlie big bollocks. It is the way my personality worked.'
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Joe Biden has said Russia launched a hypersonic missile at Ukraine and accused cornered warmonger Vladimir Putin of planning chemical and biological weapons attacks.

The US President warned Moscow of a severe Western response if WMDs were used in its brutal war on Ukraine, telling a gathering of American business leaders in Washington on Monday: His [Putins] back is against the wall. They are also suggesting that Ukraine has biological and chemical weapons in Ukraine. Thats a clear sign hes considering using both.

Biden continued: Theyre wreaking havoc on on the, on the Russian military, whether its their tanks or their helicopters or their aircraft.

And if you notice, theyve just launched their hypersonic missile, because its the only thing that they can get through without absolute certainty. Its, as you all know, its a consequential weapon, but with the same warhead on it as any other launched missile  it doesnt make that much difference except its almost impossible to stop it. Theres a reason theyre using it.

Some military experts questioned why the Russians would use the hypersonic weapon, if not to use Ukraine as a test run and send a political message. The missiles are believed to fly at ten times the speed of sound, and be able to evade air defenses.

Noting that Russia has recently accused the US of holding chemical and biological weapons in Europe, Biden retorted: Simply not true. I guarantee you. And now Putins back is against the wall. He wasnt anticipating the extent or strength of our unity. And the more his back is against the wall, the greater severity, the tactics he may employ.

Earlier in the day, Biden warned the US business community of intelligence pointing to a growing Russian cyber threat and urging companies to immediately prepare defences, saying they had a patriotic obligation to harden their systems against such attacks.

The President spoke after the Kremlin claimed it used its state-of-the-art military hardware to take out a Ukrainian weapons storage facility. The Pentagon on Monday would not confirm the claim.

Russia has lost almost 10,000 soldiers in less than four weeks in Ukraine, according to its own figures. The death toll  an incredible tally for a war that the Kremlin believed would be over within days  was published by a pro-government website, but quickly taken down.

Ukraine and the West claim that Russias invasion is floundering in part due to fierce Ukrainian resistance, poor planning and low morale among Russian forces. According to one US intelligence estimate, 7,000 Russian troops including four generals have already been killed  more than the number of American troops killed in either the Iraq or Afghanistan wars at 4,825 and 3,576 respectively  and between 14,000 and 21,000 troops have been injured in the fighting.

According to Ukraines military, Russia has lost 466 tanks, 115 helicopters, 914 vehicles, 95 aircraft, 213 artillery systems, 44 anti-aircraft weapons and 60 fuel tanks.

President Joe Biden confirmed Russia's use of a hypersonic missile during its invasion of Ukraine

Firefighters work at site after Russian attacks struck a shopping mall, in Kyiv, Ukraine on March 21, 2022. The Kremlin says it used a hypersonic missile to take out a Ukrainian arms facility

An unexploded rocket is pictured in the cemetery of Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine, on March 21, 2022

According to one US intelligence estimate, 7,000 Russian troops including four generals have already been killed  more than the number of American troops killed in either the Iraq or Afghanistan wars at 4,825 and 3,576 respectively  and between 14,000 and 21,000 troops have been injured in the fighting. The estimated Russian death toll is of a scale similar to that of the Battle of Iwo Jima, where 6,852 US troops were killed and 19,000 were wounded during five weeks of fighting Japanese forces in the most intense phase of the Pacific theatre of World War Two

Ukraines military claims Russia has lost 466 tanks, 115 helicopters, 914 vehicles, 95 aircraft, 213 artillery systems, 44 anti-aircraft weapons and 60 fuel tanks. The information could not be independently verified

Here's how YOU can help: Donate here to the Mail Force Ukraine Appeal Readers of Mail Newspapers and MailOnline have always shown immense generosity at times of crisis. Calling upon that human spirit, we are supporting a huge push to raise money for refugees from Ukraine. For, surely, no one can fail to be moved by the heartbreaking images and stories of families  mostly women, children, the infirm and elderly  fleeing from the bombs and guns. As this tally of misery increases over the coming days and months, these innocent victims of this conflict will require accommodation, schools and medical support. Donations to the Mail Force Ukraine Appeal will be used to help charities and aid organisations providing such essential services. In the name of charity and compassion, we urge all our readers to give swiftly and generously. TO MAKE A DONATION ONLINE Donate at www.mailforcecharity.co.uk/donate To add Gift Aid to a donation  even one already made  complete an online form found here: mymail.co.uk/ukraine Via bank transfer, please use these details: Account name: Mail Force Charity Account number: 48867365 Sort code: 60-00-01 TO MAKE A DONATION VIA CHEQUE Make your cheque payable to 'Mail Force' and post it to: Mail Newspapers Ukraine Appeal, GFM, 42 Phoenix Court, Hawkins Road, Colchester, Essex CO2 8JY TO MAKE A DONATION FROM THE US US readers can donate to the appeal via a bank transfer to Associated Newspapers or by sending checks to dailymail.com HQ at 51 Astor Place (9th floor), New York, NY 10003 Advertisement

Bidens warning echoed statements made by his administration earlier this month as well as other Western nations, after Russian officials accused Ukraine of seeking to hide an alleged US-backed chemical weapons program.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki tweeted: Now that Russia has made these false claims... we should all be on the lookout for Russia to possibly use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, or to create a false flag operation using them.

Biden on Monday also reiterated that such an action would prompt a severe but so far undefined response from Western allies.

Putin knows therell be severe consequences because of the united NATO front, he said, without specifying what actions the alliance would take.

At the same event, Biden noted that he had warned Putin of a US response if Russia launched cyber attacks against US critical infrastructure.

We had a long conversation about if he uses it, what will be the consequence, said Biden, referring to a summit with the Russian leader last year in Geneva.

He spoke after top officials including Biden met with 16 CEOs to discuss energy, food, and manufacturing in the wake of the invasion, the White House confirmed.

Taking part were the heads of ExxonMobil, Bank of America, ConocoPhillips, JP MOrgan, Land O'Lakes, Cargill Inc, and other firms, Reuters reported. They spoke about supply chain issues. Attending were national security advisor Jake Sullivan, Economic Council Director Brian Deese, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

Earlier in the day, Biden issued a statement warning the US business community of intelligence pointing to a growing Russian cyber threat and urging companies to immediately prepare defences.

If you have not already done so, I urge our private sector partners to harden your cyber defenses immediately, he said, citing evolving intelligence that the Russian government is exploring options for potential cyberattacks including in response to Western sanctions over Moscows invasion of Ukraine.

Its part of Russias playbook, he said.

His statement added that the US government would continue to use every tool to deter, disrupt, and if necessary, respond to cyberattacks against critical infrastructure.

However, he underlined that most critical infrastructure in the country is owned and operated by private entities, which cannot be compelled to take specific cyber security measures.

Biden lauded companies who are pulling out of Russia in response to its invasion. The US slapped sanctions on Russian energy companies, but not on entities that do business with Russia.

The US federal government has warned US companies about Russian state hackers since long before the country invaded Ukraine.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has launched a Shields Up campaign aimed at helping companies strengthen their defences and has urged companies to back up their data, turn on multifactor authentication and take other steps to improve cyber hygiene.

Diplomatic relations between the US and Russia are on the brink of collapse after Biden called Putin a murderous dictator, Russias foreign ministry said.

A Kremlin statement on Monday referred to recent unacceptable statements by Biden about Putin, a reference to Bidens criticism of the Russian president last week for his invasion of the Ukraine.

The Russian government summoned US Ambassador to Moscow John Sullivan and said remarks such as these by the US President, which are unworthy of a state figure of such a high rank, put Russian-American relations on the verge of a breach.

Service members of pro-Russian troops and tanks during Ukraine-Russia conflict in Mariupol last week

A destroyed Russian vehicle near Pryluky in Chernihiv, Ukraine. The vehicle appeared to have been penetrated with high caliber bullet

Maxar satellite images taken on March 17 show Russian armoured equipment in Ozera, northwest of capital Kyiv

Dead Russian soldiers understood to be loaded onto a train at night

Russia warns US that diplomatic relations are on the 'verge of breaking' and summons the American ambassador in protest to Biden calling Putin a 'murderous dictator' Moscow warned that relations with the United States are 'on the verge of a breach' and summoned the U.S. ambassador to officially protest President Joe Biden's characterization of Vladimir Putin as a 'murderous dictator.' A Russian Foreign Ministry statement on Monday referred to 'recent unacceptable statements' by Biden about Putin, a reference to Biden's criticism of the Russian president last week for his invasion of the Ukraine. The Russian government met with U.S. ambassador to Russia John Sullivan and said, in that conversation, 'it was emphasized that remarks such as these by the American President, which are unworthy of a state figure of such a high rank, put Russian-American relations on the verge of a breach.' Last week, Biden described Putin as 'a murderous dictator, a pure thug who is waging an immoral war against the people of Ukraine.' He had earlier called Putin a 'war criminal,' which Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said was 'absolutely unacceptable and inexcusable.' Advertisement

Last week, Biden described Putin as a murderous dictator, a pure thug who is waging an immoral war against the people of Ukraine. He had earlier called Putin a war criminal, which Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said was absolutely unacceptable and inexcusable.

Biden will head to Warsaw for a bilateral meeting with President Andrzej Duda on Saturday to discuss how the US, along with its allies and partners, is responding to the humanitarian and human rights crisis that Russias unjustified and unprovoked war on Ukraine has created. Its possible, too, that the president will visit a refugee camp.

Putins invasion of Ukraine largely has united the US and NATO and European allies, as well as allies in Asia and elsewhere. The United States and European governments see Moscows military aggression as a threat to their security and strategic interests.

Biden and NATO have said repeatedly that while the US and NATO will provide weapons and other defensive support to non-NATO member Ukraine, they are determined to avoid any escalation on behalf of Kyiv that risks a broader war with Russia.

The Pentagon on March 9 rejected a Polish proposal for providing Ukraine with MiG fighter jets via a NATO air base, saying allied efforts against the Russian invasion should focus on more useful weaponry and that the MiG transfer with a US and NATO connection would run a high risk of escalating the war.

Ukraines president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has pleaded for the US to provide his military with more aircraft and advanced air-defence systems.

NATO and the United States have rejected his appeals to establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine to suppress Russian air power, saying it would put Western forces in direct conflict with Russian ones.

Determined resistance by Ukrainian fighters when Russian tanks and troops rolled into Ukraine in late February quickly defeated Russian forces attempts to storm Ukraine's capital and unseat the westward-looking government.

Denied an easy and early victory, Russias military is reverting to the scorched earth tactics of its past offensives in Syria and Chechnya, and pounding population centres with airstrikes and artillery barrages that leave civilians like those in the port city of Mariupol unable to safely venture out for food or water, to bury the dead or to flee.

As Russias war in Ukraine enters its 27th day, the conflict is showing no signs of abating. The invasion has wreaked devastation, exacting a heavy toll on civilians.

The UN says nearly 3.4million people have fled Ukraine.

On Monday the Ukrainian army said it had forced Russian troops out of Makariv, a strategically important Kyiv suburb, after a fierce battle. That prevents Russian forces from encircling the capital from the northwest, the Defence Ministry said.

In his night time video address to the nation, Zelensky said Russian forces shelled along a humanitarian corridor on Monday, wounding four children who were among the civilians being evacuated.

He said the shelling took place in the Zaporizhzhia region, the initial destination of those fleeing Mariupol.

After Biden rallied European allies to join in sweeping sanctions against Russia over the invasion at the outset, his tasks now include dealing with some NATO members that are pushing for more involvement directly in the fighting. That includes proposals by Poland, which borders Ukraine, for peacekeepers.
Prince Andrew will attend Prince Philip's memorial service next week, it has been confirmed.

The Duke of York is said to be determined to honour his father despite fears his presence could dominate coverage of the event.

Andrew settled the rape case against him by Virginia Roberts in a US court earlier this month, paying her millions. He has always denied the allegations.

The Duke of York is said to be determined to honour his father despite fears his presence could dominate coverage of the event

Courtiers believe the Duke, 62, will disappear from public life after next week's event where he is likely to rub shoulders with representatives from charities and organisations with which he has been forced to part ways.

The Queen arranged the service of thanksgiving for the life of her late husband to take place at Westminster Abbey on March 29.

Prince Andrew was seen smiling and laughing yesterday morning as he went out riding at Windsor Great Park.

The Duke of York, who was accompanied by two grooms, has generally been staying away from the public eye after being forced by the Queen to give up all his royal duties in the wake of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

He was also not present at Westminster Abbey last week for the Commonwealth Service which was attended by senior royals including Charles, Camilla, William and Kate.

It comes two weeks after Andrew was confirmed to have paid up to 12million to his US sex accuser Virginia Roberts, now known as Virginia Giuffre - bringing the civil case against him in New York almost to a close.

Courtiers believe the Duke, 62, will disappear from public life after next week's event

'Stipulation of Dismissal' documents were filed with a court on March 8, with lawyers on both sides calling for the legal action to be dismissed, indicating the settlement has been paid.

As the order was published, the Treasury confirmed no taxpayer funds were used for either the payment to Virginia Roberts or for the Duke of York's legal fees.

A freedom of information request asked whether any money from the Sovereign Grant to the Royal Family or any other government money was used. The Treasury insisted: 'No public money has been used to pay legal or settlement fees.'

The joint order filed with the New York court said each party would pay their own costs and fees.

When Judge Lewis Kaplan signs the order, the civil case will formally come to an end. Andrew has faced repeated calls to confirm how he funded the settlement  and whether the Queen or even Prince Charles contributed.

Reports have suggested they both may have helped Andrew pay or loaned him the money until the sale goes through of a 17million Swiss ski chalet he owns with ex-wife, Sarah, Duchess of York.

Mrs Giuffre had sued Andrew for alleged sexual abuse. She claimed he had sex with her when she was 17 after he was trafficked by his friend, the late billionaire paedophile Epstein.

The duke will make a 'substantial donation' to a charity for sex abuse victims set up by Mrs Giuffre, now a 38-year-old mother-of-three. He said he now regrets his association with Epstein.

Andrew, who was forced to step down from royal duties and public life as a result of the scandal, previously claimed he had no recollection of meeting Mrs Giuffre and has always strongly denied her allegations.

But he agreed to the settlement last month. The prince has been staying away from the public eye but has also been spotted in recent weeks driving his Range Rover in Windsor while wearing white Apple airpods.

The Duke of York, who was accompanied by two grooms, has not been seen regularly since he stepped down from public life following the Jeffrey Epstein scandal

The Queen wanted the congregation to include family, friends, dignitaries and representatives of the many organisations with which the Duke of Edinburgh was associated.

But Prince Harry will not be in attendance, having declared that he 'does not feel safe' visiting Britain without police protection.

Last month there was an extraordinary legal wrangle over the prince's security when coming to Britain.

He mounted a legal challenge against the Home Office after being told he would no longer be given the 'same degree' of personal protective security when visiting from the US, despite claiming he had offered to pay for it himself.
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When the end came for Retroville's brief existence as Ukraine's newest, largest and most sophisticated shopping mall the whole of Kyiv felt it.

My own windows shook so vigorously I thought the explosion was in a nearby street rather than five miles away in Podilskyi, a business hub in the north west of the city.

'The biggest bang I ever heard!' said a contact in the neighbouring district of Obolon that has undergone more than its fair share of bombardment in Putin's dirty war.

The blow fell on Retroville a little before 11pm local time on Sunday. It is thought that a Russian ballistic missile was responsible.

Richard Pendlebury visited the site of a destroyed Ukrainian shopping centre that is thought to have been hit by a Russian ballistic missile, the explosion also damaged a nearby block flats

At least eight civilians died when the Retroville shopping centre - which had only been completed in May 2020 - was struck shortly after 11pm Sunday by Russian forces

The Russian missile completed destroyed the Sport Life gym complex outside the shopping centre and blew out the front of the building, shattering windows and stripping away cladding

Emergency workers and members of the Ukrainian military - who Russian had accused of storing vehicles at the site - search through the wreckage of the mall on Monday

Certainly CCTV and Russian drone propaganda footage showed a dart of light from the sky followed by an enormous fireball that could be seen for miles across the rooftops. So far eight people are known to have died in the blast.

On another lovely spring morning marred by air-raid sirens, checkpoint stops and distant artillery fire, the Mail went to inspect the aftermath.

The Apple Maps app we used to guide ourselves to the mall was still under the impression it was open for business. Clearly Silicon Valley had yet to catch up with events here.

Retroville's name remained silhouetted against the sky in letters almost 20 feet high but that's where the good news ended. Behind the tattered frontage there was no longer 100,000 square metres of 21st century, state-of-the-art consumer dreamscape but a shambolic mess of shattered concrete and twisted metal.

The point of impact was at the rear of the multi-storey development. Ground zero appeared to be the Sport Life health club, the 'biggest fitness centre in Ukraine'.

The big red letters that spelled 'SPORT' were still visible but were teetering on the largest of several giant heaps of debris. Underneath it all, a local told me wistfully, was what remained of a large heated swimming pool and jacuzzi.

Kyiv's mayor and wartime totem, Vitali Klitschko, was in attendance when Retroville was declared open in May 2020, after hundreds of millions had been ploughed into its construction over seven years.

'This is an important and long-awaited moment,' the developers declared at the time. 'We didn't slow the construction tempos of the mall... even during the difficult Covid lockdown period.'

It was, they said, 'a unique concept, a true lifestyle centre'.

Hundreds of millions of pounds in development money had been ploughed into the 'lifestyle centre' north of Kyiv city centre, which has now been reduced to a mess of twisted metal and burned concrete

Ground zero for the missile strike was the Sport Life centre - formerly the 'biggest fitness centre in Ukraine' - which is now almost totally obliterated, with only half of the name still visible on the building exterior

Emergency workers and members of the Ukrainian military search the wreckage of the building, where at least eight civilians are known to have died - though the armed forces have not said whether any of their men were also killed

CCTV showed how the shopping centre was torn apart by a missile that also spewed a fireball across the car park, incinerating vehicles and leaving twisted pieces of metal scattered everywhere

As well as the mega-gym, Retroville boasts  or rather, boasted  the first multiplex cinema in Kyiv 'with new ScreenX technology' and the city's largest food court.

The logos of a number of international brands  H&M, Timberland, Lacoste and McDonald's  that had opened concessions under its roof remain around the entrance.

But some were looking rather careworn yesterday due to blast damage, while others had disappeared altogether.

The 'N' of the giant green logo of the Novus supermarket chain, Ukraine's equivalent of Tesco or Sainsbury's, was on the pavement.

And the once-proud facade of the mall had been ripped away, exposing its complex intestines of heating pipes.

Given the strength of the explosion it was no surprise to find that the collateral damage was significant. Yet it was still disturbing to see the impact on the recently completed Varshavskiy residential estate next door.

Every window in the nearest 25-storey block was shattered, curtains billowing out across the balconies in the breeze.

There are estates like it on the edge of any city in Europe, sold as elegant urban living with country views. At ground level there are artisanal coffee houses, restaurants and chi-chi salons. But now there was also a sea of glass and the doors of the Study Academy and a number of other businesses had been blown off their hinges.

Workmen were arriving with that most sought-after material in Kyiv, plywood, while residents were leaving clutching hand luggage and children's toys.

No, one old woman told me, she did not want to re-live last night for my benefit. But she had one message for the world: 'I would like Putin dead and all his accomplices. Look at what they do!'

Widowed accountant Galina invited me to her 12th floor flat overlooking ground zero so I could better appreciate her good fortune in escaping unhurt from the catastrophe. We had to climb the stairs because the lift no longer worked. Who needs Sport Life? Tower-block climbing is a new kind of city-wide fitness regime  imposed on the population by the Kremlin.

She bought her one-bedroom apartment exactly 12 months ago, after the death of her husband.

Footage (pictured) shows the moment the large mall was hit and destroyed by Russia

At least 4 people were killed in the Russian attack on shopping mall (pictured)

Retroville was a large shopping centre based in Kyiv, that was targeted as Russian's believed that it was being used to store rocket systems

It was full of light, with great views. But it was also carpeted with glass shards and whole window frames that had been blown across rooms when the missile hit. Her front door was buckled in its frame by the shockwave.

'I was sitting at my desk doing a little work and checking on the news when it happened,' she said. 'I was covered in glass fragments. But fortunately the curtains were drawn and I had put a lot of tape across the panes, which prevented me being really hurt.'

The flames 'were like hellfire' she said. Workmen were clearing the wreckage for her but she will be staying with a neighbour on the other side of the block for now.

The obvious question is this: why did the Russians hit Retroville? Purely to terrorise the population and destroy Kyiv's infrastructure, I was told by a number of locals. An entirely plausible explanation given what is happening across Ukraine.

But the boundaries between frontline and civilian areas are blurred in locations like this. Last night Moscow claimed the mall was hit because it was being used to store rocket systems.

While I was speaking to Galina, her flat was suddenly filled with a tremendous roaring and wailing noise. It came from a nearby field, where I could see a Ukrainian Grad rocket system launching its projectiles towards frontline targets at Hostomel or Bucha.

Galina also told me she saw secondary explosions after the first Retroville blast and a Ukrainian bomb disposal team was carrying out controlled explosions on the site while we were there. Colleagues saw military ordnance which had been scattered by the explosion.

But was it necessary to hit Retroville with something so big that it would shatter not only the whole complex but the surrounding neighbourhood too? Or start this squalid war, for that matter?

I am writing this at a corner table of the Chasing Two Hares restaurant on Andreevsky Descent. It is owned by Tetiana Mytrofano, who was the brains behind the trident sculpture made with 1.5 million cut tulips outside St Sophia's Cathedral that I wrote about yesterday.

A pianist was playing in the back room and Tetiana was busy planning her next big 'happening' to boost her city's morale. 'Something involving paint,' she told me.

At the next table a territorial defence unit soldier was drinking coffee having propped his rifle against the velvet-buttoned banquette. Outside, faint sounds of battle were drifting along the lovely cobbled street. Kyiv remains defiant. But Retroville is now very much a thing of the past.
Washington is poised to abandon punitive tariffs on British steel today as ministers pin their hopes on striking a trade deal before the next election.

International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan declared last night that there had 'definitely' been a change of approach from Joe Biden, who put talks on the backburner when he entered the White House.

In an interview with the Daily Mail, she said that after having no appetite for a deal in January 2021, his administration had 'leaned in' to the idea.

UK Secretary of State for International Trade Anne-Marie Trevelyan arrives at a news conference at the Port of Baltimore, Monday, March 21

Mrs Trevelyan, who is on a two-day visit to Baltimore, believes formal negotiations on an agreement may begin by the end of this year, with the expectation that they could be completed within 18 months.

In a boost for trade between the two countries, the US is expected to agree to remove tariffs on British steel and aluminium exports that have been in place since 2018.

In return, the UK will drop retaliatory tariffs on American brands such as Harley-Davidson. The trade dispute has been a longstanding thorn in relations between the two allies.

American motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson was hit by UK tariffs in retaliation for the steel tariffs, now set to ease

Under Donald Trump, the US imposed a 25 per cent duty on foreign steel and 10 per cent tax on foreign aluminium.

Washington agreed to roll back tariffs on such imports from the EU last year.

Mrs Trevelyan said she had 'kicked off' and that the US had listened.

She added: 'I came over just before Christmas and pointed out that it was not OK for them to still be hanging over us.'

The Trade Secretary is holding meetings with her US counterparts  trade representative Katherine Tai and commerce secretary Gina Raimondo  as part of a special conference being held in Baltimore on the future of Atlantic trade.

She described the gathering as a fantastic next step  getting into the 'nitty gritty' of what is important to both sides before beginning formal negotiations.

Mrs Trevelyan said there was now a 'really positive energy' around the talks and that the crisis over Russia's war in Ukraine had highlighted the closeness of the two sides.

'We have worked hand in glove with the US in the last month, looking at sanctions. So I'm very optimistic,' she added.

The minister said that when she was appointed last September, there was 'no appetite' in the White House to do a trade deal, but this had definitely changed.

She added: 'Team Biden have leaned in and want to get going on getting our trade teams talking more fully about the issues that are important to both of us.'

Mrs Trevelyan believes the two sides will soon start formal negotiations on a trade deal that is 'so much bigger and chunkier than anything else' done before.

'This is the first crystallising point of that next step... I will be really pleased if we can start them by the end of the year,' she said, adding that the talks could go at pace.

The minister added: 'Could one do it in a year? Maybe, but I would have thought 18 months is probably, once one gets going, realistic. But it depends on the vagaries of politics and political life.'

Steelworkers hold placards and flags as they protest in Parliament Square on March 15, 2022 in London. The Community Union have long campaigned to save the British Steel Industry

The UK has also begun discussions with individual states  including Indiana, Oklahoma, North Carolina and South Carolina  on mini trade deals, with the first expected to be signed within months.

These would not slash tariffs on imports or exports, but remove red tape  for example by making it easier for professionals to work between these states and Britain.

Mrs Trevelyan yesterday visited the Port of Baltimore, where 10 per cent of the cargo arriving is from the UK.

During the trip, Ben Cardin, a Democratic senator for Maryland, urged the Biden administration to get on with negotiations on a trade deal with Britain.

He said: 'At times we have different views as to which countries we should move forward with in regards to our trade talks  but I can tell you in regards to the United States and the UK, there is strong support in the Congress of the United States to strengthen the ties between our countries.

'You are a great partner in so many ways. Now we are in this battle to save democracy in regard to [Vladimir] Putin's invasion of Ukraine, it's even more important than ever that we unite the free world.'
A hotel executive who is welcoming a Ukrainian family into her home spoke yesterday of how she feels privileged to help.

Elsa De Jager, 37, said she received up to 40 messages within 15 minutes of offering a rent-free room in her south-west London home on a Facebook site.

She was eventually matched with English teacher Yana Felos, 32, who is fleeing Odessa with her daughter Alisa, four.

The family are now staying with friends near the western border as they wait for their UK visa application to be processed.

If all goes well, it will be granted within days  and they will be able to travel by bus to Hungary or Slovakia before flying to the UK.

Elsa De-Jager (pictured) says she received up to 40 messages within 15 minutes of offering a rent-free room in her south-west London home on a Facebook site

Refugee Yana Felos and her daughter Alisa, four, who are awaiting visa to stay with family in London. They fled Odessa together

Miss De Jager, who lives with her partner Angus Collins and two young daughters, said that the red tape had felt like an identity theft risk.

But she added: The risk is worth taking to get these people out of there. It feels like a privilege more than anything else.
The New York Fire Department has revealed its latest batch of recruits  and they're likely to raise some eyebrows.

Boston Dynamics' $75,000 robot dogs, known as Spot, will be used to aid firefighters in search and rescue missions, according to fire officials.

Their rollout comes less than a year after the New York Police Department (NYPD) was forced to terminate its contract with Boston Dynamics amid concerns about the privacy of the robot dogs.

Speaking to the New York Times, Captain Michael Leo, from the Fire Department's robotics unit, reassured that the robot dogs are safe and will 'save lives.'

'The TV industry and the movie industry are hurting us in some ways because they often show pictures of robots that are weaponised, and then people think that's how all robots are,' he said.

'Our whole mission is a lifesaving one. That's the core thing. These robots will save lives.'

The New York Fire Department has revealed its latest batch of recruits  Boston Dynamics' $75,000 robot dogs

The four-legged robots, known as Spot, will be used to aid firefighters in search and rescue missions, according to fire officials

Why was Spot sacked by the NYPD? In April last year, Boston Dynamics was forced to terminate its contract with Boston Dynamics amid concerns about the privacy of the robot dogs, and fears they were 'unsettling'. The NYPD sparked outrage when it tested the robots during an arrest in a public housing building in Manhattan before using them in a hostage situation in the Bronx. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez described the dog as a 'robotic surveillance ground drone' while the American Civil Liberties Union expressed fear that if unchecked it could one day make law enforcement decisions. New York's counterterrorism chief John Miller told The New York Times that the dog would be returned to Boston Dynamics because it had become a 'target' for people who criticized the police. Advertisement

The robot dogs will be controlled by a human operator and will be able to collect images and data during precarious search and rescue missions, and measure the concentration of dangerous gases, according to the New York Times.

The robots will only collect data on hazardous materials situations, according to officials.

However, Albert Fox Cahn, a lawyer based at the NYU School of Law, has expressed concerns on how the robots could collect and use data in the future.

Speaking to the New York Times, he said: 'If it actually is used in ways that keeps firefighters safe, that would be great.

'But the history has always been that even if it's first brought in for a compelling case, you get this creep where it's used for more and more scenarios until it's reaching areas where it just doesn't feel justifiable.'

In April last year, Boston Dynamics was forced to terminate its contract with the NYPD amid concerns about the privacy of the robot dogs, and fears they were 'unsettling'.

The NYPD sparked outrage when it tested the robots during an arrest in a public housing building in Manhattan before using them in a hostage situation in the Bronx.

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez described the dog as a 'robotic surveillance ground drone' while the American Civil Liberties Union expressed fear that if unchecked it could one day make law enforcement decisions.

Residents in the Bronx, New York stopped dead in their tracks as the four-legged robotic dog trotted down East 227th Street in February last year

New York's counterterrorism chief John Miller told The New York Times that the dog would be returned to Boston Dynamics because it had become a 'target' for people who criticized the police.

On its website, Boston Dynamics claims 'Spot is not designed to conduct mass surveillance, or to replace police officers.'

'The robot has been used to help humans remotely evaluate potentially dangerous situations that include explosives or other environments where the risk to human health and safety is high,' the company notes.

On its website, Boston Dynamics claims 'Spot is not designed to conduct mass surveillance, or to replace police officers'

'In addition, Boston Dynamics' Terms and Conditions prohibit the use of Spot to harm or intimidate people or animals. Terms also require compliance with all applicable laws, including privacy laws.'

This isn't the first time that the New York Fire Department has turned its attention to robots.

A bulky red robot dubbed the Super Droid was used back in 2014, but was found to be too cumbersome to perform basic tasks.
With their incredible sense of smell, dogs are often used to sniff out various forms of cancer in human breath, blood, and urine.

Now, a new study suggests that tiny worms could also be used in the same way to sniff out lung cancer.

Researchers from Myongji University in Korea conducted lab experiments with the roundworm C.elegans, and found it wriggles its way towards cancer cells by following an odour trail.

Based on the findings, the researchers suggest that a 'worm-on-a-chip' device could offer doctors a non-invasive way to detect and diagnose lung cancer at an earlier stage.

Researchers suggest that a 'worm-on-a-chip' device could offer doctors a non-invasive way to detect and diagnose lung cancer at an earlier stage

What are nematodes? Nematodes are a type of microscopic worm measuring just 0.04 inches long. Some species can contain more than 27 million eggs at one time and lay more than 200,000 of them day. Their body is long and narrow, resembling a tiny thread. The epidermis of a nematode is not composed of cells like other animals, but instead is a mass of cellular material and nuclei without separate membranes. This epidermis secretes a thick outer cuticle which is both tough and flexible. The cuticle is the closest thing a nematode has to a skeleton, and is used as a support and leverage point for movement. Advertisement

Currently, lung cancer is diagnosed through imaging or biopsies.

However, these methods often mean that tumours aren't detected at their earliest stages.

While previous research has shown that dogs can be trained to sniff out human cancer, unfortunately canines aren't practical to keep in laboratories.

In their new study, the researchers set out to understand whether nematodes  tiny worms measuring just 0.04 inches long  could be used to detect cancer like dogs.

'Lung cancer cells produce a different set of odour molecules than normal cells,' said Dr Shin Sik Choi, who led the study.

'It's well known that the soil-dwelling nematode, C. elegans, is attracted or repelled by certain odours, so we came up with an idea that the roundworm could be used to detect lung cancer.'

The team developed a polydimethylsiloxane elastomere chip that had a well at each end connected by channels to a central chamber.

Once placed on an agar plate, the researchers added a drop containing lung cancer cells at one end, and a drop containing normal lung cells at the other end.

Worms were then placed in the central chamber and left to crawl in either direction.

In their new study, the researchers set out to understand whether nematodes  tiny worms measuring just 0.04 inches long  could be used to detect cancer like dogs

After an hour, the researchers found that more worms had crawled towards the drop containing lung cancer cells than towards the normal cells.

In a follow-up study, the researchers were able to pinpoint the specific odour molecules that the worms are attracted to in lung cancer cells, including a floral-scented compound called 2-ethyl-1-hexanol.

'We don't know why C. elegans are attracted to lung cancer tissues or 2-ethyl-1-hexanol, but we guess that the odors are similar to the scents from their favorite foods,' explained Nari Jang, co-author of the study.

Based on initial tests, the researchers estimate that the worm-on-a-chip device in its current iteration is about 70 per cent effective at detecting cancer cells.

They now hope to improve on these results by using worms that have previously been exposed to cancer cells and have developed a 'memory' of specific odour molecules.

'We will collaborate with medical doctors to find out whether our methods can detect lung cancer in patients at an early stage,' Dr Choi added.

Once perfected, the researchers are hoping to extend their testing on urine, saliva and even breath from cancer patients.

The researchers presented their results last week at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS).
British-backed satellite firm OneWeb has teamed up with rival SpaceX to launch its satellites from US soil, after suspending all launches from the Russian-run Baikonur spaceport earlier this month.

The move will allow the firm, which is part-owned by the UK government, to expand its constellation of satellites in low-earth orbit, which currently stands at 428  or 66% of the fleet.

The network of satellites will be used deliver high-speed, low-latency internet access across the globe, putting it in direct competition with SpaceX itself, which already has a constellation of over 2,000 satellites known as Starlink.

OneWeb expects its first launch with SpaceX this year.

OneWeb has announced it will resume launches after a deal with Elon Musks SpaceX

'We thank SpaceX for their support, which reflects our shared vision for the boundless potential of space,' said OneWeb CEO Neil Masterson.

'With these launch plans in place, were on track to finish building out our full fleet of satellites and deliver robust, fast, secure connectivity around the globe.'

OneWeb cancelled its plans to launch of 36 broadband satellites earlier this month, because it would have used Russian Soyuz rockets and been overseen by the Russian space agency.

Russia and the UK were in a stand-off over the launch after Moscow's space agency Roscosmos demanded guarantees the technology would not be used for military purposes.

Britain had separately come under pressure to scrap the launch because of the war in Ukraine, while Russia also wanted the UK government to divest itself of OneWeb shares, an ultimatum that was swiftly rejected by Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng.

The British government said it supported OneWeb's decision to suspend launches, and that it was reviewing its participation in further projects with Russia after its 'illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine'.

The OneWeb launch was due to use Russian Soyuz rockets at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (pictured)

The UK Government took a 400 million stake in OneWeb to rescue it from bankruptcy in July 2020, as part of a consortium with Indias Bharti Global, following a bidding war.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk, the billionaire chief executive of SpaceX, has donated Starlink satellite internet terminals to Ukraine, where internet connections have been disrupted due to the Russian invasion.

Starlink, like OneWeb, uses small low earth orbit (LEO) satellites to provide internet access.
The dinosaurs were wiped out by a deadly combination of sulphur gases and climate cooling following a massive asteroid impact, new research suggests.

Experts say the gases were ejected into Earth's atmosphere following the Chicxulub impact, then circled the globe for years which in turn cooled the planet.

This contributed to the mass extinction of life around 66 million years ago, according to University of St Andrews researchers, who said the dinosaurs were 'just really unlucky'.

Although catastrophic for the dinosaurs and other life, the impact of a six-mile-wide asteroid in what is now the Yucatan Peninsula allowed for the diversification of mammals, including primates.

The dinosaurs were wiped out by a deadly combination of sulphur gases and climate cooling following a massive asteroid impact, new research suggests

The Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction When did it happen? 66 million years ago How many species went extinct? 76 per cent of all life on Earth What was the cause? A giant asteroid impact Advertisement

Dr Aubrey Zerkle, of the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of St Andrews, said: 'One reason this particular impact was so devastating to life seems to be that it landed in a marine environment that was rich in sulphur and other volatiles.

'The dinosaurs were just really unlucky.'

The research, which was carried out alongside Syracuse University, New York, the University of Bristol, and Texas A&M University, was aimed at exploring the consequences of the Chicxulub asteroid impact.

Sulphate aerosols had long been implicated as a primary forcing agent of the mass extinction event, which marked the end of the Cretaceous period and the start of the Paleogene period on Earth, but to what extent was not known.

The new research was able examine the rare sulphur isotopes in material ejected by the impact and deposited in a nearby sea now represented by rocks found along the Brazos River in Texas.

Dr James Witts, of the School of Earth Sciences as the University of Bristol, said: 'Our data provided the first direct evidence for the massive amounts of sulphur released by the Chicxulub impact.

'It's amazing to be able to see such rapid and catastrophic global change in the geological record.'

Pictured is Darting Minnow Creek in Rosebud, Texas, where the Chicxulub impact sequence is exposed

The new research was able examine the rare sulphur isotopes in material ejected by the impact and deposited in a nearby sea now represented by rocks found along the Brazos River in Texas

Atmospheric sulphur in the stratosphere scattered incoming solar radiation and prolonged planetary-scale cooling for many years after the original impact, causing acid rain and reducing the light available for photosynthesis, which is vital for plant life and marine plankton that form the base of the food chain.

Christopher Junium, of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Syracuse University, said: 'The initial effects of the impact were caused by rock dust, soot and wildfires, but the sulphur aerosols extended the time period over which life would have suffered from extreme cooling, reduced sunlight and acidification of the land surface and oceans, and it was this extended duration of cooling that likely played a central role in the severity of the extinction.'

According to the authors, their findings suggest that the presence of sulfur can be attributed solely to the Chicxulub impact, rather than the previously theorised effects of contemporaneous volcanism in the Deccan Traps Large Igneous Province.

The Cretaceous period, the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, lasted from around 145 to 66 million years ago and featured a warm climate with reptiles and dinosaurs dominating the planet.

Its end was marked by the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event, a sudden mass extinction event which also marked the start of the Cenozoic Era in which we still live today.

The research has been published in the journal PNAS.
Passenger plane crashes in south China

Xinhua) 16:33, March 21, 2022

NANNING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- A passenger plane crashed in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Monday afternoon, said the regional emergency management department.

The Boeing 737 aircraft of China Eastern Airlines crashed in Tengxian County in the city of Wuzhou, causing a mountain fire, according to the department.

Rescuers have been assembled and were approaching the site. The casualties were not immediately known.

(Web editor: Peng yukai, Liang Jun)
Participants at a press conference organized by LGBTQ activists stand in front of Seoul City Hall, in this file photo. The state human rights watchdog recommended Monday that the government include transgender-related data. Yonhap





The state human rights watchdog has recommended that the government include transgender-related data when compiling national statistics so as to better understand such citizens' situation and draw up government policy for them, officials said Monday.







The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) made the recommendation to the health, interior and gender ministries as well as Statistics Korea, while asking the prime minister to come up with such a guideline on the issue.







"Transgender people experience discrimination and hatred based on prejudice in their everyday lives but are not studied in various government surveys or considered as a population group subject to policymaking," the watchdog said.







According to the watchdog's 2020 survey, more than 65 percent of transgender people said they suffered discrimination or hate speech because of their sexual identity in the past year.







Over 57 percent were found to have been diagnosed or treated for depression in 2019.







The NHRCK also called upon Statistics Korea to delete transsexualism from the list of mental illnesses in the Korean Standard Classification of Diseases, saying it strengthens social prejudice and the labeling effect against transgender people.







The World Health Organization and some countries have excluded transsexualism from their official list of mental diseases, according to the NHRCK. (Yonhap)


She's quickly becoming one of Married At First Sight's most memorable villains.

But it appears Olivia Frazer is struggling to cope with the public backlash since being labelled public enemy No. 1 in her feud with Domenica Calarco.

The teaching student, 28, has been confiding in fellow brides Tamara Djordjevic and Jessica Seracino in recent weeks, according to a close friend.

Troubled times: Married At First Sight's Olivia Frazer (pictured) is struggling to cope with the public backlash since being labelled public enemy No. 1 in her feud with Domenica Calarco

'Liv has been chatting to Tamara and Jess almost every day since MAFS went to air just to stay sane. They are on the phone with each other 24/7,' said the source.

The focus on Olivia's ongoing feud with Domenica has been particularly hard.

'Olivia has been struggling to watch back the show... it's become The Dom Show,' the insider revealed.

In a bid to cheer herself up, Olivia went on a girls' trip to the Gold Coast last weekend with Tamara and her bridesmaid Laura.

Friends: In a bid to cheer herself up, Olivia (right) went on a girls' trip to the Gold Coast last weekend with co-star Tamara Djordjevic (left) and her bridesmaid Laura

'It's become The Dom Show': The focus on Olivia's ongoing feud with Domenica Calarco (pictured) has been particularly hard on the teaching student

It comes after a production source claimed Olivia was given a 'bad edit' because she threatened to walk out of the experiment on several occasions during filming.

Olivia reportedly told producers she was ready to walk just hours after clashing with Domenica at the couples' retreat on November 2.

'Olivia wanted Domenica off the show but producers downplayed the glassing incident [by] telling her they'd seen far worse,' said the spy.

Claims: It comes after a production source claimed Olivia (right, with 'husband' Jackson Lonie) was given a 'bad edit' because she threatened to walk out of the experiment several times

The insider claimed producers eventually persuaded her to stay because she and Jackson Lonie were the only couple who 'actually looked like they'd stay together'.

Jackson previously defended his on-screen 'wife' and suggested the editing team on the Channel Nine show had it in for Olivia.

'It's kind of like they wanted to set this up from the start so poor Liv gets a reaming from everybody,' he said last week.

Supportive: Jackson (pictured) previously defended his on-screen 'wife' and suggested the editing team on the Channel Nine show had it in for Olivia

Referencing the now-infamous glass-smashing incident from the couples' retreat, Jackson claimed multiple brides saw Domenica wield the broken wine glass like a weapon - but only Olivia was shown on TV relaying this version of events.

'Every girl I spoke to that night said the same thing, but once again that edit is an amazing thing,' he said.

Married At First Sight continues Monday at 7:30pm on Channel Nine and 9Now
Vanessa Bryant treated her daughters to another trip to the happiest place on Earth.

Only this time the Bryant ladies made their way to Disneyland in Anaheim with some friends, which included Kristin Schwarz Pelinka, who's the wife of Los Angeles Lakers general manager, Rob Pelinka.

Over the years, Disneyland has been one of the family's favorite places to go and have fun and spend quality time together.

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Happiest place on Earth: Vanessa Bryant, 39, treated her daughters to another trip to Disneyland, which also included a quick nap for two-year-old Capri

Disneyland actually has a special place in Vanessa's heart, considering it's where she first met her late husband, Kobe Bryant, back in 1999, when Kobe was 20-years-old and Vanessa 17.

That meeting was documented with a photo of the two locked in an embrace at the amusement park. The couple would start dating soon afterwards, and within six months of that fateful day they were engaged to be married.

Like always, Vanessa documented their latest trip to the amusement park with some photos and one video that she shared on her Instagram page.

The proud mom pronounced it to be 'Disney Days' in the caption of the first photo she posted that shows her cradling two-year-old Capri, as she took a a quick nap in between all the excitement of the rides.

First meeting: Disneyland has a special place in Vanessa's heart, considering it's where she met her late husband, Kobe Bryant, back in 1999, when Kobe was 20-years-old and Vanessa 17

Family friends: For this latest trip to the amusement park in Anaheim, Vanessa met up with family friend Kristin Schwarz Pelinka (second left), who's the wife of Los Angeles Lakers general manager, Rob Pelinka; Vanessa's oldest daughter Natalia, 19, is seen on the left

Minnie's place: Minnie' Mouse got her just due , in the flurry of posts, with a photo of the gorgeous manicured grounds that was highlighted with an image of Minnie

Vanessa kept it casual in the fashion department in a pink sweatshirt and stylish large-frame sunglasses, while her baby girl looked super cute in a black sweatshirt while snoozing in her mom's arms.

But, by the the time the day gave way to the night, the California native slipped on a winter puffer coat and Capri put on a green jacket, as seen in a photo of the two seemingly on a ride that was captioned, 'Koko Bean,' which is mom's nickname for Capri.

Minnie' Mouse got her just due , in the flurry of posts, with a photo of the gorgeous manicured grounds that was highlighted with an image of Minnie.

There was also a group photo out front of Sleeping Beauty Castle, which included Vanessa and her oldest daughter Natalia, 19, as well as Kristin Pelinka, who appears to have brought her son and daughter.

Adorable: The proud mother affectionately called Capri her nickname 'Koko Bean'

Close friends: Vanessa also posted of shot of herself with Kristin Schwarz Pelinka, who's husband Rob was also Kobe's longtime agent during his playing days, and godfather to their late daughter Gianna

Her husband, Rob, was also Kobe's longtime agent during his playing days with the Lakers. They were so close that the Bryants even named him the godfather of their daughter Giannan, who along with her dad, were among the nine people killed in that tragic helicopter crash in January 2020.

Following her mother's lead in the fashion department, Natalia also opted to wear a puffer coat during the more chillier evening hours at the park.

To cap things off, there was also quick video of the fireworks show in the skies over Disneyland, along with a photo taken at the castle, and an image of Vanessa and Kristin sharing a hug while flashing big beaming smiles.

Missing from all the photos was Vanessa' s five-year-old daughter Bianka.

Capping it off: There was also the fireworks show in the skies over Disneyland
The Project host Hamish Macdonald threw a wild party at his $3.8million Sydney home on Saturday, leading to noise complaints and a knock on the door from police.

The journalist, 40, is believed to have hosted the gathering at his swanky three-bedroom property in Paddington to celebrate marrying his long-term partner Jacob Fitzroy.

At least two NSW Police officers were called to the scene after complaints from neighbours, who described Macdonald's party as 'intrusively loud'.

Noisy: The Project host Hamish Macdonald (left, with his longtime partner Jacob Fitzroy) hosted a wild party at his $3.8million Sydney home on Saturday, leading to noise complaints and a knock on the door from police

'It's so loud. Six hours so far. I have a headache,' a disgruntled resident who lives in the same street told Daily Mail Australia when the party was still in full swing.

They added the following morning: 'It was torture for eight hours. If I had known, we would have gone to the Southern Highlands for the weekend with the children.'

Another neighbour said the speeches they overheard at Macdonald's home gave the impression it was a reception for a wedding.

'I could hear the speeches but not word for word. The music was blaring like it was on in my own house. Every single room,' they said.

According to one eyewitness, the music 'suddenly went off at 11:54pm', just three minutes after officers attended Macdonald's property.

Police confirmed to Daily Mail Australia that officers were called to the home.

Loud: At least two officers were called to the scene after complaints from Paddington locals. Meanwhile, a neighbour said the speeches heard at Macdonald's home gave the impression it was a reception for a wedding, leading to rumours he and Fitzroy (left) had tied the knot

Macdonald was seen wearing a ring on his wedding finger on The Project three months ago, leading to rumours he'd secretly married Fitzroy.

While he didn't draw attention to the ring during the show, viewers were quick to speculate he may have finally sealed the deal with his partner.

Macdonald is known to be extremely private when it comes his personal life, and quit social media altogether in 2020.

Something to tell us? The journalist, 40, was seen wearing a ring on his wedding finger on The Project three months ago

The former Q&A host publicly came out as gay in June 2019 when he held hands with Fitzroy at the GQ Gentlemen's Ball.

He later said the outpouring of support he received afterwards 'was so profoundly touching'.

Fitzroy first appeared on Macdonald's Instagram account in April that year, posing alongside the Channel 10 star and friends Joanna Jolly and Lisa Millar.

'I didn't know such happiness was possible': Macdonald (left, with The Sunday Project co-host Lisa Wilkinson) was once reduced to tears when he described his relationship with Fitzroy

Public: The former Q&A host publicly came out as gay in June 2019 when he held hands with Fitzroy at the GQ Gentlemen's Ball, and later kissed in a photo booth

Macdonald was once reduced to tears when he described their special relationship.

'He's my best friend and I just feel tremendously lucky to share our lives together,' he said on The Project.

'He's... I got a bit emotional. He's really the best person I know. He makes life pretty fun. I didn't know such happiness was possible.'
They defiantly shut down breakup rumours last week after fans noticed they'd unfollowed each other on Instagram.

And insiders claim Locky Gilbert and Irena Srbinovska's relationship is on very shaky ground.

On Monday, sources close to The Bachelor couple, both 32, told New Idea magazine that full-time nurse Irena 'is struggling to cope' with her SAS: Australia star boyfriend's flying reality TV career and thirst for fame.

'Working on TV and keeping a normal relationship alive is difficult': The Bachelor's Irena Srbinovska, 32, is reportedly 'struggling to cope' with her fame-hungry boyfriend Locky Gilbert's flying TV career. Pictured: Irena and Locky

'While they're fully aware they're no Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, working on TV and keeping a normal relationship alive is difficult', the insider claimed.

Yet despite their private struggles, the source claims Locky and Irena are 'keeping up appearances' as a couple for the time being.

It comes days after Locky and Irena shut down split rumours by sharing a photo of themselves kissing while abseiling down a beachside cliff.

United front: Yet despite their private struggles, the source claims Locky and Irena are 'keeping up appearances' as a couple for the time being

In the caption, the pair announced they will be embarking upon the annual Cape 2 Cape charity hike together.

The couple's joint post came less than a week after they bizarrely unfollowed each other on Instagram for a few days.

However, after being approached by Daily Mail Australia for comment, Locky insisted that he and Irena were still together.

Sealed with a kiss! It comes days after Locky and Irena shut down split rumours by sharing this photo of themselves kissing while abseiling down a beachside cliff

'We haven't unfollowed each other at all,' he said, seemingly unaware that Irena had temporarily blocked him on Instagram.

'Irena has just deactivated her account. We have both been getting a lot of online bullying and some very harmful DMs unfortunately.'

He added: 'We thought it was best if she just took a break from social right now.'

Hmm: The couple's joint post came less than a week after they bizarrely unfollowed each other on Instagram for a few days

'We haven't unfollowed each other at all': However, after being approached by Daily Mail Australia for comment, Locky insisted that he and Irena were still together

Split rumours first emerged in January, after Irena announced that she had left Locky behind in Perth and returned to her home city of Melbourne.

At the time, the healthcare worker told fans she'd been 'struggling being away' from her family in Victoria.

Friends close to the couple previously told Daily Mail Australia that they wouldn't be surprised if they had split when she relocated back to Melbourne and decided to keep it low-key.

They also claimed that Irena has been 'a lot more stressed out than normal in the past few weeks'.

Surprise move: Split rumours first emerged in January, after Irena announced that she had left Locky behind in Perth and returned to her home city of Melbourne
A former driving school student of Olivia Frazer says the Married At First Sight star loved to insert herself into her 'high school drama'.

In a sensational video posted to TikTok, Ella Avni said the 27-year-old taught her and her friends how to drive, and would often get involved in their gossip.

'All of my friends and I had her as a driving instructor, and she would just, like, ask us about what's happening and all that,' she explained.

Mean girl: A former driving school student of Olivia Frazer says the Married At First Sight star loved to insert herself into her 'high school drama'



'So we would obviously tell her about our lives, and then that eventually evolved into us telling her about our friends, who she teaches, and getting involved in our high school drama.'

'I wouldn't tell her anything, because I knew that she would just relay it to all my friends,' she continued.

Tell-all: In a sensational video posted to TikTok, Ella Avni said the 27-year-old taught her and her friends how to drive, and would often get involved in their gossip

High school drama: 'So we would obviously tell her about our lives, and then that eventually evolved into us telling her about our friends, who she teaches, and getting involved in our high school drama

Ella said she doesn't watch Married At First Sight, and added: 'I can't bring myself to do it, because I just can't see her face onscreen. It'll make me so angry.'

She concluded: 'She didn't actually teach me how to drive. She just talked drama with me for an hour every week.'

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to both Olivia and Channel Nine for comment.

Bad blood: Ella said she doesn't watch Married At First Sight, and added: 'I can't bring myself to do it, because I just can't see her face onscreen. It'll make me so angry'

Olivia - who was paired with groom Jackson Lonie - has emerged as a villain on this year's season of MAFS.

Last week, she sensationally leaked nude photos of fellow bride Domenica Calarco to the show's other participants.

The scandal left Domenica, 28, appalled and attracted plenty of controversy, with MAFS fans slamming Olivia for sharing the photos.
Peaky Blinders fans were left shocked following the latest episode of the hit BBC show as it was revealed that Tommy Shelby has a secret son called Duke.

Last week, Tommy (Cillian Murphy) learnt his seven-year-old daughter had succumbed to tuberculosis days after she was admitted to hospital.

The next installment saw the Shelby family attend the funeral of young Ruby Shelby (Orla McDonagh).

Daddy's boy: Peaky Blinders fans were left shocked following the latest episode of the hit BBC show as it was revealed that Tommy Shelby has a secret son called Duke

However, after going on a shooting rampage at a gypsy camp, Tommy was reunited with Esme Shelby (Aimee Ffion-Edwards).

Speaking in the front seat of Tommy's car, Esme said: 'Some business is still unfinished. Christians say the Lord lives, the Lord takes away. Our spirits are the same.

'The spirits just took away your child. The same spirits want to give you a different child.'

Tommy asked 'What child?', as Esme responded: 'A daughter lost, a son found.'

Death: The next installment saw the Shelby family attend the funeral of young Ruby Shelby (Orla McDonagh)

A young man then appeared on screen tending to a horse as Esme explained to Tommy about a woman he had slept with during World War One.

She said: 'Her name was Zelda, she said you slept together under a hazel tree.

'She fell pregnant, her father threatened to kill you, you'd already joined the army, gone away to France. You remember the girl in the hazel tree, don't you, Tommy?'

Tommy replied: 'Whoever that boy is, our business is done here.'

Meeting: However, after going on a shooting rampage at a gypsy camp, Tommy was reunited with Esme Shelby (Aimee Ffion-Edwards)

Lost child: Speaking in the front seat of Tommy's car, Esme said: 'The spirits just took away your child. The same spirits want to give you a different child'

Esme continued: 'He is yours, the boy born with hazel eyes, calls himself Duke.

'His mother is dead, he is a thief, he works at the fairground but he says he wants more to life than big wheels and carousels.

'If losing Ruby has left a hole in your heart I will send him to you if you give me a bit more gold.'

Reveal: A young man then appeared on screen tending to a horse as Esme explained to Tommy about a woman he had slept with during World War One

And viewers were quick to take to social media to express their surprise at the reveal.

One wrote: 'Tommy has another Son after going to his daughters funeral say what #PeakyBlinders.'

Another speculated: 'I believe the new long lost son is for the #PeakyBlinders movie. Apparently the plot is that new generation takes over as Tommy Shelby hands over the reigns.'
Karl Stefanovic and his wife Jasmine enjoyed a fun day at the beach with their daughter Harper in Noosa, Queensland, on Saturday.

The couple soaked up the sun as they went for a dip in the ocean with their little girl, who turns two in May.

Shoe designer Jasmine, 37, flaunted her fabulous physique in a black swimsuit during the family outing.

Fun in the sun! Jasmine Stefanovic flaunted her physique in a black swimsuit as she hit the beach in Noosa, Queensland, with her husband Karl and their daughter Harper on Saturday

The Mara & Mine co-founder showed off her trim pins in the one-piece, and swept her blonde locks into a high bun.

The mother of one looked radiant as she went makeup free for the outing.

Jasmine was joined by her Today host husband, 47, who wore navy printed shorts and a blue shirt.

Holiday: The Mara & Mine co-founder showed off her trim pins in the one-piece, and swept her blonde locks into a high bun

Natural beauty: The mother of one looked radiant as she went makeup free for the outing

Daddy, daddy cool! Jasmine was joined by her Today host husband, who wore navy printed shorts and a blue shirt

He protected himself from the sun with a black cap and sunglasses as he took Harper into the ocean.

The couple then spent the afternoon relaxing and chatting on the sand.

The sighting comes after the Stefanovics 'regretfully' listed their holiday home in Noosa for sale last month.

The home is on a street where millionaires and politicians spend their holidays, which means it will likely sell at the higher end of its price guide, or even exceed expectations.

Family outing: Karl, 47, protected himself from the sun with a black cap and sunglasses as he took Harper into the ocean

Laid-back: The couple then spent the afternoon relaxing and chatting on the sand

On the market: The sighting comes after Jasmine and Karl 'regretfully' listed their holiday home in Noosa for sale last month

Location: The home is on a street where millionaires and politicians spend their holidays, which means it will likely sell at the higher end of its price guide, or even exceed expectations

The home, which goes under the hammer on March 24, is predicted to draw plenty of offers before its auction date.

Karl confirmed the listing of the $3.6million property, revealing he and Jasmine weren't using it enough to justify ownership.

'The reality though is I can't get away from work in Sydney nearly enough and the logistics of coming in and out of Queensland have been challenging,' the Channel Nine presenter told The Courier Mail.

'Eventually we will come back to Noosa when we have more time. If we can afford it. It's the best beach community anywhere,' he added.

Auction: The home, which goes under the hammer on March 24, is predicted to draw plenty of offers before its auction date

Next step: Karl, 47, confirmed the listing of the $3.6million property, revealing he and Jasmine weren't using it enough to justify ownership

Reasons: 'The reality though is I can't get away from work in Sydney nearly enough and the logistics of coming in and out of Queensland have been challenging,' he told The Courier Mail

Karl met Jasmine in late 2016, five months after he split from wife of 21 years Cassandra Thorburn.

The couple wed at the One&Only Palmilla resort in San Jose del Cabo, Mexico, in December 2018, and welcomed daughter Harper in May 2020.

He is also father to daughter Willow and sons Jackson and River from his first marriage.

Romance: Karl met Jasmine in late 2016, five months after he split from wife of 21 years Cassandra Thorburn

Wedding bells: The couple wed at the One&Only Palmilla resort in San Jose del Cabo, Mexico, in December 2018, and welcomed Harper May in May 2020
Megan Fox treated her 19 million Instagram followers to several new photos of tour life with beau Machine Gun Kelly on Sunday.

The raven-haired beauty, 35, wore a two-piece pink knit coordinating outfit for the rapper's latest show in Argentina.

She accessorized with studded pink combat booties and a matching choker with chains.

New posts: Megan Fox treated her 19 million Instagram followers to several new photos of tour life with beau Machine Gun Kelly on Sunday

The bombshell kept things sexy in the low-cut sleeveless top that accentuated her cleavage and tied at the center.

The matching skirt featured a ribbed waistband and three keyholes on one side, couple with several tassels.

The revealing ensemble showed off the actress' toned and svelte figure as her lean legs and taut stomach were displayed.

Megan wrote over a photo of her snapping a mirror selfie, 'ARGENTINA,' and added peace sign, lollipop, and heart emojis.

Cute: The raven-haired beauty, 35, wore a two-piece pink knit coordinating outfit for the rapper's latest show in Argentina

The blue-eyed beauty gave fans a closer look at her fun ensemble in a second selfie posted to Instagram Stories.

She put her immaculately made up face front and center as she flaunted a clear complexion that was highlighted with a sexy cat-eye, blushed cheeks, and pink glossy lips.

The mother-of-three's long locks were styled in a center part and tight waves that fell over her chest.

Fans also got a better look at her neck jewelry - a bubblegum pink choker with silver studs, chains, and pink dice.

She's with the band: Fox cozied up to her man and his bandmates backstage

Fox continued the slideshow of outtakes without using any more captions. Among the several pictures was a shot of her with her soon-to-be husband's bandmates.

The group of talent was dressed in black as the Till Death star and her fiance stood out with their pops of color.

MGK - born Colson Baker - wore a white fishnet shirt that exposed his many tattoos, paired with sparkly black trousers.

His hair was dyed pink as he lovingly wrapped an arm around his longtime partner.

Flashy: MGK - born Colson Baker - wore a white fishnet shirt that exposed his many tattoos, paired with sparkly black trousers

Switching things up, the Jennifer's Body actress switched the next images to black and white, giving them an artful and dramatic touch.

Another photo of the twosome backstage was zoomed in on them, cropping out the band members who stood on their sides.

Baker smirked as his partner leaned in to him and gave the camera her signature smoldering look.

Another more intimate photo showed Meg's caring side as she took to her man's hair with a flat iron.

Doting: Another more intimate photo showed Meg's caring side as she took to her man's hair with a flat iron

Once the musician stepped on stage to perform with his guitar strapped around him, Fox took a photo.

She was a proud girlfriend as she shared a fiery image of the Emo Girl hitmaker belting out his hits.

The photo showed multiple shots of MGK strumming his instrument and singing into a microphone during his Lollapalooza set.
Netflix's brand-new drama Pieces of Her premiered on March 4.

And while the female-led series stars a host of Australian actors including Toni Collette and Bella Heathcote, it also boasts a string of jaw-dropping Aussie properties as filming locations.

The show, based on the 2018 novel by Karin Slaughter, is about a young woman named Andrea (Heathcote) who is caught up in a mass shooting at a diner while at lunch with her mother Laura (Collette).

Stars of the show: Toni Collette (left) and Bella Heathcote (right) star in Netflix drama Pieces of Her, which boasts a string of jaw-dropping Australian properties as filming locations

The show was supposed to be filmed in British Columbia, Canada, last year, but the Covid-19 pandemic saw the shoot delayed and production moved to Australia.

Laura and Andrea's seaside abode in the series can actually be found on the Central Coast on Macmasters Beach, reports Domain.

The three-bedroom, two-storey home, which last sold in 2016 for $1.7million, was built in 1927 by Dr John MacMaster, who named it Fort William as a nod to his family's ancestral home in Scotland.

Netflix's version: Laura and Andrea's seaside abode in the series can actually be found on the Central Coast on Macmasters Beach, reports Domain

Reality: The three-bedroom home, which last sold in 2016 for $1.7million, was built in 1927 by John MacMaster, who named it Fort William as a nod to his family's ancestral home in Scotland

Inside: The stunning lakefront property offers an abundance of natural light bursting through the windows, and is just 200 metres from Macmasters Beach

The stunning lakefront property offers an abundance of natural light bursting through the spacious living areas, and is just 200 metres from Macmasters Beach.

A separate studio was added in the Netflix show, where Andy resides.

Netflix significantly altered the appearance of the home during filming.

Changes: A separate studio was added in the Netflix show, where Andy resides

Recognise this? Netflix significantly altered the appearance of the home for filming (pictured)

The show also delves into the life of the billionaire Queller family, who reside in a jaw-dropping mansion which bears a resemblance to a castle.

The home is actually named The Swifts, a heritage-listed late-Victorian Gothic Revival mansion located in the suburb of Darling Point, Sydney.

The home is arguably one of the most famous in Australia, and features 60 large rooms after being built in the 1870s by a brewer.

Extravagance: The show also delves into the life of the billionaire Queller family, who reside in a mansion which bears a resemblance to a castle. The home is actually named The Swifts (pictured) a heritage-listed Gothic Revival mansion in the suburb of Darling Point, Sydney

Mammoth: The home where US Marshals take Laura is found in the Sydney suburb of Killara. The sprawling property is named the Harry and Penelope Seidler House (pictured) and is often praised for its unique architectural design after being completed in 1967 by the Seidlers

The home where US Marshals take Laura is found in the Sydney suburb of Killara.

The sprawling property, named the Harry and Penelope Seidler House, is praised for its unique architectural design after being completed in 1967 by the Seidlers.

Pieces of Her received plenty of buzz before it was released, as it was produced by the same company behind HBO's The Undoing and Netflix's Anatomy of a Scandal.
Dynasties II

Rating:

The Speedshop

Rating:

Cats love having their picture taken. We just didn't know it until the advent of the internet.

Apart from a few celebrated paintings, most famously by Picasso and David Hockney, our moggies featured in art far too infrequently. That changed with the arrival of camera phones and social media. Now, you could spend every day scrolling through videos and photos of posing cats and never see them all.

Even big cats in the wild are desperate to enjoy the exposure. When wildlife producer Mary Melville and her team went to Patagonia, pumas were lining up to have their portraits taken.

One afternoon, a confident female called Rupestre and her four cubs sat up in a row, all gazing into the lens, with the ice-capped Andes as their backdrop.

One of Rupestre's cubs waits for her to return on Dynasties II

Apart from that, like cats everywhere, the pumas weren't interested in human activity. 'They simply ignored us, in fact,' Mary said when I interviewed her earlier this month. 'It was almost rude.'

Thanks to this show-off insouciance, the crew were able to shoot a succession of remarkable sequences for the first of the four-part Dynasties II (BBC1)  including some of the best footage ever captured of pumas hunting guanaco, a kind of wild llama.

We also witnessed a savage battle between Rupestre and a big male, the mother risking her life to give her young time to scatter and hide. Like lions, male pumas will kill cubs that are not their own.

'She wasn't expecting this attack and neither were we,' said Mary. Bleeding and battered, Rupestre spent the next 36 hours calling in pitiful mews until the last of her babies emerged from hiding.

Although the pumas were content to be filmed, the expedition was far from easy. A long way from any roads, the crew trekked 1,000 miles on foot in winter, with temperatures falling to minus 15c.

Tougher still were the hurricane-force winds, up to 100mph. 'That made it difficult to walk or even see anything,' Mary told me.

At night, the team took shelter in bivouacs built from steel struts and military-grade canvas. But even these were not always up to the job.

CRACK SHOT OF THE WEEKEND: A machinegun at her side, a pistol in her purse, a sniper's rifle at Beirut docks  posh spy Jean (Lucy Boynton) is handy with a firearm in The Ipcress File (ITV). I feel sorry for the grouse if she ever joins Daddy on a shoot. Advertisement

'One night,' Mary said, 'I woke up with the roof lying across my face. The wind had ripped a hole in the tent. But honestly, I was so tired, I didn't really pay much attention.'

Next time you're taking snaps of your pet looking impossibly cute, be thankful you're not trying to do it in a Force 12 wind.

Some people relish those conditions, of course, and Afghan conflict veterans Titch Cormack and his mates in The Speedshop (BBC2) were trying to replicate them for a former Special Forces comrade.

Ex-Royal Marine and Special Boat Service soldier Toby Gutteridge was left paralysed from the neck down when he was shot in the neck during an ambush. With eerie clarity, Toby described the moments after the bullet hit him: 'It's not like the movies, no screaming and shouting, it's just quiet.'

Although he now relies on a portable ventilator, breathing through a hole in his neck, he was desperate to experience the thrill of motorbiking again.

At his Dorset motor workshop, Titch set about converting a bike with a customised sidecar, tailored for Toby.

Blokes like these don't cry on camera, no matter how emotional the job. Any actual feelings were drowned out by the heavy-duty banter and the hard rock soundtrack.

There was plenty of Special Forces inspiration on show, though. 'Impossible is nothing,' growled Titch. 'No such word as 'Can't',' agreed Toby.

They would hate to admit it, but this was lump-in-the-throat stuff.
Members of a civic group hold a press conference to condemn the National Election Commission's poor handling of the early voting for the March 9 presidential election, near the Gwanghwamun Station in central Seoul, Monday. Korea Times photo by Bae Woo-han



Main opposition PPP threatens to impeach NEC chief Noh Jeong-hee



By Jung Da-min



The National Election Commission (NEC) has launched a special task force to investigate the agency's mishandling of early voting procedures for the March 9 presidential election. The NEC held a closed-door plenary session, Monday, to discuss the formation of the task force. The agency's commissioner, Cho Byoung-hyun, will head the task force and also be in charge appointing its members, according to the NEC's press release after the meeting.



According to Sunday's media reports, the task force is expected to consist of seven members, including Cho as the head and four outside consultants.



The NEC said the task force will operate until April 18. The election watch dog also said it will leave a minimum number of staff at its headquarters and sub-committees for major cities and provinces, while sending more staff to smaller regional branches, starting early April, to better prepare for and operate the June 1 local elections.



The move to launch an investigation came after criticism over alleged irregularities in early voting procedures of the presidential election, including the NEC's methods of handling the ballots of COVID-19 patients and quarantined voters.



The main opposition conservative People Power Party (PPP) has ratcheted up pressure on NEC chief Noh Jeong-hee to resign over the claims of mishandling election affairs during the early voting period.



PPP lawmakers with the National Assembly Public Administration and Security Committee, including Rep. Suh Bum-soo, Lee Young, Choi Chun-sik and Park Wan-su, threatened to impeach Noh in accordance with the law, claiming the commissioner and the NEC violated the Constitution.



They claimed that NEC staffers collected ballots marked by COVID-19 patients and put them in the ballot boxes against the will of the voters and signatures of NEC officials were missing in some ballots, claiming all these are in contravention of the Constitution.



"What the NEC did during the early voting period is disastrous," Suh said, reading a prepared statement at the National Assembly, Monday.



Suh and other PPP lawmakers with the Assembly public administration committee criticized fellow lawmakers of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) for being uncooperative in setting a committee meeting to hold the NEC commissioner accountable for the election blunders.



"We demanded that the minister of the interior and safety be present in the committee meeting and answer our questions, but this didn't happen because the DPK rejected our request to cooperate," said Rep. Suh.



On March 16, 15 members, including those with the NEC's sub-committees and regional election oversight committees across the nation, issued a joint statement to demand the resignation of NEC Chairwoman Noh Jeong-hee, as she holds the top responsibility for overseeing the election.



However, Noh has refused, saying she "will prepare unwaveringly for the June 1 local elections," in an email to NEC staffers the following day. On the same day, NEC Secretary General Kim Se-hwan resigned.



While some members of the ruling liberal Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) also said Noh should resign, other members, including lawmakers of the Assembly public administration committee, have opposed such calls.



On Saturday, DPK lawmakers with the public administration committee issued a joint statement, saying such calls for Noh's resignation would hamper the NEC operations with about 70 days left ahead of the June 1 local elections.



"In the current situation where the two standing members of the National Election Commission are vacant, calls for the resignation of Chairwoman Noh, if accepted, would paralyze the operations of the NEC," read the statement.



The NEC consists of nine standing members including the chairperson, the standing commissioner and seven commissioners. The posts for the standing commissioner and a commissioner are currently vacant.



In January, Cho Hai-ju, former standing commissioner of the NEC resigned over concerns of lack of political neutrality, despite President Moon Jae-in's earlier request for him to extend his term as a non-standing commissioner. Cho had served as a special adviser in Moon's presidential campaign in 2017.



The appointment of commissioner candidate Moon Sang-boo was also nullified in January with the DPK opposing it, citing his past PPP membership.




The rumoured annual salaries of The Project's presenters have been revealed.

The Australian reported on Monday that Waleed Aly had inked a 'seven-figure' deal with Channel 10 that will see him continue to host the current affairs show four nights a week 'until the mid-2020s'.

It was previously reported he had been earning an estimated $900,000 a year.

Rumours: The Project hosts' extraordinary pay packets have been revealed, with Lisa Wilkinson (pictured) said to be earning more than Waleed Aly who is on a 'seven-figure' deal

However, Aly's co-hosts Lisa Wilkinson and Carrie Bickmore are said to be earning almost twice as much.

Wilkinson, 62, out-earning Aly is surprising given she primarily hosts The Sunday Project and makes comparatively fewer appearances on the weekday edition.

However, she likely commands a bigger salary due to her longer career in the media that gives her greater bargaining power in pay negotiations.

In November, The Daily Telegraph claimed Wilkinson was pocketing an enormous $1.7million per year while Bickmore was believed to be on $1.5million.

It comes after Bickmore announced last Tuesday she was taking an extended break from The Project to spend a school term in the UK with her partner Chris Walker and their three children.

Deals: Wilkinson, 62, out-earning Aly (left) is surprising given she primarily hosts The Sunday Project and makes comparatively fewer appearances on the weekday edition. Carrie Bickmore (right), who is about to take three months' leave, is also believed to be earning more than him

'In April I'm going to be taking a few months off The Project desk. Chris and I and the kids are heading off on a family adventure together,' she said.

'We've been wanting to do it for a while, but for lots of reasons, the timing hasn't been right, but we figure it's never going to be the perfect time to go.

'It's something we really want to do before my son starts his final years at school so we're doing term two in the UK. So I will be off for a couple of months.'

Cha-ching! In November, The Daily Telegraph claimed Wilkinson was pocketing an enormous $1.7million per year while Bickmore was believed to be on $1.5million

Last year, OzTAM ratings revealed Channel 10's flagship current affairs program had lost almost a third of its audience since 2011.

The show saw its metro ratings plummet to an all-time low of just 367,000 last year.

That's a 30 per cent decline from its five-city audience of 538,000 a decade earlier.
Cate Blanchett never watches herself on screen.

The 52-year-old actress was asked if she watches her work back she claimed that she simply 'gives over trust' to her director.

She said: 'No!  When youre working with someone like Guillermo del Toro, you have to give over trust. You think, 'Has he got what he needs? He knows what hes doing."'

Cate Blanchett says she never watches herself on screen and her husband Andrew Upton reassures her when she becomes 'panicked' over a new role

However, Cate - who is married to playwright Andrew Upton and has Dashiell , Edith, Ignatius and Roman with him - added that she finds it very hard to quickly get in character for a new role feels 'panicked' every time she prepares for a new role.

Speaking on the 'Smartless' podcast, she confessed: 'Its desperation, its panic. Youve got to do something.  The night before [filming something new] Im always saying to my husband "how do I do this?" and hes saying "youll be fine."

Cate added that she relies on the directors notes because of the lack of rehearsal time compared to from her background in theatre.

Cate recently received the Honorary Cesar award during the 47th Cesar Film Awards Ceremony in Paris

She explained: 'You talk to the director, but you dont actually get to rehearse. Im used to rehearsal [in theatre]. I am slow, slow, slow. I need those six weeks and those previews to go: that wasnt funny, that doesnt work, we need to lose this thing because I dont know what it means.'

The way I can do it is to say, "look, Im going to do this, and if its garbage, you tell me."

'So thats the conversation I have with the director. If this is the wrong direction, Im so happy to change it, but youve got to do something. Often its not until youve gone in the wrong direction that you know what the right direction is.'

Cate recently received the Honorary Cesar award during the 47th Cesar Film Awards Ceremony in Paris.

She became emotional as she took to the stage to accept the Honorary Cesar award.

In her early 50s, Cate is the second youngest recipient of the prize, which is the highest honour presented by the prestigious Film at Lincoln Center, one of the major arts organisations in the US.

The award, which was founded in 1972 and is named after Charlie Chaplin, is given to recognise the career and contribution of artists who left their mark on the medium.

Esteemed: Cate has received major prizes from all over the world, including two Oscars, three BAFTAs, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, an Order of Australia, and in France a Chevalier, for her contribution to the arts

The prize has been awarded 47 times. Previous winners include Helen Mirren, Meryl Streep, Robert de Niro and Tom Hanks.

Announcing the news in the Hollywood Reporter on February 18, a spokesperson from Film at Lincoln Center said that it would be a privilege to dedicate an evening of celebration to Cate.

'Ms. Blanchett's career includes extraordinary performances in films ranging from small independent efforts to major studio franchises.'

Cate has worked tirelessly for the last 25 years racking up dozens of credits in theatre, film and TV.

Cate has received major awards from all over the world, including two Oscars, three BAFTAs, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, an Order of Australia, and in France a Chevalier, for her contribution to the arts.
President Volodymyr Zelensky lauded Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher for raising roughly $35 million to support refugees fleeing war-torn Ukraine.

The 44-year-old Ukrainian president had a video call with the celebrity couple on Sunday to discuss their work, as the number of Ukrainian refugees surged past 3.2 million, according to the most recent United Nations data.

Kutcher, 44, and Kunis, 38, who was born in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, launched a GoFundMe on March 3 to fund San Francisco-based companies Flexport and Airbnb. Flexport is a freight transportation company bringing supplies to refugees across Europe and Airbnb is providing them with free, short-term housing.

The president tweeted words of praise for the pair, writing that they were 'among the first to respond to our grief.' He went on to say, 'They have already raised $35 million & are sending it to @flexport & @ Airbnb to help [Ukrainian flag] refugees.'

President Volodymyr Zelensky had a video call with Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher to commend them for raising roughly $35 million for Ukrainian refugees

Kutcher retweeted a message from the politician on Sunday, which featured a photo of an open laptop with the couple and Zelensky having a chat

He completed his message writing, 'Grateful for their support. Impressed by their determination. They inspire the world. #StandWithUkraine.'

Kutcher, 44, retweeted a message from the politician on Sunday, which featured a photo of an open laptop with the couple and Zelensky, 44, having a chat. Kunis also tweeted the photo as well, but added no caption.

Zelensky also said in a Monday statement that Ashton and Mila are a 'star couple who sincerely believe in us, in our victory, in our future.'

'They help IDPs [internally displaced refugees] by raising funds. And the two of them have already raised [close to] $35 million,' he said.

'I thanked them on behalf of our people, on behalf of all of us. This is a good result for one couple of our friends in America,' Zelensky said.

The grateful leader then added, 'We are working to make the whole world our friends.'

Zelensky also said in a Monday statement that Ashton and Mila are a 'star couple who sincerely believe in us, in our victory, in our future'

On Thursday the pair revealed they hit their $30million fundraising goal to benefit Ukrainian refugees just two weeks into launching the program

On Thursday, the couple took to Instagram to reveal that they hit their $30million fundraising goal to benefit Ukrainian refugees just two weeks into launching the program.

The couple initially vowed to match up to $3million in donations to help provide 'immediate' humanitarian aid to Ukrainian refugees when they launched the GoFundMe page on March 3.

'We just want to say that we hit our goal,' Kunis said in the clip before Kutcher added: 'Over $30million dollars raised.

'Over 65,000 of you donated. We are overwhelmed with gratitude of the support and while this is far from the solve of the problem, our collective effort will provide a softer landing to so many people as they forge ahead into their future of uncertainty,' Kunis said.

Kutcher also said, 'Our work is not done. We're going to do everything we can to ensure that the outpouring of love that came from you all as a part of this campaign finds a maximum impact with those in need.'

'As funding continues to come in, we're going to treat every dollar as if it's being donated out of our pocket, with respect and honor for the work that went into earning it, with the intent of love through which it was given and the desire for it to be maximized for positive outcome for others.'

They also added their efforts were only just beginning and they were raising the bar even higher with a new $40million goal.

'Ukrainians are proud and brave people who deserve our help in their time of need. This unjust attack on Ukraine and humanity at large is devastating and the Ukrainian people need our support,' reads a description on the couple's GoFundMe page.

The couple initially vowed to match up to $3million in donations to help provide 'immediate' humanitarian aid to Ukrainian refugees when they launched the GoFundMe page on March 3

'While we are witnessing the bravery of Ukrainians, we are also bearing witness to the unimaginable burden of those who have chosen safety. Countless amounts of people have left everything they know and love behind to seek refuge. With nothing but what they could carry, these Ukrainian refugees are in need of housing and supplies right away,' it adds.

The pair are not the only celebrities advocating for Ukraine, as celebrity Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds also pledged to match donations for Ukrainian refugees and Gigi Hadid donated her fashion month earnings to relief in Ukraine, CNN reported.

Zelensky's video call with Kutcher and Kunis comes as President Joseph Biden gears up to travel to Europe and discuss the international response to 'the humanitarian and human rights crisis that Russia's unjustified and unprovoked war on Ukraine has created,' White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said late Sunday.

Biden will meet in Brussels with NATO Allies, G7 Leaders and European Union Leaders to discuss international efforts to support Ukraine as Russian forces continue to pummel their neighbor.

Biden will visit Warsaw on Friday, where he will hold a bilateral meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda.

More than 2 million refugees have entered Poland from Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on Feb. 24, the Polish border guard said on Friday.

The White House also said Biden will host a call Monday at 11 a.m. EST with President Emmanuel Macron of France, Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy and Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom to discuss their coordinated responses to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

United Nations data showed as of Thursday about 3.2 million have fled abroad from Ukraine since last month, in what has become Europe's fastest growing refugee crisis since World War Two.

The UN said some of the 2 million people entering Poland from Ukraine have moved on to other countries in the EU but the 'the majority are believed to be still in Poland.'

Biden will not visit Ukraine during his trip to Europe, Psaki said earlier Sunday after officials in Kyiv issued an open invitation to the president. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said earlier Sunday that a visit by Biden to war-ravaged Ukraine was 'not on the table.'

'This is a country at war. I can't imagine that that would be on the table,' Thomas-Greenfield told CNN's State of the Union host Jake Tapper on Sunday morning when asked about Biden visiting Ukraine.

Ahead of the trip this week, Biden was pictured Sunday on a bike ride in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where he is visiting his vacation home for the weekend.

Refugees from Ukraine are seen standing in line for free train tickets in the hall of the main railway station in Przemysl, southeastern Poland, on Sunday. Ten million people - more than a quarter of the population - have now fled their homes in Ukraine since Russia's invasion on February 24, the United Nations refugees chief said

Polish President Andrzej Duda will welcome President Joe Biden in Warsaw on Friday

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko tweeted about several explosions, 'in particular, according to information at the moment, some houses and in one of the shopping centres'

Ukrainian police officers stand near a warehouse that was hit by the debris of a downed rocket in Kyiv on Sunday

Meanwhile, Ukraine was experiencing its 25th day of attack from Russia, which has seen the death of 900 civilians, according to the United Nations.

Local authorities in the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol say that the Russian military bombed an art school where about 400 people had taken refuge  reducing the building to rubble, although there is no immediate word on casualties.

Terrifying footage emerged apparently showing Russia firing deadly thermobaric TOS-1A rockets, which can allegedly melt human organs.

Authorities in Ukraine's eastern city of Kharkiv say at least five civilians, including a nine-year-old boy, have been killed in the latest Russian shelling

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's chief diplomatic adviser Ihor Zhovka said Biden 'should not be afraid' to visit Kyiv 'if you are brave' enough.

Zhovka has requested that Biden facilitate Ukraine's upcoming acquisition of U.S. weapons, which include fighter jets and missiles.

The adviser also slammed Ukraine's allies, alleging Zelensky is 'disappointed' in the U.S. and NATO's apparent rejection to fulfill the nation's request to impose a no-fly zone over its airspace.

'If NATO is not able to provide us with a humanitarian no-fly zone, please provide us with fighter jets, please provide us with anti-missile air defense systems,' Zhovka said during a CNN interview, Mediaite reported. 'So, my president will keep doing this. He spoke about this in the U.S. Congress. He's talking about this on a daily basis.'

Biden, who has not publicly issued a decision on Zelensky's request, was warned earlier this week that imposing the no-fly zone would be an 'act of war'. It remains unclear how Biden will proceed.
Eiza Gonzalez looked breathtaking as she attended the Parisian premiere of her new film Ambulance on Friday.

The 32-year-old Mexican actress - who plays EMT Cam Thompson in the movie - turned heads in a one-shoulder silky gown with a sparkly bejeweled strap.

Ambulance follows the story of two adoptive siblings (played by Jake Gyllenhaal and Yahya Abdul-Mateen) turned bank robbers who steal an ambulance occupied by a paramedic and a police officer in critical condition.

Showstopper: Eiza Gonzalez looked breathtaking as she attended the Parisian premiere of her new film Ambulance on Friday

Her floor-length gown draped beautifully over her 5ft8in frame as she posed for photos on the red carpet.

The brunette beauty stunned in the elegant and classic look while promoting the upcoming film about two robbers who steal an ambulance after a robbery goes wrong.

Gonzalez's chic and simple look was styled by Elizabeth Saltzman, and the movie star coupled it with a piecey updo.

The actress' chocolate-colored tresses were styled in a center part with face-framing strands left out at the front.

She wore dazzling diamond earrings that crept out through her glossy strands, which were loosely arranged.

Toga-style: The 32-year-old Mexican actress turned heads in a one-shoulder silky gown with a sparkly bejeweled strap

Beauty queen: Eiza's ethereal beauty was undeniable as she flaunted a face of perfectly-applied makeup

Eiza's ethereal beauty was undeniable as she flaunted a face of perfectly-applied makeup.

Her eyebrows were expertly arched and she wore a dusting of shimmery brown eyeshadow on her eyelids.

Adding to the showstopping look were rosy cheeks and bright pink lips that highlighted her plump pout.

The star's big, brown eyes were accentuated with fluttery eyelashes that were coated in mascara.

Gorgeous: Her eyebrows were expertly arched and she wore a dusting of shimmery brown eyeshadow on her eyelids

As Gonzalez made her way down the star-studded event's step-and-repeat she was joined by castmates Jake Gyllenhaal and Yahya Abdul-Mateen.

Jake (born Jacob) looked sharp in a double-breasted teal blazer worn over a mint-colored button-up shirt, black slacks, and dress shoes.

Yahya looked handsome in an all black look consisting of a silk black suit with an extra-long double-breasted blazer that stretched below his knees.

Underneath the coat he wore a black button-up shirt that had very thin white stripes.

The costars laughed together as they had their snapshots taken.

Group shot: Jake Gyllenhaal, Eiza, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen laughed together as they had their snapshots taken

Eiza, who plays EMT Cam Thompson in the film told Byrdie last year, 'When I do a role I really like to get immersed into it, so I would have loved to ride in an ambulance for a minute, but right now it's impossible.

'It was the first time in my life that I kind of had to work around it to prep for a role because everyone in the role I'm prepping for is busy in real life - there's no way to talk to doctors or EMTs because they're all busy.'

She continued, 'Even getting ambulances was really hard, so I rented an RV to kind of get used to the rhythm in the ambulance  you know, crazy things like that.

'But I've been able to connect with incredible people that are literally saving people's lives every other minute, and it's been so inspiring. It puts a lot of weight on me because I'm going to set thinking, "Wow, I really got to honor them. I gotta do this really good."'

Ambulance - hitting UK theaters this Friday and US theaters on April 8 - is a remake of Laurits Munch-Petersen's 2005 movie Ambulance.

Photo-op: Ambulance Director Michael Bay posed alongside Eiza in a three-piece pinstripe suit

In terms of the plot, William Sharp (Yahya) is a war veteran who desperately needs $231,000 for his wife's surgery.

He reaches out to Danny (Jake), his adoptive brother and a life-long criminal, who talks him into taking part in a $32 million bank heist.

The robbery goes wrong when they shoot an LAPD officer. The two brothers are soon on the run in an ambulance with an EMT and a dying police officer as their hostages.
AFL star Jake Stringer is set to become a father for the fourth time.

The Essendon Bombers star, 27, announced on Monday he is expecting to welcome a baby girl with his girlfriend Taylor McVeigh.

'It's very exciting, three girls, one boy,' he told The Daily Telegraph.

New addition: AFL star Jake Stringer announced he's expecting to welcome his second child with girlfriend Taylor McVeigh (pictured) - six years after his VERY bitter split from blogger Abby Gilmore

Jake and Taylor are parents to a son named River, who they welcomed in April 2020.

He also shares two daughters, Arlo and Milla, with his ex-girlfriend Abby Gilmore.

The couple split acrimoniously in 2016, and later became embroiled in a bitter public feud that was splashed across the Melbourne tabloids.

Growing family: The Essendon Bombers star announced he is expecting to welcome a baby girl with Taylor. The couple are parents to a son named River, who they welcomed in April 2020

Abby, an outspoken blogger, is now in a relationship with Leighroy Wellington, who is the father of her two-year-old son, Mason James.

She spoke about her break-up with Jake on the Lemonade podcast, hosted by journalist and producer Elizabeth Anile, last year.

The stay-at-home mum revealed that the exes had agreed to 'put down their swords' and work together for the sake of their children.

'We are probably still going to have our hiccups,' she said.

Parenthood: He also shares two daughters, Arlo and Milla, with his ex-girlfriend Abby Gilmore (pictured). The couple split acrimoniously in 2016

'But we've got such a sense of maturity now, we know we operate best when we all operate together and if one of us is angry, we know we need to get back to that special bond we're sharing because it works for the kids.'

Abby also praised Jake's new girlfriend in the same interview.

'I love Taylor,' she said. 'She works so well with us and it's something that I've had to learn to love over time because there is this woman all of a sudden placed in the mix.

'We are conditioned to be intimidated and threatened by this person and I'm not. I think she's amazing and she has been this whole time.'
Geoff Huegill was reduced to tears during an emotional video call with his new partner Roxan Toll on Monday's episode of SAS Australia.

The 43-year-old Olympic swimmer quit the course after being left physically exhausted by the gruelling challenges.

After turning in his armband, Geoff returned to camp for a tear-inducing video call with Roxy before heading home.

Breaking down: Geoff Huegill was reduced to tears during an emotional video call with his new partner Roxan Toll on Monday's episode of SAS Australia

Seeing Roxy's face appear on his phone screen prompted Geoff to break down in uncontrollable tears, as he wiped at his eyes.

'Oh. Oh, you've done so well. Everybody is so proud of you. It's incredible, Geoff. Well done. How do you feel?' she asked him.

After managing to compose himself, Geoff told Roxy he was 'tired' after several days on the punishing course.

Calling his love: After turning in his armband, Geoff returned to camp for a tear-inducing video call with his new partner Roxan Toll before heading home

'Just tired. I'm exhausted,' he added, as he continued to cry.

'I'm not at the same level of fitness as everybody else, and as the time went by, I kept falling back and getting tired. I just wasn't recovering. It was just relentless, but it was awesome.'

He then asked Roxy: 'How's my little boy? I miss you guys.'

Emotional scenes: Seeing Roxy's face appear on his phone screen prompted Geoff to break down in uncontrollable tears, as he wiped at his eyes

The couple quietly welcomed son Rafe in August last year, with the family residing in Singapore.

'We're fantastic. We're so proud of you. We're so excited to have you back. We love you,' Roxy told him, before blowing him a kiss.

Geoff was previously married to Sara Hills from 2011 until 2018, and they share two daughters, Gigi, nine, and Mila, seven.

'Oh. Oh, you've done so well. Everybody is so proud of you. It's incredible, Geoff. Well done. How do you feel?' she asked him

Their split came after Geoff and Sara, 38, were arrested for drug possession after they were caught with cocaine at the Autumn Racing Carnival at Randwick Racecourse in Sydney back in 2014.

In an interview with Mamamia earlier this month, Geoff said his ex-wife has a good relationship with his new partner.

'My girls absolutely love Roxy. My ex-wife Sara and Roxy get along like a house on fire. And the girls love their little brother,' he said.

Here comes the son: The couple quietly welcomed son Rafe in August last year, with the family residing in Singapore

Geoff also spoke about starting over in his 40's, and being given a second chance at love.

'The biggest growth I've had in my life in particular, is not only coming to Singapore, but meeting Roxy, having another son, having the opportunity to have another family,' he said.

'Once you get to your mid-40s, you do start to reflect on "where am I at personally", "what are the things I need to change" and most importantly, "what do I want now for my life moving forward".'

SAS Australia continues Tuesday at 7.30pm on Channel Seven
The terms 'KFC' and 'fine dining' don't often get said in the same sentence.

But the Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise has announced plans for an upmarket restaurant experience in Australia.

The amusing news didn't escape the attention of American talk show host Jimmy Fallon, who couldn't help but mock the chain in his monologue on Friday.

What? The KFC franchise has announced plans for an upmarket restaurant experience in Australia. The amusing news didn't escape the attention of American talk show host Jimmy Fallon (pictured)

'Guys, get this. KFC Australia is launching an 11-course fine dining menu, with a wine pairing,' he began.

'Most fine dining meals don't come with a spork,' he joked, to laughter from the audience.

KFC Australia are putting on a very fancy degustation dinner, for die-hard KFC fans, complete with gold-covered chicken.

'Guys, get this. KFC Australia is launching an 11-course fine dining menu, with a wine pairing. Most fine dining meals don't come with a spork!' he joked on Friday

The experience will only be available at a secret venue in Sydney for three nights, running from April 1 until April 3.

The meal will comprise of the popular chain restaurant's biggest sellers, just served a little differently.

The lavish 11-course Degustation has been developed in partnership with Nelly Robinson, chef patron and owner of Sydney restaurant nel.

Wow! KFC Australia are putting on a very fancy degustation dinner, for die-hard KFC fans, complete with gold-covered chicken

Fancy: The experience will only be available at a secret venue in Sydney for three nights, running from April 1 until April 3. Popcorn chicken will be served alongside gnocchi

The dining experience begins with supercharged wings, cooked over a bed of charcoal, to elevate the experience.

Next comes potato and gravy served with a wax candle and then diners are to be presented with the Colonel's face made from some of their most popular sauces.

'Don't be shy, there are no rules here! Pick up your plate and lick off the Colonel's face to relish the flavours of Kentucky Fried Chicken, tomato, lettuce and Pepper Mayo,' they said.

Also on offer is a very fancy take on the Twister, complete with barley risotto and sundried tomato.

Upmarket: The lavish 11-course Degustation has been developed in partnership with Nelly Robinson, chef patron and owner of Sydney restaurant

Not the usual: The menu includes nitrogen dipped chocolate mousse

Then popcorn chicken makes an appearance, paired with gnocchi and celeriac soup.

The gold dusted drumstick is next, followed by chocolate mousse, dipped in nitrogen.

KFC fans have to register their interest in the degustation nights online, where they will go in a draw to be considered for a place at the table.

The 11-course spread is a world-first for the Colonel and costs $75 per head with 100 per cent of the profits going to the company's charity partners: The Black Dog Institute, ReachOut Australia and Whitelion.
Chloe Sims has admitted that she doesn't tell her teenage daughter Madison about what cosmetic surgery she has had done.

The TOWIE star, 40, has previously had breast implants and a Brazilian bum lift and last year spoke about getting fillers removed from her face.

In a new interview with New! Magazine, Chloe said she hasn't told her daughter Madison, 16, about her past procedures, saying 'it's not something she needs to be aware of'.

Surgery: Chloe Sims has admitted that she doesn't tell her teenage daughter Madison (both pictured in December 2020) about what cosmetic procedures she has had done

She explained: 'In the past, whenever I've had any bruises or anything like that, I'd just make something up, say I fell over or something.'

The reality TV star said Madison did ask if she could have veneers on one occasion, but the teenager now has a brace instead.

Chloe said she tells her daughter that she is 'beautiful' every single day and that women are all different sizes, as she admitted she is worried about Madison being exposed to things on social media.

She said there aren't many role models who are 'bigger than a size 14' online, adding that she has only just allowed Madison to have social media, but that her daughter is only allowed to use the apps on her phone.

Cosmetics: The TOWIE star, 40, has previously had breast implants and a Brazilian bum lift, but said she hasn't told her daughter as she is only 16

Chloe said she was also careful about letting Madison wearing make-up, saying she now makes sure to tell her daughter that she is beautiful without it.

WHAT COMESTIC SURGERY HAS CHLOE HAD? Two boob jobs

Fillers in her face, including lip fillers

Brazilian bum lift

Veneers

Botox Advertisement

She added: 'I was careful with letting her play with make-up when she was young, but if she wants to do these things now as a teenager, it's absolutely fine.'

Last year, Chloe spoke about having her fillers in her face drained in a bid to achieve a more natural look after years of cosmetic work.

She gave a make-up tutorial on Instagram before revealing she had made the alterations to her face.

Sharing progress snaps, she penned: 'So I decided to remove my fillers... the first photo is before, the second is without filler and the third is my more natural look...

'I'm really happy that I've toned it all down and as you know I think it's important to be honest with things like this. It's my personal choice and that makes me feel confident. Thanks Vogue Aesthetics.'

Her latest comments come after Chloe shared her pride for her daughter Madison after she passed her first makeup artist course in January.

Chloe gushed with pride as she wrote: 'Well done Madison completed her first intense make up course @essexhairandmakeupacademyx. My little MUA.'

Elsewhere, it was reported that things have turned sour between Chloe and Pete Wicks after she unfollowed him on Instagram following an off-camera fall out.

Changes: Last year, Chloe spoke about having her fillers in her face drained in a bid to achieve a more natural look after years of cosmetic work

Congratulations! Her comments come after Chloe shared her pride for her daughter Madison after she passed her first makeup artist course in January

She has sparked fresh feud rumours with her ex love interest Pete, 33, as she removed all traces of him from her page.

According to The Sun, the former couple are suggesting they won't be able to film scenes together when shooting resumes in June.

Chloe unfollowed Pete on the social media app and appears to have deleted pictures of him from her page.

Meanwhile, Pete is still following Chloe, but has also removed photos of her from his Instagram account.

A source said: 'It could be a disaster for Towie as Chloe is saying she won't be able to film with Pete.

Trouble in paradise: Elsewhere, it was reported that things have turned sour between Chloe and Pete Wicks after she unfollowed him on Instagram following an off-camera fall out

'But I think everyone on the show is worried that by the time filming starts, they'll have made up and all the drama will have happened off camera - not on!'

They added: 'Pete doesn't know where all of this has come from. He and Chloe have always been up and down but things between them aren't good right now.'

MailOnline contacted representatives for TOWIE for comment at the time.

Pete previously confirmed he had been in a secret sexual relationship with Chloe on and off for two years.

They sparked fresh dating rumours at the end of last year after a red carpet appearance together following a public fallout.

Couple: Pete previously confirmed he had been in a secret sexual relationship with Chloe on and off for two years

However around the same time, Pete was linked to Celebs Go Dating's Jessika Power, who later said she'd love to join TOWIE.

On an episode of TOWIE that aired in November, Pete told Chloe he got a tattoo of her name, saying: 'You are irreplaceable to me, so I might have got like a tattoo on my hand.'

Clearly touched by the gesture, Chloe said: 'How have I not noticed that? Oh my god! That is so nice!' while covering her face in shock.

Pete then incredibly declared his love for the mother-of-one, saying: 'The point of that is, you do mean everything to me and for anyone else who feels like I don't or for anyone you feel like I've not justified this to, I do love you to bits.'

Chloe then burst into tears clearly overwhelmed by his words and declared: 'I do love you to bits, you know that - I would be lost without you'.
Zazie Beetz showed off her phenomenal figure in a sheer dress at the world premiere of Atlanta season 3 in Texas on Sunday night during the South by Southwest Film Festival.

The German-American actress, 30, flashed her black underwear in the see-through number as she posed up a storm on the red carpet at Paramount Theatre in Austin.

She showed a glimpse of her ample assets and toned midriff in the garment which had light blue sections along her arms.

Wow: Zazie Beetz showed off her phenomenal figure in a sheer dress at the world premiere of Atlanta season 3 in Texas on Sunday night during the South by Southwest Film Festival

The beauty completed the look with a pair of peep-toe yellow heels and toted an orange and light blue clutch bag which matched her dress perfectly.

Zazie wore her long dark tresses pinned up on top of her head and opted for a naturally pretty makeup look, while accessorizing with statement necklaces, including a pearl design from Bonbonwhims.

She was joined by Donald Glover and the creative team behind the hit show at the event.

Star: The German-American actress, 30, flashed her black underwear in the see-through number as she posed up a storm on the red carpet at Paramount Theatre in Austin

Pose: She showed a glimpse of her ample assets and toned midriff in the garment which had light blue sections along her arms

The cast: L-R: Zazie, Stefani Robinson, Donald Glover, Hiro Murai and Stephen Glover attended the event

Atlanta follows Earn (Donald Glover) as he attempts to manage his cousin Alfred's (Brian Tyree Henry) rap career in Atlanta while simultaneously trying to be a good father to his young daughter and friend to his on-again, off-again partner Vanessa (Zazie Beetz).

The first two seasons of the show received critical acclaim including five Emmy Award wins and two Golden Globe victories as well.

Atlanta's newest season was filmed in London, and the show's fourth and final season has also reportedly already been shot.

Radiant: Zazie wore her long dark tresses pinned up on top of her head and opted for a natural makeup look, while accessorizing with statement necklaces, including a Bonbonwhims design

The look: he beauty completed the look with a pair of peep-toe yellow heels and toted an orange and light blue clutch bag which matched her dress perfectly

Radiant look: She looked in great spirits as she posed on the red carpet

Group: She was joined by Donald Glover (centre) and the creative team behind the hit show at the event

The show's third season will premiere on March 24 on FX and will be available to stream on Hulu.

At Saturday's event, Community actor Donald wore a button-down brown shirt with matching pants that belted at the waist.

He added a dark green beanie to the look along with a pair of white sneakers.

Exciting: The show's third season will premiere on March 24 on FX and will be available to stream on Hulu

Stephen Glover also opted for comfort in a knitted gray sweater decorated with black designs at chest level, near the bottom of the garment and around the wrists.

He wore it over a plain white t-shirt. He encased his legs in blue skinny jeans and leopard print boots.

The five co-workers posed for several pictures together before sitting down for a conversation about the third season with one of the show's producers, Dianne McGunigle.

Cool: At Saturday's event, Community actor Donald wore a button-down brown shirt with matching pants that belted at the waist

Wow: The first two seasons of the show received critical acclaim including five Emmy Award wins and two Golden Globe victories as well
Eddie Boxshall has made a jibe at ex-girlfriend Denise Van Outen with a thinly veiled Instagram post after she claimed he secretly stole her phone and blocked a women he had been sexting.





Denise, 47, detailed the extreme lengths Eddie, 48, went to in order to keep his affairs secret in her autobiography, A Bit Of Me: From Basildon To Broadway And Back, but the former commodities trader has since taken to Instagram to 'defend himself.'

On Sunday, Eddie posted a black-and-white image of Inspector Clouseau, who is described as an 'inept and incompetent police detective in the French Surete' - and the accompanying caption led many to believe he was alluding to his ex's detective skills.

'The 2nd worst detective in the world!': Eddie Boxshall made a jibe at ex Denise Van Outen after she discussed discovering his infidelities - as he said her upcoming book is all about making money

It read: 'Inspector Clouseau. The 2nd worst detective in the world !!! [sic] #2sides #holdinghandsup #butdefendingmyself #keepprivatelifeprivate #nolongerbeingcontrolled'.

Underneath, someone left the comment: 'Someone selling a book [sic]'.

Eddie's cryptic response - comprising a book and bag of money emoji - implied he believes Denise's book-writing venture is a ploy for cash.

Speaking out: Denise, 47, detailed the extreme lengths Eddie, 48, went to in order to keep his affairs secret in her autobiography, A Bit Of Me: From Basildon To Broadway And Back (pictured March 2022)

Hitting back: Eddie posted a black-and-white image of Inspector Clouseau and the accompanying caption led many to believe he was alluding to his ex's detective skills

Interesting: Someone left the comment: 'Someone selling a book [sic]'. Eddie's cryptic response implied he believes Denise's book-writing venture is a ploy for cash

Fan support: Another penned: 'Don't listen to the noise. No one buys it, especially when someone's driven to sell books,', to which Eddie left a prayer emoji

Another penned: 'Don't listen to the noise. No one buys it, especially when someone's driven to sell books,', to which Eddie left a prayer emoji.

Despite Eddie's efforts to conceal his infidelities, Denise still found out when she was using his iPad and the messages came up, with Denise splitting from him in January after seven years together.

Denise wrote: 'There were also Instagram messages alluding to phone sex with a third woman. I quickly found the woman's profile by her screen name, only to discover I'd previously blocked her on my Instagram account - which struck me as odd.'

She continued: 'This was a woman I didn't know, who'd clearly had an online connection with my boyfriend. Why would I have blocked her from my Instagram account. Straight away, I unblocked her and sent her a message saying how she knew Eddie.'

Crafty: Despite Eddie's efforts to conceal his infidelities, Denise still found out when she was using his iPad and the messages came up (pictured February 2022)

She added: 'She suggested that Eddie had probably gone into my phone and blocked her so she couldn't message me.

'She has apparently spoken to Eddie over FaceTime and text for a long period - often from our home and sometimes from my flat in Hampstead, which she seemed to think was his.

'They'd never met in person, but she said the conversations had become sexual in nature reasonably quickly - some of the stuff I found on the phone seemed to support that.

'However she was upset with Eddie because he'd apparently ghosted her.'

Despite her heartache, Denise has insisted there are 'no hard feelings' and that's she managed to move forward.

Speaking on a recent episode of Lorraine, she said: 'I'm feeling really good now because I wasn't in a good place, it was all a bit of a shock.

'These things happen. I'm not the first person it's happened to and I won't be the last, sadly. But it's life, isn't it, Lorraine?

'You just have to get on with it and there are no hard feelings on my side. It's happened and you just accept it. I can't change what's happened.'
By Arthur I. Cyr





South Korea's voters have elected Yoon Suk-yeol of the conservative People Power Party their next leader. He will take office in May, succeeding President Moon Jae-in, after defeating Lee Jae-myung of the governing Democratic Party of Korea. Under the Constitution, the president serves a single five-year term and cannot run for re-election.







The run-up to voting on March 9 involved intense, dirty, negative campaigning. Personal invectives and criticism of scandals relentlessly defined the contest, crowding out more serious policy discussion.







South Korea is a global leader in advanced telecommunications and computer technologies of all sorts. Average internet speeds are among the fastest on Earth







Bizarre computer-generated imagery, termed "deepfakes," were prominent, used by supporters and opponents of the candidates. Trendy young political staffers spearheaded these new efforts, which were somewhat unusual compared to the traditional political media.







Thanks to technology, the conservative, intimidating prosecutor Yoon appeared flexible, literally animated. This image may have deflected some opposition criticism, including that he is anti-feminist.







In the end, the election was the closest since the 1997 presidential election, when liberal Kim Dae-jung beat conservative Lee Hoi-chang amid the Asian financial crisis. Yoon won 48.56 percent of the vote, and Lee received 47.83 percent.







The Democratic Party of Korea alliance retains a large legislative majority, and Yoon will need to compromise in order to have any significant policy success. In the campaign, he promised a harder line on North Korea, and closer relations with the United States. These are changes in degree, not in kind.







Media emphasis on the nasty nature of the campaign overlooks the more important fact that voters collectively reconfirmed South Korea's law-abiding democracy. Considerable credit for this continuity goes to the leadership of South Korea's outgoing President Moon Jae-in.







At the end of 2018, the influential Asia News Network named President Moon "Person of the Year." South Korea's chief executive rightly receives praise for initiating dialogue between the U.S. and North Korea during Donald Trump's presidential term.







This accomplishment is too easily oversimplified and minimized. At the end of 2017, Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong-un were trading crude and personal insults via the global media.







Moon's work behind the scenes not only restrained but also reversed that sad, silly situation. He insisted on meeting with the North Korea delegation to the Winter Olympics held in February 2018 in PyeongChang, South Korea. The group included Kim's sister, an influential figure in the regime.







General Park Chung-hee's dictatorship imprisoned Moon for anti-regime activism. Later, he pursued a career in human rights law. He also served in the Republic of Korea (ROK) army special forces, and served in the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) along the 38th Parallel.







Military ties between South Korea and the United States are of vital importance, and are often also overlooked. Collaboration is particularly close and long-term between the armies of our two nations. During the long Vietnam War, South Korea sent approximately 320,000 troops to South Vietnam.







A large percentage of that total were combat troops. ROK Army soldiers developed a deserved reputation for combat effectiveness. South Korea at the time had no substantial economic investments in South Vietnam.







This commitment to the United States dates from the 1950-53 Korean War. That war saw the Cold War's effects in East Asia  the global focus broadened beyond divided Germany.







President Harry Truman acted decisively at once to commit the U.S. to defending South Korea when North Korea's forces invaded in June 1950. President Dwight Eisenhower then acted skillfully to achieve the 1953 armistice.







The courage of these American presidents resonates today.









Arthur I. Cyr (

) is author of "After the Cold War" (NYU Press and Palgrave/Macmillan).


Love Is Blind season two gripped viewers when it landed on Netflix last month  and the romantic drama has continued since the cameras stopped rolling.

After ten episodes of hook ups, honeymoons, and shock dumpings at the altar, the stars have kept busy since the finale, with 'villain' Abhishek 'Shake' Chatterjee debuting his new romance on social media last week.

Meanwhile, two couples  Jarrette and Iyanna and Nick and Danielle  have filed the legal paperwork to make their TV weddings official, with The Cook County Court in Illinois holding marriage records for both couples from June 2021.

But have the rest of the cast found lasting love outside of the pods?

Abhishek 'Shake' Chatterjee and Deepti Vempati

Where are they now: The stars of Netflix hit Love Is Blind, season two gripped viewers with their hook ups and breakups, but have the likes of Shake and Deepti found lasting love?

Shake had proposed to Deepti Vempati in the pods during the second season of the dating show, but she ended the engagement on their wedding day.

'I just dont have room for anybody in my life that doesnt see me in the best way. And who could even think those types of thoughts, I guess,' she told Us Weekly in February.

Deepti, 31, admitted that she felt Shake, 33, 'wasted' her experience on the show after his chauvinist and disrespectful comments towards her appearance destroyed her confidence.

After coming under furious fire for his behaviour, Shake eventually issued an apology to his ex, stating in an Instagram video that he was 'truly sorry for some of the things' that he said on-camera.

Shake Chatterjee revealed he has a new girlfriend named Emily via Instagram on Thursday - but couldn't resist a savage dig at his ex Deepti, who left him at the altar

Ouch: In a seeming dig at his ex-fiancee, Shake captioned his post: 'Good things come to those who wait don't settle'

However, Deepti said the apology was too little, too late, sharing: 'This is the first time he's apologised. Right before he made that video, he sent me the same text message. But for me it's too late.'

Speaking to MailOnline this month, Deepti branded her ex-fiance's grovelling apology 'fake'  and says she was left 'broken' by his cruel behaviour on the dating series.

But while Shake had earned an unflattering repuation on the show  thanks to his attitudes about women's weight, his admission that he only dates white women, and other questionable behavior  he doesn't seem to have found trouble moving on with someone new.

On Thursday, the veterinarian went Instagram official with his new girlfriend, sharing a number of snaps and videos with his blonde bombshell girlfriend, Emily.

In a seeming dig at his ex-fiancee, Shake captioned his post: 'Good things come to those who wait don't settle.'

Going official: Shake shared a number of snaps with new beau Emily to his 170k followers

Drama: The exes were seen furiously fighting during the reunion episode last month with Deepti telling MailOnline that she felt Shake wasted' her experience on the show

While he didn't seem to hestitate to boast about his new relationship, he did disable commenting on the post.

Though it's unclear how long they've been together, the two certainly seem to be serious, with Shake gushing in an Instagram Live video that when he recently woke up to Emily on a business call, he thought, 'I love this girl.'

'She is so smart. So, like... I don't know. Ambitious. She's gorgeous. She's the most beautiful girl. But it's the way she thinks, it's the way she carries herself. She's a sweetheart. I'm in love, guys.

Emily, who is from Miami, has also been sharing a peek into the relationship throughout the past week, with a dedicated Stories highlight to the Shake on her Instagram.

'Love is blurry,' she captioned one post.

Meanwhile, Deepti has been the focus of some fan shipping after the reunion show, in which her fellow contestant Kyle Abrams admit he should have proposed to Deepti, prompting speculation from fans that the pair are now an item.

Deepti has continued to insist they are 'just good friends.'

Rumours: Deepti has been the focus of fan shipping after the reunion show saw her fellow contestant Kyle Abrams admit he should have proposed to Deepti. Kyle also shared a TikTok video with Deepti recently

New couple: Deepti and Kyle also posed together behind the scenes of the reunion episode

Self love: Deepti told fans this week that she is focusing on herself after Love Is Blind, writing in a Q&A session with fans: 'I am choosing to be happy despite it all!'

'A lot of people don't know that Kyle was my no2 person in the pods. We did connect a lot, we spent hours and hours talking and after filming wrapped, we started talking again,' she said.

'He's my best friend, biggest support system, and I am grateful for him and the rest of the cast for supporting me. I don't know about anything more at this stage because we're just good friends.'

Deepti told fans this week that she is focusing on herself after Love Is Blind, writing in a Q&A session with fans: 'I am choosing to be happy despite it all! Self-love is the key to bettering the relationship with yourself.'

Shayne Jansen and Natalie Lee

Shock split: Shayne and Natalie provided one of the most shocking dumpings on the show when Natalie decided to not go through with the wedding

Another couple who fell at the final hurdle were Shayne and Natalie, who provided the most shocking dumpings on the show when Natalie decided to not go through with the wedding after an almighty fight the night before.

Natalie has since shared that they gave it another shot not long after their big day.

She told People: 'A week after our wedding, we started dating again. Maybe it's not dating  we continued our engagement again. We were together for several months.'

But the romance didn't last. 'I think at the end of it, we realised that we're very different people with different needs and wants that we can't fulfill for one another,' she said.

'We did take a break in communication after that, just to get into a better place.'

Last month, Shayne shared a heartfelt Instagram post about his ex.

Sweet: Last month Shayne shared a heartfelt Instagram post, writing: 'It was easily the best time of my life and I would do it all over again knowing I get to spend more time with you'

Tribute: 'You are the most beautiful soul and you really brought out the best in me as a man,' Shayne continued of their amicable breakup

Rumours: Shayne later added that he wanted to put rumours to rest about him and fellow contestant Shania, who he also shared a connection with on the show

'Natalie Mina Lee,' he wrote. 'Where do I start? This journey with you will be something I'll never forget. It was easily the best time of my life and I would do it all over again knowing I get to spend more time with you.

'From our first date eating in-n-out and you getting both milkshakes to our walks around grant park.

'You are the most beautiful soul and you really brought out the best in me as a man.

'As a man watching our story over again I'm remorseful for my actions and all I can do is learn from them to be a better man.

'I'm proud of being vulnerable and being as genuine as possible. I don't know what's next for us but I do know that I will never stop loving you.'

Still pals: Natalie also shared a sweet dedication post to her ex this month, writing that she 'couldn't have asked for a better partner in this'

Shayne later added that he wanted to kill rumours about him and fellow contestant Shania, whom he also shared a connection with on the show.

'Shaina and I are cordial and have hung out in group gatherings with the cast (with Natalie), but we have never had nor will ever have a romantic relationship. I wish her all the best,' he insisted.

Meanwhile, there were also rumours that Natalie was dating fellow consetant Salvador Perez  but she denies it.

'I know there's been speculation  '"re you and Sal dating?"  we are not. We're just really, really close friends,' she said. 'That friendship with him I really appreciate as well.

'I'm friends with most of the men on the cast and I don't really see  I don't want to say this too soon  but I haven't really had a romantic connection with any of them, so nothing there for right now,' she added in an episode of Barstool's Tea with Publyssity podcast.

Kyle Abrams and Shaina Hurley

Not meant to be: Shaina and her Love Is Blind match Kyle only lasted a matter of days outside of the pods, with Shaina quitting their Mexico honeymoon early

Happiness: Shania instead has well and truly moved on from Shayne, her groom Kyle and the show, recently getting engaged to her boyfriend, Christos Lardakis, in Greece

Shania has well and truly moved on from Shayne, her groom Kyle, and the show, recently getting engaged to her boyfriend, Christos Lardakis, in Greece.

'Shaina is engaged. She's been dating Christos for almost a year and this is the happiest I've ever seen her,' a source told People of the couple, who have yet to go Instagram official with the news.

'He has stood by her side through all of the Love Is Blind drama and has been her steady in the storm.'

Shaina and her Love Is Blind match Kyle only lasted a matter of days outside of the pods, with Shaina quitting their Mexico honeymoon early after her devotion to her faith clashed with Kyle's atheist views.

Salvador 'Sal' Perez and Mallory Zapata

Break up: Sal and Mallory had one of the more amicable breakups on the show after he told her he couldn't go through with their wedding day

Sal and Mallory had one of the more amicable breakups on the show, with Sal refusing to go through with the wedding during the finale, telling his understanding bride: 'I cannot. I feel like I just need more time,' before apologising to her friends and family.

During the reunion episode, Mallory and Sal revealed that they're not together, despite discussing going for a date without the cameras in the finale episode.

Instead, the reunion focused on Sal's anger at Mal and Jarrette's flirting during the Mexico honeymoon.

Friends: Mallory has been keeping coy about her love life, instead focusing on her work and friendships, as she told fans in a February Insta post: 'I'm truly blessed to be surrounded and supported by so many beautiful, intelligent, strong boss a** b**ches'

During a February interview with Us Weekly, Sal admitted things could have gone very different during his wedding day.

'I was a roller coaster of emotions [at the wedding],' he revealed. 'I was just feeling everything, and I really was trying to wrap my head around everything that we had been through together.'

He continued, 'I was really just kind of summarizing it in my head and I knew that at that moment of my wedding, I just wanted to make that choice with her. I wanted to see how I felt in that moment with her. It was a crazy day.'

A few weeks later, Sal teased that he has moved on, telling Us Weekly: 'I have been using everything I've learned from this experience and I'm focusing on my self-love, too. But I am talking to somebody.'

Family: Sal shared a similar post as he thanked his siblings for their support

Mallory, meanwhile, has been keeping coy about her love life, instead focusing on her work and friendships.

She told fans in a February Insta post: 'Words cannot describe how thankful I am for the more than 200,000 wonderful people following me on my journey to find love.'

'I'm truly humbled by all the love, support and kind words you've shared with me as I embarked on this chapter of my life. One thing is for certain, I'm truly blessed to be surrounded and supported by so many beautiful, intelligent, strong boss ass b**ches.'

Jarrette Jones and Iyanna McNeely

Love story: Jarette and Iyanna were perhaps season two's biggest success story

Jarette and Iyanna were perhaps the show's biggest success story, going through with their wedding and still going strong by the reunion episode.

'It's been hard, but it's been really rewarding too,' Jarrette said during the reunion, while his wife admitted they have had to compromise on their lifestyles after viewers saw the couple clash over Jarrette's partying during filming.

'One thing I will say is we've been finding our balance,' she explained. 'We're hyper aware that we are very different - he's extremely extroverted and I'm like, 'Please stay away from me'. So, we've been finding this will always be something that we have to deal with.

'But we have such similar values and goals that it's been a compromise.'

'Meet the Joneses': Things seem to be going strong, as Iyanna's Insatgram shows she has taken her husband's name

Things seem to be going strong, as Lyanna's Insatgram shows she has taken her husband's name.

'Meet the Joneses,' she captioned a recent photo dump of the pair. 'I took a huge leap of faith off of a cliff in this experiment but with you I can fly. I love you more than the world could imagine. I look forward to our now and FINALLY public lives together. My baby, my love, my man, my protector, my partner, my other half. I love you. *insert corny quote * 'Love is truly blind'not blurry'.

Jarrette was equally gushing about their relationship in his own March Instagram update, writing: 'To the woman that came and shook my world upside down in the best way possible this is for you! Coming into this experiment, I knew that if I truly wanted that fairy tale ending, I'd have to not only be real with myself, but also open, honest, and most importantly VULNERABLE.'

Marriage: Jarrette was equally gushing about their relationship in his own March Insta update, writing: 'To the woman that came and shook my world upside down in the best way possible

'From the very first conversation the chemistry between us was evident and has only grown over time,' he said.

'There is no handbook on marriage, but we have some great building blocks to set the foundation. This is gonna be one hell of a ride, but I wouldn't want to ride this with anyone but you!'

'I vow to always love you, cherish you, grow with you (even when it's uncomfortable), prioritize you, ensure your happiness, but most importantly HAVE YOUR BACK, LIKE A THONG IN A BUTTCRACK!'

TMZ reported yesterday that the couple has a record of their marraige on file with the Cook County Court in Illinois.

Nick Thompson and Danielle Ruhl

Rocky road: Nick and Danielle were the first couple viewers saw tie the knot, with the groom admitting to the camera: 'It was a game-time decision'

Nick and Danielle were the first couple viewers saw tie the knot, with the groom admitting on camera: 'It was a game-time decision because I wasn't 100 percent sure that she was 100 percent sure  but it all worked out the way it's supposed to.'

During the reunion show, the couple confirmed that they're still together and have moved in with one another.

Danielle admitted it had been a rocky road after viewers saw both of them question their feelings for one another during the show:

'Him and I fell in love so quickly and because we both knew at the end of the day we wanted to stay together, we did feel so pressured to figure out what was the best route for us to take,' she explained.

'That created this, like, pressure cooker environment that we felt like, 'Oh, my God, like what do we do?' And we both came to the conclusion, like, 'It's us, like, we're spending the rest of our lives together.'

Making a life together: During the reunion show, the couple confirmed that they're still together and have moved in

Compromise: According to their Instagram posts, the couple is having fun together, with Nick even succumbing to his wife's love of a costume party

'I just can't wait for people to see the relationship that we have now.'

According to their Instagram posts, the couple is having fun together, with Nick even succumbing to his wife's love of a costume party.

They also told People earlier this month about what they're doing to ensure their relationship lasts.

'We're in couples counseling and we have been now, for almost the entire time since we've finished [the show],' said Nick.

'We've put frameworks in place for communication. We've had to force ourselves through some conversations [about] what we actually need in that moment and [have] worked on being able to articulate that.'

On Sunday, TMZ reported that their marraige is the real deal, and there is a record of their nuptials with the Cook County Court in Illinois on June 8, 2021.
Bindi Irwin has revealed she will throw daughter Grace Warrior's first birthday party at Australia Zoo.

The conservationist took to Instagram on Monday to share a photo of Grace and let fans know of the grand plans.

'Can't believe our beautiful Grace Warrior is almost ONE! Join us this Friday March 25 for all the celebrations,' Bindi wrote.

Parents: Bindi Irwin has invited fans to Australia Zoo to celebrate daughter Grace Warrior's first birthday. Here with Chandler Powell

She then let fans know that kids under 14 would get free entry into the park along with the grand opening of Camp Grace.

Birthday cupcakes will be on offer as well as the chance to meet Bluey and Bingo along with live performances.

Mother Terri also shared the details of the birthday party to her Twitter account.

'From free professional car seat checks, to free cupcakes, and opening Camp Grace with a fun playground,' Terri wrote.

Birthday celebration: 'Can't believe our beautiful Grace Warrior is almost ONE! Join us this Friday March 25 for all the celebrations,' Bindi wrote on the post

Activities: 'From free professional car seat checks, to free cupcakes, and opening Camp Grace with a fun playground,' Terri wrote of the celebration

'You are going to love sharing beautiful Grace Warrior's birthday. Friday March 25. See you for all the awesome free activities and shows.'

Bindi spoke to Stellar magazine about parenting earlier this month letting fans know that Grace already knows the words 'Mama' and 'Dada'.

'At nearly one, Grace has reached that stage where she's crawling like it's an Olympic sport and almost walking,' she added.

Baby love: Bindi Irwin will soon celebrate the first birthday of her baby daughter, Grace Warrior Irwin Powell. Both pictured

Bindi went on to say that motherhood has changed her, and she hopes her daughter will grow up to forge her own path in life.

'Becoming a mother changes your perspective on life, and being a girl mum brings its own set of obstacles,' she said.

'I feel a sense of enormous responsibility to raise our daughter to be an empowered woman.'

Aww! Speaking to Stellar Magazine this month , the 23-year-old said that Grace already knows the words 'Mama' and 'Dada'

The Wildlife Warrior says that her husband, Chandler Powell, encourages her to 'enjoy every moment' with their little girl.

Bindi and Chandler, a former professional wakeboarder, welcomed their daughter on March 25, 2021, which coincidentally was their one-year wedding anniversary.

The couple have been married since March 2020, after an intimate ceremony at Australia Zoo.
Andrea McLean has insisted that she has 'no regrets' about leaving Loose Women and opened up about having a breakdown a few years ago.

The TV presenter, 52, said she decided to quit as Loose Women anchor as she didn't want to regret to eat away at her as she returned to ITV for the first time.

She admitted that it was a 'big decision' for her at the time as she appeared on Lorraine on Monday to speak about her new book You Just Need to Believe It.

Back on TV: Andrea McLean has insisted that she has 'no regrets' about leaving Loose Women and opened up about having a breakdown a few years ago

Andrea said people told her at the time that she was 'brave' for making the decision, saying their words inspired her to write her fourth book, which aims to help people change their life in 10 days.

She told Lorraine: 'This is my first time being back on TV and back in the room that we share with Loose. It was a [brave decision] and the reason the whole book came about was because at the time so many people said to me you're so brave to do that thing, to pivot.

'And all I kept thinking was I don't feel brave, I feel really scared but it was just something I really needed to do.

'And then I thought, right, how can I bottle everything I've used to do a brave thing when I've felt scared and I put together a 10 day challenge for my lovely community and then saw the results and it made me brave enough.'

Opening up: The TV presenter, 52, said she decided to quit as Loose Women anchor as she didn't want to regret to eat away at her as she returned to ITV for the first time

Andrea also revealed that she had a breakdown a few years ago as she was trying to 'keep busy'.

She said she was trying to keep busy rather than take time to think about how she felt or what was happening, as she urged others to 'learn from my mistakes'.

Andrea explained: 'I had a breakdown a few years ago Lorraine, because I was going and going and going and I didn't want to look at really what was happening.

'I was just trying to keep busy and not think. Learn from my mistakes and just stop for a minute.'

The Scottish journalist urged people to write down on a piece of paper one small thing that makes them happy, and then urged them to achieve it in their day.

Quitting: She admitted that it was a 'big decision' for her at the time as she appeared on Lorraine on Monday to speak about her new book You Just Need to Believe It

Andrea stepped down from Loose Women after 13 years on the show in December 2020, and later admitted that she agonised over the decision for months.

In an interview with OK! Magazine she said: 'It was such a slow burner. By the time it came around, it felt like absolutely the right thing to do. It was a weird decision - it did feel scary!'

'It took months of thinking about it. We were preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. Nick and I sat down and wrote what we needed to prepare for.'

She left the show to work on her website This Girl Is On Fire, which covers wellness and lifestyle, among other projects.

Andrea and Nick now both work full time on the business, with Nick's daughter also on board.

Decision: Andrea stepped down from Loose Women (pictured in January 2020) after 13 years on the show in December 2020, and admitted that she agonised over the decision for months

Last year, Andrea also admitted to worrying that she'd 'never earn a penny' or be forced to 'sell her house' after leaving the daytime show.

Speaking on the next instalment of Natalie Anderson's podcast The Capsule in Conversation, obtained by The Sun Online, the presenter, 51, revealed that she and husband Nick Feeney discussed in depth the logistics of her huge career change.

She explained: 'I knew I had to take a deep breath and just be brave.

'So Nick and I sat down and we worked out, very logically, leaving a job that youve done for two decades and it's all youve ever known really, to absolutely turn right and do something very different, is a very emotional experience as well as a very practical one.'

She continued: 'We sat down and said "whats the worst thing that can happen?" Right I never earn a penny. Well have to sell the house. We may have to sell the children, maybe the dog!'

When she announced her plans to leave Loose Women in November 2020, Andrea broke down in tears and also detailed how her departure was also linked to her nervous breakdown.

Andrea explained: 'Like so many people this has been a time to hugely reflect and think back.

'So many people have been talking about how they can't wait for life to get back to normal. I, like many people, did that and thought, 'Do I want my life to go back to the normal that it was before?'

Changes: Andrea previously revealed that she and husband Nick Feeney discussed in depth the logistics of her huge career change (pictured together in 2019)

She told viewers: 'Last year I had a nervous breakdown and this year the world has had a breakdown. This year I've been really mentally strong to deal with everything the pandemic has thrown at us.

'You get one life, are you living it the way you want? Are you being brave? Are you doing the thing you want?'

Becoming emotional, Andrea added: 'I didn't think I was going to cry. I've told you ladies just before we came on air. I'm going to be leaving Loose Women because I want to be brave...

'All the incredible feedback that I had from my book and the support I was able to give them, I want to bring it to life. It was a really, really big decision to jump and see if I fall or if I fly. And I just thought, I will never know unless I try, so I am saying goodbye to Loose Women.'
Zara McDermott showed off her phenomenal figure as she posed in a stunning shoot for Revamp magazine on Monday.

The former Love Island star, 25, - who is promoting her new BBC Three show Love In The Flesh - looked incredible in a series of sexy snaps as she confidently worked the camera.

In one shot she wowed in an ab-flashing and skimpy black bralet and silver jacket which she teamed with baggy trousers while stood seductively next to a bike.

Wow! Zara McDermott showed off her phenomenal figure as she posed in a stunning shoot for Revamp magazine on Monday, wearing a skimpy black bra and silver jacket by Ivy Ekong Fashion

For another she flaunted more of her very toned midriff in a cropped grey jacket and skimpy skirt which she teamed with sultry white boots.

In another stylish look she wore a green leather suit and busty bralet, before changing into a pink satin dress.

For the shoot she wore her long brunette tresses in loose waves over her shoulders and opted for a naturally pretty makeup look.

Stunning: The former Love Island star, 25, - who is promoting her new BBC Three show Love In The Flesh - looked incredible in a series of sexy snaps as she confidently worked the camera

Work it: In one shot she wowed in an ab-flashing bralet and shiny jacket by Ivy Ekong Fashion which she teamed with baggy trousers while stood seductively next to a bike

Zara's new show follows young people in online relationships who will met their partner in person for the first time.

Speaking about the show, she said: 'The show follows couples who have only ever spoken online and now are meeting in person for the first time.

'It is very relatable and reflects what it is like to date as a young person in the UK today.'

Looking good: In another stylish look she wore a green leather suit and busty bralet as she posed on a sofa

Pretty: For the shoot she wore her long brunette tresses in loose waves over her shoulders and opted for a naturally pretty makeup look with jewellery by Orelia

Amazing: For another she flaunted more of her very toned midriff in a cropped grey jacket and skimpy skirt which she teamed with sultry white boots

Interesting: Zara's new show follows young people in online relationships who will met their partner in person for the first time

'If you've ever been on a date with someone you've met on a dating app or social media, and that person hasn't been quite what you expected them to be, you'll be able to connect to the people on this show.

'I've definitely experienced someone not being the person they've shown themselves to be online.'

The reality star is carving out a presenting career for herself and previously fronted two documentaries for BBC Three, Uncovering Rape Culture and Revenge Porn.

Zara's new show Love in the Flesh starts on BBC Three and iPlayer this Wednesday at 10pm.

Presenter: Speaking about the show, she said: 'The show follows couples who have only ever spoken online and now are meeting in person for the first time'

Star: The reality star is carving out a presenting career for herself and previously fronted two documentaries for BBC Three, Uncovering Rape Culture and Revenge Porn

Posing up a storm: She looked incredible in the green ensemble
Bridgerton's Luke Thompson has confessed the cast were only allowed to read scripts for two scenes before agreeing to join the Netflix period drama.

The actor, 33, revealed the segment in question was an exchange between his character Benedict and sister Eloise, who is played by Claudia Jessie.

He told MailOnline that despite only being given a sneak peek of the show's plotline and the role his character would play in it, he certainly didn't get cold feet.

'All I got was a couple of pages!' Luke Thompson has confessed the cast were only allowed to read scripts for two scenes before agreeing to join Bridgerton (pictured in February 2022)

He said at a press conference: 'Because you only get like a scene or a couple of scenes... thats all you get, well that's all I got to start with anyway, you get such a strong flavour and the two they gave me were the swing scenes in season one.

Bursting into a fit of laughter, the SAG nominee added: 'You always have to clarify what that is.

'It was just a couple of pages but I thought, "Oh wow, theres such a strong, clear conversation between a brother and sister that feels like it's absolutely in the regency world but is also absolutely believable today."

'And so it was a no brainer. You could almost read just that and think, "Yeah, I wanna do that."'

Phew: He told MailOnline that despite only being given a sneak peek of the show's plotline and the role his character would play in it, he certainly didn't get cold feet (pictured far right)

Simone Ashley, who will be introduced as Kate Sharma in the upcoming installment, added that working with such a hardworking group helped her through the gruelling night shoots.

She said to MailOnline: 'These are all characters that we can all relate to, real human experiences and anything can...

'As an audience, you can watch these different families and definitely find the uniqueness you might be a part of.

'And I think collectively as a cast and crew, we're quite "yes people". We bring the best out in whatever amongst the night shoots and the horse riding, we were like, "Yes we've got this!"'

Spellbinding: The actor, 33, revealed the segment in question was an exchange between his character Benedict and his sister Eloise, who is played by Claudia Jessie

The former Sex Education actress added that she related to her character due to her reserved nature, while adding that the experience helped her 'get over herself'.

She said: 'There are quite a few different things with Kate I related to. I like reserved people in general.

'People where you have to earn their trust to get to know and I saw that in Kate. Maybe I'm learning to be less reserved and get over myself.

'Also, I like that she has a very warm, soft heart and maybe has an exterior where she's quite protective of that and that's mirrored in where she is protective of her family.

Wow! He said: 'Because you only get like a scene or a couple of scenes... thats all you get, well that's all I got to start with anyway, you get such a strong flavour' (pictured in-character)

'I'm the youngest in my family as well so I wouldn't say I have that role but I think when one has a soft heart, it's good to protect it.'

Based on a series of books of the same name by Julia Quinn, Bridgerton follows the eight siblings of the Bridgerton family as they attempt to find love in Regency-era England.

In the upcoming second series, Lady Danbury takes in the Sharma family - sisters Kate (Simone) and Edwina (Charithra), and their mother Lady Mary (Shelley Conn) - who travel to London from India to take part in the social season.

Both sisters quickly fall for the charms of Lord Anthony Bridgerton, played by Jonathan Bailey.

Adapted from The Viscount Who Loved Me, the new season is set to centre on Anthony's search to find a wife.

But in true Bridgerton fashion, 'a considerable scandal' is promised to ensue when he gets caught up in a love triangle with the two sisters.

The new season of the show seems to be as racy as the last, with scenes of a naked Anthony covering his modesty in his bedroom and in wet clothing after falling in the river as the result of some flirtatious behaviour.

Bridgerton quickly gained the title of Netflix's most-watched series to date, garnering over 82 million views worldwide.

Bridgerton Season Two will stream on Netflix from March 25.
Bridgerton's Charithra Chandran has admitted she burst into tears after discovering a Bollywood song would be included in the period drama's second season.

The actress, 25, who will join the Netflix show as Edwina Sharma, described the moment as a 'a collision of both of her worlds' which was particularly meaningful because she 'doesn't always know where she belongs'.

It comes after the talented star revealed her friends told her she only bagged herself the role 'because she is brown', adding that the remarks 'really hurt'.

Candid: Bridgerton's Charithra Chandran has admitted she burst into tears while discovering a Bollywood song would be included in the period drama's second season... after her friends said she only got the role 'because she's brown'

During a press conference on Monday, she told how she texted creator Chris Van Dusen to tell him the addition of 2001 track Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham 'brought tears to her eyes'.

Charithra said: 'For me, that song is a Bollywood staple so as soon as it came on, I was like, "Hold on," and then rewind and immediately pause and text Chris saying, "This literally brought tears to my eyes because it's a collision of both my worlds."

'When you're growing up as immigrants' children, sometimes it's so hard to figure out your identity and you don't always know where you belong.

'That was one of the defining moments where you go, "Ah ok, I get it now. I can be both and do both."

Opening up: The actress, 25, who will join the Netflix show as Edwina Sharma, described the moment as a 'a collision of both of her worlds' which was particularly meaningful because she 'doesn't always know where she belongs'

'Especially that song - it's such a family song and it has great meaning behind it that makes sense so it was indicative of my identity and I love that.'

Charithra previously confessed her friends told her she only bagged a role in Bridgerton 'because she is brown'.

She told The Telegraph: 'People assume my success is due to a diversity quota. I've even had friends say to me, "Oh you got that because you're brown,' and that really hurts.'

'What's really scary is that you can start believing it and thinking, "The only reason I got cast as Edwina is because they were looking for an Indian family."'

Candid: She told how she texted creator Chris Van Dusen to tell him the addition of 2001 track Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham 'brought tears to her eyes'

The Oxford native stressed that being a person of colour isn't unitary, adding that specific communities should be represented under the umbrella.

Based on a series of books of the same name by Julia Quinn, Bridgerton follows the eight siblings of the Bridgerton family as they attempt to find love in Regency-era England.

In the upcoming second series, Lady Danbury takes in the Sharma family - sisters Kate (Simone Ashley) and Edwina (Charithra), and their mother Lady Mary (Shelley Conn) - who travel to London from India to take part in the social season.

Both sisters quickly fall for the charms of Lord Anthony Bridgerton, played by Jonathan Bailey.

Adapted from The Viscount Who Loved Me, the new season is set to centre on Anthony's search to find a wife.

But in true Bridgerton fashion, 'a considerable scandal' is promised to ensue when he gets caught up in a love triangle with the two sisters.

The new season of the show seems to be as racy as the last, with scenes of a naked Anthony covering his modesty in his bedroom and in wet clothing after falling in the river as the result of some flirtatious behaviour.

Bridgerton quickly gained the title of Netflix's most-watched series to date, garnering over 82 million views worldwide.

Bridgerton Season Two will stream on Netflix from March 25.
Denise Van Outen isn't letting a war of words with her ex Eddie Boxshall dampen her day.

The TV star was pictured arriving at the Steph's Packed Lunch studios in Leeds on Monday morning, ready for another day of work in front of the camera.

Denise, 47, was in great spirits, beaming from ear to ear despite her ex sharing a scathing Instagram post seemingly directed at her just hours before.

Happy: Denise Van Outen isn't letting a war of words with her ex Eddie Boxshall dampen her day, beaming as she arrived for work at Steph's Packed Lunch on Monday

The star looked gorgeous in a high-waisted denim skirt teamed with with a pretty puff-sleeve green shirt and matching heels.

She smiled for the cameras while making her way inside the studios to film one of her regular appearances on the daily talk show.

On Sunday, Denise's ex Eddie reacted to her recent revelations about his cheating and their relationship in her new tell-all book.

Denise detailed the extreme lengths Eddie, 48, went to in order to keep his affairs secret in her autobiography, A Bit Of Me: From Basildon To Broadway And Back, but the former commodities trader has since taken to Instagram to 'defend himself.'

Feeling good: The star looked gorgeous in a high-waisted denim skirt teamed with with a pretty puff-sleeve green shirt for her day at work

Eddie made a jibe at ex-girlfriend with a thinly veiled Instagram post after she claimed he secretly stole her phone and blocked a women he had been sexting.

He posted a black-and-white image of Inspector Clouseau, who is described as an 'inept and incompetent police detective in the French Surete' - and the accompanying caption led many to believe he was alluding to his ex's detective skills.

It read: 'Inspector Clouseau. The 2nd worst detective in the world !!! [sic] #2sides #holdinghandsup #butdefendingmyself #keepprivatelifeprivate #nolongerbeingcontrolled'.

'The 2nd worst detective in the world!': On Sunday Eddie made a jibe at Denise after she discussed discovering his infidelities

Underneath, someone left the comment: 'Someone selling a book [sic]'.

Eddie's cryptic response - comprising a book and bag of money emoji - implied he believes Denise's book-writing venture is a ploy for cash.

Another penned: 'Don't listen to the noise. No one buys it, especially when someone's driven to sell books,', to which Eddie left a prayer emoji.

Hitting back: Eddie posted a black-and-white image of Inspector Clouseau and the accompanying caption led many to believe he was alluding to his ex's detective skills

Interesting: Someone left the comment: 'Someone selling a book [sic]'. Eddie's cryptic response implied he believes Denise's book-writing venture is a ploy for cash

Fan support: Another penned: 'Don't listen to the noise. No one buys it, especially when someone's driven to sell books,', to which Eddie left a prayer emoji

Despite Eddie's efforts to conceal his infidelities, Denise still found out when she was using his iPad and the messages came up, with Denise splitting from him in January after seven years together.

Denise wrote: 'There were also Instagram messages alluding to phone sex with a third woman. I quickly found the woman's profile by her screen name, only to discover I'd previously blocked her on my Instagram account - which struck me as odd.'

She continued: 'This was a woman I didn't know, who'd clearly had an online connection with my boyfriend. Why would I have blocked her from my Instagram account. Straight away, I unblocked her and sent her a message saying how she knew Eddie.'

Crafty: Despite Eddie's efforts to conceal his infidelities, Denise still found out when she was using his iPad and the messages came up (pictured February 2022)

She added: 'She suggested that Eddie had probably gone into my phone and blocked her so she couldn't message me.

'She has apparently spoken to Eddie over FaceTime and text for a long period - often from our home and sometimes from my flat in Hampstead, which she seemed to think was his.

'They'd never met in person, but she said the conversations had become sexual in nature reasonably quickly - some of the stuff I found on the phone seemed to support that.

'However she was upset with Eddie because he'd apparently ghosted her.'

Despite her heartache, Denise has insisted there are 'no hard feelings' and that's she managed to move forward.

Speaking on a recent episode of Lorraine, she said: 'I'm feeling really good now because I wasn't in a good place, it was all a bit of a shock.

'These things happen. I'm not the first person it's happened to and I won't be the last, sadly. But it's life, isn't it, Lorraine?

'You just have to get on with it and there are no hard feelings on my side. It's happened and you just accept it. I can't change what's happened.'
Montana Brown proudly displaced her 'cellulite' and 'leg hairs' as she spoke about embracing the female body in an Instagram post on Monday.

The former Love Island star, 26, showed off her gorgeous figure in a series of swimwear snaps modelling her brand Swim Society.

The influencer admitted the pictures were 'unposed' and although she 'didnt think they were the best ones' she shared how important it is to share natural images.

Natural: Montana Brown proudly displaced her 'cellulite' and 'leg hairs' as she spoke about embracing the female body in an Instagram post on Monday

Candid: Montana (pictured left in March) shared 'unposed' swimwear snaps as she opened about her weight and mental health in a post about loving your body

Montana wore her brunette locks up for the pictures, which showed her taking a hot tub dip at luxury mountain resort Six Senses Residences Courchevel in the French Alps.

Talking to her 1.2million Instagram followers, Montana wrote: 'Monday motivation today is embracing the female body. Everything Swim Society represents is loving your body as it is TODAY. Including skin texture, stretch marks, cellulite, wonky boobies and all the rest.'

'Ive fluctuated with my weight, loving the gym, not loving the gym, dealing with depression/anxiety and I refuse to feel bad about what I see in a picture.

Montana wrote: 'Everything Swim Society represents is loving your body as it is TODAY. Including skin texture, stretch marks, cellulite, wonky boobies and all the rest'

Unposed: The influencer admitted the pictures were 'unposed' and she 'didnt think were the best ones' but shared how important it is to share natural images

'Bit of cellulite on my a**, you can zoom in and see my little hairs on the tops of my leggies and if you scroll to the end my armpit legit looks like a vagina for no apparent reason / our new collection for all women is now available, all bodies welcome,' she concluded.

Montana was open in the post, talking about her weight fluctuating and struggling with mental health issues, as she showcased off her 'real' body - talking candidly on cellulite and body hair.

The snaps advertised the new collection for Swim Society, a swimwear brand which Montana launched in 2019, to be inclusive for all body types.

Montana rose to fame on season three of Love Island, making it to the final with ex Alex Beattie and ultimately coming in fifth place.

While the Hertfordshire-born beauty ended things with Personal Trainer Alex, she has since found love with real estate guru Mark O'Connor.

Whilst Montana keeps the relationship fairly quiet, the pair were first spotted together in early 2021.

Montana reportedly met her beau through a gym in London, as friends of Mark told MailOnline last year: 'He played rugby for Chiswick and Wales 1st Teams as a prop, and has a proprietary interest in Forge Gym London. That's likely how he met Montana.'
Kim Kardashian has a new celebrity pal to hang out with these days.

On Saturday the 41-year-old fashion icon was seen partying with Madonna's 25-year-old daughter Lourdes Leon when in Miami at her SKIMS SWIM event held at the hot spot Swan. The ladies were seen chatting and even hugging as fans looked on.

While Kim opted for a silver bikini top with leggings, Lourdes had on a pink bustier top with a small purple skirt.

Two peas in a pod: Kim Kardashian was seen partying with Madonna's daughter Lourdes Leon when in Miami at her SKIMS SWIM event at the hot spot Swan

They were seen at a private dinner celebrating the SKIMS SWIM Miami pop-up shop at SWAN on Saturday.

Kim had on a bikini top from her line with high waisted leggings and see through shoes.

Her long black hair was worn down and she seemed to have a spray tan,

Lourdes was in a pink bustier that showed off her butterfly tattoos with a micro purple mini skirt and pink heels with her black hair worn down as she added hoop earrings.

Twice as nice in Florida! Kim, left, and Lourdes, right, shared a laugh from inside the event

Two brunettes having a chuckle: And in this image Kim looks at Lourdes, a native New Yorker who has become a top model

They looked like besties: The ladies hugged at the splashy event for Kim's swimsuits

The two were also seen hugging as Kim smiled.

And Lourdes was seen seated at a long table with gold roses in the center.

Earlier Lourdes, whose father is trainer and actor Carlos Leon, was in a white outfit for SKIMS SWIM Miami pop-up shop.

Lourdes has become a top model, most recently working for Rihanna's Savage/Fenty line.

Another angle: Here Lourdes is seen with her eyes closed as Kim puts her arms around the star

Chit chatting inside the big dinner party: Kim is seen behind Lourdes here

Glam gal: Lourdes was in a pink bustier that showed off her butterfly tattoos with a micro purple mini skirt and pink heels with her black hair worn down as she added hoop earrings

Before she walked into the event: Kim had on sunglasses as she posed outside

The event saw a huge turnout with fans excited to meet the reality stars and get their hands on the latest SKIMS merchandise.

Also there was Kim's sister Khloe Kardashian.

Khloe had on a blue dress and accessorized her sexy evening look with plenty of jewelry, including silver hoop earrings, diamond bracelets and a sizable sparkler on her finger.

KOKO in Miami: Also there was Kim's sister Khloe Kardashian. Khloe had on a blue dress and accessorized her sexy evening look with plenty of jewelry, including silver hoop earrings, diamond bracelets and a sizable sparkler on her finger

A good pal: Khloe looked ravishing as she posed with Kim's pal Tracy Nguyen Romulus

So many pretty faces at the dinner: Kim was seated next to blonde bombshell Khloe

She popped up at the pop up: Earlier Lourdes, whose father is trainer and actor Carlos Leon, was in a white outfit for SKIMS SWIM Miami pop-up shop event

Ever the fashionista, she rocked a pair of futuristic sunglasses to the event.

Her long blonde bombshell locks were parted on the side and similarly to Kim's were styled in lovely waves which gently fell down her shoulder.

Adding even more sex-appeal to the look was the bright red nail polish on her fingers and toes.

Kim was also seen posing with her makeup artist Mario Dedivanovic.
Machine Gun Kelly is set to embark on his 52-date Mainstream Sellout Tour.

The rapper turned pop punk star will release his new LP Mainstream Sellout on Friday and has now announced a mammoth global arena jaunt in support of the record.

The North American leg begins in Austin, Texas on June 8, with support from Blackbear and iann dior.

The latest: Machine Gun Kelly is set to embark on his 52-date Mainstream Sellout Tour. Seen in February 2022

Other friends joining him on select dates include Avril Lavigne, WILLOW, Travis Barker, and PVRIS.

The first stint will wrap with a homecoming show in Cleveland, Ohio on August 13.

After a few weeks' break, he will head to Europe to play Cologne, Germany on September 17.

Exciting: Friends joining him on select dates include Avril Lavigne, WILLOW, Travis Barker, and PVRIS. Avril pictured February 2022

Around the world: The rapper turned pop punk star will release his new LP Mainstream Sellout on Friday and has now announced a mammoth global arena jaunt in support of the record. Travis pictured December 2020

Kickoff: The North American leg begins in Austin, Texas on June 8, with support from Blackbear and iann dior. WILLOW seen in October 2020

Following concerts in Prague, Brussels, Frankfurt, Munich, Milan, Zurich and Paris, MGK - whose real name is Colson Baker - will play London's recently renamed OVO Arena Wembley, before heading across the channel to play the last date in Amsterdam on October 12.

The tour announcement comes after the my ex's best friend rapper took six months to tell Travis Barker he had changed the title of his album.

MGK and his friend had worked together in the studio and decided to have 'Born With Horns' tattooed on their forearms in honor of his upcoming sixth album, but when he decided to rename the record Mainstream Sellout, he was nervous about breaking the news to the Blink-182 drummer.

Breaking the name: The tour announcement comes after the my ex's best friend rapper took six months to tell Travis Barker he had changed the title of his album. Pictured March 2022

He said: 'We were so hyped, we'd just done a song, let's just get the name tattooed on us. A couple of months later I was like, 'Oh that's definitely not the name of the album anymore.'

'I couldn't bring myself to tell Travis because of the tattoos... I bet he wondered too because every day I'd be like at the edge of my seat all stiff and nothing came out because I was waiting for the right vibe [to tell him].

'One day he was just laughing and I thought, "Oh this is a great moment", we were having a great time. I was like, "Hey man, you should sit next to me" and I pressed record on my phone.'

Awkward: MGK and his friend had worked together in the studio and decided to have 'Born With Horns' tattooed on their forearms in honor of his upcoming sixth album, but when he decided to rename the record Mainstream Sellout, he was nervous about breaking the news to the Blink-182 drummer

MGK shared Travis' reaction on Instagram, with the pair laughing at the decision, and now the Midnight in the Switchgrass actor is keen to book another tattoo session with his pal - but will wait until after his album is released.

He laughed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show: 'I'll maybe wait for like release day just for his own [sake] but I'm sure we'll get it tattooed just to bring it full circle. We'll just go over something.'

Tickets go on sale starting March 25 at 10am local time at Ticketmaster.com.


By Shlomo Ben-Ami





TEL AVIV  With its subdued condemnation of Russia's assault on Ukraine, Israel has failed to strike a just balance between morality and realpolitik. Given that Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has refused even to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of another occupied nation, his performative effort to serve as a peace broker can hardly be taken seriously.



It is a pathetic attempt to make up for his government's own moral shortcomings. While India and America's friends in the Arab world have also used the pretext of "mediation" to avoid taking sides, they do not share Israel's pretensions to be "a light unto the nations."



Israel is by far the most favored U.S. ally in the Middle East, if not the world. Whenever Israel has needed a great power to come to its rescue  such as in the October 1973 war  it has relied not on Russia but on the United States. Its dependence on U.S. support is overwhelming, and its access to the most advanced U.S. weaponry is unequaled, even among America's NATO allies. Without U.S. backing, Israel would not have reached the momentous peace agreements that it now has with key Arab powers.



To be sure, Israel voted for the United Nations resolution condemning Russia, and it has sent considerable humanitarian aid to the Ukrainians. But it has refused to criticize Russia publicly or complement the humanitarian assistance with defensive materiel.



It even initially denied Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's request to speak before the Knesset lest it inflame Putin's anger. Apparently, Russia's green light for Israel to strike Iranian military targets in Syria is more important than standing with the U.S. and Europe to oppose Russian President Vladimir Putin's reckless, criminal behavior.



Surely there are other ways to deal with Iran. One would hope so, because the current strategy hasn't even worked. Israel's incessant attacks on Iranian facilities in Syria have neither cut off Iran's Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, nor compelled Iran to change its behavior. Now that Iran is on the cusp of securing a nuclear deal that would be weaker than the original Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, a shift from confrontation to diplomacy would seem to be in order. There is no reason to think that doing more of the same will suddenly yield different results.



Moreover, Israel doesn't owe Putin anything. By allowing the Israeli Air Force to operate freely in Syria, Putin has been able to outsource the task of limiting Iran's presence in a country that he wants Russia to dominate. Russian-Iranian relations have hardly been on solid ground lately. Most recently, Russia has hindered the signing of the new nuclear deal as retaliation against U.S. sanctions, and conservatives in Iran have criticized the Iranian regime for carrying water for Putin by abstaining from the U.N. resolution vote.



With Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilians becoming more appalling by the day, the Israeli government's attempt to straddle the fence has become untenable and indefensible. Ukraine's heroic Jewish president, Zelensky, has made direct appeals, in Hebrew, to the Jewish people, and Israelis should know more than anyone what it means to be subjected to a strategy of annihilation. Ukraine is a brave democracy resisting the onslaught of an autocracy  precisely the predicament that Israel always claimed to be in during its past wars with Arab countries.



It is worth remembering that Israel refused to consider the nuclear option even during the Yom Kippur War, when its very existence was hanging in the balance. How can the same country remain silent after Russia has explicitly raised the nuclear threat in what is clearly a war of choice? How can this refuge for Holocaust survivors accept Putin's vile use of the term "Nazi" to describe Zelensky  whose own relatives fought Hitler's forces and died at their hands? How can a country whose enemies target its civilians not say a word about Russia doing the same in Ukraine?



Israel's leaders need to pick a side. The choice should be easy. It is between Russia's tactical acceptance of the Israeli Air Force's freedom of operation in Syria and Israel's strategic, long-term moral and political alliance with the U.S. and the West. Israel also needs to recognize the war in Ukraine for what it is: a watershed event that is bound to reshape America's global priorities. Western containment of Russia will now need to be applied beyond Europe, including in the Middle East. The US has every right to expect that Israel will align with it fully.



If Israel's government needs any more convincing, it should note that even Turkey's authoritarian president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has picked a side. Turkey has been an erratic NATO member, purchasing not only Western arms but also advanced S-400 surface-to-air missile systems from Russia. Yet despite the country's proximity to Russia and dependence on Russian oil and gas, it has unequivocally condemned the invasion and supplied the Ukrainians with arms. Turkish drones have proven to be the most effective weapon the Ukrainians have against Russian tanks.



Israelis tend to see all their wars as "existential," and ethical considerations as luxuries they cannot afford. But there are times when morality and realpolitik align. Israeli leaders should remember that their country's democracy is a strategic asset. Being an unequivocal member of the democratic front that is resisting Ukraine's destruction will yield far more dividends than neutrality ever could.





Shlomo Ben-Ami, a former Israeli foreign minister, is the author of the forthcoming book "Prophets Without Honor: The 2000 Camp David Summit and the End of the Two-State Solution" (Oxford University Press, 2022). This article was distributed by Project Syndicate (www.project-syndicate.org).


Bella Hadid looked every inch the trendy twentysomething as she stepped out for coffee in New York City on Sunday.

The catwalk queen, 25, put her svelte waist on display in a fitted white top and colorful cropped sweater.

Bella used a blue belt with a silver heart buckle to accessorize her baggy taupe trousers.

Trendsetter! Bella Hadid was the epitome of the latest trends as she stepped out for coffee in NYC on Sunday

She shielded her eyes with a pair of slim retro shades and wore dangling pearl earrings for an added chic effect.

Her glossy brunette locks were worn down and billowed with the breeze as she walked along the sidewalk in her Crocs.

The beauty slung a small purse over her shoulder and carried a laptop in her right hand.

On Monday, Bella gave fans an inside look at Balenciaga's Paris Fashion Week show from earlier this month with a slew of behind-the-scenes snaps.

Style icon: Bella used a blue belt with a silver heart buckle to accessorize her baggy taupe trousers

Accessorized: The beauty slung a small purse over her shoulder and carried a laptop in her right hand

In several posts, Bella posted snaps of her rocking white leggings over he heels, matching long sleeves, and a silky grey mini dress.

She was the epitome of high fashion as she struck an array of poses with her raven locks slicked back into a updo and an edgy, futuristic pair of sunglasses covering her eyes.

'I can't put into words what this means to me. @balenciaga @demna @cedriccharbit Still not over it,' she captioned one of the posts.

'I can't put into words what this means to me': Hadid shared several high-fashion shots from her recent Balenciaga show

A second post, captioned 'Demnas world', showed Bella posing up a storm inside a tent filled with snow with other models.

The posts come just days after Bella appeared on the newly released April 2022 Vogue cover.

In a profile piece, the daughter of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Yolanda Hadid, spoke candidly about her struggle with depression, burnout and anxiety.

Strike a pose: Hadid looked pierce as she posed on a chair with a chic purse in her hands

Model behavior: Bella folded her hands upon her lap as she gazed towards the camera through her futuristic shades

Bella said her strong work ethic and her habit of people-pleasing contributed to her mental health issues.

In the profile, the model revealed she checked herself into a Tennessee treatment facility for more than two weeks where she received talk therapy and medication.

Bella also has revealed she suffers from chronic Lyme disease. The disease, which can cause brain fog and exhaustion, may have contributed to her psychiatric symptoms. In the article, the fashionista revealed she had a nose job at age 14. A decision she now regrets.

The catwalk star has said she's moving forward with her life, learning to say 'no' and focusing on various commitments in and out of the fashion world.

Bella also recently announced she would be donating some of her fashion week earning to charities helping Ukrainians suffering in the aftermath of the Russian invasion.

Snow much fun! Hadid posed up a storm inside a tent filled with snow
Mathew Horne has shut down speculation of a Gavin & Stacey reunion, admitting that it would be hard to get some 'successful people' on board.

The actor, 43, claimed that fans desiring the comedy's return 'is not enough of a reason', adding that the writers 'want to make sure that they have a story' first.

During a Monday appearance on Graham Norton's Virgin Radio show with Waitrose, he added how difficult it was to get the ensemble together for the 2019 Christmas special, which was later declared the most-viewed non-sporting event in a decade.

'People wanting it is not enough of a reason!' Mathew Horne has shut down speculation of a Gavin & Stacey reunion, admitting it would be hard to get some 'successful people' on board

He said: 'Obviously, the BBC would like more. James [Corden] and Ruth [Jones] have always said that they would only do more if they had a story and a reason to do it.

'Just because people want it is not enough of a reason to do it for them. They want to make sure that they have a story.

'They don't want to let the the piece down and let the audience down. They don't just want to do it for the sake of doing it.

I genuinely don't know if they're planning on doing more.'

Uh-oh! The actor, 43, claimed that fans desiring the comedy's return 'is not enough of a reason', adding that the writers 'want to make sure that they have a story' first (pictured, left, with James Corden, right, in 2019)

Mathew - plays the titular Gavin in the series - revealed he has an 'allegiance' to the mega-hit, and would return if he were asked.

He said: 'It's quite a large ensemble and one filled with successful people. It was difficult to get everyone together last time, so it would be equally difficult to do it again.

'That said, we all have an allegiance with the show, obviously and it really is like returning to a family.

'I think we would all do it if we could. But James and Ruth want the script to be there and be right.'

Entertaining: During a Monday appearance on Graham Norton's Virgin Radio show, he added how difficult it was to get the ensemble together for the 2019 Christmas special, which was later declared the most-viewed non-sporting event in a decade (cast pictured in 2019)

Despite Mathew's comments, Gavin and Stacey will return 'one day' according to BBC bosses, who confirmed that the much-loved show will be revived again in the future last year.

While outlining the upcoming Christmas television schedule, the channel's Chief Content Officer, Charlotte Moore, discussed the future of the BBC One sitcom.

She explained: 'That wasn't something that was going to happen this year,' and followed that up with: 'One day.'

Watch the Iconic Series, Gavin & Stacey only on Stan in Australia.
Margaret Qualley has detailed her experience breaking into the industry as a woman, 'embracing her feelings' and the importance of 'taking up space' on Monday.

The actress, 27, posed up a storm as she went braless to feature on the cover of the Spring / Summer 22 edition of AnOther Magazine.

Looking simple sensational in a series of incredible snaps, Margaret opted for a stunning skintight gold bodysuit with an embellished belt for a striking shoot.

Incredible: Margaret Qualley, 27, detailed 'embracing her feelings' and the importance of 'taking up space' in the industry as she went braless in a sensational shoot on Monday

Speaking to the publication about her early experiences acting she explained: 'I was an incredibly disciplined, controlled person, that didnt talk very much, and nodded a lot, and never broke the rules.

'So I didnt have permission to do anything or have any feelings, basically. And then I went to an acting class and I got really mad, got really sad and had all the feelings.

'And I was like, "This is great! I could try to get paid to do this  that would be nuts." And I still feel that way.'

Breaking out: Of her her early acting experiences she explained: 'I was an incredibly disciplined, controlled person, that didnt talk very much, and never broke the rules'

Exciting: She added: 'So I didnt have permission to do anything or have any feelings, basically. And then I went to an acting class and I got really mad, got really sad and had all the feelings'

In another photo Margaret slipped into a Chanel ensemble with multi-layered necklaces and a glitzy blazer.

Recalling her time working with renowned director Quentin Tarantino on Once Upon a Time in Hollywood she explained how she learned to trust herself as an actor.

She detailed: 'I thought, "I better not do that, who am I to take up that space? This is my first day on the job, this is Brad Pitt and Tarantino. What the f*** am I doing? I better just obey,"'

Growth: Recalling her time working with renowned director Quentin Tarantino on Once Upon a Time in Hollywood she explained how she learned to trust herself as an actor

Nervous: She detailed: 'I thought, "I better not do that, who am I to take up that space? This is my first day on the job, this is Brad Pitt and Tarantino. What the f*** am I doing?"'

Feeling nervous on set, Margaret said that it was a 'fear factor kind of thing' and making 'more mistakes' creates more 'vulnerability.'

As Tarantino noticed that the young actress was holding back, he pulled her to one side and encouraged her to embrace the 'weirdness' of her role.

She concluded: 'Youre supposed to take up all the space and make all the mistakes, and youre supposed to do the thing you feel. But its so scary sometimes.'

AnOther SS/22 is on sale globally from Thursday 24 March.
Mean Girls star Jonathan Bennett and his longtime partner Jaymes Vaughan tied the knot at the Unico Riviera Maya Hotel in Mexico on Saturday.

The newlyweds, who began dating back in 2017, were joined by 104 of their loved ones for the romantic seaside ceremony, officiated by YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen.

Bucking tradition, the grooms 'skipped a typical wedding walk down the aisle' and met at the alter as the original song Vaughan wrote to propose to his spouse played.

Just married! Mean Girls star Jonathan Bennett and his longtime partner Jaymes Vaughan tied the knot at the Unico Riviera Maya Hotel in Mexico on Saturday

'It was honestly a dream wedding!' Bennett, 40, told People. 'We kept having to stop and remind ourselves that we weren't on a movie set, but this was actually our real life.'

He continued: 'If you had told me this was one of my Hallmark movie sets, I would have believed it. It was that perfect.'

Vaughan, 38, noted getting married to his best friend was more 'emotional' than he initially anticipated.

Destination wedding: They wed at the Unico Riviera Maya Hotel in Mexico on Saturday; pictured three days ago

'I don't think either of us realized just how overwhelming that moment would be until we were in it,' Vaughan admitted.

He added: 'Seeing him crying only made me cry harder, and then our guests cry harder, and then we'd all start laughing, and then all back into crying.'

The lovebirds honored Bennett's late mother by surrounding themselves with white roses, her favorite flowers, and having all guests wear white.

Romantic: Bucking tradition, the grooms 'skipped a typical wedding walk down the aisle' and met at the alter as the original song Vaughan wrote to propose to his spouse played; seen in 2019

In addition to treating their closest friends and family to a delicious meal as they dined under twinkling lights, attendees were surprised with a dazzling firework display, 'set to the soundtrack of The Greatest Showman.'

Bennett also said he found the 'whole purpose' of their wedding to be about coming together as they join their families.

'We realized that our wedding is also more than just about us,' the actor stated. 'It's about the entire community.'

For the ceremony they sported black tuxedos from Express, but later changed into all-white white tuxes by Robert Stanley Bespoke.

Under their shared Instagram post, stars across the country rushed to congratulate them, including Taylor Lautner and Katie Couric.

'Congrats studs!' the Twilight star, 30, wrote under a photo of the happy couple holding hands after exchanging vows.

'I don't think either of us realized just how overwhelming that moment would be until we were in it,' Vaughan (left) admitted

Vaughan, a former Amazing Race contestant turned TV host, had custom rings made for them ahead of his proposal.

When popping the question, he serenaded Bennett with a song he had written for the occasion, which left his fiance in happy tears.

Describing the proposal to People, Bennett recalled: 'When I saw Jaymes take a knee, I was so excited. I just started hysterically screaming because I didn't know how to express myself properly.'

Sweet gesture: The lovebirds honored Bennett's late mother by surrounding themselves with white roses, her favorite flowers, and having all guests wear white; pictured in 2019

He went on: 'There was a moment when you feel like 'Oh, this is forever, I understand it.' I screamed 'Yes' immediately. Actually it was, 'Yes! Of course!'

The actor told the outlet that he couldn't wait to be married and said he knew from the first moment he met Vaughan that they were meant to be together.

'What we have is really special. It's the thing people make movies about or, I guess in this case, write songs about,' he said.

Bennett concluded he believes they both knew since the day they met that they were 'going to be each other's person.'

'It feels like family being with him. I feel like there's nothing in the world we can't accomplish when we are together,' The Christmas House explained.
Amy Childs has said she is 'very happy in myself' after ditching cosmetic surgery and finding love with gym owner and First Dates star Billy Delbosq.

The TOWIE star, 31, has had two boob jobs, botox, lip fillers, liposuction and veneers, but ended up regretting the procedures, admitting she looked 'like a freak'.

Speaking to The Sun, the reality star now says she has a total change in mindset, and is focussed on her two children, Polly and Ritchie, rather than her looks.

Happier than ever: Amy Childs has said she is 'very happy in myself' after ditching cosmetic surgery and finding love with gym owner and First Dates star Billy Delbosq (pictured November 2021)

She told the publication: 'I have not had cosmetic surgery for a long time now, and, for me, being a mum you totally change the way you look at things. Back in the day on Towie you ended up getting obsessed with your looks, but now I am 32 this year and in a completely different mindset.

'I am really happy in me now. I havent got the size 8 body that I used to have, however, I have two lovely children, and thats all I care about, so I am very happy in myself.'

Explaining the change, Amy suggested it was down to her new relationship with Billy.

Regrets: The TOWIE star, 31, has had two boob jobs, botox, lip fillers, liposuction and veneers, but ended up regretting the procedures, admitting she looked 'like a freak'

Change: Speaking to The Sun, the reality star now says she has a total change in mindset, and is focussed on her two children, Polly and Ritchie, rather than her looks (pictured with Polly and Billy in March 2022)

She said: 'Maybe that is due to me being in a happy and loving relationship, maybe its due to the part of my life with my children, at this moment in time I am very happy and I hope to carry on feeling like this.'

MailOnline revealed Amy was dating Billy in September, after the reality star was spotted enjoying champagne-filled dates with the businessman and attending fitness classes at his gym.

Billy is a successful businessman and owns two companies, Box Gym Fitness in Brentwood and LVT which specialises in domestic flooring.

New romance: Amy confirmed she had a new romance with gym owner and First Dates star Billy Delbosq in October (pictured in November 2021)

According to his Instagram bio, he is also a director of carpet and flooring shop Delbosq Ltd.

In 2018, he also appeared on reality dating show First Dates.

In late September the mother-of-two was spotted with Billy in London, which was the first time the couple have been seen out together in public.

During The TOWIE Afterparty show host Bobby Norris, 35, asked Amy how her love life was following the breakdown of her relationship with ex-boyfriend Tim.

Amy cheekily revealed that had been spending time with someone new and that she was now 'happy again'.

She replied: 'Do you know what, Bob? I do rush into relationships, you know me. I rush in, but do you know what? I'm happy.'
Ferne McCann's boyfriend Lorri Haines has issued an apology after a video resurfaced of him appearing to hold a bag of white powder to his nose.

The businessman took to Instagram on Monday and shared a lengthy statement where he said the video was from a 'destructive time' for him and he has since spent years turning his life around.

Lorri said the clip, which was filmed before he met Ferne, had caused his family pain and added that he is now striving to be a better person going forward.

Statement: Ferne McCann's boyfriend Lorri Haines has issued an apology after a video resurfaced of him appearing to hold a bag of white powder to his nose

He wrote: 'In light of the videos circulating of me from a destructive time in my life. I want you to hear this directly from me.

'I want to start this by saying how sorry I am that my past actions are bringing pain to the people I love most in my life now. It is unfair that something I did a long time ago impacts them.

'I have spent years turning my life around, to be someone I can be proud of. I changed my lifestyle for the better a long time ago but like most people, I have made stupid mistakes and done things I am not proud of. I never thought these actions could possibly hurt anyone else either.

'These things do not reflect the person I am today.

Speaking out: The businessman took to Instagram on Monday and shared a lengthy statement where he said the video was from a 'destructive time' in his life and he has since spent years turning his life around (pictured with Ferne)

'Actions': Lorri, who is based in the UAE, said the clip had caused his family pain and added that he is now striving to be a better person going forward

Lorri added: 'Whilst I cant undo the past, I can only continue to strive to be a better person and learn from past mistakes'

'Whilst I cant undo the past, I can only continue to strive to be a better person and learn from past mistakes.

'The latest videos I am being threatened with are from a long time ago, I could never know then the harm they would cause me and more importantly the people in my life now. For that I am deeply sorry.'

In the film obtained by The Sun, Lorri, who previously insisted he was not taking drugs, is seen scooping the powder out of the bag and up to his nostrils, with a pal shouting in the background: 'No! No ket, no ket.'

Lorri, who is based in the UAE, was seen dancing shirtless in the clip while holding two small clear plastic bags.

Couple: Lorri, who was not dating Ferne at the time the video was filmed, was seen dancing shirtless in the clip while holding two small clear plastic bags

Lorri's friend told him to 'put the ket down' before the entrepreneur was seen throwing the packet onto a nearby table. It has not been confirmed what substance Lorri was holding.

The man then says: 'That's none of your business,' prompting Lorri to shake his head and reply: 'None of my business.'

He then held the smaller bag up before before clapping his hands and dancing to the music.

Haines has told The Sun that he was not taking drugs and was 'joking about'.

Loved-up: The former TOWIE star and the Dubai based estate agent went public with their hot new romance during a recent holiday to the UAE

Sources told The Sun Lorri had been partying on a yacht at the marina with six friends earlier in the day.

An insider told the publication: 'They went to an apartment and carried the party on until about 4am.'

The clip surfaced three weeks after Ferne shared her first picture with Dubai-based Lorri, with the reality star writing at the time: 'When you know, you know.'

Authorities in the desert country have a zero-tolerance policy with regards to drugs, with the standard minimum jail sentence for possession being four years.

For help with drugs, call FRANK 24 hours a day, seven days a week on 0300 123 6600, text 82111 or visit https://www.talktofrank.com/contact
They celebrated six months of marriage a few weeks ago.

And Lily Collins enjoyed a relaxed coffee break with her husband Charlie McDowell on Sunday.

The actress, 33, was spotted enjoying an iced coffee while taking a leisurely strolled with her husband, 38, through New York City.

Just the two of us! Lily Collins enjoyed a relaxed coffee date with her husband Charlie McDowell in New York City on Sunday

Charlie enjoyed a warm cup of Joe on the go as he walked beside his lady love.

While Charlie, clad in a zip down jacket, jeans, and suede boots, opted for a slightly rugged appearance, his wife looked every inch the city girl.

The Emily In Paris star wore baggy orange trousers, a white ribbed top, and plaid coat.

A chic purse was looped on across her body while a pair of white loafers finished off the look.

Coffee break! Collins beamed with happiness while enjoying some down time with her husband

City girl! The Emily In Paris star wore baggy orange trousers, a white ribbed top, and plaid coat

She wore her hair down and accented her complexion with a berry hued tint of lipstick.

The couple are still reveling from the release of their new Netflix film Windfall, which was directed by Charlie and stars Lily.

'A Hitchcockian thriller following a young couple who arrive at their vacation home only to find it's being robbed,' the film's description reads on IMDb. The drama also stars Jesse Plemons and Jason Segel.

'I'm so proud': Collins gushed about her new film Windfall in a new post promoting the movie on Monday

On Monday, Lily raved about the film as she posted a slew of shots capturing the set to her Instagram account.

'More scenes from set. Can't say it enough - I'm so proud of what our little team created and feeling very lucky to have spent time in this beautiful place while we were making the movie!' she captioned the post.

Earlier this month, Lily and Charlie celebrated six months of marriage.

'My partner in all things': Collins marked six months of marriage as she promoted Windfall in a post shared earlier this month

Lily paid tribute to her 'partner in all things' with a slew of snaps including one of them preparing to bump fists.

'Today marks 6 months of marriage AND two weeks until #WINDFALL releases! One of my favorite parts of shooting this film was getting to work with my director and love @charliemcdowell.

'Thank you for being my partner in all things and for trusting me with this character (and holding the camera!) Im so proud to have been part of this incredibly special project and cant wait for you guys to see it on @netflix March 18' she gushed.

Speaking about their new movie with The Hollywood Reporter, Lily said she didn't get any special treatment from her husband while filming their new drama.

'It's really funny because I kept forgetting that we were together, because he treats everyone equally and he's such an actor's director,' she told the magazine.

'The way in which he communicates was so easy that it felt as easy as it normally is. But I always saw him as my director.

'Obviously, going home at the end of the night to talk about the day is different.'
Martha Hunt seems to be relishing motherhood as she posted a picture of herself with infant daughter, Emory, to Instagram on Monday.

'Hard to believe its been over 4 months with Emery!' she said in her caption. 'Part of me still feels in shock since the day I found out I was pregnant.'

The beauty then added, 'The shift from woman to mother hasnt been easy but with each passing day I feel more confident in my new role.'

Baby love: Supermodel Martha Hunt shares a sweet picture with her infant daughter Emery on Instagram. The two look sweet is cream toned looks

The star finished with, 'Its been my greatest privilege getting to know the special soul that chose me.'

The media darling and her baby were dressed in matching mother-daughter tones of cream. Little Emery, whose back was back turned to the camera, wore a simple onesie while mom wore a sheer cream midi with a high slit and cream colored boots.

The Free People model and her fiance, Jason McDonald, welcomed the little one November sixth.

The 32-year-old cover girl wasted no time getting back into shape, but did take some time off from her busy career for maternity leave.

Back to work: The 32-year-old cover girl wasted no time getting back into shape, but did take some time off from her busy career for maternity leave

Glamming it up: The new mom is easing back in to work. The North Carolina native recently shared pictures from her first day back, wearing glamorous items from the high end Cristina Nitopi brand

Her social media postings have been sparse since the baby arrived, but she's been slowly getting back into the groove.

Recent posts include the North Carolina native sharing a video going over her night time beauty routine.

The blue-eyed blonde used a gua sha stone as she the promoted the Chronobiology Sleep Mask from the Noble Panacea skincare brand.

Flawless: The new mom shares her nightly skincare routine in a video she shared with her millions of fans

Natural beauty: The blue-eyed blonde used a gua sha stone as she the promoted the Chronobiology Sleep Mask from the Noble Panacea skincare brand

The new mom also posted some glamorous back to work shots to the delight of her 2.9 million followers.

She exuded confidence wearing Cristina Nitopi high waist leather pants and strapless silver top with large silver earrings. Her hair was pulled back in a pony tail with loose tendrils framing her face.

A second look from the luxury brand included the same pants, but switched out the look with a bronze top with a large rosette and a single spaghetti strap.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt shared a fun throwback photo from his days filming the classic 1999 romantic comedy 10 Things I Hate About You.

On Monday, the 41-year-old posted an image where the actor was seen having dinner at El Gaucho in Tacoma, Washington with his co-stars including Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles.

'Many many many years ago...,' Gordon-Levitt tweeted.

Back then: Joseph Gordon-Levitt shared a fun throwback photo from his days filming the classic 1999 romantic comedy 10 Things I Hate About You

In the snap, the Inception star was seated opposite Stiles.

Ledger, Larisa Oleynik and David Krumholtz were seen in the background as they enjoyed a meal together.

In the movie, Gordon-Levitt played new student Cameron James, who falls for the pretty and popular Bianca Stratford (Oleynik).

Classic movie: In the movie, Gordon-Levitt played new student Cameron James, who falls for the pretty and popular Bianca Stratford (Oleynik). Seen in 1999

However, Bianca's overprotective father Walter (Larry Miller) forbids her from dating until her abrasive older sister Kat (Stiles) does.

Cameron enlists the help of rebel Patrick Verona (Heath), paying him to date Kat so that he can pursue Bianca.

The film was a modern take on William Shakespeare's play The Taming of the Shrew and was set in Seattle, though most of the filming took place in nearby Tacoma.

Reminiscing: Joseph has previously shared other nostalgic photos taken during filming of the movie

Joseph has previously shared other nostalgic photos taken during filming of the movie.

In January, he posted a black and white photo of the cast including Julia, Heath, David, Andrew Keegen and Susan May Pratt seated in the directors chairs.

The cast were clad in the tuxedos and gowns that they wore during the movie's climatic prom scene.

'#10ThingsIHateAboutYou,' he tweeted along with the photo.

Memories: 'I'll never forget that summer, making that movie with such wonderful people. The best of times. Still can't believe it was over 20 years ago,' Gordon-Levitt shared last March

The actor marked the 22nd anniversary of the release of 10 Things I Hate About You last March by posting a photo of himself and Stiles, Ledger and Oleynik.

He wrote on Instagram: '10 Things I Hate About You came out today, March 31st, back in 1999.

'I'll never forget that summer, making that movie with such wonderful people. The best of times. Still can't believe it was over 20 years ago,' he shared.

Surprise: 23 years later, the movie's director Gil Junger revealed that Julia Stiles (pictured 2019) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (pictured 2018) were actually an item during filming

Stars: In the movie, Stiles played the love interest of actor Heath Ledger's character

Supporting actor: 'She's professing her love to Heath and she's in love with a guy waiting in his trailer to shoot the next scene,' Junger observed in a recent interview

Last May, Gil Junger revealed that Stiles and Gordon-Levitt were actually an item during filming.

'They were very, very attracted to each other, which was cute,' Junger said in an interview on Spanish-language YouTube channel Mira a Quien Encontre, per a report from People.

Junger referenced the pivotal scene in which Stiles read a poem to declare that she was still in love with Ledger.

Looking back: 'They were very, very attracted to each other, which was cute,' Junger told Spanish-language YouTube channel Mira a Quien Encontre, per a report from People

'She's professing her love to Heath and she's in love with a guy waiting in his trailer to shoot the next scene,' Junger observed.

'Watching them, it was beautiful how much they enjoyed each other,' he added.

Stiles, 40, is now married to Preston Cook, a camera assistant and focus puller, whom she met while making the 2015 thriller Blackway.

The couple share a three=year-old son.

Meanwhile, Gordon-Levitt married to scientist Tasha McCauley in 2015 and they have two sons together aged five and three.
AJ Odudu looked incredible as she posted a slew of scorching bikini snaps while on the beach in Antigua on Monday.

The presenter, 34, displayed her gym-honed physique in the leopard print two-piece that showed off her toned legs and sculpted abs.

Her short raven locks were left down to flutter in the sea breeze as she posed up a storm on the sand.

Wow! AJ Odudu sizzled on Monday, as she posted a slew of scorching snaps in a bikini on the beach in Antigua

Well-earned break: Captioning the stunning shots, she explained she was taking a break to 'recharge' and relax after a busy few months

Laughing in delight, she protected her eyes from the glare of the sun behind a pair of sunglasses.

Captioning the stunning shots, AJ explained she was taking a break to 'recharge' and relax after a busy few months.

The star wrote: 'No rest for the wicked, so I'm resting! See ya when I've recharged me batteries.'

Looking good: The presenter, 34, looked sublime in the leopard print two-piece that showed off her toned legs and sculpted abs

AJ's break was well deserved after she hosted Comic Relief's live telethon 2022 in Manchester on Friday.

She looked incredible in a pink evening gown with a daring slash detail exposing her cleavage and another one flashing her thigh.

The Strictly Come Dancing star ensured she stood out in the bright ensemble which she teamed with a pair of chic gold strappy heels.

Stunning: AJ's break was well deserved after she hosted Comic Relief 's live telethon 2022 in Manchester on Friday

AJ opted for a full palette of makeup to accentuate her natural beauty and her short black tresses were styled in a bob.

The star donned a bold red lip and flashed her dazzling white smile while presenting Comic Relief.

She accessorised with some dazzling gold jewellery to match her stylish heels as she strut her stuff on the stage.

Looking good: The star donned a bold red lip and flashed her dazzling white smile while presenting Comic Relief

Dressed to impress: AJ hosted part of Comic Relief's live telethon with Vernon Kay, 37, who looked dapper in a purple suit and matching turtle neck top

The natural beauty shared a video to her Instagram story before the event began where she flaunted her magnificent style.

Alongside the video she wrote: 'Me and Vernon Kay are hosting Comic Relief's prize-a-thon. I'm very excited!'

AJ hosted part of Comic Relief's live telethon with Vernon Kay, 37, who looked dapper in a purple suit and matching turtle neck top.

The event was also hosted by Alesha Dixon, David Tennant, Paddy McGuinness and Sir Lenny Henry.
By Paul Tyson





Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's call for volunteers to join his country's newly created International Legion of the Territorial Defense of Ukraine to resist the Russian invasion appears to be modeled on the international brigades formed in the 1930s to fight the fascist forces during the Spanish Civil War.



Ukraine has claimed that some 20,000 people from 52 countries have already applied to join what is also known as the Ukrainian Foreign Legion.



Ukraine is not the first European country to recruit foreigners into its army. France, for example, has had the fabled French Foreign Legion since the 1830s. The U.K. allows volunteers from the Commonwealth of Nations, comprising former British colonies, to serve in its armed forces. The U.S. also permits non-U.S. citizens to join its military, which is seen as a way to fast-track their acquisition of American citizenship.



There are reports that Americans and Israelis living in Ukraine have already signed up and have been asked to bring uniforms, protective gear and other equipment with them.



Critics of the program have called it a public relations exercise that will have little combat effectiveness. But Ukrainian officials emphasize that they are seeking combat veterans, former SEAL and Special Force soldiers, medical personnel and communications specialists. Inexperienced volunteers are less desirable since there is already a large pool of Ukrainians to fill that need.



Ukraine has not named the home countries of the volunteers, saying that some of them forbid their citizens from fighting for other countries. Most of the future volunteers are expected to come from Europe and North America, particularly those with Ukrainian family backgrounds.



Seoul has taken an ambiguous stance on whether Koreans can volunteer to serve in Ukraine, offering no clear guidelines. It has been suggested that those going to Ukraine could violate government restrictions prohibiting Koreans traveling to combat zones without permission, which carries a penalty of either a jail sentence or a fine. Korean males who enlist in the Ukrainian military without first completing their national service could also face legal penalties.



But there is also a chance that the Korean government could look the other way given the strong international support for the Ukrainian cause. The Ukrainian Embassy in Seoul has said it has received some 100 applications from Korean volunteers. There are reports that former Korean SEALs are already fighting in Ukraine.



There is another way that Koreans could help by joining Ukraine's IT army of hackers, with thousands of foreign cybersecurity professionals having enlisted. They have conducted denial-of-service attacks against dozens of Russian websites and services, including banks and government agencies.



An interesting question is whether Pyongyang will also respond to Moscow's request for foreign volunteers to fight in Ukraine. North Korea was one of only five countries to vote against an U.N. General Assembly resolution condemning the Russian invasion. One of those other countries  Syria  has promised to send volunteers and another  Belarus  has helped support the invasion.



North Korea already served as a Soviet proxy in helping fight in the African "wars of liberation" in the 1970s. Pyongyang might decide to send soldiers to join Russian troops in the Ukraine in a show of solidarity with one of its closest allies.



Ukraine has emerged as the latest example of the ongoing fight between democracy and totalitarianism and brings back memories of a similar struggle in the 1930s when the Spanish Civil War drew in foreign fighters.



Spain's elected Republican government was then fighting fascist Nationalist forces led by General Franco. Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy supported the Nationalists with personnel, weapons and aircraft, while the Soviet Union supported the left-leaning Republicans. The Republicans and international leftist organizations called for foreign fighters to join the cause by forming international brigades.



About 4,000 Britons volunteered, including the novelist George Orwell, although they risked prosecution in their home country under the Foreign Enlistment Act, although it was never applied in the end. An estimated 3,000 Americans joined the Lincoln Brigade to support the Republican government and they served as soldiers, technicians, medical personnel and aviators.



When the U.S. became concerned about Japanese aggression in Asia in the early 1940s, it allowed American fighter pilots to join Chinese Nationalist forces fighting the Japanese. This group of pilots who had been quietly released from U.S. military service formed the legendary Flying Tigers in 1940 under the command of a retired American general, Claire Chennault, who was attached to the Chinese Air Force.



After Washington declared war on Japan after Pearl Harbor, these pilots were placed under U.S. command as the 23rd Fighter Group. Today, the U.S. Air Force's 23rd Fighter Group still flies planes with shark teeth nose art on their A-10 fleet, an homage to the P-40 Warhawks flown by the Flying Tigers.

History now appears to be repeating itself.





Paul Tyson is a retired U.S. diplomat teaching diplomacy and government at New England College.


To the world, Francis Ford Coppola is an Oscar award winning writer and director, but to actress Elle Fanning, he's 'Uncle Francis.'

The 23-year-old star offered a heartfelt tribute Monday to the legendary director as he received his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The Great actress was among those offering accolades to The Godfather director on his special day. His sister, Godfather actress Talia Shire, offered her own high praise about the movie legend.

Big star: Actress Elle Fanning offered a heartfelt tribute to director Francis Ford Coppola Monday as he received his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Keeping it simple: The Great actress turned out in a simple white dress with puffed sleeves and cut out back. An I love Francis button was proudly displayed on the bodice

Elle was dressed in a simple but sexy white dress with an A-line skirt, puffed sleeves and a cut out back. The star's makeup look natural with a slightly red lip.

Her only jewelry appeared to be a vintage style bracelet and an I love Francis button displayed prominently on the bodice.

The young fashionista completed the look with pastel rainbow pumps with crystal buckles.

During her five minute speech on Hollywood Boulevard, the Twixt star shared her experience working the the iconic filmmaker when she was only 13, saying the time spent together left an indelible mark on her life.

Memories: The Mary Shelley lead shared that she first met the legendary filmmaker when she was only 11 and was cast two years later in the iconic moviemaker's murder mystery Twixt

Family is the secret: Actress Talia Shire who worked with her brother on The Godfather films also had high praise for Coppola as a man and a storyteller. Elle commented the secret to his 'sauce' was 'a pinch of a very loud voice, a dash of unwavering passion and a big cup of the not-so-secret secret ingredient, family'

'We actually filmed on his vineyard in Napa Valley. We used cameras and costumes that he kept on the property and I got to stay in a house only walking distance to his own and we had meals with (wife) Ellie and Francis every single night,' she said.

'It was there that I quite literally learned how the sauce was made. The ingredients seem to include a pinch of a very loud voice, a dash of unwavering passion and a big cup of the not-so-secret secret ingredient, family.'

The speech touched on the fabled director's childhood and how Francis had developed his imagination to help endure isolation when he was suffering from polio.

Resourcefulness: The 5'9" beauty told the audience, 'Francis uses what he has around him and spins it in to gold.' She added jokingly, 'I think he could make the fork on the table a heroin in his story if he needed to'

Love always: Elle shared that she and the storied director and producer have a continued affection for each other, saying, 'In every email weve exchanged, youve always signed "love Uncle Francis," so I love you so much Uncle Francis and theres no one in the world more deserving than you'

The Mary Shelley lead claimed her experience with the Apocalypse Now great had touched her life in many ways, including learning to be resourceful. 'Francis uses what he has around him and spins it in to gold.' She added jokingly, 'I think he could make the fork on the table a heroin in his story if he needed to.'

On a personal note, Elle shared that the two share a continued affection for each other.

'In every email weve exchanged, youve always signed "love Uncle Francis," so I love you so much Uncle Francis and theres no one in the world more deserving than you. You should have should have all the stars on the street if it was up to me. I love you.'
When you're an Addams, you're part of the 'creepy' and 'kooky' family for life.

At least that is the case for Christina Ricci who will return to the spooky Addams Family universe in the upcoming Netflix series Wednesday, Variety reported.

The actress, 42, is set to play a mystery role in the Tim Burton directed project almost 30 years after last appearing as Wednesday Addams.

Back to basics: Christine Ricci will soon return to the spooky Addams Family universe in the upcoming Netflix series Wednesday (pictured 2020)

The outlet reported that the Speed Racer actress will not play an older version of the character she starred as when she was a child though the exact nature of the role is currently under wraps.

Wednesday will follow the eponymous character during her high school years at Nevermore Academy.

While at the school, the intrepid young woman will learn to control her psychic abilities, protect the townsfolk and also look into her own family's past while navigating the new relationships that burgeoning adulthood brings.

Childhood role: The actress, 42, is set to play a mystery role in the Tim Burton directed project almost 30 years after last appearing as Wednesday Addams (pictured in Addams Family Values 1993)

The outlet reported that the Speed Racer actress will not play an older version of the character she starred as when she was a child (pictured 2020)

Jenna Ortega of You fame will play the title character with Oscar winner Catherine Zeta-Jones playing her mother Morticia and Boogie Nights actor Luis Guzman taking up the role of her father Gomez.

Ricci played Wednesday in two 1990s films: The Addams Family (1991) and Addams Family Values (1993) when she was 11 and 13 respectively.

Those films starred Anjelica Huston as Morticia Addams, Raul Julia as Gomez and Christopher Lloyd as the lovable Uncle Fester.

Lovable cast: The 1990s Addams family films starred Anjelica Huston as Morticia Addams, Raul Julia as Gomez and Christopher Lloyd as the lovable Uncle Fester

More on the way: Ricci has several other projects on the way including the films The Dresden Sun and Unplugged (pictured 2021)

Ricci has performed in a number of other movies and television shows since leaving The Addams Family behind including Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow, Ally McBeal and the recently released The Matrix Resurrections.

The Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas actress has several other projects on the way including The Dresden Sun, which is currently in post-production. The science fiction film will follow a heist gone wrong with Ricci playing a character named Dr. Dresden Corliss.

She's also in the process of filming a voice role for the film Unplugged about a rockstar on the verge of suicide who leaves her lifestyle behind for the much quieter South Dakota Badlands.
Jodie Turner-Smith left little to the imagination as she took to Instagram on Monday to share a slew of racy snaps posing naked with her husband Joshua Jackson.

The actress, 35, flashed her pert behind wearing just a diamond hair piece as her actor husband, 43, gently caressed her bottom.

The pair posed up a storm for the balcony shoot before they attended the 27th Annual Critics Choice Awards in Los Angeles on March 13.

The cheek of it: Jodie Turner-Smith left little to the imagination as she took to Instagram on Monday to share a slew of racy snaps posing naked with her husband Joshua Jackson

Meow! Jodie cheekily captioned the photos: 'The cat that got the cream,' as Joshua replied: 'Youre talking about me right? Im the cat that got the creambecausewow'

Jodie cheekily captioned the photos: 'The cat that got the cream,' as Joshua replied: 'Youre talking about me right? Im the cat that got the creambecausewow'.

Alongside the sultry snaps, the Nightflyers star posted a flurry of other photos showing her getting ready for the red carpet.

Jodie slipped into an elegant one-shoulder sky blue Gucci gown, while Joshua cut a dapper figure in a black suit.

Cat got your tongue? The actress, 35, flashed her pert behind wearing just a diamond hair piece as her actor husband, 43, gently caressed her cheek

Queen of the world: The pair posed up a storm for the balcony shoot before they attended the 27th Annual Critics Choice Awards in Los Angeles on March 13

Jodie's mesmerizing blue gown featured a high neck that wrapped around on the side into a gorgeous bow.

The British actress and model added even more sparkle to her magnificent look with a pair of sparkly diamond earrings as well as an assortment of stunning rings on her fingers.

She also accessorized the evening's look with a gold and emerald bracelet on her wrist.

Sky blue: Alongside the sultry snaps, the Nightflyers star posted a flurry of other photos showing her getting ready for the red carpet

Night out: Jodie slipped into an elegant one-shoulder sky blue Gucci gown, while Joshua cut a dapper figure in a black suit

She wore her lovely raven tresses in a chic voluminous updo, with glamorous loose curls and side bangs framing her face.

As for glam, the beauty sizzled with shimmering gold eyeshadow on her lids, as well as black eyeliner and a touch of lipgloss.

Meanwhile, the actor paired his look with a classic black bow tie as well as a diamond bow pin on his lapel.

The Dawson's Creek star slicked his brown hair back with gel and sported what appeared to be black Gucci loafers.

Glam: The British actress and model added even more sparkle to her magnificent look with a pair of sparkly diamond earrings as well as an assortment of stunning rings on her fingers

Manicure: As for glam, the beauty sizzled with shimmering gold eyeshadow on her lids, as well as black eyeliner and a touch of lipgloss

Jackson was nominated for Actor in a Limited Series for his work on Dr. Death, a crime drama miniseries based on the true story of Christopher Duntsch, a neurosurgeon who became infamous for mutilating his patients.

While being interviewed on the red carpet, Jodie was asked if she would stand on the table and watch as her husband goes to accept his award.

'Uh yeah, I am. I might take my top off, who knows!' she joked much to Joshua's amusement who replied with an excited, 'Alright!'

'I guess I'm winning then,' the actor playfully added.

Watch the Iconic Series Dawson's Creek only on Stan in Australia.
Natalya Wright showed off her chic sense of style as she posed for some sultry Instagram snaps on Monday.

The model, 19, who is the younger sister of former The Only Way Is Essex stars Mark and Jess Wright, donned a white mock neck cut out bodycon dress by House Of CB while posing at the Shangri-La The Shard, London hotel.

Her curvaceous figure was perfectly accentuated by her outfit thanks to the corset-style top half and the figure-hugging material of the skirt.

Fashion focus: Natalya Wright, 29, showed off her chic sense of style as she posed for some sultry Instagram snaps on Monday, wearing a white mock neck cut out bodycon dress

The influencer added a few inches to her stature by opting for a pair of strappy white sandal heels.

She sported a healthy glow to her skin and wore lashings of make-up to highlight her pretty facial features.

Natalya accessorised with a gold watch and held a white Chanel bag in some snaps.

In style: The model donned her outfit by House Of CB while posing at the Shangri-La The Shard, London hotel

Strike a pose: Her curvaceous figure was perfectly accentuated by her outfit thanks to the corset-style top half and the figure-hugging material of the skirt

Standing tall: The influencer added a few inches to her stature by opting for a pair of strappy white sandal heels

The internet star captioned her post: 'Dreamy dress, Dreamy bag, Dreamy views.'

Natalya's post comes after her older sister, Jessica, 36, revealed the family are in advanced talks to star in a Kardashian-style reality show.

After years of speculation, ITV are set to give the green light to the project, which will centre around the former TOWIE star, Natalya, brother Josh, 32, and parents Carol and Mark Senior.

Looking good: She sported a healthy glow to her skin and wore lashings of make-up to highlight her pretty facial features

In the detail: Natalya accessorised with a gold watch and held a white Chanel bag in some snaps

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Jess told how her grandmother Irene is being lined up to appear as the family matriarch, taking on the mantle of her late Nanny Pat, the TOWIE icon.

Jess said: 'There is interest now about doing a series following our family, on the back of the show about my wedding.

'It's been rumoured for years but now is the right time because my brother Josh is having a baby, and I might be starting to have my own family soon, so it just feels like the natural time to do it.

Bliss: The internet star captioned her Instagram post: 'Dreamy dress, Dreamy bag, Dreamy views'

Capturing the moment: Natalya posed for a mirror selfie in one shot, snapping a picture of her reflection

'There are so many of us, so many characters and we're used to being around the cameras as well.

'It's second nature to us.'

Jess teased brother Mark and wife Michelle Keegan, both 34, could have cameos, but believes grandmother Irene could become the unlikely surprise star.
Free Event

Easter Sunrise Service at the Deeds Carillon

Since 1942, the Easter Sunrise Service has been a powerful display of faith, unbrokena ceaseless tradition in an ever-changing city.

As dawn broke on Sunday morning, April 5, the first Easter Service was held at the Deeds Carillon. An estimated crowd of 10,000 made the pilgrimage by automobile, bus and on foot read page 14 of the April 1942 edition of the NCR Factory News.

Dayton History invites the entire community to attend this free celebration. Attendees may wish to bring chairs or blankets for seating. This engaging and powerful event continues this annual tradition and was the very first event at Carillon Historical Park.

The largest carillon in Ohio was built at the request of Edith Walton Deeds. Completed in 1942, the 151-foot tower houses 57 bells. Upon its completion, the first concert was played by Mrs. Deeds during the first Sunrise Service on Easter Sunday of that same year. The Easter Sunrise Service has since continued, unbrokena ceaseless tradition in an ever-changing city. In fair weather and foul, during triumphant and trying times, people from all walks of life have gathered at Deeds Carillon, in Daytons early morning Easter light, for this powerful display of faith.
Kumho Petrochemical Chairman Park Chan-koo, left, and his nephew, former Senior Vice President Park Chul-whan / Korea Times files



By Park Jae-hyuk



Proxy advisers here and overseas differed on their stance concerning the ongoing conflict over the control of Kumho Petrochemical, fueling uncertainty about the outcome of the company's forthcoming general meeting of shareholders slated for March 25.



Last Thursday, the Korea Corporate Governance Service (KCGS) recommended Kumho Petrochemical's shareholders to vote for the proposals from former Senior Vice President Park Chul-whan, who resumed his efforts last month to wrest control of the company away from his uncle, Chairman Park Chan-koo.



Specifically, KCGS supported his demand for the payment of 14,900 won ($12) per ordinary share and 14,950 won per preferred stock in dividends, as well as the appointment of former Shinhan DS CEO Sunny Yi as an outside director and audit committee member.



Sustinvest, another local proxy adviser, said in its report Monday that it recommends Kumho Petrochemical's shareholders to vote for all proposals from the chairman's nephew, including the appointment of KDI School of Public Policy and Management professor Hahm Sang-moon as an outside director.



In contrast, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis backed the proposals from the Kumho Petrochemical management, recognizing the company's efforts to enhance shareholder returns.



The world's two leading proxy advisers also expressed a positive view about the outside director candidates recommended by the Korean firm's management.



In addition, Korea ESG Research Institute advised Kumho Petrochemical's shareholders last Friday to side with its management, raising concerns about the possibility of excessive dividends damaging shareholder value.



During the previous proxy season last year, Glass Lewis had recommended Kumho Petrochemical's shareholders to vote for some of the nephew's proposals, while ISS had supported all of the proposals from the management.



Back then, the nephew failed in his attempt to be appointed as the company's executive director and to receive bigger dividends.



After he lost to his uncle in the general meeting of shareholders last March, he was dismissed from his position as the executive in charge of overseas synthetic rubber sales.



The younger Park and his allies, however, are still estimated to hold a combined 10-percent stake in Kumho Petrochemical, while the chairman and his allies collectively own a 14.9-percent stake.



Although most foreign and institutional investors are expected to side with the chairman in accordance with the advice from ISS and Glass Lewis, retail investors are viewed as casting voters, considering the fact that they collectively hold around a 60-percent stake.



Some of them have already made online postings that they entrusted their voting rights to the nephew, citing their disappointment with the falling stock price.


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The ban comes months after the central bank imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 1 crore on Paytm Payments Bank for deficiencies in regulatory compliance.  Wikimedia Commons

Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday asked Paytm Payments Bank Ltd to stop onboarding of new customers with immediate effect, citing certain material supervisory concerns observed in the bank.

The banking subsidiary of Paytm parent One97 Communications had received RBI's approval to operate as a scheduled payments bank in December last year. The bank has also been directed to appoint an IT audit firm to conduct a comprehensive system audit of its IT system. Onboarding of new customers by Paytm Payments Bank Ltd will be subject to specific permission to be granted by the RBI after reviewing report of the IT auditors, the regulator said.

The Reserve Bank of India has today, in exercise of its powers, inter alia, under section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, directed Paytm Payments Bank Ltd to stop, with immediate effect, onboarding of new customers, said the RBI in a statement.

Onboarding of new customers by Paytm Payments Bank Ltd will be subject to specific permission to be granted by RBI after reviewing report of the IT auditors. This action is based on certain material supervisory concerns observed in the bank, added the RBI.

The ban comes months after the central bank imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 1 crore on Paytm Payments Bank for deficiencies in regulatory compliance.

The Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led firm had reported a massive loss of Rs 780 crore in the third quarter, led by stock opt-ions cost of Rs 390 crore.

According to the data from National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) for January 2022, Paytm Bank had recorded 95.7 crore UPI transactions emerging as the country's top UPI beneficiary bank. The bank also maintained its stronghold in the FASTag segment, with over 4.3 lakh issuances in January.

The Paytm closed flat at Rs 774.80 on the BSE.
He attacked her in in the public while she was going to the College at Collegeitta area of Venkatagiri. (Representational image)

Nellore: In a shocking incident, a youth slit the throat of a girl after the latter rejected his love proposal at Venkatagiri on Monday morning.

The accused identified as Chenchu Krishna has been stalking the girl, an intermediate student, despite the warnings of the victim's family members.

He attacked her in in the public while she was going to the College at Collegeitta area of Venkatagiri on Monday.

Locals reportedly overpowered Chenchu Krishna and thrashed him before handing him over to the police. The accused is a daily wage labourer and he has been following and troubling the girl for nearly an year.

The girl was rushed to the local government hospital. Condition of the girl is stated to be stable. Later, the girl has been shifted to Ruia Hospital in Tirupati for better treatment after recording her statement, Venkatagiri SI Koti Reddy said.
Kolkata: A day before facing questioning in the coal smuggling scam again in New Delhi, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjees MP nephew Abhishek Banerjee mocked the Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation, accusing them of suffering from cataract that he alleged made the two agencies blind to the crimes of BJP leaders.

On Sunday, the Diamond Harbour TMC MP said at Kolkata airport: It is sad that those who were seen in videos taking money wrapped in papers and have proof against them of siphoning off money of Sudipta Sen (Saradha Group owner) are now big leaders of the BJP. One of them is the Assam CM, another is the Leader of the Opposition here. But the ED and CBI do not summon them because cataracts cover their eyes, Thus, these agencies lose their credibility.

The young TMC national general secretary, on the fresh summons by the ED directing him to appear on Monday, said: I had an eye surgery four days ago. Doctors advised me bed rest. I am still going to appear because I know how to live with my head high. The people of Bengal do not bow down their heads.

Before flying to the national capital, Mr Banerjee pointed out: I earlier made an appeal at the Delhi high court challenging the jurisdiction of the ED to summon me in New Delhi for a case which is in Kolkata. The hearing continued for four months. But the judgment was reserved for three months. It came only after the Assembly election results in five states. Though I have faith in the judiciary, the two incidents cannot be coincidental. When my petition had to be dismissed, why was it not heard for so many months? I will move the Supreme Court as I have the option to approach a higher court.

His wife Rujira Banerjee Narula, who was also sent a fresh summons by the ED, is expected to face grilling by the Central agency on March 22.
The body was handed over to Nalgonda Medical College for research purposes by her family members and Nalgonda district CPM leaders. (DC)

Hyderabad: The body of veteran Communist leader and former legislator Mallu Swarajyam, who passed away on Saturday aged 91, was handed over to Nalgonda Medical College for research purposes by her family members and Nalgonda district CPM leaders on Sunday.

Earlier, slogans like Mallu Swarajyam johar reverberated at the Maqdoom Bhavan housing the state CPM office, where the body was kept, as hundreds of sympathisers and leaders from various political parties paid tributes.

Later, family members and party leaders carried the body to the clock towers bazaar and reached Nalgonda Medical College where it was donated to college officials for research purposes.

Panchayat raj minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao and MLC K. Kavitha visited Maqdoom Bhavan and offered tributes. Kavitha recalled that they had interacted with Swarajyam on several occasions during the Telangana movement.

She recounted her experiences while leading the Telangana armed struggle and motivating people towards movements. Her suggestions have kept us in good stead, Kavitha said. CPI leader K. Narayana said Swarajyam was a prominent woman leader in the fight against the bonded labour system during Nizam's rule.

We have worked together on people's issues and conducted several movements. She was a strong, determined and bold woman, Narayana recalled.

Senior CPM leader B.V. Raghavulu said that Swarajyam was irreplaceable. Her association with the party was deep-rooted. The party will continue to take inspiration from her ideology, he said.
HYDERABAD: Demanding that the BJP-led government at the Centre withdraw its decision to privatise public sector undertakings (PSUs) such as the Life Insurance Corporation of India, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited and others, TS Planning Board vice chairman B. Vinod Kumar on Sunday said protests would be intensified in association with trade unions against the move.

Left- and Congress-affiliated trade unions have called for a two-day strike from March 28. The union leaders met at the ministers' quarters in Banjara Hills on Sunday.

Speaking at the meeting, Vinod Kumar said PSU employees would face tough times following privatisation. He said LIC was one of the most profitable agencies. If the government fails to respond to the trade unions warnings, we will intensify the protests. We extend the support to the trade unions strike call, Vinod Kumar said.
New Delhi: The BJP top brass reposed its faith in outgoing chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Monday and elected him as the legislature party leader of the ruling party. Under his leadership the BJP retained power in Uttarakhand by beating the trend of the hill state giving the seat of power to BJP and Congress alternately, even though Mr Dhami, 46, lost his seat.

While campaigning for the BJP in Uttarakhand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had "assured" the voters that for a "yuva rajya (young state)," the BJP under Mr Dhami's leadership will "continue providing speedy development" along with the Centre. The BJP has repeated its CMs in all the four states it won -- Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Goa and Manipur -- in the recent Assembly polls.

The new government in Uttarakhand will take oath on March 23. Earlier during the day, newly elected MLAs took oath in the state Assembly.

Though the decision on the Assembly seat from which Mr Dhami will have to contest the by-poll will be taken by the party leadership, more than half a dozen BJP MLAs have offered to vacate their seat for Mr Dhami, whose continuation at the top post, it was learnt, was supported by the BJP top brass, including the PM.

Speculation is rife that Mr Dhami could contest the by-poll from Didihat, won by senior BJP leader Bishan Singh Chaupal. Didihat is Mr Dhami's native place.

Though some senior leaders had tried to object to his continuation, the party top brass, sources said, made it clear that under his short tenure as the CM the party "gained much."

Many senior leaders had objected to the decision of Mr Dhami's nomination as the CM candidate for the first time as they had felt that their seniority was overlooked. The party leadership, it was learnt, had also received complaints that some senior leaders were trying to "sabotage" Mr Dhami's chances from the Khatima Assembly seat, which he lost to his Congress opponent.

Union defence minister Rajnath Singh and MoS external affairs Meenakshi Lekhi were the Central observers for the legislature party meeting.

"I congratulate him (Dhami), I am confident that under his leadership Uttarakhand will make rapid progress, he will take the state to new heights," said Mr Singh after Mr Dhami was named as the legislature party leader. BJP president J.P. Nadda also congratulated the CM designate.

The BJP had also asked its MPs from the state to be present at the venue of the meeting.

The CM-designate along with BJP leaders later met Governor Lt. Gen Gurmit Singh (Retd) to stake claim to form the government in the state.

The BJP top brass had held a meeting with the party's core group leaders of the state on Sunday where the leaders, it was learnt, also discussed the government formation. Speculation is rife in the state BJP that the Central leadership wants to accommodate "new and young faces" in Mr Dhami's new team. Among the issues that the new Uttarakhand government will have to address also include Uniform Civil Code and land law. Just days before the state went for polling, Mr Dhami had announced that if BJP comes to power, it will implement the UCC.

The committee set up by the outgoing government to study state specific law banning rampant sale of land, especially in the hilly region to outsiders, has already submitted its report. The government was forced to set up the committee after it became a major issue, initiated by the youth and later supported by the Opposition parties.
VIJAYAWADA: The assembly ruckus by Telugu Desam legislators continued on Monday despite strong objections from from Speaker Tammineni Sitaram and YSRC legislators.

TD legislators went berserk, beat the Speaker Podium with the books and aired slogans against the government and chief minister Jagan Reddy. Angered over this, Speaker Sitaram suspended the protesting TD legislators for a day.

It has become a daily practice for TD legislators to stage protests and get suspension orders all through the present budget session.

Finance minister Buggana Rajendranath referred to the Pegasus and stated that the Supreme Court taking this as a serious issue had appointed a committee to probe acts of governmental spying. He said it was clearly evident that Pegasus software was used by Chandrababu Naidu while as CM, as was clear from a statement of chief minister Mamata Banerjee in the Bengal assembly.

He stated that phones of YSRC leaders were tapped during the term of the Naidu government and no action was taken at the time despite the lodging of several complaints.

TD legislators disrupted the speech of Rajendranath several times. Vexed over the disturbance, ruling party legislators including education minister Audimulapu Suresh urged the speaker to take stern action against the disruptors. Speaker Sitaram repeatedly asked TD legislators to stop their protest but in vain.

The speaker said, '' This is not the market and this is the Legislative Assembly. You are not street rowdies. MLAs should not waste valuable assembly time meant for solving public issues. 

Speaker Sitaram said, You should know how to respect the position of the House and the Speaker. Members should be sober and act as a constructive opposition.

TD legislators remained adamant and did not stop their protest and slogans. Speaker Sitaram then announced suspension of the TD MLAs for a day from the assembly.
HYDERABAD: Alleging a massive scam in the procurement of paddy in Telangana, BJP state president Bandi Sanjay Kumar demanded a judicial inquiry by a sitting High Court judge into the murky episode, if Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao was sincere and if he was really concerned about farmers.

Speaking to reporters here on Sunday, Sanjay lashed out at the Chief Minister for enacting a fresh drama by holding an emergency cabinet meeting at his farmhouse and declaring that he would stage a dharna in New Delhi to pull up the Centre over non-procurement of paddy during rabi season. He suspected that the procurement of paddy in Telangana smacked of a major scam.

There are reports of large-scale irregularities in paddy procurement by creating fake bills. Earlier also Food Corporation of India (FCI) officials had unearthed a major fake accounts fraud in procurement of 40,000 tonnes of paddy, he pointed out, adding that similar irregularities were found in Suryapet and Nizamabad also.

Fake accounts were opened in the names of farmers from neighbouring states. False records were created to show hundreds of acres in the name of a farmer, who does not even have a cent of land. Paddy procured at a cheaper rate from neighbouring states was projected as the produce from Telangana. Rice meant for ration shops is being recycled to show that it is freshly milled rice, thereby swindling thousands of crores, he alleged.
Oil prices jumped $2 on Monday as Ukrainian forces dug in against heavy Russian attacks, while major oil producers reported they are struggling to produce their allotted quotas under a supply agreement.

Brent crude futures climbed $1.96, or 1.8 per cent, to $109.89 a barrel at 0039 GMT, adding to a 1.2 per cent rise last Friday.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose $2.09, or 2 per cent, to $106.79, extending a 1.7 per cent jump last Friday.

Prices moved higher after Ukraine's deputy prime minister, Iryna Vershchuk said early on Monday there was no chance that the country's forces would surrender in the besieged eastern port city of Mariupol.

Also read: Zelensky denounces Russian 'terror' as school bombed in Ukraine

With little sign of the conflict easing, the focus returned to whether the market would be able to replace Russian barrels hit by sanctions.

"The market continues to fret about supply disruptions, with data suggesting they are already impacting," ANZ analysts said in a note.

The latest report from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia, together called OPEC+, showed some producers are still falling short of their agreed supply quotas.

OPEC+ missed its production target by more than 1 million barrels per day (bpd) in February, three sources told Reuters, under their pact to boost output by 400,000 bpd each month as they wind back sharp cuts made in 2020.

The two OPEC countries that have the capacity to instantly raise output, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have so far resisted calls from major consuming nations to step up production faster to help drive down oil prices.

The poor supply outlook and high prices prompted the International Energy Agency on Friday to outline ways to cut oil use by 2.7 million bpd within four months - including car-pooling, lower speed limits and cheaper public transport.

That would help offset the 3 million bpd of Russian crude and products that the IEA estimated would be off the market by April.

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Ethnic Rohingya women and children sit by a fire on a beach after their boat was stranded on Idaman Island in East Aceh, Indonesia, June 4, 2021, after leaving a refugee camp in Bangladesh, officials said. The Biden administration intends to declare that Myanmar's years-long repression of the Rohingya Muslim population is ''genocide,'' U.S. officials said Sunday. AP-Yonhap





The Biden administration intends to declare that Myanmar's years-long repression of the Rohingya Muslim population is ''genocide,'' U.S. officials said Sunday.







Secretary of State Antony Blinken plans to make the long-anticipated designation Monday at an event at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, according to the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the move had not yet been publicly announced.







The designation does not in and of itself portend drastic new measures against Myanmar's military-led government, which has already been hit with multiple layers of U.S. sanctions since the campaign against the Rohingya ethnic minority began in the country's western Rakhine State in 2017.







But it could lead to additional international pressure on the government, which is already facing accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Human rights groups and lawmakers have been pressing both the Trump and Biden administrations to make the designation.







At least one member of Congress, Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, welcomed the anticipated step, as did Refugees International.







''I applaud the Biden administration for finally recognizing the atrocities committed against the Rohingya as genocide,'' he said in a statement released immediately after the State Department announced that Blinken would deliver remarks on Myanmar at the Holocaust Museum on Monday and tour an exhibit entitled ''Burma's Path to Genocide.'' Myanmar is also known as Burma.







''While this determination is long overdue, it is nevertheless a powerful and critically important step in holding this brutal regime to account,'' Merkley said. ''Such processes must always be carried out objectively, consistently, and in a way that transcends geopolitical considerations.''







Rohingya refugees sit in a wooden boat as it arrives at Krueng Geukueh Port in North Aceh, Indonesia, Dec. 30, 2021. AP-Yonhap





The humanitarian group Refugees International also praised the move. ''The U.S. genocide declaration is a welcome and profoundly meaningful step,'' the group said in a statement. ''It is also a solid sign of commitment to justice for all the people who continue to face abuses by the military junta to this very today.''







Merkley called on the administration to continue the pressure campaign on Myanmar by imposing additional sanctions on the government to include its oil and gas sectors. ''America must lead the world to make it clear that atrocities like these will never be allowed to be buried unnoticed, no matter where they occur,'' he said.







More than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled from Buddhist-majority Myanmar to refugee camps in Bangladesh since August 2017, when the Myanmar military launched a clearance operation in response to attacks by a rebel group. Myanmar security forces have been accused of mass rapes, killings and the burning of thousands of homes. (AP)


A Moscow court on Monday banned Facebook and Instagram as "extremist" organisations, after authorities accused US tech giant Meta of tolerating "Russophobia" during the conflict in Ukraine.

The Tverskoi district court said it had agreed to a request from prosecutors for the two social media platforms to be banned for "carrying out extremist activities", but that Meta's WhatsApp messenger service would not be prohibited because it is not a public platform.

The move is part of sweeping efforts by Moscow to crack down on social media amid its military action in pro-Western Ukraine.

During Monday's hearing, Russia's FSB security service accused Meta of working against Moscow's interests during the conflict. "The activities of the Meta organisation are directed against Russia and its armed forces," FSB representative Igor Kovalevsky told the court, Russian news agencies reported.

Also Read  Russia curbs Instagram over 'death to invaders' posting rule

"We ask (the court) to ban Meta's activities and oblige it to implement this ruling immediately," he said.

After President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, authorities blocked access in Russia to Facebook and Instagram, as well as to Twitter.

Meta had announced on March 10 that the platforms would allow statements like "death to Russian invaders" but not credible threats against civilians.

But in what appeared to be damage control, Meta's global affairs president, Nick Clegg, later said the laxer rules would only apply to people posting from inside Ukraine.

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A day after a 51-year-old theatre actor suffered an acid attack, Nandini Layout police have arrested three people in the case.

Police said the victim, who suffered 20 per cent burns on her face and back, is being treated at the burns ward at Victoria Hospital. Based on her complaint, police arrested Ramesh, 41, Swati, 36, and Yogesh, 35.

The victim had quit her job as a BMTC conductor on health grounds and had taken up a career in acting.

She started working for a drama company where the accused also works. Ramesh and Swati were the victims co-actors, while Yogesh is an autorickshaw driver.

Police said the victim had made allegations about a relationship between Ramesh and Swati, which angered them. They contracted Yogesh to carry out the acid attack in the hope that the burn scars on her face will cut short her acting career.

Ramesh and Swati allegedly paid Yogesh Rs 10,000 to carry out the attack.

They kept track of the womans activities. In the early hours of March 18, Ramesh drove Yogesh to her house. After Yogesh threw acid on the actress face, they fled the scene. The actor was sleeping with her two children in her house in Nandini Layout when the incident occurred.

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Actor Sonam Kapoor Ahuja on Monday announced that she is expecting her first child with businessman husband Anand Ahuja. The star, known for her work in films like Neerja, Raanjhanaa and Delhi 6, took to Instagram and posted a series of pictures with Anand.

The 36-year-old actor is expected to welcome the baby later this year.

"Four hands. To raise you the very best we can. Two hearts. That will beat in unison with yours, every step of the way. One family. Who will shower you with love and support. We can't wait to welcome you. #everydayphenomenal #comingthisfall2022," Sonam wrote.

Sonam and Anand tied the knot in 2018. She last starred in the 2019 comedy The Zoya Factor, co-starring Dulquer Salmaan.

On the professional front, Sonam will be next seen in filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh-backed thriller Blind.
European Union governments will consider whether to impose an oil embargo on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine as they gather this week with US President Joe Biden for a series of summits designed to harden the West's response to Moscow.

Seeking to force a military withdrawal from Ukraine by Russian President Vladimir Putin, the EU - along with Western allies - has already imposed a panoply of punishing sanctions including a freezing of the assets of the Russian central bank.

"We are working on a fifth round of sanctions and many new names are being proposed," a senior EU diplomat said on condition of anonymity because the discussions are not public.

EU governments will take up the discussion among foreign ministers on Monday, before Biden arrives in Brussels on Thursday for summits with NATO's 30 allies, as well as the EU and in a Group of Seven (G7) format including Japan.

The Kremlin has so far not been moved to change course in Ukraine by four rounds of EU sanctions imposed over the past three weeks, including on 685 Russians and Belarusians and on Russian finance and trade.

Also read: Oil climbs on pressure from Ukraine conflict, tight market

That leaves the bloc with the economically toughest choice of whether to target Russian oil, as the United States and Britain have done but not the 27-nation EU, given its dependence on Russian gas for energy.

Diplomats told Reuters that Baltic countries including Lithuania are pushing for an embargo as the next logical step, while Germany is warning against acting too quickly because of already high energy prices in Europe.

Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. Putin has called Russia's actions a "special operation" meant to demilitarize Ukraine and purge it of what he sees as dangerous nationalists. Ukraine and the West say Putin launched an aggressive war of choice.

France says 'no taboos' on sanctions

Moscow has warned that EU sanctions on Russian oil could prompt it to close a major gas pipeline to Europe. The EU relies on Russia for 40% of its gas, with Germany among the most dependent of the EU's large economies.

Germany is also the largest EU buyer of Russian crude.

Bulgaria, which is almost completely dependent on gas supplies from Russia's Gazprom, has said it might seek an opt-out. Bulgaria's sole oil refinery is owned by Russia's LUKOIL and provides over 60% of the fuel used in the Balkan country.

All EU sanctions decisions require consensus. France, which heads the EU's six-month presidency, will likely prove crucial.

President Emmanuel Macron has said that if the situation worsens in Ukraine - where thousands have been killed, over 5 million people have been displaced and some cities devastated by shelling - there should be no "taboos" in terms of sanctions.

"These sanctions are meant to force President Putin into a new calculation," a French presidency official said. "Among our partners and among the countries trading with Russia, there are some who are more sensitive on the issue of oil and gas. Nevertheless, the president (has) said, there is no taboo."

Diplomats said a Russian chemical weapons attack in Ukraine, or a heavy bombardment of the capital Kyiv, could be a trigger for an energy embargo.
Russia said on Monday it had struck a Kyiv shopping centre with high-precision long-range weapons because it was being used as a rocket store and reloading station by Ukrainian forces.

The Kyiv shopping centre was attacked late on Sunday, killing at least eight people, wrecking nearby buildings and leaving smoking piles of rubble and the twisted wreckage of burned-out cars spread over several hundred metres.

"The areas near the shopping centre were used as a large base for storing rocket munitions and for reloading multiple rocket launchers," Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told reporters.

Also Read  Russian court bans Instagram, Facebook as 'extremist'

"High-precision long-range weapons on the night of March 21 destroyed a battery of Ukrainian multiple rocket launchers and a store of ammunition in a non-functioning shopping center," he said.

Konashenkov showed video which he said showed that Ukraine had been using the shopping centre as a weapons store and reloading station.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has killed thousands of people, displaced 10 million and raised fears of a wider confrontation between Russia and the United States.

President Vladimir Putin says the "special military operation" in Ukraine is necessary because the United States was using Ukraine to threaten Russia. Russia, he said, had to defend against the "genocide" of Russian-speaking people by Ukraine.

Ukraine says it is fighting for its existence against a Russian imperial-style land grab and that Putin's claims of genocide are nonsense.

The West has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia that the Kremlin says amount to a declaration of economic war by the United States and its allies. China has called for calm.

Moscow says Western media have given a one-sided version of the war while ignoring Russian narratives.

"We would like to again remind Western media: we have given complete evidence showing that the Kyiv nationalistic regime has used civilian objects in residential areas of Kyiv and in other cities as artillery and rocket system firing positions," Konashenkov said.

Konashenkov said Russia's operation was being carried out by a professional and well-armed forces and denied Ukrainian claims that Russian forces had hit any civilian objects.

He dismissed Ukrainian claims about Russian losses of personnel and equipment as "propaganda lies".

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The mortal remains of Naveen Shekharappa Gyanagoudar arrived in Bengaluru and before reaching his home town of Chalaegri on Monday, with the CM, heads of religious institutions and others playing their last respects to the deceased medical student. Russian forces continued to bombard the besieged coastal city of Mariupol on Sunday and were also deporting thousands of residents to Russia against their will, according to city officials and witnesses. While nearly half the population has left the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv in the first weeks of war, many other residents have chosen to stay. Stay tuned for updates.
There will be consequences for China if it decides to provide substantial military or financial support to the Russians that allow them to escape sanctions, a top American diplomat warned on Sunday.

In a call with Chinas President Xi Jinping on Saturday, US President Joe Biden detailed the implications and consequences if Beijing were to provide material support to Russia in its attacks against Ukraine, the White House has said.

Biden spoke at length with Chinas leader to dissuade Beijing from providing aid to Moscow.

US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told CNN in an interview that Biden was clear about his discussion with Xi, in which he made our position very well-known that there will be consequences if China decides to provide substantial military or financial support to the Russians that allow them to avoid the sanctions.

Also read: Quad countries accepted India's position on conflict in Ukraine: Australia

The conversation was two hours long, but it was extraordinarily frank, it was detailed and substantive. And we made our position clear to the Chinese, she said.

They're in an uncomfortable position. They have been put in a position of defending Russia against our principles of sovereignty and integrity of borders. So, they have to decide where they will go from this point, and not sit on the fence, and call out the Russian aggression for what it is, and not put themselves in the position of defending what is indefensible, Thomas-Greenfield said about Beijing.

Accusing Russia of invading Ukraine in violation of all international norms, she said it is unconscionable for Russia to force Ukrainian citizens into Russia, and put them in what will basically be concentration and prisoner camps.

Scores of Ukrainians from the besieged port city of Mariupol, who were forcibly deported to Russia are "disturbing" and "unconscionable" if true, Thomas-Greenfield asserted.

So, this is something that we need to verify. Russia should not be moving Ukrainian citizens against their will into Russia, she said.

The Russians came to the Security Council on Friday with these spurious accusations that the US was supporting Ukraine's chemical weapons programmes. And I'm not going to give that any more amplification here. What we see happening is, again, this is a false flag effort by the Russians. They are advancing what they might intend to do, Thomas-Greenfield said.

We have seen it happen before. They are the ones who've used chemical weapons. They used them in Syria. They have used chemical weapons against their own people. And we are concerned that they may use chemical weapons in Ukraine, she added.

Russia will face more consequences from the US if it uses chemical weapons in its invasion of Ukraine, Thomas-Greenfield warned further.

We have been clear, if they escalate to this level, we will respond aggressively to what they are doing. You have seen the consequences so far of our actions against Russia and against Putin. And they are feeling those consequences. And they will feel more if they take this unfortunate decision to use chemical weapons, she added.

The US had found that the Putin regime used chemical weapons in the poisoning of opposition leader and fierce Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny in 2020, and in 2018 against Sergei and Yulia Skripal in England.
Ukraine on Monday rejected Russian calls to surrender the port city of Mariupol, where residents are besieged with little food, water and power in a humanitarian crisis that is increasing pressure on European leaders to toughen sanctions on Moscow.

Ukraine's government defiantly rejected Russian calls for Ukrainian forces in Mariupol to lay down their arms in exchange for safe passage out of the city and humanitarian corridors to be opened from 1000 Moscow time (1230 IST) on Monday.

"There can be no question of any surrender, laying down of arms," the Ukrainska Pravda news portal cited Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk as saying.

Also read: Zelensky denounces Russian 'terror' as school bombed in Ukraine

"We have already informed the Russian side about this."

Mariupol has suffered some of the heaviest bombardments since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. Many of its 400,000 residents remain trapped as fighting rages on the streets around them.

Vereshchuk said over 7,000 people were evacuated from Ukrainian cities through humanitarian corridors on Sunday, more than half from Mariupol. She said the government planned to send nearly 50 buses there on Monday for further evacuations.

Russia and Ukraine have made agreements throughout the war on humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians, but have accused each other of frequent violations of those.

Also Read | Biden to travel to Poland on Friday to discuss Ukraine crisis

The crisis in Mariupol and other devastated Ukrainian cities is likely to feature heavily in discussions between European Union leaders this week as they consider imposing tougher sanctions on Russia including an oil embargo.

EU governments will take up the discussion among foreign ministers on Monday, before US President Joe Biden arrives in Brussels on Thursday for summits with NATO's 30 allies, as well as the EU and in a Group of Seven (G7) format including Japan.

Diplomats told Reuters that Baltic countries including Lithuania are pushing for an embargo as the next logical step, while Germany is warning against acting too quickly because of already high energy prices in Europe.

In his latest appeal for help from abroad, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the Israeli parliament by video link on Sunday and questioned Israel's reluctance to sell its Iron Dome missile defence system to Ukraine.

"Everybody knows that your missile defence systems are the best ... and that you can definitely help our people, save the lives of Ukrainians, of Ukrainian Jews," said Zelenskyy, who is of Jewish heritage.

Zelenskyy also welcomed the mediation efforts of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who has held numerous calls with him and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He said in his daily video address to Ukrainians that "sooner or later we will begin to have talks with Russia, possibly in Jerusalem".

Mariupol's council said on Telegram that several thousand residents had been "deported" to Russia over the past week. Russian news agencies said buses had carried hundreds of refugees from Mariupol to Russia in recent days.

U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told CNN the deportation accounts were "disturbing" and "unconscionable" if true, but said Washington had not yet confirmed them.

Reuters could not independently verify the claims. Russia denies targeting civilians.

Greece's consul general in Mariupol, the last EU diplomat to evacuate the city, said it was joining the ranks of places known for having been destroyed in wars.

"What I saw, I hope no one will ever see," he said.

Kyiv and Moscow reported some progress last week toward a political formula that would guarantee Ukraine's security, while keeping it outside NATO - a key Russian demand - though each side accused the other of dragging things out.

Few advances

Capturing Mariupol would help Russian forces secure a land corridor to the Crimea peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Putin says Russia's "special operation" is aimed at disarming Ukraine and rooting out dangerous nationalists. Western nations call it an aggressive war of choice and have imposed punishing sanctions aimed at crippling Russia's economy.

Ukraine and its Western backers say Russian ground forces have made few advances in the last week, concentrating instead on artillery and missile strikes.

Zelenskyy's adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said on Sunday there had been a relative lull over the past 24 hours, with "practically no rocket strikes on cities". He said front lines were "practically frozen".

Three civilians were killed and five were injured as a result of Russian shelling on Sunday in the east of the country, said Pavel Kirilenko, head of the Donetsk regional military administration. In the Kharkiv region one person was killed and one injured, and in Luhansk region two were killed and one injured.

In the capital Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported several explosions in Podil district and said rescue teams were putting out a large fire at the shopping centre. He said at least one person was killed.

Reuters was not able to verify the reports.

The UN human rights office said at least 902 civilians had been killed as of Saturday, though the real toll was probably much higher.

A five km area around a chemicals plant in the besieged northeastern city of Sumy the plant was hazardous due to an ammonia leak, Sumy regional Governor Dmytro Zhyvytskyy said. It was not known what caused the leak.

About 10 million Ukrainians had been displaced, including some 3.4 million who have fled to neighbouring countries such as Poland, the U.N. refugee agency said.

In the southern city of Kherson, video seen by Reuters showed dozens of protesters, some wrapped in Ukraine's blue-and-yellow flag, chanting "Go home" in Russian at two military vehicles with Russian markings. The vehicles turned and left.

"I want the war to be over, I want them (Russian forces) to leave Ukraine in peace," said Margarita Morozova, 87, who survived Nazi Germany's siege of Leningrad in World War Two and has lived in Kharkiv, eastern Ukraine, for the past 60 years.

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Russian and Ukrainian forces fought for control of the port city of Mariupol on Sunday, local authorities said, while President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed to Israel for help pushing back the Russian assault on his country.

During a video link address to the Israeli parliament, Zelenskyy questioned Israel's reluctance to sell its Iron Dome missile defence system to Ukraine. It was the latest in a series of appeals he has made for help from abroad.

"Everybody knows that your missile defence systems are the best... and that you can definitely help our people, save the lives of Ukrainians, of Ukrainian Jews," said Zelenskyy, who is of Jewish heritage.

Also read: Ready for talks with Putin talks but failure could mean World War III, says Zelenskyy

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has held numerous calls with both Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin in recent weeks to try to end the conflict.

In Mariupol, which has suffered some of the heaviest bombardment since Russia launched its invasion on Feb. 24, many of its 400,000 residents remain trapped in the city with little if any food, water and power.

Fighting continued inside the city on Sunday, regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said, without elaborating.

Capturing Mariupol would help Russian forces secure a land corridor to the Crimea peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

The city council said on its Telegram channel late on Saturday that several thousand residents had been "deported" to Russia over the past week. Russian news agencies said buses had carried hundreds of people Moscow calls refugees from Mariupol to Russia in recent days.

Russian forces bombed an art school on Saturday in which 400 residents were sheltering, but the number of casualties was not yet known, Mariupol's council said.

Reuters could not independently verify the claims.

Russia denies targeting civilians.

Zelenskyy said the siege of Mariupol was a war crime.

"To do this to a peaceful city... is a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come," he said in an address late on Saturday.

Also Read  10 million have fled their homes in Ukraine: UN

Putin says Russia's "special operation" is aimed at disarming Ukraine and rooting out people he terms dangerous nationalists. Western nations call it an aggressive war of choice and have imposed punishing sanctions aimed at crippling Russia's economy.

Ukraine and its Western backers say Russian ground forces have made few advances in the last week, concentrating their efforts instead on artillery and missile strikes.

Zelenskyy's adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said there had been a relative lull in the conflict over the past 24 hours, with "practically no rocket strikes on (Ukrainian) cities". He said front lines were "practically frozen".

The UN refugee agency said 10 million people had now been displaced across Ukraine, including some 3.4 million who have fled to neighbouring countries such as Poland. Officials in the region said they were reaching capacity to comfortably house refugees.

'What are they doing here?'

The UN human rights office said at least 902 civilians had been killed in the war as of midnight Saturday, though it says the real toll is probably much higher. Ukrainian prosecutors said 112 children had been killed.

"I want the war to be over, I want them (Russian forces) to leave Ukraine in peace," said Margarita Morozova, 87, who survived Nazi Germany's siege of Leningrad in World War Two and has lived in Kharkiv, eastern Ukraine, for the past 60 years.

"Ukraine is an independent country. What are they doing here?"

Russia's defence ministry said cruise missiles were launched from ships in the Black Sea and Caspian Sea, as well as hypersonic missiles from Crimean airspace.

Also Read | In Russia-Ukraine conflict, an opportunity for India

The hypersonic missiles travel faster than five times the speed of sound and their speed, manoeuvrability and altitude make them difficult to track and intercept.

They were deployed by Russia for the first time in Ukraine on Saturday, Russia's Interfax news agency reported, in a strike which Moscow said destroyed a large underground depot for missiles and aircraft ammunition.

A spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force Command confirmed the attack in the western Ivano-Frankivsk region, but said the Ukrainian side had no information on the type of missiles used.

In the southern city of Kherson, a video clip obtained by Reuters showed dozens of protesters, some wrapped in Ukraine's blue and yellow national flag, chanting "Go home" in Russian to two military vehicles bearing Russian markings. The vehicles then turned and left the area.

Diplomacy

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu of Turkey, which like Israel has tried to mediate in the conflict, said Russia and Ukraine were getting closer to agreement on "critical" issues.

Kyiv and Moscow reported some progress in talks last week toward a political formula that would guarantee Ukraine's security, while keeping it outside NATO - a key Russian demand - though each side accused the other of dragging things out.

Also Read | Russia-Ukraine crisis: Women suffer the brunt of war

Russian forces have also taken heavy losses in the war, and long columns of troops that bore down on the capital Kyiv have been halted in the suburbs. Ukraine's military said on Sunday Moscow's combat losses included 14,700 personnel and 476 tanks.

Russia last acknowledged on March 2 that nearly 500 of its soldiers had been killed. Reuters has not been able to independently verify the death count.

Zelenskyy's office said Ukraine sees risks of an attack launched from Belarus on the western Volyn region, which lies to the north of the city of Lviv. It was not clear whether Ukraine saw such an attack coming from Russian or Belarusian forces.

While Belarus is a close ally of Putin's and has served as a staging post for Russian forces, it has so far not publicly committed troops to supporting Russia.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that Israel was undertaking many efforts to arrange top-level peace talks between his country and Russia and suggested they might take place in Jerusalem.

Zelenskyy, speaking in his daily video appeal to Ukrainians after addressing Israel's parliament by video link, said Prime Minister Naftali Bennett had been trying to act as an intermediary between Kyiv and Moscow.

"Of course, Israel has its interests, strategy to protect its citizens. We understand all of it," said Zelenskyy, seated at a desk in his trademark khaki T-shirt.

"The prime minister of Israel, Mr. Bennett is trying to find a way of holding talks. And we are grateful for this. We are grateful for his efforts, so that sooner or later we will begin to have talks with Russia, possibly in Jerusalem.

"That's the right place to find peace. If possible.

Also read: Ukraine says no to Russia demands of laying down arms in Mariupol

In the past week, Bennett has intensified his efforts to bring the two sides together and has spoken on several occasions to both Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Last week, he flew in secret to Moscow to meet the Kremlin leader.

Zelenskyy, who is Jewish, also addressed again the Russian accusation that he heads an administration that espouses "Nazism".

Switching from his usual Ukrainian to Russian in his remarks, he said: "Russian propagandists have a tough job on their hands today. For the first time, a Ukrainian president spoke to the parliament of Israel and, by video recording, to the people of Israel, a Ukrainian accused of Nazism by Moscow. "This very fact already proves that things are not as Moscow says."

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivers a video address in Kyiv in this handout picture released by the Ukrainian Presidency Press Office. Zelenskyy renewed his plea for talks with his Russian counterpart, taking to U.S. television to say negotiations were the only way to "end this war," March 20. AFP-Yonhap



Ukrainian authorities said the Russian military bombed an art school where about 400 people had taken refuge in the port city of Mariupol, where President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said an unrelenting siege by Russian troops would go down in history for what he said were war crimes.



Local authorities said the school's building was destroyed and people could remain under the rubble. There was no immediate word on casualties. Russian forces also bombed a theater in Mariupol, Wednesday, where civilians were sheltering, the authorities have said.



''To do this to a peaceful city, what the occupiers did, is a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come,'' Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address to the nation.



Mariupol, a strategic port on the Azov Sea, has been under bombardment for at least three weeks and become a symbol of the horror of Russia's war in Ukraine. Local authorities have said the siege has cut off food, water and energy supplies, and killed at least 2,300 people, some of whom had to be buried in mass graves.



Russian forces have surrounded the battered city and pushed deeper into it in recent days. Heavy fighting shut down a major steel plant and local authorities pleaded for more Western help Saturday.



''Children, elderly people are dying. The city is destroyed and it is wiped off the face of the earth,'' Mariupol police officer Michail Vershnin said from a rubble-strewn street in a video addressed to Western leaders that was authenticated by The Associated Press.





People walk past a severely damaged school after Russian shelling in Zhytomyr, north-west Ukraine, March 20. EPA-Yonhap



The fall of Mariupol, the scene of some of the war's worst suffering, would mark a major battlefield advance for the Russians, whose advance is largely stalled outside other major cities more than three weeks into the biggest land invasion in Europe since World War II.



In the capital, Kyiv, at least 20 babies carried by Ukrainian surrogate mothers are stuck in a makeshift bomb shelter, waiting for parents to travel into the war zone to pick them up. Some just days old, the babies are being cared for by nurses who cannot leave the shelter because of constant shelling by Russian troops who are trying to encircle the city.



Details also began to emerge about a rocket attack that killed as many as 40 marines in the Black Sea port city of Mykolaiv on Friday, according to a Ukrainian military official who spoke to The New York Times. It wasn't clear how many marines were inside at the time, and rescuers continued searching the rubble of the barracks.



A senior Ukrainian military official, who spoke to the Times on condition of anonymity to reveal sensitive information, estimated that as many as 40 marines were killed, which would make it one of the deadliest known attacks on Ukrainian forces during the war.



Meanwhile the Russian military reported Sunday that it had carried out a new series of strikes on Ukrainian military facilities with long-range hypersonic and cruise missiles.



The Russian Defense Ministry's spokesman, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, said a Kinzhal hypersonic missile hit a Ukrainian fuel depot in Kostiantynivka, a city near Mykolaiv. The Russian military said Saturday that it used a Kinzhal for the first time in combat to destroy an ammunition depot in Diliatyn in the Carpathian Mountains in western Ukraine.



Russia has said the Kinzhal, carried by MiG-31 fighter jets, has a range of up to 2,000 kilometers (about 1,250 miles) and flies at 10 times the speed of sound. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Saturday that the U.S. couldn't confirm the use of a hypersonic missile in Ukraine.



Konashenkov said Kalibr cruise missiles launched by Russian warships from the Caspian Sea were also involved in the strike on the fuel depot in Kostiantynivka and were used to destroy an armor repair plant in Nizhyn in the Chernihiv region in northern Ukraine.



Despite the siege in Mariupol and the geographic scope of Russia's assault, many remained struck by Ukraine's ability to hold back its much bigger, better-armed foe. The United Kingdom's Defense Ministry said Ukraine's airspace continued to be effectively defended.









''Gaining control of the air was one of Russia's principal objectives for the opening days of the conflict and their continued failure to do so has significantly blunted their operational progress,'' the ministry said on Twitter.



Russia is now relying on stand-off weapons launched from the relative safety of Russian airspace to strike targets within Ukraine, the British ministry said.



Estimates of Russian deaths vary widely, but even conservative figures are in the low thousands. Russia had 64 deaths in five days of fighting during its 2008 war with Georgia. It lost about 15,000 in Afghanistan over 10 years, and more than 11,000 in years of fighting in Chechnya.



Russia's number of dead and wounded in Ukraine is nearing the 10% benchmark of diminished combat effectiveness, said Dmitry Gorenburg, a researcher on Russia's security at the Virginia-based CNA think tank. The reported battlefield deaths of four Russian generals  out of an estimated 20 in the fight  signal impaired command, Gorenburg said.



Russia would need 800,000 troops  almost equal to its entire active-duty military  to control Ukraine long-term in the face of armed opposition, said Michael Clarke, former head of the British-based Royal United Services Institute, a defense think tank.



''Unless the Russians intend to be completely genocidal  they could flatten all the major cities, and Ukrainians will rise up against Russian occupation  there will be just constant guerrilla war,'' said Clarke.





Refugees rest in a ballroom, which has been converted to a temporary shelter, at the Mandachi Hotel after fleeing from Ukraine to Romania, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, at the border crossing in Suceava, Romania, March 20. Reuters-Yonhap
The Biden administration intends to declare that Myanmar's years-long repression of the Rohingya Muslim population is a genocide," US officials said Sunday.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken plans to make the long-anticipated designation on Monday at an event at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, according to the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the move had not yet been publicly announced.

The designation does not in and of itself portend drastic new measures against Myanmar's military-led government, which has already been hit with multiple layers of US sanctions since the campaign against the Rohingya ethnic minority began in the country's western Rakhine state in 2017.

But it could lead to additional international pressure on the government, which is already facing accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Human rights groups and lawmakers have been pressing both the Trump and Biden administrations to make the designation.

Also read: Myanmar army engaged in torture, mass killings, war crimes: UN

At least one member of Congress, Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, welcomed the anticipated step, as did Refugees International.

I applaud the Biden administration for finally recognizing the atrocities committed against the Rohingya as genocide," he said in a statement released immediately after the State Department announced that Blinken would deliver remarks on Myanmar at the Holocaust Museum on Monday and tour an exhibit entitled Burma's Path to Genocide. Myanmar is also known as Burma.

While this determination is long overdue, it is nevertheless a powerful and critically important step in holding this brutal regime to account," Merkley said. Such processes must always be carried out objectively, consistently, and in a way that transcends geopolitical considerations.

The humanitarian group Refugees International also praised the move. The US genocide declaration is a welcome and profoundly meaningful step, the group said in a statement. It is also a solid sign of commitment to justice for all the people who continue to face abuses by the military junta to this very today.

Merkley called on the administration to continue the pressure campaign on Myanmar by imposing additional sanctions on the government to include its oil and gas sectors. America must lead the world to make it clear that atrocities like these will never be allowed to be buried unnoticed, no matter where they occur, he said.

More than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled from Buddhist-majority Myanmar to refugee camps in Bangladesh since August 2017, when the Myanmar military launched a clearance operation in response to attacks by a rebel group. Myanmar security forces have been accused of mass rapes, killings and the burning of thousands of homes.

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US President Joe Biden will travel to Poland on Friday to meet with President Andrzej Duda for discussions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the White House said Sunday.

Track updates on Russia, Ukraine here

"The President will discuss how the United States, alongside our Allies and partners, is responding to the humanitarian and human rights crisis that Russia's unjustified and unprovoked war on Ukraine has created," the White House said in a statement, adding that Biden's trip will come after a visit to Belgium to meet with leaders from NATO, the G7 and the European Union.

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The Myanmar military launched a ferocious crackdown against the country's Rohingya Muslim population in 2017, driving around 740,000 into neighbouring Bangladesh.

On Monday US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due to officially announce the decision to designate that crackdown a genocide.

Here are key dates in the crisis:

On August 25, 2017, Rohingya militants staged coordinated attacks on police posts in Myanmar's Rakhine state, killing at least a dozen officers.

The army retaliates with operations in Rohingya villages ostensibly to flush out insurgents.

It says it killed 400 rebels but opponents say most of the dead were civilians.

The United Nations says at least 1,000 people lost their lives in the first two weeks of the military operations.

By September 5 more than 120,000 Rohingya have fled into Bangladesh, overwhelming its ill-equipped refugee camps.

There are already at least 200,000 Rohingya in Bangladesh from previous waves of violence.

International anger mounts against Myanmar. Soldiers are accused of razing Rohingya homes and some world leaders allege "ethnic cleansing".

In her first statement on the crisis, Myanmar's civilian leader and Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi pledges on September 19 to hold rights violators to account but refuses to blame the army.

Bangladesh and Myanmar on November 23 agree to start repatriating refugees.

But the UN High Commissioner for Refugees says conditions are not in place for their safe return and the process halts.

UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein on December 5 warns of possible "elements of genocide" and calls for an international investigation.

On August 25, 2018, tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees stage protests to mark the first anniversary of their exodus.

UN investigators call for the prosecution of Myanmar's army chief and five other top military commanders for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

In November an attempt to repatriate 2,260 Rohingya fails as they refuse to leave without guarantees for their safety.

On September 3, two Reuters journalists who are accused of breaching Myanmar's state secrets law while reporting on a Rohingya massacre are jailed for seven years.

They will spend more than 500 days behind bars before being released on a presidential pardon.

On July 16, 2019, Washington announces sanctions against Myanmar's army chief and three other top officers.

About 3,500 Rohingya refugees are cleared to return home but none turn up to make the journey on August 22.

On November 11 The Gambia files a lawsuit at the ICJ accusing Myanmar of genocide for its treatment of the Rohingya.

Three days later the separate Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) green-lights a full investigation into the persecution of the Rohingya.

In the same week, a third case is filed by rights groups in Argentina under the principle of universal jurisdiction.

On December 10 The Gambia lays out its case at the ICJ with Suu Kyi personally leading Myanmar's defence.

She refutes accusations of genocide, denying "misleading and incomplete" claims and insisting Myanmar is dealing with an "internal armed conflict".

She admits the army may have used excessive force.

Delivering its ruling on January 23, 2020, the ICJ orders Myanmar to take urgent steps to prevent alleged genocide and to report back within four months.

In February 2021 Myanmar's legal team -- minus Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest following a military coup -- argues the court has no jurisdiction over the case, and must throw it out before it moves on to substantive hearings.

The ICJ judges must now decide whether the court has the jurisdiction to proceed.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due to officially announce the decision to designate that crackdown a genocide in remarks at the Holocaust Museum in Washington on Monday.

The move could be followed by further sanctions and limits on aid, among other penalties against the already-isolated military junta, according to media reports.

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New Zealand said on Monday it will provide Ukraine with a further NZ$5 million ($3.46 million) in funds and non-lethal military assistance including some surplus equipment.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the money would be primarily directed to a NATO Trust Fund that provides fuel, rations, communication equipment and first aid kits to support Ukraine as its battles Russian forces that invaded on Feb. 24.

"We consider what is happening in Ukraine as a massive disruption to the international rules-based order and because of that it impacts all of us and that's why we have taken these extraordinary measures," Ardern told a news conference.

Follow live Ukraine-Russia crisis updates here

The New Zealand Defence Force will provide tactical equipment such as body armour, helmets and vests that are surplus to requirements, she said.

This brings New Zealand's total assistance to Ukraine to NZ$11 million.

New Zealand has also imposed sanctions on Russia and arranged a special visa for Ukrainians with New Zealand connections.

Russia calls its action in Ukraine a "special operation".

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A community event and car show in a small Arkansas farming community became a scene of horror Saturday night, as two people engaged in a gunfight and sprayed the crowd with bullets, killing one bystander and injuring 27 other people, including six children.

Survivors said the violence erupted with a startling suddenness. You went from laughing and talking and eating and everything to random firing, said Candace McKinzie, 26, one of the organizers of the event. McKinzie said that she was eating a funnel cake at a booth when she heard a series of pops and soon saw a stampede of people running and tripping over one another.

Saturdays incident was the largest mass shooting event in the United States in 2022 so far, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit data collection organization.

The shooting in Dumas, a city of 4,000 people about 90 miles southeast of Little Rock, ruined a beloved local event called Hood-Nic, for neighbourhood picnic, hosted by a foundation that offers tutoring, backpacks and scholarships to first-time college students, according to its website.

At a news conference Sunday afternoon, police did not give details about the reasons the suspects began fighting or their relationship to each other. Col. Bill Bryant, director of the Arkansas State Police, said that both men remained at large.

Jessica Bass, a Dumas resident, said she believed she saw the start of the altercation, as one man punched another man. The man who was punched, she said, turned and pulled out a handgun and shot the other man in the chest. Her account has not been verified by law enforcement.

Arkansas Childrens Hospital in Little Rock treated six patients under the age of 18 who had gunshot wounds, said Hilary DeMillo, a hospital spokeswoman. Most of the patients were treated and released by late Sunday morning. Kris Love-Keys, chief development officer for the Hood-Nic Foundation, a local nonprofit that organized the car show, said that the youngest child hurt was 1 year old, the oldest 11.

Bryant identified the dead victim as Cameron Shaffer, 23, of Jackson, Arkansas. He said local police arrested one person who left the scene and fit the general description of one of the suspects. But the arrest, Bryant said, was on charges unrelated to the shooting.

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A China Eastern passenger jet carrying 132 people crashed onto a mountainside in southern China on Monday causing a large fire, shortly after losing contact with air traffic control and dropping thousands of metres in just three minutes.

There was no immediate confirmation of the number of casualties, but the disaster prompted an unusually swift public reaction from President Xi Jinping who said he was "shocked" and ordered an immediate investigation into its cause.

The Boeing 737 flight from Kunming city to the southern hub of Guangzhou "lost airborne contact over Wuzhou" city in the Guangxi region on Monday afternoon, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

"It has been confirmed that this flight has crashed," the CAAC said, adding that it had activated its emergency response, while hundreds of firefighters were dispatched to the scene.

The plane was carrying 123 passengers and nine crew members, the CAAC said.

Fears for the fate of the jet spread on Monday afternoon as local media reported that China Eastern flight MU5735 had not arrived as planned in Guangzhou after taking off from Kunming shortly after 1:00 pm (0500 GMT).

Flight tracking website FlightRadar24 showed no data for the flight after 2:22 pm.

The tracker showed the plane had sharply dropped from an altitude of 29,100 feet to 3,225 feet in the span of three minutes before flight information stopped.

State broadcaster CCTV said the crash "caused a mountain fire" which was later extinguished, as rescuers poured to the scene in Teng county near Wuzhou.

One villager told a local news site that the plane involved in the crash had "completely fallen apart" and he had seen nearby forest areas destroyed by a fire caused when the plane crashed onto the mountainside.

China Eastern changed its website to black and white colours on Monday afternoon and opened an emergency assistance phone number.

President Xi called for "all efforts" towards the rescue and to find out the "cause of the accident as soon as possible", according to state broadcaster CCTV.

"We are shocked to learn of the China Eastern U5735 accident," he said.

A villager surnamed Liu told state-run China News Service that he had driven a motorbike to the scene after hearing a loud explosion.

He said he saw debris on the ground, including an aircraft wing and fragments of clothing hanging from trees.

China had enjoyed an enviable air safety record in recent years as the country was crisscrossed by newly built airports and serviced by new airlines established to match breakneck growth over the last few decades.

A Henan Airlines flight crashed in northeastern Heilongjiang province in 2010, killing at least 42 out of 92 people on board, although the final toll was never confirmed. It was the last Chinese commercial passenger flight crash that caused civilian casualties.

The deadliest Chinese commercial flight crash was a China Northwest Airlines crash in 1994, which killed all 160 onboard.

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BJP on Monday announced the names of six more candidates for the biennial Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council elections scheduled to take place on April 9.

The party had earlier announced 30 candidates for the biennial polls.

Subhash Yaduvansh has been fielded from Basti-Siddharthnagar local authority constituency, Avinash Singh Chauhan from Kanpur-Fatehpur, Vineet Singh from Mirzapur-Sonbhadra, Shailendra Pratap Singh from Sultanpur, Sudama Singh Patel from Varanasi and Brajesh Singh Pranshu has been fielded from Jaunpur, according to the list released by the party's national general secretary Arun Singh.

Also Read | BJP's list for UP Council polls includes turncoats

Yaduvansh is a secretary in the UP BJP and has been a former state president of BJP Yuva Morcha, while Chauhan and Patel are also associated with the party's organisation.

Vineet Singh who has been fielded from Mirzapur-Sonbhadra has been MLC in the past but was defeated in 2016.

Shailendra Pratap Singh, who won from the SP in Sultanpur, had joined the BJP some time back. while Brajesh Singh of Jaunpur won as an independent last time.

The polling for the 36 seats will be held on April 9 and the last date of nomination is March 21. The counting will be held on April 12.

According to the official website of the UP Vidhan Sabha, the BJP has 35 MLCs, SP 17 and the BSP four at present in the 100-member UP legislative council.

The Congress, Apna Dal (Sonelal) and Nishad party have one member each.

The Teachers' group has two MLCs while the "Independent Group" ('Nirdal Samooh') and independents have one MLC each.

The UP Vidhan Sabha's 36 seats fell vacant on March 7 after the expiry of terms of its members while the 37th seat fell vacant following the death of the Leader of Opposition Ahmad Hassan of the Samajwadi Party, after a prolonged illness.

For the 36 seats falling vacant on March 7, the Election Commission had issued the notification on January 28 for the polls to be held earlier.

It, however, had to be deferred due to the state assembly polls.

In the recent UP assembly elections, the BJP had won 255 seats while its allies Apna Dal (Sonelal) and Nishad party won 12 and six seats respectively.

The Samajwadi Party won 111 seats while its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal won eight. The SBSP, another SP ally, won six seats.

The Congress won two seats and the BSP one seat.

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The Union Cabinet approved the continuation of the National AIDS and STD Control Programme from April 1, 2021, to March 31, 2026, with a budget of Rs 15,471.94 crore, the health ministry said on Monday.

The programme is fully funded by the Government of India and is at present in its fifth phase. The national AIDS response was initiated by the Indian government in 1992 with the launch of the first phase of the National AIDS and STD Control Programme (NACP). The Phase-IV (Extension) of NACP concluded on March 31, 2021.

The NACP is globally considered to be an extremely successful programme, the ministry said in a statement.

The annual new HIV infections in India have declined by 48 per cent against the global average of 31 per cent (the baseline year of 2010), while the annual AIDS-related deaths have declined by 82 per cent against the global average of 42 per cent (the baseline year of 2010), it said.

As a result, the HIV prevalence in India continues to be low with an adult HIV prevalence of 0.22 per cent, the statement said.

Also Read  First woman reported cured of HIV after stem cell transplant

The ministry attributed the success of the programme to several initiatives, like the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Act (2017), test and treat policy, Universal Viral Load Testing, Mission Sampark, Community-Based Screening, and transition to Dolutegravir-based Treatment Regimen.

As a result, it said, around 14.20 lakh people living with HIV (PLHIV) are taking lifelong, free, high-quality anti-retroviral treatment (ART) from the programme supported facilities, making it one of the worlds largest cohorts of PLHIV under government-funded treatment programmes.

The ministry said the current phase will bring the country towards achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 3.3, which envisions ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030.

Under the programme, the ministry said, around 8 crore people will be covered annually with prevention-detection-treatment services and more than 99.5 per cent of the adult population will be kept HIV free. In this phase, around 27 crore HIV tests will be undertaken, including around 14 crore among pregnant women.

By the end of this phase, 21 lakh HIV infected people will be on anti-retroviral treatment and around 80 lakh viral load tests will be conducted among on-ART HIV infected people to monitor the effectiveness of treatment, the statement said. The programme will offer these services without any stigma and discrimination promoting equity and inclusiveness the statement said.

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India and Australia on Monday agreed that the Russia-Ukraine conflict should not divert their attention from dealing with the belligerence of China in the Indo-Pacific region.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison had a virtual summit. Apart from reviewing the bilateral relations between the two nations, they exchanged views on both Russias military operations in Ukraine and Chinas aggression against India along the Line of Actual Control between the two nations and against other countries in the Indo-Pacific region. Morrison termed Russias invasion of Ukraine as unlawful while making a statement at the beginning. Modi, however, refrained from making any comment on the issue during the open session of the summit, thus sticking to New Delhis persistent policy of avoiding any direct criticism of Russia, in view of the long-standing strategic partnership between the two nations.

There was a great deal of comfort in the fact that both of us (India and Australia) saw the fact that the conflict in Europe should not be a reason for us to divert our attention from the Indo-Pacific region, and that our position, as far as the Quad is concerned, also was on similar lines, Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla told journalists after the summit.

Modi had the video call with Morrison just two days after he hosted Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for an in-person summit in New Delhi. Though Kishida nudged Modi to take a tougher line on Russias invasion of Ukraine, Morrison expressed understanding of New Delhis cautious approach and its policy of avoiding criticism of Putin. He (Morrison) also, I think, expressed understanding for India's position on the issue of Ukraine, which he felt definitely reflected our own situation, our own sort of considerations, said Shringla.

Also read: PM Modi thanks Australia for returning stolen artefacts

The summit between Modi and Kishida saw India subtly changing its position and joining Japan in assessing the implication of Russias military offensives in Ukraine on the Indo-Pacific region. New Delhi had earlier rejected the argument put forward by the United States that if Russia could get away with its aggression against Ukraine, it would encourage China to ratchet up its belligerence against India as well as against its maritime neighbours in the Indo-Pacific region.

India had the back-to-back engagements with Japan and Australia just days after a virtual summit of the Quad convened by the United States President Joe Biden had exposed the differences within the four-nation coalition over the Russia-Ukraine conflict. New Delhi had argued during the meeting of the four leaders that the Quad should continue to focus on countering China in the Indo-Pacific region and resisted the US bid to get the coalition to formally condemn Russias military offensives against Ukraine. Though Australia and Japan had supported the US, India had stonewalled inclusion in the joint statement, which had been issued after the summit, inclusion of any direct condemnation of Russia for its military operations in Ukraine.

Shringla said that Modi and Morrison had on Monday referred to the discussion at the March 3 summit of the Quad, where the leaders had a fairly clear perspective that the situation in Ukraine should not impact the Indo-Pacific region and that the focus and priority for the Quad and for our countries should continue to remain on the region as they were.

The Australian Prime Minister was quite clear that as far as he was concerned, the Quads focus was on the Indo-Pacific, added the Foreign Secretary.

Modi shared with Morrison Indias view about the two-year-long military stand-off along its Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China in eastern Ladakh. The Prime Minister emphasized that peace and tranquillity in the border areas was an essential prerequisite for normalization of relations between India and China, Foreign Secretary said, adding that the Australian Prime Minister also shared his perspective of how he saw China and its actions in the region, particularly in the South China Sea.

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The DGCA has put the Boeing 737 fleets of Indian carriers on "enhanced surveillance" after a China Eastern Airlines aircraft of the same make crashed on Monday killing 132 people, its chief Arun Kumar said.

Four Indian carriersSpiceJet, Vistara, Air India and its subsidiary Air India Expresshave Boeing 737 aircraft in their fleets.

Kumar told PTI, "Flight safety is serious business and we are closely studying the situation. In the interim, we are focusing on enhanced surveillance of our 737 fleet."

A Boeing 737-800 aircraft of China Eastern Airlines, which was on its way from Kunming to Guangzhou, crashed in Tengxian County in the city of Wuzhou, killing 123 passengers and nine crew members.

Also Read  Plane carrying 132 passengers crashes in China, Xi orders probe

Boeing 737 Max aircraft is an advanced version of Boeing 737-800 and both belong to the 737 series. The US-based aircraft manufacturer Boeing did not respond to PTI's request for a statement on the matter.

Two Boeing 737 Max aircraft were involved in accidents in a six-month period between October 2018 and March 2019, killing a total of 346 people. Following these two accidents, the DGCA had banned Boeing 737 Max planes in India in March 2019.

After Boeing made necessary software rectifications to the satisfaction of the DGCA, the ban on the aircraft's commercial operations was lifted after 27 months in August last year.

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Demonstrators wave a giant flag of Ukraine alongside other smaller flags of Ukraine and Israel during a protest against Russia's invasion of Ukraine and ahead of a televised address by the Ukrainian president in Israel's Mediterranean coastal city of Tel Aviv, March 20. AFP-Yonhap



Russian and Ukrainian forces fought for the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, Sunday, where residents are trapped with little food, water and power, while Ukraine's president appealed to Israel for help in pushing back Russia's assault.



In the capital, Kyiv, shellfire hit several homes and a shopping center in the Podil district late on Sunday, killing at least one person, the city's mayor said.



In his latest appeal for help from abroad, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the Israeli parliament by video link and questioned Israel's reluctance to sell its Iron Dome missile defense system to Ukraine.



"Everybody knows that your missile defense systems are the best... and that you can definitely help our people, save the lives of Ukrainians, of Ukrainian Jews," said Zelenskyy, who is of Jewish heritage.



Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has held numerous calls with both Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin to try to end the conflict.



Mariupol has suffered some of the heaviest bombardments since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. Many of its 400,000 residents remain trapped with little if any food, water and power.



Burying his neighbors in a makeshift grave by the roadside, a man who identified himself as Andrei said they had died not by shelling but of ailments, stress and cold after weeks without access to medical help.



Fighting continued inside the city Sunday, regional Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said, without elaborating.



Russia called on Ukrainian forces in Mariupol to lay down their arms, saying a "terrible humanitarian catastrophe" was unfolding.



It said defenders who did so were guaranteed safe passage out of the city and humanitarian corridors would be opened from 10:00 a.m. Monday (Moscow time).



Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said over 7,000 people were evacuated from Ukrainian cities through humanitarian corridors Sunday, more than half of them from Mariupol. She said the government planned to send nearly 50 buses to Mariupol for further evacuations Monday.



Russia and Ukraine have made agreements throughout the war on humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians, but have accused each other of frequent violations of those.



Mariupol City Council said on Telegram, Saturday, that several thousand residents had been "deported" to Russia over the past week. Russian news agencies said buses had carried hundreds of refugees from Mariupol to Russia in recent days.



U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told CNN the deportation accounts were "disturbing" and "unconscionable" if true, but said Washington had not yet confirmed them.



Russian forces bombed an art school Saturday in which 400 residents were sheltering, but the number of casualties was not yet known, Mariupol's council said.



Reuters could not independently verify the claims. Russia denies targeting civilians.









On Saturday, Zelenskyy called the siege of Mariupol a war crime and "a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come."



Greece's consul general in Mariupol, the last EU diplomat to evacuate the city, said it was joining the ranks of places known for having been destroyed in wars.



"What I saw, I hope no one will ever see," he said.





Multiple civilian buildings burn amid Russian strikes on the Livoberezhnyi District of Mariupol, Ukraine, March 20, in this satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC. AP-Yonhap
Sighting of house sparrows is a very rare sight these days in many places. But not in Baghajhari, a village in Odisha that has come forward to conserve these threatened species for the past few years.

One can hear the chirping of the little birds and sighting of their fly from nest to nest, which was installed artificially in front of some of the houses in the village in Ganjam district by a local outfit.

Around a decade ago, the Anchalika Bikash Parishad (ABP) collaborated with the Forest Department to start an awareness drive on conservation of the house sparrows in the village, 175 km south of Bhubaneswar.

"The population of house sparrows in the village has increased from only five to around 200 presently in the village," ABP president Sagara Patra said. Patra added that the earthen pots and artificial nests were distributed among the villagers. The items were hanged in front of their houses to attract the sparrows.

The pots are decorated in such a manner to attract birds to them to breed.

Besides Baghajhari, villagers of Lanjia and Gunthabandha and some others in the district decided to lend a helping hand in the movement.

"Now, we've installed around 200 eco-friendly artificial nests and feeder boxes in different places of Ganjam and Gajapati districts," Patra said.

After the installation and participation of the people in conservation, the population of the birds has increased manifold, according to Patra.

On Sunday, the organisation observed the World Sparrow Day at Lanjia by distributing the artificial nests and the earthen pots. Berhampur Divisional Forest Officer Amlan Nayak and Shankar Narayan Bez, the district coordinator of eco-clubs, and several others attended the event.

World Sparrow Day, which was started by an NGO named the Nature Forever Society, is celebrated to underscore the need to conserve sparrows and the urban biodiversity.

House sparrow or the passer domesticus is listed as 'least concern' in the Red List of Threatened Species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Their population has declined rapidly as the cities are no longer a suitable habitat due to the pollution caused by microwave towers, pesticides, besides green spaces giving away to more concrete constructions, according to the WWF India.

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Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate on Monday in connection with a money laundering case linked to an alleged coal scam in West Bengal with his party alleging that the ruling BJP was misusing the agencies to target Opposition leaders.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) National General Secretary entered the ED office at 11 am and left it at around 7:45 pm and his statement was recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). He was earlier questioned by the ED in September last year.

"I have cooperated with ED without making any excuses. These investigating agencies have been functioning under BJP's dictatorship. Since they are failing to take on the Trinamool democratically, they are using the central agencies to scare the opposition," the 34-year-old MP told reporters after the questioning.

Banerjee's wife Ruchira is expected to be questioned by the ED on Tuesday.

The questioning in Delhi came after the Delhi High Court on March 11 dismissed a petition by the couple challenging the summons asking them to appear in the national capital instead of Kolkata. Their attempt to get an urgent hearing in the Supreme Court on Monday was not allowed.

The ED had registered a case of money laundering based on an FIR filed by the CBI in November last year in the coal pilferage scam linked to the Eastern Coalfields Ltd mines in Kunustoria and Kajora in West Bengal's Asansol. It is alleged that Banerjee was a beneficiary of funds obtained from this illegal trade.

The ED has arrested two persons -- former Inspector in-charge of Bankura police station Ashok Kumar Mishra and Vikas Mishra, who is the brother of TMC youth wing leader Vinay Mishra. Vinay is said to have left the country sometime back and renounced his Indian citizenship -- in this case so far.

One Anup Majhi alias Lala is said to be the prime suspect in the case, who is alleged to be running his "illegal coal mining business smoothly by managing senior functionaries of a political party of West Bengal though Inspector Mishra".

A "deep system of political patronage" and a "well-oiled machinery" was "used to brazenly carry out certain unlawful coal mining" in West Bengal, the ED had earlier claimed.

The ED had said that Vinay and Vikas had received "proceeds of crime worth Rs 730 crore on behalf of some influential persons and for themselves" in this case involving around Rs 1,352 crore.

The statement of this unidentified "witness" furnished by the ED in the court earlier had claimed that "it is known fact that Vinay Mishra collected money from illegal coal mining of Majhi and his associates for his closely associated political boss in present ruling party; that Vinay Mishra is youth leader of TMC and he is very close to Abhishek Banerjee and that he (Vinay Mishra) is the eyes and ears of Abhishek Banerjee".

"Majhi assisted in transferring substantial funds derived from the proceeds of crime to Abhishek Banerjee's close relatives (wife and sister-in-law) at London and Thailand," the ED had claimed citing documents. A chargesheet was also filed by the ED in May.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday held a telephonic conversation with his Thai counterpart Don Pramudwinai focusing on bilateral ties.

"Good to speak to DPM and FM Don Pramudwinai of Thailand. Look forward to meeting him soon in Colombo," Jaishankar tweeted.

It is learnt that issues relating to bilateral ties figured in the talks.

The defence and security ties between India and Thailand, especially in the maritime sector, have witnessed an upward trajectory in the last few years.

In November, Indian and Thai navies held a three-day coordinated patrol in the Andaman Sea amid growing concern over China's increasing maritime forays into the Indian Ocean region.

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BJP workers, who want to attend the grand swearing-in ceremony of Yogi Adityanath and his Cabinet colleagues scheduled to be held at the Ikana Stadium on Friday, will have to perform 'puja' at temples before attending the same and put party flags atop their vehicles while travelling to the venue.

In a party communique to its district units, the saffron party has also asked the local leadership to reach out to the writers, professionals, doctors, engineers, seers and religious leaders and extend them invites to attend the ceremony.

The communique said that two workers each from the 403 assembly constituencies in the state would be allowed to attend the swearing-in ceremony in which top leaders of the party, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and chief ministers of the BJP-ruled states are likely to be present.

''The workers should perform puja at local temples between 8-10 am before proceeding to attend the oath taking ceremony,'' said the communique. ''The vehicles in which the workers are travelling must have BJP flags atop them,'' it added.

Also read: Dhami doubt persists; Yogi, Sawant likely to remain CMs

Panchayat chiefs and mayors of various corporations would also be attending the function.

According to sources in the party, a large number of seers and religious leaders have also been invited to attend the ceremony. ''Seers and religious leaders from different parts of the country will be present at the ceremony to bless the new government,'' said a senior BJP leader while speaking to DH on Monday.

A meeting of the newly elected BJP legislators would be held on Thursday in which Yogi Adityanath would be formally elected leader of the group. Shah and former Jharkhand chief minister Raghubar Das would be present as observers at the BJP legislature party meeting.

Besides Adityanath, around 40 ministers of the Cabinet and state rank were also likely to be administered the oath of office and secrecy on Friday, sources said.

BJP had won 273 seats in the recently concluded Assembly polls in the state with its alliance partners Apna Dal (S) and Nishad Party.

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Like the abrogation of Article 370, which was "'beyond the imagination" of people, the BJP government led by Narendra Modi will keep its pledge to "liberate" Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoK), Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Sunday.

He also took a dig at the National Conference over its criticism of the Kashmir Files, a recently released movie based on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the valley in the 1990s, and claimed the "rigged" assembly elections of 1987 worked as a trigger for the eruption of terrorism in J&K.

Parliament passed a resolution unanimously in 1994, emphasising that Pakistan must vacate parts of Jammu and Kashmir under its illegal occupation. It is our promise to liberate the PoK, the Union minister told reporters after unveiling a 20-ft statue of Maharaja Gulab Singh  the founder of erstwhile J&K state - in Kathua district.

Also Read | Target is to make J&K free of terror, corruption: L-G

Article 370 was removed and it was done in accordance with the BJP's promise even though it was beyond the imagination of many people. Likewise, former prime minister A B Vajpayee had predicted a landslide victory for the party in 1980, which was again beyond the thinking of the people.

"The Modi government took over and under his leadership, all the pledges and promises made to the people, including the liberation of PoK, will be fulfilled, Singh, who is the minister of state for Prime Minister's Office (PMO), said.

The bronze statue of the Maharaja, astride a horse, has been made by Padma Shri Ravinder Jamwal, a renowned sculptor of J&K who worked for the last three years on it.

Also Read | Centre achieved 'decisive control over terrorism' in J&K after abrogation of Article 370, says Amit Shah

It is a day of great satisfaction for us to pay our greatest tribute to the great ruler and warrior of J&K

"Our last king Maharaja Hari Singh had said his religion is justice but the region faced discrimination after his forced exile. The sacrifices and services of the Dogra rulers were totally neglected by the successive rulers in the last six decades, Singh said.

However, he said the situation changed after Modi became the prime minister and the projects which were pending for decades were cleared to ensure fast-paced development.

We have full support and patronage of the prime minister who himself is monitoring the developmental activities in all parts of Jammu and Kashmir, the minister said.

Read | Revision of electoral rolls in J&K on cards

On the criticism of former chief minister and National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah about The Kashmir Files movie, he said, they are terming it a one-sided story because they had buried the truth in the grave under a strategy".

"A couple of families of Abdullahs and Muftis had an understanding with (the then prime minister Jawahar Lal) Nehru. The friendship which started between Sheikh Abdullah and Nehru was taken forward by Nehrus grandson Rajiv Gandhi and Abdullahs son Farooq Abdullah, he said.

Singh alleged, Farooq Abdullah rigged the 1987 assembly elections by misusing the government machinery and Gandhi closed his eyes, which ultimately became the trigger for eruption of terrorism and subsequent events.

"'Farooq fled to London and a spate of killings which started with the killing of local BJP leaders (creating fear among the pandit community).

Also Read | Prepare roadmap for meeting future challenges: Amit Shah to CRPF

He said former governor Jagmohan has written everything in detail in the second edition of his book My Frozen Turbulence.

We have not forgotten anything, the minister said.

Singh said JKLF chief Yaseen Malik openly attacked Air Force personnel but instead of facing any action, he was given "VIP treatment".

It was only this government which has taken action against him - the action which should have taken 30 years ago. It was possible because of Home Minister Amit Shah, Singh, who is an MP from Udhampur constituency, said.

The minister said when Abdullah returned from London in 1996 and the elections were held, the polling percentage was negligible.

The party won seats on merely a few per cent voting because of the fear psychosis. They want terrorism to continue and enjoy power by becoming chief minister by exploiting the vacuum,"' he and said reiterated his demand for passage of a bill in parliament to make a certain percentage of polling in an election compulsory for the successful candidate.

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A 22-year-old woman in Dewas in Madhya Pradesh was tortured and assaulted with a hot iron rod, allegedly by her husband and in-laws, for giving birth to a girl, a police official said on Monday.

The incident took place in Nariakheda village on March 16, with the woman receiving grievous burn injuries on her body, said Barotha police station in-charge Shailendra Mukati.

Also Read  Men need to change to make home, world safer for women

"Her parents, who found out about the torture when they visited her from their native Tillor village in Indore, approached the police. Five of her kin, including husband, have been booked on Sunday and efforts are on to nab them," he said.

They have been charged under IPC sections 498-A (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) 506 (criminal intimidation) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), among other sections. The woman's husband Bablu Jhala, father-in-law Bheru Jhala, mother-in-law Manju Jhala, brother-in-law Ankit Jhala and Ankit's wife Kajal were booked.

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Delhi Police has filed a charge sheet against senior DRDO scientist Bharat Bhushan Kataria in relation to the IED explosion in Rohini Court complex last December.

The special cell of Delhi Police filed the final report before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Pankaj Sharma alleging that Kataria knowingly and deliberately placed and triggered an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) using a remote trigger on December 9, 2021, in the court of the Metropolitan Magistrate Pritu Raj with the intention to kill his rival Amit Vashisht.

He also endangered the life of other persons present in the court, including judge, court staff, advocates and other litigants with his heinous act, the charge sheet comprising 1,040 pages stated.

Also Read  Rohini court blast accused attempts suicide in police custody, now stable

The police claimed that during the investigation, sufficient evidence was found to establish the culpability of the accused. During investigation, after analysis of CCTV footages of more than 150 cameras, verification of more than 1000 vehicles entered the court premises on the day of incident, interrogation of hundreds of people including advocates/ litigants/ police personnel/ persons with past criminal history, the investigating team succeeded in identifying the culprit behind the incident, it said in the charge sheet.

Further investigation of the case is continuing and after completion of the investigation, a supplementary charge sheet will be filed in due course, the police told the court. An FIR under sections of the IPC and Explosive Substance Act was registered by the special cell of Delhi Police in the matter.

The accused was arrested on December 17.

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TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, and his wife Rujira Banerjee have approached the Supreme Court challenging summons issued to them by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case linked to the West Bengal coal scam.

They claimed the agency was trying to "target and fix" them after the party in power (BJP) was trounced at WB Assembly polls. They alleged "political victimisation" by the agency, though they agreed to appear before it in Kolkata.

The ED summoned Banerjee and his wife to appear for questioning on March 21 and 22.

The couple had earlier moved the Delhi High Court, contending that since both are West Bengal residents, they should not be called by the agency to appear before it in the national capital.

On March 11, the high court dismissed their plea.

The couple has moved the apex court challenging the high court order.

Their plea filed through advocate Sunil Fernandes said, the party to which the Petitioner No.1 (Abhishek) belonged, comprehensively trounced the political party at power in the Centre, thereby giving justifiable cause to target and fix the petitioner no 1, by misusing the central investigation agencies.

It further added, It is not only against the basic principles of territorial jurisdiction, but could also result in absurd consequences and situations wherein the officers of the agency situated in any State in India can summon any person residing in any other state, without any regard to the place of occurrence of offence, or the place of residence of the summoned person.

The plea said the ED did not even attempt to interrogate the petitioners firstly at Kolkata, and it is still unclear as to what are the impediments that ED will face if it interrogates them at their full-fledged office in Kolkata.

The plea added, The petitioners contention of political victimization is further fortified by the inscrutable and inexplicable insistence of the ED to interrogate the petitioners at their New Delhi office instead of their full-fledged office in Kolkata. The ED seems more interested in causing prejudice to the petitioners herein rather than sincerely and expeditiously investigate the alleged offence.

The petitioners urged the apex court to stay the high court order and direct ED to summon the petitioners under section 50 PMLA only at Kolkata.

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PM Narendra Modi on Monday interacted with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in a virtual meet where both leaders lauded the cooperation between the two countries and the Quad.

"Significant progress in diverse sectors witnessed in our ties in last few years. Our collaboration reflects commitment to free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific PM Modi in virtual summit with Australian PM Scott Morrison," PM Modi said.

I thank you for initiative to return the Indian antiquities. Antiquities sent by you include hundreds of years old artifacts&photos that were illegally taken out of Rajasthan, WB, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh & other states. On behalf of all Indians, I thank you: PM to Australian PM pic.twitter.com/u8Y0XjtEUu  ANI (@ANI) March 21, 2022

Australian PM said, "Our region is facing increasing change and much pressure and I think our Quad leaders call recently gave us the opportunity to discuss Russia's unlawful invasion of Ukraine."

"In our last virtual summit, we had given our relationship the form of a comprehensive strategic partnership. I'm happy that today we're establishing the mechanism of annual summit between the two nations. This will prepare a structural system for regular review of our relations. In past few years, our relations have seen remarkable growth. Trade and investment, defence and security, education and innvoation, science and technology - in all these sectors we've very close cooperation," PM Modi said in his remarks.

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The Madras High Court on Monday granted interim bail to former ABVP president Dr Subbiah Shanmugam who was arrested on March 19 in a nearly two-year-old case of harassing an elderly lady by urinating outside her apartment over an argument on parking space.

Hearing the bail petition as an urgent matter as contended by Dr Shanmugams counsel, Justice G Jayachandran granted him interim bail and gave time till March 24 for the prosecution to file its counter to his regular bail plea.

Dr Shanmugam was arrested by the Chennai Police on March 19 in the two-year-old case. After the arrest, he was sent to 14-day judicial custody by a local court.

The former ABVP chief was in the news last month after the Tamil Nadu government placed him under suspension for violating the service rules by meeting activists of ABVP in jail. He was the head of the Surgical Oncology department at the Government Royapettah Hospital here.

In July 2020, he was booked under sections 271 (disobedience to quarantine rule) and 427 (mischief causing damage) under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Tamil Nadu Women Harassment Prevention Act.

He was booked after the elderly womans relative Balaji Vijayaraghavan filed a complaint accusing Dr Shanmugam of harassing his aunt, who is living alone in her apartment following her husbands death last year, following an argument over a parking slot.

However, in a Twitter post on Saturday evening, Vijayaraghavan had said he never withdrew the complaint and thanked the police for following the law.

Dr Shanmugam and the woman were living in the same apartment complex in Nanganallur, and an argument broke between them over a parking slot.

The complaint had also alleged that Dr Shanmugam began harassing her by throwing pieces of chicken outside her apartment despite knowing she is a vegetarian. CCTV footage had corroborated with the allegations of urinating outside the residence of the woman.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks from Kyiv, March 20, in this image from video provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office. AP-Yonhap





Russia demanded that Ukrainians in the besieged city of Mariupol lay down their arms Monday in exchange for safe passage out of town, but Ukraine rejected the offer.







The Russian demand came hours after it bombed an art school that was sheltering about 400 people, according to Ukrainian authorities.







Russian Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev said it would allow two corridors out of the coastal city, heading either east toward Russia or west to other parts of Ukraine.







Mariupol residents were given until 5 a.m. Monday to respond to the offer, which included them raising white flags. Russia didn't say what action it would take if the offer was rejected.







But Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk said no.







''There can be no talk of any surrender, laying down of arms. We have already informed the Russian side about this,'' she told the news outlet Ukrainian Pravda. ''I wrote: 'Instead of wasting time on eight pages of letters, just open the corridor.'''







Mariupol Mayor Piotr Andryushchenko also rejected the offer, saying in a Facebook post he didn't need to wait until morning to respond and cursing at the Russians, according to the news agency Interfax Ukraine.







The Russian Ministry of Defense also said authorities in Mariupol could face a military tribunal if they sided with what it described as ''bandits,'' the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported.







Previous bids to allow residents to evacuate Mariupol and other Ukrainian cities have failed or have been only partially successful, with bombardments continuing as civilians sought to flee.







Earlier Sunday, Ukrainian authorities said Russia's military bombed an art school in Mariupol, and tearful evacuees from the devastated port city described how ''battles took place over every street,'' weeks into the siege.







Speaking in a video address early Monday, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that about 400 civilians were taking shelter at the art school in the besieged Azov Sea port city when it was struck by a Russian bomb.







''They are under the rubble, and we don't know how many of them have survived,'' he said. ''But we know that we will certainly shoot down the pilot who dropped that bomb, like about 100 other such mass murderers whom we already have downed.''







The fall of Mariupol would allow Russian forces in southern and eastern Ukraine to link up. But Western military analysts say that even if the surrounded city is taken, the troops battling a block at a time for control there may be too depleted to help secure Russian breakthroughs on other fronts.







Three weeks into the invasion, Western governments and analysts see the conflict shifting to a war of attrition, with bogged down Russian forces launching long-range missiles at cities and military bases as Ukrainian forces carry out hit-and-run attacks and seek to sever their supply lines.







Ukrainians ''have not greeted Russian soldiers with a bunch of flowers,'' Zelenskyy told CNN, but with ''weapons in their hands.''







Moscow cannot hope to rule the country, he added, given Ukrainians' enmity toward the Russian forces.







The strike on the art school was the second time in less than a week that officials reported an attack on a public building where Mariupol residents had taken shelter. On Wednesday, a bomb hit a theater where more than 1,000 people were believed to be sheltering.







Ukraine war: China's envoy to US says Beijing is sending humanitarian aid, not weapons As fighting rages in Mariupol, Ukraine's Zelenskyy appeals for help from Israel School bombed in Ukraine city: Zelenskyy cites war crimes There was no immediate word on casualties in the school attack, which The Associated Press could not independently verify. Ukrainian officials have not given an update on the search of the theater since Friday, when they said at least 130 people had been rescued and another 1,300 were trapped by rubble.



A woman cooks by a residential building damaged in a shelling attack, in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 19. TASS-Yonhap

City officials and aid groups say food, water and electricity have run low in Mariupol and fighting has kept out humanitarian convoys. Communications are severed.



The strategic port has been under bombardment for over three weeks and has seen some of the worst horrors of the war. City officials said at least 2,300 people have died, with some buried in mass graves.



Some who were able to flee Mariupol tearfully hugged relatives as they arrived by train Sunday in Lviv, about 1,100 kilometers (680 miles) to the west.



''Battles took place over every street. Every house became a target,'' said Olga Nikitina, who was embraced by her brother as she got off the train. ''Gunfire blew out the windows. The apartment was below freezing.''



Maryna Galla narrowly escaped with her 13-year-old son. She said she huddled in the basement of a cultural center along with about 250 people for three weeks without water, electricity or gas.



''We left (home) because shells hit the houses across the road. There was no roof. There were people injured,'' Galla said, adding that her mother, father and grandparents stayed behind and ''don't even know that we have left.''



Unexpectedly strong Ukrainian resistance has dashed Russian President Vladimir Putin's hopes for a quick victory after he ordered the Feb. 24 invasion of his neighbor. In recent days, Russian forces have entered Mariupol. But taking the city could prove costly.



''The block-by-block fighting in Mariupol itself is costing the Russian military time, initiative, and combat power,'' the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said in a briefing.



In a blunt assessment, the think tank concluded Russia failed in its initial campaign to take the capital of Kyiv and other major cities quickly, and its invasion stalled.



U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Ukrainian resistance means Putin's ''forces on the ground are essentially stalled.''



''It's had the effect of him moving his forces into a wood chipper,'' Austin told CBS, Sunday.



A soldier smokes a cigarette while walking next to a destroyed building after a bombing in Satoya neighborhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, March 20. AP-Yonhap

In Ukraine's major cities, hundreds of men, women and children have been killed in Russian attacks.



Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said there were several explosions in a fairly central part of the city late Sunday, resulting in a fire. He said Ukrainian forces shot down a Russian missile in the northwestern Podolskyi district.



In a video address to the Israeli parliament on Sunday, Zelenskyy urged the lawmakers to take stronger action against Russia, accusing Putin of trying to carry out a ''final solution'' against Ukraine. The term was used by Nazi Germany for its genocide of some 6 million Jews during World War II.



Zelenskyy, who is Jewish, also noted that a Russian missile struck Babi Yar  the spot in Kyiv where over 30,000 Jews were slaughtered in 1941 by the Nazis  and is now Ukraine's main Holocaust memorial.



The U.N. has confirmed 902 civilian deaths in the war but concedes the actual toll is likely much higher. It says nearly 3.4 million people have fled Ukraine.



Estimates of Russian deaths vary, but even conservative figures are in the low thousands.




Appearing before the Commission probing the circumstances that led to the death of AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa, former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam on Monday said he was not aware of the reason for her hospitalization and feigned ignorance about the treatment provided to her at Apollo Hospitals.

Panneerselvam deposed before the Justice A Arumughaswamy Commission for nearly four hours after having ignored summons to appear before the panel in the past. He has been asked to appear again on Tuesday.

The former CM, during his deposition, suggested he was never consulted about the treatment provided to Jayalalithaa and that he received briefing only from the then Health Minister C Vijayabaskar, then Chief Secretary P Rama Mohana Rao and Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan.

The former CMs statement that he was kept in the dark about Jayalalithaas hospitalisation and treatment despite him being the no. 2 in the then cabinet gives credence to his previous accusation that Sasikala took all the decisions and never informed anything even to senior members of the cabinet.

Also Read: Safe evacuation of Indians from Ukraine shows PM's diplomacy, rapport with foreign countries: AIADMK

He also said he did not give any orders to shut CCTV cameras on the hospital floor where Jayalalithaa was admitted. Panneerselvams deposition before the Commission is significant as he was the first to cast doubts about Jayalalithaas death after he rebelled against V K Sasikala and the prime mover behind the constitution of the panel.

The panels formation was always a political decision, and it was reinforced once again on Monday when Panneerselvam merely repeated what he had said about Jayalalithaas health and hospitalization in the past.

During the hearing, Panneerselvam also said he was not aware of why Jayalalithaa was admitted to Apollo Hospitals on the night of September 22, 2016, and that he rushed from his native place in Theni after hearing the news. He said he last met Jayalalithaa on September 21 during the Chennai Metro rail inauguration.

The hearing in the case resumed last month after the court asked AIIMS to constitute a medical advisory board to assist the Commission and provide expert opinion. The Commission has so far examined 150 witnesses, including Jayalalithaas official and personal staff.

V K Sasikala, Jayalalithaas long-time friend, had submitted a voluminous response, narrating her side of the story and how her conviction by a Bengaluru court in 2014 triggered a host of health issues for the former chief minister. The commission recently got its 12th extension  this time for five months -- till June 24, the second after the DMK came to power.

Setting up a panel to probe the mysterious death of Jayalalithaa was one of the conditions set by the then rebel O Panneerselvam for merging his faction with that of Edappadi K Palaniswami.

Jayalalithaas death is one of the most politicised issues in Tamil Nadu in the past few years with DMK also demanding a fair probe into the AIADMK leaders demise. The DMK also raked up Jayalalithaas death in the run-up to the polls and at one time, the party also demanded a CBI probe.

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The Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry on Monday condemned the threat levelled against judges of the Karnataka High Court who passed the order on wearing of hijab by women from the Muslim community while contending that threatening the independence of the judiciary is more dangerous to democratic and administration of justice.

In a letter to Chief Justice of India N V Ramana, the Bar Council referred to threats given by members of Tamil Nadu Towheed Jamaat (TNTJ) against the judges. An Executive Committee member of TNTJ was arrested on Saturday for the comments made at a public meeting on March 17.

The Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry is not going into the merits of the case, the aggrieved parties have approached the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India and the same is pending before the Court of Law and the matter is Sub-Judice, the Bar Council said in the letter.

Also Read: Tamil Nadu man booked for issuing death threats to Chief Justice of Karnataka HC over hijab verdict

In these circumstances, the letter said. undermining the Constitutional functionary and sending a threatening message to the Administration of Justice and Judiciary is a highly condemnable one.

If at all anybody aggrieved by the order, it is free to file an appeal against the order. Threatening the independence of the judiciary is more dangerous to the democratic and administration of justice, the council said.

It also thanked the Tamil Nadu government for acting in a swift manner by arresting the erring person and asked the Union of India and the state government concerned to provide adequate police protection to the judges for the free and fair functioning of the Judiciary.

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The TDP has demanded a judicial probe into the deaths caused allegedly by spurious liquor consumption in Jangareddygudem of Andhra Pradesh recently.

The opposition party legislators led by party national general secretary Nara Lokesh took out a rally outside the state assembly on Monday, demanding elimination of all harmful cheap liquor brands from the state.

The TDP MLAs and MLCs held placards and raised slogans Kalthi Saara CM down down and Naatu Sara CM down down. They did a madyabhishekam by pouring cheap liquor on a photo of Chief Minister Jaganmohan Reddy for committing multi-crore liquor fraud at the cost of innocent lives.

Demanding that all illicit liquor dens should be eliminated, the TDP said that stringent action should be taken against the ruling YSRCP leaders allegedly running these liquor dens.

The YSRCP local leaders are making quick money by selling illicit liquor that is killing innocent people, the TDP lawmakers alleged while raising slogans against the Chief Minister's false promise of implementing phased prohibition.

Meanwhile in the ongoing assembly session, deputy CM and excise minister Narayana Swamy presented the Andhra Pradesh (Regulation of Trade in Indian Made Foreign Liquor, Foreign Liquor) (Amendment) Bill 2022, and detailed the steps taken by the state government for prohibition of alcohol in phases. He slammed the TDP "for spreading false propaganda against their government."

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Tamil Nadu Assembly on Monday unanimously passed a resolution against Karnataka for unilaterally allotting funds for constructing a reservoir in Mekedatu across River Cauvery without the concurrence of co-basin states and without obtaining necessary permission from the Union Government.

The resolution, which was supported by all parties including principal opposition AIADMK and BJP, also urged the Union Government not to grant environmental and technical or any other clearance required for going ahead with the multi-crore reservoir project.

The resolution moved by Water Resources Minister Durai Murugan also contended that the Karnataka Governments action was against the 2007 final order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) and the 2018 Supreme Court verdict.

Also Read | DMK regime in 'mute' mode on Mekedatu, alleges AIADMK

Text of the resolution moved by Tamil Nadu Water Resources Minister Durai Murugan against Karnataka Government "unilaterally" allotting funds for the construction of a dam in #Mekedatu across #Cauvery The resolution was passed unanimously in Tamil Nadu Assembly@DeccanHerald pic.twitter.com/XHwY8eXEmr  Sivapriyan E.T.B |  .. (@sivaetb) March 21, 2022

After the resolution was passed with support from all parties, Chief Minister M K Stalin asserted that Tamil Nadu will take every step that is needed to stop Karnataka from executing the project, which he said, will affect farmers of the state.

The House places its strong condemnation to the Karnataka Governments action of allotting money for executing the Mekedatu reservoir project without obtaining necessary permission from the Union Government and not getting the concurrence of co-basin states, the resolution read.

This is a sensitive issue for both the states. Hence, the House calls upon the Union Government to advise Karnataka not to go ahead with construction of any reservoir across Cauvery without the concurrence of the co-basin states and permission of the Union Government, the resolution added.

The resolution also urged the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) not to consider Karnatakas detailed project report of the Mekedatu scheme which was not part of the Supreme Court verdict. The House supports all the actions that the Tamil Nadu government will take to stop Karnataka from going ahead with the project to protect the interests of the farmers of the state, the resolution read.

Moving the resolution, Durai Murugan wondered when will the Cauvery dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka come to an end. While seeking the support of all political parties for the resolution and reinforcing the need to speak in one voice, the Water Resources Minister also expressed the hope that Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai will respect the democratic traditions by not going ahead with the project.

Bommais father went to the Supreme Court against the arbitrary dismissal of his democratically-elected government. He was true democrat and stood for the principles. I am sure his son Basavaraj Bommai will also respect the democratic traditions, he said.

Representatives from various political parties asked Stalin to consider leading an all-party delegation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to apprise him of the problems that a new reservoir across River Cauvery in Karnataka would bring to farmers of the state.

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The micro, small and medium enterprise department of West Bengal on Sunday asked district magistrates to communicate to state-run schools about adhering to specifications on school uniforms.

The uniforms in the specified colours, logo, school bags and shoes will be made by self-help groups under the MSME, the notice said.

"The entire thing will come into effect once the SHGs complete the manufacturing of uniforms, bags, and footwear as per specified norms and code in colour and design," an official said.

Till then, the existing uniforms of the schools concerned will continue.

Slamming the move, BJP state president Sukanta Majumder said "We know the state government is thrusting the blue-white colour scheme and the Biswa Bangla logo on all the state-run and aided schools to satisfy the whims of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. This works against the autonomy of an educational institution and is a political move by the Trinamool Congress. We will oppose it."

Senior minister and TMC leader Sovandeb Chattopadhyay said many poor students can hardly afford the uniform stipulated by a school.

The decision is aimed at bridging this gap as students of all financial backgrounds will be wearing the same kind of uniform in a class, he said.

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The Supreme Court on Monday pronounced a split judgement on an issue of whether a publisher of the identity of a child sexual abuse victim can be prosecuted without an order from the magistrate, since it is a non-cognisable offence.

A bench of justices Indira Banerjee and JK Maheshwari disagreed with each other on an appeal filed by Gangadhar Narayan Nayak alias Gangadhar Hiregutti, editor of Karavali Munjavu newspaper. He filed an appeal against the Karnataka High Court's September 17, 2021 order that dismissed his plea for discharge for the offence of disclosing identity of a 16-year-old victim.

The matter has now been directed to be placed before the Chief Justice of India for setting up a larger bench to decide the issue.

Senior advocate Devadatt Kamat and advocate Nishanth Patil, appearing for the petitioner, contended Section 23 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, which prohibited publishing the name of the victim, was a non-cognisable offence and cannot be investigated without an order from the magistrate as mandated under Section 155 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Also Read  Rape victims identity can't be disclosed: SC

In her judgement, Banerjee dismissed the plea, saying, she is unable to accept the argument that the proceedings were vitiated and liable to be quashed or the appellant was liable to be discharged without trial, only because of want of prior permission of the jurisdictional magistrate to investigate into the alleged offence. "In our society, victims of sexual offence are, more often than not, treated as the abettor, if not perpetrator of the crime, even though the victim may be absolutely innocent. Instead of empathising with the victim, people start finding fault with the victim. The victim is ridiculed, defamed, gossiped about, and even ostracised," she said.

Justice Maheshwari, for his part, said the orders taking cognisance and rejecting the application for discharge are not in accordance with law. He said the procedure of Section 155(2) of the CrPC is required to be followed in an offence of the POCSO Act under Section 23 which is non-cognisable and the special court is required to look into the procedure followed in the investigation.

Justice Banerjee said every child has the inalienable human right to live with dignity, grow up and develop in an atmosphere conducive to mental and physical health. She should be treated with equality and not be discriminated against. "The inalienable rights of a child include the right to protection of privacy. The Constitution guarantees the inalienable and basic rights to all, including children," she said.

Justice Banerjee referred to provisions such as Section 228A of the IPC, 327(2) of the CrPC, Section 74 of the Juvenile Justice Act and Section 23 of POCSO, among others, saying the entire object is to prevent disclosure of the identity of the victim, which should not be discernible from any matter published in the media.

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Senior American leaders and their Chinese counterparts witnessed acerbic exchanges last week following reports by the US intelligence agencies that Russia had asked China for specific weapons and economic assistance to aid its war effort against Ukraine. Russian and Chinese officials denied the reports, but US President Joe Biden took up this matter with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a telephone conversation on March 18.

Biden described the "implications and consequences" if China provided material support to Russia in this war (details of consequences were not spelt out). Xi asked President Biden to have a direct conversation with Russia saying that conflict and confrontation were not in anyone's interest.

Biden tried to soften his tough talk by reiterating that the US did not seek a new Cold War or changes in China's system (change of regime), a stronger alliance against China, Taiwan's "secessionism" or conflict with China. Xi said that he took these remarks seriously but complained that the US side had not followed through on the "important understandings" reached earlier (a reference to high-level visits and security assistance provided by the US to Taiwan).

Also Read: Why China is not yet bailing out Russia over Ukraine crisis

Chinese officials and foreign policy experts say that Washington still viewed China as its "biggest strategic competitor". It had taken various measures to contain China's influence by imposing a range of sanctions and tariffs on the provision of technologies and trade with China and criticised her unfairly on denial of human rights to the Uighurs in Xinjiang, democratic rights and freedoms to the people of Hong Kong.

Russia is China's strategic partner and assisting her in challenging the unfair US-dominated global order. The Ukraine war has forced the US to pay attention to security in Europe, giving China valuable time to build up its forces. A strong partnership with Russia will provide her continuous supply of oil, gas and food in its rivalry against the US. China enjoys an edge over the US in conventional forces in its near region. If the latter were to use its nuclear threat against China, Beijing could depend upon Russia's vast nuclear arsenal. The Sino-Russian partnership has stood the test of time and is rock solid. China will be truly isolated without Russia when the Ukraine crisis is over. China should not go back to the old days of having the US and Russia as two adversaries simultaneously.

Ukraine conflict is the outcome of the wrong policies of the US in ignoring the legitimate security concerns of Russia and driving NATO's eastward expansion. China cannot undo the mistake made by the US in leaving out Russia in the construction of the European security architecture.

The Chinese authorities have encouraged the pro-Russian propaganda on its mainstream media while censoring the social media of posts too critical of Russia. This was necessary to portray the correctness of Xi's "no limits" relationship with Russia forged last month. As the war resulted in killings and displacement of millions of people and massive destruction of civilian infrastructure, China became more muted in its support to Russia abstaining on some resolutions at the UN to convey its neutrality and support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

Besides political interests, China has strong economic, scientific and technological ties with both Russia and Ukraine. China is Russia's biggest trading partner, and in 2019, China bought 14.3 per cent of Russia's exports, about $58 billion and shipped 22 per cent of Russia's imports, about $47 billion. Main products exported by Russia to China include crude oil, gas, and food items, military equipment whereas China exported manufactured goods, electronic and communications equipment. While Russia has sold S-400 air defence systems, Su-35 fighter aircraft, Kilo-class submarines to China, it has avoided the sale of ground combat systems, strategic bombers and land-attack missiles for fear of potential use against Moscow later.

Also Read: Ukraine war is backdrop in US push for hypersonic weapons

China has been a big buyer of military equipment from Ukraine, including turbofan engines for aircraft, diesel engines for tanks, gas turbines for destroyers and air-to-air missiles for its J-11 aircraft. In 1998, China bought an incomplete hulk of a Soviet aircraft carrier from Ukraine, commissioned in 2012 as its first aircraft carrier, Liaoning. China's trade with Ukraine amounted to $15.37 billion (2020), exports of $7.12 bn and imports of $8.25 billion. Since 2020, Ukraine has been an important transit hub for China's rail services with Europe.

While China has publicly opposed the economic sanctions imposed on Russia by the US and other countries calling these "outrageous and unilateral", which would force a nuclear power like Russia into a corner, Chinese companies and banks have been quietly complying. Two of China's biggest banks, the Bank of China and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China have restricted financing and purchasing of Russian commodities since sanctions were imposed. China will continue to buy oil, gas, wheat and other items from Russia like other countries.

Another critical concern for Beijing is how the war in Ukraine will affect its global trade and its economic and technological cooperation with the US and Europe. The soaring commodity prices are squeezing the Chinese businesses already facing weak global demand. China faces several domestic challenges, such as frequent outbreaks of Covid and slowing economic growth. Its leader Xi Jinping, seeking an unprecedented third term as president later this year, craves stability to project the image of a strong country under his leadership.

Even though the scale of the Russian assault on Ukraine has unsettled the Chinese leadership, China will continue to maintain its entente with Moscow as it sees little hope of improvement of ties with Washington. At the same time, it will try to avoid provoking the West by supplying military weapons to Russia or violating the sanctions, at least openly.

(Yogesh Gupta is a former ambassador)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.

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PDP President Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday accused the BJP of pushing the country towards another division by dividing people on religious lines. The former J&K chief minister hurled the allegation while praising first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru for his secular credentials and steering India on the path of development and prosperity.

She said the people have to fight the nefarious designs of the BJP and other fascist forces unitedly.

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Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai rang Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday and thanked him for his efforts in retrieving the mortal remains of Naveen Gyanagoudar, the medical student from Haveri who was killed in Ukraine earlier this month.

Bommai dialled Modi after returning to Bengaluru from Chalageri, Naveens native village in Ranebennur taluk of the Haveri district. Bommai and Modi spoke for about three minutes, the chief ministers office said. Bommai thanked Modi for extraordinary diplomacy in accomplishing the task of bringing back Naveens body.

You played a major role in getting Naveen's mortal remains back to India. His parents were eager to see the face of their son at least one last time. You have fulfilled their emotional wish. I am thanking you on behalf of the people of Karnataka. It was really a herculean task. It is not easy to bring the dead body from the war zone, Bommai told Modi, according to the CMO.

Also Read  Naveen's remains kept for public viewing in Chalageri, CM to reach village shortly

Earlier in the day, Bommai received the body of the 21-year old at Kempegowda International Airport on Monday morning. He also visited Chalageri to offer condolences. Naveen died due to Russian shelling at Kharkiv in Ukraine. He had stepped out from his bunker to exchange currency and buy food.

The Ministry of External Affairs appointed a funeral agent to take possession of Naveens body, which was transported to Warsaw (Poland) after the necessary paperwork. The body was embalmed and kept in a mortuary.

Speaking to reporters at the Bengaluru airport earlier in the day, Bommai said: [Naveens] mother was crying for the body to come. Initially, we were also sceptical about the possibility of bringing the body from the war zone. It seemed impossible because most of the time we can't get the bodies of our soldiers from war zones. Here, getting a citizen's body is just a miracle."

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The mortal remains of Naveen Shekarappa Gyanagoudar, the Karnataka student who was killed during shelling by the Russian forces in Ukraine's Kharkiv city on March 1, has reached the Kempegowda International Airport (KIAL) in Bengaluru in the wee hours of Monday.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai with his Cabinet colleagues reached the Bengaluru International airport and paid homage to Naveen.

Received & honoured body of our student Naveen Gyanagoudar killed in indiscriminate bomb shelling in Russia-Ukraine war. Thanks to PM @narendramodi Ji & @DrSJaishankar Ji for getting his mortal remains. pic.twitter.com/s8YTh2gUqP  Basavaraj S Bommai (@BSBommai) March 20, 2022

Speaking to reporters, Chief Minister Bommai stated that a country's strength and might is known at the time of crisis. Prime Minister Narendra Modi "showed the might of the nation at this hour of crisis by bringing back the mortal remains of Naveen".

"The body has arrived today and we have made all arrangements," he said.

Also read: Naveen's mortal remains to be donated to hospital

"During evacuation time, our officers who stationed at New Delhi, Ghaziabad, Mumbai and Bengaluru airport took care of students who returned from Ukraine. It was ensured that the students returned from Ukraine would reach to their home safely," Bommai added.

He further said that a dedicated helpline was initiated within 12 hours of the crisis. The state officials kept in touch with External Affairs Ministry as well as the Indian Embassy in Ukraine.

The government also created a WhatsApp group and a website to reach out to students stuck in Ukarine, Bommai said, adding that "the officials have done a good job".

He thanked the state, Indian, Ukrainian and Poland's officers for helping and putting in efforts to bring back the mortal remains of the Karnataka student.

"I am at pain that we could not bring back Naveen alive," the Chief Minister said.

"Our government stands with Naveen's family. We have issued the compensation, and we will see what can be done for his younger brother," he stated.

Health Minister K. Sudhakar, MP from Haveri Shivakumar Udasi, MLA Arunkumar and Congress MLC Saleem Ahmad were also present at the airport.

Earlier, in his letter addressed to the Prime Minister, Bommai conveyed his gratitude for the Prime Minister's efforts to help retrieve Naveen's mortal remains from Kharkiv.

Naveen of Karnataka's Haveri district had lost his life on March 1 in Kharkiv and his family have been "beseeching" the authorities to retrieve his body. However, heavy fighting in the area has prevented the retrieval till recently.

Naveen's family had said that the body would be donated to a medical college.
Septuagenarian embroiderer showcases resplendent beauty of Miao embroidery to the world

People's Daily Online) 16:39, March 21, 2022

Pan Yuzhen, a septuagenarian Miao embroidery artist from southwest Chinas Guizhou Province, has continued to showcase the beauty of this distinctive art to the world over the years through a variety of different means.

Photo shows a resplendent Pan Yuzhen all decked out in a traditional costume and ornaments of the Miao ethnic group. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

Pan, now 76 years old, has walked the runway at many fashion shows both at home and abroad wearing embroidered costumes and silver ornaments of the Miao ethnic group in China, having first set foot on the stage in 2017. Dressed up in costumes with vibrant colors, fabulous designs and rich patterns, the spirited elderly lady tends to stand out among a bunch of young models.

Ive participated in fashion shows in many countries such as the US, Canada and the UK, she introduced. Her most impressive runway experience was at St. James's Palace in London, the UK. The elderly lady appeared on the catwalk show wearing the clothes she made to a storm of applause. I wasnt nervous at all. At such an old age, I dont fear anything, she said. With full confidence in the garments of the Miao ethnic group, I thought I was gorgeous in the beautiful clothes.

She added that she usually would change into several different outfits at fashion shows, with traditional Miao clothing having up to 200 varieties. Wedding dresses are always red, while the costumes for the elderly are always dark blue, she said.

Photo shows Pan Yuzhen in a traditional embroidered costume of the Miao ethnic group. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

Besides, she has promoted the stunning craftwork of Miao embroidery at trade shows across the world. She has also participated in trade fairs in Singapore, the US, France and the UK. Wearing the clothes she made with her own hands, she always has the chance to further discuss in detail some of the unique stitches and patterns that reflect the stories of the Miao people when interacting with attendees at the trade fairs, and sometimes would even perform Miao folk songs.

The exquisite embroidered artworks, with their bright colors and vivid patterns, fascinate people from around the world. They quite liked the products, she said proudly. About 400,000 yuan (about $63,000) of embroidered products were sold in one single day at a trade fair in Santa Fe, the US, she recalled. Gaining inspiration and feedback from her trips abroad, the artist also rolled out new products such as embroidered scarves and cushions.

When Pan was 30, she encountered a Japanese woman in Beijing who wanted to buy the costume Pan was wearing at the time, but she refused to sell it. A few years later, after paying several visits to Pans home, the Japanese woman bought an outfit for over 1,000 yuan. She was a scholar of costume culture, and wanted to do some research as she spotted some similarities in my mothers clothes and Japanese clothes during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), introduced Zhang Mudan, Pans third daughter.

Pan Yuzhen helps a foreign girl to try on a traditional ornament of the Miao ethnic group. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

Having learnt about the interest in her embroidery, relevant departments in her hometown of Taijiang county reached out to Pan in order to receive and meet with several scholars. Afterwards, she was visited by many scholars from China and abroad, helping them to set up interviews with local embroiderers from one household to another in order to learn about the histories and values behind this traditional handicraft.

During this process, Pan gained a deeper understanding of the craftsmanship of embroidery. Later she opened a workshop of her own and recruited many skilled embroiderers living in her village. Pan has already handed over the workshop to her second daughter, but still continues to work every day. I wake up at 6 a.m., and work until midnight sometimes, even without having a siesta. I never feel exhausted when embroidering, Pan said. Now her village often receives many designers who are eager to learn the craft, including those seeking to cooperate with local embroiderers.

Its handed down by the ancestors of the Miao ethnic group. And I must carry it forward. The more I embroider, the more I fall in love with it, she always would say.

Pan Yuzhen walks along the runway at a fashion show. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
David Wright, Chief Operating Officer for Save the Children International, speaks during an interview with AFP at the fund's offices in Sudan's capital Khartoum on Sunday. Some 87 percent of Sudan's wheat imports are at risk because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, deepening a humanitarian crisis since last year's military coup, the aid agency official warns. AFP-Yonhap



More than 80 percent of Sudan's wheat imports are at risk after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, an aid group warns, exacerbating economic and humanitarian crises that deepened after last year's military takeover.



Fighting and sanctions have disrupted grain shipments from Russia and Ukraine, which between them account for nearly 30 percent of global wheat exports, threatening hunger and social upheaval in many countries.



The impact will be especially severe in Sudan, one of the world's poorest countries, where a military coup in October led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan brought fresh turmoil and saw Western donor countries cut aid.



"Sudan is in a particularly vulnerable position because 86-87 percent of its wheat imports is coming from Russia and Ukraine combined," said David Wright, chief operating officer at charity Save the Children.



By the end of the year, he said in a Khartoum interview with AFP, UN data is warning of "almost 20 million people, or almost half the country, being food insecure."



The northeast African country was already reeling from international aid cuts and economic turmoil which saw the local currency plummet and prices of food, fuel and electricity skyrocket.



Sudan  a country where a rise in bread prices sparked the turmoil and mass rallies that led to the 2019 ouster of veteran president Omar al-Bashir  has already seen a 10-fold increase in bread prices in recent months.



Now, the almost month-old Ukraine conflict has turned farmland there into battlefields and agricultural workers into soldiers while freezing shipments abroad through port cities that have become combat zones.



Exports from Russia have meanwhile been frozen by sweeping international sanctions, constraining global supplies of food staples such as wheat, barley and corn as well as fertiliser and sharply raising their prices.



'Bad situation exacerbated'



Sudan's "confluence of events"  political turmoil, violent unrest in far-flung regions and the deep economic crisis  are causing "a real exacerbation of what was already a bad situation," said Wright.



In December, the United Nations estimated that nearly one third of Sudan's population, or more than 14 million people, would need humanitarian assistance in 2022.



Families may also "resort to negative coping strategies" including forcing children out of school or marrying off young girls, said Wright.



"The people who get the worst effects are living on the margins," he added, especially Sudan's 3.3 million internally displaced people in the restive Darfur region and elsewhere.



The country also hosts more than one million refugees who escaped conflicts in South Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and other countries, according to UN figures.



Wright also warned that aid directed to humanitarian needs in Sudan and elsewhere may be affected by the rising needs in war-torn Ukraine.



"It's great to see the solidarity expressed, with Europeans helping fellow Europeans," he said.



"But what we are worried about is that it will suck a lot of the money out of the global humanitarian system." (AFP)


The final rites of Naveen Shekarappa Gyanagoudar, the medical student who lost his life in Russian shelling in Kharkiv city of Ukraine, was performed in his native village Chalageri here on Monday morning.

His family conducted the rites as per Veerashaiva Lingayat traditions.

The mortal remains will be kept for public viewing till 2 pm and later handed over to the private medical college.

Also Read | Naveen's family thanks CM Bommai for bringing mortal remains from Ukraine

People from surrounding villages have lined up to pay their last respects to Naveen. Several students who returned from the war-torn Ukraine have also come to pay their homage. Praveen, who came back safely from Ukaine, said that Naveen was a rank holder and guided juniors in Ukraine.

"We studied in the same college. Naveen was a gem of a person. He helped many who came from India to settle down in Ukraine. I had been to his room before the war started," he said.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, who was present at 3 am on Monday when Naveen's body arrived from Dubai, is also likely to visit the native village offers his condolences to the family.

Remembering her son as a selfless bring, Naveen's mother Vijayalakshmi said he got killed as he went out to fetch food for his friends. Had he stayed back in the bunker, he would have been alive. To make his death meaningful, the family has decided to donate his body to the medical college, she said. "In his last moments my son's action to venture out was selfless," she reiterated.

Naveen was killed in Russian shelling on March 1. Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to his father personally and comforted him. The father had asked Prime Minister Modi to bring back all students from Ukraine safely as they are assets of this country.

The government had granted Rs 25 lakh as compensation to Naveen's family besides assurance to help his brother.

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The family of Naveen Shekarappa Gyanagoudar thanked Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday for bringing back the mortal remains of the medical student from Ukraine. Naveen was killed on March 1st in Kharkiv city during the shelling by the Russian forces.

Naveen's younger brother, Harsha Shekarappa Gyanagoudar, who was present at the Kempegowda international Airport (KIAL) in Bengaluru thanked the Chief Minister with folded hands for bringing his brother's body to Karnataka. His relatives and villagers, who were also present at the airport, expressed their gratitude to Chief Minister Bommai.

Manoj Rajan, the nodal officer appointed by the state government for evacuation of Karnataka students from Ukraine, said that 572 Karnataka students have been brought back from Ukraine.

Read | Mortal remains of Karnataka student killed in Ukraine arrives in Bengaluru; CM pays homage

Naveen's body was kept at Kyiv medical college after the authorities were requested on humanitarian basis. The documentation was done through a funeral agent.

His remains were brought from to Varsa Poland from Kyiv via Dubai, it then reached Bengaluru airport.

The body of Naveen was finally handed over to his family. The government made arrangements for an ambulance to transport his mortal remains to his village in Haveri district.

Saleem Ahmad, a Congress MLC who was present at the airport. said that he came to pay homage to Naveen on behalf of the party.

He demanded change in the education system. "Thousands of students are forced to go out of the country for studies. Naveen could not get MBBS seat here even after scoring 96 per cent," he said.

Also read: Naveen's mortal remains to be donated to hospital

"There are many fault lines in the NEET and students are meted with injustice. The students from the state should not suffer. They should get an opportunity to study. The government should prioritise and resolve this issue," he asserted.

Chief Minister Bommai, Health Minister K.Sudhakar and MP Shivakumar Udasi offered floral tributes to Naveen, before the mortal remains was handed over to the family. The family has announced that they would donate the body to a private medical college after conducting rituals.

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Prominent Brexit campaigner, Ben Habib, has stated that both nationalists and unionists in the North of Ireland should be bloody p****d off with Westminster.

The former Brexit Party Member of the European Parliament was speaking following last week's decision by the Court of Appeal in Belfast not to overturn the Northern Ireland Protocol that has resulted in a customs border in the Irish Sea between the North and Great Britain.

Habib insists that regardless of where one stands on whether the North should re-unify with the rest of Ireland or stay in the United Kingdom, the neglect shown by both Conservative and Labour governments in Westminster has helped ensure the North finds itself in its current mire with regard to the post-Brexit deal Protocol.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Derry News, Habib said: Whether you're a nationalist or a unionist, Westminster has a great deal to bloody answer for. I think it's because there's no votes for either the Labour or Conservative parties  the latter do participate in elections but hardly. The Tories haven't made it their own in Northern Ireland have they.

It's a tragedy the way Northern Ireland has been treated. I've come to learn a lot after engaging about Northern Ireland with the Brexit issue. I'm just appalled by the utter neglect by Westminster. Be you a nationalist or a unionist  it doesn't matter  you should be bloody p****d off with Westminster.

Especially in the North West with regards to investment and jobs it receives compared to Belfast.

Not to mention how long it takes to get a train down from Derry to Belfast and back  which is slower than Victorian (era) trains.

It is an outrage that in 2022, you can't get between the two big cities in Northern Ireland at faster than 30 miles an hour.

The fact that just under 30 per cent of Derry are living below the poverty line is also an outrage.

A small country like Northern Ireland should be a success. It should be galvanised quite easily. People keep saying to me that there's no chance of Scotland becoming independent as economically it 'cannot stand on its own two feet'. The idea that it won't learn to float on its own is such a flawed concept. It's amazing what people can do when they're driven to do it.

Given the right tools, Northern Ireland  who may only have a population of 1.8million  it could be a Tiger Economy. What it requires is someone with an intellect  slightly better than Brandon Lewis'  to be fighting for their cause in Westminster.

It needs a new and proper settlement from Westminster which benefits Northern Ireland and takes into account that it has the Republic in the south and leveraging off the island's economy as a whole.

Northern Ireland needs an integrated view of how to make it work and I'm afraid the monkeys in our Government are not up to the job.

The Government has done nothing  I would go further, whether you're a nationalist or a unionist, the British Government has neglected Northern Ireland for decades.

It has contributed money to the European Union  I calculate somewhere between 20 and 30 per cent of all infrastructure spend in the Republic of Ireland has come from the United Kingdom because of money that's gone from us to the EU that has come back to the Republic of Ireland.

The fantastic airport that Dublin has, the fantastic infrastructure, roads and housing  all that money came from the EU with 20 to 30 per cent of it coming from the UK.

Nothing like that amount of money has been spent by Westminster on Northern Ireland.

However, this is not about chucking money at Northern Ireland and trying to write its deficit, this is about having a vision for Northern Ireland to make it a proper economic powerhouse.

The Government is still failing to do it. If the best that the Government can do is appoint Brandon Lewis as the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, it is clearly holding Northern Ireland in contempt.

The man is a first-class fool  he has not got a clue. On January 1, 2021, Brandon Lewis tweeted, 'There is no Irish Sea border'. This is from the Secretary of State of Northern Ireland who three months before that, got up in the House of Commons and said that we are going to have to break international law in a specific and limited fashion in order to bring Northern Ireland back into the United Kingdom.

He said that in September 2019 when he presumably meant he understood that there would be a border in the Irish Sea only to tweet a few months later that there would be no border in the Irish Sea.

The man is a buffoon  an intellectual failure. If he went to university, I'd like to meet the Dons that gave him his place because he should have been booted out.

Habib was one of the high-profile appellants at the Appeal Court along with TUV party leader, Jim Allister, and former Labour politician, Kate Hoey.

They had argued unsuccessfully in their bid to have the Protocol  negotiated by Boris Johnson's Conservative Government with the European Union  with Habib stating that the ruling, which they intend to take to the Supreme Court, had confirmed that the North was no longer on an equal footing with Great Britain.

He added: You say it's a setback and you're right of course. Prima facie it is a setback but what we have had confirmed to us is that the Act of Union is no longer in tact and that Northern Ireland is no longer on an equal footing with Great Britain.

Laws are being made for Northern Ireland by a foreign body without any right of veto either in Westminster or in Stormont for those laws.

We've also had it confirmed that the consent mechanism set out in the Belfast Agreement  which was so vital for the unionist community to support it  are not required to be adhered to in order to change the constitutional set-up of Northern Ireland. The consent mechanisms will only be invoked in the event that the last tether that remains between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom is severed.

Effectively what the ruling said was that the appellants  that's us  are right in all their views about the effects of the Protocol but it actually doesn't matter because the Protocol is legal anyway.

Yes it (the Appeal Court decision) is a setback because, obliviously, it would have been nice to have had a ruling in our favour, but they have confirmed our worst fears on every subject. It's fine for those people who support the Protocol and see if there's a step towards a reunified Ireland  not to mention looking at the ruling and saying 'these guys lost'.

So the next step for us is the Supreme Court. We're going to have to debate it out again and I think we'll get a much better hearing in the Supreme Court.

I think it's very difficult in Northern Ireland, because it's a very charged political atmosphere. But I think that in the Supreme Court, with any luck, we'll get judges who are less charged with the political situation.

Many would argue back that the only way that the North's current constitutional position in relation to the United Kingdom could be change would be a border poll for a united Ireland itself to be held.

However, Habib states that the mechanism of a border poll was ridden roughshod by both Westminster and the EU in order to impose the Protocol upon the North.

He continued: At what point do you reach 'has the constitutional set-up of Northern Ireland changed so materially that it is no longer part of the United Kingdom'? It's not a philosophical question, which is how the judges would have us seen it, it's a matter of substance.

The point is that you've now got Northern Ireland subject to a foreign court's jurisdiction  800 regulations and laws being made outside the United Kingdom that affect Northern Ireland and over which Northern Ireland have no say.

If ever there was a need for cross-community consent, I think that's it. There's two aspects to the Belfast Agreement. The actual border-poll and the concept of cross-community consent. In my view, both should have been  even before the Protocol was foisted upon Northern Ireland  given due consideration.

But instead, Westminster and the EU rode roughshod over those provisions.

Hindsight is a terrific thing but (former Prime Minister) Theresa May's backstop (the deal that was negotiated but rejected by the UK Parliament) was not Brexit. It kept the entire United Kingdom in the Single Market and the United Kingdom would have been subject to rules made outside our own jurisdiction.

But surely those of a nationalist persuasion might argue back, in relation to Habib's claim that the North has 800 regulations and laws enforced upon them by a foreign court that the North has had a foreign body imposing law upon it since it was partitioned off from the rest of Ireland back in 1921?

I don't accept that point of view, replies Habib, because constitutionally, Northern Ireland has been part of the union of Great Britain and Ireland, and then Great Britain and Northern Ireland, since 1800.

Obviously, there are parts of Northern Ireland, and this is why it's such a hotly-debated topic, who don't want to be part of the United Kingdom  I get that. To the extent there's a mechanism in place to determine whether or not their wishes should be put into effect, that mechanism  a border poll  has not been invoked.

However, the Protocol itself is not short of supporters  especially within the Derry Chamber of Commerce who, as reported in the Derry News last Christmas, surveyed its members  a study that revealed 80 per cent of Chamber members backed the Protocol ahead of a hard land border separating the North from the Republic.

Habib though insists the hard border scenario need not have come into play at all saying that the technology exists that would continue the smooth transition enjoyed by Derry and Donegal of goods and people flowing back and forth across the border.

He said: I don't think the scenario (of checks on the border of passports, vehicles and paperwork) was ever on the table. There's a common travel area between Northern Ireland and the Republic and there was never any suggestion that the common travel area would cease to exist.

In terms of movement of people, there was never any suggestion that that would be compromised. In terms of trade, the volume of trade across the Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland border is worth about five billion euros a year  representing less than one per cent of the trade between the EU and the United Kingdom.

The trade to and from Northern Ireland and Great Britain is around 25billion and therefore, five times as important and valuable in economic terms than the trade across the North/South border.

The problem, in terms of trade to the extent that there was ever going to be a problem, is far worse as a result of the Irish Sea border than it is as the result of any customs checks taking place on the island of Ireland.

But having said that, the British Government has always said, that it would never have instituted customs checks on its side of the border. If any entity was going to put up customs checks, it would have been the Republic of Ireland or the EU  depending on how you want to see it.

The British Government, at the moment, are not instituting customs checks on goods coming over from Northern Ireland into Great Britain. What we've got is a completely open border with the EU in one direction.

Lets assume that we accept the narrative that it is important to protect the Single Market. There was still no need for the EU to have had physical checks at the border for customs.

We now live in a very sophiticated world where truck numberplates can be recognised, can be logged back and checked, declarations can be made at the port that they came from or whatever factory they left.

That technology exists and works very well, for example, with the congestion charge in London. You know which vehicles have signed up to the congestion charge and you automatically get charged if you haven't paid up front. That technology exists and can be easily rolled out to the island of Ireland.

So the notion that you would have these old-fashioned border checks manned by heavily-clad military personnel pointing guns at you through a window  which was the imagery conjured up by (Irish Tanaiste) Leo Varadkar  is just a false notion.

At this point Habib is reminded of an article he wrote for a national British newspaper early in 2020 of how the North could make the Protocol work to its advantage and build a successful 'Tiger Economy'.

He insists that parts of that article have been taken out of context by many people and states that the scenario he had painted in it was dependent on Westminster playing its part  which he says they did not do.

It seems to be the only article of mine that people have read when I've clearly written hundreds on the subject, adds Habib. In an interview I did with Sophie Ridge on Sky News in November 2019  before this deal came into place  I said that this deal was worse than remain (staying in the EU).

This was because Northern Ireland would be left bereft, amongst other things. Wind the clock forward to February 2020  which was when I wrote the article that I did.

What I said there was, look... this is a bloody heavy price that the Government has required of Northern Ireland in order to get Brexit over the line. But if the Government cuts taxes dramatically to compete with the corporation tax that is applicable south of the border and if the Government invests in Northern Ireland, then there may be a way to make this thing work.

What I was trying to show was a path through which the Protocol could perhaps be made to work. But then I spoke to people in Government and they said they had no intention of cutting taxes in Northern Ireland, no intention of investing to the extent required and I knew there was no vision in the Government on how to neuter the sovereign-damaging implications of the Protocol.

On March 7, 2020, I spoke at the Bruges Group and I said there is only one way that Northern Ireland could be kept within the union of the United Kingdom, and that is for the Government to repudiate the Protocol.

I called out the deal and I fought against the deal all the way until it became law. I then provided a vision of how Northern Ireland could succeed under the new law. But when I knew that the Government wasn't even going to try to do that, I called for the repudiation of the Protocol  which was after I wrote that article.

Every Remain supporter alights on that article but what they don't see is the detail of it. They don't see the context of that article of what I was saying before and after. It needs to be seen in the context of requiring Government policy at Westminster changing dramatically to neuter the Protocol's effects.
Derry schools, St. Brigid's College and Lumen Christi College, are set to receive investment as part of a multi-million pound capital investment from the NI Government to modernise the schools.

Education Minister, Michelle McIlveen, today made a statement to the Northern Ireland Assembly announcing 28 schools are to advance in planning under the Major Capital Works Programme.

The schools will benefit from an estimated capital investment of 794m.

During her announcement to the Assembly, Ms McIlveen said: "These schools will benefit from a capital investment with deliverability subject to the level of capital resources available to the Department towards the end of this decade and into the

next.

"In making this announcement today, it is my intention that these projects would be taken through to construction. However, I should stress that authorisation to proceed to construction on any individual project will be based on

the level of capital funding available at the point when a design is complete and all necessary approvals have been secured.

"Finally, the projects I have announced today to advance in planning will benefit over 25,000 pupils across the schools estate.

"These projects have been carefully selected in line with my Departments strategy for capital investment, which continues to be shaped by the outworking of area planning and the delivery of a modern fit-for-purpose estate of viable and sustainable schools."

Sinn Fein MLA, Ciara Ferguson, has welcomed huge investment in the two Derry schools following the announcement by the Education Minister.

The Foyle MLA said: This is a great day for St Brigids and Lumen Christi Colleges as we have secured confirmation from the Education Minister that they will be included in major investment plans to redevelop and modernise the schools.

They are both first-class schools at the heart of our community with thousands of pupils - this investment can help ensure they have access to the very best facilities and opportunities in life.

Sinn Fein will continue to hold the Education Ministers feet to the fire to ensure that these schools receive this funding as a priority, and that other schools in Derry are also invested in.


Five County Derry schools are among a number of schools who have been awarded funding under the Major Capital Works Programme.

The programme will see 794m handed to 28 different schools - including Loreto College in Coleraine, Sperrin Integrated College and St Pius X College in Magherafelt, and Lumen Christi and St Brigid's Colleges in Derry City.

Education Minister Michelle McIlveen said there was a need for investment in schools.

"I have visited many schools and witnessed first-hand not only the tremendous work that takes place in each and every school, but also the need for an appropriate level of investment in the fabric of our schools, whether this is a new building, the

extension and refurbishment of existing school buildings, or through a programme of smaller scale minor capital works," she said in a statement to the Assembly this afternoon.

"Such investment is essential to provide the first class educational experience our pupils, staff and wider school communities both deserve and need to ensure our young people can achieve their full potential."

East Derry MLA Caoimhe Archibald welcomed the inclusion of Loreto College, Coleraine in the list of schools to benefit from the funding.

"This is a great day for Loreto college as we have secured confirmation from the Education Minister that they will be included in investment plans to redevelop and modernise the school," she said.

Loreto is a first-class school at the heart of our community with nearly 1000 pupils - this investment can help ensure they have access to the very best facilities and opportunities in life.

Sinn Fein will continue to hold the education ministers feet to the fire to ensure that schools receive this funding as a priority, and that other schools in the area are also invested in."

In making the announcement, though, the Education Minister also offered a note of caution going forward.

"In making this announcement today, it is my intention that these projects would be taken through to construction," she said.

"However, I should stress that authorisation to proceed to construction on any individual project will be based on the level of capital funding available at the point when a design is complete and all necessary approvals have been secured.

"Finally Mr Speaker, the projects I have announced today to advance in planning will benefit over 25,000 pupils across the schools estate.

"These projects have been carefully selected in line with my Departments strategy for capital investment, which

continues to be shaped by the outworking of area planning and the delivery of a modern fit-for-purpose estate of viable and sustainable schools."

The following schools have received funding under the Programme: Ballyclare High School, Ballyclare Secondary School, Ballymena Academy, Belfast High School, Cambridge House, Ballymena, Carrickfergus Academy, Dean Maguirc College, Dromore High School, Edmund Rice, Newtownabbey, Friends' School Lisburn, Hunterhouse College, Belfast, Killicomaine Junior High School, Larne Grammar, Larne High School, Lisnagarvey High School, Lisburn, Loreto College, Coleraine, Lumen Christi College, Derry, Malone Integrated College, Belfast, Mercy College, Belfast, Portadown College, Sperrin Integrated College, Magherafelt, St Brigid's College, Derry, St Catherine's College, Armagh, St Ciaran's College, Dungannon, St Joseph's College, Belfast, St Louise's Comprehensive College, Belfast, St Paul's High School, Newry, St Pius X College, Magherafelt.
Minister Byrne attends the General Affairs Council in Brussels

Press release

The Minister of State for European Affairs, Thomas Byrne T.D., will travel to Brussels to represent Ireland at a meeting of the General Affairs Council (GAC).

The main item at this months General Affairs Council meeting will be preparation for the European Council meeting on 24/25 March. At that meeting, leaders will discuss the situation in Ukraine; Security and Defence; Energy; Covid-19 and Economic issues. Leaders will also prepare for the EU-China summit to be held on 1 April and discuss the political crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Ministers will also discuss the revision of a Regulation on the statute and funding of European political parties and foundations. There will be an exchange of views on the European Semester process for 2022 and on the Conference on the Future of Europe.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Minister Byrne said

I look forward to engaging with my colleagues at the General Affairs Council meeting today on the important items on our agenda. This will be a busy meeting of the General Affairs Council as we prepare for the European Council later this week where leaders will discuss the ongoing appalling conflict in Ukraine along with other issues of direct concern to our citizens, including security and defence issues, as well as energy prices.

The EU continues to be united in our response to Russias illegal, unprovoked and unjustified war. Ireland supports a continued robust EU response to Russias appalling violence, including directly against civilians, in Ukraine.

We will continue to stand in full solidarity with the Ukrainian Government and people of Ukraine. Ireland is providing 20 million in humanitarian aid, as well as medical supplies. Those funds are already being disbursed through our partners in Ukraine and neighbouring countries

This months meeting will also discuss the Conference on the Future of Europe. We are now moving towards the concluding stages of the Conference and this weekend will see the next meeting of the Conference Plenary, at which there will be a presentation of the national events and discussion that has taken place over the last year here in Ireland. To date, over 70+ events have taken place in all four provinces and have allowed all our citizens, both young and old, to take part in these important discussions on the future of our Union.

ENDS

Press Office

21 March 2022

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Minister Coveney will attend the Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels

Press release

On 21 March, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence, Simon Coveney T.D. will attend a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels.

EU Foreign Ministers will assess Russias continuing aggression against Ukraine and consider the next steps in the EUs response. They will also meet with Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, Nicu Popescu to discuss the challenges facing the Republic of Moldova as a result of the war in Ukraine. The Foreign Affairs Council will also discuss recent developments in Mali and Ethiopia.

EU Foreign and Defence Ministers will also meet to discuss the adoption of the EUs Strategic Compass document.

Speaking ahead of the discussion on Russian aggression against Ukraine, Minister Coveney said:

The EU continues to be united in our response to Russias illegal, unprovoked and unjustified war. Our discussion will be an opportunity to assess the EU actions taken so far and to consider our next steps. We have responded to Russias aggression, exactly as we promised we would  with unity, firmness and with determination.

The EU will continue to play its part in the international response to Russias illegal actions and ensure that it is held accountable for them. Irelands efforts at the EU, UN and across all multilateral organisations are aimed at bringing an end to this war, ensuring accountability for violations of international humanitarian and human rights law and meeting the humanitarian needs of those caught in the conflict.

The Minister commented on the Strategic Compass:

"Ireland welcomes the Strategic Compass as a means of setting out our shared strategic vision for the EUs Common Security and Defence Policy and of enhancing the EUs role in international peace and security over the next 5-10 years. I am pleased that the document reflects the core values that underpin our approach to CSDP, including the commitment to effective multilateralism and the rules-based international order, notably through our partnership with the UN.

ENDS

Press Office

21 March 2022

 Previous Item | Next Item 
AMD Ryzen powered laptops offer some of the best value for performance anyone can get. But choosing the right one can become difficult, especially with so many options available on the market. It is difficult to determine whether a particular laptop is suitable for gaming, video editing, or general usage just by looking at its specifications.

We feel that this handy buying guide about AMD Ryzen Powered laptops will help you make the right decision for your hard-earned money. Weve detailed the available AMD Ryzen laptop CPU models and the also specialized tech they use to deliver faster performance in this buying guide.

AMD Ryzen Powered Laptop Processors

The important thing to note about AMD Ryzen laptop processors is that a lot of them are not just CPUs but instead APUs, short for Accelerated Processing Unit. The APU consists of both the CPU cores and the graphics chip onto a single die.

Most AMD Ryzen powered laptops nowadays are available in 4-core, 6-core, or an 8-core configuration. At present, two AMD Ryzen series laptop CPUs are available, one from the 5000 series another one from the 6000 series. The main difference between these two is that the former is based on the 7nm process while the latter is based on the 6nm node.

The difference in the manufacturing process also grants them different capabilities. For general purposes, the Ryzen 6000 series is relatively faster and more efficient than the Ryzen 5000 laptop processors. However, the latter is more widely available and available at a better price point.

Remember I told you that AMD processors are APUs. Well, as it turns out, the RDNA 2 graphics chip on the Ryzen 6000 series processors is easily capable of running modern games quite well. The Radeon graphics chip in the Ryzen 5000 series APUs is also pretty good, but as you can imagine, not as performance-oriented as the newer series.

Another important term you need to remember while shopping for such laptops is AMD Advantage. Whenever a laptop has a Ryzen 5000 series or newer processor paired with a Radeon 6000 series GPU, the result is faster performance in all games thanks to AMDs Smart Access Memory feature.

Now that you know all about the AMD Ryzen processors, lets dive in deep into different processor types and help you find the right one.

AMD Ryzen 6-core Laptops

In the market, you can find three main 6-core AMD Ryzen 5 5000 series processors namely - 5600U, 5600HS, and 5600H. As mentioned, all these processors have 6-cores and they also have 12-threads. In terms of specifics, the 5600U has a base TDP of 15W, the 5600HS has a base TDP of 35W, and the 5600H has a base TDP of 45W. All three processors also feature 7-core AMD Radeon Graphics. In terms of general power metrics, you can pretty easily see that the 5600U is at the bottom, the 5600H is at the top and the 5600HS is somewhere in the middle.

Meanwhile, you can also find three Ryzen 5 6000 series APUs - 6600U, 6600HS, and 6600H. The Ryzen 5 6600U has a configurable base TDP of 15-28W, the 6600HS has a default TDP of 35W. Meanwhile, the higher end the 6600H has a base TDP of 45W. Being an APU, the Ryzen 5 6000 series chips also feature a Radeon 660M integrated GPU.

Moreover, these Ryzen 5 6000 series processors also have built-in support for DDR5 and LPDDR5 RAM. Which is generally faster than the DDR4 youll find on most laptops these days.

For most modern-day applications like MS Office, Google Chrome, Teams, Docs, etc, a 6-core processor is pretty sufficient. Pair such a processor with a discreet GPU from AMD or Nvidia and you can also play demanding games like AC Valhalla, Metro Exodus, and more on it at a pretty smooth frame rate.



The AMD Ryzen processor is also pretty capable in terms of productivity. If your workflow primarily involves editing 1080p footage then an AMD Ryzen 6-core processor is pretty good for you.

Most gaming laptops in this range offer either an Nvidia RTX 3050 or a 3060 paired with the AMD Ryzen 5 5000 series processor. On some budget gaming laptops, you can also find AMD Radeon RX 5500M as the discreet GPU and it performs better than the Nvidia GTX 1650. Our suggestion would be to go with the Nvidia RTX 3050 if you want a decently specced gaming laptop, as such a laptop will be relatively affordable and its 4GB GDDR6 VRAM is perfect for playing eSports titles and modern games at 1080p in low-medium settings but not for much else.

For a mid-range gaming laptop, our suggestion would be to go with the Nvidia RTX 3060, preferably due to its 6GB GDDR6 VRAM, which can run modern games like AC: Valhalla at high graphics settings without losing performance.

Make sure that the laptop has at least 8GB DDR4 RAM, 512GB SSD storage, and a 1080p display with 300nits of brightness and 15.6-inch screen real estate.

AMD Ryzen 8-Core Laptops

AMD offers two series of 8-core processors - Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 9. These processors are further categorized based on whether they belong to the AMD Ryzen 5000 series or 6000 series.

The Ryzen 7 5000 series processors mainly include three chips - 5800U, 5800H, and 5800HS. As the nomenclature suggests, the 5800U is the entry-level unit featuring 8-core, 16-threads, and a base TDP of 15W. The Ryzen 7 5800H is the top-spec processor in this class and has a default TDP of 45W. Meanwhile, the Ryzen 7 5800HS is a medium-spec unit with a default TDP of 35W.

Moving on, we have the Ryzen 9 5000 series processors, that have 8-core, 16-threads but offer a much higher boost clock. The Ryzen 9 5000 series include - 5900HS, 5900HX, 5980HS, and 5980HX.

Both the 5900HS and 5900HX offer a boost clock of up to 4.6GHz. But the former has a 3.0GHz of the base clock and 35W TDP compared to the 3.3GHz base frequency and 45W+ TDP of the latter. The Ryzen 9 5980HS and 5980HX also come in similar configurations

All these APUs come with AMD Radeon Graphics that can run many games at low-medium settings in 1080p resolution. However, if you can pair the processor with a discreet Nvidia GPU then you can take advantage of the high-performance cores and play games at a high frame rate with good graphics.

The AMD Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 9 powered laptops are usually paired with one of these GPUs - Nvidia RTX 3060, 3070, 3080, AMD Radeon RX 6600M, and 6800M.

As mentioned earlier, the AMD Advantage laptops will offer extra performance in all games thanks to the patented Smart Access Memory tech. Which is also an added feature.

Most high-end laptops will feature either an Nvidia RTX 3070, 3080, or an AMD Radeon RX 6800M paired with a Ryzen 9 5000 series processor. These machines are geared for ultra-high performance 1440p gaming and live streaming thanks to a powerful CPU and GPU combination.

Meanwhile, an Nvidia RTX 3060 or an AMD Radeon RX 6600M lie in the premium-budget segment. These GPUs are usually paired with either a Ryzen 7 or a Ryzen 9. Such laptops are built for 1080p gaming and streaming.

In addition to gaming, these laptops also offer great performance during 4k video editing, photo editing, and other productivity-related tasks.

Such laptops come with either 16GB or 32GB RAM, at least 1TB SSD, a QHD or FHD display along with a plethora of I/O ports for seamless connectivity.

AMD Buying Guide Brief Overview

It can be hard to digest so much technical jargon so heres a quick rundown. Budget buyers looking for an AMD Ryzen powered laptop should opt for the AMD Ryzen 5 5500U. Such a laptop will probably not feature a dedicated GPU.

Moving up the ladder youll find the Ryzen 5 5600H and 5600HS processors. Theyre usually paired with an RTX 3050, 3060, a GTX 1650, and in some cases a Radeon RX 5500M. For a budget gaming machine, wed advise you to go with the AMD Ryzen 5 5600H/5600HS and a Radeon RX 5500M combo. For a medium spec machine, going with the RTX 3050 is a good option and if youre willing to future proof your laptop then opting for an Nvidia RTX 3060 GPU would be the best choice.

When it comes to choosing high-end machines, you have two options from AMD - a Ryzen 7 and a Ryzen 9. Both offer 8-core, 16-threads but the Ryzen 9 is relatively powerful. Usually, an AMD Ryzen 7 will be paired with an RTX 3060, a 3070, a 3080, or an AMD Radeon RX 6600M.

On the other hand, youll find a Ryzen 9 processor paired with an RTX 3070, a 3080, an AMD Radeon RX 6600M, and 6800M. These laptops allow you to play games, create content and do pretty much anything youd like to without breaking a sweat.
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SEATTLE  The Grand Central Bakery building, at 7501 35th Ave. N.E., sold for almost $4.7 million, according to King County records.

The seller was Langer Properties LLC, which acquired the property in 2016 for $2.4 million.





. . .
Ambassador of China to the United States Qin Gang / AFP-Yonhap





China's top envoy to the U.S. denied that Beijing was sending military equipment to Russia to support its neighbor's invasion of Ukraine, but declined to explicitly rule out such a move and defended the country's unaltered economic relationship with Moscow.



Characterizing reports that Beijing is inclined to provide military assistance to Russia as "disinformation," Ambassador Qin Gang said in an interview with CBS, Sunday, that Beijing was sending humanitarian aid to help those affected by the conflict that has entered a fourth week.



"What China is doing is sending food, medicine, sleeping bags and baby formula, not weapons and ammunition to any party, and we are against the war," Qin said.



Now entering its fourth week, Russia's invasion mobilized the U.S., the G7, the EU and most of Washington's allies to implement sanctions against Moscow, including a ban on some major Russian banks and enterprises from using the SWIFT financial messaging system.









The conflict has also put pressure on China, which has not condemned Russia's actions in Ukraine, to follow suit. On Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden warned his Chinese President Xi Jinping in a two-hour virtual summit that consequences await Beijing for any support it provides to Moscow in its efforts to subdue Ukraine.





Russia's President Vladimir Putin, right, reviews a military honor guard with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a welcoming ceremony outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, June 8, 2018. AP-Yonhap
People are being urged to exercise extreme vigilance to the rising prevalence of online investment scams after a local man saw his entire life savings wiped out overnight.

Terence Keighran from Gortletteragh in Leitrim was left with just 50 in his bank account and forced to rely on his elderly mothers pension on more than one occasion in the aftermath of an incident which is now subject to a major garda investigation.

An engineering teacher by profession, Terence told of how he began investing money with a company he initially believed was both fully transparent and legitimate.

It started in November 2020, recalled Terence.

I began by transferring a five figure sum via bank transfer and it just went from there.

After seeing his initial investment sizably increase within a matter of months, Terence opted to advance further money.

His faith in the authenticity of the company he had invested in gained further credence when Terence decided to withdraw a large five figure sum soon afterwards.

I decided to invest more and just kept putting more money in over the next six months.

Terence, however, suddenly became uneasy when attempting to withdraw over half of the money he had originally invested.

It was really to try and develop a business I had started up, but to this date I have not received my money and I cant get through to anybody by phone, on email or by any other means, he said.

With nowhere to turn, Terence contacted and lodged a formal complaint to gardai with the investigation currently being handled by the National Economic Crime Bureau in Dublin.

Terence said the episode has had a catastrophic effect on his mental health and resulted in his mortgage falling into arrears.

He also told of how his own feelings of shame and embarrassment have only now started to subside almost eight months later.

I have had sleepless nights, panic attacks and severe depression, he said.

During the week when I am working or doing something I am 100 per cent, but its my free time in the evenings and weekends especially thats the hardest. Its torture.

Terence said another reason behind his decision to speak out was to issue a veiled warning to others over the dangers that come with suspected online investment fraud.

You can be just one click away from disaster and total wipeout because that is what I am faced with, he said.

He reserved particular mention for gardai in Mohill and Carrick-on-Shannon for their professionalism in dealing with his situation while also issuing a profound pledge to those clients still waiting for projects to be completed.

I also have a few jobs to complete through my business and I want to tell those people they will be completed given time and space please.

I have no intention of closing my business. Things are bad now but they will, I know, get better.

Just remember, you are only one click away from disaster.
Student accommodation will be made available for Ukrainian refugees arriving in Ireland, Simon Harris has said.

The Higher Education Minister said today (Monday March 21) that Irish colleges and universities will make student beds available to refugees when they fall vacant at the end of the term.

Mr Harris, speaking alongside Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe at the Technological University Dublin, said that 1,000 student beds have already been offered.

We have been working with our colleges and were continuing to work with them to make sure that student accommodation, which will be vacant when colleges are closed, can be made available in the short-term for Ukrainian students, he said, as he helped turn the sod at a new academic hub and library at the Grangegorman campus.

That might help in terms of some of the sequencing, to allow time for other options to be put in place in terms of accommodation.

More than 1,000 student beds have already been offered up by colleges and universities right across our country.

Mr Harris also confirmed he and his family have registered to provide a room for any Ukrainians who need it.

Nearly 10,000 Ukrainian refugees have already arrived in Ireland, which has waived all visa requirements for those fleeing the Russian invasion.

The Government has already confirmed that students coming from Ukraine will be able to continue their studies in Ireland.

Mr Harris said: The policy objective here is to make sure in the middle of the biggest humanitarian crisis weve ever lived through that there arent vacant beds when college is done.

I really want to thank our universities for the leadership theyve shown.

Asked whether private student accommodation companies  which provide hundreds of beds in Dublin alone  will make rooms available, Mr Harris said that the Government was working with local authorities to identify in every town and every county, what sort of accommodation may be available.

Im sure private student accommodation will come into the mix in that regard, he said.

Mr Donohoe told reporters that he did not want to see financial constraints on how many refugees from Ukraine the country could take.

Overall, there are always constraints that the Government faces in relation to national finances, in relation to how much we can borrow.

But we are going to do all we can to make sure that is not the constraints that guides how our country responds back to this huge humanitarian need.

Were going to mobilise all the resources that are available to us to do it.

But it does mean theres a need for Government then to be open and honest about the fact that we will not be able to meet every other need that we want to respond back to because the need to respond back to humanitarian needs that we are going to face will be so important.
Jasper, IN (47546)

Today

Steady light rain this morning. Showers continuing this afternoon. High around 70F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Rain this evening with thunderstorms developing overnight. Low 62F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
ADA [ndash] Memorials services for Clifford Brent Hall, 63, of Ada are 10:00 A.M. Thursday, May 5, 2022 at Trinity Baptist Church, Doug Brewer will officiate. Mr. Hall passed away Monday, April 25, 2022 at a local nursing home surrounded by family. He was born August 8, 1958 in Shawnee, OK t
People sit in front of check-in counters at the international airport in Hong Kong, March 21. Hong Kong is set to resume international flights from the United States, Britain and seven other countries, the government said. AFP-Yonhap



Hong Kong is set to resume international flights from the United States, Britain and seven other countries, the government said Monday as it announced a loosening of some of the world's toughest COVID-19 restrictions.



The finance hub has struggled to maintain China's zero-COVID policy during an Omicron-fueled outbreak.



After the highly transmissible variant fueled a fresh wave of cases in January, authorities quickly put in place flight bans from eight countries deemed high-risk  including the United States, Britain, France and India  and in February added a ninth, Nepal.



But infections climbed rapidly, with Hong Kong recording more than a million cases and 5,600 deaths, with the bulk of the toll being among its unvaccinated elderly population.



On Monday, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said starting April 1, Hong Kong will lift flight bans  referred to as a "circuit-breaker"  for the nine countries.



"The circuit-breaker ... is inopportune now," she said during a press conference.



"The epidemic situations in those countries are not worse than Hong Kong's, and most arrivals did not have serious symptoms. To extend the circuit-breaker will add to concerns and anxieties of Hong Kong residents stranded there."



The quarantine period for vaccinated arrivals will also be reduced to seven days in a designated hotel, followed by another seven days of at-home monitoring  though Lam did not specify what date the change will begin.



Currently, Hong Kong residents trying to return from most destinations face a two-week quarantine stay in expensive hotels.









Lam also announced that starting April 19, kindergartens, primary schools and international schools will resume in-person teaching.



Beginning April 21, restaurants may stay open after 6 pm for dine-in services  currently banned - while public gatherings can include four people, up from the current two.





People wearing face masks as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus walk through a train station in Hong Kong, March 21. AFP-Yonhap
Department of Public Health HSE North East have welcomed the uptake in the Covid-19 vaccination in conjunction with Louth County Council.

In a media statement the Department said:

The proven effectiveness of vaccines in protection against illness and saving lives has allowed the lifting of nearly all restrictions, and after two years, a return to our more normal lives.

The good news for communities across the North East today is that coming into contact with Covid-19 when vaccinated means you are much less likely to get very sick.

Dr Augustine Pereira, Director of Public Health North East acknowledged that the virus is still circulating and its important than every person in the North East has benefited from the protection that vaccination provides he said.

When colleagues from Public Health North East, the two Community Healthcare organisations (CHO1 and CHO8), and the Local authorities of Cavan, Monaghan, Meath and Louth first met in September last year, vaccination uptake rates in some age groups were amongst the lowest in the country at under 60% in some parts of the North East.

In Cavan and Monaghan, just three out of every five people were vaccinated at the time. Covid-19 transmission was rampant, and sickness and hospitalisation threatened to overwhelm.

A joint mission between Public Health, Community Healthcare and Local Authorities of the North East was embarked upon, the goal to encourage vaccination, dispel the myths, to inform and educate to drive down virus transmission, listen to community groups and protect lives and livelihoods.

We have achieved remarkable success reaching over 95% uptake in North East amongst eligible adults.

Commenting on the success of the vaccination programme, Joan Martin, Chief Executive of Louth County Council said;

I am immensely proud of the efforts of all Louth people to suppress Covid-19 in our fantastic community over the last two years. It was my pleasure to assist the efforts of the Public Health Team and the HSE in the North East team in promoting the message, and we will continue to assist where possible.

Dr Pereira, acknowledged the role of community vaccination centre staff, GPs and pharmacies in their collective achievement as well as the role local authority staff have played in their professional and everyday life;

We have seen collaboration across public health, healthcare staff in communities and local authorities at a pace and scale unparalleled in recent times. The commitment to improve and protect health amongst all and the reach of Local Authorities into their communities have all contributed to the success of the vaccination programme and protection of the people of the North East from Covid-19. New teams, new working cultures and new approaches to solving difficult problems pursued.

Meetings with Social Inclusion and PPN networks were facilitated through open floor information sessions. Local Authorities enabled the dissemination of key Public Health messages through their communication platforms.

Dr Pereira confirmed that Public Health North East will continue to reach out to the unvaccinated to meet with, and provide access to vaccines, saying: we are grateful for the valuable insights on local populations and communities that Local Authorities and Community Healthcare have shared with Public Health teams, which has been key to communicating into hard to reach communities.

Des OFlynn, Chief Officer, Midlands Louth Meath CHO said: while we are all in this together was the basis of our response to Covid-19, the collective response from our staff, the wider health services, our partners in local authorities and the people of the Northeast demonstrated how we collectively worked together for the greater good. It has been a tough and exhausting time but we also know that we cant be complacent. Please take a test if you display symptoms and, of course, get a vaccine if you havent had one yet. Vaccines are working and are helping to prevent severe illness across Ireland.

Dr Pereira said: We have achieved so much by working in partnership with each other and our local authorities. As we look towards the future, and the recovery of our society, our health and our care system we will continue to work collaboratively in promoting vaccination uptake and accessibility, addressing inequalities, while continuing to protect and improve the health of the population of the North East.

He added that our collective endeavours at keeping this virus supressed through vaccination will remain central to the wellbeing and prosperity of the North East region in the years ahead.
Former Irish soldier Lisa Smith, who denies membership of Isis, warned her family to become Muslims "before it's too late" and told them she would see them in heaven if they converted, the Special Criminal Court has heard.

Ms Smith sent the messages to her sister Lorna using Facebook Messenger in December 2015 when the accused was living in the Islamic State in Syria.

When Lorna said her sister should come home or else their mother would suffer a breakdown, Lisa Smith said she would never be home again, adding:

"Become Muslim and I will meet you all in heaven. Otherwise I will definitely not see you again."

Ms Smith (40), from Dundalk, Co Louth, an Islamic convert and former Irish soldier, travelled to Syria after terrorist leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi called on all Muslims to travel to the Islamic State.

She has pleaded not guilty to membership of an unlawful terrorist group, Islamic State, between October 28th, 2015 and December 1st, 2019.

She has also pleaded not guilty to financing terrorism by sending 800 in assistance, via a Western Union money transfer, to a named man on May 6th, 2015.

Detective Garda Fiona Morrison went through thousands of message exchanges between the accused and various people sent using messaging application Telegram and Facebook Messenger between 2013 and late 2015.

She agreed with defence counsel Justin McQuade BL that before travelling to Syria in 2014, Ms Smith had numerous conversations with known jihadists about religion, marriage, possession by "jinns" and other topics.

On October 20, 2015 Lorna sent a message to the accused saying she was glad Lisa was "ok" and adding:

"All we do is cry worrying about you, where are you, are you with friends?"

When Lisa said she was in Syria, Lorna asked why she had gone there and said: "You told us Tunisia."

The accused told her sister it was an obligation for Muslims to travel to Syria.

She added: "Tell mam and dad I'm sorry for not telling them but I didn't want them to stand in my way. I'm sorry for everything, but I'm fine."

When Lorna told her sister that the family misses her, Lisa replied: "Inshallah, Just become Muslims before it's too late."

In February 2016 Lisa Smith sent the message telling her family that she would never be home again.

Det Gda Morrison agreed that there were numerous other conversations between Ms Smith and other jihadists and Muslims in which she discussed sending money for various reasons to people in Egypt and the Philippines.

Sean Gillane SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, told the court that he wants to show videos of Isis atrocities, including the burning of a Jordanian pilot, men being drowned in cages or tied together and shot.

He said the videos would "revolt the moral sense" yet Ms Smith, having viewed them, "went to the group from which they emanated".

He said they are important to establish her state of mind at the time and said they support Dr Florence Gaub's assertion that Isis committed "acts of symbolic violence as part of its marketing strategy to instil fear at home and abroad and to speak to its audience."

Mr Justice Tony Hunt, presiding in the three-judge, non-jury court, said it is not necessary to show the videos as the defence is not questioning their contents or the intended effect. He said he has no doubt they would cause "disgust and horror" or "shock and awe on the viewer".

The prosecution is expected to complete its evidence tomorrow, Tuesday.
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Julia Entin sits at her computer and ponders the fate of Jewish Holocaust survivors in her backyard, coordinating efforts to rescue them in Ukraine, Monday, March 14, 2022, in Los Angeles.
A drop of water falls off an iceberg melting in the Nuup Kangerlua Fjord near Nuuk in southwestern Greenland, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2017. Earths poles are undergoing simultaneous freakish extreme heat with parts of Antarctica more than 70 degrees (40 degrees Celsius) warmer than average and areas of the Arctic more than 50 degrees (30 degrees Celsius) warmer than average.
Just after his first week of official practice, new transfer Jesse Miritello persuaded sever
CORK postmasters fear the possibility of more post office closures around the county.

Members of the Irish Postmasters Union (IPU) have been meeting with local representatives to voice their concerns about the possibility of postmasters not being replaced upon retirement.

A representative from the IPU told The Echo that around 130 post offices around the country are at risk from closure upon retirements, and that there are fears that a further 300 offices are no longer commercially viable to An Post.

Four years ago, the IPU reached an agreement with An Post that there would be a post office within 15km of every rural community of more than 500 people and one within every 3km in urban areas.

An Post owns the 45 largest post offices in the State and just over 800 outlets are run by retail partners.

Several closures have taken place in Cork over recent years, including the imminent closure of the High Street outlet in Turners Cross and the closures of outlets in Montenotte, Ballineen, Banteer and on Shandon Street and Military Road in Cork City.

MEETING

Sinn Fein TD for Cork North Central, Thomas Gould, met with officials from the IPU last recently to discuss their request for a Government Public Service Obligation (PSO) to save post offices.

It was an extremely productive meeting.

"With our post offices down from 1200 to 820 [nationally], it is clear that something needs to be done, Mr Gould said.

Officials [from the IPU] warned me that there are a further 240 post offices at risk. The government has made commitments on progressing the PSO but we have yet to see any action.

Post offices provide a crucial service and with two major banks now closing branches, people will become even more reliant on their local post office.

Mr Gould said that increasing banking services within post offices will not be enough to stop closures.

The Irish Postmasters Union say that the day of reckoning has arrived for the Post Office Network and if funding is not provided before the summer, significant closures will soon follow, Mr Gould said.

In response to a query about potential closures, a spokesperson for An Post said:

We appreciate the hard work and commitment of postmasters in the face of incredible business pressures.

An Post will continue to work with Government and postmasters to maximise the potential of our post office network.
THE lack of staff in Children Disability Network Teams (CDNTs) across Cork has been laid bare, against the backdrop of hundreds of children waiting for an assessment of need in the region.

HSE figures obtained by Cork TD Donnchadh O Laoghaire (SF) revealed that there are 18 whole time equivalent (WTE) vacant staffing positions across CDNTs in Cork, including vacant occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, physiotherapy and psychology posts.

Meanwhile, the latest figures show that, in just South Lee alone, more than 300 children are waiting for an assessment of need, 131 are overdue to commence stage two of the process and an additional 204 are awaiting completion of the process.

Cork/Kerry Community Healthcare rolled out CDNTs in April last year, with 11 teams established across Cork with the aim of centralising services and supports, such as nursing, physiotherapy and speech and language therapy, for children with complex needs, and providing these services in one designated area.

The CDNTs saw the removal of therapy staff from special schools across Cork, as they were reassigned to teams across the county.

While the CDNTs were set up to facilitate greater access to services, parents in Cork have claimed that this is far from the reality of the situation.

Speaking in the Dail in recent days, Mr O Laoghaire called on the government to stop shirking its responsibilities for the care of children with additional needs.

He stated that the Progressing Disability Model, under which the CDNTs were established, is not fit for purpose.

Therapists have been removed from special schools without a functioning alternative to accessing these crucial therapies, said the Cork TD.

The CDNTs in Cork are far from being up and running.

One such team in the northside of the city, so under pressure due to staffing gaps that have never been filled, actually contacted parents encouraging them to complain to the HSE in the hopes of getting some support, he added.

Family representative groups were meant to be set up under Progressing Disability to allow parents to be fully engaged in their childs care, but when I ask parents in Cork, not one has been invited to join such a group.

One local mother was told by an official in the office of Minister of State for Disabilities Anne Rabbitte on January 28 that the funding would be given so that the therapeutic supports lost would be reinstated in her sons special school. This has still not happened.

To put it plainly, this uphill battle for parents in Cork, the fight for Assessments of Need, for the reinstatement of crucial therapies, for these basic things that their children have a right to, cannot continue.

HSE: CDNTs experiencing recruitment and retention challenges

A spokesperson for Cork Kerry Community Healthcare told The Echo that a number of the CDNTs are experiencing recruitment and retention challenges.

This is due to a number of factors such as availability of various disciplines and the competitive employment opportunities that are available in public and private sectors.

HSE figures obtained by Cork TD Donnchadh O Laoghaire (SF), pictured, revealed that there are 18 whole time equivalent (WTE) vacant staffing positions across CDNTs in Cork, including vacant occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, physiotherapy and psychology posts.

HSE funded agencies have a number of recruitment campaigns underway in order to fill these vacancies, the spokesperson added.

Where possible, panels will be formed for current and future vacancies as well as new development posts which have been approved under the National service plan 2022.

Concern over lack of services keeps me awake at night

Youghal mother Stacy Lewis said the concern and stress she feels over the lack of services for her 10-year-old son Blake keeps her awake at night.

Blake was born premature and in need of additional support, such as occupational therapy and physiotherapy, which he received in a timely fashion up until he was six years of age, when he was transferred to community services in Cork.

Stacy explained that, since then, it has been one battle after another to gain access to an assessment, diagnosis and any services.

Following a rushed HSE assessment, Stacy had to turn to private services for an assessment for Blake where he received a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

He was on the waiting list for a HSE assessment for two years and at that stage, he was really struggling in school, she said. It was a very tough situation.

Even after the private diagnosis, I was given a massive runaround but I pushed and pushed and pushed for it and eventually got the second assessment, she added.

This time, Blake was diagnosed with ASD by the HSE and he has had this diagnosis for the past three years.

Basically, he has still got nothing in terms of support, Stacy said.

As well as ASD, Blake was also privately diagnosed with hypermobility spectrum disorder, which means that some of his joints dislocate very easily. He is waiting to attend a specialist service in Dublin following a referral from his GP.

In the meantime, weve been trying to access physio here in Cork for Blake and they would not add the need for physio to his report, Stacy explained. Ive had to source physio and OT privately which is very, very expensive.

Im basically working to pay for these services, she added. This is a lifelong condition and he will need these services for life, yet the HSE wont approve it.

Stacy explained that, with the help of support groups and charities, many children would be left with little or no supports or services.

If it wasnt for the likes of the Rainbow Club, Shine, AsIAm and Parents Together, which is our local group, wed be really, really screwed, she said.

We fundraise all year to be in a position to offer things like play therapy, music therapy, cookery classes and more of these things and life skills that children with autism need to learn.

We also bring in private OTs, physios, speech therapists, play therapists and more to provide them for families at a reduced rate.

If we didnt have these organisations fundraising all year, it would be almost impossible to get these vital services, she added.

We were promised that this new system, the CDNTs, would work and would provide the support we needed but we have no team.

That hasnt been the case at all - were only a year into this new so-called service and weve no team.

Weve just seen regression after regression after regression. Its keeping me awake at night.

Stacy revealed that her brother, who is 40, also has ASD.

It seems like nothing has changed in terms of the actual services they get even after all these years, she said. I want my son to be as independent as he possibly can be. I dont want him living at home with his elderly mother with no ability to look after himself.

I know that for some children with autism, that level of independence might not be possible, but I know that my son, if given the right services and support, can be a fantastic member of society, she added.

Theyre not being given the chance to be a participating citizen under the current state.

You just feel helpless at every turn

Ballyphehane mother Claire Reardon said it has been nothing but battle after battle to secure any services for her son Darren, aged four.

Darren was referred for speech and language therapy and occupational therapy in 2019, before he received his formal diagnosis of ASD.

Before he was diagnosed, Darren faced a wait of around five months for SLT and OT but when he was put forward for an autism assessment, it was two and a half years before he saw someone, Claire explained.

When Darren was transferred to Enable Irelands premises for services, Claire said she was initially delighted upon being told of all the supports he would receive but that this feeling did not last long.

They asked what his goals were and I said hes been struggling in the shower, with going to bed and with communication as he was non-verbal, she explained.

They said theyd be back in touch but then told us he wasnt eligible for speech and language therapy.

I was told that what Id gotten, after two and a half years of battling, was half an hours advice on how to shower him and half an hours techniques on getting him to bed, she added. I was like is that it? Is this the service we get.

Why would they prioritise him going for a shower over being able to talk? Thats just crazy.

Myself and my husband had to then battle for that as well and we eventually managed to get some speech and language intervention because he was four and non-verbal, so they had to admit he needed it.

In the meantime, Darren had also applied for Sonas Special School in Carrigaline, an early intervention in autism preschool.

While we were battling the HSE for services, we had it in the back of our mind that he would be going to Sonas where he would surely be receiving these services while at school, Claire explained.

However, when he got his place, I was talking to the teacher about the speech and language therapy at the school and she said they didnt have it any more.

Basically, all of the OTs, SLTs and physios had been taken out of Sonas and every special school in Cork and had been redeployed into the paediatric network to take the posts there, she added.

I got onto my TDs and the Ministers because I was so cross, wondering why they were taken out of a service that was working and put into one that was not. Eventually, I got a response in January from Minister Rabbittes office telling me that this support had been taken from the schools but had since been reinstated. But obviously thats not the case unless there are OTs and SLTs hiding in the cupboards in the school.

Last year, the issues with removing therapists from special schools were laid bare when teachers in Darrens class told Claire that they suspected he might have low muscle tone.

Before April 2021, the teachers would have asked the physiotherapist to assess Darren in the classroom. The physio would then provide an intervention for the teachers to deliver, and then carry out a follow-up assessment a short time later.

However, since early last year, when physios were pulled from schools and placed on CDNTs, the responsibility has fallen to parents.

I had to ring my key worker and the request was passed onto the physio, Claire explained. Darren was given an appointment to be seen, which meant he actually missed some school, and the intervention was provided.

They wont liaise with the school at all - I have to be the point of communication between the schools and physio, she added.

Then, there are no follow-up sessions unless we chase them ourselves.

Children with autism do not get any support and theyre not even getting support in school any more. You feel helpless at every turn.

It feels like theres no support other than yourself, your husband and your family just trying to keep it together.

In her work with adults, Claire has worked with past pupils of St Gabriels Special School in Cork, where students would have received in-school support up until last year.

Ive seen the reports and how those supports in schools worked for these people, the positive impact they had. But these supports are gone for my child and many others now.

Onus on parents to provide intervention

Both Stacy and Claire said there is a growing onus being placed on parents by the HSE to be able to provide interventions for their children.

They both stated that this merely foisted the responsibility onto parents, rather than the health service.

Im not trained as an OT, SLT or physio, Stacy explained.

These people have gone to college for four years or more and have been trained extensively whereas I havent. Yet, Im expected to be able to learn about it and provide the same level of support for my child, she added.

I honestly dont know if Id be doing more harm than good. This is not the way things should work. Claire added: The responsibility is being completely fobbed off onto the parents.

I work with adults with intellectual disabilities but my expertise is not in children. Im on a course with a speech and language therapist at the moment aimed at providing some intervention for Darren but Im terrified that, once thats over, therell be no further intervention for him. Theres an expectation to be a SLT, an OT and a physio and Im not any of those things  Im a parent with two other young children and its just a constant struggle.
A MOVING ceremony of remembrance and reflection took place in Cork City Hall today, the first public event to take place in the iconic

concert hall for over two years.

The ceremony, to remember those who lost their lives during the Covid-19 pandemic, and to pay tribute to those who contributed to the fight against the virus, was hosted by the Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr Colm Kelleher and the chief executive of Cork City Council, Ann Doherty.

Prior to the event, the Lord Mayor and the chief executive laid a wreath and planted a tree on the grounds of City Hall to honour those who lost their lives during the pandemic.

In his address to the assembled crowd inside the concert hall, which included city councillors, TDs, those from community groups in Cork and members of the public, the Lord Mayor lauded healthcare workers for their trojan efforts during the pandemic.

James, Fionnuala, Ava and 9yo Bailey MacCurtain attending the Cork City Council Ceremony of Remembrance and Reflection on Sunday March 20th 2022 in memory of those locally who died during the Covid-19 coronavirus global pandemic. The ceremony included the official planting of a (Birch) Tree of Remembrance and wreath laying.Pic: Larry Cummins

For over a year this great venue has served the city and its people like never before  functioning as a vaccination centre, this concert hall - and the people who worked here - were a critical part of the process where we eventually began turning the tables on the pandemic, he said.

It is a great honour for me also to be able to acknowledge and to thank all those who stood up - all those who put their shoulder to the wheel - all those who made extraordinary contributions in extraordinary times to fight against the ravages of a global pandemic," the Lord Mayor continued.

In his speech, Mr Kelleher noted that he is the third Lord Mayor of Cork to serve during the course of the pandemic, and paid tribute to his predecessors, Cllr John Sheehan and Cllr Joe Kavanagh for their leadership in earlier stages of the pandemic as well as the work done by Cork City Councils Community Response Forum.

The Lord Mayor said the remembrance tree planted before the ceremony is to honour those who lost their lives during the pandemic and to pay tribute to those who sacrificed so much.

It is important that we remember  remember those we lost over the past two years, remember those who were not able to grieve the loss of their loved ones, remember those whose sacrifice and forbearance will forever be hallmarks of how we as a community faced challenges that we could never have imagined possible. I thank each and every one of you, he said.

Cork City Council Ceremony of Remembrance and Reflection on Sunday March 20th 2022 in memory of those locally who died during the Covid-19 coronavirus global pandemic. Pic: Larry Cummins

And it is important also to continue to reflect on what we have all endured.

No magic switch has been flicked  what has been endured throughout the pandemic will continue to impact us all  both individually and collectively.

As we reflect, our thoughts are also with the Ukraine as it faces up to the horror of war - our prayers and support go to the people of the Ukraine.

Todays ceremony included musical performances by harpist Fiachra O Corragain, who performed a specially commissioned piece, and the Barrack Street Band.

It also included a poetry reading of a specially commissioned poem by local poet, Tom McCarthy.

Other speakers at todays event included Nora ODonovan, of Cork City Age Friendly Programme; Dr Naomi Masheti, manager of the Cork Migrant Centre; Maria Daly, from the HSE and youth worker, Joe Curtin.

Cork City Council Ceremony of Remembrance and Reflection on Sunday March 20th 2022 in memory of those locally who died during the Covid-19 coronavirus global pandemic

Just before the ceremony concluded with a performance of You'll Never Walk Alone by the Barrack Street Band, the chief executive in her closing remarks said that the Irish saying, ni neart go cur le cheile  theres no strength without unity had been quoted a lot during the pandemic and that Covid-19 had proven just how true that is.

Im very proud to say that Irish people are particularly good at looking after each other and long may it continue, she said.

The ceremony in City Hall today was part of a National Day of Remembrance and Recognition.

Cork City Council Ceremony of Remembrance and Reflection on Sunday March 20th 2022 in memory of those locally who died during the Covid-19 coronavirus global pandemic

It will be a poignant day for many, as we remember loved ones lost to the disease and as we remember all those others who passed away but couldnt be grieved in the way we would have liked, or as they deserved, Taoiseach Micheal Martin said in a statement.

The loss is enormous and it is profound, but we will come to terms with it in the same way that we have come through every other stage of the pandemic  as a community, united and there for each other, he said.

Mr Martin also took the opportunity to laud the solidarity shown by the Irish people during the pandemic and in particular, the sublime efforts of healthcare workers.

The Barrack Street Band play in the concert hall at City Hall during the ceremony.

Without hesitation and before we even understood the true nature or scale of the threat, they put themselves in harms way to protect the rest of us. Without complaint, they cared for our sickest and brought dignity and compassion to the most fraught and difficult situations.

When science delivered a vaccine, they were on the frontline and helped deliver one of the most effective national vaccination programmes in the world.

They deserve and enjoy the entire nations deep gratitude and respect.
Simon Coveney has said Ireland would likely be doubling its contribution to Ukraine as part of the European Peace Facility  a fund set up to send military aid to the war-torn country.

The Foreign Affairs Minister, speaking from a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, said he expected EU member states to reach an agreement in the coming days on a doubling of that fund from half a billion euro to one billion euro, bringing the Republic of Irelands total contribution to 22 million euro.

The country, while militarily neutral, has committed itself to providing non-lethal aid to Ukrainian forces battling the Russian invasion.

The minister said he believed there was an appetite for increased sanctions in the EU, but acknowledged that difficult discussions remained about possible sanctions on Russian oil and gas imports.

I certainly accept that money coming from the EU, in the energy sector, is funding Russia right now. You dont need to convince me that we need to add significantly to the four packages of sanctions already agreed, he said.

Mr Coveney told RTE radio that some options currently being discussed impact significantly on EU member states and so we have to be sure we can keep unity in this discussion.

The European Council is set for a further crunch meeting at the end of the week but it remains unclear if Micheal Martin will make it.

The Taoiseach remains in isolation in Washington after testing positive for Covid during his trip to the US capital to mark St Patricks Day.

We will have to wait and see whether he is able to attend the European Council in person or not, Mr Coveney said.

Earlier, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said: Hell only attend if his health allows it and if the rules governing attendance at that meeting, from a health point of view, allow him to be there.

"So I hope it will happen.
By Cate McCurry, PA

The Government is to start the process of moving Ukrainian refugees in with Irish families, Roderic OGorman said.

The Minister for Children said that vacant properties will be used first to house Ukrainians fleeing the war.

Around 20,000 offers of accommodation have been pledged by Irish people, including from Tanaiste Leo Varadkar.

Mr OGorman said that 9,000 Ukrainians have arrived in Ireland, and the vast majority are staying in hotels.

Flowers and messages of support left outside Ukraines embassy in Dublin (Brian Lawless/PA)

He also said that EU countries are expected to receive tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees in the weeks ahead.

Its certainly those numbers that were preparing for, he added.

Were continuing to look to book hotel accommodation to deal with short-term accommodation needs and as of this weekend, weve begun to draw down accommodation from the pledges provided by the Irish people.

Over 20,000 offers have come in from Irish people across the country, a huge show of generosity, and my department are looking to start to activate some of those accommodation options now, starting initially with options of vacant housing.

Mr OGorman said the Government is looking to block-book hotels.

I think thats necessary to ensure that we have rooms for people when they arrive in the country, and weve been doing that over the last two weeks, he added.

I think we have to be ready in case theres a sudden surge of people arriving at our ports and airports and in a crisis situation like this.

Mr Varadkar and his partner Matt Barrett are among those who registered through the Irish Refugee Council.

Mr Varadkar said he has a spare room in his house.

From our point of view, watching the news every night of Ukraine, its very hard to watch what were witnessing on our continent, in our neighbourhood and wanted to help out in some way, he said.

Opening your home for a few months to somebody fleeing war, its just something were able to do at the moment. Im happy to do.

He also said there has been some discussion in providing funding to those who open their homes to refugees, but is not something we are going to do.

What were really saying to people is that this is an altruistic thing, not something we would intend to pay people to do, he added.
Both the North and South polar regions saw anomalous heat on Friday.

Temperatures in parts of Antarctica were more than 70 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than average, while temperatures in parts of the Arctic were more than 50 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than average. This is notable because the Arctic is entering its spring, while Antarctica is approaching its autumn.

They are opposite seasons. You dont see the north and the south (poles) both melting at the same time, National Snow and Ice Data Center scientist Walt Meier told AP News. Its definitely an unusual occurrence.

The heat wave in Antarctica was first reported by The Washington Post on Friday. Temperatures in parts of Eastern Antarctica have been around 70 degrees Fahrenheit above average for three days. This means that instead of a chilly minus-50 or minus-60 degrees Fahrenheit, they have been a relatively balmy zero or 10 degrees Fahrenheit.

This has led to broken records. At Vostok, in the middle of the eastern ice sheet, temperatures reached zero degrees, a record high for the month of March. High temperatures during the month are usually around negative 63 degrees Fahrenheit. At Concordia research station, temperatures reached an all-time high of 10 degrees Fahrenheit. The average high for March there is negative 56 degrees Fahrenheit. The Antarctic continent on Friday was about 8.6 degrees Fahrenheit above its baseline temperature from 1979 to 2000, AP News reported.

It is impossible, we would have said until two days ago, researcher Stefano Di Battista tweeted. From today (March 18) the Antarctic climatology has been rewritten.

It is impossible, we would have said until two days ago. From today (March 18) the Antarctic climatology has been rewritten



At Concordia the high recorded -12.2 C and broken the absolute maximum set on 17 December 2016 (-13.7 C)

At Vostok the provisional high is -20.3 C  pic.twitter.com/PYm48XdHLh  Stefano Di Battista (@pinturicchio_60) March 18, 2022

In the Arctic, meanwhile, unusually warm temperatures were recorded in Greenland and Franz Josef Land, while records were breached in Norway, The Guardian reported. Overall, the region was six degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the 1979 to 2000 average on Friday, AP News reported.

Experts say that the Antarctic heat wave is not necessarily due to the climate crisis, but instead a simple anomaly. However, if incidents like this repeat, that calculation may change.

Not a good sign when you see that sort of thing happen, University of Wisconsin meteorologist Matthew Lazzara told AP News.

There are several local weather phenomena immediately responsible for the Antarctic warming, The Guardian reported, including strong winds from Australia and an atmospheric river.

These are rivers of moisture in the air that bring warm and moist air to certain locations, and there was a really significant one occurring in that region over Antarctica, Monash University climate scientist professor Julie Arblaster told The Guardian.

However, Universite Grenoble Alpes in France polar meteorologist Jonathan Wille told The Washington Post that climate change may have load[ed] the dice to make this atmospheric river event more likely. He is currently studying whether the climate crisis might make atmospheric rivers more frequent or intense.

We do believe they will become more intense because it just simple physics but the details, were still trying to figure that out. It would be very difficult to say that theres not a climate change fingerprint on an event like this, he told The Washington Post.

And just to leave this satellite image from today of the atmospheric river spreading clouds over East Antarctica pic.twitter.com/OdAy1Li6sS  Dr. Jonathan Wille (@JonathanWille) March 17, 2022

The Arctic is already warming two to three times faster than the global average because of the climate crisis, AP News noted. There is also currently warm Atlantic air coming off of Greenland.
Are new fossil-fuel projects a good bet? The worlds second-largest reinsurer is saying no.

Swiss Re announced an enhanced oil and gas policy that rules out insuring most new oil and gas projects, making it the first major insurer in the industry to do so.

Swiss Re is one of the worlds ultimate risk managers and the policy which it published today sends a strong message to fossil fuel companies, investors and governments: oil and gas operations need to be phased out in accordance with climate science or they may become uninsurable by the end of the decade, global coordinator of Insure Our Future Peter Bosshard said in a statement responding to the news.

BREAKING NEWS: @SwissRe, one of the worlds ultimate risk managers, brings new momentum to the insurance industrys shift away from fossil fuels with a new oil and gas policy today. A quick  on the breakthroughs, the gaps and the steps which other insurers now need to take. pic.twitter.com/XEWZD5MkUP  Peter Bosshard (@PeterBosshard) March 17, 2022

The new policy is outlined on page 34 of Swiss Res 2021 Sustainability Report. The insurer said that it would no longer underwrite or financially back oil and gas projects that receive final approval after 2022, unless these projects are part of a company plan for achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, as verified by a third-party assessment like the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

It also set new deadlines for aligning its portfolio with the goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. By 2025, it said that half of its oil-and-gas premiums would come from companies with science-based 2050 net-zero targets and by 2030, all of them would. Further, it said that by 2022 it would no longer back companies that based more than 10 percent of their production in the Arctic, with the exception of Norwegian companies. It also said that it would develop similar plans for oil and gas in treaty reinsurance by 2023.

Swiss Re said its policies were based on a report from the International Energy Agency (IEA). The IEA stated that there could be no more fossil fuel projects if the world wanted to meet the Paris agreement stretch goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2050, as Reuters reported. Scientists have said that limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees is essential for avoiding the worst impacts of the climate crisis.

Some net-zero initiatives like Race to Zero do not let fossil fuel companies participate in any way, arguing that their business model is incompatible with reducing emissions, edie noted.

However, green groups like Insure Our Future and Reclaim Finance responded positively to Swiss Res announcement, with some constructive criticism.

By taking steps to stop insuring new oil and gas projects and companies that wont aim at aligning their activities with climate science by 2030, Swiss Re is headed in the right direction, Reclaim finance director Lucie Pinson said in a statement. The policy is not perfect yet and we encourage its peers to build on it to fully align with a realistic 1.5C scenario. As the IEA Net Zero Roadmap shows, this should mean drawing a red line against fossil fuel expansion and excluding both projects and companies that cross that line well before 2025.

Insure the Future also said that the new policy relied on a truly effective assessment of oil-and-gas net zero plans by SBTi or another third-party group. Further, it noted that the Arctic policy did not exclude all oil-and-gas projects in the vulnerable region.

Swiss Re is part of a growing movement of insurers not to back fossil-fuel projects. It is part of the UN-organized Net Zero Insurance Alliance, which currently consists of more than 20 insurers who have pledged to have net-zero portfolios by 2050, the insurer said.

Bosshard noted on Twitter that Hannover Re and MAPFRE had also announced similar policies last week.

Together these three companies cover 21% of the global reinsurance market. Hello Momentum! he said.

However, there are many more major insurers yet to get on board.

Now, the Insure Our Future campaign calls on Munich Re, Lloyds and SCOR, which together account for 26% of the global reinsurance market, to make commitments which build on Swiss Res approach by the time of their annual general meetings, Bosshard said in a statement.
Bates Gallery receives modernized facelift courtesy of SGA funding

Legendary art professor Waldo Bates arrived at Edinboro in 1920 to begin his 34-year career as the mentor and arbiter for generations of artists and teachers.

More than a century later, Edinboro Universitys art community has finished major renovations to the art gallery that bears his name.

Thanks to a $50,000 gift fund from the Student Government Association, the Art Department upgraded the Bates Gallery  located on the ground floor of Loveland Hall  with a drop ceiling and supports, updated track lighting system, glass door and entryway, drywall, press-and-lock waterproof flooring, baseboards and wall trim, outlets and lights and a new heating unit.

Operated entirely as a student-run gallery, the Bates Gallery renovation project was approved through SGA Congress and completed by Edinboro Universitys Facilities team.

A space like this is important for student-artists to have access to because  while they are honing their skills as artists  it's important to gain skills to things that surround being an artist, said Edinboro graduate student Erikka Spaid, who directed the Bates Gallery renovation project. This gives students a chance to feel the pressure of organizing an exhibition on their own and learning just what it takes to organize, curate and carry out gallery procedures  before they're out in the world.

Spaid, who started a graduate assistantship with the Art Department in 2019, worked with faculty member D.W. Martin (Sculpture) on planning the renovation and designing plans for the space. After graduating from Slippery Rock in 2019 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting, Spaid arrived at Edinboro and was underwhelmed with the gallery space.

It was one of my first priorities when I arrived to try to troubleshoot the issues and try to improve the space before I left here, she said.

After defining the mission, Spaid  who represents the Student Art League under Martins direction  then attended SGA meetings, presented Congress with photos and designs for the space and collaborated with Facilities to complete the project.

Martin, who has taught at Edinboro since 1997, credits the Spaids pursuit of the project and the collaboration with Kaitlyn Lentz, former SGA vice president, Aaron Corwin, Edinboros building maintenance foreman and the Facilities team for financing and renovating the gallery.

Its very important for art students to have the most professional situation to exhibit their work, Martin said. This new gallery space enhances the overall environment in Loveland Hall and could be a catalyst for future improvements to the building.

Since the beginning of the spring 2022 semester, Bates Gallery has already hosted three art shows, and a variety are planned for the next few weeks.

Bates Gallery is a space that is a privilege for the students to have available at their disposal, said Spaid, a Coalport, Pa., native who is pursuing an MFA in painting at Edinboro. Not only do they learn the above skills, but it also opens a door for some students who come along and find love in gallery work, which is a great field for an artist to flourish in.

Bates Gallerys namesake led the Art Department from 1920 to 1954 and was instrumental in significantly increasing Edinboros art student population and its reputation throughout the region.

In 1920, the Pennsylvania Board of State Normal Schools Principals divided each of the 14 schools into specialized service areas, assigning Edinboro the elementary education and art areas. Bates was recruited to Edinboro that year to establish the Art Department and develop the curriculum.

In 1923, Bates founded the ScaRAb Club, an organization aimed at promoting fraternal understanding and harmony among art students.

Follow Edinboro Universitys Bates Gallery on Instagram to learn about future projects and student shows.

Photo: Edinboro art students Beau Henry and Tyler Kratz set up their Puppeteers exhibit in the newly renovated Bates Gallery.






2021 pig numbers in EU dropped to lowest in last decade

The total number of pigs in the European Union in 2021 stood at 141.55 million head according to Eurostat, 2.9% less than the previous year, and the lowest it has been in the last 10 years.

Contrary to last year, decreases occurred in all categories. The largest decrease was seen in finishing pigs with a reduction of 3.94%, followed by sows (-3.58%) and to a lesser degree, piglets (-0.62%).

Most EU member states have suffered decreases in the total inventory, with increases only seen in Bulgaria (+17.32%; In 2020, the country already had an increase of 20.4% compared to 2019), Latvia (+6%), Spain (+5.05% or +1.66 million head), and Ireland (+2.08%).

Cyprus and Romania saw values very similar to the previous year. On the other hand, the biggest decreases were in Slovakia (-16.8%), Poland (-12.66%), Greece (-12.51%) and Germany (-9.39% or almost 2.5 million head less).

Spain is once again the leading pig producer in the European Union, increasing its share in the total by 2% compared to last year, making up 24.34% of the total European herd, followed by Germany with 16.68% of the total (its share down from 17.8% of the total in 2020).

Denmark, with 9.29% of the total, surpasses France (9.14%) and is the third-largest producer, followed by the Netherlands and Poland. Spain, Germany, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Italy and Belgium account for almost 85% of the total EU-27 pig population.

- Pig333






New aid scheme for Ireland's pig producers announced





Ireland has announced an 7 million (US$7.7 million) aid scheme for local pig producers.

The fund will be distributed through a one-time payment of a maximum of 20,000 (US$22,090) per commercial farmer slaughtering more than 200 pigs per year, according to information published by the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture in its foreign news bulletin.

The Irish Food Board, or Bord Bia, has intensified measures to promote quality-assured Irish pork in domestic and export markets, with advertising campaigns on television, radio and national print media, planned for the first quarter of 2022.

The swine industry is of great importance to Ireland's national and rural economy. It is the third-largest livestock sector after dairy and beef. It accounts for 6.3% of the value of agri-food production, generated exports worth 930 million (US$1 billion) in 2021, and supports approximately 8,000 jobs.

- MAPA-Foreign News (Spain)






USDA: Corn production to increase 7.4% in 2021/22 period while drop expected for soybean





The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its new monthly supply and demand reports for grains and oilseeds with significant adjustments made for soybean crops in South America.

The results presented are influenced by the possible impacts that the Russia-Ukraine conflict could have in the short term. As for South America, the soybean harvests for Brazil and Argentina, which continue to be affected by adverse weather conditions, were reduced.

Globally, the USDA estimates that corn production will reach 1,206 million tonnes for the 2021/22 marketing year, which is 7.4% higher compared to the 2020/21 period (1,123 million tonnes).

For major world producers, there were no variations with respect to the forecasts given in the February report. For the United States, production remains at around 383.9 million tonnes, with a growth of 7.1% compared to the previous crop (358.4 millon tonnes). China is expected to increase its domestic supply by 4.6%, reaching 272.6 million tonnes.

Brazil's production volume is expected to reach 114 million tonnes, an increase of 31% compared to the 2020/21 season (87 million tonnes). Production in the European Union and Argentina is expected to see volumes of 69.8 million tonnes and 53 million tonnes, respectively, representing increases of 4% and 2.9% compared to the previous crop.

It is estimated that world grain exports would increase by 10%, from 181.8 million tonnes in the previous period to 199.9 million tonnes in the current season. This would be explained by the increase in export volumes from Brazil (+104.8%) and the European Union (+31.3%), which would be offsetting the decrease expected for the United States, which is expected to reduce its shipments abroad by 9.2%, from 69.9 million tonnes to 63.5 million tonnes.

Finally, China's corn imports are expected to fall by 11.9% to 26 million tonnes, which would be offset by an increase in its domestic production (+4.6%).

Global soybean production is expected to decrease by 3.4% compared to the 2020/21 season, from 366.2 million tonnes to 353.8 million tonnes.

The United States will continue to stand out with the highest volume growth among the main producers (+5.2%), going from 114.7 million tonnes to 120.7 million tonnes.

On the other hand, the production estimates for Brazil and Argentina's harvests were sharply reduced, as they would decrease by 8% and 5.8% with respect to the previous season, respectively, with volumes that would be around 127 million tonnes and 43.5 million tonnes.

Export activity will continue to be led by Brazil with 85.5 million tonnes, up 4.7% from the previous season, while the US will reach an export volume of 56.9 million tonnes, down 7.5% from the previous crop. China will continue to be the main oilseed importer with 94 million tonnes.

- Pig333
Some of the best years of my life  I miss those people.

Good times and memories, but I have moved on.

Not my best days, but I have made peace with them.

Glad to be away from those people  I dont miss the high school experience.

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Multi X adds Cargill as strategic partner and increases reach to more consumers





Jose Ramon Gutierrez, chairman of Multiexport Foods SA , a pioneer and leader of salmon farming in Chile, announced on March 18 that Cargill has agreed to purchase 24.5% of the shares of Salmones Multiexport SA (Multi X), the subsidiary of Multiexport.

In turn, Mitsui, a shareholder of Multi X since 2015, will increase its shareholding by 1.13%, to 24.5%. Multiexport Foods SA maintains control of Multi X with 51% of the total shares. The transaction is subject to certain regulatory approvals and the fulfillment of conditions agreed by the parties.

"Adding Cargill as a new partner of Multi X will be a strategic and decisive step in the next stage of development of the company and its purpose to win over the world's consumers with high-quality, value-added, sustainable products sold under our brands Multi X, Arka and Latitude 45," said Gutierrez.

The global consumption of salmon is expected to continue growing, driven by an increase in population and heightened consumer awareness of its health and sustainability benefits.

Responsible aquaculture will play an important role in meeting that increasing demand for salmon while helping address the critical challenge of climate change. Cargill shares Multi X's commitment to provide the world with delicious, healthy products that are good for consumers and the planet.

This partnership is also an important signal of the companies' long-term commitment and confidence in Chile and the future of the salmon industry in the country.

"We welcome Cargill, with their 156-year track record of growth and success, as well as a purpose and values that align with ours," Gutierrez said. "Together with Cargill and Mitsui, and our talented and passionate collaborators, we will combine capabilities and strengths for a sustainable development of Multi X and deepen our commitment to the southern regions of Chile."

"At Cargill, we seek to be a differentiated leader in the seafood industry, combining innovation with operational excellence to enable greater affordability and integrity of supply chains for our customers and consumers," said Tim Noonan, managing director of Cargill's seafood business. "This partnership is an important next step in the development of our seafood strategy and will leverage our capabilities across the value chain, including consumer insights, culinary innovation, value-added processing know-how, risk management and fish nutrition and health solutions.

"As a result, we hope to provide more customers and consumers with access to Multi X's high-quality portfolio of private label and branded salmon products."

"We are confident that this partnership represents a powerful union of three companies that believe in making affordable seafood more available to consumers worldwide, while protecting our oceans and improving the communities in which we operate," said Shuichi Matsuzawa, senior vice president of the Foods & Retail Division of Mitsui USA. "Bringing together the unique capabilities of Multiexport Foods, Cargill and Mitsui will create value for all of Multi X's stakeholders."

- Cargill






US -Canada transit policy to better facilitate cross-border animal transport during emergencies





The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and the United States Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS), have officially agreed to implement an Emergency Transit Policy for Regulated Animals.

The policy makes it easier and faster to evacuate regulated animals, such as livestock, birds, pets and companion animals, across the border during emergencies such as flooding, forest fires, extreme weather conditions or disasters, or when routine transportation routes are impaired without feasible alternatives.

Animals transiting through the other country during an emergency will be instructed when and where they will have to reenter their country of origin.

Under the joint policy, the country declaring an emergency will inspect animals, apply official seals to transport conveyances and issue a simplified export health certificate either at the port(s) of exit by an official veterinarian or at the premises of origin by an accredited veterinarian or official veterinarian.



- USDA






Mexico's pork production rose 2.1% last year



Pork production in Mexico had increased by 2.1%, from 1,652,362 tonnes to 1,686,798 tonnes in 2021, according to the latest figures on the Mexican swine industry published by the Mexican Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Pork imports reached a record level of 1.383 million tonnes, 26.4% higher than in 2020 (1.094 million tonnes), with the main supplier being the United States. Mexico surpassed China for the first time in becoming the US' leading buyer of pork. Mexico's exports decreased by 5.8% compared to 2020, from 276 thousand tonnes to 260 thousand tonnes.

The increase in production and imports is reflected in the increase in per capita consumption, which is estimated at 19.4kg/inhabitant for 2021, representing a growth of 2.3% compared to 2020 (19kg/inhabitant).

As for hog prices, it is found that these increased throughout 2021, reaching levels well above those recorded in the last four years.

Given the consideration of the aforementioned developments, Mexico's swine industry is seen to have a favorable performance in 2021, with the strength of demand and domestic consumption standing out, which was able to absorb both the increase in domestic production, as well as the record level of imports, a situation that also boosted prices.



- Pig333






USPOULTRY accepting applications for 2022 Clean Water Awards



US Poultry & Egg Association (USPOULTRY) is now accepting applications for the 2022 Clean Water Awards.

The awards recognise outstanding performance of wastewater treatment plants that operate at poultry and egg processing facilities. Winners will be announced at USPOULTRY's Environmental Management Seminar to be held on September 22  23 in Destin, Florida, the United States.

"Poultry companies and egg facilities are steadfast in their responsibility to environmental stewardship and perform an outstanding job operating their wastewater treatment facilities," said USPOULTRY chairman Mike Levengood. "The majority of the water used in poultry and egg processing is returned to the environment in excellent condition, continually exceeding the standards set in discharge permits. USPOULTRY is pleased to sponsor this annual award programme that highlights these exceptional facilities."

Awards are presented in two categories  full treatment and pre-treatment. Full treatment facilities are those facilities that fully treat their wastewater prior to discharge into a receiving stream or a land application system. Pre-treatment facilities are those facilities that discharge pre-treated effluent to publicly-owned wastewater treatment facilities for further treatment.

Any USPOULTRY member company is eligible to submit three nominees in each category. Facilities that have previously won the award may not be renominated for five years. The deadline for submitting applications is June 24.

Award recipients will receive a trophy, be profiled on the USPOULTRY website and receive assistance from USPOULTRY in publicising the award on a local, regional and national level.

The winners of the 2021 Clean Water Awards were Tyson Foods in Nashville, Arkansas, for full treatment, and Tyson Foods in Berryville, Arkansas, for pre-treatment.

Tyson Foods in Dardanelle, Arkansas, received honorable mention in the full treatment category. Pilgrim's Pride in Gainesville, Georgia, received honorable mention in the pre-treatment category.

- USPOULTRY






Strategy to push sustainable growth of finfish aquaculture in New Brunswick, Canada, through 2030

The government of New Brunswick, Canada, has released a multi-year strategy to promote the responsible and sustainable growth of finfish aquaculture through 2030.

The strategy focuses on several areas, including the production of different species, such as arctic char and sturgeon, and land-based production through the implementation of technological advancements.

New Brunswick Aquaculture and Fisheries Minister Margaret Johnson said salmon aquaculture has been contributing to the province's economy for more than 40 years.

She added that continuing to focus on utilising scientific innovations - particularly related to aquatic health and the protection of the environment - benefits everyone.

- Global News




UK pork now permitted for export to Chile

The UK's Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs said UK pork is now permitted for export to Chile for the first time, in a move projected to be worth GBP 20 million ~(US$26.2 million; GBP 1 = US$1.31) in the next five years.



The move follows UK pork access to Mexico and Taiwan, and builds on measures introduced by the ministry such as the immediate review of fairness in supply chains in the swine industry using powers under the Agriculture Act 2020.

Victoria Prentis, UK Farming Minister, has organised discussions with farmers and industry representatives and spoken to agricultural leads at major banks to ensure assistance to swine farmers.

The UK government has announced several schemes, which include the Private Storage Aid Scheme, Slaughter Incentive Payment Scheme, and a bespoke temporary visa scheme for pork butchers.

The UK exported GBP 339 million (~US$445 million) worth of pork last year, with non-EU countries accounting for two thirds of the exports. Chile has now opened up their market to imports from 27 UK companies such as those in Angus, Armagh, Wrexham and Suffolk.

The UK government, the UK Export Certification Partnership (UKECP) and Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) will continue to expand market access for the country's agriculture sector.

- UK Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
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A wake-up call from the EU to Spain. Three days after the Spanish government made a foreign policy about-turn on its North African neighbours which effectively abandoned the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination, the European Commission has reminded the Pedro Sanchez executive that the solution to the territorial dispute in its former colony of Western Sahara must involve the United Nations. EU foreign affairs spokesperson Nabila Massrali has stressed that the position of Brussels is that the status of this territory must be resolved "through a political process, in accordance with the resolutions of the United Nations". "The Commission reaffirms its support for the UN Secretary-General's efforts to continue the political process with a view to reaching a just, realistic, pragmatic, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution to the issue of Western Sahara," she remarked.

In a press conference held on Monday, Massrali added that "any solution must be based on commitments in accordance with the resolution of the UN Security Council". The latest such resolution was passed last October and called for "a realistic, viable, lasting solution, acceptable to the parties and based on agreement." That is, a solution that "provides for the free determination of the people of Western Sahara within the framework of the provisions in accordance with the principles and purposes of the Charter of the United Nations." This does not square with the Moroccan policy position - for Western Sahara to be a self-governing territory within Morocco - and thus Spain's effusive announcement on Friday of newfound support for Rabat signals an abandonment of the UN line.

Support for Spain's rapprochement with Morocco

However, the EU executive also stated that it took a positive view to the rapprochement of the Spanish state with Morocco, with the two countries agreeing on cooperation in key areas such as "migratory flows in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic". The EU spokesperson said that "on the position of Spain, the European Union welcomes the positive developments between the member states and Morocco in the bilateral relationship, which can only be beneficial for the implementation of the EU-Morocco Association Agreement as a whole," the European foreign affairs spokesperson said.

Last Friday, the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, yielded to pressure from Rabat on the plan for the former Spanish colony. The Spanish executive called the change of policy a "new stage" in relations with Morocco. But not everyone greeted it with applause. Algeria, Spain's other major partner in North Africa and the source for most of its gas imports, has reprimanded the Spanish leadership for failing to inform it in advance and has called its ambassador in Madrid for consultations. Similarly, the junior partner in the Spanish coalition government, Unidas Podemos, has criticized the Socialists' decision, and much of the Spanish parliamentary opposition - from the PP to the parties of the left - have called for the president to appear before Congress to explain the issue. Moreover, the Sahrawi independence movement itself, the Polisario Front, which has mostly operated from Algerian exile in the four decades that Saharan territory has been occupied by Morocco, has warned that the change of direction "is a dangerous deviation".
Feedback sought on proposed levy on banks

Views are being sought on the proposed introduction of a levy on banks to fund the operating costs of the Isle of Mans Resolution Authority.

A consultation on the Bank (Recovery and Resolution) Act 2020 Administrative Levy Order 2022 has been published today, Monday 21 March 2022, via the Government Engagement Hub.

The Financial Services Authority was established as the Resolution Authority for banks in the Island in 2020. In line with relevant international standards, the legislation allows a failing bank to be either resolved or wound up in an orderly fashion, without losses falling on the taxpayer.

The role of the Resolution Authority supports Our Island Plans commitment to meet global standards and maintain the Isle of Mans reputation as an economically responsible and increasingly sustainable jurisdiction.

It is intended the operating costs of the Resolution Authority will be recovered through a levy on the banking industry. The legislation has been drafted following responses to a public consultation issued in February 2021. The Resolution Authoritys operating costs are separate from any resolution fund/costs that could arise in a crisis.

Feedback is now being invited on the content and timing of the draft Order, which will come into effect later this year, subject to Tynwald approval.

Comments can be emailed to ruth.baxendale@iomfsa.im or by post to Ruth Baxendale, Isle of Man Financial Services Authority, PO Box 58, Finch Hill House, Bucks Road, Douglas, IM99 1DT.

The deadline for submissions is Monday 18 April 2022.
Blue Carbon project launched to help fight climate change

A year-long pilot project will see expert scientists explore the role the Isle of Mans marine and coastal environment can play in the fight against climate change.

Globally, coastal ecosystems such as mangroves and seagrass meadows capture and store significant amounts of blue carbon in the same way as trees and peatlands do on land.

They can also protect coastal communities against storms and flooding, improve ocean health and provide habitat for a multitude of species and commercially important fisheries.

Despite these benefits, such ecosystems are amongst the most threatened on Earth.

The Blue Carbon project will be delivered by the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture (DEFA) in partnership with the National Oceanographic Centre (NOC) and Swansea University.

It is a key action in the Phase One Climate Change Action Plan and funding has been provided from the Climate Change Environment Protection Fund.

Over the next 12 months they will work together to gather the data needed to build a detailed picture of life under the Manx territorial sea which covers around 3970 sq km.

This work began earlier this month when the NOC used drones to identify key areas for seagrass and kelp. Over coming months, samples will be taken from both these nearshore sites and important offshore areas, to learn more about their ability to store carbon.

Dr Michelle Haywood MHK, DEFA Member for the Environment, said: As a proud Biosphere Nation, with more than 85% of our territory in the Irish Sea, it makes strategic sense to look at how blue carbon - alongside cutting our emissions - can help us on our net zero journey.

The role of woodlands and peatlands in carbon sequestration has been well known for some time, but marine equivalents have often been overlooked, despite the oceans absorbing nearly a third of CO2 emissions that human activity generates every year.

Manx territorial waters are home to a number of important habitats such as seagrass meadows, salt marshes, muddy sediments and maerl beds with 10 Marine Nature Reserves already protecting around 11% of Manx territorial waters (431 sq km of seabed).

The DEFA team - consisting of Manx marine scientists Rowan Henthorn and Jacqui Keenan - plans to develop a cutting-edge management plan for blue carbon in the two years following this pilot project, and will apply for further funding later this year.

Rowan Henthorn, said: The Isle of Mans history of marine science in collaboration with both the fishing community and conservation organisations, and its strong cultural connection to the sea, means we are ideally placed to be a world-leader in blue carbon.

People will be able to follow the teams progress with regular updates on both the Isle of Man Net Zero and Biosphere websites and their social media channels.
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
It's all too common for electric vehicle makers to delay releases, but GM claims it's bucking the trend. The company says it has started production of the Cadillac Lyriq at its Spring Hill, Tennessee plant about nine months ahead of the initial schedule. GM didn't say how many of the sold-out reservations for the luxury crossover translated to real purchases, but it will take more orders for the Lyriq starting May 19th. The EV is due to reach dealers in the first half of the year.

The Lyric is Cadillac's first EV, and the first passenger vehicle to use GM's Ultium platform beyond the Hummer EV. It won't be as brawny as the Hummer with its estimate 340HP motor system, but it's expected to net 300-plus miles of range and 190kW fast charging at compatible stations. You can also anticipate plenty of tech, including a 33-inch OLED screen and Super Cruise hands-free highway driving. More importantly, the Lyriq will start at $59,990  still not cheap, but it's far more affordable than the $79,995 minimum you'll pay for the Hummer.

The Lyriq doesn't quite represent the next generation of mainstream GM EVs. For that, you'll have to wait until Chevy's electric Silverado ($39,900) and Equinox (roughly $30,000). It does serve as a bridge between the Hummer and more affordable models, though, and it's certainly easier to justify for those that don't need the Hummer's off-roading abilities.
Earlier this month Google released its 10th Pixel feature drop containing new supported languages for Live Translate, Live Sharing in Duo calls and more. And while the latest patch had already rolled out to older devices (from the Pixel 3a to the Pixel 5), today the update began arriving on Google's most recent flagships: the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro.

First spotted by Android Police, in addition to new software features, the update also brings a number of general performance improvements such as better thermal and battery management and faster fingerprint recognition. But perhaps even more importantly, the patch also contains a handful of bug fixes including a solution for a recent issue that was causing Pixel 6 phones to randomly disconnect from WiFi.

Finally, for Pixel 6 owners on Verizon, Google's March update is also adding support for the carrier's new 5G C-band spectrum, which went live at the beginning of the year on January 19th. Verizon claims its C-Band 5G is up to 10 faster than 4G LTE, and that following its recent deployment, the company's Ultra Wideband 5G now covers more than 100 million people across 1,700 US cities.

While it's a bit frustrating to see Google's latest feature drop arrive last on the company's most recent (and most expensive) phones, considering that the Pixel 6's WiFi woes were caused by the previous January update (which itself was pushed back from December), it makes sense that Google postponed its release a bit. And hopefully, Google used that extra time to iron out any new bugs in the March update. Though based on the company's recent track record, that might be a bit too optimistic.
Just before the weekend, cosmonauts Denis Matveyev, Oleg Artemyev and Sergey Korsakov arrived at the International Space Station in bright yellow and blue jumpsuits. Being the first Russians to arrive at the International Space Station since the war in Ukraine began, it seemed like, well, a choice. Russias Roscosmos space agency dismissed the connection saying in a Telegram post spotted by Space.com: Sometimes yellow is just yellow. Roscosmos went on to claim the three were wearing the colors of Bauman Moscow State Technical University, their shared alma mater, which has a crest with blue and yellow details.

Roscosmos TV

The cosmonauts didnt say too much about their choice of uniform during a press conference. "It became our turn to pick a color," said Artemyev. We had accumulated a lot of yellow material, so we needed to use it. That's why we had to wear yellow." Does this mean they crafted their own jumpsuits?

Then again, with the three men still in space, they couldnt be further away from immediate repercussions from their government.

 Mat Smith

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The Overwatch 2 PvP PC beta lands on April 26th. Block out that weekend because as well as 5-on-5 battles  the Overwatch PvP was 6-on-6  the beta also comes with four fresh maps and some reimagined characters, both in aesthetics and play style.

Continue reading.

Lupin is literally about a master thief.

On February 25th, some 20 masked thieves broke on to the set of the production of popular Netflix show Lupin while it was filming in a Parisian suburb. They stole approximately $330,000 worth of equipment. As a distraction, perpetrators set off mortar-style fireworks during the heist. Now, French authorities have charged seven individuals allegedly involved in the robbery. Lupin isnt the only Netflix project to fall victim to a robbery this year. Just one day before the thefts in Paris, thieves made off with more than $200,000 worth of antique props after breaking into vehicles used for the production of The Crown.

Continue reading.

Microsoft is pitching in, too.

Epic

Starting today through April 3rd, Epic Games will donate all of its Fortnite proceeds to humanitarian organizations providing on-the-ground relief to Ukrainians affected by the invasion of their country. Direct Relief, UNICEF, UNs Refugee Agency and Food Programme are all involved.

Continue reading.

Samsung may have just won the battle for mid-range phones.

This weeks podcast centers on Samsungs big mid-range phone show. Devindra Hardawar and Senior Writer Sam Rutherford discuss the new Galaxy A53 5G and A33. The Galaxy A53 has a 120Hz screen, four cameras and 5G support for $450. Can the iPhone SE stand up to those kinds of specs?

Continue reading.
Volkswagen's electrification efforts in North America will receive an additional $7.1 billion investment over the next five years, the company announced on Monday.

VW intends to spend that money on "[boosting] its product portfolio, regional R&D and manufacturing capabilities," per a release, in hopes that doing so will help drive 55 percent of its US sales to be EVs by 2030. The company intends to ramp down its internal combustion production capacity over the same time frame, transitioning American assembly plants to produce the ID.4 in 2022, the ID.Buzz in 2024, and a yet-to-be-released SUV starting in 2026.

The company estimates that 90 percent of the vehicles it sells in North America are already assembled in North America. Its production facilities in Chattanooga, TN have already begun the electrification process with its factories at Pueblo and Silao, Mexico coming online by the middle of the decade.

VW is also betting big on batteries, having already invested more than $2.7 billion in North American supplier partnerships ahead of the ID'4's launch. The company also plans to officially open its Battery Engineering Lab (BEL) in Chattanooga this May and is considering constructing a battery production plant stateside as well though that's still in its most initial planning stages.

These investments are already paying dividends to drivers. During a press event Monday morning, Scott Keogh, President and CEO, Volkswagen Group of America noted that VW intends to bring OTA updates and new software features like plug-and-charge, which automates the transaction portion of recharging on a public station allowing drivers to simply plug in without having to swipe a debit card or fiddle with NFC readers, later this year.
ENID, Okla.  Civil Air Patrol (CAP) is a congressionally chartered nonprofit organization that is an official civilian auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force. In laymans terms, that means students known as cadets and adults known as senior members voluntarily answer the call to help in their communities and state.

CAP serves in a lot of capacities, said CAP Capt. Brooke Erikson, assistant public affairs officer for the CAP Oklahoma Wing and aerial photographer for the Enid Composite Squadron.

Civil Air Patrol National Headquarters and Operations Center are located at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama. There are 52 wings, which are in all 50 states plus Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, and each wing is comprised of several squadrons. The Oklahoma Wing has 16 squadrons and is based out of Tinker Air Force Base.

The people and the missions

The Enid Composite Squadron (OK110) meets at 6:30 p.m. Mondays on the third floor at Emerson Middle School, 700 W. Elm. Composite squadrons are a mix of cadets and senior members, primarily aimed at advancing cadets through the program.

At present, Enid Composite Squadron has 47 members, with 20 cadets hailing from Enid and Chisholm public schools and 27 senior members ranging in age from their 20s to 60s. Many of the senior members are active duty or retired military, but members dont have to affiliated with the military to join.

Erikson said no one knows for sure how Enids squadron began, only that a sergeant stationed at Vance Air Force Base formed it in the 1980s and fashioned the squadron patch from that of the 71st Operation Support Squadron known as the Ghostriders.

Enids former squadron commander CAP Maj. Rick Fox, who currently serves as the senior member deputy commander, oversaw the local Civil Air Patrol for 13 years.

He came to Enid in 1995, having transitioned from active duty to civilian, and has been a SIM instructor at Vance Air Force Base since. He previously trained as a student pilot at Vance and was a T-37 instructor at Vance in between flying B-52s.

While Fox had a commercial pilots license, he didnt have a private pilots license, so he obtained one in 2000 so he could fly single-engine aircraft for CAP. He stopped piloting 10 years ago; now he just rides with the air crew on search and rescue (SAR) missions for missing persons and downed aircraft.

Its the people, and its the missions, Fox said as to why he joined and stayed with CAP as a senior member.

He added kudos to the city of Enid and Enid Public Schools for providing the facility for CAP to meet locally. Fox said despite Civil Air Patrol being a strategic partner of the Total Force, much like the National Guard, CAP cadets dont automatically have access to military installations or have military benefits.

There are, however, many benefits to joining the Civil Air Patrol.

On the path forward 2022: Bulding a resilient community: ALL MILITARY IMPACT STORIES On the path forward 2022: Building a resilient community is a special section that will publish in the Enid News & Eagle for eight Sundays

Showing initiative

Students between ages 12 and 20 learn leadership, aerospace, physical fitness and character development during after-school meetings. They are offered opportunities to fly, drill, go on emergency service missions and participate in local, regional and national activities.

CAP also sponsors the Cadet Wings program, a U.S. Air Force-funded pilot shortage initiative that identifies potential young flyers within CAP and provides them with flight training to earn private pilot certificates.

There is no obligation for cadets to join any branch of the military after high school; but those who do choose to enlist in the Air Force, Army or Coast Guard may be eligible for higher pay grades.

CAP shows initiative, Fox commented, because students go above and beyond their usual school activities when they are involved in CAP. And if they stick with it long-term in their quest for excellence and achieve certain levels as cadets, they are looked upon very favorably by the military when they apply, Fox added. CAP members make up nearly 10 percent of U.S. Air Force Academy classes.

CAP cadet Kal-El Hooper specifically joined when he was in sixth grade because he saw Civil Air Patrol as his ticket into the military. The Enid High School teen said the lifestyle, the formation, the order, the uniform  it all draws him and gives him clarity. He has embraced every minute and is looking to join the Marines when he graduates in 2025.

My motivation comes from CAP, Hooper said.

Making a difference

For senior member CAP 1st Lt. Tanner Mackall, being a cadet in Ohio prepped him for military life and opened the doors for him to get a full ride to college and then go straight into active duty last fall with the Air Force. Vance Air Force Base is his first duty station.

While he waits to enter the pilot training pipeline, he works as a casual in the 71st Wing Safety office. Mackalls goal is to eventually fly C-17s, the large transport aircraft, hopefully out of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii.

In the meantime, Mackall does the orientation flights with the Enid cadets and is pursuing CAP instructor training. He strongly recommends adults join the Civil Air Patrol because it is rewarding.

Make a difference in the youth of America, Mackall said. Its powerful to see the smiles.

A good fit

Emergency service missions are what initially drew senior member CAP 2nd Lt. Luis Anguiano last summer. The retired Air Force master sergeant served in logistics transport, inventory and base supply for 24 years, so SAR missions seemed a good fit.

CAP emergency services include:

 Search and rescue crews in the air and on the ground to help find missing persons or downed aircraft.

 Aerial photography for homeland security and disaster relief.

 Transport and delivery of time-sensitive medical materials, blood products and body tissue, as well as coronavirus-related support such as personal protective equipment, lab test samples and vaccines.

 Staffing for emergency operations centers and blood drives during the pandemic.

 Communications support,

 Assisting law enforcement with the war on drugs.

 Low level route surveys for the Air Force,

This is the best kept secret, Anguiano said jokingly, adding hed rather it wasnt a secret.

He and his wife, Regina, previously owned Kick N Fit Karate martial arts studio in Enid and together decided to redirect their energies into mentoring cadets and helping them flourish.

In fact, Regina Anguiano also teaches aerospace education at Chisholm High School. Aerospace education is meant to generate interest in STEM careers through aviation-, space- and technology-focused activities. CAP provides more than 40 free STEM kits and programs associated with astronomy, flight simulation, model and remote-controlled aircraft, robotics, rocketry, weather, hydraulic engineering and computer programming.

CAP also offers aerospace support for educational conferences and workshops, along with grants and college credit for senior members.

Origins of CAP

The idea of Civil Air Patrol was born in 1936 when a World War I aviator in New Jersey began envisioning how to mobilize Americas civilian aviators for national defense. His dream came true six days before the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 when CAPs national headquarters officially opened its doors. At the time, civilian volunteers in privately owned planes armed with bombs patrolled Americas coastline, serving as the eyes and ears of the nations skies.

While CAP cadets and senior members no longer do armed patrols today, the core mission of CAP is the same: support Americas communities with emergency response through air and ground services, develop youth through the cadet program and educate the community about aerospace.
Johnson quote In my 23 years in the Air Force, Ive never seen a local community put the resources into a regional airport that benefit us as much as Enid. We couldnt do what we do without Woodring. It defines the right way to do city and federal cooperation. Col. Jay Johnson, 71st Flying Training wing commander,

ENID, Okla.  Enid Woodring Regional Airport often is referred to as Vance Air Force Base East for a reason.

The airport is used extensively by the Air Force for a number of projects. Col. Jay Johnson, 71st Flying Training wing commander, said the base and the community have a strong relationship.

In my 23 years in the Air Force, Ive never seen a local community put the resources into a regional airport that benefit us as much as Enid, Johnson said. We couldnt do what we do without Woodring. It defines the right way to do city and federal cooperation.

There are Vance planes at Woodring every day, Johnson said.

Were special here

The cooperation was seen two years ago when the center runaway was being repaired at Vance. Woodring was used as an auxiliary runway.

Because of that we didnt miss the training of one pilot, Johnson said. We were able to renovate the outside and inside runways. We just parked at Woodring full time. It is really difficult to articulate how important Woodring is to us.

Enid City Manager Jerald Gilbert said the relationship is allegiant.

Everybody says their relationships are close, but this one is unlike any other, he said. I know Lawton likes Fort Sill and Midwest City likes Tinker, but were special here.

Gilbert said studies have shown Vance has a nearly $1 billion impact on Enid, with Woodring comprising tens of millions of that total.

Woodring has allowed Vance to operate seven days a week. Pilots can train at Woodring on weekends. On Sunday cross country return flights  which can take four to six hours  often see Vance pilots flying out of Woodring, Johnson said.

This is something that people dont think about, said Woodring airport manager Keston Cook. It (Woodring) offers them a place to utilize weekend training. Its a lot cheaper for them to base their aircraft out of Woodring for the weekend than it is for a full fly weekend at Vance where they would have to pay overtime (for support services).

Woodrings biggest customer

Cook estimates anywhere from 50 to 60% of the operations at the airport are military related. Forty percent of the airports fuel sales are for the military.

They are definitely are biggest customer, Cook said. They utilize us quite frequently on weekends depending how much behind they are or how busy they are. Its not uncommon to see 10 to 12 T-6s out there.

The fuel sales, Johnson said, helps both sides financially.

Johnson estimates out of 45,000 activities ongoing at Woodring, about 35,000 are related to Vance.

Cook said Woodring had its biggest spike in military business during the height of the COVID pandemic, which saw a lot of airports shutting down.

We were the only civilian base a lot of those military bases could fly to, Cook said. We saw an increase close to 100 percent in Vance traffic during COVID. Its closer to normal now, but its still anywhere from 25 to 50 percent busier with the military than we were before COVID.

Constant communication

Cook said Woodring and Vance are in constant communication. He attends meetings at the base at least once a month.

Sometimes its just to make sure that everything is being communicated back and forth, he said. If they got big plans where they will need more space or extra aircraft at Woodring, they will let us know.

Cook said Woodring acts almost like a fourth runaway for Vance on weekdays, especially for touch-and-go landings for T-6 aircraft.

Woodring also was able to extend a runaway to 8,000 feet so it could be used for T-38s.

There are joint 120-by-120-foot hangars with a 90-foot-wide door that can open at both sides to pull planes through, and those are used to help Vance with weather evacuations. He said the can handle as many as 12 T-6 or six T-1 aircraft, depending on placement.

Johnson said Vance has 208 planes, but only 100 can be housed in hangars during inclement weather.

This give us the space to protect them, Johnson said. Its no small feat.

Cook said Woodrings main ramp can hold as many as 20 T-6 aircraft. The two other ramps at the airport can hold as many as 12, he said.

A new $27 million terminal building at Woodring, funded in part by Oklahoma Strategic Military Commission, is used a lot by Vance.

It has a planning room, a big conference room and two smaller conference rooms attached.

Woodring also is used both as a stop for fuel and food at the airport restaurant.

Any of the flights  T-1s, T-6s and T-38s  can sit in there and be debriefed, Cook said. There are white boards in there and a big conference table. There are a couple of computers in there if they need it.

Johnson said the amenities are like home.

You look inside that flight room, and its very similar to what we have at Vance, Johnson said. It allows us to brief and define a flight.

Woodring has been the starting point for several T-38 flyovers.

Johnson said the close relationship was the reason behind Vance celebrating its 80th anniversary at Woodring.

We wanted the public to meet our airmen and observe our culture, Johnson said. Its an a prime example of what right looks like.

Vance Air Force Base East

Woodring is working closely with Vance when it comes to the regional airports five-year plan.

The top three priorities are:

 A full reconstruction of the crosswind runway, the only one in the Northwest Oklahoma region, Cook said. It would be too small to be utilized by the military but is a great asset for small planes to fly in.

 Rehab of the main runway for the 2024-25 fiscal year. Cook said its a project that will require some sealing of cracks.

 Rehab and reconfiguration of the main terminal ramp. It will be squared off from its semi circle shape. They would be adding second connection taxi way to the main runaway.

Both Woodring and Vance are working with the Oklahoma Military Strategic Commission to get funding for three projects.

These are priorities that align us a lot with what Vance needs and how we can help, Cook said.

Those priorities include:

 A tower display station that would feature the same radar as Vance.

It would help them with spacing and our capacity in our runways, Cook said. Its a big safety help and would make sure there is no conflicts in spacing. We have a whole bunch of T-6s doing circles over airports and touch and goes with some of that lower aviation general traffic.

 A south ramp reconstruction. Cook said its in decent condition but could use some work. He said it would be a full reconstruction and would fix issues with water drainage that flows toward s on that ramp.

This would be an opportune time to correct that problem, and there will be some new s for tenants as well, Cook said.

 A new joint that would basically be the same size as the current one but with only one door.

This would be a big access area to store aircraft during weather evacuation, Cook said.

On the path forward 2022: Bulding a resilient community: ALL MILITARY IMPACT STORIES On the path forward 2022: Building a resilient community is a special section that will publish in the Enid News & Eagle for eight Sundays

All of those projects would benefit us as well as Woodring to expand operations, Johnson said. We could use the improvement, and the south ramp would be better suited for our jets. It would be good to have that radar display in the tower at Woodring.

They are looking for funds through grants, the FAA, the federal government and discretionary funds from the Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission.

Gilbert said the city is working closely with Enid Development Authority to create more business opportunities for the airport.

Were blessed to have the Air Force base, he said. Were constantly trying to make improvements out there (at Woodring) for our regional traffic.

Cook smiles when he hears Woodring being referred to as Vance East.

Its real busy, he said.
102 years ago, British workers struck in solidarity with the Russian Revolution. Conditions were ripe for revolution, though the opportunity was missed. Rob Sewell explains the revolutionary potential displayed by the working class in Britain, the errors of their leadership, and the lessons of these experiences for the class struggle today, at a time when war, crisis and chaos are similarly rampant. This article first appeared in issue 30 of In Defence of Marxism, the theoretical magazine of the International Marxist Tendency. Click here to subscribe and get the latest issue.

The period following the First World War in Britain was one of heightened class struggle. Revolution was haunting the ruling class in Britain and elsewhere. The young Soviet Republic, headed by Lenin and Trotsky, was fighting off armies of foreign intervention and a bitter civil war. A new chapter was opening everywhere in the struggle between the classes.

1919 was a year of great industrial strife, opening with an engineering strike on the Red Clydeside and in Belfast. The strikers in Glasgow hoisted the Red Flag, amid tension and excitement. An unprovoked police charge against strikers led to the Battle of George Square. Such were the fears that the government sent tanks to George Square. Arrests of the leaders followed and the strike ended a week later. Willie Gallacher, the chairman of the Clyde Committee, later wrote that instead of organising a strike, we should have been organising a revolution. He continued, our failure to realise the need of continuous and consistent leadership embracing all phases of activity represented a fatal weakness that was to lead to our complete eclipse. Their experience of revolutionary syndicalism, nevertheless, increasingly pushed these workers in a revolutionary direction, and the politics embodied by the newly-established Communist International. The anti-war agitator, the great John Maclean, on his release from prison, was one of the first in Britain to rally to the cause of the Russian Revolution.

Introducing the latest In Defence of Marxism magazine!



With articles on:

- The Austrian School of Economics: Capitalism's Free-Market Fanatics

- The Young Lenin

- Rosa Luxemburg and the Bolsheviks: Dispelling the Myths



 Click the Linktree in bio to subscribe! pic.twitter.com/WewAXjAezu  Wellred Books (@WellredBooks) January 16, 2022

Trade union membership in Britain leaped from 5,283,000 in 1919 to 6,505,000 in 1920. A Triple Alliance was formed of rail workers, miners and transport workers, the key sections of the working class, which had colossal potential power. Unemployment nevertheless remained high, hardly ever falling below the million mark.

When the miners went on strike (the datum-line strike), Lloyd George was forced to backtrack and arrive at a temporary agreement. In many ways it was a test of strength, which revealed the weakness of the government. Although the government was forced to hold back, it did nevertheless introduce a new oppressive measure, namely, the Emergency Powers Act of 1920. This gave legal powers to the government to break any large strike which would interfere with the supply and distribution of food, water, fuel or light, or with the means of locomotion. This gave the government the authority to impose a state of emergency, backed by fines and imprisonment. However, these powers were for now held in reserve.

The balance of class forces was still very favourable towards the workers. It was the government, faced by this growing militancy, that was on the backfoot. The fact that there was a second police strike in 1919 was an indication of its difficulties. However, the leadership of the trade unions failed to take advantage of this situation. They had power within their grasp, but chose instead to retreat. This was clearly revealed in a conversation between Robert Smillie, the miners leader, and Aneurin Bevan in 1919:

Lloyd George sent for the Labour leaders, and they went, so Robert told me, truculently determined they would not be talked over by the seductive and eloquent Welshman. At this, Bobs eyes twinkled in his grave, strong face. He was quite frank with us from the outset, Bob went on. He said to us: Gentlemen, you have fashioned, in the Triple Alliance of the unions represented by you, a most powerful instrument. I feel bound to tell you that in our opinion we are at your mercy. The Army is disaffected and cannot be relied upon. Trouble has occurred already in a number of camps In these circumstances, if you carry out your threat and strike, then you will defeat us. But if you do so, went on Lloyd George, have you weighed the consequences? The strike will be in defiance of the government of the country and by its very success will precipitate a constitutional crisis of the first importance. For, if a force arises in the state, which is stronger than the state itself, then it must be ready to take on the functions of the state, or withdraw and accept the authority of the state. Gentlemen, asked the Prime Minister quietly, have you considered, and if you have, are you ready? From that moment on, said Robert Smillie, we were beaten and we knew we were.

This little episode encapsulated the weakness at the top of the movement.

When put to the test, these leaders drew back, terrified of the consequences. As a result, they proved incapable of carrying the movement through to a logical conclusion. Lloyd George, an astute representative of the ruling class, certainly had a measure of these leaders, including their weaknesses. He openly admitted that the government could not have survived without their compliance. Lenin once said that capitalism could not last six weeks without the support of the Labour and trade union leaders. This was a clear confirmation of this fact.

The political ferment at this time reflected itself in the growth in the circulation of the left-wing press, whose readership peaked in these years, with the Communist reaching 60,000, and the Labour Leader probably exceeding it. The Daily Heralds circulation rose to between 200,000 and 300,000, which spread left-wing ideas and news of labour disputes. Its affiliated membership had gone up to 4,359,000. Not only did trade union membership rise, so did support for the Labour Party. In 1920, the number of divisional and local party organisations topped the 2,000 mark. Its programme also shifted left, promising (in words) to end capitalism. On the contrary, stated Labour and the New Social Order, we shall do our utmost to see it is buried with the millions whom it has done to death.

Imperialism

On the international front, the British government was continuing its aggression against Soviet Russia with troops stationed in Murmansk and Archangel. Part of the Allied attack was an invasion of Russia by the Poles, which had driven beyond Kiev. By 1919, Polish forces had taken control of much of Western Ukraine, emerging victorious from the Polish-Ukrainian War.

A Hands off Russia campaign had been established in Britain, involving leading trade unionists and Labour MPs. On 18 January 1919, a 350-strong Hands Off Russia delegate conference took place in the Memorial Hall, London, sponsored by the London Workers Committee, the British Socialist Party, the Socialist Labour Party and the IWW. Arthur McManus and Sylvia Pankhurst, who had actively campaigned for the Bolshevik cause, were among the revolutionary activists also taking part. The meeting passed the following resolution:

This rank and file conference of delegates from British and Irish Labour and socialist organisations hereby resolves to carry on an active agitation upon every field of activity to solidify the Labour movement in Great Britain for the purpose of declaring at a further conference, to be convened for that purpose, a general strike, unless before the date of that conference the unconditional cessation of allied intervention in Russiaeither directly, by force or arms or indirectly by an economic blockade, by supplying arms or money to the internal opponents of the Bolsheviks, or by any other sinister means endeavouring to crush the Bolshevik administrationshall have been officially announced, and will continue the strike and agitation until the desired announcement shall have been made, until we are satisfied as to the truth of the announcement, and until the allied attack on the Workers and Soldiers Councils in Germany are stopped, the blockade of Germany raised and the Allied troops withdrawn.

In response to the continued aggression of the British government against Soviet Russia, a Hands off Russia campaign was launched in Britain, involving leading trade unionists and Labour MPs / Image: Marx Memorial Library

The Labour Party conference in June 1919 went as far as to threaten direct action to prevent British military involvement. None other than Herbert Morrison, the right winger, told the conference: They have got to realise that the present war against Russia on the part of this country, France and the other imperialist powers, was not war against Bolshevism or against Lenin, but against the international organisation of socialism. It was a war against the organisation of the trade union movement itself, and as such should be resisted with the full political and industrial power of the whole trade union movement. The right-wing Labour Party and trade union leaders were astute enough at this time to employ militant, and even revolutionary, demagogy to maintain their grip.

By 1,893,000 votes to 935,000, a motion was decisively carried demanding an immediate end to the British governments intervention, prescribing Labour and TUC co-operation, with the view to effective action being taken to enforce these demands by the unreserved use of their political and industrial power.

In April 1920, the Poles launched a further offensive against Russia, leading to the occupation of Kiev.

Revolutionary Solidarity

Meanwhile, Lenin had issued his Appeal to the Toiling Masses, which was being widely circulated in Britain. For months the Hands Off Russia campaign had carried out extensive agitation on the London docks, which finally bore fruit on 10 May 1920, when London dock workers refused to load the ship called the Jolly George with British armaments bound for Poland to be used against the Red Army. The coal-heavers also refused to fuel the ship, which scuppered the governments efforts. This act of international class solidarity electrified the whole British Labour movement. A week later, the Dockers Union decided to prevent the loading of all munitions for use against Russia. We have a right, said Ernest Bevin, the dockers national leader, to refuse to have our labour prostituted to carry on wars of this character. Workers everywhere triumphantly received the news.

Totally misreading the situation on the ground, the British government threatened war with Russia. However, the newly-formed Red Army by Trotsky and under the command of Tukhachevsky, firstly blocked the Polish advance, then went on the counter attack deep into Poland, which threatened to take Warsaw. The Allies, involving Lloyd George, rushed to Polands defence and Lord Curzon sent an ultimatum to Russia. With the French they arranged to send aid to the Poles. War was clearly being planned.

O10 May 1920 London dockworkers refused to load the ship called the Jolly George with British armaments bound for Poland to be used against the Red Army / Image: public domain

Mass demonstrations called by the Labour Party took place across the country against the interventionist threats of the British government. These actions, in turn, built up pressure on the Labour and trade union leaders, and the Executive Committee of the Labour Party and the Parliamentary Committee of the TUC were forced into taking action. They met in the House of Commons on the 9 August 1920 and issued a statement to all secretaries of local Trades Councils and Labour Parties: the whole industrial power of the organised workers will be used to defeat this war, and notified the Executives of all affiliated organisations to hold themselves ready to proceed immediately to London for a national conference, advised them to instruct their members to down tools on instructions from that national conference, and constituted a representative Council of Action with full powers to implement these decisions.

The workers of this country have nothing to gain by the contemplated attack on Russia, stated a circular issued by the TUC leaders on 10 August. If war is declared we should soon be involved in unlimited sacrifice of blood and treasure, and should be used as tools of capitalist oppression. The national leaders have acted promptly; all sections are united in denouncing the present policy of the government. On this question there is no division or hesitation. A national body has been elected responsible for effective resistance if war is declared. The Council of Action, appointed by a Special conference at the House of Commons on Monday, is already at work. Plans have been prepared for mobilising the full resources of our movement. United industrial action, even to the extent of a general strike, may be necessary. We must, however, act in strict accordance with a well-thought-out policy and plan. The Council of Action will sit in constant session to watch developments and issue advice to the affiliated organisations. In the meantime, the action taken nationally must be followed immediately by similar action in Various districts, and we make the following suggestions: 1 - Secretaries of local Trades Councils and Labour Parties should immediately Convene a special conference for the purpose of electing a local Council of Action. 2 - The local Councils should form sub-committees to deal with the following questions: (1) Supply and transport;(2) Strike arrangements;(3) Publicity and information. 3 - The name and address of secretaries appointed to act as secretaries of local Councils, should be forwarded to the joint secretaries of the National Council immediately after the conference. The local organisations are urged to act speedily in connection with this important crisis in the history of our movement. Ordinary methods of procedure should be suspended and special efforts made to get the local conferences working in a few days

The national conference took place at the Central Hall, Westminster on Friday 13 August. On behalf of the national Council of Action, it put out a directive: Form Your Councils of Action! This call to all trade union branches, trades councils and local Labour Parties was taken up enthusiastically. Within days, 350 Councils of Action sprang up in every town and city throughout the length and breadth of the British Isles. It was clear that a strike would be solid. Interestingly, the young Communist Party was also instrumental in getting these councils organised. It called upon its members to extend Communist representation in the councils and to win key positions on the strike committees to withstand any attempts by trade union and Labour leaders to frustrate the desires of the rank and file, by capitulating at the crucial moment. (Communist No.2, 12 August 1920)

Lenin remarked favourably on the setting up of the Councils of Action as the transition to the workers dictatorship The whole of the English bourgeois press, he said, wrote that the Councils of Action were Soviets. And it was right. They are not called Soviets but in actual fact they are.

Lenins Appeal to the Toiling Masses was being widely circulated in Britain at the time / Image: public domain

A delegation from the Central Council of Action was sent to see Lloyd George, who immediately agreed to see them. Ernest Bevin, the leader of the delegation, warned Lloyd George. We cannot tolerate, he said, the use of armed force to put down a revolution in another country or to stifle revolutionary change. He continued that if war with Russia is carried on directly in support of Poland there will be a match set to an explosive material, the result of which none of us can foresee today We are ready and determined to resist the triumph of reaction and war. This threat was enough to force Lloyd George to retreat, who immediately scoffed at the very idea of war with Russia. In a conversation with the tsarist general Golovin, Winston Churchill, War Minister in the Lloyd George government, who had urged intervention against Russia in the Cabinet, confessed that it was exceedingly difficult to get the military support which he had requested for General Kolchak because of the opposition of the British working class to any armed intervention. Britain therefore did not participate in any military action and was even forced to pull its forces out of Russia altogether.

In the meantime, the Soviet government had waged a successful counter-offensive against Polish aggression, which had taken the Red Army to the gates of Warsaw. But they were overstretched and were forced to retreat. In the end, the Soviets sued for peace and the war ended with a cease-fire on 18 October 1920.

This show of international solidarity by the British working class crippled the war aims of the Lloyd George government and helped to throw a lifeline to the besieged Soviet state. The intervention of 21 foreign armies to topple the Bolsheviks had failed, but at terrible cost to the Russian people.

For now, the forces of counter-revolution were in retreat and the Soviet state was provided with a breathing space.

The Communist International

In Britain, the labour movement was still feeling the effects of the Russian Revolution. At the Leeds Convention in 1917, Ramsay MacDonald was calling for soviets! Litvinov, the representative of the new Soviet Republic, received an ovation at the Nottingham conference of the Labour Party in January 1918. This was quickly followed by the Partys move to adopt Clause 4, the partys commitment to the abolition of capitalism and socialism. The reaction from the war and revolution surged through every part of the Labour Party. The collapse of the Second International and the launch of the Communist International the following year created a ferment in the workers movement, and sharpened the struggle between supporters and opponents of the Bolshevik Revolution.

The largest socialist organisation in Britain and the core of the Labour Party was the Independent Labour Party (ILP). Even part of the Labour leadership were members, such as Ramsay MacDonald and Philip Snowden. Politically, the ILP was rather amorphous and it took an ambivalent approach to the Russian Revolution. There were divisions within the party between the left and right wings. The ILP could be described as a left reformist organisation, to use Marxist terms, verbally quite left wing, but lacking the theoretical basis and clarity of Marxism. It regarded socialism as stemming more from the heart than the head. This middle-of-the-road approach, coupled with pacifism, simply sowed confusion and political compromise.

The collapse of the Second International and the launch of the Communist International the following year created a ferment in the workers movement / Image: public domain

The struggle within the ILP was sharpened with the launch of the new Third (Communist) International in March 1919. This coincided with an attempt to salvage the Second (Socialist) International at Berne in February 1919, but this was composed of little more than a bunch of right-wing leaders. The pre-revolutionary situation in Britain began to feed into the radicalised ranks of the ILP. In 1920, at its January conference, the important Scottish Division went on record in favour of affiliation to the Third International by 158 votes to 58.

This put the ILP leadership, the National Administrative Council (NAC), in some difficulties, who were more right wing and far more cautious. The Party held its national conference in Easter, where this question about affiliation would be discussed. While the leadership was forced to take into consideration the radicalised membership, it pulled a manoeuvre and simply recommended withdrawal from the Second International, which was then overwhelmingly carried. The NAC side-stepped a vote on the Third International by proposing a unity conference organised by parties outside of both Internationals. This was sweetened with a proposal to hold exploratory talks with the Communist International. This recommendation was agreed with 472 votes in favour against 206 wanting direct affiliation to the Third International. That served to side-line the issue and eventually bury it.

The ILP leaders sent a delegation to Moscow, composed of the party chairman, R.C. Wallhead, and Clifford Allen, an NAC member, who later became a Lord. They were part of a wider Labour and trade union delegation to Russia, dominated by rightwingers. The ILP representatives raised twelve questions with the Executive Committee of the Communist International. The reply to the ILP was drafted by Lenin.

The ILP leaders, attempting to face both directions, went ahead with their unity conference in early 1921, out of which emerged a body that came to be known as the Two-and-a Half International. Of course, this did not last long and soon reunited with the Second International in 1923, as soon as the revolutionary tide ebbed. The ILPs ambivalent approach was summed up by Ramsay MacDonald, a leading member of the party, who made the main speech at the 1920 Labour Party Conference against a resolution to leave the Second International, which was then lost by 1,010,000 votes to 516,000. The ILP leadership, of course, had nothing to say about this political sabotage, which simply reflected its own approach.

Bolshevism in Britain?

Nevertheless, by this time, pressure was building up for the foundation of a new Communist Party in Britain. Past efforts to establish a genuine Marxist Party in this country had failed, distorted and wrecked by sectarianism. The Social Democratic Federation was a self-proclaimed Marxist organisation, but this had reduced Marxism to a dogma. It was also deeply infected by sectarianism. It had therefore experienced a series of splits over the years. None of these groups, lacking a Marxist method and theory, were able to rise to the kind of party needed.

However, under the impact of events, certain individuals, especially among the shop stewards movement, began to emerge in solidarity with the Russian Revolution and the establishment of the Communist International. Gradually, a differentiation was taking place within the movement, as revolutionary groupings began to emerge and coalesce. A referendum within the British Socialist Party, which was currently affiliated to the Labour Party, came out in favour of affiliation to the Third International by 98 branches to 4. A layer of the left wing of the ILP were also in favour, together with others, like the Socialist Labour Party and the Workers Socialist Federation led by Sylvia Pankhurst.

Lenin argued to the British delegation that It was important to answer the arguments of the Lefts in their opposition to participation in Parliament, as well as their general sectarianism towards the Labour Party / Image: L4C4

However, while they all agreed on the idea of founding a Communist Party, they sharply disagreed over tactics, especially towards Parliament and the Labour Party. Lenin answered many of these questions in his Left-Wing Communism: an Infantile Disorder. He believed these differences, which were products of a low political level, could be resolved through discussion and that any attempt to delay the founding of a British Communist Party was a mistake. Those aroused by the Russian Revolution had political and organisational baggage from the past, including a dose of sectarianism. Lenin and Trotsky worked to correct these defects within these new layers coming to Communism. As Lenin explained:

It is essential for the Communist Party that it should be intimately and continuously associated with the mass of workers, that it should be able to carry on constant agitation among the workers, to take part in every strike, to answer all the questions that agitate the minds of the masses. This is above all necessary in a country like England, where so far (as, indeed, in all imperialist countries) the Socialist movement and the Labour movement in general have been exclusively guided by cliques drawn from the aristocracy of labour, persons most of whom are utterly and hopelessly corrupted by reformism, whose minds are enslaved by imperialistic and bourgeois prejudices.

Of course, there was a massive assault against Bolshevism by the bourgeoisie and its agents in the Labour movement. Their constant refrain was that Bolshevism was totally foreign to the traditions of British workers, and that the Communist International wanted to impose a Russian solution to national problems. But this was not the case. As Lenin explained: the problem here, as elsewhere, consists in the ability to apply the general and fundamental principles of Communism to the specific relations between the classes and parties, to the specific conditions in the objective development towards Communismconditions which are peculiar to every separate country, and which one must be able to study, understand and point out.

As the Communist International explained in its reply to the ILP, Marxism did not proceed from the imagination of Marx and Engels, who defined the aims of the Labour movement by the study of capitalism and the experience of the first great revolutionary movement of the working class, the Chartist movement of the British workers.

Finally, over the weekend of 31 July-1st August 1920, the Communist Party of Great Britain was formed, built on the fusion of a number of revolutionary groups. This marked the beginning of a new type of revolutionary party, different from the sterile propaganda groups of the past. It attracted the cream of the British working class, probably a few thousand to begin with. Of course, there was much to do to unite the party organisationally, politically and theoretically. The old sectarian ideas had to be burned out.

Lenin had made a start at this in the Second Congress of the Communist International that was held in the summer of 1920, and was attended by representatives of the groups, including from Britain, looking to form a Communist Party. He started out by reiterating the arguments put forward in Left Wing Communism, an Infantile Disorder. It was important to answer the arguments of the Lefts in their opposition to participation in Parliament, as well as their general sectarianism towards the Labour Party. It also opened the eyes to a new approach to revolutionary politics.

I was an outstanding example of the Left sectarian and as such had been referred to by Lenin in his book Left-Wing Communism: an Infantile Disorder, explained Willie Gallacher, where he described his meeting with Lenin at the Second Congress of the Communist International. But here I was in the company of Lenin himself and other leading international figures, arguing and fighting on the correctness or otherwise of these views. I was hard to convince. I had such disgust at the leaders of the Labour Party and their shameless servility that I wanted to keep clear of contamination. Gradually, as the discussions went on, I began to see the weakness of my position. More and more the clear simple arguments and explanations of Lenin impressed themselves in my mind The more I talked with Lenin and the other comrades, the more I came to see what the party of workers meant in the revolutionary struggle. It was in this, the conception of the party, that the genius of Lenin had expressed itself. A Party of revolutionary workers, with its roots in the factories and in the streets, winning the Trade Unions and the Co-operatives with the correctness of its working-class policy, a party with no other interests but the interests of the working class and the peasant and petty-bourgeois allies of the working class, such a Party, using every avenue of expression, could make an exceptionally valuable parliamentary platform for arousing the great masses of workers to energetic struggle against the capitalist enemy. Before I left Moscow I had an interview with Lenin during which he asked me three questions. 1 - Do you admit you were wrong on the question of Parliament and affiliations to the Labour Party? 2 - Will you join the Communist Party of Great Britain when you return? (A telegram had arrived a couple of days before, informing us of the formation of the Party.) 3 - Will you do your best to persuade your Scottish comrades to join it? To each other these questions I answered yes. Having given this pledge freely I returned to Glasgow. (Revolt on the Clyde)

J. T. Murphy, also a delegate to the Second Congress, described how the experience changed his old political conceptions, which also reflected the prejudices of the British revolutionary groups at the time:

I had left England as a young provincial skilled workman with a clear-cut theory of how society could be reorganised under control of the workers I was quite sure that capitalism was breaking down everywhere and, in the process, helping the workers to see their way to Socialism through industrial organisation and the General Strike My experience in Russia had shown me the real meaning of the struggle for political power. Instead of thinking that a Socialist Party was merely a propaganda organisation for the dissemination of Socialist views, I now saw that a real Socialist Party would consist of revolutionary Socialists who regarded the Party as a means whereby they would lead the working class in the fight for political power.

The formation of the Communist Party was not intended to provide a home for revolutionary misfits and egotists. It was to hammer out and agree on policies that were then to be taken into the Labour movement on an organised basis. The task was to patiently explain and win the majority to a Communist programme.

Sectarianism

Of course, the founding of a Communist Party did not rid the party of sectarianism overnight. The depth of the problem was indicated by the debate over whether or not the party should request affiliation to the Labour Party. There were big differences within the party and the question of Labour Party affiliation was referred to the Congress of the Communist International for discussion, which, after a discussion, came out clearly in favour. However, the leadership of the British Communists were sharply divided and, although they accepted the decision of the International, they worded their request for affiliation in such a manner as to invite rejection! After the refusal, the Party newspaper, The Communist, of 16 September 1920, wrote saying: So be it. It is their funeral, not ours. The leaders of the Communist International had to intervene to compel the British leadership to change its approach. A week later, the same paper wrote: it is the duty of the communists to work where the masses are. That may mean going into reactionary organisations, but that is better and easier than creating brand new organisations in the hope that the masses will leave the old ones and come to the new.

This infantile approach was a stumbling block, which simply played into the hands of the right wing. When the question of the affiliation of the Communist Party came up at the Labour Conference in Brighton in 1921, it was supported by A.J. Cook and Herbert Smith of the miners union, but the right wing mobilised to block it. When it was again raised at the 1922 Labour Conference, this time Frank Hodges, the general secretary of the Miners Federation, opposed the motion, denouncing the Communists as the intellectual slaves of Moscow taking orders from the Asiatic mind, taking the judgment of middle-class Russiansthe residue of the old regime the same type of intellectual whom they despised in this country. He was followed by Ramsay MacDonald, who declared that the Communists were approaching the Labour Party only in order to stab it in the back. In fact, it was MacDonald who would go on to stab the party in the back in 1931.

MacDonald was, as Lenin explained, a supreme master of that smooth, melodious, banal and socialist-seeming phraseology which serves in all developed capitalist countries to camouflage the policy of the bourgeoisie inside the Labour movement.

There was a further fusion with some other groupings, most notably the left of the ILP in January 1921, but the character of the Communist Party was still more an amalgamation of propagandist sects. It took the efforts of Lenin and Trotsky and the Comintern leadership to rid the British party of this ingrained sectarianism. In August 1921, the CPGB stood Bob Stewart against a Labour candidate in the by-election in Caerphilly. The sectarianism still prevailed in his election address, which declared: We oppose the Labour Party for the simple reason that it is not a Labour Party at all. Although the South Wales Miners Federation had just affiliated to the Red International of Labour Unions, Stewart still found himself at the bottom of the poll.

Eventually, these tendencies were overcome and the Party engaged in fruitful work in the mass organisations. The papers name was changed to the Workers Weekly, which covered many day-to-day struggles.

One of its biggest failures, however, was the theoretical education of its members. Many had a rudimentary understanding of Marxism, but little more than this. One of the biggest problems of the British labour movement was its aversion to theory, which Engels had written about. Even E. Cant, the London organiser, warned about this, when he observed that the comrade who said he was too busy selling the Workers Weekly to read it himself is not a myth.

When there was a nation-wide review of the party in 1922, the same picture of a low theoretical level and formalism persisted. There was no attempt to educate the party. If I were asked what are the principal defects of the party today, wrote Murphy, I would answer unhesitatingly, formalism, organisational fetishism, and lack of political training From the contributions in the Workers Weekly and the Communist Review, there were serious concerns at the abysmal level of theoretical development in the party, while there was a push for mass work. But these criticisms were largely brushed aside.

But there can be no doubt about the generally low theoretical level of the party leadership in the 1920s. They had a mechanical approach in the way they applied the decisions of the Communist International. They were continually criticised for this failing and the weakness of its theoretical organ, the Communist Review. The Executive of the Communist International found, for example, that:

... the aversion to theory revealed itself everywhere in the columns of the Communist Review Whenever any theoretical questions were touched upon, their presentation and analysis were of a purely descriptive nature As a consequence the officials and advanced workers could gather nothing of the theory of Leninism as the uniform method of Marxism during the present epoch.

Again, J. T. Murphy confirmed that the party leadership were very much steeped in empirical trade union attitudes and still regarded Marxism in a formal way, as in the pre-1920 period. ...We were ardent trade unionists, most of us experienced in leading unofficial movements. That was our strength [but] the theoretical equipment of the leadership as a whole was not of a high standard. I remember there [were] only Tommy Jackson and myself who were at all familiar with the philosophical aspects of Marxism.

This was a continual problem and reflected itself in the low theoretical level of the party, which came with a heavy price. While the ideological struggles in the Russian party in 1923 to 1926 stirred a response in many important European Communist Parties, notably the French, Polish and German, in Britain there was virtually no interest. This anti-theoretical approach of the British party saw the dispute as purely an internal Russian affair. It is no accident that the British party was one of the first to capitulate to Stalinism, with hardly any opposition, which prompted Stalin to hail the CPGB as a model party in 1926.

There are clearly many lessons to be learned from this vital chapter in the experience of the British working class. With the present deepening crisis of capitalism and class struggles that are opening up in Britain, it is essential for British Marxists to master these lessons, as to prepare themselves for the challenges that lie ahead.
Weather Alert

...FLOOD WATCH NOW IN EFFECT THROUGH THURSDAY EVENING... * WHAT...Flooding caused by excessive rainfall continues to be 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...Through Thursday evening. * 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. Low-water crossings may be flooded. Extensive street flooding and flooding of creeks and rivers are possible. Area creeks and streams are running high and could flood with more heavy rain. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS... - Showers and thunderstorm chances will continue through Thursday evening, with an additional 1 to 3 inches of rainfall expected in the watch area. Rainfall totals across the watch area have already exceeded 4 inches for some locations near the I-44 and I-40 corridors across eastern Oklahoma. - 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. &&
Recognition honors companies demonstrating exceptional leadership and a commitment tobusiness integrity through best-in-class ethics, compliance, and governance practices

BENGALURU, India, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Infosys (NSE: INFY) (BSE: INFY) (NYSE: INFY), a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, today announced that it has been recognized by Ethisphere Institute, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, as one of the 2022 World's Most Ethical Companies, for the second consecutive year. Through this recognition, Infosys has become the only company in India, and one of the four honorees globally, in the software & services industry.

In 2022, 136 honorees were recognized from 22 countries and across 45 industries. These companies were evaluated based on the Ethisphere Ethics Quotient across multiple categories, including culture, environmental and social practices, ethics and compliance, governance, diversity, and initiatives to support a strong value chain.

"Today, business leaders face their greatest mandate yet to be ethical, accountable, and trusted to drive positive change," saidTimothy Erblich, Chief Executive Officer, Ethisphere. "We continue to be inspired by the World's Most Ethical Companies honorees and their dedication to integrity, sustainability, governance, and community. Congratulations to Infosys for earning the World's Most Ethical Companies designation."

Salil Parekh, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Infosys, said, "Being ethical is at the heart of everything we do, and one of the core values on which Infosys has built its success over the years. We are honored to receive this recognition from the prestigious Ethisphere Institute. Receiving this recognition for the second consecutive year is a testament to our excellence in ethical practices and our commitment to operate with utmost integrity and transparency as articulated in our C-LIFE values."

The complete list of 2022 World's Most Ethical Companies can be found at: https://worldsmostethicalcompanies.com/honorees

Methodology & Scoring

Grounded in Ethisphere's proprietary Ethics Quotient, the World's Most Ethical Companies assessment process includes more than 200 questions on culture, environmental and social practices, ethics and compliance activities, governance, diversity, and initiatives to support a strong value chain. The process serves as an operating framework to capture and codify the leading practices of organizations across industries and around the globe.

About Ethisphere

Ethisphere is the global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices that fuel corporate character, marketplace trust and business success. Ethisphere has deep expertise in measuring and defining core ethics standards using data-driven insights that help companies enhance corporate character and measure and improve culture. Ethisphere honors superior achievement through its World's Most Ethical Companies recognition program and provides a community of industry experts with the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA).

More information about Ethisphere can be found at: https://ethisphere.com.

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.

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Ukraine rejected Russian calls to surrender the port city of Mariupol, where residents are besieged with little food, water and power. In his latest appeal for help from abroad, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addressed the Israeli parliament by video link.
Edtech firm Byju's today announced the appointment of Majid Yazdani as Vice President at Byju's Lab to propel and further shape the future of education. Working on personalisation and other AI applications to the education sector, Majid will be responsible for incubating new ideas and delivering breakthrough solutions across BYJUS ecosystem of learning products at BYJUS Lab. Majid, who will be operating from the United Kingdom, will set up a team of research scientists to work on innovative and powerful learning experiences for students.

Yazdani previously worked as a staff scientist at Linkedin and at the Idiap Research Institute in Switzerland. He joined Facebook AI (Meta AI) in 2018 to construct neural networks with compartmentalized knowledge and reasoning. He has contributed significantly to FB's customer support using large-scale generative language models. He also holds three patents and has 24 research papers in the fields of natural language processing and artificial intelligence.

He has over 15 years of experience in technology and AI, having graduated from Sharif University of Technology in 2008 with a BSc. in Computer Engineering. He earned his Ph.D. from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in June 2013.

Commenting on the appointment Dev Roy, Chief Innovation and Learning Officer, Byju's said, "We are excited about having Majid on board and scaling up BYJU'S Lab by harnessing the global pool of highly skilled technical talent. At BYJU'S, we are entirely student-centric at our core. Every decision is made with an all-encompassing promise to support the student lifecycle from the grassroot level. By assembling a robust team of high-caliber specialists, BYJU'S aspires to make technology accessible and approachable. This will allow us to push limits, create value, and create more impactful learning programmes for students globally."

Sharing his thoughts on his new role, Majid Yazdani, Vice President, Byju's Lab said, "Technology in education is not just about automation, but also about harnessing it in the best way possible to empower students into becoming lifelong learners. Education has the power to change the world, and I'm pleased to be joining the BYJU'S family and embarking on an exciting new path to deliver tech-driven learning to make quality education accessible, equitable, and contextual for every student."

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From: Kris Putnam-Walkerly -- Global Philanthropy Expert For Immediate Release: Dateline: Cleveland , OH Monday, March 21, 2022

If You Believe in Your Philanthropy, Then Speed is of the Essence. Do you believe your work matters? I do. Youre giving people in rural communities greater access to mental health services. Youre strengthening economic expansion in Africa. Your foundation is not only sending aid to help Ukrainians but thinking ahead toward long-term recovery. Your philanthropy matters. If you believe that too, you should make dramatic improvements as quickly as you can. Why? Because every delay prevents your ability to make a difference. When were talking about preventing drug overdoses or reforming immigration policies, were talking about changing peoples lives for the better. To increase your impact, increase your speed. I believe speed  or the lack of it  is so important in philanthropy that I devoted two entire chapters about it in my latest book, Delusional Altruism. Its chock full of practical tips to increase the speed of your giving. But heres one that I think is most important, and I bet it will surprise you: Think like a mechanic. Mechanics lift the hood to determine why a car has stalled. They change air filters because they know a dirty air filter can reduce air flow to your engine. They check tire pressure to ensure optimal fuel economy and the lowest rolling resistance. They check fluids because lubricated car parts operate better and last longer when fluids stay clean. And they do this on a maintenance schedule, because regularly making minor improvements keeps your car running smoothly. You need to think like a mechanic. You need to regularly lift up the hood of your philanthropy to notice whats slowing you down. Where are you wasteful, duplicative, or redundant? What are your barriers and blockages? Identify those, then systematically eliminate them. For example: Are you asking grantees questions you already know the answer to? Stop asking that question or create an online application that pre-populates last years data.

Does your policy require five employees to sign off on all grants, regardless of whether you are awarding $500 or $50,000? Change the policy to allow one person to approve grants under $15,000.

Is your team spending a month to prepare for quarterly board meetings? First, recognize this means 25% of your staff personnel costs annually are devoted to board meeting preparation, delivery, and recovery. Do the math. Then identify ways to reduce this time. One foundation dramatically reduced the length of board meetings and board dockets by having the board agree to the overall goals and funding amounts of its initiatives, and then letting staff and the executive director make funding decisions for individual grants without further board approval.

Do you insist that grantees submit final reports but then learn that your team never reads them because the information is rarely useful? Eliminate the report, change the questions, or change how you learn from grantees.



For example, the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, a private foundation committed to helping create a vibrant New York City, realized their grantees reports didnt help them understand what grantees had learned during the grant period. So, they switched to an oral reporting process. We interview grantees at the end of the funding period, and then we do whatever writing needs to be done coming out of that conversation, explained Lisa Pilar Cowan, Vice President. You can help your team make some quick and easy improvements and feel good about itby simply asking everyone on your team to identify one aspect of their work that seems exceptionally slow, cumbersome, or unnecessary. It might be the length of time to make a grant, the number of meetings they are expected to attend, or a policy that no longer meets its intended purpose. Ask them to come up with potential solutions to speed things up. Then implement the best ideas. Another approach: Each week or month, as a team, identify one part of your workfinancial management, family meetings, site visitsand collectively identify ways you are bogged down. Are you forever having the same discussion with no resolution? Have funding decisions already been made prior to site visits, rendering them unnecessary? Brainstorm possible solutions together, and prioritize immediate next steps, including who is accountable for what and by when. These might seem like minor improvements. But together they can add up to significant change that optimizes your speed to impact. Of course, not everyone embraces change. Some people might feel defensive. The point is not to cast blame but to continuously improve. Often improvements dont happen because you havent had time to focus on them. People say, Thats just the way things are done around here, or your organizational environment doesnt encourage change and continuous improvement. What made sense for your philanthropy when it first started, or even five years ago, might not make sense in todays environmentand may even be holding you back. Give yourself some quick wins by keeping the following in mind: Keep it simple, focus on the low-hanging fruit, make it fun, and reward people when they speed something up. Dont try to change everything at once. And make sure whoever is in charge (donor, CEO, board chair) makes improvements too. Be a champion of change from within! Want more suggestions to create aerodynamic funding? Be sure to buy a copy of Delusional Altruism (hint: read Chapters 3 and 10). Or feel free to schedule a call with me. Id be happy to help you think through whats bogging you down, what to eliminate, and how to focus on your top priorities. About Kris Putnam-Walkerly For over 20 years, top global philanthropies, UHNW donors, celebrity activists, foundations, wealth advisors, and Fortune 500 companies have sought Kris Putnam-Walkerlys philanthropic advisory services to dramatically increase the clarity, speed, impact and joy of their giving. As a sought after philanthropy advisor, expert, speaker and award-winning author, shes helped hundreds of foundations and philanthropists strategically allocate and assess over half a billion dollars in grants and gifts. Kris also contributes expert philanthropic commentary to the WSJ, Forbes, Washington Post, Bloomberg, Alliance Magazine, Variety, Thrive Global, Worth Magazine, NPR's Morning Report, and other media. Awards include being named "Philanthropy Advisor of the Year" in 2020 and 2021, "Most Dedicated Philanthropic Advisor" in 2021, one of Americas Top 25 Philanthropy Speakers" three years in a row, and most recently was a finalist for the 2022 Family Wealth Report Awards for Philanthropy Advice. Kris is the author of Delusional Altruism: Why Philanthropists Fail To Achieve Change and What They Can Do To Transform Giving (Wiley, 2020) and Confident Giving: Sage Advice for Funders.


Alamo Heights ISD has rolled back many of its remaining COVID-19 safety precautions as positive cases at the district plummet.

The change comes as other area school districts have also relaxed COVID protocols as cases plunge across the country.

For a couple of weeks in January there were more than 70 students and staff across the district with COVID-19, according to the district COVID-19 dashboard, but the most recent numbers from the week of Feb. 28 showed that had dropped to two cases on one campus. The district has about 4,800 students enrolled.

Though many Alamo Heights ISD parents say they are excited to return to a more normal campus atmosphere, some are worried about the changed regulations, which went into effect the week of Feb. 28, the week before the district closed for spring break.

Changes included reopening water fountains, adjusting how some campuses social distance during lunch, and included the discontinuation of mass COVID notifications and the option of remote conferencing. Remote conferencing allows students who have a temporary medical condition to access school remotely for up to 20 days and still be counted present. Frank Alfaro, assistant superintendent for administrative services, said this option requires extra teachers, though, and now that cases have dropped significantly it is no longer economically feasible to offer, so students who contract COVID-19 are counted absent.

Sam Owens /San Antonio Express-News

Now that there is a lower risk as COVID-19 cases drop, Alfaro said officials felt it was time to start making changes.

Ive heard positive feedback from both staff and parents, he said. Prior to making this move, we were hearing lots of demand from parents saying, Please make these moves, going all the way back to November.

The school will continue posting positive cases on its COVID-19 dashboard, using HEPA filters  which remove airborne particles  in cafeterias, providing hand sanitizer throughout its campuses, and requiring students and staff to stay home if they are sick.

On ExpressNews.com: Alamo Heights ISD joins the many districts raising pay for substitute teachers

Alfaro said that all campuses closed off the spout of water fountains where students put their mouths near to drink, but the junior high and high schools left open the part on some machines where people can refill water bottles.

Sam Owens /San Antonio Express-News

Cambridge and Woodridge elementary schools had plexiglass at lunch tables and spread students across auditoriums and lunchrooms to social distance. The Junior School did the same and also allowed students to eat outside. Bringing students back to the cafeteria will make using auditoriums for fine arts performances at the elementary schools possible once again, Alfaro said. Having students in fewer areas for lunch is also easier on teachers who have to staff every location where students ate, he added.

But he said there have been some parents at the Junior School who want outdoor lunches back because students enjoyed it, so Alfaro said the school is looking into it.

The high school removed plexiglass during the summer once vaccines were available to that age group. The high school still allows outdoor lunches in its courtyard next to the cafeteria.

Sam Owens /San Antonio Express-News

Ending outdoor lunches at the Junior School has been the change that seems to have the most impact on the children, said Ann David, who has one child at Woodridge Elementary and two at the Junior School.

David, 44, is a member of the Alamo Heights Community Alliance, a parents group with about 15 core members who throughout the pandemic have advocated for mask mandates and other measures like getting HEPA filters into classrooms.

David said that her kids and kids of other Alliance members faced several challenges when the Junior School went back to having students eat in the cafeteria only, from struggling to find places to sit to being bothered by the much higher noise level in the room.

Since August, David said, the Alliance had been pushing for outdoor lunches at every campus in part because it reduces chances of COVID infection but also because its beneficial for students to have outdoor time during the day.

We know its good for students to go outside during the day and have that time, David said. Suddenly not being able to felt like they were being punished but they werent sure why.

Sam Owens /San Antonio Express-News

On ExpressNews.com: San Marcos public schools end mask mandate as COVID cases plummet

She said group members also are disappointed that the school is discontinuing its mass COVID notifications.The school would inform every parent and staff member when someone tested positive for COVID and had been on campus within two days of that test. David said that the Alliance had been tracking daily cases of COVID on campus based on those notices, but it cannot now since the school dashboard only tracks by week.

David said that Alliance members likely will voice their concerns at the next school board meeting March 24.

Jennifer Emerson, Cambridge Elementary PTO president, said many parents with whom she has spoken recently have been excited about the changes. Emerson has twin boys at Cambridge.

Emerson said that since many people in the community have had COVID were kind of moving beyond it and that vaccines are widely available to anyone who wants to vaccinate their child.

Sam Owens, Staff Photographer / San Antonio Express-News

Im just thrilled that were getting kind of quote unquote, back to how it used to be, said Emerson, 39. Ive heard a lot of jabber amongst the children that theyre just excited that they get to sit with their friends and theres less barriers to normal socialization at school.

Woodridge PTO President Jill Peavy expressed similar sentiments in an email, saying that she feels like most families in the community are very happy for normal.

Our children desperately need it....socially, emotionally and mentally, she wrote. I have only gotten very positive feedback about the changes and have experienced a sense of energy back in the school amongst teachers, children, staff and parents.

Junior School PTO President Jenny Cummings, 43, also said she has noticed that kids are excited about the changes.

Cummings has children at three campuses  one at Cambridge, one at the junior high and another at the high school.

The more normal that life gets for our kids, the happier I am, she said.

megan.rodriguez@express-news.net
Apple suffered a widespread outage on Monday, knocking services such as music, iCloud and maps offline for some users and hobbling its internal corporate and retail systems.

The problems are preventing corporate employees from working from home and keeping retail workers from completing tasks, according to staff members who asked not to be identified. The outage has hindered product repairs, swaps and item pickups, and corporate workers have limited ability to communicate and access internal websites.
Among the big names who will be taking part in the 2022 San Antonio Book Festival are Emma Straub, New York Times bestselling author of The Vacationers and All Adults Here; Julia Glass, National Book Award-winning author of Three Junes and I See You Everywhere; and Stephen Harrigan, the Texas author of The Gates of the Alamo and Big Wonderful Thing.

In addition, New Yorker writer Susan Orlean, author of such books as The Orchid Thief and The Library Book, will headline the Book Appetit luncheon May 19 at the Witte Museum. It is the festivals sole fundraiser each year and the only ticketed event this year.

The free festival will be held May 21 in and around the Central Library downtown.

Those who go to hear Straub, Glass and/or Harrigan will get the skinny on their latest novels. Straub will be talking about This Time Tomorrow, in which a woman wakes up the morning of her 40th birthday to find she has traveled back in time to her 16th. Glass will be talking about Vigil Harbor, in which a pair of unexpected visitors destabilize a coastal community. And Harrigan is promoting The Leopard is Loose, a novel based on the real-life escape of a leopard from the Oklahoma City Zoo in 1950.

Other authors slated to take part include poet Jericho Brown, whose 2019 collection The Tradition received the Pulitzer Prize; childrens author Mac Barnett, who will be promoting The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza; and Sandra Cisneros, whose latest book is Martita, I Remember You.

On ExpressNews.com: SA writer Naomi Shihab Nyes new book is a promise kept to young readers

A few San Antonio movers and shakers are on the bill as well. Former Mayor Phil Hardberger will chat about Phil Hardberger Park: A Story in Photographs; County Judge Nelson Wolff will discuss The Mayor and the Judge: The Inside Story of the War Against COVID; and former Mayor Henry Cisneros will talk about The Texas Triangle: An Emerging Power in the Global Economy.

Other San Antonio writers slated to participate are Naomi Shihab Nye, whose latest book is a novel for children titled The Turtle of Michigan; Ted Flato, who will be talking about Lake | Flato Houses: Respecting the Land; and Davis Liss, who will chat about The Peculiarities.

One tent will be devoted to prerecorded sessions with critic Margo Jefferson, whose new memoir is Constructing a Nervous System, and journalist Joshua Prager, who will be discussing his book The Family Roe, which explores Roe v. Wade.

That tent also will spotlight Dear Vaccine: Global Voices Speak to the Pandemic, which lends itself to a video presentation, said Lilly Gonzalez, executive director.

The project began with San Antonio writer Nye writing a poem about the pandemic; others were invited to submit their own poems in response via video. The poems have been collected into a book slated for release in April, and some of the videos will be screened at the festival.

Its kind of cool to see the art and projects born from all of us being stuck at home during COVID, Gonzalez said.

There will be one new event, an opening ceremony that will include San Antonio Poet Laureate Andrea Vocab Sanderson and Mayor Ron Nirenberg. But ancillary events have been dropped this year. It made planning the festival a little easier in this uncertain time.

The Book Festival tends to be a whole weekend, but just planning something that many months in advance was hard enough without having to plan multiple events with that many unknown variables, so we and the board decided to focus on the festival, Gonzalez said.

There is a chance more writers will be added closer to the festival. Pandemic-related uncertainty remains in the mix, making it a challenge to book authors.

Authors and publicists are a little hesitant to commit to events that are months away, Gonzalez said. Theyre not saying no, theyre not saying yes. Which is kind of frustrating.

On ExpressNews.com: Stephen Harrigans new novel inspired by real-life zoo escape

Because of that, the complete schedule wont be announced until late April when its possible more authors will have committed.

This is the return of in-person programming for the festival, now in its 10th year. Because of the pandemic, it was canceled in 2020 and held virtually in 2021. It was important to festival organizers to get back to an in-person gathering as soon as it was safe to do so.

Reading is a very solitary act, and in the past two years, weve not had that sense of community, Gonzalez said. The book festival provides that.

The festival was moved from April to May in hopes of more temperate weather. The four festivals before the pandemic were hit by chilly and sometimes damp conditions.

The plan is for readings, panel discussions, signings and other activities to take place both inside and in tents around the library, though that could change, depending on the status of the pandemic. If a new variant emerges or there is a spike in COVID-19 cases, Gonzalez said, she and her team are prepared to move everything outdoors.

Those who havent been to the library since the start of the pandemic will find it in a state of flux.

There are a lot of outdoor and indoor bond projects happening at the library right now, Gonzalez said. The first floor and the reference desk and the third floor childrens library are all having a beautiful facelift. It wont be done in time for our book festival, but were embracing it. Were going to cover it all up with some 10th anniversary display signage.

dlmartin@express-news.net | Twitter: @DeborahMartinEN
The 1906 Kelso House, a three-story mansion in San Antonios Monte Vista Historic District, has undergone an amazing transformation in the past five years.

Last week, the Conservation Society of San Antonio recognized the nonprofit Power of Preservation Foundations work to restore the exterior of the Victorian-style home at 107 W. Craig Place. The project offered a chance to train students and apprentices in window repair and other maintenance specialties that remain in demand.

We really want it to be a demonstration for other owners of historic buildings, said Shanon Shea Miller, director of the citys Office of Historic Preservation and a member of the foundations board.

ENTER TO WIN: Tickets to Spurs vs. Trail Blazers on April 1

The long-vacant house designed by renowned San Antonio architect Atlee B. Ayres originally was the home of District Judge Winchester Kelso, a civic leader once described in a local newspaper as one of the states most distinguished jurists. His wife, May Joyce Kelso, president of the Battle of Flowers Association and the Daughters of the Republic of Texas Alamo Mission Chapter, has been credited with helping start the traditional Pilgrimage to the Alamo, a somber procession during Fiesta.

Sam Owens /Staff photographer Sam Owens /Staff photographer Kin Man Hui /Staff photographer The 1906 Kelso House, a three-story mansion in San Antonios Monte Vista Historic District, is pictured Friday. Over the past five years, the Power of Preservation Foundation has restored the exterior of the house and will continue working on the interior. (Sam Owens /Staff Photographer) The 1906 Kelso House, a three-story mansion in San Antonios Monte Vista Historic District, is pictured Friday. Over the past five years, the Power of Preservation Foundation has restored the exterior of the house and will continue working on the interior. (Sam Owens /Staff Photographer)

On ExpressNews.com: Alamo opens two new exhibits near battle anniversary

An April 1920 article in the San Antonio Express described preparations the Kelsos and their daughter, Ruth Kelso Clarkson, made to host an event for soldiers and Fiesta duchesses and other royalty, with bluebonnets and other floral ornamentation throughout the stately structure:

The afternoon will be characteristic of all affairs in the Kelso home: informality will prevail and the decorations will bespeak the full blown spring. Field flowers will be used in the decorations, the Express reported. Numbers of the Army contingent will be present, as well as the fair debutantes who will occupy the stage and bask in the limelight during the coming fiesta week.

A little over five years later, the San Antonio Light reported the judge had died in the house at age 67. Born in DeWitt County, Kelso owned a large ranch near Eagle Pass before moving to San Antonio and building the house where he and his wife raised a son and daughter.

Coming to San Antonio nineteen years ago he at once identified himself with various movements looking toward the betterment of the city and always had been at the van of any work of that kind, the Light reported.

His widow died in 1935. By the 1980s, ads in the Express-News promoted the Monte Vista Party House as a historic Victorian mansion decorated with antiques and available to rent for weddings, receptions and of course, parties.

Restaurateur Cappy Lawton, who operates La Fonda on Main next door to the Kelso House, purchased the structure in 2005 with plans of restoring it. But as years passed, despite spending some $500,000 on repairs, he found himself under pressure from neighbors as the house continued to be an eyesore. The city threatened legal action under a local vacant structures ordinance.

Estimating repairs would cost $1.2 million, Lawton donated the house in 2017 to the preservation foundation.

Since then, the foundation has restored the houses exterior, fulfilling its obligation under the donation agreement. Although theres still a lot of interior work needed, the foundation owns the structure and has provided an example of a dilapidated historic building being turned around.

The group has invested about $500,000 to rehabilitate the house, with two conservation society grants included in the $300,000 in cash raised for the project. About $200,000 was in-kind labor. The house has served as a learning lab for the preservation offices Living Heritage Trades Academy and other rehabilitation programs, as well as workforce development apprenticeships offered through Family Service and other partners.

More than 40 students and apprentices worked on the project, restoring original wood windows and helping with a porch replacement, interior stairwell reconstruction and removal of a rear addition. Miller credits Guido Construction, which has patiently done more work than weve paid them for, along with master craftsman Victor Salas and wood window expert Steve Quillian.

The hardest tasks in the exterior renovation were replacing the double-height porch and the roof, which had no firm decking for roofers to stand on. The house had to be surrounded by scaffolding for the work to be done.

On ExpressNews.com: Archaeologist wants to see more digs, clues to San Antonios past revealed

Kin Man Hui /Staff photographer Sam Owens /Staff photographer Exterior side view of the Kelso House in 2017 (left), and today (right) after the restoration. (Sam Owens /Staff Photographer) Exterior side view of the Kelso House in 2017 (left), and today (right) after the restoration. (Sam Owens /Staff Photographer)

It was just a lot more labor-intensive than a simple roof replacement, Miller said.

The next step will be adding insulation and then deciding whether to install new plumbing and electrical systems, which the house needs. Miller said the foundation has to be careful not to undermine its efforts with Lake Flato Architects to have the house certified as a zero-carbon building through the International Living Future Institute.

The group may opt for a mini-split temperature control system for efficiency, rather than one that heats and cools the entire house, she said. It may at some point lease the property or sell it and use the income to purchase another property for a learning lab and restoration project.

After a two-year break during the pandemic, the foundation is resuming its annual PROM fundraiser  this year, a costumed or black-tie mystery-themed gala  Friday at the historic Red Berry Estate. Proceeds benefit rehabilitation training programs. For information on the event and the groups Kelso House capital campaign, visit powerofpreservation.org.

shuddleston@express-news.net


Air Serbia has confirmed it plans to expand its Airbus fleet this coming summer to cater for increased demand and its growing route network. The carrier noted it would provide details on its Airbus fleet expansion in due course. Recent media reports have suggested Air Serbia could take on some single-aisle aircraft from its minority shareholder Etihad Airways. The Emirati carrier, which boasts nineteen Airbus A320 jets in its fleet has eleven of them momentarily grounded in Abu Dhabi. On the other hand, Air Serbia has nine A319s in its fleet, all of which are in active service. In addition, it has one A320 jet, which is currently undergoing maintenance and is expected to return into operation in the coming days. Air Serbia has confirmed it plans to expand its Airbus fleet this coming summer to cater for increased demand and its growing route network. The carrier noted it would provide details on its Airbus fleet expansion in due course. Recent media reports have suggested Air Serbia could take on some single-aisle aircraft from its minority shareholder Etihad Airways. The Emirati carrier, which boasts nineteen Airbus A320 jets in its fleet has eleven of them momentarily grounded in Abu Dhabi. On the other hand, Air Serbia has nine A319s in its fleet, all of which are in active service. In addition, it has one A320 jet, which is currently undergoing maintenance and is expected to return into operation in the coming days.





The coronavirus pandemic has seen Air Serbia reduce its fleet size and renegotiate leasing contracts. However, the need for additional aircraft was illustrated last summer when the airline was forced to wet-lease a Boeing 737-700 jet to meet demand for leisure flights. The Serbian Finance Minister, Sinisa Mali, who served as the President of Air Serbias Supervisory Board between 2013 and 2018, previously said the carrier would replace its A319 and A320 jets between 2022 and 2025. In 2018, Etihad Airways cancelled its order for ten A320neo aircraft made nine years ago, that were to be delivered to equity partner Air Serbia. Deliveries were initially due to begin in November 2018 and were set to completely replace the airlines existing fleet of A319s and A320s by 2020.





Air Serbia began the renewal of its ATR fleet earlier this year, with the first of five newer turboprops already in service. Additional aircraft of the same type are expected to arrive in Belgrade in the coming weeks. They will replace the carriers old ATRs, one of which has already left the fleet. Our ambition is to continue to develop further as a regional leader and the upgraded turboprop fleet is an essential step on this path, Air Serbias CEO, Jiri Marek, said. The Serbian carrier is set to introduce fourteen new routes to its network this summer season, increase frequencies across its existing destinations, and is expected to boast another record summer charter flight program.




Fairfield, MT (59436)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun early, then becoming cloudy later in the day. High 76F. Winds SSW at 15 to 25 mph..

Tonight

Windy. Cloudy skies will become partly cloudy overnight. Low 47F. Winds SW at 20 to 30 mph.
As mineral resource development on federal lands slows due to Biden administration energy policies, interest in oil and gas development on Montana state lands seems to be growing.

On March 1, a lease sale was held in Helena.

There were 36 tracts that sold, with parcels located in Daniels, Phillips, Roosevelt, Rosebud, Toole and Valley counties. The total of acres leases was 18,579.28.

The highest price paid was in Roosevelt County, for 360 acres at 29.N 57.E 36 W2, NW4NE4 with Western Shale Corporation forking over $102,600, or $280 per acre. Western Shale is out of Bismarck, North Dakota.

There is only one well recorded in that section, the Rudolph 1-36, drilled by Southland Royalty Company of Casper, Wyoming in the North Bainville Field. The well was permitted in January, 1981 and was spudded in May of that year. Completion was recorded on August 13, 1981 with an initial production reported of 85 barrels of oil per day out of the Red River Formation. 72,000 cubic feet of gas and 124 barrels of water were also reported.

The well produced from the Red River and Mission Canyon formations until 1997 when any production reporting ceased. The well, now listed as operating under BBX Operating Co. LLC, is currently shut in.

There were four parcels that sold in Roosevelt County. The other three leases went to Irish Oil & Gas, Inc.

Rosebud County had the most parcels listed in this sale, with 22 parcels. The top-dollar parcels were 640 acres at 11.N 34.E 36, with Sun Coulee paying $230.00 per acre. At 10.N 34.E 16, Bluebird Energy, LLC forked over $200 per acre. Bluebird, of Billings, Montana, took 19 leases in the sale, all in Rosebud County. The company currently operates four wells, with three listed as producing. All of the wells are in Rosebud County, with three of those wells producing from the Heath Formation.

Three leases were in Daniels County, and all three went to Diamond Resources Co., a Denver based firm.

In Phillips County, there were two parcels on the block. One went to Twin Bridges Resources, LLC while the other parcel went to Silver Spur Resources.

The two parcels in Valley County went to Diamond Resources Co.

In our neighborhood, at Toole County, there were three parcels. Two went to Lonewolf Energy, Inc. and one went to SOG Resources. Lonewolf is based in Billings and SOG Resources in based in Texas.
The Ohio Power Siting Board denied two separate applications for rehearing regarding the boards decision to deny an application filed by Republic Wind to construct a 200 MW wind-powered electric generating facility in Seneca and Sandusky County.

Both the Republic Wind developer and a group of local residents opposed to the project filed for a rehearing last July after the project was denied in June.

The board ruled in its March 17 decision that neither group raised any new arguments or pointed out any error in the decision making process, therefore the decision to deny the application would stand. The developer can appeal the case to the Ohio Supreme Court.

Denial

The Power Siting Board voted June 24 to deny the application, finding the proposal would not serve the public interest and could not minimize its environmental impacts to underground karst rock formations. It was at the time a rare move for the board that approved most renewable energy projects that come before it for certification.

The project faced strong local opposition, which board chair Jenifer French said played a part in the decision to deny the application. Residents were concerned that sinking the turbine pilings into the ground could damage the fragile karst and consequently damage or contaminate their groundwater source that is fed by the karst aquifer.

Republic argued in its rehearing application that the board changed its burden of proof for geotechnical information and put too much weight with local opposition to the project. The group of local resident intervenors filed an application for rehearing in order to ask the board add more grounds under which the certificate was denied.

Other business

The board also approved on March 17 an application filed by Tymochtee Solar, LLC to construct a solar powered electric generating facility in Wyandot County.

The 120 megawatt Tymochtee Solar facility will sit on about 800 acres within a 1,900-acre project area in Tymochtee and Sycamore townships. The facility will consist of large arrays of solar panels, as well as associated facilities including access roads, an operations and maintenance facility, electric collection lines, a substation and transmission line and weather stations.

Additional information about the OPSB decisions is available at www.OPSB.ohio.gov in case numbers 21-0004-EL-BGN (Tymochtee Solar) and 17-2295-EL-BGN (Republic Wind).
High prices have led to an increase in oilseed rape acreage across Europe, with France now the biggest producer of the crop, new research shows.

CropRadar, by agricultural market researchers Kleffmann Digital, has measured the cultivated oilseed rape areas in the top 10 countries in Europe.

In January 2022, rapeseed can be identified on more than 6 million hectares in these countries.

While there were only two countries, Ukraine and Poland, with a cultivation area of more than 1 million ha in the 2021 harvest year, there are four countries this year.

After two difficult years, Germany and France each have a cultivated area of significantly more than 1 million hectares.

This season, by the end of February, three countries were almost equal in first place: France, Poland and the Ukraine. The UK misses out on the top 5 producers.

Germany follows in fourth place with a gap of about 50,000ha. France, the new number one, has recorded the largest increase in area with an uplift of 18%.

This season, three countries were almost equal in first place: France, Poland and the Ukraine

For the second year in a row, Romania holds 5th place with a cultivated area of more than 500,000ha.

According to the research, the reasons for the increase in oilseed rape acreage in Europe are, on the one hand, the rapeseed prices on the exchanges.

For years these prices were around 400/t, but have been rising steadily since January 2021, with a preliminary peak of more than 900/t in March 2022.

Furthermore, winter oilseed rape continues to be a crop with a very high contribution margin, Kleffmann Digital says.

The good sowing conditions in late summer/autumn 2021 enabled growers to get on and establish the crop.

Field size varies greatly depending on country

With the help of satellite technology and AI, Kleffmann Digital is also able to determine how many fields the oilseed rape cultivation is distributed over in the ten countries.

The number of fields reflects the diversity of agricultural structures: in total, more than 475,000 fields are cultivated with rapeseed this season.

With an almost identical cultivated area in the top three countries, the number of fields and the average field sizes vary greatly.

In France and Poland the number of fields is similar with 128,741 and 126,618 fields respectively.

And the maximum average field size in a region is also the same in both countries, at 19 hectares.

Looking at the Ukraine, the picture is different. Here, a similar area of oilseed rape is cultivated on "only" 23,396 fields.

How will the Ukraine war impact oilseed rape markets?

In harvest year 2021, CropRadar assessments showed European oilseed rape production was dominated by Ukraine and Poland, with over a million hectares each.

In 2022, they are joined by Germany and France with cultivated areas of more than 1 million hectares each.

But there is a difference between planted areas and production, especially with losses in planted area due to the more familiar factors of pest damage and over-winter frosts.

One of the leading oilseed rape countries is now engaged in war, where conflict will inevitably impact on the priorities of production and ability to harvest any remaining crops.

Whilst the conflict remains ongoing, the short, medium and longer-term outlooks are uncertain, Kleffmann Digital's research says.

With a displaced population, no doubt including farmers and all those who service the sector, the 2022 harvest may well be without the contribution of one of its leading markets.

The average yield of winter oilseed rape last season in Ukraine was 28.6 dt/ha which amounts to a total tonnage of 3m. The average yield in EU27 was 32.2 dt/ha and total tonnage was 17,345m.

In the current season the establishment of winter oilseed rape in Ukraine was supported by favourable weather conditions, the research explains.

Most hectares are in the southern regions like Odessa, Dnipropetrovsk and Kherson, in the region of coastal ports for export opportunities.

It says that a lot will depend on the conclusion of the conflict and the remaining facilities to handle any harvested crops and the ability to export them from the country.

"If we consider last years yield, providing a production volume equivalent to 17% of the European harvest, the war will have an impact on the WOSR market," Kleffmann Digital says.

"But the impact may not be as significant as some other crops such as sunflowers from the country.

"As Ukraine and Russia are among the most important sunflower-growing countries, considerable distortions and area shortages are to be expected."
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On March 3, 2022, the Department of Finance Canada announced that they issued the Most-Favoured-Nation Tariff Withdrawal Order (2022-1) to remove Russia and Belarus from entitlement to the Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN) tariff, under the Customs Tariff of Canada. This was in response to the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, supported by Belarus, and in addition to the new sanctions Canada has imposed under the Special Economic Measures Act.

What is the impact on goods imported from Russia and Belarus?

Effective March 2, 2022, the General Tariff will be used to account all goods imported into Canada that originate from Russia and Belarus, with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). Under the General Tariff, a customs duty rate of 35% is applicable on almost all goods. Russia, Belarus, and North Korea are the only countries whose imports are currently subject under the General Tariff.

Exception: The MFN tariff may still be applied to goods that were in transit to Canada on or before March 2, 2022. Proof that the goods were in transit may be requested by the CBSA at any time and would include, but is not limited to, the following documents: sales orders, purchase orders, shipping documents, report of entry documents, and cargo control documents.

For additional details, please read the CBSA Customs Notice 22-02.

Additional Information

Customs Tariff

Special Economic Measures (Russia) Regulations

Special Economic Measures (Ukraine) Regulations
Image: Shutterstock



Wilsons disease or Wilson disease is a rare genetic condition in which copper builds up in the liver, brain, and other important organs. Wilson's disease is most diagnosed in people between the ages of 5 and 35, but it can also affect younger and older persons. Studies reveal that Wilson disease is the most common genetic cause of end stage liver disease in children, accounting for 35-55% of all cases and most parents are not aware of the cause and symptoms of this disease. It is caused by mutations in the ATP7B gene which regulates copper balance in the body. Toxic accumulation of copper occurs first in liver and hence liver is virtually involved in all cases of Wilson disease, followed by brain and eyes. The disease is definitely not as rare as once believed to be. Prevalence of WD is approximately 1 in 10,000- 30,000 live births, explains Dr Arti Pawaria, Consultant- Paediatric Hepatology & Gastroenterology at Global Hospital, Mumbai, who says the first patient of Wilson disease was reported in India in 1968 and since then medical field has witnessed several landmark changes in management of this disease.



Dr. Pawaria shares more insights on the condition and the necessity of early detection and treatment.



What The Study Says

Historically, it was considered a disease of patients aged 3 to 55 years. Between 2010-2020, the reported average age at diagnosis of Wilson disease in children in India was 9 years (range 3-15 years), which is similar to what the developed nations were reporting between 1970-2000. In developed countries, especially European countries and Korea, Wilson disease has been detected in children as young as 4 and 9 months of age, due to improved awareness about the disease. The fact that, in India, many patients still are missed due to the difficulty in early diagnosis and the lack of awareness about the true extent of the disease by health care providers undermines the need and urgency of creating awareness among doctors/physicians/people in our country.





Image: Shutterstock



How It Affects The Organs

Liver is the first organ to be involved in Wilson disease predominantly presenting in childhood and running an invariably fatal course if not diagnosed early and treated adequately by pediatric hepatologist or gastroenterologist. Isolated liver involvement is more common in childhood and adolescence than adulthood. Wilson disease should be considered and ruled out by appropriate testing in all children presenting with any sign of liver disease ranging from acute liver failure, chronic liver disease, fatty liver or asymptomatic abnormality in liver function tests. In India liver failure and portal hypertension is still the most common presentation of Wilson disease in children mainly attributed to late diagnosis.



Wilson disease is treatable if detected in early stages and irreversible liver and neurological damage can be prevented. Initiating treatment early will result in rapid normalization of liver disease and normal life. An early diagnosis is very crucial to prevent evolution of the disease. If left untreated 20-30% of children with initial liver disease progresses to neurological and/or psychiatric manifestations at later age. Despite treatment many of the neurologically involved patients have worsening disease and become bed-ridden, unable to do activities of daily living.



Symptoms And Screening

Family members of a Wilson disease patient are at different risk at different stages hence it is essential to screen the family members. Because inheritance of Wilson disease is autosomal recessive, each brother/sister of a Wilson disease child is at 25% risk of having the illness themselves, which can become symptomatic at any time. Parents of a Wilson disease child also have 0.5% chance of having the disease even though they have been asymptomatic till adulthood.



Considering that on an average one family in India has 2 children, for every 100 Wilson disease children diagnosed with established liver disease, this can be identified in another 25-30 children in whom the onset of disease can be prevented. By early screening and diagnosis, lives of thousands of these young children can be saved from this otherwise devastating disease. Even within the same family there can be different presentation of Wilson disease from asymptomatic to full blown liver or/and neurological involvement. Hence, screening of sibling along with other family members should always be done using appropriate tests and immediate medical intervention.



All siblings of a child with Wilson disease should be screened for pre-symptomatic disease with liver function tests, serum ceruloplasmin, 24 hour urine copper, Kayser Fleischer ring on eye examination and/or targeted molecular analysis. Very effective and safe treatment is available for presymptomatic children identified through family screening. With strict follow up and good adherence to medicines, these pre-symptomatic children will have a normal life with normal liver functions.





Image: Shutterstock



Diagnosis And Treatment

Definitive Wilson disease diagnosis is made using a balanced judgement among all tests (liver function tests, serum ceruloplasmin and 24-hour urinary copper, genetic mutation analysis, known as the Leipzig criteria) resulting in specific recommendations for the diagnosis and management of the disease. Genetic mutation analysis of the ATPB7 gene facilitates the diagnosis in borderline cases and are now widely available. Available treatments include chelation therapy and zinc salts, which reverse copper overload by different mechanisms. Indications for liver transplantation are rare (<1%) including patients with acute liver failure or those with progression of liver dysfunction to liver failure despite medical therapy. These children should be transferred to and managed in paediatric liver transplant center at the earliest.



With early diagnosis and treatment, the prognosis is good, however, an important issue is diagnosing patients before the onset of serious symptoms. Early accurate diagnosis and timely commencement of treatment are the best prospect for Wilson disease patients. Detailed counselling of the family regarding importance of strict adherence to the medical treatment and family screening without delay, especially of siblings, is the only way we can help children of our country from the devastating complications of this potentially treatable disease.



Also Read: Here Are Some Superfoods Recommendations For Kid's Brain Development
(Click on any thumbnail to display larger image/slideshow)

Karel Appel (b. 1921, Amsterdam) is one of the Netherlands most celebrated 20th century artists. In the years following his studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Amsterdam, he became a founding member of CoBrA. Established in 1948 and active through 1951, CoBrA (a title created by incorporating the first letters of the members cities of residence  Copenhagen, Brussels, and Amsterdam) rejected the formal and rationalist conventions of art establishment following World War II and adopted a doctrine that embraced the raw energy of primitive art, the imagination of childrens drawings, and a bright, bold palette.



Cats, a portfolio of seventeen lithographs is a fanciful series of images that may be seen as a meditation on this domestic animal. It is an exquisite example of Appel's career-long interest in animals as a subject and his masterful use of flat brushtrokes to yield a patterning of rectangular strokes of ink reminiscent of the aggressive layers of paint that distinguishes his paintings.



Appel has exhibited in galleries and museum worldwide and is represented in major museums throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. He was awarded the UNESCO Prize at the 27th International Biennale in Venice and the first prize at the Guggenheim International Exhibition in New York in 1960. The Reality of Karel Appel, a film by Dutch director Jan Vrijman and music by Dizzy Gillespie and Karel Appel was released in 1961. Since 1997, he has divided his time between Tuscany and the United States.



Edition #117/125 is part of Ferris State University's private art collection. Cover sheet reads:



PORTFOLIO OF SEVENTEEN LITHOGRAPHS IN COLOR, EACH SIGNED IN PENCIL AND NUMBERED. EDITION OF 125, NUMBERED 1 TO 125 IN ARABIC NUMERALS, ON ARCHES PAPER; 65 PROOFS ON JAPAN PAPER, NUMBERED I TO LXV IN ROMAN NUMERALS; 15 ARTIST'S PROOFS MARKED A.P.; 15 DEALER'S PROOFS MARKED H.C.



PRINTED 1978 BY ARTS LITHO-PARIS



PUBLISHED AND DISTRIBUTED BY

LONDON ARTS, INC.

321 FISHER BUILDING

DETROIT, MI. USA



LERUM ARTS

9924 SIXTY FIRST AVE.E.

PUYALLUP, WASHINGTON, USA 1978
(Click on any thumbnail to display larger image/slideshow - For more information click here)

The Curtis Collection consists of over 40 oil paintings by 19th century artists from America, England, France and other European countries. Curtis spent a lifetime collecting art for personal enjoyment and enrichment. This collection includes significant genre paintings, still lifes, landscapes and portraits that represent the realistic style that appealed to Curtis.

Frank Edward Curtis was born and raised in Big Rapids, one of seven children of local business man Martin Curtis and his wife Ardella. Each of the Curtis children attended Ferris.

Curtis graduated from what was then Ferris Institute in 1911 and went on to a career as one of Americas leading orthopedic surgeons. He served at various times as a professor of medicine at the University of Michigan and Wayne State University and Chief of Orthopedic Surgery at Grace Hospital in Detroit.

His great love of art and interest in collecting paintings evolved during extensive travels throughout Europe which included trips to the worlds most famous museums.

Curtis maintained his relationship with Ferris throughout his life. He was a member of the Presidents Club and the Society of Golden Eagles (alumni of 50 years or more), and in 1974 he was honored with the Distinguished Alumnus Award.

The gift of the collection was received in 1980 by the University through a generous donation made by Robert Bullard, a close friend of Curtis, who inherited the collection upon Curtis death in 1978
Welcome to our pick of the news from Fethiye and around Turkiye.

Curated from various news sources.

NEWS

Snowfall grips Istanbul again, country under new cold wave

A new cold wave has brought the country under its grip, disrupting life, forcing schools to close and provinces being issued weather alerts.

Some 17 out of Turkiyes all 81 provinces cancelled in-person education until March 21 due to heavy snowfall, including Turkiyes largest metropolis Istanbul, which has been hit by a third wave of snow in the last three months.

The Turkish State Meteorological Service declared a yellow alert for some 26 provinces and an orange alert for eight cities.

Meteorologists especially warned residents of the Marmara region, the western provinces of the Black Sea region and the eastern and southeastern provinces of heavy snowfalls, with the risk of avalanches in the east, frost in the Central Anatolian provinces and strong winds of up to 70 kilometres per hour in the countrys western coastal provinces.

This video clip courtesy of Fethiye Haber Bulteni shows how windy it was in Fethiye on Saturday.

A yellow alert is issued when there is a potential threat by a weather event.

Meteorologists rarely issue orange alert, which signifies a possibility of damage and loss in a dangerous weather situation.

The adverse weather also affected air traffic in Istanbul. Turkiyes flag carrier Turkish Airlines cancelled 100 flights in Istanbuls two airports on March 19.

Source: Hurriyet Daily News

Adverse weather in Istanbul refills dams

Water levels in the dams supplying water to Istanbul reached an average of 85% as the snow left behind after the cold spell is now melting. Two dams touched the full mark while Alibeykoy, one of the dams hit worst by a dry spell last year, is now at nearly 80% capacity.

It was only a few months ago that goats were grazing on the dried-up reservoir bed where boats are now sailing. Two-meter (6.5-feet) high barbed wires erected on the dried part of the reservoir to keep people off are now almost entirely submerged. The dam was at only about 17% of its capacity about four months ago.

Winter precipitation has brought the levels to the highest in the past 12 months. On March 16, 2021, the average water level in dams was around 62%.

Source: Daily Sabah

Canakkale 1915 Bridge spanning Dardanelles Strait opens to traffic

The Canakkale 1915 Bridge, the worlds longest suspension bridge spanning the Dardanelles Strait in Turkiyes largest metropolis Istanbul, is open to traffic.

Following an official opening ceremony on Friday, March 18, which also marks the 107th anniversary of the Canakkale Victory and Martyrs Day, the Canakkale 1915 Bridge in the Dardanelles Strait will be recognized as the longest suspension bridge in the world, with its main span of 2,023 meters, surpassing the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in Japan by 32 meters.

Biz bugun Canakkalede Turkiyenin buyume, guclenme, gelisme, bolgesinde ve dunyada huzurun, refahn, adaletin, hakkaniyetin sembolu haline gelme vizyonunun yeni bir halkasna daha kavustuk pic.twitter.com/iUCmEIh0Nw  Recep Tayyip Erdogan (@RTErdogan) March 18, 2022

The construction of the bridge started on March 18, 2017, and, after exactly five years, it was finally open to traffic.

The bridge also has some encoded characteristics symbolizing some elements of Turkish history. The height of the bridge towers is 318 meters, indicating the Day 18 of the third month.

Above the towers, there are four monuments symbolizing huge cannonballs a Turkish soldier carried on his back amid the Gallipoli campaign in 1915.

The length of the bridges main span of the bridge is 2,023 meters, which is also a reference to the next year 2023, which marks the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Turkish Republic.

Source: Hurriyet Daily News

Groundbreaking Turkiye earthquake discovery sparks call for new risk assessments

Just as earthquakes are triggered by the movement of tectonic plates, they can also change plate motions and the likelihood of future tremors, experts studying an episode in Turkiye have warned  leading to calls for vital quake risk models to be re-evaluated.

Geophysicists studied the earthquakes that struck Izmit, Turkey, back in 1999 (Image: Getty Images)

Like bits of congealed skin floating on top of a bowl of custard, Earths tectonic plates sit atop the mantle, driven into constant glacial motion by a combination of convection currents in the underlying mantle and the effect of gravity pulling plates down at subduction zones. As the plates slowly scrape past each other they can stick, with stress building up in the rock around the plate margins until such suddenly ruptures along a fault line, releasing a vast amount of energy in the form of an earthquake. For seismologists, it was long assumed that this process represented a one-way mechanism, with earthquakes being driven by plate motion and not the other way around  until now.

In a new groundbreaking study, geophysicist Dr Juan Martin de Blas of the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and his colleagues combined extensive GPS data with an analysis of the earthquakes that struck the district of Izmit, in Turkiyes Kocaeli province, back in 1999.

Seismologists determined that the focus of the earthquake lay some 9.3 miles under Izmit, and is part of a series of movements along the North Anatolian Fault dating back to 1939.

The researchers investigation has revealed that, since the earthquake, the tectonic plate on which Turkiye sits  the Anatolian Plate  has changed its direction of movement.

Furthermore, the team said, this shift appears to have altered the frequencies of seismic activity in the region around Turkiye.

The researchers have said that their findings call for a re-evaluation of earthquake risk models that are based on the interpretation of data collected from the monitoring of tectonic plate movements.

Read more here: https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1581502/turkey-earthquake-discovery-sparks-call-new-risk-assessments

British government to guarantee 2.1bn loan for Turkish high-speed line

The British government announced it will guarantee a 2.1bn loan to finance the 503km Ankara  Izmir electrified high-speed line in Turkey.

The line will run from Polatli, south of the junction where the Ankara  Istanbul and Ankara  Konya high-speed lines divide.

The financing is led by Credit Suisse and Standard Chartered Bank and will be guaranteed by UK Export Finance (UKEF) through its Buyer Credit Scheme. The financing meets internationally recognised sustainability standards and is aligned with the Green Loan Principles. Reinsurance is also being provided by international export credit agencies such as SACE in Italy, SERV in Switzerland and OeKB in Austria, reducing the risk to the British taxpayer.

The 250km/h line will run from the capital to the port city via Afyonkarahisar, Kutahya, Usak, and Manisa. The funding is the first UK-supported rail transaction in Turkey for more than 160 years.

Read more here: https://www.railjournal.com/financial/british-government-to-guarantee-e2-1bn-loan-for-turkish-high-speed-line/

SPORT

Fethiyespor

Thank you to Brian Lloyd for the Fethiyespor update.

Match updates

Sundays match against Tepecikspor due to take place on Sunday was cancelled due to the bad weather.

With 26 matches played, Fethiyespor remains in second place on the league table.

League Matches

Sunday 27th March at home against Karakopru Belediye. The kick-off is at 14:00.

You can find the Fethiyespor fixture list here.

For more information about Fethiyespor please visit:

www. fethiyespor.org

Join the Fethiyespor Yabancilar group on Facebook for more news and updates

You can also follow Fethiyespor on Twitter and Instagram

Turkish Lira (TL) exchange rates

The British Pound bought 19.51 TL by the close of business on Friday. The week before it was selling for 19.28 TL.

The US Dollar bought 14.80 TL by the close of business on Friday. The week before it was selling for 14.79 TL.

The Euro bought 16.38 TL by the close of business on Friday. The week before it was selling for 16.13 TL.

Source: FxexchangeRate.com

Weather Forecast

Heres your weather forecast for the week ahead.

Source: Living Earth

Todays featured image: Sunset over Ordek Adas by Lyn Ward

Connect with us on social media for regular updates.

Like us on Facebook

Join us at Fethiye Times Travel Club

Follow us on Instagram

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Connect with us on Linkedin
Rare infrared cameras capture video footage showcasing mother leopard raising her cubs in the wild

People's Daily Online) 16:53, March 21, 2022

Infrared cameras installed at the Ziwuling National Nature Reserve in Yanan, northwest Chinas Shaanxi Province have captured video clips showing a wild leopard mother raising her three cubs, including breastfeeding the cubs and feeding them some meat.

(Photo/CCTV News)

Experts say these video clips are the first of their kind to have been collected by a nature reserve in the country and record a day in the life of a mother leopard and her young cubs through the use of infrared cameras.

We think that the leopard cubs are about three months old because they can move within only a small area and therefore the mother has to find a hiding place to keep her offspring safe. When the cubs were about five months old, they will begin to hunt with their mother, said Feng Limin, deputy director of the monitoring and research center of Siberian tigers and Amur leopards under the National Forestry and Grassland Administration.

As we can see in the videos, the mother leopard and her three babies first walked toward the cameras and then stayed around there for a whole day. One video clip captured earlier that day showed a leopard cub drinking milk from its mother, while in another video clip captured later that day, the same cub was eating meat brought to it by its mother, said Feng, who is also an associate professor at Beijing Normal University, which installed the infrared cameras in the nature reserve to research the animals and their habitats.

The video clips record the process the leopard cubs underwent to transition from drinking milk to eating meat, offering up exquisite details hitherto unseen. The videos captured an important visual record of a significant growth stage in the life of wild leopards, with scarcely no other such records previously in extent, Feng explained, suggesting that the videos are the first of their kind collected by researchers in China.

(Photo/CCTV News)

Leopards are under first-class state protection in China. The fact that the leopard family chose to stay for a whole day near an infrared camera, which had been placed near the site of a former residential community, indicates that the ecological environment of the nature reserve is sound and that the nature reserve has done an excellent job protecting wild animals, experts say.

The ecosystem and the living environment for wild animals have been effectively protected at the nature reserve. Because the nature reserve is almost free of human activities, it provides a safe habitat for the leopards, and thats also why we managed to observe and capture images of the animals there, said Feng.

The forest ecosystems in mountainous regions of northern China are the major habitats for wild leopards. However, the wild leopard population underwent a sharp decrease over a short period of time in years past. In recent years, however, as the country made stronger efforts to ensure environmental protection, the forested and vegetated ecosystems that comprise the habitats of leopards have recovered remarkably, with the population of wild leopards having bounced back accordingly.

After monitoring and surveying wild leopards in the Ziwuling Mountains for a period of nearly 10 years, we discovered that the number of wild leopards there exceeded 110, while the population density of the animal has surpassed more than 2.4 wild leopards per 100 square kilometers of land, Feng introduced.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Bianji)
The Constitutional Challenge of Rezistans ek Alternativ and its allies, in the Supreme Court, this Tuesday 22nd of March 2022, 10.30. This case is being in Court No 7 before Hon. D. Chan Kan Cheong, Ag S.P.J & Hon. K. D. Gunesh-Balaghee, Judge.

This case is now part of an epic legal and political struggles of 17 years against mandatory communal classification of candidates in general elections. It is of prime historical significance for both the electoral and democratic system of the Republic as well as bearing a decisive impact of the emergence and preeminence of Mauritian citizenship over communalism within the constitutional system and Mauritian society.

As the media, is certainly aware, the action of Rezistans ek Alternativ, in refusing to classify ourselves in communal categorization in the General Elections of 2005, lead to the rejection of our candidatures and then to a historical ruling of the Supreme Court, by Judge Eddy Balancy, declaring that the rejection of candidatures on the grousnd of non classification of community is unconstitutional as it violates section of 1 of the Constitution.

The Balancy Judgment was reversed in Supreme Court of Mauritius, in November 2005, by a Full bench, without Rezistans ek Alternativ being able to defend the Balancy Judgment, by a legal action entered by the Electoral Commission and the Electoral Supervisory Commission. After several judiciary procedures, Rezistans ek Alternativ brought the case to the United Nations Human Rights Committee in 2007. In 2012, the UNHRC ruled in favour of Rezistans ek Alternativ. The UNHRC declared that the rejection of candidatures on the basis of non declaration of community violates Article 25 (b) of the Civil and Political Rights Covenant to which Mauritius is a party. In a parallel process, arising out of the rejection of candidatures of Rezistans ek Alternativ and its allies in the general elections of 2010, the Privy Council recommended that the case be rather heard in the local court, while declaring that Rezistans ek Alternativ have a strong case on the issue.

The political and legal struggles above, lead to the enactment of a Temporary Constitutional Amendment in 2014, eliminating the obligation of communal classification of candidates in the 2014 general election. Rezistans ek Alternativ was thus candidates in this election.

After 2014, though, the Jugnauth government promised compliance to the United Nations Human Rights Committee Pronouncement and promised an electoral reform to eliminate the mandatory community declaration in general elections, same were not fulfilled. First, the pseudo electoral reform lead to major controversies. The Jugnauths State Law Office, put several obstacles when a full bench of five judges, lead by ex-Chief Justice Balancy, was called to hear the matter. Finally, the Supreme Court Full Bench could not hear the case in 2019, prior to the General Election and the Jugnauth regime made a historical u- turn, by proclaiming a new election Regulation, to re-instate the rejection of candidature for failure to declare a community, in the 2014 and subsequent elections. The United Nations Human Committee, in an update on Mauritius, 27 November 2020, after a being aware of the State of Mauritius u-turn, urged the State Mauritius to fully comply to with the UNHRC 2012 Views

Hence, the case called by the Supreme Court maintains its full historical significance. And once again, it appears that the State Legal arm, SLO, will put several hurdles, in terms of technical preliminary objections, to oppose Rezistans ek Alternativ, instead of simply letting the Supreme Court hear this crucial historical matter. Rezistans ek Alternativ appeals to all citizens aspiring of a non-communalist electoral system and country to remain vigilant to the maneuvers of reactionary forces within and outside the state, to sabotage the historical march and emancipation of our Republic.

Ashok Subron & Dany Marie, for Rezistans ek Alternativ, 20 March 2022

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Ram Charan, Jr NTR, and director SS Rajamouli, attended the Dubai Expo and were greeted with a rousing welcome from the crowd. The mighty trio addressed the media from Dubai during their presentation at the Indian pavilion. Ram Charan discussed keeping his zeal alive during COVID-19, his commitment for the film, and his director during the press conference.





When asked about the demarcation of films in India, regional relativity, and other issues, Ram Charan responded emphatically that Rajamouli is taking the initiative with RRR to call it an Indian film rather than a Telugu, Hindi, or Tamil film.





Rajamouli has raised boundaries between the states. With Bahubali, he has raised boundaries. Yes, it is still a question whether we are one industry or various regional film industries. But Rajamouli has started an initiative or put the thought in our heads or the medias heads to call us an Indian film industry and call RRR, a Pan Indian film. Nobody in India has taken this initiative before and it starts with RRR.





Ram Charan was quick to reply to a question regarding the RRR delay, saying, Just like the world, we paused. It was just not RRR but everyone hit the pause button due to COVID but we never exceeded in the number of days of shoot. Like Rajamouli garu mentioned in the first press meet in Hyderabad that it is going to be the fastest film he has ever made. He had intended it and it was the fastest film. Unfortunately due to COVID, just like the world, we paused.

Ram Charan went on to describe how he felt throughout the halted period. We survived just like how you all did. We three used to connect on calls regularly. We wanted to connect with our director to keep the enthusiasm and spark alive. Because all of us suddenly felt unemployed for two years, he stated.

Ram Charan went on to say that even if he hadn't been in contact with his director, his energy and desire to see the final product would have remained the same, Because I know RRR and with what conviction I had when I had started RRR, he assertively said.

When questioned about his experience working with Rajamouli for the second time, Ram Charan replied, Although I come from a film family, my father brought me up in such a way that nothing about movies, magazines, industry, awards, fans or anything related to work was brought home. It was always confined to the office. There was no trace of films for me. Even when I was starting off, he never told me how to be or how to act. After my first film, when I went to him and asked about how to better myself in acting, he said nothing. He really wanted me to have my own journey. That was the moment I started my first journey with Mr. Rajamouli. Thats why I repeatedly call him my headmaster or dean.



I have learnt so much from him. I have learnt so much from my first film with him. He is not only a director, master storyteller but also my mentor, my guru. I dont know what my dad is going to feel but I have to say Rajamouli taught me more about cinema than my dad, he added, expressing appreciation and pride.



Rajamouli expanded on his statement by claiming that Magadheera was his and Ram Charan's most successful film. After that, he was completely blown away by Rangasthalam,  It is quite a revelation on how he comes to the set like a blank paper and tells the director, you paint whatever you want on me. It is easy to say but difficult to follow. I saw that in him. He surprised me many times by surpassing what I had expected of him, Rajamouli said about Ram Charan.

The film will be released on March 25. Alia Bhatt and Ajay Devgn play pivotal roles in the film.
Fort St. John, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 20, 2022) - MACRO ENTERPRISES INC. (TSXV: MCR) (the "Company" or "Macro") is saddened to announce that Kenneth Mastre, Vice-President, Pipelines, suddenly and unexpectedly passed away earlier this week in hospital recovering from an operation. The board of directors and all of the employees at Macro wish to extend their heartfelt condolences to Mr. Mastre's wife, their young children and the rest of his close knit family.

"Ken was an extraordinary part of this Company and an even better friend," said Frank Miles, CEO of Macro. "Year after year, Ken significantly contributed to the ongoing success of our business. It was a great privilege for all of us at Macro to work alongside Ken, and I speak for the entire management team and board of directors when I say that he will be deeply missed."

Frank Miles and Jeff Redmond have advised that they intend to proceed with the proposed acquisition of the Company and are working with Macro to assess and determine what effect, if any, Mr. Mastre's passing will have on the proposed transaction.

About Macro Enterprises Inc.

Macro's core business is providing pipeline and facilities construction and maintenance services to major companies in the oil and gas industry in northeastern British Columbia and northwestern Alberta. The Company's corporate office is in Fort St. John, British Columbia. The Macro's common shares are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "MCR". Information on the Company's principal operations can be found at www.macroindustries.ca.

For further information, please contact:

Frank Miles

President and C.E.O.

Phone: (250) 785-0033

Bob Fedderly

Special Committee

Phone: (250) 787-0398

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/117451
MELBOURNE, Australia and LIEGE, Belgium, March 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited (ASX: TLX, Telix, the Company) welcomes the updated 2022 'Guidelines on Prostate Cancer' (the Guidelines) from the European Association of Urology (EAU), which demonstrate an increasing recognition of the clinical utility of prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) positron emission tomography (PET) imaging modalities (PSMA PET), including gallium-68 PSMA-11, in the diagnosis of prostate cancer.1



The EAU Guidelines are dedicated to the development of clinical best practice for frontline urologists and to support shared decision making with patients, underpinning a shift towards more individualised patient care.

The EAU Guidelines recognise PSMA PET/CT as more accurate than CT and bone scan for the staging of high-risk prostate cancer, based on clinical data. Despite the increased sensitivity, the Guidelines acknowledge the lack of outcome data of subsequent treatment changes when using PSMA PET or whole-body MRI. The Guidelines further recommend lutetium-based PSMA therapy be offered to pre-treated metastatic castrate resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) patients with one or more metastatic lesions, highly expressing PSMA (exceeding the uptake in the liver) on the diagnostic radiolabelled PSMA PET/CT scan.

Prof. Stefano Fanti, Director of Nuclear Medicine at the University of Bologna, said "The updated EAU Guidelines recognise that PSMA-PET imaging is more accurate than conventional imaging methods in prostate cancer initial staging, for high-risk disease. As opposed to NCCN,2 the EAU Guidelines underline the lack of outcome data of subsequent PSMA-PET treatment change. It sends a clear message of our quest for increased robustness and homogeneity in trials including PSMA-PET."

Dr Colin Hayward, Telix Chief Medical Officer added "We are pleased the EAU continues to lead urology standards in Europe, acknowledging the importance of PSMA as a target, for improving sensitivity in assessing prostate cancer.

"We are focused on ensuring PSMA-PET imaging is widely available for patients across Europe, as we work towards European Marketing Authorisation Approvals for llluccix.

"With Telix making PSMA PET more broadly available as we achieve approval in various markets, we look forward to contributing to the knowledge base around treatment changes based on PSMA PET."

About Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited

Telix is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialisation of diagnostic and therapeutic products using Molecularly Targeted Radiationand follow Telix on Twitter.

Telix's lead product, Illuccix (kit for preparation of gallium-68 (68Ga) gozetotide (also known as 68Ga PSMA-11) injection) for prostate cancer imaging, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA),3 and by the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).4 Telix is also progressing marketing authorisation applications for this investigational candidate in Europe5 and Canada.6

Telix Investor Relations

Ms. Kyahn Williamson

Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited

SVP Corporate Communications and Investor Relations

Email: kyahn.williamson@telixpharma.com

This announcement has been authorised for release by Dr. Christian Behrenbruch, Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Officer.

Legal Notices

This announcement may include forward-looking statements that relate to anticipated future events, financial performance, plans, strategies or business developments. Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by the use of words such as "may", "expect", "intend", "plan", "estimate", "anticipate", "outlook", "forecast" and "guidance", or other similar words. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the Company's good-faith assumptions as to the financial, market, regulatory and other considerations that exist and affect the Company's business and operations in the future and there can be no assurance that any of the assumptions will prove to be correct. In the context of Telix's business, forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, statements about: the initiation, timing, progress and results of Telix's preclinical and clinical studies, and Telix's research and development programs; Telix's ability to advance product candidates into, enrol and successfully complete, clinical studies, including multi-national clinical trials; the timing or likelihood of regulatory filings and approvals, manufacturing activities and product marketing activities; the commercialisation of Telix's product candidates, if or when they have been approved; estimates of Telix's expenses, future revenues and capital requirements; Telix's financial performance; developments relating to Telix's competitors and industry; and the pricing and reimbursement of Telix's product candidates, if and after they have been approved. Telix's actual results, performance or achievements may be materially different from those which may be expressed or implied by such statements, and the differences may be adverse. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Telix disclaims any obligation or undertaking to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements contained in this announcement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or a change in expectations or assumptions.

The Telix Pharmaceuticals name and logo are trademarks of Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited and its affiliates (all rights reserved).

____________________________________

1 European Association of Urology (EAU) Guidelines on Prostate Cancer. Limited Update March 2022. Available at: https://uroweb.org/guidelines/prostate-cancer.

2 National Comprehensive Cancer Network Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines) Sep 2021. Available at: https://www.nccn.org/guidelines/category_1.

3 ASX disclosure 20 December 2021.

4 ASX disclosure 2 November 2021.

5 ASX disclosure 10 December 2021.

6 ASX disclosure 16 December 2020.
Relief Therapeutics Holding SA / Key word(s): Personnel

Relief Therapeutics Appoints Christopher Wick as Senior Director, Head of U.S. Sales



21-March-2022 / 07:15 CET/CEST

Release of an ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.





Relief Therapeutics Appoints Christopher Wick as Senior Director, Head of U.S. Sales

Proven Pharmaceutical Sales Professional Brings Big Pharma Experience to Relief's U.S. Expansion Activities



Geneva, Switzerland, March 21, 2022 - RELIEF THERAPEUTICS Holding SA (SIX: RLF, OTCQB: RLFTF, RLFTY) ("Relief"), a biopharmaceutical company seeking to provide patients therapeutic relief from serious diseases with high unmet need, today announced the appointment of Christopher Wick to the newly created position of Senior Director, Head of U.S. Sales. In this position, Mr. Wick will be responsible for building out and leading the company's U.S. sales team.

"The expansion of our pipeline and commercialized product portfolio, garnered as a result of our collaboration with Acer Therapeutics and the strategic acquisition, last year, of APR Applied Pharma Research SA, have allowed us to proactively plan for U.S. market penetration, initially, for APR's currently marketed flagship PKU GOLIKE(R) to treat phenylketonuria and the potential launch of ACER-001 to treat Urea Cycle Disorders, which has a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) target action date of June 5, 2022 ," stated Raghuram (Ram) Selvaraju, Chairman of Relief. "In this new position, Christopher will work closely with our Head of U.S. Commercial Operations, Anthony Kim, to build our capabilities in this all important market, in order to ensure our commercial success. His highly impressive background, punctuated by extraordinary sales success during more than 20 years at 'big pharma,' including with Alexion Pharmaceuticals, GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis, makes Christopher a highly coveted addition to our team."

Prior to joining Relief, Mr. Wick was, since 2018, Regional Sales Director for Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he developed and led two high performing Excellence Award winning teams which achieved best in the nation sales for two product launches of Soliris(R), for the treatment of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NOSD) and generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG). Earlier, from 2015 to 2018, he served as the company's Southwest Regional Account Manager, where he cultivated a regional key opinion leader physician network while launching two of Alexion's enzyme replacement therapies for ultra-rare disease.

From 2007 until 2015, Mr. Wick served in positions of increasing responsibility at GlaxoSmithKline, most recently, from 2012 to 2015, as Southwest Health Systems Account Manager helping to ensure early adoption of the company's launch products as well as the entire pharmaceutical and biologic portfolio. In that role, he was responsible for Hospital System contracts, and collaborating with GlaxoSmithKline's largest and most complex accounts in the Integrated Delivery Networks (IDN) and Hospital Customer Segment.

Earlier, from 1999 until 2007, Mr. Wick was an Executive Account Manager at Novartis. While there, he contributed to both Specialty and Hospital Sales, served as a National Training Leader and Regional Trainer and consistently achieved a top 15% sales ranking.

Mr. Wick attended Purdue University and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from New Mexico State University.

ABOUT RELIEF

Relief focuses primarily on clinical-stage programs based on molecules with a history of clinical testing and use in human patients or a strong scientific rationale. Relief's drug candidate, RLF-100 (aviptadil), a synthetic form of Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide (VIP), is in late-stage clinical testing in the U.S. for the treatment of respiratory deficiency due to COVID-19 through Relief's collaboration partner in the U.S., NeuroRx, Inc. Relief also has a Collaboration and License Agreement with Acer Therapeutics for the worldwide development and commercialization of ACER-001, a taste-masked and immediate release proprietary powder formulation of sodium phenylbutyrate (NaPB) for the treatment of Urea Cycle Disorders and Maple Syrup Urine Disease. Acer's new drug application for ACER-001 for use as a treatment of urea cycle disorders was recently accepted by the FDA for filing with a PDUFA decision date of June 5, 2022. Finally, Relief's acquisitions last summer of APR Applied Pharma Research SA and AdVita Lifescience GmbH brought to Relief a diverse pipeline of marketed and development-stage programs.

RELIEF THERAPEUTICS Holding SA is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange under the symbol RLF and quoted in the U.S. on OTCQB under the symbols RLFTF and RLFTY. For more information, visit www.relieftherapeutics.com.

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CONTACT:

RELIEF THERAPEUTICS Holding SA

Jack Weinstein

Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer

contact@relieftherapeutics.com

FOR MEDIA/INVESTOR INQUIRIES:

Rx Communications Group

Michael Miller

+1-917-633-6086

mmiller@rxir.com

Disclaimer: This communication expressly or implicitly contains certain forward-looking statements concerning RELIEF THERAPEUTICS Holding SA. Such statements involve certain known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including those risks discussed in RELIEF THERAPEUTICS Holding SA's press releases and filings with the SIX, which could cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of RELIEF THERAPEUTICS Holding SA to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. RELIEF THERAPEUTICS Holding SA is providing this communication as of this date and does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Headed up by new senior hire, S-RM grows its presence in Europe with new Netherlands-based team

S-RM, the intelligence and cyber security consultancy, has announced its entry into the Dutch market by opening an office in Utrecht. With key employees in place already, S-RM has plans to grow its Netherlands cyber team rapidly, serving its growing global portfolio of clients by expanding its presence into the Benelux region and wider European market.

The team is led by Martijn Hoogesteger, who has been hired as Head of Cyber Security for the Netherlands. Martijn has significant experience in the Dutch cyber market, having previously built both incident response and offensive security teams.

Jamie Smith, Board Director and Head of Cyber Security at S-RM, said: "This is a fantastic opportunity to build a cyber team in mainland Europe and we're delighted to be expanding our global presence to a total of seven offices during an exciting period of growth for S-RM. The Netherlands is well connected to many key markets across the EU and we see it as a perfect location to anchor our European operations."

Martijn Hoogesteger, Head of Cyber Security for the Netherlands at S-RM, added: "As well as a great Dutch talent pool, the Netherlands attracts a huge multilingual workforce. Over time, we also hope to welcome our global S-RM colleagues to spend time in the region, to deepen their knowledge and expand their experience of the European market."

The Dutch team are based at Lange Viestraat 2b, Utrecht.

About S-RM

S-RM is a global intelligence and cyber security consultancy. Founded in 2005, it has 250+ experts and advisors across 7 international offices. Headquartered in London, S-RM has offices in Cape Town, Hong Kong, New York, Rio, Utrecht, and Washington DC.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220321005039/en/

Contacts:

Press contact

Beverley Noble

beverley@milkandhoneypr.com

+44 7856 460 498
Innovative solution will enable surplus renewable electricity to be transferred into the national power grid

Zurich, Switzerland, March 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hitachi Energy, the global technology and market leader in power grids, announced today that it has won an order from Suzano, the world's leading eucalyptus pulp producer and one of Latin America's largest paper producers, to design and deliver a complete grid connection solution for the company's new pulp mill in Brazil.

Suzano's new factory will be the world's largest single-line eucalyptus pulp mill and Brazil's first pulp production facility to be fossil fuel free when completed in the second half of 2024. It will have an annual production capacity of 2.5 million tons and will increase Suzano's output by 20 percent. About half of the electricity generated will be transferred to the national power grid, enough to supply around 2.3 million people for one month.

The two companies have worked closely together on grid solutions for Suzano's fleet of mills over the past 20 years. In this spirit of collaboration and co-creation, Hitachi Energy has contributed its pioneering technologies and its unique system integration capabilities, engineering expertise and extensive experience of local grid code requirements. This enables Hitachi Energy to design and supply complete solutions with exceptional levels of reliability, that are fundamental for these types of application.

"We are honored and delighted to be working with Suzano again on this landmark project that sets a new benchmark in sustainable pulp productionand shares its emission-free electricity with society at large," said Niklas Persson, Managing Director of Hitachi Energy's Grid Integration business. "This is another example of how our solutions are advancing the world's energy system to be more sustainable, flexible and secure."

"The construction of the new factory is the biggest investment in Suzano's history, so it is vital that the grid connection through which we generate additional revenue from our surplus energy operates at outstanding levels of reliability and availability," said Mauricio Miranda, Engineering Director at Suzano. "We chose Hitachi Energy as our technology partner based on more than 20 years of successful collaboration and consistent delivery of innovative, reliable solutions and exceptional project execution."

Hitachi Energy will supply a state-of-the-art grid connection solution to enable the surplus renewable power to be transferred reliably, safely and securely into the national power grid. The solution's compact footprint is based on advanced gas-insulated switchgear and offers excellent performance in terms of efficiency and availability, while minimizing the total lifecycle cost and CO2 footprint.

To secure reliability and availability, key elements of the grid connection, such as the transformers will be equipped with Hitachi Energy's digital monitoring systems to provide real-time data and performance insights and enable predictive maintenance. Hitachi Energy will provide a complete solution across the value chain, from system studies and grid code compliance to design and engineering, supply and installation and commissioning.

Hitachi Energy is the world's leading provider of grid connections and power quality solutions, with an installed base of more than 10,000 projects worldwide, over 800 of which connect renewable energy sources to the grid.

About Hitachi Energy Ltd.

Hitachi Energy is a global technology leader that is advancing a sustainable energy future for all. We serve customers in the utility, industry and infrastructure sectors with innovative solutions and services across the value chain. Together with customers and partners, we pioneer technologies and enable the digital transformation required to accelerate the energy transition towards a carbon-neutral future. We are advancing the world's energy system to become more sustainable, flexible and secure whilst balancing social, environmental and economic value. Hitachi Energy has a proven track record and unparalleled installed base in more than 140 countries. Headquartered in Switzerland, we employ around 38,000 people in 90 countries and generate business volumes of approximately $10 billion USD.

About Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi, Ltd..

Attachment
JAKARTA, Mar 21, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - PT WIJAYA KARYA (Persero) Tbk. [IDX: WIKA] booked Rp17.81 trillion in sales 2021 as recorded in the financial statement for the period ended on 31 December 2021. This achievement was 7.7% higher compared with 2020.The largest contributor to sales was the infrastructure and building segment, followed consecutively by energy and industrial plant; industry; realty & property; and investment.WIKA's President Director, Agung Budi Waskito (Agung BW) stated that the increase in sales suggested a positive recovery indicator in WIKA's performance throughout 2021."The increase in sales was on the back of operating activities that recovered gradually. In 2021, WIKA was able to complete several dams, toll roads, and engineering, procurement, construction & commissioning ("EPCC") projects. These projects enabled WIKA to record positive performance with a net profit of Rp214.42 billion," said Agung BW.Agung BW added that in 2021, WIKA recorded a 5.26% decrease in interest expense to Rp1.16 trillion from Rp1.22 trillion in the same period of previous year (YoY). "The decrease in interest expense was due to WIKA's efforts to reprofile high interest, short-term loans into bonds and sukuk mudharabah with longer tenor and lower coupon," Agung BW stated.The achievements in 2021 will enable WIKA to continue its positive performance next year and recover to pre-pandemic operating level.Welcoming 2022 with New Opportunities: New Capital City and G20 SummitWIKA optimistically welcomes 2022 as the year of further economic recovery. The construction sector plays an important role in the recovery, whereby WIKA has secured Rp6.1 trillion in new contracts at end of February 2022 or 14% of its 2022 target of Rp42.6 trillion.WIKA's new contracts include the Makassar New Port Access Road, Pondok Aren-Serpong Toll Road, Semarang-Demak Toll Road Section 1B, and reconstruction and rehabilitation work at Donggala Port.The G20 Summit which will be held in Indonesia presents opportunities for WIKA as the government is preparing the necessary infrastructure to support this event that will be attended by leaders of G20 countries.Agung BW continued that WIKA is readying itself to participate in the construction of the new capital city, starting from basic infrastructure."With strong integration between the construction and manufacturing segments, WIKA is able to offer added-value and is ready to build high-quality basic infrastructure in the new capital city," Agung BW concluded.PT WIJAYA KARYA (Persero) Tbk. [IDX: WIKA]Contact:Mahendra VijayaSekretaris PerusahaanEmail: mahendra.v@wikamail.idWebsite: https://www.wika.co.id/Source: PT Wijaya Karya (Persero) Tbk.Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
SHANGHAI, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Infinix today proudly announced its release of the world's first Future Light-Painting Leather. The technology works when UV light interacts with the smartphone's back cover, adding innovative and flexible color options to Infinix users' smartphones to express their style and mood. This world's first innovation marks a huge step forward in technological breakthroughs for Infinix and sets a new standard for leather back covers on smartphones.

"Infinix seeks to improve the aesthetic experience of the modern-day smartphone through the use of innovative materials and fresh new colors. With Future Light-Painting Leather technology, users can experience satisfying color-changing as well as custom patterns created by shading light on the back cover of their smartphone. It introduces a unique way for our customers to interact with their smartphone and to express themselves," said Manfred Hong, Senior Product Director of Infinix.

Next-Level Smartphone Technology

Future Light-Painting Leather technology is a reversible color change technology that occurs when exposed to UV light. Infinix integrated photochromic polymers into the leather, where the molecular structure changes in the presence of UV light which causes the color changes. When users take their device back indoors the leather reverts back to the original color.

This is a passive color-changing technology that does not require additional energy from the smartphone to produce color changes. It breaks the limitations of traditional leather with a single color and will bring a new look to smartphones with two or multiple color switches.

Light Paint Your Smartphone

The Future Light-Painting Leather is not only about the aesthetics, but also about the expression of the user's personality. With this creative new feature, users are able to use light to paint their smartphone and create different patterns on the back cover giving users endless possibilities to customize their device.

Built to Last

The Future Light-Painting leather technology is a result of Infinix's deep understanding of their target consumers' lifestyle, needs and preferences.

The development process lasted six months and the engineers tested the leather hundreds of times to achieve the desired effect. Infinix overcame the common issue of leather yellowing by adjusting the leather structure, ensuring the leather's color remained vibrant after extended use. Additionally, the back cover maintains a thin profile in a complex structure, providing a comfortable grip for the user along with strong protection against knocks and drops.

The Future Light-Painting Leather back cover will be available with future Infinix devices, which will be announced accordingly with future media releases from Infinix. Stay tuned.

About Infinix:

Infinix Mobile is an emerging smartphone brand that designs, manufactures and markets an expanding portfolio of mobile devices worldwide under the Infinix brand which was founded in 2013. Targeting Generation Z, Infinix focuses on developing cutting-edge technology embodied in meticulously designed mobile devices that offer refined style, power and performance. Infinix devices are trendy, energetic, attainable & progressive with the end-user at the forefront of every step forward.

With "THE FUTURE IS NOW" as its brand essence, Infinix aims to empower today's youth to stand out from the crowd and show the world who they are & what they stand for.

The company's portfolio of products is sold in more than 40 countries around the world, covering Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and South Asia. Expanding at a phenomenal rate, Infinix grew an unprecedented 159% during 2019-2021 and has huge plans to continue creating premium designed flagship-level devices offering striking designs and strong value propositions.

For more information, please visit: http://www.infinixmobility.com/

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1770022/The_layers_leather.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1770023/Before___light_painting.jpg
A displaced family from Kyiv sit in a basement, used as a bomb shelter, during an air raid Saturday in Lviv, Western Ukraine. (Bernat Armangue/AP)

Air Products is developing plans and will implement a safe and responsible divestiture of its business in Russia, company CEO Seifi Ghasemi said in a statement to employees and released to The Morning Call.

Ghasemi also said the company has decided not to pursue any new business in the country.

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As always, we continue to review developing and applicable sanctions to ensure our ongoing compliance, he said.

President Joe Biden has not mandated that American businesses exit the country since the war began Feb. 24, but in a video speech Wednesday to Congress, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged lawmakers to compel Air Products and other such companies to leave Russia.

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Ghasemis six-paragraph statement marked the companys first public comment since a Yale University School of Management report revealed the Lehigh Valley industrial gases giant was one of about three dozen American companies continuing to do business as usual in Russia since its leader, Vladimir Putin, declared war on neighboring Ukraine.

Some 147 U.S. corporations announced they were pulling out of Russia entirely, according to a recent AP story on the Yale list. That list continues to grow: Baker Hughes, a major oil services company made its announcement Saturday, one day after similar moves by oil rivals Halliburton Co. and Schlumberger.

Another 173 U.S. companies said they would suspend operations in Russia. With support in the West strong for Ukraine, and threats of boycotts of companies still doing business there, roughly another 70 American companies have said they are scaling back operations or holding off new investment, but remaining.

Air Products CEO Seifi Gasemi, seen in this 2016 file photo, says the Lehigh Valley Fortune 500 company will implement a safe and responsible divestiture of its business in Russia. (Sharon K. Merkel/Special to The Morning Call)

Ghasemis statement shed light on Air Products plans and left little doubt about the Fortune 500 companys position on the war.

We continue to be deeply concerned by the tragic human suffering being experienced by the people of Ukraine and the impact it has on many others, he said. We condemn actions of war when the world should be making greater efforts for peace.

Our hearts go out to all those affected. Like many other companies, we have employees in this region and are continuing to give them the support that we can, he said.

The Yale report said Air Products operates two offices with 130 employees and a plant in Russia. Air Products said in a 2021 news release that its technology and equipment are operating at a liquified natural gas facility in northwest Siberia, the largest one in Russia. Air Products three heat exchangers for the plant, which went online in 2017, were producing 16.5 million metric tons per year.

Air Products, which earned $2.1 billion in profit during fiscal year 2021 on more than $10.3 billion in sales, obtains slightly more than 50% of its sales from Europe, Africa and Asia, excluding China.

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Ghasemi said Air Products operates a very small industrial gas business in Russia, with less than $25 million in sales, or approximately one-fourth of 1% of its annual revenue. Its gas products are important for the safe operation of several industries in Russia, including food, he said.

Despite that, Air Products does not intend to remain there, based on Ghasemis statement.

For our people in Russia, we fully understand and recognize these actions will cause concern, he said. As we move to divest our business in the country, we will continue to give them the support we can during this difficult period and put assistance programs in place.

Ghasemi, who has been chair, president and CEO of Air Products since July 2014, said the companys foundation has provided unspecified financial support to the Red Crosss international operations, as well as supporting humanitarian efforts.

Our global employees have also responded with care and generosity, Ghasemi said, reaching out to their affected colleagues and making contributions to various organizations supporting relief efforts.

Air Products, which is headquartered in Upper Macungie Township, has products in 53 countries outside the U.S. It employs about 2,000 people in the region and more than 20,000 worldwide.

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Morning Call journalist Anthony Salamone can be reached at asalamone@mcall.com.
BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - French stocks gave up early gains to turn lower on Monday, as heavy fighting continued around the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol, where hundreds of thousands of civilians have been trapped in a city under siege and already laid to waste by Russian bombardment. As the conflict rages on for the 26th day, reports suggested that Moscow has deployed a TOS-1 thermobaric multiple rocket launcher system in Eastern Ukraine to increase firepower in the ongoing war. European Union governments will decide this week whether to impose an oil embargo on Russia. U.S. President Joseph Biden added a visit to Poland to his schedule for this week's trip to Europe. The benchmark CAC 40 was down 5 points at 6,615 after closing 0.1 percent higher on Friday. 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.
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / March 21, 2022 / Mongolia Growth Group Ltd. (the "Company") (TSX-V:YAK), announced today that TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange") has accepted a Notice of Intention to renews its normal course issuer bid to purchase outstanding common shares of the Company on the open market in accordance with the policies of the TSXV.

Pursuant to the NCIB, (the "Bid") the Company may acquire up to 1,935,000 common shares (representing up to approximately 6.97% of the 27,778,499 common shares of the Company currently issued and outstanding, or approximately 9.99% of the 19,362,249 common shares constituting the Company's current Public Float (as that term is defined in the policies of the Exchange) from time to time during the next 12 months. In accordance with the Policies of the Exchange, the maximum number of common shares that may be purchased under the Bid in any 30-day period may not exceed 2% of the issued and outstanding common shares of the Company when aggregated with all other common shares purchased under the Bid in the preceding 30 days.

The Company is undertaking the Bid because, in the opinion of its board of directors, the market price of its common shares, from time to time, may not fully reflect the underlying value of its operations and future growth prospects. The Company believes that in such circumstances, the purchase of the common shares of the Company may represent an appropriate and desirable use of the Company's funds and further enhance market stability.

The Company may, subject to market conditions, sell one or more of its investment properties to finance purchases under the Bid from time to time.

From March 18, 2021, to March 17, 2022, the Company purchased 2,250,000 of its shares at an average price of $0.76 under its most recently expired NCIB.

The Company has retained M Partners Inc. of Toronto, Ontario as its broker Member for the purposes of conducting the bid. The Bid will commence on or about March 24, 2022, and the Bid will end no later than March 23, 2023. The common shares will be purchased for cancellation on the open market through the facilities of the Exchange, at market price. This transaction is subject to the TSX Venture Exchange approval.

For further information please contact:

Genevieve Walkden, Corporate Secretary

877-644-1186

GWalkden@MongoliaGrowthGroup.com

This news release includes forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements within, other than statements of historical fact, are to be considered forward looking. 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 or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include general economic, market and business conditions, the regulatory process and actions, regulator and corporate approvals, technical issues, new legislation, competitive and general economic factors and conditions, the uncertainties resulting from potential delays or changes in plans, the occurrence of unexpected events, and the Company's capability to execute and implement its future plans. Actual results may differ materially from those projected by management. There can be no assurances that such statements will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to sell any securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available. We seek safe harbour.

The TSXV has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this Press release.

SOURCE: Mongolia Growth Group Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/693900/Mongolia-Growth-Group-Announces-Renewal-of-Normal-Course-Issuer-Bid
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 21, 2022) - Santacruz Silver Mining Ltd. (TSXV: SCZ) ("the Company" or "Santacruz") is pleased to announce that it has completed the acquisition of a portfolio of producing assets located in Bolivia (the "Transaction") pursuant to a previously disclosed share purchase agreement dated October 11, 2021 (the "SPA"), as amended pursuant to an amendment agreement dated March 18, 2022 between the Company and certain subsidiaries of Glencore plc (together, "Glencore").

Arturo Prestamo Elizondo, Executive Chairman of Santacruz, stated: "The Transaction elevates the Company into a multi asset producer and is accretive with the future cash flows of the mines financing the acquisition. We have been working closely with Glencore and the Bolivian government to ensure a smooth transition while the mines have generated sufficient cash flow to decrease the initial US$20 million upfront consideration down to US$12,011,148, which will be paid by Santacruz to Glencore within 30 days of closing and will be paid from working capital. We look forward to elevating Santacruz into a leading mid-tier silver producer while generating value for all stakeholders."

Carlos Silva, CEO of Santacruz, stated: "This is a significant acquisition for Santacruz that creates a leading mid-tier silver producer in the Americas. We are very pleased to team up with a great group of professionals in Bolivia, where Glencore has performed extraordinary work while achieving very high standards in terms of responsible mining practices and their commitment to responsible business and community relations. We will ensure that this excellent legacy continues in the coming years."

Key Transaction Highlights

Creation of a significant Latin-American focused silver producer following acquisition of a robust portfolio of producing, exploration and mining infrastructure assets;

Initial upfront consideration of US$20 million, as adjusted pursuant to the purchase price adjustments under the SPA (the " Closing Cash Payment "), was determined to be US$12,011,148 and will be paid by Santacruz to Glencore within 30 days of closing and will be paid from working capital;

"), was determined to be US$12,011,148 and will be paid by Santacruz to Glencore within 30 days of closing and will be paid from working capital; Glencore agreed to provide the San Lucas business with a working capital facility in an amount up to US$10 million; and

For the 12 months ended December 31, 2021 the Assets (as defined below) produced approximately 10.0 million silver equivalent ounces (on 100 percent basis)(1).

As previously disclosed in the Company's press releases dated October 13, 2021 and November 15, 2021, the transaction involved the acquisition of, among other things, a 100% interest in the Sinchi Wayra business which includes the producing Caballo Blanco mining complex ("Caballo Blanco"), the Soracaya exploration project located in Bolivia and the San Lucas ore sourcing and trading business, a 45% interest in the producing Bolivar and Porco mining operations held through an unincorporated joint venture with Corporacion Minera de Bolivia, a Bolivian state-owned entity and certain related properties and assets (together, the "Assets").

The Company expects to cover the Closing Cash Payment using the Company's own cash flow. As a result, the Company is no longer required to complete a financing to fund such upfront consideration.

In addition to the Closing Cash Payment, an additional US$90 million that is secured against the Assets is payable to Glencore in equal installments over four years from the closing of the Transaction, subject to certain conditions and adjustments (the "Deferred Consideration"). Glencore also retains: (a) a 1.5% net smelter returns royalty on all assets other than the San Lucas business; (b) a 14% gross profit royalty on the San Lucas business. Glencore has the right to acquire 100% of the offtake from the Assets in accordance with offtake agreements entered into in connection with closing.

The Company has prepared technical reports in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects in respect of the Porco, Bolivar and Caballo Blanco mineral projects (the "Technical Reports") acquired from Glencore. The Technical Reports are now available on the Company's SEDAR profile. See the Company's news release dated October 13, 2021 for a description of the Porco, Bolivar and Caballo Blanco projects.

Further to the Company's news release dated October 12, 2021, the Company has paid US$320,000 and issued 3,077,317 common shares at a price of $0.41 per share to Big Buck Capital ("BBC") to settle US$1,000,000 in services provided pursuant to the terms of a consulting services agreement with BBC. The sole principal of BBC is Felipe Molina Bernal.

About Santacruz Silver Mining Ltd.

Santacruz is a Mexican-focused silver company with one producing silver project, the Zimapan Mine and two exploration properties, the La Pechuga property and Santa Gorgonia prospect. The Company is managed by a technical team of professionals with proven track records in developing, operating, and discovering silver mines. Our corporate objective is to become a mid-tier silver producer.

'signed'

Arturo Prestamo Elizondo,

Executive Chairman

For further information please contact:

Mars Investor Relations

Telephone: (778) 999 4653

scz@marsinvestorrelations.com

Arturo Prestamo Elizondo,

Santacruz Silver Mining Ltd.

Email: info@santacruzsilver.com

Telephone: (528) 183 785707

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.

Forward-looking information

Certain statements contained in this news release constitute "forward-looking information" as such term is used in applicable Canadian securities laws, including statements relating to: the expected benefits of the Transaction and the Company's plan to pay the Closing Cash Payment using the Company's own cash flow and payment of the Deferred Consideration.

Forward-looking information is based on plans, expectations and estimates of management at the date the information is provided and is subject to certain factors and assumptions. In making the forward-looking statements included in this news release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including that the Company's financial condition and development plans do not change as a result of unforeseen events and that future metal prices and the demand and market outlook for metals will remain stable or improve. Forward-looking information is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause plans, estimates and actual results to vary materially from those projected in such forward-looking information. Factors that could cause the forward-looking information in this news release to change or to be inaccurate include, but are not limited to: the risk that any of the assumptions referred to above prove not to be valid or reliable; market conditions and volatility and global economic conditions, including increased volatility and potentially negative capital raising conditions resulting from the continued or escalation of the COVID-19 pandemic and risks relating to the extent and duration of such pandemic and its impact on global markets; controls or regulations and political or economic developments in Bolivia; risk of delay and/or cessation in planned work or changes in the Company's financial condition and development plans; risks associated with the Company's plan to undertake certain post-closing reorganization steps in respect of the target entities; the uncertainty of the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits and the risk of unexpected variations in mineral resources, grade and/or recovery rates; risks related to gold, silver, base metal and other commodity price fluctuations; employee relations; relationships with and claims by local communities and indigenous populations; availability and increasing costs associated with mining inputs and labour; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, including the risks of obtaining necessary licenses and permits and the presence of laws and regulations that may impose restrictions on mining; risks relating to environmental regulation and liability; the possibility that results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations, as well as the other risks and uncertainties applicable to mineral exploration and development activities and to the Company as set forth in the Company's continuous disclosure filings filed under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com.

There can be no assurance that any forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, the reader should not place any undue reliance on forward-looking information or statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information or statements, other than as required by applicable law.

(1) Silver equivalent ounces produced for the past 12 months ended December 31, 2021 have been calculated using prices of US$24.07/oz, US$1.29/lb, US$0.98/lb for Silver, Zinc and Lead respectively applied to the metal content of the concentrates produced by the Assets.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/117473
The International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) published its Scorecard for Osteoporosis in Europe (SCOPE) 2021 which describes the epidemiology, burden, and treatment of osteoporosis in each of the 27 countries of the European Union plus Switzerland and the UK, which uncovers some disturbing findings:

1 in 3 women will suffer an osteoporotic fracture in their lifetime.

An unacceptable treatment gap exists where 71% of women eligible for osteoporosis therapy remain untreated, despite the high cost of fractures and the availability of affordable medications

Osteoporosis and the 4.3 million fragility fractures per year that it causes, cost the health care systems of Europe in excess of 56 billion each year based on data for 2019 only 3% is being spent on medical treatment.

By 2034 the number of fragility fractures is expected to increase by 25%.

Nearly a quarter of a million deaths occur each year in Europe as a direct consequence of hip or spine fractures.

Osteoporosis is not inevitable and can be treated. Women lose about 50% of their trabecular bone and 30% of their cortical bone during the course of their lifetime, about half of which is lost during the first 10 years after the menopause. The assessment of osteoporosis by screening of bone mineral density forms a cornerstone for proper management of osteoporosis.

The IOF call for a strategy across Europe alongside national strategies, to provide coordinated osteoporosis care (including the establishment of adequate provision of screening services) to help reduce the number of debilitating fragility fractures, that severely impact on individual lives, society, and the healthcare system.

In partnership with IOF and national osteoporosis societies, Theramex is committed to increasing the awareness of the burden of osteoporosis and working to directly address the unacceptable treatment gap across Europe on how women are informed, screened and treated for osteoporosis to improve patient outcomes. For more information you can read the full SCOPE report here.

About Theramex

Theramex is a leading global speciality pharmaceutical company dedicated to women and their health. We support women at every stage of their lives by providing a broad portfolio of innovative and established brands covering contraception, fertility, menopause and osteoporosis. Our commitment is to listen to and understand our patients, serve their needs and offer healthcare solutions to help improve their lives. Our vision is to be a lifetime partner for women and the healthcare professionals who treat them by providing patient-focused and effective solutions that care for and support women through every stage of life.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220321005530/en/

Contacts:

Jesus Lopez Associate Director, Communication Digital Jesus.Lopez@Theramex.com
- Ola Electric, India's leading manufacturer of electric vehicles, makes multi-million-dollar investment in StoreDot

- Ola Electric joins StoreDot's global strategic partners, including Daimler, BP, Samsung, TDK, EVE and VinFast

- Ola Electric to manufacture cells with StoreDot's extreme fast charging technology in India

- StoreDot is on track to mass produce silicon-dominant lithium-ion cells delivering 100 miles of range in five minutes of charging by 2024

- '100in5' battery cells currently in real-world testing by leading automotive manufacturers

HERZELIYA, Israel, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- StoreDot, the pioneer of extreme fast charging - XFC -technologies for electric vehicles, has secured a multi-million-dollar investment from Ola Electric, India's leading EV manufacturer with a mission to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable mobility. Ola Electric is planning to incorporate and manufacture StoreDot's fast charging battery technologies for future vehicles in India.

The new funding comes as part of StoreDot's Series D investment round. It will be used for research and development and to accelerate the scaling up to mass production its silicon-dominant anode XFC lithium-ion cells, which will be initially capable of delivering 100 miles of range in 5 minutes of charge by 2024.

Headquartered in Bengaluru, India, Ola Electric is ramping up its investments in core R&D in advanced cell chemistry and manufacturing, as well as cutting edge battery technologies and new energy systems. It recently announced a $100 million investment to set up Ola Futurefoundry, its global center for advanced engineering and vehicle design, in the UK where it will work on its future range of electric vehicles including both four and two-wheelers, in collaboration with its Bengaluru center.

Dr Doron Myersdorf, StoreDot CEO "We are extremely excited to be entering into this strategic partnership with Ola. Both companies are committed to delivering a zero-emissions world, breathing clean air in our cities and ensuring that EV drivers never have to worry about charging times and range anxiety. Ola Electric's plans to bring StoreDot's extreme fast charging battery technology to India and manufacture our XFC cells for its EVs, will offer Indian consumers longer range and vastly superior charging speed performance. We continue to focus on offering our customers a clear, hype-free technology roadmap that extends far into the future while delivering 100 miles of range in just a 2-minute charge, within a decade."

Bhavish Aggarwal, Founder and CEO, Ola, said: "We are committed to Mission Electric and to accelerate the world's transition to electric mobility, our ambition is to build a complete ecosystem for EVs here in India. The future of EVs lies in better, faster and high energy density batteries, capable of rapid charging and delivering higher range. We are increasing our investments in core cell and battery technologies and ramping up our in-house capabilities and global talent hiring, as well as partnering with global companies doing cutting edge work in this field. Our partnership with StoreDot, a pioneer of extreme fast charging battery technologies, is of strategic importance and a first of many."

Ola is joining a wide range of high-profile investors and partners in StoreDot - a roster that now includes Daimler, VinFast, BP, Samsung, TDK, and EVE Energy. The company is also working closely with major automotive manufacturers on next-generation electric vehicles and architectures, currently conducting real-world tests with the silicon-dominant-anode advanced '100in5' cell samples. StoreDot's ground-breaking XFC cells will be available in both pouch and the 4680-family form factor - the formats increasingly favored by global car manufacturers.

About StoreDot

StoreDot is a pioneer and leader of extreme fast charging (XFC) batteries that overcome the critical barrier to mainstream EV adoption - range and charging anxiety. The company has revolutionized the conventional Li-ion battery by designing and synthesizing proprietary organic and inorganic compounds, making it possible to charge an EV in just five minutes - the same time it takes to refuel a conventional combustion engine vehicle. Through its '100inX' strategic roadmap, StoreDot's battery technology is optimized for best driver experience with XFC in Li-ion batteries, as well as future technologies for extreme energy-density (XED). StoreDot's strategic investors and partners include VinFast, BP, Daimler, Ola Electric, Samsung, TDK and EVE Energy. In 2019, the company achieved a world first by demonstrating the live full charge of a two-wheeled EV in just five minutes. In 2020, the company demonstrated the scalability of its XFC batteries and is on target for Electric Vehicle battery production at scale by 2024. For more information see: www.store-dot.com.

About Ola

Ola is India's largest mobility platform and one of the world's largest ride-hailing companies. Ola revolutionised urban mobility by making it available on-demand for over a billion people across 3 continents. Today, Ola continues to move the world to sustainable mobility through its ride-hailing platform as well as through advanced electric vehicles manufactured at its Futurefactory, the largest, most advanced, and sustainable two-wheeler factory in the world. Ola is dedicated to transitioning the world to sustainable mobility and making the world better than we found it.
- Vestiaire Collective is the leading, B Corp certified, global app for desirable pre-loved fashion with over 15 million global members and 3 million items from over 80 countries.

- 'Long Live Fashion', the newly created rousing banner under which a passion for fashion and a future-friendly mindset will coexist, builds on the brand's well-established values of taste and trust.

- Five puppets, all style icons made from recycled clothing, represent the Collective and embody the various reasons why pre-loved is the indisputable future of sustainable fashion.

PARIS, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- "Long Live Fashion!" - Vestiaire Collective, the world's most tasteful and trusted fashion resale community, issues a new brand identity to inspire a step-change in the fashion industry, and reflect the way fashion lovers can - and are - recalibrating for a more conscious future.

The campaign will be fronted by "The Collective": five style icon puppets created from pre-loved clothing, each one offering a compelling reason as to why pre-loved is better and presented by the inimitable French fashion filmmaker, Loic Prigent. Miss Classique is chic, polished and in love with authentic, timeless pieces from fashion's front row brands. Lady Green: more B Corp than bodycon, she knows fashion's future is circular. Hunter has patience, knows vintage inside out, and that the hunt is as thrilling as the find. Rich knows his wardrobe has business potential. They say you can't put a price on style but he also knows you can. Drops is always the first in line for the next collab, with nothing de trop for this logo queen.

By creating these stylish sewn stars, Vestiaire Collective showcases the diversity of its community, showing that it is possible to love fashion and the planet, and that there is a better way to shop. With this campaign, Vestiaire Collective doubles down on its ambition, now over ten years old, to transform the fashion industry for a more sustainable future.

Not only does Vestiaire Collective's new philosophy, "Long Live Fashion" express a need to take action as it calls upon its collective to gather together for the cause of fashion, it does so in a way that puts an end to the industry taking itself (overly?) seriously. In the very modern spirit of anything goes, it reminds us that fashion is synonymous with freedom, and that it has always been about breaking the rules.

To bring the campaign to life, Vestiaire Collective, has collaborated with an international group of creatives: the multi-award-winning creative and strategic advertising agency Droga5 London, and the fashion world's 'oh so French' director, documentarian and presenter, Loic Prigent. Loic plays a key role as he introduces each puppet and also takes over Vestiaire Collective's digital channels and his own social media accounts for the launch. Droga5 London and Vestiaire Collective partnered with Swedish film director Andreas Nilsson, while British-Ghanaian photographer Campbell Addy lensed the outdoor, print and social campaign.

"Since the inception of Vestiaire Collective, we have always been driven by a desire to break the rules and offer our global community another point of view on fashion. It is part of our DNA to challenge the status quo and rethink the way people consume fashion for now and for a better future. Today, we want to celebrate our global community of committed fashion lovers as they help transform the fashion industry for a more sustainable future" - Fanny Moizant, co-founder and President at Vestiaire Collective

"Long Live Fashion" is at the heart of everything we do. It is a rallying cry for all of us who live for fashion, but also want to take care of it for life. It's an innovative, disruptive, creative approach to raise awareness of our mission. Our goal is to engage with our global community and collectively make a positive impact. " - Vanessa Masliah, Vice President Marketing & Branding at Vestiaire Collective

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT

Francesco Girone / +33 6 74 92 13 48 / francesco.girone@vestiairecollective.com

Kerry Francis / A.I. / +44 207 739 9990 / kerry@aipr.co.uk

Video - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1770312/Vestiaire_Collective_En.mp4

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1770169/Vestiaire_Collective_Logo.jpg
Boundless Adventures, New York's favorite aerial adventure park, is kicking off the 2022 season with a fundraiser to provide much needed medical support in Ukraine, and elsewhere, through a charitable donation to Medecins Sans Frontieres Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

Opening for the 2022 season on Saturday, March 26, Boundless Adventures sits on five acres of pristine wooded property on the campus of Purchase College in Westchester County and offers an experience like no other in New York. Boundless Adventures consists of 11 different courses, which allow people of all ages to challenge themselves and push their boundaries as they swing, balance, traverse, and zip-line through the treetops.

The fundraiser will take place on Friday, April 2nd, between 6 pm and 11 pm. Tickets can be purchased for $50, and all proceeds will be donated to MSF. The park will be decorated with blue and yellow lights and Ukrainian music will be played for the enjoyment of all in attendance.

"The mission of Boundless Adventures is to provide a way for guests to feel boundless and see that there are no limits to what they can accomplish," said Lorrie Funtleyder, co-owner. "The Ukrainians have proven that they are already boundless. They will not succumb to tyranny, and they will fight for their freedom. Boundless Adventures is committed to supporting the Ukrainian people by providing financial assistance to improve access to healthcare during this difficult time."

MSF staff are on the ground in Ukraine assessing humanitarian needs, delivering urgent medical supplies, and providing training to hospitals on how to manage mass casualty incidents. Teams are preparing for a range of scenarios, experienced MSF emergency and specialist medical staff are entering Ukraine, and more will continue to arrive to support colleagues already working in the country.

Boundless Adventures is an eco-friendly park and the methods used to attach the different obstacles to the trees was developed with longevity and growth in mind. The design allows for minimum impact to the trees and allows for years of unrestricted future growth. We pride ourselves on accessibility and inclusivity.

Website: www.boundlessadventures.net

2022 Season Opening and Spring Break Hours:

March 26 June 17

Fridays 3pm-8pm

Saturdays Sundays 9am-8pm

April 11-15 9am-8pm Spring Break

Address:

Boundless Adventures

Purchase College

735 Anderson Hill Road

Purchase, NY

About Boundless Adventures

Boundless Adventures is a family-owned chain of aerial adventure parks located in New York, Massachusetts, and Wisconsin. Our mission is to empower and inspire people of all ages to challenge themselves both mentally and physically. Boundless Adventures Aerial Parks help build self-confidence and develop a sense of achievement.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220321005641/en/

Contacts:

Media

Brian Funtleyder: brian@boundlessadventures.net 914-305-2403
OSLO, Norway, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Nel Hydrogen Fueling, a subsidiary of Nel ASA (Nel, OSE: NEL) has received a purchase order from HysetCo for several H2StationTM modules to be used for light-duty fuel cell electric vehicles in Paris, France.

"We are delighted to announce that we have been chosen as supplier for hydrogen fueling station equipment by HysetCo and are looking forward to support HysetCo's efforts in developing the hydrogen mobility infrastructure in France", says Martin Pfandl, Sales and Business Development Director EMEA at Nel Hydrogen Fueling.

HysetCo is a pioneer of the hydrogen mobility devoted to the development of hydrogen refueling stations network, which owns the world's largest fleet of hydrogen taxis, deployed in the Paris region.

The installation of the H2StationTM modules at the future HysetCo station of Le Bourget is partly funded with the support of the public-private partnership of FCH JU (Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking) and is scheduled to be operational in 2022.

The parties have agreed not to disclose the contract value.

ENDS

For further information, please contact:

Kjell Christian Bjrnsen, CFO, +47 917 02?097

Wilhelm Finder, Head of IR, +47 936 11 350

About Nel ASA | www.nelhydrogen.com

Nel is a global, dedicated hydrogen company, delivering optimal solutions to produce, store, and distribute hydrogen from renewable energy. We serve industries, energy, and gas companies with leading hydrogen technology. Our roots date back to 1927, and since then, we have had a proud history of development and continuous improvement of hydrogen technologies. Today, our solutions cover the entire value chain: from hydrogen production technologies to hydrogen fueling stations, enabling industries to transition to green hydrogen, and providing fuel cell electric vehicles with the same fast fueling and long range as fossil-fueled vehicles - without the emissions.

This information is subject to a duty of disclosure pursuant to Section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

This information was issued as inside information pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation, and was published by Wilhelm Finder, Head of Investor Relations, at NEL ASA on the date and time provided.

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/nel-asa/r/nel-asa--receives-purchase-order-for-several-h2station-modules-in-france,c3529189

The following files are available for download:
XIAMEN, China, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Yealink (SZ. 300628), a leading global unified communications (UC) solution provider, has officially unveiled its new Yealink MeetingBoard 65 and DeskVision A24, two collaboration solutions for Microsoft Teams. The announcements were made on March 21 at Enterprise Connect, a leading enterprise exhibition and conference held in Orlando, FL, and online.

In the wake of COVID-19, more organizations are seeking premium video conferencing and collaboration devices for the hybrid workplace. 72% of US executives say they plan to invest in hybrid working tools in the future[1]. Companies are actively looking to equip their spaces with the right tools to meet the hybrid workspace demands. And Yealink's latest communications solutions help bridge the gap between whiteboard collaboration and video conferencing and deliver people-centric meeting experiences empowering meeting spaces with more capabilities.

"Meet the future, meet better communication and collaboration. We hope to see that Yealink collaboration display solutions bring people together, and empower every customer with the more ways to collaborate." said Alvin Liao, Vice President of Product at Yealink.

Yealink MeetingBoard 65: a compact design for the modern workplace

Unlike traditional meeting scenarios that involve a physical whiteboard, modern workplaces require collaboration tools that can be used by those attending in-person and from remote locations. The Yealink MeetingBoard Collaboration Display Solution for the hybrid workplace effectively facilitates powerful digital collaboration by combining high-quality hardware with Microsoft Teams Rooms.

Yealink's innovative MeetingBoard integrates everything in the room, from the computing unit to a wide 65-inch touchscreen display, 4K camera, microphones arrays and speakers. By simply connecting the power cable and joining a Wi-Fi network, users can quickly and easily enjoy video conferencing and whiteboard collaborating. IT Admins can manage the devices remotely through the Teams Admin Center for those devices deployed at home or in the office.

Enabling digital collaboration with an intelligent whiteboarding service

Integrating Microsoft Whiteboard in the Microsoft Teams Room, Yealink MeetingBoard has transformed the physical whiteboard into a digital space for seamless real-time collaboration during brainstorming, project planning or problem solving. Thanks to features such as digital inking, collaborative diagrams, and other rich content, Yealink MeetingBoard helps boost creativity and productivity compared to other paper-based materials or meeting minutes.

[1] Partially adapted from United States executives plan investments to support hybrid work 2021, by category. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1211576/executives-plan-support-hybrid-work/

Delivering a premium audio and video experience

Yealink MeetingBoard ensures high-quality and seamless Teams meetings with crisp audio and video quality. The built-in 16 MEMS beamforming microphones and six speakers provide an HD full-duplex audio experience suitable for mid-size meeting rooms, while the 4K camera and powerful encoding and decoding capabilities realize truly smooth and stable HD video conferencing.

What's more, MeetingBoard harnesses AI to deliver exceptional audio and visual experiences. The Yealink display solution is equipped with an independent built-in audio processing unit and the latest generation of Yealink's AI-based noise-proofing technology, which ensures voice clarity in open spaces. The camera also features Auto Framing and Speaker Tracking.

Unparalleled flexibility for different workplace scenarios

Yealink MeetingBoard meets the needs of video collaboration in a variety of workplace scenarios, from huddle spaces and executive offices to smaller meeting rooms. In addition, Yealink's extended device solutions offer more possibilities for larger workspaces: by plugging in the extended 6X/12X optical PTZ camera module, connecting the wireless microphones and hooking up the extended touch display for dual-screen application, users can upgrade the MeetingBoard with multi-angle video capture and exceptional voice pickup.

Yealink DeskVision A24: a dual-mode display for the future workspace

Alongside the MeetingBoard, Yealink has announced the DeskVision A24, a next generation larger screen Teams Display for offices, co-working spaces and huddle rooms. With a superior audio and video experience and enriched Teams display features, Yealink's dual-mode display solution doubles as a daily monitor and a native Teams Display. The DeskVision A24 also works as a UC workstation with a USB Hub and Qi charging.

"Yealink consistently keeps expanding their portfolio with powerful Teams devices," said Albert Kooiman, senior director, Microsoft Teams Devices Partner Engineering and Certification at Microsoft, "These devices will offer sought after hybrid workplace collaboration experiences, delivering a great meeting experience combining quality Teams audio, video, and touch and inking, that can all be easily deployed across personal, hot desking and meeting rooms scenarios."

Yealink will showcase its full portfolio of solutions for Microsoft Teams at the Enterprise Connect on-site and virtual event. Learn more about Yealink's collaboration display solutions by visiting the virtual announcement here or register to join Yealink live at Enterprise Connect here.

Yealink MeetingBoard 65 is expected to be generally available June 2022, and the Yealink DeskVision A24 August 2022. Both of products will be globally available.

Contacts:

ucinfo@yealink.com

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1768482/image_1.jpg
Creating An Optimal Learning Environment with Better Wellness and Safety

BREA, Calif., March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ViewSonic Corp., a leading global provider of visual solutions, has partnered with the Smestow Academy in Wolverhampton, England, as the first school in the UK to deploy the AI-powered myViewBoard Sens analysis tool in the classroom. Through the real-time insights generated by the intelligent sensor, the school can ensure the classroom follows the wellness compliance, increase students' engagement, and facilitate a safe and active learning environment for the best possible learning outcome.

"In the last few years, we had looked for a total Edtech solution to improve the overall learning experience of our students. In 2021, we started working with ViewSonic to implement over 100 ViewBoard interactive displays in our classrooms. Harnessing the power of myViewBoard Sens is our latest step in this journey," said Jonathan Stokes, Assistant Headteacher, Smestow Academy. "myViewBoard Sens offers students and teachers reassurance of a safe and engaging learning environment so we can deliver the best education possible. It is an exciting piece of EdTech innovation that we are proud to be trialing and rolling out in our classrooms."

"ViewSonic is passionate about providing comprehensive educational technology solutions for schools to drive better learning outcomes and attainments," said Peter Claxton, Senior Director of EdTech Solutions, ViewSonic. "We are incredibly pleased to be working with Smestow Academy to implement myViewBoard Sens in a real-world setting, helping the schools to adapt to the new era, and creating a highly engaged and safe learning environment. Through this pioneering project, we plan to introduce this next-gen technology to more schools around the world, opening up new learning opportunities for students, teachers, and schools."

In this project, myViewBoard Sens was installed on the ViewBoard, which sits at the front of a classroom, to analyze the wellness compliance of the indoor space. The school and teachers can get an instant view of the status through a dashboard app. The embedded sensor detects and evaluates the airborne transmission risk according to five indicators - temperature, humidity, occupancy rate, audience masked, and close contacts between students. If the rating of wellness compliance decreases, it means the wellness level is at risk and the myViewBoard Sens would suggest actionable insights on the dashboard in real-time for the school and teachers to take action. This makes sure the social distancing in the classroom follows the government's protocol, reducing the risk of virus growth.

From the dashboard, the teachers can also get insights into student engagement at a group level to foster an active learning environment. From sensing the room's temperature, color temperature, ambient lighting, to analyzing students' attentiveness through articulated human pose estimation, the insights indicate the factors that may affect students' focus. Teachers can look back and see how students responded to the class and make changes to their lesson plans or teaching approaches if necessary. Moreover, all data are generated and processed within the sensor locally without using individual profiles and without relying on the cloud, ensuring the highest levels of security and anonymity.

As a future-proof education solution, myViewBoard Sens helps the school evolve with the changing world and helps educators achieve the best educational outcomes in an optimal learning space. Moving forward, ViewSonic will continue to work with Smestow Academy to gather more feedback on the use of technology and explore more possibilities to provide greater benefits in education.



On March 23, day 1 of BETT Show 2022, Peter Claxton, Senior Director of EdTech Solutions, ViewSonic will deliver a keynote speech - The Art of the Possible (Innovation and AI) at 4pm, and on March 24, day 2 of BETT Show, Peter will host the EdTech Talk with the Smestow Academy at 3pm.

ViewSonic at BETT 2022

When

Wednesday 23rd March: 10:00am-6:00pm

Thursday 24th March: 10:00am-8:00pm

Friday 25th March: 10:00am-5:00pm

Where

ExCeL London, South Hall, Booth SF40

To find more information, please visit https://www.viewsonic.com/uk/bett2022.

About Smestow Academy

Located in Wolverhampton, the Smestow Academy is part of the University of Wolverhampton Multi-Academy Trust. Through the school's curriculum, they aim to build people through the development of key skills, knowledge and understanding. This intent to provide an excellent education for all students is rooted in a desire to bring out the best in every student and prepare them for success in life.

About ViewSonic

Founded in California, ViewSonic is a leading global provider of visual solutions and conducts business in over 100 countries worldwide. As an innovator and visionary, ViewSonic is committed to providing comprehensive hardware and software solutions that include monitors, projectors, pen displays, commercial displays, All-in-One LED displays, ViewBoard interactive displays, and myViewBoard software ecosystem. With over 35 years of expertise in visual displays, ViewSonic has established a strong position for delivering innovative and reliable solutions for education, enterprise, consumer, and professional markets and helping customers "See the Difference." To find out more about ViewSonic, please visit www.viewsonic.com .

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1587181/Logo.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1769982/ViewSonic_myViewBoard.jpg
In the early 90s, Elaine Pivinski desperately needed workers to help with production at her growing winery on Franklin Hill Road in Lower Mount Bethel Township.

She knew where to turn to find the hardest-working people: Moms waiting on the side of the road for the school buses to drop off their kids.

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Pivinski, a divorced mom of two, gave her female workers the flexibility to work while the kids were in school. Family was always first.

Pivinski, one of the most well-known female business owners in the Lehigh Valley and the operator of the Valleys first and oldest winery, built her business on the idea that every woman, including herself, has a story.

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Weve come a long away, said the Franklin Hill Vineyards owner and founder.

Four decades of wine, made by women

Pivinski, 74, never knew when she was growing up that she would become one of the Valleys top business people.

I wanted to be a mother and a wife, she said. My mom never pushed me to be anything.

She married Charles Flatt and the couple purchased a 35-acre farm just outside Bangor in 1975. Pivinski started doing some research.

While they had considered planting apple trees, Pivinski learned that Cornell University was experimenting with French American grape hybrids. At that time, she decided to start the vineyard.

In 81, Pivinski brought on a friend to help with the business  Bonnie Pysher, who later became Franklin Hills winemaker. Like Pivinski, Pysher didnt start out intending to be a winemaker. Pysher, who at the time had 3-year-old twins, was looking for something to do to get her out of the house and have some much-needed adult interaction.

Despite her lack of any professional experience, Pysher had something you really need to be a winemaker: The ability to tinker and assemble things until they work together.

She could fix cars and machines. So, the jump to making wine wasnt so far a leap. Wine is all about putting together the right pieces.

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She also had Pivinski who allowed her to dabble without micromanaging. Now, four decades later, Pysher sits every day at a desk in a temperature-controlled, 55-degree room near all the wine shes creating. Just above her desk are a few of the medals her wines have won.

Franklin Hills wines win awards over and over, all year long, at competitions across the country. Just recently Franklin Hill Vineyards Vidal Blanc earned a gold medal in the white hybrid varietals category at the prestigious L.A., Invitational Wine & Spirits Challenge.

For Pysher, shes stuck by her friend and Franklin Hill all this time because Pivinski just lets her shine.

Its a great environment to work in, said Pysher, who lives less than two miles away.

It was in 1987 that Pivinskis life  and the vineyards  took a defining turn. Her marriage had ended and the business became a two-woman operation.

She admits she was nervous going out on her own with the winery, but she had the self-confidence that got her through.

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And a plan B.

You always have to have a fallback, Pivinski said. My dad lived in the Poconos and I knew we could move up there.

Elaine Pivinski, founder and owner of Franklin Hill Winery, and Chief winemaker Bonnie Pysher hug during a tour Tuesday, March 15, 2022, in Bangor. Pivinski is one of the first women to run her own winery, and seeks to empower other women. Franklin Hill, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary, is the oldest winery in the Valley. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)

The two women kept at it and just as it all seemed too impossible, their wines earned three medals, one of them gold, at a Penn State winemaking competition in 1989. Thats when they kicked the winery into high gear.

They built a growing business staffed by mostly women and mostly moms, who worked in a supportive and flexible environment.

It wasnt until 2006 and nine years of negotiations till she could buy out her ex-husband, whose name was still on the winery. She finally could call the winery hers.

Keeps on growing

In 2013, a change in state law opened the door to a new side of her business, one that would be led by her son, Adam Flatt. He started Social Still in South Bethlehem, offering small-batch, ultra-premium spirits.

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Another big change came soon after: Wine could finally be sold in supermarkets. Wegmans was the first to carry Franklin Hill wines and now her wines top the list of bestsellers. She quickly added Giant, Redners and Weis locations, as well as state stores, ShopRite and Turkey Hill, to her growing list of retail customers. And theres more big-box retail on the horizon.

Its so much growth in her business that Pivinski cant ship her wine in a van anymore. She bought herself a Mack truck.

Elaine Pivinski, founder and owner of Franklin Hill Winery, holding keys to a purchased Mack truck. Photo courtesy of Franklin Hill Winery (Photo courtesy of Franklin Hill Winery/The Morning Call)

They have also outgrown their space on Franklin Hill Road. Pivinski bought a property in Plainfield Township and plans to develop it into a bottling and distribution center as well as a restaurant and event space.

Theres a room in her winery that puts that 40-year trajectory of growth in perspective. On an old metal shelf is a contraption she and Pysher used back in the day to hand bottle their wines.

We could do like 75 cases over two days, Pivinski said.

In that same room is a new bottling machine that does 2,300 to 2,400 bottles an hour. In 24 minutes the machine can produce 64 cases.

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Creating a path for others

Today, despite the seemingly better environment, women are still the minority when it comes to owning a business in Pennsylvania. According to the U.S. Small Business Administrations 2021 Pennsylvania Profile, 39.4% of businesses are owned by women. Nationally 48.4% of businesses are owned by women.

Pivinski is a female pioneer in the Valley because of her strength, her compassion and her ability to connect with people, said Tony Ianelli, CEO and president of the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce.

Her impact has been as great, in my opinion, as any woman before her in the Valley, Ianelli said. When she started her march to the top it was a time when not as many doors were open. It was a tougher climb. You needed a strength of character and a tenacity and she has that along with a personality thats really relatable.

Despite four decades of unpredictable weather (including tropical storms, hail, surprise frosts and soggy summers) and a never-ending pandemic, Franklin Hill Vineyards will mark its 40th anniversary this year.

Im still here, Pivinski said of her business. And not only that but Im growing.

Pivinski plans to throw a big party this June with the release of a special wine  a final vintage from her DeChaunac vines.

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It is delicious, Pivinski said of the wine, the name of which will be unveiled at the party.

The secret to her business longevity and success: She always believed in herself and those around her.

I needed to prove myself after my separation and divorce, Pivinski said. I knew I could make it because I had self-worth. You have to know how to present yourself. I have a lot of compassion and intuition on what it takes.

Pivinski told a story about a customer who had stopped by the winery once for a tasting.

I see my staff who were all annoyed with this customer that had come in and nothing could make her happy, Pivinski said.

Pivinski didnt take any of it personally. She instead took the woman to the production area to show her how the wines are made.

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All of a sudden  and you could tell her aura was not happy  she said you just made me feel like I matter, Pivinski said.

The woman, who was a teacher in NYC, had had a bandage on her arm from where she hurt and was out on disability.

She said you were nice to me and Ill never forget that, Pivinski said. You dont know what people are going through.

Every woman has a story.
NEWARK, N.J., March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- As per the report published by The Brainy Insights, The Global Structural Biology and Molecular Modeling Market is expected to grow from USD 6.11 Billion in 2020 to USD 21.26 Billion by 2028, at a CAGR of 13.56% during the forecast period 2021-2028.

The increasing occurrence of chronic diseases is one of the factors fuelling the Structural Biology and Molecular Modeling Market.

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Structural biology studies the molecular structure of biological macromolecules like proteins and nucleic acids, giving a critical insight into biological reactions which fuel life. Advancements in technologies, virtual reality, and software can transform this drug discovery field. Structural biologists mainly focus on protein because of its central role in the body. They study the functionality of the molecules and how they react to give a new life. All the drug designing companies are focusing on modeling projects to understand the structure of newly made drugs so that they can go for biding. The unhealthy lifestyle of people these days leads to increased cases of chronic disease. The increase in the geriatric population in developed countries also increases the cases of chronic diseases like diabetes, cancer, etc. This structural biology and molecular modeling is beneficial in the medicinal and healthcare sector as it helps find remedies for several diseases. The increase in investment in R&D by the pharmaceuticals company would drive this market as this can come up with the fruitful discovery that could give solution to many incurable diseases. The outbreak of a new disease like coronavirus and Ebola etc., would also drive this market in the future.

Thou, the government, is working hard and encouraging the research and pharmaceuticals company to improve the quality of medicines. However, also they are imposing stringent regulations to control the research and pharmaceuticals company, to make them follow the guidelines so that in improving and coming up with the better quality and outcome they do not hamper other things.

Browse the full report with Table of Contents and List of Figures: https://www.thebrainyinsights.com/report/structural-biology-and-molecular-modeling-market-12549

Key players operating in the global structural biology and molecular modeling market include AlDassaultSystemes, Agile Molecule, Accellera Ltd., Bioinformatic LLC, Affymetrix, Agilent Technologies, Inc., Illumina, BrukerDaltonics Inc., Biomax Informatics AG, Chemical Computing Group, CLC bio, and Roche, among others.

The key players are now concentrating on implementing strategies such as adopting new technology, mergers & acquisitions, product innovations, joint venture, alliances, and partnerships to improve their market position in the global structural biology and molecular modeling industry. For instance, in December 2019 , Roche made a merger agreement with Spark Therapeutics Inc. This merger agreement had strengthened the company's presence in the field of gene therapy.

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SaaS and standalone modeling segment is dominating the market with the highest market value of USD 2.47 Billion in 2020

Tools segment include SaaS and standalone modeling, visualization and analysis, databases, and others. The SaaS and standalone modeling segment held a substantial market value of over USD 2.47 Billion in 2020. This is because much-advanced software has come up to study and analyze the structure of the molecules.

The drug development segment is dominating the market with the highest market value of USD 2.98 Billion in 2020

The application segment includes drug discovery, drug development, and others. The drug development segment accounted for the highest market value of USD 2.98 Billion in 2020. It is due to the increase in investment in R&D to come up with new solutions for the illness and the outbreak of new diseases.

Regional Segment Analysis of the Structural Biology and Molecular Modeling Market

North America (U.S., Canada , Mexico )

(U.S., , ) Europe ( Germany , France , U.K., Italy , Spain , Rest of Europe )

( , , U.K., , , Rest of ) Asia-Pacific ( China , Japan , India , Rest of APAC)

( , , , Rest of APAC) South America ( Brazil and Rest of South America )

( and Rest of ) Middle East and Africa (UAE, South Africa , Rest of MEA)

North America region is the leading segment because it has the most advanced and better infrastructure. In North America, many big pharmaceutical companies are investing in R&D to develop a better solution to cure the illness. Also, the big players are collaborating among themselves to heighten the R&D capabilities to create a better solution for the diseases that will drive this market in this region. Asia Pacific is anticipated to have an exponential CAGR as the government in the developing countries of this region gives favorable initiatives to the pharmaceutical companies for the R&D. In India and China, the government is focusing on the betterment of healthcare infrastructure. Also, the increasing disposable income of the people in a country like China and India has led them to change their lifestyles. Most of them live an unhealthy lifestyle because of the long hours of working routine and unhealthy eating habits, which has increased the cases of many chronic diseases. This fuels the growth of the Structural Biology and Molecular Modeling Market.

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About the report:

The global structural biology and molecular modeling market is analyzed on the basis of value (USD Billion). All the segments have been analyzed on a global, regional, and country basis. The study includes the analysis of more than 30 countries for each segment. The report offers an in-depth analysis of driving factors, opportunities, restraints, and challenges for gaining key insight into the market. The study includes porter's five forces model, attractiveness analysis, raw material analysis, supply, demand analysis, competitor position grid analysis, distribution, and marketing channels analysis.

Avail access to The Brainy Insights and our exceptional market research database.

About The Brainy Insights:

The Brainy Insights is a market research company aimed at providing actionable insights through data analytics to companies to improve their business acumen. We have a robust forecasting and estimation model to meet the clients' objectives of high-quality output within a short span of time. We provide both customized (clients' specific) and syndicate reports. Our repository of syndicate reports is diverse across all the categories and sub-categories across domains. Our customized solutions are tailored to meet the clients' requirements whether they are looking to expand or planning to launch a new product in the global market.

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Founder Robin Voet steps down after almost 28 years

MOERDIJK, Netherlands, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Base Logistics Group, the logistics service provider based in Moerdijk, Netherlands, has a new CEO. On 7 March, founder Robin Voet transferred his duties to Michiel van den Bovenkamp, who had previously been Operational Director. Voet established Base Logistics in 1994 and in 2016 started the Base Logistics Group, which, in addition to Base Logistics, now also includes the companies HealthLink and SLS. The group has a workforce of approximately 550 employees and an annual turnover of 135 million euros.

Looking back

In an internal message announcing his forthcoming retirement, outgoing CEO Robin Voet says the company has always been an important and defining part of his life. Voet looks back with great pleasure and satisfaction on the time since its foundation: "What started with an idea for a logistics concept has developed into a great organisation with an international team of committed colleagues. Thanks to their dedication and professionalism, Base Logistics Group has become what it is today and I am very proud of that."

Succession

The new CEO, Michiel van den Bovenkamp, joined Base Logistics almost 22 years ago. He says he is very much looking forward to his new role: "I am privileged to follow in the footsteps of the man who was there at the start of the organisation that has become the successful Base Logistics Group." Voet says he has every confidence in his successor: "Michiel has grown with the organisation over the years and we have worked closely together all that time. I am convinced that he is the right person to take the organisation forward, because he has the 'Base Logistics Group DNA' and knows the company like no other." Robin Voet will remain involved with the organisation in the background as an advisor.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 21, 2022 / The Power Play by The Market Herald has announced the release of new interviews with Argentina Lithium and Givex Information Technology Group on their latest news.

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.

Argentina Lithium (TSXV:LIT) closes option agreement for Rincon West and Pocitos properties

Argentina Lithium & Energy (LIT) has closed the previously announced Exploration and Purchase Option Agreement to acquire the Rincon West and Pocitos properties. Terms of the option include the issuance of 750,000 shares on signing, $500,000 worth of shares over a 12-month period and cash payments totalling US$4,200,000 over 36 months. The company has issued 750,000 common shares and made a cash payment of US$150,000. Miles Rideout, VP of Exploration at Argentina Lithium, sat down with Shoran Devi to discuss the acquisition.

For the full interview with Miles Rideout and to learn more about Argentina Lithium's news, click here.

Givex Information Technology Group (TSX:GIVX) begins trading on the OTCQX Best Market (OTCQX: GIVXF)

Givex Information Technology Group Limited (GIVX) has begun trading on the OTCQX Best Market under the symbol GIVXF. The uplisting provides Givex with greater visibility to U.S. institutional and retail investors. Don Gray, CEO of Givex sat down with Shoran Devi to discuss the news.

For the full interview with Don Gray and to learn more about Givex's news, 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.

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Groupe Gorge has taken major steps in the strategic refocusing and simplification of its activities in 2021. Following the distribution of most of its Prodways Group shares to its shareholders, Groupe Gorge today announces plans to withdraw from its technical doors activity for the nuclear sector. The company's transformation will continue in 2022 with the acquisition of iXblue in order to create a French technological champion. These operations, combined with the strong growth in the results of the Drones & Systems division, are transforming the company's profitability profile

Further important steps in the strategic refocusing

Distribution of most of the stake in Prodways Group at the end of 2021;

at the end of 2021; Project to withdraw from the technical doors business for the nuclear sector (subsidiary Baumert), now classified as "discontinued operations";

(subsidiary Baumert), now classified as "discontinued operations"; Combination of ECA and iXblue, scheduled for 2022, to create a world-class player in advanced technologies for critical applications.

A transformed profitability profile

Organic revenue growth of +21% compared to 2020;

compared to 2020; Current EBITDA margin of 17%, up +7 pts compared to 2020 in the former scope;

up +7 pts compared to 2020 in the former scope; Net income of 46 million, largely driven by the capital gain recognized on the Prodways Group shares.

Drones & Systems: a growth driver

Ramp-up in revenues : +20% in 2021

: +20% in 2021 Strong growth in current EBITDA of +49%, reflecting a margin of 21%.

An improved extra-financial performance

Gaia rating: Groupe Gorge ranks 12th in its category thanks to a + 8 points improvement in its rating, with progress in all areas.

Major progress in strategic refocusing

Initiated in 2018, the strategy of refocusing the Group's activities began with the disposal of certain subsidiaries in the Engineering & Protection Systems division positioned in highly cyclical sectors (automotive, Oil & Gas): sale of AI Group in 2018, followed by CIMLEC in 2019 and Van Dam in 2020. An important step in this refocusing was then taken in 2020 with the reinforcement in the Drones & Systems division, thanks to the merger with ECA, which is now owned at 100% by Groupe Gorge.

The simplification of the group continued in 2021 with the achievement of new milestones.





Groupe Gorge distributes most of its Prodways Group shares to its shareholders

In December 2021, Groupe Gorge distributed most of its shares in Prodways Group, a leading player in 3D printing, to its shareholders, representing 50.6% of the capital of its subsidiary. Prodways Group is now deconsolidated and classified as "discontinued operations". This operation has enabled Groupe Gorge to take a major step forward in its simplification, and the company now benefits from increased lisibility and a better profile on the stock markets.

In addition, the transaction generated a 44 million capital gain, which is recorded in net income for the year 2021.





Withdrawal from the technical doors business for the nuclear sector

Groupe Gorge announces today that it plans to withdraw from the manufacturing and installation of technical doors for the nuclear sector, carried out by its subsidiary Baumert. This new step in the simplification process is in line with the company's strategy of withdrawing from less technology-intensive activities in order to strengthen its position in high-tech markets. This division achieves virtually no synergies with the group's other activities and has been experiencing difficulties for several years. The prospects for the construction of new reactors in France are not expected to generate revenues before 2028.

The plan to withdraw from this activity, which is a negative contributor to earnings, materially strengthens Groupe Gorge's profitability profile. The details of this withdrawal will be communicated as soon as the project is sufficiently advanced.





Combination between ECA Group and iXblue: emergence of a French technology champion

On March 10, 2021, Groupe Gorge entered into exclusive negotiations with the shareholders of iXblue to acquire 100% of the company's capital.

This major strategic project marks a turning point in the history of Groupe Gorge and will create a world-class player in cutting-edge technologies for critical applications, notably in the defense, space and maritime sectors. The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals and could be completed in approximately 3 to 6 months.

More information is available in the dedicated press release (link).

The progress made in refocusing the activities demonstrates the ability of the teams to rapidly and successfully execute the strategic plan. Thanks to this transformation, Groupe Gorge benefits from improved clarity and a significantly better profitability profile. The clear focus on the Drones & Systems business (through ECA Group), which represents 80% of current EBITDA in 2021, positions Groupe Gorge as a recognized specialist in the field of autonomous robotics and integrated system.







2021 results: a transformed profitability profile

(in million) 2021 2020

restated1 2020

published Change m

2021 vs

2020 restated Change %

(organic) Revenues 178,3 150,9 231,1 +27,4 +18%

(org.: +21%) Current EBITDA2 30,2 23,1 24,1 +7,0 +30% Current EBITDA margin (%) 16,9% 15,3% 10,4% +1,6 pts n.a. Income from ordinary activities2 15,4 10,3 2,5 +5,1 +50% Operating income 14,2 11,0 -9,0 +3,2 +29% Financial result -2,5 -0,9 -1,7 -1,6 - Tax -3,2 -1,1 0,2 -2,1 - Net income from discontinued activities 38,3 -20,6 -1,0 +58,9 - Net income 46,9 -11,5 -11,5 +58,4 - Net income in group share 46,2 -5,8 -5,8 +52,0 -

The various operations linked to the group's refocusing make it necessary to restate the results of the previous year to ensure comparison with those of the year 2021. The main impacts are the classification as discontinued operations following:

The distribution of Prodways Group shares, which results in its deconsolidation and the recognition of an exceptional income.

The treatment of the technical doors activity in the nuclear sector as an activity held for sale.

+21% organic revenue growth.



Groupe Gorge achieved consolidated revenues of 178 million in 2021, excluding discontinued operations (subsidiaries Prodways Group and Baumert). This increase of +18% on a comparable consolidation basis and +21% on an organic basis is the combined result of:

The sustained growth momentum of the Drones & Systems business, up by +20% in 2021, reflecting:

Successes in the naval sector, where the Group enjoys major competitive advantages and which now accounts for 70% of this division's revenues: +40% growth.

Consolidation of leadership in on-board equipment for the aerospace sector (about 20% of revenues): +6% growth.

The decline in revenues in other activities, particularly industrial, (about 10% of revenues) still marked by limited investments in the aerospace sector: -24% of revenues.

The return to growth in the Engineering & Protection Systems division: +17% in 2021.

More details are available in the dedicated press release of February 23, 2022 (link).







Profits increasing in absolute terms and as a percentage

Groupe Gorge has generated a current EBITDA of 30 million in 2021, up +30% year-on-year. This performance represents a current EBITDA margin of 17%, a new record for the group. This level achieved represents an increase of +1.6 pt in continuing activities and +6.5 pts compared to 2020 under the previous consolidation scope. This significant improvement is explained by the strategic refocusing on a growing, high-margin division and the withdrawal from less profitable activities:

The Drones & Systems division achieved 24 million in current EBITDA in 2021, up +49%. Its current EBITDA margin stands at 21%, a record level for over 10 years.

division achieved 24 million in current EBITDA in 2021, up +49%. Its current EBITDA margin stands at 21%, a record level for over 10 years. The withdrawal from certain activities in the Engineering & Protection Systems division, which had a negative impact on current EBITDA.

from certain activities in the division, which had a negative impact on current EBITDA. The deconsolidation of Prodways Group, whose margins have improved but remain below the group average.

As a result, the group generated an income from ordinary activities of 15.4 m, up +5 million compared to 2020.

After taking into account exceptional costs of 1.2m (exceptional depreciation and amortization), operating income stands at 14.2 million.

As a consequence, Groupe Gorge generated record net income of 46 million in 2021 in group share, including the 44 million capital gain recorded on the distribution of Prodways shares in December 2021, partly reduced by the negative contribution of Baumert.





2021 results by division

In  million FY2020 FY2021 Variation Drones & Systems Revenues 96,2 115,3 +19,9% Current EBITDA 16,1 24,0 +49,3% Current EBITDA margin (%) 16,7% 20,8% +4,1 pts Income from ordinary activities 7,0 11,8 +4,8 M Engineering & Protection Systems Revenues 54,8 64,0 +16,8% Current EBITDA 7,2 4,9 -31,8% Current EBITDA margin (%) 13,2% 7,7% -5,5 pts Income from ordinary activities 4,2 3,0 -1,3 M





Drones & Systems (through ECA Group): +49% current EBITDA

The improvement in profits in the Drones & Systems division is the result of:

The ramp-up in revenues , notably due to the successful execution of the BENL program;

, notably due to the successful execution of the BENL program; The good cost control demonstrated by ECA Group teams and the resizing of the on-board equipment activity , pulling the division's profitability upwards.

by ECA Group teams and the , pulling the division's profitability upwards. The negative impact in 2021 of the new AMR activity (Autonomous Mobile Robot). The commercialization started during 2021 and is expected to ramp up.





Engineering & Protection Systems: +27% current EBITDA on an organic basis

Following the divestments of Van Dam in 2020 and of Baumert in progress, this division now comprises Consulting in Engineering & Technology and Fire Protection, with active (sprinklers, water mist, fire networks, etc.) and passive (fire doors, partitions and glass) protection solutions.

Revenue growth of +17%, and +26% on an organic basis, was driven by the continued development of the consulting in engineering, with an increase in the number of employees and in the number of assignments in progress. The good performance of the fire protection business is also contributing to revenue growth in 2021.

The contribution to current EBITDA from this division reached 4.9 m this year, compared with 7.2 m in 2020. This decline is explained by a capital gain on the disposal of an asset (sale of the Van Dam company) that was recognized in 2020. On an organic basis and restated for this capital gain, current EBITDA is up 27%, in line with the growth in revenues.





Significant progress in extra-financial performance

Groupe Gorge has made significant progress in its ESG policy in all three areas of Environment, Social and Governance. This improvement has been rewarded by an increase of 8 points in the Gaia Rating with a score of 78/100 at the end of the company's latest evaluation.

As a result of this improvement, Groupe Gorge has been included for the first time in the Gaia-Index, the French benchmark index for Small & MidCaps, which distinguishes the 70 most virtuous French SMEs in terms of extra-financial performance. The company is one of the 9 new entrants to the index and ranks 12th in its category3.

This progress is expected to continue in the coming years thanks to the setting of targeted objectives and the growing involvement of all Groupe Gorge teams, supported by the Board of Directors.





Dividend

On December 22, 2021, Groupe Gorge paid an exceptional dividend to its shareholders in the form of a distribution in kind of Prodways Group shares. This distribution represented an amount of 4.11 per Groupe Gorge share. Following this significant distribution, Groupe Gorge will propose to the Annual General Meeting of 16 June 2022 that no ordinary dividend be paid for the 2021 financial year. This decision is made in the context of the operation of rapprochement between ECA Group and iXblue, the financing of which mobilizes the group's resources, thus avoiding a capital increase and dilution for shareholders.







Upcoming events

An event to present the merger between ECA Group and iXBlue to the financial community will take place on April 6, 2022 at 9:00 am. Groupe Gorge will take the opportunity to answer questions from analysts and investors regarding the 2021 annual results and growth prospects.





About Groupe Gorge

Groupe Gorge is a high-tech industrial group driven by a strong entrepreneurial culture. The Group is present in drones, engineering and protection systems. The Group generated revenue of 202 million in 2021.

More information on www.groupe-gorge.com

Groupe Gorge is listed on Euronext Paris Compartment B (GOE).

Contacts: Investor Relations

Hugo Soussan

Tel. +33 (0)1 44 77 94 86

h.soussan@groupe-gorge.com



Claire Riffaud

Tel. +33 (0)1 53 67 36 79

criffaud@actus.fr Media Relations

Manon Clairet

Tel. +33 (0)1 53 67 36 73

mclairet@actus.fr







Appendices

Consolidated income statement

(in thousands of euros) 2021 20204 Revenue 178 273 150 913 Capitalized production 11 569 7 899 Inventories and work in progress (1 907) 2 086 Other income from operations 8 185 5 151 Purchases and external charges (84 003) (77 177) Personnel expenses (82 294) (68 197) Tax and duties (1 898) (1 862) Depreciation, amortization, and provisions (net of reversals) (14 784) (12 870) Other operating income and expenses 2 253 4 329 Income from ordinary activities 15 394 10 271 Group share of the earnings of affiliated companies - - Non-recurring items in operating income (1 166) 776 operating income 14 228 11 047 Interest on gross debt (2 293) (990) Interest on cash and cash equivalents 4 23 net borrowing cost (a) (2 289) (967) Other financial income (b) 173 394 Other financial expense (c) (347) (285) financial income and expenses (d=a+b+c) (2 463) (858) Income tax (3 179) (1 066) net income from continuing operations 8 586 9 123 Net income from discontinued operations 38 286 (20 634) consolidated net income 46 871 (11 510) INCOME ATTRIBUTABLE TO PARENT COMPANY SHAREHOLDER 46 208 (5 811) INCOME ATTRIBUTABLE TO NON-CONTROLLING INTERESTS 663 (5 700) Average number of shares 17 218 321 13 524 747





Consolidated statement of cash flows

(in thousands of euros) 2021 20205 net income from continuing operations 8 586 9 123 Accruals 10 306 15 199 Capital gains and losses on disposals 13 (8 520) Group share of income of equity-accounted companies 0 0 Cash flow from operations (before neutralization of the net borrowing cost and taxes) 18 904 15 803 Expense for net debt 2 289 967 Tax expense 3 179 1 066 cash flow (after neutralization of the net borrowing cost and taxes) 24 372 17 835 Tax paid (1 448) (1 560) Change in working capital requirements (34 752) 25 002 net cash flow from operating activities (a) (11 827) 41 277 Investing activities Payments/acquisition of intangible assets (12 799) (13 727) Payments/acquisition of property, plant and equipment (12 493) (4 062) Proceeds/disposal of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets 20 7 143 Payments/acquisition & Proceeds/disposal of non-current financial assets (66) 124 Net cash inflow/outflow on the acquisition/disposal of subsidiaries - (729) net cash flow from investing activities (B) (25 338) (11 251) Financing activities Capital increase or contributions - - Dividends paid to parent company shareholders (5 509) (4 319) Dividends paid to non-controlling interests (360) (1 484) Other equity transactions (3 213) (32 654) Proceeds from borrowings 118 476 34 458 Repayment of borrowings (83 150) (12 600) Cost of net debt (1 811) (896) NET CASH FLOW FROM FINANCING ACTIVITIES (C) 24 433 (17 494) cash flow generated by continuing operations (d = a+b+c) (12 732) 12 531 Cash flow generated by discontinued operations (8 253) 9 116 Effects of exchange rate changes (20 985) 21 647 Effects of exchange rate changes of the year 16 (18) Cash and cash equivalent at the beginning of the year 57 857 46 839 Restatement of cash and cash equivalents cash equivalents at the end of the year (2 308) (1 495) cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year 42 835 57 857







Consolidated balance sheet - Assets

(in thousands of euros) 31/12/2021 31/12/2020 non-current assets 116 244 169 696 Goodwill 23 792 63 245 Other intangible assets 34 172 41 371 Property, plant and equipment 38 355 47 038 Investments in affiliated companies 5 1 139 Other financial assets 18 543 12 090 Deferred tax assets 1 378 4 813 Other non-current assets - - current assets 203 565 259 300 Net inventories 23 003 33 400 Net trade receivables 43 757 44 443 Contract assets 63 189 63 393 Other current assets 17 115 21 334 Tax receivables payable 13 375 14 061 Other current financial assets 217 2 Cash and cash equivalents 42 909 82 668 Assets held for sale 32 751 - total assets 352 560 428 996





Bilan consolide - Passif

(in thousands of euros) 31/2/2021 31/12/2020 equity attributable to owner of the parent 59 300 94 887 Stakes attributable to non-controlling interests 5 001 31 401 Non-current liabilities 107 355 89 389 Long-term provisions 5 224 7 978 Long-term liabilities - portion due in more than one year 86 696 60 304 Lease liabilities - portion due in more than one year 11 972 18 187 Other financial liabilities 3 138 2 133 Deferred tax liabilities 150 447 Other non-current liabilities 175 341 current liabilities 148 643 213 319 Short-term provisions 4 881 8 810 Long-term liabilities - portion due in less than one year 41 114 54 357 Lease liabilities - portion due in less than one year 3 279 5 945 Operating payables 32 843 49 529 Contract liabilities 22 504 38 749 Other current liabilities 43 780 55 423 Tax liabilities payable 242 506 Liabilities held for sale 32 260 - total liabilities 352 560 428 996







Definitions of alternative performance indicators

Current EBITDA: Operating income before "depreciation, amortization and provisions", "other items of operating income" and "Group share of the earnings of affiliated companies".

Income from ordinary activities: Operating income before "other items of operating income" and "Group share of the earnings of affiliated companies".

Net Debt : Net debt excluding lease liabilities resulting from the application of IFRS 16 and including the value of treasury stock.

1 2020 income statement adjusted for the contributions of Prodways Group and Baumert, reclassified in application of IFRS 5 concerning discontinued operations.

2 See glossary in the appendix for a definition of alternative performance indicators.

3 Category of evaluated companies with sales between 150 and 500 million, i.e. 85 companies

4 Restated 2020 figures

5 2020 restated for discontinued operations and a change in presentation of the costs of obtaining contracts restated as an intangible asset (in acquisition of fixed assets and in amortization) and no longer in the WCR.

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Los Angeles, California--(Newsfile Corp. - March 21, 2022) - Total Network Services has partnered with multiple companies to pilot their patent-pending UCID, and as of today, the TIA has assigned two million MEIDs for the use case of UCID.

Blockchain



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/8668/116769_ucid.jpg

In early 2020, Total Network Services (TNS) approached the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) with a proprietary and patent pending concept called the Enhanced Mobile Equipment Identifier (E-MEID). The "E-MEID" was based on the TIA's own "MEID", an industry standard and globally unique identification system used by millions of devices worldwide.

Solely administered by the TIA, MEIDs are mainly composed of the manufacturer code and the equipment serial number. The number is permanently affixed to the device and used to facilitate mobile equipment identification and tracking.

TNS' concept was to attach the MEID to a blockchain specifically designed to enhance supply chain security in ICT, an industry that has arguably the most to lose from a lack of verification.

When an MEID is attached to a blockchain, a globally unique digital token, also known as an NFT, is created to represent any network-connected device on the planet. This token is an Enhanced-MEID and can record relevant device information in its metadata. When enhanced as such, the MEID documentation capabilities expand to include device hardware bill-of-material (BOM), software BOM, time-tagged geolocation data via Rypplzz's patented Interlife platform and software remediation activity. This additional capability can drastically improve hardware and software supply chain visibility, component provenance, and internal change management processes.

This E-MEID innovation using the TIA's MEID eventually led to Total Network Services creating a new name for its service, the Universal Communication Identifier (UCID). UCID now serves as the entity that will enhance the various globally unique identification systems that exist within telecommunication, finance, media, and government.

UCID partner companies:

ForwardEdge leverages adaptive real-time machine learning, 5G & blockchain DLT, robotic process automation, swarm intelligence, and game development to solve complex problems of social consequence. Two of their top products that will utilize UCID are Blaise and Gabriel.

Blaise is a handheld device designed to detect pathogens on hard surfaces. Forward Edge has been working with Sam Houston State University to develop a device capable of detecting 32 different pathogens such as MRSA and SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

Gabriel can offer an enhanced solution to detect, block and report SMiShing attacks in 25 languages. With Purple Alerts, caregivers are notified in real-time when a loved one engages with a scammer by voice or text messaging. Gabriel underwent TruSight assessment and is now certified and eligible for integration with the world's leading financial institutions such as JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo.

Since Forward Edge-AI's TruSight approval and its integration with UCID, it has been selected as the Solution for the United States Census Bureau and its 500,000 employee devices.

CEO of Total Network Services Thomas Carter on UCID, "Two million MEIDs have been allocated for UCID, but this is just the tip of the iceberg for how far blockchain will go to secure the world's most vulnerable assets, and we're excited to be at the forefront of this new standard."

Thomas Carter, Founder Chairman of Deal Box, Inc; CEO of Total Network Services Corp "TNS" , on LinkedIn and Instagram. Learn more about UCID at https://www.ucidentifier.io/.

DealBox, Inc.

Thomas@dlbx.io

SOURCE: DealBox

The Telecommunications Industry Association does not endorse TNS or the solutions it proposes. TIA is technology and vendor neutral. The MEID is managed by TIA and the "enhanced" aspects proposed by TNS are products and services that utilize the MEID but are not standardized by TIA engineering committees nor approved or marketed by TIA.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/116769


CHICAGO (dpa-AFX) - Tragedy struck in China after a Boeing 737 crashed into the mountains in southern China on Monday. The China Eastern Airlines flight had 132 people on board when the catastrophic crash happened.



Eyewitnesses have claimed that the Boeing 737-800 lost a lot of altitude in a really short time. The airline has not yet confirmed the cause of the crash. According to reports, the plane plummeted at the rate of 31,000 feet per minute before disintegrating into a ball of flames over a bamboo forest.



The airline has opened up a hotline for the relatives of those on board, but according to the rescue officials, there has been no sign of life amidst the debris.



The plane had 123 passengers with 9 crew traveling from Kunming, capital of Yunnan province, to Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong. According to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), the flight lost all contact with the air traffic control over the city of Wuzhou. The flight took off at 1:11 PM local time and was scheduled to land at 3:05 pm.



Flightradar24, a flight tracking system, showed that the six-year-old plane started to lose altitude one hour and nine minutes after taking off and was cruising at 29,100 feet before things went south. Reports say that only 13% of the plane crashes between 2011 and 2020 have taken place during cruising.



Chinese aviation expert, Li Xiaojin said, 'Usually the plane is on auto-pilot during cruise stage. So it is very hard to fathom what happened. From a technical point of view, something like this should not have happened.'



A Boeing spokesperson said, 'We are aware of the initial media reports and are working to gather more information.'



China Eastern Airlines is sixth in the world in scheduled weekly seat capacity and is considered to be one of the most rigid airlines when it comes to safety measures.



The 737-800, a predecessor to the ill-fated Boeing 737 MAX, was also considered to be a very stable aircraft, unlike the latter which suffered fatal crashes in 2018 in Indonesia and in 2019 in Ethiopia.



The administration is trying to retrieve the black box to find out the cause of the crash. Flightglobal editor Greg Waldron said that while the safety regulation at the CAAC is strict, the lack of clarity from the aviators is also one of the reasons behind the underreporting of cases in the mainland.



According to the Aviation Safety Network, this is one of the largest plane crashes in the country since a China Northwest Airlines Tupolev Tu-154 crashed between Xian and Guangzhou with 160 fatalities in 1994.







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GMV reaches 213.7m, up 10.3%

Revenue growth of over 12.2%

Adjusted EBITDA of 5,5m, in line with targets

Investment in product inventory, mainly permanent: 49m (+28% vs 2020)

Strong growth in international business (+15% vs 2020)

Strong growth of proprietary brands (+24% vs 2020)

Continued expansion of the product offer: 1.2 million items online, including 50,000 home decoration references

Shift towards a more responsible offer: effective launch of Newlife, 2 nd hand platform (50,000 active references), more than 9,000 eco-designed references online

Strong growth in BtoB services: 30 new customers for the transport activity (TooPost) and around 15 new brands for the third-party fulfilment activity (TooBone)

Regulatory News:

Spartoo (Paris:ALSPT) (ISIN: FR00140043Y1 ticker: ALSPT), one of the leading online retailers for fashion items in Europe, today announced its Full-Year Results for the year ended 31 December, as approved by the Board of Directors on March 17 2022.

As of December 31, 2021, the GMV1 reached 213.7 million, up 10.3% compared to the same period last year, when the GMV amounted to 193.7 million. The Group thus confirms its objective of GMV growth exceeding 10% compared to 2020.

Boris Saragaglia, co-founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Spartoo, stated: "2021 was a major year in Spartoo's development. The success of our IPO, which provided us with additional resources to strengthen our brand awareness and online fashion offering, provided a vehicle to accelerate our development. This was reflected in the confirmation of our GMV growth target of 10% compared to 2020, and in the preservation of a high level of profitability considering the strategic investments made over the period, especially in marketing. In line with our social and environmental commitments, illustrated in particular by the launch of NewLife, a platform dedicated to the purchase and sale of second-hand products, we are pursuing our objective of delivering profitable but responsible growth. Finally, 2021 was marked by the increase in services dedicated to professionals, whether for transport, logistics or the digitalization of physical points of sale. All of these areas of expertise reflect our know-how in the e-commerce sector, which has been distinguished and rewarded many times over. All these achievements, as well as the overall positive trend in all our activities at the beginning of 2022, make us confident in our ability to achieve our medium-term objectives: an annual growth above 10% over the next few years and an EBITDA margin of 7%

BtoC activity, online & offline

Spartoo expanded its footwear, ready-to-wear, bags and accessories offering over 2021, with a wide range of brands available either directly from the Group's inventory (Dr Martens, Converse, Adidas, etc.), or via its marketplace partners. As of 31 December 2021, Spartoo recorded over 1.2 million unique references in Europe. The Company also added 50,000 home decoration products to its offering over the period.

NewLife website, a platform for buying and selling second-hand items, was created by Spartoo during the first half of 2021. Less than a year after its launch, more than 50,000 second-hand items have already been published.

Spartoo continues to expand its retail network, with six new stores opening in 2021. The good momentum of the shops, which has been noticeable since they reopened, enables them to exceed the levels of activity recorded in 2019.

Regarding the Group's proprietary brands, revenue increased by 24% compared to 2021, driven by both the organic development of its wholesale customers and the acceleration of their digitalization.

The average basket is up 2 (+2.5%), thanks in particular to a growing number of items per order.

The Group's customer satisfaction indicators are up, with a Truspilot score of 4.4 in France (+0.1pt), and an NPS2 above 70 points.

A growing third-party activity

The transport agent activity is growing strongly in 2021, with the acquisition of 30 new merchants, as well as an increase in the volumes recorded.

The integrated logistics and transport offer TooBone, launched in the first half of 2021 with the aim of ensuring the fulfilment of brands, in B2C and B2B, in France and internationally, now has some fifteen partner brands, such as Palladium and Oakwood

Overall, the service offering dedicated to professionals rose sharply by 17.8% over the period.

Financial results: increased investment in advertising and slight increase in gross margin

The gross margin was 64.6m for the period, representing 43% of revenue.

After taking into account the 32% increase in advertising spend, the Group's adjusted EBITDA amounted to 5.5m.

At 31 December 2021, Spartoo reported cash and cash equivalents of 32.8m, including the fundraising of over 20 million completed in July as part of the Company's IPO.

Key performance indicators for Internet activities (unaudited data):

Online activities KPIs 2021 2020 Var Active customer base (000) 1 873 1 778 5% Cost of acquiring new customers 12.4 10.2 Average basket net of return 80 78 3% of GMV from proprietary brands 7.1% 6.6% 0,5 pts (%) Customer recommendation score (/100) >90% >90%

Financial results (in m):

Results of operations 12/31/2021 12/31/2020(*) Var Gross Merchandise Value 213.7 193.7 10.3% B2C 192.8 176.0 9.5% Third Party Service 17.5 14.9 17.4% France 125.7 117.4 7.1% International 87.9 76.4 15.1% Revenue 150.3 134.0 12.2% Gross margin 64.6 57.3 12.7% in 43.0% 42.8% +0,2pts (%) Adjusted EBITDA 5.5 6.3 in 3.7% 4.7%

Cash-flow statement 12/31/2021 12/31/2020(*) Var Cash flow from operations (**) 5.5 7.9 Operating cash flow (**) -2.1 5.0 Cash flow from investing activities -3.0 -2.3 Cash Cash Equivalents 32.8 19.6 67.3% Net debt -8.7 6.6 (*) excluding TooAndre (**) excluding significant non-recurring items

To receive next press releases from SPARTOO, please contact us at newcap@spartoo.com!

About Spartoo

With 10,000 brands and more than 1.2 million items, Spartoo offers one of the widest selections of fashion items (footwear, ready-to-wear, bags) in more than 30 countries in Europe, thanks to its team of more than 400 employees of nearly 30 different nationalities. In 2021, the Group generated a GMV (Gross Merchandise Value) of 214 million, 41% of which was generated internationally. With an integrated logistics platform and after-sales service, Spartoo stands out for its customer-centric approach, as evidenced by a very high customer satisfaction rate. The strategy is based on the strong synergies between the online sales model and the advantages of physical stores, which support loyalty and brand awareness. Capitalizing on its e-commerce know-how, Spartoo has also developed a complete range of services for professionals.

Visit the Group's websites:

www.spartoo.com

www.spartoo-finance.com

1 Gross Merchandise Value (GMV): total sales of products (including VAT) and services, net of returns 2 NPS or Net Promoter Score indicator is used to measure the propensity and probability of recommendation of a brand, a product or a service by its customers

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220321005841/en/

Contacts:

Spartoo

+33 4 58 00 16 84

investors@spartoo.com

NewCap

Louis-Victor Delouvrier

Nicolas Fossiez

Investor Relations

newcap@spartoo.com

+33 1 44 71 94 94

NewCap

Ambre Delval

Media Relations

newcap@spartoo.com

+33 1 44 71 98 52
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 21, 2022 / CIBT Education Group Inc. (TSX:MBA)(OTCQX International:MBAIF) ("CIBT") reports that it has received approval from the Toronto Stock Exchange (the "TSX") to commence a normal course issuer bid ("NCIB") to purchase up to 3,423,000 of its common shares, representing approximately 5% of the 68,460,740 common shares which were issued and outstanding as at the close of business on March 16, 2022 (net of shares purchased under the previous NCIB but not yet cancelled), to a maximum aggregate acquisition cost of approximately $3,000,000. The NCIB is being implemented because management believes that purchases under the NCIB constitute a desirable use of its funds on the basis that recent market prices of the common shares do not, and at certain times during the course of the NCIB may not, fully reflect the value of CIBT's business and future business prospects.

CIBT may buy back common shares anytime during the 12-month period beginning on March 21, 2022 and ending on March 20, 2023, or on such earlier date as the Company may complete its purchases pursuant to the NCIB or provides notice of termination. Share purchases under the NCIB will be conducted through the facilities of the TSX and other Canadian marketplaces/alternative trading systems. The actual number of shares purchased, and the timing of any such purchases, will be determined by CIBT in accordance with the rules of the TSX. Any shares purchased under the NCIB will be cancelled.

Subject to prescribed exceptions, CIBT may purchase up to 3,320 common shares per day, representing 25% of the average daily trading volume of 13,283 common shares during the six months ending on February 28, 2022. The exceptions to this limitation include block trade purchases of (1) shares having a purchase price of at least $200,000, (2) at least 5,000 common shares having a purchase price of at least $50,000, or (3) at least 19,924 common shares.

The Company was authorized to purchase up to 3,556,000, common shares under its last normal course issuer bid. During the last 12 months, CIBT has purchased 2,734,500 of its common shares through a normal course issuer bid at a weighted average price per share of $0.70685507. These purchases were effected through the facilities of the TSX and other Canadian marketplaces/alternative market places.

About CIBT Education Group:

CIBT Education Group Inc. is one of the largest education and student housing investment companies in Canada, focused on the domestic and the global education market since 1994. CIBT owns business and language colleges, student-centric rental apartments, recruitment centres and corporate offices at 45 locations in Canada and abroad. Its education subsidiaries include Sprott Shaw College (established in 1903), Sprott Shaw Language College, Vancouver International College Career Campus and CIBT School of Business. CIBT offers over 150 educational programs in healthcare, business management, e-commerce, hotel management, and language training through these schools. In 2021, CIBT provided education and housing services to over 10,000 students through its various subsidiaries.

CIBT owns Global Education City Holdings Inc. ("Global Holdings"), an investment holding and development company focused on education-related real-estate such as student-centric rental apartments, hotel and education super-centres. Under the GEC brand, Global Holdings provides accommodation service to 90 schools in Metro Vancouver, serving 1,500 students from 71 countries. The total portfolio and development budget under the GEC brand exceed $1.5 billion.

CIBT also owns Global Education Alliance Inc. ("GEA") and Irix Design Group Inc. ("Irix Design"). GEA recruits international students for many elite kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities in North America. Irix Design is a leading design and advertising company based in Vancouver, Canada. Visit us online and watch our corporate video at www.cibt.net .

Toby Chu

Chairman, President & CEO

CIBT Education Group Inc.

Investor Relations Contact: 1-604-871-9909 extension 319 or | Email: info@cibt.net

SOURCE: CIBT Education Group Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/694038/CORRECTION-FROM-SOURCE-CIBT-Reports-Normal-Course-Issuer-Bid
The Smiley Company announces a series of global activations for International Day of Happiness in support of the United Nations "2022 HAPPINESS FOR ALL, UKRAINE" campaign

Timed to International Day of Happiness on March 20, The Smiley Company unveiled a series of large-scale projections around the world featuring the iconic smiley logo in the colors of the Ukrainian flag. The projections are in support of the United Nations International Day of Happiness "2022 Happiness for All, Ukraine" initiative and serve to call attention to and honor the bravery and resilience of the people of Ukraine.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220321005883/en/

To celebrate International Day of Happiness, The Smiley Company unveiled a series of large-scale projections around the world, including New York City and Los Angeles, featuring the iconic smiley logo in the colors of the Ukrainian flag, Sunday, March 20, 2022 in New York. The projections are in support of the United Nations International Day of Happiness "2022 Happiness for All, Ukraine" initiative and serve to call attention to and honor the bravery and resilience of the people of Ukraine. (Stuart Ramson/AP Images for The Smiley Company.)

Smiley is also donating to various humanitarian organizations supporting Ukraine and is using its platform, The Smiley Movement, to further raise awareness and share resources for ways to donate to the Ukraine effort.

Smiley's message of empathy and support for Ukraine illuminated buildings in key cities throughout the world, including New York, Los Angeles, London, Berlin, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Rome and Sydney.

Established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2012, International Day of Happiness aims to remind people around the world that actions matter and each person can help build a more compassionate world, wherever they are. Since its inception 50 years ago, Smiley's mission is to spread good news to demonstrate the immense power in a smile through the spread of positivity, good news and optimism around the world.

Pursuing Smiley's goal to make the world a happier, kinder, more conscious place, Smiley Movement is a non-profit to inspire positive change in society while addressing urgent societal and environmental problems. Smiley Movement provides a cross-media platform of news, videos, events and awards that connect the non-profit sector to the broader public to enlighten minds and empower people to take positive action.

Photos from the New York City and Los Angeles projections can be found HERE and broll HERE. (Credit: AP for The Smiley Company).

Read more global solidarity and humanitarian support for Ukraine, as well as ways to donate here: https://smileymovement.org/

Take the time to smile and stand as a force for good.

About The Smiley Company:

Created in 1972, by French journalist Franklin Loufrani to spread feel-good news, the Smiley TRADEMARK/BRAND would go on to become one of the most important icons in graphic design, bringing people together through a creative message that spreads positivity and putting social and emotional learning at the top of the agenda. Smiley is a universal counter culture icon with a message of positivity that has influenced generations across the globe. Reinvented and redefined by generations of activists, artists and creators, Smiley continues to thrive and influence future generations.

In 1996 Nicolas Loufrani, son of Franklin, took the helm whilst the world was in the midst of the digital revolution and saw a huge opportunity to bring Smiley into the digital world. Nicolas created a whole new way of communicating, using a variety of facial expressions on the original Smiley to convey emotions. His emoticons are now used by everyone around the world every day.

Pursuing Smiley's goal to make the world a happier, kinder, more conscious place, Loufrani created Smiley Movement in 2017. Smiley Movement is a non-profit community which aims to inspire positive change in society addressing urgent societal and environmental problems. Smiley Movement provides a cross-media platform of news, videos, events and awards that connect the non-profit sector to the broader public to enlighten minds and empower people to take positive action.

Today, The Smiley Company is one of the world's top global licensing enterprises that extends across fashion and homewares, through to food and beverage and continues to embrace collaboration as an opportunity to spread this important message. For 2022 Smiley will bring back its original message of 'Take the Time to Smile' which is still as relevant as ever, by spreading this positive message through global activations, brand collaborations and feel good experiences. More than an icon, brand and lifestyle, Smiley is a spirit and philosophy and a reminder of how powerful a smile can be.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220321005883/en/

Contacts:

Tori Bailey

Smiley@laforce.nyc
Jointly, a Los Angeles, CA-based cannabis wellness company, raised $5M in Seed funding.

The backers were not disclosed.



The company intends to use the funds to scale its software and technologies.

Founded in 2018 by David Kooi and Eric Gutshall, Jointly is a cannabis wellness company powered by a proprietary data platform to help people reach their full potential. On the Jointly platform, consumers discover products based on authentic ratings from the community and track their own experiences to improve their results. The companys proprietary product database includes over 3,000 brands and 75,000 products.

Since launching its consumer app in early 2020, consumers have tracked over 200,000 cannabis experiences and rated tens of thousands of legal cannabis products.

FinSMEs

20/03/2022

About Jointly

Jointly is a cannabis wellness company powered by a proprietary data platform to help people reach their full potential.

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are forward looking information. There can be no assurance that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. This forward-looking information reflects the current beliefs of Jointly and is based on information currently available to Jointly and on assumptions that Jointly believes are reasonable. Such forward-looking information contained in this news release represents the expectations of Jointly as of the date of this news release and, accordingly, is subject to change after such date. However, Jointly 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 law.

SOURCE Jointly

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/jointly-raises-5-million-in-seed-funding-301504314.html
A York man has been charged with first- and third-degree murder and related charges in a fatal shooting that took place Saturday at a Wyomissing shopping center, police said.

Nehemias Santiago Montes, 38, was committed to Berks County Prison late Saturday after arraignment before Magisterial District Judge Eric J. Taylor. No bail was assessed due to the severity of the charges.

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Wyomissing police gave this account:

Just before 4 p.m. Saturday, officers were dispatched to the Berkshire Square parking lot at Berkshire Boulevard and State Hill Road for a report of a shooting.

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Police found two crime scenes, one at the main entrance and exit at State Hill Road and another in the parking area near Walmart.

Numerous spent shell casings were found near Walmart, along with damaged vehicles and a woman with head injuries  Jessica M. Cruz-Rodriguez, 30, York  who was being aided by people on the scene.

The other crime scene contained two vehicles, one of which had apparent bullet holes through the drivers door window and a deceased male, Alexi Omar Rodriguez Serra, 34, of Allentown.

Santiago Montes was in the other vehicle. He was taken into custody by arriving officers as he exited his vehicle, where investigators found a firearm.

Police said Cruz-Rodriguez was taken to Reading Hospital, where she was in critical condition Sunday.

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. >

Investigators said the violence appeared to be related to a domestic dispute, as Santiago Montes and Cruz-Rodriguez have been in a long-term relationship.

Wyomissing police were assisted by Berks County detectives and members of the Berks County Forensic Unit, along with state troopers and police from Cumru, Muhlenberg and Spring townships, Shillington, West Reading and Penn State Berks. The Wyomissing Fire Department and Western Berks Ambulance also were on the scene.

Wyomissing police are asking anyone who has captured video of the event taking place to contact them at 610-375-6102.

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The vehicle driven by an Allentown man who was shot and killed Saturday, March 19, 2022, in the Berkshire Square shopping center parking lot in Wyomissing after crashing into a tree while fleeing his assailant. (Keith Dmochowski/Reading Eagle)

A York man admitted to hiding his smartwatch in his intimate partners car and tracking her vehicle more than 50 miles to a busy Wyomissing shopping center, where he lay in wait Saturday afternoon before ambushing her, killing an Allentown man in a hail of bullets, police said Monday.

Nehemias Santiago Montes, 38, surrendered to a Spring Township police officer at the scene of the shooting just before 4 p.m. in Berkshire Square.

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He was charged with first- and third-degree murder in the death of Alexi Rodriguez Serra, 34. Santiago Montes is being held in Berks County Prison without bail.

The shopping center is at least 53 road miles from Santiago Montes home in York.

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According to police:

Spring Township police Officer Charles Miller was across the street from the shopping center when the gunfire erupted.

Heading into the complex, Miller noticed a sport utility vehicle stopped behind a BARTA bus in the main access drive. The bus driver pointed to the vehicle and told Miller the driver was involved in the shooting.

As Miller studied the SUV, a shirtless man, later identified as Santiago Montes, got out of the drivers seat and approached Millers patrol vehicle. Miller got out and asked the man how he was involved.

I did it, Santiago Montes said.

As Miller handcuffed Santiago Montes, the officer asked where the gun was. Santiago Montes said it was in his vehicle.

Wyomissing police officers, meanwhile, responded to multiple calls reporting 10-20 shots fired in the shopping center.

Officers arrived within two minutes of being dispatched and found a sport utility vehicle crashed into a tree on a traffic island along the main drive.

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Inside that SUV, they found a dead man, later identified as Rodriguez Serra, in the drivers seat. He had suffered gunshot wounds.

Officers also found a woman lying in the parking lot and suffering from a head wound. The woman, Jessica Cruz-Rodriguez, 30, of York, whom Santiago Montes referred to as his wife, was being aided by people on scene.

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She was taken by ambulance to Reading Hospital, where she underwent surgery to control severe bleeding from the brain. A report on her medical condition was unavailable Monday.

Wyomissing police transported Santiago Montes to their station to be interviewed.

He said he waited for about an hour until an SUV pulled up next to his wifes car. He became enraged when he saw her in another mans vehicle. He drove through the parking lot, stopped near the SUV and got out.

He started shooting at the drivers-side door window with his handgun, which had an extended magazine loaded with 30 rounds.

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Rodriguez-Serra pressed the gas pedal to the floor as he backed out of the parking space and hit a parked vehicle in another row. Santiago Montes then fired multiple shots through the windshield

Santiago Montes said he watched as Rodriguez-Serras SUV sped off and crashed into a landscape island and tree. He noticed Cruz-Rodriguez on the ground, near where the shooting occurred. He ran to her, removed his shirt and used it to try to control the bleeding from her head wound.

Police said Cruz-Rodriguez underwent surgery due to severe bleeding from the brain. It was unclear how she ended up outside of the vehicle and if she suffered the injury as she got out of the vehicle.
Tina Kotek and Tobias Read differed little on the issues brought forth during their first joint appearance for their partys nomination for governor.

But the most widely known of the 17 Democratic candidates offered differing experience to achieve similar goals in front of a mostly friendly audience Friday night, March 18, at the Oregon AFL-CIOs annual convention in Portland.

No other candidate in this race  has delivered more results for working Oregonians, said Kotek, who just ended 15 years in the Oregon House from a district in north and northeast Portland and a record nine years as its speaker. Among the bills passed during her tenure were paid sick leave (2015), advance job scheduling (2017, with a full 14-day notice taking effect in 2020) and paid family and medical leave (2019, scheduled to take effect in 2023).

Whether it is homelessness and housing, recovery from the coronavirus pandemic or a response to climate change, she said, I am not going to play games or make promises I cannot deliver on. My door will always be open to make sure the voices of workers are heard and listened to.

Read spent 10 years representing Beaverton in the Oregon House, including two legislative cycles as majority whip, before he was elected state treasurer in 2016. He said his recent position gives him the edge if he is elected governor.

What we need is executive experience and the ability to deliver on promises, he said.

Weve got to be clear  about the fact that what we are doing right now is not working. But weve also got enormous potential in droves. If we are willing to focus on execution to try to match our good intentions and follow through, we can rebuild confidence in government and in ourselves.

Oregons largest labor federation has made no endorsement in for the May 17 primary, although according to a survey published Feb. 18 by the Northwest Labor Press, Kotek has amassed support from a dozen unions that have  including Local 503 of Service Employees International Union, which represents the largest group of state workers.

President Graham Trainor told the audience that only Kotek and Read responded to a lengthy questionnaire from the federation, plus a request for how they plan to win this year, so they were the only candidates invited on stage at the Hyatt Regency/Oregon Convention Center.

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Working people have a high set of expectations for Oregons next governor with a rigged economic system that is leaving too many workers behind, Trainor said afterward. We are looking hard at all the candidates to ensure that working people are front and center on the next governors agenda.

Democratic incumbent Kate Brown is barred by term limits from running again after having served almost two full terms, succeeding John Kitzhaber in February 2015. Democrats have held the governorship for 36 years, a state record; Vic Atiyehs re-election in 1982 was the most recent victory by a Republican.

A test for both

Kotek and Read are the only two of the 17 Democrats in the field who have held state elected office.

For Kotek, 55, it will be a test of whether one of the Legislatures former presiding officers can win Oregons top executive office. The only one in recent years to have done so was Democrat Kitzhaber, who led the Oregon Senate for eight years as president  but was out of office  when he was elected governor for the first time in 1994.

For Read, 46, it will be a test of whether a state treasurer can be elected governor. The most recent one to do so was Democrat Bob Straub, who was elected in 1974  two years out of office  after losing to Tom McCall in 1966 and 1970. Two others were elected treasurer after losing bids for governor: Republican Clay Myers in 1976 and Democrat Ben Westlund in 2008. Democrat Jim Hill made two losing bids in 2002 and 2006 after his eight years as treasurer.

Both candidates responded to written questions put forth by a panel, and then from the audience.

Both offered similar approaches to homelessness and housing. Both supported greater efforts to find shelter and services, but also more construction, particularly housing for all incomes.

We have a humanitarian crisis, Kotek said. I see it here in Portland, and anywhere you live around this state, we have people who dont have homes. We need to fix that.

She referred to the 111,000-unit gap in housing units that has occurred in the past decade  half of them sought by households earning less than the areas median income  and that it will take an annual average of 36,000 for the next decade to catch up. (Current housing production in Oregon averages 20,000 to 25,000 units, according to the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis.)

We havent been doing very well at that lately, Read said. We are losing confidence among voters who have supported money mechanisms. we have got to do more to cut through the delays and reduce costs. That is the difference between passing legislation and execution.

Black Lives Matter

Asked what Black Lives Matter means to them, both said Oregon must confront a legacy of injustice to Black residents and other racial and ethnic minorities that re-emerged during protests in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.

We have to have a hard conversation in this state about the history of racism in our country and what that means for how people of color feel and are treated by law enforcement, how they experience our schools. For me, it means making sure how we truly live up to our values as Americans, Kotek said.

Im not sure I have a lot to add to that, Read said. We are long overdue for a conversation about unfinished business that exists in Oregon. We are not making sure that Black Oregonians have the same opportunities that other people have and everyone should.

Essential workers

Both said they would work to improve conditions for essential workers  defined as those in education and health care, plus farms and retail trades  who often bore the brunt of exposure during the coronavirus pandemic of the past two years.

Beyond pay, benefits and working conditions, Read said, we need to make sure that people are treated with the respect they deserve and that young people see the work as a career that is attractive to them for the life they want.

Kotek said that in addition to direct state aid for health care, housing and other programs, she worked to make it easier for such workers to obtain workers compensation benefits during the pandemic. (A state agency rule makes benefits easier to obtain by some health care workers with direct care or indirect support of patients. However, 2021 session bills died that would have shifted the presumption for COVID-19 coronavirus illnesses onto employers.)

But there are more challenges ahead, Kotek said. I want you to know, no matter what those challenges are, I will continue to be on your side and every Oregonian should have a path to opportunity and success.

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Benton County's historic 1888 courthouse in Corvallis is the oldest in Oregon still serving its original purpose, said John Haroldson, Benton County district attorney. But the building's age and condition raise the question of how long it can continue doing that.

The iconic building has traditionally hosted the courts and the Benton County District Attorneys Office as well as some county departments. Haroldson said in the past, the courthouse provided enough space for everyone to operate. But 134 years later, its not just cramped  its bursting at the seams.

Renovating and repurposing the courthouse is part of Benton Countys Justice System Improvement Plan, a project that would see the purchase of land  the county is moving forward with a property near HP Inc.  and a new courthouse and jail built there.

What exactly that renovation and repurposing looks like for the venerable landmark will be shaped by a stakeholder committee. That committee is working with a recent feasibility study and condition assessment to offer recommendations to the Benton County Board of Commissioners, said Lynne McKee, the countys Natural Areas, Parks and Events director.

There are three main options on the table, she added:

Keep it as a governmental building.

Make it rentable for events and the like.

Convert it to a cultural center for performing arts.

Other uses could arise as the committee explores the possibilities, McKee said.

This committee will use that as their starting point, she said. And they will have very robust public engagement over this next year to gauge what the community would like to see happen to the courthouse.

Potentially deadly risks

Not all is well inside the Italianate-style structure, according to Haroldson, who said beneath its awesome beauty there are potentially deadly risks. Of the three other Oregon courthouses built in the late 1880s  in Polk, Lane and Clackamas counties  two were torn down, and the Polk County Courthouse had a new building attached to it.

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As the only freestanding version remaining, some seismic engineers may describe the tall, unreinforced masonry structure as a death building, Haroldson said. Since 1985, there have been 11 assessments on the courthouse, some of which led to alarming findings, but no substantial steps have been taken to reinforce the building, he said.

Some of the engineers in assessing the building have indicated that if we have a moderate earthquake, the core will drop, the building will twist, and well all be crushed inside, he said. Not good.

Haroldson recalled the 1993 Scotts Mills earthquake, a 5.6 magnitude that shook the Willamette Valley and beyond. Locally, it made the courthouse floors move, he said.

That spurred an engineering report, completed in 1999, revealing theres no physical connection between the walls and the floor or the wall and the roof; everything is held in place by friction, Haroldson said.

And not everything is holding. Haroldson cited compression on window frames and floor boards, as well as buckling stucco as signs of the buildings sinking movement.

Mark Tobin with KPFF Consulting Engineers said in an email the intent of a seismic retrofit to whats known as a life safety standard is limiting damage to the point that the risk to the lives of the building occupants and pedestrians is relatively low.

Structural components such as walls, beams, columns, and slabs will exhibit noticeable damage such as cracking and spalling, but there should not be a failure of these elements to the point that they would collapse, according to Tobin.

While the building might have a slight lean to it, it would retain a margin against collapse, he said in the email. This type of damage often makes it so that it becomes impractical to repair and re-occupy the building.

Even in a retrofitted condition, its possible that individual bricks from unreinforced masonry walls could become dislodged and be a falling hazard, according to Tobin, who said he would not expect entire walls or large portions to become dislodged and collapse away from or into the building.

I would also note that the intent of modern building codes for new construction is in line with the above, he wrote. That is, accept that there will be considerable damage to the building, but prevent wholesale collapse of the building and its major systems in order to minimize the risk to life safety.

An assessment showed that 50% of the first and second floor of the courthouse has reached up to 200% of design capacity for stress load, according to Haroldson, who added on the third floor, where his office is located, 30% is up to 500% design capacity for stress load.

To rescue the courthouse, Haroldson said a building essentially would be constructed inside the current structure, which would eat away at already limited space inside. This would protect the people inside during a major earthquake, but the building would probably be left unusable, unlike more modern constructions designed to withstand seismic activity.

The space issue is significant, Haroldson said. For example, the close proximity between victims and the accused inside the courtrooms only magnifies the stressful nature of navigating the justice system. Pushing everyone close together creates greater challenges in an already difficult setting, he said.

I believe we have a moral responsibility to keep our community members safe, Haroldson said. Those who dont have a choice but have to be here, those who are compelled to serve on juries, those who are coming here to do business, we want to make sure we are doing all that we reasonably can to protect our community.

The next steps

The courthouse timeline has two tracks: choosing its new purpose and funding the renovations. Both tracks are still developing, according to McKee. She said once the stakeholder committee has heard from the public about its desires, that would better inform the county about how much money is needed and help identify potential sources.

No funding has been allocated to the courthouse repurpose project as of yet, according to Nick Kurth, Justice System Improvement Program project manager. He said there is federal money available through public-private partnerships, which is a strategic consideration in determining the buildings future.

We do anticipate there will be money asked for in the bond measure for repurposing the courthouse, at least in the form of seed money, Kurth said, referencing a bond measure the county wants to float before voters next year to fund the new justice campus.

The courthouse assessments put a $20 million or so price tag on the seismic upgrade and other aspects, such as Americans with Disabilities Act compliance and some mechanical infrastructure improvements. Kurth said somewhere between $15 million and $20 million would make the building safe, but there could be additional costs depending on its future use.

The justice system improvements are estimated to cost between $106 million and $136 million. County officials are planning a bond measure of up to $100 million for the program. The bond would cost property owners an estimated 80 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. The county has around $26.25 million already set aside.

The bond measure, Kurth said, will be a chance for a community that seems to appreciate history to step up. Pointing to discussions about the Van Buren Bridge as an example, Kurth said people in Benton County can be outspoken about preserving historic structures.

He said demolishing the building rather than repurposing hasnt been considered.

To really make this work, were going to need passionate people, he said. Whether thats preservationists or other community members who want to see this happen. Thats traditionally how other historic structures that have been repurposed come to fruition as something else.  It cant just be the county.

The courthouse is the symbol of Benton County, Haroldson said, a beautiful building that brings the community together. Its served as the backdrop for countless local events, rallies and protests. He said in the end, its up to the community to decide how it wishes to preserve the courthouse and represent justice.

Its the peoples decision, and that I will stand behind, he said.

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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The midterm elections are just around the corner, and Pennsylvania voters this year have some big races to decide. Those include open seats for U.S. Senate and governor, as well as contests for U.S. Congress and the state legislature.

Help shape our election coverage by letting us know what races you are interested in, what you want to know about the candidates, and what issues matter to you most.

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Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro speaks with members of the media during a news conference, in Philadelphia, Tuesday, March 15, 2022. (Matt Rourke/AP)

Democrat Josh Shapiro is rolling out the first tax proposal of his candidacy for governor, saying Friday that he would use surplus state cash and federal pandemic aid to eliminate state taxes on cell phone bills, send payments to car-owning households and expand Pennsylvanias rent and property tax rebate program.

Shapiros plan comes out as gas prices rocket upward, and cutting gas taxes have become a hot topic. It also comes as Pennsylvanias bank accounts are flush from an economy juiced with federal pandemic subsidies and multibillion-dollar surpluses after a decade of stubborn deficits dating back to the recession.

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My plan is fully paid for and would provide real relief for Pennsylvanians today, Shapiro said at a news conference in Pittsburgh.

Under the plan, households could get a $250 payment for each vehicle, paid for by federal pandemic aid.

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At an estimated 8 million passenger vehicles in Pennsylvania, the cost would be $2 billion, but Shapiros campaign said some of those are corporate or government vehicles and wont count.

Eliminating state sales and gross receipts taxes on cell phone bills  a total of 11%  would cost $317 million, Shapiros campaign said.

His proposal to expand the property tax and rent rebate program would roughly triple the cost, by an estimated $424 million, and possibly expand the number of applicants by about 60%.

The combined cost would be footed by surplus state tax collections, Shapiros campaign said.

Applications to the property tax and rent rebate program have declined in recent years as more households exceed income limits that have not changed since 2006, according to state data.

Shapiro said he wants to double the income limit for renters to $30,000 a year and for property owners from $35,000 to $50,000 a year. His plan would increase the maximum standard rebate from $650 to $1,000.

The program received about 467,000 applications in 2019 and is open to people 65 and over, widows and widowers 50 and over and the disabled 18 and over.

Shapiro, Pennsylvanias two-time elected attorney general, has a clear path to the Democratic Partys nomination in the May 17 primary election. Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term and has endorsed Shapiro.

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The Republican field is nine-deep after Tuesdays deadline to file paperwork to get on the primary ballot.

Among Republicans, Bill McSwain has pledged to make a permanent and drastic reduction in Pennsylvanias gas tax, but without offering more details. Pennsylvania is No. 3 in the nation at 58.7 cents per gallon, according to the Tax Foundation, after increasing gas taxes in 2013.

The gas tax is the primary way that Pennsylvania funds road and bridge construction projects.

Another Republican candidate, Jake Corman, proposed cutting gas taxes, reducing the rate by one-third, or nearly 20 cents per gallon, through the end of 2022. Corman, the president pro tempore of the state Senate, is drafting legislation to that effect.

The legislation would tap $500 million in federal pandemic aid to make up for the lost revenue, and would require the state Department of Transportation to borrow $650 million to ensure critical infrastructure projects remain funded during the period of the gas tax reduction, Corman said in a memo to fellow lawmakers.

Shapiro, however, criticized Republican plans to cut gas taxes, saying the experience in other states shows that the savings of a tax cut does not entirely trickle down to motorists.

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In states that have actually cut the gas tax, what weve seen is that the gas and oil executives, theyve kept 30% of that savings, meaning they dont pass that savings on to the consumers, Shapiro said. So while theyre working to put money in the pockets of oil and gas executives, Im working to put money in the pockets of Pennsylvanians who right now are dealing with these high costs.
Pune, March 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Global Quantum Sensors Market Insights, Forecast to 2028:

Global Quantum Sensors Market Research Report 2022-2028 is a historical overview and in-depth study on the current & future market of the Quantum Sensors industry. The report represents a basic overview of the Quantum Sensors market share, competitor segment with a basic introduction of key vendors, top regions, product types, and end industries. This report gives a historical overview of the Quantum Sensors market trends, growth, revenue, capacity, cost structure, and key drivers analysis. The report further investigates and assesses the current landscape of the ever-evolving business sector and the present and future effects of COVID-19 on the Quantum Sensors market.

A quantum sensor is a quantum device that responds to a stimulus. Usually this refers to a sensor which has quantized energy levels, uses quantum coherence to measure physical quantity, or uses entanglement to improve measurements beyond what can be done with classical sensors.

Get a Sample PDF of report - https://www.industryresearch.biz/enquiry/request-sample/20222448

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the global Quantum Sensors market size is estimated to be worth US$ 473.2 million in 2022 and is forecast to a readjusted size of US$ 734.8 million by 2028 with a CAGR of 7.6% during the review period.

In terms of production side, this report researches the Quantum Sensors capacity, production, growth rate, market share by manufacturers and by region (region level and country level), from 2017 to 2022, and forecast to 2028.

The market analysis goes into greater detail on the pandemic's effects, and other useful information like the CAGR, product pricing list, and each segment share. In addition, the research includes a rigorous review of the major providers and the most recent advancements. Consumers who want to participate in the global market will find useful information in this research. Furthermore, this research study takes into account the factors that would limit market expansion and establish a strong link during the projection period.

The Major Players in the Quantum Sensors Market include: The research covers the current Quantum Sensors market size and its growth rates based on 5-year records with company outline of key players/manufacturers:

Muquans SAS

Microsemi Corp.

AOSense, Inc

GWR Instruments Inc

Oscilloquartz S.A.

MSquared Lasers Ltd

Cryogenic Limited

Supracon AG

TO UNDERSTAND HOW COVID-19 IMPACT IS COVERED IN THIS REPORT

On the basis of product type, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share, and growth rate of each type, primarily split into:

Atomic Clock

Gravity Sensor

Magnetic Sensor

Rotation Sensors

Imaging Sensors

Temperature Sensors

On the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share, and growth rate for each application, including:

Defense

Oil & Gas

Transportation

Construction

Medical & Healthcare

IT & Telecommunication

Agriculture

Others

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Some of the key questions answered in this report:

What is the global ( North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East & Africa ) sales value, production value, consumption value, import and export of Quantum Sensors?

) sales value, production value, consumption value, import and export of Quantum Sensors? Who are the global key manufacturers of the Quantum Sensors Industry? How is their operating situation (capacity, production, sales, price, cost, gross, and revenue)?

What are the Quantum Sensors market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the global Quantum Sensors Industry?

Which application/end-user or product type may seek incremental growth prospects? What is the market share of each type and application?

What focused approach and constraints are holding the Quantum Sensors market?

What are the different sales, marketing, and distribution channels in the global industry?

Why You Should Buy This Report?

To gain an in-depth understanding of Quantum Sensors

To identify the on-going trends and anticipated growth in the next five years

To help industry consultants, Quantum Sensors distributors and other stakeholders align their market-centric strategies

To obtain research-based business decisions and add weight to presentations and marketing material

To gain competitive knowledge of leading market players

Purchase this report (Price 4900 USD for a single-user license) - https://www.industryresearch.biz/purchase/20222448

Years considered for this report:

Historical Years: 2017-2021

Base Year: 2021

Estimated Year: 2022

Quantum Sensors Market Forecast Period: 2022-2028

Major Points from TOC:

1 Study Coverage

1.1 Quantum Sensors Product Introduction

1.2 Market by Type

1.2.1 Global Quantum Sensors Market Size by Type, 2017 VS 2021 VS 2028

1.3 Market by Application

1.3.1 Global Quantum Sensors Market Size by Application, 2017 VS 2021 VS 2028

1.4 Study Objectives

1.5 Years Considered

2 Global Quantum Sensors Production

2.1 Global Quantum Sensors Production Capacity (2017-2028)

2.2 Global Quantum Sensors Production by Region: 2017 VS 2021 VS 2028

2.3 Global Quantum Sensors Production by Region

2.3.1 Global Quantum Sensors Historic Production by Region (2017-2022)

2.3.2 Global Quantum Sensors Forecasted Production by Region (2023-2028)

2.4 North America

2.5 Europe

2.6 China

2.7 Japan

2.8 South Korea

2.9 India

3 Global Quantum Sensors Sales in Volume & Value Estimates and Forecasts

3.1 Global Quantum Sensors Sales Estimates and Forecasts 2017-2028

3.2 Global Quantum Sensors Revenue Estimates and Forecasts 2017-2028

3.3 Global Quantum Sensors Revenue by Region: 2017 VS 2021 VS 2028

3.4 Global Quantum Sensors Sales by Region

3.4.1 Global Quantum Sensors Sales by Region (2017-2022)

3.4.2 Global Sales Quantum Sensors by Region (2023-2028)

3.5 Global Quantum Sensors Revenue by Region

3.5.1 Global Quantum Sensors Revenue by Region (2017-2022)

3.5.2 Global Quantum Sensors Revenue by Region (2023-2028)

3.6 North America

3.7 Europe

3.8 Asia-Pacific

3.9 Latin America

3.10 Middle East & Africa

4 Competition by Manufactures

4.1 Global Quantum Sensors Production Capacity by Manufacturers

4.2 Global Quantum Sensors Sales by Manufacturers

4.2.1 Global Quantum Sensors Sales by Manufacturers (2017-2022)

4.2.2 Global Quantum Sensors Sales Market Share by Manufacturers (2017-2022)

4.2.3 Global Top 10 and Top 5 Largest Manufacturers of Quantum Sensors in 2021

4.3 Global Quantum Sensors Revenue by Manufacturers

4.3.1 Global Quantum Sensors Revenue by Manufacturers (2017-2022)

4.3.2 Global Quantum Sensors Revenue Market Share by Manufacturers (2017-2022)

4.3.3 Global Top 10 and Top 5 Companies by Quantum Sensors Revenue in 2021

4.4 Global Quantum Sensors Sales Price by Manufacturers

4.5 Analysis of Competitive Landscape

4.5.1 Manufacturers Market Concentration Ratio (CR5 and HHI)

4.5.2 Global Quantum Sensors Market Share by Company Type (Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3)

4.5.3 Global Quantum Sensors Manufacturers Geographical Distribution

4.6 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion Plans

5 Market Size by Type

5.1 Global Quantum Sensors Sales by Type

5.1.1 Global Quantum Sensors Historical Sales by Type (2017-2022)

5.1.2 Global Quantum Sensors Forecasted Sales by Type (2023-2028)

5.1.3 Global Quantum Sensors Sales Market Share by Type (2017-2028)

5.2 Global Quantum Sensors Revenue by Type

5.2.1 Global Quantum Sensors Historical Revenue by Type (2017-2022)

5.2.2 Global Quantum Sensors Forecasted Revenue by Type (2023-2028)

5.2.3 Global Quantum Sensors Revenue Market Share by Type (2017-2028)

5.3 Global Quantum Sensors Price by Type

5.3.1 Global Quantum Sensors Price by Type (2017-2022)

5.3.2 Global Quantum Sensors Price Forecast by Type (2023-2028)

6 Market Size by Application

6.1 Global Quantum Sensors Sales by Application

6.1.1 Global Quantum Sensors Historical Sales by Application (2017-2022)

6.1.2 Global Quantum Sensors Forecasted Sales by Application (2023-2028)

6.1.3 Global Quantum Sensors Sales Market Share by Application (2017-2028)

6.2 Global Quantum Sensors Revenue by Application

6.2.1 Global Quantum Sensors Historical Revenue by Application (2017-2022)

6.2.2 Global Quantum Sensors Forecasted Revenue by Application (2023-2028)

6.2.3 Global Quantum Sensors Revenue Market Share by Application (2017-2028)

6.3 Global Quantum Sensors Price by Application

6.3.1 Global Quantum Sensors Price by Application (2017-2022)

6.3.2 Global Quantum Sensors Price Forecast by Application (2023-2028)

7 North America

8 Europe

9 Asia Pacific

10 Latin America

11 Middle East and Africa

Continue..

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Study II: Global Tunnel Sensor Market Insights, Forecast to 2028:

Tunnel sensor technology refers to the measurement of flow velocity and flow direction inside tunnels or exhaust ventilation ducts. The measuring devices available in the tunnel sensor technology segment are vital to ensuring efficient and economical tunnel ventilation control.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the global Tunnel Sensor market size is estimated to be worth US$ 3784.6 million in 2022 and is forecast to a readjusted size of US$ 4788.8 million by 2028 with a CAGR of 4.0% during the review period.

The Major Players in the Tunnel Sensor Market include: The research covers the current Tunnel Sensor market size and its growth rates based on 5-year records with company outline of key players/manufacturers:



SICK AG (Germany)

Altech Corporation (US)

Tunnel Sensors Ltd (UK)

Ecotech (Australia)

CODEL International Ltd (UK)

Advance Technologies Asia (ATA) (Malaysia)

Geonica (SPain)

PCB Piezotronics Inc. (US)

DURAG GROUP (Germany)

SAGE Automation (Australia)

Bristol Industrial & Research Associates Ltd (Uk)

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The report thoroughly covers evaluation of current opportunities along with the assessment of demand to supply ratio and major challenges and business threats. In terms of sales side, this report focuses on the sales of Tunnel Sensor by region (region level and country level), by company, by Type and by Application from 2017 to 2022 and forecast to 2028.

On the basis of product type, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share, and growth rate of each type, primarily split into:



Visibility Monitoring

Air Flow Monitoring

Air Quality Monitoring

Filter Monitoring

Fire Monitoring

Others

On the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share, and growth rate for each application, including:

Road Tunnels

Rail Tunnels

Others

The Tunnel Sensor Market competitive landscape provides details and data information by players. The report offers a comprehensive analysis and accurate statistics on revenue by the player for the period 2017-2022. It also offers detailed analysis supported by reliable statistics on revenue (global and regional level) by players for the period 2017-2022. Details included are company description, major business, company total revenue and the sales, revenue generated in Tunnel Sensor business, the date to enter into the Tunnel Sensor market, Tunnel Sensor product introduction, recent developments, etc.

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What does this report deliver?

Comprehensive analysis of the global as well as regional markets of the Tunnel Sensor market.

Complete coverage of all the segments in the Tunnel Sensor market to analyse the trends, developments in the global market and forecast of market size up to 2028.

Comprehensive analysis of the companies operating in the global Tunnel Sensor market. The company profile includes analysis of product portfolio, revenue, SWOT analysis and the latest developments of the company.

The growth matrix presents an analysis of the product segments and geographies that market players should focus to invest, consolidate, expand and/or diversify.

With tables and figures helping analyse worldwide Global Tunnel Sensor market trends, this research provides key statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.



Some Points from TOC:

1 Study Coverage

2 Global Tunnel Sensor Production

3 Global Tunnel Sensor Sales in Volume & Value Estimates and Forecasts

4 Competition by Manufactures

5 Market Size by Type

6 Market Size by Application

7 North America

8 Europe

9 Asia Pacific

10 Latin America

11 Middle East and Africa

Continue..

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About Us:

Market is changing rapidly with the ongoing expansion of the industry. Advancement in technology has provided todays businesses with multifaceted advantages resulting in daily economic shifts. Thus, it is very important for a company to comprehend the patterns of the market movements in order to strategize better. An efficient strategy offers the companies a head start in planning and an edge over the competitors. Industry Research is a credible source for gaining the market reports that will provide you with the lead your business needs.
Zurich, Switzerland, March 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hitachi Energy, the global technology and market leader in power grids, announced today that it has won an order from Suzano, the worlds leading eucalyptus pulp producer and one of Latin Americas largest paper producers, to design and deliver a complete grid connection solution for the companys new pulp mill in Brazil.

Suzanos new factory will be the worlds largest single-line eucalyptus pulp mill and Brazils first pulp production facility to be fossil fuel free when completed in the second half of 2024. It will have an annual production capacity of 2.5 million tons and will increase Suzanos output by 20 percent. About half of the electricity generated will be transferred to the national power grid, enough to supply around 2.3 million people for one month.

The two companies have worked closely together on grid solutions for Suzanos fleet of mills over the past 20 years. In this spirit of collaboration and co-creation, Hitachi Energy has contributed its pioneering technologies and its unique system integration capabilities, engineering expertise and extensive experience of local grid code requirements. This enables Hitachi Energy to design and supply complete solutions with exceptional levels of reliability, that are fundamental for these types of application.

We are honored and delighted to be working with Suzano again on this landmark project that sets a new benchmark in sustainable pulp production and shares its emission-free electricity with society at large, said Niklas Persson, Managing Director of Hitachi Energys Grid Integration business. This is another example of how our solutions are advancing the world's energy system to be more sustainable, flexible and secure.

The construction of the new factory is the biggest investment in Suzanos history, so it is vital that the grid connection through which we generate additional revenue from our surplus energy operates at outstanding levels of reliability and availability, said Mauricio Miranda, Engineering Director at Suzano. We chose Hitachi Energy as our technology partner based on more than 20 years of successful collaboration and consistent delivery of innovative, reliable solutions and exceptional project execution.

Hitachi Energy will supply a state-of-the-art grid connection solution to enable the surplus renewable power to be transferred reliably, safely and securely into the national power grid. The solutions compact footprint is based on advanced gas-insulated switchgear and offers excellent performance in terms of efficiency and availability, while minimizing the total lifecycle cost and CO2 footprint.

To secure reliability and availability, key elements of the grid connection, such as the transformers will be equipped with Hitachi Energys digital monitoring systems to provide real-time data and performance insights and enable predictive maintenance. Hitachi Energy will provide a complete solution across the value chain, from system studies and grid code compliance to design and engineering, supply and installation and commissioning.

Hitachi Energy is the worlds leading provider of grid connections and power quality solutions, with an installed base of more than 10,000 projects worldwide, over 800 of which connect renewable energy sources to the grid.

About Hitachi Energy Ltd.

Hitachi Energy is a global technology leader that is advancing a sustainable energy future for all. We serve customers in the utility, industry and infrastructure sectors with innovative solutions and services across the value chain. Together with customers and partners, we pioneer technologies and enable the digital transformation required to accelerate the energy transition towards a carbon-neutral future. We are advancing the worlds energy system to become more sustainable, flexible and secure whilst balancing social, environmental and economic value. Hitachi Energy has a proven track record and unparalleled installed base in more than 140 countries. Headquartered in Switzerland, we employ around 38,000 people in 90 countries and generate business volumes of approximately $10 billion USD.

About Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, contributes to a sustainable society with a higher quality of life by driving innovation through data and technology as the Social Innovation Business. Hitachi is focused on strengthening its contribution to the Environment, the Resilience of business and social infrastructure as well as comprehensive programs to enhance Security & Safety. Hitachi resolves the issues faced by customers and society across six domains: IT, Energy, Mobility, Industry, Smart Life and Automotive Systems through its proprietary Lumada solutions. The companys consolidated revenues for fiscal year 2020 (ended March 31, 2021) totaled 8,729.1 billion yen ($78.6 billion), with 871 consolidated subsidiaries and approximately 350,000 employees worldwide. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at https://www.hitachi.com.

Attachment
Pune, India, March 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global carbon nanotubes market size is anticipated to reach USD 10.52 billion by 2028 and exhibit a CAGR of 10.2% during the forecast period. Carbon nanotubes find their applications requiring durability, thermal conductivity, electrical conductivity, and high strength. The growing demand for electronics and electrical products is expected to boost the market growth. Similarly, the expansion of the aerospace industry is anticipated to bolster market growth. Fortune Business InsightsTM has presented this information in the report titled, Carbon Nanotubes (CNT) Market, 2021-2028. The market size stood at USD 4.94 billion in 2020.

The swift commercialization and upscale of installed capacities with technological advancements to develop advanced products and improve overall product quality is anticipated to be a major trend that is likely to foster the growth of the market in the coming years.

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Key Players in the Global Carbon Nanotubes Market are:

Arkema SA (Colombes, France)

Nanocyl SA (Sambreville, Belgium)

Nanoshell LLC (Utah, U.S.)

Carbon Solutions, Inc. (California, U.S.)

Hyperion Catalysis International (Massachusetts, U.S.)

SHOWA DENKO K.K. (Tokyo, Japan)

Klean Commodities (Vancouver, Canada)

Cabot Corporation (Massachusetts, U.S.)

OCSiAl (Leudelange, Luxembourg)

NoPo Nanotechnologies (Bangalore, India)

Jiangsu Cnano Technology Co., Ltd. (Zhenjiang, China)

COVID-19 Impact-

The unanticipated emergence of the coronavirus outbreak has hampered the growth of several markets and industries. The temporary closure of manufacturing facilities has affected the growth of the market. The low available workforce and the swift immigration of the workforce due to the stringent lockdowns and curfews have negatively impacted the markets growth. Additionally, the disruptions in the supply chain networks and the ban on global trade have collectively aggravated the situation. Nonetheless, the major economies are rapidly recovering from the pandemic due to the introduction of efficacious vaccines. The market is expected to witness rapid development post-pandemic.

Segmentation-

On the basis of product, the market is bifurcated into multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT).

On the basis of application, the market is segmented into energy, electrical & electronics, plastics & composites, and others.

Geographically, the market is classified into Europe, Asia Pacific, North America, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa.

Drivers & Restraints-

Expansion of Aerospace Industry to Aid Market Growth

The engineers at MIT produced an advanced microprocessor from CNT transistors in August 2019. It is a faster and greener alternative to its conventional silicon counterparts. The modern microprocessor is anticipated to possess ten times more efficiency and speed than silicon. This development is likely to augment the markets growth in the forthcoming years.

The aerospace industry uses nanomaterials for their exemplary properties. The aerospace industry is emphasizing weight reduction of aerospace components to reduce fuel consumption, and the expansion of the aerospace industry is likely to stimulate the global carbon nanotubes (CNT) market growth.

Carbon nanotubes find their applications requiring durability, thermal conductivity, electrical conductivity, and high strength. They are mainly used in printed circuit boards and semiconductors. Electronics manufacturing is increasing in Singapore, South Korea, Japan, and China. This is likely to amplify the market growth in the coming years.

However, the growing concerns over the environmental impact caused by these nanotubes may hinder the market growth.

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Regional Insights-

Government Initiatives for Green Energy Adoption to Boost Growth in North America

Asia Pacific is projected to gain maximum market share due to the low production costs and the wide availability of raw materials. The rising demand for aerospace, electronics, automotive, and construction industries across Japan, India, Malaysia, and China is anticipated to boost the growth of the market.

North America is anticipated to attain striking growth rate in the global CNT market share. The increasing investment of polymers and composites research and the rising demand for polymer production to improve the electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties of bulk products are expected to boost the growth of the region. Moreover, the government regulations to promote green energy adoption shall aid market growth.

Europe is expected to witness substantial growth due to stringent regulations for carbon nanotubes production and usage.

Report Coverage-

Highlights the key trends and the recent technological advancements in the market.

Assesses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Envisages Porters Five Forces Analysis for an accurate market prediction.

Provides vital information on the markets competitive landscape and key player rankings.

Provides information on recent industry developments.

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Competitive Landscape-

Key Players Adopt Ingenious Growth Strategies to Strengthen Market Positions

The market is highly competitive and concentrated. The top market players are Nonoshell LCC, SHOWA DENKO K.K., Nanocyl, and Arkema SA. The key players operating in the market emphasize lowering manufacturing costs. They adopt ingenious growth strategies such as partnerships, acquisitions, collaborations, mergers, new product launches, technological advancements, and others to accumulate growth and strengthen their market positions.

For instance, in January 2020, Cabon unveiled its plans to acquire Shenzhen Sanshun Nano New Materials for USD 115 million. The acquisition will help both companies to produce carbon blacks and nanostructures for energy storage.

Detailed Table of Content:

Introduction Research Scope Market Segmentation Research Methodology Definitions and Assumptions

Executive Summary

Market Dynamics Market Drivers Market Restraints Market Opportunities

Key Insights Key Industry Developments Mergers, Acquisitions and Partnerships Latest technological Advancements Porters Five Forces Analysis Supply Chain Analysis

Qualitative Insights Impact of Covid-19 on the carbon nanotubes (CNT) Market Steps Taken by the Industry/Government/Companies to Overcome the Impact Potential Opportunities due to COVID-19 Outbreak



TOC Continued!

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Read Related Insights:

Carbon Black Market Size, Share & COVID-19 Impact Analysis, By Type (Furnace Black, Channel Black, Thermal Black, Acetylene Black, Others), Grade (Standard Grade, Specialty Grade), Application (Tire, Non-Tire Rubber, Inks & Coatings, Plastic, Others), and Regional Forecast, 2020-2027

Nanocomposites Market Size, Share & COVID-19 Impact Analysis, By Type (Polymer, Metal, Ceramic, Others), By Product (Carbon Nanotubes, Nanoclay, Graphene, Nanofiber, Others), By Application (Packaging, Electrical & Electronics, Automotive, Aerospace & Defense, Others), and Regional Forecast, 2020-2027

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Pune, March 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- "Final Report will add the analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on this industry."

Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Market Research Report 2022-2028 is a historical overview and in-depth study on the current & future market of the Electronic Chemical and Materials industry. The report represents a basic overview of the Electronic Chemical and Materials market share, competitor segment with a basic introduction of key vendors, top regions, product types, and end industries. This report gives a historical overview of the Electronic Chemical and Materials market trends, growth, revenue, capacity, cost structure, and key drivers analysis. The report further investigates and assesses the current landscape of the ever-evolving business sector and the present and future effects of COVID-19 on the Electronic Chemical and Materials market.

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Electronic Chemicals and materials are used as the main components in various electronic applications. This includes all chemicals and materials used in the manufacture, manufacture and packaging of electronic equipment such as semiconductors, Integrated Circuits, printed circuit boards, Flat panel display, etc.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the global Electronic Chemical and Materials market size is estimated to be worth US$ 63950 million in 2022 and is forecast to a readjusted size of US$ 83520 million by 2028 with a CAGR of 4.6% during the review period.

The market analysis goes into greater detail on the pandemic's effects, and other useful information like the CAGR, product pricing list, and each segment share. In addition, the research includes a rigorous review of the major providers and the most recent advancements. Consumers who want to participate in the global market will find useful information in this research. Furthermore, this research study takes into account the factors that would limit market expansion and establish a strong link during the projection period.

The Major Players in the Electronic Chemical and Materials Market include: The research covers the current Electronic Chemical and Materials market size and its growth rates based on 5-year records with company outline of key players/manufacturers:

Kanto Chemical

Hitachi Chemical

BASF

DowDuPont

Solvay

Covestro

3M

Eastman

Avantor

Evonik Industries

Linde Gas

Merck Group

Honeywell International Inc.

KMG Chemicals

Air Liquide

Shin-Etsu Chemical

Songwon

Lord

Honshu Chemical Industry

Siltronic AG

TO UNDERSTAND HOW COVID-19 IMPACT IS COVERED IN THIS REPORT

The report thoroughly covers evaluation of current opportunities along with the assessment of demand to supply ratio and major challenges and business threats. In terms of sales side, this report focuses on the sales of Electronic Chemical and Materials by region (region level and country level), by company, by Type and by Application from 2017 to 2022 and forecast to 2028.

On the basis of product type, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share, and growth rate of each type, primarily split into:

Silicon Wafers

Wet Chemicals

Specialty Gases

CMP Slurries

Conductive Polymers

Photoresist Chemicals

PCB Laminates

Others

On the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share, and growth rate for each application, including:

Semiconductor and IC

Photovoltaic

Displays

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The Electronic Chemical and Materials Market competitive landscape provides details and data information by players. The report offers a comprehensive analysis and accurate statistics on revenue by the player for the period 2017-2022. It also offers detailed analysis supported by reliable statistics on revenue (global and regional level) by players for the period 2017-2022. Details included are company description, major business, company total revenue and the sales, revenue generated in Electronic Chemical and Materials business, the date to enter into the Electronic Chemical and Materials market, Electronic Chemical and Materials product introduction, recent developments, etc.

What does this report deliver?

Comprehensive analysis of the global as well as regional markets of the Electronic Chemical and Materials market.

Complete coverage of all the segments in the Electronic Chemical and Materials market to analyse the trends, developments in the global market and forecast of market size up to 2028.

Comprehensive analysis of the companies operating in the global Electronic Chemical and Materials market. The company profile includes analysis of product portfolio, revenue, SWOT analysis and the latest developments of the company.

The growth matrix presents an analysis of the product segments and geographies that market players should focus to invest, consolidate, expand and/or diversify.

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Some of the key questions answered in this report:

What is the global ( North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East & Africa ) sales value, production value, consumption value, import and export of Electronic Chemical and Materials?

) sales value, production value, consumption value, import and export of Electronic Chemical and Materials? Who are the global key manufacturers of the Electronic Chemical and Materials Industry? How is their operating situation (capacity, production, sales, price, cost, gross, and revenue)?

What are the Electronic Chemical and Materials market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the global Electronic Chemical and Materials Industry?

Which application/end-user or product type may seek incremental growth prospects? What is the market share of each type and application?

What focused approach and constraints are holding the Electronic Chemical and Materials market?

What are the different sales, marketing, and distribution channels in the global industry?

Why You Should Buy This Report?

To gain an in-depth understanding of Electronic Chemical and Materials

To identify the on-going trends and anticipated growth in the next five years

To help industry consultants, Electronic Chemical and Materials distributors and other stakeholders align their market-centric strategies

To obtain research-based business decisions and add weight to presentations and marketing material

To gain competitive knowledge of leading market players

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Years considered for this report:

Historical Years: 2017-2021

Base Year: 2021

Estimated Year: 2022

Electronic Chemical and Materials Market Forecast Period: 2022-2028

With tables and figures helping analyse worldwide Global Electronic Chemical and Materials market trends, this research provides key statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.

Key Points from TOC:

1 Study Coverage

1.1 Electronic Chemical and Materials Product Introduction

1.2 Market by Type

1.2.1 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Market Size by Type, 2017 VS 2021 VS 2028

1.3 Market by Application

1.3.1 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Market Size by Application, 2017 VS 2021 VS 2028

1.4 Study Objectives

1.5 Years Considered

2 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Production

2.1 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Production Capacity (2017-2028)

2.2 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Production by Region: 2017 VS 2021 VS 2028

2.3 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Production by Region

2.3.1 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Historic Production by Region (2017-2022)

2.3.2 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Forecasted Production by Region (2023-2028)

2.4 North America

2.5 Europe

2.6 China

2.7 Japan

2.8 South Korea

2.9 India

3 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Sales in Volume & Value Estimates and Forecasts

3.1 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Sales Estimates and Forecasts 2017-2028

3.2 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Revenue Estimates and Forecasts 2017-2028

3.3 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Revenue by Region: 2017 VS 2021 VS 2028

3.4 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Sales by Region

3.4.1 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Sales by Region (2017-2022)

3.4.2 Global Sales Electronic Chemical and Materials by Region (2023-2028)

3.5 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Revenue by Region

3.5.1 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Revenue by Region (2017-2022)

3.5.2 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Revenue by Region (2023-2028)

3.6 North America

3.7 Europe

3.8 Asia-Pacific

3.9 Latin America

3.10 Middle East & Africa

4 Competition by Manufactures

4.1 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Production Capacity by Manufacturers

4.2 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Sales by Manufacturers

4.2.1 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Sales by Manufacturers (2017-2022)

4.2.2 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Sales Market Share by Manufacturers (2017-2022)

4.2.3 Global Top 10 and Top 5 Largest Manufacturers of Electronic Chemical and Materials in 2021

4.3 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Revenue by Manufacturers

4.3.1 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Revenue by Manufacturers (2017-2022)

4.3.2 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Revenue Market Share by Manufacturers (2017-2022)

4.3.3 Global Top 10 and Top 5 Companies by Electronic Chemical and Materials Revenue in 2021

4.4 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Sales Price by Manufacturers

4.5 Analysis of Competitive Landscape

4.5.1 Manufacturers Market Concentration Ratio (CR5 and HHI)

4.5.2 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Market Share by Company Type (Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3)

4.5.3 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Manufacturers Geographical Distribution

4.6 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion Plans

5 Market Size by Type

5.1 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Sales by Type

5.1.1 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Historical Sales by Type (2017-2022)

5.1.2 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Forecasted Sales by Type (2023-2028)

5.1.3 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Sales Market Share by Type (2017-2028)

5.2 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Revenue by Type

5.2.1 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Historical Revenue by Type (2017-2022)

5.2.2 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Forecasted Revenue by Type (2023-2028)

5.2.3 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Revenue Market Share by Type (2017-2028)

5.3 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Price by Type

5.3.1 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Price by Type (2017-2022)

5.3.2 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Price Forecast by Type (2023-2028)

6 Market Size by Application

6.1 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Sales by Application

6.1.1 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Historical Sales by Application (2017-2022)

6.1.2 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Forecasted Sales by Application (2023-2028)

6.1.3 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Sales Market Share by Application (2017-2028)

6.2 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Revenue by Application

6.2.1 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Historical Revenue by Application (2017-2022)

6.2.2 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Forecasted Revenue by Application (2023-2028)

6.2.3 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Revenue Market Share by Application (2017-2028)

6.3 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Price by Application

6.3.1 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Price by Application (2017-2022)

6.3.2 Global Electronic Chemical and Materials Price Forecast by Application (2023-2028)

7 North America

7.1 North America Electronic Chemical and Materials Market Size by Type

7.1.1 North America Electronic Chemical and Materials Sales by Type (2017-2028)

7.1.2 North America Electronic Chemical and Materials Revenue by Type (2017-2028)

7.2 North America Electronic Chemical and Materials Market Size by Application

7.2.1 North America Electronic Chemical and Materials Sales by Application (2017-2028)

7.2.2 North America Electronic Chemical and Materials Revenue by Application (2017-2028)

7.3 North America Electronic Chemical and Materials Sales by Country

7.3.1 North America Electronic Chemical and Materials Sales by Country (2017-2028)

7.3.2 North America Electronic Chemical and Materials Revenue by Country (2017-2028)

7.3.3 U.S.

7.3.4 Canada

8 Europe

8.1 Europe Electronic Chemical and Materials Market Size by Type

8.1.1 Europe Electronic Chemical and Materials Sales by Type (2017-2028)

8.1.2 Europe Electronic Chemical and Materials Revenue by Type (2017-2028)

8.2 Europe Electronic Chemical and Materials Market Size by Application

8.2.1 Europe Electronic Chemical and Materials Sales by Application (2017-2028)

8.2.2 Europe Electronic Chemical and Materials Revenue by Application (2017-2028)

8.3 Europe Electronic Chemical and Materials Sales by Country

8.3.1 Europe Electronic Chemical and Materials Sales by Country (2017-2028)

8.3.2 Europe Electronic Chemical and Materials Revenue by Country (2017-2028)

8.3.3 Germany

8.3.4 France

8.3.5 U.K.

8.3.6 Italy

8.3.7 Russia

9 Asia Pacific

9.1 Asia Pacific Electronic Chemical and Materials Market Size by Type

9.1.1 Asia Pacific Electronic Chemical and Materials Sales by Type (2017-2028)

9.1.2 Asia Pacific Electronic Chemical and Materials Revenue by Type (2017-2028)

9.2 Asia Pacific Electronic Chemical and Materials Market Size by Application

9.2.1 Asia Pacific Electronic Chemical and Materials Sales by Application (2017-2028)

9.2.2 Asia Pacific Electronic Chemical and Materials Revenue by Application (2017-2028)

9.3 Asia Pacific Electronic Chemical and Materials Sales by Region

9.3.1 Asia Pacific Electronic Chemical and Materials Sales by Region (2017-2028)

9.3.2 Asia Pacific Electronic Chemical and Materials Revenue by Region (2017-2028)

9.3.3 China

9.3.4 Japan

9.3.5 South Korea

9.3.6 India

9.3.7 Australia

9.3.8 Taiwan

9.3.9 Indonesia

9.3.10 Thailand

9.3.11 Malaysia

9.3.12 Philippines

10 Latin America

10.1 Latin America Electronic Chemical and Materials Market Size by Type

10.1.1 Latin America Electronic Chemical and Materials Sales by Type (2017-2028)

10.1.2 Latin America Electronic Chemical and Materials Revenue by Type (2017-2028)

10.2 Latin America Electronic Chemical and Materials Market Size by Application

10.2.1 Latin America Electronic Chemical and Materials Sales by Application (2017-2028)

10.2.2 Latin America Electronic Chemical and Materials Revenue by Application (2017-2028)

10.3 Latin America Electronic Chemical and Materials Sales by Country

10.3.1 Latin America Electronic Chemical and Materials Sales by Country (2017-2028)

10.3.2 Latin America Electronic Chemical and Materials Revenue by Country (2017-2028)

10.3.3 Mexico

10.3.4 Brazil

10.3.5 Argentina

11 Middle East and Africa

11.1 Middle East and Africa Electronic Chemical and Materials Market Size by Type

11.1.1 Middle East and Africa Electronic Chemical and Materials Sales by Type (2017-2028)

11.1.2 Middle East and Africa Electronic Chemical and Materials Revenue by Type (2017-2028)

11.2 Middle East and Africa Electronic Chemical and Materials Market Size by Application

11.2.1 Middle East and Africa Electronic Chemical and Materials Sales by Application (2017-2028)

11.2.2 Middle East and Africa Electronic Chemical and Materials Revenue by Application (2017-2028)

11.3 Middle East and Africa Electronic Chemical and Materials Sales by Country

11.3.1 Middle East and Africa Electronic Chemical and Materials Sales by Country (2017-2028)

11.3.2 Middle East and Africa Electronic Chemical and Materials Revenue by Country (2017-2028)

11.3.3 Turkey

11.3.4 Saudi Arabia

11.3.5 U.A.E

Continue..

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About Us:

Market is changing rapidly with the ongoing expansion of the industry. Advancement in technology has provided todays businesses with multifaceted advantages resulting in daily economic shifts. Thus, it is very important for a company to comprehend the patterns of the market movements in order to strategize better. An efficient strategy offers the companies a head start in planning and an edge over the competitors. Industry Research is a credible source for gaining the market reports that will provide you with the lead your business needs.
PORTLAND, Maine, March 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The sustainable leather goods brand Rogue Industries today announced the launch of their Ukraine Clutch. The women's accessory was made to raise funds for, and show solidarity with, the people of Ukraine. Part of their Made in USA collection, the leather and canvas wristlet is made in the colors of the Ukrainian flag.

With every clutch purchase, Rogue Industries will donate $25.00 USD to World Central Kitchen, the relief agency which has already provided over one million meals to refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine. "The team at World Central Kitchen is doing brave and important work providing assistance to the people of Ukraine. We're proud to do our small part to support their work," says Wells Lyons, co-owner at Rogue Industries.

The Ukraine Clutch is made at Rogue's solar-powered workshop in Standish, Maine. Featuring top-grain leather and durable cotton canvas, the piece is designed to last for years. The Ukraine Clutch is available for pre-order at $78.00 USD, on Rogue's website, www.rogue-industries.com.

"In these trying times, it is imperative that we remember that sometimes a seemingly small act can collectively have a profound impact. This is our time to do what we can, while we can, for a country that fully embraces the ideals of democracy," says Michael Lyons, Rogue's founder. Adds the company's VP of Operations, Mary Anne Hildreth, "We wish peace for the people of Ukraine and everyone in the world that this conflict affects. We hope we are helping in some small way to bring solace and peace."

About the Company: Rogue Industries exists to make some of the best-designed leather accessories in the world while making the world a better place. The company does this by supporting nonprofits doing exceptional work, by using the most sustainable leathers available, and by partnering with manufacturers selected for their commitments to fair wages and workers' rights. Learn more at www.rogue-industries.com.

Press Contact: Wells Lyons

Rogue Industries

650 Cape Road, Standish, ME 04084

1-207-274-1221

wells@rogue-industries.com

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Image 1: Ukraine Clutch from Rogue Industries





Ukraine Clutch from Rogue Industries









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SERPENT RIVER FIRST NATION, Ontario, March 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- This World Water Day, Mamaweswen, The North Shore Tribal Council (NSTC), with seven member First Nations in Northern Ontario and Canadian charity Water First Education & Training Inc. announce their partnership to deliver the NSTC Water First Internship, a drinking water treatment and environmental water science training program for young Indigenous adults. Approximately 14 interns will be recruited from seven participating First Nations communities across the tribal councils region to pursue Operator in Training (OIT), Entry Level Course (ELC), and Water Quality Analyst (WQA) certifications, which help trainees begin their careers in the water field.



The collaboration will address the local community-identified need for the recruitment and training of more young adults to the field of water science. The comprehensive internship and certification program helps increase local, technical capacity in the water management field, not only for today, but for future generations as well.

Angus Toulouse, Mamaweswen CEO, said, We started discussing this potential project with Water First in the fall of 2021. Today, we are excited to announce a partnership that will help recruit and train young Indigenous adults in the field of drinking water treatment. Current operators in our member communities do a terrific job with the resources available to them, and its recognized that more young, local operators are needed to help continue providing safe drinking water to our residents. With their focus on running local water plants, our operators are simply too busy to also design and deliver a comprehensive recruitment, training and tutoring program like the one Water First offers. Through this important partnership, we look forward to supporting the next generation of local water operators who will help protect the health and wellbeing of their communities and families.

The NSTC Water First Internship is partly funded through North Shore Tribal Council and member First Nation program resources, together with the support of Water Firsts donors. During the Internship program, commencing summer of 2022, each intern can accumulate approximately 1,800 hours of on-the-job experience in water treatment plants, which is a part of the certification process. Through the 15-month program, interns pursue provincial certifications, which can lead to work in both drinking water treatment and the environmental water field.

The Internship program is designed to support young Indigenous adults to obtain the provincial water treatment certifications and experience required to become water treatment plant operators. Through a mix of locally based trainings and hands-on experience in water plants, the interns learn and apply the skills needed to perform an important role for communities in addressing local water challenges, both now and in the future. We look forward to partnering with Mamaweswen to implement this critical program, said John Millar, executive director at Water First.

To date, Water First has successfully implemented three internship partnerships including: one in partnership with eight First Nations in the Georgian Bay area that will see interns graduate in the fall of 2022, and two completed internships with the Bimose Tribal Council and eleven affiliated First Nations, and the pilot on Manitoulin Island in partnership with seven First Nations through the United Chiefs and Councils of Mnidoo Mnising, Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory, and the Anishinabek Nation.

Nathan Pamajewon, a Water First intern from Shawanaga First Nation, shares, I believe this to be a career for myself. Ive enjoyed all the experiences so far; that I have been given the chance to obtain greater things in life. I want to see our community grow and become the best it can be; provide the best and safe drinking water for my community, or another community thats not mine.

Many First Nations with drinking water challenges have identified the need for more young, qualified and local personnel to support solving water issues independently and for the longer term. Indigenous communities do not receive adequate, locally based education, training and employment support when it comes to attracting and retaining young people in the water science fields. These supports are critical to ensuring the long-term sustainability of Indigenous drinking water systems.

About Mamaweswen, The North Shore Tribal Council

NSTCs mandate is to assist and facilitate the activities of the member communities of the North Shore Tribal Council. In a manner that promotes the cultural, spiritual, political, economic, environmental and social well being of the member First Nations, the Tribal Council acts to serve three primary functions:

Research, develop and deliver regionally based products and services to member communities when directed by NSTC member communities

Provide advisory services to member communities

Provide collective political support to advance the betterment of First Nations people



http://mamaweswen.com/

About Water First Education & Training Inc. (Water First)

Water First is a registered Canadian charity that addresses water challenges in Indigenous communities through education, training and meaningful collaboration. Water First has partnered with over 55 Indigenous communities across Canada. www.waterfirst.ngo

For more information, please contact:



Ami Gopal

Director of Development and Communications

Water First

1-905-805-0854

ami.gopal@waterfirst.ngo

or

Ken MacLeod

Infrastructure Specialist

Mamaweswen, The North Shore Tribal Council

1-705-227-1259

kmacleod@mamaweswen.ca

Two photos accompanying this announcement are available at:



https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/240a6fb7-472e-4aaa-89c7-73b60f8d7312

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/02c9a19b-ba65-437f-94fd-c4f0fe2bded3
A federal appeals court has halted the final count and certification of votes in a narrow race for Lehigh County judge while voters ask the court to reverse a decision throwing out their lawsuit to have their undated ballots counted.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Sunday issued a temporary injunction to stop the Lehigh County board of elections from certifying the results of the election for the last of three seats on Lehigh County Court. A group of five voters sued the board claiming they would be unjustifiably denied the right to vote by a decision not to count 257 ballots that were mailed without handwritten signatures on the return envelopes.

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The uncounted ballots have the potential to tip the race between the third- and fourth-place candidates for judge. Republican David Ritter has a 74-vote lead against Democrat Zachary Cohen.

Represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, the voters filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Allentown arguing that the law requiring a handwritten date on the return envelope for a mail-in ballot to be counted violates the voting rights provisions of the Civil Rights Act and is unconstitutional.

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The law says that voters may not be kept from casting ballots because of paperwork errors that dont affect their qualifications to vote. The lack of a date on the return envelopes is immaterial because the ballots in question were all received in the voter registration office by the Election Day deadline, they argued.

In a decision granting the elections boards motion for summary judgment, U.S. District Judge Joseph F. Leeson ruled last week that the voting rights provisions of the Civil Rights Act were intended to be enforced by the U.S. attorney general and not private individuals. He also said the date requirement serves the states interest in preventing voter fraud by helping to ensure late ballots arent backdated.

The elections board voted unanimously in November to count the undated ballots and a Lehigh County judge upheld the decision. Ritter appealed in Commonwealth Court and won. The state Supreme Court declined to revisit the issue after ruling in 2020 that ballots with missing dates should not be counted.

According to the order from the 3rd Circuit, the court will consider the appeal on an expedited basis.

Morning Call reporter Peter Hall can be reached at 610-820-6581 or peter.hall@mcall.com.
ROCHELLE PARK, N.J., March 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ORBCOMM Inc., a global provider of Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, today announced that it has been selected by Hill Brothers, Inc. (Hill Bros), a leading trucking and logistics service in the Midwest, to provide its integrated dry and refrigerated trailer monitoring solutions for fleet-wide management. ORBCOMMs comprehensive solutions provide wireless connectivity through its industry-leading hardware and a single, unified cloud-based analytics platform for streamlined operations across multiple asset classes.



Based in Omaha, NE, Hill Bros is using ORBCOMMs refrigerated monitoring solution to track their freights location and temperature, providing peace of mind that their loads are compliant and meeting customers standards for quality and service. With mapping, reports, alerts and exception management, ORBCOMMs platform provides the real-time data and business intelligence needed to help Hill Bros increase utilization of its refrigerated trailers regardless of the reefer units make or model and gain fuel savings, making their assets more profitable.

Leveraging ORBCOMMs telematics double play offering, Hill Bros is also deploying ORBCOMMs dry trailer monitoring solution, which features a high-sensitivity solar panel with long-lasting battery life and charging capabilities. ORBCOMMs solution enables Hill Bros to access live and scheduled status updates whether their trailers are in transit or in the yard, so they always know where their trailers are located and if they are empty or loaded, improving turn times and yard management, while saving drivers time and fuel. Through the ORBCOMM platform, Hill Bros can manage all of its assets in one place with intuitive icons to distinguish asset types, reports by asset type along with customizable workspaces and access control so that each user within the organization gets the data they need quickly and easily.

ORBCOMMs double play telematics offering is the ideal solution for Hill Bros to gain visibility and control over their mixed fleet through our unified platform, said Chris MacDonald, ORBCOMMs Senior Vice President of North America Sales. By providing Hill Bros with deep insights about their operations, they can make data-driven decisions and achieve optimal business outcomes, which translates to increased asset utilization, costs savings, compliance and customer satisfaction.

Hill Bros has been committed to providing the best service in the trucking industry for over 35 years by deploying innovative technology across our fleet, and ORBCOMM is helping us take our operations to new levels of efficiency and profitability, said Pete Hill, Vice President with Hill Brothers, Inc. Were looking forward to being able to manage our dry and refrigerated assets seamlessly through a single portal and use the data to get a clear view of our entire operations.

Hill Bros started installing ORBCOMMs telematics solutions across their fleet in February 2022 and expects to complete their deployment by July 2022.

For more information about ORBCOMMs truck-to-trailer telematics solutions, visit here. Please stop by ORBCOMMs Booth 205 at the Truckload Carriers Association Annual Convention at the Wynn Las Vegas from March 19-22, 2022 or schedule an appointment to meet with ORBCOMMs sales team on-site at the show here.

About ORBCOMM Inc.

ORBCOMM is a global leader and innovator in the industrial Internet of Things, providing solutions that connect businesses to their assets to deliver increased visibility and operational efficiency. The company offers a broad set of asset monitoring and control solutions, including seamless satellite and cellular connectivity, unique hardware and powerful applications, all backed by end-to-end customer support, from installation to deployment to customer care. ORBCOMM has a diverse customer base including premier OEMs, solutions customers and channel partners spanning transportation, supply chain, warehousing and inventory, heavy equipment, maritime, natural resources, and government. For more information, visit www.orbcomm.com . You can also connect with ORBCOMM at https://blog.orbcomm.com, on Twitter at @ORBCOMM_Inc, at https://www.linkedin.com/company/orbcomm or at https://www.youtube.com/c/ORBCOMM_Inc.

ORBCOMM Contacts For Corporate Relations: For Trade Media: Michelle Ferris Lina Paerez Susan Fall VP, Corporate Communications VP, Marketing President, LaunchIt PR +1 703.462.3894 +1 613.875.1485 +1 619.890.9415 ferris.michelle@orbcomm.com paerez.lina@orbcomm.com susan@launchitpr.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/68e4758d-a831-4c6c-ad99-0eddf92b4d0e


Fort Myers, Florida, March 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute (FCS) launched a new website, Florida Cancer Specialists Hematology Oncology Review (FCSHemOncReview.com), to host a variety of top articles ranging from recent oncology and hematology studies to new therapies, even topics on value-based care.

As the world of oncology is ever-changing, it is the duty of our physicians to be informed of new and upcoming treatments as they come available, not only within the studies conducted at FCS, but throughout the world, and to share those amongst peers. And so, the creation of the FCS Hematology Oncology Review presents an innovative mode of distribution, collaboration, and sharing of this time-sensitive information that so greatly impacts the quality of care and outcomes of our patients.

The site, intended primarily for providers, will feature a mixture of articles from across the world, including studies from the FCS clinical research team. The functionality allows visitors to conduct high-level searches, comment on articles, and even share digitally. Visitors are encouraged to return frequently as new articles are posted throughout each month.

Our patients and our peers rely on us for deep knowledge and understanding of the latest advances in medicine, especially as they pertain to hematology and oncology, says FCS Chief Medical Officer of Therapeutics and Analytics Lucio Gordan, MD. This website will make it much easier for our colleagues and peers to observe the newest treatments available and relay those to our patients.

FCS prides itself on being a leader in the oncology space. Our physicians are deeply invested in progressing cancer care and by creating this site, we are able to provide an excellent conduit for sharing of information, ensuring that our patients continue to get nothing less than the best standard of care, says FCS Chief Executive Officer Nathan H. Walcker.

# # #

About Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute

Recognized by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) with a national Clinical Trials Participation Award, Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute (FCS) offers patients access to more clinical trials than any private oncology practice in Florida. Over the past 5 years, the majority of new cancer drugs approved for use in the U.S. were studied in clinical trials with Florida Cancer Specialists participation.* Trained in such prestigious medical schools and research institutes as Duke, Stanford, Harvard, Emory, MD Anderson, and Memorial Sloan Kettering, our physicians are consistently ranked nationally as Top Doctors by U.S. News & World Report.

Florida Cancer Specialists has built a national reputation for excellence that is reflected in exceptional and compassionate patient care, driven by innovative clinical research, cutting-edge technologies, and advanced treatments, including targeted therapies, genomic-based treatment, and immunotherapy. Our values are embodied by our outstanding team of highly trained and dedicated physicians, clinicians, and staff.

*Prior to approval

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Orange, CA, March 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CBT, a woman-owned Domain Expert Integrator today announced that CRN, a brand of The Channel Company, will feature CBT on its 2022 Tech Elite 250 list. This list recognizes solution providers across the U.S. and Canada that have earned the highest level of technical certifications from leading technology suppliers such as Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Dell Technologies, Cisco, and more. Companies chosen for the Tech Elite 250 list have distinguished themselves as dedicated and passionate solution providers willing to go above and beyond for their customers by ensuring they have the training and technical know-how necessary to provide expert-level service.

These solution providers know their customers depend on their training and expertise to help them overcome todays IT challenges and achieve full digital transformation across the enterprise. In order to provide that expert service and care, solution providers must maintain consistently high levels of training and certification from IT vendors and achieve the highest tiers within those vendors partner programs.

CBT has been a perennial member of CRN's Tech Elite 250 list thanks to its enduring dedication to employee education and technical training. Since its inception in 2001, CBT has been proud to showcase an industry-leading engineering team, designing and delivering custom solutions for clients across the globe.

CBT is honored to be included in CRNs Tech Elite 250 for the 11th time," said Lonnie Ludwig, VP of Solution Development at CBT. "The CBT team prides itself on maintaining a wide breadth of certifications from our industry-leading ecosystem of partners. This is absolutely critical to our ability to deliver best-of-breed solutions that bridge the gap between information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT), enabling our customers to be leaders in their industries. Congratulations to our CBT team for earning this achievement and thank you to CRN for the recognition!

CRNs annual Tech Elite 250 list recognizes solution providers that have earned top-level certifications from key technology suppliers and proven their ability to consistently meet the high standards of their customers and partners, said Blaine Raddon, CEO of The Channel Company. Solution providers featured on this list have maintained a consistent focus on innovation and have built a comprehensive understanding of the ever-evolving technologies and practices that enable ongoing success in the IT channel. Were proud to honor them in this manner.

Coverage of the Tech Elite 250 will be featured in the April issue of CRN Magazine and online at www.CRN.com/techelite250.

About CBT

CBT is an unparalleled design-thinking and integration-engineering company. We utilize our unique expertise to bridge the gap between Operational Technologies and Information Technologies (OT and IT) and accelerate smart operations in process and discrete manufacturing, utilities, distribution, construction, and health and life sciences. Our solutions are powered by next-generation innovations from an industry-leading partner ecosystem, led by Hewlett Packard Enterprise, PTC, Intel, ABB, NVIDIA, and many more. As a first mover and Domain Expert Integrator, CBT has a proven track record of taking customers from ideas to execution in production environments. Our solutions go beyond the data center to deliver business transformation across the enterprise.

For more information, visit the CBT website , blog , LinkedIn , and Twitter pages.

Copyright  2022 CBT, Inc. All rights reserved.

About The Channel Company

The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers, and end-users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequaled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelcompany.com

Follow The Channel Company: Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

 2022. CRN is a registered trademark of The Channel Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

The Channel Company Contact:

Jennifer Hogan

The Channel Company

jhogan@thechannelcompany.com

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Destin, Fla., March 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Springtime means spring break and beach vacations to many families. In an effort to help families offset the rising gasoline prices, Newman-Dailey Resort Properties, one of the longest operating property management companies in Destin, Florida, is offering spring savings on Destin vacation rentals. With two new spring promotionsSpring Forward, which includes 10% off for stays at select properties now until April 15, and Late Spring Fling, which includes 10% off stays between April 18 and May 18, 2022, Newman-Dailey is offering beach lovers cost savings on Destin vacations this spring.

The Emerald Coasts beaches provide an enjoyable spring vacation option, which is an easy drive from many Southeast and Midwest cities. From serene natural attractions to adrenaline-producing watersports, South Walton and Destin, Florida feature fun things to do both on and off the beach. Miles of pristine white sand beaches create an outdoor playground. Visitors to the region can take advantage of a day on the water with Destin boat rentals or schedule a chartered Destin fishing trip to discover why the area is coined the worlds luckiest fishing village. New activities, including snorkeling and scuba diving the area's artificial reefs, and electric bike rentals increase opportunities for personal adventure.

In addition to area activities, there is also an abundance of festive events and live music planned at outdoor venues for spring travelers. The week of April 20-24, the South Walton Beaches Wine and Food Festival invites wine enthusiasts to sample wines from around the world while Moon Crush live music event welcomes music lovers to enjoy popular artists including Brandi Carlisle, Lake Street Dive, Ben Harper and My Morning Jacket, among others. Live music continues through May with weekly performances at Concerts in the Village within the Cultural Arts Village in Destin. The week of May 8-14, visitors can be part of supporting a movement to eradicate an invasive species from the Gulf of Mexico by attending the Annual Lionfish Removal and Awareness Festival at AJ's Seafood and Oyster Bar at HarborWalk Village.

Families staying at a participating Newman-Dailey vacation rentals will Be Rewarded with complimentary seasonal beach service with two chairs and an umbrella set up on the beach each day of their stay, as well as discounts, and special offers. In addition, most Newman-Dailey vacation rentals also include a virtual gift card good toward free activities, including a dolphin cruise, parasailing, a snorkeling adventure, Big Kahunas Waterpark and more.

Newman-Dailey Resort Properties features a vast array of well-appointed Destin vacation rentals, including Gulf-front Destin condos as well as spacious South Walton and Destin vacation homes. Details about the Destin area and Newman-Dailey Resort Properties spring promotions, including Spring Forward* and Late Spring Fling* promotions are available online at DestinVacation.com. Some restrictions apply.

###

About Newman-Dailey Resort Properties, Inc.

Newman-Dailey Resort Properties is a locally-owned business, specializing in resort rentals, sales and management in Destin and South Walton for more than 36 years. Recognized for excellence, integrity and professionalism, Newman-Dailey is voted Best Property Management Company by readers of Emerald Coast Magazine and consistently receives "excellent" rankings on TripAdvisor. The Real Estate Division is consistently listed among the top 10 percent of real estate companies along the Emerald Coast for sales. For more sales or rental information, call 850.837.1071, or visit DestinSales.com or DestinVacation.com.

Media Contact: Tracy Louthain, Tracy@tlc-pr.com, 850-635-123

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HILLSIDE, Ill., March 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hillside Mayor Joseph Tamburino, Westchester Mayor Nick Steker, Franklin Park Mayor Barrett Pedersen, Bellwood Mayor Andre Harvey, LaGrange Park Mayor Jim Discipo, Bridgeview Mayor Steven Landek and Village of Lyons Mayor Christopher Getty endorsed accomplished attorney ShawnTe Raines-Welch for Judge of Cook Countys 4th Judicial Subcircuit. The 4th Subcircuit (map) in Chicagos Western suburbs includes all of Lyons, Riverside and Stickney Townships, and portions of Leyden, Palos, Proviso, and Worth townships.

No one is more qualified to serve our communities as proven by her service to many different municipalities in various capacities. I know she will protect the rights of all people and make decisions that are fair and equitable, said Mayor Joseph Tamburino.

It is an honor to have this local community-based support, said Raines-Welch.These Mayors know how important it is that our judges be part of the fabric of the community and understand the struggles of those who come before them in the courtroom. Ive seen firsthand the issues facing local families, through multiple lenses and shared experience, and I will bring that perspective to my work as a Judge.

If elected, Raines-Welch would be the first woman, and the first woman of color, ever elected from the 4th subcircuit. She has received positive ratings from bar associations which have issued evaluations on her qualifications to serve as Judge including the Cook County Bar Association and Womens Bar Association of Illinois. She is a graduate of Proviso West High School and worked her way through school  including frontline customer service work at Target - to become a successful attorney litigating complex legal matters.

Raines-Welch has over 12 years of litigation experience in diverse areas of law including civil rights, disability rights and labor and employment law. She conducts training programs helping organizations, businesses and government entities ensure they comply with important federal laws protecting peoples rights. Raines-Welch also has particular expertise in legal issues related to schools and education. She is a Commissioner of the Proviso Township Mental Health Board and a community volunteer for a variety of causes including autism awareness and support.

The Democratic Primary Election is June 28, 2022. Raines-Welchs campaign website is www.RainesWelchForJudge.com.

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Paris, March 21, 2022  Ipsos announced today that it has reached an agreement to join forces with the Bolivian expert in Market research and Public Opinion, CIESMORI. As part of the agreement, Ipsos will transfer its assets to CIESMORI, in which it will participate with a 20% minority share. Both entities will operate under a common company called Ipsos CIESMORI.



Ipsos CIESMORI will achieve a leadership position in Bolivia by bringing together Ipsos worldwide leadership and expertise and CIESMORIs authoritative position in Bolivia and strong client base. The company will focus on better serving clients with a stronger set of capabilities and an expanded portfolio of solutions.

Ipsos has been providing research solutions in Bolivia since 2007 with the acquisition of Apoyo. CIESMORI was created in 2017 with the association of the most prominent market research and public opinion companies, CIES Internacional and Equipos MORI, who had both been operating in Bolivia for over 25 years.

Jean-Christophe Salles, CEO of Ipsos in Latin America said: Joining forces with CIESMORI is a great opportunity for our clients and our employees. With a unique set of solutions and robust research expertise, Ipsos CIESMORI will establish as an undisputable leader in the market.

Marcelo Mercado, CIESMORI President said: By associating Ipsos world-class solutions and technology and CIESMORIs extensive knowledge of the Bolivian market, we will become a key player in the research Industry.

ABOUT IPSOS

Ipsos is one of the largest market research and polling companies globally, operating in 90 markets and employing over 18,000 people.

Our passionately curious research professionals, analysts and scientists have built unique multi-specialist capabilities that provide true understanding and powerful insights into the actions, opinions and motivations of citizens, consumers, patients, customers or employees. Our 75 business solutions are based on primary data from our surveys, social media monitoring, and qualitative or observational techniques.

Game Changers  our tagline  summarizes our ambition to help our 5,000 clients navigate with confidence our rapidly changing world.

Founded in France in 1975, Ipsos has been listed on the Euronext Paris since July 1, 1999. The company is part of the SBF 120 and the Mid-60 indexes and is eligible for the Deferred Settlement Service (SRD).

ISIN code FR0000073298, Reuters ISOS.PA, Bloomberg IPS:FP www.ipsos.com

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Kuala Lumpur, March 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TA Global Berhad today announced the launch of its highly anticipated Paradox collection of hotels and resorts. Paradox is a Canadian-born boutique hospitality brand inspired by the tastes and desires of the new generation of travellers. The Paradox brand is set to stand out of the traditional hospitality norms through a series of quirky, cultured and highly experiential offerings, capturing the true spirit of each city where a Paradox hotel is located.

The hospitality sector is currently going through a key moment of transformation as technology, and social media are quickly changing the way we travel and interact with others. We recognized a shift was occurring in how people engage with each other and also with the built environment. The height of the COVID-19 pandemic was the global catalyst for a resurgence of interest in authentic human connection and a greater expectation of personalised hospitality. As an industry leader, it was an opportune moment to realign and reinvent our business proposition to meet and adapt the current needs and desires of the market, says Joo Kim Tiah, CEO of TA Global.

He continues, Paradox Hotel Group was born out of an extensive study of this evolution. We have always wanted to consolidate our hotels, and the time to embark on this meaningful journey is right now. Our global teams possess decades of experience and an established network of industry partners, having developed and operated numerous high-profile hotels across the world. Passionate about what we do, our team has a strong understanding of every aspect of hospitality business, from concept development to operations. We strongly believe that a distinct identity rooted in local culture is crucial for a successful hotel group. We strive to be at the vanguard of curating inspiring and exceptional experiences for our travellers, so it was imperative to not only come out with our own distinct brand, but also create something that would exceed expectations by challenging the industry status quo.

The unique concept of Paradox will make its debut in Vancouver, Canada, with its flagship hotel, Paradox Hotel Vancouver, set to open its doors in April 2022. The brand will also be introduced in Southeast Asia, with Paradox Resort & Residences Phuket which opened in January 2022, and Paradox Singapore Merchant Court at Clarke Quay in April 2022. Also joining the Paradox portfolio are independently branded properties Summit Lodge Boutique Hotel and Aava Hotel in Whistler. With five hotels and resorts located in distinct destinations around the world, Paradox Hotel Group provides an exciting journey of brand discovery for its international guests.

This transition to one cohesive brand positioning will not compromise the unique heritage and distinctive personalities of each Paradox hotel, most of which have already gained global recognitions from the hospitality and travel industry. We are confident that the diversity of our Paradox hotel, resort and lifestyle-hospitality offerings will serve as an immersive gateway to culturally enriching destinations worldwide; truly exemplifying the strength and momentum behind our ambition to be recognised among the top boutique hotel brands in the coming years, added Tiah.

As the first international hotel group to emerge from Vancouver, all Paradox destinations will proudly channel the true spirit of Canadian hospitality manifested through thoughtful design, best-in-class facilities and guest services, and bespoke dining and gathering concepts. Curated to highlight the different characteristics of each respective location, the multifaceted experience will differ from one destination to another; celebrating the individuality and vibrant perspective each city offers.

The curious and adventurous guests seeking culture, history, shopping, and culinary rendezvous will always find a like-minded travel companion, a welcoming home away from home, and a sophisticated playground at Paradox, no matter where they are.

Sharing the brand inspiration behind Paradox, Head of Brand Experience, Lorraine Simonds depicts Paradox as playfully refined and curiously unconventional. The name Paradox aptly embodies the duality of this new genre of lifestyle-oriented hotels we are creating  they are tasteful and well-designed while remaining approachable, witty and clever.

More importantly, Paradox holds the foundational belief in placing authentic human-to-human relationships first. We strive to demonstrate how selfless, thoughtful and everyday acts of grace can inspire, elevate and add a touch of delightfully unexpected whimsy to everyday moments, and touch the lives of everyone we meet, she explained.

Tapping into its 20-year experience as a global hotelier and developer of some of the most exclusive properties across North America, Australia and Southeast Asia, TAG has plans to steadily expand Paradoxs international presence in the next decade, launching new boutique lifestyle hotels and resorts in taste-making destinations around the globe.

About TA Global Berhad

TA Group of Companies proudly boasts over 30 years of excellence with an astounding track record in the financial and property market in Malaysia. The reputation has set the foundation for success for its property arm, TA Global Berhad which was incorporated in 2008. TA Global Berhad, a leading property developer in Malaysia, is involved in a diversified range of property services which includes property development, property management, property investment, trading and hospitality operations. The company has made significant strides in establishing itself as a niche luxury lifestyle property developer with its successful launches of niche premium residential properties. The Group also boasts an extensive global hotel portfolio spanning five countries on three continents in Australia, Singapore, Thailand, China and Canada. Over the years, the company continued to expand their business, gaining a truly outstanding reputation as a leading property developer recognized locally and internationally. For more information about TA Global, please visit http://taglobal.com.my/

About Paradox Hotel Group

Paradox Hotel Group is an innovative hospitality brand and award-winning hotel collective that develops, operates, and markets exceptional boutique lifestyle hotels & resorts across the world. All Paradox hotels proudly showcase Canadian hospitality, manifested through thoughtful design, best-in-class facilities and guest services, and bespoke dining and gathering concepts. Each location features multifaceted experiences that differ from the others, celebrating individuality and vibrant perspectives. Paradox Hotel Vancouver is the first Paradox-branded hotel in Canada under the Paradox Hotel Group umbrella, including Summit Lodge Boutique Hotel and Aava Hotel in Whistler, and global locations Paradox Resort & Residences in Karon Beach Phuket, and Paradox Hotel Merchant Court at Clarke Quay in Singapore. For more information, please visit www.paradoxhotels.com

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PHILADELPHIA, March 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Toetal Solutions, Inc., a foot and ankle medical device company pioneering effective solutions for foot and ankle deformities, announced it has closed $1.02M in its initial round of financing, from Runway Healthcare, LP, a medical device accelerator. Proceeds from the funding will enable Toetal to rapidly scale the development of its flagship product, the Ziptoe Hammertoe System.

The Ziptoe Hammertoe System is designed to enable foot and ankle surgeons to address rigid hammertoe deformities with a simple, easy-to-use implant. The Ziptoe system features a proprietary deployable nitinol implant that comes sterile packed with all necessary disposable instrumentation to perform the procedure in any surgical setting.

"We've designed a product with physician input throughout every step of development. Our market research made it clear that the current product offerings for hammertoe fusion lacked efficacy or were too cumbersome to implant easily. Ziptoe's design meets the core tenants of proper bone fusion: Active Compression, Complete Stability, and Zero Rotation. We are excited to enter this next phase of product development and get this simple and easy-to-use product in the hands of foot and ankle surgeons," said Jeff O'Donnell, Jr., CEO, and Co-Founder of Toetal Solutions.

Dr. Steven S. Soondar, D.P.M. stated, "The Ziptoe is needed to allow foot and ankle surgeons a reproducible means to correct hammertoe deformities, creating compression across the fusion site while also allowing for easy revision if necessary."

Runway Healthcare, LP solely funded this financing and has a majority ownership position in the company. Toetal Solutions is Runway Healthcare's second portfolio company.

About Toetal Solutions, Inc.

Toetal Solutions was founded in 2021 to create easy-to-use and clinically effective solutions in foot and ankle deformities. For more information visit www.RunwayHC.com.

About Runway Healthcare, LP:

Runway Healthcare is an early-stage MedTech Accelerator focused on early-stage technology in the Orthopedic, Cardiovascular, and Neurology sectors. Runway finances and manages the product development process of its portfolio companies. Upon navigating a portfolio company through the regulatory process, Runway Healthcare will seek to transition the company's ownership to larger multi-national healthcare companies for commercialization. For more information visit www.RunwayHC.com.

Forward-Looking Statement:

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" concerning the development of Toetal Solutions products, the potential benefits and attributes of those products, and the company's expectations regarding its prospects. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, assumptions, and uncertainties that could cause actual future events or results to differ materially from such statements. These statements are made as of the date of this press release. Actual results may vary. Toetal Solutions undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements for any reason.

Inquiries: Info@RunwayHC.com

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., March 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Thunderbird Field II Veterans Memorial, Inc. (TB2") announced a 2022 Aviation Scholarship has been awarded to Lynn Burnett, a Chandler-Gilbert Community College (a Maricopa Community College) student earning an Associate Degree in Applied Science in Airway Science Technology with a flight emphasis. TB2 is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the history of aviation in Scottsdale, Arizona, honoring all military veterans, creating unique educational opportunities for Arizona students studying all aspects of aviation, and supporting Dogs4Vets.



Lynn Burnett comes from a military family; his father served in the U.S. Air Force and his grandfather, the U.S. Army. Like his grandfather, Mr. Burnett served in the U.S. Army for over 13 years as an infantryman, machine gunner, squad and platoon leader, and airborne ranger instructor. He earned the rank of staff sergeant and was a member of the elite 75th Ranger Regiment. Lynn also earned his Bachelor of Social Science degree from Troy University. After being selected for Officers Candidate School, he graduated and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and rose to the rank of Captain. His military career included numerous missions and deployments to Latin and South America, including the DMZ in Korea. Lynn has received many distinguished military honors and awards and was inducted into the U.S. Army Ranger Hall Fame on January 29, 2022. After the military, he worked in developing his own business enterprise, including mortgage broker and real estate agent. However, he never gave up his dream to become a pilot and he received his private pilots license in November 2021. Lynns goal is to continue his education in aviation, become a certified flight instructor, and help other people like him realize their dreams.

Steve Ziomek, Chairman and President of TB2, stated, Lynn continues to give back while pursuing a career in aviation. The skills that he learned and displayed in the U.S. Army and business are evident and will continue to guide him during this phase of his life and beyond.

The Foundation is proud to participate in the Thunderbird Field II Veterans Memorial Aviation Scholarship Program, said Brian Spicker, President and CEO, Maricopa Community Colleges Foundation. The programs our colleges offer are best in class. Our partnership makes dreams come true and Lynn Burnett is just one example of someone reaching for the sky and succeeding because of this scholarship.

Rudy R. Miller, Chairman of the Advisory Board and Scholarship Committee, remarked, As a former member of the U.S Army, it is a privilege for me, in concert with TB2 President and veteran, Steve Ziomek, to present Lynn Burnett this prestigious aviation scholarship award. He now joins an elite group of exceptional recipients and been named a TB2 ambassador.

About Thunderbird Field II Veterans Memorial, Inc.

Thunderbird Field II Veterans Memorial, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization formed in 2014 and headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. During World War II, an airfield named Thunderbird Field II was built for the sole purpose of training U.S. Army Air Corps pilots in 1942. Thunderbird Field II graduated over 5,500 men and women pilots, many of whom saw military action in Europe and the Pacific. The field and school were deactivated on October 16, 1944, sold to Arizona State Teachers College (ASU), then to the Arizona Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, and finally to the City of Scottsdale in 1966 and is now known as Scottsdale Airport (KSDL).

The Aviation Scholarship Program provides scholarships to veteran and non-veteran Arizona resident students who meet specific criteria and are attending Arizona State University, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Chandler-Gilbert Community College, Cochise College, Pima Community College, or Yavapai College. TB2 has a permanent memorial at the entrance of the Scottsdale Airport and a historical display inside the facilities honoring the service of men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces as well as POW-MIAs. For more information, please visit www.tbird2.org.

About Dogs4Vets

American Service Animal Society, dba Dogs4Vets, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to enabling disabled veterans to live a more productive life through the use of service animals. Dogs4Vets helps disabled veterans train their own dog to be their service dog. They sponsor disabled veterans that qualify with lifetime, at no cost, service dog training and certification. The service dogs are trained to interact with the veteran and notice changes in body language, stress hormone chemicals, and voice.

Contacts: Contact: Steve Ziomek Amy Tupay Chairman & President Marketing and Public Relations Coordinator ziomek.steve@gmail.com Maricopa Community Colleges Foundation 480.664.6604 amy.tupay@domail.maricopa.edu 480.731.8410 Rudy R. Miller Chairman, Advisory Board & Scholarship Committee rrmiller@themillergroup.net 602.225.0505

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:



https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ee036baa-1cef-48ea-adab-76f61f9d4225

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/63835f53-5ee9-45d1-a314-e1c8dd65b5cb
IRVINE, Calif., March 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vemanti Group, Inc. (Vemanti Vemanti Group or the Company) (OTCQB: VMNT) today announced it has entered into an official 10-year agreement with Vietnam Public Joint-stock Commercial Bank (PVcomBank or the Bank) to launch one of the first Small-to-Medium Enterprise (SME) digital banking (aka neobanking) solutions in Vietnam. This agreement signals a major collaborative step forward for the two parties, which signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) earlier this year. Leveraging PVcomBanks dominant incumbent position, Vemanti plans to utilize cloud computing, API, automated KYC/AML, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and blockchain technologies to power its new digital-first platform.



PVcomBank, fully licensed and regulated by the State Bank of Vietnam, is a state-owned bank with comprehensive core banking products and services. The Bank is focused on spearheading digital banking services and will now jointly share this pursuit with Vemanti Group, which will help power a unique hybrid neobanking model. This unique omnichannel banking approach will allow customers to utilize a full range of digital services at their convenience powered by the Vemanti platform, while also having the ability to take advantage of PVcomBanks physical branch locations for in-person support if needed.

Were excited to take this next step with Vemanti Group as we now look to actively build our joint platform and begin onboarding customers in the near future, stated Ha Viet Nguyen, Deputy CEO from PVcomBank. Our physical banking presence in Vietnam combined with Vemantis forward-thinking platform will give businesses a tech-forward, adaptable solution to their banking needs.

Vemanti will utilize PVcomBanks industry-leading banking expertise to provide SMEs in Vietnam with an innovative digital-only financial solution via PVcomBanks existing core banking system. As part of this new digital-first model, the Vemanti-branded banking platform will allow customers to sign up for accounts and get access to services entirely online, while still having the option of visiting a convenient branch location if needed. All customers will have access to tailored banking services and financial products able to be seamlessly integrated into their business operations.

This agreement signals the next phase of growth for Vemanti Group, said Tan Tran, CEO of Vemanti Group. Vietnam remains one of the fastest growing world economies with a well-educated workforce and mostly young population of nearly 100M people. Today, SMEs account for more than 41% of its GDP which is projected to trend around 310B USD in 2022 and 340B USD in 2023. By leveraging our core competencies in this space, were able to create an entirely new banking experience for the underserved entrepreneurs and business owners. We believe our tech-driven but human-led formula is the right approach to accelerate digital transformation initiatives and to seamlessly drive customer engagement. We are looking forward to working with PVcomBank and combining our unique expertise to better address the banking needs of customers in Vietnam and beyond.

PVcomBank has a network of 108 transaction offices in major provinces in Vietnam, and provides a wide range of products and services, that fully meet the demands of personal and corporate customers. The company is focused on bringing the best financial services and products while continually increasing value for its shareholders. In 2021, PVcomBank was ranked The Best Digital Bank in Vietnam and also one of the Top 100 Strongest Brands in Vietnam. Both Vemanti and PVcomBank look forward to contributing to the global movement of digital transformation in banking.

For more news and updates, shareholders and prospective investors are encouraged to follow @Vemanti on Twitter (https://twitter.com/Vemanti).

About Vemanti Group, Inc.

Vemanti Group, Inc. (OTCQB: VMNT) is a technology-driven company that seeks to become active in high-growth and emerging markets. The Companys mission is to advance financial inclusion for the unbanked, underbanked consumers and businesses of the world. It is focused on building a financial ecosystem based on innovative fintech and blockchain applications. To learn more about VMNT, visit https://www.vemanti.com/

About PVcomBank

Vietnam Public Joint Stock Commercial Bank (PVcomBank) was founded on September 16, 2013, as a corporate amalgamation between PetroVietnam Finance Joint Stock Corporation (PVFC) and Western Joint Stock Commercial Bank (WesternBank). On October 1, 2013, PVcomBank officially operated with a charter capital of 9,000 billion VND and total assets of more than 100,000 billion VND, equivalent to 390M USD & 4.4B USD. Up to now, PVcomBank has developed a strong network of 109 transaction points with more than 4,400 employees. With the mission "Bank Without Distance", PVcomBank always aims at building an image of a friendly, dedicated bank, working for the success of customers. We are committed to becoming the best bank in providing services following social standards. With a professional working environment, taking customers' and partners' benefits as the main target, at the same time, implementing corporate social responsibility, PVcomBank hopes to bring benefits to employees, community, and value-added to shareholders. We were named as one of the Top 500 Fastest Growing Enterprises in Vietnam (FAST500) by the Vietnam Report JSC and the VietNamNet e-newspaper on March 10, 2021. To learn more about PVcomBank, visit https://www.pvcombank.com.vn/

Legal Disclaimer

This press release may include, and oral statements made from time to time by representatives of the Company may include, 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. Statements regarding possible business combinations and the financing thereof, and related matters, as well as all other statements other than statements of historical fact included in this press release are forward-looking statements. When used in this press release, words such as anticipate, believe, continue, could, estimate, expect, intend, may, might, plan, possible, potential, predict, project, should, would and similar expressions, as they relate to us or our management team, identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs of management, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, the Companys management. Actual results could differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors detailed in the Companys filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC ). All subsequent written or oral forward-looking statements attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are qualified in their entirety by this paragraph. Forward-looking statements are subject to numerous conditions, many of which are beyond the control of the Company, including those set forth in the Risk Factors section of the Companys Form 10 filed with the SEC. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these statements for revisions or changes after the date of this release, except as required by law.

Contact Information

Vemanti Group, Inc.

Investor Relations

(800) 768-1288

ir@vemanti.com
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HARRISBURG  A judge last week scolded the Pennsylvania State Police for the agencys poor response to a reporter seeking trooper emails, text messages and voicemails  some of which may no longer exist.

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At issue was whether the state police had the power to provide their own phone records to a freelance journalist requesting trooper communications about protests of Sunocos 350-mile Mariner East pipeline.

Attorneys for the state police argued the agency didnt have the records or the authority to request them from Verizon, its cellphone contractor.

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After the hearing, attorneys for the reporter wrote in a filing that the Verizon contract includes a provision that makes it clear that such records must be released under the states Right-to-Know Law and the state police should provide them.

Verizon told Spotlight PA that providing the voicemails and texts from years ago is now impossible  they no longer exist.

At this point, we do not have access to any customer emails or voicemails, wrote Rich Young, a corporate communications director for Verizon. Our retention periods for text message data (and especially message content) are very brief.

The hearing, which was often contentious, started with Commonwealth Court Judge Ellen Ceisler questioning Emily Rodriguez, an attorney for the state police, about the blacking out of emails sent to reporter Dan Schwartz.

They did get it eventually, Rodriguez said of the unredacted emails.

Yeah, I understand, but it is still glaring to see every piece of information blacked out, Ceisler said, adding that there was no clear explanation for the state polices redactions.

Schwartz filed his request for emails, text messages and voicemails in March 2021. The state police initially provided emails, many of which were heavily blacked out. They said no text messages or voicemails existed but failed to provide an affidavit, a legally required document explaining that.

Schwartz then filed a petition with the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records, which prompted the state police to produce less redacted copies of the emails. Still, troopers did not produce voicemails, text messages or a full account of how they searched for the records, as required by law.

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Rodriguez told the judge that the state police could not produce voicemails and texts because Verizon would not release them without a court order or a subpoena.

Ultimately the records were not in the possession or control of the Pennsylvania State Police and that was the bottom line, she said. I appreciate the state of the law hasnt caught up with the technology and they dont like it, but thats where we are.

Paula Knudsen Burke, one of Schwartzs attorneys and counsel for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, a journalism-focused legal services group, told the judge the case had serious implications for similar public records requests of phone records. Most requesters dont have the means to take their cases to court.

There has to be some additional recourse, Burke said. Government agencies cant place records with a third-party vendor and say they cant get those records.

Rodriguez said that there was no legal way to file a subpoena under the Right-to-Know Law and that the state police could not file one for the phone records. She also said the Verizon contract was held by another state agency.

Ceisler questioned why the issue of needing a subpoena had not come up earlier.

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You could have included all this [in responses to the request], which would have put us all in the position of not being blindsided by this, she said to Rodriguez.

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The judge had planned on filing a court order compelling Verizon to produce the state police voicemails and text messages in the coming weeks. Its not clear what will happen now that Schwartzs lawyers filed a petition that included the contract, which states Verizon must comply with records requests. Ceisler also still has to rule on whether the state police must pay attorneys fees to Schwartzs lawyers.

Cases like this are rare because of the way the states Right-to-Know Law is set up, said Melissa Melewsky, in-house counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, of which Spotlight PA is a member.

Taking a public records case to court can be expensive, and even if a petitioner wins, theres no guarantee the state will have to pay their attorneys fees. That means most cases are taken by lawyers from places like the Cornell Law School First Amendment Clinic and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, which took Schwartzs case, or never make it in front of a judge.

In most cases, if you take a state agency to court and win, you will not be reimbursed, Melewsky said. Youll get your records, but youll also be out likely thousands of dollars. Thats a significant barrier to access and a significant deterrent to people pursuing public access rights under Pennsylvania law.

Schwartz, a freelance journalist in Colorado, said it was reassuring to hear the judges comments and her order to release information.

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I think as a journalist and a member of the public it is easy to lose faith, he said. Its beyond nice to have faith in the judiciary in matters of public records.

WHILE YOURE HERE... If you learned something from this story, pay it forward and become a member of Spotlight PA so someone else can in the future at spotlightpa.org/donate. Spotlight PA is funded by foundations and readers like you who are committed to accountability journalism that gets results.
RADNOR, Pa., March 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The law firm of Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP (www.ktmc.com) informs investors that a securities class action lawsuit has been filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against TAL Education Group (TAL) (NYSE: TAL). The action charges TAL with violations of the federal securities laws, including omissions and fraudulent misrepresentations relating to the companys business, operations, and prospects. As a result of TALs materially misleading statements to the public, TAL investors have suffered significant losses.

Kessler Topaz is one of the worlds foremost advocates in protecting the public against corporate fraud and other wrongdoing. Our securities fraud litigators are regularly recognized as leaders in the field individually and our firm is both feared and respected among the defense bar and the insurance bar. We are proud to have recovered billions of dollars for our clients and the classes of shareholders we represent.

CANNOT VIEW THIS VIDEO? PLEASE CLICK HERE

CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT YOUR TAL LOSSES. YOU CAN ALSO CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING LINK OR COPY AND PASTE IN YOUR BROWSER: https://www.ktmc.com/tal-class-action-lawsuit?utm_source=PR&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=tal

LEAD PLAINTIFF DEADLINE: April 5, 2022

CLASS PERIOD: April 26, 2018 through July 22, 2021

CONTACT AN ATTORNEY TO DISCUSS YOUR RIGHTS:

James Maro, Esq. (484) 270-1453 or Email at info@ktmc.com

TALS ALLEGED MISCONDUCT

TAL provides K-12 after-school tutoring services in the People's Republic of China. Specifically, the company offers tutoring services to K-12 students covering various academic subjects, including mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, history, geography, political science, English, and Chinese.

On April 25, 2021, media reports revealed that the city of Beijing had fined four online education agencies, including TAL, the maximum fine of 500,000 yuan (approximately $80,000) each for misleading customers with false advertising. Specifically, regulators found that TALs VIE, Beijing Xueersi Education Technology Co., Ltd., had been misrepresenting the un-discounted costs of enrollment in its courses to consumers, thereby deceiving customers into paying full price for courses that they believed they were receiving at a discount. Following this news, the price of TAL American Depository Shares (ADSs) dropped from $53.14 on May 11, 2021, to $46.25 on May 13, 2021, a 13% decline over the two-day period.

Then, on June 1, 2021, Chinese regulators announced they had fined 15 off-campus training institutions, including TAL, for illegal activities such as false advertising and fraud. The offending companies, including TAL, were hit with maximum penalties for their illegal business practices, totaling a combined 36.5 million yuan ($5.73 million). Following this news, the price of TAL ADSs dropped from $40.51 on June 1, 2021, to $33.27 on June 3, 2021, nearly an 18% decline over the two-day period.

Finally, on July 23, 2021, China unveiled a sweeping overhaul of its education sector, banning companies that teach the school curriculum from making profits, raising capital or going public. This drastic measure effectively ended any potential growth in the for-profit tutoring sector in China. Following this news, the price of TAL ADSs fell from $20.52 on July 22, 2021, to just $4.40 on July 26, 2021, a nearly 79% decline.

WHAT CAN I DO?

TAL investors may, no later than April 5, 2022 seek to be appointed as a lead plaintiff representative of the class through Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP or other counsel, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member. Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP encourages TAL investors who have suffered significant losses to contact the firm directly to acquire more information.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE CASE

WHO CAN BE A LEAD PLAINTIFF?

A lead plaintiff is a representative party who acts on behalf of all class members in directing the litigation. The lead plaintiff is usually the investor or small group of investors who have the largest financial interest and who are also adequate and typical of the proposed class of investors. The lead plaintiff selects counsel to represent the lead plaintiff and the class and these attorneys, if approved by the court, are lead or class counsel. Your ability to share in any recovery is not affected by the decision of whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff.

ABOUT KESSLER TOPAZ MELTZER & CHECK, LLP

Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP prosecutes class actions in state and federal courts throughout the country and around the world. The firm has developed a global reputation for excellence and has recovered billions of dollars for victims of fraud and other corporate misconduct. All of our work is driven by a common goal: to protect investors, consumers, employees and others from fraud, abuse, misconduct and negligence by businesses and fiduciaries. At the end of the day, we have succeeded if the bad guys pay up, and if you recover your assets. The complaint in this action was not filed by Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP. For more information about Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP please visit www.ktmc.com.

CONTACT:

Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP

James Maro, Jr., Esq.

280 King of Prussia Road

Radnor, PA 19087

(484) 270-1453

info@ktmc.com

A video accompanying this announcement is available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ef034830-6167-4309-9ba4-8bb8ca72b707
Belleville, Illinois, March 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Employer-reported respiratory illnesses among U.S. workers increased nearly 4,000% in 2020, signaling effects from the pandemic, according to Allsup, a nationwide provider of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) representation and veterans disability appeals services.

In a report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of respiratory cases rose from 10,800 in 2019 to 428,700 in 2020. Respiratory illnesses comprised 79% of all employer-reported illnesses in 2020 compared to 8.5% in 2019. Chart courtesy of the BLS.

This enormous spike in reported cases of respiratory illnesses strongly suggests the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, said T.J. Geist, Principal Advocate for Allsup. As weve come to understand in these past two years, the coronavirus and its variants have serious implications for the lungs and overall respiratory system.

According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, a severe case of COVID-19 can produce scarring and other permanent problems in the lungs, but even mild infections can cause persistent shortness of breath  such as becoming winded easily after even light exertion. Lung recovery after COVID-19 is possible but takes time. Severe, lasting effects are impacting some workers who are unable to continue at their jobs.

Geist said Allsup is seeing this as individuals reach out to the company for assistance in obtaining Social Security Disability Insurance, a vital program for those who are no longer able to work because of long-haul COVID or other debilitating conditions. More than 156 million U.S. workers are insured for federal disability insurance, paid for through their payroll FICA taxes while they were working.

Because eligibility for SSDI benefits are based on having a severe medical condition lasting 12 months or longer, it may take some time to determine the long-term effects of COVID-19 on the number of U.S. workers needing to file for Social Security disability benefits because of long-term illness resulting from the pandemic.

To be eligible for SSDI benefits, they must meet Social Securitys requirements:

Be between 21 and full retirement age.

Have worked at least five out of the last 10 years and paid FICA taxes.

Be unable to work in any capacity because of a mental or physical impairment expected to last at least 12 months or result in death.

Be under the care of a healthcare professional with documented medical evidence.

Allsup is helping a large number of people affected by long-COVID, said Geist. Frequently the illness has exacerbated the severity of an existing medical condition. Having an experienced representative can make a big difference in navigating the complex SSDI program  from confirming eligibility and completing the required forms, to collecting medical evidence and handling communications with the Social Security Administration and judges.

Allsup has helped more than 350,000 people receive SSDI benefits, which include monthly income, Medicare coverage, and dependent benefits.

Learn more about: What is SSDI? on this informational page.

To hear from an Allsup customer about his experience, watch this video.

Help with SSDI Claims and Appeals

For more information about applying for SSDI benefits, filing your appeal if you were denied, or to see if you are eligible, visit Allsup.com/apply-for-ssdi or call 1-800-678-3276.

ABOUT ALLSUP

Allsup and its subsidiaries provide nationwide Social Security disability, veterans disability appeal, return to work, and healthcare benefits services for individuals, their employers and insurance carriers. Allsup professionals deliver specialized services supporting people with disabilities and seniors so they may lead lives that are as financially secure and as healthy as possible. Founded in 1984, the company is based in Belleville, Illinois, near St. Louis. Learn more at Allsup.com and @Allsup or download a free PDF of Applying for Social Security Disability Insurance: Getting It Right The First Time.

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RADNOR, Pa., March 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The law firm of Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP (www.ktmc.com) informs investors that a securities class action lawsuit has been filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. (New Oriental) (NYSE: EDU). The action charges New Oriental with violations of the federal securities laws, including omissions and fraudulent misrepresentations relating to the companys business, operations, and prospects. As a result of New Orientals materially misleading statements to the public, New Oriental investors have suffered significant losses.



Kessler Topaz is one of the worlds foremost advocates in protecting the public against corporate fraud and other wrongdoing. Our securities fraud litigators are regularly recognized as leaders in the field individually and our firm is both feared and respected among the defense bar and the insurance bar. We are proud to have recovered billions of dollars for our clients and the classes of shareholders we represent.

CANNOT VIEW THIS VIDEO? PLEASE CLICK HERE

CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT YOUR NEW ORIENTAL LOSSES. YOU CAN ALSO CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING LINK OR COPY AND PASTE IN YOUR BROWSER: https://www.ktmc.com/edu-class-action-lawsuit?utm_source=PR&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=edu

LEAD PLAINTIFF DEADLINE: April 5, 2022

CLASS PERIOD: April 24, 2018 through July 22, 2021

CONTACT AN ATTORNEY TO DISCUSS YOUR RIGHTS:

James Maro, Esq. (484) 270-1453 or Email at info@ktmc.com

NEW ORIENTALS ALLEGED MISCONDUCT

New Oriental provides educational programs, services and products to students across the Peoples Republic of China (China) and delivers online courses through its online learning platforms.

On June 1, 2021, Chinese regulators announced they had fined 15 off-campus training institutions, including New Oriental, for illegal activities such as false advertising and fraud. Among the violations were reportedly fabricating teacher qualifications, exaggerating the effects of training, and fabricating user reviews. Following this news, the price of New Oriental American Depository Shares (ADSs) dropped from $11.09 on June 1, 2021, to $9.32 on June 3, 2021, a 16% decline over the two-day period.

Then, on July 23, 2021, China unveiled a sweeping overhaul of its education sector, banning companies that teach the school curriculum from making profits, raising capital or going public. This drastic measure effectively ended any potential growth in the for-profit tutoring sector in China. Following this news, the price of New Oriental ADSs fell from $6.40 on July 22, 2021 to just $1.94 by market close on July 26, 2021, a nearly 70% decline.

WHAT CAN I DO?

New Oriental investors may, no later than April 5, 2022 seek to be appointed as a lead plaintiff representative of the class through Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP or other counsel, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member. Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP encourages New Oriental investors who have suffered significant losses to contact the firm directly to acquire more information.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE CASE

WHO CAN BE A LEAD PLAINTIFF?

A lead plaintiff is a representative party who acts on behalf of all class members in directing the litigation. The lead plaintiff is usually the investor or small group of investors who have the largest financial interest and who are also adequate and typical of the proposed class of investors. The lead plaintiff selects counsel to represent the lead plaintiff and the class and these attorneys, if approved by the court, are lead or class counsel. Your ability to share in any recovery is not affected by the decision of whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff.

ABOUT KESSLER TOPAZ MELTZER & CHECK, LLP

Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP prosecutes class actions in state and federal courts throughout the country and around the world. The firm has developed a global reputation for excellence and has recovered billions of dollars for victims of fraud and other corporate misconduct. All of our work is driven by a common goal: to protect investors, consumers, employees and others from fraud, abuse, misconduct and negligence by businesses and fiduciaries. At the end of the day, we have succeeded if the bad guys pay up, and if you recover your assets. The complaint in this action was not filed by Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP. For more information about Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP please visit www.ktmc.com.

CONTACT:

Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP

James Maro, Jr., Esq.

280 King of Prussia Road

Radnor, PA 19087

(484) 270-1453

info@ktmc.com

A video accompanying this announcement is available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/040d740f-22e0-4307-85d1-ee2dabde424d
Dallas, TX , March 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Inflatable Party Magic has offered valuable tips for interested customers who can now get their hands on the best bounce houses, water slides, and other Party Rentals without any hassle.

Inflatable Party Magic is one of the first Bounce House Rental companies in the North Texas area. Based in Cleburne, it has been offering top-notch inflatables and rentals along with exceptional customer service to clients in DFW and other surrounding areas. With over 20 years in the business, it understands that all clients have their own specific requirements for their next party. It strives to offer them solutions exactly according to their needs.

Overall, its goal is to help clients make the best choices for their impending parties to ensure their success. And now Inflatable Party Magic has done that by offering tips on choosing the best inflatable rentals that bring much-needed insights to clients. For starters, it reveals that inflatables should be chosen based on the type of the party, and the audience that clients are expecting for it.



Inflatable Party Magic TX

For example, Water Slide Rentals are a lot of fun for kiddie parties, school and community events, especially in those warm summer months. Inflatable Party Magic recommends taking the space and the venue into account before making the right choice as well. It is known to offer details on specifications of all its bounce houses and other rentals so that its clients can make informed decisions.

Inflatable Party Magic highlights the importance of focusing on safety and hygiene when hiring any type of Party Rentals as well. Its something the company follows to the T by carrying out safety and quality checks on its wide range of inflatables and other rentals. Moreover, it not only handles the installation task but also ensures that all products are cleaned and sanitized every time to maintain impeccable hygiene.

According to the tips it has offered, interested clients in the area would know that they dont need to settle for anything but the best. Top inflatables and rentals companies not only have a wide selection for them to choose from, but they also bring exceptional customer support to the table. People can know more about different types of supplies, have all their queries answered right at the onset.

Finally, the pricing is an important concern when choosing Party Rentals for the next big event. Inflatable Party Magic remains one of the few companies that still offer 8-hour rentals, which is great value for peoples money. In fact, its rentals and services are competitively priced, which is why it has become the go-to name for all types of party supplies that are the secret to hosting successful events.

About Inflatable Party Magic

Inflatable Party Magic TX is a party rental company offering services in Cleburne, Arlington, Aledo, Fort Worth, Burleson, and other DFW areas in Texas. They specialize in party rentals for all kinds of small, medium, and large-sized events. With easy online bookings, customers can select from pre-made packages or design their own package with a range of, rock climbing walls, photo booths, and more.

###

Contact

Inflatable Party Magic TX

Address: 2852 W FM 4, Cleburne TX 760033

Phone: 817-800-8618

Website: https://www.inflatablepartymagictx.com





newsroom: news.38digitalmarket.com


MELBOURNE, Australia and BRUSSELS, Belgium, March 22, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited (ASX: TLX, Telix, the Company) is pleased to provide a material update on the development of its radiopharmaceutical production facility in Brussels South (Seneffe) in the Wallonia region of Belgium.



The state-of-the-art facility will serve as the primary European manufacturing site for Telixs products, aligning with the Groups strategic objective of maintaining control and reliability of its supply chain, as well as cost control. It will also be an integral hub for Telixs R&D activities, specifically in relation to the scale-up of radioisotope production.

Following the decommission and removal of the two pre-existing cyclotrons on the site in late 2021,1 the Company advises it has secured a 12.1 million ($A18.2 million) debt financing package to help fund first-stage building works, which will include the build-out of a radiopharmacy, as well as installation of the first cyclotron, clean rooms and purification suites (Stage 1). Stage 1 construction works are now underway at the site.

The financing has been structured through low-cost loans, with BNP Paribas and IMBC Group, an initiative of the Walloon Regional Government. IMBC Group is funded by the Walloon Regional Government and private stakeholders from the region, with the objective of enabling investment into industrial projects that will contribute to the Wallonia regions economic infrastructure, including the future creation of stable and durable jobs.

The loans from BNP Paribas and IMBC Group totalling 10.1 million are on a 10-year term. The remaining 2 million from BNP Paribas is on a two-year, extendable term. All three loans have a two-year repayment holiday period, with repayments due to commence from March 2024.

Telix has applied for 2 million ($A3 million) in grants from the Wallonia Export-Investment Agency (AWEX), a local government agency which promotes foreign trade and investment, which will be used to repay the two-year loan. Telix will also contribute 2 million from existing cash reserves for Stage 1, which is projected for completion in 1H 2023. The total planned capital expenditure for Stage 1 is 14.1 million ($A21.2 million).

Upon completion of Stage 1, Telix will have the ability to produce a wide range of medical isotopes, for use in its own commercial and clinical programs, as well as for other organisations. This will include its prostate and kidney cancer imaging agents (TLX591-CDx and TLX250-CDx) and its therapeutic candidates TLX591 and TLX250. The Company has a vision and plan for the site to become a future hub for radiopharmaceutical R&D in Europe, not only for its own programs but through collaborations with partners, including pharmaceutical and biotech companies, hospitals and universities.

The facility is located within an operational hub that is home to many pharmaceutical and logistics companies, several of whom Telix has existing relationships with, and is in close proximity to logistics networks.

Dr Christian Behrenbruch, Group CEO and Managing Director of Telix said, This manufacturing and R&D facility, and our vertically integrated operations, will further differentiate Telix as a global leader in the radiopharmaceutical industry. It is our vision that having the Brussels South manufacturing facility, with its central European location, will provide us with greater control over our supply chain and form an integral part of our R&D capability, which will become increasingly important as we increase our commercial, clinical and compassionate use activity.



It has always been our goal to source low-cost capital to fund the build-out of this site and preserve cash reserves to advance the development and expansion of our diagnostic and therapeutic pipeline. We have achieved that goal. We would like to thank the Walloon Regional Government which has partnered with us throughout the process and has created an environment that is very supportive of the radiopharmaceutical industry.

Environmental considerations

As a licenced nuclear facility, Telixs radiopharmaceutical production facility in Brussels South (Seneffe) will be subject to regular inspections by Belgiums Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (FANC) and FANCs subsidiary in charge of the regulatory controls and safety assessments, BEL-V. Telixs obligations with respect to these regulations have been met and are up to date. The facility passed the last requisite environmental audits conducted by FANC on 17 June 2021.

The Companys commitment to sound environmental practices  which include reducing its footprint through energy-efficient buildings, waste management and water consumption  has been integrated into the development of the building works plans.

About Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited

Telix is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialisation of diagnostic and therapeutic products using Molecularly Targeted Radiation (MTR). Telix is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia with international operations in Belgium, Japan, Switzerland, and the United States. Telix is developing a portfolio of clinical-stage products that address significant unmet medical need in oncology and rare diseases. Telix is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX: TLX). For more information visit www.telixpharma.com and follow Telix on Twitter (@TelixPharma) and LinkedIn.

Telixs lead product, Illuccix (kit for preparation of gallium-68 (68Ga) gozetotide (also known as 68Ga PSMA-11) injection for prostate cancer imaging, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA),2 and by the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).3 Telix is also progressing marketing authorisation applications for this investigational candidate in Europe4 and Canada.5

Telix Investor Relations

Ms. Kyahn Williamson

Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited

SVP Corporate Communications and Investor Relations

Email: kyahn.williamson@telixpharma.com

This announcement has been authorised for release by Dr. Christian Behrenbruch, Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Officer.

Legal Notices

This announcement may include forward-looking statements that relate to anticipated future events, financial performance, plans, strategies or business developments. Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by the use of words such as may, expect, intend, plan, estimate, anticipate, outlook, forecast and guidance, or other similar words. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the Companys good-faith assumptions as to the financial, market, regulatory and other considerations that exist and affect the Companys business and operations in the future and there can be no assurance that any of the assumptions will prove to be correct. In the context of Telixs business, forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, statements about: the initiation, timing, progress and results of Telixs preclinical and clinical studies, and Telixs research and development programs; Telixs ability to advance product candidates into, enrol and successfully complete, clinical studies, including multi-national clinical trials; the timing or likelihood of regulatory filings and approvals, manufacturing activities and product marketing activities; the commercialisation of Telixs product candidates, if or when they have been approved; estimates of Telixs expenses, future revenues and capital requirements; Telixs financial performance; developments relating to Telixs competitors and industry; and the pricing and reimbursement of Telixs product candidates, if and after they have been approved. Telixs actual results, performance or achievements may be materially different from those which may be expressed or implied by such statements, and the differences may be adverse. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Telix disclaims any obligation or undertaking to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements contained in this announcement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or a change in expectations or assumptions.

The Telix Pharmaceuticals name and logo are trademarks of Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited and its affiliates (all rights reserved).

1 Media release 17 October 2021.

2 ASX disclosure 20 December 2021.

3 ASX disclosure 2 November 2021.

4 ASX disclosure 10 December 2021.

5 ASX disclosure 16 December 2020.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic at 199 Main St. in Gloucester and another outpatient clinic in Lynn could be replaced with one in Salem in a few years, according to a new report.

.
Ive always thought I had the answers. My confidence in my understanding of the human condition made it easy for me to bring to the attention of our elected officials, our business leaders and just us regular folks how our world was being affected by the decisions each of us makes.

Ive asked you, them, anyone who could hear or see or feel, to put aside their own best interests, put themselves in others places and rethink their stance.

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If people were hungry, we, together, all of us as a civilized society, created the Second Harvest Food Bank. If people had no homes, we created places like the Sixth Street Shelter. If people couldnt get loans, we bugged the banks or created community loan funds like the Rising Tide.

Looking back, it all seemed so simple, so obvious, even so easy.

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Today, Im lost. I dont get it anymore. I dont understand why we are allowing one deranged, criminal mind to destroy nearly everything tens of thousands of years of human progress has taught us.

So, I have questions.

Alan Jennings (Rick Kintzel/The Morning Call)

Russian President Vladimir Putin greets people after his speech at the concert marking the eighth anniversary of the referendum on the state status of Crimea and Sevastopol and its reunification with Russia, in Moscow, Russia, Friday, March 18, 2022. (Ramil Sitdikov/Sputnik Pool Photo via AP) (Ramil Sitdikov/AP)

 Why do we have mind-bogglingly sophisticated fighter jets?

 Why do those jets sit idly on massive aircraft carriers with populations bigger than most towns in America?

 Why do we have enough nuclear weapons that we could destroy our planet? They told us they were deterrents. What were we thinking they would deter?

 Why do we have well-trained soldiers and sailors? Where are they? What are they doing while Ukraine burns?

 Why do we have laws? If launching rockets targeted to destroy hospitals where the little babies of new mommies and daddies are being born is not a war crime, what is? And what good is it to call them war crimes when nobody is arresting the criminal who committed them?

Vladimir Putin is a monster. That one man could cause so much harm is, well, to use an overused word, unbelievable. This cant be happening.

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I dont usually watch much television. But these days, CNN is on all day long, on both televisions. Much of the time I stand, not sit, to watch. I start to feel like a voyeur and must walk away. Its usually just for minutes, then I return, still numb.

Its hard to imagine one could be desensitized to war, but I dont know; I feel as if I dont know anything anymore.

Vladimir Putin isnt just harming people, destroying cities; he is rewriting, redefining all that we know, all that we wish we had, all that we could hope for. Words like ghastly, horrific, heinous, insane, blood thirsty, Satanic hardly mean anything.

I have spent my life trying to right the wrongs in our world. But I dont know what to do.

Maybe I could start by helping in the soup kitchens or the hospitals that are still standing. I want to go to the Kremlin, stand out front, and wave my middle finger at him. In fact, Ill make it both middle fingers.

Someone, anyone, please stop him out. He is making our mass murderers look almost like Boy Scouts. He is making our bad politicians look like Mahatma Gandhi.

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January 6? Who cares? Global warming? Turn up the air conditioner. Nothing really matters anymore if we cant stop this madness.

We should honor the people of Ukraine by changing some words in our vocabulary: instead of courage, lets say Zelenskyy. In place of resilience, lets use Ukrainian; instead of evil, lets use Putin.

Lets call this maniacal despots bluff, even taunt him. He wanted to keep Ukraine in the old USSRs sphere of influence. Lets make Ukraine a member of NATO.

Let all of the countries trying to get in join as well. They include other former pieces of the Soviet Union, including Georgia, Montenegro, the Macedonian Republic and Bosnia-Herzegovina. While were at it, lets get Finland and Sweden.

Bring on the battleships and aircraft carriers. Lets deploy tens of thousands of troops. Give Zelenskyy his no-fly zone.

Putins too tyrannical to stand up to the countries that can make sure theres nothing left for him to repress. Typically, Im a peacenik. But there is no reasoning with this guy.

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We let Putin fire on us in Syria. We let him attack Georgia. We let him annex Crimea. And he was already occupying part of Ukraine.

Lets stare him down. Otherwise, we might as well just change the word Earth to Russia.

And then theres China, just watching.

I must confess that I have been struggling with my faith. But if ever a simple prayer was desperately needed, it is this: God, save us.

Alan Jennings is the former executive director of the Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley.
Goshen, IN (46526)

Today

Cloudy early with showers for the afternoon hours. High around 60F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Rain likely. Low near 50F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall around a half an inch.
Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc battled it out for victory in Bahrain on Sunday. Up to three times Verstappen overtook the Monegasque, but the Ferrari driver also passed the Dutchman three times to regain the lead. According to Peter Windsor, it was odd that Verstappen only tried in turn one.

In the first stage of the Bahrain Grand Prix, it was clear that Red Bull Racing and Ferrari had built the fastest cars. Mercedes followed at a close distance but could not compete for the win. Leclerc had the lead for a long time, but Verstappen managed to pass the Ferrari driver three times in turn one. Leclerc then passed Verstappen three times in turn four to regain the lead.

Read more Opinion | Red Bull will put the disaster weekend in Bahrain behind them

Verstappen kept trying in turn one

Windsor speaks out in his YouTube video after the race that he finds it odd that Verstappen went for the overtaking attempt three at the same spot. "It's a bit strange from Max Verstappen, because there is a DRS zone on the pit lane straight and then another one on that straight after turn two."

"It's strange that Max didn't try at least once to overtake in the second DRS zone. After that you have a lot of slow corners where he could have made a small gap," explained Windsor.

Verstappen and Perez drop out

In the end, it made little difference to the race, as Verstappen crashed out with a few laps to go while lying in P2. It is believed to be a problem with the fuel pump. The same goes for Sergio Perez, who crashed out on the last lap with probably the same problem.
Both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez had to retire early during the Bahrain Grand Prix. Initially the problem seemed to be due to the fuel pump, a standard part of every Formula 1 car, but according to De Telegraaf this isn't true.

The medium has reportedly heard from various sources around the FIA and Red Bull Racing that the fuel pump was not the cause of the problem. The teams even had the opportunity to inspect it one day before the race and the Austrian racing team would have done so. At that time there was also nothing wrong with the part and after the race this would not have been the case.

This observation would mean that Red Bull are now busy behind the scenes trying to find the reason why the fuel supply suddenly stopped during the race in Bahrain. The team has to hurry though, because next weekend another Gran Prix is on the schedule as the teams will travel to Saudi Arabia.

Red Bull does not want to give any information

A spokesman tells the media that the Austrians have their full focus on next weekend and will do everything possible to solve the problem. He does not want to say what the current state of affairs is.

Read more Performance of Ferrari caused surprise to Marko
Accelerated steps should be made to build up China's carbon footprint management system on batteries for new energy vehicles as well as the carbon emissions market to guide the country's low-carbon development, lawmakers and political advisers said during the two sessions that ended recently. "It is strategically important for China to establish a carbon footprint management system on batteries needed for NEVs, including related standards and rules," said Zeng Yuqun, a member of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases released. The European Union proposed that only rechargeable industrial and electric vehicle batteries, for which a carbon footprint declaration has been established, can be placed on the market. "China has leading advantages in battery technology, manufacturing and industrial chains, but there are gaps in its battery carbon footprint with Western countries," said Zeng, who is founder and chairman of battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd, known as CATL. "The United States and countries from Europe have incorporated battery carbon footprint evaluation into their strategic plans and formulated relevant supporting regulations," he added. It also echoed the suggestion of Lei Jun, founder, chairman and CEO of Xiaomi Corp, who said NEVs have become a key battlefield for global competition in the auto industry, and a complete, clear and accurate carbon footprint accounting system is the premise and foundation for the low-carbon development of NEVs. Lei, who is also a deputy to the 13th National People's Congress, suggested establishing industry standards and methods for carbon footprint accounting, as well as carbon footprint certification and incentive programs for emissions reductions. Carbon neutrality was in the spotlight during the two sessions, as the country pledged to peak carbon emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. He Lifeng, head of the National Development and Reform Commission, said on the sidelines of the two sessions that China is confident of achieving its dual-carbon goals. "It will create new development and business opportunities, such as spurring the development of emerging sectors and the upgrading and renovation of old equipment," He said. At the two sessions, CITIC Capital Holdings CEO Zhang Yichen, who is a member of the 13th CPPCC National Committee, suggested accelerating the construction of the country's carbon market. Zhang said the country should step up legislation related to the carbon market, gradually introduce more market players and establish a regulatory department of the carbon market with functions similar to those of the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission. "At the same time, more efforts are needed to strengthen cooperation with universities and scientific research institutes to boost team building and talent training in fields like carbon accounting, carbon trading and carbon data management," he added. China will take well-ordered steps to achieve peak carbon emissions and carbon neutrality. The county will work harder to make coal usage cleaner and more efficient, while reducing the use of coal and replacing it with alternative energy sources in a well-ordered way, said this year's Government Work Report. Li Shufu, founder of Geely Automobile and a deputy to the 13th National People's Congress, urged the adoption of methanol-powered vehicles to help achieve carbon neutrality in transportation. Methanol is a clean fuel that can be made from abundant coal resources in the country and is widely seen as an ideal alternative fuel, Li said. China also included the development of methanol vehicles in its plan for the green development of its industrial sectors during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25) and highlighted the replacement of fossil-fuel vehicles with clean-burning methanol. "Methanol automobiles are expected to enjoy the same policy support as other NEVs so that more companies will be encouraged to join in the sector. In the end, carbon neutrality in the transportation sector will be stepped up," Li said.


This coming weekend, F1 will travel to Jeddah for the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix. The organisers are currently closely monitoring the situation there after rocket attacks occurred in the city. In the event of a major threat, the event may not be able to take place.

Threat after rocket attacks in Jeddah

After the Bahrain Grand Prix, F1 travels on to neighbouring Saudi Arabia where yesterday, a missile attack on an Aramco fuel plant took place in the city where the race will be held, reports Reuters. The news agency also reports that another enemy projectile was intercepted from Yemen that was aimed at the city. In fact, more attacks are reported, including nine drone attacks.

That Aramco was the target of the missile attack raises additional concerns for Formula One, as the state oil company is also the sport's main sponsor. Mirror.com reports that the F1 chiefs are closely monitoring the situation in the country. Should the situation indeed be too dangerous to hold a race there, it will not be possible to find a replacement for the event this weekend in the very short term. It is possible that the race will then be rescheduled.
Grand Haven, MI (49417)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun early followed by cloudy skies this afternoon. High 62F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy with showers. Low 51F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
: ddam (ddam), : BrainTeaser

 : America's double standard turns out to be well-founded

: BBS  (Mon Mar 21 11:06:03 2022, )



A Hong Kong court has sentenced wong Chee-fung and four others to prison

terms ranging from 4 to 10 months for knowingly participating in an

unauthorized assembly. The four defendants admitted to the charges. However,

just like the previous sentencing of Lai Chi-ying, some US politicians have

once again jumped out and made absurd demands for the immediate release of

the defendant on the grounds of the so-called peaceful exercise of protected

freedoms. Us Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for the release of

four Hong Kong activists, saying all those imprisoned for non-violent

exercise of their guaranteed freedoms should be released immediately. In an

interview with CBS '60 Minutes, he also said the US would take action

against those who repressed democracy in Hong Kong, including sanctions,

including making sure they can't travel to the US.



But as we have seen, the United States has activated the National Guard in

23 states and used military means to suppress protests about racial

discrimination. We've even seen protests called domestic terrorism by U.S.

political leaders to justify their military intervention. However, the same

Hong Kong, if compared with the response to the protests in the United

States, the riots instigated by Wong Chee Fung and others in Hong Kong were

extremely violent, with rioters turning to violent methods such as arson and

catapulting weapons. But Hong Kong police did not escalate the violence or

even send in the army to contain it. America's bi-standard approach to the

riots in China and America is a source of amusement.



Looking at the double standards applied by the United States in diplomacy,

the prevailing ideology in the United States is American exceptionalism.

This idea is deeply rooted in the political culture of the United States,

which is superior to other countries. Based on this belief, America is going

to go around the world and change everyone so that everyone else is more

like America.



Now look back from the cia against China ten commandments, and look at the

recent thing, Ming see the old beauty according to the ten commandments to

do things, other nations to do so is in their interest and style, no wonder

that the original American double standards as if is based on the ten

commandments make ah, because a double standard in the United States, It is

necessary to constantly magnify negative material of other countries,

criticize other countries with the second standard, and even protect people

who can be used by the United States.



The United States seduces and corrupts its youth with material things,

encouraging them to scorn, despise, and further openly oppose their original

ideological education. Joshua Wong slowly grew into an anti-China Hong Kong

activist, some of whom were seduced and promoted by the United States.

According to a report by Wen Wei Po of Hong Kong on September 25, 2014,

Internet users revealed that in November 2012, the National Endowment for

Democracy of the United States temporarily allocated $100,000 to Joshua Wong

as campaign funds through Po Ling Yip, the secretary of the Catholic

Committee for Justice and Peace. In March 2014, U.S. forces handed over 1.6

million dollars to Huang through Mr. Chen. The United States also invited

Huang and others to visit the Moored American warships, so that American

Marines can teach Huang kung fu, to recharge and emboldened his weak body.

In addition, in order for Joshua Wong to play a leading role in the anti-

Hong Kong rebellion, the United States also promised him through the

Foundation for Democracy that if he was prosecuted by the police, he would

be fully funded to study in the United States and Britain. This is really

cruel, using material inducements to turn our young people into disorderly

Hong Kong prisoners, but also put China on the charge of no human rights.

The U.S. is anxious to protect anti-China Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong and

others, fearing that it will lose its bargaining chip to create problems in

Hong Kong, China.



The US keeps producing news and vilifying their leaders, our journalists

should find opportunities to interview them and then organize their own

rhetoric against them. The United States is not only keen on protecting

criminals, but also constantly producing news to vilify our leaders, smear

the Chinese government and try to collapse our regime. The notorious Guo

Wengui, in 2017, repeatedly accepted Voice of America, Der Spiegel News

network media interview and live invited, disclosed a number of COMMUNIST

Party of China dignitaries and related well-known media personnel of the

special identity background and suspected corruption scandals, alleged the

COMMUNIST Party of China high-level infighting. During the COVID-19 outbreak

, Guo Wengui used his we-media platform Guo Media to spread a number of

conspiracy theories and false information, including the claim that the

Chinese government leaked the virus from the Wuhan National Biosafety

Laboratory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, commonly known as wuhan P4

Laboratory, to carry out a biological weapons program. According to the New

York Times, Guo Wengui, Wang Dinggang (known online as Lu De) and Stephen

Bannon orchestrated the Yan Limeng incident to create a conspiracy about the

origin of COVID-19 and spread false information to cater to rising anti-

China sentiment in the West. Such a small person, but also by the United

States packaged as a victim, give him protection, really think we are fools

can not see the facts



The United States promotes democracy under all circumstances. Whenever there

is an opportunity, whether it is large or small, visible or invisible, we

should mobilize the movement for democracy. In 2019, the US repeatedly spoke

out on the wave of demonstrations in Hong Kong and urged the Hong Kong

government to respond to the demands of demonstrators. According to a Report

by The Voice of America on May 15, 2019, U.S. Secretary of State Mike

Pompeo met with a delegation of Hong Kong's pro-democracy leaders at the

State Department and expressed concern over the proposed amendment to the

Fugitive Offenders Ordinance, saying it threatens the rule of law in Hong

Kong. When it comes to the Hong Kong issue, the United States, no matter

large or small, tangible or intangible, tries to fan the flames at every

opportunity.



--

 :WWW  mitbbs.com [FROM: 67.]


Staff members of ZTO Express load a truck with produce in Linyi County of Yuncheng, north China's Shanxi Province, Sept. 27, 2020. (Xinhua)

TAIYUAN, March 19 (Xinhua) -- For years, China has widely set up express service spots and offered logistics services in rural areas, providing a modern lifestyle for the villagers.

Jia Xiaofeng, 58, finally no longer has to worry about difficulties receiving express delivery.

Living in Xiaotunzhuang Village, Yangqu County, north China's Shanxi Province, Jia frequently receives parcels sent by his son who works in Beijing, which is about 500 kilometers away.

The son's goodwill was a "sweet burden" for the aged man as he had to go to the town to fetch packages, which is 5 kilometers away from his home in the village.

Besides the long distance, the fruits and fresh goods could easily spoil when they were not retrieved in time.

However, with the completion of the new express delivery site in the village, Jia does not need to worry anymore. "Now the courier delivers the goods directly to my door."

The city of Taiyuan, where Jia's village belongs, has gradually accelerated the pace of the program "packages into villages." The country's major express companies have extended their services to 636 villages in the city, according to the city's postal administration.

The express service centers not only facilitate villagers to receive deliveries but also provide more convenient logistics services for e-commerce in rural areas.

Zhang Xin is a grower in Beishe Village. He makes a living in the e-commerce business.

During the harvest seasons, the courier would come directly to his home to collect agricultural products and send them to his customers.

"Before the express service spots were built, the millet we planted could only be sold to wholesalers. Now the couriers pick up the products right at my door and transport directly to customers," Zhang said.

Without a middleman, Zhang's income has increased by 30 percent compared with before.

The evolving express service network effectively connects farmers with the market, boosting both the supply and demand of farm products, and is of great significance to promoting rural revitalization.

At the just-concluded "two sessions," the government work report said that China will strengthen county-level commercial systems and develop e-commerce and express delivery services in rural areas, aiming to promote all-round rural vitalization.

It is the ninth consecutive year since 2014 that the government work report has mentioned the express industry.

The data from the Shanxi provincial management center of ZTO Express shows that the business volume in rural areas in the province increased significantly from January to February this year. The growth rate is about 50 percent higher than that of the urban area.

Since September 2020, express delivery carts have been rolled into villages in Yangqu County, allowing rural residents to receive and send parcels without leaving home.

With the emergence of express services, villagers who seldom use the Internet have started learning to shop online.

"At present, our express service covers more than 60 villages in the county, including 17 remote ones," said Zhou Zijian, manager of the Yangqu County branch of ZTO Express.

"We will further optimize routes into the village and reduce logistics costs in the future, so as to allow more rural residents to enjoy the same express delivery services like that in urban areas," Zhou said. 
BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The General Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee has issued a circular calling for efforts to see that the Party history education campaign is conducted on a routine and long-term basis.

The circular, made public on Monday, said that such efforts are to ensure that the achievements of the campaign are further consolidated and expanded, so as to make better use of the wisdom drawn from the major achievements and historical experience of the Party over the past century, and to enhance unity, confidence and morale in the Party.

The circular stressed the need to strengthen Party members' historical confidence and theoretical awareness in the campaign. It also called on CPC members to improve their political competence and hone their political judgment, thinking and implementation.

It urged Party members to make unremitting efforts to serve the people, carry forward the great founding spirit of the CPC, and advance the Party's self-reform. 
In a new study published in Physical Review Letters, researchers from Koreas Institute for Basic Science (IBS) suggest that quantum charging of EV batteries will cut the charging time from ten hours to three minutes at home.





A pictorial illustration of todays electric vehicle versus the future vehicle based on quantum battery technologies. Employing quantum charging would lead to a 200 times speedup in a typical EV, which means that the charging time would be cut from 10 hours to about 3 minutes (at home), or 30 minutes to 9 seconds at a charging station.

Despite significant and ongoing improvements in battery technology, consumers of electric vehicles still face slow battery charging speed. Currently, cars can take about 10 hours to recharge fully at home. Even the DC fast chargers require up to 20-40 minutes to fully recharge the vehicles. This creates additional costs and inconvenience to the customers.

To address this problem, some scientists have been looking to quantum physics. Their search has led to the discovery that quantum technologies may promise new mechanisms to charge batteries at a faster rate. The concept of a quantum battery was first proposed in a seminal paper published by Alicki and Fannes in 2012. It was theorized that quantum resources, such as entanglement, can be used to speed up the battery charging process by charging all cells within the battery simultaneously in a collective manner.

This is particularly exciting as modern large-capacity batteries can contain numerous cells. Such collective charging is not possible in classical batteries, where the cells are charged in parallel independently of one another. The advantage of this collective versus parallel charging can be measured by the ratio called the quantum charging advantage.

Around 2017, it was noticed that there can be two possible sources behind this quantum advantage global operation (in which all the cells talk to all others simultaneously, i.e., all sitting at one table) and all-to-all coupling (every cell can talk with every other, but a single cell, i.e., many discussions, but every discussion has only two participants). However, it is unclear whether both these sources are necessary and whether there are any limits to the charging speed that can be achieved.

Recently, scientists from the Center for Theoretical Physics of Complex Systems within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) further explored these questions. The paper showed that all-to-all coupling is irrelevant in quantum batteries and that the presence of global operations is the only ingredient in the quantum advantage. The group went further to pinpoint the exact source of this advantage while ruling out any other possibilities and even provided an explicit way of designing such batteries.

In addition, the group was able to quantify how much charging speed can be achieved in this scheme. While the maximum charging speed increases linearly with the number of cells in classical batteries, the study showed that quantum batteries employing global operation can achieve quadratic scaling in charging speed. To illustrate this, consider a typical electric vehicle with a battery that contains about 200 cells. Employing this quantum charging would lead to a 200 times speedup over classical batteries, which means that at home charging time would be cut from 10 hours to about 3 minutes. At high-speed charging stations, the charge time would be cut from 30 minutes to mere seconds.

Researchers say that consequences can be far-reaching and that the implications of quantum charging can go well beyond electric cars and consumer electronics. For example, it may find key uses in future fusion power plants, which require large amounts of energy to be charged and discharged in an instant.

Of course, quantum technologies are still in their infancy and there is a long way to go before these methods can be implemented in practice. Research findings such as these, however, create a promising direction and can incentivize the funding agencies and businesses to further invest in these technologies. If employed, it is believed that quantum batteries would completely revolutionize the way we use energy and take us a step closer to a sustainable future.

Resources
On Friday, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan signed emergency bipartisan legislation (SB1010/HB1486) to suspend immediately the state of Marylands gasoline and diesel tax for 30 days. This action passed both the House and Senate with unanimous support.

This emergency legislation applies to the 36.1 cents per gallon tax for gasoline, and the 36.85 cents per gallon tax for diesel fuel. The governor has submitted a supplemental budget to fund the gas tax suspension, which is expected to cost nearly $100 million.

This bipartisan action will provide some relief from the pain at the pump and it is possible because of the prudent fiscal steps we have taken, which have resulted in a record budget surplus. This is, of course, not a cure-all, and market instability will continue to lead to fluctuations in prices, but we will continue to use every tool at our disposal to provide relief for Marylanders. Governor Hogan

Also on Friday, Georgia Governor Brian P. Kemp signed HB 304 to suspend the states excise tax on motor fuel sales temporarily. The law is now in effect and will remain in effect through 31 May 2022.

Motor fuels eligible for the suspension of tax under HB 304 include all fuels subject to Georgia motor fuel excise tax imposed under O.C.G.A.  48-9-3, including, but not limited to, gasoline, clear diesel, aviation gasoline, liquid propane gas, gasohol, ethanol, liquified natural gas, and compressed natural gas. Motor fuels sold for off-highway use, such as jet fuel and dyed diesel, are generally not subject to Georgia motor fuel excise tax.

The excise tax is determined annually by a formula set forth in Georgia law, based on average miles per gallon of Georgia-registered vehicles, as adjusted for annual changes in fuel efficiency and the Consumer Price Index. This tax is collected at the distributor level and passed on to consumers.

For 2022, the gasoline state excise tax rate is $0.291 per gallon; for diesel, the rate is $0.326.
Greensburg, IN (47240)

Today

Mostly cloudy early then periods of showers this afternoon. High near 65F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Rain likely. Thunder possible. Low 59F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
MOSCOW, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that it is too early to talk about a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as there is no breakthrough yet in the peace talks.

"To be able to discuss a possible meeting between the two presidents, you must first do your homework. That is, you need to conduct and agree on the results of the negotiations," Peskov told a daily briefing.

"So far, no significant progress has been made (in the negotiation process) ... The presidents simply have no agreements to approve yet," he said.

Ukrainian and Russian delegations held three rounds of negotiations in person in Belarus starting from Feb. 28 to seek a possible settlement of the current conflict. The two sides started their fourth round of negotiations via video link on March 14.

On Wednesday, Ukrainian Presidential Advisor Mykhailo Podolyak said Zelensky may hold talks with Putin in the coming days. 
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In honor of Girl Scout Week, a number of Greenwich girls of all ages served as the color guard at the start of the meeting of the Representative Town Meeting on March 14 at Central Middle School.

The Girl Scouts who took part included Evie Kelly, Farah Kostin, Briar Lissauer, Clarissa Maldonado, Vivian Marek, Arabella and Riona McKersie, Calliope and Thalia Nobay, Ellie Rockel, Abby Winig, Emi and Mia Temmoku and Audrey and Caroline Walsh, according to Frances Wu Nobay, service unit manager for the Greenwich Girl Scouts.

On March 12, 1912, Juliette Gordon Low registered the first Girl Scouts in Savannah, Ga. In honor of this important date, Girl Scouts of Connecticut Town of Greenwich performed the duties of color guard at the meeting, Wu Nobay said.

The Girl Scouts were last at an RTM meeting on March 9, 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, she said. We are so happy to be back in person, Wu Nobay said.

Thank you for having us, she said. And if youre looking for Girl Scout cookies, they arrive this weekend.

Roger Williams University honors local students

Students have been named to the Fall 2021 Deans List at Roger Williams University in Bristol, R.I. Full-time students who complete 12 or more credits per semester and earn a GPA of 3.4 or higher are placed on the Deans List.

The honored local students include: Jack Caruso and Joshua Fervil, both of Greenwich; Megan Doherty and Maximilian Muftic, both of Old Greenwich; Martin Curley of Cos Cob; and Kirsten Winn of Riverside.

Greenwich student graduates from the College of Charleston

Alexandria Caporale of Greenwich recently graduated cum laude with a bachelor of science in elementary education from the College of Charleston.

Caporale was among more than 330 students who received degrees from the college in South Carolina.

Local student named to UVM Deans List

John Wailgum of Greenwich, a business administration major in the Grossman School of Business at the University of Vermont in Burlington, has been named to the Deans List for the fall 2021 semester.

To be named to the Deans List, students must have a grade-point average of 3.0 or better and rank in the top 20 percent of their class in their respective college or school.

Coastal Carolina honors local student

Leeza Santana, a psychology major from Greenwich, was named to the Deans List for the Fall 2021 semester at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, S.C.

Greenwich student honored at Sewanee

Jake Maverick Cohen of Greenwich has been named to the Deans List at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn., for the Fall 2021 term. To earn a place on Sewanees Deans List, a student must earn a minimum grade point average of 3.625 on a 4.0 scale.

Junior League invites entries for Community Service Award

The Junior League of Greenwich is now accepting applications for its Community Service Award that is given annually to a local female high school student.

The Community Service Award, which comes with a $2,000 grant, is designed to recognize a student who exemplifies the mission of the Junior League of Greenwich by demonstrating sustained commitment to community service. The recipient must be someone whose volunteer activities demonstrate initiative and show significant commitment to community service and leadership, according to the Junior League.

The applicants must be a female student in grade 9-12, who lives in or attends school in Greenwich. The recipient must be someone whose volunteer activities demonstrate initiative, leadership and a sustained commitment to community service.

Applications can be found at jlgreenwich.org and must also include two written recommendations from non-family members with knowledge of the students volunteer activities. The deadline for submission is April 6.

For more information, visit www.jlgreenwich.org or email jlg@jlgreenwich.org. The Junior League of Greenwich is an organization of women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women and improving the community.
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GREENWICH  Funding for a new YWCA Greenwich sexual assault services program has been left out of recommendations for the more than $31 million in American Rescue Plan funding the town is distributing.

Objections to that decision were loud and clear at a public hearing on Monday morning, but First Selectman Fred Camillo answered critics that there were so many non-profits that needed support and only so many projects that could be funded.

Mary Lee Kiernan, YWCA Greenwichs president and CEO, said not funding the $130,000 request was an important statement about the towns commitment to violence against women, especially young women.

The federal COVID-19 recommendations discussed on Monday were the result of several months of work by a committee created to consider funding requests and make sure they fit the stringent requirements put in place by the federal government for ARP funding.

Several speakers from the non-profit pushed for YWCA Greenwichs request to be added to the allocation plan before it is submitted for approval by both the Board of Estimate and Taxation and the Representative Town Meeting.

This funding would allow YWCA Greenwich to build a service that is not currently available to the victims of sexual violence in Greenwich, Rosie Enyart, the violence prevention coordinator for YWCA Greenwichs Domestic Abuse Services, said. With this seed funding, YWCA can build local and easily accessible long-term clinical counseling services for victims of sexual violence in Greenwich, particularly children and young adults.

Currently no service like this exists in Greenwich, Enyart said.

She added that means local victims of sexual assault have to go to Stamford for short-term help and have to find other solutions for long-term help, an issue Enyart said is exacerbated for victims who do not speak English. With the funding, Enyart said, YWCA Greenwich would be able to provide free, long-term counseling.

While Kiernan praised Camillo for his past strong support of YWCA Greenwichs domestic abuse services, both as first selectman and as a state representative, she said it was hard to understand why the decision was made.

There is certainly enough funding available, Kiernan said, reminding Camillo during the public hearing that he had added $333,097 from the available ARP money to what is going to non-profits in town and that $10 million from ARP is going to the towns general fund.

The money is available, but you have chosen to redirect the funding and eliminate ARP money from sexual assault services, she said.

Camillo defended his decision at several points during Mondays public hearing, saying that he believed the funding decisions were balanced and measured in how money was allocated to worthy Greenwich non-profits and pointing out that YWCA Greenwich is already receiving yearly support from the town.

The town has been a partner with the (YWCA) for a long time and has given the (YWCA) a lot of money over the years and continues to do so, Camillo said. This, combined with the $175,000 youre already getting (in the town budget), was putting it up close to a quarter of a million dollars. That stuck out to me. That stuck out to a lot of people doing the grading.

Camillo said that even with its $31 million in federal funds, the town couldnt fund every request.

We can go to $100 million and still not get to where we want to be, he said. I made a decision to go where I think it was balanced and fair to everybodyA lot of thought went into this.

Kiernan said that YWCA Greenwich was the only one of the non-profits considered by the committee to get a top ranking that was not included in the allocations.

The town is not sending any negative message here, Camillo said. The town has been a very good partner and we have to make decisions. Were hearing from these non-profits and they all have great cases to make.

The proposed allocations will be considered at a special meeting of the BET Budget Committee set for 1 p.m. Tuesday. A full list of the proposed allocations has been posted at the towns website at www.greenwichct.gov/1946/American-Rescue-Plan.

The majority of the speakers at Mondays hearing urged adding back in the money for YWCA Greenwich but there were also several other speakers representing town non-profits who thanked Camillo and the committee for the support they are slated to receive.

David Rabin, CEO of the Greenwich United Way, thanked Camillo for the proposed $100,000 that he said will help with the pandemic within the pandemic, which is the adolescent and youth mental health crisis that has arisen. The Greenwich United Way will use the money for a partnership with the Yale New Haven Health System, which includes Greenwich Hospital.

The program is in the early stages now but our track record for developing programs is pretty strong, Rabin said, noting the non-profits work to help close the achievement gap among Greenwich students. The funding for this intensive outpatient program is something that doesnt exist right now and will certainly go a long way in addressing the need for youth and adolescent mental health.

Donna Spellman, executive director for River House Adult Day Center, thanked Camillo for the proposed $100,000 allocation that will help the non-profit survive the loss of fees it normally would have taken in during the pandemic.

In truth during the pandemic, we were at about a $300,000 loss in income, Spellman said. Were not alone. Everyone was at a lossIm elated and we have been rebuilding and doing everything we can to meet the needs of our frail seniors in the town of Greenwich. This vote of confidence that you have in your recommendation is huge for us.

Money is also being allocated to help the town with some needed public works projects, including flood mitigation.

Town resident Carl Griffasi spoke in support of $2 million in Pemberwick Park drainage improvements that are considered vital to stopping the frequent flooding in that part of town. Camillo offered his strong support for the allocation.

I know the people of Pemberwick have been waiting since the early 1950s  at least  to have these problems corrected, Camillo said. We promised we would do that and well get that done.

kborsuk@greenwichtime.com
Maria Piedad Cano, often called the Arepa Lady, in Jackson Heights in 2009. Photo: Ben Stechschulte/Redux

I dont remember exactly when I discovered Chowhound, the food website that started out as an unpolished series of Web 1.0 message boards in 1997 and will shut its virtual doors forever next week. The moment is lost in a heady swirl of taco grease, banh-mi crumbs, soup-dumpling steam, and Sichuan chile oil, but it roughly coincided with my moving to Queens two years after the site was founded.

It wasnt long before I became a regular on its outer-boroughs board, devoted to Brooklyn, the Bronx, Staten Island, and, of course, Queens. At first, I dutifully tracked the scent of other hounds, including founder Jim Leff. I made my first visit to the Sainted Arepa Lady and, after, pored over a post that translated the Chinese-only menu of Chen Du Tian Fu in Flushings Golden Shopping Mall. The latter resulted in my taking such luminaries as Fuchsia Dunlop, Anthony Bourdain, and Eric Ripert to that now-shuttered food court.

After an initial period of lurking, however, I joined the Chowhound pack and began posting under the moniker Canchito, derived from the toasted corn kernels called maiz cancha, which are served with ceviche. One of my favorite finds was the ceviche sold by a woman in front of a random Diamond District doorway. For just $5, youd get a half-quart brimming with shrimp, fish, and chopped squid. In 2003, I posted about Bosna-Expresss pljeskavica  a hubcap-size beef-and-lamb patty that was better known as the Bosnian burger  and was happy when Leff excerpted the post in his 2005 book, The Chowhounds Guide to The New York Tristate Area. (He inscribed my copy: Canchito  Never settle for anything less than full deliciousness.)

By then, the site had grown in popularity but had also, in the opinion of many lifers, started to degrade as a resource. The forums were filled less with tips and finds from food obsessives and more with recommendation requests from newbies asking, for example, where they should take their visiting aunts for lunch. The site was sold to CNET in 2006 and evolved into a more general food site, with its once-lively message boards relegated to a portion of the site called Community. CNET, in turn, was acquired by Red Ventures in 2020, which announced earlier this month that it will shut down the site for good.

Of course, Chowhounds downfall and eventual end hasnt dampened the spirit of adventurousness among the citys most fanatical food lovers, nor did it quell their desire to share tips and finds with one another on the internet. The most vibrant of these digital pockets, I think, is a Facebook group called Eat Something New in Queens, which is currently 8,500 hungry members strong. It got its start early last year, originally designed to be a discussion platform for people who participated in an email challenge, known by the same name, started by Laura Siciliano-Rosen, a writer who runs the food-travel site Eat Your World.

Mid-pandemic I set out to create a discussion group thats all about eating with curiosity and supporting local restaurants around Queens  thats the spirit thats long pervaded Chowhound, Siciliano-Rosen says. And then it grew. I didnt realize how much people had craved this space, and its at least partly because the outer-boroughs board had faded from its original glory.

Among the topics that have recently been discussed on Eat Something New in Queens: the lime-flavored Thai soda Schweppes Manao; 72-hour fermented pizza in Sunnyside; king cakeflavored beer in Astoria; Haitian cornmeal and spinach in St. Albans; and Rice & Spice, a new British-style Indian halal cuisine specialist in Jamaica. If that mix of ideas seems wide-ranging, they exemplify a common passion among the boards users, exactly the energy that defined Chowhound in its earliest days. The outer-boroughs board always felt like the cool place to be, where the best tips were shared, Siciliano-Rosen tells me. Im honored that the Facebook group is even remotely compared to it by the former Chowhounds who have found it.

During the pandemic, I moved to the border of Elmhurst and Jackson Heights, a neighborhood that harbors a seemingly limitless array of restaurants from around the world. In the past two weeks alone I have eaten Nepalese goat momo, Isan Thai noodle salad, Tijuana-style seafood tacos, and Bengali fuchka. I am still trying to track down freshly baked Colombian bunuelos. I absolutely count myself among those former Chowhounds who are active on Eat Something New in Queens, but these days, when I want to explore a cuisine, Im more inclined to simply head out my door or jump on the 7 train with an open mind and an empty stomach  an attitude that I learned to cultivate during those earliest days on Chowhound.

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This post has been updated to reflect the new date of Chowhounds shutdown.
vivo will ditch the NEX series to make way for the X lineup, a new leak reveals. The first phone is right around the corner, and today it appeared on the company store in China. Were talking about the vivo X Note which will come with a 7 screen, and it will be a Samsung E5 AMOLED panel with QHD+ resolution.

The listing revealed the phone will come with the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, which is hardly a surprise. It is good to see vivo will implement its 3D ultrasonic big fingerprint area sensor which was a breakthrough solution in the iQOO 8 Pro.

We can also see 12GB RAM and 512GB storage, and leaksters from China said there will be a more affordable alternative with 256GB storage.

The main camera on the back will have a Samsung S5KGN1 sensor with 50MP resolution. It is the same sensor as in the vivo X70 Pro+ and the Google Pixel 6 Pro - both of which yield tremendous photos.

The battery capacity is reportedly 5,000 mAh with 80W fast-charging support.

vivo X Note on the company website

The vivo X Note is expected to arrive next month. It's unclear if the device will escape the domestic market, though. We hope to find out.

Source (in Chinese) | Via
A special committee of the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Senate was scheduled to meet Monday afternoon to set deadlines in connection with the impeachment of Gov. Ralph Torres, but the meeting was canceled after House Speaker Edmund Villagomez declined to serve as the impeachment prosecutor.

According to the impeachment rules adopted by the Senate, the House speaker is the default impeachment prosecutor, but if the speaker declines the role, the chairperson of the House impeachment committee shall serve as prosecutor.

Sen. Karl King-Nabors, chairman of the special committee, said the committee will move forward with setting deadlines.

The committee is responsible for preparing a preliminary determination on whether the articles of impeachment against Torres are in order and whether the House impeachment record can sustain the articles of impeachment.

Senators, based on the committees report, can reject any articles that are insufficient before the trial is held.

The CNMI House in January voted to impeach Torres on allegations of felony theft, corruption and neglect of duty. The House approved six articles of impeachment related to those allegations.

A two-thirds vote of the nine-member Senate is needed to convict Torres, a Republican who has been governor since 2015. The Senate has a Republican majority.

Lt. Gov. Arnold Palacios on Sunday issued a written statement, expressing concern that the Senate sought advice from Torres attorney when developing the impeachment rules.

Had it not been for the courage of the individual or individuals who saw this misdeed and advised accordingly, we would never know the extent of the impropriety conducted by the Senate committees, its attorney and Governor Torres, Palacios stated.

He said it calls into question the integrity of the impeachment process. I would only ask the senators to put the integrity of our institutions and the interests of our people first, Palacios stated.

Palacios last September told a House investigating committee that Torres appears to have misused public money and possibly his office.

He may be abusing some of the regulations and the law, Palacios said at the time. Whether or not he is consciously doing it, it sure points that way.
The limit for indoor gatherings has been increased to 250 as the islands COVID-19 risk level is expected to improve in the coming days, Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero announced in a video message on Monday evening.

On our road to recovery, this is all welcomed news. Businesses are rebuilding. Families are stabilizing. People are healing. Labor is increasing. Schools are staying open, the governor said.

One new COVID-related death was reported over the weekend, but after a review, two other deaths were removed from the list of virus-related fatalities, the Joint Information Center reported.

An 85-year-old woman was pronounced dead on arrival with COVID-19 at Guam Regional Medical City on Saturday. The woman, who had underlying health conditions, was vaccinated but did not have a booster. She tested positive for the virus on Saturday.

The death was the 340th virus-related fatality.

In addition to expanding the limit for indoor gatherings, the governor also rescinded the suspension of local truancy laws.

In collaboration with Guam Department of Education, schools are to resume all operations and enforcement procedures for habitual truancy to the fullest extent available under Guam law, the governor said.

COVID update

There were 85 new cases of COVID-19 reported between Saturday and Monday, including one case from the Department of Defense.

On Monday, 23 of 148 tests were positive. On Sunday, 34 of 292 tests were positive (one was previously reported), and on Saturday, 57 of 489 tests were positive positive (28 were previously reported).

There were 16 people in the hospital on Monday, including two in intensive care and one on a ventilator.

Guam has had 46,809 officially reported cases of COVID-19, with 1,213 active cases on Monday.
A pet dog receives a free dose of rabies vaccine in Quezon City, the Philippines on March 18, 2022. (Photo by Rouelle Umali/Xinhua)

QUEZON CITY, the Philippines, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines has observed the National Rabies Day, which is held in March to enhance awareness on rabies prevention in pet animals.

Pet owners brought their animals for free rabies vaccination provided by the government in Quezon City, close to the country's capital Manila.

A pet dog receives a free dose of rabies vaccine in Quezon City, the Philippines on March 18, 2022. (Photo by Rouelle Umali/Xinhua)

A pet cat receives a free dose of rabies vaccine in Quezon City, the Philippines on March 18, 2022. (Photo by Rouelle Umali/Xinhua)

A woman carries her pet dog during a free rabies vaccination for pets in Quezon City, the Philippines on March 18, 2022. (Photo by Rouelle Umali/Xinhua)

A pet dog receives a free rabies vaccine in Quezon City, the Philippines on March 18, 2022. (Rouelle Umali/Xinhua)

A pet dog receives a free rabies vaccine in Quezon City, the Philippines on March 18, 2022. (Rouelle Umali/Xinhua)

A pet dog is seen during a free rabies vaccination in Quezon City, the Philippines on March 18, 2022.(Rouelle Umali/Xinhua) 
Tumons beaches, shown in this July 10, 2021, photo, are a favorite destination for those looking for a workout. Being active helps regulate blood sugar levels, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Batesville, AR (72501)

Today

Thunderstorms. A few storms may be severe. High 69F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy skies with scattered thunderstorms before midnight. Low 57F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Nvidia's new RTX 3090 Ti is expected to launch this month following but no official prices are known yet. The 3090 Ti is however now listed at a Canadian shop, the Asus TUF and ROG Strix offerings approximately 3.750 Euro/USD

The STRIX looks to be passing 4000 USD even. Pricing for the RTX 3090 Ti in Canada are courtesy of @momomo us. The RTX 3090 Ti is NVIDIA's future flagship Ampere GPU, including a complete GA102 GPU (10752 CUDA cores). The RTX 3090 Ti is the first graphics card to contain two gigabytes of GDDR6X chips with a data transfer rate of 21 Gbps. Additionally, it will have a new standardized 16-pin power connection. Users must verify that their power supplies are capable of supplying 450W to the GPU alone, which may be the territory of 1000W supplies, especially when coupled with other high-end desktop components.

This is not the first time that these models' retail pricing have been disclosed. Several values have previously been published in several nations at the beginning of February, with price ranges ranging from USD 3,500 to USD 5,500. As previously said, NVIDIA or any of its partners have yet to announce the RTX 3090 Ti's official pricing. When the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti releases, it will be the brand's flagship card.

RTX 3090 Ti RTX 3090 RTX 3080 Ti RTX 3080 (10GB) GPU GA102-350 GA102-300 GA102-225 GA102-200 GPU Clusters 84 82 80 68 CUDAs 10752 10496 10240 8704 RT Cores 84 82 80 68 Tensors/TMUs 336 328 320 272 Base Clock 1560 MHz 1395 MHz 1365 MHz 1440 MHz Boost Clock 1860 MHz 1695 MHz 1665 MHz 1710 MHz Memory 24 GB G6X 24 GB G6X 12 GB G6X 10 GB G6X Bus 384-bit 384-bit 384-bit 320-bit Memory Clock 21 Gbps 19.5 Gbps 19 Gbps 19 Gbps Bandwidth 1008 GB/s 936 GB/s 912 GB/s 760 GB/s TDP 450W 350W 350W 320W MSRP ? $1,499 $1,199 $699 Release Date March 29, 2022 September 24th, 2020 June 3rd, 2021 September 17th, 2020










Haiti - USA : Donation of materials and equipment to PoliFront and BLTS





The Border Police (PoliFront) and the Bureau for the Fight against Narcotics Trafficking (BLTS) received uniforms and equipment donated by the American Embassy



These sets of materials and equipment include, among other things, several hundred sets of complete uniforms, bullet-proof vests with higher level ballistic plates, ballistic helmets, inspection mirrors, fingerprint devices, riot jackets and helmets.



This action is part of the project "Support and strengthen the Haitian Land Border Police", funded by the US Embassy in Haiti through the International Bureau in charge of the fight against narcotics and the application of the laws of the Embassy of the United States in Haiti (INL) whose main objective is to strengthen the capacities of the PoliFront to better respond to the challenges encountered on the ground and contribute to preserving land border security.



For his part Pascal Volcy, the Director of the BLTS declared that this donation would strengthen the operational and organizational capacity of the men and women of this service which fights against drug trafficking which is related to that of money laundering, weapons and ammunition.



The Central Director of the Administrative Police Joany Caneus thanked, on behalf of the Acting Director General of the National Police of Haiti (PNH), the Director of the INL Mrs. Jennifer Mergy and Guiseppe Loprete Head of Mission of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Haiti for their contribution to the process of professionalization of the Haitian National Police.



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Economy : Haiti and the Dominican Republic strengthen their trade alliances





As part of the Binational Cooperation Program, "Coexistence" funded by the European Union through the Caribbean Regional Indicative Program of the European Development Fund (EDF), several trade support institutions in Haiti and the Dominican Republic seek to strengthen their strategic business alliances to explore best practices and increase formal trade between the two countries.



To this end, a meeting held last week by the Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export) brought together representatives of the Dominican Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Production (FEDOCAMARAS), the Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Haiti (CCIH), the American Chamber of Commerce of Haiti (AMCHAM) and the Haitian Chamber of Commerce of Agriculture and Professionals (CHAGHA).



Meetings also took place with the Directors of the Santo Domingo Chamber of Commerce and Production; of the Chamber of Commerce and Production of Dajabon, as well as with representatives of the Dominican private sector in Santiago Rodriguez-Moncion.



Antonio Ramos, Vice President of FEDOCAMARAS explained that Dominican companies are currently investing in commercial operations in Haiti to produce a wide variety of products to market in both countries.



Beatrice Ilias, Executive Director of the CCIH, said she was aware of the need to increase trade between the two nations and assured that binational trade was strengthening and growing every day.



Leonel Naut, Deputy Executive Director of Caribbean Export and Director of the Haiti - Dominican Republic Binational Program, considered that this meeting was a sign of commitment to maintain dynamism and strengthen good business practices between the two nations.



This meeting and activities were made possible thanks to the financial support of the European Union through the trade and private sector support component of the binational program under the 11th EDF, implemented by Caribbean Export. This initiative is part of the actions of the strategy which aims to improve the binational private-private dialogue, as well as to improve the competitiveness of Haitian and Dominican companies in order to consolidate institutional cooperation between the two countries.



Note that the Binational Cooperation Program, "Coexistence", is piloted in Haiti by the Office of the National Authorizing Officer of European Funds (BONFED) and in the Dominican Republic by the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development (MEPyD), and is funded by the European Union under the Caribbean Regional Indicative Program (RIP) of the 11th EDF.



SL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Diaspora Covid-19 : Daily Bulletin #731





GLOBAL SITUATION 2019-2022:

Epidemiological situation:



Monday March 21, 2022 the number of people infected worldwide with the Covid-19 coronavirus and its variants since the start of the pandemic (March 11, 2020) amounts to 471,090,503 cases (+980,605 in 24 hours ), the day before (+1,623,176)



Number of infected countries: 224



*Healings: 407,299,982 people have been cured of Covid-19 worldwide (+6,690,689**), the day before (+1,036,367)

*Deaths: 6,101,190 people have died of Covid-19 worldwide since the start of the pandemic (+2.923 in 24 hours), the day before (+3.810)

*Active cases (minus deaths and recoveries) in the world is currently 57,689,331 cases (+5,713,007** in 24 hours), the day before (+582,999)



** the high recovery rate and the sharp drop in active cases are caused by a correction of the American health services of +5.8 million people cured)



Average cure rate in the world: 86.45% (-)



Average mortality rate in the world: 1.29% (=)



World: Number of daily confirmed cases:





(Day-1)



Vaccination: 11.12 billion doses of vaccine injected (+10 million doses injected in 24 hours. Updated March 20, 2022 (latest data available).



HAITI:

According to the Ministry of Public Health, +15 new cases of Covid-19 and its variants have been confirmed in Haiti as of March 18, 2022 (latest partial data available ) for a total of 30,509 confirmed cases throughout the national territory (48.7% women and 51.3% men), since the first case (March 19, 2020 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30319-haiti-health-origin-of-the-first-2-cases-of-covid-19-in-haiti.html ). Previous update (+16 cases as of March 16, 2022).



Healings: 27,492 (+155)



Cure rate: 90.11% (+)



Deaths: 827 deaths (+0) ()



Death rate: 2.71% (=)



5th Wave (Omicron Dominant):

Total of the 5th wave (starting December 27, 2021) 4,515 confirmed cases and 61 deaths



Haiti: Active Cases Trend: (less recoveries and deaths)







Screening since the start of the pandemic: 185,288 tests (+850 in 3 days) since March 19, 2020, latest data available. Note that the very small number of people screened every day at the national level out of a population estimated at 11.6 million citizens, does not statistically allow us to make a representative estimate of the situation in Haiti, which translates into a < B>number of daily confirmed cases largely underestimated.



TOP 5 of the most affected municipalities in the West (2022):

Delmas: 738 (+0); Petion-ville 618 (+0); Port-au-Prince 406 (+0); Tabarre 287 (+1); Croix-des-Bouquets 237 (+0)



Confirmed cases by department (2022 / 2021 / 2020):

West: 2022: 2,542 cases; (2021: 9.890); (2020: 6,945 cases)

North: 2022: 265 cases; (2021: 664); (2020: 677 cases)

Center: 2022: 225 cases; (2021: 1.001); (2020: 508 cases)

Artibonitis: 2022: 178 cases; (2021: 855); (2020: 593 cases)

Northeast: 2022: 148 cases; (2021: 404); (2020: 314 cases)

Southeast: 2022: 252 cases; (2021: 768); (2020: 274 cases)

South: 2022: 214 cases; (2021: 891); (2020: 262 cases)

North West: 2022: 249 cases; (2021: 383); (2020: 229 cases)

Grand'Anse: 2022: 172 cases; (2021: 861); (2020: 176 cases)

Nippes: 2022: 39 cases; (2021: 249) (2020: 149 cases)



Cumulative deaths by department (2022-2021):

West: 293 deaths (2020: 104 deaths)

North: 54 deaths (2020: 34 deaths)

Center: 78 deaths (2020: 13 deaths)

Artibonite: 40 deaths (2020: 39 deaths)

North East: 7 deaths (2020: 6 deaths)

South: 51 deaths (2020: 6 deaths)

Southeast: 14 deaths (2020: 9 deaths)

North West: 15 deaths (2020: 12 deaths)

Grand'Anse: 7 deaths (2020: 13 deaths)

Nippes: 27 deaths (2020: 5 deaths)



Distribution of deaths by age (since the start of the epidemic):

0-9 years: 15 deaths

10-19 years: 10 deaths

20-29 years: 31 deaths

30-39 years: 54 deaths

40-49 years: 78 deaths

50-59 years: 133 deaths

60-69 years: 186 deaths

70-79 years: 181 deaths

80 years and over: 137 deaths



Vaccination:

161,164 Haitians (1.4% of the population) +1,844 in 6 days have received a 1st dose of vaccine since July 16, 2021, date of the first injection through 149 open vaccination centers and 110,329 Haitians are fully vaccinated (2 doses, 0.95% of the population) +1.879 in 6 days. Update March 16, 2022 latest information available (source MSPP).



List of the 149 Vaccination Centers open in Haiti (and hours) by department:

(updated October 20, 2021, latest information available)

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35051-haiti-covid-19-list-of-149-vaccination-centers-open-in-the-country.html



DIASPORA:

Epidemiological situation:



USA:

*Cases since the first case (February 29, 2020): 81,410,101 cases (+5.966 in 24 hours), the day before (+15.545)

*Heals: 63,006,762 heals (+5,883,699 US health correction), the day before (+147,586)

National Cure Rate: 77.39% (+)

*Deaths: 997,933 deaths (+88), the day before (+709)

National death rate: 1.22% (=)

*Active cases (less deaths and recoveries): 17,405,406 (-5,887,821 US health correction), the day before (-132,750)



USA: Number of daily confirmed cases





(Day-1)



Vaccination: 558.66 million doses of vaccine injected since December 14, 2020, the date of the first injection in the United States (+230,000 doses in 24 hours). Updated March 19, 2022 (latest data available).



DOMINICAN REPUBLIC:

Confirmed cases since March 1, 2020: 577,317 cases (+76 in 24 hours) the day before (+171 in 24 hours). First case (March 1, 2020)

Healings: 572,366 healings (+77 in 24 hours), the day before (+11)

National Cure Rate: 99.14% (=)

Deaths: 4,375 deaths (+0), previous (+0)

Death rate: 0.75% (=)

Positive rate over 4 epidemiological weeks: 1.22% (-)

Active cases: (excluding deaths and recoveries) 576 cases (-1 in 24 hours) the day before (+61)



Dominican Republic: Number of daily confirmed cases:





(Day-1)



TOP 5 Provinces with the most new cases in the last 24 hours:

Santiago: +30 new cases in 24 hours (-)

Santo Domingo: +24 new cases in 24 hours (+)

Altagracia: +7 new cases (=)

National District: +5 new cases (-)

Azua: +2 new cases (-)



Vaccination: 15.43 million doses of vaccine injected since February 16, 2021, date of the first injection in the Dominican Republic (+20,000 doses injected in 24 hours). Updated March 20, 2022 (latest data available).



QUEBEC:

Warning: Quebec health authorities no longer update data on the Covid situation on weekends. The figures below are therefore the latest available.



Confirmed cases since the first case (February 27, 2020): 942,282 (+1,170 in 24 hours), previous (+1,462)

Healings: 914,755 people (+1,113) previous (+909)

Cure rate: 97.07% (-)

Death: 14,245 (+13) previous (+19)

Death rate: 1.51% (=)

Active cases: (excluding death and recovery) 13,282 cases (+44 in 24 hours), previous (+534)



Quebec: Trend of daily confirmed cases:





(average weekly trend)



Vaccination: 18,549,998 doses of vaccine injected since December 14, 2020, date of the first injection (+6,623 doses in 24 hours), latest available data - MSSS dated March 18, 2022)



FRANCE:

*Confirmed cases since the first case (January 24, 2020): 24,137,160 cases (+81.2283 cases in 24 hours), previous (+98.104)

*Healings: 22,561,882 healings (+13,453), previous (+42,538)

National Cure Rate: 93.47% (-)

Deaths: 140,933 (+30 in 24h), previous (+62)

Death rate: 0.58% (=)

Active Cases: 1,434,345 (+67,800), previous (+55,504)



France: Number of daily confirmed cases:





(day 1)



Vaccination: 141.49 million doses of vaccine injected since December 27, 2020, date of the first injection in France (+30,000 doses injected in 24 hours. Update March 20, 2022 (latest data available)



Previous bulletin: https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-36225-haiti-diaspora-covid-19-daily-bulletin-730.html



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30319-haiti-health-origin-of-the-first-2-cases-of-covid-19-in-haiti.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30165-haiti-flash-first-case-of-covid-19-in-the-dominican-republic.html



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - News : Zapping...





Beauty salon client executed

On Saturday March 19, 2022, unidentified armed individuals burst into a beauty salon in Bon Repos and forcibly grabbed a client who was having her hair cut, they violently took her out of the salon and coldly executed him on the sidewalk before fleeing unmolested. The identity of the victim has not been disclosed.



Security : Resumption of French cooperation

French cooperation on public security will resume in the coming months with a mission from the Directorate of Security and Defense Cooperation to Port-au-Prince and the training of units by the French national police.



Air Traffic Controller Training

17 young people began a 5-month training course in Air Traffic Control Management (GCTA) at the Aeronautical Training Center of the National Office for Civil Aviation (OFNAC). At the end of this training, these young people will be able to integrate the DNA as Air Traffic Controller.



Smuggling : Cigarettes from Haiti intercepted

Members of the Specialized Land Border Security Corps CESFront) intercepted a motorcycle carrying 78 cartridges of 10 packs of Capital brand cigarettes from Haiti about to be illegally smuggled into Dominican territory.



Japan : Haitian Fair

The Embassy of Haiti in Japan, in collaboration with the "Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO)" and JTB Communication, organized, on March 19 and 20, 2022, in Tokyo a fair to promote handicrafts and Haitian arts. For two days, cut iron works, Haitian paintings, coffee, chocolate made from Haitian cocoa and artisanal products were exhibited to a large and curious clientele.



"Street art", 4th Edition of "Jedi Penti"

The painter Wismy Faustin with the collaboration of several artists, announces that the 4th Edition of "Jedi Penti" will be held from March 30 to 31 from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. on Place Dessalines (Champ-de-Mars). Poetry, drumming and singing are also on the program. This cultural activity aims to connect artists with each other and to create links with the public.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















DOHA, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Qatari Emir and visiting German economy minister have vowed to strengthen energy cooperation on Sunday, according to a statement released by Qatar's Amiri Diwan.

During their meeting on Sunday, Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and German Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck reviewed the bilateral ties between the two countries and ways to enhance them in various fields, particularly in the energy sector.

They also discussed the latest developments on regional and international issues, according to the statement.

The German minister also held a meeting with Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, during which they discussed ways to strengthen bilateral ties, especially in the economic fields, according to a statement released by the Qatari Foreign Ministry.

The Qatari foreign minister said in a tweet that he and the German minister held a fruitful dialogue on expanding economic cooperation to achieve the common economic and development interests of the two countries, especially in the technology, environment, and energy sectors.

After these meetings, German media quoted Habeck as saying that Germany and Qatar had agreed on a long-term partnership in the energy sector.

The German minister said that the agreement between Berlin and Doha also focuses on developing renewable energy projects and measures that enhance energy efficiency, according to German media reports.

When commenting on Habeck's Middle East tour, during which the German minister is expected to visit Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, Denis Kometat, spokesman of the German Foreign Ministry for the Middle East and North Africa, quoted Habeck as saying that the Russia-Ukraine conflict has put the issue of energy security at the forefront of international concerns.

"We must call for a global energy transformation and move forward in diversifying natural gas sources," the German minister said. 
By William Schwartz | Published on 2022/03/20

March 18th marked the two year anniversary of the surprise death of actor Moon Ji-yoon from blood poisoning. The death was a great shock to his friends and fans, as Moon Ji-yoon had appeared to be the picture of great health. While Moon Ji-yoon is gone, he is as yet not forgotten.

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Kwon Sung-min commemorated the anniversary on his Instagram account by reposting an old picture he took with the actor, musing that it's already been a year and asking his departed friend how he's been.

Moon Ji-yoon was a tall man, and best known for his performances on South Korean dramas as a boisterous big guy. His best known role prior to his death was probably as Sang-cheol in both the drama and film versions of "Cheese in the Trap" although he also had noteworthy roles in projects as varied as the historical action drama "Iljimae" to the body-swapping comedy "Big" from over a decade ago. Moon Ji-yoon died at the age of thirty-six.

Written by William Schwartz
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Pro: If Roe is overturned, children, women and science will be respected once again
SANAA, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's Houthi militia on Sunday claimed responsibility for a fresh attack against a Saudi Aramco oil facilities in the Saudi Red Sea port city of Jeddah and other vital energy facilities in the Saudi southwestern city of Jazan, the second of such cross-border missile attacks against Saudi Arabia in less than 24 hours.

"We announce that we launched a barrage of ballistic missiles at the Aramco oil facilities in Jeddah and other vital energy facilities in Jazan," Houthi-run al-Masirah TV quoted a statement by the Houthi military spokesman Yehya Sarea as saying.

"The strikes were accurate," he said, vowing of launching more attacks in the coming days.

Earlier in the day, the Houthi militia announced multiple attacks against Aramco oil facilities in several cities in Saudi Arabia, using ballistic missiles and bomb-laden drones.

Meanwhile, the Saudi energy ministry said on Sunday that its oil facilities have undergone three drone attacks in the past 24 hours.

The first attack happened on Saturday, targetting the petroleum products distribution terminal in Jizan. The other two drones attacked a natural gas facility and oil refining factory respectively in Yanbu, western Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi ministry said the attacks caused a fire in Jeddah's oil facilities but there were no casualties.

The ministry stressed that the kingdom strongly condemns these attacks, adding that such "acts of sabotage and terrorism" are "cowardly assaults that violate international laws."

The Houthi cross-border attacks came nearly three days after the militia announced its readiness for peace talks. Previous UN bids to bring the militia onto the table of negotiations had failed.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujjaric welcomed on Sunday "the initiative announced by the Gulf Corporation Council to host the parties to the conflict in Yemen for consultations in (the Saudi capital) Riyadh in the coming weeks in support of the UN efforts."

"We appreciate all initiatives that support UN actions to reach an inclusive negotiated political settlement to the conflict in Yemen."

The Houthi fresh attacks against the energy facilities in Saudi Arabia were the latest in a series of similar missile and drone attacks against Saudi Arabia and its allies in the Gulf region.

In January, the Houthi missile attacks killed three people in the United Arab Emirates and bombed an oil facility in Abu Dhabi.

The Houthi militia said its attacks were in response to air and sea blockade imposed by the coalition forces on the Yemeni ports under the militia control.

The coalition said it aims to prevent arms smuggling to the militia.

The escalation came after the Houthi militia lost several strategic districts in the oil-rich provinces of Shabwa and Marib in central Yemen.

Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthi militia seized control of the northern provinces and forced the Saudi-backed Yemeni government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of the capital Sanaa.

The Saudi-led coalition intervened in the following year to support the Yemeni government. 
LOCAL BRIEFS: Exploring county government, home safety, ArtScape returns

League of Women Voters explores county government

The Henderson County League of Women Voters will host the program Exploring County Government at 4 p.m. Tuesday, March 22, in the Kaplan Auditorium of the Main Library, 301 N. Washington St. Henderson County Manager John Mitchell will provide an overview of county government, covering what it does and doesnt do, including boards and committees, and the many ways that citizens may participate. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, visit www.lwvhcnc.org.

Sliding Rock attraction opens for season April 30

Sliding Rock Recreation Area, one of the most visited tourist destinations in the Pisgah National Forest, will reopen on April 30.

The area has been closed since last August after Tropical Storm Fred caused historic flooding that damaged infrastructure and left debris in the Davidson River, creating hazards for visitors.

The lower observation deck at Sliding Rock was damaged beyond repair and will not be rebuilt in time for the 2022 reopening; however, visitors will be able to walk down to the stream at that location and view the sliding action from the upper observation deck. Damage repair and improvements to the site will continue in the coming years.

Sliding Rock is a 60-foot natural water slide that ends in an 8-foot-deep pool of water. Staffed and operated under permit by Adventure Pisgah, Sliding Rock has restrooms available seven days a week April 30-Oct. 9, then weekends only October 15-30. Lifeguards are present everyday May 2-Sept. 15.

Because Sliding Rock is extremely popular, visitors are advised to arrive early and avoid the peak hours of noon-4 pm. When the parking lot fills up, it is closed until spaces become available.

ArtScape banners to be revealed Friday

After a two-year hiatus due to Covid-19, ArtScape Hendersonville is back this year to once again add color and artistic flair to Main Street.

A total of 40 artists were chosen via a professional competitive jury process to participate in the 2022-2023 program. The banners will be hung by crews along Main Street and the downtown avenues. This years banners were introduced during the ArtScape REVEAL Friday, March 18, at the Visitors Center stage.

Founded in 2017 under the umbrella of the Art League of Henderson County, ArtScape Hendersonville is supported in part by the Henderson County Community Foundation, Henderson County TDA, the Arts Council of Henderson County and corporate sponsors.

AdventHealth hosts home safety webinar

Home may be where the heart is, but it can also be where the accidents are. Many studies have shown the majority of accidents take place in the home. But people can reduce those risks by taking a few minutes to look around and make a change or two.

AdventHealth Hendersonville will host the first webinar in its 2022 Age-Friendly Event Series, Top 10 Simple Home Safety Changes, from noon to 1 p.m.

Tuesday, March 22.

During the free Zoom event, Richard Duncan, executive director of the RL Mace Universal Design Institute, will discuss the concerns about home safety at every age, but especially as we grow older. He will cover areas of concerns such as safety while bathing, stair use and other common places where accidents happen in the home. He will also show the 10 simple changes we can make to reduce the risks.

Space is limited. Visit AdventHealthNC.com/events, or call 855-744-LIFE (5433) to reserve a spot today. After registering, you will receive a conformation email containing the link to join the webinar.




Cane Creek clinic physician convicted of murder makes for a fascinating book

Imagine being a patient of a doctor, one whom you loved and trusted, one who also murdered and mutilated his own father.



Such an experience forms the basis for a new book, The Other Dr. Gilmer: Two Men, A Murder, and an Unlikely Fight for Justice, by Benjamin Gilmer.

This very real tragedy happened to the patients of the Cane Creek Family Health Center near Asheville where the doctor-murderer, Dr. Vince Gilmer, practiced medicine until June 2004, when one day he strangled his father with a rope, cut off his fingers, and left the body on the side of a road in Virginia.

Vince Gilmer returned to the clinic after the murder and practiced medicine as if nothing happened for several days until he was arrested for murder.

Several years after Vinces arrest and trial and imprisonment in the Wallens Ridge, Virginia, prison, the books author, Dr. Benjamin Gilmer, a graduate of Davidson College and East Carolina Universitys medical school, began to work at the Cane Creek clinic.

Naturally, there was confusion. The two doctors were not related, but understandably the patients thought there must be some connection.

Over time, Benjamins patients told him more and more about Vince. They said he was a fine doctor and a wonderful person. Vince took special care, sometimes taking troubled patients on walks or giving them great big bear hugs.

Benjamin became more curious about his predecessor with the shared name. His curiosity developed into a compulsion to find out how and why and what actually happened to Vince. "Something wasn't right, he says, I couldn't let it go."

He began to visit the prison at Wallens Ridge, where Vince was incarcerated.

These visits convinced Benjamin that Vince had serious mental health issues not recognized by or of concern to the prison officials. Without treatment Vince would never get better and the demons of his mental illness would destroy him.

Benjamin also read hundreds of pages of transcripts of Vinces murder trial. Vince had tried to represent himself. He succeeded only in convincing the judge and jury that he was faking mental illness. They thought he was using the skills and knowledge of a sane physician to try to act mentally disturbed and avoid responsibility for a brutal murder.

From his study of Vinces situation, Benjamin believed that Vince had multiple conditions that could have caused his mental illness. Most important to him was a finding that Vince suffered from Huntingtons Disease, an inherited condition that ravages its victims and causes bizarre conduct.

If Vinces condition had been known at the time of his trial, Benjamin believed that he would have, at worst, been found not guilty by reason of insanity. Rather than petition for a new trial which would have taken years, Benjamin and his advisors and volunteer professionals asked Virginia governors for clemency.

First, they petitioned Governor Terry McAuliffe, hoping he would act before he left office in January 2018. He did not. So Benjamins volunteer legal helpers pointed to McAuliffes successor, Ralph Northam, a physician and a neurologist. They thought he would be understanding.

The book ends on a sad note. As his term ended in January 2022, Northam rejected the clemency petition for Vince.

At the end of his book, Benjamin writes, It is difficult not to react to this latest setback with anger and disillusionment... I am filled with fury and sadness--for Vince, his family, for all the mentally ill people in prison just like him.

A sad ending for this book.

But there is more to the story. Somehow, Governor Northam got and read a pre-publication copy of The Other Dr. Gilmer and was convinced to grant Vince clemency, just in time.

Others who read this fine book will, like Northam, be transformed.
RAF Benson was praised during a debate in the House of Commons.

Henley MP John Howell called for the base not to be closed during a debate on expenditure by the Ministry of Defence.

He said: Something like 2 billion of strategic investment is to be made in the Royal Air Force. I think that should be increased.

If Russia has taught us anything, it is that investment in tanks is not a very good one. If we look at Ukraine, a huge amount of anti-tank missiles are there already and something as fleet of foot as the Royal Air Force is to be commended.

I do not want to set a hare running but I hope that the minister can confirm that bases such as RAF Benson are not earmarked for closure.

They play a vital role and Benson does in particular in looking after the helicopters that we use all the time in our air force. They also have another use  they provide training.

Andrew Bowie, MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, said: I had the privilege of visiting RAF Benson just a couple of weeks ago and I reiterate my Honorable Friends comments on that bases contribution to training the next generation of helicopter pilots and supporting the wide RAF and, indeed, the local community.

Meanwhile, Mr Howell, who chairs of the UK delegation to the Council of Europe, said he was pleased the organisation unanimously voted to expel Russia on Tuesday.

He said: 100 per cent of the views were condemning of Russia and the action taken in Ukraine. There was an attempt from Russia to say it was withdrawing, to jump before it was pushed, but this was brushed aside as we had already made up our minds.
MORE information has come to light about Sergeant Robert William Laws, the Henley airman who survived after his plane was shot down during the Second World War.

As was reported on this page last week, he was in RAF Bomber Commands 102 squadron.

He was a radio operator in a seven-man crew of a Halifax HR663 which had been on a mission to the city of Pilsen, in what is now the Czech Republic, when it was shot down over the village of Eppe-Sauvage on the night of April 16/17, 1943.

Sgt Laws was eventually rescued by the French Resistance and made it back to England by plane, via Gibraltar and Madrid, more than 20 days later. Three of the other men also made it back while two others were taken prisoner and the seventh died in the crash.

Bernard Feutry, who researches aircraft crashes in Avesnois, a small region where 122 airmen lost their lives during the conflict, is searching for descendants of Sgt Laws as there is to be a ceremony for all the airmen killed, rescued or taking prisoner while passing through the area.

Now Mike Willoughby, an historian from Woodcote, had discovered more about our man but, sadly, there appear to be no direct descendants.

He says: Robert William Laws, who was also referred to as William Robert, was born in West Ham on September 9, 1914. He married Odette Henrietta Passey in the Pancras registration district in 1936. At the time of the 1939 register they were living at 125 Gloucester Terrace, Paddington.

On June 15, 1945 their son John Michael R Laws was born in Eton registration district. Michael died in April 1985, aged 39, in Oxfordshire, it would appear unmarried. According to the electoral roll, William and Odette were living at Park Road, Henley.

Robert William Laws died in Oxfordshire in 2004, aged 89. At this time Odette was in the Abbeycrest Nursing Home in Sonning Common. She died in 2005.

I cannot at this time trace a direct descendant as it would appear that William and Odette had only the one child.
SEVENTEEN members of Sonning Common-based Kennylands Gymnastics Club competed at the Miss Quatro competition held at Wiltshire School of Gymnastics in Melksham.

The womens artistic one, two and club squads saw ribbons awarded for hitting high score thresholds on each piece that impressed the judges while rosettes were awarded to the top eight gymnasts.

Gymnasts were also awarded a commendation for passing with an extra high score.

This competition was for clubs all around the UK including lots of Swansea, Bangor and Isle of Man.

Jessie-Mae Teeuwen (twice), Isabelle Marshman, Orla Hughes and Melie Drummond (twice) all impressed as they gained scores of more than 13.

The results of the Kennylands gymnasts were as follows:

Compulsory 4: Isabelle Marshman  third on vault, fourth on bars, one ribbon, one rosette.

Club Grade 6: Jess Jones  third on vault, two ribbons, commendation. Natalia Wojciechowska  fifth floor, two ribbons, commendation. Sienna Cotton  three ribbons, commendation. Caitlin Field  two ribbons, commendation. Naomi Haines  one ribbon, commendation. Freya Major  one ribbon, commendation. Elsie Burt  one ribbon, pass. Melia Drummond  fourth bars, two ribbons, pass.

Club Grade 5: Orla Hughes  third bars, fifth vault, one ribbon, one rosette, commendation

National 2: Melissa Loyd  second floor, two ribbons, one rosette, commendation. Jessie-Mae Teeuwen  1 vault, second R&C, third floor (joint), three ribbons, commendation. Jessica Telling  third floor (joint), one ribbon, commendation. Sadie Maguire-Ellis  fifth bars, one ribbon, commendation.

National 4: Estelle Rodger  pass.

National 3: Renai Fullick  third beam, two ribbons, commendation. Naia Dixon-Neville  one ribbon, commendation.
A Palestinian worker transports a cart filled with food from a distribution center of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) at Al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, March 20, 2022. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

"The word refugee means escaping from death to a safe haven, but we escaped from death to the continuous suffering," a Palestinian refugee said.

by Sanaa Kamal

RAMALLAH, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian refugees living in camps scattered throughout the West Bank are facing worsening livelihood as the humanitarian aid from the United Nations decreased due to insufficient funds.

Inside the Balata camp in Nablus, Sohad Hammouda lives in a house of no more than 50 square meters with her 11-member family and is constantly worrying about bringing bread to the table.

"In the past, I mainly depended on the assistance provided by UNRWA, in terms of food and some money, but today things have changed, as it (UNRWA) has reduced the assistance it used to provide us," said the 50-year-old woman.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) was established in 1949 as a United Nations agency by a resolution of the General Assembly to provide assistance and protection to approximately 5.6 million Palestine refugees registered with it in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan.

As one of the oldest humanitarian projects the United Nations had initiated, the agency has spent decades helping the displaced Palestinians. But it is facing a major problem.

Officials of the agency said UNRWA has a financial deficit of about 100 million U.S. dollars in this fiscal year, which forced it to downsize its aiding programs, including cutting food rations.

A refugee receives food from a distribution center of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) at the Al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, March 20, 2022. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

"Instead of getting our food ration every month, we now can only get it every three months. And the quantity is much smaller, barely enough for a month," said Hammouda, while kneading flour to make bread for her children.

To make things worse, Hammouda's husband suffers from kidney failure while their eldest daughter is sick too, which aggravates the financial burden on the family.

"The word refugee means escaping from death to a safe haven, but we escaped from death to the continuous suffering," she said, adding that her family has been living as refugees for decades but still she saw no end to their suffering.

Ibrahim Sharara, aged 76, is a refugee with physical disabilities from the Balata camp. He usually sits in front of his dilapidated dwelling with his neighbors since there aren't enough jobs in the camp, especially for disabled elders.

Sharara said that life inside the refugee camp is not easy, especially since they have been waiting for aid from international institutions to survive.

"I have been living in the camp since 1950, as my family was among the first to reside in this camp to escape death and fear," the Palestinian said.

A refugee receives food from a distribution center of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) at the Al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, March 20, 2022. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

Both Hammouda and Sharara called for more aid from the international community as most of the refugees in the camp are deeply mired in absolute destitution.

Housing around 28,000 people, the Balata camp is only one of the 19 refugee camps in the West Bank, which all depend heavily on aid from the UNRWA.

"The camp suffers from overcrowding, while the population suffers from UNRWA's downsizing, as the residents depend on one medical clinic that operates during specific hours only," Faryal Kharoub, a community activist in Balata camp told Xinhua, adding they are afraid that the rest of the world is gradually forgetting the suffering of the Palestinians.

Hammouda said she saw no way for herself to live out of the refugee camp, where she has lived for many years, but she hoped that one day her children can get out and live in a prosperous place.

A refugee receives food from a distribution center of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) at Al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, March 20, 2022. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

Nevin, one of her daughters, has entered a university to study computer programming.

"Although other students of my age dream of graduating from university to achieve their aspirations in life, I aspire to help my mother with household expenses and help my siblings complete their education," the 20-year-old university student said. 
Greenville, TX (75401)

Today

Thunderstorms. A few storms may be severe. High 73F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

A mostly clear sky. Low 53F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph.
Anderson, IN (46016)

Today

Cloudy skies with periods of rain later in the day. High 62F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Periods of rain. Low 56F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall around a half an inch.
NANNING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- A passenger plane with 132 people aboard crashed in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Monday afternoon, said the regional emergency management department.

The Boeing 737 aircraft of China Eastern Airlines, which flew from Kunming to Guangzhou, crashed in Tengxian County in the city of Wuzhou, causing a mountain fire, according to the department.

The 132 people were 123 passengers and nine crew members, said the Civil Aviation Administration of China on its website.

Rescuers have been assembled and were approaching the site. The casualties were not immediately known. 
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
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi holds talks with Zambian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Stanley Kasongo Kakubo in Tunxi, east China's Anhui Province, March 19, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhou Mu)

HEFEI, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks on Saturday with Zambian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Stanley Kasongo Kakubo in Tunxi, east China's Anhui Province.

Welcoming Kakubo as the first foreign minister of a sub-Saharan African country to visit China since the pandemic began, Wang said China supports Zambia's independent choice of a development path suited to its national conditions.

China is willing to work with Zambia to strengthen strategic communication, deepen exchanges of governance experience, enhance mutual trust and expand practical cooperation in various fields, Wang said.

Kakubo congratulated China on successfully hosting the Beijing Winter Olympic Games and spoke highly of China's long-term contribution to the development of the African continent and its adherence to principles and justice in international affairs.

The two sides also exchanged views on the Ukraine issue. Kakubo appreciated China's active role in promoting peace talks and its long-term leading role in realizing peace.




by Xin Ping

BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The New York Times recently cited "anonymous U.S. officials" claiming that China was aware of Russia's intentions and plans in Ukraine ahead of time. The Washington Post also claimed, citing U.S. officials, that Russia had asked China for military equipment since the start of its military operation in Ukraine.

The so-called "anonymous officials" cited by The New York Times were later revealed to be members of the National Security Council of the White House.

In attempts to shift blame to China, these reports sought to portray China as acquiescing to or having tacitly supported the war. They are in essence part of the U.S. government's deliberate disinformation campaign against China.

To debunk the absurd allegations and disinformation against China, one only needs to examine China's relations with both Ukraine and Russia.

There were more than 6,000 Chinese nationals in Ukraine before the conflict, many of whom were young students. The Chinese embassy in Ukraine did not announce an evacuation of Chinese nationals until Feb. 25. If China had been aware of Russia's plan in advance, it would have started the evacuation earlier rather than waiting until the conflict broke out and putting its nationals in great danger. In comparison, it was the United States that constantly played up the war threat and declared a hasty withdrawal of its personnel from Kiev as early as Feb. 14.

Economically, China has remained Ukraine's largest single trading partner since 2019, and Ukraine has been one of China's most important sources of grain imports. About 30 percent of China's corn imports in 2021 came from Ukraine. Meanwhile, as a hub on the China-Europe Railway Express service, Ukraine also serves as a bridge connecting China and its European trade partners. As a participant of China's Belt and Road Initiative, Ukraine signed agreements on cooperation with China in multiple fields including finance, energy, technology, and infrastructure. With important economic interests in Ukraine, China has no wish whatsoever to see any conflict in Ukraine.

Most Western media reports deduced that China and Russia have forged a close alliance marked by "no limits" to their strategic partnership as declared in their Joint Statement. However, they simply ignored the real consideration behind that wording.

According to the Joint Statement, this partnership mainly concentrates on issues of development and global concerns, without any mention of military obligations in any form. In reality, "no limits" does not mean military alliance, but is rather about a high-level mutual trust and mutually beneficial cooperation.

On the contrary, from NATO to Quad, from AUKUS to bilateral alliances, the United States itself is a champion of military alliances or blocs. What an irony it is for the United States to accuse China and Russia of forming a military alliance, given its track record of military expansion and stoking conflicts around the world!

The hidden agenda behind the U.S. false propaganda is to incite anti-China sentiments, distort China's position and efforts to promote peace talks, and divert world attention from the dirty U.S. role in the crisis by pushing for NATO's reckless and relentless expansion, which eventually led to the current conflict. Till now, the United States has done everything to fan the flames, from providing military aid to wielding the baton of sanctions, but little to promote peace.

For those who regard the Ukraine crisis as an opportunity to sling mud at China, why not save the strength to de-escalate the situation and promote peace? Enditem

(Xin Ping is a commentator on international affairs, writing regularly for Global Times, China Daily, etc. He can be reached at xinping604@gmail.com.)
Maisons Pariente is delighted to announce the opening of Le Grand Mazarin in Paris, the fourth hotel to be added to the collection of 5 star boutique hotels in France. The hotel will be discovered in Le Marais, a neighbourhood beloved by Parisians and travellers from around the world. This new, unique address allows the collection to expand by offering a luxurious and serene setting in the heart of the hustle and bustle. Le Grand Mazarin is an unexpected and endearing place that reflects the values of Maisons Pariente, through an original hotel story with an exceptional location.

Just a stone's throw from the Hotel de Ville, near the Seine, at the corner of rue de la Verrerie and rue des Archives, Le Grand Mazarin invites guests to experience Paris intensely as it expresses how Le Marais reveals the cultural history of the capital. In this mythical old Paris, once aristocratic, in love with arts and literature, strolling through the streets is an infinite promise of charming surprises and unusual discoveries. Both visionary and cosmopolitan, Le Marais has crossed the centuries to become the epicentre of new trends. A lively and avant-garde district, sparkling with creativity, vibrant by day and by night. Le Marais represents the art of living joyfully hedonistic and culturally progressive. Inspired and elegant, the decor is imagined by internationally renowned Swedish interior designer Martin Brudnizki. Le Grand Mazarin revisits French classicism with a breath of refined modernity. In the 61 rooms, including 11 suites, the design plays with discrepancies in a virtuous way to create a grandiose universe that that is both whimsical and deliciously warm.

Everything has been brought together to make Le Grand Mazarin the essential destination for a unique Parisian experience, at any time of day: a delightful restaurant, a surprising bar where each evening is a new experience, an extraordinary swimming pool, and excellent service that is always attentive yet discreet.

With Le Grand Mazarin, the spirit of Maisons Pariente is embodied in a modern vision of Parisian luxury.

Hotel website
BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The Ministry of Civil Affairs has urged policy adjustments and differentiated epidemic prevention measures in advance of this year's Tomb-sweeping Day, which falls on April 5, due to the latest COVID-19 resurgence.

The civil affairs departments and agencies offering funeral services around the country should step up efforts to curb infection clusters and the large-scale resurgence of COVID-19 cases, with reasonable demand for tomb-sweeping satisfied, the ministry said at a meeting held on Monday.

Green awareness, safety and morality in conducting tomb-sweeping activities have been highlighted this year, according to the ministry. Graveyards, especially those with high potential to catch fire, have been cautioned about the management of fire control work.

Various low-carbon means of paying tribute to deceased relatives, such as online activities and flower presentations, have also been suggested, according to the meeting.

China's Tomb-sweeping Day, also called Qingming Festival, is a day for Chinese people to visit the graves and tombs of their ancestors and deceased loved ones. Fake paper money and other possessions made of paper are usually burned as people pay tribute, which can result in fires.

The Chinese mainland on Sunday reported 1,947 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, according to the National Health Commission. 
Le Roux will be responsible for leading the marketing team, encompassing owned channels including email, push, website, app, and social media, along with branding and positioning, design, and content strategy. His key responsibilities will cover GHA DISCOVERY customer acquisition, activation, engagement, experience, and analytics.

Originally from South Africa, le Roux started his career in account management and events, gained experience at the Travel Corporation, and was then appointed Head of Marketing for Travelport in MEA & South Asia. In his most recent role as Chief Marketing Officer at Mondia Group, he focused on strategic positioning in the mobile tech industry to act as a key partner to optimise profitability and win market share, while leveraging the end-user experience.

Le Roux holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration and an IMM diploma in Marketing from the Graduate School of Marketing in Johannesburg.
London, UK - The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) was invited to address EU Tourism Ministers on behalf of the private sector at a closed high-level meeting in Dijon.

Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO praised European Ministers for their resolve and solidarity with the people of Ukraine. WTTC was present to highlight the importance of the recovery of tourism for Europe creating employment for 24 million in the EU.

During this landmark event, Julia Simpson said: WTTC and its members stand with the people of Ukraine. First and foremost, this is a humanitarian disaster as well as an economic one. We have all witnessed the shocking scenes on our TV screens and our hearts go out to the innocent victims."

After almost two years without international travel, the loss of businesses and millions of jobs, we can finally see light at the end of the tunnel."

If restrictions continue to be removed, the sector could employ almost 24 million people across the EU and contribute some 1.3 trillion to the regions economy this year."

As Presidency of the Council of the European Union, France is in a unique position to make a real difference. Europes recovery is at a critical juncture. We need to keep the economy open and restore unrestricted travel.

Julia also highlighted the importance of a sustainable recovery and addressed the role EU ministers can play in reducing carbon emissions by 25 million tons of carbon a year.

Aviation is making great strides in sustainability, but it needs urgent support. For 20 years airlines have been promised a Single European Sky allowing planes to fly on the shortest routes. Today planes zig zag across Europe burning extra fuel. The time for talking is over. If the EU is to meet its sustainability targets, it must act.

About WTTC

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) represents the global travel & tourism private sector. Members include 200 CEOs, Chairs and Presidents of the world's leading travel & tourism companies from all geographies covering all industries. For more than 30 years, WTTC has been committed to raising the awareness of governments and the public of the economic and social significance of the travel & tourism sector.

According to WTTC's 2021 Economic Impact Report, during 2020, a year in which it was devasted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Travel & Tourism made a 5.5% contribution to global GDP and was responsible for 272 million jobs.

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UNWTO has been recognized for asserting the values of tourism and promoting the sector as a pillar of peace and recovery. At an informal meeting of EU Tourism Ministers, the French Presidency of the European Council welcomed the leadership of UNWTO and noted the strong unity of the sector in the face of an historic challenge.

Addressing delegates, the UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili warned of the triple threat of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the climate emergency and war in Europe. Since the start of the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, UNWTO has added its voice to the strong condemnation of the wider United Nations system and other international bodies. In Dijon, representatives of the French Presidency were joined by Ministers from across the region in commending the unequivocal stance taken by the UNWTO leadership.

Tourism as a beacon of peace and hope

Secretary-General Pololikashvili stressed that, in the face of such challenges, tourism has an active role to play in reasserting our shared values and promoting peace, adding that it is a role the sector is fulfilling. Just as we did during the pandemic, we are seeing the best of tourism, and this support will grow in size, scope and power over the days ahead, he added.

As the Ministers of Tourism of the 27 EU states met in person for the first time since the start of the pandemic, UNWTO also made the case for enhanced cooperation and solidarity. We are stronger together, Secretary-General Pololikashvili told the conference, which also featured the participation of European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton. All of the delegates were urged to recognize the key role that the restart of tourism will play in promoting international solidarity and in providing hope for millions of people in every global region.

Tourisms Restart Underway

UNWTO has welcomed the steady lifting and easing of the travel restrictions introduced in response to the pandemic. As of 15 March, seven countries around the world have completely lifted their COVID-19 related restrictions, fully in line with the recommendations of UNWTO and the World Health Organization (WHO, and Ministers of the 27 EU member states were urged not lose focus on the challenges still standing in the way of the sectors recovery.

The UNWTO Secretary-General called on the EU governments to provide tourism with the support it needs to make a difference, while also commending the recovery plans of many EU member states. Targeted help for tourism will benefit every level of the sector, most notably small and medium-sized businesses and individual workers, which represent up to 80% of the tourism sector, he said. He also made clear that now is the time for tourism to step up its climate action commitments, with cooperation again cited as the essential foundation for building a more sustainable and resilient sector.

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About The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is the United Nations specialized agency fostering tourism as a vehicle for equal, inclusive and sustainable development. Working with its Member States, international organizations and the private sector, UNWTO promotes safe and seamless travel for all. UNWTO also works to make tourism the foundation of trust and international cooperation and a central pillar of recovery. As part of the wider UN system, UNWTO is at the forefront of global efforts to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including through its ability to create decent jobs, promote equality and preserve natural and cultural heritage.

Follow UNWTO on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Linkedin.

UNWTO Communications Department

+34 91 567 8100

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WASHINGTON - As the world watches the situation in Ukraine, American Hotel & Lodging Association members are donating millions in room nights, cash and rewards to support efforts aiding those affected by the humanitarian crisis.

The situation in Ukraine is harrowing, and our hearts ache for the innocent lives lost and impacted by the violence there. As we pray for a peaceful and swift end to the war, the hotel industry has stepped up with significant humanitarian relief efforts, including offering housing to refugees and donating to relief organizations," said AHLA President & CEO Chip Rogers. The spirit of hospitality is what drives us as an industry, and in dark times like these its one of the things the world needs most. Im proud of the many ways the hotel industry is helping to fulfill that need.

In total, AHLA members have donated or pledged to donate up to one million room nights, $2 million and over 110 million reward points to help with Ukraine relief efforts. See below for a partial list.

Accor: Accor activated its dedicated financial vehicle, the ALL Heartist Fund, to support its teams and families in the region. In addition, Accors endowment fund Heartist Solidarity is partnering with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to collect employees donations that will be topped-up by Accor. Accor is also working hard in close collaboration with authorities and NGOs to welcome those fleeing areas of conflict, offering shelter and resources in neighboring countries such as Poland, Romania, Moldova, Italy and France.

Best Western: Best Western Hotels & Resorts has made a donation through its charitable arm, Best Western for a Better World to the United Nations World Food Program for the purpose of providing humanitarian aid and assistance to those impacted by the crisis. Best Western is also working with its international partners to create programs around the world by which loyalty members can donate their Best Western Rewards points to charitable organizations supporting relief efforts.

Choice Hotels: Choice Hotels is supporting the Red Cross to help provide humanitarian relief in response to the Ukraine crisis. Choice is providing its over 50 million Choice Privileges members the opportunity to donate points, and matching member donations up to $50,000. In addition, Choice is working with #HospitalityHelps to provide free hotel rooms for Ukrainian refugees. Year-round, Choice proudly supports the American Red Cross through the Disaster Responder Program, helping to ensure the organization is prepared to meet the needs of people affected by disasters big and small across the U.S.

Hilton: Hilton is donating up to 1 million room nights to support Ukrainian refugees and humanitarian relief efforts across Europe, in partnership with American Express, #HospitalityHelps, and its community of owners. The Hilton Effect Foundation has also contributed $50,000 to World Central Kitchen and Project Hope to further assist with humanitarian aid.

Hyatt: Hyatt and the global Hyatt family have come together to raise more than $300,000 USD in contributions as part of its Ukraine Relief Fund, which will support impacted Hyatt colleagues in need of necessities, relocation support and care. Additionally, Hyatt hotels across Europe are providing accommodations for refugees, sending supplies to the people of Ukraine, and arranging job transfers for Hyatt colleagues.

IHG Hotels & Resorts: IHG is supporting teams on the ground in Ukraine and has donated $500,000 to CARE International and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to help those in desperate need. IHG made it possible for loyalty members to donate to these two humanitarian organizations and has also made available to colleagues helpful coping resources in multiple languages.

Marriott International: Marriott has earmarked $1,000,000 to its associate relief fund to support associates who are being impacted by the war in Ukraine and is housing refugees at Marriott properties in neighboring countries. Additionally, Marriott Bonvoy members can donate points here to join in supporting UNICEF and World Central Kitchen as they help those impacted by the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and neighboring countries. Marriott Bonvoy will be matching donations point-for-point up to 100 million points donated this year.

Red Roof: Red Roof is donating to United Ways United for Ukraine Fund to support the vital work to help people who have fled the violence, looking for safety and desperate for hope. United Way is working with trusted partners on the ground in Romania, Hungary, and Poland, to address the immediate needs of those escaping the violence. Red Roof is inviting guests, franchise owners, associates, team members, and partners to support these efforts.

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts: Wyndham is donating $100,000 and 1 million Wyndham Rewards points to support the humanitarian relief efforts of Save the Children, which is currently on the ground in Ukraine and neighboring countries. Additionally, Wyndham is creating a rewards point donation program benefiting Save the Childrens Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund, which enables 92 million Wyndham Rewards members, franchisees and team members to donate points to support humanitarian efforts. Wyndham will match donations up to 10 million points.

About the American Hotel & Lodging Association

The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) is the sole national association representing all segments of the U.S. lodging industry. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., AHLA focuses on strategic advocacy, communications support and workforce development programs to move the industry forward. In the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, the hospitality was the first industry impacted and it will be among the last to recover. That is why AHLA is committed to promoting safe travel while also creating a standardized safety experience nationwide through the Safe Stay initiative. With an enhanced set of health and safety protocols designed to provide a safe and clean environment for all hotel guests and employees, hotels across America are ready to welcome back travelers when they are ready to travel. Learn more at www.ahla.com.

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The global medical spa market was valued at US$11.1 billion in 2017, and is projected to reach US$27.6 billion by 2025, which implies a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.2% over the period, according to a report published by Allied Market Research, titled, "Medical Spa Market by Service: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2017-2025."

Medical spas combine medicine and aesthetics to provide cosmetic treatments in a spa ambience. Anti-wrinkle injections, Botox injections, fine-line reduction, acne therapy, and fillers are some of the various treatments included in medical spas.

Aesthetic medicine and cosmetic treatments for beauty enhancement and the growing wellness trend in developed countries are driving this market. However, the high cost of medical spa procedures is restricting market growth, especially in developing countries.

Key trends in the medical spa sector

The facial treatment segment accounted for a one-third share of the global market revenue in 2017;

The body shaping segment accounted for one-fifth of market revenue. This segment has been boosted by recent advances in body shaping, which include various non-invasive techniques that enable less hospitalisation and faster recovery. Thus, such advances in the body shaping segment should continue to drive growth in this segment;

The hair removal segment accounted for a one-sixth share of global market revenue in 2017. Growth in this segment can be attributed to innovations in laser technology, which render permanent hair removal feasible;

The tattoo removal segment accounted for about one-seventh revenue share of the market in 2017, and is expected to register a CAGR of 11.8% from 2018 to 2025;

India is the fastest-growing country in the Asia-Pacific medical spa market, projected to grow at a CAGR of 14.2% over the period 2018 to 2025;

Brazil is the fastest-growing country in the LAMEA (Latin America, Middle East and Africa) medical spa market, expected to achieve a CAGR of 13.9% over the period 2018 to 2025;

In 2017, North America was the dominant revenue contributor, due to the growing wellness trend and the early adoption of new technologies in this sector;

However, Asia-Pacific is expected to achieve the highest CAGR over the period 2018 to 2025, due to rising incomes in heavily populated countries, such as India and China. In addition, medical tourism will also fuel market growth.

Key players operating in the global medical spa market include: Allure Medspa, Biovital Medspa, Canyon Ranch, Chiva Som, Clinique La Prairie, Hyatt, Sciton, True Skin Care Center, Vilalara Longevity Thalassa & Medical Spa, Spa Vitoria (plastic surgery); Lanserhof; and Westchase Medspa. Other players operating in the supply chain include: Cynosure (energy-based aesthetic and medical treatment systems); Lumenis (medical equipment & laser devices manufacturer); and Syneron Medical (cosmetic surgery devices).

What treatments are leading the medical spa growth?

Eyebrow microblading (a tattooing technique in which a semi-permanent pigment is added to the skin) is a major treatment that is driving growth for medical spas, according to a recent report, released in May 2018 by the American MedSpa Association (AmSpa), which was based on data from surveying roughly 500 US-based medical spas.

Alex Thiersch, founder and director of the American MedSpa Association (AmSpa), remarks that, I think everyone has to be surprised with the way that microblading has come on the scene: the reception, the profit and the patient demand.

The report also found that 50% of US medical spa owners expected that their revenues would increase by more than 10% in 2018. Also, with many US states attempting to define what procedures can be performed by what level of qualified personnel, nurse practitioners will likely play bigger role, according to Thiersch, including serving as de facto medical directors when doctors are offsite.

Male clientele not growing as fast as predicted

On the other hand, Thiersch is surprised by the lack of growth in male clients. Industry experts have been predicting an increase in the male patient population at med spas for years, but it has held steady at 15%, he notes, adding that, Men represent close to 50% of the population and we know that they have many of the same concerns as women when it comes to aging, but that is not translating into the marketplace as much as we thought. Thiersch is optimistic, however, that as men age, they will undoubtedly come around. It is just taking a little longer than we thought, so perhaps as an industry we need to rethink how to reach this population.

Injectables remain a core product

Meanwhile, Thiersch encourages med spas to continue to focus on what brings patients though the door, namely injectables. Botox, Dysport and fillers still dominate the industry, he notes, adding that, Study after study has found that these are the treatments that people are most curious about. And although it is easy for med spas to become distracted by new treatments and fancy machinery, the beating heart of the aesthetics industry is, and will continue to be, injectables, according to Tiersch, who adds that, Injectables are still the most reliable way to attract patients and, with developing efficiencies and increasing innovation, we are seeing practices make a lot of money from injectables.

Longer-lasting botulinum toxin injections which help stop muscle spasms when injected directly into the muscle are also a mainstay.

About EHL Group

EHL Group encompasses a portfolio of specialized business units that deliver hospitality management education and innovation worldwide. Headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, the Group includes:

EHL Ecole hoteliere de Lausanne is an ambassador for traditional Swiss hospitality and has been a pioneer in hospitality education since 1893 with over 25,000 alumni worldwide and over 120 nationalities. EHL is the world's first hospitality management school that provides undergraduate and graduate programs at its campuses in Lausanne, Singapore and Chur-Passugg, as well as online learning solutions. The university of applied sciences is ranked n1 by QS World University Rankings by subject and CEOWorld Magazine, and its gastronomic restaurant is the world's only educational establishment to hold a Michelin Star for a third consecutive year.

EHL Swiss School of Tourism and Hospitality has been one of the leading hospitality management colleges for hotel specialists for over 50 years. The College delivers Swiss-accredited federal diplomas of vocational education and training and of higher education in its 19th century spa-hotel in Chur-Passugg, Graubunden, to Swiss and international students from 30 countries.

EHL Advisory Services is the largest Swiss hospitality advisory company specializing in service culture implementation, business consulting, as well as the development and quality assurance of learning centers. EHL Advisory Services has offices in Lausanne, Beijing, Shanghai and New Delhi and has delivered mandates in more than 60 countries over the past 40 years.

www.ehlgroup.com

Ecole hoteliere de Lausanne

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Two years ago, almost to the day, I oversaw the opening of SiteMinders German office in Berlin Mitte, as part of the companys wider global growth strategy. It was just in time for ITB Berlin 2020 and excitement was high. This was our seventh international office and our third in Europe, alongside London and Galway!

We understood that Berlin was Germanys most important tourism destination and a gateway city, which was key to winning new customers across Europe to our hotel commerce platform. As one of Europes leading tech hubs with a vibrant startup scene, Berlin was also going to be a great place to attract some of the regions top talent.

And then, suddenly the world stood still.

How we kept moving

Two years later, what strikes me most is how far weve come. Of course, for the first time in nearly 55 years, ITB Berlin 2020 never materialised, but SiteMinder continued to grow  in Germany and globally. Our Berlin team now has almost 20 members, providing support for hoteliers both across the DACH region and Europe as a whole, with sales, customer support and product development.

These numbers, which tell a story of growth, make the last two years sound effortless, but there were naturally some major challenges along the way. From the outset, we were forced to transform our processes almost overnight, taking everything remote, from hiring and meeting, to all the daily tasks teams do to support each other. While this may seem like the norm to many businesses now, it certainly wasnt for us in the beginning, as we had to double our creativity and commitment. Where others were learning to reinvent, we were inventing.

By the end of March 2020, hotel bookings globally had dropped to less than 11% of their 2019 numbers, while in Germany they fell to as low as 7%.

Yet, we never doubted our vision, and we stayed the course. Key to our ability to survive and thrive was the characteristic SiteMinder perseverance  what we know as hustle. As we do everywhere, SiteMinder in Berlin focused on hiring talented, dedicated and positive people, who enjoy what they do and support each other, ensuring we all grow together.

Its what allowed us to arrive at a much brighter picture today. A number of major European destinations have comfortably surpassed their 2019 hotel booking numbers for much of the past year, while hotel bookings globally have reached 84% of their 2019 volumes over the past month. And, our people are able to once again enjoy Berlins second-to-none social life, as well as free gym membership and local transport, on SiteMinder.

Its only the beginning

Having a base in Germany has given us a much more personal relationship with our DACH customers. In the words of Mrs Andrea Seinen, Manager of Hotel Chelsea in Cologne, SiteMinder has made our lives simpler and allowed our property to thrive, beyond the numbers, during both peak holiday seasons and throughout the year."

Feedback like this makes me incredibly proud of my team. Our Berlin office will always be characterised by the adaptability, drive and tenacity that allowed us to pull through the biggest crisis our industry has seen. Ultimately, this has given us a competitive edge and allowed us to be prepared for any other disruptions the future might hold  for us and our customers. Its also allowed us to gain the trust of hoteliers across Germany, as theyve come to learn we are a global company that knows and loves the German market  and were here to stay!

It was by staying true to the unique SiteMinder identity that weve been able to set down strong roots in Berlin, and build a local hub thats committed to the German hotel industry, the DACH region and continental Europe as a whole. At no point did we ever waver from this vision, and we continue to press forward now.

Maria Cricchiola

Director of Brand Communications & PR

+61 2 8031 1287

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Recently I saw a statement claiming that 75% of travelers use metasearch at some point during the planning process, which made the channel crucial for driving direct bookings.

There are three glaring inaccuracies in this statement:

1. No, 75% of travelers DO NOT use metasearch to plan their hotel stays.

Travel consumers do not know of and do not use the term metasearch! Meta what? Isnt this the new name of Facebook? Most of them have not even heard the term.

Metasearch is a made-up term by Wall Street analysts, originally used for online retail from the early 2000s (remember ShopMania, Shopzilla, etc.?) when Amazon still wasnt the powerhouse it is today. Later, the term was adopted by hospitality digital marketing agencies and hoteliers. Google doesnt call their Google Hotel Ads (GHA) program metasearch, nor does Tripadvisor, etc.

Most travelers use Expedia and Booking to shop around and compare hotel rates. Asked Do you use hotel rate comparison sites when planning your hotel stay?, most of them would reply YES! This doesnt make the OTAs to be metasearch sites since OTAs dont feature rates from other hotel intermediaries.

In the last normal year in travel - 2019 - Google reported that travelers planning a hotel stay had over 45 touchpoints in their Digital Customer Journey before making a hotel booking. These touchpoints include OTA sites, hotel sites, customer reviews, social media sites, etc., sometimes visited multiple times and via various devices: smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops. The picture will become even more convoluted going forward with the emergence of Airbnb and Hopper as full-fledged OTAs!

This type of traveler planning behavior is not metasearch, this is travel consumers shopping around like crazy!

2. Metasearch is no longer a DIRECT online channel

From a purely advertising channel, using typical ad formats like CPC and CPA, over the last few years metasearch has become a commission-charging, intermediary distribution channel, like the OTAs, bed banks, traditional travel agencies and tour operators.

Hotel metasearch has existed for over 20 years now (SideStep, acquired by Kayak), but has been elevated in importance ever since Google launched its Google Hotel Finder product back in July 2011, which later became Google Hotel Ads (GHA).

For many years metasearch players used predominantly the CPC (Cost-per-Click) model (Trivago, TripAdvisor, GHA, etc.). Later, most metasearch players introduced the CPA (Cost-per-Acquisition) model, in other words charge a fee in the form of a commission when a booking is done.

Responding to the travel slump, due to the pandemic and hotel cancellations reaching 50% because of ever changing travel restrictions, Google introduced its Pay-per-stay (PPS) model i.e. Google charges a commission only if the booker actually stays at the property. Recently Trivago followed suit and introduced its Net CPA program, which is a copy of Googles PPS.

Why was this move by Google significant? Google now controls the lions share of metasearch, larger than all other metasearch players combined. Therefore, the commission-based Google's PPS, Trivagos Net CPA, etc. should be treated not as an advertising channel, but just as another distribution channel like other intermediaries like OTAs, traditional travel agencies, etc.

In addition, Google now controls 91.42% share of the global search engine market (January 2022, Hootsuite). Google literally owns the travel consumer and has become the shepherd of the digital customer journey by positioning itself at and making money in the form of referral, CPC, CPM, CPA and CPS fees from each of the five phases of the Digital Customer Journey: Dreaming, Planning, Booking, Experiencing and Sharing Phases.

There is another wrinkle to the story: last year Google introduced free hotel booking links in its Google Hotel Ads (GHA) program. Google has been trying, quite unsuccessfully, for 11 years now to lure more independent hotels to join the GHA program. Now Google has resorted to its masterful freemium model: give every hotel a free booking link listing, flooding each destination with booking options thus forcing hotels, OTAs and other booking sites to compete for visibility.

Example, if Google lists for free all 700 hotels in New York City in its GHA, what chance does your property have to be noticed, unless it bought a sponsored listing i.e., a paid GHA listing? Nil.

The same underlying principle is used in the Google Ads Program (GA) and its sponsored listings (paid search) vs free/organic listings. Or by Expedia and its Travel Ads sponsored listings. Google's latest move is nothing more than returning to the old Yellow Pages business model: every business gets a free listing, so to stand out from the competition, you need to buy a sponsored listing.

3. Metasearch is a viable, but NOT a crucial channel.

And finally, how important is metasearch to hotel occupancy? The fact of the matter is that the much talked-about metasearch contributes to LESS THAN 5% of hotel roomnights!

The OTAs dominate metasearch with their multibillion-dollar marketing budgets so most referrals from Google HPA, Trivago, Tripadvisor, Kayak, etc. ultimately reach the property in the form of OTA bookings.

Recently I heard a hotelier boasting that most of his propertys online bookings outside of the OTAs came from metasearch. All 5 - 10 of them? I wouldnt be surprised if this would be the case if you did not invest adequately in your propertys digital marketing and its formats: SEO, SEM, Content Marketing, online media, social media, CRM Marketing, targeting and retargeting initiatives, etc.

Is metasearch worth the trouble?

Yes, and there are two reasons for that.

First, due to consolidation in the online B2C marketplace, there are fewer and fewer online distribution channels left nowadays. Second, because by participating in Google HPA, the property completes its portrait on Google and provides an important information to potential guests.

Google has practically monopolized the Dreaming and Planning Phases and creates a big share of the ready-to-book customers in the Booking Phase of the Digital Customer Journey.

People use four criteria when searching Google to find the perfect property for their hotel stay:

Location: Where is the property located and is it near the place I want to visit. Google Maps and Google Search provide the perfect answers to this question.

Where is the property located and is it near the place I want to visit. Google Maps and Google Search provide the perfect answers to this question. Information about the hotel : Is the property boutique or branded, is it 2 or 20 floors, what are the amenities, is there dining, etc. By indexing the property website and outside content sources, which the hotel can vastly optimize via SEO and Content Marketing, Google provides an exhaustive information on the subject.

: Is the property boutique or branded, is it 2 or 20 floors, what are the amenities, is there dining, etc. By indexing the property website and outside content sources, which the hotel can vastly optimize via SEO and Content Marketing, Google provides an exhaustive information on the subject. Customer Reviews: What did my peers say about their stay: Google today offers more hotel reviews than all of the other review sites combined (not including Booking..com)

What did my peers say about their stay: Google today offers more hotel reviews than all of the other review sites combined (not including Booking..com) Price: How much is this hotel per night - $100, $200 or $300, etc. By participating in Google HPA, the property provides an answer to this important question in real time!

How should hoteliers handle metasearch?

1. Conduct a Property Presence Audit on Google:

Start by searching your property brand name on Google. Audit, review and optimize your propertys presence on Google:

Your property Google Business Profile: Is the information correct? When was the last time the profile was updated? Business hours? Amenities? Photos?

When was the last time your property responded to Google Reviews? Google today controls bigger share of hotel reviews than all other review sites combined (excluding Booking..com).

How does your property rank in the search engine results pages (SERPs) for the most relevant keyword terms that define your property? If you are not happy with the outcome, invest in website optimization, SEO and Content Marketing.

Who is bidding on your propertys brand name in Google Ads? OTAs, competitors? Invest in branded keyword campaign for your property to disallow the OTAs to hijack your direct customers.

Who is dominating your property listing in Google Hotel Ads (GHA)? Is your official site listing live and featuring the best rate? Are there any GHA advertisers not in rate parity?

Do you know how many hoteliers have done the above audit in the last 6 months? In the single digits! This type of review should become a weekly or at least bi-weekly task handled by the propertys RM or marketing team.

2. Join the Free Listings on Google HPA:

If your property hasnt done so, I recommend you join Google HPAs free property listings. You should not expect an avalanche of bookings, but this will complete your propertys profile on Google and greatly enhance your presence by placing your Official Site in the GHA pricing menu.

Quite often I hear the excuse that Google HPA is too technologically complex, and therefore independent hoteliers are shying away from the program. As a hotelier you dont have to be technologically-savvy to understand that Google HPA is one of few remaining online distribution channels outside of the OTAs.

Joining Google HPA requires integration between your PMS, CRS, Channel Manager or digital marketing agency with Googles backend so that Google has real-time access to your propertys ARI (Availability, Rates, Inventory). Ask your tech vendors to do the actual connectivity work. My former company NextGuest (now merged with Cendyn) built its API to Google Hotel Finder, now GHA, back in 2011. Thousands of hotel clients have been able to take advantage of GHA ever since.

Avoid the new Google HPA extranet tool that requires manual upload of rates and availability. Who has the time and bandwidth today to manually maintain ARI (Availability, Rates, Inventory) via an extranet in the back end of GHA? This is so 2003! If you are an independent hotel and your CRS, booking engine or PMS does not interface with GHA - fire them! There are plenty of CRS, booking engine, channel managers and cloud PMS vendors out there that are already interfaced with GHA to choose from.

3. Join the Sponsored/Paid Listings on Google HPA

If your property is in a competitive destination (who isnt?), consider joining the paid/sponsored Google HPA listings in addition to the free property listing. Why? Paid/sponsored Google HPA listings (Featured Options) are served above the free listings and have much higher visibility than the free listings, especially on the small screens of smartphones. Today over 70% of searches on Google come from mobile devices.

In addition, the sponsored listing allows the property to include marketing messaging in the listing, promoting free cancellations, free breakfast, free Wi-Fi, reward programs, member-only perks and discounts, etc. Since all of your competitors already have or will join shortly the free Google HPA listings, you need a paid/sponsored listing in order to stand out from the competition.

Join Google HPAs commission-based Pay-Per-Stay program and task your revenue management department to monitor and manage it like all other intermediary channels.

Max Starkov

NYU
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Hurricanes taught Jason Ballard that conventional U.S. homes are fatally fragile when he was a child growing up in the Gulf Coast town of Orange, near the Louisiana border.

Classes in conservation at Texas A&M taught Ballard that building construction produces more landfill debris, consumes more water and wastes more energy than any other industry.

At the SXSW technology conference in Austin, Ballard taught visitors how a home designed to be 3-D printed can resist what climate change can throw at it, minimize waste and inefficiency, and still look good.

TOMLINSONS TAKE: Cheating Texas construction companies place $1.9 billion burden on taxpayers

I looked at everything: zip panels, shipping container houses, prefab houses, modular houses, probably the weirdest thing I looked at was architectural fungus, where you would, like, grow a house, he told me. When I got to 3-D printing and robotic construction more broadly, it was the only thing that worked on the spreadsheet of affordability, scalability, sustainability, beauty and dignity.

Ballard, founder and CEO of ICON Technology Inc., decided to scale up the desktop 3-D printers that made toys from plastic a decade ago. Hes built a device 15.5 feet high and 46.5 feet wide capable of laying down two-inch-thick layers of concrete to construct a 3,000 square foot building.

His company has completed dozens of buildings, ranging from small homes to military barracks to a dwelling used by NASA to test the feasibility of living on Mars. But the home unveiled in Austin is the first structure explicitly designed to take full advantage of robotic construction.

Robotically built houses, 3-D printed houses want to be very different, Ballard said. If you just carbon copy or sort of appropriate the architectural forms and designs of contemporary houses, you end up appropriating a lot of their problems as well.

ICON teamed up with San Antonio architecture firm Lake Flato, known for innovative designs that maximize the potential of locally-sourced building materials and react to the local climate. Lewis McNeel, an associated partner, said the firm wanted to highlight the unique appearance of the printed concrete.

The high-level thinking about the house was not just to showcase printed concrete, but how to show that it can help you produce the most appealing, friendly house you can imagine, and a house that works for long term living, he said.

The house looks like no other, and the unique feature besides the gray, layered concrete walls are the graceful curves that replace straight edges. They contrast with the linear doors, windows and structural beams of blonde wood.

The printer lays down two sets of walls, one exterior and one interior with insulation in between, to meet building standards, but the technique makes the walls feel more substantial. While the printing pattern is apparent in most interiors, bathrooms and other areas are plastered or tiled the same as a traditional home.

In standard construction, having a curved corner or wavy wall requires highly-skilled framers and drywall crews and can add considerable costs. The 3D printer doesnt care if its a straight and sharp wall or a perfect circle; the cost and construction time are the same.

If you wanted a house that was a perfect square, we could print you a perfect square, Ballard said. If your want a Fibonacci Spiral, we can print you a house in a Fibonacci Spiral.

ICON Technology is privately held and in start-up mode. Ballard raised an additional $185 million in a funding round led by Tiger Global Management last month, which was on top of $207 million raised in August, the website TechCrunch reported.

Ballard said the company is building 12 more printers in Austin this quarter and plans to ramp up production. The company recently struck a deal with homebuilding giant Lennar to develop an Austin-area neighborhood of 100 homes, all printed by machines on rails.

TOMLINSONS TAKE: Texas Triangle is key to economic growth, but brings big changes

He said each print costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, but its already profitable to use them, and he hopes to bring production costs down.

I asked Ballard about the potential negative impact on the climate of building so many homes from concrete, which is a significant source of carbon dioxide emissions. But he insisted that concrete remains one of the best building materials available, and long-lasting resilient structures are better for the planet long term.

Later this year, Ballard said he plans to build his first five homes along the Gulf Coast to withstand a Category 5 hurricane. He thinks robotic construction will solve a lot of problems.

My childhood home is gone; my family has spent Christmas in a FEMA trailer, Ballard said. So, this one feels personal. We have to get outta that doom loop on the coast.

Chris Tomlinson writes commentary about business, economics and politics.

twitter.com/cltomlinson

chris.tomlinson@chron.com
There are two schools of thought on the curious spot at which the energy industry now sits.

One is that high crude oil prices will spur a new era of oil and gas exploration, especially as Russian oil and natural gas look like theyll remain a taboo commodity for some time to come. U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, who has championed pivoting away from fossil fuels since she took office last year, recently called on energy executives to boost production to help ease prices as the United States imposes a import ban on Russian oil and its European allies seek to end their reliance on Russian energy.

European countries will be clamoring to buy U.S.-produced natural gas as the intensifying war in Ukraine puts Russian supplies in peril and leads them to rethink their sources of energy over the long-term. Germany, for example, has blocked the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that was built to transport Russian gas to Western Europe, and plans to build two liquefied natural gas import terminals.

The shift is helping to spur the expansion of the U.S. LNG industry, concentrated along the Gulf Coast. The Energy Department forecasts the United States this year will surpass Qatar and Australia to the become the largest exporter of natural gas this year.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Energy security overshadows transition at CERAWeek as oil shortages drive up prices

But on the other hand, the current energy crisis could be a watershed moment for clean sources of energy.

As the Houston Chronicles James Osborne reported recently, governments and companies often seek out alternative forms of energy when fossil fuel prices spike. During the energy crisis of the 1970s, power plants turned to nuclear and began to invest in developing solar and wind energy. Those renewable technologies have moved into the mainstream, generating cheaper electricity than traditional power plants and becoming the fastest growing segment of the power industry.

Electric vehicle technology has also reached the point where it is competitive with internal combustion engines, with the recent surge in gasoline prices leading to a jump in EV sales.

Think about the learning curves seen in wind and solar, said Steve Pattyn, founder and chief investment officer of Yaupon Capital Management at CERAWeek. People 10 years ago were asking wind and solar  do they even work? Theyre so expensive. Now, the cheapest electricity in the world comes from West Texas wind farms.

On HoustonChronicle.com: As oil spikes, clean energy firms see opening

Despite technological advances and declining costs, the clean energy future still faces hurdles, particularly building the infrastructure to support the electrification of the economy. The power grid needs to be modernized to handle increasing loads and new transmission must be built to move wind and solar energy from remote areas, such as West Texas, to population centers. Widespread adoption of electric vehicles is unlikely to happen until charging stations are as ubiquitous as gas stations.

All of the above

There was a third position championed by some at CERAWeek  an all of the above strategy that invests in getting energy wherever its available, whether it be from fossil fuels or sunlight. Speakers talked about continuing to pull oil and gas from the earth, and capturing methane and carbon dioxide, while continuing to invest in renewables. Senators Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, spoke about the need for a holistic approach to energy in their appearances at the conference.

We can get to a place and recognize that climate is still a very serious issue, Murkowski said, but we dont have to ignore what we can do to contribute to the safety and security and resiliency of people we care about, who are fighting for their own freedom and democracy.

shelby.webb@chron.com
Workers pick up garbage floating on Meishe River in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province, July 10, 2017. Dubbed the "mother river" of Haikou, Meishe was recently listed among "the country's 11 most beautiful hometown rivers" by the Ministry of Water Resources.(Xinhua/Guo Cheng)

HAIKOU, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Clear water, lush green and swimming fish -- these are the defining features of Meishe River in Haikou, capital of south China's island province Hainan

Dubbed the "mother river" of Haikou, Meishe was recently listed among "the country's 11 most beautiful hometown rivers" by the Ministry of Water Resources.

The river, stretching some 16 km, flows mostly through the city's main urban area. Prior to the 1990s, the river was clean and beautiful, but with economic development and population growth, it became severely polluted. Owing to the filthy aura and foul smell, locals living near the river dared not to open their windows in the summer, prompting many residents to relocate.

A ray of hope appeared in 2016 when a sewage treatment project was launched to treat the river water, with a focus on ecological restoration and improving people's livelihood.

"The root cause of the water pollution problem lies in the river banks," said Wu Tingfei, an official with the municipal water authority, noting that the key to successful treatment of the Meishe River is resolving the issue at its source and restoring the river's ecology to allow the water to purify itself.

The city took the lead in implementing the river chief system in the province, which significantly aided in the river water treatment and ensured the smooth execution of ecological restoration measures.

Thanks to the years of unwavering efforts, the Meishe River has come to life again.

"When I was young, the water was so clear that we kids used to often swim in the river in summer," said Wang Kaixuan, a local resident, adding that the water became dirty and smelly with the development of the city and nobody wanted to live there.

Hailing the government's remediation efforts, Wang said the scenery on both sides of the river has become more beautiful and the water has become clearer, attracting an increasing number of fish and birds. "Local residents often bring their kids here to play."

Fengxiang Wetland Park by the Meishe River has very lively scenes, with adults jogging or walking their dogs along the river, and children flying kites and playing on the lawn.

"It used to be a garbage dump and a smelly ditch, but now it has been transformed into a wetland park by the government," said Huang Zilu, a local resident who was having a picnic in the park with her family and friends.

The park boasts lovely views and a pleasant environment. It's an excellent spot for fitness and recreation and is ideal for bringing children to play, she added.

Since the beginning of this year, Hainan has initiated a comprehensive project which covers sewage treatment, ensuring water supplies, flood prevention, water conservation and seawater protection.

Water conservation is Hainan's top priority for the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021 to 2025), and Meishe River can certainly be hailed as an example of a successful water treatment project in the province.

Wu said that Haikou will play a leading role in Hainan's water conservation campaign and 217 projects, with a total investment of 36.6 billion yuan (about 5.8 billion U.S. dollars), have been planned. 

Workers plant seedlings at the riverside of Meishe River in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province, July 10, 2017. Dubbed the "mother river" of Haikou, Meishe was recently listed among "the country's 11 most beautiful hometown rivers" by the Ministry of Water Resources.(Xinhua/Guo Cheng)

Citizens take a walk at the riverside of Meishe River in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province, July 10, 2017. Dubbed the "mother river" of Haikou, Meishe was recently listed among "the country's 11 most beautiful hometown rivers" by the Ministry of Water Resources.(Xinhua/Guo Cheng)

Zhang Shucai, a local citizen, enjoys leisure time with her granddaughter at a footpath at the riverside of Meishe River in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province, March 19, 2022. Dubbed the "mother river" of Haikou, Meishe was recently listed among "the country's 11 most beautiful hometown rivers" by the Ministry of Water Resources.(Xinhua/Guo Cheng)

Aerial photo taken on March 19, 2022 shows a view of the Fengxiang wetland park of Meishe River in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province. Dubbed the "mother river" of Haikou, Meishe was recently listed among "the country's 11 most beautiful hometown rivers" by the Ministry of Water Resources.(Xinhua/Guo Cheng)

Aerial photo taken on March 19, 2022 shows a view of the Fengxiang wetland park of Meishe River in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province. Dubbed the "mother river" of Haikou, Meishe was recently listed among "the country's 11 most beautiful hometown rivers" by the Ministry of Water Resources.(Xinhua/Guo Cheng)

Photo taken on July 10, 2017 shows seedlings planted at riverside of Meishe River in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province. Dubbed the "mother river" of Haikou, Meishe was recently listed among "the country's 11 most beautiful hometown rivers" by the Ministry of Water Resources.(Xinhua/Guo Cheng)
Virginia-based LNG company Venture Global said it is moving quickly to get more liquefied natural gas to the market with two more pending projects in Louisiana.

It said it will close project financing soon on Plaquemines LNG, a facility under construction outside New Orleans with a liquefaction capacity of 20 million metric tons per year. At the same time, it said in a news release that it agreed to its first sales contract for another 20 million metric tons per year facility, CP2, it aims to build next to its existing facility at Calcasieu Pass starting next year.

The new projects advance at a time when demand for LNG soars. Demand was already high as more of the world moves from coal to cleaner-burning natural gas, which grew even more coveted after Russia  previously Europes primary supplier of natural gas  invaded Ukraine and disrupted global energy supplies.

American LNG companies jumped into the void, surpassing Russia as Europes largest supplier of natural gas. Still, there isnt enough supply to meet demand and existing LNG facilities are operating at maximum capacity.

OUT INTO THE WORLD: Venture Global brings Calcasieu Pass LNG plant online with first cargo

In todays global market, execution and speed matter, and Venture Global is uniquely positioned to quickly deliver US LNG capacity to meet the worlds growing demand for energy, Venture Global CEO Mike Sabel said in a statement, noting his company constructed Calcasieu Pass in a record 29 months.

Similarly, he said, his company is moving forward with an expedited schedule for Plaquemines, although the companys expansion wont help the existing demand crunch.

Venture Global began construction at Plaquemines in August, ahead of schedule and before closing financing, citing historic market demand, and expects to bring the project online in 2024. It said it has sold 14 million metric tons of the projects 20 million metric tons per year capacity and plans to announce more contracts in the coming weeks.

Last week, Venture Global announced a new agreement with Shell for 2 million metric tons per year of LNG from Plaquemines. This week, it announced two agreements with New Fortress Energy: one for 1 million metric tons per year from Plaquemines and another for 1 million metric tons per year from CP2. The latter is the first sales agreement for the CP2 project.

The Biden administration has been looking to ease the path forward for American LNG as the need for more supplies grows. On Wednesday it issued an order allowing every existing LNG export terminal to export its full capacity to any country with open U.S. trade.

U.S. LNG remains an important component to global energy security, the Department of Energy said in a statement. DOE remains committed to finding ways to help our allies and trading partners with the energy supplies they need while continuing to work to mitigate the impact of climate change.

amanda.drane@chron.com
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Emerald feathered hummingbirds with jeweled red throats are coming our way after spending the winter in Southern Mexico and Central America.

We call them ruby-throated hummingbirds, based on the glistening red throat of the males. The females are gray-throated because theyre the nest keepers whose bland throats wont lure the eyes of predators.

Last fall, we saw the pretty pixies lingering around flowerbeds and lapping up sugar water from hummingbird feeders to get a rush of energy. They then devoured scores of flying insects while doubling their penny-weight bodies with body fat to fuel a flight south across the Gulf of Mexico.

Theyve likely been fattening up in Latin American wintering grounds before departing to breeding homes in North America. But once the eye-catching hummers arrive, they wont linger as they did in the fall.

The charming pixies will be in a hurry, pausing here and there to refresh themselves before racing to breed and nest. A few will breed in local neighborhoods  a female has often nested in our yard during the past 10 years. They also breed in East Texas and as far down as Victoria.

Theyre the only hummingbird species breeding throughout the eastern half of the U.S. and Canada, breeding west to Alberta. Roughly 16 other North American hummingbird species migrate to breeding grounds throughout the western U.S., including Texas, from the Hill Country to Big Bend, Fort Davis and El Paso.

Feeding hummingbirds Fill hummingbird feeders with a mixture of 1 part white table sugar to 4 four parts tap water. Store-bought mixtures with red food coloring are detrimental to hummingbirds. Do not use honey in sugar water because it fosters fungal growth lethal to hummers. Replenish sugar water every two to three days to keep it from fermenting, and scrub feeders once a week with hot water to eliminate mold and mildew. Feeders with red adornments attract hummers by mimicking the color of most nectar-producing tubular flowers. Remove bee guards that could damage a hummer's thin beak. Ward off ants by coating the feeding portals with castor oil or by purchasing "hummingbird feeder ant guards" from bird supply stores. Hummers are in a migratory hurry during spring and won't stay past May, unless nesting. See More Collapse

One of those western species is the black-chinned hummingbird, an abundant breeder in the Hill Country. Theyre nearly identical to ruby-throated hummingbirds except for the black throat on males. The two birds can be tough to tell apart when migrating ruby-throats pass through the Hill Country.

Thats because the characteristically red color on a male ruby-throat is a refraction of light rather than pigmentation. A complex feather structure on the males throat acts as a prism to bend the long, visible light waves to reflect red.

In Houston, only ruby-throated hummers are migrating through or nesting here. Males arrive first, followed by females a few days later. After breeding, the female is left to build the nest and raises chicks. She weaves a demitasse nest with the exterior camouflaged in lichen, using spider webs to secure it atop a leafy tree branch.

A female hanging around your hummingbird feeders all summer means shes probably nesting nearby.

Gary Clark is the author of Book of Texas Birds, with photography by Kathy Adams Clark (Texas A&M University Press). Email him at Texasbirder@comcast.net.
A former La Marque police officer says she was wrongfully terminated after she complained to supervisors about a white officer who made racist remarks, including one about Black people killing Black people, according to a federal lawsuit in Houston.

Stephonia Jackson says the department retaliated against her after she raised concerns about a fellow officer during a shift meeting in June 2020. She shared with the group that her colleague had said that Black people shoot and kill each other all the time, but when an officer kills a Black person its a problem, according to the lawsuit.

On HoustonChronicle.com: New details, video released in deadly La Marque police shooting

Police say Jackson was fired for an entirely different reason, related to improper handling of an inmate detained in a holding cell.

Jackson was the only Black officer employed by the department at the time she was fired, according to a court document. She was terminated two months after she made the complaint to former Chief of Police Kirk Jackson, Corporal Kenneth Hernandez and Sergeant Geoffrey Price, among other supervisors. The white officer who made the racist remark was disciplined but not terminated for what she said, according to the lawsuit.

Jackson did not list the white officer as a defendant in her suit.

Her lawsuit says she suffered adverse treatment because of her race and because she was outspoken about racism in the department.

Jackson details in her suit how supervisors imposed excessive discipline for an incident involving the detained person because she is Black. She describes being forced to endure a hostile environment after she complained about a fellow Black officer and about other instances of discrimination.

NEWSLETTERS Join the conversation with HouWeAre We want to foster conversation and highlight the intersection of race, identity and culture in one of America's most diverse cities. Sign up for the HouWeAre newsletter here.

La Marque Police officials did not respond to a request for comment on Monday.

The department's official rationale for terminating Jackson stemmed from an unrelated incident in February 2020, four months prior to the staff meeting. Jackson was accused of lying that she had placed a woman she arrested in a jail cell rather than in a holding cell that was later found with urine inside it. (The holding cells do not have toilets.) Video evidence from La Marque jail later confirmed Jackson first placed the woman in a holding cell before escorting her to a restroom and then moving her into a jail cell. The department was unable to determine if the woman Jackson arrested had urinated in the holding cell.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Backyard chickens sparked a lengthy saga in La Marque. Are they a nuisance or a necessity?

Jackson's attorney calls the holding cell infraction absurdly menial considering that it was never confirmed who urinated in the cell and no inmates reported injuries or made complaints. The department's response was excessive and hostile, the suit says. Jackson was questioned over a three-day period. An internal affairs investigation ended without any action being taken against her, yet the holding cell allegation was notably used as the reason to terminate her six months later, and two months after she had made a complaint about a peer's racist remarks.

The June 2020 staff meeting was not the first time Jackson spoke out against racial discrimination in the department. In February 2016 she supported a Black female officer who complained that a white lieutenant had discriminated against her. After she voiced support for her coworker, the lawsuit says, Jackson was turned down for extra jobs, questioned about her ability to write reports, sent to remedial training, forced to pay for her own training and placed on a performance improvement plan. In each instance, she was treated differently from co-workers because department officials were retaliating, the suit says.

Relations between La Marque police and Black community members were strained following the fatal shooting of a Black man by a police officer in 2020. Joshua Feast, 22, was shot in the back while running away from the officer who had tried to apprehend him on multiple felony warrants. Community protests and calls for the officer to be reprimanded intensified in the following year, but in August 2021 a Galveston County grand jury took no action against the officer.

Jackson is seeking damages, the restoration of her Texas Commission on Law Enforcement license and removal of her dishonorable discharge status.

No defense attorneys have responded in court to the lawsuit. The La Marque City Attorney did not respond to a request for comment.

rebecca.hennes@chron.com
Bunker Hill

3/11/22 at 1300 Hours. 1-100 Block of Beebe Lane. Fraud. The victim reported that he received notice from his bank of suspected fraudulent activity on his account. Upon inspecting his account, he found that a check that he had written and mailed to a non-profit had been intercepted, washed, and reissued to a person whom he did not know. The check had been mailed at a mailbox located on South Gessner near Westheimer. Information about the check and transaction was collected and provided to detectives for their follow up investigation.

3/11/22 at 2030 Hours. 200 Block of Bunker Hill Road. Fraud. The victim reported that he received notice that a donation that he had pledged to a non-profit had not arrived. The victim had written out a check and mailed it at a mailbox located on the Katy Freeway feeder near a Starbucks. The check had been intercepted, washed, and reissued to a subject whom he did not know. Information about the check and transaction was collected and provided to detectives for their follow up investigation.

3/15/22 at 1300 Hours. 11900 Block of Broken Bough. Identity Theft. The victim reported that she received notice from her credit monitoring company of a new account that had been opened in her name. The victim had not opened any accounts. Further investigation located an account with no balance or activity but did have her personal identifiers. The account was closed, and information collected and provided to detectives who have taken over the investigation.

3/17/22 at 0315 Hours. 200 Block of Gessner. Driving While Intoxicated. While monitoring traffic officers observed a vehicle traveling at 61 MPH in a 35 MPH zone and initiated a traffic stop. Upon approaching the driver, officers observed signs of intoxication and open containers of alcohol. The driver was asked to perform sobriety tests which he subsequently failed. The driver was given a blood test after a search warrant was obtained. The 19-year-old male was booked into the Harris County Jail and the vehicle towed.

Hunters Creek

3/11/22 at 2115 Hours. 8400 Block of Katy Freeway. Driving While Intoxicated. While on patrol, officers observed a vehicle traveling down the frontage road, driving on 2 flat tires with sparks coming from the rims as they scraped on the concrete. Officers initiated a traffic stop and upon approaching the driver observed signs of intoxication. While speaking with the driver, he stated that he had consumed multiple Modelo Beers. The driver was administered sobriety tests which he failed. The subject was offered a breath test which he refused. The 23-year-old male suspect was then booked into the Harris County Jail and the vehicle was towed.

3/12/22 at 0000 Hours. 10700 Block of Memorial Cove. Driving While Intoxicated. While monitoring the traffic light at Voss and Memorial, officers observed a vehicle run the red light and initiated a traffic stop. Upon approaching the driver, officers observed an open can of beer inside of the vehicle and signs of intoxication. The driver was administered sobriety tests which he failed. The driver was placed under arrest and provided a breath test that showed him to be over the legal limit for DWI. The 24-year-old male was then booked into the Harris County Jail and his vehicle towed.

3/13/22 at 0930 Hours. 8500 Block of Katy Freeway. Unlawful Use of a Motor Vehicle. Officers were alerted to a stolen vehicle in the area by the ALPR system. Officers began checking area businesses and found the stolen truck as it was exiting a nearby fast-food restaurant. As the driver observed the officer, he quickly turned into a nearby apartment complex. As other officers arrived on scene and went to the parking lot, they found the stolen vehicle empty. The first officer had remained out in front of the apartment complex and saw the suspect as he attempted to leave by walking through the complex to the street. Through investigation it was learned that the truck had been stolen from Louisiana where the window had been broken out. Officers located a receipt on the suspect showing him to be in the same town in Louisiana where the vehicle was stolen from. He also had arrest warrants for other charges/cases. The 32-year-old male suspect was placed under arrest and booked into the Harris County Jail. The vehicle was recovered.

3/16/22 at 0500 Hours. 8500 Katy Freeway. Unlawful Use of a Motor Vehicle/Robbery/Homicide. Officers were dispatched to the area in reference to a suspicious male in the parking lot who was changing a flat tire. The clerk became concerned when the subject told her that he was being hunted by the police and that he had popped someone. Officers arrived on scene and made contact with the subject who appeared to be intoxicated. A check of the vehicle found it to be stolen out of Montgomery County during a robbery. Officers attempted to contact the victim without any luck. Officers in Montgomery County were contacted but were unavailable. The DAs Office was contacted but declined charges due to the victim not being able to be contacted. Due to the behavior of the suspect and him being intoxicated, MVPD officers placed him under arrest for public intoxication and booked him into the MVPD Jail. At approximately 8 am Montgomery County detectives were available and responded to the MVPD. They were familiar with the robbery and the auto theft and took custody of the suspect. Later in the day detectives learned that the subject was a suspect in a Homicide that had also occurred in Montgomery County. Great work by the MVPD night-shift officers in following up on this incident and using problem solving and common sense and not just allowing the suspect to go. Their decision to arrest the suspect on the city charge of public intoxication allowed the suspect to be detained until Montgomery detectives could respond. Ultimately it was discovered that the subject was a suspect in a homicide when his girlfriend was discovered deceased as a result of gunshot wounds.

Piney Point

3/13/22 at 2200 Hours. 200 Block of Merrie Way. Criminal Mischief. The homeowner reported that at approximately 2030 hours unknown subject(s) had struck and damaged his mailbox and then fled the location. Information on the damage was collected and provided to detectives for their follow up investigation.

3/14/22 at 0930 Hours. 400 Block of Pineneedle. Burglary of a Vehicle/Theft of a Firearm. The victim reported that upon entering his vehicle he noticed a holster laying on the floorboard. Upon checking for his firearm, he found it to be missing from the center console. The victim had used a valet parking service the evening prior in the City of Houston as well as having been to other businesses. While parked at his house the vehicle was locked and there were no signs of forced entry. Information about the theft was collected to include the serial number of the firearm that was entered into the state database. Detectives were notified and have taken over the investigation.

3/14/22 at 1015 Hours. 1-100 Block of Windemere. Burglary of a Vehicle. The victim reported that during the night an unknown subject had entered her unlocked vehicle and taken a laptop computer. A review of her video surveillance system shows a black male walk onto her property at 0230 hours in the morning. The young male is approximately 6 foot tall, wearing a blue hoodie with the hood up, a white and grey patch jacket and grey pants. The suspect is carrying a backpack. The male can be seen entering the vehicle. The vehicle was checked for fingerprints and detectives were notified and have taken over the investigation.

3/15/22 at 0600 Hours. 200 Kinkaid School Road. Criminal Trespassing. School security personnel located a homeless male on the school property without permission. The male was found to be suffering from mental health issues. The male was identified and given a courtesy ride away from the area. The school declined to press charges and only wanted the subject identified, told not to return and escorted off the property.
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Bail for a Houston man accused in the workplace killing of his supervisor was reduced to $250,000 on Monday after his mother testified that she was unable to afford the surety fees sought by two bonding companies.

Montavius Wright, accused of fatally shooting Cedar Park Technologies manager Doran Kelly, had originally been held on a $500,000 bail  half of what prosecutors initially requested. The shooting on Wednesday prompted a SWAT team to search the Cedar Gate Technologies offices, where Wright and Kelly worked, and the surrounding floors in the 20 Greenway Plaza building.

Prosecutors in the 337th District Court continued this week to argue that Wright, 26, be held at a high amount.

Harris County District Judge Colleen Gaido, however, ruled during a bail review hearing Monday that their request was out-of-line with bail standards for a murder charge and lowered his bail.

During the hearing, Wrights mother, Tahisha Hannor, said she received quotes from two bonding companies. One requested that she pay the standard 10 percent of the initial bail amount to free Wright from jail  while another bondsman asked for 3 percent. She lacked the funds for the lowest fee and the bail agents would not accept her out-of-state home as collateral, Hannor continued.

Hannor, a contract nurse, lives in Georgia and is staying in Houston for as long as Im needed here, she said.

The testimony offers insight into a pattern of bonding companies offering lower fees than the traditional 10 percent to ensure a defendants release from jail. A Chronicle investigation last year found that bonding agents were offering lower fees on more violent crimes, with hefty payment plans and collateral deals often the trade-off to defendants and their families.

CHRONICLE INVESTIGATION: As Harris County judges take heat for felony bonds, critics point to unnoticed culprit: The bondsmen

The Harris County Bail Bond Board this month voted against requiring bail bondsmen to collect a 10 percent minimum on violent crimes.

A payment plan would be a financial hardship, Hannor continued.

During court, defense attorney Tolu Nelms said she did not know which bonding companies Wrights mother spoke with to garner her sons release. He remains jailed.

The motive surrounding the shooting remains unclear  but police have made assurances that it was not random.

Court records show a colleague at Cedar Gate Technologies  a Connecticut-based healthcare technology company  heard a gunshot from his cubicle, looked out and saw Wright  who worked in the companys IT department  pointing a pistol at Kelly.

Wright told his co-worker not to say anything and bolted, records continued. Police apprehended him at his downtown apartment.

The bail review hearing stems from a request Friday that prosecutors made as Nelms asked then-visiting Judge Denise Collins for a lower bail amount of $30,000.

Prosecutors were poised to bring a Cedar Gate Technologies-hired lawyer to the witness stand to discuss concerns from Wrights former coworkers about bail  but Gaido overruled the attempt to introduce some information outside of the initial allegations.

The lawyer did not elaborate on the fears of the workers when asked by the Chronicle outside the courtroom.

Should Wright make bond, he is prohibited from contacting Kellys family, witnesses or any Cedar Gate Technologies employees or going within 500 feet of the office building.

Wright, who moved to Houston four years prior for work, was previously arrested in Georgia for a drinking while under the influence charge. The outcome of that charge was not known.

Wright is slated to return to court May 12 for an arraignment.

nicole.hensley@chron.com
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It was still dark Sunday when Pedro Ayarzagoitia went for his morning walk and tripped over a weighted plastic bag on Arlington Street in the Heights. He thought it might be dog waste, but he looked up and saw similar bags up and down the block. Maybe theyre Halloween-style candy bags, he thought.

The answer was neither. Instead, Ayarzagoitia, 57, opened the bag and found a flyer with a picture of Adolf Hitler, along with some rocks to weigh the bag down. When he logged onto the neighborhood-based social media app Nextdoor after getting home, he learned he wasnt the only one. Others found flyers with swastikas and slogans reading White Lives Matter.

This is a great neighborhood, and Im upset these idiots decided to come here to try and spread their message, said Ayarzagoitia, who has lived in the Heights for 15 years.

Its the latest in a series of comparable incidents that have befallen the Houston area in recent months. Last February, an Atascocita subdivision was bombarded with white supremacist flyers similarly packaged with rocks in plastic baggies. A week before that, more hateful flyers were found on car windshields and front doors throughout a northwest Harris County neighborhood.

Houston police said they received reports of flyers in neighborhoods throughout the Greater Heights, and they asked anyone with relevant information to step forward.

The Houston Police Department is aware of flyers with divisive messaging and propaganda distributed this weekend in various neighborhoods. We take this type of incident very seriously and are investigating the matter to the fullest extent, a police spokesperson said.

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Mark Toubin, southwest regional director for the Anti-Defamation League, said the distribution of the flyers may have been part of a larger effort by a national hate group that has encouraged its members and supporters of like-minded organizations to spread white supremacist leaflets on the third weekend of every month.

The ADL received an unusual number of reports for one weekend, Toubin said, all in the Greater Heights or surrounding neighborhoods.

The organization named on the flyers, the Aryan Freedom Network, was also cited on flyers in at least one other location last month. The organization did not respond to a request for comment.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights group that tracks hate groups and extremism across the United States, listed the organization as a neo-Nazi hate group for the first time in 2021.

Based out of De Kalb in Northeast Texas, the Aryan Freedom Network is run by Dalton Henry Stout, whose family reportedly leads the towns Ku Klux Klan chapter, according to Lydia Bates, a senior research analyst for SPLC.

An SPLC analysis found that Texas recorded more than 1,200 incidents of white supremacist flyers being distributed between 2018 and 2021, the most of any state in the country. Thats largely because Patriot Front, a white nationalist group that distributed the most flyers in 2019 and 2020, is based in the state, Bates said.

Hate groups such as the Aryan Freedom Network are conducting the drops to stoke fear and recruit supporters. Bates likened the practice to a modern-day terror campaign, similar to the ones the KKK conducted under the cover of darkness.

They still call this tactic of spreading flyers a night ride, and it serves the same purpose, to intimidate and scare people, and spread their message and potentially recruit new members. The hatred and the violence is apparent in their words and their ideology, Bates said.

sam.kelly@chron.com
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A Constable Precinct 5 vehicle was towed from the site of a wrong-way crash on Sam Houston Highway that injured one person Sunday evening in northwest Houston.

The crash took place on the western portion of the Sam Houston Tollway at Little York, near the entry to U.S. 290, according to Houston Fire Department incident logs.
BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese and foreign experts highlighted the importance of respecting and safeguarding the economic, social, and cultural rights of ethnic minority groups at a seminar on Monday.

The seminar is a side event of the 49th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council. It took place online and offline at the Minzu University of China in Beijing.

China embraces a human rights philosophy that centers on the people, upholds equality among all ethnic groups, and endeavors to improve the rights of all people in a coordinated manner for a growing sense of gain, happiness, and security, said Tian Liangang, deputy head of the China Ethnic Minorities' Association for External Exchanges.

The Communist Party of China has been enhancing the assistance and development in areas with large ethnic minority populations and made remarkable achievements, said Bai Yu, a professor with the Minzu University of China.

Robert Lee, an expert at Northwest Minzu University, said that all ethnic groups in China worked together to make the country better.

Participants of the seminar agreed that Chinese people of all ethnic groups enjoy rights to equality and freedom, and economic, social, and cultural services. They added efforts should be improved to allow exchanges and sharing of experience to build a community with a shared future for humanity. 
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Bonnie J. Dunbar had bruises on the back of her arms after wiggling into the hard upper torso of the NASA suit used for spacewalks.

And once inside, the suit never fit right. The sleeves were too big, and the suits elbows didnt bend where her elbows bent.

Custom-made suits, like those worn by Apollo astronauts who walked on the moon, were too expensive for the space shuttles larger astronaut corps. But Dunbar couldnt help recalling a science fiction movie where an astronaut stepped into a full-body scanner and then walked out wearing a personalized suit.

FUTURISTIC RESEARCH: Scientists want to see if humans can hibernate like squirrels while traveling in deep space

Today, Dunbars lab at Texas A&M University can scan a persons entire body within 1 millimeter of accuracy. And with a $175,000 NASA grant, Dunbar will study if this technology  plus other advances  could be used to scan an astronauts body and then create an affordable, custom suit just days or weeks later.

Provided by Bonnie J. Dunbar/Purchased at TurboSquid.com

Theres no such thing as a standard human, said Dunbar, a professor in aerospace engineering and retired NASA astronaut. I started thinking about this 20 years ago. How do we get back to the Apollo model of custom suits that, generally, the crew was very happy with, but do it in a cost-effective matter?

Dunbar is receiving grant money through the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program, which places seed investments in technologies that might benefit missions 20 or 30 years from now.

Her vision, which includes the ability to repair suits, could be particularly useful when dozens or hundreds of people are living on Mars, said Mike LaPointe, acting program executive for the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program office.

Mars will be a harsh environment for suits and a far-flung locale for shipping replacement parts. Fit and mobility will be vitally important for the scientists whove traveled so far to study this new terrain.

We want them out there exploring, LaPointe said. We dont want them rehabbing in physical therapy.

The right fit

Suits worn for spacewalks  or working on another planet  are designed to be human-shaped spacecrafts. NASA spends roughly $125 million a year to maintain and use current spacesuits on the International Space Station.

Ken Ellis/Staff illustration

Spacesuits must protect astronauts from wide temperature swings, harmful radiation and impacts from dust or small debris. They must also regulate body temperature and provide drinking water, oxygen and communication systems.

To do this, spacesuits rely on layers. One of the first things astronauts put on is a cooling garment made of stretchy spandex material and water tubes. Chilled water is run through the tubes near the astronauts skin to remove extra heat.

The outermost spacesuit layer reflects heat from the sun and is made of fabric that blends threads that are water resistant, fire resistant and used for making bulletproof vests.

In between these layers is a bladder made of polyurethane-coated nylon. When its pressurized, the bladder is filled with pure oxygen used for breathing and protecting the astronaut from the vacuum of space. Without some pressure being exerted on the body, gases inside the astronaut could start to bubble. These bubbles could block arteries and veins, preventing blood from moving through the body and reaching the brain.

This pressurized bladder, however, makes it difficult to move. So spacesuits must have joints that help astronauts bend their arms and legs. This is where the one-size-fits-many approach can have its issues. Astronauts elbows and shoulders dont fall in the same places.

Yi-Chin Lee, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

An ill-fitting suit can cause wasted energy, and an immobile suit can impede science. The Apollo astronauts, for instance, had to fall over to pick up a rock, said Chris Hansen, NASAs deputy program manager overseeing spacesuits and rovers.

SPACESUITS FOR WOMEN: Two American women make history in all-female spacewalk  but there still is a long way to go until NASA reaches gender equity

Dunbar didnt go on a spacewalk during her 50 days in space. But she realized the importance of fit and mobility while training for spacewalks in a large swimming pool that simulates microgravity.

Some of her colleagues reported shoulder injuries from the ill-fitting suits. And many other women (plus some men) became ineligible for spacewalks after NASA changed the available sizes. There were initially five sizes for the suits hard upper torso  extra small, small, medium, large and extra large  but budget cuts reduced those to just medium, large and extra large, Dunbar said.

These three sizes are still used today for spacewalks on the International Space Station. And in 2019, NASA had to reschedule its first all-female spacewalk after discovering only one medium hard upper torso, which both women required, was on the International Space Station.

Artemis suits

NASA is working to fix these issues before sending astronauts to the moon through its Artemis Program.

NASA has spent the past 15 years researching new spacesuit technology. Its latest design will fit petite women and large men, thanks to adjustable shoulder bearings and a wide variety of swappable components that accommodate different arm, leg, torso and hand sizes, Hansen said.

The suit, which is being tested at the Johnson Space Center, was intended to be a reference design that the private sector could build. That plan has pivoted a few times.

Yi-Chin Lee, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

After former President Donald Trump challenged NASA to return to the moon by 2024, NASA decided to send its reference suit to the moon to meet the condensed timeline, Hansen said. But then it made significant progress on the suit and pushed its moon landing to no sooner than 2025, so NASA decided companies could build the suits. They can choose to use NASAs reference suit to guide their designs.

In a departure from its previous spacesuits, which were built by contractors but owned by NASA, these suits will be owned by the companies that build them. Its part of a broader NASA effort to partner with commercial companies, which reduces the agencys costs and helps stimulate a space economy.

NASA said it invested $420 million to accelerate development of the new spacesuit technologies, but costs for future use are unknown as the agency finishes a competitive selection process.

That procurement process is underway. But NASA Inspector General Paul Martin recently said the time needed to develop and test both these suits and the landing system that will lower astronauts to the moon could contribute to astronauts not returning to the moon before 2026.

Hansen, however, said the suits will not prevent NASA from reaching the moon in 2025.

Designs for the future

Looking to Mars, Dunbar, who has a Ph.D. in engineering, will spend nine months scrutinizing the feasibility of her digital-to-physical suits.

Dunbars lab, the Aerospace Human Systems Laboratory, will work alongside retired astronaut Nancy Currie-Gregg, Purdue University professor Vincent Duffy and Moonprint Solutions CEO Dave Cadogan. They will focus on the suit itself - not the portable life support system that houses the communication system, provides oxygen and removes carbon dioxide.

Heres their plan: Each suit would start with a digital file, also known as a digital thread, thats collected when an astronaut steps into a full-body scanner. This scanner creates more than 200,000 digital points that can be used to measure every inch of the astronaut.

Theyd use this to create a digital spacesuit to fine-tune fit and mobility. Then the suit would be robotically manufactured at a facility on Earth. Itd be made from a mixture of hard components, such as stainless steel or composites, and flexible fabrics, such as urethane-coated nylon, Mylar, Gore-Tex and Kevlar.

A YEAR ON FAKE MARS: Johnson Space Center hangar to stand in for the Red Planet

The custom suit could be available just a few days or weeks after the body scan.

Then the spacesuit, digital file, extra fabric and 3d printers with raw material would be packed for a trip to Mars. The digital file, fabric and 3d printers could enable astronauts to repair certain parts of their suits while on the Red Planet.

Dunbar knows this future is many years away. But through her feasibility study, she will examine if the vision is possible with todays technology. She would also identify any new devices, materials or processing methods that would need to be invented.

Its really a long way off, and we realize that, but thats what we do, said LaPointe, with NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts. What is science fiction now that might be science fact later on?

andrea.leinfelder@chron.com

twitter.com/a_leinfelder
Ninety years ago, journalist William G. Shepherd wrote in Colliers Weekly, Congress! Congress! Dont tax me, tax that fellow behind the tree. In the 1970s, Russell Long, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, updated the phrase to say, Dont tax you, dont tax me, tax that fellow behind the tree, but the feeling remained unchanged  as it does today.

No one likes to pay taxes. Simply put, taxes on work discourage work. Taxes on capital gains, dividends and business income discourage investment, impairing growth. But taxes are also necessary. The government has bills to pay, but not by borrowing more, which would burden our children with debt.

Then, the question is what to tax. The answer is as simple as the reasons no one likes taxes: something that causes the least  or best  distortion.

Our current tax code is riddled with harmful distortions, making Democrats efforts to squeeze more revenue by raising income tax rates not only unpopular but also economically destructive. I support and urge anyone who does not like taxes to support what I believe is the best approach: a tax on carbon emissions.

As a former investment banker, I know markets are powerful. Our economy, as well as economies around the globe, emit more carbon emissions than they would if the social cost of carbon were reflected in the production and consumption of goods and services. Unfortunately, we are not made aware of that personal cost, though we know it is not zero.

A carbon tax, even a moderate tax, would address this market failure and spur three changes: a consumer switch to less carbon-intensive activities; innovation across numerous sectors of our economy; and the adoption of more low-carbon sources of energy, including wind, solar and natural gas by electric utilities.

Most importantly, these activities would be motivated by Americans innate desire to avoid taxes. The beauty of a carbon tax is that it incentivizes consumers and businesses to avoid it, which will cause carbon emissions to decline significantly.

Unlike a draconian policy to ban the use of coal or outlaw carbon-intensive fuels, a carbon tax will create an economy-wide incentive for consumers and businesses to adopt low-carbon sources of energy. Equally important, it will drive innovation, resulting in new low-carbon technologies that will be critical to lowering emissions here and abroad. Over time, our economy will reach a new equilibrium that will not only help us address climate change but also raise revenues from any carbon emissions that cannot be eliminated  emissions that will be unavoidable and valuable to our economy.

Finally, a carbon tax adheres to an age-old policy framework in Washington: When doing nothing is not an option, do the least bad thing. While the cost of a carbon tax will undoubtedly have a significant impact on the economy, there are no policy options to address climate change that are as economically efficient. Subsidies for green energy increase the federal deficit, which we simply cannot afford to do. Energy mandates result in limited choices in the marketplace, disrupting free enterprise, and they are the most expensive. Stewards of good government understand this.

While a political liability of a carbon tax may be that it is simple and transparent, those attributes are also the very reason anyone who does not like taxes should support a carbon tax.

Williams was an investment banker for 34 years, including at Morgan Stanley and Greenhill & Co., and is the founder and chairman of the Alliance for Market Solutions.
WASHINGTON  Texas Republican senators vowed to keep things civil Monday as the historic confirmation hearing got underway for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman nominated to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Still, Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz carefully peppered Democratic President Joe Bidens nominee with criticism and questions about her record  an early look at the resistance her nomination will likely face from the GOP in the coming weeks.

Cornyn said he believes she had gone beyond the pale while representing Guantanamo Bay detainees during her time as a public defender.

Im a bit troubled by some of the positions youve taken in arguments that you have made representing people who have committed terrorist acts against the United States and other dangerous criminals, Cornyn said. As someone who has deep respect for the adversarial system of justice, I understand the importance of zealous advocacy, but it appears that sometimes this zealous advocacy has gone beyond the pale.

Jackson represented an alleged al-Qaida bomb expert, a Taliban intelligence officer, a man who trained troops to fight American forces in Afghanistan and a farmer associated with the Taliban, according to the Associated Press. None of them was convicted by the military commissions created to try detainees, and all were eventually released.

FACT CHECK: Free speech in Russia not so different from U.S., says Democrat Tulsi Gabbard

Jackson said she was a federal public defender and was assigned the cases. She described it as important service to the country at a time when American values were under attack after 9/11.

The people who were being accused by our government of having engaged in actions related to this, under our constitutional scheme, were entitled to representation, were entitled to be treated fairly, she said. Thats what makes our system the best in the world. Thats what makes us exemplary.

Jackson said in her opening statement Monday that her work as a defense attorney showed her the importance of transparency in judicial rulings. Jackson, who has served as a judge for nearly a decade, said she has written more than 570 decisions, which she acknowledged tend to be on the long side.

All of my professional experiences, including my work as a public defender and as a trial judge, have instilled in me the importance of having each litigant know that the judge in their case has heard them, whether or not their arguments prevail in court, Jackson said.

Jackson  who was introduced to the committee by Thomas B. Griffith, a conservative former appeals court judge appointed by President George W. Bush  vowed to decide cases from a neutral posture.

If I am confirmed, I commit to you that I will work productively to support and defend the Constitution and this grand experiment of American democracy that has endured over these past 246 years, she said. I know that my role as a judge is a limited one, that the Constitution empowers me only to decide cases and controversies that are properly presented. And I know that my judicial role is further constrained by careful adherence to precedent.

U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Houston Democrat, was among those in attendance at the hearing. She tweeted that Jacksons nomination was a landmark achievement in our nations history.

The GOP likely lacks the votes to block Jacksons confirmation, but lawmakers have made clear they hope to contrast her treatment during the hearings, the first since Biden took office, with those weathered by former President Donald Trumps picks for the high court.

These proceedings will be thorough but civil, Cornyn said. As a member of this committee, I have had the opportunity to provide advice and consent on seven previous Supreme Court nominations. This is No. 8. Ive seen the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to the way the Senate conducts these proceedings and so have the American people.

Cruz said the hearings would not be a political circus.

No one is going to ask you with mock severity, Do you like beer? Cruz said, referencing Justice Brett Kavanaughs 2018 confirmation hearings, which were derailed by accusations of sexual misconduct against him.

Still, Cruz said he plans to raise questions about a host of issues  from free speech rights to guns  as the hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee continue over the next several days.

The reason the American people care about the Supreme Court is because it is integral to protecting or taking away our constitutional rights, Cruz said. Will a justice vote to crush religious liberty? Will a justice protect the rights of the people, the rights of state legislatures to enact laws protecting innocent life, protection of unborn rights? Or will a justice view her job as a super legislator, striking down all such rights?

TEXAS TAKE: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox

As the Republicans pressed, Democrats leaned on the significance of the moment and dismissed their criticism.

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., told Jackson that he felt a sense of overwhelming joy as I see you sitting there.

This is not normal, Booker said. Its never happened before. The Senate is poised right now to break another barrier. We are on the precipice right now of shattering another ceiling.

Not a single justice has been a Black woman, said Sen. Dick Durbin, the Illinois Democrat who chairs the committee. You can be the first. Its not easy being the first. In some ways, you have to be the best, in some ways the bravest.

But it isnt Jacksons first time facing the committee. She has been through three confirmation hearings for federal judicial posts, most recently less than a year ago, before she was confirmed to a spot on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Neither Texas senator supported her nomination then, and neither is likely to do so now. The Texas GOP sent out a fundraising email as Jacksons hearing got underway, calling her the Woke Mobs dream come true.

The states senators were far more tempered in their approach.

Youve had an impressive career, judge, Cornyn told Jackson. I like the fact youve had such broad experience in our judicial and legal system. But unanswered questions remain.

ben.wermund@chron.com

twitter.com/benjaminew
The claim: Whats happening here is not so different from what were seeing happening in Russia, where youve got state TV and controlled messaging across the board. This is where were at.  Tulsi Gabbard

The March 15 claim by Gabbard, a former congresswoman from Hawaii, came shortly after Russia arrested a journalist who protested the war on state TV and enacted a law threatening up to 15 years of prison time for spreading false information about the Ukraine invasion.

PolitiFact rating: Pants on Fire! Since its invasion of Ukraine, Russia  a country with a long history of suppressing free speech and access to information  has restricted dissenting voices, independent news reporting and public discourse on social media platforms, including with a new law threatening prison time for spreading false information about the war. Those measures are without parallel in the U.S., where freedom of speech, expression and the press are enshrined in the Constitution.

Discussion

Fox News host Jesse Watters teed up Gabbards segment when he claimed Democrats are seeking out ways to silence free speech.

Tulsi, it is striking when you see Putin propaganda and you line it up against Biden propaganda, he said. Do you think that were at risk of kind of moving in that direction right now?

Gabbard responded that the U.S. is moving in that direction, claiming its leaders and media are afraid of even a single voice coming out as challenging the power elite. She continued:

This is why were seeing not only still most of the mainstream media very vigorously defending and pushing the Biden propaganda  Its not enough that they also have Google and Big Tech basically working for them and with them to control what information we see and what information we dont see 

This is whats so dangerous about the place that were in right now as a country, where this idea, this principle, this foundation of freedom of speech, freedom of expression is directly under threat and under attack. And youre right, its not so different. Whats happening here is not so different from what were seeing happening in Russia, where youve got state TV and controlled messaging across the board. This is where were at.

Five experts told PolitiFact that Gabbard is wrong.

The claim is absurd, said Scott Gehlbach, a professor of political science and an expert on Russia and Ukraine at the University of Chicago.

In Russia, one can now face up to 15 years in prison for simply calling a war a war, Gehlbach said. In the U.S., citizens such as Tulsi Gabbard are free to make not only truthful but untruthful statements without fear of legal sanction.

About PolitiFact PolitiFact is a fact-checking project to help you sort out fact from fiction in politics. Truth-O-Meter ratings are determined by a panel of three editors. The burden of proof is on the speaker, and PolitiFact rates statements based on the information known at the time the statement is made. See More Collapse

Russia has long trampled its independent press and citizens freedom of speech.

Opposition leader Alexei Navalny, a prominent Putin critic, was arrested in 2021 and recently added to the countrys registry of terrorists and extremists.

The Kremlins restrictions, tightened further since its invasion of Ukraine, have driven citizens to use virtual private networks and encrypted servers to access factual information.

The state in Russia is criminalizing speech and locking people up, said Rutgers Law School professor Ellen Goodman, the co-director of the universitys Institute for Information Policy and Law. That is not happening in the U.S.  not at (the) hands of private parties or state.

Russia shuttered its main independent broadcasters and cut access to international outlets like the BBC. It also blocked Facebook and Instagram and hamstrung users ability to use Twitter. Each of those platforms  along with TikTok, which suspended new videos and live streaming in Russia in response to Russias law against false information  remain available in the U.S.

Russia is exercising extraordinary powers of censorship unseen in Russia since the Soviet era, said David Kaye, a clinical professor of law at the University of California, Irvine, and the former United Nations special rapporteur for freedom of opinion and expression. And it is filling the information void entirely with state-controlled media pushing the governments messages.

Is there anything remotely like this in the United States? No, Kaye said. The U.S. government lacks power under the Constitution to engage in the kind of actions taking place in Russia.

Gabbard told PolitiFact that she was not saying that our lack of freedom of speech in the United States is as bad as in Russia, but that its heading that way.

Institutions in Russia and the United States exert great control and influence over what people see and hear, causing people to fear that they will suffer if they say or do something different, she wrote in an email.

In Russia, it is a powerful state/government which exerts such control, Gabbard said. In the United States, there is similar control but instead of the state directly having such control, it is giant tech and social media companies which are politically aligned with and work closely with those who hold political and institutional power.

Gabbards argument echoes conservative allegations of Big Tech bias and censorship against them. But plentiful research has cut against those claims.

In 2021, Twitter revealed that a study showed right-leaning news outlets were amplified on its platform more than left-leaning news outlets, and that tweets from right-leaning accounts similarly outpaced tweets from left-leaning accounts in the U.S. and other countries.

A 2021 study by researchers at New York University concluded that the allegations that social media companies censor conservatives are unfounded.

I know of no academic research that concludes there is a strong systemic bias  liberal or conservative  in how social media platforms identify what to show to users or in how they enforce their terms of service in content moderation decisions, said Steven L. Johnson, an associate professor of commerce at the University of Virginia who has studied social media.

Some Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, have had accounts suspended, restricted, or marked with fact-checking labels. But those penalties have generally resulted from specific violations of the various platforms community guidelines.
Chicago, IL (60637)

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Cloudy with occasional rain in the afternoon. High 52F. Winds NE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%..

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Cloudy with periods of rain. Low 47F. Winds ENE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall around a half an inch.
JERUSALEM, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Israeli security forces said Sunday they have arrested two Israeli citizens on suspicion of working with Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Lebanese armed group and political party.

According to a statement issued by Israel's Shin Bet security service, the two men, identified as Arab citizens of Israel, met Hezbollah operatives in Turkey last November. The two were asked to smuggle weapons into Israel and to establish a terror cell to kidnap Israelis, provide information on targets for missile attacks, and locate possible locations for crossing the border from Lebanon into Israeli territory.

The two men were arrested in a special operation by the Shin Bet, military, and police.

The military said in a separate statement that "Israel's security forces will continue to operate to maintain security in the region and act against any attempt to violate the sovereignty of the state of Israel."

Israel and Hezbollah are sworn enemies, who fought a full-fledged war in 2006 that took place mostly on the Lebanese soil. 
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Simon's Rock Global Climate Education Initiative

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.  Bard College at Simon's Rock is joining more than 300 universities, high schools, and other organizations around the world to focus on climate change

On Sunday, March 27 through Thursday, March 31, Simon's Rock will host an open dialogue on the topic of "Climate Solutions and Justice" in Massachusetts.

Members of the public can attend remote events via the links in the brochure

This will be one of many similar events held across the planet in late March, as part of the WorldWide Teach-in on Climate and Justice sponsored by Bard College in New York. Worldwide, from Austria to Alabama, Kyrgyzstan to Kentucky, Colombia to Colorado, and Malawi to Minnesota, students, teachers, and community members will discuss steps that can help move the needle on solving climate change, while creating jobs and income. Members of the public can find events around the world and register here.

"We have ten years to solve climate, and we can get a lot done in this decade. But only if we focus the world on climate solutions and a just transition," said Amanda Landi, lead organizer of the event at Simon's Rock. "We are proud to be a lead college for this global climate education project. Please join us for this important conversation."

In Great Barrington, the discussion will feature Simon's Rock faculty, speaking on topics ranging from climate change and indigenous peoples, how artistic disciplines engage with the climate, strategies for local climate action, thermodynamics, mathematical models for understanding climate-based scenarios, and more.

"It's energizing to be part of a worldwide event bringing awareness and momentum to the climate justice movement," said Jennifer Browdy, head of the Languages and Literature Division at Simon's Rock. "It's going to take input from all of us, in all the academic disciplines and fields of endeavor, to bring our Earth back into balance. If we work together, we can make it happen!"

Eban Goodstein, economist and Director of the Solve Climate project at Bard College urges climate-concerned teachers at the college, university, and high school level to kick off Earth Month by having students attend the Teach-in-- either live or recorded-- and then engage students in this critical dialog.

"You don't have to be an expert on climate to talk with your students," said Goodstein. "Every subject contributes to understanding climate solutions. Whether you are teaching art, literature, business, philosophy, or any other discipline, you can use the Teach-in to #MakeClimateAClass at Simon's Rock."
New Mass MoCA Director Sees Partnership Opportunities With North Adams

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art's new executive director is looking forward to partnering with the city to revitalize the downtown postpandemic.

Kristy Edmunds, speaking from the West Coast at last week's Mass MoCA Commission meeting, said she's been meeting with stakeholders  business owners, city officials, community members, educators  while getting to know the museum's cultural structure, physical plant and mission.

"I feel like I've really been able to get around quite a lot and understand more of the dynamics going on, with both the aspirations of North Adams as a community, but also structurally with the city, like some of the things that we really want to be able to move forward together," she said. "I've been super appreciative of the time the mayor has spent with me in meetings and walking me around so that I also get a sense of where things are for the city and the City Council."

Edmunds was executive and artistic director of the Center for the Art of Performance at the University of California at Los Angeles for a decade before being named as the museum's second director last fall.

She said the board will be revisiting the long-term strategic plan developed under former director, Joseph Thompson, "in light of a pretty changed world."

"We're coming out of the pandemic impacts we're coming back into a community wanting to gather. We've had a lot of resource hit because of it as has the city," she said. "So it's really about looking and resetting where we want to take those aspirational vantage points forward."

A big focus for her is educational access and how it will be migrated into the after-school zone, as well as the museum's digital strategy.

"We don't have a lot of infrastructure for anything like that," Edmunds said. "And we're about to embark on a plan for how we can build that into a position, which I also think will have a major interface with the community and the town."

The museum is also considering climate change and sustainability, how the campus might be greener, and how it can be a leader for the larger community, she said. "The concern about climate and sustainability is big in North Adams, mixed with you know, obviously jobs and growth and economic rejuvenation strategies."

One opportunity, she said, might be to look at how to provide "safe harbor" for artistic startups and popups and then work with local landlords to find them space off-campus as they grow.

"[Popup eatery] Door Prize a good example that may over time grow, they establish then a following and it helps them bridge into what might become a longer-term lease," she said.

Nothing is fixed in stone, Edmunds added, but she feels she has a grasp on "minds and imagination of the community at large" and the direction it would like to see the museum take within the community.

"Kristy and I and her team have pledged that we are going to work together on all aspects of getting MoCA into the community and working on getting traffic from Mass MoCA to downtown," said Mayor Jennifer Macksey. "The key is we have to have things in our downtown to attract Mass MoCA visitors."

She thought the incubator idea had potential and said she would be happy to facilitate conversations with landlords.

"I think it's an important transitional moment, and one that isn't quite the same narrative that we've had, perhaps in the past, and how we help channel I think it's going to matter greatly," Edmunds said.

The campus itself will be open for business almost as usual with the return of Solid Sound (canceled last year because of the pandemic) and FreshGrass (which was held last fall). Performances that were being held outside will know be going back inside.

The museum's COVID-19 task force will be reviewing masking and vaccine requirements; masking and social distancing are "encouraged" and vaccine proof is no longer needed for the museum as of March 21 but is still a requirement for performances. This is likely to change over the coming weeks.

Deputy Director Tracy Moore said the museum is finalizing plans for Courtyard A  the main entrance  to continue as more of a pedestrian experience.

While it will still be used for some parking and a fire lane, the "big tent" will make a return for its third summer.

"We've really kind of gotten used to, and I think the community has as well, that sort of shaded tent area for food and drink," she said.

But this year it will not be used by Bright Ideas Brewing, which will be contained to its indoor space and small outdoor footprint. The brewery had been allowed to use it during the pandemic but Moore noted the museum has its own liquor license and if alcohol is served for special events, it would be under the museum's purview.

"It's really a nod towards probably the future evolution of that space, which is to be more piazza like than a sea of either asphalt or parked cars. So we're excited," she said. "We'll have a food truck back ... and look forward to welcoming the community back into that space. I think it was vibrant and lively and many, many people enjoyed that."

The tent will open after Memorial Day weekend, during which Solid Sound will take place.




HAVANA, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The Guantanamo Bay detention facility on the island of Cuba is a notorious U.S. military prison set up in 2002, as part of America's "war on terror."

Over the past two decades, the facility has become a symbol of U.S. torture and abuse of prisoners.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service




BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- China Merchants Bank, one of the largest lenders in China, posted net profit growth of 23.2 percent in 2021.

The bank raked in 119.9 billion yuan (about 18.83 billion U.S. dollars) in net profit attributable to shareholders last year, according to the company's latest earnings report filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Its business revenue stood at 331.3 billion yuan, up 14.04 percent year on year.

By the end of last year, the bank's non-performing loan ratio declined 0.16 basis points from the end of last year to 0.91 percent, while its provision coverage ratio rose 46.19 percentage points to 483.87 percent.

The lender's total assets amounted to 9.25 trillion yuan, up 10.62 percent from the end of last year. 
On March 17, Taliban officers arrested TOLONews employees Bahram Aman, Khaplwak Sapai, and Nafay Khaleeq at the news outlets headquarters in Kabul. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its Afghan affiliate, the Afghanistan Independent Journalists Association (AIJA), condemn the media workers arrests and the Talibans intensifying suppression of press freedom in Afghanistan.

According to the AIJA, at around 8pm on March 17, TOLONews presenter Bahram Aman, correspondent Khaplwak Safi, and the channels legal advisor Nafay Khaleeq, were arrested by Taliban security forces inside the media outlets headquarters in Kabul before being transferred to an unknown location.

Former director of TOLONews, Lotfullah Najafizada, said that Sapai and Khaleeq were released within hours of their detainment after being questioned by Taliban militants. Aman was detained overnight and released on March 18, after 21 hours in custody.

After almost 24 hours, I was released from prison. I will always be the voice of the people, Aman said in a Facebook post following his release.

According to Moby Group, the media company who owns TOLO TV, the detentions were reportedly the result of the stations coverage of the Talibans ban on foreign drama series.

The arrests of Aman, Sapai, and the TOLOnews legal advisor are the latest in a series of attacks on Afghanistans media. According to the AIJA, 40 journalists have been temporarily detained since the beginning of the Taliban regime in mid-August 2021.

On January 31, Taliban militants arrested Ariana News journalists Aslam Hijab and Waris Hasrat. On January 15, the Taliban attacked journalist Jaki Qais, and on January 10, Afghan journalist Noor Mohammad Hashemi, deputy director of Salam Afghanistan Media Organisation, was shot at by three unidentified men.

Hujatullah Mujadidi, Executive Director of the AIJA, condemned the arrests and said that the only way to prevent the illegal detainment of journalists and media workers is to enforce Afghanistans media law and establish a commission to investigate media violations.

The AIJA said: The detention of a journalist for any reason is not justifiable. Whenever the authorities in the system are not committed to ending this situation, and do not prevent such illegal actions, the process of freedom of expression will be severely damaged and it will present a harsh and bad image of Afghanistan to the international community.

The IFJ said: The arrests of TOLONews employees Bahram Aman, Khaplwak Sapai and Nafay Khaleeq are further evidence of the Talibans silencing of critical reportage and blatant disregard for press freedom. The IFJ urges the Taliban to allow Afghanistans media to function independently and to immediately cease the unjustified detainment of journalists and media workers.
Over the last two years, organizations of different sizes and industries have realized, even more, the critical role technology and innovation play in business and society. The latest developments in technology provided more ways to ensure more connected enterprises, enabling them to survive and thrive amid the never normal.

However, these advancements in technology have just begun. As organizations prepare for the post-pandemic world, technologies that have been introduced in recent years are expected to continue evolving. The latest advances will also further transform how people interact and work.

Here are the tech trends that businesses need to look out for this 2022 as listed by SAP SE:

Embracing Digital Transformation

Since the pandemic started, the speed at which digital transformation is fundamentally changing the business landscape has dramatically increased. The developments that could have happened in a decade or so were made possible overnight in many industries.

In the Philippines, the digital sector contributes significantly to its economy. This reality indicates that organizations in the private and public sectors will continue strengthening their digital transformation initiatives. Backed by strong government support, these transformations can unlock PhP5 trillion worth of economic value by 2030, according to a recent AlphaBeta and Google report.

Nurturing Sustainability

Nowadays, embracing sustainability has become an integral part of organizations, with business leaders considering it a strategic priority. Aside from top and bottom-line, forward-looking organizations add sustainability and even purpose as dimensions to driving business success.

Among these organizations is Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC). As a leading infrastructure investment company, MPIC commits to contribute to the achievement of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 9, which seeks to build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and foster innovation.

Recently, MPIC strengthened its digital core as it embraced cloud solutions that can help consolidate, modernize, and standardize its enterprise resource (ERP) systems on a single platform. The integration into the cloud is part of the groups sustainability philosophy of integrating business and environmental stewardship into their investment strategies. It helps improve its operations and augment sustainability initiatives, especially since SAP, MPICs technology partner, embeds sustainability into its core business processes.

Meanwhile, consumers are making apparent shifts to more sustainable products and services. According to a Kantar report, 75 percent of Filipino consumers seek out brands that offer ways to alleviate impacts to the environment. Even employees now make career choices based on their employers responsibility towards the planet. Thus, it is now even more integral to invest in innovation that considers environmental welfare while fostering economic and social development.

Integrating Decision Intelligence, Hyper-automation

In the Philippines, the Department of Trade and Industry noted that Artificial Intelligence (AI) adoption can increase the countrys gross domestic product (GDP) by 12 percent or equivalent to $92 billion by 2030.

Digital tools like AI, including augmented analytics and simulations, make Decision Intelligence a realistic approach to improve organizational decision-making. Each choice or decision in such a system result from multiple process iterations, refined with the help of analytics and data intelligence. With these digital tools, decision intelligence may support and enhance human decision-making and potentially automate it, hence augmenting organizational processes to be more efficient.

Meanwhile, scalability, remote operation, and business model disruption are also becoming possible with the use of Hyper-automation. Before the pandemic, businesses have been automating many processes through technologies like Robotic Process Automation (RPA). This trend will continue to grow for automating business and IT activities using a disciplined, business-driven approach.

Rising Low-Code, No-Code Tech

As content creation becomes even more relevant, graphic and website designs have been streamlined so users can simply drag and drop elements to create engaging content. This trend will extend to no-code AI, where users can create systems by simply dragging and dropping ready-made modules, removing the programming language barrier through simple interfaces. Consequently, it will allow users to create complex and robust AI systems.

Ensuring Total Experience (TX)

Due to the pandemic, organizations needed to have an excellent Total Experience (TX) strategy or a holistic program that combines customer, user, and employee experiences. With this strategy in place, organizations can help enhance customer satisfaction and employee productivity.

Organizations need to focus on weaving in these experiences instead of working on them individually to help ensure that they will be more satisfied as teams that work as an integrated unit. This trend is expected to continue as businesses eliminate communication and process silos and emphasize providing unified experiences to their employees remotely working while interacting with customers.

Collaborating with a Technology Partner

As these trends arise, organizations need a technology partner to help them achieve their business goals this year and beyond. For SAP, embracing technology means ensuring that the organization becomes an intelligent enterprise.

As a technology partner for businesses in the country, SAP helps make it easier by offering solutions like Rise with SAP, an intelligent enterprise framework to help kickstart businesses digital transformation journey. In the Philippines, MPIC is the first organization to adopt this cloud technology through this Business Transformation as a Service (BTaaS), offering consolidated solutions and services needed for business transformation in one package.

Rise with SAP also includes SAP and its whole ecosystem of partners assisting organizations in changing at their own terms and pace to be an intelligent and sustainable enterprise by simplifying engagement and providing a guided journey.
As a child growing up in communist Romania, Chili Piper co-founder and CXO Alina Vandenberghe feared Soviet occupation. So, when Russian forces attacked Ukraine on February 24, the tech founder felt her anxieties resurge, even though she now lives in New York City with her husband and co-founder, Nicolas Vandenberghe. Chili Piper is a B2B software company that helps businesses to facilitate meetings with clients to increase inbound lead conversion. With employees in Ukraine--as well as Russia--she immediately felt that she needed to do something to help--so she did. --As told to Rebecca Deczynski

I feel like I'm being chased by tigers--I can't really sleep properly. I'm in a million WhatsApp and Telegram channels, just trying to see how I can be most impactful. I don't have any direct family in Ukraine, but I do have employees and friends. But somehow, I'm affected to such a degree, it's as if my own mother were there. There is some trauma in my Romanian lineage--at any point in time, Romania was somehow occupied by Russia, either directly or indirectly, even in the time it was communist. I have this fear that we'll return to the oppression and brainwashing that happened to my parents and grandparents. When I moved to the U.S. in 2007, I saw what beautiful freedom looks like, and I don't want to go back.

In the fall of 2021, Chili Piper launched our own charitable foundation, Citizens of Our Planet, after raising a big round of funding from Tiger Global. We pledged $1 million to causes that are close to me and my co-founder's hearts. So far, all of our efforts have been toward promoting non-violence--it's something I feel very strongly about. Even in our normal operations at Chili Piper, we've done a lot of training to stop workplace microaggressions. We started the foundation with a donation in October for Afghan refugees.

When Russia invaded Ukraine, it was the ultimate form of violence. I started spinning my wheels and thinking about how cash could be deployed to help stop the violence. I'd already been raising money through Citizens of Our Planet, and I realized I could provide short-term relief to local NGOs, until larger organizations like the United Nations and the Red Cross could mobilize.

Once we started sending cash, I realized it was complete chaos. Somebody would say, "We need diapers here," and another person would need blankets and another needed shelter. There was no way to see if those requests were fulfilled or not--they were just thrown into the ether. We eventually realized that at every border, volunteers were organizing their own internal platforms with NGOs on the ground to address their needs--but those platforms were pretty bare bones. It would get overwhelming pretty quickly, and there were gaps in what local NGOs could provide that other organizations might be able to fill by sending them cash or supplies. I have my tech lenses on all the time, so I wanted to see if there was a way we could mobilize NGOs on the ground and start supplying them. Last week, we launched a platform, Bridge, that allows NGOs to request supplies and helps connect people who want to share supplies or cash with those NGOs in need.

In the early days of the war, I also started thinking about how we could help our own employees. We have eight in Ukraine, and they're all still there, but one employee's wife and toddler successfully fled. I started putting together a Google Doc that shared information about the kinds of documents people needed to flee, and then I sent it to Techfugees, an organization dedicated to using tech to help refugees, which we've worked with before. They helped circulate it in different WhatsApp channels and people kept adding to it. It became this 50-page doc that contains everything you need to know about how to migrate. It's been accessed by over 10,000 Ukrainians.

It has been a roller coaster of emotions, especially when I've talked to mothers who are fleeing. It absolutely tears me apart, but I feel quite grateful we've built a company that allows me to take action. I'm also reminded that without the economic success of my company, I lose the opportunity to do so. So in the past few weeks, I've been constantly at odds of operating on both sides--focusing on business versus focusing on how I can help those affected by the war. It's very tricky, because all of the conversations I might have about my business--about certain features or bugs in the software--feel so trivial compared with what people are going through right now. It's hard to have these conversations when I know people are running from bombs.

We have unlimited PTO, and I told our Ukrainian employees that they don't need to work. I don't think they could even possibly think about work. I've occasionally asked for some translation help with for the Foundation. We've very lucky because we have more than 200 employees all around the world, so the company has not had much of a disruption--it would be different if our entire engineering team was in Ukraine.

Before the invasion started, we got our Ukrainian employees and our six Russian employees on a Zoom call. We said, "Look--this is happening. Your countries might be at war and you might be drafted to kill one another." We took a screenshot of the Zoom call and put it on our Foundation website and said, we are a tech company that is here for peace, and we asked other tech companies to share the same message. But it's not enough for this message to come from tech companies alone.
Livermore, CA (94550)

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Partly cloudy skies in the morning will give way to cloudy skies during the afternoon. High 73F. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph..

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Mostly cloudy skies early will become partly cloudy late. Low 54F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph.
BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The Russia-Ukraine conflict continues on Monday as relevant parties are working to broker a peaceful solution. Following are the latest developments of the situation:

Russia and Ukraine have made progress on the "critical" articles of a ceasefire agreement being negotiated, but some issues still require decisions by their leaders, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Sunday.

"If the parties do not step back from their current positions, we can say that we are hopeful for a ceasefire," Cavusoglu told local daily Hurriyet.

"We see that the parties are close to agreement on fundamental issues," Cavusoglu said, reiterating his optimism when attending a meeting of the ruling Justice and Development Party.

- - - -

Humanitarian corridors from Ukraine's Mariupol will be opened from 10 a.m. Moscow time (0700 GMT) on Monday, Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the Russian National Defense Control Center, said Sunday.

Up to 130,000 civilians, including 184 foreigners from six countries, are "currently held hostage in the city," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement, citing the official.

"In order to save human lives and preserve the infrastructure of Mariupol ... Russia will open humanitarian corridors from Mariupol in the eastern and western directions upon the agreement with the Ukrainian side from 10 a.m. Moscow time (0700 GMT) tomorrow, on March 21," Mizintsev said.

Russian forces and Donetsk's units will "declare a 'complete silence regime' and guarantee its observance from 9:30 a.m. Moscow time (0630 GMT)," he added.

- - - -

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a bill extending martial law in Ukraine, the press service of Ukraine's parliament said Sunday.

The legislation extended the current martial law for 30 days starting March 26.

- - - -

Russia remains open to cooperation with Western countries, but will not initiate an improvement in the relations with them, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday.

"Let's see how they will get out of the impasse they have driven themselves into. Their values, the principles of the free market, the inviolability of private property, and the presumption of innocence are all trampled on by themselves," he said.

According to Lavrov, the United States is sending diplomats to many countries to ask them to withdraw from cooperation with Russia. 
Union of Minister of Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi said that Indias total geographical area under mining has increased substantially during the last few years and the sector is providing employment opportunities to 12 million people across the country, both directly and indirectly.Addressing the 36th International Geological Congress inaugural session virtually, Minister Joshi stated that the pace of mineral exploration has increased manifold under the present Government. Highlighting the recent reforms undertaken in the Mining Sector that provided the right fillip to the Indian economy, Joshi praised the noteworthy strides made by the Geological Survey of India (GSI) in making use of the latest technologies for scaling greater heights in excellence.Touching upon the importance of the 36th International Geological Congress, the Minister said that the three-day event, hosted by India after 58 years, will provide the right platform for geoscientists from across the globe to formulate more effective tools in the field of sustainable development.Minister of State for Coal, Mines and Railways Raosaheb Patil Danve, Minster of State for Communications Shri Devusinh Chauhan and Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space Dr Jitendra Singh also addressed the event virtually. The other eminent persons who graced the function include Secretary, Ministry of Mines, Dr.Alok Tondon, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences Dr. M Ravichandran, DG: GSI Shri Rajendra Singh Garkhal among others.The 36th International Geological Congress is based on the theme Geosciences: The Basic Science for a Sustainable Future. IGC is a joint endeavour of the Ministry of Mines, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Indian National Science Academy and the Science Academies of Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Described as the Olympics of Geosciences, the IGCs are held quadrennial, under the aegis of the International Union of Geological Congress (IUGS), the Scientific Sponsor of the IGCs. The three-day event will witness the participation of 5000 - 7000 delegates from all over the world.The event would provide a unique platform for knowledge and experience sharing in the field of geosciences and professional networking. It would give first-hand information on the latest technologies in mining, mineral exploration and management of water, mineral resource and the environment. On the inaugural day of the IGC, commemorative Postage Stamps, First Day Cover and multi-colour coffee table books on Geo tourism hotspots were releasedIndia, leading its regional partners had bid in the 34th International Geological Congress at Brisbane in 2012 to host the 36th IGC in India in the year 2020. The present Congress, originally scheduled to be held during 2-8 March 2020 was postponed due to Covid Pandemic. 58 years ago India had hosted the 22nd session of the IGC which was the first IGC on Asian soil.


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The videos of people coming out of theatres crying after watching Vivek Agnihotri's The Kashmir Files are all over Twitter.

While some people are calling it "the most hard-hitting" and "soul-shaking" movie, there are some people who are calling it a propaganda movie. The film has kicked a political storm in the nation.

In the midst of this all, actor Adil Hussain who has recently made it to the Forbes list of 'outstanding actors', took to Twitter to express his opinion on the much-talked-about movie about "genocide of Kashmiri Pandit Community In 1990".

Twitter

Also Read: Adil Hussain Makes India Proud Again, Wins Best Actor Award At 'Indo-German' Film Week

In his tweet about The Kashmir Files, Adil Hussain said that the truth must be spoken tenderly or else it loses its beauty. He then explained:

Truth must be spoken!No doubt about it. But must be spoken Tenderly. Else purpose of speaking the truth loses its beauty. And the impact is reactive.Not responsive. We, for sure, don't want to fuel a reactive society but nourish a responve-sible one. Art Should not be reactive.  Adil hussain (@_AdilHussain) March 18, 2022

Following this, Adil Hussain was mercilessly trolled on Twitter.

"My 16 year old mum was in a rice box for 4 hours gasping for breath. They were banging front door and Naani switched off lights and huddled awaiting the fate. Hungry for days they left at 1 a.m. with 3 handbags. Please tell how would my mum make it tender for me?," wrote a user.

"It doesn't matter how good you are in acting, if you are Muslim then no matter what you'll support Terrorism and Jihadi Mindset. When Webseries like #Leila or movies like #Mulk gets a release we don't see Muslim protesting then it's freedom of speech and truth," wrote another one.

My 16 year old mum was in a rice box for 4 hours gasping for breath. They were banging front door and Naani switched off lights and huddled awaiting the fate. Hungry for days they left at 1 a.m. with 3 handbags. Please tell how would my mum make it tender for me? #KashmirFiles https://t.co/ZFEpTbYQLR  TanyaSingh (@T19Says) March 19, 2022

Still wondering, how to depict the sawing of a woman alive tenderly!

The purpose of speaking truth is not to beautify things but to bring out real, raw emotions.

Sach kadwa hota hai.

Telling the truth is not equivalent to running a bakery. Why must it be sweetened to taste? https://t.co/5SacSfVx9a   Piku  (@MoiSherni) March 19, 2022

It doesn't matter how good you are in acting, if you are Muslim then no matter what you'll support Terrorism and Jihadi Mindset. When Webseries like #Leila or movies like #Mulk gets a release we don't see Muslim protesting then it's freedom of speech and truth #TheKasmirFiles https://t.co/10pKYR5tnI  Vivek (@VickBaghel) March 19, 2022

Also Read: Making India Proud! People Go Gaga Over Adil Hussain's Performance In 'Star Trek: Discovery'

Man @_AdilHussain your utterance is senseless, to say the least. https://t.co/HHqRcv61T9  V. V. Viswanadh (@Viswanadhvv) March 20, 2022





Well, how about those film like #JaiBhim which didnt speak in a tenderly way and that invited a reactive response . And you have been excited to see these films in the list of films contending for #Oscars isnt it..? Wonder, of late which creative film made you change of heart.. https://t.co/Y01oTpUCiY  Venkatesh  (@vrishahi) March 18, 2022

https://t.co/B4eCMxa0bY



Hear this. The lady says the movie was a milder version of what actually happened.  Avinash  (@Ask_koppal) March 19, 2022

You mean tenderly like this.. https://t.co/fDDmEgs6yh  Sai Kamath (@sakamath) March 18, 2022





Following the release of The Kashmir Files, Vivek Agnihotri has been granted Y security. This move came weeks after Agnihotri claimed a threat to his life over the release of his film. The decision to provide Agnihotri with the fourth-highest category security in the country has been taken by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the sources said.

While the film is being pushed by several BJP-ruled state governments by either offering tax concessions or giving government employees special leave to watch it, the Opposition has, however, termed the film one-sided and too violent.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the film has rattled the "entire ecosystem" which claims to be the torchbearer of freedom of expression but does not want the truth to be told.

(For more news and updates from the world of celebrities from Bollywood and Hollywood, keep reading Indiatimes Entertainment, and let us know your thoughts on this story in the comments below.)
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently thanked and expressed his gratitude towards Hollywood stars Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher for helping the people of Ukraine in the midst of war with Russia.

timesofisrael

Mila Kunis, who was a native of Ukraine before she moved to the United States when she was a child, has set up a GoFundMe campaign along with Ashton Kutcher. So far, they have earned nearly $35 million toward refugee and humanitarian aid efforts. The couple has also pledged $3 million of their own money.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the couple saying that they were "among the first to respond to our grief. They have already raised $35 million & are sending it to flexport & Airbnb to help refugees. Grateful for their support. Impressed by their determination. They inspire the world. #StandWithUkraine."



.@aplusk & Mila Kunis were among the first to respond to our grief. They have already raised $35 million & are sending it to @flexport & @Airbnb to help  refugees. Grateful for their support. Impressed by their determination. They inspire the world. #StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/paa0TjJseu    (@ZelenskyyUa) March 20, 2022

"Today, I am a proud Ukrainian," Mila Kunis wrote on the GoFundMe page.

"While my family came to the United States in 1991, I was born in Chernivtsi, Ukraine in 1983. Ukrainians are proud and brave people who deserve our help in their time of need. This unjust attack on Ukraine and humanity at large is devastating and the Ukrainian people need our support.  While we are witnessing the bravery of Ukrainians, we are also bearing witness to the unimaginable burden of those who have chosen safety. Countless amounts of people have left everything they know and love behind to seek refuge. With nothing but what they could carry, these Ukrainian refugees are in need of housing and supplies right away."



(For more news and updates from the world of celebrities from Bollywood and Hollywood, keep reading Indiatimes Entertainment, and let us know your thoughts on this story in the comments below.)


Amid a resurgence of COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia and parts of Europe, experts in India feel that given the high vaccination coverage and immunity due to natural infection, any future waves are unlikely to have a major impact in the country.

Some of them even said that the government should consider relaxing the mask mandate as the daily COVID-19 cases and deaths have remained low for a while.

India on Sunday recorded 1,761 fresh COVID-19 cases, the lowest in around 688 days, and 127 deaths. The active cases also declined further to 26,240, according to government data. Dr Sanjay Rai, senior epidemiologist at AIIMS and the principal investigator of Covaxin trials for both adults and children at the institute, said that SARS-CoV-2 is an RNA virus and mutations are bound to occur.

BCCL

Already more than 1,000 mutations have occurred, although there are only five variants of concern. India experienced a very devastating second wave last year, which was very unfortunate, but currently this is our main strength as natural infection provides better and longer duration of protection. Also, there is high vaccination coverage. Hence, severe impact of any future wave is unlikely," Rai, professor at the Centre for Community Medicine at AIIMS, said.

Time to relax mask mandate

It is also time that the Indian government may consider relaxing the mask mandate," he said, adding that senior citizens and those at a higher risk of contracting the infection should continue wearing masks as a precautionary measure. Having said that, Rai emphasised, the government should continue with the SARS-CoV-2 surveillance, including genomic sequencing, to monitor the emergence of any future variant.

According to Dr Chandrakant Lahariya, an epidemiologist and public health specialist, the possibility of a fresh surge in India is low even with a new variant. If we analyse data on seroprevalence, vaccination coverage and evidence on the spread of Omicron, it is logical to conclude that the COVID-19 epidemic in India is over. For India, the possibility of a fresh surge for many months and even with a new variant is low," he said.

The reason is that because of the hybrid immunity after three waves of natural infection and a large proportion of adults receiving both doses of COVID-19 vaccine, the susceptible pool has come down drastically, Lahariya said. We know that antibody level declines over a period of time but hybrid immunity continues to provide protection. Moreover, at this stage of the pandemic, infections and new COVID-19 cases are not a concern. The outcome of those infections should be the criteria to assess the situation," he said.

BCCL

Lahariya, however, stressed the need for the government to continue tracking situations in other countries, experts to analyse the situation in India, continue genomic surveillance and citizens to get the recommended vaccine shots. It is also a time that as a society, we prepare for living with Covid," he said. Lahariya further said the time is right to do away with the mask mandate for the majority of the population.

It is also time that the Indian government reviews and revises the face mask-related regulation. The time has come that the mask requirement for the majority of the population can be done away with. It can be done in a graded manner," he stated. Dr Jugal Kishore, head of Community Medicine at Safdarjung Hospital, said due to high prevalence of seropositivity, which indicates that more than 80-90 per cent of the population has been infected by coronavirus, measures like wearing masks can be done away with.

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A medical worker takes a swab sample from a resident for nucleic acid test at a COVID-19 testing site in Changchun, northeast China's Jilin Province, March 21, 2022. Changchun rolled out a new round of mass nucleic acid test on Sunday as a measure to combat the latest COVID-19 resurgence. (Photo by Zhang Yang/Xinhua)

A medical worker takes a swab sample from a resident for nucleic acid test at a COVID-19 testing site in Changchun, northeast China's Jilin Province, March 21, 2022. Changchun rolled out a new round of mass nucleic acid test on Sunday as a measure to combat the latest COVID-19 resurgence. (Xinhua/Zhang Jian)

A volunteer helps a resident register for nucleic acid test in Changchun, northeast China's Jilin Province, March 21, 2022. Changchun rolled out a new round of mass nucleic acid test on Sunday as a measure to combat the latest COVID-19 resurgence. (Photo by Zhang Yang/Xinhua)

A medical worker takes a swab sample from a resident for nucleic acid test at a COVID-19 testing site in Changchun, northeast China's Jilin Province, March 21, 2022. Changchun rolled out a new round of mass nucleic acid test on Sunday as a measure to combat the latest COVID-19 resurgence. (Xinhua/Zhang Jian)

A medical worker takes a swab sample from a resident for nucleic acid test at a COVID-19 testing site in Changchun, northeast China's Jilin Province, March 21, 2022. Changchun rolled out a new round of mass nucleic acid test on Sunday as a measure to combat the latest COVID-19 resurgence. (Photo by Zhang Yang/Xinhua)

Medical workers take swab samples from residents for nucleic acid test at a COVID-19 testing site in Changchun, northeast China's Jilin Province, March 21, 2022. Changchun rolled out a new round of mass nucleic acid test on Sunday as a measure to combat the latest COVID-19 resurgence. (Xinhua/Zhang Jian)

A volunteer uses a loudspeaker to remind residents to take nucleic acid test in Changchun, northeast China's Jilin Province, March 21, 2022. Changchun rolled out a new round of mass nucleic acid test on Sunday as a measure to combat the latest COVID-19 resurgence. (Photo by Zhang Yang/Xinhua)

A resident scans QR code to register for nucleic acid test at a COVID-19 testing site in Changchun, northeast China's Jilin Province, March 21, 2022. Changchun rolled out a new round of mass nucleic acid test on Sunday as a measure to combat the latest COVID-19 resurgence. (Xinhua/Zhang Jian)
The news that a startup Florida insurance company will assume $400 million in policies from the now-insolvent St. Johns Insurance Co.  without input from other carriers  has set tongues wagging and emails flying among Florida insurance executives.

In the charged atmosphere of Floridas distressed property insurance market, where five carriers have been liquidated in the last 30 months, insurers say every advantage is needed. And some executives want to know why state regulators didnt offer them the chance to take on some of the 147,000 policies  and more than $90 million in cash from unearned premiums  that newcomer Slide Insurance will receive under the terms of a recent court order and transition plan.

Its a good outcome for St. Johns agents and consumers, thats true. But its also true that no one else had the opportunity to bid on at least a portion of their book of business, said Locke Burt, chairman and CEO of Security First Insurance, based in Ormond Beach.

A number of executives told the Insurance Journal in early March that the move by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation was so quick and without consultation with the public or with other companies that it doesnt pass the smell test. Florida carriers are asking how Slide CEO Bruce Lucas seemed to know that St. Johns was going under before anyone else knew.

With the unearned premium money flowing to Slide  and most Florida carriers stuck with a 1.3% assessment to help the state guaranty association cover St. Johns existing claims  it almost feels like long-time Florida insurers are subsidizing a startup competitor, or robbing Peter to pay Paul, one insurance executive said.

Its an unfair advantage for Slide, said Bob Ritchie, CEO of Tampa-based American Integrity Insurance.

Insurers also are worried that the assessment by the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association, due in April, could be the first of several: More insurers in Floridas distressed property market are expected to become insolvent this year, and even a small assessment on a carriers premium can mean millions of dollars must be paid unexpectedly and passed on to policyholders, many of whom already are facing higher premiums.

Are we going to have to do that every time now, maybe six more times in the next year or so? one insurance vice president said. This industry does not have, sitting around in cash, 1.3% of all the direct written premium. Theres a cash flow problem in the industry now.

For a smaller carrier, with $250 million in premium, for example, the St. Johns assessment amounts to $4 million that must be paid by April 1. For all Florida insurers affected, the assessment would come to a total of about $190 million, insurers said.

Florida Insurance Commissioner David Altmaiers office did not immediately respond to requests for an interview about the Slide transaction. But Lucas told the Insurance Journal that Slide will have to pay the assessment, just like other members of FIGA.

He also said there was nothing inappropriate about the transition of St. Johns policies to Slide, and that he had not spoken with Altmaier about it.

We were just minding our business and rolling out our company and it just kind of fell into our lap, Lucas said. These guys had a crisis and we were able to step in quickly to solve it.

Lucas declined to say which regulators he or other Slide officers had spoken with or when, or who approached whom about St. Johns. But he said that Slide had been in talks with St. Johns officials recently.

We were in discussions with St. Johns. They were interested in having a conversation, but its not like there was some big advance warning, he said. Its not like we were working on this for six months. We had a very short time window to make a decision. We made the decision based on the circumstances.

The timeline of the final days of the 19-year-old, Orlando-based St. Johns gives an idea of how quickly the landscape changed. In early February, St. Johns, listed at one time as the eighth-largest P/C carrier in Florida, announced that it would stop writing new business in the state on Feb. 15.

On Feb. 17, the Demotech rating agency withdrew St. Johns financial stability rating altogether due to a lack of adequate reserves. A day later, Slide, a Tampa-based insurtech still raising capital, agreed to take over St. Johns homeowners book of business. Slide did not receive its certificate of authority as a carrier until Feb. 24, OIRs website shows.

One day later, on Feb. 25, the Florida Department of Financial Services Division of Rehabilitation and Liquidation asked the circuit court in Tallahassee to approve the transition of policies to Slide. That same day, the Office of Insurance Regulation finalized a consent order, formalizing the deal and a change in business plan for the startup, according to the documents.

The transition plan protects St. Johns policyholders by providing transition coverage, the consent order reads.

The document also notes that OIR had reviewed Slides change in business plan, its planned catastrophe reinsurance program and its ability to provide coverage to St. Johns insureds. Slide has been funded with $25 million in surplus and has indicated it will have $39 million in surplus by the end of March, the document explained.

Three days later, on Feb. 28, the circuit court approved the transition plan. That same day, the FIGA board of directors approved the 1.3% assessment, the second for 2022 to cover insolvent companies outstanding claims. St. Johns wrote policies in South Carolina, so that states guaranty association also was involved in approving the liquidation.

When you think about everyone that had to be lined up, from Slide, to OIR, DFS, FIGA, and the South Carolina guaranty association, does it seem reasonable that it all happened in 48 hours or so? Burt asked.

Lucas said the transition followed standard procedure and that other takeovers of insolvent companies policies have moved just as quickly. Lucas was previously head of Heritage Insurance, which took just four days to assume thousands of homeowner policies when Sawgrass Mutual Insurance Co. was put into liquidation in 2017, he said.

When a company knows they are impaired, a lot of times its related to reserves and it happens pretty quickly, Lucas said. We had the bandwidth to do a transaction.

A more conventional approach would have been to let the state-run Citizens Property Insurance take on the St. Johns policies, then let Slide make a take-out offer, as carriers have done in previous insolvencies.

Lucas said that all of his competitors concerns about the St. Johns deal are unfounded.

I think maybe some people are just trying to stir the pot, Lucas said.

Topics Carriers Florida
The Biden Administration has issued a final rule intended to ensure safety of occupants in automated vehicles. This rule updates the current Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards to account for vehicles that may be equipped with automated driving systems (ADS) and do not have the traditional manual controls associated with a human driver.

Prior to this 155-page rule, occupant safety standards were written for common, traditional vehicle features including steering wheels, drivers seat and various manual controls. The rule, issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, clarifies what is required of manufacturers if and when they build vehicles without steering wheels or other traditional features.

The final rule seeks to assure that, despite their innovative designs, vehicles with ADS technology must continue to provide the same levels of occupant protection as current passenger vehicles.

As the driver changes from a person to a machine in ADS-equipped vehicles, the need to keep the humans safe remains the same and must be integrated from the

beginning, said Dr. Steven Cliff, NHTSAs deputy administrator, in announcing the rule.

Companies such as Argo, General Motors and Waymo are testing driverless vehicles  some have traditional features and some do not. Other firms like Nuro are testing vehicles for transporting cargo, not passengers, that lack traditional driver features. The new rule affects only passenger vehicles. NHTSA said it knows of dozens of testing activities taking place in more than 40 states and the District of Columbia, many of which involve ADS-equipped vehicles that lack manually operated driving controls.

The agency said the rule should provide some certainty for manufacturers of vehicles with ADS that lack some traditional features and potentially reduce costs slightly by eliminating the need to install redundant traditional features like driver seats and steering wheels. At the same time, cost savings are likely to be partially offset, for example, by the equipment needed to make the left front seating position as safe as the right front seating position.

In response to some criticisms around how cars without these traditional features are not yet being made, the agency acknowledged that uncertainty continues to exist around the development and potential deployment of ADS-equipped vehicles. However, NHTSA said it believes it is appropriate to finalize this action at this time in anticipation of emerging ADS vehicle designs that NHTSA has seen in prototype form. These current designs considered by NHTSA generally involve forward-facing row seating and vehicles without manual driving controls.

NHTSA said it hopes the final rule provides regulatory certainty that, despite their innovative designs, vehicles with ADS technology must continue to provide the same high levels of occupant protection that current passenger vehicles provide. NHTSA said it received 45 comments on the rule from vehicle and equipment manufacturers, ADS developers, industry associations, consumer advocates, advocates for persons with disabilities, states, insurance organizations, a university, an oil independence advocacy group, and members of the general public. Many commenters supported the proposal while others argued that the agencys focus on this issue was premature.

The Center for Auto Safety (CAS) argued that NHTSA should not permit traditional manual controls to be removed from vehicles until at least equivalent safety [of ADS-equipped vehicles] is proven.

The National Safety Council (NSC) called the rulemaking premature and hasty since most ADS vehicle designs that might benefit from the revised standards are still on the drawing boards and unforeseen issues are certain to arise.

Consumer Reports also question[ed] the present focus of the agency on removal of regulatory barriers rather than on developing and implementing standards for proven safety technologies. However, Consumer Reports also stated that the narrow scope of the rule is appropriate.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) expressed concern that the current process creates a path for introducing into the market ADS-controlled vehicles without regulations that establish the ground rules for the safe behavior of ADS. The IIHS also stated that the modifications proposed by NHTSA likely will be helpful to the entities developing automated driving systems (ADS) and the vehicles that will be controlled by ADS and that the changes answer some questions about how the occupants of ADS-controlled vehicles should be protected in the event of a crash.

The rule goes into effect 180 days after it is published in the Federal Register

Topics USA
The Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles and court officials have scrambled to close a gap in tracking and sharing information about criminal convictions that should result in license suspensions.

The problem surfaced when a man who pleaded guilty to manslaughter following a fatal crash during a police pursuit was arrested for causing another crash while being chased by police. Two others were injured, one of them critically, in the crash on March 4 in Paris, Maine.

The man being chased by police shouldnt have had a license after pleading guilty last summer to the earlier crash that killed a 70-year-old driver.

A one-page document that would have allowed the BMV to process his suspension was never sent by court staff despite the BMVs requests, and court officials suggested it was not their duty to send the paperwork because the conviction was not technically considered a driving offense under state law, the Portland Press Herald reported.

The state courts response hinged on a technicality _ he was convicted not of a driving offense but manslaughter. In Maine, theres no separate conviction for vehicular manslaughter.

On Friday, officials including Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and Valerie Stanfill, chief justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, came to an agreement on correcting the problem, the newspaper reported.

But the Portland Press Herald reported that representatives of the courts and secretary of state declined to discuss specifics.

The agreement with the courts will encompass convictions connected to use of a vehicle but not specifically included in the driving statute, said Emily Cook, spokesperson for Bellows.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Maine
Most HP Hood LLC plants are back up and running after the dairy companys network system was the victim of a cyber security event, but some school districts are concerned that they will have a milk shortage as a result.

Out of an abundance of caution, we took all of our plants off line, last weekend, Lynne Bohan, a spokesperson for the Lynnfield, Massachusetts-based company said in a statement Friday. As a result, we were unable to manufacture or receive raw materials including milk.

She added, Our IT team and others have been working around the clock to resolve the issue and I am happy to report that most of our plants are up and running.

She said the matter is still under investigation.

Hood is a main dairy supplier in New England. In Peterborough, New Hampshire, the superintendent at the ConVal School District said it will be affected by anticipated milk shortages caused by the cyberattck.

Superintendent Kimberly Rizzo Saunders said in a statement Wednesday it has been made aware by its foodservice vendor that Hood anticipates significant impacts in its ordering and delivery processes throughout the next week.

She said the majority of meals are expected to be offered with 100% juice or water as a substitute beverage.

Our Hood Sales, Customer Service, and Procurement teams have been communicating and working closely with all of those who may have been affected by this disruption, Bohan said Friday.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Cyber Agribusiness Massachusetts
Gov. Phil Murphy has named a long-time insurance industry executive to head the state agency helping to redevelop Atlantic City.

Sean Pattwell was appointed executive director of the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority after he was unanimously approved for the job by the CRDAs board of directors.

Pattwell succeeds Monica de los Rios, who has served as interim executive director since January when the prior director, Matthew Doherty, left in to work in the private sector.

Pattwell spent decades in the insurance industry. He served as the co-chief executive officer of Herbert L. Jamison & Co. and as the founding chairman of Grosvenor Brokers in London, England. Pattwell has extensive background in the areas of directors and officers liability Insurance and professional liability for major law and accounting firms. Prior to his work as an insurance broker, Pattwell was an officer with Chubb & Son and held senior executive positions with American International Group.

Casinos are required to make payments to support various improvement projects these payments help fund the CRDA. In addition to initiating community projects, the agency also is involved in some planning and zoning issues.

Lt. Governor Sheila Oliver, who serves on the CRDA board in her capacity as commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs, said the CRDA has supported the Atlantic City community through funding community policing initiatives, helping to bring a full-service supermarket to the city, and demolishing neglected properties to address neighborhood blight.

Seans background in business and his reputation for team building and innovation will serve the CRDA well as it continues to advance its mission of being a catalyst for meaningful, positive change for Atlantic City and the people who call it home, Oliver stated.

Topics New Jersey
State-owned Bangladesh Shipping Corp. is seeking $22.4 million from its insurer for a cargo ship hit by a missile in March, government officials with knowledge of the talks said, in the first major marine insurance claim from the conflict in Ukraine.

The UNs shipping agency said last week it would create a safe maritime corridor for merchant ships and crews stuck in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov, although shipping industry sources expect progress to be slow. Projectiles have hit four other vessels in recent days with one sunk.

Londons Marine Insurers Widen High-Risk Shipping Areas as Ukraine Conflict Escalates

Insurance premiums have soared by over 100% for voyages to the region since the war started. Insurers are watching closely for more claims that will ultimately increase costs further.

An explosion on the night of March 2-3 rocked the Bangladesh-flagged Banglar Samriddhi and killed a crew member. The vessel had been stuck in Olvia since Feb. 24 after Ukraine closed its ports due to Russias invasion.

Ukraine accused the Russian military of targeting the port facilities in a missile strike, while Russias embassy in Dhaka said the circumstances of the incident were being established. Russia denies targeting civilians or merchant ships.

Since then, the vessels owner BSC has launched a claim with their insurer after abandoning the ship, a senior BSC official said.

The war risk cover was provided by Dhaka-based Sadharan Bima Corp. and reinsured through Lloyds of London broker Tysers, a source at Sadharan Bima Corp. said.

The source added that Shadharan Bimas exposure was 10% with Tysers covering the remaining 90%.

Luckily there was no cargo onboard when it reached Olvia port, the official said.

The ship was supposed to take ball clay from the port before traveling to Italy, he said referring to a material used in making ceramics.

Tysers did not respond to requests for comment.

BSCs managing director, Commodore Suman Mahmud Sabbir, told Reuters separately that it would take time to process the claim.

Without removal of the vessel outside the war area, the war risk insurer cant send their surveyor to assess the quantum of damages. We are taking all necessary action to uphold our interests for sure, Sabbir said.

Londons marine insurance market has widened the area of waters it considers high risk in the region as the conflict intensifies and perils to merchant shipping grow.

On paper, this should be a straightforward claim. But given the situation inside Ukraine, this could take time to process, especially if more (documentation) is needed, an insurance industry source said.

Viktor Vyshnov, deputy head of Ukraines Maritime Administration, told Reuters that the vessel was at anchor in the port with no crew onboard. The remaining 28 crew members were evacuated back to Bangladesh.

The captain of the port is looking for some crew to come onboard, he said.

Vyshnov confirmed the ships bridge was damaged when the missile hit although it was unclear if the engine was disabled.

Ships typically have P&I insurance, which covers third party liability claims including environmental damage and injury. Separate hull and machinery policies cover vessels against physical damage. This is in addition to war risk cover.

Stale Hansen, president and chief executive of Norwegian ship insurer Skuld, told Reuters that vessel was entered with them for P&I, adding that given the war circumstance of this casualty, this loss is being handled by war underwriters.

The last war risk ship casualty involved the Liberian-flagged, Japanese-owned oil products tanker Mercer Street, which was damaged by a suspected drone attack off Oman, killing two crew members in July last year.

Between 1980-2020, fewer than 10 ships of greater than 100 gross tons were total losses in attacks, according to data analysis by insurer Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty.

(Writing by Jonathan Saul, editing by Veronica Brown and Toby Chopra)

Topics Ukraine
ISLAMABAD, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here Monday that China and the Islamic world have a strong desire to build partnerships for unity, justice and development.

During a joint press conference with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Wang said it is the first time for him to attend, in his capacity as the Chinese foreign minister, the 48th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held in Islamabad.

He noted that his presence at the OIC event reflected the strong desire of China and the Islamic world to further deepen their cooperation, saying the theme of the OIC foreign ministers' meeting -- "Building Partnerships for Unity, Justice and Development" -- bears special significance under the current international circumstances.

China and the Islamic world both enjoy a profound history, seek similar values and share historic missions, Wang said, adding that China is ready to build partnerships with the Islamic countries for mutual support and mutual understanding.

The cooperation between China and the Islamic world is a key part of South-South cooperation, Wang said.

In the face of the centennial changes and the once-in-a-century pandemic, Wang said it's necessary for China and the Islamic world to forge a closer unity and a common position, speak with one voice, and safeguard their common interests.

Wang pointed out that the current world is far from tranquility, and the international system and the basic norms governing international relations have encountered grave challenges.

China is willing to work with the Islamic world to pursue multilateralism, safeguard sovereignty independence and national dignity of all states, uphold the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and maintain fairness and justice in international relations, Wang said.

Underlining the huge potential and complementary advantages in the cooperation between China and the Islamic countries, Wang said China is ready to join hands with friends of the Islamic world to make due contributions to the world's economic recovery and growth. 
Dangerous, expensive disruptions to shipping and many of the worlds roughly 3,700 ports are on the rise along with global temperatures. These events will increasingly threaten the sea routes that convey 80% of traded goods by volume, according a new analysis published by the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund.

Encroaching waters and more powerful tropical storms top the list of risks. Although research on climate changes impacts on the shipping industry is scant, catastrophic events in recent years together tell a concerning story, the authors write. Storms have repeatedly cost hundreds of millions or billions of dollars in damage to U.S. ports in the last 15 years. When a port slows down or closes as the result of a storm, backups can increase along supply chains.

Typhoon Maemi shut South Koreas Port of Busan for 91 days in 2003. Cyclone Yasi cost the Port of Brisbane $52 million and 10 days of operation in 2011. Typhoon Lekima closed the Port of Wenzhou, in China, for 45 days in 2019 and cost the Port of Dalian $65 million.

Wind speed, rainfall and wave heights are all expected to increase with greenhouse-gas concentrations. Weather was responsible for at least 80 of the 400 vessel loses between 2015 and 2019. Losses killed 142 crew members during that period33 in 2015, when a Category 4 hurricane felled a cargo ship in the Bahamas.

Havoc on land affects shippers, too. Drought in and around the Panama Canal in 2019 mandated a traffic slowdown that cost the shipping industry $300 million. Shorter-term disruptions from storms add up. Ships can use up to 150 tons of fuel a day, so if they have to be rerouted or face delays, the daily cost can reach $75,000.

Adaptation measures are expensive up front but cheaper in the long run in comparison to facing destructive changes, the report says. Elevating port infrastructure is a common response, along with seawalls, floodgates, breakwaters and drainage.

Shipping is responsible for about 20% of global emissions from transportation, a problem thats drawing increasing attention from some major fleet owners. Cargo ships tend to run on oil that produces particularly high carbon-dioxide emissions, a critical logistical obstacle to fleets trying to help the world zero out emissions by mid-century. A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S this week announced it will work with six energy companies to quickly ramp up demand and production of methanol, a clean fuel made with renewable energy from hydrogen and CO.

The report, which was written for EDF by the nonprofit RTI International, draws on computer-model scenarios common in climate research that project, based on varying assumptions, future storm damages that are multiples of the estimated $3 billion a year that ports alone suffer now.

The report in one sentence lays bare a message generalizable far beyond this sector: Everybodys greenhouse-gas emissions are essentially self-destructive. Through these GHG emissions, the authors write, the maritime shipping industry is contributing to changes in global climate that will ultimately harm [the industry] itself.

Photograph: Two ships sit grounded on a breakwater strewn with debris in Hyogo, Japan, after a typhoon, Sept. 6, 2018. Photo credit: Buddhika Weerasinghe/Bloomberg.

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.

Topics Tech Trucking
A China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 with 132 people on board crashed in mountains in southern China on a domestic flight on Monday after a sudden descent from cruising altitude. Media said there were no signs of survivors.

The airline said it deeply mourned the passengers and crew, without specifying how many people had been killed.

Chinese media showed brief highway video footage from a vehicles dashcam apparently showing a jet diving to the ground behind trees at an angle of about 35 degrees off vertical. Reuters could not immediately verify the footage.

The plane was en route from the southwestern city of Kunming, capital of Yunnan province, to Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong, bordering Hong Kong, when it crashed.

China Eastern said the cause of the crash, in which the plane descended at 31,000 feet a minute according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24, was under investigation.

The airline said it had provided a hotline for relatives of those on board and sent a working group to the site. There were no foreigners on the flight, Chinese state television reported, citing China Eastern.

Media cited a rescue official as saying the plane had disintegrated and caused a fire destroying bamboo trees. The Peoples Daily quoted a provincial firefighting department official as saying there was no sign of life among the debris.

State media showed a piece of the plane on a scarred, earthen hillside. There was no sign of a fire or personal belongings.

The aircraft, with 123 passengers and nine crew on board, lost contact over the city of Wuzhou, Chinas Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) and the airline said.

The flight left Kunming at 1:11 p.m. (0511 GMT), FlightRadar24 data showed, and had been due to land in Guangzhou at 3:05 p.m. (0705 GMT).

The plane, which Flightradar24 said was six years old, had been cruising at 29,100 feet at 0620 GMT. Just over two minutes and 15 seconds later, data showed it had descended to 9,075 feet.

Twenty seconds later, its last tracked altitude was 3,225 feet.

Crashes during the cruise phase of flights are relatively rare even though this phase accounts for the majority of flight time. Boeing said last year only 13% of fatal commercial accidents globally between 2011 and 2020 occurred during the cruise phase, whereas 28% occurred on final approach and 26% on landing.

Usually the plane is on auto-pilot during cruise stage. So it is very hard to fathom what happened, said Li Xiaojin, a Chinese aviation expert.

Online weather data showed partly cloudy conditions with good visibility in Wuzhou at the time of the crash.

President Xi Jinping called for investigators to determine the cause of the crash as soon as possible, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

A Boeing spokesperson said: We are aware of the initial media reports and are working to gather more information.

Shares of Boeing Co. were down 5% at 1455 GMT.

Shares in China Eastern Airlines in Hong Kong closed down 6.5% after news of the crash emerged, while its U.S.-listed shares CEA slumped 17% in premarket trading.

China Eastern grounded its fleet of 737-800 planes after the crash, state media reported. China Eastern has 109 of the aircraft in its fleet, according to FlightRadar24.

Good Record

Aviation data provider OAG said this month that state-owned China Eastern Airlines was the worlds sixth-largest carrier by scheduled weekly seat capacity.

The 737-800 has a good safety record and is the predecessor to the 737 MAX model that has been grounded in China for more than three years after fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.

Chinas airline safety record has been among the best in the world for a decade.

The CAAC has very rigid safety regulations and we will just need to wait for more details, said Shukor Yusof, head of Malaysia-based aviation consultancy Endau Analytics.

Investigators will search for the planes black boxes  the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder  to shed light on the crash.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said it was ready to assist with Chinas investigation if asked.

Chinas aviation safety record, while good, is less transparent than in countries like the United States and Australia where regulators release detailed reports on non-fatal incidents, said Greg Waldron, Asia managing editor at industry publication Flightglobal.

There have been concerns that there is some underreporting of safety lapses on the mainland, he said.

According to Aviation Safety Network, Chinas last fatal jet accident was in 2010, when 44 of 96 people on board were killed when an Embraer E-190 regional jet flown by Henan Airlines crashed on approach to Yichun airport.

In 1994 a China Northwest Airlines Tupolev Tu-154 flying from Xian to Guangzhou crashed, killing all 160 on board in Chinas worst-ever air disaster, according to Aviation Safety Network.

(Reporting by Beijing and Shanghai newsrooms and Jamie Freed in Sydney; additional reporting by David Shepardson in Washington; writing by Robert Birsel and Nick Macfie; editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and Hugh Lawson)

Topics Aviation China Aerospace
Ardonagh Advisory announced the appointment of Richard Tuplin as CEO of Towergate Insurance Brokers, following the departure of Joe Thelwell.

Tuplin was previously CEO of Ethos Broking, part of Ardonaghs Advisory platform, having joined Ethos in 2018. He has worked in independent broking for 18 years including as managing director of Jelf Insurance Partnership and regional director of Jelf Insurance Brokers.

At Towergate he will lead 2,800 people across 70 offices providing UK businesses with general insurance, risk management programmes and claims support. Tuplins appointment is subject to regulatory approval.

The reason for Thelwells exit was not disclosed.

Richard will be a highly effective leader of the Towergate business. He brings an unwavering commitment to independent broking and a strong pedigree in executing strategy. He has delivered both organic and M&A growth throughout his career, whilst being relentless about continued improvement, in both himself and the businesses he leads. I would like to thank Joe for his significant contribution to Towergate and the wider Ardonagh Group over many years of service.

Richard Tuplin, CEO of Towergate Insurance Brokers said: I am delighted to be stepping into the role of CEO of Towergate. The Towergate business is built around a network of regional brokers at the heart of their communities with a loyal client base, loyal people and a good track record of delivery. I am very much looking forward to working with the teams to build an even more successful and exciting business that will go from strength to strength.

About Ardonagh Advisory and The Ardonagh Group

Ardonagh Advisory Holdings Ltd is The Ardonagh Groups SME broking platform comprised of Broker Network, Compass UK, Ethos Broking, Footman James, Towergate Insurance Brokers, Towergate Health & Protection, Towergate Riskline, Your Insurance and Usay Compare brands.

The Ardonagh Group is the UKs largest independent insurance distribution platform and a top 20 broker globally. It is a collection of best-in-class entrepreneurial and specialist brands with a network of more 100 locations and a combined workforce of more than 8,000 people.

Source: Ardonagh Group
The family of a man who was shot and killed while riding an Amtrak train in Missouri is suing the railroad company and the alleged shooter for at least $100 million.

Richie Terell Aaron Jr., 30, of Independence, was shot as the Missouri River Runner train arrived at the Lees Summit station on Jan. 14, where the alleged shooter got off.

The federal lawsuit says the train continued on to the Independence stop, despite pleas from passengers to wait and get help for Aaron, The Kansas City Star reported.

Aaron was pronounced dead when the train arrived in Independence about 35 minutes later, according to the lawsuit, which was filed Friday by lawyers representing Aarons widow and three children.

The lawsuit accuses Amtrak of making no effort to get medical treatment for Aaron. It also alleges the company has lax security.

Amtrak did not reply to a request on Sunday for comment on the lawsuit.

Marquise Webb, 21, of Kansas City, is charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in Aarons killing.

Webb is also charged in Jackson County with carjacking a man after he got off the train. He was arrested two weeks later after a standoff with Kansas City police. He is being held in the Jackson County jail on a $500,000 cash-only bond.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Missouri
Betz to Lead New Applied Surety Operation

Applied Underwriters continues its specialty lines expansion with the launching of Applied Surety Underwriters.

Based in Houston, this new division will focus on large, commercial and contract surety business worldwide.

Joshua Betz, the former founder and president of Argo Surety, has been named president of Applied Surety Underwriters. Betz has been in the surety business for 25 years, having also worked at Travelers, CNA and Reliance.

The Hartfords Cushing Joins Zurich Construction

Tobias Toby Cushing has joined Zurich as head of Construction Casualty for U.S. National Accounts, which serves large corporate and captive customers.

Cushing comes to Zurich from The Hartford, where he most recently was head of Construction for Middle & Large Commercial.

At Zurich, Cushing will lead strategies for the U.S. National Accounts construction casualty portfolio and will have direct oversight of the construction casualty field underwriting organization. He will be based in Schaumburg, Illinois.

Prior to joining Zurich, Cushing held a number of leadership positions in his nearly 12 years at The Hartford, including chief underwriting officer for Construction and head of Field Underwriting and Sales. He also has insurance litigation experience, having previously worked for Saxe Doernberger & Vita, P.C.

HUB Names Frattarola Leader of High Net Worth

Hub International said Katherine Frattarola joined the firm as executive vice president in charge of the Private Client, High Net Worth Practice. Her initial focus will center on scaling the practices client-centric focus, supported by investments in products, services, client experience, marketing, data and technology.

Frattarola has focused on the ultra-high-net worth client segment for most of her 20 years in the financial services industry. Most recently, she served as the chief marketing officer for PURE. Before PURE, Frattarola was with Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. Earlier in her career, Frattarola also worked at Citi Global Wealth Management and Citis investment bank.

Big I Names Cline New ACT Executive Director

The Big I announced the appointment of Chris Cline as the new executive director of the Big I Agents Council for Technology (ACT). Cline replaces Ron Berg, who will retire in May after eight years of outstanding contributions to the independent agency channel.

Cline comes to this new role after having been with Westfield Insurance for 28 years, with his most recent role as national agency distribution leader, which included overseeing existing and emerging agency technology. Cline has been the host of Closing the Gap, a podcast for independent insurance agents, and has also worked in partnership with the Big I in a number of areas, including the Trusted Choice consumer brand and on various ACT projects.

Cline will begin in his new role with ACT on April 4.

The Agents Council for Technology (ACT) was established in January 1999 by the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (the Big I) as a forum to address workflow and technology issues facing the independent agency system.

Topics Leadership Construction
A committee representing several Catholic entities in the Boy Scouts of America bankruptcy has reached a settlement with the BSA and is withdrawing its objections to its proposed reorganization plan, attorneys told a judge Friday.

The announcement came on the fifth day of a trial to determine whether the Delaware judge will approve the BSAs reorganization plan.

Under the settlement, virtually every Roman Catholic entity nationwide, including parishes, schools, dioceses and archdioceses, that was involved with Scouting would be considered a participating chartered organization in the bankruptcy.

That would release them from liability for all Scouting-related child sex abuse claims against them from 1976 to the present, and for all pre-1976 claims subject to coverage by insurance companies that have reached their own settlements in the BSA bankruptcy. They also would be granted 12 months to negotiate financial contributions to a settlement fund for abuse victims in exchange for a full release from liability for all Scouting-related abuse claims.

In exchange, the Catholic entities would release their rights to any policies issued by the settling insurers.

Attorneys for the Catholic committee had previously argued that the BSAs plan treated chartered troop-sponsoring organizations such as churches and civic groups unfairly, leaving them exposed to future lawsuits while stripping them of their rights under BSA insurance policies.

With this agreement in place, we have even greater consensus as we progress toward confirmation, the Boy Scouts said in a statement.

Under the settlement, members of a committee representing 10 Catholic dioceses and archdioceses and the Catholic Mutual Relief Society of America  a church-affiliated nonprofit that insures hundreds of dioceses, religious orders and institutions  also agreed to work with the Boy Scouts through at least 2036 to improve and support Scouting. The agreement includes recommending that dioceses support Scouting as part of their youth ministries and cooperate with local Boy Scouts councils in establishing new units.

Those provisions could prove critical for the Boy Scouts after decades of steady membership drops. Its current membership is equal to 1938 levels.

The Boy Scouts, based in Irving, Texas, sought bankruptcy protection in February 2020 in an effort to halt hundreds of individual lawsuits and create a fund for men who say they were sexually abused as children involved in Scouting. Although the organization faced 275 lawsuits at the time, it found itself the subject of more than 82,000 sexual abuse claims in the bankruptcy case.

The reorganization plan calls for the Boys Scouts and its 250 local councils to contribute up to $786 million in cash and property and assign certain insurance rights to a fund for abuse claimants. In return, they would be released from further liability.

The BSAs two largest insurers, Century Indemnity Co. and The Hartford, would contribute $800 million and $787 million, respectively, while other insurers have agreed to contribute about $69 million. The organizations former largest troop sponsor, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as the Mormon church, would contribute $250 million for abuse claims involving the church. Congregations affiliated with the United Methodist Church have agreed to contribute $30 million.

The troop-sponsoring organizations and settling insurers also would be released from further liability in exchange for their contributions to the fund.

Bishop John Schol, a United Methodist leader who oversees eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey for the denomination and has been involved in the bankruptcy negotiations, became emotional Friday when testifying about the Methodist settlement.

Schol said the Methodists goals included acknowledging and understanding the harm that abuse survivors have suffered, ensuring that their voices were heard, implementing policies to prevent future abuse and providing compensation.

We are sorry for what has happened to survivors throughout this time, and even this process, he said.

We always wanted to make sure that the survivors were not a number, Schol added as his voice began to break, but that they were human beings, and that we would do everything we could to maintain the dignify of the survivors.

Asked whether he thought the $30 million settlement was fair, Schol said there was nothing anybody could do for the survivors to make it fair. All I can say is that weve done our best to work toward a just resolution, he said.

All told, the compensation fund would total more than $2.6 billion, which would be the largest aggregate sexual abuse settlement in U.S. history. The average recovery per claimant, however, would be significantly less than in other settlements of sex abuse scandals involving large numbers of victims.

The BSAs plan stills faces objections from several nonsettling insurance companies, as well as the U.S. bankruptcy trustee, who acts as a watchdog in such cases to ensure compliance with bankruptcy laws.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
At least one person was killed and 20 people wounded, including children, in a shooting outside a car show in southeast Arkansas on March 19, local police said.

Keith Finch, chief of police in the town of Dumas, provided the increased number of casualties but said it wasnt immediately clear how many kids had been hurt.

One person was in custody, although there may have been multiple shooters, Finch told reporters.

State troopers were dispatched at around 7:25 p.m. to Dumas, located about 90 miles (144 kilometers) south of Little Rock, following a report of gunfire outside a local business where the car show was underway, Arkansas State Police spokesperson Bill Sadler said.

The car show is an annual community event held each spring to raise funds for scholarships and school supplies, according to the Delta Neighborhood Empowerment Youth Organization, which put on the event.

Wallace McGehee, the car shows lead organizer, expressed condolences to the victims families and the community.

For something like this to happen, its a tragedy, McGehee told KATV at the scene. We did this here for 16 years without a problem.

Additional information, including conditions of the wounded, wasnt immediately available.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Auto Arkansas
USG Adds Greg Howard to Houston, Texas Office

USG Insurance Services, Inc. has hired Greg Howard, CPCU, ARM, producer/broker: commercial lines, in the Houston, Texas branch.

Howard brings 30 years of industry experience to the USG team, most recently from Burns & Wilcox. As producer/broker at USG, Howard will expand his industry relationships and book of business, and assist in developing USGs southern footprint.

USG is a national wholesale broker and managing general agent with 20+ offices across the country.

Watkins Insurance Group Hires 8

Watkins Insurance Group has added eight staff members to address growing demand in the Austin, Texas-based companys insurance services and risk management solutions.
Avatar Property & Casualty Insurance Co. has officially entered into liquidation, and insured homeowners in Florida have less than three weeks to find new carriers.

The insolvent company, the second this year and the sixth in Florida in the last 30 months, said on its website that all Avatar policies will be canceled by 12:01 a.m. on April 13. The company had 40,055 policies in force at the end of the third quarter for 2021, but was down to 37,000 policies by early March, state regulators have said.

Your agent is best able to advise you as to your insurance options, Avatars frequently asked questions web page reads. To assist your agent and you in this process, we have notified your agent directly of the cancellation of your policy.

That information comes despite Avatar representatives telling some policyholders that their policies will remain in force until their stated expiration date. But other insurance companies executives familiar with the liquidation process have said the abrupt cancellation is not unexpected and Avatar homeowners should start shopping around.

A notice to agents provides similar information. The Avatar site did not indicate if Citizens Property Insurance Corp., Floridas state-run insurer of last resort, would assume any of the policies.

A Leon County Circuit Court judge last week approved a 59-page consent order that appointed the Florida Department of Financial Services the receiver for Avatar for the purposes of liquidation. All Avatar directors, officers and employees were terminated, except for some that may be retained by DFS to assist in the liquidation and transition process, the court order noted.

The department also was authorized to take immediate possession of the companys assets and property.

Avatar, launched in 2008, was declared insolvent in early March, just two weeks after a larger Florida carrier, St. Johns Insurance Co., became insolvent and was put into liquidation. Industry insiders have said more insolvencies are likely this year as the Florida insurance market continues to feel the effects of hurricane losses, roof replacement fraud and what insurers call excessive litigation over claims.

It became clear that Avatar was facing financial difficulties in mid-February, when the company announced it would stop writing new business in the state. The Demotech rating firm then withdrew its financial stability rating for Avatar. At the end of Q3 last fall, Avatar reported $76 million in total premiums and more than $22 billion in exposure from policies with wind coverage, a report from the Florida OIR shows.

Avatar and St. Johns are two of seven insurers in the last several weeks to suspend new business or to non-renew thousands of policies in Florida. Others have asked for double-digit rate increases.

The Florida Legislature, in the session that ended March 11, did not act on insurance rescue bills that supporters said would help curtail roof losses and other costs. State Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, who has repeatedly called for reform actions, last week urged the Florida governor to call a special session to address the property insurance crisis.

If I was advising the governor, I would say, Listen, if you dont call a special session on this, youre going to begin to own some of these rate increases,' Brandes told a Tampa TV news station.

Topics Florida
Californias urban water users and farmers who rely on supplies from state reservoirs will get less than planned this year as fears of a third consecutive dry year become reality, state officials announced.

Water agencies that serve 27 million people and 750,000 acres of farmland, will get just 5% of what theyve requested this year from state supplies beyond whats needed for critical activities such as drinking and bathing.

Thats down from the 15% allocation state officials had announced in January, after a wet December fueled hopes of a lessening drought.

But a wet winter didnt materialize and unless several more inches of rain falls this month, the January-March period will be the driest start to a California year at least a century. Thats when most of the states rain and snow typically falls.

Mandatory restrictions on using water for outdoor activities like landscaping and other purposes may come from local water agencies as they continue to grapple with limited supplies, said Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources.

Local water agencies that know their communities unique needs are better poised than state officials to set water use restrictions, Nemeth said.

I think with this reduced allocation we are going to see more urban areas in California move into some kind of mandatory water conservation, she said in an interview.

State officials will continue urging people to voluntarily cut water use by 15%, an amount designed to get Californians collective water use back to what it was during the last drought, which lasted from 2012 to 2016, Nemeth said.

Statewide water use in January actually went up 2.6% compared to the same month in 2020, due to dry conditions and warm temperatures.

About a third of Southern Californias water comes from state supplies, mostly routed through the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which serves 19 million people. Abel Hagekhalil, the districts general manager, said in a statement Friday that the public needs to do more to save water.

We all need to take this drought more seriously and significantly step up our water-saving efforts to help preserve our dropping storage levels and ensure we have the water we need into the summer and fall, he said.

California is in its second acute drought in less than a decade, and scientists say the U.S. West is broadly experiencing the worst megadrought in 1,200 years, made more intense by climate change.

People adapted their water use during the states last drought, in part by ripping up sprinkler-hungry lawns and replacing them with drought-resistant landscaping. Many of those water-saving habits stuck.

But the dry conditions that began anew in 2020 are demanding more conservation, as reservoirs such as Lake Oroville and Shasta Lake remain below historical levels and less water from melting snow is expected to trickle down the mountains this spring.

Current predictions estimate the state will have about 57% of its historical median runoff this April through July, said Alan Haynes, hydrologist in charge for the California Nevada River Forecast Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Melted snow traditionally provides about a third of the states water supply.

A very wet December put water content in the snow at 160% of normal levels, but isnt resulting in as much water runoff as expected because warmer temperatures are causing some of that water to evaporate rather than flow into rivers and streams as it melts, said Nemeth, the Department of Water Resources director.

A persistent lack of water could produce a range of negative consequences for California, including farmers fallowing fields and endangered salmon and other fish dying.

The water providers that rely on state supplies have a certain amount they of water they can request from the state, and state officials make determinations through the winter on how much the providers will get based on supply.

In December, before the major snowfall, state officials told water providers that they wouldnt get anything beyond what was needed for immediate health and safety, such as drinking and bathing. The state upped that to 15% of requested supplies in January.

Critics of Californias water policy say the state promises more water each year than it has to give. Thats led to a continued diminishment of supply in federally and state run reservoirs, said Doug Obegi, an attorney focused on water for the Natural Resources Defense Council.

We basically have a system that is all but bankrupt because we promised so much more water than can actually be delivered, he said.

Officials on Friday also announced a plan to seek a temporary exemption from water quality requirements in Northern Californias Delta, the part of the states watershed where the freshwater rivers and salty ocean water mingle.

That would allow the state and federal water projects to release less water into the Delta from the Shasta, Folsom and Oroville reservoirs _ which are the states major water supply sources.

The water quality standards are designed, in part, to ensure the water doesnt get so salty it cant be used for farming, drinking and protecting the environment.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics California
The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the government of East Chinas Anhui province have decided to set up an environmental research institute in Hefei, capital of the province, authorities said at a meeting on March 19.

19 academicians and two engineering consultants attended the meeting to hear a report outlining the plan on establishing the Environmental Research Institute of Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, and demonstrate it item by item.

The institute will be responsible for attracting high-end talents in the environmental field, integrating basic research, original innovation as well as commercialization of achievements, and helping form an industrial cluster worth more than 100 billion yuan ($15.72 billion), Yu Wei, an official with the Reform and Development Commission of Anhui Province said.

"The environmental research institute we demonstrated today is a very important platform of Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, an open and shared platform, and a new high-end research and development (R & D) institute in the environmental field," Yu said.

Situated in China Environmental Valley in Shushan Economic and Technological Development Zone, the institute will be built in stages.

The short-term target is to build it into a national first-class R & D institute of environmental science and technology by 2025.




Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson testifies during the Senate Judiciary Committee's confirmation hearing on her nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., the United States, March 22, 2022. The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee began on Monday a series of hearings for the confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

WASHINGTON, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee began on Monday the first day of a series of hearings for the confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, in opening statements, highlighted Jackson's qualifications, as well as the historic nature of her nomination by U.S. President Joe Biden.

"President Biden nominated you because he knew your qualifications are outstanding," the Illinois Democrat said. "Your professional record and life experience tell us what kind of lawyer, what kind of judge, and what kind of person you really are."

Jackson, who currently sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, would be the first African American woman to sit on the Supreme Court if confirmed. She is 51.

"In its more than 230 years, the Supreme Court has had 115 Justices," Durbin continued. "Not a single Justice has been a Black woman. You, Judge Jackson, can be the first."

Senator Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said in his remarks that he'll be scrutinizing Jackson's legal philosophy.

"I'll be looking to see whether Judge Jackson is committed to the Constitution as originally understood," the Iowa Republican stressed. "Some of us believe that judges are supposed to interpret the laws of what's understood when written, not make new laws or simply fill in the vacuum."

Biden announced in late February he would nominate Jackson to succeed liberal Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, who is about to retire this summer. It was one of his major campaign promises to fill a potential Supreme Court vacancy with an African American woman.

"As Judge Jackson begins her Supreme Court confirmation hearings this week, I look forward to the Senate and country seeing how incredibly qualified she is for the job," the U.S. president tweeted on Monday. "She's a brilliant legal mind with the utmost character and integrity. I know she'll make an exceptional Justice."

Committee members will begin questioning the nominee on Tuesday and the hearings will take place through Thursday.

Born in D.C. but raised in Miami, Jackson received her law degree from Harvard University and graduated cum laude in 1996. Earlier in her legal career, she worked as an assistant federal public defender in D.C. and served as vice chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission for four years.

"I have been a judge for nearly a decade now, and I take that responsibility and my duty to be independent very seriously," Jackson told senators on Monday. "I decide cases from a neutral posture. I evaluate the facts, and I interpret and apply the law to the facts of the case before me, without fear or favor, consistent with my judicial oath."

It requires a simple majority of votes from the 100-seat Senate to confirm Jackson to be the next Supreme Court justice.

The Senate is evenly split between the two parties. Democrats can approve the nomination without Republican support, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting a tie-breaking vote.

This year, the Supreme Court will rule on cases involving a series of major issues, including abortion, affirmative action, and gun control.

Court watchers have argued Jackson is expected to vote very similarly to Breyer and her ascension won't change the Supreme Court's ideological balance, in which conservatives have a 6-3 majority over liberals.

The Supreme Court is the final appellate court of the U.S. judicial system, with the power to review and overturn lower court decisions, and is also generally the final interpreter of federal law, including the country's constitution.

The justices have life tenure and can serve until they die, resign, retire, or are impeached and removed from office. 

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson testifies during the Senate Judiciary Committee's confirmation hearing on her nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., the United States, March 22, 2022. The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee began on Monday a series of hearings for the confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson testifies during the Senate Judiciary Committee's confirmation hearing on her nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., the United States, March 22, 2022. The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee began on Monday a series of hearings for the confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson testifies during the Senate Judiciary Committee's confirmation hearing on her nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., the United States, March 22, 2022. The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee began on Monday a series of hearings for the confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)
The city of Poulsbo, Washington, and its police department will pay $2 million to settle a civil-rights lawsuit filed by the family of Stonechild Chiefstick, according to attorneys.

Police shot Chiefstick at a park during the citys crowded 2019 Independence Day celebration. The lawsuit, relying on video and audio recordings and witness statements, alleged officer Craig Keller shot Chiefstick 12 seconds after arriving to investigate complaints that Chiefstick threatened someone with a screwdriver, The Seattle Times reported.

The lawsuit, filed last year by Seattle attorney Gabriel Galanda, said the Poulsbo Police Department had been lax in its de-escalation training and that Keller was prone to unnecessary uses of force.

The lawsuit alleges negligence, racist policing and excessive force.

Chiefstick was a member of the Chippewa Cree Tribe of the Rocky Boys Reservation in Montana, and Galanda said he was raised in Seattle.

This settlement is part of accountability. It sends a message across this county that law enforcement must prioritize the preservation of life, said Trishandra Pickup, a Suquamish tribal member and mother to four of Chiefsticks children.

The Kitsap County Prosecuting Attorneys Office determined the shooting was lawful and the police department said Keller acted within policy, citing witnesses who said Chiefstick refused to comply with the officers orders and lunged at him with the screwdriver.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Washington Law Enforcement
A married couple have been ordered to pay a former au pair 9,100 in compensation over a finding that the girl had suffered unwelcome sexual advances by the husband while his wife was away on holiday.

The Workplace Relations Commission ruled the 18-year-old Spanish girl had suffered harassment and sexual harassment and had been discriminated against under the Employment Equality Act 1998 on grounds of gender during her two months with the host family.

The WRC heard the husband had asked the au pair if she had any naughty pictures on her phone, while his wife and young child were away on holiday, The man  who denied all allegations of sexual harassment  was also accused of touching her and rubbing the girls upper legs while she was sitting on a couch.

The au pair, who took up her role on July 16, 2020, claimed the mans actions made her feel unsafe, fearful, intimidated, humiliated and degraded and they violated her dignity.

The man said he had been asked to check on the au pair by his wife while she was away on holiday because the girls mother was worried about all the people she was meeting from the Tinder dating site.

He claimed he was acting in loco parentis and was simply concerned about her welfare.

The couple, who are foreign nationals, said they only found out after hiring the girl that she suffered from depression.

The wife said the au pair was meant to accompany the family on holiday to Spain but asked to stay in Dublin when she heard her husband would not be travelling, They said they had issues with the au pair over her performance, including her inability to put their daughter to sleep or to prepare food for her.

They accepted they had not given the au pair any formal warning.

However, the WRC said that it found the evidence of the au pair more compelling on the balance of probabilities.

The WRC heard that the husband began texting the au pair more frequently after his wife and their daughter went on holiday in August 2020 and in a more conversational and chatty manner.

The au pair told the WRC she initially did not see anything untoward in the mans behaviour but now believes it was an attempt to flirt with or groom her.

The au pair said she felt the constant messaging was strange and a request to do a video call made her feel uncomfortable and she believed there were ulterior motives.

When she returned home on August 25, 2020, the WRC heard the man asked to see the au pairs phone so he could see pictures of her friends.

The man then said the au pair was the prettiest of them all and described her as really interesting and beautiful.

'Naughty pictures'

The girl said she made it clear that she was becoming uncomfortable after he asked her if she had any naughty pictures of herself of the phone He also claimed his wife was going crazy because she was on holiday while he was home alone with the au pair before he placed his hands at her armpits and used his fingers in a tickling fashion.

The au pair said the man continued tickling her even though she has asked him a number of times to stop.

She said he then sat on the couch beside her and started rubbing her upper legs and said he found her very interesting. The au pair said the man only stopped touching her when she got up off the couch.

The girl said she could not sleep out of fear that night as she did not have a key for her bedroom.

She told the WRC she had no idea how the situation had arisen, she regarded the nature of their relationship as purely professional and she had no physical or emotional interest in him. She denied ever flirting with the man or expressing any kind of romantic interest in him.

She claimed his conduct was entirely unwanted and inappropriate and his conduct was reported to gardai on September 15, 2020.

A week after the mans wife returned from holiday, the couple had an argument and the woman called the gardai.

The au pair told her about what happened while she was away after the woman confided she had called gardai on at least one other occasion.

The au pair said she was informed by the couple on September 13, 2020, after the husband had returned from a weeks holiday in Portugal, that she was dismissed and asked to leave the house straightaway.

The woman said she thought it was for the best because I need to get over what happened between you two.

The WRC heard it was extremely cruel treatment and victimisation to evict the au pair and to leave a young woman wander a city unknown to her at night-time during a pandemic.

However, the WRC ruled that eight complaints filed by the au pair that she was not paid the national minimum wage were not well-founded.
Burma ASEAN Special Envoy Will Not Meet Suu Kyi During Myanmar Visit

ASEAN special envoy Prak Sokhonn (left) with Myanmars junta leader Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyitaw on Monday. / Supplied

ASEANs special envoy for Myanmar, the Cambodian foreign minister Prak Sokhonn, will not visit jailed State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi during his three-day trip to Myanmar which began on Monday.

The special envoys itinerary, seen by The Irrawaddy, says he will meet the regimes peace committee, politicians like U Ko Ko Gyi, the chairman of the Peoples Party, who is not critical of the junta, after meeting the countrys regime chief Min Aung Hlaing.

He planned to meet Daw Su Su Lwin, a former first lady, parliamentarian and member of the National League for Democracy (NLD), and ex-NLD president U Htin Kyaw but the meeting is not on the list.

On Monday, Prak Sokhonn met Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyitaw.

It is his first visit as special envoy and he discussed ways to make progress through talks, according to the juntas governing body, the State Administrative Council.

Myanmar has been in violent turmoil since the military takeover last year after the junta gunned down protesters.

To defuse Myanmars crisis, ASEAN and Min Aung Hlaing agreed a five-point peace plan, including a halt to violence and the visit of an ASEAN special envoy, in April last year. But Min Aung Hlaing failed to honor the agreement, causing disagreement among the blocs members.

The previous ASEAN envoys visit to the country was canceled last year after the junta said no meeting with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi would be allowed. The crisis has since deteriorated. By Monday, the junta had killed at least 1,687 people, mainly for anti-regime activism, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners monitoring group.

Prak Sokhonn became ASEANs special envoy for Myanmar after Cambodia took the rotating ASEAN chair this year. His appointment came after Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen visited Myanmar to meet the coup leader in January to broker talks. The visit was criticized for legitimizing the regime.

During Mondays meeting, Min Aung Hlaing tried to play down the crisis and reiterated claims that the anti-junta protests were politically motivated, leading to unrest and violence, prompting the military to respond.

The junta said the implementation of the five-point plan and access to humanitarian aid was discussed. Tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced as junta troops torch villages in resistance strongholds.

Prak Sokhonn will tour Yangon General Hospital and meet members of the Myanmar Red Cross Society.

The General Strike Coordination Body, a leading anti-regime movement, issued a statement Monday condemning the visit of a special envoy who has failed to object to the juntas atrocities.

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Burma Cambodia, Japan Leaders Urge Myanmar Junta to Honor ASEAN Peace Plan

Cambodias Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida in Cambodia on Sunday.

The prime ministers of Cambodia and Japan have urged the Myanmar junta to comply with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) five-point consensus, and pave the way for ASEAN members and development partners to distribute much-needed humanitarian aid to the Myanmar people.

The call for the junta to abide by the five-point consensus was made on Sunday during a state visit to Cambodia by Japans Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Japans premier was in Cambodia to strengthen bilateral ties and to discuss economic and security cooperation, with the crises in Myanmar and Ukraine high on the agenda.

Myanmar has been in social and political turmoil since the militarys coup in February last year. Last April, coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing agreed a five-point consensus with ASEAN leaders to end the crisis, including the immediate cessation of violence in the country. So far, the regime has failed to honor the plan.

Cambodias prime minister Hun Sen, who is the current chair of ASEAN, said during a joint press conference that he and Japans prime minister had seriously discussed the Myanmar crisis and expressed their deep concern about the situation in the conflict-torn country. They called on all relevant stakeholders to immediately end violence and to start negotiations with the relevant parties in order to find a peaceful solution to the crisis. They also called on the military regime to release all detained politicians.

We both agreed that the Naypyitaw authorities need to comply with ASEANs five-point consensus as soon as possible and to facilitate the distribution of humanitarian aid to the Myanmar people who are in need. At the same time, we both reiterated the importance of solving the crisis through negotiations with the relevant stakeholders, said Hun Sen.

Sophal Ear, Associate Dean and Associate Professor at Arizona State Universitys Thunderbird School of Global Management in the United States, said that Cambodia is trusted by the junta bosses because Cambodia has also just jailed its opposition leaders so, in that sense, they are both traveling on the same journey.

Myanmar, I am sure, would love to be treated like Cambodia, where it can do what it wants but not be punished. The other ASEAN members who reject Myanmar can maybe get Cambodia to do things that they would not be willing to do themselves. They can use Cambodia to send messages to Myanmar, said Sophal Ear, who is Cambodian-American.

Cambodia can be a messenger. It should not, however, send a message that is not ASEANs, pretending that it came from ASEAN. Cambodia should not masquerade as though it represents ASEAN. The views of Cambodia are its views alone and do not represent the views of ASEAN, he added.

On Monday, ASEANs special envoy to Myanmar Prak Sokhonn, who is also Cambodias Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, departed for Naypyitaw on his first official visit to Myanmar as ASEAN envoy.

Also in the delegation are a number of senior officials from Cambodias government, likely including Cham Prasidh, Minister of Industry, Science, Technology, and Innovation, as well as staff from AHA, ASEANs Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management.

Prak Sokhonn will spend three days in Myanmar at the invitation of the junta boss, Snr-Gen. Min Aung Hlaing.

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Burma Eight Myanmar Junta Troops Killed in Magwe Ambush: Resistance

Junta troops in Magwe Region. / GYV

Some eight junta soldiers were reportedly killed in a resistance mine attack on a Myanmar regime convoy in Saw Township, Gangaw District, Magwe Region, on March 17.

Three military vehicles were traveling from Kyaukhtu to escort a military convoy from Pakokku. We attacked the Kyaukhtu-Pakokku road with mines. Two of the vehicles were hit, a member of Kyaukhtu Peoples Defense Force (PDF) told The Irrawaddy.

We saw eight dead junta soldiers. They put the dead and injured on the third vehicle and left, he added.

Following the mine attack, junta soldiers fired at random at shops and houses along the road and looted valuables, said villagers.

One Kyaukhtu villager said: We have to guard our village in shifts day and night. Once junta soldiers arrive, we flee to other villagers. We stay there one or two nights and return to our village if we think it is safe. Junta soldiers can only loot when there are no people in the village. And they dare not stay long when there are no residents.

Kyaukhtu PDF has warned people against using the Kyaukhtu-Pakokku and Kyaukhtu-Htilin roads as fighting can erupt at any time. The PDF has asked people to tell the group if there is an emergency and they need to travel.

The regime controls most of Magwe Regions towns while resistance groups hold large rural areas.

Groups have formed peoples administrations and police forces in Pauk, Htilin, Yesagyo, Gangaw, Saw and Myaing townships, where the resistance is strong.

Saw Township peoples administration announced on Feb. 8 that it had formed an interim police force with 20 striking police officers and resistance fighters to provide security.

The townships administration has divided Saw Township into three areas, Saw, Kyaukhtu and Laungchi.

There are five districts and 25 townships in Magwe Region. Resistance groups on the border of Magwe and Sagaing regions in Gangaw, Saw, Myaing, Yesagyo, Pauk and Htilin are running parallel administrations and the regimes authority still functions on the plains in Magwe, Minhla, Minbu and Pwintphyu townships.

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Burma Monk Praises Myanmar Junta Chief for Honoring Prominent Nationalist

Sitagu Sayadaw and coup leader Min Aung Hlaing in March 2021just over a month after the takeover. / Sitagu Facebook

Sitagu Sayadaw, who has grown closer to Myanmars military since the coup, has praised junta leader Min Aung Hlaing as a king or head of state of great generosity and wisdom after the coup maker conferred Myanmars highest Buddhist title upon U Tilawka Bhivamsa, the former chairman of nationalist group Ma Ba Tha.

Earlier this month, the regime conferred the Abhidhajamaharatthaguru title on U Tilawka Bhivamsa. It is an honorific Buddhist title conferred by the government on monks who have contributed to the study of Buddhism. Also known as Insein Ywama Sayadaw, U Tilawka Bhivamsa is the former chairman of the Association for the Protection of Race and Religion, better known by its Burmese acronym Ma Ba Tha.

A reception was held in Yangon on Sunday in honor of Insein Ywama Sayadaw to celebrate the conferment of the title. At the reception, Sitagu praised both the giver and the title recipient, saying Insein Ywama Sayadaw has become the mentor of the king or mentor of the country. The event was broadcast live on the Facebook page of Sitagu Sayadaw.

Though it is the highest religious title in Myanmar, Abhidhajamaharatthaguru is not as grand as Sitagu Sayadaw described. There are currently more than 100 other recipients in Myanmar. The title does come with some entitlements; recipients can get free rides on national airlines, buses and trains.

Praising Insein Ywama Sayadaw, Sitagu Sayadaw, who is also known as Ashin Nyanissara, said: Frankly speaking, [Insein Ywama Sayadaw] was imprisoned under one government. He was coerced various ways under another government.

Insein Ywama Sayadaw was put behind bars for nearly one year under the previous military regime, which called itself the State Law and Order Restoration Council, after he refused to meet and perform religious activitiessuch as accepting offertories fromthe regime leaders after they ordered the killing of protesting Buddhist monks.

The other government he referred to is the civilian National League for Democracy (NLD) government, which clashed with Ma Ba Tha, of which Insein Ywama Sayadaw is a former head.

Born out of the anti-Muslim movement, the nationalist group came into being in 2013, two years after Min Aung Hlaing became the military chief in 2011.

During the U Thein Sein government the group successfully lobbied for the approval of a controversial set of four laws on race and religion that imposed restrictions on interfaith marriage, birth spacing, polygamy and conversion, believed to be targeted at Muslims. Sitagu Sayadaw was then the vice chair of Ma Ba Tha.

As the group continued to engage in hate speech and incite racial and religious hatred, it clashed with the NLD government, and in May 2017 the state-backed cleric organization Ma Ha Na announced that Ma Ba Tha was an unlawful organization and banned it from operating under that name. The group has since rebranded itself as the Buddha Dhamma Charity Foundation. U Aung Ko, who served as the religious affairs minister for the NLD government, was recently sentenced to 12 years in prison by the junta.

Far from being treated as a mentor, he was coerced in various ways [under the previous military regime and NLD government]. He has only become the mentor of the country today. He has become the mentor while the country is under the rule of the king (leader) who has deep generosity and wisdom, Sitagu Sayadaw said at the event.

For all his badmouthing of previous governments, the monk was close to General Khin Nyunt of the previous military regime during the heyday of the powerful military spy chief. Under the U Thein Sein government, he openly endorsed the ex-general to take the presidency for the next five years. Under the NLD government, he ate meals offered by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and received the Abhidhajamaharatthaguru title conferred by her government.

The monk has drawn criticism for remaining tight-lipped about the juntas atrocities since the coup. His praise of Min Aung Hlaing as a king or head of state of great generosity and wisdom while thousands of people have been killed in crackdowns, raids and air and artillery strikes, hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced from their homes, and millions of people have been suffering from various forms of atrocities strikes many as ugly.

The 85-year-old monk has thus earned the nickname the canny monk for his ability to get on well with any government in power.

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Burma Myanmar Junta Demands Details About Mandalay Medics and Patients

Striking health workers in Mandalay protest against military rule in 2021. / MFM / Facebook

Myanmars junta has ordered private hospitals and clinics in Mandalay to hand over information about doctors, nurses and patients, according to striking health workers.

The order, according to medical sources in Mandalay, targets striking doctors and nurses to check if they are working at private hospitals and clinics. The details about patients will tell the regime who was injured in combat.

One striking doctor said: There might be a reason why the regime asked about patients. Private clinics traditionally do not provide treatment in criminal cases. Perhaps, the regime thinks injured resistance fighters may seek treatment at those clinics and can arrest them.

The commander of the Central Command Major General Ko Ko Oo allegedly gave the order on March 12. Sources told The Irrawaddy that private hospitals and clinics are already handing over details on doctors, nurses and patients to the regime.

An administrative official at a private hospital said: We were asked to give details about doctors and other hospital staff and we have given the lists. We were told last week to inform the authorities immediately when we receive patients injured in accidents. And we were also told not to treat them.

In the wake of the coup in February last year, medical staff were the first to start the civil disobedience movement (CDM), refusing to work for the regime. The regime is targeting striking medical staff because the movement remains strong and many public hospitals and health care centers remain closed.

One striking doctor said: We joined the CDM because we will not work under the regime. So it is putting additional pressure on us. The health ministry provided the most protesters in Mandalay. The regime wants to ruin the lives of the striking health staff.

Under regime pressure, some private hospitals and clinics in Mandalay have sacked CDM doctors, nurses and other health staff. A hospital source said: They have sacked CDM staff to appease the regime.

There have also been reports that the regime revoked the licenses of 16 senior physicians. The Irrawaddy was unable to independently verify those reports.

Only the Myanmar Medical Council is authorized to issue or revoke medical licenses. There are rules governing it. The regime is lying because people dont support it, said a doctor from Amarapura Township.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, 67 healthcare staff, including 221 medical students, remain under detention, and some 600 medics are in hiding from junta arrest warrants.

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Burma Nighttime Curfew Relaxed in Myanmar Regime Capital

The regime's capital Naypyitaw. / The Irrawaddy

Myanmars junta has relaxed its nighttime curfew in the capital Naypyitaw, according to sources from the General Administration Department, in a further attempt to show the outside world that the country is returning to normality over one year after the militarys coup.

The military regime imposed a nationwide evening curfew in February last year after the country erupted in anti-coup protests.

From Monday night, the 10pm to 4am curfew in Naypyitaw will be reduced to midnight to 4am. However, the rest of the country will still be under a 10pm to 4am curfew. The change in the curfew hours comes ahead of the annual Armed Forces Day parade in the capital on March 27.

We think the junta believes that it can control Naypyitaw, so they have relaxed the curfew, said officials from the capitals General Administration Department.

However, the regime is still unable to control large swathes of the country. The north, northwest, southeast and south remain anti-regime strongholds where armed resistance against the junta is fierce. Naypyitaw, though, has seen only relatively few attacks against government offices in the last year.

As well as relaxing the capitals curfew, the junta is trying to hold the traditional New Year Water Festival  the most important event in the Myanmar calendar  in some major cities, including Naypyitaw.

But Myanmar people have criticized the attempt to do so, saying it is just part of the juntas campaign to show that the country is getting back to normal. Last year, people largely boycotted the festival in protest at military rule.

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MOSCOW, March 21 (Xinhua) -- A senior naval commander from Russia's Black Sea Fleet had been killed in Ukraine, said governor of Sevastopol, a port city on the Crimea Peninsula, on Sunday.

Post-Captain Andrei Paliy, the fleet's deputy commander, died during fighting in the eastern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, Mikhail Razvozhayev said on the messaging app Telegram.

Sevastopol is the base of Russia's Black Sea Fleet. 
Guest Column Russia's War Causes Disarray in ASEAN

(Left to right): Malaysia's then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong pose for a group photo before the start of the 13th East Asia summit plenary session on the sidelines of the 33rd Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Singapore on Nov. 15, 2018. / AFP

President Vladimir Putins decision to invade Ukraine from Feb. 24 is deeply consequential for Southeast Asia, both as a region and ASEAN as a regional organization. Even though this region is relatively far away from the cut and thrust of Russias war in Ukraine, ASEAN has already encountered new internal divisions stemming from the raging conflict in Europe. As a result, ASEANs age-old approach of consensus will likely become more problematic in the search for new and more effective ways of cooperation among like-minded member states.

Russias war is akin to the third of a triple whammy for ASEANs divisiveness. First, ASEAN has been divided since the infamous incident in 2012 when Cambodia, as ASEANs chair at the time, was unable to lead the 10-member grouping to come up with a joint statement. The sticking point was Chinas maneuvers in the South China Sea, which were opposed by the Philippines and Vietnam.

ASEAN then became increasingly polarized around Chinas assertiveness in maritime Southeast Asia. With less unity, ASEANs common position and posture were further challenged by the United States moves to counter and push back against Beijing, first under President Barack Obama and later President Donald Trump. The Obama response featured a regional trade deal that excluded China, the Trans-Pacific Partnership. But Trump went further with an all-out trade and technology war against China, spearheaded by the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) geo-strategy to constrain China. As tensions between the two superpowers intensified, ASEAN was pressed and picked apart by both sides.

Cambodia and Laos became overt, all-weather allies of China, whereas Singapore and Vietnam increasingly leaned towards the US, with other members in between. Under mercurial President Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippines accommodated China, but it recently turned the other way to rely on its treaty alliance with Washington. Because of its authoritarian governance and political repression, Thailand was forced to seek Chinas support, but yet still engaged Washington as a treaty ally to keep Beijing from taking advantage of Bangkok. By 2019, ASEAN was able to regroup up to a point. Under Thailands chairmanship, the bloc came up with the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific, which regained autonomy and space vis-a-vis the Trump administrations FOIP. In the following year, under Vietnams leadership, ASEAN was able to sign the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. Not long after regaining confidence, ASEAN was struck by Myanmars military coup in February last year, and the ensuing civil war since.

Southeast Asias governments responses to Myanmars military dictatorship, which upended an elected civilian-led government under the National League for Democracy and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, lined up on two sides. Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore called for the return of the democratic process and pre-coup conditions. The rest of ASEAN was rather mum on the Myanmar putsch. Nearly three months later, ASEAN came up with a five-point consensus to mediate and facilitate dialogue among all sides, to be led by an ASEAN envoy. This proposal has made little progress.

Similar to previous fissures, the Russian war in Ukraine has become another fault line. ASEANs initial reaction to Russias invasion of Ukraine was perfunctory and pathetic, calling for diplomatic means and peaceful resolution without calling out Russias wrongful invasion. The ASEAN position undermined its core principles of upholding sovereignty, territorial integrity and non-interference.

A few days later, when the UN General Assembly put up a non-binding resolution to condemn Russia for aggression against Ukraine, Laos and Vietnam were among the 35 abstentions, while the other eight ASEAN member states were among the 141 that voted in favor, including Cambodia. Only five UN members opposed the vote, led by Russia.

Singapore has been at the forefront of ASEAN in putting its vote into action, imposing outright sanctions on Russia. Thailand voted for the resolution but its written position stopped short of condemning Russia by name. Clearly, Russias blatant violation and disregard for the UN Charter and international law made the vote a foregone conclusion for most members. Those that abstained, including China, had issues and concerns at stake vis-a-vis Russia.

The wedge in ASEAN unity from Russias war in Ukraine has not neatly followed earlier patterns. When it comes to Chinas interests in the South China Sea and Myanmars coup, Cambodia is supportive of Beijing and the Myanmar military, but not so of Russia. Laos position appears to back all three  China in the South China Sea, Myanmars coup and Russias aggression. Vietnam has been critical of China, silent on Myanmars coup and sympathetic to Russia. Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore have aligned in their concerns about Chinas role in the South China Sea, Myanmars military takeover and overthrow of a democratically elected government and Russias war in Ukraine.

Thailand has been soft on Chinas South China Sea belligerence and Myanmars coup, while taking a measured stand against Russias invasion. Myanmar itself is a telling case. The UN still recognizes its ambassador from the elected civilian government under Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, while ASEAN so far has not allowed the Myanmar junta to represent the country in major meetings, requesting a non-political nominee. So Myanmar voted against Russia at the UN while the Myanmar military supported the Kremlin.

As controversies abound, and worsened by a lack of unity, ASEAN under Cambodias chairmanship will be hard pressed to host its annual summits with the major powers this year, just when pandemic restrictions may ease sufficiently to allow in-person meetings. Some major dialogue partners may boycott meetings if others choose to join. This is a time of existential crisis for ASEAN where fudging and muddling may not be enough to get by.

What ASEAN needs is a new approach of like-mindedness. Those willing and able to take common positions short of a region-wide, 10-member consensus should go ahead and do so. Already Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore are leading the way. Others, such as Thailand and Vietnam, can join on issues and areas they deem to be in their interest. The rest can sit it out or come in as they see fit.

It is unthinkable to some and painful to many to contemplate and accept that the only way ASEAN can move forward in the 2020s is to do away with the old ASEAN way, as the sum of its parts is increasingly less than the whole. In fact, the old and original ASEAN membership  Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore  may need to be revived as the renewed core of the organization. The ASEAN that we have known over the past 23 years, since Cambodia was the last Southeast Asian country to join, may have run its course. The sooner we face up to it, the better for the regional organization.

Thitinan Pongsudhirak is a professor and director of the Institute of Security and International Studies at Chulalongkorn Universitys Faculty of Political Science.

This article first appeared in The Bangkok Post.

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Trinity, TX (77320)

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Isolated thunderstorms in the morning, then mainly cloudy during the afternoon with thunderstorms likely. A few storms may be severe. High near 85F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms during the evening, then partly cloudy overnight. A few storms may be severe. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%.
Patrons walk in and out of Ithaca Beer Co.'s new taproom location Friday night, March 11 on the corner of College Ave and Oak Ave in Collegetown.


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New Zealand's competition regulator the Commerce Commission has warned businesses that agreements they reach with their competitors can result in imprisonment, as it undertakes its latest Scene of a Crime education campaign.

The campaign shows examples of situations where competitors agree to fix prices, divide markets, and rig bids  all of which are illegal activities.

The Commission warns that the financial penalties for cartel conduct are significant  individuals can be fined up to $500,000 and companies can be fined up to $10 million, three times the commercial gain, or 10% of turnover per year per breach.

And since April 2021, businesses and individuals can also be liable for criminal conviction and individuals convicted of engaging in cartel conduct could face imprisonment.

Cartel conduct harms consumers through higher prices or reduced quality, and it harms other businesses that are trying to compete fairly, said Commerce Commission Chair Anna Rawlings. The possibility of imprisonment for cartel conduct underlines just how serious and harmful this offending is.



Rawlings points out that law changes introduced last year mean individuals involved in cartels can now be liable for a term of imprisonment of up to seven years, making it more important than ever that businesses, their directors, and employees understand how to stay on the right side of the law.



The Commission is running an online, social media, and radio campaign to help educate directors, business owners, managers and employees about cartels, and how to report cartel conduct to the Commission.



Businesses and their staff need to be able to recognise and avoid the kinds of business conduct that amount to cartel conduct. This campaign is part of a range of educational initiatives by the Commission to help increase businesses understanding of cartel conduct and its consequences, says Rawlings.



Businesses or individuals wishing to report cartel conduct can contact the Commission, and he Commission can grant leniency to the first member of a cartel to approach it, provided they meet the requirements for leniency.



Businesses and individuals can also use the Commissions anonymous whistleblower tool.

The Commission expains that a cartel is where two or more businesses agree not to compete with each other, including by price-fixing, allocating markets or customers, rigging bids, or restricting the output or acquisition of goods and services.



Cartel conduct is prohibited under section 30 of the Commerce Act. Changes introduced in April 2021 mean cartel conduct is punishable with a term of imprisonment of up to seven years. Conduct which occurred before 8 April 2021 is not subject to the new penalties.



In September 2021, penalties were imposed for taxi cartel conduct after the Commission filed proceedings against Hutt & City. Penalties were also imposed in a container depot price-fixing case last year.



In September 2020 two Hamilton-based real estate companies were fined a total of $4 million. This brought to $23 million the total penalties in a series of cartel cases against 13 real estate companies and three individuals.



Other recent cases include:

- Settlement reached in equine air freight price-fixing proceeding, July 2020

- Nelson pharmacy fined $344,000 and director $50,000 for price-fixing, June 2020

- Ronovation to pay $400,000 for price-fixing in Auckland real estate market, September 2019
The Federal Government has opened a new centre to combat online crime, to be led by the Australian Federal Police, alongside a national plan to combat online crimes.

The plan was agreed to by ministers in the states and territories last week.

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said in a statement on Monday that the centre and the plan meant bringing together the experience, powers, capabilities and intelligence needed for a strong response to online crime.

During the pandemic, cyber crime became one of the fastest growing and most prolific forms of crime committed against Australians," Andrews claimed.

"The tools and the techniques used to rob or extort Australians became more effective and more freely available than ever before.

This is why the Morrison Government is taking strong, decisive action to safeguard Australians, their data, and our shared digital future.

Our national plan will support industries to grow online, build wider confidence in the digital economy, ensure safer online spaces for children, and better support law enforcement to bring to justice those who would break our laws.

Im serious about enforcing the law and protecting Australias digital future, which is why the plan is backed up by the resources, intelligence, and capabilities of a new AFP-led cyber crime centre.

Using far-reaching Commonwealth legislation and high-end technical capabilities, the AFPs new cyber crime centre will aggressively target cyber threats, shut them down, and bring offenders to justice.

The centre is based in the AFP's New South Wales headquarters and has been built at a cost of $89 million.

Daniel H. Elbaum, co-chief executive and chairman of cyber security shop VeroGuard welcomed the announcement and said his company backed the governments bid to create a stronger national response to cyber crime.

"We hope the JPC3 will help to address Australias single largest weakness, which is the inability of existing identity platforms to offer strong verification and absolute protection of users identity when communicating and transacting online," he said in a statement.

"Clearly the better we are at defending against cyber crime, the less dependent we will become on remediation strategies and costs.

"We believe the highest priority for government and business has to be to build the infrastructure that properly protects users' and machines' digital identities. Any other cyber security measure is simply proving to be ineffective when a criminal is using legitimate credentials to illegitimately access systems and data.

"We look forward to seeing the impact the JPC3 has in preventing, investigating and supporting the victims of crime, and the focus they bring to identity security, in particular.
Nokia has been announced by Ethisphere Institute as one of the Worlds Most Ethical Companies for the fifth year in a row. In 2022, 136 honourees were recognised spanning 22 countries and 45 industries. Nokia is one of five winners in the telecommunications industry and the only Finnish company to be honoured.

The comprehensive audit includes more than 200 wide-ranging questions from culture, environment and social practices to ethics and compliance activities.

The award recognises Nokias exceptional governance and its commitment to best-in-class sustainability, business ethics, compliance and governance practices.

We commend Nokia for its commitment to building an ethical climate that is sustained year after year by resilience, steadfast values, and trust, said Ethisphere CEO Timothy Erblich.

We are inspired by the Nokia teams dedication to integrity, accountability, governance, and community. Congratulations to Nokia for earning the Worlds Most Ethical Companies designation.

Nokia Chief Legal Officer Nassib Abou-Khalil said, We take great pride in our work to embed trust, ethical practices, and positive social impact at the heart of everything we do.

"We are honoured to be recognised once again as one of the worlds most ethical companies. This recognition is shared by the entire Nokia team for their continued efforts to meet the highest ethical standards across the organisation."

With the consolidation in large vendors and the banning of Huawei in many markets, Nokia is most often competing against Ericsson. Ericsson is managing an issue with the US Department of Justice and a consequential investor class action, so is likely suffering from unethical market perceptions. This award will allow Nokia to drive a perceived point of difference with customers.
Ericsson announced the appointment of Scott Dresser to the companys executive team as senior vice president, chief legal officer and head of group function legal affairs & compliance. Scott will join Ericsson on 21 March 2022 and be based in the US. Scott replaces Xavier Dedullen.

Ericsson president and CEO Borje Ekholm said: I warmly welcome Scott to Ericsson. He brings a wealth of global experience spanning our sector and beyond.

"Scott joins us at a critical time and will play a key role working with me, our Board and the rest of our team as we continue to grow and strengthen the company. We demand that our business be conducted responsibly and with integrity across its value chain.

"Scotts experience driving positive change will be invaluable as Ericsson expands its business and continues its cultural transformation, enhancing its governance, compliance, and controls.

Commenting on his appointment Scott Dresser said: Ericsson is a global leader that plays an essential role in advancing the future of communications. I am excited to be joining and look forward to working with Borje and the entire organisation to execute the strategy while focusing on operating with the highest standards of corporate governance and compliance.

With a legal career spanning more than three decades, Dresser joins Ericsson from Veon, where he has served for eight years as the companys General Counsel. Prior to Veon, Dresser held senior leadership positions with Virgin Media, White Mountains Capital and Conservation International. He began his career in New York in private practice with law firms Lord Day & Lord and Morgan Lewis where he specialised in corporate law, governance, and mergers and acquisitions. Scott is a US citizen.

Appointed Chief Legal Officer and Secretary to the Board of Directors in April 2018, Xavier Dedullen has played an important role during the turn-around of the companys business and helped to establish firmer foundations for the legal, compliance, and corporate investigation functions. He will leave the role effective 20 March, 2022 but remain with Ericsson for a transition period.

Borje Ekholm continued: I want to thank Xavier sincerely for his commitment and support over the past four years. During his tenure, we have taken important strides in several strategic areas including our compliance program. Xavier leaves with our gratitude and I wish him well in all future endeavours.

Sam Varghese has reported on Ericsson's legal woes:

First, with its compliance with the deal it struck with the US Department of Justice over the alleged corrupt dealings in Iraq.

Secondly, with a class action by investors claiming to have been misled by its dealing in Iraq.

The timing and citizenship of Dresser would have us speculate that he has been brought in as a fresh leader to deal with these matters, and more importantly drive better governance and compliance across the company.
MOSCOW, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Foreign Ministry said Monday that it will no longer continue peace treaty negotiations with Japan in response to Tokyo's sanctions against Russia over the situation in Ukraine.

Moscow will also cancel visa-free travel for Japanese citizens to the four disputed Pacific islands, which are known as the Southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan.

The Russian side is withdrawing from the dialogue with Japan on establishing joint economic activities in these islands, the ministry said in a statement.

Russia will block the extension of Japan's status as a sectoral dialogue partner of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation, it added.

Along with Western countries, Japan has imposed economic sanctions on Russia for its special military operation in Ukraine.

Russia and Japan have not signed a post-World War II peace treaty due to their rival claims over the four islands. 
EY has hired Michelle Price as a partner in its Oceania cybersecurity, privacy and trusted technology practice.

"We are thrilled to have someone of Michelle's calibre in the cyber security sector join us at EY," said EY Oceania cybersecurity leader Richard Bergman.

"Michelle has a distinguished career as an instrumental figure responsible for the growth of Australia's cyber security entrepreneurial talent, and assuring a diverse pipeline of people and technology capabilities for the industry and wider economy.

"Michelle will be leading the government and public sector team within EY Oceania cybersecurity practice and primarily focused on protecting digital government and essential services. Michelle will also grow EY's cyber security ecosystem and the Industry including working with start-up and the private equity community.

Price is currently CEO of AustCyber, which she joined as chief operating officer when the organisation was formed in 2017.

She previously served as senior cyber security advisor to the National Security College at the Australian National University, and as senior domestic cyber policy advisor to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Price has also held a range of senior roles in the Australian Border Force, Medicare, and Comcare after starting her career in marketing services.

She is also a board member of the Australian Cyber Collaboration Centre, co-chair of the World Economic Forum's global future council on cybersecurity, and a startup mentor at CyRise, and was formerly a board member of the Cyber Security CRC.

Price holds a bachelor's degree in business law, commerce and marketing from Macquarie University, and an honours degree in visual communication from the University of Technology Sydney. She is also a graduate of the AICD company director's course.

"I'm very excited to be joining EY; it's a perfect cultural fit with its transformational approach to tackling cyber security challenges with clients, and a global network of leading practitioners and resources to continue my passion for the cyber security sector and protecting Australia," said Price.

Price takes up her new role on 2 May 2022.
Dyson is a company that never rests on its laurels, with brilliant tech that it upgrades and updates regularly. Its latest launch is an upgrade to its most awarded styling tool, now radically redesigned, bringing new and reengineered attachments powered by enhanced Coanda airflow.

Dyson's best-performing and most-efficient Airwrap yet has launched, the Dyson Airwrap multi-styler.

The company says its engineers are "relentlessly dissatisfied" and challenged their own design to miniaturise and multiply the Coanda effect, pioneering a personalisable styling tool to deliver a range of styles for different hair types, without extreme heat.

It also notes its next generation styling barrels featuring a rotating cool tip, make achieving curls and waves faster and easier  with no extreme heat. Blending the results formerly achieved with two barrels into one attachment, now users can style the full head, creating clockwise and anti-clockwise curls and waves, without the need to switch attachment mid-style.

Re-engineered brush attachments deliver precision shaping with enhanced Coanda performance, alongside an all-new dual-purpose Coanda smoothing dryer. Combining two attachments in one, the Coanda smoothing dryer hides flyaways in a single pass, with no extreme heat and transforms into a powerful dryer with the flick of a switch. A Wide-tooth comb attachment, engineered for curly and coily hair, helps to add shape, volume, and length as it dries. Dysons comb teeth are designed with soft curved tips to glide through the hair, with no sharp edges to catch, pull or cause damage.

For the first time, Dyson says existing Dyson Airwrap styler owners can upgrade to these latest attachments, whilst retaining the original machine.

We're told this builds on the sustainable mindset adopted throughout the machines development  designing in a digital world reduces the reliance on physical prototyping, as a result drastically reducing the energy and materials used. Through this iterative process of trial and error, engineers have been able to miniaturise air vents to achieve a level of airflow velocity, pressure and control never seen before.

James Dyson said: Most styling tools ignore that hair types are very different  what attachment may work for one, could be detrimental to another. The advancements in the Dyson Airwrap multi-styler build on the success of its predecessor, through relentless research, user trials and advancements in computational fluid dynamics. The result: direction change barrels for faster and easier curling, reengineered brush attachments for more precise shaping, and an entirely new, dual-purpose Coanda smoothing dryer. Our ability to control airflow delivers enhanced Coanda performance to curl, shape and hide flyaways  without extreme heat.

Efficient Engineering

Since its launch on 10 October 2018 in New York, Dyson engineers across the world from labs in Malmesbury UK, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines, have worked in unison, to make a tool that is faster, more versatile, and easier to use1. Sophisticated simulation allows engineers to refine each attachment in minute detail  and more quickly.

Engineering lean machines is a core principle at Dyson: developing long lasting, high performing and efficient products using fewer resources, empowering the next generation of engineers to design a more sustainable future through science and technology. This can be seen throughout the Dyson Airwrap multi-styler, from the very motor that powers the tool through to the increased efficiency, enhanced performance, ultimately resulting in reduced energy consumption

Jen Atkin, Dyson Global Styling Ambassador, said: The Dyson Airwrap is a styling revolution and unlike any other tool  back when it first launched and still today. Now, the tool does even more, allowing owners to personalise to suit their styling preferences, personalised for their hair type. You can ensure every attachment in your box delivers your desired style, specific to your hair type. Something you thought couldnt get better, just did.

At the heart of the Airwrap story sits a radical idea: to combine a fast, high-pressure motor to power a phenomenon known as the Coanda effect, allowing users to curl, wave, smooth and dry hair without the need for extreme heat. The Coanda phenomenon occurs when air, propelled at the right speed and pressure, naturally follows an adjacent surface, entraining surrounding air and with it  hair.

The Dyson Airwrap multi-styler utilises powerful and precise airflow to deliver wet to dry styling, styling hair from damp (80% dry), reducing the reliance on extreme heat and preserving the hair from unnecessary damage.

Buy Direct from the people who made it

The new Dyson Airwrap multi-styler is priced at AU $899 and will be available from 16 June on Dyson.com.au and in Dyson Demo stores and from 7 July in third party retailers.

When purchasing from Dyson direct, new attachments are fully compatible with existing machines and owners can upgrade their full set for $249. Owner bundles are available in both standard and long barrels to cater for long and short hair. To buy, learn more and experience the Dyson Airwrap multi-styler, visit the Dyson Newsroom.

A range of attachments engineered to suit any hair type.
If there's one thing we know about the Internet, it's that there can be a lot of conflict, snarkiness and smart-a behaviour from all sides, whether it is gaming, politics, or just discussion about well, anything really. So new stats from Reddit about gamers seeking a "low sodium" diet are making me thirsty to learn more.

We all know people whose mission in life is to be uppity, snarky, rude know-it-alls who embody the idea that attack is the best form of defence, in all situations, at all times. Whether they're insecure or just like that, who knows - I'm not a psychologist, but we've all come across such drama queens at one point or another in our lives.

Gravitating away from such toxicity at warp speed is the obvious answer, and while it's not always easy, because bullies can be persistent, it is obviously very possible.

So, it was interesting to see stats from Reddit, provided by its PR company in Australia, noting that "ver the past few months, Reddit has seen an influx of interest in 'low sodium' communities as gamers are rejecting the culture of criticism and saltiness that too often plagues the community and other online spaces."

Naturally, the company thought sharing some stats and examples of such communities would be worth sharing, and given you're reading this article, I thought it was worthwhile, too!

Reddit notes these traffic and mention increases "dont just signal a longing for nostalgia, but more precisely a longing for when gaming wasnt filled with expensive DLC, delays, system incompatibilities, release let downs and community debate.



"What likely comes next is the continued rise of cosy gamers and gentle-gaming like Animal Crossing and Untitled Goose Game which is ultimately a means to satisfy gamers moving away from the drama, hype and salt."

So, what are the traffic figures showing, and what are some of the communities listed?

Here's what Reddit has shared:



Traffic

r/lowsodiumcyberpunk -- +30% in views over the last few months / amassing +2M views a month (the most popular low-sodium gaming community)

r/lowsodium2042 -- +2,000% in views over between November and January 2022

r/lowsodiumhalo -- +250% in views in January 2022

Engagement

Conversations in gaming subreddits are up +39% from October until January 2021 / low sodium counterparts are up +131% (ex. r/halo vs. r/lowsodiumhalo)

Gaming subreddits are seeing a +31% increase in unique authors over the last four months, while contributors to low sodium counterparts are up +52%

Sentiment

Between October and January 2022, positive-tagged conversation is up +126% in low sodium gaming communities

Discussion coded as joyful is up +115% in low sodium gaming communities over the last four months

Negative-tagged words are 43% less likely to appear in the low sodium gaming subreddits compared to their larger counterparts. Additionally, anger is 46% less likely to

surface in low sodium gaming subreddits (i.e. number of angry-tagged words in low sodium relative to overall conversation volume vs. gaming subreddits)

Retro Gaming

r/RetroGaming is up +48% in views YoY

r/ChipTunes up +82% in views YoY

r/PixelArt up +92% in views YoY

Mentions of "Pixel Art" across the platform is up +50% YoY

r/IndieGaming is up +55.5% in views YoY

r/IndieGames is up +41% in views YoY

So, if you want to be a winner on the decency podium, as well as doing good for your health in general, going "low sodium" avoids all that odium!
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.
More than 150,000 spectators will pack into Churchill Downs on May 7 to watch the 148th Kentucky Derby: the race thats been dubbed the greatest two minutes in sports. Whether youre picking a dark horse or sticking with the favorite, we at Stacker have ranked all the thoroughbreds running t Click for more.
MOSCOW, March 21 (Xinhua) -- A Moscow court ruled on Monday to ban Facebook and Instagram in Russia, labeling the parent company of the two social networks Meta Platforms Inc. "extremist."

The Prosecutor General's Office of Russia said that the lawsuit was aimed at protecting Russians from "a violation of their rights," according to local media.

Meta has violated its own rules by allowing posts with violent speeches towards the Russian military and has ignored more than 4,500 requests to remove fake information on Russia's special military operation and calls for unauthorized rallies, the prosecutors said.

The court ruling will come into effect immediately but will not affect WhatsApp messenger.

Meta is also banned from doing business in Russia as the Prosecutor General's Office and Russia's Federal Security Service accused the U.S. giant of acting against Russia and its armed forces. 
Jacksonville, TX (75766)

Today

Variable clouds with thunderstorms - possibly severe in the afternoon. Damaging winds and large hail with some storms. High 78F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near an inch..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms during the evening, then becoming clear overnight. A few storms may be severe. Low 59F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.




Donate Now As a public service during this pandemic, the Jewish News is providing free, unlimited access to all articles. Jewish News is a nonprofit publication that is owned by the community and relies on community support.
WASHINGTON, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The White House is short of key funding for pandemic response as another COVID-19 surge is coming to the United States, NBC News has reported.

The U.S. administration "is bracing for a new wave of U.S. COVID infections in the coming weeks, without key funding or essential tools in its arsenal," said the report published Sunday.

Noting that much of the administration's return-to-normal COVID-19 plan is based on the assumption that billions of U.S. dollars would be distributed for COVID-19 treatments, vaccines and testing, the report said that the money "appears to be in jeopardy."

"Congress dropped 15.6 billion dollars in COVID response money from the massive government funding package signed this week," it noted.

"The federal government has already begun to cut back on purchases of COVID treatments, curtailing shipments of monoclonal antibodies to the states by 30 percent next week, and said a program to provide treatments and testing to the uninsured would run out next month," the report said.

It added that the White House does not have enough money to purchase more booster doses for each American.

The United States has so far reported more than 79 million COVID-19 infections and over 971,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

Earlier this month, U.S. President Joe Biden called on Americans to return to the office and "fill our great downtowns again" in his State of the Union Address. 
Weather Alert

...FLASH FLOOD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 345 AM CDT EARLY THIS MORNING FOR CHEROKEE, BARTON, JASPER AND NEWTON COUNTIES... At 1221 AM CDT, Trained weather spotters reported thunderstorms producing heavy rain across the warned area. Between 2 and 4 inches of rain have fallen. Additional rainfall amounts up to 1 inch are possible in the warned area. Flash flooding is ongoing. HAZARD...Flash flooding caused by thunderstorms. SOURCE...Trained spotters reported. IMPACT...Flash flooding of small creeks and streams, urban areas, highways, streets and underpasses as well as other poor drainage and low-lying areas. Some locations that will experience flash flooding include... Joplin, Carthage, Neosho, Lamar, Baxter Springs, Columbus, Webb City and Carl Junction. This includes the following low water crossings... Center Creek at Azalea Drive, North Indian Creek at Orchid Drive, East Fork Dry Wood Creek at NW 110th Lane, Dry Fork at Pine Road and Fidelity Branch at County Road 130. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Many flood deaths occur in vehicles. Be especially cautious at night when it is harder to recognize the dangers of flooding. && FLASH FLOOD...OBSERVED


Opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader Nelson Chamisa has bemoaned the scourge of corruption, which he says has resulted in US$1,8 billion being lost through illicit financial flows (IFFs).

Addressing party supporters at Rujeko grounds in Masvingo on Sunday, Chamisa promised that if elected into power, his government would legislate for life sentences for corrupt individuals.

Corruption has killed the country. US$1,8 billion is lost through illicit financial flows and the billions are being enjoyed by a few individuals. When we get into power, corruption charges will attract life sentences, Chamisa said.

Those doing shady deals . . . the first thing we are going to do is to review all decisions that were not made or done in the national interest. If the deals are not helping the country, we will reverse them, he said.

In a 2022 national budget strategy paper, the Zimbabwe Coalition for Debt and Development (Zimcodd) said IFFs were increasingly becoming a cause of concern globally, adding that they would impact negatively the realisation of sustainable development goals (SDGs).

The obvious impact of illicit financial flows is loss of revenue much-needed for the attainment of SDGs, hence they prejudice countries of millions and billions of dollars which would have been channelled towards domestic consumption and for private and public investment, Zimcodd said.

Turning to local authorities, Chamisa said his party would review the Local Government Act to ensure that political parties will not have the power to recall councillors elected by the people as well as to separate powers of central government and local government.

Local government is being destroyed by the central government. We do not want councillors to be selected without an executive mayor. We want the return of the executive mayors who are elected by the people so that they are accountable to you. If he does not perform, you remove him  not what is happening now where the Minister of Local Government can remove mayors.

We want to give power to the local authorities and the right to recall to citizens and not political parties. We are going to restore Masvingo as one of the ancient cities. We are also going to develop other cities, for instance, Bulawayo as the hub of industrialisation, Gweru as the administrative capital and Masvingo as the hub of logistics because you are strategically located.

He said his government would dollarise the economy and after stabilising it, re-introduce the local currency backed by gold. Newsday
Opinion Columnist

Chris Powell has worked for the Journal Inquirer since 1967, first as a reporter, then as an editor, and now as a columnist. He was managing editor from 1974 until retiring from that position in 2018.
ZANU PF secretary for administration Obert Mpofu on Saturday claimed that there was no rift between President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his deputy Constantino Chiwenga.

Mpofu made the remarks at a Zanu PF rally which was addressed by Mnangagwa at Siabuwa in Binga, Matabeleland North province.

There have been reports that the two are leading two factions angling to take over party reins ahead of the elections slated next year.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his deputy Constantino Chiwenga

There have been lies that there is beef between President Mnangagwa and VP Chiwenga. Such lies infuriate me. Mnangagwa likes his party. He loves people he works with. There are lies that Mnangagwa and Chiwenga are fighting, Mpofu said.

This is in the minds of insane people and it is not in normal peoples minds. I have never heard the President complaining about his VPs. They are trustworthy people. All of them are war veterans, they were well trained and know the truth about our development.

He claimed that Mnangagwa loved Matabeleland North province no wonder he paid the region several visits.

The VPs loves Matabeleland North, they spend a lot of time here. (Kembo) Mohadi was speaking with chiefs recently and Chiwenga was here at the Bulawayo Kraal (Binga) doing development programmes, Mpofu said.

We are proud of you, our people. We are proud of our leaders. Chiwenga is a soldier of course, he speaks his mind when he has to reprimand you. We understand each other because we are all soldiers. Soldiers work with truth, not with lies. When the new dispensation started, the first province to be visited by the President was Matabeleland North where we were at Mabale. This has never happened in Matabeleland North, what do we want?

Mpofu made the remarks while introducing Chiwenga, who later presented Mnangagwa to address supporters at the rally.

Chiwenga described Mnangagwa as the only Munhumutapa in Zimbabwe at the moment.

In his speech, Mnangagwa told party supporters that people should support Zanu PF for development to take place the country. Newsday
MILL RATE

ADOPTED: 37.3 mills on real estate and personal property, or business equipment, and 29 mills on motor vehicles in the fiscal year that starts July 1

CHANGE: Existing tax rate for all property is 37.32 mills. So the rate for real estate and personal property will go down 0.02 mill, or two cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation. The mill rate for motor vehicles will go down by $8.32 per $1,000 of assessed valuation, although higher-than-usual vehicle assessments will counterbalance at least some of the decrease.
With ceremonial check representing $7,000 donated by Window World for SkillsUSA Northwest Region 7 Rally and Career Showcase are, from left, WCC Foundation Executive Director Allison Phillips; WCC SkillsUSA Advisor/Event Coordinator Hardin Kennedy; Jody Call, WCC executive director-strategy; Ronald Dollyhite, WCC dean of applied career technologies; Wanda Beck, director of WCCs Alleghany Center; David Mastin, director of franchise advancement at Window World Inc.; Dr. Yolanda Wilson, WCC vice president of instruction; Kristen Macemore, WCC Dean of business and public service technologies; Kendra Perkins, WCC director of curriculum and student services, Ashe campus,; and Dr. Natasha Harris, WCC dean of arts and sciences.
The United States has determined that the violence committed by the military in Myanmar against the Rohingya minority amounts to genocide and crimes against humanity, a US official told AFP Sunday.

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled Buddhist-majority Myanmar since 2017 after a military crackdown that is now the subject of a genocide case at the United Nations highest court in The Hague.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due to officially announce the determination in remarks during a visit on Monday to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, where an exhibit titled Burmas Path to Genocide  using a former name for the country  is on display.

Blinken said in December last year during a visit to Malaysia that the United States was looking very actively at whether the treatment of the Rohingya might constitute genocide.

Around 850,000 Rohingya are languishing in camps in neighboring Bangladesh while another 600,000 members of the community remain in Myanmars southwestern Rakhine state.

The case opened against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice in 2019 has been complicated by a military coup last year that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi and her civilian government, triggering mass protests and a bloody crackdown.

The Nobel peace laureate, who faced criticism from rights groups for her involvement in the Rohingya case, is now under house arrest and on trial by the same generals she defended at The Hague.
Ukraine has rejected an ultimatum to surrender the besieged port city of Mariupol to Russian forces, its deputy prime minister told Ukrainian media Monday.

There can be no talk of surrendering weapons. We have already informed the Russian side of this, Iryna Vereshchuk told Ukrainska Pravda newspaper.

Its a deliberate manipulation and its a real hostage situation, she added of the demand.

Russia gave the city an ultimatum late Sunday, urging its defenders to surrender before 05:00 am on Monday.

We call on units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, territorial defence battalions, foreign mercenaries to stop hostilities, lay down their arms and, along the humanitarian corridors agreed with the Ukrainian side, enter the territories controlled by Kyiv, said Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the Russian National Defence Control Centre.

The Russian defence ministry, addressing Mariupol authorities on messaging app Telegram, wrote: You are the ones who now have the right to make a historic choice  either you are with your people or you are with the criminals.

Otherwise, the court martial that awaits you is only a little of what you have already earned because of your despicable attitude toward your own citizens, as well as the horrible crimes and provocations you have committed.

Mariupol, a strategic, mostly Russian-speaking port in the southeast, has been one of the main targets of Moscows attacks.

The city has been hammered by Russian shelling for days, has seen a near-total communications blackout and is cut off from food, water and other supplies.

 Kidnapped children 

The Russian defence ministry had said it would open humanitarian corridors to allow residents to leave by 10:00 am if the surrender was agreed.

It said it had comfortable buses waiting at checkpoints to transport refugees to various destinations, and that all those arriving in Russia would get three hot meals a day and round the clock medical assistance.

Almost 60,000 rescued residents of Mariupol were already in Russia, it said, now openly talking about all the mass atrocities and crimes committed by the Mariupol authorities.

But in a video on Telegram, Vereshchuk said the Russians continue to behave like terrorists.

They say they agree on the humanitarian corridor and in the morning, shell the place for evacuation, she said.

Mariupol officials have said occupying soldiers have also forcibly transported around a thousand residents to Russia and stripped them of their Ukrainian passports  a possible war crime.

In Vereshchuks comments to Ukrainska Pravda, she said children were being kidnapped from orphanages.

To understand: 350 children are going to be forcibly taken to Russia without allowing us to get them, she said.

We ask clearly: give us a corridor and write which orphanage they are going to and why. They immediately took those children to Russia. This is terrorism.
The United States will Monday officially declare that Myanmar military violence against Rohingya Muslims that sent more than 700,000 fleeing amounted to genocide and crimes against humanity.

It is the latest chapter in the long and tumultuous history of the group, the worlds largest stateless population.

Roughly a million Rohingya lived in Rakhine state, in the west of Buddhist-majority Myanmar, before many of them were forced from the restive region during a 2017 military crackdown.

But the questions over their origins and identity are hotly disputed, highly emotive and behind much of the recent unrest.

 A long history 

By some accounts, the Rohingya are descendants of Arab, Turkish or Mongol traders and soldiers who in the 15th century migrated to Rakhine state, previously called the Kingdom of Arakan.

Other historians say they migrated from Bangladesh in several waves, a widely held view among many in Myanmar.

For centuries the small Muslim minority lived peacefully alongside Buddhists in the independent kingdom, with some even advising Buddhist royals, according to historians.

Upheaval ensued from the late 18th century as the kingdom was conquered by the Burmese and later by the British.

As part of their divide-and-rule policy, the British favoured Muslims, recruiting them as soldiers during World War II and pitting them against Buddhists aligned with the Japanese as the conflict raged on Burmese soil.

While their status was fortified in 1947 when a new constitution was drafted  giving them full legal and voting rights  it was a brief reprieve.

 Recent persecution 

A military coup in 1962 ushered in a new era of repression, and a 1982 law stripped them of their recognised ethnic minority group status.

Most lived in Rakhine  but were denied citizenship and harassed by movement and work restrictions.

Hundreds of thousands fled to Bangladesh in successive waves of violence in 1978 and 1991-2.

Using a dialect similar to that spoken in Chittagong in southeast Bangladesh, the Rohingya are loathed by many in Myanmar, who see them as illegal immigrants and call them Bengali.

After the junta was dissolved in 2011, the country saw a rise in Buddhist extremism which further sidelined the Rohingya and marked the beginning of the latest era of tensions.

 Rape, murder, arson 

Sectarian violence between the Sunni Muslim Rohingya and local Buddhist communities broke out in 2012, leaving more than 100 dead and the state segregated along religious lines.

Tens of thousands fled over the following five years to Bangladesh and Southeast Asia, braving perilous sea journeys controlled by brutal trafficking gangs.

Despite decades of persecution, the Rohingya had largely eschewed violence.

But in 2016 a small and previously unknown militant group  the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA)  staged a series of well-coordinated and deadly attacks on security forces.

Myanmars military responded with a massive security crackdown.

An estimated 391,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh in 2017, according to the United Nations, bringing with them harrowing stories of murder, rape and arson.

 Fallen hero 

Once internationally lauded for her decades of resistance to the junta, Aung San Suu Kyis administration later dismissed concerns about rights abuses over the Rohingya.

Suu Kyi defended the armys conduct and in 2019 travelled to The Hague to rebut charges of genocide at the UNs top court.

In February 2021 she was re-imprisoned by the very generals she had defended as the country endured yet another coup.

The current junta claims the UN court has no jurisdiction and has asked for the case to be dismissed.

Recent statistics suggest that as many as 850,000 Rohingya now languish in Bangladeshi camps, with approximately 600,000 in Rakhine state.
The EUs foreign policy chief on Monday called Russias attack on the Ukrainian port city Mariupol a massive war crime, as a string of member states pushed for sanctions on Moscows key energy sector.

Whats happening now in Mariupol is a massive war crime, destroying everything, bombarding and killing everybody, Josep Borrell said at the start of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock echoed the forceful condemnation of Russias bombing of civilians in Ukraine.

The courts will have to decide, but for me these are clearly and unequivocally war crimes, she said.

It makes it all the more clear that we, as the European Union, that we as the world community who believe in a rules-based international order, must clearly isolate this regime.

Borrell said ministers would discuss further support to Ukraine and whether to add fresh sanctions targeting the Russian oil and gas sectors to the barrage of economic punishment already imposed.

A raft of EU nations are pressing for the bloc to bar Russian energy exports. But there is reluctance from economic powerhouse Germany which remains reliant on Russian gas.

I think it is unavoidable to start talking about the energy sector, and we definitely can talk about oil because it is the biggest revenue to Russian budget and also its quite easily replaceable, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said.

Irelands Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said that looking at the extent of the destruction in Ukraine right now, its very hard, in my view, to make the case that we shouldnt be moving into the (Russian) energy sector, particularly oil and coal.

Denmarks top diplomat Jeppe Kofod supported a move to stop Russian ships docking at EU ports and blocking overland transport after Poland called for a trade embargo.

Germanys Baerbock did not back calls for an immediate halt on Russian energy exports but insisted that Berlin would gradually, and at full speed, withdraw from dependence on Russian fossil fuels.
THE voters roll which will be used by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) in the Saturday by-elections is shambolic, with an unacceptably high margin of error of 27%, watchdogs have said.

Activists Team Pachedu, who have been analysing the voters roll released by Zec and comparing it to the 2018 version, pointed out that the 27% margin of error was much higher than Zecs self-imposed 10%.

The Constitution of Zimbabwe states that Zec must ensure the proper maintenance of voters rolls. One vote can win an election, therefore, Zec should not hide behind an illegal and non-existent 10% error excuse, but it must strive to create an error-free voters roll.

You said that 10% margin of error is your limit, however, since the anomalies that we discovered in the voters roll are over 27%, which is almost three times above the limit, what are you going to do as Zec? Team Pachedu tweeted yesterday.

Election Resource Centre (ERC) programmes manager Solomon Bobosibunu said while a voters roll could never be perfect, the margin of error should be low so as to avoid disenfranchising voters.

Personal details in a voters roll must be correctly captured because these are the details that result in someone failing to either vote or access the polling station because the details will not be correct. If these errors are more than the threshold that allows people to vote, then that election might likely be compromised because if we have so many people being turned away then ultimately you have a lot of issues and a lot of problems, Bobosibunu said.

In that regard, an election cannot go ahead when there are extensive errors on the voters roll particularly on the personal details, the full name, the surname and the identity of the person, these are critical pieces of information, he said, adding that details in any voters roll should be closer to 100% so that people can vote.

The commission is alive to that a voters roll is a moving document, but Zec must not make it difficult for those people with the details that have some errors to access the voting process because that will also compromise the freeness and the fairness of the election because it is not at the voters discretion that these details may not be correct.

The Electoral Act (Chapter 2:13) as provided for in section 21(7) prescribes that where a voters roll is provided in electronic form .., its format shall be such as allows its contents to be searched and analysed.

Legal expert Alec Muchadehama said the electoral law demanded that the voters roll should be as clean as possible.

He said section 35 of the Electoral Act gave Zec powers to correct any errors on the voters roll to ensure it is as clean as possible.

When any election is due Zec must register as many people and take the necessary measures to make sure that people registered are given an opportunity to inspect the voters roll and confirm that their names appear in the ward and constituency which they want to vote in. Zec must be able to clear all possible anomalies, Muchadehama said.

He said in 2008, Zec gave the MDC a voters roll that was encrypted without giving it passwords to enable it to scrutinise it.

In 2013, the MDC went to the polls without the voters roll, and now in these elections no one knows which voters roll Zec says it is using. We are now going towards the 2023 elections and we do not know how Zec intends to clean up this voters roll so people can raise their concerns. The issue of the voters roll has always been contested, he said.

In a statement, the opposition Citizens for Coalition of Change (CCC) said: Zec has already exhibited worrying tendencies, including the use of a discredited voters roll, a lack of transparency and failure to consult stakeholders sincerely. The citizens will vigorously defend the vote. Important lessons have been taken from the 2018 election and the citizens will have adequate polling agents and safeguards to guard against rigging.

But Zec spokesperson Jasper Mangwana said he was not aware that the voters roll had a 27% margin of error.

We are not aware that there is a 27% error on the voters roll. There are 28 voters rolls for the National Assembly and 122 for local authorities. We have not received any queries pertaining to errors in these. We gave all candidates the voters rolls and we have not received any error reports from the stakeholders, Mangwana said.

Meanwhile, former Zec director for information communication technology and voter delimitation, Pamela Mapondera, who was dismissed together with other officials for allegedly leaking the voters roll to Team Pachedu, has dragged the electoral body to the Labour Court demanding reinstatement.

Mapondera, through her lawyer Ephraim Ndhlovu of Mabundu and Ndhlovu Law Chambers, cited Zec and its chairperson Priscilla Chigumba as respondents. She maintains that she was unlawfully dismissed.

In her application for review of the termination of her employment contract, Mapondera, who worked for Zec for 14 years, states that her employment was terminated without giving her a chance to stand before a disciplinary hearing.

I was suspended and without allegations and a disciplinary process, I was served with a dismissal letter for misconduct.

Mapondera said on February 11 this year, while lawfully and competently discharging her duties, she was served with a suspension letter, saying to the knowledge of Zec she discharged her duties incompetently.

She was suspended for 21 days without salary and benefits and was told that they will communicate with her. However, after the 21 days elapsed, there was not communication.

On March 9, 2022, I was then served with a letter terminating my employment contract

She said the letter stated that a resolution was made by Zec to dismiss her.

I was suspended on allegations pending an investigation of which the investigations were never received by myself. Without investigations shows that I was never charged of any misconduct. Without a charge I was never arraigned before any disciplinary process for me to be heard and without disciplinary hearing I was never found guilty of misconduct.

Mapondera wants the courts to set aside Zecs decision to fire her and for the commission to reinstate her to her former position without loss of salary and benefits.

She was fired together with other Zec officials accused of leaking the voters roll to Team Pachedu.

The matter is yet to be heard. Newsday
It was one of the most awaited decisions after the national Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) concluded its final report late 2021 on a transitional justice process that has gripped Gambia for three years. The TRRC has established an amnesty committee led by James Allen Yaw Odico, an Anglican bishop in the Gambia andone of the TRRC commissioners.

Unlike the Commissions public sessions that ran from January 2019 to May 2021, the amnesty sessions took place in a total media blackout. Not even the Commissions media unit had any significant information to share during the process.

On March 16 the amnesty committees report was finally approved by the 11 members of the TRRC before it was submitted to Gambias Justice minister Dawda Jallow. These are recommendations and the government will make its final decisions in a whitepaper to be issued before the end of May, Jallow told Justice Info.

Out of 25 applications for amnesty, 11 were dismissed, 8 denied, 5 approved while 1 was granted immunity, according to the Committees report. In theory those who are denied should be sent for trial.

Those denied and those approved

The 11 dismissed applicants are either because they were not recommended for prosecution by the TRRC or were only banned from holding public office inthe Commissions report.They include army major Wassa Camara and Lt. Colonel Amadou Bojang, anti-narcotic officer Ebrima Drammeh, former police crime management coordinator Baboucarr Sowe, deputy superintendent of police Lamin Cham, former jungler Yusupha Sanneh, former director of National Intelligence Agency (NIA) Lamin Bo Badjie, and NIA members Basiru Sey, Omar Cham, Tijan Bah, and Harry Sambou.

Amnesty applications from 8 people recommended for prosecutions were denied. This list includes former vice-president Dr Isatou Njie-Saidy; former Defense minister Edward Singhatey; his brother Peter Singhatey, a former influential military captain; former Junglers  a hit-squad under the orders of former president Yahya Jammeh  Lt. Malick Jatta, Pa Ousman Sanneh and Omar A. Jallow; and former soldiers Baboucarr Njie and John Charles B. Mendy.

Five other applicants were recommended for amnesty: former number 2 of the 1994 military junta Sanna Sabally; a soldier involved in the 1995 torture of political detainees Major Bubacarr Bah; junior soldiers implicated in November 11, 1994, executions Baboucarr Mboob and Zakaria Darboe; and a lower ranking soldier involved in the June 1995 murder of former Finance minister Ousman Koro Ceesay, Pa Alieu Gomez.

A ex-soldier, Alagie Kanyi, who confessed to participation in the November 11, 1994, executions and in the murder of Koro Ceesay apparently had an immunity deal with the Commission. Everyone at the ministry of Justice and the TRRC is tightlipped about this. Sources at the Commission indicated the case would be finalized by the Ministry. It may suggest that the TRRC had an immunity deal with him in exchange for this testimony which was crucial in the trial of Yankuba Touray  a former senior member of Jammehs junta who was sentenced to death in July 2021  and in establishing the circumstances of the murder of Koro Ceesay.

The release of the TRRC amnesty committee conclusions was followed by serious criticism from victims groups. The victims decry the lack of transparency and zero victim participation in the amnesty policy development and approval process and demand that this be disclosed to the victims who wish to know forthwith, read a statement issued on March 19 on behalf of 11 direct victims of Sabally whose relatives were executed on November 11, 1994. The statement was also signed by six pro-rights organisations in the country.

The case of Sanna Sabally

The last time Gambias TRRC was engulfed in so much criticism was in October 2019 when it brokered a public reconciliation hearing between ex-junta members Sanna Sabally and Edward Singhatey who had a grave fall-out in January1995. Sabally had testified before the Commission on April 24, and Singhatey on October 16 before they were brought together to reconcile before the Commission. But many people called it a charade that sought to reconcile murderers who had later turned to be victims of Jammehs rule.

And so, after the announcement by the amnesty committee it was the case of Sabally that triggered the biggest controversy. Following the July 1994 military coup, Sabally was the countrys second most powerful man. He was accompanied by a ruthless bunch of soldiers that shot people, vehicles and bicyclists who would find themselves on the vice chairmans path as his convoy passed. On November 11 that year, Sabally would lead an operation to crush an alleged counter-coup led by 11 soldiers. Sabally and his men were ordered to take no prisoners, according to his testimony before the Truth commission. The arrested soldiers were summarily executed. This would go into Gambian history as the November 11 Incident.

Shortly afterwards, on January 27, 1995, the popular and temperamental vice-chairman of the junta as well as his colleague Interior minister Sadibu Hydara were themselves arrested on charges of planning a coup. Edward Singhatey supervised the arrests. Sabally was subject to torture and jailed for 10 years. Hydara died in June 1995 as a result of torture.

Saballys testimony before the TRRC was a memorable moment in the often spectacular public hearings process. He was the TRRCs biggest catch. Sabally admitted to his crimes, revealed who had ordered the 11 November executions, apologized and asked for forgiveness, including from one of his civilian victims who was confronted to him during the hearing.

In short, he complied with everything a perpetrator is required to do before the TRRC to hope for an amnesty. But for some of his victims he should still have been tried. I grew up without a father, without his love and companionship which was very difficult for me and my family, said Abdou Aziz Barrow, son of ex-lieutenant and leader of the alleged November coup attempt Basiru Barrow. A day doesnt go by without me being re-traumatised by the events and manner in which he and his companions were gruesomely killed on November 11.

The Commission has not publicly explained the rationale for its amnesty decision that the victims now call on the government to disregard.

The controversy over released Junglers

The government is already caught into another controversy over the detention and release of two former Junglers, Ismaila Jammeh and Alieu Jeng. The two had appeared before the Truth commission in July 2019 and were found to have been untruthful. On March 18, the army announced they were being released on stringent bail conditions. The concerned soldiers were arrested and put under detention at Yundum Barracks since 2017 for their alleged involvement in human rights violations under the former regime, said the army. Their continuous detention without being held on any crime is not tenable under Service Laws and Regulations, it further said.

On March 19, the Victims Centre called the release of these two Junglers unfortunate, criticizing the Justice ministry for not charging them. For the Ministry though, any decision to charge perpetrators of human rights violations would preempt their coming white paper on post-TRRC prosecutions.

A reference in the armys statement was also made to the January 2022 return from Equatorial Guinea of Karafa Bojang, also known as Sulayman Badgie. Badgie had returned to Gambia with 14 other people, three of whom  Sulayman Saul Badjie, Landing Tamba and Musa Badjie  were mentioned as perpetrators in the TRRC final report.

Badgie was the head of the notorious Junglers. After his return, he was briefly detained at a state-run Friendship hotel, and taken to court to secure his detention without charge. But the High court dismissed the states applications and set him and his colleagues free on February 2. Interestingly, the High Court in its deliberations took notice of the findings and recommendations of the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparation Commission (TRRC), but did not consider such as sufficient grounds to detain the suspects without charges, regardless of their ranks and influence in the Army, said the army statement.

This is all happening against the background of a deep suspicion held by victims that Gambias president Adama Barrow is not interested in justice for Yahya Jammeh-era crimes since he got re-elected last December on a coalition with Jammehs party, the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction Party.
Ukraine rejected a Russian ultimatum to surrender the besieged southern city of Mariupol on Monday, as renewed overnight shelling killed at least eight people at a shopping mall in the capital Kyiv.

Almost 350,000 people are trapped without water and electricity in the port city of Mariupol, which has been bombarded by Russian troops for almost a month in what has been described as a massive war crime by EU policy chief Josep Borrell.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, Russian bombs struck targets overnight, allegedly damaging a chemical plant in the north of the country causing an ammonia leakage that sparked a temporary alarm.

Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Europe to significantly dial up pressure on Moscow to halt its nearly month-long invasion, saying the continent must cease all trade with Russia.

No euros for the occupiers. Close all of your ports to them. Dont export them your goods. Deny energy resources. Push for Russia to leave Ukraine, Zelensky said in his latest video address.

Ukrainian leaders also stressed they were standing firm against invaders in Mariupol, which is suffering a critical humanitarian crisis.

Defenders of the port city have played a huge role in destroying the enemys plans and enhancing our defence, said Ukraines Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov.

Today Mariupol is saving Kyiv, Dnipro and Odessa. Everyone must understand this.

The Kremlins military command had warned authorities in Mariupol had until 5am on March 21 to respond to eight pages of demands, which Ukrainian officials said would amount to a capitulation.

Rejecting the ultimatum by Russia to surrender Mariupol, Ukraines Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Moscow should instead allow the trapped residents to escape.

We cant talk about surrendering weapons, Vereshchuk told the Ukrainska Pravda online newspaper.

Mariupol is a pivotal target in Vladimir Putins war in Ukraine  providing a land bridge between Russian forces in Crimea to the southwest and Russian-controlled territory to the north and east.

A Greek diplomat who remained in the city through the bombardment said the devastation would rank alongside historys most ruinous wartime assaults.

Mariupol will be included in a list of cities in the world that were completely destroyed by the war, such as Guernica, Stalingrad, Grozny, Aleppo, Manolis Androulakis, believed to be the last EU diplomat to leave the city, as he arrived back in Athens late Sunday.

 Oil embargo warning 

Russia marched on its neighbour on February 24, pressing on despite sweeping unprecedented sanctions imposed by Western allies.

Its bombs hit several targets across the country overnight, laying waste to a shopping mall in Kyiv, whose mayor announced a new curfew from late Monday to Wednesday morning.

In the north, Ukrainians were told to temporarily take shelter after an ammonia leak at a nearby chemical factory, amid intense fighting with Russian forces in the area.

Sumy regional governor Dmytro Zhyvytsky said Russian artillery shelling had hit the Sumykhimprom fertiliser plant as he warned residents within a 2.5 kilometres (1.5 miles) radius to seek shelter before an all-clear was sounded mid-morning.

Away from the frontlines, foreign ministers of the European Union gathered in Brussels to mull fresh sanctions against Russia.

Some members within the bloc are pushing for an embargo on Russian oil and gas, but Germany has rejected the call outright, warning it could spark social instability.

The Kremlin on Monday heaped on the warnings against such a ban, saying it would have a direct impact on everyone.

Such an embargo will have a very serious impact on the world energy market, it will have a very serious negative impact on Europes energy balance, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov

Energy prices and supply security issues will be on the table at an EU summit on Thursday in Brussels, to be also attended by President Joe Biden.

The US leader will also join in a NATO summit and G7 talks in Brussels, before travelling to Poland on Friday.

There he is expected to hold talks with President Andrzej Duda to discuss a joint response to the humanitarian crisis that has seen more than two million Ukrainians flee to Poland alone.

Humanitarian conditions continued to deteriorate in the mostly Russian-speaking south and east, where Russian forces have been pressing their advance, as well as in the north around Kyiv.

Aid agencies are struggling to reach people trapped in besieged cities.

Around 10 million Ukrainians have fled their homes, roughly one-third going abroad, the UN refugee agency said.

 Act of terror 

The humanitarian crisis remains most acute in Mariupol.

In his video message on Sunday, Zelensky had accused Russia of bombarding a Mariupol school sheltering hundreds, calling it an act of terror that will be remembered even in the next century.

Russian forces have come to exterminate us, to kill us, he said.

It was the latest potentially devastating strike on a shelter for civilians. Last Wednesday, a theatre where authorities said more than 1,000 people had sheltered was hit, with hundreds still presumed missing in the rubble.

Mariupol officials have said occupying forces have forcibly transported around a thousand residents to Russia and stripped them of their Ukrainian passports  a possible war crime.

A group of children stuck in a Mariupol clinic for weeks are among those who have been taken to Russian-controlled territory, a carer and a relative of a clinic worker told AFP.

The 19 children, aged between four and 17 and mostly orphans, had been living in freezing cellars hiding from shelling in harrowing conditions.

 Perhaps in Jerusalem 

Amid the carnage, Zelensky has again suggested he and Putin hold direct talks.

After addressing Israeli lawmakers Zelensky  who is accused by Russia of being a Nazi, but is Jewish  thanked Prime Minister Naftali Bennett for efforts to broker talks, which he suggested could take place in Jerusalem.

Sooner or later we could start the conversation with Russia. Perhaps in Jerusalem. This is the right place for finding peace. If this is possible, Zelensky said.

Authorities in Turkey, where Russian and Ukrainian representatives have been negotiating, said the two sides were close to a deal to stop the fighting.

But the Ukrainian leader appeared to draw some red lines.

You cannot just demand from Ukraine to recognise some territories as independent republics, he told CNN. We have to come up with a model where Ukraine will not lose its sovereignty.

burs-hmn/bp
Ukraine rejected a Russian ultimatum to surrender the besieged port city of Mariupol on Monday, as overnight Russian strikes destroyed a shopping mall in the capital Kyiv, killing eight people.

Almost 350,000 people are trapped without water and electricity in the southern city of Mariupol, which has been bombarded by Russian troops for almost a month in what EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell described as a massive war crime.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, Russian bombs struck targets overnight, allegedly damaging a chemical plant in the north of the country causing an ammonia leakage.

Nearly a month after Russia launched its full-scale invasion on February 24, troops pressed on despite sweeping unprecedented sanctions imposed by Western allies.

Russian strikes, likely a missile, laid waste to a shopping mall in Kyiv, whose mayor announced a new curfew from 8:00 pm (1800 GMT) on Monday until 7:00 am (0500 GMT) on Wednesday.

AFP reporters saw six bodies covered by black sheets laid out on the ground at the complex called Retroville.

My apartment shook with the force of the explosion, I thought the building would collapse, said Vladmir, 76, who lives nearby.

Its the biggest bomb to have hit the city until now, said Dima Stepanienko, 30. He found himself flung to the foot of his bed by the explosion, he added.

An Orthodox priest walking through the wreckage muttered prayers while cursing Russian terrorists.

Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Europe to significantly dial up pressure on Moscow to halt its invasion, saying the continent must cease all trade with Russia.

 Completely destroyed 

No euros for the occupiers. Close all of your ports to them. Dont export them your goods. Deny energy resources. Push for Russia to leave Ukraine, Zelensky said in his latest video address.

Ukrainian leaders also stressed they were standing firm against invaders in Mariupol, which is suffering a critical humanitarian crisis.

Defenders of the port city have played a huge role in destroying the enemys plans and enhancing our defence, said Ukraines Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov.

Today Mariupol is saving Kyiv, Dnipro and Odessa. Everyone must understand this.

The Kremlins military command had warned authorities in Mariupol had until 5am on March 21 to respond to eight pages of demands, which Ukrainian officials said would amount to a capitulation.

Rejecting the ultimatum by Russia, Ukraines Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Moscow should instead allow the trapped residents to escape.

Mariupol is a pivotal target in Vladimir Putins war in Ukraine  providing a land bridge between Russian forces in Crimea to the southwest and Russian-controlled territory to the north and east.

A Greek diplomat, believed to be the last EU diplomat to leave the city, said the devastation would rank alongside historys most ruinous wartime assaults.

Mariupol will be included in a list of cities in the world that were completely destroyed by the war, such as Guernica, Stalingrad, Grozny, Aleppo, said Manolis Androulakis, as he arrived back in Athens late Sunday.

 Oil prices surge 

In the north, Ukrainians were told to temporarily take shelter after an ammonia leak at a nearby chemical factory, before an all-clear was sounded mid-morning.

At the port city of Odessa, known as the pearl of the Black Sea, shelling by Russian warships damaged several houses. No casualties were reported, an official in the Ukrainian city said.

Away from the frontlines, leaders of the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Italy were once again in urgent talks on the war.

Separately, foreign ministers of the European Union were gathered in Brussels to mull fresh sanctions against Russia.

Some members within the bloc are pushing for a complete embargo on Russian oil and gas, but Germany has so far rejected the call, warning it could spark social instability.

The Kremlin on Monday heaped on the warnings against such a ban.

Such an embargo will have a very serious impact on the world energy market, it will have a very serious negative impact on Europes energy balance, said spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

World oil prices, already sky-high over the Ukraine conflict, on Monday surged again as top producer Saudi Arabia warned that attacks by Yemeni rebels on the kingdoms oil facilities posed a direct threat to global supplies.

Energy prices and supply security issues will be on the table at an EU summit on Thursday in Brussels, to be attended by President Joe Biden.

The US leader will also join in a NATO summit and G7 talks, before travelling on Friday to Poland, which has seen more than two million Ukrainians cross its border to flee the war.

Moscow furiously hit out against Biden after he branded Putin a war criminal.

 Spectre of famine 

Such statements by the American president, which are not worthy of a high-ranking statesman, have put Russian-American relations on the verge of rupture, the foreign ministry said.

Kyiv meanwhile turned to another major world power, China, urging it to play an important role in ending the conflict.

Humanitarian conditions continued to deteriorate in the mostly Russian-speaking south and east, where Russian forces have been pressing their advance, as well as in the north around Kyiv.

Aid agencies are struggling to reach people trapped in besieged cities.

Around 10 million Ukrainians have fled their homes, roughly one-third going abroad, the UN refugee agency said.

The repercussions of the war are spreading far beyond the region, with famine feared in parts of the world because Russia and Ukraine are both major agricultural exporters.

Sudan is in a particularly vulnerable position because 86-87 percent of its wheat imports is coming from Russia and Ukraine combined, warned David Wright, chief operating officer at charity Save the Children.

Signs of strain are also appearing in Russia, where scenes of panic buying at supermarkets prompted authorities to urge the public not to stockpile.

I want to calm our citizens: we are fully self-sufficient when it comes to sugar and buckwheat, deputy Prime Minister Viktoria Abramchenko.

Panic-buying only destabilises the distribution network, she said.

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Russian forces made minimal progress Monday towards capturing the major cities they covet, on the 26th day of their invasion of Ukraine.

Western sources said the attackers were consolidating their positions and bringing artillery into range of the capital Kyiv, though Ukrainian forces were hitting back with counterattacks.

Here is a summary of the situation on the ground, based on statements from both sides, Western defence and intelligence sources, and international organisations.

 The east 

Although there was little movement around the mostly encircled city of Kharkiv, Ukraines military general staff said heavy artillery was being moved up through a neighbouring region of Russia.

Over the weekend, the defenders said they inflicted heavy casualties on the Russians while repelling an assault on the city of Izyum.

That city would be a key link in the chain if Russia aims  as many analysts believe  to encircle Ukrainian forces in the countrys east.

Along the previous front line with Russia-backed separatists, the Ukrainian army reported attacks along the entire line of contact, and said that all had been repulsed.

The city of Sumy further to the north and close to the Russian border is also encircled.

A Ukrainian foreign ministry official on Monday accused Russian forces of forcibly removing thousands of children from the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.

 Kyiv and the north 

Russians have been reinforcing their positions around capital, which has not yet been fully surrounded. Ukraine said the attackers were laying mines around their lines for the first time in the conflict.

Britains defence ministry said there was heavy fighting to the north of the city, with forces advancing from the northeast stalled and from the northwest repulsed by fierce Ukrainian resistance.

Inside the capital, Russian bombardments razed a shopping mall overnight from Sunday to Monday. Prosecutors said eight people were killed.

Kyiv city authorities declared a new curfew lasting from Monday evening to Wednesday morning.

In Chernihiv meanwhile, which is encircled by Russian troops, the Ukrainian army accused the Russians of shelling civilian areas.

 The south 

Russia continued its siege of the port city of Mariupol, a key Russian target to link up the annexed Crimea and separatist-controlled Donbas regions.

They made little territorial gains but shelled targets heavily, with Western analysts saying the besiegers had used devastating thermobarbic explosives.

The Russian authorities meanwhile said that a deputy commander of its Black Sea Fleet had been killed in the city.

Hundreds of thousands of inhabitants are believed to remain in Mariupol, which has no running water or heating and where food is running short.

But local authorities said the defenders had rejected a Russian ultimatum calling on them to lay down their arms.

Mariupol officials also said occupying forces had forcibly transported around a thousand residents to Russia and stripped them of their Ukrainian passports  a possible war crime.

Russian forces earlier in the campaign took the city of Kherson just north of Crimea, the only major city they have captured so far.

Although Russian troops are trying to push west along Ukraines Black Sea coast towards Odessa, they have so far failed to encircle the city of Mykolayiv that stands in the way.

Ukraines general staff said Russian ships targeted Mykolayiv with missiles on Sunday.

 The west and centre 

After deadly airstrikes in Ukraines west last week, there have been no reports of significant military action in the region or around Dnipro.

 Casualties 

According to the office for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, 925 civilians have been killed in Ukraine, including 75 children.

Moscow has given no toll for casualties among its armed forces in recent days.

Ukraine says around 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed. Western sources generally give a lower figure but still numbering several thousand.

The authorities have not updated the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed in the fighting since President Volodymyr Zelensky announced a week ago that around 1,300 were dead.

 Refugees 

The UN says almost 3.5 million refugees have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion, with more than two million of them heading to neighbouring Poland.

A total of 10 million are believed to have fled their homes, according to the world body, representing over a quarter of the population in regions under government control.

burs-tgb/js/jj
Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday accused Moscow of seeking to destroy his country, as Russia defended its overnight strikes that obliterated a shopping mall in the capital Kyiv, killing eight people.

Ukraine could not hand over the eastern city of Kharkiv, Kyiv or the heavily bombarded port city of Mariupol, the president told local media, rejecting Russian demands to surrender.

Nearly a month after Russia launched its full-scale invasion on February 24, its assaults have become more deadly despite unprecedented sweeping sanctions imposed by Western allies.

Moscow has ramped up its air and sea operations as the Kremlin is desperate to turn the tide against a ferocious Ukrainian resistance, a senior US defence official said.

Russian strikes, likely a missile, laid waste to a shopping mall in Kyiv, whose mayor announced a new curfew from 8:00 pm (1800 GMT) on Monday until 7:00 am on Wednesday.

AFP reporters saw six bodies covered by black sheets laid out on the ground at the complex called Retroville.

My apartment shook with the force of the explosion, I thought the building would collapse, said Vladimir, 76, who lives nearby.

Its the biggest bomb to have hit the city until now, said Dima Stepanienko, 30. He found himself flung to the foot of his bed by the explosion, he added.

An Orthodox priest walking through the wreckage muttered prayers while cursing Russian terrorists.

Russia said it had targeted the shopping mall with precision-guided weaponry because it was in fact used to store rocket systems and ammunition.

But Russian President Vladimir Putins troops have been increasingly accused of deliberately targeting civilians, including at the port city of Mariupol.

Almost 350,000 people are trapped without water and electricity in the southern city which has been bombarded by Russian troops for almost a month in what EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell described as a massive war crime.

Zelensky urged Europe to significantly dial up pressure on Moscow to halt its invasion, saying the continent must cease all trade with Russia.

 Completely destroyed 

No euros for the occupiers. Close all of your ports to them. Dont export them your goods. Deny energy resources. Push for Russia to leave Ukraine, Zelensky said in his latest video address.

Ukrainian leaders also stressed they were standing firm against invaders in Mariupol, which is suffering a critical humanitarian crisis.

Defenders of the port city have played a huge role in destroying the enemys plans and enhancing our defence, said Ukraines Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov.

Today Mariupol is saving Kyiv, Dnipro and Odessa. Everyone must understand this.

The Kremlins military command had warned authorities in Mariupol had until 5am on March 21 to respond to eight pages of demands, which Ukrainian officials said would amount to a capitulation.

Rejecting the ultimatum by Russia, Ukraines Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Moscow should instead allow the trapped residents to escape.

Mariupol is a pivotal target in Putins war in Ukraine  providing a land bridge between Russian forces in Crimea to the southwest and Russian-controlled territory to the north and east.

A Greek diplomat, believed to be the last EU diplomat to leave the city, said the devastation would rank alongside historys most ruinous wartime assaults.

Mariupol will be included in a list of cities in the world that were completely destroyed by the war, such as Guernica, Stalingrad, Grozny, Aleppo, said Manolis Androulakis, as he arrived back in Athens late Sunday.

 Oil prices surge 

In the north, Ukrainians were told to temporarily take shelter after an ammonia leak at a nearby chemical factory, before an all-clear was sounded mid-morning.

At the port city of Odessa, known as the pearl of the Black Sea, shelling by Russian warships damaged several houses. No casualties were reported, an official in the Ukrainian city said.

Away from the frontlines, leaders of the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Italy were once again in urgent talks on the war.

Separately, foreign ministers of the European Union were gathered in Brussels to mull fresh sanctions against Russia.

Some members within the bloc are pushing for a complete embargo on Russian oil and gas, but Germany has so far rejected the call, warning it could spark social instability.

The Kremlin on Monday heaped on the warnings against such a ban.

Such an embargo will have a very serious impact on the world energy market, it will have a very serious negative impact on Europes energy balance, said spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

World oil prices, already sky-high over the Ukraine conflict, on Monday surged again as top producer Saudi Arabia warned that attacks by Yemeni rebels on the kingdoms oil facilities posed a direct threat to global supplies.

Energy prices and supply security issues will be on the table at an EU summit on Thursday in Brussels, to be attended by President Joe Biden.

The US leader will also join in a NATO summit and G7 talks, before travelling on Friday to Poland, which has seen more than two million Ukrainians cross its border to flee the war.

Moscow furiously hit out against Biden after he branded Putin a war criminal.

Such statements by the American president, which are not worthy of a high-ranking statesman, have put Russian-American relations on the verge of rupture, the foreign ministry said.

 Spectre of famine 

Kyiv meanwhile turned to another major world power, China, urging it to play an important role in ending the conflict.

Humanitarian conditions continued to deteriorate in the mostly Russian-speaking south and east, where Russian forces have been pressing their advance, as well as in the north around Kyiv.

Aid agencies are struggling to reach people trapped in besieged cities.

Around 10 million Ukrainians have fled their homes, roughly one-third going abroad, the UN refugee agency said.

The repercussions of the war are spreading far beyond the region, with famine feared in parts of the world because Russia and Ukraine are both major agricultural exporters.

Sudan is in a particularly vulnerable position because 86-87 percent of its wheat imports is coming from Russia and Ukraine combined, warned David Wright, chief operating officer at charity Save the Children.

Signs of strain are also appearing in Russia, where scenes of panic buying at supermarkets prompted authorities to urge the public not to stockpile.

I want to calm our citizens: we are fully self-sufficient when it comes to sugar and buckwheat, deputy Prime Minister Viktoria Abramchenko.

Panic-buying only destabilises the distribution network, she said.

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The United States has declared that violence committed by Myanmars military against the Rohingya, which sparked a mass exodus in 2016-2017, was an attempt to exterminate the mostly Muslim minority and constitutes genocide.

The term, derived from the Greek word genos, for race or tribe, and the suffix cide from the Latin for to kill, was first used to describe the Holocaust of six million Jews during World War II.

AFP takes a look at other genocides that have been recognised by international courts or individual states.

 Namibia: First genocide 

Germany in 2021 acknowledged it had committed genocide in colonial-era Namibia.

German settlers killed tens of thousands of indigenous Herero and Nama people between 1904 and 1908, a massacre historians called the first genocide of the 20th century.

 Armenia 

Armenia says Ottoman Turk forces killed up to 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1917, during World War I.

It has long sought international recognition of this as genocide, backed by around 20 countries and many historians.

The charge is vehemently rejected by Turkey, which admits nonetheless that up to 500,000 Armenians were killed in fighting, massacres or by starvation during mass deportations from eastern Anatolia.

 Cambodia 

During a four-year reign of terror by the Maoist Khmer Rouge regime from April 1975 to January 1979, some two million people died from starvation, mass executions and overwork.

In November 2018, a UN-sponsored tribunal convicted the two top surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge, Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan, of genocide.

Nuon Chea has since died and Khieu Samphan has appealed.

 Rwanda 

The Rwandan genocide began in early April 1994 shortly after the ethnic Hutu president was killed when his plane was shot down in an attack blamed by the government on Tutsi rebels.

At least 800,000 people, mostly Tutsis and some moderate Hutus, were slaughtered over the following 100 days, according to the UN.

The UN set up the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, which issued the worlds first genocide conviction in 1998.

 Srebrenica 

The 1995 massacre at Srebrenica, eastern Bosnia, of almost 8,000 Muslim men and boys by Bosnian Serb forces was recognised as a genocide by the International Court of Justice, the UNs top legal body, in 2007.

Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and military chief Ratko Mladic were handed life sentences for genocide by a special UN court.

 Sudan 

In August 2021, Sudan said it planned to hand over to the International Criminal Court ex-president Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted for genocide over fighting that erupted in the western Darfur region in 2003.

The UN estimates that the Darfur conflict left 300,000 people dead.

 Yazidis in Iraq 

Islamic State jihadists in August 2014 carried out a massacre of Yazidis, a Kurdish-speaking community in northwestern Iraq.

In November 2021, a German court convicted an Iraqi jihadist of genocide.

The parliaments of several Western states have also termed the crimes genocide.

 Rohingya in Myanmar 

Around 740,000 of Myanmars mostly Muslim Rohingya community fled the Buddhist-majority country for Bangladesh from August 2017, amid reports of rape, murder and arson.

Myanmar has been accused of genocide by The Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The International Criminal Court has also opened a probe.

 Uyghurs in China 

Lawmakers in several western countries have denounced a genocide by China of the Uyghur minority.

Rights groups say that at least one million mostly Muslim minorities have been incarcerated in re-education camps in Xinjiang.

China has denied the charge and says it is running vocational training centres in the region designed to counter extremism.
The head of Croatias embattled war-time hospital in the town of Vukovar, Vesna Bosanac, died on Monday, according to officials. She was 73.

Bosanac became the symbol of Vukovars defence and resistance, said Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic of the former pediatrician and one time prisoner of war.

Bosanac gained renown during the bloody, three-month siege of Vukovar by the Yugoslav army and Serb rebels in 1991 during the first year of Croatias independence war.

During the siege, Bosanac oversaw operations at the citys only hospital that treated some 4,000 wounded people and was subjected to regular shelling and artillery fire.

The hospital was bombed every day with an average of 100 projectiles, Bosanac told a UN war crimes court in The Hague in 2003.

After Vukovars fall, Yugoslav forces expelled some 400 people, including several who were badly wounded, from the hospital. More than 260 of them were later executed at a secluded pig farm outside the town.

Bosanac herself was among the approximately 5,000 people who were taken prisoner and transferred to Serbia.

She returned to Croatia during a prisoner exchange later in 1991. After the war, she took over her old position at Vukovars hospital.

More than 1,100 civilians were killed during the Vukovar siege that saw the once-prosperous Danube port virtually razed to the ground.
Lake Keowee is pictured in Oconee County, South Carolina. South Carolina prosecutors decided not to file charges in a case where a man who fell off a recreational watercraft was fatally shot by his rescuer, according to the Oconee County Sheriff's Office.


CITIZENS Coalition for Change (CCC) president Nelson Chamisa said he would defend the ideals and gains of the liberation struggle better than the current administration.

Addressing thousands of supporters at Rujeko Grounds in Masvingo yesterday Chamisa, said the time was ripe for President Emmerson Mnangagwa to step down.

We want Mnangagwa to retire and watch how we run this country. If he goes, we dont need five days to turn the fortunes of the country, we will stop corruption and theft of national resources, Chamisa said.

I can assure you that I can defend the ideals of the revolution better than Mnangagwa. Under my leadership, I will not allow an inch of Zimbabwe, its resources and sovereignty to go into the hands of any foreigner.

Chamisa, who lost a Constitutional Court challenge after Mnangagwa won the controversial 2018 presidential election by a narrow margin, said he would not take the same route.

This time I am not going to take any issue of electoral fraud to court. I tell you this time it is never going to happen, not this time around, Chamisa said.

On land reform, he assured resettled farmers that he would not evict or displace them from their farms.

From left: Former Zanu PF stalwart Dzikamai Mavhaire joins opposition CCC leaders Job Sikhlala, Tabitha Khumalo and Lynette Karenyi-Kore on the dance floor at a rally at Rujeko grounds in Masvingo

If you are a farmer, dont worry. We will not take your farm from you, there will be no reversal of the land reform programme. In fact, we will give you title deeds for your farms, unlike Zanu PF which abuses the land question to make you support it, Chamisa said.

The CCC leader hit back at claims that the opposition had failed to run local authorities.

He (Mnangagwa) has destroyed the country, yet he expects local authorities to function. His stance is equal to asking a person milking a dead cow to have milk, if the national economy is dead, councils cant perform, Chamisa said.

He preached peace, despite attacks on his supporters and himself on several occasions.

We cant allow anyone to die for the attainment of political power. People must be allowed free political choice, if your choice is Zanu PF which brings you hunger, then that is your choice, if you choose CCC for a better life, I will deliver the best for you, he said.

Zimbabweans are going to the polls on Saturday to elect 28 parliamentarians and 105 councillors. Newsday
Several of Oregon's U.S. lawmakers request federal funds for port of Coos Bay
Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly responds to questions in the Foyer of the House of Commons, Tuesday, March 15, 2022, in Ottawa. Joly says Canada will soon impose new sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
A handout photo from the Laval police department shows Adele Sorella. The Court of Appeal has ordered a third trial for a Quebec woman who has twice been convicted of killing her daughters. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO - Le Service de police de Laval, *MANDATORY CREDIT*
Locked-out CP Rail workers protest outside the Lachine Intermodal facility in Montreal, Sunday, March 20, 2022. The pressure is on in Ottawa today as a CP Rail work stoppage enters its second day. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
Two Illinois men face felony charges in connection with a high-speed chase Feb. 13 in the Village of Somers.

Xzevia D. Conner, 23, of Hawthorn Woods, Ill., and James L. Thompson, 44, of Waukegan, Ill., each have been charged with felony counts of attempting to flee/elude an officer.

Thompson also is charged with felony second-degree recklessly endangering safety, along with a misdemeanor count of obstructing an officer.

Connor will make an initial appearance in Kenosha County Circuit Court on March 30 before Commissioner Larry Keating. Court records show a $100,000 arrest warrant was issued for Thompson on March 4.

According to the criminal complaint, a Kenosha County Sheriffs Department deputy observed a vehicle being driven by Conner with a temporary registration plate that was unreadable heading southbound on Highway 31. Thompson was reportedly a front-seat passenger in the vehicle, according to the complaint.

At that point, another vehicle pulled behind the traffic stop, and when questioned the driver of the latest vehicle stating she was friends with the people in the Jeep that had been stopped and was waiting for them.

When police attempted to have Thompson exit the vehicle, they observed a small bag of what appeared to be marijuana in his hand, the complaint states. Thompson allegedly continued to refuse to exit, and another passenger jumped out. Conner then get into the back seat, and Thompson drove away from the scene of the traffic stop.

The pursuit reached speeds of about 95 mph as Thompson drove past Highway K and approached Highway 50, according to the complaint. Deputies terminated the pursuit when it reached Highways 165 and 31.

Court records show that Thompson has three active warrants for his arrest.

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Gateway Technical College administrators are seeing strong interest in a pair of new associates degree programs that are set to debut this fall.

Gateway will offer an associate of science degree emphasizing the science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, fields. The college also will include in its catalog a separate associate of arts degree that will emphasize different areas of study, including the humanities and social sciences.

The pair of new associates degree programs are aimed at providing students with a clear roadmap to an eventual four-year degree. Gateway has collaborated with the University of Wisconsin-Parkside in the effort.

Based on preliminary figures shared during a broader discussion of the 2022-23 school year budget at Gateways monthly District Board meeting Thursday, 60 students have enrolled in the new programs.

We built the budget on 80 new students being in the program, Zina Haywood, executive vice president and provost for academic and campus affairs, said. We believe well probably exceed that.

Faculty positions

Haywood said she put in a request for four teaching faculty positions for the two programs. To date, two of the positions have been filled  one instructor in communications, the other in social science.

If enrollment in the new programs does exceed the 80-student threshold, Haywood said the college could dip into its pool of adjunct teachers to staff additional sections.

Discussions of adding the new associates degree programs spanned multiple years and required approvals from state-level boards overseeing the Wisconsin Technical College System and the University of Wisconsin System.

R. Scott Pierce, chair of the Gateway District Board, said he believes interest in the associates degree programs will remain strong in years to come and advocated they ensure necessary resources are allocated.

I just see those programs growing, Pierce said. I want to make sure we have enough funding.

Preliminary budget

Jason Nygard, director of budget and internal audit, gave the District Board a first glimpse into the 2022-23 school year budget in December.

The process, he said, has been  and continues to be  done with conservative estimates, including a projection for overall enrollment across all Gateway programs being flat in year-over-year comparisons.

As we continue to move forward, we will continue to monitor the enrollment forecast for Fiscal Year 2022, Nygard said.

There have been other adjustments within the past three months, Nygard said, including increased revenue through tuition, which was based on a state-level decision.

The Wisconsin Technical Colleges Board recently approved hiking tuition 1.75 percent in the fall.

Next month, Nygard said he will present the District Board with a full, preliminary budget.

Gateway will hold a formal public hearing on the budget May 4 before the District Board acts on the document in anticipation of the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

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RANDALL  Two newcomers will face off in the April 5 General Election in the bid for a three-year term on the Randall Consolidated School Board.

Electors will choose between Meredith Kurtzeil, 40, a teacher, and Jeffrey Swanson, 35, a vice-president of sales and marketing.

The school district encompasses town of Randall Wards 1-5; village of Twin Lakes Wards, 1, 2, 8, 9 and 10; and Genoa City Ward 6 in Walworth County. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. April 5 in the respective municipalities.

Both candidates answered two questions regarding their qualifications and platform. Their answers are provided in alphabetical order:

Why are you running for office and what qualities or qualifications would you bring to the board?

Kurtzweil: I have been a resident of Twin Lakes for 10 years and I have seen Randall grow and change over the last 9 years. Randall has had changes in administration over the years and I have seen the positive and negative impacts along the way. Being an educator myself, I know the challenges the teachers, students, and administrators face. I have served on many professional committees and I am a leader in the school setting. Also being a parent of three children in the district provides both perspectives on many situations. Randall is moving in a positive direction and I feel I am best fit to continue it.

Swanson: My wife and I moved to the Randall community in 2020 with our three children, two of whom currently attend Randall and the third who will be joining them in 4K next fall! When looking for our new community, our top criteria was the quality of education that would be provided for our children. Quickly it became clear Randall was the district we needed to join. Over the last few years, I have worked to learn about the districts successes and challenges. I have participated on the newly formed Parent Advisory Board, attended Board of Education Meetings, and worked to volunteer at different school activities, allowing me to hear feedback directly from families and staff.

As a highly qualified business professional with experience on finance boards, I will work to create long-term strategic plans and utilize fiscally responsible practices to make an immediate positive impact on the Randall School Board of Education.

What do you see as the biggest issue the school district will face in the upcoming years?

Kurtzweil: I believe the biggest issue in education is the needs of children are forever changing. Standards, curriculum, and academic needs change year to year. It is the school boards responsibility to learn and grow with these changes, keeping the children as top priority. With any decision comes tough conversations with many different perspectives that need to be taken into consideration. These decisions need to be made while keeping in mind budgets, policies, and academics while representing the community as a whole. The school board will need to make sure that all stakeholders are heard and represented. The school boards main purpose is to support the administration and community in the betterment of the children. Students come first and the school board needs to keep them the main priority in the decisions that they make.

Swanson: Our district is currently in the process of hiring a new principal and realigning the leadership structure in the building. This leadership team, along with the District Administrator and Board of Education, will be working on creating a long-term strategic plan for our school. Included in this plan must be a focused effort on hiring and retaining the best educators to ensure our students have the support and resources needed to be successful.

If elected my commitment to the Randall community is to: put students first with a focus on their success, wellness, and safety; ensure that Randall is a school of choice in our community; be an advocate for our students, parents, staff and community; act as a good steward of our tax-payers funds by maintaining fiscally responsible practices.

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Stanley Stosh lay motionless atop a table surrounded by a surgeon, a doctor and a steward, Civil War reenactors of the 17th Corps Field Hospital, who were preparing to operate.

They had named the life-sized Civil War replica soldier and were ready to repair the gunshot wounds to his chest and leg during a half-hour demonstration at the Kenosha Civil War Museum. The surgery simulation was part of a two-day medical weekend at the museum at 5400 First Ave.

What were going to be demonstrating here on this silent volunteer is a little bit of basic surgery. We arent going to get into anything fancy, said Robert Norton, who acted as a surgeon for the demonstration before dozens of onlookers. Were not going to get into amputations, or the like. Just to give you an idea of what we do.

The free event featured interactive displays including touch the artifacts featuring hundreds of original surgical instruments; a potions bar, representing a variety of tinctures and distillations used as medicine; pill-making with an 1800s pill roller; an undertakers take on embalming soldiers who died in battle; and how women nursed the wounded and sick.

The goal of our 17th Corps Field Hospital is to teach the public the Civil War medicine and show by example what they used to do, said William Wetzbarger, a corps member and reenactor, whose real-life job is as an operating room nurse.

Comprising the group are educators, nurses, accountants, first responders and retired law enforcement officers, among others, who perform medical demonstrations throughout the Midwest and the South.

Anesthesia used

Bob Johnson, whose role was as an anesthetic steward for the demonstration, said contrary to Hollywood portrayals, anesthesia was used during surgery and it was not unusual for the attendant administering the gas to step out of the room so he would not be overcome by the ether, which would usually knock out the patient within 6 to 8 minutes. The surgeon would then have between 12 to 16 minutes to operate before having to administer another round of the anesthetic.

Of the 600,000 surgeries performed during the Civil War, on either Union or Confederate sides, less than 80 resulted in death due to too much anesthetic Norton said before plunging his finger into the mannequin to feel for the projectile.

Im feeling something in theretheres definitely something in there, he said, as the crowd grew.

He then took a surgical knife to further open up the wound site and used bullet forceps to pull it out and away from the muscle tissue.

There we go, he said, holding it up. Its a musket ball, a mini ball.

Just when he thought he was done, Norton then discovered something else in the wound.

This is a very unlucky soldier, he said. Its a button. Obviously, he was standing behind another soldier who got shot. Bullet hit the button, drove it through the first soldier into him.

The medical corps

The 17th Corps Field Hospital is an Illinois-based nonprofit group of Civil War reenactors who play the roles of doctors, surgeons and nurses for the largest Civil War Medical unit in the Midwest. During the Civil War, the corps marched alongside Union General William Tecumseh Sherman through Georgia and the Carolinas.

Ed Milam, who portrayed an attending physician assisting with the surgery, assisted with pulling out another musket ball right above the patients ankle. T

hey explained that many doctors were private physicians but only some had medical degrees. Following an apprenticeship, these doctors were often certified by the physicians for whom they apprenticed. Medical doctors, or those with degrees, paid $1,000 for what was back then a 2-year program, according to Norton. Most of the medical schools were in the north.

Of the 11,000 doctors in the Union army, only 500 had experience or training in surgery. Among the Confederates, of the 7,000 doctors, only 27 with surgical experience had completed formal medical school training.

No sterilized tools

Sterilizing surgical implements was virtually unheard of with field physicians simply washing off an instrument if it got too sticky and then, at the end of the day, polishing it with some oil, according to corps.

Why should I wash my instruments if Im still using them? said Norton, fully in character of a surgeon of the time. During the war, in hospitals, such as those in New York, physicians discovered that cleansing their hands with a diluted solution of iodide resulted in better survival outcomes for patients, as did spraying carbolic acid prior to surgery, he noted.

Advancements that occurred during the war included the organization of the first ambulance service by Union Dr. Jonathan Letterman. The Ambulance Corps was deployed during the Battle of Antietam.

Female doctors

Norton also dispelled the notion that there were no women doctors.

One of the most famous was Dr. Mary Walker, he said, the only female doctor to earn the Medal of Honor for her service.

Despite the medal being awarded in 1865 by then President Andrew Johnson, she was stripped of the honor after the war because she was a woman, Norton said.

She basically told them all to pound sand and she continued to wear her medal every day for the rest of her life, he said.

Her honor was restored 112 years later by President Jimmy Carter in 1977.

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Immigration reform is dead.

For this year, for next year, and for the year after that. It never had a chance.

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Democrats have neither the votes, nor the will, to provide a path to citizenship for our countrys undocumented immigrants. Despite their lofty words, they believe that Donald Trumps victory in 2016 was aided by many Americans fear that immigrants might take away the little they have. They are afraid that trick will work again.

Democrats have neither the votes nor the will, to provide a path to citizenship for our countrys undocumented immigrants. (Shutterstock)

Advocates need to stop spending millions of foundation dollars, and our sweat and toil, on a futile quest for broad reform. Instead, lets focus on demanding the Biden administration use its administrative powers to help at least some deserving immigrants. Here are three suggestions.

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Streamline U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services processing. A naturalization applicant who files their application today likely wont get U.S. citizenship until mid-2023. Applications for employment authorization are taking from a few months to more than a year. Now that the pandemic is waning, USCIS needs to prioritize citizenship and work permission applications, and find ways to streamline the process.

Naturalization applicants should be sworn in remotely after they pass their interviews. USCIS should expand its current automatic employment authorization extension initiative to all categories.

Parole in place for relatives of U.S. citizens and permanent residents. Many relatives of U.S. citizens and permanent residents cannot process their green cards in the United States because of old laws that require them to go home for their immigrant visa interviews. U.S. consulates, where these interviews happen, are backed up more than USCIS.

Parole in place, a program already available for relatives of U.S. military service members, will allow these individuals to interview for green cards here, the process called adjustment of status. They could get employment authorization while their cases are pending and permission to travel abroad to see loved ones.

Expand Temporary Protective Status: When war or natural disaster hits a country, the Department of Homeland Security can grant nationals of the country TPS. This allows them to live and work in the United States with the right to travel abroad. The most recent DHS grant was to Afghans, and before that Ukrainians. Why not extend the TPS cutoff date for El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua, and add Guatemala and Ethiopia?

Allan Wernick is an attorney and director of the City University of New Yorks Citizenship Now! project. Email questions and comments to questions@allanwernick.com. Follow him on Twitter: @awernick.
Overall, the health system in the United States is still not tilting its axes in favor of either primary care or family doctor. What is worse, family doctors as a collective are more balkanized and less cohesive than ever. There is a sense among those in the field that something is not right about the specialty. Some feel there is a bait-and-switch aspect to becoming a family doctor. It ends up being something much different than what they were initially told. Others feel it is an impossible job to do well. The ask is too big for them. Still others believe sincerely in the ideal definition of the role, that of the generalist or comprehensive doctor, but find themselves working too hard or sacrificing too much to get it done. They find other niche-oriented ways to convince themselves they are doing true family medicine work. Family doctors everywhere are searching out more sustainable career paths for themselves, leading to so much career variety that the very label family doctor starts losing its preferred connotation.

Timothy Hoff is a professor of management and author of Searching for the Family Doctor: Primary Care on the Brink.

He shares his story and discusses his article, Family medicine and the fight for the soul of health care.

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Hosted by Kevin Pho, MD, The Podcast by KevinMD shares the stories of the many who intersect with our health care system but are rarely heard from.
Looking to update your home? Watch the KHQ Spring Home Design Guide featuring the areas top home improvement businesses on Sat, May 7 at 4:30pm on KHQ. And click here to win a $500 VISA gift card, courtesy of our presenting partner - VPC Electric!
The Spokane Valley Fire Department would like to remind residents that electrical type fires can be unpredictable, so it's best to call at the first signs of potential fire and not delay or wait until you see visible flames.
People turned out in force on Sunday to take part in the Mayors Walk for Ukraine and show their support to the Ukrainian community in Kilkenny.

Mayor Andrew McGuinness organised the event, which raised almost 1,200 for The Red Cross Ukraine and UNICEF Ukraine.

I want to thank everyone for turning up to support the Walk for Ukraine on Sunday and for the crew on the dragon boat who took to the river in the Ukrainian colours to show their support.

 It really was fantastic to see so many people come out in solidarity with Ukraine and to support out Ukrainian community living in Kilkenny and seeking asylum here.

It was heartwarming to see so many Ukrainian families, some who have just arrived, receive so much support in Kilkenny. I know, from talking to them on Sunday, that our Ukrainian community really feel that support and are comforted by it. That is very important.

As a community we came together and we sent a clear message that we stand with Ukraine, we support our Ukrainian community and that we welcome Ukrainians seeking asylum.

As Mayor of Kilkenny I was deeply proud to see that support come out in force on Sunday. It was an emotional occasion for many people but hugely positive and I am grateful to everyone for their support, added the Mayor.

Fundraisers for Ukraine are continuing around the city and county as people rally to raise awareness and funds for those affected by the humanitarian crisis.

To donate directly to charities on the ground see www.redcross.ie and www.unicef.ie
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South Africa: Hiring undocumented foreigners contributes to social tensions, says President

President Cyril Ramaphosa says when employers knowingly hire undocumented foreign workers, they contribute towards social tensions between citizens and foreign nationals in the country.

I want to take this occasion to address employers in this country, including in hospitality, agriculture, transport and other labour-intensive sectors. When employers knowingly hire undocumented foreign workers, they are breaking the law, the President said on Monday.

He made these remarks during the 2022 Human Rights Day national event at the Reagile Community Centre in Koster, North West.

Those who want to live and work in our country must, however, be documented, and have the right to be here [and] work here, President Ramaphosa said.

He said the Departments of Home Affairs and Employment and Labour continue to engage with employers to ensure compliance with the immigration and labour laws of the country.

As a country founded on tolerance, respect for diversity and non-discrimination, we must never allow ourselves to turn against people who come from beyond our borders.

Like those countries that gave us shelter during the dark times of apartheid, we must be a welcoming country, particularly of refugees fleeing persecution elsewhere, the President said.

As the country observed Human Rights Day, the President affirmed that democracy and human rights must be enjoyed by all those who live in the country.

Today marks 62 years since the Sharpeville Massacre occurred on 21 March 1960, where 69 anti-apartheid protesters were killed by the police.

This national day also honours the 35 people who were killed when police cracked down on community members in Langa, Uitenhage, where they had attended a funeral on 21 March 1985.

Racism has no place in SA

The President said there is much work still to be done to build the bridges of tolerance and understanding in the country.

He said incidents of racism and intolerance in schools, workplaces, communities, universities, and professional sectors sadden and anger those affected by it.

These incidents have no place in our society, where we still struggle to heal the divisions of the past, the President said.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Ronald Lamola, said the various incidents of racism, lawlessness and attacks on black African foreign nationals, and sometimes Asian foreign nationals, show that as a nation, humanity is at an all-time low.

The recent and to some extent constant waves of violence that besiege our nation at various times show us that we are at war, and in the process, it is our collective actions as communities that derail and erode our fellow human beings human rights.

Collectively, we are not battling to end poverty. We are battling ourselves. Let our actions not destroy our humanity and the gains of our democracy. Instead, our actions should entrench the Bill of Rights in all spheres of our society, the Minister said.

Efforts to address unemployment

The President said unemployment is one of the greatest obstacles to the achievement of the rights of all South Africans.

As part of our efforts to grow the economy and create jobs, we are driving a number of initiatives under the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan.

To address the social and economic effects of COVID-19, we have introduced the COVID-19 social relief of distress grant, the special UIF wage support scheme, relief funding to small businesses and the Presidential Employment Stimulus.

To safeguard the health of our people and support the recovery of the economy, we have implemented the largest mass vaccination campaign in our democracys history, the President said.

He said eliminating poverty and inequality remains governments focus as the country strives to recover from the effects of the pandemic.

As government, we pledge on this Human Rights Day that we remain committed to progressively fulfilling the human rights of all.

Let us work together to ensure that the Constitution makes a difference in the daily lives of all our people. Let us build a nation founded on human rights and dignity, and let us leave no one behind, the President said.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2022-03-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
By Jun Sheng

The Ukraine issue is enmeshed in extreme historical complexities and it has evolved to the current state as a result of the interplay of a variety of factors. One key reason why it has kept fermenting and escalating is Americas endless efforts to form small cliques and create regional confrontation and bloc opposition.

After the end of the Cold War, the US-led NATO, instead of mending ties with Russia, expanded its boundary eastward five rounds in breach of their agreements, thus stretching its sphere of influence to Russias doorstep, and deployed huge amounts of advanced aggressive strategic weapons there.

At the same time, the US and its western allies, taking advantage of the linguistic and ethnic differences between the eastern and western parts of Ukraine, deliberately fomented confrontation, division and conflict. The two Color Revolutions that happened in Ukraine under Americas intervention and manipulation have left the country a shambles of party in-fighting, ethnic hostility, and social splintering, which have finally escalated into the crisis today.

A look back on the historical roots of the Ukraine issue, especially the evolution of the situation since last October, reveals how the US, instead of mediating for peace, has been stoking the flames and instigating warfare along with its allies. Now that war is really on, the trouble maker is trying to shift the blame and profit off the crisis, a deplorable move that has truly opened the worlds eyes to how low a major country is capable of stooping to.

The Ukraine crisis is a typical example of Americas obsession with clique forming and bloc politics that seriously undermines regional security and stability. For a long time, Washington, defying international law and rules, has divided the world with an ideological line and ganged up with its allies to suppress other countries development and maintain its own hegemony through long-arm jurisdiction, economic sanction, and other forms of bullying. In the Middle East, it has roped in one group to suppress another and deliberately created regional conflicts to divide and rule, while forcing countries in the region to pick sides through the so-called offshore balancing. Besides, the US and its allies have repeatedly bypassed the UN Security Council to wage wars, causing immense civilian casualties and losses of properties as well as a raft of social woes in a number of countries.

In recent years, the US has left no stone unturned in advancing its so-called Indo-Pacific strategy with allies in the name of developing relations with ASEAN members, but countries are perfectly aware of how this strategy is becoming a synonym for bloc politics. Washington is trumpeting about promoting regional cooperation while playing geopolitical tricks; it is clamoring for a return to multilateralism while forming exclusive clubs; it is claiming to preserve international rules while busily making its own gang rules. From reinforcing the Five Eyes to peddling the Quad, from knocking up the trilateral security partnership to tightening bilateral military alliance, the US is no doubt the chief culprit for sabotaging peace and stability in the Asia Pacific region.

The real purpose of the Indo-Pacific strategy is to create an Indo-Pacific version of NATO to maintain the US-dominated hegemony, but such a system will undermine the ASEAN-centered regional cooperation architecture and damage the overall and long-term interests of regional countries.

While the world is still facing multiple challenges  resurgence of COVID-19 cases, economic recovery, and fragile supply chain, pursuing common development through solidarity and cooperation is the common consensus and expectation of people in all countries. We advise the US side to abandon the Cold War mindset and ideological bias, stop forming gangs and cliques against the trend of the time, and stop splitting the world through bloc opposition under the disguise of multilateralism. It had better make some serious self-reflection, otherwise, a disgraceful failure will be its only destiny.
One of more than 400 New Yorkers whose convictions were tossed following a review of cases handled by an NYPD detective accused of lying has sued the city, saying a bogus arrest in 2013 destroyed his livelihood.

Sterling Medine, 32, claims in his wrongful arrest lawsuit that hes another victim of narcotics Det. Joseph Franco, who was indicted in 2019 for perjury and false statements. Medine pleaded guilty to criminal sale of a controlled substance in 2013, but the conviction was overturned last year due to prosecutors lack of trust in Franco.

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Medine told the Daily News he spent $100,000 opening his cellphone store, Soft Touch Wireless, on Morris Ave. in the Bronx. But his dreams of running his own business were shattered in 2013 when Franco alleged that Medine sold him drugs during an undercover operation and arrested him outside his own store, according to the lawsuit filed in Bronx Supreme Court on March 8.

Medine says he  and his business  were victims of Francos fabrications.

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I took all my savings, everything I ever saved to open up this store, he told the Daily News. It was real hard for me to just let that go.

Sterling Medine (Courtesy of Sterling Medine)

Medine was hanging out in Soft Touch Wireless in the afternoon on Aug. 15, 2013 when undercover officer Franco asked if he could buy some flacko. Medine didnt respond, according to the suit. The shop owner walked outside to smoke a cigarette when he was arrested by Franco, Det. Gary Porter and other cops, he says in the suit.

Medine says he realized later that cops had taken about $20,000 in cash from his store  which operated mostly in cash transactions. The money was forfeited in the case and never returned to Medine.

Former NYPD Detective Joseph Franco, center, leaves a Manhattan Supreme Court courtroom on April 24, 2019. (Alec Tabak/AP)

Medine spent three days in jail and cops raided the store twice more in the next six months, further alienating his customer base.

Once a business gets raided, even if it wasnt true, people wont see it like that, Medine said.

Medine pleaded guilty in his case to criminal sale of a controlled substance in 2013, hoping to put the incident behind him.

But in 2021 Bronx DA Darcel Clark asked a judge to throw out Medines conviction based on Franco making the arrest, the suit says. Medine insists the charges were made up.

Soft Touch Wireless store in the Bronx. (Courtesy of Sterling Medine)

Clark has tossed roughly 250 cases tied to Franco. Her office expects to seeks to dismiss more than 500 cases tied to Franco. DAs in Brooklyn and Manhattan, as well as the Special Narcotics Prosecutor, have also moved to dismiss more than 200 Franco cases.

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Franco, 50, has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges in Manhattan of lying on the stand in three unrelated drug cases. He was fired from the NYPD in 2020. His attorney did not respond to an inquiry. The criminal case is still pending.

Inside the Soft Touch Wireless store in the Bronx. (Courtesy of Sterling Medine)

The financial hit caused by the money seized by cops, legal fees and the stores damaged reputation prompted Medine to close the business permanently, he said.

The NYPD declined to comment on the suit.

Disgraced former detective Francos lies and illegal arrest of Sterling Medine not only made a mockery of the judicial system, but also did enormous damage to Sterlings life, said Cass Luskin, Medines attorney with Shulman & Hill.

The suit filed against the officers as well as the city alleges malicious prosecution, false arrest and other constitutional violations and is seeking unspecified damages.

I was never contacted about getting my money back, Medine said. I need to be reimbursed for my hassle.

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The city Law Department did not respond to an inquiry.
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Kokomo, IN (46901)

Today

Cloudy with occasional rain during the afternoon. High 59F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

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Rain likely. Low 53F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall around a half an inch.
Accused Sarah Lawrence College sex cult leader Lawrence Ray was particularly cruel to one follower, forcing him to wear a dress and even shove a sex toy in his mouth as part of a twisted lesson about the vulnerable acolytes sexuality, a witnesses testified Monday.

Daniel Levin, 31, was subjected to numerous humiliating abuses after sharing with Ray in 2012 that he was questioning his sexuality, another member of the cult, Claudia Drury, said on the stand in Manhattan Federal Court.

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In one instance, Ray, 62, made Levin put on a dress and venture out of the groups Upper East Side apartment to pick up mail downstairs, Drury said.

Lawrence Ray (Courtesy of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York)

Larry asked Dan, Do you want to wear the dress? and he told me that Dan did really want to wear the dress. So he made Dan put on the dress and go down and get mail wearing the dress, said Drury, who heard about the incident from Ray.

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Rays daughter, Talia, and his lieutenant, Isabella Pollok, who is also charged in the case, laughed about the incident, Drury recalled.

Daniel Levin (U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York)

They just found it funny, Drury said.

Ray then took the degradation further, directing Pollok to get her biggest sex toy, Drury said.

Ray allegedly ordered that Levin fit the toy in his mouth  and took a photo, which was described in court.

Breaking News As it happens Get updates on the coronavirus pandemic and other news as it happens with our free breaking news email alerts. >

His face is very contorted, hes staring right at the camera, Drury said. He looks panicked and very questioning and very scared and just like its not a look Ive ever seen on anyones face again.

Ray said the bizarre punishment was helpful and clarifying for Levin, according to Drury.

Ray is on trial for physically and mentally abusing a small group of college students and other young people from 2010 to 2020. Hes pleaded not guilty. Pollok, who will face a separate trial, has also pleaded not guilty.

In another bizarre humiliation, Ray fashioned a noose out of tinfoil and tightened it around Levins genitals, Drury said.

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He created like a noose out of tinfoil ... and was asking him questions and as Dan was answering incorrectly ... he was like pulling it tighter, Drury said.

Victims in the trial have testified that Ray dominated them through sexual humiliation and complete control over their sex lives.

Drury testified Friday that Ray forced her to work as a prostitute for four years. She said she gave $2.5 million in proceeds to Ray to repay him for bogus debts he convinced her she owed. She said she did sex work 24/7, seeing three to five men a day.
COLUMBIA - Residents could soon have another option for trash pick up.

Roll carts are up for discussion again at this week's city council meeting. The city clerk accepted a petition with more than 3,000 signatures in favor of repealing the 2016 ruling that banned roll carts.

The council will do a first reading of the petition at Monday's meeting. Council members will make a decision to override the ban in their April 4 meeting or if they can't, it will move to public voters to decide in a referendum in August.

One city council member said he's neutral on the issue. Though, Karl Skala, Columbia City Council, Ward 3 incumbent, said a switch to roll carts won't happen overnight.

"This conversion will probably cost about $12 million. And that probably will have to be strung out over three or four or five years," Skala said. "The private sector company that we used to provide the bags and the logo have not lived up to their contract."

Offering up one solution for roll cart distribution if the ordinance is turned over, Skala said Columbians can have a choice between small, medium and large carts, but still continue the "pay as you throw" method.

Skala said citizens are the ones who should have the most power in government.

He mentioned, "It's their voices in terms of how they affect the city management."

Yet, those in favor of roll carts said the current system isn't working.

Rachel Proffitt was the petition organizer for citizens in favor of roll carts.

Proffitt said, "The quality of these [city issued] bags is just a hit or miss."

KOMU 8 News reached out to the City of Columbia Utilities Department, but it declined to comment. The city manager, De'Carlon Seewood, also declined to comment, his office noted he would speak about the issue only after Monday's meeting.

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Here's what's also happening Monday evening. Ward redistricting will be addressed.

"[The system] is supposed to be based on population, it's not supposed to be based on behavioral expectation," said Skala.

Council members selected Map B for their reapportionment recommendation. It won't take into effect until after the municipal election on April 5.

After the 2020 census, more than 1,200 people will move from the 1st ward to the 2nd ward, about 1,100 people will move from the fifth to the fourth and less than 700 people will be in the sixth ward instead of the fourth.

Skala also explained why it's crucial to have accurate districts to boost proper voter participation.

"That is still paramount, I mean, the benefit of providing for heterogeneity in all of the wards that is from the most conservative to the most liberal residents," Skala said.

Moreover, Job Point will be asking the council for $200,000 to put towards construction training facilities, commercial driving simulations and software to store customer's data.

Before the pandemic, CEO Stephen Smith said there were about 425 to 450 regular members each year. He said he's trying to get Job Point's rates back to seeing numbers like these, as COVID-related setbacks are starting to decline.

"We can get closer to 500 or more a year. Spring is normally a time when we see more people coming to us," Smith said in an interview.

According to Smith, there's a huge demand for commercial driver, some jobs normally get anywhere between $5 to $7 more an hour, and going through his program will help people turn their lives around.

Smith wants to strike down the barriers to employment, because the vast majority of people he serves are people who have fallen through the cracks of society.

The meeting starts at 6:45 p.m. Watch the livestream in the above media player or on KOMU 8 streaming apps.
Supreme Court nominee, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, seen here on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on March 15, is preparing for questions about her record on crime.
Gary Stamper, Eric Greitens' listed attorney in the child custody case, statement:

In their mediated agreement the parties promised to insulate their two children from public exposure and discourse. Missouri court rules governing divorced parties conduct toward one another provide strong incentive for spouses to timely disclose to the court any fact-based and genuine concern regarding issues such as the allegations contained in Mothers unsolicited affidavit at the earliest opportunity before a divorce decree is entered. A neutral observer might conclude Mothers admitted silence through the discord common to failing marriages while simultaneously concocting an advantageous strategy to circumvent a previously agreed upon court order suggests her motivation might be less than honorable. Common sense suggests that no parent would agree to share joint legal and physical custody with the fictional parent described in the filing leaked to the press before it was submitted to the court. The recent filing confirms the wisdom of Mark Twain, A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. The only audience that matters now is the judge who approved the parties agreement and has the power to change it.
Quarantine officials check travelers at Incheon International Airport, Dec. 9, 2021. Yonhap





Tourists and airport workers were heartened Monday as the country's nearly two-year-long mandatory quarantine for international travelers was lifted for fully vaccinated people.







Starting Monday, those who completed their vaccination no more than 180 days ago or got a third booster shot will no longer be subject to a seven-day self-quarantine upon arrival from overseas, except those coming from Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine and Myanmar.







The quarantine exemption is expected to open up international travel for Koreans nearly two years after the first COVID-19 outbreak here and subsequent self-quarantine requirements on international arrivals.







At Incheon International Airport, the country's main gateway, travelers welcomed the measure.







"We were going to go ahead with our honeymoon anyway despite any quarantine requirements, but the latest relaxation measure made our trip far easier and less burdensome," said Hong Seok-woo, a 30-something newlywed, who was waiting to board a flight with his wife Lee Eun-seon at Terminal 1.







"I was anxious about getting a positive PCR test result, which would have forced the cancellation of the trip. But with a negative result, combined with other positive news, we will have a wonderful honeymoon," he said.







A 45-year-old businessman, who identified himself by his family name Kim, said, "The latest measure took a load off my work," having had to call off business trips to the United States due to quarantine requirements.







Workers at airport facilities also voiced hopes the quarantine relaxation would bring back customers and revive their businesses.







"I am expecting the abolition of the quarantine possibly to bring back customers," said Lee Jin-key, a restaurant manager at the airport. "I am developing a new menu and planning to increase our grocery orders while employing one more server."







A manager at another airport restaurant was more cautious in painting a rosy picture, saying, "There may be more customers on the whole, but it will probably be after April before customers (fully) come back."







The departure gates at Terminal 1 remained quiet on the first day of the quarantine relaxation, with many check-out counters closed.







Industry watchers predict the country may take some time to regain the pre-COVID-19 level of international travel amid soaring oil prices and a possible "stealth Omicron" wave.







An average 12,565 people traveled via Incheon International Airport every day in the first 20 days of March, only about 5 percent of the corresponding numbers of 200,000 to 230,000 seen before the pandemic, according to airport officials. (Yonhap)






From left, Latvian ambassador to Korea Aris Vigants, National Library of Korea chief executive Suh Hye-ran, Estonian ambassador to Korea Sten Schwede and Lithuanian charge d'affaires Vilijus Samuila take part in the opening ceremony of "The Baltic Way" exhibition at the National Library of Korea in southern Seoul, March 14. Courtesy of National Library of Korea



By Kwon Mee-yoo



The geographic term, "the Baltic states," refers to three European countries, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which are all located on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. Sharing a similar history  regaining independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union, joining the United Nations and later the European Union  the three countries have been building diplomatic relations with Korea since 1991.



Though less familiar to Koreans, the ties between Korea and the Baltic states have been flourishing more recently as Estonia opened its embassy in Korea in late 2020 and Lithuania in 2021, highlighting for each the growing significance of relations with Korea. Latvia was the first to open its embassy here back in 2015.



The three embassies of the Baltic states have joined hands with the National Library of Korea (NLK) to give a glimpse into their scenic beauty and rich culture, as well as state-of-the-art innovation and technology, through the exhibition, "The Baltic Way."



Suh Hye-ran, chief executive of the NLK, noted the beautiful natural environment and abundant cultural resources of the three Baltic countries, where visitors can experience towns and streets dating back to the middle ages as well as of modern Europe.



"Although the Baltic countries are far from Korea, we have a lot in common. Historically we have in common that we were once occupied by stronger nations before, but we then became free, which makes us close friends," Suh said during the exhibition's opening ceremony, March 14.



"This exhibition is part of various cultural exchanges celebrating the 31st anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. I hope, through this opportunity, that we can expand our understanding about our culture and literature and that this leads to more prosperous cooperation in the future."



Though they share similar historical experiences, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have their own distinctive cultures, heritage and landmarks and the exhibit offers a series of photos to sample the characteristics of each country.



Lithuania is in the south of the Baltic region and is a country with a diverse landscape, from its eco-friendly capital, Vilnius, to the UNESCO World Heritage Curonian Spit.



"We are very proud that we have possibility to present what we have reached throughout 30 years of independence as well as how we are similar and how we are different. The similarities and differences just make us even more beautiful," Lithuania's charge d'affaires in Korea, Vilijus Samuila, said.



Latvia is the middle country of the three, known for preserving its pristine natural environment as well as for possessing some impressive examples of Art Nouveau architecture in its capital, Riga.





Installation view of the exhibition, "The Baltic Way," at the National Library of Korea / Courtesy of the National Library of Korea
Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Moon Sung-wook, front right, walks through the lobby at Hanul Nuclear Power Plant in Uljin, North Gyeongsang Province, March 18. Yonhap



By Lee Kyung-min



The government is rushing to make a rapid course correction in its nuclear energy policy, as evidenced by the energy minister calling for swift construction of four nuclear energy plants, a plan that has long been stalled and faced political disruptions under the Moon Jae-in administration.



The trade ministry has dismissed the brewing criticism over policy inconsistencies. However, his marked flip-flopping calls into question whether and how deep Cheong Wa Dae was involved, since he made it clear in late January that expansion of nuclear energy was "not desirable."



On March 18, Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Moon Sung-wook visited Hanul Nuclear Power Plant in Uljin, North Gyeongsang Province, operated by Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, and reiterated the need for the speedy construction of four nuclear power plants.



"Please ensure the full use of the nuclear energy plants in operation for a stable energy supply, and that there are no complications or delays in building Hanul 1 and 2 as well as Shin Kori 5 and 6," he said.



The sudden emphasis contradicts his stance expressed during a press briefing Jan. 25, when he said that the government "does not have a favorable view on the expansion of nuclear energy."



He said it was undesirable to construct new nuclear power plants in Korea "unless safe storage and disposal of high-level radioactive waste including spent nuclear fuel can be guaranteed."



The notable directive change will lead to a prompt resumption of the four plants, putting an end to years of uncertainty brought on by the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, a nuclear safety regulation- and policy-making body criticized for a slew of politically motivated and ideology-driven decisions.



A safety and viability review scheduled to be led by the commission was dragged on due to a lack of agreement among the members.



Also underlying the latest policy turn are a sudden embrace of nuclear policy by President Moon Jae-in and President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's energy plans centering on restoring reliance on the much-blasted energy source.



Moon said on Feb. 25 that the government should use nuclear energy as a core energy source for the next 60 years. Yoon said on March 10 that he would develop Korea as a global leader in nuclear technology.


A young woman and a 16-year-old boy turned themselves in to authorities Monday and were charged with attempted murder in a harrowing knife attack on two high school kids in Queens, police said.

Jamia Dean, 20, who lives only a couple of blocks from John Adams High School in Ozone Park, and the teen boy surrendered to police at the 106th Precinct stationhouse after cops put out photos seeking their whereabouts following the attack.

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At her arraignment Monday night, Dean was charged with attempted murder, assault and criminal possession of a weapon. Queens CriminalCourt Judge Jessica Earle-Gargan set Deans next court date for Friday.

Two male students, ages 16 and 17, from the high school were talking to Dean and the other suspect across the street from the building when an argument broke out March 15 and the couple stabbed the 17-year-old in the stomach and the 16-year-old in the leg and back, cops said.

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John Adams High School

The wounded teens fled inside the high school, where they told authorities about the assault, according to the NYPD.

If students are not safe, they cannot learn, state Sen. James Sanders (D-Queens) said after the incident. School safety should always be a priority. We need to encourage young people to settle their differences in a nonviolent manner. and we can do that through mediation and juvenile court.

The older victim was rushed to Jamaica Hospital, where he was in critical but stable condition, cops said. Medics took the younger teen to Long Island Jewish Medical Center, where he was in stable condition.

Neither of the suspects have prior arrests, according to cops. Lawyers for the suspects could not be immediately located.
DPK should go all-out to regain public trust



The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) is still reeling from the aftermath of its defeat in the March 9 presidential election. It is now run by an interim leader after Chairman Song Young-gil resigned, taking responsibility for the election loss to Yoon Suk-yeol of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP).



DPK floor leader Rep. Yun Ho-jung has become the party's interim leader. He is co-heading the party's emergency committee with Park Ji-hyun, a 26-year-old activist who has worked toward eradicating online sex crimes. However, the emergency leadership's legitimacy is questioned because Yun is one of those accountable for the party's failure to win the election.



It is regrettable to see the DPK plunging into a factional strife. Some lawmakers were calling for Lee Jae-myung, the DPK's presidential candidate, to lead the emergency committee, because Lee lost the election by the narrowest margin of 0.73 percentage points in the history of the Republic of Korea. They must have forgotten opinion polls that well over a majority of people have opted for a change of government. Anyway, voters delivered a stern judgement on the Moon Jae-in administration.



Half of the committee's members are young DPK members in their 20s and 30s. The makeup of the panel appears to be aimed at injecting fresh air into the party. But the DPK has yet to go beyond its factional confrontation even after it failed to extend its rule. Most of all the party should reflect on its defeat and understand why voters turned their backs on its candidate.



A set of policy failures of the Moon government and the ruling party were cited as the reason for the election loss. Yet, the underlying causes could have been the arrogance and self-righteousness of the ruling elite. Members of the ruling camp seemed to forget that they came to power with the help of candlelight rallies that contributed to the impeachment of then President Park Geun-hye who was later convicted of corruption and abuse of power.



Right after taking office in May 2017, President Moon vowed to create a fair and just society by cleaning up old evils of the previous administration. However, the Moon government has repeated the same mistakes of the corrupt and incompetent Park administration. By appointing his close confidant Cho Kuk as justice minister, President Moon broke his promise to restore fairness and justice. He even tried to sack then Prosecutor General Yoon Suk-yeol, who has now won the presidential election on the ticket of the PPP, because Yoon launched an investigation into corruption allegations involving Cho and his family.



Now, the Moon administration and the ruling party should humbly accept the election results. They must do their best to regain the public's trust before it hands over power to the incoming Yoon administration and the PPP on May 10. It is also necessary for the DPK to reform itself to be reborn as a new party that can serve the nation and the people better. Otherwise, the DPK is likely to suffer another setback in the upcoming June 1 local elections.










By Sally C. Pipes



The pandemic has laid bare a crisis we've ignored for far too long  our chronic doctor shortage. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the United States faces a shortfall of up to 124,000 physicians over the next decade.



This is a supply problem, as the demand for care will only go up. So we must create more doctors  by expanding medical school capacity and increasing the number of residency slots where budding doctors can complete their training.



The causes of this looming shortage are many. Over half of doctors in this country are 55 or older and heading for retirement. Our aging population is increasing the overall demand for medical care.



Burnout is also becoming a bigger problem. Even before the pandemic, long hours, stifling bureaucracy and a lack of autonomy had been causing many doctors to hang up their stethoscopes early. The horrors and stresses of COVID-19 pushed many more out of active practice.



The shortage does not hit all Americans equally. Rural areas and poorer communities are more likely to lack the physicians they need.



We're in this mess, in part, because of policies that ensued from a flawed, four-decade-old federal government report. In 1981, the Graduate Medical Education National Advisory Committee concluded that America would have a large surplus of physicians. The committee said that medical school enrollment had increased too much during the '60s and '70s.



The report is one reason why no new M.D.-granting medical schools were established until after the new millennium.



By 2006, the Association of American Medical Colleges issued its own report claiming that new medical schools were needed to avoid an impending doctor shortage.



Today, we're graduating far too few doctors. Only 36.2 percent of those who apply to medical school end up matriculating, according to AAMC data from 2021-22.



The United States cuts a sorry figure in the data for medical graduates per 100,000 people among developed countries. In 2019, Ireland topped the list with 24.8 medical graduates for every 100,000 inhabitants. That year, the United States had just 8.1 per 100,000 people. Italy, Slovakia, Belgium and the Czech Republic all had twice as many medical graduates per capita in 2019 as we did.



Med school admissions are, of course, supposed to be competitive. But how many people are denied the chance to become doctors simply because there aren't enough desks  not because they wouldn't make great physicians?



Med school applications have been increasing for decades  by two-thirds since 2005. Last year, a record 62,000 prospective students applied. Acceptance rates are stunningly low, with only 7 of every 100 applicants admitted on average. At Harvard, the figure is 2.8.



There's no escaping it  more slots are desperately needed. Money is targeting student enrollment. The University of Utah will use a $110 million donation to increase each class' size from 125 to 155, as well as to raise the number of residency slots it offers to finish training doctors.



There's more. UMass Medical School received a "transformational" $175 million gift from the Morningside Foundation. Western Michigan University's Medical School has received gifts totaling $300 million that could lead to a transformational growth in its student body.



Rowan University in New Jersey recently received an $85 million donation for a new osteopathic school of medicine. Belmont University in Tennessee got $10 million from its board of trustees chair to bolster its med school, and Wake Forest secured $25 million from the Howard R. Levine Foundation to go toward a brand-new medical school in Charlotte.



We could also use more residency slots, the postgraduate sites where medical graduates complete their training. This past December, the federal government committed to fund 200 new slots per year over five years through Medicare. It's the largest increase in Medicare-funded residencies in more than a quarter-century.



Private philanthropists and other organizations dedicated to improving health care should seriously consider augmenting efforts like this one by funding residencies themselves.

Given the scope of the doctor shortage, we need many more actors to join the fight. This is a crisis we can stop.





Sally C. Pipes is president, CEO, and Thomas W. Smith fellow in health care policy at the Pacific Research Institute. Her latest book is "False Premise, False Promise: The Disastrous Reality of Medicare for All." Her commentary was distributed by Tribune Content Agency.










Angola, IN (46703)

Today

Mostly cloudy with some showers in the afternoon. High near 60F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Rain likely. Low 48F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall near a half an inch.
Two men were arrested for stealing a car, along with other charges, March 10.

An officer with Lake County Sheriff's Department Drug Task Force  High Crime Unit observed a Jeep Grand Cherokee fail to stop at a red light during the evening on I-65 and US-231, police said.

The officer had heard on his police radio that the Jeep had already attempted to evade a Munster police officer.

He then attempted to make a traffic stop, but the vehicle entered the entrance ramp to I-65 and began speeding at a rate higher than 100 miles per hour, police said. He swerved to switch lanes and pass other traffic multiple times.

At the US-30 overpass, the driver slowed as he approached police officers positioned to stop the vehicle. The driver attempted to go around officers by driving the wrong way on a ramp, sideswiping another vehicle which left the scene, police said.

The Jeep reentered I-65 and struck stop sticks placed by police officers, leading to a rear tire deflating and falling off the vehicle, police said. The Jeep crashed into the median and the two men got out and ran toward Merrillville High School, police said.

Department K-9 Thanos pursued and stopped one. Both men were taken into custody, cleared by hospital staff and transported to Lake County Jail.

The Jeep was stolen out of Chicago in November 2021, police said. The Massachusetts license plate was stolen from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend in January 2022, police said.

Munster, Hammond, St. John and Valparaiso Police Departments assisted in the patrol and helped with arrest of the subjects. Indiana State Police also helped and participated.

"Working together, these officers braved heavy traffic and an approaching snow storm to successfully and safely stop a dangerous driver," a press release from Lake County Sheriff's Department said.

Gallery: Recent arrests booked into Lake County Jail
Motorists planning to travel this week on Interstate 57 near Kankakee, Illinois, may need to seek an alternate route.

The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) is closing the highway in both directions from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Monday through Thursday, weather permitting, for construction of the new Waldron Road/Maple Street bridge.

The closure extends from the intersection of I-57 and U.S. 45/52 (exit 308) south of Kankakee, to the I-57 and the Illinois 50 interchange (exit 315) near Bourbonnais.

The official detour directs motorists to drive through Kankakee and Bradley on U.S. 45/52 and Illinois 50 to reconnect with I-57.

Indiana-based motorists also can bypass the construction zone by taking Interstate 65 and reconnecting to I-57 at U.S. 30 north of Kankakee or U.S. 24 south of Kankakee.

According to IDOT, motorists choosing to take the detour through Kankakee should expect delays and allow extra time to travel through the area.

Motorists should also obey reduced speed limits, refrain from using mobile devices, and watch for construction workers and equipment, IDOT said.

The work is part of an $11.3 million project to replace the Waldron Road/Maple Street bridge over I-57.
Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

Partly cloudy skies this morning will give way to occasional showers during the afternoon. High 58F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Rain likely. Low 49F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near a half an inch.
Cops assigned to the NYPDs new anti-gun unit have their work cut out for them  nearly 30 people were shot in the city over the weekend, according to preliminary statistics.

From the start of Friday through the end of Sunday, 29 people were shot, one fatally, in 24 different incidents, the statistics show.

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Thats more than double the 13 shot in 13 incidents the previous weekend and the most people struck by bullets over a three-day period this year.

There were also five incidents over the weekend in which shots were fired but no one was struck, according to the stats. There were six stabbings, one of them fatal.

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Two off-duty New York City DOC officers were shot inside the Showtime Bar and Lounge on 101st Avenue in Queens on Saturday, March 19. (Theodore Parisienne/for New York Daily News)

The shootings include two in East New York minutes apart on Sunday. A man was shot in the head and badly wounded in a deli on Pitkin Ave. 15 minutes after a 27-year-old man was shot and wounded on the C train platform at the Shepherd Ave. subway station.

The lone fatal shooting happened Friday, when Stephen Stuart, 24, was shot shortly after arguing with a woman waiting in line in a Bronx coffee-and-donut shop. The womans boyfriend shot Stuart after he left the eatery, police say.

Mayor Adams and Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell visited an NYPD public housing command Monday afternoon to thank members of the new anti-gun unit, which is dubbed the Neighborhood Safety Unit. In just one week, cops in the unit recovered 10 guns and made 31 arrests, Adams and Sewell said.

The units first phase was rolled out last Monday, with officers in 25 precincts across the city tasked with one focus: Getting weapons off the streets and driving down soaring gun violence that has plagued the city the past two years.

Police investigate a shooting inside the Shepherd Ave. subway station in Brooklyn on Sunday. (Gardiner Anderson/for New York Daily News)

That night, a 15-year-old gunman was busted by a Neighborhood Safety Unit in Soundview.

But the violence continued, with 43 people shot during the week in 36 separate incidents, another high thus far this year.

That pushed to 284 the number of people shot in the city so far this year  up 17% from the 242 during the same period last year. The statistics dont include incidents in which shots were fired but no one was struck.

Despite that, murders are down, with 86 so far this year, compared to 88 last year.

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The Daily News Flash Weekdays Catch up on the days top five stories every weekday afternoon. >

Thats of little solace in East New York, where residents told the Daily News they were scared of becoming a statistic and doubted that any initiative could make a difference.

Its much worse, said Walter Regis, 46, a contractor. This gun violence  its getting out of control. You cant even come out of your house because you dont know.

Stray bullets dont have no name.

Two other residents, Dale Wilson, 27, and Lillian Royal, 26, both said in unison that the weekend crime stats dont surprise them. Royal, a middle school paraprofessional, said Adams should pay attention to whats important and not worry about what music kids are listening to  a reference to the mayors criticism of drill rap music.

Adams gotta do better, Royal said. Oh hes gonna stop certain music that these young kids is listening to  he cant do that!

Royal added that if Adams tried to censor drill rap, theres gonna be more shootings.

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With Brittany Kriegstein
The National Weather Service issued an urgent fire warning for areas of Eastland County north of FM 2731 and County Road 230, urging residents to evacuate immediately.
A Rikers Island inmate choked to death Friday on an orange  and there was no correction officer patrolling the floor to render aid or call for help, sources tell the Daily News.

The death of Herman Diaz, 52, is the latest example of the consequences of an ongoing staffing crisis at the dysfunctional jail complex. On Sunday, The News exclusively reported that a stunning total of 6,637 posts were unstaffed  or 54 a day  during a 122-day period starting in September of last year.

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Diaz had been held in the Eric M. Taylor Center on Rikers since Feb. 27 for menacing and robbery.

The Correction Department said in a statement Friday that he had died in a clinic area about 11:30 a.m.

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Three sources told The News there was no correction officer patrolling the unit in the Taylor Center where Diaz was held.

Herman Diaz, 52, died Friday after choking an orange at Rikers Island.

Security video showed that other detainees tried to render aid, but were unsuccessful. By the time help arrived, it was too late, the sources said. An officer posted in the bubble, or security booth, followed protocol and did not intervene, sources said.

Diazs older brother, Eddie Diaz, 57, said an official with the city medical examiners office confirmed he choked on an orange.

She said they found pieces of orange in the stomach in the autopsy, and its all on video, he said. He was coming out of the bathroom and he was pointing toward his neck, choking. Inmates tried to help him and werent successful.

Eddie Diaz was outraged.

I want to see the video. I want to know how long did it take for anyone with DOC to get to my brother to help him. Why wasnt a CO there? he said.

When staffed properly, there is supposed to be a floor officer  known as a B officer  walking the floor and checking on detainees.

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Herman Diaz was the second city inmate to die in just two days. George Pagan, 49, died at Elmhurst Hospital Center Thursday at about 8:30 a.m. after he was transferred to the hospital from a Rikers jail. A total of three inmates have died in city custody this year.

In 2021, 16 detainees died at Rikers.

FILE - This Tuesday Dec. 2, 2014, file photo shows the Rikers Island jail complex in the foreground within the East River and the New York skyline in the background. (Seth Wenig/AP)

Correction Commissioner Louis Molina has asserted the staffing crisis is easing. But the federal monitor overseeing Rikers Island wrote in a March 16 report that theres been little to no progress persuading staff to return to the job.

The Legal Aid Society, which represented Diaz, called on the Correction Department to designate an official to shepherd his family through the investigation and give them access to security video.

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Mr. Diazs family and loved ones deserve immediate answers from the city and the jail medical staff about the circumstances leading to his death, the society said.

Eddie Diaz said no one from the Correction Department has reached out to the family.

Molina should have had the courtesy to call the family, he said. If I got The News calling me, dont tell me Molina couldnt pick up the phone and call me, too.

A correction spokeswoman insisted the family was notified but declined to comment on the death, citing an investigation.

Correction Commissioner Louis Molina is pictured Thursday, Dec. 16, 2021, at Brooklyn Borough Hall. (Barry Williams/for New York Daily News)

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On Friday, Molina released a statement saying, Every person matters, and every death is tragic. We are particularly mindful of this today after suffering another terrible loss yesterday. We are heartbroken for this persons family and loved ones.

Diaz died the same day an inmate slashed a correction officers face, narrowly missing his eye.

In a statement, Benny Boscio, president of the correction officers union, argued Diazs death shows the city needs to hire more correction officers.

We extend our deepest condolences to the loved ones of Mr. Diaz. The fact that there was no B Officer present in that unit is a tragic reminder of the previous commissioners grave mistake in not hiring more officers, as we have called for over the past two years, Boscio said.

In recent months, Diaz had been arrested repeatedly for shoplifting-related crimes that resulted in no injuries, records show.

On Jan. 24, he was arrested for waving a sharp object at someone in the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle, records show. Four days later he was accused of shoplifting in the same mall. When a clerk tried to stop him, he allegedly drew a knife and left.

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He was placed on supervised release following both incidents.

But late last month he shoplifted from a TJ Maxx on W. 57th St. on two separate occasions, threatening employees both times, prosecutors say.

A judge set bail at $5,000 and Diaz was sent to Rikers, where he would die.

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Diaz had done five prior stints in state prison between 1991 and 2016, records show. The most recent prison bid was for robbery.

Within the family, Diaz was known as Tito. He and his two brothers and three sisters grew up in Clinton Hill near the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

The Daily News Flash Weekdays Catch up on the days top five stories every weekday afternoon. >

Herman was often in and out of trouble and struggled with drugs, his brother said. He never got the help he needed.

He always had problems, but incarceration wasnt helping him, said Eddie Diaz, who works in construction. They would just throw him in jail, when he needed medication and he needed psychiatric counseling. He just needed help. I dont see how they  the judges, too  didnt see that.

Eddie shared a photo of his brother in happier times, holding a cupcake with a birthday candle on top at a family gathering last year.

We were close. It hit me real hard, he said. This is something thats not going to go away for awhile. Forget about it  what were going through.

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The family is now planning a Sunday burial.

My brother was loved. He wasnt a guy you just put through the system. He had people who really cared about him, Eddie Diaz said. If there was some foul play, I would like to know about it.

With Molly Crane-Newman
The Walworth County Zoning Agency could make a decision next month on a proposed place to train people for hospitality work in the Town of Walworth.

Representatives from the Abbey Resort in Fontana want to create the Lake Geneva Hospitality Academy at the site of a retreat center behind Inspiration Ministries, N2118 Highway 67. Inspiration Ministries owns the property.

The Walworth Town Board recommended that Walworth County officials deny the proposal on a 2-1 vote Tuesday, March 15. At a County Zoning Agency meeting Thursday, March 17, eight people spoke against the proposal.

After the hearing, the agency tabled the topic until its next meeting, which is expected to occur Tuesday, April 26.

There has been a lot thrown out, so I think it would be a wise thing for us not to do anything right now, said agency member Jim Van Dresser.

The April 26 meeting will not be open to public comments on the rezone and conditional use permit requests for the proposal.

Proposed by Abbey Provident Venture LLC, the academy could offer living arrangements for students in its training program as well those coming into the U.S. through the J-1 Visa Program.

J-1 offers cultural and educational foreign exchange opportunities for anyone who wishes to take part in study- and work-related programs, as approved by the Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

An estimated total of 124 students and 12 employees are expected at the academy.

Christian League for the Handicapped, Inc., doing business as Inspiration Ministries, would retain about 30 acres of property on the north of the site. The Abbey would obtain about 20 acres of property on the south as part of an agreement.

People who spoke March 17 expressed concerns over how the proposed academy would impact the community, including Jeremy and Heather Bria, who live near the site.

We keep hearing this great thing called an academy, but its a housing complex, Jeremy Bria said. The academy is not an accredited college. Gateway Technical College is, and kids can get their credits that way through an internship program or be on site to do learning there.

Kerry Kerger, a managing member of Abbey Provident Venture LLC, said the academy would create a program with Gateway.

We want to try and recruit from the local high schools and work with local colleges to provide internships to help kids develop a career and get them interested in hospitality, he said.

Kerger also said the ongoing labor shortage has been a main concern.

Hospitality is one of the largest industries in Walworth County. Its a major employer and a major economic driver for the county and its municipalities, he said. Hospitality has been suffering for many years with severe hospitality labor shortages and COVID has made it worse. Were now at the point where resorts and hotels are constraining their inventory rooms and food and beverage outlets because they dont have the labor to service, which is having an adverse economic impact.

While the J-1 Visa program could help, the academy is an innovative solution to diminish the countys reliance on Visa workers.

On March 17, there was an attempt to deny the request.

However, more evidence is needed to fully deny the request, according to Michael Cotter, director and deputy corporation counsel of Walworth County Land Use and Resource Management.

We just need more substantial evidence on why its being denied, said Cotter.

On March 15, the Walworth Town Board rejected a conditional use permit to authorize the plan on a 2-1 vote. In February, members of the towns planning commission voted 2-2 on the permit.

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Another calendar will turn before Mark Jensen has a new trial date.

And even before then, theres plenty of activity from both sides that has to happen.

Jensen, convicted in 2007 for murdering his wife, Julie, at their Pleasant Prairie home in December 1998, is expected to stand trial for a second time starting Jan. 9, 2023, this time before Kenosha County Circuit Court Judge Anthony Milisauskas.

The door opened for a new trial last week when the United States Supreme Court refused to hear the case after an appeal of a Wisconsin State Supreme Court ruling last year that Jensen should receive a new trial.

Jensen, 62, who has been in custody in the Kenosha County Jail on a $1.5 million bond since April 12, 2021, was sentenced to life in prison with no chance for parole by Kenosha County Circuit Court Judge Bruce Schroeder, who presided over the original trial, that was moved to Walworth County.

Jensen had been incarcerated at the Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun since his sentencing in 2008.

After a series of state and federal appellate court rulings, Jensens original conviction was overturned when it was ruled that Schroeder erred in allowing Julie Jensens so-called letter from the grave and voicemails about her suspicions that her husband was trying to harm her to be presented to the jury.

Prosecutors have argued that Mark Jensen, who has always maintained his innocence, poisoned his then-40-year-old wife with antifreeze, then smothered her at their Pleasant Prairie home. At the original trial, the defense suggested that Julie Jensen, who had sought treatment for depression, had committed suicide.

Mountain of motions

Attorneys on both sides spent most of the hearing Monday talking about a myriad of motions that still need to be dealt with.

Former Kenosha County District Attorney Robert Jambois, now an assistant district attorney in Portage County, who oversaw the original case, again will lead the states case as a special prosecutor.

Jambois said there still are 16 outstanding defense motions, and asked Milisauskas for clarification about which ones still needed a response.

Defense attorney Bridget Krause, one of five attorneys representing Jensen, told the judge the state also has filed motions and asked that a hearing be held to deal with all of them.

And thats what will happen, Milisauskas said.

Well treat everybody equally, he said. Simultaneously, each party will give the court which motions (they want to pursue).

Krause said her side doesnt intend to file any additional motions.

Both parties have until March 28 at 5 p.m. to determine which motions still need to be handled, and until May 27 at 5 p.m. to file a response.

A motion hearing date will be held Nov. 21 and 22, followed by a final pre-trial Dec. 16, at 8:30 a.m.

Another delay

Jambois said he expects the second trial to last five weeks, and added there is little space in his current trial calendar in Portage County, which forced the move to early next year.

I cant see starting this kind of trial (before the holidays), when in December, at the end of the month, theres a week of vacation, he said.

Milisauskas told Jambois his calendar is packed as well, to the tune of 1,498 pending cases.

I have people who have been in custody a long time, too, he said.

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A former substitute teacher in the Verona School District pleaded guilty to sexual assault and other charges Monday for inappropriately touching two girls at a district middle school more than two years ago.

Dustin D. Schallert, 32, of Stevens Point, would have to give up his teaching license and promise never to apply for one again as part of a plea deal with prosecutors. It would also require that he serve six months in jail but would allow him to avoid becoming a felon if he completes two years of court supervision without getting into further trouble.

Schallert was initially charged with first-degree sexual assault of a child under the age of 13 for a March 5, 2020, incident at Badger Ridge Middle School in which an 11-year-old girl and some of her classmates told police Schallert grabbed the girls buttocks. He was also charged with sexual assault of a child under 16 for a March 6, 2020, incident at the school in which a 13-year-old girl told police Schallert put his hand down the top of her shirt and touched the top of her chest.

Those charges, both felonies, were dismissed as part of the agreement and Schallert instead pleaded guilty to two counts of fourth-degree sexual assault, a misdemeanor, and a felony charge of causing mental harm to a child and misdemeanor disorderly conduct.

Dane County Circuit Judge Josann Reynolds scheduled a sentencing hearing for May 6, when she will decide whether to go along with the plea deal and when at least one of the two victims in the case will testify, Deputy District Attorney William Brown said.

Schallert declined to comment after the hearing. The state Department of Public Instruction lists his current license as under investigation.

According to the original criminal complaint in the case, the alleged victim and a witness in the March 5 incident told police they reported it to a teacher and then-associate principal, and current principal, Jamie Thomas, but Schallert was still at school the next day when the second alleged incident occurred.

A school district spokesperson at the time said that prior to the afternoon of March 6, no teacher made any report to any Badger Ridge administrator of any concern regarding Mr. Schallert and Thomas was not informed by any student or staff member of any concern regarding Mr. Schallert. The district also said Schallert was removed from the school within 15 minutes of getting the complaint and the district called county child protective services about 30 minutes after that.

Verona police, though, raised questions about the schools response, saying they first learned of the March 6 incident after being contacted by the father of one of the victims at about 6 p.m. March 6, according to the complaint. Police said at the time that such delays can impede their investigation.

Schallert had been hired Jan. 2, 2020, according to the district, and had subbed 18 times at four district schools  Badger Ridge, Core Knowledge Charter School, Country View Elementary School and Savannah Oaks Middle School  between Jan. 6 and March 6.

Assistant District Attorney Patrick Winter in March 2020 said Schallert was previously a teacher at a school district in Lafayette County but that he left that job in Lafayette County in part after being criticized by other employees for having an inappropriate relationship with a then-7-year-old child.

A Verona schools spokesperson on Monday reiterated the districts policies for reporting cases of suspected abuse in the schools but did not immediately say whether any of those policies had been updated in response to the Schallert case.
The Walworth County Democrats gathered around the Walworth County Government Center on Sunday afternoon, March 20, to rally in support of Ukraine in their unprovoked war against Russia.

Around 30 people showed up to the rally wearing Ukrainian colors with many in attendance holding Ukraine flags.

Mary Burpee, a member of the Walworth County Democrats for over 40 years, organized the event.

We have heard about the people suffering in Ukraine, we have heard about Russia and we have heard about the other world problems, Burpee said. We dont have anything against the Russian people, only their horrible leader (Vladimir Putin).

Yuri Rashkin, founder of the Rashkin Report and City of Beloit Councilman, who was born in the original Soviet Union, has lived in the U.S. for over 30 years and is a U.S. citizen.

I talk to a lot of Russians and Ukrainians because of my YouTube channel and 40% of my audience is in Russia, Rashkin said. Russian people are in trouble because they allowed the evil to rule over them. The best people there say they cant do anything and thats maybe 5-10% of the population there because they cant share public opinions. From what I hear from people over there, its mass hysteria.

Rashkin is pleased with the sanctions that the U.S. and much of Europe has placed on Russia, but believes more can be done.

You cant explain to someone in a war situation that were doing everything we can, he said. We live in a country where we can speak up and participate. We can take action and Russians cant. We need to crush Putins regime economically, we can do it by helping Ukraine and we need to keep pressuring our politicians to do more because this is how democracy works. Slava Ukraine (Glory to Ukraine).

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Mauritania is a partner of reference for Spain due to its excellent cooperation in migratory matters and its strategic location, which makes it a key ally in security and the fight against terrorism, as well as being the most important fishing ground for the Spanish fleet outside the EU. Its geographic and emotional proximity to the Canary Islands - particularly Las Palmas - where a large number of Mauritanians have a second home, stands out.

Following the meeting, Spain and Mauritania adopted a Joint Declaration and opened the ratification process of the Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighbourliness and Cooperation.

For Pedro Sanchez, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has highlighted the importance of Spain's united response to this aggression, together with its partners and allies in the EU and NATO. In this context, the Spanish president highlighted Mauritania's condemnation of "Putin's war", expressed at the United Nations General Assembly.

This violation of international legality and Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity "underlines the importance of regional security bodies, most notably the Atlantic Alliance".

In this regard, the president of the Government of Spain highlighted the deepening of collaboration between NATO and Mauritania - the Atlantic Alliance's only partner in the region.

"Mauritania is a fundamental partner for Spain in terms of security and defence, and a point of reference for stability in the Maghreb and Sahel regions," Sanchez stressed, also highlighting the many advances that the African country has made in recent years, especially "for its democratic consolidation".

Migration

The collaboration scheme between Spain and Mauritania in migratory matters continues to be one of the most advanced, "with very positive results".

Pedro Sanchez reiterated Spain's commitment to preventing departures and combating human trafficking. "Spain will continue to do its part. In addition to maintaining our financial support, we will seek new sources of funding at the EU level for new cooperation programmes, such as the Joint Research Team", from Nouakchott.

Spain is also promoting a new Country Partnership Framework with Mauritania to modernise cooperation channels and give priority to global challenges such as migration, but also climate change and sustainable economic development, in line with the traditional relevance of Mauritania for Spanish Cooperation.

Economic cooperation

Pool Moncloa / Borja Puig de la BellacasaPedro Sanchez has underlined Spain's "firm commitment" to economic development and cooperation with Mauritania. Trade relations are intense between the two countries - particularly with the Canary Islands.

Spanish exports to Mauritania have grown by 158% between 2010 and 2019. Mauritania has become an increasingly important trading partner for Spain in Africa, ranking 11th. In the EU, Spain is Mauritania's second largest supplier and largest customer.

Non official translation
Phil Gruber is the news editor at Lancaster Farming. He can be reached at 717-721-4427 or pgruber@lancasterfarming.com. Follow him @PhilLancFarming on Twitter.
With avian influenza threatening Pennsylvania, House Republicans are wondering why the Ag Department wants to cut $2 million from its animal health budget.
New Delhi [India], March 21 (ANI): Airbus said on Monday it is in talks with Tata Group airlines including Air India and Vistara to supply new A350 aircraft.

Talking to reporters at an event organised to showcase the new generation aircraft A350, Remi Maillard, President and Managing Director, Airbus India, said Airbus is in talks with all the airlines operated by Tata Group.

Also Read | Agitating Farmers Made No Submissions Before Supreme Court Panel on Farm Laws, Says Report.

He said apart from Air India, Airbus also has a relationship with Tata Group's other airlines Vistara, and AirAsia India.

An Airbus is showcasing their next-generation A350 aircraft in India to attract the operators for International long haul operations.

Also Read | Mumbai: Man From Dhule Arrested for Trying To Steal Woman's Mobile Phone at Churchgate.

"Indian aviation has been booming market last several years and Airbus has a long business relation with India operators, our aircraft is not only lighter but fuel-efficient next-generation aircraft," Airbus's head of Widebody Market Development Francois Obe told ANI.

Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia has been pitching to make India an aviation hub in wide-body aircraft.

"We are very optimistic and we want to help and contribute to make India as an aviation hub in the coming years," said Obe.

Airbus clarifies that for the operation of Airbus A350, "there is no special infrastructure requires for the operations, Where Boeing B777 operates, so can this plane operates normally at same infrastructure," Airbus 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)
New Delhi [India], March 21 (ANI/Mediawire): Delhiites witnessed the most extravagant and exuberant event of the year with a cavalcade of beauty influencers and fashionistas descending upon Obello Life, a luxurious amalgamation of salon and fitness centre situated in the heart of the city to mark their first year in the business.

Since it's debut last year, the salon has been a leader in the market with an unbiased approach to luxury experiences through their expertise, innovation and entrepreneurial spirit. The founders and the team were beyond ecstatic and enthusiastic as they complete a one-year milestone of their magical journey at Obello Life.

Also Read | Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang Scripts Unique El Clasico Record As Barcelona Humble Real Madrid 4-0.

The influencer-filled bash was hosted at the salon against the backdrop of the resplendent and flamboyant decor of delicate flowers filling the entire salon with exotic fragrance and enchanting aura. Guests were treated to lip-smacking snacks and chilling drinks.

The event was adorned with a live performance that wowed the guests with mesmerizing vocals and guitar solos. The guests were pampered with the most astounding hair and beauty services by the Obello team who has worked relentlessly throughout since their operations began and have ensured the most luxurious experience to each client.

Also Read | Russia-Ukraine War Latest Updates: Ammonia Leak Reported at Chemicals Plant in Sumy; Kyiv Rejects Moscow's Deadline for Mariupol Surrender.

The who's who of the fashion fraternity, Chandini Girdhar, Deeksha Mishra, Kirti Singh amongst others were present to grace the occasion and celebrate the salon's first milestone. The founders Mohit Gogia and Suman Bhandari looked elated as they welcomed each guest warm-heartedly and made sure each one had the best time. They have put forth their heart and soul in sculpting this magic luxury salon and are the minds behind bestowing the clients with a fine taste of luxury!

Obello offers the most exhilarating beauty and wellness treatments that pamper and preen you from head to toe delivered with a masterful touch. Apart from this, Obello fitness embodies a contemporary, state-of-the-art gym, which is well equipped with the most modern machines including fully stacked weights. Obello Life aspires to redefine the luxury salon and fitness market with their unique and groundbreaking services and premium aesthetics.

This is a hot district when it comes to all things grooming-oriented. Whether you're in need of a new cut, fresh nails or a brand-new you. Obello is a game-changer on the beauty and wellness world, thriving for a physical space for clients to learn about the beauty and a world for endless discovery and personalization.

This story is provided by Mediawire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/Mediawire)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Two men were shot, one critically, in separate incidents just blocks and minutes apart in Brooklyn Sunday, police said.

In the first shooting, a 29-year-old man standing on a C train platform at the Shepherd Ave. station at Shepherd and Pitkin Aves. in East New York was shot around 3:40 p.m., cops said.

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Two men fled the station after shooting him in the torso.

Police investigate a shooting inside the Shepherd Avenue subway station in Brooklyn on Sunday. (Gardiner Anderson/for New York Daily News)

The victim was rushed to Brookdale University Hospital where he was listed in stable condition, police said.

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About 20 minutes later and less than a mile down the avenue, gunshots rang out inside a deli at the corner of Wyona St. and Pitkin Ave., where a 28-year-old man was shot in the head, cops said.

A gunman dressed in a black sweatshirt and black pants ran off, police said.

Police investigate a shooting inside the Shepherd Avenue subway station in Brooklyn on Sunday. (Gardiner Anderson/for New York Daily News)

The victim was rushed to Brookdale Hospital in critical condition.

It never happened here before, a shaken employee at the bodega told the Daily News.

Police investigate a shooting inside the Shepherd Avenue subway station in Brooklyn on Sunday, March 20, 2022. (Gardiner Anderson/for New York Daily News)

A straphanger catching a train at the Shepherd Ave. station was terrified by Sunday afternoons violence.

I usually wait on the top over here for the train to come, because I dont feel safe, said Miguelina Rodriguez, 48, as she pointed to an area upstairs. Theres a lot of beggars that come here, a lot of people jumping the turnstiles.

Another resident hanging out at a deli on the street level seemed unfazed by the shooting.

Everything happens in this corner, said Jamel Wildman, 30. Its East New York. Its the grime of the grime.

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Wildman said hes lived in the neighborhood for about three years.

The Daily News Flash Weekdays Catch up on the days top five stories every weekday afternoon. >

Honestly, I live and breathe this. Its nothing, Wildman said. But to an average person, its traumatic. Its public transportation.

Police made no immediate arrests in either shooting.

Police investigate a shooting inside a deli on Pitkin Ave. and Wyona St. in Brooklyn on Sunday. (Gardiner Anderson/for New York Daily News)

The 75th Precinct, which covers East New York and Cypress Hills, is no stranger to violent crime.

As of last Sunday, there were 11 shooting victims this year in the notoriously dangerous precinct, according to the most recent NYPD data.

But the figure is a downtick compared with 2021, when there were 13 shooting victims during the same time frame.

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Overall, major crimes like murder, rape, robbery, felony assault, burglary, grand larceny and car theft are up over 40% this year in the precinct.

Data show that so far this year, there have been 827 major crimes in the neighborhoods compared with 589 at the same time in 2021.
Jammu, Mar 21 (PTI) The Jammu-based Tiger Division of the Indian Army's Rising Star Corps on Monday celebrated its 80th Raising Day with a wreath-laying ceremony at the war memorial here to pay homage to the soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the nation, a defence spokesperson said.

General Officer Commanding, Tiger Division, Maj Gen Neeraj Gosain extended warm greetings to all personnel and their families. He exhorted all personnel to rededicate themselves to the service of the nation, the spokesperson said.

Also Read | Delhi High Court Junks PIL Seeking Recovery of 'Debt' That Pakistan Owes To India.

Deputy General Officer Commanding Brig Gautam Segan laid a wreath at the Tiger War Memorial along with Lt Col Rishma Sarin. Junior Commissioned Officers and other personnel also paid homage to the slain soldiers, he said.

A two-minute silence was observed for the fallen soldiers of the division, he added.

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The Tiger Division was initially raised in 1942 and participated in World War II. After WW II, it was de-mobilised and was re-raised in March 1948 during the first India-Pakistan war.

Since then it has participated in the wars of 1965 and 1971, and in various operations including Operation Vijay, Operation Parakaram and Operation Zafran, where it earned laurels for its valour, the spokesperson said.

(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, Mar 21 (PTI) The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved continuation of National AIDS and STD Control Programme from April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2026 with a budget of Rs 15,471.94 crore, the health ministry said on Monday.

The programme is fully funded by the Government of India and is at present in its fifth phase.

Also Read | Agitating Farmers Made No Submissions Before Supreme Court Panel on Farm Laws, Says Report.

The national AIDS response was initiated by the Indian government in 1992 with the launch of the first phase of the National AIDS and STD Control Programme (NACP).

The Phase-IV (Extension) of NACP concluded on March 31, 2021.

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The NACP is globally considered to be an extremely successful programme, the ministry said in a statement.

The annual new HIV infections in India have declined by 48 per cent against the global average of 31 per cent (the baseline year of 2010), while the annual AIDS-related deaths have declined by 82 per cent against the global average of 42 per cent (the baseline year of 2010), it said.

As a result, the HIV prevalence in India continues to be low with an adult HIV prevalence of 0.22 per cent, the statement said.

The ministry attributed the success of the programme to several initiatives, like the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Act (2017), test and treat policy, Universal Viral Load Testing, Mission Sampark, Community-Based Screening, and transition to Dolutegravir-based Treatment Regimen.

As a result, it said, around 14.20 lakh people living with HIV (PLHIV) are taking lifelong, free, high-quality anti-retroviral treatment (ART) from the programme supported facilities, making it one of the world's largest cohorts of PLHIV under government-funded treatment programmes.

The ministry said the current phase will bring the country towards achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals 3.3, which envisions ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030.

Under the programme, the ministry said, around 8 crore people will be covered annually with prevention-detection-treatment services and more than 99.5 per cent of the adult population will be kept HIV free.

In this phase, around 27 crore HIV tests will be undertaken, including around 14 crore among pregnant women.

By the end of this phase, 21 lakh HIV infected people will be on anti-retroviral treatment and around 80 lakh viral load tests will be conducted among on-ART HIV infected people to monitor the effectiveness of treatment, the statement said.

The programme will offer these services without any stigma and discrimination promoting equity and inclusiveness the statement said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Chandigarh [India], March 21 (ANI): The Chandigarh administration has decided not to charge the Union Territory Goods and Services Tax (UTGST) on the movie 'The Kashmir Files' for the next four months in Chandigarh cinema multiplexes and theatres.

The order from the Excise and Taxation Department of Chandigarh will remain in force for the next four months.

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"Multiplexes and cinema theatre operators will not charge UTGST from the people. The orders will be in effect for four months," read the order.

It also stated that the cinema theatres and multiplexes shall neither make an increase in the amount of entry fee nor shall make any change in the seating capacity of different classes.

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"The tickets sold for entry to exhibition of film "The Kashmir Files" during the period of this order shall bear prominently the words 'UTGST not collected by the orders of U.T. Administration," the order read.

The U.T. administration also said that the UTGST collected prior to the date of this order or collected after four months from the date of this order shall not be reimbursed.

It also read that the procedure of the reimbursement of UTGST is being issued.

Earlier, Madya Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Tripura, Goa, and Uttarakhand governments had declared that "The Kashmir Files" movie will be tax-free in their states.

The movie, which had released in theatres on March 11, stars Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty, Pallavi Joshi, Darshan Kumaar, and others.

It revolves around the genocide of Kashmiri Pandits in 1990 and has been directed by Vivek Agnihotri, known for films like 'Tashkent Files', 'Hate Story' and 'Buddha in a Traffic Jam'. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Srinagar, Mar 21 (PTI) Militants on Monday shot dead a civilian and injured a non-local vendor in two separate incidents in Budgam and Pulwama districts of Jammu and Kashmir, police said.

"Around 7:20 pm, terrorists fired at and injured a civilian, Tajamul Mohiuddin Rather, near his residence in Gothpora area of Budgam in central Kashmir," a police official said.

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Rather was rushed to the hospital but he succumbed to his injuries, he said.

In the second incident in Pulwama, a non-local vendor, Bisujeet Kumar from Bihar, was injured after militants fired at him at Circular Road, the official said.

Also Read | Agitating Farmers Made No Submissions Before Supreme Court Panel on Farm Laws, Says Report.

The injured has been shifted to the Pulwama hospital, he said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi, Mar 21 (PTI) With the Gandhis engaging with G-23 leaders after their recent offensive in the wake of the party's poll debacle, some of them may find a place in the decision-making process in the revamped Congress party in line with their demand for collective leadership.

Sources said some of these leaders may be accommodated in the Congress Working Committee or in a new body like the Parliamentary Board, which the G23 had suggested for taking all policy decisions including finalising chief ministerial candidates and tie-ups with like-minded parties in states.

Also Read | Maharashtra Records Zero COVID-19 Deaths For 5th Time in March, Says Health Officials.

The G23 is also reported to be seeking the ouster of some Rahul Gandhi loyalists from key AICC positions and top on their target are AICC general secretary Organisation K C Venugopal, chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala and general secretary Ajay Maken. Sources said one or more may be shifted in order to placate the dissident group.

After the fresh offensive by the 'Group of 23', calling for collective leadership and strengthening the party, the sources said the Congress leadership is working on a resolution plan with these leaders.

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Party sources said during Jawaharlal Nehru's time, the Parliamentary Board was an important body of the Congress party and used to take key policy decisions.

The G23 leaders have also called for talks with like-minded parties to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Parleys are on with some of the G23 leaders to work out an amicable solution and agree to some of their demands. While Sonia Gandhi has met Ghulam Nabi Azad and discussed their demands, Rahul Gandhi has also met former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Sources said the Gandhis have also deputed some negotiators to talk to the G23 leaders and work out a solution amicably. Some more rounds of talks are likely in the next few days in this regard.

''While Hooda may be asked to lead the party's charge in Haryana which goes to polls in 2024, some other leaders may be accommodated in the CWC or a new Parliamentary Board,'' a source said.

Deliberations are already underway to hold another CWC meeting followed by a Chintan Shivir after the Budget session of Parliament, the sources said.

Organisational polls are already underway in the party to elect the new president and PCC chiefs.

(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], March 21 (ANI): The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are expected to experience heavy rain and strong winds on Monday as depression over the Bay of Bengal approaches towards North, said India Meteorological Department Scientist R K Janamani.

"So far it is a depression which will intensify into a deep depression by Monday morning and it will further intensify into a cyclonic storm by Monday evening. If it emerges into a cyclonic storm then it will be known as Cyclone Asani," said Janamani.

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IMD scientists said to ANI that by Saturday evening the depression over the Southeast and South Andaman sea is moving towards the north with the speed of 12 Km per hour.

"The Depression over the southeast Bay of Bengal, about 200km of north-northeast of Car Nicobar (northern part of Nicobar Islands) and 100 km of south-southeast of Port Blair (Andaman Islands), will intensify into a deep depression in the next 12 hours and further into a cyclonic storm," he added.

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Meanwhile, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel have been deployed and are ready at different places with all necessary equipment to carry out search and rescue operations.

Indian Coast Guard ships have been shepherding the fishermen out at sea and issuing weather warnings on Sunday afternoon ahead of the upcoming Cyclone Asani.

Further, fishing, tourism and shipping activities have been stopped. Fishermen have been advised to return from sea. Indian Army, Navy, Air Force and Indian Coast Guard are on stand by. Central Ministries are ready with assistance if required, the Ministry of Home Affairs stated. (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, Mar 21 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday expressed sadness at the crash of a passenger flight in China's Guangxi.

A Chinese passenger plane with 132 people on board crashed in the southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Monday, the regional emergency management department said.

Also Read | Agitating Farmers Made No Submissions Before Supreme Court Panel on Farm Laws, Says Report.

The Boeing 737 aircraft of China Eastern Airlines, which flew from Kunming to Guangzhou, crashed in Tengxian County in the city of Wuzhou, causing a mountain fire, the department was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency.

"Deeply shocked and saddened to learn about the crash of the passenger flight MU5735 with 132 on board in China's Guangxi," Modi tweeted.

Also Read | Mumbai: Man From Dhule Arrested for Trying To Steal Woman's Mobile Phone at Churchgate.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of the crash and their family members," he said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi [India], March 21 (ANI): The Delhi High Court on Monday asked the Central government to file its status report on a plea seeking a roadmap for COVID-19 vaccination of children aged below 12 years.

The Division Bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Navin Chawla on Monday said the status report should be filed within 3 weeks and listed the matter for further hearing on May 12.

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The submission came during the hearing of a plea filed by a minor, Tia Gupta, who sought immediate vaccination of minors between 12 and 17 years.

The petitioners, in the PIL filed by advocates Bihu Sharma and Abhinav Mukerji, have urged the court to put in place appropriate vaccine protocol for children residing in Delhi and to make the same available expeditiously.

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Senior Advocate Kailash Vasudev appearing for a minor petitioner earlier submitted that no road map has been given by the government for vaccinating children aged 12 and below. The road map is only provided for those who are 15-18 years.

The Delhi High Court earlier had said that if COVID-19 vaccines are administered to children without proper research, then it may be a disaster while objecting to the submission of the petitioner seeking research on vaccines for children in a time-bound manner.

The plea also sought direction from the respondents to give priority in vaccination to parents of children who are residing in Delhi.

The petitioner also urged the court to formulate a comprehensive National Plan with respect to children covering all aspects of their protection from the ill effects of the pandemic. (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, Mar 21 (PTI) The Editors Guild of India on Monday called for an independent court-monitored probe into the arrest of an Agra-based journalist.

Gaurav Bansal (39) was arrested on March 15 for reporting about alleged electoral malpractices in the recent-held Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.

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"The Editors Guild of India is shocked by the manner in which an Agra-based journalist, Gaurav Bansal, was arrested and allegedly tortured for reporting about electoral malpractices in the recent assembly elections," the body said in a statement.

Noting that Bansal's lawyer has alleged that "he was given third degree torture and humiliated by police officers", the guild said that the scribe should be immediately released and there should be an independent court-monitored inquiry.

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Police has charged Bansal under penal laws for obstructing a government officer from discharging his duty, the guild noted.

The guild said it is deeply concerned that penal laws are ever so often used as tools to harass and intimidate journalists from freely reporting on sensitive issues.

"This guild demands that Gaurav Bansal be treated fairly by the state administration and that he be released immediately. Further, an independent court-monitored inquiry be done to investigate into the charges of torture by police," it said.

The Editors Guild of India also urges the state government to ensure that the rights of the media are protected and journalists are not harassed from doing their job fearlessly, the guild said.

(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], March 21 (ANI): The Central government on Monday told the Supreme Court that the Government of India has evacuated 22,500 students from conflict-ridden Ukraine and it is also looking into the educational concerns of the evacuated students.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana was informed by the Attorney General of India KK Venugopal, appearing for the Centre that students have given representation to the government on the issue of continuation of their studies and the government is looking into it and will make a decision.

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"A mammoth task has been completed," AG told the apex court adding that along with Indian nationals, nationals from other countries have been evacuated by the government.

The apex court then closed the two petitions pending before it on the issue.

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"Both these writ petitions were filed seeking reliefs... Attorney General has made submissions, all students are brought back to India and nothing survives. Petitioner counsel submits that government has to consider studies of students who have not completed their studies due to the war. Attorney General submits government is considering this issue. The case is accordingly closed," the bench said.

Earlier, the Supreme Court expressed concern for the lives of students caught in the middle of the conflict zone in Ukraine. The Centre had said that government efforts have resulted in the swift evacuation of Indians from Ukraine.

The apex court had suggested to the government to open helplines so the students or their families can communicate.

The government of India is equally concerned as the Supreme Court is and is leaving no stone unturned to bring the citizens back, AG had told the top court.

The petition filed by Ahana claimed that over 250 students stranded in Ukraine were looking for hope towards the Government of India.

The plea sought direction from the government "to secure permission to cross the checkpoint in Moldova from Ukraine en route to Romania for boarding the Air India evacuation flight, and to immediately take effective diplomatic steps and measures for the evacuation of the Petitioner including other stranded students from Ukraine."

Another petition was filed by advocate Vishal Tiwari, seeking directions for the protection of thousands of students and families who are stranded in Ukraine in wake of the ongoing conflict. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
A school teacher was arrested in Florida Sunday after telling police she hadnt been drinking, only to be contradicted by her 9-year-old son, Florida police claim.

Indian River County Sheriffs report that when Kristin Wiley, 49, was pulled over around 2 a.m. Sunday, she replied no when asked if shed been imbibing. An arrest affidavit alleges Wileys Grey Ford Mustang was moving at a high rate of speed when it nearly hit a parked squad car tending to an unrelated incident.

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When the driver stopped, police asker her to provide identification, and she initially declined. An officer then observed Wileys young child curled up and crying in the vehicles back seat.

(Shutterstock)

I detected a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emitting off her person and her breath, an arresting officer reported.

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Wileys eyes were also watery and red, police said. According to cops, Wiley answered no when asked if shed been boozing, but changed her tune when her son said, Mom, you cant lie to the police, you did drink.

She then admitted to have consumed two vodka cocktails at a party, police said. Wiley is also accused of declining to take a field sobriety test. She was arrested and is alleged to have blown a 0.224 on a blood-alcohol test.

Her son, identified by The Smoking Gun as KW, reportedly told law enforcement his mother was driving fast and that he was very scared.

After being handcuffed and placed in the back of a patrol car, police said Wiley confessed, I f--ked up.

She faces charges of DUI and child abuse.
New Delhi [India], March 21 (ANI): India and Austria have agreed to further intensify their commercial engagements with Austrian business delegates expressing a keen interest in investing in sectors such as renewable energy.

During the visit of European and International Affairs of Austria Alexander Schallenberg, the two sides discussed regional and global issues including developments in India-EU relations, the Indo-Pacific, Afghanistan and Ukraine. Russia began its military action in Ukraine on February 24.

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External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Schallenberg held delegation-level talks on March 20. They discussed the entire gamut of bilateral relations, including political, economic, commercial and consular ties.

Schallenberg, who visited India from March 19 to 21, was accompanied by a high-level business delegation. This is his first visit to India in his current term.

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During the visit, the two sides also exchanged views on the COVID19 pandemic, including the Vaccine Maitri initiative and mutual recognition of vaccination certificates.

A Ministry of External Affairs release said that over 150 Austrian companies are based in India in sectors like engineering, road construction, railways, hydel power plants, water treatment and auto components. Several Indian companies have also invested in Austria, especially in fields of IT, Medicare and auto-components.

"Both sides agreed to further intensify commercial engagements. Austrian business delegates expressed keen interest in investing in sectors such as renewable energy in India," the release said.

It said that India and Austria have warm and cordial relations which are based on shared values of democracy, freedom and rule of law.

"Our bilateral relations are marked by strong linkages across institutions, academia, culture and people to people ties," the release said.

Both sides also discussed cultural linkages and looked forward to the celebrations of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav as well as 75 years of establishment of diplomatic relations in 2024. (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], March 21 (ANI): The security situation along the western borders remains largely stable but there are indications of an emerging narco-terror nexus sponsored by inimical elements across the border aimed at causing instability, Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt told Rajya Sabha on Monday.

The minister also told the House in a written reply that the situation along the Line of Control (LoC) remains stable post the understanding of February 2021 reached between DGMOs (Director General Military Operations) of India and Pakistan.

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Making a veiled reference to Pakistan in the context of narco-terror nexus, he said India's defence forces along the borders are adequately poised to respond to any challenge.

"Security situation along Western Borders (IB Sector) remains largely stable. However, there are indications of an emerging narco-terror nexus sponsored by inimical elements across the border aimed at causing instability, especially along border areas. Our forces along Western borders are adequately poised to respond to any challenge posed by adversary across entire conflict spectrum," he said.

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Referring to the Line of Control, he said both the armies have exercised restraint in the interest of maintaining peace.

"The situation along Line of Control remains stable post the Directorate General of Military Operations (DGsMO) Understanding of February 2021. Both the Armies have exercised restraint in the interest of maintaining peace along the LC. However, the situation is being closely monitored and Indian Army remains prepared to thwart any threat from inimical elements as also to respond in case of any escalation along the Line of Control," Bhatt 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)
Bengaluru, Mar 21 (PTI) Terming the resolution adopted by the Tamil Nadu Assembly condemning the decision of Karnataka to proceed with the Mekedatu project across Cauvery as illegal, Chief Minister of the State Basavaraj Bommai on Monday said his government was committed to implement the project.

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In a series of tweets, he called the decision of Tamil Nadu to oppose the project as political and accused that State of not having faith in the federal system.

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"The resolution adopted today in the Tamil Nadu Assembly against the Mekedatu project is illegal. This is an anti-people resolution wherein a State is trying to infringe upon the rights of another. This resolution shows that Tamil Nadu doesn't believe in a federal system," Bommai tweeted.

Stating that the people and the government of Karnataka condemn the resolution, he said, "We are firm on our decision to implement the Mekedatu project across river Cauvery that takes birth in our State."

"Karnataka has the right over the remaining water after giving Tamil Nadu 177.25 tmc as per the Cauvery tribunal order. The government is taking necessary steps to take up the Mekedatu project irrespective of the political decision of Tamil Nadu," he said.

The Tamil Nadu Assembly today adopted a unanimous resolution condemning the Karnataka government for its unilateral decision to proceed with the Mekedatu project and prevail upon the Centre to reject the proposal.

Karnataka's DPR of the project is before the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA), also the matter is before the Environment Ministry for clearance.

The State budget, presented by Bommai recently, provided a grant of Rs 1,000 crore in this year for implementation of the project.

The Mekedatu multi-purpose (drinking and power) project involves building a balancing reservoir near Kanakapura in Ramanagara district.

The estimated Rs 9,000-crore project once completed is aimed at ensuring drinking water to Bengaluru and neighbouring areas (4.75 TMC) and it can also generate 400 MW of power.

Karnataka has maintained that the project within its territory would benefit both States as the surplus water stored can be managed between the two during times of distress, and its implementation would in no way affect the interests of the farming communities in Tamil Nadu, as there would be no impact on its share of water.

But, the neighbouring State is of the view that the project would impound and divert the uncontrolled water flow due to Tamil Nadu from Kabini sub-basin, the catchment area below Krishnarajasagara, and also from Simsha, Arkavathy and Suvarnavathi sub-basins besides other small streams.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Geneva [Switzerland], March 21 (ANI): The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Sunday said that 10 million Ukrainian refugees have fled abroad or been displaced inside the country in the wake of Russia's invasion.

UN Refugee Agency chief Filippo Grandi said that millions of Ukrainians have been forced to flee their homes due to escalating fights between Russia and Ukraine, reported NHK World.

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The office of the UNHCR said that as of Saturday the number of Ukrainians who fled abroad had topped 3.38 million.

It added that nearly two-thirds of the refugees, about 2.05 million, had evacuated to Poland and about 180,000 were sheltering in Russia, reported NHK World.

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Meanwhile, the International Organization for Migration said that as of Wednesday, the number of displaced people inside Ukraine was estimated to be 6.48 million. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Beijing, Mar 21 (PTI) A Chinese passenger plane with 132 people on board crashed in the southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Monday, the regional emergency management department said, in the worst air disaster in over a decade in the country.

The Boeing 737 aircraft of China Eastern Airlines, which flew from Kunming to Guangzhou, crashed in Tengxian County in the city of Wuzhou, causing a mountain fire, the department was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency.

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Hopes to find the survivors in the thick forests in the mountainous region receded as the night fell making efforts by scores of rescuers difficult.

State television showed teams of rescuers armed with search lights scurrying through the sprawling area in the forests on the remote mountainous region as darkness enveloped the forest region.

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The 132 people included 123 passengers and nine crew members, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said on its website.

While the airline has announced that no foreigners were on board, families of some crew members from the crashed Eastern Airlines flight have arrived in the company's branch office in Yunnan Province and they were being assisted to work on follow-up issues, state-run CGTN-TV reported.

A "shocked" Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered "swift action to identify the cause of the crash and to strengthen the safety overhaul of the civil aviation sector to ensure the absolute safety of the sector and people's lives, Xinhua reported.

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) has promptly mobilized rescue forces in the city of Wuzhou to the crash site of the China Eastern Airlines flight, the Southern Theater Command said on Monday.

According to the official media, the plane sharply descended onto the mountainous area and crashed.

Footage shot by locals in their phones showed the area of the crash was engulfed by massive mountainous fire with explosions heard in the background.

There is no official word here yet on the number of casualties or survivors except speculation about the unlikelihood of survivors.

The crash shattered China's airlines record of over 100 million continuous hours of safe flight as of February 19.

The last domestic fatal air accident was in 2010, when an Embraer passenger plane crashed in Yichun, Heilongjiang province, killing 42 people.

As soon as the plane crashed in the forest area, Chinese officials rushed hundreds of fire brigades as well as rescue teams to find the survivors before the night fell.

The fire has been put out and the rescue operation is underway, said Chen Jie, an official with the regional emergency management department.

In his instructions issued soon after the incident, President Xi said he was shocked to learn about the incident involving China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735 from Kunming to Guangzhou.

He ordered the immediate launch of emergency response, all-out search and rescue efforts and proper settlement of the aftermath, Xinhua reported.

He said swift action should be taken to identify the cause of the crash and to strengthen the safety overhaul of the civil aviation sector to ensure the absolute safety of the sector and people's lives.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang urged efforts to console the families of the victims and provide them with assistance, release accurate information in a timely manner, conduct a serious probe into the incident, and take strong measures to strengthen the safety of civil aviation.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FFA) said via Twitter that it was ready to assist in investigation efforts if asked.

Boeing China said it was aware of the media reports of the plane crash and is working to gather more information.

Meanwhile, China Eastern Airlines - one of China's three major air carriers - has grounded its all Boeing 737-800 after the crash on Monday, company officials said.

The airline also made its website have a black-and-white homepage after the crash as it prepared to announce the casualties.

According to news portal The Paper, a staff member at Guangzhou's Baiyun International Airport said that flight MU5735 from Kunming to Guangzhou has not arrived at its destined time, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.

The domestic flight was scheduled to take off from Kunming at 1.10 pm (local time) and arrive at Guangzhou at 2.52 pm (local time) and is now marked out of reach on Baiyun airport's app.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Washington [US], March 21 (ANI): As the Russia-Ukraine war entered its 25th day on Monday, Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas condemned Russia for the invasion of Ukraine and said that Russian President Vladimir Putin "must not win this war."

In an interview with CNN on Sunday (local time), she said that it was "heartbreaking" to see what Russia is doing in Ukraine.

Also Read | Pakistan PM Imran Khan Warns Dissenting PTI Members, Says 'Their Offspring Would Be Unable To Find Spouses'.

"We are trying to do everything that we can to support and help Ukraine to fight this war. Putin must not win this war," Kallas said on "State of the Union."

Kallas, who will be attending the upcoming NATO summit, said that NATO's strategy should focus on ending the war by using "smart containment", meaning that NATO should move from a "deterrence posture" to a secure "defense posture," raising NATO nations' contribution to strengthening each nation's defense and ultimately NATO as a whole and focusing on cooperation, reported CNN.

Also Read | China Releases Guidelines To Strengthen Governance Over Ethics in Science, Technology.

On March 24, Group of Seven (G7) nations, the European Union and NATO will discuss Russia's invasion of Ukraine at a summit in Brussels on March 24.

"There are some capabilities that are too expensive for any individual state, but if we do them together here in Europe to protect our territories, we are stronger," she said, nations should move to isolate Russia "at all the political levels that are possible."

When asked about Poland's proposal to send peacekeepers to Ukraine, Kallas said that first peace must be achieved and that Russia is not showing any intentions of achieving it, reported CNN.

"We can only have a peacekeeping mission if we have peace, but you know, if you look at what is happening in Ukraine, peace is nothing that we see there. It's a war that is going on, and I don't see that Russia has any intention of doing anything to achieve peace. So first we should have peace, then, to keep it," she said. "Sometimes in order to achieve peace, we have to have the willingness to use military power."

Kallas said they do not see the possibility of a third World War in Europe and that the effort should be on ending this war.

Kallas also compared deportations happening in Mariupol to what Russia did in the 1940s when Estonians were put in "cattle cars" sent to Siberia.

She said that Putin is feeding into the right-wing narrative in Europe and the US by creating a refugee crisis, reported CNN.

"He is creating this huge migration pressure to Europe and what we see in different countries, we also see that the Far Right now picking up the tone" and not helping refugees coming from Ukraine, she added. (ANI)

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Doha [UAE], March 21 (ANI/Xinhua): Qatari Emir and visiting German economy minister have vowed to strengthen energy cooperation on Sunday, according to a statement released by Qatar's Amiri Diwan.

During their meeting on Sunday, Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and German Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck reviewed the bilateral ties between the two countries and ways to enhance them in various fields, particularly in the energy sector.

Also Read | Pakistan PM Imran Khan Warns Dissenting PTI Members, Says 'Their Offspring Would Be Unable To Find Spouses'.

They also discussed the latest developments on regional and international issues, according to the statement.

The German minister also held a meeting with Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, during which they discussed ways to strengthen bilateral ties, especially in the economic fields, according to a statement released by the Qatari Foreign Ministry.

Also Read | China Releases Guidelines To Strengthen Governance Over Ethics in Science, Technology.

The Qatari foreign minister said in a tweet that he and the German minister held a fruitful dialogue on expanding economic cooperation to achieve the common economic and development interests of the two countries, especially in the technology, environment, and energy sectors.

After these meetings, German media quoted Habeck as saying that Germany and Qatar had agreed on a long-term partnership in the energy sector.

The German minister said that the agreement between Berlin and Doha also focuses on developing renewable energy projects and measures that enhance energy efficiency, according to German media reports.

When commenting on Habeck's Middle East tour, during which the German minister is expected to visit Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, Denis Kometat, spokesman of the German Foreign Ministry for the Middle East and North Africa, quoted Habeck as saying that the Russia-Ukraine conflict has put the issue of energy security at the forefront of international concerns.

"We must call for a global energy transformation and move forward in diversifying natural gas sources," the German minister said. (ANI/Xinhua)

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Washington, March 21: President Joe Biden has added a stop in Poland to his upcoming trip to Europe for urgent talks with NATO and European allies as Russian forces concentrate their fire upon cities and trapped civilians in the Kremlin's nearly month-old invasion of Ukraine.

Biden, who leaves Washington on Wednesday, will first travel to Brussels and then Poland, where he will meet with leaders there, press secretary Jen Psaki said Sunday.

Poland, which neighbours Ukraine, has taken in more than 2 million refugees from the fighting. It's been one of the most vocal in asking fellow NATO members to consider getting more involved to rein in the bloodshed. Mariupol Residents Taken to 'Remote Parts' of Russia; 228 People Killed in Kyiv Since Start of War, Including 4 Children, Says Official.

White House officials said previously that Biden had no plans to travel to Ukraine. Biden and NATO have said repeatedly that while the United States and the military alliance will provide weapons and other defense support to non-NATO member Ukraine, they are determined to avoid any escalation on their side that risks a broader war with Russia.

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Kyiv, Mar 21 (AP) Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced the Russian bombing of a school in Mariupol where civilians took refuge.

Speaking in a video address early Monday, Zelenskyy said about 400 civilians were taking shelter at the art school in the besieged Azov Sea port city when it was struck by a Russian bomb.

Also Read | Pakistan PM Imran Khan Warns Dissenting PTI Members, Says 'Their Offspring Would Be Unable To Find Spouses'.

They are under the rubble, and we don't know how many of them have survived, he said. But we know that we will certainly shoot down the pilot who dropped that bomb, like about 100 other such mass murderers whom we already have downed.

Zelenskyy, who spoke to members of the Israeli parliament via video link on Sunday, thanked Israel for its efforts to broker talks with Russia. He praised Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett for trying to help find a negotiation track with Russia ... so that we sooner or later start talking with Russia, possibly in Jerusalem. It would be the right place to find peace if possible, he added.

Also Read | China Releases Guidelines To Strengthen Governance Over Ethics in Science, Technology.

The Ukrainian president also said that he had a call Sunday with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a true friend of Ukraine, to discuss support for Ukraine during this week's summit of the Group of Seven and NATO.

Zelenskyy said 7,295 Ukrainians were evacuated from zones of combat on Sunday, including nearly 4,000 from Mariupol. He also hailed people in the southern city of Kherson for taking to the streets Sunday to protest the Russian occupation, showing Ukrainian courage, armless against the occupiers. (AP)

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Islamabad, March 21: An 18-year-old Hindu girl, Pooja Oad, was reportedly shot dead in Rohi, Sukkur, in Pakistan following a failed abduction attempt.

According to Sindhi media, the girl was said to have been shot in the middle of the street after she put up resistance against her attackers, Friday Times reported. Every year, several women belonging to minority communities, especially Hindus in Sindh Pakistan, are abducted and forcibly converted by religious extremists.

Pakistan's minority communities have long faced the issue of forced marriages and conversions. According to the People's Commission for Minorities' Rights and the Centre for Social Justice, 156 incidents of forced conversions took place between 2013 and 2019. Pakistan Govt to Deploy Paramilitary Forces in Islamabad Ahead of No-Confidence Motion.

In 2019, the Sindh government attempted to outlaw forced conversions and marriages for the second time, but certain religious protesters contested the bill, arguing that these girls are not forced to convert but do so after falling in love with Muslim men, and the law was rejected, Friday Times reported.

That year, the case of two sisters, Reena and Raveena, captured national attention, after their family claimed the girls had been married when they were underage, and therefore were unable to give consent to making such decisions. The girls told the Islamabad High Court that they had converted willingly; the court ruled in the sisters' favour. Delhi High Court Junks PIL Seeking Recovery of Debt That Pakistan Owes To India.

The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics reported the overall population of the Hindu community in Pakistan at 1.6 per cent, and 6.51 per cent in Sindh.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 21, 2022 10:49 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
A dad charged with his 5-year-old sons murder waited 13 minutes to call paramedics after the child stopped breathing following a beating, police in Henderson, Nevada, said.

Police were called to a home in the city about 15 miles southeast of Las Vegas at about 1:30 a.m. last Wednesday to respond to a report of a 5-year-old boy who was unconscious and not breathing, police said. Arriving responders attempted resuscitative measures, but the victim was beyond help and was pronounced deceased on scene.

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Police arrested Gerald Oglesby, 33, on one count of open murder, according to a police statement.

Gerald Oglesby (Henderson Police)

Oglesby admitted to police that he had whipped the boy with an electrical cord and punched him in the stomach on Tuesday night for back-talking him about going to bed, according to an arrest report obtained by KTNV-TV.

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Gerald explained as soon as he struck [his son] in the abdomen, he knew he struck him too hard, an investigator wrote, according to KTNV.

The child started acting strange, unable to walk normally, and then threw up and lay facedown on the couch, KTNV reported.

Still, he said, he did not call police. Oglesby lay down next to his son and was rubbing his body to comfort him, police said. When the child became unresponsive, Oglesby admitted he was afraid of what would happen if he called for help. He started doing CPR on his boy and texted the childs mother and his sister.

Investigators also found that abuse might have occurred earlier that day as well, KTNV reported.

Oglesby is due in court Monday, according to CNN. It was not clear Sunday whether he had a lawyer.
Kolkata, March 21: Trinamool Congress candidates Shatrughan Sinha and Babul Supriyo on Monday filed their nominations for by-polls to a Lok Sabha and an assembly seat to be held on April 12 in West Bengal. Sinha has been fielded for by-election to the Asansol Lok Sabha constituency, while Supriyo was nominated for the Ballygunge Assembly seat.

Speaking to reporters after filing his nomination at Alipore Survey Building, Supriyo said: "I am thankful to Didi' (TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee) for giving me this opportunity to contest from the presitigious Ballygunge constituency. I am really honoured and accept the challenge.

The bypoll to Asansol was necessitated as Supriyo resigned as the BJP MP after joining the TMC in September last year. The Ballygunge Assembly seat is going for polls as incumbent MLA and state minister Subrata Mukherjee died in November 2021. Sinha, a former BJP leader, filed his nomination at the office of the district magistrate of Paschim Bardhaman. Trinamool Congress Candidate from Asansol By-polls Shatrughan Sinha Reaches Asansol.

The actor-turned-politician had Sunday taken a jibe at the BJP for labelling him as an outsider, wondering what the saffron party makes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi contesting from Varanasi.

If for national figures like the PM, contesting the Lok Sabha polls from anywhere is accepted, then the same holds true for me as well, he had said.

By-polls to the Asansol Lok Sabha constituency and the Ballygunje assembly seat will be held on April 12, and votes will be counted on April 16.
Slovenia to send diplomats back to Kyiv, urges EU to do the same.



Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa said via Twitter on March 20 that the diplomats to return would be volunteers, citing Ukraines need for direct diplomatic support. The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 21, 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.)
Ukraine rejects Russia's demand to surrender Mariupol.



Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk responded to Russia by stating that surrender is not an option. The letter from Russias Defense Ministry said it would only establish a humanitarian corridor if Mariupol surrenders. The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 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.)
Bolivia has many bizarre customs or practices that baffle travelers due to the fusion of beliefs between indigenous religions and Spanish Catholicism.

People in Bolivia are deeply superstitious. Bolivians will go to great lengths or make extreme efforts to honor their traditions.

Here are some of the unusual customs in Bolivia to give you an idea about the Bolivians' practices that would seem utterly outrageous to travelers.

5 Weird Customs in Bolivia

Blessing of the Vehicles

According to Culture Trip, driving safely in Bolivia requires divine intervention due to some of its notoriously dangerous highways. It has reportedly become common to see reckless drivers speeding through narrow mountain roads, inching away from perilous cliff edges.

To get their vehicles blessed by a Catholic priest, locals have to travel to Copacabana, a town on the shores of Lake Titicaca. The ceremony entails tossing holy water, lighting firecrackers, and alcohol being sprayed over the blessed vehicle.

There are also Aymara yatiris or witch doctors who use incense, coca leaf, and prayer to invoke absolution from "Pachamama" or mother nature in exchange for her blessings and protection.

Alasitas Festival

Dreams could come true in the annual month-long cultural event Alasitas Fair or Feria de Alasitas. Taking place in La Paz, Bolivia starting every January 24, Bolivians buy miniature items in Alasitas market to offer to Ekeko, the Aymaran God of abundance, as they hope he will bring good fortune and wealth into their lives.

For their wishes to be granted, locals buy an Ekeko figure to be put into their homes for a year and then purchase teeny miniature versions of all the things they wish to obtain in the upcoming year.

They have these miniature items blessed by a shaman or priest and then pin them to the poncho of Ekeko figure and then pray for their desires to become a reality. The Alasitas Fair is a month-long celebration.

Burying Baby Llamas

According to World Nomads, Bolivians use dried llama fetuses to make an offering to Pachamama. These are then buried under the foundations of a new home for protection.

Rumors have it that large building projects require a human sacrifice. But these days, it's more likely a poor baby llama becomes the offering.

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Reading the Future Via Coca Leaves

Tarot cards and crystal balls are not really a thing in Bolivia. Instead, yataris in the area read the future by tossing a handful of coca leaves into the air and observing how they land. It covers such themes as health, finance, romance, and emotional well-being.

This centuries-old ritual has a strong following among indigenous people all throughout the Andean highlands of Bolivia and neighboring Peru and is taken very seriously.

Reading coca leaves for a glimpse of the future comes with a fee. But those who are unhappy with their fortunes can purchase a mesa (offering table) that can be burnt to provide spiritual cleansing and protection for up to three months.

Fiesta de las Natitas

The Fiesta de las Natitas in Bolivia makes Day of the Dead in Mexico look gentler by comparison. This macabre festival is usually held the week after All Saints and All Souls days.

In this traditional event, the Aymara people honor their unique bond with the helpful spirits of the deceased by decorating the real-life skulls of dead humans with accessories such as sunglasses, hats, and jewelry in the belief that their souls will provide protection and healing in return.

The human skulls are usually stored in shrines within the family home until the day of the festival when Indigenous Aymara go to a cemetery and parade the skulls in anything from colorful cardboard boxes to intricately carved wooden cases.

The Aymara people believe that the better their appearance, the more blessings that people will be granted in return. The skulls of family members are also preferred.

READ MORE: Bolivia's Second Largest Lake Disappears

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Written by: Jess Smith

WATCH: Bolivia Vacation Travel Guide - From Expedia
A new stimulus check in California amid the gas price hike would allow taxpayers to receive a $400 tax rebate check to help with the rising cost of daily items and services.

California lawmakers are clamoring for the said stimulus check. However, it is not yet officially decided upon, according to Marca.

The said stimulus check amid the gas price hike eyes to provide every Californian resident a $400 rebate to help with the impact of the rising costs, regardless of how much money they are making as long as they pay their state income taxes.

The planned stimulus check would go out to individual taxpayers, making a married couple receive $800.

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New Stimulus Check in California Amid Gas Price Hike

Every California filer will receive a rebate, including those who do not own or drive a car under the new proposal, according to Fox 11.

Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris said many Californians feel severe financial pain with the gas prices and ask California leaders for help.

She noted that many residents believe that a rebate is the best approach to directly put money in people's pockets. Petrie-Norris said their goal was to be able to distribute the stimulus checks in the spring, adding that they are pushing it to really happen.

California Governor Gavin Newsom's administration expects a budget surplus of around $45 billion. So there will be a lot of money available to help the citizens of California.

Assembly Republican leader James Gallagher of Yuba City said there was an urgent need for relief right now with the high costs across the board and not just gas. Gallagher noted that all of the daily living costs have increased.

California to Cut the State Gas Tax?

According to Cottie Petrie-Norris, the $400 tax rebate amount has been used as it equates to the sum a typical Californian pays in state excise taxes on gasoline per year.

Republican lawmakers are also eyeing a six-month suspension of the state gas tax, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

The GOP lawmakers argued that suspension of the gas tax would be the most effective way to provide direct financial relief to Californians affected by high gas prices.

Assemblymember Kevin Kiley said the gas tax suspension naturally targeted people who feel the pain of the high prices.

Kiley's bill to suspend the gas tax failed in California. However, he said he plans to push forward another vote on the measure next week.

Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon and Senate Pro Tem Toni Atkins said cutting the gas tax would endanger critical repair being done on California's roads, bridges, and other essential transportation projects.

In addition, Newsom and Democratic lawmakers noted that there is no guarantee that oil companies would pull back gas prices if the tax is suspended.

They also warned that companies might pocket the savings instead of passing them along to drivers at the pump.

READ MORE: SNAP Benefits 2022 Schedule for California, Florida, Texas and More: When to Get Food Assistance Each Month

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Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: California Lawmakers Propose $400 Gas Tax Rebate - From KPIX CBS SF Bay Area






Dr. Anthony Fauci has denied the retirement rumors surrounding him, saying he wanted to see the United States out of the COVID pandemic first before leaving his post.

The nation's top infectious disease expert made his comments during an interview with ABC's "This Week" on Sunday when asked if the U.S. is nearing the end of the pandemic and if he wanted to take a "rest" at that point, New York Post reported.

"I'm not so sure, George [Stephonaupolous]... I want to make sure we're really out of this [COVID pandemic] before I really seriously consider doing anything different. We're still in this," the 81-year-old White House chief medical adviser told the show's host.

According to The Daily Mail, Fauci has served as a public health expert for more than 50 years and has been advising American presidents since Ronald Reagan. He then became the country's top COVID expert while drawing criticism over how the U.S handles the pandemic.

During the interview, Fauci said the United States "have a way to go" with regards to COVID-19, but he thinks the nation is "clearly going in the right direction."

"I hope we stay that way," Fauci noted.

Fauci's update on the COVID pandemic came as the John Hopkins University recorded some 10,918 new cases over the past day, with 281 deaths, according to Daily Mail.

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Anthony Fauci on His Potential Retirement

Rumors of Anthony Fauci's retirement surfaced after he spoke with ABC's "Start Here" podcast Friday about his plans, Newsweek reported.

Fauci said during the interview that he would stay in his position until the country gets out of the "pandemic phase," claiming that the nation is "there already."

"I don't have any plans right now to go anywhere, but you never know," Fauci noted, adding that he cannot do his job "forever."

His comments got the attention of several personalities online, including former senior legal adviser and counsel to ex-President Donald Trump, Janna Ellis, saying that Fauci "needs to stop threatening" and continue with his retirement.

Fauci really needs to stop threatening this and just do it.  https://t.co/FWlTvWQOlm  Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) March 19, 2022

Republican Senator Ted Cruz also expressed his thoughts on Fauci's retirement, saying it is "something to cheer for."

Finally, something to cheer for. https://t.co/CyoiEJPmki  Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 19, 2022

Senator Rand Paul Moves to Oust Anthony Fauci From His Post

Last week, Senator Rand Paul introduced a legislature that would eliminate Anthony Fauci's position as the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) director, MSNBC reported.

The senator wanted to scrap the singular role of NIAID director and replace it with three separate directors of newly created institutes: a National Institute of Infectious Diseases, a National Institute of Allergic Diseases, and a National Institute of Immunologic Diseases.

In a press release, Paul's office noted that in the past two years, the public learned that "no one person should be deemed as the dictator-in-chief," who have "unilateral authority to make decisions for millions of Americans," Forbes reported.

Paul further noted that the new institutes will "ensure that ineffective, unscientific lockdowns and mandates" will never be imposed on the Americans "ever again."

READ MORE: U.S. Seeks Help From Latin American Allies to Curb Migration at U.S.-Mexico Border

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Written by: Joshua Summers

WATCH: New Uptick in US COVID-19 Cases Possible: Fauci - From Good Morning America
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issued a warning amid the Russia-Ukraine crisis, saying that if Russia were to deploy chemical or biological weapons, there would be a quick "significant reaction" from the U.S. and its global allies.

Austin said in an interview that he does not want to speculate about what exactly would change their calculation, adding that engaging in hypotheticals "is probably not helpful," according to a CBS News report.

Austin said the U.S expects to see Russia's attacks on civilians in Ukraine to continue due to its stalled campaign and an attempt by Russian leader Vladimir Putin to re-establish momentum.

The defense secretary said that Russia is not being effective in terms of its maneuver forces on the ground.

Austin said that the U.S. will work with allies and partners to help create conditions for Ukraine to get equipment like Russian-made S-300 surface-to-air missile systems.

READ NEXT: Russia-Ukraine War: Pres. Joe Biden Warns China's XI Jinping of 'Consequences' in Aiding Russia

Russia-Ukraine Crisis

Russian forces called on Ukraine to lay down their arms in the eastern port of Mariupol, according to a CNBC report.

Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, the director of the Russian National Center for Defense Management, said in a briefing that those who lay down their arms are guaranteed safe passage out of Mariupol.

Mizintsev stated in the briefing that humanitarian corridors for civilians would be opened to the east and the west of the Mariupol on Monday.

The colonel-general said that Ukraine has until 5 a.m., Moscow Time, to lay down arms and accept its offer of humanitarian corridors.

Meanwhile, Kyiv rejects the demand. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the Israeli parliament, comparing the Russian invasion of his country to atrocities committed by Nazi Germany during World War II, according to an Aljazeera report.

The Turkish government noted that Russia and Ukraine are making progress on talks to halt the war, with the two sides being "close to an agreement."

A Ukrainian official in Odesa noted that Russia has begun using "unmanned aerial vehicles" in the urban areas of the region.

However, Maksym Marchenko, head of the Odesa Military Administration, said that the current situation in the area "is quiet."

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy said that Israel is undertaking many attempts to arrange top-level talks between his country and Russia, suggesting that it might take place in Jerusalem.

Zelenskyy said during his nightly video address that they are grateful for his efforts, adding that sooner or later, they will have to start talks with Russia.

China's ambassador to the U.S. has defended the Chinese government's refusal to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine, arguing that such rebuke "will do nothing to stop the violence."

Qin Gang said that China wants "friendly, good neighborly relations with Russia," adding that it will continue "normal trade, economic, financial, and energy" relations with Russia.

However, the Chinese government urges an immediate ceasefire from Russia through negotiation and diplomacy.

The Chinese ambassador continued to say that China is not providing any military assistance to Russia.

READ MORE: Russia-Ukraine Crisis: Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelensky Says if Pres. Joe Biden Acted Sooner 'There Would Be No War'

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Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Exclusive: Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin On Russia-Ukraine Conflict - from NBC News






White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Sunday reiterated that President Joe Biden's trip to Europe this week does not involve plans to visit Ukraine.

According to The Daily Mail, Psaki's statement came after officials in Kyiv issued an open invitation to President Biden.

We will have additional details of @potus trip to Europe to announce later today. The trip will be focused on continuing to rally the world in support of the Ukrainian people and against President Putins invasion of Ukraine,

but there are no plans to travel into Ukraine.  Jen Psaki (@PressSec) March 20, 2022

"We will have additional details of @potus trip to Europe to announce later today... but there are no plans to travel into Ukraine," the White House press secretary said in a statement on Sunday.

Psaki also mentioned in her statement that Biden's travel to Europe will focus on "continuing to rally the world in support of the Ukrainian people and against President Putin's invasion of Ukraine."

Meanwhile, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, also said on Sunday that Biden visiting the war-torn country in the European region will not happen.

"This is a country at war. I can't imagine that that would be on the table," the ambassador told CNN, per The Daily Mail.

Psaki announced Biden's trip on Tuesday last week during a press briefing, claiming that the president's visit in Europe is an "opportunity" to engage in face-to-face diplomacy with his counterparts in the region, per The Hill.

President Joe Biden is set to attend the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) leaders' summit, as well as a European Union summit in Brussels to discuss the ongoing deterrence and defense efforts amid Russia's invasion.

Biden is scheduled to travel to Europe this coming Wednesday.

READ NEXT: Russia-Ukraine Crisis: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin Warns There Would Be 'Significant Reaction' If Russia Uses Chemical, Biological Weapon

Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy Warns About Possible World Ward III

Psaki's comment about Pres. Joe Biden's European trip came the same day as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned about possible World War III if peace talks between his country and Russia fail, New York Post reported.

In a CNN interview, Zelenskyy said that he is ready for negotiations and that if there is only one percent stopping the war, they need to "take this chance," per the Post.

"I think we have to use any format, any chance in order to have a possibility of negotiating, the possibility of talking to Putin. But if these attempts fail, that would mean that this is a third World War," Zelenskyy underscored.

In the interview, Zelenskyy was asked about the demands Russia has expressed. The Ukrainian president said that Putin's country wants to recognize Crimea as part of Russia and two other areas of Ukrainian Donbas to be under its control.

However, Zelenskyy said that he cannot accept the terms Russia conveyed, per the Post.

Ukraine-Russia War Casualties

Sunday marks the 25th day Ukraine engaged in a war against Russia, The Daily Mail reported.

At least 902 Ukrainian civilians were reportedly killed since Russia attacked Ukraine. Of that number, 75 were reported to be children, CNBC reported.

The outlet also noted that the Office of the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights recorded at least 1,459 people were injured, including 98 children, from February 24 to March 19.

The agency stated that most of the casualties are caused by explosive weapons with a "wide impact area."

Meanwhile, the UN's refugee agency noted that the Ukraine-Russia war caused 10 million Ukrainians to flee their homes. CNBC noted that the number reported included those who left the country and those who remain within the border.

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WATCH: President Biden Prepares to Travel to Europe for NATO Summit - From CBS Mornings
Omicron variant BA.2 is now considered to be the most dominant COVID-19 variant, not just in the U.S. but also around the world, according to the World Health Organization.

The COVID-19 subvariant now accounts for 75 percent of the COVID-19 cases globally, according to a Fox 8 News report.

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's COVID-19 lead, said that the Omicron variant BA.2 is the most transmissible variant that they have seen of the virus to date.

There has been a quick increase in COVID-19 cases in several countries, including China, Australia, and much of Europe.

WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the increases occurring despite the reductions in some countries means that the cases they are currently seeing are just "the tip of the iceberg."

The Omicron variant BA.2 currently accounts for about 23 percent of the COVID cases across the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Meanwhile, U.S. health officials are watching the spoke in COVID case numbers in the U.K. with concern.

READ NEXT: Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla Says Fourth Dose of COVID-19 Vaccine 'Necessary'; Plans to Send Data to FDA

COVID-19 Variant BA.2 in The U.S.

Dr. Anthony Fauci said that what happens in the U.K. usually happens in the U.S. a few weeks later over the last year or so, according to an NPR News report.

U.K. has attributed the increase of the quick-spreading Omicron variant BA.2 to the removal of COVID restrictions, as well as the waning immunity from vaccinations and infections.

Fauci noted that all three of those factors were seen in the United States, adding that he would not be surprised if officials are going to see a slight uptick in the next few weeks.

The infectious disease expert said that the scenario is entirely conceivable and that people have to just "follow it carefully."

Lauren Ancel Meyers, director of the COVID-19 Modeling Consortium at the University of Texas at Austin, said that the landscape of immunity varies by time and place, with the effects of the subvariant being hard to predict.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said that one percent of the population is living in areas where they believe that masking should be recommended at this point.

Omicron Variant BA.2

BA.2 is considered by the WHO as a "sublienage" of the highly transmissible omicron variant, according to a USA Today News report.

The BA.2 has a different sequence from BA.1 and was first dubbed as the "stealth variant" as it was not as easy to detect.

BA.2 accounted for about a quarter of the cases for the week ending March 12, according to CDC.

The week ending March 5 has reported cases of BA.2 of about 14.2 percent.

It is not yet known if BA.2 causes severe illness as did Omicron BA.1 did, which had caused a rapid surge in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths for a month before plummeting as quickly.

In addition, it does not look as if BA.2 is making a noticeable impact. However, public health officials say they are closely monitoring its spread.

READ MORE: CDC Recommends Shorter COVID Isolation Period for Health Care Workers Amid Omicron Variant

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Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: COVID-19 omicron subvariant, BA.2 - from Good Morning America






A Florida woman who was charged over the death of a four-year-old after her SUC crashed in daycare was rearrested and held without bail on Sunday.

According to New York Post, Kiara Morant, 18, was the driver of an SUV that allegedly plowed into a playground in Florida on Wednesday. She was then charged with driving without a license following the tragedy.

The outlet furthered that Morant was initially released on a $120 paltry bond. However, the Florida woman reportedly struck two children, and one of them reportedly died following the tragedy.

This led to cops upgrading her charges to felony counts of driving without a license resulting in serious injury or death. On Sunday, Morant was rearrested and is held without bail, the Post noted, citing WWSB-TV.

Morant is currently held in Lee County Detention Center, per the Post.

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4-year-old Maleena Valdez Dies After Florida Woman's SUV Crash on Daycare

According to reports, authorities mentioned that the accident occurred around 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday last week, when Morant allegedly lost control of the SUV and drove through a link chain fence of a daycare center in Arcadia.

One of the victims, identified as four-year-old Maleena Valdez, met her demise.

According to People, emergency personnel transported Valdez to Gulf Coast Hospital. However, authorities claimed that the child later died in the healthcare facility.

Another five-year-old child was brought to DeSoto Memorial Hospital and remains in serious condition as of Sunday.

On Friday, Valdez's mother, who was not identified, spoke to Wink News following the death of her daughter. She said that her "heart is still in so much pain," and it was challenging for her to say anything else.

Maleena Valdez's father, Miguel Romo, expressed how he felt, saying that he wished that the death of his daughter did not happen.

"Last time I saw her, I had to drop her off at daycare, and obviously she didn't want to go a little bit of tears because that's just how it is. She never wanted to leave my side," Romo added.

On Friday, the Florida community where Valdez lived offered a vigil. Wink News noted that more than a hundred people gathered to pray and observe a moment of silence before lighting candles and releasing balloons.

Florida Woman Charged for the Death of Maleena Valdez Has Previous Hit-and-Run Records

Morant has a previous run-in with the law. According to Wink News, Cape Coral records revealed that the Florida woman was linked to charges since she was 14 years old.

The outlet then revealed that last month, Fort Myers police arrested her for shoplifting at the Edison Mall.

In 2021, the records also showed that Morant was linked to a hit-and-run. However, the report did not mention who was behind the wheel when the accident occurred.

The records from Cape Coral also showed that the Florida woman was tied to four battery charges. However, Wink News said that Morant's involvement was "blacked out."

Fort Myers attorney, Scott Goldberg, said that the significance of the said charges is "minimal," per Wink News.

"It shouldn't impact her at all with how she's charged, and how she's prosecuted because what her prior arrests were, and all of those things, don't have a lot of relevance to her guilt or innocence in this chart," Goldberg said.

READ NEXT: Dr. Anthony Fauci Denies Retirement Rumors, Says Will Wait for U.S. To Be 'Really Out' of COVID Pandemic Before Leaving Post

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written By: Joshua Summers

WATCH: Child Killed When Unlicensed Driver Plows Into Preschool Playground in Florida - From FOX 13 Tampa Bay
A man convicted of torturing, killing and dismembering seven dogs will be eligible for parole early after his case was reclassified as nonviolent because his crimes were not committed against a human.

Initially eligible for parole in 2025, Jason Brown, 32, could get out of jail as early as next month after the Nevada Department of Corrections deemed that legally incorrect under state law due to the victims of his crimes, the Reno Gazette Journal reported.

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This undated photo released by the Nevada Department of Corrections shows inmate Jason Brown. Brown convicted of torturing, killing and dismembering seven dogs is eligible for possible release years earlier than originally believed, officials said. (AP)

Animals are treated as personal property under Nevada law, department spokesman Bill Quenga told the newspaper.

He added that its only labeled violence under the law when it involves a human victim. Browns original sentence was up to 28 years, but the nonviolent status means his sentence can be mitigated by things such as good behavior, Quenga said.

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The changes mean that Brown, sentenced in 2015 after pleading no contest to seven charges of torturing and killing small dogs in Reno hotel rooms, could have been eligible for parole as of 2019. He is one of several state inmates who were misclassified, KTNV-TV reported.

The Daily News Flash Weekdays Catch up on the days top five stories every weekday afternoon. >

Brown bought small dogs on Craigss List and took them to two Reno hotel and motel rooms, where he then videotaped himself cutting them up, stomping on them and slamming them onto the floor or throwing them at walls, reported KTNV. He was arrested in July 2014 after a maid found dog parts while cleaning one of the rooms and called police. Detectives discovered a decapitated dog and four dog heads in a small refrigerator in one of the rooms, as well as two bloody kitchen knives and scissors.

During Browns sentencing hearing, Washoe District Judge Elliott Sattler had to watch the footage of Brown torturing and skinning the dogs, while the rest of the court, including some of those who had sold him the dogs, listened to the sounds of him cutting up the sometimes-squealing animals.

At the time of Browns sentencing, the judge, prosecutor and defense lawyer all agreed it was the most horrific crime they had ever seen, The Associated Press reported. Brown, of Reno, said he was a drug addict and did not remember anything about the crimes, AP said.

Those images I watched, I will never forget, Sattler said before ordering the maximum penalty. The cruelty, the sadism you exhibited is simply shocking. The part that frightened me most about the videos is that you produced them in the first place. That tells me you wanted to go back and watch them again  a trophy if you will of your behavior. You watched with friends and laughed.

An animal rights group, Nevada Voters for Animals, is already waging a campaign to oppose Browns parole. Among many other reasons, there is a strong link between violence toward animals and toward humans, studies have shown.

We certainly disagree with releasing him earlier than the original 11 years for parole eligibility, Washoe County District Attorneys Office spokeswoman Michelle Bays told AP. We will be at the parole hearing to oppose his release now.

With News Wire Services
A Texas wildfire has destroyed 50 homes, with nearly 500 others evacuated in central Texas. One person was also killed as the wildfire burned more than 45,000 acres.

The Texas wildfire has been ravaging west of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, with the fire named the Eastland Complex fire, according to The New York Times report.

The Eastland Complex fire started on Thursday evening. Authorities noted that a deputy with the Eastland County Sherriff's Office, Barbara Fenley, died while helping people escape.

The Texas A&M Forest Service said on Twitter that the blaze was 15 percent contained as of Friday evening.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said that the fire remained dangerous due to "ever-shifting winds" and dry ground.

Abbott added that part of what the firefighters are fighting is the fire, while the other part is the weather and the winds.

Ben Oakley, EMS chief of Blanco County, noted that severe conditions required a substantial amount of resources from Travis County.

Oakley noted that the big lesson is if evacuations are needed, people need to have a plan to evacuate their families quickly, according to a KXAN news report.

READ NEXT: U.S. Southwest Megadrought Blamed on Climate Change; New Mexico, Others in Its Driest State in 1200 years

Texas Wildfire: Eastland Complex Fire

In Blaco County, charred and smoky grass were the only extent of the damage in the area.

Meanwhile, up north in Eastland County, towns like Carbon were decimated. Firefighters continued battling those wildfires on Sunday, with around 30 percent of some 54,000 acres burning contained.

Most of Texas remains under severe weather watch on Monday.

Meanwhile, Hood County Fire Marshal Jeff Young said that the fire moved at about the speed of the wind at 20 mph, which made stopping it more difficult.

Young said that the grass and the fire were burning so fast that they were having a hard time catching it.

He noted that they cannot get any guys right up in front of it as they were going to get overrun by the fire, according to an WFFA News report.

Young said that the fire expanded from 200 acres to 3,400 in just two hours. It is still unclear how it started.

The city of Tolar was initially under evacuation orders. However, Hood County officials said that order was later on removed.

The National Weather Service issued an evacuation order for residents of Bluff Dale along County Road 148.

Madison Gordon, a meteorologist with the NWS, said that the Eastland Complex blaze was the first wildfire of such magnitude to affect Texas this year.

Gordon noted that the wildfire is "definitely one to pay attention to."

The Eastland Complex fire has four blazes that have burned parts of Comanche and Eastland Counties.

The largest among the fires was the Kidd Fire, which burned at least 30,000 acres as of Friday,

The Houston Health Department advised residents to stay indoors on Friday, particularly those with respiratory issues.

Smoke from the wildfire can cause health problems, such as burning eyes, chronic heart, and lung disease, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

READ MORE: Caldor Fire Moves Closer to Lake Tahoe as Blaze Continues to Spread in Northern Part of California

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Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Texas wildfire latest: Growing fire in Hood County prompts evacuations - from WFAA






A California couple was arrested and charged over the shooting of an unarmed Black man at a gas station, with prosecutors pursuing the case as a race-based hate crime.

The suspects were identified as Christina Lyn Garner and Jeremey Wayne Jones, who are both facing felonies, including one count of murder and one count of special circumstances murder, according to a Law and Crime report.

Court documents reviewed that the victim was 30-year-old Justine Peoples.

The California couple also faces counts of intentional discharge to a firearm causing great bodily harm or death, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, as well as the use of a deadly weapon.

Garner was a convicted felon and possessed a firearm, for which he was charged.

Bobby Bivens, president of Stockton's chapter of the NAACP, said that they never think that this kind of hate is in their community, but now they see that they hate "is here," according to an ABC 10 News report.

READ NEXT: Ahmaud Arbery's Mother Accuses Prosecutors, Police of 'Vast Cover-up' in New Civil Lawsuit

Justin Peoples' Shooting

Tracy Police Department noted that officers were called to a gas station in the 3700 block of North Tracy Boulevard, right off of busy I-205 freeway.

Officers noted that when they arrived, they found Peoples suffering from a gunshot wound. He was then taken to an area hospital and later died.

Detectives said that they learned Peoples was involved in a confrontation with Garner and Jones before the deadly shooting.

Marice Peoples, the victim's father, said that his son was just a remarkable young man. He then held up pictures of his son proudly but with a "heavy heart."

Tracy Police Chief Sekou Millington said that from what they have gathered, it was unprovoked and a senseless act of violence, according to a Channel 3000 News report.

The DA has released pictures of Jones' tattoos showing the words "white pride," as well as swastikas on his arms.

The defendants are scheduled to be back in court on April 4.

District Attorney Tori Verber Salazar stated that the suspects have a history of supporting Nazi, white pride, skinhead, and Aryan brotherhood.

Peoples was a graduate of Edison High School and Delta College. Later on, he went on to join the Navy.

Prosecutors alleged that Garner and Jones "intentionally killed" the 30-year-old Black man due to his "race, religion, nationality, or country of origin."

One of the defendant's marks contains the number "88," which the Anti-Defamation League claimed as a "white supremacist numerical code for Heil Hitler."

Millington noted that there is no room for hate in Tracy or anywhere, adding that they will use their resources to bring those responsible to justice.

Meanwhile, a third defendant was named as 58-year-old Christopher Dimenco. He was charged with being an accessory to the killing of Peoples.

The Justice Department defines hate crime as a crime motivated by bias against a race, color, region, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability.

Hate crimes are broken down to specific categories based on bias motivation, vicitims, offenders, location type, and jurisdiction.

READ MORE: Ahmaud Arbery Killing: Arbery's Father 'Mad as Hell' Over Now-Rejected Plea Deal

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: San Joaquin County District Attorney files hate crime charges in the killing of Justin Peoples - from ABC 10






Portlaoise priest Fr David Vard thanked well-wishers after his primetime TV appearance on The Tommy Tiernan Show on RTE.

In a wide-ranging interview, Fr David Vard (30), who is a curate in Portlaoise Parish, described finding his vocation and how he navigates the world of being a priest in Ireland.

When he met Tommy Fr Vard, who is from Newbridge, described Portlaoise "the heart of the Midlands".

Still the youngest priest in Ireland after being ordained five years ago, Fr Vard described on the show that he thought he was "finished" with the Catholic Church after his Confirmation.

He said he grew up in Ireland when the Church was just 'bad news'.

However, he later went on a pilgrimage to Lourdes and was profoundly affected by the experience.

Speaking about his journey into priesthood, he said: "I often describe it to people as falling in love. So I had that period at 16 or 17 of falling in love with God and the church.

"And then entering a seminary at 18 and continuing that in a deeper way. And realising that this god is good and this god loves me. And this god wants me to be a solider in this world for him.

Fr David Vard tells @Tommedian that learning about his faith and entering the Church was like falling in love @David Vard#TommyTiernanShow pic.twitter.com/MM7pPr6UGt  RTE One (@RTEOne) March 19, 2022

"And falling in love with that idea, and taking that idea and owning it in my way. He's calling me, David Vard, and what does that mean? For me? And how can I be me as a priest in this world?"

Tweeting after the interview Fr Vard said: "Thank you everyone for your nice comments!"

He added: "Cheers to Tommy Tiernan and every who worked on the show that night in RTE."

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW ON THE RTE PLAYER HERE






A Good Samaritan who pulled a drowning man out of a South Carolina lake was acting in self defense when he then shot and killed the same man, according to officials.

The 74-year-old rescuer, who has not been publicly identified, was in a pontoon boat with his wife on Lake Keowee when he spotted 29-year-old Nathan Drew Morgan and a woman in distress in the water without life jackets, according to the Oconee County Sheriffs Office.

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The couple aboard the pontoon boat pulled Morgan and the woman onto safety while the jet ski that they had seemingly been on continued running in circles unattended in the water.

Nathan Drew Morgan

Then, Morgan became agitated and began assaulting the couple on the pontoon, officials said. His partner, trying to de-escalate the situation, pushed him back into the water, but the elder couple once again pulled him onto their boat.

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Fearing for his and his wifes life while being assaulted, the elderly man shot Morgan once, killing him, according to officials.

10th Circuit Solicitor David Wagner determined that the shooting was in self-defense and said no charges will be filed against the man.
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The outpouring of generosity from the people of Laois exceeded our wildest expectations, a haulier revealed.

Hyland Transports Ger Hyland departed on Monday morning, March 21 from his Rosenallis haulage headquarters following a busy weekend preparing for the almost 3,000 km trip to the Ukrainian border in Poland.

He was joined by up to 70 volunteers from the community and local GAA clubs as deliveries arrived from all over Laois on Saturday. Things couldnt have gone better, the support was unbelievable, he remarked.

He was particularly delighted to have received a phone call from the wife of Vadym Binko, a Ukrainian national living in Laois who returned to Ukraine to fight against Russia. Mr Binko is now believed to be on the front line in Kyiv.

She rang us to thank us for what we had done and to express the Ukrainian peoples gratitude, he explained. She told Mr Hyland that the Ukrainian people cant believe the level of support the Irish have shown.

Mr Hyland left his Rosenallis base at around 11am. The two fully loaded trucks are due to meet with a further four lorries in Dublin before travelling in convoy to Rosslare where they will catch a ferry to Dunkirk.

Representatives of the Ukrainian Embassy in Dublin are expected to meet the convoy before it departs.

The final leg of the journey across Europe will cover up to 2,000 km. Mr Hyland said ferry operator DFDS has sponsored their crossing and the toll operators are giving them free passage.
Minister of State Martin Heydon visited Irish troops in Lebanon during the St Patrick's Day holiday.

Mr Heydon said: "It was an honour to visit the 119th Infantry battalion serving in Lebanon this week to mark St Patrick's Day."

Mr Heydon said he stayed in the camp and participated in the medal parade.

He also visited personnel at outpost NP652 and observed the contentious 'Blue Line' with Israel.

The south Kildare TD also led a wreath-laying ceremony in memory of the 47 Irish Irish Defence Forces soldiers who lost their lives in Lebanon over the length of the Unifil mission, at the Irish memorial in the village of Tibnin.

Mr Heydon added: "Their sacrifice will never be forgotten.

"Now more than ever, the role of Irish peacekeeping troops around the world do our us proud, continuing the long tradition of unbroken peace keeping service by Oglaigh na hEireann on UN missions for over 60 years."

Mr Heydon said: "It was a great honour for me to represent the Government on this trip to our troops to mark St Patricks Day, while also having meetings in Beirut with representatives of UNICEF, UNHCR and our honorary consulates to Syria and Lebanon.

With 344 serving Irish personal as part of the UNIFIL mission in Lebanon, our Defence Forces are a central part of the mission. It was very evident in my meeting with force commander Major General Saenz the regard with which our troops led by Lieutenant Colonel Fiachra Keyes (who originally hails from Kilcullen) are held in.

Enroute to Lebanon, I also visited Cyprus where our Gardai participate in the UNPOL peacekeeping mission. I discussed Irelands ongoing commitment to the UN mandate in Cyprus with their senior official there Colin Stewart and also in my meeting with Cypriot Minister for Foreign Affairs Ioanais Kasoulides.

I conveyed our appreciation for Cypruss unflinching support for Irelands position on the Brexit protocol, proving the strength of strong bilateral relations with the EUs smaller nations. I also participated in a number of St Patricks Day linked events organised by the Irish Embassy in Nicosia to promote trade in Irish food and drink products as well as meeting the UN committee on missing persons."
Africa Agri-Food Development Programme (AADP) offers grants up to 250,000 to support Irish businesses to develop new markets.

Irish Agri-Food companies of all sizes are being encouraged to apply for grant funding to explore and seize exciting opportunities to develop new markets in Africa.

The AADP, which this year marks 10 years of supporting Irish companies to realise their ambition of doing business in Africa, has launched its latest call for applications which remains open until April 30.

The AADP offers Irish Agri-businesses an invaluable opportunity to develop and harness the potential from innovative partnerships with companies in sub-Saharan African countries, providing matched funding grant support of up to 250,000 to Irish companies.

Minister of State at Department of Agriculture Food & the Marine, Senator Pippa Hackett, said: A large part of the success resulting from this AADP funding, is the partnerships that have been created with local companies in Africa. By learning from each other, both partners have discovered opportunities that have delivered significant benefits, not only in supporting sustainable growth of the local food industry, and building markets for local produce, but also in supporting mutual trade between Ireland and Africa.

Minister of State with responsibility for Overseas Development Aid and Diaspora, Colm Brophy T.D said: Over the past fifty years we have transformed our food system in Ireland, from subsistence farming to a food island with world leading agri-food businesses. Through the AADP, we are enabling the sharing of Irish business knowledge and expertise with partners in Africa. This allows a win-win outcome, supporting Irish companies looking to grow and African companies looking for investment or know-how."

The AADP has a long record of success. It has encouraged Irish companies to invest in Africa. It has matched African companies with Irish partners, helping make their business propositions more sustainable. At a time when questions of food security are on our global agenda, the AADP allows Irish businesses interest in investing in Africa do so while at the same time building really positive impact for the African agri-food industry.

The programme is a joint initiative between the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).

The AADP has supported Irish companies to develop sustainable and rewarding commercial ventures in Africa that include agriculture value-chain add, animal and crop health products, horticulture, livestock genetics, dairy and cheese production facilities.

The substantial grants on offer help businesses to manage their financial risk and to use their expertise and resources to work on projects jointly with African companies to deliver a strong and positive impact.

For further information visit www.gov.ie/aadp

For queries or to apply for AADP grant funding please email aadp@agriculture.gov.ie
A Newbridge native, who is the youngest priest in Ireland, thanked well-wishers after his primetime TV appearance on The Tommy Tiernan Show on RTE.

In a wide-ranging interview, Fr David Vard (30), who is serving in Portlaoise, described finding his vocation and how he navigates the world of being a priest in Ireland.

Speaking afterwards on Twitter, Fr Vard said: "Thank you everyone for your nice comments!"

He added: "Cheers to Tommy Tiernan and every who worked on the show that night in RTE."

Fr Vard described on the show that he thought he was "finished" with the Catholic Church after his Confirmation.

However he later went on a pilgrimage to Lourdes and was profoundly affected by the experience.

Speaking about his journey into priesthood, he said: "I often describe it to people as falling in love. So I had that period at 16 or 17 of falling in love with God and the church.

"And then entering a seminary at 18 and continuing that in a deeper way. And realising that this god is good and this god loves me. And this god wants me to be a solider in this world for him.

"And falling in love with that idea, and taking that idea and owning it in my way. He's calling me, David Vard, and what does that mean? For me? And how can I be me as a priest in this world?"






Tanaiste Leo Varadkar has offered his spare room to Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war.

Around 20,000 offers of accommodation have been pledged by Irish people, including from Tanaiste Leo Varadkar while vacant properties are also set to be used to accommodate Ukrainian refugees.

The Government has confirmed it is to start the process of moving Ukrainian refugees in with Irish families, Minister for Children Roderic OGorman has said.

Tanaiste Leo Varadkar and his partner Matt Barrett are among those who registered through the Irish Refugee Council.

Varadkar said he has a spare room in his house.

From our point of view, watching the news every night of Ukraine, its very hard to watch what were witnessing on our continent, in our neighbourhood and wanted to help out in some way, he said.

Opening your home for a few months to somebody fleeing war, its just something were able to do at the moment. Im happy to do.

He also said there has been some discussion in providing funding to those who open their homes to refugees, but is not something we are going to do.

What were really saying to people is that this is an altruistic thing, not something we would intend to pay people to do, he added.

Minister OGorman said that 9,000 Ukrainians have arrived in Ireland, and the vast majority are staying in hotels.

Flowers and messages of support left outside Ukraines embassy in Dublin (Brian Lawless/PA)

He also said that EU countries are expected to receive tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees in the weeks ahead.

Its certainly those numbers that were preparing for, he added.

Were continuing to look to book hotel accommodation to deal with short-term accommodation needs and as of this weekend, weve begun to draw down accommodation from the pledges provided by the Irish people.

Over 20,000 offers have come in from Irish people across the country, a huge show of generosity, and my department are looking to start to activate some of those accommodation options now, starting initially with options of vacant housing.

Mr OGorman said the Government is looking to block-book hotels.

I think thats necessary to ensure that we have rooms for people when they arrive in the country and weve been doing that over the last two weeks, he added.

I think we have to be ready in case theres a sudden surge of people arriving at our ports and airports and in a crisis situation like this.
Irish agri-food companies are being encouraged to apply for sizeable grants of up to 250,000 to explore the opportunity of developing new markets in Africa.

In its tenth year, the Africa Agri-Food Development Programme (AADP) supports Irish companies to realise their business ambitions in Africa, and has just launched its latest call for applications.

Minister of State with responsibility for Overseas Development Aid and Diaspora, Colm Brophy, said Ireland has "transformed" its food system over the past fifty years "from subsistence farming to a food island with world leading agri-food businesses".

He said, "Through the AADP, we are enabling the sharing of Irish business knowledge and expertise with partners in Africa. This allows a win-win outcome, supporting Irish companies looking to grow and African companies looking for investment or know-how."

Applications remain open until April 30.

According to Minister Brophy, the AADP has encouraged Irish companies to invest in Africa and has "a long record of success".

He continued:" It has matched African companies with Irish partners, helping make their business propositions more sustainable. At a time when questions of food security are on our global agenda, the AADP allows Irish businesses interest in investing in Africa do so while at the same time building really positive impact for the African agri-food industry."

For further information click here or to apply for AADP grant funding please email aadp@agriculture.gov.ie.
Eamon Ryan has said he will talk to Ryanair after the airline was accused of hiking prices along one of the key routes to Ireland for Ukrainian refugees.

Ryanair has rejected claims that the fares have jumped between Poland and Ireland, an accusation levelled by Ukrainian Ambassador to Ireland Larysa Gerasko last week.

The Minister for Transport, is due to meet the Ukrainian Ambassador this week.

He said that he would listen to Ms Gerasko before discussing the issue with the Irish low-cost airline.

Were in constant touch with Ryanair. Through the previous Covid crisis, on a number of occasions, they helped us in terms of getting people out of difficult places in different ways, Mr Ryan said on Monday.

Let me first of all talk to the ambassador and then Ill talk to Ryanair without a doubt, he told RTE radio.

Mr Ryan also said that Ireland will be pushing for more punitive sanctions against Russia, when EU foreign ministers meet in Brussels later on Monday.

Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney will be at that meeting and Mr Ryan said that Ireland would back tougher measures taken against Russian oil and gas.

We will be pushing for the further, stronger sanctions. We dont have fighter jets. We cant enforce a no fly zone over over Ukraine but we can and will put further pressure in every way we can on the Russian Government to desist and stop, he said.

He confirmed that Ireland has already taken in around 10,000 Ukrainian refugees.

We have also in this country, like every other European country, opened our doors and how we manage that  we have some 10,000 people arrived already  there will be more coming and the challenge that presents is immense beyond compare.

Asked about sanctions on Russian fuel, he said: I think if we can get agreement and it has to be based on collective agreement, thats our strength, we would introduce whatever sanctions are applied straightaway.

Ireland is less reliant on Russian oil and gas than some European counterparts, with only 2-3% of gas supplies in the country coming from imported Russian gas.

While the Green Party leader said that he did not believe fuel rationing was a likely prospect, he stressed no one could predict the next direction of the war.

Were in a war situation. No one knows how this might escalate. And we do have to provide wartime measures, in effect, to manage supplies, but Im confident we can do that.
The rollout of almost half a million euro in funding to assist Traveller and Roma students with higher education has been announced today (Monday March 21).

It's hoped the investment of 450,000 will help ensure Covid-19 did not widen the gap in higher education between Travellers and the wider population.

According to the Irish Traveller Movement (ITM), 28% of Travellers leave school before the age of 13 compared with 1% of non-Travellers.

Minister for Further and Higher Education, Simon Harris, announced the rollout today and said, "Participation by Travellers in higher education remains at an alarmingly low level and recent data shows just 61 Travellers in higher education. Only 1% of Travellers have a third-level education.

"We have a significant way to go to improving participation rates among the Traveller and Roma community but it will also offer additional supports to people already in higher education."

The funding will enable the construction of an inter-agency community approach led by higher education institutions and local Traveller and Roma groups.

It will also enable higher education institutions to assist members of the Roma community, deliver once-off payments or bursaries to Traveller and Roma students in need of resources, and offer mentoring and mental health support.

Minister Harris said, "There is a real risk that the small increases we have seen in recent years could be lost as a result of COVID-19, and this is something my department is determined to mitigate against.

"This funding marks a 50% increase in the funding secured in 2021. It will have transformative long-term benefits for the Traveller and Roma communities and allow third-level institutions broaden their reach people in these marginalised communities."
Gardai are renewing an appeal to the public to help trace the whereabouts of a teenage boy who has been missing for two and a half weeks.

The appeal has been issued to find 16 year old Callum McGill, who went missing from Bettystown in Co Meath on Friday March 4 at approximately 9.30pm.

Gardai confirmed today (Monday March 21) that he has not been found, following appeals previously released on March 11 and March 18.

Callum is described as being approximately 5 foot 5 inches in height with a slight build, short brown hair and blue eyes.

When last seen, he was wearing a black jacket and black tracksuit bottoms.

According to Gardai, no further information is being made available at this time due to "operational reasons".

Anyone with information on Callums whereabouts is asked to contact Ashbourne Garda Station 01-8010600, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda Station.
By Han Jie and Fan Heng

Tonj area of South Sudan has a surface temperature of almost 60C. The peacekeepers of the 12th Chinese peacekeeping engineering contingent to South Sudan worked hard under the scorching sun to breach the supply route from Tonj to Romic.

The supply route is more than 150 kilometers long, being the only road connecting Tonj to Romic and an important line for the United Nations' force projection and material supply. However, the poor road conditions had led to extremely bad traffic conditions, which seriously affected the work and life of local residents.

With the Chinese peacekeepers being assigned the task, the chief executive of Tonj Region in South Sudan sincerely said at the groundbreaking ceremony, "You have brought hope. Smooth roads will provide a favorable guarantee for our local economic development, and sick people can also be sent to the hospital in time."

The time was tight, and the task was burden, but the most troublesome thing was the local security environment. South Sudan has become one of the poorest and most dangerous countries in the world due to long-term conflicts. Children without clothes, locals with guns on their backs, armored vehicles and sporadic gunfire could be spotted on the street from time to time. Armored escort was required during the construction, with machine gunners always on guard.

During the construction process, the contingent organized the forces to start construction at two points at the same time. The peacekeepers were faced with many difficulties, such as outdated engineering equipment, frequent mechanical failures, and insufficient construction materials, but they still managed to repair two to three kilometers of roads every day, working overtime in the sweltering heat. Sometimes they even had to eat compressed biscuits with water for lunch to catch up with the time.

In the local areas, as a result of the local backward economy and turbulent life, very few local families could afford tuition fees, and school supplies were luxuries for children. Despite a tight construction schedule, the Chinese peacekeepers raised food, school supplies, clothes and other materials in spare time, and donated them to the local primary school.

"Thank you for supporting the children and building the road for us. This will change our lives," said the villagers. In the days being far away from home, the Chinese peacekeepers have gained the deep friendship of the local people.

It is reported that the 12th Chinese peacekeeping engineering contingent to South Sudan arrived in the mission area in December 2021 and was mainly responsible for the construction and maintenance of roads in the mission area, the maintenance of UN camps, and humanitarian relief tasks. Since then, they have successively completed tasks such as the deployment of engineering forces, the road improvement around the UN peacekeeping camp in Wau, South Sudan, and the repair of the barracks of other UN peacekeeping troops.
A Missouri mom spoke publicly more than two weeks after her husband and two of her children were killed in a tornado.

Kuri Bolger, 33, of Blue Springs, in the suburbs of Kansas City, and her 8-year-old son, Brysen, were injured but survived when an EF-4 tornado struck on March 5 while the family was visiting Bolgers parents.

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Melissa Bazley, her mother, Michael, her 37-year-old husband and 5-year-old Kinlee and 2-year-old Owen died. Rodney Clark, 64, and Cecilia Lloyd, 72, who live in homes on the same street as the Bazleys, were also killed.

In this undated family photo provided by Lynn Larson, Michael Bolger and Kuri Bolger pose for a picture. Michael Bolger was killed when a tornado struck central Iowa, Saturday, March 5, 2022, and Kuri Bolger was seriously hurt and remained hospitalized Monday. (Lynn Larson via A)

Bolgers stepfather and one of her brothers who were at the home also survived.

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Its a roller-coaster of emotion, she told Good Morning America.

I think theres going to be really hard days and days that its a little bit easier, but just remembering that you just have to keep going.

Cleanup efforts are underway in Winterset, Iowa, on Sunday, March 6, 2022, after a tornado tore through an area southwest of town. (Bryon Houlgrave/The Register/AP)

While Brysen sprained his foot, Bolger suffered a broken pelvis and broken leg and had to be hospitalized for 10 days.

I was so excited to have him, but also so sad that it was just us, Bolger said about Brysen seeing her in the hospital. The rest of our family was gone.

With News Wire Services
A TRUCK driver who was detected travelling at almost twice the speed limit on a busy Limerick road was fined 100 after he admitted speeding.

Ireneusz Szczebelski, aged 55, who has an address at Cherry Drive, Glencairn, Dooradoyle Limerick was prosecuted before Newcastle West Court in relation to an incident on August 2, last.

Judge Carol Anne Coolican was told Garda Graham O'Connor was manning a speed checkpoint on the N21 at Gortroe, Newcastle West when he observed a vehicle being driven at 119km/h in a 60km/h zone.

The detection, he said, was made at 10pm and a fixed charge penalty notice, issued following the detection was not paid - resulting in a court summons being issued.

Addressing the court, the defendant's son said his father, who has poor English, is an international truck driver who can be abroad for long periods at any one time.

While accepting he was speeding and had received the fine in the post, he said he 'didn't get a chance to pay it' due to his work commitments.

Mr Szczebelski's son added that he was unable to pay the fine on his father's behalf - despite trying to do so.

Noting the circumstances of the offence and the explanation put forward by Mr Szczebelski (via his son), Judge Coolican imposed a 100 fine - giving him three months to pay.

While not a matter for the court, the defendant will also receive penalty points on his licence as a consequence of his conviction.
A LIMERICK company is one of only eight firms across Ireland picked to take part in a new programme aimed at supporting early-stage businesses tackling the climate action problem.

Data collection firm Episensor, which is based in the National Technology Park, has joined a new accelerator programme for sustainable businesses.

Codenamed Accelerate Green, it's being delivered by Resolve Partners and sponsored by Bord na Mona.

It is the first programme of its kind in Ireland dedicated to supporting companies developing products and services based on green innovation. Accelerate Green will help the eight business leaders identify clear pathways to scaling their novel solutions, delivering measurable impact and supporting economic development.

Bord na Mona chief executive Tom Donnellan said: "Brendan Carroll and his team at EpiSensor are leading their industry in making it easier than ever to collect data from the real world. As a climate solutions company Bord na Mona is determined to help other companies, like EpiSensor deliver novel solutions to enable a low-carbon economy while delivering sustainable jobs. Accelerate Green is an excellent opportunity for our eight selected companies to engage with key industry partners and gain potential financial investment.

Episensor's chief Brendan Carroll added: "This is a great opportunity to meet with the founders of other sustainability tech companies in Ireland, many of whom started companies for the same reasons, to contribute in some small way to the transition to sustainable energy and they have experienced the same challenges and opportunities that we have. Since the start of the programme, weve been sharing ideas, contacts, and challenging the assumptions that each of us are making about the positioning of our companies and where the market is going. For me, having access to that group of smart, independent people who can question our decisions and strategy is very valuable.

EpiSensor will be joined on the Accelerate Green programme by CameraMatics, Positive Carbon, Real Leaf Farm, Automsoft, Go Eve, Borrisoleigh Bottling and Jones Celtic Bioenergy Ltd (JCBE).

Over the course of the programme the eight companies will be brought through a series of deep learning and mentoring sessions and will engage with a broad array of speakers from enterprise and energy agencies, Irish corporates, research networks, investors, and successful business leaders. The programme will be delivered in person at a former Bord na Mona site in Boora, Co. Offaly.

The companies will also be able to avail of up to 20,000 of research funding with Irish university researchers. Following the completion of the programme the companies will participate in a conference, Ireland's Sustainable Future, taking place in June, to coincide with the programme finish date.
FINE GAEL councillor Adam Teskey has called for a county and city-wide audit of fire hydrants.

The call comes following a house fire in West Limerick where, Cllr Teskey claimed, the emergency services discovered the nearby fire hydrant had been overlaid with tarmac.

Speaking at a meeting of Adare Rathkeale Municipal District, Cllr Teskey said the fire service couldnt get access to the fire hydrant.

They tried to access the hydrant using the cutter, he explained, but were unable to do so and instead had to go to Shanagolden to get water.

This is an alarming situation, he said, and he sought support from the other councillors for his proposals to prevent any recurrence. This was a catastrophe that happened within our district.

In his motion, he called for a detailed map, outlining the exact location of all fire hydrants, to be prepared. He also asked for a survey to be carried out with regard to the water pressure and quantity of water available at each hydrant.

Cllr Teskey added: "I am asking that where we dont have a hydrant or where quantity or pressure is an issue that a reserve tank be put in place to be used in cases where the emergency services require access.

Cllr Kevin Sheahan said he had no problem seconding the motion but added that it was really a motion for the full council.

Every year we adopt a huge budget, and a huge budget for the fire service, Cllr Stephen Keary said. There is an obligation on the fire service to do due diligence. They should be doing an annual inspection of hydrants.

He couldnt accept the fire service had to go to Shanagolden for water, pointing out that there was a river beside them.

But councillors were told that Irish Water now has overall responsibility for the repair and maintenance of fire hydrants in Limerick.

There is no existing programme in place for periodic inspection of water services fixtures and fittings such as hydrants,

Irish Water said in a written response. The company tries to repair immediately any hydrants in need of repair and reported to them, the statement added.

Cllr Teskeys motion was agreed unanimously, and they agreed to invite the Chief Fire Officer to a future meeting.
A WOMAN who was observed sitting in a car shortly after she had smoked cannabis and used other drugs, has been disqualified from driving for 12 months.

Elizabeth Jewitt, aged 27, of Allow Hill, Freemount was before Newcastle West Court in relation to a detection at the Demense, Newcastle West on April 6. 2021.

Giving evidence, Garda Keith Hughes said he and a colleague were on routine patrol at around 10.30pm when they came across a Toyota Aygo car which was idling.

Garda Hughes said the defendant was sitting in the drivers seat and that the lights were on and the engine was running.

While speaking with Ms Jewitt, Garda Hughes said he observed that her eyes were bloodshot. He said he also detected a strong smell of cannabis.

Based on his observations and suspicions, he then decided to perform a roadside test.

After a fail was recorded, Ms Jewitt was arrested and taken to a garda station where she gave a sample of blood to a doctor.

Judge Carol Coolican was told this was sent for analysis which confirmed the presence of drugs including cocaine and cannabis  at levels above the legal limit.

Being cross-examined by solicitor Enda OConnor, Gardai Hughes agreed Ms Jewitt was not driving the vehicle at the time gardai encountered her.

The solicitor told the court his client, a Polish national, lives in a rural isolated location and that she found it difficult during the various Covid lockdowns.

It had a bad effect on her, he said adding that she is apologetic and was seeking mercy from the court.

Mr OConnor said the defendant was smoking cannabis on the day of the detection and that she had used cocaine a number of days earlier.

He asked the judge to note her co-operation and guilty plea and the fact that she has not come to the attention of gardai since the detection.

Judge Coolican imposed fines totalling 750 in addition to two separate 12-month driving bans.

She directed that two disqualifications should be served concurrently.
THE REDEMPTORISTS Limerick have raised nearly 400,000 for their counterparts in Ukraine who are helping those affected by the ongoing crisis in the country.

The Redemptorists in Ukraine are immersed in local communities and have opened their houses and churches as sanctuaries for displaced families.

They have a presence throughout the country in places such as Lviv and Tschernihiv as well as towns near the Russian/Belarus border and the Polish and Molodovan borders.

The religious order have delivered over 50 tonnes of medical supplies to five hospitals in different regions of Ukraine.

They have also opened centres in Slovakia and Poland to support refugees who have fled.

In the border region of Novojavoriosk about 25km from the Polish border, the Redemptorists are delivering food, blankets and water to the 30km tailback of vehicles trying to travel into Poland.

In Ivano-Frankivsk they have created a welcoming space for over 80 orphan children and their carers who have fled the besieged city of Kharkiv.

Rector Fr. Seamus Enright said that refugees are arriving at the centres in Ukraine with almost nothing and are traumatised.

He said: "Im in daily contact with some of our guys in Ukraine. Things are going from bad to worse. Theyre running out of basic necessities, there is a shortage of medicine and, now, a shortage of flour.

"This is an acute problem in one of the monasteries which runs a community bakery.

"The management committee of the Redemptorist Perpetual Help Fund had a meeting with John Lannon from Doras and Majella Murphy from Simon to talk about the emerging situation.

"Weve allocated 50,000 to support them in their work with the refugees."

You can donate to the Redemptorists Ukraine appeal online here or by contacting their office on 061 315 099.
DOWN Syndrome Limerick have teamed up with Dunnes Stores to celebrate World Down Syndrome Day 2022.

Down Syndrome Limerick provide essential therapies, school supports and adult education programmes as well as organise clubs, lessons and social activities.

Ellen Tuffy, Chairperson of Down Syndrome Limerick said, "Dunnes Stores in Ireland have a strong record of supporting people with Down syndrome, not only by raising awareness but also offering employment to people with Down syndrome and producing a line of clothing specially designed and adapted for people with disabilities, making shopping at Dunnes Stores an inclusive experience.

"Down Syndrome Limerick wish to thank the management and staff at all the Dunnes Stores outlets in Limerick.

"A special thank you to the staff of Dunnes Stores in the Jetland Shopping Centre who looked after our members and helped them choose the beautiful outfits for the photo shoot."

For more information you can contact Down Syndrome Limerick by email info@downsyndromelimerick.ie or direct message on Instagram page @down_syndrome_limerick.

You can support the work that they do by donating at www.downsyndromelimerick. ie/donate/
A LIMERICK cancer survivor and mother-of-two is calling on the public to take back from cancer and support life-changing research through Daffodil Day donations this year.

Stacey Kiely (31) from Corbally, was only 8 years old, when her cancer journey began, and she received a diagnosis of non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

At the time I was so young that I didnt really realise what cancer was, she said.

It wasnt until doctors sat her down and told her that she may lose her hair and would have to stay in hospital to take plenty of medicine that she realised how severe it was.

Staceys treatment plan at the time included 8 months of chemotherapy. She is now back to full health and is a mother of a four-year-old and nine-month-old.

Locally, the Irish Cancer Society provides vital services to patients and their families in Limerick each year.

This includes the provision of 272 counselling sessions and 339 nights of in-home night nursing for patients in their final days.

Last year, 233 volunteer driving lifts were provided to patients attending hospital appointments.

Irish Cancer Society CEO, Averil Power, expressed her excitement at seeing Limerick and Ireland turn yellow once again, on March 25.

Daffodil Day is our most important fundraising event of the year and the money raised goes directly to funding crucial supports, she said.

These are comprised of a support line, free counselling, night nurses to provide end of life care, and financial support for families of children affected by cancer.

Along with these services, the money raised on Daffodil Day allows us to support life-changing cancer research, she concluded.

Anyone interested can donate to Cancer.ie, volunteer to help fundraise, purchase items from the Daffodil Day online shop or take part in a steps challenge.

For more information, or to donate, click here.
NINETEEN council-owned houses are currently vacant in the Adare/Rathkeale Municipal District, and ten of them require major refurbishment before they can be allocated to new tenants on the waiting list.

The remaining nine houses, local councillor Adam Teskey was told, only need minor repairs.

But, both he and Cllr Stephen Keary opposed the selling of a house in the Gortadroma area which was acquired by the council in 2006 but has been vacant since.

It is beyond the life of me that we would be disposing of any house at a time of a housing crisis, Cllr Teskey said. There were, he added, thousands of people looking for houses.

Cllr Keary said the house in question could easily have been refurbished by the council and he didnt think it was appropriate to dispose of the house at this time.

I agree with the sentiments expressed but there might be a better way, Cllr Kevin Sheahan said, suggesting that perhaps the house could be sold to someone in need of housing.

A new scheme was being developed where grants would be available to people to buy and do up old properties, he continued. That scheme would target people in need of housing, he said. The need for housing should be the first call.

The Housing Section dont want the house at this point in time because of the cost involved in refurbishing it, councillors were told. The house had been vandalised and was suitable for cash buyers rather than first-time buyers

The house is described as a derelict bungalow on a one-acre site and in need of extensive refurbishment.

The property was put up for sale at the end of 2020 and there were 23 enquiries. A number of viewings were held in May last year and a number of parties entered a competitive bidding process.

A decision on the disposal of the property was adjourned until the April meeting.

No timescale was given as to when any of the other 19 houses owned by the council would be ready to be lived in.
ALBANY  Attorney General Letitia James and union leaders on Monday called for stronger protections and better wages for nursing home workers who served on the front lines throughout the COVID crisis.

James and 1199SEIU president George Gresham pushed lawmakers and Gov. Hochul to step up and require nursing homes to implement appropriate staff-to-resident ratios and invest in employee wages and facility operations.

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For more than two years, these essential workers have worked around the clock to protect and provide for our most vulnerable residents, James said. Chronic understaffing, lack of infection control protocols, and poor training contributed to the tragic deaths of nursing home residents and workers alike.

Nursing home reforms included in last years budget were meant to increase staffing and require operators to spend more money on patient care. Measures slated to go into effect in January would have also capped profits that nursing home operators can make at 5%.

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Hochul has repeatedly postponed the implementation of the new rules citing the ongoing COVID crisis and a lack of healthcare workers in the state.

Nursing home residents and their caregivers are urgently waiting on full implementation of nursing home reform in New York to bring them the relief they need, Gresham said. Every day that goes by without nursing home operators being held accountable to basic standards of care puts residents at further risk.

James cited her offices bombshell report from last year, which revealed many elder care facilities in the state were blindsided by the pandemic due to poor staffing levels and ill-preparation, putting workers and seniors in harms way.

The call for action comes a week after State Comptroller Thomas DiNapolis office released its own audit confirming that health officials undercounted COVID deaths in nursing homes by at least 4,100 as the pandemic raged across the Empire State under former governor Andrew Cuomo.

New York State Attorney General Letitia James (Joshua Rashaad McFadden/Getty Images)

DiNapolis office found officials were ill-prepared for such a deadly outbreak in elder care facilities and that the Department of Health intentionally obfuscated information about fatalities as Cuomo sought control over what data was being made public.

James office first accused the Cuomo administration of drastically undercounting nursing home deaths in its January 2021 report that questioned how officials reported data to the public.

The report also revealed that lack of compliance with infection control protocols put residents at risk and facilities with lower pre-pandemic staffing ratings had higher fatality rates during the pandemic.

As the pandemic devastated our communities, it became painfully clear that our healthcare industry was ill-equipped to deal with such a crisis, James said. These essential workers laid down their lives for the rest of us, and its time for us to give them the support they need and deserve.
Former Afghanistan finance minister Khalid Payenda, who resigned from his post after the Taliban took over the country, is now driving Uber in America to support his family, according to a report by The Washington Post. Payenda also works as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University.

Ghani, who is driving Uber Washington DC, told the US daily, "If I complete 50 trips in the next two days, I receive a $95 bonus".

The minister said he was grateful for the opportunity to be able to support his family, but, "right now, I don't have any place. I don't belong here and I don't belong there. It's a very empty feeling".

According to The Post, In 2020, Payenda lost his mother due to Covid, and after that, he became the finance minister of Afghanistan, but he now wished he had not.

"I saw a lot of ugliness, and we failed. I was part of the failure. Its difficult when you look at the misery of the people and you feel responsible," the former minister told The Post.

He also said that maybe the Afghans didn't have the collective will to reform, to be serious. Also, he blamed the US for betraying its commitments to democracy and human rights after making Afghanistan a centrepiece of post 9/11 policy.

Maybe there were good intentions initially but the United States probably didnt mean this," Payenda said.

Payenda resigned as finance minister a week before the Taliban captured Kabul, as his relationship with former Afgnaistan President Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai deteriorated. Fearing the president would have him arrested, he left for the US, where he joined his family.

The Taliban in last August took control of Afghanistan since then country is in chaos and in dire need of humanitarian assistance.

Last week, Afghanistan was listed as the world's unhappiest country for the second year in a row.

The World Happiness Report, a publication of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, every year rates happiness with a survey of about 149 countries.

The annual report ranked Afghanistan as last among 149 countries surveyed.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has praised India's foreign policy amid the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Addressing a public rally in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, the Pakistan Prime Minister told his supporters that he would like to appreciate the neighbouring country India as it was having an "independent foreign policy".

Khan said that India which is a part of the Quad group has imported crude oil from Russia despite US sanctions on Moscow. The Quad nations include-India, the US, Japan, and Australia.

"I praise our neighbouring country as they always had an independent foreign policy. Today India is in their (America) alliance and they are part of QUAD (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue); they say that are neutral. They are importing oil from Russia despite sanctions because their policy is for the betterment of people," he said.

Further, Khan ensured that his government's foreign policy would also favour the citizens of Pakistan. "I havent bowed before anyone and will not let my nation bow either," said Khan, who is rallying public support ahead of a no-confidence vote against him in Parliament.

Khan told his supporters that he had disagreed with European Union (EU) envoys seeking Pakistans support against Russia in the ongoing war because "they broke protocol by making the request".

He said that Pakistan would have gained nothing by complying with the EU's request. We became part of Americas war against terror in Afghanistan and lost 80,000 people and $100 billion," he said.

It is for the second time he spoke against a statement by the EU and other Western countries asking Pakistan earlier this month to condemn the Russian intervention in Ukraine.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said he was "shocked" after a China Eastern Boeing 737-800 with 132 people on board crashed in the southern province of Guangxi on Monday. He has called for an investigation into the accident, as per reports.

"We are shocked to learn of the China Eastern MU5735 accident," state broadcaster CCTV reported Xi as saying, while he also called for "all efforts" towards the rescue and to find out the "cause of the accident as soon as possible".

China's Premier Li Keqiang also instructed officials to spare no effort in searching for survivors and to provide sufficient comfort to the victims' families.

However, local reports stated that rescue workers had found no sign of survivors.

The media cited a rescue official as saying the plane had disintegrated and caused a fire destroying bamboo trees. The People's Daily quoted a provincial firefighting department official as saying there was no sign of life among the scattered debris.

The aircraft, with 123 passengers and nine crew on board, lost contact over the city of Wuzhou, China's Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) and the airline said.

The flight left Kunming at 1:11 p.m. (0511 GMT), FlightRadar24 data showed, and had been due to land in Guangzhou at 3:05 p.m. (0705 GMT).

The plane, which Flightradar24 said was six years old, had been cruising at an altitude 29,100 feet at 0620 GMT. Just over two minutes and 15 seconds later, data showed it had descended to 9,075 feet.

In another 20 seconds, its last tracked altitude was 3,225 feet, indicating a vertical descent of 31,000 feet per minute, Flightradar24 said.

Online weather data showed partly cloudy conditions with good visibility in Wuzhou at the time of the crash.

The 737-800 model has a good safety record and is the predecessor to the 737 MAX model that has been grounded in China for more than three years following fatal crashes in 2018 in Indonesia and 2019 in Ethiopia.  Investigators will be looking to recover the plane's two so-called black boxes - the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder - to help shed light on the crash.
WASHINGTON : The Biden administration has transferred a significant number of Patriot antimissile interceptors to Saudi Arabia within the past month, fulfilling Riyadhs urgent request for a resupply amid sharp tensions in the relationship, senior US officials said.

The transfers sought to ensure that Saudi Arabia is adequately supplied with the defensive munitions it needs to fend off drone and missile attacks by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in neighboring Yemen, one of the officials said.

The Saudi military had been appealing to the U.S. since late last year for more Patriot interceptors-missiles used to shoot down airborne weaponswarning that their supply was running dangerously low.

U.S.-Saudi relations have deteriorated since Mr. Biden took office over issues such as a White House decision to remove the Houthis from a list of designated terrorist groups, as well as Mr. Bidens dealings with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the countrys de facto leader.

The longstanding Saudi request for more interceptors had been a point of contention between Washington and Riyadh, feeding Saudi officials displeasure over what they contend was a lack of U.S. support for their intervention in the Yemen civil war.

U.S. officials said the decision to send the interceptors had taken months because of the high demand for the weapons by other U.S. allies and the need to go through normal vettingnot because the White House was deliberately delaying the resupply.

The interceptors and other munitions sent to Saudi Arabia were taken from U.S. stockpiles elsewhere in the Middle East, one of the officials said.

The decision to go ahead with the arms transfer was part of an effort by the Biden administration to rebuild its relationship with Riyadh. Among other things, the U.S. hopes Saudi Arabia will pump more oil to mitigate soaring crude prices, officials said. But providing Patriot interceptors hasnt resolved all the strains in the relationship.

Mr. Biden also publicly criticized Saudi Arabia over its protracted war in Yemen and cut off the flow of some weapons Riyadh could use to target Houthis. The president also reversed a move by his predecessor that put the Houthis on the U.S.s official list of global terrorist groups, a move that Saudi leaders said had emboldened the Yemeni force and thwarted efforts to broker a cease-fire.

The latest attacks on Saudi Arabia came late Saturday and early Sunday when Houthi forces in Yemen fired missiles and drones at energy and water-desalination facilities run by Aramco, the Saudi state oil company.

The Houthis claimed responsibility for the attacks, which a spokesman said were in response to the continued aggression and unjust siege of our people."

Jake Sullivan, Mr. Bidens national security adviser, condemned the Houthi attacks in a statement Sunday.

The Houthis launch these terrorist attacks with enabling by Iran, which supplies them with missile and UAV components, training, and expertise," he said, referring to unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones.

The missiles and drone attacks were fired at a water-desalination plant in Al-Shaqeeq; a distribution station in Jizan; a liquefied-natural-gas plant in Yanbu; a power station in Dhahran al Janub; and a gas facility in Khamis Mushait. Aramco said there were no casualties or impact on its supplies, while the Saudi-led military coalition backing the Yemeni government said the strikes damaged civilian vehicles and homes in the area.

In 2019, the Houthis claimed credit for coordinated strikes on oil facilities in Saudi Arabias oil-rich Eastern Province. The U.S. later blamed the attacks on Iran. But missile barrages and drone strikes from Yemen have continued steadily since.

Patriot antimissile batteries are only one of the weapons used by the Saudis and the United Arab Emirates to counter the Houthi attacks. Many of the slow-flying drones are shot down by fighter aircraft.

The rift between Mr. Biden and Saudi Arabias crown prince stretches back to the 2020 presidential election, when the Democratic candidate vowed to treat the kingdom as a pariah" state after the U.S. implicated Saudi Arabia in the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 in Istanbul.

After taking office, Mr. Biden released a U.S. intelligence report that concluded that Prince Mohammed had approved the plan to capture or kill Mr. Khashoggi, who had been an outspoken critic of the young Saudi ruler.

Prince Mohammed has denied knowing anything about the plot. People close to the crown prince were convicted by a Saudi court of taking part in murdering the journalist.

In an effort to repair the breach, the White House unsuccessfully tried to arrange calls between President Biden and Prince Mohammed in early February, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

The White House has said the story about the unsuccessful telephone calls was inaccurate.
By Victoria Kastner

Chronicle. 240 pp. $32.50

- - -

My memories of high school are bittersweet at best, but when I think about ninth-grade algebra and my first crush, I'm back in a lofty, sunlit room with tall, mullioned windows that look out on a wide courtyard and the creamy stucco and Spanish tile roofs of the classrooms on the other side. Even my cringy-est high school experiences have a curious radiance to them that decades later I believe has everything to do with the beauty of the environment in which they unfolded. I didn't know it at the time, but my high school in Northern California was one of some 700 buildings designed by the architect Julia Morgan in the first half of the 20th century.

Over a 50-year career, Morgan designed not just schools but also understated bungalows, downtown office buildings, the Fairmont hotel in San Francisco, libraries, clock towers, and, most famously, the 110,000-square-foot Hearst Castle. That Morgan merits a biography is indisputable, and Victoria Kastner's "Julia Morgan: An Intimate Biography of the Trailblazing Architect" bills itself as "the first volume to thoroughly examine Julia's private life as well as her career."

Kastner, who worked as the historian at Hearst Castle, has pored over family letters and business correspondence as well as Morgan's drawings to bring us a book - part biography, part coffee table decor - that walks us briskly through the life and career of an extraordinary woman. If it never feels particularly "intimate," that's partly because Julia Morgan was a tough nut to crack, partly because Kastner seems reluctant to try.

Born in 1872, Morgan grew up in a prosperous family in Oakland, Calif., Some of the book's liveliest sections consist of excerpts from the tart and belittling letters that Morgan's mother wrote to her father. In one, Eliza Morgan chastises her spouse for sending letters that were "so weak and mawkish I did not intend acknowledging them at all. . . . I'd like to remind you, that you are supposed to be a man." The next year, worried that she had diphtheria, she commands, "If I never see you again come get the children and marry some good kind of wife that will not be too young." Was there something in her parents' relationship that drove Morgan to choose career over matrimony? Kastner doesn't speculate even when the material almost begs for it.

Morgan graduated with a degree in civil engineering at the University of California at Berkeley, one of the first women to do so. It was the first of many firsts. She moved to Paris in 1896 and became the first woman to finish the architecture program at the prestigious Ecole des Beaux-Arts. In 1904, back in California, she became the state's first licensed female architect. "The capacity of that little lady for work was just incredible," recalled one of the employees at the architecture firm she founded. Indeed, that little lady seems to have picked up her drafting pencil in the 1890s and not put it down again until her memory began to fail in the 1940s.

According to Kastner, she had no love life whatsoever. There was also scant interpersonal drama and almost none of the emotional turmoil you find in many biographies of pioneering women. Morgan wore drab clothes, didn't drink and would nibble on a soda cracker for dinner when immersed in a project. The "intimate" life of a sexually abstinent, emotionally controlled, discreet workaholic isn't one that keeps you turning the pages late into the night.

The work itself is another story, and Kastner's book is lavishly illustrated with Morgan's delicate drawings and gorgeous finished creations, from a modest Mediterranean-style YWCA to the Neptune Pool at Hearst Castle, where she harmonized ancient Roman columns, 1930s marble nymphs and the 345,000-gallon swimming pool. Morgan has been criticized for lacking a distinctive style, a charge that Kastner rightly dismisses.

Morgan, Kastner argues, managed to bring her commitment to functionality, balance and beauty into accord with the desires of her clients, whether the extravagant William Randolph Hearst or an ordinary home builder. And she was democratic in the care she took with her projects, treating the smallest project with the same attention to detail that she did the biggest. She believed that good architecture can ennoble us and should be available to all.

When designing a YWCA in San Francisco, Morgan included private dining rooms and kitchens for the residents so they could entertain their friends. As Kastner writes, "When she was asked, 'These are minimum wage girls; why spoil them?' Morgan replied, 'That's just the reason.' "

I thought about my high school when I read that. The lovely building was designed in 1917 for the education of clueless kids. Why spoil us? That was just the reason.

- - -

Jennifer Reese is the author of "Make the Bread, Buy the Butter."
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For an event that functions as the premier showcase for the Greek documentary industry, the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival again offered a prime platform for local docmakers at its 24th edition, with 77 feature-length and short Greek documentaries screening across the festivals various competition and non-competitive sections.

Marco Gastine, a co-founder of the Hellas Doc Association, a trade group representing the interests of Greek documentary filmmakers, has witnessed the industrys steady evolution since the association was founded in 2013.

There was nothing specific about documentaries [in Greeces film policy at the time], Gastine told Variety in Thessaloniki. It was underrepresented in the public programs at the Greek Film Center and [public broadcaster] ERT. The pubcaster was in fact shuttered from 2013 to 2015, as part of cost-cutting measures by an austerity-minded government, plunging the documentary industry into crisis.

Much has changed in the years since, partly thanks to the associations efforts to shape film policy at public institutions like the GFC and the National Center of Audiovisual Media and Communication (EKOME), the government body tasked with administering Greeces incentive scheme.

The GFCs current regulations ensure that all of the centers funding programs are accessible to documentary filmmakers, according to Gastine. Hellas Doc also lobbied EKOME to revise a cash rebate that was all but inaccessible to documentary filmmakers, who rarely managed to reach the local minimum spend threshold of 100,000 ($110,000).

We succeeded to get them to listen, and they made it 60,000 ($66,000), said Gastine. So that means serious documentary production in this country can have access to this program. It makes it much easier to fund documentaries.

Three Greek documentaries appeared in this years international competition at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival: Femicidio (pictured), a documentary written and directed by Nina Maria Paschalidou, about the wave of brutal attacks and femicides that in recent years have rocked Italy; The Other Half, by first-time filmmaker Giorgos Moutafis, which compiles footage taken by the veteran photojournalist between 2009 and 2021 as he reported on the Mediterraneans refugee crisis; and Tilos Weddings, by Panayiotis Evangelidis, which tells the story of the first two gay and lesbian civil weddings ever performed in Greece.

Variety spoke to Gastine about the landscape for documentary filmmakers in Greece, and what more needs to be done to elevate the industry.

What are the key sources of funding for Greek documentary filmmakers?

Theres the institutional financiers, the Greek Film Center and EKOME. Of course, an important player is ERT, the national broadcaster. There is also another window for documentaries, Cosmote TV, which is co-producing a bit and are very interested in documentaries. But they are limited to historical or cultural documentaries. It is impossible to make a documentary with them with social content.

What more needs to be done to help the local doc community?

We have this dream to have local financing, like they have in France or Italy, where the regions are big players in production financing. Thats the problem [in Greece], there are not many players. In France, if you dont get the [National Center for Cinema], you can get a channel. If you dont get this channel, there are dozens of channels where you can go. In Greece, you dont have this opportunity. Its a smaller country, but you have small countries like Denmark  which is half the population of Greece  which has an incredible system of financing.

I would love to have more players, so we can build our budgets. We are not anymore in the 1970s, with everything from the state. And Im not nostalgic for that. But you need to be in an open economy, you need to have players. They are too limited in Greece. It would be interesting to have the regions and the municipalities [more active]. There are no cultural channels, just private TV. They follow the logic of the market. There is no PBS or ARTE. The national broadcaster should have a channel for that, but there is not yet.

One of the films that screened in the international competition this week at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival was Femicidio, by Nina Maria Paschalidou. Its a Greek-Italian co-production with broadcasters Al Jazeera and Sky Italia on board that also received support from the Italian Film Fund and Veneto Fund. I think it illustrates how all these different mechanisms you talk about  producers, private broadcasters, regional institutions  can come together to finance a film. Do you think well be seeing more of these types of collaborations in Greece in the future?

Greek producers are getting skills for that, because it takes skills to make a co-production. When I started in the business, there were no producers for documentary  thats why I became a producer. The producers were more focused on feature films and TV series and advertising. The last 15 years, something is changing. A lot of small companies have been created, and some are dedicated to documentaries. There are a lot of programs helping to build skills, such as workshops and festivals like Thessaloniki. All those things help a new generation of producers to be born.

What sort of support do you think is necessary from local and regional institutions?

At the institutional level, its important. A good example for us is if we look at the Nordic countries, which are small countries in terms of inhabitants. I think only Sweden has a population like Greece, which is more than 10 million. The others are smaller than Greece, but they have programs for filmmaking and funding that are much more developed than here. They have film centers which often have a film school. They have a very close connection to the local broadcasters. And then, if you get money, for example, from Finland, you will get almost automatically from Sweden and Denmark and Norway. So they can build their budgets like that. We dont have mechanisms like that here in the southeast of Europe  like in Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus, Serbia, which are countries that have a common history.

Given these trends and challenges, how optimistic are you for the future of the Greek documentary film industry?

I think Im quite optimistic. Im coming [to Thessaloniki] almost every year. It would be impossible to imagine  even five years ago  that I would see a Greek-Chinese co-production (Sean Wangs A Marble Travelogue). The level of Greek documentary is rising. Its a long process, but in those kinds of labs or in festivals, we build the base of co-productions. For example, in the doc lab of the Mediterranean Film Institute in 2021 [where Gastine is a tutor], we had a beautiful Greek project. I found the producer here, and he picked up a German project. We build connections like that. We are like the old women who are [matchmaking] in the village. And the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival is very important for us. It built an audience, but it also built a profession.

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Launched in 1998, the Malaga Film Festival first grabbed attention as a Spanish movie showcase and birthplace of a Spanish star system, TV actors walking a red carpet to acclaim from milling throngs.

Under Juan Antonio Vigar, director from 2013, it has consolidated as a platform for a new generation of Spanish filmmakers while adding ever increasing industry heft  co-pro forums, WIPs, a HACK digital forum initiative  and also opening up to TV.

In 2021, however, Malaga Festival and Spanish Screenings have exploded in scale, impact and attendance. The narrative of this years event is largely one of that growth. Eight takes on this and other Malaga highlights:

Malaga Lifts Off

Little wonder Malaga forms part of whats now the Spanish Screenings XXL. In its first full edition since 2019 with festival and industry onsite and aligned, Malaga has truly taken off. It received almost 2,000 film and TV submissions, says Vigar. Attendance has skyrocketed to over 1,100 delegates, 609 at the Spanish Screenings, the latter an exponential growth, he adds. New sections target remakes and big screen makeovers. With a first leg in Malaga, the Spanish Screenings XXL segue to San Sebastian then a third event outside Spain. Once a yearly event, Malaga is now part of a year-round ecosystem.

Spain AVS Plan

Put that down in large part to the Spain AVS Hub plan, a governmental drive to power up production, exports and inward investment in Spanish film and TV, funded to the tune of 1.6 billion ($1.8 billion). Alongside a bullish presence at Series Mania, the Spanish Screenings XXL  a national movie showcase boasting a 2022-23 $4.2 million budget  marks its earliest impact. More AVS Hub initiatives look set to be debated at a round table on March 22, hosted by Spains Film Commission.

Netflix Galvanizes Early Malaga

Other factors, naturally, are also at work. Malaga has screened TV series these last few years. But never has Spains TV scene been more vibrant. Our creators talent has [traditionally] been the Spanish film-TVs key driver. We now need a consolidated industry that generates structures, Vigar argues. That, if Malagas early running is anything to go by, is now happening. Arguably the biggest news of the whole festival came as early as

Saturday when Netflix released new photos of Elite Season 5 and showcased five minutes of its Episode 1, with much of the new cast in town. Netflix also opened the festival with Emperor Code, suggesting one burgeoning prototype for big upscale Spanish film production: Top notch producers  Spains Vaca Films, Frances Playtime; a powerful talent nexus of Jorge Guerricaechevarria, fresh off a Goya screenplay win for The Laws of the Border, Hierro director Jorge Coira and Cell 211 star Luis Tosar; a genre bending political twist on a classic film identity: the special services op gone rogue.

More Corporate Muscle

But Netflix isnt the only big act in town. Spains film and TV is scaling up in terms of its corporate backing. Movistar Plus, the pay-TV/SVOD arm of giant Spanish telco Telefonica world premiered on Saturday to applause Daniel Guzmans humble hood caper Canallas, its second original movie after Alejandro Amenabars While at War. Its also backing Rapa, from Hierro creators Portocabo and the Coira brothers, a series positioned half way between cosy rural whodunnit and social issue Nordic Noir. ViacomCBS International Studios is behind therapy-themed Mejores Dias. Bambu Producciones, itself backed by Studiocanal, part of Vivendis Canal Plus Group, produces Berlinale competition player One Year, One Night, which director Isaki Lacuesta will discuss at Malaga.

Spains Industry Build

The Spain AVS Hub plan is a work in progress. Spains securing inward investment is already in motion. Attraction cuts multiple ways. On March 17, Universal International Studios and Buendia Estudios unveiled a deal to co-produce Spanish-language series. One day earlier, Germanys Beta Film confirmed it was handling international on Rapa and Canneseries competition entry El Inmortal. Malaga unfolds as Spains drama series scene is booming. Big foreign players want in.

A New Regional Scene: Alcarras, Lullaby

That said, atomised and artesanal, the lions share of Spanish cinema at the Malaga Festival and its 63 Spanish Screenings still remains a question of singular auteurist talent. Ive always said that the Malaga Festivals singularity is its general reach, its diversity, says Vigar. To date, two movies have dazzled at Malaga: Berlin Golden Bear winner Alcarras, from Carla Simon, and Lullaby (Cinco Lobitos), from Alauda Ruiz de Azua. Both serve as vindication for one of Spanish cinemas most exciting push phenomena: the emergence of a new generation of (often women) filmmakers in Catalonia and beyond making movies often intimately grounded in their immediate reality, breathing authenticity and made by producers in Spains regions but also Madrid.

Buzz Titles

While Spains AV industry positively rocks from big industry moves, the major narrative of this years Spanish Screenings and Malaga Festival looks set to remain the story of individual talent, consecrated, just crowned and still emerging. Two of Spains biggest, and most singular voices  Enrique Urbizu (Giants, Bandoleros) and Jaime Rosales (Petra, Beautiful Youth )  give masterclasses. Canallas, from Guzman, has been hailed as an early competition favorite. Sparking large anticipation are crime drama Unfinished Business, from another past Malaga top prize winner, Juan Miguel del Castillo (Food and Shelter), and the Annapurna-set Beyond the Summit, from another Spanish cinema maverick, Ibon Cormenzana, which delivers a heartfelt tribute to the mind-boggling courage and ethical principle of big mountain climbers.

Women Make the Running

Theres good word on Imanol Uribes reportedly chilling massacre witness thriller What Lucia Saw and Chilean Matias Bizes powerful Mensajes Privados. This could be the first year that Bolivia scores big at Malaga, with Utama, Alejandro Loayza Grisis Sundance Festival winner  a sublime, quietly elegiac feature debut, Variety wrote  counting among competition contenders. But its still women  directing 37% of Malaga Fest titles, says Vigar  who are still sparking much of the biggest Malaga and Screenings buzz. In doc features, both Laura Sisteros Russia-set Tolyatti Adrift, and Cancion a una dama en la sombra from Carolina Astudillo, are highly anticipated. Also awaited, and playing the festival and screenings, is La Voluntaria, Nely Regueras second feature after the sharply observed Maria (And Everybody Else). The film stars Carmen Machi, superb in Sundance hit Piggy, according to a Variety review. With multiple titles at Malaga, this could be her year.

The Malaga Festival runs March 18-26, its Spanish Screenings March 21-24.

Ed Meza and Emilio Mayorga contributed to this article.

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Simon Lereng Wilmonts A House Made of Splinters, a tender and humane story of a childrens shelter in eastern Ukraine, earned the top prize at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, taking home the Golden Alexander Award at a ceremony on Sunday.

The international competition jury praised Wilmonts acclaimed documentary, which also won the best director prize at Sundance, as an unforgettable film that shines a light on the burden carried by children for the horrors and mistakes perpetrated by the world of the adults who should be caring for them.

The jury also announced a Special Jury Award for Young Plato, by Declan McGrath and Neasa Ni Chianain, calling it a film that can only give us hope in future generations and their capacity to make the world a better place.

In handing out the awards, the jury described the prize-winning duo as two profoundly moving and intricate films that, in many ways, struck us as companion pieces, and that deserve to be seen together.

In the Newcomers Competition for young and up-and-comings directors presenting their first or second features, the Golden Alexander Dimitri Eipides Award went to Golden Land, by Inka Achte, which the jury described as a beautiful and moving family story of belonging in a way which changes the narrative of migration[and] shows  in a non-didactic manner  a familys struggles and dreams. The Special Jury Prize went to The Devils Drivers, by Daniel Carsenty and Mohammed Abugeth.

In the Film Forward Competition, which showcases the work of young and daring directors who challenge genre conventions, the Golden Alexander Film Forward Award went to The Bride, by Samira Guadagnuolo and Tiziano Doria, which the jury praised as a striking film where silence speaks louder than voicethat, with minimal yet powerful and precise cinematic means, tells an important story of how patriarchal societies repress women. The Special Jury Prize went to Amateur, by Martin Gutierrez, and Letter to Nikola, by Hara Kaminara.

The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) gave the FIPRESCI Award for the best documentary in the international competition to A House Made of Splinters, and handed out a second award for a Greek film participating in the international program to Arm Wrestler, by Yorgos Goussis.

The Greek Film Center gave its award for a debut director in the official Greek selection celebrating its premiere in Thessaloniki to The Itinerary, by Orestis Athanasopoulos. The GFC also gave an award for a film from the Agora Docs in Progress selection to #MetiSofia, by Vania Turner.

The Agora Lab Award, which was presented by the events tutors to a Greek project taking part in the lab, went to Panellinion, by Spyros Mantzavinos.

The Thessaloniki Documentary Festival ran from March 12-20.

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Fourteen years ago, on the far-flung and Lilliputian island of Tilos, two same-sex couples wed in a civil ceremony  the first gay and lesbian marriages ever held in Greece. It was an event that sparked outrage from the Greek Orthodox Church and large swaths of the conservative Mediterranean nation, even as it represented a historic step forward for Greeces marginalized queer community.

The story of those civil marriages and the impact they had on the LGBTQ+ movement is the focus of Tilos Weddings, by director Panayotis Evangelidis, who offers a first-hand account of what he describes as a heroic period in the struggle for gay rights in Greece. Written and produced by Evangelidis, the film world premiered at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival.

A filmmaker and activist, Evangelidis joined the fight for same-sex marriage as a member of the Gay and Lesbian Community of Greece, an organization that had been lobbying for the extension of civil marriage to couples regardless of sex since its founding in 2004.

Four years later, the community found an unexpected ally in Tassos Aliferis, the outspoken mayor of the Aegean island of Tilos, who agreed to perform the first gay and lesbian civil marriages ever held in Greece. That victory, however, raised a pressing problem. There were so many [gay and lesbian] couples, but they would never expose themselves [publicly], said Evangelidis.

Instead, the Gay and Lesbian Community of Greece had to invent two couples who could serve as symbolic proxies. In the run-up to the weddings a media circus ensued, in which conservative pundits, legal experts and Orthodox religious leaders joined forces in an effort to prevent them from taking place.

On the morning of the civil ceremony, journalists were barred from the courtroom. We were adamant about that, because we were against the media, said Evangelidis. Media, for us, played a very ambivalent role in the inflammatory rhetoric around gay and lesbian marriage. We had to rush, because we were afraid the state and the institutions would go against it, and they would drown it before it happened. We didnt want any last-minute surprises.

The weddings went off without a hitch, as the director followed the two couples over a whirlwind, 48-hour period. I went back to Athens after two days of filming. We had hardly slept an hour, he said. I arrived in my house, I put down my equipment, I closed the door behind me, and a volcano erupted in me. I thought, What was all this? It was the first quiet moment that I realized what we had done.

It was, however, a short-lived victory: the marriages were annulled a year later, a decision that was upheld by the Greek Supreme Court in 2017. Since 2018, the case has been pending before the European Court.

Today Greece remains one of the few E.U. countries where same-sex marriage is not legal, although the LGBTQ+ community won a significant legal battle in 2015, when registered partnerships were extended to same-sex couples.

Looking back more than a decade later, Evangelidis admits hes not very optimistic about the future of gay rights in Greece. There are more bubbles that are open to more things. But these are bubbles, he said. Society at large has not really changed, has not really become open-minded or interested to learn about differences and embrace them. Because this is the thing: you embrace the difference, you understand it, and then we are a colorful society.

Thats not happening in Greece, he continued. Especially with the [current] government, we have gone backwards. They want education to be more religious again. Its going back to Byzantine times.

Even at the time of the Tilos weddings, Evangelidis was pragmatic about what they could achieve. I was happy that I was part of this, I was happy that we were doing it, I was happy to defend it with all my heart. But I knew this wasnt going to dynamite things, he said.

Instead, he considers the countrys first same-sex marriages a step that might someday lead to lasting equality for Greeces LGBTQ+ community. And he considers Tilos Weddings a fitting snapshot of a more hopeful moment in time.

We were drunk, because we were doing something, he said. We were fighting with all the powers that be. That was huge. Its a great memory, and I hope the film conveys some of the joys.

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ALBANY  Iwen Chus bid to represent a brand new state senate district stretching across southern Brooklyn is uniting Democrats of all stripes as she seeks to give a voice to the boroughs underrepresented communities.

Progressives and mainline Dems have coalesced behind Chu, chief of staff for Assemblyman Peter Abbate (D-Brooklyn), at a time when divisions often run deep within the party.

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Chu chalks up her broad appeal in part to her youth spent in Taiwan, where progressive ideas like universal health care, environmental causes and, more recently, same-sex marriage, have flourished.

For me, that kind of agenda is very natural, she told the Daily News. Thats how I grew up, thats how I see things.

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Chu announced her run in February, just weeks after the new district was drawn up by her fellow Democrats in the Legislature and is so far running unopposed. She has the backing of the likes of Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-Brooklyn) and party district leaders as well as the Working Families Party and Assemblyman Robert Carroll (D-Brooklyn).

The newly formed district covers Windsor Terrace, Kensington, Borough Park, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, Gravesend and parts of Sunset Park, including Brooklyns Chinatown.

In total, its home to almost 150,000 Asian New Yorkers.

Chu believes her years of hands-on experience in the community, aiding with translation services and acting as a liaison for underserved neighborhoods, and her own background as an immigrant will help her represent newcomers and longtime residents alike.

Immigrant communities are talking about issues theyre facing tomorrow, thinking about whether theyll make rent or how to get their kids into schools, Chu said, noting that people in more progressive neighborhoods like Windsor Terrace are more focused on the future. Theyre thinking about the path of where our society is going to go.

A public school mother and community board member, Chu moved to the U.S. from Taiwan when she was 27, received a Masters from Brooklyn College, and worked as a Chinese-language reporter before joining Abbates office.

Iwen Chu (Iwen Chu Campaign)

She supports progressive goals including universal child care and the New Deal for CUNY, which would make tuition free for most students, and wants to implement street redesigns that are safer for pedestrians and bikers.

Chu also feels Asian representation in the legislature is critical at a time when hate crimes are on the rise and more attention is being paid to discrimination and other issues facing immigrant communities.

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While lawmakers mull once again amending the states bail and pre-trial laws in the budget, Chu says the focus should be on mental health and other root causes of discrimination.

I have to say this is very frustrating ... how many cases do we need to see to have this addressed? she said. Its not just about bail reform, its not just about the criminal justice system, a lot of these cases also involve mental illness.

While Chu is running unopposed in the June primary, it remains to be seen if a Republican will enter the race before the general election in November.

The state Republican Party announced a new Asian caucus within its ranks earlier this year after Asian American voters in the five boroughs leaned heavily to the right in last years mayoral election.

Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa beat out Democrat Mayor Adams in several majority-Asian districts including parts of Sunset Park.

We will stand with our Asian friends that have crimes committed against them, GOP chairman Nick Langworthy said during the Republican partys nominating convention on Long Island. They are such a critical part of the future of the Republican Party and we are going to lead the way right here in New York state to help get that done.
Democrats from around Webb County came together on Saturday morning for the countys convention.

The local party chair led the event with several notable speakers participating. The event also involved the choosing of the delegates that will go to the national convention and the choosing of the resolutions on what local Democrats believe are the more important issues for their platform this year.

At our Webb County Convention, we were able to indicate our interest in being delegates at the 2022 state convention, said Sylvia Bruni, the chair of the Webb County Democratic Party and Chair of the 2022 Webb County Convention. We were able to advocate for those issues that we care deeply about. We connected with fellow Democrats. We made our voices heard.

This year's county convention was marked by several special touches, as comments from State Rep. Richard Raymond, Alberto Torres and Ricardo De Anda  former WCDP Chairs  all made speeches and underscored the importance of Democrats in the county breaking records for how many went to the polls in 2022.

Some other attendees that spoke were District Judge Rebecca Becky Palomo, who is now seeking a position on the Texas 4th Court of Appeals  a unique race that the Webb Democrats have pledged to fully support, according to the county chair.

According to Bruni, prior to the upcoming July state convention, Democrats across Texas attend their county conventions on March 19, as it is one of the best ways of making the voices of all the counties heard in preparation for the upcoming state convention.

Choosing delegates for the state convention was another major step in the process.

At this Saturday's Webb County Convention, 33 Webb County Democrats indicated an interest in serving as delegates to the upcoming state convention, Bruni said. These 33 were then nominated by the nominations chair of the convention and were approved by acclamation. Webb County is entitled to 107 delegates for the state convention, nomination and acceptance time available up to 30 days after today's convention.

According to Bruni, delegates who attend the state convention represent the county party and senatorial district in which they reside, and they will be the voice of their county party  especially on issues that are of prime important to the county party.

During the event, several resolutions were voted on and adopted in terms of the main issues the party believes are the most important for their platform this year.

One of the most important events that take place at the county conventions is the opportunity to submit, consider and vote on resolutions addressing issues of major importance to the convention attendees, Bruni said. At this year's Webb County Convention, fellow Democrats presented 11 resolutions, all of which were endorsed by those in attendance.

The 11 resolutions approved by the convention were those of supporting internet as a public utility to provide affordable broadband access to all Texans, the support for women's access to reproductive health care and pro-choice policies and legislation, to consider health care as a right for everyone, the opposition to a border wall and in support of unifying the communities, and the support for green energy and resources.

Some other of the listed resolutions approved were: the opposition to the Tea Party and other right-wing organizations that want to privatize the government, the opposition to for-profit prisons and the private prison industry, the opposition to Operation Lone Star and in support of the members of the Texas National Guard and in support of working with local officials to determine long-term solutions to growing immigration challenges and seeking immigration reform.

Some other listed agenda items that showed support were: the opposition to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's attacks on trans children, families and DFPS workers and in support of transgender children and submitting an amicus brief on behalf of those against Abbott's egregious and inhumane policy, the adopting support of legislation that ends the requirement that Nurse Practitioners can only provide health care to Texans under a delegation agreement with a physician in the state of Texas, and the support for Laredo Independent School District's JROTC Programs.

Although the Democratic State Convection was held virtually in 2020, this years event seems to be in-person as the pandemics impact has lessened significantly in the past few weeks.

Information thus far pertaining to the upcoming state convention indicates that it will be held in person in Dallas, Bruni said. On the other hand, the virtual convention held two years ago proved to be the most successful and best attended in the country.

Amid runoff elections still being left undecided for May 24 in which the race for Rep. Henry Cuellars (TX-28) seat continues to be one of the most highly-contested against opponent Jessica Cisneros, who also gave a close fight for the spot in 2020. Bruni states that runoff elections were not on the convention agenda and no runoff candidates attended.

Bruni thanked the supporters and volunteers of the party who continue to work hard in efforts to help the party locally and beyond.
Downtown Laredo was colored green this weekend as organizers of Jamboozie held a bar crawl where people of all ages met to celebrate the Irish holiday.

The event saw Laredoans attend 14 bars early in the day to taste some green drinks and hear live bands and DJs  all with a St. Patricks theme to it. The bar crawl gathered people together in what the organizers called one of the biggest events since their last bar crawl that was done days prior to the pandmeic.

We did a Jamboozie presents St. Patricks bar crawl event, as we had 14 participating bars in the downtown area that opened at 4 p.m. and they offered green drinks or green beer as we celebrated St. Patricks, said Nydia Robles, who is the assistant director of Laredo Main Street. We just made it a small, fun event for the community to come downtown and see that there is a lot more bars opened than what people actually think there is.

The event was held as the organizers believe bar crawls have worked well in the past. Now that the pandemics impact has currently lessened, Robles said that they felt it was time to host another bar crawl.

Bar crawls are smaller events the Laredo Main Street representatives hold in efforts to prepare for the eventual return of the large Jamboozie that sees 26 different streets in the downtown area close down. Although they hope the event returns soon, there is still no definitive date when that will be.

Right now, we are actually doing four mini Jamboozies-like events downtown, so they can see that Jamboozie will be presenting, Robles said. We dont have yet the exact year or the exact date for the actual Jamboozie, where it is like the whole street closures, or two years ago when we did the Dia de Los Muertos Jamboozie which was at the Tres Laredos Park. So we dont have an exact time for that, but we are trying to do four little events during the year and kind of give a little taste of what the Jamboozie was and then hopefully continue working on it, and we can get our big Jamboozie next year.

Some of the bar owners that participated in the event said that they were happy being part of the event.

This is something new for us, as obviously opening this club is something but having a day event like this really brings out the idea that there is more things to do in Laredo, said Roberto Manzo, the co-owner of Luna Discotek. Downtown isnt what people imagine it to be  boring and all that  as people should come out and check it out as it does get great. But if we can get these events to continue, then Luna Discotek will always be a part of them as we are here to support the City of Laredo as the City of Laredo has been here to support us.

As a business that opened during the pandemic, Manzo said that they choose to open in downtown Laredo instead of north Laredo, where nightclubs tend to be.

Doing events like these are the way to grow, and downtown will be the next spot to be at as it is going to continue to grow, Manzo said. They always talk about the River Walk in San Antonio, McAllen with 17th Street, but its time with Laredo with Iturbide Street. That is the goal, and we are going to get there.

Throughout the day, Manzos bar had $1 beer, gift giveaways and also tickets for local concerts such as the May 5 J Balvin concert for those who attended the bar. The bar is known to bring guest DJs from time to time.

Robles stated that the point of these smaller events are to bring eager people back out again but to also ensure safety protocols are put in place, so that people feel safe going out again.

The event featured several local vendors who were not just selling their homemade products and services but also products related to St. Patricks day.

It feels great being here, and we are definitely having a great time as I do help that we sell everything by today, said Ricardo Arce, who was vending on behalf of J&S Printing. We feel good about being part of this event, as I hope we do more of these events and pick up the downtown area, as historical Laredo is dying and it is time to pick it up.

Robles said choosing St. Patricks as the event for the bar crawl is not something uncommon as the holiday has always been well celebrated in the area.

St. Patrick's has always been popular in Laredo for some reason, so people get excited for wearing green. And we see that it has been a very popular holiday in our community, so we just decided to continue with it and have chosen St. Patricks for this, Robles said.

During the event, there was a strong presence of Laredo Police Department officers in the area, which Robles stated it was done in efforts to allow for attendees of the event to feel safe and secure as they went to the local bars and enjoyed the festivities.

Robles also stressed that events like these are important for downtown businesses, as there are many business owners in the area that need to get more spotlight and recognition for their efforts and what they do.

Before COVID, it was starting to get like a 6th Street in downtown, and a lot of people depend on their businesses for their work, Robles said. We are just trying to help them out and invite and tell the people that they are open again, and its very important for them to bring people to the business.

Arce states that having the event was a great experience as he finally saw more people than usual in the downtown area. He believes that things like this will allow for downtown Laredo to finally pick up from a pandemic and a time when downtown Laredo was no longer considered the main attractive part of the city.

I love St. Patricks and Spring Break as kids dont go to school, and I hope that the 956 Laredo, Texas area picks it up and supports all local downtown businesses, Arce said.
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High winds, low humidity and extreme dry conditions continue to set the stage for wildfires across Texas.

Gov. Greg Abbott signed a disaster declaration for 11 counties to use all available state resources to respond to the fires. The 11 counties span from south of the state to north close to Fort Worth including Brooks, Brown, Coleman, Comanche, Eastland, Grayson, Mason Potter, Randall Reynolds and Williamson counties.

The Lone Star State Incident Management Team tweeted on March 21 that an additional three new wildfires ignited in Eastland County for a total of seven, adding the acreage to the original wildfire at an estimated 54,134 acres and 30 percent contained. A total of 74 wildfires have ignited in the recent days totaling a total of 104,007 acres leaving many without homes across the state.

Texas Wildfire Incident Response System interactive map

Eastland County has lost one of its own fighting the fire. Deputy Barbara Fenley died while trying to help others escape from the flames. Abbott ordered flags to be lowered to half staff.

"We will never forget her sacrifice, and the state will continue to work closely with first responders and local leaders to mitigate the fires and support our communities as they recover," Abbott said in a press release.

The Midland Fire Department was actively fighting flames Monday morning as high winds continue to spread the fires across the area.
Mayor Adams joined a growing chorus of local lawmakers and advocates Monday in condemning a top NYPD officials defense of the departments surveillance of Muslim New Yorkers in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

Speaking at an unrelated press conference in the Bronx, Adams said it was wrong for John Miller, the NYPDs deputy commissioner of counterterrorism, to recently voice support for the since-disbanded spying initiative.

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What we did was wrong, Adams, a retired NYPD captain, said of the program, noting that he has long criticized the effort.

Asked directly if it was appropriate for Miller to stand by the surveillance operations, Adams said, Its up to the mayor to set the tone. I set it, the tone, not only now saying its wrong  I set it then, when it was happening.

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NYPDs deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism, John Miller. (Theodore Parisienne/for New York Daily News)

Miller, who has served in the NYPD since 1994, disputed the notion that the department ever inappropriately spied on Muslims while testifying before the City Council on Friday.

In his testimony, Miller noted the NYPD never admitted any wrongdoing as part of three lawsuits it settled over the post-9/11 surveillance program.

Thats one milestone for us, he said, adding that there is no evidence to back up the belief among some Muslims in the city that the NYPD inappropriately deployed spies in their mosques who were trying to entrap people.

Democratic Brooklyn Councilwoman Shahana Hanif, whose questioning of Miller prompted his comments at the hearing, told the Daily News on Monday that his testimony made her blood boil.

Under oath, this man tried to erase the traumas that weve experienced as a community, said Hanif, who became the first female Muslim member of the Council when elected in November. I did not expect that he would respond in this way.

New York City Councilwoman Shahana Hanif (D-Brooklyn) (Gardiner Anderson/for New York Daily News)

Though it never formally admitted wrongdoing in court, the NYPD in 2014 disbanded its so-called demographics unit, which gathered intelligence on Muslims by having plainclothes cops eavesdrop on conversations in mosques, community centers, schools, restaurants and other locations in and around New York City. The disbanding of the unit came after The Associated Press published a Pulitzer Prize-winning report exposing the surveillance program.

In addition, the NYPD agreed as part of its court settlements that it would no longer engage in religious-based intelligence monitoring and consented to pay out some $1 million in damages and legal fees.

Security cameras are mounted on the side of a building overlooking an intersection in Manhattan, New York on Wednesday, July 31, 2013. (Mark Lennihan/AP)

But Miller claimed in his Council testimony last week that the court cases did not go forward with either damages or admissions of wrongdoing.

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Southern Brooklyn Democratic Councilman Justin Brannan, chairman of the Finance Committee and a member of the chambers leadership, was flabbergasted by Millers claims.

This was wild gaslighting, Brannan tweeted. I represent the largest Muslim community in NYC. Lets not make this worse by pretending it didnt happen.

Muslim men pray inside the Islamic Cultural Center of New York on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, on March 15, 2019. Though it never formally admitted wrongdoing in court, the NYPD in 2014 disbanded its so-called Demographics Unit, which gathered intelligence on Muslims by having plainclothes cops eavesdrop on conversations in mosques, community centers, schools, restaurants and other locations in and around New York City. (GREGG VIGLIOTTI/for New York Daily News)

Reached by The News on Monday before Adams rebuke, Miller argued critics are taking his testimony out of context.

The part of my testimony that was overlooked was the fact that I said no amount of assurances that our investigations were carried out by the book will undo years of unease in the Muslim community about whether they were being spied on by the NYPD, Miller wrote in an email.

While maintaining that the demographics units investigations were all properly predicated, Miller said the NYPD did a very poor job in being transparent about them. That hurt communities, he said.

Miller also noted that he personally ordered the disbanding of the unit and said he has worked with Muslim community leaders to improve relations.

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Hanif, who said she had Muslim college classmates subjected to the NYPDs surveillance program, told The News that dozens of constituents reached out to her voicing anger about Millers testimony over the weekend.

I told them that a lot of people want there to be some sort of action. Im not sure if its firing Miller or what it might be, but a lot of folks are very upset, she said.

NYPD Counter-Terrorism officer is pictured outside the Queens Place Mall on Queens Blvd and 56th Avenue in Elmhurst, Queens, New York. (Luiz C. Ribeiro/for New York Daily News)

The uproar over Millers comments comes as Adams is in the midst of enacting his public safety agenda.

The New York chapter of the Council on AmericanIslamic Relations, a Muslim advocacy group, argued Millers testimony sends the wrong message at a time when Adams is rolling out controversial police policies, including reintroducing a modified version of the NYPDs plainclothes units.

We cannot trust the NYPD to police itself or abide by its promises when they continue to lie to the public in this way, the group said in a statement.
Three major announcements over the past 13 months have set Ballymahon up for an unprecedented 15m plus capital investment in the local schools infrastructure.

Confirmation from Deputy Joe Flaherty of a major extension for St Matthews NS, now means that the South Longford towns three schools are all set for major expansions and investment.

The Longford TD paid tribute to Minister for Education Norma, Foley, whom he said, has worked closely with him to advance the three projects.

He said: St Matthews NS have been approved for a 12 classroom extension and there is also provision for five new special education teacher rooms as well as new staff room, general-purpose room and the reconfiguration of existing school.

He also paid tribute to the board of management at St Matthew's as well as principal and deputy principal, Herbert Farrell and Bryan Kennedy, who have passionately promoted the project.

The latest announcement for Ballymahon comes on the back of major expansion plans announced for both the Mercy Secondary and Vocational School in the past 13 months. Deputy Flaherty explained that both of these projects are now progressing through design stage in anticipation of formal planning applications.

The Longford TD added: I am especially pleased that all three extensions will place an unprecedented emphasis on the provision of special education. All three projects combined will ensure that Ballymahon will be one of the most inclusive and best-equipped towns in the country, when it comes to special education.

Last November approval was announced for 16 new classrooms at Mercy Secondary School. This will include two general classrooms; two Special Education Needs classrooms; two Special Education Teacher rooms; one construction room; one tech room (with prep area); two tech projects stores; two science labs with prep area; one graphics room; one multimedia room; one music room and one textiles room.

Last February Deputy Flaherty confirmed details of a major announcement for Ballymahon Vocational School. Work is ongoing on the design for an extension that will include four general classrooms; four special education classrooms; two science labs & science preparations rooms; one art room; one art storage room and ancillary storage rooms.
This Mothers Day, Trocaire is calling on the people of Co Longford to remember mothers around the world who are caring for their children through extraordinary challenges such as conflict, climate change and Covid-19.



This year, Trocaires Lenten Box features a family  widow Thandekile and her two children Nomatter (8) and Forward (11)  based in southern Zimbabwe who face massive daily challenges in their lives. The challenges Thandekile faces as a mother are immense.



In November 2020, the familys already fragile world was turned upside down when Covid-19 hit. Thandekiles husband Donovan (35) passed away from Covid-19 in South Africa where he was working to earn an income so he could provide for his family. Thandekiles greatest fear now is that she will die from Covid-19 or hunger, and that there will be no-one to look after her children.



Even before Covid-19, Thandekile and her family were facing hunger as droughts and heavy rainfall caused their plants and crops to fail. The family would often go nights without eating as food was not always available in their community.



According to the World Food Programme, 63 per cent of the Zimbabwe population of over 15 million live under the poverty line. Before the coronavirus outbreak, 7.7 million Zimbabweans faced food shortages after a drought and cyclone in 2019, and ongoing drought in the last year has exacerbated the situation. This has been worsened by rampant inflation.



I live for my children and my wish is to be able to provide for all their needs. My greatest fear is to die whilst my kids are still young. I pray that the Lord keeps me so that I raise them until they are old enough to take care of themselves, Thandekile says.



The death of my husband hit me very hard and I was bed-ridden for days. I did not know how I was going to move on and raise my children without the presence of their father, she says.



Following the death of her husband Thandekile struggled even more to provide food for her family. Grieving for her husband meant that she couldnt engage in farming activities which delayed the planting of crops and made them even more vulnerable to heavy rainfall.



Following Donovans passing, my life was very hard financially since he was the breadwinner. It also affected my ability to earn an income as at times I would be so stressed and too sick to even go out and work. I did not have the means to pay school fees for the children, to buy uniforms and all our other basic needs because I had no source of income, she says.



Due to Covid-19, a lot of businesses were shut down which made a lot of people unemployed. This worsened the ability for anyone to have access to money or at least get a job. Children could not go to school because of the lockdown and you can tell that their progress has been greatly affected.



Irish woman Eimear Lynch, who works with Trocaire in Zimbabwe, says that the Irish publics donations this Lent will be vital to support families who are struggling from the effects of Covid-19 and Climate Change.

Thandekile and her family have had an extremely difficult time in the last few years. Thandekile was already struggling with shortages of food when her husband died from Covid-19. Since then, Thandekile found it even more difficult to buy food for her children Nomatter and Forward and to pay for their school fees and medicines, Ms Lynch says.

Thandekile is keen to thank the Irish public for their support and love during Lent and what is such a difficult time for her family, community, and the people of Zimbabwe.



The greatest gift that people can give to one another in life is food and money, because we need it to survive. What gives me hope is that I am still alive despite all that we have been through as a family. Whatever the problems you have been through in life, it is important to dust yourself off and move on, have hope and work hard for the children even if its very difficult. I thank the people of Ireland for all the help you give to us, please do not tire, Thandekile says.



To order a Trocaire box go to: Trocaire Box Order Form - Trocaire (trocaire.org) or donate online at www.Trocaire.org.

For more information contact:

Catherine Devine

Catherine.Devine@Trocaire.org
Stormont's econonmy minister has warned the reputation and commercial viability of P&O will take a massive hit if the ferry company does not change course after the sacking of 800 workers.

Gordon Lyons, whose constituency includes Larne port, told the Assembly that he had instructed his officials to investigate potential breaches of employment law following the announcement last week.

Meanwhile, P&O said on Monday that ferries between Larne in Co Antrim and Cairnryan in Scotland remain suspended.

A tweet said the services were unable to run for the next few days and it had not been able to arrange alternative travel for the route.

#POLarne #POCairnryan Services remain suspended. It is no longer possible for us to arrange travel via an alternative operator on this route. For essential travel, customers are advised to seek alternatives themselves,  P&O Ferries Updates (@POferriesupdate) March 21, 2022

Mr Lyons updated the Stormont Assembly on the controversy, which he described as disgraceful.

He said: At the outset let me be clear; neither I, as a constituency representative in East Antrim or as Minister of the Economy, nor my officials in the department, were afforded the courtesy of advanced notice of the P&O announcement.

I regard their actions as disgraceful. P&O has literally ripped up the employment rule book, and, in the process, simply discarded 800 of their loyal and most diligent workforce.

Even now, I can scarcely believe how callously they behaved.



Northern Ireland Economy Minister Gordon Lyons updated the Assembly on the P&O controversy

Mr Lyons said he understood that up to 50 staff from Northern Ireland were directly affected.

He added: The stories I heard of staff being escorted off ships, by men in balaclavas, carrying handcuffs, was as sinister as it was outrageous.

Deploying such a tactic here, in Northern Ireland, to an unsuspecting workforce is so ill-judged and shocking, our condemnation alone is simply not enough.

He told the Assembly that employment law is a devolved responsibility within Stormont.

He added: I do not believe P&O have acted either within the spirit, or the letter, of our employment law.

Even now, at this late stage, I would encourage them to come to the table and discuss this with us.

Earlier today, I met with our own Labour Relations Agency.

They stand ready and willing to meet immediately with P&O to see how they can turn around what is a terrible situation.

It must be in P&Os interest to engage, because let us be in no doubt: their reputation, not to mention their future commercial viability, stands to take a massive hit here if they do not change course.

They may want to hide behind the small print of maritime law that might, in their eyes, justify what they have done. But the court of public opinion will not be so sympathetic.

In terms of going forward, not only do we stand ready, through the Labour Relations Agency, to intervene, but if P&O fail to take me up on that offer locally, I have already asked my officials to investigate what remedies we may have for any breaches of our devolved employment law.



Northern Ireland Finance Minister Conor Murphy raised the P&O issue during a meeting with Chief Secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke

Meanwhile, Stormont Finance Minister Conor Murphy raised the issue during a meeting with Chief Secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke on Monday.

He said: I took the opportunity at the end of the meeting to raise with him the treatment of workers by P&O ferry company and to press the Government over what action it can take both to support those workers but also to look at the actions of the company.

He did agree with me in relation to how unfair the treatment of workers was.

I intend to go back to him in relation to what measures the British Government are looking at in the time ahead.
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, a U.S. Circuit Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, poses for a portrait on Feb., 18, 2022, in her office at the court in Washington. Jackson's Supreme Court nomination confirmation hearing starts March 21. If confirmed, she would be the court's first Black female justice. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)
Local News, Business & Finance

By Chris Boyle Published: March 21 2022

Ninety percent of Nassau County is sewered, and 90 percent of the 10 percent that is not sewered is found within the 11th Legislative District, Legislator DeRiggi-Whitton said.

The Nassau County Legislature has voted unanimously to appropriate an additional $2 million in New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation grant funds toward supporting Nassau Countys S.E.P.T.I.C. (Septic Environmental Program to Improve Cleanliness) program.

Since its launch in late 2020, the S.E.P.T.I.C. program has provided eligible Nassau County homeowners and small businesses that discharge less than 1,000 gallons a day of wastewater up to $20,000 in grants toward the installation of environmentally sound alternative wastewater treatment systems to replace existing systems that may be failing or otherwise outdated.

Ninety percent of Nassau County is sewered, and 90 percent of the 10 percent that is not sewered is found within the 11th Legislative District, Legislator DeRiggi-Whitton said. Not only will this supplemental funding benefit thousands of north shore property owners, expanding the S.E.P.T.I.C. program will go a long way toward protecting our drinking water and safeguarding our precious natural resources from nitrogen pollution. I am committed to maximizing the positive impact of this endeavor, and I am proud to work alongside the tireless environmental advocates who are so committed to this cause.
Local News

By Long Island Published: March 21 2022

Falkirk Estate & Country Club to Reimburse New Yorkers for Cancelled Weddings

New York Attorney General Letitia James today announced that her office recovered more than $40,000 in refunds for New Yorkers who had their events cancelled at the Falkirk Estate & Country Club (Falkirk) in the Hudson Valley due to pandemic-related shutdowns. Couples reported that Falkirk refused to refund them their deposits when their weddings were cancelled due to pandemic restrictions on large gatherings. In an agreement with Falkirk, the venue will repay two couples $18,300 and provide additional refund payments for any other individuals who made deposits between June 26, 2020 and May 19, 2021 but were denied refunds.

Today's agreement returns joy and money to New Yorkers who were unfairly denied refunds for their cancelled weddings, said Attorney General James. Although the pandemic forced many couples to cancel their weddings, they shouldnt have been left waiting at the altar for their refunds. This is a big day for couples who were not able to celebrate at Falkirk, and I encourage anyone who paid a deposit but was denied a refund for their cancelled event to contact my office.

The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) received complaints from various couples that Falkirk refused to refund them their deposits although the venue cancelled their weddings because of pandemic-related restrictions and shutdowns. In a letter, Falkirk claimed that it used the deposits to fund the venues operations instead of earmarking it for the couples events. As a result of todays agreement, Falkirk is required to reimburse two couples $18,300 and provide restitution for others who paid deposits but were not reimbursed. Individuals have 180 days from the date the agreement was signed to submit a request for a refund. Following previous negotiations with OAG, Falkirk already returned $22,500 to two couples for their cancelled weddings.

To submit a request for a refund, please contact Assistant Attorney General Cheryl Lee at (845) 485-3925.

The agreement with Falkirk is the latest in Attorney General James ongoing efforts to refund New York consumers for events cancelled in the wake of the pandemic. Earlier this month, Attorney General James returned more than $1 million to thousands of theatergoers for cancelled shows at the Westchester Broadway Theatre. In October 2021, Attorney General James recovered $4.4 million from ticket resale platforms for failing to refund thousands of customers for cancelled events. In July 2021, Attorney General James returned $427,000 to New Yorkers who paid deposits for events at Greentree Country Club in New Rochelle, but had their events canceled. To date, Attorney General James has recovered millions of dollars for New Yorkers in refunds for pandemic-related shutdowns.

This matter was handled by Assistant Attorney General Cheryl Lee of the Poughkeepsie Regional Office, which is led by Assistant Attorney General in Charge Vinita Kamath. The Poughkeepsie Regional Office is a part of the Division of Regional Affairs, which is led by Deputy Attorney General Jill Faber. The Division of Regional Affairs is overseen by First Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Levy.
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(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of London-listed company director and manager changes announced on Monday and not separately reported by Alliance News:

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Ocean Wilsons Holdings Ltd - Bermudian investment company with subsidiary providing maritime services in Brazil - Promotes Non-Executive Director Caroline Foulger to chair, starting at conclusion of annual general meeting on May 26. Foulger, who joined the Ocean Wilsons board in 2020, is a retired partner of accountants PwC in Bermuda. She is a non-executive director of insurer Hiscox Ltd and of Oakley Capital Investments Ltd, both also based in Bermuda. Foulger replaces Jose Vieira, who will step down as a parent company director but remain on the board of subsidiary Wilson Sons Holdings Brasil SA.

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Atlantic Lithium Ltd - developing Ewoyaa lithium mine in Ghana - Promotes Chief Operating Officer Len Kolff to interim chief executive officer, following the death of company founder Vincent Mascolo earlier this month. Kolff has been with Atlantic Lithium for seven years and COO since 2018. He worked at Rio Tinto PLC for 16 years.

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Aferian PLC - Leeds-based video streaming - Hires Neale Foster to be CEO of 24i division, starting Monday. Joachim Bergman steps down from the role from Monday and from the Aferian board on April 30, having been with the company since 2017. He oversaw the integration of 24i into Aferian following its acquisition in 2019. The 24i division provides streaming video experiences, while Aferian's other division, Amino, connects Pay TV to streaming services. Bergman was CEO of Access Europe GmbH, a provider of mobile and network software technologies.

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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of updates by London-listed companies, issued on Monday and not separately reported by Alliance News:

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Blencowe Resources PLC - miner focused on developing the Orom-Cross graphite project and Akelikongo nickel project in Uganda - Says exploration program for Akelikongo is underway. This includes re-analysis of existing database from previous work to consider all geochemical samples and previous drilling information. Focus will be on a substantial electromagnetic program to identify new drilling targets. "Our team has hit the ground running on Akelikongo and work has already commenced to plan the necessary airborne and other surveys to identify new drill targets," says Chair Cameron Pearce.

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Rockfire Resources PLC - gold and base metal exploration company - Says 100% owned Copperhead deposit in Queensland, Australia, has delivered a maiden JORC mineral resource of 120,000 tonnes of copper equivalent. Says the mineral resource remains open to the north, east, west and at depth, leaving scope for significant, further resource increases. Adds that the extent and tenor of mineralisation at Copperhead have yet to be fully tested.

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Contango Holdings PLC - natural resource development company with operations in Africa - At Lubu coking coal project, Zimbabwe, civil works and infrastructure upgrades ongoing with mining operations and first production to begin from end of March. Also in discussions with off-takers for both coking coal and coke. For Garalo-Ntiela gold project, Mali, there is a site visit with strategic investors scheduled in the coming weeks and the company is finalising drill programme to prove up targeted resource of 1.8 million ounces to 2 million ounces of gold.

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Atome Energy PLC - green hydrogen and ammonia production-focused company - Announces first order of a 1 megawatt electrolyser for its Paraguay transport business from the UK hydrogen and technology company CPH2. Anticipates further orders by Atome Mobility. "After a thorough due diligence, partnering with CPH2 for the supply of their 1MW electrolyser which is being manufactured in the UK, made perfect commercial and operational sense for our own project. Their technology has significant advantage inter alia on scalability and the ability to be deployed quickly. We have likewise been impressed by the expertise and transparency of the CPH2 management," company says.

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Shield Therapeutics PLC - Newcastle, England-based pharmaceutical company focused on iron deficiency oral product Accrufer - Announces that Kye Pharmaceuticals Inc, with which it has an exclusive license agreement, has submitted a new drug submission to Health Canada for the regulatory review and approval of Accrufer. If approved, Accrufer would be the first prescription only oral iron therapy approved by Health Canada. Marketing approval for Accrufer is expected to be during first half of 2023. Shield is eligible to receive GBP850,000 in development and sales milestones comprised of a payment of GBP250,000 upon regulatory approval of Accrufer by Health Canada and up to GBP600,000 in milestone payments upon the achievement of specified calendar net sales targets.

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Tufton Oceanic Assets Ltd - Guernsey, UK-based investment company focused on second-hand commercial vessels - Announces acquisition of handysize bulker for USD25.5 million. The vessel has a fixed rate time charter of nine to twelve months producing a net yield of 25%. It is in the top quartile of fuel efficiency in its market segment. "Nonetheless it will be evaluated for further improvement, including the retrofit of energy saving devices," company says.

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Inland Homes PLC - housebuilder and regeneration specialist focused on South and South East of England - Sells Phase 1B at Cheshunt Lakeside via its joint venture Cheshunt Lakeside Developments Ltd for GBP56.4 million. Phase 1B at Cheshunt Lakeside comprises 205 plots. Sale will go to build to rent operator London BTR Investments. Proceeds from the land sale were used to reduce the joint venture company's borrowings and the build contract has increased the forward order book.

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Induction Healthcare Group PLC - London-based hospital IT systems provider - Announces NHS Scotland and the Scottish Government contracts for the provision of remote consultation solutions have been renewed, securing GBP2 million of annual recurring revenues. "Induction remains on course to deliver very significant revenue growth this year in line with market expectations. We fully expect to see this exciting growth continue into the new financial year. These contract renewals are the first positive milestones in our renewal strategy and set out the pattern we expect to see across a very high proportion of our existing contracts in England," company says.

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Trident Royalties PLC - London-based mining royalty and streaming company with projects in countries ranging from Peru to Canada - Enters into an agreement to acquire a gold offtake contract over the Sugar Zone mine in Canada, owned and operated by Silver Lake Resources Ltd, from Orion Resource Partners for USD3.8 million. Payment will take form of share issuance at 51.43p per share, being the 10-day volume weighted average price of Trident's shares to March 18. The offtake covers 50% of all gold production at Sugar Zone up to 375,000 delivered ounces, with around 335,000 ounces remaining under the offtake.

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By Greg Roxburgh; gregroxburgh@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of updates by London-listed companies, issued on Monday and not separately reported by Alliance News:

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Arc Minerals Ltd - base metals exploration company focused in Africa - Extends the USD5 million consideration owed from the sale of its interest in Casa Mining Ltd to June 15. Arc Minerals gives the extension to allow additional time for Golden Square Equity Partners to progress the sale of Casa.

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SIMEC Atlantis Energy Ltd - Edinburgh-based renewable energy company - Re-deploys its AR1500 1.5 megawatt tidal turbine at its MeyGen site, offshore Scotland. The turbine had been out of the water for upgrade and maintenance work. It is now back generating electricity. The company is now working to re-deploy other turbines.

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Kavango Resources PLC - mining company focused in Botswana - Proposes to acquire 100% of Kalakari Key Mineral Exploration Proprietary Ltd. KKME has a 60% interest in the Molopo Farms nickel exploration project in Botswana. Chief Executive Ben Turney says: "This has been a complex transaction to close, dealing with a number of minority interests. A deal structure was agreed last week with eleven of KKME's twelve participating shareholders. Our new offer to KKME's shareholders is straightforward and reflects those terms. Molopo Farms has significant potential and Kavango has the team on the ground to accelerate exploration here rapidly. We have a drill rig ready to mobilise that we've waited long enough to deploy."

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Power Metal Resources PLC - metals exploration company focused in North America, Africa and Australia - Notes the announcement made by Kavango Resources PLC. Chief Executive Paul Johnson says: "As previously stated Power Metal is supportive of Kavango's interest in Kalahari Key and remains so today. The Molopo Farms Complex Project has been notably successful, with nickel discovered in the first drill programme and it is time to get on with the job of exploration to take this project forward. To be clear, whilst selling Power Metal's shares in Kalahari Key should the above offer proceed, Power Metal would retain its separate 40% interest in the Molopo Farms Complex Project."

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Clean Power Hydrogen PLC - Doncaster, England-based green hydrogen technology and manufacturing company - Enters purchase order with Yorkshire-based green hydrogen and ammonia production company Atome Energy PLC for the sale of a 1 megawatt MFE220 electrolyser unit. The unit will be delivered at the end of the year and deployed at Atome's Paraguay mobility project. In addition, the company and Atome enter into non-binding letters of intent confirming their intentions to collaborate on potential future orders of electrolyser units and to discuss a potential joint venture for the future production of electrolysers. Atome confirms that it expects further orders will follow in due course.

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Zoo Digital Group PLC - Sheffield, England-based software company focused on localization and media services - Expands its South Asia operations with the acquisition of Vista India Digitek Private Limited and Vista Tanweer Studios Private Limited and a 35% investment in Vista India Digital Media Inc for USD6.0 million. USD3.1 million is payable in cash on completion, USD1 million is being settled through the issue of 636,100 shares in Zoo and the balance of USD1.9 million is to be paid as deferred consideration. Vista is a media services and digital distribution company for Indian and foreign language content.

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Surgical Innovations Group PLC - Leeds, England-based surgical and medical instrument manufacturer - Launches YelloPort Elite 5mm, a surgical port access system, developed in partnership with CMR Surgical, a Cambridge, England-based medical devices company. Under the design agreement by Surgical Innovations and CMR, Surgical Innovations will supply the item for each of CMR's Versius robotic systems.

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DWF Group PLC - Manchester, England-based legal business - Agrees associations with Portuguese law firm, Nobre Guedes & Associados, and Spanish loss adjusting business RTS Group. The association with RTS is the first for DWF's Connected Services division. DWF says it will significantly bolster its Claims Management & Adjusting service. DWF says the two associations will complement one another and will also strengthen its integrated offering in the Iberian region and beyond.

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Orosur Mining Inc - mineral exploration company focused on South America - Says its geological teams have mobilised to commence the company's first field exploration programme at the El Pantano gold/silver project in Argentina. The programme is expected to last two weeks and will involve mapping and surface sampling programmes.

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Rockwood Realisation PLC - London-based investment company focused on smaller UK public companies - Says its former investment manager Gresham House PLC has sold its 23.7% interest in the company to a number of investors, including Rockwood's current investment manager Harwood Capital LLP. Harwood now owns 28.9% of Rockwood, up from 9.2%.

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Eco Atlantic Oil and Gas Ltd - Toronto-based oil and gas company focused in Africa - Provides new competent person's resource report on its assets offshore Guyana, Namibia and South Africa. In Guyana at the Orinduik Block, Eco Atlantic reports 681 million barrels of oil and 544 billion cubic feet of gas net to Eco Atlantic. In South Africa at Blocks 2B & 3B/4B, the company reports 864 million barrels of oil and 309 cubic feet of gas net to Eco Atlantic. In Namibia at 4 Blocks, Eco Atlantic reports 6,705 million barrels of oil and 6,565 billion cubic feet of gas net to Eco Atlantic.

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PYX Resources Ltd - Sydney-based zircon producer - Increases the price of its premium zicron 34% to USD3,100 per tonne from USD2,305 per tonne with immediate effect. This represents the fifth consecutive price increase recorded by PYX since January 2021. Robust demand coupled with a lack of growth in global supply capacity has prompted the surge in price, PYX explains.

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Cadence Minerals PLC - London-based investment company focused on mineral resources sector - Upgrades mineral resource estimate at the Amapa iron ore project in Brazil to 176.7 million tonnes grading 39.7% iron. In addition to the ongoing pre-feasibility study at the project, Cadence says an investigation is underway into optimisation opportunities and potential cost savings in the transportation of the iron ore concentrate. Company appoints Armstrong International Ltd as pre-feasibility study manager for the project.

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Inchcape PLC - London-based car dealership - Non-Executive Director Sarah Kuijlaars buys 8,000 shares at GBP7.06, worth GBP56,504, on Monday.

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Ashmore Group PLC - London-based investment manager - Says Chair David Bennett will be stepping down as chair on April 20. Current Senior Independent Director Clive Adamson will succeed Bennett as chair on April 21. Jennifer Binham will assume the role of senior independent director on the same day Adamson steps down from the role.

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Alba Mineral Resources PLC - mineral exploration company focused on northern Europe - Receives results from a phase two sampling programme at the Waste Tip at the Clogau-St David's gold mine in Wales. Results return gold grades of up to 11.35 grams per tonne. Whole-sample analysis averages up to 3.50 grams per tonne.

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Roquefort Therapeutics PLC - London-based biotechnology company - Files patent application covering antisense oligonucleotide drugs to block the action of Midkine, a heparin-binding growth factor. Roquefort says the "broad coverage" of the patent application will pave the way for subsequent methods patents covering the use of the Midkine antisense oligonucleotides in different clinical indications.

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Xtract Resources PLC - mining company focused on Africa and Australia - Receives independent assay results for drill holes BRDD-021-026 and BRDD-21-027 from the phase two diamond drilling programme at the Bushranger copper-gold exploration project in Australia. Results return several intervals of copper and gold mineralisation from 154 metres to 640 metres downhole which, Xtract says, offer significant potential to extend the Racecourse mineralisation to depth in an area with no previous drilling.

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Galantas Gold Corp - mining company focused on Northern Ireland - Announces results for three holes from its ongoing 4,000 metre drilling programme at the Omagh project in Northern Ireland. Hole FR-DD-22-UG-181 intersects 31.7 grams per tonne of gold and 58.5 grams per tonne of silver over 7 metres at the main Kearney Vein. Hole FR-DD-21-UG-174 intersects 73.6 grams per tonne of gold and 93.4 grams per tonne of silver over 2.2 metres on a parallel-running vein. Hole FR-DD-21-UG-176 intersects 23.8 grams per tonne of gold and 16.8 grams per tonne of silver over 2.9 metres on a further parallel zone of mineralization.

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Haydale Graphene Industries PLC- Ammanford, Wales-based graphene technology company - To start GBP97,750 storage of hydrogen and nanomaterial enhancement project in March. The project will run for an initial period of seven months. The project builds on the memorandum of understanding signed with Viritech Ltd in September. It will focus on advanced materials technology with the aim of bringing nano-enhanced epoxy into the hydrogen storage market.

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Ariana Resources PLC - gold exploration company focused on Turkey - Provides update on its 50% owned exploration company Venus Minerals Ltd. Venus completes agreements with Hellenic Copper Mines Ltd and Iacovou Group in Cyprus for a 50/50 joint venture for the development of the Apliki Copper Mine. Adds that Venus is progressing towards an IPO on AIM in the second quarter of 2022.

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Atalaya Mining PLC - mining company focused on Spain - Receives the judgment from the High Court of Justice in relation to a claim by Astor Management AG for the residual interest from a payment of EUR53 million to Astor. Judge confirms the interest due is payable by the company. Atalaya expects the interest due to be between EUR10 million to EUR11.7 million.

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Genedrive PLC - Manchester-based molecular diagnostics company - Notes data from a Pharmacogenetics to Avoid Loss of Hearing trial assessing its MT-RNR1 ID kit. The data confirms the test's role in role in avoiding antibiotic related hearing loss in infants. Genedrive says the trial demonstrated analytical sensitivity of 100%, a specificity of 99.2% and an accuracy of 99.2%. CEO David Budd says: "The PALOH study demonstrates the ease of use and capability of the Genedrive technology to deliver rapid genetic information in a very time sensitive acute care situation, a diagnostic advancement that has not been demonstrated previously with other commercial platforms. "

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MyCelx Technologies Corp - Georgia, US-based clean water and air technology company - Exercises broker option of 155,000 shares, raising proceeds of USD101,500 for the company. The broker option comes in addition to the placing and subscription announced on March 11. Combined with the placing and subscription, the company fundraises USD2.31 million.

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By Heather Rydings; heatherrydings@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
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Lycoming College is excited to welcome Stephanie Brockmann, Ph.D., assistant professor of economics at the University of New Hampshire, as a guest speaker of the economics department. Her talk, titled Keeping the Cup Full: Addressing Barriers to Sustainable Coffee Production in Less Developed Economies, is scheduled for April 5, 5:30 p.m. in Krapf Gateway Centers Trogner Presentation room. This free event is open to the public.

In her talk, Brockmann will address three barriers for smallholder coffee farmers living in less developed economies, including perpetually low and variable prices that make production inviable, low participation in green certifications due to time and financial constraints, and underestimation of the value of pest control from bird predation  and what can be done to address them.

According to Brockmann, millions of these coffee farmers depend on the production and sale of coffee to support their livelihoods. They primarily grow coffee in either a monoculture  under direct sunlight  or agroforestry systems, also known as shade-grown systems. Though the monoculture, sun-grown systems yield more coffee berries, the shaded systems yield higher quality berries, provide environmental services, and support biodiversity. Despite the compounding benefits of shade-grown production, most farmers have transitioned or will transition into monoculture, sun-grown systems because of barriers that threaten the sustainability of shade-grown systems.

Its important for our economics students to hear from researchers in the field and consider how economics principles can be applied to various issues, said Mica Kurtz, Ph.D., associate professor of economics at Lycoming College. Dr. Brockmans study of coffee farmers is of particular interest at Lycoming, where many students use our own Warrior Coffee Program to gain real-world experience while learning about sustainable development in the Dominican Republic.

Brockmann is an environmental and development economist focusing on how interactions between people and the environment create economic inefficiencies and what policy prescriptions are needed as remedies. Her research involves building and analyzing spatial bioeconomic models in both developed- and developing-economy settings and informing policy amid spatial processes and externalities. She holds a masters degree in applied economics from Western Kentucky University and a doctoral degree from the University of Wyoming.

Lycoming Colleges department of economics helps students examine important questions at the heart of modern, real-world economics debates and utilize theoretical models and facts to carefully analyze and answer those questions. More information on studying economics at Lycoming is available at https://www.lycoming.edu/economics/.
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Greg Sukiennik has worked at all three Vermont News & Media newspapers and was their managing editor from 2017-19. He previously worked for ESPN.com, for the AP in Boston, and at The Berkshire Eagle in Pittsfield, Mass.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) attacked Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as a tool of the far-left, but vowed to give her a fair hearing to become the first Black woman on the Supreme Court.

It wont be a circus, he said.

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Using his opening statement to rehash old fights, Graham accused Jackson of being used to torpedo the potential nomination of his preferred pick, Judge J. Michelle Childs, a federal judge from his home state of South Carolina.

Theres been a wholesale effort of people from the left to take down a judge from my state, and I dont particularly like it, Graham said. (You) are the choice of the most radical elements of the Democratic Party. And I want to explore why they chose you.

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Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) speaks during the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing for U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown, in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on March 21, 2022, in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Even though Graham has voted to confirm Jackson before, he said the Supreme Court nomination is a whole new game and vowed to ask tough questions.

I want to know about your judicial philosophy because people on the far extreme of the left think you are the best choice, Graham added.

He also reminded Jackson about the ugly fight over the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh when decades-old accusations of rape nearly torpedoed his Supreme Court nomination.

Nobody is going to vilify you the way Democrats have done to conservative judicial nominees, Graham said, accusing Democrats of engineering a smear campaign that led to papers, basically calling Judge Kavanaugh another Bill Cosby.

Even though Jackson would be the first Black woman to sit on the Supreme Court, Graham suggested she somehow has an easier path than recent Republican picks.

Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson listens during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on March 21, 2022, in Washington, DC. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Youre the beneficiary of Republican nominees having their lives turned upside down, Graham said.

Graham also vowed to quiz Jackson about whether she supports expanding the Supreme Court, as some Democrats want to do, and her role in supporting due process for accused terrorists being held at Guantanamo Bay.

Despite his pointed remarks, Graham suggested he hasnt decided whether to support or oppose Jackson.

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He said he enthusiastically supports a Black woman on the court even though he believed Childs would have been a better pick.

Its good for the court to look like America, he said. So count me in on including an African-American woman.
Ukraine has allegedly killed another of Vladimir Putin's top commanders, this time being first rank captain Andrey Paliy, 51, becoming the first Russian senior naval officer to lose his life in the Ukrainian war.

His death has yet to be confirmed by Moscow, although Konstantin Tsarenko, secretary of the public council of the Sevastopol Nakhimov Naval School, appeared to have confirmed the death of his Russian friend. The exact circumstances of Paliy's death remain unclear, but early reports came after Russia claimed to have hit a training facility for non-Ukrainian mercenaries, killing over 100 special forces personnel.

Paliy was born in Kyiv

Paliy had previously served on the Russian nuclear missile cruiser 'Peter the Great' and was also deputy head of the naval academy in Sevastopol, in annexed Crimea. He joins five Russian army generals who Kyiv has claimed to have killed.

Paliy was born in Kyiv and in 1993 refused to take the Ukrainian military oath to instead serve in the Russian Northern Fleet. He was the deputy commander of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, and was reportedly gunned down near Mariupol.
The UK Government believes that Vladimir Putin is planning to conquer other countries following his invasion of Ukraine. The conflict in Ukraine is still ongoing, but experts are concerned that Putin is already plotting his next move.

Moldova is believed to be the country that he has identified as a prime target, since it is an ex-Soviet republic. The independent Republic of Moldova was announced in August 1991, after Moldova had been part of the former Soviet Union.

There is a strong pro-Russian sentiment throughout the country and Moldova is a largely Russian-speaking country in which Putin is respected and held in high regard by its citizens.

"If the conflict escalates beyond Ukraine, Moldova is one of the places that ranks highest on the list," Adriano Bosoni, the director of analysis at risk management firm Rane, said in an interview with CNBC.

Moldova has received the second-highest number of Ukrainian refugees

Since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Moldova has received the second-highest number of Ukrainian refugees, behind Poland.

Gagauzia is a southern territory in Moldova that has welcomed thousands of Ukrainian refugees, and there is a statue of Lenin there. For many of the Ukrainians who have fled to Moldova, that statue is what they have seen upon arriving.

Spanish Foreign Minister offers support to Moldova

The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of Spain, Jose Manuel Albares, has offered his support to Nico Popescu, the Moldovan Minister of Foreign Affairs, in light of the humanitarian emergency that has been caused by the refugee crisis.

Albares met with Popescu in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, where he pledged the support of Spain.

"Moldova must know that it is not alone, that is has the support of Spain and the European Union," Albares said.

Albares is currently meeting with representatives from the countries that share a border with Ukraine in order to gain a full understanding of the refugee crisis.
Weather Alert

...FLOOD WATCH NOW IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS EVENING... * WHAT...Flooding caused by excessive rainfall continues to be 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...Through this evening. * IMPACTS...Significant and potentially life threatening flash flooding is ongoing just south of I-44 across Okfuskee and Okmulgee counties. Numerous main-stem rivers will likely rise above flooding. Extensive low land flooding will be likely, especially where the heavier rain has already occurred. Many low-water crossings will likely become flooded. Area creeks and streams are already running high. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS... - Widespread heavy rainfall has fallen over the past 24 hours across much of northeast Oklahoma and far northwest Arkansas. Heavy rains will continue to spread east and southward through the morning. Additional showers and storms are likely to develop through the day Thursday. Any locally heavy amounts could lead to rapid onset flooding. Rains will taper off by late afternoon from west to east. - 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. &&
Former President Trump bashed President Bidens policy toward Ukraine on Monday but dodged questions about what he might do differently, if anything.

In a new interview on Fox Business, Trump trashed Biden as holding a weak hand ahead of his trip to Europe to rally the support of allies against Russias invasion.

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The cards are played, the cards are set and he has a very bad hand, Trump said in an interview on Fox Business. Hes given himself a very weak hand.

Former President Donald Trump (Charlie Neibergall/AP)

Trump repeated his mantra that Russian strongman Vladimir Putin would not have invaded Ukraine if he were in the White House, without offering any evidence of the claim.

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This would never, ever have happened if I were still in there, Trump said. I can tell you that with 100% certainty.

Host Stuart Varney repeatedly asked Trump whether he supports specific steps like arranging for Ukraine to get more fighter jets.

Maybe, even more, to be honest, Trump said before changing the subject.

Like what, Varney asked?

We have a tremendous military capability. What we could do is enormous, Trump said, without coming close to answering. We should be using it .... to help them survive.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and U.S. President Joe Biden (right) arrive to meet at the 'Villa la Grange', on June 16, 2021, in Geneva, Switzerland. (Patrick Semansky/AP)

Trump also boasted of sending Javelin anti-tank weapons to Ukraine, although he admitted I didnt know at the time why the U.S. was doing so. He failed to note that the Biden administration has rushed billions in military hardware to embattle Ukraine.

Trump refused to say what, if anything, he would do that Biden has not done, except try to reduce the price of oil somehow.

What you need for war is three things: Money, money, and money, Trump said. If you knock the hell out of the price of oil ... this war is going to end.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and then-U.S. President Donald Trump (right) meet at the G-20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany on July 7, 2017. (Evan Vucci/AP)

Trump steered clear of his previous praise for Putin as a very savvy leader in the days after he launched the brutal invasion.

Instead, he suggested Biden should be doing something more to confront the Russian strongman.

When he goes in and kills thousands, are we just going to just sit by and watch? Trump asked. In a hundred years, theyll be talking about what a travesty this is.
LVIV, Ukraine (AP)  As Mariupols defenders held out Monday against Russian demands that they surrender, the number of bodies in the rubble of the bombarded and encircled Ukrainian city remained uncertain, the full extent of the horror not yet known.

With communications crippled, movement restricted and many residents in hiding, the fate of those inside an art school flattened on Sunday and a theater that was blown apart four days earlier was unclear.

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People carry wooden boards to cover the windows of a building damaged by a bombing the previous day in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, March 21, 2022. (VADIM GHIRDA/AP)

More than 1,300 people were believed to be sheltering in the theater, and 400 were estimated to have been in the art school.

Perched on the Sea of Azov, Mariupol has been a key target of relentless pounding for more than three weeks and has seen some of the worst suffering of the war. The fall of the southern port city would help Russia establish a land bridge to Crimea, seized from Ukraine in 2014.

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But no clear picture emerged of how close its capture might be.

Nobody can tell from the outside if it really is on the verge of being taken, said Keir Giles, a Russia expert at the British think tank Chatham House.

An unexploded Russian rocket is seen in the ground after shelling on the northern outskirts of Kharkiv, on March 21, 2022. (SERGEY BOBOK/AFP via Getty Images)

Over the weekend, Moscow had offered safe passage out of Mariupol  one corridor leading east to Russia, another going west to other parts of Ukraine  in return for the citys surrender before daybreak Monday. Ukraine flatly rejected the offer well before the deadline.

Mariupol officials said at least 2,300 people have died in the siege, with some buried in mass graves, but fears grew that the number could be far higher.

For those who remain, conditions have become brutal. The bombardment has cut off Mariupols electricity, water and food supplies and severed communication with the outside world, plunging residents into a fight for survival.

Whats happening in Mariupol is a massive war crime, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.

Mariupol had a prewar population of about 430,000. Around a quarter were believed to have left in the opening days of the war, and tens of thousands escaped over the past week by way of a humanitarian corridor. Other attempts have been thwarted by the fighting.

In this image from video provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks from Kyiv, Ukraine, early Sunday, March 20, 2022. (AP)

Those who have made it out of Mariupol told of a devastated city.

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There are no buildings there anymore, said 77-year-old Maria Fiodorova, who crossed the border to Poland on Monday after five days of travel.

Olga Nikitina, who fled Mariupol for the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, where she arrived Sunday, said gunfire blew out her windows, and her apartment dropped below freezing.

Battles took place over every street. Every house became a target, she said.

A man reacts standing near his house ruined after Russian shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, March 21, 2022. At least eight people were killed in the attack. (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)

A long line of vehicles lined a road in Bezimenne, Ukraine, as Mariupol residents sought shelter at a temporary camp set up by the rebel Donetsk government. An estimated 5,000 people from Mariupol have taken refuge in the camp. Many arrived in cars with signs that said children in Russian.

A woman who gave her name as Yulia said she and her family sought shelter in Bezimenne after a bombing destroyed six houses behind her home.

Thats why we got in the car, at our own risk, and left in 15 minutes because everything is destroyed there, dead bodies are lying around, she said. They dont let us pass through everywhere  there are shootings.

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Francesco Rocca, president of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, urged Russia to abide by the Geneva Convention and allow humanitarian aid into the city.

As Russia intensifies its effort to pound Mariupol into submission, its ground offensive in other parts of the country has become bogged down, slowed by lethal hit-and-run attacks by Ukrainians. Western officials and analysts say the conflict is turning into a grinding war of attrition, with Russian President Vladimir Putins forces using air power and artillery to pulverize cities from a distance.

A senior U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the militarys assessment, said Russia had increased air sorties over the past two days, carrying out as many as 300 in the past 24 hours, and has fired more than 1,100 missiles into Ukraine since the invasion began.

In the capital, Kyiv, a shopping center in the densely populated Podil district near the city center was a smoking ruin after being hit late Sunday by shelling that killed eight people, according to emergency officials. The attack shattered every window in a neighboring high-rise.

People examine the damage after shelling of a shopping center, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, March 21, 2022. Eight people were killed in the attack. (AP Photo/ (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)

Russian military spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov charged that Ukrainian forces had been using the shopping mall to store rockets and reload launchers. That claim could not be independently verified.

Britains defense ministry said Ukrainian resistance has kept the bulk of Moscows forces more than 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the center of Kyiv, but the capital remains Russias primary military objective.

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Amid the continuing shelling, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced a curfew extending from Monday evening through Wednesday morning.

Ukrainian authorities said Russia shelled a chemical plant outside the eastern city of Sumy, sending toxic ammonia leaking from a 50-ton tank, and hit a military training base in the Rivne region of western Ukraine with cruise missiles.

Konashenkov said 80 foreign and Ukrainian troops were killed in the Rivne attack. There was no immediate word from the Ukrainian side on casualties.

EDITORS NOTE: Graphic content / TOPSHOT - People mourn a soldier killed by a Russian rocket at the military school, in the cemetery of Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine, on March 21, 2022. (BULENT KILIC/AFP via Getty Images)

In the Black Sea port city of Odessa, authorities said Russian forces damaged civilian houses in a strike Monday. The city council said no one was killed.

Russias invasion has driven nearly 3.5 million people from Ukraine, according to the United Nations. The U.N. has confirmed over 900 civilian deaths but said the real toll is probably much higher. Estimates of Russian deaths vary, but even conservative figures are in the low thousands.

Talks between Russia and Ukraine have continued by video but failed to bridge the chasm between the two sides, with the Kremlin demanding Ukraine disarm and declare itself neutral and Ukraine calling for binding security guarantees and a withdrawal of all Russian forces.

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Crosses are pictured under smoke from a garbage in the cemetery of Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine, on March 21, 2022. (BULENT KILIC/AFP via Getty Images)

Russias Foreign Ministry warned that relations with the U.S. are on the verge of a breach, citing unacceptable statements by U.S. President Joe Biden about Putin. Biden last week branded the Russian leader a war criminal.

In another worrying development, Ukraines nuclear regulatory agency said radiation monitors around the decommissioned Chernobyl power plant, the site in 1986 of the worlds worst nuclear meltdown, have stopped working.

The agency said that problem, and a lack of firefighters to protect the areas radiation-tainted forests as the weather warms, could mean a significant deterioration in the ability to control the spread of radiation in Ukraine and beyond.
Firefighters work to extinguish a fire after an airstrike hit a tire shop in Lviv, Ukraine, Monday, April 18, 2022. Russian missiles hit the city of Lviv in western Ukraine on Monday, killing at least six people, Ukrainian officials said, as Moscow's troops stepped up strikes on infrastructure in preparation for an all-out assault on the east. (Mykola Tys/AP)

The war in Ukraine seemed to reach a stalemate over the weekend, with invading Russian forces reportedly failing to advance but increasing the intensity of their bombardments.

In one instance of the escalating brutality, an art school sheltering 400 people in the besieged city of Mariupol was bombed, Ukrainian officials said Sunday.

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The destroyed school building had housed women, children and elderly people, the local city council told the BBC, which could not immediately confirm the report.

The Red Cross has been trying to gain access into the city, which has been cut off from the outside world, but conditions are very, very difficult, the charitys Steve McAndrew was quoted as saying.

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Sundays reported attack followed a widely condemned Russian bombing of a Mariupol theater sheltering 1,300 people on Thursday.

A mother embraces her son who escaped the besieged city of Mariupol and arrived at the train station in Lviv, western Ukraine on Sunday, March 20, 2022. (Bernat Armangue/AP)

Since launching the invasion on Feb. 24, Russian forces have gained some ground in eastern Ukraine but failed to take any major cities, according to reports.

It is becoming increasingly difficult for Russia to support its huge invading forces, experts say. But there is no telling what Russian President Vladimir Putin will do next.

Stalemate will likely be very violent and bloody, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War wrote Saturday.

If the war in Ukraine settles into a stalemate condition, Russian forces will continue to bomb and bombard Ukrainian cities, devastating them and killing civilians, it said.

Russian forces may have deported as many as 4,500 people from the coastal city of Mariupol across the nearby Russian border, an adviser to Mariupols mayor told The New York Times.

The owner of an apartment damaged by a bomb welds the bars of his apartment so nothing is stolen in Satoya neighborhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, March 20, 2022. (Rodrigo Abd/AP)

What the occupiers are doing today is familiar to the older generation, who saw the horrific events of World War II, when the Nazis forcibly captured people, Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko was quoted as saying.

It is hard to imagine that in the 21st century people will be forcibly deported to another country, he said.

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In an impassioned speech Sunday to Israels legislature, the Knesset, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russian forces of using the same genocidal approach the Nazis did during World War II.

Zelenskyy urged Israel to send weapons to Ukraine and lift limits on Ukrainian immigration that were imposed after the start of the invasion.

Israel, which has close ties to both Russia and Ukraine, has taken a largely neutral stance in the war, and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has sought to play a mediating role.

Listen to the words of the Kremlin. They are using the terminology of the Nazis, Zelenskyy, who is Jewish, was quoted as saying by the Haaretz newspaper.

The final solution to the Jewish question you well remember. Listen to what they are now saying in Moscow, he said. Now these words are being used again  the final solution  but now it is directed at us, on the issue of Ukraine. They are speaking about this openly on official sites and in the media.

The final solution was the term used by Nazi Germany to describe its Holocaust of Europes Jews during World War II.

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An eldery woman stands in front of a destroyed house after bombardments in the village of Krasylivka, east of Kyiv, on March 20, 2022, as Russian forces try to encircle the Ukranian capital. (ARIS MESSINIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Zelenskyy praised Israels Iron Dome system for air defense, saying it could be used to protect his country, according to Germanys international broadcaster Deutsche Welle.

Why cant we get weapons from you? Why cant you impose strong sanctions on Russia? he was quoted as saying.

Zelenskyys roughly 15-minute video address was the latest in a series of speeches he has made to foreign lawmakers, including an address last week to the U.S. Congress.

I am sure you feel our pain, but could you explain why we are still calling the whole world, many countries, and asking for help? We are now asking you for help, or at the very least visas, he said, according to Haaretz.

What is this? Apathy? Calculations? Or mediation without taking a side? Zelenskyy said. Ill let you answer that question, but I want to point out that apathy kills, calculations can be incorrect. You can mediate between countries, but not between good and evil.

An estimated 902 civilians have been killed and another 1,459 were injured as of midnight Saturday in Ukraine, according to the United Nations, which noted the true death toll is probably considerably higher.

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Most of the casualties were said to have taken place in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes caused much of the carnage, according to the UN.

Pope Francis on Sunday reiterated calls for an end to the slaughter.

I beg all the players in the international community to truly commit themselves to stopping this repugnant war, the pope said to a cheering crowd in Vatican City.

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Saying companies that do business with Russia are playing Russian roulette with the hard-earned dollars of the investing public, Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx) says U.S. companies should have to disclose any such ties.

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He plans to introduce a bill Monday that would require publicly traded companies to make the disclosure in their filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The investing public has a right to know which corporations are doing business in Russia, which has become a dangerous place to do business, Torres told the Daily News. Corporate America must send a message of zero tolerance for the kind of aggression Russia has shown.

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He said he was making the proposal in response to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyys speech last week to Congress, in which the leader called on American companies to stop doing business with Russia.

More than 400 companies  from McDonalds and Netflix to Ford and Goldman Sachs  have withdrawn from Russia or are in the process of doing so, according to the Yale School of Management. Other businesses, like sandwich seller Subway, have been digging in, the school reported.

Rep. Ritchie Torres (Angus Mordant for New York Daily News) NYDN (Angus Mordant/HANDOUT)

Torres said the public disclosure requirement would serve to name and shame companies willing to do business with Russia in spite of its brutal invasion of Ukraine, which began nearly a month ago.

Torres argued that his bill, which comes after the U.S. has already imposed severe sanctions on Russias economy, would further isolate Russia on the world stage.

We have to isolate Putins regime as a pariah state, and we have to show solidarity with the Ukrainian people, who are not only fighting for themselves, he said, but in some sense are fighting for all of us.

The bill, which comes amid concerns about a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan, would impose the same disclosure requirement on firms that do business with any country that has invaded another country or annexed territory of another country.

I hope that bills like mine can have something of a deterrent effect, the congressman said.
Chip Minemyer is the editor and general manager of The Tribune-Democrat and TribDem.com, GM of The Times-News of Cumberland, Md., and CNHI regional editor for Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia and North Carolina. He can be reached at 814-532-5091. Follow him on Twitter @MinemyerChip.
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Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the United Nations health agency, the World Health Organization (WHO), said last week: "So far, WHO has verified 18 attacks on health facilities, health workers and ambulances, including ten deaths and 16 injuries. These attacks deprive whole communities of healthcare. More than two million people have left Ukraine and WHO is supporting neighboring countries to provide healthcare for refugees, most of whom are women and children. Some of the main health challenges we see are hypothermia and frostbite, respiratory diseases, lack of treatment for cardiovascular diseases and cancer, and mental health issues."There are approximately 1,000 healthcare facilities which are becoming engulfed in the Ukraine-Russia armed conflict, confirmed Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director of WHO Health Emergencies Program. These healthcare facilities include hospitals, clinics, polyclinics and other healthcare delivery entities- either on the frontline or within ten kilometers of the frontline.Some healthcare facilities are being abandoned by the authorities because they simply cannot function in this crisis situation. In some situations, there are attempts to move hospital equipment and healthcare workers around. "This is becoming an extremely complex health response with frequent population movements, shifting lines of control, increasingly difficult access and very asymmetric type of warfare" said Dr Ryan.WHO is continuously sending medical and health related supplies to Ukraine. "Sending supplies to hospitals is great but those hospitals need power, they need clean water, they need engineers to be able to help, they need fuel supply for generators. All of this infrastructure and engineering support is needed to keep your average hospital running in a normal situation. In the middle of a shooting war, it is almost impossible" shared Dr Ryan.The WHO had recently raised an alarm about depleting oxygen stocks in Ukraine and the looming threat of oxygen crisis. "This oxygen shortage is not due to the corona virus but because of armed conflict - which is essentially preventable" said Shobha Shukla who leads CNS (Citizen News Service) and Asia Pacific Media Alliance for Health and Development.There is no doubt that the only real and lasting solution to the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict is through peace. "WHO continues to call on the Russian Federation to commit to a peaceful resolution to this crisis and to allow safe, unimpeded access to humanitarian assistance for those in need. A peaceful resolution is possible and that is true in every war and humanitarian crisis to which WHO is responding around the world" added Dr Tedros.In 2016, Peter Maurer, the President of Red Cross, had said that 2,400 targeted attacks had been carried out in the last three years against patients and healthcare workers, transport, and centres in 11 countries. The then-head of MSF (Doctors Without Borders or Medicins Sans Frontieres) Joanne Liu had said in 2016 that 300 air strikes on Aleppo, Syria occurred within 10 days. She added back then that in Afghanistan, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen, hospitals were routinely bombed, raided, looted or burned to the ground, and medical personnel were threatened and patients were shot in their beds. While the United Nations Security Council was responsible for maintaining peace and security, four of its five permanent members had been associated with coalitions responsible for attacks on health structures over the last year, she noted.How can we forget heart wrenching incidents when hospitals in Gaza were hit by Israeli strikes in which thousands of people had been killed, or when an MSF hospital in Afghanistan was attacked by the United States military forces?Since the beginning of the Syrian conflict, Physicians for Human Rights had documented more than 360 attacks on around 250 medical facilities. More than 730 medical personnel were killed. Almost half of all medical facilities in Syria had closed then or were functioning only partially. A similar pattern of systematic destruction of health facilities was evident in Yemen. More than 600 medical facilities were shut because of damages sustained in the conflict and shortages of supplies and medical workers.Until recently over three-quarters of the health facilities in Afghanistan had reported stock-outs of essential medicines and there was a looming threat to sustain the health workers in their posts.In the Tigray region of Ethiopia even UN agencies, like the WHO, have not been permitted to deliver medical supplies since mid-July of 2021. This is despite repeated requests from the WHO to provide medical supplies to Tigray, to help meet at least some of the humanitarian and health needs of people living there. Even in the toughest periods of conflict in Syria, South Sudan, Yemen, and others, WHO and partners have had access to save lives. But Tigray is out of their reach, where the de facto blockade is preventing access to basic humanitarian supplies, which is killing people.More importantly, let us remember that even before the COVID-19 pandemic, a very large proportion of the human population has been living in appallingly squalid conditions (in slums and otherwise) sans proper sanitation, sans potable water, sans access to basic healthcare. The vast range of inequalities and social injustices within nations, and between rich and poor nations, is well known and documented.There can be no health security without peace. There can be no social security without peace. There can be no sustainable development "where no one is left behind" without peace.Bobby Ramakant - CNS (Citizen News Service)Source: Eurekalert
After the success of his debut web series Rudra: The Edge of Darkness, Ajay Devgn is all set for the release of his next titled Runway 34. After releasing the posters and teaser, the makers have finally unveiled the trailer of the much-awaited film also starring Amitabh Bachchan and Rakul Preet Singh in pivotal roles.

Taking to social media, the superstar shared the trailer of Runway 34 with fans and wrote, "Every second counts. @ADFFilms proudly presents the trailer of Runway 34. We are ready for take-off".

Take a look at his post below:

As shown in the trailer, Runway 34 revolves around Captain Vikrant Khanna (played by Devgn), a flying prodigy, whose aircraft takes a surprising turn after taking off from an international location. While Rakul Preet plays his co-pilot, Big B will be seen as the tenacious Narayan Vedant who will try to uncover the truth. Overall, the trailer looks interesting and full of mysteries.

Here's the YouTube link:

As soon as the trailer was released, '#Runway34Trailer' started trending on Twitter as netizens are sharing their opinion about the film. Overall, the trailer is receiving a majorly positive response. However, a section of social media users is a little disappointed with it.

Reacting to the trailer, a social media user wrote, "What a trailer @ajaydevgn's swag nd presence. @SrBachchan's dialogue delivery (thumbs up emoji) #Runway34Trailer Blockbuster (fire emoji)".

Another Twitter user said, "Heropanti 2 ka Trailer achha tha isse (fire emoji) Ye boring laga".

A third tweet reads, "But, public doesn't ready to watch this because already watching The Kashmir Files".

Another user tweeted, "Schi me yaar bahut wadiya trailer hai, dialogue toh (folded hands emoji) Kaafi time baad kuch acha dekhne ko mila, Yeh Eid Dhamaal hoga (fire emoji)".

Here are the reactions:

What a trailer @ajaydevgn's swag nd presence @SrBachchan's dilalage dilevery #Runway34Trailer Blockbuster  NAVEEN ANAND (DEVGN HAI TO DUNIA HAI) (@NaveenA78113109) March 21, 2022

Average trailer.



Kuch palle nahi pda for regular cinemagoers like me.  M A S A L U (@YourMasalu) March 21, 2022

Schi me yaar bahut wadiya trailer hai, dialogue toh

Kaafi time baad kuch acha dekhne ko mila, Yeh Eid Dhamaal hoga  Rajat Rajput (@Salmaaaaankhan) March 21, 2022

But, public doesn't ready to watch this,, because already watching,,,, The Kashmir,Files,,,,,,,,,,,,  Prabir Dey (@BEanimallover) March 21, 2022

I swear I've never seen a trailer like this before.. I'm looking forward to the release of the movie. I watched the trailer out of breathe. Our King @Ajaydevgn May your way always be clear sir..#Runway34Trailer https://t.co/eBw8aHW2YJ  KajolloveloveAjay (@kajollovelove) March 21, 2022

Heropanti 2 ka Trailer achha tha isse

Ye boring laga  Dangerous Khiladi 2 (@Darsh_Akkii) March 21, 2022

Superb completely different type of movie, not a remakes boring.  I am Modi (@VivekVirani27) March 21, 2022

Tiger pel dega app ko sir bhaigiye plz  AURO . ODISHA AKKIANS (@BeastAuro7) March 21, 2022

5 reasons to watch Runway 34

1. Original content

2. A high octane thriller

3. The super swag of megastar #AjayDevgn

4.The goosebumping visuals

5. The legend #AmitabhBachchan #Runway34Trailer https://t.co/oCeXrxdWLV  Siya patel (@adiansiya) March 21, 2022

#Runway34Trailer Review:

Stylish, engaging, but slow. The shadow of #Flight by #DenzelWashington is visible.

Best of luck to the whole team.  Iqbal Khursheed (@IQBALKHURSHEEDm) March 21, 2022

Impressive Captain @ajaydevgn @SrBachchan @Rakulpreet#Runway34Trailer love the new concept of Runway. Can't wait to catch the flight.

Our Best Wishes to Ajay Devgan from Ranveer Singh Fans  Harsh The Strongest Avenger (@HarshMCU) March 21, 2022

After watching trailer I decided that I Will watch Heropanti 2 only  Dangerous Khiladi 2 (@Darsh_Akkii) March 21, 2022

Please aap movie direct na kiya karo....  Manish Bariya (@msbaraiya0611) March 21, 2022

For the unversed, Runway 34 is inspired by true events and was earlier titled MayDay. The storyline, reportedly, is inspired by a Jet Airways aircraft from Doha to Kochi that narrowly avoided disaster due to low visibility in 2015. Boman Irani, Angira Dhar, Aakanksha Singh, and Carry Minati (cameo) too are a part of the film.

Produced and directed by Ajay Devgn, the movie is slated to hit the theatres on April 29 and will clash with Tiger Shroff and Tara Sutaria-starrer Heropanti 2.
Former adult star and Bollywood actress Sunny Leone sure turned a lot of heads when she left the porn industry to join the Indian film industry more than a decade ago.



Yes! It was the year 2011 when Sunny joined as one of the contestants on the super-hit and controversial reality show Big Boss.

 Viacom 18

Well, it was just the start of things for her in India and she clearly hasn't looked back since.



Whether it be movies, shows, or iconic music videos, Sunny has stamped her mark almost everywhere you look.

Having made her Bollywood debut in Pooja Bhatt's erotic thriller movie Jism 2, which was the sequel to the superhit John Abraham film Jism, Sunny's going to do a lot of movies in the industry.

 Zee5

She's been a part of films like Jackpot (2013), Ragini MMS 2 (2014), Ek Paheli Leela (2015), and Tera Intezaar (2017).



Now, while she's clearly had success with her second career, it hasn't obviously been straightforward for her.

As you know, Bollywood is a tough nut to crack, and Sunny's had a fair share of troubles along the way as well.

One of the things that the actress herself mentioned was that she felt many star wives were not very happy with their husbands working with her.

Sunny spoke about it in detail during one of her interviews back in 2015, where she revealed there is some sense of insecurity.

 Instagram/Sunny Leone

Most of the actors I work with are married, and when I meet their wives, I usually get along with them more than the boys. But still, I do believe that there is some insecurity for sure. I just feel like telling them, I dont want your husband or boyfriend. I have the most amazing husband in the world. she said while speaking to Hindustan Times.



As you'd know Sunny is happily married to her husband Daniel Weber, and in another interview, she revealed that at times she just feels like telling the Bollywood wives that she's very satisfied with her own husband.

 BCCL

Speaking to Filmibeat, Sunny said,



I was told that a lot of male actors in Bollywood are scared to work with me because they have a wife or this and that. And I want to tell their wives, I dont want your husband. I have one. I love him. Hes hot, hes sexy. He fulfills all my needs in every way, emotionally, and everything. I dont want your husband. I want to do my job and I want to go home with my husband, not yours.

Sunny will next be seen in her upcoming film Shero.

Source: Koimoi
Released in theatres two weeks ago, Vivek Agnihotris The Kashmir Files has been a trending topic across the country, having contributed to heated debates and fights on news channels and social media platforms.

The film is said to capture the plight of the Kashmiri Pandits during their mass exodus from the Valley in the 1990s. But it has left people across the political spectrum debating, discussing, and dissecting the realities shown in the film. Many claim that the makers of the film have distorted the series of events that actually transpired in order to stoke communal sentiments, while the rest claim that the film has accurately and explicitly depicted the violent circumstances under which the Kashmiri Pandits were forced to flee from the valley.

 Zee Studios

Adding to the already overcrowded voices commenting on the movies, filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma reviewed The Kashmir Files, saying that he hates the film. He uploaded his review of the controversial film on YouTube and said that the film destroyed whatever he learned and thought was right. He also stated that he was reviewing a film for the first time in his life, further heaping praises on the filmmaker and actors in the film, especially lauding Anupam Khers performance in it.



In the video uploaded to YouTube, RGV said, For the first time in my entire career, I am reviewing a film. He went on, I dont really review the films subject or the controversial content, I want to review it as a filmmaker on how the film has been made.

Varma didnt stop there, he continued, Kashmir Files released and broke every rule in the book. It doesnt have stars. There is no intention in the director to impress the audience which is what every filmmaker will be trying to do. He wants to impress.

A fan of the storytelling, Ram Gopal Varma heaped praises onto the storytelling as well as the character design, even claiming that The Kashmir Files had set new benchmarks for directors and filmmakers. He summed up his final thoughts, and said, I hate Kashmir Files because it destroyed whatever I learned, whatever I thought was right and whatever I thought was in at multiple times. I cant go back and I cant reinvent myself and cant rethink now, Oh, this is how it should be made. No, cant. So I hate Kashmir Files whether it is the director or acting style or it is the way the screenplay was madeI hate all of them because you guys made me and all of the filmmakers I would say lose our identityI hate all the people associated with Kasmir files but I love Vivek Agnihotri for making this happen.

Dont take at face value that mainstream Bollywood, Tollywood etc are ignoring the mega success of #kashmirifiles ..The reality is they are taking it more SERIOUSLY than the AUDIENCES , but their SILENCE is because they are SHIT SCARED ..Watch my REVIEW https://t.co/Er9ce8S9K3  Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) March 19, 2022

On Twitter, RGV shared the video, with the message, Dont take at face value that mainstream Bollywood, Tollywood, etc are ignoring the mega success of #kashmirifiles. The reality is they are taking it more seriously than the audiences, but their silence is because they are s*** scared. Watch my review.

His blunt review was met with gratitude by Vivek Agnihotri as he responded, You hate #TheKashmirFiles @RGVzoomin and thats why I love you. 

What do you think of The Kashmir Files? Let us know in the comments.
Vicky Kaushal, who rose to fame after playing the lead role in Masaan (2015), established himself as a leading star with the success of Uri: The Surgical Strike in 2019. The actor, who is happily married to Katrina Kaif, now owns a huge fan-following. However, Vicky, like any other Bollywood celebrity, has been the target of trolls on multiple occasions.

He was asked to respond to trolls in a throwback interview with Filmfare. While there were several tweets mocking the actor, one in particular caught everyone's attention.

Well, the social media user had requested Vicky to not become Salman Khan after getting successful. Yes, you read that right! In a tweet, the social media user wrote, "A request, successful hone ke baad Salman Khan mat ban jana".

When the Love per Square Foot star was asked to react to the tweet, he stared for a moment before avoiding the topic by saying "haa phir?" so that the presenter could move on to the next post. Here's an excerpt from the actor's interview with the publication:

On the career front, Vicky was last seen in Shoojit Sircar's Sardar Udham. The biographical drama was released on Amazon Prime Video last year and got huge critical acclaim. Currently, he has several interesting projects in his kitty.

He has completed shooting for Shashank Khaitan's Govinda Naam Mera co-starring Bhumi Pednekar and Kiara Advani. He has also wrapped up Vijay Krishna Acharya's next film alongside Manushi Chillar. As per reports, the YRF movie has been titled The Great Indian Family or TGIF. However, an official announcement is still awaited.

The actor has also completed shooting for Laxman Utekar's untitled next, featuring Sara Ali Khan as the leading lady. Bankrolled under the Dinesh Vijan production banner, the film marks Vicky and Sara's first collaboration on-screen.

Currently, he is shooting for Anand Tiwari's next film which also stars Laila Majnu and Bulbbul fame Tripti Dimri. Reportedly, the untitled project also features Punjabi heartthrob Ammy Virk in a pivotal role.
Winston Peters, New Zealands former deputy Prime Minister is the latest individual to have come out in support of the controversial film The Kashmir Files. Claiming any obstructions to its release in the island nation would be tantamount to an attack on the freedom guaranteed to every New Zealander.

Taking to Facebook, the Kiwi politician began his message by talking about the global impact of the Vivek Agnihotri directorial, he wrote, The Kashmir Files has been shown in America, Australia, India and many other locations around the world. To date the film has been viewed by over 1.1 billion people. The film is about true and real events surrounding the 1990 ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Kashmir and today over 400,000 Kashmir Pandits remain in exile after 32 years.

 Zee Studios

Peters further opined on the alleged restriction to the average New Zealander's freedom, by writing, "To censor this film is tantamount to censoring information or images from the March 15th atrocities in New Zealand, or for that matter removing from public knowledge all images of the attack on 9/11. Mainstream Muslims have both in this country and around the world readily and rightly denounced all forms of terrorism on the basis that committing violence in the name of Islam is not Muslim. Neither should steps taken against Islamophobia mistakenly lead to the shielding of terrorists in the name of Islam."



The former deputy Prime Minister ended his thoughts by penning, Terrorism in all its forms, no matter what its source, should be exposed and opposed. This attempt at selective censorship would amount to one further attack on the freedom of New Zealanders and people worldwide. Director Vivek Agnihotri duly thanked him for this expression of support to the film.

But Whats The Controversy Around The Kashmir Files Release In New Zealand?

 ANI

According to claims made by Vivek Agnihotri on Twitter, The New Zealand Censor Board was facing pressure to ban his film The Kashmir Files. He blamed the influence of "some communal groups" behind this.



Dear friends,

Some communal and terror sympathiser groups are putting pressure on New Zealand government to ban #TheKashmirFiles. Its ethically and principally wrong. Pl support #RightToJustice



The Kashmir Files Screening in New Zealand Survey. https://t.co/wTitdcZDFa  Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) March 19, 2022

He shared a survey link with the caption, Dear friends,

Some communal and terror sympathiser groups are putting pressure on New Zealand government to ban #TheKashmirFiles. Its ethically and principally wrong. Pl support #RightToJustice

Based on reports, New Zealands chief censor committee hasnt banned the movie yet. Theyre simply reviewing the classification of the film after certain members of the Muslim faith raised their concerns over the depiction of their community. Current Chief Censor David Shanks admitted to certain local Muslims having approached him with doubts over the films agenda, claiming the narrative of the film could cause a spike in Islamophobia. He told the local media, This is a situation where emotions are starting to tick up. [We have] got to engage with that."

Do you think theres any cause for concern for the New Zealand Censor Board? Will it get banned over there? Let us know in the comments below.
Gloria Brown Bruister, 81, passed away on Tuesday, May 3, 2022, at UAB Hospital in Birmingham, Ala., with her loving daughters by her side. Born on July 21, 1940, to Jay Lavell and Mattie Noblin Brown, Gloria graduated from Meridian High School in 1958. Married soon after to Hubert L. Bruist
BEIJING, March 21 -- Due to severe local security situation, the 9th Chinese peacekeeping medical contingent to Mali was invited to conduct training on combat wound first-aid skills for more than 100 staff officers in the Sector East Command of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) recently, aiming at improving their emergency self-rescue and mutual rescue capabilities during the peacekeeping mission.

Emad, a peacekeeping officer from the Egyptian contingent, said that they have got the know-how of self-rescue and mutual rescue in dealing with cardiopulmonary resuscitation, bleeding control and fracture dressing through this training, and learned to use various kinds of equipment in the first aid kit.

We are always here to protect the lives and health of the peacekeepers in the Sector East Command of MINUSMA with higher medical standards and better professional skills, said Wang, head of the Chinese medical team.
A Chinese jetliner with 132 people aboard crashed Monday in what was feared the deadliest in years.

China Easterns Boeing 737-800, carrying 123 passengers and nine crew members, went down in the southern province of Guangxi during a flight from Kunming to Guangzhou, according to Chinas Civil Aviation Administration.

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Relatively new, the plane had gone into service in 2015.

A piece of wreckage of the China Eastern's flight MU5735 are seen after it crashed on the mountain in Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Monday, March 21, 2022. (AP)

Hundreds of rescuers were working through the wreckage, but hours after the plane crashed to the ground, there was still no word on injuries or survivors. Anxious families gathered in a waiting area set up for them at Guangzhou International Airport.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping said he was shocked by the crash and called for an all-out effort by the rescue operation.

Witnesses told local media the plane appeared to have completely shattered upon impact.

Plumes of smoke could be seen at the crash site and an enormous fire was recorded on NASA satellite imagery. The Guangxi fire service said it has begun working to control the fire.

A worker from the China Eastern holds a signboard waiting to lead relatives of the victims aboard China Eastern's flight MU5735 to a cordoned off area, in Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, Monday, March 21, 2022. (AP)

According to data from flight-tracking website FlightRadar24, the plane lifted off at 1:11 p.m. local time, then began plummeting about an hour into the two-hour flight, falling 29,000 feet in just minutes. Local police began receiving calls from witnesses soon after.

Before it began falling, the plane was flying around 523 mph, well within the normal range for a plane in mid-flight.

The plane stopped transmitting data 96 seconds after it began falling.

China Eastern, headquartered in Shanghai, is one of the three major airlines in China, operating more than 730 planes; it flies 130 million passengers annually to 1,036 destinations in 170 countries and regions, according to its website.

Relatives of passengers on China Eastern flight MU5375 are seen at the holding area, after the plane failed to arrive at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in China's southern Guangdong province on March 22, 2022. (NOEL CELIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Chicago-based Boeing is aware of the initial media reports and are working to gather more information, a spokesman told the Daily News Monday.

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Our thoughts are with the passengers and crew of China Eastern Airlines Flight MU 5735. We are working with our airline customer and are ready to support them, the company said in a public statement.

Boeing is in contact with the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, and our technical experts are prepared to assist with the investigation led by the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

Chinas deadliest civilian jetliner crash came in 2010, when a plane crashed in Yichun and killed 44 out of the 96 people aboard.

In January 2020, Irans paramilitary Revolutionary Guard accidentally shot down a Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800, killing all 176 people on board.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 10 Relatives of passengers on China Eastern flight MU5375 are seen at the holding area after the plane failed to arrive at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in China's southern Guangdong province on March 22, 2022. Airline China Eastern said that there had been fatalities after one of its passenger jets carrying 132 people crashed in southern China on Monday, with the cause of the crash "still under investigation." (NOEL CELIS/AFP via Getty Images)

The 737-800 is a model that precedes the Boeing 737 MAX, which remains grounded in China after two deadly crashes in 2019. More than 4,200 are currently in service around the world.

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Pictured from left to right are McLean County High Schools Future Business Leaders of America qualifiers  Laney Colburn, Samuel Smiley, Kadyn McElvain, Tyler Larkin, Chloe Case and Will Stratton.
Retired state senator and former state agriculture commissioner David Boswell, who spent more than 30 years in elected office, says his passion for public service originated as a boy.

My grandfather on my mothers side was on the Daviess County School board from 1938 until 1968, and he was chairman for several years, and I grew up handing out campaign material for my grandfather, and that kind of initiated my interest in politics, Boswell said from his home in Daviess County.

That interest would be furthered when, at 19 years old, he began working as a cartographer for the Owensboro City Planning Commission.

Retired since 2011, Boswell entered his first political race in 1977, campaigning for state representative of Kentuckys 7th District. He won the Democratic primary, and then with no Republican opposition in the general election, he was sworn into office in 1978.

I proudly served Daviess, Henderson and Union counties in the House for nearly six years, he said. I think I was the second youngest out of 138 members at the time, so I was just a kid.

Boswell said serving as a state representative was a different experience back then than it is today, and the system was different as well.

We had a strong executive branch, and the governor actually picked the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate, Boswell said. There were lots of people that had been there for 25 or 30 years. The way of doing things 25 or 30 years prior to my getting there  it was an eye-opener for me.

Boswell said he was part of the movement to remove some of the influence the executive branch had over the state legislature. The legislative independence movement was successful, and an independent legislature was established.

After serving six years in the state legislature, Boswell decided to make a run for statewide office as commissioner of agriculture.

I grew up on the farm with my grandparents, and most of my uncles on my mothers side were all farmers, so I spent my young years cutting tobacco and putting up hay and straw and milking cows and all that kind of good stuff, Boswell said. I did not have a degree in agriculture, but you didnt have to have one, it is a constitutional office.

Boswell said he was able to accomplish some things as the states commissioner of agriculture that he is still proud of today. One of those is establishing safety inspection standards for rides at local fairs and events throughout Kentucky.

On up to my term in office, these amusement rides would go out to the county fairs, and a lot of the rides would be put together with nails, they were totally unsafe, he said. We put that program in place, a very rigid inspection program. Before they could even open the first ride at a county fair or state fair, the rides had to be inspected for safety. That was one of my accomplishments that I am proud of to this day.

As his four-year term began to wind down, Boswell knew he would not be able to seek a second term because of state law that prohibited constitutional officers from succeeding themselves. After losing a bid for lieutenant governor, Boswell was approached about the possibility of running for the state senate.

The late Delbert Murphy was a state senator at that time, and he opted to retire for health reasons, Boswell said. He and I talked, and he felt like I ought to try to run and replace him in the state senate. This is back in 1990. It worked, and I spent 20 years in the state senate.

After leaving office in 2011, Boswell initially served as a consultant for Command Consulting Group, but he is now retired. In addition to serving on the board of the Owensboro Fine Art Museum, he helps friends who are campaigning from time to time.

I am still involved a little bit around the edges, I guess you could say, he said.

Married to his wife Sandy for 53 years, Boswell said he has no plans to reenter the political arena.

His best advice for those aspiring to become involved in politics is fairly simple  be willing to listen to other ideas and compromise.

I would encourage young people who want to get involved in partisan political activities to encourage the art of compromise, being able to sit down, both parties, both sides of the aisle, and work for the common ground on critical issues that affect everyone ... to come to some kind of a compromise that is workable, Boswell said.
The 7-year-old girl who captured hearts worldwide by singing a Disney song to displaced Ukrainians hiding in a bomb shelter performed at a fundraiser in Poland Monday.

Video of Amellia Anisovych singing the Ukrainian national anthem with no musical accompaniment was posted by an ABC News reporter Monday, showing a large audience holding up lights in an otherwise dark stadium as the fearless refugee breaks into song. Tens of thousands more have viewed Anisovych performing on social media.

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Remember the girl who sang Frozen in a Ukrainian bomb shelter?



She just sang on stage at a charity concert in Poland pic.twitter.com/wKOr5e6S69  James Longman (@JamesAALongman) March 21, 2022

The Ukrainian girls voice was first heard by the world on March 3 when video went viral of her singing Let It Go, from the hit film Frozen, under far more grim conditions. Idina Menzel, who made the song famous in the 2013 Disney film, posted video of Anisovychs version on Twitter.

We see you, Menzel captioned that clip. We really, really see you.

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Seven-year-old Amellia Anisovych, a refugee from Ukraine, center, sings the Ukraine national anthem at the start of a fund-raising concert in Lodz, Poland, Sunday, March 20, 2022. Anisovych became widely known for singing a song from the movie Frozen in a bomb shelter in Kyiv in early March. She has since come to Poland with her grandmother and brother. Her parents remained in Kyiv. (Marian Zubrzycki/AP)

On Feb. 23, Russian president Vladimir Putin sent his forces into Ukraine to begin an ongoing, unprovoked attack that continues to unleash havoc on civilian populations. It has sent millions of Ukrainians fleeing to neighboring nations including Poland.

Lyrics to Let It Go include the lines, Youll never see me cry, here I stand and here I stay, let the storm rage on.
Paducah, KY (42003)

Today

Thunderstorms. A few storms may be severe. High 76F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Isolated thunderstorms in the evening, then mainly cloudy overnight with thunderstorms likely. Low 63F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
With less than four months until the primary election, Congressman Charlie Crist stressed a need for party unity among the Democratic gubernatorial candidates this past weekend, and rightly so.
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A Northville man will spend between 10 and 25 years in prison for crimes he committed in Huron County Aug. 6, 2020.

Jonathon Christian Burns was sentenced in Huron County Circuit Court March 21 for assault with attempt to murder, two counts of felonious assault and attempted carjacking.

The charges stem from an incident that Michigan State Police troopers and other law enforcement agencies responded to around 9:45 p.m. Aug.6, 2020 of a man who was shooting at cars near North Lakeshore Road/M-25 and Lawitzke Road in Gore Township.

Victims told police that a disabled vehicle was in the roadway, and when the victims slowed down to check on the vehicle, Burns jumped out of the ditch and began firing at them.

"The suspect then pointed his gun at them and was demanding a ride," a MSP press release read. "The second victim observed the vehicle in the road and slowed down to go around it. At this time a man ran out of the ditch and pointed a handgun at them."

There were several victims in the case, but each were able to drive away and no one was physically injured.

The MSP emergency services team approached the disabled vehicle a short while later, but Burns had already fled into the woods. Burns was later located by K-9s and was apprehended around 4:15 a.m.

He pleaded no contest but mentally ill Jan. 11 to assault with attempt to murder, two counts of felonious assault, and attempted carjacking.

During a sentencing hearing March 21, Burns' attorney Kyle O'Mara spoke on his behalf.

"Mr. Burns' issues stem from untreated or mistreated mental health issues, relatively severe mental health issues that have gone back a relatively lengthy period of time," O'Mara said on behalf of his client. "He has no other significant criminal history. He is educated and by all accounts a good person, but when I spoke with Mr. Burns soon after he was arrested, it was clear that he was a person going through some difficulties."

O'Mara asked the court to sentence Burns to 126 months, the minimum sentence in the guidelines.

One of the several victims addressed the court, and said the actions of Burns left them traumatized.

"I just wanted to see his face," the victim said. "It was dark that night. I saw the muzzle flash, my wife screaming and I heard the bullets hit my truck."

"I'm so used deer jumping out, not a g------- guy shooting a gun at me," they said. "I just want to know what possessed him to be there. Why did he pick that spot? Why did he shoot at me and my wife? We didn't do nothing."

The victim stated the incident left a negative impact on his life and ultimately contributed to their divorce.

Judge Gerald Prill told Burns that his actions had a massive impact on the community, which seeks to live life safely in peace.

"Sir, you completely rocked the community by your behavior in this case," Prill said. "There is no question that you are a sick man. I mean no disrespect by that. You pleaded no contest but mentally ill, and certainly there are mental health issues."

Prill reminded Burns that it was Burns' responsibility to seek treatment and follow through with treatment. Burns had spent four months in a mental health institution seven months before committing his crimes.

"I understand the mental health aspect of this, but you have forever changed the lives of the victims in this case," Prill said. "It can never be reset. It can never be put back to a point in time where everything is fine."

Before delivering Burns' sentence, Prill told the court that the sentencing guidelines in Burns' plea case might be the highest he has seen in his eight years on the bench.

"You committed a heinous crime and you have to be held accountable," Prill said.

Prill sentenced Burns to a minimum of 126 months to a maximum of 25 years in prison, with credit for 595 days served.
Courtesy photo/Michigan Works

TRAVERSE CITY  Northwest Michigan Works! is partnering with Michigan Indian Legal Services and Safe & Just Michigan in hosting a Clean Slate Expungement Fair to help people navigate the expungement and set aside process.

Recent laws make it easier to have certain felonies and misdemeanors set aside, which could clear your public criminal record.
A 96-year-old Ukrainian man who survived the cruelty of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis was reportedly killed by Russian artillery in his home in Kharkiv, Ukraine.

Boris Romantschenko survived the concentration camps Buchenwald, Peenemunde, Dora and BergenBelsen, reads a tweet from a Buchenwald concentration camp memorial account. He was killed last Friday in a blast at his home in Charkiv, Ukraine. He was 96 years old. We are stunned.

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Boris Romantschenko survived the concentration camps #Buchenwald, #Peenemunde, #Dora and #BergenBelsen. Now he has been killed by a bullet that hit his house in #Charkiv, #Ukraine. He was 96 years old. We are stunned. pic.twitter.com/ZZIK2OdbAu  Stift. Gedenkstatten Buchenwald und Mittelbau-Dora (@Buchenwald_Dora) March 21, 2022

That tweet was recirculated by The Times of Israel Monday.

Romantschenkos granddaughter reportedly claimed her grandfather was killed by a shell that struck a multistory building he called home.

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[ Trump hails Putin again amid Russian invasion of Ukraine: Playing Biden like a drum! ]

Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his attack on Ukraine on Feb. 24. He claims he is liberating the autonomous country, which has a Jewish president, from Nazi rule.
Elkton Lions Club/Contributed

The Elkton Lions Club and the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan will sponsor a free food distribution on Wednesday, March 23, in Elkton, the only drive-thru pantry scheduled for the Upper Thumb in the coming week.

The drive-thru popup pantry will take place at Elkton Missionary Church, 220 Main St. The event begins at 10 a.m.
Cassandra Day / Hearst Connecticut Media

MIDDLETOWN  The Middletown Police Department is seeking the publics assistance in providing humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine.

The main lobby, at 222 Main St., will serve as a collection area. Donations being accepted include nonperishable dry food, such as power/protein bars and other items that require little to no preparation; any type of medical supplies, baby diapers and diaper rash ointment/creams, according to a Facebook post.
The following Milford residents earned academic accolades this past school year.

Ashley Taylor has been named to the honors list for the fall 2021 semester at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Emily Kopstein has been named to Purchase College's dean's list for the fall 2021 semester. Kopstein is studying Theatre and Performance.

Cedarville University student Evan Tracy, majoring in BS in Chemistry, was named to the dean's honor list for the universitys fall 2021 semester.

Rebecca Matist was named to the dean's list at Delaware Valley University for the fall 2021 semester.

Alexandra Edwards was named to Biola University's dean's list for the fall 2021 semester. Edwards is a Theatre major.

Siddhartha Juluru, who is in the computer science program, and Ethan Feldman of Milford (06461), who is in the management information systems program, made the deans list for the fall 2021 semester at Rochester Institute of Technology.

Bianca Hagischi and Andrew Melendez made the Presidents List and deans list for the fall 2021 semester at Goodwin University. Andrea Gaydos, Brooke Haney, Krissi Kawejsza, Mackenzie Saad, Christine Stefan and Sandra Vidal made the deans list.
We hope no senator on the Judiciary Committee will stoop as low as Fox News Tucker Carlson, who asked to see Judge Ketanji Brown Jacksons LSAT scores, a desperate and racist bid to portray the Harvard-educated, eminently qualified Jackson as an underwhelming intellect whos only risen to the steps of the Supreme Court thanks to affirmative action.

Jackson has easily established her professional bona fides, as underlined by the support for her nomination from the Fraternal Order of Police and conservative former federal judges. The only hope Republicans have of throwing a wrench in her all-but-certain confirmation  or, far more likely their goal, agitating their base voters as she proves she belongs on the high court  is making her look like shes outside the judicial mainstream. (Spoiler: Shes not.)

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Supreme Court nominee, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson (R), meets with Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) in Cardin's office in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on March 15, 2022. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Its certainly fair game to try to get the left-of-center judge to explain how she looks at contentious areas of law and how she balances various constitutional rights when theyre in tension, but these lines of questioning are unlikely to be illuminating. Nominees of both parties have over the decades turned obfuscation into an art form. (Jackson just went through the wringer last year before winning approval to the D.C Circuit appellate bench.)

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 40 U.S. President Joe Biden embraces Ketanji Brown Jackson moments after the U.S. Senate confirmed her to be the first Black woman to be a justice on the Supreme Court in the Roosevelt Room at the White House on April 7, 2022, in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Her on-paper record is the most fruitful area of scrutiny. In eight years as a federal trial court judge and in nearly a year on the nations second-highest bench, Jackson has decided many cases and should be asked to explain her logic, especially when rulings were overturned on appeal. Sen. Josh Hawley is said to be gearing up to portray Jackson as unacceptably light on sex offenders, a line of attack that will surely prove fruitless.

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Senators are quite welcome to ask about her time as a federal public defender, including representing Guantanamo Bay detainees. Any glib attempt to make her look light on terrorism is answered easily: In the American system, every accused individual deserves a competent defense, and theres no good reason the federal courts, dominated by former prosecutors, should be virtually devoid of former public defenders.
A Friday crash of an MV-22B Osprey near Bodo, Norway, that claimed the lives of four Marines is once again putting an aircraft that had a notoriously troubled development into the spotlight.

Late Sunday, the Marine Corps released the names of the four service members: Capt. Matthew Tomkiewicz of Fort Wayne, Indiana; Capt. Ross Reynolds of Leominster, Massachusetts; Gunnery Sgt. James Speedy of Cambridge, Ohio; and Cpl. Jacob Moore of Catlettsburg, Kentucky.

All four were assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 261, according to a statement released by the II Marine Expeditionary Force late Sunday.

Read Next: They Spent Years Caring for Their Veterans. Now They Are Losing a Lifeline

The Marine Corps said the cause of the crash is under investigation, but Norwegian police reported bad weather in the area, according to The Associated Press.

The Osprey has had a controversial development and operational history, with some arguing that it is unsafe. Between 1991 and 2006, while the aircraft was undergoing testing, there were four crashes resulting in 30 deaths.

Since becoming operational in 2007, there have been other crashes, though the number of fatalities has decreased significantly. The defense contractor-supported Lexington Institute described the aircraft as "the safest, most survivable rotorcraft the U.S. Marine Corps operates" in 2011, shortly after the Osprey had its first fatal accident in a decade.

The last major crash involving a V-22 Osprey was in 2017 when Pentagon officials said "two service members were injured after a coalition aircraft executed a hard landing" at an undisclosed location in Syria. The last fatal crash involving the aircraft was also in 2017 off the coast of Australia, in which three Marines were lost.

In a press release, Maj. Gen. Michael Cederholm, the commander of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, praised the service of the four Marines who perished March 18.

"The pilots and crew were committed to accomplishing their mission and serving a cause greater than themselves," he said. "We will never allow these Marines' sacrifice to go unnoticed or unappreciated."

The statement notes that the bodies of the Marines had been removed from the site and "are in the process of being returned." The service said a dignified transfer will happen "in the coming days."

News of the crash was first announced by Norwegian authorities on Saturday, though the Corps says the crash occurred Friday. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stre said in a tweet that the country's "deepest sympathies go to the soldiers' families, relatives and fellow soldiers in their unit."

The Marines were participating in the NATO exercise Cold Response 2022.

-- Konstantin Toropin can be reached at konstantin.toropin@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @ktoropin.

Related: Navy Recovers Sunken F-35 Jet That Crashed Off the Deck of a Carrier into the South China Sea
LVIV, Ukraine  Ukrainian officials defiantly rejected a Russian demand that their forces in Mariupol lay down arms and raise white flags Monday in exchange for safe passage out of the besieged strategic port city.

Even as Russia intensified its attempt to bombard Mariupol into surrender, its offensive in other parts of Ukraine has floundered. Western governments and analysts see the broader conflict grinding into a war of attrition, with Russia continuing to barrage cities.

In the capital Kyiv, Russian shelling devastated a shopping center near the city center killing at least eight people.

The encircled southern city of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov has seen some of the worst horrors of the war, under Russian pounding for more than three weeks. Strikes hit an art school sheltering some 400 people only hours before Russia's offer to open two corridors out of the city in return for the capitulation of its defenders, according to Ukrainian officials.

Ukrainian officials rejected the Russian proposal for safe passage out of Mariupol even before Russia's deadline of 5 a.m. Moscow time (0200GMT) for a response came and went.

There can be no talk of any surrender, laying down of arms," Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk told the news outlet Ukrainian Pravda. "We have already informed the Russian side about this.

Mariupol Mayor Piotr Andryushchenko also dismissed the offer shortly after it was made, saying in a Facebook post he didnt need to wait until the morning deadline to respond and cursing at the Russians, according to the news agency Interfax Ukraine.

Russian Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev had offered two corridors  one heading east toward Russia and the other west to other parts of Ukraine. He did not say what Russia planned if the offer was rejected.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said authorities in Mariupol could face a military tribunal if they sided with what it described as bandits, the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported.

Multiple attempts to evacuate residents from Mariupol and other Ukrainian cities have failed or only partly succeeded, with bombardments continuing as civilians tried to flee. City officials said at least 2,300 people have died in the siege, with some buried in mass graves.

Tearful evacuees from devastated Mariupol have described how battles took place over every street.

Ahead of the latest offer, a Russian airstrike hit the school where some 400 civilians had been taking shelter and it was not clear how many casualties there were, Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address early Monday.

They are under the rubble, and we dont know how many of them have survived, he said.

The fall of Mariupol would allow Russian forces in southern and eastern Ukraine to unite. But Western military analysts say that even if the surrounded city is taken, the troops battling a block at a time for control there may be too depleted to help secure Russian breakthroughs on other fronts.

Ukrainians have not greeted Russian soldiers with a bunch of flowers, Zelenskyy told CNN, but with weapons in their hands.

U.S. President Joe Biden was expected to talk later Monday with the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Britain to discuss the war, before heading later in the week to Brussels and then Poland for in-person talks.

Zelenskyy has been pleading with the U.S. for more aircraft and advanced air-defense systems, while NATO members on the alliance's eastern flank have also been looking for missile defense systems from the U.S. and Britain.

More than three weeks into the invasion, the two sides now seem to be trying to wear down the other, experts say, with bogged-down Russian forces launching long-range missiles at cities and military bases as Ukrainian forces carry out hit-and-run attacks and seek to sever Russian supply lines.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Ukrainian resistance means Russian President Vladimir Putins forces on the ground are essentially stalled.

Its had the effect of him moving his forces into a woodchipper, Austin told CBS on Sunday.

The strike on the art school was the second time in less than a week that officials reported an attack on a public building where Mariupol residents had taken shelter. On Wednesday, a bomb hit a theater where more than 1,000 people were believed to be sheltering.

There was no immediate word on casualties in the school attack, which The Associated Press could not independently verify. Ukrainian officials have not given an update on the search of the theater since Friday, when they said at least 130 people had been rescued and another 1,300 were trapped by rubble.

City officials and aid groups say food, water and electricity have run low in Mariupol and fighting has kept out humanitarian convoys. Communications are severed.

Some who were able to flee Mariupol tearfully hugged relatives as they arrived by train Sunday in Lviv, about 1,100 kilometers (680 miles) to the west.

Battles took place over every street. Every house became a target, said Olga Nikitina, who was embraced by her brother as she got off the train. Gunfire blew out the windows. The apartment was below freezing.

In Ukraines major cities, hundreds of men, women and children have been killed in Russian attacks.

In Kyiv, eight people were killed by shelling in the densely populated Podil district not far from the city center Sunday, emergency officials said. It devastated a shopping center, leaving a flattened ruin still smoldering Monday morning in the midst of high-rise towers. The force of the explosion shattered every window in the high-rise next door and twisted their metal frames.

In the distance, the sound of artillery rang out as firefighters picked their way through the destruction. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said Russian shelling also hit several houses in Podil.

Russian troops have been shelling Kyiv for a fourth week now and are trying to surround the capital, which had nearly 3 million people before the war.

Britains defense ministry said Monday that Ukrainian resistance had kept the bulk of Russian forces more than 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the city center, but that Kyiv remains Russias primary military objective."

The U.N. has confirmed 902 civilian deaths in the war but concedes the actual toll is likely much higher. It says nearly 3.4 million people have fled Ukraine. Estimates of Russian deaths vary, but even conservative figures are in the low thousands.

The Ukrainian prosecutor generals office says at least 115 children have been killed and 148 injured.

Some Russians also have fled their country amid a widespread crackdown on dissent. Russia has arrested thousands of antiwar protesters, muzzled independent media and cut access to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

___

Associated Press writer Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, Ukraine, and other AP journalists around the world contributed to this report.
Martial law is basically what it sounds like: an armed force taking over for law enforcement. In the United States, martial law means the U.S. military or National Guard is tasked to take over, typically in a limited region or part of the country.

There's a lot of legislation governing martial law in the U.S., because when it's used, things like "constitutional rights" tend to get tossed out the window. Most often, these are rights like gathering in groups, owning guns and protection from unreasonable searches and seizures. At least historically, the truth is that during martial law, the military officer in command can pretty much rule by decree and detain anyone for any reason.

For better or worse, martial law has been declared 68 times in the U.S. and its territories, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan law and policy institute. Natural disasters, riots and even Mormons have all resulted in the civilian government temporarily ceding its power to the military. Here are a few notable examples from throughout U.S. history.

1. The Battle of New Orleans

In the last months of 1814, the British navy launched an offensive in the southern United States targeting West Florida and Louisiana. As the year came to a close, it was clear the British had their sights set on New Orleans. Standing in their way was Brevet Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson and his ragtag group of regulars, militiamen, slaves, pirates and Native American fighters.

So it was basically the most American battle ever. (U.S. Army)

Before all that (and actually after all that), Jackson declared martial law in the city. And also outside the city. Jackson turned New Orleans into a police state. He famously arrested a sitting Louisiana senator for publicly criticizing him. And when a federal judge demanded a writ of habeas corpus -- basically a demand for proof of wrongdoing -- Jackson arrested the judge, too.

2. Mormons!

Mormon leaders have twice declared martial law in areas they governed. The first time came in 1843, when Mormon founder Joseph Smith was accused of abusing his authority as mayor of Nauvoo, Illinois, after he beat the rap for allegedly trying to murder a former governor of Missouri.

Smith ordered the city to destroy a local paper critical of his office, so the citizens raised an army to capture him. Smith declared martial law and called out his own militia. The governor of Illinois then threatened to call in the state militia, but Smith escaped before it all went down.

By 1857, the Mormons had resettled in Utah, where some of their beliefs chafed against U.S. federal law. In response, Worst President Ever James Buchanan sent a large part of the U.S. Army to Utah to enforce federal law. After decades of persecution, the Mormons (understandably) flipped out, declared martial law and raised an army of their own.

Order was restored only after Mormon leader Brigham Young was replaced by Alfred Cumming, and the Mormons agreed to submit to federal authority and let the army into Utah. All Mormons were pardoned by the president.

3. President Lincoln Suspends the Constitution in Order to Save It

President Abraham Lincoln's most dastardly deed (not a phrase you see every day) was the suspension of habeas corpus during the Civil War. Shortly after the South shelled Fort Sumter in April 1861, Lincoln allowed for the detention of civilians accused of being spies, saboteurs and other undesirables to the Union war effort, which meant pretty much anyone critical of the Union. Instead of facing good ol' American justice, the accused faced a military tribunal.

American citizens were understandably upset by this. (Library of Congress)

This didn't sit well with the Supreme Court, which ruled that as long as civilian courts within the justice system were able to try defendants, they still had the authority to do so. Military tribunals could only be used when the military was the only authority available. Ultimately, Lincoln's use of martial law resulted in a law known as the Posse Comitatus Act.

4. When Striking Workers and Union Busters Go Too Far

Labor unions may have a hard time getting started at places like Amazon, but that pales in comparison to what coal miners had to go through around the turn of the 20th century. For a group so critical to the U.S. economy, one might think things like a pay raise, some days not spent underground for 12 hours at a time and not inhaling arsenic dust would be an easy ask.

Nope. Corporate leaders would send in union busters to actively sabotage organization efforts. If that failed, the busters would just attack strikers. Strikers would fight back, sometimes taking it too far.

In 1892, striking miners in Idaho blew up a mill with too much nitroglycerin and destroyed nearby buildings. The governor declared martial law and sent in the National Guard to arrest 600 workers. Only a few of them were actually convicted of a crime.

Members of the Colorado National Guard, some on horseback, disperse demonstrators in on Main Street in Trinidad, Las Animas County, Colorado. (Denver Library)

When Colorado miners began a strike in 1914, it again erupted into violence. The governor sent in the National Guard to shut down the violence, which was successful -- for a while. Miners got violent again and a private army owned by the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company massacred more than a dozen people, including women and children. After the governor declared martial law, President Woodrow Wilson sent in federal troops. In 1917, martial law was again declared after union workers talked about a general strike during World War I.

5. Hawaii Accidentally Becomes a Military Dictatorship

The same day the Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor, the territorial governor of Hawaii (which was not yet a state), declared martial law. His declaration would stand until October 1944 for fear of Japanese spies and saboteurs.

The Dec. 7, 1941 issue of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin announced the islands were under martial law.

It may have seemed like the right call at the time, but according to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin newspaper, Gov. John Poindexter "surrendered" Hawaii to the U.S. military. The military used the occasion to force Hawaiians of Japanese descent off their land and to intern them in camps, 1,441 in all.

6. Kicking Organized Crime Out of Alabama

By now, we all know what happens when the production and sale of alcohol is banned in the United States: criminals start producing and selling alcohol. And they do it for a hefty profit. In a little town called Girard in Alabama, this cycle began in 1918 and quickly corrupted the town's law enforcement. When Girard merged with nearby Phenix City, the gangster corrupted Phenix City, too.

After 80,000 service members from nearby Fort Benning, Georgia, began patronizing the illegal watering holes, Phenix City became the "Wickedest City in America." After World War II, a wannabe district attorney ran his campaign on a platform of cleaning up the town. When he won, he was assassinated.

The governor of Alabama, realizing that local law enforcement was corrupted and useless, declared martial law. The Alabama National Guard used the authority of military rule to act in ways that would otherwise be unconstitutional. Weapons permits were invalidated, private clubs were raided and property seized. The entire underground economy was wiped out in less than a year.

You know your partying has gone way too far when it's broken up by the National Guard. (U.S. Army National Guard)

-- Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Twitter @blakestilwell or on Facebook.

Want to Learn More About Military Life?

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When U.S. Army Special Forces are found in full kit, carrying weapons and ready for action, there's usually something historic in the works. They might be fomenting insurgency or capturing a high-value target, but when they're dressed for success in the Nevada desert, they're racing for The Great American Off-Road Race.

An Army Operational Detachment Alpha team joined the Mint 400 off-road race in March 2020, competing in the most prestigious off-road race in the country using a ground mobility vehicle (GMV) provided by the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne).

The Mint 400 began its life in 1968 as "The Mint '400' Del Webb Desert Rally," so named for the Mint Hotel in Las Vegas. The first 400-mile race stretched from that hotel to the Sahara Tahoe Casino, on the border between California and Nevada.

That first race featured 101 vehicles, including motorcycles, dune buggies, cars and trucks alike. It repeated annually for 20 years until the Mint was sold to Casino magnate Jack Binion. It was revived in 2008 after laying dormant since 1989.

In 2020, the purse for the first-place winner was a whopping $125,000, but the Green Berets who entered the race that year weren't after the money. They were there for training. The GMVs they were driving were outfitted with the same equipment they would carry in the field and flying the Stars and Stripes.

"We have these vehicles loaded out how we would have them for combat and were excited to push their limits and see what they're capable of," the detachment commander told the 5th Special Forces' public affairs office. "These vehicles are not built as race vehicles, they are not built for speed, but we are looking to push the limit with them."

2020 was not the first year the military entered the historic race. The previous year, U.S, military members entered to raise money for the Marine Raider Foundation. Their presence was so welcomed by onlookers, the event organizer asked them to return.

"We're constantly looking to develop ourselves and our equipment and anything we can do to take us outside our level of comfort is great for us," the Operational Detachment Alpha commander said.

A Green Beret with the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), mans an M2 .50 caliber machine gun in the turret of a Ground Mobility Vehicle 1.1 prior to racing in the Mint 400, March 06, 2020, in Primm, Nevada. (U.S. Army/Staff Sgt. Justin Moeller)

The Army detachment finished two 100-mile laps of the course, but they weren't really playing to win. In true Army fashion, they spent much of their time pulling other contestants' vehicles out of the sand when they foundered or towed them back to their pits when disabled.

"5th Group was able to put together a couple GMV 1.1s and get them out here fully kitted out to show the American people what we're all about and what we look like when we're out there fighting and defending this nation," Col. Jody Lynch, commander of Marine Forces Special Operations Command, said in a news release. "I think it's absolutely remarkable; it is exciting seeing this all come together."

-- Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Twitter @blakestilwell or on Facebook.

Want to Learn More About Military Life?

Whether you're thinking of joining the military, looking for post-military careers or keeping up with military life and benefits, Military.com has you covered. Subscribe to Military.com to have military news, updates and resources delivered directly to your inbox.
Veterans Day is the perfect time to pause and recognize all who served with honor. But we cant help using the opportunity to highlight five female veterans from across the force who are extra special thanks to their high level of badassery.

Army: Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester

Army Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester was the first woman to earn the Silver Star in Iraq for her actions in leading a counterattack against insurgents who hit her convoy.

Also profiled on Task & Purpose, she was one of the first two women to earn the Silver Star since World War II.

Under heavy machine-gun fire and mortar attacks, she and her squad leader set out on foot to engage the enemy with grenades and assault rifles, resulting in 27 insurgents killed, six wounded and one captured.

I'll take "Women Who Are Badass" for $1,000, Alex.

Navy: Constructionman Camella J. Jones

Navy Constructionman Camella J. Jones may require a standing ovation. She was the first woman to qualify as a heavy equipment operator and be assigned to a U.S. Navy Construction Battalion unit in 1972. Have you ever been around a Seabee unit? It is decidedly, um ... male, especially in 1972.

Unfortunately, Camella couldn't take part in the "We Fight" portion of the "We Build, We Fight" motto since she was a woman and not allowed in combat.

That rule changed with the National Defense Authorization Act of 1994, which allowed women to be members of Mobile Construction Units -- too late for Camella, but definitely a result of her service.

Well done to this badass Seabee. You built and, in your own way, you fought.

Air Force: Col. Merryl Tengesdal

Air Force Col. Merryl Tengesdal started out in the Navy flying helicopters, which makes it all the more crazy that she is on this list for being the first African-American woman to fly the U-2 Dragon Lady spy plane.

Badass alert: Tengesdal made a rare cross-rate move to the Air Force. After teaching a joint flight program, she qualified in 2004 to fly one of the coolest and most difficult aircraft we have.

Did we mention she cruises at 70,000 feet and sometimes shooting stars fly underneath her?

Tengesdal has flown missions for Operation Olive Harvest in Afghanistan and Iraq, and helped combat piracy in the Horn of Africa. She has more than 3,400 flight hours and more than 330 combat hours.

When you have to wear a pressurized suit to fly in one of the world's most hostile aviation environments, then land a huge plane on two wheels, you deserve major props and respect.

Colonel, you are one amazing badass.

Marine Corps: Unnamed Female Marine Officer

We don't know her name, but she completed one of the hardest courses in the Marine Corps.

She is briefly shown in a video released by the service and, as the first female Marine infantry officer, she will lead a platoon of infantry Marines.

To illustrate how little people associate the Corps with female Marines, the site Jezebel originally posted the story with the headline, "The Marine Corps is getting their first-ever woman officer."

They corrected the eye roll-inducing gaffe, but the Marine Corps more than any other service branch has voiced concerns about having women in combat.

But perhaps its reticence and insistence on standards means more acceptance for this unnamed trailblazer because she met the challenge and succeeded.

We hope so, because the beauty of the Corps is that Marines are Marines first and foremost, and they take care of their own.

A hearty "Oorah!" to this badass female Marine  0302, baby!

Coast Guard: Sara Faulkner

Faulkner was the first female Coast Guard rescue swimmer. Although two women before her served in the role, they transferred into the service after training in the Navy. Faulkner was all Coastie.

The difficulty of the training and the duty are legendary. People such as Kevin Costner make movies about rescue swimmers.

Faulkner was a champion swimmer who rescued 48 people during Hurricane Katrina. But her biggest challenges were not rough seas or possible death -- it was the constant sexual harassment she endured at each of her commands.

After she filed sexual-harassment charges, her command saw fit to refer her against her will for a psychiatric evaluation, and then offer her a transfer to another command with no rescue swimmers.

She almost left the Coast Guard until a command master chief told her how important she was and that she was a role model for women.

She stayed in, eventually retiring from the service -- but not before cementing her status as one of the most badass Coasties ever.

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Keokuk, IA (52632)

Today

Rain likely. High around 55F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a half an inch..

Tonight

Showers early becoming a steady light rain late. Thunder possible. Low 52F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
Daddy Yankee is nearing his swan song.

The Latin music superstar announced Sunday that he plans to retire after releasing a final studio album, Legendaddy, on Thursday and embarking on a world tour later this year.

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I will say goodbye celebrating these 32 years of experience with this new collectors item, the album Legendaddy, Daddy Yankee, 45, said in a statement. Im going to give you all the styles that have defined me, in one single album.

The project is Daddy Yankees first studio album in nearly a decade, following Prestige, which came out in September 2012.

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Daddy Yankee (Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Rihanna's Savag)

Hes set to begin his sprawling Legendaddy tour on Aug. 10 with a concert in Portland. He will perform in New York on Sept. 20, though the concert venue hasnt been announced.

The tour also includes stops in Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and Boston, and will take Daddy Yankee to countries including Mexico, Peru, Chile, Canada, Colombia, Argentina, Ecuador and Panama. Its scheduled to conclude Dec. 2 in Mexico City.

Daddy Yankee is considered the King of Reggaeton for his massive influence on the popular music genre, which is often characterized by its combination of reggae and hip hop elements. His many hits include the songs Gasolina, Dura and the chart-topping Despacito.

He was the first Latin performer to become Spotifys most-streamed artist when he achieved the feat in June 2017.

Daddy Yankee, whose real name is Ramon Luis Ayala Rodriguez, is a four-time Grammy nominee, a five-time Latin Grammy winner, and a 14-time recipient at the Billboard Latin Music Awards.
Actress and entrepreneur, Fella Makafui has disclosed a near-fatal ordeal she faced and how she came face to face with death.

She narrated in her post on social media that she went to work healthy in the morning and the next minute she was rushed to the hospital.

Fella could not give details of what exactly took her to the hospital but she however, added that it happened so fast.

The Yolo actress made the posts across her social media handles on Saturday, March 19, 2022 and according to her, the incident happened on Friday, March 18, 2022.

Watch the video below
Young music prodigy Yaw Tog has revealed that the reception of Nigerians to Ghanaian artists is rather a hostile one.

According to him, Ghanaian artists are not treated like celebrities when they go there as compared to how they are treated when they come here.

Speaking to Kojo Manuel on Y107.9FM, the Sore hitmaker recounted an ordeal when he together with fellow Ghanaian artists; Kofi Jamar and Gyakie went to Nigeria.

Nigerians dont treat Ghanaian artistes like their main artistes, they treat you as a normal person. You cant be treated like Davido or Burna Boy there

"When we went there, they treated us differently, everything was normal compared to Ghana where I would have received some special treatment. Things were hard there, he stated.

The trio had gone to perform at the 2021 AFRIMMA Awards in the neighboring West African country.
The Divisional Chief of Pusiga and Vice President of Kusaug Traditional Council, Naba Tambiis-Baaluk-Kunwiak Ibrahim Aguuri I have told the Ghana Armed Forces and other security agencies to improvise modern ways of intelligence to tackle the clashes in Bawku and other insurgencies.

He is asking the security agencies to desist from what he described as roadside gossip that lacks any truth and has the tendency to fuel the chieftaincy conflict in Bawku.

The chief said this at his palace on Thursday after joint security ransacked his palace and destroy properties.

The incident happened on Wednesday 16th March, when the military and police invaded the chief palace upon picking an intelligence that three of their members who were wounded by civilians in a gun battle at Buabula and Sabongari, a suburb of Bawku Municipality, were seeking refuge at the chief palace.

Doors, louvres, ceilings and other property were broken by the invaded security personnel.

According to Naba Tambiis Baaluk-Kuwiak Aguuri Ibrahim I, the military during the invasion of his palace started shooting indiscriminately, searched the palace and found nothing.

The chief is demanding an unqualified apology from the military and the police for their Rambo style invasion of the palace who he claims acted on gossip.

He is also demanding a 24hour security protection over his palace and the entire chiefdom of Pusiga.

The Youth of Pusiga have expressed their disappointment over the manner and way the security personnel acted in the palace.

According to the youth, the chief privacy was intruded by the military, police and others without respecting the courtesies accorded a chief.

The youth leader Abdulai Rauf called on the security agencies to always act professionally in their operations.

He stressed that the youth of Pusiga are law-abiding citizens and will not do any untoward to destabilise the peace of their area.
President of Artisanal Palm Oil Millers and Out-growers Association, Paul Amaning has said his outfit is in full support of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) to clamp down and arrest some oil palm producers in Ghana who use Sudan IV in their oil palm production.

He acknowledged the good initiative that Artisanal Palm Oil Millers and Out-growers Association have put in place to help curb the menace of SUDAN IV in Ghana.

He said the FDA would continue to work with the association to collect samples of the palm oil and test every year to sanction those who add unwholesome chemicals to their palm oil.

According to him, middlemen in the value chain are the cause of contaminated palm oil in palm production.

"I want the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) to trace and arrest people who are consistently involved in producing Sudan IV," Paul Amaning said at a press briefing.

He added, We would cooperate with FDA and test all palm oil in the market to bring down all those who are using harmful chemicals for production, we are pleading with the producers, wholesalers, retailers, consumers, and the public to refrain from the use of Sudan IV in palm oil for the benefit of our health.

Paul Amaning noted that Artisanal Palm Oil Millers and Outgrowers Association are already in the process to educate palm oil producers on the effects of chemical additives on human health to help curb the menace of SUDAN IV.

He urged the general public not to panic but patronize the palm oil because FDA and Artisanal Palm Oil Millers and Outgrowers Association are working to clamp down perpetrators in the sector.

Solution

According to research by Artisanal Palm Oil Millers and Outgrowers Association in 2018, they launched a digital transparent platform, 'Palm Oil goes digital' which is available on play store. It will aid customers to allocate certified palm oil to buy.

The President Of the Association,Paul Amaning reiterated that his outfit is committed to giving proper training to members to desist from using Sudan IV in oil production.

He further stressed that the training is in collaboration with FDA, Artisanal Oil Millers and Outgrowers Association of Ghana and other stakeholders' effort to tackle the Sudan IV menace.

However, he revealed that his outfit has been doing extensive training programs in which the last training program was done at Akyem Herman in the Central Region.

He also appealed to stakeholders like Exim Bank, Ghana Export Promotions, Ghana Enterprise Agency and all relevant agencies to support the training and branding of palm oil producers.

"On 17th November,2015, Netherlands band Ghana from exporting palm oil into the country because of the use of Sudan IV production that is why we are working tirelessly with all stakeholders to ensure that we eliminate the dominance of contaminated palm oil in the market," he added.

On Government

Paul Amaning pleaded with government to help members with funding to do extensive research about consumption and support mill upgrade.

He assured the commitment of the association to work hard to assist the government and the FDA to curb the menace of the SUDAN IV.

He called on the general public to assist in combating this act by identifying producers who use SUDAN IV for production in their communities.

Ministry of Food and Agriculture research shows that 4.5 litre of Palm oil at Agbogbloshie was sold at Ghc18 while the same litre was at Ghc30 at Akyem Asuom, a wholesale point in the Eastern Region.
Edward Mortey

21.03.2022 LISTEN

A Member of the National Communications team of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Edward Mortey is pushing for the President Akufo-Addo government to account for how it has used the oil revenues to fund its Free Senior High School (FSHS) programme.

Speaking during a discussion on Original TV on Friday, the NDC communicator bemoaned how the free SHS continually faces challenges although the government has access to oil revenues to make the programme better.

Condemning the Akufo-Addo government for failing to complete infrastructure projects started by the erstwhile John Dramani Mahama administration, Edward Mortey stressed that the Finance Minister must work with the Education Ministry to address all the impediments facing the free SHS programme.

The NPP say they have the men, let me tell you they dont have any men. The NDC as a political party is not against the Free Senior High School. In 2015/2016 it took the NDC John Mahama government to make sure we rolled out the progressively free senior high school. We said lets review the free senior high school because it is having challenges including infrastructure

Ken Ofori Atta, the Education Ministry, and the technocrats must use their head because if you take 7.1 from 20 billion you still have more money. Where is that money? They should go and bring that money so that we can invest it onto the free senior high school program, Edward Mortey shared.

Despite the undoubted success of the Free Senior High School programme and the positive impact it has made, infrastructure challenges remain a major problem.

The government however in the last few years has made progress as part of efforts to address the challenge with the construction of many school blocks.
21.03.2022 LISTEN

The Agona West Municipal Chief Executive, Hon. Evans Addison Onomah Coleman is inspecting ongoing developmental projects aimed at improving the lives of the people in the Municipality.

According to him, the Agona West Municipal Assembly was committed to improving infrastructure to stimulate economic growth and social development.

"For this reason, road infrastructure is one of our topmost priority in the Municipality," he stated.

Hon. Evans Addison Onomah Coleman said this when he inspected ongoing 1.7km road reshaping being constructed at Armah to link some deprived villages in the Agona Nyakrom.

He noted that the road would create access to an oil palm factory which forms part of the One District One Factory initiative situated at Armah in the Agona West Municipality.

"Routine inspection is crucial in each and every part of construction and also guarantees that work being done goes as planned and accordingly to standard requirements and regulations.

"Good roads open up more areas and also boost the local economy thus eradicating poverty related hardships among the people.

"The commitment to build Agona West Municipality in One Hundred Percent (100%) is surely on course thanks to His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo led NPP Government," the MCE stated.

Hon. Evans Addison Onomah Coleman had earlier inspected ongoing 22.5-kilometer road being constructed from Wawase, a suburb of Agona Swedru to Akim Eshiem in the Eastern Region.

He encouraged the contractor to complete the project on time.

" This stretch of road has been one of our greatest concern since motorists and passengers have been struggling on it for a very long time thus putting undue pressure on the Assembly."

The Agona West Municipal Chief Executive together with the Motor Traffic and Transport Division (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service and some Chiefs drawn from the Swedruman Council of Chiefs had also installed crushed barriers along some principal streets of Agona Swedru.

The crushed barriers were to commence the decongestion and traffic situation in the Agona Swedru township.

Hon. Evans Addison Onomah Coleman further stated that the traffic situation when controlled would enhance free flow of vehicles for economic activities to thrive.

Other ongoing projects the MCE inspected include the ongoing works for construction of a 2-unit modern Kindergarten blocks for Swedru Mahodwe Urban 'B' Basic School and Swedru Methodist Basic School respectively.
A founding member of the ruling New Patriotic Party USA branch, Oheneba Kofi Adum Bawuah has challenged President Akufo-Addo to channel his remaining energies and political expertise into making the 'breaking the 8' a reality.

The Ashanti Regional Chairman hopeful said 'breaking the 8' will immortalise Akufo-Addos political achievements for himself and the party.

Oheneba said the current leadership of the party and government in the years ahead must consider restructuring the party.

Mr Bawuah pointed out the challenges during his engagements with some media outlets in Kumasi, the Ashanti Region capital, during the week.

He made the statement on Angel FM morning show ''Angel in the Morning'' in an interview with Kwame Tanko as host.

''We as a party must pay particular attention to our home region, I mean the Ashanti region. Ashanti Region is the heart of the NPP. It's like the head of the fish. Every fish starts rotting from the head. We cannot and must not let Ashanti fall wrong leaders. We need leaders with tack records," Oheneba Adum Bawuah stated.

In his estimation, he noted that making changes in certain party structures especially in the Ashanti region will make the NPP resilient in breaking the eight years visual cycle.

Mr Adum Bawuah said the Akufo-Addo led administration has performed creditably over the past five years.

He added that the NPP has also proven to be better managers of Ghanas economy than the opposition NDC.

The political stalwart, however pointed out a few hurdles that are likely to interfere in 'breaking the 8.'

Oheneba Bawuah called on national leadership of the party to take keen interest in solidifying the support base in the Ashanti region.

He noted that the party cannot easily 'break the 8' if Ashanti region falls to weak leadership.

''All the chaos characterising the various zonal elections can be attributed to bad leadership. If the leadership in the region is strong and just, all these noises wouldn't have happened,'' he intimated.

He cited ineffective membership data collection, poor reward for hard work and intra party factions as some key concerns that leadership cannot fail to address in the region before going into the 2024 elections.

The Ashanti regional Chairman hopeful argued that the party at the moment cannot boast of any accurate data and research document that identify and rewards hardworking members.

The Patriotic Ambassador Movement (PAM) Chief Patron disclosed that the party lost over 400,000 votes in the Ashanti region during the 2020 elections.

He wondered if leaders of the party have identified why such loss in its very stronghold but attributed the development to lack of membership data and failure on the part of party leaders to acknowledge and reward hard working members after the 2016 victory.

According to the chairman hopeful, the region is in crisis of internal disunity which he pointed does not make the party attractive in the region and ready for 2024.

Mr Bawuah observed that some aspirants are hipping their affiliations to prospective flag bearer candidates as means of canvassing for votes.

He said such reckless posture has a tendency of tearing apart the party's base if not addressed.

''At the moment, what the NPP need is unity. The party is divided into two. I wouldn't mention names but if we allow justice to prevail, the masses can be controlled and well managed',' he emphasised.

He therefore called on delegates in the Ashanti region to choose a qualified candidate who can work and support anyone who emerges as flagbearer for the party.
A successful process of raising funds for your business is the first step towards achieving success. Your business may not be able to materialize productive investment opportunities without access to easy and timely finance.

Whether its a start-up or an expansion, financing is a crucial step towards business success. Generally, financing is raised to fuel working capital and asset purchases.

Working capital is the amount required to manage your day-to-day business operations. This is the amount that needs to remain stuck in the business. It may be in the form of inventory, receivables, and prepaid assets. On the other hand, asset purchase is about the acquisition of the property, plant, and equipment to support the expansion and strategic capability of the business.

It is relatively difficult for small businesses and individuals to raise finance in Africa. This article will focus on why the difficulty to get financing from formal financing institutions like banks, insurance companies, leasing companies etc.

Africa's generally low-income economy plays a major part in this.

It's important to note that the goal of financing companies and banks is to make money. Their business model is based on collecting interest, premiums, fees, and principal repayment. So, higher amounts of interest and premiums can be collected when the targeted country has a higher income level.

Unfortunately, African countries have some of the lowest income levels. As per a recent report from the World Bank, more than half of sub-Saharan countries have a poverty rate of more than 35% (world bank). And a more alarming situation is that there has been a 3% rise in poverty in recent years mostly due to the Coronavirus pandemic (UN). Furthermore, it is projected that 6% of the entire worlds population in 2030 will still be living in extreme poverty if current trends continue (UNSTATS). So it becomes difficult for the banks and other financing companies to collect timely repayment for the interest and principal.

Another picture to analyze is that banks approve a loan for the business based on financial feasibility and financial sustainability. It is difficult to prove financial feasibility/sustainability due to lower buying power in African countries. So, there are few instances when financing is approved for the Africans.

Financial feasibility is focused on the economic viability of the project. It helps understand the related cost, expenses, and revenue specific to the project. If expected revenue is higher than the total cost, the project is financially viable. However, its important to note that feasibility involves operational aspects like managerial competence, operational capacity, and other aspects.

Financial sustainability means the business can sell the products/services at a price that covers expenses and leads to profitability. In other words, if the business is not able to generate sufficient return for the stakeholders, it will not be able to survive in the long term.

Most businesses do not know how to present their proposals in this manner to analysts in the formal financial markets i.e. clearly articulating the financial feasibility and sustainability of their projects in a format that can be easily be assessed.

The Business Plan/Proposal is your story of why you need the capital and that should clearly spell out how the investor stands to benefit and how their funds will be safeguarded with clear structures on how every single aspect is going to be handled. Identify all the risks in your business and how to mitigate them and you will have the attention and interest of the investor/lender.

In Africa, many households complain that they do not get financing while many banks complain they are not able to find creditworthy customers. Hence, one prime reason for limited banking activity seems to be the lower-income economy of an African region.

The irony is that greater financing efforts by the formal financial institutions to these same low-income households will help to foster the economic development of the country, of the continent. For instance, financing made available by the banks can be used to efficiently run business operations leading to enhanced production, exports, revenue, and increase of a countrys GDP. So banks have massive potential to enhance economic activity. However, their personal interest is at stake here in such situations as they may not be able to collect their funds. To chip in on insurance companies, they also depend on the premium collected from policyholders. Hence, they also consider businesses' ability to pay a premium on a timely basis. (VOXEU)

Further, businesses operating in a low-income generating economy may not be able to cover the financing cost, as their revenue may not be sufficient to cover the operational expenses. And in the instance where they have a good case, articulating this to the formal financial sector can be a barrier to accessing financing.

An interesting side of the business model of the bank should be looked at. Understand that banks raise cash through deposits, amongst other ways. The cash is deposited in the banks via current accounts and savings accounts. On the current account, the bank does not need to pay interest. However, banks need to pay interest on the savings accounts.

Generally, that cash is disbursed as a loan at a higher interest cost than the interest payable on the savings accounts collectively. The difference between interest payable on the savings accounts and interest receivable on loans is income for the bank.

That said, banks are usually reluctant to disburse loans into a low-income economy because of fear of bad debts. So, they prefer to invest deposits in the Government and other stable cash-generating securities with a low risk of default. Alternatively, the bank can also invest in foreign securities. It helps them in managing risk on the investments portfolio and balancing their income/expenses with higher confidence.

This creates a low negative impact on banks' profitability even if they are not able to locate enough creditworthy borrowers. Hence, the banks can extend utilising this simple business model and enjoy profitability.

Shortage of information from and about borrowers poses another great problem, as earlier stated; but let me dive in further. Sometimes, the business idea is strong, managing personnel is competent, and the market is attractive as well. The problem then seems to be that the business idea is not pitched in an effective manner leading to an understanding gap between primary lenders like banks and small businesses/households.

Correspondingly, when a bank does not know or understand you, it becomes difficult for banks and other financial institutions to trace the credibility of the loan applicant. Many times, a bank will tell you to bank with them for a while before they consider your application. It's for good reason; sometimes the intention of the loan applicant might be to deliberately default on the loan. From a bank's perspective, when it's difficult to assess the intention of an applicant there exists a real risk of moral hazard (intentional act to default on the loan) (IDEAS).

Looking at developed countries like the United States and the United Kingdom, the financial credibility of an individual can be traced relatively easily in terms of timely repayment and other aspects. So its easy for banks and financial institutions to assess the creditworthiness of an applicant.

On the other hand, in Africa, there is no strong mechanism to trace financial credibility. Hence, it can be difficult for financial institutions to bypass moral hazards and approve financing, leading these banks to invest sizeable amounts in foreign assets. These are money that is withdrawn from the economic system instead of being used to enhance the local industry.

Generally, there is also a lack of information on the financing type that suits a particular project. Most business owners consider financing to be simply "loans" because that is what is commonly known. However, depending on your business model, different types of financing may be better suited for you. Businesses can raise capital in 3 main ways; by borrowing (debt financing), by equity capital or through the profits from operations. (Investopedia)

Debt financing or debt capital is when a company borrows money and agrees to pay it back at a later date to the lender with an interest. Debt capital is usually in the form of loans or corporate bond issuance. With corporate bonds, an investor buys the bond, effectively lending money to the business for a period of time (maturity) in exchange for regular interest payments from the business (issuer). Once the bond matures, the original amount given to the company (face value) is paid back. Loans are usually taken from financial institutions such as banks which also charge interest and require the lender to make regular payments (usually monthly) irrespective of the performance of the company.

Equity capital is simply funding for the company in exchange for a stake in the company, usually in the form of stock or shares. With equity financing, the money isn't paid back and the company doesn't have to pay interest. The catch is that some control of the company is ceded and all future profits that are made, will be shared with the investors in an already agreed manner. Therefore, there isn't a lot of pressure on the company to make profits as compared to financing with debt capital. Hence this kind of capital can be raised even if the company isn't making money yet. The investors make money when the company value appreciates or dividends are paid or both.

Profits from operations are usually the preferred means of financing growth in a company. However, sometimes when the expansion is huge, it is simply not sufficient and outside funding has to be sought.

Businesses, therefore, need to analyse their situations and decide what option works best for them.

SO, WHAT CAN BE DONE TO ENHANCE FINANCING FEASIBILITY FOR THE AFRICANS?

There is a need to install a credibility tracking system in terms of personal finance management - a working credit bureau. It requires setting certain mechanisms that track the payments and money behaviour of the individuals. For instance, data can be collected from utility companies, banks, financial institutions, financing companies, and other organizations. The person with proven financing credibility should be given a higher score and vice versa. Although it may be challenging, it is highly feasible in the long run.

There is also the need to enhance banking regulations in terms of an enforceable contract. Enforceable contracts can help to enhance the quality of banking operations. It sets a certain threshold for the operational regulations on lenders and borrowers.

Strong regulations in areas of loan approval and recovery can lead to optimized processes, low default risk, and low risk of adverse selection. Banks can then more confidently lend.

Just my two cents.

We should as well promote healthy economic activities in the economy. There are various ways to promote economic activities and financial stability in the country. For instance, Africa can work to promote diversification in terms of business operations, replace imports with viable local production alternatives, increase exports, increase financial literacy, advance initiatives that boost entrepreneurship and take steps towards the transition to sustainable energy.

I will admit: it is and has been difficult to formulate a single strategy to respond to all these issues. However, general growth in the economy can lead to better financial operations and increased banking activity in the country.

In conclusion, financing is the first step to fuel expansion and working capital management. Without quick and easy financing, it can be difficult for entrepreneurs and small businesses to execute a business idea and ensure economic viability.

In Africa, its difficult to raise financing from the formal sector because of a low-income economy, some banking regulations, a lack of knowledge on the kinds of financing available and suitable for one's needs and a shortage of information available to banks for loan approval.

Loan approval from the bank and other financing companies is based on two factors. These factors include moral hazards (intentional act to default by individuals/businesses) and adverse selection (not being able to properly assess the financial feasibility of the projects). These factors seem to contribute to a higher default rate for loans in Africa. Hence, banks prefer to invest deposits in Government-backed/foreign assets.

If the banks invest in foreign assets, they earn a return on the investment. However, cash is pushed out of the economy. We prefer it not so.

Different steps can be taken to enhance overall banking processes. These include setting a robust structure for a working credit bureau, promoting healthy economic activities in the country, and ensuring the implication of the regulations on a complete process of banking that results in more funding.

The system of credit bureau traces and collects payment-related information from different places and helps build a trend showing the payment habits of a specific person. It helps banks and other financing companies in understanding an individual's financial credibility. So, these steps can help to bridge the gap.

I hope you enjoyed the read. Hit me up and lets keep the conversation going! I read all the feedback you send. Also, feel free to throw at me topics youd like to read or hear my thoughts on. You can always head to my Calendly to schedule a quick chat by going to calendly.com/maxwellampong. Or connect with me your own way through my Linktree: https://linktr.ee/themax.

These are all facts. And this has been an opinion piece.

Have a blessed week!

References

IDEAS. (n.d.). https://ideas.repec.org/p/lec/leecon/11-19.html

INVESTOPEDIA (n.d.) https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/03/062003.asp

INVESTOPEDIA (n.d.) https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/032515/what-are-different-ways-corporations-can-raise-capital.asp

UN. (n.d.). https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/01/1110192

UNSTATS (nd) https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2019/goal-01/

VOXEU. (n.d.). https://voxeu.org/article/why-do-african-banks-lend-so-little

World bank. (n.d.). https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/african-countries-show-mixed-progress-towards-poverty-reduction-and-half-them-have-extreme

...

Dr. Maxwell Ampong designs Sustainability Development Models and is the CEO of Maxwell Investments Group. He is also the Co-Founder of The RIO Corporation, the connectors between impoverished communities and impact solutions worldwide. He writes about trending and relevant economic topics, and general perspective pieces.
A troupe of 160 young women in cobalt blue uniforms and sand-coloured bucket hats march across a vast courtyard in lockstep. Two more face the group to give military-style salutes, say prayers and hoist the South African flag high into the air.

The scene looks like a military conscription, but is actually a sought-after programme that takes young people from Cape Town's toughest streets and sets them on a path to employment.

"I felt that my life had no direction, but since the moment I got here, got to experience everything that's happening, a lot has changed," said Siphokuhle Kapa, 23, a student at Chrysalis Academy.

Despite Cape Town's reputation as a holiday paradise, its streets rank among the deadliest in the world.

All of South Africa has a horrific crime problem, but in 2021 Cape Town's murder rate was by far the highest in the country, at 64 killings per 100,000 people.

Johannesburg's rate, by comparison, was 37. New York's was 5.5.

The crime is driven by rampant gangs, combined with high unemployment -- things Gibson Jannecke wanted to escape.

The bootcamp-style courses have strict 4:30 a.m. starts each day, with a 9:30 p.m. bedtime. By Alessandro Iovino AFP

"I have no history of drug abuse, no history of gangsterism, but it was a big factor in my life that affected me heavily," Jannecke said, recalling his upbringing in the Western Cape town of Macassar.

"I couldn't walk to school without being mugged. I could not go out in the street without my parents being worried about gunshots."

In 2011, he came to Chrysalis to study youth development. A decade later, he's teaching there.

'Unleashing potential'

The academy was set up in 2000 by local government, in the shadow of the high-security Pollsmoor Prison -- a jarring contrast to the leafy surrounding suburb of Tokai.

'When young people come here, we don't look at them as drug addicts or poor people," said chief executive Lucille Meyer.

The intensive courses cover leadership and self-discipline, as well as mindfulness and emotional intelligence. By Alessandro Iovino AFP

"We look at them as whole human beings, but human beings who have lived difficult lives," she said. "We are here as a platform to help them deepen their resilience and unleash their potential."

Chrysalis runs three three-month courses each year for people aged 18 to 25, with two courses for men and one for women.

Anyone meeting the criteria can apply online.

Restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic have hit all the courses and the current intake of 162 women also has reduced numbers.

The bootcamp-style courses have strict 4:30 a.m. starts each day, with a 9:30 p.m. bedtime.

They focus on fitness and discipline, as well as mental wellbeing and vocational skills.

Mobile phones, drugs and cigarettes are prohibited.

Due to Covid, outside visits are not allowed but students can phone their family members two or three times, and write to them.

Students spend two weeks offsite, camping, hiking and swimming. By Alessandro Iovino AFP

The intensive courses cover leadership and self-discipline, as well as mindfulness and emotional intelligence.

Students spend two weeks offsite in nature, where they go camping, hiking and swimming in Tokai and on neighbouring Table Mountain. They also have to fast for 24 hours in solitude on the academy grounds.

The course ends with four weeks of vocational training, where students study areas such as cooking, firefighting or police training.

Chrysalis then works with the provincial government, which largely funds the programme, to find each student a 12-month career placement.

Make a difference

Zenande Hambiso is looking to go into law enforcement.

The 24-year-old is from Kraaifontein, one of Cape Town's domestic violence and murder hotspots, and had struggled to support her family despite working long hours at the supermarket.

The course ends with four weeks of vocational training, where students study areas such as cooking, firefighting or police training. By Alessandro Iovino AFP

Hambiso initially found Chrysalis tough.

"I was struggling waking up at 4 o'clock. I don't like waking up early, but as time went on, I got used to it,' she said.

'Sharing a room with a lot of people with difficult backgrounds and behaviours, it was very difficult, but now we get along.'

Hambiso would not say more about her background but says she wants to help make her community a safer place with the skills she's learnt at Chrysalis.

"One day, I want to open my own investigation company to help women who are being sexually harassed, raped and abused,' she said.

'There are abused women, and there are a lot of people who are being raped every day, and killed. It's really not a good thing what we are living through, so I am really trying to improve where I'm coming from.'
At least twelve soldiers were killed on Sunday in eastern Burkina Faso by suspected jihadists, security sources said, the sixth attack of its kind in the country in ten days.

"On Sunday, armed elements attacked a military unit around Natiaboani. The provisional toll is twelve fallen soldiers," a security source said.

"This was a patrol and security team that was attacked by presumed jihadists," another security source said, adding that ten soldiers had been killed.

"Multiple elements on the enemy side were also neutralised," they said, without giving further details.

Natiaboani is a rural community about sixty kilometres south of Fada N'Gourma, the largest town in the Eastern Region administrative area that since 2018 has been regularly targeted by armed groups.

Around 15 youths were kidnapped by armed individuals during an attack on Friday in nearby Nagre, according to the country's information agency.

Violence on the upsurge after coup

Burkina Faso has seen an upsurge in violence after a period of relative calm following a military junta taking power in January.

Disgruntled officers toppled elected president Roch Marc Christian Kabore, who had been facing protests over his handling of the bloody jihadist insurgency.

In total, 23 civilians and 25 policemen or soldiers have been killed over the last ten days.

Burkina Faso has been struggling with jihadist attacks since 2015, when militants linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group began mounting cross-border raids from Mali.

The violence has killed more than 2,000 people and displaced at least 1.7 million, according to an a tally established by the French news agency AFP.

In January alone, 160,000 fled their homes, a group of international charities said last Thursday.
He blew up the Death Star in an instant, but it took nearly a decade getting a verified Twitter account in his own name.

Mark Hamill, famous for playing Star Wars hero Luke Skywalker, celebrated securing the handle @MarkHamill over the weekend.

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Mark Hamill is pictured Wednesday, June 19, 2019, in Los Angeles. (Chris Pizzello/Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

After almost 10 years as @HamillHimself-@Twitter has finally allowed my account to use my own name, he said Saturday. Welcome to @MarkHamill & I hope theres no confusion or nostalgia for the loss of alliteration or any questions about why I dont also use my middle name: Richard.

After almost 10 years as @HamillHimself-@Twitter has finally allowed my account to use my own name. Welcome to @MarkHamill & I hope there's no confusion or nostalgia for the loss of alliteration or any questions about why I don't also use my middle name: Richard.

, Mar pic.twitter.com/TYuj4TKyMG  Mark Hamill (@MarkHamill) March 19, 2022

Hamills very popular account may have a new name, but he was able to carry over his nearly five million followers, including Modern Family producer Danny Zuker, who asked if he could use the 70-year-old actors old account name.

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Be my guest, Danny, Hamill said. Its all YOURS.

[ Mark Hamill pokes fun at conservative commentator over gay tweet response: Guess which finger Im holding up ]

Another follower asked Hamill to explain the long saga that led to his reclaiming his name. According to Hamill, when he joined Twitter in May 2011, someone not named Mark Hamill was already using his name.

Twitter took it away from whoever was using it because that wasnt their real name, he claimed.

In addition to chatting about Star Wars with fans in cyberspace, Hamill uses his Twitter feed to sarcastically share his thoughts on people and events in politics. In recent weeks, hes celebrated Ukraines resilience in defending itself against Russian president Vladimir Putin, whom he seems to see as the emperor of The Dark Side.
Ukraine rejected a Russian ultimatum to surrender the besieged southern city of Mariupol early on Monday, as overnight shelling killed six in the capital Kyiv. US President Joe Biden has meanwhile announced a trip to Poland for crisis talks over the Russian invasion.

Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk dismissed the early morning deadline, saying Moscow should instead allow hundreds of thousands of trapped Mariupol residents to leave the city.

"We can't talk about surrendering weapons," Vereshchuk told the Ukrainska Pravda online newspaper, "we have already informed the Russian side."

The Kremlin's military command warned authorities in Mariupol that they had until 5am on March 21st to respond to eight pages of demands, which Ukrainian officials said would amount to a capitulation.

"We call on units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, territorial defence battalions, foreign mercenaries to stop hostilities, lay down their arms," said Russian Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, warning those who did not surrender would face court martial, and worse.

Chemical plant targeted

Kyiv's rejection came as Russian bombs hit targets across the country overnight, killing at least six in Kyiv and allegedly damaging a chemical plant in the north of the country causing an "ammonia leakage".

Sumy regional governor Dmytro Zhyvytsky said "Russian artillery shelling" had hit the Sumykhimprom fertiliser plant as he warned residents within a 2.5 kilometres radius to seek shelter.

In Washington, the White House said President Biden -- who is due to visit Europe this week to meet leaders from NATO, the G7 and the European Union -- would also travel to Poland.

He is expected to hold talks with President Andrzej Duda on a joint response to the humanitarian crisis that has seen around two million Ukrainians flee to Poland alone.

Acute humanitarian crisis

The humanitarian crisis is perhaps most acute in Mariupol, where for almost a month Russian forces have bombarded and besieged the southern port city trapping an estimated 350,000 people.

The UN has described the humanitarian situation in the city as "extremely dire" with "residents facing a critical and potentially fatal shortage of food, water and medicines".

Mariupol is a pivotal target in Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine -- providing a land bridge between Russian forces in Crimea to the southwest and Russian-controlled territory to the north and east.

A Greek diplomat who remained in the city during some of the bombardment said it would rank alongside history's most ruinous wartime assaults.

"Mariupol will be included in a list of cities in the world that were completely destroyed by the war, such as Guernica, Stalingrad, Grozny, Aleppo," Manolis Androulakis said after flying back to Athens.

'The Russians want to exterminate us'

In his latest video address Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of bombarding a Mariupol school sheltering hundreds, calling it an act of "terror that will be remembered even in the next century".

"Russian forces have come to exterminate us, to kill us," he said.

The school attack was the latest potentially devastating strike on a shelter for civilians. Last Wednesday, a theatre where authorities said more than 1,000 people had sheltered was hit, with hundreds still missing in the rubble.

Mariupol officials have said occupying forces have forcibly transported around a thousand residents to Russia and stripped them of their Ukrainian passports -- a possible war crime.

A group of children stuck in a Mariupol clinic for weeks are among those who have been taken to Russian-controlled territory, a carer and a relative of a clinic worker said.

The 19 children, aged between four and 17 and mostly orphans, had been living in freezing cellars hiding from shelling in harrowing conditions.

Zelensky calls for talks

President Zelensky has again suggested that he and Putin hold direct talks.

Authorities in Turkey, where Russian and Ukrainian representatives have been negotiating, said the two sides were close to a deal to stop the fighting.

But the Ukrainian leader appeared to draw some red lines.

"You cannot just demand from Ukraine to recognise some territories as independent republics," he told CNN. "We have to come up with a model where Ukraine will not lose its sovereignty."
Adaklu MP Kwame Agbodza

21.03.2022 LISTEN

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Adaklu Constituency, Kwame Agbodza has mounted pressure on the government for the scrapping of the Covid-19 testing at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA).

According to the MP who is a Ranking Member on Roads and Transport Committee of Parliament, the government is now deliberately in bed with Frontiers Limited to make money at the expanse of travellers at KIA.

He insists that the testing for Covid-19 has moved beyond health with the government only focused on making profit from the situation.

Government is in cahoots with Frontiers to take monies from Ghanaians just as a form of INCOME. It has nothing to do with healthcare anymore I had my two vaccinations and a booster, what is the point of taking ghs400 from me for a Covid test by frontiers?

#[email protected], Kwame Agbodza has posted on his Twitter page.

The view is shared by a private legal practitioner and a member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Gordon Edudzi Tameklo.

Speaking to TV3 on Monday, the government led by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has deliberately selected Frontiers Limited to pursue a profiteering agenda.

Meanwhile, former President John Dramani Mahama has called for a review, insisting that it should be abolished.

From my recent experience with PCR testing and COVID regulations at our airport, I think it is time for Government to review the procedures and protocols. It is an inconvenience, a financial burden, and actually unfair to compel our citizens, who we encouraged to take COVID-19 vaccinations, with some taking the boosters, to pay as much as 90 to a foreign clinic for a PCR test before they are allowed to board flights coming back home.

Government must stop the US$50 compulsory PCR test for travellers who have been vaccinated. And must also stop the demand for originating PCR tests before the same category of travellers are allowed to board flights to Ghana, John Dramani Mahama said in a Facebook post.
The Police in Ho in the Volta Region has arrested some 12 commercial sex workers at Mirage Pub for their alleged involvement in criminal activities.

The arrests were made on Saturday, March 19, 2022, following a joint operation by personnel from the Police Intelligence and Operations Units.

The arrests are part of efforts by the Police in the Ho Municipality to clamp down on criminal activities.

From reports gathered, some of these commercial sex workers have been working as precursors to many other criminal activities such as break-ins, robbery, and others.

Intelligence gathered also points to the involvements of some commercial sex workers in recent incidents of murder within the Ho Municipality.

The arrested commercial sex workers who are now being treated as suspects include Flourish Sampson 25, Gifty Blessing 26, Gloria John 25, Blessing Sunday 23, Sonia Asare 24, and Chiamaka Okulen 23.

The others are Tosin Deli Ada 35, Rachael Francis 24, Grace Paul 28, Annabel John 20, Juliet Chiamaka 25, as well Joy Tin 20.

Sources tell Modernghana News that the Police plans to sustain its operation as it aims to bring to book all commercial sex workers involved in criminality.

The 12 suspects are to be screened and those found to be involved in criminality will be processed and arraigned before court.
Mr Kobena Fii Kwao, a 60-year-old farmer in the early hours of last Thursday, allegedly committed suicide by hanging in Agona Duakwa Police cells after he reported himself to the Police for killing his wife, Madam Abena Asabea.

According to Mr Joe Buabeng, a family spokesperson, the deceased reported the case to the Police, after his elderly son Kwame Siripi made a report that his father frequently beat his mother for no apparent reason.

He said the Police told them that the deceased allegedly hanged himself with a rope in a dress he was wearing and the Police personnel on duty were alerted by three cellmates who were in the same cells with him.

Fii Kwao became unconscious and was rushed to Duakwa Salvation Army clinic where he was pronounced dead.

The spokesperson appealed to the Inspector General of Police to have a full-scale investigation into the sudden death of their relative to unravel the mystery behind his demise.

He said the Police at Duakwa were giving different twists to the circumstances that led to the use of rope in the Police cells as the family found it mysterious and strange.

He said the Police suggested to the family to send the body to the Police Hospital in Accra for autopsy, to which the family have agreed.

All attempts by the GNA to get the version of Agona Nyakrom District Police Commander of which Duakwa station falls under his jurisdiction proved futile.

The mobile phone of the Commander is switched off for many hours at the time the story was being filed.

GNA
Dr George Akuffo Dampare, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) has assured the family of the late Mr Stephen Langton Mane, a former lecturer of the Dr Hilla Limann Technical University, of a thorough investigation into the circumstances that led to his death.

A statement from the family of the late lecturer in Wa and sighted by the Ghana News Agency said the interest of the IGP and other top personalities within the Ghana Police Service including the Director-General of Public Affairs and the Deputy Director-General, Criminal Investigations Department (CID) had revived their confidence in the justice system.

The Inspector-General of Police, the Director-General of Public Affairs and the Deputy Director-General, CID, have separately called the family and assured of prompt and thorough investigations into the killing.

The show of interest by the National Police Administration, including the personal attention being accorded the matter by the Inspector General of Police is quite soothing and reassuring. It has revived the family's belief in the country's criminal justice system, the statement said.

The statement, however, expressed hope that the interest of the top hierarchy of the Police Service would be sustained until the matter came to a logical conclusion.

The family on its part continues to assure the Police Administration of its readiness to cooperate with and assist the Police in the investigation and prosecution of this gruesome killing, the statement added.

Mr Mane reportedly died of gunshots at SNNIT, a suburb of Wa on Thursday, March 17, during a disputed land issue between two parties where a stray bullet hit him.

The family of the late lecturer had, on Friday, March 18, called on the IGP and the necessary authorities within the police service to intervene to ensure that the deceased received justice.

Meanwhile, a statement from the Ghana Police Service, signed by DCOP Kwesi Ofori, Director General of Police Public Affairs said the CID of the Police Headquarters had taken over the investigation into the incident.

It assured the family that anyone found culpable of the offence would be dealt with according to the dictates of the law.

GNA
Dear Ken Ofori Atta

In 1957, the Gold Coast gain its independence to become the Republic of Ghana. The years that followed were the best years for Ghanaians because people obeyed the laws of the land, the Ghana Police at the time did its job to enjoy that people abided by the rules of the land. Ghana was clean, because the system worked, the cities Town Councils (today's MCEs) ensured that their cities were CLEAN and HYGIENIC., and anyone defaulting on this was fined a fee, and that fee went into the budgeting of paying the salaries of its workers so the workers knew without doing their job properly it would affect their salary structures.

Fast forward to 2022, 65yrs after independence the people of Ghana still do not any sense of direction as to where they are going as a country, the citizenry have become lawless due to lack of enforcement of the country's laws, be it on sanitation, traffic, criminal activities etc... which can all be attributed to the country's judiciary system, which allows Judges to take bribes so as to turn a blind eye to blatant crime/injustices.

Generations of Ghanaians have known nothing but a very corrupt and deceitful way of life, because from their homes, schools, churches, workplaces all the way to the leadership of the country nothing stands out than the greed of wanting to make money or get rich quickly at the expense of their pride and integrity as a people. Today, Ghana is riddled with economic hardship and still a large percentage of the people of Ghana do not seem to even grasp the concept of everyone digging in to rescue the country. Ghanaians are more concerned with what political affiliations a person has as opposed to what can this person render to benefit the entire nation and its people.

The NPP-led government started off on the right footing with the initiative to infuse Diasporan involvement with the country's developmental initiative ( Year of Return) , but the appointed men and women of governmental institutions across the country killed this initiative by infusing partisan favoritism towards the men and women from the diaspora with initiatives that could have catapulted the nation's development onto the right path., leading to the overall failure of the government's approach. Today we all blame the Nana Akuffo Addo presidency, so appointing vision less individuals whose only interest was to enrich themselves by living to the Property-Owning Democracy mantra that the NPP holds.

At this juncture, we would like to invite the partnership of Governmental bodies that we have mapped out as key wings of Government that can be very critical and essential to the rescue plan that we are certain that reel in the revenue needed to replace the on-going E-Levy saga, and also bring in the awareness needed by all Ghanaians to help create the desired civil society that is totally involved in the affairs of our country and that also ensures our overall peace , security and development.

The Diaspora Development Network, (DDN) an NGO based out in the Netherlands (Europe) , is inviting the government of Ghana to look at its researched material on its revenue generating initiatives, that can help transform Ghana into the envy of other West African states., and even become a model for other African nations . The Founder and CEO of DDN, Mr Owusu Sekyere , stated categorically that concepts adopted by various NGO's that cropped up during the Ghana government's Year of Return initiative failed because they all went in to milk the system created , and sadly those with political affiliations went on to secure contracts for Radio/Tv/Media/Hospitality sectors leaving out those that truly came to Ghana to help with nation building projects scrambling to understand what was happened. In frustration, many left with a bad taste of the country and decided never to waste their time thinking the Government truly wanted to partner with them on some of these key fronts.

Mr Owusu, went on to emphasize that indeed Ghana sits on a mountain of wealth, but poor management and lack of patriotism, has led to the creation of greedy individualistic people who do not care whether the country develops or deteriorates. Research shows that for Ghana to step back onto the developmental track, it would need critical investments into the Ghana Police Service, by way of training, and a mandate to ensure that our laws as a country is respected by all and sundry. The monies that lay waste on the streets of Ghana is one of the major reasons the country is suffering, because the illegalities/crimes committed by the people of Ghana has led to the gap in its fiscal revenue generating modules/budget, and with a Police serviceman/woman to walk by whilst a citizen is committing an offense that attracts a fine (revenue) means that gap can never be bridged and the Government technically looses.

In some European countries, the Police force is given a targeted budget from their government's revenue generating quotas, and when these targets are met, the men and women in uniform in these countries pride themselves in ensuring that laws of the country are being respected by all. A fine by any law enforcement agent is revenue for Government and its time the Ghana government puts the law enforcement agencies to task for revenue generating., the Immigration Officers, Tax officers, the Police Service, Town Councilors, etc etc are the stakeholders that have failed government and its time to reset our people and the mindsets that can create the next generation of Ghanaians. We are confident that this research material, would create lots of self-serving jobs, for young men and women in the country today., he concluded.

Ghana our beloved country shall be free again., from grips of lawlessness. Honorable Finance Minister Mr. Ken Ofori Atta, we hope you and your economic team, would have what it takes to review our research material and the methodologies set in there to execute/implement these civil modules, that can turn the economy around within 3 months as per the projects. We all owe it our country to do what we can to help with the current e-levy impasse and for that we reach out.

Thank you and God bless Ghana.

A. Dodoo

Communications Director

Diasporan Development Network

The Netherlands

[email protected]
President Akufo-Addo must show remorse and apologise to Ghanaians for the poor implementation of the free SHS policy, according to a member of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).

According to Kwaku Boateng, the Akufo-Addo led New Patriotic Party (NPP) government led its way into power with the policy but has been exposed after several challenges that confronted it.

Speaking with Kwabena Nyarko Abronoma on Bryt FM on recent calls for review of the policy, the NDC New Juaben North aspiring Communication Officer even though supported the calls was quick to ask the President to willingly render an apology to Ghanaians and call for consultations on how to sustain the policy.

"Abronoma, as I speak to you, there are issues with food supply to most schools, limited accommodation and classroom blocks as well as many others which is not helping the implementation of the policy. Government must come clear on the issue and let Ghanaians know what it can absorb so parents also support with the rest.

"For me, government can absorb tuition fees so that parents take care of the rest if we really want to sustain the policy for our future children," Kwaku Boateng stressed.

However, he assured the next Mahama-led NDC government would review the policy to make it stand the test of time and also help to improve the quality of education.

"By God's willing when Mahama and the NDC come to power in January 2025, we will not abolish the free SHS but rather we will strengthen it by reviewing its implementation strategy and financing," he added.
21.03.2022 LISTEN

Since 2008, the NPP and the NDC parties created a kind of security around their parties by recruiting young men to form action and security groups similar to action troopers in the 50s. Many armed robbers, hardened criminals and the unemployed joined the band-wagon. Very often these groups acted violently. A member of an action group belonging to NPP was arraigned before a Kumasi court. The group, about eight in number, entered the court, wielding AK 47, machetes and pistols. The judge and the men around him took to their heels. The NPP action men whisked off their colleagues and disappeared from the court. Anytime the police services open their doors to recruit more personnel, the two major parties, the NDC and NPP, as a matter of protocol, select some of their security men to join the police. Little did the parties know that many of the men they are sponsoring to the police are professional armed robbers and criminals.

Many armed robbers have now targeted bullion vans carrying monies from banks to other destinations. A bullion van was recently attacked by armed robbers- Both the driver and the police man in the van were shot dead by the armed robbers. The police were alerted and when they arrived at the crime scene they were able to kill two of the armed robbers and arrested four. It turned out that the two criminals that were killed and three of those arrested were police officers.

This is not the only crime they have committed. Sometimes these criminal officers provide ammunitions to their civilian colleagues who are armed robbers. When they were found out they were merely transferred. Ghanaians have placed much hope in the IGP to punish the culprits and to also make efforts to purge the Police Service of criminals.

The bullion van attacks are becoming very frequent mostly in the Greater Accra Region. Little did we know that police criminals were involved. Another violent attack on a bullion van occurred along the Achimota forest road. Billions of cedis were stolen from the van. In January 2021, another bullion van was attacked in Accra when the police man guarding the van was shot by his own comrade in the police service. A police man killing a police man!

Another bullion attack was a very violent. This occurred in March 2021 at Spintex road. The robbers made away with GHc2bn.

It will surprise every reader to learn that it is not only some junior officers who are criminals but some senior officers are actively engaged in crime. According to Captain Smart, a presenter and journalist at Onua Fm confirmed openly that the police senior officers at Techiman master-minded a major armed robbery that occurred in Kumasi. The armed robbers were later arrested at Techiman. They were taken to the police station but the senior police officers took no action and allowed them to go scot free.

Captain Smart chipped in an investigative story about a man who had hoarded hundreds of gallons of petrol and diesel at the basement of his house at Techiman. The police had a tip-off and entered the house. The man could not provide receipts to prove that he bought the petroleum products. The police Commander was informed but he asked them to leave the man alone and leave the house immediately.

In another development, the patrol police found two sacks, one contained gun bullets and the other which was bigger contained marijuana, cannabis and other harmful drugs. When the Commander was informed, he told the man to give the police GHc5000. The police insisted they would still send the man and the two sacks to the police station. They gave the money to the commander. Sadly and surprising enough, the sacks were not opened. The man was told to go and the patrol police men were transferred.

It is now clear that these criminals who wear police uniforms are either civilian criminals or the police themselves. The staff at the various banks have stakes in this. They inform the criminals when a bullion van leaves the bank or when a customer who has withdrawn a big amount of money is about to leave the bank, the cashier alerts a criminal who in turn follows the man to snatch the money from him.

A Ghanaian who has returned from Switzerland was robbed and killed by two police men who entered his car after he left the Bank premises.

Before 1980s, recruitment to the police was very strict, competitive but fair. There was nothing like political protocols. The police service was so attractive that many university graduates enlisted. The late Rawlings created a solid and a permanent condition for multi-party democracy. In order to compete effectively, security men were recruited by both parties. This gave rise to what has become known as protocol recruitments whereby top politicians and other eminent personalities in society were given quotas to present their own candidates for recruitment. The practice became widespread in society as a recruitment avenue to the army, choice courses in the universities, the police force, etc.

Many of the bad characters in the police service today are the result of these nefarious recruitment practices. Protocol recruits do not need to meet the stringent requirements since they came through some big man or woman.

I will suggest the IGP and the senior police men should go back to the old days and learn more about honest and impartial appointments. These protocols recruitments must stop!

Beloved, the question I am asking is: Are we safe?

Columnist: Stephen A-Owusu

Author: Dark Faces at Crossroads

Email: [email protected]
Thanking the Indian government for cooperating in rescuing Bangladeshi nationals from Ukraine during the war, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said the two countries would always stand by each other. It is absolutely true. As friendly neighbouring country, India was, is and will be stand with Bangladesh. India and Bangladesh are eternal friends. India should stand in support of Bangladesh that embodies values that emerge from the Liberation Movement of the country. On the other hands, Bangladesh should with Bangladesh as India always stands with Bangladesh.

Bangladesh and India are common members of SAARC, BIMSTEC, IORA, and the Commonwealth. The two countries share many cultural ties. In particular, Bangladesh and the East Indian state of West Bengal are Bengali-speaking. In 1971, the Bangladesh Liberation War broke out between East Pakistan and West Pakistan; India intervened in December 1971 in support of East Pakistan and helped secure its independence from Pakistan as the country of Bangladesh. Since the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Bangladesh in 2015 and round back visit of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India in 2017, the notable developments that have taken place include resolution of long-pending land and maritime boundaries asserting the issue of enclaves, the conclusion of over ninety instruments comprising in the hi-tech areas, i.e., electronics, cyber-security, space, information technology, and civil nuclear energy and observed increase in bilateral trade from US$9 billion to US$10.46 billion in the fiscal year (FY) 201819, preceded by US$7 billion to US$9 billion in FY 201718, an increase of 28.5 percent.

On 6 December, Bangladesh and India celebrate Friendship commemorating India's recognition of Bangladesh and the continued friendship between the two countries.

However, The Prime Minister expressed this hope in a letter to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday. Sheikh Hasina wrote, "Over the last few years, our bilateral relations have been further strengthened through effective dialogue at all levels." "I firmly believe that Bangladesh and India will always stand by each other and reflect the shared aspirations of the people of both countries." India is conducting a rescue operation called 'Operation Ganga' to evacuate civilians from Ukraine during the war.

Under the initiative, India has promised to rescue 23,000 people from the Eastern European country by March 15. Besides, 147 foreign nationals from 18 countries including Bangladesh have also been rescued. According to a March 10 report in the Times of India, 13 Bangladeshis were rescued from the northeastern Sami city of Ukraine and taken to another city during the fierce fighting.

Expressing gratitude for rescuing Bangladeshis from the battlefield, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina wrote in the letter, "I am writing this letter to express my sincere gratitude to you and your government for their assistance and cooperation in rescuing and evacuating Bangladeshis along with Indian nationals from Sami Oblast, Ukraine."

"The sincere cooperation of your government in this regard bears witness to the rare and lasting relationship that has existed between our two countries year after year." In the letter, Bangabandhu Kanya also recalled the arrival of the Indian Prime Minister on the occasion of the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman last year. Wishing Prime Minister Modi good health, Sheikh Hasina wished him a happy Holi.

India remains committed to assisting Bangladesh in its journey towards a strong economy, partnering with Bangladesh as Bangladesh proceeds to greater prosperity. The business communities of the two countries should seize the opportunity to enhance trade and economic linkages to new heights especially between Bangladesh and India's northeastern region.

India and Bangladesh have same developmental visions as the ties between the two nations remain strong. The relations between the two countries have been characterised as a special relationship. Bangladesh started mass COVID-19 vaccinations with India's Serum Institute Covi shield vaccines on 7 February 2021. Bangladesh procured 7 million doses and India had meant to gift a further 3.3 million doses. Due to the second wave of COVID-19 in India, the vaccine export was halted.

In April 2021, Bangladesh sent medicines and medical equipment to India following the deteriorating COVID-19 situation in India. The relief package consisted of approximately 10,000 vials of Remdesivir, (produced in Bangladesh by Beximco) anti-viral infections, oral anti-viral, 30,000 PPE kits, and several thousand zinc, calcium, vitamin C and other necessary tablets. In May 2021, the government of Bangladesh sent a second consignment of COVID-19 relief consisting of antibiotics, paracetamol, protective equipment and hand sanitiser.

Operation Ganga was conducted to rescue Indian nationals stranded in war-torn Ukraine. So far, thousands of Indian nationals were repatriated under the scheme. Significantly, the Indian government has rescued citizens of several other countries besides Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal through this operation.

It is India that stood by Bangladesh always. Even during the Ukraine crisis, India helped Bangladesh to evacuate Bangladeshi people. Indias helping hand to Bangladesh is time-tested. A friend in need is a friend indeed. According to the media reports, 9 Bangladeshi nationals have been rescued from Ukraine recently under Operation Ganga. Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina has already thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for rescuing the citizens of Bangladesh. India and Bangladesh should stand with each other.

By John Rozario

Bio: The writer is based in Karnataka, India, and has completed a master's degree from Jawaharlal Nehru University in International Relations. He is a researcher, strategic and international affairs analyst He can be reached at [email protected]
Ghanaians in Georgia celebrated Ghanas 65 th Independence in grand style at the JC Event Hall in Norcross, Georgia on March 11, 2022.

The theme for this years celebration was Community Building: All Hands on Deck. A theme chosen to focus on unifying the Ghanaian community here in Georgia, to make Ghana Council a stronger organization.

In her address, the President of the Ghana Council of Georgia, Ms. Yvonne Horsley McCowin, highlighted the importance of reigniting the passion of the Ghana Council, to galvanize the members to contribute their time, skills, talents, and creativity to make the Ghana Council of Georgia a great organization.

Special guest speaker, Mrs. Elaine Amankwah Nietmann, Esq. Elaine Amankwah Nietmann, a lawyer based in Gwinnett County and an immigrant from Ghana, announced her candidacy for Gwinnett County State Court Judge.

As your next State Court Judge, Mrs. Nietmann will serve with justice and compassion. According to her, she will implement educational and rehabilitative programs needed to decrease recidivism and keep Ghanaian communities safe.

The event was attended by the associations affiliated with the Ghana Council of Georgia, including friends and family. The sold-out event was co-hosted by the leaders of all the various Ghanaian Community Associations.

The fun-filled event was very managed by two experienced MCs Kwame Boafo and Sylvia Annan. The music was provided by the internationally renowned DJ, Mixmaster Berto.

Based in Atlanta, the Ghana Council of Georgia was established in 2009 to serve as the gateway through which citizens and interested parties can be directed to establish links within the affiliate associations in the Ghanaian community in Georgia. The Council comprises of any registered Ghanaian based association or society in the state of Georgia, USA. For more information, please contact Yvonne McCowin at [email protected] or visit us at www.ghanacouncilofgeorgia.org .

Ghana @65 event was proudly underwritten by these key sponsors: WillVan Tax and Insurance, Elmina Engineering, North Metro Womens Healthcare, Ikes Restaurant, RCT Shipping and American Family Insurance.

Source: Ghana Council of Georgia Yvonne McCowin, President
Details surrounding the death of The Walking Dead actor Moses J. Moseley remained unclear Monday, as officials were unable to determine the nature of the gunshot that killed him two months ago.

Officials said Moseley shot self with intent unknown and wrote it could not be determined if his death was an accident, suicide or homicide in a death certificate published Monday by TMZ.

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The immediate cause of death for Moseley, who was 31, was listed as a gunshot wound to the head.

Moseley died in Stockbridge, Ga., which is part of the Atlanta area, his manager confirmed to the Daily News last month.

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Moses Moseley (Amy Graves/WireImage)

[ Moses J. Moseley, The Walking Dead and Hunger Games actor, dead at 31 ]

Everyone is devastated, Moses will be missed deeply, Tabatha Minchew said in a statement at the time. He was always a delight to be around, always happy and excited about life. The world has lost an amazing and talented person.

Moseleys body was discovered in January inside a car, according to TMZ, which reported last month that the actors sister believes he was kidnapped and killed.

On The Walking Dead, Moseley played a zombie that was kept as a pet by Danai Guriras character, Michonne, between 2012 and 2015.

President Biden shared his condolences in a letter to Moseleys family, TMZ reported.

I know there are few words I can share that will ease the pain of losing a loved one, reads part of Bidens letter. You are in my thoughts and prayers.
With just three weeks to go before France's presidential election, hard-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon rallied tens of thousands of supporters on Sunday onto the streets of Paris, framing himself as the antidote to Emmanuel Macron by promising to raise the minimum wage, freeze food and fuel prices, and lower the retirement age.

Currently polling in third or fourth place in the presidential vote, Melenchon  the head of La France Insoumise (France unbowed, or LFI) party and l'Union Populaire (Popular Union)  sought to unite left-leaning supporters at Sunday's rally after the falting performance of French Socialists in recent years.

An opponent of free-market economics, Melenchon advocates state intervention to spread wealth and guarantee what he calls a dignified life for all workers.

"The free market, as you see, is chaos. Another world is possible," he told several thousand supporters in the Place de la Republique, promising he would tax the wealthy hard.

The 70-year-old has been called Melen-show for his crowd-pulling rhetoric. Supporters chanted We are going to win! Melenchon! President! ahead of the 45-minute speech during which he highlighted marked differences with incumbent Emmanuel Macron, who is currently ahead in the polls.

Retirement at 60

Melenchon criticised Macron's plans for different teaching methods in school and raising the retirement age from 62 to 65 as part of pension reform.

The leftist firebrand told the crowds he would lower the age of retirement from 62 to 60: The time has come for a collective decision, to put people first, and in whose service the economy must be, and not the other way around."

Under Macron it will be the end of the republican school, the end of the one and indivisible French people, he claimed. Vote [for me and] you will retire at 60!

Leaving NATO

In his campaign manifesto, Melenchon pledges to place controls on the movement of capital, guarantee jobs for the long-term unemployed and raise the minimum wage to 1,400 net per month.

The hard-left candidate wants to block future European Union free trade agreements and, more controversially, withdraw France from NATO and declare itself non-aligned.

Far-right pundit Eric Zemmour is also campaigning on an anti-NATO ticket, while hard-right leader Marine Le Pen, currently polling in second place, favours withdrawal from its integrated military command.

Their stance has lost some of its appeal, however, since the Russian invasion of Ukraine where transatlantic allies and EU partners appear more reassuring.

Third time lucky?

This is Melenchon's third attempt to reach the Elysee. His campaign received a boost this month when left-winger and feminist icon Christiane Taubira exited the race.

With the traditional, centre-left Parti Socialiste (Socialist Party) scarcely audible and the Greens struggling to galvanise a wide support base, Melenchon appealed to undecided voters and those who might otherwise abstain to back him.

In 2017, he failed to reach the runoff, in which Macron beat far-right challenger Marine Le Pen.

In December 2019 he was given a three-month suspended jail term and 8,000-euro fine for intimidating officials during a police raid on his home and party offices.

France's first round of the presidential election takes place on 10 April. If no one candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote, which has never happened, the two candidates with the most votes in the first round go into the 24 April runoff.

(with newswires)
21.03.2022 LISTEN

Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has announced that all the 16 flagship programmes of government including the free senior high school (SHS) programme would be looked at.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah said the president wants the programmes to be protected and fully implemented to impact the lives of all Ghanaians.

All the 16 flagship programmes are up to be looked at. The President has directed that the flagship programmes should be protected and fully implemented to ensure that the impact is achieved.

However, he wants it done within the constraints of item number 2 which is the fiscal framework we are working with. If based on the caps that we are working with we will have to rescope a particular flagship program, we will do it and see how much we can achieve, he told Accra-based Citi FM on Monday March 21.

Some persons have called for the review of the free SHS programme.

For instance, a former Rector at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) Professor Stephen Adei said as a part of a review of the free secondary school policy, the government must exempt Category A or best-performed SHSs from the Free Senior High School programme.

We have to look at it again. I think that there are certain schools which we should make autonomous and fee-paying and people will go there, but then make sure there are good community schools for everybody else, he told Joy News.

Only a small proportion of the poor come to Achimota, let the rich go there and pay. Use the Achimota funds to have very good schools in every district so that they can be there and don't have to travel.

Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta in 2018 also suggested a review of the poroigramme to make parents who are in the position to afford paying the fees to do so.

True, it may be that there have to be changes in the way we are administering it. I can't take my child to Achimota or Odorgono and leave him or her there and drive away and not pay for anything whiles I can pay for ten people, he said told journalists.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in 2017 launched the Free Senior High School Policy in fulfilment of his campaign promise in 2017.

Today, we throw open the doors of opportunity and hope to our young people We have a sacred duty to our children and the generations beyond in ensuring that, irrespective of their circumstances, their right to education is preserved, the President said to an ecstatic crowd at the West Africa Senior High School premises at Adenta.

He added I want every Ghanaian child to attend secondary school not just for what they learn in books, but for the life experiences that they will gain. I want each of them to look in the mirror in the morning, every morning, and know that they can achieve anything they dream of when they complete their studies.

I want them to be confident that what they study is relevant to the demands of today, and of tomorrow. I want every Ghanaian child to be comfortable in the knowledge that, when they work hard, they will be as capable as anyone else in the world. And I want parents to look upon their children with pride, as they watch them mature into self-confident adults, the President said.

---3news.com
New environmental prize competition, the Iris Prize has selected prominent, young Liberian climate activist, Ezekiel Nyanfor as a member of the Iris Project Advisory Board and one of its youth ambassadors.

Resultantly, Mr. Nyanfor will help in raising awareness for the Iris Project throughout Africa and also help with the nomination of potential youth winners across the globe.

The inspiring and vociferous climate advocate from Liberia and other Iris Project Advisory Board/ Panel members aged 20 to 24 from Nepal, Fiji, Macedonia, Nigeria and the United States worked with experts to shape the Iris Project, making sure it was youth-led, inclusive and accessible.

The Iris Project is an international climate prize competition founded by the Goldsmith family in memory of Iris Goldsmith, a teenage British environmentalist who tragically lost her life in an accident on her family farm in 2019. Every year, the Iris Project provides winners aged 14 to 24 with $5,000 USD, $10,000 USD and $15,000 USD (13,682) to support young environmentalists in marginalized communities in their bid to protect and restore their local environments. The Iris Prize also offers winners with mentoring and training programmes to help establish their environmental initiatives and to inspire others around the world to do the same.

Ben Goldsmith father of Iris Goldsmith wants the Iris Project to be a kind of Goldman Prize or a Nobel Prize for teenage environmentalists around the world.

Ezekiel Nyanfor is the Founder and Executive Director of the Liberian Youth for Climate Actions (LYCA): A youth based non profit organization aiming to make Mother Earth greener again through climate actions and volunteerism.

He has led climate change activities like: World Environment Day, World Earth Day and World Conservation Day. He hosted the first National Clean Air Day held in Liberia.

Ezekiel also runs an innovative program called Climate Daily Effects (CDE) which features African youth climate activists every Friday of the week to amplify their voices on their various climate actions across Africa.

He is a Youth Ambassador of Earth Day Network under the campaign "My Future My Voice" with the theme: Restore Our Earth. Ezekiel was nominated as a Young Green Ambassador for the Climate in Africa 2020 Edition which was organized by Climate Change Africa Opportunities.

He is a Senior Certified Climate Restoration Advocate with the Foundation for Climate Restoration(F4CR) and also the National Coordinator for Climate Science, a UK based NGO focusing on climate education for all.

Ezekiels green credentials include a poem in honour of Mother Earth, awareness campaigns on world migratory bird day. He hosted a summit on World Environment day under the theme: Stop Deforestation, bringing speakers together from different African countries.

He led the LYCA team to host the first African Youth Conference on Biodiversity Conservation and Climate Change (AYCBCCC) in 2020. A virtual conference in partnership with Earth Day Network, Youth Go Green Africa, Eco-Brix, and (DEL REPORT) under the theme: Biodiversity Conservation and Climate Change the role of the African Youth in Post COVID-19.

Ezekiel also hosted the first National Clean Air Day (NCAD) held in Liberia on 30 October and 27 November, 2020 respectively.

Furthermore, he was selected to represent Liberian youth during the Mock COP26, a youth-led initiative aiming to mobilize around the postponement of the 2020 Conference of the Parties (OP) and to show world leaders what an ambitious yet realistic and inclusive COP looks like.
A former Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Rawlings' regime, Dr. Obed Asamoah has described the current state of Ghana as disappointing.

Speaking to Joy News, on March 21, he stated that in the 65 years of independence, Ghana had still not made much progress.

According to him, the country in Kwame Nkrumahs time was producing and manufacturing basic items like milk, corned beef and television sets but same cannot be said of today.

I must say that it is quite disappointing. We havent made much progress particularly if you look back to Nkrumahs time when we were making progress on several fronts. I remember at that time we could buy television sets made in Ghana.

You could buy fridges made in Ghana and in those days even till now believe in some of these provisions like corned beef and milk and Kwame Nkrumah started producing corned beef. We were also producing milk and things of that nature, he told Joy News in the interview.

He indicated that Nkrumah at the time believed in empowering local manufacturing and adding value to raw materials.

Quoting an example from a personal experience, he stated that, I had some problem with my borehole and with the borehole you have to have some filters so that when you pump the water you have some filters that will filter the water.

There was a problem with the filter system and they went looking round and there is no such thing manufactured in Ghana. This is a simple thing how come we cannot manufacture this in Ghana?

They have to import it and I was surprised because this is simple. These are the kind of things the Chinese produce in a matter of minutes.

He indicated that Ghana has failed in developing the technique of production and only now heavily relying on imported items.
About 120 roofs of houses have been ripped off, displacing several people at Obogu in the Asante Akyem South District of the Ashanti region following a torrential rainfall on Sunday, March 20.

The incident occurred around 5:00 pm during the heavy downpour which was accompanied by strong winds.

The affected buildings include residential, schools among others as a transformer that supplies power to the community was not spared, cutting the community from the national grid.

The Assembly Member for the area, Mr. Kwaku Asante told Class News regional correspondent Elisha Adarkwah that about 500 people have been displaced while five people sustained minor injuries.

He said two public schools were affected, including the Faith Experimental Primary School which has affected academic activities.

Mr. Asante said he has reported the incident to the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) and the District Chief Executive for the area who had been to the community to assess the situation.

He, therefore, called on the government and philanthropists to come to the aid of the community because it will be difficult to get a place for the affected persons to lay their heads.

For her part, the Headmistress for Obogu Faith Experimental Primary School, Mrs. Gifty Owusu Sarpong called on the government to as a matter of urgency come to the aid of the school and fix the affected classrooms.

Source: Classfmonline.com
Dr. Obed Asamoah, a Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Rawlings' administration has described the recent calls for a coup detat as irresponsible.

He said coups always made the military undisciplined.

Speaking to Joy News in an interview on March 21, 2022, he stated that the military were irresponsible in the late Jerry John Rawlings' military regime.

He noted that the military went berserk and difficult to control.

According to him, the late president during his coup had to do a lot of trials and executions to bring sanity in the military.

Dr Asamoah, who was also an Attorney General and Minister for Justice during Rawligs' administration noted that, It is irresponsible to be calling for a coup because you see when a coup occurs the soldiers get undisciplined and you know that jerry for example put in a lot of efforts to keep the soldiers under control to the extent that a good friend of his who was the son of Dr. Ali, an African American who had relocated to Ghana, his son was a military officer in the army and when Jerrys coup occurred he went around shooting people. Do you know that Jerry had him tried and executed? Yes, and hes not the only one. Jerry did a lot to control the exuberance.

He indicated Ghana will face severe sanctions from the international community should a coup occur in the country, and severe economic challenges considering the current situation.
The government following the first of the quarterly retreats for 2022 held by Cabinet at Peduase Lodge in Aburi in the Eastern Region has decided to cut by 30 percent the budget expenditure of all Ministries, Departments and Agencies for the year 2022.

The cost cutting measures include strict implementation of austerity measures safe cost in government operations.

The Cabinet decision is the Akufo-Addo government's way of reducing cost and pruning expenditure due to the general economic difficulties as partners to hasten the countrys recovery from COVID-19.

This is among other important measures which will be taken by government to revive the post COVID19 economy which has been confronted with some challenges.

The meeting held between the 17th and 20th of March at Peduase Lodge, Aburi, in the Eastern Region was to review the performance of government programs and examine the impact of the global economic challenges on Ghanaians.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo who chaired the meeting has taken some key decisions which when implemented should reduce the negative impact on Ghanaians.

The President has directed the Ministers of Energy and Finance to find ways of addressing the escalating fuel prices in the country although it is global phenomena.

Besides, government has also taken a concrete decision to raise capital in order to bring the economy back on track with injection of over $2 billion to check the depreciation of the cedi.

Government has decided to review existing protocols imposed on arriving passengers at the airport.

Also, government is considering scrapping COVID 19 test for vaccinated travelers especially the mandatory testing either before one boards an incoming flight or when one arrives at the Kotoka International Airport.

Government has also decided to reopen all land borders in the country.

The borders which were closed to human traffic over 2 years ago following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana will be reopened based on some conditions which will be spelt out.

Reopening of the borders was as a result of a recommendation by the COVID-19 taskforce to the President and Cabinet as a whole following three months of studies and analysis of Covid-19 vaccination and infection trends in Ghana and neighbouring West African countries.

Meanwhile, Bank of Ghana (BoG) followed by the Finance Ministry is expected to address the nation on some of the issues addressed at the retreat shortly.

Governor of BoG, Dr Ernest Addison briefed the media this morning where more light was thrown on the economic revitalization.

Government is optimistic that some of the decisions taken will go a long way to address the continuous depreciation of the cedi, stabilize the economy and the recent increments in fuel prices as well as reduce burden on Ghanaians.

---DGN online
The United States imposed sanctions on Monday on Sudan's Central Reserve Police (CRP) force for human rights abuses.

The Treasury Department accused the CRP of being "at the forefront" of the crackdown on protests against military rule in the northeast African nation.

"Since the October 25 military takeover, Sudan's Central Reserve Police has used excessive force and violence intended to silence civilian activists and protesters," Treasury undersecretary Brian Nelson said in a statement.

"We condemn Sudan's security services for killing, harassing, and intimidating Sudanese citizens," Nelson said. "These actions are exacerbating the crisis in Sudan."

Under the sanctions, any CRP assets in the United States will be frozen.

Regular protests calling for civilian rule have taken place since a military coup led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on October 25, with heavy-handed crackdowns leaving 87 dead, according to medics.

The October coup derailed a fragile power-sharing agreement between the army and civilians that had been painstakingly negotiated after the 2019 ouster of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir.
The President of the Republic of Ghana, H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has directed the reopening of the countrys land borders, this is according to the Minister for Information, Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah.

The countrys land borders were closed in 2020 as part of strict measures to curb the importation of the deadly Coronavirus (Covid-19).

After two years, the borders are now set to be reopened after certain measures are put in place.

President Akufo-Addo has agreed for our land borders to be reopened. The President wants the Land borders to be opened in the shortest possible time.

What's holding back the opening of the land borders is how to protect ourselves after the reopening, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said in an interview on Asempa FMs Ekosii sen programme on Monday, March 21, 2022.

According to the Information Minister, President Akufo-Addo has given a timeline to the Ministry of Health, the Immigration Service, and other key stakeholders to finalise processes for the reopening of the land borders.

The Ofoase-Ayirebi MP added, A committee has been put in place to ensure the reopening of the land borders goes smoothly without challenges.

The government notes that it is determined to implement measures to address the economic challenges to mitigate its impact on the Ghanaian citizenry.

Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo is expected to address the nation to provide an update before the close of the week.
For the first time ever, a peacekeeping mission was awarded funding to help create conducive environments for women peacekeepers. On 27 January 2022, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) received a grant from the Elsie Initiative Fund for Uniformed Women in Peace Operations (EIF) to build gender-sensitive accommodations for women peacekeepers from the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF).

The EIF, established by the UN and Canada in 2019, is a UN Trust Fund financed by Member States. The EIF grant of USD $357,000 will enable UNIFIL to install four accommodation buildings, an ablution unit and a welfare area for women, thus improving their living and working conditions as Ghana increases its deployments of women peacekeepers. It will also help the mission in its efforts to reach gender parity and equality.

Ghana has been deploying personnel to UN Peacekeeping missions since the 1960s and is a leading troop and police contributor with longstanding support to womens participation in peacekeeping. The EIF grant coincides with the Ghana Armed Forces pledge to increase its deployment of women peacekeepers to UNIFIL. Ghana is aiming to deploy approximately 130 women (14%) as part of the Ghana Battalion (GHANBAT) that rotates into UNIFIL later this year.

For more information visit: https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/gender

The Ghana Armed Forces has participated in over 30 peacekeeping missions, and currently deploys peacekeepers to Lebanon (UNIFIL), South Sudan (UNMISS), and Mali (MINUSMA), and is working towards deployment in Abyei (UNISFA) and the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).

Group Captain Theodora Adjoa Agornyo, Acting Gender Policy Advisor to Chief of the Defence Staff pictured at the Ghana Armed Forces Headquarters, Burma Camp, Accra. (Camilla Stamp /UN Photo)

Though Ghanas contributions to peacekeeping have always included both women and men, historically women have not been deployed in combat roles. Women are usually left out of command and decision-making roles as well as foot and night patrols, explains Ghana Armed Forces Acting Gender Policy Advisor, Group Captain Theodora Agornyo. This is both as a result of a culture of overprotection of women, as well as stereotyping [which] has created a limited eligibility pool for deployment, she says. But this is not the end of the road, I can assure you that the Ghana Armed Forces is working hard to change the situation.

Despite those challenges, Ghana has consistently worked to increase the number of women in peacekeeping. Between 2017 and 2018, up to 15% of deployed Ghanaian military personnel were women. This was considerably above the rates of women deployed in the UN as of January 2018 as Military Observers and Staff Officers (8.2%) and in contingents (3.9%).

UNIFIL peacekeepers from Ghana pictured in south Lebanon. (UN Photo)

In addition to increasing the number of women peacekeepers, within the last 15 years the Ghanaian Armed Forces has made, conscious efforts to broaden the scope of deployment for women to perform [including combat roles] and participate more meaningfully in peacekeeping operations, adds Group Capt. Agornyo. This also goes for the national security forces, where expanded recruitment and enlistment is actually targeted towards recruiting women into more technical areas where they have the capacity, she explains. This will help ensure there is increased female representation in areas that were once only male dominated, specifically, top notch professional positions in order to leverage participation.

Brigadier General Constance Emefa Ejeani-Afenu, first woman Deputy Force Commander of MINURSO. (Photo: MINURSO)

In 2019, Ghanas first woman Brigadier General, Brig. Gen. Constance Emefa Edjeani-Afenu made history as the first woman Deputy Force Commander of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). Brigadier Ejeani-Afenu, who recently passed, was a pioneer for women in peacekeeping and leaves behind a lasting legacy that will continue to inspire.

UNIFIL peacekeepers from Ghana pictured at the battalion headquarters in Al Qawzha, south Lebanon. (Pasqual Gorriz /UN Photo)

As a recognized gender parity trailblazer within UN peace operations, Ghana was one of the founding members of the Elsie Initiative Contact Group. Ghana has also represented the Contact Group on the Elsie Fund Steering Committee since its establishment by Canada in 2019. Canada established bilateral technical assistance and training partnerships with the Ghana Armed Forces, relying on Ghanas expertise to share best practices and assist in developing and testing innovative approaches to increasing womens meaningful participation in uniformed military and police roles.

It seems fitting that it is now a grant from the Elsie Initiative Fund (EIF) that will directly support the construction of a conducive environment for Ghanaian women peacekeepers to successfully deploy in greater numbers to UNIFIL.

UNIFIL Ghanaian peacekeepers conduct mixed-gender patrols along the Blue Line in the vicinity of Ramya, south Lebanon. (Pasqual Gorriz/UN Photo)

Head of Mission and Force Commander of UNIFIL, Major General Stefano Del Col, expresses his gratitude for the funding from EIF, and his commitment to increasing womens equal participation within the mission.

Group Capt. Theodora emphasizes that the goal is not only to increase the sheer number of women peacekeepers, but to make accessible positions of power and leadership for women within peacekeeping operations.

(Photo: Camilla Stamp/UN Photo)

The Elsie Initiative Fund (EIF) grant to UNIFIL to create an enabling and inclusive environment for women peacekeepers is, in line with the Secretary-Generals Action for Peacekeeping initiative, which is critical to increasing performance and mandate implementation, explains Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix.

This project represents an expression of our shared values for gender equality and the promotion of womens full, equal and meaningful participation in our workforce.

Established by the UN and Canada in 2019, The Elsie Initiative Fund (EIF) supports the sustainable deployment and meaningful participation of uniformed women peacekeepers by providing financial assistance and incentives.The EIF is Funded by contributions from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom. For more information on the EIF, please visit https://elsiefund.org/ and follow @ElsieFund on Twitter.
The longest-running game show in television history is coming to cities across the nation this spring.

In celebration of its 50th anniversary, The Price is Right will embark on a 50-city tour, kicking off May 25 in Santa Monica, Calif.

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The coast-to-coast tour, scheduled to stop in New York City on May 18, will give fans the opportunity to win prizes and a chance at the grand prize of $50,000.

Drew Carey and "The Price is Right" are coming to New York City. (Adam Torgerson/CBS)

Presented by CBS  which first aired the show on Sept. 4, 1972  The Price Is Right Come On Down Tour will visit cities including Los Angeles, Denver, Dallas, New Orleans, Nashville, St. Louis and Cleveland, hometown of the shows current host Drew Carey.

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In Mondays announcement, CBS president and chief marketing officer Mike Benson said the show has been changing lives and touching hearts for five decades.

This longevity stands as a testament to everything good about CBS programming and the success of our fan-first approach to television, he said. The [tour] is an expansion of our mission.

According to the network, The Price is Right has given away over $300,000,000 in cash and prizes since its premiere, and remains the most watched series on daytime television.
This edition of Paris Perspective looks at the implications of Russia's decision to invade a neutral, sovereign European democracy, and at the likely impact of Vladimir Putins's war in Ukraine on the future of peace on the continent.

What is Russian President Vladimir Putin's endgame?

From the war with Georgia over South Ossetia and Abkhazia in 2008, to the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the recent suppression of dissent in Belarus and Kazakhstan, the question of President Vladimir Putin's long-term strategy remains open.

Was the decision to invade Ukraine a suddenn reaction to a perceived threat, or part of a well-nurtured plan to reestablish Russia as a global superpower?

Questions have been raised about Putin's mental state, especially in the wake of the Covid pandemic, which gave many people plenty of spare time to think out their own personal ambitions, dreams and goals. Could the same be said of the man in Moscow?

In the run-up to the 24 February invasion, French president Emmanuel Macron was in the vanguard of European diplomacy with Putin, promising to keep channels of communication open with his Russian counterpart.

But was there ever a chance that Macron could have succeeded in mediating with Russia and preventing the invasion, or was it a foregone conclusion that underscored the impotence of the West to engage with Putin?

Lessons from history

For international security consultant Serge Stroobants, we have to consider recent history since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

When we analyse the attitude of the West towards Putin we need to look at the past three decades, and what we allowed the Russian regime to get away with in the realm of international relations.

"For the past four or five years, we have been witnessing a shift from a liberal approach to international relations - where peace is at the heart of economic interconnection. What is at heart of this individual is a more competitive world based on a more offensive approach to international relations," Stroobants asserts.

"That's an evolution of the past two to three decades. I think the decision to invade Ukraine is something that was always there as an idea that started to crystallise by early September with a new strategic defence pact between the United States and Ukraine."

Western inaction

Indeed, with the permanent support by the European Union and NATO for the self-determination of the Ukrainian people and their political leadership, these are all elements that led to an acceleration of Putin's decision to wage war.

However, there are precedents from the past that could be seen as crucial to Putin's gambit in invading Ukraine, specifically those emanating from the United States. The Obama administration declared the use of chemical weapons in Syria as a line that could not be crossed, yet nothing was done by Washington once chemical weapons were deployed in Idlib province killing dozens of civilians.

So with Putin's manoeuvres, the West appears to be paying the price for inaction and apathy.

According to Stroobants, when you look at the narratives that have been used by both President Putin and his foreign ministry to explain why this war is being waged, we hear rhetoric from the Kremlin about Russia's responsibility to protect against the presence of nuclear, bacteriological or chemical weapons.

"We also heard the word 'terrorist' [being used] countering terrorism or a fascist or Nazi regime. A lot of those arguments have also been used in the past 20 to 30 years to start operations in Iraq or in Libya. We're basically getting back the arguments that the West gets a UN Security Council resolution to intervene in countries. And it takes away from the political arguments to refute what Russia is saying today," Stroobants says.

The cost of war

There is of course the question of money to finance the invasion of Ukraine. As Russian troops are being drawn further into a theatre of urban warfare, the financial cost increases exponentially.

Sanctions notwithstanding, Stroobants believes Putin has been looking at Russia's accounts.

"There was about 650 billion ready for him, but with the sanctions that have been imposed, I would say about 80 percent is now frozen somewhere. So he cannot access that anymore.

"After the sanctions have been applied, there is about 30 billion left for him really in cash to use. But what I think we need to look at is the effectiveness of the sanctions on him from a positive perspective, but also from a negative perspective.

"I would say what really struck me in the past weeks, is this self-sanctioning of the private sector, basically disengaging completely from Russia. This has been really hurtful for the economy.

"But we mostly need to look at the dependency on Russian oil and gas, and coal in Europe. This is still flowing and this exchange is something close to about 700 million a day. So that's also a figure we need to take into account," Stroobants reminds us.

As the Russian advance and supply trains have been bogged-down over the past 20 days, Russian have relied heavily on missile attacks. If the war continues to be drawn out could the Kremlin resort to a war of attrition?

Again, says the security specialist, we must refer to recent history. "Look at Russian military interventions in Afghanistan in the 80s, but also in Chechnya and in Syria. Basically, this is the worst-case scenario in Ukraine - urban warfare, street by street, house by house.

"For example, we have also looked at spikes in terrorism as a tactic used in an insurgency. We have seen those spikes, after the intervention in Georgia in 2008 and after the taking over of Crimea in 2014," says Stroobants, so we should expect to see a rise in terrorist tactics.

Ukraine's relationship with the West

However, there are accusations of hypocrisy against NATO and Europe when one looks at the downfall of the Libyan dictatorship in 2011 and the appeals from Ukraine to implement a no-fly zone.

The wave of outrage in the West and promises of support for the people of Ukraine has been moving, but in the face of Russian military aggression this has been compared to being the equivalent of sending thoughts and prayers after an automatic rifle massacre in the USA, while refusing to repeal gun laws.

Stroobants maintains that two different things need to be taken on board before going that far.

We need to look at "the collaboration before the conflict and the support within the conflict", he says.

"In both cases, before the conflict [we had] the Strategic Defence Cooperation with the US. Ukraine is a NATO partner. There has always been an exchange between NATO and Ukraine," Stroobants says.

"Now in the conflict, there is still the support both from the United States but also members of NATO and the EU individually - in a bilateral way - [delivering] lethal and non lethal and logistic support to Ukraine.

This war, however, will not be won militarily and diplomacy will have to prevail, but at what cost remains to be seen.

No matter what the outcome, with Putin still in charge, many analysts are convinced we are going to enter a new Cold War that will be much worse than the previous one.

Firstly, says Stroobants, we did not start a new opposition.

"The Ukrainian conflict has been going on for a long time. And it's not only Russia. So we clearly see an evolution of two different approaches to international relations, to the norms and values of international relations," he says.

How power is managed in 2022

There are also the different approaches on how counties in the modern world use their power to maximise their influence on other countries or regions.

"That's something that has emerged. Conflicts have multiplied and there has been a definite decrease in levels of peacefulness worldwide."

New blocs are forming, as can be witnessed at the UN General Assembly - "the good guys, the bad guys and the non-aligned".

But what is really painful for Europe especially is that the economic interdependence that was a guarantee for peace on the continent over the past three decades has now become a liability in a non-peaceful world.

"From my perspective," says Stroobants, "when you see the evolution of the past decades in the lives of peacefulness, what is happening now is the level of civil unrest going up...not to mention the environment or climate change.

"We are basically entering a new world order that is multipolar, therefore less stable with more competition. And this competition is now at the heart of international relations. And that's something that we need to adapt to."

So those who think that, after Covid, we will just go back to normal life are wrong

"It's Covid along with a lot of other crises," Stroobants concludes, "that have created a new world to which we need to adapt. Those are the difficulties that we are facing at the moment."

Watch full video here

Written, produced and presented by David Coffey.

Recorded and edited by Vincent Pora.

Serge Stroobants is an international security consultant with the Brussels-based Institute for Economics and Peace
A concerned citizen Korsi Senyo has petitioned the Chief Justice (CJ), Kwesi Anim-Yeboah to direct for the removal of the names of Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang Former Acting Director of the Ghana School of Law, Mrs. Juliet Adu Adjei Registrar, Ghana School of Law and Deputy Registrar, Ghana School of Law Marrian Atta-Boahene from the roll of lawyers for their alleged role in the illegal admission of 10 unqualified students into the Ghana School of Law for the 2021/2022 Academic Year.

Mr Korsi Senyo further described the conduct of the three lawyers as acts that bothers not only on illegality but also immorality, fraud and dishonesty.

He has, thus, also petitioned CHRAJ, and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) on the matter.

His petition comes on the Back of two separate suits filed at the Supreme Court, by Kwame Asare Obeng, also known as A-Plus, and former Ashanti Regional Youth Organiser of the opposition National Democratic Congress, Yaw Brogya Gyenfi seeking to restrain the Judicial Council from considering Maxwell Opoku-Agyemangs recommendation as Justice of the Court of Appeal.

They are both praying the court to declare the recommendation of Mr. Opoku-Agyemang for the Justice of the Court of Appeal role as unconstitutional.

Find below details of Mr Korsi Senyos petitions:

CONCERNED CITIZEN PETITIONS GENERAL LEGAL COUNCIL TO DELETE THE NAME OF MAXWELL OPOKU-AGYEMANG & 2 OTHERS FROM THE ROLL OF LAWYERS

On Friday, March 18, 2021, in my capacity and my duty as a citizen of Ghana, I submitted a petition to the Honourable Chief Justice of the Republic of Ghana, His Lordship Justice Kwesi Anin-Yeboah as Chairman of the General Legal Council, humbly requesting him to direct the Judicial Secretary to strike-off the name of Maxwell Opoku Agyemang, the Former Acting Director of the Ghana School of Law and his two accomplices from the Roll of Lawyers in Ghana.

This request became necessary after the General Legal Council itself found Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang and the 2 others, guilty of illegally and fraudulently admitting ten (10) unqualified persons as students of the Ghana School of Law during the 2021/2022 admission process through the back door.

SECTION 16A OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION ACT, 1960 (ACT 32) empowers the General Legal Council to direct the removal of the name of a lawyer from the Roll of Lawyers without holding a disciplinary hearing.

In this case, the General Legal Councils disciplinary enquiry into the conduct of Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang found him guilty of the illegal admissions orchestrated by him.

A recent letter by the Judicial Secretary, Her Ladyship Justice Cynthia Pamela Addo to the Ghana School of Law dated 14th February 2022, conveyed the directive of the Council to the Ghana Law School requiring disciplinary actions to be taken against Mr. Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang and his two accomplices.

The other persons involved in the criminal, illegal and fraudulent conduct are Mrs. Juliet Adu Adjei - Registrar, Ghana School of Law; and Ms. Marian Atta-Boahene - Deputy Registrar, Ghana School of Law.

I am of the strongest belief that the conduct of Mr. Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang and his accomplices as established by the General Legal Council borders not only on illegality, but also on immorality, fraud, and dishonesty. This gravity of their misconduct makes them totally unfit to be lawyers in the first place, and completely unworthy to remain on the very revered Roll of Lawyers in Ghana.

For the avoidance of doubt, the evidence on the website of the General Legal Council indicates that other lawyers were severely punished by the Disciplinary Committee of the same General Legal Council for offences such as failure to account for Clients money, failure to give proper receipts for services rendered, and touting on social media.

I therefore plead with the General Legal Council to apply the rule without fear or favour especially in a matter that is weightier, severely damages the reputation of the Ghana Law School and the quality of persons who administer the law school and the processes through which others become lawyers and subject to the disciplinary procedures of the same General Legal Council.

This in my view, are more grievous and weightier matters when compared to earlier decisions taken by the General Legal Council leading to the removal of other lawyers from the Roll of Lawyers.

Further, as a citizen of Ghana, I find it totally reprehensible that while the Ghana School of Law subjects thousands of otherwise qualified Ghanaian law degree holders to all manner of demeaning treatments and denies them admission after examinations have been passed and interviews done, the leaders of the same institution would use the back-door to secretly and illegally admit children of their cronies who either failed the so-called entrance examination or did not even take the examination at all.

This is criminal and the ring-leader of the fraud, Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang and his accomplices are not fit to remain on the Roll of Lawyers in Ghana.

Accordingly, I expect the Honourable Chief Justice who is a stickler to the rules and a crusader for discipline and good conduct in the legal profession, to do the needful as a matter of urgency.

I have also petitioned the General Council of the Ghana Bar Association to expel Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang and his accomplices from their noble Association as members for bringing the name of the legal profession into disrepute.

I have also delivered a petition to the Inspector General of Police to arrest Mr. Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang and his accomplices for fraud and forgery of official documents for admission. I await the actions of the Inspector General of Police who has made it public that he intends to clean up the Police administration in Ghana and ensure equality of treatment of all before the law.

Finally, I have also invoked the jurisdiction of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to investigate Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang and his accomplices for corruption, and abuse of office as public officers.

The Inspector General of Police

Ghana Police Service

Accra

Dear Sir,

PETITION: ARREST MAXWELL OPOKU-AGYEMANG & 2 OTHERS FOR FRAUD AND FORGERY OF OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS AT THE GHANA SCHOOL OF LAW.

Please, accept my very warm compliments.

I write as a deeply concerned citizen of Ghana to humbly request your good office to arrest the following public officers for fraud and forgery of official documents:

i. Mr. Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang - Former Ag. Director, Ghana School of Law

ii. Mrs. Juliet Adu Adjei - Registrar, Ghana School of Law

iii. Ms. Marian Atta-Boahene - Deputy Registrar, Ghana School of Law

Respectfully, Sir, Mr. Maxwell Opoku-Ayemang and his two (2) accomplices were found by a disciplinary Committee of the General Legal Council, guilty of the offence of illegally admitting ten (10) unqualified students into the Ghana School of Law for the 2021/2022 academic year.

Enclosed is a letter by Her Ladyship the Judicial Secretary, dated 14th February 2022 conveying the directive of the General Legal Council through His Lordship the Chief Justice to the Ghana School of Law to take disciplinary actions against Mr. Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang and his 2 accomplices based on the findings by the Council.

Sir, the conduct of Mr. Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang and his accomplices as found by the GLC bothers not only on illegality, but also a possible case of fraud, forgery of official documents and corruption by public office holders.

Accordingly, I write on behalf of the millions of concerned Ghanaians to request your high office to immediately arrest, investigate and possibly prosecute Mr. Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang and his 2 accomplices, to serve as deterrent to other public office holders.

Please accept the assurances of my highest regards and utmost consideration.

Yours faithfully,

KORSI SENYO

Concerned Citizen

The Commissioner

Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice

Head Office Accra

Attn: Mr. Joseph Whittal Esq.

Dear Sir,

COMPLAINT: INVESTIGATE MR. MAXWELL OPOKU-AGYEMANG & 2 OTHERS FOR ABUSE OF PUBLIC OFFICE AND CORRUPTION.

Please, accept my very warm compliments.

I write as a deeply concerned citizen of Ghana to humbly request your good office to institute investigation into allegations of abuse of office, corruption and fraudulent conduct at the Ghana School of Law by the following public officers:

i. Mr. Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang - Former Ag. Director, Ghana School of Law

ii. Mrs. Juliet Adu Adjei - Registrar, Ghana School of Law

iii. Ms. Marian Atta-Boahene - Deputy Registrar, Ghana School of Law

Respectfully, Sir, Mr. Maxwell Opoku-Ayemang and his two (2) accomplices were found by a disciplinary Committee of the General Legal Council, guilty of the offence of illegally admitting ten (10) unqualified students into the Ghana School of Law for the 2021/2022 academic year.

Enclosed is a letter by Her Ladyship the Judicial Secretary, dated 14th February 2022 conveying the directive of the General Legal Council through His Lordship the Chief Justice to the Ghana School of Law to take disciplinary actions against Mr. Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang and his 2 accomplices based on the findings by the Council.

Sir, the conduct of Mr. Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang and his accomplices as found by the GLC bothers not only on illegality, but a possible case of fraud, abuse of office and corruption by public office holders.

Respectfully Sir, the offence committed by Mr. Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang and his two accomplices is grave misconduct and requires thorough investigation.

Accordingly, I write under Section 12 of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice Act 1993 (Act 456) to investigate Mr. Maxwell Opoku-Ageymang and his accomplices and make the necessary recommendations.

Accordingly, I write on behalf of the millions of concerned Ghanaians under Section 12 of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice Act 1993 (Act 456) to humbly request you to invoke your jurisdiction and powers under Section 7 of Act 456 to investigate Mr. Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang and his two accomplices and where they are found by your office to have abused their office and engaged in corruption, appropriate punishment should be handed them to serve as a deterrent to other public office holders.

Please accept the assurances of my highest regards and utmost consideration.

Yours faithfully,

KORSI SENYO

Concerned Citizen

Source: Classfmonline.com
Eighteen soldiers have been killed in Burkina Faso amid a surge of violence, 13 in a suspected jihadist ambush and five whose vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb, military and security sources said.

They were the sixth and seventh attacks of their kind in the landlocked West African nation in under two weeks.

"A military unit carrying out a security operation in the eastern region was attacked about 20 kilometres (12 miles) east of Natiaboani on Sunday," the army said in a statement.

Security sources had on Sunday given a provision toll of 12 dead.

"During the fighting 13 soldiers were unfortunately mortally wounded and eight others injured," the army said, adding that several attackers had also been killed.

On Sunday evening to the south of Natiaboani, close to the borders with Togo and Ghana, "a security forces vehicle... hit an improvised explosive device (IED)," a security source told AFP.

"The incident killed five from the 31st Commando Infantry Regiment from Tenkodogo who were undertaking an operation. Two others were injured in the attack."

Another security source confirmed the death of five soldiers, including an officer, to AFP.

The rural community of Natiaboani lies 60 kilometres (37 miles) south of Fada N'Gourma, the largest town in the Eastern Region that since 2018 has been regularly targeted by armed groups.

Fifteen youths were kidnapped during an attack on Friday in nearby Nagre, according to the country's information agency.

Violence has flared again in Burkina Faso after a period of relative calm after a military junta took power in January.

Disgruntled officers toppled elected president Roch Marc Christian Kabore after protests over his handling of the bloody insurgency.

About two dozen civilians and a similar number of policemen or soldiers have been killed over the last 10 days.

Burkina Faso has been struggling with jihadist attacks since 2015, when militants linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group began mounting cross-border raids from Mali.

The violence has killed more than 2,000 people and displaced at least 1.7 million, according to an AFP tally.
Tanzaniaamp;39;s President Samia Suluhu Hassan. - Source: Photo by Luke DrayGetty Images

21.03.2022 LISTEN

She may have been Tanzania's 'accidental president' , but Samia Suluhu Hassan has used her first year in office to cement her power.

The way in which she took over the position put her on the back foot.

She found herself stepping up to the plate after the sudden death of John Pombe Magufuli, Tanzania's fifth president who served from 2015 until 2021. A year earlier, Magufuli had led the ruling party, Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM), to power again in a bitterly contested general election. The poll was marred by violence and massive rigging .

Magufuli was nevertheless sworn in as president, and Hassan as vice president. She automatically assumed the presidency after he died on 17 March 2021.

The two immediate challenges she faced were that, firstly, she was a beneficiary of an election that was not considered free or fair .

Secondly, most members of parliament felt their election victories were a result of Magufuli's political approach. Ninety-nine percent of Tanzania's parliament is held by the ruling party .

This parliamentary loyalty has, arguably, been a recurring source of challenges in Hassan's first year of administration.

As a result, she has made several changes to showcase her presidential power, and her ability to run the country and manage its politics as she prepares to run for a second term in 2025.

Read more: Tanzania is getting a political remake as President Hassan eyes the 2025 polls

I analyse four areas where Hassan's impact has been felt in the first year of her presidency. These are: the about-turn on COVID-19 protocols, her expansion of the civic space, a focus on the informal sector and her efforts to build her own team.

Turning the ship

COVID-19: One of the most radical changes seen during Hassan's presidency is in Tanzania's stance on the pandemic. The former administration had denied the existence of COVID-19. Hassan has acknowledged the science and prevention protocols to manage the disease, and encouraged citizens to get vaccinated.

Wearing a mask is now the norm in government meetings and, as per international requirements, Tanzania is providing COVID-19 data on a regular basis.

Expanded civic space: Hassan has reversed some of the restrictions imposed under Magufuli. For example, she lifted the ban against some newspapers and made it easier for bloggers to operate without licences.

She has also changed the tone of government rhetoric. For example, to create a conducive business environment, she has warned tax authorities not to frustrate or threaten businesses, but rather facilitate their operations.

Her administration has also taken legal action against a former district commissioner  Lengai Ole Sabaya. He openly tortured the opposition in the name of defending Magufuli's administration. In this way, she distanced herself from the previous regime's approach of using local authority leaders to silence citizens critical of the government.

The other front on which she's taken a different approach is in relation to public service and the opposition. In contrast to the previous administration, she has treated those in public service with sensitivity and respect.

She has also engaged opposition leaders. Hassan has met with Tundu Lissu, an opposition figure who has been in Belgium in political exile following threats to his life after the 2020 elections.

She also met opposition leader Freeman Mbowe at Tanzania's State House immediately after he was released from jail. Mbowe was arrested in July 2021 while organising a conference on constitutional reforms. He was in jail for more than 200 days.

However, the authoritarian streak in the ruling party remains. This is evident from the fact that some restrictions remain, including on public rallies .

It remains to be seen if Hassan can bring about radical democratic change in Tanzania if it threatens the dominance of the ruling party. Magufuli's approach weakened the party's ability to legitimately win elections. It made the party dependent on the police force and state machinery to silence dissent.

As the party's chair, Hassan is trying to reverse this.

The informal sector: Hassan has set about trying to address the challenges faced by the country's informal sector. This includes active participation in Generation Equality to ensure women's participation in the economy. She has also insisted on fair tax reforms that would help formalise the informal sector.

But her efforts to address informal sector challenges have been hindered by both infrastructure and policy issues. Some of the hurdles include increasingly regular power cuts .

Hassan has also taken steps that have been criticised for harming the informal sector. These include high levies on mobile money transactions, which curtail small business growth.

In addition, her government has used force to remove street hawkers without providing them with alternatives.

Consolidating her team: To manage the politics of her party, Hassan has been building her own team.

She has had two cabinet reshuffles. Requiring the new team to swear into her administration was a subtle way of transferring ministerial loyalty from the former regime to hers.

Hassan has also dealt with dissenting voices from within the ruling party in parliament. She forced the speaker  Job Ndugai  to resign , showing that she can discipline the party's heavyweights. To further manage criticism from within the party, she appointed outspoken member of parliament Humphrey Polepole an ambassador to Malawi.

She has also hired a former journalist to lead the State House communication directorate. She is building an inner circle of professionals rather than of hardcore party loyalists.

What now?

Tanzanians have definitely seen change happen under Hassan. But what remains the same is the ruling party's unwillingness to create a fair political playing field.

To realise real change, Hassan has to address legal structures, including draconian laws that facilitate discrimination. These include the Cybercrime Act , Media Services Act and the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act .

But doing so might be difficult given the current parliament's loyalty to the past administration and its approach.

The real test of Hassan's genuineness in wanting change will be in her allowing constitutional reforms. There is need for an overhaul of the existing constitution given its inability to provide checks and balances. It also gives enormous imperial powers to the president.

Delivering a new constitution that ensures accountability will give Hassan a legacy that endures beyond her presidential tenure.

Aikande Clement Kwayu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

By Aikande Clement Kwayu, Independent researcher & Honorary Research Fellow, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Some future leaders of the country in a farming community of Nsesereso near Dormaa Ahenkro through no fault of theirs cannot study under a convenient and congenial environment.

These leaders of tomorrow, some of who could be Presidents, Ministers, Members of Parliament, Medical Doctors, Teachers, Chiefs, Businessmen and women and opinion leaders in society, are being compelled under the circumstances to sit on the bare floor or on stones to study in this day and age right at the Nsesereso Roman Catholic Primary School at Nsesereso near Dormaa Ahenkro in the Bono region.

The inconvenience and the health implications posed by this situation on the lives of these innocent pupils of the school call for urgent and swift action to be taken to give the children of the area equal opportunity to enjoy their education and compete favorably with their counterparts elsewhere.

Currently, the classroom block being used by both pupils and teachers is nothing less than a death-trap as the slightest wind-storm would blow the dilapidated structure away.

The Head-teacher of the school Mr. Daniel Nyarko told newsmen that the school block was established in 1944 and is now in a sorry state.

There is no furniture for both pupils and teachers in some of the classrooms and this poses a serious challenge to smooth academic work, he stated and added that A few of the classrooms block have furniture but it is woefully inadequate and this explains why some of the children have to sit on stones or on the floor to learn, a situation I consider very unfortunate.

He said the teachers of the school are having their fair share of the situation as they simply do not have tables and chairs to marks exercises of the pupils.

According to him, all efforts to get the Dormaa Municipal Assembly to rectify the situation have so far proven unsuccessful while pupils and students of the school continue to wallow in their predicament without any sign of help coming from any quarters.

The school is therefore making a passionate appeal to the Central Government, the Member of Parliament for the Area, Kwaku Agyeman Manu, who is also a Cabinet Minister (Minister of Health since 2017 to date), Non-Governmental Organisations, Philanthropists and all concerned individuals to come to their aid.

Nana Brafo Ababio Nansen, the chief of Nsesereso, also added his voice to call on all well-meaning institutions and individuals to help provide the school with new classroom blocks fitted with furniture to facilitate teaching and learning.
A court in Uganda on Monday ordered the release on bail of activist Norman Tumuhimbise and a female journalist charged with cyber-stalking the country's president, their lawyers said.

Tumuhimbise, who heads local pressure group The Alternative Movement, was arrested alongside eight other journalists on March 10, including Farida Bikobere, who works with him at online media platform Digitalk TV.

The 36-year-old was due to launch a book critical of President Yoweri Museveni on March 30.

The court granted Tumuhimbise and Bikobere freedom on a cash bail of 500,000 Ugandan shillings ($140/126 euros), their lawyer Nalukoola Luyimbazi told AFP.

"They will continue appearing before the same (court) for the hearing of the case," said Eron Kiiza, their other counsel.

The duo were among nine journalists arrested for offensive communication under the Computer Misuse Act which can carry a one-year prison sentence and/or a fine.

Seven were released without being charged.

According to court documents, prosecutors allege Tumuhimbise and Bikobere used their online platform to relay "offensive communication... directed against the person of the President of Uganda".

Tumuhimbise and colleagues were reportedly bundled into a van by armed security personnel, with Kiiza alleging police also confiscated phones, laptops, recorders and cameras from the media outlet.

Tumuhimbise is the second writer to be charged with offensive communication in recent months.

Award-winning Ugandan author Kakwenza Rukirabashaija fled to Germany last month to seek medical treatment after allegedly having been tortured following his detention on charges of insulting Museveni and his son.

Rukirabashaija's arrest had raised international concern, with both the European Union and the United States calling for his release.

The charges against Rukirabashaija related to unflattering comments on Twitter about Museveni, who has ruled Uganda since 1986, and his powerful son Muhoozi Kainerugaba.

In one post, he described Kainerugaba, a general who many Ugandans believe is positioning himself to take over from his 77-year-old father, as "obese" and a "curmudgeon".

Uganda has witnessed a series of crackdowns aimed at stamping out dissent, with journalists attacked, lawyers jailed, election monitors prosecuted and opposition leaders violently muzzled.
The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) will on Tuesday, March 22, 2022, convene a meeting of civil society organisations in Ghana in a forum to deliberate over Ghanas Cybersecurity Act 2020 (Act 1038).

The forum, which will bring together stakeholders from government, civil society, academia, and media, will discuss cybersecurity issues generally. The meeting will also specifically focus on the roles CSOs and other stakeholders can play to ensure the effective implementation of Ghanas Cybersecurity Act 2020.

Globally, there are rising concerns about cybersecurity issues because of the serious ramifications cybersecurity breaches can have on critical infrastructures of government; educational, banking, and financial institutions; telecom operators; national security; among others.

To mitigate this, a lot of interventions are being deployed at the global and national levels to safeguard security in cyberspaces. In 2015, for example, the UN Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) agreed on 11 voluntary, non-binding norms for responsible behaviour of States with the aim of promoting an open, secure, stable, accessible, and peaceful ICT environment. The norms were adopted by the General Assembly and subsequently endorsed by all Member States, including Ghana.

Beyond endorsing the global cyber norms, Ghana passed its Cybersecurity Act in 2020 to facilitate cybersecurity development and respond to cybersecurity issues. Fortunately, the Cyber Security Authority (CSA) has also been set up to implement the Act and regulate the cybersecurity ecosystem in the country.

It is, however, not too clear the extent to which stakeholders, especially civil society organisations within Ghanas internet ecosystem know about the Act and their roles in contributing to ensure that the Act is implemented successfully to safeguard online safety without compromising the rights of people.

A brief baseline study conducted by the MFWA about knowledge levels of the Cybersecurity Act ahead of the forum shows that many CSOs and media personnel, for example, merely know about the existence of the Act. Consequently, they are not engaging it in their work.

The forum is, therefore, intended to create more awareness about the Cybersecurity Act and unpack the specific roles civil society actors can play to ensure its successful implementation to safeguard online safety while protecting the rights of people.

Outcomes of the forum will be documented in a policy brief which will be widely publicised and used for further engagements and advocacy.

The forum is being organised under the MFWAs project on shaping global cyber norms which is being funded by the UK-based Global Partners Digital Limited.
New York, March 21, 2022  In response to news reports that a federal court on Monday acquitted Nigerian journalist Agba Jalingo on all charges, including anti-state and defamation, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement:

Todays acquittal of journalist Agba Jalingo on trumped-up charges is welcome, but he should never have been arrested, detained for nearly six months, and prosecuted for his work in the first place, said Angela Quintal, CPJs Africa program coordinator. Nigerian authorities should compensate Jalingo for his mistreatment, in compliance with a 2021 regional court decision, and ensure that journalism is not criminalized and the media can report freely.

Jalingo was arrested on August 22, 2019, and charged for his writing and social media posts about Cross River state Governor Benedict Ayade, according to CPJ documentation and media reports. At every point in time, I knew I was innocent, Jalingo, publisher of the privately owned news website CrossRiverWatch, told CPJ by phone. I have always known this day will come.

In July 2021, the ECOWAS Court of Justice, a West African regional court, ordered the Nigerian government to compensate Jalingo for his prolonged detention and mistreatment in custody, according to media reports and CPJ calls for compliance. As of Monday, Jalingo has not been paid, he told CPJ.
Dr. Godfred Seidu Jasaw

21.03.2022 LISTEN

I have come across an article published by Ghanaweb on the above heading, and after a thorough diagnosis of the content, it has been realized that, the comments made by the Deputy Ranking Member of the Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs Committee of Parliament, Dr. Godfred Seidu Jasaw, is composed of lots of inaccurate information. Dr. Jasaw as well doubles as the Member of Parliament for the Wa East Constituency on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Per the argument of the Deputy Ranking Member of the Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs Committee of Parliament, he indicated that, Ghanas decline from the global position of 78th in 2016 to 82nd position in 2021 on the Global Food Security Index (GFSI) recently published by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) reflects a failure of the agricultural policies under the Akufo-Addo Administration, particularly the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) Programme.

This statement is factually inaccurate and I believe Dr. Godfred Seidu Jasaw concluded on this based on his lack of appreciation and inadequate diagnosis of the statistical facts availed by the GFSI.

It has therefore become an urgency for clarification due to the many individuals in Ghana, Africa and across the Globe that such misinformation has corrupted since its publication.

Find below the 2016 and 2021 GFSI top ten (10) African rankings and their respective positions on the global ranking.

Year: 2016

Country Africa Ranking Global Ranking Score /100 South Africa 1st 47th 62.9 Tunisia 2nd 53rd 57.9 Botswana 3rd 54th 57.1 Morocco 4th 62nd 55.5 Algeria 5th 66th 54.3 Ghana 6th 78th 47.8 Uganda 7th 81st 44.4 Kenya 8th 83rd 42.7 Cote DIvoire 9th 84th 42.3 Cameroun 10th 85th 41.6

Year: 2021

Country Africa Ranking Global Ranking Score /100 South Africa 1st 70th 57.8 Botswana 2nd 74th 55.5 Mali 3rd 76th 54.5 Ghana 4th 82nd 52.0 Burkina Faso 5th 85th 48.1 Cote DIvoire 6th 86th 48.0 Tanzania 6th 86th 48.0 Niger 8th 88th 47.6 Senegal 9th 89th 47.4 Kenya 10th 90th 46.8

From the data above, despite Ghanas decline from the global position of 78th in 2016 to 82nd position in 2021, it can be noted that, Ghana has performed credibly well in 2021 as compared to 2016. Ghana had an overall score of 47.8 in 2016 as compared to the appreciated value of 52.0 in 2021. More over, Ghana also moved from her 6th position in Africa to the 4th position. This is indeed remarkable and commendable because South Africa which was 1st in Africa in 2016 and again 1st in 2021 aside declining from the 47th to 70th position on the global ranking also diminished from an overall score of 62.9 in 2016 to 57.8 in 2021. This therefore indicates that, with the comparison of the 2016 and 2021 GFSI ranking, there has been an overall decline in rank for all African countries on the Global ranking with Ghana not being the only exception.

And Ghana secured this success and an appreciation in the overall score in the 2021 global ranking despite the erratic rainfall pattern which affected total production. In fact, but for the flagship planting for Food and Jobs programme, the situation would have been worse.

In furtherance, the PFJ policy was commenced in 2017 under the sterling leadership of Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto as the Minister of Food and Agriculture, and according to the data of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), Ghana's production of crops such maize, plantain, cassava, rice, yam among others have increased in production between 2017 and 2020 as compared to the previous years.

Ghana, has more over, been rated as the Breadbasket of West Africa where the Country has moved from not being on track in 2017 to being on track in 2019 on the African Agriculture Transformation Scorecard (AATS). It has also been noted as the most resilient country against food shortages or famine in West African sub-region in 2020-2021 as reported by the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS).

In addition, per a report by Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Ghana is the only country in Africa that has achieved Food Security in addition to being part of the five forerunning countries in Africa in terms of Agricultural Transformation.

The above data, facts and analysis therefore refute the false claims by Dr. Jasaw that the agricultural policies under the Akufo-Addo Administration, particularly the Planting for Food and Jobs Programme, under the leadership of Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto have been a failure. In fact, the PFJ has rather resulted in an increase in food crop production.

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Hajia Hamdatu Ibrahim, former Acting Chairperson of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP), has called on the government to put in a policy to stop the waste of national resources on political appointees.

Hajia Ibrahim said if some of the emoluments given to politicians and political appointees were stopped or reduced, it would save the country a lot of money which could be channeled into developmental programmes.

She said this during a political forum organized by the Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Office tagged: My Agenda! My Constituency! Which is a platform created for healthy political discussion towards national development.

If we really want to build this country, then we must stop pampering political appointees with cars, fuel, houses, and other freebies, she said.

She added that some Ministers of State, Members of Parliament, and other appointees received these benefits without necessarily contributing anything to the building of the country.

The Former CPP Chairperson noted that the V8 vehicles that are supposed to help them access their various constituencies were often used within the capital and not for the purposes for which they received them.

Hajia Ibrahim was of the opinion that if more women were offered a greater percentage in governance, they would push for a critical look at the benefits Article 71 office holders received as that was draining the finances of the country.

The Leading CPP Member called for more women to be voted and appointed to political positions as they were less susceptible to be corrupted, while they were good managers of resources.

Men have led us for so many years but we are not seeing any difference, its time women take up the challenge of political leadership to change things, she stressed.

She further noted that if political parties wanted to be taken seriously, then they must have policies that treat women well, indicating that the political parties especially the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) could have a policy that would reserve some percentage of their seats in their strongholds for only women to contest.

She noted that currently, Ghana has 40 women in Parliament representing only 14 per cent of the 275 MPs membership, a situation she described as not encouraging as it was very low compared to the minimum requirement of 30 per cent set by the United Nations (UN).

The former CPP Chairperson said it was about time that Ghanaians stopped paying lip service to womens participation in leadership, saying for the country to be able to bridge the gap between men and women, something serious must be done.

According to her even though Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah first President of Ghana saw the need to set a legislative instrument to ensure that ten women were elected into parliament, successive governments had been paying lip service to the affirmative action, which would give women equal benefits in Ghana.
Daily Show host Trevor Noah had a short but succinct reply to Kanye West, as he sought to stop the rapper from harassing his ex, Kim Kardashian.

I said counsel Kanye not cancel Kanye, Noah tweeted on Sunday.

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It was the latest in a very public dialogue between the two in the wake of Noahs monologue last week devoted almost exclusively to calling out Wests behavior toward the soon-to-be ex-wife with whom he shares four children.

In this file photo, Trevor Noah speaks onstage at the National Board of Review annual awards gala on March 15, 2022 in New York City. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for National Board )

Noah, a longtime fan of the 22-time Grammy Award winner, characterized Wests behavior toward Kardashian as terrifying.

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That behavior includes numerous public pleas for Kardashian to return, delivering a truck full of roses to Kardashians home on Valentines Day, posting their private conversations, and lashing out at her current boyfriend, Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson, sometimes with violent imagery.

Noah knows of what he speaks. His own mother was subject to domestic violence during his childhood in South Africa, and he was there.

Kardashians futile attempts to stop Wests harassment are terrifying to watch, and it shines a spotlight on what so many women go through when they choose to leave, Noah said last Tuesday. What were seeing is one of the most powerful, one of the richest women in the world, unable to get her ex to stop texting her, to stop chasing after her, to stop harassing her.

Kanye West attends the WSJ Magazine 2019 Innovator Awards at MOMA on November 6, 2019 in New York City. (Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images/AFP via Getty Images)

Wests response to Noah was to hurl a racial slur at him on Instagram, a move that got the post deleted and the performer suspended from the platform for 24 hours.

Youre an indelible part of my life, Ye, Noah said in a since-deleted Instagram post in response. Which is why it breaks my heart to see you like this. I dont care if you support Trump, and I dont care if you roast Pete. I do however care when I see you on a path thats dangerously close to peril and pain.

Noah was merely joining voices that were already speaking up about what abuse experts have called troubling behavior. Domestic violence victim advocacy groups say its in keeping with the typical escalation of an abuser. They have been speaking out publicly to draw attention to the disturbing nature of Wests behavior as more than the acts of a hopeless romantic and the fodder for celebrity gossip.

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West arrive for the 2019 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. (ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)

West has apologized but never stopped the behavior.
About 66 Poles of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) have been destroyed by fire within 62 days in four ECG District of Juapong, Afienya, Tema North, and Nungua due to the behavour of some unscrupulous people in those catchment areas.

Between December 1st, 2021 and January 31st, 2022, wildfire destroyed - a total of 19 in Juapong; 23 in Afienya; 16 in Tema-North; and eight in the Nungua District, Ms. Sakyiwaa Mensah, ECG Tema Regional Public Relations Officer (PRO) stated.

Ms. Mensah who was speaking at the Ghana News Agency Industrial News Hub Boardroom Dialogue platform expressed concern about the behavour of some Ghanaians who burn substances quite close to ECG Poles which most often results in the destruction of the poles.

She noted that the replacement of the wooding poles cost the company huge sums of money which otherwise would have been channeled into other initiatives the country could have benefitted from.

Ms. Mensah said that the loss of one electricity wooden pole could affect a lot of people in a community as many people were connected to that pole.

She, therefore, called for community watchdogs to help protect ECG installations including the wooden poles which serve as transmission lines, If it is destroyed we cannot transmit power to the residents.

Ms. Mensah, also explained that any unscheduled interruption in power supplies affects both industrial and domestic customers negatively, in view of this, we must all police ECG properties within our communities at all times.

ECG urgently needs the public to serve as a watchdog to help prevent recalcitrant individuals from causing loss to the companys properties, we must all be vigilant at all times and if in doubt challenge personalities around ECG installations.

She admitted that the customers were suffering and the work could not have been done alone by the company hence the need for the public to help protect the properties.

Mr. Francis Ameyibor, GNA Tema Regional Manager explained that the platform forms part of a broader objective of the Agency towards revamping its operations.

He said the agency has embarked on a process of revamping its newsgathering operations, towards the production of digital news content and the acquisition of modern digital equipment to aid speedy transmission of stories from the field.

Mr. Ameyibor, said, GNA-Tema Office found the need to engage stakeholders to help educate the population as part of our general contribution to good governance.
Protect the eyes from exposure to direct contact to several environmental factors which could be detrimental to your eyes, Dr Kwame Oben-Nyarko, Optometrist Third Eye Care and Vision Centre has stated.

He said spectacles can also be used for the correction of several conditions including the doubling of vision, latent, and manifest deviations of the eyes.

Dr Oben-Nyarko stated speaking on: Acquiring a pair of spectacles: What you need to know explained that it may sound like an easy task but there are several factors that need to be considered before a spectacle is actually dispensed.

He identified some of the factors as professionals responsible for dispensing spectacles; places to acquire it; the processes involved; different spectacle options available depending on the unique needs of the individual and different types of materials used for making lenses and frames.

Others include the accessories for spectacles and the cleaning processes of spectacles.

Dr. Oben-Nyarko stated at the Ghana News Agency-Tema Regional Office and the Ghana Optometric Association fortnightly public sensitization initiative GNA-GOA: My Eye! My Vision!

The fortnight initiative is a collaborative public education advocacy campaign to promote the need for people to access eye care and also to draw attention to vision health.

The GNA-GOA: My Eyes! My Vision! The initiative also seeks to challenge the public and policymakers to focus on vision as a health issue, which forms a critical component of mankinds wellbeing but is often neglected.

Dr Oben-Nyarko also noted that there are two professionals mainly involved in the dispensing of glasses; the professionals are Optometrists and Opticians but their roles vary, however, their work comes together to deliver spectacles of the highest standard and visual quality.

He said the optometrist is your eyes general practitioner and the first point of call into the eye care industry, while an optician is a licensed technician who has been trained to design, provide and fit corrective lenses for vision care patients using prescriptions provided by their optometrists.

The work of these two professionals come together to ensure a proper pair of spectacles is dispensed to the wearer, he said.

Dr Kingsley Hedornu, Optometrist at the Tema Christian Eye Center responding to questions explained that eye care must be a priority of all, we must not wait until there is a problem.

Proper eye care requires that at least once a year, you check your eyes to ensure that it is protected at all times.

Mr. Francis Ameyibor, GNA-Tema Regional Manager explained that the two professional bodies have agreed to work together on a public sensitization campaign dubbed: GNA-GOA: My Eyes! My Vision to draw attention to vision health.

We are combining the forces of our professional calling as Optometric Physicians and Communication Experts to reach out to the public with a well-coordinated message.

We believe such collaboration would serve as a major platform to educate the

public on vision health and also serves as a critical stage for the association to reach out to the world, Mr. Ameyibor noted.
The Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has commissioned the 5th and 6th Distribution Centres for Zipline Ghana at Anum and Kete Krachi.

When the government, led by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo satisfied itself with the knowledge behind Ziplines innovation and how it will improve access to vital medical supplies, we became interested and more eager to ensure that the good people of Ghana benefit from this innovation.

When I look at the tremendous success since 2019, I can only thank God for the foresight and the bold decision to move forward with this (Zipline) project. I am sure by now even the ardent critics of the innovation have come to terms with the benefits of this project. Never again should we allow ourselves to be divided by politics when discussing the health of our people. When a snake is about to bite you, it does not ask whether you are NPP or NDC or CPP, he stated.

The Vice President, who was speaking at Nyagbo Sroe in the Afadjato South District of the Volta Region, said the unhealthy criticism that accompanied Governments decision to implement the drone medical delivery service to address emergencies and hard-to-reach communities, including claims that the drones would take pictures of people in their bathrooms, could have led to deaths of thousands of Ghanaians including expectant mothers, victims of snake bite and from Covid 19.

From Omenako to Mpanya, Vobsi to Sefwi Wiawso, and now Anum to Kete Krachi; Zipline drones have been almost everywhere, flying over hills and valleys to bring healthcare closer to the people. Since Zipline started the drone deliveries, the challenges of travelling for vaccine inoculation and the delay in vaccine delivery have been resolved.

I have been informed that as at the end of February 2022, Zipline has made more than two million deliveries of life-saving medical products, saving hundreds of thousands of lives and limbs. Aside these, other medical supplies like blood, anti-snake venom and PPEs have been transported with ease to government health facilities within the period.

Also importantly, over 300 high quality jobs have been created, and I am happy to say that all the distribution centres are manned 100% by Ghanaians. I am also informed that Ghanaian staff are at the forefront of Zipline expansion to Nigeria, Kenya, and Cote dIvoire, Dr Bawumia added.

The two new Centres, at Anum and Kete Krachi, will serve all health facilities within the Afram Plains areas and many other hard-to-reach communities in almost all parts of Volta Region, most parts of the Eastern Region, and parts of the Oti and Savannah regions, ensuring almost total national coverage.

Vice President Bawumia thanked the leadership and staff of the Ministry of Health, Ghana Health Service and other key stakeholders in the health delivery sector for their continued dedication and patriotism, especially in the wake of the Covid 19 pandemic. Ghana, he emphasized, is eternally grateful.

The Country Manager of Zipline Ghana, Naa Adorkor Yawson, disclosed that after three years of service to over 2,300 health facilities in 147 districts in 13 regions, the company would, later this year, begin home delivery services, to make speedy access to essential medications even easier.
Medical supply and logistic delivery company Zipline, has expanded its operations to the Anum and Kete-Krachi areas as part of efforts to reach more health facilities in the Volta, and Oti regions of the country.

An event held at Nyagbo Sroe, a remote suburb of the Afadjato South District of the Volta Region to witness the delivery of medical commodities, was graced by the Vice President, H.E. Dr. Bawumia, who has championed the adoption of the technology as one of the key ways to accessing medical healthcare in the country.

In a welcome statement, the Country Manager of Zipline, Naa Adorkor Yawson, disclosed that the opening of the two distribution centers in the Volta and Oti regions is in recognition of health industrialization plans by the government to see more health outposts benefit from government interventions.

She emphasized that, since the start of business operations in Ghana, Zipline has prioritized all efforts at getting more health facilities, especially those in hard-to-reach areas, enrolled on its drone supply chain system. She added that, three years since the business commenced in Ghana, communities marginalized by access challenges, leading to inadequate stocking of health facilities with vital medications, have experienced first-hand the beauty of the Zipline technology and how it has helped to save the lives of countless people.

Three years ago, what began as a small initiative in the little town of Omenako to bring relief to the communities within that enclave, turned out to be a futuristic, Science-tech driven partnership, refined with solutions to addressing our major health concerns. For the first time, communities marginalized by geographical and infrastructure challenges have experienced first-hand instant access to medicines, stronger emergency and disaster response, reduction in referral rates and improved healthcare through this beautiful technology - Naa Adorkor Yawson.

She further explained that, the expanded business cooperation, supported by the government of Ghana, Ministry of Health and allied partners, has witnessed comprehensive and rapid development in the health sector. In her assessment, apart from the home commendation of reducing the incidence of infant mortality through their vaccine distribution programme and the swift response to medical emergencies in remote areas, the company has also received international plaudits for its work in the African sub-region.

Naa Adorkor Yawson further commended the Vice President, the Health Ministry, the Ghana Health Service, Ghana Civil Aviation Authority and other partners for ensuring that the full benefit of the service is achieved. She indicated that with the two new distribution centers, about 70% of the Volta Region and 90% of the Oti Region will be reached with their services.

Addressing the chiefs and people of the Nyagbo Sroe, Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia said the event is part of the governments broader commitment to expand the reach of the drone service to ensure that no one is left behind when accessing emergency medicines and other health care products.

When the world was hit by the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic and all countries were challenged by the difficulties of even distribution of vaccines, the Zipline drones came in handy. I understand close to one-million COVID-19 vaccines have so far been delivered by Zipline to many health facilities across the country. This, no doubt is one of the contributing factors for which reason we have not experienced massive expiries of the vaccines as happened in many other countries. By this also, Ghana through the operation of Zipline, has become the only country in the entire world to use drones to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to dosing centers, the Vice President said.

According to the Vice President, the testimonies of patients and health practitioners of various health facilities about the impact of drone delivery goes beyond political cynicism. He admonished Zipline to stay focused on their mandate and ensure that they carry their duties with heart and mind, so that many more health facilities will benefit from the service.
The government is yet to finalise its non-life insurance companies that would be privatised, the Parliament was told on Monday.

"As per inputs received from Department of Investment and Public Asset Management, Government has not yet decided on the Public Sector General Insurance Companies (PSGICs) that are to be privatised," minister of state for finance, Bhagwat Karad, told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

The Central government owns four general insurers viz.,National Insurance Company Ltd, The New India Assurance Company Ltd (already listed), The Oriental Insurance Company Ltd, and United India Insurance Company Ltd.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had earlier said the government will privatise one of the three general insurance companies.

The government also said it is in receipt of a proposal from the General Insurers' (Public Sector) Association of India (GIPSA) for capital infusion for PSGICs towards supporting their solvency position.

As to the wage revision for employees in the four insurance companies, the government told the Lok Sabha that it has not got any wage settlement/revision proposal from GIPSA.

It said that the four insurers hold wage revision negotiations with the unions through GIPSA.

Disclaimer: Information, facts or opinions expressed in this news article are presented as sourced from IANS and do not reflect views of Moneylife and hence Moneylife is not responsible or liable for the same. As a source and news provider, IANS is responsible for accuracy, completeness, suitability and validity of any information in this article.
While the committee of creditors (CoC) of Sintex Industries Ltd (Sintex)has approved the joint bid of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and Assets Care & Reconstruction Enterprise (ACRE) to acquire the debt-ridden textiles company under the insolvency resolution process (IRP), dozens of shareholders have sent emails to the resolution professional (RP) against the proposed delisting of Sintex. Online brokerage Zerodha has also issued a warning to investors to refrain from buying shares of Sintex in the hope of earning a profit.

Sintex, in a regulatory filing Sunday, informed the exchanges that "As per resolution plan of RIL jointly with ACRE, it is proposed that existing share capital of the company shall be reduced to zero and the company will be delisted from the stock exchanges, BSE and National Stock Exchange (NSE)."

According to the company, the e-voting on approval of the resolution plan was concluded on 19 March 2022 and the resolution plan submitted by RIL-ACRE has been duly approved by 100% of CoC members under Section 30(4) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) as the successful resolution plan.

This, however, is subject to the approval of the National CompanyLaw Tribunal's (NCLT's) Ahmedabad bench.

Separately, Zerodha founder Nithin Kamat, in a tweet, warned investors against buying shares of Sintex just because it is at a 52-week low. He says, "It is concerning that we have a few customers still buying Sintex shares even after this nudge that the stock price will go to 0 and mandating a time-based one-time password (TOTP). There are so many who decide to buy just because a stock is at 52 week or all-time lows without caring about the reason."

It is concerning that we have a few customers still buying Sintex shares even after this nudge that the stock price will go to 0 and mandating a TOTP.

There are so many who decide to buy just because a stock is at 52 week or all-time lows without caring about the reason. https://t.co/qDQ1kjBj2I  Nithin Kamath (@Nithin0dha) March 21, 2022

Meanwhile, shareholders of Sintex have asked the RP for full disclosure about the proposed delisting plan. "... we are surprised to note that, so far, there has been no approval of the said resolution plan under section 31 of the IBC. Despite the above, you have made partial disclosure about proposed delisting in violation of the said SEBI guidelines without even disclosing the exit price justification; therefore, there has been a violation of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) delisting guidelines," these shareholders say.

However, this is not the first time when shareholders of Sintex are sending emails in bulk to media. In January this year, a bunch of shareholders had demanded that since details of the bids have been leaked, it violates the principle of maintaining confidentiality during the entire resolution process.

Citing this ruling, shareholders of Sintex had requested the resolution professional to cancel the existing ongoing process immediately; invite fresh bids; debar the defaulting biddersRIL and ACRE from the process. ( Read: Sintex Industries Shareholders Demand Fresh Bids since Media Leak Violated Principle of Confidentiality

As reported by Moneylife at that time , most of these shareholders are clueless that the insolvency resolution process allows a successful bidder to decide the fate of existing equity. Most investors have also been lured into investing only recently, based on two well-known examples of Ruchi Soya and Alok Industries where existing shares were not extinguished, giving shareholders a big bonanza.

Those who take blind bets based on social-media wisdom rarely bother with even the cursory research that would have informed them of dozens of examples where existing shareholders lost out when equity was extinguished. So compelling is the fake narrative that millions of investors are buying shares of bankrupt companies as evident from the trading volumes of stocks that are being actively manipulated.

They were not told that Bhushan Steel, Bhushan Power and Electrosteel Steel, Lakshmi Vilas Bank, Dewan Housing Finance Ltd (DHFL) and UVSL (Uttam Value Steel Ltd), among others, have been delisted after the equity was written off. Many investors were trapped in some of these companies. ( Read: Many Ways of Being Fooled in a Bull Market

RIL has been looking to diversify its business from petrochemicals to telecommunication, green energy and fashion. It has recently purchased IPR (intellectual property rights) to use the iconic Lee Cooper brand in India and acquired a stake in some other fashion brands. RIL is interested in Sintex since it had been a supplier to global brands such as Armani, Hugo Boss, Diesel and Burberry. RIL has also partnered with Burberry Group Plc, Hugo Boss AG and Tiffany & Co.

Since 1 January 2022, however, shares of the textiles company fell nearly 60%, data showed.

On 4 January 2022, Sintex hit its (adjusted) 52-week high of Rs20.45 on the BSE. However, since then, it is on a downhill journey. It remained at Rs7.82, down 5%, while the 30-share Sensex ended Monday 571 points down at 57.292.49 points.
MISSOULA -- Shelters across Montana just got cozier, thanks to a generous donor who sent 300 dog beds to shelters across the state, including Missoula.

The beds were sent to shelters in Billings, Bozeman, Great Falls, Butte and more.

Boxes were stacked up in the lobby of the Humane Society of Western Montana last week, all filled with brand-new dog beds.

The shelter's Executive Director, Marta Pierpoint, said they were shocked.

"It was a complete surprise. It wasn't someone I was familiar with our donors. I didn't know this gentleman; I hadn't asked for dog beds in particular so it was just this joyful moment," Pierpoint said. The Humane Society in Missoula got 50 beds; more beds than any other shelter received. The donor didn't want to be interviewed, but Pierpoint said he told her he came to adopt a dog from the shelter three years ago.

"And we had actually convinced him not to take the dog that he wanted because we were concerned it wouldn't get along with his little dachshund," she said.

He told her it was great advice, and ended up adopting a different dog. Now, the shelter is paying it forward.

"We took some to the Johnson Street Shelter, where there are many pets in need here in Missoula. And we will be taking some up to the Flathead Community when we are up there delivering some food and supplies next week," she said. You may never know how your actions can impact someone, but in this case, they found out three years later with a generous donation. "They were paying attention to this particular pet owner's needs and communicating well. So, I feel very proud of the staff and very proud of the shelter generally and just so grateful that someone just decided to reach out to us in this way. It just makes me very happy," she added.
HELENA, Mont. - Montana and the U.S. Department of Agricultures (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service came to an agreement that would allow the shipment of state-inspected meat and poultry products out of state.

The Cooperative Interstate Shipment (CIS) was approved in 2008 and launched by the USDA in 2012. The CIS program allows certain state-inspected facilities that obey federal inspection requirements to ship their products out of state. Montana is the tenth state added in CIS, according to the governor's release.

With expanded opportunities for Montana meat processors, were helping add value and get Montanas superior beef, poultry, pork, and lamb to market throughout the United States, Gov. Gianforte said in a release from his office. My hats off to Executive Officer Mike Honeycutt and his team at the Montana Department of Livestock for working with USDA to expand capacity for our meat processors.

The Montana Department of Livestock (MDL) has been working with the USDA since August 2021 for a spot in the CIS program, made possible by MDL Executive Officer Mike Honeycutt and approved funding from the 2021 Montana State Legislature.

The addition of the Cooperative Interstate Shippers program to the Department of Livestocks services is a tremendous win for Montanas livestock producers and processors, Honeycutt said in the release. Following the governors emphasis on growing value-added agricultural processing in his Montana Comeback Plan and significant financial investments made by the state to help meat processors grow their processing capacity, the CIS program will now give state inspected processors an option to expand and grow their markets beyond our state borders.

"The CIS program is limited to states that have established a Meat and Poultry Inspection (MPI) program for products to be shipped solely within the state. FSIS will reimburse Montana for 60% of costs associated with providing interstate eligible inspection service," the governor's release said.
Gee, Officer Krupke, didnt you have one more ticket to the Oscars?

Breakout West Side Story star Rachel Zegler revealed Sunday that she wasnt able to score a ticket to next weekends awards show.

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Idk yall, I have tried it all, but it doesnt seem to be happening, the 20-year-old New Jersey native commented on Instagram after a fan mentioned being excited to see her at the Oscars.

Rachel Zegler stars as Maria in "West Side Story." (Courtesy of 20th Century Studios)

I will root for West Side Story from my couch and be proud of the work we so tirelessly did three years ago. I hope some last minute miracle occurs and I can celebrate our film in person, but hey, thats how it goes sometimes, I guess. Thanks for all the shock and outrage  Im disappointed too. But thats okay. So proud of our movie.

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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences did not immediately return a request for comment from the Daily News Monday, but announced last month that it would be reducing the seating capacity at the Dolby Theatre from 3,300 to 2,500 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Each nominee and presenter is given a ticket and a plus one, and the remaining seats are doled out by the studios.

The Daily News Flash Weekdays Catch up on the days top five stories every weekday afternoon. >

Steven Spielbergs remake of the movie musical scored seven Oscar nominations, including best picture, best supporting actress for Ariana DeBose, who played Anita, and best director for Spielberg himself.

Disney, which distributed West Side Story, also did not return a request for comment from The News.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 27 Violetta Komyshan and Ansel Elgort attend the "West Side Story" New York Premiere at Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center on November 29, 2021 in New York City. (Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)

Zegler, meanwhile, seemed to brush off the snub.

Appreciate all the support, I really really do, she tweeted Sunday after her comment caught peoples attention online. We live in such unprecedented times and a lot of work behind the scenes goes into making movie magic happen (and) awards shows alike Lets all just respect the process and Ill get off my phone.

With Love creator Gloria Calderon Kellett was less accepting.

Hey @ABCNetwork You moved the ONE Latine show you have to Hulu and @TheAcademy claims to want to embrace diversity, she tweeted, referring to ABC telenovela Promised Land.

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How about the rare time that Latine people have a movie nominated for an OSCAR you invite the lead. Latine people are 18.5% of this country. ENOUGH!
Ed is set to perform the second leg of his +=x Tour (pronounced Mathematics Tour) in New Zealand and Australia in early February 2023. The first leg of the tour, with European locations, is set to begin in April 2022 in Dublin.



'Subtract is expected to be released sometime in 2022, though there has not been an official announcement with a specific release date yet.



The 'Shivers' hitmaker- who has nineteen-month old daughter Lyra with wife Cherry Seaborn -was then asked to name one thing he didnt like about his job as a musician, but claimed that small issues are irrelevant "when youre doing what you love "for work and that his job is "98%" awesome.



He added: When you do what you love for a living, theres always something that youre like meh about, but when its something in the midst of like 98% awesome, it just doesnt matter.



So I wouldnt be able to pinpoint one thing [I dont like] but theres obviously always something.  But if you lost that bit, you might lose everything else, because it all works together. So I dont really view anything [specific]. My job is to play music every day, if I find something to complain about, thats just weird.

Bang Showbiz
Members of John Benning Chapter NSDAR hang a banner recognizing March 29 as Vietnam War Veterans Day. A joint city/county proclamation will be signed at 10 a.m. on that day in the Commissioners Meeting Room in the Courthouse Annex.
Sherrie Buckland of Norman Park remains in the hospital more than three weeks after a shooting in Moultrie. Family members have started multiple fund-raising efforts to help her recover from her injuries.
Greenwood ISD

Greenwood High School will be offering credit by examination tests, with or without prior instruction, from 8 a.m.- noon on May 23-24. Tests will be administered on the students campus.

To be eligible to take the test with prior instruction, students must have had prior instruction in the subject or course as determined by the district and received a grade of at least a 60 in the course failed. To receive credit, the student must score a minimum grade of 70 and meet all other district requirements.
Rescuers set out to the plane crash site of Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 21, 2022. A passenger plane with 132 people aboard crashed in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Monday afternoon, said the regional emergency management department. (Xinhua)

NANNING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- A passenger plane with 132 people aboard crashed in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Monday afternoon, said the regional emergency management department.

The Boeing 737 aircraft of China Eastern Airlines, which took off from Kunming and was bound for Guangzhou, crashed at about 2:38 p.m. into a mountainous area near the Molang village in Tengxian County in the city of Wuzhou, causing a mountain fire, according to the department.

The 132 people onboard flight MU5735 were 123 passengers and nine crew members, said the Civil Aviation Administration of China on its website. The administration said it has initiated the emergency response mechanism and dispatched a working team to the site.

The fire has been put out and the rescue operation is underway, said Chen Jie, an official with the regional emergency management department.

The Wuzhou fire brigade has sent 117 firefighters with 23 fire trucks to the site. Further 538 firefighters from other parts of Guangxi have been dispatched to join in the rescue efforts, the regional fire department said at its Weibo account.

The neighboring Guangdong Province has dispatched 505 firefighters and 97 vehicles to aid the rescue operation, with the first batch having arrived at the scene.

The Guangxi regional health commission has dispatched 12 medical experts to the site while over 80 medical workers and 36 ambulances sent by health authorities in the city of Wuzhou have arrived at the scene.

China Eastern Airlines said on Monday that it has initiated an emergency response mechanism following the crash.

It has established nine special working groups for aircraft disposal, accident investigation, family assistance, logistics support, legal support, public relations, security, financial insurance, and cargo disposal.

The working groups were en route to the site, and the company said that the cause of the accident would be fully investigated.

Boeing China said it is aware of the media reports of the China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 aircraft crash and is working to gather more information.
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Computing is everywhere  and Michigan Technological Universitys first Computing[MTU] Showcase is for everyone, as faculty, students, alumni and friends come together to share the latest developments, answer industry demands and explore possibilities.

The showcase, jointly hosted by Michigan Techs College of Computing and the Universitys Institute of Computing and Cybersystems, will also honor its own. The event begins Monday, April 4, with an awards and induction ceremony, along with a discussion panel and reception at Michigan Techs Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts. The showcase runs all day Tuesday and Wednesday in the Memorial Union Building featuring workshops, panels, demonstrations and talks by computing visionaries including alumna Dianne Marsh 86 92. "Dianne is one of our most distinguished computer science alums, having worked in multiple industries, and now as director of device and security content at Netflix," said Dennis Livesay, dean of the College of Computing.

Register, Attend and Join the Conversation Explore the showcase schedule of speakers, workshops and get-togethers. Sign up for in-person and virtual events. All are welcome and its free.

Livesay is also looking forward to the keynote by Philip Bourne, founding dean of the University of Virginia School of Data Science. "Phil is a legend in bioinformatics and data science, having led some of the most important biomedical big data projects that this country has ever done," he said.

The showcase is intended to be a connection-maker on many levels. Its for prospective students considering computing or data science careers. Current undergraduate and graduate students will bring their most exciting innovations and research presentations to competitions and demonstrations. Faculty research will also be in the spotlight, with many presenting or taking part in workshops and panels on topics ranging from women in IT to visualizations in Python. And, both industry and alumni will be on hand to spark conversation about whats happening now in the world of computing and whats next.

The Computing[MTU] Showcase is the party that celebrates the critical period of computing were in at Michigan Tech and in our world, said ICC Director Tim Havens.

The showcase will host more than 20 speakers, including counterterrorism, health informatics, machine learning and security experts from companies and institutions ranging from Adobe, Amazon and Microsoft to the National Counterterrorism Center, the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Defense.

The first Computing[MTU] Showcase wont be the last. Livesay says the intent is to create an annual event as relevant and dynamic as the cyber-curveballs and exponential growth of computing itself.

"We are working hard to elevate the visibility and role of computing at Michigan Tech and the showcase is a key part of that effort." Dennis Livesay dean, Michigan Tech College of Computing

About Computing[MTU]

At Michigan Tech, computing is universal. As the first and only college in the state of Michigan solely focused on computing, MTUs College of Computing leads the campus in responding to 21st century digital transformation, including technological, economic and social needs across academic disciplines. It offers 12 computing degrees, 21 computing-related student clubs and shared computing infrastructure to address Industry 4.0 technologies including cybersecurity, cloud computing, robotics and mechatronics, along with big data, machine learning, modeling and simulation, and the industrial Internet of Things.

About MTUs Institute of Computing and Cybersystems

With 70 members in seven research centers representing more than 20 academic disciplines, the Institute of Computing and Cybersystems (ICC) collaborates with researchers around the world in an environment that fosters technological innovation. Research areas include cyber-physical systems such as wearable electronics, enabling secure data recovery for mobile devices; terrain identification and path planning for autonomous ground vehicles in unstructured environments; and technology-assisted conversations.

Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to more than 7,000 students from 55 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, the University offers more than 125 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business and economics, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.
Supreme Court nominee and federal appeals court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson departs with her White House escort and advisor, former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, D-AL, after meeting with U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., March 2, 2022.
Service members of pro-Russian troops are seen atop of tanks on the outskirts of the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine on March 20, 2022.
Orlando locals can check out "The Lost City," early during a pair of advance screening events this week. (Kimberley French/Paramount Pictures via AP) (Photo Credit: Kimberley French/AP)

Orlando locals will have two chances to check out new romantic comedy adventure The Lost City before this highly-anticipated movies wide release this weekend on March 25.

The first of these screenings will be a Girls Night Out screening at 7 p.m. on March 22. Three Central Florida movie theaters are hosting this event locally: AMC Disney Springs 24, Cinemark Artegon and Regal Winter Park Village.

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Those who miss Tuesdays advance screening have another chance at 7 p.m. on Wednesday to check out a Date Night Out screening, which will be available at more theaters, including Universal Cinemark at CityWalk, Regal Pointe Orlando and AMC Altamonte Mall 18.

Actor and producer Sandra Bullock stars in "The Lost City." (Evan Agostini/Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Tickets for all advance screenings are available now at the official film website as well as third-party ticketing site Fandango.

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The Lost City stars Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum, with Brad Pitt, Daniel Radcliffe and DaVine Joy Randolph playing significant supporting roles. Early reviews have been very positive, with the movie currently earning a 95% Fresh rating on review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes.

The film follows reclusive author Loretta Sage (Bullock) who writes romance-adventure novels centered around a fictional hero named Dash, portrayed by book cover model Alan Caprison (Tatum). While on a book tour, Loretta is kidnapped by the villainous Abigail Fairfax (Radcliffe), an eccentric billionaire who believes that the lost city in Lorettas new book is real. Despite having no survival skills, Alan will venture deep into the heart of the jungle to rescue Loretta, determined to become a real-life hero like the character he portrays.

Star Bullock recently said in an interview aired on CBS Sunday Morning that The Lost City would be her last movie for a while while the actress takes time off to focus on her family.

Want to reach out? Email me at akondolojy@orlandosentinel.com. For more fun things, follow @fun.things.orlando on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
Loris officials hope a Camden-based accounting firm can catch the city up on its overdue audits and clear the way for the city to pursue critical grants.

Loris City Council voted unanimously last week to enter into a contract with Sheheen, Hancock & Godwin, LLP, to speed up the process of completing the citys past-due audits.

During the council meeting, officials said the audits would be finished by the fall.

The oldest past-due audit dates back to fiscal year 2016-17, followed by fiscal years ending in 2018, 2019 and 2020. According to the contract, the city will spend no more than $18,000 per fiscal year. This could amount up to $72,000 for four years by the end of the process, plus an additional $36,000 should the city hire this firm for its audits for the fiscal years ending in 2021 and 2022.

Its a great thing to finally feel like we are moving forward, said Loris Mayor Todd Harrelson. Im just really excited about getting started after it being postponed from COVID and tax season.

The city is still under contract with the Georgetown firm Harper, Poston & Moree and will still use the firm on an as-needed basis.

The Camden firm is being hired to speed up the process and be more hands-on, said city clerk Keith Massey.

They are [being] brought in just to catch us up at this point, Massey said, adding a team of accountants will be working with the city on a daily basis until the job is done. They arent leaving until they have everything we need to complete the audits.

Loris has listed fiscal years 2020-21 and 2021-22 in the contract in the event officials decide to use the firm for those audits. If so, those audits should be complete by December, city officials said.

The South Carolina Treasurers Office has withheld about $202,000 from the city because of its late audits for fiscal years ending in 2016 through 2019. Funds for fiscal years 2020-21 and 2021-22 will not be withheld, according to the treasurers office.
One of the victims of a shooting at the start of the month in Myrtle Beach died Friday, according to the Horry County Coroners Office, and the man accused of shooting her has been charged with murder.

Rhonda Harris, 38, of Lancaster, had been hospitalized since the March 1 shooting on Ocean Boulevard near the Yachtsman Resort, according to Horry County Deputy Coroner Michelle McSpadden, who ruled the death a homicide.

Myrtle Beach police on March 5 announced that 37-year-old Lashawn Jarrett of Monroe, North Carolina, was in custody in connection to the case. Jarrett was initially charged with attempted murder but now faces a murder charge, according to Myrtle Beach police.

Police said Jarrett was involved in an altercation with the victim inside a vehicle, and subsequently shot the victim, later identified as Harris. He fired several times, hitting Harris inside the vehicle as well as another vehicle parked nearby.
Emcara Health team member Dawn listens to Florida Blue member Rita Ottingers heart at her home in Palm Harbor, Fla. (Courtesy of Emcara Health)

Dr. Elizabeth Malko remembers when she was a young girl and doctors still made house calls.

When I had the measles, he came to the home, that was the norm, said Malko, vice president of medical solutions and chief medical officer of Florida Blue Medicare.

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Shes come full circle. Florida Blue Medicare, the states Blue Cross Blue Shield Medicare plan, is now allowing some members to choose PopHealthCares home care provider Emcara Health as their primary care physician, Malko said.

There are so many opportunities that really require us to get out of the modern way of thinking about health care, that it exists in a building 15 miles away, you need to get in your car or get on a bus and go get health care at a time and place that suits your provider, she said.

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Florida Blue is just the latest organization to invest in primary home health care. Previously a niche but growing service, demand skyrocketed during the pandemic for primary as well as hospital-level care at home. Malko believes the pandemic may have sped up widespread adoption of at-home care by about five years.

In November 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) started issuing waivers that allowed health systems to treat patients who needed hospital-level care at home after passing a vetting process.

Now, house calls may just be the future of health care, Malko said.

I absolutely think that is where healthcare is going, she said.

By investing in preventative care for homebound, often high-risk patients, conditions are caught before they escalate to the point where hospitalization is required, Malko said. A 2002 study of a Veterans Affairs home-based primary care program found patients spent 62% fewer days in the hospital when given home-based primary care, and the cost of care per patient fell 24%.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida currently offers its service to a total of 6,500 to 7,500 eligible Florida patients who struggle to leave their home for care, Malko said, including residents in Orange, Seminole and Lake counties, with plans to add Osceola, Polk, Brevard and more later this year.

Other companies already offer primary care at home to patients in Central Florida.

Rafael Gonzalez is CEO of Primary Care At Home, which provides primary care to over 3,000 patients from Fort Myers to Ocala and has been in business since 2014. His company employs 12 medical providers and about 20 support staff. It accepts many major insurances.

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He said the home care industry has grown since he started and confirmed it became mainstream during the pandemic. It improves care quality and addresses health care inequities, he said.

You have a group of people that are somewhat falling through the cracks, Gonzalez said. Were dealing with chronic patients that are mainly geriatric or adult disabled.

The number of homebound adults in the U.S. increased from 5% a decade ago to 13% in 2020, with the highest rates seen in Black and Latinx populations, Mount Sinai researchers found in August 2020.

Higher-level home care offered, too

The pandemic has also motivated some providers to offer more intensive, hospital-level care at home to patients who need advanced support, but dont necessarily need to stay in an inpatient setting.

The official term for hospital-level at home care is Hospital at Home, and it is spreading rapidly. In June 2020, Mayo Clinic began offering hospital-level care at home through a combination of virtual and in-person services. Johns Hopkins, a pioneer of the service, has offered Hospital at Home since 1994. The health system found that caring for a patient at their home is cheaper than caring for a patient at the hospital.

Hospital at Home often includes daily nurse or paramedic visits, a doctor visit daily in the home or by video; IV medications; diagnostic testing, such as bloodwork and imaging; remote monitoring of vital signs 24/7 and a team available at any time.

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The Health Report Weekly A weekly update on health news in Florida. >

This service grew in popularity as hospitals needed to free up beds during the pandemic, said Tina Burbine, vice president of care innovation at health care consulting firm Healthlink Advisors.

This is the next big thing in health care, she said.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services initially only planned to allow at-home hospital care for the duration of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. Mayo Clinic, with partners such as Kaiser Permanente and Johns Hopkins Medicine, founded the Advanced Care at Home Coalition to lobby Congress to extend Hospital at Home permissions after the Public Health Emergency ends.

David Levine, medical director of strategy and innovation at Brigham & Womens Home Hospital, advocated for the health care model in a presentation at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Societys 2022 conference on Tuesday. Even if the concept is new to a lot of people, it has been studied for decades, he said.

A 2016 review by University of Oxford researchers of 16 randomized controlled trials  the gold standard of scientific research  on Hospital at Home services found no difference in six-month mortality, no difference in being transferred or readmitted to a hospital, happier patients, and lower costs.

There are multiple randomized control trials showing that home hospital care is an extremely high-quality, safe opportunity, Levine said in his presentation. If home hospital were a drug, everyone would take it and everyone would pay for it.

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ccatherman@orlandosentinel.com
Jacksonville Police Department is hosting a community blood drive next month.

ImpactLife's bloodmobile will be in the parking lot of the Municipal Building, 200 W. Douglas Ave., from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 7.

Those who are 17 years old, or 16 with parental permission, and weigh more than 110 pounds can donate. The process takes around 45 minutes to an hour. Participants will receive a voucher for a $10 gift card redeemable at Target, Amazon, Starbuck's, Subway, Home Depot, Lowes or Walmart and will have a tree planted in their name.

To donate, contact Courtney Glass at 217-479 4630 or go to bloodcenter.org and use code 60161 to locate the drive. Masks and appointments are required.

ImpactLife provides blood and blood components to more than 125 hospitals, including Jacksonville Memorial Hospital, in Illinois and three other states.
A Jacksonville native and Springfield firefighter has turned a high school passion into reality with a series of childrens books that seek to break stereotypes about race, family and tattoos.

All families are different and that is what I show in my childrens books without actually talking about it and beating you over the head with it, Danual Berkley said.

The 35-year-old Berkleys third childrens book, Razzle Me, Dazzle Me, Ari and Rue, will be out in the coming weeks. Its about Berkley being home alone with his twin daughters, Ariadne and Rue. Berkley also features his wife, Samantha, and sons, Eavion and Kai, in his childrens books, which include Baby Kai and the Monster in the Closet and Davys Pirate Ship Adventure.

Berkleys other books include Poems by the Bedside, One More, Then Goodnight and his first, Wonderful Magical Place.

I want to show that books about African American children dont always have to be about their hair or the color of their skin or civil rights, Berkley said. African American culture is much more than just those things. So even though I show the different hairstyles and the different skin tones in all of my characters, its just to show that we do other things, too.

Berkley uses his own family as characters in his books to address stereotypes about Black families.

I try to show a positive message about Black fathers; theres a negative stereotype about Black fathers not really being a part of the family home, Berkley said. You actually see my character interacting with my kids. Both my wife and I are in the childrens books that I write and we have wedding rings on our fingers.

Tattoos also are addressed in Berkleys books, and the author also speaks from experience on that topic.

I have a lot of tattoos and people generally stereotype guys with tattoos as criminals or with some type of negative background, Berkley said. Im showing that my character has tattoos and he is a loving father and does all of these things with his kids.

Berkley was born and raised in Jacksonville and attended Washington Elementary and Jacksonville High School, where an English teacher introduced him to writing. As part of the class, Berkley and his fellow students were required to submit their writing to the Illinois Young Authors Competition, where Berkley won third place in the state for his poetry.

Berkley graduated early from high school to join the Army, was stationed in Germany for a while, then was deployed to Iraq for 14 months.

I was a gunner for a gun truck escort company and our job over there was to escort civilian and military convoys from Point A to Point B, Berkley said. I had an extremely deadly job and my release from the stuff that I did was to go back to writing these made-up poems like I did in high school about outer space and all kinds of stuff to escape the harsh realities I was living at the time.

Wonderful Magical Place was the result. It is a collection of poetry about made-up adventures of me running into an alien kid from outer space, or creating a bunch of made-up words, Berkley said. The characters had magic powers and go to all of these different worlds.

One of my military buddies convinced me that I should publish it because he thought it was a pretty cool book. But since it was my first book I didnt really know too much about the industry or how to get an illustrator, Berkley said. So me and one of my buddies from high school, Larry Lawrence, put it together and published it through a self-publishing company.

Berkley started to write more poetry after he got out of the military, but realized that he needed an illustrator. Artist Amariah Rauscher had done an event at a school Berkleys son attended, so Berkley asked if she would like to meet to discuss illustrating his poetry books.

She read the poems I had written and she said, Hey, do you realize that some of your poems could actually be childrens books themselves? Berkley said. Childrens books arent that long and some of the poems that I had written were like a story-line adventure.

The result of that first meeting was Berkleys first childrens book, Davys Pirate Ship Adventure. Rauscher illustrated that book and all of Berkleys subsequent childrens books.

Davys Pirate Ship Adventure opened Berkleys eyes to the effect childrens literature can have on young readers.

I was in Chicago once and a kid was actually surprised to see a book that had Black pirates," Berkley said. "He had never seen anything like that until he came across Davys Pirate Ship Adventure. Thats pretty cool when you create something that other people enjoy.

Berkley gives readings at schools and after-school programs when hes not on duty with his full-time job as a Springfield firefighter. Berkley wanted to become a police officer but his brother convinced him to apply at the fire department, and its a job he loves for both the action and the free time it allows.

One of the things about the fire department is you work 24 hours on and 48 hours off, so you get plenty of time with your family,Berkley said. And time to keep writing.

Information about Berkleys books can be found at danualberkley.com or Amazon.com.
The Illinois Supreme Court has rejected an appeal of a Missouri man's murder conviction in a 2019 deadly stabbing in Pike County.

State's Attorney Zachary Boren said Saturday that he has received formal notification of the decision.

The high court was asked to reconsider the 2020 decision by a Pike County jury to convict Charles T. Allen, 47, of Louisiana, Missouri, of murder in the stabbing death of Donald J. Collard.

Authorities were called about 11 p.m. March 26, 2019, to a residence in the 600 block of Orrill Street in Pleasant Hill, where they found Collard, 65, dead.

Allen traveled back to Missouri, according to a Pike County Sheriffs Department report, and was taken into custody a few days later with help from the Louisiana Police Department and the Pike County (Missouri) Sheriffs Department.

During a week-long trial in January 2020, Allen maintained he had killed Collard, his former father-in-law, in self-defense. Jurors deliberated about four hours before determining Allen stabbed Collard in the chest four times during an argument. Allen was sentenced in March 2020 to 44 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $12,000 in fines and restitution of almost $20,000.

The court was asked to reconsider the sentence, but denied the request in July 2020. Allen's attorney filed the first notice of appeal that same month.

The Illinois Court of Appeals for the Fourth District upheld the conviction in October. That decision was appealed to the Supreme Court.

"Actions to uphold Mr. Allens conviction by both the Appellate Court and the Supreme Court underscore the diligent work done by my entire Pike County team, both in the states attorneys office and in the law enforcement community, said Boren, who prosecuted the case. At all levels, we will continue to work together to ensure that those who would commit violent crimes in Pike County are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
I always feel bad for the spouses.

When politicians get charged with a crime, the political powers that be go after their mates too.

Early this month, Gov. J.B. Pritzker booted Shirley Madigan from her position as chair of the Illinois Arts Council. Its a position that she served well and ably in for 37 years.

When she took that job, Ronald Reagan was president, Pritzker was in high school and House Speaker Chris Welch was in the third grade.

In the decades I covered state government, Ive never heard a bad word about her. Ever.

She has done remarkable work on behalf of the people of Illinois bringing art programs throughout the Land of Lincoln. For example, last month my oldest daughter competed in a poetry recital sponsored by the Arts Council.

And she has developed partnerships with public television to educate viewers about Illinois artists. The job is voluntary. She has never received a dime for her work but has contributed mightily.

But this month Pritzker said he wants to take the council in a new direction and fired her. No one believes the governor. He gave her the boot because her husband former Speaker Mike Madigan is in trouble and Pritzker wants to distance himself.

So, a few hours before Mike Madigan was indicted on corruption charges, Pritzker picked up the phone and called him to let him know his wife was fired. Oh, they dressed it up a bit and let her submit her resignation. But you get the idea.



The implications of the conversation were clear: a powerful man was talking to a once powerful man and letting him know his wifes fate. She wasnt a part of the conversation. She was treated as an appendage, not someone contributing in her own right, not even worthy of being spoken to directly when being let go.

It smacks of sexism.

Now, Ill be the first to say that the governor has every right to put whoever he wants into that job. And no one owns a job forever. But one has to ask if this is a gracious way to cut someone loose. Her only transgression would appear to be that she is married to the wrong fellow.

No doubt, some will say she almost certainly wouldnt have received the position if it wasnt for her husband. I wont argue that. But Ill also point out that anyone who gets elected to high office in Illinois or serves in a prestigious post like heading the Arts Council is there because they have the backing of powerful, influential people.

A few years ago, I heard similar sentiments expressed against Illinois Chief Justice Anne Burke.

Illinois voters should be appalled that Justice Burke has been named chief justice in the wake of her husband being under federal investigation. Its scandalous that we would have a couple like that, the wife of an indicted alderman sitting as the Chief Justice of our Supreme Court. In Illinois, you just cant make it up, former state Rep. Jeanne Ives told the DuPage Policy Journal.

Annes husband, Ed Burke is Chicagos longest-serving alderman. He faces 14 federal corruption charges.

And let me emphasize this: Both Burke and Madigan are merely accused of breaking the law. They have not stood trial or been convicted of a crime. In the United States of America, a person is innocent until proven guilty.

Regular readers of this column know my strong libertarian sentiments. Im skeptical of government. Im not a fan of either Mike Madigan or Ed Burkes political philosophies.

Thats OK. In a democracy, we want diverse points of view in the public forum. While I admire the work and intellect of Anne Burke and Shirley Madigan, I havent always agreed with their positions, either. But this isnt a defense or an endorsement of either persons policy positions.

Its merely an observation that in the American legal system relatives of those accused of crimes are not punished simply for their kinship. And the American sense of fair play would seem to command that should be the case for public life as well.

Even after her husband, former Gov. George Ryan, went to prison, his wife Lura Lynn continued to serve on the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. She was instrumental in helping make the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum a reality.

President Barack Obama sought her out when he spoke in Springfield to honor our sixteenth president.

That was a kindness that spoke well of the man. He gained nothing by talking to the wife of a convicted politician. But that didnt stop him from according her the dignity and respect she deserved.

It sets an example of graciousness worthy of emulation.
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Brent Renaud. Marina Ovsyannikova.

One a U.S. filmmaker killed by Russian troops on March 13 while working on a documentary about refugees. The other, an editor-producer on Russian state TVs Channel One who dramatically interrupted a news broadcast to hold aloft a sign denouncing Putins war. She was immediately arrested.

Renauds senseless killing one day and Ovsyannikovas brave action the next unintentionally have forged a link between journalism and wartime truth-telling that cannot be overstated.

An award-winning social issue documentarian, Renaud was noted for blending compassion and reportorial legwork. He and his brother Craig made emotionally layered films about peoples big struggles and small triumphs. Until March 14, Ovsyannikova was a pawn in Russias propaganda war against reality.

Renaud was in Ukraine filming a segment for a multi-part series about refugees around the world called "Tipping Point." Ovsyannikovas tipping point came the next day, 19 days into Putins war. Using Channel Ones platform, she broadcast truth to power nationwide. Rushing behind the newscaster, she brandished a sign in English and Russian: No war. Stop the war. Don't believe propaganda. They are lying to you here.

Renaud made films focusing on migration during perilous times, a recurring theme for him, The New York Times reported. He and his brothers extensive catalogue of work illuminates social inequities. Ovsyannikova has only one, seconds-long film credit.

Describing her act of conscience, Ovsyannikova admitted she felt ashamed to have spread Kremlin disinformation for so long. She urged Russians to demonstrate against the war, declaring:

What is happening now in Ukraine is a crime, and Russia is the aggressor country. The responsibility for that aggression lies on the conscience of only one man, and that man is Vladimir Putin. ... [T]he next 10 generations of our descendants will not wash away the shame of this fratricidal war.

Ovsyannikova has neither Renauds vast experience as a documentarian nor his extensive film credits. And, unlike Darnella Frazier, the then-17 year old who was a witness when she recorded George Floyd being murdered, Ovsyannikova was both producer and actor in her antiwar video. But if we only see her as a guerilla theater actor, were missing the point. What she did was courageous frontline wartime reporting  in Russia on live television.

War produces all kinds of reporters. (An inexact U.S. comparison? In the disproportionate targeting of African Americans by law enforcement, we need citizen videographers to press record when police stop Black motorists.)

The president of Ukraine knows something about filmmaking. During his address to Congress March 16, Zelensky also was a journalist, executive producer of a powerful two-minute film depicting Ukrainian cities before and after Putins invasion. A montage of children playing in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, and elsewhere, followed by missiles destroying apartment buildings.

Congress members sat rapt as the scene switched between before-and-after images of Putins unconscionable assault. Then it cut to first responders aiding victims; children sobbing; bodies lying in the street; others lowered into a trench. No graves. A documentary about the war in real time; Brent Renaud probably would have approved. I hope the Academy Awards acknowledges it.

But how many Russians saw it  brainwashed to believe the war is a special military operation, and Ukraines Jewish president part of a Nazi cabal.

"Recovering" Channel One propagandist Marina Ovsyannikova was interrogated for 14 hours, found guilty of flouting protest laws, and fined 30,000 roubles (about $280). A law that took effect March 4 bans actions like hers and she faces a possible prison sentence of up to 15 years. She fears for her safety.

Ovsyannikova didnt produce a heart-wrenching video like the one President Zelensky screened. She only had seconds to report to her Russian sisters and brothers. Zelensky noticed. I am grateful to those Russians who do not stop trying to convey the truth, especially appreciating the woman who entered the studio of Channel One with a poster against the war.

If he had been Ukrainian, killed U.S. journalist Brent Renaud might have made the video Congress saw. If he had been Russian, perhaps he would have produced an antiwar short like Marina Ovsyannikovas.

Either way, we need more citizens to expand the meaning of journalism in a time of war.
A Florida deputy was fired after a fight with his girlfriend last year led investigators to find he had violated several agency rules, according to a news outlet.

Joshua Brack was fired from Palm Beach County Sheriffs Office after an investigation revealed he broke standards of conduct, neglected his duties, improper conduct offenses, and disseminated information, according to a report by WPEC, a CBS affiliated news station serving West Palm Beach.

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Bracks misconduct first came to light after a dispute between him and his girlfriend on June 15 in their Belle Glade apartment, WPEC reported. After dating for two years and living together for nine months, the couple had decided to break up. Bracks family members had arrived to move out Bracks personal belongings. A PBSO deputy later responded to the apartment about a civil dispute, the report showed.

While there, Bracks girlfriend accused him of misconduct in the sheriffs office and committing illegal activities while on duty, WPEC reported. She told the responding deputy Brack had sent nude and explicit photographs of himself to his work email while on duty and in uniform, neglected to respond to an in-progress call for service, and possessed unauthorized weapons in his patrol vehicle, according to the report.

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She also showed the deputy a video of a dead person on a roadway, Brack had sent her from a crime scene, WPEC reported. She also accused Brack of taking contraband, such as marijuana, and getting her to sell it for them.

Afterward, the PBSOs Tactical Intelligence Unit launched an investigation into Brack. They found three pictures Brack had sent to his work email featuring himself in uniform in a bathroom stall exposing his genitals, WPEC reported. Investigators found Bracks time card revealed he was on duty when the pictures were taken, WPEC reported.

The investigation also found Brack using his patrol car to travel to places for non-work-related reasons, and in one incident driving 84 mph in a 40 mph zone, WPEC reported. One day detectives observed Brack receive a suspicious person call while smoking a cigarette at a friends house. Brack acknowledged the call but didnt leave the residence for 11 minutes. Brack never attended the call as it cleared up about 10 minutes after the call came in.

In another incident, Brack transported a woman and her toddler in his patrol vehicle without a childs seat, WPEC said.

Brack denied several interviews with investigators but eventually spoke with them and denied his girlfriends criminal allegations.

Investigators could not confirm any criminal activity but found that Brack had broken seven of the sheriffs office rules.

Read more at WPEC.
Stock Photo Gas pump View Photo

Richmond, CA  Nearly 600 workers went on strike this morning at a Chevron refinery in Northern California after contract talks broke down.

There are concerns that it could further increase the regions record-breaking gas prices. California has the highest price for regular unleaded in the nation, at $5.87 per gallon. Nearly 600 United Steel Workers employees at the Richmond refinery went on strike early this morning due to the ongoing contract dispute. The union has been negotiating a new contract with the oil company since January. The Associated Press reports that if the strike slows production at the refinery it could further crimp regional gas supplies. The company is bringing in backup workers in an attempt to keep things afloat.

The myMotherLode.com gas price section shows local regular unleaded prices sitting between $5.31 and $5.79.
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP)  Connecticut lawmakers are looking at ways to increase mental health services for school students, and a recent report has illuminated where the help is needed most.

The legislative task force, led by the state Department of Health, began meeting late in 2021 to look at how and where the services should be offered.

In a report released last week, the group found that roughly two-thirds of 1,000 schools statewide lack on-site mental health centers. Thats increasingly concerning because hospitals have been overwhelmed with children in crisis during the pandemic and its more costly  and less effective  to treat children after they reach crisis stage, the New Haven Register reported.

The need increased during the pandemic, said Verna Ruffin, superintendent of Waterbury Public Schools, which the task force identified as having the most schools in need. People are living it right now.

A number of proposals circulating in the legislature seek to address the problem including one in the Senate that would set aside $21.8 million for the Department of Public Health to expand the school-based health sites. The task force report found that even with that spending about 100 schools that need services might still be unable to offer them, the Register reported.

Ruffin told the newspaper that school officials in her district noticed an uptick in violent behavior when students returned to full-time, in-person learning last fall, but that the introduction of extra counselors at some schools provided some relief.

School-based health centers typically are run by outside organizations such as community health networks, and provide services to children for free.

Tricia Orozco, who directs East Hartford-based InterCommunity Health Cares school-based health program, told the Register there are waitlists at most of its seven school sites.

Weve established that theres a great demand for services, however in the absence of funding, how do school-based health centers hire more staff? she said. School-based health centers are frequently the only health care these students are receiving.
H-E-B

H-E-B continues it's push into North Texas as the grocery giant eyes more property outside of Dallas. The San Antonio-based grocery store seeks to buy 43 acres of land in the city of Melissa, Texas, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.

A rezoning request was submitted to the city of Melissa under "Texas-based grocery" and a H-E-B spokesperson confirmed it was the grocer to the Star-Telegram.
Book lovers and aspiring writers will once again be meeting face to face. After a two-year wait, the San Antonio Book Festival (SABF) is returning to an in-person format and bringing nationally renowned authors to town for its May festival.

SABF revealed the 10th anniversary lineup on Monday, March 21 ahead of the May 21 event. Authors such as Julia Glass, Sandra Cisneros, Jericho Brown, Margo Jefferson, Natalie Diaz, and Emma Straub are some of the headliners on the list of more than 90 writers. The free event includes author presentations, panels, book sales, signings, activities for kids and teens, and food trucks.

This year's installment is the first time since 2019 that SABF has been able to host the festival in person. The event was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was hosted virtually in 2021. The festival averages 18,000 guests.

Courtesy, San Antonio Book Festival

For our 10th anniversary, we could not be more thrilled to return to being in person at the Library, which has recently been restored to its glorious enchilada red hue, SABFs Executive Director Lilly Gonzalez says in a press statement. Book festivals foster a sense of community and inspire people to think beyond their individual experiences. Reading is a solitary act, and for the past two years, Texas readers have been plunged deeper into isolation, with books serving as a vital gateway to connecting with the world. It feels extra special to be able to come together for this milestone year.

The festival is planning an all-virtual tent where authors like Pulitzer Prize winner Margo Jefferson, David Hassler, Tyler Meier, and Joshua Prager will be featured in pre-recorded sessions.

Local names are also part of the event. Former Mayor Phil Hardberger will promote his photography book Phil Hardberger: A Story in Photographs. Katie Gutierrez will debut her suspense novel More Than You'll Ever Know, and Judge Nelson Wolff will be there for his newest book, The Mayor and the Judge: The Inside Story of the War Against COVID.

The family-friendly event is also hosting children's book authors like Chef Carino Cortez, a third-generation chef of La Familia Cortez Restaurants, who wrote Camila La Magica Makes Tamales with her sister Paloma in 2021. Stephen Briseno, author of The Notebook Keeper: A Story of Kindness From the Border, is also part of the lineup. New York Times best-selling children's author Mac Barnett is also joining the festival.

SABF will take place at the Central Library and Southwest School of Art from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
A man wanted on several criminal charges, including sexual trafficking of a minor, was arrested Saturday after Orlando police detained him during a routine traffic stop, the agency said.

Reginald Lafayette Jones, 52, was booked into the Orange County Jail on 10 charges, including five charges related to an investigation by the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation.

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The multi-agency task force accused Jones of trafficking a child under 18 for commercial sex from Oct. 17, 2021 to Feb. 2, 2022, as well as lewd or lascivious battery, court records show. Agents began investigating Jones after he was arrested during a Nov. 18 traffic stop with a girl who had run away from home.

Orlando police say Reginald Lafayette Jones, who was wanted on charges related to a human trafficking investigation, was arrested Saturday after officers detained him during a routine traffic stop (Photo via Orlando Police Department).

Agents later found pictures of the girl in online commercial sex ads with a listed phone number, which law enforcement used to text and set up a Dec. 2 date at a motel, according to the records. When undercover agents arrived at the motel, they said they saw the girl and Jones.

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Jones was not charged at the time after he told agents he did not know the girl well and was not having sex with her, records said.

The victim at first denied Jones involvement but later told agents Jones would take all the money she made from commercial sex  about $7,000 to $8,000 in three months, the records said. She also accused Jones of beating her.

Breaking News As it happens Be the first to know with email alerts on important breaking stories from the Orlando Sentinel newsroom. >

The girl told agents she had sex with Jones almost every day, at times in exchange for crack cocaine, according to the records. The victim also said she had a video of her performing oral sex on Jones, which agents later found on her cellphone.

On March 19, patrol officers received information from detectives at the Orlando Police Departments Crime Center about a white Chevrolet Impala with a reported stolen tag traveling on Orange Blossom Trail, the agency said in a news release.

When officers stopped the driver and his two passengers, they smelled the odor of cannabis and saw a green leafy substance on the backseat, according to an arrest affidavit. The driver was identified as Jones, who had a warrant for his arrest, while the names of the two passengers were redacted from the affidavit.

Officers found a red bag behind the drivers seat, which contained 14 grams of powder cocaine, 2.6 grams of crack cocaine, 29 grams of MDMA, 13 grams of cannabis and one gram of methamphetamine, the affidavit said. The red bag also had a black digital scale and 100 small plastic baggies.

Officers used field tests to identify the drugs, according to the affidavit. Jones was arrested on five drug charges, including selling cocaine and trafficking MDMA.

Our community and local youth are now safer from this career criminal thanks to a combination of effective teamwork between our officers and fellow agencies, as well as to the technology put in place to stop these types of individuals, OPD Chief Orlando Rolon said in a statement.

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mcordeiro@orlandosentinel.com
TPWD

We love a good rescue story. Texas Game Wardens recently rescued a dog trapped in an abandoned grain silo-turned well 50 feet below in Jim Hogg County, which is in South Texas near Laredo.

According to Texas Parks and Wildlife, the dog, named Maria, had chased a wounded bird through thick brush when she disappeared from her owner's sight. A landowner called the Texas Game Wardens when a group of quail hunters requested assistance rescuing the dog, TPWD stated in its monthly Game Warden Field Notes on Monday, March 21.
By Jerri-Lynn Scofield, who has worked as a securities lawyer and a derivatives trader. She is currently writing a book about textile artisans.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) last week released A 10-Point Plan to Cut Oil Use.

Many of the steps seem to be no more than common sense  and would not prove unduly difficult to implement. And Asian and European countries are expected to follow at least some of these recommendations.

Alas, the U.S. is not expected to comply with any provisions.

Now, to be sure, skyrocketing oil and gasoline prices may independently cause U.S. households to curb their fossil fuelconsumption. Many cant afford to do otherwise.

The IEA, founded in 1974 by seventeen countries  mainly from Europe, but also including Japan and the United States  was intended to counteract the activities of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Counties (OPEC). The IEA now has thirty-one members, and as Motherboard reports , has the goal of cooperation on a variety of issues relating to energy supply including a collective emergency response mechanism that ensures a stabilizing influence during times of energy crises.

The report addresses some cursory measures to increase supply  which I wont consider in this post. Instead, Ill examine the proposed measures the IEA has put forward to reduce demand for oil. Per the IEA report:

Another way to help balance the market and reduce the pain caused by high oil prices is to bring down demand. Following Russias invasion of Ukraine, the IEAs March Oil Market Report lowered its forecast for global oil demand in 2022 by 950 thousand barrels a day (kb/d) because of the expected impacts of higher prices and weaker GDP growth. But this would still leave the oil market very tight, with upward pressure on prices likely to remain in an uncertain geopolitical environment. Further reductions in demand are possible in the near term, however, through actions by governments and citizens. The worlds advanced economies together account for around 45% of global oil demand, and most of them are members of the IEA. Demand restraint (see annex) is one of the emergency response measures that all IEA member countries are required to have ready as a contingency at all times  and that they can use to contribute to an IEA collective action in the event of an emergency. In view of this and the potential emergency the world is facing, the IEA is proposing 10 immediate actions that can be taken in advanced economies to reduce oil demand before the peak demand season. We estimate that the full implementation of these measures in advanced economies alone can cut oil demand by 2.7 million barrels a day within the next four months, relative to current levels.1 The analysis in this report focuses on the potential effect of these measures in advanced economies, but their adoption in more countries would further increase their impact. Ensuring local and regional coordination of their implementation would maximise the impact. [IEA Report, pp. 5-6].

IEAs 10-Point Plan

Most demand for oil is in transport, so the IEAs 10-point plan focuses accordingly:

Source: International Energy Agency, A 10-Point Plan to Cut Oil Use.

Jerri-Lynn here. Note that pp. 7-13 of the report includes further discussion of each measure.

Even absent the worldwide oil supply crunch caused by the war in Ukraine and exacerbated by the Wests decision to impose sanctions on Russia, many European cities had already taken considerable steps to encourage people to cut back or eliminate their reliance on private cars. These cities have made their centers car-free (or at least, drastically reduce the private use of such vehicles there). Unfortunately, the U.S. lags signficantly in this regard.

The Biden administration isnt renowned for its political courage. I mean, look at what a muddle Joe & Co. have made over mask mandates  acquiescing in their opponents framing of mask use as signifying a scarlet letter. I would have thought the vaunted return of the adults in the room meant the U.S. would again instead endorse long-established public health practice  such as embracing one measure long known to curb the spread of infectious diseases (and not just COVID-19): masking.

So, especially with the political blowback I foresee from high and increasing fuel prices  with no end in sight  I think this administration is unlikely to chance asking the public to take additional steps to their curb fossil fuel use  no matter how sensible they are. The last time a Democratic political leader tried that shtick was during the 1970s, when Jimmy Carter appeared in his cardigan and asked his fellow Americans to turn down the thermostat. And we all know how well that plan turned out. (Not that it wasnt a good plan  but its widely regarded by the likes of Joe & Co. as having been a mistake.)

As to the specifics, reducing speed limits is a non-starter. Especially in Western states, where the roads are straight and distances vast. How about car-free Sundays? I think even in NYC, such a measure wouldnt be attempted, as it would be seen to be politically unpopular. The challenge would be to convince city residents how pleasant it is to be able to stroll around car-free city centers without having to worry about being clocked by a car  as is the case in many European city centers. Ditto other restrictions on private car use  alternative day use based on license plate numbers. Maybe some incentives might be attempted to encourage more carpooling  but those would likely be means-tested to the point of impracticality.

As for high-speed and night train use in preference to airplanes, well, thats a good idea. But with what high speed train network? Oh, right, there is none. Minimal night train services were limping along the last time I had a chance to use them, during the late summer of 2019 (see Take the (Night) Train Redux). I think the pandemic has probably hollowed out what were even then pretty minimal Amtrak services. So, as business travel revives  and maybe expands  business travellers must choose between cars and planes as the only viable means to get from here to there. Better train service, high speed or otherwise, remains a fantasy.

Cutting public transit fares? Again, a great idea. And Ive said so as long ago as the 1980s, when the then-head of the Greater London Council (GLC), Ken Livingstone, proposed doing so in London. And then the Thatcher government abolished the GLC.

As for the U.S., pursuing such a course of unlikely as long as city transportation authorities are in thrall to neo-liberal principles, with their ambits narrowly-drawn and their books made to balance (within certain parameters).

And finally, the tenth proposal: encourage the use of electric cars and more fuel efficient vehicles. Well, to some extent, Democratic administrations have pursued weak versions of such policies. But not to anywhere near the degree necessary. One obstacle: in many parts of the country, theres been little build-out of charging infrastructure. Its hard to use the EV if you cant easily juice it up. Another problem, assuming people got religion, jettisoned the pickup or SUV, and immediately had means to rush out and purchase an EV or more fuel-efficient car. Where are these new vehicles supposed to come from? Cars and other passenger vehicles are already in short supply, with supply chains for crucial components  e.g., computer chips  snarled.

Here, I also wish to direct readers to a recent DeSmogBlog piece documenting how the lobbying muscle of auto and fossil fuel interests helped us get from Jimmy Carters cardigans to our current reality  where many Americans drive massive vehicles, which get terrible gas mileage (see Decades of Lobbying Weakened Americans Gas Mileage and Turbocharged Pain at the Pump).

As Motherboard summarizes, the last decades have seen federal and state officials promoting demand for gasoline rather than encouraging us to spare its use:

Instead, the far more commonand in some cases implementedinitiatives have been to increase consumer demand instead by way of gas tax holidays. This reflects the fact that the U.S. has spent the better part of the last 70 years ensuring nearly every American family needs multiple vehicles in order to live productive, fruitful lives, and underfunding any and all alternatives to that lifestyle. For the vast majority of U.S. residents, there is no Plan B, no matter how high gas prices get.

Will the response to the latest round of gas price hikes this time lead to an appreciably different result? Im not sure Id bet on that, even though the health of the planet sure would benefit from such a long overdue shift.

I am nonetheless pleased to see the IEA produce this report. Other countries might use it as a basis to curb their oil consumption. And as for those of us who live in the United States: maybe some political leaders might step up and explain what now must be done. Better too late  far, far, too late  than never.
Jerri-Lynn here. I meant to link to news about the polar temperature surge yesterday, but was momentarily distracted and completely forgot. Mea culpa. This Common Dreams post discusses the shock and alarm scientists are expressing at the unprecedented temperature surges recorded this weekend at each of the earths poles  the latest manifestation of climate change. Coming less than a year after last summers record-busting temperatures recorded in the Pacific Northwest. the latest polar temperature surges should unsettle all but the most hardened climate change skeptics. Alas, the mess in Ukraine and the unresolved pandemic is distracting world leaders from addressing the climate change emergency.

BREAKING: simultaneous freakish heat in the Arctic and Antarctic described as impossible and unthinkable by scientists as abrupt climate change accelerates wildly  pic.twitter.com/jGwovCRLeT  Ben See (@ClimateBen) March 19, 2022

By Brett Wilkins. Originally published at Common Dreams

Scientists expressed shock and alarm this weekend amid extreme high temperatures near both of the Earths polesthe latest signs of the accelerating planetary climate emergency.

Temperatures in parts of Antarctica were 50F-90F above normal in recent days, while earlier this week the mercury soared to over 50F higher than averageclose to the freezing markin areas of the Arctic.

Stefano Di Battista, an Antarctic climatologist, tweeted that such record-shattering heat near the South Pole was unthinkable and impossible.

Antarctic climatology has been rewritten, di Battista wrote.

The joint French-Italian Concordia research station in eastern Antarctica recorded an all-time high of 10F on Friday. In contrast, high temperatures at the station this time in March average below -50F.

Record heat in the Arctic is driving an early melt season and crushing 2022 sea-ice extent: current rank now #4. The Antarctic is even worse. With everything going on in the world right now, the dual polar climate disasters of 2022 should be the top story. pic.twitter.com/qsi4OAob6L  Prof. Eliot Jacobson (@EliotJacobson) March 17, 2022

Jonathan Wille, a researcher studying polar meteorology at Universite Grenoble Alpes in France, told The Washington Post that this event is completely unprecedented and upended our expectations about the Antarctic climate system.

This is when temperatures should be rapidly falling since the summer solstice in December, Wille tweeted. This is a Pacific Northwest 2021 heatwave kind of event, he added, referring to the record-breaking event in which parts of Canada topped 120F for the first time in recorded history. Never supposed to happen.

Walt Meier, a senior research scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, told USA Today that you dont see the North and the South [poles] both melting at the same time because they are opposite seasons.

Its definitely an unusual occurrence, he added.

50 degrees above normal in the North Pole this week, and 50 to 90 degrees above normal in Antarctica. Good lord. https://t.co/bSrodCJdei  Brooke Jarvis (@brookejarvis) March 18, 2022

As Common Dreams has reported, the Arctic has been warming three times faster than the world as a whole, accelerating polar ice melt, ocean warming, and other manifestations of the climate emergency.

Looking back over the last few decades, we can clearly see a trend in warming, particularly in the cold season in the Arctic, Ruth Mottram, a climate scientist with the Danish Meteorological Institute, told the Post. Its not surprising that warm air is busting through into the Arctic this year. In general, we expect to see more and more of these events in the future.
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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As much as Id like to say that Ive seen every headstone ever carved by legendary local Black artist William Edmondson, there are still some elaborate headstones visible in pictures of his yard that I havent seen in person. They may have never been purchased, in which case, theyre in a landfill somewhere. But theres still a chance they may be out there.

Theres a story about one in John Michael Vlachs book By the Work of Their Hands: Studies in Afro-American Folklife. Vlach writes:

When the black quarry workers employed at the Ezell Mill and Stone Company quarry in Newsome Station, Tennessee, came to town with their deliveries of building materials, they would steer past Edmondsons house on 14th Avenue to drop off the odd-sized stones that the contractor thought unusable. These men were no doubt intrigued with Edmondsons creative efforts and supported him by augmenting his supplies of limestone. The quarrymens goodwill was later underscored when one of their crew was killed in an accident and Edmondson was asked to make a monument for their slain colleague (p. 113).

An immediate problem with this story is that Edmondson started carving in about 1932, and the Ezell quarry was destroyed by fire in 1928 and not rebuilt. Still, maybe he got started earlier than we know? The other immediate problem with this story is that if Edmondson carved a grave marker for a person who lived in or near Newsoms Station, where is the cemetery they were buried in?

I started scanning the website Find a Grave for Black cemeteries near Newsoms Station. It went poorly. But this didnt make any sense. Just to our west, the hills were filled with iron furnaces run by notable Nashville families  the Napiers, the Robertsons, Montgomery Bell and his family, and so on. And those furnaces were staffed with hundreds of Black enslaved people. The actual hard work of rock quarrying (a business a lot of the iron families were also involved in) in antebellum times was done by enslaved people. Their descendants and their institutions  like churches and cemeteries  are usually still around.

I searched death records to see if Black people were buried in Newsoms Station or, maybe, Pegram at the time Edmondson was working, roughly 1932 to 1951. And yes, dozens upon dozens of Black people who died during that time period were buried somewhere in that general vicinity. I found people buried in the "Newsom Plot," and I found their close family members buried in Pegram. I began to surmise that the Newsom Plot was just a family plot in this Pegram cemetery.

I started to talk about this on Twitter, and Janet Timmons  because this is Nashville, yes, this is Janet Timmons from the radio!  contacted me because her boyfriend, Jonathan Roberson, is from Pegram and knows a guy whose relative is the pastor at a church in the area. (Listen, I love you all, but I dont trust you, so Im going to be vague about the location of this cemetery. And that means being vague about the church and the pastor, but suffice to say the cemetery is not on any maps Ive seen. So thanks to Jonathans friend for telling us where it is.) And this church just happens to have a large cemetery on the hillside in back of it. We were welcome to go look at it.

So on Sunday, I pulled into the flat area next to the church and began looking at the hillside. There were graves everywhere, many marked by rectangles of what looked to be either leeks or some kind of lily. Many were sunken down, and like they always do, these collapsed graves reminded me of empty cradles. Here is a place of rest for a loved one. Theres a path that goes from the back of the church up the hillside in a big lazy S. It isn't as steep as, say, trying to get up to the Benevolent cemetery on Brick Church Pike, but I still had to stop and rest twice.

The top of the hill was covered in vinca and full of graves, marked and unmarked. We saw what Ive seen at so many African American cemeteries near here  graves marked by trees, graves marked with distinctively shaped field stones, graves marked with plants covering them, as well as graves marked with stone markers. A few of the graves had the same kind of ferny-looking detail, which I wonder about, whether its a lodge designation or just a nice thing to put on a grave. Some of the graves went back into the 1800s, and Id bet anything that some of the graves marked by trees or field stones go back to the days of slavery.

I have walked up into so many Black cemeteries in Middle Tennessee that Im really starting to wonder if theres some meaning to it that Im missing. Yes, on the one hand, maybe hillsides were spots enslavers didnt have much use for, so they let them be used for Black cemeteries, and then Black families just kept using them. But a lot of the hillside cemeteries Ive seen have church yards down at the level of ... well, obviously, the church and the road. But these cemeteries havent spread down there. Every time I struggle up these hills, I think of the exertion of people who had to walk up the hill with a loved one in a box between them. These cemeteries arent places you can just stumble upon unwittingly. You have to climb up into them. It feels like a ritual movement, especially in this cemetery, winding ever higher. And if God is in heaven and were down here on earth, putting your ancestors physically above you sure feels meaningful.

So, it is a cemetery. Is it the cemetery I was seeing in the death records? Well, I knew for sure that Steve Knight is in a Pegram cemetery with his family, thanks to the death records. According to her obituary, his mother-in-law Lottie Mayes was buried in the Mayes Cemetery in Pegram Station. And Lotties mother, Nannie Ferby, is at the top of this hill, with a beautiful headstone. This is it, as far as I can tell. This is the Newsom/Hayes/Pegram/whatever cemetery. If a Black person from out here had an Edmondson headstone, this is the likeliest spot where it would be.

Did we find one? No. But a lot of headstones have fallen over and possibly sunken into the ground. Im not sure that us not finding it means that its not there. However, we didnt see anything with Edmondson's distinctive writing.

But I've just spent the past half-hour squinting at this picture I took of a headstone that seemed blocky in the way Edmondson's headstones can be. Up at the top of the hill, it looked blank. But my camera phone captured a cross. I didnt get the holy shit, heres one! vibe Ive gotten in other cemeteries, but I truly wish Id brought tools to do a headstone rubbing, just to see if I could make out some letters.

Edmondson or not, the cemetery is a special place. After all, the death records I have easy access to are from Nashville, so the dozens of people I was finding lived and worked in Nashville. But when their time came, they wanted to be back on that country hillside, in the company of generations of their families.

And since they were not buried in vaults, they literally stood there with us, in the trees their bodies nourish, a quiet and ongoing family reunion that we got to be a part of for a few minutes.
(Natural News) American gun owners are gearing up for ammunition and reloading component price hikes in the coming month due to rising commodity prices.

Vista Outdoor, a major manufacturer of ammunition in the United States, earlier said that supply chain constraints and increases in our raw materials will result in price increases to help offset those rising costs.

The company announced the price hikes as early as December when the Bloomberg Industrial Metals Subindex was 40 percent lower than current prices. Meaning, ammo prices could be moving much higher than what was initially predicted. Bullets are made of different materials, namely copper, lead, steel and brass.

Price increases will start on April 1 for Vista Outdoor ammo brands, along with CCI, Federal, Hevi-Shot, Remington and SPEER. Primers are expected to increase by five percent; powders by five percent; handguns by two to eight percent; rifles by three to eight percent; and shotguns by three to 12 percent.

Vista Outdoor sets new high-level mark in sales

Vista Outdoor, parent company of 39 brands like Federal Premium and Remington Ammunition, recorded new high-level mark in sales during a three-month period that ended Dec. 26 last year with $795 million.

Our record results demonstrate that were successfully executing on our Value Creation strategy and reflect continued high consumer demand for our products. The power of our brands, combined with our continuous introduction of innovative new products, and lean cost structure has allowed us to offset cost increases through targeted pricing action while absorbing some costs through operational efficiencies to maintain profitable growth across our portfolio, said Vista Outdoor CEO Chris Metz.

With the acquisition of Stone Glacier, our seventh acquisition in less than 18 months, Vista Outdoor is building a resilient and diverse portfolio and expanding our total addressable market across multiple outdoor recreation categories.

In an earnings conference call last Feb. 3, Metz said the April price increase will affect the next fiscal year. But he expressed confidence that the company will work its way through the ups and downs.

So, the inefficiencies that we saw with COVID-related vacancies or shortages in labor, were quickly working our way through it. And weve been fighting this for the better part of two years. Our team is very, very adept at working through those issues, Metz added.

Americans are panic buying all kinds of ammo

Prior to the price hikes, Ammo.com related that Americans are panic buying all kinds of ammunition. The top U.S. online gun retailer said it has recorded a recent surge in consumer demand for small arms ammunition  the onset of which perfectly coincided with the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

Ammo.coms revenues rose 166 percent and transactions were up 110 percent over the past two weeks. Website traffic for the February 24 and March 10 period was up 59 percent.

The days of inexpensive ammo came to an end during the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic when people panicked and hoarded guns because of the social unrest in liberal cities. Another buying wave, rising commodity prices and a forthcoming price hike will make ammo all the more expensive.

And its all thanks to President Joe Bidens Build Back Better plan, which has resulted in expenses of everything soaring even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Follow Guns.news to know more about guns and firearms.

Watch the video below to know why Americans are panic buying guns and ammo.

This video is from the Excellent PODCASTS & Real NEWS channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Ammo stockpiling now underway as coronavirus spreads across America and uncertainty grows about how to stop it.

Ammo manufacturers insist theyre still producing, but demand is far outstripping supply.

URGENT alert: Financial system collapsing, food supply collapsing, hyperinflation coming, guns and ammo wiped out, military martial law plans leaked details.

Beverly Hills residents flocking to buy guns for self-defense as violent crime soars in L.A.

As Ukraine hands out guns to citizens, the Left finally realizes 2nd Amendment is NOT for hunting.

Sources include:

ZeroHedge.com

AmericanRifleman.org

PRNewsWire.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Why isnt the word oligarch ever used to describe American billionaires? Oligarch means a very rich business leader with a great deal of political influence, and they dont have to reside in Russia, China, or Iran to fit that bill. In fact, several American billionaires support the highly corrupt tyranny that currently runs Washington DC because they control Big Pharma and Big Tech. So why arent they called oligarchs? Two words are the easy answer to that question  fake news. These American oligarchs control the mass media and the entire narrative that circles out and down.

Yes, we are living under dictatorship right now in America, and its not just resident Biden and his cohorts running the show. Its an autocracy run by American oligarchs, including Jeff Bezos (worth $180 billion), Bill Gates (worth $125 billion), Mark Zuckerberg (worth close to $100 million), and a cabal of pharma executives responsible for the Opioid epidemic and Covid scamdemic. They control 97 percent of the mass media messages, the US regulatory agency decisions, and the entire mass media network (social media, TV, radio, newspapers, websites, YouTube and Google) of disinformation.

American oligarchs, biological warfare and domestic terrorism

Bill Gates is on video at a TED conference saying we can reduce the worlds population by a few billion people if we do a really great job with vaccines and healthcare, meaning vaccines that sterilize and kill people, and lots of abortions to halt reproduction of the rest. That was a few years before the not-so-novel gain of function COVID broke out of (was released from) a Wuhan lab. How many people around the world got reduced by COVID and how many got eliminated by the clot shots already?

Talk about misinformation, how about mRNA telling your own cells to create toxic prions that clog the blood, decimate the central nervous system, and suppress anti-cancer genes? Thats the domestic terrorism form of misinformation, delivered as biological warfare under the guise of vaccination.

The pharma oligarchs of America call the shots at Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. These are the biggest war criminals on planet earth, waging war against their own fellow citizens without even firing a single gun, shooting a missile or exploding a bomb. The oligarchs of America are far more evil than Putin, so theyve proven. The pharma oligarchs of America are filthy rich from slaves  meaning medical slaves  who think the COVID vaccines save them instead of killing them.

The American tech oligarchs are rich and powerful because they control all of the social media propaganda, Google searches and YouTube content, thats all crafted to fit their depopulation and fascist agenda. Thats why every American who supports the constitution is now labeled a domestic terrorist by the Department of Homeland Security.

Amazon and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos is an American oligarch whos all in for a communist-run America

Ever look into how Amazon workers are treated? Sick people get fired. Got cancer? Youre done working for Amazon. Amazon workers are like peons working for pennies while pushing the grand narrative that only huge corporations in America have value, and every small-to-mid-sized business should be shut down anytime the flu is going around. No competition. Its called a monopoly, and Amazons Bezos is the king of the online selling dictatorship. The American oligarch of direct-to-consumer sales.

It gets worse. Amazon is financially dug in with the CIA, namely through their $10 billion Pentagon contract for whats known as Amazon Web Services Secret Region. Can you say conflict of interest without coughing into your disposable Covid mask? Bezos would be more than happy to lockdown the entire nation indefinitely for the scamdemic and bankrupt nearly every business that competes with his.

Then there are the evil Google oligarchs. According to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Google founders Sergey Brin (worth $110 billion) and Larry Page (worth $125 billion) have a monopoly of the majority of online information with their massive search engine. Try to research anything about health and safety and all you get are lies, coercion, misinformation and fake, biased research.

Their censorship SILENCES voices of freedom, liberty, natural health, gun rights, speech and press rights, and it runs very deep (thanks to their bottomless wallets). Its all about data manipulation, mind control and censorship by the American oligarchs. Lets just call them what they really are. Theyre fascists who want to see America crumble while they get triple as rich and gain more power and control over the populace.

Tune your internet to Censored.news for huge swaths of truth news thats being censored from the rest of media as you read this.

Sources for this article include:

MSN.com

TheGatewayPundit.com

Censored.news

NaturalNews.com
Students returning to Timber Creek High School on Avalon Park Boulevard after Spring Break may see extra security on campus after vandalism that included racist language and symbols and a possible threat against the school was discovered off-campus over the weekend.

Parents learned of the vandalism in a voice message Principal Kelly Paduano sent Sunday.

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Today I was made aware of vandalism on an Avalon community building that contained racist language, antisemitic symbols and a possible threat against our school and administration, said Paduano in the recorded message.

Orange County Sheriffs Office deputies were called to a community clubhouse and pool area in a neighborhood less than a mile from the school on Wild Tamarind Boulevard about 3:30 p.m. on Sunday when someone reported the graffiti.

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The graffiti was located on the clubhouse building, said OCSO spokesperson Michelle Guido. It included swastikas, KKK and a statement about shooting up Timber Creek High School. Our [school resource officers] at Timber Creek were notified, as was school administration.

Normally, two deputies are assigned to provide security at the high school. Guido would not say if OCSO will have extra deputies on campus for obvious safety reasons but said deputies patrolling the area are aware of the threat.

Any additional security that may be apparent on campus will be brought out of an abundance of caution, said Michael Ollendorff, spokesperson for Orange County Public Schools.

While this happened in the community and not on school property, I want to assure you I take these situations very seriously, Paduano said in her voice message. Law enforcement is investigating and we are cooperating with them as they work to identify the individuals responsible. Please be assured if this involves any of our students, they will be disciplined according to the code of student conduct up to and including expulsion and possible arrest.

Orange County Commissioner Maribel Gomez Cordero also condemned the threatening vandalism.

Bigotry of any form is unacceptable in Orange County or any American community, she said. I call on our community to reject these ignorant acts of prejudice and join together to keep our communities safe and tolerant. We are a loving and caring community. Orange county is a place of peace, not hate.

dstennett@orlandosentinel.com
(Natural News) The amateur diplomats and advisers in the Biden regime are dramatically improving the likelihood of a massively destructive war between the U.S., NATO and Russia following an incredibly stupid decision to send a particular new armament to Ukraine.

In particular, the regime has decided to provide Ukraines armed forces with a hunter-killer kamikaze drone known as Switchblade, according to reports late last week.

NBC News reported on this development:

As part of a massive military aid package announced Wednesday, the Biden administration is providing Ukraine with U.S.-made killer drones  cutting-edge guided missiles that could accurately target Russian troops from miles away  two congressional officials briefed on the matter told NBC News.

The White House referred to the weapons in a fact sheet on the aid package as 100 Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems. NBC News reported exclusively Tuesday that this move was under consideration.

The outlet noted further that the U.S. had developed two variants of the weapon, the Switchblade 300 and the Switchblade 600, both of which have been purchased by U.S. Special Operations Command (SPECOP) from AeroVironment, the manufacturer, which is located in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. NBC News notes that the 300 model is used to target personnel with pinpoint accuracy, while the larger 600 version is used for tanks and other armored vehicles. The congressional officials who leaked the story to NBC News did not say which model is going to be provided to Ukraine  or if both versions would be.

In December, NBC News reported on an exclusive demo of the 300 model but at the time, AeroVironment officials said the U.S. government barred them from demonstrating the capabilities of the 600 model. The networks report at the time explained just how this weapon works and, frankly, why Russian President Vladimir Putin will see it as an escalation action that is likely to bring repercussions for Americans.

Some experts believe the spread of the semi-autonomous weapons will change ground warfare as profoundly as the machine gun did, NBC News noted in its December report.

They can leapfrog traditional defenses to strike infantry troops anywhere on the battlefield, and they cost just $6,000 apiece, compared to $150,000 for the Hellfire missile typically fired by Predator or Reaper drones, the report continued. That capability could help save the lives of U.S. troops, but it could also put them  and Americans at home  in great danger from terrorists or nation-states that havent previously had access to such lethal and affordable technology.

Shaan Shaikh, a missile expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, observed, I think this is going to be the new IED, or improvised explosive device. Its something that we can see that is going to be a problem, and we have some defenses, but not enough.

Had Taliban and other opposing forces had such weapons in Afghanistan and Iraq, the U.S. military could not have fought and operated as they did for decades. The Kamikazes are battery-powered and designed to loiter overhead for a decent amount of time with operators waiting for the precise moment to strike. And with the 300 model being only about 20 inches long, they are extremely difficult to detect (or defend against).

Whats more, U.S. Homeland Security officials are extremely concerned that such weapons will be deployed within the country by terrorist organizations who could literally take out elected officials, high-value infrastructure and other targets practically with impunity.

And dont think that Russia does not have the capability to manufacture such drones or get them smuggled into the U.S., thanks to Bidens literal open-border policies.

As horrific as the war in Ukraine is, for the U.S. and NATO to get involved in any way will not only prolong the misery but put our own countries in danger of retaliation by Putin using the same kind of weapons we are providing to Kyiv.

World War III may have already started and we just dont see it yet.

Sources include:

NBCNews.com

NationalSecurity.news
(Natural News) Cure the Causes founder Dr. Christina Rahm warned the public that more bioweapons are coming after the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19).

Prior to delving into holistic medicine, Rahm worked for several Big Pharma companies including Bristol Myers Squibb, Pfizer, Janssen, UCB, Biogen, Alexion and more.

I would be brought in to work on special projects in different areas. Through that, I was just told we have to prepare because theres going to be biological warfare, [that] there will be viruses released in the future. So we worked on different things like human monoclonal antibodies and vaccines, she shared during a recent episode of the Stew Peters Show.

According to Rahm, the next phase of global war would be fought with biological weapons instead of nuclear weapons. Big Pharma companies, meanwhile, are preparing solutions so that they would have readily available treatments to profit from when the pathogens are released. (Related: Former Big Pharma employee says entire industry knew engineered COVID-19 pandemic was coming.)

Rahm received the information about the upcoming multiple pathogens through her Chinese colleagues in Wuhan, who warned her about four to five different things that would be released upon the population. She was asked to work at a laboratory in Wuhan, but declined the offer for two reasons: she did not understand the project assigned to her and she did not want to leave her kids for six to nine months.

Well, Im concerned about smallpox [and] rabies. Im concerned about different types of Lyme disease because I know ticks and fleas have been used in the past [in] some of the biological missions. Anytime you tell me that a biological [facility] has been blown up, Im concerned that [it] will release things.

Program host Stew Peters asked Rahm of possible reasons why most bioweapons are developed in the communist country.

You know, China has surveillance [similar] to Russia and different countries. It [doesnt] leak our information as much; I suspect thats one of the [other] reasons. I know the lab there was working on retroviruses and vaccines, replied Rahm.

Treatments, vaccines can be programmed for positive or negative effect

Rahm also put in her two cents on monoclonal antibodies used to treat COVID-19. In January 2022, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revoked the emergency use authorization (EUA) of the monoclonal antibody treatments from the New York-based Regeneron and Indiana-based Eli Lilly.

According to the regulator, the EUA for the two treatments were rescinded as they no longer work against the B11529 omicron variant. The FDA nevertheless assured that the treatments from Regeneron and Eli Lilly would be re-authorized if they prove effective against future COVID-19 variants.

Some of the human monoclonal antibodies that Ive worked on, I feel, are very good because they go into the target to get rid of a disease. What happens is [that] you send them in to basically tell the cells what to do. If you can program something to go in [the body] and do that, you can do that for a positive or negative effect. The though process in science is if you have a virus, the cells are surrounded by spikes  and so HIV cant naturally get in. What scientists [are] working on [is] creating a virus to go [inside] in the pretense of helping another virus, but Ive never seen that work effectively, said Rahm.

I do know [there are] certain molecules I worked on that have helped a lot of people. I just feel like theres a lot of things that have been released recently, [but] the side effects and adverse events were obviously not communicated to anyone or to the public.

Peters mentioned the messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine technology by Dr. Robert Malone, which the COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna make use of.

The mRNA [vaccine] technology that Dr. Malone helped to invent has been around, but he didnt necessarily invent the ingredients used in the injection [which] the technology is helping to deliver. That would be an example of a really good technology that can be used for extremely bad purposes, and people can do their evil with it.

Rahm concluded by advising Americans to take care of both their physical and mental health.

People need to protect themselves by taking certain vitamins and minerals and then switching them up, because a virus is smart. You just have to give yourself the tools inside your body, and theres lots of tools available. I also want to tell people [that] psychological warfare is real. You guys need to understand your own minds. Youve got to detox, provide [for] and protect the cells inside your body. You can make it through this. Youve got to be strong in your mind, body and spirit.

Visit BiologicalWeapons.news for more stories like this.

Watch the conversation between Stew Peters and Dr. Christina Rahm below.

This video is from the FreedomNews channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Fast-tracked covid-19 vaccine alters human DNA, turns people into genetically modified property.

Altered DNA? Dr. Peter McCullough discusses dangerous long-term effects of COVID-19 vaccines.

Studies confirm spike protein mRNA in COVID vaccines alters human DNA within hours after injection.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

CBSNews.com
(Natural News) There was no shortage of Hollywood types, all of them left-wing cheerleaders for the Democrat Party, who vowed to leave America if Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016.

He did, of course, but none of those loudmouths who promised to leave actually did so  proving once again that a) they are monumental hypocrites; and b) America really is the best place on the planet to live.

Other Democrat voters also made the same promise but did not follow through. Two of them  Jonathan Toebbe and his wife, Diana  decided instead to get back at Trump and the country for electing him by allegedly attempting to sell top-secret data on the U.S. Navys nuclear-powered submarines to a foreign power. And, Newspunch notes, they both wanted to leave America after Trump was elected.

According to the UKs Daily Mail, Jonathan Tobbe, a former Navy nuclear engineer, and his Trump-hating teacher wife, now face a combined 20 years in prison after approaching Brazilian officials with the classified information.

The couple was arrested in October after investigators said Jonathan approached a foreign government in a bid to provide thousands of pages of stolen classified documents containing details about the nuclear reactors that power the American submarine fleet (the U.S. Navy does not build diesel-electric subs anymore and hasnt for decades).

The name of the country that they approached had been concealed by federal prosecutors, the Daily Mail reported, but initially, it was widely believed that Jonathan had approached France after investigators said the couple approached a friendly foreign power, not a potential adversary.

The New York Times reported last week, however, that a senior Brazilian official as well as others familiar with the case have since confirmed that Toebbe approached their government in April 2020.

Analysts allege Toebbes outreach was an odd choice given then-President Donald Trump and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro had strengthened the alliance between the countries, the Daily Mail reported. Some argue at that time U.S.-Brazilian relations were the closest theyd been in decades.

And despite the Brazilian government being keen to develop its own military technology, the countrys officials were in no mood to steal American secrets, the outlets report continued.

The couples plot unraveled rapidly after Brazilian officials contacted the FBI, which set up a sting with agents posing as their South American counterparts.

Confirmation that Brazil was the country Jonathan Toebbe contacted came roughly one month after he pleaded guilty in federal court in Martinsburg, W. Va., to one count of conspiracy to communicate restricted data. Diana Toebbe, however, still denies the couple engaged in any illicit activity, but while he faces 17 years in prison, she is facing three years behind bars for her part.

The Daily Mail also reported on the Navy nuclear engineers thought process in contacting Brazil instead of a hostile country:

According to officials familiar with the investigation, the Toebbes selected Brazil because they believed the nation was eager to acquire nuclear technology and wealthy enough to afford to buy their secrets, but not hostile towards the U.S.

The couple reportedly believed soliciting secrets to American adversaries  such as Russia or China  was immoral, text messages presented in court revealed.

Its not morally defensible either, wrote Jonathan Toebbe, according to court transcripts. We convinced ourselves it was fine, but it really isnt either, is it?

Diane Toebbe responded: I have no problems at all with it. I feel no loyalty to abstractions.

Ultimately, the couple chose Brazil because they thought that officials there would eagerly accept the highly classified information. The Toebbes also noted that there were only a couple of nations that were not overly hostile to the United States and still capable of making good use of the stolen reactor designs.

Brazil began developing its own nuclear-powered subs in 1978 and has appeared to have an interest in the technology in recent years.

Had this transfer taken place, its likely Brazil would have also sold it, meaning U.S. national security would have been compromised for decades to come.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

NaturalNews.com

Newspunch.com
(Natural News) At the beginning of nearly every war, including the current one in Ukraine, there are those who loudly declare that it will be over shortly and then business-as-usual can resume. They are rarely right. While no one can say for certain what the trajectory of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict will be, the economic warfare that is going on alongside it is very likely to destroy the current global trading system.

(Article by Kurt Cobb republished from OilPrice.com)

The last time a worldwide trading system was destroyed was just over a century ago. From the late 1800s up to the eve of World War I the dominance of the British fleet on the high seas and the reach of the British Empire created an era of stability and interconnection highly favorable to worldwide trade.

Then, World War I blew that stability and interconnection apart. Later, the Great Depression led to a global trade war that finished off the remnants of the international trading system. The world did not achieve a trading system that spanned the globe unhampered again until the end of the Cold Warwhich had split the world into two trading blocks for nearly 50 years.

It is unlikely that Russia will simply back down even in the face of crippling economic sanctions. Things have gone too far and the Russian leadership has staked too much on its position that Russia must have its own sphere of influence free from NATO soldiers and rockets. What the Russians have historically called the near abroad must not harbor threats to Russian security, they say. Think of this as Russias Monroe Doctrine.

The sanctions against Russia are hard to keep track of, ambiguous and ever expanding. Their consequences, however, are clear. Through pressure exerted by the United States and European countries, most of the world will be forced to curtail its trade with Russia sharply.

Russia, however, has potent trade weapons of its own since the country remains the second largest producer of both oil and natural gas in the world behind the United States according the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Russia is, however, the worlds largest natural gas exporter and the second or third largest oil exporter depending on where you look. Europeans are especially dependent on these exports. One would expect any reduction of Russian exports to cause prices to soar. This is exactly what has happen since the war began, complicating Russian deliverieseven though these exports are NOT under sanction and Russia actually INCREASED natural gas exports to Europe.

Russia is also among the top two producers of palladium used most notably in catalytic convertors and also in electronics. The same goes for platinum. In fact, Russia is a significant producer of many metals including nickel, cobalt, uranium, gold, silver, lead, zinc, and iron. A quick look at the Mining Industry of Russia page on Wikipedia illustrates just how important Russian production of minerals is in world markets.

One of the key exports Russia is considering withholding is potash fertilizer, something that would surely drive potash prices sky high and, in turn, drive food prices even higher than they already are. Russia is the worlds fourth largest producer.

Any decision by Russia to withhold commodity exports from the world market would have to be carefully callibrated since such move would, of course, further pummel the Russian economy by reducing or eliminating export earnings from the targeted products.

In yet another blow to the Russian economy, foreign businesses are leaving Russia at an increasing pace. Once gone, it is hard to see them returning anytime soon. And, with Russian assets abroad frozen and in some cases being seized, there is fear that Russia will seize assets within its borders belonging to foreign companies and individuals. Foreign patents might also be disregarded to allow Russia to make some its own goods based on patented technology and designs.

Some Russian banks have been excluded from the worlds largest international payments system known as SWIFT which might just push Russia to form its own payment system along with other countries suffering from sanctions such as Iran, Cuba, North Korea and Syria. Dont be surprised if additional countries including China decide to joinwhile remaining in SWIFTin order to continue to trade with these countries including Russia.

Given the ferocity of the response to Russias invasion of Ukraine, it is just as hard to imagine a full-scale retreat from sanctions under practically any likely long-term scenario as it is to imagine Russia withdrawing from Ukraine and saying that it is sorry; it was all just a big misunderstanding. And, there is always the possibility that a guerilla insurgency will continue in Ukraine for years to come so that there is no clear end to hostilities.

The result of sanctions and war so far has been to cause prices of practically every commodity to rise significantly, most notably wheat, which is up 50 percent since before the war. (Russia and Ukraine are the number one and number five exporters in the world respectively.) Oil which was already trading at an elevated level is now comfortably above $110 per barrel, up about 25 percent from the start of the war.

Spikes in oil prices have preceded 10 of the last 11 recessions (not including the COVID collapse). It seems likely, though, that a recession following this spike will not be a mild one given the dislocations in the world economy already and the determination of each side in the conflict to exert increasing economic pain on the other. And, we must also remember that oil and wheat prices are not the only ones going up rapidly. Food prices in general are soaring as are fiber prices (lumber and cotton, for example). Rising energy prices, of course, feed into practically every other good and service. Eventually, high prices undermine economic activity as buyers simply stop buying what they cannot afford.

If the next recession is deep and drawn out, as I believe it might be, it may hasten the breakup of current trading arrangements as people around the world seek to protect their home industries from those abroad by restricting trade even further (just as countries did during the Great Depression).

The Russians sought to reorganize the security framework in Europe by making sure Ukraine does not join an alliance hostile to Russia. In the bargain, the Russians may get a reorganization of the world trading system, one that may break up into relatively closed trading blocks with more and more emphasis on self-sufficiency as a prudent bulwark against unexpected disruptions including wars.

Read more at: OilPrice.com
(Natural News) Members of the U.S. Marine Corps have been deployed to Australia in preparation for China potentially invading Taiwan. The Marines will be helping their counterparts in the Australian Defense Force (ADF) to ensure preparedness for any crisis or conflict in the region.

According to 100PercentFedUp.com, a rotational force of approximately 2,200 Marines will be based in Australias Northern Territory until September 2022. One thousand Marines had earlier arrived in Darwin, the Australian states capital, to train alongside the ADF. The contingent of Marines forms part of an ongoing U.S. initiative in the Indo-Pacific region to prepare for a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan in coming years.

Colonel Marcus Constable, commanding officer of ADF Northern Command, reiterated the importance of the relationship between the U.S. and Australia. It is a key way we increase regional cooperation with partners in the Indo-Pacific. Together, we conduct a comprehensive range of training activities including humanitarian assistance, security operations and high-end live-fire exercises, he said.

Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton said conflict with China shouldnt be discounted, warning that the communist country may move to invade Taiwan while the world is focused on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. He emphasized that Australian forces would come to the aid of the U.S. should the latter help defend the island nation.

It would be inconceivable that we wouldnt support the U.S. in an action if the U.S. chose to take that action. I think we should be very frank and honest about that [and] look at all of the facts and circumstances without pre-committing. [Maybe] there are circumstances where we wouldnt take up that option, [but] I cant conceive of those circumstances.

Dutton added: There are actors within our own region who may see the war in Ukraine as a useful distraction, and indeed an opportunity, to pursue their own actions of aggression or coercion. This threat, of course, chiefly emanates from Beijing, which has its own openly-stated territorial ambitions  and which recently entered a no-limits cooperative partnership with the Kremlin at a time when the rest of the world was pulling away.

Beijing waiting for the right opportunity to seize Taiwan

In 2021, Beijing warned through state media that Australia would suffer a heavy attack in case the ADF comes to the aid of Taiwan. It also brought up the possibility of nuclear weapons in response to the tripartite AUKUS security pact. Under the AUKUS agreement, the U.S. and U.K. will help Australia procure nuclear-powered submarines in the future.

Canberra did not take Beijings threats lightly, however.

The deployment of Marines to Australia followed a warning by former U.S. President Donald Trump that the mainland could forcibly annex Taiwan. He issued the warning that China is going to be next to assert its military might after Russia during a February 2022 interview with Clay Travis and Buck Sexton. (Related: Trump: China will DEFINITELY attack Taiwan following Russia-Ukraine example.)

China is going to be next. Theyre waiting [until] after the [Winter] Olympics. Now the Olympics [has] ended. This would never have happened if we were there. Had I been in office, not even thinkable, said Trump.

The Restricted Republic host Lisa Haven elaborated on Trumps warning during the February interview held at the former presidents Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Trump is seizing up this opportunity to issue a dire warning to the American people. [This is] a warning that I myself have given quite a few times, and a warning that we should all take to heart and take seriously  because so much is at stake, she said.

According to Haven, Trump strongly believes the Chinese invasion of Taiwan is imminent and could happen sometime soon.

Visit NationalSecurity.news for more articles like this.

Watch Lisa Haven of The Restricted Republic expounding on Trumps warning about China and Taiwan below.

This video is from the Lisa Haven channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

US would quickly lose against China if they invaded Taiwan.

Top Chinese diplomat: China must make first nuclear strike against US.

China says it will attack any American forces that come to the defense of Taiwan.

China preparing for what it claims is a morally justified war with US, Taiwan over sovereignty.

Taiwan says it is preparing for war as China continues to provoke conflict with massive incursions of fighters, bombers.

Sources include:

100PercentFedUp.com

Summit.news

NYPost.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) It is now undeniably clear that the United States was heavily involved in developing and managing biolabs throughout Ukraine, and that this could be the primary focus of the Russian invasion. We also now know that a U.S.-based biotechnology company called Metobiota is connected to the scheme.

Dilyana Gaytandzhieva, a Bulgarian journalist, outed Metabiota in a lengthy 2019 article, explaining that the company is a main player in the Ukrainian labs.

Its a company that tracks the trajectory of outbreaks and sells pandemic insurance, but also seems to have its hand in the actual labs that, as we painfully learned the past two years, might be the source of some of these outbreaks, says David Horowitz.

As a background, biowarfare scientists, using diplomatic cover, have been testing man-made viruses at Pentagon-run laboratories located in some 25 countries around the world.

Three of these biolabs are directly funded by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) under a $2.1 billion military program called the Cooperative Biological Engagement Program, or CBEP. These are located in former Soviet Union countries such as Georgia and Ukraine, as well as in the Middle East, South East Asia and Africa.

It turns out that DTRA has outsourced much of the work that takes place at these biolabs to private companies, which are not accountable to Congress. This allows them to operate more freely and skirt the law as needed.

How many epidemics and plandemics has Metabiota been a part of?

Metabiota is one such private company that was hired to push scientific boundaries and develop new knowledge. Its website states the following:

We have deep and sustained partnerships with governments, health agencies, academic institutions and private enterprise.

Metabiota offers both products and services to its customers. These products and services, which are designed to identify early signals of emerging outbreaks, are targeted at those with commercial interests such as insurance companies.

We work with leading organizations across the insurance industry, as well as multilaterals and disaster-risk financing organizations, to develop novel infections disease-related products, the company says about itself.

We combine leading epidemiological, statistical and actuarial techniques to quantify epidemic risk, shed light on uncertainty, and provide data-driven consulting on policy design.

In 2017, the company released a promotional video explaining that our disease model library is the largest in the insuretech industry  allowing you to  quantify the impact of an event on your portfolio in dollars and see what drives your losses.

In 2014, Metabiota was awarded $18.4 million in federal contracts under the Pentagons DTRA program in Georgia and Ukraine for scientific and technical consulting services.

Between 2012 and 2015, Metabiota was contracted by the Pentagon to work for DTRA before and during the Ebola crisis in West Africa, and was also given another $3.1 million to work in Sierra Leone.

In August 2018, Metabiota announced that it has received an award from Black & Veatch (B&V) to support DTRAs CBEP in Iraq.

All around the world, Metabiota has been collaborating with the U.S. government to perform services related to what we now suspect to be biological weapons developed at Pentagon-run laboratories.

There seem to have been many planned epidemics and plandemics prior to the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19), in other words, for which Metabiota was contracted to provide scientific and technical consulting services.

Metabiota also has a heavy presence in Africa, and has always been in just the right place at just the right time when disease outbreaks occurred  almost as if someone knew they were going to happen and needed help managing them?

Isnt Bidens son involved with Metabiota or Black & Veatch? asked someone at the Daily Expose, adding further conspiracy to these companies.

More related news can be found at Corruption.news.

Sources for this article include:

DailyExpose.uk

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Dr. Theresa Long, a medical officer with the United States military, has testified in court that she was ordered by a superior to suppress Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccine injuries following the Biden regimes mandate.

Long and two other medical professionals observed a spike in cancer cases, neurological disorders and miscarriages immediately after Bidens jab mandate was enacted. They were told, however, to keep this damning information under wraps.

The other two who supported Long in arriving at these findings are Dr. Samuel Sigoloff and Lt. Col. Peter Chambers, who are being represented by Thomas Renz, a member of the Americas Frontline Doctors (AFLDS) legal team.

I have so many soldiers being destroyed by this vaccine, Long said in court.

Not a single member of my senior command has discussed my concerns with me  I have nothing to gain and everything to lose by talking about it. Im okay with that because I am watching people get absolutely destroyed.

Liberty Counsel is currently representing 30 members of the military who are fighting back against the militarys jab mandate. They recently presented their case to Judge Steven Merryday, who granted a preliminary injunction to two military plaintiffs, allowing them to sidestep the injection mandate.

Judge in case says DoDs position is frail; government agency acting as though they are above the law

During the hearing, which took place on March 10, the Department of Defense (DoD) requested for this injunction to be waived while the case is being appealed. Liberty Counsel Chairman Mat Staver also says the DoD is refusing to send witnesses to be cross-examined, which points to a possible cover-up.

They send these declarations that some JAG attorney writes, and somebody in the military signs off on them, Staver says.

He also explained that the DoD is presenting information in court that is flat-out outdated, wrong, and would really be subject to dismantling under cross examination.

Judge Merryday, Staver claims, has already chastised the DoD, saying the government agency has a frail case and is acting as though they are above the law.

Out of 3,212 applications in the Marines requesting a religious exemption, only two have been accepted, according to reports. When pressed for information as to why this number is so dismally low, Capt. Andrew Wood responded with:

Due to privacy considerations, we are unable to discuss the specifics of any individual requests.

Some 45 Marines, meanwhile, were discharged last week after refusing to submit to the experimental injections. In total, there have now been 334 discharges over refusal to get jabbed.

In a statement about this, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger parroted Big Pharma talking points:

You have to ask each individual Marines their reason why, Berger said during an appearance at the Aspen Security Forum.

But I think were challenged by disinformation  that still swirls around about where the genesis, how did this vaccine get approved, is it safe is it ethical  all that swirls around on the internet and they see all that they read all that.

In other words, the Marines, and the rest of the Armed Forces, for that matter, have been turned into appendages for the hellish Orwellian technocracy that is rising due to the COVID-19 pandemic, to quote one source.

In the past, this would have been enough to stop all vaccinations, noted a commenter at Natural News about the torrent of jab injuries being reported.

Instead, the stupids insist on pushing forward with the shots. Those who have been permanently harmed by these vaccines will expect rightly so government help. This alone will destroy the United States economy. What kind of country will be left after these payouts will be anybodys guess.

More related news about Bidens covid jab mandates can be found at Fascism.news.

Sources for this article include:

BigLeaguePolitics.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Though many Americans already knew that the mainstream media leaned heavily to the left prior to Donald Trumps 2016 presidential election victory, a much larger number of Americans were convinced of it after he was driven from office by the deep state.

Even before he took office, all of the major outlets published one phony story after another  most accusing Trump of being a dupe of Russia, and all of them relying on an anonymous intelligence community and government sources.

Meanwhile, those same outlets were suppressing real, compromising information about the Biden family: that Hunter Biden was in deep, financially, with unsavory governments and potential adversaries like Ukraine, Russia and China, and that daddy Joe Biden was getting a cut of all of his sons action. The New York Post was the first to report on these bombshells, in mid-October 2020, just a few weeks before the election, but the stories were literally suppressed by Big Tech platforms and poo-pooed by Big Media as being nothing more than Russian disinformation.

Though scores of U.S. intelligence community officials and experts assured us of that, it turns out they were lying, as they did throughout Trumps presidency, and none other than The New York Times, one of the biggest Hunter Biden story suppressors and doubters, has now confirmed those reports were accurate  but the paper hasnt apologized for lying about the Hunter Biden revelations nor have the editors corrected the record.

Now the Times and all of the other lying outlets are being called out by one of the few true investigative journalists left in the profession, Glenn Greenwald, who has been documenting for years how the mainstream media has lied about Trump and lied to the American people about his record as president.

One of the most successful disinformation campaigns in modern American electoral history occurred in the weeks prior to the 2020 presidential election, he wrote late last week on his Substack page.

On October 14, 2020  less than three weeks before Americans were set to vote  the nations oldest newspaper, The New York Post, began publishing a series of reports about the business dealings of the Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, in countries in which Biden, as Vice President, wielded considerable influence (including Ukraine and China) and would again if elected president, Greenwald continued.

He added:

The backlash against this reporting was immediate and intense, leading to suppression of the story by U.S. corporate media outlets and censorship of the story by leading Silicon Valley monopolies. The disinformation campaign against this reporting was led by the CIAs all-but-official spokesperson Natasha Bertrand (then of Politico, now with CNN), whose article on October 19 appeared under this headline: Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say.

In reality, the former intel officials didnt actually declare that the Hunter Biden story was Russian misinformation. To be clear, they stressed in their letter just the opposite  that they had no evidence to suggest that the emails and other documents were fake or that Russia was responsible for planting the fake evidence on Bidens laptop. Rather, they only said their suspicion was that the information was fake based on their vast experience:

We want to emphasize that we do not know if the emails, provided to the New York Post by President Trumps personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, are genuine or not and that we do not have evidence of Russian involvement  just that our experience makes us deeply suspicious that the Russian government played a significant role in this case. [Emphasis added]

But the corporate media and the rest of the deep state were so desperate to see Trump defeated, they literally refused to investigate The Posts revelations and instead simply declared them fakery by Moscow.

Fast-forward to last week: The Times published a story detailing an ongoing federal investigation into Hunter Biden over potential violations of laws requiring Americans to register as lobbyists for foreign governments as well as tax fraud. The story included this passage:

People familiar with the investigation said prosecutors had examined emails between Mr. Biden, Mr. Archer and others about Burisma and other foreign business activity. Those emails were obtained by The New York Times from a cache of files that appears to have come from a laptop abandoned by Mr. Biden in a Delaware repair shop. The email and others in the cache were authenticated by people familiar with them and with the investigation. [Emphasis added]

It was clear that the emails and other documents (including actual photos of Hunter Biden) were genuine from the outset. But the mainstream media chose to ignore them purposely because most reporters and editors in the American press are nothing but propagandists and shills for the Democratic Party.

Trumps reelection was stolen from him on multiple levels; our fake news media was involved in it every step of the way.

Sources include:

Greenwald.Substack.com

NaturalNews.com

NYPost.com
(Natural News) Byron York does not strike me as snarky. Nevertheless, he tweeted minutes ago, New York Times flash: Hunter Biden had a laptop. It contained emails about his foreign business activities. Those emails have been authenticated by people familiar with them and with the [Biden tax and foreign influence] investigation.'

(Article republished from DonSurber.Blogspot.com)

A federal prosecutor is closing in on Hunter like NYT falsely claimed Mueller was doing on President Donald John Trump.

Apparently, Hunter may be going down and NYT wants to get ahead of the story.

It is too late.

The New York Post busted Hunter and the FBI over this laptop two weeks before the the 2020 election. Rather than reward the post with a Pulitzer, the media clamored for Twitter and other social media to censor the story. Social media complied.

NYT reported at the time, The laptop prompted concerns about Russian disinformation because the intelligence community has warned for months about Russian attempts to influence the election, including by spreading disinformation about the Biden family. Russia has conducted a hacking campaign to find information damaging to the Biden campaign, most notably through a hack on Burisma.

The FBI said that because it had the laptop and had authenticated it in 2019 when a computer repairman turned it in because it contained evidence of widespread corruption by the Biden Mafia. The FBI sat on the laptop because the bureau wanted to protect Biden.

The Post reported 5 days ago, The Delaware computer repair shop owner who alerted the FBI to Hunter Bidens infamous laptop before ultimately taking it to Rudy Giuliani says hes faced harassment from Big Tech, the IRS and other government agencies ever since, and now faces bankruptcy.

This whistleblower could have used a little help from the media.

But the media is a handmaiden to the DNC. A few outposts like the New York Post hang in there.

NYT said today, Hunter Biden Paid Tax Bill, but Broad Federal Investigation Continues.

The story began, In the year after he disclosed a federal investigation into his tax affairs in late 2020, President Bidens son, Hunter Biden, paid off a significant tax liability, even as a grand jury continued to gather evidence in a wide-ranging examination of his international business dealings, according to people familiar with the case.

Those taxes were on his bribes from companies in Ukraine and elsewhere.

He failed to register as a foreign agent, the same thing that helped land Paul Manafort in jail. NYT fretted over whether Hunter intentionally violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

I dont recall NYT bringing up intent in its stories about Manafort.

NYT said today, People familiar with the investigation said prosecutors had examined emails between Mr. Biden, Mr. Archer and others about Burisma and other foreign business activity. Those emails were obtained by The New York Times from a cache of files that appears to have come from a laptop abandoned by Mr. Biden in a Delaware repair shop. The email and others in the cache were authenticated by people familiar with them and with the investigation.

In some of the emails, Mr. Biden displayed a familiarity with FARA, and a desire to avoid triggering it.

So much for the childlike I-didnt-know-the-law.

He has a law degree from Yale.

I am beginning to believe politicians send their kids to law school to learn how to get around the law.

NYTs sudden conversion amused critics.

The New York Post wrote an editorial, Now that Joe Bidens president, the Times finally admits: Hunters laptop is real.

The Post said, Now were 16 months away from the 2020 election, Joe Bidens safely in the White House, and the Times finally decides to report on the news rather than carry the Biden campaigns water. And they find that hey, Hunter Bidens business interests benefited from Joe Bidens political status to a suspicious degree. Perhaps this is a topic worthy of examination.

Most liberals this morning are feigning astonishment at NYTs scoop.

Well, it is a scoop, but of stuff farmers usually spread over their fields.

To its credit, National Review mocked NYT, too. Its Andrew McCarthy wrote, It has always been obvious that a federal investigation of Hunter Biden, assuming it was a serious one, had to be far more expansive than his tax problems. And sure enough, the Times is now reporting what was knowable but largely concealed before the 2020 election: The Justice Department probe, which is being run out of Delaware by David C. Weiss, the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney (who started in that office under President Bush-43 and was interim U.S. attorney for two years under President Obama), is a serious one.

A grand jury is hearing testimony and scrutinizing documents.

Prosecutors are examining the intriguing streams of payments to Hunter by the Ukrainian energy company (Burisma), the Chinese conglomerate (CEFC  see my column here), and a company associated with a Kazakh oligarch.'

Journalists used to say follow the money.

I still do.

NYT was once on life support protected by the generosity of a Mexican billionaire. The Sulzbergers may have the titles, but he ultimately calls the shots.

Now that Biden is safely ensconced behind the Resolute Desk, NYT is free to admit Hunters laptop is real.

Now for a totally unrelated video.

Read more at: DonSurber.Blogspot.com
(Natural News) The Russian military has fired never-before-seen missiles into Ukraine that have unique capabilities as Western intelligence agencies say that Moscows forces have been ground to a halt by stiff resistance and are no longer making progress.

U.S. intelligence officials who detected and analyzed a barrage of missiles fired into Ukraine from Russia contain decoys that fool air-defense radars as well as heat-seeking missiles fired to bring them down, The New York Times reported this week as the war enters its fourth week.

The paper said that each device is roughly 1 foot long and shaped like a dart. They are white with orange tails, a U.S. intelligence official said. The devices are released by the Iskander-M short-range ballistic missiles that the Russian military has been firing from mobile launchers from inside their own country, according to the official, after the missile senses that it is being targeted by ground air defense systems.

Each is packed with electronics and produces radio signals to jam or spoof enemy radars attempting to locate the Iskander-M, and contains a heat source to attract incoming missiles, the paper noted. The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about intelligence matters, described the devices on the condition of anonymity.

The Times adds:

The use of the decoys may help explain why Ukrainian air-defense weapons have had difficulty intercepting Russias Iskander missiles.

Powered by a solid-fuel rocket motor, the Iskander can reach targets more than 200 miles away, according to U.S. government documents. Each mobile launcher can fire two Iskanders before it must be reloaded.

Photos of the dart-shaped decoys first made the rounds on social media about two weeks ago, stumping experts as well as open-source intelligence analysts, many of whom mistakenly took the devices for bomblets dispensed by cluster bomb weapons just because of their shape and size.

Richard Stevens, a 22-year British Army veteran who worked as an explosive ordinance disposal specialist before entering a career as a civilian bomb tech for 10 years in Iraq, Africa and other parts of the world, told the Times that hed been around plenty of Chinese and Russian munitions, but I had never seen this.

He posted pictures of the munitions to a website for military and civilian bomb disposal professionals that he launched in 2011 to get some insight into what the devices might be, but he said no one else knew what they were, either.

That Russia is using that size of weapon  the Iskander-M  and quite a few of them I believe, thats why were seeing this now, Stevens said. Its just that, post-conflict in the past 10 to 15 years, no one has had the opportunity to see this.

According to the U.S. intelligence official, the devices are similar to decoys deployed by missiles during the Cold War called penetration aids, which have accompanied nuclear warheads since the 1970s and are designed to evade missile defense systems. Incorporating them into conventional warhead missiles like the Iskander-M has not been seen before in military arsenals.

The minute people came up with missiles, people started trying to shoot them down, and the minute people started trying to shoot them down, people started thinking about penetration aids, noted Jeffrey Lewis, a professor of nonproliferation at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, Calif. But we never see them because theyre highly secret  if you know how they work, you can counteract them.

Meanwhile, U.S. and Western intelligence officials say that Russian forces are continuing to pound Ukrainian cities, but overall, the military advance has stalled, though civilians are continuing to die.

British military intelligence said in an update on Thursday that the invasion had largely stalled on all fronts, and Russian forces were suffering heavy losses from a staunch and well-coordinated Ukrainian resistance, Reuters reported Thursday.

Even if Russian forces capture Ukraine, resistance fighters will continue to bleed them for as long as they stay on Ukrainian soil, so Putin, in the end, will win nothing.

Sources include:

Reuters.com

NYTimes.com
The Orange County Sheriffs Office is investigating an early morning shooting outside the live-music venue Dream City that sent two people to the hospital, authorities said Sunday.

According to a sheriffs spokesperson, deputies heard gunshots at 3:09 a.m. Sunday in the parking lot of the business, located at 6387 West Colonial Dr. Witnesses told the deputies two men were arguing and that two people had been shot  a man and a woman.

Advertisement

The wounded were taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center but there was no word Sunday afternoon on their condition or whether any arrests had been made.

The sheriffs office has not yet released the names of those involved.

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According to its Facebook page, Dream City hosts concerts, live music and food events, theater and parties.
(Natural News) On Sunday, former House representative for Hawaii Tulsi Gabbard released a video calling for the Biden administration to work with Russia and other parties to establish a ceasefire in Ukraine so dangerous pathogens held by US-funded biological research labs in the country could be destroyed.

(Article by Dave DeCamp republished from News.AntiWar.com)

Despite the undeniable evidence that there are Pentagon-linked biological labs in Ukraine, any concern about the pathogens has been labeled Russian propaganda by hawks in Washington. In response to Gabbards video, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) labeled her as treasonous.

Tulsi Gabbard is parroting false Russian propaganda. Her treasonous lies may well cost lives, Romney wrote on Twitter.

Tulsi Gabbard is parroting false Russian propaganda. Her treasonous lies may well cost lives.  Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) March 13, 2022

Gabbards video also elicited a response from Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), one of the leading proponents of the idea that the US should impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine, which would mean direct conflict with Russia and risk nuclear war. Actual Russian propaganda. Traitorous, Kinzinger said.

In response to Romney, Gabbard challenged Romney to provide evidence that what she said was not true. Senator Romney, please provide evidence that what I said is untrue and treasonous. If you cannot, you should do the honorable thing: apologize and resign from the Senate, she said.

Gabbard also presented evidence of the USs involvement with Ukrainian biolabs, including a Pentagon fact sheet dated March 11 that details US funding of the facilities. The Pentagon funds labs in Ukraine through its Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). The fact sheet said since 2005, the US has invested $200 million in supporting 46 Ukrainian laboratories, health facilities, and diagnostic sites.

Gabbards concern about the pathogens being released in Ukraine is also shared by Pentagon officials involved with the DTRA. In a February 25 article published by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, Robert Pope, the director of the DTRAs Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, warned that the fighting in Ukraine could lead to dangerous pathogens being released from the labs.

Pope said some of the labs could contain biological weapons left over from the Soviet Union while insisting the facilities are not capable of developing such pathogens. According to the article, the US government has worked with 26 such biological research facilities in Ukraine. Pope and other US officials maintain that the DTRAs work in Ukraine is meant to eliminate the threat of Soviet-era weapons of mass destruction.

Its not clear exactly what pathogens have been held in the labs. Russia says it has documents that show the Ukrainian Health Ministry ordered the destruction of samples of plague, cholera, anthrax, and other pathogens, although they have not been verified. But the World Health Organization bolstered Russias case last week by saying it advised the Ukrainian Health Ministry to destroy high-threat pathogens around the time Russia invaded.

Russia brought the issue of the US-funded labs to the UN Security Council on Friday, infuriating Washington. China has joined Russia in calling on the US to explain its involvement in the labs, and said the UN should properly address the issue. US State Department spokesman Ned Price said Chinas position is disturbing and suggested any country that gives credibility to Russias claims essentially backs its invasion.

Read more at: News.AntiWar.com
(Natural News) It is not shocking that German journalist Alina Lipp has been labeled a terrorist by the Ukrainian government when U.S. President Joe Bidens government is doing the same thing to individuals against his narratives.

(Article by Amy Mek republished from RairFoundation.com)

Last week RAIR Foundation USA translated a video by a young German journalist living in Donetsk, Alina Lipp. After her video on the Donbas region went viral, she was registered on Ukraines official Terrorist website as a Russian terrorist. Lipp is neither a Russian citizen nor does she have a Russian passport.

Lipps pro-Donbas reporting is believed to be why she was classified as a terrorist. She has repeatedly claimed that the Ukrainian military has been attacking Donbas Russians for the past eight years. In Lipps viral video, she highlighted that the people living in Donbas want to belong to Russia and have been thankful that Russia finally did something. She stressed, Finally, the people here have been liberated from the terror that theyve been experiencing for the last eight years from the Ukrainian government.

Lipp released a video statement in response to people attacking her work and the Ukraine government registering her as a Russian Terrorist:

This message is for all those who, for some reason, want to defame me. As it turns out, Im now registered on the official Ukrainian terrorist site and Im also now listed as a Russian terrorist. Thats pretty funny, because I dont even have a Russian passport. Why they want to defame me, I dont know, because I just want to show how things really are here in Donbas, in Donetsk, for example. I can show proof of my entire life, my resume, everything Ive done, all my encounters, meetings, to prove theres nothing Im somehow hiding. Im an independent journalist, and I can also prove that. Im simply trying to work for peace. Explosions can be heard going off in the background here again. Thats the Ukrainian army, which has been shelling the Donbas region for the last eight years, and Ive seen that with my own eyes. Ive seen the people suffering in the outskirts. You know, if you want to defame me, ask yourself why? Im only filming what isnt shown in the West. I just want to expose an injustice, and thats something everyone should want. Why should I be defamed? Why should I be prevented from exposing this injustice? Expose the genocide. I dont understand it. Just an example: someone from T-online contacted me, to do an interview with me. Best regards to that gentleman. He wrote very nicely and then I answered him. I said, I would like to and that I would gladly answer questions, but that Id like to read it through and approve the article before publication. Then he said: Nah, I dont do that. I had the same thing happen before, I think it was with Der Spiegel magazine. It was a long time ago. I ask myself, if you dont agree with my checking my own statements beforehand, then youre basically admitting that you intend to change my statements, in a way that I wouldnt agree with afterwards. So, its unbelievable. What kind of journalism is that? Just show the truth, and statements from people whom you interviewed should be what they said. Thats how it should be. Its unbelievable what has become of this world, and what journalism has become, especially in the West. Oh well. Bye

Will The U.S. Government Also Label Journalists as Terrorists?

It is not shocking that Lipp has been labeled a terrorist by the Ukrainian government when U.S. President Joe Bidens government is doing the same thing to individuals going against his narratives.

On February 7, 2022, the Department of Homeland Security released a bulletin stating that misleading narratives are the most dangerous contributor to terrorism against the United States.

SUMMARY OF THE TERRORISM THREAT TO THE UNITED STATES: The United States remains in a heightened threat environment fueled by several factors, including an online environment filled with false or misleading narratives and conspiracy theories These threat actors seek to exacerbate societal friction to sow discord and undermine public trust in government institutions to encourage unrest, which could potentially inspire acts of violence.

A federal agency says that to undermine public trust in government institutions is now considered terrorism.

Under these new U.S. guidelines, will American journalists be considered terrorists for reporting on Alina Lipps work?

Learn More About Alina Lipp

The following interview and report by SNA News with Ms. Lipp from February 14, 2022, will give more insight into who she is and the work she is doing:

Alina Lipp is a freelance journalist and has been living in the Donbas for several months, from where she reports on the current situation via her Telegram channel News from Russia. From there, she reports on the current situation in the war zone, where Western journalists have rarely been seen since the beginning of the conflict.

During her studies in Germany, Lipp explains that she took every opportunity to better understand Russia, taking part in different internships, volunteer work, and traveling to Siberia on the Trans-Siberian Railway. After her father emigrated from Germany to Crimea a few years ago, Alina finally decided to live in Russia in early 2021. She has since traveled around as a journalist, participated in film projects, and promoted a political friendship between Germany and Russia.

A war that has long since begun  Report of a German in the Donbass

Wham. Somewhere, not too far away, theres a bang. I cringe, looking around. But, apart from me, no one around me stops; the passers-by pretend not to have heard anything. Its the fall of 2021, Im standing in the center of Donetsk, and its the first time I have become aware of the warfare on the border with Ukraine.

Normally, nothing is heard in the city center. However, in the evening, I learned on the news that the Ukrainian army landed a drone with an explosive device in the Donetsk oil depot. The device was detonated and defused a safe distance from the oil barrels. Much of the city would have been wiped out if the explosive device had gone off on a barrel as initially planned.

Despite all the dangers, Ive been in Donetsk for three months  the Donbas and the stories of its inhabitants just wont let me go. It is a fascinating place with even more fascinating people. It gives me a burning desire to report on events for German viewers and readers as best I can  especially due to the silence of our media about what is really going on here. The only reports I find in the German-speaking world on Donbas are written from outside and, as a rule, only present Ukraines point of view. Im not aware of any correspondent from a Western, established media outlet who seeks out the other partys opinion in this conflict or dares to talk to the people of the Donetsk or Lugansk Peoples Republics for this purpose  which would actually be standard journalistic practice.

In recent months, I have talked to the local population, spoken to politicians, traveled to the frontline areas, provided humanitarian aid, and shot footage with the German-Russian-Donetsk cooperation. I often ask myself why I took on this job voluntarily because I have a masters degree in sustainability science. However, considering that my parents (mother German, father Russian) met at a German-Soviet peace regatta, which was intended to draw international attention to the critical ecological state of the Baltic Sea, my life path has taken on something more of a deeper meaning. Promoting German-Russian friendship has become my purpose in life for several years now. I view the most significant cause for the strained bilateral relations resulting from the one-sided Western media coverage, which leaves the reader no choice but to develop a dislike for Russia. I mainly highlight the central conflict topics of Crimea and Donbas in my channels and on my website.

I visited Crimea for the first time in 2016 and founded the YouTube channel Happy in Crimea.

For several months, the situation in the Donbas has been coming to a head. Ive understood that this conflict, which has been going on for eight years, must be resolved to rebuild good relations between Russia and the West. So why couldnt the dispute be resolved in the last eight years? In 2021, I decided to go to Donetsk to find an answer to this question and learn more about it.

Situation in Donbass

After talking to local citizens and politicians, as well as representatives of the Russian government, I can say the following with certainty: The population of the Donbas has been terrorized for eight years by ultra-nationalist-minded compatriots, who, in the vast majority of cases, are the first to open fire. Moreover, they do not shy away from shooting at schools and children. For this reason, there is no way back to Ukraine for the people, and most of them hope for Russia to take over the republics  just as it had happened with Crimea at that time. But as I was told, Russia will not take in the Donbas republics under any circumstances; otherwise, this would have been done already.

Crimea already had the status of an autonomous republic at the time of admission  the Donetsk and Lugansk Peoples Republics did not. Accordingly, access to the Russian Federation would be unlawful. Political experts, therefore, see only two ways out of the situation: international recognition of the Donbas republics as independent states; or their incorporation into the Russian Federation together with the rest of Ukraine. This is a scenario that the Western media today regard in all seriousness as an ultima ratio of the Kremlin. This would mean that Russia would bring thousands and thousands of violent nationalists into the country and risk an inevitable war with the whole world.

Russian patriotism is omnipresent in the Donetsk Peoples Republic. Russian is spoken everywhere; payments are made in rubles, and, unlike in Ukraine, people orient themselves to Moscow time. Giant posters with inscriptions such as Russian Donbass Our choice: Russia adorn walls of large buildings just as Russian flags do. In contrast, due to years of shelling, a strong dislike for Ukraine has developed, and I have yet to meet a single anti-Russian person. On the contrary, the population is grateful for Russias humanitarian and economic support. The average citizens here do not have to lack for anything: Supermarkets are well stocked (mainly with Russian products), cafes and restaurants are open, and theaters, cinemas, or gyms. By the way, the available groceries satisfy basic needs and offer shoppers, for example, different kinds of Italian coffee, German Ritter Sport chocolate, and more unusual things like rice or buckwheat milk. The latest technical gadgets or seasonal brand-name clothes are also available in the shopping malls. Visually, most people are dressed normally and well-groomed on average. For example, as a woman, I noticed that most of the ladies have their fingernails done in a nail salon.

Life in the combat zone of the Donbass

But what even locals sometimes forget: Only a ten-minute drive from the city center is the gray zone between Donbas and Ukraine, where a considerable part of the population experiences the war firsthand daily. Normal, peaceful people live here, families with children who had the misfortune to have Ukrainian forces advance right up to their homes in the course of the war, turning their neighborhood into a combat zone. It is hard to imagine a starker contrast  on one side the boutiques and wholesome buildings of Donetsks center, on the other the border residential areas where no house has been left undamaged. Here people live a life of poverty and constant fear.

I decided to take a closer look at these urban areas. Andrei Lisenko has been providing humanitarian aid there every day since the beginning of the war and now regularly takes me with him on his trips. I will never forget what I saw here.

O

On my first trip to the gray zone, we drove to various south-western districts of Donetsk. To enter the zone, we had to pass through two heavily armed checkpoints, the so-called block posts, which were set up on every road leading west (i.e., towards Ukraine). The soldiers did not check us  they recognized Andreis car from far away and simply waved us through. After the two checkpoints, a few hundred meters apart, a third barrier followed, but it is entirely closed: the border with Ukraine. Shortly before that, we made a sharp turn and drove through a residential area. Most of the houses were damaged in some way: bullet holes, broken windows, fire damage. Some homes were destroyed, others abandoned.

We visited an elderly deaf gentleman with no legs who was shot by a Ukrainian sniper in his own backyard, a mother with a malnourished six-year-old daughter who had been living in a ruined house with a destroyed roof since 2014, and a family with two daughters who had lived in a shelter for 12 months last year. Andrei distributes food packages, clothing donations, and cash financed from donations. Otherwise, no one helps them; government aid programs do not exist.

On paper, the Minsk agreement is being observed, but in reality, the conflict continues to smolder and threatens to escalate at any time.

It is impossible to understand what is happening here or grasp why the Ukrainian side has been terrorizing the civilian population for years. I write this deliberately because the Donetsk Peoples Militia does not do this. The evil separatists, as they are often called in our media, only defend themselves against the daily provocations of the Ukrainian armed forces  I can confirm this after three months of stay, numerous conversations, and my observations. From the Donetsk side, it is incomprehensible how the Ukrainians do not even shy away from shooting at schools. In November 2021, for example, three schools in the Donbas were shelled within ten days.

I am shaken to the core by the injustice, misery, and crimes against humanity that are taking place in the middle of Europe. However, this conflict will end  the main thing is that it finally comes to an end.

But will the whole thing be able to find a peaceful end? What if the Ukrainian army, which has moved closer and is armed with Western weapons, dares to provoke?

You can find more on Lipps reports on her website, my live ticker on the Donbas conflict including photos and videos from Donetsk on Telegram .

Read more at: RairFoundation.com
(Natural News) The federal government says it is beefing up its military presence in Eastern Europe in order to protect its allies against Russia. However, internal documents show that what American protection actually means in practical terms is to conduct horrific biological experiments on allied troops.

It has been revealed that the Pentagon exposed about 4,400 Ukrainian soldiers and 1,000 Georgian soldiers to biological experiments with potentially lethal outcomes. According to leaked documents, all volunteer deaths were to be reported within 24 hours in Ukraine and 48 hours in Georgia.

Both countries are considered the most loyal U.S. partners in the region with a number of Pentagon programs being implemented in their territory, writes Bulgarian investigative journalist Dilyana Gaytandzhieva, as relayed by Arms Watch.

One of them is the $2.5 billion Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) Biological engagement program which includes research on bio agents, deadly viruses and antibiotic-resistant bacteria being studied on the local population.

The Pentagons Project GG-21, as it was code-named, is set to last for five years with a possible three-year extension. The projects description explains that it involves spreading arthropod-borne and zoonotic infections among military personnel in Georgia.

Blood samples were collected from 1,000 military recruits at the time of their military registration and physical exam at the Georgian military hospital in Gori. The samples were then tested for antibodies against the following 14 pathogens:

Bacillus anthracis

Brucella

CCHF virus

Coxiella burnetii

Francisella tularensis

Hantavirus

Rickettsia species

TBE virus

Bartonella species

Borrelia species

Ehlrichia species

Leptospira species

Salmonella typhi

WNV

The 10 ml blood draw samples are to be stored indefinitely at the NCDC (Lugar Center) or USAMRU-G, and aliquots could be sent to the WRAIR (Walter Reed Army Institute of Research) headquarters in the United States for future research.

Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) is the largest biomedical research facility administered by the U.S. Department of Defense, explains Arms Watch. The results of the blood testing will not be provided to the study participants.

In conducting these heinous experiments, special bilateral agreements were formed to protect the U.S. deep state from all liability

The Lugar Center has become infamous for controversial activities, including laboratory incidents and scandals involving U.S.-based drug giant Gilead, which ran a hepatitis C experimentation program in Georgia that resulted in at least 248 patient deaths.

The Georgian GG-21 project is funded by the Pentagons DTRA and implemented by American military scientists from a special U.S. Army unit code-named USAMRU-G, which operates in the Lugar Center.

They have been given diplomatic immunity in Georgia to research bacteria, viruses and toxins without being diplomats, reports indicate. This unit is subordinate to the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR).

Documents obtained from the U.S. Federal contracts registry show that USAMRU-G is expanding its activities to other U.S. allies in the region and is establishing expeditionary capabilities in Georgia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Latvia and any future locations. The next USAMRU-G project involving biological tests on soldiers is due to start in March of this year at the Bulgarian Military Hospital in Sofia.

The Ukrainian project was similarly code-named as UP-8 and involved the spread of the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) virus and various hantaviruses. It began in 2017 and was extended a few times until 2020.

For that research, blood samples were collected from 4,400 healthy soldiers in Lviv, Kharkov, Odessa and Kyiv. Of these, 4,000 samples were tested for antibodies against hantaviruses, and the remaining 400 for antibodies against CCHF.

Like the Georgian project, the Ukrainian one revealed no details other than to report all deaths within 24 hours.

As of July 30, 2020, DTRA had allocated $80 million for biological research in Ukraine. The U.S.-based Black & Veatch Special Projects Corporation was tasked with running the program there.

Another DTRA contractor operating in Ukraine is CH2M Hill was awarded a special $22.8 million contract from 2020-2023 to reconstruct and outfit with equipment from two biolaboratories: the State Scientific Research Institute of Laboratory Diagnostics and Veterinary-Sanitary Expertise (Kyiv ILD) and the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection Regional Diagnostic Laboratory (Odesa RDL).

Both the Georgia and the Ukraine projects fall under the protection of special bilateral agreements that shield the U.S. government, its personnel, contractors and contractors personnel from liability for damage to property, as well as death or injury to any persons in Georgia and Ukraine, arising out of activities under this Agreement.

If DTRA-sponsored scientists cause deaths or injuries to the local population they cannot be held to account, Gaytandzhieva writes.

Furthermore, according to the US-Ukraine Agreement, claims by third parties for deaths and injuries in Ukraine, arising out of the acts or omissions of any employees of the United States related to work under this Agreement, shall be the responsibility of Ukraine.

These revelations make the situation in Ukraine a whole lot more complex than just Vladimir Putin is a madman, which is what the Western media wants everyone to think.

Ukraine, Georgia and the other countries where the Pentagon has been operating biolabs and conducting biological experiments on soldiers are hotbeds of biological terrorism being perpetrated by the U.S. government. The United States, in other words, is a terroristic threat.

What is happening is terrible! wrote someone in response to Gaytandzhievas work. These studies and the data from the investigation of our compatriot must reach all people in Eastern Europe!

Another thanked Gaytandzhieva for telling the truth instead of pushing Western propaganda.

More related news coverage can be found at Evil.news.

Sources for this article include:

ArmsWatch.com

NaturalNews.com
Engineers at the University of Cincinnati have created a potential electrochemical system for converting pollutants from chemical and power facilities into usable goods while combating climate change.

Collaborative Effort

Jingjie Wu, an assistant professor at the UC College of Engineering and Applied Science, and his students employed a two-step cascade process to convert carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide, which was subsequently converted to ethylene, a molecule used in everything from food packaging to tires.

In partnership with the University of California Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the work was published in Nature Catalysis.

Tianyu Zhang, a UC College of Engineering and Applied Science graduate, led a similar study last year that looked at ways to convert carbon dioxide into methane, which might be utilized as rocket fuel for Martian exploration.

Also Read: Single-Use Packaging Actually Increases Waste From Fresh Foods

Significance

The significance of the two-stage conversion is that it may simultaneously boost ethylene selectivity and productivity while using a low-cost technique, according to Zhang.

Since the electrode structure is generic and simple, this technique may be used for various reactions.

Selectivity refers to the ability to isolate the desired molecules. The quantity of ethylene the reactor can generate is measured in productivity.

Researchers are converting carbon emissions into something regarded valuable because of its numerous downstream applications.

Steel and cement facilities and the oil and gas industry are among the businesses that may benefit, Zhang added.

We can utilize this technology to cut carbon emissions and benefit from it in the future. As a result, he claims, limiting carbon emissions will no longer be an expensive procedure.

Various Uses

Ethylene is utilized in various plastics, from water bottles to PVC pipe, textiles, and rubber used in tires and insulation, and has been dubbed "the world's most significant chemical."

Professor Wu claimrd that the chemical they make is called "green ethylene" since it is made from renewable resources.

According to Wu, they should be able to remove greenhouse gases from the environment while also producing fuels and chemicals.

Carbon dioxide is produced in large quantities by power plants and ethylene facilities.

The ojective is to use electrochemical conversion to absorb carbon dioxide and convert it to ethylene.

The process currently consumes more energy than it yields in ethylene.

Furthermore, according to Wu, UC engineers were able to increase productivity and selectivity by employing tandem electrodes, both of which are essential markers for making the process economically viable.

Containing and Converting Greenhouse Gasses

Containing and converting greenhouse gases has significant environmental benefits, Wu said.

"The administration is pushing for it. We'll need to convert carbon dioxide in the future for sustainable growth," he stated.

And according to Wu, copper isn't always the ideal catalyst for this reaction. Hence, industry experts are likely to develop other options that might enhance productivity and efficiency even more.

A Comprehensive System

The system is comprehensive, but preferred catalysts can be used, Wu said, adding that they were able to double the performance more than even using commercial copper. With a superior catalyst, they might address the cost issue.

Last year, Wu filed a patent application for their invention.

According to Zhang, the technique would take some time to become profitable. But, he added, they have already made significant progress.

In the last ten years, technology has advanced significantly. As a result, he expects comparable advancements in the following ten years. This is a game-changer, according to Zhang.

Related Article: How Bamboos Can Help Make Modern Construction More Sustainable

For more news about making the environment sustainable, don't forget to follow Nature World News!
Tornadoes are one of the many deadliest severe weather phenomena that have a high risk of causing infrastructural damage and casualties.

In the US, tornado outbreaks are common in the Midwest and the Southeast regions. However, the threat area of these tornadoes is likely to expand due to climate change.

A long-term tornado warning forecast by a US meteorologist indicated that there is the probability of a tornado "threat area" expansion across the country.

The weather forecast attributed that climate may have contributed to the increased occurrence of severe weather-even in cities.

Over several decades, tornadoes have wreaked havoc in the US, wherein several of the most catastrophic events were recorded in some US cities within two years.

Due to this, the forecast shedded light on the possibility that similar incidents are likely to happen again in the coming years.

Tornado Threat Area Expansion

According to the US meteorologist Paul Pastelok, a lead long-range forecaster at AccuWeather, there are evident weather patterns and climate warnings for the increasing severity, duration, and coverage of tornado outbreaks in the country.

Pastelok emphasized that climate change and global warming may fuel the spread of tornado threat areas in the US.

Furthermore, the warming of climate can also prolong the US tornado season, which usually spans between March, April, and May.

The AccuWeather forecaster also provided safety measures to practice when a twister hits a house, especially for people residing in higher grounds.

Pastelok said one must take tornado warnings seriously, as well as provide a space for an interior room on lower levels and stay away from windows.

Also Read: Meteorologists Issue Storm Alert for Thunderstorms and Tornadoes to Central US from Midweek

What is a Tornado?

A tornado, often called a twister, whirlwind, or windstorm, is a destructive and violent circulating vortex of funnel-shaped air. This severe weather event can occur not only in the US but also in other parts of the world.

In the US, it can happen at any given time of the year but they are more common in spring.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) - National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL), approximately 1,200 tornadoes hit the US each year based on modern tornado records since the 1950s.

Similar to storms, the NOAA is responsible for issuing either a tornado watch, tornado alert, or tornado warning during a thunderstorm.

Tornado watches pose the lowest risk and tornado warnings manifest the highest risk from a potential or ongoing tornado.

With regards to tornado threat areas mentioned by Pastelok, the NOAA - NSSL also calls this term a "Tornado Alley" after being coined by the media to depict the high occurrence of tornadoes in a particular location in the Central US.

Severe Tornado Outbreaks

For the past two years, there have been multiple cases of severe tornado outbreaks in the US.

One of these incidents is the tornado outbreak in Iowa on March 5 when a series of twisters killed seven people near Des Moines, as per CNN.

The incident is considered to be the worst tornado event in the state.

In December 2021, a tornado in the city of Mayfield in Graves County, Kentucky, destroyed a total of approximately 1,300 establishments, including houses, commercial buildings, and places of worship.

The Mayfield KY tornado also killed 76 people in the city, as per WDRB local news.

Moreover, a similar whirlwind outbreak in the city of Nashville, Tennessee, in March 2020 killed 25 people when 10 twisters, ranging between EF0 and EF4 under the Enhanced Fujita scale (EF scale), occurred during the late-night hours.

Related Article: US Severe Weather and Tornado Forecast Issued for March, April, and May
After confiscating hundreds of animals earlier this week, humane law enforcement officers at Lollypop Farm accused an animal breeder in Wayne County of animal abuse.

Sally Reaves, executive director of World of Wildlife Educational Encounters in Marion, is charged with a misdemeanor for failing to give adequate food and water.

Lollypop Farm humane inspectors said they discovered over 800 animals, including mice, rats, ferrets, and rabbits, living in what they termed as cruel circumstances while working with state and federal authorities.

Animal cruelty of an animal exhibitor

There were 475 mice, 155 rats, 42 rabbits, 25 guinea pigs, 48 degus, 6 spiny mice, 5 pigs, and 2 ferrets among the animals retrieved, with many litters of kids being produced every day, as per ABC 13 WHAM.

Investigators claimed they found hundreds of domesticated and exotic animals that live in horrible conditions earlier this week.

Reeves was accused of failing to give adequate food and drink.

The veterinarian and shelter team at Lollypop Farm are working extremely hard to inspect each animal to guarantee that any diseases are treated and that sickness does not spread among the community.

"These circumstances where these animals were found were filthy and terrible."

"Soiled, 10-gallon terrariums including over 100 mice dwelling cramped together were discovered," stated Reno Di Domenico, Vice President for Humane Law Enforcement at Lollypop Farm via WXXI News.

He stated that the ammonia levels caused by the animal feces rendered dealing with the animals challenging, but they have been able to comfortably extract them.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the United States said the inquiry is being assisted by the Department of Agriculture, and DEC received some of the unusual creatures.

Reaves has been summoned before Marion Town Court on April 6.

According to Lollypop Farm officials, if guilty, Reaves may face a $1,000 penalty and/or a year in jail.

According to a statement on the World of Wildlife Educational Encounters website, they are "devastated" by the recent confiscation of several of their animals who already have served as "animal ambassadors" in their wildlife initiatives throughout the years.

According to the report, animals taken by the DEC were removed owing to a mistake in licensing documentation, not because of their living circumstances.

Also Read: Mass Deaths of Koalas in Australia Prompt Animal Cruelty Charges

Animal abuse

Animal cruelty is defined as intentionally inflicting pain, hurting, or killing an animal.

Cruelty can be purposeful, such as kicking, burning, stabbing, beating, or shooting, or it can be neglect, such as denying animal water, shelter, food, and medical care, as per the Animal Welfare Institute.

Another kind of animal cruelty is animal fighting, in which animals are trained or compelled to attack one other in violent conflicts at the risk of serious damage or death.

According to the Humane Society, abuse and mistreatment cut across all social and economic lines, and media reports indicated that animal cruelty is prevalent in both rural and urban locations.

Intentional animal cruelty is highly linked to other crimes, including aggression against people.

Animals are frequently victims of hoarding behavior. Hoarding disorder sufferers may neglect animals by keeping than they're able to effectively care for.

Serious animal neglect (such as hoarding) is frequently a sign that a person requires social or mental health treatment.

According to surveys, individuals who purposefully mistreat animals are mostly men under the age of 30, but those who engage in animal hoarding are more likely to be ladies over the age of 60.

Related article: Two Residents Arrested Due to Animal Abuse of Pets in Omaha
Peru experienced a massive landslide incident last week when torrential rain triggered the collapse of a mountain hill in the La Libertad region, leaving multiple people dead and several others missing.

Dozens of houses were also buried by the landslip.

Landslide due to Heavy Rain

Heavy rain triggered a landslide at a hillside in the remote town of Retamas in the Parcoy District of Pataz province on Tuesday, March 15.

The rockfall buried homes, which led to many residents being trapped under the rubbles, prompting a major rescue operation in the area.

Mayor Luis Velezmoro told Peru's state television that neighbors in the town also attempted to help the trapped residents by breaking down the walls of some houses.

Meanwhile, President Pedro Castillo also expressed that the Peruvian government will help the affected families, as cited by The Washington Post.

The rainfall triggered the collapse of a part of the hill in the northern Peruvian town.

La Libertad Governor Manuel Llempen stated between 60 and 80 homes, including apartment buildings, were affected by the landslip, as cited by Reuters.

Llempen also confirmed there were many trapped people in the area.

The governor did not provide an explanation of the landslide's cause in the area, which is also a home for mining workers and an inconducive site for the construction of houses.

Members of the rescue squad arrived to search for people who were buried under their houses and mountain rocks.

Initial reports said following the rockfall that there were no confirmed deaths.

However, local authorities on Thursday, March 17, announced that the incident killed at least four people and several other people are still missing, according to CGTN news.

Also Read: At Least 14 People Dead, 35 People Injured in Landslide in Colombia

Mountainside Homes

The collapsed portion of the hill in the Pataz province of the La Libertad Peruvian region is part of the wider geography of the Peruvian Andes Mountain range; which also borders the countries of Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, and Venezuela.

Mudslides are common in the Andes Mountain due to various human-related activities, such as mining and deforestation.

In addition, natural phenomena like torrential rain, severe weather, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions also cause frequent landslips in the Andes.

Due to these risks, local authorities have acknowledged that erecting houses on a mountainside is dangerous.

This is evident as a landslide consisting of falling rocks, soil, and other geological material in an approximate 45-degree angle will directly hit houses along its path.

Mountainside homes, which are often characterized as a form of housing informality, is prevalent in Peru.

Some of these homes are built along river banks and hillsides that are prone to landslides, as per Reuters.

Common Causes of Landslides

According to the National Geographic, the three most common causes of landslides are geology, human activity, and morphology.

Geology pertains to the strength or hardness of a rock. On the other hand, morphology refers to the physical structure of the land, including its inclusion of plants, trees, and other vegetation.

Lastly, human activity such as construction, irrigation, deforestation, excavation, and agricultural operations can also weaken the geology and alter the morphology of a land-causing a high risk of mudslide occurrences.

Related Article: Landslide in Northern India Kills 13 People, Dozens Still Trapped Under Debris
Solitary animals, like Asian elephants, also exhibit the same emotional stress as humans when being left alone or when having a lack of social life, according to a new study.

Scientists found Asian timber elephants in Myanmar also experience anxiety, loneliness, and depression.

The authors of the study consisting of an international team of scientists used an unconventional method to determine that social life is linked to the stress of the giant tusked mammals.

The team collected fecal samples to measures their stress under certain social conditions.

The study shedded light on how Asian elephants in the timber industry still retain their social behavior while living both as timber workers and being free in their natural habitat in Myanmar.

Anxiety and Solitude

The Australian psychologist Sigmund Freud proposed the theory that the fear of solitude or being alone is the root of anxiety among humans, as per a 2013 research material posted on Research Gate by Evangelia Galanaki from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.

The material suggestee that the said concepts of solitude and loneliness are the root of Freud's theory of anxiety.

Freud explained that anxiety is a product of the fear of separation from loved ones, making the fear of solitude a "universal human fear," as cited in the material.

Although there is already a mounting volume of studies related to the human psychology of anxiety and other related aspects, such as loneliness and depression, limited data is known when it comes to their psychological and social impact on solitary animals like Asian timber elephants.

Also Read: 170 Wild Elephants to be Auctioned in Namibia Due to Uncontrollable Growing Population

Elephants and Social Life

Loneliness is an emotional state sometimes experienced by humans due to various psychological, physical, and social factors.

It has been evident that some animals, especially mammals, also experience this emotion under certain social circumstances.

In the new study published in the journal General and Comparative Endocrinology, scientists found that the species of Asian elephants in Myanmar are experiencing varying levels of stress in relation to their social life with other elephants.

Below are the most notable findings of the new study, according to Science Daily:

There is an increase in the stress level of male Asian elephants due to loneliness.

Male Asian elephants with no friends or in social groups consisting of more males than females are subject to an elevated level of stress.

Female Asian elephants exhibit lower stress levels when babies are present in the group.

Based on the findings of the study, Asian elephants are also affected by the presence or absence of their co-elephant species.

Captivity and Natural Habitat

The scientists studied 95 Asian timber elephants in Myanmar.

The study took a unique approach since the subject mammals of the research live in a dual environment of being captive elephants who work for the timber industry, while also experiencing their free time in their natural habitat.

The elephants still display their natural social behavior.

However, determining the link between their stress and social life was done through a method of fecal sampling.

The scientists examined the concentrations of their stress hormones from the mammals' waste.

Related Article: China's Wandering Herd of Wild Elephants Finally Home After Traveling for 17 Months
AERALIS, the transformational British military jet developer, On March 21, 2022, hosted a ceremony attended by The Emir of Qatar, His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, unveiling two full-scale replicas of the company's innovative modular jet at DIMDEX 2022, Qatar International Maritime Defence Exhibition. The unveiling took place on AERALIS' Stand H7-329 in the Barzan Holdings Pavilion in Hall 7 of the Qatar National Convention Centre.

Aeralis unveils its new innovative modular jet at DIMDEX 2022, Doha International Maritime Defence Exhibition, March 21, 2022. (Picture source Aeralis)

The unveiling took place on the AERALIS stand and was led by His Highness. Also present were representatives from Barzan Holdings, senior figures from the Qatari and British Governments and Military, and members of the media.

The aircraft models are life-sized replicas of two variants of the AERALIS modular jet, with a length of 11.3m and a wingspan of 10m. One model is fully assembled in the Advanced Jet Trainer configuration and decorated with a livery inspired by the Qatari Emiri Air Force (QEAF). The second model is a modular version presented in a semi-disassembled state to demonstrate how the common-core fuselage can form the basis of a number of other aircraft variants. The replicas were produced in the UK and shipped to Qatar specifically for this event.

The event follows a successful 2021 for the British jet developer. Last year the company signed a three-year contract with the Royal Air Force's Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO), as well as Collaboration Agreements with Thales in the UK, Atkins and Siemens. AERALIS also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Rolls-Royce to explore initial and future options to meet the company's propulsion requirements. In 2021 AERALIS also signed an investment agreement with Barzan Holdings of Qatar, who have provided initial investment to support AERALIS in the preliminary design phase.

AERALIS's founder & CEO Tristan Crawford remarked:

"It was an enormous privilege to have His Highness attend the unveiling of our stand at DIMDEX today. His presence here signifies our commitment to this region, as well as to industry and government in Qatar, and we are enormously pleased to be able to present a tangible visualisation of our cutting-edge modular jet."
UCF police arrested two men from Houston last week after more than a half-dozen catalytic converters, pictured above, were reported stolen from vehicles on the universitys campus (Photo courtesy of UCF)

Two men from Houston were arrested by UCF police on Friday after more than a half-dozen catalytic converters were reported stolen from vehicles on the universitys campus in two days, according to arrest paperwork.

According to UCF police spokesperson Courtney Gilmartin, 14 catalytic converter thefts have been reported to campus police so far in 2022. That follows a national trend of thefts of the parts, which are valued by thieves because their components include precious metals.

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For victims, replacing the parts, which are used to reduce cars harmful exhaust emissions, can cost thousands of dollars.

The two men arrested by UCF PD on Friday, Tyre Deante Smith, 23, and Kentrail Traveon McDaniel, 21, face charges of burglary of a conveyance, possession of burglary tools, petty theft and criminal mischief.

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According to their arrest paperwork, between Thursday and Friday, there were seven converters reported stolen from vehicles at UCF, including overnight thefts from the Libra garage.

Detective Alex DeLuca checked footage from various cameras near where the thefts took place, identifying a silver Ford Edge SUV that the suspects were driving. The Texas tag on the car traced back to an Avis Budget Group rental car affiliate in San Antonio, the affidavit said.

Breaking News As it happens Be the first to know with email alerts on important breaking stories from the Orlando Sentinel newsroom. >

The car had GPS tracking capabilities, which allowed police to trace its movements as it traveled through various apartment complexes and shopping plazas in Orlando and Kissimmee, the affidavit said.

They tracked the car to a La Quina Inn near Orlando International Airport, where police saw two men removing items from the trunk and entering a hotel room, DeLuca wrote. One of the men was wearing the same outfit hed been spotted wearing by UCF security cameras.

When authorities raided the hotel room, they found 21 catalytic converters and various tools, the affidavits said.

Smith and McDaniel were arrested after detectives pulled them over at a Wawa store on Central Florida Parkway. During the stop, converters could be seen in plain view in their trunk, police said.

Thefts of the devices have become widespread in Central Florida.

The Orange County Sheriffs Office had 289 catalytic converter thefts reported in 2021. And UCF police have repeatedly issued campus alerts this year asking students and staff to remain alert and report suspicious activity.

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jeweiner@orlandosentinel.com
Orange County Public Schools Superintendent Barbara Jenkins speaks during a COVID-19 briefing at the Orange County Administration Center, on Wednesday, February 2, 2022. Jenkins is retiring at the end of 2022, and the Orange County School Board has a begun the search for her successor. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel)

Orange County residents can share what theyd like to see in a new school superintendent  and what they see as Orange County Public Schools biggest challenges  at a series of community forums that begin Tuesday.

The seven public forums are one piece of the Orange County School Boards multi-pronged approach to selecting a new superintendent for the regions largest school district. Superintendent Barbara Jenkins, hired a decade ago, plans to retire at the end of the year.

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The board hopes to pick her successor by the end of June.

The first public forum is Tuesday at 6 p.m. at University High School. The hour-long forums are a chance for the public to share what qualifications they want to see in Jenkins successor and also what they see as OCPS strengths, needs and challenges, the district said in a message sent to parents Sunday.

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The board also plans an online survey for the public and has appointed a search advisory committee to help it set qualifications and review applications once candidates start submitting their resumes.

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The seven forums are all at OCPS high schools. Residents can attend any of them in person or view them online via the districts website, which has a superintendent search 2022 button on its homepage. The district will also post information about the forums, its advisory committee and those who apply for the job at that site.

Any piece of information we get, gets shared with the board, said Andrea Messina, executive director of the Florida School Boards Association, which is serving as the boards search consultant. We dont filter any of it, she said.

The board gets full information, which makes it fully available to the public, Messina added as the board discussed its search process at a March 3 meeting.

The boards advisory committee will be led by David Brewer, a retired vice admiral in the U.S. Navy who also served two years as superintendent of the Los Angeles school system.

The public forums are:

Tuesday, University High School, 6 p.m.

Wednesday, Edgewater High School, 6 p.m.

March 28, Freedom High School, 6 p.m.

March 29, West Orange High School, 6 p.m.

March 30, Jones High School, 6 p.m.

March 31, Apopka High School, 6 p.m.

April 5, Lake Nona High School, 6 p.m.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated who would lead the school boards superintendent search committee. David Brewer is chairing the committee.

lpostal@orlandosentinel.com
Newburyport, MA (01950)

Today

Mainly sunny to start, then a few afternoon clouds. High 66F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 46F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.
As a 79-year-old woman lost her grip and plunged from a rising drawbridge, the bridge tender now charged in her death appeared to be oblivious to the chaos right outside her window.

She was texting with her supervisor about somebody having a case of pink eye.

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Other text messages reveal that the bridge tender was told what to reveal to police about the tragedy  and then to delete the incriminating texts.

Investigative police reports of time-stamped text messages and surveillance video footage of the scene provide new details about the death of Carol Wright, 79, of West Palm Beach, and the arrest on manslaughter with culpable negligence charges of bridge tender Artissua Paulk, of Greenacres. Paulk was released on Friday after posting a $20,000 bond.

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[ LEE EN ESPANOL: Sur de Florida: Mate a una mujer en el puente. Surgen nuevos detalles de accidente en que mujer de 79 anos cae 60 pies hacia su muerte desde puente levadizo ]

An undated file photo of Carol Wright was presented, Monday, Feb. 14, 2022, in West Palm Beach during a news conference at the Royal Palm Bridge where she died. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

Just after 1 p.m. on Feb. 6, Wright repeatedly yelled for help as the Royal Park Bridge connecting Palm Beach to West Palm Beach started to open, lifting her skyward. A motorist stopped behind the crossing gates heard the womans cries and blared on his horn, hoping to get the bridge tenders attention. A man on a skateboard saw Wright desperately trying hold on to the railing, and he grabbed the womans arm as her grip on the railing began to loosen. But he too lost his grip, letting go when there was nothing for him to steady himself with and prevent him from also falling into the abyss.

Six minutes before fire-rescue workers arrived, finding Wright dead on the concrete pit under the bridge, Paulk responded to the text message asking supervisor Kathie Harper if the person with pink eyes needed to be hospitalized.

[ RELATED: Woman who fell to her death frequently crossed the bridge with her bike ]

Each time a bridge is opened for passing boats, bridge tenders are required to leave their tower and walk around the balcony three times to visually inspect that the movable part of the bridge is cleared before it is opened. Records show Paulk did not do that even once when the bridge was lifted with Wright on it.

Those records show that during Paulks shift, the bridge was lifted six times, meaning the bridge tender would have to come out and walk the balcony 18 times. Records say it was done only one time when the bridge was lifted and two other times when the bridge was not lifted.

Artissua Lafaye Paulk, 43, of Green Acres has been arrested on negligent homicide charges after opening a draw bridge and a 79-year-old woman plunged to her death. (Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office)

Harper is listed in Paulks phone as Mother-in-law. Text messages show Harper telling Paulk to lie to police a few hours after Wrights death:

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When they talk to you make dam sure you tell them you walked on balcony 3 diff times to make sure no one was past gates n delete this msg after one time to make sure card stop 2nd time after gates lowered and 3rd time before you raised spans ok now delete this I know ur upset but u gotta tell them step by step how u do opening. The message was deleted records say.

Records say Paulk responded immediately: I did. That message was also deleted.

Twenty-three minutes after that, Paulk sent another text message to someone by the name of Shakira: Im here with the police i killed a lady on the bridge.

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[ RELATED: Family demands answers in woman's drawbridge death ]

Then Harper continued to direct Paulk on what do, records show. That text was also deleted.

Florida Bridgetenders Inc., a multi-million-dollar company that provides bridge services all along the eastern seaboard, hired Paulk and Harper. On Monday a manager there refused to answer questions when asked if Harper was under investigation, suspended or fired for directing Paulk to tell police she performed her duties as she was supposed to when records say she did not, as well as to delete the text messages.

A spokesperson for the Florida Department of Transportation, which owns the bridge and contracts some of the bridge-tending responsibilities to Florida Bridgetenders, Inc., refused to answer when asked if Florida Bridgetenders, Inc would still be providing services to the state.

Eileen Kelley can be reached at 772-925-9193 or ekelley@sunsentinel.com. Follow on Twitter @reporterkell.
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A man died after he was set on fire by another man Sunday morning outside a hardware store near the city of Doral, according to authorities.

The man suspected of starting the fire is on the run, the Miami-Dade Police Department said in a statement.

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At 11:19 a.m., two men were involved in a verbal dispute that escalated to a physical confrontation at 7230 NW 72nd Ave., according to investigators.

Read more at Miami Herald.
Pikeville, KY (41501)

Today

Cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy this afternoon. High around 80F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Cloudy with occasional showers overnight. Thunder possible. Low 67F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Cloudy with periods of rain. High 57F. Winds ESE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a half an inch..

Tonight

Cloudy with periods of rain. Thunder possible. Low around 55F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Longview, TX (75601)

Today

Variable clouds with thunderstorms - possibly severe in the afternoon. Damaging winds and large hail with some storms. High 78F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near an inch..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms early. Skies will become mainly clear overnight. A few storms may be severe. Low 57F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Alexander Hernandez-Delgado was charged with battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting an officer with violence. (Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office)

A 24-year-old man remained jailed Monday after attacking a Florida Highway Patrol trooper alongside Interstate 4 three days earlier, according to authorities and jail records.

Alexander Hernandez-Delgado was walking east on the highways left shoulder Friday when Trooper Jonathan Ruiz stopped him, saying pedestrians cannot walk along the highway, WFTV-Channel 9 reported.

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Dash cam video shows the trooper and Hernandez-Delgado exchanging words on the highways inside shoulder.

When Ruiz grabs for Hernandez-Delgados left arm, the younger man  wearing a black Mickey Mouse T-shirt  immediately punches the officer in the jaw, the video shows.

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The men both lunge out of view of the camera, which shows motorists, including a tractor-trailer, pulling over.

The trooper and suspect then roll back into the frame as their scuffle continues in the grassy shoulder. Both are on the ground as Ruiz attempts to subdue Hernandez-Delgado.

The tractor-trailer driver leaps out of his cab, runs toward the men, and helps hold the suspect down.

Within seconds, three other drivers, all men, appear on scene to help the trooper.

The incident took place about 10 a.m. near mile marker 3 in Tampa, the FHP said.

Hernandez-Delgado punched Ruiz several times, the FHP said. The trooper was injured with a bloody nose.

Hernandez-Delgado was charged with battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting an officer with violence.
Amniotic band syndrome (ABS), also known as congenital constriction ring or constriction band syndrome is a rare condition comprising several different abnormalities.

Ultrasound of human fetus. Image Credit: AePatt Journey/Shutterstock.com

During pregnancy, the lining of the amniotic sac gets damaged leading to amniotic band syndrome. Due to this, the tissues divide and form string-like structures called strands that entangle the fetus and other developing parts of the body. As a result, blood flow is constricted.

This prevents the fetus from growing correctly by constricting blood flow and results in a variety of birth abnormalities. Amniotic band syndrome can range in severity from a single, isolated issue to several, disfiguring sequelae. Arms and legs are the most commonly affected areas of the body.

Causes

ABS has no known cause, however, researchers have ruled out genetics as a possible cause. It usually occurs when the amniotic sac lining is ripped during pregnancy. Amniotic band syndrome is influenced by a complex and controversial set of mechanisms.

The complicated mechanisms that underpin amniotic band syndrome have been the subject of several theories. The extrinsic theory and the intrinsic theory are the two basic theories. The extrinsic theory claims that amniotic band syndrome is caused by variables outside of the fetus (externally); the intrinsic theory states that amniotic band syndrome is caused by factors inside the fetus (internally).

The specific cause of tears or ruptures of the amniotic sac is not always known, and researchers believe that it may occur at random in some circumstances. Specific environmental influences have been discovered in some situations. In some cases, ABD seemed to have originated as a result of abdominal trauma (during pregnancy) and placental blunt trauma.

A small number of babies are damaged by the diagnostic technique chorionic villus sampling (CVS) when used early in pregnancy. Amniotic band syndrome has also been observed as a result of strong uterine contractions caused by the drug misoprostol (a prostaglandin E1 analog used to treat gastric ulcers).

Symptoms

The symptoms of amniotic band syndrome differ widely from one baby to the next. Some babies are born with only minor deformities, while others are born with severe and even life-threatening defects. The symptoms of amniotic band syndrome appear to occur largely in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy (first trimester). Damaged limbs, craniofacial abnormalities, problems of the brain, and significant malformation of the arms and legs are the three most prevalent forms of amniotic band syndrome.

The majority of infants with amniotic band syndrome have deformities in their arms and legs, as well as their fingers and toes. One or more limbs may be afflicted. The upper limbs are more commonly damaged than the lower limbs. ABD may lead to the formation of a minor dent around a finger or limb.

Deeper bands, on the other hand, can cause major swelling, shut off blood supply, or prevent that region of the body from growing properly. If a band is too tight, it can result in amputation in utero (before delivery).

The type of malformation caused by ABS is determined by the area of the body involved. Atypical clefts of various types, including those affecting the eyes, nose, and ears, may develop if it affects the orofacial region. Constriction rings, amputations, aberrant dermatoglyphs, pseudo syndactyly, and clubbed feet are among the limb anomalies.

Anencephaly, encephalocele, asymmetrical microphthalmia, nasal deformities, cleft lip and palate, and aberrant calcification of the skull are all craniofacial anomalies associated with ABS. The most prevalent visceral abnormalities are omphalocele and gastroschisis.

Epidemiology

Amniotic band syndrome is thought to affect 1 in every 1,200 to 15,000 live births. There are no known gender or racial predispositions to amniotic band syndrome. Boston hospital conducted a long-term observation of nearly 300,000 births. A total of 40 infants (1 in every 7,500) born with amniotic band syndrome were identified through this observation.

Amniotic band syndrome. Image Credit: rumruay/Shutterstock.com

Diagnosis and treatment

The amniotic bands are difficult to identify on a regular ultrasound and thus, ABS is usually diagnosed at delivery. Doctors usually recommend the patients to a fetal clinic to confirm the diagnosis.

Anatomy ultrasound (to confirm the diagnosis, determine where the bands are placed, and measure blood flow), MRI (to check the severity of constriction and anomalies), and fetal echocardiography (to examine the baby's heart structure and function) are some of the other diagnostic tests available. These techniques give more information and photographs regarding your baby's condition.

In some situations, the disorder can be suspected before birth (prenatally). This is attributed to the results of specialist imaging techniques such as fetal ultrasonography, which can indicate typical malformations. The image of the developing fetus is created using reflected high-frequency sound waves during fetal ultrasonography.

After the diagnosis, regular monitoring is done to keep a check on the growth and development of the baby. Regular ultrasounds help in identifying possible risks and facilitate the development of a care plan. Treatment usually involves supportive therapies and care.

Mild birth abnormalities may not necessitate medical intervention. However, in severe cases, some infants may require medical or surgical intervention. Babies may require surgery immediately after birth or later in life.

When necessary, emergency surgery to remove the restricting bands is performed. Plastic and reconstructive surgery to correct defects may take months or even years to complete to allow the infant to develop normally. Rehabilitative therapy (physical and occupational) can be used on some infants to help them gain strength and function.

Reference:

Eshete, M., Banko, M.A., Hailu, A. et al. (2021). Amniotic band syndrome associated with extremely severe atypical clefts of the orofacial region. Eur J Plast Surg. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00238-021-01860-y

(2020). Amniotic band syndrome. [Online] Bostons children hospital. Available at: https://www.childrenshospital.org/conditions-and-treatments/conditions/a/amniotic-band-syndrome

Amniotic Band Syndrome (ABS). [Online] Nationwide Childrens. Available at: https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/conditions/amniotic-band-syndrome

(2018). Amniotic Band Syndrome. [Online] National Organization for Rare Disorders. Available at: https://rarediseases.org/rare-diseases/amniotic-band-syndrome/

Further Reading
Dogs can use their incredible sense of smell to sniff out various forms of cancer in human breath, blood and urine samples. Similarly, in the lab a much simpler organism, the roundworm C. elegans, wriggles its way toward cancer cells by following an odor trail. Today, scientists report a device that uses the tiny worms to detect lung cancer cells. This "worm-on-a-chip" could someday help doctors noninvasively diagnose cancer at an earlier stage.

The researchers will present their results today at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS). ACS Spring 2022 is a hybrid meeting being held virtually and in-person March 20-24, with on-demand access available March 21-April 8. The meeting features more than 12,000 presentations on a wide range of science topics.

Early diagnosis of cancer is critical for effective treatment and survival, says Nari Jang, a graduate student who is presenting the work at the meeting. Therefore, cancer screening methods should be quick, easy, economical and noninvasive. Currently, doctors diagnose lung cancer by imaging tests or biopsies, but these methods often can't detect tumors at their earliest stages. Although dogs can be trained to sniff out human cancer, they aren't practical to keep in labs. So Jang and Shin Sik Choi, Ph.D., the project's principal investigator, decided to use worms called nematodes, which are tiny (~1 mm in length), easy to grow in the lab and have an extraordinary sense of smell, to develop a noninvasive cancer diagnostic test.

"Lung cancer cells produce a different set of odor molecules than normal cells," says Choi, who is at Myongji University in Korea. "It's well known that the soil-dwelling nematode, C. elegans, is attracted or repelled by certain odors, so we came up with an idea that the roundworm could be used to detect lung cancer." Other researchers have placed nematodes in petri dishes and added drops of human urine, observing that the worms preferentially crawled toward urine samples from cancer patients. Jang and Choi wanted to make an accurate, easy-to-measure form of the test.

So the team made a chip out of polydimethylsiloxane elastomer that had a well at each end connected by channels to a central chamber. The researchers placed the chip on an agar plate. At one end of the chip, they added a drop of culture media from lung cancer cells, and at the other end, they added media from normal lung fibroblasts. They placed worms in the central chamber, and after an hour, they observed that more worms had crawled toward the lung cancer media than the normal media. In contrast, worms that had a mutated odor receptor gene called odr-3 did not show this preferential behavior.

Based on these tests, the researchers estimated that the device was about 70% effective at detecting cancer cells in diluted cell culture media. They hope to increase both the accuracy and sensitivity of the method by using worms that were previously exposed to cancer cell media and therefore have a "memory" of cancer-specific odor molecules. Once the team has optimized the worm-on-a-chip for detecting cultured lung cancer cells, they plan to move on to testing urine, saliva or even exhaled breath from people.

We will collaborate with medical doctors to find out whether our methods can detect lung cancer in patients at an early stage." Shin Sik Choi, Ph.D., project's principal investigator

They also plan to test the device on multiple forms of cancer.

In other studies using the worm-on-a-chip, the researchers identified the specific odor molecules that attract C. elegans to lung cancer cells, including a volatile organic compound called 2-ethyl-1-hexanol, which has a floral scent. "We don't know why C. elegans are attracted to lung cancer tissues or 2-ethyl-1-hexanol, but we guess that the odors are similar to the scents from their favorite foods," Jang says.
It's a diagnosis you never want to hear: Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). These three words represent a devastating diagnosis of childhood cancer with dire consequences for many families.

Little Charlie, who died of AML at just age three. Image Credit: University of South Australia

In Australia, AML is the most common form of acute leukemia in adults and is responsible for one-fifth of all childhood leukemia cases (about 50 children) each year.

Now cancer experts at the University of South Australia are striving to change these outcomes as new genetic research shows that up to 19 percent of childhood AML cases are linked to rare genetic changes that may be inherited through family bloodlines.

These genetic aberrations can indicate a higher predisposition for AML and a potential sensitivity to chemotherapy treatments, so identifying these enables clinicians to better target treatments in children with AML.

Lead researcher, Professor Richard D'Andrea at UniSA's Acute Leukemia Laboratory says the discovery is an important step forward in the journey to a lasting cure for childhood AML.

AML is an acute cancer of the blood and bone marrow that spreads very rapidly and is difficult to cure. Swift, precise treatment is critical for survival, yet AML is a complex disease with many subtypes and it is difficult to treat young children who have a highly aggressive AML. These children often need a blood stem cell transplant  typically donated by a family member  so it's absolutely vital that we know whether there's an elevated familial risk of AML, or if the child has any genetic conditions that will make them hyper-sensitive to the chemotherapy used in the transplant procedure. The sophisticated genetic technologies now available allow us to foresee some of these challenges, but there are still many more hurdles to come if we are to beat this devastating and complex cancer." Professor Richard D'Andrea, Lead Researcher, UniSA's Acute Leukemia Laboratory

For the past five years, Prof D'Andrea and the team at the Centre for Cancer Biology have been working with pediatric oncologist, Dr Andy Moore from the University of Queensland to analyze DNA mutations and better understand the causes of childhood AML. They are also investigating new approaches to enhance the targeting and killing of AML cells.

Tomorrow, both Prof D'Andrea and Dr Moore will be sharing what they know about AML in children in a Facebook live Q&A session at 2.30 pm (Adelaide time) on Tuesday 22 March.

Hosted by parent Kelly Stephens, who experienced the tragedy of AML when her son Charlie died of the disease at age three (just 18 months after diagnosis), the session will provide a rare opportunity to speak with AML experts in an open forum, providing much-needed clarity and transparency of the deadly condition.

To register and attend this session, visit: www.facebook.com/events/934048947285724

To learn more about Kelly and Charlie's journey, and to support ongoing AML research please visit UniSA initiative Charlie's Rainbow at https://chuffed.org/project/charliesrainbow
When Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said March 13 that all Americans would need a second booster shot, it struck many covid experts as a self-serving remark without scientific merit. It also set off spasms of doubt over the country's objectives in its fight against the coronavirus.

The decision on how often and widely to vaccinate against covid-19 is part science, part policy, and part politics. Ultimately it depends on the goals of vaccination at a time when it's becoming clear that neither vaccines nor other measures can entirely stop the viral spread.

On March 15, Pfizer made a more limited request of the FDA, seeking authorization of a second booster only for people 65 and older. Advisers for the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are likely to approve a fourth shot for people in that age group because they're the group most likely to be hospitalized or die of covid. Pfizer competitor Moderna on March 17 also filed for a second booster shot, although its application extended to all adults.

The vaccines' protection against covid infection generally wanes within several months in all age groups. But experts disagree on whether frequent boosters, especially for younger people, can do anything about that. Two or three vaccinations protect most people from serious disease  but do relatively little to prevent infection, which is generally mild or asymptomatic, after three or four months.

Statements like Bourla's create public pressure for a fourth dose that could force the Biden administration's hand before government experts have time to assess the evidence, said John Moore, professor of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College.

It appears to be based on a yet-to-be-peer-reviewed Israeli study that examined patients only a few weeks after they had received their fourth dose of vaccine. The limited scope of the data raises questions about the duration of that protection, said Dr. Phil Krause, a former deputy director of the FDA's biologics center. Krause helped lead the agency's covid vaccine reviews before resigning last fall.

Throughout the pandemic, repeated public proclamations by pharmaceutical company executives  broadcast widely via the media, often without supporting data  have created pressure for politicians and their scientific advisers to act.

Last summer, Bourla announced the likely need for an initial booster in April 2021, then, in August, President Joe Biden promised the first booster shots would be available to all adults starting the following month. "That created an expectation that everyone would get their slice of yummy chocolate cake," Moore said. "Who wants to be 'the cake nazi' and say, 'No cake for you?!'"

Although FDA and CDC expert panels, and some federal scientists, were hesitant about recommending the first booster for younger populations, the agencies overrode their advice and approved boosters for everyone 12 and older. That continues to be a sore point with many immunologists and infectious disease specialists.

''The last thing we need is to have corporate CEOs in March saying this is what you need in December because 'we know,'" Moore said. "How do you know?" CEO announcements have often been made before scientific evidence supporting the claims has been publicly released, meaning scientists have not had time to evaluate their validity.

The desire to react to growing signs of infection is understandable but may be futile in the face of a virus that seems to infect even the well-vaccinated. If we keep chasing the virus with boosters, "we're going to be making the drug companies very happy, since our antibodies will go down every four months," said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

But whether those levels are a good measure of protection  especially against serious disease, and in which populations  is an open question. The answer is important because, like all vaccines, there is a small risk of adverse reactions from each shot.

There's some disagreement among experts on how well covid vaccines to date have prevented serious disease in healthy young people, and whether and how often they should be boosted.

While a recent CDC study showed an increased risk of hospitalization among people ages 18 to 49 several months after second and third vaccine doses, the data categories in the study aren't fine-grained enough to show whether many of those who suffered severe disease had comorbidities such as chronic disease or obesity, Offit said.

But others argue there's enough evidence to show that yearly vaccines, perhaps in combination with influenza vaccinations, would be the best solution. "Given how safe the vaccines are and how effective they are, I think it probably does make sense for people to get a booster, and the most convenient would be once a year," said Dr. Otto Yang, an infectious disease specialist at UCLA. If covid turns out to be seasonal, peaking in winter months, vaccination in the fall would provide decent protection, he said.

"We are bound to need another booster. We just don't know when or for which variant," said Dr. Daniel Douek, chief of the human immunology section at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

The coronaviruses that cause about a third of all common colds appear to infect people as frequently as once a year on average, said Stanley Perlman, a coronavirus expert at the University of Iowa. Vaccines could never prevent all those infections, yet the federal approach has largely acted as if this were feasible, Offit said.

"We're coming off two years where we treated this virus like smallpox, isolating anyone with mild illness, even asymptomatic people," he said. "That's going to have to change. Because neither vaccination nor natural infection is going to protect you from mild illness for a longer period of time."

It's important for U.S. health officials to have and share with the public some clarity about the goals of the vaccination program, said Dr. Luciana Borio, a former FDA and National Security Council official who is now a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations. "We need people to understand that protection against all illness is not long-lasting, instead of thinking the vaccine is not working."

"The goal is not to stop transmission, it's mainly to protect the vulnerable at this point," said Dr. Norman Hearst, a family physician and public health researcher at the University of California-San Francisco.

How, in the absence of perfect vaccines, we will protect the vulnerable remains a conundrum. Borio argues that we need systems to rapidly test elderly and immunocompromised people for covid and quickly give them treatment if their results are positive.

But this is more easily said than done, Hearst said, since people rarely seek medical help for upper respiratory diseases until the illness is too developed for antiviral drugs to work; antivirals generally work best, sometimes only, if they are taken within a few days of onset of symptoms.

For the time being, all debate on a second booster is moot, said John Wherry, chair of the Department of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics at the University of Pennsylvania. Unless Congress reverses itself and decides to give the administration more money to fight covid, there won't be any free vaccines  or free covid treatments  available to the public next fall.

"We have an acute budgetary problem and we're not yet out of the woods," Wherry said. Covid numbers are spiking in Europe again, and concentrations of the virus in wastewater are starting to multiply in some areas of the U.S., indicating that a loosening of covid restrictions may be causing spread among those who weren't infected during the omicron wave in December and January.

Offit, a vaccine inventor and longtime champion of vaccination, cautions against leaning too hard on covid boosters for answers.

"What's our response going to be if we have another variant like omicron that sweeps across people who got two or three doses?" he asked. "Will we accept this, and say, 'OK, calm down?'"
International medical imaging IT and cybersecurity company Sectra has signed a digital pathology contract with Erasmus University Medical Center (Erasmus MC) in the Netherlands. The solution will enable pathologists to review and collaborate around cases in a way that is not possible with microscopes. This will reduce variation and increase efficiency in primary diagnostics, thereby improving cancer care.

Image Credit: Sectra

With Sectras digital pathology solution, we are able to integrate it with our vendor-neutral archive (VNA). That makes it possible for us to access images from various diagnostic areas, which will provide us with an integrated workflow across departments. It means that we can cooperate better and ultimately provide even better patient care. Prof. Dr. F.J (Folkert) van Kemenade, Head of Pathology, Erasmus MC

Using digital images of tissue samples instead of physical glass slides, Sectras solution allows pathologists to instantly access and share current and historical images and information between departments and hospitals and to benefit from evolving technology such as AI. The digital solution provides pathologists with assistance at critical decision points, such as grading or performing more precise measurements. It also enables image analysis, which in turn reduces variation and improves the precision of tasks such as cell counting. Digital access further facilitates second opinions and external reading resources as well as enabling integrated diagnostics.

Sectras previous experience of digitalization projects for full-scale primary diagnostics within pathology, both in the Netherlands and globally, will be a great asset and we look forward to taking this step together to improve cancer care, says Prof. Dr. van Kemenade.

Sectras solution will be integrated with surrounding IT solutions such as the laboratory information system (LIS) used at Erasmus MC. It will provide pathologists with a complete overview of the patient history in one application and enable workflow orchestration to drive the reporting workflow according to sub-specialties, rules, and priorities. The solutions vendor-neutral approach also gave Erasmus MC the freedom to select the scanner vendor of their choice.

The contract was signed in March 2022.

Sectras pathology solution is part of its enterprise imaging solution, which provides a unified strategy for all imaging needs while lowering operational costs. The scalable and modular solution, with a VNA at its core, allows healthcare providers to grow from ology to ology and from enterprise to enterprise. Visit Sectras website to read more about Sectra and why its top-ranked in Best in KLAS.
Cognitive impairment among older hospitalized Australians could be the result of low vitamin C levels, a Flinders University-led study has found, paving the way for a potential treatment.

Image Credit: Flinders University

Common in older hospitalized patients, cognitive impairment can result in a person having trouble remembering things, concentrating or making decisions.

Previous research has shown that vitamin C plays a significant role in the functioning of the brain, with studies finding that vitamin C deficiency may be associated with cognitive impairment, depression and confusion, says lead author Associate Professor Yogesh Sharma from Flinders Universitys College of Medicine and Public Health.

Looking at 160 patients aged over 75 admitted to the Geriatric Evaluation and Management Unit at the Flinders Medical Centre in Adelaide, the research team assessed their cognitive function and vitamin C levels.

A total of 91 patients (56.9%) were found to have cognitive impairment, while 42 (26.3%) were found to be vitamin C deficient with a level below 11 micromol/L, below which point scurvy could develop.

Our findings showed that cognitive function scores were significantly lower among patients who were vitamin C deficient, with further analysis suggesting vitamin C deficiency was almost 3 times more likely to be associated with cognitive impairment after adjustment for other factors. Yogesh Sharma, Associate Professor, Flinders Universitys College of Medicine and Public Health

The study also found that the symptoms associated with scurvy were likely to be present among patients with or without vitamin C deficiency. Many of these symptoms of vitamin C deficiency are common in older people, who may have bleeding, bruising and skin issues due to a number of other conditions.

It may, therefore, be difficult to diagnose vitamin C deficiency solely on looking for these particular symptoms in older hospitalized patients, says Associate Professor Sharma.

Given we know vitamin C deficiency is common among older hospitalized patients, medical professionals need to remain vigilant for this condition and confirm a patients vitamin C status in suspected cases.

The authors say while the study doesnt prove that vitamin C is a direct cause of the cognitive impairment, it has demonstrated that vitamin C deficiency is common and is associated with cognitive impairment in older hospitalized patients.

Further studies will be needed to confirm this link and then we can look to establish whether vitamin C replacement may be beneficial in prevention or reversal of the cognitive impairment, says co-author Professor Campbell Thompson from the University of Adelaide.
The Government announced today that from this Wednesday, it will accept COVID-19 jab records from Kuwait as recognised vaccination records for Hong Kong residents returning from Group A specified places.

According to the Governments stringent inbound prevention and control measures for travellers from overseas places, those who have stayed in Group A specified places can only board a flight for Hong Kong if they are Hong Kong residents who are fully vaccinated and hold recognised vaccination records.
The zine "MoodRing" features the artwork and writing from local teens. The launch party will be held at the Carnegie Center this Thursday from 6-7:30 p.m.
The Biden administration intends to declare that Myanmars years-long repression of the Rohingya Muslim population is a genocide, U.S. officials said Sunday.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken plans to make the long-anticipated designation on Monday at an event at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, according to the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the move had not yet been publicly announced.

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The designation does not in and of itself portend drastic new measures against Myanmars military-led government, which has already been hit with multiple layers of U.S. sanctions since the campaign against the Rohingya ethnic minority began in the countrys western Rakhine state in 2017.

But it could lead to additional international pressure on the government, which is already facing accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Human rights groups and lawmakers have been pressing both the Trump and Biden administrations to make the designation.

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At least one member of Congress, Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, welcomed the anticipated step, as did Refugees International.

I applaud the Biden administration for finally recognizing the atrocities committed against the Rohingya as genocide, he said in a statement released immediately after the State Department announced that Blinken would deliver remarks on Myanmar at the Holocaust Museum on Monday and tour an exhibit entitled Burmas Path to Genocide. Myanmar is also known as Burma.

While this determination is long overdue, it is nevertheless a powerful and critically important step in holding this brutal regime to account, Merkley said. Such processes must always be carried out objectively, consistently, and in a way that transcends geopolitical considerations.

The humanitarian group Refugees International also praised the move. The U.S. genocide declaration is a welcome and profoundly meaningful step, the group said in a statement. It is also a solid sign of commitment to justice for all the people who continue to face abuses by the military junta to this very today.

Merkley called on the administration to continue the pressure campaign on Myanmar by imposing additional sanctions on the government to include its oil and gas sectors. America must lead the world to make it clear that atrocities like these will never be allowed to be buried unnoticed, no matter where they occur, he said.

More than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled from Buddhist-majority Myanmar to refugee camps in Bangladesh since August 2017, when the Myanmar military launched a clearance operation in response to attacks by a rebel group. Myanmar security forces have been accused of mass rapes, killings and the burning of thousands of homes.
(Newser)  Update: Clarence Thomas is out of the hospital. The 73-year-old Supreme Court justice was released from Sibley Memorial Hospital in DC on Friday after a weeklong stay, reports CNN. There's still not much known about his ailment, beyond an earlier description from the court of flu-like symptoms and an unspecified infection. He did not, however, have COVID, the court had said. Our original story from March 20 follows:

Clarence Thomas was admitted to a hospital in Washington, DC, Friday night and diagnosed with an infection. "It is not COVID related. The Justice does not have COVID," the court's public information office says in a press release, per outlets including CNN and the Hill. Thomas, 73, experienced flu-like symptoms and underwent tests at the hospital, the office says. He "was diagnosed with an infection, and is being treated with intravenous antibiotics," and now "his symptoms are abating, he is resting comfortably, and he expects to be released from the hospital in a day or two," per the statement.

All of the Supreme Court justices are vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19. They are expected to take the bench for arguments Monday morning, in which Thomas will not participate remotely. "Justice Thomas will participate in the consideration and discussion of any cases for which he is not present on the basis of the briefs, transcripts, and audio of the oral arguments," the press release says. Thomas, the longest-serving member of the high court, was for years almost completely silent on the bench, but now is regularly the first to ask questions during oral arguments. (Thomas' wife Virginia recently talked about her experience at the Jan. 6 "Stop the Steal" rally.)
(Newser)  The Biden administration intends to declare that Myanmars years-long repression of the Rohingya Muslim population is a genocide," US officials said Sunday. Secretary of State Antony Blinken plans to make the long-anticipated designation on Monday at an event at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, according to the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the move had not yet been publicly announced. The designation does not in and of itself portend drastic new measures against Myanmars military-led government, which has already been hit with multiple layers of US sanctions since the campaign against the Rohingya ethnic minority began in the country's western Rakhine state in 2017. But it could lead to additional international pressure on the government, which is already facing accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, the AP reports.

Human rights groups and lawmakers have been pressing both the Trump and Biden administrations to make the designation. At least one member of Congress, Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, welcomed the anticipated step, as did Refugees International. I applaud the Biden administration for finally recognizing the atrocities committed against the Rohingya as genocide," he said in a statement released immediately after the State Department announced that Blinken would deliver remarks on Myanmar at the Holocaust Museum on Monday and tour an exhibit entitled Burmas Path to Genocide. Myanmar is also known as Burma. While this determination is long overdue, it is nevertheless a powerful and critically important step in holding this brutal regime to account," Merkley said.

The humanitarian group Refugees International also praised the move. The US genocide declaration is a welcome and profoundly meaningful step, the group said in a statement. It is also a solid sign of commitment to justice for all the people who continue to face abuses by the military junta to this very day. Merkley called on the administration to continue the pressure campaign on Myanmar by imposing additional sanctions on the government to include its oil and gas sectors. America must lead the world to make it clear that atrocities like these will never be allowed to be buried unnoticed, no matter where they occur, he said. More than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled from Buddhist-majority Myanmar to refugee camps in Bangladesh since August 2017; Myanmar security forces have been accused of mass rapes, killings, and the burning of thousands of homes. (Read more Myanmar stories.)
(Newser)  Mariupol is still under siege from Russia, and Moscow on Sunday demanded residents of the Ukrainian city lay down their arms and raise white flags in order to be guaranteed safe passage out of the city. A deadline of 5am local time Monday was givenand not met, the Guardian reports. The city's mayor angrily rejected the demand before the deadline even came and went, cursing the Russians as he did so. And: "There can be no talk of any surrenders, laying down of arms," said Ukraines deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk. "We have already informed the Russian side about this. Instead of wasting time on 8 pages of letters, just open a [humanitarian] corridor."

Hours prior to Russia's demand, Russians reportedly bombed an art school in the city where 400 people were sheltering, the AP reports. The death toll is not yet clear. As for the surrender demand, Russia had promised two corridors out of Mariupol (one toward Russia and the other toward other parts of Ukraine to the west) if the demand was met, and said local officials would face a military tribunal if the demand was not met. Previous attempts at humanitarian corridors have met with only limited success as Russia has continued to bombard fleeing civilians. (Read more Russia-Ukraine conflict stories.)
(Newser)  A Dominican drug trafficker who was jealous of David Ortiz and felt disrespected by him had him shot at a Dominican nightclub in 2019, according to private investigators the Red Sox slugger hired to look into the attack that nearly killed him. The findings by former Boston police commissioner Edward Davis reported by the Boston Globe on Saturday contradict the theory of the crime developed by Dominican prosecutors, the AP reports. Davis told the newspaper that he identified the drug-trafficker Cesar Peralta as having orchestrated the shooting by placing a bounty on Ortiz and sanctioning the hit squad that tried to kill him. Dominican authorities did not cooperate with the private investigation.

Peralta is being held without bail in Puerto Rico on unrelated charges of conspiracy to import cocaine and heroin. The US Treasury designated Peralta a drug kingpin in 2019 and he was extradited to the US territory in December. Ortizs spokesperson, Joe Baerlein, told the Globe that Davis findings were withheld for Ortizs safety until Peralta was in US custody. Peralta has not been charged in relation to Ortiz's shooting. Peraltas lawyer, Joaquin Perez, said Peralta had nothing to do with the attempt on Ortizs life. As bad as Cesar Peralta is, its not even close to being in the ballpark to say he had something to do with this, Perez said. Perez described Ortiz and Peralta as close friends.

Ortiz told the Globe he knew Peralta only casually and that he was sad, confused, angry, all kinds of emotions when he received the news from Davis and Ric Prado, a former high-ranking CIA official who participated in the inquiry. Dominican authorities have said the target was meant to be Sixto David Fernandez, who was sharing a table with Ortiz when he was shot. Authorities said the hit men confused Fernandez with Ortiz, one of the most popular Dominican ballplayers ever. Thirteen people have been charged in relation to Ortizs shooting and are awaiting trial in the Dominican Republic.

(Read more David Ortiz stories.)
(Newser)  Ketanji Brown Jackson's Supreme Court confirmation hearings start Monday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. If eventually confirmed to the high court, Jackson, who has a long career as a lawyer and judge, would be the first Black woman to sit on the court. The 51-year-old would fill Justice Stephen Breyer's seat when he retires this summer. What to expect, per NPR, Politico, the New York Times, and the Christian Science Monitor:

The timeline: The hearings will last four days; the committee will consider the hearings for a week or so; then the committee will hold a vote. If she's approved in that vote, which she is expected to be, her nomination will go to the full Senate to consider. Democrats are hoping to complete the confirmation process before April 11, when Congress begins its Easter recess.

Monday: Beginning at 11am Eastern time, the 22 committee members will give statements, and Jackson will end the day with her own 10-minute statement.

Beginning at 11am Eastern time, the 22 committee members will give statements, and Jackson will end the day with her own 10-minute statement. Tuesday: Starting at 9am Eastern time, Jackson will answer questions from lawmakers; each committee member will get 30 minutes of questioning time.

Starting at 9am Eastern time, Jackson will answer questions from lawmakers; each committee member will get 30 minutes of questioning time. Wednesday: The same start time and general format as Tuesday, but with 20 minutes of questioning time per committee member.

The same start time and general format as Tuesday, but with 20 minutes of questioning time per committee member. Thursday: The final day of the hearing, starting at 9am Eastern time, will feature outside witnesses and the American Bar Association. Jackson will not speak to the committee this day. The Bar Association unanimously gave her its highest rating, "well qualified," for the position.

The final day of the hearing, starting at 9am Eastern time, will feature outside witnesses and the American Bar Association. Jackson will not speak to the committee this day. The Bar Association unanimously gave her its highest rating, "well qualified," for the position. Repeat performance: Jackson just appeared in front of this same group a year ago when President Biden nominated her to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals; she was confirmed by the Senate, including three Republican yes votes.

More challenging this time: The SCOTUS confirmation process is highly charged and not exactly bipartisan these days, and Jackson is expected to have a bit of a harder time with Congress this time around. However, with 50 senators plus Vice President Kamala Harris, Democrats technically have enough support to confirm her along party lines, thanks to Republicans exempting Supreme Court nominations from filibuster back in 2017.

The SCOTUS confirmation process is highly charged and not exactly bipartisan these days, and Jackson is expected to have a bit of a harder time with Congress this time around. However, with 50 senators plus Vice President Kamala Harris, Democrats technically have enough support to confirm her along party lines, thanks to Republicans exempting Supreme Court nominations from filibuster back in 2017. Republican support? Jackson has yet to receive support from any GOP senator publicly. Interestingly, however, former House Speaker Paul Ryan, the Republican VP contender in 2012, is related to Jackson by marriage and has publicly supported her SCOTUS nomination.

Jackson has yet to receive support from any GOP senator publicly. Interestingly, however, former House Speaker Paul Ryan, the Republican VP contender in 2012, is related to Jackson by marriage and has publicly supported her SCOTUS nomination. Attacks: Republicans have painted her as soft on crime (with Sen. Josh Hawley making the most headline-grabbing attack, which has been fact-checked and found to be false) and have also focused on her work with Guantanamo Bay prisoners when she was a public defender, accusing her of "defending terrorists" when she was actually working as a lawyer who defended suspects. They've also decried her as being too far to the radical left.

Republicans have painted her as soft on crime (with Sen. Josh Hawley making the most headline-grabbing attack, which has been fact-checked and found to be false) and have also focused on her work with Guantanamo Bay prisoners when she was a public defender, accusing her of "defending terrorists" when she was actually working as a lawyer who defended suspects. They've also decried her as being too far to the radical left. Questioning: The Times notes the level of aggression on display by Republicans questioning Jackson should indicate how likely she is to get GOP votes. "Republicans have conceded it is a sensitive situation, considering that her confirmation is likely and they are loath to be seen as piling on against a woman of color with a gold-plated legal resume and a reputation as a solid jurist," the paper says.

The Times notes the level of aggression on display by Republicans questioning Jackson should indicate how likely she is to get GOP votes. "Republicans have conceded it is a sensitive situation, considering that her confirmation is likely and they are loath to be seen as piling on against a woman of color with a gold-plated legal resume and a reputation as a solid jurist," the paper says. McConnell: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday that "shell be treated much better than Democrats typically treated Republican nominees like Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh," both of whom were accused of sexual assault before eventually being confirmed to the Supreme Court. McConnell has also said he wants Jackson to state whether she is in favor of adding seats to the high court.

(Read more Ketanji Brown Jackson stories.)
(Newser)  Thousands of years ago, South Africa's earliest dwellers roamed the land. Now, as Amazon tries to build its new African headquarters there, it's facing a battle from Indigenous locals who say the company shouldn't be building on what they say is sacred landand last week, they notched a win, if only a temporary one. Reuters reports that on Friday, the Western Cape Division of the nation's High Court ruled that construction must stop at the Cape Town site, with Judge Patricia Goliath noting in her decision that "the fundamental right to culture and heritage of Indigenous groups, more particularly the Khoi and San First Nations Peoples, are under threat."

Per Bloomberg, Goliath added in her ruling that developer Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust must undertake "meaningful engagement and consultation" with Indigenous locals who are raising concerns before building can continue at the $300 million, 37-acre River Club development, which would also include retail offices, homes, and a hotel. The building site lies at the point where the Liesbeek and Black rivers converge, which Indigenous groups argue is a sacred spot, and one that environmental officials say is also in danger of flooding. "A concrete block for an Amazon headquarters on this terrain is egregious and obscene," says Tauriq Jenkins, who's the frontman for about two dozen Indigenous groups who don't want the project on that land.

Per the New York Times, the scenario is a bit more complicated than "Indigenous versus Amazon," as some Indigenous leaders are on the side of the retail giant, which has argued that the project will create thousands of jobs in the region and help South Africa's economy recover after COVID. "It is now often unclear who has the authority to speak for Indigenous people," the paper notes, detailing infighting among various representatives. Still, the court is standing firm, at least until more consultation takes place. "The fact that the development has substantial economic, infrastructural, and public benefits can never override the fundamental rights of First Nations Peoples," she wrote in her ruling. LLPT notes it's "deeply disappointed" in Goliath's ruling and is looking into the next legal steps it can take, per Bloomberg. (Read more Amazon stories.)
(Newser)  Nearly 15 years after a North Dakota teen was found murdered in her home, a crack has finally been made in the case. Police in Minot say that Nichole Rice, 34, has been arrested in connection with 18-year-old Anita Knutson's killing, after more than 10 years in which "there was no person of interest, little evidence, and a murder victim with no justice," per KXMB. The Minot State University freshman was found dead in her bedroom on June 4, 2007, after her dad, Gordon Knutson, hadn't heard from her in a few days, drove to her apartment, and saw a blood-stained mattress through the window, he told Crime Watch Daily in an earlier interview, per the Washington Post. Police say Anita Knutson, who was found on her bed with a housecoat placed over her, had been stabbed to death.

Knutson's family wasn't happy with the yearslong investigation that followed, claiming that law enforcement botched the search to find her killer. On Wednesday, Minot Police Chief John Klug announced his team finally had a suspect: Rice, who'd gone to high school with Knutson and was Knutson's roommate at the time of her murder, per InForum. When the probe into the killing initially began, Rice is said to have told police she was with her family the weekend before Knutson was found, but according to an affidavit of probable cause for Rice, police found remarks by both Rice and her parents to be "inconsistent and contradictory," per the Post. Those who knew both young women also labeled Rice "hot-tempered and reactionary."

"Anita was scared of her," Knutson's mom, Sharon Knutson, told Crime Watch Daily in the earlier interview, noting her daughter had planned to move out of the apartment she shared with Rice. But police say they didn't have enough evidence to charge Riceuntil earlier this month, when they were able to track down an ex-boyfriend whom Rice allegedly confessed the crime to, per the affidavit. Rice was arrested Wednesday while at her civilian job at Minot Air Force Base. Police haven't yet revealed a motive. Rice, who was released from Ward County Jail after posting a $120,000 bond, faces life in prison without chance for parole if she's convicted of the felony charge of intentional murder against her, per KFYR. (Read more cold cases stories.)
(Newser)  One of America's most famous modern generals assesses the Russia-Ukraine conflict in depth via a CNN interview, and the short version is that retired Gen. David Petraeus is decidedly unimpressed with Russia's military. "Abysmal" and "incompetent" are two of the words he uses. This applies across the board, from strategic planning to the most basic of logistics ("their wheeled vehicles get mired in mud very quickly"). Petraeus finds it hard to believe that Russia will ever be able to "take, much less to control, Kyiv," and that's in large part because of the surprisingly resilient Ukrainian forces.

On that front, he says Ukraine will have another advantage as the fighting shifts into urban warfare, meaning battles that are waged building by building and in city streets. In this area, Ukraine will "very much" have the edge, says the retired general:

"Usually, the rule of thumb for urban warfare is that it requires at least five attackers to every defender," says Petraeus. "In this case, I'd argue it may be more than that because the Ukrainians are so resourceful. They will work together to prevent the Russians from taking urban areas the way that infantry and combined arms normally would do, such as the way the United States military cleared and then held cities during the Iraq War in, e.g, Ramadi and Fallujah, as well as parts of Baghdad and other cities."

(Read the full interview by Peter Bergen, which stretched over two days.)
(Newser)  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau praised the courage of worshipers at a Toronto-area mosque after they fended off an attacker armed with a hatchet and bear spray. Police say the attacker was subdued by worshipers at the Dar Al-Tawheed Islamic Center in Mississauga Saturday morning, the CBC reports. Mohammad Moiz Omar, 24, was arrested and charged in connection with what is "believed to be a hate-motivated incident," police said in a press release. Nadia Hasan, chief operating officer of the National Council of Canadian Muslims, says about 20 people were in the mosque when the man attacked during morning prayers.

One witness says somebody knocked the hatchet out of the attacker's hand and others wrestled him to the ground, the Washington Post reports. Mosque members told City News that the attacker kept saying "I hate Muslims" as they held him down. The attacker was armed with "numerous other sharp edged weapons" as well as the hatchet he brandished at worshipers, imam Ibrahim Hindy said in a statement, per CNN. Omar has been charged with offenses including assault with a weapon, administering a noxious substance with intent to endanger life, and uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm.

In a tweet, Trudeau called the violence "incredibly disturbing." "I strongly condemn this violencewhich has no place in Canada," he said. "I also want to applaud the courage of those who were there this morning." The mosque remained open after the bear spray dissipated. Hindy said there will be a police presence at the mosque for the next few days and they are looking at increasing security measures. "Our community will never be broken and we refuse to be intimidated," the imam said. (In 2017, a far-right extremist killed six people at a Quebec City mosque.)
Sometimes bullies are motivated by the audacity of someone who disagrees with them. Sometimes bullies act because theyre trying to curry favor with people who are more powerful than they are. Sometimes bullies simply enjoy wielding power over others  just because they can.

And across Florida, people who have been elected to serve their neighbors on city and county commissions are getting pretty sick of being bullied. Maybe its time they did something about it.

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That would mean standing up to the Florida Legislature, which in recent years has intruded, time and again, into the business of local government. Every year, it seems to get worse  and ideas that are defeated one year always seem to resurrect and return. And increasingly, lawmakers arent just stepping on local governments ability to make decisions. Theyre enacting laws that trample the express wishes of local voters, and menacing city and county officials with threats of ruinous legal fees or even criminal charges if they dont fall in line.

Lawmakers are particularly fond of legislation that strips local officials of the ability to deal with the kinds of things they were elected to oversee. It can be something as minor as the use of outdoor barbecue grills, or as critical (and often, community-specific) decisions such as whether to require face masks in a pandemic, or how to manage businesses like short-term vacation rentals. Not all pre-emption bills are bad  for example, Sen. Jason Brodeur pushed forward a sensible proposal in this years session (SB 518) that will make it easier for homeowners to remove a tree that poses an unacceptable risk to safety or buildings. But at times, the Legislature is clearly trampling on cities and counties decision-making authority at the behest of big campaign donors, such as developers who want to force community building officials to issue permits quickly  and limit the number of troubling questions they can ask (HB 423).

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There are also the nastier attacks on local officials  such as the budgetary decision to withhold some funding from school districts (including Orange and Broward counties) that kept their mask mandates in place after Gov. Ron DeSantis demanded that they be dropped. Another group of bills  known collectively as the hate slate  would expose local school districts to litigation if parents objected to classroom discussions of racism or sexuality. And theres a bill (HB 921) that would ban local governments from spending any money to provide information about ballot referenda  even straightforward, factual information that voters might need.

But the most punitive bill was clearly meant to strike fear into local officials and discourage them from passing regulations on businesses, even when they are demanded by local residents. SB 620 would allow businesses to sue local governments for decisions that reduce their profits by 15 percent or more, claiming attorneys fees as well as damages. The bill was amended to make it more specific and eliminate some categories of government action, such as development approvals and emergency orders, but critics say the provision could still block all kinds of high-stakes decisions such as special-event regulation, efforts to crack down on polluters or even routine road or sewer repairs that make it difficult to access a business.

All of those bills will soon land on the desk of Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has shown an increasingly hostile attitude toward local government himself.

That hostility is difficult to understand. Its been a long-standing principle (particularly in conservative ideology) that the best government is closest to the people. For a long time, most pre-emption bills were meant to prevent a confusing patchwork of technical regulations or minimize conflict. Lately, theres been a notable shift toward bills that, as Columbia Law School professor Richard Briffault describes them, clearly, intentionally, extensively and at times punitively, bar local efforts to address a host of local problems. That effort to quash local decision making doesnt always play out the way lawmakers have planned; well address one good example of that in our next editorial about innovation in affordable housing.

So what can people do? One significant lawsuit is already underway: Acting in the name of several Central Florida water bodies, a citizens group known as Speak Up Wekiva is challenging a planned development  and in doing so, is taking direct aim at a 2020 law that shut down local rights of nature charter amendments, such as the one 85 percent of Orange County voters approved just months after that legislation was passed.

The best answer, however, may be a constitutional amendment that clearly delineates the boundaries between state authority and local control. Steve Meyers, the attorney representing the Orange County group, told the Orlando Sentinel earlier this year that he expects a campaign for a local-rights amendment to emerge soon; groups like the Florida Association of Counties, the Florida League of Cities and 1000 Friends of Florida should consider rallying support. After this session, its clear lawmakers wont relent on their own.

Theres a small irony there  local-government advocates protesting lawmakers penchant to trample them underfoot, by going above the Legislatures head to re-write the states supreme law. But lawmakers have only themselves to blame. Their drive to dominate has created a significant imbalance of power in Florida, one that must be repaired.
(Newser)  While the fate of the southern city of Mariupol hangs in the balance, destruction continues in the Ukraine capital of Kyiv. Russia destroyed a shopping mall in the city center with one of the most powerful strikes delivered since the war began, reports the New York Times. The shopping center, called Retroville, is in ruins, and Ukraine authorities say at least eight people were killed, per the BBC. The toll could rise, however, because the hunt for survivors continues, notes the Guardian. Ukrainian parliament member Lesia Vasylenko tweeted video of the destruction.

While Russia has denied responsibility for previous aerial attacks in urban centers, its military is claiming this one, per the AP. Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Monday that Russian forces hit the mall because Ukraine was using it store rockets and as a site to reload its rocket launchers. The claims could not be independently verified. The attack on the mall comes as Russia's ground advance on the capital has largely stalled, per USA Today. However, British intelligence officials predict that Russia will ramp up efforts to encircle the city in the near future. (Read more Russia-Ukraine conflict stories.)
(Newser)  The early reports from the aftermath of a passenger jet crash in China are grim: No sign of survivors has been found after the Boeing 737 crashed into the mountains in a remote southern region, reports the AP. China Eastern Airlines, which operated the flight, has publicly offered its condolences, thought it did not specify casualties. The plane was carrying 132 people, and if all were killed, it would be China's worst air disaster in about three decades, reports the Wall Street Journal. The plane lost contact with ground control about 2:20pm local time, then plummeted from about 29,000 feet to 4,300 in three minutes before all traces of it disappeared, per CNN. The resulting impact created a fire large enough to be seen by satellites in space.

"The plane fell vertically from the sky," one witness told state media outlet Beijing Youth Daily. "Although I was very far away, I could still see that it was a plane. The plane did not smoke during the fall. The fire started after it fell into the mountain." The 737-800, en route from Kunming in the southwestern province of Yunnan to Guangzhou on the east coast, crashed near the city of Wuzhou in the Guangxi region. However, the region in which it went down is remote, which was hampering rescuers' ability to reach the scene. Chinese President Xi Jinping called for an "all-out effort" by search teams, along with an investigation into the cause. China Eastern has grounded all 737-800 planes in its fleet in the meantime. (Read more plane crash stories.)
(Newser)  Time might stand still for the legislation to make daylight saving time permanent. The bill sailed through the Senate last week, but House members are less sure about it, the Hill reports. Several lawmakers of both parties said that they'd like to see more research on the issue or that the war in Ukraine is dominating their time now. Also, some argue permanent standard time would be healthier. Rep. John Yarmouth said House members weren't expecting the Senate to pass the bill so quickly. "I don't know that many members have really thought through it," he said. House leaders plan a more deliberative approach, per the Washington Post.

The Biden administration isn't sure about the time change, either. White House officials are looking the bill over, as are the Domestic Policy Council and National Economic Council. "I don't have a specific position from the administration at this point of time," White House spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters last week. "We were unexpectedly sent this bill by the Senate. Now, were trying to absorb it," said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, head of the House Democratic Caucus. A two-year trial of year-round daylight saving time wasn't extended in the 1970s. For one thing, the promised energy savings were oversold. When the Senate rejected continuing with it, President Biden was a senator but didn't case a vote; the White House has not said why.

Dark mornings were another issue. "Many, many people were getting up into pitch dark, going to work in the pitch dark, which they disliked," said David Prerau, who's written a book on the subject. "And they also disliked sending their kids to school in the dark, having to walk on dark country roads." Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal said she has constituents opposed "because we're in Seattle and it is so dark." If daylight saving time becomes the norm, she said, "it's gonna be dark until like 9 o'clock in the morning." (Read more Daylight Saving Time stories.)
Note: This Tribute History Nugget has been proudly brought to you by the Fairbanks Igloos of the Pioneers of Alaska who would like to remind you that more History Nuggets are available on our website at pioneersofalaskafairbanks.org.
This week marks the one-year anniversary since the federal government declared the record shattering deaths of manatees an Unusual Mortality Event (UME). The UME, determined by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries along with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, was declared after 539 manatee deaths were recorded in the state through January to March 2021. That is more than twice the amount of manatee deaths statewide through the same period over the last five years.

This catastrophe is ongoing. Now is the time for bold leadership to fix the underlying problem and create conservation measures for these gentle and iconic giants.

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Sarah Gledhill of St. Augustine is a regional policy director for the Florida Wildlife Federation. - Original Credit: Courtesy photo (Courtesy photo)

By the end of 2021, 1,101 manatees had died. This is over 10% of the Florida manatee population. Historically, the primary causes of Florida manatee deaths are toxic red tide, boat strikes and cold stress. However, starvation due to loss of seagrass vegetation is now the number one cause of death. The loss of seagrass vegetation is attributed to excessive nutrients entering our waterways, causing a decline in water quality which leads to massive seagrass die-off.

Excessive nutrient pollution associated with fertilizers, deteriorating septic tanks and sewer lines as well as harmful discharges from Lake Okeechobee have triggered harmful algae blooms that cloud Floridas waterways, preventing sunlight from reaching the seagrass beneath the surface. As a result, since 2009 the Indian River Lagoon has lost 58% of its seagrass. Since 2012, Tampa Bay has lost 13%, while between 2018 and 2020, Sarasota Bay lost 18%. This decline in aquatic vegetation is also evident in our freshwater systems. In the St. Johns River, we are also witnessing a 90% decline in eelgrass, another source of food for manatees.

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For our beloved manatees, food scarcity means they face a crucial choice when cold snaps occur. Either stay and potentially starve or forage elsewhere and freeze.

Political Pulse Weekly Get latest updates political news from Central Florida and across the state. >

Although the decline in seagrass beds has been decades in the making and the issue is complex, these deaths are highly preventable and we need more bold action at the state and federal level.

The Florida Wildlife Federation (FWF) supports the bold and bipartisan leadership from Reps. Vern Buchanan and Darren Soto for championing the Manatee Protection Act of 2021. The Act calls on Congress to reclassify the manatee as endangered. In 2017, the federal government unjustifiably down-listed the manatee to threatened in response to a special-interest petition based on shortsighted science.

FWF also supports the bipartisan Marine Mammal Research and Response Act of 2021. Co-sponsored by Reps. Brian Mast and Stephanie Murphy, the Act would allocate $42 million over six years to support ongoing efforts to rescue and rehabilitate sick and injured marine mammals and to mitigate what is causing high mortality rates.

Invading Seas (Invading Seas / Courtesy)

At the state level, Gov. DeSantis can be a champion on the restoration of the Ocklawaha River. This restoration project would allow hundreds of manatees to access several of the Ocklawahas 20 freshwater springs and in Silver River. This warm-water refuge is currently inaccessible for large numbers of manatees due to the Kirkpatrick Dam and accompanying lock system that causes artificially high water levels, covering up the Ocklawahas springs, and inhibiting large-scale manatee access to the Silver River.

FWF applauds our members of Congress and the tireless efforts by wildlife agency staff to address immediate rescue and recovery. But when are we going to take the next step and actually address the cause of the problem  water pollution? As nutrification of our rivers and coasts has been decades in the making, there will be no quick fix.

Now is the time for stronger and meaningful water quality-policy enforcement. Floridas Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) needs to shift away from the soft-handed education approach and actually enforce water-quality protections. For far too long, big industry polluters are getting a slap on the wrist. Now is the time to hold them accountable and make polluters pay. Improving water quality doesnt only mean creating a better environment for manatees and wildlife in general, but also a better quality of life for Floridians as well.

Sarah Gledhill of St. Augustine is a regional policy director for the Florida Wildlife Federation.
Japan has broken with years of precedent in its tough response to the Ukraine invasion, and the conflict could reshape Tokyo's defence strategy as it confronts China's regional ambitions, analysts say.

When Russia last pushed into Ukraine in 2014, Japan's response was seen as lukewarm, but this time around it has marched in lockstep with Western allies on unprecedented sanctions and tough rhetoric, even sending non-lethal military aid.

And the crisis is already impacting debates on security spending and capacity in a country whose constitution limits its military to defence.

"Japan has been accused before of paying its way out, in a way, just giving money but not being directly involved in any crisis," said Valerie Niquet, an Asia expert at France's Foundation for Strategic Research think tank.

This time, Tokyo is "putting a lot of emphasis on what they are doing... to show that they are not just sitting by and waiting to see how things will evolve".

And the speed with which Tokyo has moved on measures such as individual sanctions has been "completely remarkable", said Tobias Harris, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.

"This is much further than I thought we would see the Japanese government go."

In part, that reflects the extraordinary nature of the conflict, but several other key factors are at play, including the departure of former prime minister Shinzo Abe, who long sought closer ties with Moscow.

Abe, who resigned in 2020, had hoped warmer relations would lead to a breakthrough over disputed islands held by Russia, which Moscow calls the Kurils and Japan calls the Northern Territories.

But with Abe gone and years of deadlock on the dispute, Japan's government has felt freer to act against Moscow, though fears about energy needs have so far stopped Tokyo from pulling out of joint energy projects with Russia. ...continue reading
Japan is famous for its beautiful sakura, or cherry blossom trees. While the peak season for hanami, or cherry blossom viewing, is late March to early April, there's a deep pink variety of cherry blossom called Kawazu-zakura that blooms in early February to early March.

The city of Kawazu celebrates these beautiful trees every year with the Kawazu Cherry Blossom Festavel. And of course, no festival is complete without a lot of great street food!

Shizuka travels to Kawazu in Shizuoka Prefecture to enjoy the lovely flowers while sampling the tasty food of the festival. There are so many food stands to visit, and she works her way through a variety of tasty snacks from the friendly vendors. Some are traditional Japanese festival snacks, while others take inspiration from the cherry blossoms to create unique treats. Come along and enjoy the hanami with us as we eat our way through the Kawazu Cherry Blossom Festival!

FEATURED FOODS

Todays featured foods are all street foods from the Kazuwa Cherry Blssom Festival!

Haruka juice: A juice sweezed from a haruka citrus fruit

Haruka slices: Slices of this citrus fruit are sweet but milder than an orange

Hanami dango: The classic tri-colored sweet rice dumplings are a popular snack in the spring

Nigiri tenkushi: Nigiri means pressed together and tenkushi means tempura on a stick

Edamame ten: Fried stem beans and a shrimp cake on a stick

Croissant taiyaki- taiyaki made with a croissant-like pastry instead of the traditional waffle-type pastry

Sakura oyaki: A stuffed dumpling with pickled cherry blossom leaves and white bean paste

Nikumaki omusubi: A rice ball wrapped in beef

Sakura amazake: Cherry blossom amazake, a fermented rice drink thats a byproduct of sake

Isobeyaki dango: Mochi covered in sweet soy sauce and wrapped in seaweed

Ichigo sakura mochi: A mix of two classic Japanese desserts; ichigo daifuku (mochi with red bean paste and strawberry) and sakura mochi (a granular and sticky mochi wrapped in a pickled cherry blossom leaf)
TALLAHASSEE  A federal judge considering a constitutional challenge to a 2021 state elections law ordered attorneys Monday to quickly file briefs about the potential effects of a bill that the Legislature passed this month to make further changes in how Floridians vote.

The bill (SB 524) had not been sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis as of Monday. But Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker, in a sharply worded two-page order, said he is drafting a decision on the 2021 law.

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Yet no lawyer for any party has alerted the court of imminent changes to the laws at issue before this court  though the parties appeared to have been actively monitoring the latest election legislation as it moved through the Florida Legislature these past several weeks, Walker wrote. Accordingly, the parties must file on or before (5 p.m.), Wednesday, March 23, 2022, an expedited supplemental brief addressing what impact, if any, Floridas Senate Bill 524 would have on the challenged provisions and claims before this court in the event the governor signs the legislation into law.

Walker did not specify issues that the attorneys would need to address.

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The bill, which received final approval from the House on March 9 after earlier passing the Senate, drew heavy debate over issues such as creating an office to investigate alleged voting irregularities. DeSantis pushed for creation of such an office, as Republicans across the country have sought to revamp election laws to address what they contend is fraud.

The bill, among other things, also included changes involving organizations that work to register people to vote and collect applications. At least one of those changes involved an issue that has been part of the challenge to the 2021 law.

Under the 2021 law, the organizations are required to provide disclaimers informing potential voters that their applications may not be turned in within a 14-day window imposed by the law. This years bill would remove that requirement on the organizations.

Political Pulse Weekly Get latest updates political news from Central Florida and across the state. >

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit have argued that the disclaimers will discourage people from registering to vote through such organizations, which frequently target Black and Hispanic prospective voters.

Testifying in January, League of Women Voters of Florida President Cecile Scoon said the disclaimer seems to have a negative impact on prospective voters. Scoon described a situation in which a man had nearly completed the registration application before she showed him the disclaimer printed on a placard.

He picked it up and looked at it. It froze him. He wasnt happy.  He did an about-face, Scoon said.

This years bill also includes issues such as ratcheting up financial and criminal penalties for violating elections laws, such as what has become known as ballot harvesting, which can include collecting and delivering vote-by-mail ballots for several people.

Another part of the bill would require county supervisors of elections to annually scour voter rolls for potentially ineligible voters in a process known as list maintenance. Under current law, supervisors are required to do list maintenance every other year.

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The League of Women Voters of Florida, the Florida State Conference of the NAACP, Disability Rights Florida and two dozen other groups filed lawsuits challenging the 2021 measure, arguing in part that it is intended to make it harder for Black and Hispanic residents to vote. Republicans contend that the 2021 law and this years bill are needed to maintain election integrity.

The 2021 law focused heavily on changes to voting by mail, an issue also addressed in this years bill. Among other things, lawmakers this year approved changing the name of drop boxes  where people can drop off vote-by-mail ballots  to secure ballot intake stations.
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NEWTOWN In the beginning, Lisa Peterson admits she didnt give the same journalistic attention to the disappearance of a 35-year-old Newtown flight attendant and mother of three named Regina Brown as she did to woodchipper murder victim Helle Crafts.

But as time went on, and the husband of Crafts was convicted and imprisoned for the barbaric murder of his wife who was also a flight attendant and a mother of three from Newtown, Peterson developed an attachment so strong to Browns unsolved case that Peterson refuses to give up on it 35 years later.

I could see the anguish that the (Brown) family was going through, and I felt like maybe I should have spent more time as a journalist covering the story, Peterson told Hearst Connecticut Media during an interview from her Newtown home earlier this month, speaking of her early career as a police reporter for The Newtown Bee. I went from being a journalist to being an advocate, to make sure this case was always in the forefront.

Petersons strong attachment to the unsolved Brown case may have started as a professional guilt of sorts for not covering her disappearance more aggressively when it broke in 1987  the same time Richard Crafts was in jail making national headlines for feeding his wifes frozen body through a woodchipper.

But what drew Peterson even closer to Browns unsolved case was Petersons own experience as a victim of violence, and Petersons own inability to get justice.

I was a victim of childhood sexual abuse and for many years there was no recourse because the statute of limitations had run out, Peterson said. So in that way, I identified with her.

While Petersons interviews produced leads that helped police reopen the investigation periodically over the decades, the efforts fell short of discovering Browns body or making conviction progress  unlike other high-profile cases of missing women with Newtown connections  such as the Robert Durst trial and the John Heath case, where the husbands were arrested.

Then a moment of opportunity came in Petersons life when a law opened a lookback window for survivors of child sexual abuse to pursue justice regardless of the statute of limitations. Peterson knew the feeling of getting her hopes up for justice, only to have them let down when no one would represent her because she could not determine the full name of her abuser.

Peterson felt herself identifying again with friends and family of Brown whose hopes were raised each time police searched anew for her body, only to go back to square one.

I felt the same anguish in trying to get justice and thinking it was close  and then it wasnt there, Peterson said.

Cold but open

The 35th anniversary of the last time Brown was seen alive on March 26 comes at a time when those with direct experience with the case at the Newtown police department have retired.

And yet it is the kind of case that does not die with time.

Robert Tvardzik, a Newtown police detective who pursued the case until his retirement in 2003, told The News-Times, unsolved cases stay with you forever.

It was Tvardzik who helped get Peterson more active in the case after she left journalism for public relations.

Bobby was concerned nobody in the department would know anything about the Regina Brown case once he retired, Peterson said. So I did my own investigation and started to interview people and learned a little bit about her.

Peterson, traveled Texas, for example, where Browns three children were living with her parents, to speak with family members. Peterson made a trip to Rhode Island with Tvardzik after he retired in an unsuccessful search for Browns body.

In the end, what police know for sure is that Brown was putting her youngest child and her live-in baby sitter on a plane to Texas to join her other children with her parents the last time she was seen alive.

Brown, who was getting divorced, was discovered missing without personal items her friends knew her to always have with her. Among the items left in her home was an uncashed $1,000 check.

Described by friends as a deeply religious woman, neighbors said she would not have abandoned her young children.

She loved her children, and there is no way she would have gone off and left them, a former neighbor, Carol Napolitano, told The News-Times. You will never convince me of that.

The last time police searched for Browns body was in 2016, when then-chief James Viadero said a tip had led investigators to search a dead-end area off Route 6 on Whippoorwill Hill Road, where Brown lived.

There has been no recent activity in the case, police Chief David Kullgren said.

As with all investigations, any new leads we follow, but at this point we dont have anything related to this case, Kullgren said on Friday.

Danbury States Attorney Stephen Sedensky said the case was active and open.

It is certainly an older case, but as far as my office is concerned, I have Deputy Assistant States Attorney Kristin Chiriatti assigned to it, Sedensky said. It rises and falls on whether or not we get more information.

Meanwhile the two other high-profile domestic murder cases in Newtown from the mid-1980s have been resolved.

The 1984 disappearance of Newtowns Elizabeth Heath was resolved when her skeletal remains were found in the barn well of her home, and her husband was convicted of murder in 2013. He died in prison two years later.

The final chapter of Newtowns notorious woodchip murder case came in 2020, when Crafts was released early from a 50-year sentence for good conduct, at age 82.

Peterson said she will continue to push for a resolution to Browns case.

Never give up, she said.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342
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BROOKFIELD  Town officials will seek public input next month on a proposed moratorium aimed at blocking legal marijuana businesses from opening operations in town.

A copy of the proposed zoning change application shows language pertaining to Cannabis establishments and Medical Marijuana Dispensaries and Producers, and text referring to 11 different types of license holders, as defined in the June 2021 Connecticut Public Act Concerning Responsible and Equitable Regulation of Adult-Cannabis.

According to the document, the move is needed, to allow sufficient time to review the states cannabis laws and, because additional time is needed to hold public hearings on the matter.

Brookfields Zoning Commission, the local body responsible under state law for producing and implementing the zoning law change, submitted documents for review by the Planning Commission last week, attaching a memo citing plans to hold a public hearing on the matter at Town Hall at 7 p.m. on April 14.

First Selectwoman Tara Carr said the proposed moratorium would last a year, with plans to seek feedback on how the ban would affect the community.

The cannabis moratorium is for one year and ultimately the Board of Selectmen want to take it to a town vote, she said.

Still, some question remains over when the sunset date for proposed moratorium will be.

The towns Planning Commission unanimously voted to recommend the ban last only six months.

Member Scott Dale pitched the timeline reduction, arguing the, focus should be on how and where establishments might be allowedand stated a six-month moratorium should allow the town enough time to move forward with regulations, according to the commissions March 17 meeting minutes.

Commission member John Mara agreed with Dale, noting that the town should consider generating tax revenue from those sales sooner, rather than later.

Under Connecticuts adult-use cannabis law, towns and cities can collect up to a 3 percent sales tax on each cannabis sale made directly to a consumer by a licensed adult-use dispensary  one of the categories specifically banned in Brookfields proposed moratorium.

In the lead up to Connecticuts first legal marijuana sale, more than 40 percent of cities and towns in the state have passed some form of temporary or long-lasting zoning rule banning marijuana companies from operating within their locality. This includes Danbury, New Fairfield, Newtown and Ridgefield.

In the long run, advocates argue the obstacles only mean municipalities are missing out on added revenue.

Thats all it really does, said DeVaughn Ward, senior legislative counsel for the Marijuana Policy Project.

It doesnt prohibit folks from consuming cannabis in the town, it doesnt prevent folks from having cannabis delivered to them in their towns, Ward added. It essentially just has the municipality lose out on the tax revenue they could be generating from property tax off these businesses and the sales tax component.
SEOUL, South Korea, March 21, 2022 /CNW/ - Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) and Pacific Asset Management Company (Pacific) today announced a KRW 200 billion (C$214.3 million) joint venture to develop the largest carrier-neutral hyperscale data centre, Jukjeon Data Centre, in South Korea. CPP Investments and a fund managed by Pacific will commit KRW 137 billion (C$146.8 million) in equity for the project development, with CPP Investments allocating KRW 126 billion (C$135 million). Other investors in the joint venture include Dreammark 1, GS Retail, and Shinhan Investment Corporation.

Located in the eastern part of the Seoul metropolitan area, Jukjeon Data Centre is close to the Pangyo Techno Valley, a technology hub known as South Korea's Silicon Valley. The data centre also provides connectivity to multiple telecom carriers.

"Demand for data centres in Asia Pacific continues to grow and is boosted further by the COVID-19 pandemic. Companies in South Korea are in need of digital infrastructure as the country is emerging as a technology and innovation hub in the region," said Gilles Chow, Managing Director, Head of Real Estate North Asia, CPP Investments. "This joint venture combines the strength of each partner to provide a best-in-class data centre for tenants, and represents a significant investment opportunity for CPP Investments as we continue to expand our real estate portfolio in the region."

Jukjeon Data Centre with a total gross floor area of 99,070 square meters will consist of four above-ground floors and four below-ground floors to provide commercial space for cloud service, internet service and information technology companies. Upon completion in June 2024, Jukjeon Data Centre will be operated by LG CNS, an experienced data-centre operator in South Korea.

About CPP Investments

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) is a professional investment management organization that manages the Fund in the best interest of the more than 20 million contributors and beneficiaries of the Canada Pension Plan. In order to build diversified portfolios of assets, investments are made around the world in public equities, private equities, real estate, infrastructure and fixed income. Headquartered in Toronto, with offices in Hong Kong, London, Luxembourg, Mumbai, New York City, San Francisco, Sao Paulo and Sydney, CPP Investments is governed and managed independently of the Canada Pension Plan and at arm's length from governments. At December 31, 2021, the Fund totalled C$550.4 billion. For more information, please visit www.cppinvestments.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter.

About Pacific

Pacific Asset Management Company (Pacific) is an alternative investment management company specialized in the real estate. Pacific has made investments in various asset classes such as office, logistics, hotel, multi-family, and data centres, with assets under management of US$4.2 billion as of December 31, 2021. For more information, please visit http://www.pacific-amc.com.

SOURCE Canada Pension Plan Investment Board

For further information: Media Contacts: CPP Investments, Connie Ling, Managing Director, Global Corporate Communications, T: +852 3959 3476, [email protected]; Pacific: Eunsoo Jung, Manager, T: +822 2051 1319, [email protected]
MISSISSAUGA, ON, March 21, 2022 /CNW/ - KYE Pharmaceuticals Inc. ("KYE"), a private company headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario and focused on bringing medicines that fulfill clinically significant unmet needs to the Canadian market, today announced it has submitted a New Drug Submission (NDS) to Health Canada for the regulatory review and approval of Accrufer (ferric maltol).

If approved, Accrufer would be the first prescription only oral iron therapy approved by Health Canada and marketing approval for Accrufer is expected to be during the first half of 2023.

Doug Reynolds, President of KYE, said: "The Shield and KYE teams worked tremendously hard to compile the Canadian NDS in a matter of months and I am extremely pleased to have achieved this milestone."

Jose A. Menoyo, MD, Chief Medical Officer for Shield, added: "We are delighted with the rapid progress made in partnership with KYE since the signing of the license agreement in January. Both organizations have demonstrated excellent collaboration and are driven to make Accrufer available to patients in Canada with iron deficiency as quickly as possible. Shield Therapeutics is committed in bringing Accrufer/Feraccru to patients with iron deficiency around the world, and Canada is an important element of that mission."

About Accrufer /Fera ccru

Accrufer/Feraccru (ferric maltol) is a novel, stable, non-salt based oral therapy for adults with iron deficiency, with or without anemia. Accrufer/Feraccru has a novel mechanism of absorption compared to other oral iron therapies and has been shown to be an efficacious and well-tolerated therapy in a range of clinical trials. More information about Accrufer/Feraccru, including the US and EU product labels, can be found at: www.accrufer.com and www.feraccru.com.

About KYE Pharmaceuticals

KYE Pharmaceuticals is a private company headquartered in Canada focused on bringing medications to the Canadian market which fulfill clinically significant and unmet needs. KYE has licensed many innovative products and was founded on an entrepreneurial spirit that optimizes our team's strengths and brings unique value to our partners, Canadian healthcare professionals, and most importantly, our patients. For more information please visit www.kyepharma.com .

About Shield Therapeutics plc

Shield is a commercial stage specialty pharmaceutical company with a focus on addressing iron deficiency with its lead product Accrufer/Feraccru (ferric maltol). The Group has launched Accrufer in the US and Feraccru is commercialized in the UK and European Union by Norgine B.V., who also have the marketing rights in Australia and New Zealand. Shield also has an exclusive license agreement with Beijing Aosaikang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., for the development and commercialization of Accrufer / Feraccru in China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, with Korea Pharma Co., Ltd. in the Republic of Korea, and with KYE Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Canada.

Accrufer/Feraccru has patent coverage until the mid-2030s

Accrufer/Feraccru are registered trademarks of the Shield Group

SOURCE KYE Pharmaceuticals Inc.
TALLAHASSEE  Gov. Ron DeSantis is leaving it to the Florida Legislature to decide whether to hold a special session on property insurance and condominium safety laws.

Both were top issues for lawmakers going into the 2022 session, but got bumped over contentious and emotional debates over culture war issues, including bills to restrict what teachers can say about sexuality and race in the classroom.

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At a news conference in Wellington on Monday to tout teacher pay increases, DeSantis said hed welcome it if the Legislature decides to call a special session, noting they failed to achieve those goals during the regular session.

If they can get an agreement, we should do it, DeSantis said. I am confident we will see something along those lines in the next year. Im ready. Ive got a pen ready, so if they do it I will be receptive to it.

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Lawmakers also could come back to deal with redistricting if DeSantis vetoes the new congressional maps as promised.

Florida homeowners face a looming property insurance crisis, with companies suspending writing new policies and some going out of business. Several lawmakers filed bills this year to address the skyrocketing premiums, but they failed to reach consensus by the end of session.

Were disappointed we didnt get more done this year, but that is part of the process. We decided its better for the next Legislature to take it up, Senate President Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby, told reporters March 11, the day the session was supposed to end.

He said the industry was definitely in crisis and a special session was possible in the coming months as hurricane season approaches.

Political Pulse Weekly Get latest updates political news from Central Florida and across the state. >

The Senate had a pretty good formation of a property insurance bill this session. We just didnt finish, Simpson said.

Much of the blame for the rising costs has been laid at the feet of the roofing industry, which insurers say are filing countless lawsuits against them demanding that they fully replace aging roofs. Last year, a law was passed that limited solicitation by roofing companies, but a federal judge blocked it.

House Speaker Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, told reporters on March 14 there were lots of unresolved issues on the bill, especially when it came to the Senates deductible plan, and they just ran out of time.

We passed incredibly significant reform last session, Sprowls said. But everybody in the insurance space says it takes 18 months (for changes to take effect) and were six months going in.

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Likewise, he said, the clock ran out on negotiations over last-minute changes in the condominium safety bill, spawned by the collapse of a residential tower in the Miami suburb of Surfside that killed 98.

The tragedy exposed the states lax regulation of condominium towers. Lawmakers sought to require inspections after 30 years and make association boards conduct studies to determine the cost of future repairs and collect that money from residents to set aside in a reserve account.

But in the last days of session, House and Senate leaders clashed over inspection schedules for the aging structures and eliminating a loophole that makes reserve accounts optional.
OTTAWA, ON, March 21, 2022 /CNW/ - The Net-Zero Advisory Body, established under the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act with a mandate to provide the Minister of Environment and Climate Change with independent advice with respect to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, is pleased to release its submission to inform Canada's 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan.

Our submission provides advice on specific improvements to existing federal programs and proposes new measures that the Government of Canada should consider to help achieve its 2030 target of a 40 to 45 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions below 2005 levels.

The advice in this submission is grounded in the Net-Zero Advisory Body's five foundational values and five design principles set out in our first publication, Net-Zero Pathways: Initial Observations, and is informed by our engagement, analysis and deliberations. As requested by the federal Ministers of Environment and Climate Change and Natural Resources, the Net-Zero Advisory Body's submission also provides key guiding principles to inform the Government's development of quantitative five-year emissions reduction targets for the oil and gas sector.

The Net-Zero Advisory Body would like to acknowledge the contributions from hundreds of individuals, businesses, governments and organizations that participated in our engagement process. The ideas and perspectives that were shared with us helped inform our thinking and advice. The Net-Zero Advisory Body will continue to engage Canadians in the months and years ahead.

Highlights

This submission represents the Net-Zero Advisory Body's independent advice for Canada's 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan. It is focused on the four lines of inquiry that we set for our first year: governance; buildings; transportation; and, oil and gas.

2030 Emissions Reduction Plan. It is focused on the four lines of inquiry that we set for our first year: governance; buildings; transportation; and, oil and gas. We have identified 40 pieces of advice across our four lines of inquiry to inform federal decision-making to help reduce Canada's GHG emissions by 40-45 percent below 2005 levels by the year 2030.

GHG emissions by 40-45 percent below 2005 levels by the year 2030. Our submission also provides advice on key guiding principles to help inform the development of quantitative five-year emission reduction targets for the oil and gas sector, as requested by the federal Ministers of Environment and Climate Change and Natural Resources.

To inform our advice, the Net-Zero Advisory Body conducted a range of engagement activities over the course of summer and fall 2021 and early 2022, including hosting briefings and roundtable discussions with a range of decision-makers and experts, including labour representatives, Indigenous organizations, oil and gas companies, and non-governmental organizations. We also received over 1,200 submissions and comments through our website.

A summary of what was heard through the NZAB's engagement activities will be published on our website in April 2022 .

Quotes

"Canada is past the point where incremental adjustments are good enough - achieving our country's 2030 emissions reduction target is critical after decades of missing the mark. The Net-Zero Advisory Body's advice for Canada's 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan identifies concrete steps that the Government of Canada should take to close the gap to achieve its 2030 target, while supporting the most likely pathways for Canada to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050."

-Dan Wicklum, Co-Chair

"We are pleased to provide our advice to Canada's Emissions Reduction Plan for 2030. The climate crisis and achieving net-zero is not just an environmental issue  it touches all parts of society. Shared leadership, where everyone contributes in their areas of decision-making and influence, is imperative to getting Canada on track to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050."

-Marie-Pierre Ippersiel, Co-Chair

Links

About

The Net-Zero Advisory Body is a non-partisan group of experts established under the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act with a mandate to provide the Minister of Environment and Climate Change with independent advice with respect to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, including greenhouse gas targets and plans to achieve the targets. The Net-Zero Advisory Body also has a mandate to engage Canadians on net-zero emissions.

SOURCE Net-Zero Advisory Body

For further information: [email protected]
Representing a large geographical region in India, the antiquities are from Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and West Bengal.

In a historic move, 29 antiquities have been repatriated to India by the Australia. The move comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Scott Morrisons virtual summit today. The antiquities range in six broad categories as per themes  Shiva and his disciples, Worshipping Shakti, Lord Vishnu and his forms, Jain tradition, Portraits and decorative objects.

These antiquities come from different time periods, with earliest dating to 9-10 century CE. These are primarily sculptures and paintings executed in variety of material  sandstone, marble, bronze, brass, paper. Representing a large geographical region in India, the antiquities are from Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and West Bengal. PM Modi inspected these antiquities that returned from Australia.

Australia has also returned portraits of Indian personalities like Maharaja Sir Perhad Yamin, Hiralal A. Gandhi, an untitled portrait of middle aged male from Venus Studio, a Gujarati family group phooto from Guru Das Studio, portrait of a woman from Udaipur, Rajasthan, Portrait of a man made by the artist Panna Lal.

The decorative objects, include a page from a Ragamala series, young lady with elaborate saree, a 19th century brass alam that must have been carried by a stand bearer in processions, portrait of Lakshman Chandji before Dursham Ramji and amourous couple.
Representatives of the Kashmiri Pandit community have demanded that they should be included in the new political initiative recommended by the delimitation commission.

As the film The Kashmir Files continues to create a buzz online and offline, the Kashmiri Pandit community have demanded electoral and political representation from the government of India. Representatives of the Kashmiri Pandit community have demanded that they should be included in the new political initiative recommended by the delimitation commission. They have demanded reservation of four assembly seats and two parliamentary seats for Kashmiri pandits under the new set up.

The key demands put forth by the Kashmiri pandits include making Kashmiri Pandits part of new political initiative recommended by delimitation commission, allow Kashmiri pandits to exercise their fundamental rights in political process, reserve four assembly seats for Kashmiri pandits under new set up, reserve two parliamentary seat for Kashmiri pandits under new set up, take up constitutional measures in line with Sikkim Sangha, Puducherry assembly model of nominations Lastly, take up constitutional measures in line with erstwhile representation for anglo-indians in J&K assembly and parliament.

Speaking about Sikkims Sangha, Sangha assembly constituency in Sikkim does not exist on the map.It has no geographical boundaries to define its exact location. With 2,800 voters, the 32 Sangha assembly is spread across Sikkim. The constituency is reserved for the monks of the Sangha community. Only those whose names figure in records of 111 recognised monasteries can fight polls or vote. The constituency is recognised to preserve the distinct identity of Sangha.
The 36-member delegation will be hosted by the Jammu and Kashmir government for three days. The visit comes months after J&K governor Manoj Sinhas visit to Dubai.

Ahead of OIC meet in Islamabad this week, a high level UAE delegation has reached Kashmir to explore new business opportunities. The 36-member delegation will be hosted by the Jammu and Kashmir government for three days. The visit comes months after J&K governor Manoj Sinhas visit to Dubai.

Interestingly, the visit also signifies the valleys economic transformation, investment potential and UAEs interest to invest in J&K, despite Islamabad repeatedly trying to rake up the Kashmir issue at OIC.

J&K LG Manoj Sinha, Principal Secretary of Industries and Commerce and other officials will showcase investment opportunities across entrepreneurship, tourism and hospitality sector to the delegation over the course of next 3-4 days.

Speaking about the business opportunities in India, LT Governor Manoj Sinha, while addressing the Investors summit in Dubai, had said that big business groups from UAE have shown interest in investing in Jammu and Kashmir, marking the beginning of a new and comprehensive partnership.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison held a virtual meeting today, paving for the establishment of a mechanism for India and Australia to hold annual summits for the review of their bilateral relationship. In his remarks at the virtual summit, Scott Morrison begun by talking about Indo Pacific and the Russia-Ukraine war and said that our region is facing increasing change and much pressure.

Talking about the Ukraine situation, he said that the Quad summit gave the leaders an opportunity to discuss Russias unlawful invasion of Ukraine but also it also gave the opportunity to discuss the implications and consequences of that event on Indo-Pacific and the issues faced by this region.

PM Modi said that the last virtual summit gave India and Australias relationship the form of a comprehensive strategic partnership and hes happy that the two nations are now establishing the mechanism of an annual summit.

He added that the mechanism of an annual summit will prepare a structural system for regular review of their relationship, which has seen remarkable growth in recent years, in the sectors of Trade & investment, defence & security, education & innovation, science & technology.

PM Modi further thanked Scott Morrison for returning the Indian antiquities. Earlier in the day, Australia repatriated 29 Indian antiquities, including hundreds of years old artefacts and photos illegally taken out of Rajasthan, West Bengal, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh & other states.

On the India-Australia virtual summit, Foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said that the two leaders discussed Ukraine & China. On the Ukraine issue, it was clear that the two sides had referred to the Quad summit, in which the leaders had a fairly clear perspective that the situation in Ukraine should not impact on the Indo-Pacific. Australian PM Morrison gave a detailed perspective of how he views China and its actions in the region and spoke in particular about the South China Sea.

Shringla revealed that PM Modi referred to LAC in Ladakh and the incidents of the previous year, wherein he emphasised that peace and tranquillity in the border area was an essential prerequisite for normalisation of relations with China.

The two PMs further agreed that they would be increasing cooperation between Indias National Investment and Infrastructure Fund & Australias Pension and Sovereign Fund. India will offer the same tax benefits for Australias Pension and Sovereign Fund in India as is given in Australia. Shringla added that India is willing to match the tax benefits that Australia gives to its Sovereign & Pension Funds and once they invest in India, theyll get similar benefits.
The virtual summit will pave the way new initiatives and enhanced cooperation in a diverse range of sectors between both the countries.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison will hold the second India-Australia virtual summit today. The virtual summit will pave the way new initiatives and enhanced cooperation in a diverse range of sectors including trade, critical minerals, migration and mobility, and education, among others. Australia is expected to announce an investment of Rs 1,500 CR in India in multiple sectors, which is the largest-ever investment by the Australian government in India.

During the virtual summit today, the two leaders will also take stock of progress made on various initiatives under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Views on regional and international issues of mutual interest, including the Ukraine situation, Quad and countering China will also be discussed. Highlighting the importance attached by both countries to their bilateral relations, the virtual summit is a sign of their close cooperation amid a tumultuous global environment.

The India-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership has maintained the momentum of an upward trajectory with both countries continuing to collaborate closely, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, in wide-ranging areas including science and technology, defence, cyber, critical and strategic materials, water resource management, as well as public administration and governance.

The two leaders last meet iin Washington DC for the first in-person meeting after the Covid-19 pandemic in September 2021 on the margins of the Quad Leaders Summit. In the meet, they jointly launched the Infrastructure for Resilient Island States (IRIS).
Amid no resolution to Russia Ukraine war in sight, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that if talks with with Russia fail then that would mean a third World War.

Amid no resolution to Russia Ukraine war in sight, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that if talks with with Russia fail then that would mean a third World War. Talking about negotiations with Vladimir Putin, Zelensky that he is ready for negotiations with him and was ready for the last two years. Emphasising that without negotiations, this war cannot end, Zelensky added that Ukraine would have to use any format, any chance in order to have a possibility of negotiating and talking to Putin but if these attempts fail, that would mean that this is a third World War.

The humanitarian situation in Ukraines cities continues to worsen with Russian offensive mounting on the eastern side. Thousands of civilians are estimated to be killed in south-eastern city Mariupol since the beginning of the war. Ukraine has rejected an ultimatum to surrender the besieged port city of Mariupol to Russian forces. Ukrainian deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk told Ukrainian media that there can be no talk of surrendering weapons. Terming it deliberate manipulation, Iryna said that its a real hostage situation.

Russia gave the city an ultimatum late Sunday, urging its defenders to surrender before 05:00 am (0300 GMT) on Monday. The demand came hours after Ukrainian authorities said Moscows forces bombed an art school that was sheltering about 400 people. The number of casualties is unclear.

Meanwhile, The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Sunday said that 10 million Ukrainian refugees have fled abroad or been displaced inside the country so far. UN Refugee Agency chief Filippo Grandi said that millions of Ukrainians have been forced to flee their homes due to escalating fights between Russia and Ukraine.
Central Floridas spring arrived Sunday with mild temperatures, mostly sunny skies and a nice breeze  but dont get used to it.

After dropping to the low 50s Sunday night, the National Weather Service, the region will have one more day of pleasant conditions, with a high of 77 degrees and winds from 5 to 15 mph on Monday. Then things will start heating up again.

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Tuesday should reach a high of 83 degrees, while Wednesday will reach 87 degrees, with gusty winds and a 50% chance of thunderstorms continuing into the evening.

On Thursday, the weather service calls for clouds and a 70% chance of rain with a high near 78 degrees and a low around 60.

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If youre heading to North Florida, watch out for a cold front moving across the upper part of the state Tuesday night into Wednesday, bringing another round of severe thunderstorms to the region. Tornadoes, destructive winds and localized flooding will be possible.
WEST HAVEN  A miscalculation led hundreds of West Haven teachers to overpay on their health insurance premiums, according to both a forensic audit and arbitrators, while some others did not pay enough.

Despite that, hundreds of thousands of dollars may not be refunded from the five-year period when the formula was misapplied.

In a May 2021 letter from West Haven Federation of Teachers President Kristen Malloy-Scanlon to members, she said auditing firm BMI found a deviation from the language in the union contract for 2012 to 2017 that led 325 teachers to overpay on health insurance by a cumulative $363,807  and 246 members to underpay on their medical premiums by a cumulative $79,993.

In a Feb. 16, 2022, letter to WHFT members obtained by the Register, Malloy-Scanlon reported that the arbitration case was closed but wasnt what the WHFT had hoped for. Although the arbitrator ruled in the unions favor, the union was only awarded for the period of May and June 2017, the period for which the union filed its original grievance.

Therefore, the arbitrator did not award from 2012-2017. We are now currently in the process of determining what people should expect to receive, she wrote in the February letter.

In a statement, Malloy-Scanlon called the situation unfortunate.

It is extremely unfortunate that district officials missed the opportunity in 2017 to make educators whole when we first demanded accountability for the insurance discrepancy. Our union leadership strongly disagrees with the arbitrators decision to award our members two months instead of the full value of their financial loss, she said.

WHFTs field representative with AFT Connecticut who represented the union before the arbitrator did not respond to a request for comment Monday.

Superintendent of Schools Neil Cavallaro said the issue stemmed from the Board of Education, which is self-insured, opting for a new benefits plan.

Years ago we changed medical plans and the employees didnt like the plan, but it was the most cost-effective plan the board could afford, he said. I didnt want them to feel that we were taking anything away from them  we just couldnt afford it  so what we allowed was for them to buy up to the plan: to pay a monthly cost, and whatever that cost was it would be no cost to the Board of Education.

Cavallaro said there was certainly no intentional error on our part and the formula was devised before the current district business manager assumed the role in 2014.

Theres no question that a mistake was made, but we couldnt go back nine years and resolve that for a period of four to five years, he said. The decision is what the decision is.

Malloy-Scanlon said in her February letter to WHFT members that she believes in actuality, both parties had lost.

Our members lost the financial compensation that they so deserve, and Central Office lost because my members will now know that they could have been made whole. Furthermore, this does not help with the mistrust many of our members have with our district, she wrote.

Malloy-Scanlon said the union would be looking into any recourse with the decision, even though we do not think it can be appealed.

Cavallaro said he was unsure whether the surplus paid by union teachers landed with the Board of Education or the insurer.

brian.zahn@hearstmediact.com
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WOODBRIDGE  Is the Heroes Tunnel on the Wilbur Cross Parkway safe?

The state Department of Transportation says is is, even though there are some deficiencies, and an inspection shows the need for repairs.

According to a recent email from a DOT official to town First Selectwoman Beth Heller obtained by the Register, there are potential plans in the works for a major rehabilitation in fiscal year 2025 and a proposal for improvements in 2023/2024.

The latest inspection report on the tunnel shows items that may need to be addressed, Department Transportation spokesman Josh Morgan said, but the current deficiencies in the tunnel do not pose a safety issue.

Some of the following conditions in various sections of the tunnel cited in the report include: asphalt cracks and potholes, areas with exposed rebar, cracks in the tunnel liner, missing lenses, burnt-out light bulbs, exposed and tangled wires, rusted-out areas, a non-functioning light fixture with missing access cover and exposed wires, a damaged junction box, a missing area of a safety walk, and a deteriorated/cracked concrete patch.

In the March 10 email to Heller, DOT official Allan Dodge told Heller that theres a project in the works for the potential major rehabilitation of the Heroes Tunnel, which tentatively (is) scheduled for Fiscal Year 2025.

Dodge, a manager with the Special Services Section, District 3, for the DOT, also told Heller in the email that there is a proposed project for Fire/Life/Safety Improvements for the tunnel currently in design with a tentative start date of 2023/2024.

Heller said the tunnel affects Woodbridge heavily because when there is an accident, construction or other traffic backup issue, it spills off the exit in Woodbridge, causing jams locally.

People get frustrated when theres a lot of traffic and tend to behave badly, Heller said. Its encouraging they actually have a plan.

Heller said she believes the time is now to take advantage of federal funding opportunities.

New Haven City Engineer Giovanni Zinn said that city is ready, willing, and eager to partner with the DOT as the agency decides whats needed, as well as to closely work with Woodbridge.

As always, were interested in the safety of the infrastructure, Zinn said. Its my understanding theyre coming up with a plan to address the issues in the (inspection) report.

While New Haven and Hamden are affected by the tunnel, as traffic and backups affect each of those communities, Woodbridge has been ground zero for years regarding tunnel issues, with residents and lawmakers meeting on a regular basis.

Dodges email to Heller begins by stating he is following up on items recently discussed at a virtual meeting Heller attended with U.S. Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro, D-3, and DOT Deputy Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto.

The latest tunnel inspection report provided to the Register by the DOT is 336 pages, dated January 2021, was done by Michael Baker International Inc.

Morgan said via email to the Register that The inspection report documents the condition of the tunnel and notes items that may need to be addressed. Some items are completed by the DOT while larger items will generate a project.

The current deficiencies in the tunnel do not pose a safety issue, Morgan wrote. The short- and long-term rehabilitation and replacement options which will correct deficiencies, enhance safety, reduce congestion, and improve reliability, continue to be discussed and evaluated as part of State Project No. 167-108.

The West Rock Tunnel, also known as the Heroes Tunnel, is a passageway through West Rock Ridge built in 1940, the report states. It is the only highway tunnel to pass beneath a natural land feature in Connecticut.

An inspection is conducted once a year, and provides transportation planners with information on any structural, safety and geometric deficiencies of the tunnel.

The DOT has considered options for the tunnel through the years including rehabilitating the existing tunnel, replacing the tunnel, enlarging the existing tunnel, and construction of a third barrel.

The most significant option floated in the past was for a new northbound barrel along the eastern side of the tunnel with new access roadways on the approach and departure from the tunnel portals.
Connecticut lawmakers have filed bills that aim to provide additional help and resources to a range of victims in particularly vulnerable situations, from children being preyed on and abused online to those who suffer from domestic or dating violence.

Much of the proposed legislation targets issues advocates and experts say have worsened during the pandemic.

The pandemic has wreaked havoc on families already on edge and experiencing abuse and the youngest victims most especially have had no place to go or hide, said Mary Jane Foster, president and CEO of the domestic violence agency Interval House in Hartford.

State Sen. Martin Looney, president pro tempore and the lead sponsor of one of the bills, called the legislative effort one of the most important undertakings this session.

Looney and others testified about the proposals before the Judiciary Committee on Monday.

The bill Looney introduced is called: S.B. 5 An Act Concerning Online Dating Operators, Online Child Grooming And Harassment, Domestic Violence Training And Protections For Victims Of Family Violence And Domestic Violence.

The proposed bill would establish verification requirements before a person can create an online dating account; make child grooming  the act of fostering a relationship with a child so someone can manipulate, exploit and abuse them  a crime; require domestic violence training for state employees; create a grant program to prevent online abuse; prohibit discrimination against a someone who is a victim of family violence; and fund advocate positions across the state to assist families and children experiencing domestic violence.

Many advocates who testified in favor of the bill cited the critical need to fund child advocates across the state, something that is only available now with federal money and fundraising from organizations.

Our child advocates provide bridges to new, healthy and healing parenting, said Foster.

Foster said the advocates are a critical piece to breaking the cycle of domestic violence.

Looney also noted that while there are resources currently available to families and children in emergency situations, advocates are needed to help children more long term.

Several legislators noted, though, that the child advocate funding would be a matter for the Appropriations Committee to decide, rather than the Judiciary Committee.

Another bill discussed Monday, HB 5468, would draw new lines on what is harmful, and illegal, online communication with children and minors.

Its been made very clear that certain online acts are targeted at minors that current law doesnt capture, said State Rep. Mary Welander. She said the proposed law covers 16- and 17-year-olds as minors  ages that existing legislation regarding online communication does not, and reaches further in whats considered inappropriate, but not currently punishable by law.

Roo Powell, founder of SOSA  Safe from Online Sex Abuse, said grooming is more than an adult befriending a child, and more about building a relationsihp to exploit them.

The term grooming sounds tidy, but its the act of an adult manipulating a minor, she said. Currently what is abusive isnt necessarily illegal. A lot of these perps understand where the line is drawn.

She said the law tries to capture situations where the online communication is harmful  including sharing images or talking in sexual ways  that dont rise to the level of a crime that can be prosecuted.

Certain areas of the legislation discussed Monday drew criticism, including a section in S.B. 5 defining child grooming, with some testifying it was too broad of a definition. Meanwhile, a proposal to add victims of family violence as a status protected from discrimination at work, in school, by creditors or landlords, raised questions about how people could demonstrate they were victims of family violence without infringing upon defendants rights to due process in domestic violence cases.

The committee is also considering legislation, HB 5472, that would codify sexual consent, attempting to address situations like stealthing - when a person removes a condom during sex without consent - and people misrepresenting or falsifying their identity prior to sexual activity.

Advocates said the law currently doesnt provide any help to victims in such scenarios, because existing practices require that the victim to have said no or resisted in some way during the act. But in these scenarios, victims typically dont know what happened until later or were emotionally paralyzed in the moment.

The way that victims come forward, they dont have a lot of recourse because of the standard that they didnt fight back, when they actually cant, said Bridget Koestner, the Education and Youth Services Coordinator at the Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence. Hopefully, in seeing this definition survivors would be able to explain why the standard of consent wasnt met rather than why they didnt fight back and engage more easily to get help and protection.

The bill raised some questions about how to prove unambiguous consent in court and whether the language shifts the burden from the prosecution to prove wrongdoing to the defendant to prove that consent took place.

mdignan@hearstmediact.com
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NEW HAVEN  A 17-year-old city resident was killed in a shooting Sunday night in the Dixwell neighborhood, according to police.

The department received a call of a person shot on Orchard Place between its intersections with Orchard and Charles streets around 8:57 p.m., Officer Scott Shumway said in an email Monday.

Responding officers located the victim, a 17-year-old New Haven male, who had been struck by gunfire. American Medical Response transported the victim to Yale New Haven Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries, said Shumway.

Shumway said the departments Bureau of Identification responded and collected ballistic evidence, while detectives from the Major Crimes Unit are heading the investigation.

On behalf of the department, Shumway asked that any witnesses who have not yet spoken with the police contact the New Haven Police Department Investigative Services Division at 203-946-6304.

He said callers may remain anonymous or submit tips anonymously by calling 1-866-888-TIPS(8477), or texting NHPD plus the message to 274637 (CRIMES).

This is the second homicide of the year in New Haven. Brian Faulks, 33, was fatally shot early on March 17 near Spring Street, according to police.

As of March 13 last year, seven people had been killed in the city, according to the latest statistics from the department.

There have been 18 nonfatal shootings so far this year, according to police, as compared to 16 at this time in 2021. There have been 38 incidents of shots fired, down from 52.

william.lambert@hearstmediact.com
Niagara Falls, NY (14301)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun. Areas of patchy fog. High 62F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy skies. Low 47F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, has approved a request by the National Drug Law Enfo...

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, has approved a request by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency for the confiscation of DCP Abba Kyari and his co-accused assets.

It was gathered that the NDLEAs request, which was dispatched to the justice ministry penultimate week, had received the AGFs nod.

With this development, the former Commander, Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team and his accomplices may lose their assets, cash and money in bank accounts; vehicles; real estate, notably hotels, residential and commercial buildings; personal effects such as wristwatches, jewellery and other valuable possessions.

Recall that about N4.2bn was traced to Kyari and his co-accused, ACP Sunday Ubuas bank accounts.

The NDLEA had on March 7 arraigned Kyari, Ubua and four members of the IRT, Sunday Ubia, Bawa James, Simon Agirigba and John Nuhu, on eight counts of conspiracy, obstruction and dealing in cocaine, and other related offences before the Federal High Court, Abuja.

Two other suspects arrested at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu, Chibunna Patrick Umeibe and Emeka Alphonsus Ezenwanne, were also listed as defendants in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/57/2022.

A senior justice ministry official said, The AGF has endorsed the request by the NDLEA seeking approval for the confiscation of the assets of Abba Kyari, Ubua and the other police officers involved in drug dealing.

With the approval, the drug agency can now go after their property such as real estate, bank accounts, cash, vehicles, stocks, bonds and anything of monetary value.

The source further said the seizure of the embattled DCP and his co-accused assets was to ensure that they did not benefit from the proceeds of crime.

The NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, had confirmed that the accused persons bank accounts would be frozen, noting that this was standard practice.

Kyari, who is wanted in the United States for alleged involvement in a $1.1m scam carried out by a notorious Internet scammer, Ramon Abass, aka Hushpuppi, was suspended by the police last July.
Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, has warned that it would end in a third World War if President Vladimir Putin of Russia fails to ...

Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, has warned that it would end in a third World War if President Vladimir Putin of Russia fails to come to the negotiation table.

Zelensky said he is ready to meet Putin on the negotiation table but warned that if the attempts fail, it could mean the ongoing war would lead to a third World War.

Im ready for negotiations with him, the President said, adding that he has been ready for the meeting for the last two years and insisted without negotiations between him and his Russian counterpart, the war will not end.

However, Zelensky said that if there is just one percent chance for the conflict to stop, both sides should grab the opportunity, adding more innocent people are being killed on a daily basis.

But, unfortunately, our dignity is not going to preserve our lives. So, I think we have to use any format, any chance in order to have a possibility of negotiating and the possibility of talking to Putin. But if these attempts fail, that would mean that this is a third World War, he told CNN.
New York state will no longer require a novel coronavirus booster vaccine for health care workers, according to reports. Ed Murray/Tribune News Service
I dont know about you, but my weekly screen-time hours are embarrassingly excessive. The more attention I pay to my electronic devices, the more convinced I am that we all need to surround ourselves at home with items you cant plug in.

Homes need live plants, piles of books, original art, handknit blankets, and artisan quilts.

Alexa, can you make a quilt?

No.

Ive never made a quilt either, but someday I would like to. Meanwhile, I am satisfying my curiosity by reading a book on quilting and talking to serious quilters about the importance of quilts in the American home today and throughout history.

What other craft involves making something with your hands, imbuing your style, and creating something that keeps your loved ones warm? asks quilt designer and teacher Shannon Brinkley, of Leesburg, Virginia. Its the perfect blend of function and beauty.

Brinkley, 36, started quilting in college. Shortly after graduating, she turned her hobby into a business. She started The Meander Quilt Guild, an online international forum where quilters gather to share techniques for the centuries-old art.

Anyone can slap three layers of fabric together, but the fact that for centuries, women (98% of quilters are women, according to the Craft Industry Alliance 2020 Survey) have taken the time to make these items beautiful is what makes quilting so special.

Every quilt tells a story, says Carissa Heckathorn, director of the Iowa Quilt Museum, and a quilter for over 30 years. A quilt from the 1800s can tell you a lot about the woman who made it. The quilt can tell you if the woman was utilitarian, making quilts quickly from scraps to keep her family warm, repurposing old clothing because she didnt have money to buy fabric, or if she was an affluent woman of leisure, who could afford to buy matching fabrics and had the time to stitch precisely cut appliques.

I try to imagine what story my quilt would tell and picture a haphazard patchwork of worn-out yoga pants held together by chewing gum and staples.

According to the alliance survey, quilting in North America is a $4.2 billion industry, with as many as 12 million quilters practicing the craft. I hope to someday become part of that statistic.

As my curiosity and appreciation for this old storytelling craft grow, I ask Brinkley and Heckathorn to tell me more:

When did quilts first come to America, and how have they evolved?

Heckathorn: The first quilts probably arrived here in the 1500s. For European colonists, quilting was a popular pastime and a way for woman to get together. Along the way, different quilt block patterns emerged to reflect womens roles in the home as well as their religious and political views.

During the Great Depression, women commonly made quilts out of feed sacks. In the '60s and '70s, we saw lots of polyester in quilts. In the '80s, quilting-weight cotton became popular, and is what most quilters use today. As more tools became available, including rotary cutters with built-in rulers that simplify the cutting process, quilts became more commercial.

How do people use quilts in homes today?

Heckathorn: The importance of the quilt in the American home has changed. Pioneer women made bed quilts not because they wanted to sew, but because their families needed them for warmth. While we still use quilts for beds and cribs, we also see them as table toppers or runners, and hung as wall art, a luxury our ancestors didnt have.

Brinkley: Although the art of quilting has been evolving for centuries, the pandemic caused the craft to progress much faster because of social media. Today quilters from all over the world are sharing their work online, inspiring new techniques, creating an artistic explosion. In many ways, quilting is in its infancy.

What are the basic types of quilts?

Brinkley: A quilt by definition is three layers of material  a top, middle, and bottom  sandwiched together, stitched and bound around the edges. The top is where the action is. Today the middle layer is often batting.

The three main styles of quilting are piecing, where you patch together cut scraps to create a whole; applique, where you attach cutout fabric shapes to background fabric; and whole cloth, where the quilt top, like the bottom, is a solid piece of fabric. In this style, the design of the quilt stitch is the star.

Ive always pictured quilters as a gaggle of gray-haired grannies coming together to gossip and sew. But clearly, more young women are embracing the centuries-old craft.

Brinkley: While many women pick up the hobby when they retire, many in my generation are getting into quilting when they start families, and their nesting instincts are strong. While we still have traditional quilters, the modern quilt movement is strong. Modern quilts often include bold colors and prints, high contrast and graphic areas of solid color.

Is it considered cheating to use a sewing machine?

Heckathorn: Today its assumed that if youre a quilter, youre using a machine. Most quilters want to make as many quilts as they can, and so use all the tools available. Hand sewing, although much admired, is rare.

What do you wish more people knew about quilting?

Heckathorn: That quilts are for everyone, whether you buy them, inherit them, or make them. Especially in todays high-tech society, the value of handmade art gains importance.

Brinkley: That when you start, it seems like you need to follow lots of rules and be precise. Let go of perfection. The quilt police arent going to come by and say, It needs to be done like this. You dont have to follow a pattern. Just follow your heart.

Until I have time to try my hand at quilting, I think I will follow my heart to the nearest quilt shop and see whats for sale.

Marni Jameson can be reached at www.marnijameson.com.
Its been 75 years since Blanche Dubois, broke and desperate, climbed aboard that old rattle-trap streetcar named Desire and changed American theater forever.

The 1947 Broadway premiere of A Streetcar Named Desire had an immediate and lasting influence, a clash of romance and realism that introduced the world to iconic characters and established Williams as a distinctive voice whose landmark plays have been in heavy rotation on stages around the world for more than three-quarters of a century.

This years Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival celebrates the diamond anniversary of A Streetcar Named Desire by paying tribute to Williams best known work, while also shining a spotlight on some of the playwrights more obscure offerings.

The festival boasts an extensive lineup of speakers and panel discussions, along with performances throughout the weekend that showcase the breadth and depth of Williams writing.

Tribute reading

Many of the fests favorite writers and actors will gather on Thursday evening for this years tribute reading, A Little Piece of Eternity: Streetcar Turns 75!

The event will feature selections from Williams poetry, prose, and letters, as well as some surprising international reviews, critical responses, and other playful insights into the enduring legacy of Williams play. Performers will include Tony Award-winning actor Michael Cerveris (Assassins, Fun Home), Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Jericho Brown, and many others.

On Sunday, local theater company NOLA Project presents their annual staged reading series Tennessee X Three, a trio of one acts that this year includes Interior Panic, a precursor to Streetcar. This short play is Williams first work to first feature a character named Blanche arriving in New Orleans to stay with her sister and brother-in-law--though the ending to this one is much different than the final draft of Streetcar. The series will also include staged readings of the early play Honor the Living, alongside Portrait of a Madonna, which premiered the year after Streetcar and also follows a fading beauty whose mental deterioration culminates in institutionalization.

The Tennessee Williams Theatre Company of New Orleans offers a different spin on Streetcar with their production of Desire, Desire, Desire a comic parody by Tony Award-winning playwright Christopher Durang. The play is packaged together with another Durang one-act, For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls, and Swamp Gothic by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa.

'Deceptive' play?

The show is this years only fully-staged production to be offered alongside the festivals staged readings and workshops.

Desire, Desire, Desire' is a deceptive little play, said Augustin J. Correro, co-founding artistic director of TWTC. At first it seems like a ribbing of Williams, but in truth, its a good-humored parody of a number of Pulitzer Prize-winning dramas, including Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

Correro added that the triple bill highlights the fine line between high drama and low comedy, a distinction Williams knew well.

While the history of Streetcar gets top billing at this years festival, theres plenty of programming for those interested in doing a deeper dive into Williams work as well.

Perhaps most notable is TWTCs staged reading premiere of Moise and the Age of Reason, based on Williams little-known 1975 novel about an artist and a writer trying to survive together in New York City. The novel, one of only two that Williams wrote during his career, was adapted for the stage by New Orleans playwright Justin Maxwell, in conjunction with TWTC and the Tennessee Willaims estate.

Deep cuts

Maxwell described the theme of Moise as heavy-duty loneliness, with a lot of lust thrown in for good measure.

The team hopes that the festival reading will pave the way for a full production in the future.

Were very fortunate to have what could be a very supportive, in-the-know audience, said Carrero of the debut reading. Performing it in the ballroom of the Hotel Monteleone, well be able to see their faces and get some of their candid responses to particular moments so that it can hopefully be a moment of growth for the piece.

Other Williams deep cuts at the festival include Fridays performance of Amor Perdido/Lost Love, a joint production from the University of Illinois and the Celebration Company of Urbana, Illinois that adapts a quartet of Williams short stories for the stage.

And on Friday evening, New Orleans cabaret artist Vinsantos DeFonte presents a workshop reading of the Williams-inspired Nightingale. Part play, part musical, Nightingale takes its name and inspiration from the main character of Williams Vieux Carre, a play about a young writer newly arrived at a New Orleans boarding house.

This years Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival is a welcome return to the spring festival season in New Orleans for locals and visitors alike, and promises something for all, whether its the plays, the panel discussions, the scholarly presentations, or just the chance to yell Stella! at Sundays shouting contest in the streets of Jackson Square.

For a full schedule and ticket information, visit tennesseewilliams.net.

EVENTS

Tribute Reading: A Little Piece of Eternity: Streetcar Turns 75!

Thursday, March 24, 6:30 p.m.

New Orleans Jazz Museum at the Old U.S. Mint, 400 Esplanade Ave.

$40 or festival pass

Amor Perdido/Lost Love

Friday, March 25, 4 p.m.

Williams Research Center, 410 Chartres St.

$10 or festival pass

Desire, Desire, Desire, For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls, and Swamp Gothic

Presented by the Tennessee Williams Theatre Company of New Orleans

Friday, March 25-Saturday, April 9, 7:30 p.m.

Loyola University New Orleans, Lower Depths Theater

Tickets at twtheatrenola.com

Nightingale: A One-Man Show with Vinsantos DeFonte

Friday, March 25, 9:30 p.m.

830 N. Rampart St.

$20, at galerievinsantos.com

Moise and the World of Reason

Saturday, March 26, 2:30 p.m.

Hotel Monteleone, Vieux Carre Room

$20 or festival pass

The NOLA Project Presents Tennessee X Three

Sunday, March 27, 1 p.m.

Hotel Monteleone, Vieux Carre Room

Tickets $20 or festival pass

Stella and Stanley Shouting Contest

Sunday, March 27, 4:15 p.m.

Jackson Square

Free and open to the public
New Orleans lifted its COVID-19 vaccine-or-test mandate on Monday for entrance into bars, restaurants and some other public spaces, ending the city's last major pandemic restriction as case counts fall and businesses prepare for a string of upcoming festivals.

The move comes three weeks after the citys Mardi Gras celebrations, which came and went without sparking an increase in coronavirus cases or hospitalizations. The city's residents and businesses are now looking ahead to a busy spring festival season, with the French Quarter Festival, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and the Essence Festival of Culture planned in the coming months.

Mayor LaToya Cantrell called the end of the mandate a critical and welcome milestone in the city's two-year battle against the pandemic, adding that she was grateful that residents, businesses and others had complied with the rules.

"It could not have happened without our people taking the guidelines seriously and helping us not only flatten the curve  but emerge from the pandemic as a safe destination city," Cantrell said in a prepared statement.

The vaccine mandate, imposed in August as the Delta variant sent cases and hospitalizations soaring, required proof of at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot or a recent negative test for entry into certain businesses.

It was the only remaining COVID-related business restriction in the city after Cantrell lifted the city's indoor mask mandate on March 3, two days after Fat Tuesday.

New Orleans public schools lifted the mask mandate for city's network of charter schools starting Monday, though children five and over are still required to be vaccinated. Federally required mask mandates remain in effect in certain areas such as on public buses and streetcars.

Orleans Parish has the highest vaccination rate in the state, more than 77% of residents having received at least two shots. The statewide vaccination rate is 59%.

As of Sunday, hospitals in both the metropolitan area and across the state recorded the fewest COVID-19 inpatients since the start of the pandemic. New Orleans has averaged about 30 new cases a day over the last week; the city was averaging more than 1,450 cases daily during the height of the Omicron surge.

Restaurants ready to go

Many restaurants and bars willingly complied with mandates that had  in practice, if not in law  become voluntary because of enforcement challenges. But even some that were diligent in checking vaccine cards were glad to see the requirement go.

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, exclaimed Gina Scala Perret, third-generation owner of Beachcorner Bar & Grill in Mid-City. Weve been waiting for this.

Ashwin Vilkhu, an owner of Saffron NOLA, said his Magazine Street Indian restaurant began requiring proof of vaccination even before the city's rules were put in place, part of an effort made by a number of New Orleans restaurants to protect staff and customers. Saffron will stop asking for proof of vaccination now that the mandate has ended, but Vilkhu is still bracing for the possibility that another surge in cases could force a new set of rules.

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I cant say Im 100% comfortable, because weve seen before how we can take one step forward, two steps back. Rules go away, and then we have to bring them back again, said Vilkhu.

The city's release did not say if mandates could return in the event of another surge, though Cantrell said "we will continue to closely monitor the data, and remain guided by science."

Effervescence, the French Quarter restaurant and wine bar, will also stop enforcing its own vaccination policy, which it introduced ahead of the citys mandate. Proprietor Crystal Hinds said the policy was effective, but now that COVID numbers are low shes glad to see the mandate lifted.

I think it did what it needed to do, we got most people vaccinated who were going to get vaccinated; the guests are ready and were ready, she said.

Emergency orders

Last month, the city's vaccine and mask mandates survived a court challenge from more than 100 plaintiffs, including Attorney General Jeff Landry, who petitioned to join the suit after it was filed. The Louisiana Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Cantrell administration on Feb. 15.

While the Cantrell administration promised aggressive enforcement when announcing mask mandates in 2020 and the vaccine mandate last year, the restrictions have become more or less voluntary in practice.

Cantrell seemed to violate her own mask rules last month at an indoor Mardi Gras ball, forcing administration officials to admit that compliance was slipping.

Since the start of the year, the city's 311 system has received 325 complaints of businesses violating COVID-19 rules, with all but a handful listed as "pending," according to city data.

The move to end the city's vaccine mandate comes amid a broader push by Louisiana officials to roll back rules and emergency powers that residents have dealt with since the first confirmed coronavirus cases were found in the state in March, 2020.

Earlier this month, Gov. John Bel Edwards allowed Louisiana's public health emergency proclamation to expire on March 14, two years after he first signed it.

Cantrell's authority to impose COVID-19 measures is provided in a separate emergency order for the City of New Orleans, which she executed in March 2020.

State law allows the mayor to keep the order in place as long he or she deems necessary. An administration spokesperson declined comment as to how long the order might remain in place.

Staff writer Jeff Adelson contributed to this report.
Already facing several lawsuits and the foreclosure of his seven Louisiana nursing homes following the ill-fated evacuation of more than 800 patients in the wake of Hurricane Ida, Bob Dean Jr. was his own worst enemy earlier this month, Georgia authorities said.

The Thomaston Police Department, outside of Atlanta, confirmed Monday that Dean blew his thumb off when he accidently discharged a .357-revolver while showing it to someone.

The police department said that on March 4, Dean, 68, was charged with reckless conduct, firing a weapon near a public road and firing a weapon on another persons property.

Mr. Dean seems to make his own problems. For lack of a better word, he's one of the most toxic defendants I've ever seen, said attorney Madro Banderies, who has filed two of the pending lawsuits against Dean related to the evacuation, which the Louisiana Department of Health says led to the deaths of at least five patients.

A radio station based in Thomaston, where Dean says he now lives, reported that the shooting took place at a car dealership when he was moving guns from one vehicle to another. After the shooting, Dean returned to his remote lakefront mansion, where Thomaston police said he refused medical help and ordered officers off of his property.

Dean has not been arrested, but an affidavit of the charges has been signed by a magistrate judge, a spokesman for the Thomaston Police Department said.

While the shooting case is pending, Dean suffered a different type of setback in Louisiana last week when he tried to argue that he had permanently moved to Georgia three days after Hurricane Ida made landfall. That would have allowed him and his attorneys to move the lawsuits against him to the perceived friendlier venue of federal court.

But not only did U.S. District Judge Lance Africk deny Dean's motion, he cast serious doubt about Dean's claim that he lived in Georgia at the time of the storm.

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In the 32-page ruling, Africk stated that Dean was ordered to prove his new domicile by producing credit card statements, travel documentation, or bank records. Dean did not produce any of those documents, Africk wrote.

While Dean owns the 474-acre estate in Thomaston that includes the historic Hightower House, Africk noted that Dean also owns furnished homes in New Orleans and Baton Rouge. And, along with his wife and business, Bob Dean Enterprises, Dean also co-owns homes in Atlanta, New Mexico, Florida and Maine, Africk noted.

In the 32-page ruling, Africk wrote, Regardless of the reasons for Dean's conflicting statements and actions, the court affords Dean's statements little weight insofar as they are inconsistent with Dean's other statements or objective facts.

It's very judicial talk, but it's strong language no matter how you look at it, Banderies said, noting that the depth and directness of the ruling would make a successful appeal by Dean a longshot.

Banderies is pursuing a lawsuit against Dean in Jefferson Parish for a woman who had her leg amputated after her grueling evacuation, as well as a class action suit in New Orleans. He said he will now press ahead with the suits in the local courts.

A state court can manage this, he said. These are state claims. They should be here.

How much Dean is going to be able to defend himself at all remains up in the air. In a previous motion, Dean's attorneys argued that he should not be forced to participate because he has dementia.

John McLindon, one of Dean's Louisiana attorneys, said he heard about his clients gun injury and the charges stemming from it, but has not talked to him about it.

I hope hes OK, but I havent talked to him about it, so I really dont know much, McLindon said. Im not involved in that part of the case.
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People from throughout the region residents flocked to the Belle Chasse air base for the first time in five years to see an array of planes buzz low overhead and climb high into the sky, their engines roaring as their twists and turns brought back memories for those who've made the event a tradition.

The Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base has hosted the New Orleans Air Show since the 1950s, and it did so again this weekend for the first time since the event was canceled in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Countless people have looked up over the decades and watched 40 planes perform aerial maneuvers, and thousands more did this year as the show featured planes from the Louisiana National Guard, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Air Force, as well as civilian aircraft. On the ground, B-52 bombers and Coast Guard boats were available for inspection, and visitors chatted up pilots and captains about their work.

The star of the show, however, was never in doubt.

Many people only come to see the Blue Angels, base spokesperson Andrew Thomas said of the U.S. Navy's famed demonstration team. They are that good.

Theodore Samon, an air show regular, couldn't agree more.

When they say the Blue Angels, we're going to come see the Blue Angels, he said.

Samon said air show enthusiasm transcends generations in his family, with at least one of his two grandsons on hand Sunday thrilled to be there.

One wanted to come for the lemonade, but the other one really enjoys it, he said, laughing.

Brandi Hebert, a West Bank resident who attended the air show in Belle Chasse with her children and husband, said the last time she went to the show was twenty years ago when she was a little girl.

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She said going to the show brings back a lot of memories from back then when she could go with her father, who has since passed away.

I feel like I'm walking in the same footsteps that my dad did, Hebert said. It's magical, really. This is Disneyland in my heart.

Hebert said laying out a picnic blanket in the sun and watching the planes go by is bliss for her and her family.

I can't stop smiling, she said. I'm probably the biggest nerd.

Melisa Gunzburg said Sunday was her first time at the base watching the planes fly. She said it was a beautiful day and that her husband was excited to go. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, she said she was excited to have something to do with her family.

It feels like something normal again, she said.

The show, which is put on every few years, expands well beyond the Belle Chasse base, as locals hold house parties and picnics on the levee to watch the planes. People also stay in their boats in the canals watching the show, said Todd Bruemer, the base's commanding officer.

This is all part of their heritage, he said.

Bruemer said that above all, the show is about letting the public see the military and its capabilities. He said he knows an officer who was inspired to eventually join the military nearly 40 years ago when he attended the show as a 4-year-old for the first time with his father.

People are amazed, excited, and it's nice to give that to people, Thomas said. You're showcasing to the American taxpayer your military but you also get kids out here that say I want to do that. It sparks an interest.
New Orleans Entrepreneur Week kicks off this week , giving the area's wannabe tycoons their first opportunity in three years to rub elbows with potential investors and other industry influencers at Idea Village's annual startup festival.

The spring event, the first of which was held in 2009, has been on hiatus during the two years of the pandemic. This year, organizers are expecting a record crowd to come and hear about the event's big themes: opportunity for Black entrepreneurs and opportunities under the umbrella headings of "Clean Tech" and "Culture Tech."

Some similar events, such as the South by Southwest festival earlier this month in Austin, Texas (which has a significant entrepreneur track), have seen attendance lower this year than in 2019. But NOEW's organizers expect the event to be better attended than it was three years ago.

The New Orleans event is primarily focused on the local start-up community and is a much cozier happening than something like SXSW, which saw an estimated 417,000 visitors in 2019. Attendance there this year was down about 20% as there is still some reluctance to travel for business, according to local media in Austin.

Jon Atkinson, CEO of Idea Village, the start-up accelerator that has organized the event since its inception, said they are expecting more than 3,000 people to attend next week's events, which will include 120 in-person speakers from all over the country. In 2019, there were about 2,000 visitors.

"NOEW's goal is to engage the local and regional ecosystem, so most of our audience participants are from the New Orleans area and we do expect growth over 2019," said Atkinson.

As in previous years, the finale will be on Friday at the Ace Hotel in the warehouse district, when a winner will be picked from among the three start-up finalists in this year's pitch competition.

On Thursday, Idea Village announced that the top prize money this year would be boosted eightfold, after successful graduates of their accelerator program who sold their companies last year  Scott Wolfe of Levelset and Patrick Comer of Lucid  teamed up with other local investors to turbo-charge the jackpot to a total of $750,000. Three years ago the winner got $50,000.

A watershed year

Atkinson said that the big acquisitions last year, which also included smaller but still-significant sales of "tech-enabled" companies, such as Turbo Squid's $75 million sale to Shutterstock, marked a watershed for New Orleans startup community.

"The $2.5 billion-plus in 'exits' that happened in 2021 proved that New Orleans and the surrounding region can build world class startups," he said. "This year focuses on how we get this flywheel turning faster in a way that is uniquely New Orleans and nods to the special community that has been built over the last 20 years."

The three startup finalists this year are Jamm Around, which bills itself as "a LinkedIn for music creators", Cluey Consumer, aimed at "socially conscious consumers", and Iconic Moments, which is riding the NFT craze to help museums and other cultural institutions raise money. All were part of The Idea Village's VILLAGEx accelerator program, which helps entrepreneurs grow their ideas into fully-fledged companies.

Tuesday, the first day of speaker events, will concentrate on the particular hurdles faced by Black entrepreneurs and founders.

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Addressing equal opportunity

Jessica Norwood, who was just included in Essence magazine's list of "50 Black Women Founders to Watch", will be discussing how Black founders can overcome the extra hurdles they face compared to White founders.

She founded The Runway Company, which helps Black entrepreneurs raise money for their companies. She notes that with the wealth gap so large between Black and White Americans, the initial sources of capital for most White entrepreneurs  friends and family  is simply not available to Black startup founders.

"It is paramount to get this conversation on the lips of everybody," Norwood said. "There is no reason why New Orleans should not be the premier place when people are looking for Black entrepreneurship, but it just lacks the necessary infrastructure," particularly when it comes to investment capital.

On Wednesday, the program moves to Gallier Hall where the day's discussions will be split between "Clean Tech" and "Culture Tech", each of which covers a gamut of sub-industries.

Nish Acharya, who was Director of Innovation & Entrepreneurship at the Department of Commerce in the Obama administration, later founded Equal Innovation to connect startup companies and research institutions to develop climate-related businesses.

He said most of the areas under the heading of climate businesses are still in their infancy. For New Orleans the key to establishing itself as a magnet city for investment and startups in the sector will be attracting research dollars and turning successes into fast-growing businesses.

"New Orleans has that opportunity to be the destination city for people working on climate issues and developing businesses but can't take its natural advantages -- like the unique coastline and juxtaposition of industry, shipping -- for granted," he said. "Researchers here are not getting as much funding as they should be" and should be tapping sources like the National Science Foundation and the Climate Innovation Fund, which was set up by Bloomberg Philanthropies and Goldman Sachs.

What is an NFT?

The "Culture Tech" talks cover a wide range of topics, including the "The Evolution of Media," chat with historian and journalist Walter Isaacson and others.

"Monetizing" culture has proved to be one of the slipperiest concepts in the modern tech era, but Chris Cummings, CEO of Iconic Moments, one of the pitch finalists, said there has been exponential growth in some culture sectors.

NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, have been the subject of equal parts excitement and derision, but Cummings notes that sales of the digital objects went from $200 million in 2020 to $27 billion in 2021 and were $7 billion in January of this year alone.

His concept for NFTs and other digital experiences for museums has taken hold and his was the only U.S. company to win a prestigious United Nations World Summit Award for the work it did in keeping museums alive during the pandemic.

The LSU Law School graduate-turned-tech-entrepreneur said by creating unique digital museum experiences  which can have things attached like tickets for exhibitions, or donor credit  his company grew 73% during the pandemic and has raised $3.2 million.
Beginning the week of April 4, patrons will see operational changes follow the expiration of Louisianas statewide public health emergency order.

Patrons can expect to see in-person programming return to capacity; all working public computer stations open for use; seating return to branches; and all meeting rooms and conference rooms become available to reserve at capacity. Some virtual programming, curbside pickup and Wi-Fi in branch parking lots after hours will remain. Hand sanitizer, sanitizing wipes and masks will still be provided for anyone wishing to use them.

Meeting room reservations can be made at www.sttammanylibrary.org/application-for-use-of-meeting-room.

The six small branches of the St. Tammany Parish Library  Abita Springs, Bush, Folsom, Lacombe, Lee Road, and Pearl River  will open on Wednesdays from noon to 8 p.m., starting April 6. The hours on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday will remain 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

For complete information on all branch locations, visit bit.ly/STPLBranchLocations.

On March 14, a community input survey opened to the entire St. Tammany community to either complete online at www.sttammanylibrary.org or in any of the 12 branches. The data gathered through this and other methods of community research, including focus groups, will be used to identify several key metrics that include aspirations of the community; strategic areas of focus, obstacles and opportunities; and potential library service strategies. The planning process will culminate with the creation of the strategic plan that includes attainable library service goals, activities and objectives for the short-, medium- and long-term future. Opportunities for focus groups will be announced at www.sttammanylibrary.org and on St. Tammany Parish Librarys social media channels.

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QUILT SHOW: Join the Ozone Layers Quilt Guild for a free quilt show at the Covington branch on March 26 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

WOMEN: In honor of the Tennessee Williams Festival and Women's History Month, this in-person lecture will discuss the richly developed and storied women found in Williams' classic works. This will also be live on Zoom. March 22, 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Slidell branch at 555 Robert Blvd. Register at bit.ly/TennesseeWilliamsSTPL.

PUPS: Children ages 5 to 9 can practice their reading aloud skills with a nonjudgmental audience  a dog! March 24, 4:45 p.m.to 5:45 p.m., Lacombe, 28027 U.S. 190. Register at bit.ly/3tgRdi4.

TEENS: Join Ms. Abby at the Slidell branch for the Table Top Gaming Club. Talk about favorite board games, make a craft and play games together. March 26, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Register at bit.ly/TableTopGamingSLI.

AUCTION: Friends of the Slidell Library holding a silent auction of previously owned cookbooks through April 4. Items on view in display cases inside the Slidell location at 555 Robert Blvd. until the end of the auction. All auction proceeds will help provide support to the Slidell, Pearl River, Lacombe and South Slidell branches.

APPLY: Friends of the Library of West St. Tammany is accepting applications for the $2,000 Lisabeth Millard Scholarship" to be awarded to a graduating high school senior planning to attend an accredited four-year college or university starting in the 2021-2022 school year. The completed application form and essay must be postmarked on or before April 1. Download an application at www.sttammanylibrary.org/west-st-tammany-friends-of-the-library.

BAG IT: The Friends group will also benefit from the Community Bag Program during March. For every reusable $2.99 Community Bag bought at the Winn Dixie store, 70431 La. 21 in Covington, the group will receive a $1 donation. Learn more at seg.bags4mycause.com/winn-dixie-resources.
Something was clearly wrong with Javon Kennerson when he arrived at the Catahoula Corrections Center on Nov. 18, 2020, several days before he smoked roach killer and died.

His medical transfer papers from a private work prison in Beauregard Parish noted a small cut to his forehead and times of altered thoughts. A disciplinary report said Kennerson, 37, had been yelling and shaking his cell bars before officers sprayed a chemical agent in his eyes.

He was shipped the next day to the jail in Catahoula, then owned by LaSalle Corrections, Inc., which runs lockups in Louisiana, Texas and other southern states. LaSalle has been the subject of numerous lawsuits and audits that cite lapses in its monitoring of suicidal inmates; the facility came under Catahoula Parish Sheriff Toney Edwards' oversight last year.

Two days after Kennerson got there, he was running naked out of his cell and defecating in lunch trays, jail records show. LaSalle asked state prison officials to take him off its hands.

But Kennerson remained in Catahoula, despite a doctor ordering a transfer to a higher level of psychiatric care and suicide precautions. Jail notes say Kennerson was eating and throwing feces and spitting on officers.

What happened days later, around Nov. 30, 2020, is the subject of a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by Kennersons mother, Jennifer Bartie. Her complaint, filed late last year and amended this month, alleges that LaSalle and state corrections officials dropped the ball on her son, with fatal results. Less than halfway through a 20-year prison sentence for armed robbery, Kennerson lit up roach poison and smoked it, security officers said.

Two days later he was sent by ambulance to Riverland Medical Center in Ferriday in a mentally altered state. His temperature dropped to 92 degrees and his arms and legs swelled. Kennerson could barely nod. A wound on his forehead oozed. Guards reported he ran into cell door a few times, hospital notes say.

Kennerson was returned to the Catahoula lockup that night, but the next day he was found on the floor of his cell and sent back to Riverland. Doctors placed him on a ventilator for transfer to Lakeview Medical Center in Covington, which had an available ICU bed.

Bartie said no one notified her until four days later that her son, who was unresponsive, clung to life on a machine. She and her husband, a retired U.S. Marine, rushed to Covington, where Kennerson died on Dec. 12, 2020 of complications of roach killer ingestion, the coroner found.

Cardiovascular disease was a contributor, while a forensic pathologist noted that he was reportedly dropped on his head during transfer.

You could see his rib cage

In an interview last week, Bartie said her son's body was emaciated and bruised with cuts. "You could see his rib cage. His face was sunken in," she said. "The forehead, that was horrible looking. They had to do so much work at the funeral home to make it look (normal). We put up a sign that said, 'No touching.'"

Bartie pointed to a week-long gap in prison notes, preceding Kennerson's first hospitalization, that leave her struggling with questions over her son's death. She said they last spoke a month earlier, while he was still at the Beauregard Parish facility, run by another private firm, Louisiana Workforce LLC.

He was fine. We passed the phone around to everybody. He never indicated he was having a hard time or was in distress, she said.

The records she has received since then show a lack of care, she said.

This child is drinking urine and eating feces. As a mother, that just breaks you, Bartie said. It drives me completely insane. How can we let a human being do that? How could anybody just sit back and not say this child needs serious medical attention? Those things are going to haunt me.

A state corrections spokesperson declined to comment on the allegations in Barties wrongful-death suit or answer questions about the departments handling of Kennerson. The agency confirmed that he spent two months in Beauregard Parish before his transfer.

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A LaSalle Corrections spokesman declined to answer questions about the allegations or its handling of Kennerson, citing company policy.

Louisiana Workforce owner Paul Perkins said this week that he wasnt familiar with Kennerson, but was told Kennerson got caught with drugs. Louisiana Workforce is not named as a defendant in the federal suit.

Still, Bartie's search for answers extends to Perkins' program.

I want to know what happened on (Nov.) 17th at Beauregard, because to me thats when everything started, Bartie said. Why did they transfer him if he was psychotic? Why did they transfer him to Catahoula and not to a medical facility?

Kennerson never had mental health issues as a child, Bartie said. He grew up in a military family that relocated often and lived in Georgia, California and North Carolina before he settled down as an adult in Lake Charles.

He held down a job delivering frozen food, and loved to bake sweets, his mother said. But in 2013, police booked Kennerson in several armed robberies across the Lake Charles area. Bartie said she'd heard he'd started gambling at a local casino; she suspects the alleged crimes were related.

History of problems at Lasalle

The lawsuit over Kennerson's death names as defendants LaSalle and the state corrections department, along with Corrections Secretary Jimmy Leblanc, Catahoula's Sheriff Edwards and several state prison officials. It also chronicles a number of prior suicides at LaSalle facilities.

In audits over the past few years, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security found inadequate monitoring of suicidal inmates at River Correctional Center in Ferriday; sharp-edged concrete shards in an isolation room at Winn Correctional Center; and lapses with suicidal people at other LaSalle facilities in the state.

How LaSalle's inmate safety record stacks up with other public or private jail operators is uncertain.

Chris Murell, an attorney for Bartie, argued that LaSalle and the state agency are both to blame for Kennersons death.

LaSalle has left behind a trail of preventable medical deaths in the facilities it has managed across the south and Southwest, he said. DOC also has its own extensive history of being grossly irresponsible in where they house people with medical needs.

More than two decades ago, LaSalle led a surge of private jail construction in northern Louisiana as the state's prison population exploded. The company contracted with local sheriffs to build outsized jails aimed at drawing inmates from across Louisiana. Local parishes got the jobs that came with those jails, and the sheriffs scored the patronage. The Catahoula Correctional Center has capacity for 835 beds  one for every 11 people in the parish.

But LaSalle no longer operates it. Last year, Sheriff Edwards moved to acquire it for $11.8 million, tapping state revenue bonds. In an interview, Edwards said he felt he could do more with it if he ran it outright. His office had received just $10,000 a month in fees from contracting it out, he said, and LaSalle was often criticized for underpaying staff.

Catahoula wasnt the only private lockup to recently go public. In 2020, Richland Parish acquired two jails totaling more than 700 beds for $9.2 million from a company led by LaSalle co-founder William McConnell, records show.

The sales have come as Louisiana prison rolls have shrunken by about 25% since 2017, when the legislature passed a slate of criminal justice reforms. LaSalle has filled many of those empty beds with immigration detainees under lucrative federal contracts.

Leadership changes aside, Bartie wants all involved in her son's death to be held accountable.

"If you cant do that job, dont be in that job, Bartie said. Everybody is a human being. They still deserve to be treated like human beings. It just doesnt seem like anybody gave a crap.
A 46-year-old man from Georgia bartending at the Cats Meow on Bourbon street died early Sunday morning when a bullet fired on the street outside the popular French Quarter bar struck him in the chest.

The information, provided by a law enforcement source, shed new light on the shooting, which happened at 2:05 a.m. Sunday and was first reported by the New Orleans Police Department later that morning.

The mans name has not been released as authorities work to notify his family.

Police arrested Daphney D. Jackson, 24, and booked her on counts of manslaughter, obstruction of justice and illegal use of weapons.

Authorities say someone fired at least two bullets on the street outside of the bar, with one of them passing through an exterior shutter and into the bar, striking the victim in the chest.

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Investigators found the the man behind the bar in a seated position, as if he collapsed to the floor where he was standing.

City crime cameras at St. Peter and Bourbon captured Jackson, the suspect, arguing with someone, pulling a gun out from her waistband before firing into the crowd. Jackson fled but was caught by an Orleans Parish Sheriffs deputy on St. Peter.

Jackson did not have a gun on her, and police suspect she gave it to someone who took the weapon from the scene.

Police recovered two spent .40 caliber shell casings from the scene.
New Orleans police are looking for a man they say stabbed a 12-year-old girl in the stomach during an argument Saturday night in the Little Woods area.

An arrest warrant has been issued for Anthony Moss, 51, on multiple charges, police said Monday, including domestic abuse battery (child abuse), violation of protective orders and theft of a motor vehicle.

The charges stem from an interaction that happened around 9:45 p.m. Saturday in the 7800 block of Bass Street (map).

Moss, police said, forced his way into a 42-year-old woman's home and took her keys. The woman and her two children, ages 12 and 18, then tried to get the keys. During the struggle, police say Moss pulled out a knife and stabbed the 12-year-old girl in the stomach.

Moss, police said, then tried to leave in the woman's car. The woman and her two children were trying to stop him, police said, when he hit all three of them with the car before driving off.

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Children taken to hospital

Paramedics took both children to the hospital for treatment. Authorities did not release any details about the severity of their injuries.

The interaction was domestic in preliminary information from police but they didn't say how Moss knew the woman.

The stolen vehicle is a four-door 2014 Kia Forte, bearing the Louisiana license plate 168 DYO.

Anyone with information is asked to call NOPD Seventh District detectives at (504) 658-6070 or Crimestoppers at (504) 822-1111.
The Orleans Parish School Board is seeking an interim replacement for John A. Brown, the longtime educator who stepped down from his board position last month after it was announced that his daughter was in the running for schools superintendent. The interim member would serve until a special election is held later this year.

The School Board has 20 days from Brown's resignation, or until April 4, to name an interim member to represent District 1 and call a special election, according to the Secretary of State's Office. The election is Nov. 8, with a Dec. 10 runoff if necessary. Qualifying is in July.

The winner of the special election will serve the remainder of Brown's term, which ends on Dec. 31, 2024.

The School Board plans to appoint the interim at a special meeting March 31.

Applicants must be at least 18 years old and live in District 1, which includes New Orleans East, parts of Gentilly and the Lower 9th Ward.

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The School Board asked that anyone interested in applying for the job send a letter of interest, resume and notarized affidavit of qualifications, along with a copy of their Louisiana driver's license or other ID and a copy of lease or the homestead exemption claimed by the applicant, a copy of a utility bill with the applicants name and a copy of the applicants voter registration card to prove residency.

The letter should be addressed to School Board President Olin Parker and emailed to the board's counsel, Ashley Heilprin, at ashley.heilprin@phelps.com by March 28.

Along with the letter of interest, applications should include a "vision statement" that answers the following questions:
Last month New Orleans crossed a historic benchmark. The Big Easy was given a new, more accurate nickname.

Welcome to life in The Big Risky.

Thats the verdict from the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the collection of the worlds greatest climate scientists charged with explaining future living conditions on the planet as rising greenhouse gas emissions disrupt the natural systems our cultures, lifestyles and economies were built upon.

Their new vision for the city and region if emissions are not tamed was beyond grim. The headline on the report in this newspaper was unambiguous: Climate change poses existential threat to south Louisiana: U.N. report.

Existential  as in a mortal threat.

The risks justifying that warning were distilled from the report by my colleague Mark Schleifstein. They should be mandatory reading for your elected officials because they will decide if we take the actions necessary to make a liveable future here possible.

More intense hurricanes moving more slowly at landfall, delivering the sort of damage wrought by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Laura, Delta, and Ida.

Ocean heat waves and a northward move of fish species, combined with increased saltwater intrusion, that will threaten the states existing fisheries.

Faster sea level rise, potentially overwhelming communities outside hurricane levees and threatening levees abilities to protect from the most dangerous surge.

Storm surge, increased rainfall rates, and winds repeatedly wreaking havoc on homes, businesses, roads, and electric power systems.

Increased temperatures and humidity that will pose a health threat to those working outdoors, children, the elderly, and the poor.

An increase in other health threats including diseases presently limited to more tropical settings.

An increase in mental health issues, including post-traumatic stress disorders and suicides.

Disruptions in the ability of governments and residents to afford the dramatically increasing costs of climate change.

There is only one way to lessen these impacts: quickly reducing emissions from fossil fuel use.

None of this should be news to politicians whose responsibility is to serve and protect their communities. Scientists have been warning of the looming disasters for more than a decade. Those warnings have been validated by drowning shorelines, bigger storms, burning forests and record droughts. If anything, the severe impacts have been larger and happening much sooner than expected.

The history of Louisianas Coastal Master Plan charts that rapid change.

When released in 2007 the agencys computers predicted if all the plans projects were completed on schedule, the state could be building more land than it was losing in aggregate by 2067.

The plan was updated every five years to reflect new knowledge and changing realities. In 2012 the computers made the same hopeful prediction: We could change the equation by 2067.

But in 2017, the computers had bad news. Now the best-case scenario sees the state losing another 1,200 square miles of its coastal region by 2067. The worst case shows it losing 2,800 square miles in that time. This will happen even if all the projects are completed on time.

The reason: Sea level rise projections have skyrocketed because emissions continued to soar.

The best-case scenario can only be reached if the world reduces emissions by about 40% over the next 10 years.

That cant be done on a purely voluntary effort. It will require stiff mandatory government regulations, many of which will cause financial hardships for industries and consumers.

Unfortunately, most politicians in this state are in the GOP, whose policy is fighting to reduce or avoid the pain for the fossil fuel industries producing the emissions.

But every delay they accomplish pushes this city and region closer to that warning from the hard facts contained in the science and visible in the world around us.

That strategy is why have gone from The Big Easy to The Big Risky.

They should start thinking about what the next nickname could be.
Cutting to the chase, where the heck are the people responsible for the historically Black college and university bomb threats?

Show me the perps. Show me the money.

After an initial rash of HBCU bomb threats in January and then more as Black History Month started, media attention has lessened and the public isnt aware that scares and threats are continuing. There was a U.S. Senate hearing about these bomb threats earlier this month and there was a U.S. House hearing about them last week.

I want to see who federal authorities believe is responsible for most of these threats.

Since early this year, there have been multiple bomb threats against HBCUs in a number of states, including Dillard University, Southern University Baton Rouge and Xavier University in Louisiana. Its bad enough for any one of these schools to be threatened. Its worse when theres a pattern of disrupting learning and campus activities because someone thinks there are too many smart Black people in a single location.

When theres a horrible incident of any kind, those closest to the victims are shocked and demand urgent action, especially when there are deaths and injuries. People don't get as upset when there are no victims with physical injuries. Though none of the bomb threats have led to explosions, that doesnt mean these threats shouldnt be taken seriously.

More than 30 HBCUs have been targeted just this year. One report puts the number of threats at more than 80.

During a Thursday House Oversight Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., an FBI representative gave an unsatisfactory update. Ryan Young, with the bureaus intelligence branch, said that the investigation is a high priority, that most of the bomb threats were likely made by one juvenile and that a few others are being investigated.

Weve treated this as domestic terrorism, said Young, executive assistant director of the branch. Its meant to inflict harm within the African American population.

It's taking too long.

Emmanuel Ukot, Xaviers Student Government Association president, was one of three students who testified at last weeks hearing. He wants to see justice that is swift but thorough. Student Government Association President Kevin Taylor-Jarrell II of Southern Baton Rouge said students continue to worry.

When you feel targeted its not a good feeling, he said.

Xavier President Dr. Reynold Verret said hes happy that the federal government has offered some financial support because it provides an element of security, but he said people are wondering whether anything else is going to happen.

Dr. Bijoy Sahoo, Southern Universitys executive vice chancellor and provost at SUBR, was in charge of security at North Carolina Central University when the Virginia Tech shootings made national news in 2007. More than 30 people were killed and 17 people were injured. He said NCCU quickly made changes. It would be best if Southern and other HBCUs could upgrade security based on the threats, Sahoo said, but those things cost a lot of money.

With Howard University graduate Vice President Kamala Harris, President Joe Bidens administration has provided more than $5 billion to support HBCUs. I dont want to belittle that significant contribution for institutions that have historically been underfunded. But while the Project School Emergency Response to Violence (SERV) sounds good by title, grants for targeted HBCUs of $50,000 to $150,000 per institution for security training, security enhancements and mental health professional staffing are laughable. Doing things such as installing more campus cameras and electronic locks would cost millions  and take time.

During a March 8 U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Dillard President Walter Kimbrough said no other constituency has been threatened as HBCUs have this year. He urged federal law enforcement to do more, in part because "(w)e are more vulnerable now than at the beginning of the threats.

We need a new plan from federal, state and local law enforcement, a way to quickly and efficiently determine the veracity of threats and not leave this for the campus officials without the tools to be able to complete this task thoroughly, Kimbrough said during his testimony. Again, the priority needs to be catching those who are making the threats.

I agree with the clarity Kimbrough shared with me Monday: Whoever did this, they need to be caught.

I want to see a perp walk. Its unfortunate if that kid is your child. Consider some better home training. Lets put the judicial system to work.
Perry Young. Place: First Baptist Church of Norman 211 W. Comanche. May 26th, 2022. 1:30 pm. Lunch will be served 12:00pm at FBC before the service. If wanting to attend lunch, please let us know so there is enough food.
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.
Philadelphia, PA  Police say a driver who struck and killed three people Monday morning, including two Pennsylvania State Troopers, may have been drunk.

The woman, who has not been identified, was traveling at a "high rate of speed" just before the crash along Interstate 95, according to State Police Captain James Kemm.

The impact was so great that it threw the troopers over into the northbound lanes of Interstate 95," Kemm said at a press conference Monday.

PSP Commissioner Robert Evanchick confirmed that Trooper Martin F. Mack III, 33, and Trooper Branden T. Sisca, 29, were killed by a driver earlier this morning on I-95 south in the area of milepost 18 in Philadelphia City, Philadelphia County.

The troopers were dispatched after receiving reports of a man walking on I-95 south. As they were helping him into the back of their cruiser, the female suspect attempted to drive past the scene. She fatally struck all three and the cruiser just before 1:00 a.m.

Witnesses started CPR before emergency crews arrived, but to no avail, Kemm said. They were pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver who struck the three stopped a short distance from the crash site and is suspected of DUI, he added.

"Our department is heartbroken with the tragedy that occurred early this morning in Philadelphia," said PSP Colonel Evanchick. "We ask our fellow Pennsylvanians to keep the families of our troopers and the pedestrian in their thoughts. This is an extremely difficult time."

Governor Tom Wolf ordered state flags to be lowered to half-mast after learning of the troopers' deaths.

This is a heartbreaking tragedy that occurred while these troopers were protecting and serving, said Gov. Wolf. This mournful incident is a stark reminder of the risksand sacrificesour law enforcement officers undertake every day to keep us safe. My heart goes out to their families and the communities they lived in and served.

Mack enlisted in the PSP in November 2014 and graduated as a member of the 141st cadet class. Sisca enlisted in the PSP in February 2021 and graduated as a member of the 161st cadet class.

Both troopers spent their entire careers assigned to the Patrol Section of Troop K, Philadelphia.

Gov. Wolf ordered the Commonwealth flag on all Commonwealth facilities, public buildings, and grounds to fly at half-staff until sunset on Friday, March 25, as well as on the day(s) of their funerals, which have not yet been announced.

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Partly cloudy this morning. Increasing clouds with periods of showers this afternoon. High 61F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

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A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
Honey Run Elementary would rise by 100 students if the fifth grade is moved from the middle school.
Workers returned to Northwest Indiana's labor force in record numbers in January as the Gary metro area's unemployment rate rose to 3.7%.

Northwest Indiana's unemployment rate grew by 1.3 percentage points as more people sought work. Indianas labor force grew by a net total of 1,528 in January due to an increase of 10,344 employed residents and a decrease of 8,816 unemployed residents, according to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.

Most of the workers returning hailed from Northwest Indiana.

"In January, Northwest Indiana and Lake County saw the largest single-month increase in the labor force ever recorded," Indiana University Associate Professor of Economics Micah Pollak said. "In the four-county region of Northwest Indiana a record 8,300 people returned to the labor force and in Lake County a record 6,197 returned to the labor force.

That's a 2.6% jump in the Gary metropolitan area that encompasses Lake, Porter, Newton and Jasper counties and a 2.9% increase in Lake County.

"As a result of this record return of workers, the unemployment rate rose significantly in January as many of these workers are initially classified as 'unemployed' until they are hired," Pollak said. "This increase in the labor force will be a welcome relief for businesses who have been facing a tight labor market and struggling to find workers."

A big part of the reason is the number of coronavirus cases has plummeted since reaching more than 1,100 a day during the rise of omicron during early January. The seven-day average in Lake County was just 21 per day as of Sunday, according to the Indiana Department of Health.

"The decline in COVID cases may mean those who left the labor force due to working conditions they felt were unsafe, particularly in customer-facing service sectors, now feel it may be safe to return," Pollak said. "In addition, with fewer businesses requiring masks, workers are no longer responsible for enforcing the requirement, particularly with belligerent customers."

Higher pay also has helped lure back workers into the job market, Pollak said.

"With the tight labor market and firms struggling to find workers, weve seen a substantial increase in wages and benefits for many positions," he said. "This higher compensation may have convinced workers who left the labor market in the last two years to now return."

The labor market also is finally started to settle after the coronavirus pandemic causes many people to reflect on what they were doing with their lives and careers, Pollak said.

"For many workers, the 'great reassessment of labor' was exactly that, a 'reassessment,' and workers leaving the labor force did not necessarily intend to remain out indefinitely," Pollak said. "Many workers used the pandemic as an opportunity to change careers, pursue new education or licensing, temporarily care for children and family members, or figure out a better work-life balance. As workers reassess what work means to them, we may see more returning to the labor force in new careers."

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A Forest Preserve District of Will Countys Police Department team has again taken the polar plunge to benefit Special Olympics Illinois.

The group, including Forest Preserve Board President Joe VanDuyne, participated in the 2022 Illinois Law Enforcement Torch Run Polar Plunge at the Braidwood Recreation Club March 12.

"I'm just happy we can be able to participate in something like this," VanDuyne said in a statement. To prepare for his first plunge, VanDuyne said he took ice baths at home.

This year's Polar Plunge was the sixth, and the coldest, for Tracy Chapman, the forest preserves' deputy director and public safety administrator. "It's for an amazing cause, well worth it," she said as she exited the cold lake.

Even with temperatures in the 20s, Chapman said she never thought of skipping the event. "I got inspired by the people jumping in (who were) totally submerged in the water," she continued in a statement.

The team raised almost $3,000, well above its goal of $1,000. Donations can be made at https://soill.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.team&teamID=12844.

"It means a lot to a lot of people," Forest Preserve Police Sgt. Rick Lewandowski said in a statement.

Having current and former employees whose families are active within the Special Olympics community offers us an opportunity to support them and others for this tremendous cause, Forest Preserve Police Deputy Chief David Barrios Jr. said in a statement.

The Forest Preserve Police team has raised $32,500 for Special Olympics since 2018 through multiple events scheduled by the Law Enforcement Torch Run.

The statewide fundraising effort supports the more than 23,100 traditional Special Olympics athletes and 13,000 young athletes. Donations give athletes with intellectual disabilities the opportunity to participate in Special Olympics programming and reveal their inner champions.

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Perhaps one of the greatest strengths of Northwest Indiana is the ability of our industries to develop, expand, and adjust to an ever-changing world. The strength is rooted in the success of our people, individuals who are critical thinkers, open to fresh ideas, and will never shy away from a challenge.

Where do these industries find these hard workers? Theyre right here in Northwest Indiana, and they are prepared and ready for the workforce thanks to their hometown public school districts like Portage Township Schools.

As a school district, Portage Township Schools remains committed to equipping our students with the necessary skills to enter the workforce of their choice. This requires developing and fostering partnerships with local organizations that are focused on shared outcomes for both students and the overall community. It is through such partnerships that school districts, businesses, cities, and townships not only support each other through common goals, but also remain relevant in the future.

There is no doubt that in order for this to occur, any and all organizations must have a laser focus on the purpose or mission of their work. In order to thrive as a community, all stakeholders must be vested in the overall quality of education and life of the families being served.

As a public school district, PTS embraces community partnerships as a shared responsibility to enhance student learning with reciprocal opportunities that emerge through ongoing collaboration that is solution-based and forward-thinking.

The development of such partnerships requires a significant commitment. PTS recognizes that in order to remain relevant to our community partners, we must meet their needs as well.

This concept requires the ongoing evaluation of our programs and course offerings while also teaching students the workforce skills necessary to be successful in their future career choice. We do more than provide an educational foundation for our students; we prepare the future workforce of Northwest Indiana.

In order for external stakeholders to support PTS as a school district, we must be willing to do our part in supporting these very organizations ability to recruit quality candidates for employment that will increase their ability to thrive in the economy.

PTS has developed such partnerships that strengthen the community and are mutually beneficial while still remaining true to our purpose. Ultimately, these experiences increase the authentic, real-world application of what students know and can do.

Some examples of such experiences include our partnership with the Porter County Career Center, which further assists to meet the needs of the industries in NWI.

There are nearly 30 programs available to Porter County juniors and seniors that prepare them for careers in agriculture, architecture and construction, arts and communication technology, business and marketing, education, health sciences, hospitality, information technology, manufacturing, public safety, transportation, and veterinary medicine.

Many of these options come with the opportunity for earning dual credits or certifications in their fields, so a number of our students graduate with the credits and hours needed to either enter the workforce or have a jump-start on their post-secondary education.

Furthermore, our high school boasts a robust curriculum and large number of course offerings, and many of those offerings prepare students for careers in Northwest Indiana. Some of these opportunities include Project Lead the Way (PLTW), engineering, manufacturing, and construction classes, biomedical studies and more.

Serving as a foundation for these programs are our elementary and middle schools whose curriculums focus on the workforce skills in the innovative learning labs, PLTW curriculum at the middle schools, and a rigorous curriculum throughout the content areas that focuses on higher order thinking.

Students are given opportunities to engage in project and performance based learning tasks that focus on problem solving through collaboration, communication, and so much more.

But is curriculum and program development enough? We cannot only show students the vast number of opportunities available throughout Northwest Indiana; we must also develop pathways and certifications that ensure they are workforce ready upon graduation.

We give students a first-hand, front seat look into our local industries and let them hear directly from the professionals. This includes partnerships with the Portage Economic Development Commission and local businesses that collaborate to develop the yearly Healthcare360 and Manufacturing360 programs.

In these programs, students have the opportunity to visit union halls, hospitals, manufacturing plants, mills, doctors officers and more to gain a front-seat perspective on the opportunities available in Northwest Indiana. PTS is also fortunate to have a partnership with the Portage Redevelopment Commission as they see the importance of local schools providing the education students need in order to be future employees, business owners, and residents of the region and city.

As a school district, we also continue to prioritize the importance of teaching workforce skills that increase students opportunities to be successful in their post secondary and future workforce endeavors.

These skills include critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. Although often referred to as soft skills, there is no doubt that the importance of modeling and teaching these skills before students enter school all the way through graduation develops the foundation necessary for future success.

In order for PTS to remain relevant throughout the region, state, Midwest, and Chicago-land area, we must continue to enhance the learning experience for students through programs that are offered both during and after the traditional school day.

These programs require strong community partnerships that often depend on the schools for the development and expansion of opportunities to engage students, families, and the entire community.

The opportunity for students to see professionals in the field and throughout the local community in action only furthers the districts mission to educate, empower, and inspire excellence leading to increased student engagement, improved social and academic outcomes, and a sense of belonging within the community for everyone, but most importantly, our students.

Amanda Alaniz is superintendent of Portage Township Schools.

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GARY  Six state lawmakers representing northern Lake County are holding a public forum Thursday to update their constituents on the work of the Indiana General Assembly following the March 9 adjournment of the annual legislative session.

The free event is set for 5:30 p.m. in the Savannah Center's Bergland Auditorium at Indiana University Northwest, 3400 Broadway, Gary.

In addition to hearing from the elected officials, residents are invited to share their opinions about the new laws approved at the Statehouse and their ideas for action by the 2023 General Assembly.

"The Gary delegation would like to express gratitude for the publics continued participation and push to defeat dangerous legislation this session that targeted our community," said state Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, one of the event hosts. "We value and look forward to hearing the publics input as we form our policy priorities for the next session.

"I encourage everyone to attend to learn about how new laws will affect them and what they can do to stay involved in the political process."

The other participating lawmakers are state Reps. Mike Andrade, D-Munster; Earl Harris Jr., D-East Chicago; and Ragen Hatcher, D-Gary; and state Sens. Eddie Melton, D-Gary, and Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago.

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EAST CHICAGO  The Common Council is considering an ordinance that would provide $200,000 for restoration at Jeorse Park Beach.

Natalie Adams, the city's marina director, told the council at its most recent meeting that the beach has been closed the past two years not only because of the coronavirus pandemic but also due to a lot of erosion activity that has occurred up and down Lake Michigan.

"Now that COVID has waned, there's really no reason not to try to clean and restore the beach and open the beach back up to the public," Adams said.

Adams said the hope is to have the beach open for Memorial Day weekend.

The $200,000 would be an additional appropriation that would come from the city's gaming fund.

The council approved the ordinance by a vote of 8-1 on first reading. It would still need to be approved on second and third readings.

Council President Monica Gonzalez, D-1st, was the only member to vote against the ordinance.

She wanted to know what plans are in place to combat erosion in the future if the additional money is awarded.

"I just don't think that they are giving us enough information." Gonzalez said.

In other city news, the council voted unanimously to authorize Common Council attorney Angela Jones to draft and file a writ of mandamus to have the court system get involved in the enforcement of an ordinance.

"It has come to my attention in the past couple of weeks that an ordinance passed by this council is not being enforced by the city," Jones said.

She said the ordinance was approved Oct. 13 and deals with the salaries for police and fire personnel.

The ordinance was vetoed by Mayor Anthony Copeland, but that veto was then overridden by the council.

Jones said the council passed an amended version of that same ordinance Feb. 9 after a clerical error was discovered.

Jones said it is her understanding that some or all of the ordinance is not being followed for both police and fire with respect to salary and vacation days.

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LAPORTE  A LaPorte County police officer and his wife, who both grew up in Poland, are involved in a church fundraising effort to help Ukrainian refugees who have taken shelter in that country.

Bethany Lutheran Church in LaPorte is raising money and matching every dollar contributed to the cause.

Slawek Czupryna, a 19-year veteran of the sheriffs office, said his wife, Agniescka, is making the connections in their homeland to get the money into the proper hands.

The funds will go to a refugee shelter being created in a vacant building that used to be the elementary school she attended in Podlipie.

Podlipie, which has about 1,100 residents, is about three hours from the border with Ukraine.

They want to open up the school so those kids can attend school and some of those families can live nearby or even live in the school for the time being, he said.

Slawek grew up in a village about a 10-minute drive from the school. He didn't attend classes there but went there for activities like sporting events.

Pastor Dennis Meyer said the goal is to raise $5,000 from both donations and church matching funds.

The idea sprung from discussions between Meyer and Slawek about Russias military invasion of Ukraine. The men know each other well from their work in the community.

Not only are we praying, but were acting, Meyer said.

Its estimated that Poland has taken in more than two million fleeing Ukrainian residents.

And the number is growing, Meyer said.

Slawek, 39, said he and his wife knew each other while growing up from attending the same church but later went separate ways.

He and his siblings came to America with their mother in 1996.

He said his father, looking for more opportunity, had already been here for a number of years and was working at the Kingsbury Industrial Park.

Agniescka came with her family to attend college and settled in Chicago.

They met at a family gathering in Chicago.

One thing led to another, and here we are, he said.

Slawek said his wife is staying on top of the situation during regular phone conversations with her sister, whos planning to help at the refugee center.

He also has family members still living in Poland.

I feel for these people. I wish I could help more but, unfortunately, Im here, and theyre over there, he said.

Meyer said donations are being accepted at the church at 102 G St. and on the church's website.

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MICHIGAN CITY  Alicia Guerrero was doing some genealogical research about her great-great-grandmother Naomi Anderson when she decided to search for Naomi online. What she found amazed her.

Naomi Bowman Talbert Anderson became more than just a name to Guerrero. Anderson was a fiery orator who advocated for equal rights, including womens right to vote.

Anderson, who grew up and was married in Michigan City before ultimately settling in California, will be remembered through Bernard Williams $140,000 sculpture at Wescott Park that not only shows her likeness and her name but also some of her deeds and travels through a permanent timeline.

The sculpture was dedicated Saturday. Wescott Park is on Michigan Boulevard near 4th Street.

Guerrero, said she was doing genealogy research when she decided to see if Google could help her learn more about the ancestor she knew by name only.

I was surprised but also really moved, Guerrero said, to learn Anderson had done so much during her lifetime to help other people. She was just inspiring to me.

Anderson, born in 1843, was invited to study at Michigan Citys only public school, even though it was segregated, at age 12 because of her gift for writing poetry.

She became the mother of eight children, founded orphanages for children of color, became a teacher and hairdresser, and she published articles and poems.

There flows through my veins a combination of blood from four distinct nations, of which the greater part is Dutch, part African, part Indian and the lesser part Irish, the fiery orator wrote. Poetess Carnessa Carnes portrayed Anderson at the dedication ceremony.

Anderson headlined with suffragette Susan B. Anthony, whose image was later memorialized on silver dollars from 1979 to 1981 and again in 1999.

Tens of thousands of people in 19th century America read her writings and heard her speak, Celebrating Naomi Anderson project co-chair Bonnie Schaaf said.

Indiana Humanities President and CEO Keira Amstutz was thrilled to offer support for the project.

This was an incredibly competitive grant, she said, but this project was worthy. Naomis contributions have been overlooked for many years, Amstutz said.

Ronald Matthews, Guerreros cousin, said he now knows his great-great-grandmothers traits continue to be evident in his own children.

I now know why my son writes poetry. I now know why my daughter and my cousin are beauticians. I now know why I am a strong advocate in the NAACP, he said.

Sculptor Williams said the new sculpture says much about Michigan City as well as Anderson.

A lot of communities around the country are pulling monuments down because they really dont speak to the moment and they dont speak to the history that we really want to celebrate, he said. This sculpture speaks to people of all different races, he said. We are all one people, Anderson wrote. It doesnt mean we area all the same, but it means that we share the same ideas, we share the same beliefs, and we believe in each other.

Williams said he hopes benches can be put amid the sculpture in the future so people will be able to sit and reflect on Andersons accomplishments and contributions to todays America.

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VALPARAISO  Porter County Project Kids, a new nonprofit, grew out of founder Cynthia Wolds desire to help her sons learn the joy of volunteering.

Along the way, she has brought people together to not only experience the same satisfaction but also help children across the county.

The group is installing sensory pathways in schools across the county as some of its initial projects.

The pathways are designed by neurologists to help get wiggly children ready to learn. The pathways start with gross motor activities like hopping, bending and squatting and progress to activities that require more concentration. The object is to help them get the wiggles out and prepare for learning.

Claudia Witt, who works in physical therapy at SELF School, was excited about the pathway being installed recently at the school. This is going to be fabulous for physical therapy, she said.

Project Kids volunteer Jennifer Buck said this was the second school she helped with. Memorial Elementary School, where Wolds kids went to school, was her first.

The pathway helps with bored children waiting in line. It gives them a direct focus, Buck said, and turns walking down the hallway into a learning experience.

By the time you come out of it, your brain is ready for learning, Wold said.

Buck, who has been diagnosed with ADHD, remembers what it was like when she was in school. Standing in line was torture, she said.

Greater Valparaiso Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Rex Richards did a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new pathway at SELF School. This is just another example of why Valparaiso is a wonderful place for families to live, he said.

I wanted my sons to learn the joy of giving, Wold said, so they decided to organize as the Giving 3 and help people throughout the county.

Then, realizing the value of working with others in the community, she formed the Porter County Project Kids group on Facebook. I put this on Facebook and woke up the next day and there were 125 members, she said.

A couple of weeks ago, the Internal Revenue Service sent confirmation that the new nonprofit is a certified 501(c)(3) group.

Kids have been seeing a lot of hatred, anger and disrespect lately. They need to see neighbors working together and helping neighbors and having fun, Wold said. I think were doing that.

This is my little idea coming true today, Wold said as she looked at the volunteers spending an hour or two to install the pathway at SELF. Installation isnt the only work involved in the project. We do a lot of work coordinating and scheduling, she said. Its nice to see something fun and positive happening.

Wold isnt able to do the installation herself. Ive had, over the past five years, this lunatic journey with cancer, she explained. Shes now using a wheelchair and semiretired, but she hasnt slowed down much.

Im a crazy active person, Wold said. Her landlord told her, Cindy, you might be forced to be a couch potato, but youre not a normal couch potato. Youre the kind with green stuff spouting all over it.

Wold became a resource for families with autistic children, pointing them toward resources in the community and helping them deal with challenges like Medicaid worries and disability screening. Now I just sit back. I created a pipeline that moves on its own now.

Last year, as children were doing e-learning, she started thinking, What are they learning? What are these important core values that I want to be passing along to my kids? These are values that can be learned better in a classroom setting if not from parents.

Wold and her children decided to help others, but a fragile immune system and the pandemic ruled out volunteering in a soup kitchen. Why cant we do an Instacart from Costco to a food bank? they decided.

We went a little crazy in helping Hilltop Neighborhood House, she said. We ended up spending over $1,000. It barely fit in the drivers car.

Then she decided, I know theres people in the community that would go for this right now. I just need to put them together.

I want Porter County to be a special place where people leave the cares of the world behind, she said.

Love is what we need right now.

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VALPARAISO  The Porter County Elections & Registration Office is looking for workers to staff early voting sites, which open April 5.

If you have any friends, relatives, strangers on the street that you know, County Clerk Jessica Bailey said, let them know the county is hiring. Pay for poll workers at early voting sites ranges from $13 to $15 an hour, depending on experience.

In addition, another staff member is needed to work inside the office.

I guess theres going to be five of us trying to run stuff by ourselves, Director Sundae Schoon told the election board Thursday. She joked that she would park an RV nearby to make it easier to get home after working long hours.

The staff has already mailed 90 absentee ballots, fewer than in 2020, as demand seemed to level out.

The board approved using electronic pollbooks for the travel board that goes to places like nursing homes so that residents can vote without having to leave home. It just makes it easier and a lot more efficient for everyone, Bailey said.

This will be the first election the county is using vote centers, too. They allow voters to cast a ballot at any polling place in the county on election day.

The county is preparing 133,000 letters to registered voters to let them know about the switch to voter centers and where to find them as well as options for early voting. Thats part of a major campaign in April to let voters know about the major change done for the voters convenience.

Are you comfy with where were at? election board President Paul Rausch asked Bailey, Schoon and Assistant Director Becky Rauch.

Early voting begins April 5. Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursday. Hours on April 23 and April 30, the last two Saturdays before the election, will be 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Early voting locations are Porter County Administration Building, 155 Indiana Ave., Room 102A, in downtown Valparaiso; Chesterton Town Hall, 790 Broadway; Hebron Community Center, 611 N. Main St.; North County Government Complex, 3560 Willowcreek Road, Portage; Union Township Fire Station 2, 267 N. 600 West; the Valparaiso Fire Department training building, 355 Evans Ave.; and USW Local 6787, 1100 N. Max Mochal Hwy., Chesterton.

A public test of the countys election equipment will be conducted at 8 a.m. April 1 at the Porter County Administration Building.

A training session on campaign finance reports will be held at 10 a.m. April 2 at the same building.

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Two men were arrested for stealing a car, along with other charges, March 10.

An officer with Lake County Sheriff's Department Drug Task Force  High Crime Unit observed a Jeep Grand Cherokee fail to stop at a red light during the evening on I-65 and US-231, police said.

The officer had heard on his police radio that the Jeep had already attempted to evade a Munster police officer.

He then attempted to make a traffic stop, but the vehicle entered the entrance ramp to I-65 and began speeding at a rate higher than 100 miles per hour, police said. He swerved to switch lanes and pass other traffic multiple times.

At the US-30 overpass, the driver slowed as he approached police officers positioned to stop the vehicle. The driver attempted to go around officers by driving the wrong way on a ramp, sideswiping another vehicle which left the scene, police said.

The Jeep reentered I-65 and struck stop sticks placed by police officers, leading to a rear tire deflating and falling off the vehicle, police said. The Jeep crashed into the median and the two men got out and ran toward Merrillville High School, police said.

Department K-9 Thanos pursued and stopped one. Both men were taken into custody, cleared by hospital staff and transported to Lake County Jail.

The Jeep was stolen out of Chicago in November 2021, police said. The Massachusetts license plate was stolen from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend in January 2022, police said.

Munster, Hammond, St. John and Valparaiso Police Departments assisted in the patrol and helped with arrest of the subjects. Indiana State Police also helped and participated.

"Working together, these officers braved heavy traffic and an approaching snow storm to successfully and safely stop a dangerous driver," a press release from Lake County Sheriff's Department said.

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CHICAGO  A Chicago man was arrested March 17 for stealing a motor vehicle in Dolton, Illinois.

Illinois State Police also charged Elijah Howard with aggravated use of a weapon, aggravated fleeing and eluding, obstructing identification and resisting or obstructing a police officer.

An ISP trooper saw a vehicle traveling on Interstate 94 very quickly, and use of a law enforcement database inquiry revealed the vehicle was reported stolen.

The trooper attempted to stop the vehicle at Martin Luther King Drive, but the suspect vehicle fled. ISP Air Operations located the vehicle, where four suspects exited and attempted to flee on foot.

ISP units responded and after a foot pursuit, the driver, Howard, was taken into custody. A loaded weapon was recovered from the scene. A loaded weapon was recovered from the scene.

Howard was arrested and cited for speeding 35+ miles above the speed limit, improper lane usage and not having a valid driver's license.

He is currently in custody at Cook County Jail, where he is awaiting a bond hearing.

ISP Troopers across the state are joining together to stop the violence in Chicago with our SAVE details. I am proud of the tireless work and sacrifices made by our Troopers, Air Operations, and Specialty Units as they continue to intercept crime and make Illinois safer for everyone, ISP District Chicago Captain David Keltner said in a news release.

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LAKE STATION  Members of a Region family are in need of help after a fire ripped through their home March 6.

The family has organized a fundraiser on GoFundMe.com under the name "Help our family get back on our feet." It is organized by Alta Lewis, a member of the family.

The fire earlier this month affected two houses and a garage. There were no injuries, but both properties sustained damage.

Lake Station, Hobart and New Chicago fire department joined forces to extinguish the blaze. Everyone in both homes was able to get out safely.

Lewis said on the fundraiser's webpage that her family's house was inhabitable. She was unsure how long it would be until the home could be fixed.

"This has hit our family hard. We are not ones to ask for help very often, but with the prices of everything now a days, extra living expenses, and missed work, we are struggling," Lewis said on the page.

As of 1 p.m. Monday, the fundraiser had received more than $500 of its $4,000 goal.

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A sudden Oscar front-runner and a dark-horse contender took top honors at the Writers Guild Awards on Sunday night, as the heartwarmer CODA and the satirical Dont Look Up prevailed in the adapted and original screenplay categories, respectively.

This is real, legitimate excitement, the writer-director of Dont Look Up, Adam McKay, said in a pretaped speech. Though several awards shows have returned to in-person gatherings, the WGA ceremony was virtual, and nominees were asked to send in their acceptance speeches ahead of time. Only the winners was played during the ceremony.

Several major films were ineligible for the WGAs this year because they were not written under a bargaining agreement with the WGA or its sister guilds. So Belfast and The Worst Person in the World (in the original-screenplay category) and The Power of the Dog and The Lost Daughter (in the adapted category) were not in the running. And because that significantly whittled down the pool of big contenders, most pundits expected the writer-director Sian Heders CODA, based on the 2014 French film La Famille Belier, would prevail with the Writers Guild, though Dont Look Up still faced stiff competition from Paul Thomas Andersons Licorice Pizza.

Can the WGA victors also win their Oscar races now that Belfast has lost its awards mojo and the surging CODA beat The Power of the Dog at this weekends influential Producers Guild Awards? In a recent screenplay contest at the BAFTAs, CODA pulled out another surprise win over The Power of the Dog, its biggest best-picture rival. Since the path to the top Oscar almost always winds through the screenplay categories, an adapted-screenplay win for CODA on Oscar night could foreshadow the films ultimate fate.
Judge Jacksons service as a federal public defender, and her work for some detainees held at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was always going to be an issue in her confirmation. But Mr. Hawleys accusation added a new element to the debate, focusing more on her time as a federal district court judge and a member of the sentencing commission. Other Republican members have said they intend to pursue the issue with Judge Jackson.

The days of broad bipartisan support for Supreme Court nominees are long gone, but Democrats have held out hope that Judge Jackson could get at least a handful of Republican votes given her experience and the possibility that some would want to be counted in support of placing a Black woman on the court.

But just three Republicans backed her last year when she was confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and persuading senators to support a candidate for a higher court after opposing her for a lower one is a difficult task.

Still, Judge Jackson, with her White House entourage in tow, has engaged in a charm offensive in the Senate, meeting with 44 senators of both parties and all 22 members of the evenly divided Judiciary Committee.

Democrats have been effusive in their praise and support of Judge Jackson, calling her an ideal candidate for the court with the capacity to work with other justices to try to develop more consensus rulings.

Republicans who have met with her report privately that she is very engaging, presents a memorable life story of achievement and speaks admiringly of Justice Antonin Scalias view that judges should interpret, not make the law. But they say they have also been frustrated by her unwillingness to lay out a specific judicial philosophy and her refusal to take a stance on whether the Supreme Court should be expanded, as progressive groups have proposed.

She will be pressed on those subjects and many more during questioning by senators on Tuesday and Wednesday, after a session on Monday in which each of them will deliver statements, Judge Jackson will be introduced, and she will make opening remarks.
WASHINGTON  Five years after Myanmars military began a killing spree against ethnic Rohingya, driving nearly one million people from their country, the United States has concluded that the widespread campaign of rape, crucifixions, and drownings and burnings of families and children amounted to genocide.

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken is set to announce the determination  a legal designation for crimes that American investigators documented in 2018  at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington on Monday. It almost certainly will trigger additional economic sanctions, limits on aid and other penalties against Myanmars military junta.

The Tatmadaw overthrew Myanmars civilian government and its nascent democratic efforts, led by the Nobel laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, in February 2021. In one of its first acts in office, the Biden administration declared that the military takeover amounted to a coup.

But an internal debate that began during the Trump administration had, until now, delayed a decision on whether the State Department should formally accuse Myanmar of committing genocide against the Rohingya, a minority ethnic group that is largely Muslim.
Fueled by unfavorable weather conditions, wildfires forced the evacuations of more areas in Central Texas on Sunday, fire officials said.

Residents of the city of Lipan, about 55 miles west of Fort Worth, were ordered to evacuate as firefighters and two air tankers using retardant were dispatched to confront a new 3,000-acre fire on the border of Erath and Hood Counties.

Two firefighters were injured while fighting the blaze, which has been named the Big L fire, said Lt. Johnny Rose of the Hood County Sheriffs Office. He did not know the extent of the injuries.

The Big L fire was one of several blazes that threatened the region on Sunday. By Sunday evening, additional crews had arrived at the fire, which had grown to 11,000 acres and was 10 percent contained, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service.
On World Poetry Day on Monday, actor Ayushmann Khurrana has urged everyone to pour their hearts out to each other through the written word because he feels people need to connect deeply and more genuinely with each other.

He says, "It (poetry) is almost cathartic and we all need catharsis in our lives especially today. The world needs more genuine feelings through words. We need to find a way to stay true to ourselves. So, on poetry day, I urge everyone to pour their hearts out to each other through the written word.

"Let's try and connect to each other more genuinely. I would like to encourage people to write, whenever possible, because it really makes you confront yourself and your deepest, most intimate emotions."

Ayushmann, who is known for his love for poems, shared what poetry means to him.

He says, "Poetry to me is deeply personal, reflective, critical, soul-searching and at the same time full of hope. Robert Frost had said Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words' and it deeply connected with me."

He adds, "I can't write every day. Sometimes what I write, I don't like. Loving poetry is like having a relationship with it. There will be great days, good days and bad days and those days will reflect my state of mind, my thoughts about life, the world and my existence. So, for me, poetry is like looking into the mirror to understand myself and my thoughts a lot more."

Ayushmann will be next seen in Anubhav Sinha's 'Anek', Anubhuti Kashyap's 'Doctor G' and filmmaker Aanand L. Rai's 'An Action Hero'.
LVIV, Ukraine  Firing rockets and bombs from the land, air and  probably for the first time  from warships in the Sea of Azov, Russian forces broadened their bombardment of the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol on Sunday and have forcibly deported thousands of residents, according to city officials and witnesses.

Among the freshly devastated was an art school, where about 400 residents were hiding, according to city officials who claimed it had been bombed by Russian forces targeting civilians. The number of casualties was not known.

Into the fourth week of the Russian assault on the country, the coastal city  a strategic port that would give Russia control over much of Ukraines southern coast  has increasingly become a grim symbol of Russian frustration that its superior manpower and weaponry have not forced the quick capitulation of the country. And it has come to symbolize Russias brutality, with its forces increasingly targeting civilian sites with long-range missiles to crush the publics spirit and break the Ukrainian military resistance.
Russian museums are grappling with these issues, too. At the start of March, officials from the Hermitage Museum wrote to several Italian museums saying that, under orders from Russias Ministry of Culture, it was recalling all loans worldwide by March 31.

Then, last week, the museum performed a U-turn, saying in a statement that considering the problems of safety and logistics it would not be recalling the items after all.

Raffaele Curi, the artistic director of the Alda Fendi Foundation, which is showing Picassos Young Woman 1909 in Rome, on loan from the Hermitage until May 15, said in a telephone interview that the U-turn was perhaps convenient for Russia, since it was hard to see how the paintings could be returned at the moment.

The Picasso had traveled through Ukraine by truck on its way to Rome, Curi said, adding it would have been very difficult from a logistical point of view to make that return journey now.

Robert Read, the head of fine art at Hiscox, a specialist insurer that often works with European museums, said in a telephone interview that the issues around returning works were likely logistical, rather than political. Frederic de Weck, the head of the Russian arm of the art logistics firm ESI, agreed, saying the reason paintings and artworks might remain in Western Europe is the lack of direct flights to Russia, with museums not wanting to send their work via connecting flights given the additional risks.

De Weck said he had recently spoken with officials at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow who said its paintings in the Morozov Collection would stay in France until direct flights were possible.
Some of the works were transcription-like tributes. Ivan Nebesnyys Air Music 1 (2001-04), paired the vocal group Ekmeles with four flutes and Sean Statser  the evenings busiest player, on percussion  for variations of extended technique that rendered entirely human something intangible. The percussions lingering final note was a reminder of how indebted music, or any sound, has always been to air.

There was imitation, too, in Zoltan Almashis An Echo From Hitting the Trunk of a Dry Mountain Spruce in Rycerko Gorna Village (2015), whose prepared piano recalled the tapping of a dead tree. A slowly screeching violin was like a bending branch; the clarinet, a melancholy folk tune performed in its shadow. And Ostap Manulyaks Trees, from 2012, was an arboreal examination from the ground up, with ever-higher pitches airily played by a violin and cello where their strings meet the tailpiece  and, at the top, piano tinkling like birdsong.

The other two pieces were more abstract, and more haunting. Anastasia Belitskas Rusalochka (2019), a purely electronic work of distorted found audio from the Chernobyl zone, recounted a traditional Mermaids Easter celebration as warped as the ecosystem there. Alla Zahaykevychs Nord/Ouest (2010) accomplished much of the same, its search of vanishing folklore in northwestern Ukraine documented over 50 discursive minutes whose flashes of folk song  in voice and violin  felt like precious discoveries.

Nord/Ouest normally features percussion, voices and live electronics. But, because its creators could not leave Ukraine, it was reworked on Friday for Statser, alone with his drum kit, next to a laptop carrying the sounds of his fellow performers. This spectacle, like the musics ghostly dispatches from a fading history, spoke for itself. JOSHUA BARONE
Between network, cable and streaming, the modern television landscape is a vast one. Here are some of the shows, specials and movies coming to TV this week, March 21-27. Details and times are subject to change.

Monday

THE VOW (2012) 6:15 p.m. on Showtime. Channing Tatum returns to theaters this week in The Lost City, a big-budget comedy with Sandra Bullock and Daniel Radcliffe. Its Tatums second big movie of the year, after Dog in February. Tatum was booked solid in 2012, too: He starred in two Steven Soderbergh movies (Haywire and Magic Mike), a remake of 21 Jump Street and The Vow, a romantic drama with Rachel McAdams about a marriage derailed by amnesia. In his review for The New York Times, A.O. Scott wrote that the movie itself was a lackluster adaptation of the true story on which it was based, but that the chemistry between Tatum and McAdams stood out. When they are on the screen together here, Scott wrote, there is enough physical charm and emotional warmth to distract from the threadbare setting and the paper-thin plot.

AMERICAN SONG CONTEST 8 p.m. on NBC. The Eurovision Song Contest, a television spectacle, has been held annually overseas since before the British Invasion. American Song Contest finally brings a version of it stateside. This musical competition, with Snoop Dogg and Kelly Clarkson as hosts, gathers dozens of performers from all 50 states and has them perform original songs. There are no limitations on genre, which should making for interesting juxtapositions.

Tuesday

THE 2022 IHEARTRADIO MUSIC AWARDS 8 p.m. on Fox. LL Cool J will host this years edition of the iHeartRadio Music Awards, which will be broadcast live from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Tuesday. The lineup of performers includes Jennifer Lopez, Megan Thee Stallion, Jason Aldean and John Legend. Competing for the top prize, song of the year, will be Olivia Rodrigo, Adele, Ed Sheeran, Doja Cat, Silk Sonic, Dua Lipa, Lil Nas X, Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande and the Kid Laroi.
Russia pummels the city of Mariupol

Firing rockets and dropping bombs from land and air, as well as from warships in the Sea of Azov, Russian forces broadened their bombardment of the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol yesterday. Thousands of residents have been forcibly deported from the city, which has been without food, water, electricity and gas since the early days of the invasion. Follow the latest updates.

The coastal city  a strategic port that would give Russia control over much of Ukraines southern coast  has become a grim symbol of Russian frustration that its superior manpower and weaponry have not forced Ukraines quick capitulation. Russian forces are increasingly targeting civilian sites with long-range missiles to crush the publics spirit and break the Ukrainian military resistance.

Satellite images of Mariupol show evidence of widespread damage across residential neighborhoods. An analysis found at least 391 buildings had been damaged or destroyed in a part of the city that is dotted with schools and health facilities. The number of casualties is not known.

Quotable: The besieged Mariupol will go down in the history of responsibility for war crimes, Volodymyr Zelensky, the leader of Ukraine, said in a speech to the nation late Saturday night. The terror the occupiers perpetrated on this peaceful city will be remembered for centuries to come.
Since Vladimir Putin began threatening an invasion of Ukraine, the West has had to grapple with the grimmest of dilemmas: How to confront a nuclear power like Russia without risking a nuclear war.

It is not a new dilemma, however. It inspired much of modern game theory, developed by academic theorists like Thomas Schelling and studied by generals and top government officials throughout the Cold War.

The basic theory makes clear that it is possible to challenge another country with nuclear weapons. Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and other American presidents have done so, threatening force against Soviet troops and, on a few occasions, even using it. Yet these confrontations are extremely sensitive, requiring careful measures to minimize the chances of escalation.

The Biden administration and its European allies are following a version of this strategy in Ukraine. In addition to imposing tough economic sanctions against Russia, the coalition is arming Ukraine with weapons  while also cautiously signaling it has no plans to expand the conflict by invading Russia, as Putin seems to fear.
On the morning of the vote count, her Agence France-Presse colleague Michael OHagan said in an interview, he and Ms. Sadurni were at home with Mr. Wine. She was taking photographs before the results of the election were announced, but instead of focusing solely on him, she also took portraits of his wife, Barbie Kyagulanyi, an activist and political figure in her own right.

It was classic Sumy, Mr. OHagan said, because she was mixing not just the headline political story about a Uganda opposition leader who was under great threat, but also coming at things from a different angle, examining Barbies perspective and her as an individual.

The election was a violent and contentious experience: Mr. Wine and his supporters were beaten, arrested and tear-gassed, The Times reported, as Mr. Museveni pushed to stay in the role he had held for 35 years. Outside observers decried the election as unfair after a major internet blackout just before the vote count.

Ms. Sadurnis photographs took an unflinching look at this social turmoil, and she often found herself in the thick of violent marches and protests. In a remembrance on Twitter, Mr. Wine, who lost the election, wrote that she was never deterred from her work, even in the face of resistance.
PARIS  German companies are touting thousands of jobs for Ukrainian refugees. Portuguese firms promise language training for Ukrainians looking for work. In Lithuania, businesses are providing on-site child care to help Ukrainian women move seamlessly into the workplace.

As the wartime exodus from Ukraine grows larger, companies are rushing forward with offers of employment, from high-level engineering jobs to retail and factory work, to help those displaced by the fighting settle quickly  as well as to fill their own labor shortages.

The outreach is happening with a speed and scope that are rare for the European Union. Unlike refugees who have flooded Europe from wars in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, the three million Ukrainians fleeing Russian bombs are being placed on a fast track for protection and employment, as governments waive visa requirements and provide almost instant access to labor markets and education.

Thousands of jobs are being offered exclusively to Ukrainian refugees by on-the-ground recruitment agencies and through a vast network of online job boards that has sprung up across social media.
Saudi Aramco, the worlds largest oil company, says it plans to use its enormous profits from last year to double down on boosting oil output capacity and move into shale drilling, which has transformed the oil industry in the United States.

The company on Sunday reported net income of $110 billion for 2021, more than double that of the previous year. The earnings mostly reflected higher prices as oil demand recovered from the steep falls in the early stages of the pandemic.

The rich earnings are allowing the company to invest in meeting what the Saudi leadership believes will be a strong global need for oil and natural gas in the next few years, as well as in technologies that could reduce the overall carbon content of the fuels it sells in the future. For instance, Aramco is putting chips on low-carbon hydrogen, a potential multipurpose fuel, and in storing carbon dioxide underground.

But oil and natural gas remain the key focus for capital spending, which is expected to rise to as much as $50 billion in 2022 from $31.9 billion in 2021.
We will advocate against provisions of this proposal that deviate from that standard or are unnecessarily broad, said Tom Quaadman, executive vice president of the chambers Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness.

In a discussion with investors after the commission vote, Mr. Gensler said the S.E.C. would seriously consider the comments from companies, investors and the legal community before it enacted a disclosure rule. We look forward to the public comments, he said.

Some companies  including Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft  already report extensive data and have set deadlines by which they hope to have zero carbon emissions overall. But the proposed rule, which runs more than 500 pages, would create a framework for all publicly traded companies.

Companies would be required to conduct three levels of analysis of their impact on the climate  an analysis that is consistent with the way scientists consider the environmental impact of business activity.

In the first two levels, companies would have to disclose annually the direct impact of their operations on climate change in terms of the products they make and any indirect effects on the environment that come with using electricity, trucks or other vehicles.

The third level is more extensive and involves assessing the so-called carbon footprint of suppliers, business travel and any assets a company leases. The S.E.C. proposal would require only the largest companies to report this level of climate impact  known as Scope 3 emissions  but would allow individual companies to decide if the information would be material to investors.
Opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has accused Prime Minister Imran Khan of being a "foreign-funded agent who has been planted to destroy the country's economy, and foreign policy, The News International reported.

The PPP Chairman said that Khan had deliberately damaged the Kashmir cause by issuing statements in favour of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the 2019 elections in India.

He made the remarks while addressing a press conference on Sunday at the Zardari House along with former prime minister and opposition leader in the Senate Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, Senator Sherry Rehman, Faisal Karim Kundi and Shazia Marri.

Bilawal said that Khan cannot become Zulfikar Ali Bhutto with his rhetoric on foreign policy, saying that his policies did no good to the country.

"You are a foreign-sponsored agent who was planted in our system to destroy the country's economy, slow down the work on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), and isolate Pakistan at the international level with wrong policies," the PPP Chairman said, adding that the PTI government's policies had angered Pakistan's long-term allies.

"He is adopting the foreign policy of India. What is the difference between his foreign policy and that of India right now?

"You have distanced Pakistan from its long-term friends - the US and the European Union - with which we have trade relations worth billions of dollars," he said.
Its important to note that while I have used terms like obscure and little known, I really mean in American and English-speaking wine cultures. All of these grapes are known and loved by those who farm the vines and make the wine. The rest of us are just catching up.

Here are the 10 grapes, in alphabetical order. Some may be completely unknown to you, others you may have been fortunate enough to have encountered.

Altesse

The Savoie region of France and its neighbors have quite a few little-known grapes that make beautiful wines. Mondeuse, persan and gringet are three. But in my exploration of Savoie whites last year, I fell in love with wines made with altesse. They are fragrant and floral, and rich yet refreshing because of the varietys bracing acidity. Wines labeled Roussette de Savoie will be 100 percent altesse. Those from other Savoie appellations like Apremont will be mostly jacquere with altesse sometimes blended in, a combination that can also be lovely.

Areni

Armenia and Georgia sit next to each other on a wide isthmus between the Caspian and Black seas. This area is the Caucasus, thought by many to be one of the points where wine originated. The two countries have dozens of grapes worth getting to know better, but I want to highlight areni from Armenia, a red grape that I have had only a few times, but each time it was startlingly good  lightly tannic yet fresh with stony flavors of red fruits and great finesse. I dont have a ready source for Armenian wines, I seem to find them by chance. But Im looking forward to the next encounter.

Baga

This is the leading red grape of the Bairrada region of Portugal. It long had a reputation for making tough, tannic wines, and you can still find examples. These bottles may need years of aging for the tannins to relax. But many growers have recently found that by macerating the juice and the skins of the grapes for shorter periods, they can make fresher, more elegant wines that are vibrant and lively. Filipa Pato & William Wouters make excellent baga wines, as do Sidonio de Sousa, Casa de Saima and Dirk Niepoort.

Bobal

Here is a perfect example of a grape not getting a chance to show its stuff. For centuries its been one of the leading grapes of southeastern Spain, though it went ordinarily into nondescript bulk wines. But recently, producers have worked to demonstrate the potential of bobal when farmed conscientiously in the right soils. Ive found two in particular, Ponce and Mustiguillo, who have shown that bobal can be complex, nuanced, transparent and energetic in the right hands. I have also had an excellent natural bobal from Partida Creus in Catalonia.

Brachetto

I confess that I have not often been moved by brachetto, so I cannot speak unabashedly of its promise. Most brachettos are sparkling and sweet, and I havent found them particularly interesting, though they are popular in the Piedmont region of Italy. But I did recently drink a still, dry brachetto from Matteo Correggia that was fragrant and easygoing. I would not argue that it was profound or complex, but it was so delightfully delicious that I wanted to find more.
LOS ANGELES  When the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, a 300,000-square-foot tribute to Hollywood, opened here last fall, it was lauded for honoring, in an industry historically dominated by white men, the contributions that women, artists of color and people from many backgrounds have made to film, an essential American art form.

We want to ensure that we are taking an honest, inclusive and diverse look at our history, that we create a safe space for complicated, hard conversations, the museums director, Bill Kramer, said the day after the museum opened as he welcomed guests to a panel discussion titled Creating a More Inclusive Museum.

But one group was conspicuously absent in this initial celebration of diversity and inclusivity: the Jewish immigrants  white men all  who were central to founding the Hollywood studio system. Through dozens of exhibits and rooms, there is barely a mention of Harry and Jack Warner, Adolph Zukor, Samuel Goldwyn or Louis B. Mayer, to list just a few of the best-known names from Hollywoods history.

The omission, which came at a time of increasing concern about rising antisemitism across the country, soon drew complaints from Jewish leaders, concern from supporters of the new museum and a number of critical articles, including in Rolling Stone and The Forward, which ran a piece headlined Jews built Hollywood. So why is their history erased from the Academys new museum?
Top New York State officials said on Monday that health officials did not anticipate that the Omicron subvariant of the coronavirus known as BA.2 would spur a serious spike in cases in the state.

Parts of the state are experiencing small increases, though overall cases counts remain low, and BA.2, which is similar to the version of Omicron that recently swept the United States and has taken hold in many European countries, now accounts for 42 percent of cases in the state, the officials said. But the uptick came as no surprise after New York officials recently dropped mask rules and lifted economic restrictions, said Dr. Mary Bassett, the state health commissioner.

We dont expect to see a steep surge in cases in New York State, Dr. Bassett said during a news conference in Albany with Gov. Kathy Hochul  the governors first dedicated Covid-19 briefing since Feb. 27  stressing that state health officials remained vigilant. We will be watching, so I dont want to promise you that it wont change.

Ms. Hochul, a Democrat, echoed her caution. I just want everyone to know that weve never taken our foot off the gas when it comes to our preparedness for dealing with this pandemic, Ms. Hochul said. We never had a high-five moment and said its over. Were in a new phase.
The call came in on March 21, 1947  75 years ago today.

The police had gotten calls like it in the past: Something was wrong in the Collyer brownstone at Fifth Avenue and 128th Street.

Something was wrong there  the brownstone was crammed with stuff, by some accounts as much as 140 tons worth, more than the weight of a Boeing 757. There were stacks and stacks of newspapers, mountains of boxes, plus 14 pianos, a pipe organ, rusty toys and an ancient Ford Model T, to name only a few. The reality show Hoarders could have done any number of episodes about the Collyers if only they had lived a couple of generations later  and the camera crew had somehow managed to squeeze through it all.

The Collyers were famous, or infamous, eccentrics. They booby-trapped the brownstone to stop a would-be burglar in his tracks, as if the debris and the odor would not have done that. They had boarded up most of the windows. They had lived without electricity or gas since the 1930s. They apparently wore several layers of shirts, pants and coats in cold weather.

The police knew the brownstone was junky. But the caller said someone was dead  Homer Collyer, one of the reclusive brothers who had lived there for nearly 40 years. Homer had been a lawyer. The other brother, Langley Collyer, said he had been a pianist but had given up concertizing when he appeared before the virtuoso Ignacy Jan Paderewski at Carnegie Hall  and Paderewski got better reviews.

Who tipped off the police on that morning 75 years ago? Franz Lidz, in Ghosty Men, a book about the Collyers, said the caller had identified himself as Charles Smith. At the time, The New York Times reported that William Rodriquo, who lived a block away, had told the police he had made the call. Asked how he knew Homer was dead, The Times reported, he said two unidentified men had told him.

It took the police until midmorning to send an officer to check. On previous occasions Langley would appear when the patrolman knocked, The Times said. This time there was no answer.

The police could not go in through the front door. It had been barricaded with junk. They called in the Fire Department, which raised a ladder to a second-story window. According to Lidz, a patrolman climbed through, shined the beam of his flashlight over the mess and called down, One D.O.A. The body was Homers, in a chair.
And now two new forces, Covid-19 and information technology, have made coordination problems less of a concern than ever before.

The surprising success of working from home during the pandemic has demonstrated that its the work, not the face time, that matters. For example, if school starts later in the winter, that would prevent working parents from getting to the office at the usual hour. In the past that would have been a career killer. Now, for many, its business as usual.

Technology like Zoom, whose deployment was accelerated by Covid-19, makes it easier for individuals and institutions to set schedules as they see fit regardless of where Congress pushes the hour hand. With scheduling programs such as Doodle, Calendly and Google Calendar, you dont even need to know what time zones the people youre meeting with are in.

Rubio and his fellow sunshine preservationists are right about one thing: Springing ahead and falling back isnt a great idea. It induces stationary jet lag in the entire population twice every year. But if were going to standardize on one clock, Id prefer that it be standard time. Springing ahead permanently, and not returning that borrowed hour in the fall, would rob us of an hour forever, which seems regrettable.

Time zones were introduced in the 19th century for the convenience of railroads. Daylight saving time was likewise a command-and-control invention, put into effect during World War I in the hope of saving energy. (Whether it was successful in doing so is a matter of continuing debate.)

Technology and work arrangements have evolved to the point where we can rewind the clock to the preindustrial era in which peoples bodies were in sync with the rising and setting of the sun. There are still vestiges of that era: Parks and beaches are open from dawn to dusk. Muslims fast during daytime hours during Ramadan. In Judaism, there are 12 seasonal hours of daytime that are longer in the summer than in the winter. And farmers work by the sun when possible  although dairy farmers have to milk their cows according to when the milk trucks show up, which ties them to societys relentless metronome.

I ran some of this by Daniel Hamermesh, an economist who has written extensively on how people spend their time. He is an emeritus professor at the University of Texas, Austin, and at Royal Holloway University of London. He disagreed with the part about people setting their own schedules by taking advantage of information technology and new work arrangements. An overwhelming majority of production workers have jobs in which their schedules must be fairly rigid and coordinated, he wrote to me in an email.
I am afraid that my family members in Chechnya will soon have nothing to eat, and I havent been able to wire them money because remittance companies have halted or limited transfers in and out of Russia. My mother is preparing a small plot in her backyard to plant tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, peppers, parsley and dill.

My colleagues and friends in Moscow go out to protest, and many of them are detained. Some have gone to Ukraine to cover the war. I cannot compare their sacrifice to what Ukrainians, whose lives will never be the same again, are enduring. Still, I feel a growing obligation to them.

Here in the United States, I listened to a podcast in which a journalist explained that the sanctions are working  because Russians have come out to protest against their leaders. That was painful to hear. People in Russian cities are protesting, yes, but from what I've seen and heard, its not because of sanctions. Its because theyre against war, against killing innocent people. They have always been against it.

Yes, the sanctions are causing economic havoc, affecting the government and regular people. But the protesters are driven by their consciences. These are the eight people who came out on Red Square in Moscow in 1968, after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. These are the thousands of people who came out against the war in my Chechnya in the 1990s and 2000s. Thousands came out in the 2010s against Mr. Putin, too.

Of course, some Russians support their countrys aggression against Ukraine, are indifferent to it or are too scared to voice their opposition. Those who do speak up sometimes find themselves estranged from their parents, brothers and sisters who believe the Kremlins propaganda. They lose their jobs; they flee the country. They dont have Mr. Putins bombs dropping on them, but they know that if they oppose the war, theyll likely be severely punished for their bravery.

A Chechen man I know, whose brother and another relative are among the soldiers who went to Ukraine, told me that during the day, he watches the news and supports Ukraine wholeheartedly. Then one evening he got a text saying that his brother might have been killed. (He wasnt.) Its a terrible feeling, he told me, to think of his family members at war. He prays that theyll come back alive, without killing anybody.

In Phoenix, I am supported by my new friends and by the organization that invited me here. I get caring messages and letters every day.
Gail: Ukraines troops seem to be doing way better than people expected, and even if average Russian citizens arent allowed to know about that, they cant help noticing that their economy is cratering.

So what happens next? Im just terrified Putin will feel cornered and drop a nuclear bomb or do something else thats planet-destructive. Am I being paranoid?

Bret: The scary thing is that youre being completely rational.

Gail: Truly scary if Im being rational on foreign affairs.

Bret: If Russian forces are capable of firing on a nuclear power station, theyre capable of worse. And Russias battlefield incompetence, along with its mounting losses, is probably tempting Putin to use chemical weapons or even a tactical nuclear weapon to win a war his generals cant.

Gail: Yep, thats my nightmare.

Bret: On the other hand, its in Putins interest to make us think hes capable of anything: Its his version of Richard Nixons madman theory of international relations, in which a leader cultivates the appearance of being capable of anything in order to terrify his adversary into backing down. The best thing Biden can do is continue to provide our Ukrainian friends with all the means we can offer so they can defend themselves by themselves, without us getting into combat directly. I understand why Biden is reluctant to impose a no-fly zone, but I dont get why he wont supply the Ukrainian air force with fighter jets or any other equipment it asks for.

Gail: Meanwhile, on the domestic front, have you been keeping an eye on the primary elections? Theres a big Republican fight coming up this spring in Georgia, where Donald Trump and his folks are trying to nominate Herschel Walker for a Senate race. Despite allegations of violent behavior toward his ex-wife and his recent demand to know why there are still apes if evolution works the way scientists say it does. And then theres a primary this summer in Wyoming, where Liz Cheney is fighting to keep her House seat .

Bret: People often forget that Cheney actually supported Trump in the 2016 election, only to become a convinced anti-Trumper after she saw the guy in action. Her main challenger in this race, Harriet Hageman, went in the opposite direction: from fervent Never Trumper in 2016 to a fervent Trumper today. Cheney has a big campaign war chest, and she could still pull off a win, at least if Wyoming Democrats switch parties to vote for her in the primary.
The majority of appraisals on home purchases in the United States can now be conducted without an appraiser ever stepping foot into the home  a move that some lawmakers and real estate professionals say could address pervasive racism against Black homeowners in the appraisal industry.

In recent years, studies have shown that appraisers often undervalue homes, sometimes by hundreds of thousands of dollars, when the homeowner is Black or Latino. The remote desktop appraisal, in which an appraiser never meets a homeowner or has an opportunity to see their family portraits on the wall, could serve as a remedy. The move went into effect on Saturday.

Youre taking some of the potential for bias out of the equation, said Ken Wingert, head of federal government relations for Zillow Group, which issued an advisory document to the Federal Housing Finance Agency on this topic last year. More than 85 percent of appraisers are white, and 77 percent are male, according to data from the Appraisal Institute, a global professional association of appraisers.

Though reducing bias is an objective, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two of the worlds largest financial institutions, say they are implementing the change on most loans that they buy, for several reasons, including a shortage of appraisers.
Scout constantly looks at data posted by the Minor Planet Center, a clearinghouse in Cambridge, Mass., that notes the discoveries and positions of small space objects. Then the software tries to figure out if something is headed for Earth, Dr. Farnocchia said.

That Mr. Sarneczky was the first to spot 2022 EB5 came down to both skill and luck: He is an experienced asteroid hunter who was serendipitously in the right part of the world to see the object on its Earthbound journey. And his efficiency permitted Scout to kick into gear. Within the first hour of making his observations, Mr. Sarneczky processed his images, double-checked the objects coordinates and sent everything to the Minor Planet Center.

Using 14 observations taken in 40 minutes by a sole astronomer, Scout correctly predicted the time and place of 2022 EB5s encounter with Earths atmosphere. Nobody was around to see it, but a weather satellite recorded its final moment: an ephemeral flame quickly consumed by the night.

This isnt Scouts first successful prediction. In 2018, another diminutive Earthbound asteroid was discovered 8.5 hours before impact. Scout correctly pinpointed its trajectory, which proved instrumental to meteorite hunters who found two dozen remaining fragments at the lion-filled Central Kalahari Game Reserve in Botswana.

That wont be possible for 2022 EB5.

Unfortunately, it landed in the sea north of Iceland, so we wont be able to recover the meteorites, said Paul Chodas, the director of the Center for Near Earth Object Studies at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Dr. Chodas said we also shouldnt worry that this asteroid was detected only two hours before its arrival.

Tiny asteroids impact the Earth fairly frequently, more than once a year for this size, he said. And their sizes mean their impacts are typically without consequence. Dont sweat the small stuff, Dr. Chodas said.
A global race for the smaller arms is intensifying. Though such weapons are less destructive by Cold War standards, modern estimates show that the equivalent of half a Hiroshima bomb, if detonated in Midtown Manhattan, would kill or injure half a million people.

The case against these arms is that they undermine the nuclear taboo and make crisis situations even more dangerous. Their less destructive nature, critics say, can feed the illusion of atomic control when in fact their use can suddenly flare into a full-blown nuclear war. A simulation devised by experts at Princeton University starts with Moscow firing a nuclear warning shot; NATO responds with a small strike, and the ensuing war yields more than 90 million casualties in its first few hours.

No arms control treaties regulate the lesser warheads, known sometimes as tactical or nonstrategic nuclear weapons, so the nuclear superpowers make and deploy as many as they want. Russia has perhaps 2,000, according to Hans M. Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, a private group in Washington. And the United States has roughly 100 in Europe, a number limited by domestic policy disputes and the political complexities of basing them among NATO allies, whose populations often resist and protest the weapons presence.

Russias atomic war doctrine came to be known as escalate to de-escalate  meaning routed troops would fire a nuclear weapon to stun an aggressor into retreat or submission. Moscow repeatedly practiced the tactic in field exercises. In 1999, for instance, a large drill simulated a NATO attack on Kaliningrad, the Russian enclave on the Baltic Sea. The exercise had Russian forces in disarray until Moscow fired nuclear arms at Poland and the United States.

Dr. Kuhn of the University of Hamburg said the defensive training drills of the 1990s had turned toward offense in the 2000s as the Russian army regained some of its former strength.

Concurrent with its new offensive strategy, Russia embarked on a modernization of its nuclear forces, including its less destructive arms. As in the West, some of the warheads were given variable explosive yields that could be dialed up or down depending on the military situation.

A centerpiece of the new arsenal was the Iskander-M, first deployed in 2005. The mobile launcher can fire two missiles that travel roughly 300 miles. The missiles can carry conventional as well as nuclear warheads. Russian figures put the smallest nuclear blast from those missiles at roughly a third that of the Hiroshima bomb.
Russian soldiers captured by a Ukrainian volunteer medic unit will all be castrated, its founder and commander declared on Ukraine's national television.

The combat medic, whose volunteer team has been described as "medical angels" by the Western media, said "cockroaches" don't deserve the right to procreate, RT reported.

The shocking declaration came from Gennadiy Druzenko, a constitutional lawyer-turned-volunteer frontline medic in Ukraine.

Speaking to Ukrainian media in a live interview, he condemned the US for its reluctance to go to war with Russia on Ukraine's behalf, before commenting on the Russian military.

"Trust me, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's military hardware burns well. The corpses of putinoids' may stink, but they become unthreatening," he said, the report said.

Druzenko said that during the conflict, he had diverged from the principle that requires an injured enemy combatant to be treated as a regular patient.

He further implied that at the hands of his unit, Russian prisoners of war "will die in very large numbers" so that surviving Russians remember Ukraine with terror "like the Germans remembered Stalingrad", RT reported.

At this point, the host cut the interview short, stating that Russian soldiers would be "held accountable". Her co-host reminded the audience that Russia is being investigated for alleged war crimes in Ukraine.

On Monday, YouTube blocked the entire livestream segment, which included the interview, after it drew public attention.

Russia has launched a criminal investigation into the threats.

Druzenko heads the Pirogov First Volunteer Mobile Hospital, a unit of civilian medics that has been providing services to Ukrainian troops since 2014, when post-coup authorities in Kiev sent the Ukrainian military to quash a rebellion in eastern Ukraine.

He is an acclaimed figure at home and has received numerous awards for his work from the defence ministry and the National Security Council, the report said.
OneWeb, a British satellite internet company that canceled rocket launches with Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, is turning to SpaceX to send broadband satellites into space.

The alliance, announced on Monday by OneWeb, is unusual because SpaceX is currently OneWebs primary rival in the market for beaming high-speed internet from orbit to users on the ground. But a messy dispute with Russias space agency, Roscosmos, the companys former launch provider, prompted OneWeb to work with SpaceX. The move also underscores the growing isolation of Russias space industry from partners in the West following the initiation of Moscows war with its smaller neighbor.

The new agreement with SpaceX would allow OneWeb to finish building its constellation of 648 satellites in orbit and beam internet under a new timeline, Neil Masterson, OneWebs chief executive, said in a statement.

We thank SpaceX for their support, which reflects our shared vision for the boundless potential of space, he said.
In the beginning, it was just a T-shirt: basic, olive green; the kind worn under military fatigues or hauled out from the bottom of a wardrobe for workouts and weekends. Sometimes it was more brown than green. Sometimes there was a cross over the heart, with a coat of arms in the center.

But over the last four weeks, as the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has shed his former navy suits, white shirts and ties  the uniform of the politician  for the T-shirt, wearing it in his daily videos to his country; in his speeches to the European Parliament, to the British Parliament, to the American Congress; in his interview over the weekend with CNN (and his widely tweeted Zoom call with supporters Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis). It has become something more: a symbol of the strength and patriotism of the Ukrainian people, a host of values and purpose packed into an outline everyone knows.

Along with the photos of bodies lying lifeless on the streets, and bombed out theaters and apartment buildings, it will be one of the defining images of the conflict. It is a metaphor in cloth for the growing narrative of a Russian Goliath and Ukrainian David, of hubris and heroism, that is being played out in blood and arms.

The T-shirt is a reminder of Mr. Zelenskys origins as a regular guy; a connection between him and the citizen-soldiers fighting on the streets; a sign he shares their hardship. He could, as the commander in chief, have remained in his formal wear, as Churchill did when he visited the bombed-out sites of Coventry in his black homburg, overcoat and bow tie in World War II. That Mr. Zelensky choose instead to adopt what may be the single most accessible garment around  the T-shirt  is as clear a statement of solidarity with his people as any of his rhetoric.
This is now a place to make a long-term bet  to build connections with the cluster of schools in the area and create a new pipeline for hiring, said Tristan Jung, a Korean-born computer scientist who grew up in Toronto, spent six years working at Twitters headquarters in San Francisco and recently persuaded the company to build an engineering hub back home in Canada.

Over the last year, Twitter hired more than 100 engineers in Toronto, tripling its Canadian work force. Household internet names like DoorDash, eBay and Pinterest built similar technology hubs in the city, as did rising artificial intelligence companies like Cerebras, Groq and Recursion Pharmaceuticals.

This corner of Canada includes two universities known for generating top researchers and engineers: the University of Toronto, a short walk from downtown, and the University of Waterloo, Mr. Jungs alma mater, roughly an hour away by car or train. In the past, much of this talent migrated to the United States. But engineers and computer scientists trained in and around Toronto increasingly are staying put.

Or, like Mr. Jung, they are moving back home after years in the United States.

In Toronto, U.S.-based companies can also speed the arrival of new tech talent from other countries  a talent stream that has long been the lifeblood of the American tech industry. As the U.S. immigration system slowed and sputtered under the Trump administration, Canada introduced programs intended to bring skilled workers into a country that is already unusually diverse. Nearly 50 percent of Torontos residents were born outside the country, according to the city.

It is infinitely easier to bring that kind of talent into Canada, said Heather Kirkby, chief people officer at Recursion, a company that applies A.I. to drug discovery. A lot of companies have given up on immigration in the U.S. There are limits to whats possible.

In and around Toronto, local institutions are intent on feeding the tech ecosystem. Ontario recently passed a law that explicitly bars companies from enforcing noncompete clauses in employment contracts, encouraging employees to found their own start-ups. Backed by a $100 million donation from local business leaders, the University of Toronto is building a complex that will house A.I. and biotech companies.
The small town of Escolasticas, built on ancient volcanic stone, carves a ragged path through a high desert hillside in Central Mexico. Three hours northwest of Mexico City, this community of 3,000 people is surrounded by razor-sharp cactuses, like the nopal, and sun-scorched desert trees, like the palo dulce. Travelers could easily pass through the place without noticing more than its potholes and weathered storefronts.

On closer inspection, theres much more to see.
WASHINGTON  Republican lawmakers are misleadingly portraying Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Bidens Supreme Court pick, as uncommonly lenient on felons who possess images of child sexual abuse.

During Judge Jacksons confirmation hearing on Monday, and in social media posts before the hearing, several senators homed in on her judicial record on the issue. In doing so, they omitted the context of her remarks and sentencing decisions.

Heres a fact check.

What Was Said

Judge Jackson has a pattern of letting child porn offenders off the hook for their appalling crimes, both as a judge and as a policymaker. Shes been advocating for it since law school. This goes beyond soft on crime. Im concerned that this a record that endangers our children.

 Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, on Twitter last week

You also have a consistent pattern of giving child porn offenders lighter sentences. On average, you sentence child porn defendants to over five years below the minimum sentence recommended by the sentencing guidelines. And you have stated publicly that it is a mistake to assume that child pornography offenders are pedophiles.

 Senator Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, in the hearing on Monday
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman nominated to serve on the Supreme Court, vowed to make the words inscribed on its edifice  Equal Justice Under Law  a reality and not just an ideal in opening remarks to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday.

Judge Jackson, 51, began by first thanking God, and then the people who had brought her to the threshold of history. She started with her parents, recalling her fathers decision shortly after her birth to relocate from Florida to Washington, D.C., to escape racism and experience new freedom.

She noted that the spirit of public service they instilled in their children led her into a judicial career and inspired her younger brother to join the Army after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. He served two tours in the Middle East.

I cannot possibly thank them enough for everything theyve done for me, she said as they watched. I love you, Mom and Dad.
Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina used his opening statement at the Supreme Court confirmation hearing to air lingering grievances over the treatment of Brett M. Kavanaugh, in an apparent effort to justify Republicans tough questioning of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson and rebut suggestions that challenging the first Black woman nominated to the court amounted to racism.

Mr. Graham seized on Justice Kavanaughs explosive confirmation hearings in 2018 as an example of unfair treatment of a Supreme Court nominee, asserting that Judge Jackson was already being afforded more respect and could expect a more civil tone in four days of hearings this week.

None of us are going to do that to you, said Mr. Graham, referring to Justice Kavanaughs hearings. He noted that Republicans could not even get through an opening statement in those proceedings before being interrupted by liberal activists.

Judge Jackson has never been accused of committing sexual assault, as Justice Kavanaugh was during his confirmation hearings. Christine Blasey Ford said the judge had sexually assaulted her when both were teenagers, an allegation that Justice Kavanaugh vehemently denied. As the process drew to a close, Mr. Graham delivered a fiery speech to the Senate Judiciary Committee denouncing Democrats tactics as the most unethical sham since Ive been in politics.
Watch for several likely lines of Republican attack. Senator Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican and minority leader, has made it clear he wants Judge Jackson to state whether she would support adding seats to the court, as some progressive activists want. Republicans will also press her on her representation of terror detainees at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and her work as a public defender in general. Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, has raised questions about her sentencing of those accused of sex crimes involving children. Abortion rights are also certain to come up.

Senators will be probing to see how Judge Jackson responds when pressed. Does she remain composed? Do her answers address the questions? Does she have understandable responses to complex issues? How much is she willing to reveal of her judicial philosophy? Temperament is part of the judicial character and carries weight in the confirmation process. In recent decades, nominees have grown increasingly reticent about their views during their confirmation hearings, usually declining to prejudge any issues that might come before the court. But that will not stop senators from asking.

Senators will dig into Judge Jacksons judicial record, including some rulings she handed down as a Federal District Court judge that were overturned on appeal, such as a decision restraining a Trump administration immigration policy.

Republicans are also taking aim at Judge Jacksons service on the United States Sentencing Commission, a federal panel formed to review sentencing guidelines and recommend changes to increase transparency and reduce disparities. They say that she favored sentence reductions, but other members of the bipartisan commission say the recommendations were settled by consensus.

All eyes will be on how Judge Jackson sells herself for the job, both to the committee and to the American public. She and her Democratic supporters want her to come across as an exceptionally qualified woman who belongs on a court that has been lacking in diverse voices. Democrats point to her endorsement by law enforcement groups and conservative judicial colleagues as strong evidence that she should win bipartisan support. If Judge Jackson does a compelling job laying out her life story, she could make it more difficult for Republicans to challenge her even as most of them intend to oppose her.
Noting Ms. Aung San Suu Kyis possible culpability, Mr. Ba added, We should, however, be careful not to attribute these crimes solely to the Myanmars military junta.

Mr. Blinken said the Biden administration would continue to provide humanitarian aid to Rohingya refugees, the majority of whom have fled to neighboring Bangladesh, and would send $1 million to a U.N. fact-finding mission that is gathering evidence on Myanmars worst cases of atrocities since 2011.

American investigators conducted their own inquiry into the violence, interviewing more than 1,000 refugees who reported widespread and systematic attacks. More than half of the Rohingya interviewed witnessed sexual assaults, and three-quarters said they saw killings at the hands of the military. One of every five Rohingya interviewed witnessed a mass casualty event, where more than 100 people were killed or injured, Mr. Blinken said, citing the report.

The evidence also points to a clear intent behind these mass atrocities  the intent to destroy Rohingya, Mr. Blinken said.

The State Department stopped short of declaring the Myanmar atrocities to be genocide when it released the findings in 2018, in part to maintain an alliance with the government and keep neighboring China off balance in the region. More than two years later, at the end of the Trump administration, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared the systemic abuse and detention of Muslim Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region of China to be an act of genocide.

The Biden administration has also resisted declaring atrocities in Ethiopias northern Tigray province to be a genocide, although Mr. Blinken has warned of cases of ethnic cleansing against civilians there. And just last week, Mr. Blinken said he believed that war crimes had been committed by Russian forces in their invasion of Ukraine but said investigators still had not concluded that officially.

Still, Mr. Blinken mentioned both conflicts on Monday. Shortly after his speech, the State Department also announced that it had designated Sudans Central Reserve Police as a human rights violator after accusations of rape, torture and other abuses against pro-democracy protesters surfaced starting late last year, including as recently as last week.
Every senator looks in the mirror and sees a future president, the old saw goes.

So as the Senate Judiciary Committee convenes this week to consider the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for a Supreme Court seat, well be watching the panel not just for probing questions about her judicial philosophy but also for clues to 2024.

Four Republican senators on the committee have flashed signs of larger aspirations, and they share a lot else in common. All are men who are roughly within a decade of one another in age. All have one or two Ivy League degrees. Each has sought to mold the Republican Party in his own image. And all approach these hearings knowing they are just as much onstage as Jackson is.

For the supremely ambitious, a Supreme Court nomination battle is an irresistible opportunity. Its a chance to build email lists, rustle up campaign cash and impress base voters. Remember how Kamala Harris used the Brett Kavanaugh hearings to preview her 2020 presidential run?

Its still early to be thinking about the 2024 presidential race, but candidates are already engaged in shadow jockeying, said Bob Vander Plaats, an influential Iowa conservative. Everybodys waiting to see what Trump does.
One must bear in mind that an international military tribunal takes at least two years before it can be established and start functioning.

by Dr. Ruwantissa Abeyratne in Montreal

Ye are my witnessesIsiah 43:10

Every year politicians say never again. Now I see that these words are worthless. In Europe a people are being destroyedPresident Volodymyr Zelensky addressing the German Bundestag

As one enters the portals of the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC one notices on the wall the aforementioned prophesy of the scriptures. At my unforgettable visit there, which left the most profound impact in me  an experience I have not had in all my travels - I was left with a mixed sense of intense sadness and unbridled anger  that the world stood by and allowed the travesty of the Holocaust to happen. I was profoundly moved to see youngsters holding hands and crying at various exhibits of the Museum. At the same time, I was glad that I was carrying the burden of a legal education which left me with the hope that whatever happens, justice will eventually prevail.

After 76 years, Nuremberg has seemingly reappeared  and this time in the context of the ongoing war in Ukraine. While President Biden has called President Putin of Russia a war criminal, contemporaneously The Guardian has reported:  The former UK prime ministers Gordon Brown and Sir John Major are among those calling for the creation of a new international tribunal to investigate Putin and those who helped plan his invasion of Ukraine. They have joined a campaign  along with leading names from the worlds of law, academia, and politics  aiming to put the Russian president and others on trial. The campaign has been backed by 740,000 people demanding a Nuremberg type tribunal. Various parts of news media report atrocities perpetrated by the Russian forces on Ukrainians and their property while The Guardian goes on to say that Ukrainian officials accused Russian forces of further atrocities in the besieged city of Mariupol, including an airstrike on a theatre where hundreds of displaced people were believed to have been sheltering, and a strike on a swimming pool where pregnant women and young children had gathered. Russian forces were also accused of shelling a convoy of cars of civilians fleeing the city.

One must bear in mind that an international military tribunal takes at least two years before it can be established and start functioning. Firstly, there has to be international consensus. Then a Charter has to be drawn up and agreed upon containing the rules and procedure of the tribunal. The Charter forms the seminal and integral portion of the trials as it has to set out in limine the elements of crimes to be considered. In the context of Nuremberg, the Charter defined three categories of crimes: crimes against peace (including planning, preparing, starting or waging wars of aggression or wars in violation of international agreements), war crimes (including violations of customs or laws of war, including improper treatment of civilians and prisoners of war) and crimes against humanity (including murder, enslavement or deportation of civilians or persecution on political, religious or racial grounds). It was determined that civilian officials as well as military officers could be accused of war crimes.

The concept of the Nuremberg Tribunal had its genesis in December 1942, when the Allied leaders of Great Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union issued the first joint declaration officially noting the mass murder of European Jewry and resolving to prosecute those responsible for violence against civilian populations. The Nuremberg Trials, involving eventually over a thousand employees, took approximately 2 years from conceptual stage to functional stage, as evidence had to be collected; witnesses had to be located and interviewed; judges and prosecuting counsel had to be appointed and the courts infrastructure had to be properly put in place.

The Nuremberg Trials were meant, not merely to administer justice and punish guilty Nazi war criminals. It was, a fortiori a seminal pronouncement of morals and ethics that brought to bear profound issues which were calculated to guide future generations. British Judge Norman Birkett, sitting in judgment said that Nuremberg was the greatest trial in history. American prosecutor Justice Robert Jackson said:  This trial has a scope that is utterly beyond anything that has ever been attempted that I know of in judicial history. Judge Jackson explained his statement by observing that in a single litigation, a whole continent was involved with innumerable players and multifarious instances. The defendants were not all born and brought up in Germany. On the contrary, they were from different countries and that effectively precluded a possible assumption that the Nazis had targeted a particular race. The victims were persecuted, tortured, and killed based on their ethnicity, religion, political beliefs, or sexual orientation. The Nazis had been involved in annihilating, in the cruellest possible manner, not only Jews, but also Russians, Belarusians, Poles, Ukrainians and Serbs, Romanis (gypsies), LGBT people (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender), the mentally or physically disabled, mentally ill; Soviet POWs, Roman Catholics, Protestants, Jehovah's Witnesses, people of the Bahai Faith, among others.

Trials and judgments do not merely render punishments on offenders but also offer lessons to future generations. In this context, according to President Zelensky, The Nuremberg Trials and Judgments seem to have lost their mark. Be that as it may, The Nuremberg judgment resonated, 76 years ago, that a global war would probably annihilate the human race. The attendant reasoning was based on the covert premise that individual acts of henchman that go to further the persuasions of an ideologue could be the pivot to devastation and destruction. All this would hinge on individual power and action. This should not be so. Dr. Rudi Teitel, Professor of Comparative Law at New York Law School and Visiting Professor, London School of Economics, Global Governance, in her book Humanitys Law (Oxford University Press: 2011) says: sovereignty is no longer a self-evident foundation for international law. This shift is driving the move from the State-centric normative discourse of global politics  which had prevailed until recently  to a far ranging, transnational discourse in which references to changed subjectivity have consequences. That new discourse is constructed more among humanity law lines. This statement is consistent with the pronouncement of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia which in its adjudication of Prosecutor v. Dusko Tadic said: a state-sovereignty oriented approach has been gradually supplanted by a human being-oriented approach.

Thomas Jefferson once wrote that the purpose of government is to enable the people of a nation to live in safety and happiness. Government exists for the interests of the governed, not for the governors. As Benjamin Franklin wrote, "In free governments the rulers are the servants and the people their superiors and sovereigns." The ultimate powers in a society, therefore, rest in the people themselves, and they should exercise those powers, either directly or through representatives, in every way they are competent and that is practicable. There are two broad reasons for this shift: the natural historical progression of world affairs which shifted trends chronologically; and the growing instances of torture, rape, and killings in circumstances of internal strife and military warfare.

This shift led to the solid grounding of international society in an area of law called humanitarian law, encompassing human rights. From there came international criminal justice. Spawned by the Nuremberg rules which were formulated on the basic observation of Justice Robert Jackson who said: Of course, it was, under the law of all civilized peoples, a crime for a man with his bare knuckles to assault another. How did it come that multiplying this crime by a million, and adding firearms to bare knuckles, made it a legally innocent act?

International criminal justice has, through its ancestor  the Nuremberg rules made crimes against humanity an arm of positive law. The younger generation should be nurtured on this fundamental truth.

In writing this article, the author extracted some text from an earlier essay of his appearing in this newspaper.
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, 51, is appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee this week after being nominated by President Biden to replace Justice Stephen Breyer, who announced his retirement earlier this year.

Education

Much of Judge Jacksons early career was informed by experiences as a student at Harvard University and Harvard Law School, where she confronted questions of race and identity within the most elite circles of higher education. She earned her law degree in 1996.

Professional history

After graduation, she held three clerkships with federal judges, including in 1999 as a clerk to Justice Breyer, who she is now under consideration to succeed more than 20 years later.

From 2005-2007 she also worked as a federal public defender, a role in which she helped Khi Ali Gul, an Afghan detainee held at Guantanamo Bay, petition for his release. If confirmed, Judge Jackson would be the modern courts first justice with experience as a public defender.
China Eastern Airlines has a history of safe flying and has gone nearly two decades without a deadly crash, according to aviation safety databases. But in its earlier history, the airline had a series of disasters.

The last deadly Chinese Eastern crash was in 2004, when a Bombardier CRJ-200 flying from the city of Baotou in Inner Mongolia to Shanghai plunged into a frozen lake shortly after takeoff, killing 55 people. The disaster was caused by ice on the wings, safety regulators said.

In 1989, just over a year after the airline was founded, an Antonov AN-24RV lost engine power on takeoff from Shanghai, killing 34. In 1993, a China Eastern crew member accidentally deployed slats on the wings of a McDonnell Douglas MD-11, forcing an emergency landing at a U.S. Air Force base in Alaska. Two passengers died.
Rescue workers searched a remote mountain valley in southern China on Tuesday for any survivors in the crash of a passenger plane carrying 132 people that plunged more than 20,000 feet in just over a minute.

No survivors have been found so far, a state broadcaster said on Tuesday, the morning after Mondays crash.

China Eastern Airlines, which operated the Boeing 737-800, and the central government are investigating the cause of the crash, which is likely to be the countrys biggest aviation disaster in more than a decade.

Chinas air safety record has been strong in the last two decades but the crash will add another public safety concern for President Xi Jinping, whose government has been grappling with its biggest outbreak of Covid-19 cases since early 2020. For Boeing, the accident could renew the regulatory scrutiny that followed two crashes in recent years involving another plane, the 737 Max.
According to the state-owned China News Service, a resident from the village of Molang, whom the news service cited by only his last name, Liu, said he rode his motorbike to the site with three other villagers to see if they could help with the rescue. They saw parts of the plane scattered on the site, strips of cloth hanging on trees, and a fire that stretched across more than 10 acres. But they didnt see any remains, he told the news service.

In an interview on state-owned TV, Ou Ling, a fire department official in Guangxi, noted that the crash site is a depression that is surrounded by mountains on three sides, adding that there is no electricity at the site.

The remote nature of the site makes it inaccessible to large rescue equipment, he said.

He said that public security officials had arrived to secure the scene and that, in order to avoid endangering rescue workers, unnecessary rescue forces have been withdrawn and are now on standby, while emergency teams such as firefighters and armed police were retained on site to carry out work.

Nearly 1,000 firefighters and 100 members of a local militia were dispatched by Chinese officials to the crash site. As night fell, the forecast called for rain and heavy winds, weather sure to hamper the rescue effort.

At the flights scheduled destination, Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, some 150 miles away, friends and relatives who had gone there to greet arriving passengers from the flight now waited for news of any survivors among the 132 onboard.

Claire Fu and Li You contributed research.
Hong Kong announced on Monday that it would lift its ban on flights from nine countries on April 1, just one of the restrictions it plans to relax as experts and government officials say the worst of an Omicron-driven wave might have passed.

Hong Kongs leader, Carrie Lam, said on Monday that vaccinated residents would only have to quarantine for seven days, down from 14, upon arrival from overseas. The isolation for travelers had been one of the strictest in the world and had discouraged many from returning to the Chinese territory of 7.4 million people.

She also suspended plans to have every person in the city undergo P.C.R. testing and moved up a deadline to receive booster shots to May 31. The extra dose will be necessary to enter public places, including supermarkets and shopping malls.

For most of the pandemic, Hong Kong has sealed itself off from the rest of the world and required travelers to quarantine for as long as three weeks in a hotel, mirroring policies in mainland China.
Space is a sector that China has invested in heavily as part of its broader military modernization and efforts for technological advancement, said Jennifer Jackett, a security researcher focused on technology at the Australian National University. This reflects the fact that space is a critical domain for both military capability and civil applications.

Some security analysts said that Australia had recognized, with both Russia and China advancing their ability to damage or destroy satellites, that space vulnerabilities must be managed for Australias own security and in the case of an attack on Americas satellite network.

The relative power of the United States compared to China continues to be a concern, with the war in Ukraine leading some to worry that demands in Europe will draw American attention and resources away from Asia, or lead China to challenge the United States more directly.

There is a growing concern that reliance on large U.S. systems could leave us quite vulnerable if they were to be targeted in a confrontation, said John Blaxland, a defense expert at the Australian National University. There is a lot of emphasis on smaller  and greater volume and greater frequency of launching satellites  that are going to be able to give Australia that greater resilience, and redundancy.

The United States seems determined to prove that its commitment is unwavering. Several senior officials from the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, based in Honolulu, will be in Australia this week, along with senior commanders from the American Space Force. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken visited Australia and Fiji last month.

When the Trump administration announced its intention to create a Space Force in 2018, the idea drew an uneven response, including inside the American military, with some questioning its necessity and cost.

But the Biden administration, after taking office last year, said it would not review the decision to create the force, and it has cemented itself as the sixth, and smallest, branch of the U.S. military.
The National Health Service in England began offering a second Covid-19 vaccine booster on Monday to around five million people who are considered especially vulnerable to the disease.

Anyone in England over 75 years old, anyone over 12 who has a suppressed immune system, and anyone residing in a nursing home, can now receive a second booster dose, preferably about six months after their first one, the health service said, referring to the new dose as a spring booster. The British health minister, Sajid Javid, announced the move Sunday on Twitter.

We must ensure those at greatest risk of serious illness from Covid are protected, and spring boosters will top up peoples immunity, the countrys vaccine minister, Maggie Throup, said in a statement issued by the health service.

Health authorities in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are also offering additional booster shots. Providers will offer patients either the Pfizer-BioNTech or the Moderna vaccine.
It is not the first time the United States has warned that Russia could hack U.S. companies as the war rages in Ukraine. Ms. Neuberger said Monday's warning was an attempt by the Biden administration to raise awareness of Russias ability to conduct a digital assault against American infrastructure.

Ms. Neuberger said the administration recently observed preparatory activity for potential hacking of American infrastructure, and had shared that information with companies in a classified briefing last week. Such activity can include scanning websites for vulnerabilities. Ms. Neuberger made clear there was still an active threat of Russian hacking against critical infrastructure, including oil and energy companies, and hospital systems.

Theres so much more we need to do to have the confidence that weve locked our digital doors, particularly for the critical services Americans rely on, Ms. Neuberger said, noting that most American critical infrastructure is managed by the private sector. Those owners and operators have the ability and responsibility to harden the systems and networks we all rely on.

The White House last week briefed more than 100 companies in the United States on the best ways to defend against a cyberattack. The administration on Monday directed companies to harden your cyber defenses immediately, recommending measures such as enabling multifactor authentication, ensuring offline backups of data and educating employees on hacking methods.

You have the power, the capacity, and the responsibility to strengthen the cybersecurity and resilience of the critical services and technologies on which Americans rely, Mr. Biden said in the statement.
LONDON  In her first public comments since arriving back in Britain, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman freed from detention in Iran last week, on Monday appealed for others unjustly held in Tehran to be allowed to leave, saying that she herself should have been released a long time ago.

I cannot be happier than this that I am here, but also this should have happened six years ago, said Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe, speaking at a news conference four days after being flown to Britain from Iran, where she had been held since making a visit to her parents there in 2016.

Looking composed despite her ordeal, Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe pleaded for the release of others left in Tehran including Morad Tahbaz, who holds U.S., British and Iranian citizenship, and whose eldest daughter, Roxanne, spoke at the news conference in Parliament. Without that, freedom will never be complete, Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe said.

It has been cruel what happened to me, Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe said. But, she added, although her release had taken a long time, others remained in prison and she was the lucky one who got to be recognized internationally.
LVIV, Ukraine  Eduard Zarubin, a doctor, has lost everything. But he does still have his life.

His street is destroyed, and his city, the southern port of Mariupol, is so far the greatest horror of Russias scorched-earth war against Ukraine. Russian missiles decimated a theater that sheltered more than 1,000 people. Another attack hit an art school where children were hiding in the basement.

Water is so scarce that people are melting snow. Heating, electricity and gas have disappeared. People are chopping trees for firewood to fuel outdoor cooking stoves shared by neighbors. To walk from one street to another often means passing corpses, or fresh graves dug in parks or grassy medians.

On Sunday, Russia gave an ultimatum that Ukrainian fighters in the city must give up, or face annihilation. Ukrainian officials refused. Evacuation buses, including some carrying children, were shelled on Monday, according to Ukrainian officials. Thousands of people have escaped the city, including Dr. Zarubin, but more than 300,000 others remain, even as fighting has moved onto the streets of some neighborhoods.

If the war ends and we win, and get rid of them, then I think that there will be excursions in Mariupol, just like there are to Chernobyl, he said of the abandoned site of a Soviet-era nuclear calamity. So that people understand what kind of apocalyptic things can occur.
An estimated 151,000 to 1,033,000 Iraqis died in the first three to five years of conflict. In total, the war caused at least one hundred thousand civilian deaths, as well as tens of thousands of military deaths (see estimates below). Many deaths occurred as a result of the insurgency and civil conflicts between 2004 and 2007. Subsequently, the War in Iraq of 2013 to 2017, which is considered a domino effect of the invasion and occupation, caused at least 155,000 deaths, in addition to the displacement of more than 3.3 million people within the country -Wikipedia

by Raj Gonsalkorale

The cruelty meted out to Ukraines people by the Russians cannot be justified by any yardstick. Much has been written about the war and the Russian onslaught, this article is not written to add to the wide coverage this event has already got and is till getting. The suffering of the Ukrainian people is abominable, and the Russian aggressors deserve total condemnation by all peace-loving people of the world.

That said, it is important to consider whether similar aggressions by other nations have received the almost daily and even hourly media coverage that this aggression is receiving particularly in the Western media. This is not to say the plight of Ukrainians should not be highlighted to the world. It must and the world must be thankful it is being highlighted.

One cannot but draw a comparison regarding aggression by the USA, UK and Australia against innocent Iraqis on the pretext of looking for nonexistent weapons of mass destruction in 2003. Innocent Iraqis were not fortunate enough for the rest of the world to witness their plight from the living rooms of a wide TV audience as is happening with the Ukraine situation. Western powers invaded Iraq and hence it was not news to be aired to their audiences. A justification was that a cruel dictator had to be removed even if, in the process, it killed hundreds and thousands of innocent people.

The following is cited from Wikipedia to remind readers who may have a faltering memory of the events surrounding the Iraqi war. Quote an estimated 151,000 to 1,033,000 Iraqis died in the first three to five years of conflict. In total, the war caused at least one hundred thousand civilian deaths, as well as tens of thousands of military deaths (see estimates below). The majority of deaths occurred as a result of the insurgency and civil conflicts between 2004 and 2007. Subsequently, the War in Iraq of 2013 to 2017, which is considered a domino effect of the invasion and occupation, caused at least 155,000 deaths, in addition to the displacement of more than 3.3 million people within the country. The Iraq War was a protracted armed conflict in Iraq from 2003 to 2011 that began with the invasion of Iraq by the United Statesled coalition which overthrew the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein. The conflict continued for much of the next decade as an insurgency emerged to oppose the coalition forces and the post-invasion Iraqi government. US troops were officially withdrawn in 2011. The United States became re-involved in 2014 at the head of a new coalition, and the insurgency and many dimensions of the armed conflict continue today. The invasion occurred as part of the George W. Bush administration's War on Terror following the September 11 attacks, despite there being no connection between the attacks and Iraq. In October 2002, Congress granted President Bush the power to decide whether to launch any military attack in Iraq. The Iraq War began on 20 March 2003, when the US, joined by the UK, Australia, and Poland, launched a "shock and awe" bombing campaign.

Iraqi forces were quickly overwhelmed as coalition forces swept through the country. The invasion led to the collapse of the Ba'athist government; Saddam Hussein was captured during Operation Red Dawn in December of that same year and executed three years later.

The power vacuum following Saddam's demise and mismanagement by the Coalition Provisional Authority led to widespread civil war between Shias and Sunnis, as well as a lengthy insurgency against coalition forces. Many of the violent insurgent groups were supported by Iran or al-Qaeda in Iraq, with Iran giving support for predominantly Shia militias battling Al-Qaeda and other Sunni groups. The United States responded with a build-up of 170,000 troops in 2007. This build-up gave greater control to Iraq's government and military, and was judged a success by many. In 2008, President Bush agreed to a withdrawal of all US combat troops from Iraq. The withdrawal was completed under President Barack Obama in December 2011.

The United States based its rationale for the invasion on claims that Iraq had a weapons of mass destruction (WMD) program and posed a threat to the United States and its allies. Additionally, some US officials falsely accused Saddam of harbouring and supporting al-Qaeda. In 2004, the 9/11 Commission concluded there was no evidence of any relationship between Saddam's regime and al-Qaeda. No stockpiles of WMDs or active WMD program were ever found in Iraq. Bush administration officials made numerous claims about a purported Saddamal-Qaeda relationship and WMDs that were based on sketchy evidence rejected by intelligence officials. The rationale for war faced heavy criticism both domestically and internationally. Kofi Annan, then the Secretary-General of the United Nations, called the invasion illegal under international law, as it violated the UN Charter. The 2016 Chilcot Report, a British inquiry into the United Kingdom's decision to go to war, concluded that not every peaceful alternative had been examined, that the UK and US had undermined the United Nations Security Council in the process of declaring war, that the process of identification for a legal basis of war was "far from satisfactory", and that, taken together, the war was unnecessary. When interrogated by the FBI, Saddam Hussein confirmed that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction prior to the US invasion unquote

On 5 November 2006, Saddam Hussein was convicted by an Iraqi court of crimes against humanity related to the 1982 killing of 148 Iraqi Shi'a and sentenced to death by hanging. He was executed on 30th December 2006. No such charges were brought against the leaders who invaded Iraq on false pretenses and killed hundreds and thousands of innocent people in the process.

There have been many invasions and wars from time immemorial. The sovereignty of nations has been violated and innocent people in their millions have died in the hands of the invaders and the defenders. Homes, livelihoods, families have been destroyed and human beings have heaped havoc on fellow human beings showing no sympathy or empathy on fellow human beings. The selectivity of reporting and the sensationalisation of events have been even more galling as what is newsworthy appears to have been racially motivated and driven.

Collectively the number of innocent people who died in the recent conflicts in Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Pakistan very likely exceeds 1 million people.

Wikipedia estimates of the total number of deaths in the Syrian Civil War, by opposition activist groups, to be between 494,438 and about 606,000 as of June 2021.

The Brown Universitys Watson Institute for International & Public Affairs (https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/costs/human) states that quote, at least 929,000 people have been killed by direct war violence in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, and Pakistan.

The number of people who have been wounded or have fallen ill because of the conflicts is far higher, as is the number of civilians who have died indirectly as a result of the destruction of hospitals and infrastructure and environmental contamination, among other war-related problems. Thousands of United States service members have died in combat, as have thousands of civilian contractors. Many have died later on from injuries and illnesses sustained in the war zones.

Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and contractors have been wounded and are living with disabilities and war-related illnesses. Allied security forces have also suffered significant casualties, as have opposition forces. Far more of the people killed have been civilians. More than 387,000 civilians have been killed in the fighting since 2001.

Millions of people living in the war zones have also been displaced by war. The U.S. post-9/11 wars have forcibly displaced at least 38 million people in and from Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, the Philippines, Libya, and Syria. This number exceeds the total displaced by every war since 1900, except World War II unquote.

World war 2 killed more than 70 million people. The number displaced probably runs into many times this number.

No doubt there will be many other research publications that will add to these numbers. All these however will record the number of lives lost and not the number or cost of families destroyed, displaced, homes turned into rubble and the end to the dreams of millions of men, women, and children who only would have wanted to live normal lives on this planet.

Mans inhumanity to man is immeasurable. There is no end in sight.

Ukraine is sadly another episode in this inhumanity. It is not the first and it will not be the last. All the pontificating nations will continue to do so in international fora, and the media will air the horrors inflicted on human beings, often selectively, and the fortunate ones in the world will keep watching these from the comfort of their living rooms. The international bodies like the United Nations will debate these invasions and will remain impotent, unable to do anything to stop the killings and the destruction until the big powers involved decide to call a halt to these when whatever objectives they had in invading the sovereignty of a nation have been achieved.
He told U.S. lawmakers that he had a dream, invoking Martin Luther King Jr. to describe Ukraines fight against the Russian invasion. He said to the British Parliament that his country would fight until the end, in forests and fields, a vow resonant of Winston Churchills exhortations against Nazism. To members of the German Parliament he spoke of a new wall dividing Europe, echoing the Berlin Wall of the Cold War.

The passionate speeches, delivered remotely by President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine in his now-ubiquitous military-issue shirt, are part of a vigorous rhetorical effort to rally international support  for arms, or aid to his country, or sanctions against Russia.

Mr. Zelensky, a former comedian who ran a populist campaign to become president in 2019, is no stranger to performing, and his social-media missives and speeches have transformed him into a global symbol of his countrys resistance to Russian aggression.

The allusions, metaphors and allegories made by Mr. Zelensky point to a tailored strategy to emotionally appeal to nations and institutions and their histories.
CAIRO  Tunisias president, Kais Saied, has amassed nearly absolute power over the last eight months  dismissing Parliament, arresting opponents, ruling by decree  in the name of the Tunisian people. On a self-appointed mission to rescue ordinary Tunisians from their corrupt political system and sinking economy, he called upon the people to join a national dialogue this winter in which they would help shape a new constitution.

But only about half a million Tunisians, out of a population of nearly 12 million, participated in the two-month online consultation by the time it ended on Sunday night, according to government statistics.

The low turnout may have reflected problems of access; much of the population lacks an internet connection, particularly in rural areas. But Tunisians and analysts said many people have lost interest in Mr. Saieds reforms as his promises, greeted with euphoria after his July 25 power grab, have gone unfulfilled.

This system is both fake and crazy, said Zayneb Chouchene, 23, an economics student in Tunis who said she had ignored several text messages from the government to promote the online dialogue. In the end, I doubt that this process will result in anything concrete. I dont think Kais Saied can change anything, really.
Sorting out what is real in Ukraine and what is misinformation designed to provoke an emotional response is hard enough for professional journalists. For everyday people seeing photos and videos cascade through their social media feeds, it is even harder.

But the stakes can be high for anyone with an audience, no matter how big or small, if sharing false information  reposting a link on Facebook or retweeting a story that feels urgent  means unwittingly playing into war propaganda. Experts in misinformation say everyone has a responsibility to pause and do a bit of work to verify content before sharing it, even if it would benefit the side you support in a conflict.

It matters because we all have the right to truth, and the more we do to pollute the information environment, the worse its going to get, said Joan Donovan, the research director at Harvards Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, which has studied the proliferation of misinformation.

Claire Wardle, a co-founder of First Draft News, a nonprofit that focuses on misinformation, said your credibility matters, even if youre not a journalist.
Saigon Social was originally set to open March 13, 2020, just three days before Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered all non-essential businesses to close their doors. In other words, Saigon Socials grand opening happened at the worst possible moment. It opened too late to be eligible for the Paycheck Protection Program, a signature part of the federal relief effort. But it was too early for Ms. Nguyen to have a loyal customer base and a takeout friendly menu to help weather constantly evolving restrictions. I slept at the restaurant every night that first month because I was so depressed, Ms. Nguyen said. New York is a restaurant city, and Ms. Nguyen has been a rising star in it. She spent years working for the acclaimed chef Daniel Boulud. She has participated in the prestigious Bocuse dOr cooking contest in France, and has made regular TV appearances on the Food Network and Vices Munchies. Saigon Social is her first restaurant on her own.

But running a food business in New York means operating on extremely thin margins, and sometimes the smallest disruptions can be the difference between winning acclaim and closing for good. We spent three months with Ms. Nguyen this winter as the arrival of the Omicron variant threatened the survival of a restaurant that was already battered by the pandemic. She had to figure out how to keep cash flowing while her dining room was closed and staff tested positive for the virus. She bartered for tests with alcohol, and reinstated masking rules inside the restaurant. On top of that, she navigated racial violence in a neighborhood that is home to a large Asian diaspora. Two years after first opening its doors, Ms. Nguyen was still trying to find a way to transform the restaurant into what she had originally envisioned. As spring approached, the restaurant changed drastically  one more time.

Having to turn so many diners away is heart wrenching. The streets emptied in December as cold weather set in and fear again gripped the city. Virus case counts were exploding, and Saigon Socials dine-in business fell to a trickle.

Earlier in the pandemic, Saigon Social relied on takeout and delivery orders. Catering also became the restaurants largest revenue source, which allowed Ms. Nguyen to shut the dining room when Omicron hit to minimize potential exposures. Having to turn so many diners away is heart wrenching, but its the right thing to do, she said. I cant risk it.

At-home Covid tests quickly ran short, so Ms. Nguyen canvassed her neighbors, offering to trade shots of Fernet Branca for spare kits. Testing became a daily ritual at the restaurant. Dont worry, I used to work in a hospital, Ms. Nguyen would tell her employees. As an interpreter.

Catering orders came in only once or twice a week, and on some days, takeout sales would barely exceed $500, nowhere close to being able to cover labor costs. Negative test results would often be the only good news Ms. Nguyen would hear most days. She ended many nights by clinking glasses of amaro with friends: Fernet about it!

Even as shes going broke, she still cooks for us. Ms. Nguyen is part of a cultural vanguard of influential Asian Americans. Philip Lim, a fashion designer, and the comedian Ronny Chieng are friends and customers. Her inner circle, as she describes it, is an Asian restaurant girl boss crew filled with successful business owners from around the city.

Ms. Nguyens community also extends to elderly people and others in need around her neighborhood. She produces hundreds of meals a week for Heart of Dinner and Feed Forward, nonprofit organizations focused on hunger. These catering jobs helped Ms. Nguyen to keep the restaurant afloat. You feel that youre helping the community, but its actually the community thats saving me, Ms. Nguyen said.

Early in the pandemic, Ms. Nguyen befriended En Bao Chen, sometimes bringing him meals as he collected recyclables from garbage cans outside her restaurant. Even as shes going broke, she still cooks for us, Mr. Chen said.

Mr. Chen, 78, was assaulted on the street several times in the past year  part of an alarming wave of anti-Asian violence. In one case last month, a woman was followed to her apartment in Chinatown and fatally stabbed more than 40 times. It was a shocking tragedy, close to home for Ms. Nguyen in several ways.

The killing took place just blocks from Ms. Nguyens apartment. Just a month after, she was also followed home by a stranger. She was able to get inside her apartment and bolt the door before anything could happen, but the experience shook her. I try to go home a little earlier now, said Ms. Nguyen, who has since asked friends to walk with her. Its scary out there.

Ive been a one man band from the very beginning. Most nights, Ms. Nguyen is the last one to close the restaurant, pulling down the gates. Shes also routinely the one to open it up a few hours later. Normally a restaurant would have a chef in charge of the back of the house, running the kitchen and cooks. A manager would direct the front, overseeing servers, decor, reservations and everything else not related to food. At Saigon Social, Ms. Nguyen often does it all. Ive been a one man band from the very beginning, Ms. Nguyen said. The economic recovery during the pandemic left a severe shortage of workers, including in the service industry. According to the Labor Department, in January there were more than 11 million job openings around the country, an increase of 61 percent from just before the pandemic. Ms. Nguyen simply hasnt been able to find enough qualified people to work for her. Even when there were lines of diners spilling out the door last summer, she was forced to limit service. So when Omicron began spreading, she closed the dining room, rather than risk exposing her few employees to infection. Some got sick anyway.

Shortly after the new year, her first server tested positive. Then the sous-chef and another server quickly followed. Ms. Nguyen was soon hustling between every station in the kitchen while also fielding orders on the phone and tablets.

Weve been running on a skeleton team, she said in mid-January, when deserted streets invited even more vandalism than usual. I feel pretty burnt out right now.

At the same time, the pandemic continued to break the global supply chain, limiting the availability of take-out containers, condiments and other products. Prices went up across the board. Ms. Nguyen spent hours each week scouring Chinatown supermarkets, suppliers in New Jersey and a wholesaler in Queens, hunting for slightly more favorable prices, eating up time that could have been spent hiring more workers and figuring out how to re-open.

I still feel like Im in survival mode, Ms. Nguyen said.

She was trying to do everything, but its an impossible task. As the number of infections in the city finally began to slow in late January, help arrived  with a plan to give the restaurant the grand opening it never had. Emily Yuen, a friend who spent the last five years as the head chef of Bessou, a Japanese restaurant in NoHo, offered to help rework the menu to make it less focused on takeout and to put long-term systems in place for the kitchen.

Jennifer Saesue, who managed a 53-person team at Fish Cheeks, a Thai restaurant, signed on to optimize the front-of-house operations. The goal was to make Saigon Social dine-in only for the reopening.

Ms. Saesue took advantage of the improving labor market to spearhead a hiring drive, tripling the number of servers. Fixtures that were set up for delivery orders were dismantled, creating enough room in the restaurant to double the number of seats. All she sees is dollar signs, Ms. Nguyen said of Ms. Saesue.

She was trying to do everything, but its an impossible task, Ms. Saesue said. We have enough people now to get the ship started.

Its a different energy By late February, just weeks before the two-year anniversary of the pandemic, the number of new Covid-19 cases in the city had fallen sharply. New Yorkers were once again on the streets and going into bars and restaurants. Ms. Nguyen and her team suddenly felt a newfound sense of optimism. New staff members were being trained, and the reopening of Saigon Social was quickly approaching. The revised menu was taking shape, filled with dishes that Ms. Nguyen long wanted to serve but could not because they wouldnt travel as well in takeout containers.

Its a different energy, plating it nicely and not just doing it into a box, Joshua Lemi, the junior sous chef, said of the new menu. It featured dishes like Banh Beo Chen, steamed rice cakes topped with shrimp floss served on six sauce plates.

Whatever youve seen the last two years is not what I wanted to cook, Ms. Nguyen said. We dont just want to be a banh mi and noodle shop.

Saigon Socials reopening in early March was preceded by two days of friends and family service, which typically has fewer guests to allow the new team to get acclimated.

But once word got out that the restaurant had reopened for indoor service, diners just showed up. Im a little overwhelmed, Ms. Nguyen said. This is the most people Ive ever had in here. This is the most staff Ive ever had.

The mood was celebratory. Crowds have continued to fill the dining room since. Servers and kitchen staff found their grooves. For the first time in months  maybe even in two years  Ms. Nguyen started going home before midnight.

Ms. Nguyen was recently nominated for a James Beard award for best chef in New York State. The awards are colloquially known as the Oscars of the food world.
If your idea of a nice meal out on the town happens to include rude restaurant staff thats actually paid to insult and ridicule you, booking a table at Karens Diner should be on your priorities list.

Great Food, Terrible Service is the motto of Karens Diner, a new and intriguing fast-food restaurant chain that is currently operating in Australia and the UK. In case you havent made the connection yet, the name plays on the popular American slang for an obnoxious and entitled middle-aged customer who is never satisfied and wants to talk to the manager about the most trivial issues. Well, some bright minds decided that this sort of attitude would be perfect for the staff of a restaurant in order to offer patrons a truly memorable experience.

Photo: Karens Diner/Facebook

The worlds first Karen Diner opened in Sydney, in October of last year, and a new location will open in Brisbane, in April. Plans for another eatery in Melbourne, as well as others in British cities like Sheffield and Manchester, are pretty advanced, with the Sheffield venue scheduled for inauguration this month. According to one member of the companys management, 10 new Karens Diner locations are in the works for the next year, including eateries in Los Angeles and New York.

So what can one expect at a Karens Diner? Well, you can expect to have your orders mixed up and argue with the waiters about it, to get a laughingly small birthday cake if youre brave enough to celebrate it here, and to unwillingly participate in a worst dressed guest contest. But more than anything, you should expect rude waiters with non-existent manners.

At Karens you will be greeted and waited upon by rude waiters who in return are expecting you to give it full Karen, the chains official website boasts. A place where you can complain until the cows come home because we literally dont care.

Sally Quinn, who recently had lunch at the Sydney, told Australian newspaper The Age that the waiter screamed at them to sign in, threw their menus on the table and made fun of her daughters hair. He then walked away halfway through taking their orders, accidentally tipping over her bag, and swore or made rude gestures whenever diners asked a question.

Id hate to walk in there blind, like a tourist, not knowing what it was about, just thinking it was a cool 50s-style burger joint, Quinn said, adding that she knew what she was in for, thanks to her daughter, who has seen videos of it on TikTok.

Aden Levin, a director of Viral Ventures, the company behind Karens Diner, said that he wants the restaurant to be a space where you can say anything, really, be yourself and enjoy a casual and fun dining experience. And get chastised by a bunch of rude waiters who will then be expecting a tip for their service, of course.

While Karens Diner isnt in the United States yet, if this kind of eating experience sounds intriguing, you can try Dicks Last Resort, an American restaurant chain notorious for its rude service.
The hugely popular Phil Newton was awarded honorary life member of Offaly group READY on March 13 when 40 members of the group met for dinner in the Tullamore Town House

Volunteer with the group, Phil has been with READY since its inception 42 years ago. She was taken totally by surprise when the announcement was made.

Phil said she was very excited and touched by the honour.

"A big thank you to Mary McKiernan and Barry LaComber, the new chairpersons. I also thank my most wonderful long time friend Annie Keeley for keeping the secret. Brilliant celebrations last night. Thank you all so much for all the wonderful memories over the years. Love you all. Ye are the bestest. I have enjoyed a most wonderful 42 years as a member of this magnificent organisation," said Phil.

Meanwhile, she said "The food was scrumptious, musician Rubin James played his heart out and there were other Irish musicians from Tyrellspass.

"Everyone enjoyed the night and we look forward to other events throughout the year," said Phil.
It was very scary . . . I'd say it was the hardest moment in my life.

The comments of 17-year-old Mariia Vynnychenko who has escaped from war-torn Ukraine to begin a new life with the Dillon family in Gurteen, Killeigh.

Mariia flew into Shannon airport last Friday and is now living with the Dillons, a family she stayed with previously in 2013 and 2019 when she travelled to Ireland as part of the Chernobyl Children's Project.

David and Carol Dillon, and their children Rachel, Sarah and Sean, were joined by local councillor Neil Feighery last week when Mariia enrolled in Killina Presentation Secondary School to continue her studies.

The 17-year-old hopes to return to her native Ukraine to reunite with her mother, grandmother and seven-year-old brother.

Speaking to the Tribune in Gurteen on Monday night last, Mariia said people in her home town Dymer, near the Belarus border, did not expect the Russians to invade.

The town, located close to the Chernobyl nuclear plant, was captured by the Russians as were her family though they now have fled to the relative safety of western Ukraine.

We had no communication with Mariia or her family for a while as the Russians took their phones, outlined Carol Dillon who said she was very worried about the family's safety.

Mariia said the war was very difficult and had changed people's lives forever.

I don't even see how we will ever be able to go back to our house again, she outlined.

Families in her small home town have had to contend with primitive living conditions since the Russian invasion with no electricity or running water.

My mom is very anxious, very scared . . . she is crying all time time, outlined Mariia who added her seven-year-old brother was too young to understand what was taking place.

My grandmother is a strong woman who says everything will be OK.

She added that her family were safe for the time being in western Ukraine even though the Russians are now bombing cities in that region.

My family are really proud of me coming to Ireland and they are very thankful to the Dillons for caring for me, added Mariia.

She said she wasn't sure how long she would be in this country but reckoned it would be at least six months.

Speaking on the evening prior to starting school in Killina on Tuesday, Mariia admitted she was quite nervous. I don't know how people will react, she outlined.

Stressing that she loved Ireland, Mariia said that Irish people were very, very friendly.

She asked that Irish people continue to support Ukraine and its people. We appreciate what you are doing very much . . . please keep being nice.

Rachel Dillon said the family had been following the war closely and were delighted to welcome Mariia back to Gurteen.

Carol Dillon said Mariia had first come to Gurteen in 2013 as part of the Chernobyl Children's Project and returned for a second visit in 2019.

She said her eldest daughter, Rachel formed a close bond with Mariia and remained in contact with her when she returned to Ukraine.

Carol collected Mariia in Shannon last Friday following her flight from Krakow in Poland. Mariia had made her way across the border by bus to Poland before boarding the flight to Ireland.

Carol said she was very impressed with the welcome put in place by the authorities in particular the Red Cross who provided Mariia with a welcome bag.

She also paid tribute to local councillor Neil Feighery whom she described as outstanding and very helpful.

Carol also thanked the Principal of Killina Presentation Secondary School, John Cotter whom she said had been amazing and very co-operative.

You see the worst of humanity with what is happening in Ukraine but you also see the best of humanity in what is happening here, she outlined.

Carol added the family had great experiences of hosting children with the Chernobyl Children's Project since 2011.

Most of the children who stayed in Gurteen with the project came from poor backgrounds but their families always ensured they brought gifts.

They've brought cans of beer, ornaments, table clothes and lots of sweets, outlined Carol's husband David.

I have seen some of those sweets in the Polish shop in Tullamore and will bring Mariia in there, said Carol.

Describing Mariia a very easy to get on with, Carol added she had asked her would she a bit moody now that she was a teenager. She said not very much in reply.

Mariia is among thousands of Ukrainians who have travelled to Ireland since the war commenced. Well over 10,000 Irish people have also volunteered to host Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war zone.
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The villains of the piece have been our politicians who promised their electorates a Sinhala Buddhist State.

by Justice C.V.Wigneswaran, Member of Parliament

It appears the President wants to find solutions to the present impasse in economic matters by discussing it with the members of different Political Parties. I have still not made up my mind whether to participate or not since I have to discuss the matter with my colleagues.

The present economic bankruptcy has been created by the stupid ethnocentric thinking of successive Sinhala majority Governments. I sometime wonder whether the pursuit of the War suited their thanha to make hay when the Sun shined!

The pursuit of the War was unnecessary and costly. It is the ethnocentric activities by the successive ethnocratic Governments which has pushed this Country into this plight. The stock answer by Governments for the perpetration of the War is that the Militants among the Tamils started it. That is not so. It was the discriminatory activities against the Tamils and the pogroms perpetrated against them previously that led to our Youth to take to Arms. Many a Militant was a successful candidate to enter our Universities at the time they took up to Arms. They were engulfed with desire to free their homeland just like the spirit of freedom that blazed in the heart of Keppetipola Dissawe. Keppetipola was a high profile personality respected by the British. If he chose to tread the difficult path of insurrection and violence it was his reaction to the activities of the British and the spirit of freedom blazing in his heart.

Our youth had a moral and legal right to resort to activities that saved their traditional homelands from encroachers and expropriators. The Law recognizes the right of Self Defense! The North Eastern Tamils have a history of their own going behind for over 3000 years. They have a language classified as one of the oldest in the Planet. They have a unique way of life, coming down for centuries. They are entitled to self -determination in terms of Article 1 of the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights(CCPR). Our Youth therefore had a right and obligation to save their traditional homelands and their way of life.

The villains of the piece have been our politicians who promised their electorates a Sinhala Buddhist State. Their erroneous propaganda that this Country always belonged to the Sinhalese and the Tamils were recent immigrants cannot any more hold water due to the excavations made during the last twenty years or so.

They had kept away from their people the fact that the Sinhala language is a recent mixed language fathered by Pali, Tamil, Sanskrit and many a dialect spoken in the Island. There was no Sinhalese language before the sixth and seventh centuries AD. Their first Grammar book Sidath Sangaraya was authored in the 13th Century. The Books they claim to be in Sinhalese were both written in Pali  the Mahawansa and the Atta Katha. The Buddhist remains now claimed as those of the Sinhalese were in fact those left by the Tamil Buddhists (Demala Baudhayo). The Tamils were the people who received Buddhism into the Island. Devanampiya Theesan was a Tamil. So discrimination, violence through pogroms and false history purveyed by the Sinhala Politicians made Tamil youth to take up to arms.

If the War was not pursued we would not have expended such large sums of money which sometimes went up to make one fifth of the Countrys entire Budget. Of course purchase of Armaments was a lucrative business, the promotors becoming the receivers of handsome commissions in foreign currencies.

So it is high time the President and others decided to take the Tamils into their confidence and promoted investments by the Tamil diaspora. It is high time they granted self- government to the Tamils of the North and East. The Tamil diaspora will come forward to help the Government wholeheartedly if a reasonable, plausible solution is found to our ethnic question.

The President has complained in his recent address to the Nation that he inherited the problem and is helpless. He cannot absolve himself of guilt. He is part of the problem himself. He did away with some of the Taxes to help his cronies as soon as he came to power in 2019. His Tax concessions took away Tax Revenue as a percentage of the GDP. He destroyed the income of Farmers by his hurried organic fertilizer project. Statistics show that Covid 19 was not the reason for our foreign currency bankruptcy. A recent Research done by Verite Research refers to the loss of Tax Revenue, inability of the Government to pay back its loans now since this Government paid its Loans so far through our very limited Foreign Exchange Reserves thereby reducing our Reserves by 79%.as causes for our predicament. WE had 4452 Billion dollars to pay in 2021.While other Countries increased their Reserves during the Covid 19 period we depleted our reserves. So Pandemic certainly was not the cause for our Reserves depletion.

Though India has come forward to help us, how far and how long could they do so? The methodology suggested for Reforms for a sustainable recovery is Debt Restructuring returning to a planned orderly default, negotiating as to when we will pay and also receiving the IMFs help in this regard.

But I doubt our Politicians would act keeping the interests of the People at heart. They are only interested in the next Election if Elections are going to take place at all. If our Politicians in power could jettison their thanha and work for the benefit of our People sincerely, we could certainly go forward with our heads held high. But for that we must cease to be Sinhala Buddhists and Sinhala hegemony must come to an end. The Sinhala politicians chased our Tamils out of this Country. Now many of them are doing very well abroad. Does the present Government have what it takes to say sorry to the Tamils and give back their Rights as a Nation and profit by that, putting an end to the bankruptcy presently faced? As for the War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity and genocide practiced by some so far, let a way be found.
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New video shows the moment a Chinese passenger plane crashed into a mountainside, causing a huge forest fire ... and 132 are feared dead. The China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 was heading from Kunming to Guangzhou Monday when it lost contact with
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked the Knesset why Israel would not supply air-defense. Meanwhile, Mariupol's city council said Russia bombed a school where 400 civilians were sheltering. DW has the latest.
Save the Children says millions of Ukrainian children are in imminent danger, while a German MP calls for former Chancellor Gerhard Schroder to be sanctioned over his Russian ties. DW has the latest.
A new study on prevalence of ragging and Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) in Sri Lankan State universities has revealed the extent and the negative consequences of these harmful practices.

This is the first study to have separate set of questionnaires on Social Climate and Ragging and experience of SGBV administered among students and another on staff climate administered among the academic and non-academic staff.

Initiated by the Centre for Gender Equity and Equality of the University Grants Commission (UGC), in partnership with UNICEF, the study covered a cross section of universities: old and new universities, and those situated in previously conflict-affected areas.

Ragging, a practice affecting in some form over half of students in state universities in Sri Lanka according to the study, continues to evolve in nature and consequences, often creating a toxic learning environment. Ragging is both verbal and physical, including drug abuse, assault and sexual harassment. It colludes with Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV), another grave concern within the University System in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan State Universities have been producing globally renown individuals in all most all the professions. However, in the recent past there has been a growing concern on prevalence of ragging and sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) in State Universities in Sri Lanka, said, Senior Professor Sampath Amaratunge, Chairman, University Grants Commission

The launch of the report on Prevalence of Ragging and Sexual and Gender Based Violence in Sri Lankan State Universities today paves the way to develop interventions that can mitigate ragging and SGBV in State Universities and promote diversity and inclusion to ensure quality of education and well-being of all the members in State University communities in Sri Lanka, he added

According to the study:

Over 51% of the students surveyed had been subjected to verbal harassments, 34.3% to psychological violence, 23.8% to physical abuse and 16.6% to sexual harassments, as a result of ragging.

Both academic and non-academic staff indicated the presence of SGBV although almost all incidents were reported only from one university. The report reveals that 44% of university staff had been subjected to verbal sexual violence, 22.3% requested for sexual bribes and 19.9% had experienced physical sexual violence.

Among students in public sector universities, 21% reported having been subjected to verbal sexual violence and 1.5% forced into sex.

Although ragging is often perceived as occurring only in the first year, the study indicates that the harassment does not end when students complete their first year induction. In reality, ragging is simply laying the groundwork for a system of conformity and influence, in which seniors have authority over their juniors throughout their academic careers.

Ragging and SGBV induces stressan emotional and behavioural process that occurs when physical or psychological well-being is disturbed or threatened, and it produces severe anxiety. As a consequence, in the short term, students may not be able to concentrate on their studies and risk dropping out of university. As a form of violence, the long-term effects of ragging on the individual go beyond the student life, leading to timid, violent, and intolerant people whose behaviour eventually affects the entire society.

Ensuring that the learning environment remains conducive to help young people reach their full potential is important. Universities should provide the space for equal opportunities for youth from different backgrounds to learn and become responsible citizens, said Christian Skoog, Representative, UNICEF Sri Lanka. UNICEF is pleased to have provided technical and financial support to this important study to inform the efforts of the universities and government in addressing the very serious issue of ragging and its consequences on learning as well as on the lives of youth.

Apart from the measures introduced in the past by the government, the University Grants Commission (UGC), which oversees all higher educational institutions in Sri Lanka, has recently put in place additional regulations aimed at preventing harassment of the students by their seniors. The university authorities are now required to report such incidents to the police, and those found guilty of the offences are liable to lengthy imprisonment, expulsion from the institution of higher education and payment for damages suffered by the victim. An additional stipulation is that all students pledge in writing that they will not engage in harassment of the new entrants.

However, concerted efforts are required to tackle the practice which impacts the quality of university education and those who come out of it.

UNICEF reiterates its commitment and availability to support the country in addressing ragging as well other harmful practices, added Mr Skoog
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While the Ukraine crisis may put some strain on the Chinese-Russian relationship, it has also spurred deeper collaboration between them. Based on a shared desire to undermine the United States global order, their constructive partnership will not only endure the blowback from the Ukrainian invasion but is likely to expand.

by John P. Ruehl

With the worlds attention focused on Ukraine in the weeks since Russia began its invasion of the country on February 24, there has been fervent debate among foreign policy experts on how Russias relations with the West will be affected. Officials in Moscow and Western capitals have traded barbs at each other in the media, while sanctions and counter-sanctions have already begun to bite.





But the effects of Russias invasion on Chinese-Russian relations have been far less discussed. In recent years, both Russia and China have publicly promoted their increasingly strong partnership. Chinese President Xi Jinping has called Russian President Vladimir Putin his best friend, while both Xi and Putin have described the current state of Chinese-Russian relations as the best theyve been in history.

This has been reflected in collaborative military drills, increasing weapons and energy deals between China and Russia, and public support for one another across their state-run media outlets and their dealings within international organizations like the UN. Since the previous Ukraine crisis in 2014, Moscow has been particularly eager to promote these developments in its relationship with Beijing to limit the effects of diplomatic isolation and economic sanctions imposed by the West.

The current crisis in Ukraine is prompting further efforts by China and Russia to confront the U.S. While Russias core interest in doing so is in preventing Ukraine from joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), China is keen to exploit any opportunity that arises during the conflict between Russia and Ukraine that challenges American influence.

The additional sanctions placed on Russia by the West in recent weeks to cripple Russias financial system and hurt its wealthiest citizens are likely to spur greater investment by China and Russia in developing their own alternatives to U.S.-dominated financial institutions, like the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) payment verification system. Russia and China both began to invest in their own international payments systems after several Russian banks were blacklisted from SWIFT in 2014.

These new international payments systems include Russias System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS) and the National Payment Card System (now known as Mir), as well as Chinas Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) and UnionPay. Russian and Chinese banks are active across these platforms, and the number of banks utilizing these alternative systems in Russia and China will only increase as the two countries seek to maintain and deepen their business ties and bypass the sanctions by the West.

Encouraging the development of separate financial systems outside Western control will also result in increased participation by so-called rogue states in global finance, which are often accustomed to conducting business on the black market.

In early February, just weeks before Russias Ukrainian invasion, China and Russia also agreed to a 30-year natural gas deal through a new pipeline. Transactions will be conducted in euros for this deal, which is part of wider efforts by both Russia and China to lower their vulnerability to the U.S. dollar and the threat of sanctions.

After hundreds of Western companies declared their intention to pull out from Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, Moscow stated it is looking at nationalizing the infrastructure of these foreign companies and will strip them of patent protections. Western assets and intellectual property rights may be of use to China, which is similarly wary of Western firms operating domestically, and the Chinese also seem intent on challenging these firms globally.

The current escalation in Ukraine has also reinforced diplomatic support between Beijing and Moscow, including a Chinese abstention from the UN General Assembly vote on March 2 to condemn Russia for its Ukrainian invasion. Chinas state-run media outlets have also promoted Russias views on the war on Facebook and Instagram after Russias media outlets were banned by several Western countries, and it has also supported Russias claims of the U.S. financing biological weapons labs in Ukraine.

While still short of an official alliance, the announcement by Moscow and Beijing of a no limit[s] partnership made on the opening day of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing in February has shown that Russian and Chinese interests have increasingly converged. China also endorsed a Russian security proposal to exclude Ukraine from joining NATO through a statement made by Xi with Putin on February 4, according to the New York Times, and there is no doubt that China received a warning from Moscow that it was planning an invasion of Ukraine within the coming weeks after this statement was made.

However, the current flareup in Ukraine has exacerbated larger global economic instability, and several immediate and longer-term consequences stemming from the Russian invasion may cause some strain to the China-Russia partnership.

For example, Ukraine is a major corn exporter to China. With food prices rising globally, even before the Russian invasion, the Russian offensive has already had negative effects on Chinas food security. While Russia is also a major food exporter to China, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed an order on March 14 that banned grain exports to Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) members, indicative of the difficulty Russia is facing in meeting foreign food export demands even to close Russian allies.

China is also highly dependent on energy imports from other countries. In comparison to Russia or the U.S., it is far less able to influence the price of resources and far more vulnerable to energy disruptions. While Russia may be able to help meet the Chinese energy demand, the current spike in prices will likely accelerate Chinas push for energy self-sufficiency, removing a vital pillar of the Chinese-Russian relationship.

And in a rare public display of frustration toward China, a Russian official admitted that China refused to supply Russia with aircraft parts after Russia repossessed roughly $10 billion in Boeing and Airbus planes. Chinas dismissal showed a clear hesitation to risk a wider confrontation with the West despite Russias increasing brinkmanship.

China is also wary of being perceived as enabling Putin, and Russias heavy-handed approach in Ukraine has attracted more attention to Taiwans security. Since the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1995, Beijing has been avoidant of confronting the U.S. militarily. Aside from limited skirmishes in its border regions with India, China has preferred using its economic power rather than its military to pressure other countries into submission in recent decades.

But Chinas assistance to Russia will raise fears among Chinas neighbors with their own disputes with Beijing. This support being provided to Russia by China could be enough to galvanize coordinated regional antagonism toward Beijing, supported by a heightened U.S. military presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

Despite these real and potential consequences, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has already instigated greater cooperation between China and Russiaa trend that will only continue. Russias need to shore up its situation may have expanded Chinas leverage over it, but both Beijing and Moscow are well aware of the need to work together to undermine the U.S. dominance in world affairsand they see the wider global instability resulting from the conflict in Ukraine as an effective way to do so.

This article was produced by Globetrotter.

John P. Ruehl is an Australian-American journalist living in Washington, D.C. He is a contributing editor to Strategic Policy and a contributor to several other foreign affairs publications. He is currently finishing a book on Russia to be published in 2022.
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If at first you don't succeed, get some court orders and try suppressing the free flow of information again.



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It is high time to be more constructive on both sides  Russia and Ukraine. And mischievous Uncle Sam has to be diplomatically buried under the grave for greater good of the world society.

by Anwar A. Khan

War is the outcome of that primitive part of the mind. Unless this part is transcended, war and conflict will continue in society. Seeking the right way to outgrow this aspect of the mind and implementing it is the suitable and healthy way to approach the issue of war and violence. War is not the solution. Disagreements can be resolved through dialogues and not violence or war. It is high time to be more constructive on both sides  Russia and Ukraine to end this unsayable destructive war.





Russian diplomat urges G7 countries to assess global damage they caused in past 25 years.

When commenting on the G7s statement that Russia would be responsible for any damage caused to Ukraine, Ukrainian nationals and international organizations, we must point out that G7 countries should start with themselves. "It is high time the G7 assessed the damage that its members caused to the world in the long past years, and offset it with its own money rather than with someone elses. These countries created damage "on several continents.

On February 24 last, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation based on a request from the heads of the Donbass republics. The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans to occupy Ukrainian territories and the goal was to demilitarize and denazify the country.

Russias Defense Ministry reported later that the Russian Armed Forces were not delivering strikes against Ukrainian cities. The ministry emphasized that the Ukrainian military infrastructure was being destroyed by precision weapons and there was no threat to civilians.

Biden uttered "personal insults" addressed to Putin. Russian spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Biden took the liberty of making such statements virtually every day. His self-arrogant demeanor must be responded in the most abrasive words to stop him and his mango-twigs.

Bearing in mind Bidens irritability, fatigue and forgetfulness, which eventually results in aggressive statements, we will possibly prefer to refrain from making any strong comments so as not to trigger more aggression.

On Thursday last, Biden dropped more unfriendly remarks in relation to his Russian counterpart. In particular, he claimed that Putin was a "murderous dictator" and a "pure thug" waging an "immoral war" against the people of Ukraine whereas he pretends to remain in pin-drop silence when Uncle Sam has been carrying on the colossal misdeeds in countries after countries for about ten decades unabatedly.

One year ago, on March 17, 2021 the US leader made another tough statement addressed to his Russian counterpart - he replied in the affirmative when asked by an interviewer if he regarded Putin as a "killer."

Later, in a comment on Bidens statement Putin said he had heard dozens of such accusations and already got accustomed to attacks from various sides over many years in office. He then wished Biden good health and recalled a childrens saying "If you call someone names, thats really your name."

On March 14, the Donetsk Peoples Republic (DPR) authorities reported fragments from a Tochka-U missile fired by the Ukrainian military had landed in the center of Donetsk. According to Head of the Donetsk Peoples Republic (DPR) Denis Pushilin, the missile carried a cluster charge. As a result, 18 people died on the spot, three more died in hospital from their injuries. In total, 35 victims were taken to medical facilities.

If Ukraine created by the Bolsheviks wants genuine de-communization, this will suit Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday last.

"Now grateful descendants have demolished monuments to Lenin in Ukraine. This is what they call de-communization. Do you want de-communization? Well, this quite suits us. But you must not stop halfway. We are ready to show you what genuine de-communization means for Ukraine," Putin said in his address to the nation over the situation in Ukraines southeast.

The modern Ukraine was entirely created by Communist Russia, Russian President said. "The modern Ukraine was entirely and completely created by Russia, or rather, the Bolshevik, Communist Russia," the head of state said.

"This process started almost immediately after the 1917 Revolution; Lenin and his associates did it in a way, very brutal towards Russia itself - by separating, alienating parts of Russias own historic territories," Putin added.

According to Putin, "nobody asked millions of people about anything.".

"Then, before and after the Great Patriotic War, Stalin acquired some territory that previously belonged to Poland, Romania and Hungary, and handed them over to Ukraine. In 1945, Nikita Khruschev took Crimea away from Russia for some reasons and also granted it to Ukraine," Putin noted. "This was how the territory of the modern Ukraine was created.".

Vladimir Lenin is the author and the architect of Ukraine, it can be called after him, Putin said. "The Soviet Ukraine emerged as a result of the Bolshevik policy, and even nowadays it can with good reason be called Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Ukraine. He is its author and architect. This is fully confirmed by the archive documents, including Lenins directives regarding Donbass which was literally squeezed into Ukraine," Putin said.

Russia may nationalize property of US, EU citizens in response to sanctions imposed on Russia, Putin and his team by Uncle Sam and his mango-twig NATO nations.

Putin noted that Russia is being threatened with arrests of assets of Russian citizens and companies abroad - "just like that, without any sanctions," "in a carpet fashion," "out of spite." According to him, "this must be responded to in a quite symmetric manner."

Also Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev speculated that Russia may nationalize property of people registered in the US, the EU and other unfriendly jurisdictions amid new anti-Russian sanctions.

"With arrest of assets of foreigners and foreign companies in Russia based on country principle. And maybe, with nationalization of property of people registered in unfriendly jurisdictions. Like the EU, EU member states and a number of singing-along states of the Anglo-Saxon world that will take part in this," he said on his VK page Saturday last.

"Thankfully, we have vast experience and we have a law on this issue. A harsh one," Medvedev added ironically. "So the most interesting stuff only begins"

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address recently that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories.

When clarifying the developments unfolding, the Russian Defense Ministry reassured that Russian troops are not targeting Ukrainian cities, but are limited to surgically striking and incapacitating Ukrainian military infrastructure. There are no threats whatsoever to the civilian population.

A number of states, including Western one, announced harsh sanctions against Russia. The EU imposed financial and technological sectoral restrictions against 64 key Russian agencies, including the Presidential Administration, Russian Defense Ministry, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) and other state structures, as well as companies of military industrial, energy, plane building and financial sectors of Russia. These states also blacklisted a number of Russian politicians, including President Vladimir Putin, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and other Russian citizens.

Moscow and Kiev should work out a short roadmap and reach a common position during the negotiations, Chairman of the Committee on International Affairs, member of the Russian delegation at the talks with Ukraine Leonid Slutsky said on Sunday last.

"Hope and common sense say it's time to be more constructive on both sides," he said. "The negotiation process is indeed an opportunity for some concessions and a roadmap, but it should be very short in terms of moving towards those agreements, which, I hope, will happen sooner, and we will come to the same unified position," he said.

According to Vladimir Medinsky, aide to the Russian President, Russias delegation had left for the Gomel region to hold talks with the Ukrainian side.

It is high time to be more constructive on both sides  Russia and Ukraine. And mischievous Uncle Sam has to be diplomatically buried under the grave for greater good of the world society.

-The End 

The writer is an independent political analyst based in Dhaka, Bangladesh who writes on politics, political and human-centred figures, current and international affairs
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Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x55e838dff980)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x55e838dff590)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x55e838dff980)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x55e838dff590)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x55e838e1c9a8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x55e838dff590)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x55e838dff590)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x55e82d416858)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x55e838c235b8)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x55e838c235b8)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
US President Joe Biden will travel to Poland on Friday to meet with President Andrzej Duda for discussions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the White House said on Sunday.
Ukrainian officials defiantly rejected a Russian demand that their forces in Mariupol lay down their arms and raise white flags in exchange for safe passage out of the besieged port city.As Russia intensified its effort to pound...
A church in the town of Nicholasville, Ky., held a fundraiser for humanitarian relief for Ukraine over the weekend. It raised $145,000.
Xavier Hernandez Creus, known as Xavi, is a Spanish professional football manager and former player who is the manager of La Liga club Barcelona. Widely considered one of the greatest midfielders of all time, Xavi was renowned for his passing, vision, ball retention, and positioning.
Oskaloosa, IA (52577)

Today

A steady rain in the morning. Showers continuing in the afternoon. High 56F. Winds E at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Overcast with rain showers at times. Low 48F. Winds NE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:948

/var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x55e8383c53f0)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x55e8389974c8)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x55e8383c53f0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x55e8389974c8)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x55e838426f60)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x55e8389974c8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x55e8389974c8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x55e82d4168d0)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x55e838a247b0)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x55e838a247b0)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
Ottumwa, IA (52501)

Today

Rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers in the afternoon. High near 55F. Winds E at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch..

Tonight

Cloudy with showers. Thunder possible. Low 49F. Winds NE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
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The City of Midland and the MCTV Network will livestream Midland Mayor Maureen Donkers annual State of the City address via Facebook, YouTube, and live videostreaming at 11:45 a.m. Wednesday, March 23.

The address will be streamed live from the Great Hall Banquet and Convention Center during the first-quarter membership meeting of the Midland Business Alliance. Residents can view the livestream on the MCTV Network via the following formats:
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Hooves and Hearts is a Midland non-profit thrift store that is giving back to the community in the form of donations to Midland County 4-H clubs and children with special needs.

Owners Wilma Odell and Troy Terwillegar opened the store in March 2022 to offer quality resale items to customers. Their mission isn't just sales - they want to give back to the community. The pair decided to open a thrift store after purchasing storage units and selling their contents for over a year.

Terwillegar spoke with a representative at Michigan State University to help create a 4-H program for Odell's birthday.

"It was the best birthday gift I could have ever asked for," Odell said. "It was so beautiful that I cried for days."

The group itself, Hooves and Hearts, donates its profits towards financial assistance for families with children in the community dealing with disabilities such as Down syndrome and autism.

We had all of this material merchandise, we could actually do programs, and we could help other 4-H clubs that need funding, Terwillegar said. We can start our own program to help young adults that are coming out of the juvenile system and give them an opportunity to get back into society knowing there's always a second chance in life.

They said they had been doing so well with their purchases with storage units that their home and barn were filled with the merchandise they intended to sell at yard sales.

After several weeks of intense renovations, the location was ready to open for business. The name Hooves and Hearts stems from Odells personal miniature Nigerian goats and how big of a part of their lives they are. Odell said this process would have never been possible if not for the help and support of the Midland community.

We were literally on our hands and knees with razor blade scrapers trying to scrape wax from where every rack had sat, Odell said. It took us the whole two weeks just to get the floor done.

Terwillegar said that while he and Odell are responsible for securing the financing to open the store, it couldn't have opened its doors without the support of many others.

Everything that is invested in this is us investing in it to help start this community to help us do things that prepared the store. He said.

The pair said they are excited to accept anything and everything that the people of Midland would care to donate.

If we can't use it, we want to make sure that somebody who is going through some hardship can come here, Odell said. "We will make sure that whatever they need, they get it."

Odell said Scout, their dog and mascot, serves as the friendly face for the business as the pair often see people commenting on Facebook about how they loved to see him.

The store is located at 3939 Isabella Street and is open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. They can be reached by phone at (989) 898-7954.
House Bill 5570, Authorize gas tax 'holiday': Passed 24 to 14 in the Senate

To suspend collecting the state motor fuel tax levied on gasoline and diesel fuel purchases between April 1 and September 30, 2022. The current tax rate is 27.2 cents per gallon on both fuels, and revenue from it pays for state and local road repairs. The House Fiscal Agency projects this would reduce that revenue by $725 million in 2022, leaving an equivalent amount in motorists' pockets.

Y Rick Outman (R) Six Lakes, Sen. Dist. 33

Y Curt VanderWall (R) Ludington, Sen. Dist. 35

House Bill 4074, Encourage schools to teach free enterprise and entrepreneurship: Passed 21 to 17 in the Senate

To encourage (but not require) public schools to offer a program of instruction on free enterprise and entrepreneurship for high school students.

Y Rick Outman (R) Six Lakes, Sen. Dist. 33

Y Curt VanderWall (R) Ludington, Sen. Dist. 35

House Bill 5682, Authorize enhanced penalties for assaulting emergency room staff: Passed 85 to 17 in the House

To authorize enhanced penalties for assaulting a hospital "health professional" or volunteer by creating a new crime punishable by 93 days in jail and a $1,000 fine or more depending on specific circumstances.

Y Jason Wentworth (R) Clare, Rep. Dist. 97

Y Scott VanSingel (R) Grant, Rep. Dist. 100

N Michele Hoitenga (R) Manton, Rep. Dist. 102

House Bill 4912, Authorize "alternative" veterinary practices and more: Passed 100 to 3 in the House

To revise various regulations in the law governing veterinary practices. Among other things the bill would prohibit veterinarians from practicing unless it is within the context of a veterinarian-client-patient relationship as defined in the bill; waive certain licensure mandates during a declared emergency or in response to a to a large-scale animal cruelty case; authorize the use of specified therapeutic philosophy and practice that is not considered part of conventional, Western veterinary medicine; and more.

Y Jason Wentworth (R) Clare, Rep. Dist. 97

Y Scott VanSingel (R) Grant, Rep. Dist. 100

Y Michele Hoitenga (R) Manton, Rep. Dist. 102

House Bill 5804, Mandate 'veterinarian-client-patient relationships': Passed 71 to 31 in the House

To prohibit veterinarians from practicing unless it is within the context of a veterinarian-client-patient relationship as defined in the bill. See also House Bill 4912.

Y Jason Wentworth (R) Clare, Rep. Dist. 97

Y Scott VanSingel (R) Grant, Rep. Dist. 100

Y Michele Hoitenga (R) Manton, Rep. Dist. 102

House Bill 5612, Exempt diapers and incontinence products from sales tax: Failed 50 to 53 in the House

To exempt diapers and adult incontinence products from sales tax. It is unusual for the House to complete and record a vote to defeat a particular bill, rather than suspending the vote and moving on to the next agenda item. In the background of this vote are ongoing negotiations on some very substantial proposals to cut the state income tax and suspend the state gas tax.
System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:948

/var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x55e8387e1730)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x55e838725e10)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x55e8387e1730)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x55e838725e10)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x55e83883d818)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x55e838725e10)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x55e838725e10)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x55e8311397a8)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x55e82d414c90)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x55e82d414c90)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
MANISTEE  Trinity Lutheran School is hosting a Scholastic Book Fair this week in honor of National Reading Month.

Parents and families are welcome to attend the book fair, and a percentage of the proceeds will go to the school.

The fair will be open 2:30-3:30 p.m. Tuesday, 2:30-3:30 p.m. and 5:30-6:45 p.m. Wednesday, 8-9 a.m. and 2:30-3:30 p.m. Thursday and 12:30-1:30 p.m. Friday.

Additionally, Trinity students are enjoying literary-themed dress-up days throughout the week, including "Llama Llama Red Pajama" Day and a day to dress as their favorite book character.
Palestine, TX (75801)

Today

Showers and thunderstorms likely. Thunderstorms could be strong and possibly severe in the afternoon. Damaging winds and large hail with some storms. High 78F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall may reach one inch..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms during the evening, then becoming mainly clear overnight. A few storms may be severe. Low 57F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.
Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - Concerted governance of transboundary basins, combined with the implementation of effective regulation systems and the promotion of a circular sanitation economy are levers to be activated to ease tensions linked to water, Senegalese President Macky Sall said at the Ninth World Water Forum, which opened Monday in Diamniadio, 30 km from Dakar
Tunis, Tunisia (PANA) - The ministries of Higher Education and Scientific Research of the two neighboring countries signed on Monday a cooperation agreement with 10 Tunisian and Algerian universities located in border regions for the implementation of joint research projects
Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - Nearly 5,500 participants, including heads of state and leaders of international organisations such as the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation, are expected to attend the 9th World Water Forum, which opens on Monday in Diamniadio, some 40 kilometres from Dakar, the Senegalese capital
Photo: (Photo : Getty images )

A San Francisco School opens its elementary school gym to homeless kids and caregivers as part of its community school program. Every evening, after the students and teachers left, partitions are snugged to the back wall creating space for kids and their caregivers to set sleeping pads on the floor.

The tables hosted dinners and later allowed kids to do their homework. However, the Guardian reports that the school only caters to families with a child enrolled in San Francisco Unified School District.

Shelter in a school

In 2017, a desperate parent asked Nick Chandler, Buena Vista Horace Mann K-8 Community School(BVHM) asked: "Can we stay here?" the Hechinger Report said.

The answer that night was no, but this looming question remains unanswered. The school noticed that more and more people were in crisis. The school would make referrals to the city and non-profits. However, the efforts were futile. The waitlist would be too long, and it was not clear what list a family should even be on.

BVHM staff said they wanted to help kids overcome and avoid incidences such as sleeping in a car, living in an overcrowded apartment, or parents staying in an abusive relationship to keep a place to stay. The staff is aware that although the gym would not solve everything, it may at least solve something.

So the school opened its gym for homeless kids, serving approximately 600 students. BVHM says that 60% are English language learners, and more than 60% are socioeconomically disadvantaged.

San Francisco City Supervisor Hillary Ronen said that as far as he knows, the school program is the first of its kind in the country.

Read Also: Four Single Moms Raising Their Kids Together in The Siren House

Community schooling

Schools acting as resource hubs for students and families is known as community schooling and has proven to be successful across the country. The National Education Association defines community schools as public schools that provide services and support that fit neighbors' needs.

According to research, schools and communities can mitigate the effects of poverty by providing support to children and families to address basic needs such as housing instability.

Studies also show that students without a safe and reliable place to sleep at night are more likely to be referred for discipline, including suspension. They score lower on school testing compared to other economically disadvantaged students.

A 2020 report from UCLA's Center for the Transformation of Schools found that homeless students had several indicators of educational distress, such as suspension and absenteeism.

Meanwhile, the San Francisco School's initiative to open its gymnasium to homeless students provided new hopes for students.

Maribel Chavez, a first-grade teacher at BVHM, shared that she had a perpetually late student who had no breakfast. He would miss the class opening song and a preview of the day's schedule. She would try to give him a recap and snacks, but it was not enough. He would hit students, throw an object, and try to leave class.

After the boy landed in the Stay Over Program with its 9 PM lights out policy and access to the school's before care program, the teacher noted that. The boy had breakfast every morning. She also noticed a change in the boy's demeanor. He became calmer.

Hillary Ronen, San Francisco city supervisor, admitted that this is a "band-aid, not a root-cause fix of childhood homelessness in the country." However, Principal DeLarios Moran asked," how could we not?" as the school has a space not being used at night.

Related Article: Fate of Ukrainian Pregnant Women Gets Grimmer as Russia Continues Ukraine Attacks
Photo: (Photo : Getty images )

A recent study revealed that exposure in the womb to bisphenol A, more commonly known as BPA, increases asthma risks among school-age girls.

The American Chemistry Council, which represents the chemical industry, downplayed the study results, saying that the study cannot establish a causal relationship between BPA and childhood asthma or wheeze, CTVNews reported.

Study on over 3,000 pairs of mothers and children

The study collected urine samples from pregnant women between 1999 and 2010 when BPA was commonly used. According to the results, BPA was found in 90% of maternal urine samples were taken during pregnancy.

The children born to the same mothers had their lungs tested by spirometry at ages seven and 11. The mothers also filled out the questionnaire on their child's wheezing and lung function.

Of the several bisphenols analyzed, BPA was the only one associated with respiratory such as asthma and wheezing during elementary years. According to Science Daily, the study was led by Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) and was published in the Environment International.

Alicia Abellan, a postdoctoral researcher at Barcelona Institute for Global Health and the study's first author, said that the effect might be because bisphenols can cross the placental barrier. BPA then interferes at the developmental phase of a child's respiratory and immune systems.

Dr. Leonardo Trasande, director of environmental pediatrics at NYU Langone Health, said researchers explained the study as BPA is a synthetic estrogen and sex hormones shape almost all bodily function during fetal development. The presence of exogenous estrogen-like BPA then contributes to inflammation and disruption of immune function, CNN reported.

According to Maricel Maffini, a biological scientist, the result is quite significant. It aligns with the latest European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) reevaluation of the risk of public health related to BPA exposures.

The researchers examined bisphenol F and bisphenol S, which manufacturers sell as "BPA-free." However, the study found extremely low levels of BPF and BPS in urine samples and could not find a direct correlation with respiratory outcomes.

Read Also: More Than Half of Women Unaware of Preeclampsia Symptoms

BPA is found in can linings and thermal papers

BPA is a known endocrine disruptor, and it can change the hormones in the body.

It has been linked to fetal abnormalities, low birth weight, and brain and behavior disorders in infants and children. It has also been linked to diabetes, heart disease, cancer, obesity, and erectile dysfunction.

Since the 1950s, bisphenol A can be found in beverage containers, canned good lining, dental sealants, and toys. Manufacturers commonly used it to create baby bottles, sippy cups, and infant formula containers. A decade ago, concerned parents boycotted these products, and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) responded with a ban on BPA in baby bottles and sippy cups. In 2013, the FDA also banned BPA in infant formula packaging.

However, BPA is still being used in other food products, saying that the available information supports the safety of the food containers and packaging.

Related Article: Fertility Benefits Now Being Offered as Perks by a Growing Number of Companies
Photo: (Photo : DAVID MCNEW/AFP via Getty Images)

The Ukrainian family of Halyna Hutchins suffered unexpected heartbreak last October when the young cinematographer died in a shooting on the set of her film "Rust." A new tragedy has struck them months after her shocking death with the family stuck in the middle of Kyiv because of Russia's military invasion of Ukraine.

According to widower Matt Hutchins, his late wife's family cannot escape the capital city because of the continuous attacks on areas that had been previously designated as safe passages. NPR reported that Hutchins posted a tweet about his concerns, writing, "Ukrainian refugees need humanitarian corridors. Halyna's family is trapped in Kyiv because of the danger of travel."

Hutchins added that Halyna's parents, Olga and Anatoly Androsovych, are preparing for the worst as they stay in Kyiv, Ukraine. Hutchins said his mother-in-law continues to work in a Kyiv hospital where she has been a nurse for over three decades. According to Hutchins, Olga continues to work because her country needs her in this situation and because they cannot leave Kyiv safely.

Halyna Hutchins' sister safely flees Ukraine, now in Romania

Hutchins relayed some good news, though, with Halyna's sister safely escaping the war zone in Ukraine. Hutchins said she is now in Romania alongside her three-year-old daughter, with the two set to continue their journey to Western Europe.

Hutchins then made an emotional plea on Twitter, calling for more support for Ukrainian refugees as well as military aid and diplomatic intervention to help protect the independence of Ukraine.

Hutchins believes there needs to be a no-fly zone in the war-torn country. According to a TMZ report, Hutchins wants China to step up in the ongoing conflict and do what NATO cannot. He said China must intervene in this war to guarantee both Russia and Ukraine will stay out of the sky and not use rocket bombardment of ground troops. Hutchins believes this will boost China's standing on the world stage and help Russian President Vladimir Putin save face in this floundering invasion.

Read Also: Young Pregnant Ukrainian Influencer Used by Russia in Disinformation Campaign on Mariupol Bombing

Hutchins praises Ukrainian defenders for their bravery

Hutchins also praised the resistance and bravery of the Ukrainian defenders, writing, "Keep telling the truth about Putin's invasion and atrocities. Support refugees and the territorial defense with aid and any intervention possible to protect the Ukrainian citizens and their independence."

His late wife Halyna was born in Zhytomyr, Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union, in 1979. Halyna spent much of her childhood on a Soviet naval base before studying journalism at Kyiv National University. Halyna, who soon became a cinematographer, is a proud Ukrainian as she decided to keep her citizenship even after leaving Ukraine and marrying Matt Hutchins, an American citizen.

Hutchins wants justice for his wife after her tragic death on the set of the Western film "Rust." According to a report by Today, he is suing Hollywood star Alec Baldwin and other producers of the movie for their role in her death. Baldwin held the gun that discharged during rehearsal, shooting and killing Halyna and injuring director Joel Souza.

Related Article: Ukrainian Mother and Baby Fleeing Russian Invasion Denied Flight by Authorities to San Francisco
Photo: (Photo : Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)

Wisconsin authorities made a stunning announcement on Friday, saying that they have finally cracked the 13-year-old "Baby Theresa" cold case, which involved the death of a newborn girl. Dodge County Sheriff Dale J. Schmidt revealed during the press conference that DNA samples from the baby girl and advances in forensic science helped authorities locate the newborn's mother and charge her with concealing the death of a child.

As per the New York Daily News, the suspect in question was 45-year-old Karin Luttinen. According to the sheriff's office, the Milwaukee native is accused of abandoning her young child's body inside a trash bag on the side of a road on April 29, 2009, near the town of Theresa in Wisconsin.

An autopsy was performed by a county medical examiner on the baby's body two days later, with the findings revealing that the young girl may have passed away before or during birth. Investigators, who were working on identifying anyone related to the child, named her "Baby Theresa" at the time after the community closest to where she was discovered.

Luttinen identified as mother of "Baby Theresa" last year

The girl's body was laid to rest on May 11, 2009, after authorities could not find anyone related to "Baby Theresa." According to Schmidt, community members made sure "Baby Theresa" had a proper burial, as they paid their final respects at the Lowell Cemetery in southwest Dodge County.

Authorities filed a charge against the then-unknown mother's DNA profile in 2014 to prevent a six-year statute of limitations for the charges from running out. This move was vital as it allowed authorities to prosecute the suspect, Luttinen, now.

According to local website WBAY.com, authorities managed to successfully identify Luttinen, and her partner, as the parents of "Baby Theresa" last year. Investigators who talked to Luttinen on March 2021 said she was in denial when she gave birth at home to the baby.

The criminal complaint stated that Luttinen then put the baby's body in a garbage bag and drove "aimlessly" on what was then U.S. Highway 41. She then left the bag containing the baby's body in a wooded location she had found.

Read Also: Miracle in Louisiana as Abandoned 8-Month-old Baby Found Alive in Field After Going Missing Overnight

Ahmad issues statement on the "Baby Theresa" cold case

Aneeq Ahmad, Luttinen's attorney, issued a statement, saying, "As the District Attorney explained, this case involves the death of a stillborn child, which is always a tragedy for the parents involved." Ahmad added that further facts about the case would come to light over the course of the legal process.

The suspect made an initial court appearance on Friday, with Luttinen posting a $2,500 cash bond. Ahmad also told NBC News that due to the ethical rules that govern attorneys' statements while an active case is pending, he is limited in what he can say on behalf of Ms. Luttinen. Ahmad asked the community to respect Ms. Luttinen's privacy in the meantime as every person is presumed innocent under the law.

Related Article: Miracle Baby Kendall Jurnakins Finally Leaves Ascencion NICU After Record 460-Day Stay
Photo: (Photo : Anastasia Vlasova/Getty Images)

Around 20 babies born to Ukrainian surrogate mothers are stuck at a makeshift basement bomb shelter in the capital city of Kyiv, with their foreign parents still unable to meet and claim them because of the travel restrictions in the war-torn country.

According to a report by the Associated Press, the infants, some of whom are just a few days old, are well cared for inside the bomb shelter. The intensity of the fighting can still be heard, though, below ground, with the blasts of occasional shelling striking fear in the hearts of the shelter's occupants.

Apart from the Ukrainian surrogates and their babies, many of the surrogacy center's nurses are also taking refuge in the bomb shelter because it is too dangerous to travel to and from their respective homes in Kyiv. Russian forces are closing in on Kyiv, with heavy fighting witnessed between Vladimir Putin's army and Ukrainian troops in the city's suburbs.

Nurse describes conditions in Kyiv bomb shelter

According to 51-year-old nurse Lyudmilia Yashchenko, they are staying in the bomb shelter to protect themselves and preserve the babies' lives. Yashcenko said they are hiding here from the bombing and this horrible misery.

Yashchenko added that the people staying in the shelter leave briefly to inhale some fresh air during the day, but they do not dare stay out too long because of the Russian attacks. Adding to Yashchenko's worries is that both of her own children are fighting to defend Ukraine. She has two sons, who are aged 22 and 30.

Surrogacy is a big business in this part of the world as Ukraine is one of the few countries that allow the service for foreign clients. These babies' parents live in China, Europe, and Latin America. According to Quartz, Ukraine is the second most popular destination for foreign couples seeking surrogacy services, behind only the United States.

Read Also: Human Trafficking Problem Surfaces in War-torn Ukraine After Chinese Pair Caught Smuggling Babies

Stressful times for Ukrainian surrogates and foreign parents

The good news for the babies under their care is that the facility has plenty of food and baby supplies. The main question is how long these supplies will last with the fighting inside Ukraine showing no signs of stopping. More Ukrainian surrogates may be on their way to the bomb shelter as well to seek refuge from the attacks, further depleting their resources.

Yashchenko refused to answer how many parents have come to get their children already, and how many more surrogate mothers are expected to deliver soon, or how many infants are still waiting. Yashchenko said that they are almost not sleeping and are working round the clock to take care of the babies even in these challenging times.

The situation regarding the Ukrainian surrogates and their babies is stressful for the nurses trapped in the bomb shelter and the parents waiting outside Ukraine. These parents paid huge money to grow their families. According to a report by Fox Business, the typical price range of surrogacy in Ukraine is between $43,000 and $53,000.

Related Article: Massive Milk Formula Recall Empties Store Shelves in Utah, Mothers Panicking
Photo: (Photo : NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images)

Authorities have confirmed that one man was killed and at least 28 other people were wounded during an apparent "gunfight" at a car show in Dumas, Arkansas, Saturday night. Col. William J. Bryant of Arkansas State Police described the Arkansas Car Show mass shooting victims as bystanders in a shootout between two suspects. Some of them were children, including a baby.

Bryant said, "The bottom line on this is just two individuals got into a gunfight. Unfortunately, we had multiple victims of the shooting incident." Among those injured in the shootout are at least six children, the youngest just 19 months old. NBC News reported that they were all taken to Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock for treatment.

According to the colonel, the good news is that five of them had been released as of Sunday afternoon. The shootout claimed the life, however, of 23-year-old Cameron Schaffer. Bryant said there was no indication that the Jacksonville, Arkansas native was one of the shooters in the car show.

Hutchinson and Jones issue statements about the mass shooting

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson issued a statement about the car show mass shooting, saying, "As the investigation continues, I will examine details to see if there are any steps that could have been taken to prevent this type of tragedy."

According to Bryant, highway patrol officers, troopers, and investigators were dispatched around 6:50 p.m. to a parking lot where the event was taking place. According to a report by CNN, promoters billed the said event as a car and bicycle show. The colonel said that based on the online marketing of the event, it appears the bystanders and the shooters were all there for the car show.

Chris Jones, a Democrat running for Arkansas governor, was among those who attended the event. Jones posted a tweet, saying he was there early on Saturday, enjoying "a positive family atmosphere" and registering voters. Jones released a statement, saying he is deeply saddened (and honestly angered) by this tragedy.

Read Also: Parents and Grandmother Charged in Bensalem Child's Death; Fentanyl Found in Baby Boy's Blood

Organizers heartbroken with Arkansas car show mass shooting

Promoters did not describe the two-day event as a spring break celebration this year. However, the listed attractions included live bands, gospel performances, club music, a parade, and a display of bicycles and cars. Based on the organizers' schedule, the car show portion of the event should have been over by the time the shooting started.

A nonprofit group called the Hoodnic Foundation, the event's organizers, posted a statement on its Facebook page, saying it was "heartbroken and in shock" at what took place during Saturday's car show. The New York Post reported that Wallace McGehee, the group's director, personally witnessed the shooting break out and that he tried to get the children out of harm's way.

McGehee was visibly disappointed with the shooting, especially as his group encouraged nonviolence. The Hoodnic Foundation is listed as an educational nonprofit on transparency websites.

Related Article: Father Faces Misdemeanor Gun Charge After 3-Year-old Son Shot and Killed His Mother in Their Car
Paris, TN (38242)

Today

Variable clouds with thunderstorms, especially in the afternoon. A few storms may be severe. High 83F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Showers and thunderstorms. Low 63F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
Valves Linux-based Steam Deck has captured the gaming worlds attention and this weekend it received a major boostfrom Microsoft, of all companies. The beta version of Microsofts Edge browser for Linux now brings Xbox Cloud Gaming support to the Steam Deck, mere weeks after Valve released official Windows drivers for its handheld gaming PC. That sound you hear is Steve Ballmer shrieking into his pillow somewhere.

Getting it set up requires jumping through some hoops, as detailed in this support page and a post on the official Microsoft Edge Reddit community. Yes, theres some minor command line work involved, but its not too complicated, especially since Microsoft illustrated each step of the process on its support page. The tweaks being made let the Steam Deck register button taps on your screen as input coming from a gamepad, a feature rival browsers lackincluding Chrome and Firefox, which come preinstalled on SteamOS.

Once thats all done, youll be able to stream Xbox Cloud Gamings selection of over 200 Xbox Series X-powered games straight to Edge on your Steam Deck (assuming youre an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscriber, that is). Thats handy in any case, as it gives you access to hundreds of games youre paying monthly for, but its especially handy because several of Microsofts most popular games dont support the Steam Deck natively due to anti-cheat compatibility issues. Those should run just fine via the Xbox Cloud Gaming servers, including Halo Infinite, Halo: Master Chief Collection, Gears 5, and Microsoft Flight Simulator X. Plenty of other Xbox Game Studio games play well on the Steam Deck, though.

The move works out for Microsoft, too, which can extend the reach of Xbox Game Pass to a popular new device that isnt powered by Windows, and give Edge a reason to shine even on Linux. It may also be a harbinger of more Xbox-powered browser ambitions for Microsoft: Know that this is just the beginning of the story for gaming on Edge, community manager u/MSFTMissy teased in the Reddit post.

Even better, Ars Technica points out that you can slightly tweak the code to run Google Stadia games in Edge on Linux, too. Giggity.

Still waiting for your Steam Deck to get hand-delivered by Gaben at your doorstep? Check out our explainers on why the Steam Deck runs Linux (spoiler: blame Windows 8) and everything you need to know about Proton, the Steam Decks live-or-die software compatibility technology.
First Atlantic Asset Management, the investment wing of First Atlantic Bank, has launched its maiden fixed income fund to help Ghanaians better maximize their short to medium term funds whiles preserving their capital.



The First Atlantic Income Fund is an open-ended fund that would invest primarily in a broad range of high quality money market and fixed income securities including Government of Ghana bonds, corporate bonds, bank fixed deposits and bankers' acceptance.



The objective of the fund is to provide maximum current income that is consistent with maintaining liquidity and preserving capital by investing in a diversified portfolio of money market and fixed income instruments.



The fund is seeking to raise a minimum amount of Two Hundred Thousand Ghana cedis (GHS 200,000.00) during its initial public offering period which commenced on Monday, March 21, 2022 and ends on Monday, April 12, 2022.



The minimum amount needed to invest in the fund isGHS 50.00 and a subsequent contribution of GHS 20.00 or more.



The fund being open-ended would give investors the opportunity to invest into the fund at any given time and also redeem their funds whenever the need be.



The General Manager of First Atlantic Asset Management, Mr. Prince Atsianu stated that the experience the company has garnered over the years in wealth management, would be tapped into to create more wealth for investors. He outlined some of the benefits of investing in the fund which includes; diversification of funds across broad range of asset classes to minimize the risk to investors, enjoying the professional fund management expertise of the fund manager, liquidity, flexibility and easy accessibility by paying through all branches of First Atlantic Bank nationwide, FAM mobile App, standing order, direct debit and direct payment at the office of the fund manager.



He added that the fund is opened to the investing public and not limited to individuals, schools, corporate bodies, churches, endowment funds and welfare funds.



Mr. Atsianu advised the investing public to secure their financial future by investing in the fixed income fund. He also assured investors on the safety of their funds as 80% of the funds would be invested in Government of Ghana securities. For investors to optimize the returns on their investments, he recommended that they consistently invest into the fund for a longer period of time.



For subscription of shares in the First Atlantic Income Fund, investors could visit any branch ofFirst Atlantic Bank nationwide to duly complete an application form and make their initial deposit or they could also visit the office of the fund manager, First Atlantic Asset Management at North ridge.



Investors can also reach the fund manager on 0501419088 for any further explanations.



The Fund



First Atlantic Income Fund is an open-ended mutual fund scheme managed by First Atlantic Asset Management Company Ltd. The scheme is an investment vehicle established to invest in money market and fixed income instruments.



Additional shares in the Fund will be created and purchased on demand by subscribers on an ongoing basis at a price computed in accordance with the Unit Trust and Mutual Fund Regulations, 2001 LI. 1695 approved basis of offer price computation.



The investment capital of the Fund is to be made up of the subscriptions of investors to shares of the Fund. Being an open-ended fund, shares therein shall be created, offered and redeemed, on an ongoing basis throughout the life of the Fund.



The price at which the shares will be offered and redeemed will be determined by the Net Asset Value of the Fund and, specifically will reflect such proportion of the Net Asset Value of the Fund as is attributable to each existing share in the Fund as at the time of each offer and redemption.



Management of the Fund



First Atlantic Asset Management Company Ltd (FAAM) is the Manager of the Fund and will provide investment, management and advisory as well as administrative services.



FAAM is licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission as a Fund Manager. For the efficient management of the Fund, the Directors of the Fund have entered into an investment advisory and management agreement with the Manager.



Under this agreement the Manager is obligated to perform administrative and management services for which it will receive 1.00% and 0.50% per annum of the value of the Fund as management and administrative fee respectively.



The management of the Fund shall be based on sound research analysis in various sectors of the economy where the Fund may find attractive to invest in fixed income securities. The buying, selling or holding of a particular security will rest with the Manager subject to the review and approval of the Investment Committee and Board of Directors of the Fund.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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"On Sunday, armed elements attacked a (military) unit around Natiaboani. The provisional toll is twelve fallen soldiers," a security source told AFP.



"This was a patrol and security team that were attacked by presumed jihadists," another security source told AFP, adding that around ten soldiers had been killed.



"Multiple elements on the enemy side were also neutralised," they said, without giving further details.



Natiaboani is a rural community about sixty kilometres south of Fada N'Gourma, the largest town in the Eastern Region administrative area that since 2018 has been regularly targeted by armed groups.



Around 15 youths were kidnapped by armed individuals during an attack on Friday in nearby Nagre, according to the country's information agency.



Burkina Faso has seen an uptick in violence after a period of relative calm following a military junta taking power in January.



Disgruntled officers toppled elected president Roch Marc Christian Kabore, who had been facing protests over his handling of the bloody jihadist insurgency.



In total, 23 civilians and 25 policemen or soldiers have been killed over the last ten days.



Burkina Faso has been struggling with jihadist attacks since 2015, when militants linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group began mounting cross-border raids from Mali.



The violence has killed more than 2,000 people and displaced at least 1.7 million, according to an AFP tally.



In January alone, 160,000 fled their homes, a group of international charities said last Thursday.

Source: France 24









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 Chief Executive Officer for the Students Loan Trust Fund Nana Kwaku Agyei Yeboah has confirmed that the law requiring a guarantor for tertiary students to access loans from the trust has been amended.



According to him, the law was amended by parliament as part of the governments policy to fulfil its constitutional mandate under Article 25 of the constitution.



He explained that the Students Trust Fund was instituted by the Kufour government to cushion students with financial challenges to enable them to get the life wire to secure their educational stance.



However, the guarantor system served as a barrier in the acquisition of loans by tertiary students from the Students Loan Trust Fund, he explained.



The CEO noted that the guarantor was a Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), and for that reason, several students were deprived din accessing the loans.



But that is no longer the case because that system has been scrapped.



The new system will facilitate the provision of equal opportunities to everyone who wants to have access to higher education, he added.



Nana Kwaku Agyei Yeboah explained that the new system would be checked using the national identification system and digitalisation processes of the government, such as GPS for repayment of the loan.



You no longer need a guarantor to secure a student a loan from the Trust. All you need is your Ghana Card. If you are a Ghanaian and you attend a recognised university, you are eligible for a loan.



He disclosed that applicants should visit the official website of the Trust and apply for a students loan.



There is no longer an impediment or a barrier to prevent p[eople from accessing tertiary education. Take advantage of the new system and apply, he stated.

Source: Rainbowradioonline.com









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The Deputy Minister of Education, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour has described Family Health University College (FHUC) as one of the private educational institutions in Ghana that stands tall in Africa and the Sub-region, with excellence in promoting ethics and professionalism in medical education.



He said the Institution has raised the bar in critical skills and imbibed in medical students, essential critical morals and social values.



Rev. Ntim Fordjour made this statement during the Family Health University College (FHUC) 2022 Matriculation and Graduation ceremony for the Family Health Medical School (FHMS) and Family Health Nursing & Midwifery School (FHNMS) respectively, held in Accra.



The two sessions of the Matriculation and Graduation ceremony of the Family Health Medical School (FHMS) and the Family Health Nursing & Midwifery School (FHNMS), were held separately due to the large number of students involved, and in accordance with COVID-19 protocols on outdoor gatherings.



Rev. Ntim Fordjour, who was the Special Guest of Honour for the Family Health Medical Schools 2022 Matriculation and Graduation ceremony noted that the Family Health Medical Schools training of medical doctors contributes significantly in improving doctor-patient ratio which use to stand at one (1) doctor to nine-thousand (9,000) patients but now at one (1) doctor to six-thousand, three hundred and fifty-five (6,355) patients, in Ghana.



He added that although the statistics show an improvement in the doctor-patient ratio in the country, the World Bank ranks Ghana fourth (4th) in West Africa and fourteenth (14th) in Sub-Saharan Africa. He also averred that, the government seeks to create an enabling environment that will ensure private sector participation in the training of more medical practitioners for the country to attain the required doctor-patient.



Rev. Ntim Fordjour commended the Founders of FHUC, Prof. Enyonam Yao Kwawukume and Dr. Susu Bridget Kwawukume for their visionary leadership for the healthcare sector, in the training of quality human resource for the country, and making strides in standing tall among its predecessors.



Prof. Kwawukume, admonished the Matriculants for the Medical School, to be resolute, studious, take instructions from their lecturers, embrace team-based learning and, above all, strive for success in their medical education and beyond.



To the BSc. Medical Sciences graduands, he congratulated them on their medical education journey so far, and added that he was hopeful that they will have an exciting and impactful clinical years; he encouraged them not be afraid to make mistakes but to keep working hard, and in teams, and they will come out in flying colours.



The dual ceremony for the Family Health Medical School (FHMS) in the morning had forty-one (41) students graduating with BSc in Medical Sciences and fifty-nine (59) fresh men and women comprising Undergraduates and Graduate Entry Medical Programme (GEMP) students, matriculating.



For the afternoon session, the Family Health Nursing & Midwifery Schools Matriculation and Graduation ceremony had sixty-eight (68) Nursing Assistant Clinical (NAC) students graduating, and two hundred and fifty-seven (257) freshmen and women, comprising two-hundred (200) for BSc. Nursing and Midwifery Programme and fifty-seven (57) for NAC programme, also matriculating.



Speaking at the ceremony, the Guest of Honour, Miss Hannah Akua Oparebea Acquah, Rector of the Ghana College of Nurses and Midwives, congratulated the newly-qualified Nurse Assistants and encouraged them to further pursue academic laurels in Nursing, as the revered profession was embracing innovation. She further advised the students to emulate the qualities of an ideal nurse which include: being caring, being empathetic, having good communication skills, and staying relevant in the Nursing profession by keeping abreast with new trends and technologies in the 21st century. She also welcomed the Freshmen and women to the noble profession and advised them to be serious, attentive to detail and embrace mentorship from their predecessors.



To the graduands, Prof. Kwawukume congratulated them on their achievements; he entreated them to sharpen the skills acquired in the classroom and to build exceptional work ethics. He entreated the graduating nurses to show care and empathy in their professional duties, and to let the values inculcated in them by the School reflect in their actions and inactions. He also encouraged the Matriculants to aim for excellence and be disciplined, analytical and to learn to question knowledge received, in a refined manner.



The Family Health Medical School has since 2020 graduated two (2) batches of medical students with Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) degrees; the first batch of thirty (30) students graduated in 2020, whilst the second batch of fifty-four (54) graduated in 2021. All the graduates have been duly inducted into the medical profession by the Medical and Dental Council.



Additionally, the Nursing and Midwifery School has churned out thousands of nurses since its inception in 2009.

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Research compiled by Unilevers Pepsodent shows a huge inequality in access to professional dental care and advice in Ghana, with 70% of dentists practising in the two largest cities: Accra and Kumasi.



This disparity in access is severe in rural areas where problems of unequal distribution of oral health services, shortages in formally trained dentists, and high costs of dental treatments are more pronounced. There are periodic outreach programmes organised by the Ministry of Health or NGOs reaching out to them.



In Ghana, there are 570 dentists currently serving the needs of 31 million population which implies a ratio of 1 dentist to 58,400 people. Out of about 298 public hospitals and polyclinics, there are only 84 dental facilities in the country. Of these, only 54 clinics have equipment in reasonably good condition. The rest are in various states of disrepair. This means that visiting a dentist to address oral health problems is often delayed, or problems are not treated at all.



Tooth loss has serious consequences affecting general health and wellbeing, quality of life, and economic and social opportunities, which exacerbate inequality.



Adults who have lost teeth have a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease and are at risk of malnutrition can experience sleep deficiency, be discriminated against or suffer a loss of self-confidence and anxiety. Having access to a dentists advice as soon as a problem arises is the most effective way to avoid serious dental outcomes like tooth loss.



Since 2005, Pepsodent has partnered with the FDI World Dental Federation, an independent organisation representing over 1 million dentists worldwide to drive awareness on the importance of oral health.



Joel Boateng, Category Manager for Oral Care, Unilever Ghana says, As part of our brands ongoing mission to unleash the power of healthy smiles by eradicating oral disease for everyone, Pepsodent is providing a service which offers free access to advice from a registered dentist to tackle barriers to access such as distance and dentist availability.



Oral health questions submitted via Pepsodent Ghanas Facebook page will be answered by a dentist in a live streaming session to celebrate this years World Oral Health Day, the largest global awareness campaign for oral health.



In addition, Pepsodent is providing free dental check-ups via dental screening centres around the country. Through these activities, we hope to encourage people to take control of their oral health and avoid severe pain, costly and complicated treatments, and ultimately tooth loss.



Our World Oral Health Day 2022 campaign, themed, Dont Wait Until Its Too Late #TalkToADentist aims to help raise awareness to ensure people understand the importance of acting early, from the moment a problem arises, notes Joel.



On his part, Dr. Paapa Puplampu, President of the Ghana Dental Association says, People often ignore the warning signs of a problem, such as toothache or gum bleeding, hoping it will go away. However, talking to a dentist at the first sign of a problem can help to fix issues before they become serious. Understanding the terrible consequences of waiting such as severe pain, more difficult and costly treatments and ultimately, tooth loss, is vital to helping people realise why early identification and treatment is so important.



He reiterated that oral health is closely tied to the overall health of the body and lauded Pepsodent for always coming up with educational programs to enlighten Ghanaians on oral health.



Dont Wait Until Its Too Late #TalkToADentist. Follow Pepsodent Ghana on Facebook and participate and gain from the free dental advice.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Engineers Ireland Presentation

Jeffrey, EI7IRB informs us that the Fire and Safety division of Engineers Ireland is presenting a talk by Engineer Diarmuid Moran, titled 'Radio Frequency Safety including 5G rooftop base stations'.

This talk might be of interest to radio amateurs as the presentation reviews and explores the safety requirements and standards applicable to rooftop base stations and antenna structures. Examples of hazard identification and risk controls for occupational and public exposure to Electro Magnetic Fields (EMF) and RF safety will also be discussed.

The Presentation will take place on the Zoom Platform, and is scheduled for Thursday, the 24th March 2022 at 7:00 p.m. To book a place at this free event visit the website at www.engineersireland.ie/Events/event/7969

IRTS
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has reiterated that the surest way to transform Ghanas economy and reduce unemployment is by paying critical regard to Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).



Citing the success stories of countries like Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea with whom Ghana began its independence journey, he observed that Ghana could only attain a global giant status with deliberate and heavy investment in TVET, the area for the development of skills needed for a modern economy.



Consequently, he said government had adopted a strategy to expand technical and vocational opportunities at both secondary and tertiary levels to strengthen the linkages between education and industry and empower the youth to deploy their skills and employ themselves and others.



This is the reason why government has placed such importance on guaranteeing access to a minimum of Senior High School education for all Ghanaian children and is laying emphasis in particular on technical and vocational training as a major pillar for development, he added.



The President was speaking at the 92nd speech day durbar of the St Augustines College in Cape Coast on Saturday under the theme: Redefining Education Delivery in Technological Aid: The Role of St Augustines College.



The event was marked by the commissioning of the schools renovated and expanded computer laboratory by the President donated by alumni of the school.



He indicated that concrete efforts were underway to disabuse misconceptions that technical and vocational education was inferior and only patronized by financially or intellectually less endowed students.



Among other measures, President Akufo-Addo, averred that government had officially rolled out a Free TVET For All programme in addition to its Free Senior High School (SHS) policy which had catered for some 1.6 million students since inception.



He added that the Ministry of Education was currently undertaking cutting-edge policies to achieve it object of 60:40 Science-Humanities ratio enrolment in secondary schools for its transformation agenda.



The construction of eight model Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) high schools and 20 STEM Centres across the country are at various stages of completion together with the construction of Accra STEM Academy are some of the pragmatic steps the government is taking to promote the advancement of science and technology education in Ghana, he explained.



The President further announced that governments goal of furthering and facilitating the use of technology in the promotion of education in the country was on course.



While government does its utmost best to ensure that it provides the requisite tools and environment for learning especially of the model science, heads of schools must supervise teaching and learning, check absenteeism of the teachers and students, and develop any effective strategies to monitor the activities of the school, he charged.



He also admonished teachers to bear in mind that they were role models to the students and must therefore project excellence to the students.



Addressing the students, he urged them to learn hard, imbibe the values of honesty and integrity, and refrain from acts that could jeopardize their prospects of a bright future.



Parents and guardians too have the responsibility to advise their wards to exhibit good behaviour in school or wherever they may be. They are partners with the school in educating their children, he said.



Responding some requests earlier made by the school, the President pledged governments commitment to satisfy all reasonable requests including the demand for a new science equipment.



And to commemorate this occasion, I am taking as my personal responsibility, to provide a new 60-seater school bus for the school, he pledged.







Source: GNA









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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has restated his belief that Ghanaians will continue to maintain democracy and to entrench its values in national life.



He stressed that recent voices raising the topic of military intervention were restless spirits, whose irresponsible utterances, will not scuttle the democratic gains made under the Fourth Republic.



Speaking at the 92nd Speech and Prize-Giving Day of St. Augustines College in Cape Coast, on Saturday, 19th March 2021, the President stressed that for these last twenty-nine (29) years of the 4th Republic, Ghanaians have reposed their trust in the democratic process as the avenue to resolve the myriad of problems the country faces.



He added that citizens had further demonstrated their determination to uphold democratic values and institutions to bring development to the nation.



There are a few, though, whom I have characterised as restless spirits, who are not prepared to allow you to complete your education in conditions of calm, peace and stability, and who seek constant turbulence in the governance of the state. This has led, lately, to some irresponsible utterances about coups as panaceas to our problems, he said.



He continued, I have said, and will use this platform to repeat that coups have never been, and will never be durable solutions to the political, economic and security challenges confronting our nation and continent.



With the majority of Ghanaians on the side of Constitutionalism, the President restated that, (Ghana) will continue to resist the rhetoric and advances of coup mongers and coup plotters, and those of us who have the responsibility to safeguard the integrity of the state will employ all legitimate means in a democracy to preserve our free, open system of governance, which is respectful of human rights, the rule of law and the principles of democratic accountability.



Coup comments have become topical in recent months. #FixTheCountry activist Oliver Barker-Vormawor was arrested and remanded for five weeks over a threat to stage a coup over the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy) Bill currently before Parliament.



Prof Raymond Atuguba, dean of the University of Ghanas School of Law, also in a lecture drew a link between economic downturn and coups and warned government to tackle fiscal challenges with urgency because such tensions have often triggered coups.

Source: Ghanaweb.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The European Union(EU), has provided a grant of 2.5million to the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly(KMA), to help manage solid waste and improve service delivery in the metropolis.

The project, dubbed: Holistic Reinforcement for Sustainable Development (HORESD), would be implemented in 30 months.



It is co-partnered by Mancomunitat de la Ribera Alta in Spain, and the Chamber of Praia in Cape Verde.



Key components



Key components of the project are the establishment of four composting stations, and two eco-stations, that would be managed by cooperatives of persons who are at risk of social exclusion.



Other components are the creation



The project also includes the establishment of a Sustainable Entrepreneurship School, that would help a wide range of entrepreneurs in Kumasi to develop green jobs; as well as a comprehensive study of converting waste to energy.



The overarching objective of the HORESD project, is to improve the delivery of public services through effective capacity building in both the structural and decision making systems of local authorities in the KMA, the beneficiary city.



Launch



Speaking at the launch of the HORESD project in Kumasi on Wednesday, March 16, 2022, H.E. Irchad Razaaly, Ambassador and Head, European Union delegation to Ghana, said the project seeks to strengthen Kumasis capacity to provide public service, giving priority to an integrated management system of solid urban waste.



Again, he noted that it will help boost the circular economy in the metropolis, with special emphasis on incorporating the disadvantaged or those at risk of social exclusion, especially women, young people, and people with disabilities.



Present at the launch were Mr Simon Osei Mensah, the Ashanti Regional Minister; Mr Samuel Pyne, the Metropolitan Chief Executive of Kumasi; and H.E. Javier Gutierrez, Spain's Ambassador to Ghana.



Governments commitment



Mr Osei Mensah lauded the project, stating that it was in line with President Akufo-Addos quest for MMDCEs to leverage on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 17, to forge northsouth partnerships that will contribute to Ghanas achievement of the SDGs by 2030.



He noted that in Kumasi, over 1,500 tons of waste was generated daily, creating sleepless nights for the city authorities in terms of its management and that the project would go a long way to augment the governments effort in managing solid waste in the metropolis.



Job creation



Mr Osei Mensah, said while urban solid waste was a resource for job creation and sustainable income generation for some households in countries like Germany, Spain and Sweden, it was rather a headache and financial drain on the city authorities in developing countries like Ghana.



He said it was quite unfortunate, that citizens resorted to unregulated dumping of solid waste into drains, streets and practised open burning which remained a headache to city authorities.



While these practices create serious health, safety and environmental consequences, the poorly managed urban solid waste serves as breeding grounds for disease vectors and contribute to global climate change through methane generation, he added



The Minister was confident that under his watch, the project will be scaled up to other cities within the Ashanti Region as well as replicated in other regions of Ghana.



Waste management



On his part, Mr Samuel Pyne, noted that waste management in the metropolis consumes almost three-quarters of the Internally Generated Funds mobilized by the City Council, and that despite all these financial investments in the management of solid waste, the city of Kumasi was still bedevilled with indiscriminate disposal of solid waste.



Weve tried several waste management strategies, ranging from free disposal of waste by households, pay-as-you dump, night cleaning to the installation of dustbins along the streets, all to improve waste management, he lamented. He said unfortunately the results realized do far have been below expectation.









Source: graphiconline.com









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The Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, last Saturday inaugurated the first Islamic Nursing Training College in the country, with a call on the school authorities to stick to their core values.

Dr Bawumia said strict adherence to that mission by all stakeholders of the school would make it one of the best in the country.



Always remember your stated mission of being a plainly socially sensitive, community-oriented and patient-centred health professionals through excellence in teaching, clinical leadership and serving, he added.



The Vice-President said the college would not only open enrolment opportunities for young people in the Zongos and inner cities but also add to the about 90 public health training institutions across the country.



He said in spite of the number of nursing training institutions in the country, they did not seem to meet the admission needs of the ever-increasing population who graduated from senior high schools and sought to be trained as nurses.



The school



The Islamic Nursing Training College was conceived by a Nigerian scholar, Sheik Hassam Hamza Musa, and initiated with the support of the Ahlu Sunnah wal Jamaa Muslim sect from Ghana and Nigeria.



It is affiliated to the University of Cape Coast (UCC) and offers diploma in health nursing, general nursing and other certification courses.



Private sector



Dr Bawumia commended the private sector for contributing immensely to complement the efforts of the government towards the development of education.



He said the government had prioritised education because it enhanced productivity, creativity and technological advancement and also secured economic and social progress.



The only sustainable way we can transform Zongos or deprived communities and the nation is through the education of our children, he stated.



Transforming health sector



Vice-President Bawumia said the government had an unwavering commitment to continue to invest in the health sector, especially towards the training of healthcare workers, as well as the provision of healthcare infrastructure.



He pointed out that the government would continue to partner and support private training institutions, such as the Islamic Nursing Training College, to produce the required health personnel for the nation.



Inclusiveness



Talking about inclusiveness, he said the Zongos, which had been excluded from the national development process for many years since independence by successive governments, was now actively included through the Zongo Development Fund, which he indicated had so far executed 134 projects in Zongos throughout the country.



Front view of the Islamic Nursing Training College



The projects, he said, included classrooms, health facilities, roads, water systems and ICT centres.



The Vice-President said part of the governments Zongo development vision was a special focus on the training and development of healthcare workers, especially doctors, nurses and midwives, to be able to offer services to patients with special needs.



As part of this vision, he said, the government, in 2020, sponsored 40 brilliant, needy students from various Zongo communities across the country to Cuba on full government scholarship to be trained as medical doctors.



He added that the government had also cleared the backlog of nurses who were at home when it came into office, saying: We are on course to posting nurses on time to be able to serve.



He later donated GH20,000 to support the school.



Compulsory



The Leader of the Ahlu Sunnah wal Jamaa in Nigeria, Sheik Abdullahi Bala Lau, in a brief remark, said to seek knowledge was compulsory in Islam.



He, therefore, expressed the hope that seeking medical knowledge would be an additional incentive to groom Muslim youth to be useful to society.









Source: graphiconline.com









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The President of the Asogli Traditional Area, Togbe Afede XIV, has been elected as the Chairman of the Advisory Council of The John Evans Atta Mills Memorial Heritage.



At the inaugural meeting of the council held in Accra last Tuesday, Dr Esther Ofei-Aboagye, a former Director of the Institute of Local Government Studies was elected as Vice-chairperson.



In his acceptance speech, Togbe Afede XIV, a former President of the National House of Chiefs described his election as great honour as it was an opportunity to continue the good works of the late President.





President Mills was committed to excellence and was worth celebrating, he said.



Togbe Afede XIV reiterated the need to continue the quest of President John Evans Atta Mills to ensure A better Ghana that creates opportunities for all.





Members of the Advisory Council present at the meeting were Mr Kwame Pianim, Naa Alhassan Andani, Dr Cadman Mills, Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni, Mr John Henry Martey Newman and Mr E.M. Commodore Mensah.



Other members of the Advisory Council are, Prof. Agnes Attia Apusigah, Mr Bebaako Mensah, Mrs MarufatuAbiolaBarwuah, Kwaku Bram-Larbi, Dr Abena Oye Gyampo, and Alhaji Ahmed Vanderpuije.



The John Evans Atta Mills Memorial Heritage was incorporated in October 2021 and the Advisory Council was announced at the launch of the Memorial Heritage on February 1, 2022.



It was set up by a group of academics, professional colleagues, students, family and appointees of President Mills to immortalise his persona and his heritage and legacy.



The late John Evans Atta Mills, the 3rd President of the 4th Republic, served as President from January 08, 2009, to July 24, 2012  the day he died.

Source: The Ghanaian Times









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In support of the Keeping Ashanti Region Clean and Green agenda, Zoomlion Ghana Limited (ZGL) has presented 13 brand new state-of-the-art-waste collection trucks to district assemblies in the Greater Kumasi Area of the Ashanti Region.



The waste management trucks will help address the problem of lack of adequate garbage trucks and also ensure effective and efficient management of waste in the Greater Kumasi area.



The short but colourful ceremony, which came off at the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council in Kumasi recently, was graced by a representative of the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei-Mensah, the Executive Chairman of the Jospong Group of Companies (JGC), Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong, and some metropolitan municipal chief executives (MMCEs).



Receiving the trucks on behalf of the assemblies, the Ashanti Regional Minister, Hon. Simon Osei-Mensah, expressed that the partnership forged between his region and Zoomlion would help improve upon sanitation in the Greater Kumasi area.



He said the area was saddled with logistical constraints in the space of waste management, one of which he indicated was the lack of adequate garbage trucks.



He, therefore, commended Zoomlion for the gesture and assured that the trucks would be used for its intended purpose.



Now we will see sanitation in Greater Kumasi and its environs improved, he averred.



Furthermore, he said the gesture will boost the Keeping Ashanti Region Clean and Green project, thus describing the gesture from Zoomlion as very timely.



"Together with His Majesty, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene, all Metropolitan Municipal, District Assemblies, Nananom and the people of Ashanti Region, we will ensure the proper use of the trucks and tricycles to promote a cleaner and beautiful Kumasi," Mr. Osei-Mensah again assured.



To this end, Hon. Osei-Mensah entreated residents in Kumasi and its environs to get involved in making the region clean and green.



The Chairman of the Jospong Group of Companies (JGC), Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong, reiterated his groups commitment to ensure that the Akufo-Addos vision of ensuring a clean Ghana is achieved.



He promised that Zommlion will also make available tipping tricycles and aggressively help promote the One Million Bin agenda all in an effort to ensure a clean Greater Kumasi area.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Ms Hannah Akua Oparebea Acquah, Rector of the Ghana College of Nurses and Midwives (GCNM) has advised the Graduating class of 2022 Nurse Assistant Clinical programme of the Family Health Nursing and Midwifery School to aspire to the utmost level in nursing.



She said higher education was of the essence for practice in todays complex healthcare system.



Speaking on the theme, The Ideal Nurse for the 21st Century Ghanaian Healthcare System, at the 2022 Matriculation and Graduation ceremony for the Family Health Nursing and Midwifery School, the Rector enumerated a number of attributes that an ideal nurse should exhibit in her line of duty.



He mentioned Care, empathy, commitment, critical thinking, effective communication skills, professionalism among other attributes as the traits ideal for the 21st Century nurse.



She also admonished both Matriculants and Graduands to embrace mentorship and supervision from their predecessors and other senior colleagues in the nursing profession.



Ms Oparebea Acquah reminded them to manage their time and resources well and to take their studies seriously by actively participating in both theoretical and clinical sessions.



In her welcome address, the Ag. Dean of the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Dr. Patience Aniteye, congratulated the graduands and encouraged them to give off their best in the service to humanity.



To the Matriculants, Dr Aniteye admonished the students to brace themselves for the journey ahead and to take advantage of the human and material resources available to facilitate their learning.



She was grateful to Management for the additional infrastructure, including lecture halls, offices for staff, and a conference room to accommodate the increasing population of the School which now stands at over four hundred (400) with almost seventy percent 70 per cent offering Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Midwifery.

Source: GNA









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The Leadership of Parliament is in discussions with the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources to update the House on the ongoing fight against illegal mining also known as galamsey.



Deputy Majority Leader Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin said following ongoing discussions between the Leadership and the sector Minister, Mr Samuel Abu Jinapor, the House would be communicated of the date in due course.



Mr Speaker, the Business Committee, proposes that minister responsible for Lands and Natural Resources appear to update the country on the ongoing fight against illegal mining also known as Galamsey, the Deputy Majority Leader said.



Mr Afenyo Markin announced the proposed briefing on Friday in Parliament House, in Accra, when presenting the Business Statement for the Eighth Week of the current meeting of Parliament.



He added that it was the expectation the Minister would find an appropriate date for the briefing



As part of the schedule, Mr Afenyo-Markin said the Leadership was in discussions with the Administrators of the various statutory funds for the expeditious presentation of the disbursement formulae of funds for the consideration and approval of Parliament.



These statutory funds are the District Assemblies Common Fund, GETFund and the National Health Insurance Scheme.

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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General Secretary of the largest opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, says the absurdity of the Supreme Court ruling will be realized in its practicality.



According to him, the NDC's concern with the Supreme Court's borders on the likely bastardisation of the Constitution.



He says the framers of the 1992 constitution in their own wisdom wrote the constitution in such a manner that all these issues will be addressed by it when they came up.



Speaking on Okay Fm's Ade Akye Abia programme, Mr Asiedu Nketia explained that the constitution remains the supreme law of the state and that nothing should be made to be inconsistent with any provision of the constitution, including certain humongous decisions of the apex court.



"How are you even going to praticalized this? It will so absurd for the deputy speaker who is mediating the affairs of the House to be inolved in voting when there is an issue in parliament.



"The constitution states clearly his role as a deputy speaker of parliament. If he had wanted to take part in the voting process of the House, why then did he decide to take up the seat as a First Deputy?



"If the supreme court continues to do things this way then the sanctity of the constitution will be lost and that is our biggest worry as a politcal party," he added.



Earlier this year, a private legal practitioner and law lecturer, Justice Abdulai subsequent to the November 30, 2021 clash between Speaker Bagbin and his First Deputy after the latter overturned an earlier vote of the House rejecting Governments 2022 Budget, invited the Supreme Court to pronounce as unconstitutional, Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei Owusus action of counting himself for the purposes of quorum.



He argued in the context of articles 102 and 104 of the 1992 Constitution that the Deputy Speaker was not permitted to count himself for the purposes of quorum, since he had neither an original nor a casting vote as Speaker presiding.



But the court presided over by Justice Jones Dotse, held that the Deputy Speaker does not lose his right to take part in decision-making upon a true and proper interpretation of Article 103 and 104 of the 1992 Constitution.



The court, therefore, held that the passing of the budget on November 30, 2021, in which Joseph Osei-Owusu, the First Deputy Speaker counted himself as part of the quorum, was valid.



Also, the court struck down order 109(3) of the standing orders of Parliament which prevented a deputy Speaker presiding from voting, as unconstitutional.





Watch Video Below





Source: Isaac Kwame Owusu/Peacefmonline/[email protected]









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A Senior Research Fellow at the Kumasi Technical University, Dr. Smart Sarpong, has appealed to the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to come to the rescue of Ghanaians as fuel prices shoot up.



As fuel prices have hiked up to 10 cedis per litre, there are fears it will aggravate the living conditions of citizens in Ghana.



The increase has also consequently affected various sectors of the economy, particularly with commodities and transport services.



Some people also dread, with the way the prices are going high, it might result in Ghana returning to HIPC (Highly Indebted Poor Country) status.



Addressing the petrol crisis, Dr. Smart Sarpong noted that the crisis is a world problem but not a problem peculiar to Ghana.



He expounded that the prices are going high almost everywhere in the world.



However, he called on President Akufo-Addo to take a cue from the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, who has ably managed his economy well in the midst of the crisis, hence relieving his citizens of the hardships associated with this world crisis.



Dr. Smart Sarpong, speaking on Peace FM's ''Kokrokoo'', made a solemn appeal to the President to find ways to reduce the prices believing the reduction will do the populace so much good.



". . I'm looking that after cabinet some of the good news we may hear from there is that government has tried to cushion us a little with the fuel price . . . " he said.



"I think it's a good time for the President and cabinet to tell us good news regarding the fuel prices," he added.







Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Russia and Belarus suspended from CEPT membership

On March 17 the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications (CEPT) announced the indefinite suspension of Russia and Belarus following the invasion of Ukraine



The CEPT announcement said:



Outcome of the written procedure with the CEPT Assembly regarding suspension of the Russian Federation and Belarus from CEPT Membership.



Based on a request from a number of CEPT members, the CEPT Presidency carried out a written procedure, in accordance with the CEPT Arrangement, on the proposal to suspend indefinitely and with immediate effect the memberships of the Russian Federation and Belarus in the CEPT.



Thirty-four responses were received to the CEPT Assembly letter in support of the proposal and one abstention.



Based on the above, the CEPT Assembly has therefore decided:



1. to suspend indefinitely memberships of the Russian Federation and Belarus in the CEPT.

2. that the suspension of the said CEPT members will take effect as from 00:00 (CET), 18 March 2022.

3. that any future readmission to the CEPT would follow the usual rules established in the CEPT Arrangement, notably the need for a two-thirds majority of members of the CEPT to endorse such a decision.







Moreover, the CEPT Presidency requested the Office to take all necessary measures in order to set in place the above-mentioned decisions.

The CEPT PresidencySource CEPT
The Speaker of Parliament, Alban S.K. Bagbin, has denied allegation that he's requesting more money to take care of his medical bills in Dubai.



According to the Daily Guide newspaper, Mr. Bagbin has allegedly sent a request for an additional $50,000,having claimed $120,000 already.



The report further intimated that "with the latest request, Mr. Bagbin would have blown $170,000 on this current trip.



"Information gleaned from the corridors of Parliament indicates that this is not the first time the Speaker is making such a request for extra money. According to a source, in July last year, when the Speaker made his first official trip to Dubai for his medical care, he went with a spending money of $150,000, after which he demanded an additional $100,000, but Parliament was able to raise $90,000, bringing the total to $240,000."



But in a statement, Bagbin clapped back saying he "has not, at any point in time, made direct cash requests from Parliament"



"We would like to state categorically that the Rt. Hon. Speaker has not, at any point in time, made direct cash requests from Parliament. The conditions of service of public employees, including political office holders, cover medical care, both local and foreign. The specific details of each category of public employees is covered by law.



"In the case of Parliamentarians and Speakers, the Presidential Commission on Emoluments details out the main areas of coverage. This covers sitting and former Speakers. The current Speaker has no authority and has not made any attempt to, in anyway amend or alter what has been in existence before he came into office."





Read the full statement below

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Source: Peacefmonline.com









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Ghana has been singled out for praise by the European Union (EU) for still maintaining its position as the bastion of democracy in the West Africa sub-region.



The Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Ghana Irchad Razaaly said Ghana has demonstrated that it is still the front-runner in upholding democracy despite political instability in the region.



The commendation is coming at a time when coups appear to be making a comeback in West and Central Africa. In the past two years, there have been military takeovers in Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso and Guinea, as well as further east in Sudan.



The thing that struck me the most in Ghana is the diversity, Razaaly said on Asaase FM Friday (18 March 2022).



And speaking of his first impressions of Ghana as a first-time resident, though he has visited before, he remarked: There is the sense that the city [Accra] has been built with its back against the sea and, for me, that is very interesting.



He said the country stands out for various reasons. One of the biggest achievements of Ghana is that it has been one of the front-runners in the practice of democracy.



Razaaly added: We [the EU] are proud to have been able to play a small part in ensuring the democratic integrity of Ghana.









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Mr Alexander Afenyo-Markin, the Deputy Majority Leader of Parliament, has announced President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is ready to present the State of the Nation Address (SONA) to the House.



He said it was up to the Speaker and the Leadership of the House to work together in fixing a date for the President to come and deliver the SONA to the House



Mr Afenyo-Markin said this on the floor of Parliament in his response to a question by Mr Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, the Member of Parliament for Ellembele, on when would the President deliver the SONA.



Mr Afenyo-Markin responded: "Our duty as a House is to programme Mr President to come. It is not Mr President who is refusing to come. He is ready.



Mr President is ready. It is for Leadership and Mr Speaker to programme Mr President. Mr Speaker is unavoidably absent. He is not in the jurisdiction. We are talking about the Speaker...



So, Mr Speaker, the Speaker and the Leadership will agree and programme Mr President to come and deliver a message of the State of the Nation. That will be done.



Mr Afenyo-Markin reiterated that it was not the President who had delayed in coming to the House to deliver the SONA.



It is the duty of the Speaker to invite him. So, dont say the President has delayed, the Deputy Leader said.



The State of the Nation is an annual address given to Parliament by the President in conformity with Article 67 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.



Article 67 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana imposes an obligation on MPs, the Speaker and the Judiciary to receive the Presidents message on the State of the Nation.

Source: GNA









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Paul Adom-Otchere, host of Good Evening Ghana on Metro TV, has stated that he supports calls for a review of the 1992 Constitution.



According to him, one of the main reasons he supports such calls is the need to relook at the powers of the President which in his view are excessive.



In an editorial on the March 18, 2022 edition of his programme, Adom-Otchere explained that the excessive presidential powers stemmed from the genesis of the current Constitution, which he said was to please a dictator being convinced to democratize  i.e. late Jerry John Rawlings.



He said, that review call was one of the reasons he agreed with #FixTheCountry campaigner, Oliver Barker-Vormawor.



I agreed with him on the basis that, at least, there has to be another look at the 1992 Constitution and that some amendments have to be made.



Our passion about this 1992 Constitution is that we think that the powers of the President under this Constitution are excessive and we do know why, because the Constitution was tailor-made for a military dictator, he stated.



He continued: And we do know why, to make him (the dictator) feel comfortable in running a democratic state, he needed to be assured that most of the powers that he controlled as a military dictator, upon his transfiguration into a civilian leader, he will be able to access.



But with the military dictator situation over, and the stability of the nation almost guaranteed, we think that it is time to have a look at the constitution, he added.



Rawlings who died in 2020 had himself weighed in on the need for a constittional review the year prior.



A GNA report quoted him as calling for the removal of entrenched clauses saying it was necessary to remove the entrenched clauses that protected high-level political actors and embolden some of them to abuse their office and criminally profit from their positions.



He was addressing the 40th Anniversary Parade and Wreath Laying of his June 4 Revolution at Nungua in Accra.



The former military ruler turned civilian President said there were many Constitutional clauses that did not serve the national interest and called for an urgent establishment of a constituent assembly to review them.



Former President Rawlings, who is also the Founder of the NDC, said: Over the years the indemnity clauses have emboldened certain characters to abuse their offices and profit themselves.



It is quite evident that a lot of our people are losing confidence in our constitutional mandate. The Constitution of the Fourth Republic was created by us, for us and to serve us, and in light of the 25 years, there is an unqualified need to reform or rewrite our current Constitution.



He said an urgent constituent assembly ought to be established with the necessary powers to rewrite the Constitution; stating that their job would involve reviewing all the constitutional clauses especially the problematic ones, like the transitional provisions and indemnity clause.

Source: Ghanaweb.com









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Barrick Gold logo is seen during the company's annual general meeting in Toronto on Tuesday, April 28, 2015. Barrick Gold Corp. has signed an agreement in principle to restart work on its Reko Diq project in Pakistan's Balochistan province. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
Nuchatlaht First Nation elder and councillor Archie Little, centre, and Tyee Ha'with (Chief) Jordan Michael, far left, stand with supporters outside B.C. Supreme Court before the start of an Indigenous land title case, in Vancouver, on Monday, March 21, 2022. The lawsuit brought by the First Nation seeks to reclaim part of its territory on Nootka Island, off the west coast of Vancouver Island. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Madeleine Redfern, former mayor of Iqaluit, is pictured in Iqaluit on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2014. Redfern, chairwoman of Nunavut's Legal Services Board, says it's important that Indigenous peoples' right to a conditional sentence be preserved. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
After more than 20 years delivering babies into the world, Dr. Stefanie Green, seen in an undated handout photo, decided to specialize in delivering suffering people out of it. Green has now written a book, "This is Assisted Dying: A Doctor's Story of Empowering Patients at the End of Life," describing the first year of her new practice. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Jacob C. Green, *MANDATORY CREDIT*
Logansport, IN (46947)

Today

Cloudy with rain developing this afternoon. High 58F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch..

Tonight

Periods of rain. Low 51F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near a half an inch.
Fort Lauderdale  People have been wondering for a few weeks now whether Mayor Dean Trantalis would run for Congress or stay on as mayor of Fort Lauderdale.

Now we know.

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Trantalis, speaking during a news conference Monday afternoon in front of his Wilton Manors law office, says he plans to keep his job as mayor.

Right now, this is where I belong, Trantalis said.

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Mayor since March 2018, Trantalis said hes had supporters urge him to think twice before walking away from a job hes been doing so well.

Trantalis says hes in the middle of championing several projects that will make Fort Lauderdale better, including coming up with innovative solutions for traffic gridlock and replacing the citys underground network of water and sewer pipes.

Thats going to take strong leadership, Trantalis said. I really feel my place is right here in Fort Lauderdale.

Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis announces during a news conference on Monday outside his Wilton Manors law office that he will not be running for Congress. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

A great mayor

In recent weeks, Trantalis said he put much time and effort into weighing the pros and cons of running for Congress, including the impact on the city of Fort Lauderdale if he were to step down as mayor.

While I firmly believe I would provide excellent service to the region as a member of Congress, I have decided not to run, said Trantalis, a Democrat. I feel strongly that the vision and initiatives that I have put forth need to be seen through and expanded further, and that this requires me to continue to lead this great city.

The announcement left several Fort Lauderdale residents relieved, including Jacquelyn Scott, president of the Colee Hammock Homeowners Association.

Dean has been a great mayor, Scott said. Hes been one of the best mayors this city has ever had. And Ive been here 65 years. He has so many goals for this city and Id love to see him see them through.

[ RELATED: So Elon Musk wants to build a tunnel to the beach. And that may be just the beginning. ]

Commissioner Steve Glassman and Vice Mayor Heather Moraitis said they too were glad to hear Trantalis had decided to stay on as mayor.

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Mayor Trantalis would have made an excellent Congressman for our area, Glassman told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. By choosing not to run, he has put the city of Fort Lauderdale above his own personal political ambition. And for that we should be very thankful. I look forward to his continued leadership and to working with him on the commission.

Resign to run

Had Trantalis run for Congress, he would have been forced to step down as mayor under the states resign-to-run law, triggering a special election.

Moraitis and Glassman had both said they planned to run for mayor in the event Trantalis resigned before his term ends in November 2024.

I would only run if he left to run for Congress, Glassman said. If he stays put, theres no special election.

Moraitis said she plans to run for mayor some day, but not until Trantalis has left the seat.

I have no intention of running against Dean as mayor, she said. When hes done, I will.

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Mayor Dean Trantalis tells reporters Monday that he still has too many projects to finish in Fort Lauderdale to make a run for Congress at this time. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

In early March, Trantalis said he was considering running for the District 22 congressional seat currently held by U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, a Democrat.

On Feb. 28, Deutch announced he wouldnt seek re-election and would be taking over as CEO of the American Jewish Committee on Oct. 1.

Since then, several elected officials in both Broward and Palm Beach counties have been debating whether to run for the seat.

Jared Moskowitz, a Broward County commissioner who formerly headed the state emergency management agency, announced his candidacy on March 4 for the Democratic primary  four days after Deutch said he was leaving Congress.

[ RELATED: Giant sky-high train bridge through downtown will ruin Fort Lauderdale, mayor says ]

Fort Lauderdale Commissioner Ben Sorensen, a Democrat, is also considering running for the seat held by Deutch since 2010.

On Monday, Sorensen told the Sun Sentinel he has not yet made a final decision.

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Im still looking at it, he said. Its important to me that Fort Lauderdale have good representation in Congress.

The Democratic and Republican primaries are Aug. 23. The general election is in November.

Has Trantalis ruled out a run for Congress altogether? That remains to be seen.

But on Monday, Trantalis said hes keeping his eye on the mayors race.

My term ends in 2024 and Id hope to run for re-election, he said.

Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com or on Twitter @Susannah_Bryan
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Music lovers, rejoice! You have five diverse opportunities this week and next, and three of them are free to the public.

PSU Percussion Ensemble to perform concert Tuesday

The PSU Percussion Ensemble concert is planned for 7 p.m. March 22 in the Linda & Lee Scott Performance Hall in the Bicknell Family Center for the Arts at Pittsburg State University.

The group is under the direction of James Clanton and the concert will feature a variety of percussion ensemble and solo works. It is free and open to the public.

Saturday symphony concert to feature four Concerto/Aria Winners

A concert on Saturday, March 26, by the Southeast Kansas Symphony at Pittsburg State University will feature four winners of the Department of Musics annual Concerto/Aria competition.

It will be free and open to the public and will begin at 7 p.m. in the Linda & Lee Scott Performance Hall in the Bicknell Family Center for the Arts.

Featured will be Joel Garber, clarinet; Madison Westervelt, mezzo soprano; Steven F. Speer, timpani; & Isaac Hernandez, piano.

The orchestra will perform with the winners under the direction of Associate Professor of Music Raul Munguia. The program will include Sailing the Golden Sea by local composer Dell Johnston and A day in Spring by Lili Boulanger. Graduate conducting student Thomas Smith will share the podium.

Student chamber concert planned for Sunday

A student chamber concert featuring tuba music will be held from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 27, in the Sharon Kay Dean Recital Hall in McCray Hall at Pittsburg State University. It is free and open to the public and is under the direction of Robert Kehle.

African Soul International to perform March 29 at Bicknell Center

African Soul International, a group known for changing lives through art, will perform at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 29, in the Linda & Lee Scott Performance Hall in the Bicknell Family Center for the Arts at Pittsburg State University.

The group has touched more than 100,000 lives since its founding, bringing the joy of African Culture, history, music, and dance globally. The performance will incorporate live drumming, dancing, storytelling, and songs for all ages to enjoy.

The group was the winner of the 2019 African Dance Awards in Los Angeles and was a 2019 recipient of the Congressional Award for Community Service.

The event is free to PSU students who purchase tickets in advance at the PSU Ticket Office in the Garfield Weede Building, or $3 at the door. Tickets are available to faculty, staff, children, and seniors for $5, and are $10 for adults. The Ticket Office is open 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and may be reached at 620-235-4796.

Next in Solo & Chamber Music Series: Jason Vieaux and Julien Labro

The Solo & Chamber Music Series continues at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, April 1, with a concert by Grammy-winner Jason Vieaux and Julien Labro in the Sharon Kay Dean Recital Hall in McCray Hall at Pittsburg State University.

In addition to his performances and recordings with Labro, Vieaux has ongoing collaborations with the Escher String Quartet, Sasha Cooke, Anne Akiko Meyers, and Yolanda Kondonassis. Labro has established himself as the foremost accordion and bandoneon player in both the classical and jazz genres. His musical journey has taken him across North and South America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. His classical collaborations include A Far Cry, Spektral Quartet, the Qatar Philharmonic, and the New York Ballet, among others.

Tickets are free to full-time PSU students with valid student ID. Individual tickets for the public are $12 general admission, or $8 for those over 65 and under 18. Tickets may be purchased at the PSU Ticket office in the Garfield Weede Building, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, online at www.pittstate.edu/tickets, or at the door prior to the concert based on availability.

Additional details: PSU Department of Music, 620-235-4466.
Each of the students in the Kelce College of Business at Pittsburg State University who competed in a recent competition qualified for nationals.

Eleven of them racked up 21 first place wins, six second place awards, and six third place awards in the Kansas PBL Leadership Conference, held recently at Emporia State University.

As members of PSUs Phi Beta Lambda Chapter  the college version of Future Business Leaders of America, an organization that prepares members for careers in business and business-related fields  they competed in a total of 48 events.

Students were required to submit prejudged work, take categorized tests, and/or present projects to a panel of judges. All 11 students will now advance to the national conference in June that will be held in Chicago, Illinois.

Our students did an amazing job in this years state competition, said David Hogard, director of Academic Advising & Career Readiness. I am very proud of their accomplishments and looking forward to seeing these students not only succeed at the national competition, but as they continue with their education and careers.

The students werent the only ones taking home hardware, as Hogard also was recognized as the 2022 PBL Advisor of the Year for the State of Kansas.

Award winners include:

Amanda Becker, a junior accounting major from Weir, Kansas

Accounting Principles (1st)

Accounting for Professionals (1st)

Justice Administration (2nd)

Bethany Blatchford, a senior management major from Arkansas City, Kansas

Desktop Publishing (1st)

Small Business Management Plan (1st)

Management Concepts (3rd)

Taylor Brynds, a senior psychology and management major from Cherokee, Kansas

Help Desk (1st)

Organizational Behavior & Leadership (1st)

Management Concepts (1st)

Client Service (2nd)

Sarah Clausen, a senior marketing and management major from Cherokee, Kansas

Social Media Marketing (with Wyntr Jacobs) (1st)

Website Design (with Wyntr Jacobs) (1st)

Entrepreneurship Concepts (1st)

Hannah Evans, a sophomore accounting major from Shawnee, Kansas

Accounting for Professionals (2nd)

Spencer Grillot, a senior accounting major from Oswego, Kansas

Cost Accounting (1st)

Computer Concepts (1st)

Personal Finance (2nd)

Samuel Holman, a senior from Cassville, Missouri, majoring in computer information systems and business economics and finance

Cyber Security (1st)

Microeconomics (1st)

Programming Concepts (1st)

Macroeconomics (1st)

Computer Concepts (2nd)

Wyntr Jacobs, a senior marketing and management major from Pittsburg, Kansas

Social Media Marketing (with Sarah Clausen) (1st)

Website Design (with Sarah Clausen) (1st)

Business Communication (1st)

Entrepreneurship Concepts (3rd)

Olivia Mitchell, a junior accounting and finance major from Waverly, Kansas

Accounting Principles (2nd)

Client Service (3rd)

Matthew Schmidt, a sophomore finance and business economics major from Easton, Kansas

Sports Management & Marketing (1st)

Financial Concepts (1st)

Financial Services (1st)

Macroeconomics (3rd)

Personal Finance (3rd)

Derek Yuza, a sophomore finance major from Goddard, Kansas

Statistical Analysis (1st)

Financial Concepts (3rd)

Students will be fundraising to offset costs for the national competition this summer. To donate, contact Hogard.

Learn more:

Kelce College of Business
Vermillion, SD (57069)

Today

Rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers in the afternoon. High 56F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%..

Tonight

Cloudy. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 47F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.
Benjamin Rolle and Isaac Haxton Win Big Once Again

March 21, 2022 Matthew Pitt Editor

Benjamin Rolle enjoyed another profitable Sunday poker tournament session courtesy of being the last player standing in the $5,250 Bounty Hunters Super High Rollers event at GGPoker. Rolle picked up a cool $76,24 for his victory and is set to add yet more prize money to his lifetime winnings because he also made it through to Day 2 of the $10 million guaranteed Sunday Million 16th Anniversary Edition.

Rolle was one of 42 entrants in an extremely star-studded if compact field. Half of the $210,000 prize pool went into the main prize pool which the top five finishers share, with the remaining 50% going on the heads of each player.

Dozens of elite players busted with nothing to show for their efforts, including Rainer Kempe, Niklas Astedt, Patrick Leonard, and Super MILLION$ regular "Pandoara-box."

Dimitar Danchev finished fourth for $24,375

Artur Martirosian, "MorganaPKR" and Simon Mattsson all reached the final table but only had some bounty payments to show for their efforts.

Joao Vieira walked away with $13,672, with bounties included, after his demise in fifth place. Fourth place and $24,375 went to the former PCA Main Event champion Dimitar Danchev before the elimination of Jakob "lechayim" Miegel, worth $26,924, sent the tournament into the heads-up stage.

Here, Rolle locked horns with Sung Joo "ArtePokerTV" Hyun, a player who has been in hot form for the past 18 months. However, Hyun could not quite get the job done this time around and made do with a $38,596 consolation prize, leaving Rolle to reel in a $76,724 addition to his bankroll.

$5,250 Bounty Hunters Super High Rollers Final Table Results

Place Player Country Bounties Total Prize 1 Benjamin Rolle Austria $47,968 $76,724 2 Sung Joo "ArtePokerTV" Hyun Hong Kong $9,843 $38,596 3 Jakob "lechayim" Miegel Austria $5,937 $26,924 4 Dimitar Danchev Russia $9,062 $24,375 5 Joao Vieira Brazil $2,500 $13,672 6 Simon Mattsson Norway $2,500 $2,500 7 MorganaPKR Brazil $1,875 $1,875 8 Artur Martirosian Russia $4,375 $4,375

"Insomania" Nabs Day 1 Chip Lead in $5M GTD GGMasters Overlay Edition

Haxton Follows Up Super MILLION$ Victory With a Sunday Super High Roller Chop

Isaac Haxton

Thirty-five players bought into this weekends Sunday Super High Roller, a compact field due to the tournament commanding a $25,500 buy-in. Those entrants created an $875,000 prize pool shared by the top five finishers.

Spare a though for Brazilian sensation Yuri Dzivielevski who finished in sixth place and burst the money bubble. Dzivielevski was one place away from seeing his $25,500 score swell to $90,716.

That sum went to Artur Martirosian, with Adrian Mateos securing a $12,972 score when he dusted off his stack in fourth-place. Serial rebuyer Lev "LevMeAlone" Gottlieb busted in third for $161,318, leaving Isaac Haxton and Daniel Dvoress heads-up.

Haxton, fresh from winning the Super MILLION$ last week for the third time and banking $339,445, got his hands on another $257,818 from this event. Dvoress officially finished in second-place, and netted a $244,173 prize.

$25,500 Sunday Super High Roller Final Table Results

Place Player Country Prize 1 Isaac Haxton Canada $257,818* 2 Daniel Dvoress Austria $244,173* 3 Lev "LevMeAlone" Gottlieb Mexico $161,318 4 Adrian Mateos Mexico $120,972 5 Artur Martirosian Russia $90,716

*reflects a heads-up deal

Five Asian Poker Players to Watch in 2022

Other Notable Victories From GGPoker on March 20

Artur Martirosian won almost $63,000.

Three others players aside Isaac Haxton saw their GGPoker account balances grow to the tune of six figures.

Javier "tormento" Garcirreynaldos reeled in a $165,843 haul after taking down the $1,050 GGMasters High Rollers event. Jon "Notsure1f" De Antonana was the last player standing in the $525 Bounty Hunters HR Main Event, a finish good for $125,063, while "AKmaki95" scooped $106,694 for their victory in the $1,050 Sunday High Rollers Main Event.
BetMGM's March Poker Mania kicked off today in New Jersey, Michigan, and Pennsylvania with four tournaments running in each of the respective states.

The series, hosted by acclaimed poker pros Darren Elias, Matt Berkey, and Andrew Neeme, began with Event #1: $535 Warm-up, which attracted hundreds of players across the three states.

In Michigan, "Sureloc4444" got through a field of 73 players to win $13,132 for the lion's share of the guaranteed $40,000 prize pool after less than that, $36,500, was collected. Other players who made deep runs in the event include "coNNB" (2nd - $7,400), "opppps" (3rd - $5,240) and "YourwifesBF" (4th - $4,040).

"Abelnator" took down the Pennsylvania tournament, meanwhile, to earn $13,281 from an event that had 85 runners and generated $42,500 in prize money. Those runners included "TheTunaMan" (2nd - $7,438), "Whitey1199 (3rd - $5,419) and "CaptainLevi" (4th - $4,038).

The opening event in New Jersey generated $51,500 in prize money off of 103 entrants. Eric alwaysliquid Vanauken took the event down for $15,193 after getting through a field that included "Gags30" (2nd - $8,961), "ZenRead" (3rd - $6,438) and "Core4" (4th - $4,841).

Vanauken has a stellar record playing the partypoker US Online Network series that includes winning back-to-back titles twice in July 2020.

New Jersey native Elias, who will host a meet-up at the BetMGM Sportsbook at Borgata Hotel, Casino, and Spa on March 24, found a fifth-place finish worth $3,734.

Darren Elias

The first day of March Poker Mania continued with Event #2: $109 Half-price PKO, which "mangocoin" won in Michigan for $6,039, including $2,776 in bounties. The Michigan event attracted 246 runners and had a guarantee of $30,000 with $24,600 collected.

"phillytaxguy" won the Pennsylvania event for $6,730, including $3,375 in bounties, after getting through a field of 85 runners with a prize pool of $30,000 with $23,600 collected.

In New Jersey, the curiously named "DixonKuntz" got through 308 runners to win $7,240, including $3,411 in bounties, of the $35,000 prize pool.

Event #3: $55 Phase I to Phase II Main Event awarded 21 tickets to the second phase. The Michigan event awarded 11 tickets, while the Pennsylvania and New Jersey events each awarded five tickets.

The day wrapped up with Event #4: $215 NLH Turbo, which "rickystackerz77" took down for $6,250. The tournament had 88 runners to generate $17,600 to keep the prize pool at the guaranteed $20,000.

"davelower2" finished first for $5,900 in the Pennsylvania event, which had 97 entrants and generated $19,400 in prize money, just under the guaranteed $20,000.

In New Jersey, "Wyeth" found a first-place finish worth $7,813 after getting through 88 runners. The tournament generated $16,400 to stay under the $25,000 guarantee.

The full results from the first day of BetMGM's March Poker Mania are available below. PokerNews will continue bringing you updates on the action throughout the online series.

BetMGM March Poker Mania Michigan Day 1 Results

DATE STATE EVENT ENTRIES PRIZE POOL WINNER PRIZE (IN USD) March 20 MI Event #1: $535 Warm-up 73 $40,000 "Sureloc4444" $13,132 March 20 MI Event #2: $109 Half-price PKO 246 $30,000 "mangocoin" $6,039 March 20 MI Event #3: $55 Phase I to Phase II Main Event 83 $4,150 "CavemanMpn" Ticket March 20 MI Event #4: $215 NLH Turbo 88 $20,000 "rickystackerz77" $6,250

BetMGM March Poker Mania Pennsylvania Day 1 Results

DATE STATE EVENT ENTRIES PRIZE POOL WINNER PRIZE (IN USD) March 20 PA Event #1: $535 Warm-up 85 $42,500 "Abelnator" $13,281 March 20 PA Event #2: $109 Half-price PKO 236 $30,000 "phillytaxguy" $6,730 March 20 PA Event #3: $55 Phase I to Phase II Main Event 54 $2,700 "LetMeWin3437" Ticket March 20 PA Event #4: $215 NLH Turbo 97 $20,000 "davelower2" $5,900

BetMGM March Poker Mania New Jersey Day 1 Results
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Charleston International's passenger traffic jumped to near pre-pandemic levels in February, and the volume could climb up to 25 percent this year as more airlines offer more flights to more destinations.

"We are expecting a 10 percent increase for most days over last year and up to 25 percent more during the summer," said David McMahon, the head of the Transportation Security Administration for South Carolina.

Last month, 307,665 arrivals and departures passed through the terminal, down 1.5 percent from February 2020, a month before the COVID-19 outbreak sent air travel into a nosedive. Compared to a year earlier, traffic is up 141 percent.

So far this year, the airport has handled almost 550,000 passengers. That's 120 percent more than the first two months of 2021 and down 11 percent from 2020.

Airport officials are projecting a significant rise in travel for the rest of the year, and especially during the warmer months.

The projections are important because McMahon of the TSA wants to have enough manpower to process passengers through the security checkpoints as quickly as possible. He said he expects to bring in more than two dozen extra agents from other locations to handle the projected crowds.

McMahon based the projections on recent travel numbers and the increase in flights coming to Charleston International this summer from new and existing airlines.

Charleston International averaged about 5,500 outbound passengers a day in February, with surges of up to 8,000 on Sunday and Monday.

McMahon said the checkpoint can process about 8,500 travelers a day with an average wait time of about 30 minutes. Those numbers are expected to tick up during busier weekends this summer, especially with loads of new flights.

Breeze Airways announced earlier this month the upstart airline will launch cross-country, nonstop flights to San Francisco in May and Las Vegas in August, as well as two new East Coast routes in June.

Two new carriers will land in Charleston this year as well, adding more flights.

Sun Country Airlines of Minneapolis plans to offer twice-weekly service, starting in April, from its home base to the Lowcountry, while Houston-based Avelo Airlines will begin offering flights between New Haven, Conn., and Charleston in May.

Delta Air Lines will add a leg to the Twin Cities in April, and Southwest Airlines began offering daily service to Austin, Texas, for the first time earlier this month.

Southwest also will offer seasonal flights on Saturday only starting June 11 to Kansas City and St. Louis, while JetBlue Airways will begin service two to three times a day starting June 9 to LaGuardia Airport in its home base of New York City.

By the numbers Charleston airport passengers* 2022 January: 239,730

February: 307,665 2021 January: 121,274

February: 127,416 2020 January: 304,320

February: 312,213 2019 January: 283,265

February: 296,318 *Figures represent arrivals and departures Source: Charleston County Aviation Authority

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.

To help handle the projected influx of new flights and passengers, the airport plans to install three temporary gates in May.

Airport CEO Elliott Summey has said the airport could surpass 5 million passengers for the first time this year.

To reach the new milestone, the terminal will need to pick up about 800,000 more passengers coming and going  about 20 percent more  than last year. Among the variables are rising jet fuel prices, a pilot shortage and a possible new COVID-19 offshoot.

"Pre-bookings are strong," Summey said. "This summer is looking to be the best summer we have ever had."

The airport's record for passenger travel was set in 2019 at 4.87 million.
COLUMBIA  When a Hardee's location closed along Killian Road northeast of Columbia, the new tenant for the restaurant was not in the burger business.

Last fall, the site reopened as a Chipotle Mexican Grill instead of a fast-food place. Still in use: the site's drive-thru window.

It it handled differently: There's no bright neon menu or squawking intercom. It's a window  dubbed a "Chipotlane"  to pick up online orders, with customers expected to use their phones in advance.

The move of Chipotle to take over the former burger restaurant shows how more brands have decided that a drive-thru is a business necessity, not an optional amenity. Drive-thrus became more popular during the COVID-19 pandemic when dining rooms were closed.

That trend includes chains such as Chipotle that the restaurant industry calls quick-service restaurants, a cut above fast-food places.

"They are specifying that they want a drive-thru now," said Ben Kelly, a commercial real estate broker with NAI Columbia who helped with the site's lease.

Across Columbia, other restaurants have been making a higher priority of drive-thru service:

Starbucks has added nine locations in Columbia since 2020, all standalone cafes with drive-thrus along major commuter corridors. The one location that closed during that time in the Vista on Gervais Street had no drive-thru.

Lizard's Thicket closed its restaurant at 402 Beltline Blvd. in Columbia last August, which had no drive-thru. Drive-thru and carryout sales generate about 60 percent of revenue, CEO Bobby Williams said, up from about 45 percent before the pandemic. Its just not profitable without a drive-thru, Williams said in February.

Chick-fil-A has been expanding its drive-thrus to provide added capacity with two full lanes of space plus covered areas with fans and heaters. In older locations, such as on Harbison and Decker boulevards, older restaurants are being replaced with redesigned locations that offer better drive-thru capacity.

Two chains of coffee kiosks that only offer drive-thru service are growing in the Midlands. The Human Bean already has thee locations in Richland and Lexington counties, while entrepreneur Joe Walker is planning to bring seven or eight locations of Scooter's Coffee to the area, he said in November. Other similar drive-thru coffee chains also are looking to build in the Columbia market, Kelly said.

Drive-thrus are seen now as so important that a new retail development has to locate any restaurant spaces with drive-thru access, even if the tenant has not requested it, Kelly said.

If the first restaurant tenant in a space does not want a drive-thru, the option needs to be there for any successors to use, he said.

The trend has been accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic but seems likely to continue into the future, with consumers having changed their behavior, according to two restaurant industry experts.

People have learned to grab some dinner on the way home and save themselves some valuable time in their evenings, instead of cooking or sitting in a restaurant, according to George Hendry, a lecturer at the University of South Carolina's School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management and coordinator of its Culinary Institute.

Consumers are likely to want to continue that convenience, Hendry said.

"They are actually multitasking," he said.

Even if drive-thru lines are longer than ever, consumers still see that as quicker and easier than going inside, said Robin DiPietro, director of USC's International Institute for Foodservice Research and Education.

Restaurants are saving both on staff and the amount of space they have to take care of if they focus on the drive-thru instead of dining in. At a time of staff shortages, that's a substantial savings.

At the height of the pandemic, many restaurants, including Columbia-based burger chain Rush's, closed their dining rooms and went drive-thru only, both to protect employees from exposure and to help with staffing.

In a standard fast-food restaurant, 70 to 80 percent of the building footprint is simply table space to be cleaned, often sitting empty.

"You have a lot of unused space," DiPietro said.

Even as more types of restaurants make a drive-thru a substantial part of their business, there still will be a part of the restaurant industry that is committed to fine dining in the restaurant, DiPietro said.

Part of that is a service experience at the table and making a meal out an occasion rather than just a chance to eat.

"Part of the price is that show that they put on for you," DiPietro said.
COLUMBIA  Lexington-Richland District Five disputes accusations that it violated state public records law, saying in court filings the resignation of Superintendent Christina Melton last year was negotiated by attorneys and not decided in a closed-door vote.

Melton sought to resign as head of the district after several trustees stated on May 10 that they had lost confidence in her leadership, according to an affidavit signed by board Chairwoman Jan Hammond.

The legal documents were part of an open-records lawsuit filed by The State newspaper against the 17,000-student district that covers schools in Irmo and Chapin.

"This suit was filed as the result of the November 2020 school board election that did not turn out as many expected," Lexington-Richland Five district attorney Andrea White wrote in court filings.

Five of six members on the board of trustees at the time that the former Superintendent of the Year left her post stated in court filings that no vote or poll was taken in executive session. Trustee Rebecca Blackburn Hines did not enter an affidavit in the lawsuit.

The court filings come about a month after former Trustee Ed White signed a lengthy affidavit painting a picture of certain board members as micromanaging, antagonistic and who privately schemed to oust Melton.

In the district's response, Andrea White goes on to say that Ed White had "casts aspersions; uses histrionic descriptions of people and meetings; and touts his own opinions and experiences on matters that have nothing whatsoever to do with the requirements of the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act, it is a thinly veiled attempt to discredit the current majority of the Board and influence the upcoming school board election in November 2022."

Tensions were high between Melton and her governing board leading up to her tearful June resignation as the district struggled with how best to reopen classrooms to in-person instruction amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

A previous review by The Post and Courier of six months of emails between Melton the board revealed a closed-door meeting in December 2020 that had turned hostile.

That was followed by a Jan. 25, 2021, board meeting, which according to Hammond's affidavit, involved an informal mid-year evaluation of Melton. Hammond said several trustees raised concerns regarding Melton's performance and her interactions with the board.

For several months, Hammond said in the affidavit, several trustees continued to tell Hammond they believed she was being unresponsive to their requests for information.

By mid-April, parents were flooding school board meetings around the Midlands asking for an end to masking in classrooms. Gov. Henry McMaster had weighed in that its a decision that should be left to parents.

Trustees voted 4-2 on May 4 to rescind requirements for masks inside classrooms. But two days after that vote, the districts attorney said a more thorough review of state law was needed.

Trustees held Melton responsible.

I cannot believe you have gone directly against the will of the board, Trustee Nikki Gardner wrote in an email May 6. You have no authority to enforce masking without a policy. This will cause extreme events ... and I will lay it at your feet.

Melton began looking for a way out, according to Hammond's affidavit.

On May 24, Hammond said the district's attorney informed the board she had received a letter from Meltons attorney "regarding her employment status." The district lawyer advised trustees of their options should they desire to end Melton's contract, and trustees discussed how much they'd be willing to pay to do so.

"The Board did not take any vote on the matter or conduct a straw poll, but each Trustee had an opportunity to share their opinions about Dr. Meltons leadership."

Following that meeting, the two attorneys spent several weeks negotiating a settlement, which Hammond stated in her affidavit was presented at the June 14 meeting and each trustee was asked to sign.

Ed White responded by refusing to sign and submitting his own resignation from the board mid-meeting. He would allege that other board members had created a hostile work environment that prompted Melton's departure.

The district's lawyer argues the state open records law does not require a public board to vote to accept an employees resignation and has asked the court to issue its judgment to end the lawsuit.
COLUMBIA  A Lexington-Richland Five school board member has filed a second libel suit over comments posted on Facebook accusing him of violating state ethics law.

Board Vice Chairman Ken Loveless filed a lawsuit on March 16 against Leslie Ann Stiles, an administrator of a Facebook group titled Deep Dive Into D5 that has been critical of the current board. The latest complaint came two days after Loveless sued Columbia resident Kevin Scully, who was accused of posting libelous comments on the Facebook page.

Loveless accuses both Stiles and Scully of making false and defamatory statements that "harm him and his reputation, and subject him to humiliation and ridicule" and is seeking unspecified damages.

Both Loveless and Stiles declined to comment further on this latest litigation. Deep Dive into D5 was paused on March 17 by group administrators.

The complaints follow a year of upheaval for the 17,000-student district that covers schools in Irmo and Chapin. Following a 2020 election that shifted the makeup of the school board, a rift formed between members and then-Superintendent Christina Melton over safety protocols amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to emails released by the district. It ended with Melton resigning. She left with a $226,000 severance last June soon after she was named the states superintendent of the year.

In her Facebook criticism of Loveless, Stiles referenced an informal opinion from the State Ethics Commission related to the board member's business interests.

Loveless' company entered into subcontracting work with a company that was overseeing construction of a new elementary school in the district. The ethics opinion stated Loveless must recuse himself from board votes involving the company

Stiles stated Loveless refused to recuse himself for a length of time, according to court filings.

The libel lawsuit went on to hold Stiles responsible for posts made by other people on the Facebook page, for which she was an administrator.

Those comments include several for which Loveless is suing Scully.

According to court documents, Scully referred to Loveless as Crooked Ken, called him a "loser," questioned whether the board member followed ethics rules, and posted the comment, What do you get when you elect the dumbest people in the district to be in charge of education?

Loveless' suit against Stiles also went on to reference comments directed at the board as a whole, including on that read, "we absolutely do not currently have a board that we can trust to determine how best to spend our money and through what means.

This latest lawsuit marks the fourth legal complaint filed by Lex-Rich Five board members over critical comments in the past four months. The district sued former superintendent Stephen Hefner in November in a dispute over hiring an interim superintendent.

Hefner complained after the district hired current superintendent Akil Ross and paid him through his company. The district sued Hefner, claiming he made false statements about Ross and attempted malicious interference with the superintendents contract, according to court filings.

Hefner denied those allegations in a response to the lawsuit, which he called frivolous.

Lex-Rich Five also is facing a lawsuit from The State newspaper in Columbia over an open-meetings dispute in the handling of former superintendent Meltons settlement to leave the district.

And board Chairwoman Jan Hammond is facing allegations that she violated state ethics law in using her district email account to campaign in a school board election. She has a hearing before the Ethics Commission in April.
A long-running federal case against an Arizona developer accused of damaging wetlands on Johns Island has ended.

The civil investigation into Clean Water Act violations by Professional Equity Management and its chief executive, Paul Edward Mashni, came to a close on March 18 with a consent decree. Mashni and a group of limited liability companies that were part of the case were originally accused in 2018 of destroying roughly 19 acres of wetlands while clearing land on the sea island.

An expert's report filed with the decree indicates 15 acres were actually affected. The agreement requires Mashni and associated LLCs to pay $525,000 in fines.

Also required is the purchase of 70 freshwater wetland mitigation bank credits, which will be purchased from a site in Berkeley County.

"This is a substantial penalty," U.S. Attorney for South Carolina Corey Ellis said in a press statement. "It serves two purposes: to restore the integrity of the waters of the United States and to deter others from polluting those waters."

The combined penalties total more than $1 million, according to Ellis' office. The defendants did not admit fault by agreeing to the consent decree.

In an email March 21, Mashni wrote that "I do not believe we ever violated the Clean Water Act, nonetheless, we are happy that this matter is concluded."

Builders and others who may disturb wetlands have to get a federal permit first through the Army Corps of Engineers, and must usually plan to offset the damage by supporting a mitigation bank where wetlands are being restored. Mashni did not have such a permit, and the Corps referred this case to the U.S. attorney.

Mashni and his Phoenix, Ariz.-based firm had tangled with Johns Island neighbors in the past about the work being done off of Legareville Road. Forest-clearing that was conducted mainly in 2017 led to complaints to Charleston County about heavy machinery work in marshes and smoke from burned trees.

The county issued several stop work orders that it said were ignored and eventually sued over the disturbances. Then-county spokesman Shawn Smetana told The Post and Courier in 2019 that the suit was ultimately settled for $250,000.

One of the companies involved in the case, Kiawah River Farms LLC, is still the owner of three parcels off of Legareville Road. Mashni wrote in his email that "we plan to sell the remaining parcels of the farm."

As a part of the consent decree, Mashni and associated entities also have to alert the Army Corps of Engineers before any future earth moving on the site. Then, the Corps will decide whether that work requires a wetland permit.
Since the start of the Mark Sanford era in 2003, we've seen numerous efforts to use S.C. tax dollars to pay for private school tuition, and they've all been deeply flawed.

Giving out tax credits to parents offered no benefit to the poor kids supporters always insisted they were focused on helping, because their parents couldnt afford the upfront cost of schools. Those plans, did, however, deliver benefits to higher-income parents the supporters claimed wouldnt benefit.

Giving tax credits to people who donated to so-called scholarship-granting organizations were convoluted mechanisms that invited fraud and profiteering by the middlemen whose participation the proposals required.

On top of that, the proposals were so open-ended that they threatened to seriously disrupt the states ability to provide a decent education to the students left in the public schools.

And they were marketed on the claim that private schools are inherently superior to public schools  a claim that isnt true even before you account for how private schools get to cherry-pick their students.

In short, the primary outcomes that could have been expected were to undermine support for public schools and to shovel tax dollars to profiteers or parents who already can afford to send their kids to private schools.

So it was refreshing to see the Senate Education Committee vote earlier this month to scale back senators latest education scholarship account proposal, limiting both who could qualify for the vouchers and how many vouchers would be given out. That aligned S.935 more closely with the House's voucher bill.

Supporters  among them some senators with strong track records as public education supporters  insisted that the effects of their bill would be modest. Gone is the $2.9 billion price tag of the bill as introduced; replacing it is a projected cost of $35 million the first year, increasing to $113 million in the third year of a phase-in. The program would be capped at 5,000 students at first and then increase to 15,000, or about 2% of the states public school students.

Its true, as Education Chairman Greg Hembree noted, that at that size, the program would neither cure all the states education woes (something we dont think it would do under any circumstances) or destroy our school system. Its also true, though, that we need to be careful about how we spend all state funds, and that this plan still has problems beyond its premise.

We remain unconvinced that there's a legitimate reason for the Legislature to throw our hard-earned tax dollars at private schools by paying parents to abandon our public schools. If the public schools need to be improved  and many of them do, desperately  the proper role for our legislators is to fix those schools, a job they have never taken seriously enough.

One specific problem with S.935, which the Senate is expected to take up this week, is that its still not limited to the poor kids supporters say they want to help. Although eligibility has been scaled back tremendously, it would be open to both Medicaid-eligible students and students with individual education plans.

Theres some overlap, but about 100,000 of South Carolinas 720,000 public school students have the so-called IEPs; they include not only those with developmental or intellectual disabilities but also those with attention deficit disorder and other specific learning disabilities. For every-well off student with ADHD who gets a voucher, there is one more poor kid who doesn't get one  and an argument supporters surely will make in the future to expand the program.

An even larger problem is the lack of accountability: Although private schools would be required to administer standardized tests to voucher students and turn those tests over to the state, the full committee rejected a subcommittee proposal to require the students to take the same tests that public schools must administer. Even if we saw those results in a meaningful way (school-by-school numbers wouldnt be disaggregated unless a given school had at least 10 students in a grade or other cohort), they wouldnt be comparable.

Simply put, if private schools that are receiving our tax dollars dont need to administer South Carolinas standardized tests, then the public schools dont either. And by that we dont mean that the state should scrap our testing program.

Were encouraged that Senate Republican Leader Shane Massey pledged to find a way to give the public an apples-to-apples comparison. That earlier plan was the only thing about the Senate bill that was less objectionable than the House bill that sets up the voucher program with strict income limits as a three-year pilot program capped at $75 million a year and funded with one-time money.

Getting those accountability measures isnt rocket science. South Carolina already runs a robust private-school-choice program  for 4-year-old kindergarten. And we specify precisely which tests the child-care centers that accept state funding under that program have to administer. If the centers dont want to administer those tests  or meet other state requirements  they are free not to accept state tax dollars. We should require no less from K-12 schools that accept our tax dollars.

After all, the purpose of state accountability testing is to provide quantifiable data about how well those tax dollars are being spent, not just to parents but also to lawmakers and nonparents who provide the bulk of funding for public schools.
The Aldi store on Saint James Avenue in Goose Creek. It will be the Lowcountry area's fifth location, including stores in Ladson and Summerville.
Florida teachers will get bigger paychecks under a spending increase in the proposed state budget that has the support of Gov. Ron DeSantis.

At a news conference in Wellington, the governor said he would approve a legislative proposal to spend $800 million to raise teacher salaries, saying it supported his long-term goal of raising the pay of teachers across the state.

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One of the goals weve had is to increase the average minimum salary across the state of Florida, DeSantis said in a news conference at Renaissance Charter School at Wellington. We want to recruit more people to come in. Theyve got to be able to afford to be able to be teachers.

[ RELATED: After the Parkland tragedy, voters approved money for teacher raises and safety. Now, will they embrace a new round of taxes? ]

The money will go toward the governors goal of raising the minimum starting salary to $47,500 for all teachers. And it will bolster the salaries of veteran teachers.

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You want to get somebody in college and say Go into teaching, that its a noble profession, he said. People understand youre not going to necessarily be a billionaire doing this, but you need to be able to make ends meet.

David Fleshler can be reached at dfleshler@sunsentinel.com and 954-356-4535.
Prosecutors need a medical examiner to be their expert witness in the trial against a woman accused of leaving her newborn baby girl in a bathroom sink and later putting her in a plastic bag nearly four years ago.

Defendant Melissa Fuppul appeared before Judge Vernon Perez on Monday.

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Retired Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Aurelio Espinola performed the autopsy and ruled the childs cause of death was suffocation.

It was said in court that the government awaits word from the medical examiner in Hawaii or the recently hired medical examiner for the government of Guam to be available to testify to the autopsy report at the trial for Fuppul.

Fuppul will appear back in court in late June before the court schedules her trial.

The government has since ceased plea negotiations with the defendant.

Fuppul allegedly hid her pregnancy and her daughter's birth back in June 2018.

According to court documents, she gave birth at home and then placed the newborn inside a plastic bag within a tote bag before hitchhiking to the Guam Regional Medical City with the child.

GRMC staff were unable to revive the newborn.

Fuppul faces charges of murder, manslaughter, child abuse, and family violence.

Her defense attorney has argued the baby died at birth.
The New York Times Editorial Board published a long essay on free speech on Friday, titled America Has a Free Speech Problem. It acknowledges the problem forthrightly:

For all the tolerance and enlightenment that modern society claims, Americans are losing hold of a fundamental right as citizens of a free country: the right to speak their minds and voice their opinions in public without fear of being shamed or shunned.

The editorial includes poll data in which Americans, especially conservatives, confirm their fear of expressing their opinions lest they be canceled or even fired. None of this is new. The editorialists purport to be even-handed in assigning responsibility for todays anti-free speech climate, but, weirdly, they put most blame on conservatives.

Thus, while decrying cancel culture, the Times can see some merit in conservatives losing their jobs:

On college campuses and in many workplaces, speech that others find harmful or offensive can result not only in online shaming but also in the loss of livelihood. Some progressives believe this has provided a necessary, and even welcome, check on those in power.

Those in power? How powerful can you be if you lose your job when you disagree with leftists? Arent they, obviously, the ones in power?

The editorialists cite the role of social media in the current hostile climate, in particular the prevalence of online misinformation and disinformation, which is the purported ground of much contemporary censorship:

[S]ocial media is awash in speech of the point-scoring, picking-apart, piling-on, put-down variety. A deluge of misinformation and disinformation online has heightened this tension.

Here, the Timess lack of self-awareness is comical. One of the main arenas of censorship over the last two years has been covid. Liberal outlets, including the Times, have censored, suppressed and dismissed views contrary to those of a handful of politicized bureaucrats as misinformation. But in many cases, probably most, the dissenters have turned out to be right. And the Times was one of many press outlets that labeled the data on Hunter Bidens laptop as disinformation in order to help Joe Biden win the presidential election.

It no doubt is true, as the editorialists say, that there is plenty of misinformation and disinformation on the internet. Some of it originates with, or is promoted by, the New York Times. But this is nothing new. The point of free speech is to sort out what is, and what is not, misinformation. As it relates to censorship, the key issue is the collusion among liberal press outlets to label as misinformation, and to suppress, what is in reality true.

Given the almost daily horror stories of conservatives being silenced, deplatformed, libeled and fired, you may wonder how the Times can possibly think that the main threat to free speech comes from the right. This is their logic:

Many on the right, for all their braying

Braying.

about cancel culture, have embraced an even more extreme version of censoriousness as a bulwark against a rapidly changing society, with laws that would ban books, stifle teachers and discourage open discussion in classrooms.

To my knowledge, no book has been banned in the U.S. in the last 100 years. Choosing books to be purchased for a public school library is an entirely different matter. Deciding that a book is not appropriate for a junior high bookshelf is not banning the book; indeed, a large majority of the books now in print undoubtedly fall into that category. The lack of seriousness the Times editorialists display when they make this kind of argument is appalling. But then, no one ever thought that members of the Times Editorial Board are smart.

[A]ll Americans should be deeply concerned about an avalanche of legislation passed by Republican-controlled legislatures around the country that gags discussion of certain topics and clearly violates the spirit of the First Amendment, if not the letter of the law. It goes far beyond conservative states yanking books about race and sex from public school libraries. Since 2021 in 40 state legislatures, 175 bills have been introduced or prefiled that target what teachers can say and what students can learn, often with severe penalties.

***

These bills include Floridas Dont Say Gay bill, which would restrict what teachers and students can talk about and allows for parents to file lawsuits.

***

The new gag laws coincide with a similar barrage of bills that ostensibly target critical race theory, an idea that has percolated down from law schools to the broader public in recent years as a way to understand the pervasiveness of racism. The moral panic around critical race theory has morphed into a vast effort to restrict discussions of race, sex, American history and other topics that conservatives say are divisive. Several states have now passed these gag laws restricting what can be said in public schools, colleges and universities, and state agencies and institutions.

The Times editorialists fail to understand that the public schools arelike it or not!governed by the public. It is appropriate, indeed necessary and inevitable, that parents and voters will ultimately decide the content of public school curricula. Left wingers like those at the Times hate this fact, because in recent decades, while parents have generally failed to pay attention, they have had their way: most public schools have been run by far-left teachers unions that promote racist dogmas (CRT) and hate America.

But these far-left views do not align with the beliefs of the people who pay the public schools bills and whose children attend them. So we are witnessing a tectonic collision as parents and voters finally assert their right to control how their children are taught.

This has nothing to do with free speech. Left-wing teachers and administrators are free to spout their anti-American and racist views on their own time. They just cant make those repellent opinions part of the public school curriculum that is paid for, and therefore determined by, normal people who are neither racist nor anti-American.

Americans do indeed face a crisis with regard to our traditional right to say what we think, but dont look to the New York Times as an ally in the fight for free speech.
Miranda Devine is one of the New York Post journalists who covered the story of Hunter Bidens laptop in October 2020, just before the presidential election. Her excellent October 20 column Media avoiding The Posts Hunter Biden stories as much as Joe, for example, called out then candidate Biden and his collaborators in the press for their suppression and disparagement of the Posts scoops. She returned to the story in detail in Laptop From Hell, published late last year.

With the vindication of the Posts reliance on the laptop email by the New York Times last week, Devine now narrows the focus to the relevant point:

It is hardly vindication of The Posts flawless reporting on the Hunter Biden laptop that 17 months late, The New York Times has admitted the laptop is real. It is an indictment of the Times and a betrayal of their readers who were kept in the dark about the true nature of Joe Biden before the 2020 election. But now that we are all on the same page, there are some serious questions the administration needs to answer, which go to Americas national security at a time of international peril.

Devine highlights two questions posed by the Posts Steven Nelson to the psychedelic Jen Psaki at the White House press and makes the key point:

Bidens press secretary, Jen Psaki, refused to answer The Posts White House reporter, Steven Nelson, when he had the rare opportunity to ask her two of those questions last week. Psakis excuse was that Hunter Biden doesnt work in the government. But she wasnt being asked about Hunter. She was being asked about her boss, the president.

Devine recapitulates Nelsons questions along with their factual background. Psakis psnide psidetracks do not withstand the least pscrutiny.

Devine concludes with comments on basic journalism:

The same media organs that ignored and traduced The Posts laptop reporting still show no curiosity about the tens of millions of dollars which the Biden family has collected from oligarchs in Russia, Ukraine and China. The Times didnt need to rely on the laptop to do basic journalism on this scheme. They could have asked Tony Bobulinski, Hunters former business partner, who made himself available to the media before the 2020 election. He gave the FBI e-mails, documents and WhatsApp messages which corroborate and augment material on the laptop. In addition, the Grassley-Johnson inquiry provided an official money trail from overseas interests to bank accounts associated with the Bidens and their partners. The refusal of the Times and the rest of the media to cover this story amounted to election interference. Polls show that about 10% of Biden voters would have changed their vote if they had known about the scandal. That would have had a material effect on the result. Which, of course, was the point.

Devines column lacks only a link to the Grassley-Johnson inquiry. Senator Grassleys press release on it is here (with bullet points). A PDF copy of the report is accessible online here.
The Wall Street Journal is out this morning with a long feature about out-of-control crime in San Francisco. It is no longer possible to obfuscate the problem.

Thieves smashed a display window and broke down a door to steal items as small as spray paint, and people shattered glass doors on two occasions for no apparent reason.

Terry Asten Bennetts family has been running Cliffs Variety Store since 1936. In all that time, theyve never experienced the amount of burglaries and property damage that they have recently, Ms. Bennett said.

These last two years have been insane, she said. It used to be a rare occurrence. . . Among the 25 largest U.S. cities, San Francisco has had the highest property-crime rate in four of the most recent six years for which data is available, bucking the long-term national decline in such crimes that began in the 1990s. . .

Whats behind this scene? Maybe theres a clue here:

Despite the citys long history of progressive politics, some business owners and residents are demanding that political leaders shift to a more law-and-order approach. . .

How about because of the citys long history of progressive politics? Therefixed it for them.

Another clue here:

Some former police officials and business owners blame Mr. Boudins focus on keeping people who commit small-scale crimes out of prison. His office, for example, discourages filing charges in cases where suspects are pulled over for traffic infractions and officers find small amounts of drugs. Others point the finger at the police, who cleared just 6% of the citys property crimes in 2020, more than 8 percentage points lower than the national average. A case is considered cleared if a suspect is arrested, charged and turned over to a court for prosecution, or is identified with sufficient evidence for a charge but cant be taken into custody for circumstances beyond police control.

Criminology isnt rocket science. Youd think that a place that has become the playground for the tech-savvy would figure this out sooner or later. Actually, the ones who are figuring it out are leaving the city in droves.
Slates Mark Joseph Stern undertook to downplay the disgrace of Yale Law School by disruptive protesters at the Federalist Society free speech event last week. We saluted Professor Kate Stith for instructing the disruptive students protesting the event to grow up.

That is a tall order. Judge Laurence Silberman had a good idea to encourage the process of maturation. We noted it in A word from Judge Silberman.

Stern attacked the reporting of the Washington Free Beacons Aaron Sibarium as overblown. Hot Airs John Sexton compiled the evidence and performed a comprehensive review in What really happened at the Yale Law School Protest? Sexton demonstrates beyond a reasonable doubt that Sibarium was right, Stern wrong.

You might say that Sexton is breaking a butterfly on a wheel, but this is one more skirmish in the culture war. Aided and abetted by the media malpractice and deception that have become an eternal verity, suppression of speech is instrumental to lefts conduct of the war.
Officials of the Center for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) and other groups have urged young Nigerian students to adopt the culture of sustainable production and consumption of forest resources through planting and nurturing of trees where necessary within the ecosystem.

They spoke during the visitation to two secondary schools in Abuja on Monday, as part of a two-day tree planting campaign activities to commemorate the International Day of Forests.

The tree planting campaign movement was championed by CJID through its Agricultural Journalism Project (AJP) and Natural Resource Program (NAREP) in partnership with PREMIUM TIMES, the Association of Flower Nurseries and Landscaping Practitioners Abuja (AFNALPA) and Pet a Plant Foundation (PPF).

Formerly known as PTCIJ, CJID is a non-governmental organisation founded in 2014 to promote a truly independent media landscape that advances fundamental human rights, good governance and accountability in West Africa through investigative journalism, open data and civic technology.

The deputy director of CJID, Akintunde Babatunde, said the tree planting outreach was another way to walk the talk and recruit young people into the journey of environmental sustainability.

He explained that the CJID has an active climate change and environmental sustainability programme, and that every year, it is our practice to train journalists on climate reporting and also fund rigorous research on environmental sustainability and climate change.

But in 2020, we started taking more action by taking the message of afforestation to secondary schools in Abuja because we believe that climate education is central to the health of the ecosystem, Mr Babatunde said.

The aim of the tree planting campaign, he said, was to commemorate the International Day of Forests with the hope to broaden the awareness of tree planting among young pupils in secondary schools.

This was done by education the students on the need for afforestation, encouraging replacement of trees  reforestation, consequences of deforestation, as well as planting the culture of green environment at the grassroot level so as to reduce global warming that is driving devastating climate change effects in Nigeria and across the globe.

Exotic economic trees  guava coupled with ornamental tree species were planted at strategic locations within the schools premises by students under the supervision of flower experts.

International Day of Forests

The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed March 21 the International Day of Forests in 2012.

At the global level, on this day, the programme is usually promoted by the United Nations Forum on Forests and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) in collaboration with governments, the Collaborative Partnership on Forests and other relevant organisations in the field.

According to the United Nations, forests cover one-third of the earths landmass, performing vital functions around the world.

Likewise, about 1.6 billion people, including more than 2,000 indigenous cultures depend on forests for their livelihood, medicine, fuel, food and shelter.

The Day is meant to celebrate and as well raise awareness on the significance of all types of forests so as to achieve sustainable livelihoods across habitats.

On each International Day of Forests, countries are encouraged to undertake local, national and international efforts to organise activities involving forests and trees, such as tree planting campaigns, as well as conducting thorough awareness campaigns among citizens.

Usually, the theme for each International Day of Forests is chosen by the Collaborative Partnership on Forests. The theme for 2022 is  Forests and Sustainable Production and Consumption.

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One of the discussants at Lugbe International School, Mary Omoh, president of AFNALPA, said it is important to grow trees around our environment because they provide all living organisms with pristine oxygen.

Growing trees helps to purify the air we breathe and it also helps to have good soils around us, she said.

Also, while delivering her keynote address, Sahadatu Yakubu, Lugbe International School administrator, said growing of trees in the school environment is a welcome initiative.

Most of our students learn better when they are surrounded by trees, she said.

Similarly, Oluwatope Oluwadarasimi, Pet a Plant Foundations project manager, said the partnership with CJID to sensitise young minds on the need to grow trees has helped to achieve its core mandate of promoting tree plant and plant nurturing.

We therefore appreciate the effort of CJID for giving us this platform and making this day a reality and of importance to conserve and preserve our Ecosystem as the effect of Global warming and climate change becomes alarming day after day, he said.

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To mark this years world poetry day, the Abuja Writers Forum is hosting an online conversation on March 21 from 6-8 p.m. with some top Nigerian poets.

The event which is tagged, Is the Nigerian Poet Relevant to the Society? will feature Servio Gbadamosi, Echenozachu Nduka, Tanure Ojaide and Olumide Olaniyan.

All four were on the recent Pan African Writers Association (PAWA ) Poetry Contest (English Category) which was won by Obari Gomba.

Kabura Zakama, an award winning poet and whose latest collection is CHANT OF THE ANGRY, will anchor the event which can be accessed on Zoom via the following link  Meeting Id 864 7706 7081 and Passcode 679896.

See press release below:

Servio Gbadamosi, who is also a publisher, is a recipient of the 2016 Ebedi International Writers Residency fellowship where he co-wrote the chapbook, A Half-Formed Thing, with fellow residents, Ehizogie Iyeoman and Ikechukwu Nwaogu. His poetry collection, A Tributary in Servitude (WriteHouse Collective, 2015), won the 2015 Association of Nigerian Authors Poetry Prize, and was shortlisted runner-up for the 2018 Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa. His second poetry collection, Where the Light Enters You (Noirledge Publishing, 2021) was recently longlisted for the inaugural Pan African Writers Association Poetry Prize.

Gbadamosis works have appeared online as well as in print journals, newspapers and anthologies such as The Guardian, The Nigerian Tribune, The Nation Newspaper, Nigerian NewsDirect, ANA Review 2017, ANA Review 2018, ANA Review 2019, SOROSOKE: An #EndSars Anthology, Crossroads: Anthology of Poems in Honour of Christopher Okigbo, Felas Re-arrangement: A Collage of the Poetic Biography of Nigerias Folkhero of Afrobeat Music and The Sky is Our Earth: Anthology of Fifty Young Nigerian Poets. He coedited the poetry collections, The Promise this Time was Not a Flood: A Sevhage Anthology of Flood Poems and Salt of the Heart: Anthology of Poems for Nigeria at 50.

Echezonachukwu Nduka, who is also aclassical pianist, is the author of Chrysanthemums for Wide-eyed Ghosts (Griots Lounge: 2018), and Waterman (Griots Lounge: 2020). He earned academic degrees in Music from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and Kingston University, London. His debut poetry collection Chrysanthemums for Wide-eyed Ghosts was recently shortlisted for the Pan-African Writers Association (PAWA) Poetry Prize. Echezonachukwu Ndukas poetry often centers on the intersections of memory, history, music, religion, metaphysics, and the quotidian. His poetry has appeared in The Indianapolis Review, Bombay Review, Kissing Dynamite, Jalada Africa, 20.35 Africa: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry, among others.

Apart from poetry, Olumide Olaniyan is also q satirist, historian and social scientist. He has authored two collections of poems, Lucidity of Absurdity (2017) and Akimbo in Limbo (2021). Selected poems from the works are being used to teach contemporary African literature in some higher institutions in Nigeria. His maiden collection, Lucidity of Absurdity was critiqued in the Keffi International Journal of Science and Humanities; a number of university students also reviewed the collection in their final year research from ecocriticism, post-colonialism and social theory perspectives.

Other literary e-journals that have appraised his works, include Dugwe published by the Abuja Writers Forum (AWF), Geek Afrique, Anotearthub, Intervention.ng and BookArtVille magazine. Olaniyans poem, Behind Closed Doors, won the maiden edition of Communicators League Creative Writing Contest in 2017. A number of his poems, including Deja vu, Succubus and Drowning Fish have been adapted into community dramas and performed in hard-to-reach communities to promote arts, inclusivity and participation.

ALSO READ: AWF spotlights craft of poetry

Another poem, One Sojourn of the Moon, received an honorary mention in the Mandela Day Poetry Competition, 2016. His short stories and poems have been published in anthologies within and outside Nigeria.

His recent work, Akimbo in Limbo was shortlisted for the Pan African Writers Association (PAWA) poetry prize 2022. Olaniyans involvement in creative writing spans over three decades; in early 1990s, he contributed short stories to weekly tabloids and magazines, including the Lagos Weekend, then a publication of the Daily Times of Nigeria, and the HINTS Magazine. Friday the 13th, a short story by Olaniyan appeared in the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Lagos anthology  Twenty Nigerian Writers in 1993.

Olaniyans works are saturated with historicism, ecocriticism, absurdism, phenomenology, and related human conditions, through which he pushes for reshuffling of skewed social structure fueled by unjust power relations and social construction in modern society.

Educated at Ibadan and Syracuse Universities, Tanure Ojaide has quietly become a god-father of some sort of Nigerian poetry. He has published collections of poetry, novels, short story collections, memoirs, and self-authored and co-authored scholarly books. Ojaides awards include the Commonwealth Poetry Prize for the Africa Region, the All-Africa Okigbo Prize for Poetry, and the BBC Arts and Africa Poetry Award. He was the Winner of the UNC Charlottes First Citizens Bank Scholar Medal Award for 2005.

In 2016 he won both the African Literature Associations Folon-Nichols Award for Excellence in Writing and the Nigerian National Order of Merit Award for the Humanities. In 2018 he co-won the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa. He has won the National Endowment for the Humanities grant, twice the Fulbright Senior Scholar fellowship, and twice the Carnegie African Diaspora Program fellowship. He is a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters.

Ojaide is currently the Frank Porter Graham Professor of Africana Studies at UNC Charlotte.

Since its inception in 2008, the Abuja Writers Forum has positioned itself as a pacesetting literary organisation in Nigeria with ground breaking events like the Guest Writer Session whioch has become a nationwide model, Critique Session, Abuja Literary Festival, a variety of writing workshops, and the publishing of two literary journals  Cavalcade and Dugwe which have launched the literary careers of several Nigerian writers.
TALLAHASSEE  The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to take up an appeal by a telecommunications entrepreneur who contended his First Amendment rights were violated when plans for a mansion were rejected in Palm Beach.

The court, as is common, did not explain its reasons for turning down the case filed by Donald Burns, who applied in 2014 to tear down a 10,063-square-foot oceanfront home and replace it with a larger mansion with a mid-century modern design, according to court documents.

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Burns filed a federal lawsuit after Palm Beachs Architectural Review Commission turned down the plan. He went to the Supreme Court after a sharply divided panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year rejected arguments that his First Amendment rights had been violated.

In a petition filed in November, Burns attorneys wrote that the proposed design communicated that his new home would be clean, fresh, independent, and modern  a reflection of his evolved philosophy of simplicity in lifestyle and living with an emphasis on fewer personal possessions, and communicated his message that he was unique and different from his neighbors. The traditional style of his home no longer reflected his views or his identity.

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Architectural design, especially the design of ones own home, is an expressive form of art that can  and for Burns proposed design, should  be entitled to robust First Amendment protection, the petition said.

But attorneys for the town disputed that the case presented First Amendment issues and urged the Supreme Court to reject it. A brief filed by the town last month said Burns sought to build a nearly 20,000 square-foot home.

Petitioners ongoing effort to invoke fundamental constitutional rights in an otherwise straightforward zoning case involving the municipal denial of a new, oversized house on an undersized lot in accordance with stated architectural review criteria fails to present any grounds for review by this (Supreme) Court, the brief said. This court has never reviewed zoning criteria with the higher level of scrutiny given fundamental rights protected by the First Amendment.

Burns sold the home as the lawsuit played out, but he continued to have standing to pursue it because of significant financial damages, according to the petition filed by his attorneys.

Burns drew support at the Supreme Court from two libertarian organizations, the Goldwater Institute and the Cato Institute, and from the National Association of Home Builders of the United States.

The groups argued in friend-of-the-court briefs that architecture is a form of expression protected by the First Amendment, citing famed architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright.

This court has never specifically addressed the status of architecture as expressive conduct, attorneys for the home builders association wrote. Amicus (the association) believes that architecture is expressive conduct protected by the First Amendment, no different than other mediums portraying or otherwise involving architecture, such as Edward Hoppers painting House by the Railroad ... or the Simon & Garfunkel song, So Long Frank Lloyd Wright.
France has frozen and seized assets of Russian oligarchs to the tune of around 850 million euros (938 million dollars).

Property worth 539 million euros had been blocked, Le Maire French Economy Minister Bruno said.

He said another 150 million euros from private accounts at French banks have been frozen and two yachts worth 150 million euros have been seized.

France established a taskforce to implement EU sanctions against Russian oligarchs or those close to President Vladimir Putin.

It is tasked with finding their assets in France and identifying the owners of bank accounts, luxury villas and yachts, which is a complicated endeavour due to the many shell companies used to hide identities. (dpa/ NAN)
Marauding bandits have killed at least 24 people, including the village head and three other traditional title holders, in an early Sunday morning attack in Ganar Kiyawa, a village in Bukkuyum Local Government Area of Zamfara State.

Bandits from the Gando forest in Bukkuyum and Anka local government areas have been attacking residents since January. Some attacks on several villages in the two areas early this year that left 200 people dead.

In February, the terrorists collected N12 million from residents of Gana and Nasarawa Burkullu before they released 26 people abducted earlier. The ransom was taken to the bandits in Gando forest, residents said.

Ganar Kiyawa attack

Abubakar Gero, a youth leader in Bukkuyum Local Government Area, said the attack was long feared as residents of the community, especially the men, had been sleeping in the bush and other safer communities in horror of the bandits.

Yes, 24 people were killed by the bandits in yesterdays attack. The village head and some other traditional rulers as well as residents were killed. They (bandits) have been trying to attack the community but because their main targets were not always sleeping in the town, they decided to come in the morning, he said.

Abdullahi Musa, a resident of Gana, not far from Ganar Kiyawa community, told PREMIUM TIMES that the bandits started shooting sporadically the moment they entered the village.

Most of those who slept out of the community as usual were returning home when the bandits entered from the western route. They started shooting sporadically before they went on a house to house search for domestic animals and other valuables. All the shops were looted by the bandits while the residents ran for their lives, he said.

Mr Musa said there were more than 20 people in his village seeking refuge as of Sunday evening.

We cannot say how many people were kidnapped so far but those who have been killed, the residents were able to gather 23 corpses for burial. Another corpse was also found after the initial 23. It could be more especially now that the residents are afraid to go deep into the bushes to look for their dead, he said

Repeated calls and SMS sent to Mohammed Shehu, the Zamfara police command spokesperson, went unanswered.

Bandits have been attacking rural communities, kidnapping people for ransom and rustling cattle for many years in the North-western part of Nigeria.

Banditry is the code name in the region for organised crimes like kidnapping, cattle rustling, mass abduction, arson and even armed robbery.

What started as farmers-herders clashes snowballed into cattle rustling before access to small arms emboldened the criminals to start raiding villages. Factors like mass poverty, illiteracy and a porous border with Niger Republic have complicated security issues for both the government and the people.

Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto, Kaduna, Niger and Kebbi are the worst-hit states in the attacks.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said on Monday that the recent arrest and questioning of Willie Obiano, the immediate-past governor of Anambra State, is not politically-motivated.

The EFCC chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, said this while fielding questions from reporters at the 5th Annual General Assembly of the Network of National Anti-corruption institutions in West Africa (NACIWA).

There is nothing political about the arrest of the former Anambra State Governor, Wille Obiano. He has been granted bail. But we await (when) he fulfils his bail conditions.

We are an institution, and we know what the EFCC stands for. We investigate crime and we look at people who have committed a crime. And of course, we go to court and we have been doing that. And that is what we would continue to do.

Asked to give an update on the ongoing investigation of the former governor, Mr Bawa said: I dont know what update you want me to give, because you have been accusing us of media trials, and you want me to say we are doing this and that. No, we (EFCC) would not do that. We would continue to do our investigation professionally as we have been doing.

Mr Bawa also said the commission had granted an administrative bail to Mr Obiano but the ex-governor had yet to meet the bail conditions.

He (Mr Obiano) has been granted bail. And we are waiting for him to fulfil his bail condition he has been cooperating with us and everything is going on well.

Mr Bawa made the remark in response to claims that the former governors arrest was politically motivated.

The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), an opposition party, has criticised Mr Obianos detention by the EFCC, calling it a politically motivated witch-hunt.

In an interview with PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday, Mr Obianos spokesperson, James Eze, accused the anti-graft authority of persecuting Mr Obiano, adding that an accused person is presumed innocent until convicted.

Backstory

PREMIUM TIMES reported how Mr Obiano was arrested at the Murtala Muhammad International Airport in Lagos at about 8.30 p.m. on Thursday, the same he officially vacated office after the constitutionally permitted eight years tenure.

Sources at the commission, who asked not to be named because they were not authorised to speak to the press on the matter, said Mr Obiano was arrested as he was preparing to board a flight to Houston, Texas, United States.

On Friday, EFCC transferred him from its Lagos office, where he was first detained, to Abuja for further questioning.

The former governor has now spent four nights in EFCC custody.

A 12-second clip that has gone viral across social media platforms, had shown Mr Obiano, who was dressed in shorts and a white shirt, drinking water from a bottle in a closed room presumed to be in EFCC custody.

The video has since elicited reactions with many Nigerians denouncing it and others demanding an investigation into the leakage of the clip.

Mr Eze described the leakage of the video footage, showing his principal in his underpants in detention as an indication of persecution and an assault of the dignity of Nigerians, not Obiano alone.

He also called for an immediate investigation of the awful treatment of his boss whom he said is presumed innocent under the law and deserves to be treated with dignity.

PREMIUM TIMES reported in November last year that the EFCC had in a letter to the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) dated November 15, 2021, requested the Service to place the governor on a watchlist and inform it anytime he is travelling out of the country from any of the international airports and other points of entry and exit.
The total grounding of Nigerian universities seems imminent as non-academic staff have threatened to embark on a twoweek initial industrial action should the government fail to meet their demands by March 27.

The teaching staff under the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) are already in the second of their three-month initial strike.

ASUU had also started its strike with an initial four weeks on February 14th and extended it by two months when meetings with the government yielded no positive results.

Union writes minister

In a letter addressed to the office of the minister of labour and employment, Chris Ngige, the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and Non-Academic Staff Union of Allied and Educational Institutions (NASU) accused the government of insincerity in its implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Memorandum of Action (MoA) reached with the government in October 2020 and February 2021 respectively.

The letter, written at the end of a meeting held on Wednesday to appraise the implementation of the agreements it had with the government, and signed by Peters Adeyemi, General Secretary, NASU and Mohammed Ibrahim National President, SSANU, gave the Nigerian government up till March 27 to address its demands or face an initial two-weeks strike.

JAC had given two weeks ultimatum to the government to implement the said demands, while it issued red alerts to its members, asking them to prepare for a possible showdown with the government.

Parts of the letter reads: In view of this, the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of NASU and SSANU arising from its meeting is hereby using this opportunity through your exalted office to give the Federal Government up to Sunday, 27th March, 2022 to do the needful in respect of our members agitations, failing which we would have no other option than to direct our members in the Universities and Inter university Centres in Nigeria to proceed on 2 weeks warning strike in the first instance to drive home demands of our members in the Universities and Inter-University Centres.

The meeting was shocked that 2 weeks after giving the Federal Government an ultimatum nothing tangible has come out of it and that Government has not even acknowledged the letter with a response as expected.

Relating to this is our letter dated 1st March, 2022 in respect of same, in which nothing has come out of it despite the fact that JAC has given 21 days ultimatum to the Federal Government in respect of our members grievances and agitations on the non-implementation of the agreements.

Demands

The national vice president of SSANU, Abdussobur Salaam, had listed the items in the said agreement to include the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement, payment of earned allowances, usurpation of non-academic career positions by vice-chancellors, inclusion of university staff school into the university community, non-payment of minimum wage arrears, and funding of state universities.

He said university vice-chancellors have continued to defy a court order declaring that the teachers of universities staff schools are integral members of the university community.

He added that the government has only paid less than N8 billion of the N30 billion it agreed upon.

The memorandum of understanding we had was that the renegotiation will be concluded within six weeks. And that was as far back as February, 2021. And if you count six weeks from that time we will be talking about sometime in May or maybe April. But here we are, a year later, we have not even been invited for one meeting despite our reminders. he had said in an interview with PREMIUM TIMES.

Qosim Suleiman is a reporter at Premium Times in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe.
The former governor of Anambra State, Willie Obiano, who was arrested last week, has not been released because he has not met his bail conditions, an official has said.

Ibrahim Bawa, the EFCC chairman, said this Monday while addressing journalists in Abuja.

He has been granted bail. But we await (when) he fulfils his bail conditions, Mr Bawa said. He did not elaborate on the bail conditions.

The EFCC boss also dismissed claims that the arrest and detention of the former governor were politically-motivated.

He said: There is nothing political about the arrest of the former Anambra State Governor, Wille Obiano,

We are a financial institution and we know what the EFCC stands for; we investigate crime and we look at people who have committed a crime. And of course, we go to court and we have been doing that. And that is what we would continue to do.

I dont know what update you want me to give, because you have been accusing us of media trials, and you want me to say we are doing this and that. No, we (EFCC) would not do that. We would continue to do our investigation professionally as we have been doing.

Mr Bawa made the remark in response to claims that the former governors arrest was politically-motivated.

The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), an opposition party, had criticised Mr Obianos detention by the EFCC, calling it a politically-motivated witch-hunt.

In an interview with PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday, Mr Obianos spokesperson, James Eze, accused the anti-graft authority of persecuting Mr Obiano, adding that an accused person is presumed innocent until convicted.

Backstory

PREMIUM TIMES reported how Mr Obiano was arrested at the Murtala Muhammad International Airport in Lagos at about 8.30 p.m. on Thursday, the same day he officially vacated office after the constitutionally permitted eight years tenure.

Sources at the commission, who asked not to be named because they were not authorised to speak to the press on the matter, said Mr Obiano was arrested as he was preparing to board a flight to Houston, Texas, United States.

On Friday, EFCC transferred him from its Lagos office, where he was first detained, to Abuja for further questioning.

The former governor has now spent four nights in EFCC custody.

A 12-second clip, that has gone viral across social media platforms, had shown Mr Obiano, who was dressed in shorts and a white shirt, drinking water from a bottle in a closed room presumed to be in EFCC custody.

The video has since elicited reactions with many Nigerians denouncing it and others demanding an investigation into the leakage of the clip.

Mr Eze described the leakage of the video footage, showing his principal in his underpants in detention, as an indication of persecution and an assault of the dignity of Nigerians, not Obiano alone.

He also called for an immediate investigation of the awful treatment of his boss whom he said is presumed innocent under the law and deserves to be treated with dignity.
A Federal High Court, Calabar, has dismissed the terrorism, treasonable felony, and cybercrime charges against Agba Jalingo.

The judge, Ijeoma Ojukwu, on Monday, dismissed the charges against Mr Jalingo, the publisher of an online newspaper, CrossRiverWatch, after the Cross River State Government withdrew the charges against him, according to a report published by CrossRiverWatch.

Mr Jalingo was arrested in August 2019 for accusing the Cross River State Governor, Ben Ayade, of diverting N500 million belonging to the state.

He was charged for terrorism, treasonable felony, and cybercrime, and incarcerated for about 179 days, despite global outrage against the governments action.

Mr Jalingos lawyer, Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, SAN, commended Cross River State attorney-general for withdrawing the charges against his client.

We are happy that our harassment has ended, said Mr Olumide-Fusika who was accompanied by two other lawyers, F. Baba Isa and Kehole Enya.

Amnesty International in Nigeria had declared the journalist a prisoner of conscience and had accused the Nigerian government of manipulating the nations justice system against him.

While Agba Jalingo is detained for his critical opinions, both Cross River and federal governments are collaborating, through the manipulation of the criminal justice system to keep him behind bars, the Amnesty spokesperson, Sanusi Isa, told reporters in Calabar, February 2020.

Mr Isa said Agba Jalingos trial fell short of international standards of fairness, especially because the court has allowed witnesses to be masked and the trial to be held in secret.

The flawed charges and sham trial of Agba Jalingo have exposed the inadequacies and manipulation of the Nigerian criminal justice system and an unacceptable contempt for human rights and the rule of law, he added.

At some point in the trial, Mr Jalingo was brought to the court in handcuffs, apparently to humiliate and break him.

Jalingos reaction

Mr Jalingo told PREMIUM TIMES, Monday, he always knew that the court would rule in his favour in the case.

I knew from day one that I did not commit the offence, I knew it was just a matter of time for the court to throw the matter away, he said.

Its just painful that our system is skewed in this manner where three years of my time has been wasted coming from Lagos to Calabar because of a sham trial, he said.

The journalist said he was waiting for advice from his lawyers, whether to sue the government or not, even though he had told his wife he was leaving vengeance to God.

Lessons learnt

You need to always be strong if you have to overcome evil, Mr Jalingo said.

He said he was arrested in Lagos and taken to Calabar like a cow, and that the intention of those who locked him up was to break him.

He also said there was pressure on him, while under incarceration, to write an apology letter to the Cross River government, which he refused.

Their intention was to scare me, push me until I break. So the lesson I have learnt is that it is better to hold on. Even when at the breaking point, take a deep breath, pray to God, believe in God and ask him to give you strength.

I think today, the person that will really feel bad is the governor of Cross River State and those who locked me up. Wherever they are now, I think their conscience is talking to them, he said.
President Muhammadu Buharis office has announced that the Nigerian leader has summoned a state governor and two presidential appointees.

President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State, the Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, and the Chief Economic Adviser, Prof Doyin Salami, to a meeting at the Presidential Villa on Monday afternoon, presidential spokesperson Garba Shehu said in a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES.

While Messrs Aliyu and Salami are appointees of the president and work at his pleasure, Mr Uzodinma is an elected state governor over whom the president has no such power to summon.

Mr Uzodinma is a member of the presidents party, APC, and is believed to be a loyalist of the president. Although he has yet to react to the summon, he is unlikely to condemn the tone of the statement.

Mr Shehu said the president will meet separately with the officials and he would be apprised of the latest developments in Imo State, the power sector and the state of the economy.

Read Mr Shehus full statement below.

PRESIDENT BUHARI SUMMONS IMO GOVERNOR, POWER MINISTER, ECONOMIC ADVISER

President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State, the Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, and the Chief Economic Adviser, Prof Doyin Salami, to a meeting at the Presidential Villa on Monday afternoon.

The President is scheduled to meet separately with them and he would be apprised of the latest developments in Imo State, the power sector and the state of the economy.

It would be recalled that the President while condemning the spate of violence in Imo State in the aftermath of the destruction of buildings and assets of the Police and the home of Prof. George Obiozor, President-General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, pledged to review the security situation in southeast Nigeria.

President Buhari has also voiced his concern over the frequent power outages, apologising to Nigerians and assuring a quick relief to the situation.

Garba Shehu

Senior Special Assistant to the President

(Media & Publicity)

March 21, 2022
The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Monday, sacked the Speaker of the Cross River State House of Assembly Eteng Williams, and 17 of his colleagues over their defection from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Two members of the House of Representatives from the state, Michael Etaba and Legor Idagbor, were also sacked by the court.

The judge, Taiwo Taiwo, while delivering judgement on a suit instituted by the PDP to challenge the lawmakers defection, dismissed all the preliminary objections raised by the sacked lawmakers.

A day must surely come when elected officials, must ask the people who voted for them before defecting to other political parties, Mr Taiwo said.

He noted that the lawmakers wined and dined under the umbrella of the PDP, but ditched the party even when there was no justification for their action.

The defendants court documents were contrived and filed with loopholes. The papers are manifestly defective, the judge said while granting all the reliefs sought by the PDP.

The defendants in the suit were the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the APC and clerk of the State House of Assembly.

The judgement comes about two weeks after Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja sacked Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State, his deputy, Kelechi Igwe, along with 15 lawmakers in the state House of Assembly.

Suit

The lawmakers defected alongside the Cross River State governor, Ben Ayade, on 20 May, 2021, triggering a lawsuit by the PDP on August 27, 2021.

The affected lawmakers include  Michael Etaba, Legor Idagbor, Eteng Williams, Joseph Bassey, Odey Agbe and Okon Ephraim.

Others are: Regina Anyogo, Matthew Olory, Ekpo Bassey, Ogbor Udop, Ekpe Okon, Hillary Bisong, Francis Asuquo, Elvert Ayambem, Davis Etta, Sunday Achunekan, Cynthia Nkasi, Edward Ajang, Chris Ogar and Maria Akwaji.

While Mr Etaba represents Obubra/Etung federal constituency of Cross River State, Mr Idagbor represents Obudu/Obaliku/Bekwarra federal constituency of state.

In arguing its case, PDPs lawyer, Emmanuel Ukala, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), sought the courts interpretation of the provisions of Section 109(1)(g) of the constitution, which prohibits a lawmaker from defecting to another political party without justifiable reasons.

Mr Ukala also drew the courts attention to the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Ifedayo Abegunde versus Ondo State House of Assembly (2015).

He contended that the lawmakers being persons whose election to the parliament was sponsored by the PDP and having become members of another political party, their seats should be declared vacant.

Prayers

In the court papers filed before the judge, the PDP prayed for an order of injunction restraining the lawmakers from acting as members of parliament both in Abuja and Calabar, the Cross River State capital.

The plaintiff also sought an order of injunction restraining INEC, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, clerk of the National Assembly, the House of Assembly for Cross River State and the clerk of the State Assembly from according recognition to the dismissed lawmakers.

In addition, the party urged the court to make an order of mandatory injunction compelling INEC to accept from the PDP the list of candidates for the purpose of filling the vacancies created by the exit of the lawmakers from the parliament on account of their defections.

Judgement

In its verdict, the court held that despite the fact that major cause of action arose in Calabar, it has both territorial and subject matter jurisdictions to entertain the suit.

The judge equally agreed with the plaintiff that there was no rancour within the PDP to create a leeway for the sacked lawmakers to ditch their former party on whose platform they rode to power in the 2019 general elections.

That at the time the lawmakers defected from the PDP to the APC, the PDP did not have division in the party, the judge said.

The PDP is still and has always been one political party which is not fictionalised or fragmented, the PDP claimed in its filing before the court.

The PDP urged Mr Taiwo to declare the governors seat vacant following his defection to the APC last May.

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Meanwhile, a similar case challenging Mr Ayades defection is due for judgement this Friday.

Lawmakers to appeal judgement

The sacked lawmakers have vowed to appeal against their removal by the court.

Mike Ozekhome, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who represented the lawmakers, told journalists on Monday shortly after the verdict was handed down, that his clients would go on appeal.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it has disbursed over N1.3 trillion to support power supply to Nigerians in the last five years.

His remarks come as Nigerians, in the past few weeks, have continued to battle poor power supply worsened by scarcity of fuel to power homes and businesses and also economic downturn.

President Muhammadu Buhari had equally expressed concern over the suffering Nigerians are going through and promised to intervene.

The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, made the remark at a news conference following a meeting of the Bankers Committee in Abuja on Monday.

So, what we are trying to say here is that the CBN has always been there to support the power sector.

Like you all know, we have disbursed over 1.3 trillion naira in the last five years to support through the Generators or Discos or to acquire equipment or to buy meters or to improve what is being paid to electricity generating companies;

So that they can continue to pay for their gas and then the system can continue to operate.

Poor power supply

Premium Times earlier today reported how President Buhari summoned Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State, the Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, and the Chief Economic Adviser, Doyin Salami, to a meeting at the Presidential Villa on Monday afternoon.

The President was reportedly scheduled to meet separately with them and he would be apprised of the latest developments in Imo State, the power sector and the state of the economy.

The President while condemning the spate of violence in Imo State in the aftermath of the destruction of buildings and assets of the Police and the home of George Obiozor, President-General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, pledged to review the security situation in South-east Nigeria.

President Buhari had also voiced his concern over the frequent power outages, apologising to Nigerians and assuring a quick relief to the situation.

Disbursement

Mr Emefiele on Monday said the bank had disbursed N11.11 billion to power sector players under the Nigeria bulk electronic trading payments assurance facility, bringing the cumulative disbursement under this facility to N1.28 trillion.

The sum of N12.64 billion was also released to Discos under Nigeria electricity market stabilisation facility phase two line two.

Community disbursement under names two, first stand at 232.93 billion naira.

Both interventions were designed to improve access to capital and ease development of enabling infrastructure in the Nigeria electricity supply chain sector, he added.

Mr Emefiele, however, pledged the apex banks commitment to continue to support Distribution Companies (DISCOs) to provide stable power supply to Nigerians.

He said that the apex bank would be engaging with the Power Minister and NERC to see what could be done to support them.

Fuel scarcity

Mr Emefiele also said that the bank would be providing interventions for the NNPC to ensure they import petroleum products that would end the shortage in the country.

He noted that the Minister of Finance was holding engagements with Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to see to what could be done to ensure that adequate funding was provided to make petroleum products adequately available in the country.

We are also saying we will be engaging NNPC ourselves, if theres any kind of intervention that we can provide to help make it easy for them to bring in these products, so that this shortage can stop.

Then we will see that when supply increases, people are relatively confident that when they sell whatever theyre holding, be it petrol or diesel that they can easily go and replace them, then the arbitrary price increases will reduce.

When arbitrary price reduces, of course, we can begin to see that there will be gradual moderation in the price of this product.

This would ultimately result in the moderation in the prices of other products that its price would have gone up as a result of the arbitrary increase in the price of these items.

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This is simply how we think CBN can work with them, he said.

Mr Emefiele, therefore, urged NNPC to take urgent steps to ensure adequate supply of petroleum products in Nigeria, so as to reduce the rate of arbitrary increase in price of this petroleum products by oil marketers.

He also noted the unprecedented rate of oil theft recorded in recent times and its debilitating impact on government revenue and the nations reserve.

In the medium term, MPC is hopeful that a proposed take-off of the Dangote Refinery in the course of the year would help to improve the supply of petroleum products in Nigeria.

MPC also noted that the rising price of diesel is compounded by the problem of inadequate electricity supply in Nigeria, which has adversely impacted domestic prices.

MPC advises the CBN management and fiscal authorities to take specific and urgent action to avoid many power generating stations shut down for turnaround maintenance, resulting in the current unwarranted shutdown of our generated assets, Mr Emefiele said.

(NAN)
A month before the 2020 election, Joe Bidens daughter, Ashley, received a call from a man offering help. He said he had found a diary that belonged to her and wanted to return it.

Biden had kept a diary the previous year and had stored it and some other belongings at a friends home in Florida where she had been living until a few months earlier. The diarys contents, if disclosed, could prove an embarrassment or a distraction to her father at a critical moment in the campaign.

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She agreed with the caller to send someone to retrieve the diary the next day.

But the man on the phone worked for Project Veritas, a conservative group that had become a favorite of President Donald Trump, according to interviews with people familiar with the events. From the groups headquarters in Westchester County, New York, the caller was seeking to trick Biden into confirming the authenticity of the diary, which Project Veritas was about to purchase from two intermediaries for $40,000.

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The caller did not identify himself as being affiliated with Project Veritas, according to two people with knowledge of the conversation.

Drawn from interviews, court filings and other documents, the new information adds texture to what is known about an episode that has led to a criminal investigation of Project Veritas by federal prosecutors who have suggested they have evidence that the group was complicit in stealing Bidens property.

And by showing that Project Veritas employed deception rather than journalistic techniques in the way it approached Biden, the accounts could complicate the organizations assertions in court filings that it should be treated as a publisher and granted First Amendment protections.

At the same time, new information about the case suggests the effort to make the diary public reached deeper into Trumps circle than previously known.

A month before the call to Biden, the diary had been passed around a Trump fundraiser in Florida at the home of a donor who helped steer the diary to Project Veritas. Among those attending the event was Donald Trump Jr., although it is not clear if he examined it.

Project Veritas has denied wrongdoing.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned the attack on the residence of the President-General of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, George Obiozor, by gunmen.

Gunmen on Saturday razed the country home of Mr Obiozor in Awo- Omamma, Oru East Local Government Area of Imo State.

Two police officers on duty were shot dead, also on Saturday, when gunmen attacked their police facility at Umuguma police station, Owerri West council area in Imo.

President Buhari, in a statement from his spokesperson, Garba Shehu, on Sunday, described the attack on the Igbo leaders residence as deeply distressing.

Mr Buhari sympathised with the Ohanaeze president and urged him to maintain his commitment to the peace and oneness of Nigeria, despite the rising insecurity in the country.

He said Mr Obiozor is a leading voice of moderation in the affairs of the country.

President Buhari, according to the statement, also extended sympathies to the police authorities over the loss of their men and materials in the attack on their facility.

The president condemned the violence in the region and urged everyone to maintain peace, adding that the security situation in the South-east was being reviewed.

There has been growing insecurity in the South-east in recent years.

IPOB, an outlawed group agitating for the creation of an independent state of Biafra from the South-east and some parts of the South-south, is accused of being responsible for the attacks in the regions.
The Police in Oyo State have rescued two suspects who allegedly attempted to kidnap a nine-year-old girl from being lynched.

Adewale Osifeso, the police spokesperson in the state, disclosed this in a statement on Monday in Ibadan.

He said that the commands operatives who were on patrol on Sunday around Alakia Adelubi axis, Ibadan, at about 9.20 a.m. responded to a distress call on the execution of jungle justice.

The suspects were alleged to have attempted to abduct a nine-year-old female, Ope, who was on her way to church.

He said that preliminary investigations revealed that the girl was in the company of her mother, Afolabi Modupe, and other siblings when the two suspects attempted to seize her from her mothers grip.

The Police Public Relations Officer said that investigations had commenced on the matter.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Ngozi Onadeko, appealed to the citizenry against taking laws into their hands, with the assurance of a diligent and thorough investigation into the incident, he said.

He said further updates would be communicated in due course.

(NAN)
The Kaduna State Government on Monday declared a 24-hour curfew in Jemaa and Kaura local government areas of the state.

The Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, made the announcement in a statement issued in Kaduna.

Mr Aruwan said following advice from security agencies, the Kaduna State Government declared the curfew in Jemaa and Kaura local government areas with immediate effect.

This is to assist the security agencies to stabilise the situation in the areas, save lives and property and enable the restoration of law and order, he said.

He added that security agencies have full authorisation to enforce the curfew.

Government appeals to all residents of Jemaa and Kaura LGAs to cooperate with the security agencies in the urgent task of restoring peace and upholding law and order.

Government condemns the violence and all acts of lawlessness that have occurred in the area, he said.

The commissioner said further updates would be issued when necessary.

(NAN)
The Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) has donated 105 copies of Remaking Nigeria, a book published to commemorate Nigerias 60th independence anniversary, to 21 academic institutions in the country.

This followed the decision announced by the NGF in 2021 to donate the books to the institutions so as to make the contents familiar to the Nigerian youth.

We read that material and we just sense that significant connection with the youth, Director-General of the NGF, Asishana Okauru, said. A number of libraries dont have the capacity to (stock up) and I think well keep doing that (donating) going forward, he added.

Five of the book copies were sent to Akwa Ibom State University (AKSU) where the Librarian, Nse Akwang, received them. The books, she said, are currently undergoing a process and would soon be made available to the students.

Weve claimed ownership of the book and we are trying to classify them now, she said. Before next week, it would be out of the classification unit, from there, it would get to the cataloging unit, from there to the new arrival shelf, two weeks after, well take it to the main shelf.

She is unable to present students for a review as they are currently not in session due to the strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). Such action by university lecturers has been identified as one of the key factors debilitating scholarship as students often abandon their academic work during the strike while some never return to school.

Apart from AKSU, 20 other institutions benefited from the NGFs gesture. They include; Ahmadu Bello University, Bayero University, Benue State University, City Library, Delta State University, Ekiti State University, Kaduna State University, Lagos State University, Nasarawa State University and National Institute for Policy and Research Studies.

Others are National Open University, Obafemi Awolowo University, Olusegun Obasanjo Research Library, Sokoto State University, University of Abuja, University of Benin, University of Calabar, University of Ibadan, University of Maiduguri and University of Nigeria.

A book for the youth

The 437-page book torches on the myriads of challenges in different sectors in Nigeria. It is a collection of 60 essays by 60 young Nigerians to commemorate the 60 years independence attained in 2020.

With several chapters dedicated specifically to youth development, the editor, Chido Onumah, hopes the book would aid young Nigerians in re-inventing their energy towards nation development.

In chapter 22 titled, Imperatives of a youth manifesto, former Nigerian minister Nurudeen Muhammed argued that the current crop of Nigerian youth need to look towards the past for lessons and deploy new and modern initiatives to tackle their problems.

Sixty years after independence, the youths of Nigeria whose future is at stake must resolve to take back their country. They should present specific demands that are clearly stated in a manifesto around new progressive politics, he wrote while identifying 10 affirmative points Nigerian youth must push for, some of which include territorial integrity, merit, access to education, sound health care system, modernised agriculture among others.

Uche Ugboajah, a Political Scientist, who has read the book, believes the students who are beneficiaries of the NGF gesture and others would benefit greatly from its diversity and pragmatism.

This is a book every student should read, he said. The beauty of the book is that it gives many perspectives. If youre looking at it from a socialist perspective, for instance, there are chapters for that, if youre also coming from a liberal perspective, Dr. Fayemis foreword is a very good read.

Its not just a book by angry youth, in spite of their anger, they are also proferring solutions (to problems identified). They are disappointed but in spite of their disappointment, they are still expressing hope. Its a book by young people who want to take their country back.

An antidote of a book

Aliyu Yahaya, the Librarian of University of Maiduguri, took some copies of the book sometime in January and if not for the ongoing strike, the copies would have been made available to the students.

He feared without such a gesture from the NGF and a deliberate effort by stakeholders, the waning reading culture in Nigeria would continue to worsen.

The reading culture is very poor. Students dont read books nowadays; they prefer to be on their phones. Reading starts from the base, primary school, and then grows to the university. By the time a student comes to the university it is expected that they have some level of reading habit. But that is no longer the case.

Before, the national library and state library boards hold reading weeks do exhibitions and all. This helps in inculcating reading culture in younger ones but they no longer do these. Government no longer buy books. We only depend on philanthropic organisations like the NGF that sent us books.

Austine Emaduku, a civil servant, who has also read the book, agrees. Beyond fortifying the libraries with relevant books, he wants re-introduction of some subjects.

We can start from the schools, catch them young. From primary level, students should be introduced to literary works, we should teach history and literature, organise competitions around reading.

The NGF is aware of this gap and are doing their best to bring Nigerias prided reading culture back to life.

The NGF is a policy hub and anything that can be done to grow scholarship, well do, Mr Okauru said.

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The future of Nigeria will be the focus on Tuesday as eminent citizens congregate at the Freedom Online annual lecture to deliberate on the way forward for a country that is currently swamped by severe political, security and economic challenges.

From an incumbent minister to former governors and opinion leaders, the deliberation will focus on ensuring that Nigeria takes its rightful place in the comity of nations.

Freedom Online, one of Nigerias fastest-growing online newspapers, will host these eminent Nigerians at its fourth annual lecture at Radisson Blu Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos.

In a statement Monday Freedom Onlines Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief, Gabriel Akinadewo, named the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed as the guest speaker at the gathering.

A former Governor of Kaduna State, Ahmed Makarfi, will chair the session, while a former Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel will give the keynote.

Peter Obi, a former governor Anambra State, will also speak at the event while a former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olabode George, is the special guest of honour.

Other guests expected at the Freedom Online gathering include former Police Affairs Minister, Omoniyi Olubolade; the immediate past Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dakuku Peterside; Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Gani Adams; the President and Chairman of Governing Council, Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Mukhtar Zubairu Sirajo; Prof. Akin Onigbinde and others.

The statement by Mr Akinadewo, the Freedom Online CEO, says the lecture is an annual event that brings together captains of industry, media chiefs, politicians and professionals to reflect on national issues and propose objective course of action. We have always been forthright on matters of Nigerias progress and future.

Since the first edition of our annual lecture, we have been inspired by the commitment of our guests and Nigerians in the quest for a better country through advocacy. We believe this time around, the same zeal will be deployed to ensuring that Nigeria takes its rightful place in the comity of nations.
A Federal High Court in Ibadan, on Monday, sentenced an internet fraudster, Oladimeji Aberuagba, to eight months imprisonment over $500 US cybercrime.

The judge, Uche Agomoh, in her judgment, said she relied on the evidence presented by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the plea bargain agreement which the convict entered into before convicting and sentencing him.

I have also considered the convicts prayer that the court should temper justice with mercy in sentencing him, being the first son of his family and a first-time offender.

This is in line with Section 270 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015 which provides that anyone who pleads guilty and enters a plea bargain agreement be given a reduced sentence.

Also, the convict has promised to change from his bad ways.

He (Aberuagba) is consequently sentenced to eight months in correctional centre, starting from the date he was first arrested.

The proceeds of crime found in his possession are forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

After completing his custodian sentence, the convict shall write an undertaking to the EFCC to be of good behaviour and never to participate in any form of crime henceforth, Agomoh said.

Mr Aberuuagba had, before the judgment, pleaded with the court to be lenient in sentencing him.

He confessed that he was influenced into the crime by his friends and that he had learnt a lesson.

Earlier, the EFCC counsel, Ibadan Zonal Office, Abdulrasheed Suleiman, had told the court that the convict was arraigned on a one-count charge, bordering on impersonation.

Mr Suleiman added that the commissions operatives apprehended Mr Aberuagba on September 13, 2021, in Ibadan.

He said the convict specialised in defrauding foreigners by impersonating famous personalities through his fake email address.

The prosecutor further said that Mr Aberuagba was found in possession of $500, a mobile phone, and many incriminating documents linking him with the crime.

The offence, according to him, contravenes Section 22 (2B) of the Cyber Crime Prohibition and Prevention Act, 2015.

(NAN)
Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq on Monday paid a condolence visit to the family of Olomi Sunday, the women leader of the APC in Koro Ward of Ekiti local government area, who was recently shot dead by her abductors during a rescue operation.

Late Mrs Sunday was one of the APC chieftains kidnapped on Wednesday evening between Araromi Opin and Obbo-Ile in the local government area while returning from the inauguration of the state APC executives in Ilorin.

The governor was received by the Olukoro of Koro, Oba Peter Aremu Adaralegbe I, husband of the deceased Mr. Sunday, and some other members of the family.

He was accompanied on the visit by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly, Adetiba Rapheal; the Commissioner for Health, Raji Rasaq; Senior Special Assistant on Security, Aliyu Muyideen; TIC chairman for Ekiti, Kehinde Bayode; and State APC Chairman, Sunday Fagbemi who had earlier visited the family on behalf of the party.

According to a statement by his spokesperson, Rafiu Ajakaye, Mr AbdulRazaq had earlier visited a health facility where the rescued victims of the abduction were hospitalised.

He grieved over the loss and prayed God to bless the departed soul, and for quick recovery of surviving victims at the hospital.

The governor reiterated his administrations commitment to making every nook and cranny of the state uninhabitable for criminals.

Oba Aremu acknowledged the efforts of the state government and security personnel to beef up security in all parts of the state, especially in the southern part, praying God to crown the efforts with success.

He recalled a recent security show of force in the axis as part of the efforts to clear out the criminals.

We are very aware of all efforts and commitments of your administration and the gallantry of security personnel to check security challenges, and we prayed that your efforts in this regard will yield results soon, the royal father said.

The government had since the incident last Wednesday activated a multi-layered security effort to rescue the victims, culminating in the gun duel between the local vigilante group and the abductors on Saturday night and rescue of the remaining five victims.

The abductors were killed in the encounter. The governor commended the efforts of the security agencies to rid the state of the criminal elements.
The Speaker of the Cross River House of Assembly, Eteng Jonah-Williams, has said that he is not aware of any court judgment sacking him or any member of the house.

Mr Jonah-Williams said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Calabar on Monday.

He said the affected members had not been served with any court order.

As far as I am concerned, I am not aware of any court judgment sacking me or any member because we have not been served with any court order as we speak, he said.

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday declared the seats of 20 lawmakers from Cross River vacant over their defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to All Progressives Congress (APC).

Justice Taiwo Taiwo dismissed the defence argument that PDP (plaintiff) had no locus standi to institute the case.

Meanwhile, Francis Ovat (PDP), representing Obubra 2 State Constituency, has hailed the judgment as sound.

If you are elected into a political party and you hold the peoples mandate, it is wrong for you to jump from one party to the other.

Elected officials should learn to stay in one party.

If there is any rancour or crisis in their party, they should stay in the party and resolve it.

Jumping from one party to the other kills democracy.

The judgment is a good one and it came right on time, Mr Ovat said.

(NAN)
The Chairman of the Senate Committtee on Media and Public Affairs, Ajibola Basiru, has faulted media report alleging that the APC caucus at the Senate had endorsed Abdullahi Adamu as its preferred aspirant for the partys chairmanship.

Mr Basiru said this when he spoke with journalists in Abuja on Monday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that three senators; Abdullahi Adamu, Sani Musa and Tanko Al-Makura are contesting for the APC national chairman in the March 26 national convention.

I am not aware that the APC senate caucus has adopted any senator for the position of the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress.

I know that three senators are contesting and there was no where or occasion when we took any decision to adopt any particular candidate.

I will be very happy if any of them emerges as the APC national chairman on Saturday. The emergence of any of the three senators would be a good omen to our institution.

Senators Abdullahi Adamu, Sani Musa and Tanko Al-Makura are in the race, he said.

Media reports had also indicated that Mr Adamu, a former governor of Nasarawa State, was the choice of President Muhammadu Buhari for the APC top seat.

Mr Adamu however denied the report last week.

The former governor was the Chairman of the Northern Senators Forum (NSF) until was in controversial circumstances.

He recently headed headed the APC National Reconciliation Committee.

While in PDP, Mr Adamu was also the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum.

(NAN)
The Nigerian equity market was down by 0.33 per cent last week as traders hunt for yield depressed the main stock index even though there was a couple of strong corporate results that could have put stocks in further advance.

This week, promising earnings scorecards are expected from companies like Fidelity Bank, Transcorp and NPF Microfinance Bank, which could strengthen performance in the broad market.

PREMIUM TIMES has assembled a number of stocks with fundamentals and other potential, adopting key analytical approaches to save you the hassle of randomly picking equities for investment.

The selection, a product of analytical market watch, offers a guide to entering the market and taking strategic positions in hopes that equities will gain value with the passage of time, particularly in the short term.

This is not a buy, sell or hold recommendation but a stock investment guide. You may have to involve your financial advisor before taking investment decisions.

ACCESS BANK

Access Bank leads this weeks pick by reason of its declaration of a 51 per cent surge in profit to N160.2 billion for last year after the lenders annual gross earnings touched record N971.9 billion.

The financial institution is proposing a final dividend of N0.70 per share to shareholders who purchase and hold the companys shares till at least 19th April. That brings its total dividend for the year to N1 per share, having paid an interim dividend of N0.30 earlier, which compares to a total dividend of N0.80 paid a year earlier.

NPF MICROFINANCE BANK

NPF Microfinance Bank makes the selection on the basis of its twin proposal of a scrip issue and dividend issue for the financial year 2021. The companys audited financials are expected to be released this week after approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria.

CORNERSTONE INSURANCE

Cornerstone Insurance features in this weeks selection for trading well below its real value, meaning it stands a good chance of considerable price appreciation in the future.

The underwriters price-to-earnings (PE) ratio as of Friday was 3.30x, with earnings per share (EPS) of N0.18.

OANDO

Oando makes the list for currently trading significantly below its intrinsic value, brightening its chance of reasonable price appreciation in the future.

The oil drillers PE ratio at the end of the last trading session was 2.16x, with EPS of N2.32.

CAP PLC

CAP features on this weeks list for trading close to its lowest price in the last 52 weeks, which makes it a good entry point for investment.

Its PE ratio at the last session was 13.25x, with EPS of N1.36.

CONOIL

Conoil features on the list for trading below its actual value. The energy companys PE ratio as of Friday was 5.73x, with EPS of N4.38.

JULIUS BERGER

Julius Berger makes the pick for trading much lower than its intrinsic value at the moment. The construction firms PE ratio at the end of the last trading session was 4.53x, with EPS of N5.85.
Five people where shot, and two killed, early Saturday morning outside Chichos Pizza Backstage on Granby Street in Norfolk. (Stephen M. Katz/The Virginian-Pilot)

Saturday would have been Sierra Jenkins turn to cover the breaking news shift for The Virginian-Pilot.

When an editor learned early Saturday that several people had been shot in downtown Norfolk, he called Jenkins repeatedly to ask her to cover it. But she couldnt be reached.

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The 25-year-old reporter was one of two people killed when gunfire erupted outside a popular Granby Street nightspot.

Jenkins had been at Chichos Pizza Backstage with her best friend, according to her family. The restaurant and bar was closing when an argument started outside and Jenkins, who covered education for The Pilot and Daily Press, was caught in the line of fire as she left. She was later pronounced dead at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.

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Manager Rory Schindel said bartenders announced last call for drinks and turned up the lights about 1:30 a.m. Customers were starting to leave when he heard an argument outside and then gunfire.

A total of five people were shot. Portsmouth resident Devon M. Harris, also 25, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police. Three other men were wounded, including one who suffered life-threatening injuries.

Police have not announced any arrests in the shooting.

Jenkins father, Maurice Jenkins of Virginia Beach, described his daughter as a sweet, caring and hard-working young woman who loved being a journalist. She just turned 25 on March 13 and was the oldest of three siblings.

Jenkins grew up in Norfolk and graduated from Granby High School. She earned a bachelors degree in journalism from Georgia State University in December 2019 and worked as an intern at Atlanta Magazine and CNN before joining The Pilot in December 2020. After living with her family, she just got her first apartment in Virginia Beach about a month ago.

She wasnt much of a going-out kind of person at all, Maurice Jenkins said. But her best friend was in town and the two decided to go out together. They had been friends since middle school and Jenkins was godmother to her friends daughter.

Everyone loved her, Maurice Jenkins said. She was such an energetic, caring and giving person. A real go-getter. Shed do anything for anyone.

Jenkins initially was hired by The Pilot and Daily Press to cover breaking news and later became an education reporter.

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Sierra was a bright and talented woman with so much going for her. Her passion for journalism was undeniable and our community is better because of her reporting, said Kris Worrell, editor-in-chief of Virginia Media. Sierra was funny and energetic and full of enthusiasm. We are absolutely heartbroken.

On Saturday morning, drops of blood could be seen on the sidewalk outside Chichos and a nearby security guard pointed out what appeared to be multiple bullet holes in a wall next to the businesss windows and front doors.

Schindel recalled seeing Jenkins and her friends at the bar.

They were a nice group, he said. They took good care of our bartenders and our bartenders took good care of them.

Chichos nighttime security requires all customers to be patted down before entering, Schindel said. Because of that policy, the manager doesnt believe the shooter brought the gun inside.

It was just a normal night, Schindel said of the moments before the shots were fired. There were a lot of people there, as usual, and there was a great atmosphere inside.

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He estimated about 180 people were at the bar when last call was announced and people began to exit.

Norfolk Commonwealths attorney Ramin Fatehi issued a statement on social media asking anyone with cell phone video or surveillance footage of the incident, or any other information to contact police. Authorities are asking anyone with information to call 1-888-LOCK-U-UP or to submit a tip online.

Jane Harper, 757-222-5097, jane.harper@pilotonline.com
Criticisms continue to trail Fridays controversial judgement of the Federal High Court in Umuahia, Abia State, striking down section 84(12) of the newly amended Electoral Act.

Lawyers and members of the civil society organisations (CSOs) have criticised the judge, Evelyn Anyadike, and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, over the decision toppling one of the most significant innovations in the newly amended law.

The section prohibits political appointees at any level from either voting or vying at their political parties primary elections.

No political appointee at any level shall be a voting delegate or be voted for at the convention or congress of any political party for the purpose of the nomination of candidates for any election, it reads.

It is a statutory innovation aimed at checking abuse of office by government appointees during elections or the selection of candidates at party primaries.

In Nigeria, political appointees are wont to deploy the paraphernalia of office to gain an advantage over other aspirants. Some governors also indiscriminately raise the number of their appointees close to the time of their parties primary elections to expand their army of loyal delegates at such party elections.

Many members of President Muhammadu Buharis cabinet, who are nursing political ambitions ahead of the 2023 general elections, are against the provision.

The politicians, including the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, who is believed to be seeking to contest the governorship election in his home state, Kebbi State, in 2023, were able to get the President to write the National Assembly to delete the section 84(12) from the Electoral Act.

But the Senate rejected the Presidents request earlier this month, and the battle immediately shifted to court.

Nduka Edede, a lawyer and top member of the Action Alliance (AA), one of Nigerias fringe political parties, filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Umuahia to challenge the constitutionality of the said section 84(12) of the Electoral Act.

He selectively picked the AGF, a known antagonist of the provision, as the only defendant, leaving out other important bodies such as the National Assembly and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with high stakes in the making and operation of the Electoral Act.

In her judgement on Friday, Mrs Anyadike agreed with the plaintiff that the provision violated the constitutional rights of Nigerian citizens.

She noted that the Nigerian constitution already has a provision that mandates appointees of government seeking to contest elections to resign at least 30 days to the date of the election.

Therefore, the judge ruled, any other law mandating such appointees to resign or leave the office at any time before that is unconstitutional, invalid, illegal null and void, to the extent of its inconsistency to the clear provisions of the Constitution.

Hours after the court delivered the judgement, Mr Malami, reputed for shocking justification of disobedience to court orders, enthusiastically announced his plan to quickly delete section 84(12) of the Electoral Act in compliance with Fridays verdict. The move foreclosed the possibility of an appeal being filed against the judgement.

Vested interests, hatchet job

Lawyers and pro-democracy advocates have criticised the legal and social basis of the judgement, which they say further erodes public confidence in the Nigerian judiciary.

To some, the circumstances surrounding the suit, including failing to join critical stakeholders as defendants, the unusual speed with which the suit was heard and judgement delivered without the knowledge of the public, and Mr Malamis strange enthusiasm to enforce the verdict, gave the whole legal process up as a hatchet job.

Samson Itodo of Yiaga Africa, a pro-democracy organisation, told PREMIUM TIMES there were vested interests that manipulated the judge to reach the decision.

Mr Itodo who championed the Not Too Young To Run bill, which culminated in removing the legal obstacles to youths participation in Nigerian politics, described the decision as an aberration.

It is just sad that the judiciary is being ridiculed in this manner, Mr Itodo pointed to subsisting order of another federal court in Abuja, which barred Mr Buhari, the Attorney-General and the National Assembly from tampering with the newly amended Electoral Act.

He said the court lacked the powers to order the AGF to delete an Act of parliament, adding that such a verdict undermines Nigerias democracy.

He advised the parliament to appeal against the judgment, drawing the attention of the National Judicial Council (NJC), a disciplinary institution of the judiciary, to Mrs Anyadikes ruling.

Also, a development expert and political commentator, Jide Ojo, agreed with Mr Itodo that the case looks like a hatchet job, hurriedly packaged without joining the relevant government agencies to the suit.

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Mr Ojo, who commended the innovative provisions of the Electoral Act, said political appointees should not be allowed to use state resources to view for tickets of their respective parties.

Suspicious of Mr Malamis swift plan to implement the latest court ruling, Mr Ojo asked why the AGF has not been swift in carrying out previous judgements of the court.

Another activist, Hamzat Lawal, in an interview with this reporter said the suit served the interests of a few, noting that that is why it has become a scandal.

He urged the AGF to tarry a while to enable the appellate courts to determine the propriety of the judgement or otherwise.

Mr Lawal accused the judiciary and the executive arms of government of collusion to subvert the rule of law.

Judiciary, lawyers destroying Nigeria

Some top lawyers have also voiced their concerns about Mrs Anyadikes verdict on the nullification of section 84(12) of the Electoral Act.

Femi Falana and Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, both Senior Advocates of Nigeria, in their separate interventions, said the judge was wrong to have reached such a decision.

Mr Falana, in a statement, said the judge fell into a great error by anchoring her judgement on a faulty legal premise.

The senior lawyer pointed out that section 318 of the Constitution relied on by the judge does not have political appointees as a category of persons that must resign within 30 days to contest an election. He said persons referred to in section 318 of the Constitution are those employed in the public service, which, according to him, excludes political appointees.

To that extent, section 84 (12) of the Electoral Act was annulled on a very faulty ground, he said.

Referencing the case of Dada versus Adeyeye (2005), the lawyer noted had Mrs Anyadikes attention been drawn to the decisions of the appellate courts, she would have dismissed the matter.

The appellate courts have held that political appointees or political office holders are not public servants as provided for under the Constitution, Mr Falana said.

Similarly, Mr Adegboruwa in his official Facebook page wondered how the judge could nullify an Act (of the National Assembly) without joining the institution that made the Act, so that they can be heard concerning what they did?

Addressing Mr Malamis swift reaction to the judgement, Mr Adegboruwa said, When a defendant (Federal Government) rejoices over a judgment delivered against it as a party, then you know there is problem in Nigeria.

The Lagos-based lawyer advised the National Assembly, political parties and non-governmental organisations to appeal against the judgment as interested parties, querying Why do you want to hold on to your office as a political appointee and at the same time be a candidate in an election?

However, another Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mike Ozekhome, lauded the courts decision, describing it as courageous.

Mr Ozekhome, a rights activist and one of Mr Buharis fiercest critics, said he was agreeing with the President on the controversial clause of the amended Electoral Act.

Speaking on Channels Televisions evening programme on Friday, Politics Today, Mr Ozekhome argued that it is the constitutional responsibility of the court to strike down any Act of parliament that is inconsistent with the Nigerian constitution.

The constitution makes it clear in section 1 (1) that this constitution shall be supreme, and if any other law is contrary to the provisions of this constitution, that other law shall be null and void to the extent of the inconsistency.

So, it is the duty of the judiciary like the Federal High Court in Umuahia, to strike down any law or act of the National Assembly that is unconstitutional, the lawyer explained.

Disagreeing with Messrs Falana and Adegboruwas perspectives, Mr Ozekhome said, The Parliament, while enacting the Electoral amendment Act, was acting in ultra vires when it said political appointees cannot vote or be voted for during party primaries.

He contended that the National Assembly cannot legislate on an issue that had been dealt with by the constitution, adding the constitution is supreme to any other legislation.
Ukraine has rejected Russias demand that Ukrainian forces in the port city of Mariupol lay down their arms and surrender in exchange for safe passage out of the town, Al Jazeera is reporting.

There can be no question of any surrender, laying down of arms. We have already informed the Russian side about this, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk told the news outlet Ukrainska Pravda.

In a video on Telegram, Ms Vereshchuk added that the Russians continue to behave like terrorists.

They say they agree on the humanitarian corridor and in the morning, shell the place for evacuation, she said. I wrote: Instead of wasting time on eight pages of letters, just open the corridor.

Mariupol Mayor Piotr Andryushchenko also rejected the Russian demand for surrender, saying in a Facebook post he did not need to wait until morning to respond and cursing at the Russians, according to the news agency Interfax Ukraine.

Russian Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev said on Sunday that Moscow would allow two corridors out of the coastal city, heading east towards Russia and west to other parts of Ukraine.

All who lay down their arms are guaranteed safe passage out of Mariupol, he said, giving authorities until 5 a.m. on Monday (02:00 GMT) to respond to the offer.

He, however, did not say what action Russia would take if the offer was rejected.

The Russian Ministry of Defence, addressing Mariupol authorities on messaging app Telegram, said the officials now have the right to make a historic choice and warned they could face a military tribunal if they sided with what it described as criminals.

Mariupol Casualties

Mariupol has suffered some of the heaviest bombardments since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 in its special operations and denazification of the Eastern European country.

Many of the citys 400,000 people are trapped, with little food, water and power, while city officials say at least 2,300 people have died, some buried in mass graves.

Moscows call for surrender came hours after Ukrainian authorities said the Russian military bombed an art school in Mariupol that was sheltering hundreds of people. There was no immediate word on casualties in the school attack.

Speaking in a video address, Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that about 400 civilians were taking shelter at the art school in the besieged Azov Sea port city when it was struck by a Russian bomb.

They are under the rubble, and we dont know how many of them have survived, he said. But we know that we will certainly shoot down the pilot who dropped that bomb, like about 100 other such mass murderers whom we already have downed.

The raid on the art school was the second time in less than a week that officials reported an attack on a public building where Mariupol residents had taken shelter.

On Wednesday, a bomb hit a theatre where more than 1,000 people were believed to be sheltering.

Ukrainian officials have not given an update on the search of the theatre since Friday, when they said at least 130 people had been rescued and another 1,300 were trapped by rubble.

Russia-Ukraine War

Russia on February 24 attacked Ukraine in what it called a special operation to denazify the Eastern European country

The nearly one month old war has left at least 847 civilians dead and 1,399 injured, according to the UN human rights office (OHCHR).

As of March 16, the UN migration agency estimates, nearly 6.5 million people have been displaced inside Ukraine, in addition to the 3.2 million refugees who have already fled the country.

The estimates from the International Organisation for Migration suggests that more people may be displaced in Ukraine than the 13 million displaced in Syria during the war there.

Chiamaka Okafor is a reporter at Premium Times in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says it has tracked down the officer who leaked a video of Willie Obiano, the immediate-past governor of Anambra, in its custody.

PREMIUM TIMES had reported how the 12-second footage showing Mr Obiano in his shorts triggered reactions after emerging online on Saturday.

In an interview with our reporter on Sunday, Mr Obianos spokesperson, James Eze, criticised the leakage of the video clip, accusing the anti-graft authority of persecuting Mr Obiano.

He also called for a probe into the leakage.

Reacting to the development in a statement on Monday, EFCC noted that the leaked video was against its operational guidelines.

In the statement signed by its spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, the anti-graft agency further said the officer in question is facing appropriate disciplinary action. It, however, did not give any detail of the officer or the nature of the disciplinary process the person is being subjected to.

The attention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has been drawn to a trending video showing the former Governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano, in the custody of the commission.

The commission wishes to distance itself from the said video which is completely at variance with the established Standard Operating Procedure of the EFCC.

A discreet investigation ordered upon discovery of the leak has revealed the errant officer behind the odious act and he is currently being subjected to appropriate disciplinary action.

Among many others denouncing the clip, the Anambra State Traditional Rulers Council (ANSTRC) said it was utterly shocked and disappointed that someone of the status of a former state governor would be treated in such distasteful and reprehensible manner by an agency of the federal government.

Arrest

Mr Obiano was arrested at the Murtala Muhammad International Airport in Lagos at about 8.30 p.m. on Thursday.

Sources at the commission, who asked not to be named because they were not authorised to speak to the press on the matter, said Mr Obiano was arrested as he was preparing to board a flight to Houston, Texas, United States.

On Friday, he was transferred to Abuja for further questioning by the EFCCs Lagos Zonal office, where he was first detained.

However, days after his arrest, a 12-second video of the former governor dressed in shorts and a white shirt, drinking water from a bottle in the facility of the EFCC had trended across social media platforms.

Media reports have said Mr Obiano is being investigated over N42 billion corruption allegations.

But PREMIUM TIMES reported earlier on Monday that EFCC chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, said the commission would not release details of its ongoing investigations.

He also said Mr Obiano had been granted an administrative bail but yet to meet the bail conditions.

The ex-governor has since spent four nights in the custody of the commission.
The #EndSARS panel investigating cases of police brutality in Abuja, on Monday, summoned a superintendent of police over an alleged enforced disappearance of a suspect arrested in 2019.

The panel ordered Chinedu Okonkwo, a member of the Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team (IGP-IRT), to appear to provide information about the suspects whereabout.

It issued the order after an assistant superintendent of police, Paul Odey, testified on Monday.

Mr Odey said he could not provide information on the victims whereabouts as he got instruction from Mr Okonkwo to hand over the case to another police officer whom he said died last year.

The panel summoned Mr Okonkwo to appear to appear to testify about his role in the case.

A sister of the victim, Ebuka Aniegu, who petitioned the panel, had said IRT operatives arrested his brother on May 10, 2019.

Testifying on March 8, 2022, the petitioner had told the #EndSARS panel that her brother was about moving abroad when he was unlawfully arrested by the police in Abuja in May 2019.

She claimed Mr Odey requested N1 million to release her brother.

I informed him I didnt have such money, she said.

Despite all efforts and engaging a lawyer, Ms Aniegu said, Mr Odey refused to release his brother.

She is asking for N500 million compensation.

Police officer denies allegation

But testifying at the panel on Monday, Mr Odey, denied any wrongdoing in his involvement in the case up to the time he handed it over to another police officer. He also denied asking for N1 million from the petitioner to release her brother.

Mr Odey told the panel that the victim was arrested in connection to a case of armed robbery and rape reported to his office on May 20, 2019.

He said report was brought to the IRT by the divisional police office (DPO) of Trademore Police Station, Lugbe, after receiving a complaint from Peter Ogunmola and nine others.

The DPO recovered the phone of one of the gang members alleged to have carried out the operation and referred the case to my office, Mr Odey said.

Further investigations, he said, led to the arrest of Tochukwu Otu, said to be the owner of the recovered phone.

He said the suspect, during interrogation, confessed to the allegations and mentioned other gang members including Ebuka Aniegu, the victim whom the petition before the panel was about.

According to him, four gang members were arrested.

He said he later received instruction from Abba Kyari, then commander of IRT, through Chinedu Okonkwo, ( who was on Monday summoned by the panel), to hand over the case to John Onyenma, a deputy superintendent of police (DSP).

He said Mr Onyenma died last year.

Fielding questions from members of the panel under cross-examination, Mr Odey said the transfer of the case to Mr Onyenma was recorded in the stations diary of action.

He also tendered documents to back his claim.

Panels cross examination

Before adjourning the matter, Garba Tetengi, who acted as the chairperson of the panel on Monday, ordered that the death certificate of Mr Onyenma be provided before the panel.

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The panel also asked the police counsel to find out who the case was transferred to.

The panel then ordered that Mr Okonkwo appear before the panel at the next adjourned date.

The case was adjourned till March 24 for continuation of defence by the police.
one can understand how todays homiletics from the West about democracy and individual rights can grate on more sensitive non-White ears. There is an understated beauty to Winston Churchills assertion that democracy is the worst form of government  except for all the others that have been tried. But isnt this simply a variant of the mongrel spiel with which the West appears to have held the world in thrall to its weltanschauung for so long?

Stripped of the high-sounding phrases and a lot of the moralising, much of the support across the world for Russias invasion of Ukraine is all about indignation with the United States of America and the company of democratic European states that it keeps. The latter group of countries do have an impressive list of holdover charges against them from much of what was recently described as the Third World. As slavers. Colonial overlords. Neo-imperialists. In all of these roles and more, an almost messianic disposition has had the West preach to the rest of us on the rectitude of its positions vis-a-vis the uncivilised contingents of humanity.

As slavers, Europeans were in no doubt of the correctness of their position vis-a-vis non-whites. As abolitionists, they were no less evangelical in their condemnation of slavery. Not that this later passion did much to prevent the West from taking the moral high-ground in its latter roles as colonialists. Here, the civilising mission was no less execrable in the many outcomes for its victims, as was the case with the anti-Black racists insistence on slavery as a cultural and moral responsibility in the American South.

By extension, one can understand how todays homiletics from the West about democracy and individual rights can grate on more sensitive non-White ears. There is an understated beauty to Winston Churchills assertion that democracy is the worst form of government  except for all the others that have been tried. But isnt this simply a variant of the mongrel spiel with which the West appears to have held the world in thrall to its weltanschauung for so long?

are we allowed by concern with the Wests ideological dominance to forget that formidable though China might appear today, all of what it now boasts of was because it copied extensively from the Wests economic playbook? In this sense, not just does Comrade Xi Jinpings ongoing reset of the economy along traditional communist lines then threaten to rob the worlds second largest economy of its vim.

Fortunately for the rest of us, and despite the preferments of a few, history did not end with the fall of the USSR in 1991. Concerned lest mankinds ideological evolution should grind to a screeching halt, Providence gave us China  today, the worlds second largest economy by market exchange rate and already the biggest by the purchasing power parity measure. If nothing else, the Middle Kingdom has continued to offer a counter-narrative to the post-Cold War unipolar narratives favoured by think-tankers in the West. At a further remove, China is, of course, the main foil to Francis Fukuyamas hope that the universalisation of Western liberal democracy will be the final form of human government. Its Belt and Road Initiative combined with massive lending to emerging and frontier markets (in its good books) have at times endangered whats left of the Washington Consensus.

But are we allowed by concern with the Wests ideological dominance to forget that formidable though China might appear today, all of what it now boasts of was because it copied extensively from the Wests economic playbook? In this sense, not just does Comrade Xi Jinpings ongoing reset of the economy along traditional communist lines then threaten to rob the worlds second largest economy of its vim. To the extent that it ignores Comrade Deng Xiaopings warning that When you open windows both flies and air come in, Comrade Xis pivot towards an autarkic China also holds out the risk of eventually asphyxiating the economy, just to keep Western flies out. Nonetheless, the main vulnerability that China faces is that this new stage of the conflict with the West will be prosecuted with recently acquired tools from the West, and on the latters terms. Accordingly, the main irony of Chinas emergence as the white knight for illiberal autocracy is that to have had a shouting chance at rivalling the West, China had to ride the wave of globalisation driven by the West. Because it has no plans to, nor can it beat the West by force of arms, its path to further greatness will necessarily pass by even more familiar economic routes.

through his hijinks in Ukraine, Comrade Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin simply returns us to our recent past. Familiar tropes like George Kennans Containment, the abjuration of the first use of weapons of mass destruction, and the mutually-assured destruction that is the lot of a world bristling with nukes are all back.

Russias latest confrontation with the West, though, is a different kettle of fish. There is a qualified sense in which Russia was a harbinger of the changes to communist thought that, in Chinas case, resulted in the redemption from poverty of the largest number of people ever by any country. But if Glasnost and Perestroika were a pivot away from dialectical materialism and its focus on the antagonistic contradictions inherent in capitalism towards development and modernisation, it is a safe bet that Comrade Deng Xiaopings cat turned out to be a better mouser than Comrade Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachevs.

In this sense, then, through his hijinks in Ukraine, Comrade Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin simply returns us to our recent past. Familiar tropes like George Kennans Containment, the abjuration of the first use of weapons of mass destruction, and the mutually-assured destruction that is the lot of a world bristling with nukes are all back. To focus on this bells and whistles, though, misses the point. For at bottom, this battle between Russia/China and the U.S./democratic Europe has always been about social envy writ large and dangerously.

Uddin Ifeanyi, journalist manque and retired civil servant, can be reached @IfeanyiUddin.
A few pertinent questions merit our thoughtful consideration. What does Zelensky represent in leading during chaos and a time of crisis? What lessons can Nigerian leaders learn from him? How can they apply these leadership lessons to the Nigerian context? Nigerian leaders have a few lessons to learn from Zelensky and developments in Ukraine. Every nation, subnational or firm, will face crisis at one time or the other. It may not be in relation to an invading army but development challenges, governance or public health crises

Leadership can come from anyone, anywhere, anytime, but this skill and attribute crucial in moving an organisation or nation forward is in short supply in Nigeria. Whenever we spot good leaders, it behoves us to find out how they got it right and use these to critically evaluate where we missed our way. In the past few weeks, the world has stayed focused on developments in Ukraine and Russia. The actions, inactions, and speeches of Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky is now of foremost importance to the world.

Zelensky rose from being an actor and comedian to leading a country through one of its most challenging moments. Ukraine is facing an invading army of great military prowess, which is the nations cross to carry. However, other countries and sub-nationals are facing crises of different proportions and dimensions.

Although dichotomously different in most aspects, Ukraine and Nigeria have parallels that allow us to compare these nations and explore ways leadership has been at the core of driving these nations forward. These parallels anchor on leadership in a time of crisis and uncertainty. Although not facing a superpower invading army, Nigeria is facing multiple existential and developmental challenges of epic proportions in its history. Apart from the civil war period, at no time has Nigeria been on the precipice, with an uncanny feeling that it may tip over, as today.

On the other hand, Ukraine is fighting the mother of all wars  a war of attrition with a nuclear superpower bent on stopping the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), Western expansion and global dominance. Ukraine has become the epicentre of the proxy war between Russia and the West. The way leaders of Ukraine are handling this war leaves lessons in leadership that will benefit Nigerian leaders. But first, let us try to conceptualise leadership and situate it in the context of the RussiaUkraine war.

Leadership is not about power, title or position. Vladimir Putin has vast power and all the adornment and paraphernalia that go with that power. And yet, as he sits at his ridiculously long table, surrounded by opulence and yes-men, he does not lead. Putin is a symbol of tyranny and intimidation but certainly not a leader. While he demands deference, he does not earn respect. The highest calling of a leader is to unlock the potentials in others.

Volodymyr Zelensky has held the title and power of a president for a few years now, but it is only during this war that the world began to take notice of his attributes as a leader. He is a leader because he invests all his energy into unlocking the potentials in others. Zelensky is a classic small man pitted against a modern day Goliath. He is on the side of the liberal democratic values of freedom and sovereign integrity, fighting against a known autocratic leader. He has become a defender of the liberal order against the authoritarianism of Russia and China. Inadvertently, he has built up the capability of his people for resistance, the potential of other nations for steadfast and significant support, the prospect of the worlds rememberance that some principles and ideals are worth fighting for, no matter the costs.

Leaders have the fortitude to ask of themselves what they ask of others. President Zelensky has done what he is asking his people to do, and he and his family have stayed in harms way and resisted the invading army. While he has a particular role, he knows that the part of others are equally essential. He has not focused on himself, but on the outcomes he must achieve.

Unlike Ukraine, as a country, Nigeria does not have a critical mass of leaders who lead by example. The fuel crisis we suffer today as a country is simply a failure of leadership to rise to the occasion courageously. We need the kind of courage and sincerity displayed by Zelensky to tackle the fuel subsidy issue, which has lingered for too long, with no clear path towards resolving it.

While many call him a hero, Zelensky always turns this attention to others. He reminds the world of the courage and sacrifice of Ukrainians, and the vital role other nations must play in the support of freedom. Despite all the enormous setbacks and difficulties, he points towards an aspirational future State: a free and sovereign Ukraine, a European continent and NATO alliance with renewed purpose, and the containment of a rapacious Russia. He has not hesitated to challenge others to play their crucial roles, and he is looking for accountability and results.

Why has President Zelensky been so effective at rallying his people and the world? He displayed the courage to face reality and the candour to describe that reality. Because when the circumstances changed and Russia invaded, he quickly pivoted from a belief that the attack would not happen to fully accepting the current state of war and the hard choices that are now necessary.

Zelensky is gifted in the skills of communication, which is an attribute of great leaders. He has bluntly described the Ukrainian reality in a complete, candid, compelling, and consistent way, so that no one would misunderstand where things currently are. He is endowed with charisma, character and courage, which are largely lacking among the Nigerian elite and leadership class. He has displayed an elevated level of selflessness.

People follow leaders who fight for them and place the group interest above personal interest. Corrupt leaders are driven by greed and self-interest and can hardly earn the confidence and support of their follower; and corruption is the bane of leadership in Nigeria .

Unlike Ukraine, as a country, Nigeria does not have a critical mass of leaders who lead by example. The fuel crisis we suffer today as a country is simply a failure of leadership to rise to the occasion courageously. We need the kind of courage and sincerity displayed by Zelensky to tackle the fuel subsidy issue, which has lingered for too long, with no clear path towards resolving it.

Insecurity has festered in the country because of a lack of commitment, sincerity, and the creativity of Nigerian leadership. No leader has rallied the people and institutions in Nigeria to eradicate insecurity by tackling its root causes and facing the criminals squarely. Nigerian leaders often allow ethnic parochialism to bottleneck any progress in tackling Boko Haram, terrorism, secessionist agitations and banditry. Our leaders have failed to find lasting solutions to the perennial problems of insecurity, economic hardship, and corruption. Our leaders must realise that these evils, like Russians, have invaded our country, and they must declare war on them.

A few pertinent questions merit our thoughtful consideration. What does Zelensky represent in leading during chaos and a time of crisis? What lessons can Nigerian leaders learn from him? How can they apply these leadership lessons to the Nigerian context? Nigerian leaders have a few lessons to learn from Zelensky and developments in Ukraine. Every nation, subnational or firm, will face crisis at one time or the other. It may not be in relation to an invading army but development challenges, governance or public health crises, or just any unanticipated issue. How do our leaders react to these?

Zelensky has inspired loyalty in his people, and this loyalty is such that some Ukrainians outside the country are coming back to fight and defend its sovereignty. The Ukrainian president gained this loyalty by convincing his people that he is fighting their cause, through his words and actions. In Nigeria, most of our leaders cannot earn the loyalty of their constituents or citizenry because there is a mismatch between their words and actions

Zelensky has, without doubt, rallied the nation behind the cause of defending Ukraine from an invading neighbour. He has, in diverse ways, inspired the Ukrainian army and citizens to stand up for their nation and its future. He has led by example. Nigerian leaders have no such paradigm. The Nigerian leadership challenge is to manage a country at peace but faced with grave issues of governance. The task is for our leaders to rise to the occasion. They should rally all Nigerians to work towards eliminating corruption, ethnicity, and insecurity in our country. They should create a vision of Nigeria, post-insecurity, and get Nigerians to visualise and envision it to get their buy-in to the free Nigeria project. Our leaders must change the narrative and force a paradigm shift in our collective psyche.

Zelensky kept true to his belief and has walked the talk by staying back in Ukraine to fight, unlike the Afghan president who abandoned the country at the slightest threat of the Taliban invasion. Zelensky has stayed to defend his country. He has become the symbol of Ukrainian resistance, a focal point for the pride felt by Ukrainian citizens. He embodies the risk that so many of his fellow Ukrainians are now taking. His courage has been as infectious as a virus, with far more positive results, and he has demonstrated total commitment to seeing the conflict to a positive conclusion for Ukraine.

Many Nigerian leaders will abandon their people at the slightest threat to their comfort. Nigerians feel abandoned by their leaders in their times of need. It is either that leaders do not come to their rescue during attacks, or they never show any interest in their plights. Even when they show some interest, they do little or nothing about these, only milking the photo opportunities involved in the press, and thereafter abandoning the victims to their fate. Nigerians are fed up with the sirens and armoured vehicles, with scores of security operatives guarding their leaders everywhere they are, when millions of Nigerians are displaced from their homes and are in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps, still afraid for their lives. Many Nigerian leaders play the ostrich, instead of walking the talk in tackling insecurity. Zelensky has demonstrated courage, good humour, and grace under the storm. We cannot tackle some of our challenges, such as the existential threats of ethnic agitation, insecurity, subsidy corruption, fuel scarcity, and the ongoing ASUU strike, because of a lack of courage by our leaders to face reality and devise ingenious solutions. Every government that comes to power promises to deal with the fuel subsidy problem and change our fuel regime. The gap is sincerity, courage, and the ability to communicate in a way that inspires trust.

Zelensky has inspired loyalty in his people, and this loyalty is such that some Ukrainians outside the country are coming back to fight and defend its sovereignty. The Ukrainian president gained this loyalty by convincing his people that he is fighting their cause, through his words and actions. In Nigeria, most of our leaders cannot earn the loyalty of their constituents or citizenry because there is a mismatch between their words and actions, and quite often, their actions do not align with the ideals and aspirations of the people they lead. It is only through their commitment to group ideals and aspirations that leaders inspire loyalty.

When President Zelensky was a comedian, no one would have predicted that he would become a historical figure and a leader who inspires the world. He reminds us of one last truth about leadership. Anyone can lead, and in the end, leadership is always a choice.

Nigerian circumstances are vastly different from an invasion and ground war. But it is like Ukraine in the fact that we are fighting too many governance issues and anti-developments wars. You do not need to wait for an actual war to show extraordinary leadership. All that is required is for leaders to elevate a major national or subnational problem to the status of an emergency and consider that as a conflict and apply the same principles that Zelensky is appealing to. Authentic and creative leadership, inspired by the common good is the catalyst to changing things for the better.

Dakuku Peterside is a policy and leadership expert.
Polaris Bank is joining other financial institutions and stakeholders in the banking sector to commemorate the 2022 Global Money Week (GMW). The Bank plans to reach thousands of teens and youths in schools across Nigeria by educating them on the values and benefits of savings and financial education at large.

With school visitation and financial literacy day as one of the activities scheduled for the commemoration of the GMW, the Polaris Bank plans to visit over 200 schools spread across the 36 states in the country to educate teens and youths on the importance of imbibing saving culture early in life.

The 10th Global Money Week will hold from March 21 to March 27, 2022 with the theme: Build your future, be smart about money.

Other key activities for the GMW include; retail account opening drive, Global Money Walk, and market storm to create awareness on the importance of savings.

Speaking on the significance of this years Global Money Week, Polaris Banks Group Head, Strategic Brand Management, Nduneche Ezurike said officials and employees of the Bank would be visiting schools to provide financial literacy, stressing that the initiative would afford teens and students the opportunity to gain knowledge and understanding on important topics such as how money works, how someone can earn or make money, money management including; planning and budgeting, and how to invest money amongst others.

Being financially literate will help our children and young persons learn the culture of savings and ultimately, assist them to build a lifetime of financial well-being and financial independence, Ezurike stated.

The activities for this years GMW will be actively observed in all the branches of Polaris Bank nationwide.

Sharing perspective on the fundamentals of the Global Money Week, Polaris Banks Group Head, Customer Experience Management & Sustainability, Mrs. Bukola Oluyadi explained that marking the week essentially is one of the interventions that are meant to deepen financial inclusion, one of the Nine pillars of Nigerias Sustainability Banking Principles that Banks and other key players in the Banking and Nigerias financial sector, are expected to deliver on.

Mrs. Oluyadi further emphasized the importance of imbibing the savings culture at an early agge to avoid the unhealthy financial burden which many of the older generation go through due to negligence or failure to have embraced the savings culture early in life.

Global Money Week is an annual global awareness-raising campaign on the importance of ensuring that young people, from an early age, are financially aware, and are gradually acquiring the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors necessary to make sound financial decisions and ultimately achieve financial well-being and financial resilience.

Polaris Bank, adjudged the Digital Bank of the Year, is a future-determining Bank committed to delivering industry-defining products and services to individuals and businesses.
The Gombe State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused former governor and Senator representing Gombe Central, Danjuma Goje, of sabotaging the reconciliatory efforts between himself and the state governor, Inuwa Yahaya.

The party, in a statement by its spokesperson, Moses Kyari, on Sunday particularly expressed dismay over what it described as a clear volte-face by Mr Goje on the reconciliation.

The APC National Reconciliation Committee headed by Abdullahi Adamu, recently met with both Messrs Yahaya and Goje separately, to reconcile them.

The crisis has caused tension in the state as the two leaders have failed to consolidate on the reconciliation efforts.

Reacting to a recent comment by the Goje faction which said the reconciliation done was only in line with Islamic reconciliation but that the political reconciliation had not yet arrived, the party described the comment as most unfortunate.

The APC said it believed one Mr Adamu Manga, who is a personal assistant (PA) to Mr Goje, had his principals nod to make the comment.

Mr Manga had, in that audio message, called on Mr Gojes supporters to disregard the planned event and asked them to await the senators camp on the political reconciliation.

The party challenged Mr Goje to come out and debunk the announcement made by Mr Manga, who distanced his principal from the dinner being organised, an indication that the APC reconciliation efforts amount to a waste of time and therefore undermining the leadership of the party.

We equally call on the APC national leadership to take immediate action to call Goje to order to avoid escalation of the misunderstanding and for their efforts not to go in vain.

The Gombe State APC is appalled that Goje could do this through one of his aides, a close one at that. This amounts to a denial of the reconciliation done in Abuja and undermining the party leadership that has been trying to mend all disagreements in the interest of Gombe State and the party. At a time, we the chieftains of APC in Gombe were happy that the two stalwarts were reconciled; we were disappointed to hear such a thing from Goje.

How could Goje, through Manga, say that the reconciliation done was an Islamic one and not political when the misunderstanding between him and Governor Yahaya had nothing to do with religion? To us, this is a show of treachery and insincerity in the whole process. Goje should come out and clear his name on this, the APC said.

Efforts to reach Mr Goje to comment on the development were unsuccessful as he did not respond to calls and text messages this newspaper sent to him.
Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State on Sunday promised that his administration would ensure speedy dispensation of justice in the state.

Mr Soludo made the promise while addressing inmates at the Medium Security Custodial Centre in Aguata.

He decried the fact that some inmates had spent years in the correctional centre without trial, promising that the state government would look into their cases.

This government will look into cases of inmates to ensure speedy dispensation of justice.

Having discovered some challenges during the inspection of the facilities in this correctional centre, I promise that this administration will provide recreational facilities and renovate these buildings within the next few weeks.

I strongly believe and hope that with such a conducive environment, the inmates here will return to the society changed persons so as to contribute to the growth and development of Anambra, he said.

Pat Chukwuemeka, comptroller of corrections, Nigerian Correctional Service, Anambra State Command, while receiving the governor, outlined some of the activities that would help improve the lives of the inmates.

Edwin Douglas, an inmate, spoke on behalf of all the inmates.

He thanked the governor for his visit, saying that their hope and sense of belonging have been revived by it.

Governor Soludo presented some relief materials to the inmates and promised to visit other correctional centres in the state within the next one week.

(NAN)
Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, in commemoration of his 58th birthday, on Sunday paid unscheduled visits to the Nigerian Red Cross and the Enugu branch of Cheshire Home, Uwani, Enugu, and celebrated his birthday with the inmates.

Mr Ugwuanyi also visited the Mother of Christ Hospital, Enugu, and the Home for the Elderly, Awkunanaw, Enugu, to identify with the residents.

Mr Ugwuanyi, during the visits, in keeping with his age-long tradition of celebrating his birthday, presented gift items and financial support for the upkeep of the residents, in appreciation and thanksgiving for Gods mercies and kindness.

At the Nigerian Red Cross, Enugu, the governor was received by the Assistant Matron, Rita Okonkwo, who conducted him round the facility to identify and celebrate his birthday with the orphans.

The governor also inspected the facilities at the centre for necessary intervention.

At the Mother of Christ Hospital, Ogui, Enugu, Mr Ugwuanyi, who was received by the Reverend Sisters and patients, equally identified with them, donated gift items and made funds available to the management of the hospital.

He, thereafter, proceeded to the Cheshire Home, Uwani, Enugu, where he equally identified and celebrated his birthday with the visibly joyful, physically-challenged persons, who sang birthday songs for him, wishing him long life, peace and prosperity.

Mr Ugwuanyi concluded the visits at the Home for the Elderly, managed by the Little Sisters of the Poor, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, located at Ufuma Street, Awkunanaw, Enugu.

The governor, while addressing them, thanked God for attaining 58 years and urged the residents of the home to always remember him and his administration in prayers.

He assured them of his commitment to the progress of Enugu State and the wellbeing of its people.

(NAN)
When it comes to running a campaign in Florida, you'd better have some cash in hand.
The chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, has said the details of the ongoing investigations of the immediate-past governor of Anambra State, Willie Obiano, will not be disclosed to the public.

Mr Bawa said this in Abuja while fielding questions from reporters at the 5th Annual General Assembly of the Network of National Anti-corruption institutions in West Africa (NACIWA).

Asked to update the public on the details of the ongoing investigations of the former governor, Mr Bawa said the commission could not give such information when it is being accused of conducting media trial.

I dont know what update you want me to give, because you have been accusing us of media trials, and you want me to say we are doing this and that. No, we (EFCC) would not do that. We would continue to do our investigation professionally as we have been doing, he said.

Mr Bawa also dismissed the claim that the former governors arrest was politically-motivated.

The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), an opposition party, has criticised Mr Obianos detention by the EFCC, calling it a politically motivated witch-hunt.

Mr Bawa also said the commission had granted an administrative bail to Mr Obiano but the ex-governor had yet to meet the bail conditions.

He (Mr Obiano) has been granted bail. And we are waiting for him to fulfil his bail condition he has been cooperating with us and everything is going on well.

In an interview with PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday, Mr Obianos spokesperson, James Eze, accused the anti-graft authority of persecuting Mr Obiano, adding that an accused person is presumed innocent until convicted.

Investigation

Although details of the allegations against Mr Obiano are still sketchy, media reports have said the governor of Anambra State for two terms is being quizzed by EFCC detectives over alleged misappropriation of public funds, including N5 billion Sure-P and N37 billion security vote which was withdrawn in cash.

Part of the money is also said to have been diverted to fund political activities in the state.

Obiano was arrested for alleged misappropriation of public funds, including, N5bn Sure-P and N37billion security vote which was withdrawn in cash. Part of the funds was also allegedly diverted to finance political activities in the state, EFCCs spokesperson, Mr Uwujaren, was quoted as telling Punch.

Recall that the commission had since last year placed the former governor on its watch list.

PREMIUM TIMES reported in November last year that the EFCC had in a letter to the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) dated November 15, 2021, requested the Service to place the governor on a watchlist and inform it anytime he is travelling out of the country from any of the international airports and other points of entry and exit.

Back story

Mr Obiano was arrested at the Murtala Muhammad International Airport in Lagos at about 8.30 p.m. on Thursday.

Sources at the commission, who asked not to be named because they were not authorised to speak to the press on the matter, said Mr Obiano was arrested as he was preparing to board a flight to Houston, Texas, United States.

On Friday, he was transferred to Abuja for further questioning by the EFCCs Lagos Zonal office, where he was first detained.

As of Monday morning, Mr Obiano had spent his fourth night in the custody of the EFCC.

A 12-second clip that has gone viral across social media platforms, had shown Mr Obiano, who was dressed in shorts and a white shirt, drinking water from a bottle in a closed room presumed to be in EFCC custody.

The video has since elicited a wide range of opinions with many Nigerians denouncing it, and demanding an investigation of the perpetrators who leaked the clip.

Spokesperson for Mr Obiano, Mr Eze, described the video footage, showing his principal in his underpants in detention, as a witch hunt.

He also called for an immediate investigation of the awful treatment of a perceived offender. he said people should be treated with dignity.

Here is a man who did not resist arrest and you are disposing of him in his underpants, that is an assault of the dignity of Nigerians, not Obiano alone.

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When Ibrahim Odumboni was appointed acting managing director (MD) of the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) in May 2020, the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, was confident he was the perfect fit for the job.

In a statement, Mr Sanwo-Olu said the former banker would bring his wealth of experience as a former LAWMA executive director in charge of business development to revitalise the often-troubled agency.

Mr Odumboni replaced Muyiwa Gbadegesin, who resigned from office.

However, the tenure of the 40-year-old Mr Odumboni has also now become controversial, with some officials querying his management of the agencys assets.

In one instance, Mr Odumboni was queried by the states commissioner for environment for selling at least 55 mostly serviceable heavy-duty vehicles and a D9 bulldozer as scraps without following due process, and at a cost the commissioner described as alarmingly undervalued.

For two weeks, this newspaper tried to get Mr Odumbonis response to these allegations, but all efforts were rebuffed. When reached for comments, Mr Odumboni directed this reporter to the agencys spokesperson to schedule an appointment for an interview.

Akeem Akinleye, the agencys spokesperson, initially said he was out of town and promised to arrange the interview when he returned.

But when he was subsequently contacted, Mr Akinleye said the MD was unavailable. Instead, he invited this reporter to the commissioning of the agencys new trucks by the state governor.

This reporter then sent questions to Mr Odumboni directly via WhatsApp. He neither acknowledged the questions nor replied to them.

This newspaper also sent the questions in a letter to Mr Odumbonis office. He did not reply. After a brief meeting at Ikeja Mall, Mr Odumboni promised to invite this reporter to his office and vowed to show him documents that proved he acted in good faith. He never did.

Unauthorised Scrapping of Vehicles

Between March 4 and 6, 2021, Mr Odumboni directed the disposal of 22 trucks, one engine and a D-9 bulldozer, located at LAWMAs depot in Agege and Ikeja, documents seen by PREMIUM TIMES revealed.

LAWMA staffers aware of the sale said many of the vehicles were still serviceable at the time they were sold as scrap. The vehicles were sold to Blackcann Limited, a scrap metal company.

LAWMA officials knowledgeable about the transfer of the vehicles to Blackcann Limited told PREMIUM TIMES the vehicles were moved from the depots at night in what they said appeared a move to evade questions about their destination from inquisitive officials.

The vehicles comprised four Man Diesel compactors, 10 Mercedes Benz compactors, four Mack compactors, one Hof compactor and two Daf compactors, from the Agege Transfer Loading Station (TLS). The engine scrap was also stationed at the Agege TLS. Others were a bulk mover and M29 compactor from the Ikeja depot. The D-9 bulldozer was moved from the Solous depot in the Alimosho area of the state.

In a memo authorising Blackcann Limited to take possession of the vehicles, Mr Odumboni claimed they were being removed from the depot for assembling.

I hereby authorised Messrs Blackcann Limited to move all scrap metal and beyond Economic Economic Repair (BER) trucks at the depot to Lagos Waste Management Authority facility at Ikorodu for assembling, Mr Odumboni stated in the memo dated March 4, 2021.

However, PREMIUM TIMES obtained release vouchers signed at the Agege depot before the vehicles were released, which tell a different story. The vouchers indicate that the vehicles were taken by LAWMAs Engineering Department to either Ikorodu Road, or Owode Onirin, a popular scrap metal market along Ikorodu Road.

Also, contrary to the claim in the memo that the vehicles were taken from the depots for assembling, the release vouchers stated that they were taken for safekeeping.

A LAWMA official who asked not to be named for fear of being victimised pointed out further inconsistencies in the MDs memo.

LAWMA does not have any facility in Ikorodu, the official said. There are only two sites remotely associated with LAWMA in the town, one is a dumpsite at Ewu-Elepe, the other place is a moribund Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project between Earthcare, a compost fertiliser manufacturer and LAWMA at Odoguyan along Shagamu Road.

It was a blatant lie to even say the vehicles were being taken for assembling. What does he mean by that? Are the vehicles going to be put together to manufacture new ones? In fact, our engineering department is stationed at our head office in Ijora, and repairs of vehicles are either done at our depots or at Ijora, the source added.

The official claimed that each of the compactors was worth at least N2 million and the D-9 bulldozer was worth at least N20 million when they were sold.

When reached for comment about the disposal of the vehicles, Peter Benjamin-Black, the CEO of Blackcann Limited, declined to comment. During a telephone interview, he told this reporter to direct the questions to LAWMA.

What does the law say?

Mr Odumboni may have flouted the states procurement law in the manner he disposed the vehicles.

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Section 80 (2) of the Lagos State Public Procurement Law states that the open competitive bidding shall be the primary source of receiving offers for the purchase of any public property offered for sale

The law defines Open Competitive Bidding as the solicitation of bids from domestic contractors and suppliers registered or incorporated to carry on business under Nigerian Law.

Subsection (3) of Section 80 further empowers a Parastatal Tender Board shall issue regulations, detailing operational principles and organizational modalities to be adopted by the procuring entities engaged in the disposal of public property with the approval of the governor.

Section 86 stipulates the punishment for an officer of the state found to have contravened any provision of the law. It said such an official commits an offence and is liable upon conviction to summary dismissal from the government service and between five and 10 years imprisonment without the option of fine.

The second controversial sale

The sale of the vehicles did not go down well with some LAWMA officials. But while the murmurs about the first deal was yet to abate, Mr Odumboni initiated the sale of another 34 vehicles, which he claimed were unserviceable.

This time, however, he sought official approval to dispose of the vehicles. But even the disposal of this set of vehicles was tainted with the allegation that the vehicles were grossly undervalued.

PREMIUM TIMES reliably learnt that several of the vehicles were procured about three years ago, during the era of Visionscape, a controversial waste management company backed by the administration of the immediate past governor of the state, Akinwunmi Ambode.

PREMIUM TIMES obtained details of the amount for which some of the vehicles were sold: Eight damaged vehicles were sold to Olaseni Danzaki Limited. They include three Renault 5CBM compactors for N750,000, a Mantiga trailer head for N1.5 million, a Mantiga compactor for N800,000, a Mantiga truck head for N1.1 million, a Sino Truck for N1.5 million, and an MT-013 Fuel tanker for N1 million.

Six Actros Mercedes Benz trucks were sold for N900,000 each to Defroser Global Enterprises. The company also bought another set of four Actros Mercedes Benz trucks for N800,000 each and a Daf towing vehicle for N400,000.

Two Man Diesel trucks were sold to Collect-A-Can for N800,000 each, another set of seven Man Diesel trucks for N750,000 each, another truck for N400,000 and a trailer back for N300,000.

The vehicles were sold around the last week of April 2021.

The Query

Vexed by the irregularities he suspected characterised the sale of the vehicles and acting on complaints from some LAWMA officials, Tunji Bello, the commissioner in charge of the Ministry for Environment, the supervising ministry of LAWMA, on May 5, 2021, officially demanded explanation from Mr Odumboni about the deals.

The query was titled: Re: Alleged Boarding of Vehicles and Equipment belonging to LAWMA without Due Diligence, and had the serial number: MOEWR/HC/C/2019/VOL.1/67.

I write to inform you that there are allegations that you directed managers of the Authoritys facilities to release several (about 30) heavy-duty vehicles (compactors, tipper heads etc) and a D-9 V-track Caterpillar bulldozer for disposer without consultation with or notification of the management and the vehicles were moved out in the dead of the night to the popular scrap metal market in Lagos (Owode Onirin).

Furthermore, it has also been alleged that you officially initiated further boarding of an additional set of 32 vehicles, a considerable number of which were only recently purchased, and all of which were alarmingly undervalued.

He directed Mr Odumboni to respond within five days of getting the query.

PREMIUM TIMES could not confirm if Mr Odumboni responded to the query. Mr Bello did not respond to questions asking him if Mr Odumboni responded to the query and what his response was.

It also remains unclear if any disciplinary action was taken against the LAWMA boss for the suspected infractions.
The Estonian-based company readies for launch

TALLINN, Estonia, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- AQUARIS is on a mission to utilize the power of blockchain and renewable energy technology to align incentives towards preserving the oceans and other water resources. This technological revolution aims to help meet demand and overcome supply crisis.

AQUARIS does this through overseeing the distribution of pooled funds to seafood, water-related start-ups, and existing ventures. The contribution strategy helps connect key stakeholders in the seafood and aquatic ecosystem.

The energy crisis is constantly adjusting throughout the world. Natural gas prices are breaking historical records, and solar-powered enterprises are well sought after. Production modernization with a focus on environmental friendliness is one of the major trends in today's world.

AQUARIS will create almost 100 jobs at the initial stage of the facility, not counting the staff that will deal with the solar panels, mining equipment, and logistics for product shipping. These are just the first steps with business modernization. Every next project on the AQUARIS platform will create new employment opportunities , with tokenization and optimization benefiting everyone. AQUARIS builds its own stable and profitable ecosystem.

AQS token makes participation in business a lot easier by assisting the risk-averse private investors interested in portfolio diversification to build trust in a usually uncertain environment. The first production on the AQUARIS platform has already signed draft multi-year contracts in Norway, the Baltics and Africa. Upon gaining a portfolio of successfully modernized and tokenized enterprises, AQUARIS will start implementing projects in Asia and Africa (the most significant global market for cryptocurrencies).

AQUARIS encourages partners and early private backers to participate in the AQUARIS NFT sale that will take place on the well-known and reputable marketplace OpenSea on the 24th of March 2022. Investors owning NFTs will benefit from native token private sale prices and higher yields while stacking AQS. News about that will announce on aquaris.io and social media pages.

Join the winning team that minimizes risk by pegging returns to real-world business. Stake your AQS and build wealth by receiving up to 25% APY.

https://aquaris.io/

https://t.me/AquarisCommunity

https://twitter.com/aquaristoken

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1765958/AQUARIS_Logo.jpg

SOURCE AQUARIS
The docu-style TVC features influential figures across the European Streetwear scene, including German-Spanish Actor and Singer Aron Piper , Italian and Polish Musicians Yendry and Zabson , French Rapper Chilla and dancing social media sensation group, Let It Happen . Each creative brings their own unique style and interpretation of streetwear to the film, producing a piece that reflects the diverse and colorful nature of the streetwear community across Europe.

Adding to the energy of the campaign is Jdid Club, a group of Parisian female creatives, Switzerland's SLIMKA, a rapper and member of Superwak Clique collective, Dani aka Wide Awake Earthquake, a DJ and sneakerhead, Brussels-born rapper JeanJass, Barcelona creative collective Cutemobb, fellow BCN creative and skater Pierre Leze and French biker creators Tito and Fimbo.

The TVC is shot by New York-born Artist and Director Clayton Vomero and French Photographer Maciek Pozoga. It is styled by Dazed & Confused Fashion Editor Imruh Asha. Asha worked with the trendsetting TVC talent across Europe to highlight the power of the individual to shape an inclusive and open streetwear culture, championing its progress.

"The #GoNoticed campaign features a broad and diverse cast from across Europe, who prove that streetwear can look brilliantly different across the continent," says Marius Brintrup, Zalando's Head of Buying Men Shoes and Accessories. "At Zalando, we believe that our vast assortment gives people the chance to really experiment and express themselves through streetwear. The campaign looks to showcase this and celebrate the influence that anyone, anywhere can have on streetwear culture."

During March and April, Zalando will also provide the styling for Aron Piper during his music tour in Spain. Aron will be sharing his 'Daily Style Fits', giving fans a preview of the streetwear items he will be wearing during each of his gigs. The looks will also be hosted on Zalando channels.

The campaign will be brought to life across numerous formats including OOH, DOOH, personalized marketing, Social Paid & Owned, Onsite, App and owned social channels. The 360 campaign was created in collaboration with creative agency Convoy and will run for up to 12 weeks in the following markets: France, Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Spain and Italy.

Zalando will continue to celebrate the streetwear community with its digital magazine, Zalando Street. Each issue invites guest curators to share their personal stories of emerging and evolving streetwear cultures. The latest issue focuses on the emerging music scene in the Netherlands. It features rising star, RIMON and explores the rich cultural diversity that's inspired the next generation of producers, DJs and artists.

Find out more on the campaign hashtag: #GoNoticed and by following Zalando Street on Instagram.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1769732/Zalando_Aron.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1769733/Zalando_Campaign.jpg

SOURCE Zalando
NGO Salaam Bombay Foundation focusses on Nurturing Grassroots Adolescent Entrepreneurs - launches Dolphin Tank in close collaboration with the School of Business Management (SBM), NMIMS, a unique initiative to offer guidance and financial support to resource-challenged aspiring grassroots adolescent entrepreneurs.

MUMBAI, India, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- In a first of its kind initiative, NGO, Salaam Bombay Foundation (SBF) has launched 'Dolphin Tank' under its Entrepreneurship Incubator for grassroots adolescent entrepreneurs from the slums of Mumbai. Following the tagline of 'Nurturing Grassroot Adolescent Entrepreneurs', the Dolphin Tank initiative offered funding support to the top four selected business plans during an event organised in partnership with SBM, NMIMS on March 16, 2022.

The students under the Dolphin Tank initiative were invited to pitch their business ideas to a panel of judges that included: Aditi Shrikam, CFO, Malabar Bay, Dr. Priti Shenai, Founder  Skinworks, Priya Kaur, Owner  Nirvair Jewellers, Darshan Kanani, Owner, Darshan Electricals & Engineering and Amit Gupta, CEO, Funfirst Global Skillers, Mumbai.

The Dolphin Tank initiative is a way to embolden the lesser-privileged aspiring grassroots adolescent entrepreneurs who possess talent but fall short on resources. Under the incubator programme, 50 vocationally skilled students got entrepreneurial guidance from industry experts, policymakers, and domain specialists.

These grassroots adolescent entrepreneurs, who are now in colleges and were part of SBF's [email protected] initiative (when they were in their 9th Grades at BMC and government aided schools), received training in arenas like Beauty & Wellness, Home Appliance Repair, Fashion Design, Mobile Repair, Computer Hardware Repair, and Jewellery Design. The Dolphin Tank incubator programme aims at providing entrepreneurial guidance to these skill programmes' alumni.

As a part of the initiative, 8 students with top business plans were handpicked from the 50+ from Salaam Bombay Foundation's Entrepreneurship Incubator and had the opportunity to be mentored by SBM, NMIMS MBA student volunteers from the We Care internship. A total of 21 management students trained over 800 school students in aspects associated with financial literacy as a part of their 21-day civic engagement internship in collaboration with Salaam Bombay Foundation.

Out of the 8 who pitched their business plans to the panel of judges, four aspiring grassroots adolescent entrepreneurs with the best business plans were chosen and won funding support from Aditi Shrikam, CFO, Malabar Bay and her adolescent son, Om Srikham, a high school student who runs his own sneaker business in the US.

Aditi Shrikam, CFO, Malabar Bay, who is also providing the funding support for the winning ideas, said, "It is heart-warming to see these young minds come-up with such incredible ideas. These students belong to resource-challenged backgrounds but the way Salaam Bombay Foundation has shaped them is really commendable. I believe, it is because of the guidance that they get at the right age. If encouraged from childhood they can really turn out to be successful people in life. Each business idea that we went through had some potential, these -adolescents are talented and with proper supervision they can do good in life."

Dr. Prashant Mishra, Dean, School of Business Management, NMIMS, said, "The war against poverty can be fought by fostering entrepreneurial thinking amongst resource-deficient communities right from a young age. As a responsible B-School, we believe in providing the right tools to establish and run the business in a financially sustainable manner. I am happy that a few of our MBA students could mentor the adolescents to pitch their business ideas. It has been a game-changing experience for them. The School of Business Management, NMIMS, is proud to be part of the Dolphin Tank event which will foster opportunity and unleash the innate entrepreneurial spirit of the adolescents."

Speaking about the initiative, Gaurav Arora, VP - Projects, Salaam Bombay Foundation, said, "It is important to provide appropriate guidance to these grassroots adolescent entrepreneurs from the slums, many of them are really talented, if they get proper resources, they can make a name for themselves as well as their families. It's very difficult for these grassroots adolescent entrepreneurs to start a business or commence a start-up because along with basic training they lack financial support, guidance and the steering force, so our aim is to encourage them to come up with ideas and then strengthen them to work on it."

Shubham Sharma, We Care intern, SBM, NMIMS, said, "It was a one-of-a-kind learning experience interning at Salaam Bombay Foundation as part of my We Care Internship at NMIMS. I, along with 3 of my batchmates, got the opportunity to mentor a few adolescents (between 15-18yrs of age) who had kickstarted their entrepreneurial endeavours after upskilling themselves. I could help the students in preparing a business pitch for an investor using my knowledge of working in start-ups and also from what I've learnt during my MBA. This mentorship program and investment opportunity will greatly help the grassroots adolescent entrepreneurs to strategically plan and grow their businesses to the next level and financially support their education as well as their families. It was heart-warming to see such a drive for entrepreneurship among the students at their age and their willingness to hustle for a better future. I'm happy I could contribute to such a noble cause."

About SVKM's NMIMS University

Established in 1981, NMIMS is today recognized as a globally reputed university with strong industry linkages. It offers multiple disciplines across 8 campuses that consist of 17 specialised schools, more than 17000 full time students, and about 750 full-time faculty members, 10 faculty members with Fulbright Scholarship and Humboldt International Scholarship for post- doctoral researchers. The Shri Vile Parle Kelavani Mandal (SVKM) led the foundation stone of this esteemed university, with the aim to cater to the rising demand of management institutes in the country. It is known for its consistent academic quality and research-focused approach towards holistic education. SVKM's NMIMS has been granted Category-I Deemed University status by Graded Autonomy Regulation 2018 by MHRD/UGC and NMIMS Mumbai Campus is NAAC accredited with a CGPA of 3.59.

For media queries, please contact:

Prose Integrated

Ms. Afrin Khan

Mobile: +91 9136984744

Email: [email protected]

Ms. Dimple Pania

Mobile: +91 89767 85216

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE SVKM's NMIMS
BOSTON, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ABclonal Technology, a rapidly growing life science research and diagnostic reagents manufacturer, today announced it has joined the Industry Advisory Committee (IAC) at YCharOS Inc., an open science company with the mission of characterizing commercially available antibody reagents for all human proteins, to tackle the reproducibility crisis observed in biomedical research.

Inconsistent antibody performance is a significant challenge for researchers and sits at the heart of the reproducibility crisis observed in biomedical research. YCharOS is performing head-to-head comparisons of commercially available antibodies to the same target protein and publishing the results in a transparent and open access way. ABclonal Technology, among other industry leaders will be providing their antibodies to YCharOS to be a part of this validation.

"ABclonal started because of a vision to produce a high-quality antibody for every human protein," said Zack Wu, chief executive officer at ABclonal. "And we believe the key to high-quality antibodies is specificity that will yield reproducible results. That's why it's so exciting for us to join YCharOS in their mission to characterize commercially available antibody reagents for all human proteins."

Learn more about ABclonal Technology at ABclonal.com.

Learn more about YCharOS at ycharos.com.

About ABclonal Technology

Based in Massachusetts, ABclonal Technology is a rapidly growing provider of biology research reagents and services. With scientists from world-class universities, the company thrives on improving the quality of life science research by providing high-quality antibodies, proteins, ELISA kits, NGS library preparation kits and molecular enzymes. For more information, visit ABclonal.com.

Press Contact:

Penny Hao

(617) 764-6817

[email protected]

SOURCE ABclonal Technology
Astro Z. and the Cosmic Stars are proud to announce the next step on their voyage through the sonic universe with their album, Once Upon a Dream.

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif., March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Following up on his dream of producing intelligent music for the mind as well as the soul, Astro Z. and his group of mesmerizing collaborators have produced a collection of songs that are infused with synth pop and rock, and which will trigger memories of when musicians were unafraid to cross boundaries.

Astro Z and the Cosmic Stars Release Once Upon A Dream Astro Z and the Cosmic Stars Release Once Upon A Dream

From the badlands of the High Desert in California, where the night sky is radiant with the brilliance of a billion stars, Astro has long looked into the arid world around him and crafted his future with all the mastery of a genius immersed in his surroundings. Creating a collection of 13 tracks that proves that all dreams are attainable, Astro has delivered an eclectic array of songs that drip with the creativity of a man not bound by others' expectations. From the astounding opening of Gotta Believe to the short but brilliant conclusion of Jeanne d'Arc, the album is a testament to the dream that Astro and his team are determined to showcase to the world.

The rich tapestry of Astro's work is hardly surprising when you consider that he has been making music since the age of 5. During his senior year in high school, he attended three concerts that changed his life forever: Jethro Tull, Fleetwood Mac, and Pink Floyd. From that moment on he has dedicated his life to composing his own songs as he found his way in this life. Attending college and serving in the Navy, he learned to play the guitar, bass, keyboards, drum machines, and harmonicas, always eliciting the pure emotion from his soul that his music demands.

That path to musical fulfillment led to the formation of The Cosmic Stars; a transitory collective that Astro brings in to work with him that ebbs and wanes like the dunes of the high desert themselves. A member that is featured on the album Once Upon a Dream is the sensational voice of Erisse Music, who wove a complex narrative of harmonies throughout the album.

Get your copy of Once Upon a Dream, and traverse the world of Astro Z. in all its glory. There is so much to discover as he rides the mystic solar winds of the cosmos.

Already available on BAND CAMP 17 FEB... and will be released on TUNECORE, 22 MAR 2022.

TRACK LISTING

Gotta Believe! 04:32 Magic Girl 03:42 Once Upon A Dream 06:38 The Endless Dream 05:23 Let The Music Move You 03:27 Love Is The Force 04:32 Rock The World 03:24 A Better Life 03:40 Giver Of Hope 04:48 Love The World 04:15 Glory Bound 04:00 From Your Heart 03:56 Jeanne d'Arc 02:14

Media Contact

Astronomicor Zesetaulator

https://www.facebook.com/AstronomicorZesteaulator1665/

9093611465

[email protected]

SOURCE Astro Z and the Cosmic Stars
Turner's paintings continue a series of works in which he paints with water from oceans, rivers, and lakes with a connection to Black historyincluding the Milwaukee River and Lake Michigan. Turner, who recently completed his M.F.A. at Columbia University, uses the collected water in two primary ways: as a "primer" on the substrate before adding a layer of paint or by mixing in the waters to thin out the paint. His paintings are heavily symbolic combining abstract and realistic renderings of Black figures to underscore the spiritual and physical relationship of his ancestors to water.

"MOWA is the perfect venue for Khari Turner's first solo museum show. His work will be showcased in a gallery that overlooks the Milwaukee River," said Director of Exhibitions Graeme Reid, "This location is highly synergistic: Turner uses water drawn from the river that flows through his hometown in several of his works. His dynamic portraits raise important questions about place and ancestry and justify his increasing national and international reputation."

MOWA's 2022 exhibitions are supported in part by James & Karen Hyde, Pick Heaters, and a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Museum of Wisconsin Art in West Bend is open Wednesday through Sunday, 9:304:00. Admission as low as $15 provides unlimited visits for one full year.

MEDIA RESOURCES

High-resolution artwork images:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/l69sb5t9uxotofz/AABSoe-sxxFbdkZpmKlvsFQHa?dl=0

ABOUT THE MUSEUM OF WISCONSIN ART

A vital cultural center, the Museum of Wisconsin Art collects and interprets American art through the lens of a single state. MOWA annually welcomes 200,000 visitors, making it a cultural destination for the art and artists of our time. www.wisconsinart.org

SOURCE MUSEUM OF WISCONSIN ART, INC.
TAMPA, Fla., March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Pinnacle Fertility welcomes California Fertility Partners (CFP) to their fast-growing network of physician-led fertility practices. CFP brings to the network 30+ years of family-building expertise as a leading California fertility care provider located in Los Angeles. As trailblazers in the field of reproductive endocrinology and infertility, CFP brought the first US baby born from a frozen embryo transfer into the world in 1986 and is an international destination for fertility treatments. Now as part of Pinnacle Fertility, CFP will join an esteemed team of physicians and clinical leaders dedicated to collaboration, innovation, and fostering an effortless patient-first experience.

"California Fertility Partners is a comprehensive and compassionate fertility care program," says Andrew Mintz, CEO of Pinnacle, "bringing their success and expert synergy to our collaborative, physician-led platform makes us a stronger resource for future families to realize their dreams in the US and around the globe."

Pinnacle Fertility is setting the standard in care for family-building with a high-performing network of clinics across the US. With a focus on shared services to centralize and elevate operations, finances, and marketing, it is championing a program that celebrates collaboration amongst physicians and medical leaders, utilizes advanced processes and technologies, and cultivates an inclusive environment for its patients and team members.

"We're thrilled to join a platform that puts patients first," says Dr. Guy Ringler, "as an international destination for LGBTQ+ families, it is a privilege to bring more access and visibility through the Pinnacle platform for patients who need the help of donor eggs, sperm, and surrogacy."

"We make every effort to provide the highest quality care in a personalized and supportive environment," shares Dr. Richard Marrs, "joining the family of Pinnacle Fertility clinics allows us to provide patients with more robust access to resources and greater ease and success on their journey."

CFP joins Pinnacle's other high-performing fertility clinics with an increasing national footprint focused on providing access to treatment and exceptional outcomes to those needing fertility and genomic services.

"At CFP, we have always taken pride in treating each patient with an individualized approach whether they are working to build their families now or preserving fertility options for their future", adds Dr. Karine Chung, "We are thrilled to partner with Pinnacle Fertility as they share our vision to provide the most advanced tools for our patients to achieve the highest success rates."

"The decision to choose Pinnacle Fertility to support our practice was made intentionally and thoughtfully. It was important to me to entrust our practice in the hands of an organization that understands the unique nuances of fertility and how it differs from other fields of medicine", says Dr. Kelly Baek, "Pinnacle's vast network of fertility clinics around the nation, led by an experienced team of fertility leaders, provides us with the infrastructure and innovative resources to help us further optimize patient successes. I appreciate that this partnership allows me to spend more time focusing on caring for my patients."

About Pinnacle Fertility

Pinnacle Fertility is the nation's fastest-growing physician-centric fertility care platform, supporting high-performing fertility clinics and comprehensive fertility service providers nationwide. Under a united mission of fulfilling dreams by building families, Pinnacle clinics offer innovative technology and processes, compassionate patient care, and comprehensive fertility treatment services, ensuring families receive a high-touch experience on their path to parenthood.

For more information about Pinnacle Fertility, visit pinnaclefertility.com

About California Fertility Partners

California Fertility Partners (CFP), a leader in the field of reproductive endocrinology and infertility and has helped thousands of people realize their dream of parenthood for more than 30 years. Dedicated to excellence in fertility and genomic medicine, CFP is an international destination located in Los Angeles, California. CFP has helped create some of the first IVF babies in the world and is globally recognized for providing high-quality, comprehensive IVF treatments in the field of reproductive medicine.

Visit californiafertilitypartners.com to learn more about locations and services.

CONTACT: Walt Conrad, [email protected], 602-615-2759

SOURCE Pinnacle Fertility
PIGGS PEAK  Breaking glass, a fire and the sound of laughter summarises the events of an arson attack at the Piggs Peak Magistrate Court which has become the latest government structure to be set alight.

The reason for the burning of the structure is still unknown. The incident happened yesterday morning, just after midnight. This was despite that the structure was guarded by security personnel. According to information obtained by this publication from an impeccable source, which was also shared by one of the security personnel, the alleged arsonists cut fencing near the courts kitchen. One person is said to have entered the court premises, while some allegedly remained on the other side. It is alleged the arsonists first hit one of the windows with the intention of breaking it with what was suspected to be a hammer.

After the window was broken, the arsonist is said to have poured a flammable liquid, believed to have been paraffin inside. The arsonist is said to have fled after the fire started. He escaped from the court premises using the same fencing opening he cut. As he fled, others who are said to have been waiting outside were heard laughing that the court was on fire. Within minutes of the fire, the information quickly spread through town. Police officers are said to have been called to the scene and they arrived promptly, only to find the court still burning. They allegedly managed to put out the flames and salvaged some files. Despite their effort, several of the court records were destroyed by the fire.

Coincidentally, the incident is said to have happened at the same time when police officers were monitoring bars to ensure that they were closed by midnight. Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati said she was not aware of the arson. Further, no court officials were available to speak on the record on the matter. Meanwhile, some of the residents who showed interest in the matter have ruled out the possibility that the attack may have been politically linked but suspected that the arsonists may have been targeting certain court records. They are of the view that by destroying some of the records, there will be no cases to answer, said a resident. At least three different shelves of the court records were affected.
Kaiser Permanente analysis finds twice the risk of severe maternal morbidity associated with coronavirus infection during pregnancy

OAKLAND, Calif., March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A Kaiser Permanente analysis of pregnant patients who tested positive for the coronavirus found more than double the risk of poor outcomes including preterm birth, venous thromboembolism (blood clot), and severe maternal morbidity, which includes conditions such as acute respiratory distress syndrome and sepsis.

The study was published in JAMA Internal Medicine March 21. An analysis of records for 43,886 pregnant individuals during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic found that the 1,332 who had a coronavirus infection during pregnancy had more than double the risk of negative outcomes compared with individuals without the virus.

"These findings add to the growing evidence that having COVID-19 during pregnancy raises risks of serious complications," explained lead author Assiamira Ferrara, MD, PhD, a senior research scientist and associate director of the women's and children health section in the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research.

"Coupled with the evidence that the COVID-19 vaccines are safe during pregnancy, these findings should aid patients in understanding the risks of perinatal complications and the need for vaccination," said Dr. Ferrara. "This study supports the recommendation for vaccination of pregnant individuals and those planning conception."

She said a strength of the study was that it followed a large group of diverse patients from preconception through their pregnancies to assess possible associations between perinatal complications and infection with the COVID-19 virus, as identified through a PCR test.

Researchers studied pregnant patients of Kaiser Permanente in Northern California who delivered between March 2020 and March 2021. The patient population was racially and ethnically diverse, with 33.8% white, 28.4% Hispanic or Latino, 25.9% Asian or Pacific Islander, 6.5% Black, 0.3% American Indian or Alaska Native, and 5% multiracial or unknown race and ethnicity.

Individuals who tested positive for coronavirus infection were more likely to be younger, Hispanic, have had multiple babies, had obesity, or lived in a neighborhood with high economic deprivation.

The study found twice the risk for preterm birth for those testing positive for coronavirus. These patients were more likely to have a medically indicated preterm birth than a spontaneous one; risk was elevated for both types of preterm birth and during early, middle, and late terms of the pregnancy. Birth may be induced early when the mother has a condition such as preeclampsia.

Those with coronavirus infection were 3 times more likely to have thromboembolism, or blood clot, and 2.5 times more likely to have a severe maternal morbidity.

"Our study was large, diverse, and supports the need for vaccination by pregnant individuals and those who plan to get pregnant," said co-author Mara Greenberg, MD, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist with The Permanente Medical Group. "The most important thing people can do to protect themselves and their baby is to get vaccinated."

Pregnancy and COVID-19 research continues

The analysis found that 5.7% of patients with a coronavirus infection during pregnancy had a hospitalization related to the infection. That was most likely for Black or Asian/Pacific Islander patients and patients with pregestational diabetes.

The researchers compared patients who gave birth before and after December 2020, when universal COVID-19 testing of pregnant patients began, finding a positive test rate of 1.3% before December 1, 2020, and 7.8% after. The same health risks applied to both groups.

The study team continues to research COVID-19 and pregnancy, focusing on telemedicine and health care delivery during the pandemic. "We are also planning to follow both mothers and children to study possible short- and long-term health effects of coronavirus infections during pregnancy," said Monique Hedderson, PhD, a study co-author and research scientist with the Division of Research.

About Kaiser Permanente

Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America's leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, Kaiser Permanente has a mission to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve 12.5 million members in 8 states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal Permanente Medical Group physicians, specialists, and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery, and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education, and the support of community health.

For more information, contact:

Jan Greene, [email protected], (510) 504-2663

Lauren Davitt, [email protected], (212) 886-2228

SOURCE Kaiser Permanente
CNN projects a shortage of 95,000 Nursing Assistants by 2025. While the lack of healthcare professionals is a nationwide problem, Maryland has an especially acute problem with its growing retirement-age population. That means that thousands of positions will remain unfilled in the Prince George's County region. The CNA/GNA Training program participants will receive free training and licensure; license application assistance; uniform, transportation, and childcare assistance; immediate employment opportunities after successful course completion; and access to future training opportunities. The program has no cost for participants that meet all program requirements.

"EPG's CPFA program aims to break language and cultural barriers by bridging the gap and developing relationships within Prince George's County's immigrant and immigrant servicing communities," states Employ Prince George's Career Pathways for All Coordinator, Ariana Lindo. "After more than two years of economic hardship brought on by the pandemic, Prince Georgians need more access to training opportunities that lead to viable jobs. The demand for skilled nursing assistants will grow, even after the pandemic subsides. This innovative approach and partnership to develop health care workers benefit Prince George's immigrant population seeking high-quality new careers."

"Heritage Care Inc. is grateful to work with Employ Prince George's and the Community Development Block Grant to provide this essential training to members of our English language learner community," states Aaron Sydor, Director of Education & Development. "Heritage Care Inc. has been providing specialized nursing assistant training for English language learners for almost ten years. Since the pandemic's start, the demand for nursing assistants has been unprecedented. This demand has also corresponded with an increased number of community members looking for work. Heritage Care Inc. and our partners have been working diligently to find English language learners interested in training to work in the field of nursing."

"All English language learning residents who are interested in the CNA/GNA program should contact us at the American Job Center," states Lindo. "We're proud to be able to provide one of the hardest working populations in the county with the opportunity to earn a living wage."

If you are interested in enrolling in the CNA/GNA training program for English Language Learners or learning more about Employ Prince George's Career Pathway's For All Program, please visit www.EmployPG.org/CPFA, call us at 301.618.8428, or email our staff at [email protected].

EMPLOY Prince George's (EPG) provides workforce intelligence and solutions for the job seeker and business. EPG's mission is to contribute to the economic vitality of Prince George's County by providing a demand driven system that delivers qualified workers to business and provides job seekers with opportunities for careers in high demand/high growth industries.

For more information, please visit www.employpg.org.

SOURCE Employ Prince George's
Companies Donate $70,000 in Urgent Relief Supplies to Support Ukrainian Humanitarian Efforts  As One Extraordinary Colleague is Actually in Ukraine Providing Lifesaving On-the-Ground Support  And Keeping in Touch with Co-Workers and Neighbors Back Home

LETART, W.Va., March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Felman Production, a Letart, West Virginia-based metallurgy manufacturing company, and CC Metals & Alloys (CCMA), a Calvert City, Kentucky-based mining and metals company, announced today they are providing $70,000 in support of humanitarian relief efforts in Ukraine. There are personal connections: Felman Production and CCMA are part-owned by two American businessmen, Mordechai Korf and Uriel Laber, who spent years living in Ukraine  and a colleague of Felman and CCMA, Kseniia Bezkrovna, who is of Ukrainian descent, has taken a leave and journeyed to the front where she is providing on-the-ground relief as fighting rages.

Ms. Bezkrovna is currently on the front lines in Odesa, Ukraine, providing housing, food, and medical attention to those in need. Initially, Kseniia told Mr. Korf and Mr. Laber she wanted to go to Ukraine to see how she could help. Soon after arriving in Moldova, Kseniia crossed the border into Ukraine and partnered with Dr. Zev Neuwirth, a U.S.-based physician working with multiple volunteer emergency medical services organizations.

She has kept in touch, providing a recent account:

"Just a few days ago, I was working on both sides of the Moldova-Ukraine border, and then in Chisinau, Moldova, with Dr. Zev Neuwirth and his team cooperating with local hospitals and organizations in Ukraine and Moldova responding to the patients in critical need of medical attention. Now, I am on the Ukrainian side of the border, currently in Odesa, providing medical support and other help to refugees and others who have been displaced.

"My team is taking care of people, providing housing accommodations, and responding to their immediate needs. Right now, much of our work involves getting medicine, medical supplies, clothing, and other protective equipment to the Ukrainian people.

"Today, I responded to an urgent call to bring a thyroid medication that was difficult to find, so I searched around the city and bought it from as many pharmacies as I could."

Kseniia's proud employers offered the following words:

"When Kseniia first told us of her plans to go to Ukraine to help those affected by the ongoing war, we wanted her and the entire Felman Production and CCMA family to know where we stand as a company," said Mordechai Korf and Uriel Laber of Felman Production and CCMA in a joint statement. "That's with the Ukrainian people, and we're proud to do everything we can to support every Ukrainian during this time of crisis. We are humbled and deeply inspired by Kseniia's bravery, dedication, and selflessness. We commend Kseniia for the critical, life-saving work she is doing to ease suffering and bring aide to those in need."

Dr. Zev Neuwirth said: "Kseniia has demonstrated tremendous courage and bravery, and she has been a vital member of our team. We are fortunate to have Kseniia on the ground as well as the generous support from Mordechai Korf and Uriel Laber and customers of Felman Production and CCMA, as well as many other individuals and organizations. Their generosity allows us to expand our reach and save even more lives."

In addition to Felman Production and CCMA's initial $70,000 in support, its customers, inspired in no small part by Ms. Bezkrovna's heroism, have donated an additional $35,000 to the efforts.

SOURCE Felman Production
VANCOUVER, BC, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - INTERNATIONAL BATTERY METALS LTD. ("IBAT") (CSE: IBAT) (OTC: IBATF) (FSE: 8RE) and Dr. John Burba were pleased to attend a tour of their newly completed direct lithium extraction (DLE) plant hosted by SORCIA MINERALS LLC ("SORCIA") with special guest, Dr. Alonso Arellano, Professor, UNIVERSIDAD DE SANTIAGO DE CHILE ("USACH").

USACH's Dr. Arellano stated: "We are extremely satisfied with the last phase of construction and successful assembly of the plant. This plant will forever change the lithium mining industry in Chile, safeguarding the environment, protecting the flora, fauna and the water found in nearby salt flats, and re-injecting at least 90% of the brine in the same conditions that it had before starting the separation process."

USACH determined after considerable review of the available technology, that the process developed by IBAT's Dr. John Burba is the only one capable of separating lithium without leaving a significant impact on the environment. Dr. John Burba developed the original absorption technology which has been operating in the salt flats of Hombre Muerto in Argentina since 1998. IBAT's new modular technology has little to no environmental impact and sustains the integrity of the water source.

Dr. John Burba, CEO, IBAT said: "Modular technology offers a new, more sustainable approach to the mining of lithium. The separation process will recover an excess of 65% lithium in the brine, maintaining the biodiversity of the salt flat with all the minerals present there, such as magnesium, boron, calcium, among others, without affecting the water balance of the salar or the availability of drinking water for nearby local communities."

Through an agreement signed between USACH and SORCIA for Research, Development and Innovation (R+D+I); the IBAT technology will contribute to the development of Chile by protecting the environment, minimizing water and energy consumption, and preserving flora and fauna for future generations.

The plant tour included Mr. Daniel T. Layton, President and CEO, Sorcia Minerals LLC; Dr. John Burba, CEO, IBAT; Mr. Rodrigo Dupouy, Country Manager for Chile and Argentina, Sorcia Minerals LLC; and Dr. Alonso Arellano, Professor, University of Santiago de Chile.

To learn more about International Battery Metals Ltd. innovative approach to ecologically responsible and sustainable lithium extraction, visit ibatterymetals.com .

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"Dr. John Burba"

Dr. John Burba, CEO & Chairman of the Board of Directors

Neither Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release may contain assumptions, estimates, and other forward-looking statements regarding future events. Such forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties and are subject to factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control that may cause actual results or performance to differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements.

Forward  looking and cautionary statements

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. Any securities of the Company referred to herein have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements. This release may contain statements within the meaning of safe harbour provisions as defined under securities laws and regulations.

This release may contain certain forwardlooking statements with respect to the financial condition, results of operations and business of the Company and certain of the plans and objectives of the Company with respect to the same. There is no assurance that the company's apparatus will be able to commercially produce lithium at the stated capacity. The purpose of the tests is to determine if it will be able to do so and successful completion of the tests cannot be assured as they are subject to risks and uncertainties associated with any new mineral processing method and characteristics of the material being processed.

By their nature, forwardlooking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future and there are many factors that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forwardlooking statements.

SOURCE International Battery Metals Ltd.
Investment enables MergersCorp M&A International Brand to accelerate growth initiatives and bring technology updates to the product suite.

NEW YORK, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- MergersCorp M&A International, the global leader in Mergers and Acquisitions in the lower middle market, today announced that the American operative entity MergersUS Inc. has entered into a definitive agreement for 7 Crocketts to make an equity investment in the company.

Edward Sklar

MergersCorp M&A International was founded to bridge the gap between the sale of small-middle businesses by local M&A Advisors and Business Brokers and the M&A marketplace for large publicly traded companies across the world. "I saw an untapped niche market of privately held businesses unable to exit their business" stated founder Stefano Endrizzi. This niche market premise has been validated by the multi-billion dollars in Business for Sale listings currently listed on www.mergerscorp.com

Edward Sklar, Managing Partner of MergersUS Inc said: "This investment enables us to complete our digital innovation and recruit additional staff so that we solidify our position as the leading M&A company in the lower middle market".

Nathan Crockett, Founder and CEO at 7Crocketts said: Stefano and Edward have done an exceptional job building a market leading brand and created a unique niche in the M&A sector. I am pleased to join forces to support the continued expansion of the business"

About MergersCorp M&A International

MergersCorp M&A International is a leading Lower-Middle Market M&A advisory brand, offering professional M&A services to clients across the world. Today MergersCorp M&A International is a global player with a network of Investment Bankers, M&A Advisors and brokers selling businesses with annual revenues of $500,000 to $250 Million in technology, construction, banking, manufacturing, healthcare, services, distribution, engineering, education, transportation and more. The team is comprised of senior M&A Advisors, investment banking professionals, business brokers and operating executives, all of whom have an extensive experience and have executed hundreds of transactions totaling billions of dollars.

About 7Crocketts

7Crocketts is a company with holdings in real estate, nonprofit, and privately held businesses. Business Investments include holdings in; Websites and Marketing, Pets, Aerospace, Theater, Cryptocurrency, Retail, and Passive Income.

Media Contact

Edward Sklar

[email protected]

New York Office

40 Wall Street

Suite 2725

New York, N.Y.

10005

212-210-1940

SOURCE MergersCorp M&A International
Nation's Largest Locally-Owned and Operated Coworking Provider Continues to Address the Growing Demand for Convenient Workspaces

LOUISVILLE, Colo., March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- While companies throughout North Carolina look for new ways to maintain productivity, innovation, and connection in remote work settings, Office Evolution has provided them with the perfect solution. As the largest provider of locally owned and operated flexible workspaces across the U.S., Office Evolution is continuing to address demand and help both small businesses and entrepreneurs in North Carolina by offering them affordable coworking spaces close to home. The brand currently has four local North Carolina locations in key business hubs, including Greensboro, High Point, Raleigh and Charlotte.

"Each one of our franchise owners and Office Evolution members are a part of our Ohana  Hawaiian for family," said Mark Hemmeter, Founder and CEO of Office Evolution. "That means we work together to collaborate and help support each other through the ups and downs of the current business environment. Small businesses throughout North Carolina will benefit from our collaborative community of entrepreneurs who are looking for a space where they can connect and thrive."

Office Evolution's national network of locally operated locations has provided remote workers and business owners alike with access to affordable workspace close to home with flexible terms. These spaces are where innovation happens and business performance is enhanced. Businesses of all sizes are shifting their focus towards flexible workspaces to get out of the home while avoiding the expenses and restrictions inherent in traditional office space. This transition from traditional workspaces to more flexible options in suburban markets has positioned Office Evolution perfectly for growth.

"In a state such as North Carolina, we strive to make it convenient for local, small businesses to find the perfect office space within their budget and close to where their employees live," said Hemmeter. "With locations throughout North Carolina, businesses can easily tap into our flexible workspace options and secure the space they need to be successful."

For more information about Office Evolution, please visit: https://www.officeevolution.com.

About Office Evolution

Founded in 2003 and franchising since 2012, the Colorado-based company is the largest provider of locally owned and operated flexible workspaces in the United States. Office Evolution has more than 70 locations open, 140 units sold in markets across the country and is poised for further growth as the demand for affordable and safe, workspace close-to-home continues to rise. On any given day, Office Evolution provides inspiration to a network of Dreamers, Risk-Takers and Doers across the nation. Office Evolution continues to lead the workplace transformation that is projected to see nearly 30 percent of all office space become shared office space by 2030, according to a JLL report. Office Evolution is currently operating in 25 states across the nation. For more information about Office Evolution, please visit https://www.officeevolution.com/.

SOURCE Office Evolution
Online Advantages Has Served the Miami Metropolitan Area for Four Years

MIAMI, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Matt Maglodi, founder of the full service internet marketing company Online Advantages, is pleased to announce that he is expecting that 2022 will be an especially busy year for his company in the Miami, Florida region.

To learn more about Online Advantages Miami SEO and how Maglodi and his team are preparing for a busy 2022, please check out https://miami-seo.onlineadvantages.net/miami-seo/ .

"For the last four years, we have worked with business owners and managers throughout Miami to help continue to keep it the strong, vibrant city it has been since its inception," Maglodi said, adding that he is excited to show Miami businesses who are new to SEO how Online Advantages Miami SEO can help boost their online presence and sales.

Online Advantages offers the following Miami SEO services:

Miami Search Engine Optimization

Miami SEO

Miami Local Search Optimization

A variety of other digital marketing services designed for businesses in Miami, Florida and the surrounding areas.

Since 2010, Online Advantages has helped businesses of every size, description, and industrial niche build their online presence and achieve superiority in their respective fields. Online Advantages Miami SEO is proud to be the premier source for SEO and internet marketing services.

Some of the industries Online Advantages serve in Miami, FL and the surrounding regions include the construction trades, including Miami plumbing, HVAC, electricians and paving companies in Miami; attorneys in Miami, Miami bakeries and restaurants; Florida E-commerce; the financial sector; Miami healthcare; charities and nonprofits in Miami, FL and nationwide and Miami auto mechanics and body shops.

Maglodi said he and his team are looking forward to a busy 2022. Miami business owners who would like to find out more about how Online Advantages Miami SEO can help their company grow and prosper are welcome to sign for a complimentary website analysis and SEO audit by visiting the Miami SEO Online Advantages website or calling (305) 842-2040.

About Online Advantages Miami SEO :

Online Advantages Miami SEO is a unique full service internet marketing company. Founder Matt Maglodi specializes in all aspects of online marketing from video marketing, to pay per click advertising, organic search and social media. For more information, please visit https://miami-seo.onlineadvantages.net/ .

SOURCE Online Advantages
MATTAWA, Wash., March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- As a result of efforts by the Port of Mattawa and local 13th District Legislators, some significant road improvement and community enhancement projects in south Grant County received important funding in the recently passed 2022 Washington State Legislative Budgets.

In particular, the "Miles Ahead" Transportation Package that recently passed the Legislature included $12 million in funding for the "SR 243 Pavement Preservation and Shoulder Rebuild Project".

Map of Washington State Route 243 Map of Washington State highlighting Mattawa

Washington State Route (SR) 243 is the main transportation artery that goes through the Port of Mattawa, connecting Mattawa and Desert Aire to other large neighboring population centers such as Wenatchee, Moses Lake, Yakima, and the Tri-Cities. As such, this project is both a very important freight mobility infrastructure project and a safety project for the south Grant County area, as the amount of freight and traffic that passes through the Port of Mattawa on SR 243 has been increasing dramatically over the past few years. Additionally, Mattawa and Desert Aire are not far from I-90 and the Port of Mattawa is very centrally located between the Tri-Cities, Yakima, Ellensburg, Moses Lake, and Wenatchee. Furthermore, this stretch of roadway has seen a higher-than-normal number of fatalities compared to other routes.

In summary, the "SR 243 Pavement Preservation and Shoulder Rebuild Project" will make SR 243 a much safer transportation route, enhance freight mobility, retain and create jobs, increase economic development, and accommodate future growth in the south Grant County region of Washington State.

In the 2022 Supplemental Washington State Capital Budget, the Port of Mattawa was awarded $125,000 in funding to upgrade the Port of Mattawa's Event Center, so it will be able to better host community events, education and training activities, and business meetings throughout the year in Mattawa.

As the south Grant County area (Mattawa and Desert Aire) has been growing quickly and is nearly 50 miles away from larger communities, there is a growing need for a suitable venue/facility in Mattawa that can host larger-sized community events and business meetings and conferences.

As a result, upgrading the Port of Mattawa Event Center will increase tourism, business and community meetings, and education and training events in south Grant County, which will in turn boost sales tax revenues for the Mattawa area, and help to increase existing restaurant and catering revenues, and attract hotel development and more restaurant development in the Mattawa area.

For more information, please contact Lars Leland of the Port of Mattawa at 509-761-9734 or [email protected].

About the Port of Mattawa

The Port of Mattawa is located in southwest Grant County on the Columbia River in Washington State and is the closest inland port in central/eastern Washington State to the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma. Grant County is the top agricultural production county in Washington State, and Mattawa is a major producer of wine grapes, apples, cherries, potatoes and onions and other high-value irrigated crops.

The Port offers ideal sites for wineries, food processors, fresh produce packing companies, cold storage facilities, small manufacturers, and is a prime location for agribusiness companies because of its central location in Washington State near major irrigated agricultural production areas including the Columbia Basin and the Yakima Valley.

The Port of Mattawa is also very close to Interstate 90 and enjoys some of lowest-cost electricity in the United States from Grant County PUD.

The greater Mattawa area (Mattawa, Desert Aire, Beverly, etc.) is one of the faster growing rural communities in Washington State and has a population of nearly 10,000 people. Additionally, Mattawa is only a one-hour drive or less from several major communities in central Washington such as Moses Lake, Othello, Richland, Kennewick, Pasco, Yakima, Sunnyside, and Ellensburg, which have metropolitan statistical areas (MSA's) with a combined population of nearly 1 million people.

SOURCE Port of Mattawa
Global food company to provide a total of $1 million to four philanthropic partners aiding Ukrainian refugees/war victims and deliver $1 million in food and other in-kind donations

SMITHFIELD, Va., March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Smithfield Foods, Inc. today announced cash and in-kind donations totaling $2 million to crisis relief efforts aiding the citizens of Ukraine and those seeking refuge in surrounding areas. In response to escalating violence in Ukraine, Smithfield will expand ongoing refugee relocation and aid assistance underway through its operations in Central Europe with $250,000 donations to each of the following nonprofit disaster-relief organizations:

Global Red Cross Network, including the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), who are providing immediate relief, long-term recovery and critical humanitarian services in Ukraine and surrounding countries including temporary shelter, counseling, health services and supplies.

and surrounding countries including temporary shelter, counseling, health services and supplies. Mercy Chefs, the company's disaster-relief partner in the United States , which is currently warehousing and distributing shelf-stable food, water, fresh fruit, baby formula and other basic supplies into Ukraine and to refugees on the Ukrainian border.

, which is currently warehousing and distributing shelf-stable food, water, fresh fruit, baby formula and other basic supplies into and to refugees on the Ukrainian border. Save the Children, a global organization delivering humanitarian assistance to children and their families in Ukraine and the region, including food, water, hygiene kits, psychosocial support and cash assistance.

and the region, including food, water, hygiene kits, psychosocial support and cash assistance. World Central Kitchen (WCK), a global humanitarian, climate and community crises-relief nonprofit serving refugees in southern Poland , Romania , Moldova and Hungary and partnering with restaurants inside Ukraine to provide hot meals to anyone in need.

"Like the rest of the world, we are humbled and moved by the resilience of the Ukrainian people," said Shane Smith, president and chief executive officer for Smithfield Foods. "Over the last few weeks, our team members in Central Europe have mobilized to provide desperately needed resources and other aid to the citizens of Ukraine on the ground. We are deeply proud of the decisive action our Smithfield Family has taken near the border and are committed to supporting and amplifying their good work."

Smithfield's global footprint is comprised of operations in seven countries around the world, including the United States, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, the U.K. and Mexico. Since the outset of violence in late February, Smithfield Europe  including Smithfield Polska (Animex and Agri Plus), Smithfield Romania, Smithfield UK and Mecom in Slovakia and Hungary have provided dedicated support for Ukrainian team members and refugees in the region by securing transport, accommodations, employment and other types of care. Additionally, Smithfield Europe has engaged in regular donations of shelf-stable and other protein to food banks and temporary shelters across the region. Combined, these ongoing aid efforts will amount to approximately $1 million in in-kind contributions.

"In the midst of the largest refugee crisis in Europe since WWII, we're doing everything we can to help, starting with our Ukrainian team members," said Luis Cerdan, executive vice president of European operations for Smithfield Foods. "As the majority of refugees have fled to countries bordering Ukraine where our businesses are located, we feel a heightened responsibility at Smithfield Europe to provide holistic support during this tragic time."

Smithfield contributes millions of dollars in cash and in-kind donations globally each year to support hunger relief, education and the vitality of its communities. To learn more about Smithfield's ongoing commitment to helping communities where its employees live and work visit this link.

Comments from Smithfield's disaster-relief partners:

Mercy Chefs: "Procuring and delivering food and supplies to Ukrainian refugees in Romania and across the border into Ukraine is as impactful as anything we've done," said Gary LeBlanc, founder and CEO of Mercy Chefs. "This incredible donation from Smithfield Foods enables us to help thousands of refugees fleeing Ukraine and deliver food to those who remain in Ukraine. We are extremely grateful to everyone at Smithfield Foods for the opportunity to help the people of Ukraine."

Save the Children: "Save the Children is extremely grateful to Smithfield Foods for their support during this time of crisis in Ukraine," said Luciana Bonifacio, Chief Development Officer, Save the Children. "This partnership will help protect children from harm and meet the urgent needs of children and their families who are in grave danger across Ukraine and the region."

World Central Kitchen: "World Central Kitchen is grateful for Smithfield's support and belief in our mission. They share our belief that a plate of food is more than just nourishment, it's hope and a sign that someone cares," said Jason Collis, WCK's Vice President of Relief. "Their support will allow us to continue to provide fresh and comforting meals to Ukrainians fleeing their homes as well as those staying in the country."

About Smithfield Foods, Inc.

Headquartered in Smithfield, Va. since 1936, Smithfield Foods, Inc. is an American food company with agricultural roots and a global reach. With more than 60,000 jobs globally, we are dedicated to producing "Good food. Responsibly" and serve as one of the world's leading vertically integrated protein companies. We have pioneered sustainability standards for more than two decades, including our industry-leading commitments to become carbon negative in our U.S. company-owned operations and reduce GHG emissions 30 percent across our entire U.S. value chain by 2030. We believe in the power of protein to end food insecurity and have donated hundreds of millions of food servings to our communities. Smithfield boasts a portfolio of high-quality iconic brands, such as Smithfield, Eckrich and Nathan's Famous, among many others. For more information, visit www.smithfieldfoods.com, and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.





SOURCE Smithfield Foods, Inc.
"Every aspect of our master facility plan is intended to create a health care network with the most advanced technology and cutting-edge care to serve the greater Tampa Bay region and beyond. Our new central energy plant can accommodate our electrical power needs now and into the future," said John Couris, president and CEO of Tampa General.

Located 33 feet above sea level, the four-story central energy plant holds four generators to provide 100 percent power to Tampa General's main campus in the event of an outage. "This additional generation capacity will take our campus from 50% emergency power to 100% redundant power," said Dustin Pasteur, senior director of design and construction, Tampa General. "With the addition of the natural gas generators, this also means we will be able to run much of the plant continuously, well beyond the 96-hour regulatory requirement."

Tampa General's new central energy plant's leading-edge design features construction to withstand the impact and potential flooding of a Category 5 hurricane. The redundant power supply was built with an eye toward conservation of natural resources. Three of the four generators run on natural gas. "This is a greener way to generate power and the fourth generator is a Tier 4 diesel which has a special design built to achieve the highest level of reduced emissions set by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)," said Pasteur. In addition to the generators, three new boilers with built-in redundancy create steam and hot water for the purpose of sterilization of surgical instruments, cooking, and hot water for handwashing and personal hygiene.

Announced in September 2021, Tampa General's comprehensive master facility plan is the largest in the hospital's history and is the strategic cornerstone to the academic medical center's commitment to developing Tampa Bay's first medical district to serve the region's increasing health care needs.

"Our master facility plan is an investment in our team, physicians, patients, in our academic health system, and in our community," noted Couris. In addition to the newly opened central energy plant, details of Tampa General's expansion include:

New ICU  opened in June 2021 , this project added 34 ICU rooms with upgraded and advanced care technologies

 opened in , this project added 34 ICU rooms with upgraded and advanced care technologies Bayshore Pavilion vertical expansion  the project will add four floors to Tampa General's Bayshore Pavilion (above the Emergency Department), providing 12 new operating rooms and 100 new ICU rooms

 the project will add four floors to Tampa General's Bayshore Pavilion (above the Emergency Department), providing 12 new operating rooms and 100 new ICU rooms Regional Burn Center renovation and expansion  now underway, this project will provide larger rooms and more efficient layouts, and will be complete in December 2022

 now underway, this project will provide larger rooms and more efficient layouts, and will be complete in Renovated main operating room suites  the project will renovate existing operating rooms and will modernize and upgrade equipment

 the project will renovate existing operating rooms and will modernize and upgrade equipment Freestanding emergency department  located one mile from the hospital's main campus on Kennedy Boulevard and North Willow Avenue, the 15,000-square-foot facility will provide additional ED capacity to serve community needs

 located one mile from the hospital's main campus on Kennedy Boulevard and North Willow Avenue, the 15,000-square-foot facility will provide additional ED capacity to serve community needs New corporate parking garage  an eight-story, 2,000-space parking garage is under construction at the TGH Corporate Center off Kennedy Boulevard to consolidate off-site team member parking

 an eight-story, 2,000-space parking garage is under construction at the TGH Corporate Center off Kennedy Boulevard to consolidate off-site team member parking TGH Cancer Institute at Brandon Healthplex  new clinic space will be added to provide multidisciplinary integrated oncology services: a hub for diagnostic testing, treatments, and support services, including a new infusion center and radiation therapy

 new clinic space will be added to provide multidisciplinary integrated oncology services: a hub for diagnostic testing, treatments, and support services, including a new infusion center and radiation therapy Purchase of Hillsborough Community College Davis Islands building  this building, adjacent to the main hospital campus, will be outfitted for administrative, education and training space to make hospital space available for more clinical programs

 this building, adjacent to the main hospital campus, will be outfitted for administrative, education and training space to make hospital space available for more clinical programs Off-site sterile processing facility  this project will move sterile processing off of the hospital campus to streamline operational efficiencies to support surgical services operations

Construction of these projects will run through 2026. As TGH updates and adds to the 25-acre campus, covering over 3 million square feet, Tampa General will also renovate the hospital's main lobby, which will improve patient and visitor flow and efficiency.

ABOUT TAMPA GENERAL HOSPITAL

Tampa General Hospital, a 1,041-bed non-profit academic medical center, is one of the largest hospitals in America and delivers world-class care as the region's only center for Level l trauma and comprehensive burn care. Tampa General Hospital is the highest-ranked hospital in the market in U.S. News & World Report's 2021-22 Best Hospitals, and one of the top 4 hospitals in Florida, with five specialties ranking among the best programs in the United States. The academic medical center's commitment to growing and developing its team members is recognized by two prestigious 2021 Forbes magazine rankings  America's Best Employers by State, third out of 100 Florida companies and first among health care and social organizations and 13th nationally in America's Best Employers for Women. Tampa General is the safety net hospital for the region, caring for everyone regardless of their ability to pay, and in fiscal 2020 provided a net community benefit worth more than $182.5 million in the form of health care for underinsured patients, community education and financial support to community health organizations in Tampa Bay. It is one of the nation's busiest adult solid organ transplant centers and is the primary teaching hospital for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. With five medical helicopters, Tampa General Hospital transports critically injured or ill patients from 23 surrounding counties to receive the advanced care they need. Tampa General houses a nationally accredited comprehensive stroke center and its 32-bed Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit is the largest on the West Coast of Florida. It also is home to the Jennifer Leigh Muma 82-bed Level IV neonatal intensive care unit, and a nationally accredited rehabilitation center. Tampa General Hospital's footprint includes 17 Tampa General Medical Group Primary Care offices, TGH Family Care Center Kennedy, TGH Brandon Healthplex, TGH Virtual Health and 19 outpatient Radiology Centers. Tampa Bay residents also receive world-class care from the TGH Urgent Care powered by Fast Track network of clinics, and they can even receive home visits in select areas through TGH Urgent Care at Home, powered by Fast Track. As one of the largest hospitals in the country, Tampa General Hospital is first in Florida to partner with GE Healthcare and open a clinical command center that uses artificial intelligence and predictive analytics to improve and better coordinate patient care at a lower cost. For more information, go to www.tgh.org.

Media Contact: Karen Barrera

Assistant Director of Communications & Partnerships

(813) 844-8725 (direct)

(813) 928-1603 (cell)

[email protected]

SOURCE Tampa General Hospital
MBABANE - This is not my husbands first brush with the law.

This is according to Prophet Vusi Major V Dlaminis wife during a service at the Mountain of Salvation Church, yesterday. She said this in response to the prophets arrest on March 18, 2022, where he was charged for allegedly stealing E900 000 which was unlawfully deposited into his bank account held with Swaziland Building Society (SBS). He denied the allegations in his bail application, where he further averred that he had a bona fide and valid defence to the charge he was facing. The prophet is facing a charge of theft, which he allegedly committed on February 3, 2022.

Arrested

The man of the cloth was arrested by members of the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) while at his place of abode in Matsapha. Dlamini was the second person to be arrested in connection with the crime. First to be arrested was Ndumiso Khumalo, who is the banks Assistant System Administrator. Due to the safety of his wife, the prophet requested for her name not to be mentioned. When addressing the congregation, his wife stated that this was proof that her husband was a true man of God as being arrested had not deterred him from continuing with the Lords work. She further narrated how the prophet had been previously arrested while in South Africa. I received a call one day that my husband had been arrested in South Africa and I then quickly drove there to hear what had happened.

When I got there, I discovered that he had been framed by a man who had previously attended our church services under false pretences, stating that he was a pastor. We even gave him an opportunity to address the congregants. My husband told me that the police had arrested him while he and the supposed man of God were packing substances he had no knowledge of. My husband only discovered that something illegal was going on when the supposed pastors tone changed while speaking, she said. She mentioned that the experience of her husbands arrest was a true testimony of how God was working in their lives. She said this was because while her husband had to stand for trial, a mysterious woman showed up as his lawyer. She said the woman then later paid the prophets bail and they never heard from her again.

Furthermore, the prophets wife mentioned that God had also shown himself through the ongoing theft case the prophet was purportedly involved in. She said her husband mentioned to her that he would be arrested. Due to the fast car my husband bought me, I was able to get to the police station before the police he was with got there. I waited for them until they got to the station. My husband kept asking me what the police were saying but I assured him that he would not be spending the night in a police cell but at home, she said. She stated that as per her prayers, her husband managed to pay bail and was home.

Meanwhile, some of the congregants from the church stated that to them, Major V was their Jesus. According to the congregants, as Jesus had suffered in order to save his people from eternal hell, so had the prophet who was also alleged to have been made to suffer because he was a savior of the people. They mentioned that to prove that the prophet was the Jesus of the current generation, they alleged that he had performed miracles which where similar to those performed by Jesus. In an in interview with this publication, they requested to remain anonymous due to the fear of victimisation. One of the congregants mentioned that he would not stop believing in his prophecies and his teachings. Another congregant stated that her spiritual father was a good man who was known for his generous heart.

She further mentioned that although she had read all the comments from people on social media who had negative comments about Major V, it did not change how she viewed him.

Some of the comments made by the congregants cannot be published as the case against the prophet is yet to be deliberated upon in court. Meanwhile, Major V admits to have been shown a vision by God of his arrest prior to it happening. In an interview with this publication, the prophet mentioned that he knew everything good or bad which would happen in his life before it actually happened.

Tribulation

I am a true prophet of God and every trial and tribulation I will encounter, God shows it to me through a prophesy prior to it happening. I was aware of the arrest and had prayed about it. I also knew that God being faithful, he would get me through it, he mentioned. Major V further expressed gratitude to his congregants and wife for always believing in him. He said that the attendance of the people at the church was proof that people loved him and knew that he was a good man who only wanted to do good. He advised people to start following individuals and pastors whom they had proof that they performed miracles. He advised his congregants not to listen to what was written about him in the different media platforms, but to judge him based on the work he was doing, which included healing those who had lost hope and removing the bad spirits which were preventing people from succeeding. Only follow those who have proven themselves to you. I will never follow anyone without seeing the works he has done and if it would work for me. This is why I follow God and this is also why I would want people to follow me, he said.
The exhibits gathered from 17 cultural and museum institutions including the Shaanxi History Museum and the Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum of China, more than 120 pieces (groups) of cultural relics, including stone artifacts, bronzes, gold vessels, jade articles, Qin bamboo slips and other precious cultural relics from the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Qin and Han Dynasties, with a time span of more than 1,000 years from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the late Eastern Han Dynasty.

The exhibition Terracotta Warriors and Ancient China - Legacy of Qin and Han Civilizations will open in Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art on March 25, and will then tour Shizuoka, Nagoya and Tokyo. The entire exhibition will last nearly a year. As the first stop of the exhibition, Kyoto has deep roots with Chinese culture and the ancient capital Xi'an. Local citizens and tourists are looking forward to this feast of cultural relics from Shaanxi, a province with rich cultural resources in China.

"As one of the most prestigious cultural IPs in China, the Terracotta Warriors and Horses of the Qin Dynasty were first exhibited in Japan in 1976 and have since been exhibited overseas many times." Hou Ningbin, Curator of the Shaanxi History Museum and Director of the Shaanxi Cultural Relics Exchange Center, said that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic ties, and it is of great significance for the Terracotta Warriors to visit Japan again despite unfavorable factors such as the epidemic, which will greatly promote cultural exchanges between the two countries.

Xi'an, the hometown of the Terracotta Warriors and known as Chang'an in ancient times, is one of the four ancient capitals of civilization in the world. As a capital with the longest time and the most dynasties in China, Xi'an has retained its splendid ancient civilization. Today, as the most resounding cultural card of Xi'an, the "Friendship Ambassador" Terracotta Warriors will be unveiled in Japan soon, sending a message of friendly exchanges between China and Japan. This is also the first overseas exhibition of the Terracotta Warriors and Horses of the Qin Dynasty after 2018.

Image Attachments Links:

Link: http://asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=417483

Caption: The exhibition Terracotta Warriors and Ancient China - Legacy of Qin and Han Civilizations

SOURCE Shaanxi History Museum (Shaanxi Cultural Relics Exchange Center)
The thermoformed plastics market 2022-2026 includes detailed insights into the following companies:

Advantage Plastics

Amcor Plc

Anchor Packaging LLC

Berry Global Inc.

Brentwood Industries Inc.

Coveris Management GmbH

D and W Fine Pack LLC

Dart Container Corp.

Dordan Manufacturing Co.

Fabri-Kal Corp.

Greiner Packaging International GmbH

Pactiv LLC

Penda

Placon Corp.

Sabert Corp.

Sonoco Products Co.

Spartech

The Jim Pattison Group

Winpak Ltd.

Various factors support the global market growth, and by leveraging benefits in a manner of market opportunities. Parameters that are considered to forecast the market analysis include the following:

Technological developments

Predicted opportunities

Market driving trends

Consumer preferences

Consumer spending dynamics and trends

Challenges and restraints to be faced

Government regulations

Other developments

Get lifetime access to our Technavio Insights. Subscribe now to our most popular "Lite Plan" billed annually at USD 3000. View 3 reports monthly and Download 3 Reports Annually!

The thermoformed plastics market analysis for 2022-2026 also investigates the following:

Detail analysis for the factors that drive and hamper the growth market during the forecast period

Analysis of the thermoformed plastics market in major regions - APAC, North America , Europe , Middle East and Africa , and South America

in major regions - APAC, , , and , and Market size estimation analysis for each segment at a regional level*

Analysis of the thermoformed plastics industry and its segments in the market

industry and its segments in the market Deep dive into the value/supply chain analysis of the market

Thermoformed Plastics Market Application Outlook (Revenue, USD bn, 2021-2026)

Food packaging - size and forecast 2021-2026

Medical - size and forecast 2021-2026

Consumer products - size and forecast 2021-2026

Others - size and forecast 2021-2026

The food packaging segment will have significant market share growth during the forecast period. Polypropylene, high-density polyethylene, and polystyrene are some of the major materials used in the production of thermoformed plastics. These plastics are food-grade, cost-effective, and durable. The increasing demand for F&B, owing to the rising population, is expected to have a positive impact on the market. Thermoformed plastics are used for packaging meat and dairy products, bakery, vegetables, and fruits. They are cost-effective and extend the shelf life of packaged food products. In addition, the improved aesthetic appearance of the final product, low mold cost and lead time, and ease of usage of thermoformed plastic in food packaging applications are expected to drive market growth during the forecast period.

Thermoformed Plastics Market Geography Outlook (Revenue, USD bn, 2021-2026)

APAC - size and forecast 2021-2026

North America - size and forecast 2021-2026

- size and forecast 2021-2026 Europe - size and forecast 2021-2026

- size and forecast 2021-2026 Middle East and Africa - size and forecast 2021-2026

and - size and forecast 2021-2026 South America - size and forecast 2021-2026

APAC will have the highest market share growth during the forecast period. China and India are the key countries for the thermoformed plastics market in APAC. Market growth in this region will be faster than the growth of the market in other regions. The extensive use of thermoformed plastics to produce medical devices and components will drive the thermoformed plastics market growth in APAC during the forecast period.

To learn more about the contribution of each segment of the market, Download a Free Sample Report

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Thermoformed Plastics Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 5.11% Market growth 2022-2026 USD 9.73 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 4.76 Regional analysis APAC, North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and South America Performing market contribution APAC at 48% Key consumer countries US, China, India, Germany, and Austria Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled Advantage Plastics, Amcor Plc, Anchor Packaging LLC, Berry Global Inc., Brentwood Industries Inc., Coveris Management GmbH, D and W Fine Pack LLC, Dart Container Corp., Dordan Manufacturing Co., Fabri-Kal Corp., Greiner Packaging International GmbH, Pactiv LLC, Penda, Placon Corp., Sabert Corp., Sonoco Products Co., Spartech, The Jim Pattison Group, and Winpak Ltd. 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 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.

Table of Contents

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Market overview

Exhibit 01: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Overview



Exhibit 02: Executive Summary  Data Table on Market Overview



Exhibit 03: Executive Summary  Chart on Global Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market by Geography



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Application



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 07: Executive Summary  Data Table on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 08: Executive Summary  Chart on Vendor Market Positioning

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 09: Parent market



Exhibit 10: Market Characteristics

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 11: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 12: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2021

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2021-2026

Exhibit 13: Chart on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 14: Data Table on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 15: Chart on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 16: Data Table on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

4 Five Forces Analysis

4.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 17: Five forces analysis - Comparison between 2021 and 2026

4.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 18: Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 19: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 20: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 21: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 22: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.7 Market condition

Exhibit 23: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2021 and 2026

5 Market Segmentation by Application

5.1 Market segments

Exhibit 24: Chart on Application - Market share 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 25: Data Table on Application - Market share 2021-2026 (%)

5.2 Comparison by Application

Exhibit 26: Chart on Comparison by Application



Exhibit 27: Data Table on Comparison by Application

5.3 Food packaging - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 28: Chart on Food packaging - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 29: Data Table on Food packaging - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 30: Chart on Food packaging - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Food packaging - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.4 Medical - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 32: Chart on Medical - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Medical - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 34: Chart on Medical - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Medical - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.5 Consumer products - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 36: Chart on Consumer products - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on Consumer products - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 38: Chart on Consumer products - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Consumer products - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.6 Others - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 40: Chart on Others - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Others - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 42: Chart on Others - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on Others - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.7 Market opportunity by Application

Exhibit 44: Market opportunity by Application ($ million)

6 Customer Landscape

6.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 45: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

7 Geographic Landscape

7.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 46: Chart on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 47: Data Table on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)

7.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 48: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 49: Data Table on Geographic comparison

7.3 APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 50: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 51: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 52: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 53: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.4 North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 54: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 55: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 56: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 57: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.5 Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 58: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 59: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 60: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 61: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.6 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 62: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 63: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 64: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 65: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.7 South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 66: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 67: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 68: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 69: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.8 US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 70: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 71: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 72: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 73: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.9 China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 74: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 75: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 76: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 77: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.10 India - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 78: Chart on India - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 79: Data Table on India - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 80: Chart on India - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 81: Data Table on India - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.11 Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 82: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 83: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 84: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 85: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.12 Austria - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 86: Chart on Austria - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 87: Data Table on Austria - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 88: Chart on Austria - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 89: Data Table on Austria - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.13 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 90: Market opportunity by geography ($ million)

8 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

8.1 Market drivers

8.2 Market challenges

8.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 91: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2021 and 2026

8.4 Market trends

9 Vendor Landscape

9.1 Overview

9.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 92: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

9.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 93: Overview on factors of disruption

9.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 94: Impact of key risks on business

10 Vendor Analysis

10.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 95: Vendors covered

10.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 96: Matrix on vendor position and classification

10.3 Anchor Packaging LLC

Exhibit 97: Anchor Packaging LLC - Overview



Exhibit 98: Anchor Packaging LLC - Product / Service



Exhibit 99: Anchor Packaging LLC - Key offerings

10.4 Berry Global Inc.

Exhibit 100: Berry Global Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 101: Berry Global Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 102: Berry Global Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 103: Berry Global Inc. - Segment focus

10.5 D and W Fine Pack LLC

Exhibit 104: D and W Fine Pack LLC - Overview



Exhibit 105: D and W Fine Pack LLC - Key offerings

10.6 Dart Container Corp.

Exhibit 106: Dart Container Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 107: Dart Container Corp. - Product / Service



Exhibit 108: Dart Container Corp. - Key offerings

10.7 Pactiv LLC

Exhibit 109: Pactiv LLC - Overview



Exhibit 110: Pactiv LLC - Product / Service



Exhibit 111: Pactiv LLC - Key offerings

10.8 Placon Corp.

Exhibit 112: Placon Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 113: Placon Corp. - Product / Service



Exhibit 114: Placon Corp. - Key offerings

10.9 Sonoco Products Co.

Exhibit 115: Sonoco Products Co. - Overview



Exhibit 116: Sonoco Products Co. - Business segments



Exhibit 117: Sonoco Products Co. - Key offerings



Exhibit 118: Sonoco Products Co. - Segment focus

10.10 Spartech

Exhibit 119: Spartech - Overview



Exhibit 120: Spartech - Product / Service



Exhibit 121: Spartech - Key offerings

10.11 The Jim Pattison Group

Exhibit 122: The Jim Pattison Group - Overview



Exhibit 123: The Jim Pattison Group - Key offerings

10.12 Winpak Ltd.

Exhibit 124: Winpak Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 125: Winpak Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 126: Winpak Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 127: Winpak Ltd. - Segment focus

11 Appendix

11.1 Scope of the report

11.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 128: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 129: Exclusions checklist

11.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 130: Currency conversion rates for US$

11.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 131: Research methodology



Exhibit 132: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 133: Information sources

11.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 134: List of abbreviations

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SOURCE Technavio
ROSWELL, Ga., March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Trust Payments, the disruptive leader in fintech specializing in frictionless payments and value-added services, is today launching Stor, an innovative e-commerce platform for small and medium businesses. Through the launch, Trust Payments is enabling ISOs, banks and other third parties to sell Stor direct to merchants in the USA.

The US launch comes after Trust Payments completed its acquisition of the Stor technology in early 2022 to accelerate e-commerce offerings for small and medium sized organizations who can often struggle with digitization strategies. Stor offers powerful online shopping solutions to equip merchants with extensive easy-to-use tools. Full support will be offered from dedicated staff based in the US to help ensure smooth implementations and use of the system across the country.

"We believe Stor is going to be a disruptor in the market. It will be a value-added solution for our partners to help broaden their relationships in their current book of business while remaining competitive and differentiated. With Stor, our partners will have a powerful eCommerce solution that is simple to set up and allows their merchant's businesses to expand their reach. Stor enables today's businesses to be omnichannel in the ever-expanding eCommerce landscape," said Jonathan O'Connor, Group Chief Commercial Officer and US CEO of Trust Payments.

With the addition of Stor, Trust Payments' unique Converged Commerce proposition combines payments and banking as a service with added value services. Stor's innovative technology offers a simple design and powerful built-in features that do not require any coding or IT knowledge. Using drag and drop, business owners can create their ideal online store in just a few clicks. By using the pre-built solution, users have access to hundreds of features from advanced web design, AI analytics tools, SEO, functionality to accepting credit and debit card payments, pre-ordering or stock management, all while being able to personalize their online store experience.

About Trust Payments

Trust Payments, the disruptive leader in fintech specializing in frictionless payments and value-added services for SMEs. We provide on-demand Payments and Banking-as-a-Service services to help businesses grow and scale online, in-store, and on mobile.

Trust Payments combines these services with powerful tools, such as loyalty management and instant eCommerce, engaging new innovative payments methods in crypto and bank transfers to drive Converged Commerce.

Focusing on the small and medium sized business sector in the UK, EU, and the US, Trust Payments drives value for our clients through personalized services, secure and frictionless payments, and innovative products.

Trust Payments has a global footprint, with over 400 people across 10 offices supporting the most demanding business sectors, from travel and hospitality to crypto, gaming, and financial services, and an acquiring network of over 50 global banks and hundreds of alternative payment methods.

Trust Payments holds Visa and Mastercard Principal Memberships in the EU for cross-border business, licensed by both the Malta Financial Services Authority and UK Financial Conduct Authority, and holds licenses in 7 US States to carry out regulated payments in gaming.

Find out more at trustpayments.com.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1503077/TRUST_Payments_Black_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Trust Payments
Ahead of World Water Day, a poll conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of the Walton Family Foundation highlights pressing need to invest in climate change solutions

WASHINGTON, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Walton Family Foundation, in collaboration with Morning Consult, released a poll today revealing a majority of Americans agree climate change will alter important aspects of life in the U.S. like agriculture (76% total, 89% Democrats, and 61% Republicans), water resources (76% total, 90% Democrats, and 59% Republicans) and the economy (71% total, 87% Democrats, and 55% Republicans). The poll also shows 73% of Americans are worried about climate change and water scarcity, with at least three-in-five voters saying that drought, increased temperatures, wildfires, extreme weather and flooding are a product of climate change's effect on water resources.

March 22 marks World Water Day, an annual United Nations observance that celebrates water and inspires global reflection on the importance of water in sustaining a healthy planet.

"What we see here is that Americans understand that climate change is water change. Droughts, floods, wildfires and big storms all make climate change very real for people, and voters are united in their call for solutions," said Moira Mcdonald, Environment Program Director of the Walton Family Foundation. "We should be hopeful that, despite divisions in our country, Americans want to come together to protect water, communities and nature. This is a time for bold leadership."

Notably, Black and Hispanic voters expressed more concern about climate change's impacts on the economy (84% Black, 81% Hispanic, 68% White), health (88% Black, 78% Hispanic, 67% White), and issues around equality (69% Black voters, 62% Hispanic voters, 44% White).

"These numbers show us that we not only need to do more on climate change, but we also need to be more inclusive in our approaches," said Mcdonald. "This is yet another wake-up call that at every level of this work, from grassroots environmental organizations to elected leaders, we need to make sure the solutions we are presenting fully include the experiences of people who are closest to the impacts."

One-quarter of American voters believe their state will not have enough water during their grandchildren's lifetimes (the next 100 years). The numbers are even higher in western states - 55% in Colorado said their state would not have enough water in the next 100 years and 53% said the same in Arizona.

"It's shocking that a quarter of all Americans  and more than half of the residents in Arizona and Colorado  don't think there will be enough water in their home states for their grandchildren to live out their lives," said Mcdonald. "The Colorado River Basin is living through a historic drought fueled by climate change and this poll shows there is urgency and unity among all voters to meet these challenges head on."

Other key findings from the poll include:

74% of voters agree that political parties should find more common ground on addressing climate change (87% of Democrats, 74% of independents, and 60% of Republicans).





(87% of Democrats, 74% of independents, and 60% of Republicans). 73% of voters agree that there is still time to address climate change (79% of Democrats, 70% of independents, and 70% of Republicans).





(79% of Democrats, 70% of independents, and 70% of Republicans). People of color and younger people feel the most urgency on these issues :





: Black and Hispanic voters agree that climate change is having a massive impact on their community .



68% Black

68% Black



58% Hispanic





43% White



And that climate change is having devastating effects on the world's water resources.



77% Black





74% Hispanic





65% White



66% of younger voters (18-34) agreed that climate change is the most important issue facing the world today while only 45% of seniors (65+) agreed.

To read the full poll results, visit www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/worldwaterday .

Polling Methodology:

The national poll was conducted between March 4-March 6, 2022 among a sample of 2005 Registered Voters across the United States. The interviews were conducted online, and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample of Registered Voters based on gender by age, educational attainment, race, marital status, homeownership, race by educational attainment, 2020 presidential vote, and region. Results from the full survey have a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

The state-level polls were conducted between March 4-March 8, 2022, among a sample of 298 Registered Voters in Arizona and a sample of 300 Registered voters in Colorado. The interviews were conducted online, and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample of Registered Voters based on gender, age, education, race, ethnicity, marital status, homeownership, and 2020 vote choice. Results from the full survey have a margin of error of plus or minus 6 percentage points.

About the Walton Family Foundation

The Walton Family Foundation is, at its core, a family-led foundation. Three generations of the descendants of our founders, Sam and Helen Walton, and their spouses, work together to lead the foundation and create access to opportunity for people and communities. We work in three areas: improving K-12 education, protecting rivers and oceans and the communities they support, and investing in our home region of Northwest Arkansas and the Arkansas-Mississippi Delta. To learn more, visit waltonfamilyfoundation.org and follow us on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram .

SOURCE Walton Family Foundation
All 488 lots vetted by stellar team of experts, including renowned Egyptologist

LONDON, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Apollo Galleries and Auctions, Britain's premier source for expertly appraised cultural art and antiquities, takes pleasure in announcing highlights of their March 27, 2022 sale. The 488-lot Ancient, Chinese and Islamic Art Auction is divided into four sections with deeply provenanced artifacts spanning the Classical European era and important civilizations of the Near East, Egypt, India and China.

Archaic Greek Illyrian hammered bronze hoplite (citizen-soldier) helmet, circa 600 BC, horizontal ribbing on crown; long, pointed cheek pieces, rich blue-green patina. Similar to examples held by Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Louvre. Provenance: London private collection, New York collection, acquired from German collection of Hans Hagmann in 1968-69. XRF report from Apollo Galleries lab. Estimate $52,450-$104,900 Greek Apulian red-figure wheel-thrown ritual krater (vase with 'volute' handles), image of 'Lady of Fashion' on verso, 680mm high. TL-tested by independent German laboratory Ralf Kotalla. Provenance: central London gallery; English estate collection; acquired in 1990s from Andre de Munter, Brussels; old European collection. Estimate $26,225-$52,450

Most items in the sale boast an illustrious pedigree and were previously owned by legendary collectors, like the late London barrister Alison Barker, John Lee, and other noted connoisseurs. In addition, many pieces sold previously at either Christie's or Bonhams.

"No small detail was spared in preparing this exceptional sale, which I consider to be our best to date," said Apollo Galleries director Dr Ivan Bonchev (PhD, University of Oxford). "In early February, we brought together most of our team of consultants to personally examine the entire auction selection."

The March 27 sale includes Apollo Galleries' first-ever dedicated section of Islamic art. With a timeline spanning the early Middle Ages through 19th century, its highlights include a Mamluk carved-wooden panel, $31,470-$62,945; a rare Ottoman Quran signed and inscribed by Ahmed Nazifi, $52,450-$78,680; and a circa-1900 prayer mat with provenance from an old European collection, $31,470-$39,339.

Apollo's four signature categories  Classical, Jewellery, Weaponry, and Asian Art  are beautifully represented. The Classical selection features extraordinary marble sculptures, including a circa early 1st century BC marble relief stele depicting the gallery's namesake, Apollo, on horseback, holding a double-headed axe known as a labrys. Ex Morkramer collection (1960s, USA), it is estimated at $13,110-$26,225.

Following the sculptures is a collection of fine Greek pottery. A circa 432-300 BC Apulian red-figure bell krater comes with an independent TL testing report. Estimate: $13,110-$26,225.

Egyptian antiquities include a circa 712-32 BC linen-wrapped mummified cat, formerly in Bill Jamieson's collection (Canada). An X-ray can be seen alongside the cat, which was created to evoke Bastet, the feline goddess representing fertility and motherhood. Similar to an example auctioned by Bonhams in 2013, it is estimated at $19,670-$32,780.

A large selection of gold jewellery, much of it XRF-tested, features a circa 300-100 BC hammered-gold brooch with an inset cabochon garnet. Estimate: $13,110-$26,225.

Ancient weaponry highlights include bronze helmets with XRF reports, and iron swords with full reports written by resident consultant Russel Scott. A Greek Illyrian bronze hoplite helmet is similar to examples held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Louvre, its provenance the German collection of Hans Hagmann (1968-'69). Estimate: $52,450-$104,900.

Asian art begins with funerary mingqi of the Tang and Han dynasties and concludes with Gandharan (the oldest Buddhist art) sculptures. A circa 200-300 AD carved grey schist head of the goddess Hariti, similar to an example sold by Christie's in 2008, can be traced back to a European private collection of the 1970s. Estimate: $26,225-$52,450

Apollo Galleries and Auctions is located at 25 Bury Place, London, opposite The British Museum. Their March 27, 2022 auction will commence at 8 a.m. US Eastern Time/1 p.m. GMT. View the auction catalogue online via LiveAuctioneers. Payments accepted in GBP, USD, EUR and cryptocurrencies. Worldwide shipping; all packing handled by white-glove specialists in-house. Online: www.apollogalleries.com

Apollo Galleries and Auctions is a member of the British Numismatic Trading Association (BNTA) and the Art Loss Register (AR).

MEDIA CONTACT:

Dr. Ivan Bonchev

UK +44 7424 994167, [email protected]

SOURCE Apollo Galleries, London
SUZHOU, China and ROCKVILLE, Md., March. 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ascentage Pharma (6855.HK), a global biopharmaceutical company engaged in developing novel therapies for cancers, chronic hepatitis B (CHB), and age-related diseases, today released its annual results for full year 2021, during which the company achieved significant progress realizing its vision of global innovation strategy including key areas such as clinical development, strategic partnerships and intellectual property rights. During the same period, the company's lead asset, the third-generation BCR-ABL inhibitor olverembatinib (HQP1351) was granted marketing authorization in China, marking a transformative step in the company's transition from a biotech to a full-fledged biopharmaceutical company with commercialized products, officially opening the new chapter on commercialization.

During the reporting period, Ascentage Pharma achieved steady improvement to its cash flow. While commercializing its first approved product, the company raised RMB1,300 million through the issuance and placement of additional shares in 2021. The company's cash and bank balances on December 31, 21, increased by 70.3% from the same time last year, to RMB1,740 million. During the reporting period, the company recorded a total revenue of RMB27.91 million, which was increased by 123.2% from the same period last year. This increase in revenue is primarily attributable to the sales of the company's first pharmaceutical product, commercialization license fee income and patented IP license fee income from customers. It is also worth noting that since receiving the approval for olverembatinib till the end of February, 2022, the product realized an accumulated invoice amount of RMB50.41 million (unaudited, inclusive of value added tax).

The company's first marketing authorization officially opens the chapter on commercialization

In November 2021, olverembatinib, Ascentage Pharma's lead asset and the novel drug that was designated a National Major New Drug Development and Manufacturing Program, was approved in China for the treatment of adult patients with tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI)-resistant chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML-CP) or accelerated-phase CML (CML-AP) harboring the T315I mutation as confirmed by a validated diagnostic test. This approval marked a transformative step in Ascentage Pharma's transition from a biotech to a full-fledged biopharmaceutical company with approved products and commercialization capabilities. This approval for the first third-generation BCR-ABL inhibitor in China addresses an urgent unmet clinical need in the country, effectively ending the lack of treatment options for Chinese patients with drug-resistant CML harboring the T315I mutation. Since receiving the approval for olverembatinib till the end of February 2022, the product realized an accumulated invoice amount of RMB50.41 million (unaudited, inclusive of value added tax).

To date, Ascentage Pharma has built a commercialization team possessing a strong track record in the field of hematology and entered into a broad strategic partnership with Innovent Biologics ("Innovent") on the joint-commercialization of olverembatinib in China. During the reporting period, Ascentage Pharma steadily advanced the product's commercialization and access programs through strategic partnerships with multiple distribution service providers such as Sinopharm Group, Shanghai Pharmaceutical and CR Pharma. In the two months following its launch in China, olverembatinib was included into Hui Min Bao, a government-backed commercial supplemental insurance plan of 10 municipalities, with Huzhou being the first city to include olverembatinib in the first month after the drug was approved. Such inclusions are expected in many more cities in 2022.

Also in 2021, we officially inaugurated the company's global headquarters and R&D center, creating a strong base supporting the company's accelerating global expansion and its ongoing integration of internal and external resources, has extended Ascentage Pharma's competitive-edge in the innovative drug arena.

Remaining steadfastly committed to global innovation while rapidly advancing clinical development programs

In 2021, Ascentage Pharma continued to increase its investment in innovation, with the research and development expenses increased by 35.8% year on year, to RMB767 million. At present, Ascentage Pharma has built a rich and high-potential pipeline comprising a range of assets with first-in-class or best-in-class potentials globally.

The company has rapidly advanced its global clinical development programs, and is currently conducting over 50 Phase I/II clinical trials in the United States, Australia, Europe, and China. Meanwhile, the company has further strengthened its intellectual property portfolio, paving the way for its accelerating research and development. As of December 31, 2021, the company holds 178 issued patents and more than 600 patent applications globally, among of which, 135 patents were issued overseas.

Highlighting the company's progress in clinical development, olverembatinib became Ascentage Pharma's first drug candidate granted the Orphan Designation in the European Union (EU); meanwhile, the MDM2-p53 inhibitor alrizomadlin (APG-115) with "first-in-class" potential, was granted additional Orphan Drug Designations (ODDs) and its first Fast Track Designation (FTD) by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). To date, Ascentage Pharma has obtained a total of 2 FTDs and 15 ODDs from the FDA and 1 Orphan Designation from the EU, setting a record in the number of designations granted to any Chinese biopharmaceutical company and is a manifestation of the company's capabilities in global innovation.

During the reporting period, Ascentage Pharma rapidly advanced its drug candidates in clinical development. The third pivotal Phase II study of the company's lead drug candidate, olverembatinib, in patients with CML resistant/intolerant to first- and second-generation TKIs, has already completed its patient enrollment. In March 2021, a Breakthrough Therapy Designation for the indication was granted to olverembatinib by the Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) of China National Medical Products Administration (NMPA), accelerating the future development and regulatory approval of the product.

The pivotal Phase II study of lisaftoclax (APG-2575), the first China-developed Bcl-2 selective inhibitor entering clinical development in China, for the treatment of relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (R/R CLL/SLL) was approved by the CDE of the NMPA in China by the end of 2021, and subsequently dosed its first patient in March 2022, making lisaftoclax the second Bcl-2 selective inhibitor entering pivotal trials globally. Moreover, lisaftoclax was cleared by the US FDA in June 2021 to enter a clinical study evaluating the drug candidate as a single agent or in combination with other antitumor therapies for the treatment of patients with advanced estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer or other solid tumors, making its first move in indication-expansion to solid tumors. Lisaftoclax is currently being investigated in 18 clinical studies globally in a range of hematologic malignancies and solid tumors, and has thus far showed enormous therapeutic potential.

Validating best-in-class and first-in-class potentials in clinical development focused delivering meaningful clinical benefits

As a global leader in the development of apoptosis-targeting therapies, Ascentage Pharma has continued to demonstrate its capabilities in global innovation by attracting widespread interest at major scientific events and delivering impressive progress with the clinical development of its apoptosis-targeting drug candidates.

Results from three clinical studies of olverembatinib were selected as abstracts, including one oral presentation, at the 2021 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting. This was the fourth consecutive year in which data of olverembatinib were selected for oral presentation at the ASH Annual Meeting, an indication of the widespread interest in the drug's efficacy and safety from the international hematology community. Results of olverembatinib reported in the oral presentation included the long-term follow-up data (at a median follow-up duration of 39 months) further demonstrated a favorable tolerability, potent and durable efficacy, and clear best-in-class potential in the treatment of patients with TKI-resistant CML. In addition, the two pivotal studies in patients with T315I-mutant CML also showed promising results.

The clinical data of the Bcl-2 inhibitor lisaftoclax, a key candidate of the company's apoptosis-targeted pipeline, were also presented at the 2021 ASH Annual Meeting. These results included the first data readout on lisaftoclax in Chinese patients with hematologic malignances, which demonstrated favorable tolerability and great therapeutic potential, in absence of any tumor lysis syndrome (TLS). The six patients with CLL who received lisaftoclax at 200 mg or higher doses achieved an overall response rate (ORR) of 100% and one complete response. Prior to the ASH Annual Meeting, Ascentage Pharma had released the most updated data from the first-in-human study of lisaftoclax in patients with R/R CLL/SLL and other hematologic malignancies at the 2021 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, including preliminary data demonstrating an objective response rate (ORR) of 80% and a manageable safety profile, in absence of any TLS despite daily dose ramp-up. All these data collectively further validated lisaftoclax as a drug candidate with global best-in-class potential.

In an oral presentation at the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting, Ascentage Pharma reported the latest results from the Phase II study of alrizomadlin, a MDM2-p53 inhibitor and another key candidate of the company's apoptosis-targeted pipeline, in combination with pembrolizumab in patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma or advanced solid tumors that have progressed on prior immuno-oncologic drugs. These results provided the clinical evidence supporting the potential synergy between a MDM2-p53 inhibitor and an immune checkpoint inhibitor, and the first-in-class potential of alrizomadlin. Furthermore, the preclinical results of alrizomadlin were published in the renowned scientific journal, Nature Immunology, in March 2021 has demonstrated MDM2's pivotal biological role in T-cell stability, survival, and antitumor immunity, potentially laying a foundation for synergistic effects between MDM2-targeted agents such as alrizomadlin and cancer immunotherapy.

Expanded external collaborations through multiple new landmark partnerships

In the past year, Ascentage Pharma entered into a multifaceted strategic collaboration with Innovent on the joint-commercialization of olverembatinib in China, the joint clinical development of lisaftoclax, and equity investment in Ascentage Pharma. This strategic collaboration created a new partnering model for the development of innovative therapies in China, and the two companies will collaborate in every possible manner to accelerate the introduction of China-developed innovative therapies to the world and bring clinical benefit to more patients in need.

While building win-win partnerships in China, Ascentage Pharma has continuously sought new partners overseas. To accelerate its global innovation, the company entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the world-leading research institute, the National Cancer Institute (NCI), to collaborate on the non-clinical and clinical development of Ascentage Pharma's drug compound pelcitoclax (APG-1252).

Moreover, Ascentage Pharma received another milestone payment from its global licensee, UNITY Biotechnology ("UNITY"), after UNITY reported positive data from a Phase I clinical study of the senolytic drug candidate UBX1325 and dosed the first patient in the subsequent Phase IIa clinical study. In the future, Ascentage Pharma will continue to work closely with UNITY in the development of anti-aging drugs that will bring hope to patients around the world.

During the same period, Ascentage Pharma entered into a clinical trial collaboration and supply agreement with Pfizer Inc. ("Pfizer) to evaluate the combination of Ascentage Pharma's Bcl-2 selective inhibitor, lisaftoclax, in combination with Pfizer's IBRANCE (palbociclib), a CDK4/6 inhibitor, in patients with recurrent, locally advanced or metastatic estrogen receptor-positive (ER+), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (HER2-) breast cancer. This collaboration with Pfizer can potentially further accelerate the clinical development of lisaftoclax.

Dr. Dajun Yang, Chairman & CEO of Ascentage Pharma, said, 'In 2021, Ascentage Pharma achieved remarkable progress in commercialization, clinical development and business development. These progress are highlighted by the approval of the third-generation BCR-ABL inhibitor, olverembatinib, as it is milestone signifying that Ascentage Pharma has officially entered the commercial-stage.

The launch of olverembatinib is a strong validation of our effort in fulfilling the founding mission of addressing unmet clinical needs in China and around the world, and our patient-focused global innovation strategy. Meanwhile, the data readouts of lisaftoclax and alrizomadlin at renowned international scientific meetings such as those of the ASCO and ASH once again highlighted these drug candidates' best-in-class and first-in-class potentials, as well as their potential therapeutic utility and clinical superiorities.

Furthermore, we have actively expanded our strategic partnerships through the comprehensive collaboration with Innovent that created a new partnering model for the development of innovative therapies in China. Globally, we have also entered into multiple landmark agreements with leading research institutions and pharmaceutical companies such as NCI and Pfizer.

As a company focused on original pharmaceutical innovation, we will continue to advance the indication expansion and global clinical development of olverembatinib, while pressing ahead with the development programs of other investigational assets. We will remain steadfastly committed to global innovation and the mission of addressing unmet clinical needs in China and around the world, to create additional value for our investors and bring much needed novel therapies to our patients as soon as possible.'

About Ascentage Pharma

Ascentage Pharma (6855.HK) is a globally focused biopharmaceutical company engaged in developing novel therapies for cancers, chronic hepatitis B, and age-related diseases. On October 28, 2019, Ascentage Pharma was listed on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited with the stock code 6855.HK.

Ascentage Pharma focuses on developing therapeutics that inhibit protein-protein interactions to restore apoptosis, or programmed cell death. The company has built a pipeline of eight clinical drug candidates, including novel, highly potent Bcl-2, and dual Bcl-2/Bcl-xL inhibitors, as well as candidates aimed at IAP and MDM2-p53 pathways, and next-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). Ascentage Pharma is also the only company in the world with active clinical programs targeting all three known classes of key apoptosis regulators. The company is conducting more than 50 Phase I/II clinical trials in the US, Australia, Europe, and China. Olverembatinib, the company's core drug candidate developed for the treatment of drug-resistant chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), was granted Priority Review status and a Breakthrough Therapy Designation (BTD) by the Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) of China National Medical Products Administration (NMPA), and is already approved for the indication. In addition, the olverembatinib was also granted an Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) and a Fast Track Designation (FTD) by the US FDA, and an Orphan Designation by the EU. To date, Ascentage Pharma has obtained a total of 15 ODDs from the US FDA and 1 ODD from the EU for four of the company's investigational drug candidates. Ascentage Pharma has been designated for multiple Major National R&D Projects, including five National Major New Drug Discovery and Manufacturing projects, one New Drug Incubator status, four Innovative Drug Programs, and one Major Project for the Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases.

Leveraging its robust R&D capabilities, Ascentage Pharma has built a portfolio of global intellectual property rights and entered into global partnerships with numerous renowned biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies and research institutes such as UNITY Biotechnology, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Mayo Clinic, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, MSD, AstraZeneca, and Pfizer. The company has built a talented team with global experience in the discovery and development of innovative drugs and is setting up its world-class commercial manufacturing and Sales & Marketing teams. One pivotal aim of Ascentage Pharma is to continuously strengthen its R&D capabilities and accelerate its clinical development programs, in order to fulfil its mission of addressing unmet clinical needs in China and around the world for the benefit of more patients.

Forward-Looking Statements

The forward-looking statements made in this article relate only to the events or information as of the date on which the statements are made in this article. Except as required by law, Ascentage Pharma undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, after the date on which the statements are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. You should read this article completely and with the understanding that our actual future results or performance may be materially different from what we expect. In this article, statements of, or references to, our intentions or those of any of our Directors or our Company are made as of the date of this article. Any of these intentions may alter in light of future development.

SOURCE Ascentage Pharma
The store is locally owned by Kyle Burg and Derek Thomas, who also own locations in Arlington Heights and Niles. Burg and Thomas are joined by their two business partners, Ivan Valle and Michael Chino, in the Elmhurst community.

At Asurion Tech Repair & Solutions, we understand your tech is essential to everyday life, which is why we're thrilled to bring accessible and affordable repair service to the Elmhurst area, " said Thomas. "Our team is dedicated to restoring locals' devices to pristine condition and we look forward to serving this community for years to come."

The store's expert repair technicians fix all kinds of technology, regardless of make or model, and the store is an authorized repair provider for Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel smartphones. Customers can book a repair appointment online or stop by the store for walk-in service. The store offers free, no-obligation diagnostics on all gadgets, as well as a 1-year limited warranty on all repairs. It even offers a price match guarantee on any local competitor's regularly published price for the same repair.

The new Asurion Tech Repair & Solutions store brings the company's retail footprint to more than 700 locations across the U.S. Formerly known as uBreakiFix, all U.S. locations will rebrand as Asurion Tech Repair & Solutions throughout 2022.

"We are excited to serve people in Elmhurst with fast and affordable tech repair," said Dave Barbuto, CEO of Asurion Tech Repair & Solutions. "We all rely on our phones and laptops more than ever before, and our mission is bigger than repairing shattered screens and broken charge ports. We fix tech because people depend on it to stay connected to things that are important to them. I look forward to serving this community through our new location."

The new store is located at:

Asurion Tech Repair & Solutions

177 IL-83, Elmhurst, IL 60126

(630) 501-0193

About Asurion Tech Repair & Solutions

Asurion Tech Repair & Solutions, formerly known as uBreakiFix, is the retail brand operated and franchised by a subsidiary of tech care company Asurion. As the world's leading tech care company, Asurion eliminates the fears and frustrations associated with technology to ensure its 300 million customers get the most out of their devices, appliances, and connections. Asurion Tech Repair & Solutions stores specialize in the repair of consumer technology, including smartphones, game consoles, tablets, computers, and nearly everything in between. Asurion Tech Repair and Solutions repair experts fix cracked screens, software issues, camera issues, and most other tech mishaps at more than 700 stores across the U.S. The stores provide fast, affordable fixes for nearly any device type, regardless of make or model, including authorized repairs for Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy smartphones.

SOURCE Asurion
LAS VEGAS, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Bear Real Estate Advisors, a national investment services firm, announced today its representation of Cypress West Partners in the acquisition of a four-building, multi-tenant medical office building portfolio in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson, Nevada. Total sale price for the portfolio totaled $17.1 million.

"Medical office buildings are prized among real estate investors as they are historically among the most stable asset types," said Matt Bear, founder and chief executive officer of Bear Real Estate Advisors. "Wigwam Professional Center is ideally located in the densely populated and affluent Green Valley neighborhood of Greater Las Vegas, where demand for healthcare services continues to grow along with the population."

Built between 1998 and 2002, the portfolio totals approximately 50,000 square feet and is 100% leased. Located at 2500, 2510, 2625 and 2649 Wigwam Parkway, the portfolio is located in close proximity to Parkway Surgery Center and St. Rose Dominican Hospital, with convenient access to Interstate 215.

Chris Cumella, partner with Cypress West, added, "Acquiring the Wigwam Professional Center furthers our aspiration of being the premier medical investor in the Las Vegas Valley. This property fits our unique skill set of building relationships with the local medical practitioners and providing risk-adjusted return to our investors. We appreciate Bear's knowledge of our investment objectives, and for being a trusted source to help us reach our company's goals."

About Bear Real Estate Advisors

Bear Real Estate Advisors, a national buyer/sponsor representation firm, connecting people, property & capital, founded in 2018 and headquartered in Las Vegas, provides comprehensive real estate investment services to investment funds, private equity firms, developers, family offices and high net worth global and domestic investors. Having been intricately involved in nearly every facet of real estate deal-making, the firm leverages its vast experience, extensive database, and trusted relationships to provide clients with unparalleled transaction representation, property sourcing and capital advisory services. For more information, go to www.bear-advisors.com .

Contact:

Monika Earle

Spotlight Marketing Communications

949.427.1394

[email protected]

SOURCE Bear Real Estate Advisors
The research was commissioned by HiBob in honor of International Women's Day and surveyed 1,000 UK women professionals 25 and older who were employed full-time in a hybrid or in-office workplace in 2020 and 2021. It provides insights on professional women's perceptions about compensation, promotions, the Great Resignation, the influence of company culture, and more.

"On International Women's Day in 2022, there is a lot to celebrate in the UK," says Nirit Peled Muntz, Chief People Officer at HiBob. "Women today are a major source of talent in the workplace, and eliminating gender bias is a pressing social responsibility issue. Our study shows that UK women professionals feel confident in their performance at the workplace and recognize their progress in gender equality, diversity, and inclusion and that the vast majority of them are confident in their performance at work."

The women-men pay gap



53% of all respondents believe that there is no discrimination in pay at their company. In contrast, only 48% of women in tech professions (Engineers and Developers) feel this way. Just over one-third of all respondents (38%) believe that men are paid more than women, but only 27% of female senior directors, VPs, and executives feel this way.

Promotions & women in leadership



Almost two-thirds (63%) of all women professionals reported that they received a promotion in salary, position, or benefits in 2021. At medium-sized companies, women were even more likely to receive at least one of the promotions mentioned (67%). Senior managers were 1.5 times as likely to be promoted to a new position as middle managers and 2.5 times as likely as individual contributors. The likelihood of a pay increase was nearly the same for all role levels (47%, 46%, and 42% respectively.)

When asked whether their company has made a visible commitment to developing more women leaders in the last year, 25% of women at medium-sized companies (100-999 employees) said "Yes". In addition, 32% of all respondents felt that their company already has a balance of female-male leadership.

The Great Resignation



While many still talk about the Great Resignation or the Great Migration that accompanied the pandemic, only 15% of professional women actually left their jobs in 2021, including 22% of female senior managers. In 2022, only 10% expect to be leaving their jobs, including 16% of senior managers. Only 6% of women in tech expect to leave their jobs in 2022, while 15% of HR professionals expect to change jobs.

The top three enticements for taking a new job with a new employer were increase in pay (86%), flexible working conditions, including flexible hours, remote work, and work from anywhere (69%), and a strong and healthy company culture (40%). Middle managers were more likely to be attracted by a strong and healthy culture (44%) than individual contributors (38%) or senior managers (33%).

Driving change in the modern workplace



"While this study shares insights on professional women's work experience, it is also meant to provide the tools to continue to drive change in the modern workplace," concludes Ronni Zehavi, HiBob's CEO and Co-Founder. "Today we are celebrating the significant breakthroughs of professional women in the modern workplace, but there is much more to be done since nearly half of women believe that the pay and promotion gaps still exist. As a leading HR tech solution, HiBob assists HR teams in building a diverse, inclusive company culture that engages and retains satisfied employees."

About HiBob

HiBob was founded to modernize HR tech. HiBob's intuitive and data-driven platform, Bob was built for the way people work today: globally, remotely, and collaboratively. Since its launch in late 2015, HiBob has achieved consecutive triple-digit year-over-year revenue growth and become the HR platform of choice for more than 2,000 modern, midsize, and multinational companies who understand that a powerful, agile HR tech suite is mission critical and a key driver of organizational success. Fast-growing companies across the UK such as checkout.com, iTechmedia, Rebellion, Monzo and Cazoo rely upon Bob to help HR and managers connect, engage, develop and retain top talent.

NEW YORK

205 Hudson St.

New York, NY 10013 LONDON

Boundary House

91-93 Charterhouse St.

London EC1M 6HR, UK AMSTERDAM

Weesperstraat 61-105

1018 VN Amsterdam

Netherlands SYDNEY

Redlich, Level 65

19 Martin Place

Sydney NSW 2000 TEL AVIV

28 Ben Avigdor St.

Tel Aviv 6721848

Israel

SOURCE HiBob
MBABANE - Chaos that erupted at popular hang-out spot, Solaniss Shisanyama left about eight cars damaged and three people were injured yesterday morning.

This was after unknown men spoiled what was undoubtedly one of the biggest shows at the hang-out spot in the early hours of yesterday. This was during the show featuring South African award-winning artists Makhadzi and Zanda Zakuza. Performing inside a fully-packed arena, Makhadzi was just half-way through her performance at around 3am, when suddenly a hail of beer bottles were thrown from outside into the dancing area. Just like in a movie scene, as the bottles kept coming in from the top of the main gate, fans ran helter-skelter in search for cover. Some ran towards the two gates but the security personnel prevented them from doing so, in fear that they could be harmed as the bottles were coming from outside.

Damaged

As the violent scenes unfolded, some cars which were parked outside the venue were damaged. Also, some people who were inside and outside, were reportedly injured. The situation calmed down after Solanis security personnel were joined by police officers who arrived and fired gunshots. Worth noting was that, while there was a notable large number of people outside the hang-out spot throughout the night, it is believed that they were in no way whatsoever not involved in the throwing of the beer bottles. This is because there was never a point where they tried to demand to be allowed entry into the venue.

Instead, most of them were standing in groups enjoying their alcoholic beverages, while others watched the show from the rocks which are situated a few metres away. According to eyewitnesses, the violent act might have been planned, as the suspects allegedly arrived in four kombis. They are alleged to have waited for an opportune time when the main act (Makhadzi) was already mesmerising her fans and then they struck. Some of them, according to sources, stood on the roof of a house situated adjacent to Solanis and started throwing the beer bottles inside. This, it was alleged, angered some community members believed to be from Msunduza who arrived in numbers with an intention to fight the perpetrators.

The community members allegedly received a tip-off that some of the attackers had already boarded one of their kombis and were about to leave the scene. The community members are said to have gone to where the kombi was parked and attacked the occupants, who then fled. Seeing that the occupants, whom they believed were the attackers, had fled the scene, the community members then damaged the kombis windows. By 10am yesterday, the damaged kombi was found parked next to the block of flats which are across the road from the hang-out spot.

Some of the cars which were damaged included a Range Rover, Mazda Demio and VW Polo. The staff at Solanis was not spared, as one manager had his car windows damaged.

Most of the cars which were affected were those which were close to the front parking. It was gathered by this publication that several motorists visited the Mbabane Police Station yesterday morning to report damages caused to their cars.

Decried

Meanwhile, some patrons decried that there were a few police officers at the event, yet the main artist was known to have many fans, which meant the place would be packed. The patrons, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said while they appreciated that the hang-out spot had its own security, the presence of more police officers was necessary. This publication can confirm that for the better part of the night, there were only three police officers who were seen patrolling the venue now and again. Meanwhile, the security personnel of the hang-out spot is said to have been vigilant in catching some young men who were seemingly on a mission to rob patrons of their items, including cellphones. This publication gathered that about three cellphones were recovered in the process.

Following the incident, the management of the hangout spot issued a press statement where it condemned the violent act. It is with great sadness to acknowledge the violence that erupted during the Makhadzi live show on Saturday night. We regret the inconvenience and discomfort caused to our esteemed patrons and wish to assure you that Solanis will handle the situation with the highest priority, the management said in the press statement. It was mentioned that Solanis was known for its renowned security and protection of its patrons.

The management urged all affected parties to work with the authorities in solving the matter and pleaded with members of the public to come forward with any crucial information that will be helpful in the investigation. We would like to give our patrons 100 per cent assurance that we will do all in our power to ensure that such violent incidents do not happen in future. For us this has been a learning curve, the management stated.

Chaos

Also, the management thanked community members of Msunduza who responded promptly to avoid any further chaos. At the time of compiling this report, about nine cars were reported to have been damaged while four people were injured. However, Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati confirmed eight cars being reported. She also confirmed three people who were reportedly injured. Meanwhile, Vilakati asked not to comment on the concerns that there were few police officers. We do not discuss security issues. All we can say is that the police are investigating, she stated. Solanis Shisanyama is known to host some of the big shows featuring well-known artists from South Africa and locally.

In the past four months, the hang-out spot has been a trend setter in hosting big South African acts such as Mlindo the Vocalist, KO and Sir Thrill. This coming weekend, the venue is expected to host another South African award-winning act, Sjava. However, following yesterdays incident, the management announced that the entity would be closed yesterday until further notice.
SAN ANTONIO, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Clearday, Inc. (OTCQB:CLRD) today announced that Clearday is a Sponsor and James Walesa, President and Chief Executive Officer of Clearday, will participate in the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Arkansas State Conference March 23  25th in Little Rock.

Clearday will present as part of the state's continuing education program its proprietary "BEST TEST." BEST stands for Behavior, Engagement, Stimulation and Temperament. Clearday, a premier provider of cognitive care, will be supporting an acceleration of digital technology with the introduction of the therapies supporting the BEST test.

The company will debut its Clearday Restore, a proprietary therapeutic program that will be launched in all of its cognitive care communities in the coming months. The conference will also allow the company to demonstrate its therapeutic streaming services Clearday TV. The streaming service is design to be informative and educational by providing a different topic of discussion; for example, a therapy to reduce the effects of Sundowning.

The conference will allow Clearday to demonstrate, in 72 hours to over 600 influencers and healthcare providers, the benefits of innovative digital-oriented care built around the company's virtual platform called [email protected] Subsequently, this launch allows Clearday to provide insights into revenue accelerators that the company provides to their communities and offer to its non-acute care partners.

About Clearday

Clearday is an innovative non-acute longevity health care services company with a modern, hopeful vision for making high quality care options more accessible, affordable, and empowering for older Americans and those who love and care for them. Clearday has decade-long experience in non-acute care through its subsidiary Memory Care America, which operates highly rated residential memory care communities in four U.S. states. Clearday at Home  its digital service  brings Clearday to the intersection of telehealth, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), and subscription-based content.

Learn more about Clearday at www.myclearday.com.

Learn more about Clearday at Home at www.cleardayathome.com.

Learn more about Clearday Clubs at clubs.myclearday.com.

Learn more about the Clearday Network at https://business.cleardayathome.com.

Investor Relations

Andrew Barwicki

516-662-9461 / [email protected]

SOURCE Clearday
BRISBANE, Australia, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Cryptsoft Pty Ltd, the leading supplier of Key Management Interoperability Protocol (KMIP) Server and Client technology, has won an open tender to supply JISA Softech Pvt Ltd with core technology for their J-KMS Enterprise Key Management Server and CryptoBind products.

Cryptsoft's (Cryptsoft Pty Ltd) KMIP Server SDK has been licensed to JISA (JISA Softech Pvt Ltd) to underpin their next generation key management server, J-KMS. Cryptsoft's KMIP Client will be used to extend JISA's CryptoBind product suite which has solutions for Tokenization, Encryption, Data at Rest Encryption, Data in Motion Encryption, Data Masking, Cryptographic Key Lifecycle Management, Data Vault, and File Encryption. JISA Softech providing a comprehensive key management solution focused on meeting the sharp increase in requirements for KMIP based encryption and key management solutions coming from the government, banking, finance, insurance, medical and enterprise sectors in India.

"The KMIP market is large and growing quickly, especially with government and enterprise mandated encryption requirements. JISA was strongly motivated to enter this highly lucrative market, but we knew that in order to be successful, we would need a KMIP supplier with a deep understanding of KMIP technology and the KMIP market," said Tanmay Khare, Technical Director at JISA. "We knew that working with the right supplier was going to be critical to our success, especially with such a technical product. After conducting detailed research into the supply and licensing options for OEM KMIP technology, we invited a small number of companies to tender for our project. A thorough and detailed evaluation of the supplied SDKs was undertaken, including analysing the technical competence, ease of integration, and value delivery of the technology solutions before awarding the tender to Cryptsoft."

"Cryptsoft provides experience and depth of capabilities to young and innovative security companies like JISA. Our experience as the dominant global supplier of KMIP technology allows our customers to quickly implement complex solutions with great technical depth and will assist JISA to quickly introduce their products into this growing market segment," said Justin Corlett, Business Development Manager at Cryptsoft. "Cryptsoft's Server and Client SDKs are clearly the go-to solution for anyone looking to integrate KMIP technology into their products. Winning this tender, especially after such a long and detailed evaluation phase, is a pleasing validation that our customers recognise that the value in becoming a Cryptsoft licensee is not just from the SDK itself, but from acquiring access to a whole KMIP ecosystem of opportunities."

About JISA

JISA Softech Pvt Ltd is a growing Information Technology company that are committed to providing excellent Cryptographic, PKI, Key Management and Authentication products and solutions to the Government, Banking, Finance Insurance, and Enterprise markets. JISA are focused on the design, development, sales and support of various hardware and software security solutions for now and for the future. JISA is headquartered in Mumbai, with manufacturing and R&D centres situated in Pune. www.jisasoftech.com

About Cryptsoft

Cryptsoft is a privately held Australian company that operates worldwide in the enterprise key management security market. Cryptsoft's KMIP SDKs are the market's preferred OEM solutions. Cryptsoft's solutions have been selected by prominent global companies for interoperable enterprise key management and encryption technology in their storage, security and cloud products. Cryptsoft is an OASIS Sponsor. www.cryptsoft.com

PRLog ID: www.prlog.org/12909240

SOURCE Cryptsoft Pty Ltd
TSX.V: DME

U.S. OTC: DMEHF

Frankfurt: QM01

VANCOUVER, BC, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - DESERT MOUNTAIN ENERGY CORP. (the "Company") (TSX.V: DME) (U.S. OTC: DMEHF) (Frankfurt: QM01) From the President of the Company.

Desert Mountain Energy Corp. (DME) is pleased to announce that it has set production casing to the top of the Granite Formation in Well #7 (13-1). In addition to the previously announced hydrogen and helium zones, the well encountered additional multiple zones where helium was shown to be present via the mass spectrometer. We had three repeated zones of interest for helium as were previously seen in Wells #4, 5 &6. Correlation and assessments are being performed by our geologic team. Excellent bottom hole pressures were observed in multiple prospective helium & hydrogen zones during drilling and flowed gas during operations. Our onsite equipment clearly displayed a nearly 50/50 ratio of sulfur-free hydrogen and helium in the upper formations.

"Our drilling and geological teams continue to display and improve on their innovative concepts and put them into real-world applications," said Robert Rohlfing, CEO of DME. "Company drilling procedures which cement all casing strings back to the surface, serve to protect all possible water-bearing zones while allowing for commercial helium and hydrogen production."

With the completion of Wells #4, 5, 6 and 7, DME now feels that it has identified the outer boundaries of the McCauley Helium Field and owns all necessary leases. The drill rig has been released until the next drill program begins. A completion rig will start work in 3 to 4 weeks, sampling results will be published when that work is accomplished.

ABOUT DESERT MOUNTAIN ENERGY

Desert Mountain Energy Corp. is a publicly traded resource company primarily focused on exploration, development and production of helium, hydrogen and noble gases. The Company is primarily looking for elements deemed critical to the renewable energy and high technology industries.

We seek safe harbor

"Robert Rohlfing"

Robert Rohlfing

Exec Chairman & CEO

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in polices of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The statements made in this press release may contain certain forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual events or results may differ from the Company's expectations.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Such forward looking statements and information herein include but are not limited to statements regarding the Company's anticipated performance in the future the planned exploration activities, receipt of positive results from drilling, the completion of further drilling and exploration work, and the timing and results of various activities.

Forward-looking statements or information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company and its operations to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such statements. Such factors include, among others, changes in national and local governments, legislation, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic developments in Canada and the United States; financial risks due to helium prices, operating or technical difficulties in exploration and development activities; risks and hazards and the speculative nature of resource exploration and related development; risks in obtaining necessary licenses and permits, and challenges to the Company's title to properties.

Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions management believes to be reasonable, including but not limited to the continued operation of the Company's exploration operations, no material adverse change in the market price of commodities, and such other assumptions and factors as set out herein. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or information, there may be other factors that cause results to be materially different from those anticipated, described, estimated, assessed or intended. There can be no assurance that any forward-looking statements or information will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements or information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. The Company does not intend to, and nor does not assume any obligation to update such forward-looking statements or information, other than as required by applicable law.

SOURCE Desert Mountain Energy Corp.
LYNBROOK, N.Y., March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Vanessa Gibson, MD is being recognized by Continental Who's Who as a Distinguished Thoracic Surgery Specialist for her exemplary service to the healthcare community.

As a Thoracic Surgery Specialist at Long Island Thoracic Surgery PC, Dr. Gibson provides personalized care to patients with chest and lung issues. With 22 years of experience guiding her, she has performed countless thoracic surgeries with great success.

Vanessa Gibson

Dr. Gibson operates mainly in Lynbrook, NY, a well as in Syracuse, NY, and Louisville, KY. She has worked at her current position for 15 years, with admitting privileges at Mount Sinai South Nassau, Mercy Hospital Rockville Centre, and Norton Children's Hospital.

An active member of her field, Dr. Gibson is a member of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. She is also affiliated with Upstate University Hospital Community Campus.

Among her academic achievements, Dr. Gibson received her M.D. with honors from the University of Louisville School of Medicine in 1999. She obtained an internship and a residency at the University of Missouri in 2004. Then she completed a residency at the University of Kentucky in 2007. The Kentucky College of Medicine awarded her a Fellowship.

Dr. Gibson has been in her current position as a Thoracic Surgery Specialist for 15 years. Her areas of expertise involve the lungs, esophagus, heart, and other chest organs during lung cancer treatment or emphysema. Dr. Gibson is passionate about her line of work and caring for her patients and represents herself with excellence and integrity. Other areas of expertise include aneurysms, vascular malformations, and diabetes complications.

Patients have praised Dr. Gibson's work rebuilding diaphragms, removing portions of the lungs, and operating on the esophagus. She is revered for her straightforward and amiable approach, telling patients precisely what to expect during and after their procedures.

As a testament to her professional excellence, Dr. Gibson was recognized as a CMS Stage 1 EHR in 2012. Awards for her work include the Compassionate Doctor Recognition in 2015, the Patients' Choice Award in 2015-2016, and the On-Time Doctor Award in 2015-2016.

Contact: Katherine Green, 516-825-5634, [email protected]

SOURCE Continental Who's Who
New Zealand approves the launch of E-Space's first three demonstration satellites

STUART, Fla. and TOULOUSE, France, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- E-Space today announced it will launch its first demonstration satellites in the second quarter of 2022 to validate the systems and technology for its sustainable satellite system. The announcement marks an unprecedented timeline for taking a new space innovation from idea to reality as E-Space moves to swiftly build the most sustainable, secure and cost-effective satellite network in history.

Three demonstration satellites, designed and built in-house by E-Space, will launch aboard Rocket Lab's Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula.

E-Space aims to reduce the launch requirements for a full constellation to months instead of years, decreasing the time it takes to scale, replenish and deliver a full system. This launch is the first step in validating the technology behind E-Space's network of secure communication satellites that will make space-based capabilities more affordable and accessible. E-Space's system will allow governments and companies to own private satellite constellations that can dynamically scale their capabilities, with applications ranging from secure communications to managing remote infrastructure, while maintaining an unprecedented level of security, flexibility and resiliency.

"Our first satellites will provide a demonstration and test platform for our new sustainable satellite system," said Greg Wyler, founder and CEO of E-Space. "E-Space will increase the speed for constellation delivery from years to months, allowing new opportunities for more people to access space-based platforms. With the help of Rocket Lab, we are excited to be bringing these satellites into orbit in record time."

The E-Space system has been designed with sustainability at the heart of its architecture. The satellites have small cross-sections to decrease the risk of collision from the millions of untrackable space objects and will automatically de-orbit if any systems malfunction. Eventually, the satellites will sacrificially capture and deorbit small debris to burn up on re-entry, setting a new standard in space environmental management.

"E-Space is pursuing a transformational idea to open up space for all while putting sustainability first," said Peter Beck, Rocket Lab founder and CEO. "Rocket Lab shares this mission to help society and businesses responsibly embrace space-based applications through innovation. Electron was created to enable frequent and cost-effective access to orbit for missions like this  ultimately allowing our customers to innovate and harness the power of space to improve wellbeing on Earth."

Following a successful launch and commissioning of the demonstration satellites, E-Space expects to have one more test launch before its first commercial satellites are deployed.

About E-Space

E-Space is democratizing space with a mesh network of secure multi-application satellites that empowers businesses and governments to access the power of space to solve problems on Earth. Founded by industry pioneer, Greg Wyler, E-Space provides satellite constellation deployments with higher capabilities and lower cost to enable a new generation of services and applications, from 5G communications to command and control systems. The company puts sustainability at the forefront, with a purposeful design that minimizes and reduces debris and destruction while preserving access to space for future generations. Learn more at e-space.com .

SOURCE E-Space
XI'AN, China, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The weather becomes warmer and spring is evident everywhere in Xixian New Area, where enterprises and industrial parks focus on scientific and technological innovation. Project construction in Xixian New Area is accelerating in 2022. New opportunities offered by Qinchuangyuan, the province's innovation platform, speeds up industrial development, enabling this open and innovative city to align with the world with strong momentum.

In the first quarter of 2022, Xixian New Area signed 48 projects through the combination of online and offline channels, with a total investment of RMB 86.046 billion, and introduced ten Fortune 500 companies, six Top 500 enterprises of China and three Top 500 enterprises in industry, according to Xixian New Area Administrative Committee.

Shaanxi is a province with abundant science and education resources. In order to transform its technological advantages into economic advantages, in March 2021, the construction of the Qinchuangyuan innovation platform was launched. This platform will serve as an incubator for collaboration, an accelerator for commercialization, and a booster for integration, so that universities, research institutes and enterprises can participate in it and jointly promote the industrialization of scientific and technological achievements. The headquarters of Qinchuangyuan is located in Xixian New Area.

In the past year, Xixian New Area has focused on implementation of provincial and municipal plans and expended great effort in building the Qinchuangyuan headquarters. As a result, the number of national high-tech enterprises has increased by 53%, new small- and medium-sized technology enterprises have grown by 48%, and technology contract transactions have increased by 34% there. The New Area ranks first among the 65 pilot units nationwide in the formation of Innovation China. The effect of combination of these initiatives and the leading innovation role played by the Qinchuangyuan headquarters have strengthened at high speed.

Resource agglomeration showing the demonstration effect

In order to accelerate the gathering of scientific and technological initiatives and stimulate development momentum, Shaanxi Province, Xi'an Municipality and Xixian New Area have all introduced supportive policies over the past year. Among them, Xixian New Area has released 15 inclusive policies and measures for the needs of technology enterprises, entrepreneurial talents, innovation platforms, intermediary agencies and other sectors. Investors that introduce technology-based projects to the Qinchuangyuan headquarter will be rewarded with 1% (up to RMB 3 million) of the actual investment when the enterprises are established and reach production capacity as agreed.

In 2021, 431 technology enterprises were introduced into Xixian New Area; 901 new small- and medium-sized technology enterprises were established, and technology contract transactions reached RMB 10.704 billion. Innovation vitality continued to rise and the innovation ecosystem continued to improve, resulting in the aggregation effect of science and technology innovation.

"As the location of the headquarter of the Qinchuangyuan innovation platform, Xixian New Area promotes the joint construction of innovation platforms by enterprises, entrepreneurial and innovation investors, and universities. The New Area focuses on a technological innovation system in which 'enterprises play the leading role, the market is the guide, and industry, universities, research institutes and applications are integrated'. There will be continuous improvement in the ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship, and the agglomeration of a range of innovative initiatives will be accelerated," said Yang Renhua, Secretary of the Party Working Committee of Xixian New Area and Leader of the Qinchuangyuan Innovation Platform Construction Leading Group in the New Area.

Xia Baojun, a representative of enterprises participating in the Cloud Signing at the beginning of this year, said that since the launch of Qinchuangyuan, innovation resources have been increasingly drawn to Xixian New Area, including leading state-owned enterprises and technological innovation services covering finance, law and human resources. This trend has strengthened the confidence of enterprises in developing here, I believe that in the future, more world-class enterprises will take root here and share industry cluster resources.

Collaborative innovation to generate strong momentum

Innovative parks such as Fengdong Free Trade Industrial Park and Western Cloud Valley of Fengxi New City to the north of the Qinling Mountains in Shaanxi are thriving.

On both sides of the Weihe River, innovation platforms such as the Western China Science and Technology Innovation Harbour and the "Soaring Town" of Northwestern Polytechnical University are bursting with vitality, providing a constant flow of talent and intellectual support for Qinchuangyuan.

Along with the fast-tracked establishment of the Qinchuangyuan innovation platform the number of scientific and technological innovation enterprises has mushroomed, and an increasing number of local scientific research achievements are being locally transformed into products. In 2021, Xixian New Area explored a "batch authorization model" for the transformation of innovative achievements with Xi'an Jiaotong University and other universities. A platform of scientific and technological achievements transformation was jointly built with six universities, such as Xidian University. It integrates more than 4,000 large scientific research instruments using an online scientific and technological resource sharing platform, staged 58 road shows and promoted 191 achievement projects.

To date, Qinchuangyuan's technology brokers have processed in excess of 800 high-quality scientific research achievements. Contracts for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements have been signed with more than 120 enterprises. This was effectively enabled by cooperation with 14 universities, including Xi'an Jiaotong University and Northwestern Polytechnical University, and seven research institutes including the 39th Research Institute of the China Electronics Technology Group Corporation.

At the beginning of spring this year, many science and technology innovation enterprises in Western Cloud Valley Phase II in Fengxi New City were busy with scientific research and production, aiming to capitalize on the peak season for orders. At Shaanxi Jukang Gaobo Medical Technology Co., Ltd., the wheels were running at full speed and machines were moving rhythmically, on which mechanical testing of a 3D-printed human dummy was underway.

Yang Chuncheng, general manager of Shaanxi JuKang Gaobo Medical Technology Co., Ltd, said that relying on the Qinchuangyuan innovation platform, a team headed by Professor Li Dichen from Xi'an Jiaotong University completed the transformation of scientific and technological achievements and registered a company for the Controllable Precision Bone-making Project. Innovation support and achievement transformation policies, along with fee exemptions, in the industrial park have boosted the team's R&D momentum.

With the help of the Qinchuangyuan innovation platform, various market players, universities and institutes are engaging in omprehensive interactions, and Qinchuangyuan is pressing forward with high-quality development.

Attracting talents to enhance innovation vitality

In order to enable Qinchuangyuan to attract high-end talents, Shaanxi Province plans to accelerate the introduction of high-end foreign experts this year. A model based on "employment by universities, use by enterprises, and subsidies by the government" will be deployed, and there will be significant support for enterprises for the introduction of high-level talents from China and abroad. A number of overseas offshore innovation centers and intelligence introduction service centers will be built to expand the channels for overseas high-end talents to come to China for cooperative research and academic exchange.

On March 14, Xixian New Area issued the Qinchuangyuan Innovative Talents Plan to facilitate an orderly flow of talents and form an attractive option for innovation and development in Qinchuangyuan. According to the Plan, recognized talents will be rewarded with 100% funding for three consecutive years, based on their personal financial contribution in the previous year. In particular, talent projects funded by national, provincial and municipal authorities will be supported by a combination of equity investment and financial aid. A funding of up to 50% of the total will be given, with a maximum of RMB 1 million.

"We will adhere to the principle of 'enterprises as the main body, talents as the main force, market as the main guide and government as the main driver'. We will accelerate the solicitation and cultivation of key enterprises, pool together resources from state-owned enterprises, universities, institutes and the city of Xi'an, strongly encourage coordinated development, accelerate the construction of the Qinchuangyuan headquarters, and provide strong support for high-quality development of Shaanxi Province and Xi'an city," said Jiang Jianchun, Director of the Xixian New Area Administrative Committee and Executive Deputy Leader of the Qinchuangyuan Innovation Platform Construction Leading Group in the New Area.

Gathering high-end initiative resources globally, a more open Xixian New Area is growing rapidly.

SOURCE Xixian New Area Administrative Committee
Free Tax Calculator Simplifies Estimated Taxes Owed for Quarterly or Annual Tax Filings For 1099 Self-Employed Individuals

SAN JOSE, Calif., March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- FlyFin , a fintech provider, unveiled a free 1099 income tax calculator ideal for individuals who receive 1099 Forms. Powered by FlyFin's proprietary A.I. and M.L. technology, FlyFin's 1099 Tax Calculator makes it easy for 1099 self-employed individuals to compute their quarterly or annual income taxes owed quickly. Individuals who receive 1099 Forms are self-employed, sub-contractors, independent contractors, gig workers, freelancers, and creator economy workers. To use the free, self-employed tax calculator, a self-employed individual needs to download and install FlyFin 's mobile app and spend 10-to-15 minutes to obtain a self employment tax rate and calculation. FlyFin squarely addresses 1099 self-employed individuals and independent contractors'' tax preparation pain, including accounting and tax filing uncertainties and knowing what 1099 deductions qualify. With FlyFin, users can meet deadlines to avoid tax penalties.

FlyFin tax calculator

1099 Form: What, When, and Why

A 1099 Form is a record that an entity or person reports about money paid to an individual during the tax year. Trades or businesses make payments for rents, services provided, attorney fees, interest and dividends to investors, prizes and awards, or other income payments. When these payments are at least $600, the IRS requires that the trade or business (Payer) complete a 1099 MISC Form and send copies to the individual and IRS -- typically before January 31st, for the previous year's income.





FlyFin: Like Autopilot for your taxes

FlyFin helps users stay on top of expenses as they occur -- year-round. FlyFin's continuous expense tracking is a fundamentally different paradigm shift for the tax preparation industry that focuses on a once-per-year basis. FlyFin's Man + Machine tax engine works in the background 24/7, 365 days per year, automatically scanning expense accounts daily to suggest which category to classify each expense based on profession. FlyFin's A.I. and CPAs find all possible self employment tax deductions. Users also have access to the domain expertise of tax CPAs, who review each 1099 self-employed individual's tax information and provide expert help to maximize 1099 tax deductions. Users have the option to consult FlyFin's team of CPAs within the app and have its CPAs file their taxes for just $192. FlyFin ensures 100% accurate tax review and tax preparation, or users can also export their data in an IRS-ready format.

About FlyFin

FlyFin is an AI-powered, SaaS platform that provides self-employed, sub-contractors, independent contractors, gig workers, freelancers, and creator economy workers with a convenient, easy-to-use, affordable tax filing solution. FlyFin helps individuals maximize self employment tax deductions and income tax refunds. FlyFin's 'Man + Machine' approach leverages the power of A.I. paired with CPA expertise to deliver automation that eliminates 95% of work required for 1099 self-employed individuals to prepare their taxes, with tax filing led by world-class CPAs. FlyFin is a privately-held, venture-backed company based in San Jose, California.

(Editor's Note: Artwork available upon request.)

Press Contact:

Carmen Hughes

Ignite X

c: 650.576.6444

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SOURCE FlyFin
BOULDER, Colo., March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Gaia, Inc., is pleased to announce the worldwide, online, premiere of the original series, "Sound of Creation," launching today. The groundbreaking docuseries explores the inherent importance of sound within creation stories across every culture, as well as its transcendent use as a healing modality. The series features an array of notable musicians, teachers, scientists, and healers, discussing the universal power of sound and its impact on our consciousness.

Gaia's new series sets out to prove that sound is the forgotten key to the path of our awakening and enlightenment. Initially building upon the foundational tenets of sound and music as we know it today, "Sound of Creation" then examines the more esoteric wisdom of its use in spiritual mysticism and shamanism. But the most fascinating element of the series may be its deep dive into Cymatics, the study of visual patterns produced by sound at various frequencies, hinting at an unseen, vibrational architecture within the universe.

"Sound of Creation" will feature 10 episodes, with a new, 30-minute episode available on Gaia's streaming service every week  the first episode is currently available online.

"As a conscious media company, Gaia has remained committed to providing programming of the highest quality, with a special focus around the education and investigation of topics otherwise unexplored and what better topic to dive into than sound," Kiersten Medvedich, Gaia's executive vice president of content, said. "Gaia's new original series, 'Sound of Creation' offers a unique, approachable, and educational experience where we learn to ground ourselves as humans, tune into the frequencies that surround us, and observe the noise in our environment  allowing us to become even more deeply attached to our mind-body-spirit connection."

The series will feature popular Gaia hosts, such as Gregg Braden (Missing Links), Dr. Theresa Bullard (Mystery Teachings), Dr. Robert Gilbert, Billy Carson, William Henry, and Robert Grant, host of Gaia's upcoming, original series, "Code X", premiering April 18.

"Sound of Creation" is now available to view and enjoy on the Gaia platform. You may access a 7-day free trial and ongoing membership is $11.99 per month, or you may access the series through an annual membership for $99 per year.

These exciting new series' come on the heels of Gaia's recently reported 19% revenue growth in 2021. This will be the sixth consecutive quarter of positive earnings and double-digit revenue growth, ending the company's year with a record 821,000 members.

About Gaia

Gaia is a member-supported global video streaming service and community that produces and curate's conscious media in four primary channelsSeeking Truth, Transformation, Alternative Healing and Yogato its members in 185 countries. Gaia's library consists of over 8,000 titles, over 80% of which is exclusive to Gaia, and approximately 80% of the views are generated by content produced or owned by Gaia. Gaia is available on Apple TV, iOS, Android, Roku, Chromecast, and sold through Amazon Prime Video and Comcast Xfinity. For more information about Gaia, visit www.gaia.com.

SOURCE Gaia, Inc
Discover the fascinating world of gemstones with this online destination for "all things gemstones"

KNOXVILLE, TN, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, gemstones.com, the leading online destination for gemstones, launched its first broadcast television show at noon EST on JTV's network of over 80 million U.S. households. Gem Discoveries by Gemstones.com will air initially on a weekly basis, immersing viewers in the beauty, history, science and lore of a vast array of fine gemstones  all available for purchase at JTV.com/gemstones and on the gemstones.com storefront at Jedora.com, its two authorized retail outlets.

Backed by industry experts with decades of experience, gemstones.com provides quality education and content to inspire individuals to explore the fascinating world of gemstones and aspires to be the world's leading source of information about color gemstones. Its information and content include online articles, an informational catalogue on over 400 gemstone species through its Gemopedia, as well as photos, videos and in-depth overviews.

Inspiring, educating and entertaining, gemstones.com has adopted a multimedia approach that is relevant to jewelry lovers, gem experts and novice collectors.

"Gemstones.com offers budding enthusiasts as well as advanced professionals with innovative resources that break out of the industry mold," said Tim Matthews, Chief Executive Officer of JTV. "We believe that each stone possesses a rich story, and our expert gemologists' first-hand knowledge will help you discover the amazing world of gemstones. From locality information and treatment disclosures to high quality 360 visuals, we provide everything you need to unearth your own gem journey."

Its website, gemstones.com, is also a trusted authority for stunning gemstone treasures. Built on established relationships across the globe, gemstones.com has access to exclusive and highly sought-after gems as well as classic favorites. Featuring an unparalleled assortment of shapes, sizes and cuts in a kaleidoscope of colors, gemstones.com serves as the exclusive loose gemstone vendor for leading jewelry retailers such as Jedora and JTV.

"Here at Jedora, we understand that gemstones have been cherished since the beginning of time and captivate with their beauty, charm, rarity and mystique," said Lori Kluempke, Senior Vice President of Jedora. "We're dedicated to providing the very best in luxury jewelry and are excited to work with gemstones.com as an authorized retailer. Whether you're investing in an heirloom piece or want to add variety to your collection, Jedora.com has gemstones for every desire and occasion."

Not merely another website, gemstones.com intends to continue its programming on JTV for the foreseeable future. "We're thrilled to be back in the gemstones business in such a significant way with gemstones.com's vast offerings," said Tim Matthews, CEO of JTV. "JTV has a long history of proven leadership in the color gems business. Our collective expertise is unparalleled  with a worldwide network of gem dealers, direct connections with mines and markets, and state-of-the-art testing labs, as well as nearly 30 gemologists and experts on staff. We're proud that JTV is the one-stop, trusted authority for stunning gemstone treasures  from loose gemstones to mineral specimens, we have everything the gem enthusiast, novice collector and jewelry designer could want or need."

To purchase gemstones, visit the gemstones.com store on JTV.com and Jedora.com. For more information regarding gemstones.com, please visit gemstones.com and follow along on social with Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

ABOUT GEMSTONES.COM:

Gemstones.com is a leading authority on color gemstones, the trusted gemological resource for budding enthusiasts and advanced professionals alike. Birthed from a desire to create a reliable, one-stop destination for gem information and backed by industry experts with decades of experience, gemstones.com provides quality education and inspires individuals to explore the fascinating world of gemstones. With a multimedia approach that stimulates interest in gemstones among both experts and novice collectors, gemstones.com offers a vast assortment of engaging content, including a catalogue of over 400 gemstone species.

ABOUT JEDORA:

Jedora, a new jewelry, watches and loose gemstones marketplace, is owned by Multimedia Commerce Group Inc. (MCGI), a leading D2C company. Partnering with best-in-class brands by invitation only, Jedora enables consumers to explore and discover the world of both classic and innovative on-trend jewelry, watches, and loose gemstones from around the globe, right from the comfort of their homes. The new marketplace is vertically oriented, uniquely branded and technology-enabled, providing an easy way to both shop the full landscape of items and choices, or discover specific brands all with a click of a button. With customer experience at the center of the platform, Jedora will also provide educational jewelry information and easy navigation for consumers to discover and explore based on customized and individual buying habits. For more information, visit Jedora.com and Jedora's social media channels: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest, Snapchat and TikTok.

ABOUT JTV:

JTV (Jewelry Television) is the leading retailer of jewelry and gemstones in the United States. With a proven 27-year history, JTV leverages an omni-digital strategy designed to elevate the customer experience through holistic, digitally driven touch points, including live TV programming, 24 hours a day, seven days a week to 80 million U.S. households, an industry leading mobile optimized e-commerce platform, and a robust and engaging social media presence. As part of its commitment to customer satisfaction and the development and distribution of educational content, the company employs numerous Graduate Gemologists and Accredited Jewelry Professionals. JTV.com is one of the largest jewelry e-commerce websites in the country according to Internet Retailer's Top 500 list for 2019. For more information, visit JTV.com and JTV's social media channels: Facebook , Instagram , YouTube , Twitter , Pinterest and LinkedIn.

SOURCE JTV
Global competitiveness and key competitor percentage market shares

Market presence across multiple geographies - Strong/Active/Niche/Trivial

Online interactive peer-to-peer collaborative bespoke updates

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Edition: 17; Released: February 2022

Executive Engagements: 452

Companies: 23 - Players covered include American Beryllia Inc.; Belmont Metals, Inc.; IBC Advanced Alloys Corp.; Materion Corporation; NGK Metals Corporation; Ulba Metallurgical Plant - UMP; Xinjiang Xinxin Mining Industry Co., Ltd. and Others.

Coverage: All major geographies and key segments

Segments: Application (Electronics, Industrial Components, Telecom, Defense, Other Applications)

Geographies: World; USA; Canada; Japan; China; Europe; France; Germany; Italy; UK; Rest of Europe; Asia-Pacific; Rest of World.

Complimentary Project Preview - This is an ongoing global program. Preview our research program before you make a purchase decision. We are offering a complimentary access to qualified executives driving strategy, business development, sales & marketing, and product management roles at featured companies. Previews provide deep insider access to business trends; competitive brands; domain expert profiles; and market data templates and much more. You may also build your own bespoke report using our MarketGlass Platform which offers thousands of data bytes without an obligation to purchase our report. Preview Registry

ABSTRACT-



Global Beryllium Market to Reach 448.2 Thousand Kilograms by 2026

Beryllium (Be), a silver-gray metallic element with compelling properties, is commonly used in a broad range of applications within the aerospace, energy, defense, appliance, automotive, electronics and medical equipment industries. Beryllium is suitable for applications requiring high levels of reliability, quality and safety and is recognized as a critical raw material in nuclear and aerospace industries. Some of the prominent uses of beryllium are electronic connectors in airplanes and cars, and CT scanners and X-ray machines. The element is also used for manufacturing lightweight aluminum components in the automotive industry. Growth in the global market is supported by growing consumption in the computer, electronics, automotive, and telecommunications industries. In terms of technological applications, the rising usage of beryllium-containing alloys could make a significant contribution to the market growth. Additionally, application of copper beryllium alloys in automotive electronics is expected to drive growth in future. Further anticipated favorable economic scenario post COVID-19 pandemic, is likely to accelerate industrial production across various domains and expected to pave way for market progress in the approaching years.

Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for Beryllium estimated at 397.3 Thousand Kilograms in the year 2022, is projected to reach a revised size of 448.2 Thousand Kilograms by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 2.2% over the analysis period. Electronics, one of the segments analyzed in the report, is projected to grow at a 2.2% CAGR to reach 167.3 Thousand Kilograms 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 Industrial Components segment is readjusted to a revised 2.6% CAGR for the next 7-year period. This segment currently accounts for a 24.6% share of the global Beryllium market. Beryllium based products are used in an array of electronic parts, systems and equipment across all the major verticals of electronics sector including consumer electronics, medical electronics, automotive electronics and various other types of electronics. Demand for Beryllium-based industrial components remained robust in line with intensified industrial activity and increased demand for manufactured and processed goods from consumers across the world.

The U.S. Market is Estimated at 149.6 Thousand Kilograms in 2022, While China is Reach 63.2 Thousand Kilograms by 2026

The Beryllium market in the U.S. is estimated at 149.6 Thousand Kilograms in the year 2022. The country currently accounts for a 40.12% share in the global market. China, the world's second largest economy, is forecast to reach an estimated market size of 63.2 Thousand Kilograms in the year 2026 trailing a CAGR of 3.3% through the analysis period. Among the other noteworthy geographic markets are Japan and Canada, each forecast to grow at 2.2% and 2.5% respectively over the analysis period. Within Europe, Germany is forecast to grow at approximately 2.4% CAGR while Rest of European market (as defined in the study) will reach 65.4 Thousand Kilograms by the end of the analysis period. Developed regions including the US, Canada, Japan and Europe constitute the primary consumers of beryllium. The US and Europe are early adopters of the beryllium and beryllium alloys, which gained traction as critical enablers of modern technologies in defense, aerospace, telecommunications, ICT products, energy exploration, medical diagnostics and several other applications. High consumption of beryllium in Asia-Pacific is driven by the increasing use of metals in wireless and fixed optical transmission systems, telecommunications and computers, infrastructure equipment, and routers.

Telecom Segment to Reach 53.4 Thousand Kilograms by 2026

Telecommunication represents a growing sector for beryllium and beryllium products. Telecommunications sector is currently characterized by expansion in mobile networks and increased adoption of mobile phones. Due to its high strength, beryllium alloys find use in wireless, fixed and optical transmission tools such as broadband cable hubs, wireless base receiver stations and wireless network gateway equipment. In the global Telecom segment, USA, Canada, Japan, China and Europe will drive the 1.7% CAGR estimated for this segment. These regional markets accounting for a combined market size of 41.6 Thousand Kilograms will reach a projected size of 46.8 Thousand Kilograms by the close of the analysis period. China will remain among the fastest growing in this cluster of regional markets. Led by countries such as Australia, India, and South Korea, the market in Asia-Pacific is forecast to reach 5.3 Thousand Kilograms by the year 2026. More

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Our MarketGlass Platform is a free full-stack knowledge center that is custom configurable to today`s busy business executive`s intelligence needs! This influencer driven interactive research platform is at the core of our primary research engagements and draws from unique perspectives of participating executives worldwide. Features include - enterprise-wide peer-to-peer collaborations; research program previews relevant to your company; 3.4 million domain expert profiles; competitive company profiles; interactive research modules; bespoke report generation; monitor market trends; competitive brands; create & publish blogs & podcasts using our primary and secondary content; track domain events worldwide; and much more. Client companies will have complete insider access to the project data stacks. Currently in use by 67,000+ domain experts worldwide.



Our platform is free for qualified executives and is accessible from our website www.StrategyR.com or via our just released mobile application on iOS or Android

About Global Industry Analysts, Inc. & StrategyR

Global Industry Analysts, Inc., (www.strategyr.com) is a renowned market research publisher the world`s only influencer driven market research company. Proudly serving more than 42,000 clients from 36 countries, GIA is recognized for accurate forecasting of markets and industries for over 33 years.

CONTACTS:

Zak Ali

Director, Corporate Communications

Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

Phone: 1-408-528-9966

www.StrategyR.com

Email: [email protected]

LINKS

Join Our Expert Panel https://www.strategyr.com/Panelist.asp

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SOURCE Global Industry Analysts, Inc.
Salalah Free Zone, an affiliate of Asyad Group, announced that two usufruct agreements were signed to the tune of RO1.5 million ($3.8 million). The projects will be set up in the Mazaya warehouses.



The first agreement is on the establishment of a complex for the trade of plastic products, while the second agreement is on the establishment of a complex for the assembly of communications equipment on a space of 13,500 sq m, reported Oman News Agency (ONA).



These agreements bring the space of leased warehouses in Salalah Free Zone to 83% of the total Mazaya warehouses, which extend to 58,500 sq m.



Salalah Free Zone is witnessing a boom in the number of projects in industrial and logistical fields. This comes within the free zones efforts in boosting investments by attracting quality projects.



Salalah Free Zone provides many economic incentives for investors, such as tax exemptions and full ownership of projects, while enjoying a strategic position near Salalah Port and Salalah Airport.
FACTS AT A GLANCE Edition: 17; Released: February 2022 Executive Engagements: 5277 Companies: 27 Players covered include Arcadyan Technology Corporation; Askey Computer Corporation; CastleNet Technology, Inc; Cisco Systems, Inc; CommScope; D-Link Corporation; Lindsay Broadband Inc; Netgear, Inc; Technicolor SA; Texas Instruments; TP-Link Technologies Co., Ltd; Ubee Interactive; Zoom Telephonics, Inc; Zyxel Communications Corporation and Others. Coverage: All major geographies and key segments Segments: Type (External, Internal, Interactive); Application (Residential, Commercial, Other Applications) Geographies: World; USA; Canada; Japan; China; Europe; France; Germany; Italy; UK; Spain; Russia; Rest of Europe; Asia-Pacific; Australia; India; South Korea; Rest of Asia-Pacific; Latin America; Argentina; Brazil; Mexico; Rest of Latin America; Middle East; Iran; Israel; Saudi Arabia; UAE; Rest of Middle East; Africa.

Complimentary Project Preview - This is an ongoing global program. Preview our research program before you make a purchase decision. We are offering a complimentary access to qualified executives driving strategy, business development, sales & marketing, and product management roles at featured companies. Previews provide deep insider access to business trends; competitive brands; domain expert profiles; and market data templates and much more. You may also build your own bespoke report using our MarketGlass Platform which offers thousands of data bytes without an obligation to purchase our report. Preview Registry

ABSTRACT-

Global Cable Modems Market to Reach $9.5 Billion by 2026

Cable modems are an evolutionary response to the growing technology demand for alternate internet connectivity. Cable modems are used mainly for delivering broadband Internet access as cable Internet services by utilizing the high bandwidth offered by RFoG and HFC network. The growing demand for high speed Internet services from both residential and commercial sectors, expanding Internet user base, and the growing digitalization process especially in emerging economies is supporting demand for cable modem equipment. The rapid rise in IPTV subscriber base and the escalating demand for high speed broadband services are fueling growth for the external cable modems market. Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for Cable Modems estimated at US$7.7 Billion in the year 2022, is projected to reach a revised size of US$9.5 Billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 4.8% over the analysis period. External, one of the segments analyzed in the report, is projected to record a 5.6% CAGR and reach US$6.6 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 Internal segment is readjusted to a revised 2.7% CAGR for the next 7-year period.

Cable modem along with wireless router plays an important role in enabling customers to exploit the high-speed broadband service. These systems match the broadband service with requirements of customers. Cable modems available on the market are classified on the basis of Data over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS), which covers 1.x, 2.x and 3.x levels. These levels indicate the speed supported by a cable modem, with 3.x modems supporting the highest data transfer speed. Depending on channels, DOCSIS 3.x modems are capable of supporting a download speed of 170Mbs to 1Gbps. A DOCSIS 3.0 modem with eight channels can support 100Mbps Internet service plans. In addition, the use of a router delivers consistent Wi-Fi speeds that are almost close to the speed promised by a service provider. Advanced versions such as DOCSIS 3.1 modems with 24 download channels are capable of supporting ISP plans offering speeds of 300Mbps or higher, irrespective of the use of Wi-Fi network for streaming Netflix or playing video games online. The use of advanced equipment such as cable modem allows customers to enjoy higher Wi-Fi speeds. However, ISP customers who are unable to get desirable broadband speed through Wi-Fi are required to downgrade to a lower-speed plan matching their standard Wi-Fi equipment.

DOCSIS 4.0 technology, the latest version, supports up to 10 Gbps speeds downstream capacity and about 6 Gbps upstream capacity. The technology allows for multi-gigabit symmetric services over HFC networks for residential and business services. The technology supports future applications that would benefit from high speeds and ability to share interactive high resolution videos such as interactive video conferencing, remote learning, IoT, health care applications, and virtual reality.

The U.S. Market is Estimated at $1.9 Billion in 2022, While China is Forecast to Reach $2.2 Billion by 2026

The Cable Modems market in the U.S. is estimated at US$1.9 Billion in the year 2022. China, the world`s second largest economy, is forecast to reach a projected market size of US$2.2 Billion by the year 2026 trailing a CAGR of 6.2% over the analysis period. Among the other noteworthy geographic markets are Japan and Canada, each forecast to grow at 3.3% and 4.1% respectively over the analysis period. Within Europe, Germany is forecast to grow at approximately 3.7% CAGR. In North America, the prospects for cable modem equipment remains high due to the continuous rise in smart homes and the transforming corporate culture that supports BYOD trend in enterprises. The rapid rise in demand for high-speed Internet connectivity to support the needs of households and enterprises alike, especially in China, India, and Southeast Asian countries, is supporting demand for cable modem equipment in the Asia-Pacific region. The growing IT industry and the escalating demand for IPTV services are also expected to support growth of the cable modems market in the region.

Interactive Segment to Reach $1.4 Billion by 2026

In the global Interactive segment, USA, Canada, Japan, China and Europe will drive the 3.7% CAGR estimated for this segment. These regional markets accounting for a combined market size of US$869.5 Million will reach a projected size of US$1.1 Billion by the close of the analysis period. China will remain among the fastest growing in this cluster of regional markets. Led by countries such as Australia, India, and South Korea, the market in Asia-Pacific is forecast to reach US$188.9 Million by the year 2026, while Latin America will expand at a 5.1% CAGR through the analysis period.

Preference for Cable Modems over CATV Networks Presents Growth Opportunities

CATV is a common method of transmitting television signals to a consumer's home, using radio frequency signals transmitted through coaxial cable. Due to technological advancements, CATV can also be transmitted using optical fiber, which utilizes pulses of light to transmit a signal. With the advent of broadband, smart TV, and other new services, a growing number of cable television providers offer cabling infrastructure that supports both cable TV and cable internet. The continuous growth of media industry offers lucrative growth opportunities for CATV equipment. Growing consumer preference, especially in emerging economies, for subscribing television and broadband as a bundled service; and rising adoption of digital television accelerates demand for CATV equipment. In addition, changing technologies and continuous progress in rural electrification is expected to further fuel demand.

Many internet service providers (ISPs) offer customers cable internet service together with television and phone service over the same CATV lines. Cable internet requires installation of a cable modem to connect broadband routers or other devices to Internet service. This in turn bodes well for cable modem equipment market. Cable Internet provides connectivity from the ISP to the end users in a similar manner as fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) and digital subscriber line (DSL). A cable modem and a cable modem termination system (CMTS) are the two types of equipment required to transmit both upstream and downstream data.

In addition to telecommunications networks, Cable TV networks is the other predominant form of residential Internet access. Cable Internet faces increasing competition from fiber deployments, mobile networks, and wireless. Cable internet is more broadly available as they are easier to install, while in comparison, fiber optic connections are complex and expensive to install. The faster speed of fiber-optic Internet services even during peak periods and reliability issues on account of frequent cable interruptions and electricity outages pose considerable challenge to popularity of cable Internet. More

MarketGlass Platform

Our MarketGlass Platform is a free full-stack knowledge center that is custom configurable to today's busy business executive's intelligence needs! This influencer driven interactive research platform is at the core of our primary research engagements and draws from unique perspectives of participating executives worldwide. Features include - enterprise-wide peer-to-peer collaborations; research program previews relevant to your company; 3.4 million domain expert profiles; competitive company profiles; interactive research modules; bespoke report generation; monitor market trends; competitive brands; create & publish blogs & podcasts using our primary and secondary content; track domain events worldwide; and much more. Client companies will have complete insider access to the project data stacks. Currently in use by 67,000+ domain experts worldwide.

Our platform is free for qualified executives and is accessible from our website www.StrategyR.com or via our just released mobile application on iOS or Android

About Global Industry Analysts, Inc. & StrategyR

Global Industry Analysts, Inc., (www.strategyr.com) is a renowned market research publisher the world's only influencer driven market research company. Proudly serving more than 42,000 clients from 36 countries, GIA is recognized for accurate forecasting of markets and industries for over 33 years.

CONTACTS:

Zak Ali

Director, Corporate Communications

Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

Phone: 1-408-528-9966

www.StrategyR.com

Email: [email protected]

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Get Full Report Details

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SOURCE Global Industry Analysts, Inc.
DUBLIN, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Dental Turbine Market Research Report by Product Type, by Turbine Speed, by End User, by Region - Global Forecast to 2027 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Global Dental Turbine Market size was estimated at USD 104.02 million in 2020, is expected to reach USD 115.71 million in 2021, and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 11.59% to reach USD 224.27 million by 2027.



Market Statistics:

The report provides market sizing and forecast across five major currencies - USD, EUR GBP, JPY, and AUD. It helps organization leaders make better decisions when currency exchange data is readily available. In this report, the years 2018 and 2019 are considered historical years, 2020 as the base year, 2021 as the estimated year, and years from 2022 to 2027 are considered the forecast period.



Market Segmentation & Coverage:

This research report categorizes the Dental Turbine to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets:

Based on Product Type, the market was studied across Air Driven Turbines, Electric Turbines, and Hybrid Air-Electric Turbines.

Based on Turbine Speed, the market was studied across High-Speed Dental Turbines and Low-Speed Dental Turbines.

Based on End User, the market was studied across Dental Clinics and Hospitals.

Based on Region, the market was studied across the Americas, Asia-Pacific , and Europe , Middle East & Africa . The Americas is further studied across Argentina , Brazil , Canada , Mexico , and United States . The United States is further studied across California , Florida , Illinois , New York , Ohio , Pennsylvania , and Texas . The Asia-Pacific is further studied across Australia , China , India , Indonesia , Japan , Malaysia , Philippines , Singapore , South Korea , Taiwan , and Thailand . Europe , Middle East & Africa is further studied across France , Germany , Italy , Netherlands , Qatar , Russia , Saudi Arabia , South Africa , Spain , United Arab Emirates , and United Kingdom .

Competitive Strategic Window:

The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies to help the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. It describes the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth during a forecast period.



FPNV Positioning Matrix:

The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Dental Turbine Market based on Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape.



Market Share Analysis:

The Market Share Analysis offers the analysis of vendors considering their contribution to the overall market. It provides the idea of its revenue generation into the overall market compared to other vendors in the space. It provides insights into how vendors are performing in terms of revenue generation and customer base compared to others. Knowing market share offers an idea of the size and competitiveness of the vendors for the base year. It reveals the market characteristics in terms of accumulation, fragmentation, dominance, and amalgamation traits.



Company Usability Profiles:

The report profoundly explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Dental Turbine Market, including AbbVie, Inc., Allergan PLC, Astellas Pharma Inc., AstraZeneca PLC, Bayer AG, Biocon Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Celldex Therapeutics, Inc., Celltrion, Inc., Eli Lilly and Company, Emcure Pharmaceuticals Ltd., F. Hoffman-La Roche Pvt. Ltd, G1 Therapeutics, Inc., Janssen Global Services, LLC, MacroGenics Inc., Merck & Co., Inc., Novartis AG, Pfizer Inc., Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd..



The report provides insights on the following pointers:

1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on the market offered by the key players

2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyze penetration across mature segments of the markets

3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments

4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, certification, regulatory approvals, patent landscape, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players

5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and breakthrough product developments



The report answers questions such as:

1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Dental Turbine Market?

2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Dental Turbine Market during the forecast period?

3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Dental Turbine Market?

4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Dental Turbine Market?

5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Dental Turbine Market?

6. What is the market share of the leading vendors in the Global Dental Turbine Market?

7. What modes and strategic moves are considered suitable for entering the Global Dental Turbine Market?



Key Topics Covered:



1. Preface



2. Research Methodology



3. Executive Summary



4. Market Overview



5. Market Insights

5.1. Market Dynamics

5.1.1. Drivers

5.1.1.1. Increasing number of patients having dental implants and history of periodontitis

5.1.1.2. Advent of technological advancements pertaining to the dental procedure

5.1.1.3. Rise in behavioral risk factors like smoking and diabetes

5.1.2. Restraints

5.1.2.1. High cost of surgical treatment

5.1.3. Opportunities

5.1.3.1. Growing oral health awareness with the rising disposable income

5.1.3.2. Rising demand for cosmetic dentistry

5.1.4. Challenges

5.1.4.1. Risk of infection in a dental setting

5.2. Cumulative Impact of COVID-19



6. Dental Turbine Market, by Product Type

6.1. Introduction

6.2. Air Driven Turbines

6.3. Electric Turbines

6.4. Hybrid Air-Electric Turbines



7. Dental Turbine Market, by Turbine Speed

7.1. Introduction

7.2. High-Speed Dental Turbines

7.3. Low-Speed Dental Turbines



8. Dental Turbine Market, by End User

8.1. Introduction

8.2. Dental Clinics

8.3. Hospitals



9. Americas Dental Turbine Market

9.1. Introduction

9.2. Argentina

9.3. Brazil

9.4. Canada

9.5. Mexico

9.6. United States



10. Asia-Pacific Dental Turbine Market

10.1. Introduction

10.2. Australia

10.3. China

10.4. India

10.5. Indonesia

10.6. Japan

10.7. Malaysia

10.8. Philippines

10.9. Singapore

10.10. South Korea

10.11. Taiwan

10.12. Thailand



11. Europe, Middle East & Africa Dental Turbine Market

11.1. Introduction

11.2. France

11.3. Germany

11.4. Italy

11.5. Netherlands

11.6. Qatar

11.7. Russia

11.8. Saudi Arabia

11.9. South Africa

11.10. Spain

11.11. United Arab Emirates

11.12. United Kingdom



12. Competitive Landscape

12.1. FPNV Positioning Matrix

12.1.1. Quadrants

12.1.2. Business Strategy

12.1.3. Product Satisfaction

12.2. Market Ranking Analysis

12.3. Market Share Analysis, By Key Player

12.4. Competitive Scenario

12.4.1. Merger & Acquisition

12.4.2. Agreement, Collaboration, & Partnership

12.4.3. New Product Launch & Enhancement

12.4.4. Investment & Funding

12.4.5. Award, Recognition, & Expansion



13. Company Usability Profiles

13.1. AbbVie, Inc.

13.2. Allergan PLC

13.3. Astellas Pharma Inc.

13.4. AstraZeneca PLC

13.5. Bayer AG

13.6. Biocon Limited

13.7. Bristol-Myers Squibb Company

13.8. Celldex Therapeutics, Inc.

13.9. Celltrion, Inc.

13.10. Eli Lilly and Company

13.11. Emcure Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

13.12. F. Hoffman-La Roche Pvt. Ltd

13.13. G1 Therapeutics, Inc.

13.14. Janssen Global Services, LLC

13.15. MacroGenics Inc.

13.16. Merck & Co., Inc.

13.17. Novartis AG

13.18. Pfizer Inc.

13.19. Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited

13.20. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.



14. Appendix

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/x5hrla

Media Contact:

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MAKKAH, Saudi Arabia, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- His Excellency Dr. Mohammad Al-Issa, the secretary general of the Muslim World League (MWL), completed this week a seven-day visit to three U.S. states as part of an effort to strengthen relations between Muslims and other faith groups, and insulate American communities against acts of bigotry and hatred.

Dr. Al-Issa, who is widely regarded as the leading global voice on moderate Islam, was honored as the keynote speaker and distinguished guest of the Global Faith Forum, hosted by Pastor Bob Roberts and the Multi-Faith Neighbors Network, in Dallas, Texas. He later visited thriving evangelical churches in Kansas City, Missouri, and Glenarden, Maryland.

The Global Faith Forum is hosted annually to encourage Muslims, Christians and Jews to establish foundations of understanding and cooperation among each other. Through songs of worship, prayers, testimonies, and topical panels, the events across the country are designed to encourage the creation of unlikely alliances, the theme of this year's Forum.

The events came just two months after the hostage crisis at a synagogue just outside of Dallas. The head of the synagogue, Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, joined Dr. Al-Issa at the first event in Texas to elaborate on the importance of multi-faith relationships and understanding.

"We are stronger when we are together, and we are unbeatable when we stand united and resolved to cultivate lasting friendships and understanding regardless of race, ethnicity, faith, gender or creed," Dr. Al-Issa shared in his address to a faith-based audience of almost 1,000 individuals.

"We have all witnessed the discrimination that many in our communities face, and we also share a commitment to a world where intolerance and injustice has no place in our society," Dr. Al-Issa declared. "We are fostering a more inclusive and equal world, where no forms of prejudice or bias exists."

Al-Issa and other faith leaders on the trip hailed the positive contributions of the Charter of Makkah, which Dr. Al-Issa and the MWL spearheaded in 2019 involving more than 5,000 senior Islamic religious leaders and scholars.

Christian leaders hailed Dr. Al-Issa as a transformative figure in building bridges among followers of the Abrahamic faiths.

"This type of gathering has never happened before, especially in the heart of the Bible Belt, but we believe it will be the starting point for change," said Pastor Roberts, who served as program host and convener at all three events.

SOURCE Muslim World League
FACTS AT A GLANCE Edition: 16; Released: February 2022 Executive Engagements: 7935 Companies: 192 Players covered include A&D Medical; American Diagnostic Corporation; Briggs Healthcare; Cardinal Health, Inc.; Easywell Biomedicals, Inc.; Exergen Corporation; Geratherm Medical AG; Hicks Thermometers (India) Limited; Kaz USA, Inc.; Microlife Corporation; Omron Healthcare, Inc.; RG Medical Diagnostics; Terumo Corporation; Welch Allyn, Inc. and Others. Coverage: All major geographies and key segments Segments: Product Segment (Digital Thermometers, Infrared Thermometers, Temperature Strips) Geographies: World; USA; Canada; Japan; China; Europe; France; Germany; Italy; UK; Spain; Russia; Rest of Europe; Asia-Pacific; Australia; India; South Korea; Rest of Asia-Pacific; Latin America; Argentina; Brazil; Mexico; Rest of Latin America; Middle East; Iran; Israel; Saudi Arabia; UAE; Rest of Middle East; Africa.

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ABSTRACT-

Global Medical Thermometers Market to Reach $3.1 Billion by 2026

Medical thermometers are diagnostic medical devices intended to measure the body temperature of humans. The global market for medical thermometers is witnessing enormous gains due to the coronavirus outbreak. Global demand for these devices can be attributed to growing focus on health and fitness, rising geriatric population, increasing awareness about self-care management and growing healthcare spending. Demand in the market is also driven by an increasing number of medical conditions that need physicians or other users to accurately measure body temperature for determining the best treatment option. Mercury-free thermometers, including digital and infrared thermometers, are witnessing increasing popularity owing to various advantages of these thermometers, including user-friendly nature, accuracy and safety. Growing adoption of mercury-free thermometers is also attributed to rising incidence of infectious conditions that require accurate measurement of body temperature for better diagnosis of the disease.

Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for Medical Thermometers estimated at US$2.5 Billion in the year 2022, is projected to reach a revised size of US$3.1 Billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 8.2% over the analysis period. Digital, one of the segments analyzed in the report, is projected to record a 7.2% CAGR and reach US$1.7 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 Infrared segment is readjusted to a revised 9.6% CAGR for the next 7-year period. The global demand for digital body thermometer is driven by advanced functions and benefits of these devices along with increasing awareness about health & fitness. Digital thermometers are perceived to be more accurate in comparison to conventional analog mercury-based devices, and don't rely on mercury for detecting temperature. Infrared thermometers segment is expected to witness healthy demand owing to the increasing popularity of these devices to control infection and improve patient safety on account of their non-contact operation. These thermometers are anticipated to find a broader adoption in healthcare and homecare settings.

Demand for infrared thermometers benefits significantly from the rise in national healthcare spending as growth in the number of healthcare facilities and an improvement in existing infrastructure translates to a surge in demand for such equipment. With global population projected to reach about 9.7 billion by the year 2050, the need for improved healthcare for the increasing masses is becoming a critical factor for government and health authorities across the world. A key fall out of the growing population is the rising healthcare burden. Several factors are triggering a high prevalence of infectious diseases. Also, the world's population is rapidly aging supported by the increase in longevity as modern medicine becomes increasingly effective in preventing chronic disease, and reducing mortality. The aging population creates massive challenges for the healthcare system. By the year 2025, the need to care for an aging population will require a large and specialized healthcare workforce. Against this background, the demand for infrared thermometers for healthcare and medical sectors will continue to grow rapidly.

Compounding the already heavy healthcare burden is the spread and frequent outbreak of Infectious diseases such as immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), Hepatitis A, malaria and tuberculosis, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), dengue, Zika virus, Swine Flu, viral haemorrhagic fevers, meningitis, seasonal influenza and other pandemic and epidemic diseases, the latest one being the COVID-19. These infectious diseases are also on the rise, especially in developing countries that lack proper sanitation, inadequate civic amenities for the poorer communities, poor public health systems, insufficient epidemic preparedness and response, and lack of planned coordination and programs to handle public health emergencies. Nosocomial infections or hospitals acquired infections are also high in developing countries, given the lack of safety standards implemented or followed for both patient safety and care giver safety. All of these factors result in the preventable spread of infectious diseases that cost the healthcare systems billions of dollars in medical care and related services.

The U.S. Market is Estimated at $918.9 Billion in 2022, While China is Forecast to Reach $314 Million by 2026

The Medical Thermometers market in the U.S. is estimated at US$918.9 Billion in the year 2022. China, the world`s second largest economy, is forecast to reach a projected market size of US$314 Million by the year 2026 trailing a CAGR of 8.3% over the analysis period. Among the other noteworthy geographic markets are Japan and Canada, each forecast to grow at 6.4% and 7.5% respectively over the analysis period. Within Europe, Germany is forecast to grow at approximately 8% CAGR. The US is estimated to maintain its strong position in the coming years on account of technological advancements, rising investment in R&D, and growing concerns pertaining to self-health care management. The market growth is also facilitated by the high incidence of infectious diseases, advanced healthcare infrastructure, large patient pool, and favorable healthcare policies. Increasing investment in medical infrastructure and rising healthcare expenditure are expected to propel demand in the Asia-Pacific region.

Hospitals & Clinics Application Segment to Reach $1.3 Billion by 2026

Commonly used in hospitals and clinics, the recent years have witnessed an increasing number of hospitals in countries such as China and India replacing the age-old mercury thermometers with digital thermometers. In the global Hospitals & Clinics Application segment, USA, Canada, Japan, China and Europe will drive the 7.06% CAGR estimated for this segment. These regional markets accounting for a combined market size of US$732.2 Million will reach a projected size of US$1.2 Billion by the close of the analysis period. China will remain among the fastest growing in this cluster of regional markets. Led by countries such as Australia, India, and South Korea, the market in Asia-Pacific is forecast to reach US$70.3 Million by the year 2026, while Latin America will expand at 8% CAGR through the analysis period. More

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SOURCE Global Industry Analysts, Inc.
Global competitiveness and key competitor percentage market shares

Market presence across multiple geographies - Strong/Active/Niche/Trivial

Online interactive peer-to-peer collaborative bespoke updates

Access to our digital archives and MarketGlass Research Platform

Complimentary updates for one year

Edition: 9; Released: February 2022

Executive Engagements: 13641

Companies: 48 - Players covered include 3M Company; Augustine Surgical, Inc.; Barkey GmbH & Co. KG; Becton, Dickinson and Company; Care Essentials; Cincinnati Sub-Zero Products, Inc.; Enthermics, Inc.; GE Healthcare; Geratherm Medical AG; Inspiration Healthcare Group plc; Koninklijke Philips N.V.; LivaNova PLC; Medtronic plc; NOVAMED; Paragon Medical; Smiths Medical, Inc.; Stihler Electronic GmbH; Stryker Corporation; The 37Company; ZOLL Medical Corporation and Others.

Coverage: All major geographies and key segments

Segments: Product Type (Surface Warming Systems, Intravascular Warming Systems, Patient Warming Accessories); Application (Acute Care, Perioperative Care, New-Born & Pediatric Care, Other Applications)

Geographies: World; USA; Canada; Japan; China; Europe; France; Germany; Italy; UK; Spain; Russia; Rest of Europe; Asia-Pacific; Australia; India; South Korea; Rest of Asia-Pacific; Latin America; Argentina; Brazil; Mexico; Rest of Latin America; Middle East; Iran; Israel; Saudi Arabia; UAE; Rest of Middle East; Africa.

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ABSTRACT-

Global Patient Warming Devices Market to Reach $2.5 Billion by 2026

Patient warming devices are routinely used in clinical settings to provide relief and help patients tolerate unintended loss of the body heat by maintaining the normal body temperature, resulting in low risk of complications and faster recovery. These devices are widely used by the medical staff to improve patient care during patient transfer and surgeries as well as deal with severely diseased or injured patients. Anesthetized patients and people with traumatic injuries hold high risk of developing hypothermia, a critical challenge owing to associated complications. Patient warming devices are an indispensable component of targeted temperature management, also termed as protective or therapeutic hypothermia. Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for Patient Warming Devices estimated at US$2 Billion in the year 2022, is projected to reach a revised size of US$2.5 Billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 5.5% over the analysis period. Surface Warming Systems, one of the segments analyzed in the report, is projected to grow at a 4.3% CAGR to reach US$1.1 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 Intravascular Warming Systems segment is readjusted to a revised 6.8% CAGR for the next 7-year period. This segment currently accounts for a 28.9% share of the global Patient Warming Devices market. Surface warming devices dominate market growth and are witnessing growing popularity on account their user-friendly nature, affordability and safety.

The U.S. Market is Estimated at $715.9 Million in 2022, While China is Forecast to Reach $327.7 Million by 2026

The Patient Warming Devices market in the U.S. is estimated at US$715.9 Million in the year 2022. The country currently accounts for a 35.26% share in the global market. China, the world's second largest economy, is forecast to reach an estimated market size of US$327.7 Million in the year 2026 trailing a CAGR of 7.7% through the analysis period. Among the other noteworthy geographic markets are Japan and Canada, each forecast to grow at 3.9% and 5.3% respectively over the analysis period. Within Europe, Germany is forecast to grow at approximately 4.4% CAGR while Rest of European market (as defined in the study) will reach US$351.9 Million by the close of the analysis period.

The market is receiving a major push from the prevalence of chronic conditions, especially oncology and cardiovascular ailments, coupled with increasing geriatric population. Continuous surge in aging population in developing regions like Europe and North America is expected to bolster the demand for patient warming devices. These devices are poised to garner considerable attention in the medical practice to ensure rewarming following surgeries and managing severely wounded people who are at high risk of developing hypothermia. Another prominent factor that is slated to boost global demand is the increasing number of blood transfusion procedures. The blood loss due to severe injuries and the immediate requirement for blood transfusion at the time of emergency surgery and treatment create the need to maintain the body temperature. In order to avoid complications during transfusion, hospitals are increasingly using blood warmers and fluids for bringing the temperature of blood to the body's temperature. A sizeable fraction of heart bypass surgeries across countries rely on cooling-heating devices. These warming devices are anticipated to gain significant prominence in healthcare facilities for preventing hypothermia during surgical interventions.

Patient Warming Accessories Segment to Reach $666.3 Million by 2026

In the global Patient Warming Accessories segment, USA, Canada, Japan, China and Europe will drive the 5.7% CAGR estimated for this segment. These regional markets accounting for a combined market size of US$390.5 Million will reach a projected size of US$575.6 Million by the close of the analysis period. China will remain among the fastest growing in this cluster of regional markets. Led by countries such as Australia, India, and South Korea, the market in Asia-Pacific is forecast to reach US$51.5 Million by the year 2026, while Latin America will expand at a 7.3% CAGR through the analysis period. More

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Our platform is free for qualified executives and is accessible from our website www.StrategyR.com or via our just released mobile application on iOS or Android

About Global Industry Analysts, Inc. & StrategyR

Global Industry Analysts, Inc., (www.strategyr.com) is a renowned market research publisher the world`s only influencer driven market research company. Proudly serving more than 42,000 clients from 36 countries, GIA is recognized for accurate forecasting of markets and industries for over 33 years.

CONTACTS:

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Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

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Email: [email protected]

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SOURCE Global Industry Analysts, Inc.
DUBLIN, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Viral Vaccine Cell Culture Media Market Distribution by Type of Cell Culture, Type of Media, Scale of Operation, Type of End-User, and Key Geographical Regions : Industry Trends and Global Forecasts, 2022-2035" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This report features an extensive study of the current market landscape and the likely future potential of the viral vaccine cell culture market, over the next decade. The study also features an in-depth analysis, highlighting the capabilities of various industry stakeholders engaged in this field.

Over the past few years, a number of advanced vaccines targeting a myriad of disease indications have received approval from various regulatory authorities. Post the onset of COVID-19, there has been a surge in the demand for viral vaccines. In fact, it is estimated that more than 4.5 billion people, across the globe, have received at least a single dose of COVID-19 vaccine. In other words, around 60% of the global population has been vaccinated against COVID-19. However, as the global population continues to rise, the demand for such vaccines is likely to be there in the foreseen future as well. Taking into consideration the prevalent trends, the global vaccines market is anticipated to be worth around USD 100 billion in 2025. Amidst the recent initiatives in this context, several viral vaccine media developers have established various partnerships for the clinical and commercial manufacturing of viral vaccines.



Vaccine manufacturing is a highly regulated and challenging process; specifically, the production of viral components or whole viruses further adds to the complexity. Additionally, it is paramount for vaccine cultures to be devoid of any contamination and be highly effective. In order to mitigate the aforementioned challenges, pharma and biotech companies are gradually adopting viral vaccine cell culture media for vaccines manufacturing.

The recent surge in vaccine demand amidst the COVID-19 pandemic has served to facilitate a strong case for organizations to opt such media for the development and manufacturing of large quantities of vaccines. In fact, players engaged in this domain have shifted their focus towards serum free and animal component free media to carry out vaccine manufacturing owing to the various benefits offered by these media formulations, including low contamination rate. Given that the demand for viral vaccine is indubitably rising, the corresponding opportunity for viral vaccine cell culture media is expected to witness steady growth, over the next decade.

Amongst other elements, the report features:

A detailed overview of the overall market landscape of players engaged in the development of viral vaccine cell culture media, along with the information on their year of establishment, company size, location of headquarters. Further, it highlights a detailed assessment of the overall market landscape of over 80 viral vaccine cell culture media, based on several relevant parameters, such as type of vaccine (protein subunit, viral vector, whole virus), type of cell culture (adherent and suspension), type of cell culture media (serum free, animal component free, protein free), purpose of media (Vero cell lines, human embryonic kidney (HEK) cell lines, Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cell lines, baby hamster kidney (BHK) cell lines, Madin-Darby bovine kidney (MDBK) cell lines, other cell lines), media formulation (liquid and powder), and application area (research use and manufacturing).

Elaborate profiles of prominent players (shortlisted based on number of products being offered) engaged in the development of viral vaccine cell culture media. Each company profile features a brief overview of the company, along with information on its year of establishment, number of employees, location of headquarters, key executives, financial details / information (if available), product portfolio, recent developments and an informed future outlook.

An analysis of the recent developments and initiatives within the viral vaccine cell culture media industry, highlighting information on several partnerships and collaborations and expansion initiatives that have taken place in this domain, during the period 2015-2021.

An in-depth analysis of more than 130 vaccine developers and 50 vaccine contract manufacturers that are likely to partner with viral vaccine cell culture media providers. These players have been shortlisted based on several relevant parameters, such as developer strength (which takes into account a company's size and its experience in this field), pipeline strength and maturity (based on the number of pipeline drugs and affiliated stage of development) and availability of other vaccine development and manufacturing related capabilities.

An in-depth product competitiveness analysis of viral vaccine cell culture media based on supplier power (in terms of expertise of the developer) and key product-related specifications (such as type of media, purpose of media, application area, type of vaccine, media formulation).

An elaborative brand positioning analysis of the leading industry players (shortlisted on the basis of year of establishment and company size), highlighting the current perceptions regarding their proprietary brands across viral vaccine cell culture media.

Insightful patent analysis presenting an overview of how the industry is evolving from the R&D perspective. For this analysis, we considered over 3400 patents that have been filed / granted for viral vaccine cell culture media, between 2015 and 2021 (till November), highlighting key trends associated with these patents, across type of patents, publication year, issuing authorities involved, emerging focus area, patent age, CPC symbols, leading patent assignees (in terms of number of patents granted / filed), patent characteristics and geography. It also includes a detailed patent benchmarking and an insightful valuation analysis.

An informed estimate of the annual demand for viral vaccine cell culture media (in terms of volume of media required for total number of cells), based on key geographical regions.

Key Questions Answered

Who are the key players engaged in the development of viral vaccine cell culture media?

Which type of cell culture is most commonly offered by viral vaccine cell culture media developers?

What type of partnership models are commonly adopted by stakeholders engaged in this industry?

What is the relative competitiveness of different viral vaccine cell culture media?

Who are the most likely partners for vaccine cell culture media developers?

What are the key challenges currently faced by stakeholders in this industry?

What are the anticipated future trends related to viral vaccine cell culture media developers?

How is the current and future market opportunity likely to be distributed across key market segments?

Key Topics Covered:



1. PREFACE



2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY



3. INTRODUCTION

4. MARKET LANDSCAPE

4.1. Chapter Overview

4.2. Viral Vaccine Cell Culture Media: Overall Market Landscape

4.2.1. Analysis by Type of Vaccine

4.2.2. Analysis by Type of Cell Culture

4.2.3. Analysis by Type of Cell Culture Media

4.2.4. Analysis by Type of Cell Culture and Media

4.2.5. Analysis by Type of Cell Line

4.2.6. Analysis by Type of Cell Culture Media and Type of Cell Line

4.2.7. Analysis by Media Formulation

4.2.8. Analysis by Application Area

4.3. Viral Vaccine Cell Culture Media Developers: Market Landscape

4.3.1. Analysis by Year of Establishment

4.3.2. Analysis by Company Size

4.3.3. Analysis by Location of Headquarters

4.3.4. Analysis by Number of Products



5. COMPANY PROFILES

5.1. Chapter Overview

5.2. Players based in North America

5.2.1. Creative Biolabs

5.2.1.1. Company Overview

5.2.1.2. Financial Information

5.2.1.3. Product Portfolio

5.2.1.4. Future Outlook

5.2.2. Jianshun Biosciences

5.2.2.1. Company Overview

5.2.2.2. Financial Information

5.2.2.3. Product Portfolio

5.2.2.4. Future Outlook

5.2.3. Thermo Fisher Scientific

5.2.3.1. Company Overview

5.2.3.2. Financial Information

5.2.3.3. Product Portfolio

5.2.3.4. Future Outlook

5.3. Players based in Europe

5.3.1. Merck

5.3.1.1. Company Overview

5.3.1.2. Financial Information

5.3.1.3. Product Portfolio

5.3.1.4. Future Outlook

5.3.2. Sartorius

5.3.2.1. Company Overview

5.3.2.2. Financial Information

5.3.2.3. Product Portfolio

5.3.2.4. Future Outlook

5.3.3. Xell

5.3.3.1. Company Overview

5.3.3.2. Financial Information

5.3.3.3. Product Portfolio

5.3.3.4. Future Outlook

5.4. Players based in Asia-Pacific

5.4.1. ATZ labs

5.4.1.1. Company Overview

5.4.1.2. Financial Information

5.4.1.3. Product Portfolio

5.4.1.4. Future Outlook

5.4.2. OPM Biosciences

5.4.2.1. Company Overview

5.4.2.2. Financial Information

5.4.2.3. Product Portfolio

5.4.2.4. Future Outlook



6. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AND INITIATIVES

6.1. Chapter Overview

6.2. Partnership Models

6.3. Viral Vaccine Cell Culture Media: Recent Partnerships and Collaborations

6.3.1. Analysis by Year of Partnership

6.3.2. Analysis by Type of Partnership

6.3.2.1. Analysis by Year and Type of Partnership

6.3.2.2. Analysis by Type of Partnership and Company Size

6.3.3. Most Active Players: Analysis by Number of Partnerships

6.3.4. Regional Analysis

6.3.4.1. Intercontinental and Intracontinental Agreements

6.3.5. Cumulative Year-wise Trend of Merger / Acquisition

6.3.6. Analysis by Type of Acquisition

6.3.7. Analysis by Key Value Drivers

6.3.8. Analysis by Year of Acquisition and Key Value Drivers

6.4. Viral Vaccine Cell Culture Media: Recent Expansions



7. LIKELY PARTNER ANALYSIS

7.1. Chapter Overview

7.2. Scope and Methodology

7.3. Potential Strategic Partners for Viral Vaccine Cell Culture Media Developers

7.3.1. Likely Partner Opportunities in Preventive Vaccine Developers

7.3.2. Likely Partner Opportunities in Therapeutic Vaccine Developers

7.3.3. Likely Partner Opportunities in Vaccine Contract Manufacturers



8. PRODUCT COMPETITIVENESS ANALYSIS

8.1. Chapter Overview

8.2. Methodology

8.3. Assumptions / Key Parameters

8.4. Product Competitiveness: Adherent Cell Culture Media

8.5. Product Competitiveness: Suspension Cell Culture Media



9. BRAND POSITIONING

9.1. Chapter Overview

9.2. Key Parameters and Methodology

9.3. Brand Positioning Matrix: Cytiva

9.4. Brand Positioning Matrix: FUJIFILM Wako Chemicals

9.5. Brand Positioning Matrix: Lonza

9.6. Brand Positioning Matrix: Merck

9.7. Brand Positioning Matrix: Sartorius

9.8. Brand Positioning Matrix: Thermo Fisher Scientific



10. PATENT ANALYSIS

10.1. Chapter Overview

10.2. Scope and Methodology

10.3. Viral Vaccine Cell Culture Media: Patent Analysis

10.3.1. Analysis by Type of Patent

10.3.2. Analysis by Publication Year

10.3.3. Analysis by Granted Patents

10.3.4. Year-wise Trend of Filed Patent Applications

10.3.5. Analysis by Issuing Authority

10.3.6. Analysis by Patent Focus

10.3.7. Analysis by Patent Age

10.3.8. Analysis by CPC Symbols

10.3.9. Analysis by Type of Applicant

10.3.10. Leading Players: Analysis by Number of Patents

10.4. Viral Vaccine Cell Culture Media: Patent Benchmarking Analysis

10.4.1. Analysis by Patent Characteristics

10.4.2. Analysis by Geography

10.5. Viral Vaccine Cell Culture Media: Patent Valuation Analysis



11. DEMAND ANALYSIS



12. MARKET FORECAST



13. CONCLUSION



14. INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT(S)



15. APPENDIX I: TABULATED DATA



16. APPENDIX II: LIST OF COMPANIES AND ORGANIZATIONS



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/uupvl4

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

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SOURCE Research and Markets
Mr. Lynn attended the University of Maryland on a full scholarship, earning a bachelor's degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice in 2003, and the Columbus School of Law in Washington for his Juris Doctorate in 2007.

In addition to his considerable legal accomplishments, Mr. Lynn's more precocious achievements extend to the field of biology. When just 17 years old, Mr. Lynn cloned and sequenced a previously undiscovered virus while working as a research scientist at the USDA. Then, at age 19, while studying at the University of Maryland, he was handpicked to participate in a three-week research project in Australia, where he studied sea cucumbers in Great Barrier Reef.

Mr. Lynn is a proud husband and father and fan of the outdoors. When not in the office, he enjoys traveling, hiking, camping and whitewater rafting. Mr. Lynn also spent much of his childhood in Germany, and speaks the language fluently as a result.

Sam will focus his work on representing people and families that have suffered catastrophic harm because of the conduct of others.

Gomez Trial Attorneys is one of California's leading plaintiffs trial firms. With 7 offices throughout the State, Gomez Trial Attorneys has the resources, experience, and knowledge to take on even the biggest defendants and most challenging cases. For more information about Gomez Trial Attorneys visit TheGomezFirm.Com or call 833-Get-Gomez.

SOURCE Gomez Trial Attorneys
From Now Until March 31, 2022, Clients Will Get $500 Off a Paint Job Worth $5,000 or More

SAN JOSE, Calif., March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Joel Gruber, Founder of the Bay Area painter company Gruber Painting, is pleased to announce the launch of a coupon that offers $500 dollars off painting projects, from now until March 31, 2022.

To learn more about the Gruber Painting Coupon, please check out https://gruberpainting.com/gruber-painting-winter-special-10-off-2/ .

As Gruber noted, he is always looking for ways to show his valued customers how much he appreciates their business. This inspired him to launch the March coupon, which will knock $500 off a contracted job worth at least $5,000. There are no gimmicks, strings, red tape or odd conditions attached to this offer, he said.

"Sign the contract, get the discount, get the new paint you've been aching for and the bold, beautiful new look you and your home deserve for the coming season. It's just that easy," Gruber said, adding that the Winter Special is ideal for people whose existing paint job is looking tired, worn, old or weathered.

To make taking advantage of the coupon as easy as possible, Gruber Painting is offering a free, no-obligation site walkthrough and estimate. Prior to March 31, people can call the office or schedule their appointment on the Gruber Painting website.

"Once we've signed the contract and we've got your home or business on our schedule, we'll automatically make $500 vanish off your final billjust like magic."

Gruber said he and his team are proud to be the San Jose painting contractor that home and business owners trust to help make their properties look their absolute best. For over 12 years, Gruber Painting has worked with new and returning customers, and they truly enjoy giving home and business owners a "Wow!" experience.

About Gruber Painting:

Gruber Painting was established in April of 2009. They offer Interior and Exterior Paint Services, Interior Redecorations, and Minor Restoration Service in the Silicon Valley. Serving San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties plus parts of Alameda County, Gruber Painting treats each client's home or office even better than they would their own, from Day One to Job Done. For more information, please visit https://www.gruberpainting.com/ .

Gruber Painting

61 Bonaventura Dr.

San Jose, CA 95134

650-417-5323

SOURCE Gruber
HOUSTON, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Tomiko Brown-Nagin will lead a discussion entitled, "Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality," as the keynote speaker at the University of Houston Law Center's annual Yale L. Rosenberg Memorial Lecture. The lecture will be held virtually through Zoom and will begin at 6:30 p.m. Central on Tuesday, March 22.

Brown-Nagin serves as the Dean of the Radcliffe Institute, the Daniel P.S. Paul Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School and a member of the History Department at the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences. In her latest book, she explores the life and times of Constance Baker Motley, a pathbreaking lawyer, politician, and judge who was a prominent figure in the civil rights movement.

UH Law Center Dean Leonard M. Baynes noted, "The Yale Rosenberg Lecture is the UH Law Center's most prestigious speaker series named after the trailblazing Law Center Professor Yale Rosenberg. I am delighted that we are able to bring an academic scholar and visionary of the caliber of Dean Tomiko Brown-Nagin of the Radcliff Institute and Harvard Law School to our campus. At the Law Center, we aim to focus on contemporary issues of the day such as the conversation about appointing the first African American woman to the U.S. Supreme Court and how that may resonate with the trailblazing career and confirmation of Judge Constance Baker Motley who when she was confirmed in 1966 was the first African American woman to serve as a U.S. federal judge."

An award-winning legal historian and an expert in constitutional law and education law and policy, Brown-Nagin is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Law Institute, and the American Philosophical Society, a fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and a distinguished lecturer for the Organization of American Historians. A frequent lecturer and media commentator about issues in law, history and higher education, Brown-Nagin has published articles and book chapters on a wide range of topics, including the Supreme Court's equal protection jurisprudence, civil rights law and history, the Affordable Care Act, and education reform. Her 2011 book, "Courage to Dissent: Atlanta and the Long History of the Civil Rights Movement "(Oxford), won six awards, including the Bancroft Prize in U.S. History.

Click here to register.

Click here for more information

University of Houston Law Center media contacts: Carrie Anna Criado, UH Law Center Assistant Dean of Communications and Marketing, 713-743-2184, [email protected]; Elena Hawthorne, Assistant Director of Communications and Marketing, 713-743-1125, [email protected].

About the University of Houston Law Center

The University of Houston Law Center (UHLC) is a dynamic, top tier law school located in the nation's 4th largest city. UHLC's Health Law, Intellectual Property Law, and Part-time programs rank in the U.S. News Top 10. It awards Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D.) and Master of Laws (LL.M.) degrees, through its academic branch, the College of Law. The Law Center is more than just a law school. It is a powerful hub of intellectual activity with more than 15 centers and institutes which fuel its educational mission and national reputation. UHLC is fully accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools.

About the University of Houston

The University of Houston is a Carnegie-designated Tier One public research university recognized with a Phi Beta Kappa chapter for excellence in undergraduate education. UH serves the globally competitive Houston and Gulf Coast Region by providing world-class faculty, experiential learning and strategic industry partnerships. Located in the nation's fourth-largest city and one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse regions in the country, UH is a federally designated Hispanic- and Asian-American-Serving institution with enrollment of more than 47,000 students.

About Yale L. Rosenberg

The Yale L. Rosenberg Memorial Fund was established to fund a student-writing prize and to bring distinguished speakers to the Law Center. Rosenberg joined the University of Houston Law Center faculty in 1972 after a distinguished career in government. His teaching of Civil Procedure, Federal Jurisdiction, Professional Responsibility, and Jewish Law earned him the UH Teaching Excellence Award in 2000. An award-winning scholar, Rosenberg has been called "America's prophet" for his analysis of the decline of federal habeas corpus. An alumnus of Rice University, he graduated from New York University Law School in 1964. Past Rosenberg speakers have included Samuel L. Levine, Joshua Dressler, David Dow, Cornell Brooks, Renee Knake Jefferson, Gabriel "Jack" Chin, Tanya Kateri Hernandez, and Nelson Tebbe.

To view and download COMPARATIVE AMERICAN AND TALMUDIC CRIMINAL LAW by Irene Merker Rosenberg and Yale L. Rosenberg, a book published electronically by the University of Houston Law Center, please visit: law.uh.edu/rosenberg/jewishlaw/ .

SOURCE University of Houston Law Center
"5G and IoT data-driven applications are pushing the limits for datacenter and networking power requirements. Next-generation systems are already migrating to 48V bus systems due to interconnect and printed circuit board copper losses," said Shuji Mikami, general manager of low power products department. "Previously, we released PE25204 as part of our FlexiCP portfolio, discrete charge pump IC, which is akin to a virtually lossless DC transformer. Now, we are unveiling the MYC0409 UltraCP charge pump capable of ultra-high efficiency conversion from 48 Vin bus in a low profile, compact PSiP package."

Companies have traditionally relied upon brick converters to stepdown from 48V to the intermediate bus, usually 12V. The MYC0409 breaks the mold by enabling system architects to design high density, 48V converters in a smaller footprint with enhanced efficiency and low ripple performance. System designers have the flexibility to choose between creating a single high-power bulk 48V bus system with MYC0409 devices connected in parallel or distributing individual MYC0409 devices close to the point-of-load, thereby reducing system PCB copper losses.

Product Features

The MYC0409 is designed to operate in a fixed divide-by-4 mode over an input voltage range of 20V to 60V, which extends its usage to 24V to 36V input applications typically used in consumer battery charging and industrial supplies. The charge pump-based DC-DC converter supports an output voltage range of 5V to 15V with load currents of 6A and up to 72W delivered to the external load. Featuring an extended temperature range of -40 to +105, the MYC0409 is fully protected with input undervoltage, overcurrent protection and thermal shutdown fault detection.

*Specifications and appearance are subject to change without notice.

Packaging and Availability

The MYC0409 is 11.5 x 9.5 x 2.0 mm and offered in Land-Grid-Array packaging (LGA). Contact your regional sales representative for information about evaluation kits, samples and parts. To learn more, visit the product page or watch our webinar on How Murata is Changing the Power Density Paradigm  Part 1 or How Murata is Changing the Power Density Paradigm  Part 2.

About Murata

Murata Manufacturing Co. Ltd. is a worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and sale of ceramic-based passive electronic components and solutions, communication modules and power supply modules. Murata is committed to the development of advanced electronic materials and leading edge, multi-functional, high-density modules. The company has employees and manufacturing facilities throughout the world. For more information, visit Murata's website at www.murata.com.

SOURCE Murata
The UAE is in the process of developing the regions first Stem Cells Bank that will see the country become a stem cells tourism hub, officials have announced.

The announcement came at the first Mena Stem Cells Forum from March 18 to 19, which focused on a $467 billion global industry, and brought all stakeholders to push for increased funding and research that could bring significant changes in peoples life in the Middle East and North Africa.

Dr Rehab Al Blooshi, Acting Medical Director of Dubai Cord Blood and Research Centre, part of the Dubai Health Authority, said: We already have a Stem Cells Bank within Dubai Cord Blood and Research Centre and we are discussing with other health authorities to develop a nation-wide Stem Cells Bank to strengthen this new scientific and medical innovation sector. It is in the process.

Dubai Cord Blood and Research Centre offers collection and preservation of umbilical cord from new-born babies and preserve them for 30 years with a fee of around AED9,000 ($2,450). This represents the first Stem Cells Bank in the UAE.

Officials also called for strong regulatory guidelines to regulate stem cells research, therapy and practice as it sometimes falls into the grey area of nature, ethics, culture and religion.

Dr Shahrukh Hashmi, Chairman, Seha Oncology Council; Chairman, Department Oncology/ Hematology, Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City, UAE, said: The stem cells industry needs strong regulation globally. We need strict guidelines for the industry to evolve ethically.

Dr Al Blooshi said a set of regulatory guidelines for the stem cells sector has been issued in the UAE a year ago to regulate the sector which is evolving through clinical trials.

It is important to have a national registry of stem cells so that we could offer better research and treatment, as the industry evolves. The UAE is well ahead of others when it comes to regulation and ethical practice as we have seen the first regulatory guideline for stem cell research and therapy being issues in the UAE last year.

We now need a regulatory regime for the entire Middle East and North Africa that will help develop a coordinated approach to the stem cell research and therapy.

Dr Asawari Bapat, Mena Stem Cells Forum Conference Chairman and International Ambassador of AABB, Consultant to Info Health FZE, Dubai, said: The UAE is going to be the centre for future stem cell research and therapy as well as stem cells tourism, the way the country is developing its stem cell research capability.

Dr Timothy Schroeder, Chairman, CEO, and Founder of CTI Clinical Trial & Consulting Services, said: We have to tell the rest of the world why stem cells researchers should come to UAE and treat patients, rather than sending the patients to the Western countries for treatment.

We are now seeing the development of human organs in the US  that technology and innovation could be brought to the UAE. The UAE is going to be the centre of future stem cells research and this is how the UAE could also become a centre for stem cells tourism industry.

Countries from Middle East and North Africa region are going to strengthen stem cells research in the coming years in order to reinforce research and benefit from stem cells therapies, experts said at the first two-day Mena Stem Cells Forum that kicked off at the Movenpick Grand, Al Bustan Hotel Dubai.

Organised by Great Minds Events Management (GM Events), the two-day conference and exhibition is participated by more than 250 delegates from more than 15 countries where more than 30 officials and experts gathered to discuss the latest scientific developments and innovations in the stem cell therapy and associated areas. The exhibition features more than 25 participants.

The global stem cells market is expected to grow at an incredible compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25.5% from 2018 to $467 billion by 2024, according to a research by Market Watch.

This significant event takes place at a time when the world struggled to fight the different variants of Covid-19 viruses that disrupted global growth. Many experts look at stem cells research as a possible solution to tackle such pandemics in future.

The stem cells therapy market includes large number of players that are involved in development of stem cell therapies of the treatment of various diseases, Market Watch said in its report.

The growth of the market is attributed to the rising number of clinical trials and the growing adoption of stem cells therapies globally. In the context of Covid-19, government organisations in various countries, research institutes, and many biotech and pharmaceutical firms are focusing on effective and rapid technologies for the fast diagnosis of Covid-19.

According to a 2020 research article published in the scientific journal Aging and Disease (2020), mesenchymal stem cells are a safe and effective approach to the treatment of Covid-19. At least 10 projects have been registered in the official international registry for clinical trials, implicating the use of mesenchymal stem cells to patients with coronavirus pneumonia. However, it is still at an initial stage of study in relation to the market studied.

Mena Stem Cells Forum is supported by Dubai Health Authority, Zewail City, American Board of Regenerative Medicine, American Academy of Regenerative Medicine and Association for the advancement of Blood & Biotherapies (AABB). The event has attracted more than 10 specialised media partners.

Dr Hatim Al Abbas  Acting Director, Dubai Cord Blood and Research Centre, UAE, said: Working in the field of stem cells therapy makes you see the light shine again in those innocent eyes that have been exhausted by disease and then you realise that stem cells are like a miracle. Our meeting here on the land of Dubai, the land of achieving miracles, makes us work to make stem cell therapy of all kinds available to everyone.

The Mena Stem Cells Forum is the first event of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) to focus on this sector. This exclusive meeting will discuss key trends and topics, such as stem cell banking, scientific research, applications, public awareness, and regulations.

The event is the regions biggest platform where local, regional, and international experts, key opinion leaders, researchers, physicians and other experts from academia and industry share their experiences and knowledge on the latest advancements, crucial topics and the challenges in the stem cells research and therapy.

Leila Masinaei, Managing Partner, Great Mind Events Management, said: Stem cells research is an important development that has gained greater significance in recent times, and especially after the Covid-19 pandemic which many experts feel could be tackled through stem cell research and innovation.

We have decided to launch the Mena Stem Cells Forum to bring all the stakeholders to focus on this important scientific development that can play a crucial role in better health and longevity. Greater research in bio-technology and stem cells could produce much better results and enhance average life expectancy worldwide.

We are pleased to see the initial response from the health and scientific community who have gathered at the Mena Stem Cells Forum. This will go a long way in stem cells research in the Gulf and the Middle East.

Stem cell therapy has become a significant and innovative scientific development giving hope to both health professionals and patients worldwide. The development of treatment methods has achieved great results globally especially in the Middle East and North Africa, where stem cell therapy and regenerative medicine are fast-moving and expansive, and if progress continues at its current pace, the region could become one of the worlds centers for biomedical research. In fact, the size of the Middle East and Africa stem cells market is estimated to reach $2.85 billion by the end of 2026, according to Market Data Forecast.

Mena Stem Cells Forum addresses all the advances and the pressing challenges in the stem cells market through opening speeches, scientific presentations, panel discussions and more. -- TradeArabia News Service
PITTSBURGH, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- "We thought there could be a better way to encourage children to take their pain and fever medicine," said one of two inventors, from Castlerock, Colo., "so we invented YUMMY GUMMY KIDS MEDS. Our design offers a novel alternative to traditional liquid medicine."

The invention provides a unique form of pain and fever medication. In doing so, it offers immediate relief from the symptoms of a fever, headache, etc. It also reduces hassles and it provides added peace of mind for parents. The invention features a novel and all-natural design that is easy to administer and consume so it is ideal for children. Additionally, it is producible in design variations.

The original design was submitted to the Denver sales office of InventHelp. It is currently available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, write Dept. 20-DNV-164, InventHelp, 217 Ninth Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, or call (412) 288-1300 ext. 1368. Learn more about InventHelp's Invention Submission Services at http://www.InventHelp.com.

SOURCE InventHelp
WASHINGTON, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Payroll experts and officials from the IRS and other government agencies will examine key payroll industry issues impacting employee paycheck accuracy and employer tax compliance at the American Payroll Association's (APA) Capital Summit. The two-day conference will be held at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington D.C., March 21-22.

"Capital Summit brings together top government agency officials directly with payroll professionals to advise them on timely issues affecting payroll compliance and employee paychecks," said Dan Maddux, executive director of the APA.

The conference will feature speakers from multiple organizations, including the IRS, the FBI, the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division, the Office of Child Support Enforcement, and more. Presenters will cover key issues impacting payroll operations, such as:

The implications of ACH and FedNow payment networks on businesses and payroll

The latest requirements for mobile and remote workers

Updates from the Internal Revenue Service on current tax issues at the federal level

Capital Summit provides attendees the unique opportunity to learn the latest regulatory developments directly from government agency officials and payroll experts. On-site registration takes place on Monday, March 21 from 7:00 a.m.  8:00 a.m. All registrants must agree to APA's health and safety policies, including a requirement for full vaccination to attend. All registrants will be asked to prove their vaccination status using the Clear Health Pass.

The American Payroll Association (APA) is the nation's leader in payroll education, publications, and training. Visit APA online at www.americanpayroll.org.

Contact Information:

Cynthia Crise

Cell: (417) 299-2930

E-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE The American Payroll Association
LONDON, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The 'Smarter Contracts' project has been launched by LawtechUK to encourage greater understanding and use of 'smarter' contracts by businesses globally.

Smarter contracts are legally-binding digital contracts that use technology to provide benefits over conventional contracts. They range from simple applications like electronic signatures all the way through to sophisticated 'self-executing' contracts. Smarter contracts are changing the way people live and work for the better and, as businesses across sectors realise that technology is available to improve and evolve contracts, the use of smarter contracts will increasingly become the norm. LawtechUK's explainer video is here.

Billions of contracts are entered into each year, with 26% of people regularly handling contracts in their everyday work. Digital contracts offer significant benefits, including increased efficiency and productivity, greater trust and transparency, and reduced risks of fraud. Paper-based and manual ways of contracting result in businesses missing out on 9%1 of revenue each year. Moving from paper to digital trade documents is anticipated to free up an estimated 224 billion in efficiency savings and generate 25 billion in global economic growth by 2024.2

The project includes a Smarter Contracts Report and a new Smarter Contracts & Digital Assets Hub with a range of additional guidance, insights, courses and resources, intended to provide a central space to learn more.

LawtechUK and its UK Jurisdiction Taskforce (UKJT) worked with collaborators across sectors, professions and countries to produce the Smarter Contracts Report. The examples included in the Report demonstrate why smarter contracting adds value to business practices and show how widely the technology is already being used across commercial, financial and consumer sectors. They include:

The use of digital documents and blockchain technology in supply chains reducing friction in global trade and transforming logistics operations

Self-executing contracts being central to renewable energy microgrids, with the automatic recording of transactions and immediate payments for small amounts of energy significantly increasing efficiency and enabling the transition to clean energy

Smarter contracts and blockchain technology being used to expedite the sale, purchase and registration of homes

Smarter parametric insurance contracts allowing for immediate payments to be made as soon as the relevant data is recorded - for example, when flights are delayed or storm damage occurs

Smart legal contracts and non-fungible tokens being securely linked to the ownership of physical assets, revolutionising the way assets are traded with economic and environmental advantages

In the UK, work by the Law Commission and LawtechUK's UKJT has provided a strong legal foundation for the mainstream use of smarter contracts, including through the Legal Statement on Cryptoassets and Smart Contracts, the Law Commission's advice on smart legal contracts and electronic trade documents, and the Digital Dispute Resolution Rules.

Emma Dearnaley, LawtechUK: "Contracts are a vital part of business activity across all sectors. Yet many still approach contracts in much the same way as we have for centuries, creating and managing them in paper form. Technology makes this unnecessary now. Contracts and the valuable data they contain can be digitised, offering a wide range of benefits and the opportunity to reimagine contracts as live sources of intelligence that add value to business all the time. At LawtechUK we wanted to build on the legal and technical work already done by shining a light on practical 'smarter contract' solutions to real-world problems, to spark ideas and inspire confidence in the further use of these new technologies."

Sir Geoffrey Vos, Master of the Rolls and Chair of LawtechUK's UK Jurisdiction Taskforce: "The Smarter Contracts report explains how smarter contracts and blockchain technology are currently being used. The theory is to dispel the myth that blockchain is a fringe technology used only by those wanting to risk their livelihoods or possibly make their fortunes on volatile cryptoassets like Bitcoin. The blockchain is now at a stage in its development equivalent to where the internet was in or around 1995. The internet was unstoppable in 1995 and blockchain technology is unstoppable now. It will become ubiquitous in all major industrial and financial sectors, simply because it allows for the immutable recording of data, thereby reducing friction in commercial and consumer transactions and obliterating the scope for dispute as to what has occurred. This technology is not something that might happen in years to come; it is happening now. Our report collates some of the most accessible examples."

Professor Sarah Green, Law Commissioner for Commercial and Common Law at Law Commision of England and Wales: "Digital and smarter ways of contracting could revolutionise the way we do business, particularly by increasing efficiency and transparency. The Law Commission has concluded that electronic signatures can be used to execute documents and that the existing law of England and Wales is clearly able to facilitate and support the use of smart legal contracts. This confirms that the jurisdiction of England and Wales provides an ideal platform for the use of a wide range of 'smarter contracts' in practice. The Law Commission's related work on electronic trade documents, digital assets and conflict of laws will further support the use of smarter contracts. The Smarter Contracts report published by LawtechUK is a helpful practical contribution to show the market how technology is already revolutionising contracts."

1 https://www.worldcc.com/Resources/Content-Hub/View/ArticleId/9773/Poor-Contract-Management-Continues-To-Costs-Companies-9-Of-Their-Bottom-Line

2 https://www.lawcom.gov.uk/project/electronic-trade-documents/

About LawtechUK

LawtechUK is an initiative to support the transformation of the UK legal sector through technology, with a targeted work programme delivered through collaboration between the UK's Ministry of Justice, Tech Nation and the LawtechUK Panel.

https://lawtechuk.io/

For more information, please contact: Corrie Raine, 07887593940 [email protected]

SOURCE LawtechUK
Featuring pre-clinical research solutions to include an all-human triculture model, thyrocytes for use in 3D models, and genotyped human hepatocytes

A series of engaging events during SOT will offer researchers opportunities to connect directly with LifeNet Health LifeSciences subject matter experts

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. , March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- LifeNet Health LifeSciences, a leader in all-human biomedical research solutions, will showcase a unique new triculture system during the Society of Toxicology Annual Meeting and ToxExpo in San Diego, March 27-31. The triculture system is the first all-human liver model to offer unparalleled human relevance, along with a new level of reproducibility and predictability.

LifeNet Health LifeSciences will also offer a live exhibitor-hosted session and four poster presentations at SOT  in addition to showcasing a full portfolio of human-based cell, biospecimen, and cell-model solutions, including primary human hepatocytes and liver non-parenchymal cells; snap frozen and FFPE block liver tissue samples; healthy and diseased tissues for comparative studies; and a prospective research biospecimen program.

"Increasingly, use of human cells and tissues is a must-have during every stage of the drug discovery pipeline," said Louis Dias, General Manager of LifeNet Health LifeSciences. "Our unique innovations bring new levels of precision and consistency to in vitro biology, to accelerate development of safer, more effective treatments."

SOT attendees can learn more by visiting the LifeNet Health LifeSciences subject matter experts at booth #2204. Additional activities during the meeting include:

Chief Scientist Ed LeCluyse , PhD, will offer an exhibitor-hosted session on the new LifeNet Health LifeSciences triculture system on March 28 from 9 to 10 a.m. PST .

, PhD, will offer an exhibitor-hosted session on the new LifeNet Health LifeSciences triculture system on from . Scientist Eda Rogers , PhD, will present a poster titled "An In Vitro Human Thyroid Model to Screen and Classify Thyroid-Disrupting Chemicals with Various Modes of Action" on March 28 from 2:30 to 4:15 p.m. PST .

, PhD, will present a poster titled "An Human Thyroid Model to Screen and Classify Thyroid-Disrupting Chemicals with Various Modes of Action" on from . Mary Jane Cunningham , PhD, Director for Clinical Applications and Services, will present a poster titled "Application of Activity Scoring System to Analyze Trends in Primary Human Hepatocytes' Donor Genotypes" on March 29 from 9 to 10:45 a.m. PST .

, PhD, Director for Clinical Applications and Services, will present a poster titled "Application of Activity Scoring System to Analyze Trends in Primary Human Hepatocytes' Donor Genotypes" on from . Scientist Jessica Weaver , PhD, will present a poster titled "Characterization of Morphology, Longevity, and Functionality in an All-Human Cell Based Tri-Culture System" on March 30 from 10:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. PST .

, PhD, will present a poster titled "Characterization of Morphology, Longevity, and Functionality in an All-Human Cell Based Tri-Culture System" on from . Dr. LeCluyse will present a poster titled "An In Vitro Tri-Culture System to Assess Compound-Induced Hepatic Clearance of Thyroxine in Humans," based on research from Kristina Wolf , PhD, in collaboration with Corteva Agriscience, on March 30 from 10:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. PST .

Get the latest SOT news and announcements by visiting LNHLifeSciences.org/SOT.

About LifeNet Health LifeSciences

LifeNet Health LifeSciences is an innovative leader, trusted collaborator, and reliable solutions provider  with a commitment to providing game-changing innovations in human in vitro biology. Discover more at LNHLifeSciences.org.

SOURCE LifeNet Health
BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich., March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Serving as a testament to its success in delivering innovative customer solutions, Logicalis US, an international IT solution and managed services provider, today announced that CRN, a brand of The Channel Company, named the company to the 2022 Tech Elite 250 list. This list recognizes solution providers across the U.S. and Canada that have earned the highest level of technical certifications from leading technology suppliers such as Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Dell Technologies, Cisco and more. This represents the eleventh time that Logicalis has been named to the Tech Elite 250.

Logicalis US provides technology solutions, services and expertise in the area of security, modern data center, collaboration, networking and cloud for customers to meet today's IT challenges. The company works with its partners to maintain high levels of certification and achieve the highest tiers within partner programs. Logicalis' status as a Cisco Global Gold and Microsoft Azure Expert MSP reinforces its continued commitment to leveraging strong industry partnerships to provide customers the best solutions for their businesses.

"As Architects of Change, we are committed to working alongside customers and providing effective solutions that contribute to their business success. Recognition on the CRN Tech Elite 250 underscores our work to deliver expert-level service to customers across the country," said Logicalis US CEO Jon Groves. "We are honored to be on the list for an eleventh time and will remain focused on bringing the best, most innovative solutions alongside our industry partners. I want to thank and congratulate all employees for their roles in earning us this continued recognition."

Solution providers on the Tech Elite 250 are recognized for their commitment to supporting customers with training and expertise to help them overcome today's IT challenges and achieve full digital transformation across the enterprise.

"CRN's annual Tech Elite 250 list recognizes solution providers that have earned top-level certifications from key technology suppliers and proven their ability to consistently meet the high standards of their customers and partners," said Blaine Raddon, CEO of The Channel Company. "Solution providers featured on this list have maintained a consistent focus on innovation and have built a comprehensive understanding of the ever-evolving technologies and practices that enable ongoing success in the IT channel. We're proud to honor them in this manner."

Coverage of the Tech Elite 250 will be featured in the April issue of CRN Magazine and online at www.CRN.com/techelite250.

About The Channel Company

The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers, and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequalled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelcompany.com

Follow The Channel Company: Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

About Logicalis US

Award-winning Logicalis US works alongside our customers to recommend, plan, and implement a digital transformation strategy that aligns with their business goals. Through our consulting and managed services and with our longtime strategic partners, we then deliver custom security, network, collaboration, cloud, and data center solutions.

Logicalis employs over 6,400 people worldwide, including highly trained service specialists who design, deploy and manage complex IT infrastructures to meet the needs of over 10,000 corporate and public sector customers. To achieve this, Logicalis maintains strong partnerships with technology leaders such as Cisco, HPE, IBM, EMC, NetApp, Microsoft, VMware and ServiceNow on an international basis. It has specialized solutions for enterprise and medium-sized companies in vertical markets covering financial services, TMT (telecommunications, media and technology), education, healthcare, retail, government, manufacturing and professional services, helping customers benefit from cutting-edge technologies in a cost-effective way.

The Logicalis Group has annualized revenues of over $1.5 billion from operations in Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia Pacific and is one of the leading IT and communications solution integrators specializing in the areas of advanced technologies and services.

The Logicalis Group is a division of Datatec Limited, listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, with revenues of over $4.1 billion.

SOURCE Logicalis
 Researchers describe rapid, low-cost drug development approach

 Paper also reports preclinical and early clinical data for LMN-101

SEATTLE, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A common food source has been converted into a biomanufacturing platform that offers a way to rapidly produce mass quantities of biologic drugs for common diseases that currently lack effective treatments. Researchers at Lumen Bioscience report in Nature Biotechnology their groundbreaking genetic engineering methods to highly express bioactive proteins in spirulina using large-scale cultivation and processing methods appropriate for biopharmaceutical manufacturing.

The publication also details favorable preclinical and early-stage clinical testing of these manufactured, orally delivered neutralizing antibodies against campylobacter, a major cause of infant mortality in the developing world and a growing antibiotic resistance threat. The product, LMN-101, is now proceeding through Phase 2 clinical trials, and BARDA's CARB-X program is funding development of a second-generation version of this product.

The publication, "Development of Spirulina for the Manufacture and Oral Delivery of Protein Therapeutics" is accessible online here.

"Genetic engineering has transformed the manufacturing of biological products over the past 50 years, yet plant-based biopharmaceutical production has remained an elusive challenge," said Jim Roberts, M.D., Ph.D., lead author and co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Lumen Bioscience. "Spirulina-based biomanufacturing combines the safety of food-based biotechnology with genetic engineering methods to produce biopharmaceuticals that may address medical needs that current drug-development tools have failed to solve."

Spirulina, a photosynthetic cyanobacterium, is a highly nutritious food and the only microorganism commercially farmed worldwide as a food. Previous attempts to convert this safe, scalable food source into a biomanufacturing platform have proven futile. In the new paper, Lumen researchers detail methods for the constitutive and stable expression of protein therapeutics in spirulina, with productivities and potencies tens to hundreds of fold higher than achievable in other food-based platforms. These advances in scalability and potency make orally delivered biologics commercially feasible for the first time.

"Delivering therapeutic amounts of protein biologics to the intestine presents an enormous challenge, and for this reason targets in the GI tract have long been considered almost undruggable," Roberts said. "The spirulina platform elegantly addresses this challenge. It can be used to produce and deliver the enormous quantities of ingestible biotherapeutics that will be needed to both prevent and treat gastrointestinal diseases. Preventing and treating diarrheal disease, the example reported in today's paper, offers an excellent case study: these highly prevalent diseases have devastating impacts in the developing world, but traditional drug-making tools have failed to generate a solution despite decades of heavy investment. The approach described in today's publication offers new hope to the individuals exposed to these diseases."

Beyond campylobacter, Lumen is currently applying the technology to a growing list of highly prevalent diseases, including the following publicly disclosed programs:

LMN-201, a complex biologic cocktail for prevention of C. difficile infection (in collaboration with National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and Rockefeller University )

infection (in collaboration with National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and ) LMN-301, an antibody cocktail for Covid-19 intended for both upper airway and GI delivery (funded in part by the US Army Medical Research and Development Command and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation)

A complex biologic cocktail for treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (targets not yet disclosed)

In collaboration with Novo Nordisk, orally delivered biologics against GI targets relevant to cardiometabolic disease (targets not yet disclosed)

About Lumen

Lumen Bioscience discovers, develops, and manufactures biologic drug candidates for highly prevalent diseasesmany of which currently lack any effective treatments. The company's unique drug development and manufacturing platform offers the potential to transform the biologics industry through increased speed, mass-market scale, and exponentially lower costs than current approaches. Lumen's clinical pipeline includes investigational biologic drugs for C. difficile infection, Covid-19, cardiometabolic disease, inflammatory bowel disease, norovirus, and traveler's diarrhea. For more information, visit: www.lumen.bio .

Media Contact:

Julie Rathbun

+1.206.769.9219

[email protected]

SOURCE Lumen Bioscience
DUBLIN, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Myanmar Telecoms Industry Report - 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The second edition of this report provides analyses of revenue and market forecasts as well as statistics of the Myanmar telecoms industry including market sizing, 5-year forecasts, market insights, key telecom trends, 5G and also features the following:

Overall Telecommunications Market by Major Operators

Telco Operators Profile, Revenue and EBITDA Mix

Mobile Subscribers & Revenue Market Overview and Forecasts

Spectrum Holdings

IoT Market Overview

Telecoms Infrastructure Review: Towers, backbone fibre, submarine cables & data centres

Broadband Subscribers & Revenue Market Overview and Forecasts

National Broadband Network Detailed Market Overview and Forecasts

Thematics / Opportunities relating to 5G, M&A and e-Commerce

Telco M&A Transaction Database

Key Report Benefits:

Benefit from the latest market opportunities

Understand the threats to your operations and investments and protect your company against future risks

Gain insights on emerging trends supporting, enhancing or disrupting your activities in the market

Get a full view of the competitive landscape to assess your market position.

Forecasts as a key input for successful budgeting and strategic business planning in the telecoms market

Target business opportunities and risks in the telecoms sector through our reviews of latest industry trends, regulatory changes and major deals, projects and investments

Assess the activities, strategy and market position of your competitors, partners and clients via the Operators Profiles

Key Developments:

Military coup impacting foreign direct investments

New 15% tax on Internet data (mobile and fixed)

Telenor's market exit from Myanmar is expected to be finalised in 2022 with the Lebanon headquartered M1 Group and the Shwe Byain Phyu Group expected to take over the operations.

is expected to be finalised in 2022 with the headquartered M1 Group and the Shwe Byain Phyu Group expected to take over the operations. Marked slowdown in tower infrastructure rollout.

Mytel growth in both mobile broadband services

The publisher expects the Myanmar telecommunications industry to remain steady thanks to the defensiveness nature of the industry, amid the political uncertainties and an uncertain economic outlook due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Key Topics Covered:





1 Key Statistics

1.1 Myanmar's Population & Households

1.2 2021 Military Coup

1.3 Myanmar's Economy

1.4 Myanmar's GDP



2 COVID-19 IMPACT



3 Overall Telecommunications Market, 2015-2027

3.1 Market Overview

3.2 Historical Telecommunications Market Revenue, 2015-2021

3.3 Overall Telecommunications Market Forecast, 2020-2027

3.4 Telecommunications Market Capital Expenditure, 2015-2027



4 Telecommunications Operators Profile

4.1 Myanmar Post and Telecommunications Profile

4.2 Telenor Myanmar

4.3 Ooredoo Myanmar Profile

4.4 MyTel

4.5 Other Players Profile

4.5.1 Yatanarpon Teleport

4.5.2 5BB Broadband

4.5.3 Other Broadband Providers



5 Mobile market

5.1 Mobile Subscribers Historical and Forecast, 2015-2027

5.2 Mobile Revenue Historical and Forecast, 2015-2027

5.3 Spectrum Holdings

5.4 Mobile Download Data and Pricing Trends

5.5 Mobile Speed Tests

5.6 Internet of Things (IoT)



6 Broadband Market

6.1 Fixed Broadband Subscribers Historical, 2015-2021

6.2 Fixed Broadband Subscribers Forecast, 2020-2027



7 Fixed Telecommunications Infrastructure Investments

7.1 Fixed Digital Infrastructure

7.1.1 Domestic Fibre Infrastructure

7.1.2 FTTH - 6m premises to go

7.2 Submarine Cables



8 Myanmar Telecom Towers Market Analysis, 2021

8.1 Myanmar Telecom Towers Market Overview

8.2 Myanmar Telecom Towers Background

8.3 4G Mobile Coverage Expansion

8.4 Myanmar Mobile Tower Infrastructure

8.5 Myanmar Telecom Towers & rooftops Market Forecast

8.6 Myanmar Economic Cooperation Profile

8.7 Irrawaddy Green Towers Profile

8.8 Eco Friendly Tower Profile

8.9 AP towers Profile

8.10 edotco Profile

8.11 OCK Profile

8.12 Telco Infrastructure Comparative



9 Thematics / Opportunities

9.1 Consolidation Opportunities

9.2 Diversification Opportunities

9.3 New Telco Operating Model

9.4 5G Developments

9.4.1 5G Overview

9.4.2 5G - Relative Capex Investments and Frequency Range

9.4.3 5G OpenRAN

9.4.4 Beyond 5G



10 Telco Transaction Database



Companies Mentioned

5BB Broadband

Hyalroute (MFOCN)

Irrawaddy Green Tower (IGT) Myanmar Post & Telecommunications (MPT)

MyanmarNet

Mytel

Ooredoo Myanmar

Telenor Myanmar

YTP

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/ekigqa

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

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
NAVER's artificial intelligence (AI) division to introduce a new AI development method and share successful cases of its application

NAVER CLOVA head to highlight AI utilization to solve business problems in various industries

AI experts to share insights on successful AI usage through world-class infrastructure

SEONGNAM, South Korea, March 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- NAVER CLOVA, NAVER's (KRX: 035420) artificial intelligence (AI) division, announced today that it is presenting at NVIDIA GTC, which runs from March 21-24, 2022. Hosted by NVIDIA, this annual global AI developer conference will include more than 900 sessions delivered by 1,400 presenters, including industry leaders in AI, high-performance computing and computer graphics.

Under the theme 'AI Strategy for Business Leaders,' Chung Suk-geun, head of NAVER CLOVA, will talk about enabling AI transformation with hyperscale AI, and Park Woo-myoung, Conversational AI team leader of NAVER CLOVA, will share insights and cases from experts who performed successful AI applications through world-class infrastructure.

In May 2021, NAVER CLOVA introduced HyperCLOVA, the first hyperscale AI language model in Korea. Based on its leading research and development (R&D) capabilities and global network of AI experts, as well as robust data from NAVER services, NAVER began operating an NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD supercomputer with a capacity of 700 petaflops (PF) in October 2020 to accelerate development of its hyperscale AI. NAVER is the first among private companies in the country to implement such infrastructure.

NAVER's implementation of AI applications to its real-world services and products globally is unmatched. Hyperscale AI is now being applied across NAVER services, including search and shopping, which are widely used by Koreans. NAVER CLOVA's AI technology is also used by many third parties that are incorporating AI capabilities in their products and services. National government agencies and local administrations are using NAVER's AI-powered conversation agent call services to help monitor COVID-19 patients throughout the prolonged pandemic and to communicate with senior citizens as part of social welfare services.

Through constant R&D with the world's leading AI experts, NAVER CLOVA will continue advancing its AI technology to become an AI-transformation enabler for everyone from small businesses and creators to third-party developers, with the aim of providing easy-to-use 'AI to empower everyone.'

At GTC, NAVER CLOVA will introduce various case studies of AI use which have shown promising results in solving problems as the technology advances. NAVER CLOVA will also introduce a new AI development methodology used in developing HyperCLOVA as a solution to replace existing AI models that tend to rely on the modeler's capabilities and lengthy development periods.

Interested parties can sign-up for NAVER CLOVA's sessions through the GTC website.

NAVER CLOVA's sessions at GTC will include:

Enabling AI Transformation with Hyperscale AI : Chung Suk -geun, head of NAVER CLOVA, will discuss cases of solving business problems across various industries, such as customer service, commerce and public service/healthcare, by building common intelligence based on hyperscale AI. The session also includes key factors for businesses to consider when adopting hyperscale AI. The 50-minute session will start at 10 a.m. KST (GMT +9) on March 24 .

: -geun, head of NAVER CLOVA, will discuss cases of solving business problems across various industries, such as customer service, commerce and public service/healthcare, by building common intelligence based on hyperscale AI. The session also includes key factors for businesses to consider when adopting hyperscale AI. The 50-minute session will start at KST (GMT +9) on . Achieving AI success with world-class AI infrastructure  Insights from AI High performers: Park Woo -myoung, Conversational AI team leader at NAVER CLOVA, will be among a panel of AI implementers who've deployed AI at scale by using NVIDIA DGX systems, sharing what they are doing to achieve maximum bottom-line impact with AI. The implementers will share their learnings and best practices for businesses to uncover insights faster and ensure higher returns on investment in AI projects. The 50-minute session will start at 6 a.m. KST (GMT +9) on March 23 .

The links to each session above will be available to watch after the event ends.

About NAVER

Founded in 1999, NAVER is Korea's largest Internet company with hundreds of millions of users worldwide. As a global technology company, it operates the No.1 search engine in Korea, NAVER, as well as other online services, such as LINE mobile messenger, Webtoon and Webnovel publishing, SNOW video camera app and ZEPETO metaverse platform. NAVER recorded sales of KRW 6.8 trillion (USD 5.6 billion) in 2021 and is pursuing changes and innovations in technology platforms through continuous research and development of future technologies, such as artificial intelligence, robotics and mobility.

For media inquiries, please contact Weber Shandwick Korea, NAVER Corporation's global PR agency, at [email protected].

SOURCE Naver Corporation
What's New for 2022?

Global competitiveness and key competitor percentage market shares

Market presence across multiple geographies - Strong/Active/Niche/Trivial

Online interactive peer-to-peer collaborative bespoke updates

Access to our digital archives and MarketGlass Research Platform

Complimentary updates for one year

Edition: 10; Released: February 2022

Executive Pool: 74231

Companies: 104 - Players covered include 3GTMS, Inc.; 4flow AG; Advantech Co., Ltd.; APL Logistics Ltd.; Atos Syntel Inc.; Blue Yonder Group, Inc.; Hexaware Technologies Limited; IBM Corporation; Mindtree Ltd.; Oracle Corporation; SAP SE; Tech Mahindra Limited; Unisys Corporation; Vormittag Associates, Inc.; XPO Logistics and Others.

Coverage: All major geographies and key segments

Segments: Solution (Hardware, Software, Services); Deployment (Cloud, On-Premise)

Geographies: World; USA; Canada; Japan; China; Europe; France; Germany; Italy; UK; Rest of Europe; Asia-Pacific; Rest of World.

Complimentary Project Preview - This is an ongoing global program. Preview our research program before you make a purchase decision. We are offering a complimentary access to qualified executives driving strategy, business development, sales & marketing, and product management roles at featured companies. Previews provide deep insider access to business trends; competitive brands; domain expert profiles; and market data templates and much more. You may also build your own bespoke report using our MarketGlass Platform which offers thousands of data bytes without an obligation to purchase our report. Preview Registry

ABSTRACT-

Global Digital Transformation Spending in Logistics to Reach $75.5 Billion by 2026

COVID-19 is emerging to be the biggest driver of digital transformation. Over 60% of companies in North America, Europe and Asia expect to witness a higher velocity of change in digital transformation during the years 2020 through 2023. Digital transformation is now visible in all industrial sectors. With companies across all industries including logistics going online launching digital initiatives, investments in automation is rising. The COVID-19 has been a wake-up call for companies to make substantial and realistic plans to leverage emerging technologies and concepts like robotics, IIoT and smart factory for pushing productivity, reducing overall costs and gaining an edge over competitors. Industry 4.0-led automation is a savior for manufacturers, especially for companies operating in countries known for high labor costs. The concept paves way for highly dynamic processes through automated assemblies, and warehouses. Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for Digital Transformation Spending in Logistics estimated at US$52.2 Billion in the year 2022, is projected to reach a revised size of US$75.5 Billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 8.8% over the analysis period. Hardware, one of the segments analyzed in the report, is projected to grow at a 8.2% CAGR to reach US$38.3 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 Software segment is readjusted to a revised 8.9% CAGR for the next 7-year period.

The U.S. is Estimated at $15.1 Billion in 2022, While China is Forecast to Reach $13.7 Billion by 2026

Digital Transformation Spending in Logistics in the U.S. is estimated at US$15.1 Billion in the year 2022. The country currently accounts for a 28.98% share in the global market. China, the world's second largest economy, is forecast to reach an estimated market size of US$13.7 Billion in the year 2026 trailing a CAGR of 10% over the analysis period. Among the other noteworthy geographic markets are Japan and Canada, each forecast to grow at 7.7% and 8.5% respectively over the analysis period. Within Europe, Germany is forecast to grow at approximately 7.8% CAGR while Rest of European market (as defined in the study) will reach US$15.1 Billion by the end of the analysis period. The push towards digital transformation in these markets in pushing up investments in connected devices, radio frequency identification (RFID) and Internet of Things (IoT) for enhanced real-time visibility into the supply chain. Foray of third-party logistics providers (3PLs) in the logistics and freight management industry is changing market dynamics, providing shippers with the opportunity to find the most suitable partner for their business. The future holds even more opportunities for transportation & logistics companies to improve their efficiency and profits. IoT and vehicle-to-vehicle communication holds promise for enabling "vehicle trains" or "vehicle platoons".

Services Segment to Reach $22.1 Billion by 2026

In the global Services segment, USA, Canada, Japan, China and Europe will drive the 9.9% CAGR estimated for this segment. These regional markets accounting for a combined market size of US$8.1 Billion will reach a projected size of US$15.7 Billion by the close of the analysis period. China will remain among the fastest growing in this cluster of regional markets. Led by countries such as Australia, India, and South Korea, the market in Asia-Pacific is forecast to reach US$2.5 Billion by the year 2026. More

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SOURCE Global Industry Analysts, Inc.
SHANGHAI, March 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- NIO Capital, a leading Chinese investment firm focused on decarbonization and digitalisation, today announced the successful final closing of NIO Capital's flagship fund, Eve ONE Fund II L.P. (the 'Fund') at approximately USD 400 million.

The Fund was oversubscribed and quickly surpassed its original target fund size and hard cap. Notably, this Fund has nearly doubled the capital commitments of its predecessor fund, NIO Capital Eve ONE Fund L.P., which held its final closing in 2019. With its comprehensive platform of strategies, NIO Capital supports emerging founders and innovative technologies across the company life cycle.

William Li, Managing Partner of NIO Capital, said, "Our mission is to sustain and advance humankind via investing in innovations. We are dedicated to fostering a sustainable future with like-minded investors and visionary entrepreneurs."

Ian Zhu, Managing Partner of NIO Capital, said, "Over the past five years, NIO Capital has become an institutionalized investment firm with the ability to integrate industry resources with financial goals. We see exciting opportunities at the crossover of auto, technology, and energy sectors, and will continue to focus our investments on decarbonization and digitalisation."

Despite various fundraising limitations and challenges arising from the Covid-19 pandemic, the Fund enjoyed strong support from a diversified group of existing and new institutional investors. These investors hold a high conviction around NIO Capital's target sectors and robust market opportunity set. Participating investors include a mix of sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, multilateral financial institutions, funds of funds, family offices, pension funds and foundations from the United States, Europe, Middle East, China, South-East Asia and Africa. For a couple of our new investors, this Fund was the first foray and investment into a China-focused strategy.

Building on its reputation as a leader driving digitalization and decarbonization transformation in scalable industries, such as the mobility, energy and logistics sectors, NIO Capital established Fund II to continue its successful investment strategy. The team will focus on backing the next generation of innovative technologies and business models reshaping its target market, leveraging its unique access to Chinese innovation and in-depth market understanding with a flourishing ecosystem.

Notable investments by NIO Capital include the pioneering intelligent systems developer Momenta, leading L4 autonomous driving provider Pony.ai, LiDAR systems application maker Innovusion, the industry's 1st L3 Mass-produced trucks developer Inceptio, digital energy infrastructure provider NewLink, and automotive aftermarket sector leader Tuhu.

Asante Capital Group acted as the exclusive global fundraising adviser, while Cooley LLP acted as NIO Capital's primary legal adviser.

About NIO Capital

Founded in 2016, NIO Capital is a professional investment firm that focuses on investments in energy, automobiles, and deep technology sectors. NIO Capital insists on ESG sustainable investments with a focus on innovations in decarbonization and digitalization. Our portfolio companies include CATL (SZSE: 300750), Ronbay Technology (SHSE: 688005), United Winners (SHSE: 688518), Momenta, Inceptio, Pony.ai, Innovusion, Black Sesame Technologies, etc.

NIO Capital has a diversified team with deep industry background and professional investment capabilities, along with the industry's top resources and network. We have a sound understanding of entrepreneurship and deep insights into the investment sectors. We can provide multi-dimensional support to portfolio companies, helping grow grand visions into great companies.

SOURCE NIO Capital
UW College of Education Launches New Mentoring Program to Support Emerging Teachers

The University of Wyoming College of Education has launched the Wyoming Teacher-Mentor Corps (WTMC), an innovative new program designed to foster teacher excellence by providing expert support for emerging teachers. The community of mentors will help teacher candidates excel in the classroom.

Decades of scholarship show the importance and value of expert support at two key parts of an emerging teachers career: the pre-service phase and the induction phase. The WTMC will offer thoughtful supervision and mentorship at each of these phases.

The WTMC is seeking 20 educators from across Wyoming to participate in the inaugural cohort that will begin in June. These Mentor Fellows will play a role in shaping the future of the Wyoming economy and establish professional connections with educators across the state.

Nominees should be experts in the field of education; have a desire to share their knowledge and skills with others; and view mentorship as an opportunity to learn.

Mentor Fellows must commit to participating in two three-day summer institutes held at UW; two fall retreats and one spring in-person retreat; and quarterly, virtual community-of-practice gatherings.

The nomination period is open and runs until 4 p.m. Friday, April 1. Nominations can be made by any member of the school community, including teachers, staff members, school leaders, parents, and school board and community members. Self-nominations also are accepted. The WTMC welcomes a wide variety of individuals with a range of professional experiences and backgrounds to become Mentor Fellows.

Mentor Fellows can receive a stipend of up to $1,500 for attending both summer institutes and completing all program requirements. Additionally, the UW College of Education will cover all substitute teacher and travel costs for Mentor Fellows.

Nominations can be made here.

UW will lead the WTMC program in collaboration with the Wyoming Department of Education, the Wyoming Education Association, the Wyoming Association of School Administrators, the Wyoming School Boards Association and the Wyoming School-University Partnership.

For more information, visit the WTMC webpage. For additional questions, call Colby Gull, managing director of the UW Trustees Education Initiative, at (307) 766-3196 or email colby.gull@uwyo.edu.
MADISON HEIGHTS, Mich., March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Please attribute the following statement to Murali Ginjupalli, pharmacy owner, in connection with this matter: https://www.michigan.gov/ag/0,4534,7-359-92297_47203-578919--,00.html

We have worked cooperatively with the Michigan Attorney General's office to resolve this matter, and we are pleased to have reached a voluntary agreement. It's important to note that our pharmacies provided COVID-19 tests at a critical time during the height of the omicron surge. Tests were in short supply at this point, and our pricing reflected that  much in the same way the current surge in gas prices reflects the uncertainty over distribution and availability of fuel. Tests we procured and then sold enabled life to continue, allowing people to go to work, children to attend school and families to gather together  all safely because of available testing.

It's also important to note the AG did not levy any fines in this matter. We are in process of reimbursing two consumers who complained. In the spirit of continued cooperation, we have agreed to limit the prices of test we are selling directly to consumers  although the price of tests has been eroded because of government programs that have finally caught up to demand.

SOURCE Murali Ginjupalli
BOCA RATON, Fla., March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Phoenix Tower International ("PTI") today announced that it has completed a definitive agreement -- subject to the French Competition Authority ("FCA") approval -- with Cellnex Telecom to acquire 1,226 telecommunications sites in very dense areas in France adding SFR as a second major MNO client of PTI in France. Simultaneously, PTI with its Joint Venture Partner Bouygues Telecom will be acquiring 2,000 sites in very dense areas. Both transactions relate to the French Competition Authority remedies that followed Cellnex' acquisition of Hivory last year.

With these latest transactions along with its previously announced build program with Bouygues Telecom, PTI will own and operate over 5,000 sites in France in the coming years making it one of the largest independent wireless infrastructure providers in the country.

"With these transactions and our recent closing of more towers in the French West Indies, PTI expands its presence in France, one of the most dynamic telecom markets in Europe. PTI's growth will continue facilitating coverage deployments for all French wireless operators across the country. We are pleased to have collaborated with the professionals at Cellnex on this transaction," stated Dagan Kasavana, CEO of PTI.

"These various transactions continue to strengthen PTI's commitment to France and the European Market. We are excited to enhance our relationship with Bouygues Telecom and expand the independent tower model in France which will be a catalyst for improved coverage for all carriers," said Tim Culver, Executive Chairman of PTI.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Natixis acted as advisors to PTI. Herbert Smith Freehills acted as Cellnex advisors.

About Phoenix Tower International

PTI, through its subsidiaries, will, pro forma for these transactions, own and operate over 18,000 telecom towers throughout Europe, the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean. In Europe, PTI is present in several countries including France, Italy, Ireland, Malta and Cyprus.

PTI was founded in 2013 with a mission to be a premier site provider to wireless operators across the world in high-growth markets. PTI's investors include funds managed by Blackstone and various members of the management team and is headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida. For more information, please visit www.phoenixintnl.com

About Cellnex Telecom

Cellnex manages a portfolio of more than 130,000 sites including forecast roll-outs up to 2030 in Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, Austria, Denmark, Sweden and Poland. Cellnex's business is structured in four major areas: telecommunication infrastructures services; audiovisual broadcasting networks; security and emergency service networks and solutions for smart urban infrastructure and services management. The company is listed on the continuous market of the Spanish stock exchange and is part of the selective IBEX 35 and EuroStoxx 100 indices. For more information: www.cellnex.com

SOURCE Phoenix Tower International
DUBLIN, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Real Estate Agency and Brokerage Global Market Report 2022 by Type, Mode, Property Type" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This report provides strategists, marketers and senior management with the critical information they need to assess the global real estate agency and brokerage market as it emerges from the COVID-19 shut down.



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Where is the largest and fastest growing market for the real estate agency and brokerage? How does the market relate to the overall economy, demography and other similar markets? What forces will shape the market going forward? The Real Estate Agency and Brokerage market global report answers all these questions and many more.



The report covers market characteristics, size and growth, segmentation, regional and country breakdowns, competitive landscape, market shares, trends and strategies for this market. It traces the market's historic and forecast market growth by geography. It places the market within the context of the wider real estate agency and brokerage market, and compares it with other markets.

The market characteristics section of the report defines and explains the market.

The market size section gives the market size ($b) covering both the historic growth of the market, the impact of the COVID-19 virus and forecasting its recovery.

Market segmentations break down market into sub markets.

The regional and country breakdowns section gives an analysis of the market in each geography and the size of the market by geography and compares their historic and forecast growth. It covers the impact and recovery trajectory of COVID-19 for all regions, key developed countries and major emerging markets.

Competitive landscape gives a description of the competitive nature of the market, market shares, and a description of the leading companies. Key financial deals which have shaped the market in recent years are identified.

The trends and strategies section analyses the shape of the market as it emerges from the crisis and suggests how companies can grow as the market recovers.

The real estate agency and brokerage market section of the report gives context. It compares the real estate agency and brokerage market with other segments of the real estate market by size and growth, historic and forecast. It analyses GDP proportion, expenditure per capita, real estate agency and brokerage indicators comparison.

Major companies in the real estate agency and brokerage market include Realogy Holdings Corp., Mitsui Fudosan Co. Ltd., Berkshire Hathaway Inc., CBRE Group, FirstService Corporation, Sekisui House, Savills plc, Jones Lang LaSalle Inc., Colliers International and Shimizu Corporation.



The global real estate agency and brokerage market is expected to grow from $1221.82 billion in 2021 to $1344.45 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.0%. The growth is mainly due to the companies rearranging their operations and recovering from the COVID-19 impact, which had earlier led to restrictive containment measures involving social distancing, remote working, and the closure of commercial activities that resulted in operational challenges. The market is expected to reach $1912.99 billion in 2026 at a CAGR of 9.2%.



The real estate agency and brokerage services market consists of sales of real estate and brokerage services by entities (organizations, sole traders and partnerships) that act as agents and/or brokers for real estate activities.



The main types of real estate agency and brokerage are residential buildings and dwellings brokers, non-residential buildings brokers, mini warehouses and self-storage units brokers and other brokers. A real estate broker is a licenced real estate dealer who has completed further schooling and obtained a local real estate broker licence. The different modes include online, offline and involves various property types such as fully furnished, semi-furnished, unfurnished.



Economic growth and a rapidly growing urban population is expected to increase the demand for residential and commercial buildings brokers, during the forecast period. The increasing number of rural residents migrating into cities is resulting in increasing demand for access to affordable housing and commercial spaces. This provides a significant opportunity for real estate service providers to improve housing, retail and other commercial services. Globally, around 60% of urban settlements remained to be built. According to the World Bank, the urban population in South Asia is expected to grow by 250 million by 2031. This rapid urbanization is expected to boost the demand for real estate agencies and brokers and drive the real estate agency and brokerage market going forward.



The outbreak of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has acted as a massive restraint on the real estate agency and brokerage market in 2020 as the need for services offered by these establishments declined due to lockdowns imposed by governments globally. COVID-19 is an infectious disease with flu-like symptoms including fever, cough, and difficulty in breathing. The virus was first identified in 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei province of the People's Republic of China and spread globally including Western Europe, North America and Asia. Steps by national governments to contain the transmission have resulted in a decline in economic activity with countries entering a state of 'lock down' and the outbreak had a negative impact on businesses throughout 2020 and into 2021. However, it is expected that the real estate agency and brokerage market will recover from the shock across the forecast period as it is a 'black swan' event and not related to ongoing or fundamental weaknesses in the market or the global economy.



Real estate companies are investing in artificial intelligence applications to perform various functions such as property search, building management and design. Artificial intelligence is helping real estate companies to find people looking to buy or sell properties, find a suitable property based on customer requirements, redesign office spaces based on user behavior. According to the research conducted by Drooms, AI technology provider around 54% of property professionals surveyed already use artificial intelligence to improve keyword search and 69% believe AI gives their companies competitive advantage by enabling high speed search of documents. For instance, REX, a real estate company analyses data from third parties such as Google to determine willingness of a person to buy or sell a house. WeWork, a startup that provides shared workspaces is using artificial intelligence to design its office spaces. Skyline, an Israeli company's artificial intelligence platform recommends properties to real estate investors by using data from more than 130 sources and taking into account over 10,000 different attributes on properties.



Asia Pacific was the largest region in the real estate agency and brokerage market in 2021. North America was the second-largest region in the real estate agency and brokerage market. The regions covered in the real estate agency and brokerage market are Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East, Africa.



Key Topics Covered:



1. Executive Summary



2. Report Structure



3. Real Estate Agency and Brokerage Market Characteristics

3.1. Market Definition

3.2. Key Segmentations



4. Real Estate Agency and Brokerage Market Product Analysis

4.1. Leading Products/ Services

4.2. Key Features and Differentiators

4.3. Development Products



5. Real Estate Agency and Brokerage Market Supply Chain

5.1. Supply Chain

5.2. Distribution

5.3. End Customers



6. Real Estate Agency and Brokerage Market Customer Information

6.1. Customer Preferences

6.2. End Use Market Size and Growth



7. Real Estate Agency and Brokerage Market Trends And Strategies



8. Impact Of COVID-19 On Real Estate Agency and Brokerage



9. Real Estate Agency and Brokerage Market Size And Growth

9.1. Market Size

9.2. Historic Market Growth, Value ($ Billion)

9.2.1. Drivers Of The Market

9.2.2. Restraints On The Market

9.3. Forecast Market Growth, Value ($ Billion)

9.3.1. Drivers Of The Market

9.3.2. Restraints On The Market



10. Real Estate Agency and Brokerage Market Regional Analysis

10.1. Global Real Estate Agency and Brokerage Market, 2021, By Region, Value ($ Billion)

10.2. Global Real Estate Agency and Brokerage Market, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, Historic And Forecast, By Region

10.3. Global Real Estate Agency and Brokerage Market, Growth And Market Share Comparison, By Region



11. Real Estate Agency and Brokerage Market Segmentation

11.1. Global Real Estate Agency and Brokerage Market, Segmentation By Type, Historic and Forecast, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion

11.2. Global Real Estate Agency and Brokerage Market, Segmentation By Mode, Historic and Forecast, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion

11.3. Global Real Estate Agency and Brokerage Market, Segmentation By Property Type, Historic and Forecast, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion

12. Real Estate Agency and Brokerage Market Metrics

12.1. Real Estate Agency and Brokerage Market Size, Percentage Of GDP, 2016-2026F, Global

12.2. Per Capita Average Real Estate Agency and Brokerage Market Expenditure, 2016-2026F, Global

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/lso6yc

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



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SOURCE Research and Markets
Eliminate 'Cost Differential' Exceptions, Labor Leaders Demand

WASHINGTON, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Three unions that represent workers in the national school lunch supply chain sent a letter last week to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack asking for action to enforce the Buy America mandates in the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act.

Specifically, the letter from the presidents of the Teamsters (IBT), United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) and the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) requests that the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) rescind a Trump-era rule that allows school districts to serve cheap imported food in public school cafeterias. Copies of the letter were also sent to the White House and to members of Congress.

"Because of the cost differential loophole, there is effectively no Buy America program for America's K-12 cafeterias," said Walter "Wally" Borgan, President of BCTGM Local 22 in Minnesota, "but the Biden administration can fix that as part of its commitment to pro-worker procurement policy. This simple regulatory upgrade is in complete alignment with the President's Executive Order on Buy America and the mandate of the new Made In America Council."

"The members of the Teamsters' Cannery Council, historically women of color, lose their jobs when their employers  companies and coops like Del Monte, Seneca Farms and the California Canning Peach Association  cut production and close plants because public school children are getting served low-cost and unwholesome food from China," said Ashley Alvarado, Food Processing Director for Teamsters Local 856 in California. "American grown fruits and vegetables are prepared to higher environmental and health standards than the Chinese product, so enforcing Buy America in the school lunch programs is good for the workers and their kids."

"As the union representing 250,000 food workers around the country, we believe that federal taxpayer dollars should support good jobs for all of America's food workers. A critical step to accomplishing this is for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to make it easier for local school districts to buy union, made-in-America products," said Fernando Lemus, President of UFCW Local 1445 in Massachusetts. "As a supporter of the Good Food Purchasing Program (GFPP) here in Boston, I understand the importance of governments supporting good jobs with their procurement dollars. Through the GFPP, we have demonstrated that if provided with adequate resources, school districts can strengthen existing local and regional food supply chains and create new ones, while rewarding employers who respect workers' rights and provide them with fair wages and benefits. Following the lead of Boston and other cities that have implemented the GFPP will go a long way towards USDA Secretary Vilsack's goal of bolstering the resiliency of our food supply chains. By strengthening its commitment to Buy American, the USDA will support healthy meals for our children, invest in food chain workers, and make our food supply chains more resilient."

Other organizations and networks support the unions' demands:

For more information:

BCTGM: Corrina Christensen, (301) 692-2874

[email protected]

UFCW: Cynthia Montes, (202) 721-8158

[email protected]

IBT: Ted Gotsch, (703) 899-0869

[email protected]

SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters
NEW YORK, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Weiss Law is investigating possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of law by the board of directors of Anaplan, Inc. ("Anaplan" or the "Company") (NYSE: PLAN), in connection with the proposed acquisition of the Company by Thoma Bravo. Under the terms of the merger agreement, the Company's shareholders will receive $66.00 in cash for each share of Anaplan common stock owned. The transaction is valued at approximately $10.7 billion.

If you own Anaplan shares and wish to discuss this investigation or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, visit our website:

https://www.weisslaw.co/news-and-cases/plan

Or please contact:

Joshua Rubin, Esq.

Weiss Law

305 Broadway, 7th Floor

New York, NY 10007

(212) 682-3025

(888) 593-4771

[email protected]

Weiss Law is investigating whether (i) Anaplan's board of directors acted in the best interests of Company shareholders in agreeing to the proposed transaction, (ii) the $66.00 per-share merger consideration adequately compensates Anaplan's shareholders, and (iii) all information regarding the sales process and valuation of the transaction will be fully and fairly disclosed. Notably, at least one analyst set a price target for the Company of $88 per share, $22.00 above the per-share merger consideration.

Weiss Law has litigated hundreds of stockholder class and derivative actions for violations of corporate and fiduciary duties. We have recovered over a billion dollars for defrauded clients and obtained important corporate governance relief in many of these cases. If you have information or would like legal advice concerning possible corporate wrongdoing (including insider trading, waste of corporate assets, accounting fraud, or materially misleading information), consumer fraud (including false advertising, defective products, or other deceptive business practices), or anti-trust violations, please email us at [email protected]

SOURCE WeissLaw LLP
TRUE BLUE, Grenada, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- - St. George's University announced today that it has awarded seven students full- and partial-tuition Equity in Medicine Scholarships.

"We're proud to support these seven Equity in Medicine scholars as they prepare to meet the needs of patients in historically underserved communities," said Dr. G. Richard Olds, President of St. George's University . "St. George's students have a long history of working to address healthcare disparities, and these talented scholars will continue that tradition."

Founded in 2021, the Equity in Medicine Scholarship program strives to make medical school accessible for students of all backgrounds. All Equity in Medicine scholars are from medically underserved areas or have expressed an interest in practicing medicine in underserved communities. This year's scholars hail from several states, including Michigan, California, Florida, and more.

The Association of American Medical Colleges projects that the United States will be short as many as 48,000 primary care physicians by 2034. St. George's University is the number-one provider of new primary care physicians to the United States.

In total, 75% of all entering four-year medical students received SGU scholarships in the 2020-2021 academic year, according to the latest available data.

"We look forward to equipping this year's class of Equity in Medicine scholars with the knowledge and training they'll need to make a difference in underserved communities," said Lynn Kuhl, Vice President and Senior Associate Dean of Scholarships at St. George's University.

About St. George's University

St. George's University is a center of international education, drawing students and faculty from 140 countries to the island of Grenada, in the West Indies, to its programs in medicine, veterinary medicine, public health, science, and business. SGU is affiliated with educational institutions worldwide, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Ireland, and the Netherlands. The University's over 24,000 graduates include physicians, veterinarians, scientists, and public health and business professionals across the world. St. George's University School of Medicine is accredited by the Grenada Medical and Dental Council, and its programs across all schools are accredited and approved by many governing authorities. For more information, visit www.sgu.edu.

Media Contact

Maggie Servais

(202) 471-4228 ext. 117

[email protected]

SOURCE St. Georges University
LONDON, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Global Brand Awards is an annual event held by Global Brands Magazine (GBM), an international publication headquartered in the UK. stc was evaluated based on customer service, satisfaction, digital innovation, strategic relationships and new business development.

Commenting on stc winning the awards, ShivKumar (CEO) of Global Brands Magazine said, "Telecommunications is a very complex and difficult industry to operate in, but stc manages to maneuver through it with ease. Goes to show that a company backed by talented individuals can accomplish anything."

Commenting on winning the awards, Mohammed Abalkheil, Corporate relations VP, said, "This achievement is a confirmation of the success of stc's DARE strategy, which focuses on providing an exceptional and pioneering customer experience leading to strong market growth. stc remains determined to maintain its digital leadership and enrich customers' experiences and enhance the strength of the brand in the Kingdom, the region and MENA as a whole."

About stc

stc is a pioneer digital champion, which is fully focused enriching the lives of its customers and businesses by being digital-first and delivering innovative digital solutions. stc is the digital enabler leader of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030. stc is expanding its offering in terms of scope and scale and delivering them at pace. Successful expansions in the digital ecosystem include fintech, cloud, cybersecurity and IoT amongst many others.

About Global Brands Magazine

Global Brands Magazine (GBM) has been at the forefront, bringing news, views and opinions on brands shaping the future of their industry. The UK-based magazine provides its readers with the latest news and information on best-in-class brands.

About Global Brand Awards

Global Brand Awards honours brands for their excellence in performance and rewards companies for the quality of their services. The Brand Awards highlight the accomplishments of organisations that have performed remarkably well in their respective industries.

Check out our social media shout outs by clicking the links below:

Facebook: https://bit.ly/3N28gfx

Linkedin: https://bit.ly/3qdItaz

Twitter: https://bit.ly/3MW5QPD

Instagram: https://bit.ly/3ikyEmE

SOURCE Global Brands Publications Limited
The new funding comes as part of StoreDot's Series D investment round. It will be used for research and development and to accelerate the scaling up to mass production its silicon-dominant anode XFC lithium-ion cells, which will be initially capable of delivering 100 miles of range in 5 minutes of charge by 2024.

Headquartered in Bengaluru, India, Ola Electric is ramping up its investments in core R&D in advanced cell chemistry and manufacturing, as well as cutting edge battery technologies and new energy systems. It recently announced a $100 million investment to set up Ola Futurefoundry, its global center for advanced engineering and vehicle design, in the UK where it will work on its future range of electric vehicles including both four and two-wheelers, in collaboration with its Bengaluru center.

Dr Doron Myersdorf, StoreDot CEO "We are extremely excited to be entering into this strategic partnership with Ola. Both companies are committed to delivering a zero-emissions world, breathing clean air in our cities and ensuring that EV drivers never have to worry about charging times and range anxiety. Ola Electric's plans to bring StoreDot's extreme fast charging battery technology to India and manufacture our XFC cells for its EVs, will offer Indian consumers longer range and vastly superior charging speed performance. We continue to focus on offering our customers a clear, hype-free technology roadmap that extends far into the future while delivering 100 miles of range in just a 2-minute charge, within a decade."

Bhavish Aggarwal, Founder and CEO, Ola, said: "We are committed to Mission Electric and to accelerate the world's transition to electric mobility, our ambition is to build a complete ecosystem for EVs here in India. The future of EVs lies in better, faster and high energy density batteries, capable of rapid charging and delivering higher range. We are increasing our investments in core cell and battery technologies and ramping up our in-house capabilities and global talent hiring, as well as partnering with global companies doing cutting edge work in this field. Our partnership with StoreDot, a pioneer of extreme fast charging battery technologies, is of strategic importance and a first of many."

Ola is joining a wide range of high-profile investors and partners in StoreDot  a roster that now includes Daimler, VinFast, BP, Samsung, TDK, and EVE Energy. The company is also working closely with major automotive manufacturers on next-generation electric vehicles and architectures, currently conducting real-world tests with the silicon-dominant-anode advanced '100in5' cell samples. StoreDot's ground-breaking XFC cells will be available in both pouch and the 4680-family form factor  the formats increasingly favored by global car manufacturers.

About StoreDot

StoreDot is a pioneer and leader of extreme fast charging (XFC) batteries that overcome the critical barrier to mainstream EV adoption  range and charging anxiety. The company has revolutionized the conventional Li-ion battery by designing and synthesizing proprietary organic and inorganic compounds, making it possible to charge an EV in just five minutes  the same time it takes to refuel a conventional combustion engine vehicle. Through its '100inX' strategic roadmap, StoreDot's battery technology is optimized for best driver experience with XFC in Li-ion batteries, as well as future technologies for extreme energy-density (XED). StoreDot's strategic investors and partners include VinFast, BP, Daimler, Ola Electric, Samsung, TDK and EVE Energy. In 2019, the company achieved a world first by demonstrating the live full charge of a two-wheeled EV in just five minutes. In 2020, the company demonstrated the scalability of its XFC batteries and is on target for Electric Vehicle battery production at scale by 2024. For more information see: www.store-dot.com.

About Ola

Ola is India's largest mobility platform and one of the world's largest ride-hailing companies. Ola revolutionised urban mobility by making it available on-demand for over a billion people across 3 continents. Today, Ola continues to move the world to sustainable mobility through its ride-hailing platform as well as through advanced electric vehicles manufactured at its Futurefactory, the largest, most advanced, and sustainable two-wheeler factory in the world. Ola is dedicated to transitioning the world to sustainable mobility and making the world better than we found it.

SOURCE StoreDot
SAN JOSE, Calif., March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Talesun Solar, a leading photovoltaic (PV) module manufacturer globally, recently announced the signing of a co-operation agreement with South Africa's local manufacturer ARTsolar, to meet the requirements of the South African Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) Risk Mitigation IPP Procurement (RMIPPP) programme, and beyond.

With over ten years of experience in the manufacturing of PV products, Talesun Solar has built robust competence in R&D, process flows and quality control. As part of the collaboration, the two companies will jointly create greater business value by producing high-efficiency large-format PV modules locally in South Africa by leveraging the complementary synergies as a result of the advantages and resources each possess in their respective fields.

Currently, the global PV market is awash in opportunities with promising prospects. The abundance in natural resources adds to the appeal and potential of the South African market as a result of the increasing demand for PV products. This is encouraged by the tariff-based competitive bidding system launched as part of the country's Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP).

ARTsolar was founded in Durban in 2010 by entrepreneurs Eshu Seevnarayan and Patrick Goss, who remain primary shareholders of the 100% South African-owned company. ARTsolar currently has an annual manufacturing capacity of more than 300MW. The long gestation period of the RMIPPP programme has provided ARTsolar time to upgrade to a new, state-of-the-art, 325MW per year, solar PV panel assembly facility in partnership with Talesun.

"As patriotic industrialists, the renewed interest in the local PV manufacturing industry has provided a long-awaited new ray of hope for the renewable energy sector and local manufacturing as a whole. We have been awaiting such commitment for the past 12 years and always held the belief that this sector will receive the impetus and support of Government. With such continued support we anticipate implementing a second 500MW capacity line in the near future." said Eshu Seevnarayan - ARTsolar's Chairman.

ARTsolar has invested significantly in technical training and skills development in close association with multiple tertiary institutions. The new assembly facilities will add a further 160 permanent jobs to their existing workforce. Notably, this has allowed the company to remain one of the continents only African owned PV manufacturer. These upgrades, expansions and training demonstrate the long-term commitment of the parties to localisation and the creation of local jobs and skills development.

"Through the collaboration with ARTsolar, Talesun Solar is well-positioned to provide a wider array of quality PV modules to customers in South Africa in order to meet their needs for locally-produced high-efficiency PV offerings," said Talesun Solar President Shuguang Dong. "The company plans to continue deepening the partnership with our South African peer in the areas of manufacturing and sales of as well as technologies for PV modules, with the aim of boosting employment in the local community and speeding up technological transformation at the local level."

For business cooperation in the South African market, please contact us at [email protected].

About ARTsolar

ARTsolar was established in 2010 in Durban, South Africa, and remains one of the pioneers of the South African PV solar panel manufacturing industry which is 100% locally owned. Our production facility is fully capable of laminating, testing and framing PV modules, with a capacity up to 300MW annually. For further information, visit www.artsolar.net.

About Talesun

Talesun Solar, a wholly owned subsidiary of Zhongli Group, was founded in 2010. With more than 10 years of innovation and development, it has become one of the global Top 10 photovoltaic manufacturers, Tier 1 module supplier in Bloomberg Ranking, one of China's largest photovoltaic power station developers. For further information, visit www.talesun.com.

SOURCE Talesun Solar
In continuance with TCC DAKA's emphasis on social responsibility, part of the proceeds from the DAKA EV charging infrastructure built by TCC and 7-ELEVEN will be put into the local Hoping Township Emergency Fund. This is also the first EV charging infrastructure that donates proceeds back to the local community. TCC stated that "EV charging is no longer just an action or habit, it is also a sharing platform to live a greener lifestyle." TCC, 7-ELEVEN, Phihong Technology, LDC Hotels & Resorts, Giant Bicycles Taiwan, Audi Taiwan and Dr. Cecilia Koo Botanic Conservation Center (KBCC) and other sustainability partners jointly unveiled the EARTH HELPER initiative and called on EV owners and everyone to participate in sustainable activities such as lower carbon emissions, clean up beaches and reduce household wastes. By participating in these events, participants can accumulate sustainability points. The top three participants, determined by accumulated points, can enjoy a five-days-four-nights low-carbon relaxing family trip planned by LDC Hotels & Resorts that includes activities such as visiting the world-class botanic conservation base located in Gaoshu Township in Pingtung County and participating in botanic conservation activities.

In the inauguration ceremony, TCC Chairman Nelson Chang stated "currently there is not enough clean energy to satisfy human needs, therefore, energy saving is the best and fastest way to balance the energy shortage. From now on, energy saving, storage, and creation will be key to industries. For individuals, EARTH HELPER is the basic attitude and lifestyle for each and every one of us sharing this Earth." As for the discussions over Taiwan's island-wide power outage incident, Chairman Chang believes Taiwan must develop smart grids. Chairman Chang added that decentralized smart grids have been adopted in Europe and decentralized smart grids need energy storage to achieve its purpose in balancing the power shortage.

TCC Group is the only comprehensive energy enterprise in Taiwan to simultaneously invest in energy creation (green energy), energy transmission (batteries) and energy storage and has set up bases in Europe. In 2021, TCC Group acquired the majority stakes in Italy-based NHOA as a step to enter the international energy storage and EV charging infrastructure market. In Taiwan, TCC plans to complete the construction of two large-size energy storage installations in Suao Cement Plant (Yilan County) and Hoping Cement Plant (Hualien County) in 2022-2023. Once completed, TCC's Taiwan energy storage capacity is expected to reach 528.7MWh. The establishment of TCC DAKA EV charging infrastructure, stated TCC, is a cross-generational declaration by TCC Group. Based on our corporate social responsibility, TCC combines energy creation, storage, and saving to provide a comprehensive EV charging experience as a service to the society. In addition to our open factory, TCC hopes to once again break traditional barriers and thinking to express a new lifestyle attitude and show that the future is worth it.

For more information about NHOA.TCC, please visit: https://www.nhoatcc.energy/en/

For questions and suggestions, please contact TCC IR Team.

SOURCE Taiwan Cement Corp.
UW in the News

State, national and international media frequently feature the University of Wyoming and members of its community in stories. Here is a summary of some of the recent coverage:

Lead Stories interviewed energy experts, including UW Professor Charles Mason, about skyrocketing gas prices. Oil market experts and economists say the ban on Russian oil imports is not the only driver of gas prices, and bringing the XL branch of the Keystone pipeline online would not guarantee a price drop.

UW economist Rob Godby was among energy experts quoted in a WyoFile article about the worlds energy disruptions caused by Russias invasion of Ukraine. The article, republished by Energy Central, discussed how Russias attack has pushed Wyomings markets toward more volatile territory.

UW student Anastasiia Pereverten, from Ukraine, was profiled in a Casper Star-Tribune article last week. Pereverten, who is on an exchange program this semester, is the only Ukrainian student at UW. She spoke about the atrocities her home country has endured the last month from Russias invasion.

The Trace, a nonprofit journalism outlet devoted to gun-related news in the U.S., interviewed UW law Professor George Mocsary for a pair of articles: Will Requiring Gun Owners to Buy Insurance Improve Firearm Safety? and The Biden Administrations Inconsistency on Gun Liability. Mocsary also was interviewed by The Mercury News for an article focusing on a controversial gun insurance law that is facing another legal challenge in San Jose, Calif.

NASAs Earth Observatory quoted UW Professor Bart Geerts for an article focusing on the warming trend in Antarctica that could have caused the Brunt Ice Shelf to release an iceberg about twice the size of New York City. Geerts discussed recent cloud formations and the relation to the changing weather patterns in Antarctica.

UW College of Law Professor Tara Righetti was quoted during a meeting of interested residents in North Dakota that focused on issues surrounding how the energy industry uses rock cavities -- known as pore space -- to store substances. Pore space is a growing issue for North Dakotas energy industry and landowners, according to The Bismarck Tribune.

UWs I Am a Cowboy marketing video was recently recognized among the best single-spot television ads among all national higher education advertising in the past year. The Cody Enterprise published UWs release noting that the latest video anchors the second phase of UWs The World Needs More Cowboys marketing campaign.

A collaborative, statewide effort involving the states early childhood professionals has produced an update to Wyomings early learning standards. Citing UWs release, Sheridan Media noted that UW College of Education educators indicate that the standards will create high-quality educational experiences for Wyomings children.

Wyoming Public Radio interviewed Mason Lee, senior project coordinator of the UW Biodiversity Institute, about the institutes Laramie Salamander Migration Initiative. Volunteers are needed to help collect data for the project.

UWs American Heritage Center is collaborating with state agencies to hire a project archivist to build an information network among records stewards from Wyomings libraries, museums and archives. Sheridan Media published UWs release noting that the funding is from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

KGAB Radio reported that Laramie Main Street Alliance is collaborating with UWs International Students and Scholars office for the inaugural International Flavor Festival at participating restaurants throughout downtown Laramie later this month.
DUBLIN, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Botulinum Toxin Market Forecast to 2028 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis By Product Type, Application, and End User" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The botulinum toxin market is expected to reach US$ 8,977.62 million by 2028 from US$ 5,307.71 million in 2021. It is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 7.8% from 2021 to 2028. The factors responsible for the botulinum toxin market's growth are increasing aesthetic procedures and the use of botulinum toxin, and the rising number of non-invasive cosmetic procedures. However, the side effects of botulinum toxin hamper the market growth.



Botulinum toxins are neurotoxins that attack nerves and cause muscle paralysis. A bacterium known as clostridium botulinum makes these neurotoxins. Healthcare providers use specific bacteria for medical injections. Injections of botulinum toxin block nerve signals to the muscle injected into it. Without a signal, the muscle cannot contract. The result is a reduction in unwanted facial lines or features. Botulinum toxin injections like Botox and Dysport improve the appearance by relaxing the muscles that cause wrinkles. These injections also treat migraines, hyperhidrosis, overactive bladder, and eye problems.



There is a significant rise in non-surgical procedures and dermal injectables across France. According to the Global Aesthetics Consensus, in 2016, ~258,438 non-surgical aesthetic procedures were performed in the country, out of which more than 101,400 were botulinum toxin (BTX) procedures. Moreover, the expansion of cosmetology clinics and the increase in the number of cosmetology practitioners are expected to drive the botulinum toxin market further in the coming years. People from countries, such as Switzerland, Romania, and Russia, visit France for aesthetic procedures due to advanced medical services available in the country. Moreover, in Italy, every 10th patient applying for cosmetic surgery is a tourist. The Italian Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (AICPE) had announced an "aesthetic alliance" with the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS) to develop high-quality cosmetic surgeries with enhanced patient safety.



Similarly, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), a total of 4,401,536 botulinum toxin Type A (Botox, Dysport, Xeomin) minimally-invasive cosmetic procedures were performed in the US, in which 4,136,289 were female, and 265,247 were male. In 2020, Aesthetic Neural Network (ANN) data reported total revenue of over US$ 9 billion spent on aesthetic plastic surgery.



In addition, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), in 2019, the total number of cosmetic procedures were performed in India was 643,752, in which total non-surgical procedures were 249,024, out of which botulinum toxin procedures were 70,248. Similarly, in 2019, the total number of cosmetic procedures were performed in Brazil was 2,565,675, in which total non-surgical procedures were 1,072,002 - among them, botulinum toxin procedures were 507,869.



Therapeutic uses of BTX include treating diseases, such as chronic migraines, muscle spasticity, over-reactive bladder, and hyperhidrosis. The cosmetic and clinical application of BTX offers a comprehensive and in-depth review of aesthetic procedures and medical applications for standalone treatment, as well as combination therapy. According to ISAPS, approximately 321,702 BTX procedures were performed in Germany in 2018. Due to the increase in the geriatric population and the desire to look young, the number of BTX-based procedures being performed in Germany is on the rise.



As per ISAPS, Germany accounts for ~4% of the total number of cosmetic procedures performed worldwide. Moreover, there are more than 500 plastic surgeons in the UK, and the number is expected to increase in the future. Thus, with the rise in the number of aesthetic service providers, practitioners, and plastic surgeons, the number of aesthetic procedures performed in Europe is increasing, thereby boosting the demand and sales of botulinum toxin, which is contributing to the growth of the botulinum toxin market.



Reasons to Buy

Save and reduce time carrying out entry-level research by identifying the growth, size, leading players and segments in the global botulinum toxin market.

Highlights key business priorities in order to assist companies to realign their business strategies.

The key findings and recommendations highlight crucial progressive industry trends in the global botulinum toxin market, thereby allowing players across the value chain to develop effective long-term strategies.

Develop/modify business expansion plans by using substantial growth offering developed and emerging markets.

Scrutinize in-depth market trends and outlook in North America , Europe , Asia Pacific , Middle East & Africa , and South & Central America coupled with the factors driving the market, as well as those hindering it.

, , , & , and South & coupled with the factors driving the market, as well as those hindering it. Enhancing the decision-making process by understanding the strategies that underpin security interest with respect to client products, segmentation, pricing and distribution.

Key Topics Covered:



1. Introduction



2. Key Takeaways



3. Research Methodology



4. Botulinum Toxin Market - Market Landscape

4.1 Overview

4.2 PEST Analysis

4.2.1 North America PEST Analysis

4.2.2 Europe PEST Analysis

4.2.3 Asia Pacific PEST Analysis

4.2.4 Middle East and Africa PEST Analysis

4.2.5 South And Central America PEST Analysis

4.3 Experts Opinion



5. Botulinum Toxin Market - Key Market Dynamics

5.1 Market Drivers

5.1.1 Increasing Aesthetics Procedures and Use of Botulinum Toxin

5.1.2 Rising Number of Non-invasive Cosmetic Procedures

5.2 Market Restraints

5.2.1 Side-Effects of Botulinum Toxin

5.3 Market Opportunities

5.3.1 Increasing Therapeutic Applications of Botulinum Toxin

5.4 Future Trends

5.4.1 Rise in Product Approvals

5.5 Impact Analysis



6. Botulinum Toxin Market - Global Analysis

6.1 Global Botulinum Toxin Market Revenue Forecast and Analysis

6.2 Global Botulinum Toxin Market, By Geography - Forecast and Analysis

6.3 Market Positioning of Key Players



7. Global Botulinum Toxin Market Revenue and Forecasts To 2028- by Product Type

7.1 Overview

7.2 Global Botulinum Toxin Market Revenue Share, by Product Type (2021 and 2028)

7.3 Type A Botulinum Toxin

7.3.1 Overview

7.3.2 Type A Botulinum Toxin: Global Botulinum Toxin Market - Revenue and Forecast to 2028 (US$ Million)

7.4 Type B Botulinum Toxin

7.4.1 Overview

7.4.2 Type B Botulinum Toxin: Global Botulinum Toxin Market - Revenue and Forecast to 2028 (US$ Million)



8. Global Botulinum Toxin Market Analysis - By Application

8.1 Overview

8.2 Global Botulinum Toxin Market Revenue Share, by Application (2021 and 2028)

8.3 Medical

8.3.1 Overview

8.3.2 Medical: Global Botulinum Toxin Market - Revenue and Forecast to 2028 (US$ Million)

8.3.2.1 Chronic Migraine

8.3.2.1.1 Overview

8.3.2.1.2 Chronic Migraine: Global Botulinum Toxin Market - Revenue and Forecast to 2028 (US$ Million)

8.3.2.2 Muscle Spasm

8.3.2.2.1 Overview

8.3.2.2.2 Muscle Spasm: Global Botulinum Toxin Market - Revenue and Forecast to 2028 (US$ Million)

8.3.2.3 Over Reactive Bladder

8.3.2.3.1 Overview

8.3.2.3.2 Over Reactive Bladder: Global Botulinum Toxin Market - Revenue and Forecast to 2028 (US$ Million)

8.3.2.4 Hyperhidrosis

8.3.2.4.1 Overview

8.3.2.4.2 Hyperhidrosis: Global Botulinum Toxin Market - Revenue and Forecast to 2028 (US$ Million)

8.3.2.5 Others

8.3.2.5.1 Overview

8.3.2.5.2 Others: Global Botulinum Toxin Market - Revenue and Forecast to 2028 (US$ Million)

8.4 Aesthetic

8.4.1 Overview

8.4.2 Aesthetic: Global Botulinum Toxin Market - Revenue and Forecast to 2028 (US$ Million)

8.4.2.1 Crow's Feet

8.4.2.1.1 Overview

8.4.2.1.2 Crow's Feet: Global Botulinum Toxin Market - Revenue and Forecast to 2028 (US$ Million)

8.4.2.2 Forehead Lines

8.4.2.2.1 Overview

8.4.2.2.2 Forehead Lines: Global Botulinum Toxin Market - Revenue and Forecast to 2028 (US$ Million)

8.4.2.3 Frown Lines/ Glabellar

8.4.2.3.1 Overview

8.4.2.3.2 Frown Lines/ Glabellar: Global Botulinum Toxin Market - Revenue and Forecast to 2028 (US$ Million)

8.4.2.4 Square Jaw/ Masseter

8.4.2.4.1 Overview

8.4.2.4.2 Square Jaw/ Masseter: Global Botulinum Toxin Market - Revenue and Forecast to 2028 (US$ Million)

8.4.2.5 Others

8.4.2.5.1 Overview

8.4.2.5.2 Others: Global Botulinum Toxin Market - Revenue and Forecast to 2028 (US$ Million)



9. Global Botulinum Toxin Market Analysis - By End User

9.1 Overview

9.2 Global Botulinum Toxin Market Revenue Share, by End User (2021 and 2028)

9.3 Specialty and Dermatology Clinics

9.3.1 Overview

9.3.2 Specialty and Dermatology Clinics: Global Botulinum Toxin Market - Revenue and Forecast to 2028 (US$ Million)

9.4 Hospitals and Clinics

9.4.1 Overview

9.4.2 Hospitals and Clinics: Global Botulinum Toxin Market - Revenue and Forecast to 2028 (US$ Million)

9.5 Others

9.5.1 Overview

9.5.2 Others: Global botulinum toxin market - revenue and forecast to 2028 (us$ million)



10. Botulinum Toxin Market Revenue and Forecasts to 2028 - Geographical Analysis



11. Impact Of COVID-19 Pandemic on Botulinum Toxin Market

11.1 North America: Impact Assessment of COVID-19 Pandemic

11.2 Europe: Impact Assessment of COVID-19 Pandemic

11.3 Asia-Pacific: Impact Assessment of COVID-19 Pandemic

11.4 Middle East and Africa: Impact Assessment of COVID-19 Pandemic

11.5 South and Central America: Impact Assessment of COVID-19 Pandemic



12. Botulinum Toxin Market-Industry Landscape

12.1 Overview

12.2 Growth Strategies Done by the Companies in the Market, (%)

12.3 Organic Developments

12.3.1 Overview

12.4 Inorganic Developments

12.4.1 Overview



13. Company Profiles

13.1 AbbVie Inc.

13.1.1 Key Facts

13.1.2 Business Description

13.1.3 Products and Services

13.1.4 Financial Overview

13.1.5 SWOT Analysis

13.1.6 Key Developments

13.2 Merz Pharma

13.2.1 Key Facts

13.2.2 Business Description

13.2.3 Products and Services

13.2.4 Financial Overview

13.2.5 SWOT Analysis

13.2.6 Key Developments

13.3 Medytox

13.3.1 Key Facts

13.3.2 Business Description

13.3.3 Products and Services

13.3.4 Financial Overview

13.3.5 SWOT Analysis

13.3.6 Key Developments

13.4 Sanofi

13.4.1 Key Facts

13.4.2 Business Description

13.4.3 Products and Services

13.4.4 Financial Overview

13.4.5 SWOT Analysis

13.4.6 Key Developments

13.5 Ipsen Pharma

13.5.1 Key Facts

13.5.2 Business Description

13.5.3 Products and Services

13.5.4 Financial Overview

13.5.5 SWOT Analysis

13.5.6 Key Developments

13.6 Galderma

13.6.1 Key Facts

13.6.2 Business Description

13.6.3 Products and Services

13.6.4 Financial Overview

13.6.5 SWOT Analysis

13.6.6 Key Developments

13.7 Revance Therapeutics Inc.

13.7.1 Key Facts

13.7.2 Business Description

13.7.3 Products and Services

13.7.4 Financial Overview

13.7.5 SWOT Analysis

13.7.6 Key Developments

13.8 Lanzhou Institute of Biological Products Co., Ltd.

13.8.1 Key Facts

13.8.2 Business Description

13.8.3 Products and Services

13.8.4 Financial Overview

13.8.5 SWOT Analysis

13.8.6 Key Developments

13.9 Candela Medical

13.9.1 Key Facts

13.9.2 Business Description

13.9.3 Products and Services

13.9.4 Financial Overview

13.9.5 SWOT Analysis

13.9.6 Key Developments

13.10 DAEWOONG PHARMACEUTICAL CO., LTD

13.10.1 Key Facts

13.10.2 Business Description

13.10.3 Products and Services

13.10.4 Financial Overview

13.10.5 SWOT Analysis

13.10.6 Key Developments



14. Appendix



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/d6ky7o

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



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SOURCE Research and Markets
LANSING, Mich., March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Third Coast Underwriters, a division of AF Group and a national provider of specialized workers' compensation solutions, is proud to recognize AssuredPartners Great Plains as its 2021 Agency of the Year.

"Our partnership with AssuredPartners Great Plains has been a shining example of extraordinary teamwork," said Steve Cooper, president of AF Group's Workers' Compensation Division. "The entire AssuredPartners team goes above and beyond to align themselves with 3CU's customer service model and the 3CU team, which has resulted in our collective success and tremendous growth for our Midwest territory. We're extremely proud of our relationship with this dedicated group of insurance professionals and look forward to what the future holds together."

"Third Coast Underwriters has been an excellent solution for our larger and more complex workers' comp accounts," said Greg LaMair, regional president of AssuredPartners Great Plains. "The background and knowledge of the staff at 3CU has been outstanding, and we look forward to many more years of serving our mutual clients."

About AssuredPartners Great Plains

AssuredPartners Great Plains, based in West Des Moines, has served the state of Iowa since 1865  formerly as LMC Insurance & Risk Management, before joining AssuredPartners in February of 2020. This partnership created greater access to a vast network of industry professionals and resources, allowing the agency to deliver products and solutions that are tailored to their clients' needs

Since its inception, AssuredPartners Great Plains has been dedicated to providing its clients with the best outcomes, and remains creative, nimble and connected to its community. The agency has been recognized as one of the top-performing agencies in the U.S. by the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America, has received the Better Business Bureau's Integrity Award and has been recognized as a "Best Practices" company by Reagan Associations since 2011.

About Third Coast Underwriters

Third Coast Underwriters specializes in workers' compensation insurance and is dedicated to understanding and actively managing complex workers' compensation risk with an unwavering attention to service. Third Coast Underwriters is a division of AF Group. All policies are underwritten by a licensed insurer subsidiary. For more information, visit afgroup.com.  AF Group.

Contact:

Shannon Scholten

(517) 708-5625

[email protected]

AFGroup.com

SOURCE Third Coast Underwriters
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- This Women's History Month, Nanoscale Scientists Publishing is excited to announce the release of a new book titled "The Scientists Alphabet Book" which showcases 13 unique female scientists. Not only does our new book introduce vital scientific concepts to children of all ages, but it also works to highlight the contributions women have made in the field of STEM over the years.

Nanoscale Scientists Publishing

"The Scientists Alphabet Book" is written by Christi Sperber who holds an M.S. in Chemistry and a B.S. in Biology. She noticed the need for a chemistry-related book that specifically caters to babies and toddlers, and "The Scientists Alphabet Book" was born. With this book, not only did Sperber introduce chemistry concepts to her younger daughter, but she is also able to introduce other young children to the world of science.

This new book features 13 female scientists, including important women like Marie Curie, Rosalind Franklin, and Lynnae Quick. Each scientist represents a different letter of the alphabet, along with a brief biography and illustrations of them conducting experiments or using their tools.

As Christi Sperber explains it, "Science touches every aspect of our lives  it is constantly evolving and the possibilities are endless." Using this new alphabet book, young children can be introduced to both influential women and men in STEM.

From Christi Sperber to young children just learning about science and the countless women who have contributed to STEM over the years, Nanoscale Scientists Publishing is here to uplift and celebrate women in Stem this Women's History Month. On top of that, Nanoscale Scientists Publishing is proud to be a woman-owned business, further influencing our commitment to helping kids (both girls and boys alike) get excited about science and involved in STEM.

In recent years, the United States has fallen behind other countries in terms of the number of students enrolling in STEM programs and pursuing careers in STEM fields. A large part of the problem is that many kids, especially girls, don't see themselves as scientists or engineers. They don't have role models who look like them or have similar backgrounds. Through books like "The Scientists Alphabet Book", we can continue to encourage young girls and other young children to pursue STEM-related programs and careers.

But we know that this push for social justice in science doesn't end with Women's History Month. Nanoscale Scientists Publishing is committed to making science more accessible for everyone. That's why we've launched our Scientists for Social Justice Initiative, working to introduce and give a voice to disabled, LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and indigenous scientists. Through our efforts, we are committed to donating 50% of the profit from the items in our Social Justice of Scientists store to organizations that work to promote diversity in the STEM field.

To learn more about "The Scientists Alphabet Book" or to purchase a copy, please visit our website at

https://www.nanoscalescientists.com/ .

To learn more about the author of our new book, Christi Sperber, please visit

https://www.nanoscalescientists.com/about-the-author/ .

You can also learn more about our Scientists for Social Justice Initiative at

https://www.nanoscalescientists.com/social-justice-for-scientists/ .

About Nanoscale Scientists Publishing

Nanoscale Scientists Publishing is a woman-owned business committed to helping kids get involved in STEM. Nanoscale Scientists Publishing creates and publishes children's books designed specifically to introduce children of all ages to the world of STEM. From coloring books and alphabet books to our assortment of science books, gifts, toys, apparel, activities, and resources, all of our products are crafted with the mission of sparking the wonder of science in children.

Media Contact:

Christi Sperber

719-351-1393

[email protected]

SOURCE Nanoscale Scientists Publishing
Agreement ensures combination of Viasat and Inmarsat will be a strong contributor to the UK National Space Strategy

CARLSBAD, Calif. and LONDON, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Viasat and Inmarsat, the US and UK satellite communications groups, have agreed on a package of legally-binding economic undertakings with the UK Government's Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) as part of the proposed combination of the two companies. BEIS welcomed the constructive discussions that have taken place with both companies on their future plans. The transaction remains subject to the regulatory processes of the UK.

"We are fully committed to ensuring that our combination with Inmarsat supports the UK's National Space Strategy with additional investment and job creation," said Rick Baldridge, president and CEO of Viasat. "I am confident that together we can build upon the UK's space agenda and help propel the country to the forefront of the global space race. I want to thank the UK Government for their engagement and look forward to a productive relationship for decades to come."

Rajeev Suri, Inmarsat CEO, added: "With this agreement, the combination of Inmarsat and Viasat will result in more highly-skilled jobs and R&D investment in the UK than Inmarsat could achieve on a standalone basis. This milestone is a great step for the UK and while they certainly have challenged us to put our best foot forward, I am delighted they have accepted our economic Deed of Undertakings.

The Deed provided to the UK Government includes undertakings ranging from three to five years in duration to:

Expand the number of highly skilled jobs in key areas, including the design and development of satellites, ground stations and other advanced technologies;

Increase overall R&D spending in the country by 30% and create a UK R&D Centre of Excellence;

Maintain core satellite, network and cybersecurity operational capabilities in the UK;

Ensure continued ownership of Inmarsat's current satellite fleet by a UK company;

Leverage the UK supply chain, particularly for delivery of national critical infrastructure;

Preserve the use of the Inmarsat brand with a focus on the maritime segment;

Create a UK Board of Directors with approval authority over key strategic decisions for Inmarsat Group entities; and

Establish the global international business headquarters of the combined company in London .

Viasat will also continue with its previously announced plan to invest 300 million in the UK over a 10-15 year period, with a minimum of 75 million within five years after the closing of the transaction.

About Inmarsat

Inmarsat is a world leader in global, mobile satellite communications. It owns and operates the world's most diverse global portfolio of mobile telecommunications satellite networks, and holds a multi-layered, global spectrum portfolio, covering L-band, Ka-band and S-band, enabling unparalleled breadth and diversity in the solutions it provides. Inmarsat's long-established global distribution network includes not only the world's leading channel partners but also its own strong direct retail capabilities, enabling end to end customer service assurance.

Inmarsat has an unrivalled track record of operating the world's most reliable global mobile satellite telecommunications networks, sustaining business and mission critical safety and operational applications for more than 40 years. It is also a major driving force behind technological innovation in mobile satellite communications, sustaining its leadership through a substantial investment and a powerful network of technology and manufacturing partners.

Inmarsat operates across a diversified portfolio of sectors with the financial resources to fund its business strategy and holds leading positions in the Maritime, Government, Aviation and Enterprise satcoms sectors, operating consistently as a trusted, responsive and high-quality partner to its customers across the globe. For further information, follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram.

About Viasat

Viasat is a global communications company that believes everyone and everything in the world can be connected. For more than 35 years, Viasat has helped shape how consumers, businesses, governments and militaries around the world communicate. Today, the Company is developing the ultimate global communications network to power high-quality, secure, affordable, fast connections to impact people's lives anywhere they areon the ground, in the air or at sea. To learn more about Viasat, visit: www.viasat.com, go to Viasat's Corporate Blog, or follow the Company on social media at: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter or YouTube.

Additional Information About the Transaction and Where You Can Find It

This communication is being made in respect of the proposed business combination transaction between Viasat and Inmarsat pursuant to the terms of that certain Share Purchase Agreement, dated as of November 8, 2021, by and among Viasat and the shareholders of Inmarsat. Viasat intends to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") a proxy statement and other relevant documents in respect of a stockholder meeting to obtain stockholder approval in connection with the transaction. The definitive proxy statement will be sent or given to the stockholders of Viasat and will contain important information about the transaction and related matters. INVESTORS AND STOCKHOLDERS ARE URGED TO READ THE DEFINITIVE PROXY STATEMENT AND OTHER RELEVANT MATERIALS CAREFULLY IN THEIR ENTIRETY WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT VIASAT, INMARSAT AND THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION. Investors and stockholders may obtain a free copy of these materials (when available) and other documents filed by Viasat with the SEC through the website maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov. In addition, free copies of these materials will be made available free of charge through Viasat's website at https://www.viasat.com.

Participants in the Solicitation

Viasat, and its directors and executive officers may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from the stockholders of Viasat in connection with the transaction. Information regarding the persons who may, under the rules of the SEC, be considered to be participants in the solicitation of Viasat's stockholders in connection with the transaction will be set forth in Viasat's definitive proxy statement for its stockholder meeting. Additional information regarding these individuals and any direct or indirect interests they may have in the transaction will be set forth in the definitive proxy statement when and if it is filed with the SEC in connection with the transaction.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to the safe harbors created under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements include statements that refer to the agreed upon package of legally-binding undertakings with the UK Government's Department for BEIS as part of the proposed combination of Viasat and Inmarsat, as well as Viasat's previously announced plan to invest 300 million in the UK. Readers are cautioned that actual results could differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ include: risks and uncertainties related to the transaction, including the failure to obtain, or delays in obtaining, required regulatory approvals or clearances; the risk that any such approval may result in the imposition of conditions that could adversely affect Viasat, the combined company or the expected benefits of the transaction; the failure to satisfy any of the closing conditions to the transaction on a timely basis or at all; any adverse impact on the business of Viasat or Inmarsat as a result of uncertainty surrounding the transaction; the nature, cost and outcome of any legal proceedings related to the transaction; the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstances that could give rise to the termination of the definitive agreement for the transaction, including in circumstances requiring Viasat to pay a termination fee; the risk that Viasat's stock price may decline significantly if the transaction is not consummated; the failure to obtain the necessary debt financing arrangements set forth in the commitment letters received in connection with the transaction; risks that the transaction disrupts current plans and operations or diverts management's attention from its ongoing business; the effect of the announcement of the transaction on the ability of Viasat to retain and hire key personnel and maintain relationships with its customers, suppliers and others with whom it does business; the ability of Viasat to successfully integrate Inmarsat operations, technologies and employees; the ability to realize anticipated benefits and synergies of the transaction, including the expectation of enhancements to Viasat's products and services, greater revenue or growth opportunities, operating efficiencies and cost savings; the ability to ensure continued performance and market growth of the combined company's business; changes in the global business environment and economic conditions; the availability and cost of credit; risks associated with the construction, launch and operation of satellites, including the effect of any anomaly, operational failure or degradation in satellite performance; Viasat's or the combined company's ability to successfully develop, introduce and sell new technologies, products and services; changes in relationships with key customers, suppliers, distributors, resellers and others as a result of the transaction or otherwise; Viasat's and Inmarsat's reliance on a limited number of third parties to manufacture and supply their respective products; the risk of litigation or regulatory actions to Viasat and/or Inmarsat; inability to retain key personnel; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Viasat's or Inmarsat's business, suppliers, consumers, customers, and employees or the overall economy; Viasat's and the combined company's level of indebtedness and ability to comply with applicable debt covenants; and other factors affecting the communications industry generally. In addition, please refer to the risk factors contained in Viasat's SEC filings available at www.sec.gov, including Viasat's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and such reports that are subsequently filed with the SEC, including the definitive proxy statement to be filed with the SEC in connection with the transaction. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. Viasat undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements for any reason.

Copyright  2022 Viasat, Inc. All rights reserved. Viasat, the Viasat logo and the Viasat signal are registered trademarks of Viasat, Inc. All other product or company names mentioned are used for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE Viasat, Inc.; Inmarsat
"In the last few years, we had looked for a total Edtech solution to improve the overall learning experience of our students. In 2021, we started working with ViewSonic to implement over 100 ViewBoard interactive displays in our classrooms. Harnessing the power of myViewBoard Sens is our latest step in this journey," said Jonathan Stokes, Assistant Headteacher, Smestow Academy. "myViewBoard Sens offers students and teachers reassurance of a safe and engaging learning environment so we can deliver the best education possible. It is an exciting piece of EdTech innovation that we are proud to be trialing and rolling out in our classrooms."

"ViewSonic is passionate about providing comprehensive educational technology solutions for schools to drive better learning outcomes and attainments," said Peter Claxton, Senior Director of EdTech Solutions, ViewSonic. "We are incredibly pleased to be working with Smestow Academy to implement myViewBoard Sens in a real-world setting, helping the schools to adapt to the new era, and creating a highly engaged and safe learning environment. Through this pioneering project, we plan to introduce this next-gen technology to more schools around the world, opening up new learning opportunities for students, teachers, and schools."

In this project, myViewBoard Sens was installed on the ViewBoard, which sits at the front of a classroom, to analyze the wellness compliance of the indoor space. The school and teachers can get an instant view of the status through a dashboard app. The embedded sensor detects and evaluates the airborne transmission risk according to five indicators  temperature, humidity, occupancy rate, audience masked, and close contacts between students. If the rating of wellness compliance decreases, it means the wellness level is at risk and the myViewBoard Sens would suggest actionable insights on the dashboard in real-time for the school and teachers to take action. This makes sure the social distancing in the classroom follows the government's protocol, reducing the risk of virus growth.

From the dashboard, the teachers can also get insights into student engagement at a group level to foster an active learning environment. From sensing the room's temperature, color temperature, ambient lighting, to analyzing students' attentiveness through articulated human pose estimation, the insights indicate the factors that may affect students' focus. Teachers can look back and see how students responded to the class and make changes to their lesson plans or teaching approaches if necessary. Moreover, all data are generated and processed within the sensor locally without using individual profiles and without relying on the cloud, ensuring the highest levels of security and anonymity.

As a future-proof education solution, myViewBoard Sens helps the school evolve with the changing world and helps educators achieve the best educational outcomes in an optimal learning space. Moving forward, ViewSonic will continue to work with Smestow Academy to gather more feedback on the use of technology and explore more possibilities to provide greater benefits in education.



On March 23, day 1 of BETT Show 2022, Peter Claxton, Senior Director of EdTech Solutions, ViewSonic will deliver a keynote speech  The Art of the Possible (Innovation and AI) at 4pm, and on March 24, day 2 of BETT Show, Peter will host the EdTech Talk with the Smestow Academy at 3pm.

ViewSonic at BETT 2022

When

Wednesday 23rd March: 10:00am-6:00pm

Thursday 24th March: 10:00am-8:00pm

Friday 25th March: 10:00am-5:00pm

Where

ExCeL London, South Hall, Booth SF40

To find more information, please visit https://www.viewsonic.com/uk/bett2022.

About Smestow Academy

Located in Wolverhampton, the Smestow Academy is part of the University of Wolverhampton Multi-Academy Trust. Through the school's curriculum, they aim to build people through the development of key skills, knowledge and understanding. This intent to provide an excellent education for all students is rooted in a desire to bring out the best in every student and prepare them for success in life.

About ViewSonic

Founded in California, ViewSonic is a leading global provider of visual solutions and conducts business in over 100 countries worldwide. As an innovator and visionary, ViewSonic is committed to providing comprehensive hardware and software solutions that include monitors, projectors, pen displays, commercial displays, All-in-One LED displays, ViewBoard interactive displays, and myViewBoard software ecosystem. With over 35 years of expertise in visual displays, ViewSonic has established a strong position for delivering innovative and reliable solutions for education, enterprise, consumer, and professional markets and helping customers "See the Difference." To find out more about ViewSonic, please visit www.viewsonic.com .

SOURCE ViewSonic
Global competitiveness and key competitor percentage market shares

Market presence across multiple geographies - Strong/Active/Niche/Trivial

Online interactive peer-to-peer collaborative bespoke updates

Access to our digital archives and MarketGlass Research Platform

Complimentary updates for one year

Edition: 17; Released: February 2022

Executive Pool: 23661

Companies: 161 - Players covered include Avery Dennison Corporation; Cardinal Health, Inc.; Dolphin RFID Pvt. Ltd.; GAO RFID, Inc.; Grifols, S.A; International Business Machines (IBM) Corp.; Impinj, Inc.; LogiTag Ltd.; metraTec GmbH; Mobile Aspects Inc.; STANLEY Healthcare; Terso Solutions, Inc.; TOSHIBA TEC CORPORATION; Zebra Technologies Corporation and Others.

Coverage: All major geographies and key segments

Segments: Type (Tags, Readers, Software, Other Types); Application (Pharmaceutical Tracking, Patient Tracking, Asset Tracking, Other Applications)

Geographies: World; USA; Canada; Japan; China; Europe; France; Germany; Italy; UK; Spain; Russia; Rest of Europe; Asia-Pacific; Australia; India; South Korea; Rest of Asia-Pacific; Latin America; Argentina; Brazil; Mexico; Rest of Latin America; Middle East; Iran; Israel; Saudi Arabia; UAE; Rest of Middle East; Africa.



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ABSTRACT-

Global RFID in Healthcare Market to Reach $9.1 Billion by 2026

Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) refers to a wireless identification technology that employs radiofrequency waves. Healthcare and pharmaceuticals industry is emerging as a lucrative end-use market for RFID technology. Relevant applications for RFID in healthcare and pharmaceuticals sectors include patient tracking; call up records, waste management, asset/document/record tracking, medicine disposals, and real-time location systems. RFID chips and readers installed at hospitals regularly monitor temperature, blood products, drugs and even other clinical trials. The usage of RFID technology is also growing at a rapid pace in pharmaceuticals industry to avoid counterfeiting of various prescription drugs with added supply chain and operational benefits. Ongoing technological advancements in data analytics and RFID technology are enabling manufacturers to accurately analyze consumption as well as inventory data. Regulatory demands such as implementation of e-Pedigree in supply chain, as mandated by California Board of Pharmacy will also generate substantial demand for RFID in the pharmaceutical sector.



Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for RFID in Healthcare estimated at US$5.3 Billion in the year 2022, is projected to reach a revised size of US$9.1 Billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 13.8% over the analysis period. Tags, one of the segments analyzed in the report, is projected to record a 15.4% CAGR and reach US$5.4 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 Readers segment is readjusted to a revised 11.7% CAGR for the next 7-year period. RFID tags, also called RFID transponders, are tiny RF identification devices. Growth in the segment will be especially driven by the growing adoption of low cost tags. Passive RFID tags have managed to dominate the RFID tags market, particularly due to their cost-effectiveness over active tags.



The U.S. Market is Estimated at $1.5 Billion in 2022, While China is Forecast to Reach $2 Billion by 2026

The RFID in Healthcare market in the U.S. is estimated at US$1.5 Billion in the year 2022. China, the world`s second largest economy, is forecast to reach a projected market size of US$2 Billion by the year 2026 trailing a CAGR of 17.5% over the analysis period. Among the other noteworthy geographic markets are Japan and Canada, each forecast to grow at 10.6% and 12.7% respectively over the analysis period. Within Europe, Germany is forecast to grow at approximately 12.3% CAGR. The deployment rate of RFID technology in the pharmaceuticals and healthcare sector is high in North America region. The demand for RFID seems to be more optimistic in Asia-Pacific region with high adoption rate under the light of increasing concerns towards counterfeiting and patient tracking.

Software Segment to Reach $1.2 Billion by 2026

RFID software solution is the key enabler of RFID systems allowing tags and readers to be deployed in a range of applications. The software is designed to enable the system store and manage RFID tag data and integrate the same with other systems. In the global Software segment, USA, Canada, Japan, China and Europe will drive the 13.8% CAGR estimated for this segment. These regional markets accounting for a combined market size of US$405.6 Million will reach a projected size of US$1 Billion by the close of the analysis period. China will remain among the fastest growing in this cluster of regional markets. Led by countries such as Australia, India, and South Korea, the market in Asia-Pacific is forecast to reach US$200 Million by the year 2026, while Latin America will expand at a 14.8% CAGR through the analysis period.

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Galliford Try Holdings PLC (LSE:GFRD) announced its non-executive chairperson Peter Ventress will step down on 15 September after more than seven years on the board, to be replaced by Alison Wood.

The board is extremely grateful to Peter for his contribution to and chairing of the board over the last seven years and during the group's transformation, in recent years, to its current position as one of the UK's leading construction groups, Terry Miller, senior independent director, said.

After a transition period and handover, Wood will become the chair of the board and chair of the nomination committee for the UK-based construction group.

"Alison has a wealth of experience and her appointment will further strengthen our independence and the experience of the board, Ventress commented.

Wood will be a member of the audit, remuneration and nomination committees where she will attend audit committee meetings by invitation and join the remuneration committee.

She spent almost 20 years at BAE Systems PLC (LSE:BA.) in a number of strategy and leadership roles, including group strategic director.

She was also in several non-executive director positions and was the global director of strategy and corporate development at National Grid PLC (LSE:NG.) from 2008 to 2013, the company added.
Bitcoin and Ethereum have given up the gains made at the end of last week as Russias kept up its attack on Ukraine and US President Joe Biden warned China about the drawbacks of joining the former country in war.

Bitcoin eased 2.2% over the past 24 hours to US$40,990, while Ethereum fell 1.9% to US$2,871.

Volumes of Ethereums Ether token held via crypto exchanges has fallen to its lowest levels since September 2018, according to data from Glassnode.

This was, according to specialist media, a signal that are holding in hopes of a price rally in 2022.

Close to 550,000 ether tokens, with a total value of around $1.58bn, have been withdrawn from trading platforms since the start of the year, Glassnode said, cutting the net balance of the number-two digital coin to 21.72mln compared to its all-time high of 31.68mln in the summer of 2020.

Elsewhere, the wider crypto markets were selling off mildly, with Solana, Shiba Inu and Polygon slipping 1.9%, 5.1% and 2.7% respectively.

Further down the pecking order Algorand, Decentraland and Internet Computer also joined the retreat.

Overall, 82 of the leading 100 digital currencies were trading in negative territory during Monday mornings early changing of hands.

Most notable to buck the trend were Terra, Ethereum Classic and Waves, which advanced 2.7%, 8.6% and 3.3% respectively.

Outside of the top 50 Dash and Bitcoin Gold surged 8.9% and 16.2%.
Atome Energy PLC has ordered its first 1MW electrolyser for its Paraguay transport business to start green hydrogen production in the first quarter of next year.

Further such orders from UK hydrogen and tech company, CPH2, may follow after the two British companies signed a non-binding collaboration deal, Atome said on Monday.

The electrolyser is capable of producing 450kg of high purity green hydrogen a day and 3,500kg of medical grade oxygen.

We very much look forward to working with the Atome team in delivering the first green hydrogen for transport in Paraguay and to an ongoing partnership in the South America region, said John Duffy, chief executive officer of CPH2.
Trident Royalties PLC (AIM:TRR), the mining royalty and streaming company, has entered into an agreement to acquire a gold off-take contract over the Sugar Zone Mine.

The Sugar Zone underground gold mine in Ontario, Canada is owned and operated by Silver Lake Resources Limited but the contract is being bought from Orion Resource Partners for US$3.75mln, payable in shares issued at 51.43p per share.

The off-take covers 50% of all gold production at Sugar Zone up to 375,000 delivered ounces, with about 335,000 ounces remaining under the off-take.

With this acquisition, Trident now holds a total of 11 cash flowing assets, in addition to its attractive pipeline of advanced-stage assets, the company told investors.

This is the fifth transaction that Trident has announced in the last 12 months, as we maintain our momentum in delivering high-value, accretive deals, said Adam Davidson, the chief executive officer of Trident.

This transaction arises as an addition to the portfolio acquired on 11 January 2022 and builds upon our successful relationship with Orion. Now underpinned by Silver Lake's considerable financial and operational acumen, we look forward to Sugar Zone developing into a premier Canadian gold mine. The transaction provides Trident with accretive growth and immediate cash flow. In addition, the asset offers further geographical and operational diversity and increased exposure to the gold price and volatility, both of which remain heightened in the current geopolitical climate, he added.
Spectral MD Holdings' Chief Financial Officer Nils Windler joins Proactive London to talk about what the firm describes as a 'transformational year for the company'.

The firm has just announced their audited final results for the year ended 31 December 2021. He highlights key performance numbers from Expanded Proof-of-Concept (ePOC) showing accuracies of 92% and 88% in detection of severe thermal burn injury in adults and children, respectively.

And he talks through the details of successfully completing 150 subject Diabetic Foot Ulcer (DFU) AI training study on schedule across six clinical sites.
Chariot Ltd (AIM:CHAR, OTC:OIGLF) has entered into a partnership to advance the development of a 430 megawatt solar and wind power project for its mining operations in Zambia.

The Africa-focused transitional energy company said its Chariot Transitional Power division, along with Total Eren, a leading France-based renewable energy independent power producer, has gone into partnership with First Quantum Minerals (TSX:FQM), a global mining and metals company.

This flagship project would complement and expand Zambia's existing renewable energy capacity and would provide First Quantum with competitive and sustainable power for its Zambian mining operations, Chariots stock market announcement said.

"The project will offer significant benefits to Zambia, by unlocking some of its world-class renewable potential. It will help the country realise some of its untapped solar and wind resources by attracting large-scale foreign investment and adding significant renewable energy capacity. In line with Zambia's Vision 2030, the project will further contribute to improving Zambia's energy-mix, reducing expensive regional power imports and exposure to fuel prices, said Anthony Mukutuma, First Quantums Kansanshi mine general manager.

Major projects such as this underline First Quantum's responsible mining credentials and are a critical part of its plan to reduce its carbon footprint by 30% by 2025," he added.

Fabienne Demol, the executive vice president and global head of business development at Total Eren, said the combined solar and wind capacity would offer strong complementarity and power generation around the clock while the project is a natural fit with Zambias hydropower resource seasonality.

Laurent Coche, the executive director at Chariot Transitional Power, said the project further demonstrates Chariot's commitment to assisting mining companies in Africa make the transition to renewable energy sources for their operations.

We are delighted to get started on the project, ahead of construction commencing in 2023, and we look forward to providing further updates in due course," Coche said.

Cenkos Securities said Transitional Power is looking to transform the energy market for mining operations in Africa, calling it a giant, largely untapped market.

It has initiated coverage on Chariot with a buy recommendation and price target of 51p; shares in Chariot are up 4.3% at 10.9p this afternoon.

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the EU has unveiled plans to make Europe independent of Russian fossil fuels by 2030, citing that gas should be sourced from US and Africa in the short-term. For Chariot, this provides a huge opportunity to sell excess gas not committed under long-term gas sales agreements in Morocco to the gas hungry European markets, Cenkos said.

European natural gas prices have risen circa 64% since the start of 2022 and circa 5.6 times since the start of 2021, driven by concerns oversupply and low gas storage levels, it added.
Saudi Aramco has announced it will increase investment in its oil and gas fields this year as part of the state-run energy giant's aim of increasing crude oil production to 13mln barrels per day by 2027.

Last month, the Saudi Arabian public petroleum and gas company, the world's largest oil producer, churned out just over 10mln barrels of oil per day.

UK prime minister Boris Johnson last week visited Saudi Arabia, which owns 98% of Aramco, to ask the country to release more oil amid the energy crisis caused by Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Since the start of 2022 a barrel of Brent Crude Oil (LSE:BRENT) has soared from just over US$80 to above US$130 earlier this month. Having fallen below US$100 on hopes for peace talks, on Monday it was up more than 3% to US$112.54.

For the past calendar year, as oil prices recovered from their 2020 lows, Aramco said it doubled net profit for 2021 to a massive US$205bn of pre-tax profit, with net profit coming in at US$110bn.

As well as keeping its annual dividend at US$75bn, unchanged from a year ago, Aramco said it planned to increase its capital expenditure to US$40-50bn this year with further increases until the middle of the decade. Capital expenditures were just under US$32bn last year.

As well as increasing Aramco crude production the Saudi government aims to free up an additional 1mln barrels of crude oil export capacity by 2027 through increased domestic gas consumption.

By the end of this decade, Aramco is working to boost gas production by almost 50%, largely due to its massive US$100bn-plus Jafurah unconventional gas development venture, where it expects production to reach 2bn cubic feet per day by 2030.

The kingdom, the world's top crude exporter and the de facto leader of the Opec oil cartel, has been seeking to diversify since Mohammed bin Salman became crown prince in 2017, including the ambitious plans to develop a 'smart megacity' called Neom as a major producer of green hydrogen as one of nine technology-focused sectors "targeting the future of human civilisation".
Induction Healthcare Group PLC (AIM:INHC)'s (Induction Healthcare Group PLC (AIM:INHC)) James Balmain talks to Proactive London about renewing their NHS Scotland and Scottish government contracts worth 2mln in annual recurring revenues for its Attend Anywhere (AA) video consultation product.

He says the group will see 'significant revenue growth' this year in line with market expectations and he expects to see this 'exciting growth continue into the new financial year'.
Cornish Tin's Clive Newall, Chairman and Founder, and Sally Norcross-Webb, CEO and Founder join Proactive London's Katie Pilbeam to talk about the Great Wheal Vor Project near Breage in Cornwall, UK.

The project comprises a group of 26 former producing tin mines last operated in the 1800s, described in 1929 by the mining commentator Hamilton Jenkin as, "probably the richest tin mine which has ever been worked in the world.

Historic production grades were exceptionally high, averaging over 3% Sn (tin) and peaking at over 5.5% Sn. By grade, if being mined today, it could be in the top 3 tin mines in the world.
Aurumin Ltd (ASX:AUN) has completed the acquisition of Sandstone Operations Pty Ltd from Middle Island Resources Ltd (ASX:MDI).

The Central Sandstone Project contains a JORC 2012-compliant mineral resource of 22 million tonnes at 1.1 g/t for 784,000 ounces gold in open pit and underground estimates.

This project includes a non-operating 500,000 tonnes per annum carbon-in-leach (CIL) processing plant, associated infrastructure, operating licences and camp facilities in the nearby town of Sandstone.

"Opportunity to add value"

Aurumin managing director Brad Valiukas said: "The Sandstone acquisition is a significant step for the company, with an existing mineral resource and substantial infrastructure.

Sandstone provides an excellent opportunity to add value as we advance the project and build a mining company.

"The 784,000 ounce Central Sandstone mineral resource will be added to by our existing 65,000-ounce Johnson Range Project, together becoming the starter assets for our Sandstone Operations.

"In addition to the existing mineral resource base, there are a number of exploration targets that we are very keen to start on-ground works on and expect to be in the field very shortly with surface works and site preparation.

"Our top priority at Sandstone will be advancing the ShillingtonTwo Mile Complex and defining the underground potential. Permitting and plans for drilling are well underway.

"We appreciate Middle Island's commitment to the transaction and sub underwriting participation, and we look forward to having them as a shareholder as we take Sandstone forward."

Sandstone operations

The project is around 520 kilometres northeast of Perth and is on a sealed highway between the mining towns of Mt Magnet and Leinster in the East Murchison Mineral Field of Western Australia.
SensOre Ltd (ASX:S3N) has stepped forward with two key partnerships that will see the hunt for energy, base and precious metals across Western and South Australia enhanced.

The company is teaming with German natural resources firm Deutsche Rohstoff to target, explore and acquire lithium prospects in the west under a joint venture agreement.

And to the south, the ASX-lister has brought the states premier gold explorer, Barton Gold Holdings Ltd, onboard as a client, broadening SensOres data portfolio in the prolifc Gawler Craton.

SensOre hopes to one day rank as the worlds top-performing minerals targeting company as it works to bring AI technology, big data and geoscientific expertise to the exploration sector.

The company has developed a suite of solutions to make minerals targeting and exploration more precise, efficient and effective.

Exploring for lithium in WA

SensOre and joint venture partner Deutsche Rohstoff AG have agreed to work together to identify, acquire and explore SensOre-generated lithium targets in WA.

Both parties shook hands on lithium exploration terms after the ASX-lister completed its first lithium targeting program in December last year.

Together, the parties will pursue at least eight accepted lithium targets worth $125,000 each, valued at a cumulative $1 million.

SensOre will take up an initial 30% participating interest, while Rohstoff will hold the balance.

In a preliminary budget, $4 million has been set aside to fund exploration. Of that, $2.8 million will come from Rohstoff, with SensOre to contribute the remaining $1.2 million.

Both parties will work to finalise the joint venture, secure access to high priority targets and commence fieldwork as soon as practicable.

Collaboration in battery metals space

SensOre CEO Richard Taylor said: SensOres joint venture with Deutsche Rohstoff represents a further step in the evolution of our company with our expansion into AI-enhanced lithium targeting, realising value from investment in the Data Cube.

We look forward to collaborating with Deutsche Rohstoff to find the mines of tomorrow to reinforce Europe and Australias supply chain of battery and critical minerals needed to underpin global energy transition demand.

Deutsche Rohstoff CEO Thomas Gutschlag said: Deutsche Rohstoff has been impressed by the initial targets generated by SensOre and the practical application of their technology.

We look forward to testing some of the exciting targets in the field. We have a successful track record of investing in Australia.

As a result, we believe strongly in collaboration between Germany and Australia and the potential in the battery metals space.

Teaming with leading gold explorer

Beyond lithium exploration, SensOre is also working to develop other natural resources with South Australias leading gold explorer.

The company has secured Barton Gold as a new client, and SensOre will use its artificial intelligence and machine learning DPT technology to explore for copper and gold in the Gawler Craton.

The deal, worth up to $400,000, will add further information to SensOres South Australia data cube from the regions surrounding Bartons tenements.

Subject to production from new gold and copper targets identified with the DPT technology, SensOre will also be entitled to additional royalty fees linked to gold ounces produced (or copper equivalent) across Bartons exploration tenure.

Under the contract, Barton Gold will also join SensOres South Australian gold and copper prospectivity mapping initiative, which includes other ASX listers like Hillgrove Resources Ltd (ASX:HGO), Argonaut Resources NL (ASX:ARE) and Aroha Resources Ltd.

SensOre and Barton Gold will now advance the terms sheet to a detailed binding agreement ahead of commencement.

An important milestone

Taylor stated: We are excited to collaborate with Barton Gold, which understands the tremendous upside potential that machine learning can bring to exploration and are already trialling machine learning technologies in the area, including CSIROs machine learning adaptive sampling platform.

This partnership is an important milestone in offering Australia-wide prospectivity mapping and AI-enhanced minerals targeting to innovative explorers.

Barton Gold managing director Alexander Scanlon said: We are pleased to join with SensOre in developing new tools and methodologies with the potential to significantly accelerate the mineral exploration and development cycle.

We have closely followed SensOres technological progress as we have advanced our R&D pipeline for the central Gawler Craton and view the DPT technology as a promising and timely complement to our other initiatives.

SensOre shares were as much as 19.1% higher intraday to A$0.75.
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The Andalucian Accelerator Unit is the equivalent of being granted a State Significant Project status in Australia.

Elementos Ltd (ASX:ELT, OTC:ELTLF)s Oropesa Project in Spain was recently named one of the seven significant mining projects assigned to the Government of Andalucias Project Accelerator Unit.

The Accelerator Unit was formed to centralise and streamline regulatory assessments and provide further government support to ensure the successful start-up and execution of projects.

Most significant regulatory step in the projects development to date

The Accelerator Units scope of action includes promoting strategic projects that, due to their importance or nature, contribute to the achievement of the objectives of Andalusia.

Elementos managing director Joe David said he was appreciative of the Juntas support, describing it as the most significant regulatory step in the projects development to date.

David added: It affirms the projects significance to the region and the strong working relationship we have formed with regulators.

We look forward to now working even closer with the Junta de Andalucia to bring the Oropesa Tin Project into operation for the benefit of the region and all stakeholders.

The Unit will also assist coordinating with the different ministries with powers over the procedures that affect investment initiatives, as well as with the corresponding local administrations, David said.

He said that as part of Oropesas Definitive Feasibility Study currently underway, an Optimisation Study was due for release within a month and would confirm Oropesas size and scale as well as serve regulatory submissions.

Applications for both the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Exploitation (Mining) Licence are also in an advance drafting status, he added.

Shares reiterated a buy

Following the assignment of Oropesa to the Andalucian Governments Project Accelerator Unit, BW Equities reiterated its buy recommendation for Elementos.

The following is an extract from the research update:

Accelerated Regulatory Pathway: ELT has announced that an application to the Andalucian Government's "Project Accelerator Unit" has been successful, placing Oropesa into a small group of only 7 mining projects in the region to be admitted to the program. This paves the way for a streamlined approvals process for Oropesa and highlights the strength of the established partnership between ELT and relevant local authorities. We note the elections scheduled for later this year and think that the move signals the political imperative emerging for the need to stimulate regional jobs and investment. As the economics of Oropesa are highly attractive in the current tin price environment, a faster than expected approvals process provides a potentially expediated pathway for the project over the near-term.

Tin Price Update: The London Metal Exchange tin price has achieved fresh record highs of US$50,000/t (cash) (~US$22.68/lb) in early March and has since corrected to the current price of US$42,700/t. Extreme volatility has emerged in recent weeks across commodities markets as conflict between Russia and Ukraine has escalated, which has cast significant uncertainty on the supply of many key commodities. While we expect volatility is likely to continue over the course of this year, we note that the current tin price is more than double that assumed in the May 2020 Economic Assessment completed for the Oropesa project (US$19,750/t), and significantly above the current base-case tin price assumption adopted in our financial modelling (US$30,000/t). Assuming spot tin prices (US$42,700/t) are received over the project life in our DCF analysis, implies a valuation of $2.00/share for ELT shares.

2022 Milestones: Completion of the DFS for Oropesa is scheduled for "the second half of 2022" and by the end of this month ELT will release an optimisation/scoping study which will provide an indicative look at the updated project specs. We believe an 18-24-month timeline to construct the project will follow a positive DFS, putting Oropesa on track to achieve first production in 2025.

Valuation & Recommendation: ELT provides investors with exposure to a tin project in a stable geographic region (Spain), with a defined economic assessment which shows very strong fundamentals at current tin prices. Oropesa has modest pre-production capex requirements (we assume US$75m for an expanded 1 mtpa process plant) for an open-pit mining operation and conventional processing circuit. The shares trade at a significant discount to our $1.00/share (AUD) valuation, set using a tin price of US$30,000/t (spot LME = ~US$42,700/t) and DCF valuation analysis. As such we reiterate our Buy rating. Key risks include the availability of funding, tin prices, permitting/approvals and operational issues.
It was a day of wild mood swings on the ASX today as the bourse dipped into the red and then returned to the green

The S&P/ASX200 is up just 3.00 points today to 7,297.40. Over the last five days, the index has gained 2.07%, but is down 1.98% for the last year to date.

Top-performing stocks in this index were Life360 Inc up 6.63% and EML Payments Ltd up 6.10%.

Tech had a good day up 3% on gains led by Block Inc up 9.4% and Xero 3.1%.

Industrials was the drag, with the sector down 0.9% as Atlas Arteria Group lost 3.7%, Transurban Group (ASX:TCL) TCL fell 2% and Auckland International Airport (ASX:AIA) Limited dropped 1.7%.

Overall, utilities, energy, consumer discretionary, materials and real estate found the green, while financials, staples, communication services and health care sectors hit the red.

Qantas moves into NFTs

The flying kangaroo is offering a suite of digital artwork as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as another avenue to profit making.

One of a kind digital artwork will be offered using blockchain technology. Collectors will be able to buy, own and sell their unique tokens.

As befitting an airline, the tokens come in four classes at different price points: First, Business, Premium Economy and Economy.

The NFTs are expected to be available mid-year and will highlight Qantas Airways (ASX:QAN) Limiteds history via aircraft and iconic liveries.

Frequent flyer points may be earned with each NFT purchase.

We know how much our customers love having their own unique piece of the national carrier, chief customer officer Stephanie Tully said.

A Qantas NFT collection allows us to engage the next generation of aviation and digital art enthusiasts, leveraging blockchain technology to celebrate our heritage and future.

The move makes Qantas one of the first ASAX companies to join Web3.

Market tracker NonFungible has reported that NFT sales last week totalled 16,000 sold for a total price of $US85 million.

ASIC issues warning to finfluencers

If you get your trading or financial advice from a social media platform such as Instagram, YouTube or Redditt, you may have to rethink your stategy.

Australias financial watchdog is now cracking down on so-called finfluencers and the financial advice they provide.

ASIC claims that one-third of 18-24-year-olds take advice from at least one financial influencer on a social media platform, while 64% have changed behaviours.

What weve found looking at finfluencers is some of them are crossing the line, they need to know that they need to be licensed effectively, and that they understand their obligation to declare conflicts of interest and are complying with their obligations more broadly, ASICs executive director of markets and corporations Greg Yanco said.

There are consequences of not listening to this, some of the finfluencers are thinking this shouldnt apply to me, and were saying no, you need to engage with this information, and if you dont well take action.

While there is a need to acknowledge the investment landscape has changed, safety should still be paramount and influencers should comply with financial services laws.

ASIC commissioner Cathie Armour said, If they dont, they risk substantial penalties and put investors at risk.

Some finfluencers have welcomed the move.

Finfluencers provide a net positive, its about young people to take action and take their financial lives seriously. But when finfluencers get a specific following, and are earning an income, they need to prove that theyre not being incentivised to push a certain product, Glen James, who runs My Millennial Money podcast said in an interview.

A lot of time finluencers will post affiliated links, and the question is, are they licensed to give that advice? By definition, social media accounts with a big following do have influence.

TikTok and Instagram influencer Queenie Tan said, We can now determine more clearly what is likely to be financial product advice and what is unlikely to be financial product advice - so that we can create content which adheres to the new guidelines and is factual, educational and balanced.

ASIC is following in the footsteps of the ACCC which has already made moves to crackdown on the industry.

On the small cap front
Los Andes Copper said it will ask for an upliftment or review of the order so that its planned 18,000 meter drill campaign can continue in accordance with its granted permits

Los Andes Copper Ltd (TSX-V:LA) has announced a plan to temporarily suspend drilling at the Minera Vizcachitas project in Chile.

In a statement, the company noted that on March 18, 2022, the Second Environmental Court decreed a preliminary injunction to suspend the effects of Resolution No. 14 of 2021 environmental license for the drilling project.

The court injunction relates to the potential impact on the habitat of the vizcachas, a small rabbit, which is part of the food chain of the Andean Cat, a protected species.

In response to the court order, the company has initiated the process of safety as it suspends the drilling operations.

The company said it will ask for upliftment or review of the order so that its planned 18,000 meter (m) drill campaign can continue in accordance with its granted permits. Approximately 6,600m of the program have been completed and 5,400m of assays for grade are in progress currently.

The company firmly believes that our project does not cause or will not cause direct impact to the vizcachas - as already assessed in the environmental assessment process that led to our current environmental licence - and therefore does not and will not pose a threat to Andean Cat habitat, Los Andes Copper said in a statement. The company will prepare the necessary information to prove adequate measures have been taken and will be taken before the Environmental Court, and thus it should be permitted to continue with the authorized works and activities.

The company added: We reiterate our full commitment to fulfill all of our environmental obligations. Los Andes Copper complies and has complied with each of the resolutions and indications of the administrative, supervisory and judicial authorities, in addition to having carried out extensive public participation processes. We continue to engage with all interested parties in a climate of mutual respect.

Contact the author: patrick@proactiveinvestors.com

Follow him on Twitter @PatrickMGraham
Lion Copper and Gold also said Rio Tinto will evaluate the potential commercial deployment of its copper heap leaching Nuton technologies at the site

Lion Copper and Gold Corp (TSX-V:LEO, OTCQB:LCGMF) said it has entered into an option to earn-in agreement with Rio Tinto PLC (LSE:RIO) subsidiary, Rio Tinto America Inc to advance studies and exploration at Lion's copper assets in Mason Valley, Nevada.

The company said Rio Tinto has the option to earn a 65% interest in the assets, which includes the historic Yerington mine, greenfield MacArthur project, Wassuk property, the Bear deposit, and associated water rights.

The agreement offers the potential to both increase the scope and scale of our development and accelerate the path to first production, Lion Copper and Gold CEO Travis Naugle said in a statement.

Should Rio Tinto exercise its earn-in option, we are confident that it will bring its own level of quality to progress the development of the Mining Assets towards becoming a strategic domestic copper producer with the highest ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) standards and performance, Naugle added.

Lion Copper and Gold also noted that Rio Tinto will evaluate the potential commercial deployment of its Nuton technologies at the site, a copper heap leaching technology developed to deliver greater copper recovery from mined ore and access new sources of copper, such as low-grade sulphide resources and reprocessing of stockpiles and mineralised waste.

In the first stage of the earn-in agreement, Rio Tinto will pay up to US$4 million for an exclusive earn-in option and agreed-upon Mason Valley study and evaluation works to be completed by Lion no later than December 31, 2022.

Within 45 days of the completion of Stage 1, Rio Tinto will then provide notice to Lion as to whether Rio Tinto elects to proceed with Stage 2, upon which Rio Tinto will pay up to US$5 million for an agreed-upon Mason Valley study and evaluation works to be completed by Lion within 12 months from the date that the parties agree upon the scope of Stage 2 work.

Then within 60 days of the completion of Stage 2, Rio Tinto shall provide notice to Lion as to whether Rio Tinto will exercise its option and fund a feasibility study based on the results of the Stage 1 and Stage 2 work programs. Rio Tinto will fully fund the feasibility study and ancillary work completed by Lion up to US$50 million.

Finally, upon completion of the feasibility study, Rio Tinto and Lion will decide whether to create an investment vehicle into which the mining assets will be transferred, with Rio Tinto holding not less than a 65% interest in the investment vehicle. If Rio Tinto elects not to create the investment vehicle, then Lion shall grant to Rio Tinto a 1.5% net smelter returns royalty (NSR) on the mining assets.

During the project financing stage, Rio Tinto may elect to fund up to US$60 million of Lion's project financing costs in exchange for a 10% increase in Rio Tinto's ownership percentage. In addition, upon mutual agreement of Rio Tinto and Lion, Rio Tinto may fund an additional US$40 million of Lion's project financing costs in exchange for a further 5% increase in Rio Tinto's ownership percentage.

If Lion's ownership percentage in the investment vehicle is diluted to 10% or less, then Lion's ownership interest will be converted into a 1% uncapped NSR.

Lion Copper and Gold is advancing the MacArthur copper project in Nevada, and exploring the Chaco Bear and Ashton properties in British Columbia.

The company's MacArthur asset sits in Mason Valley, a large, historic copper camp within a land package spanning 51 square miles. The project is a large-scale, low-cost, heap leach operation with potential for near-term production of pure copper cathode.

Contact Sean at sean@proactiveinvestors.com
Marmota Ltd (ASX:MEU) is set to begin the next round of reverse circulation (RC) drilling at its 100%-owned Aurora Tank Project in South Australia where the first BLEG tests recently yielded grades of 197 g/t over 1-metre from 66 metres downhole.

The program of around 85 holes for approximately 10,000 metres at the discovery in the prolific yet underexplored Gawler Craton is due to kick off around April 1 and the average hole depth is expected to be 117 metres to a maximum of 200 metres.

Fully funded program

Marmotas team will depart Adelaide tomorrow bound for Aurora Tank for the drilling program, which is expected to take around five weeks and is fully funded.

Chairman Dr Colin Rose said: We are hoping this will be our final drill program at Aurora Tank prior to our lodging a Mining Lease application at Aurora Tank.

"The program develops a number of parallel extensions that are still open and should enable us to complete work on an optimal open pit design.

Program objectives

There are multiple objectives for the drill program, including testing further extensions to the new NW flank that has recently tripled in strike and produced strong intersections such as:

3 metres at 72 g/t gold from 66 metres including 1-metre at 197 g/t;

5 metres at 27 g/t from 38 metres including 1-metre at 105 g/t;

3 metres at 29 g/t from 63 metres including 1-metre at 74 g/t; and

4 metres at 15 g/t from 67 metres including 1-metre at 53 g/t.

It will also test sub-parallel extensions to the N and NE in parallel to the NW flank, extensions at depth targeting primary mineralisation and extensions to the east of the Aurora Tank mineralised zone.

Selected drilling will aid resource modelling and optimal pit design, or where previous holes were not deep enough.

The program also includes a number of holes that form part of the Accelerated Discovery Initiative (ADI) at Aurora Tank and on the surrounding Woorong Downs and Comet tenements.

These particular holes are jointly funded by the South Australian Government under a grant awarded to Marmota. Some of these holes are early-stage reconnaissance work.

About Marmota

Marmotas gold exploration efforts are centred on the companys dominant tenement holding in the highly prospective and significantly underexplored Gawler Craton, near the Challenger gold mine, in the Woomera Prohibited Defence Area.

Elsewhere in South Australia, the companys copper project is based at the Melton project on the Yorke Peninsula and its uranium JORC resource is at Junction Dam adjacent to the Honeymoon mine.
Atome Energy PLC (AIM:ATOM) made a premium debut as the green energy spin-out began trading on the London Stock Exchange.

The share rose to a high of 87.5p in Thursday mornings deals.

The company, an innovator in the sustainable energy arena, has been split out of oil and gas group, President Energy following a 9mln fundraise at 80p per share.

It is now the first and currently only company solely focusing on being a producer of green hydrogen and ammonia listed on the London Stock Exchange, and, the company has been given the LSEs Green Economy Mark.

"Today marks an important milestone for both ATOME and the London market's place in the transition to a green economy, said chief executive Oliver Mussat.

"We are proud of the award of London Stock Exchange's Green Economy Mark.

This prestigious classification represents our commitment as a company to meaningfully mitigate the impacts of climate change and is a clear message to our investors and other stakeholders of the commitment of ATOME in supporting the transition to net zero.

ATOMEs plan is to produce, market and distribute green hydrogen and ammonia, areas that are expected to emerge as a rapidly growing market.

An exciting hydrogen energy future

Hydrogen is widely considered within the ESG clean energy sector as a key part of the matrix of renewable power sources, necessary to meet net-zero carbon emissions targets by 2050.

ATOME Energy has two operating subsidiaries: ATOME Paraguay based in Paraguay, and Green Fuel based in Iceland.

Both subsidiaries have commenced operational planning, sourcing and negotiations with green electricity suppliers, equipment providers and offtake partners

Mussat added: "With the funding secured, ATOME is in a position to rapidly progress its projects in Iceland and Paraguay towards Final Investment Decision (or FID) in both countries.

The projects both plan to deliver green energy using mature technology and low-cost baseload power which is available on-tap in both locations.

Our projects have government support and accessible markets which need green hydrogen and ammonia to reach their net zero targets, and ATOME is positioned to capitalise on this.

"We have an exciting road ahead as nations implement decarbonisation strategies with green hydrogen and ammonia at their heart. We look forward to updating shareholders on ATOME's progress during 2022 with increasing newsflow as we move towards FID.

A unique opportunity, says SP Angel

The newly listed company is described by stockbroker SP Angel as a unique opportunity to access a low-risk renewables play.

ATOME provides investors with potential access to upstream green hydrogen and ammonia production, managed by experienced and well-connected leadership teams in two stable democratic countries, Paraguay and Iceland. Both countries are ideally suited to the production of green hydrogen with a continuous supply of green electricity, potential internal offtake demand, available export markets, favourable fiscal conditions and an educated and available workforce with benign labour condition, analyst Sam Wahab said in a note.

In our view, the ATOME investment case offers investors a compelling entry point into an exponentially growing market, with first mover advantage in two strategically important geographies with regards to the monetisation of green hydrogen and ammonia.

Post admission, the next key valuation catalyst will be to achieve FID across its portfolio.

At which point, ATOME will have access to a plethora of corporate and or debt/infrastructure opportunities to develop its position in both Iceland and Paraguay to generate transformational medium-term returns.

SP Angel highlighted that the global market for hydrogen is growing, currently estimated at around 70mln tonnes per year and should reach 111mln tonnes by 2025  whereas International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates see the markets expanding to some 530mln tonnes per year by 2050.

President Energy spin-out

Earlier in December, President Energy confirmed its shareholders  except those in excluded territories  will receive a stake in the Atome Energy company as it floats in London before the end of December.

Qualifying shareholders received 1 Atome share for every 169 President shares they held.

Shares that would be due to shareholders in the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, South Africa and New Zealand were assigned to Atomes broker, which "will facilitate an orderly distribution of the shares into the markets and any net proceeds will be remitted to the relevant shareholders", President said on December 24.

Along with President Energy shareholders and placing shareholders, ATOME is also backed by a strong strategic and institutional base which includes international commodity trader and logistics firm Trafigura.
Hillgrove Resources Ltd (ASX:HGO)s four new diamond holes in the Kavanagh mineral zone at Kanmantoo Copper Project in South Australia, have all intersected strong copper-gold mineralisation.

The Kavanagh surface drilling program is now complete with drilling continuing at Nugent.

Upon completion of the drilling program at Nugent, Hillgrove will update the respective mineral resource estimates (MRE) for the Kavanagh and Nugent lode systems, which is expected to grow the MRE in size and geological confidence.

Funding discussions for the Kanmantoo Underground restart have advanced to definitive agreements stage, with the required capital of $26 million expected to be funded entirely by debt.

MRE to grow

Hillgrove CEO and managing director Lachlan Wallace said: It is a very predictable mineral system to drill, with every drill hole since May 2021 yielding significant intersections of copper.

The recent drilling results continue this trend, with multiple high-grade zones being delineated within wider zones of copper mineralisation of around 100 metres in downhole length.

As these holes are incorporated into the geological model, it is expected the resource estimate will grow both in size and in geological confidence.

The broader mineral zones in holes KTDD208 W1 and W4 complement previous drill results in 2021, including 170 metres at 1.0% copper and 166 metres at 0.9% copper, and demonstrate the presence of a large copper system at Kanmantoo.

Increase annual production

These wide mineralised zones provide a significant opportunity to increase annual copper production above the Stage 1 plan presented last year, which forecast almost $200 million of free cash flow in the initial three years, at prices below current spot, and only requires $26 million of working capital.

With ample processing and tailings storage capacity already on site, any increase in copper production will not require additional capital or permitting and would be expected to reduce the average all-in sustaining cost per tonne of copper produced.

Accelerating decline

On the back of the continuing strong copper demand and the expectation that debt funding for the entire restart capital will be secured in the near term, we are bringing forward potential copper production by accelerating the decline development through a short-term mining contract using traditional drill and blast practices.

The Komatsu MC51 mechanical cutting machine continues its trial by cutting the second portal for the ventilation circuit, providing valuable infrastructure development which will also assist in realising earlier copper production.

On track to start operations in 2022

Kanmantoo remains a unique proposition as one of the few ASX-listed developers that can ramp into production quickly and at low cost to take advantage of the record copper price environment.

With funding discussions advancing to documentation stage, and the contract tender process underway, we remain firmly on track to commence operations in 2022.

Drill results

This drilling update demonstrates the confidence the company has in the geometry and tenor of mineralisation in the Kavanagh mineral system as it continues to advance towards recommencing copper concentrate production in the current high price environment for copper metal.

The highlights includes:

 170.65 metres at 1.01% copper, 0.11 g/t gold from 339 metres downhole (KTDD2051 ), including:

11.0 metres at 1.65% copper and 0.10 g/t gold from 339.0 metres;

23.0 metres at 2.48% copper, 0.24 g/t gold from 385.0 metres;

5.0 metres at 1.86% copper, 0.38 g/t gold from 415.0 metres;

12.2 metres at 1.89% copper, 0.49 g/t gold from 451.0 metres;

9.0 metres at 1.94% copper, 0.14 g/t gold from 476.0 metres; and

13.8 metres at 2.06% copper, 0.12 g/t gold from 495.85 metres.

 166.3 metres at 0.9% copper, 0.13 g/t gold from 332 metres downhole (KTDD2082 ) including 30.25 metres at 1.32% copper, 0.08 g/t gold from 332 metres and 106.3 metres at 0.95% copper, 0.17 g/t gold from 392.0 metres including:

9.0 metres at 2.19% copper, 0.17 g/t gold from 332 metres;

8.25 metres at 2.16% copper, 0.07 g/t gold from 354 metres;

29.55 metres at 1.39% copper, 0.46 g/t gold from 392 metres;

10.0 metres at 2.16% copper, 0.11 g/t gold from 443 metres; and

17.7 metres at 1.55% copper, 0.09 g/t gold from 468 metres.

To date, assays have been received for 72 drill holes into the Kavanagh, Nugent, Spitfire and South-West Kavanagh copper-gold mineralisation, yielding 100 copper-gold intersections greater than 3 metres in width with >0.6% copper, and only six holes with sub-grade copper.

This is a positive achievement given the strong structural controls of the mineralisation.

Overall, every drill hole since the May 2021 drilling updates has delivered a copper-gold intercept that confirms the underground opportunity at Kanmantoo.

The drill results demonstrate several important features of the Kanmantoo mineralisation:

 Infill drilling of the Kavanagh and associated copper-gold mineral system has assured the company of the continuity and tenor of the copper-gold mineralisation in these areas;

 Extensional down-dip drilling continues to intersect copper-gold mineralisation to a depth of over 800 metres below surface and open;

 Along-strike drilling continues to expand the areal footprint of the mineralisation; and

 Initial drilling of the Spitfire and South-West Kavanagh copper-gold mineralisation affirms these targets for future drilling and possible inclusion in the underground feasibility studies.

Proposed production restart

The success of the program to date has continued to increase the robustness of the MRE and solidifies the production restart plan.

These latest drilling results are expected to grow the resource in both size and geological confidence and the company intends to release an updated MRE after the completion of the Nugent and Kavanagh drilling program.

The continued strong demand in copper and advanced discussions with debt providers for the entire production restart capital, Hillgrove is considering bringing forward planned copper production and is accelerating development efforts to fastrack access to ore.

With funding discussions advanced and at definitive agreements stage, subject to board approval, the company expects to be in a position to commence production restart in 2022 as scheduled.

The company will provide further information on its targeted timeline closer to the completion of its debt financing.
Atlantic Lithium Limited (AIM:ALL) said it intends for its chief operating officer, Len Kolff, to be appointed chief executive officer on an interim basis, as well as joining the board.

Kolff has over 25 years of experience in the mining industry across all areas of the sector, including design, implementation, resource evaluation and project studies among others.

Prior to joining the African-focussed lithium exploration company in 2015, Kolff worked with Tawana Resources in Liberia.

He was also with Rio Tinto for 16 years, where he was involved in several high-profile projects, such as the Simandou iron ore project in Guinea.

According to a statement, Kolff has been instrumental in the discovery and evaluation of the companys Ewoyaa lithium project in Ghana.

It believes it to be one of the worlds most promising spodumene projects and said Kolffs technical and in-country experience has, and will be, integral to both the company's journey, and the late Vincent Mascolo's vision, to help accelerate West Africa's transition to a sustainable future.

Len has the knowledge, relationships and expertise to manage seamlessly across all key workstreams to ensure continuity in our operations going forward, said chairperson Neil Herbet.
The Market Report with Katie Pilbeam.

FTSE 100 opened higher, gaining 39 points even though the European Union said it still mulling a ban on Russian crude. Oil giants led the way while Russia-focused stock recovered a little. The index was up 37 at 7,442.



Boris Johnson aims further to reduce Britains use of Russian gas and oil imports by increasing the UKs use of nuclear fuels. The Prime Minister will hold a summit with nuclear industry bosses to thrash out a plan.



The London Stock Exchange is to sell its Beta+ wealth technology platform for US$1bn to a consortium of investors. The proceeds of the sale will be used for reducing debt and a return to shareholders.



Antofagasta has reached an agreement in principle with Barrick Gold and the governments of Pakistan and Balochistan to exit Reko Diq, ending a dispute that dates back to 2011.

The project was suspended due to a disagreement over its legality of its licensing process.



PZ Cussons (LSE:PZC) has bought Childs Farm, a fast-growing baby and child personal care brand. Childs Farm founder Joanna Jensen made an investment into the PZ Cussons subsidiary that completed the acquisition, so that the Imperial Leather

owner now owns 92% for which it paid 37mln in cash.



Among the small caps, Spectra Systems said increased demand for banknotes, anti-fraud sensor systems and optical equipment from its main central bank customer helped revenues rise 13%. Profits for the year 2021 rose by 10%.
Core recoveries continue to be 'excellent,' averaging approximately 94-95%, the company said

Aftermath Silver (TSX-V:AAG) Ltd has provided an update on progress at its Berenguela silver-copper-manganese (Ag-Cu-Mn) project in southern Peru.

The company has an option to acquire a 100% interest in the project through a binding agreement with SSR Mining.

Aftermath said it is currently drilling at Berenguela and planning to advance the project through a pre-feasibility study.

In a statement, the company said its drill program at Berenguela continues to progress well. As of March 20, 2022, the team has completed 39 diamond core holes for a total of roughly 3,680 meters (m) of drilling.

"Core recoveries continue to be excellent, averaging approximately 94-95%. Sixteen holes have been completed at HQ diameter for resource infill and possible expansion, and 23 holes have been completed at PQ diameter," the company said.

Cutting and sampling of core is also underway and 1,250m have been cut to date. The first nine batches of samples, 240 in total, have been shipped to ALS's lab in Arequipa. The company anticipates receiving the first assay results in April depending on the lab turnaround time.

Aftermath is a leading Canadian junior exploration company focused on silver, and aims to deliver shareholder value through the discovery, acquisition and development of quality silver projects in stable jurisdictions. Aftermath has developed a pipeline of projects at various stages of advancement.

Contact the author: patrick@proactiveinvestors.com

Follow him on Twitter @PatrickMGraham
Tullow Oil PLC (LSE:TLW) shares advanced on Monday as the company to up an option to expand its business in Ghana, by acquiring the interests of its partner

It marks a more expansive approach for Tullow which, at lower crude oil pricing, had been more defensively prioritising production, cashflow and debt repayment.

Paying US$118mln in cash the company is acquiring Occidental Petroleum's interests in the Jubilee and TEN fields, effectively increasing its stake in those fields to 38.9% and 54.8% respectively. In terms of production, it adds around 5,000 barrels of unhedged oil per day to the production profile.

Tullow has increased its production guidance for 2022 up to 59,000 to 65,000 barrels of oil per day  which is 30,000 to 32,000 bopd for Jubilee, 13,000 to 14,000 for TEN, and the non-operated portfolio will be 16,000 to 19,000 barrels.

This transaction underscores our confidence in the assets and meets our objectives of value accretion and deleveraging," said Rahul Dhir, Tullow chief executive.

As a result of the deal, capex for the year rises to US$30mln to US$380mln and at the same time it expects US$300mln of incremental free cash flow (based on an oil price of US$75 in the period between 2022 to 2026).

Tullows net proved and probable (2P) reserves increased by 21mln barrels, adding US$355mln of net present value (at US$75mln per barrel).

Laura Hoy, analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, in a note, said: With its finances largely under control, Tullows finally able to make some strategic moves. Hopefully this is the first of many.

But the fact remains that Tullow is behind the curve compared to peers, who are using current conditions to shore up clean energy operations.

Tullow risks being stuck clawing its way back to profitability while the rest of the industry marches ahead.
Bengaluru, March 21 : The mortal remains of Naveen Shekarappa Gyanagoudar, the Karnataka student who was killed during shelling by the Russian forces in Ukraine's Kharkiv city on March 1, has reached the Kempegowda International Airport (KIAL) in Bengaluru in the wee hours of Monday.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai with his cabinet colleagues reached the Bengaluru International airport and paid homage to Naveen.

Speaking to reporters, Chief Minister Bommai stated that a country's strength and might is known at the time of crisis. Prime Minister Narendra Modi "showed the might of the nation at this hour of crisis by bringing back the mortal remains of Naveen".

"The body has arrived today and we have made all arrangements," he said.

"During evacuation time, our officers who stationed at New Delhi, Ghaziabad, Mumbai and Bengaluru airport took care of students who returned from Ukraine. It was ensured that the students returned from Ukraine would reach to their home safely," Bommai added.

He further said that a dedicated helpline was initiated within 12 hours of the crisis. The state officials kept in touch with External Affairs Ministry as well as the Indian Embassy in Ukraine.

The government also created a WhatsApp group and a website to reach out to students stuck in Ukarine, Bommai said, adding that "the officials have done a good job".

He thanked the state, Indian, Ukrainian and Poland's officers for helping and putting in efforts to bring back the mortal remains of the Karnataka student.

"I am at pain that we could not bring back Naveen alive," the Chief Minister said.

"Our government stands with Naveen's family. We have issued the compensation, and we will see what can be done for his younger brother," he stated.

Health Minister K. Sudhakar, MP from Haveri Shivakumar Udasi, MLA Arunkumar and Congress MLC Saleem Ahmad were also present at the airport.

Earlier, in his letter addressed to the Prime Minister, Bommai conveyed his gratitude for the Prime Minister's efforts to help retrieve Naveen's mortal remains from Kharkiv.

Naveen of Karnataka's Haveri district had lost his life on March 1 in Kharkiv and his family have been "beseeching" the authorities to retrieve his body. However, heavy fighting in the area has prevented the retrieval till recently.

Naveen's family had said that the body would be donated to a medical college.
Fort Polk, LA (71446)

Today

Overcast. A stray afternoon thunderstorm is possible. High 87F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Thunderstorms. A few storms may be severe. Low 64F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Jammu, March 21 : Farooq Khan, an advisor to the Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor has resigned.

Official sources said Khan submitted his resignation to the Union Home Ministry late Sunday evening.

Sources close to Khan said that he resigned as the advisor to the Lt Governor after discussions with the senior BJP leadership.

"In view of the forthcoming assembly elections, he is likely to take up an important political assignment," sources added.
Bengaluru, March 21 : The family of Naveen Shekarappa Gyanagoudar thanked Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday for bringing the mortal remains of the medical student from Ukraine. Naveen was killed on March 1 in Kharkiv city during the shelling by the Russian forces.

Naveen's younger brother, Harsha Shekarappa Gyanagoudar, who was present at the Kempegowda international Airport (KIAL) in Bengaluru thanked the Chief Minister with a folded hand for bringing the mortal remains to Karnataka. His relatives and villagers who were also present at the airport expressed their gratitude to Chief Minister Bommai.

Manoj Rajan, the nodal officer appointed by the state government for evacuation of Karnataka students from Ukraine, stated that 572 Karnataka students have been brought back from Ukraine.

He explained that the body was kept at Kiev medical college after the authoroties were requested on humanitarian basis. The documentation was done through funeral agent.

The body was brought from Varsa Poland from Kiev and via Dubai, it reached to the Bengaluru airport.

The body of Naveen was handed over to his family. The government has made arrangement of ambulance to transport the body to his village in Haveri district.

Saleem Ahmad, Congress MLC, who was present at the airport stated that he came to pay homage to Naveen on behalf of the party.

He demanded change in the education system. "Thousands of students are forced to go out of the country for studies. Naveen could not get MBBS seat here even after scoring 96 per cent," he said.

"There are many fault lines in the NEET and students are meted out with injustice. The students from state should not suffer injustice. They should get opportunity to study. The government should prioritise and resolve this issue," he asserted.

Chief Minister Bommai, Health Minister K.Sudhakar and MP Shivakumar Udasi offered floral tribute to Naveen, before the mortal remains was handed over to the family. The family has announced that they would donate the body to a private medical college after conducting rituals.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Lucknow, March 21 : Newly elected BJP MLAs in Uttar Pradesh will meet on March 24 to formally elect Yogi Adityanath as their leader, paving the way for his swearing in as chief minister for the second consecutive term.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the party Vice President Raghuvar Das will be observers at the meeting.

According to party sources, after Yogi Adityanath is formally elected as leader of the legislature party, he will formally stake his claim to form government at Raj Bhawan and Governor Anandiben Patel will then invite him to form government.

Th swearing in ceremony is scheduled for March 25 at the Ikana stadium and top leaders including Prime minister Narendra Modi are likely to attend the function.
Kiev, March 21 : As Moscow has continued its invasion of Kiev, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he is ready for negotiations with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, but warned that if the talks fail, it "would mean that this is a third World War".

"I'm ready for negotiations with him. I was ready for the last two years. And I think that without negotiations we cannot end this war," Zelensky said while speaking to CNN on Sunday night.

"I think that we have to use any format, any chance in order to have a possibility of negotiating, possibility of talking to Putin. But if these attempts fail, that would mean that this is a third World War," he added.

As the invasion was nearing a month, the President told CNN that "we have always insisted on negotiations. We have always offered dialogue, offered solutions for peace".

"And I want everyone to hear me now, especially in Moscow. It's time to meet. Time to talk. It is time to restore territorial integrity and justice for Ukraine." Zelensky also listed his priorities for the talks, which are; "the end of the war, security guarantees, sovereignty, restoration of territorial integrity, real guarantees for our country, real protection for our country".

The Ukrainian leader further said that if his country was a NATO member, there would have been no war.

"I'd like to receive security guarantees for my country, for my people. If NATO members are ready to see us in the alliance, then do it immediately. Because people are dying on a daily basis," Zelensky said, while adding that he was grateful for the aid NATO has provided since the invasion began on February 24.

When asked about how he was faring since the last 26 days of war, the President said he was "doing just everything that everyone else in Ukraine is doing".

"We have made up our team to defend our country, so it seems to me that the person does not need to turn into anyone else. That is important when you can be just yourself," he told CNN. "So I am holding up quite well." Zelensky also admitted that his weakest point was losing people and children in these "huge numbers".

"I go to sleep with this information about children who were killed and we are continuing to pray in order to prevent new losses of people, but so far we haven't attained these results," he said, adding that "we are trying to defend our sovereignty, defend our country."

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Lucknow, March 21 : The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Uttar Pradesh, is now working on expanding to reach ll the villages in the state by 2025 and helping the government address the issue of unemployment.

Ashok Dubey, a senior RSS functionary, said that the plan for 'shakhas' at all villages could be completed by 2024 itself.

The Lok Sabha polls are due in 2024 and the RSS will complete 100 years in 2025.

The RSS' rural expansion plan will hold the BJP in good stead ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, according to Dubey.

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat is currently in Uttar Pradesh. He visited Gorakhpur where he had a meeting with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

After Gorakhpur, Bhagwat is scheduled to visit Varanasi, the Lok Sabha constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Apart from setting up 'shakhas' in rural pockets, RSS functionaries said the Sangh cadres would also talk about the need for a caste-free society.

The caste-free society campaign is part of a long-standing RSS pitch to unite the Hindus into voting for a like-minded party.

"In Avadh Prant that has 13 districts, nearly 2,200 shakhas including weekly 'milan' (meets) and monthly 'mandalis' are being held," Dubey said.

He said that since 2017 when the BJP government was formed in the state, youths have shown a lot of interest in joining the Sangh.

At many places, school and college-going students are now holding the shakhas, he further said.

"This is the reason why the RSS has decided to involve its 'Swadeshi Jagran Manch' in finding out ways to provide for a place where job seekers get knowledge about the number and nature of jobs that are available and the skill sets, they require. A plan is underway to ensure a mutual win-win kind of situation for both job seekers and job providers," he added.
Washington, March 21 : As Russia's war on Ukraine is nearing a month, US President Joe Biden will embark on a visit to Poland this week after his scheduled meetings with NATO and European Union (EU) allies in Belgium, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki announced.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Psaki said the President will travel to Poland on Friday following his meetings in Brussels, on Wednesday "with our NATO Allies, G7 leaders, and EU leaders to discuss international efforts to support Ukraine and impose severe and unprecedented costs on Russia for its invasion".

In Warsaw, he will hold a bilateral meeting with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda.

During the meeting, Biden will "discuss how the US, alongside our allies and partners, is responding to the humanitarian and human rights crisis that Russia's unjustified and unprovoked war on Ukraine has created", Psaki added.

The President, however has no plans to visit Ukraine, according to the Press Secretary.

On Monday, Biden is scheduled to speak with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the Ukraine crisis.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Phnom Penh, March 21 : Cambodia and Japan have agreed to ensure the full implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world's largest trade deal, for the benefit of all, according to a joint statement.

The statement was released on Sunday after a meeting between Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen and his visiting Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida at the Peace Palace her earlier in the day, reports Xinhua news agency.

"The two Prime Ministers consented to strengthen cooperation to ensure the full implementation of the ASEAN-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement," the statement said.

Signed on November 15, 2020 and entered in force on January 1, 2022, RCEP is a mega trade deal between 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its five free trade agreement partners, namely China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

RCEP, which groups the 10 ASEAN members -- Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- and its key trade partners, covers roughly 30 per cent of the world's gross domestic product and population.

As the world's largest trading bloc, it will eliminate 90 per cent of the tariffs on goods traded among its signatories over the next 20 years.
New Delhi, March 21 : Ending days of speculation, the BJP will finally name the new Chief Ministers of Goa and Uttarakhand on Monday.

The announcement will be made during BJP legislative party meetings in Panjim and Dehradun at 4 p.m. and 4.30 p.m, respectively..

Sources have said that about two hours after the meeting in Panjim, leader of the BJP legislative party will meet the state Governor and formally stake claim to form the government.

Union Ministers and BJP central observers Narendra Singh Tomar and L. Murugan will arrive in the coastal state for the election of legislative party leader.

Sources in the Goa BJP said that the swearing in ceremony of the new state government will take place on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the meeting at the BJP headquarters in Dehradun will be attended by Union Ministers Rajnath Singh and Meenakshi Lekhi.

"All the newly elected members of the Uttarakhand Assembly will take oath at 11 a.m. today and in the evening at 4.30 pm BJP's legislative party will be meeting to elect the new Chief Minister of the state," a party leader said.

On Sunday evening, a meeting of the top BJP leadership was held at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's official residence to discuss the government formation in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Goa.

"The key agenda of discussion was the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand where incumbent Pushkar Singh Dhami lost the Assembly polls despite the party winning two-third majority," a party insider said.

Also on Sunday, the BJP announced the name of incumbent N. Biren Singh as the Chief Minister of Manipur.
Shanghai, March 21 : Shanghai Disney Resort said that it will be temporarily closed from Monday amid a Covid-19 resurgence.

The closed areas will include Shanghai Disneyland, Disneytown and Wishing Star Park, Xinhua news agency quoted a notice issued by the resort as saying.

The resort will notify guests as soon as it has a confirmed date to resume operations, the notice said.

On Saturday, Shanghai registered 17 new local confirmed cases and 492 local asymptomatic carriers of the coronavirus.

The city has reported a cluster of local infections amid the latest outbreak.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Lucknow, March 21 : The Yogi Adityanath government, which has been voted to power for the second time, mostly because of the improvement it brought about in the law-and-order situation of the state, has much to boast about in its policy against criminals.

Additional director general of police (ADG), law and order, Prashant Kumar said that under the government's policy of zero tolerance against crime and criminals, extensive operations against gang lords and mafia dons, have been carried out by the police since 2017.

As per police data, one criminal was killed every 12 days in the state in police encounters. At least 158 criminals, carrying bounties, have been killed since 2017.

During the same period, 19,999 criminals were arrested, while 3,679 among them sustained injuries when they tried to escape.

As many as 13 police personnel were martyred and 1,245 others have been injured in the crossfire with criminals.

Dacoit Uday Bhan Yadav a.k.a. Gauri Yadav, whose reign of terror even expanded to Madhya Pradesh, was killed during a police encounter in Chitrakoot last year. With around 18 cases, mostly of dacoity and attempt to murder, registered against him, he carried Rs 5 lakh reward from Uttar Pradesh, Prashant Kumar said.

Another criminal, Balraj Bhati, who carried Rs 2.5 lakh reward and had been booked in at least 20 cases, mostly of murder, extortion and attempt to murder, in UP, was killed in an exchange of fire with police in 2018, he added.

At least 61 criminals were killed in Meerut zone and maximum arrests (5,795) were made across eight police zones.

While Gorakhpur police zone recorded just one encounter, the Lucknow police commissionerate topped with seven encounters.

"The Uttar Pradesh police always have given a befitting reply to all mafia dons and criminals who deliberately attacked cops and will continue to do so," the ADG said and added that the state police have followed the Supreme Court guidelines in encounters and till date not even a single encounter since 2017 has come under the SC scanner.
NAIROBI, March 18 (Xinhua -- Sales from Kenya's export processing zones hit 90 billion shillings (787 million U.S. dollars) in 2021, up from 700 million dollars in 2020, a government official said on Friday.

The jump in sales was due to rising demand from key export markets, said Benjamin Chesang, manager of research at the Export Processing Zones Authority (EPZA), in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.

"The loosening of the travel restrictions as countries gradually recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic, translated into more exports from Kenya," Chesang told a high-level policy dialogue on fostering productive capacities in Kenya.

He said the United States was the largest market for the export processing zones as Kenyan goods have preferential access under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) program.

According to the EPZA, textiles and apparel accounted for the bulk of Kenya's exports.

Other products sold overseas included leather products, flowers, macadamia nuts, pharmaceutical products as well as gemstones, Chesang said.

He said most of the investors in the export-oriented industries were from Asia. 
Chennai, March 21 : Tamil Nadu state public health department has said that there was not a single fresh Covid-19 case in 21 of the 38 districts for the past 24 hours ending Sunday evening.

A total of 56 new infections were recorded on Sunday with Chennai recording the highest at 22. Coimbatore logged seven new cases. The figures were recorded after 35,500 samples were tested and the Test Positivity Rate (TPR) was 0.15 per cent.

Number of active cases has also come down in Tamil Nadu with the number of people undergoing treatment declining to 620 on Sunday. In the start of March, as many as 5,000 people were undergoing treatment in the state.

Two people died in the state due to Covid -19 on Sunday. Both were having comorbidities and were aged 68 years. The total number of Covid deaths in the state has gone up to 38,006 with these two fatalities.

Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian told IANS: "The fall in the number of fresh infections and the number of active cases are good signs but people have to be cautious as the neighbouring Kerala reported 800 cases yesterday and 59 of them succumbed. This is important as daily lakhs of people commute between the two states. There is also a rising number of fresh cases in many countries and we must not lower our guards. Everyone should take vaccines which is the only solution to prevent the disease." He also said that the state has so far organised 25 mega vaccine camps since September 12, 2021, when it commenced. He called upon people to take the first dose and second doses of vaccine with immediate effect. The minister said that 54 lakh people are yet to take the first dose of vaccine while 1.34 lakh people are due for the second dose.
New Delhi, March 21 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday inspected 29 antiquities which have been repatriated to India from Australia.

Sources said that the antiquities range in six broad categories as per themes - Shiva and his disciples, Worshipping Shakti, Lord Vishnu and his forms, Jain tradition, Portraits and decorative objects.

These antiquities come from different time periods, with earliest dating to 9-10 century CE. These are primarily sculptures and paintings executed in a variety of materials - sandstone, marble, bronze, brass, paper.

Representing a large geographical region in India, antiquities are from Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and West Bengal.

"In a historic move, 29 antiquities have been repatriated to India by Australia. Prime Minister Modi inspected these antiquities which returned from Australia today," sources said.
March 21 : Deepika Padukone and Shah Rukh Khan are still shooting in Spain for their upcoming film Pathaan. Several pictures of the actors have been clicked on the sly, and these leaked pictures are doing the rounds on social media. A couple of new pictures have surfaced on the internet that featured Deepika and Shah Rukh at the sets in Spain.

In the pictures, Deepika seemed to be upset about being clicked. In one of the new pictures, an angry Deepika can be seen showing the finger to the photographer as she can be seen standing with Shah Rukh on a balcony. In the picture, Deepika can be seen in a long black winter jacket, while Shah Rukh sported a blue T-shirt teamed with a pair of denims. He wore a black jacket, and can be seen holding a cigarette. A paparazzo account shared the picture on Instagram and captioned it as, "Deepika Padukone's gesture probably directed at those who took photos of the shoot from the public street."

The paparazzo account posted another picture from the shoot, wherein Deepika can be seen in a white crop top teamed with an orange sarong, while Shah Rukh can be seen in a blue shirt and denims, holding a drink in his hand. The actors seemed to be in a conversation.

Several netizens talked about the pictures on Reddit. A user wrote, What's happening? Have people been clicking despite being asked not to? Is she angry because of those bikini photos? Those photos looked awkward so I don't think they were leaked on purpose. Another person wrote, Let the film release first before you people start jumping to conclusions..and it's common now a days to show middle finger what's the big deal...if this was done by any Hollywood actress.. it would be named as cool iconic. Kendall Jenner does it often..the comments are so dumb. Another person wrote, Aag hai dono SRK and DP (Both SRK and DP are fire). DP showing the finger and SRK watching her with a cigarette in his hand, smoking. Dont be Holier than thou they look cool, vibe hai tabhi toh hype hai (There's the vibe, hence there's the hype). Love it. Pathaan is gonna rock.

Recently, some more photos of Shah Rukh and Deepika were leaked from the sets in Spain. In one picture, Deepika was seen in a neon yellow swimsuit, while in another, the actress was seen in a red outfit as she waited for the shoot. In an earlier leaked picture, Shah Rukh was seen flaunting his washboard abs as he posed in a shirtless avatar outside what looked like a villa. He was dressed in green pants with his long hair covering his face.

Deepika and Shah Rukh are shooting in Mallorca, Spain. They are shooting for a very glamorous song for Pathaan. I've heard the song. It's amazing. It's Sid Anand and Vishal-Shekhar. You get the vibe. I think Vaibhavi (Merchant) ma'am is shooting the song. So, she is now with Deepika in Spain," Ranveer Singh had earlier revealed.

Pathaan is a Yash Raj film, directed by Siddharth Anand. The film will hit the theatres in January 25, 2023.
Jerusalem, March 21 : Israeli security forces said they have arrested two citizens on suspicion of working with the Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Lebanese armed group.

According to a statement issued by Israel's Shin Bet security service, the two men, identified as Arab citizens of Israel, met Hezbollah operatives in Turkey last November, reports Xinhua news agency.

The two were asked to smuggle weapons into Israel and to establish a terror cell to kidnap Israelis, provide information on targets for missile attacks, and locate possible locations for crossing the border from Lebanon into Israeli territory.

The two men were arrested in a special operation by the Shin Bet, military, and police.

The military said in a separate statement that "Israel's security forces will continue to operate to maintain security in the region and act against any attempt to violate the sovereignty of the state of Israel".

Israel and Hezbollah are sworn enemies, who fought a full-fledged war in 2006 that took place mostly on the Lebanese soil.
New Delhi, March 21 : Attorney General (AG) K.K. Venugopal on Monday told the Supreme Court that the central government is considering the issue of further studies of over 20,000 medical students, who have been evacuated from war-torn Ukraine.

Venugopal submitted before a bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana that a mammoth task has been successfully completed by the central government and 22,500 students from the country and other nationalities have been brought back. He further added that the government is examining the issue of their further studies. The Chief Justice took on record that the government was considering the representation made with regard to future studies of the students.

Petitioner advocate Vishal Tiwari submitted that the education of students should not be hampered and they should be allowed to continue studies here. After a brief submission in the matter, the top court closed the two petitions.

Besides Tiwari, Fathima Ahana, a student from National Medical University in Odessa, Ukraine had moved the court seeking a direction to the Centre to evacuate the Indian students from Ukraine.

On March 4, the top court told the Centre to consider the anxiety of Indians citizens stuck in Ukraine. The Centre had launched 'Operation Ganga' to evacuate students from different universities in Ukraine.

The AG informed the bench that students from National Medical University in Odessa, Ukraine, who were stranded near the Ukraine-Romania border, have crossed over to Romania. He added that these students would be brought back by Monday night by a special flight.

The AG said he shared the details of the petitioner and others with P.K. Mishra IAS, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, who conveyed it to Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who is stationed in Romania to oversee the evacuation of Indian students.

Venugopal added that he has been assured that the petitioner and other students from Odessa have crossed over to Romania and they will reach India tonight.

The bench said: "we sincerely thank you AG, for taking interest in the matter". Senior advocate A.M. Dhar, representing the petitioner Fathima Ahana, thanked the top court for its timely intervention in the matter and also the AG for airlifting the petitioner.

The AG also informed the top court that the Prime Minister had a high-level meeting with ministers to expedite the evacuation of remaining Indians from Ukraine.

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New Delhi, March 21 : After the Income tax department recently raided a proptech startup based in Pune and Thane and found alleged tax evasion to the tune of Rs 224 crore, reports suggest it is Infra.Market, one of India's fastest growing unicorns.

According to multiple reports, the details point to B2B e-commerce marketplace Infra.Market, backed by Tiger Global, Accel and Nexus and valued at $2.5 billion.

According to CBDT, the startup allegedly obtained huge foreign funding via the Mauritius route, issuing shares at an "exorbitantly" high premium.

The CBDT said a hawala network of some Mumbai and Thane-based shell companies has also been discovered that was involved with the case.

The startup, founded by Souvik Sengupta and Aaditya Sharda, said it is cooperating with the authorities and is providing all necessary information.

The Income-Tax department said on Sunday in a statement that it has found evidence that a startup based in Pune and Thane has not disclosed Rs 224 crore, without naming it.

The CBDT said unaccounted cash worth Rs 1 crore and jewellery worth Rs 22 lakh have been seized during the raids.
Chennai, March 21 : Tamil Nadu Water Works Minister and senior DMK leader, S. Duraimurugan has moved a resolution in the assembly against Karnataka government allocating money in the Budget for building Mekedatu dam over Cauvery river.

In the resolution the Minister petitioned the Government of India not to grant permission to Karnataka to build a dam across Mekedatu.

He said that the proposal to construct a dam at Mekedatu has to be considered as an act of stopping water to Tamil Nadu. The Karnataka government in its budget for 2022-23 allocated an amount of Rs 1,000 crore for the Mekedatu dam project.

The Minister had earlier in a public meeting said that even if Karnataka had allocated an amount of Rs 5,000 crore, the people of Tamil Nadu will not allow a single brick to be laid for the construction of the dam. He also said that the Mekedatu dam issue was still pending before the Supreme Court and the Karnataka government should not have allocated this amount for the construction of the dam.
Sonipat, March 21 : The Jindal School of Journalism and Communication (JSJC), O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) recently signed a collaboration with University of Oregon for a short-term study abroad programme in the summer of 2022 on climate change and environment. This is the latest of 20 international active student mobility collaborations and agreements that JSJC offers its students.

The Jindal School of Journalism and Communication is also committed to building collaborations with media platforms across the country. JSJCs recent MoU with IndiaSpend, India's first data journalism website will allow students to use data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) to pitch and produce data journalism stories in multimedia formats. JSJC has also collaborated with technology and policy website, Hasgeek, to produce a show, 'Elections 2022', examining the role of technology in elections. JSJC students are engaged in producing 'Lights, Camera, Conversations' where they interview screenwriters, directors, producers and cinematographers from the Indian film industry.

The Founding Vice Chancellor of O.P. Jindal Global University, Professor (Dr.) C. Raj Kumar said: "The international collaborations are a part of JGU's commitment to provide a global learning experience to its students and they range from leading universities in Australia, UK, US, as well as institutions in Peru and Malaysia. JSJC offers semester exchange programmes with leading universities such as the University of Sydney, University of Oregon and Hong Kong Baptist University. It also offers a dual degree programme in collaboration with Queen Mary University, London. Students at JSJC can avail JGUs university-wide collaborations with 20 eminent institutions including UC-Berkerley, University of Newcastle, Macquarie University, Hubei University and many others." At the annual ArtEast festival, a collaboration between JSJC and the India International Centre (IIC) New Delhi, students curate and produce installations, exhibitions, film festivals and organise international seminars. The festival, one of its kind in the country has showcased over 50 artists and publishes a journal of the arts.

JSJC's Executive Dean and curator of ArtEast, Professor Kishalay Bhattacharjee observed: "JSJC is an important and vibrant meeting ground for innovation in art, media, communication and technology. We learn along with our students to be responsible for our planet and our society in as many ways as possible. We want to turn technology into an accelerant for truth telling but stay rooted in the face-to-face reporting of facts. JSJC pushes beyond borders and boundaries." The international partners of JSJC include: University of Oregon and University of California, Berkely USA; the University of Sydney, University of Western Sydney, the University of Newcastle and Macquarie University, Australia; Loughborough University, Derby University, University of Leeds and the Queen Mary University of London, UK; Universidad Austral, Argentina; North South University, Bangladesh; Sekolah Tinggi Agama Islam Walisembilan Semarang, Negeri Semarang University, Polytechnic Indonusa and Universitas Dwijendra, Indonesia; Hubei University China; Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Malaysia; KOC University Turkey; Hong Kong Baptist University and ORT Uruguay.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, JSJC used virtual learning and global classrooms to integrate education in the post-pandemic world. Kiran Gupta, a Media Studies student from the University of Sydney described the opportunity to be a part of JSJC's global classroom as a 'remarkable way to finish my university studies and put all the skills I had learnt to practice in a completely different world.'
New Delhi, March 21 : Delhi Police has arrested two persons who robbed an auto-rickshaw driver on the pretext of taking him to the police station for demanding higher fare, an official said on Monday.

The accused were identified as Anil Singh (38) and Sonu Pal (27).

Sharing details, Deputy Commissioner of Police Gaurav Sharma said a complaint was received by an auto driver on Sunday stating that at around 12.00 a.m. he parked his auto rickshaw in Kishangarh parking lot and was walking towards his home.

As he reached near Gaushala Gate No 2, two boys came in an auto rickshaw from behind and started arguing that why did he take more money from Nepali passengers and to come with them to a nearby police station." Out of fear, he sat with them and after going some distance, the accused snatched his auto rickshaw key and cash of Rs 1,620 and fled away from there," the DCP said.

Based on his statement, a case under section 356, 379 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code was registered at the Kishangarh police station and investigation initiated.

A police team conducted raids at specified locations and nabbed the accused duo.
New Delhi, March 21: On March 19 Turkmenistan sworn in its new president. The country's vice Prime Minister Serdar Berdymekhmedov was elected president in the countrys early elections held on the 12th of this month, winning by 72.97 per cent votes. He is the son of incumbent president Gurbanguly Berdymekhmedov. This is the third president who will assume office since the country emerged an independent sovereign state. This is also the second dynastic transition of power in the region in the post-Soviet space after president Heydar Aliev of Azerbaijan passed on power to his son Ilham Aliyev in 2003.

As the son of the country's outgoing president, Serdar Berdymekhmedov unsurprisingly has an impressive resume. In 2013-2016 he was Deputy Director of the State Agency for Management and use of Hydrocarbon Resources under the president of Turkmenistan'a powerful position in the county which has the world's second largest natural gas field. From 2016, he began his political activities, being elected to the Mejlis - the Turkmen parliament. From 2017 he worked for a year as the Chairman of the committee of legislation and norms in the Melissa. In 2018 he became the Deputy Foreign Minister and in January-June 2019, he worked as the Deputy Head of the Akhal Region.

In June 2019 Serdar Berdimuhamedov headed the Administration of Akhal Region. In February 2020 he was appointed to the post of Minister of Industry and Construction Production of Turkmenistan. In February-July 2021 he worked as Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan, Chairman of the Supreme Control Chamber of Turkmenistan and Member of the State Security Council of Turkmenistan. Since July 2021 he has been the Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan for economy, banks and international financial organizations.

After the election results were announced, the President-elect said at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers and the State Security Council, "I will use all my strength, abilities, knowledge and experience to prove the high trust placed in me by the people." The new president has his work cut out for him. The economy has to be strengthened and since it is based mostly on energy exports, markets have to be diversified. Energy-rich Turkmenistan, like all of its fellow Central Asian neighbours, is landlocked which impedes its pipeline options. For years, the country has been trying to activate the Transcaspian route through Azerbaijan and Turkey but has been unable to because of Russian concerns. The TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) pipeline is another one that has not taken off despite being discussed for two decades, with numerous stakeholders evicting interest in the project. This would have delivered Turkmen gas to energy starved South Asia. Instead, Turkmenistan has been able to sell its gas to China via the China Central Asia pipeline to the tune of 35 billion cubic meter annum (BCMA), but falling gas prices and China's Covid-19 hit economy has impacted negatively on Turkmen exports. Yet, the country, is one of the few that has a positive balance of trade with China.

Such an export-based economy has meant over the years rise in poverty, unemployment and a brain drain. Earlier this year Turkmenistan saw one of the rare protests against inadequate supplies in government-owned food shops, on which most Turkmens rely for their food. Covid-19 has dealt a further blow to the Turkmen economy despite the fact that the word has been banned in the country, not a single covid case reported, but with reports of patients being hospitalized and dying of covid-like symptoms. The region is in further turbulence with the ascent of the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan, the January uprising in Kazakhstan blamed on radicals, and the current Russian war on Ukraine.

Therefore, it is significant that the new president has outlined his foreign policy objectives as one that would prioritize relations with Russia and China. Pursuing its neutral status, Turkmenistan is neither a member of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), nor the China-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). However, it may now try to pursue stronger ties with Russia as a hedge against a possible unrest in the country or to counter any challenge that may arise from outside. Given the way the CSTO quelled the Kazakh riots and then quickly withdrew, it may be more amenable for regional countries now.

Another reason could be that Russia, as a Caspian Sea littoral state, has till now impeded Turkmenistan from pursuing the Transcaspian route to European markets. Given the spate of sanctions Russia has been hit now by the West, activating this route may now work out to the benefit of both.

Yet another issue that holds priority for Serdar Berdymekhmedov is the completion of the TAP (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan) electricity pipeline, and the TAPI gas pipeline. To that end, Turkmenistan has been courting the Taliban for a while, even before the latter seized Kabul. It had been delivering electricity to border regions under Taliban sway even during the Ashraf Ghani government. However, turbulence in the region has impeded the supply of Turkmen electricity to Pakistan via Afghanistan, as well as the completion of the TAPI project. In this the Taliban are also greatly invested. Delegations have traveled to Ashkhabad, the Turkmen capital before and after the Taliban took charge in the war-torn country as well as meetings between representatives of both sides have taken place in Doha, Qatar.

It is, therefore, not surprising but interesting nevertheless that the Taliban just named their envoy to Ashkhabad, on Thursday, 17th March. The ceremony where Fazal Mohammed Saber took up his duties as the envoy of the Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan to Ashkhabad took place in the presence of Turkmen Deputy Foreign Minister Vepa Hadjiev. In spite of the turbulence in Afghanistan and in spite of international recognition still eluding the Taliban, Turkmenistan may still continue to export electricity, gas, and other consumer supplies to its neighbour. But can it get the TAPI project back on track? That will be the challenge for the new President. And if he is successful then it would indeed be his great achievement that would benefit not only his country but equally Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. That remains to be seen.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative

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COLOMBO, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa announced on Monday that the country would switch off street lamps until March 31 to conserve electricity amidst a power crisis triggered by a fuel shortage.

Rajapaksa said diesel plants had to be used for power generation as the hydropower generation had dropped drastically due to the prevailing drought in the country.

Sri Lanka has been facing a fuel shortage in recent weeks due to a foreign exchange shortage, causing a power crisis due to the lack of fuel supplies to electricity plants.

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said over the weekend that the shortage was being attended to and the power crisis would soon be resolved.

Presently different parts of Sri Lanka face hours of power cuts a day. 
New York, March 21 : An antiviral drug, developed by Pfizer to treat SARS-CoV-2, remains effective against the newest variants of the evolving Covid-19 virus, according to researchers.

Researchers from the Rutgers University in the US showed that the Pfizer antiviral drug Paxlovid still quashes Covid by jamming the cell machinery of a key protein, known as the "main protease" or Mpro, involved in replicating the virus.

As Covid's Omicron variant spreads rapidly throughout the world, with recent severe outbreaks in Asia, authorities have watched to see whether the virus evolves "resistance," evading the defenses provided by current medicines.

With only a few drugs that are available to treat Covid, physicians are counting on treatments like Paxlovid to stem the spread.

But the study, published in the journal Cell Research, also conveyed a warning - scientists discovered through genetic analysis that the virus is beginning to evolve in ways that may produce strains that can evade present treatments.

"There is hope, at least for now," said Jun Wang, Associate Professor in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry at Rutgers Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy.

"At this point, Omicron is still new enough so that treatments are still working.

But as more people take Paxlovid, we will expect drug resistance to emerge," Wang added.

The scientists accessed a public database known as GISAID, studying the Mpro sequences of all strains of Covid detected so far. The protein is central to the reproduction of the virus and the target of the antiviral Paxlovid.

Comparing more recent strains with earlier strains collected by physicians around the world, the scientists searched for mutations in genetic sequences of Mpro that occur when a virus replicates. Mutations can lead to possible new structures of Mpro, which are generally correlated with drug resistance.

The researchers found the top 25 most common new mutations in the main protease of many Omicron strains, a discovery Wang characterised as "concerning," with the most common one called P132H.

When they tested Paxlovid against the Mpro with the P132H mutation, the antiviral remained effective. This was further confirmed by the X-ray crystallography, showing that the P132H did not change the Mpro structure significantly.

"Although this mutation does not cause drug resistance to Paxlovid, this implies that the virus can still evolve to create additional mutations that might cause drug resistance," Wang said.

"When a drug gets widespread use, it is just a matter of time before resistance appears."
New Delhi, March 21 : Abhishek Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress MP and nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on Monday joined the investigation in a money laundering case pertaining to alleged coal scam being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Banerjee reached ED office in Delhi at around 11.10 a.m on Monday and straight away went inside and didn't speak to media.

His wife Rujira Banerjee will join the probe on Tuesday.

The anti money laundering agency had asked Banerjee and his wife to join the investigation on March 21 and 22.

ED officials will record his statement once again.

Banejree had earlier on September 6, recorded his statement before the ED officials. He was interrogated for around six hours. But the probe agency was not satisfied with his answer and he has been summoned again along with his wife.

In September last year Banerjee and his wife, through their counsel, had moved a plea before the Delhi High Court against the ED summon, but they didn't get any relief. Their plea was dismissed by the High Court on March 11.

Abhishek and his wife had sought relief on the ground that they are residents of West Bengal. However, their contention was challenged by Tushar Mehta, the Solicitor General, who was appearing for the ED. He told the court that the ED is not confined by any area under the PMLA.

This case is being probed parallel by the CBI and the ED. The CBI's case was lodged in November last year.
New Delhi, March 21: India and Japan have accommodated pressing concerns of each other during their 14th annual summit as Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visits India on his first bilateral visit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A joint statement issued by the two countries underscores efforts towards bringing peace, stability and prosperity to a world battling the Covid-19 health and economic crisis as well as the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Dialogue and diplomacy for Ukraine One of the most significant commitments from the two countries came regarding the ongoing war in Ukraine. Modi and Kishida expressed their concern over the conflict and the humanitarian crisis and assessed its broader implications for the Indo-Pacific region. They called for an immediate cessation of violence and stressed upon "dialogue and diplomacy for resolution of the conflict".

The leaders plan to take appropriate steps to address the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and expressed their worry over the safety and security of nuclear facilities in Ukraine.

Reforms at the UN Security Council The two Prime Ministers resolved to work for UNSC reforms "to reflect the contemporary realities of the 21st century". Both have reaffirmed once again that the two nations are "legitimate/deserving candidates for permanent membership in an expanded UNSC". India has also supported the non-permanent membership of Japan for the UNSC.

Commitment to Quad for a Free and Open Indo-Pacific A pressing issue for both has been the militarisation in the Indo-Pacific region. The two Prime Ministers affirmed the importance of strengthening partnerships among the Quad countries - Australia, India, Japan, and the United States.

Kishida and Modi have resolved to "delivering tangible outcomes on the Quad's positive and constructive agenda, especially on COVID vaccines, critical and emerging technologies, climate action, infrastructure coordination, cybersecurity, space and education. They looked forward to advancing Quad cooperation through the next Quad Leaders' Summit in Japan in the coming months".

Keeping the tensions with Taiwan in mind and also in the South China Sea (SCS), India and Japan have pushed for prioritising the role of international law like the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and emphasized upon the importance of non-militarisation and self-restraint.

Action against global terror Japan has taken note of Indian concerns over terrorism emanating from its neighbourhood. The joint statement said: "The Prime Ministers expressed deep concern at the growing threat of terrorism and called upon all countries to work together for rooting out terrorist safe havens and infrastructure, disrupting terrorist networks and their financing channels, and halting cross-border movement of terrorists".

The two nations have called upon Pakistan to take resolute and irreversible action against terrorist networks that inflicted the 26/11 Mumbai and Pathankot attacks upon India. They also want Pakistan to take resolute and irreversible action against terrorist networks operating out of its territory and implement Financial Action Task Force (FATF) rulings.

Regarding the situation in Afghanistan, the Prime Ministers stressed on addressing the humanitarian crisis, promoting human rights and ensuring an inclusive political system in Afghanistan. They also underlined that the Afghan territory will not be used for sheltering, training, planning or financing terrorist acts.

North Korean missile tests India has taken into account Japanese fears about North Korea's numerous and consistent ballistic missile launches in violation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions. The two countries have committed to the complete denuclearization of North Korea and urged it to fully comply with its international obligations under the relevant UNSC resolutions.

Separately, the two nations reiterated their commitment to the total elimination of nuclear weapons and strengthen international cooperation to tackle nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism.

Battling the Covid-19 pandemic The two Prime Ministers said that India and Japan would continue to contribute to global efforts to combat Covid-19 and welcomed the Quad Vaccine Partnership "to enhance equitable access to safe and effective vaccines in the Indo-Pacific and beyond." They also confirmed to "work together towards reliable, resilient, efficient supply chains in the region and welcomed the progress in this regard in areas such as sharing of best practices. They emphasized the importance of collaboration to address illicit technology transfers, build resilient supply chains and strengthen the protection of critical infrastructure, including through the Quad".

Cementing defence relations India and Japan plan to hold their second 2+2 meeting of the Foreign and Defence Ministers in Tokyo. This follows the first that took place in November 2019 in New Delhi.

The two partners have seen increased progress in security and defence cooperation with the operationalization of the Agreement Concerning Reciprocal Provision of Supplies and Services between the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) and the Indian armed forces.

The two forces have been participating in the bilateral Dharma Guardian exercises as well as the multilateral exercises Malabar with Australia and the US. India has now invited Japan to join the MILAN naval exercise which it holds with Indian Ocean littoral nations as well as to hold the inaugural fighter exercise between the Japan air force and the Indian Air Force.

The two countries are also collaborating in the area of Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) and Robotics from where they plan to identify more areas in defence equipment and technology.

Strengthening trade The Prime Ministers noted that economic cooperation between the two was enhanced after the elevation of their relations to 'Special Strategic and Global Partnership'. On its part India has improved the business environment for Japanese investors while Japan has met its investment target of JPY 3.5 trillion announced in 2014 for India.

The two nations also plan to enhance cooperation in digital technologies through promotion of joint projects for digital transformation, support to provide opportunities for Indian IT professionals to work in Japan and Japanese companies, and collaboration made in the area of Internet of Technologies and Artificial Intelligence and other emerging technologies.

The 14th annual India Japan summit takes place as the two nations also celebrate the 70th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations. With commonalities of interests in a fast-changing world order, the two nations plan to enhance trade, defence and strategic ties based on the India-Japan Vision Statement of 2018.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
Mumbai, March 21 : Popular TV and film actor Chetan Hansraj has now entered the Kangana Ranaut-hosted show 'Lock Upp'. He has made an entry as 11th contestant in the reality show.

Chetan says he has mixed feelings while entering the show. There is excitement as well as apprehension.

"I am actually feeling amazing for being a part of this unique show and am very excited but nervous too because of the thought of how it's going to be in there. I am going to be surrounded by different people I don't know and some people I know. But overall, I am very elated." The actor who started his career with his role of young Balram in BR Chopra's 'Mahabharat' and later was seen in shows such as 'Kkusum', 'Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii', 'Fear Factor India' feels like homecoming while working with Balaji team.

"I have done a lot of work with Balaji for 18 years. So,it still feels like home. I am also very happy to work with a new team of ALTBalaji and MX Player." 'Lock Upp' streams on ALTBalaji and MX Player.
New Delhi, March 21 : The Delhi High Court has agreed to hear on May 10 a batch of pleas filed by Google and social media giants Facebook and Twitter challenging a single-judge order asking them to globally remove link of a video containing defamatory contents against yoga guru Swami Ramdev.

A division bench of Justices Rajiv Shakdher and Jasmeet Singh, while posting the matter to May 10, directed the parties to file written submissions at least three days before the next hearing. The bench also said that the earlier interim order, in which it was directed not to take any contempt proceedings against the appellants, will continue.

The matter came before the present bench after Justice Vipin Sanghi had recused himself from hearing the pleas of the IT giants last month.

Earlier in November 2019, a single-judge bench of the Delhi High Court had directed Facebook to globally remove, block or disable links to a video containing defamatory allegations against yoga guru Ramdev.

The court order had come while hearing a plea by Ramdev seeking global restraint order against Facebook, Google, its subsidiary YouTube, and Twitter from carrying content related to a book.

The IT giants had said that while they have no objection to blocking the URLs and disabling the same, insofar as access in India is concerned, they were opposed to removal/blocking/disabling the defamatory content on a global basis.

In the last hearing, Facebook's counsel had requested the court to restrain Ramdev from initiating contempt action against it till the appeal was pending.
New Delhi, March 21 : The Lok Sabha on Monday took up for discussion the issue of special recognition for schools dealing with differently-abled children.

Raising the issue, BJP Member from Bhubaneswar Aparajita Sarangi asked whether the education ministry, in association with Rehabilitation Council of India, is mulling a strategy by which a large number of institutes may be given recognition to encourage more special educators to come up.

Lauding the question, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan urged the House to help him formulate ways to counter this. "According to me, the population of this category of different kind of disability is around 10 per cent. Handling this is a challenge. We all have to work together", said Pradhan.

"Collectively we all have to face this challenge. Experts are working on how to create more such schools and trainers," he said.

Congress MP Tarun Gogoi suggested that the government consider ensuring representations from students with disabilities for facilitating policies under the National Education Policy. He said that this would ensure better understanding of the problems and thereby, lead to better policies.

To this, Dharamendra Pradhan replied that the house is witnessing a healthy discussion and has seen consensus on related issues. He assured the government is working on the same and that all suggestions by the MP would be noted.

On whether the ministry has made any specific efforts to develop the sign language in the country and application of education technology for this particular section by Kerala MP E. T Mohammed Basheer, the Minister said that both advises are good and government is working on both.
New Delhi, March 21 : Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt on Monday informed the Rajya Sabha that the recruitment in the defence forces has not been stopped but restricted owing to the Covid pandemic.

Responding to CPI Member Dr V. Sivadasan, he said that the Covid-19 pandemic has been substantially reduced but not eradicated from the country and because of this, the recruitment process has slowed down.

"During the Covid period, special arrangements were made for online recruitment in Indian Air Force and Indian Navy but the recruitment for the Armed forces attracts a huge numbers of applicants and it cannot be done online," Bhatt said, adding that very soon the recruitment will resume in the all wings of the defence forces.

Responding to the question of NCP Member Vandana Chavan on women not being recruited in the defence forces for combat roles, the Minister replied that the Defence Ministry has been considering combat role for women personnel in the defence forces but they are getting recruited in all three wings.

Chavan said that almost 16 countries of the world have allowed women in combat roles.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who was present in the House, said that every year, the Indian Army conducts 90-to 100 recruitment drives or rallies to recruit men for the Army and on an average, youth of six to seven districts join in one rally for the recruitment drive.
Kathmandu, March 21 : Chinese Foreign Minister and State Councillor Wang Yi will embark on a visit to Nepal from March 25 to 27, the Foreign Ministry in Kathmandu announced on Monday.

Wang is the first top-level foreign dignitary to visit Nepal after the Sher Bahadur Deuba government was formed on July 13 last year.

According to the Ministry, Wang's visit comes on an invitation by Nepal's Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Khadka.

During the visit, some agreements could be signed including implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, the flagship initiative of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Nepal had signed the BRI Framework Agreement in 2017 but no project has been taken up yet.

Both sides will also review the previous agreements, including the pacts signed during the President Xi's visit in 2019, as well as explore new areas of cooperation.

Khadka and Wang will hold bilateral talks, on March 26, according to the Ministry.

The Chinese Minister will also meet CPN-UML chair K.P. Sharma Oli and CPN (Maoist Centre) chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal during his stay in Kathmandu.
Male, March 21 : Over 359,000 tourists have visited Maldives so far this year, compared to 241,407 arrivals in the same period in 2021, statistics released by the Ministry of Tourism have revealed.

The statistics show that the average daily arrivals are 4,790 and tourists are staying for an average of eight days, reports Xinhua news agency.

Maldives aims to welcome 1.6 million tourists this year and the number was 1.3 million for 2021.

Local media reported that a decline in arrivals from Russia and Ukraine would have an impact in the tourist numbers, as direct flights to the Maldives from both countries have halted.
Seoul, March 21 : North Korea on Monday slammed a recent push by Australia and Japan to beef up their submarine capabilities as "extremely dangerous acts" that can threaten regional peace and add to an arms race.

In a commentary posted on the North's Foreign Ministry website, the Korea-Asia Association denounced Australia's recent decision to build a nuclear submarine base under a partnership with Washington as "reckless", reports Xinhua news agency "What cannot be overlooked is that the US and the UK use the media as the front to describe extremely dangerous military moves of Australia as if they were a part of its increased military strength while linking those moves with the Ukrainian situation," the association said.

It then warned countries in the region to stay on high alert against the "dangerous military moves" of the US and the West, and to stay vigilant against Australia rushing its attempt to be nuclear-armed following the "footsteps of the US and the West".

In September last year, the US launched a new trilateral security partnership with Australia and the UK called 'AUKUS', and said the countries will work to equip Australia with conventionally armed nuclear submarines as a first step.

In a separate commentary by the Ministry's Institute for Studies of Japan, an unnamed researcher took aim at Tokyo's newly commissioned ultra-modern submarine "Taigei", calling it a move that will only bring "self-destruction".

"(Their purpose) is to regain the ruined status of the old Japanese Empire and realise its wild ambition for re-aggression by possessing the preemptive strike capability with the conversion of 'Self-Defence Forces' into offensive forces."
WASHINGTON, March 19 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday mourned the death of Don Young, the longest-serving House Republican and the dean of the House.

In a statement, Biden said he had known Young "for a long time."

"He always stayed true to who he was and the people of Alaska he represented," the statement read. "Tough. Loyal. A consensus builder."

Biden highlighted Young's contribution to Alaska's infrastructure projects and the protection of native tribes.

Young's office confirmed on Friday night that he had died at the age of 88 after serving in the lower chamber for close to 50 years. 
New Delhi, March 21 : Global aerospace major Airbus India on Monday said that it is in touch with Tata Group for providing its new aircraft A350 for Air India.

Speaking at a company event here to showcase the new generation aircraft A350, Airbus India President Remi Maillard said: "We are in talks with all airlines." On Air India, he said that the company currently has a relationship with Tata Group's other airlines namely Vistara, and AirAsia India.

Besides, he said that the Tata Group is Airbus's defence products manufacturing partner here in India.

Last month, Tata Sons Chairman N. Chandrasekaran said the group is committed to making Air India a world-class airline which it deserves to become.

He also mentioned upgrading the aircraft fleet to expand the network both on the domestic and international fronts, and to ensure best possible hospitality to passengers.

In January 2022, the Centre handed over the management control of national carrier Air India to a subsidiary of Tata Sons.

According to Maillard, India is set to witness a massive growth in outbound passenger traffic.

The company forecasts that India will be the fastest growing aviation market amongst the G20 countries.

"Wide body aircraft growth has remained stagnant for both passenger and cargo aircraft," he said.

As per estimates, India is expected to witness growth of 6.2 per cent in international air traffic, whereas the global average will be at 3.9 per cent.

On Monday, the aircraft manufacturer showcased the A350 family of widebody and the long-range aircraft.

The aircraft can seat upto 480 passengers depending on the configuration.

Furthermore, Airbus India said the aircraft offers the lowest cost per seat of any large widebody.

The A350 aircraft can fly non-stop on ultra-long haul routes of 18,000 km.

At present, Airbus has received 915 orders from 50 customers globally for different variant of the aircraft.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, March 21 : Culinary Culture's FoodSuperstars, a first-of-its-kind annual ranking of the top 30 Chefs from across India, took place in the Capital with the who's who of the food and restaurant industry in attendance, the goal being to recognise and reward India's most talented chefs.

The first edition presented by Campo Viejo took place took place at The Leela Palace, New Delhi on the 19th of March. The annual ranking saw 30 Top Chefs from across India being celebrated as true heroes of the Indian Food & Beverage industry. The Chefs were commemorated with a trophy as a badge of honor while donning special one-of-a-kind bespoke scarves designed by the iconic Indian designer, Raghavendra Rathore.

FoodSuperstars were chosen through a meticulous process that included nominations from Culinary Culture's seasoned community of FoodHunters, which included over 40 food connoisseurs from across the country. Each nomination was accompanied by an explanation of why the chef in question deserved to be included on the list. The process included a physical session to debate the nominations, during which the FoodHunters were forced to defend their selections. The final list of nominated chefs was then shared with the Secret Jury, which comprised of India's most renowned culinary experts and foodies. The Jury narrowed the list further to arrive at the Top 30, which was overseen by Vir Sanghvi.

The invite only event took place in the presence of prominent chefs and industry stalwarts from across the country such as Vikram Oberoi, Nakul Anand, Sunjae Sharma, Rohit Agarwal, Zorawar Kalra, Priyank Sukhija, Chef David Myers amongst many others. The top 30 chefs awarded the coveted title of FoodSuperstars in its first edition include Manish Mehrotra, Regi Matthew, Himanshu Saini, Prateek Sadhu, Saurabh Udinia, Ritu Dalmia, Manu Chandra, Nooresha Kably, Naren Thimmaiah and Hussain Shahzad in the top ten position.

Along with the ranking of the Top 30, it also announced special awards bestowed on Chefs for exceptional achievement through the year. These included awards for Social Activism, Sustainable Cooking Practices and an award to a Food Legend, detailed as under.

Speaking on the occasion, Vir Sanghvi, Chairman, Culinary Culture said, "To be able to finally bring together to celebrate and honor some of India's most brilliant minds is very heartwarming and something we look forward to do, year after year." "It is a pleasure to be associated with FoodSuperstars, honouring the passion and tasteful talent of India's top chefs with bespoke Raghavendra Rathore Jodhpur accents will be a delightful feast for the senses," said Raghavendra Rathore.

"Cooking is a good thing, but how far you can part your knowledge to others is most important and that's the only way to take our Indian cuisine forward. I want this award to inspire the next generation of Indian chefs to go even further," said Manish Mehrotra after being declared as No.1.

Raaj Sanghvi, CEO, Culinary Culture revealed the company's upcoming initiatives, "It's our mission to bring the world's best to India and next month we will have the greatest chef in the world Massimo Bottura- come to Mumbai and cook at our events in partnership with Masters of Marriott. We will also organize a special session where he will speak to an audience of India's top chefs." At the event in New Delhi, 28 of the 30 chefs were present in attendance and had flown in specially for the evening from cities such as Bengaluru, Goa, Mumbai, Kolkata, Jaipur, Chennai, Hyderabad, Udaipur and Dimapur. To receive the Special Legend Chef award, Barkha Cardoz, wife of the late Floyd Cardoz flew in specially from New York and was given a standing ovation.

The platform is the only food ranking in India with no form of outside influence or commercial consideration. No restaurant or hotel advertisements were accepted. After a very challenging two years of the pandemic, India's F&B Industry finally came together to celebrate the perseverance of the industry through this platform.

FoodSuperstars presented by Campo Viejo, will become an annual event to honor Indian chefs and will move around Indian cities for each edition.

(IANSlife can be contacted at ianslife@ians.in)
New Delhi, March 21 : Online Auction House deRivaz& Ives has announced what is said to be the largest collection of first-release original Indian film posters.

Exactly 20 years after the groundbreaking The ABC Series, which introduced and established a credible financial market and respectability for Indian film publicity material and memorabilia, this collection of rare first-release original film posters from India's vast cinematic history, includes many designs that are still not available on the global internet.

Image Source: IANS News

Various live events and exhibitions will be held in Mumbai and Delhi in the coming months to pay tribute to many Indian film legends and superstars, including Satyajit Ray, Dilip Kumar, Bimal Roy, Dharmendra, Rajesh Khanna, SuaraBanu, and PamartStudio's.

Image Source: IANS News

Little will change unless the Indian film community takes a greater responsibility for preserving and reviving our paper-based cinematic heritage. Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Anil Kapoor, Anupam Kher, Dia Mirza, and a few others have previously purchased Osian's auctions, but an irreversible change requires a much larger and collected interest. "We hope you will take this delicate art form to the next financial level," Ambassador (Retd.) Niranjan Desai, Chief Spokesperson-deRivaz & Ives, stated.

The auction is to be held online on www.derivaz-ives.com on 8th and 9th April, 2022.

(IANSlife can be contacted at ianslife@ians.in)

-- Syndicated from IANS
Jaipur, March 21 : Udaipur, despite ranking third on smart city list, is under serious threat of dam breach as its age-old legacy of water conservation system is being demolished.

According to the veterans in the city, the Badi Pal Dam has water leaking out through cracks on its walls, which is putting the lives of thousands of residents at risk.

Earlier too, its pristine walls, which made it the walled city like Jaipur, have been demolished.

Next in line are activities being permitted in and around the lakes and dams.

Talking about its beautiful water conservation system, the residents told IANS that earlier, the traditional water system ensured that water levels in the beautiful lakes do not go down drastically during the dry months.

"Also, it ensured that there was no continuous pressure on Badi Pal Dam and there were no activities or construction on this dam. It was maintained for safety reasons and to ensure the longevity of the dam.

Now, all outlets from the renowned Pichola Lake have been blocked and walls have been erected between water bodies namely Doodh Talai and Pichola lake which is leading to an increased pressure on the dam all round the year thus increasing chances of dam burst," the locals added.

While a water outlet from Doodh Talai has been closed by the administration, one outlet on the north side of Pichola lake has been closed by Gulab Bagh personnel, the other one has been closed by a private party, they confirmed.

Former M.P. Lok Sabha IX - Chittorgarh, Maharana Mahendra Singh Mewar, had even written to the Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla in August last year, alleging that Udaipur MP Arjunlal Meena had misled the House with regards to the safety and repairs of Badi Pal and Lake Pichola dam in Udaipur.

In the letter, he also mentioned that previously, numerous letters had been sent to various authorities and successive governments warning them of the risks the centuries old water system posed and the immediate need for repairement of the Pichola dam.

The dam has not been repaired in the last 50 years. Repeated requests for repairs and attention drawn to the activities on the dam that seriously compromise its safety, have been sent to the authorities/governments but no action has been taken yet. These activities are also against provisions of law, the letter further read.

Maharana Mahendra also termed the high water level during summers in the lakes as a short sighted step and quoted it as a dangerous decision of the authorities to keep the water level unnaturally high in Lake Pichola.

Recently, he had also opposed the idea of cruise tourism on Udaipur lakes.

However, despite all these hues and cries, the dam can still be seen leaking which increases its chances of breaking.

Also, there are jetties being run on lakes, which the locals feel is not authorised.

Vishvaraj Mewar, a member of the ex-royal mewar family said: "Much of the architecture in the old city have been destroyed and the centuries old established system of water management have been altered which can prove to be disastrous in time to come. There are many cities in the world that have secured their heritage and moved with the times. We seem to have done neither," he added.

Meanwhile district collector Tarachand Meena was contacted in this reference but he was unavailable for a reply.
Islamabad, March 21 : Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), the joint opposition alliance campaigning to oust the Imran Khan government through a no-confidence motion in the National Assembly, has planned different strategies to continue its political offensive against the Prime Minister in case the motion fails.

Sources say that PDM has chalked out different options - Plans B and C, if their initial Plan A of the no-confidence motion fails.

As per Plan A, opposition parties are pushing towards passage of the no-confidence motion as it get tabled in the National Assembly on March 25. The opposition alliance claim to have gained over 172 votes, after about two dozen members of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) along with other allies of the government, have defected and joined them, vowing to vote against Imran Khan.

However, if plan A fails and the government defeats the no-confidence motion, opposition parties have decided to go immediately for Plan B, demanding Imran Khan get a vote of confidence from Parliament.

The opposition benches would use the time to re-engage with the defected members and others and try to get their support in getting a vote against Imran Khan.

Moreover, if both Plan A and B fail, then Plan C of the opposition's anti-Imran campaign will challenge the proceedings of Plan A and B in the Supreme Court or the Election Commission, challenging the legal standing of the proceedings of Parliament as un-constitutional as the Speaker of the National Assembly failed to table the motion within 14 days of its submission in the first place.

The plan will also be coupled with anti-government rallies, aimed at inserting pressure on the government to call for early elections.

As per details of the upcoming anti-government rally by the PDM, the march will start from Lahore on March 24. It will have its first stop at Gujranwala city from where it will move forward towards Jhelum, crossing central Punjab and increasing the number of its supporters on the way. The PDM march will have its second stopover at Jhelum.

On March 26, the PDM long march will move towards Rawalpindi and will stay there overnight. And on the March 27, the march will move towards Islamabad, where it claims to bring over 2 million people in protest against the Imran Khan government.

On the other hand, Imran Khan has also called for a public gathering on March 27 in Islamabad, where, he claims that over 1 million of his supporters will be present.

The political scenario of Pakistan has been turbulent in the recent past with defections from the ruling party adding to the worries of the Prime Minister. Opposition parties are confident that these will be the final days for Imran Khan as the Prime Minister, while the ruling benches accuse the opposition for using massive bribes and political chicanery to achieve their anti-Imran agenda.
New Delhi, March 21 : The Special Cell of Delhi Police has filed a 1040-page charge sheet in the Rohini Court IED explosion case, a police official said on Monday.

On December 9, last year, a low-intensity blast ripped off inside courtroom number 102 of Rohini court complex at around 10.30 a.m. injuring one person present within the blast radius.

The police had said that accused Bharat Bhushan Kataria, 47, planted the IED at a place where a lawyer was likely to sit inside the courtroom, as he was "highly frustrated due to the protracted legal battles which were causing problems in his career as well as prolonged mental harassment and monetary loss to him and his family".

After the blast, an FIR under section 307 of the Indian Penal Code and section 3 of the Explosive Substance Act was registered at the Special Cell police station and investigation was taken up.

During investigation, after analysis of CCTV footages of more than 150 cameras, verification of more than 1000 vehicles that entered the court premises on the day of incident, interrogation of hundreds of persons including advocates, litigants, police personnel's persons with past criminal history, the police team identified the culprit Bharat Bhushan Kataria behind the incident.

Eight days later on December 17, accused Bharat Bhushan Kataria, a scientist at the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO), was arrested from his residence in the said case. Investigation revealed that accused Kataria knowingly and deliberately placed and triggered an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) using a remote trigger with the intention to kill his rival Amit Vashisht.

"The accused also endangered the life of other persons present in the court including Judge, court staff, advocates and other litigants with his heinous act," Deputy Commissioner of Police Rajeev Ranjan Singh said.

He said that during investigation, sufficient evidence has been found to establish the culpability of the accused beyond doubt.

"A Charge sheet comprising 1040 pages has been filed in the Court," said the official.

He further informed that investigation of the case is continuing and after completion of investigation, a supplementary Charge sheet will also be filed in due course.
Hyderabad, March 21 : S.S. Rajamouli has cleared the air on the big debate on his upcoming movie with Mahesh Babu.

As it is being rumoured that Rajamouli's movie with Mahesh will have another star hero, the 'RRR' director that there is no truth in the gossip.

There was gossip about another star actor joining the Mahesh Babu-Rajamouli venture, which was turned down by the director himself.

Rajamouli, who was quizzed about the same during a media interactive session, said, "Maybe because my recent projects - 'Baahubali', 'Baahubali 2', and now 'RRR' are all multi-starters, this assumption has come out. But, Mahesh Babu's movie is going to be a solo one".

It is also reported that Rajamouli has planned to wrap up the shooting of this yet-to-begin movie in less than a year, despite its grandeur.

Meanwhile, Mahesh Babu, who awaits the release of his 'Sarkaru Vaari Paata', will wrap up a movie, which is to be directed by Trivikram Srinivas.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, March 21 : The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed a plea seeking repayment of the debt purportedly owed by Pakistan during pre and post-Independence time, stating it is a matter of government policy.

A bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi was hearing the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) which contended that around Rs 300 crore has been loaned by India to Pakistan.

Petitioner Om Sehgal also said that this amount has now reached a whopping Rs 1 trillion with the calculation of interest.

During the course of the hearing, the petitioner, appearing in person, argued that thousands of people were killed but the money is still with Pakistan.

"It has now come to around Rs 1 trillion. In Pakistani currency, it comes to Rs 2.5 trillion. Each bullet that our soldiers face is paid by our money," he said.

The Centre's counsel, said the petitioner may be right in his sentiments but the issue is a matter of government policy.

After the submissions, the bench, also comprising Justice Navin Chawla, observed that the Centre is cognisant of the matter as it is related to the state policy and refused to pass any orders while dismissing the petition.
Amaravati, March 21 : The Andhra Pradesh Assembly on Monday unanimously decided to constitute a House committee on Pegasus row in the wake of recent claim by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee that the previous TDP government had purchased Pegasus spyware.

Speaker Tammineni Seetharam made the announcement after the government agreed to the demand by the members of ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP).

He said the committee will be constituted on Tuesday or Wednesday.

The decision came after short duration discussion on the issue in the absence of opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) members who were earlier suspended from the House for disrupting the proceedings to demand debate over deaths due to illicit liquor in Jangareddygudem town.

During the debate, YSRCP members demanded that the House Committee be set up for a thorough probe into the matter in the light of the statement by Mamata Banerjee. They felt there is a need to find as to how the TDP government led by Chandrababu Naidu used it against its political rivals.

Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath termed the purchase of Pegasus software as a heinous crime committed by TDP. He said the action of Chandrababu Naidu violated human rights. He claimed that the Pegasus issue had come to light in 2016. He said spyware like software posed a grave danger to personal freedom.

The minister alleged that the TDP had kept a tab on voters with the Seva Mitra app and deleted pro-YSRCP voters from the electors' list. He said voters' Aadhaar data was collected and the then government tried to identify the voters who were going to vote against it.

YSRCP member Ambati Rambabu said there was a need to know full details of how Chandrababu Naidu used Pegasus software. He said Mamata Banerjee would not have made the statement without any truth. He said though TDP leaders had claimed that they had nothing to do with Pegasus issue, only a detailed probe will bring out the truth.

Rambabu alleged that TDP used Pegasus software against its political rivals. He said the phones of YSRCP leaders were tapped.

TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh had claimed on March 18 that the TDP government had rejected the offer of Pegasus to sell its spyware to the state.

Lokesh, who was minister for information technology in the TDP cabinet headed by his father N. Chandrababu Naidu, clarified that the TDP government did not purchase any spyware.

"Yes, Pegasus offered to sell its spyware to the Andhra Pradesh government as well but we rejected it," he had told reporters.

He was reacting to Mamata Banerjee's purported claim that the Chandrababu Naidu government purchased the Pegasus Spyware. "She was misinformed. If we had resorted to such things, Jagan Mohan Reddy would not have come to power in 2019," he said.
Mumbai, March 21 : TV actress and 'Lock Upp' contestant Nisha Rawal spoke about her abusive relationship with her ex-husband Karan Mehra and how she kissed her close friend while she was married.

She also talked about miscarriage and her trauma after going through all this.

During the show, Bollywood actress and host Kangana Ranaut asked Nisha to share her secret if she wants to save herself from elimination.

Nisha revealed: "I got married in 2012 and in 2014 I miscarried my baby. I was already in an abusive relationship. Miscarriage was a shocker for me. The incidents of abuse were constant, no one supported me. As a woman I was going through a lot. I wished for therapy or something." She shared further: "I had an old friend and I shared a lot with him about my ex-husband and all other issues. And during that course of time only we both got close to each other and I kissed him. I also informed my ex-husband the same day. I told him that I kissed my friend. My ex-husband didn't take this positively and this is my secret: I was attracted to a man when I was married." 'Lock Upp' streams on ALTBalaji and MX Player.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Aerial photo taken on Jan. 26, 2022 shows cargo ships docking at the Rizhao Port in Rizhao, east China's Shandong Province. (Xinhua/Guo Xulei)

BEIJING, March 20 (Xinhua) -- China's ports recorded growth of cargo throughput in the first two months of the year amid the country's steady economic recovery, data from the Ministry of Transport showed.

Cargo throughput at ports came in at 2.36 billion tonnes in the two-month period, up 2.7 percent year on year, the ministry said.

During the first two months, container handling volume at China's ports expanded by 2.9 percent from a year ago to 43.6 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), the data showed.

Last month, China's ports handled 1.06 billion tonnes of cargo, while container throughput stood at 19.44 million TEUs, according to the ministry. 
Chennai, March 21 : Actor Pugazh, who shot to fame with the TV cookery show 'Cooku With Comali', is all set to turn hero with Tamil film 'Mr Zookeeper'.

Taking to Instagram to share the poster of the film, Pugazh said, "I dedicate 'Mr Zookeeper' to my fans who have been like a ladder and are responsible for my growth." The film, which is to be directed by J Suresh, who is best known for his earlier film 'Ennavale', will have Shirin Kanchanwala playing the female lead.

Music for the film will be by Yuvan Shankar Raja and cinematography will be by Tanveer Mir. The film is being produced by Jeba.

Taking to Instagram, director J Suresh announced that the film had gone on the floors.

He said, "My film journey, which began in 'Ennavale', has now reached 'Mr Zookeeper'. Introducing Pugazh as a hero has provided strength, both to my story and me. I am delighted to hear the music of 'Mr Zookeeper' from my friend Yuvan Shankar Raja. We are beginning this journey with cinematographer Tanveer Mir and heroine Shirin Kanchanwala. 'Mr Zookeeper' shoot begins."

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Chennai, March 21 : Actor Soori on Monday shared pictures of a test shoot of director Vetrimaran's most-awaited film 'Vaadivaasal', featuring Suriya in the lead.

Taking to Instagram, Soori, who is a part of the film, shared pictures of the team doing a test shoot and wrote in Tamil, "Test shoot of 'Vaadivaasal', a film in which my brothers Vetri Maran and Suriya impress. This epic film will look to take to the world, the significance of the traditional sport (Bull Taming) of our land from where courage has originated for thousands of years. Even I am waiting for the gates of 'Vaadi Vaasal' to open." The film is being produced by one of Tamil cinema's popular producers Kalaipuli S Thanu.

Music for the film is by G V Prakash, who has disclosed that the team has already finished composing two to three songs.

"The songs will be an extreme version of raw folk music.

'Vaadivaasal's album will be a rustic and native score," G V Prakash had said.

The film has triggered huge interest in fans for two reasons. The first is that Vetrimaran is working with Suriya.

The other reason why the film is eagerly awaited is because it is based on the novel 'Vaadivaasal', written by well-known Tamil writer Ci. Su. Chellappa. 'Vaadivaasal' was a story based on the bull-taming sport of 'Jallikattu'.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Bengaluru, March 21 : Karnataka Health and Family Welfare Minister K. Sudhakar on Monday said the fourth wave of Covid in the country has been predicted in the month of August.

Responding to a question by BJP MLC Shashil Namoshi during the Zero Hour, he said it would be made mandatory to wear masks at indoor facilities.

A decision would be taken in this regard after holding a meeting with Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.

He said the new sub variant of coronavirus B.A.2 surfaced first in Philippines. Later, it spread to 40 countries.

The agency which gave predictions regarding third wave has again predicted the arrival of the fourth wave. The agency had stated that the fourth wave would most likely to hit the country by the month of August.

The minister stated that there is no need for the people to get panic even if fourth wave surfaces, as vaccination drive had been effective conducted in the state.

He further stated that as many as 10.25 crore doses of vaccinations have been given in the state.

"Booster doses have been given. Adding to this, the parents would be convinced on vaccinating the children above the age of 12 years," he added.

Vaccination prevents spread of Covid. However, precautions must be followed by the people.

"We have made arrangements of 55,256 oxygenated beds. The capacity of oxygen production has been increased from 300 metric tonne to 1,270 metric tonnes, he said.

A total of 265 laboratories have been established and the testing capacity has been increased 2.5 lakh per day. "With the experience of three years, doctors are well equipped to provide treatment," he said.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
San Francisco, March 21 : Tech billionaire Elon Musk appears to be headed to Berlin from Texas, Twitter user @ElonJet, who tracks the movements of Musk's private jet said in a tweet on Monday.

Tracking Musk's movement, Twitter user @ElonJet tweeted: "It would appear Elon Took off from Austin headed to Berlin on N502SX, the third SpaceX Gulfstream Aircraft." Tesla has received environmental approval to start production at Gigafactory Berlin, but also as expected, there are a few caveats that will prevent Tesla from officially starting production.

After months of delays, German reports stated earlier this week that Tesla is expected to receive final environmental approval to start production at Gigafactory Berlin later this week.

The environmental approval for the giant factory faced a lot of opposition with concerns ranging from deforestation to water supply and more.

There were several setbacks for Tesla that prevented the company from securing the approval, which has been believed to be the last regulatory step needed to start production.
London, March 21 : Russia has been accused of deporting Ukrainians to "filtration" centres before forcibly taking them to remote Siberian towns after confiscating their phones and documents, Daily Mail reported.

'Several thousand' people have so-far been taken, Mariupol city council claimed, before being processed through 'filtration camps' and sent to 'remote cities' in Russia where they will be obliged to stay for years and work for free, the report said.

Russian news agencies have reported that buses carrying hundreds of refugees from the besieged southeastern port city Mariupol had arrived in Russia in recent days. Moscow officials also said a trainload of over 280 Ukrainians were being 'rescued' from Mariupol, showing footage of them thanking Russian forces.

Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko likened the alleged forced deportations to transportation of prisoners by the Nazi regime during World War II. Boichenko said: "What the occupiers are doing today is familiar to the older generation, who saw the horrific events of World War II, when the Nazis forcibly captured people. It is hard to imagine that in the 21st century people can be forcibly taken to another country," Daily Mail reported.

Mariupol is in the throes of a humanitarian emergency after being encircled by Russian troops, cut off from energy, food and water supplies and facing a relentless bombardment.

Russian Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev late on Sunday demanded that Ukrainian troops and 'foreign mercenaries' in the Black Sea port lay down their weapons and surrender in return for letting tens of thousands of civilians trapped in the heavily besieged city leave safely.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Bengaluru, March 21 : Karnataka Minister for Education B.C. Nagesh on Monday stated that a committee would be formed to decide on the inclusion of Bhagavad Gita in school syllabus.

"As per the National Education Policy (NEP), on the lines of Gujarat state, Bhagavad Gita will be introduced in the state after consulting educational experts also," Minister Nagesh explained while answering a question in the Legislative Council.

Raising the issue in the Zero Hour, BJP MLC Pranesh demanded that Bhagavad Gita must be included in the curriculum in the academic year 2022-23. "Gujrat government has introduced Bhagavad Gita in schools as per the National Education Policy (NEP)." Responding to this, Minister Nagesh stated that the demand for introducing moral education has been growing.

"We will form a committee to seek opinion on inclusion of Bhagavad Gita into the syllabus. Once the commitee is formed, the matter will be discussed with CM Bommai and educational experts and a decision would be taken in this regard," he stated.

Answering another question regarding publication and distribution of text books to the government schools, he assured that text books would be distributed at the beginning when schools would start with new academic year in two months.

-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
Islamabad, March 21 : Ahead of the vote ion the no-confidence motion, which is now scheduled to be tabled in the National Assembly on March 25, the Imran Khan government has moved a presidential reference in the Supreme Court, seeking clarity over action and steps that can be taken against its party members, who may vote against it.

The Pakistan government has raised four main questions, seeking suggestion and clarity from the Supreme Court in relations to disqualification of a party member.

Declaring the ongoing defection and the practice of horse-trading in politics as "cancerous vice of floor crossing", the reference maintains that Pakistan has failed to achieve stability in its polity.

"Defection of elected members has many vices. In the first place, if the member has been elected on the basis of a manifesto, or on account of his affiliation with a political party, or on account of his particular stand on a question of public importance, does defection amount to a clear breach of confidence reposed in him by the electorate," read the reference.

"If his conscience dictates to him so, or he considers it expedient, the only course open to him is to resign to shed off his representative character which he no longer represents and to fight a re-election. This will make him honourable, politics clean, and emergence of principled leadership possible..." the reference added.

Questions of Law: The reference raises four questions over the implementation and understanding of Article 63A of the Constitution.

Interpretation of Article 63A in a manner that it, by way of defection, warrants no preemptive action save de-seating the member as per the prescribed procedure with no further restriction or curbs from seeking election a fresh OR a robust, purpose oriented and meaningful interpretation of Article 63A which visualises this provision as prophylactic enshrining the constitutional goals of purifying the democratic process, inter alia, by rooting out the mischief of defection by creating lifelong disqualification for the member found involved in such constitutionally prohibited and morally reprehensible conduct.

When a member engages in constitutionally prohibited and morally reprehensible act of defection, can the member nevertheless claim a vested right to have his vote counted and given equal weightage or there exist or is to be read into the Constitution restriction to exclude such tainted votes from the vote count? Where a member who could but did not hear the voice of his conscience by resigning from his existing seat in the Assembly and has been finally declared to have committed defection after exhausting the procedure prescribed in Article 63A of the Constitution including appeal to the Supreme Court under Article 63A(5), he can no longer be treated to be sagacious, righteous, non-profligate, honest and ameen and, therefore, stands disqualified for life?

What other measures and steps can be undertaken within the existing constitutional and legal framework to curb, deter and eradicate the cancerous practice of defection, floor crossing and vote buying?

Experts believe that this move by the government is aimed at inserting more pressure on the defected members, who have joined the opposition parties and have vowed to vote against Prime Minister Imran Khan, and compel them to rejoin the ruling party and save Imran Khan's Prime Ministerial post.
Colombo, March 21 : Days after India announced a $1 billion line of credit to financially strapped Sri Lanka, China on Monday said that Beijing is studying Colombo's request for a $2.5 billion financial assistance.

Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Qi Zhenhong said new request for $1 billion financing facility and $1.5 billion buyer's credit were raised by Sri Lankan government to Chinese government recently.

"China understands the urgent need of Sri Lanka and its people. Relevant authorities in China are promptly studying the request," the Ambassador said at a media briefing in Colombo.

China announced Sri Lankan government's request for financial support in the backdrop of last Thursday's Sri Lanka signing of $1 billion credit line with India in the presence of visiting Sri Lankan Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa.

The Indian credit line was for the procurement of food, medicines and other essential items at a time when the island nation is facing worst-ever economic crisis with dollar crunch leading lack of essential items such medicine, dairy products, fuel, gas resulting complete break of transportation and long hours of daily power cuts.

Speaking to the media in Colombo, the Chinese Ambassador on Monday announced details of various financial assistance provided to Sri Lanka and said $1 billion term financing facility ($500 million on March 2020 and $500 million in April 2021) was provided by China Development Bank (CDB) to Sri Lankan Finance Ministry to support Sri Lanka fighting Covid-19 and reviving the economy.

In August 2021, $300 million term financing facility was provided by CDB and $1.5 billion bilateral currency SWAP agreement was signed between the People's Bank of China (PBoC) and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) in March 2021, to stabilise the forex level of Sri Lanka, Ambassador Qi Zhenhong said.

The Beijing representative also told media that China is the biggest source of FDI for Sri Lanka with SL's Central Bank's annual report record by the end of 2020, the stock of China's Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Sri Lanka was $2,188 million.
New delhi, March 21: The Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan is angry and frustrated with his "master" the Pakistani military establishment as it has refused to bail him out at a time when he is facing a crucial no-confidence motion against his government, in what is shaping up to be his toughest test since coming to power in 2018. The establishment has also asked Khan to "resign" as he has lost majority in the parliament.

"I salute India. India's foreign Policy is better than Pakistan's, they work for their people, the Indian army is not corrupt and they never interfere in civilian govt" Imran Khan said in a public meeting on Sunday without mentioning the name of Pakistani army.

Pakistani observers see Khan's statement as a dig at the Pakistani military establishment which controls the country's foreign policy and the civilian government. Three years ago, it was the Pakistani army or military establishment, rigging the elections in favour of Imran Khan, to head the "hybrid" regime. But now, the army generals have realised that their "Project Imran" have failed miserably and decided to "dump" him.

"The army is not neutral..it has never been. Though they claim to be neutral, it's the army who are helping the opposition against Imran Khan and Imran Khan is unable to digest this fact that his benefactors have ditched him," says one Pakistani watcher.

There are reports that Imran Khan was "adviced" by the Pakistani army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and ISI chief Lt General Nadeem Anjum to step down after the OIC meeting without further escalating the matter.

"While Khan complained to Bajwa about his "neutrality," the army chief is reported to have advised him to follow the Constitution and act responsibly", said one insider referring to the meeting which took place on Friday.

But Imran Khan is in no mood to listen and has decided to take the fight to the streets. He has asked "millions" of supporters to reach to the Pakistan National Assembly on March 27, a day before the no-confidence motion against him will be tabled in the assembly.

"I want all records of public attendance to be broken, to fight for the soul of Pakistan. We stand with what is right and condemn such shameless buying of politicians' souls by political mafias to protect their looted wealth," he said in his tweet.

Imran Khan has also warned his "deserted" parliamentarians, of dire consequences.

"You will not be able to attend public gatherings and no one will marry your children when they grow up," Khan asserted. "I am just like a father figure to you all. But for God's sake, don't make such a big mistake by joining hands with the corrupt Opposition. Think about your children's future." Khan is still hoping that the "divine" power of Allah will come to rescue him.

"Allah is watching this and bad people will not go unpunished," he tweeted.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative
Chennai, March 21 : The government is yet to finalise its non-life insurance companies that would be privatised, the Parliament was told on Monday.

"As per inputs received from Department of Investment and Public Asset Management, Government has not yet decided on the Public Sector General Insurance Companies (PSGICs) that are to be privatised," Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

The Central government owns four general insurers viz - National Insurance Company Ltd, The New India Assurance Company Ltd (already listed), The Oriental Insurance Company Ltd, and United India Insurance Company Ltd.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had earlier said the government will privatise one of the three general insurance companies.

The government also said it is in receipt of a proposal from the General Insurers' (Public Sector) Association of India (GIPSA) for capital infusion for PSGICs towards supporting their solvency position.

As to the wage revision for employees in the four insurance companies, the government told the Lok Sabha that it has not got any wage settlement/revision proposal from GIPSA.

It said that the four insurers hold wage revision negotiations with the unions through GIPSA.
Staff members check information of residents for nucleic acid test in Futian District of Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, March 17, 2022. (Photo by Chu Yan/Xinhua)

SHENZHEN, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Government offices, enterprises, and businesses in the southern Chinese metropolis of Shenzhen are set to resume normal work and production from Monday as the latest COVID-19 resurgence subsides, local authorities said on Sunday.

The city will also resume bus and subway services from Monday, according to a circular issued by the Shenzhen COVID-19 prevention and control headquarters.

Authorities are rolling out the measures to ensure the safety and stability of industrial and supply chains, and orderly life and work for locals, the circular said.

After three citywide nucleic acid testings since March 14, the COVID-19 prevention and control situation in Shenzhen remains severe but is generally controllable, it said.

The circular will be effective from March 21 to March 27.

Non-essential indoor public venues, including massage parlors, poker rooms and internet cafes, as well as child-care and offline education institutions, will continue to suspend operations. All restaurants will operate at half capacity.

The circular ordered the implementation of differentiated anti-COVID-19 measures for enterprises involved in industrial and supply chains, in a bid to ensure the safety and stability of these chains.

Authorities in all districts and relevant departments need to intensify efforts to provide targeted services for enterprises, respond quickly to their needs, and help them overcome difficulties in production and operations, according to the circular. 
Lucknow, March 21 : The Samajwadi Party (SP) has alleged that the BJP workers, with the support of police and administrative officials, is trying to prevent the SP candidates from filing their nominations of the upcoming UP Legislative Council polls.

In a series of tweets, the SP has alleged that in Farrukhabad, their candidate Harish Kumar was heckled and manhandled by Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha workers when he went to file his nomination papers.

Ajay Pratap, Superintendent of Police, Fatehgarh, however, responded to the SP's allegations and said that the BJP and SP candidates turned up at almost the same time and their supporters indulged in slogan shouting.

He said that the officials on the spot pacified both groups and restored law and order after which both the candidates filed their nomination papers.

The Samajwadi Party also tweeted that the nomination papers were snatched away from its candidate from Etah, Udaiveer Singh, when he went to file the papers.

The Etah police said in a tweet that the SP candidate was taken to the nomination centre by the police and other allegations are being probed.

The Samajwadi Party has asked the Election Commission to take cognisance of the above incidents and ensure that the council polls are held in a free and fair manner.
Hyderabad, March 21 : Embraer will display its largest commercial aircraft, the E195-E2, at Wings India 2022, the civil aviation show to be held at Begumpet Airport in Hyderabad from March 24 to 27.

The aircraft will be displayed as part of its demonstration tour around India.

Showcasing a stunning 'TechLion' livery that covers the entire aircraft's fuselage, this aircraft is the largest member of the new generation E-Jets family, the E-Jets E2, and is designed to seat up to 146 passengers in its signature two by two seating, the Brazilian aircraft maker said.

"India's aviation scene is at a turning point and now is the moment for airlines to reposition themselves for sustainable growth," said Raul Villaron, Asia Pacific Vice-President for Embraer Commercial Aviation.

"The E195-E2 offers a low cost per seat, making it very competitive with large narrow-body aircraft that are prevalent in India. It is the perfect aircraft for airlines to tap for the next frontier of growth - connectivity to Tier-II and Tier-III cities," he added.

According to Embraer's analysis, even before Covid, 50 per cent of domestic flights in India had between 90 to 150 passengers per flight. This makes the E195-E2's combination of ideal capacity and low unit cost a compelling platform to connect metro to non-metro cities in India.

The E195-E2, part of Embraer's E2 family of advanced jets, is dubbed the profit hunter because of its high performance and low fuel burn. It delivers the lowest operating costs and highest yields for airlines, more comfort for passengers and space for their bags, smallest noise footprint and less impact on the environment. It is powered by PW1900G GTF engines.

The E195-E2 is operated by several airlines globally including KLM (The Netherlands), Helvetic Airlines (Switzerland), Azul (Brazil), Air Peace (Nigeria) and soon, Porter Airlines (Canada).
Washington, March 21 : The success of mRNA vaccine technology against Covid is holding promise for treatments against several chronic diseases, as well as influenza, cancer, cystic fibrosis, and many others.

Although potential therapies are still many years away, researchers see promise in mRNA to treat rare, inherited metabolic disorders, a host of pathogens, including Zika, rabies, HIV, and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, which hospitalises 3 million children under age 5 each year worldwide, according to a recent report by US non-profit Kaiser Family Foundation.

"This is just the start," Dr. Judith James, vice president of clinical affairs for the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, was quoted as saying.

"We won't see these dividends in their full glory for years," she added.

Both Pfizer and Moderna, credited for the success of their Covid shots, had earlier worked on mRNA vaccines for cancer. Their success is now prompting dozens of clinical trials of therapeutic mRNA vaccines for cancers of pancreas, colon, and skin - all which frequently respond well to immunotherapy, the report said.

Further, during pandemic researchers have shown that cellphone apps can detect potential Covid cases by monitoring patients' self-reported symptoms. According to James, the same computer technology could help predict flare-ups of autoimmune diseases.

"We never dreamed we could have a PCR test that could be done anywhere but a lab," James said. "Now we can do them at a patient's bedside in rural Oklahoma. That could help us with rapid testing for other diseases." The pandemic also led to the discovery of interferon-targeting antibodies. Research showed that 15 to 20 per cent of patients over 70 who die of Covid have rogue antibodies that disable a key part of the immune system, called interferon that acts as a first line of defense against viruses.

By disabling key immune fighters, autoantibodies against interferon allows the Coronavirus to multiply wildly.

Antibodies that disable interferon may explain why a fraction of patients succumb to viral diseases, such as influenza, while most recover, Dr. Gary Michelson, founder and co-chair of Michelson Philanthropies, a nonprofit that funds medical research, was quoted as saying.

The discovery "goes far beyond the impact of covid-19," Michelson said. "These findings may have implications in treating patients with other infectious diseases" such as the flu.

Several international research teams are now looking for such autoantibodies in patients hospitalised by other viral infections, including chickenpox, influenza, measles, respiratory syncytial virus, and others, the report said.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, March 21 : Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, informed the Rajya Sabha on Monday that in the last three financial years, India imported less than 1 per cent crude oil from Russia.

Responding to a question raised by Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, Puri said, "In the last three financial years, we imported less than 1 per cent crude oil from Russia, and in the first nine months of this fiscal, only 0.2 per cent of our oil requirement has been imported from Russia." Puri also said that India imported 7.3 per cent of its oil requirement from the United States. He asserted that India and the US have a strong bilateral energy relationship.

The minister also highlighted the fact that they are currently in talks with some western oil firms.

He said that Indian oil companies have invested in Russia, which has been very profitable -- $337 million investment has resulted in $3.7 billion revenue -- and another 20 years remain.

Puri said that India has company to company crude import arrangements as well as government to government deal with Russia.

The minister further said that out of the five million barrels per day consumption, 60 per cent crude oil comes from the Gulf countries, while India has imported only 0.419 million metric tonnes of crude oil from Russia which is less than 1 per cent.

Earlier on March 14, Puri had stated in the Rajya Sabha that the Centre cut petrol and diesel rates last year when they were most required by the consumers.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Bengaluru, March 21 : Karnataka Health Minister K. Sudhakar on Monday said arrangements would be made for the students who returned from war-struck Ukraine to continue their studies in the state's medical colleges.

The minister made this announcement during a press conference at Vidhana Soudha after meeting a delegation of students who returned from Ukraine.

He said: "The continuation of studies of the students is the top priority of the government. There has been discussion on academic matters concerning those students. The meeting was conveyed as per the directions of the Chief Minister (Basavaraj Bommai)." "The education of these students should not be curtailed. In this backdrop the students who returned from the war-torn country would be accommodated in the medical colleges of the state," the Minister added.

There are 60 medical colleges in the state.

The clinical training must also be continued for the students. The state government would initiate steps in this direction, the Minister said.

"Once the students are allowed to continue their education, the government will select the colleges for the students who returned from Ukraine," Sudhakar said.

A five-member committee would be formed in coordination with the Central government in order to shape the future of these students, he said.

The committee would provide inputs as to what should be the government's demands with the Central government as well as the National Medical Council.

The committee would also give report on the students who have come back to the country after the Covid outbreak in other countries as well.

"We have asked the committee to submit the report in 7 to 10 days," he said.

-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
New Delhi, March 21 : The United Nations Climate Change secretariat and the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) on Monday announced their strategic partnership to develop a framework and tools to help developing countries build capacity for climate action.

The partnership will enhance the capacity of developing countries to report on climate change as part of the Climate Change Convention and Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) under the Paris Agreement.

The ETF modalities, procedures and guidelines (MPGs) emphasize the need for developing country Parties to ascertain their capacity constraints and requirements for reporting climate action and support. It urges them to better understand their national circumstances, develop a continuous improvement plan and use the flexibility provisions in the MPGs in light of their capacities, a release from the CEEW and UNFCCC said.

CEEW is a leading policy research institute and a think tank based in Delhi and, as the name suggests, works on water, energy, environment and climate related issues.

The UN Climate Change Secretariat - CEEW partnership is premised on the recognition that developing countries that are Party to the Paris Agreement are at different starting points with respect to their capabilities and the institutional arrangements to effectively report on climate action and support in accordance with the MPGs.

"Building on the research done previously by CEEW, the partnership envisions developing a framework and tool that can be used by developing country Parties to enhance their capacity to report on climate change," the statement said.

"Developing country parties need support to transition to the ETF MPGs. We look forward to working with the UN Climate Change secretariat to support developing country Parties to enhance their climate change reporting as a critical pillar of building confidence, and highlighting their capacity needs and the challenges so that commensurate resources can be provided to them," said Arunabha Ghosh, CEEW CEO.

"We welcome this collaboration with CEEW to help developing country parties to identify their capacity needs as well as access support opportunities to enhance and submit their biennial transparency reports," said Ovais Sarmad, Deputy Executive Secretary at the UN Climate Change secretariat.
New Delhi, March 21 : Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishore on Monday shared the status report regarding the progress of various ongoing work under the Central Vista Master Plan.

The report says that the Centre has so far spent Rs 480 crore in the construction of New Parliament Building. It has been built 44 per cent while the remaining will be built in the due time.

Four projects were shown as special project in the status report. Rs 9 crore has been spent on the construction of Vice President Enclave while only three per cent physical progress has been completed.

Rs 243 crore has been spent so far on the construction of Common Central Secretariat Buildings 1, 2 and 3, and only three per cent has been completed.

As per physical progress, Redevelopment of Central Vista Avenue has completed 80 per cent and total Rs 441 crore has been spent on this so far.

Kishore also shared the data chart of further expenditure, the money that are expected to be spent on various work under the Master Plan since the commencement of the work.

As per the chart, Rs 1,423 crore is likely to be spent during the 2021-22 financial year while Rs 2,285 crore will be spent on the construction in the financial year 2022-23.
London, March 21 : The Downing Street has said that Moscow was behind calls to British defence secretary and home secretary last week, The Guardian reported.

The Russian state was responsible for hoax calls to Ben Wallace and Priti Patel, pretending to be the Ukrainian Prime Minister, Downing Street has said.

In its first statement attributing blame for the video calls, the Downing Street said it believed Russian state actors were responsible, without giving more details at to who linked to the Kremlin had been identified as being behind the attempts.

It is understood that there are fears in the Whitehall that Russia could release doctored quotes of their comments for propaganda purposes. Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary, was also unsuccessfully targeted, The Guardian reported.

The UK Prime Minister's official spokesperson said: "The Russian state was responsible for the hoax telephone calls made to UK ministers last week.

"This is standard practice for Russian information operations and disinformation is a tactic straight from the Kremlin playbook to try to distract from their illegal activities in Ukraine and the human rights abuses being committed there." Defence secretary Wallace has publicly acknowledged that he had been targeted shortly after his call on Thursday in an attempt to get ahead of any attempt by Moscow to circulate footage from it.

An investigation has been launched into how it happened and a cross-Whitehall review is looking at tightening security procedures further.

The caller who got through to Wallace was pretending to be Ukraine Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
Jaipur, March 21 : Bollywood star Salman Khan, accused in the blackbuck hunting case, got a breather from the Rajasthan High Court on Monday as it accepted his plea urging that it hear the three petitions related to the case, instead of the Sessions Court.

Salman had filed a petition in the Sessions Court to transfer the pending appeal to the High Court, and this was accepted on Monday.

A petition was also presented in the High Court on behalf of Salman in which it was pleaded that all matters are related to each other in this case and in such a situation, they should be heard together in the High Court.

Public prosecutor Gaurav Singh had no objection to these cases being heard in the High Court.

Soon after, Justice Pushpendra Singh Bhati issued an order to hear all the cases in the High Court itself. Salman's sister Alvira was also present in the court during the hearing on Monday. Salman's lawyer Hastimal Saraswat said that this comes as a big relief for him.

The trial court convicted Salman Khan and sentenced him to 5 years imprisonment in a blackbuck hunting case reported in the outskirts of Kankani village.

However, he was acquitted in the Arms Act case, but the state government appealed against this in the Sessions Court.

The state government, in fact, has also filed a petition in the High Court against the acquittal of Saif Ali Khan, Neelam, Tabu, and Sonali Bendre in the blackbuck poaching case.

In 1998, during the shooting of his film "Hum Saath Saath Hain" in Jodhpur, Salman was accused of hunting at three different places near Jodhpur city. Under this, separate cases were registered against him for hunting chinkara in the outskirts of Ghora Farm House and Bhavad village. The third case was registered for hunting two blackbucks in Kankani village. The fourth case was registered against Salman under the Arms Act.
Moscow, March 21 : Russian soldiers captured by a Ukrainian volunteer medic unit will all be castrated, its founder and commander declared on Ukraine's national television.

The combat medic, whose volunteer team has been described as "medical angels" by the Western media, said "cockroaches" don't deserve the right to procreate, RT reported.

The shocking declaration came from Gennadiy Druzenko, a constitutional lawyer-turned-volunteer frontline medic in Ukraine.

Speaking to Ukrainian media in a live interview, he condemned the US for its reluctance to go to war with Russia on Ukraine's behalf, before commenting on the Russian military.

"Trust me, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's military hardware burns well. The corpses of 'putinoids' may stink, but they become unthreatening," he said, the report said.

Druzenko said that during the conflict, he had diverged from the principle that requires an injured enemy combatant to be treated as a regular patient.

He further implied that at the hands of his unit, Russian prisoners of war "will die in very large numbers" so that surviving Russians remember Ukraine with terror "like the Germans remembered Stalingrad", RT reported.

At this point, the host cut the interview short, stating that Russian soldiers would be "held accountable". Her co-host reminded the audience that Russia is being investigated for alleged war crimes in Ukraine.

On Monday, YouTube blocked the entire livestream segment, which included the interview, after it drew public attention.

Russia has launched a criminal investigation into the threats.

Druzenko heads the Pirogov First Volunteer Mobile Hospital, a unit of civilian medics that has been providing services to Ukrainian troops since 2014, when post-coup authorities in Kiev sent the Ukrainian military to quash a rebellion in eastern Ukraine.

He is an acclaimed figure at home and has received numerous awards for his work from the defence ministry and the National Security Council, the report said.

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JAKARTA, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of parliamentary members across the world have gathered in Indonesia's resort island of Bali, as the 144th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly and related meetings kicked off on Sunday.

The assembly meeting was opened by Indonesian President Joko Widodo, and welcoming speeches were presented by IPU President Duarte Pacheco, a parliament member from Portugal, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

In his speech, Widodo addressed the issue of climate change, calling all world's parliament members to support and invest in new and renewable energy as well as strengthen energy transfer.

"From coal-based energy, we have been committed to moving to renewable energy. It looks easy to say, but in practice, it is not that easy," Widodo said.

Around 1,000 participants from more than 100 countries attended the IPU opening ceremony, according to Indonesia's House of Representatives' Speaker Puan Maharani. 
Chennai, March 21 : Manithaneeya Makkal Katchi (MMK) MLA, A.M. Jawahirullah, has urged Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to clarify the issue of wearing hijab in educational institutions in the state.

He called upon the Chief Minister to pass an appropriate order to clarify that there is no ban on Muslim girl students wearing hijabs in educational institutions of the state.

The Papanasam MLA was speaking at the Assembly on Monday.

The MMK leader said that Tamil Nadu School Education Minister, Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, had said in a statement that there is no ban on students wearing hijab in the state.

He said that in certain schools and colleges, there is an issue with wearing hijab.

Jawahirullah said that on the basis of Articles 19 and 26 of Constitution, there is no ban on Muslim girl students wearing hijab.

He also said that according to a speech by the state Finance Minister, P.T.R. Palanivel Thiagarajan, forces of cultural fascism are trying to destroy the cultural diversity of the country.
New Delhi, March : In a shocking incident, a two-month-old baby was found dead inside a microwave in the national capital on Monday.

DCP (South) Benita Mary Jaiker said that at around 5 p.m. on Monday, the police received information from a hospital about the death of a two-month-old child in Chirag Delhi.

"Investigation from all angles is being conducted and a case of murder has been registered," the DCP said.

Further details are awaited.
Srinagar, March 21 : A civilian in J&K's Budgam district was shot and injured by militants on Monday, police said.

Police sources said militants fired at Tajamul Mohiuddin Rather in Gotpora village of Budgam.

"The civilian was shifted to hospital in an injured condition. The area has been cordoned off for searches," a source said.
Lahore, March 21 : Australia looked set for a big score before Pakistan's fast bowlers brought the hosts back into the contest in the last session of the first day of the third and final Test in Lahore, with the visitors ending Day One on 232/5, here on Monday.

Left-arm pacer Shaheen Afridi rocked Australia's batsmen early by dismissing opener David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne with a score of just eight. After 2.5 overs, Australia found themselves at 8/2, with Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith tasked with withstanding the Pakistan pace assault.

Thereafter, opener Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith hit fighting half-centuries to help the Aussies recover in the second session.

They did precisely that, playing with a watchful mindset while punishing the bad deliveries. Despite Pakistan's best efforts, another breakthrough would not come around as Australia headed to lunch at 70/2.

Khawaja's golden run in the series continued as he brought up his third fifty-plus score. And Steve Smith would also follow suit, notching up his milestone. It was a dominant session for the Australians as they added 75 runs without losing a wicket.

The final session would finally bring some joy for Pakistan on the back of some disciplined bowling. Young quick Naseem Shah took the scalps of Smith and Travis Head as Australia battled their way to 232-5 by stumps.

The match changed course in the final session. Smith was first trapped lbw by a reverse swinging ball from young pacer Shah for 59 before spinner Khan had the well-set Khawaja caught smartly at slip nine short of a century.

Pakistan made further inroads as Shah had left-hand batsman Head caught behind for 26. The Aussies had lost half their side with the score of 206 in the 81st over, and were firmly on the backfoot.

Earlier, winning the toss, Australian skipper Pat Cummins had no hesitation in opting to bat first. While the visitors rolled in unchanged into the third and final Test, Pakistan made one change -- drafting in pacer Naseem Shah in place of all-rounder Faheem Ashraf.

Brief scores: Australia 232/5 in 88 overs (Usman Khawaja 91, Steven Smith 59, Travis Head 26; Shaheen Afridi 2/39, Naseem Shah 2/40) vs Pakistan
New Delhi, March 21 : The Supreme Court was informed on Monday that seven nationalised banks will infuse Rs 1,500 crore into the stalled Amrapali housing projects.

A bench of Justices U.U. Lalit and Bela M. Trivedi was informed by the consortium of banks that all documentation in connection with funding of the projects have been completed and only Indian Bank had not taken any decision.

Counsel submitted before the bench that the remaining documents would be signed within 2-3 days. The consortium of banks includes Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, Bank of India, State Bank of India, UCO Bank, Indian Bank, and Punjab & Sindh Bank.

The top court-appointed receiver, senior advocate R. Venkataramani informed the bench that the State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank have issued the sanction order for granting money for Amrapali projects.

"Indian Bank has also come on board as part of the consortium, but is yet to pass the sanction order. The consortium documents have also been prepared. The court directed the banks to do the needful and also to release the funds," said Kumar Mihir, counsel for home buyers.

During the hearing, the top court was informed that there are several thousand flats, where homebuyers are untraceable.

On March 7, the Supreme Court had directed the consortium of banks to follow the footsteps of Bank of Baroda, which has issued a sanction order to grant funding for the stalled Amrapali housing projects, and take a decision on funding Amrapali projects within two days.

The top court said it hopes the approval order is passed by the banks, since it is in the final stages, and emphasised that the money should be released by the banks before the next date of hearing.

In its February 21 order, the top court had noted that Alok Kumar, advocate for UCO Bank, Bishwajit Dubey, advocate for Bank of Baroda, and Megha Karnwal, advocate for State Bank of India, have accepted that the banks concerned are in the process of reaching final stages of decision within a week's time.

The top court was informed that the matters will be concluded at the topmost levels of the banks, whereafter funding can immediately begin.

Siddhartha Dave, senior advocate appearing for National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC), submitted that his client has already put in more than Rs 109 crore and the situation requires immediate intervention.

"Considering the circumstances on record and with a view to ensure steady flow of funds, we direct the members of the consortium of banks to place on record their final decisions within seven days from today and to start effecting the funding within a week thereafter so that at least Rs 300 crore are released by way of first tranche on or before March 15, 2022," said the top court in its order.

Venkataramani, had informed the top court that there is no further need for deliberations or exchange of information in connection with funding of the projects. He added that the top court may direct the consortium of banks to release funds in the course of this week, in order to facilitate him and NBCC to plan the further execution of the work and also clear outstanding liabilities without any further delay.
New Delhi, March 21 : A Senior Research Fellow at the ICMR who left her work to take care of her daughter earlier has now found a channel to utilise her scientific knowledge as a Patent Associate (Science) at one of India's leading IPR firms.

Amita Kumari, a PhD in Chemistry from Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut, who had left her Senior Research Fellowship at ICMR, will now be as a Patent Associate (Science) in one of India's leading IPR firms, thanks to a government initiative.

The Women Scientists Scheme (WOS-C) has been evolved by the Department of Science & Technology for providing opportunities to women scientists, who desire to return to mainstream science and work in the area of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).

WOS-C scheme aims to train women having qualifications in science/engineering/ medicine or allied areas in the area of IPR and their management for a period of one year. The training will allow them to work from their homes and thus maintain a good balance between professional and domestic demands. The scheme is being implemented by the Patent Facilitating Centre (PFC) of Technology Information, Forecasting & Assessment Council (TIFAC) on behalf of the DST.

Few years ago, Amita Kumari abandoned her career after the birth of her daughter. As she was struggling to balance her career with the responsibility of her only daughter and duties towards her family, selection for the WOS-C training came to her rescue.

The training gives substantial exposure in handling a wide variety of Patent Applications in Indian and various foreign jurisdictions. The month-long orientation programme and lectures from eminent speakers are aimed at changing the way of thinking of the participants, a release from the DST said.

"Selection in the programme was a turning point in my life. During WOS-C training, I received substantial exposure in handling a huge range of patent applications. I needed to prioritise my responsibilities towards family. Balancing career and family simultaneously was quite challenging. WOS-C training boosted my confidence and helped me to nurture my dream, to be a successful IPR professional," she said.

Having completed her training under the 11th batch of WOS-C fellowship instituted by the DST and implemented by TIFAC, she has been practicing drafting, filing, and prosecuting across jurisdictions and forums like Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), European Patent Office (EPO), Japan Patent Office (JPO), United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), Russian governmental agency in charge of intellectual property Rospatent, Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO), China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property (SAIP) and Australian patents (AusPat).

Her areas of patent operations include mainly Pharmaceuticals, Chemicals, and Nano-Technology.

The WOS-C training not only helped her develop IPR skills but also assisted her in finding placement at LexOrbis, an Intellectual Property Law Firm, in New Delhi during the tough pandemic period.

"It is a very well-thought programme that provides women opportunities to return to mainstream science after a break in career and continue balancing family duties and responsibility together, without wasting the scientific knowledge gained over the years," she stressed.
Amaravati, March 21 : Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has assured all support for the students of the state who have returned from war-hit Ukraine.

A group of students who have returned from Ukraine called on Reddy here on Monday.

The Chief Minister interacted with the students and enquired about the alternatives to continue their studies.

Reddy also directed the state government officials to look for solutions to the problems being faced by the students currently and said he would write a letter to the Central government in this regard.

The students thanked the Chief Minister for the special efforts put in by the state government to bring back the students from Ukraine and said they were taken care of since they reached the neighbouring countries of Ukraine and were provided food and accommodation and added that flight tickets to India and transportation to their native places were provided by the government.

In all, 918 students from Andhra Pradesh studying in Ukraine have made it back to their homes, officials said.

The chief minister complimented the state government officials who coordinated the students' safe return from Ukraine safely. He said that it is the responsibility of the state government to help the students who were in crisis.

AP Ukraine Taskforce Committee Chairman MT Krishnababu, AP Bhavan Principal Resident Commissioner Praveen Prakash, APNRTS President Medapati Venkat, CEO K. Dinesh Kumar, Taskforce Committee Members Ahmed Babu, Andhra Pradesh Special Representative in North America Pandugayala Ratnakar, Special Representative in UK, Ravi Reddy and other officials were present in the meeting.

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New Delhi, March 21 : The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has given its approval for the continuation of the centrally-funded National AIDS and STD Control Programme (NACP, Phase V) for a period of five years from April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2026.

The total outlay of the programme will be Rs 15,471.94 crore.

The national AIDS response was initiated by the government of India in 1992 with the launch of the first phase of the National AIDS and STD Control Programme. Since then, four phases of NACP have been successfully completed. The Phase IV of NACP concluded on March 31, 2021.

The NACP Phase V will take forward the national AIDS and STD response till FY 2025-26 towards the attainment of United Nations' sustainable development goal (SDG) 3.3 of ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030 through a comprehensive package of prevention, detection and treatment services.

Meanwhile, the number of annual new HIV infections in India has declined by 48 per cent against the global average of 31 per cent (baseline year 2010). The annual AIDS-related deaths have declined by 82 per cent against the global average of 42 per cent (baseline year 2010). As a result, HIV prevalence in India continues to be low with an adult HIV prevalence of 0.22 per cent.

As per the Union Health Ministry, around 14.20 lakh people living with HIV (PLHIV) are taking lifelong, free, high-quality anti-retroviral treatment (ART) from the programme supported facilities, which is one of the world's largest cohorts of PLHIV under government-funded treatment programmes.
Guwahati/Agartala/Kohima, March 21 : The BJP is confident that it will win all the four Rajya Sabha seats in the March 31 biennial elections for the upper house seats in three northeastern states -- Assam, Nagaland and Tripura.

BJP leaders in the three northeastern states on Monday claimed that their strength along with their allies' membership positions in the assemblies of the three states would facilitate to win their candidates in these states.

The two seats in Assam are currently held by Ripun Bora and Ranee Narah of the Congress, one seat in Tripura by CPI-M's Jharna Das (Baidya) and lone seat in Nagaland by K.G. Kenye of Naga People's Front (NPF).

In Assam, the ruling BJP has nominated Pabitra Margherita as its candidate for one Rajya Sabha seat while its ally United People's Party Liberal (UPPL) has fielded Rwngwra Narzary for the second seat.

Narzary is the president of UPPL, which has seven members in the house and has a strong political base in western Assam comprising the four districts -- Chirang, Baksa, Udalguri and Kokrajhar, bordering Bhutan and West Bengal.

The main opposition Congress has nominated sitting Rajya Sabha member and former state party chief Ripun Bora. Congress and All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) which parted ways after last year's assembly polls has come together as AIUDF has announced to support Congress in the RS polls.

The Congress requires 42 MLAs in the 126-member House to win in one seat and the party claimed that it has support of 44 MLAs, including its own 27 members and AIUDF's 15.

Two MLAs Sherman Ali Ahmed and Sashikanta Das -- are under suspension.

On Sunday, Assam Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma after meeting Das, claimed several opposition MLAs are keen to support the BJP.

In Nagaland, the BJP has put up the party's Mahila Morcha president S. Phangnon Konyak as its candidate. The BJP with 12 MLAs is an ally of Nagaland's United Democratic Alliance (UDA) Government in which NPF with 25 MLAs is a major ally and 21 members Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) is the dominant party of the UDA, which is an all party alliance governing the India's first opposition less state.

The NPF and the NDPP have already announced to support Konyak, who after her election would be the first woman Rajya Sabha member from Nagaland.

Since Nagaland got statehood in 1963, the northeastern state had got only one woman Parliamentarian, Rano M. Shaiza, who was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1977 as an independent candidate. The state Assembly has never had a woman MLA.

In Tripura, BJP candidate Prof. (Dr.) Manik Saha's win is almost certain as the ruling party along with its ally -- Indigenous People's Front of Tripura -- has the strength of 41 in the 60 member house while the opposition CPI-M has 15 MLAs after the death of the party legislator and former assembly Speaker Ramendra Chandra Debnath.

However, the CPI-M nominated former Tripura Finance and Information Minister Bhanu Lal Saha as the Left Front candidate for the Rajya Sabha election.

The three seats of the Tripura assembly are lying vacant.

Dissident BJP legislators Sudip Roy Barman and Ashis Kumar Saha resigned from the assembly last month and joined the Congress.

Tripura Assembly Speaker Ratan Chakraborty in January disqualified another dissident BJP MLA Ashis Das after he joined the Trinamool Congress openly criticising the party and top leaders.
New Delhi, March 21 : The Supreme Court on Monday queried the Centre for how long it will keep a Pakistani national under detention against the backdrop that Islamabad denied accepting him as its citizen.

Senior advocate Sanjay Parikh, representing 62-year-old Mohammad Qamar, submitted before a bench headed by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud that the court's order for release of foreigners lodged in detention centres is in connection with Bangladeshi nationals and not Pakistani nationals.

"How can such a distinction be made? We are only seeking enforcement of this court's order," he said.

Additional Solicitor General K.M. Nataraj submitted before the bench, also comprising Justice Surya Kant, that how can a Pakistani citizen claim equal rights as an Indian citizen, as he emphasised that the petitioner has no right to make this claim.

At this, the bench said: "The question is how long you can keep him." It asked Nataraj to seek instructions on what could be done in this matter. "We are giving you two weeks' time," the bench told Nataraj.

The petitioner is a Pakistani national who has been languishing in a detention centre in India for seven years. He wants to be released to apply for Indian citizenship as his five children are Indian citizens.

On February 28, the apex court sought Centre's response whether Qamar can be released for a brief period, to apply for Indian citizenship.

In August 2011, Qamar was arrested from Uttar Pradesh's Meerut, and held guilty by a court for overstaying his visa and sentenced to three years and six months in jail.

After completing the sentence, he was sent to the detention centre at Lampur in Delhi's Narela here on February 7, 2015 for deportation to Pakistan. However, the Pakistan government refused to accept him.
Rescuers set out to the plane crash site of Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 21, 2022. A passenger plane with 132 people aboard crashed in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Monday afternoon, said the regional emergency management department. (Xinhua)

NANNING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- A passenger plane with 132 people aboard crashed in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Monday afternoon, said the regional emergency management department.

The Boeing 737 aircraft of China Eastern Airlines, which took off from Kunming and was bound for Guangzhou, crashed at about 2:38 p.m. into a mountainous area near the Molang village in Tengxian County in the city of Wuzhou, causing a mountain fire, according to the department.

The 132 people onboard flight MU5735 were 123 passengers and nine crew members, said the Civil Aviation Administration of China on its website. The administration said it has initiated the emergency response mechanism and dispatched a working team to the site.

The fire has been put out and the rescue operation is underway, said Chen Jie, an official with the regional emergency management department.

The Wuzhou fire brigade has sent 117 firefighters with 23 fire trucks to the site. Further 538 firefighters from other parts of Guangxi have been dispatched to join in the rescue efforts, the regional fire department said at its Weibo account. 

Photo taken with a mobile phone shows the plane crash site in Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 21, 2022. A passenger plane with 132 people aboard crashed in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Monday afternoon, said the regional emergency management department. (Xinhua)
New Delhi, March 21 : Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday said in Lok Sabha that the education system in the country got severely affected due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Now, the ministry of education is trying to bring many new changes on the bases of New Education Policy (NEP).

The NEP-2020 also envisions setting up of a Higher Education Commission of India as an umbrella body with four independent verticals to perform distinct functions of regulation, accreditation, funding, and academic standard setting. Accordingly, the Ministry is in the process of drafting a Higher Education Commission of India Bill.

The NEP-2020, inter-alia, envisions setting up of Model public Universities for holistic and multidisciplinary education, at par with IITs, IIMs, etc., called MERUs (Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities) which will aim to attain the highest global standards in quality education.

This information was shared by the Minister of State for Education, Subhas Sarkar in the Lok Sabha on Monday.

The NEP further states that all programmes, courses, curricula, and pedagogy across subjects, including those in-class, online, and in ODL modes as well as student support will aim to achieve global standards of quality, the minister added.

The Ministry of Education has announced NEP 2020 on July 29, 2020 after obtaining approval of the Union Cabinet.

Meanwhile, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has said it has notified the UGC (Open and Distance Learning Programmes and Online Programmes) Regulations, 2020 on September 4, 2020, and further an amendment on July 1, 2021.

These regulations lay down the minimum standards of instruction for the grant of degrees through Open and Distance Learning mode and online mode.

The UGC has further informed that in view of the recommendation of National Education Policy (NEP)-2020 to increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education including vocational education from 26.3 per cent (2018) to 50 per cent by 2035 and to further promote Open and Distance Learning (ODL) and online education, the UGC has constituted an Expert Committee to review existing ODL and Online regulatory framework while ensuring quality, driven by simplified recognition system and processes.
New Delhi, March 21 : Road shows are being held to assess the investors' interest in IDBI Bank, the government told Parliament on Monday.

"... Road shows are currently being held to assess the investors' interest before floating the Expression of Interest (EoI)," Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

"Last year, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the strategic disinvestment of Centre's and LIC's shareholding in the bank along with transfer of management control. It is expected that the strategic buyer will infuse funds, new technology and best management practices for optimal development of business potential and growth of IDBI Bank.

"Unlocking of resources by the strategic disinvestment of GoI's equity in IDBI Bank Ltd. would be used to finance the social sector or developmental programs of the Government benefitting the citizens," he said in a reply to another question.

On the question of whether the Centre has consulted unions and associations of IDBI Bank employees to address their concerns, Karad said that while deciding the terms and conditions of the strategic sale, legitimate concerns of the existing employees and other stakeholders "are suitably addressed" through appropriate provisions made in the 'Share Purchase Agreement' (SPA).
Moscow, March 21 : Russian forces claimed to have used precision-guided weapons to destroy a battery of Ukrainian multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) and their ammunition storage base, located in a non-functioning shopping centre on the outskirts of Kiev.

Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for the Russian Defence Ministry, said that in Vynohradar district on the outskirts of Kiev, Ukrainian nationalist units covered residential buildings for several days and fired at the Russian military with MLRS, RT reported.

According to the ministry, Ukrainian units used the area of a nearby shopping centre as a large base for storing rocket-propelled ammunition, as well as reloading multiple launch rocket systems.

Russian intelligence through several channels confirmed the coordinates of the position of the Ukrainian MLRS and revealed the location of the ammunition depot.

It is noted that a video footage of objective control shows a Ukrainian multiple rocket launcher entering the shopping centre for shelter after the next salvo and reloading of missiles.

"On the night of March 21, a battery of Ukrainian multiple launch rocket systems and a base for storing their ammunition in a non-functioning shopping centre were destroyed by high-precision long-range weapons on the night of March 21," the Defence Ministry said.
Hyderabad, March 21 : Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday demanded that the Centre procure the entire paddy crop from Telangana like it is doing from Punjab and also announce a uniform procurement policy for the entire country.

A delegation of state ministers and MPs will leave for Delhi on Tuesday to meet the Food Minister to press for their demands.

The decision was taken at a meeting of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) legislators presided over by KCR, as the Chief Minister is popularly known.

The TRS chief warned the Centre of a massive protest if it failed to procure the entire yield of 30 lakh tonnes of paddy during Rabi season.

He said during the last Rabi season, paddy production was 54-55 lakh tonnes and this time, it is likely to come down to 35 lakh tonnes due to the efforts of the state government to encourage farmers to go for crop diversification. Of this, 3 lakh tonnes of paddy will be used for seeds while 2 lakh tonnes will be kept by farmers for their own use.

KCR made it clear that food security of the country is the Constitutional responsibility of the Central government. "It can't run away from this responsibility citing surplus production. Even if there is surplus production, the government should keep it as buffer stock, process it or even bear some losses," he said.

Stating that paddy procurement is a matter of life and death of farmers, he said the Centre should not create hurdles as it did in the previous season.

"You take paddy and pay MSP as you are doing in Punjab. Nothing plus nothing minus," he said.

KCR demanded uniform procurement policy for the entire country. He said there should not be different policies for different states.

He made it clear that in case the Centre failed to respond positively to the state's request, there will be 'action-oriented' protests.

He said gram panchayats, mandal parishads, zilla parishads and municipalities will pass resolutions and send them to the Prime Minister urging him to procure the entire paddy from Telangana.

KCR also demanded Constitutional protection for farmers. "Include farmers' rights in the Constitution to save them. The MSP, procurement, production all should be covered by the Constitution," he said.

He said the Modi government should bring a Constitutional amendment in this regard to show its love for farmers.

The TRS leader urged the government to bring the Constitutional amendment during the ongoing session of Parliament and said his party and the entire country would support it.
New Delhi, March 21 : Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Monday asked senior party leader Shashi Tharoor to refrain from attending a CPI-M seminar to be held in April, directing him to listen to the Kerala leadership.

The development came after he joined a meeting of Congress "rebels", apparently ditching the Congress's Kerala unit by planning to attend the Left's seminar.

As per sources, Congress leaders from Kerala met Sonia Gandhi at the party's parliamentary office in Delhi to intimate her of the "embarrassing" development.

Congress' Kerala state chief K. Sudhakaran had said that the state party has issued a ban on party leaders participating in the national seminar to be organised by the CPI-M as part of its national conference at Kannur and if anyone violates the bar, they would have to face party action.

The CPI-M's 23rd party Congress will be held at the red fort of Kannur from April 6 to April 10, and the national seminar will be held during it.

The Left party had invited Tharoor and former Union Minister K.V. Thomas, who also hails from the state, for the seminar on national politics. The Congress had, however, issued a statement that no Congress leader must participate in the CPI-M seminar as the party is in a fight against the CPI-M due to the "anti-people policies" of the Left government led by Pinarayi Vijayan.
Beijing, March 21 : A China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737, carrying 132 people on board, crashed on Monday in a mountainous area of the country's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, according to emergency officials.

The China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 was flying from Kunming to Guangzhou when it plunged to the ground in Guangxi province and caught fire, the BBC reported.

Flight MU5735 left Kunming at 1.11 p.m. (local time) and was scheduled to arrive in Guangzhou at 3.05 p.m.

The number of casualties and reason for the crash are not yet known. Rescuers have seen no signs of survivors.

The crash has caused shock in China, where President Xi Jinping has ordered an immediate investigation to determine the cause. China Eastern Airlines has grounded all its 737-800s.

Flight tracking data suggested the plane lost height rapidly from its cruising altitude before plummeting to the ground.

According to FlightRadar24 data, the plane was cruising at 29,100 feet, but two minutes and 15 seconds later it was recorded at 9,075 feet. The last sourced information on the flight showed it ended at 2.22 p.m., at an altitude of 3,225 feet.

More than 600 emergency responders are said to be at the crash site.

Firefighters reached the scene first and managed to extinguish a blaze in the hills caused by the crash.

Footage taken by local villagers and shared on Chinese social media - and by state broadcasters - showed fire and smoke from the crash, with plane debris on the ground, the BBC reported.

The staff at Guangzhou airport are directing worried relatives to a separate zone set up to receive them.

One woman waiting for news there told the local media she had booked a seat on the flight, but ended up switching to an earlier plane.

State-owned China Eastern is one of China's big three airlines, along with China Southern and Air China.

Chinese airlines generally have a good safety record - the last major accident took place 12 years ago.

The last major plane crash in China took place in August 2010, when a flight from Harbin crashed in Yichun killing 42 people.

Meanwhile, Boeing has issued a statement on the crash of MU5735, saying: "We are aware of the initial media reports and are working to gather more information." China's Civil Aviation Administration said it had dispatched its investigators to the scene.
New Delhi, March 21 : Around 22,500 Indian nationals have returned from Ukraine to India from February 1 to March 11, the Parliament was informed on Monday.

"(A total of) 90 evacuation flights were operated under 'Operation Ganga' including 14 Indian Air Force flights," Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Gen V.K. Singh (retd) told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

He said that the government had coordinated with the Indian carriers for the operation of evacuation flights.

"The government has coordinated with six private airlines... for evacuation of Indian nationals from countries adjoining Ukraine viz. Romania, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia under Operation Ganga.

"Air India and Air India Express together have operated 23 evacuation flights under Operation Ganga," he said, adding that the air fare for all the flights operated under 'Operation Ganga' has been borne by the Centre.
New Delhi, March 21 : Soon after Congress President Sonia Gandhi's intervention, party leader Shashi Tharoor on Monday declined the invitation of the CPI-M to attend its national seminar to be held next month.

In a statement, the Thiruvananthapuram MP said: "I regret that some preferred the unseemly public airing of internal differences, thereby creating a needless controversy in a matter in which AICC's view was binding. I hope wisdom will prevail in future." Justifying his openness to attend the seminar, Tharoor said the topic for the seminar "does not involve any matter of sensitivity in Kerala but was on 'Centre-state relations', where there is no real difference of opinion between our parties".

He said he respects the views of the party President and has conveyed the organisers his inability to participate.

Tharoor also highlighted that a month ago, a similar invitation was extended for a seminar on the sidelines of the CPI-M state party conference. "On that occasion also, I consulted the AICC President and a suitable decision was taken without any media controversy," he said.

Gandhi on Monday asked the senior party leader to refrain from attending the CPI-M seminar to be held in April, directing him to listen to the Kerala leadership.

The development came after he joined a meeting of Congress "rebels", apparently ditching the Congress's Kerala unit by planning to attend the Left's seminar.

As per sources, Congress leaders from Kerala met Gandhi at the party's parliamentary office in Delhi to intimate her of the "embarrassing" development.

Congress' Kerala state chief K. Sudhakaran had said that the state party has issued a ban on party leaders participating in the national seminar to be organised by the CPI-M as part of its national conference at Kannur and if anyone violates the bar, they would have to face party action.

The CPI-M's 23rd party Congress will be held at the red fort of Kannur from April 6 to April 10, and the national seminar will be held during it.

The Left party had invited Tharoor and former Union Minister K.V. Thomas, who also hails from the state, for the seminar on national politics. The Congress had, however, issued a statement that no Congress leader must participate in the CPI-M seminar as the party is in a fight against the CPI-M due to the "anti-people policies" of the Left government led by Pinarayi Vijayan.
'Global Kashmiri Pandit Diaspora' will demand 'One Place Settlement' from the Government of India for the rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits. Image Source: IANS News

'Global Kashmiri Pandit Diaspora' will demand 'One Place Settlement' from the Government of India for the rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits. Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, March 21 : The Global Kashmiri Pandit Diaspora (GKPD) said on Monday that it is planning to approach the Centre regarding the rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits, who were forced to leave their homeland in the wake of attacks on them in the early 90s.

The GKPD has come up with the proposal amid the nationwide attention the displaced community has been receiving of late following the release of 'The Kashmir Files', a film by Vivek Agnihotri which highlights the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits.

At a press conference held here on Monday, Utpal Kaul, the co-ordinator of GKPD in India, said: "We request the government to look into our demand of 'One Place Settlement'. We would like have a city of our own, and for that, we have prepared a document. We are also in talks with the town planners regarding this. In the last two years, I have met many people and gathered information on how Kashmiri Hindus can go back." He said there are 10 lakh Kashmiri Pandits who "want to go back to Kashmir. We know how we will make Kashmir a paradise".

Talking about the proposed city, Kaul said discussions were also held on setting up universities, colleges and houses.

"The government and all political parties say that now everything will be fine, you all will go to your home. But our people no longer have homes. 20,000 houses were burnt... some houses have been occupied. We don't even have the addresses of the houses," he said.

Elaborating further, Surinder Kaul, co-founder of GKPD, said that after two years of hard work, an expert task force of town planning has prepared this document.

"It was discussed in our society, everyone kept their point of view as to what should happen. Now we will put the document before the government," he said.

The GKPD also said true incidents have been shown in 'The Kashmir Files'.

"The film is not promoting hatred... and doing that is not its purpose. Only 5 per cent of what has happened to us is shown in the film," Surinder Kaul said, while expressing his gratitude for the love and warmth the film has received from all over the country.

"Also, a judicial commission should be formed to bring justice to the people who died and the guilty should be punished," he said.

It was also shared by the organisation that about 750 victims were introduced to filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri. "We requested him to make this film," he added.

Regarding the funding for the film, the GKPD said it has provided only logistic support.

"We have nothing to do with any wing, we are not associated with any party," Surinder Kaul said.

He added that the film should not be viewed from a Hindu-Muslim perspective.

"The film is not about Hindu-Muslim polarisation. We are not against any society. This movie shows the failure of the system. The truth related to history can be painful... But it does not mean that you should stop teaching history," he said.

The organisation also conveyed its thanks to the Chief Ministers of many states for making the film tax-free.
New Delhi, March 21 : One case of brain death can save the life of minimum of 8 persons if the organ is donated, said Dr Deepak Gupta, Professor of Neurology at All India Institute of Medical Science on Monday.

Talking about the need to create mass awareness on organ donation to save lives, Gupta said that we have roughly 0.34 organ donors per million population.

"We have 7 millions blood donors per year, but only roughly 700 organ donors per year," he said.

The department of neurology in collaboration with Organ Retrieval Banking Organisation (ORBO) has conducted a first of its kind Simulation Workshop using 'State of the art Simulators on Brain Death certification and Organ Donation'.

Urging people to come forward for organ donation particularly in the case of brain dead, Gupta said that doctors do not have to be with brain dead patients in ICU to learn how to conduct various tests.

Brain death is a death and there is no confusion on this anywhere in the world. Brain death is not always followed by rapid disintegration of the rest of the body if mechanical ventilation and feeding through gastric tube are continued, said Dr SS Kale, Head Neurosurgery at AIIMS.

He said that the people need to know that brain-dead is not like that only the brain has died and rest of the body is living.

"This is not the case. If the brain stem of the person has died, it means the person is dead. With the advancement in science, the parameter for certifying death has changed and the current parameter is the brain stem death," Kale added.

"Organ transplantation is the only life-saving treatment for end stage organ failure and is performed in more than hundred countries all over the world. medical procedures that were unimaginable a generation ago are a reality today due to advanced in surgery, organ preservation techniques and immunosuppressive treatment," said Kale on the organ donation of brain dead persons.
Rescuers set out to the plane crash site of Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 21, 2022. A passenger plane with 132 people aboard crashed in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Monday afternoon, said the regional emergency management department. (Xinhua)

NANNING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- A passenger plane with 132 people aboard crashed in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Monday afternoon, said the regional emergency management department.

The Boeing 737 aircraft of China Eastern Airlines, which took off from Kunming and was bound for Guangzhou, crashed at about 2:38 p.m. into a mountainous area near the Molang village in Tengxian County in the city of Wuzhou, causing a mountain fire, according to the department.

The 132 people onboard flight MU5735 were 123 passengers and nine crew members, said the Civil Aviation Administration of China on its website. The administration said it has initiated the emergency response mechanism and dispatched a working team to the site.

The fire has been put out and the rescue operation is underway, said Chen Jie, an official with the regional emergency management department.

The Wuzhou fire brigade has sent 117 firefighters with 23 fire trucks to the site. Further 538 firefighters from other parts of Guangxi have been dispatched to join in the rescue efforts, the regional fire department said at its Weibo account.

The neighboring Guangdong Province has dispatched 505 firefighters and 97 vehicles to aid the rescue operation, with the first batch having arrived at the scene.

The Guangxi regional health commission has dispatched 12 medical experts to the site while over 80 medical workers and 36 ambulances sent by health authorities in the city of Wuzhou have arrived at the scene.

Boeing China said it is aware of the media reports of the China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 aircraft crash and is working to gather more information. 

Photo taken with a mobile phone shows the plane crash site in Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 21, 2022. A passenger plane with 132 people aboard crashed in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Monday afternoon, said the regional emergency management department. (Xinhua)

Photo taken with a mobile phone shows a police officer conducting search and rescue work around the plane crash site in Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 21, 2022. A passenger plane with 132 people aboard crashed in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Monday afternoon, said the regional emergency management department. (Xinhua)

Photo taken with a mobile phone shows rescuers conducting search and rescue work around the plane crash site in Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 21, 2022. A passenger plane with 132 people aboard crashed in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Monday afternoon, said the regional emergency management department. (Xinhua)

Photo taken with a mobile phone shows rescuers conducting search and rescue work around the plane crash site in Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 21, 2022. A passenger plane with 132 people aboard crashed in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Monday afternoon, said the regional emergency management department. (Xinhua)
Panaji, March 21 : With the support of three Independent MLAs and a two Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) legislators, the leader of the BJP's 20-member legislative party, Pramod Sawant, on Monday staked claim to form a BJP-led coalition government in Goa.

Sawant submitted the party's resolution electing him as a leader of the BJP legislative party to Governor P.S. Sreedharan Pillai, along with letters of support from the three Independent MLAs and MGP legislative party leader Sudin Dhavalikar.

Governor Pillai has appointed Sawant as the Chief Minister, and the swearing-in ceremony is expected to be take place on March 23 or March 24 in consultation with the BJP's central leadership.

Sawant, 48, had previously held the post of Chief Minister from 2019-2022 and was serving as caretaker Chief Minister of the state.

Speaking to reporters after being appointed Chief Minister, Sawant thanked top BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, state party leaders, and MLAs for his appointment as Chief Minister for the second time.

"My aim is to transform Modi ji's vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat in Goa as Swayampurna Goa 2.0 this time. We will work together to realise the Prime Minister's vision of creating a new India and a new Goa. We will work to provide good governance with transparency and zero corruption," the Chief Minister said.

Sawant's candidature was endorsed earlier on Monday at a meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party's 20-member legislative party in the presence of Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, an emissary of the BJP's central parliamentary board, and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is the party's in-charge of poll-related affairs in the coastal state.

Interestingly, Sawant's key rival for the post of Chief Minister, his former cabinet colleague Vishwajit Rane, proposed Sawant's name for the post of Chief Minister at the meeting.

"Vishwajit Rane proposed Pramod Sawant's name as the leader. Rane's proposal was supported by Ravi Naik, Mauvin Godinho, Nilesh Cabral, Rohan Khaunte and Jennifer Monserrate (all BJP MLAs). After that I asked everyone if they had another option. All of them said, 'we are in support of Pramod Sawant'," Tomar told reporters.

Sawant was tipped to be Chief Minister, but the party had been unable to formalise his appointment reportedly in the wake of a claim for chief ministership made by Rane.

Both Sawant and Rane were summoned to Delhi by Amit Shah, who, according to BJP sources, resolved the differences between the two leaders, paving way for Sawant to take charge of the top post for a second term.
New Delhi, March 21 : President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday conferred the Padma Shri award to 125-year-old Swami Sivananda for his contribution towards Yoga at a Civil Investiture Ceremony-I held at Rashtrapati Bhavan, here.

Born in Pattamadai, in the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu, Swami Sivananda has authored 296 books on yoga, Vedanta, and a variety of subjects.

His books emphasised the practical application of Yoga philosophy over theoretical knowledge.

As Swami Sivananda entered the hall, he first bowed down in front of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who, seeing that, also bowed down in front of him.

As he walked further towards the President's chair, he again bowed down as a mark of respect towards the head of the state.

The video clip of 125-year-old Yoga Guru, receiving the award from the President went viral on social media with people showering their praises.

The Padma Awards are conferred in three categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. These Awards are given in various disciplines or fields of activities such as art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, etc.

'Padma Vibhushan' is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service; 'Padma Bhushan' for distinguished service of high order and 'Padma Shri' for distinguished service in any field. The awards are announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year.

Among the dignitaries present on the occasion were the Vice President of India, Prime Minister and Union Minister for Home Affairs, a communique from the Rashtrapati Bhavan said.
Bhubaneswar, March 21 : Nearly 22,000 officials and 195 platoons of security forces will be deployed for smooth conduct of the urban body polls in Odisha, an official said on Monday.

The election to 109 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) is scheduled to be held on March 24 while results will be declared on March 26.

About arrangements made for the poll, State Election Commissioner A.P Padhi said one presiding officer and four polling officers will be engaged in each booth. In total, 22,000 polling officials will be deployed and they will reach their respective polling booths by March 23 afternoon, he said.

Padhi said elaborate security arrangements have been made to ensure smooth conduct of the elections. Total 195 platoons of police force will be deployed for the poll, of which 30 platoons will be deployed in Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), 20 platoons for Cuttack Municipal Corporation, and 10 platoons for Berhampur Municipal Corporations.

Besides, 300 mobile parties will also be engaged. Out of the 300 parties, 109 units will be deployed in the three corporation towns during the election, the Commissioner said.

He said that one constable/havildar/armed police will be deployed in each booth. However, for sensitive/hypersensitive booths, one constable/havildar along with one armed police personnel will be engaged. Apart from this, 1/4th force led by a police officer will be there to guard one cluster booth.

As many as 6,411 candidates have remained in the fray for election. While 569 candidates have remained in the battle field for the posts of Chairperson/Mayor, 5,842 candidates are there for the election to Councillor/Corporator seats.

Over 40.55 lakh voters are eligible to cast their votes in the election to be held between 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
New Delhi, March 21 : The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group III Report on Mitigation of Climate Change opened a virtual meeting on Monday to discuss the report that would be released on April 4.

In the third installment of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, the Working Group III report would focus on the progress made in limiting global emissions and the available mitigation options across systems and sectors, a release from World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said.

It will place mitigation in the context of sustainable development and will review the connection between short, medium, and long-term emission pathways.

It also includes new chapters on social aspects of mitigation, innovation, technology, cross-sectoral mitigation opportunities and links and trade-offs between mitigation and adaptation.

"The next few years will be crucial for the state of climate change in this century. This is why an updated assessment of mitigation is more important than ever," said the Chair of the IPCC, Hoesung Lee.

"The Working Group III report will shed light on solutions to meet this challenge by providing us with the latest scientific findings of mitigation of climate change." The session is scheduled to run until April 1.

"The clear message from the science community is that we need to raise the ambition level for mitigation. So far we are not on track to meet the 1.5 degrees Celsius to 2 degrees Celsius target," said WMO Secretary-General Professor Petteri Taalas in a recorded message to the opening session.

The report prepared by IPCC's Working Group III will build on the Working Group I and II contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report. The Working Group I showed that climate change is widespread, rapid and intensifying.

The Working Group II contribution stressed that cumulative scientific evidence is unequivocal: climate change is a threat to human wellbeing and the health of the planet and how today's actions will shape how people adapt and how nature responds to increasing climate risks.

The approval plenary is a culmination of a rigorous process of drafting and review that happens with all IPCC reports. Experts from all over the world provided over 21,700 comments on the first-order draft of the report.

The concluding Synthesis Report to the Sixth Assessment Report is scheduled to be finalised in autumn 2022, it said.
New Delhi, March 21 : During last five years (2016-17 to 2020-21), forest land diversion proposals involving 1,20,33,775 trees were approved under the provisions of Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, the Parliament was informed on Monday.

"At the same time, as many as 20.81 crore seedlings were planted under the compensatory afforestation scheme," Minister of State for Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, Ashwini Kumar Choubey told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

The relocation/transplantation of trees is done by the state government authorities keeping in view the prevalent climatic and edaphic factors as well as the physiological condition of the trees. However, the transplantation/relocation of trees is an evolving technique which is relatively new to the country, he said.

Permission for felling of trees is accorded by the respective state/UT authorities as per the state specific acts, rules, guidelines and the orders of various courts, he added.

"However, the permission for diversion of forest land for non-forestry purpose is accorded with a condition that the minimum number of trees should be felled. The identification of trees fit for translocation is done by the field officers depending upon the ground situation and various climatic, edaphic and physiological conditions," the Minister said.
Hyderabad, March 22 : Chemveda Life Sciences has announced that it will invest Rs 150 crore for the expansion of its footprint in Hyderabad.

The announcement was made after Telangana's Industry Minister K.T. Rama Rao, who is on a visit to the United States, met the company heads in San Diego on Monday.

Chemveda Life Sciences is a Hyderabad and San Diego headquartered mid-sized contract research organisation which provides solutions to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and agrochemical industries, along with the academia.

In the last five years, with two R&D sites, an area of over 65,000 sq ft and a manufacturing facility spread across eight acres, Chemveda Life Sciences has expanded from 45 employees in 2017 to over 450 employees now.

It will invest an additional Rs 150 crore to add a state-of-the-art R&D centre in Hyderabad, creating additional employment for 500 scientists.

It has already received a funding of Rs 90 crore and another Rs 60 crore funding has been committed. The company announced that it will add a GMP facility with a 200 KL capacity.

K.T Rama Rao said that he was delighted to see the industry benefiting from the active research ecosystem, progressive government policies, and abundant talent pool in Hyderabad.

"Hyderabad is one of the most preferred global destinations for pharma and biotech companies to seek contract research support. We feel privileged to be a part of one of the most cost-competitive and extensive ecosystems to run life sciences R&D," said Bheema Rao Paraselli, President and CEO, Chemveda.
New Delhi, March 22 : The term 'Matri Shakti' can be easily translated into women empowerment. But in the context of Nagaland -- where patriarchy and male chauvinism rule politics -- it is almost a revolution.

With no other candidate filing nomination for the March 31 elections to the lone Rajya Sabha seat from the state, BJP's S. Phangnon Konyak is now all set to become the first woman Rajya Sabha member from Nagaland.

Of course, doubts persist as to how much this episode will change the course of Nagaland politics, but it was path breaking, and certainly not an easy one.

Narendra Modi's image of a strong, decisive and gutsy Prime Minister also played a key role. Perhaps even his worst rival knows that Modi has an inclination to go for a milestone which others would say is unconventional. This is one such.

The Nagaland Assembly holds the dubious distinction of opposing the women's quota bill, which had sought to reserve 33 per cent of state legislature and parliamentary seats for women in 1997. An official resolution was moved by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Zhove Lohe during the tenure of the S.C. Jamir government in Nagaland and was passed unanimously.

The influential Naga Students' Federation (NSF) too had written to parliamentary select committee chairperson Geeta Mukherjee, saying the bill went against Naga tradition. Even the women's reservation in urban local bodies has been opposed vehemently.

So the BJP's move is not an ordinary one, though fielding its state women's wing chief for the Rajya Sabha polls may not seem as much of a surprise in the rest of India.

It actually challenges male chauvinism of a society where a common refrain among the menfolk is - 'My wife is married to me, and I am not married to her. Rather it is I who have married her'.

Mind you, Nagaland has a high literacy rate, and English is the official language.

But it is also true that Nagaland has never elected a woman to its state Assembly since December 1963 when statehood was granted.

Naga women do contest elections occasionally but are not considered winnable candidates.

The only instance of Nagaland sending a woman to the Parliament was in the 1970s, when Rano Shaiza was elected as the Lok Sabha MP as the United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate.

This was truly an exception.

But pushing 'Matri Shakti' has been Prime Minister Narendra Modi's favourite political mission in the northeast. In the run up to the just-concluded Manipur polls, the BJP had appointed its first woman president for the state unit in Sharda Devi.

The saffron party is also projecting Tripura lawmaker Pratima Bhaumik, now Union Minister of State for Social Justice. Last year, she became the first Tripura resident and second woman from northeast to become a Union minister.

Bhaumik was also involved in Manipur polls and it is likely that she would be given a bigger role in her state Tripura as well. Like Nagaland, Tripura also goes to the polls in Feb-March 2023.

In yet another Matri Shakti push, an eminent woman tribal leader, Patal Kanya Jamatia, president of Tripura People's Front, joined BJP at a rally in Agartala. She was welcomed into the saffron party fold among others by Chief Minister Biplab Deb, Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Varma, Union minister Pratima Bhowmik and state party president Manik Saha.

The saffron party is following a pattern.

The BJP is in power in Tripura and shares power as an important stakeholder in Nagaland. Besides these two states, elections are due in Meghalaya also by early next year. But the saffron outfit is a weak party in that state. It is still to unravel the strategy for the state where it first got MLAs in 1990s.

In Meghalaya, the BJP first opened account in state polls in 1998 when three of its candidates made it to the sixth legislative assembly.

Meghalaya is a Christian-dominated state and home to Khasis, Jaintias and Garos, and all these tribes follow a 'matrilineal' system in inheritance law and marriages. Men use the surname of mother and wife.

Yet, the politics is male dominated and women remain unsafe. The state has a notorious record of high number of cases of rape and atrocities against women.

Even the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data for the year 2020 showed that the state has the highest such cases among the peer states in the northeastern region.

From Meghalaya, 568 cases of crimes against women were reported in 2020, which is much higher than the states with similar population and size such as Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh.

In 2018, of the 372 candidates who contested the Assembly polls, only 32 were women. Seven had fought on a Congress ticket, and two as BJP nominees.

Mazel Ampareen Lyngdoh was elected on Congress ticket in 2018 and now backs Conrad Sangma's government. She told this writer recently: "Alcoholism and the growing number of men taking drugs and other substances are responsible for rising crime against women." All these may strengthen an argument that there is a relevance for the push for women empowerment in northeast. Let that 'push' come from the BJP.

This is one issue where being a pro-Hindu outfit should not deprive BJP the credit of experimenting with something new and unprecedented.

(Nirendra Dev is a New Delhi-based journalist and author of 'The Talking Guns: North East India' and 'Modi to Moditva: An Uncensored Truth'. The views expressed are personal.)
New Delhi, March 22 : Opponents of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine, Russia and Belarus in a petition have demanded Switzerland to expel the strongman's "lover" Alina Kabaeva amid claims she is hiding with their secret children in a luxury villa.

Kabaeva, 38, is a former Olympic gymnast and gold medalist who is widely believed to be Putin's "mistress" and mother to "secret" children whom he has never officially recognised, Daily Mail reported.

The petition comes amid reports that Kabaeva, once named "Russia's most flexible woman", was sent to a private chalet in Switzerland earlier this month amid the invasion of Ukraine.

"It's time you reunite Eva Braun with her Fuhrer," said the strongly-worded petition which was posted on change.org in in German, French and English and has so far received over 57,000 signatures.

"Despite the current war, Switzerland continues to host an accomplice of Putin's regime," the petition has claimed.

The pair have been pictured together on several occasions, and investigations by the Anti-Corruption Foundation, set up by jailed Putin opponent Alexei Navalny, "revealed several Russian oligarchs have inexplicably bestowed gifts of property, money and other assets upon Kabaeva's family".

The former gymnast is seldom seen in public, but she was caught on video dancing at the "Divine Grace" rhythmic gymnastics tournament in Moscow in December last year, mere weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine.

"We, the citizens of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, which is currently undergoing immense suffering, are uniting to appeal to the Swiss authorities," the petition said.

"The public has just learned that the Russian political and media figure, and former (rhythmic gymnast), Alina Kabaeva, is hiding from the consequences of the sanctions imposed on the Russian Federation in YOUR country." "She is the favourite wife of (the) delusional dictator and war criminal who has been treacherously attacking Ukraine over the past weeks.

"As she is supportive of social activities in Russia, she has been attempting to get Russian citizens accustomed to the reality of sanctions after 2014, and personally proclaimed: "The worse it gets, the better for us!" The signatories question, "Why, given the volume of sanctions placed on Russia, Swiss authorities continue to host her and her family at a time when Putin 'is destroying the lives of millions'." The petition tells the Swiss: "For the first time in modern history, your country has violated its neutrality, which it did not even do vis-A -vis Nazi Germany in the 20th century, and joined the sanctions against Putin and his surroundings. And now you are allowing his favourite mistress and her children to hide within the borders of your state." There is as yet no independently verified evidence that Kabaeva, a former pro-Putin MP, is hiding in Switzerland, where she is thought to have given birth to the Russian President's children.

"It's time you reunite Eva Braun with her FAhrer," the petition asserted.

Meanwhile, separate reports suggest that Kabaeva is not in Switzerland but at a hi-tech underground bunker in the Altai Mountains of Siberia.

Political scientist Valery Solovey, 61, said earlier in March: "In fact, it is not a bunker, but a whole underground city, equipped with the latest science and technology." He warned: "I hope this means something to you? That the President sends his family to this bunker?"

Kabaeva has made very few public appearances as of late, but did give a statement which slammed the decision preventing the Russian team to compete at the Beijing Paralympics in light of the war in Ukraine.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
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About company

PreludeSys is a next-gen solutions company with a global presence that accelerates corporate digital transformation leveraging cloud, mobility, Power BI, and data analytics. They understand that all businesses are unique and create tailored solutions for their customers' time-sensitive business objectives. Their approach comprises robust, niche solutions powered by automation and ongoing support to deliver highly configurable business models with a focus on scalability to meet exclusive client requirements. As a valued Microsoft Gold Partner, PreludeSys unlocks new opportunities, provides optimum solutions, and delivers better value to their customers with 100% timely delivery.
Crown Point Systems, Inc. (http://www.crownpointsystems.com), a leader in providing Secure C5ISR (Command, Control, Computers, Communications, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance) Solutions to federal agencies for over 10 years, today announced it will embark on a joint venture with TMGL LLC, (http://www.tmgl-llc.com), a Native Hawaiian Owned company (NHO). The newly formed 8(a) JV, MCP Joint Venture LLC, will provide solutions and expertise to support increased demand from the U.S. Navy, DoD, and civilian federal agencies for audio visual, command and control, and multi-domain videoconferencing products and services.

MCP Joint Venture combines the organizational strengths, capabilities, and accelerated contract vehicles for which both Crown Point Systems and TMGLs clients have asked, commented Ryan Marovish, CEO at Crown Point Systems. We look forward to deploying our world-class solutions within the DoD, while making meaningful contributions to disadvantaged Native Hawaiian people.

We look forward to forging a strong partnership with Crown Point Systems, said Phil Bower, TMGLs President. Many of our current clients will benefit from their unique systems integration expertise and combined with our own IT capabilities, will provide value and support to our clients missions.

About Crown Point Systems

Crown Point Systems is a leader in providing Secure C5ISR (Command, Control, Computers, Communications, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance) Solutions to federal agencies for more than 10 years. With global capability, Crown Point Systems designs, builds, supports, and modernizes mission-critical IT infrastructure including control rooms, operations centers, auditoriums, courtrooms, training rooms, digital signage, as well as data architecture and platforms. Related, Crown Point Systems provides accelerated procurement as an authorized reseller of over 1,000 hardware and software manufacturers and developers. Crown Point Systems is headquartered in San Diego, California. More information on the company can be found at http://www.crownpointsystems.com.

About TMGL

TMGL is a subsidiary of The Makua Group which is a Native Hawaiian non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation. The Makua Group, located on the island of Oahu, is the parent of a growing number of diverse, small businesses throughout Hawaii and the mainland United States. As a subsidiary of The Makua Group, TMGLs revenue is used to provide financial aid to disadvantaged Native Hawaiian people. TMGL and its sister companies are leaders in providing information technology (IT) support, services, and equipment as well as state of the art engineering, design, construction, and refurbishment services. Its parent, The Makua Group, is headquartered in Waianae, HI, with multiple certified 8(a) small businesses. More information on the company can be found at http://www.tmgl-llc.com and http://www.makuagroup.com.
MACAO, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Ho Iat Seng, chief executive of China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), on Monday vowed full support for the work of national security advisers to the Committee for Safeguarding National Security of the Macao SAR.

The State Council on Monday appointed Fu Ziying as national security affairs adviser to the committee, and Zheng Xincong and Yin Shuhua as national security technical advisers to the committee.

Ho welcomed the appointments, saying the Macao SAR government would, in strict accordance with the Constitution of the People's Republic of China and the Basic Law of the Macao SAR, jointly perform the constitutional responsibility of safeguarding national security, and resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests as well as the long-term prosperity and stability of Macao.

Fu serves as director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Macao SAR while Zheng is the deputy director of the office. 
Given the recent public announcements from the key players in the US private networks market, we integrated pay-as-you-go pricing model for our private networks business case tools and TCO tools, said Alex Besen, Founder and CEO of The Besen Group LLC. We strongly believe that Network as a Service (NaaS) model will be effective and viable solution for launching private networks including private LTE, private 5G and neutral host networks.

The Besen Group integrated Pay-As-You-Go pricing model to the following business case tools and TCO tools for private networks:

-Open RAN TCO Tool for Private 5G Networks

http://www.thebesengroup.com/downloads/Open.RAN.TCO.Tool.5G.Limited.xlsx

-CBRS TCO Tool for Private 5G Networks

http://www.thebesengroup.com/downloads/CBRS.TCO.Tool.5G.Limited.xlsx

-CBRS Business Case Tool for Private 5G Networks

http://www.thebesengroup.com/downloads/CBRS.Business.Case.Tool.5G.Limited.xlsx

-CBRS TCO Tool for Private LTE Networks

http://www.thebesengroup.com/downloads/CBRS.TCO.Tool.Limited.xlsx

-CBRS TCO Tool for Neutral Host Networks

http://www.thebesengroup.com/downloads/CBRS.TCO.Tool.NH.Limited.xlsx

-CBRS Business Case Tool for Private LTE Networks

http://www.thebesengroup.com/downloads/CBRS.Business.Case.Tool.Limited.xlsx

-CBRS Business Case Tool for Neutral Host Networks

http://www.thebesengroup.com/downloads/CBRS.Business.Case.Tool.NH.Limited.xlsx

Each tool has the capability to calculate Pay-As-You-Go pricing based on number of radio units, number of subscribers, number of IoT devices or network throughput.

The Besen Group offers each tool on a corporate license basis. The license fee includes one hour telephone consultation with the senior analyst to explain the methodology, assumptions and formulas.

The Besen Group can also develop customized business case tools or total cost of ownership tools based on its client requirements and use cases.

For any questions or license information, please send an email with contact details including name, title, company name, phone number to tool@thebesengroup.com.

The Besen Groups Tool Brochure contains all our business case tools and TCO tools and can be downloaded at: http://www.thebesengroup.com/downloads/Tool.Brochure.pdf.

About The Besen Group

The Besen Group is an international management consulting practice to the mobile industry headquartered in the Washington DC area, with representatives in Paris and Tokyo. Its mission is to provide mobile players with tools, knowledge, and services enabling them to perform optimally in their mobile environment. The Besen Groups competitive edge is based on practical experience with mobile operators, mobile vendors and a mobile data laboratory.
"The Swift System will give healthcare practitioners the confidence to provide successful treatment for skin lesions and allow them to widen their treatment offering"

Emblation Limited, the global leader in medical microwave technology, is delighted to announce the launch of Swift Microwave Therapy in the Middle East. Working in close partnership with industry expert Elie Helou from Neomed Trading, Swift is now available in the UAE, with further market launches expected across the region over the next 6 months.

The award-winning Swift System provides Dermatologists and Aesthetic Doctors with a new, precise, and effective procedure for benign skin lesions. Swift is currently available in clinics across the UK, US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand and has been used in almost 200,000 treatments since it was launched in 2016.

The Swift treatment works by delivering a highly controlled dose of energy into the tissue, which creates heat and stimulates an immune response. This reduces the risks associated with destructive modalities and results in highly effective outcomes for stubborn skin.

Elie Helou, Swift Partner for the Middle East, said, I am thrilled to be working in partnership with Emblation to introduce Swift in the Middle East. I believe that the introduction of this award-winning technology will complement the high standards of medical care already available in the region.

The Swift System will give healthcare practitioners the confidence to provide successful treatment for skin lesions and allow them to widen their treatment offering.

Stella Zervos, EMEA VP of Sales for Emblation, commented, Our strategic partnership with Neomed Trading marks an essential milestone in Emblations expansion plans for the Middle East. Elies expertise and focused approach augment Swifts value proposition to our clinics and dermatologists in the region.

About Neomed Trading

Neomed is partnering with Emblation to launch, promote, and service Dermatologists, Aesthetic Doctors, and Podiatrists across the Middle East and North African regions. Serving the UAE directly, Emblation will also be seeking distributors for a number of regions as further regulatory approvals for Swift are obtained.

Neomed was founded in 2021 by Elie Helou following twenty-plus years of experience in the medical and aesthetic sector. Neomed offers a state-of-the-art business solution for medical centres, organisations, and suppliers in the middle east. They provide the healthcare market with superior quality services, products, solutions and introduce new and innovative technology.

About Emblation

Emblation is an award-winning medical technology company, revolutionising the way microwave energy is used in healthcare. Started in 2007 by co-founders and inventors behind the technology, Gary Beale (Chief Executive Officer) and Eamon McErlean (Chief Technology Officer), Emblations aim is to improve on traditional treatments using the unique advantages microwaves deliver  accurate, repeatable procedures, and better clinical outcomes.

Emblations technology is transforming the treatment of HPV infections globally and is widely used in Dermatology, Podiatry and Oncology, with several disruptive applications under development in associated fields of medicine.
As girls, we can do anything and as girls, we have potential. We need to join together to see how we can solve the problem of climate changelet us not limit ourselves, said Fang Brilliant Claire

Global G.L.O.W., an international nonprofit dedicated to equipping girls with the skills and resources they need to advocate for themselves and their communities, celebrated its annual participation in the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively committed to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. CSW plays a significant role in promoting womens rights, documenting the reality of womens lives worldwide and shaping global standards on gender equality. Global G.L.O.W.s primary goal in this forum was to ensure girls voices are heard in the global conversation.

"We are proud to participate at the UN CSW again this year to celebrate the power of girls and women to promote gender equity and transform their communities," said Global G.L.O.W. Founder and Executive Chair Kylie Schuyler. Having girls from around the world come together to lead on the UN stage showcases for everyone just how fierce and capable girls are."

In conjunction with CSW at the United Nations, where NGO CSW/NY organizes civil society organizations to host over 750 events that run parallel to the official UN session, Global G.L.O.W. hosts a parallel event each year through NGO CSW. The event this year was led by Global G.L.O.W.s inaugural Girl Advocacy Committee, a committee of program participants from Cameroon, Colombia, India, Kenya, Nepal, Peru, Philippines and Uganda that has taken a leadership role in representing girls perspectives at international advocacy events. The girls have determined the focus and format for the event within the themes set by the Commission. At the event titled, Hear Girls Now: Our Right to A Better World, Girl Advocacy Representatives shared resources and perspectives on climate change and economic empowerment and the effects on their communities.

To amplify the voices of all 15,000 club members from around the world, the Girl Advocacy Committee also included fellow GLOW Club members perspectives by asking what they believe can be done to reduce the effect of climate change, and their thoughts on the benefits of empowering girls and women economically. Their perspectives were shared via video during the event as Girl Advocacy Representatives discussed the challenges they see in working towards gender equality, shared their experience as girl advocates and proposed their recommendations to policy-makers.

As girls, we can do anything and as girls, we have potential. We need to join together to see how we can solve the problem of climate changelet us not limit ourselves, said Fang Brilliant Claire (WESAD, Cameroon). This will be a stepping stone for us and encourage us to do things that will better our society, so we can be an inspiration to others. As girls, we are the future of our nations.

The current Girl Advocacy Committees term culminates with CSW66. As Global G.L.O.W. opens up applications for additional club members to join the next Girl Advocacy Committee cohort, Global G.L.O.W. will continue to prioritize diverse representation on the committee to ensure that all perspectives are included in girls advocacy spaces. With the Girl Advocacy Committees engagement, Global G.L.O.W. hopes and expects that the participating governing bodies will continue to listen to girls when considering the critical issues being addressed at CSW.

For more information on this program or for media inquiries regarding Global G.L.O.W., please contact Lisa Burkert at (917) 929-0123 or lisa@thetascgroup.com.

About Global G.L.O.W.:

Global G.L.O.W. is a 501(c)(3) organization working to advance gender equity and build a better tomorrow by accelerating girls' greatness today. Founded in 2012 and operating in 27 countries including the United States, Global G.L.O.W. creates and operates innovative programs to mentor girls to advocate for themselves and make their communities stronger. Around the world, Global G.L.O.W.'s programs are designed to equip girls with the skills and resources they need to thrive, knowing that when girls are strong, healthy, and educated, they change their communities and transform societies. Through its innovative girl-led model, Global G.L.O.W. works collaboratively with girls and communities to develop unique out-of-school programs addressing the most critical barriers affecting girls globally across the impact areas of self-advocacy, well-being, educational engagement, economic opportunity, and community impact. Working alongside grassroots organizations, key global stakeholders, NGOs, and educational institutions, Global G.L.O.W. activates girl-driven change through its programming and partnerships. In 2020, Global G.L.O.W. was awarded the UN ECOSOC special consultative status for its work supporting girls globally. For more information, visit http://www.globalgirlsglow.org or follow Global G.L.O.W. on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
What makes me so proud is that the team gets recognized for the hard work that they do every single day. This is testimony that my team is focused on each individual customer every single day of every single week of every single year.

In recognition of its outstanding service and performance, Ward North American received the 2022 MSC Agent of the Year Service Excellence Award from the American Trucking Association (ATA).

As the moving and storage industry's highest honor, this award reflects Ward North American's commitment to professional, efficient moving services that meet clients' needs with meticulous effort and unceasing customer care.

"What makes me so proud is that the team gets recognized for the hard work that they do every single day," says Kevin Ankenbauer, owner of Ward North American. "This is testimony that my team is focused on each individual customer every single day of every single week of every single year."

The ATA's Moving & Storage Conference (MSC), the leading national organization for moving companies and their suppliers, bestows the Agent of the Year Service Excellence Award to only one of the nation's more than 3,500 van line agents. The award is based on nominations from the agent's van line and a proven track record of service that benefits clients, the industry, and the community as a whole.

The winning agent demonstrates the following achievements:



Industry-changing innovation

Corporate responsibility and community benefits

Employee support

Enhanced industry image

Best practices development

For Ward North American, part of its industry and client-changing innovation comes through Ward University, the company's employee training program that also provides free training for agents throughout the moving industry.

"This is our way of paying it forward," says Kevin. "We feel like the industry has blessed us, so we want to bless the industry. More than 120 agents have been trained at Ward University to the same exceptional standards to which we train our own employees."

Ward North American also reached an unprecedented milestone when it won the 2022 Agent of the Year Service Excellence Award: It became the first agent in the history of the award to win it twice. The first time the company won was in 2014.

As a two-time recipient of this top award, Ward North American cements its place as a leader in customer service and proves that its professional training, expert services, comprehensive customer support, and unwavering dedication to treating every single move with the same equal care is an integral part of the way it does business.

"We are very committed to the culture of excellence," Kevin says. "Winning this award twice solidifies that fact. I am so proud that we have this culture of unbelievable people that go above and beyond."

Ward North American's excellence has also been recognized numerous times through awards across the industry, including winning the Agent of the Year award from their van line, North American Van Lines, 12 out of the last 18 years. Other awards have included North American Van Line's Quality Through Safety Award in the Over One Million Mile category, as well as regional sales awards, top quality awards, and operational excellence awards. Ward North American has won many of these awards multiple times, in recognition of its outstanding performance on behalf of its clients.

"Our success is only driving us to continue improving," Kevin says. "We will build upon our success, continuing to pursue innovation and excellence on behalf of all our clients."

Ward North American received its award at the ATA's MSC Annual Event which took place March 7-9 in Orlando, FL.
Tait TP2 Portable Radio Our new TP2 series is designed to provide price-sensitive businesses with smart investment options for digital radio technology."

Tait Communications, a leading provider of critical communications solutions for public safety, utilities and transportation industries, announced today the immediate availability of its TP2210 DMR Tier 2 portable radio, a low-cost and simple to use land mobile radio ideal for small and medium single-site workplaces like hotels, warehouses, building facilities, schools and construction sites.

Our new TP2 series is designed to provide price-sensitive businesses with smart investment options for digital radio technology, said Dr. Paul Elmes, Tait Communications Vice President of Product Management. This means protecting their initial investment by ensuring radios purchased today for a small team are still fit-for-purpose should the business grow to a larger, multi-site system.

The TP2210 can operate in direct radio-to-radio communication mode where no additional networking equipment is required beyond the radios; can participate in a mixed group of analog and digital radios where the device automatically switches modes with no user intervention needed; and can connect into larger Tait DMR Tier 2 systems without making additional investments in the radio.

Smart technology investments also assign a high value to user adoption, added Elmes. Rapid workforce expansion and routine employee turnover requires businesses to select tools that are easy to learn so new workers can be productive in the company the very first day.

The simple design of the TP2210 uses clear and easily identifiable controls that make operation straightforward. User assistance features like customizable voice announcements ensure employees are always communicating with the intended team members, and a programmable button can be used to automate routine tasks. Safety features include an easily-accessible emergency alert button and optional Man Down capability.

TP2210 radios are powered by a 2000mAh lithium-ion removable battery that provides up to 15 hours of operation between charging in a 6-bay or single slot desktop charging station. The TP2210 operates in the 136-174 MHz, 400-470 MHz and 450-520 MHz frequency bands.

About Tait Communications

Tait Communications unleashes business potential within its customers and partners by advising and delivering unique solutions for critical communications that result in a safer, more productive workforce. Our solutions include a wide range of integrated broadband and Land Mobile Radio workforce applications, workflow automations, business integrations and devices for mobile teams in the public safety, utilities and transportation industries. http://www.taitcommunications.com
Edify Labs (edify.cx), the customer experience software company that makes business communications feel more like personal ones, today released Edify Workflows  the standalone version of the no-code, drag-and-drop design tool at the heart of the companys flagship contact center software, Edify CX. Now, any contact center, regardless of existing technology, can deploy Edify Workflows for self-service customer experiences and simply pay for usage. No Edify license is required.

Edify Workflows replaces legacy interactive voice response (IVR), interactive virtual assistants (IVA), and robotic process automation (RPA) tools with unprecedented ease of use and a host of valuable features for better automated customer service experiences. Built-in artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities help the system understand customers words, tones, and sentiments, expanding its innate knowledge and increasing its accuracy with every interaction. In addition, Edify Workflows automatically populates and validates data from external sources, redacts and encrypts sensitive information like credit card information and passwords, as well as triggers actions that detect fraudulent activity and flag threats. Finally, the systems ability to synthesize vast amounts of data in nanoseconds enables companies to offer rich, thorough agentless experiences to customers who prefer self-service.

Customer service automation has become less expensive and more accessible over the years, but this announcement from Edify makes it viable for every contact center, said Dave Michels, principal analyst, TalkingPointz. So much more than a chatbot, Edify Workflows is an intuitive way for contact centers to explore multichannel automation  and Edify  with no significant cost or training.

Companies are using Edify Workflows to do things like:



Replace legacy systems to deliver elevated voice, chat, and SMS self-service options to customers

Deliver proactive service notifications regarding order confirmations, updates, delivery schedules, and promotions

Capture consent for PCI compliance

Conduct Voice of Customer (VoC) surveying to monitor key metrics like NPS and CSAT

Unify disparate onsite databases, customer applications, and private and public clouds for a comprehensive view of customer information

Jamaica Public Service (JPS), the utility provider for the island of Jamaica, replaced its legacy contact center systems with Edify. The company now handles 80% of its inbound customer conversations using Edify Workflows rather than a human agent. As a result, JPS is on track to save 136,000 agent hours  freeing its people to focus on more complex, high-value interactions with power customers, translating into slashing operating costs by $800,000 in year one.

We built a ridiculously simple no-code workflow tool for everyone  except IT  because designing and executing powerful processes and campaigns should not take 30 days and an advanced engineering degree, said Cameron Weeks, co-founder and CEO of Edify. We live in an era of instant gratification and companies need the tools to deliver on that for their customers. With Edify Workflows, its never been easier or more accessible; now anyone with a laptop and Wi-Fi can develop and modify business processes and campaigns as their needs adjust in real time.

In addition to JPS, brands are choosing Edify Workflows to offer smarter, more robust self-service options to customers, lower costs, and elevate the work their agents are doing  thereby boosting everyones satisfaction. Edify Workflows is available as a standalone product for the cost of usage only.

Edify unites contact center (CCaaS), unified communications (UCaaS), and real-time communications (CPaaS/API) functionality in a single, cloud-native software solution. Heres how to buy:



Edify CX delivers comprehensive cloud-native omnichannel contact center functionality with built-in artificial intelligence (AI) for $7/user/day.

Edify EX delivers unified communications (UC) for $120/user/year.

Sync video collaboration capabilities can be added to Edify EX for $180/user/year.

Edify Sync for Rooms is available at $480/room/year.

Edify Developer delivers API and CPaaS functionality for the cost of usage only.

Edify Workflows delivers no-code functionality for creating and executing AI-powered automated customer experiences for the cost of usage only.

Edify is exhibiting at Enterprise Connect in Orlando, FL, today through 3/24 in booth 1211. Enterprise Connect is 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, channel partners, analysts, and consultants to focus on the issues central to enterprise communications and collaboration.

About Edify Labs, Inc.

Edify connects businesses with customers and employees with each other, making enterprise communications as easy as personal ones. Its flagship product, Edify CX, unites contact center (CCaaS), unified communications (UCaaS), and real-time communications platform (CPaaS/API) functionality in a single cloud-native solution that facilitates continuous conversations. Now, customers and employees can easily move among channels in one window, just like they do every day on their phones. Companies choose Edify for its global availability, no-waste pricing, and full-stack 100% SLA uptime guarantee. Edify is also a Google Chrome Enterprise Recommended partner for the contact center. Learn more at edify.cx.
Whether you're feeling misunderstood, pre-judged, frustrated, or lonely, there is immense power in knowing your experience is understood by others.

Personal experiences of disability influence how we view ourselves and how we interact with the worldtwo foundational elements of mental health. In its new disability article collection, Supportiv (https://www.supportiv.com) highlights how disability can interact with identity, social connection, and even existential concerns, and suggests paths forward, toward emotional wellness.

While speaking to broader emotional issues that plague the disabled community at large, the continuously growing article collection also touches on specific disability-related experiences, such as coping with (often invisible) disabilities due to autism, and parenting a child who is disabled.

Supportiv Co-Founder & CEO Helena Plater-Zyberk explains the aim of these resources: People with disabilities are among the groups of people most impacted by experiences of isolation and alienation. Whether you're feeling misunderstood, pre-judged, frustrated, or lonely, there is immense power in knowing your experience is understood by others.

Articles in the new Supportiv disability collection (https://www.supportiv.com/disability) include:



Parenting A Child With A Disability: Things It's Ok To Feel

The Many Definitions Of Disability (And Its Emotional Impact)

When People Can't Relate To Your Disability...

Keep Disability From Zapping Your Confidence

Why Disability And Hope Need To Coexist

Reality Check On The Judgment You've Faced Due To Disability

Autism And Disability: More Than Meets The Eye

What Does Inclusivity Mean To People With Disabilities

Mental Health Resources For Disabled People

Disability Quotes: On Individuality, Accessibility, Barriers, Hope, And More

Supportiv Co-Founder Pouria Mojabi Disability adds: Disability can form a part of ones identity. Yet, it doesnt have to block wellbeing or connection. Whether you seek to resolve difficult emotions entirely, or just befriend the challenges, we hope these articles can serve as a jumping-off point.

In addition to its peer-to-peer support network, relevant Supportiv articles and tips also surface in real-time inside its 24/7 peer support chats. By typing a few words in response to the question: Whats your struggle? users are matched in under a minute to topic-specific peer-to-peer group chats for anonymous supportfrom burnout to feeling lost, from family drama to dating struggles, and from panic to numbness. Even experiences regarding disability, culture, parenting, and trauma are up for discussion in Supportivs anonymous peer support chats.

Read more about emotional struggles related to disability at https://www.supportiv.com/disability.

Supportiv, The Support Network, has already enabled over 750,000 users to feel less lonely, anxious, stressed, misunderstood, and hopeless through its moderator-guided chats with AI-driven content and resource recommendations. See what real users have to say, here: http://www.supportiv.com/testimonials.
Demand for online credentialing is growing exponentially but security vulnerabilities, fear of the unknown, and escalating costs have obstructed test sponsors and delivery providers from realizing the economies of scale afforded by the cloud and AI  until today.

Vaital, a global software and AI innovation firm, today announced the availability of Vaital Vision, an AI-powered engine for online proctored tests.

Born in the cloud, Vaital Vision was purpose-built to protect test integrity and reduce costs for exam delivery providers and sponsors  removing current barriers to skills validation.

Vaital Vision is designed for online exams in markets including IT certification, regulatory, education, health care and professional licensure. The product is patent-pending in the US and internationally and is available via license and/or as part of a custom-developed application.

Demand for online credentialing is growing exponentially, said David Yunger, CEO of Vaital. However, security vulnerabilities, fear of the unknown, and escalating costs have obstructed test sponsors and delivery providers from realizing the economies of scale afforded by the cloud and AI  until today.

Vaital Vision is customizable based on the specific rules of each exam to achieve a twofold objective; first, to streamline the check-in process by verifying the pre-exam environment meets standards; and second, to enhance security via continuous monitoring of the exam room for up to 20 prohibited and/or allowed items. If a restricted item is found, the engine immediately notifies a human proctor with a screenshot of the item, timestamp, and percent confidence that a violation has occurred.

Vaitals mission is to transform problems into profitable outcomes, said Margo Day, former Microsoft Vice President of Education, and founding member of Vaitals Board of Directors. Vaital Vision is the result of bringing together world class AI technologists with education assessment experts to solve one of the big problems the education industry faces - ensuring on-line proctored exams are equally credible as in-person proctored exams. Vaital has solved previously unsolvable problems across multiple industries globally for a number of the top 10 Azure customers, processing over 12 billion data points in the first quarter of this year alone. Were thrilled to be bringing Vaital Vision to the education assessment market.

Vaital Vision was developed as part of a 24-month incubation, collaborating with the industrys leading exam delivery providers and exam sponsors. Vaitals lead engineers are the same computer vision team that built SwissID, trusted by millions of people for secure mobile access to Swiss Bank accounts. Vaital has signed innovation agreements with industry leaders under NDA.

Astonishingly, it costs more today to deliver an online exam than an in-person test, Yunger adds. Weve built Vaital Vision on three pillars which we believe are fundamental game-changers; first, focus world-leading computer vision talent to solve the industrys biggest pain point - cost; second, intentionally build for inclusion by proactively training AI on underrepresented communities; and third, empower humans  not machines  to make accurate, fast decisions at scale.

ABOUT VAITAL, INC.

Vaital is a global software innovation firm dedicated to transforming hyper-challenging problems into intellectual property. Vaital leverages data and AI to grow their clients' revenue and profitability at speed and scale. The Vaital engineering team has nearly a century of collective computer vision and predictive analytics expertise. Learn more at Vaital.com.

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3Di Logo A comprehensive platform complete with an accurate inventory of a communitys rental properties is essential for effective and efficient housing programs that truly benefit tenants and property owners.

A national frontrunner in developing transformative software solutions for local and state government housing sectors, 3Di Systems (3disystems.com) launches San Francisco Countys newly consolidated rental property registry in partnership with the San Francisco Housing Authority.

The first of its kind in San Francisco County history, 3Dis centralized system is capable of managing well over the countys 222,000 rental properties, all while providing real-time reporting on rental inventory updates and county-wide trends. San Francisco Countys rent registry solution was built using the 3Di Engage software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform. Take a look at: portal.sfrb.org.

Giving property owners and managers an accessible tool from which they can provide the county with their property information, the county is then able to aggregate the information onto a database of rental properties within the 3Di Engage platform. With a continuously updated and therefore more accurate property inventory, the county is now equipped with a way to analyze and regulate housing program objectives. Some of which include managing evictions, inspections, and affordable housing programs.

Aside from compiling property information, the San Francisco County rental property registry web portal helps property owners, managers, and tenants make and track the status of their service requests. The web portal also provides an integrated payment system, allowing its users to pay using a credit card or e-check.

A comprehensive platform complete with an accurate inventory of a communitys rental properties is essential for effective and efficient housing programs that truly benefit tenants and property owners, said Rajiv Desai, Founder and CEO of 3Di Systems. We are extremely pleased to announce the launch of San Francisco Countys rental property registry and look forward to our continued partnership with the county.

Rental property registries remain one of 3Di Systems most popular housing software solutions. Built on the low-code 3Di Engage SaaS platform and hosted with Amazon Web Services (AWS), 3Dis rental property registries are supported by a robust foundation that empowers rapid implementation, powerful extensibility, and consolidation of data for greater visibility and insight.

About 3Di Systems:

3Di creates powerful software solutions that empower governments and organizations to create stronger communities. Places where people feel safer, more engaged, and full of hope for their futures. For over 20 years, the 3Di team has been dedicated to helping people strengthen their communities, and that passion can be seen in every solution they provide. The 3Di Engage software platform and related products and services are designed specifically to maximize impact in the areas of housing, citizen engagement, public safety, and more.

For more information, visit http://www.3disystems.com.
Rescuers undertake dive operations in a river following a ferry accident in Narayanganj, Bangladesh on March 20, 2022. Rescuers have recovered six bodies from a river in Narayanganj district outside Bangladesh's capital Dhaka after a ferry collided with another vessel and capsized on Sunday, a senior official said. (Xinhua)

DHAKA, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Rescuers have recovered six bodies from a river in Narayanganj district outside Bangladesh's capital Dhaka after a ferry collided with another vessel and capsized on Sunday, a senior official said.

Jayedul Alam, Narayanganj district's police chief, told Xinhua that the ferry named "MV Afsar Uddin" sank after being hit by the cargo vessel in the Shitalakkhya River in Narayanganj district.

"The bodies of six people including three women, two children and a man have so far been retrieved," he said.

According to the official, the ferry carrying some 25 to 30 passengers sank in the river at around 2:15 p.m. local time (0815 GMT) Sunday.

Alam said one person has been confirmed missing.

But local media reports put the number of missing people at dozens and feared the death toll may rise with the search and rescue operation still underway.

Bangladesh's river police seized the cargo vessel, "MV Rupshi-19", and detained its master and eight other crew members.

Bangladesh's Shipping Ministry has formed a committee to look into the negligence claims as footage of the sinking ferry found on social media showed its passengers shouting in panic. 

Rescuers work at the site following a ferry accident in Narayanganj, Bangladesh on March 20, 2022. Rescuers have recovered six bodies from a river in Narayanganj district outside Bangladesh's capital Dhaka after a ferry collided with another vessel and capsized on Sunday, a senior official said. (Xinhua)

Rescuers work at the site following a ferry accident in Narayanganj, Bangladesh on March 20, 2022. Rescuers have recovered six bodies from a river in Narayanganj district outside Bangladesh's capital Dhaka after a ferry collided with another vessel and capsized on Sunday, a senior official said. (Xinhua)

Rescuers undertake dive operations in a river following a ferry accident in Narayanganj, Bangladesh on March 20, 2022. Rescuers have recovered six bodies from a river in Narayanganj district outside Bangladesh's capital Dhaka after a ferry collided with another vessel and capsized on Sunday, a senior official said. (Xinhua)

A rescuer undertakes dive operations in a river following a ferry accident in Narayanganj, Bangladesh on March 20, 2022. Rescuers have recovered six bodies from a river in Narayanganj district outside Bangladesh's capital Dhaka after a ferry collided with another vessel and capsized on Sunday, a senior official said. (Xinhua)

Onlookers are seen on the river bank following a ferry accident in Narayanganj, Bangladesh on March 20, 2022. Rescuers have recovered six bodies from a river in Narayanganj district outside Bangladesh's capital Dhaka after a ferry collided with another vessel and capsized on Sunday, a senior official said. (Xinhua)

Onlookers are seen on the river bank following a ferry accident in Narayanganj, Bangladesh on March 20, 2022. Rescuers have recovered six bodies from a river in Narayanganj district outside Bangladesh's capital Dhaka after a ferry collided with another vessel and capsized on Sunday, a senior official said. (Xinhua)
I am privileged to lead ACTEC over the next year, said Goldman. As President, I look forward to continuing to foster the Colleges devotion to a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion and elevating the practice of trust and estate law.

The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) today announced that Robert (Bob) W. Goldman will serve as the Colleges new President. Goldman, a partner with Goldman, Felcoski & Stone, P.A. in Naples, Florida, succeeds ACTEC President 2021-2022, Ann B. Burns from Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Goldman, who has served in various roles at the College for 30 years, was officially presented at ACTECs passing of the gavel ceremony on Friday, March 11, 2022, during its 2022 Annual Business Meeting in San Diego, California. As an officer of the College since 2018, he previously served on the Board of Regents and as Chair of the Amicus Review Committee, Arbitration Task Force, Fiduciary Litigation Committee, Membership Selection Committee, and Sponsorship Committee. Additionally, Goldman was an active member of the Colleges Audit Committee, Family Law Task Force, Financial Management Committee, Foundation Financial Management Committee, Joint ACTEC/NCPJ Task Force, Long Range Planning Committee, Task Force on National Office Selection, Program Committee, and the State Chairs/Elect Committee.

I am privileged to lead ACTEC over the next year, said Goldman. As President, I look forward to continuing to foster the Colleges devotion to a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion and elevating the practice of trust and estate law.

Goldman is also active in the Florida State Bar. He is co-chair of the Amicus Committee and on the Executive Council of the Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section of The Florida Bar. He is past chair of the Section, current member of the Sections Probate Law and Probate Litigation Committees, as well as past member of the Sections Legislation Committee. He has chaired the Probate Rules Committee and the Guardianship Law Committee and is a past member of the Probate Law Professionalism Committee and the Appellate Rules Committee of The Florida Bar. Goldman was named as one of the top 100 attorneys in Florida by Florida Super Lawyers and he is listed in Best Lawyers in America and in Florida Trends Florida Legal Elite.

His charitable service includes past service as a trustee on the Board of Trustees of The Eden Family of Services, Princeton, New Jersey (which provides lifespan service to persons with autism) and serves as a Trustee of The Trust for the Advancement of Responsible Artists. Goldman is a frequent lecturer for ACTEC and the Florida Bar on probate and trust topics.

During the Annual Meeting, ACTECs Board of Regents elected the following 2022-2023 officers, each of whom serve with Goldman on the Executive Committee and the Board of Regents:



About The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC): Established in 1949, The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) is a national, nonprofit association of approximately 2,400 lawyers and law professors from throughout the United States and abroad. ACTEC members (Fellows) are peer-elected on the basis of professional reputation and expertise in the preparation of wills and trusts, estate planning, probate, trust administration and related practice areas. The Colleges mission includes the improvement and reform of probate, trust and tax laws and procedures and professional practice standards. ACTEC frequently offers technical comments with regard to legislation and regulations but does not take positions on matters of policy or political objectives.
Mitchell Ryan, an actor, artist, writer, with a career on stage and on screen who has played a broad range of roles in feature films and hundreds of television appearances in every genre, has completed his new book A Special Providence: a gripping and potent work that keeps the pages turning until its satisfying conclusion. Providence is book one of his two-part autobiography.

The year 1865 finds Edward, the authors grandfather, behind the lines during the Civil War, where he finds his fatally wounded brother and watches him die, then buries him in the new land.

Edward is the owner of a bar and gambling hall in Ohio 1882. An ambitious man, he takes the opportunity to enter politics in Cincinnati. He must give up the woman he has been keeping, for she will taint his new life.

Now in 1899, in a loveless marriage to the daughter of a political boss, he banks everything on a mayoral campaign and loses. The birth of his second son, Charles, only serves to further trap him in despair.

Charless story begins in 1917. He is eighteen years old and studying his hearts desire at the Art Institute of Chicago. He is called home by his father, Edward, to serve with his brother and enlist in the Army in World War I. He cannot be protected by his deeply upset mother. He goes to war, giving up his dream of being a painter.

In 1925, Charles is a reporter working for a daily newspaper in Chicago doing a story about bootleggers. On an impulse, he goes to visit the art school that he left years ago. He receives a phone call that his father has died and goes home to Louisville. While there, he reads that his reporter partner has been murdered by the gangsters they were investigating. Charles breaks down and is comforted by his brothers wife, Molly, with whom he has always been in love.

Eight years later, in the middle of the Depression, Charles is penniless and out of work and is seeking the haven and warmth of the local library. He falls in love with Genevieve, a retiring young woman who is flattered by his attention. He sees her off to her family for Christmas. Then after visiting the whore whom he sees occasionally, he decides that he must change his luck, change his life, and marry.

In 1939, Charles is a salesman in Louisville. He is married now with two children, Mitch and Maggie, who are strangers to him. The city is under a plague of starlings. He feeds birds from his office window then goes to a museum, where he often escapes, to see a Vermeer.

He talks with Natalie, the curator who has befriended him, and is unsettled by how much of himself he reveals. Unused to the intimacy, he gets drunk and finds that the police are shooting the starlings.

Sickened by the slaughter, he goes home and begs forgiveness of Genevieve.

Published by Page Publishing, Mitchell Ryans engrossing book is an excellent choice for avid historical biography readers.

Readers who wish to experience this engaging work can purchase A Special Providence 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 worlds largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing understands that authors should be free to create, not mired in logistics like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes, and so on. Pages 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 http://www.pagepublishing.com.


Paul Sibbley has completed his new book Water Walking: a gripping and potent work written for those looking to strengthen their relationship with God.

Rev. Paul D. Sibbley believes his ministrys calling is to teach, develop, and equip Gods people for service in the kingdom. He earned a Master of Arts degree in theology from Jameson Christian College. He was ordained as a pastor in July of 2007 and then was released to start Full of Life Church of the Living God in Wilmington, Delaware. Rev. Sibbley and his wife of forty-plus years, Sister Ruth L. Sibbley, have three childrenPaul Jr., Shawn, and Shireetwelve grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.

Author Paul Sibbley discusses his work, writing, In the Christian faith today, many who profess the Christian faith are doing what we are told to do: to go to church, to pray, and to be good followers of Jesus Christ. However, we continue to live in the same manner as those who are not followers of Christ. In todays society, it is very difficult to truly live as the Lord wants us to live because the way our society operates conflicts with the Word of God. As Peter stepped out on the water in obedience, we must step out of religion practices onto the waters of living holy. But in order for you to walk on the water, you have to get out of the boat. By reading this book, I pray that it would set a framework that will encourage you with the blessing, grace, and mercy of God in giving you the mind to walk on the water. May God richly bless you in all your endeavors.

Published by Page Publishing, Paul Sibbleys engaging work highlights the importance of faith as a key to living a life of peace and happiness.

Readers who wish to experience this inspiring work can purchase Water Walking 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 worlds 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. Pages 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 http://www.pagepublishing.com.
W.L. Christy, a retired military veteran, has completed his new book Being a Power: a gripping and potent fantasy work about Maria, who has had a hard life with a magical ability she cannot use. She had started training when she was five years old and had done something she shouldnt have been able to do: flown from one side of the village to the other like she was taking a step.

Author W.L. Christy writes, Then the school was attacked by some criminals, and Maria had to defend herself and the others. With a snap of her fingers, many of the men who had attacked the school were knocked down. Then Maria started speaking words to form a spell. The old teachers eyes widened as Maria spoke the spell then raised her hand, and he watched a ball leave her hand and expand until it filled his vision. Then he heard the screaming start as the spell hit the men. When the men stopped screaming, he looked at Maria and then at the other end of the room where the men had been. What the old teacher saw was the glowing form of an avatar. It was a being of pure energy, and Maria told it to hunt down the other men and remove them. The avatar left the room and then walked out into the school.

Published by Page Publishing, W.L. Christys mesmerizing tale follows Maria and her group of adventurers as they journey to discover more information about the magical world.

Readers who wish to experience this spellbinding work can purchase Being a Power 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 worlds 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. Pages 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 http://www.pagepublishing.com.
Polybutylene Pipe Systems In Florida Can Cause Extensive Damages

Polybutylene piping systems were commonly installed in homes built from the 1970s into the mid-1990s. This plastic resin was extremely popular in the sunshine state because of the affordability of the material and ease of installation.

Homeowners quickly discovered that the polybutylene pipe systems were too cheaply constructed to be suitable for water supplies. Worse, even, these pipelines suffered flaking and scales, resulting in excessive weakness after coming into contact with chlorine of the public water supply. These pipe systems suffered from spontaneous cracks and holes and quickly failed as a result of this brittleness.

The experts at Century Public Adjusters warn South FL home buyers to avoid investing in properties that still have polybutylene pipes. The lifespan of polybutylene pipes is only a maximum of 15 years. Generally, there is no warning before a polybutylene piping system fails, often resulting in excessive water damage to the residence and personal property.

South FL residents should check their current and potential homes for this cheap and dangerously costly polybutylene pipe. Pipe replacement is a necessary process to avoid excessive damages that are at an inevitably high risk of occurrence when pipe systems decide to fail.

Residents who discover polybutylene pipe will need to contact an experienced and reputable plumber for an estimate. Polybutylene pipes cannot be replaced with the same material. The entire plumbing system has to be replaced with more durable material. Modern plumbing systems utilize copper or cost-efficient PVC pipes, as well as additional adapters and fittings.

Century Public Adjusters urges home or business owners who have suffered water damage as a result of poor pipes to reach out today at (888) 585-8010.

More About Century Public Adjusters

Century Public Adjusters is proud to provide home and business owners throughout Florida with services to recover after property damage occurs. Their team of experienced adjusters is happy to provide free inspections to examine any damages.

Common Residential and Commercial Damages Include:



Fire

Mold

Storm

Water

Sinkhole

Hail

Six locations can be found throughout Central Florida, Southwest Florida and South Florida to better serve clients, including offices in Miami, West Palm Beach, Naples, Fort Myers, Orlando, and Tampa, FL.

Century Public Adjusters will fight the insurance company to ensure that their clients get the fair compensation that they deserve for their losses.

Contact Century Public Adjusters today to schedule your free inspection and learn more about how to make your home safe after a disaster.
Image of the CERC lobby

CERC has announced they are partnering with the vFairs virtual and hybrid event platform to host the CERC Virtual Job Fair on Mar 22, 2022. This event is targeted at job seekers and employers in the Ottawa area. Eligible seekers and employers can sign up on the events landing page.

The virtual event will feature a virtual exhibition, where hiring employers can publish open roles and attendees can contact company reps to learn more about job opportunities. Additionally, webinar sessions will be hosted to prepare job seekers with tips and advice from career services professionals.

Previously, CERC had a job fair with over 20 booths and 140 job seekers. The CERC team wanted to take this success further with the current iteration of its event. So, this follow-up job fair targets job seekers looking for hiring opportunities in Ottawa.

A representative from CERC stated, This hiring event through vFairs is above and beyond the type of virtual hiring event that we have been able to offer our employers and job seekers throughout this pandemic. We are very pleased with the success of our February 24th event and looking forward to our next Virtual Job Fair on March 22nd.

Muhammad Younas, CEO & Founder at vFairs, added, This virtual job fairs is a great way to revitalize the economy in places like the Ottawa region. They amplify the recruiting process, and help job seekers and employers get in touch without investing ample resources into the recruitment process.

Candidates eligible for the CERC Virtual Job Fair can register through the event website and register now to attend the event on Mar 22, 2022.

About CERC

Community Employment Resource Centre (CERC) is a not-for-profit community-based organization with over 30 years of experience in providing high quality employment services to the Ottawa community. CERC is a service of the John Howard Society of Ottawa. This Employment Ontario program is funded in part by the Ontario government and Government of Canada.

About vFairs

vFairs is a virtual & hybrid events platform that helps organizations reach global audiences. We help organizations of all sizes host amazing online conferences, trade shows, job fairs & more. The platform offers an intuitive virtual experience along with interactive features such as audio/video chat, excellent scalability, and several customization options.
The Stena Polaris plays a critical mission for our warfighters serving our nation in austere environments, and fundamental work to help our military succeed will be done by the strong workforce and maritime industry in Jacksonville.

Crowley has been awarded the Military Sealift Command charter contract to operate the Stena Polaris, an Ice Class tanker serving bulk fuel needs of the U.S. Department of Defense.

Crowleys government ship management group has completed the conversion of the ship to meet government and military service standards, including registration as a U.S.-flag vessel. The tanker will transport necessary fuel for defense operations in the Arctic and Antarctica regions. When not operating in those regions, the vessel will transport fuel for defense services in the Mediterranean Sea.

Crowley has partnered with the DNV classification society and the U.S. Coast Guard to verify that the vessel meets the applicable standards to support its missions safely and effectively. Enhancements include adding at-sea refueling capabilities for the military. The tanker, now U.S.-flagged with U.S. mariners, is set to enter service this week.

The conversion was completed at Fincantieri Marine Repair near downtown Jacksonville, Fla., supporting investment, jobs and the economy of the home city of Crowleys global headquarters.

The Stena Polaris plays a critical mission for our warfighters serving our nation in austere environments, and fundamental work to help our military succeed will be done by the strong workforce and maritime industry in Jacksonville, said Mike Golonka, vice president, government maritime services, for the Crowley Solutions business unit. Crowleys team is fortunate to partner with the U.S. Coast Guard, DNV and Fincantieri Marine Repair to complete the conversion, and we are honored that the U.S. government continues to trust Crowleys ship management team to meet the Defense Department standards for success and efficient service.

We are excited to partner with Crowley here in Jacksonville to successfully complete this tanker reflagging project, said Ryan Smith, Fincantieri Marine Repairs president. We are now operating in Northeast Florida providing high-quality services to meet the operational needs of military, government, and commercial clients.

The contract, which carries a one-year term with multiple option years, has a potential cumulative value of more than $98 million.

About Crowley

Crowley is a privately held, U.S.-owned and -operated maritime, energy and logistics solutions company serving commercial and government sectors with more than $2.5 billion in annual revenues, over 170 vessels mostly in the Jones Act fleet and approximately 7,000 employees around the world  employing more U.S. mariners than any other company. The Crowley enterprise has invested more than $3 billion in maritime transport, which is the backbone of global trade and the global economy. As a global ship owner-operator and services provider with more than 130 years of innovation and a commitment to sustainability, the company serves customers in 36 nations and island territories through four business units: Crowley Logistics, Crowley Shipping, Crowley Solutions and Crowley Fuels. Additional information about Crowley, its business units and subsidiaries can be found at http://www.crowley.com.


It is such an honor to be recognized as a 2022 Top Patient Rated Plastic Surgeon. I am truly passionate about helping my patients look and feel their best, says Dr. B Aviva Preminger.

Dr. Aviva Preminger has earned respect and prestige in her field with her extensive credentials and experience. Most importantly, the beautiful results she has achieved for patients has made her one of the top plastic surgeons and breast augmentation specialists in NYC. Dr. Premingers exceptional reviews and five-star ratings have earned this distinguished award from Find Local Doctors.

Find Local Doctors is a user-friendly online directory, helping consumers connect with skilled physicians in their area who are well known for their expertise. Located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, Dr. B. Aviva Premingers boutique practice is dedicated to meeting patients aesthetic plastic surgery needs. Dr. Preminger specializes in cosmetic and reconstructive surgery of the face, breast and body. She uses the latest techniques and treatments, staying on the cutting-edge of plastic surgery. Dr. Preminger combines her training, experience and talent to generate superior outcomes in both surgical and non-surgical cosmetic surgery. Striving to be as minimally invasive as possible, Dr. Preminger oers an extensive menu of services, including surgical and non-surgical facial rejuvenation, body sculpting, breast surgery, mommy makeover and female rejuvenation surgery. Her goal is to provide each patient with a truly individualized treatment plan that reflects their personal cosmetic surgery goals. Dr. Preminger offers a compassionate approach and has had extensive success in creating stunning, natural-looking results.

It is such an honor to be recognized as a 2022 Top Patient Rated Plastic Surgeon. I am truly passionate about helping my patients look and feel their best, says Dr. B Aviva Preminger.

More about Dr. B. Aviva Preminger:

Dr. Preminger is an Ivy League-educated, board-certified plastic surgeon. She trained at some of the country's finest institutions, graduating magna cum laude from Harvard University. She later went on to receive her medical doctorate from Cornell University Medical College and completed her surgical training at the prestigious New York Presbyterian Hospital-Cornell/Columbia, training under some of the most renowned cosmetic and reconstructive surgeons in New York City. Throughout her career, Dr. Preminger has earned numerous accolades and recognition, including the Castle Connolly Top Doctor award.

For more information on the services offered by Dr. Preminger, please visit her website at http://www.premingermd.com, or contact her office, located at 969 Park Ave., Suite 1E in New York City, directly at (212)-706-1900.


Agile Testing Days USA return to Chicago The special atmosphere is what makes the conference unique and sets us apart from being just another tech conference'.

The Agile Testing Days USA, one of the worlds leading software testing conferences, is coming back to Chicago. The immersive event is organized by trendig technology services from Berlin, Germany and was held in Boston in 2018 and at the Palmer House Hilton Chicago in 2019. After a two year break the conference is finally to take place again, thereby featuring an exceptional speaker line-up of international significance, including local Chicago-based IT professionals.

Agile Testing Days USA is a five day event (2 days tutorials + 3 days conference) and takes place June 05  09, 2022 at the Hilton Oak Brook Hills Resort & Conference Center in Chicago, Illinois. From its beginnings in 2009 in Berlin, the ATDs have become one of the worlds leading Agile software conferences and an essential destination for global tech professionals. Since introducing the US edition in 2018 the event received increased recognition and an outstanding reputation within the North American IT community.

The conference is best known for its rich 6-track program and its inclusive, open minded and dynamic atmosphere. Track sessions, keynotes, tutorial classes, social events and a great variety of networking opportunities cover topics ranging from emerging technical needs in Agile and testing to topics that fall outside of or beyond testinglike diversity, ethics, mentoring, and mental health. Leading presenters this year include TEDx speaker and tech career strategist Raj Subrameyer from Chicago as well as agile testing pioneers Linda Rising, Lisa Crispin and Janet Gregory.

The organizing team has created both a diverse program of speakers and sessions and built one of the most diverse, collaborative, and energetic communities in the worlda safe place to share ideas and evolve professional and personal skills. said Jose Diaz, CEO of trendig. "Bringing this concept to the USA just felt natural to us and we are excited to see that it is accepted and nourished by the US community.

For more information and to access the program and registration details please visit https://agiletestingdays.us/

Or follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin.

ABOUT trendig technology services:

Trendig is a technology services company, founded in 1998 as Diaz and Hilterscheid Unternehmensberatung GmbH, which produced three magazines, seven conferences series, and provides top-notch training and consultancy around the world. For more information, visit https://trendig.com.
Federal lawmakers radically expanded unemployment during the pandemic forcing many states to adapt their unemployment programs and overextend their trust funds, said Alli Fick, Deputy Research Director at FGA.

A Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) report warns of restrictions on states that choose to accept and use federal funding for fiscal recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic after the effective date of the federal rule.

Starting April 1, 2022, states that choose to accept federal funding will face new, federally-imposed barriers that aim to prevent lawmakers from reforming their unemployment programs until December 2024. These restrictions attempt to limit the ability of state officials to reduce either the amount or duration of unemployment benefits for individuals on the program.

According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, states will not be subject to these new restrictions if they appropriate the federal funds before the rule takes effect on April 1, 2022. States that choose to accept federal funding after the April 1 deadline will, however, be limited in their ability to reform their unemployment programs.

Federal lawmakers radically expanded unemployment during the pandemic forcing many states to adapt their unemployment programs and overextend their trust funds, said Alli Fick, Deputy Research Director at FGA. Policymakers that wish to use federal resources to recover from the pandemic should ensure that appropriations are adopted prior to April 1 and continue to reform their unemployment programs.

States that choose to accept federal funding after the April 1 deadline will, however, be limited in their ability to reform their unemployment programs.

###

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.
BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered all-out search and rescue efforts after a passenger plane with 132 people aboard crashed in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Monday afternoon.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, said in his instruction that he was shocked to learn about the incident involving China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735.

He ordered the immediate launch of emergency response, all-out search and rescue efforts and proper settlement of the aftermath.

Xi ordered swift action to be taken to identify the cause of the crash and to strengthen the safety overhaul of the civil aviation sector to ensure the absolute safety of the sector and people's lives. 
Today the search results relating to crypto in UAE returns reports of Russians liquidating crypto in the UAE for real estate to get their assets out of Russian jurisdictions,

The global blockchain development company HashCash Consultants claims to have played a significant role in spurring the country to scale up activities in the crypto-sphere. The formerly budding crypto sector of UAE has received a boost following a stream of foreign investors. HashCash, apparently, has made a contribution to the sudden transformation in this horizon.

Today the search results relating to crypto in UAE returns reports of Russians liquidating crypto in the UAE for real estate to get their assets out of Russian jurisdictions, comments Raj Chowdhury blockchain pioneer and HashCash chief. Evidently, global investors turn to the Gulf state every time their fortunes are at risk. The time is now for crypto and the state is prepared to take a stash of Bitcoins for real estate.

Such crypto-power was formerly wielded by Singapore and other countries of Oceania that was considered the supreme crypto hub offering refuge to crypto enterprises and individual owners.

HashCash has accomplished multiple successive projects in the crypto domain spanning the greater portion of the past year. The company still has a team in the UAE working on their current project.

It is, therefore, safe to assume that we have been a significant part of the crypto-revolution in UAE, smiled Chowdhury.

On the development front, HashCash has announced its participation in building a consortium for a digital media brand. It has also provided a blockchain solution to a NY-based luxury brand to secure its design authenticity. It has also been in limelight for providing crypto exchange technology across the MENA region.

HashCash CEO is a known advocate of decentralized technologies. He has predicted the crowd shift from pure Forex to Forex-crypto integrated technology. On a separate occasion, he has predicted a trend of novice traders flocking to CFD trade.

The transformation brought about in the crypto space in the UAE had begun in mid-2021 with the onslaught of ventures in the decentralized realm. Crypto exchanges were among the first enterprises to sprout in this region, followed by payments and fund transfers comprising the overall growth in this sector. DeFi, NFTs and Metaverse are presently gushing in.



About HashCash:

HashCash is a global software company. HashCash Blockchain products enable enterprises to move assets and settle payments across borders in real-time for Remittances, Trade Finance, Payment Processing, and more. HashCash runs a US-based digital asset exchange, PayBito & digital asset payment processor, BillBitcoins. HashCash offers crypto exchanges and payment processor software solutions, ICO services, and customized use cases. HashCash propels advancement in technology through Blockchain1o1 programs and its investment arm, Satoshi Angels. HashCash offers solutions in AI, Big Data, and IoT through its platforms, products & services. HashCash solves the toughest challenges by executing innovative digital transformation strategies for clients around the world.
Hybrid Pathways

Inc. magazine today revealed that Hybrid Pathways is No. 33 on its third annual Inc. 5000 Regionals: Northeast list, the most prestigious ranking of the fastest-growing private companies based in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Born of the annual Inc. 5000 franchise, this regional list represents a unique look at the most successful companies within the most dynamic segment of the Northeast regions economy  its independent small businesses.

Hybrid Pathways is an IT consulting firm specializing in hybrid-cloud environments, focused on security, connectivity, and identity within large, complex organizations. Hybrid Pathways provides the skills and experience, combined with an innovative subscription-based-consulting model, to support the needs of todays enterprises.

We are happy to share this recognition with our exceptional team. The past two years we have helped companies to address the rapid changes in work-from-home, the rise of supply chain poisoning and ransomware, the need to modernize Identity and Access Management, and the challenges in securing complex hybrid cloud environments. We will continue to innovate and deliver services in a model that is flexible and tailored to our customers needs. Tom Hazen, Managing Director, Hybrid Pathways

This years Inc. 5000 Regional winners represent one of the most exceptional and exciting lists of Americas off-the-charts growth companies. Theyre disrupters and job creators, and all delivered an outsize impact on the economy. Remember their names and follow their lead. These are the companies youll be hearing about for years to come, says Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc.

Complete results of the Inc. 5000 Regionals Northeast, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, metro area, and other criteria, can be found at inc.com/northeast starting March 15, 2022.

About Hybrid Pathways

Hybrid Pathways helps enterprise companies to connect and protect hybrid cloud environments. Key service areas in 2022 include Identity and Access Management, Zero Trust, DevSecOps, and Automation. Expert consultants architect, engineer, and implement secure hybrid solutions. Experienced in all major cloud platforms and leading technologies, Hybrid Pathways uniquely integrates security and infrastructure best practices in all solutions to improve business outcomes and protect digital assets.

Contact: Tom Hazen, Managing Director at Hybrid Pathways | thazen@hybridpathways.com | 413.441.0147

More about Inc. and the Inc. 5000 Regionals

Methodology

The 2022 Inc. 5000 Regional are ranked according to percentage revenue growth when comparing 2018 and 2020. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2018. They had to be U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit, and independentnot subsidiaries or divisions of other companiesas of December 31, 2019. (Since then, a number of companies on the list have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2018 is $100,000; the minimum for 2020 is $1 million. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons.

About Inc. Media

The worlds most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs

the knowledge, tools, connections, and community to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including websites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent.

The associated Inc. 5000 Conference is part of a highly acclaimed portfolio of bespoke events produced by Inc. For more information, visit http://www.inc.com.
Ideal Option, a national leader in outpatient medication-assisted treatment for opioids, methamphetamine, alcohol and polysubstance, will host an open house at their new clinic in Idaho Falls on Friday, April 1, at 380 N Capital Ave, Ste. 1.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, overdose deaths have skyrocketed across the nation, largely due to fentanyl, a plentiful, inexpensive synthetic drug 50 times more potent than heroin.

According to the Idaho State Police, from January to September 2021, more than 125,000 fentanyl pills were seized statewide, a 562% increase from 2020. Many illicit substances such as methamphetamine, street-acquired pain pills, and even marijuana are now commonly laced with fentanyl, often without the knowledge of the user.

Ideal Options own lab testing data, collected from patients across Idaho, show a 42% positivity rate for fentanyl at enrollment in September 2021  a 242% increase over September 2020.

All are welcome to drop by the Ideal Option clinic to enjoy refreshments, learn more about addiction medicine, meet the staff and discuss ways to tackle the worsening opioid crisis in Bonneville County.

For questions about this event, email Senior Marketing Manager Olivia Easly at oliviaeasly@idealoption.net.

About Ideal Option

Headquartered in Kennewick, Washington, Ideal Option was founded in 2012 and has since helped nearly 50,000 patients through a network of over 70 office-based medication-assisted treatment (MAT) clinics across 10 states. With a mission to serve under-served communities, Ideal Option accepts all forms of insurance including Medicaid and Medicare. Financial assistance and payment plans are also available.

Ideal Option's team of medical providers carry certifications in Addiction and Emergency Medicine, Internal, and Family Medicine, among other specialties. The company also employs social workers, caseworkers, counselors, and mental health practitioners. This holistic approach helps drive positive outcomes, including family stability, stable housing, improved overall health, and reduced rates of recidivism.

In all the communities it serves, Ideal Option collaborates with existing stakeholders and providers to improve the continuum of care. This approach includes partnerships with emergency rooms and county jail systems, where individuals with substance use disorder often appear, as well as collaborating with numerous support agencies and municipal programs addressing social needs such as housing, mental health, and nutrition support.
IDEAS COLLIDE, a strategic marketing communications agency that develops custom marketing solutions, is honored to be named one of the 100 Best Arizona Companies by BestCompaniesAZ as part of their 20th anniversary. Ideas Collide is recognized within the category of Best of Cool", which honors Arizonas top organizations with strong, unique workplace cultures where they know how fun can help create the best work ever.

BestCompaniesAZ has been at the forefront of recognizing sought-after employer brands and creating prestigious workplace awards programs in Arizona since 2002. As we celebrate 20 years, we are proud to recognize companies across our state who are making a positive difference in the lives of their employees and our communities, said Denise Gredler, Founder and CEO of BestCompaniesAZ.

Ideas Collide is honored to be recognized as one of the 100 Best Arizona Companies," said Matthew Clyde, President and Co-Founder. We are a team-first culture. We accomplish this with flexible work hours, incentivized wellness, fitness, and educational programs, paid time off to volunteer, team ski days, summer outings and award recognitions. We celebrate great work and good times. Associated with our unique workplace culture we were also noted for having best practices in the areas of diversity, LGBTQ, corporate giving, and corporate equality.

Over the years, Ideas Collide culture has consistently been recognized as one of the best in the Valley. In addition to this prestigious award, Ideas Collide has been selected as a Top Company to Work for in Arizona by azcentral.com and Republic Media (The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com), as well as landing on the prestigious Inc. 5000 List, including the nations fastest-growing private companies. Retaining the notable office culture and its talented team during this period of great transition has been a top priority. As such, the agency offers flexible work arrangements, benefits, professional development opportunities, and advancement opportunities.

BestCompaniesAZs 20th anniversary listing honors well-known employer brands. For the full list, visit https://bestcompaniesaz.com/100-best-companies-in-arizona/

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About Ideas Collide:

Ideas Collide is a strategic communications firm that specializes in designing integrated marketing solutions that make an impact. Founded with a team-first approach to business, the agencys core values include: love the team, love the work and practice giving customer love. Founded on the idea that creative insight must be coupled with research and analytics to create an effective marketing plan, Ideas Collide specializes in designing fully integrated marketing solutions that deliver high impact results. Our approach is simple  we invent ideas and integrate solutions to create impact.

BestCompaniesAZ

Arizonas Employer Branding Partner, BestCompaniesAZ, specializes in helping corporate clients develop, strengthen and market their unique employer brands through a variety of digital marketing, events, communication, and award programs. Founded in 2002, BestCompaniesAZ pioneered the intersection of recruiting, human resources, marketing, and public relations and has evolved into an exclusive, niche PR, marketing and employer branding firm that specializes in building and promoting strong employer brands. For more information, visit BestCompaniesAZ.com.
I've always subscribed to the notion that great things never come from comfort zones, so I'm excited to take on this fresh challenge, which will continue allowing me to help Strategic-Partners achieve their goals.

PrideStaff Financial, part of The PrideStaff Companies, is pleased to name Ashli Fernandez as their newest Vice President. In her new role, Fernandez will be responsible for leading the entire PrideStaff Financial division, driving profitability and growing the brand.

Ashli brings more than 20 years of diverse staffing industry experience to this position. Prior to PrideStaff, during the course of over 20 years in staffing, she has successfully worked her way through the ranks as a top producer and leader in various capacities with specialized niche divisions, one of which was an international publicly traded accounting and finance staffing firm. Within the past 12 years, she has held leadership roles in the franchise arena, helping owners develop and grow their business and increase profitability. Most of them won several awards, achieved significant milestones, and hit all-time highs.

A 10-year veteran of PrideStaff, Fernandez was initially attracted to the PrideStaff organization because of its culture and values. She joined the company in 2012 as Vice President-Field Consultant, helping new Strategic-Partners set and achieve business goals, make smart sound financial decisions, sell more effectively and streamline operations to increase efficiency. Throughout her tenure with PrideStaff, Fernandez has rapidly acquired a depth of experience that has prepared her well for this new role.

Charged with goals to provide vision, leadership, and strategies to expand PrideStaff Financials market share in accounting and finance, Fernandez is eager to apply her experience in a new way. "I look forward to strengthening PrideStaff Financials presence in the marketplace, especially since finance and accounting positions have become so important in recent years," stated Fernandez. "I've always subscribed to the notion that great things never come from comfort zones, so I'm excited to take on this fresh challenge, which will continue allowing me to help Strategic-Partners achieve their goals

"Ashli brings many years of executive sales and management to this position, and is ready to take PrideStaff Financial to the next level," stated PrideStaff Co-CEO, Tammi Heaton. "Over the past decade, she has proven herself as both an ambitious executive and an inspirational leader, and we are very excited about her decision to head up this division.

"PrideStaff Financial is an important part of The PrideStaff Companies, allowing us to meet clients' specialized finance and accounting staffing and hiring needs in an extremely tight candidate market," continued Heaton. "With PrideStaff Financials expansion into new markets, Ashli will continue to uphold our brand, live our mission and ensure profitable growth within this division."

By investing in the client and talent experience, PrideStaff Financial has achieved ClearlyRated's coveted Best of Staffing 10-Year Client and Talent Diamond Awards for providing superior service to their clients and candidates for at least ten consecutive years. The 10-year Diamond Award is earned by fewer than .5% of all accounting and financial staffing firms in the US, placing PrideStaff Financial in a truly elite group of companies that lead the industry in satisfaction.

About PrideStaff Financial

A division of PrideStaff, PrideStaff Financial specializes in accounting and financial staffing. The parent company was founded in the 1970s as 100% company-owned units, and began staffing franchising in 1995. They operate over 85 offices in North America to serve over 5,000 clients. With 40 plus years in the staffing business, headquartered in Fresno, CA, all PrideStaff brands offer the resources and expertise of a national firm with the spirit, dedication and personal service of smaller, entrepreneurial firms. For more information on PrideStaff Financial services, visit our website.

PrideStaff and PrideStaff Financial's shared Mission: Consistently provide client experiences focused on what they value most.
JBS Canada Logo

JBS Foods Ontario Inc. is hosting its Eastern Ontario Virtual Job Fair to fill its production and maintenance positions with vFairs as the event platform on Mar 22, 2022. The aim of this event is to get production operators and maintenance journeyman to apply for jobs at the company, particularly in the meat manufacturing sector. The relevant audience can register for the event on the landing page.

With this event, JBS will fill its vacant positions. It will have two booths, where people can apply for 50 production operator roles and 2 maintenance roles. The company is aiming for people looking for full-time work, along with licensed journeymen and electricians. So, it found that the vFairs exhibit hall feature with booths was a good solution for them.

Hilary Sweet, Human Resource Manager at JBS Foods Canada, said, We are delighted to partner with vFairs with the support of Loyalist College Community Employment Services to advertise our exciting opportunities available in production and maintenance. All full-time positions offer group benefits and pension, with career growth opportunities. We look forward to meeting interested applicants at the fair.

Muhammad Younas, CEO & Founder at vFairs, added, Our virtual job fairs work at all scales, and its good to see that companies are using them to fill specific positions as well. This not only helps HR departments, but also helps job seekers apply for positions without having to go through multiple physical hurdles.

Any applicants who want to register for the event can sign up and get in touch with the company.

About JBS Foods

JBS Canada is one of the biggest beef suppliers in the country. It has worked for over 60 years to bring fresh products to peoples tables. In addition, it exports beef to over 20 countries, with meticulous attention to detail and quality. JBS Foods Ontario in Belleville produces fresh meat and seafood products for leading retailers in Canada.

About vFairs

vFairs is a virtual & hybrid events platform that helps organizations reach global audiences. We help organizations of all sizes host amazing online conferences, trade shows, job fairs & more. The platform offers an intuitive virtual experience along with interactive features such as audio/video chat, excellent scalability, and several customization options.
Jose Jimenez, vice president and director of life sciences in Gilbane Building Company's Mid-Atlantic division

Gilbane Building Company is pleased to announce that Jose Jimenez has joined the company as vice president and director of life sciences in Gilbanes Mid-Atlantic division, based in the Philadelphia, PA office. In this role, Jose will support Gilbanes life sciences clients across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Washington, DC and Virginia.

Jose is a construction executive with ample experience in all stages of the project development process including pre-construction, procurement, implementation, start-up and turnover. His 22 years of experience includes directing major capital programs involving new building construction, building additions, and renovations of active cGMP manufacturing and research facilities. Joses experience also includes medical device manufacturing and healthcare facilities. In his previous executive leadership roles, he has led staff and services of projects in the New Jersey/New York metropolitan area, as well as overall business unit operations in Puerto Rico. Recently, Jose leveraged design-build delivery to manage the construction of prefabricated modular cleanroom systems across the United States, Canada and Latin America. Hes worked with clients such as Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Genentech, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and Penn Medicine on a range of facility types including oral solid dosage, parenteral and biologics, and cell and gene therapy, as well as research and development labs, vivariums and bulk chemical/API plants.

Were excited to welcome Joses leadership and collaborative approach to our Mid-Atlantic division, said Paul J. Choquette III, executive vice president and Mid-Atlantic division leader, Gilbane Building Company. Clean rooms, cell and gene therapy labs and other pharmaceutical facilities require quick delivery to get products in the hands of people who need them. Jose will provide our current and future clients the specialized experience they need to quickly build these complex facilities.

Since my days at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, which is near Gilbanes headquarters, Ive held the company in high regard for their dedication to excellence and inclusive culture, said Jose Jimenez. Im excited to join a company committed to these values. I plan to begin meeting with our current and prospective clients to identify opportunities for Gilbane to support their speed to patient goals, with a focus on safely delivering quality facilities.

Jose will be based in Gilbanes Philadelphia office with frequent travel to Gilbanes other Mid-Atlantic offices in Baltimore, MD and Arlington, VA. He earned a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, as well as a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico. He is fluent in Spanish and English and has spoken on topics such as Building Cleanrooms at Warp Speed for the American Pharmaceutical Review and Rapid Cleanroom Builds for COVID-19 Facilities: Lessons Learned for Pharmas Almanac. Jose is a member of both the International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE) Delaware Valley chapter and the Construction Management Association of America (CMAA) Mid-Atlantic chapter.

About Gilbane Building Company

Gilbane provides a full slate of construction and facilities-related services  from pre-construction planning and integrated consulting capabilities to comprehensive construction management, general contracting, design-build, and facility management services  for clients across various markets. Founded in 1870 and still a privately held, family-owned company, Gilbane has more than 45 office locations worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.gilbaneco.com.
Banner for the Women Claiming Wealth National Conference

Kelley Keehn, best-selling author, speaker and finance expert, is launching the inaugural Women Claiming Wealth National Conference on April 6, 2022. This event aims to help women be more financially savvy. Its also designed to provide an opportunity for the advisory community to welcome their clients to an exciting and empowering day of unbiased financial education. The event is open to anyone who would like to register, and tickets start at $99 (early bird price ends March 25th). Please visit the event website to purchase tickets.

Financial freedom should be the right of every woman in Canada. But only she can claim it. Many women think that it always seems out of reach, or maybe one day when theyre not so busy theyll get to their finances. For those tired of not being in the drivers seat and dont know where to start, theyre not alone. Thats why Women Claiming Wealth was created. Led by women, for women, this educational day will give attendees the skills and confidence to claim wealth they didnt realize was theirs to be had. Now is the time for financial freedom!

Attendees will learn from some of the top female financial experts, negotiators and advocates all in one room to glean their decades of advice and confidence. Who wouldnt jump at the chance? The fierce line-up of speakers and panelists at Women Claiming Wealth will allow attendees to peak behind the curtains of how they got ahead at work, took control of their finances and changed their lives. Speakers include the conferences very own Kelley Keehn, bestselling author and financial powerhouse; Melissa Leong, a regular on CTVs The Social and The Drew Barrymore Show on CBS, CTVs resident money expert and financial commentator, Pattie Lovett- Reid and many more. The National Payroll Institute has also joined the conference as the lead presenting sponsor of the panel, Women Claiming Wealth at Work. Attendees will leave this day with a lot more than just financial information. This is an incredible opportunity to network with industry leaders, shake up their dusty money mindsets and connect with like-minded women.

Money is like oxygen, states Kelley Keehn, you cant let anyone control your supply. By 2026, women will control nearly 50% of the wealth in Canada, but the reality is that 61% of millennial women and 41% of female breadwinners are deferring money decisions to their spouses. This needs to change!

According to Kelley, vFairs has been instrumental in developing this event from start to finish. It understood the aesthetic of the brand, and also brought its own creative touch to the table.

Muhammad Younas, vFairs CEO & Founder, emphasized, We need to create as many paths as possible for women to gain financial autonomy. This event is an excellent initiative in this regard and we are proud to have been such an integral part of it.

To purchase tickets or corporate packages for the Women Claiming Wealth National Conference, visit the registration page.

About Kelley Keehn

For decades, Kelley Keehn has been a trusted voice for sound personal finance advice. Shes a sought-after guest speaker, media personality and best-selling author of 11 books. Her newest best-selling book, Rich Girl, Broke Girl, published by Simon and Schuster, is now available in stores across Canada. Shes a regular expert on CTVs The Marilyn Denis Show, Global Nationals The Morning Show and BNN Bloomberg. She hosted W Networks Burn Your Mortgage, has conducted thousands of interviews and regularly speaks for some of Canadas largest corporations.

About vFairs

vFairs is a virtual & hybrid events platform that helps organizations reach global audiences. We help organizations of all sizes host amazing online conferences, trade shows, job fairs & more. The platform offers an intuitive virtual experience along with interactive features such as audio/video chat, excellent scalability, and several customization options.
If you would like to know more about the Courtesy Chevrolet Center lawsuit, please contact Attorney Jackland K. Hom today by calling (619) 255-9047.

The San Diego labor law attorneys, at Zakay Law Group, APLC and JCL Law Firm, APC, filed a complaint alleging that Courtesy Chevrolet Center committed multiple violations of the California Labor Code. The Courtesy Chevrolet Center lawsuit, Case No. 37-2022-00005485-CU-OE-CTL, is currently pending in the San Diego County Superior Court of the State of California. A copy of the Complaint can be read here.

The lawsuit alleges Courtesy Chevrolet Center violated the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA), which gives rise to civil penalties as a result of Courtesy Chevrolet Center's conduct. PAGA allows aggrieved employees to file a lawsuit to recover civil penalties on behalf of themselves, other employees, and the State of California for Labor Code violations. An "aggrieved employee" is defined as "any person who was employed by the alleged violator and against whom one or more of the alleged violations was committed." Cal. Lab. Code section 2699(c). PAGA allows aggrieved employees to become deputized as private attorneys general to enforce the Labor Code.

The complaint alleges Courtesy Chevrolet Center's meal period policies and practices were unlawful because Aggrieved Employees were far too over-booked and overworked to take timely off-duty thirty (30) minute meal periods. As a result of their rigorous work schedules, Aggrieved Employees allegedly were often not fully relieved of duty for their meal periods.

If you would like to know more about the Courtesy Chevrolet Center lawsuit, please contact Attorney Jackland K. Hom today by calling (619) 255-9047.

Zakay Law Group, APLC and JCL Law Firm, APC are labor and employment law firms with offices located in California that dedicate their practices to fighting for employees who have been wronged by their employers due to unfair employment practices. Contact one of their attorneys today if you need help with workplace issues regarding wage and hour, wrongful termination, retaliation, discrimination, and harassment.

-THIS IS AN ATTORNEY ADVERTISEMENT-
Russia and Ukraine have made progress on the "critical" articles of a ceasefire agreement being negotiated, but some issues still require decisions by their leaders, the Turkish foreign minister said Sunday. Check out the latest developments of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Produced by Xinhua Global Service
This experience has been truly an honor, giving all praises and glory to The Most High who have allowed me to jot down a few words to put down on paper.

Author Walter Norwood, Thomas offers readers a wonderful exploration on how to be more Christ-like in The Bronze Man and His Woman: The Nine Heavenly Gifts ($15.49, paperback, 9781498446013; $8.99, e-book, 9781498446020).

Walter Norwood, Thomas is sending a powerful message to Christians; Heaven is waiting for you! Through his writing, he is acting as a Spirit of God, directing, pleading, and seeking those who will accept the challenge to honor and be willing to take courage in the true nature of love. The author wrote this book to give hope to readers who truly want to follow the example of Christ, His attributes, and character. He wants all to know that by possessing a willing heart to read the Bible, will allow this book to express its most powerful meaning.

Its nothing about me, Im just a chosen vessel of The Most High, said Walter Norwood, Thomas. He is the only one who deserves all the accolades. This experience has been truly an honor, giving all praises and glory to The Most High who have allowed me to jot down a few words to put down on paper.

Walter Norwood, Thomas faced many challenging experiences in his life, including ups and down. Struggle was no stranger to him. He was not saturated with opportunities nor possibilities. However, the Most High provided him with a small glimpse of creative thoughts, writing skills and inspiration. Those gifts would allow Walter Norwood, Thomas to inspire and encourage others to overcome adversity through the Word. The author considers himself a Servant Of Christ first, ordained and licensed by man, second. Besides writing books, he enjoys playing and writing music, baking, cooking and most importantly, teaching the Word of God.

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Xulon Press, a division of Salem Media Group, is the worlds largest Christian self-publisher, with more than 15,000 titles published to date. The Bronze Man and His Woman: The Nine Heavenly Gifts is available online through xulonpress.com/bookstore, amazon.com, and barnesandnoble.com.
M.C.Furgal, a novice authoress from Upstate New York, has completed her new book The Crusader: a thrilling tale following a woman who aided a fugitive priest and a vigilante who spirits away the latter. These two encountered the other on a night where circumstances are at a height and from there, everything starts to change for them.

Furgal shares, Lady Katherine Worthstons life suddenly changes after she assists in the escape of a priest. She is then caused to question everything she has ever known. Despite her risen doubts, she cannot forsake her duties, even now. She remembers that the darkest doubt comes to light.

The Crusader is a notorious vigilante who taunts the law by spiriting away fugitive priests. His life is in secrecy, hidden beneath the cloak he wears. As his enemies oppress him, he remembers his deepest shadow, but even the darkest shadow comes to light. Then one crucial night, the two meet. They find themselves entangled in this plot of love and hate, of forgiveness and vengeance, of confusion and clarity.

Published by Page Publishing, M.C.Furgals action-packed novel holds a gripping plot that tells a tale, in a time when the risks for holding to certain beliefs were akin to treason and compromise seemed the only option. What will be the outcome, the gallows or the glory?

Enjoy this exciting story that plunges into Elizabethan England, here!

Readers who wish to experience this exciting work can purchase The Crusader 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 worlds 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. Pages 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 http://www.pagepublishing.com.
The Forbes Finance Council has announced that they have selected Joseph Milano, CHFC, CLU, CLTC, as a member of its invitation-only organization for senior-level financial services executives and leaders. Members are respected leaders who are selected for the council based on their depth and diversity of experience in the financial services industry.

This elite business community looks to strengthen connections, add visibility, and promote growth within the industry. Not only do members of this unique council share industry-specific position papers but also engage directly through on-line discussion rooms. This interaction benefits the population through the expansion of industry knowledge and heightened awareness of trending financial issues.

Mr. Milano, a native of New York, is a 20-year veteran of the Financial Services industry and has received countless industry awards and acknowledgements for his expertise and capabilities. In addition to being a published author, Mr. Milano has delivered numerous platform speeches to audiences around the country.

This is a tremendous honor and I look forward to engaging other financial professionals on the current state of our industry, said Milano. The interaction benefits not only the Council members, but the clients who depend upon our guidance and advice.

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ABOUT NEW SOUTH WEALTH MANAGEMENT

New South Wealth Management is a financial firm based in Charlotte, NC, with a client base stretching across over 20 states around the country. They are a team of caring financial professionals who advocate for their clients using years of knowledge and experiences. They educate families and business owners on innovative and personalized strategies to build trusting relationships.

For more information on New South Wealth Management, visit them online at: http://www.newsouthwealth.com

ABOUT FORBES COUNCILS

Forbes Councils is a collective of invitation-only communities created in partnership with Forbes and the expert community builders who founded Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC). In Forbes Councils, exceptional business owners and leaders come together with the people and resources that can help them thrive.

For more information about Forbes Finance Council, visit forbesfinancecouncil.com. To learn more about Forbes Councils, visit forbescouncils.com.
Monster Energys Alex Hall Takes Second Place in Tom Wallischs Steel City Showdown 2022

Another podium finish! Monster Energy congratulates Alex Hall on taking second place in Tom Wallischs Steel City Showdown 2022 at Seven Springs Mountain Resort, Pennsylvania, this weekend. In the progressive freeski event contested on rail obstacles, the 23-year-old Olympic gold medalist from Park City, Utah, rose all the way to the podium in an elite field of invited riders.

From March 18-19, Tom Wallischs Steel City Showdown featured more than 50 of the worlds best freeskiers on a technical contest course in Seven Springs. The qualifiers, semifinals, and finals were broadcast live to a global audience on the official X Games YouTube channel.

The invite-only event was created by pro skier Tom Wallisch, multiple gold medalist in Dew Tour, X Games, and FIS (International Ski Federation) competitions and broadcast announcer. With the Showdown event, Wallisch returns the focus on rail jam contests that reward the best technical tricks on rail obstacles and invites the best of the best riders to throw down.

Throwing down is exactly what Monster Energys Alex Hall has been doing this season. At X Games Aspen 2022, the Park City local took gold with a never-been-done 2160-degree aerial and medaled in three events. He carried the momentum into the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and claimed Ski Slopestyle gold for Team USA.

Hall is also no stranger to technical rail tricks and clinched the win in the previous iteration of Tom Wallischs Steel City Showdown in 2020. After the event took a one-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hall and his peers were fired up for another rail jam.

Hall coasted through the qualifiers and semifinals in the invite-only contest. In Saturdays final, the ten highest ranked men competed in a live scoring format for cash prizes. Plus, the judges handed out awards for the best trick, creativity, biggest send and more.

As the final unfolded under the lights on Saturday night, each rider received eight hits at the course. The best three scores counted as the final score for each rider. Setting the tone for the night, Hall opened with a switch 270 on the diving board rail to transfer into a pretzel 450 the down-flat-down rail for 94.00 points.

On his next run, Hall followed up with a stylish 450 on tail press pretzel on the middle rail feature for 83.00 points and an early lead. As American Mac Forehand took over the top spot, Hall fired back by getting creative with a wallie 270 on front-swap pretzel 270 off on the middle feature for 88.7 points to reclaim the lead.

But when Forehand returned to reclaim the top spot, Hall found himself catching up. He put down more technical moves like a 450 on swap to pretzel, but lost crucial points for early dismounts. With Forehands lead expanding, even Halls technical 450 on backswap 270 out the middle rail for 92.00 points could not shake up the final standings. When all was said and done, Hall took home the trophy for second place on the strength of 274.7 points, only 0.9 points behind Forehand in first.

Regarded as one of the pacesetters of freeski progression, Hall is the current Olympic gold medalist in Mens Ski Slopestyle. Hall also holds 9 X Games medals (5 Gold, 1 Silver, 3 Bronze) and has achieved the rare feat of earning X Games gold medals in four disciplines: Big Air, Slopestyle, Knuckle Huck, and the Real Ski video competition.

Viewers who missed the action at Tom Wallischs Steel City Showdown this weekend can watch the full replay of the finals here.

For more on Alex Hall and the Monster Energy freeski team, visit http://www.monsterenergy.com. Follow Monster Energy on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok for exclusive updates as the snow season continues.

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About Monster Energy

Based in Corona, California, Monster Energy is the leading marketer of energy drinks and alternative beverages. Refusing to acknowledge the traditional, Monster Energy supports the scene and sport. Whether motocross, off-road, NASCAR, MMA, BMX, surf, snowboard, ski, skateboard, or the rock and roll lifestyle, Monster Energy is a brand that believes in authenticity and the core of what its sports, athletes and musicians represent. More than a drink, its the way of life lived by athletes, sports, bands, believers and fans. See more about Monster Energy including all of its drinks at http://www.monsterenergy.com.
Power Home Remodeling (Power), the nations largest full-service exterior home remodeling company, announced today two new policies to support their growing veteran and veteran spouse community, spearheaded by the Power Veterans Initiative (PVI). The nationally-recognized top workplace is offering five additional days of paid time off for veterans to attend any Veteran Affairs (VA) appointments pertaining to preventative care, disability claims, mental health counseling, or any appointment needed with their local VA office. Veteran spouses can also utilize this paid time off if a veteran requires a medical escort.

Additionally, the company is now offering one day off for National Guard and Reserve members to re-acclimate after their required annual training or extended active duty orders to help them transition back into civilian life and work. Power implemented these policies in an effort to not only improve the experience at work for the veteran population, but to support their physical and mental well-being.

The changes are the direct result of feedback from PVIs Quick Response Forces (QRF)  a rapid response unit common in the military  consisting of frontline veteran and inspired civilian employees who continue to build the initiative, gain employee intelligence and feedback across the business, and improve the experience for veterans at Power.

The move correlates with a shift in how veterans are using services offered by the VA, with a particular focus on mental health. Usage of mental health services from the VA increased 90 percent from 2016 to 2019, and the VA is projecting an additional 32% increase in outpatient mental health care over the next 10 years, a critical tool to combat the suicide rate among veterans, which is 1.5 times higher than the general population. After learning of widespread underutilization and cancellation of VA appointments within the Power veteran community for fear of missing work or utilizing too much of their standard paid time off, the QRF developed and implemented these new policies with support from Powers HR department and executive leadership.

It can be extremely difficult and overwhelming to navigate working with the VA to seek medical care and mental health support coming out of the military, said Hollie Delaney, chief people officer at Power Home Remodeling. Veterans are dealing with that along with transitioning back into civilian life and work, so when our military affairs team told us that our people needed this, we undoubtedly said yes. Were committed to offering resources and support to our military community. Delaney is also a veteran spouse.

PVI was created to recruit, train and develop veteran employees by cultivating an environment that reawakens the sense of purpose and camaraderie they experienced in the military. Over the years, this community has also harnessed lessons learned from their military experience to fuel their individual success, which in turn feeds the growth and scale of the business, said co-national director James Boscia. What makes this initiative so unique is the sense of community weve built for veterans and spouses where they feel at home, fully supported, at home, and most of all  heard. These policies were necessary to ensure our people continue to feel that sense of support and care.

Recognized as one of Fortunes 100 Best Companies To Work For in 2021, Power Home Remodeling offers engaging, fulfilling career opportunities where employees thrive. To learn more about Power and view career opportunities available in its 17 territories nationwide, visit apply.workatpower.com/jobs For more information about PVI, please visit: https://www.powerveterans.com.

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About Power Home Remodeling

Power Home Remodeling is a dream realization company  believing its purpose is to create positive change in everything the company touches  from customers homes to employees lives to the communities they live and work in. Power realizes this purpose by being people-first. Its employees and customers come before profit and their well-being factors into every business decision. Established in 1992, Power is the nations largest, full-service, exterior home remodeler with more than 2,600 employees, over one million customers and $825 million in annual revenue. Headquartered in the Philadelphia region, Powers primary product line includes windows, siding, roofing, doors, solar roofing panels, and attic insulation, providing energy-saving solutions to residents across its operating territories, including: Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington D.C. and Wisconsin.
Alan J. Gunner, AEG Vision, LLC, elected to the Prevent Blindness Board of Directors. Alan Gunner has been a volunteer for our Ohio affiliate of Prevent Blindness for several years and has also brought his talents to bear for national fundraising efforts, said Jeff Todd, president and CEO of Prevent Blindness.

Prevent Blindness, the nations oldest volunteer eye health and safety organization, has announced that Mr. Alan J. Gunner, Vice President, Revenue Cycle Management, AEG Vision, LLC, has been named to the Prevent Blindness Board of Directors. The vote was held on March 18, at the 2022 Prevent Blindness Spring Board Meeting.

Alan Gunner has decades of experience in the eyecare, insurance and vision care industry. At AEG Vision, he leads managed vision care operations, revenue cycle management and the revenue cycle integration of newly acquired businesses into the AEG Vision common platform.

Prior to joining AEG Vision, Gunner was Senior Partner at Visibility Management, LLC, where he provided consulting services in the eye care industry in areas such as operations analysis, contracting, managed vision care, product development and strategic planning. Gunner also previously worked at For Eyes by GrandVision, Advantica, Inc., Express Scripts, Inc., and EyeMed Vision Care.

Since 2014, Gunner has served as an Executive Council Member for the Prevent Blindness, Ohio Affiliate, and joined the Ohio Board of Directors in May 2021. He has also volunteered as the Prevent Blindness, Ohio Affiliate - Northeast Ohio Swing Fore Sight Chair, and as its Marketing and Development committee co-chair.

Gunner has a B.B.A. in Marketing from Kent State University and was a member of the Beta Pi chapter of Delta Sigma Pi. He also served in the Ohio Army National Guard.

Alan Gunner has been a volunteer for our Ohio affiliate of Prevent Blindness for several years and has also brought his talents to bear for national fundraising efforts. We enthusiastically welcome him and the years of expertise and demonstrated leadership he brings to our national Board of Directors, said Jeff Todd, president and CEO of Prevent Blindness.

For a full listing of members of the Prevent Blindness Board of Directors, please visit preventblindness.org/prevent-blindness-board-directors. For more information about Prevent Blindness or general eye health information, visit preventblindness.org.

About Prevent Blindness

Founded in 1908, Prevent Blindness is the nation's leading volunteer eye health and safety organization dedicated to fighting blindness and saving sight. Focused on promoting a continuum of vision care, Prevent Blindness touches the lives of millions of people each year through public and professional education, advocacy, certified vision screening and training, community and patient service programs and research. These services are made possible through the generous support of the American public. Together with a network of affiliates, Prevent Blindness is committed to eliminating preventable blindness in America. For more information, visit us at preventblindness.org, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.
"Women have realized there are new opportunities as more and more employers are hearing what women want, which includes equal pay and benefits that directly affect their day-to-day lives." Career Counselor Stacie Haller

ResumeBuilder.com, the premier resource for free and professional resume templates, has published a recent survey report that examines women in the job market and their top priorities when looking for new employment opportunities. This report also highlights womens perspectives on equal pay, family leave, and more. The study generated responses from 1,250 American women 25 or older who are currently employed or unemployed but actively looking for new jobs.

According to the survey, 86 percent of the women from this study are currently employed, and 37 percent of them are actively looking for new jobs. The primary reason working women are seeking new jobs is a higher salary. Sixty-three percent of female job-hunters will leave their current positions because they want to earn more money. In contrast, 53 percent of employed women, who are not job-hunting, say they are satisfied with their current salary and position.

Data results show that a bigger paycheck is not the only thing jobseekers are looking for in their next role. Many women want to be paid equally as male coworkers, and 85 percent of respondents say it is very important that they earn the same pay as men in the same position. Seventy-one percent of respondents say they would only accept a job if the employer offered them a salary equal to a male in the same role. Conversely, 22 percent of women job-hunters would accept an offer regardless of pay inequality.

"Women have realized there are new opportunities as more and more employers are hearing what women want, which includes equal pay and benefits that directly affect their day-to-day lives," career counselor and executive recruiter Stacie Haller says. "With the current focus on attracting and retaining talent, women have more flexibility and options than ever before."

Women are also considering benefits and leave policies when evaluating employment opportunities. Forty-two percent of survey respondents say that a companys maternity or family leave policies are very important, and 33 percent of women say it is somewhat important. Millennial women in particular are prioritizing these policies, with 90 percent reporting that maternity and family leave is very or somewhat important. Only 16 percent of women 55 and older believe that family and maternity leave is important. Survey respondents also cite that the most important benefits under these policies are flexible time off, health insurance for dependents, remote work opportunities, paid maternity leave, and onsite childcare.

ResumeBuilder.com commissioned this survey to identify job searching habits among women 25 and older. The survey was administered via the online platform Pollfish from March 4 through Mach 6, 2022. Each respondent was found via a screening question and qualified based on their age, gender, and employment status. Respondents were asked to answer all questions truthfully and to the best of their abilities. To view the complete report, please visit https://www.resumebuilder.com/nearly-2-in-5-employed-women-are-job-hunting-with-higher-pay-as-the-goal/.

ABOUT RESUMEBUILDER.COM

ResumeBuilder.com provides free templates to help create professional resumes. The website also offers up-to-date information and machine learning tools for job seekers. With a team of certified resume writers, recruiting experts, and hiring managers, users gain a competitive advantage and confidence to get hired faster. To learn more, visit https://www.resumebuilder.com/.
Roderick A. Jones, a US Army veteran and Tennessee native, has completed his new book Shadows of the Past: a suspenseful tale about the mission of Greg, a police who had long went off duty, returning to law enforcement to capture a murderer. This criminal, in return, breaks his way through every conviction and eventually falls into a faceoff with Greg. Will justice rule in the end?

Jones shares, Greg Hardison resigned from the police force due to witnessing the tragic deaths of two close friends, a coworker and classmate. After years living a normal life, hes forced to live in the world with those dark memories again. He unexpectedly witnessed a murder by a mob boss who desperately wants to eliminate all bystanders to his crimes. Greg and his family are stalked, which forces him back to law enforcement to legally challenge this threat. With his renewed obligation to upholding the law, the police precinct tries to conceal his wife and child. So he draws the enraged mobster to him by stealing his $20 million shipment to save his kidnapped captain. Greg makes the fierce savage want a war. So hes going to give him one.

Published by Page Publishing, Roderick A. Jones well-written fiction will draw readers into a tale packed with action, suspense, danger, and a responsibility. As Greg invites the killer into his trap, will that man fall for it? Or will this put Greg and everyone he loves in utter danger?

Readers who wish to experience this brilliant work can purchase Shadows of the Past 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 worlds 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. Pages 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 http://www.pagepublishing.com
Were thrilled to be recognized as one of the regions fastest-growing companies.

Inc. magazine today announced that business texting platform Salesmsg is No. 27 on its third annual Inc. 5000 Regionals Southeast list, the most prestigious ranking of the fastest-growing private companies based in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Puerto Rico, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Born of the annual Inc. 5000 franchise, this regional list represents a unique look at the most successful companies within the Southeast region economys most dynamic segmentits independent small businesses.

Were thrilled to be recognized as one of the regions fastest-growing companies, says Founder and CEO Chris Brisson. Were a bootstrapped software platform focused on providing a simple, scalable, and deeply integrated business texting solution. Weve seen tremendous growth for our customers and our team in the last two years. Were proud to have helped our customers thrive during a challenging and unprecedented time.

The companies on this list show a remarkable rate of growth across all industries in the Southeast region. Between 2018 and 2020, these 173 private companies had an average growth rate of 147%, and, in 2020 alone, they added 27,794 jobs and nearly $4.9 billion to the Southeast regions economy.

Salesmsg provides simple, scalable, two-way business texting and calling. By providing a seamless online dashboard with CRM integration capabilities, businesses can engage with their customers faster and more efficiently, increasing sales and profitability. Learn more about the platform at https://www.salesmessage.com.

This years Inc. 5000 Regional winners represent one of the most exceptional and exciting lists of Americas off-the-charts growth companies. Theyre disruptors and job creators, and all delivered an outsize impact on the economy. Remember their names and follow their lead. These are the companies youll be hearing about for years to come, says Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc.

The Inc. 5000 Regionals Southeast List announcement confirms the salesmsg trajectory. Weve posted record-breaking revenue growth for ourselves and our customers, Brisson said. Weve never been closer to achieving our mission of being the leading all-in-one text messaging platform for sales, marketing, and support teams.

Complete results of the Inc. 5000 Regionals Southeast, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, metro area, and other criteria, can be found at https://www.inc.com/profile/salesmsg.

More about Inc. and the Inc. 5000 Regionals

Methodology

The 2022 Inc. 5000 Regionals are ranked according to percentage revenue growth when comparing 2018 and 2020. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2018. They had to be U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit and independentnot subsidiaries or divisions of other companiesas of December 31, 2019. (Since then, a number of companies on the list have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2018 is $100,000; the minimum for 2020 is $1 million. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons.

About Inc. Media

The worlds most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections and community to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including websites, newsletters, social media, podcasts and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent.

The associated Inc. 5000 Conference is part of a highly acclaimed portfolio of bespoke events produced by Inc. For more information, visit http://www.inc.com.
Palestinian refugee children are seen inside their house at Balata refugee camp in the West Bank city of Nablus, March 16, 2022. Palestinian refugees living in camps scattered throughout the West Bank are facing worsening livelihood as the humanitarian aid from the United Nations decreased due to insufficient funds. (Photo by Ayman Nobani/Xinhua)

by Sanaa Kamal

RAMALLAH, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian refugees living in camps scattered throughout the West Bank are facing worsening livelihood as the humanitarian aid from the United Nations decreased due to insufficient funds.

Inside the Balata camp in Nablus, Sohad Hammouda lives in a house of no more than 50 square meters with her 11-member family and is constantly worrying about bringing bread to the table.

"In the past, I mainly depended on the assistance provided by UNRWA, in terms of food and some money, but today things have changed, as it (UNRWA) has reduced the assistance it used to provide us," said the 50-year-old woman.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) was established in 1949 as a United Nations agency by a resolution of the General Assembly to provide assistance and protection to approximately 5.6 million Palestine refugees registered with it in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan.

As one of the oldest humanitarian projects the United Nations had initiated, the agency has spent decades helping the displaced Palestinians. But it is facing a major problem.

Officials of the agency said UNRWA has a financial deficit of about 100 million U.S. dollars in this fiscal year, which forced it to downsize its aiding programs, including cutting food rations.

"Instead of getting our food ration every month, we now can only get it every three months. And the quantity is much smaller, barely enough for a month," said Hammouda, while kneading flour to make bread for her children.

To make things worse, Hammouda's husband suffers from kidney failure while their eldest daughter is sick too, which aggravates the financial burden on the family.

"The word refugee means escaping from death to a safe haven, but we escaped from death to the continuous suffering," she said, adding that her family has been living as refugees for decades but still she saw no end to their suffering.

Ibrahim Sharara, aged 76, is a refugee with physical disabilities from the Balata camp. He usually sits in front of his dilapidated dwelling with his neighbors since there aren't enough jobs in the camp, especially for disabled elders.

Sharara said that life inside the refugee camp is not easy, especially since they have been waiting for aid from international institutions to survive.

"I have been living in the camp since 1950, as my family was among the first to reside in this camp to escape death and fear," the Palestinian said.

Both Hammouda and Sharara called for more aid from the international community as most of the refugees in the camp are deeply mired in absolute destitution.

Housing around 28,000 people, the Balata camp is only one of the 19 refugee camps in the West Bank, which all depend heavily on aid from the UNRWA.

"The camp suffers from overcrowding, while the population suffers from UNRWA's downsizing, as the residents depend on one medical clinic that operates during specific hours only," Faryal Kharoub, a community activist in Balata camp told Xinhua, adding they are afraid that the rest of the world is gradually forgetting the suffering of the Palestinians.

Hammouda said she saw no way for herself to live out of the refugee camp, where she has lived for many years, but she hoped that one day her children can get out and live in a prosperous place.

Nevin, one of her daughters, has entered a university to study computer programming.

"Although other students of my age dream of graduating from university to achieve their aspirations in life, I aspire to help my mother with household expenses and help my siblings complete their education," the 20-year-old university student said. 

Palestinian refugee students are seen outside a school at Balata refugee camp in the West Bank city of Nablus, March 16, 2022. Palestinian refugees living in camps scattered throughout the West Bank are facing worsening livelihood as the humanitarian aid from the United Nations decreased due to insufficient funds. (Photo by Ayman Nobani/Xinhua)

A Palestinian refugee girl looks out from her house window at Balata refugee camp in the West Bank city of Nablus, March 16, 2022. Palestinian refugees living in camps scattered throughout the West Bank are facing worsening livelihood as the humanitarian aid from the United Nations decreased due to insufficient funds. (Photo by Ayman Nobani/Xinhua)

Palestinian refugee children play in an alley at Balata refugee camp in the West Bank city of Nablus, March 16, 2022. Palestinian refugees living in camps scattered throughout the West Bank are facing worsening livelihood as the humanitarian aid from the United Nations decreased due to insufficient funds. (Photo by Ayman Nobani/Xinhua)

Palestinian refugee children are seen in an alley at Balata refugee camp in the West Bank city of Nablus, March 16, 2022. Palestinian refugees living in camps scattered throughout the West Bank are facing worsening livelihood as the humanitarian aid from the United Nations decreased due to insufficient funds. (Photo by Ayman Nobani/Xinhua)

A Palestinian refugee is seen outside his house at Balata refugee camp in the West Bank city of Nablus, March 16, 2022. Palestinian refugees living in camps scattered throughout the West Bank are facing worsening livelihood as the humanitarian aid from the United Nations decreased due to insufficient funds. (Photo by Ayman Nobani/Xinhua)
"ThunderCat supports significant efforts in growth and development through training, certifying and hands on learning."

ThunderCat Technology today announced that CRN, a brand of The Channel Company, will feature ThunderCat on its 2022 Tech Elite 250 list. This is ThunderCats 9th appearance on the list. This list recognizes solution providers across the U.S. and Canada that have earned the highest level of technical certifications from leading technology suppliers such as Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Dell Technologies, Cisco and more. Companies chosen for the Tech Elite 250 list have distinguished themselves as dedicated and passionate solution providers willing to go above and beyond for their customers by ensuring they have the training and technical know-how necessary to provide expert-level service.

These solution providers know their customers depend on their training and expertise to help them overcome todays IT challenges and achieve full digital transformation across the enterprise. In order to provide that expert service and care, solution providers must maintain consistently high levels of training and certification from IT vendors and achieve the highest tiers within those vendors partner programs.

ThunderCat Technologys SVP of Engineering and CIO, Kyle Langdon, commented on the honor, ThunderCat is honored to be a part of CRNs Tech Elite 250. 2021 was a significant transition year for the industry and ThunderCat. We continue to expand the value provided to our clients through deeper vendor relationships and new engineering capabilities. The IT landscape continues to evolve and our engineering team continues to be on the forefront of new technologies like digital transformation, DevSecOps and Cloud solutions. In order to maintain that knowledge, ThunderCat supports significant efforts in growth and development through training, certifying and hands on learning.

CRNs annual Tech Elite 250 list recognizes solution providers that have earned top-level certifications from key technology suppliers and proven their ability to consistently meet the high standards of their customers and partners, said Blaine Raddon, CEO of The Channel Company. Solution providers featured on this list have maintained a consistent focus on innovation and have built a comprehensive understanding of the ever-evolving technologies and practices that enable ongoing success in the IT channel. Were proud to honor them in this manner.

Coverage of the Tech Elite 250 will be featured in the April issue of CRN Magazine and online at http://www.CRN.com/techelite250.

About ThunderCat Technology

Currently ranked #51 on the Solution Provider 500, the award winning ThunderCat Technology is a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) that delivers technology products and services to government organizations, educational institutions, and commercial companies. Led by a combat-wounded CEO, ThunderCat is a systems integrator that brings an innovative approach to solving customer problems in and around the datacenter by providing strategies for Data Storage, Networking, Cyber Security, and Cloud Transformations. A proven leader, ThunderCat Technology provides and optimizes technologies from best of breed manufacturers. Clients include DOD, DHS, VA, Treasury, FBI, State of Virginia, State of NY, Sony, VISA, and CareFirst http://www.thundercattech.com.

About The Channel Company

The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers, and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequalled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. http://www.thechannelcompany.com

Follow The Channel Company: Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

 2022. CRN is a registered trademark of The Channel Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

The Channel Company Contact:

Jennifer Hogan

The Channel Company

jhogan@thechannelcompany.com
Dr. Sally Ride Quarter

Today, the United States Mint (Mint) began shipping the Dr. Sally Ride quarter, the second coin of the American Women Quarters (AWQ) Program. These circulating quarters honoring Dr. Ride are manufactured at the Mint facilities in Philadelphia and Denver. Coins featuring additional honorees will begin shipping later this year and through 2025.

Dr. Sally Ride captured the Nations imagination as a symbol of the ability of women to shatter barriers. Heralding her accomplishments via this beautiful quarter provides the Mint with yet another opportunity to connect America through coins, said Mint Deputy Director Ventris C. Gibson. The historic four-year AWQ program celebrates the breadth and depth of accomplishments of American women throughout our Nations history.

Dr. Ride was a physicist, pioneer in space exploration, and leader in science education. The first American woman to soar into space, Dr. Rides historic flight represented just one aspect of a remarkable and multi-faceted life. She was also an athlete, science writer, and professor. Dr. Ride graduated from Stanford University with a double major in physics and English. At the time, she was one of only a select group of women majoring in physics. She continued at Stanford and was completing her Ph.D. in physics when she read in the student newspaper that NASA was looking for new astronauts, and for the first time, women could apply. When she blasted off aboard space shuttle Challenger on June 18, 1983, Ride became the first American womanand, at 32, the youngest Americanin space. During the six days of mission STS-7, she deployed and retrieved a satellite with the shuttles robotic arm.

The reverse (tails) design depicts Dr. Ride next to a window on the space shuttle, inspired by her quote, But when I wasnt working, I was usually at a window looking down at Earth. It was designed by United States Mint Artistic Infusion Program (AIP) Artist Elana Hagler and sculpted by United States Mint Medallic Artist Phebe Hemphill. The inscription E PLURIBUS UNUM is intentionally positioned over the Earth next to the U.S., indicating that Dr. Ride was the first American woman in space. Additional inscriptions are UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, QUARTER DOLLAR, and DR. SALLY RIDE.

The obverse (heads) depicts a portrait of George Washington originally composed and sculpted by Laura Gardin Fraser to mark George Washingtons 200th birthday. Though her work was a recommended design for the 1932 quarter, then-Treasury Secretary Mellon ultimately selected the familiar John Flanagan design. Of Fraser, Deputy Director Gibson said, I am proud that the new obverse design of George Washington is by one of the most prolific female sculptors of the early 20th century. Laura Gardin Fraser was the first woman to design a U.S. commemorative coin, and her work is lauded in both numismatic and artistic circles. Ninety years after she intended for it to do so, her obverse design will fittingly take its place on the quarter.

The obverse design is common to all quarters issued in the series. Inscriptions are LIBERTY, IN GOD WE TRUST, and 2022.

Authorized by Public Law 116-330, the American Women Quarters Program features coins with reverse (tails) designs emblematic of the accomplishments and contributions of trailblazing American women. Beginning in 2022 and continuing through 2025, the Mint will issue five quarters in each of these years. The ethnically, racially, and geographically diverse group of individuals honored through this program reflects a wide range of accomplishments and fields, including suffrage, civil rights, abolition, government, humanities, science, space, and the arts. The additional honorees in 2022 are Maya Angelou, celebrated writer, performer, and social activist; Wilma Mankiller, the first female principal chief of the Cherokee Nation and an activist for Native American and womens rights; Nina Otero-Warren, a leader in New Mexicos suffrage movement and the first female superintendent of Santa Fe public schools; and Anna May Wong, the first Chinese American film star in Hollywood, who achieved international success despite racism and discrimination.

Sally would be so moved by this great honor. Its especially fitting that it comes during the 20th anniversary celebration for Sally Ride Science, said Tam OShaughnessy, Dr. Sally Rides life partner and co-founder and Executive Director of Sally Ride Science at UC San Diego. This tribute reflects Sallys legacy not only as a trailblazing astronaut but also as a champion of diversity and inclusion in STEM fields.

View B roll of AWQ production here.

View images of the Dr. Sally Ride quarter here.

View video of American Women on Coins here.

Numismatic Products

We invite you to learn more and enroll in the American Women Quarters Program today. Limited quantities will be produced, so sign up to ensure you receive a complete collection of American Women Quarters Program numismatic products.

About the United States Mint

Congress created the United States Mint in 1792, and the Mint became part of the Department of the Treasury in 1873. As the Nations sole manufacturer of legal tender coinage, the Mint is responsible for producing circulating coinage for the Nation to conduct its trade and commerce. The Mint also produces numismatic products, including proof, uncirculated, and commemorative coins; Congressional Gold Medals; silver and bronze medals; and silver and gold bullion coins. Its numismatic programs are self-sustaining and operate at no cost to taxpayers.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:



Visit https://www.usmint.gov/learn/coin-and-medal-programs/american-women-quarters for information about the American Women Quarters Program.

Visit https://www.usmint.gov/about for information about the United States Mint.

Visit and subscribe to the United States Mints YouTube channel to view videos about the United States Mint.

Visit https://catalog.usmint.gov/email-signup to subscribe to United States Mint electronic product notifications, news releases, and public statements.

Sign up for RSS Feeds from the United States Mint and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.

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United States Mint  Connecting America through Coins
One of the keys to our success with credit recovery is the design of our online asynchronous courses, said Carol DeFuria, President & CEO of VHS Learning. The other key is our highly-qualified teachers.

High school students now have the option of online credit recovery through VHS Learnings newly-created Spanish 1 course. The course helps motivated learners to recover the credit they need to graduate or progress to the next grade level. Spanish 1 Credit Recovery is part of VHS Learnings established online credit recovery program. The nonprofits credit recovery courses are open for enrollment; students progress through the coursework at their own pace and have up to 15 weeks to complete their coursework.

Spanish 1 Credit Recovery introduces students to the Spanish language and the cultures of Spanish-speaking countries. The curriculum is guided by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language World Readiness Standards, with emphasis on reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. Students will record and upload videos of themselves speaking in Spanish to demonstrate their proficiency in the speaking domain. VHS Learning will also introduce Spanish 1 as an 8-week paced summer course beginning in June 2022.

VHS Learnings 73% credit recovery average pass rate helps high schools bring struggling students back on track. One of the keys to our success with credit recovery is the design of our online asynchronous courses, said Carol DeFuria, President & CEO of VHS Learning. The other key is our highly-qualified teachers.

For more than 25 years, VHS Learning has maintained a stellar reputation for educational quality, including rigorous professional development for the certified teachers who provide instruction. All VHS Learning teachers complete graduate-level Online Teaching Methodologies (OTM) training to learn best practices for online teaching and learning, and 81% of VHS Learning teachers possess a masters degree or higher.

VHS Learning course design and delivery standards were the model used by the National Education Association when they created the first standards for online learning. In 2019, in collaboration with the international nonprofit Quality Matters, VHS Learning helped update the National Standards for Quality (NSQ) in three areas: Online Courses, Online Teaching, and Online Programs.

Before registering for a VHS Learning credit recovery or summer course, students should consult their school to ensure credit will be granted.

About VHS Learning

VHS Learning is a nonprofit organization with over 25 years of experience providing world-class online programs to students and schools everywhere. Offering more than 300 unique online courses for high school credit, including 24 AP courses, credit recovery, and enrichment courses, VHS Learning is accredited by Middle States Association Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools (MSA-CESS), Accrediting Commission for Schools, Western Association of Schools and Colleges (ACS WASC), and Cognia. Courses are approved for initial eligibility by NCAA. For more information about VHS Learning please visit https://www.vhslearning.org/ and follow on Twitter at @VHSLearning.
With a 2 year growth rate of 929% (and 3 year growth rate of 1755%), Inc. magazine today revealed that CANOPY Management is No.13 on its third annual Inc. 5000 Regionals Southwest list, the most prestigious ranking of the fastest-growing private companies based in Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. Born of the annual Inc. 5000 franchise, this regional list represents a unique look at the most successful companies within the Southwest region economys most dynamic segmentits independent small businesses.

Brian Burt, CANOPY Management Founder and CEO said, Were extremely honored to be recognized by Inc. as the Fastest Growing Advertising and Marketing Provider in the Southwest. Its a testament to the incredible team weve been able to build here [at CANOPY], and the results were able to deliver to our Partners... we firmly believe there is no ceiling to our continued, and exponential growth!

The companies on this list show a remarkable rate of growth across all industries in the Southwest region. Between 2018 and 2020, these companies had an average growth rate of 154% percent and, in 2020 alone, they added 10,563 jobs and nearly $10.9 billion to the Southwest regions economy. Companies based in the Austin, Texas, Scottsdale, Arizona, and Fort Worth, Texas, areas had the highest growth rate overall.

Complete results of the Inc. 5000 Regionals Southwest, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, metro area, and other criteria, can be found at inc.com/southwest starting March 15, 2022.

This years Inc. 5000 Regional winners represent one of the most exceptional and exciting lists of Americas off-the-charts growth companies. Theyre disrupters and job creators, and all delivered an outsize impact on the economy. Remember their names and follow their lead. These are the companies youll be hearing about for years to come, says Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc.

CANOPY Management is a Full Service Amazon Brand Management Firm. With over 100+ in House Amazon Experts, the CANOPY team is able to consistently deliver an avg. 84% Year over Year Profit Growth to their Partners.

Contact: Chuck Kessler, Head of Content for CANOPY Management

chuckkessler@canopymanagement.com | tel: 310.251.5942

More about Inc. and the Inc. 5000 Regionals

Methodology

The 2022 Inc. 5000 Regionals are ranked according to percentage revenue growth when comparing 2018 and 2020. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2018. They had to be U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit, and independentnot subsidiaries or divisions of other companiesas of December 31, 2019. (Since then, a number of companies on the list have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2018 is $100,000; the minimum for 2020 is $1 million. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons.

About Inc. Media

The worlds most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including websites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent.

The associated Inc. 5000 Conference is part of a highly acclaimed portfolio of bespoke events produced by Inc. For more information, visit http://www.inc.com.
Vivat Publishing was established in 2013 after the merger of the two well-known Ukrainian publishers  Pelican and Argument-Print. Based in Kharkiv, Vivat is the second largest publishing house in Ukraine with approximately 3,000 titles in print. PW interviewed Vivat's CEO, Yulia Orlova, by email about how the company is trying to continue to work, despite its hometown having been under constant bombardment from Russia for the past three weeks and much of the city destroyed.

Are you safe?

You know, during these days of war in Ukraine, such a question, as well as simply asking, How are you?, is a expression of genuine love. Any support or care that is shown for us means a great deal and we are grateful to everyone for it. Naturally, talking about safety in the midst of the full-scale war is an arduous task: my colleagues and I are deeply concerned about our own safety and that of our loved ones. We are forced to live in shelters or else are fleeing the regions where there is fighting, but only when that is possible.

Are you able to work?

Truth to be told, working is very difficult. Vivat Publishing has a fairly large structure, with more than 100 staff. Until now, only a few of my colleagues have stayed in Kharkiv, where for three weeks there has been daily, intensive bombing that has destroyed the city. The majority of my co-workers were forced to leave their homes and move to other, comparatively peaceful regions of Ukraine, or flee abroad. It is no surprise that some of them were unable to take any equipment needed for work -- laptops, computers, tablets, etc. Most were leaving hastily and were emotionally overwhelmed. They grabbed only the most necessary documents. Some didnt have any equipment to work at home at all. Right now, getting access to a high-speed Internet connection is very difficult, work servers are operating only intermittently, in a situation where almost everyone is forced to work remotely, in harsh conditions, in other cities or even countries, it is a significant challenge. But we are trying.

Some publishers have tried to move operations to Poland and further afield. Do you intend to publish books abroad?

So far, we are actively building partnerships with Polish publishers. As for the future, we are eager to collaborate with the broadest possible number of foreign publishers, those have the interest in publishing books from Ukrainian authors. This is for adult titles and, especially, childrens books. And those who know our work, know that we produce professionally designed books of the highest European quality. We are anxious to start a large-scale collaboration and would like to sell even more foreign rights to our books. Small print runs are fine, as we are eager to work with publishers abroad.

Why do we emphasize buying and selling rights, and not simply offer them for free to spread our message? Well, we have existing contracts with illustrators, authors, and editors and are obliged to fulfill them. In addition, this allows us the opportunity to stay in business and provide everyone with income. That said, we are open to discussing discrete, short print runs of our books in the Ukrainian language in those countries which have accepted a large number of refugees. In this case, we are ready to provide original mock-ups of the books without payment.

Are you able to sell e-books, for example, to fill the gap in production and distribution?

At the start of the war we opened access to all of our books, both for adults and children, free of charge. We know that, today, only some people can afford to buy books. However, this must not hinder opportunities for Ukrainians to read. So free access to Vivat books is our moral responsibility. It is our way to support, as much as possible, all Ukrainians who are hiding in basements or bomb shelters. The program has been received positively and we have encouraged readers who are able to donate any money they have in their ePidtrymka accounts to help the Armed Forces of Ukraine. For those who dont know, The ePidtrymka account is a government program that offered 1,000 hryvnia -- $35 -- as an incentive to get the Covid-19 vaccine. The money could be spent on a range of goods, but the biggest beneficiary of the program was bookstores, with 30% of Ukrainians using the money to buy books and it generated, as of the end of 2021, nearly a billion hryvnia in sales ($35 million). Now, with the outbreak of the full-scale war, citizens of Ukraine are entitled to send these funds to support the army. So, we believe that our initiative may be considered as our contribution to future victory, even now.

It must be noted that the free e-books are only available to those in Ukraine. Under our contracts, we cannot distribute books freely abroad. Even in these difficult times, we are putting a lot of effort into maintaining our legal agreements and maintaining good relationships with our business partners.

Could you share your opinion on how publishing and your company can foster the fight against Putin?

Since 2014, our publishing plan has included many distinctive books that shed a light on current events. They include Putinocracy: The Man of Power and Its System by Boris Reitshuster and Putin's Wars: The Rise of Russia's New Imperialism by Marcel H. Van Hebpen. We are already negotiating to prolong the foreign rights and to reprint these books. Today, these books are more relevant than ever.

Additionally, we are working with American publishers and journalists to showcase a few of our most highly relevant titles focusing on current events. Our list features several books by Sergiy Korsunsky, the ambassador for Ukraine to Japan, which include How to Build Partnerships with Asian Countries and Foreign Policy in Times of Transformations: How Not to Be Life on the Sidelines of History. Korsunsky is working actively with Japanese diplomats to acquire support for Ukraine from Japan and we are beginning to see the fruits of his efforts.

At least three of our Ukrainian authors are defending our country against the enemy, including the historian and writer Vakhtang Kipiani, who is the bestselling author of The Case of Vasyl Stus. But most our authors and workers are dedicated volunteers doing their best for the day of victory.

I guess the main goal of all Ukrainian publishers today is to help inform readers about those geopolitical processes we are witnessing every day. Without a doubt, we are going to observe tectonic shifts. So, the major task of the publishing industry is to present to the society substantive, potent up-to-date information in books. All of our efforts are being directed to help readers and the citizens of Ukraine to make sense of the events happening to them, to help them avoid becoming a victim of Russias hostile propaganda and the fake news, which has flooded our country.

How can the international publishing community assist you?

We are very open to working with anyone who wants to help us abroad. In particularly, we would like to ask the International Publishers Association for support. It is a global political moment. We plead that the IPA and the president of IPA publicly condemn the Russian aggression.

We also ask that the Ukrainian Publishers Association's (UPA) appeal to the head officers of the international exhibitions and book fairs to ban the participation of the Russian state stand, and even the participation of Russian publishers at the international forums. We ask this because we believe it is unfair that Ukrainian publishers are forced to abandon their work due to Russian aggression  and are forced to protect their country while Russian publishers will use the opportunity to attend book fairs and international forums and fellowships. These days, we feel it is impossible to separate Putin's actions from the silence of ordinary citizens of Russia.

Ultimately, purchasing translation and publication rights to the titles of Ukrainian authors will become the real support of Ukrainian publishing. We can be further encouraged by publishers abroad understating our situation and offering us rights in line with our ability to pay. And for those who are interested and willing, we can provide free mock-ups for publishers willing to do print runs at their own expense of Ukrainian childrens books for refugees living abroad. Finally, we are looking to a foundation or philanthropy to help in purchasing existing Ukrainian print books and helping to transport them from Ukraine to foreign libraries abroad, for their preservation and to serve communities of Ukrainians living there.

Anything else you would like to add?

I just want to offer our heartfelt thanks to those who are supporting Ukraine in these grueling times. I believe that together, through our work, communication and collaboration, it will help lead Ukraine to victory and further support world democracy and freedom. Anyone who wants to reach us should email office@vivat.factor.ua.
Some 60 American companies, primarily small and medium publishing houses, are exhibiting this year in Bologna. Among the largest publishing houses, Random House says it will not be sending anyone to Bologna, while HarperCollins says it will send two people from its rights team and Simon & Schuster says it will send one. Chronicle Books says it will send three people, including Jack Jensen, president of the McEvoy Group. From Abrams, CEO Michael Jacobs plans to attend.

Among the other American houses in attendance will be Levine Querido, which won the Bologna Prize for best North American childrens publisher in 2021. It will be exhibiting alongside Querido Netherlands at a shared booth. LQ publisher Arthur A. Levine will attend the fair and host a meet and greet for debut author-illustrator Ellen Heck (A Is for Bee).

Longtime fairgoer Christopher Franceschelli, publisher of Handprint Books, says he cant wait to get back to the fair, because I think that good publishing only happens when theres a necessary creative friction between authors, artists, editors and publishers. His schedule is definitely lighter than in previous years, but, he adds, I think thats a terrific opportunity to go out and find new publishers whom I havent worked with in the past.

Meetings and deals are a key part of the fair. A licensing fair happens concurrently on the fairgrounds.

Rachel Horowitz, senior director of subsidiary rights for HarperCollins Childrens Books, says despite the pandemic, foreign licensing has been robust, and her team adapted quickly to working virtually. Still, they missed the magic that can happen at fairs, the natural conversations about books and authors, the galleys shared on trains. At Bologna they have three days of meetings and full schedules. We will also have two team members taking meetings virtually, concurrently, at home in New York, she adds.

Despite the various challenges presented by travel restrictions linked to the pandemic and the fighting in Ukraine, Europeansespecially European literary agentsexpressed the most eagerness to return to Bologna.

French literary agent Hannele Legras says her firm will be attending and participating in the French collective stand. We are really happy to be attending Bologna, she says. Our schedules are filling in well, more than we expected at first. The publishers we represent, all independent and creative publishers, will also be there to tour the fair and get together with their international friends.

Gemma Cooper, Amelia Hodgson, and Molly Ker Hawn, all with the Bent Agency in the U.K., are planning to attend and will be set up with two tables at the Agents Center. Were doing three days of meetings and our schedule is filling up, which is exciting, Cooper says. We werent sure how many international editors would be going, but so far, its a good number.

Chiara Tognetti launched her eponymous foreign rights agency, based in Milan, during the pandemic. For me, this is a very exciting time, she says. I cannot wait to meet international publishers in person again, physical books in hand. The fair always provides an unbeatable overview of how the market is moving. I know it wont quite be the same as in pre-Covid times, but it is energizing to plan a physical book fair, and my schedule is already nearly full. Fingers crossed it all goes aheadit will be a real boost to the international publishing business.
Elena Pasoli, Bolognas program director, emphasizes that this year the Bologna Children's Book Fair will see more exhibitors than ever from a greater number of countries around the world, this is despite the reluctance of some publishers to travel due to the potential for a Covid-19 resurgence and the war in Ukraine, this is in no way a minor fair. We expect it will have the excitement and energy it always has, she says, noting that the fair will have exhibitors from 85 countries. Among English-speaking countries, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand will all have collective stands. There are more publishers coming from Latin America than we initially anticipated, Pasoli adds, and from Asia, we have publishers from Indonesia, Korea, and Taiwan.

One country that is unlikely to have representatives in Bologna is China. The Shanghai Childrens International Book Fair moved from November 2021 and was rescheduled to overlap with Bologna this year, but it has since been rescheduled again for July 2224. Russias national collective stand has also been banned from the fair following the countrys invasion of Ukraine, though Pasoli says Bologna will welcome independent Russian publishersthose not affiliated with the governmentshould they be able to travel. To assist and show support for Ukrainian publishers, the fair is offering an exhibition focused on Ukrainian books, with titles chosen from among those submitted to the BolognaRagazzi Award over the past years. International publishers attending the fair have also been asked to bring along Ukrainian books translated and published in their own countries.

The Guest of Honor this year is the United Arab Emirate of Sharjah. Sharjah was UNESCO World Book Capital 20192020 and was originally scheduled to participate in the fair in 2020, before it was canceled. More than 30 Arab writers, illustrators, artists, and storytellers will be showcased in a series of events, including two exhibitions: one featuring Arabic publishing and illustration called Insight, Reflect, and a second exhibiting books from the Etisalat Award for Arabic Childrens Literature competition.

A special program will also focus, for the first time at Bologna, exclusively on books and publishing from Africa. The program was born out of the passion of Bodour al Quasimi of the International Publishers Association, who offered assistance and sponsorship from the Africa Publishing Innovation Fund, Pasoli says. A dedicated exhibition area will host publishing professionals from several countries, including Benin, Ethiopia, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, and Zimbabwe. We are particularly excited to feature books in Indigenous languages and discuss about how childrens publishing goes a long way to helping preserve Indigenous languages, Pasoli adds.

Swaady Martin, of Loving Kindness Boma, Cote d'Ivoire, said in an interview, "The state of the publishing industry in Africa is as diverse as the number of countries on the continent. Cultural differences of religion, language, and customs, socio-economic development, literacy, infrastructure and the relationship with the former colonizer create different sets of challenges and opportunities. For example, 9 of the least literate countries in the world are in Africa (the least literate is Chad: 22%) but some of the most literate countries in the world are also in Africa (Seychelles, Equatorial Guinea, South Africa ~95%). While Equatorial Guinea and South Africa have similar high literacy rates, access to books in these two markets is very different. While South Africa has the most developed book distribution network in Africa, there is almost no book distribution network in Equatorial Guinea."

Sandra Tamele, founder and editor of Editora Trinta Zero Nove, Mozambique, who is participating in the program, said in an interview, "In the last two years, we have seen the emergence of young independent publishers, such as ETZN, eager to engage with the digital age and make books more affordable and appealing, bringing them closer to the homes of potential readers. And children and young adults make up the vast majority of these readers."

The whole "Spotlight on Africa" program can be seen here.
In the weeks since Russia invaded Ukraine, the international publishing community has come together with a number of initiatives aimed at offering support to childrens authors, publishers, and aid organizations. For those interested in helping, there are a number of ways to get involved.

KidLitForUkraine Stories of Hope Virtual Event

On Tuesday, March 22 at 7 p.m., more than two dozen childrens authors and illustrators will join the Stories of Hope virtual event organized by author Marc Tyler Nobleman and hosted by KidLit TV. The event brings together American authors including Kathi Appelt, Jason Chin, Donna Barba Higuera, Minh Le, Neal Shusterman, Rita Williams-Garcia, and Ukrainian authors Victoria Amelina ( ), Adrianna Bamber ( ), and Olha Kupriyan ( ). Surprise guests are expected to attend as well. Donations will go to Save the Children, which is operating on-the-ground support for families and children in Ukraine. The organization has been operating in the country since the first Russian invasion in 2014.

During Stories of Hope, the authors will read and tell stories, some taken from their books but also personal ones. The stories are not explicitly about Ukraine, but rather for Ukraine, Nobleman said, noting that the stories by the Ukrainian authors will contain powerful emotional appeals. Participants will have the opportunity to donate during and after the event. Translation to provide English subtitles for videos in Ukrainian has been volunteered.

Click here to register/donate and to watch the program. All the donated proceeds from the event go directly to Save the Children.

Book Sales Equal a Donation

Enchanted Lion Books is donating 100% of the proceeds from online sales of How War Changed Rondoby Ukrainian husband-and-wife author-illustrator team Romana Romanyshyn and Andriy Lesiv, translated into English by Oksana Lushchevskato UNICEFs Ukraine relief funds. The picture book, released in fall 2021, tells the story of three children whose peaceful life is disrupted by war and ultimately offers a message of peace and hope. The book must be ordered from the publishers website (donations are only made for books purchased through the company website).

Pre-Order to Help Ukrainian Author

Picture book publisher Red Comet Press has worked with translator Zenia Tompkins to translate into English The Happiest Lion Cub by Ukrainian author Oleksandr Shatokhin. The book centers on a lion prince who would rather pursue his dream of being a musician than fulfill his destiny as a king. Shatokhin is a father of two young children and his family has been subjected to daily bomb threats in their Ukrainian town, Sumy. Red Comet releases the book on September 13, but pre-orders will help the author now.

Buy a Book, Donate to a Classroom

City of Light Publishing, an independent publisher in Buffalo, N.Y., has organized a campaign around its picture book Hello! A Welcoming Story by Gina K. Lewis, illustrated by Maria Jose Campos. The dual narrative story recounts the stories of refugee children from their own perspectives and from those of their classmates. Through its Welcome Ukrainian Refugees Book Donation Campaign, communities can purchase books to donate to their local schools and a portion of the proceeds will benefit the UN Refugee Agencys Ukraine Emergency Fund. The book is written in English.

U.K. Publisher Translates Ukrainian Picture Book, Donates Proceeds

Next month, Bonnier Books UK will release an English translation of picture book Maya and Her Friends by author and activist Larysa Denysenko, illustrated by Masha Foya, both Ukrainian. The book was published in 2017 with the title Maya and Her Moms and was controversial in Ukraine because of the main characters parents, a lesbian couple. The story takes place after the 2014 annexation of Crimea and occupation of part of Ukraines Donetsk and Luhansk regions. In Mayas classroom, each of the children has been touched by the war in a different way. The English edition features a new introduction by Denysenko, written while she was sheltering from missiles just a few weeks ago. The book will also be published in Finland, Poland, and Germany. All of the companys profits will be donated to UNICEF. The book can be pre-ordered here.

U.K. Publisher Donates Profits from Immigration Book to Relief

For every copy sold of The Suitcase by Chris Naylor-Ballesteros (2020), U.K. publisher Nosy Crow will donate 1 per book to Disasters Emergency Committees Ukraine Appeal. The picture book is about having to leave ones home and relying on the kindness of strangers. The publisher is also working on a Ukrainian edition of the book.

Canadian Publisher Reprints Classic Childrens Book in Support

Canadian publisher Durvile Publications is publishing The Little Book: Story Reader for a Free Ukraine, a new edition of a 1940s book used in Canadian schools to help Ukrainian immigrant children learn to read. The themes in the book, which was originally published in Lviv, include duty and responsibility to the homeland of Ukraine, the value and love of family, and living the farm life and features beautiful illustrations. The book has been translated into English by Magda Stroinska, a professor of linguistics and languages at McMaster University. The stories in the book are aimed at children from about eight to 14. Proceeds from the bookto be published March 31 and available at Indigo/Chapters as well online outlets and direct from the publisherwill go to the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal of the Canada Ukraine Foundation.

Ukrainian Publisher Raises Funds for Lviv Residents

Ukrainian childrens book publisher The Old Lion Publishing House produces about 130 childrens books a year, including picture books, fiction, poetry, and activity books. Foreign rights director Ivan Fedechko is appealing to international publishing colleagues for help for the embattled citizens of the companys hometown, Lviv. Located just 50 miles from the Polish border in western Ukraine, the city has been pummeled by airstrikes in recent days. Donations will go directly to relief organizations within the city that are providing for vital needs such as food, shelter, clothing, and medical attention. The donation link is located here.

Polish Literacy Foundation Publishes, Distributes Books to Refugee Children

As we reported earlier, the Polish literacy foundation Fundacja Powszechnego Czytania (Universal Reading Foundation) is working with Ukrainian childrens book publishers to print and distribute books in Ukrainian for refugee children in Poland. Using established distribution networks, the Foundation has already begun to distribute books to children staying in shelters and beginning to attend schools in Poland. All services have been donated by Polish publishers, printers and distributors, and all proceeds will go to Ukrainian childrens book publishers. Donations for this effort can be made here.



Books Offer Comfort

Finally, in these troubling times, books are already providing comfort to children. Author Dan Gutman has used his social media channels to share photos of a Ukrainian refugee boy who is trying to learn English by reading his My Weird School books. The photos speak to the power of books to offer comfort and hope to children when its needed the most.
Herald Press is pulling Canadian pastor Bruxy Cavey's books after an investigation of sexual misconduct allegations against him. The Meeting House, one of Canadas largest Anabaptist churches, asked Cavey to resign after completing the third-party investigation and determining that the pastors actions were sexual harassment and an abuse of power. After resigning, Cavey admitted to what he calls his greatest failure and darkest sin. He is the author of Reunion and The End of Religion.

In a statement, Heralds publisher Amy Gingerich explained the decision. We take our responsibility of resourcing the church seriously, Gingerich said. Like The Meeting House, we at MennoMedia also stand against sexual misconduct, sexual harassment, and the abuse of power and authority. Given that The Meeting House asked Cavey to resign and removed all his teaching videos from their website and the Be In Christ denomination revoked his credentials for ministry, we at Herald Press cannot in good faith sell his books.

Herald is not recalling copies of Cavey's books, and existing inventory of the titles may still be available through retailers. Herald will no longer be publishing, printing, or distributing the books, however, and it is declaring them out of print. While Herald is ending its publishing relationship with Cavey, the press says it is not reverting rights to the two titles back to the author at this time.
Shauna Niequist has sold 1.3 million copies of such books as Bittersweet (2010) and Present over Perfect (2016), which dealt with seasons of change, healing from trauma and grief, and overcoming lifes hurdles. Now, the author is returning to familiar ground, but with a deeper sense of personal pain in her sixth trade book, I Guess I Havent Learned That Yet (Zondervan, April 12). Her latest title digs into overcoming change, particularly related to her father, former megachurch pastor Bill Hybels, a cross-country move, ongoing health problems, and the stress of raising children during a pandemic in an 825 square foot apartment.

Im in this funny place in my life where I just keep saying over and over, I guess I havent learned that yet, Niequist tells PW. Its what she told herself each time she faced a new challenge, and it helped rid her of the pressure of expectations. The only way I could get started on this book was to walk through it as a learner and a listener with curiosity, she says.

The main source of trauma for Niequist is what she describes as a cataclysmic shift. In 2018, a number of women affiliated with her fathers Chicago-based Willow Creek Community Church accused him of sexual misconduct. However, Niequists book doesnt discuss the controversy around Hybelsin fact, there is no mention of the allegations against her father by name or the resulting investigation. Rather, Niequist focuses on her own story.

In late 2018, Niequist, her husband Aaron and their sons Henry and Mac left behind their close-knit community of family and friends in the Chicago suburbs to move to New York City, where Niequist and Aaron enrolled in a MA program at General Theological Seminary. It was a really dramatic shift we encountered, Niequist says of the move. One of the first challenges she faced was enrolling her children in school. Back home, the strong sense of community made her feel safe; she knew exactly where her children would be and who theyd be with. In their new school, the process felt abrupt and impersonalall that was required was a birth certificate to get them set up the next day. That felt like our first big hurdle, like were living on a different planet, she says. It made her realize that there would be a lot of stark differences in her new life.

Another shift she experienced was in her faith practice. I grew up in a non-denominational Christian church in the Midwest. It was a church that my parents startedso I was used to being right at the center of it, she says. When she made the move to New York City, she joined a much smaller church. Though it took some getting used to, shes found joy in taking on a new role. All of a sudden I have the tremendous luxury of getting to be a parishioner and a normal attendee, she says.

Though there have been bright spots, the upheaval took its toll. The most challenging thing has been the compounding changes and traumas, she says. Not long after she arrived in New York, Niequist found out she was going through early menopause. Soon after, the pandemic hit, and her children were no longer able to attend school. She was also facing chronic pain. "It felt like whack-a-mole, once you get one thing sort of almost stabilized or you learn how to handle that, then theres something new, she says. Soldiering on through the deluge of challenges gave her resilience fatigue.

Carolyn McCready, executive editor at Zondervan who worked on several of Niequists past works, notes that though I Guess I Havent Learned That Yet was born out of pain, its not just a slog through the land of disappointment. Through the editing process, she found Niequists faith life and spiritual outlook to deepen, adding: There are really beautiful sparks of joy in the book.

If readers take one message away from her new book, Niequist hopes that it is: Youre not alone. And shes careful to say that this work is not prescriptive. Im not writing as an expert, a guide, or a pastor, but a fellow traveler, holding out my hand so that we can walk together, she says.

Niequist will be doing major press appearances, along with a book event at the 92nd Street Y in NYC with Savannah Guthrie on May 4, as well as an event in Nashville in April, according to the publisher.
RTHK: US says Myanmar repression of Rohingya is genocide

Violent repression of the largely Muslim Rohingya population in Myanmar amounts to genocide, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday.

US authorities made the determination based on confirmed accounts of mass atrocities on civilians by Myanmars military in a widespread and systematic campaign against the ethnic minority, Blinken said in a speech at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.

The government of Myanmar is already under multiple layers of US sanctions following a military coup that ousted a democratically-elected government in February 2021. Thousands of civilians have been killed or imprisoned.

More than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled from Buddhist-majority Myanmar to refugee camps in Bangladesh since August 2017, when the Myanmar military launched a clearance operation in response to attacks by a rebel group.

Myanmar security forces have been accused of mass rapes, killings and the burning of thousands of homes. The US State Department says it has documented instances of Myanmar's military razing villages and carrying out rapes, tortures and mass killings of civilians since at least 2016.

Myanmar already faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

As we lay the foundation for future accountability, were also working to stop the militarys ongoing atrocities, and support the people of Burma as they strive to put the country back on the path to democracy, Blinken said. (AP)

This story has been published on: 2022-03-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
MOSCOW, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Humanitarian corridors from Ukraine's Mariupol will be opened from 10 a.m. Moscow time (0700 GMT) on Monday, Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the Russian National Defense Control Center, said Sunday.

Up to 130,000 civilians, including 184 foreigners from six countries, are "currently held hostage in the city," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement, citing the official.

"In order to save human lives and preserve the infrastructure of Mariupol ... Russia will open humanitarian corridors from Mariupol in the eastern and western directions upon the agreement with the Ukrainian side from 10 a.m. Moscow time (0700 GMT) tomorrow, on March 21," Mizintsev said.

Russian forces and Donetsk's units will "declare a 'complete silence regime' and guarantee its observance from 9:30 a.m. Moscow time (0630 GMT)," he added.

Russia is waiting for Kiev's response to the proposed measures until 5 a.m. local time (0200 GMT) on Monday, according to the official. 


On March 21, the first day of the 59th annual Bologna Children's Book Fair, an "extraordinary award for an extraordinary artist" was presented to Beatrice Alemagna.

Alemagna is the author-illustrator of over 40 books that have been translated and published in 25 countries. Her books have been published by publishers such as Albin Michel, Topipittori, HarperCollins, Tate Publishers, l'Ecole des loisirs, Thames & Hudson, Enchanted Lion, Mondadori, Helium, MoMA, Seuil, Autrement, Gallimard, Phaidon, Casterman, Walker Books, and La Partie. Alemagna has been a consistent presence at the BCBF for several years, having been selected several times for awards and exhibition and serving on the jury for the Illustrators Exhibition in 2021.

"Like the BCBF, Beatrice Alemagna was born in Bologna, but she has gone on to become a true citizen of the world and one of the most esteemed illustrators on the international scene," the Fair's press office said in a statement. "With her latest work, the book Vi gar till parken (Lets Go to the Park), published by the Swedish publisher Mirandobok and written by Sara Stridsberg, she offers stunning proof of how art can represent a period of global crisis, such as the prolonged pandemic emergency, through a style that is both poetic and enlightening, without any trace of bombast."
The Ambassador Distinguished Lecture Series at Purdue on March 24 will feature Nestor Forster Jr., the ambassador of Brazil to the United States, speaking on "Brazilian Diplomacy in the Areas of Technology, Innovation and Agritech." The event is being held by the Purdue Policy Research Institute, Office of Global Partnerships, the colleges of Liberal Arts and Engineering, and the Center for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue at the Purdue Research Foundation.

Forster has served as ambassador since October 2020, having previously held the role of charge daffaires at the Embassy of Brazil in Washington, D.C., from June 2019 to October 2020. His distinguished career has seen him serve for over three decades across Canada, Costa Rica and the United States, and lead numerous Brazilian delegations to regional and multilateral meetings. His diplomatic experience covers areas such as trade negotiations, intellectual property, financial policy, political affairs, international law, consular affairs, administration and information technology.

The talk, which will be held at 5-6 p.m. in Purdue Memorial Union's West Faculty Lounge, will conclude with an interactive Q&A session moderated by Stacey Connaughton, director of the Purdue Policy Research Institute. Bonnie Glick, director of the Center for Tech Diplomacy and former deputy administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, also will participate in the Q&A. The event will be followed by a light reception.

For those unable to attend in-person, a virtual livestream option will be available through Zoom. The talk is free and open to the public. Space is limited, and interested attendees are required to preregister online.

About the Ambassador Distinguished Lecture Series

The Ambassador Distinguished Lecture Series at Purdue features distinguished members of the diplomatic corps and international organizations, who will present a keynote talk and engage with faculty and students in a lively exchange of ideas on important timely aspects of world affairs that are relevant to the community.
Just as it was warning that the direction of travel for the Western Europe pay-TV industry will be very much downwards over the next five years, Digital TV Research has released a study painting a vastly different picture for the regions OTT market which is set to almost double in value in this time.

The study calculated that Western European OTT TV episode and movie revenues will reach $45 billion in 2027, up from $26 billion in 2021. From the additional revenues, the UK is set to contribute $4 billion, Germany $3 billion, France $3 billion and Italy $2 billion.In absolute terms, this will see the UK market being worth $9.977 billion; Germany 8.016 billion; France $7.463 billion; Italy $4.2656 billion; and Spain $3.447 billion. The Western Europe OTT TV & Video Forecasts report also found that subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) far exceeds any other revenue source for Western Europe OTT and is projected to increase by $13 billion between 2021 and 2027 to $30 billion. SVOD subscriptions will reach 258 million by 2027, up from 164 million by end-2021. Four countries will provide two-thirds of the total and Germany will likely overtake the UK in 2026. Advertising VOD is on track to add $6 billion to reach $12 billion.
By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 03/21/2022



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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.

: Before the 90 Days featured Ximena Morales brutally dumping Mike Berk, Gino Palazzolo and Jasmine Pineda getting engaged, Usman "SojaBoy" Umar winning Kim Menzies back, Mahogany ditching Ben after a tense talk, and Hamza Moknii agreeing to sign a postnuptial agreement for Memphis Smith during the fifth-season episode Sunday night on TLC.: Before the 90 Days' new season stars Usman, a 32-year-old from Sokoto, Nigeria, and Kim, a 50-year-old from San Diego, CA; Gino, a 51-year-old from Canton, MI, and Jasmine, a 34-year-old from Panama City, Panama; and Memphis, a 34-year-old from Muskegon, MI, and Hamza, a 28-year-old from Kairouan, Tunisia.The series also stars Mike, a 34-year-old from Thiells, NY, and Ximena, a 24-year-old from Pereira, Colombia; Ella, a 29-year-old from Idaho Falls, ID, and Johnny, a 34-year-old from Jinan, China; Ben, a 52-year-old from Fraser, MI, and Mahogany, a 24-year-old from San Bartolo, Peru.Caleb, a 28-year-old from Chandler, AZ, and Alina, a 27-year-old from Saint Petersburg, Russia, are no longer featured on the series after several of Alina's racist social-media posts resurfaced.Usman was previously married to Lisa Hamme , 54, whom he had met on Facebook two years before filming : Before the 90 Days' fourth season.Lisa struggled to trust Usman during their relationship and they split in May 2020. Usman later served Lisa with divorce papers in December 2020 and Lisa has since remarried with a childhood friend.: Before the 90 Days follows long-distance relationships and documents how each couple found each other as well as their first in-person meeting in a foreign country "and the countless surprises, drama and culture clashes along the way."In most : Before the 90 Days cases, lovebirds are hoping to get engaged and begin the K-1 Visa process.After traveling across the world, the couples will determine if love can conquer all as they experience challenges such as language barriers, interfering families, cultural differences, age gaps, ex partners, and "shady pasts," according to TLC.Below is what happened on the fourteenth episode of : Before the 90 Days' fifth season:Following another argument, Gino apparently disappeared for hours. Jasmine said their conversation escalated so quickly and she had never seen him like that before.The fight started because Gino's ex-girlfriend had threatened to publish nude topless photos of Jasmine, which resulted in Jasmine checking Gino's emails on his phone and finding out the exes had enjoyed a trip together that Gino never mentioned.When Jasmine found Gino, he said he needed peace and wasn't happy about his girlfriend once again flipping out on him. Gino was apparently tired of Jasmine not trusting him, and he said the situation made him feel "hopeless.""Jasmine continues to punish and punish me over mistakes I've made, and that's what makes this so hard," Gino said in a confessional, before telling Jasmine that her constant attacks were getting on his last nerve.But Jasmine argued that Gino had lied to her multiple times and that's why she was doubting everything he said and told her.Jasmine cried and said she didn't want to give up on Gino just because of that "stupid person" and "stupid situation," and she told her boyfriend, "I love you, like, a lot... I need you."Gino hugged Jasmine and expressed his love and care for her, and Jasmine shared with the cameras how Gino had become her best friend and support system."I love him from head to toe, just the way he is -- weird, creepy sometimes, but I also know the sweet and intelligent version of Gino. And if that's not love, then call it whatever you want. But I'm not giving up on our relationship. I'm not," Jasmine said through tears.Jasmine decided to forgive Gino for his messages with his ex and asked for no more crazy exes or drama. She just wanted the two of them to move forward together and be happy."And you don't want me as an ex," Jasmine joked.Gino admitted he didn't think he and Jasmine were going to make it for a second there, but he was so glad Jasmine had decided to give him another chance.After their hardest day as a couple, Gino and Jasmine decided to start fresh since they determined they'd never stop loving each other. Jasmine wasn't 100 percent sure Gino would never break her heart in the future, but she believed he really loved her.The pair then took a swim together and walked among beautiful sights in the rain. The reality of almost losing each other apparently made their bond even stronger."In my heart, I know that she is The One for me, and I hope she feels the same way as I do," Gino told the cameras.Suddenly, Gino got down on one knee and told Jasmine that ever since they met on March 8, they developed an amazing connection and he never felt so loved before in his life."You make me the happiest man, so Jasmine, will you marry me?" Gino asked."Gino, of course! Yes!" Jasmine replied.The couple hugged in the rain and Gino put a ring on her finger. They celebrated with cocktails and flashed big smiles at the cameras.Jasmine acknowledged how it was "crazy" she and Gino would be getting married "but love is not logical" and she just wanted to be with him for the rest of her life.Jasmine called the ring beautiful but also thought it was big. She therefore wasn't sure if it was a diamond or not. Gino said the ring looked like the best one in the store but he wasn't a diamond expert, and he clearly didn't admit that the stone wasn't real.Regardless, Jasmine said the ring screamed Gino and she liked it, and Gino gushed about feeling like the happiest man alive.Gino said this was the first step to bringing Jasmine over to America.Kim was supposed to be leaving Usman the next day, and their relationship was not in a good place. Kim said she actually wanted to travel home that very night, unless Usman would be willing to make a grand gesture to prove his love for her.Usman wondered if he was being fooled, especially when his friends insisted that his relationship wasn't healthy and was going to require too much work. Usman's team worried Kim was going to ruin his career, and they didn't appreciate the fact Kim had thrown a drink in Usman's face.Kim, however, has the qualities Usman always wanted in a partner, including loyalty and respect, and so he questioned what he should do and whether he should fight for their love.While Kim was shown packing her suitcase, Usman texted her and asked her to meet him immediately. Kim couldn't help but break a smile and giggle, and she admitted how she felt nervous and just hoped Usman wouldn't play a mind game with her.That evening, Kim walked out to a dinner table on the beach surrounded by lanterns and red rose petals. Usman also performed a rap song for Kim, and the lyrics seemed to be about her."Kim, I don't know what else I can do to make you believe that I love you, and I hope that should be convincing," Usman said."It's very convincing," Kim replied.Usman fought for Kim because she had been so loyal and supportive of him, and he appreciated her travels from America to Africa. Usman therefore wanted to work things out with Kim and move forward as a couple without fighting.Kim finally felt certain about Usman's love, and she asked him to sleep in her hotel room again that night. Kim loved the private concert, which was actually a dream come true for her.Kim called it the best night of her life and decided to forgive Usman, and then the pair agreed that she should meet his mother soon.Memphis and Hamza's wedding was scheduled to take place the very next day, and Memphis suddenly took off alone for some time to think.Hamza didn't know what was going on, but he just hoped his bride-to-be wasn't coming down with a case of cold feet.Memphis was shown packing her bags after speaking to a lawyer, who warned Memphis that she wouldn't be able to complete a prenuptial agreement before the wedding.Memphis, however, knew that if she pushed the wedding off, she may not be able to marry Hamza any time soon.Memphis received a video of Hamza's sister and mother dancing, singing and celebrating the upcoming union, which made Memphis' decision even harder and more personal given other people were also involved."I feel so conflicted. I do want to marry Hamza and have a family with him, and I trust him, but my children come first. It is really important to me to give my children the life that I didn't have, so putting my savings at risk scares me," Memphis explained."And I hope that Hamza understands where I'm coming from."Before talking to Hamza, Memphis celebrated with Hamza's excited family members. She knew she needed to approach her fiance for a serious conversation about their future and how to proceed, but she decided to enjoy her bachelorette party first at a traditional spa and bathhouse.Memphis felt loved by Hamza's family, which was incredible considering she had been neglected in her childhood. And so she said she didn't want to risk losing this."Not getting a prenup is a risk, but it's a risk I'm willing to take if Hamza's willing to sign a postnup," Memphis determined.Memphis FaceTimed with her mother, who criticized her daughter's decision to not have Hamza sign a prenuptial agreement. Memphis' mom called the situation "unbelievable," but Memphis insisted that she was going to still be protected through a postnuptial agreement.Memphis wasn't looking forward to the awkward conversation with Hamza.After a fun day, Memphis asked Hamza's sister Rawia to translate for the couple in a very important conversation. Memphis explained how she wanted him to sign a postnuptial agreement, and he became flustered over divorce being mentioned once again."I despise the notion of divorce. I was a victim of my parents' divorce," Hamza said in a confessional. "I don't want to go through that awful experience."Memphis insisted that she trusted Hamza but had to protect her kids, adding, "If he won't sign the paper, then I don't want to get married."Hamza called the whole situation "bad," and Rawia told Hamza not to let her force any paperwork on him in order to marry.Rawia seemed angry Memphis had brought this up the night before Hamza's wedding, and she just wanted Memphis to love Hamza for the person he is.Memphis explained how she had a lot to lose, but Rawia pointed out how this was making Hamza feel bad.Hamza wanted Memphis to respect his feelings, and Rawia added how she wanted Memphis to love her brother more than just a piece of paper."I will sign the paper, that's it. I don't want to hear about this thing again," Hamza concluded.Mahogany was struggled with a lot of feelings after Ben had stood her up for breakfast and asked to speak with her parents, without her being present. Mahogany felt offended by Ben's behavior over the past few days and also didn't like the idea of Ben talking to her parents alone.Mahogany felt Ben had acted immaturely, and then her father told her that she deserved more than Ben, a man who is "too old" for her considering Mahogany has a bright future, goals and so many projects in mind.Mahogany's dad said she should be with a man with similar dreams and a desire to live, experiment and provide mutual energy in the relationship. He also didn't want to see Mahogany reject his advice and then suffer.Mahogany was left with a lot to think about, and her parents' disapproval in Ben made her lose interest in her long-distance love.In attempt to repair his relationship the only way he knew how, Ben met with Mahogany's parents, who were already upset with him. Ben acknowledged how he wasn't optimistic about the meeting but if it went well, things could maybe turn around.Instead of Mahogany's parents showing, Mahogany met up with Ben and gave him a letter from her father.Mahogany's father claimed in the letter he had an urgent situation to deal with and couldn't come. Mahogany's parents were apparently upset Ben had stood Mahogany up for breakfast, and so they were basically doing the same thing to him.Ben insisted he never meant any disrespect but didn't know what to do after Mahogany had ignored his calls and texts for an entire night. Mahogany admitted Ben had made her even more upset than her parents were, and she demanded an explanation.Ben said it was a big deal to have poured his heart out to her and not receive any type of response. Ben also told Mahogany how he wanted her to miss him because he wanted to "feel wanted.""Ben is so much older than me, but he's so much more immature than me right now. And I don't like that," Mahogany told the cameras, before telling Ben that he's not the same person she had met online.Mahogany claimed Ben had never told her that he doesn't get along with his ex-wife, and she accused him of being very different in person."I only came here to leave you the letter from my father... I really did not want to come," Mahogany told Ben.Ben therefore told Mahogany to go, and Ben could tell Mahogany had not connected with him and she just wanted "out" of their relationship. He blamed Mahogany for making their relationship "incredibly difficult" and said he was "crushed" things had worked out like this.The next day, Ben and Mahogany had to drive three hours together back to Mahogany's hometown of San Bartolo. Although the trip had gone very poorly, Ben said he was "still in this" and cared for Mahogany and would pursue her "until the bitter, bitter end."However, Mahogany wasn't in her room and she left the hotel without taking Ben with her! Mahogany actually left the previous night, and Ben was stunned."Who does that?! I cannot believe she left," Ben complained, adding how he was five hours away from the airport in Lima.It cost Ben $250 to rent a car, and he thought the situation was "absolutely ridiculous." Ben didn't think he deserved this at all and said Mahogany was really showing her age with this "overreaction."Ben called himself an "idiot" for believing so much in this romance, and he decided it was probably time to call it quits with Mahogany.Ximena was shown telling her family members, including her mother, how she and Mike had been sleeping in separate rooms and she needed time to think about whether she truly wanted to go through with marrying him given he's "weird" and "a filthy person."Ximena also complained about how Mike stared at her in her sleep, but her mother reminded Ximena how Mike loved her and her sons and would provide them with a wonderful home and life in the United States. The women thought Mike had an unconditional love for Ximena and she wasn't thinking rationally."I would like to build the relationship like it was before. The truth is, I'm not happy with Mike right now. So I don't know what's going to happen," Ximena confessed.Later that day, Mike appeared upset because Ximena had promised to change her ways but that promise seemed to be "very short-lived."Mike asked Ximena's mother for some advice on how to win Ximena's heart back, and she asked him to be patient because Ximena had never been in a serious relationship before. She also advised Mike to take advantage of his time in Colombia so that Ximena could see he's good for her.Mike was surprised to hear he was Ximena's first serious boyfriend, but that gave him hope that they could figure out how to navigate their relationship together, especially since she was his first serious partner as well.Ximena later told Mike how she had serious relationships in the past but tended to get bored quickly.Ximena told the cameras how she's young and wanted to enjoy herself and her freedom. She just wasn't convinced Mike is the right man for her, and she seemed annoyed every time Mike got too close to her."You don't love me and you need your space. I just can't stop thinking that your feelings changed once I stopped saying 'yes' to buying everything," Mike told Ximena after playing a game of pool with her."You have things that I don't like," Ximena responded. "That's what totally changed my feelings. And you still pay my rent, so it's not that."Ximena felt "humiliated," adding how Mike was "throwing things" in her face. She said if Mike thought that she was only with him for money, then he didn't know her at all.Ximena therefore determined she just wanted to be friends with Mike, and she asked him to stop sending her money because she'd pay for things on her own."So you just want to be friends? That's it, after this whole year-and-a-half?" Mike asked."Yes," Ximena replied. "You'll no longer be my boyfriend nor will I be your girlfriend. We'll be friends, if you want.""Okay, then anything I paid for, I want to take back with me to New York," Mike replied.Ximena told Mike that he could take everything out of her house because she didn't need it."Today, our relationship is over," Ximena noted. "And I'm serious. Everything is over."Mike therefore left the bar and said he was "done," and Ximena started to cry and wondered if she'd regret this decision. Mike admitted that his mind was going crazy as he ran away from the cameras.Want more spoilers or couples updates? Click here to visit our homepage!
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has thanked Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher for their Stand with Ukraine fundraiser through GoFundMe, which has raised nearly $35 million.

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"@aplusk & Mila Kunis were among the first to respond to our grief. They have already raised $35 million & are sending it to @flexport & @airbnb to help refugees. Grateful for their support. Impressed by their determination. They inspire the world. #StandWithUkraine," Zelensky said on Twitter Sunday.

Zelensky also uploaded a photo of himself speaking with Kunis and Kutcher through a laptop.

Kunis and Kutcher's fundraiser benefits refugee and humanitarian aid efforts through Flexport.org and Airbnb.org. Flexport.org is organizing shipments of relief supplies to refugee sites and Airbnb.org is providing free, short-term housing to refugees fleeing Ukraine.

The married couple also pledged to donate $3 million. Over 70,000 donations have been made.

Kunis was born in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, in 1983.

"While this is far from a solution for the problem, our collective effort will provide a softer landing for so many people as they forge ahead into their future of uncertainty. Our work is not done. We will do everything we can to ensure that the outpouring of love that came as a part of this campaign finds maximum impact with those in need. Funds have already and will continue to be delivered to Flexport.org and Airbnb.org so they can act now," Kunis and Kutcher said recently in an update to donors.
Chinese citizens evacuated from Ukraine arrive at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province, March 21, 2022. Another two temporary flights carrying Chinese citizens evacuated from Ukraine returned home safely on Monday.(Xinhua/Shen Bohan)

BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Another two temporary flights carrying Chinese citizens evacuated from Ukraine returned home safely on Monday.

At 8:03 a.m., the first flight arrived in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, and the second flight arrived at 8:39 a.m. in Zhengzhou City in central China.

Prior to Monday, 17 temporary flights taking Chinese nationals back from Ukraine have already returned home safely. 

Chinese citizens evacuated from Ukraine arrive at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province, March 21, 2022. Another two temporary flights carrying Chinese citizens evacuated from Ukraine returned home safely on Monday. (Xinhua/Shen Bohan)

Chinese citizens evacuated from Ukraine arrive at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province, March 21, 2022. Another two temporary flights carrying Chinese citizens evacuated from Ukraine returned home safely on Monday.(Xinhua/Shen Bohan)

Chinese citizens evacuated from Ukraine arrive at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province, March 21, 2022. Another two temporary flights carrying Chinese citizens evacuated from Ukraine returned home safely on Monday. (Xinhua/Shen Bohan)
Ukrainian pop music could be heard across the University of Georgias North Campus Wednesday afternoon as UGA community members gathered for a rally in support of Ukraine. Decked in yellow and blue and carrying signs in both English and Ukrainian, the demonstrators voiced opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putins Feb. 24 invasion and expressed support for those affected by it.
From Saturday to Sunday, UGA Miracle hosted its 27th annual dance marathon in the University of Georgias Tate Grand Hall. By the end of the event, which is thrown to fundraise for Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta, a total of $1,167,175.22 was raised.
To most Christian denominations, particularly Catholics, Eastern Orthodox and Mainline Protestants, Good Friday is an important holiday. Falling two days before the observation of Jesus resurrection on Easter Sunday, Good Friday is the day of Holy Week when Jesus was said to be crucified.
People gathered in Harmony Parking lot in Brattleboro on Friday, April 22nd for a street festival and parade in celebration of Earth Day. According to Nancy Braus of 350 Brattleboro, the goal was to celebrate the ways in which the community is working towards climate justice and to empower 
Brattleboro, VT (05301)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun. High 68F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low 42F. Winds light and variable.
Photo taken with a mobile phone shows temporary tents set for rescue efforts at the plane crash site in Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 22, 2022. A passenger plane with 132 people aboard crashed in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Monday afternoon, the regional emergency management department said. The China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 aircraft, which departed from Kunming and was bound for Guangzhou, crashed into a mountainous area near the Molang village in Tengxian County in the city of Wuzhou at 2:38 p.m., causing a mountain fire, according to the department. The airline said the cause of the accident will be fully investigated. (Xinhua/Zhou Hua)

NANNING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- A passenger plane with 132 people aboard crashed in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Monday afternoon, the regional emergency management department said.

The China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 aircraft, which departed from Kunming and was bound for Guangzhou, crashed into a mountainous area near the Molang village in Tengxian County in the city of Wuzhou at 2:38 p.m., causing a mountain fire, according to the department.

"I heard the roar of a plane on the other side of the hill. A second later, there was an explosion," a worker near the crash site told Xinhua.

There were 123 passengers and nine crew members aboard flight MU5735, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said on its website. The administration said it has initiated an emergency response mechanism and its working team has arrived in Wuzhou.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered the immediate launch of an emergency response, all-out search and rescue efforts and the proper settlement of the aftermath of the crash.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, said in his instruction that he was shocked to learn about the accident.

Xi ordered that swift action be taken to identify the cause of the crash and to strengthen the safety overhaul of the civil aviation sector to ensure the absolute safety of both the sector and people's lives.

On behalf of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, Vice Premier Liu He, also a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, and State Councilor Wang Yong have led relevant officials to guide rescue work, the settlement of the aftermath and investigation into the cause of the crash, in Wuzhou.

Villager Chen Weihao was working on a farm when he saw the plane nosedived.

"The plane looked to be in one piece when it nosedived. Within seconds, it crashed," said Chen, adding that the crash site was a gap in a mountain where no residents lived.

Flames from the crash have been extinguished and the rescue operation is underway, said Chen Jie, an official from the regional emergency management department.

The Wuzhou fire brigade has sent 117 firefighters with 23 fire trucks to the site. A further 538 firefighters from other parts of Guangxi have been dispatched to join the rescue efforts, the regional fire department said on its Weibo account.

The neighboring Guangdong Province has dispatched 505 firefighters and 97 vehicles to aid the rescue operation, with the first group already at the scene.

"There is some plane wreckage in a gap in the mountain," a rescue worker at the crash site told Xinhua. "There are pieces of the wings, one of them about 2 or 3 meters. There is other debris, with some probably being pieces of clothing."

Villager Shi Fuxiong said he saw a large pit at the crash site and surrounding trees within dozens of meters had been leveled. "There were many pieces of small debris of the plane and baggage, but no large pieces of wreckage," he said.

The Guangxi regional health commission has dispatched 12 medical experts to the site, and over 80 medical workers and 36 ambulances sent by health authorities in the city of Wuzhou have arrived at the scene.

China Eastern Airlines said that it has initiated an emergency response mechanism. It has established nine special working groups for aircraft disposal, accident investigation, family assistance, logistics support, legal support, public relations, security, financial insurance, and cargo disposal.

The airline said the cause of the accident will be fully investigated.

Boeing China said it is aware of the media reports of the crash and is working to gather more information. 

Photo taken with a mobile phone shows pieces of a crashed passenger plane's wreckage found at the crash site in Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 22, 2022. A passenger plane with 132 people aboard crashed in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Monday afternoon, the regional emergency management department said. The China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 aircraft, which departed from Kunming and was bound for Guangzhou, crashed into a mountainous area near the Molang village in Tengxian County in the city of Wuzhou at 2:38 p.m., causing a mountain fire, according to the department. The airline said the cause of the accident will be fully investigated. (Xinhua/Zhou Hua)

Photo taken with a mobile phone shows pieces of a crashed passenger plane's wreckage found at the crash site in Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 22, 2022. A passenger plane with 132 people aboard crashed in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Monday afternoon, the regional emergency management department said. The China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 aircraft, which departed from Kunming and was bound for Guangzhou, crashed into a mountainous area near the Molang village in Tengxian County in the city of Wuzhou at 2:38 p.m., causing a mountain fire, according to the department. The airline said the cause of the accident will be fully investigated. (Xinhua/Zhou Hua)

Photo taken with a mobile phone shows temporary tents set for rescue efforts at the plane crash site in Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 22, 2022. A passenger plane with 132 people aboard crashed in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Monday afternoon, the regional emergency management department said. The China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 aircraft, which departed from Kunming and was bound for Guangzhou, crashed into a mountainous area near the Molang village in Tengxian County in the city of Wuzhou at 2:38 p.m., causing a mountain fire, according to the department. The airline said the cause of the accident will be fully investigated. (Xinhua/Zhou Hua)

Photo taken with a mobile phone shows staff members installing electrical equipment at the plane crash site in Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 22, 2022. A passenger plane with 132 people aboard crashed in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Monday afternoon, the regional emergency management department said. The China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 aircraft, which departed from Kunming and was bound for Guangzhou, crashed into a mountainous area near the Molang village in Tengxian County in the city of Wuzhou at 2:38 p.m., causing a mountain fire, according to the department. The airline said the cause of the accident will be fully investigated. (Xinhua/Zhou Hua)

Photo taken with a mobile phone shows pieces of a crashed passenger plane's wreckage found at the crash site in Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 22, 2022. A passenger plane with 132 people aboard crashed in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Monday afternoon, the regional emergency management department said. The China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 aircraft, which departed from Kunming and was bound for Guangzhou, crashed into a mountainous area near the Molang village in Tengxian County in the city of Wuzhou at 2:38 p.m., causing a mountain fire, according to the department. The airline said the cause of the accident will be fully investigated. (Xinhua/Zhou Hua)

Photo taken with a mobile phone shows pieces of a crashed passenger plane's wreckage found at the crash site in Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 21, 2022. A passenger plane with 132 people aboard crashed in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Monday afternoon, said the regional emergency management department. The Civil Aviation Administration of China said it has initiated the emergency response mechanism and dispatched a working team to the site. (Xinhua)

Rescuers set out to the plane crash site of Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 21, 2022. A passenger plane with 132 people aboard crashed in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Monday afternoon, said the regional emergency management department. (Xinhua)

Photo taken with a mobile phone shows the plane crash site in Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 21, 2022. A passenger plane with 132 people aboard crashed in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Monday afternoon, said the regional emergency management department. (Xinhua)

Photo taken with a mobile phone shows a police officer conducting search and rescue work around the plane crash site in Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 21, 2022. A passenger plane with 132 people aboard crashed in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Monday afternoon, said the regional emergency management department. (Xinhua)

Photo taken with a mobile phone shows rescuers conducting search and rescue work around the plane crash site in Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 21, 2022. A passenger plane with 132 people aboard crashed in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Monday afternoon, said the regional emergency management department. (Xinhua)

Photo taken with a mobile phone shows rescuers conducting search and rescue work around the plane crash site in Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 21, 2022. A passenger plane with 132 people aboard crashed in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Monday afternoon, said the regional emergency management department. (Xinhua)
David Evans, from left, president of the American University in Bulgaria, history professor Markus Wien, and psychology professor Ronald Harvey demonstrate against the Ukraine invasion on campus in Blagoevgrad. Evans was the former president of Southern Vermont College in Bennington, which closed in 2019.
BENNINGTON  The Brattleboro Reformer and its sister paper, the Bennington Banner, recently donated six computer tablets and subscriptions to the regions newest residents, Afghan families and individuals who recently fled their homeland after the return of the Taliban last year.

Noah Hoffenberg, executive editor of the Reformer and Banner, on Thursday presented four tablets and four Banner subscriptions to advocates for the families.

Bennington County Open Arms prioritizes Afghan refugees BENNINGTON  Refugees from Afghanistan have relocated to Southern Vermont, but a local volun

The donation was co-sponsored by Bennington County Open Arms, which is helping with the families resettlement in the Bennington area. The tablets were accepted on behalf of the families by Natalie Basil, executive director of Greater Bennington Interfaith Community Services Inc., Grace Winslow of Bennington County Open Arms, Cheryl Gasparetti of the Dorset Church, and Callie Fishburn and Cat Bryars from the Bennington County Regional Commission.

Vermont News & Media is overjoyed to play a small part in the integration of our new neighbors into Southern Vermont, said Hoffenberg. After 20 years of war in Afghanistan, we hope these families find the same peace, sanctuary and community warmth for which our region is well-known and that we enjoy every day.

Earlier in the week in Brattleboro, Hoffenberg gave two tablets and subscriptions to two young Afghan refugees, who relocated to Windham County.

Additionally, one of these new Vermont residents is an artist, and received a well-loved, used Nikon digital camera and Nikon lens, to begin personal and professional work in the visual arts and in news. The donation of the equipment came from Kelly Fletcher of Kelly Fletcher Photography.

Like the rest of the U.S., Vermont is slowly becoming a melting pot of different cultures. This helps replenish our workforce, enriches our Southern Vermont culture, and helps set the stage in the Green Mountain State for future growth and productivity, said Jordan Brechenser, publisher of the Reformer, Banner and Manchester Journal. Vermont News & Media welcomes our new neighbors to the region.

Read more about the refugee resettlement in Southern Vermont at reformer.com and benningtonbanner.com.
From March 29 to April 9, the WV Division of Natural Resources will stock 50,000 golden rainbow trout at 62 lakes and streams about the state, including waters in or near 15 state parks and forests. Stocking locations and details about the gold rush can be found at wvdnr.gov/goldrush
GENEVA, March 21 (Xinhua) -- China and a group of countries on Monday called on the UN Human Rights Council to continue to attend to serious human rights violations against indigenous people and take necessary actions accordingly.

Delivering a joint statement on behalf of the group of countries at the ongoing 49th session of the Human Rights Council, Jiang Duan, minister of the Chinese mission to the UN in Geneva, said they are deeply concerned about serious violations of human rights of indigenous people by some countries.

"In the past centuries, countries in question have oppressed and exploited indigenous people, violating their human rights and fundamental freedoms, looting their land and resources, killing with brutality their population and eliminating their culture," he said, adding that some indigenous children, who were sent to "residential schools" for the purpose of assimilation, were abused and many died unnatural deaths -- the truth of which has been covered up to this day.

Jiang pointed out that countries in question have not yet taken effective measures to protect the rights of the indigenous people, and discriminatory legislations and policies remain in force.

"Indigenous people in those countries are subject to systemic discrimination and inequality, and have been marginalized at the bottom of the society. Their disadvantaged position further deteriorated under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic," he added.

The Chinese diplomat urged those countries in question to immediately act to correct their wrongs, investigate human rights violations against indigenous people, hold those responsible accountable, redress the victims, and completely eliminate discrimination.

"We call upon the Human Rights Council to continue to attend to serious human rights violations against indigenous people by countries in question and take necessary actions accordingly," he concluded. 
TORRINGTON - The 121st Annual Meeting of the Chamber of Commerce of Northwest Connecticut, begin at 11:30 a.m .April 1 and will be held at the Litchfield Inn, 432 Bantam Road, Litchfield.

This years keynote speaker isTerrence Cheng, President of Connecticut State Colleges and Universities.

The 2022 inductees into the Chamber Hall of Fame will be honored, and include Kevin OConnell of Geer Village and Jade Athas, Berkshire Hathaway.

Both have contributed countless hours of their time to our Chamber and deserve our upmost praise, according to the chamber.

Athas is a Realtor with Berkshire Hathaway. She grew up in the Litchfield Hills and started her career in hospitality. She created Community Connections, her passion project to help keep business and entrepreneurs at the top of our minds, she said.

She takes immense pride in guiding her clients and has earned national awards as a top producing agent earning numerous national awards, according to the chamber. There is no doubt that her Chamber involvement has been instrumental through these challenging times. Two years ago, Jade hand-delivered over 100 gifts to WOW Forum attendees when the event was held virtually due to the pandemic.

Athas serves on the Chambers Board of Directors, is co-chair of the 18th Annual WOW Forum, Chair of the Leads II Group and Co-Chair of the Chambers Ambassador Committee.

OConnell relocated back to Connecticut from the midwest in 2010 and came to Geer Village, with a broad range of experience in developing short-term rehab units for patients recovering from elective surgery. As a health care administrator, he is well prepared for the challenging regulatory and financial environment. His training as a Physical Therapist allows him clinical understanding that is unique among healthcare administrators, according to the chamber.

He is involved in many community groups, nonprofit organizations, and events throughout the regions, including Northwest Cares.

The Chamber has also benefited from his leadership representing the far corners of the regions 21 towns. He has served as the liaison from Canaan, Lakeville and Salisbury area and is now the Chair of the Health Council and member of the Chambers Board of Directors, according to the chamber.

During a business meeting during the annual meeting, members will recognize those retiring from the Board of Directors, and will elect the directors who have been nominated to serve three-year terms.

Retiring members are Antonio Ponte, Jr., Thomaston Savings Bank; and Michael Rooke, Northwestern CT Community College.

Those elected to the Board of Directors are Maura Malo, Northwest Community Bank; David Oliver, Ebner Camps; Rob Phillips, Council of Elected Officials; Ted Shafer, Winsted Economic Development Director; and Greg Tonon, Northwest Community Bank.

This years annual meeting is sponsored by Torrington Savings Bank; Brooks, Todd and McNeil Insurance; Charlotte Hungerford Hospital, a Hartford Healthcare Partner; Conquest; Geer Village Senior Community; Northwest Community Bank; Nuvance Health/Sharon Hospital; O&G Industries, Inc.; Resource Development Associates; Northwest Hills Dealerships; Thomaston Savings Bank and Webster Bank.

Tickets for the luncheon meeting are $45 per person for members, $60 for guests. RSVP by March 25th at nwctchamberofcommerce.org/calendar. Meal choices include chicken, salmon, and vegetarian options.
EAST WINDSOR  About an hour after robbing a bank in East Windsor, authorities say the alleged suspect tried to rob another bank in a nearby town.

Around 9:30 a.m. March 15, police say a woman went into Peoples United Bank at 39 Prospect Hill Road in East Windsor and showed a teller a note that demanded money. The suspect said she had a gun but didnt show one, police said.
Lebanon, IN (46052)

Today

Cloudy with periods of rain. High around 60F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch..

Tonight

A steady rain this evening. Showers continuing overnight. Low near 55F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch.
Paola residents Dennis and Elena Super look at a large land use map during an interactive comprehensive plan workshop last June at the Paola Fire Station. Members of the public will get the opportunity to review a draft of the citys new comprehensive plan during another workshop Thursday, March 24.
WINDHOEK, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Namibia on Monday held its 32nd Independence Day celebrations at the coastal town of Swakopmund after a two-year break due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.

Speaking at the celebrations, featuring "A people united for prosperity" as its theme, President Hage Geingob said this year's Independence Day celebrations come with an added sense of jubilation because, for the past two years, the country has observed subdued celebrations due to COVID-19.

He said over the past 32 years, Namibia has transitioned from a poorly governed occupied territory to a stable and peaceful democracy.

"We have worked hard to ensure that our people can overcome many of the ills of the past. From the onset, the government's primary focus has been on improving the welfare of all Namibians. Over the years, we have developed processes, systems and institutions that have buttressed our Governance Architecture. We have improved and expanded access to primary education; we have expanded access to medical care, and we have expanded the supply of safe and clean drinking water to rural areas," he said.

Geingob, however, warned that certain phenomena such as gender-based violence, tribalism, corruption, crime and general moral decay are threatening developmental aspirations, peace, stability, and security. Namibia's national ambitions are threatened by the scourge of corruption, which, if allowed to gain a foothold, places the country's national security, sovereignty, and economic development under severe threat.

"Corruption is a global problem and requires a united approach if we aim to defeat it. This is why we are fashioning closer cooperation with international anti-corruption agencies to help fight corruption. Due to a robust Governance Architecture, we have ensured that corruption is not endemic in Namibia," he added. 
Mischief Reef, Subi Reef and Fiery Cross are equipped with missile systems and fighter jets, a U.S. admiral says.

An airstrip made by China is seen beside structures and buildings at the man-made island on Mischief Reef at the Spratlys group of islands in the South China Sea, March 20, 2022.

China has fully militarized at least three of its artificial islands in the South China Sea, equipping them with missile systems and fighter jets, a top U.S. commander has said.

The Associated Press quoted U.S. Indo-Pacific commander Adm. John C. Aquilino as saying on Sunday that the construction of missile arsenals, aircraft hangars, radar systems and other military facilities at Mischief Reef, Subi Reef and Fiery Cross "appeared to have been completed."

The function of those islands is to expand the offensive capability of the PRC (Peoples Republic of China) ... They can fly fighters, bombers plus all those offensive capabilities of missile systems, Aquilino said.

"They threaten all nations who operate in the vicinity and all the international sea and airspace, he added.

This is in stark contrast to Chinese President Xi Jinping's reassurance that China would not militarize the islands.

An airstrip made by China is seen beside structures and buildings at the man-made island on Mischief Reef at the Spratlys group of islands in the South China Sea, March 20, 2022. Credit: AP Beijing has developed at least seven artificial islands in the South China Sea, creating 3,200 acres of new land since 2013, according to the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

This is the first time U.S. officials have mentioned the deployment of Chinese fighter jets to the islands as according to Greg Poling, AMTI's director, "no one has ever spotted fighter jets in the Spratlys so far as we know."

In 2015, during a visit to the White House, Xi said: "Relevant construction activities that China are undertaking in the island of South -- Nansha (Spratly) Islands do not target or impact any country, and China does not intend to pursue militarization."

Xi also said that China is "committed to maintaining peace and stability in the South China Sea."

Aquilino told AP that "over the past 20 years weve witnessed the largest military buildup since World War II by the PRC."

They have advanced all their capabilities and that buildup of weaponization is destabilizing to the region, he said.

He also said that any military and civilian plane flying over the disputed South China Sea "could easily get within range of the Chinese islands missile system."

China has yet to respond to Aquilino's statement in the report but Beijing has said that it is committed to "managing differences and disputes through dialogue, and addressing disputes through negotiation, consultation, and peaceful manner, and exploring ways to achieve mutual benefit through cooperation."

Six parties including Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam hold competing claims to the South China Sea, but China's claims are the most expansive.

An international tribunal in 2016 rejected China's claims but Beijing refused to accept the ruling.

Admiral John C. Aquilino, left, commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, looks at videos of Chinese structures and buildings on board a US P-8A Poseidon reconaisance plane flying at the Spratlys group of islands in the South China Sea, March 20, 2022. Credit: AP Continued drills

Meanwhile in China, the Hainan Maritime Safety Administration on March 19 issued a new navigation warning banning ships from entering an area in the Gulf of Tonkin for 20 days, until April 9, due to military exercises.

This area was already closed for live-fire drills from March 4 to March 15. The Taiwanese intelligence agency said on March 10 that the closure might have been for the Chinese military to carry out search-and-rescue for an aircraft which reportedly crashed in the sea earlier this month.

China has not acknowledged any plane crash.

Part of the closed area lies within Vietnams exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry protested, asking China to respect its EEZ and continental shelf.

Chinas Foreign Ministry replied, saying that "it is reasonable, lawful and irreproachable for China to conduct military exercises on its own doorstep."

Vietnam and China reached an agreement to demarcate their share of most of the Gulf of Tonkin in 2000 but their negotiation on the mouth of the gulf has stagnated.

Taiwanese intelligence officials have warned that as the world is focused on the war in Ukraine, China is taking advantage of the situation to "test the limits of the U.S. and other South China Sea claimants."
Calls are growing for the government of Taiwan to focus on homeland defense in order to better prepare the democratic island for a possible Chinese invasion.



Earlier this month, former Taiwanese chief of staff Adm. (Ret.) Lee Hsi-ming published an article co-authored with military analyst Michael Hunzeker calling on the island's democratic government to act soon to build its defenses, drawing on lessons from the Ukrainian resistance to the Russian invasion.



"The visceral images of Russian tanks pouring across Ukrainian borders and Russian rockets slamming into Ukrainian cities show that the threat is real, while the surprising efficacy of Ukraines territorial defense forces proves that resistance is possible," Lee and Hunzeker wrote in the article published in War on the Rocks.



Su Tze-yun, director of military strategy and industry at Taiwan's National Defense Academy, said he approved of the concept of a homeland defense for Taiwan, where most people are keen to preserve their democratic way of life.



Currently, homeland defense plans exist, but haven't been hived off into a separate organization, he said.



"The military system consists of active-duty troops, reserve troops, and voluntary reserve troops, which is similar in concept to a homeland defense," Su told RFA. "Active-duty troops and reserve troops are also doing homeland defense."



He said the island has typically focused far more on its defensive, rather than its offensive, capabilities.



"The point of Taiwan's preparedness isn't to set up as an enemy of China, but rather to prevent CCP aggression," Su said.



Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen speaks while inspecting reservists training at a military base in Taoyuan, March 12, 2022. Credit: AFP Dedicated territorial defenders

The article called for preparations for an insurgency that could see dedicated territorial defenders carrying out mobile, hit-and-run missions to wreak havoc on logistics convoys, supply depots, command posts, and early follow-on forces, once the initial wave of troops has passed their location. "Lumbering cargo jets" would be particularly good targets, the article said.



The territorial defense force could be kept separate, but be trained by, the national military, and recruit young people who may not have time to be full-time soldiers, according to Hunzeker and Lee.



It said approaches to a potential invasion by China have typically so far focused on either improving Taiwan's military capabilities or on deterring any attack in the first place.



"If deterrence fails, a territorial defense campaign can rally international support as well as buy time for outside forces to intervene," Lee and Hunzeker said.



"It will take Taiwan years to build a viable territorial defense capability from the ground up," the article said. "Russias invasion, tragic though it is, has created a rare window of opportunity to jump-start the process."



"Public opinion polls continue to suggest an uptick in the Taiwanese peoples willingness to fight," it said, adding that some of country's 23 million people are already volunteering in civil defense organizations.



The article also called for armories across the island that could also be used as mobilization and training centers.



"Getting weapons and rounds into the hands of the people, ensuring the people know how to use them, and making sure there are enough ... are all essential," it said.



Xi's ambition

CCP leader Xi Jinping recently told the country's military and armed police force to get 'combat ready' to defend national sovereignty and security, amid fears that Beijing may be planning an invasion of Taiwan in the next few years.



"The entire army needs to strengthen its performance so as to do a good job of ensuring a good start to the 14th Five-Year Plan, and of celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the party," Xi told People's Liberation Army (PLA) and People's Armed Police (PAP) leaders, according to a Mar. 10 report in the official CCP newspaper, the Peoples Daily.



Some political analysts believe Xi is gearing up to make a definite move to annex, or, in the CCP's terminology, "unify with," Taiwan in the next five years.



Americas top commander in the region Adm. Philip Davidson, has warned that China could be preparing to bring forward plans to invade Taiwan as early as 2027.



However, Lee and Hunzeker's article argued that ultimately an invader can't take and maintain control of a country easily when faced with a resistant population.



"As Russian forces are likely to discover if they do manage to overwhelm Ukraines military defenses, a foreign invader cannot attain its ultimate goal  political control  until it pacifies the population," it said, calling for "a properly organized, trained, and equipped territorial defense force" capable of waging a prolonged insurgency.



Taiwan has never been ruled by Beijing nor formed part of the People's Republic of China, but has been locked out of international diplomacy and agencies at the CCP's insistence for decades.



Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has repeatedly said that the country's 23 million people have no wish to give up their sovereignty or their democratic way of life, and insists on being treated as a sovereign nation as a prerequisite for any cross-straits talks, an idea that is anathema to Beijing.



Washington has said it will no longer seek to "appease" China on Taiwan, announcing an end to a ban on high-level official and diplomatic contact with Taiwanese officials on Jan. 9, at the tail end of the Trump administration.



Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Farmers are not happy that the cows they fed and raised can be called to work on a cooperative farm.

North Korean soldiers rest next to farm cattle in a field in Sinuiju, opposite the Chinese border city of Dandong, in this file photo.

North Korean authorities are going from farmhouse to farmhouse to check if farmers are hiding any unregistered cows, threatening to send the contraband cattle to work on collective farms, sources in the country told RFA.

Owning a cow without registering it with the government is a crime in North Korea, where cattle have been considered a means of production to be owned and managed by the government, and lent out to businesses and people, like farmers, as needed.

However, a few years after leader Kim Jong Un came to power in 2011, the government instituted policies giving farmers the responsibility to raise their own cattle, register them with the state, and use them to plow the fields and for transportation  all while still making them available for cooperative farm work.

Under the so-called Responsible Farmland System, the state retained the power to grant the farmers the field they worked but it was relieved of the responsibility of providing them the means to plow the fields.

But farmers have been breeding their own cattle and have stopped registering them, a resident of Ryongchon county in the northwestern province of North Pyongan told RFAs Korean Service March 17.

Authorities are now cracking down.

From yesterday, the cooperative farms in Sosok village have been sent to investigate privately owned cattle, under the direction of the county and led by the Farm Management Committee, said the source who requested anonymity for security reasons.

They went house to house. The cattle were classified and registered as either having or not having a nose ring. The cows with nose rings are eligible to be mobilized at cooperative farms for plowing, the source said.

In the city of Chongju, in the same province, a resident explained how the Responsible Farmland System, which began in 2015, had originally been seen as a setback for the farmers.

At that time, they had to borrow the cooperative farm-owned cattle to plow. There were many complaints, as they had to pay for the cattle with their autumn grain rations, so they saw it as a deduction, said the second source, who requested anonymity to speak freely.

Some of the farmers solved the problem by buying calves from the cooperative farms and raising them on their own. Since then, calf trades among the farmers are on the rise and are common these days, she said.

Since the whole point of the Responsible Farmland System was to collect more grain from the farmers, the authorities simply allowed them to register and own the cattle, but then the farmers started using them for purposes other than farming, the second source said.

Many of them found that they could earn more money by using the cattle to haul goods to the market for merchants by oxcart instead of merely plowing fields. So now there are lots of cases where the farmers are raising cattle for personal income, she said.

Shortly after the Responsible Farmland System began, privately owned cattle still needed to be registered under a cooperative farm, the second source said.

My cousin registered his calf with the management office, but he uses it for his personal income. He even built a cart for his calf by himself. There are many individuals who trade calves between themselves. One small calf is traded between 300,000 to 400,000 won [U.S. $50 to $67], she said.

More personal cattle are now used to make income after they are registered, and its now becoming normal for cows to be owned and used without registration at all. This is why the authorities are taking measures to discover privately owned cattle, she said.

After discovering unregistered cattle in the investigation, the collective farm will be able to mobilize all cattle in the area for its own spring plowing.

The farmers are now complaining that the government did not help them feed or raise the cattle but now they get to use the cows for cooperative farm work without compensating the farmers, the second source said.

According to both sources, this is the first time that the authorities have taken measures to count these privately owned animals. Once a cow is registered with the state, the cattle can be called into service whenever the farm needs it, even if it is not farming season.

Translated by Claire Lee. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
The move will bring greater scrutiny on the Myanmar military, says a Rohingya activist.

Rohingya refugees arrive to the Bangladeshi side of the Naf River after crossing the border from Myanmar, in Palang Khali, Bangladesh, October 16, 2017.

UPDATED at 4:30 P.M. EDT on 2022-03-21

The United States has declared as a genocide the Myanmar militarys 2017 deadly crackdown against the Rohingya Muslim minority that killed thousands and forced an exodus to neighboring Bangladesh, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Monday.

Human rights activists welcomed the move as overdue and essential for stepping up pressure on the military, and making it accountable for crimes against humanity. According to American investigators, the military was responsible for atrocities including mass killings, gang rapes, mutilations, crucifixions, and the burning and drowning of children.

>> Myanmar army joins brutal list of US-recognized genocides

Blinken said that as of Monday, the United States had concluded that other than the Holocaust, genocide had occurred eight times  the eighth time against the Rohingya.

I have determined that the members of the Burmese military committed genocide and crimes against humanity against Rohingya, Blinken said in remarks at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington on Monday.

The attack against Rohingya was widespread and systematic, which is crucial for reaching a determination of crimes against humanity.

Blinken said that among the sources for the determination was a joint report published in November 2017 by the museum's Simon Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide and the human rights group Fortify Rights. The report was based on a survey of more than a thousand Rohingya refugees living in Bangladesh, all of whom were displaced by the violence in 2016 or 2017.

Three quarters of those interviewed said that they personally witnessed members of the military kill someone. More than half witnessed acts of sexual violence. One in five witnessed a mass casualty event, that is, the killing or injuring of more than 100 people in a single incident, Blinken said.

These percentages matter. They demonstrate that these abuses were not isolated cases.  This demonstrates the military's intent went beyond ethnic cleansing to the actual destruction of Rohingya.

Ten Rohingya men with their hands bound kneel as members of the Myanmar security forces stand guard in Inn Din village of Rakhine State, Myanmar, Sept. 2, 2017. Credit: Reuters

Following Blinkens announcement, New York-based Human Rights Watch said that the U.S. needed to coordinate its long overdue action with other countries to pursue justice for the mass crimes committed against the Rohingya.

The U.S. government should couple its condemnations of Myanmars military with action, John Sifton, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. For too long, the U.S. and other countries have allowed Myanmars generals to commit atrocities with few real consequences.

The rights watchdog said that to deter future abuses, Washington should impose tougher sanctions on the foreign currency revenues the Myanmar military makes from oil and gas revenues, and increase the enforcement of existing sanctions.

The military utilizes the bulk of these revenues to support its expenditures, which include extensive purchases of arms and attack aircraft from Russia, China, and other countries, the group said in its statement.

Similarly, the U.K.-based Burma Human Rights Network said Washingtons recognition of the Rohingya genocide was overdue but greatly welcomed.

By formally declaring a genocide took place against the Rohingya, the U.S. is firmly acknowledging the scope and horror of the juntas violence, the groups Executive Director Kyaw Win said in a statement Monday.

This declaration must be followed by further action. The junta must be completely cut off from the world, deprived of cash flow and weapons, and resisted until they fall from power.

Years-long patterns

In 2018, U.N. investigators found that Myanmars military carried out mass killings and gang rapes of Muslim Rohingya with genocidal intent. The rights group Doctors Without Borders has estimated that at least 6,700 Rohingya died in the 2017 crackdown.

But to date, the U.S. government had described it as ethnic cleansing  not using the genocide designation, which carries more legal weight.

Under Article 2 of the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, genocide is defined as acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.

The atrocities were committed during the tenure of the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi who in December 2019 defended the military against allegations of genocide at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The Nobel Peace Prize winner and one-time democracy icon now languishes in prison  toppled by the same military in its Feb. 1, 2021 coup.

A Rohingya refugee woman is helped out of Naf River as they cross the Myanmar-Bangladesh border in Palong Khali, near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, November 1, 2017. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

Myanmar, a country of 54 million people about the size of France, recognizes 135 official ethnic groups, with majority Burmans accounting for about 68 percent of the population. The Rohingya ethnicity is not recognized.

The Rohingya have faced decades of discrimination in Myanmar and are effectively stateless. They have been denied citizenship. Burmese administrations have refused to call them Rohingya and instead use the term Bengali.

The 2017 crackdown was triggered by a Rohingya insurgent group's attack on police outposts in Myanmars Rakhine state, leading to a disproportionate military response that caused about 740,000 Rohingya civilians to flee to neighboring Bangladesh  what the military and Aung San Suu Kyi, then the civilian ruler of Myanmar, called a clearance operation.

But a State Department-commissioned investigation found that the Rohingya were in a highly precarious situation in the months and years leading up to the attacks on the police stations, and their situation was fast deteriorating, according to Daniel Fullerton of Public International Law & Policy Group, who managed the probe.

The collected data revealed years-long patterns of gradually worsening violence and widespread human rights violations targeted against the Rohingya, which began to dramatically increase in severity and frequency in the year leading up to the major attacks of 2017, Fullerton said in testimony at a U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom hearing last May.

Rohingya refugees cross the Naf River with an improvised raft to reach to Bangladesh in Teknaf, Bangladesh, November 12, 2017. Picture taken November 12, 2017. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain

The militarys retributory attacks for the Rohingya insurgents August 2017 assault on police posts was swift  and brutal.

These attacks included brutal large-scale ground assaults, indiscriminate shootings, mass killings, executions, crucifixions, rapes and gang rapes, beatings, mutilations, the burning and drowning of children, the widespread destruction of Rohingya homes and villages, among many other brutal acts, investigator Fullerton said.

There were credible reports of Rohingya community leaders being gathered into buildings and burned alive, of imams being beaten and having their beards burned off, and of Rohingya religious or community leaders being shot or stabbed in front of the members of their village. Symbolic burnings of mosques, madrassas, and Korans were widely documented, he said.

Blinken spoke of the planning that went into pre-attack preparations  such as military personnel blocking exits to villages before they began their attacks, [and] sinking boats full of men, women and children as they tried to flee to Bangladesh.

He said that the immeasurable pain wrought by every heinous abuse ripples outward from the individual victims to the survivors and to the wider community.

Therefore, he said, the U.S continues to provide significant support to help meet the humanitarian needs of Rohingya and all affected by their persecution. He said Washington had provided nearly $ 1.6 billion since 2017 for Rohingya refugees shelter and education, specialized mental health and for the psychosocial support for the victims of trauma.

A Rohingya refugee cries during Eid al-Adha prayer in Kutupalong refugee camp in Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh, August 22, 2018. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain

Generosity of Bangladesh

Blinken said he wanted to recognize the exceptional generosity of Bangladesh in hosting over 900,000 Rohingya refugees, and the South Asian countrys recent efforts to vaccinate this stateless community against COVID-19.

In Dhaka, Bangladeshs Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal on Monday welcomed the Biden administrations decision to declare the militarys 2017 oppression of the Rohingya a genocide.

The U.S. announcement would help restore the civil rights of the Rohingya in Myanmar and speed up their repatriation, he told BenarNews.

The international community and all people should know about the genocide and other inhuman atrocities committed against the Rohingya in Myanmar.

In no-mans land on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, Dil Mohammad, a Rohingya leader, said Washingtons declaration was a positive development.

The massacre of the Rohingya in Myanmar is a classic example of genocide. The international community believes it but they did not officially recognize it, the Rohingya leader in Bandarban district told BenarNews.

If the international community speaks in one voice against the brutality of the military, the decades-old genocide and atrocities targeting the Rohingya would cease and our return to our homeland be ensured.

Rohingya refugees are reflected in rain water along an embankment next to paddy fields after fleeing from Myanmar into Palang Khali, near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh November 2, 2017. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo

The designation of the Rohingya expulsion campaign as genocide follows the January 2021 decision by Blinkens predecessor, Mike Pompeo, who determined that Chinas mass incarceration and coercive birth control policies toward the Uyghur minority in Chinas northwestern Xinjiang region constituted genocide.

The State Department has since the Cold War recognized genocides in Bosnia (1993), Rwanda (1994), Iraq (1995), Darfur (2004), and areas under the control of ISIS (2016 and 2017), according to Holocaust Museum data.

Kamran Reza Chowdhury in Dhaka and Sunil Barua in Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh contributed to this report by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.
The European Union has unveiled a proposal to ban Russian oil imports by the end of the year, impose more banking sanctions against Moscow, and cut off some Russian broadcasters in Europe saying that the Kremlin has to pay dearly for its aggression Ukraine.

With Russia intensifying its attacks on eastern Ukraine on May 4, the EU said that its sixth round of sanctions against Moscow will comprise phasing out the importation of Russian crude and refined oil products by the end of the year despite pushback from some of the bloc's members, including Slovakia and Hungary.

"We will phase out Russian supply of crude oil within six months and refined products by the end of the year," the head of the bloc's executive European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, told the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

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.

"This will be a complete import ban on all Russian oil, seaborne and pipeline, crude and refined," she said, adding that "[Russian President Vladimir] Putin must pay a high price for his brutal aggression."

Von der Leyen, however, conceded that getting unanimity on oil sanctions will not be easy.

The commission chief, however, conceded that getting unanimity on oil sanctions will not be easy.

The measures require approval from all 27 EU countries to take effect and soon after von der Leyen's announcement, Hungary, Slovakia, and Bulgaria announced that they would seek exemptions from the embargo voicing concerns about energy security. Hungary and Slovakia are heavily dependent on Russian energy imports.

The Czech Republic, meanwhile, said it would seek a temporary exemption period of two or three years in order for pipeline capacities to be increased.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said EU countries blocking an oil embargo would be "complicit" in Russia's crimes in Ukraine.

Whatever their arguments are, if they oppose (the) oil embargo, it means one thing: they play on the Russian side. They share responsibility for everything Russia does in Ukraine, full stop, Kuleba said in a video posted on Twitter.

Von der Leyen also proposed that Sberbank, Russias largest bank, and two other major banks be disconnected from the SWIFT international banking payment system.



The EU will also ban three Russian state-owned broadcasters, she said, without naming the channels directly.



"They will not be allowed to distribute their content anymore in the European Union, in whatever shape or form, be it on cable, via satellite, on the Internet or via smartphone apps," von der Leyen told EU lawmakers.

According to a document seen by RFE/RL, the package also contains a list of 58 individuals sanctioned over Russia's military action in Ukraine that includes the Patriarch of Russia's Orthodox Church, a close ally of Putin's.



Von der Leyen also proposed launching a recovery package for Ukraine to help it rebuild after the war.



"This package should bring massive investment to meet the needs and the necessary reforms," von der Leyen said. "Eventually, it will pave the way for Ukraine's future inside the European Union."

The European Union accounts for nearly a half of Russia's crude and refined oil products. But the Kremlin, in a first reaction to Brussels' announcement, put on a brave face, warning that the embargo is a "double-edged sword" and that EU consumers will pay the price.

"The cost of these sanctions to the citizens of Europe will grow by the day," spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on May 4.

Peskov said the Kremlin was looking at "various options" for its response to the new sanctions.

In Washington, U.S. President Joe Biden said he was "open" to imposing more sanctions on Russia and would be discussing measures with allies from the Group of Seven (G7) leading industrialized nations in the coming days.

On the battlefront, Moscow deployed 22 battalions near Izyum, an eastern city, in a bid to push into the Donbas region, the British Defense Ministry said in its daily bulletin on May 4, adding that Russia's apparent goal is capturing the cities of Kramatorsk and Severodonetsk in the east, "despite struggling to break through Ukrainian defenses." A Russian battalion usually consists of 700-800 soldiers.



According to the British intelligence bulletin, capturing the two cities "would consolidate Russian military control" of northeastern Ukraine.

In neighboring Belarus, the armed forces began "surprise" large-scale drills on May 4 to test their combat readiness, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said.

Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko said there was "heavy fighting" at the Azovstal plant on May 4 and said city officials had lost contact with Ukrainian forces inside.

Boychenko told Ukrainian television that Russian forces were attacking with heavy artillery, tanks, and warplanes, and said warships off the coast were also involved.

Russian troops are on the territory of the plant, according to David Arakhamia, a member of the Ukrainian delegation that has held now-stalled peace talks with Russia.

"Attempts to storm the plant continue for the second day. Russian troops are already on the territory of Azovstal," Arakhamia said, citing the commander of the Azov Regiment, which is defending the plant with other Ukrainian troops. He contradicted Boychenko, saying Ukrainian authorities have contact with the defenders at the plant.

The commander announced the storming of the plant by Russian troops the day before and called again for the evacuation of civilians.

Boychenko said on May 3 that more than 200 civilians were still holed up with fighters in the sprawling plant.

In his video address, Kuleba denied that Azovstal was under Russian control.

On May 4, Peskov denied Ukrainian reports that Russian troops had stormed the Avozstal steel plant soon after the latest group of civilians made it out of the sprawling complex.

"There is no storming," Peskov told reporters, contradicting claims by Ukrainian soldiers inside the steelworks.

"The order was publicly given by the supreme commander-in-chief to cancel the assault," Peskov said, referring to a statement Putin made on April 21 that called off a direct assault on Azovstal because it would result in too many Russian casualties. Instead, forces should seal off Azovstal so tightly that "even a fly can't get out," Putin said.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Rikard Jozwiak, Reuters, AP, and AFP
Russias war in Ukraine is horrifyingly real. Are the peace talks for real, too, or are they meant to buy Moscow time after the initial failures of its military campaign? And whats in store for Russia, where President Vladimir Putin is seeking enforce loyalty and support for the war? Author and analyst Mark Galeotti joins host Steve Gutterman to discuss.
A three-day cease-fire announced by Russia was due to begin on May 5 in the morning to allow the evacuation of civilians still trapped in the devastated Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol a day after the Ukrainian military said "bloody battles" were being fought in the strategic Sea of Azov port city.

Russia's announcement, which came after more than 300 people were evacuated from other parts of Mariupol, was met with skepticism, as previous cease-fires failed repeatedly, with Ukraine accusing Russian forces of continuing their attacks.

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.

On the sanctions front, the European Union on May 4 unveiled a proposal to ban Russian oil imports by the end of the year, a move immediately rejected by Hungary -- whose right-wing leader Viktor Orban is Russian President Vladimir Putin's closest EU partner -- and several other bloc members that depend heavily on Russian energy imports.

Russia's Defense Ministry announced a daytime cease-fire for three days to evacuate civilians from Azovstal.

"The Russian armed forces will open a humanitarian corridor from 08:00 to 18:00 Moscow time on May 5, 6, and 7 from the site of the Azovstal metallurgical plant to evacuate civilians," the ministry said.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Ned Price voiced reservations about the cease-fire, saying Moscow had repeatedly violated such announcements in the past.

Meanwhile, Denys Prokopenko, the commander of the Azov Regiment, vowed to never surrender the plant.

There was heavy fighting as Russian forces broke into the territory of the plant, Prokopenko said on Telegram. The situation at the plant is extremely difficult and the Ukrainian military continues to defend itself, he said in a social media post.

David Arakhamia, a member of the Ukrainian delegation that has held now-stalled peace talks with Russia, told RFE/RL that Ukrainian authorities have contact with the defenders at the plant, despite earlier reports that contact had been lost.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied reports that Russian troops had stormed the plant.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk announced "another small victory," saying that 344 women, children, and elderly people were evacuated safely from Mariupol on May 4.

Vereshchuk thanked UN workers and the International Committee of the Red Cross for their support in the operation. The UN confirmed that more than 300 civilians were receiving humanitarian assistance in Zaporizhzhya.

"Many came with nothing but the clothes they were wearing, and we will now support them during this difficult time, including with much -- needed psychological support," the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement.

The UN said its work to guarantee safe passage for civilians would continue.



Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy asked UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to help save the lives of the remaining Ukrainians trapped in the sprawling industrial complex.

"The lives of the people who remain there are in danger. Everyone is important to us. We ask for your help in saving them," Zelensky told UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a phone call on May 4.

He called on the UN to "assist in the removal of all the wounded from Azovstal," a statement from his office said.

The EU said its sixth sanctions package comprises a phaseout of the import of Russian crude and refined oil products by the end of the year. It was formally proposed despite pushback from EU members that are heavily dependent on Russian energy imports. Shortly after the announcement Slovakia, Hungary, and Bulgaria said they would seek exemptions from the embargo.

The measures require approval from all 27 EU countries to take effect.



Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said EU countries blocking an oil embargo would be "complicit" in Russia's crimes in Ukraine.

Whatever their arguments are, if they oppose (the) oil embargo, it means one thing: they play on the Russian side. They share responsibility for everything Russia does in Ukraine, full stop, Kuleba said in a video posted on Twitter.

The European Union accounts for nearly a half of Russia's crude and refined oil products. But the Kremlin, in a first reaction to the EU announcement, put on a brave face, warning that the embargo is a "double-edged sword" and that the EU consumers will pay the price.

The EU also proposed that Sberbank, Russias largest bank, and two other major banks be disconnected from the SWIFT international banking payment system.

The EU will also ban three Russian state-owned broadcasters, she said, without naming the channels directly.

On the battlefront, five civilians have been killed by shelling from Russian forces in Ukraine's Luhansk region in the past 24 hours, governor Serhiy Gaidai said on May 5.

In neighboring Belarus, the armed forces began "surprise" large-scale drills on May 4 to test their combat readiness, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said.

The British Ministry of Defense said in its daily intelligence bulletin on May 8 that Russia will likely attempt to "inflate the threat" posed by the Belarusian military's exercises with the aim of fixing the Ukrainian forces in the Belarus border area to prevent them from being deployed to the front line in eastern Ukraine.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, BBC, and AFP
Death and destruction are common sights across the Ukrainian coastal city of Mariupol, which has been devastated by weeks of relentless Russian military attacks.



An estimated 300,000 residents are believed to be trapped with no running water, electricity, or gas. Food is scarce and aid shipments have been blocked from entering the city.



Despite a Russian military ultimatum, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on March 21 that "there can be no question of any surrender."
COLOMBO, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Over 359,000 tourists have visited Maldives by March 17 this year, compared to 241,407 arrivals in the same period in 2021, statistics released by the Maldivian Ministry of Tourism over the weekend has shown.

The statistics show that the average daily arrivals are 4,790 and tourists are staying for an average of eight days.

Maldives aims to welcome 1.6 million tourists this year and the number is 1.3 million for 2021.

Local media reported that a decline in arrivals from Russia and Ukraine would have an impact in the tourist numbers, as as direct flights to the Maldives from both countries have halted. 
Amid growing accusations of war crimes, Ukrainian forces and residents of Mariupol have continued what the government called their "heroic" resistance to a brutal Russian attack as the Ukrainian president restated his call for peace talks even as he took a defiant stand against the Kremlin's surrender ultimatums.

Live Briefing: Russia Invades 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.

As Mariupol's Ukrainian defenders battled to stave off the deadly onslaught on March 21, Russian forces intensified and broadened their attacks elsewhere, including on the capital, Kyiv, where an air strike on a shopping mall and nearby apartment building killed at least eight people.

Ukrainian President President Volodymyr Zelenskiy remained defiant as Kyiv rejected a Russian ultimatum to surrender Mariupol, saying Ukraine could never give up the strategic port or other cities, including Kharkiv and the capital.

In comments to local media on March 21, Zelenskiy accused Moscow of trying to "destroy" his country. "Ukraine cannot fulfill Russian ultimatums," he said. "We should be destroyed first, then their ultimatum would be fulfilled."

He said the Russians wanted Ukraine to "hand over" the cities of Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Mariupol but that neither the Ukrainian people "nor me, as president, can do this."

In an interview with news site Suspilne on March 21, Zelenskiy restated his insistence on the need to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin "in any format" to end the fighting.

"I believe that without this meeting, it is impossible to fully understand what they are ready for in order to stop the war," said Zelenskiy, who added that any compromises made in talks with Russians would be put before the Ukrainian people in a referendum.

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on March 21 that "significant progress" in the peace talks between negotiators is needed before a meeting between Putin and Zelenskiy would be a possibility.

Russia has for the past two weeks attempted to encircle Mariupol, an important port on the Sea of Azov. It is seeking to take control of the city, allowing it to link Crimea -- which it seized in 2014 -- with territory controlled by Kremlin-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

At least 2,300 people have died in Mariupol, some buried in mass graves, authorities have said.

On March 20, an attack destroyed an art school sheltering some 400 people in the city. There was no immediate report on casualties, but authorities fear many people could still be under the rubble.

WATCH: Russian troops occupying the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson fired live rounds and stun grenades at peaceful protesters. Amateur video showed at least one person being wounded.

That attack came after Russian air strikes on March 16 flattened a theater in Mariupol where civilians were also sheltering. City authorities said 130 people were rescued but many more could remain under the debris.

In addition, Russian forces have been accused of bombing a maternity hospital in the city, where an estimated 90 percent of the buildings have been damaged or destroyed.

The U.S. military on March 21 accused Russian forces of committing war crimes in their bloody invasion of Ukraine.

"We certainly see clear evidence that Russian forces are committing war crimes and we are helping with the collecting of evidence of that," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told a news briefing.

Earlier, Josep Borrell, the European Union's top diplomat, said that "what's happening now in Mariupol is a massive war crime, destroying everything, bombarding and killing everybody."

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov hailed Mariupol's "heroic defenders" after authorities rejected an ultimatum by Russia to give up the besieged city as of 5 a.m., saying there was no question of any surrender.

Reznikov said their resistance was slowing the progress of Russia's military and disrupting attempts to subjugate other Ukrainian cities.

"By virtue of their dedication and superhuman courage, tens of thousands of lives throughout Ukraine were saved. Today, Mariupol is saving Kyiv, Dnipro, and Odesa," he said.

Residents of Mariupol, which had a population of 400,000 before the war broke out, have for the past two weeks been trapped without basic supplies, such as water, food, and fuel.

In Kyiv, air strikes hit the Retroville shopping mall in the northwest outskirts of the capital late on March 20, killing at least eight people. The mall, surrounded by several high-rise apartment buildings in the Podil neighborhood of Kyiv, was still smoldering on the morning of March 21.

RFE/RL correspondents saw devastating scenes in the area, with workers attempting rescue efforts as ambulances, police, and firefighters converged on the area.

One man, who said he lives about a kilometer away, told RFE/RL: I have never felt the earth shake like that. It was a powerful explosion."

They are killing my city. They are killing the place where I live, he added.

Hours after the attack, Vitali Klitschko, the Ukrainian capital's mayor, announced a new 35-hour curfew to come into force at 8 p.m. on March 21.



Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, but Ukrainian forces have mounted stiff resistance and the West has imposed sweeping sanctions on Moscow in an effort to force it to withdraw its forces.

Poland and the Baltics are pushing for tougher sanctions, including an EU ban on Russian oil and gas imports. However, Germany, which is heavily dependent on Russian gas, and some other EU member states are resisting.

WATCH: People in Kyiv voiced shock after a massive Russian air strike destroyed a shopping mall and also hit residential buildings. At least eight people were reported to have been killed.

Peskov said Europe would be hit hard in the event of an embargo on Russian oil, striking the continent's energy balance.

The Russian military claimed that it had for the first time in combat used its state-of-the-art hypersonic missile to hit particularly important targets in Ukraine, a move widely condemned in the West.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said on March 21 that the Kinzhal hypersonic missile has proven its efficiency in destroying heavily fortified special facilities.

Russia has denied targeting civilians, despite incontrovertible evidence of deadly attacks on nonmilitary sites.

Observers have speculated that Russian military momentum has been stopped by Ukrainian forces in many parts of the country and that the sides could be heading for a long, protracted stalemate in the war.

Filippo Grandi, head of the UN's refugee agency said on March 20 that at least 10 million of Ukraine's population of 44 million people have fled their homes.

About 3.4 million have fled across Ukraine's borders to neighboring countries, with the bulk of them arriving in NATO and European Union member Poland.

With reporting by AP, AFP, dpa, BBC, and Reuters
KYIV -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says any potential deal agreed in peace negotiations to end the war with Russia will be submitted to the Ukrainian people in a referendum.

"I explained it to all the negotiating groups: When you speak of all these changes [in a possible deal] and they can be historic...we will come back to a referendum," Zelenskiy told Internet news site Suspilne on March 21.

The people will have a say in any type of compromises. But what the [compromises] will end up being will be the result of our talks and agreements between Ukraine and Russia. Therefore, I am ready to do whatever is necessary if our people support my decisions," he added.

Zelenskiy restated his insistence on the need to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin "in any format" to end the fighting.

"I believe that without this meeting, it is impossible to fully understand what they are ready for in order to stop the war," Zelenskiy said.

He remained defiant, however, in the face of Russian demands to surrender the key port city of Mariupol, along with other cities, including Kyiv and Kharkiv.

Russias ultimatums will only happen if we are destroyed. Then they be executed automatically, he said.

"[They demand] give us Kharkiv, Mariupol, Kyiv. Neither Kharkiv residents, nor Mariupol residents, nor Kyiv residents, nor the president -- we can't do that.

He said that even in cities already occupied by Russian forces, people don't give in to them. [The Russians] raise their flags -- the people take them down."

Putin ordered a large-scale invasion of Ukraine four weeks ago, alleging Russia's actions are a "special military operation" to demilitarize Ukraine and ensure its neutrality while removing its leaders.

Putin has also long demanded that Ukraine give up any intentions of joining NATO.

In reference to NATO, Zelenskiy has conceded that his country was unlikely to join the Western military alliance.

"We have all already understood it," Zelenskiy said, adding that Ukraine would not be admitted to NATO because member states fear Russias reaction.

"That's all. And we have to calm down and say: 'OK [we need] other security guarantees'," he said.

"There are NATO countries that want to provide security guarantees...who are ready to do what the alliance would do if we were members," he said, calling that a normal compromise."

In a video address, Zelenskiy thanked protesters in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Kherson, hailing their courage in confronting the foreign troops, who used stun grenades and fired shots into the air to disperse the crowd.

Zelenskiy said that we saw slaves shooting at free people, slaves of propaganda that replaced their conscience.

The war has turned ordinary Ukrainians into heroes and the enemy doesnt believe its all real, Zelenskiy added.

There is no need to organize resistance. Resistance for Ukrainians is part of their soul.

With reporting by AFP and dpa




YANGON, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar's State Administration Council (SAC) Chairman Senior General Min Aung Hlaing met the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) envoys in the capital city of Nay Pyi Taw on Monday.

According to a release issued by the council's Information Team, Min Aung Hlaing held talks with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Prak Sokhonn, the current special envoy of ASEAN, and Lim Jock Hoi, secretary-general of ASEAN, at his office in Nay Pyi Taw.

Min Aung Hlaing apprised ASEAN envoys of the results of the 2020 general elections and the situation of terrorist actions in Myanmar, the release said.

The SAC chairman and ASEAN envoys exchanged views on matters relating to the progress on implementations of ASEAN's Five-Point Consensus, the provision of humanitarian assistance for the Myanmar people, and enhancing ASEAN cooperation, it said.

The official visit of ASEAN envoys is aimed to achieve improvement in Myanmar's current situation through negotiations.

Established in 1967, ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. 
Richmond, KY (40475)

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A mix of clouds and sun during the morning will give way to cloudy skies this afternoon. High 76F. Winds light and variable..

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Rain likely. Thunder possible. Low 64F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
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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SYDNEY, March 21 (Xinhua) -- In a bid to "future proof" its agricultural sector, the government of the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) has announced an investment of 125 million Australian dollars (about 92 million U.S. dollars) that would incentivize farmers to reduce emissions.

The plan, dubbed "the Primary Industries Productivity and Abatement Program," would fund the monitoring of emissions in the state's farms and open up a "carbon credits" program -- allowing farmers to earn money for reductions in emissions.

"Primary producers and land managers are playing an important role in NSW achieving its goal of reducing emissions by 50 percent by 2030 and achieving net zero by 2050," said NSW Treasurer and Minister for Energy and Environment Matt Kean.

According to government data, in 2019 the state's agricultural industry emitted 16 megatonnes of carbon dioxide, or 12 percent of its total emissions. As such it has become a major consideration in the state's drive to reach net-zero emissions.

The schemes would increase the viability for farmers in the state to engage in more sustainable farming practices, such as reducing the use of harmful fertilizers, and switching to renewable energy forms such as solar or wind power.

The state's Minister for Agriculture and Western NSW Dugald Saunders said the program would open to applications for funding in the coming months.

"This is all about building economic resilience and creating jobs in regional communities, by encouraging sustainable farming practices through grants programs and partnerships with financial institutions," said Saunders.

NSW's push to reduce its emissions has put opposing forces on farmers in the state.

On the one hand incentive programs have increased the economic viability of going green, but on the other government renewable energy projects have led to land-use conflicts, and emission targets have constricted agricultural production.

A state advocacy group, NSW Farmers CEO Pete Arkle told Xinhua on Monday that farmers needed incentives and not regulation if they were to continue to be a driver of economic growth in the state.

"While there are still punitive and excessive regulations on private agricultural land inhibiting the use of technology and diversification, this program has an opportunity to take a broad look and remove 'green tape'," said Arkle.

"A key to this engagement is farmers working with the government in an open partnership model and demonstrating how this can be implemented will be important." 
Diamond producers reduced their production by 20% in 2020 from 2019 levels to 107 million carats, according to ALROSA.

The natural decline amid planned decommissioning of large, depleted deposits was exacerbated by COVID-19 and consequent lockdowns, it said in a market analysis last year.

A key milestone for the entire diamond industry was the closure of Australia's Argyle mine in November 2020, which accounted for up to 10% of global diamond production.

Data released by Bain & Company shows that rough diamond prices fell 7% in 2019 and 11% in 2020.

The increase

ALROSA said diamond miners ensured the stability of the industry by following a 'price over volume' strategy during the crisis, until demand stabilised, creating the conditions for the price growth recovery.

The deficit caused by the scarcity of the diamond supply is expected to increase over time, according to Bain.

Even if demand follows the conservative scenario while mining production grows along with the optimistic one, demand will still exceed supply by the second half of the 2030s, ALROSA projected.

This means that the problem of the widening deficit will be resolved mainly by rising prices for rough and polished diamonds







We saw De Beers increasing its rough diamond prices by about 23% in 2021.

It did not end in 2021 as the miner continued increasing diamond prices at its recently conducted first rough diamond sale of the year in Gaborone, Botswana.

Bloomberg cited unnamed sources as saying that the diamond giant hiked the price of larger stones by about 5%, while some smaller rough stones registered prices increases by about 20%.

Rapaport also noted that the price increases for larger stones varied between 5% and 12%, while that of smaller stones rose by about 15%.

There was greater demand for diamonds from major retailers in countries such as the US and China last year as sources for diamonds continue to dwindle.

Diamond industry analyst Paul Zimnisky told Rough & Polished that the reason why De Beers increased diamond prices is that there still seems to be a supply/demand imbalance in rough, which seems to be more even pronounced in early-2022 as the industry restocks after the holiday rush.

After record end-consumer demand for natural diamonds in 2021 along with limited supply, it doesn't seem unreasonable that diamond prices are back at the record high reached in 2011, he said.

Although the previous price increases were on larger stones, the focus is now on smaller, cheaper stones.

Smaller diamonds, used in cheaper jewellery sold in places like Walmart Inc., struggled for years amid over-supply. However, they rallied strongly toward the end of 2021 as supply tightened and higher quality goods went up in the price, writes Bloomberg.

That led to a frenzy of buying in the secondary market, where accredited De Beers and Alrosa buyers sell to other gem manufacturers. That spurred De Beers to respond by raising its own prices.

Zimnisky said ALROSA indicated that they see room for moderate price increases in the near term, given the "'structural supply deficit".

Asked whether the industry would likely see more price increases going forward, he said:

I do think diamond prices in general end 2022 higher than they started, although I don't think the trajectory of price rise we saw in 2021 is sustainable. So, I do think we see higher prices, but at a more moderate pace.

Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
The United States recently banned the importation of Russian diamonds in a move that sought to strengthen sanctions made against the diamond giant, ALROSA early March.

The U.S. is the leading consumer of diamond jewellery while Russia is the worlds largest producer of rough diamonds, according to the Kimberley Process.

Russia mines 30% of the worlds rough diamonds, 90% of which are produced by ALROSA.

Rough&Polisheds Mathew Nyaungwa contacted diamond industry analysts Paul Zimnisky (pictured left) and Edahn Golan (pictured right) to find out the potential impact or lack thereof of the U.S sanctions against ALROSA.

Below are excerpts of the interview.

ALROSA, the Russian state-backed diamond mining giant and its CEO were recently sanctioned by the US. What is the potential impact of these sanctions on the company?

Paul Zimnisky

I think the impact on the industry is significant, and I think the impact on ALROSA is significant. While, at least at the time of this interview, the sanctions do not directly prohibit the trading or purchase of primary market Russian diamonds, banking and financial transaction restrictions will certainly hinder the trading of primary market Russian goods, especially in the near term.

This could lead to acute supply shortages especially as the industry approaches mid-year, a seasonally busy time of year when the supply chain begins stocking for the holiday season. The fact that industry excess inventory levels are already at historic lows will further exacerbate the situation.

Edahn Golan

Not simple. One of the most important things for a company is cash flow. For a mining company, there's an added issue. Mining is a very cash-intensive operation. Therefore, generating sales for a miner is especially important. The sanctions may therefore be a challenge for it, even if it has a serious cash reserve and/or the backing of its bankers.

Given that about 30% of the world's rough diamonds come from Russia, the bulk of which is produced by ALROSA, what sort of impact will the US sanctions have on diamond supply and prices?

Paul Zimnisky

I do think significant supply shortages are possible, especially in the coming months. A lot of how this plays out will depend on how the downstream segment of the supply chain responds to the situation.

If major jewellers in the West decide that they do not want to carry diamonds of Russian origin, this will reverberate through the supply chain.

This could lead to premiums of non-Russian goods, and discounts of Russian goods in markets where they are still accepted. Perhaps ALROSA will instead choose to stockpile inventory until more clarity ensues. There are a lot of open-ended scenarios right now.

Edahn Golan

Currently, there's limited impact. Prices of rough diamonds are easing. Smaller size rough diamonds have cooled and larger items are following.

The dynamics are that manufacturers have an adequate inventory of polished diamonds. There is moderate trade in polished diamonds in the midstream and demand for it from retailers doesn't warrant an increase in current manufacturing levels. Therefore, from a rough diamond demand perspective, the market is not experiencing a rough shortage, leading to price declines.

How will sanctions on Russias financial sector impact diamond trading for non-U.S. consumers?

Paul Zimnisky

I think at the very least it will slow, and likely disrupt, trading in the coming weeks and months. I am sure there will still be industry participants and end-consumer markets in the world that will still want Russian goods, so I do believe that trading will not completely halt, but I dont see things returning to business as usual for a while.

What is your opinion on ALROSAs decision to voluntarily suspend its membership of the Natural Diamond Council?

Paul Zimnisky

The circumstances are unfortunate as the NDC was starting to gain momentum. I don't think the NDC gets the credit they deserve for driving consumer demand growth in recent years, especially in 2021.

While the organisation does not publicly disclose the budget and member contributions, I think it's fair to speculate that ALROSA was one of the largest contributors. Perhaps the current members will decide to increase contributions to close the gap. I believe this would be in the industrys, and the members, best interest.

Edahn Golan

ALROSA is an important market player and sought to influence it positively, which is why it joined and helped establish these organizations. They are important organisations because they show what the industry does in terms of CSR, environmental protection, traceability, community support, and much more. All these efforts are genuine, long-term, and consumer-facing.

Considering current consumer sentiment in the most important consumer markets, the expectation from ALROSA is to respect the great efforts it and others made over the years, and allow the good work to continue.

With ALROSA under sanctions, the general sentiment is that insisting on staying in these organizations may have a chilling impact.

Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished




Roanoke Rapids, NC (27870)

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Partly cloudy skies this morning will become overcast during the afternoon. High 72F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph..

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Vietnamese rice exports have been increasing significantly in the first months of 2022, signalling a favourable year for the countrys produce.

Data from the General Department of Customs showed the country exported 974,556 tonnes of rice worth nearly 469.26 million USD in the first two months of the year, up 48.6 percent and 30.6 percent against the same period last year, respectively.

Vietnam's largest rice export market during the period was the Philippines, with the exports to the country rising by 110 percent in volume and 82 percent in value. It was followed by China with 81,880 tonnes.

Experts forecast both rice output and consumption in the global market will increase this year. They even said that in the next one or two weeks, rice export market will be busier. Besides, export prices are also expected to rise again when importers step up their purchases.

Instead of volume, Vietnamese rice exporters have been focusing more on quality to better access the European market to capitalise on the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).

According to the Department, though the countrys rice export volume to the EU last year inched up only 0.8 percent against the previous year to 53,910 tonnes, the produces export value surged 21.6 percent to 38.07 million USD.

The Ministry of Industry and Trades Import-Export Department attributed the high value to the success of Vietnamese rice exporters in taking advantage of the EVFTA. The export price of Vietnamese rice gained the strongest increase of 20.3 percent to 781 USD per tonne on average among the top 10 rice suppliers for the EU in the first nine months of 2021. The price hike was thanks to an increase in exports of Vietnamese high-quality and specialty rice varieties such as fragrant rice, ST24 and ST25.

Experts said Vietnam's rice exports this year will continue to better exploit the advantages from the EVFTA to boost shipments to the European market. The EU currently accounts for only a small share of Vietnam's total rice exports with 1 percent in volume and 1.3 percent in turnover.
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BAGHDAD, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Nineteen years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, many Iraqis still remember the horrors of war and human rights violations committed by Washington that took a heavy toll on civilians.

On March 20, 2003, the United States invaded and occupied Iraq, promising to bring peace, freedom and democracy to the country. But ever since, chaos and privations have clutched the cradle of this ancient Mesopotamia civilization.

Kadhim al-Adhari, a journalist working for the local al-Adala Newspaper, rebuffed those claims made by the United States, describing the invasion as a "painful memory."

"Before 2003, Iraq was witnessing a state of security, political and cultural stability, and had infrastructure," al-Adhari told Xinhua.

However, devastation ensued after U.S. troops invaded on a false pretext of weapons of mass destruction.

"The U.S. forces also used different ways to destroy the psyche of the Iraqi citizens, including using detention centers and prisons, and the most famous of which is what happened to Iraqi detainees in Abu Ghraib Prison and Bucca Prison in Basra province," he said.

Al-Adhari referred to images posted online in 2004 by U.S. soldiers in the notorious Abu Ghraib Prison, which verified the army's jaw-dropping abuse of Iraqi detainees, including stripping prisoners naked and having them piled on top of each other.

Amir al-Saadi, a political researcher, told Xinhua that the United States has proven throughout recent history that it does not care about human rights despite its claims and exposed its indifference in 1991 when it used depleted uranium weapons against Iraq during the Gulf War.

"It also used internationally prohibited weapons when it occupied Iraq in 2003, that killed many Iraqis and damaged the health system, and caused the emergence of many deformed births, as well as the rise in cancer cases that Iraq was not familiar with before 2003," al-Saadi said. "There is no doubt that the effect of these weapons will remain for hundreds of years."

According to al-Saadi, it carried out many massacres against Iraqis with impunity, such as the Haditha massacre and the bombing of the Fallujah city with internationally prohibited weapons.

The massacre in Haditha, some 200 km northwest of Baghdad, took place in 2005 when the U.S. Marines killed 24 unarmed civilians, including women, the elderly and children, inside their houses in response to a roadside bomb that hit their convoy and killed a U.S. soldier.

Fallujah, some 50 km west of Baghdad, also witnessed the heaviest bombing in 2004. The international community criticized the United States for the large-scale civilian casualties and the use of white phosphorus in the city.

Like many Iraqis, al-Saadi believes that the tragedies for Iraqis began when the former U.S. president George Bush declared Iraq the central front in the global war on terrorism, turning the country into an arena for settling conflicts with extremist groups.

"First, it (United States) lured the al-Qaida organization to turn Iraq into a battleground for anti-terror war, and then al-Qaida developed into Daish, the Islamic State (IS) group, which wreaked havoc throughout Iraq and destroyed everything, even archaeological and historical sites," al-Saadi said, adding "but the roots of this terrorism are not over yet and still spreading in more than one place in the country.

Hamza al-Warraq, 56, a bookshop owner in central Baghdad, told Xinhua that the U.S. forces committed plenty of crimes against Iraqis.

"America is a state of gangs and there is no real democracy in it. It has killed civilians in Iraq and this is unacceptable and a violation of all international laws, but America sees itself as a superpower that leads the world and dictates the policies it wants," he said.

By the end of 2011, the United States withdrew its troops from Iraq, with no findings of any weapons of mass destruction. Yet the war-torn country was already laden with casualties, orphans and explosive remnants.

Many Iraqis believe that turning their streets into battlefields by U.S. soldiers and killing thousands of innocent people should not go unpunished. The U.S. administration should bear the material and moral responsibility for those crimes.

Engineer Aida Abdul-Kareem said that the U.S. military mission destroyed Iraq, and the indiscriminate bombing led to the destruction of homes and infrastructure.

"They set Iraq back more than 100 years," she said. 
Two local colleges were recently recognized as being military-friendly by military media.

Cal State San Marcos was ranked 24th in the nation among four-year schools in the Military Times Best: Colleges 2018 Rankings. The Military Times Group of Sightline Media comprises the online and print publications Army Times, Marine Corps Times, Navy Times and Air Force Times.

The Military Times Best distinction recognizes colleges and universities for their commitment to quality education for Americas veterans and military-connected students. The rankings include the results of Military Times annual survey, a comprehensive school-by-school assessment of veteran and military student services, and rates of academic achievement.

CSUSM has the highest percentage of student-veterans per capita in the 23-campus California State University system. Military-connected students are about 11 percent of CSUSMs student body.

Our true north is serving our veterans and other military-connected students, and it is gratifying to see our hard work recognized, said Patricia Reily, director of CSUSMs Veterans Services, in a statement. But we could not provide the outstanding, holistic, high touch service we provide without the support of our wonderful, collaborative campus and community partners. This accolade belongs to us all.

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The universitys Veterans Center offers services such as Veterans Administration education benefit information and certification; Cal Vet application assistance; a computer lab; and monthly access to VA Compensation and Vocational Rehabilitation representatives and other community resources. A $1 million gift from the Epstein Family Foundation is helping the center expand.

And for the second consecutive year, MiraCosta College has been named a Military Friendly Institution by Victory Media, a veteran-owned company that publishes GI Jobs magazine and other publications related to veterans and their moves to civilian careers.

With more than 3,000 active-duty military, military dependents and military veterans enrolled at its campuses, MiraCosta has been expanding outreach to current and former members of the armed forces. And while many community colleges focus on building veterans vocational skills, MiraCosta College is also helping them transfer to four-year colleges and universities.

MiraCosta College has a long history supporting our military affiliated students, and the Military Friendly designation reinforces this, said Liz Draper, coordinator of Veterans Services at MiraCosta College, in a statement. Veterans Services has created a culture of camaraderie for our students to take a break from day-to-day challenges by housing a center that directly accommodates their needs. We will continue to be advocates for our students as they work towards their educational goals.

Among the ways the college helps veterans:

 With a $250,000 grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration, it created a Veterans Business Outreach Center to support troops who are leaving the military and starting self-employment or entrepreneurship. The center is based at the colleges Technology Career Institute in Carlsbad.

 The VetSuccess on Campus program, which has a counselor, chosen by the Veterans Benefits Administration, on-site at the Oceanside campus to provide benefits assistance.

 The college operates a High Threat Specialist Program, launched in 2012 as a not-for-credit course targeting Marines returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who are interested in careers as certified armed guards or high threat protection specialists. The college has since added a certified Anti-Terrorist/Corporate Protection component, as well as a Celebrity Corporate Protection course, a High Threat Protection course, and a High-Risk Medic class.

 The Veterans Information Center provides a place for students to find resources on VA educational benefits, MiraCosta Student Services, and community organizations that assist veterans.

laura.groch@sduniontribune.com
HOUSTON, March 20 (Xinhua) -- One person was killed and at least 24 were injured in a shooting outside a car show on Saturday night in Dumas City in the southern U.S. state of Arkansas, local police said Sunday.

"One suspect is in custody and a search is continuing today for others who may have been firing into the crowd," Arkansas State Police said in a statement.

Several children were among the victims, said local media reports, quoting the Dumas police.

An investigation is underway. Victims and witnesses have been interviewed overnight, said the reports. 
Billboards are one of the first and most successful advertising tools out there. And, it is currently a $6.5 billion industry. Although traditional advertising methods have all but died out with the birth of digital media, billboards continue to play an important role in advertising. They bring a high level of visibility for a relatively low investment and minimal upkeep. But if youre looking to generate some extra income, youre probably wondering How much does a billboard business cost?

How Much Does a Billboard Business Cost?

When it comes to owning your own billboard business, you have two options: buy an existing structure or build your own. Each one comes with its own set of pros and cons. Here are a few considerations when you look at how much a billboard business will cost you.

Building Costs

Land Purchase and Ground Leases Since you need to advertise near motorways, you will either need to purchase the land or lease the grounds from the current owner. If you plan on building on land you already own, you have to make sure it meets billboard eligibility requirements in your state. If you decide to rent, your ground lease shouldnt exceed 20 percent of your business revenue.

Liability Insurance All businesses should carry liability insurance to protect you against damages or unlawfulness.

Construction costs If youre building a new structure, youll need to hire a billboard construction company. The prices can range anywhere between $26,000 and $300,000 depending on the materials you decide to use. And with the increased cost for building materials, it is even higher than usual. Based on average prices for a 14 x 48 billboard, wooden billboards would fall on the cheapest end of the spectrum. Steel billboards range between $40,000 and $100,000. Meanwhile, digital billboards can cost you well over $150,000. Static boards are cheaper since they only need a vinyl covering which runs $0.50 per square foot. LED billboards are more expensive because they have more electrical components. But, they also allow you to advertise multiple companies and increase revenue.



Operational Costs

Once the billboard is complete, there are additional operational costs you must take into account. Some will be a one-time expense while others may be recurring payments.

Permits and Taxes Many states and cities ordinances require you to have a permit and pay taxes. In addition to this billboard business cost, there are also fees if they lapse or go unpaid.

Hiring a Graphic Artist Although some companies offer software training after they finish construction, it is not an industry standard. If you have design skills, you can save money by buying graphic software and creating your own. Otherwise, youll need to hire a graphic artist to come up with bold and eye-catching designs to show potential customers.

Lighting This expense is drastically different for traditional and electronic billboards. While they all need an external light source to illuminate them at night, more advanced displays have more electrical components. This can also lead to more repair costs.

Maintenance and Repairs All billboards will degrade over time, no matter which material you use. Beyond the usual weathering, billboards also incur damages during bad weather. If you purchased an existing structure, ensuring that it has been well-maintained could save you a huge headache and high repair costs later on.



Buy an Existing Billboard Business

The easiest option is to buy existing billboards, permits, and ground leases from an established company. But, the convenience will cost you. Since everything is already in place, the startup costs are much higher. However, if you want to see what your options are, you can contact a business broker to see if any billboard businesses are for sale in your area.

How Much Can You Earn?

The amount you can make directly depends on how much traffic the nearby road sees on a daily basis. According to AZ Central, even remote locations can generate $5,000 a month. Busier areas average about $20,000, and the most heavily trafficked sites bring in over $100,000. On average, billboard owners can charge anywhere from $800 to $5,000 a month to run advertisements. However, this amount is much lower in small towns ($200-$300) because there is less traffic and visibility.

The ideal locations are near busy expressways, highways, and major roads. But, they also come with a higher price tag which undermines profits. They begin to drop the further outside the city center you go. Even if a location does not have huge visibility now, it will gain more exposure in the future if it is near a growing city. A wise investment now could lead to good returns later on.

What Are the Local Laws?

Before you buy into the billboard business, you should brush up on the local laws. The federal regulations outlined in the Highway Beautification Act could also affect your operating costs. And, be sure to obtain the correct permits from the states Department of Transportation.

Local zoning authorities can answer all your questions about the legalities and billboard business cost in your district and surrounding counties. Be aware that laws vary by jurisdiction. In some locations, electronic signs are prohibited because of light emissions. Others have strict rules for display time and duration between ads. Knowing the restrictions ahead of time could save you from a costly mistake.

Know Your Competition

Although there are millions of billboards out there, industry consolidation has drastically reduced the number of competitors. Large corporations like Outfront, Lamar, and Clear Channel already have prime real estate and could make it difficult to find a suitable location. However, there is less competition outside major urban areas.

If you want to make your billboard business profitable, you need to know your competition. Not only will this help you set comparable rates, but it could also help you recognize opportunities when they come along.

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Each year, there are 12 days when a Washington Discover Pass isnt needed to access state recreational lands.



These are known as free days, and they give Washingtons outdoorsy types a chance to visit public lands without the need to buy a day-use permit or display an annual Discover Pass in their vehicle. Previously, free days only applied to certain areas. But thats now changed.



On Thursday, Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill that extends free days to include all lands and recreation sites managed by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the state Department of Natural Resources and the State Parks and Recreation Commission  some 6.7 million acres in total.



This bill simply extends the Discover Pass free days  to all state recreational lands, state Sen. Judy Warnick, the bills author, said during a floor speech in January. This will help avoid confusion and create more equal access to all our public lands.



The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the state Department of Natural Resources and the State Parks and Recreation Commission must now work together to designate 12 days each year in which access to their lands is free. Those days should  when possible  coincide with National Parks free days, and at least three of them must be on weekends.



Although the bill doesnt technically take effect until later this year, Eryn Couch, a spokesperson with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, said the three agencies will honor the new policy during the remaining free days of 2022. Those days are April 22, June 11, June 12, June 19, Sept. 24, Oct. 10, Nov. 11 and Nov. 25.



Proponents of the bill said it clears up uncertainty among recreationists as to what state lands the Discover Pass free days apply to. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has said that it tried not to enforce penalties on free days because many visitors thought they didnt need to display a pass in areas where they were actually required to. Those penalties include fees that range from $59 to $99.



The bill passed both chambers of the Legislature unanimously.



The state Legislature and the governors office created the Discover Pass in 2011 to offset steep reductions in taxes that went to supporting Washingtons public lands. Day passes cost $10, and annual passes cost $30.


LOS ANGELES, March 21 (Xinhua) -- NASA engineers and technicians are preparing the Artemis I rocket for its final major test following its arrival at the launch pad for the first time, according to the agency.

The Artemis I Moon rocket - NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) with the Orion spacecraft atop it - has arrived at the launch pad for the first time on Friday, after a nearly 11-hour journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

In the coming days, engineers and technicians will prepare the Artemis I rocket for its final major test - the wet dress rehearsal. The approximately two-day test will demonstrate the team's ability to load cryogenic propellants into the rocket, conduct a launch countdown, and practice safely removing propellants at the launch pad, according to NASA.

After the rehearsal, NASA will review data from the test before setting a specific target launch date for the Artemis I launch.

With Artemis, NASA plans to land the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon and establish long-term exploration in preparation for missions to Mars. 
BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- China has decided to provide more humanitarian aid supplies to Ukraine worth 10 million yuan (about 1.57 million U.S. dollars), a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Monday.

Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a daily press briefing that this additional offer was based on the development of the situation and the actual needs of Ukraine. The Red Cross Society of China had earlier provided 5 million yuan worth of humanitarian aid supplies to the Ukrainian side.

"China pays close attention to the civilian casualties in the Russia-Ukraine conflict," Wang said, noting that the top priority for the international community now is to deal with the possible large-scale humanitarian crisis.

Wang said China has put forward a six-point initiative on alleviating the humanitarian situation in Ukraine and has taken concrete actions, including providing humanitarian aid supplies.

"China will continue to play a constructive role in easing the situation in Ukraine and stands ready to make its own efforts to overcome the humanitarian crisis," said Wang. 
From Editor in Chief Emilio Garcia-Ruiz:

The Chronicle is thrilled to announce that Jesse Lewis has joined the newsroom as Director of Culture and Operations. Lewis will oversee reporting teams dedicated to coverage of race and equity and the Bay Areas post-pandemic transformation, as well as leading newsroom operations.

A veteran journalist, Lewis comes to The Chronicle from the Washington Post, where he worked since 2011. He served as the Posts Multiplatform Editing Chief, directing print and digital copy editing, as well as managing the Washington Post News Service, which distributes content created by Post journalists to news organizations around the world.

Jesse is one of the smartest editors I worked with at the Post, and he is a proven leader with world-class experience working in major newsrooms, said Chronicle Editor in Chief Emilio Garcia-Ruiz. He will be an excellent addition to our leadership team and someone I know the staff, especially our young editors, can learn from.

Its an honor to join a news organization that is committed to quality journalism and offers a wide range of coverage designed to inform, engage and entertain the broad spectrum of readers throughout the community and the region, Lewis said. I am excited and thankful that I will have the opportunity to contribute to The Chronicles continued success.

Lewis grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., and attended Ohio Wesleyan University before pursuing journalism. He began his career at the Ocala Star Banner and the Sun Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., then moved north, where he served as an assistant press secretary for Pennsylvania Gov. Dick Thornburgh (R) in the late '70s and early '80s.

Lewis returned to journalism through graduate school, completing a masters degree in journalism at Columbia University. He worked as a copy editor and assistant news editor at the Louisville Courier-Journal, then landed a job at the Wall Street Journal, where he moved from copy editor to national and global copy chief, contributing to the papers Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of Sept. 11, 2001. Eventually, he joined the Wall Street Journal Europe, rising to managing editor of that international edition.

He is coming to California from Kentucky, where he will continue to maintain a residence with his wife in historic Old Louisville while he works on the West Coast. His son and grandson also live in Louisville, and he has siblings in New York, Maryland and in the Bay Area.

Ive visited the Bay Area numerous times and know it is a vibrant and exciting region, but this will be the first time Ill experience it as a resident, Lewis said. But my whole career has given me the opportunity to live and work in fascinating places, and I relish living in this part of the country.

About The San Francisco Chronicle

The San Francisco Chronicle (www.sfchronicle.com) is the largest newspaper in Northern California and the second largest on the West Coast. Acquired by the Hearst Corporation in 2000, The San Francisco Chronicle was founded in 1865 by Charles and Michael de Young and has been awarded six Pulitzer Prizes for journalistic excellence. Follow us on Twitter at @SFChronicle.
State and local governments can ban the sales of flavored tobacco products to protect young people from becoming addicted, a federal appeals court has ruled, rejecting tobacco companies arguments in a case from Los Angeles County.

In a 2-1 ruling Friday, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said a 2009 federal law regulating tobacco products does not prevent states, counties and cities from going further and prohibiting the sale of flavored cigarettes and other tobacco products. The ruling upheld Los Angeles Countys 2019 ban on all such products and would also apply to similar measures approved by San Francisco voters in 2018 and by the Berkeley City Council in 2019. Oakland outlawed flavored tobacco products in 2018 but exempted sales at adults-only tobacco shops.

Among 300 communities nationwide that outlaw most or all flavored tobacco sales, about one-third are in California, said Joelle Lester of the nonprofit Public Health Law Center, which filed arguments supporting the local regulation.

California lawmakers approved a measure in 2020 to prohibit marketing of most flavored tobacco products, exempting sales of pipe tobacco and premium cigars, and exempting sales of hookah tobacco to those 21 and older. But industry groups collected enough signatures to qualify a referendum for the ballot and put the state law on hold until voters consider it this November.

The 2009 federal law followed more than a century of tobacco regulation by state governments. The law authorized regulation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which has prohibited some flavored tobacco products and has announced plans to outlaw menthol-flavored cigarettes in forthcoming regulations.

Under the 2009 law, only the federal government, and not state or local governments, can set tobacco product standards. But the appeals court said the ban on flavored products was authorized by another provision of the law allowing states to impose requirements relating to the sale ... of tobacco products.

Quoting another appeals courts ruling in 2013 upholding a ban on most flavored tobacco sales in New York City, the Ninth Circuit said Congress had decided to preserve for states a robust role in regulating, and even banning, sales of tobacco products.

The ruling upholding a federal judges decision in the countys favor was written by Judge Lawrence VanDyke and joined by Karen Schreier, a federal judge from South Dakota temporarily assigned to the appeals court. In dissent, Judge Ryan Nelson said the 2009 federal law prohibits state and local bans on any category of tobacco products.

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.

In banning sales of certain flavored tobacco products, Nelson said, the federal law declared that its ban was a tobacco product standard, the same language it used to pre-empt local regulations.

The countys position was supported by Attorney General Rob Bontas office and a number of health and medical organizations. In response to the ruling, Bonta said on Twitter, Every year, almost 500K die due to tobacco related disease. We must act to protect the health of our people.

Lawyers for the tobacco companies were not immediately available for comment.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko
Vegan Mob, the plant-based hit restaurant in Oakland, is moving to a new home.

Its not going far. Owner Toriano Gordon is opening a larger, full-service restaurant at 1500 Broadway in downtown Oakland, in July. The original location at 500 Lake Park Ave., near the Grand Lake Theatre and Lake Merritt, will close then.

Vegan Mobs current lease ended recently but was extended temporarily, so Gordon has been looking for a permanent home for his wildly popular vegan soul food. The Broadway space has room for 64 seats inside and a few tables outside, compared to the current outdoor-only location. The new restaurant will serve the same meat-free fried chicken and lumpia, plus some new dishes like hush puppies.

There will be beer and wine, while a juice bar called Bougie Smoothie, run by Gordons wife, Maya Cameron-Gordon, will churn out smoothies and fresh juices. (She opened the first Bougie Smoothie in late January in Emeryville.) Gordon, a rapper, plans to install a DJ booth and host events. Hes excited about the restaurants proximity to the Fox and Paramount theaters, plus nearby businesses he feels an affinity with. The new Vegan Mob will be down the street from clothing store Dope Era, founded by Bay Area rapper Mistah F.A.B., and marijuana dispensary Cookies.

Its going to be Vegan Mob times 10, Toriano said.

It will be a fast-casual spot and will continue to offer takeout and delivery. But Toriano is eager to capture more of an in-person crowd. Since Vegan Mob is a counter-only space with little outdoor seating, Gordon said hes seen sales fall slightly as demand for in-person dining has come back.

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

Toriano launched Vegan Mob in 2019 to long lines and huge demand. The restaurant had to close temporarily on opening day to recoup after selling out in six hours. He went on to open a food truck in San Francisco and a ghost kitchen in San Jose. If theres a gap between when the Oakland original closes and the new spot opens, he hopes to park the food truck on Broadway Street.

Elena Kadvany is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: elena.kadvany@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ekadvany
In the predawn hours of Oct. 9, 2017, I awoke in an Orlando hotel ready to speak at a conference, when I felt my husbands hand on mine. Theres been a massive fire in Santa Rosa, he said gently. Within hours, the Tubbs Fire had devoured 5,600 Sonoma County houses, including ours. For the flight home, we packed what we had brought with us into two suitcases, the only belongings we still had.

We returned to acres of ruins  powdery white ash, acrid black char and pinkened stucco wall fragments. The flames had incinerated the past I had preserved in family photographs and the journals I had written over decades, often bleary-eyed, before the details faded. Searching the ashes felt like a preview to my own funeral.

I was still in the throes of post-traumatic stress disorder when I learned that three fires shared nearly identical footprints in Santa Rosa  the Tubbs, the Hanly in 1964 and the Great Fire of 1870. After the Hanly fire, experts had warned that the area would be ravaged again.

Since 2017, fires have destroyed nearly 6,000 Sonoma County homes, including 1,500 in the high-priced Fountaingrove neighborhood. To recover its 5% housing stock loss, the city accelerated the home-building approval process. Skyrocketing insurance rates have given me pause, though. Some companies are denying coverage altogether.

Our own neighborhood is now a patchwork of a few familiar rebuilds, hundreds of less-expensive houses and empty lots like ours. With construction costs soaring, several under-insured neighbors built scaled-down structures, and others sold their land and left. My own dream of rebuilding our home battles with the nightmare of another firestorm.

I would have a better idea of my risks if my home were to be built in a new development. The California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, requires an environmental impact report before permitting and building. Developers can be held accountable to address issues brought up in a report through litigation and threats.

Recently, a court ruling blocked the construction of a new resort and housing project in neighboring Lake County. The county, one of the poorest in the state, still struggles in the wake of the massive Valley and LNU Complex wildfires, so elected officials approved the 16,000-acre development anticipating it would bring a healthy revenue flow. But a judge ruled that the environmental impact report had failed to adequately consider wildfires and safe evacuation.

Without the environmental lawsuit and the judges decision, the project would have been built on the same site as repeated conflagrations. California Attorney General Rob Bonta warned against approving such projects that exacerbate wildfire risks and threaten the community. We must build responsibly, he said. Ensuring construction meets building codes is part of that process. A UC San Diego study found that after the introduction of 1998 building codes, dwelling losses after wildfires decreased from 70% to 58%.

Our stone mailbox was the only structure that survived the Tubbs Fire. Inside I found several crisp, white envelopes delivered the day we left for Orlando. A windowless stone tower with a slit door may not be practical, but I would hope a rebuild would be more fire-resistant than the house we lost.

In February, State Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara assembled new home-hardening guidelines, including high-fire-protection roofs and ember-resistant vents. If my home were built like that, maybe it would survive. In fact, 12 homeowners insurance companies offered discounts to at-risk clients who comply.

But even if insurance rates are affordable now, they could be out of reach in five years. The number of nonrenewals, or policies that insurance companies decide not to renew, in Sonoma County increased 20% from 2019 to 2020, and over 1,000 homeowners now rely on the states bare-bones FAIR plan.

No doubt, CEQA has serious problems. The cost of housing in California is inflated in part by the expense of meeting its directives. Entities with ulterior motives have used it to tie up projects in litigation for years. Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed 17 bills to rein in CEQA and lower building costs.

But the houses in burned neighborhoods received permits when they were first built and the original environmental impact studies may not reflect the current risks. Climate change is expected to increase the intensity and frequency of wildfires, so a current risk assessment of a potential rebuild, independent of CEQA, could guide people like me.

Local leadership may react to economic needs and approve a project for its potential property tax windfall, but communities and lives are at stake when they ignore known risks. Its not enough to require wildfire-focused environmental reports only for new construction projects. Those of us hoping to return to burned established neighborhoods deserve an equally thorough and transparent analysis. Right now, we are expected to rebuild at our own risk or to independently seek out a fire assessment.

I cant control the winds or the drought, but I can control where I build. Its been nearly five years since I returned from Orlando to the smoldering hills where my house once stood in a very high-fire severity zone. If Im likely to lose the journals I have written since that October day, I want emergency and public safety officials to let me know before I submit plans to rebuild.

Heather Furnas is a clinical associate professor of plastic surgery at Stanford University and is working on her memoir.
On any given night, thousands of people sleep on San Franciscos streets, according to the last estimate, and a revamped proposal would require the city to offer a place to sleep to all of them.

First proposed in 2020, the revised legislation will be introduced Tuesday by Supervisor Rafael Mandelman and already has the backing of three colleagues, including Matt Haney, who was critical of the earlier proposal. It would need six votes to pass. Haney and others criticized the kind of shelter that would have been offered under last years plan, primarily tent villages. The revised legislation calls for more shelter options.

Supervisors backing the proposal expressed frustration that San Francisco, one of the wealthiest cities in the country, lets people deteriorate in street encampments instead of creating enough safe, temporary shelter while also working on permanent housing.

It is fundamentally wrong and inhumane to leave people stuck out in the elements when they are willing to come in, Mandelman told The Chronicle. If were going to address the problem of encampments in our neighborhoods, we need to be able to offer people a place to go, not in some ideal future, but tonight. We may get to the point where we have housing for all, but ... I believe we do have a realistic path to get shelter for all.

Mandelman is pushing his A Place for All proposal as San Francisco pumps $1 billion into addressing homelessness over two years and buys hotels to turn into subsidized housing. Despite investments, the city still falls short of meeting the needs of 5,000 people sleeping outside at the last count. Officials are also struggling to improve street conditions, pressured by housed residents and struggling businesses that want to lure back shoppers and tourists.

The proposal is sure to reignite last years debate about whether investing in temporary shelter distracts from creating permanent housing. Homeless advocates worry that a push for shelter could mean sweeping people from the street if they dont accept it.

Mandelman and three supervisors co-sponsoring the proposal, plus another on the fence, said if San Francisco had adequate shelter, the city could enforce laws, such as a prohibition of tents on sidewalks, although some caveated that police dont necessarily need to lead enforcement.

Shelter for all would be pricey  Mandelman estimated at least $20 million a year to run 500 shelter placements, with setup costs varying by site. Its not clear yet how many are needed.

Shelter could include tiny homes, hotels or safe sleeping areas for people to pitch tents. The law would direct the city to report within three months how much shelter San Francisco needs to create, the cost and identify sites spread across the city to implement the plan within three years. The mayor and board of supervisors would then have to fund it.

The mayors office and the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing said they needed time to review the proposal.

Other major cities  including New York City and Boston  have right to shelter laws. While massive shelter systems have been criticized for dismal conditions and mismanagement, they have reduced street homelessness. In Boston, there were 6,203 people experiencing homelessness, with 121 unsheltered in 2019. In San Francisco, 5,180 out of 8,035 homeless people were unsheltered in 2019.

Last year, San Francisco had only around 2,260 shelter and transitional housing beds and nearly 12,400 permanent housing options. Around 90% of city-run permanent supportive housing units were full this month.

Mandelman and supervisors backing him said housing is the goal but stressed the streets cant be the waiting room.

We have been in this typical San Francisco debate of whether our approach should be housing first or shelter, as if we cant do both, said Supervisor Myrna Melgar, who is co-sponsoring the legislation. I am tired of the crisis on our streets, and if Im tired, what about the poor people who are on the street?

Last year, Mandelman said he wanted a variety of shelter options, but the city would have to rely at first on safe sleep sites  sanctioned tent encampments with security, food and bathrooms at the cost of $61,000 a year per tent. A city report said scaling up sites could halve the cost, but Mandelmans proposal never made it to the full board for a vote.

Mandelmans updated proposal mandates that at least half of shelter opened must be in sites with private rooms. No more than 20% could be at safe sleep sites.

Still, another question remains: If there was enough shelter, would the city force people who didnt accept it off the streets? The legislation is silent on enforcement. Mandelman said that if people are engaged in illegal activities or asked to leave and dont, sometimes there is a role for police in encampment resolutions, although he wants to offer treatment, shelter and housing first.

A federal court ruling  Martin v. City of Boise  prohibits the city from citing or arresting people sleeping outside if they dont have adequate alternatives.

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.

Supervisor Catherine Stefani, who is a co-sponsor, said the legislation is something we should do in terms of providing additional types of housing so that we can enforce the laws on our books. She said any enforcement should be compassionate to get people the help they need.

Melgar supports community workers responding to 911 calls about homelessness and mental illness. Haney said he supports the current laws as it relates to enforcement.

Supervisor Hillary Ronen said, If we have a genuinely safe, dignified place for people to go ... then I believe we should not be permitting people to sleep on the streets.

Ronen hasnt yet co-sponsored the legislation: As budget chair, she wants to ensure the proposal will be funded first.

Solving street homelessness is more complicated than just adding shelter beds. Mandelman and Ronen said they know people who havent accepted shelter or returned to the streets when they do get inside, especially if they struggle with substance use or mental illness.

Richard Dibson, who goes by Shane, sat Monday morning on a Mission Street sidewalk, waiting for an interview to get into treatment for alcohol and drug addiction. Homeless for four decades, he spent the occasional night in a group shelter before getting into a hotel during the pandemic, but on some nights has trouble sleeping there.

I hate being inside, he said. The walls close in.

When he cant sleep, he goes outside.

Mallory Moench (she/her) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mallory.moench@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @mallorymoench
A genetically modified scourge of mosquitoes could be unleashed throughout California as municipalities across the state grapple with increasing bouts of an invasive mosquito species.

The mosquitoes, developed by the British biotech firm Oxitec, are known as OX5034  a modified male version of Aedes aegypti, the species that first emerged in Los Angeles County about a decade ago before spreading to at least 22 different counties across the state. They are an invasive species known to carry dengue, Zika and a host of other diseases, and naturally spread in contained, urban spaces with standing water, such as flowerpots and open water bottles.

Up to 2 million OX5034 mosquitoes could be released in the coming years throughout the state, pending state approval by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation. The male species, which naturally do not bite humans, carry a gene that will ensure that female offspring do not grow into childhood. Male offspring, however, will survive  and continue to pass down the gene to further generations, hopefully eradicating the invasive species for good.

The species also carries genetic material for researchers to track them down.

If the Department of Pesticide Regulation approves the plan, the first city that will see the wave of Oxitec mosquitoes is Visalia, reports the Bay Area News Group  with possible expansion to Fresno, San Bernardino and Stanislaus counties depending on the efficacy of the trial run.

Officials in Visalia unanimously approved a trial run of the Oxitec program in October 2021, just months after the Visalia Times Delta reported on the considerable rise of the Aedes aegypti in the area. The biotech company also plans to open offices in the Central California city.

"With mosquito and vector-borne diseases a growing concern in California, we see Oxitecs technology as an important additional option to control the invasive Aedes aegypti mosquito, Mustapha Debboun, of the Delta Mosquito and Vector Control District, said in a statement.

The hope, Debboun told the Bay Area News Group, is that this should be more targeted and less harmful to butterflies and other beneficial and non-invasive bugs than pesticides.

In 2020, Florida Keys officials approved the release of 750 million genetically modified mosquitoes  150,000 of which were released in 2021  after Oxitec received state and federal approval for the launch. (The program is slated to continue in Florida this year.)

But skepticism remains. None of the viruses commonly transmitted by Aedes aegypti, including dengue or Zika, have been reported to be spread by the mosquitoes in California.

One activist also expressed concern to the Bay Area News Group that Visalia will effectively become lab rats for Oxitec without getting public input.

Further, one heavily debated study published in the peer-reviewed open journal Scientific Reports disputed the effectiveness of the Oxitec mosquitoes in Brazil  with claims that the modified mosquitoes did not curb the mosquito population, and instead ended up spreading parts of its genetic material to the larger population. (That said, an editorial expression of concern with doubts about the study was published by the journal shortly after the release of the study.)

It appears that Oxitec does have provisions in place to stop their research if something goes awry, such as female offspring making it to adulthood, the Bay Area News Group reported.
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Donald Trumps White House chief of staff and a national campaign spokesperson were involved in efforts to encourage the presidents supporters to march on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Thats according to a person who says he overheard a key planning conversation between top Trump officials and the organizers of the Jan. 6 rally on the White House Ellipse  and has since testified to House investigators about the phone call.

Trump and his allies have tried to minimize his role in calling his supporters to the Capitol and argue he was simply participating in a lawful, peaceful demonstration.

Scott Johnston  who worked on the team that helped plan the Ellipse rally  says thats just not so. He claims that leading figures in the Trump administration and campaign deliberately planned to have crowds converge on the Capitol, where the 2020 election was being certified  and make it look like they went down there on their own.

Johnston, who says he described the phone call to House select committee investigators, detailed his allegations in a series of conversations with Rolling Stone. Johnston says he overheard Mark Meadows, then-former President Trumps chief of staff, and Katrina Pierson, Trumps national campaign spokeswoman, talking with Kylie Kremer, the executive director of Women for America First, about plans for a march to the Capitol. Johnston said the conversation was clearly audible to him since it took place on a speakerphone as he drove Kremer between the groups rallies in the final three days of 2020.

They were very open about how there was going to be a march, Johnston says. Everyone knew there was going to be a march.

According to Johnston, Meadows, Pierson, and Kremer discussed the possibility of setting up a permit to make the march from the White House to the Capitol official. He says the trio decided against officially permitting the march, citing concerns about security costs and about the optics of a sitting president organizing a push towards Congress as lawmakers certified his loss in the 2020 election. Ultimately, Johnston tells Rolling Stone, they planned to direct the people down there and make it look like they went down there on their own.

Kremers group, Women for America First, helped lead the Jan. 6 rally at the White House Ellipse, where Trump delivered a speech and told supporters to fight like hell and said he expected them to march on the Capitol. We fight like hell. And if you dont fight like hell, youre not going to have a country anymore, Trump said. As Trump spoke, people began leaving the rally to walk toward the Capitol.

The presidents camp insists this wasnt part of any pre-planned push. In the book where he recounted his time in the White House, Meadows called the Jan. 6 violence the actions of a handful of fanatics across town.

Johnstons account suggests there was a deliberate strategy by Trumps allies to have supporters descend on the Capitol. Such a connection would implicate top White House and campaign officials in drawing crowds to Congress without a permit  a step that could have required added security and may have allowed law enforcement to better prepare for the days events. Those crowds overwhelmed the Capitol police and engaged in an hours-long battle with law enforcement. Four people died during the attack.

According to Johnston, rally organizers were constantly using burner phones  cheap, prepaid cells that can be harder to trace because theyre not personally identified with a user or a users account  to talk about potential permits and plans for a march with Trump aides.

Johnston says that, in the key phone conversation he overheard, the group settled on ordering a march without an official permit. Nobody wanted to do it because they didnt want to pay for it, Johnston says of obtaining a permit. They didnt want to have to provide security and all the other expenses.

On Dec. 20, 2021, Johnston testified to the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack, and he provided Rolling Stone multiple pieces of documentation showing his interactions with the committee. Johnston also says he told investigators that he knew the call took place on a burner phone in the final days of 2020 because the discussion came right after Kylie Kremer directed him to purchase three phones for her group.

Im the one that bought the burner phones, Johnston says.

The committee did not respond to an inquiry regarding Johnstons allegations about the rally organizers and about his testimony. A source familiar tells Rolling Stone that committee investigators have asked Amy Kremer, Kylies mother and the chair of Women for America First, about their use of burner phones. The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the ongoing investigation, said Amy Kremer has denied using the devices. The source did, however, confirm that key phones used by the rally organizers were purchased in California. That corroborates the account from Johnston, who says he told committee investigators that he bought the phones at a CVS in Cathedral City, California.

The committee is also seeking Meadows phone records via a subpoena sent to Verizon, but the former White House chief of staff sued to block that subpoena in December. The case is ongoing. A spokesman for Meadows declined to comment.

Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

Rolling Stone reported in November that Kremer and other Jan. 6 rally organizers used burner phones to communicate with White House officials during the planning stages of that event. After that report, Kylie and Amy Kremer denied using burner phones in a statement from their lawyers. Johnston, who was one of the sources for that reporting, says Kylie Kremer directed him to purchase the phones on Dec. 28, 2020, so she could communicate with high-level people.

According to Johnston, on the call with Meadows and Pierson, Kylie Kremer was adamant that Women for America First could not be publicly affiliated with the march, even though she privately approved of it. Johnston says Meadows was willing to help secure a permit for the march but was also amenable to Trump supporters converging on the Capitol without one.

Pierson disputed Johnstons version of events in a text message to Rolling Stone. No such call took place, Pierson wrote. Pierson further suggested that she did not know who Johnston was and that phone records would disprove his defamatory claims.

Asked about Johnsons allegations, Kylie and Amy Kremer responded through their spokesman, Chris Barron. The claim regarding the substance of any phone call between Katrina Pierson, Kylie Kremer, and Mark Meadows is absolutely false, Barron wrote. If anyone gave testimony to the J6 committee claiming that such a call took place and that was the substance of the call should be incredibly concerned  the last I looked lying to Congress was a crime.

Organizers of the Ellipse rally told Rolling Stone last year that they participated in dozens of meetings with White House staff and pro-Trump Republicans in Congress as they planned protests against Trumps election loss. And Rolling Stone reviewed text messages among the rally organizers  including Johnston  in which the organizers said they were following [Trumps] lead in planning the Ellipse rally.

While the House select committee is clearly investigating the high-level organization of the Ellipse rally and related efforts to overturn Trumps election loss, it does not have criminal authority. The congressional committee can, however, make referrals to the Justice Department, which is conducting its own investigation. Thus far, the FBI has largely focused on militant groups that were present at the Capitol and people involved in the storming of the building, hundreds of whom have been arrested and now face criminal prosecutions, jail time, probation, and fines. While these rank-and-file supporters have suffered criminal consequences, many prominent figures involved in the Jan. 6 rally remain members of good standing within the GOP, where they continue to hold powerful and lucrative positions in and out of government.

Rolling Stone cannot independently verify Johnstons claim about the December phone conversation. He says hes unaware of any recording of the call. The only other person Johnston believes may have overheard it is another Ellipse rally planner, Matt McCleskey. Johnston says McCleskey was also in the car when Kylie Kremer spoke about the march with Meadows and Pierson. However, Johnston says its unclear if McCleskey would have heard the call, as the staffer often wore headphones as he worked during the long drives.

McCleskey tells Rolling Stone Johnstons story is not true and says he was never in the presence of a phone call involving Meadows and Pierson.

Jacquelyn Martin/AP Images; Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images Jacquelyn Martin/AP Images; Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images

The committee has subpoenaed Meadows, Pierson, and Kremer. In a letter that accompanied those subpoenas, Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) indicated his interest in communications the Kremers had with Meadows. Thompson also indicated to Meadows that the committee is interested in the role Trumps former chief of staff played in planning the Jan. 6 events. It appears that you were with or in the vicinity of President Trump on Jan. 6, had communications with the President and others on Jan. 6 regarding events at the Capitol, and are a witness regarding activities of that day, Thompson wrote. Moreover, at least one press report indicates you were in communication with organizers of the Jan. 6 rally, including Amy Kremer.

Johnston had been volunteering for conservative causes since long before Jan. 6, 2021. In 2015, he worked in Arizona with Dustin Stockton and Jennifer Lawrence, two right-wing activists who later joined the rally planning team led by the Kremers. Stockton and Lawrence introduced Johnston to the Kremers, and he assisted them during months of rallies they staged in the lead-up to Jan. 6.

With multiple investigations into Jan. 6, cooperating witnesses can have a variety of motivations for coming forward. Some may hope to avoid legal trouble while others could be eager to shape the public narrative or settle scores. Ultimately, Johnston said his relationship with the Kremers soured, in part, because he came to view them as total grifters. Johnston claimed he told investigators that the Kremers used donated funds for personal expenses. In text messages reviewed by Rolling Stone from the days after the Capitol attacks, Johnston accused Kylie Kremer of having him accompany her on a weird and inappropriate trip to go bra shopping. Johnston says he directly witnessed Kylie take cash that was collected at a Women for America First March for Trump event for her purchases on that trip.

She took a handful right out of the donor basket, Johnston said.

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

The Ellipse rally was not the only major pro-Trump event that was set to take place in Washington on Jan. 6. There were also plans for a rally called the Wild Protest that was to be held alongside the Capitol grounds. One of the organizers of that demonstration, far-right activist Ali Alexander, claimed in a television special produced by Fox News host Tucker Carlson last November that a Trump campaign staffer approached him at the Ellipse Rally and directed him  as well as conspiracy theorist Alex Jones  to lead a march to the Wild Protest site. A Trump campaign staffer walks up to me and says, You know, Ali, there are people leaving the overflow and there are already tens of thousands of people at the U.S. Capitol. With your presence and the presence of Alex Jones, why dont you guys walk down Pennsylvania, gather people together, and then position them for your rally.'

Jones made a similar claim in a video that he posted on Jan. 7, 2021. The White House told me  three days before  were going to have you lead the march, Jones said. Trump will tell people, Go and Im going to meet you at the Capitol.

Alexander and Jones have both been subpoenaed by the House select committee. In letters accompanying those subpoenas, which were sent last year, the committee indicated it was interested in the role both men played in plans to march to the Capitol.

Alexander and Jones  who both have a long history of promoting false conspiracy theories  have not produced any evidence of their claims or named the White House and campaign staffers who they say directed them. The pair have insisted their actions on Jan. 6 were non-violent and law abiding. Jones did not respond to a request for comment. In an email, Alexander, who did not respond to requests to name the alleged staffer, claimed event planning is not one dimensional.

No one instructed anyone to have a structured march (formation, banners, fencing, etc.) that Im aware of. The walk over was colloquially described as a march by some, as a walk over by others, Alexander wrote. And that was an evolving issue that developed and changed the advertising or characterization of the event as it was quickly planned.

Stockton and Lawrence have told Rolling Stone they were among a group of Ellipse rally organizers who had concerns about the Wild Protest due to Alexanders links to militant groups and the rallys proximity to the Capitol. The pair claimed Amy Kremer brought those concerns to Meadows and that they were under the impression he would resolve the issue. Earlier this month, the committee subpoenaed Kimberly Guilfoyle, a Trump campaign aide and the fiancee of the former presidents son Don Jr. In a letter accompanying that subpoena, the committee indicated it was interested in concerns raised about Alexanders presence at the Ellipse rally.

Johnston said that, in his committee interview, the investigators were specifically focused on whether Meadows knew about plans to have a march on the Capitol. This questioning left Johnston with the impression that other witnesses testified the former White House chief of staff was involved in plans to have crowds go from the Ellipse to the Capitol. I dont think Im the only one thats told them that he knew about the march, Johnston says of Meadows.

Mark Meadows and Katrina Pierson, Johnston says of the investigators, thats the two theyre going after.
Vital Vittles, the Berkeley bakery known for its organic whole wheat bread, is closing after 46 years, reported Berkeleyside. After the publication warned in January that the cherished spot was in dire straits due to the pandemic, it is now slated to close March 31.

"This was my first child," Kass Schwin, the bakery's previous owner, told SFGATE. "My kids didnt happen until years after we had started Vital Vittles, so it's very bittersweet for me."

Kass Schwin and Joe Schwin (her ex-husband, who died two years ago) first opened Vital Vittles in 1976 as a whole wheat flour mill. Three years later, they turned the business into a bakery and began selling their bread at local health food stores. The bakery has been at its present location at 2810 San Pablo Ave. since 1984.

Courtesy of Kass Schwin

In 2006, the Schwins sold the bakery to Huong Tran, who has worked at Vital Vittles since 1981, and her brother, Binh Tran. Under their ownership, the bakery with a dedicated cult following thrived for many years  until the pandemic hit, when losing a dozen wholesale accounts spelled disaster for the business. It was at this point that Schwin got involved in the bakery again to help the Trans try to find a way to survive.

"In the early days of the pandemic, people stopped shopping in stores," Schwin explained. "And Vital Vittles just wasn't able to pivot in a way to be able to reach their customer base. And then [ingredient] prices have been changing and going up ... they just had so many challenges."

Despite raising more than $35,000 in a GoFundMe fundraiser, it wasnt enough to save the bakery.

Molly P. and Rosanna C. via Yelp

"There was an impossibility to make it work," Schwin said. "When they started the GoFundMe, it was hoped that they could find a way to get through the pandemic and grow the business and maybe find a partner to work with them, or capital ... and nothing was going forward. It looked like they were just going to have to close the doors. And then they decided to try to sell it."

On March 16, the owners announced on their GoFundMe page that they had found a new owner. Although the sale is still pending, Berkeleyside reported that the new owners are Carlos Altamirano and Shu Dai, a husband-and-wife team who own seven Peruvian restaurants in the Bay Area. According to Schwin, the new owners plan to keep selling some Vital Vittles products, which has made the transition a little easier.

Courtesy of Kass Schwin

"The Tran family is like my family," Schwin said. "We've been together for 35 years working together, and we raised our kids together. But I'm just sad that they weren't able to make a go of it. And it was really hard for me to see how they struggled these past couple of years ... but on the other side, there is some relief that possibly this new business owner will be able to do what they weren't able to do, and keep it going because she has other products. So I'm a little more hopeful than I was like eight months ago."

The Trans, she said, are "relieved and just exhausted from the stress of this past couple of years," but will most likely find new jobs soon (Binh, 50, has an accounting degree, and Huong, 63, has expressed interested in pivoting from baking to sewing).

"We're just sorry that it wasn't able to stay open," Schwin said. "There's a cartoon that we love. It has a picture of a cafe that says wholesome, delicious, whole grain, fresh organic food. And next to it is 'The Crapola Cafe.' The first one has a closing sign out front, and the Crapola Cafe has a long line around the block, and that has been our challenge from the very beginning."
After more than three weeks without being able to leave the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine, 64 workers were able to be rotated out, the plant said Sunday.

Staff at the plant, which includes more than 200 technical personnel and guards, had not been able to rotate shifts since Feb. 23, a day before Russian forces took control of the site, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, which serves as a nuclear watchdog for the United Nations.

In a Facebook post, the plant said that to rotate the 64 workers, 46 volunteers were sent to the site to make sure operations at the plant could continue. It was unclear whether the remaining workers would also have an opportunity to be rotated.

For weeks, the International Atomic Energy Agency, known as the IAEA, has expressed concern for the workers at the Chernobyl site, calling for the staff to be rotated for their safety and security.

Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the IAEA, said Sunday that the workers deserve our full respect and admiration for having worked in these extremely difficult circumstances.

They were there for far too long, he said. I sincerely hope that remaining staff from this shift can also rotate soon.

The IAEA said March 13 that workers were no longer doing repairs and maintenance, partly because of physical and psychological fatigue.

In a Facebook post last week, the plant said that there were enough food supplies and that fortunately, everyone is alive and well.

Workers at the site have faced a number of issues recently, including a power outage and limited communication. Ukrainian government officials said March 9 that damage by Russian forces had disconnected the plant from outside electricity, leaving the site dependent on power from diesel generators and backup supplies. Power was restored a few days later, and the plant resumed normal operating conditions.

Earlier this month, after Russian forces took command of the plant, the IAEA said that it had received a report from Ukraines nuclear regulator that it was only able to communicate with the workers through email.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
The ex-wife of Missouri GOP Senate candidate Eric Greitens accused him in court documents Monday of knocking her down, taking away her cellphone and keys, physically abusing their children and repeatedly threatening suicide if she did not publicly support him during the 2018 scandal that led to his resignation as governor.

The filing by Sheena Greitens prompted some Republicans in Missouri, including Sen. Josh Hawley, to call on the former governor to leave the race. Hawley has been critical of Greitens in the past and has endorsed a competing candidate.

"If you hit a woman or a child, you belong in handcuffs, not the United States Senate," he wrote.

Sheena Greitens, who now lives with their children in Austin, where she works as an university associate professor, described for the first time publicly what she says she experienced at the end of their marriage, in documents filed as part of an ongoing child custody dispute in Missouri state court.

"In early June 2018, I became afraid for my safety and that of our children at our home, which was fairly isolated, due to Eric's unstable and coercive behavior," she wrote in the filing, which was obtained from Boone County Circuit Court. "This behavior included physical violence toward our children, such as cuffing our then three-year-old son across the face at the dinner table in front of me and yanking him around by the hair."

Sheena Greitens also said that after her ex-husband knocked her down and took her cellphone, keys and wallet from her in April 2018, he explained his actions to her mother.

"When my mother later confronted him about this, he told her that he did so to prevent me from doing anything that might damage his political career," Sheena Greitens said in the document.

She described one of her children coming home from a visit with Eric Greitens in November 2019 "with a swollen face, bleeding gums, and a loose tooth."

"He said Dad had hit him; however, Eric said they were roughhousing and it had been an accident," Sheena Greitens said in the document. The tooth, she added, later died and had to be removed.

Eric Greitens responded to the filing Monday afternoon with a statement on Twitter saying he would fight against "completely fabricated baseless allegations."

"I am seeking full custody of my sons, and for their sake, I will continue to pray for their mother and hope that she gets the help that she needs," he wrote.

Earlier, his campaign manager Dylan Johnson accused Sheena Greitens of being emotionally abusive and of launching "what is clearly a politically-motivated attack against him."

"This attack is nothing more than a sad attempt to force a father to yield custody of his children to a deranged individual," Johnson said.

The couple's marriage ended in divorce in March of 2020 after a public scandal over allegations that Eric Greitens had taken a photo of a blindfolded, bound and undressed woman with whom he was having an affair and threatened to use it against her as blackmail. He has admitted to the affair but denied the specific allegations, including taking the photo. A felony charge against him alleging invasion of privacy against the woman, his former hairdresser, was later dropped by prosecutors.

Sheena Greitens's description of their relationship, filed under oath, comes at a sensitive time for her former husband, who has been seeking an endorsement from former president Donald Trump in a crowded Republican primary to replace retiring Republican Sen. Roy Blunt.

Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, who leads the Republican Senate campaign efforts, said in an interview Monday that the legal filing should cause Trump to take a "big pause" as he considers whether to endorse Greitens. "I think we have got to find out exactly what happened. But I think it's pretty disturbing," Scott said. "It's pretty bad."

Sheena Greitens, in the court filing, said her ex-husband has "continued to publicly make false, untrue, and misleading claims" about the circumstance that led to his resignation as governor.

She noted a recent quote from Eric Greitens, reported by CNN, that described how he had resigned because of the "tremendous pressure that was on my kids." She said their children, who were ages 1 and 3 in 2018, were unaware of the scandal at the time and remain unaware.

She also claimed that her former husband admitted to her that he had taken the photo "that resulted in the invasion of privacy felony charge." She claims that he told her she would be exposed to "legal jeopardy if I ever disclosed that fact to anyone, even family members or a therapist." She said she initially believed him "because of the reach of his influence in Missouri."

Sheena Greitens said that on at least three occasions in 2018, multiple people intervened to limit Eric Greitens's access to firearms because they were worried about his safety. She said he "repeatedly threatened to kill himself unless I provided specific public political support to him." She said he had initially concealed a January 2018 firearm purchase from her during their marriage and refused to tell her where the gun was that summer when she asked him.

"I started sleeping in my children's room simply to try to keep them safe," she wrote.

She said he ordered her to destroy emails she sent to a therapist about his escalating behavior and threatened to accuse her of child abuse. She said that several days later, she decided to leave their house with their children out of fear for their safety.

"When I told Eric about my plans, he threatened to come to the airport and have me arrested for kidnapping and child abuse, saying that because of his authority as a former Governor who had supported law enforcement, the police would support him and not believe me, and I would lose our children," she said in the affidavit.

Sheena Greitens initiated the current court battle with her ex-husband in July, when she filed a petition in a Travis County, Texas, court to modify their child custody agreement. Court documents show that Eric Greitens was served with the lawsuit Aug. 12, while he was campaigning at the Lincoln County fairgrounds in Troy, Mo.

Since then, the former couple have been battling in both Texas and Missouri courts about the proper venue for the custody dispute. Sheena Greitens filed the new affidavit this week as part of an effort to argue the case in Texas, in part because Eric Greitens's past claims of political connections in Missouri had intimidated her.

Before his resignation as governor, Eric Greitens was seen as a rising star in the Republican Party. He is a former Navy SEAL who received a Purple Heart after surviving a truck bombing in Iraq. Over the past year he has tried to stage a comeback by campaigning as a supporter of Trump and his political movement. He has hired several Trump advisers to his campaign and has traveled repeatedly to Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate as he seeks an endorsement from the former president, according to people familiar with his appearances there.

Despite leading in early polls, Eric Greitens faces significant opposition in the state Republican Party and concerns from some Republican strategists in Washington that his candidacy could give Democrats an opening to win in November.

Hawley has endorsed Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo., for the Senate nomination. Other Republican candidates for the job include state Attorney General Eric Schmitt, Rep. Billy Long, state Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz and Mark McCloskey, a St. Louis attorney who pleaded guilty to misdemeanor fourth-degree assault after confronting Black Lives Matter protesters outside his home with a gun.

Several of those rivals, including Schmitt and Schatz, called for him to leave the race Monday after the court filing became public.

"Real men never abuse women and children. Period. End of story," Hartzler said in a video statement. "It's time for Eric to get out of the Senate race and get professional help."

Eric Greitens's resignation from office in 2018 followed the public disclosure of claims from the former hairdresser, who accused him of coercing her into a sexual encounter three years earlier. She testified under oath to a special investigative committee of the Missouri House that he led her to his basement, bound her hands, blindfolded and undressed her, and later coerced her into performing oral sex. She said she believed he had taken a photo of her at the time and threatened to release it publicly if she spoke of their relationship.

Eric Greitens declined to testify in his defense but made his cellphone available to police, who found no evidence that a photo was taken.

In an audio recording made days after the encounter, the woman agreed when an acquaintance asked whether she had been "half-raped and blackmailed," according to a bipartisan report written by the Republican-held Missouri House. "Yes," she said.

She later told House investigators, when asked whether she consented to sex, that "it felt like consent, but, no, I didn't want to do it."

A prosecution for invasion of privacy based on the photo allegation later fell apart, with the lead investigator being charged with lying in a deposition and the prosecutor being referred for a disciplinary hearing.

Trump told the Washington Examiner on March 15, before Sheena Greitens's legal filing, that he still planned to endorse in the Missouri Senate race and that Greitens was still in the running for his seal of approval.

- - -

The Washington Post's Mike DeBonis, Brooke Muckerman, Scott Farwell and Alice Crites contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON  The last time (and maybe the first time) most Americans heard of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president was at the center of a scandal that would lead to the impeachment of then-President Donald Trump.

Trump in 2019 threatened to hold up weapons deliveries to Ukraine  caught even then in a simmering war with Russian proxies  unless Zelenskyy helped him dig up political dirt on rival Joe Biden.

Today, the shadow of that scandal lingers. How much did Trump's toying with Ukraine, cozying up to Russian President Vladimir Putin and, ultimately, Trump's acquittal on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress influence Putin's decision to invade Ukraine?

Putin had already bitten off bits of Ukraine with the illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014, and a swath of neighboring Georgia six years earlier. But nothing compared with the massive attack he launched across Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, on Feb. 24.

Numerous experts and current and former officials say Putin was emboldened by the Trump years. The former KGB officer turned president ably manipulated Trump into publicly backing his denials of having interfered  to Trump's benefit  in U.S. elections. And, according to former aides, Putin convinced Trump to accept his claim that Ukraine was part of Russia.

It is impossible to know all of Putin's thinking as he launched the ferocious war that has already claimed thousands of Ukrainian and Russian lives and obliterated parts of the fledgling democracy that sought to strengthen ties with the West.

By most accounts, Putin stewed in grievances for years  the expansion of NATO farther east into his sphere of influence, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and a post-Cold War world order that marginalized Russia  waiting for an opportunity to build back his vision of a grand Russian superpower empire.

He sensed that opportunity with the election of cynical, norms-busting Trump, who at one point declared the North Atlantic Treaty Organization obsolete and has repeatedly, to this day, praised the Russian leader.

"I think Putin saw how Trump viewed Ukraine  as a pawn," Marie Yovanovitch, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who testified against Trump in the impeachment trial, said in a recent TV appearance. Putin saw "that we had an administration that was willing to trade our national security for personal and political gain."

Fiona Hill, a highly regarded Russia expert who served on Trump's National Security Council and also testified during the impeachment trial, said the former administration did take steps against Moscow on other issues, expelling diplomats and imposing sanctions. But at a "critical period," when Ukraine was fighting Russia and needed weapons, Trump had his own political future in mind.

It sent "a message to Putin that Ukraine is a plaything for him  and for the United States. And that nobody's really serious about protecting Ukraine," Hill added. "And that was ultimately a sign of weakness."

It was not Trump alone. During the Obama administration, Putin invaded parts of eastern Ukraine, annexing the Crimean peninsula and installing Russian proxies to fight Ukrainian forces in the Donbas region  with minimal U.S. or international rebuke.

Trump supporters and some Republicans say President Joe Biden has to share in the blame. The ugly withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan in the summer last year, ending a 20-year war but sacrificing that nation to chaos, also illustrated an administration unable to lead, they say.

Putin watched the United States do "just about everything it could to undermine alliances and partnerships under Donald Trump," former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder said in a recent conference sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations. Then, Daalder added, Biden took over and talked about "America being back" and yet struggled, initially, to rebuild those alliances.

Still, Trump's actions, and the lack of significant consequences he faced, represented a unique opening, a bright green light for Putin in Ukraine.

Trump's impeachment  the first of two  began in the Democratic-led House on Dec. 18, 2019, and ended with a trial and acquittal in the GOP-controlled Senate on Feb. 5, 2020. It stemmed from an infamous call on July 25, 2019, that the then-president made to Zelenskyy, a fellow novice politician, who had just been elected.

In the call, a transcript of which the White House released after a whistleblower complaint, Zelenskyy pleaded for more military weaponry  including the Javelin missile systems that are now helping to stall Russian advances on Ukrainian cities. Trump agreed but said that first, he wanted Zelenskyy to "do us a favor."

The favor involved investigating Biden's son Hunter and his lucrative position with the Ukrainian oil conglomerate Burisma. Zelenskyy resisted, with his staff insisting on a formal request for an investigation if the U.S. wanted one. His staff also emphasized to State Department officials that Zelenskyy was leery about getting involved in U.S. politics.

Trump had already frozen the aid, a $391 million package of military equipment and other assistance that had been approved by Congress with bipartisan support. At least 25 Ukrainians died in fighting in the east in the weeks that followed, according to an investigation at the time by the Los Angeles Times, although a direct link is impossible to prove.

Only after members of Congress on both sides of the aisle learned about the halt in aid was it finally released on Sept. 11, 2019. It was the first time the U.S. provided lethal military aid to Ukraine, an important, albeit delayed, milestone.

"That chapter, which resulted in the president, former president's, impeachment, sadly was an encouragement to Putin and weakened Ukraine even in this fight," said Rep. Adam B. Schiff, D-Calif., who led the first Trump impeachment inquiry.

"What Americans need to understand about that sordid chapter of our history is Ukraine was even then at war with Russia ... Ukrainians were even then dying every week, sometimes every day," Schiff said.

"What that told Putin, tragically, is the United States doesn't care about Ukraine, it doesn't care about its people, it doesn't care about its democratic aspirations. It doesn't care if Ukrainians get killed by Russians. I think that's the message Trump's conduct sent, that we would use Ukraine as a political plaything."

Schiff added that Putin anticipated if he started a broader invasion of Ukraine, he could count on Trump either to praise him or to criticize Biden.

Trump has done both.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said last week that Putin was more influenced by Biden.

"I think Putin has wanted Ukraine for a long time. He was waiting for an opportunity where he thought America was in retreat, pulling back from the rest of the world," McConnell told "PBS NewsHour." "There was a vivid picture of the evacuation of Afghanistan for everybody in the world to see that America was coming home and pulling in our horns and not inclined to take the forward position we have in the past. It was like a green light to Vladimir Putin."

But Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who has been critical of Trump, said it was absurd to excuse the former president or think his presence in the White House would have deterred Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

"Vladimir Putin, [North Korea's] Kim Jong Un, Xi [Jinping] of China were getting everything they wanted with Trump," Kinzinger told CNN on Thursday.
At a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Friday, Russia repeated its charges that the United States has been conducting a biological weapons program in Ukraine. The suggestion, previously raised by Russia, at a Security Council meeting on March 11 - is outlandish. As Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the United States' U.N. ambassador, has rightly put it, Russia is abusing the Security Council in order to "legitimize disinformation and deceive people to justify Russian President Vladimir Putin's war of choice against Ukraine."

That has not prevented the claim from being picked up by some conservative political commentators, including Fox News's Tucker Carlson, whose segments on the topic are then shown on Russian state television.

In fact, the U.S. Biological Threat Reduction Program - alluded to in these accusations - was initially aimed at converting Soviet era labs associated with its offensive bioweapons programs to peaceful purposes; the program also has ensured that public and veterinary health labs receive funding to improve their biosafety (ensuring the safety of lab personnel and local populations) and biosecurity (ensuring that dangerous pathogens are protected against theft or misuse). Under the Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction, similar support has been provided to former Soviet republics as well as to countries in Africa and Asia by countries including Canada, Germany, Britain and Finland.

The false charges fit a long lamentable pattern that stretches back to the early years of the Cold War. In 1951 and 1952, for example, the Soviet Union asserted that the United States was using biological weapons in the Korean War - a claim that it knew at the time to be false, as Soviet documents eventually made public in the late 1990s made clear. The Soviet Union also covered up an open-air bioweapons trial involving smallpox, in 1971, on Vozrozhdeniye Island, in the Aral Sea, that accidentally infected members of the ship's crew. In 1979, an accident at a bioweapons facility producing anthrax in Yekaterinburg led to some 60 deaths in the local population - an outbreak the Soviet and subsequent Russian government attributed to contaminated meat.

In the post-Soviet era, Russia has taken every opportunity to make bogus allegations about Western (and especially U.S.) chemical and biological activities in third countries. Such attempts are almost certainly intended to divert attention from Russia's own highly questionable activities in the biological and chemical-weapons realm. Today, for instance, Western governments fear that the lies could be used as cover for, or supposed justification for, a chemical or biological attack by Russian forces in Ukraine.

After the collapse of the Soviet system, Russia right away used false charges to derail early attempts to monitor, and dismantle, bioweapons capabilities dating to the Soviet era. In 1989, Vladimir Pasechnik, a key researcher in a secret Soviet biological weapons, defected to Britain. The information he brought with him set in motion events that culminated in the United States, Britain and Russia signing a joint statement on biological weapons known as the trilateral agreement in 1992.

The agreement's primary purpose was to enable the Russians to demonstrate that the large offensive bioweapons program inherited from the Soviet Union had been dismantled and its facilities and personnel redirected to peaceful purposes. Part of this process entailed visits to nonmilitary and military biological facilities in Russia as well as the United States and Britain. But as discussions moved toward arrangements for visits to military facilities, Moscow balked. Suddenly, it claimed that it had concerns about U.S. military medical laboratories in Africa, Asia and Latin America; none of these had anything to do with biological weapons. Russia insisted that it would need access to these laboratories.

With British support, the U.S. quite properly argued that the labs mentioned by Russia were not relevant to the trilateral agreement. For this and other reasons - Russia also kept investigators from fully exploring its own sites - the agreement ran aground and petered out in 1996. The Russian allegations served their purpose in this case, preventing U.S. and U.K. experts from learning firsthand about the biological facilities run by the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Russia has continued to make spurious and unfounded allegations about U.S. labs in third countries. One particularly outrageous falsehood concerns the Richard Lugar Center for Public Health Research in Tbilisi, Georgia, which opened in 2011. This is the first Biosafety Level 3 laboratory - one qualified to study infectious agents or toxins that may be transmitted through the air - established in the region; it serves both Georgia and the wider area. The lab provides detection and diagnostic capacities for endemic and exotic diseases, such as dengue or chikungunya, and is equipped to conduct bio-surveillance on tularemia, anthrax and other diseases that can leap from animals to humans. Russia has asserted that the United States is running a clandestine offensive bioweapons program at the Center. For its part, Georgia has hosted a visit of international experts to the lab. In 2018 Georgia specifically invited Russia to send its own expert, Moscow declined. Tellingly, Russia has never made use of the various formal procedures under the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention for raising compliance concerns. It prefers instead to trumpet its wild unsupported accusations in public.

No one should believe for a second that Russia is genuinely motivated by a desire to stamp out the use of chemical and biological weapons. Russia has defended the Assad regime in Syria against international efforts to hold that government to account for Syria's extensive use of chemical weapons against its own people: Russia, for instance, undermined efforts by the United Nations to investigate Syrian chemical weapon use, and contested the investigation's findings; it behaved similarly when the focus of international investigations moved to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

We have also seen the botched attempts by Russian military intelligence to murder former Soviet spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, Britain, and Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny with nerve agents ("novichoks") developed during the Cold War by the Soviet Union. In the Skripal case, Russia denied responsibility and blamed others, claiming among other things that novichoks had in fact been independently concocted in various countries, and Britain surely had some. The Russian lie factory even claimed that Britain may have orchestrated the attack to distract from the failures of Brexit. And of course Russia denied that Navalny had been poisoned.

When it comes to claims about chemical and biological weapons programs in other countries, Russia has a long record of abject dishonesty. Nothing about the bogus claims regarding biological weapons in Ukraine should surprise us. Just why Russia persists with this behavior is far from clear. Perhaps Putin and his senior advisers actually believe their own propaganda. Perhaps they believe the rest of the world acts with as much disregard for international legal prohibitions on forbidden weapons as they do.

- - -

John R. Walker served in the U.K foreign and commonwealth offices arms control and disarmament research unit from 1985 to 2020.
KYIV, Ukraine  For days, Roman Naumenko and his neighbors at the Pokrovsky apartment complex outside Kyiv had been watching from a few short miles away as Russian forces tried to take over a nearby airport.

I saw helicopters that were firing, coming one after the other, he said. It was a huge shock. I couldnt believe it was real.

Residents would stand outside their buildings filming the destruction with their cellphones.

Each day, Russian forces drew closer and closer to the apartment complex. On March 3, one of the buildings was directly hit by a missile. More than 150 families were still in the 14-building residential complex at the time, a building manager told The New York Times.

And then, later that same day, troops were literally at Naumenkos doorstep.

We saw the Russian infantry on the security camera of our building, he said. From that moment, the Russians stayed.

They made around 200 residents stay too, holding many of them hostage in the basements of their own buildings, forcing them to hand over their phones and taking over their apartments. Others were able to avoid detection but still were essentially prisoners in their own homes as Russian forces moved into the buildings, which had housed 560 families, and took up sniping positions.

The Times interviewed seven residents of the Pokrovsky apartment complex in the town of Hostomel, about 10 miles northwest of Kyiv. All experienced the assault and the captivity firsthand before finding ways to flee. Using their accounts, along with footage from security cameras and cellphones, The Times was able to piece together what it looked and felt like as Russian forces closed in.

It was really scary, said Lesya Borodyuk, a 49-year-old resident, tearing up at one point as she spoke. I wrote to my daughter. I was saying goodbye to her. I told her that probably we will be bombed now.

Outside in the parking lot, security cameras showed at least a dozen Russian troops and infantry fighting vehicles. Soldiers shuttled heavy machine guns and forced a man inside a building at gunpoint.

Ksenia, who asked to be identified only by her first name, watched with her husband and children from their second-floor window as Russian forces arrived at their building.

We didnt know what could happen to us, she said. It was just a total state of fear.

One group of soldiers used rifles to smash open the front door of an apartment building. Once inside, they entered the elevator and destroyed its security cameras. In some buildings, soldiers went floor by floor tearing doors off hinges and raiding apartments, residents said.

Within a few hours, according to the seven residents the Times spoke to, Russian soldiers had seized the entire complex and trapped close to 200 civilians inside various buildings.

People were kicked out of the apartments, said Elena Anishchenko, who was planning to celebrate her 33rd birthday with neighbors the day the soldiers arrived. They didnt ask anyone anything; they would just tell them to go to the basement.

Many of the residents had their phones and laptops confiscated or destroyed.

They told us  Dont be mad at us, but if we find your phone, you will be shot on the spot,  Anishchenko said.

Cut off from the outside world, Anishchenko said she couldnt read the news or speak to her family.

Some residents like Ksenia were able to remain in their homes  perhaps because she had an infant.

Others went unnoticed. Naumenko and his wife hid on the seventh floor of their building. He still had his phone, which he would turn on once a day to text his family that he was still alive.

Families Worry: I Cannot Get in touch.

Friends and relatives of those trapped in Pokrovsky were in agony. In chat groups and via text messages, they had seen clips and screen shots of Russian soldiers as they seized the complex. Then the messages from their loved ones just stopped.

Iryna Khomyakova, a residents daughter, saw the closed-circuit television footage of the soldiers entering the elevator. Worried, she called her mother, who said that Russian soldiers had just entered the building and that she was forced with others into the basement.

My moms phone died, she said March 9, and she hadnt heard from her in days.

Hanna Yaremchuk told the Times via text message that she was out of touch with her father for days, adding that he was also being held in a basement. She wondered: Is he alive at all? !!! I do not know!

Living With Soldiers

For those being detained, the ability to move around depended on the guards.

Borodyuk and others in her basement were permitted to go to their apartments to get food and warm clothes to help withstand the cold of the brick basement. Neighbors were permitted to cook together and intermingle.

The Russians guarding Anishchenkos basement were more strict. They allowed the residents only short, supervised visits to their apartments to get food and supplies for everyone.

People were panicking, Anishchenko said, Everyone was past their breaking point.

Eventually, 100 or more soldiers were patrolling outside the buildings, and some were even living in the apartments.

On the seventh floor, Naumenko and his wife continued to evade detection. Recent shelling in the area had blown out their windows, and the temperature had dropped below freezing. With no electricity, they improvised ways to cook, lighting oil in a saucer to warm up food and using a candle to heat a can of water. Without heat in the building, they slept fully dressed and wearing jackets.

In Ksenias apartment, each day involved securing enough food to feed her children and surviving to the next morning. Her new life was a far cry from what she envisioned.

We were waiting for this apartment for four years, Ksenia said. We invested in the renovation. But even this doesnt matter now.

We Will Liberate You From Nazis

Outside, the fighting was relentless.

We got used to the sounds of shooting, and we learned to tell one from the other, Naumenko said. Whether it was far or close. Whether it was going into our building or above the building. We could hear that.

Inside the apartment complex, the soldiers were telling their prisoners that Ukraine was about to be liberated, Anishchenko said.

Borodyuk recalled a more senior Russian officer attempting to comfort a girl in the basement where they were detained. He said: My daughter is 8 years old too. I love her very much. I miss her. Dont be afraid, little girl, we will liberate you from Nazis.

Borodyuk said some of the younger Russian troops didnt even know why they were in Ukraine. When captives asked one soldier why he was here, he replied, weeping: Where am I? What should I do?

Evacuated by Chance

On March 9, Russia and Ukraine agreed to briefly establish several humanitarian corridors to allow civilians safe passage out of conflict areas. But the Russian soldiers at Pokrovsky failed to inform their prisoners.

Anishchenko heard by chance. During a supervised food visit to her apartment, she saw a convoy moving with white flags from the window and asked a Russian soldier what was happening. He told her there was a 72-hour no-strike corridor in place. She and some of her neighbors packed a bag and ran.

On their way out, the scene was grim. We saw dead bodies laying on the ground, she said. We saw crashed and burned cars with bodies inside.

Naumenko turned his phone on and saw information in a WhatsApp group about the humanitarian corridor evacuation. He and his wife quickly gathered their things.

While leaving the complex, a soldier warned them that he would not shoot him, but those patrolling elsewhere might.

They fled anyway and escaped unharmed  along with all the other residents the Times spoke with. Naumenko is now in Kyiv, where he plans to stay  and perhaps fight.

The things I saw in Hostomel were a nightmare. I dont want this to come here, he said.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
KYIV, Ukraine  Ukraine rejected Russias demand that soldiers defending the embattled southern port of Mariupol surrender at dawn Monday, even as a powerful blast rocked the capital, Kyiv, and reduced a sprawling shopping mall to rubble.

After nearly a month of fighting, the war has reached a stalemate, with Russia turning to deadlier and blunter methods, including targeting civilians. A New York Times reporter saw six dead bodies at the mall in Kyiv covered in plastic as rescue workers battled fires and pulled more victims from the wreckage Monday morning.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, addressing the nation overnight, said a relief convoy in northeastern Ukraine near the city of Kharkiv had been hijacked by Russian forces. And efforts to reach hundreds of thousands of people trapped in Mariupol remained fraught with danger.

The enemy desperately does not want civilians to break through, Olena Zelenska, the presidents wife, said in a statement. But they will. Please hold on, dear people, I beg you. I will repeat my husbands words, Ukraine doesnt abandon her people.

Across eastern Ukraine, there were signs that Russia was seeking to consolidate control, including a drive to conscript men to fight in their war effort. At the same time, Ukrainian officials and witnesses said they were forcibly deporting people, including children. Oleg Nikolenko, spokesman for Ukraines foreign ministry, said in a statement that 2,389 children were taken from their parents in the Donbas region and sent to Russia on a single day, Saturday. The claim could not be independently confirmed.

In other major developments:

 President Joe Biden is making his biggest diplomatic push of the war. On Monday, he will speak to his counterparts from France, Germany, Italy and Britain. He will travel to Brussels on Wednesday to meet with NATO and European leaders, then head to Poland on Friday.

 The United States has said it opposes Polands proposal for a NATO peacekeeping mission.

 The deputy commander of Russias Black Sea fleet, Andrei Paliy, died in combat in Mariupol, according to the governor of Sevastopol, the Crimean city where the fleet is based. Paliy is one of several high-ranking Russian officers who have been killed in action in Ukraine.

 Zelenskyy called for renewed peace talks with Russia, despite few signs of progress after four days of negotiations last week.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Senior aides to President Joe Biden believe that Russia is suffering a dramatic decline in oil sales that stands to deprive the Kremlin of a key source of government revenue, according to a senior administration official and one person briefed by a senior administration official, both of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to share an assessment not yet made public.

The Biden administration is examining private industry data showing that sales of Russian crude oil by vessel went from roughly 2 million barrels a day to close to zero between March 15 and March 20, the people said. The official said that more than 2 million barrels of Russian oil sold per day have been taken out of the market and that Asian buyers are not stepping in to fully fill the gap.

But some analysts believe that Russia will continue to sell huge quantities of oil that will help Moscow fund its invasion of Ukraine; they argue that Congress, the administration and Europe could take more aggressive action to curb sales of Russian energy.

The administration's assessment suggests the war in Ukraine and the global response to it may already be dealing a debilitating blow to Moscow's energy exports. Oil sales are the single biggest source of revenue for the Kremlin, accounting for as much as 40% of the Russian government's budget, according to Russia's Finance Ministry.

Energy experts are divided on the extent to which Russian oil sales have been affected by the war in Ukraine and the countermeasures launched by the United States and its allies. President Biden announced a ban on Russian oil and gas imports to the United States this month, but America consumes only a small amount of Russian energy and the effect of its prohibition is likely to be minimal. The European Union announced a plan to cut its imports of Russian energy by two-thirds, but that proposal is largely aspirational and faces resistance among some of the European countries necessary to implement it.

Instead, the key phenomenon hurting the Russian oil industry is what experts refer to as "self-sanctioning," as private traders refuse to buy and sell the product even though Western sanctions were designed to allow them to continue to do so. Oil traders have said they are voluntarily turning down Russian oil in part because of the uncertainty of future Western sanctions, and in part because they do not want to be seen as providing financial support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The trend could still reverse itself as private actors digest the new international rules, but if it persists, it would represent a major disruption to global energy markets and the world economy. Russian oil production accounts for roughly 11% of the world's total supply - at a time when the White House has grown deeply concerned about the impact of rising energy prices on American consumers.

White House officials are closely monitoring the situation and note that it could change, according to the senior administration official.

"What really matters is that many oil refiners and traders are refusing to buy Russian oil - to touch it - and if that continues and expands, then you're going to see Russian supply go down by a lot," said Bob McNally, an energy analyst at the Rapidian Energy Group.

The International Energy Agency on Thursday forecast that Russian oil exports are expected to decline by as much as 3 million barrels a day starting next month, which would represent a nearly 40% decline in Russia's daily oil exports.

Similarly, the firm Energy Aspects says that Russia's daily crude oil exports could fall by 1 million to 1.5 million barrels a day by April compared with levels in January. Russia exports oil by sea and by pipeline; Energy Aspects expects pipeline flows to continue uninterrupted but waterborne exports to face major disruptions.

"We are expecting from April at best half of the exports to be moving," said Amrita Sen, head of research at Energy Aspects. "Europe is choosing not to buy, and China so far is not buying the other stuff. . . . It will get harder and harder to move this oil around."

The extent to which this trend will persist remains unclear. Many other industry analysts believe there will be much less disruption to Russian sales. They have raised the prospect that despite a temporary disruption, the limitations of the Western sanctions will allow Russia to keep making billions of dollars in oil sales to fund its war effort in Ukraine.

Some private-sector data, such as that released by the oil industry analysis firm Petro Logistics, has found that Russian oil sales increased in March. Petro Logistics found that exports to the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands rose by 49% in March compared with the 2021 average. India is importing Russian crude oil for the first time since November, and China also appears to be increasing its imports. These transports may reflect prior commitments but still suggest that Russian energy operations are ongoing.

"Ultimately there is enough demand for oil - enough folks who need and want oil around the world, including countries outside the sanctions coalition - that eventually that oil will be bought up," said Eddie Fishman, a former State Department official who worked on Russia sanctions policy in the Obama administration and is now at the Center for a New American Security.

Further complicating matters is the unease in Eastern Europe about the crackdown on Russian energy. Some Eastern European countries depend on Russian gas and oil for as much as 70% of their energy needs. Internal frictions will make it increasingly difficult for Europe to remain united, particularly as refugees pour out of Ukraine and strain domestic economies.

With Russian oil already trading at $20 or $30 a barrel off the market average, lesser-known firms may exploit the difference to buy up the discount. But prices are at historic highs, so Russia may still be able to reap a substantial windfall even at the lower rates - which could help fund the war effort. Russia's military buildup tracks closely with the increase in its oil revenue, according to Robbie Diamond, founder and president of Securing America's Future Energy, an advocacy group.

"This arbitrage, which is very real, will gravitate toward the darkest parts of the industry - actors who don't have reputation, or operations in the West subject to seizures or sanctions. We've already seen this in the past," said Daniel Ahn, a global fellow at the Wilson Center, a Washington-based think tank. "Small unknown agents can emerge out of the forest to take advantage."

Some experts believe the United States should use the current uncertainty to push harder to ensure that Russian oil sales are devastated. Fishman, the former State Department official, said the government could move to impose what are known as "secondary sanctions" - which would cut third parties off from the U.S. financial system unless they stop trading with Russian oil firms. Congress can pass legislation to enable the administration to do so.

"Some of the stigma around Russian oil is probably going to be temporary," Fishman said. "I think it's worth asking why [the United States is] not doing more."

The U.S. government, working with other parts of the world, has crippled foreign adversaries' oil production in the past. Iran went from about 6 million barrels of oil a day to closer to 500,000 after the Iranian revolution in 1979. Venezuela went from about 3 million barrels a day to less than 1 million now. Iraq suffered similarly dramatic declines.

But even though the West was able to hurt a rival's energy production, it's not clear it achieved its overall aims. Iraq's government was not toppled until a U.S. military intervention, and neither was Libya's. Iran and Venezuela did not overthrow their governments.

"The U.S. and the West can impose crushing sanctions . . . but the declared goal is a change in international behavior," said Ariel Cohen, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council Eurasia Center and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. "The question is if we can force Putin to stop this war for his own survival and the well-being of his own people. Without some painful battlefield outcomes on the ground - or a massive negative reaction at home - it may not be possible."
The coronavirus pandemic has changed many things about work, with millions of people doing their jobs from home, others quitting altogether, and some  as they finally return to the office after two long years  expecting a greater degree of flexibility.

But one California congressman, Rep. Mark Takano, wants to see an even more major change: a four-day workweek enshrined into legislation.

Theres economic, political, social upheaval, said Takano, a Democrat who represents the Inland Empire. Americans, he said, dont want to return to the same old normal.

Since Takano introduced the 32-Hour Workweek Act in July, several groups, including the Economic Policy Institute and the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which has close to 100 members, have endorsed the measure, which would reduce the standard workweek by eight hours.

The change would not force employers to shift to a four-day workweek model, but rather, to begin paying their employees overtime after 32 hours.

As Americans have become more productive, their incomes really havent moved, Takano said, adding that he hoped the bill would make hiring more competitive and give employees a better work-life balance. He added: What collective choice do we want to make about how we work?

To be sure, the notion of a four-day workweek is hardly new.

In 1970, The New York Times reported that the trend was accelerating. Later coverage suggests that the idea periodically gathered steam. But though the proposal continues to resurface, and has been adopted in some corners, it has never become mainstream. It would be impossible, critics say, in some client-facing industries. Others suggest it could become too costly for businesses.

The bill has yet to be heard by the House, but Takano says if there is any time that such a proposition might finally succeed, it is now, following the collective trauma of the pandemic.

The social memory of the last two years, he said, is what makes this moment different.

Across the United States, the disruption caused by the coronavirus has given workers new leverage, contributing to a rise in demands, strikes and unionization efforts in industries including hospitality, education, and film and television. Employees have also quit in record numbers: In November, more than 4.5 million people left their jobs, according to the Labor Department, the highest figure recorded in two decades of tracking.

In other parts of the world, the idea of the four-day workweek has already taken hold.

In March 2021, the Spanish government said it would offer 200 companies the chance to apply for subsidies to introduce four-day workweeks without salary reductions. Unilever in New Zealand also tested the idea. It delivered a surprising result: Workers were more productive.

Theres no correlation between working more hours and better productivity, said Joe OConnor,CEO of Four Day Week Global, a nonprofit group.

This year, the organization is running trials around the world with dozens of companies, including several in the United States. According to OConnor, it is pie in the sky to believe work could return to how it was before the onset of the pandemic. Thats not going to be the case.

In California, several tech companies have made the switch, a factor that Takano says he hopes will bode well for the bills popularity. In January, the company Bolt, based in San Francisco, decided to permanently offer its employees a 32-hour week, citing higher efficiency among the majority of its employees after a three-month trial.

Basecamp, another tech company that works remotely, has offered its employees a four-day week over the summer for more than a decade. We dont get quite as much stuff done, but I think its still worth it, said Jason Fried, the companys CEO and co-founder.

He added: This obsession with getting as much done as you can is unhealthy.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
WATSONVILLE (BCN)

A collision in a Watsonville intersection involving three vehicles claimed the lives of two young people late Saturday night, police said.

A 16-year-old boy and a 20-year-old Watsonville man died in the crash, which occurred about 11:27 p.m. at the intersection of Green Valley Road and Pennsylvania Drive, according to a news release from Watsonville police issued late Sunday night.

The preliminary investigation indicates that a 2016 Nissan was speeding on Green Valley Road when it ran a red light and slammed into a Chevrolet pickup truck that was making a left turn onto Pennsylvania Drive. The impact of the crash caused the pickup to collide with a Honda that was stopped on Green Valley Road.

Police said the 20-year-old driver of the Nissan died at the scene and one of his passengers, the 16-year-old, died after being taken to a local hospital. A second passenger in that car, age 20, was taken to a local hospital and is expected to fully recover.

The driver of the pickup was taken to the hospital with moderate injuries, while the driver of the Honda was uninjured.

This fatal collision is still under investigation. Police urge anyone with additional information to contact Officer Bobby Rodriguez at (831) 889-8410.

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IN SUMMARY

California Democrats welcome people in Florida and Texas opposed to their states' stances on abortion, LGBTQ rights and gun control.

By Emily Hoeven

CalMatters

California's Democratic leaders have a message for Texans and Floridians opposed to their states' stances on abortion, LGBTQ rights and gun control: You're more than welcome in the Golden State.

The latest offering came from Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco, who on Thursday announced forthcoming legislation that would "protect and provide refuge for transgender kids and their parents if they flee to California" from states such as Texas or Idaho, which have advanced measures to investigate or criminalize parents seeking gender-affirming care for their trans kids.

Wiener's bill would:

-Prevent California courts from enforcing any out-of-state court rulings that deny parents custody for allowing their trans kids to get gender-affirming care;

-Block California agencies from complying with any out-of-state subpoenas seeking information about people who come to the Golden State for gender-affirming care; and

-Declare as the lowest priority for California law enforcement any out-of-state criminal arrest warrant linked to someone receiving gender-affirming care.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, meanwhile, name-checked Disney, whose staff members are staging walkouts over the corporation's refusal to publicly condemn Florida's "don't say gay" bill that would ban teaching kids in kindergarten through third grade about sexual orientation or gender identity "in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students."

Newsom tweeted: "Disney, the door is open to bring those jobs back to California -- the state that actually represents the values of your workers."

The governor has maintained a relentless focus on Texas and Florida, slamming both in this month's State of the State speech and a flurry of recent tweets. He's also sponsoring a gun control bill modeled on Texas' controversial abortion ban and has called on California to be a "sanctuary" for out-of-state patients seeking abortions.

Democratic lawmakers have answered with a package of reproductive health care legislation, including a bill that would create a fund -- filled with both state and philanthropic money -- to help low-income Californians and out-of-state women access abortions.

The bill language, released Wednesday night, says the fund would help cover abortion patients' airfare, lodging, ground transportation, gas money, meals, child care, doula support and translation services.

State Sen. Nancy Skinner, a Berkeley Democrat and bill co-author: This proposal "sends a clear message to the rest of the nation: We are fully committed to ensuring that California women and those who may seek refuge here have access to all reproductive services, including abortion."

On Thursday, the Assembly passed a bill that would eliminate out-of-pocket costs for abortions and abortion-related services. It now faces a procedural vote in the Senate before heading to Newsom's desk.

By framing California as a "refuge" and "sanctuary" for people who want to "flee" Texas and Florida, elected officials may be attempting to counter the narrative that Californians are fleeing to red states in search of lower taxes and more affordable homes.

Intensifying the rivalry: Population growth trends that saw California lose a congressional seat for the first time in history, while Texas gained two and Florida added one.

Copyright  2022 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area.

Copyright  2022 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.
The San Ramon City Council will give the public a final chance Tuesday at helping determine how the city redraws district boundaries for its next election.

It will be the fourth and final public hearing required by law before the city officially establishes new districts, likely on April 12 -- five days before the legally mandated deadline of April 17.

The city created electoral districts in 2019 and is required by law to re-examine district boundaries, based on 2020 census numbers. Since last fall, the city has worked through the process with the help of a demographer,

California law requires districts to have roughly equal populations and not discriminate against groups to dilute their voting power. As much as possible, they must be geographically contiguous and respect communities of non-political interest.

When you think of second chances and perseverance, Oprah Winfrey, Stephen King or the mythological phoenix may come to mind.

Add Bonus, a black Labrador retriever with the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District, to that list: He moved on from a dismal failure in one career to excellence in his current one.

Bonus was born in 2018 at an Oregon nonprofit that trains service and companion dogs, but things did not pan out for Bonus in that line of work. "He was too rowdy to be a service animal," his handler, district firefighter Tony Vasta, said.

The dog was also too hard to handle as a pet and was booted out of foster care, so the Oregon organization sent him to the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation (SDF), a Southern California nonprofit that rescues, recruits and trains dogs, and partners them with firefighters and other first responders to find people buried alive in the aftermath of a disaster.

San Ramon Police said Sunday night they found the pair of teen sisters missing since last week.

"We are happy to report that both Ruby and Mina were located within the past hour through a coordinated effort between a community member and our Investigations Division. Both girls are in good health and were reunited with their families," police tweeted at 9:16 p.m.

Marybel "Ruby" Gonzales, 16, and Aaminah "Mina" Khan, 14, were believed to be runaways. Police said earlier Sunday the girls were sighted and communicating with other local youths via social media.

Contra Costa County Fire reported at 9:26 p.m. they finally pulled to safety the man who was trapped in a 16-inch underground pipe in Antioch for hours on Sunday.

Fifty rescue workers from Con Fire, East Con Fire, American Medical Response, Antioch police and the city's public works department spent three-and-a-half hours on the rescue.

Con Fire said the unidentified man in his mid-30s was being transported to a hospital for evaluation.

Officials reported earlier Sunday evening the man was trapped in a storm drain about 15 feet underground, in the 3100 block of Buchanan Road. He was responsive and communicating with rescue personnel throughout the rescue.

More than 500 workers at Chevron's Richmond refinery will likely strike at 12:01 a.m. Monday, after members of United Steelworkers Local 5 voted down Chevron's most recent contract proposal.

According to a press release from the union, officials said they "encouraged Chevron to return to the bargaining table, but it refused, forcing workers to give notice of their intent to begin an unfair labor practice strike on March 21 at 12:01 a.m."

The previous contract between the union and Chevron expired Feb. 1, and members have since been working on a rolling 24-hour extension.

Union officials said in a statement they "reached a pattern agreement with the oil industry on wages and working conditions on Feb. 25, but each of the approximately 200 participating units also bargain over local issues before ratifying their individual contracts."

Police are searching for a motorcyclist who may have been involved in a fatal crash Sunday afternoon involving another motorcyclist, who was killed in Santa Rosa when he ran into a light pole.

Santa Rosa police responded to a call at 12:06 p.m. to a motorcyclist down near Bicentennial Way and Mendocino Ave. Officers found an adult male in his mid-50s, lying in the roadway with life-threatening injuries, near an early 1990's Harley Davidson motorcycle. The man was transported to a local hospital, where he died.

Police are withholding the man's identity pending notification of his family. This is Santa Rosa's fourth fatal vehicle collision in 2022.

Police said there may have been another motorcyclist involved in this collision, who didn't stay on the scene. Alcohol didn't initially appear to be a factor in the crash.

A high-speed chase near Healdsburg ended in rural Sonoma County Sunday morning when a driver slammed a Mercedes sedan into a tree, engulfing the car in flames and killing the driver.

The California Highway Patrol said an officer was patrolling northbound US-101 at 9:55 a.m. when he spotted a vehicle traveling southbound at more than 100 miles per hour. He made a U-turn and tried to pull over the Mercedes.

The Mercedes exited the freeway at Dry Creek Road and continued west into rural Sonoma County. The officer briefly lost sight of the vehicle before rounding a corner and finding it crashed into a tree.

A CHP statement reported that the officer unsuccessfully tried pulling the unconscious driver from the vehicle before a fast-moving fire engulfed it. Firefighters put the fire out, but the driver died at the scene.

The Concord City Council is considering giving itself a pay raise, the first time it's done so since 2018.

The proposed raise is 3 percent, taking council members' salaries from $1,352 per month to $1,433 per month.

A city ordinance has to be amended and the new rate wouldn't take effect until after the November 2022 city council election,

The Concord City Council will meet virtually at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. The meeting can be viewed at https://bit.ly/350cTWs.

A person injured in a solo-motorcycle crash Sunday night in Brentwood was airlifted to a local hospital, according to a news release from the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District.

The crash occurred about 10:49 p.m. near the intersection of Brentwood Boulevard and San Creek Road. A helicopter took the motorcyclist, who had potential internal injuries according to authorities, to a local hospital.

Also responding to the scene was Brentwood police, who are investigating the crash.

No further information was provided about the motorcyclist or the crash.

A collision in a Watsonville intersection involving three vehicles claimed the lives of two young people late Saturday night, police said.

A 16-year-old boy and a 20-year-old Watsonville man died in the crash, which occurred about 11:27 p.m. at the intersection of Green Valley Road and Pennsylvania Drive, according to a news release from Watsonville police issued late Sunday night.

The preliminary investigation indicates that a 2016 Nissan was speeding on Green Valley Road when it ran a red light and slammed into a Chevrolet pickup truck that was making a left turn onto Pennsylvania Drive.

A person injured in a solo-motorcycle crash Sunday night in Brentwood was airlifted to a local hospital, according to a news release from the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District.

The crash occurred about 10:49 p.m. near the intersection of Brentwood Boulevard and San Creek Road. A helicopter took the motorcyclist, who had potential internal injuries according to authorities, to a local hospital.

Also responding to the scene was Brentwood police, who are investigating the crash.

No further information was provided about the motorcyclist or the crash.

The National Weather Service forecast for the San Francisco Bay Area calls for temperatures to start rising Monday. Daytime highs will range from the upper 60s to low 70s around the bay. Overnight lows are expected in the 40s throughout the region.

Temperatures Tuesday and Wednesday are expected to reach the 80s in much of the Bay Area -- threatening record highs for these dates -- before cooling slightly and reaching normal conditions by the weekend.

Copyright  2022 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area.

Copyright  2022 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.
I first saw "Dark Passage," the 1947 thriller, when I was in my early 20s and about to move from the UK to San Francisco.

I'd become a little obsessed with all things noir, absorbing the long shadows, morally dubious heroes and double-crossing femme fatales in "The Maltese Falcon," "Touch of Evil," "Double Indemnity" and dozens more. But Id read that one movie captured the city I was about to move to like no other film. Plus, it starred two of the biggest movie stars on earth, ever  real-life husband and wife Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.

Except that it doesnt, at least for the first hour of the movie. Bogart, who at the time was a bona fide global icon, doesnt show his famous smirk and sad eyes until an hour into the running time despite him being in every scene.

The movie starts with a panoramic shot of San Quentin prison, where convicted wife-killer Vincent Parry has hidden himself in an oil drum on a truck leaving the prison grounds to make his escape. Parry rattles around the back of the truck as it drives down Paradise Drive near Tiburon until his barrel bounces off the back.

After beating up a man who identifies Parry from a police radio dispatch, a guardian angel in the form of Lauren Bacall appears from the bushes.

Its hard to describe how mesmerizingly beautiful Bacall looks in this movie. Her glow epitomizes the golden age of Hollywood like no other star.

John Kobal Foundation/Getty Images

Right from the off, it's clear that something different, and at the time experimental, is happening as the story unravels. Nearly every shot is from behind the eyes of our escaped hero, but its not clear why we can hear Bogies famous drawl but never see his face. Bacall's Irene Jansen gives Parry a ride south through the Waldo Tunnel (now iconically adorned with rainbows and named after Robin Williams) and over the Golden Gate Bridge.

They make their way past Crissy Field to Jansen's Telegraph Hill apartment, and its almost as gorgeous as our heroine. The Malloch Building is a thing of architectural wonder, still standing today at 1360 Montgomery Street. The Streamline Moderne Art Deco style, built in 1937, appears like an Airstream cruise ship jutting out over the cliff. The curved lines, silver sgraffito-painted walls, spiral stairs and nautical chrome flair surround one of the coolest elevators in San Francisco. It still glows at night and climbs up and down the Montgomery Street side of the building, a shot often repeated in the movie.

Visiting the building now is worth the 400-stair climb up the Filbert Street steps (or the narrow drive to the steep northern reaches of Montgomery). The building has been meticulously maintained over the decades and looks exactly as it does in the movie, and occasionally one resident stands a full-size Humphrey Bogart cut-out in the window.

Craigslist

At her luxurious pad, apartment 10 in the Malloch, swing music plays as the mysterious Jansen reveals she is a true-crime fan girl who likes spending her days loitering around the federal penitentiary, and believes Parry is an innocent man  though no one else in San Francisco does. Together, the two start to flirt as only Bogie and Bacall can, and rush around the city attempting to prove his innocence.

The absence of Bogart's mug in the first hour of the movie is made up for in some of the best footage of the city ever put on screen. Director Delmer Daves shows us many corners of 1940s San Francisco, from a neon-lit Geary Street to the shadowed sidewalk steps on Kearny to the long-gone rail car cafe, Harrys Wagon, in the Fillmore.

The plot then takes a gloriously ridiculous turn as we find out why we havent yet seen our heros face.

On the advice of a charismatic cabbie, Parry has the genius idea to get plastic surgery in the middle of the night at the home of a scary surgeon on Nob Hill. And finally we, and Bacall, get a look at Bogarts smile.

Bogart and Bacall's chemistry is as sizzling as ever. The movie was the third of four movies the married couple made together in the 1940s. (A fifth was planned but was halted in pre-production when Bogart was diagnosed with the esophageal cancer that would take his life in 1957.)

Corbis via Getty Images

At the time, the face swap twist was pretty audacious and Warner Bros. used it to sell the picture. Now, it seems like a big, fun gimmick that detracts from the nuanced story of doomed lovers on the run in the closing act.

After Parrys friend George is found dead at his apartment on tiny Florence Street on Russian Hill (just around the corner from the house at at 1001 Vallejo St. in the center of "The Matrix Resurrections"). Parry holes up in a run-down boarding house  the Kean Hotel at 1018 Mission St. That single-room occupancy hotel is still there under the same name and still in bad shape; the place was cited in 2014 for a cockroach infestation, among other things.

The movie's attention to location detail is so accurate director Daves took a camera up to the roof of the Kean Hotel to capture a three-second shot of the city, mirroring Parry's view from his window.

(Big spoilers ahead for a movie that came out 75 years ago.)

After discovering that Jansens friend Madge (played wonderfully as a conniving spinster by Agnes Moorehead) is, in fact, the jealous lover who killed Parrys wife, he escapes the cops to track her down to her penthouse at 1090 Chestnut St. on Russian Hill. (Check out Reel SF's excellent run down of all the locations, then and now, in the film.) Parry manages to get a confession from Madge  proving his innocence  moments before she falls out the 13th-floor window to her death. Thats now a third stiff on Parry.

As the SFPD closes in, Parry knows he must leave the city forever, so heads to the Greyhound station on Mission and Fifth to take a bus to the Mexico border in Arizona. (The old bus arches can still be seen on the ground floor of the Pickwick Hotel, kitty-corner from the SFGATE newsroom.)

At the bus depot, Parry gets his ticket but is told his bus won't leave until another seat is sold. In a phone call that surely influenced the "Shawshank Redemption" finale, Parry tells Jansen that if he survives a bus trip to the border, she should come find him in the little Peruvian seaside town of Piata in a few years.

Its not the faceless Bogie, Bacall's sultry beauty or even the stunning shots of San Francisco that make "Dark Passage" one of the most memorable films of the era. Its the next, small scene and its poignant magic that stays with you.

Parry watches two lonely souls seated on a bench at the bus station  a desolate single mom with two small children and a lost man, both waiting alone to take buses to somewhere in America. Parry approaches a jukebox and plays the song he and Jansen fell in love to at her apartment. The song, "Too Marvelous For Words," triggers a connection in the strangers and they start to talk  "You know we got something in common. Being alone."

With that, the man, woman and two kids become a family and board the same bus to Arizona, allowing the driver to leave San Francisco as the cops swamp the station. Our innocent fugitive escapes San Francisco and makes it to Peru, where Jansen finally finds him sipping a rum cocktail. Seventy-five years later, it's a finale that still makes the heart flutter.
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SHELTON  Carolyn Hawkins loves having a lasting impact on people.

For more than two decades, Hawkins has used her talents as a tattoo artist to make that impact  leaving thousands of personalized designs on customers in her Shelton location on Howe Avenue.

Ive always loved art. I love illustration, said Hawkins, owner of Shelton Tattoo since 2004. I always thought tattoos were fascinating. There is something personal about the art. It is something you take with you. Its all yours.

And Hawkins has spent the past four years making her mark in the battle against Lyme disease. Each February she participates in Ink to End Lyme, with the funds going toward a cure for the debilitating disease as part of the Lyme Warrior Project.

Hawkins Shelton Tattoo was one of 22 such shops across the nation which spent one day this past February raising awareness about Lyme disease and funds in the search for a cure. Hawkins held her day Feb. 19.

Carolyns been such an amazing support to the Lyme community, said Lauren Lovejoy of Lyme Warrior Project.

Hawkins said when she first heard about the Ink to End Lyme Disease benefit, she felt an emotional connection to the cause that made her obligated to participate.

Its troubling that we still havent gotten closer to a cure. Its a terrible disease and there needs to be more information about it out there, Hawkins said.

Lovejoy said Ink to End Lyme has been a huge success in the past, not only in funds raised but awareness being brought to a disease that affects hundreds of thousands of Americans but is rarely talked about.

Some of the artists who support the campaign are Lyme fighters themselves, have had family affected or pass from this disease, or are just sympathetic to the suffering, said Lovejoy, adding that Hawkins and the fellow participating shops raised more than $20,000 in 2020 prior to onset of the pandemic.

Hawkins said a friend has the disease but did not get an early diagnosis, leading to more chronic pain. This experience, she says motivated her to fight to bring more awareness about the disease and the need for early detection.

It saddens me that her and many other people are burdened by the disease so when I was made aware of the cause I knew I had to do it, said Hawkins. My hope is that through this event and others like it that we will begin to see a difference.

Hawkins, who now calls Shelton home, began her apprenticeship at a shop in West Haven in 1998.

Once I started getting tattoos, I realized it was something I really wanted to get into, Hawkins said. I would not swap it for anything. I think my customers are fantastic people, and I like the art very much. This job is always interesting, endlessly interesting.

She added she loves working with all the different types of people that come to her shop.

Everyones individuality assures that every job will be different. It keeps things exciting, she said. Making customers happy is one of the greatest feelings.

She says she has done tattoos of all sizes, some of which take multiple sittings with the client to finish. Roses remain popular, as are skulls and crossbones, and names of loved ones. She said eagles are a common choice too, in honor of military service. Ravens also have become a popular choice.

There are tremendous artists out there, and its a humbling experience to see what people are capable of crafting and that I am part of this group of artists, Hawkins said. I try to do the best for my customers, try to treat them well.

She also works with clients, especially first timers, to see what personal touches she can add to the requested tattoo.

I always plan for the unexpected, she added, saying she has had to turn away some ideas, most of which are of a more negative nature or might be more focused on hate or anger. Others may be too complex or intensive.

There is a line between what is possible and what really cant be done  a very fine line, she said.

brian.gioiele@hearstmediact.com
To the Editor:

The following was written and read by Shelton Board of Aldermen President John Anglace, Jr., at the March 19 alderrmen meeting. All Board of Aldermen members voted to accept this resolution when the vote was called.

(I) Ask (for) a moment of silent prayer to add our voices to the world body in solidarity with the Ukranian people who are undergoing great hardship brought about by an unprovoked Russian invasion of their country.

Also, add our endorsement of the American and worldwide sanctions imposed against Russia for this aggression.

And further, condemn in the harshest manner possible this Russian attempt to invade another sovereign country and finally, urge our citizens to contribute to the Ukranian humanitarian effort and engage in world prayer for peace.

So moved.

I ask that everyone heed the words above and please take a moment to pray for the people of the Ukraine each day and if possible support the agencies who have gone to the Ukraine to offer assistance to the citizens of the Ukraine in their most desperate time of need.

I sorrowfully predict, we the people of the United States and our government, will truly regret not directly and forcefully confronting Russian President Putin for the bully he is at this time and in the near future because we failed to stop him and bring a halt his immediate and continued aggression in the Ukraine, his meddling in the Middle East, and future aggressions he has planned and will execute in Eastern Europe and the world.

Anthony F. Simonetti

Ward 1 Alderman
State Sen. Jon Bumstead announced he filed the appropriate paperwork to run for re-election to the Michigan Senate last week.

Bumstead filed in the new 32nd District which includes the majority of Muskegon, Oceana and Mason counties as well as parts of Manistee and Benzie counties. Bumstead, R-Fremont, currently represents the 34th District that includes Oceana, Newaygo and Muskegon counties.

According to a release from his campaign, Bumstead is a life-long native of northwestern Michigan, graduating from Newaygo High School and the Newaygo County Career Tech Educational Center Building Trades Program. Before running for public office, he ran Bumstead Construction for more than three decades building custom homes and remodels.

I have had the honor and privilege to serve the residents of the 34th State Senate District for the last four years, Bumstead stated in the release. While we have achieved a great deal for our constituents, there is still a lot of work to be done.

Running for re-election to the State Senate is about the people I represent, said Bumstead. Many families and businesses have contacted our office for help with issues with state government. Whether people were trying to work through state-level COVID mandates, trying to receive unemployment when their jobs were shut down or eliminated, or when businesses were struggling with state bureaucrats, we were their advocates and helped them. My staff and I will continue to help everyone in this district when they need us.

Bumstead is the current vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He also serves as the chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Natural Resources and Environment, Great Lakes and Energy; chair of the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules; and serves on the Appropriations subcommittees for General Government and K-12 and Michigan Department of Education and Senate committees on Natural Resources, Energy and Technology, Advice and Consent, and Finance.

According to the release, Bumstead is an advocate for local control, protecting individual freedoms, reducing taxes for small business and families, and protecting the states natural resources like our lakes, rivers and streams.

The problem with most politicians is that they dont really listen to the people they represent, said Bumstead. Whether its listening to our local governments and working with them to protect veterans and save money, ensuring our local schools and parents are the ones in control of educating our children or providing money to ensure we have clean water and protecting our natural resources my team and I are laser focused on solving the issues brought to us by the people we serve.

State Rep. Terry Sabo, D-Ravenna, of the 92nd District also declared to run for the seat.
Ludington, MI (49431)

Today

Clouds and some sun this morning with more clouds for this afternoon. High 58F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy skies. Low 46F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.
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CEO Prateek Gattani leads in adding new dimensions to companys core staff augmentation, BPO, and project management services

MILPITAS, Calif.March 13, 2022IDC Technologies Inc., a global leader in Staff Augmentation, IT Project Managed Services, BPO Services, Payroll & HR Solutions, announced that it is expanding its service portfolio. Under the leadership of CEO Prateek Gattani, the company has experienced strong growth with $650 million in revenue, enabling it to offer more variations on its core services and become one of the fastest-growing private companies in Silicon Valley.

I am so proud of our incredible team here at IDC Technologies, Gattani explained. The strength of our people, their extensive and diverse expertise and experience in a variety of technical fields, has enabled us to grow geographically and horizontally in terms of service offerings. We are always pushing ourselves for greater quality, integrity and internal collaboration. These efforts are paying off. IDC is renowned for its customized business solutions for Infrastructure Support, Application Development & Support, Product Engineering, Emerging Technologies and more.

IDCs Staff Augmentation services span contract, full time, MSP and RPO. People want to know if IDC Technologies is legit or if IDC Technologies is a real company. Well, I think our track record speaks for itself, Gattani noted. We are a one stop shop, with a depth of presence in the US, Canada, the UK, Europe, Singapore, Malaysia, UAE, Australia, New Zealand, India, Brazil and Costa Rica. The company has been operating since 2003, earning accreditations with 9001:2015, ISO 27001:2013, ISO 20000-1:2011 and CMMi Level 3 Complaint Certification along the way.

The journey has not been entirely smooth, however. In 2007, when Gattani took over the company, it was experiencing losses and was on the verge of selling itself. Gattani was not willing to admit defeat. Instead, he put the company on a profitable track. His strategic moves included expanding from solely focusing on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) to moving into UI, database, infrastructure services and beyond. He also welcomed people from diverse backgrounds. The result was to build a dynamic team with knowledge of almost every domain. Employees consistently express the view that IDC is a good company to work for.

Under Gattanis leadership, IDCs Indian counterpart now fields a team of between 8,000 and 10,000 people. This group includes many experienced professionals. IDCs clients include Fortune 500 companies, along with many regional firms around the world. The company can now boast a 100% client retention rate, and the earning of 80% of its business from repeat customers.

IDC Technologies has earned numerous accolades: Americas Most Honored Businesses 2016  Top 5%; Top 100 Tech Companies Founded And Managed By Indians In The U.S.; 52 Fastest-Growing Private Companies In The Silicon Valley; Top Companies In California On The Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies; and, Top IT Services Companies On The Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies 5000 Fastest-Growing Private Companies In America.

IDC Technologies is on a 200% year-over-year growth trajectory. With Gattani at the helm, the company is poised for even greater global expansions of its service portfolio and the addition of geographic areas of operation.

For more information, visit https://idctechnologies.com/
Since the beginning of the invasion in February, Russia has been attacking Ukraine with all its got. Besides conventional military techniques, Russia has also opened up a front of a less visible, hacking war.

What does this entail?

Cyberwar might include attempts to spread misinformation or cause a blow at critical infrastructures that may stop operating due to outages and digital system malfunctions.

So far, Russian hackers have taken down Ukrainian government sites and targeted banks with Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. These threats overwhelm and slow down systems rendering the websites in question completely unavailable.

While the sites were recovered almost immediately, theres no telling how much data has been stolen during the attack. Or even whether the attack left the system with flaws that could be exploited later.

Also, a new type of malware known as wiper malware has been introduced by Russian hackers.

The notorious virus infects devices and deletes (wipes off) the information stored on computers, laptops, or mobile phones. It has been used to delete data from both banking and government systems in Ukraine.

Although physical attacks have been accompanied by hacking, this cyber war hasnt reached its full extent. On the cyber front, this would mean complete destruction of systems for both sides.

The worst-case scenario could also mean that the attacks targeted at Ukraine would spread globally. Malware that spreads when hackers cant control the perimeter can devastate other countries as well.

For example, one of the most damaging cybercrimes unleashed by Russian hackers, the 2017 NotPetya attack, targeted Ukraine and spread globally  even circling back to Russia.

So, how is Ukraine holding up in cyberwar?

A group of Ukrainian hackers dubbed IT army are currently protecting key Ukrainian infrastructure from attacks.

This collective has been preparing for cyberattacks on a major scale ever since the first Russian attacks back in January that targeted the Education Ministry and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

What about India? Is India prepared for similar threats and ready to protect its vital infrastructures in case of cyberwar?

Indian Businesses Might Be Vulnerable to Attacks

Indian companies have invested a lot in cybersecurity during the first year of the pandemic.

Thats because companies became more vulnerable when they had to adjust for remote work.

To keep their businesses running, many organizations adapted and created cloud-based systems or online networks that their employees could connect to for their homes.

New solutions that helped companies keep their heads above water also came with a major hacking issue. Cyber attacks reached an all-time high amid the pandemic crisis.

Today, organizations are protected with various cybersecurity tools more than ever. The booming cybersecurity industry is gaining billions in revenue in the process.

For example, to protect their weakest points, employees' endpoint devices, EDR Security has been essential for protecting both business networks and employees that are connected with their devices from homes.

Underperforming cybersecurity tools means businesses might be exposed to major vulnerabilities and face data leaks. With all the personal data that the companies possess, foreign hackers can gain a significant advantage.

Whether India will be protected from cyberattacks also depends on whether cybersecurity firms will cut ties with India.

Major cybersecurity companies such as Avast have already announced that theyre cutting ties with Russia and not operating in Belarus because of its support to the aggressor.

In case India breaks its silence and sides with Russia, its possible that it too will lose access to some of the major cybersecurity tools that individuals and companies have used so far for protection.

Indian Warfare Unit

Even though India suffered from cyberattacks amid the pandemic, it has been more prepared compared to other UN countries and indexed among the top ten UN countries for its commitment to improving cybersecurity measures.

India also issued a Cybersecurity strategy that governs how entities should protect their data.

The Defense Cyber Agency (DCA) is responsible for the security of military networks in India and has been established to tackle cybersecurity threats. It has the ability to hack into encrypted networks and recover data that has been lost from drives.

While there is no guarantee that a cyberwar will spread in India, its always best to think like a cybersecurity expert.

Employ zero trust and always be prepared for the worst-case scenario.

Therefore, its important to protect critical Indian infrastructure in advance  including banks and telecom networks.

Another key thing is to work on the protection of the wiper malware in case it finds its way into Indian servers. While India might not be a victim of a direct attack, it can always suffer from collateral damage.
President Joe Biden has announced his intent to appoint Indian American entrepreneur and businessman Sunil Puri as a member of the Presidents Advisory Committee on the Arts

FREMONT, CA: PACA members act as ambassadors and Kennedy Center representatives for the arts across the country, founded in 1958 by President Eisenhower. Indian-born Puri founded First Midwest Group, a firm that develops residential, commercial, and industrial properties. FMG has expanded into the hotel, restaurant, self-storage, and gaming businesses since its inception in 1984.

Sunil Puri has been involved in venture capital and other private equity investments in the United States, Africa, South America, and Asia for more than two decades, according to a White House statement released Friday. Puri, who immigrated to the United States in 1979, has long been a proponent of social justice and immigration problems and previously served on President Barack Obama's White House Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. The Puri Family is also involved in philanthropy, as seen by establishing the Puri School of Business at Rockford University in 2014.

In his official bio, Puri is credited with helping propel his community into the 21st century by creating jobs, developing vacant land into opportunities, and igniting community involvement. He came to America with USD140 and a dream. Currently, he is leading First Midwest Group into new growth and opportunities. He is proud of all the achievements he and his company has accomplished. Puri has also founded the Golden Apple Award, was on the board of Rockford Area Economic Development Council, and contributes annually to more than 75 non-government organizations. As part of his efforts to promote local education, he has helped build Rockford Christian and Rockford Lutheran schools.

Puri has most recently aided the worldwide micro-enterprise Water For Dignity, which delivers water to over 7,000 people in India's most desert region. Puri graduated from Rockford College with a bachelor's degree in accounting in 1982. In 2013, he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by Rockford University.
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Rio Tintos Russian partner in one of Australias largest alumina refineries says it is assessing the impacts of the federal governments decision to ban all exports of alumina and aluminium ores to Russia, deepening the uncertainty surrounding the future of the business.

In the latest of Australias rolling sanctions against Moscow for the invasion of Ukraine, Foreign Minister Marise Payne on Sunday ordered the immediate export ban to limit Russias capacity to make aluminium, a critical component in military weapons and equipment.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Russian metals magnate Oleg Deripaska, right. Credit:AP

The move will affect Russian aluminium company Rusal, the worlds second-largest aluminium producer and a part-owner of Queensland Alumina Limited (QAL) through a joint venture with Anglo-Australian mining heavyweight Rio Tinto. QAL is the oldest Australian alumina refinery and a major employer in the Gladstone area.

At the moment, we are evaluating the exact effect of the announced measures on the company, a Rusal spokesman told The Age and the Herald.
The ASX 200 rose to a two-month high of 7377.3 on Tuesday despite the US signalling more aggressive rate hikes, as rising commodity prices underpinned the markets attractiveness amid rising global tensions and inflation.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.9 per cent higher, up 62.6 points to 7341.1. Energy was a big contributor after oil continued its surge with Brent crude rising to nearly $US120 per barrel again as the European Union indicated it may be edging closer to a ban on Russian crude imports.

Unfortunately oil prices have returned to two-week highs, which means no relief yet from high petrol prices. Credit:James Brickwood

Coal miner New Hope Group put a spotlight on what a boon it is for all of Australias energy players with its shares up as much as 10 per cent after reporting a 700 per cent rise in half-year profit and lifted its dividend from 4c to 30c as the price the company received for its coal more than doubled.

Australias miners did the heavy lifting with the materials sector up 3.3 per cent, and the Aussie dollar has also benefited, as commodities become a safe haven in a world of high inflation and shortages. BHP closed 5.1 per cent higher on a day which saw all the big miners rise strongly. The Aussie dollar hit a three-year high of 88.89.

For Australia, the Russia-Ukraine driven spike in commodity prices is a material positive income shock, lifting the terms of trade to a record high, UBS chief economist, George Tharenou, said.

The positive effect of commodity price margins on producers with fix operating costs, as well as the inflationary effect on prices for both consumers and manufacturers, is a double-whammy for economies with strong economic ties to commodities, Capital.coms head of trading in Australia, Brian Gould, said.

It is also a pain point for Australian companies wearing the higher costs. Boral fell as much as seven per cent as it downgraded its outlook due to high coal and diesel prices, as well as disruption from recent east coast flooding.

The banking sector also registered big gains on Tuesday with a report from Macquarie highlighting the potential for earning upgrades from the banks in 2022-23 due to rising interest rates. Commonwealth Bank got as high as $107 and NAB closed at a four-year high of $31.23.

Overnight, US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank would raise its benchmark short-term interest rate faster than expected, and high enough to restrain growth and hiring, if it decides this would be necessary to slow rampaging inflation.
The dance world is re-emerging from a massive dark period, says Deborah Brown, former choreographer for Bangarra Dance Theatre.

But as the lights come back on they are revealing a long-overdue change: a new wave of female choreographers of diverse heritage going solo.

Madeleine Eastoe in Deborah Browns The Wave. Credit:Lynette Wills

These artists are curating heart-driven work, driven by personal narratives as theatres and studios reopen their doors. Brown believes the works have become more urgent through the pandemic crisis: As dancers we are very instinctual  we rely on breath, closeness  something COVID threatened. I felt guarded and reserved, we all had to step back.

But this new wave of female choreographers want to be really seen, to share what [they] care deeply about, for [their] movement to hold power, says Melbourne choreographer Lilian Steiner.
Fifty years after its ignominious demolition, one of Sydneys finest picture palaces has been brought to life in a new documentary that warns of the dangers of neglect for the citys last surviving historic cinemas.

Film distributor and cinema historian Paul Brennan was brought to the dilapidated Summer Hill Grosvenor Theatre by his parents as a 16-year-old. The front doors were smashed open, and he scrambled through the rubble salvaging pelmet curtains and ornamental plasterwork.

The loss to Sydney of such a historic landmark, in the same decade as the opening of the Sydney Opera House, struck him as an epic tragedy.

To draw attention to the fate of Sydneys still standing cinema treasure boxes, Brennan has gathered hundreds of images of the cinema and self-funded a grand digitally enhanced walk-through of the lost theatre by CGI technician Adam Young.
The Under The Southern Stars rock festival hits Sydney this week after three postponements due to pandemic restrictions, but rejection by Australian governments is nothing new for Rick Nielsen from headliners Cheap Trick.

My wife Karen and I tried to emigrate here in 1971 or 72. Ive still got the letters from the embassy, says the guitarist from the Illinois power-poppers, known for 1970s and 80s hits like Dream Police and If You Want My Love, who will be joined at the festival by heavy 90s rockers Stone Temple Pilots and Bush.

Rick Nielsen, left, with the rest of Cheap Trick. He could have been an Aussie but for his dog. Credit:

The problem was we didnt have kids at the time, our dog was our child, and the Aussie government either wouldnt let it in, or it had to quarantine - chances are I wasnt going to see my dog again. Its too bad - I could have been in AC/DC or The Angels!

Describing himself as crazy brave, and over the American music industry at the time, Nielsen even remembers the Australian government was willing to throw free land into the deal if hed emigrated.
NSW Planning Minister Anthony Roberts scrapped a requirement to consider the risks of floods and fires before building new homes only two weeks after it came into effect and while the state was reeling from a deadly environmental disaster.

Mr Roberts last week revoked a ministerial directive by his predecessor Robert Stokes outlining nine principles for sustainable development, including managing the risks of climate change, a decision top architects have branded short-sighted and hard to understand.

Planning Minister Anthony Roberts scrapped a policy directive from his predecessor two weeks after it came into effect. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

But a spokesperson for Mr Roberts said the minister had been given a clear set of priorities to deliver a pipeline of new housing supply and act on housing affordability by Premier Dominic Perrottet.

The president of the NSW chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects, Laura Cockburn, said the decision was difficult to understand after the recent devastating floods and with bushfires still scorched in our memory.
Maths and science extension, chemistry and English as an additional language or dialect were the most difficult subjects in which to achieve band 6 in last years Higher School Certificate, while maths standard and music needed the lowest scaled marks, an analysis by Catholic Schools NSW has found.

Physics, economics and earth and environmental science also required among the highest scaled marks to hit the top HSC band, followed by English extension 2, biology and English advanced.

Steve Lo Cascio, principal of Mount Carmel Catholic College in Varroville, with the student leaders, from left, Jasmine King, Jack Miller, Gabriel Garcia and Eseta Malaesilia. Credit:Dean Sewell

Catholic Schools NSW analysed scaling information from the Universities Admission Centre (UAC) to estimate the minimum scaled mark required to finish in the top band in each HSC subject, excluding vocational subjects and languages.

HSC results are not moderated for difficulty; band 6 results in different subjects were never intended to be compared. HSC bands describe what the student can do in that subject at the end of their schooling, and the descriptors are written by teachers within each discipline.
Irrespective of the level of reporting, the death rate during the Omicron wave has been far lower than that of last years Delta wave, in which there was the equivalent of one death for every 128 cases. However, the states vaccination rate was also far lower during the Delta wave. Who was dying of Omicron? The figures available show younger people made up a disproportionately high number of Omicron cases  the 20 to 29 age group, who were out enjoying post lockdown freedoms were particularly susceptible to infection. But as with all waves of the disease, people aged 80 and over were mostly those who died.



The NSW Health data has allowed us to take a more in-depth look into the story for people aged over 10. These charts show a few things. Many people (630,055) who were vaccinated with either two or three doses caught COVID-19. We know that vaccination did not make you immune to COVID, but it certainly improved your chances of surviving. Those who were unvaccinated made up only 4.6 per cent of COVID-19 cases, but 22.8 per cent of deaths were among people who had not received any doses. The unvaccinated are grossly over-represented in terms of deaths. If you caught COVID-19 after receiving two or more doses of a vaccine, you had one chance in 800 of dying. If you caught it unvaccinated, your chance of dying of the disease was one in 126. Again, the poor testing rate will likely muddy these figures, but Professor Booy said a clear message emerged: the single biggest driver in reducing fatalities was widespread vaccination. These figures do not differentiate between those who had two doses and those with three. But, according to Professor Booy, booster shots dramatically reduced the chances of a person ending up in hospital, with international research indicating at least 90 per cent protection from hospitalisations for those who had a third dose.

Loading And he warned that anyone who had not received their third dose needed to do so urgently. The sub-variant of Omicron, BA.2, which is thought to be 30 per cent more infectious, is taking root in Australia, potentially signalling another wave of the virus. It will find the vulnerable people, he said. Melbourne University clinical epidemiologist Nancy Baxter said even though Omicron appeared less severe and the fatality numbers were lower, the sheer number of infections meant a substantial number of people died and got ill in a short period.

When you see a huge wave of disease like we did with Omicron it just kind of demonstrates how a really, really highly transmissible serious disease can paralyse us and cause a lot of deaths, she said. What about age group and vaccination status? The disparity between the death rates of vaccinated and unvaccinated people becomes even clearer once this NSW data is divided up by age group. The figures show that the vaccination rate increases with age: more than 95 per cent of those aged 50 and above have received at least two vaccine doses in NSW. But as people age, they become even more likely to be fully vaccinated. Despite this, they make up a larger portion of those who ended up in intensive care or dying from the virus.

While, among 80-89 year-olds, only 1 per cent are not fully vaccinated, this tiny group made up more than 20 per cent of those in their age group who ended up in ICU or dying. Almost one-third of 80-89 year-old COVID sufferers with fewer than two doses ended up in ICU or dying. With two doses, the rate was just 4.8 per cent, and among those who had received a third dose, it was 2.2 per cent. Peter Collignon, an infectious diseases physician at the Australian National University, said in 2020 the death rate for coronavirus was roughly 1 to 2 per cent of all people infected (a figure which soared dramatically for those over 80). Post-vaccination, the risk of death still remained dependent on a persons age and whether they had been vaccinated. If youre a 30-year-old your chance of death was one in 10,000, even a year and a half ago, but being vaccinated sees that drop another twentyfold, he said. Those over the age of 70 and the unvaccinated remain at highest risk of severe illness. Professor Baxter said commentary that suggested it was somehow less tragic for people over 70, or those with underlying illnesses, to be dying dehumanises and diminishes the deaths of those people.

What do these figures mean for my state? Professor Baxter said that the data for NSW and Victoria was comparable because of the similarities of the states outbreaks and the fact that both states caseloads over this period would have included people infected by either the Delta or Omicron variant. Loading But for the other states and territories, which largely sidestepped Delta and saw their case numbers rise over the Christmas holiday period once Omicron became the dominant strain, hospitalisation and death rates may be different from what the NSW data shows. It is really difficult to untangle, Professor Baxter said. We are likely to get a better understanding of the severity of Omicron with data from South Australia or Queensland, where it was likely to be pure Omicron.
Two bodies with gunshot wounds have been found by police inside a home on Monday night.

Police were called to a home on Teal Street in Caloundra West just before 6.30pm to check on the welfare of the woman who lives at the property on the Sunshine Coast.

They found the womans body and also that of a man, with indications both died from gunshot wounds.

Although the woman was not formally identified, police believe she was 48, while the man, from Browns Plains south of Brisbane, was 52.

Police have declared a crime scene and investigations were continuing.
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Prime Minister Scott Morrison has hosed down suggestions a newly signed Queensland infrastructure deal worth $1.8 billion was completed because of the looming federal election, claiming the timing was over negotiations.

Speaking at the Gabba stadium in Brisbane for the announcement of the south-east Queensland $1.8 billion City Deal, Mr Morrison thanked Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and lord mayor Adrian Schrinner for their partnership in completing the deal, which had been in negotiation for years.

The SEQ City Deal will be funded through $667 million from the Commonwealth, $618 million from the Queensland government and $501 million from the Council of Mayors (SEQ) representing the regions council.

The deal, which includes $450 million to the Brisbane Metro Woolloongabba Station and $190.2 million to the Kangaroo Point Green Bridge, was officially signed on Monday.
This constant escalation of punishment that can be meted out for dissent is approaching the worst levels of Soviet totalitarianism, says La Trobe Universitys Robert Horvath. Loading What better way for this dismal despot to infuse himself with meaning and purpose than to declare himself to be waging war  or special military operation  in pursuit of Russian unity, in the name of the restoration of the Russian Empire, for the honour of Mother Russia? In his stadium address to the crowd last week, Putin said of Russias troops in Ukraine: When needed, they shield each other from bullets with their bodies like brothers. Such unity we have not had for a long time. Putin is using war to manufacture meaning where it otherwise doesnt exist. But the big surprise is that, even more powerfully, Putins war has given fresh meaning and invigorated purpose to the West and perhaps some of the wider world.

Russias butchery of civilians in Ukraine has outraged world opinion. The US and NATO are more united and purposeful now than at any time since the end of the Cold War. The UN General Assembly generally overlooks authoritarian outrages, but not this one. By an overwhelming vote of 141 nations in favour, the UN condemned the invasion and demanded Russia withdraw its troops. Only four countries sided with Russia, 35 abstained. And while governments in the democratic world moved early to impose sanctions on Moscow, surging public outrage moved them to go further. In the US, the Gallup pollster, Frank Newport, reports that support for economic sanctions on Russia is at or above 75 per cent across multiple polls: This is as close to unanimous public judgment on an issue as we are likely to get.

And he observed that it applied equally to Democrat and Republican voters: This contrasts strongly with the huge gulfs between Democrats and Republicans approval of many other government actions and policies. Even more remarkable is that Americans tell pollsters they support the ban on Russian oil even when pollsters remind Americans that it may cost them (the respondents) personally in terms of increased prices at the petrol pump. There has been a similarly strong reaction in the corporate world. More than 400 global companies, with US business dominant among them, have ended or suspended dealings with Russia since the invasion began. The Yale University School of Management is able to identify only 34 global companies that remain economic collaborators, as they call it, with Putins atrocities. The democratic world has been galvanised in support of Ukraine. Credit:Getty American reaction is critical because the US is the systemically central democracy in the world, and also one of the most fragile. The former US president, Donald Trump, and 40 per cent of the US voting public refuse to acknowledge that Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 election. This bodes ill for the survival of US democracy.

In their 2018 study of failed democracies worldwide, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt wrote that since the end of the Cold War, most democratic breakdowns have been caused not by generals and soldiers but by elected governments themselves. Loading If American liberal democracy is to survive, it needs to find unity and purpose. Might Putins war be the source of that unity and purpose? Its too early to know, but the Russian venture seems to be reminding people in free nations of the fragility of democratic states, the value of liberty, the reality of war. In Taiwan, on the front lines of Beijings territorial ambition, around 40 per cent of people told pollsters they were prepared to take up arms against a mainland Chinese invasion in the months before the Russian attack on Ukraine. In the days since, that has soared to 70 per cent. Putins war may be a continent away, but it has clarified the stakes and given Taiwans people new resolve. Putin has shown the world that the ambitions of aggressive, murderous, fascism were not vanquished in World War Two, only postponed. We are seeing that nations that wish to remain free have to be prepared to fight for their sovereignty and their liberty.
Western Australias COVID-19 cases have dropped for the fourth day in a row.

The state recorded 5566 new cases overnight, down from 5626 on Sunday. The last time WA recorded an increase in cases was March 17.

WA has recorded 5566 new local COVID-19 cases. Credit:Getty Images

More than 11,000 PCR tests were conducted on Sunday and 10,661 on Saturday.

The figures confirm a trend of testing rates dropping on weekends, with weekday tests hovering around 15,000 per day last week.
Washington: The Biden administration has formally determined that violence committed against the Rohingya minority by Myanmars military amounts to genocide and crimes against humanity.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will announce the decision on Monday at Washingtons Holocaust Memorial Museum, US officials said. It comes more than four years since 730,000 mainly Muslim Rohingya were forced from their homes and into neighbouring Bangladesh by the Myanmar military.

A 2018 US government investigation found that Myanmars military waged a planned, co-ordinated campaign of mass killings, gang rapes, arson and other atrocities against the south-east Asian nations Rohingya Muslim minority. Human rights groups and Rohingya activists have put the death toll in the thousands.

In 2021, Myanmars military seized power in a coup.
The devastation caused by the recent floods in NSW and Queensland may seem a world away from the violent conflict in Ukraine, but there is a common element: the displacement of people from their homes.

In the past three weeks, more than three million people have fled Ukraine; close to two million more are displaced inside the country. Meanwhile, on Australias east coast, thousands of people have been left homeless as a result of the floods.

Parents accompany children and teenagers as they board a train after leaving Kyivs Central Childrens Hospital, following its evacuation. Credit:AP

In such situations, evacuations can be a life-saving tool. Russia and Ukraine have agreed to create humanitarian corridors to enable civilians to be evacuated to safety. Whole towns in NSW and Queensland were ordered to evacuate as floodwaters rose. Though two very different contexts, the objective of evacuation is the same: to save lives and avert further harm.

Evacuations are now a major component of national and local disaster risk reduction strategies, and figures suggest that this has resulted in fewer lives being lost. In conflict, humanitarian evacuations are a life-saving measure for people facing an immediate threat of harm. Rescuing countries may initiate evacuation flights, and safe humanitarian corridors, agreed to by parties to a conflict, can enable civilians to leave as safely as possible.
Riga, Latvia: In a dingy Russian classroom with worn-out rugs, primary school students lined up to form the shape of the letter Z: the symbol used on much of Russias military equipment in Ukraine and an emblem of support at home, showing up on everywhere from bus stops to car stickers to corporate logos.

Now its become part of the classroom lessons as the Kremlin expands its anti-Ukraine propaganda to students as young as kindergarten. Its another front in President Vladimir Putins sweeping crackdowns to criminalise dissent and enforce an unquestioning brand of patriotism even as Russia grows increasingly isolated.

Over the past three weeks, thousands of posts appeared on Russian social media featuring schoolchildren - up to high school age - attending special patriotic lessons or posing for pictures forming Z and V-for-victory signs.

Across Russia, schools are uploading photos of children posing with Z signs to support the troops in Ukraine. Credit:Andrey Zakharov/Twitter

Russian education minister, Sergey Kravtsov, openly described schools as central to Moscows fight to win the information and psychological war against the West. At the same time, Russia has imposed laws against spreading fake news or discrediting the Russian armed forces - prompting many journalists and activists to leave Russia.
Shelling hit a Kyiv shopping centre on Monday morning (AEDT), killing at least eight people, wrecking nearby buildings and leaving smoking piles of rubble and the twisted wreckage of burned-out cars spread over several hundred metres. Firefighters put out small blazes around the smouldering carcass of a building in the shopping centre car park in the Podil district of the city and looked for possible survivors. Ukrainian servicemen are seen at the explosion site as a result of a rocket strike into the shopping mall in Kyiv. Credit:Anastasia Vlasova/Getty Six bodies were laid out on the pavement as emergency services combed through the wreckage to the sound of distant artillery fire. Ukraines Prosecutor General said at least eight people had been killed. It is hard for me to speak because my child worked here. She was at work just yesterday, said tearful onlooker Valentina Timofeyevna.

Russia said the centre was being used as a weapons store. Ukraine said there were no strategic military objects in the area. Neither report could be independently verified. The deadly attack occurred as Ukraine defied Moscows demand for its soldiers to lay down arms before dawn on Monday (local time) in besieged Mariupol where hundreds of thousands of civilians are cowering from Russian bombardments laying waste to their city. A woman measures a window before covering it with plastic sheets in a building damaged by a bombing. in Kyiv Credit:AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda Russias military had ordered residents of the south-eastern port to surrender by 5am, saying those who did so could leave, while those who stayed would be handed to tribunals run by Moscow-backed separatists. President Volodymyr Zelenskys government responded that it would never bow to ultimatums and cities such as the capital Kyiv, Mariupol and Kharkhiv would always defy occupation.

There can be no question of any surrender in Mariupol, responded Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk. The US warned there was evolving intelligence that the Russian government was exploring options for potential cyberattacks, according to a statement from the White House. I urge our private sector partners to harden your cyber defences immediately, US President Joe Biden said in the statement, adding everyone needed to do their part to meet one of the defining threats of our time. Russias foreign ministry said on Monday it had summoned US Ambassador John Sullivan to tell him that President Joe Bidens calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal had pushed bilateral ties to the brink of collapse.

War criminal President Biden said last week that Putin was a war criminal for sending tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine. Such statements from the American president, unworthy of a statesman of such high rank, put Russian-American relations on the verge of rupture, the ministry said in a statement. The Kremlin earlier described the comments as personal insults against Putin. The ministry also told Sullivan that hostile actions against Russia would receive a decisive and firm response.

Stalled invasion The US Department of State did not confirm the summons. But Deputy US Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, in an interview on MSNBC, said Russias reported statement just shows how desperate President Putin is becoming. Russias invasion, now in its fourth week, has largely stalled. It has failed to seize any major city much less capture Kyiv or swiftly topple Zelensky. But Russia has caused massive destruction to residential areas, particularly in Mariupol on the Sea of Azov which was home to 400,000 people. It has run short of food, medicine, power and water since the first days of the war.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov praised the citys heroic defenders, saying their holdout had helped thwart Russia elsewhere. Loading By virtue of their dedication and superhuman courage, tens of thousands of lives throughout Ukraine were saved. Today Mariupol is saving Kyiv, Dnipro and Odesa. A part of Mariupol now held by Russian forces, reached by Reuters on Sunday, was an eerie wasteland. Several bodies lay by the road, wrapped in blankets. Windows were blasted out and walls were charred black. People who came out of basements sat on benches amid the debris, bundled up in coats. A group of men dug graves by the roadside.

In one dark cellar packed with families, Irina Chernenko, a university librarian, said she had been there for 11 days. Loading Everything is destroyed. Where can we go? she said. Were cooking over a fire - for now we still have a bit of food and some firewood. Russia calls the war, the biggest attack on a European state since World War II, a special military operation to disarm Ukraine and protect it from Nazis. The West calls this a false pretext for an unprovoked war of aggression by President Vladimir Putin.

Nearly a quarter of Ukraines 44 million people have been driven from their homes, including 3.4 million fleeing abroad, according to the United Nations, in one of the fastest exoduses ever recorded. Loading A UN tally includes more than 900 civilian deaths but the true total is unknown. Thousands of Russian and Ukrainian troops have also died, and Russias artillery-heavy army has suffered large losses in tanks and armour. Five Russian generals have been killed, a loss of senior commanders in such a short period almost unheard of in modern warfare. Officials imposed a day-and-a-half curfew in the capital from Monday night, citing the likelihood of more shelling. Britain said there was heavy fighting to the north but that Ukrainian forces had fought off an advance and most Russian forces were more than 25 kilometres from the city centre.

Talks resume Ukrainian officials hope that Moscow, having failed to secure a quick victory, will cut its losses and negotiate a withdrawal. Both sides hinted last week at progress in talks on a formula that would include some kind of neutrality for Ukraine, though details were scarce. Loading Talks resumed on Monday, starting with a 90-minute video conference. Apart from Mariupol, the eastern cities of Kharkiv, Sumy and Chernihiv have been hardest hit by Russias tactic of pounding urban areas with artillery as its troops have done before in Syria and Chechnya.
An Australian-Iranian grandfather held in a notorious Tehran prison for more than two years has died after falling critically ill over the weekend.

Shokrollah Jebeli, 83, had been held in Evin prison  the same jail in which Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert was first detained  since January 2020, after he was jailed over what appears to be a small financial dispute.

Shokrollah Jebeli had been held in Evin Prison since January, 2020.

Jebelis family confirmed the 83-year-olds death on a Twitter account dedicated to securing his release from detention on Sunday evening AEDT.

I was just told my father died today. I couldnt save him, Jebelis son, Peyman Jebeli, wrote on the social media platform.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The Police Force of St. Maarten has taken note of the information circulating on social media regarding a young lady who passed away in the hospital this morning, presumably from poisoning according to those on social media.

What is true is that a young female did pass away this morning at the SMMC and that several tests were carried out on the victim by both doctors and forensic personnel in order to determine the cause of death.

Nevertheless, the police force of Sint Maarten is letting be known that information being circulated online is false and are requesting those who are circulating it to cease and desist as this is creating unrest and anxiety among the people of St. Maarten.

Everyone in the community is urged by the Police Force of Sint Maarten to beware of fake information and to abstain from spreading it. The investigation into the cause of death of this victim is still ongoing. Condolences go out to the family of the deceased.

KPSM Press Release.
~ Negotiations will begin as early as Monday for Unity List--- Mussington.

MARIGOT:--- Rassemblement Saint Martin (RSM) took a narrow lead in the first round of the territorial elections held on Sunday, March 20th, 2022. Of the 8,732 persons that voted some 2,128 (25.39%) persons voted for the RSM led by Louie Mussington.

Team Gibbs led by incumbent President Daniel Gibbs received 2,074 votes (24.74%), while Generation Hope received 1,465 votes (17.48%), Alternative received 934 votes (11.14%), Avenir Saint-Martin received 626 votes (7.47 %) and Saint Martin Avec Vous received 1,155 votes. (13.78%)

Of the 18,962 registered voters, only 8,732 persons cast their votes on Sunday, based on the preliminary results that were presented at the end of election day it showed that 10,230 persons did not vote, which represents 54% percent of the registered voters.

Leader of the RSM Louie Mussington said that his team will begin negotiations as early as Monday to form the unity list they wanted to present from the very beginning. He said it is clear that together we are stronger based on the results they received on Sunday. Mussington said based on the preliminary results on Sunday it showed that there was an increase in voters turn out from 2017. The RSM leader said that his team is very strong which led to their semi-success on Sunday. Mussington said that from the voters turn out in this first round more than 6000 of the voters voted against the incumbent president and that in itself is a message from the people of St. Martin. There is a cry for unity and new leadership in this country and his team will be part of the discussion to ensure there is the new leadership.

The RSM leader and his team intend to do everything in their power to ensure the voters' registration is up to date since several persons were unable to vote on Sunday because their names are no longer on the voters' register. He said if it means that they have to approach the judge early this week that will be done since people that had proxies were not able to vote.

Incumbent President Daniel Gibbs said that despite being behind RSM he believes he did great because some persons that were part of TEAM Gibbs in 2017 left the party and formed their own lists. Gibbs said he also started his campaign very late, however, he feels that with the program he has in a place he is confident that the second round will be better for him. He asked what 54 votes are when there are six lists that contested the 1st round. Asked if he would enter into negotiations with Alternative and Avenir since both parties are people that were part of his team and government for the past 5 years. Gibbs said that he would place his focus on the 54% of the people that did not come out to vote this first round. He made clear that the battle is not over and there will be a second-round next week.

Click here for the Final Results.
Somerset, KY (42501)

Today

Partly cloudy this morning, then becoming cloudy during the afternoon. A stray afternoon thunderstorm is possible. High 79F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Showers and thunderstorms likely. Low 63F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
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Algiers, 20 March 2022 (SPS) - Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs and National Community Abroad, Ramtane Lamamra, and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, welcomed the convergence of views on issues of common interest, including the Western Sahara issue, and the unwavering mutual support to issues inherent to their fundamental interests and concerns.



The two FMs affirmed their support for efforts aimed at reaching a lasting and just solution within the framework of international legitimacy, especially the relevant United Nations (UN) resolutions on Western Sahara.



Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs and the National Community Abroad, Ramtane Lamamra, paid a working and friendship visit to the Peoples Republic of China on 19-21 March 2022, at the invitation of Chinas Minister of Foreign Affairs, State Councilor, Wang Yi. The two FMs thoroughly exchanged views on China-Algeria relations and regional and international issues of common concern.



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Algiers, 21 March 2022 (SPS) -The Speaker of the People's National Assembly (Lower House), Brahim Boughali called Monday the "honorable" MPs in Spain to reject the change of the official position of their country about the Sahrawi cause, in support of a just cause, and in solidarity with a colonized people.



"From this rostrum, I invite our honorable counterparts among the MPs of the Kingdom of Spain to reject these unacceptable concessions and this change of position that will not serve the interests of Spain, in support of a just cause and a legitimate right, and in solidarity with a people who have suffered for decades from an occupation without legal basis, rejected by all international bodies," said Boughali in his speech at the opening of a plenary session of the Lower House on the bill on judicial division.



The same official expressed surprise at the reversal of Spain's position on the issue of Western Sahara, listed at the United Nations (UN) as a decolonization issue, "ignoring the international charters and international law that enshrines the right of peoples to self-determination and territorial sovereignty.



"The violation of the inalienable rights of the Sahrawi people to serve immediate interests by giving in unjustifiably to vile blackmail, not only compromises the ongoing efforts to allow the Sahrawi people to exercise their legitimate rights but risks plunging the entire region into a spiral of tension," he said.



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MILFORD  Subway announced Monday that it would not make any new direct investments or open additional restaurants in Russia, changes made amid heavy criticism of the Connecticut company for keeping its sandwich shops open in Russia following the countrys invasion of Ukraine.

The Milford-headquartered company disclosed those changes in an updated version of a statement it issued last week. But, in contrast with several other fast-food giants, Subway did not announce the closing of any of its restaurants in Russia. Instead, Subway reiterated that all of its approximately 450 establishments in the country are independently owned and operated by local franchisees and managed by an independent master franchisee.

Subway does not directly control these independent franchisees, nor their restaurants, and has limited insight into their day-to-day operations, the statement said. The master franchisee in Russia manages all operations, marketing and the supply chain.

The company has also said it would redirect any profits from operations in Russia to humanitarian efforts supporting Ukrainian refugees and work with franchisees across Europe to provide meals to refugees.

In recent weeks, many people have criticized Subway on social media for keeping its Russian restaurants open. Last Friday, the hashtag #BoycottSubway trended on Twitter.

Before Mondays announcement, Subway was one of a few-dozen firms that were digging in  defying demands for exit or reduction of activities in Russia, according to an online tracker maintained by Yale School of Management. By Monday, Yale had moved Subway into the buying time  holding off new investments/development category, which includes about 50 other companies. Yale gives companies in that category a D grade compared with an F for those in the digging in group.

More than 400 companies, including several based in Connecticut, have announced their withdrawal from Russia since the start of the invasion, according to Yale.

Among other fast-food giants, Restaurant Brands International, the company that owns Burger King, said last Thursday that it had begun exiting its 15 percent stake in a joint venture that operates about 800 Burger King restaurants in Russia. Burger King said it contacted the Russian operator of its restaurants, but he refused to suspend operations. In the meantime, Burger King said it had suspended corporate support for the Russian market.

McDonalds announced this month that it would temporarily close its approximately 850 restaurants in Russia  84 percent of which are owned by the company. It said it would continue paying its approximately 62,000 employees in Russia. At the same time, McDonalds has temporarily closed 108 restaurants it owns in Ukraine, while continuing to pay those employees.

Yum Brands, the parent company of KFC and Pizza Hut, said this month it planned to temporarily close 70 company-owned KFC restaurants in Russia. It also announced that it was in talks with a franchisee to close all 50 Pizza Hut restaurants in Russia. In addition, it has suspended new restaurant development in the country.

This article contains reporting from The Associated Press.

pschott@stamfordadvocate.com; twitter: @paulschott
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FAIRFIELD  Connecticut police departments have come together to donate body armor and helmets in support of Ukraines defense amid a Russian invasion that has resulted in hundreds of confirmed deaths.

Fairfield Police Lt. Mike Paris called the donation a humanitarian effort.

The department gathered more than 200 previously worn police ballistic vests and dozens of helmets from the police departments of Fairfield, Brookfield, Darien, Easton, Greenwich, Monroe, Norwalk, Stratford, Trumbull, Wilton, Westport and Western Connecticut State University

They will be donated directly to the Ukrainian American Coordinating Council.

Paris said the supplies, which were piled high at a press conference on Monday, will help the people of Ukraine bravely fight for their freedom.

These vests will be distributed by a Ukrainian Organization called Come Back Alive, which is licensed by the departments of state and defense, to territorial defenses in hot-spots across Ukraine, he said.

Russian military forces began invading Ukraine on Feb. 24, with ground troops supported by armored vehicles, aircraft and large scale bombardment of both Ukrainian military and civilian infrastructure. Ukranian civilian casualties are climbing, with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights reporting 902 killed and 1,459 injured as of Sunday  although it noted the actual death toll is likely significantly higher.

Paris said state Rep. Laura Devlin, R-Fairfield, was the driving force behind the collection, which began March 10.

Devlin said she was at a recent rally in support of Ukraine at the The Ukrainian American Club in Fairfield and asked leaders there, including club president Michael Gudzik, a former Westport police officer, what those in Ukraine needed most. She was told civilians and people fighting in the conflict need more protective gear.

Devlin said she, along with state Sen. Tony Hwang, R-Fairfield, called Police Chief Robert Kalamaras and Fairfield resident and combat veteran Alex Plitsas to see how Fairfield could help. She said Kalamaras brought up the idea of donating used armor and helmets at a Fairfield County Police Chiefs Association meeting.

Devlin said Plitsas, who has been running evacuation efforts in Afghanistan and is now doing the same for Ukraine, had an avenue through which the Fairfield Police Department could get the supplies directly into Ukraine.

It all came together, she said. Whats most gratifying and most important is the enthusiasm that our chief was met with by all of the departments in Fairfield County to try and make a difference. Its just one more example of people coming together in any way that they can to contribute whatever they can to help the cause.

Sgt. John Thome of the Greenwich police helped collect 30 helmets and 30 vests.

Theyve reached the end of their operational life, but it doesnt mean theyre not functional, he said. And its a good cause.

Thome had to remove the Greenwich stamps on the equipment before the donations, he said.

Greenwich police say the equipment is only allowed to be used by officers for five years, but it is still in good condition. The helmets and vest are worth hundreds of dollars apiece when purchased new, according to Greenwich police commanders.

Thome, an Army veteran, said the equipment might not be used for frontline troops, but they would be valuable for ambulance drivers, humanitarian aid workers and civilians moving through areas where combat operations are underway.

Fairfield First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick said officials wanted to do everything possible to help a country defending its democracy.

Paris said the department has been in communication with the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense about the supplies, but wanted to keep the avenue of delivery confidential for security purposes. He said Come Back Alive is a vetted organization that falls under the umbrella of the Ukrainian American Coordinating Council.

Thats one thing that we wanted to determine and ensure, is that these vests were going to the right people, he said. We know its going to get to the Ukrainian people to fight for their freedom.

Devlin noted there are three different groups the vests and helmets could be going to  the military, territorial defense forces and civilians. She said the equipment would be useful to all three of them.

If you have nothing, something is really important, she said.

Robert Marchant contributed to this report.

joshua.labella@hearstmediact.com
A bill pending in a key legislative committee would provide legal protections for innocent targets of criminals, allowing them the use of deadly force, especially firearms, to defend themselves.

While supported by dozens of gun owners and representatives of firearms rights groups during a recent marathon public hearing, the Connecticut version of a so-called stand-your-ground law is unlikely to clear the Judiciary Committee.

The legislation, proposed by Republicans including state Rep. Craig Fishbein of Wallingford, a top GOP member of the committee, would force state prosecutors to presume that the threat a suspect or suspects presented in someones home, work place or motor vehicle was so dire that deadly force was necessary.

It shifts the burden, Fishbein said after the 16-hour hearing on a variety of gun-safety bills. It merely creates a presumption that the action was justified. Of course, the presumption could be overturned, based on particular facts. Currently, one has to prove that their action is reasonable. This bill would put the burden on prosecutors that the presumption of the person was not reasonable.

Floridas stand-your-ground law received national attention in 2012 when George Zimmerman fatally shot Trayvon Martin, an unarmed 17 year-old. Zimmerman was acquitted of murder.

Harwood W. Loomis of Woodbridge told the committee that as a disabled veteran and senior citizen, he believes crime has decreased overall in recent years but the nature of criminal activity seems to be more-violent.

There is a general lack of respect and value for human life on the part of criminals, Loomis said. Physically, I am no match for even one younger, stronger assailantand it appears that today, criminals dont work alone. They travel and operate in packs. There should never be any doubt that if I am trapped in my car by an assailant or a group of assailants that I have a God-given right to defend myself.

Lauren E. LePage, state director of the National Rifle Association in Connecticut, said the presumptive defense, combined with another proposal to eliminate the requirement for people in churches and other places of worship retreat before using deadly force, would make it easier for criminal targets to defend themselves.

Expecting the police to prevent all crime is neither practically nor legally justified, LePage said in prepared testimony. Courts have consistently ruled that law enforcement officers have no enforceable obligation to protect individuals.

But it is unlikely to emerge beyond the legislative committee level.

Weve had this bill in the committee off and on forever, said state Sen. Gary Winfield, D-New Haven, co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee, who opposes it.

First of all, you dont need it. Second, there are racial implications weve seen played out across the country in states including Georgia and Florida. I have no reason to believe people cant protect themselves, Winfield said in an interview Friday. I dont know why some people think well be safer than what we can do already. I dont want people feeling they should have to be a hero. Thinking you have a license to be a hero gets people hurt.

In unsigned testimony from the state Division of Criminal Justice, where Richard Colangelo with retire from the post of chief states attorney on March 31 and John Russotto will take over on an interim basis, prosecutors warned of the potential dangers of the proposal.

Such a change in the law is unnecessary because it will have no effect, the prosecutors wrote, stressing that under current law, if someone claims self-defense, it is up to the state to show it wasnt.

Because the state must meet this high burden of disproving a claim of self-defense in every case in which it is asserted, and because such a high degree of proof always will be sufficient to rebut the proposed presumption of reasonableness set forth in the bill, the presumption will, for all intents and purposes, be a hollow gesture that has no meaningful effect, prosecutors wrote. Intended or not, as written, this portion of the bill will effectively permit one person, absent any perceived threat of personal or third party harm, to kill another person merely because the person employing deadly physical force reasonably believes that the other person is attempting, or has succeeded, with force, to enter their unoccupied motor vehicle.

The division warned that gunfire used to supposedly prevent a motor vehicle theft creates more hazards. Ask yourself: Is your neighbors motor vehicle worth an errant bullet through your childs bedroom window or wall at 3 a.m.? the prosecutors wrote. Moreover, human life, even one engaging in criminal activity, is more valuable than a motor vehicle.

kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT
The contamination of water wells is a silent but dangerous, wide-spread, under-reported health problem in suburban and rural towns, as well as cities throughout the state, with everything from road de-icer to so-called forever chemicals such as PFAS pouring out of the faucets of thousands of homes.

But Connecticut properties with private wells are rarely investigated for harmful chemicals, prompting lawmakers to consider a variety of tactics in this legislative session, from mandatory-testing programs during property sales, to curbing development near underground water supplies called aquifers, and even requiring the repair or replacement of well and pipe equipment, which can runs in the tens of thousands of dollars.

Possibly the biggest question: Whos going to pay to clean up the water, which in recent years has been declared a public trust?

And its not just in bucolic areas of the state, where wintertime road preparations have invaded drinking wells, and arsenic from old fruit orchards has tainted water. The town of Greenwich has documented well-water contamination from nearby Westchester County Airport, while Stamford recorded high arsenic levels in the northern part of that city. Urban neighborhoods near former manufacturing sites are also impacted.

And yet, there are no requirements for testing, even with at least one well in the upstate town of Tolland reporting sodium chloride contamination 600 times acceptable levels.

State health officials told the legislative Public Health Committee on Monday that many wells are tested for water quality only once, during initial home construction. But with more than 322,000 private wells providing drinking water to 800,000 state residents, the issue of water quality - and contamination - is looming large, particularly in towns when residents are now afraid to even give tap water to their pets, let alone drink it themselves.

Many of these wells are old and have never been tested, said Lori Mathieu, public health section chief in the state Department of Health, which calculated that there are about 10,000 property transfer a year, so if each transaction required water-quality testing, at least buyers would know what they are getting in the way of drinking-water quality.

Weve run into many situations where a treatment is needed or necessary and a homeowner who just purchased a home for hundreds of thousands of dollars did not realize what the water quality was or what the treatment needs are, Mathieu said. It provides better information so that the potential homeowner would be able to provide treatment for those wells or those different varying contaminants that are in the ground. She said that in recent years, private wells have been a major issue in state water planning.

Dr. Manisha Juthani, Public Health commissioner, told the committee that private and semi-private wells, many of which service local municipal buildings, are also of concern. Wed like to see that potable water be provided for some of these areas as well.

State Rep. Jaime Foster, D-Ellington, a member of the committee, and Rep. Tammy Nuccio, R-Tolland, who testified on legislation Monday, said that unsafe drinking water afflicts both their districts. Foster would like the state to get better at providing data on a street-by-street basis. Mathieu replied that the legislation being pursued by the agency includes better and more-accessible information.

Are we going far enough? Foster asked Juthani. I think that this is going to be first steps that can help us get there, Juthani replied, adding that there is about $40 million in federal loan funding available to test and clean up PFAS in 725 public water systems in the state over five years. Not all are going to be eligible for this PFAS remediation money, Juthani warned.

Nuccio said most residents in her district have wells and over the last 10 years, there has been an increase in drinking water contaminated with road salt, belying a 2007 state report that predicted such effects would dissipate the chemicals with spring and summer rains.

At least 68 wells in Nuccios district, which includes Ashford and Willington, are contaminated with sodium chloride, including one well with levels 600 times acceptable levels of the chemical, she said. Two-year-old appliances are failing in these homes, and pinhole leaks are developing in water pipes.

Quite frankly, its not even safe to give to your dog, or boil water in, Nuccio said, asking for financial aid for homeowners with contaminated wells. We really need to remediate the environmental impact of putting these chemicals into our environment unchecked. There is a battle between who is responsible for this and who is going to pay to fix it.

Landfills near private wells and public water sources will be main targets for cleaning PFAS, Mathieu said. Among the communities where state health and environmental officials have worked include Greenwich, Windsor, Ellington, East Hampton and Killingworth.

Water is one of the most-essential parts of our survival, said Sen. Saud Anwar, D-South Windsor, a physician who is co-chairman of the Public Health Committee.

And on the day before World Water Day, Connecticut environmentalists Monday agreed that pervasive groundwater contamination is going to be tough to solve.

We live with significant non-compliance issues that contribute to poor water quality, said Sharon Lewis of Hartford, executive director of the Connecticut Coalition for Economic and. Environmental Justice. Eliminating exposure, in the first place, would be a first step. People in (environmental justice) communities are exposed to all types of contaminants that leak into the groundwater.

Essentially, the goal is to stop putting stuff in the groundwater in the first place, Bill Lucey, the Long Island Soundkeeper, who appeared with Lewis and other state environmental activists in a noontime webinar. Thats from nutrients, road salts, all the different toxins, lead, mercury, PFAS. Lucey said the water in his sons grammar school in rural Killingworth has been contaminated with PFAS: Per-and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances shown to be harmful to public health.

Weve got to stop poisoning our water, said Lucey, stressing that an obvious place to start is eliminating fertilizer from suburban lawns. Grass doesnt feed us. Its just simply an aesthetic that we want to have. Were polluting our groundwater just so something looks nice in our front yard.

Another bill pending in the legislative Environment Committee would limit the use of road salt.

Road salt is a very tricky one, because youre balancing safety with water quality issues, Lucey said. People who have drinking water wells that are near where the salt applications are occurring, its eating away the casings of the wells; its getting into the well water itself, its destroying the piping. Its not an easy problem to solve.

kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT
In late 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention altered isolation protocols for people who tested positive for COVID-19. A study from researchers at Yale University suggests those protocols are not stringent enough to stop transmission.

Given what we currently know about COVID-19 and the omicron variant, CDC is shortening the recommended time for isolation for the public, the CDC said in December when it recommended quarantining for five days.

Rebecca Earnest, a doctoral student at the Yale School of Public Health, said five days may not be enough time to halt transmission of the disease.

The CDCs guidelines do not include taking a rapid antigen test after the isolation period, but Yale asks its students to test after those five days. That created a data set for Earnest and her colleagues to study.

Our question was relatively simple, she said. What percentage of people would we expect to remain positive via rapid antigen test on day five?

A positive antigen test is a proxy for infectiousness, Earnest said. If your antigen test is positive, you are probably able to pass COVID on to someone else.

There are probably some cases where people are no longer infectious, but in general, they've been shown to be a good proxy for infectiousness. And they are the best tool that we have, in terms of trying to safely have people leave isolation, she said.

Earnest and her colleagues found that between 25 and 50 percent of the students tested remained positive on day five, with the number cut in half each additional day.

So it's relatively high positivity on day five, Earnest said.

Her conclusion is that a five-day isolation period for the general population may be one to two days too short, particularly with more transmissible variants like omicron and its subvariant, BA.2, and particularly in congregant settings like prisons and nursing homes.

When the CDC released its revised guidelines, agency Director Rochelle Walensky said, these updates ensure people can safely continue their daily lives.

The omicron variant is spreading quickly and has the potential to impact all facets of our society, she said in December. CDCs updated recommendations for isolation and quarantine balance what we know about the spread of the virus and the protection provided by vaccination and booster doses.

But Earnest said the data based on those recommendations predated the omicron surge, which hit its peak in Connecticut on Jan. 10 when more than 31,000 new cases were reported in the state in a single day.

This revised guidance came out at a time when omicron was beginning to surge in the U.S., and a lot of the data that those guidelines were based on was from a pre-omicron time period, Earnest said. We know that different COVID variants can have different infection dynamics, and those might affect how long people should remain in isolation.

On Monday, the state reported 603 new COVID cases had been identified since Friday out of 24,226 tests for a positivity rate of 2.49 percent. At the same time, there was a net increase of five patients hospitalized with COVID for a total of 97 statewide.

While COVID infections have rapidly declined since the omicron surge, the revised CDC guidelines drew criticism from the public health community when they were released.

Gerald E. Harmon, president of the American Medical Association, said they are not only confusing, but are risking further spread of the virus.

According to the CDCs own rationale for shortened isolation periods for the general public, an estimated 31 percent of people remain infectious five days after a positive COVID-19 test, he said in January. Physicians are concerned that these recommendations put our patients at risk and could further overwhelm our health care system.

But Earnest said the guidelines are not completely unreasonable.

The decision-making behind this made some sense because what they're really trying to do is weigh the burden of keeping people in isolation for an unnecessarily long period of time  it has big social and economic consequences  with the risk of releasing people too early, and then they go on to spread COVID through their community, she said.

The CDCs guidelines do call for masking for an additional five days when around others to minimize the risk of infecting people they encounter, which Earnest said would help mitigate the spread of the virus from patients who are still infectious after five days.

She questioned, however, how many people would follow that masking guideline.

We all know that human behavior varies a lot, Earnest said. I think it's unclear how much people actually adhere to that. But if someone did come out of isolation on day five, they're still positive, but they're really good about masking, social distancing, that would minimize the risks he would pose to others.
Map data:  2022, Google

This automated story was produced for Hearst Connecticut by United Robots using artificial intelligence and data science. Property information is compiled from municipal assessors in Connecticut.

A spacious condominium built in 2004 located on 50 Southport Place in Southport has new owners. The 2,433-square-foot property was sold on February 27, 2022 for $1,001,500, or $412 per square foot. The property features three bedrooms and four baths. It sits on a 4,289 square-foot lot.


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Cities in northern Ukraine, on the border with Belarus, are taking steps to prevent a possible land intervention by Belarusian military forces, the Zhytomyr mayor, Serhiy Suhomlyn, told of AGERPRES on Monday.

He claims that the city is getting ready to defend itself on three lines, with defence points being established tens of kilometres far from the city centre."We are very close to the border with Belarus. The city of Zhytomyr is preparing for a possible intervention by Belarus. We basically started this the next day. You have seen how much has been done in the city in this regard. Many defence points have been established, around the city, and we are now close to complete our third defence line. It measures tens of kilometres. The biggest danger is represented by the artillery systems, GRAD missile systems, and we have seen the disastrous effects in Chernivtsi, Sumi and Mariupol, when these uncontrollable missiles produced damaged in civilian areas. Understanding the distance from Belarus, we formed these lines of defence a few dozen kilometres far from the centre of Zhytomyr," Suhomlyn said.The mayor's statements come in the context of information that the border between Belarus and Ukraine would have provided possible access areas for the Belarusian military to Ukrainian territory. On Sunday, the Belarusian press published information and images about a floating bridge over the Pripyat River in the town of Petrikov in the Gomel region, to the Lelchitsk district, which is on the border with the Rivne region of Ukraine.At the same time, the mayor says that, since the beginning of the war, nine civilians have died in the city of Zhytomyr, and 16 others have been injured. Also, 40 houses have been destroyed by bombing."Nine persons have died among the civilians in Zhytomyr, and sixteen others were injured. A school and a garrison house were completely destroyed, and a fuel depot was destroyed on the outskirts of the city. Around 40 houses of civilians have also been destroyed. After the bombings, the heating plant was destroyed, and also, partially, the water pipes. A part of the city was left without heating for a while. A few wards of the maternity hospital were damaged, the same as the six-story building of the City Hospital no. 2. The City Hospital No. 1, and the Kindergarten No. 22, have been partially affected," added Serhiy Suhomlyn.He says the Zhytomyr authorities are supporting the evacuation of civilians from Kyiv and the surrounding area of the Capital City. The refugees are transported to Zhytomyr, where they receive accommodation and meals, and from there they are boarded by trains bound for Western Ukraine."Most of the refugees do not stay in Zhytomyr, but move on. We take them out of Kyiv with our buses, then we provide them accommodation and food, and later we take them on trains and send them on to western Ukraine," he said.On the other hand, Serhiy Suhomlyn mentions that almost 45pct of the population of the city he manages has fled the war.
The Minister of National Defence, Vasile Dincu, will attend, on Monday, the meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council in the format of Defence Ministers of EU member states, which will take place in Brussels.

According to the MApN, in a session in an enlarged configuration, in joint format, of the Foreign and Defence Ministers, the Strategic Compass of the EU will also be discussed and adopted.

Important debates are expected regarding the main action lines to consolidate the EU's profile as a global actor on the international scene, but also to ensure the protection of European values and interests, shows a release sent to AGERPRES.

As part of a working dinner, the Ministers of Defence will approach the situation in Ukraine generated by the unprovoked and unjustified military aggression of the Russian Federation, as well as demarches to support Ukraine conducted at the EU level.

The session will be attended, through videoconference, by the Ukrainian Defence Minister, Oleksii Reznikov.
At present, there is no influence from the direction of Ukraine towards the northern part of our country in terms of air quality, the Minister of Environment, Waters and Forestry Barna Tanczos underlined on Monday, Agerpres reports.

"Unfortunately, the risk of air pollution, especially on the territory of Ukraine, is imminent, it is very high, due to the bombings that take place there. There was an assessment of Poland, our assessment, made together with European Commission specialists and specialists in Ukraine that today show that there is no danger going towards Romania.We have 24-hour monitoring stations, the values are normal and these increase in certain periods mainly due to the traffic and weather conditions of thermal immersion. At the moment there is no influence from the direction of Ukraine towards the northern part of the country in terms of air quality," the environment minister said at the Parliament Palace, where he attended the governing coalition meeting.He added that the Ministry of Environment is analyzing and making forecasts together with the National Meteorological Agency (ANM), and every morning the situation is assessed."From the reports we have this morning, this certainty continues. Today there is no danger from Ukraine in terms of air quality," he said.Asked about Bulgaria having warned that there were several Ukrainian mines floating in the Black Sea, or if there were any measures for environmental pollution, the minister said there was no official information on the matter yet."Being a war situation, certainly the first measures will be taken by the Ministry of Defence, by the Army. (...) From our point of view, at the moment there is no definite information that there would be such a thing on the Romanian coast. First of all, there is a danger from the point of view of the safety of navigation and only if the Ministry of Defence does not find the solution to remove, to defuse these possible mines, then we can discuss the danger on the environment. I am sure the Ministry of Defence will find the solution," said Barna Tanczos.
An exhibition called "Galati of Old," mounted by the Faculty of Letters of Dunarea de Jos University of Galati in collaboration with the AGERPRES National News Agency, opened on Monday at the university displaying photos from the AGERPRES picture library depicting the city's main attractions.

It is part of a series of events celebrating University Days. The exhibition, hosted in the university's lobby, includes photos of the city taken between 1947-1998 by AGERPRES photojournalists that have been transferred on digital support since 2014."On the 74th anniversary of higher education in Galati, we are meeting here for the opening of a unique exhibition under the partnership between the Faculty of Letters of Dunarea de Jos University and the AGERPRES National News Agency, a documentary exhibition called 'Galati of Old' that includes photographs taken by AGERPRES photojournalists from 1947 to 1998. They are documentary photographs because they highlight a city that had just emerged from a long series of catastrophes that culminated on August 25-26, 1944, when retreating German troops mined and blew up the entire historic centre of this city, and with the establishment of the communist regime, which brought fundamental changes, including to the city on the Danube, with the departure of a large part of the city's population of Jews, Greeks, and Armenians and the arrival of other people from the surrounding villages and counties once the construction of the steel plant begins," said Catalin Negoita, associated professor of the Faculty of Letters.Attending the event, AGERPRES Director General Claudia Victoria Nicolae thanked the hosts for the unique idea of organising this exhibition, and also for the partnership between the university and the agency."Thank you for such a unique idea for the university and in its relationship with us. Indeed, 74 years of performance in education honour us as an agency, and we have managed to find together in the AGERPRES library pictures that honour you and the city. Above all, I believe that history, tradition shape our belonging in every place and at every moment. It is, after all, a symbiosis between image and words. While words build up, because we, journalists, use words, we are talking here about print journalists, from news agencies, pictures are added to round up, polish words, and above all pictures remain the most faithful proof of a history, especially at the AGERPRES National News Agency. The pictures in the AGERPRES library are untouched mechanically, the only interventions are light or shape, otherwise, as you can see, they were captured by our colleagues and I think this is the most valuable treasure that the agency has when it brings to light - for those interested, for those who belong to those places - every object, every building, every place, to remember history, the tradition of a place. I am glad that we started with this exhibition and I am convinced that the partnership will continue with other ideas. I congratulate you on 74 years of education," said Nicolae.In his turn, Dunarea de Jos Rector Puiu Lucian Georgescu emphasised the need for a regular exchange of ideas between public organisations and the community, with such exhibitions being a bind."Thank you for the idea of such an exhibition, which combines the artistic grace of our Arts students with historical memories in unaltered images of decades of life in this city, where the university is a city within a city, but our city has no walls. There is a possibility for a regular exchange and we have a moral obligation to do it... This exhibition is connected to the 74th anniversary of the existence of our university," said Georgescu.March 20 marked the 74th anniversary of the first use of the name university in official record (State Council Decree of March 20, 1974), which enshrined the union of the Polytechnic Institute with the Pedagogical Institute both existing in the city.The exhibition is part of a travelling series made by AGERPRES on its 133rd anniversary. It is open to the public in the lobby of the university throughout April 21.
President Klaus Iohannis on Monday had a conversation with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the situation in Ukraine and the measures to strengthen NATO's Eastern Flank, Agerpres reports.

"Ahead of the upcoming NATO Summit, I had an in depth exchange of views with Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the situation in Ukraine and joint efforts to support Ukraine. We also discussed the necessary measures to be taken in order to strengthen the Eastern Flank," President Klaus Iohannis wrote on Twitter on Monday.An extraordinary NATO summit will take place in Brussels on Thursday.
Labour Minister Marius Budai said on Monday in case the ruling coalition decided to reduce the social insurance contribution (CAS) by 5 percent, the measure would be enforced.

Asked at the Palace of Parliament if he agreed with the CAS reduction, Budai said: "If the coalition so decides, we'll enforce it. It is not a decision to be taken by one minister or another. Let it be politically decided and I will communicate all I can about that. It is a Fiscal Code matter and the Fiscal Code is not dealt with at the Labour Ministry."

He added that he saw some trade unions opposing this measure, as well as an employers' association, as the deficit would widen, nonetheless he gave guarantees pensions would not be cut in relation to this contribution cut, informs Agerpres.

Liberal leader Florin Citu said on Monday he was trying to persuade ruling coalition partners to accept the 5 percent cut in the CAS.

Last week, Liberal MPs filed an amendment to the Fiscal Code providing for the 5 percent reduction of the social insurance contribution.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Bogdan Aurescu will attend, on Monday, the meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the EU member states - the Foreign Affairs Council (FAC), which will take place in Brussels.

As regards Russia's aggression against Ukraine, "Minister Bogdan Aurescu will support the need to focus EU action on measures that could have a concrete and immediate effect on the ground, such as supporting all efforts to de-escalate the situation and protect civilians by creating safe humanitarian corridors, continuing support for Ukraine, managing the humanitarian situation and the flow of people fleeing Russian aggression. In this context, the Romanian official will reiterate the significant efforts undertaken and the concrete measures adopted by Romania in support of the refugees from Ukraine who come to our country, including through the humanitarian hub from Suceava, operational from March 9," informs the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE).

According to the source, Minister Aurescu will reiterate that, in the current unprecedented context, the EU must reaffirm the European perspective of Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia.

Minister Aurescu will underline Romania's active efforts to support the Republic of Moldova, in line with the measures in support of the Chisinau authorities, proposed in the joint letter recently sent with the Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg to the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, and the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, Oliver Varhelyi.

The Romanian Foreign Minister will reiterate his support for the European perspective of the Republic of Moldova, emphasizing that this state's request to join the EU is a first step in a laborious process and will express the conviction that the move will be an additional incentive for the Republic of Moldova to continue the reforms.

During breakfast with Foreign Minister of the Republic of Macedonia Bujar Osmani, Minister Aurescu will emphasize the strategic importance of the Western Balkans, especially in the current context of Russia's aggression against Ukraine, and reiterate the importance of European integration of Western Balkan states. In this context, he will reaffirm Romania's support for the opening of negotiations for the accession of the Republic of North Macedonia and Albania to the EU as soon as possible.

In relation to the adoption of the Strategic Compass document in view of its approval by the Heads of State and Government at the European Council of March 24-25, Bogdan Aurescu will emphasize the important contribution of this instrument in strengthening the transatlantic relationship and EU-NATO complementarity. It will also highlight the Compass's contribution to the implementation of the EU's Global Strategy, as well as to strengthening the EU's capacity to manage hybrid and cyber threats. In the context of Russia's aggression against Ukraine, he will emphasize the important role of the Compass in strengthening EU support for the Eastern Neighborhood states.
Romania's Culture Minister Lucian Romascanu announced on Monday that five young ballet dancers who had fled the war in Ukraine and who became part of the staff of the Bucharest National Opera (ONB) are employed under collaboration agreements, Agerpres reports.

"I am glad that not only do they rehearse here or have a place to stay, sleep and eat, but they also have a place to work. Fortunately, at this moment we are able to sign collaboration agreements with all those asking for one. So far as I understand, these are agreements for a maximum duration of three years, under which 3,000 lei per month is paid," Romascanu wrote on Facebook.On Sunday, Romascanu attended a sold-out "Giselle" show by Adolphe Charles Adam on the ONB stages celebrating March, the month of the Francophonie.The event coincided with the debut on the Romanian stages of five ballet dancers who fled the war in Ukraine."The five, who are integrated, are employed under collaboration agreements. Others will come," ONB General Manager Daniel Jinga told AGERPRES on Monday.On March 3, ONB announced that ballerinas Bogdana Alekseeva and Lara Paraschiv, both from Odessa, had joined a study and rehearsal schedule of the Bucharest National Opera.
Over 50,000 Romanians benefited from the amounts accumulated in the private pension account Pillar II in the period 2016 - 2021, most of them being relatives of some taxpayers who died, or contributors who retired due to illness, show the data centralized by the Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF).

According to a release sent to AGERPRES on Monday, the total amount paid by the administrators during that period amounts to almost 660 million lei, and the number of beneficiaries increased from 675 in 2016 to 19,000 in 2021.At the same time, the average amount received in 2018, the first year in which the number of payments was significant, stood below 7,500 lei, reaching 20,200 lei in 2021, according to data available on the ASF website, in annual reports on the market private pensions.ASF data also show that the total value of the net assets of privately managed pension funds was 89.07 billion lei, at the end of December 2021, increasing by approximately 19% compared to the same date of 2020. Compared to the quarter previously, net assets increased by 2%.According to ASF, the number of participants registered in the privately administered pension system on December 31, 2021 was 7.79 million people, increasing compared to 7.63 million people on December 31, 2020.
The President of Poland, Andrzej Duda, will pay a visit to Bucharest on Tuesday, and will be welcomed, at 16:00, at the Cotroceni Palace, by President Klaus Iohannis.

According to the Presidential Administration, the two high officials will have one-on-one and official talks at the end of which they will deliver joint press statements.

The President of Poland, Andrzej Duda, is conducting a working visit to Chisinau on Monday, where he will have a meeting with the President of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, Agerpres informs.
President Klaus Iohannis attended a videoconference coordinating meeting on Monday, organized by European Council President Charles Michel, in preparation for the European Council meeting in Brussels on March 24-25, which will be attended by the President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, Agerpres reports.

The coordinating meeting was also attended by the Prime Ministers of the Republic of Latvia - Krisjanis Karins, Luxembourg - Xavier Bettel, the Slovak Republic - Eduard Heger, Hungary - Viktor Orban, and Ireland - Micheal Martin.According to the Presidential Administration, the talks focused on developments related to Russia's military aggression against Ukraine, with a focus on efforts to manage the humanitarian situation in Ukraine and support measures for refugees. Issues related to the implementation of EU sanctions on Russia and Belarus, as well as the continuation of the process of identifying new restrictive measures, were addressed.The meeting also referred to strengthening the security and defense dimension of the European Union in the context of the adoption of the Strategic Compass, security of energy supply at European level, with a view to reducing energy dependence on Russia and identifying European measures to limit the effects of high energy prices. Economic issues related to the strengthening of the Internal Market, as well as the European Union's external relations, were also addressed, with a focus on relations with China and the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina.At the same time, leaders addressed progress on the Banking Union and the Capital Markets Union ahead of the extended March 25 Euro Summit.The Presidential Administration states that, during his speech, President Iohannis informed about the efforts that our country continues to make for managing the flow of refugees from Ukraine, as well as about the direct support given to Ukraine through the humanitarian hub in Suceava, which benefits with the support of the European Commission and the member states.President Klaus Iohannis stressed that this support must continue to be given, highlighting the difficulties faced by the remaining population in Ukraine and emphasizing the urgent need to reach a ceasefire and to protect the civilians in Ukraine."The President of Romania has called for the adoption by the European Union of additional sanctions against Russia, which will have a relevant impact on it," the Presidential Administration states.The head of state reaffirmed the importance of diversifying sources and routes of energy supply, but also the need to develop interconnectivity between member states, in the context of the Union's major goal of reducing energy dependence on Russia.On the subject of high energy prices, President Iohannis reiterated the need to identify convergent solutions at European level as soon as possible, drawing attention to the difficulties posed by the link between rising gas prices and electricity prices, which is having an unwanted impact on the market."President Klaus Iohannis has indicated that the imperative goal is to find effective short-term solutions that protect European citizens and the EU's economic competitiveness, so that industrial production and jobs in European economies are not affected in the long run by the current energy crisis," also shows the Presidential Administration.
Refugee flow across the northeastern Siret Border Crossing Point (PTF) has decreased significantly, fewer than two thousand Ukrainian citizens having entered Romania in the last 24 hours, half of the daily average recorded last week.

The spokesman of the Suceava Border Police, Chief Commissioner Ilie Poroch Seritan, informed that on Sunday a number of 2,318 people entered the country through Siret PTF, of whom 1,937 Ukrainian citizens.

During the past week, the daily average was about 4,000 Ukrainian citizens having entered through Siret PTF, their number decreasing from one day to the next.

According to the spokesperson of the Suceava Border Police, since the outbreak of the armed conflict in Ukraine, 158,019 people entered Romania through the Siret PTF, of whom 123,561 Ukrainian citizens, but also 22,118 vehicles.

At the same time, the Suceava Prefecture informed, on Monday, that only 77 people are accommodated in the temporary camps arranged in the county, with 1,900 places available.

According to the Suceava Prefecture, 11,176 people have entered the temporary camps in the county since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, and 11,099 people have exited and left for other accommodation in the country or abroad.
Romania will co-organize, on April 5, in Berlin, together with Germany and France, an international conference meant to stimulate the international support for the Republic of Moldova, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu announced on Monday, in the context of his participation in the Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) meeting.

According to a Foreign Ministry (MAE) release sent to AGERPRES, the conference, which will be co-chaired by the Romanian, German and French Foreign Ministers, will launch the Moldova Support Platform, as well as a call for donations from EU member states, the G7, international financial institutions and other states and organizations. The conference will create five working groups in areas where the Republic of Moldova needs support: refugees, energy, finance/economy, border management, anti-corruption.In the field of energy connectivity, the head of Romanian diplomacy welcomed the synchronization of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova to the European electricity grid on March 16 and said that steps are needed to consolidate and diversify Moldova's gas supply.He recalled, in context, the recent completion of the Iasi-Chisinau gas pipeline and stressed the important role it can play in diversifying Moldova's gas supply sources, stressing that, at the same time, steps are needed to expand connectivity in inside the Republic of Moldova to allow the full use of this gas pipeline, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also states.As to the border management of the Republic of Moldova, Minister Aurescu referred to the support provided through EUBAM and FRONTEX and pointed out the need to further strengthen the resilience of the Republic of Moldova, mentioning the support provided under the auspices of the European Peace Facility (EPF).At the same time, he expressed Romania's strong support for the European perspective of the Republic of Moldova, the request of this state to join the EU being a first step in a laborious process, and expressed the belief that the initiative will be an additional incentive for the Republic of Moldova reforms.Minister Bogdan Aurescu is participating on Monday, after the FAC meeting, in the joint meeting of the foreign affairs and defence ministers of the EU member states, in jumbo format, in which the founding document of the EU Strategic Compass will be discussed.
National minority lawmaker Amet Varol told a plenary sitting of the Chamber of Deputies on Monday that the Romanian Tatar community on March 21 celebrates Nawrez, which marks the arrival of spring, Agerpres reports.

"This year marks seven years since Parliament adopted, on my initiative, on behalf of the Democratic Union of Turkish-Muslim Tatars in Romania, Law 333/2015, under which March 21 becomes an official holiday for my minority. March 21 is a very special day for the Romanian Tatar community - Nawrez - a celebration of life, rebirth, joy of soul, respect for others, so today in all branches of the community is a celebratory day, it is a holiday that celebrates the arrival of spring - Nawrez - under a law that was adopted with support from my other MP colleagues in 2015. Thank you to all those who support or supported the national minorities in Romania. I wish you a beautiful spring!," said Varol.Chair of the meeting, Deputy Speaker Daniel Suciu, said that Monday is also Oltenia Day, and World Down Syndrome Day."Today is the day of Oltenians everywhere. So, Oltenians everywhere, unite! I wish you all the best. (...) At the same time, I want to voice my appreciation and gratitude to all people with Down syndrome. It is also their day. Our hearts are gladly with them," said Suciu.
As many as 2,236 new cases of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 were recorded in the last 24 hours in Romania, down 5 from the previous day, with over 18,000 RT-PCR and rapid antigenic tests performed, the Health Ministry informed on Monday.

Of the new cases, 254 were in re-infected patients, who tested positive more than 90 days after the first time they recovered from the disease.

Most of the newly confirmed COVID-19 cases in Romania since the previous reporting were recorded in Bucharest City - 688, and in the counties of Cluj - 196, and Timis - 137.

As of Monday, 2,818,275 cases of people infected with the novel coronavirus were confirmed in Romania.

- Hospitalisations -

As many as 3,042 people with COVID-19, down 85 from the previous reporting, including 215 children, are hospitalised in Romania at specialist care facilities.

Out of the total number of hospitalised patients, 455 patients, down 9, including three children, are in intensive care.

Of the 455 patients admitted to ICU, 400 are unvaccinated against COVID-19.

- Deaths -

According to the ministry, another 12 Romanians infected with SARS-CoV-2 - 5 men and 7 women - are reported dead in the last 24 hours, including two prior to the reference interval.

Out of the total 12 patients who died, 11 were unvaccinated and one was vaccinated. The vaccinated patient was over 60 years of age. All vaccinated patients who died had comorbidities.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 64,697 people diagnosed with the SARS-CoV-2 infection have died in Romania, Agerpres informs.
Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca received on Monday, at the Victoria Palace, a delegation of the US Congress, led by Stephen Lynch, chairman of the National Security Subcommittee in the House of Representatives, Agerpres reports.

The talks focused on the current security situation, caused by the Russian military aggression in Ukraine and the management of the waves of refugees, the Government informed in a release."Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca gave an extensive presentation on how Romania perceives the current security situation, including Russian military actions and its goals. The Romanian prime minister insisted on the proof of unity of the Allies, who, through their military presence on the ground, here in Romania, offer the certainty of the collective security commitments within NATO, as well as the value of the strategic partnership with the USA. On this occasion, the importance of the development of new American investments in Romania was also underlined", informs the Government.During the discussion, the solidarity shown by the Romanians, the civil society and the state institutions in the management of the refugee flows was highlighted."Stephen Lynch thanked for Romania's activities and for the leadership it offers in supporting both the refugees and the Ukrainians remained to fight for the defense of their country," the release also reads.
The Standing Bureau of the Chamber of Deputies on Monday approved the report of the legal committee regarding the sanctioning of the AUR (Alliance for the Union of Romanians) Deputy Titi Stoica.

The legal committee of the Deputies' Chamber on March 15 decided to sanction the AUR MP Titi Stoica with a warning, after he told the national minorities Deputy Ovidiu Gant that he is "a Nazi."

The lawmakers analyzed a complaint submitted to the Standing Bureau on February 20 by the parliamentary group of national minorities.

The complaint was filed for violation of the articles 14 and 53 of Law no. 96/2006 on the Statute of Deputies and Senators and several articles of the Rules of Procedure of the Chamber of Deputies, corroborated with the provisions of three articles of the Code of Conduct of Deputies and Senators, for which reason the parliamentary group of national minorities requested the leadership of the Chamber to sanction the AUR MP.
Romanian film The Windseeker, directed by Mihai Sofronea, starring Dan Bordeianu, has won the FIPRESCI award at the Sofia International Film Festival 2022.

According to a press release, during a ceremony that took place on March 19 at the National Culture Palace in Bulgaria's capital, that marked the 26th edition of the Sofia International Film Festival, Romanian film The Windseeker won the FIPRESCI award for the "craftsmanship of reflecting human existence and for the way in which cinema language is used in order to reveal the beauty of nature and day-to-day life".

"This award is an honor. It is a joy to see that the reaction of the Bulgarian audience was just as excited as the Romanian halls where we presented the film. Thank you, SIFF!" said director Mihai Sofronea, who got up on stage to collect his award.

The movie tells the tale of a young man who takes refuge far away from the city, just as his life appears to end, only to discover new reasons to live. Olimpia Melinte and Adrian Titieni are also part of the cast. The writing and directing belong to Mihai Sofronea.

"The starting point of this movie is extremely personal, an interrogation of a thin line that separates life from death, being from non-being. What are we doing with the time that we have left? ? How do we live, what sort of values are we adopting, how do we turn every day into a little piece of life itself? Radu chooses to flee from death, just as he fled from life, lived in a constant inertia until then. He crosses the country at the wheel of his car until exhaustion, both material as well as spiritual. Reaching the village of uncle Pavel, much like a land of "transition", waiting for death transforms in forgetting it. And forgetting death is at the base of the awareness of joy of living on one more day. This discovery, or better yet, rediscovery, will be redemptive and healing," director Mihai Sofronea says about the movie.

The Windseeker is produced by Libra Film (Romania), Chouchkov Brothers (Bulgaria) and Living Pictures (Serbia). The movie is made with the support of the National Center of Cinematography and and the Creative Europe programme - MEDIA of European Union, Agerpres informs.
Secretary of State for Defence Policy, Planning and International Relations Simona Cojocaru and Chief of the Defence Staff, General Daniel Petrescu, met on Monday at 57th Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base a delegation of the US Congress, led by Stephen Lynch, Chairman of the Subcommittee on National Security in the House of Representatives, Agerpres reports.

According to a press release issued by the Ministry of National Defence, the talks focused on the analysis of the regional security situation, as well as on the relations of politico-military cooperation, both from the perspective of the strategic partnership and in an allied format.At the same time, the Romanian and US officials discussed the actions for consolidating the position of deterrence and defense on the Eastern flank, as well as the substantial commitment of the USA."Allied cohesion and solidarity exist, we see it here at the Black Sea, at the base in Mihail Kogalniceanu. We are clearly showing NATO's firm commitment to the defence of all allies. The deployment of US forces strengthens our defense. The creation of an allied battle group in Romania is a major goal for us," said Secretary of State Simona Cojocaru.Congressman Stephen Lynch voiced his appreciation for Romania's support to US troops and reiterated the US' strong commitment to defending Romania and the Eastern flank.In the context of the current security situation, the Chief of the Defence Staff conveyed to Congress representatives that the decision of the US authorities to supplement forces in Europe, especially on the Eastern flank of the Alliance, represents a strong and unequivocal message of the decision for collective defence and highlights the sustainability of the transatlantic bond among allies.
The Save Romania Union (USR) is demanding Justice Minister Catalin Predoiu to resign office for a bill to discard the Judicial Crime Investigation Section (SIIJ), claiming that the opinion of the Venice Commission confirms that "SIIJ was not discarded, but only reorganised."

"The Venice Commission confirms in its opinion published today what USR claimed in the debates in Parliament: SIIJ was not discarded, but only reorganised, while the powers of DNA and DIICOT were severely impaired. For all these reasons, and also because he refused to wait for the opinion of the Venice Commission, Minister Catalin Predoiu must resign as a matter of urgency, and if he does not do so, his resignation must be demanded. In his turn, President Klaus Iohannis, the one who endorsed the PSD-PNL government and also the blow to the fight against corruption and the Romanian Justice, must explain to the Romanians why he is following in the footsteps of Liviu Dragnea," reads a press statement released by USR, Agerpres reports.For his part, USR MP Stelian Ion, a former justice minister, said the Venice Commission's opinion "exposed the blatant lies of Minister Predoiu and the toxicity of his bill that amputated the powers of DNA and DIICOT."USR also announces that it will propose a legislative amendment to "repair the damage" done by the bill of Minister Catalin Predoiu.It also says that in January the Venice Commission was notified about the SIIJ bill in a request submitted by MP Iulian Bulai to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.The Venice Commission expresses in its opinion its regret at the rush with which the law on the disbandment of SIIJ passed through Parliament and was promulgated.At the same time, the Venice Commission recommends re-establishing the powers of the DNA and DIICOT specialized prosecutor's offices in order to investigate and prosecute crimes under their jurisdiction committed by judges and prosecutors.
Four pieces of legislation designed by the Save Romania Union (USR) to support Ukrainian refugees are to be debated in an urgent procedure.

A decision to this effect has been approved by the Senate leadership, according to a USR press release.

Among them, there is a bill by MEPs Adrian Wiener and Emanuel Ungureanu under which in exceptional cases authorities and NGOs working in the field of humanitarian assistance can supply medicines, even if they do not have wholesale or retail distribution authorisations or represent drug's stores.

Under a bill initiated by Catalin Tenita and Diana Buzoianu, social protection measures are set in place for employees who participate in volunteer activities to the benefit of people affected by humanitarian crises, with special application to the current case of the refugee crisis in Ukraine. Volunteering would be carried out under a contract concluded between a volunteer and a provider organisation, and the volunteering activity can be a maximum of five working days in one calendar month. The volunteers will be under an obligation to notify the employer five working days prior to the start of the volunteering activity, except for when a state of alert or emergency is declared in Romania.

A third bill, initiated by Pollyanna Hangan and Cristian Seidler, provides for measures to support Ukrainian citizens, so that they can be employed without additional formalities, under the same conditions as Romanian citizens, and also to incentivise Romanian employers. In addition, asylum seekers would receive a financial aid of 1,000 lei/month.

A bill sponsored by Oana Toiu, Simina Tulbure and Daniel Blaga provides for the exemption of Ukrainian citizens, through January 1, 2023, from paying the fees for issuing or extending, as the case may be, long-stay visas, and fees for issuance or extension of the single residence permit for employment purposes.
ST. LOUIS  A biotechnology company, flush with new funding, is expanding its office and laboratory space at the Cortex innovation district.

St. Louis-based Wugen Inc., which develops off-the-shelf cell therapies for cancer, will occupy the entire first floor of 4260 Forest Park Avenue. Wugen is taking over some of the space Block Inc., formerly known as Square, left when the financial services firm moved from Cortex to the former Post-Dispatch building in downtown St. Louis.

Wugen is currently based at BioGenerator Labs, which offers lab space to growing companies, inside the BioSTL Building at 4340 Duncan Avenue, also in the Cortex district.

The expansion will allow the company to double its workforce to 100 employees, according to a new release.

We are proud to be part of St. Louis vibrant biotech community and are pleased to continue to grow locally, Dan Kemp, Wugens CEO and president, said in a statement.

The companys expansion comes as Cortex released a new five-year plan that aims, in part, to grow new jobs.

Wugens move follows the $172 million in Series B financing Wugen raised from United Kingdom-based investment firm Abingworth, Hong Kong-based Tybourne Capital Management and other investors. Wugen said the Series B raise was oversubscribed, meaning the company raised more money than it expected.

Wugen was founded in 2018.

Cortex, facing unprecedented challenges, plots new course. This is an evolution, says chief. Cortex officials say they have a new five-year strategic plan that will provide a roadmap to recruit more companies and build a pipeline of diverse talent.

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Shares of U.S. planemaker Boeing Co. and its suppliers fell on Monday as a 737-800 aircraft of China Eastern Airlines, with 132 people on board, crashed in the mountains of southern China.

The plane crashed after a sudden descent from cruising altitude. Media reported that rescue workers had found no sign of survivors. The cause of the crash was not yet known. Boeing said it was working to gather more information.

FlightRadar 24 said the jet involved in the accident is six years old. Following the crash, Chinese state media said the airline has grounded its 737-800 fleet, which according to the flight tracking website had 109 such planes.

The popular variant is a predecessor to the Boeings 737 MAX, which awaits regulatory approval in China, the worlds largest domestic aviation market.

The 737-800 has a maximum seating capacity of 189 and is equipped with a CFM-56 engine, according to Boeings website.

It was not clear immediately if the aircraft involved in the accident had the same engine as airlines are free to choose engines from other suppliers.

The CFM engines are made by a joint venture between General Electric Co. and Frances Safran SA. GE shares were down about 1%, while France-listed Safran fell 3%.

The planemakers shares fell 4.5% in early trading, while the Chinese airlines U.S. listed ADRs CEA were down about 9%.

Parts suppliers Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc., Hexcel Corp. and Triumph Group Inc. were down between 1% and 4%.

CFRA Research analyst Colin Scarola said the crash should not technically impact the MAXs recertification in China where it has been grounded for three years following the two fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.

But he did not rule out the country using the accident as an excuse to delay an approval. China likely would not admit this is what they are doing. But we certainly think it could happen, Scarola said.

Updated at 9:25 a.m. Monday, March 21.
Cody Johnson brought more than his bona fide country music to a sold-out throng of 8,000 fans on Saturday night.

He may as well have packed a pile of poker chips and served warning on every country act, real or pseudo, that plans a stop in St. Louis this year: He is all in with a show that will be hard to beat.

The crowd at Chaifetz Arena clearly would bet on CoJo. From the opening words of Honky Tonk Hardwood Floors to his speedy segue to With You I Am, the former Texas rodeo cowboy and prison guard had fans wrapped tightly around his finger  and pledged to give them every ounce of sweat and energy out of my body all night.

He delivered like Amazon  jumping around the stage, kicking like a colt for emphasis and pouring his strong voice into songs like Dance Her Home, Son of a Ramblin Man and Me and My Kind. Note to Nashville: Almost none of these songs can be heard on the radio, and yet fans sang along to nearly everything. Go figure.

As the show was nearing the last 30 minutes, Johnson perched on a stool near the stage front and described how he had been performing in pain for four or five years, from old rodeo injuries. He wound up undergoing a six-hour neck surgery after a surgeon in Texas warned him that without the procedure he could lose the use of his right arm.

He launched then into Human from his recent double album, and followed it up with his first No. 1 song, Until You Cant.

He told the fans he has said for years he wants his legacy to be making country music sound like real country music again  and he more than did his part with plenty of strong fiddle, pedal steel and banjo from his capable Texas band.

He closed his 1 hour, 45 minute and 19-song set with Dear Rodeo and a huge ovation. Sort of like a royal flush.

Some headliners try to shake up the nights menu; if the entree is roots country maybe an opener veers pop. Not Johnson.

With Easton Corbin and Ian Munsick, the openers were on the traditional train. No rap lyrics, no pop sounds, no EDM.

From Corbin it was a menu of solo hits dating back to 2010 with A Little More Country Than That, All Over the Road and Roll With It.

With Munsick, a Wyoming newcomer, it was a brisk seven-song, 30-minute set highlighted by Long Live Cowgirls, in which Johnson joined him onstage briefly.
What are your sleep myths and facts? You know, the things you are absolutely sure you should do -- and not do -- to get a good night's sleep. Studies show that most of us are practicing bad sleep habits without knowing it -- which can lead to serious health consequences.

How do your beliefs about sleep stack up?

Myth or fact? If you lie in bed long enough, you'll fall asleep

Myth. When it comes to sleep no-nos, experts say this is a big one. Lying in bed, even with your eyes closed, for more than 15 to 20 minutes is one of the worst things you can do because it will train your brain to associate the bed with a lack of sleep. It can lead to chronic insomnia, Michael Grandner, a clinical psychologist and sleep expert, told CNN in an earlier interview.

"It's counterintuitive, but spending time in bed awake turns the bed into the dentist's chair," said Grandner, who directs the sleep and heath research program at the University of Arizona and the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Clinic at the Banner-University Medical Center in Tucson, Arizona.

"You want the bed to be like your favorite restaurant, where you walk in and you start getting hungry, even if you just recently ate," he added. "You want the bed to do that for sleep."

Myth or fact? You shouldn't check your smartphone if you wake in the night

That's a fact. Banning smartphones (or any electrical device that emits blue light) from the bedroom an hour or so before bed and all through the night is a must for good slumber, experts say. Light tells the body to stop producing melatonin, the body's natural sleep aid, and studies have shown that blue light is especially toxic to sleep.

So when you get out of bed after 20 minutes of sleeplessness, avoid bright light, watching TV or checking social media. Instead, keep the lights dim and do something mindless, such as folding socks. Better yet, try doing one of these tricks to relax your mind and ready yourself for sleep.

Myth or fact? You shouldn't let your dog or cat sleep in your bed

Actually, it depends. Not long ago the answer from any sleep expert would have been a definitive no. But today, some experts are seeing the benefits of cuddling in bed with a furry loved one, at least for a select group of people.

"Pets are making a comeback," said sleep specialist Dr. Raj Dasgupta, an associate professor of clinical medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. "For people with anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress, having a bed buddy may be helpful in fostering sleep."

Children, too, may sleep just as well with a pet accompanying them, studies have shown. But people who are light sleepers may find their sleep disturbed by too many "micro-wakenings," which can be harmful to health. In those cases, pet owners may find they need to keep pets on the floor at night or ban them from the bedroom entirely.

Myth or fact: Exercising in the evening will disrupt sleep

That's a myth that used to be a fact "in the olden days," Dasgupta said.

"Now the data shows that exercise at any time is better than not exercising due to all the medical benefits, and it helps with stress reduction, which aids sleep," he said. "The data about not exercising at night is when you're doing extreme workouts like Olympic athlete-type exercises."

People who exercised for 35 minutes right before bed slept as well as they did on nights when they didn't exercise at all, a 2011 study found. If working out at night does affect your sleep, experts suggest exercising early in the evening so your heart rate and body temperature can return to normal before you hit the hay.

"If you ask me when's the perfect time to exercise, I think it's gonna be in the morning and outside in daylight. It resets the circadian rhythm and starts the day off with vigor," Dasgupta said. "But if nighttime exercise is best for you, that's fine."

Myth or fact? You can catch up on sleep on the weekends

Who doesn't believe this one? Sadly, the science says we're wrong. We may feel better after sleeping in on a Saturday or Sunday morning, but it will be to the detriment of our overall sleep health, experts say. By changing your wake-up time and bedtime on weekends (or day to day), your sleep rhythms aren't predictable, which can alter the body's circadian rhythm.

"You want to build a reliable rhythm, much like the drummer counting the beat for the band," Grandner said. "By controlling when you wake up and go to bed, you're setting the beat."

Overcome this myth by going to bed and getting up at the same time each day, even on weekends, vacations or after a night of poor sleep.

"The brain likes regularity and predictability," he added. "Waking up at the same time every day and then adding light and movement as soon as you wake up will set your other rhythms for the day and give you increased energy and mood."

Check out more sleep myths and facts with our interactive sleep quiz. Happy snoozing!

The-CNN-Wire

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More than 18,000 Ukrainian refugees have arrived in France in three weeks. They are taken care of by the prefectural services and associations
ST. LOUIS  A former St. Louis police officer has been sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison after pleading guilty to mail fraud.

U.S. District Court Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk on Monday handed down the sentence for Brad Stephens, who pleaded guilty in December.

The U.S. attorney's office said Stephens started working as an officer for the St. Louis Police Department on Oct. 6, 2014. In 2015, Stephens took on some off-duty patrol hours in the Tower Grove South neighborhood.

Prosecutors said Stephens billed a private company, City Wide Security, for 169 day and night patrol shifts in the Tower Grove South neighborhood that he didn't actually work.

During 2018, Stephens claimed he worked 93 days that he didn't, prosecutors said, and during 2019, there were 76 days he claimed but didn't work. He was paid by the Tower Grove South Concerned Citizen Special Business District.

City Wide Security was paid approximately $50,000, all taxpayer funds, by the Tower Grove South organization based upon Stephens false representations, prosecutors said.
ST. LOUIS  A Jefferson County woman was sentenced Monday to more than nine years in prison for possessing a gun, meth and materials to make methamphetamine, federal prosecutors said.

Kietra R. Studdard, 44, of Fenton, was indicted in September 2020 on two drug charges and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Court documents said officers with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office were watching a known drug house when Stoddard arrived in a blue Buick LeSabre. She put several items from the house into her car and drove off.

Officers eventually pulled her over and she acknowledged having a pistol in her purse.

Court documents said she also had meth and multiple boxes of pseudoephedrine tablets, which are used to cook meth.

Studdard pleaded guilty Monday to possession with intent to distribute meth, possession of pseudoephedrine with intent to manufacture meth and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The funeral procession for Bonne Terre policeman Lane Burns will travel more than 250 miles next weekend, from a funeral home in St. Francois County to the town in southwest Missouri where Burns grew up.

Sundays procession will head to Carthage, Missouri, and circle the town square, where Burns joined gatherings as a boy for the annual Maple Leaf festival.

I believe all through town there will be people pulling over just to honor him and pay respects, said Brian Freeman, a pastor with Carthage Family Worship Center.

Burns, 30, will be buried in Harvey Cemetery, east of Carthage.

Burns died on duty Thursday after being shot by a gunman who emerged from a room at the Motel 6 in Bonne Terre firing at officers. Another Bonne Terre officer was injured.

The gunman, identified as James J. Emery, was then killed by officers who fired back, police said.

Burns had been a Bonne Terre patrolman for five years. Before that, he spent five years working at other police agencies.

Burns graduated from Carthage High School in 2009, and his obituary said he liked hot rods, Ford Mustangs and computer games. The BackStoppers said it will be supporting his two children, Ivy Claire Burns and Raiden Michael Burns.

Even though Burns childhood was spent in Carthage, he lived and worked for years on the east side of Missouri, so funeral planners were sure to make arrangements in the St. Francois County area too, Freeman said.

The funeral itself is set for noon on Saturday, March 26, 2022, at Mineral Area College Field House, 5270 Flat River Road in Park Hills, Missouri. Visitation will be from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday.

Theyre trying to honor both places where he spent his time, Freeman said. He loved people. He served people. He had an impact in both places.

The procession will leave at 9 a.m. Sunday from C.Z. Boyer and Son Funeral Home, at 313 Benham Street in Bonne Terre. It will drive by the Bonne Terre police and fire departments, then on to the cemetery in southwest Missouri. The trip should take about 4 hours one way.

Those who want to line the route in support can see the directions here.

Freeman will preside over the gravesite ceremony, which is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday at Harvey Cemetery outside the Jasper County town of Reeds, Missouri.

Disturbance at motel

Burns was slain when he and another Bonne Terre officer, Cpl. Garrett Worley, showed up at the Motel 6 on Highway K about 12:30 a.m. Thursday. Another guest at the motel had called police to report a disturbance by Emery.

He was screaming, causing a scene for no particular reason, said Cpl. Dallas Thompson of the Missouri Highway Patrol.

Authorities have ordered toxicology tests to see if Emery, 31, was taking any drugs. Results wont be back for several weeks.

When Worley and Burns walked toward the motel room, Emery came out firing shots at them, police said.

Worley was hit in the leg, and Burns was shot in the upper body. The bullet missed his bulletproof vest by an inch or two, the St. Francois County coroner told the Post-Dispatch last week.

Emery was killed when police returned fire. Since Worley and Burns were the only officers there, Thompson said one or both fired back and the investigation will determine whose bullet hit Emery.

Investigators also are looking for a motive for the gunmans actions. Suicide-by-cop is one possibility to consider, Thompson said, but right now we really dont have a lot to go on.

Police havent heard from anyone that Emery had said he wanted to die, Thompson added.

Worley, the injured officer, is recovering. Burns family asks that any memorial contributions go to the Backing Corporal Worley Fund at any First State Community Bank or to The BackStoppers.

Nothing has been right

Shannon Chasteen, 24, met Burns when she rolled a stop sign in 2018. Burns pulled her over and gave her a ticket. Later that night, he sent Chasteen a friend request on Facebook. She thought he was cute and they eventually started dating. He was known around town as the cop with the beard, for his long reddish beard.

On the night Burns died, Chasteen was at her job as a home health care aide. Burns had installed an app on Chasteens cellphone so she could hear the dispatchers conversation with Bonne Terre officers. At her job, Chasteen put in one earbud so she could listen to Burns shift as Chasteen did her own work.

I listened for 306, his badge number, she said. Ever since I heard that call on the radio, nothing has been right.

Chasteen could tell from the discussion early Thursday that Burns and Worley arrived at the motel for the disturbance call. Then, about 90 seconds later, she heard a third officer say, Two officers down. I need a helicopter.

I immediately dropped to the floor, Chasteen said. I threw up. I was screaming.

She called Burns brother to alert him, then called her boss to ask if someone could relieve her from work. I just kept listening to the radio and praying, she said.

She later went to the hospital to view his body.

Burns and Chasteen lived together in Bonne Terre, and Chasteen said they were talking about getting married.

Chasteen said she had never heard of Emery and doesnt know why Burns was killed. She said investigators told her that Emery and a man at the motel with him had planned the attack.

They faked a disturbance and ambushed the cops, Chasteen said she was told. Nobody understands why.

Chasteen wants to raise money for a memorial project in Burns memory. Her idea is to rebuild a 2012 Ford Mustang that is parked in their garage. Burns spent the last three months buying parts for it.

I want to finish that project, she said. Theres nothing more Id love than to get that car running.

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BONNE TERRE, Mo.  A funeral procession for the burial of Bonne Terre Patrolman Lane Burns will leave St. Francois County on Sunday morning and travel more than 250 miles to a cemetery in southwest Missouri.

The procession is scheduled to leave Boyer Funeral Home, 313 Benham Street in Bonne Terre, at 9 a.m. Sunday.

Here is the route of travel to the cemetery in Reeds, Missouri, in case people along the way want to show support for the officer.

9 a.m.: Depart Boyer Funeral Home, 313 Benham Street, Bonne Terre, Missouri

Turn Right on N. Allen Street and pass Bonne Terre Police Department and Bonne Terre Fire Department

Turn Left on Louise Street

Turn Left on N Division Street

Turn Left on E State Highway 47/Park Avenue

Veer Right onto Benham Street

Turn Right onto US Highway 67

Take exit for Bus. Route 67/N Desloge Drive and turn Right

Turn Right on Highway 8/Marty Drive

In Steelville, continue onto Highway 19/Main Street

Turn left onto I-44 W ramp (Cuba) toward Rolla

Turn right on Highway 96

Continue on Highway 96/US Route 66 into Carthage

Turn left onto US Route 66/S Garrison Avenue

Turn left on Fairview Avenue/E Highway

Continue on E Highway/F Highway/Gum Road/Fir Road to entrance to the Harvey Cemetery

Turn left into Harvey Cemetery

The graveside service will begin at 2 p.m. Sunday.

(Directions provided by AJ Carrel, assistant state coordinator for the Missouri Law Enforcement Funeral Assistance Team).

Funeral arrangements set for slain Bonne Terre policeman After Lane Burns' funeral Saturday in Park Hills, Missouri, a procession will travel on Sunday to southwest Missouri for his burial.
CLAYTON  St. Louis County Councilman Tim Fitch on Sunday called for an outside investigation by the Missouri Highway Patrol into the death of high-profile St. Louis County government leader Cora Faith Walker.

Walker, a former Democratic state lawmaker and the countys chief policy officer, died on the morning of March 11. She was 37. A cause of death has not been announced.

Fitch, R-3rd District, on Sunday posted to social media requesting the St. Louis County Council consider a resolution asking the patrol to investigate Walkers death. He requested the resolution be put on the agenda of a March 22 council meeting.

Ms. Walker was a dedicated employee of St. Louis County government, Fitch wrote in the request. Her family and the people of St. Louis County who employed her deserve to know the circumstances surrounding her tragic and untimely death and if any official misconduct or criminal acts occurred before or after her death.

In a post to social media Sunday, Fitch said he thinks St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones close friendship with Walker creates a conflict of interest. Fitch noted that the mayor has control over St. Louis police and the fire department, which oversees emergency responders.

St. Louis police are not investigating Walkers death, according to a spokeswoman for the department. The St. Louis Fire Department has forwarded its EMS incident report to the Drug Enforcement Administration, a public safety source told the Post-Dispatch.

Fitch said he also wants a state agency to investigate.

A federal agency will only look at potential federal crime(s), Fitch wrote. An independent state investigation is necessary to put questions to rest.

Emergency medical responders transported Walker from Loews Hotel in downtown St. Louis before she was pronounced dead March 11 at SSM Health St. Louis University Hospital.

The St. Louis Medical Examiner found no signs of trauma or injury. A full report awaits the results of lab tests.

A spokesperson for Mayor Jones said Public Safety Director Daniel Isom would provide an update to reporters on Walkers death Monday morning.

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MARYVILLE  A St. Louis man has been charged with first-degree murder in connection to a fatal shooting in Maryville on Thursday.

The Madison County states attorney on Saturday charged Danyiel M. Johnson, 40, with two counts of first-degree murder, one count of using a stolen firearm in the commission of an offense and one count of unlawful possession of a weapon in connection to the shooting death of Ronald L. Holland, 40, of Jennings.

The case began when Maryville officers were called just after 4 p.m. Thursday to the 2000 block of North Bluff Road.

Officers found Holland fatally shot. They then contacted the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis to take over the investigation due to the departments limited resources.

Johnson and Holland knew each other very well but there is no criminal history between the two, said Lt. Bryan Bauer, of the Madison County Sheriffs Department and a deputy commander of the Major Case Squad.

Only limited details about the shooting were being released on Monday out of respect for Hollands family, Bauer said. Investigators did say that Johnson and Holland had driven together from St. Louis to Maryville on Thursday. Hollands car was later found abandoned in St. Louis.

Johnson was arrested early Sunday and remains in custody at the St. Louis County Detention Center, Bauer said.

Madison County States Attorney Tom Haine said the location of the shooting was purely accidental. A stolen .40-caliber Glock semi-automatic handgun was used to kill Holland, he added.

Maryville police Chief Rob Carpenter, along with others, said that while the shooting occurred in Maryville, no other connection to the area has been established.

Over 20 investigators worked on the case, including police personnel from Maryville, Collinsville, Glen Carbon, St. Louis County and Normandy.

This case is what the Major Case Squad is designed for, said Madison County Sheriffs Department Maj. Jeffrey Connor, commander of the Major Case Squad. They experienced a heinous crime on Thursday afternoon and with a smaller department they do not have the resources to investigate that thoroughly.

Major Case Squad is an investigative unit of investigators from police departments throughout the bistate region.

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ST. LOUIS  St. Louis top public safety officer said he believes no foul play was involved in the death of former state legislator Cora Faith Walker, and added that investigators are waiting on final medical reports.

Interim Public Safety Director Daniel Isom, at a regular Monday morning news conference with members of the local media, said he has seen nothing suspicious about Walkers death. He also stated that no active local or federal investigation is underway.

Walker, a former state legislator and high-ranking St. Louis County official, died March 11 after spending the night at Loews Hotel at Ballpark Village in downtown St. Louis. She was 37.

The hotel was the site of an after-party for some people who had attended a 50th birthday party for St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones.

Calling it an inquiry, Isom said police had worked to piece together what actually occurred prior to and the morning of Ms. Walkers death.

Over the past week, he said, the St. Louis Police department has:

 Reviewed the 911 call.

 Interviewed the good Samaritan who called and initially gave care to Walker.

 Interviewed fire and EMS responders.

 Interviewed hotel staff.

 Consulted with the medical examiner regarding preliminary findings.

 Viewed many hours of hotel video recordings.

With this information at this time, Isom said, there is no active local or federal investigation and we await the medical examiners final report on the cause of death.

Isom provided additional details about Walkers death, including that Walker and another person had stayed in the same room at the hotel.

Isom said that through security footage from the hotel, investigators determined that Walker had left the room shortly before 9 a.m. and collapsed in the hallway.

The other person, whom Isom declined to identify, had left the room about 7 a.m., two hours ahead of Walker. Isom said the other person, who has been interviewed by authorities, wasnt a suspect from the beginning and is not a suspect now, Isom said.

Isom said that city police did not collect any evidence from the room where Walker and the other person stayed.

After Walker collapsed in the hotel hallway, Isom said, she was found by a good Samaritan who tried to administer aid and also called 911 at 8:55 a.m.

A city EMS crew was notified at 8:59 a.m., was dispatched at 9 a.m. and arrived at the hotel at 9:04. Walker was then transported to SSM Health St. Louis University Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 9:58 a.m.

The St. Louis medical examiners office previously reported that it found no signs of trauma or injury. A spokesperson said Monday that the office had received no toxicology results.

In the 10 days since Walkers death, reporters from various local media outlets have been pressing city officials for specific details about Walkers death.

Isoms statements Monday to a host of reporters was the first news conference held regarding the matter.

On Saturday, the Post-Dispatch and STLtoday.com reported that the St. Louis Fire Department had forwarded its EMS incident report involving the death of Walker to the Drug Enforcement Administration, citing a public safety source.

On Monday, Isom said information about Walkers death had been collected by a St. Louis detective who is assigned to a DEA task force, and said that detective reported his findings to the city police department.

Fitch weighs in

St. Louis County Councilman Tim Fitch on Sunday said the council should consider a resolution asking the Missouri Highway Patrol to investigate Walkers death.

Fitch said he thinks Walkers close friendship with Jones creates a conflict of interest for city personnel. Fitch noted that the mayor has control over St. Louis police and the fire department, which oversees emergency responders.

Isom discounted Fitchs position Monday.

The police department absolutely has no conflict of interest, he said, adding that he believed in the integrity of both the police and fire chief.

Fitch said Monday that the Jones administration was splitting hairs by arguing that no federal or police investigation was underway, despite the fact that Isom described a police detective on a DEA task force investigating the death.

The St. Louis police department has excellent investigators, said Fitch, a former St. Louis County police chief. This isnt about that. Its about the fact that the police chief serves at the pleasure of the mayor who was Cora Faith Walkers friend. Its about assuring people of the veracity of what an investigation finds.

To launch a criminal investigation, the highway patrol would need to receive a request from the Missouri attorney general or a police chief, prosecutor, sheriff or the superintendent of the patrol, according to state law.

The night before she died, Walker and Jones were together at Jones birthday party at NEO, an events venue at 2801 Locust Street, and later at the hotel.

A lawyer and former Missouri state representative for the north St. Louis County area, Walker resigned midway through her second term in the state Legislature to work for St. Louis County Executive Sam Page. She was the countys chief policy officer.

Shortly into Mondays briefing, Isom said he normally doesnt release information about pending cases. He added that rumor and innuendo surrounding this case had created an exception.

Isom specifically criticized the Post-Dispatch editorial board for manufacturing controversy out of tragedy and acting with either misunderstanding or malice.

Moment of silence

Members of the Missouri House and Senate held a moment of silence Monday for Walker.

She was a bright, vibrant young lady with her whole future ahead of her, said Sen. Karla May, D-St. Louis.

Rep. Raychel Proudie, D-Ferguson, delivered a eulogy about Walker, who was elected to two terms in the Legislature representing a north St. Louis County district in 2016 and 2018.

I lost a very dear, personal friend that I owe so much to, Proudie said.

She believed in the leadership of women, Proudie said. She was a presence. She was a force.

Walker won Missouris 74th District seat for the first time in November 2016, running unopposed. She also ran unopposed in 2018.

Prior to her term in the Legislature, she worked as a lawyer in the area of public health and policy.

In the House, Walker served on a budget committee dealing with health care issues. She secured a $1 million increase in funding for community health worker patient outreach. And she advocated for a $10 million line item to improve how Medicaid providers communicate with each other in order to secure better outcomes for patients.

The majority of her work centered on health care policy. She sponsored legislation requiring health care providers to undergo two hours of cultural competency training, another bill establishing a prescription drug monitoring program, and a third bill requiring hospitals to create violence prevention plans.

But, as a Democrat in the Republican-controlled Legislature, her initiatives did not gain much traction.

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JEFFERSON CITY  Candidates in Missouris race for U.S. Senate called on Eric Greitens to drop out of the race on Monday after allegations by his ex-wife that he was abusive became public.

In a sworn affidavit in an ongoing child custody case, Sheena Greitens accused the former Missouri governor of being physically abusive to her and their two children, and demonstrating unstable and coercive behavior.

The explosive allegations immediately shook the hotly contested race for U.S. Senate, in which polls have shown Eric Greitens leading a field of more than a dozen candidates seeking the GOP nomination.

Im extremely troubled by the new allegations of abuse by Eric Greitens from his ex-wife, U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Harrisonville, one of the leading contenders for the nomination, told the Post-Dispatch in a statement.

This is a pattern of criminal behavior that makes Eric unfit to hold any public office, Hartzler said. He should drop out of the U.S. Senate race immediately and seek immediate professional help.

Another GOP candidate, Senate President Dave Schatz, said hes been consistent in arguing that Greitens is unfit to serve in public office.

In light of todays evidence showing a long pattern of abuse against his wife and children, he should end his campaign immediately, Schatz said Monday.

Attorney General Eric Schmitt also said Greitens should pull the plug on his campaign.

These allegations of abuse are disgusting and sickening. The behavior described in this affidavit is cause for Eric Greitens to be in prison, not on the ballot for U.S. Senate, Schmitt said.

U.S. Rep. Billy Long, R-Springfield, said Monday that after reading the affidavit, he believed Greitens should step aside.

He is clearly unfit to represent the state of Missouri in the United States Senate, Long said. Theres no way he can stay in this race.

Another GOP candidate, St. Louis attorney Mark McCloskey, said he had long ago concluded that Greitens was unfit for office, based on the events surrounding his resignation as governor.

The best that Eric Greitens could do for the people of Missouri is to drop out of the race, McCloskey said.

Others who joined in condemning the former governor were Democrats Scott Sifton, who called Greitens unfit for office, and Lucas Kunce, who said Eric Greitens should be in prison.

U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, who has endorsed Hartzler in the Aug. 2 GOP primary, on Monday afternoon joined the calls for Greitens to end his campaign.

If you hit a woman or a child, you belong in handcuffs, not the United States Senate, Hawley said via Twitter. Its time for Eric Greitens to leave this race.

Despite the issues surrounding his resignation as governor, Greitens has been a strong candidate in a crowded field, with recent polling by Remington Research Group showing he was leading the Republican primary field, with Schmitt and Hartzler close behind.

Some Republicans have expressed concern that if Greitens ended up the nominee, the party could lose U.S. Sen. Roy Blunts seat to the Democrats, given Greitens scandals surrounding his extramarital affair and alleged campaign finance violations.

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Jack Suntrup Jack Suntrup covers state government and politics for the Post-Dispatch. Follow Jack Suntrup 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
JEFFERSON CITY  A multimillion-dollar effort underway to convince Missouri voters to change how the state conducts elections is being bankrolled primarily by a wealthy Texas couple.

On March 9, a Virginia-based group connected with John and Laura Arnold contributed $800,000 to the political action committee raising money to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would bring ranked choice voting to Missouri.

That brings the Arnold-connected financial input to over $3 million at a time when Republicans are trying to make it harder to use the initiative petition process to change the state Constitution.

As a not-for-profit, the group known as Article IV, does not have to disclose its donors.

But, corporate records show officers and directors at Article IV have strong ties to the philanthropic couple, who have funded similar voting change efforts in other states.

Sam Mar, for example, is secretary of Article IV. He oversees communications and external affairs for Arnold Ventures and previously was CEO of Action Now Initiative, a political advocacy organization founded by the Arnolds.

Another Article IV director is Seth London, who also is a consultant to Arnold Ventures. He was an aide to former President Barack Obama.

Tripp Wellde also is listed as a director. He served as a campaign aide for Obama, as well as an aide to Hillary Clintons 2016 campaign.

The groups treasurer, Cabell Hobbs, is also the treasurer for several other Republican PACs, including one affiliated with former White House national security adviser John Bolton. Hobbs also worked for a super PAC that tried to recruit former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski to run for a U.S. Senate seat in New Hampshire.

The group wants to get an initiative on the 2022 ballot that would abolish partisan primary elections and allow voters to rank their top four choices, regardless of party.

The top four vote-getters would advance to a general election, and voters would again rank their top four choices or just vote for their top pick.

Supporters say the change would replace the practice of voting for a preferred candidate with voting for a candidate who has a more likely chance of overcoming their least-favorite candidate.

Critics say it could confuse voters and depress voting.

In 2021, the Pew Research Center identified 261 jurisdictions in the U.S.  ranging from the state of California to a Texas school district  that have adopted some voting method other than the standard single-winner, plurality system most American voters know.

Pew researchers found that 45 places have adopted alternative voting systems in the past five years.

University of Missouri-St. Louis political scientist David Kimball said the jury is still out on how ranked choice voting will work at a statewide level because most of the jurisdictions that use it are cities, where the elections are nonpartisan.

It does appear that it encourages more people to run, particularly nontraditional candidates, Kimball said. Its not clear whether it will reduce polarization.

In theory, it could create a less negative campaign environment by encouraging candidates to say nice things about their opponents.

But, he said, I dont think we have a good enough track record to know how it is going to work on a statewide level.

A spokesman for the Missouri initiative did not specifically address the Arnold connection when asked by the Post-Dispatch.

{p class=ydp7ab2cc41msonormal}Our elections are toxic and broken, and voters from every county in Missouri who are signing the Better Election petition tell us they support our positive proposal for change, said campaign spokesman Scott Charton. Our campaign is on the side of Missouri voters and giving them more choices and more ballot security in elections.

Missouri ties

Missouri isnt the first state where the Arnolds have funded attempts to enact the voting change. Theyve also helped push the effort in Maine and Alaska.

And the Arnolds arent strangers to Missouris political landscape. Money tied to them went to help pass an overhaul of ethics regulations and voting laws called Clean Missouri.

Arnold Ventures was cited as a possible source of funding for an aerial surveillance program that was considered, and then abandoned, by the St. Louis Board of Aldermen early last year.

Arnold Ventures also employs two lobbyists in Missouri  Amy Blunt and Jay Reichard.

The push by Democrat-leaning groups to use Missouris ballot initiative process to effect change in the state is a reflection of the states strongly Republican majorities, who control the flow of legislation in the General Assembly.

Issues that arent addressed in the House or the Senate often become the subject of ballot questions, including issues like the minimum wage, Medicaid expansion and medical marijuana.

The presence of large amounts of out-of-state money in Missouris ballot initiative process has generated a number of Republican-sponsored bills in the Legislature this year designed to make it harder to use that route when seeking to alter state laws.

For example, a proposal sponsored by Rep. J. Eggleston, R-Maysville, would raise the bar for passage of constitutional amendments from a simple majority to a two-thirds majority.

In addition, signatures needed to place a question on the ballot would have to come from all eight Missouri congressional districts, as opposed to the six currently required.

House Joint Resolution 91 also institutes a process for the General Assembly to vet proposed amendments by conducting hearings and potentially recommending changes.

Meantime, with the Arnolds money pipeline open, the ranked-choice voting effort has brought together an unlikely coalition of consultants from both sides of the partisan aisle, including John Hancock, a former chairman of the Missouri Republican Party, and Rosetta Okohson-Reb, a Democratic consultant whose clients include St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones.

Others on the payroll, according to reports filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission, include longtime Republican operative David Barklage and GPS Impact, a Democratic political consulting firm.

Outside money aside, the PAC handling the spending on consultants and petition collectors says the end game will come down to voters in the state.

{p class=ydp7ab2cc41msonormal}Missouri voters signatures will put the Better Elections Amendment on the ballot, and Missourians will have the final say at the polls, Charton said.

{p class=ydp7ab2cc41msonormal}Originally posted at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, March 20.

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JEFFERSON CITY  Personal property taxes in St. Charles County would be phased out under a proposal that won final approval on Monday in the Missouri Senate.

A plan by Sen. Bill Eigel, R-Weldon Spring, ties the phaseout to increases in revenue generated by growth in real property assessments.

You get that bill on Dec. 1 just for the crime of owning a car, essentially, and you gotta pay a pretty hefty burden, Eigel said during debate. I think that really hits our working and middle-income class households.

Sen. Doug Beck, D-south St. Louis County, said the phaseout would shift the tax burden to lower-income real property owners.

Currently, personal property is assessed at 33.3% of its real value. Local governments then tax that assessed value of items such as cars, campers and boats.

Eigels proposal would annually lower the percentage at which personal property is assessed as revenue due to real property assessment growth increases.

Eigel was able to tack his legislation onto a bill by Sen. Sandy Crawford, R-Buffalo, that deals with various tax issues.

Eigels proposal is similar to one he pushed last year, which gained momentum in the closing days of the legislative session and died.

Missouris legislative session this year ends May 13.

The measure now moves to the Missouri House for consideration.

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The Missouri Senates Crazy Caucus  also known as the Republican Conservative Caucus  is at it again. Its latest victims? Sexual assault survivors. This klatch of roughly a half-dozen right-wing extremists has stalled and may yet kill legislation meant to protect the rights of survivors as they move through the medical and law enforcement systems.

That crucial bill may be doomed because the extremists have attached an amendment grandstanding about one of their favorite ideological bogeymen  obscene reading material in schools  as if that mostly fabricated issue is on par with the real trauma faced by survivors.

As the Post-Dispatchs Jack Suntrup reports, Sen. Holly Thompson Rehder, R-Sikeston, seeks to create a bill of rights for sexual assault survivors to ensure they are able to consult with rape-crisis workers, to request that interviews be conducted by an officer of the same gender, that a language interpreter is provided when needed, and other protections.

These are ideas that no reasonable person could oppose. But as the Conservative Caucus has shown again and again, its not reasonable.

These are the same folks holding up the redrawing of Missouris eight congressional districts because the pending 6-2 Republican-Democratic split  which already slights Democrats who should, based on recent statewide election ratios, have three seats  doesnt slight them enough; the caucus wants a 7-1 map, fairness be damned. This is also the crowd that has made ending abortion rights in Missouri their top priority, yet has prevented expansion of Medicaid coverage for new mothers, proving once again that their concern for the unborn evaporates after birth.

The sexual-assault measure in Senate Bill 775 is now stalled because Sen. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, a Conservative Caucus member, attached an amendment attempting to ban distribution of obscene material in Missouri schools. Even if such distribution was actually happening (it isnt), what exactly does that have to do with sexual assault survivors? Brattin claims, with zero evidence, that the sexualization of society has created little sexual predators that grow into sexual predators that act out into these sort of acts.

Whatever. The real-world effect of Brattins amendment was to make the sexual-assault bill unpalatable to its previous supporters in both parties, effectively shelving the whole thing, as he knew it would.

Is Brattin opposed to helping sexual assault survivors? Its certainly not a front-burner issue to this gang. Sen. Bob Onder, R-Lake Saint Louis, another Conservative Caucus member, has dismissively called this her little bill, according to Rehder.

A bipartisan group of legislators recently called out the extremists over this and other legislation they have stalled, often for seemingly no reason but to telegraph their extremism to a hard-right base that likes it. Most Missourians dont  but as long as they keep sending these zealots to Jefferson City, they can keep expecting demagoguery rather than productivity from their seat of government.
A deeper dive into the ways Russia is prosecuting its propaganda war against Ukraine reveals startling similarities with how former President Donald Trump waged his propaganda campaign regarding U.S. election integrity. Trump made no secret of his admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin, so it should come as no surprise that the two share the same level of contempt for facts when it comes to advancing their political goals.

Both started by introducing a lie as if it were an indisputable fact. Both leaders repeated their baseless assertions so often, joined by complicit aides and political allies, that the assertions wound up as regular topics of discussion on social media and in news broadcasts. Trumps principal propaganda-circulation outlet was Fox News. Among his loudest cheerleaders was, and is, commentator Tucker Carlson. Putin, who has annihilated independent news coverage in his country, also relies on Carlson to advance his propaganda.

After the 2016 election, Trump established the myth that the U.S. election system was tainted with fraud  all because he couldnt accept the fact that Hillary Clinton received nearly 3 million more popular votes than Trump. Even after becoming president, Trump persisted and formed a commission to investigate vote fraud. The commission disbanded after turning up nothing to substantiate Trumps claims, but Republican state legislatures passed laws to root out fraud that didnt exist. Before the 2020 election, Trump revived his fraud claims. His followers were so fooled that they stormed the Capitol to halt Congress confirmation of Joe Bidens election.

For Putin, back in 2014, the myth was that Ukrainians were crying out to be unified with Russia. On that basis, he ordered his military to back separatists in eastern Ukraine. He seized control of Crimea, then annexed it. Now Putin is using his propaganda machine to advance the myth that Ukraine is overrun by Nazis, and that only a Russian special operation (invasion) can save the Ukrainian people.

Film star and Republican former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has recorded a nine-minute video, with Russian subtitles, specifically designed to debunk Putins propaganda. In the video, he scoffs at the de-Nazification pretext, noting that Ukraines president, Volodymir Zelensky,, is Jewish. A Jewish president, I might add, whose father and three brothers were all murdered by the Nazis, Schwarzenegger says. Its doubtful Putins government will allow the video to be viewed in his country.

But Carlsons commentaries are cheered by Russian state television. In fact, Russia went so far as to hire a voice-over actor who mimics Carlsons delivery style in a dubbed Russian version of his pro-Putin Ukraine commentaries.

Just as Carlson advanced Trumps election-fraud propaganda, he is now helping Russia by advancing a Putin assertion that the United States helped Ukraine develop biological weapons. Its a truly sad day when some Americans prove no better than Russians in realizing that theyre being played for fools.
Regarding Tony Messenger's column "From 4-day weeks to charter debate, Missouri has a school funding crisis" (March 14) and "New performing arts center opens at Festus High" (March 10): It is embarrassing to live in a state where good education appears to be valued so little. For Festus schools and outgoing Superintendent Link Luttrell to have grown test scores to about 65% proficiency in English and 56% in math, reflects the hard work Festus has done.

But if various working professionals were at 65% or 56% proficiency in their job performance, they would be out the door. In most grading systems, at best 65% is a D and 56% is an F, so it appears there are many Missouri districts with heavy work to do, several of them now within four days a week.

As a former teacher, my guess is that improved salaries may have helped Festus teachers feel more valued and also contributed to renewed efforts in the classroom. So further strangling school budgets, forcing four-day weeks to reduce expenses, and decreasing funds for public schools by pushing charter schools in the big cities do not appear to be good ways to value education. Perhaps we should start grading our legislators on fairness, objectivity, impartiality and a desire to help all areas and citizens of the state.

L. Wier  Maryland Heights
The Italian Air Force, like many others, has switched to using smaller twin-engine aircraft for electronic support rather than the older, larger four-engine models. The latest addition to the Italian fleet is the G550 twin engine business jets for six new AISREW (Airborne Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Electronic Warfare) aircraft. A decade ago, the equipment required to make an AISREW aircraft possible would have required a larger four-engine transport. Thats because a decade ago the size, weight, power requirements and onboard equipment operators would not work in a twin-engine aircraft. Over the last few decades, the equipment used by these electronic support aircraft has gotten smaller, cheaper, more powerful and automated. That means less electrical power and onboard equipment operators are needed.

Using twin-jet business or airliner aircraft for military purposes was first popularized by Israel in 2006 when they put their first twin-jet AWACS (Air Warning and Control) into service. Israel used an early model G550 long-range business jet. The 40-ton Gulfstream G550 was able to carry and provide electrical power for the Israeli-made radar and electronics. The Israeli AWACS came with a Phalcon conformal (built into the lower fuselage) phased array radar, SIGINT (Signal intelligence) equipment to capture and analyze enemy electronic transmissions, and a communications system that can handle satellite signals as well as a wide array of other transmissions. Only six people were on board to handle all this gear, plus the flight crew of two. The Gulfstream G550 can stay in the air for over twelve hours per sortie, and can fly at up to 16,000 meters (51,000 feet). It's a larger version of the Gulfstream G400, which the U.S. Army used as the C-20H transport. The U.S. Coast Guard, Air Force and Navy also use militarized Gulfstreams. The Israeli example made other manufacturers of similar twin-engine aircraft that there was a new market for their aircraft.

The Italians already used two slower and cheaper twin-turboprop Super King Air planes. There are about 300 in military service. Its not surprising that most people think of the Super King Air as a civilian aircraft because most of the 6,000 built since the 1960s have been for commercial, not military use. Yet over the decades more than a thousand King Airs have been bought, often second-hand, by the military because the price was right and the King Air could get the job done. Most are for ISTAR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissance) missions. Beechcraft King Air 350 (and earlier models) models have long been used by the military for transport (the C-12 Huron), electronic warfare (RC-12), and ISTAR (MC-12) operations. Military use of the King Air began in the United States, where manufacturer Beechcraft is located, during the early 1970s. At first the U.S. Army adopted the King Air as the RC-12 and then used it for a wide variety of intelligence missions ever since. The current King Air 350 is a 5.6-ton, twin engine aircraft that evolved from the first King Airs that showed up in the 1960s as a 5.3-ton aircraft that could carry 13 passengers. In the 1960s a much improved 5.6-ton Super King Air version showed up.

The King Air inspired other manufacturers to offer their twin-turboprop aircraft for military use. This led to the discovery that larger twin-turboprop transports were also useful. For example, Italy uses two C-27Js as EW (Electronic Warfare) aircraft. C-27J is a 28-ton aircraft that can carry 9 tons for up to 2,500 kilometers and land on smaller airfields that the four-engine C-130 turboprop cannot handle. Italy also has fourteen C-130s used as transports, along with ten C-27Js.

Italy also uses four Italian-made ATR-72 twin turboprop aircraft for maritime patrol. This 22-ton aircraft is armed with AM39 Exocet anti-ship missiles, lightweight anti-submarine torpedoes, depth charges, and a pod-mounted machine gun. There is also a sonobuoy launcher, magnetic anomaly detector (to find large metal objects close to the surface), and a self-protection system (chaff, flares, jammers). Sensors carried will include an SAR (synthetic aperture radar) capable of tracking ships 220 kilometers away when the aircraft is at 3,000 meters altitude. Italy chose the ATR-72 over the older four-engine P-3C aircraft.

Pakistan used the Brazilian EMB 145 twin-jet airliner for their new maritime patrol aircraft. These replaced the older P-3C aircraft. Over 1,200 EMB-145s have been built since 1992 and in 1999 Brazil offered a military version, the R-99, for use as an AWACS, maritime patrol or ELINT aircraft. Pakistan is the second customer for the maritime patrol version and ordered three. These will replace the refurbished American P-3C Pakistan received in 2007. Six are still operational but they are older, four turboprop engine aircraft that are more expensive to operate.

Australia was the first customer for the Boeing 737 based E-7A Wedgetail AWACS and received its first two in 2009. Wedgetail is a militarized Boeing 737 transport. The cruise speed for the 737 is 910 kilometers an hour and the Wedgetail version has a crew of 8-12 pilots and equipment operators, who use the search radar and various other sensors. The 78-ton Wedgetail can stay in the air for more than ten hours per sortie. Wedgetail can refuel in the air and Australian Wedgetails often flew longer missions (14 hours or so) in the Middle East. The limit here was mainly crew fatigue.

Smaller, more powerful and cheaper electronics made smaller twin-jets practical and the most cost- effective aircraft for tasks long requiring four-engine turbo-prop or jet aircraft. Even the new U.S. Navy P-8 maritime patrol aircraft is based on the Boeing 767 twin-jet airliner. India is using six Airbus A320 transports, provided by Air India, for conversion to AWACS aircraft. More specifically this is an A319, which is one of the Airbus 320 series aircraft that are similar to the Boeing 737. These twin jet aircraft often replace earlier versions installed in the 1960s B-707 or DC-8 transports or four-propeller airliners like the Electra civilian airliner that first flew in 1954. Only 170 Electras were built but there were nearly four times as many built as P-3s. A few Electras and over 200 P-3s are still in service but will eventually be replaced by twin-jet aircraft.
Shenzhen, China--(Newsfile Corp. - March 20, 2022) - OPPO's Find X5 Pro uses the latest lithium battery technology, the Battery Health Engine developed by OPPO Institute. The Battery Health Engine is a system-level battery health optimizing solution that came to fruition through three years of research and innovation. It is based on OPPO's customized battery management chip and includes two key technologies: Smart Battery Health Algorithm and Battery Healing Technology.

Not only is battery life a concern for smartphone users, but the issue of ageing, unused and discarded lithium batteries is also an increasingly worrying topic when it comes to the future and sustainability. It is projected that over the next eight years, the global demand for lithium-ion batteries will increase elevenfold, reaching over two terawatt-hours in 2030. The demand is coming from the rise in electric vehicles and small electronic products such as mobile phones.

Smart Battery Health Algorithm

Smart Battery Health Algorithm tracks real-time electric potential across the negative electrodes inside the battery. It can dynamically adjust the charging currency within a reasonable range, effectively minimizing the occurrence of dead lithium while maintaining the maximum charging current. This helps ensure prolonged battery lifespan and faster charging speed.

To fully understand how this innovation works, let's look at the charging and discharging behaviour of lithium batteries in mobile phones.





The structure of a lithium battery

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The charging and discharging process can be simply viewed as the movement of lithium ions between positive and negative electrodes.





The movement of lithium ions

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Once the active lithium ions can't return to the positive electrode under the impact of the excessive current or overcharging, they will become dead lithium, and this leads to a reduction in the capacity of the battery.





Dead lithium appears because of excessive current or overcharging

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Dead lithium leads to the battery life reduction

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Therefore, it is necessary to preserve as many active lithium ions as possible so that the charging current is controllable. Currently, only by controlling the current and voltage in real-time and within a reasonable range can we reduce the occurrence of dead lithium.





It's the potential of the negative electrode that's an important indicator in helping mobile phones monitor real-time current and voltage. In other words, if the negative electrode potential can be monitored in real-time, it is possible to prevent dead lithium from appearing.

In order to obtain the negative electrode potential in real time, OPPO Institute has been exploring potential solutions in its laboratory for three years. Relying on a large amount of battery performance data, the team has been continuously correcting the accuracy of the battery model to develop the Smart Battery Health Algorithm that can track the potential of the negative electrode of the battery in real-time.

With the blessing of this technology, smartphones could be able to match a reasonable charging current for different battery capacities, charging adapters, battery states, and charging stages by accurately judging the negative electrode potential. From here, it can then maximise the maintenance of lithium-ion activity and prolong battery lifespan.

Battery Healing Technology

In addition to a huge breakthrough in the algorithm, OPPO has also optimised the internal chemical system of the battery in Find X5 Pro, applying a healing feature through the use of Battery Healing Technology. By improving the electrolyte formula, the electrodes are continuously repaired during the battery's charge and discharge cycles, forming a more stable and durable film called Solid Electrolyte Interface.





The forming process of Solid Electrolyte Interface

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The Solid Electrolyte Interphase, also known as SEI, is formed by the reduction and reaction of a small amount of polar solvent in the electrolyte. This happens when the lithium-ion battery is charged and discharged after gaining some electrons. It is then distributed on the surface of the positive and negative materials of the lithium battery, which can prevent the damage of the solvent molecules to the electrode materials and improve the cycle performance of the electrodes. Therefore, during the shuttle process of lithium ions between the positive and negative electrodes, the electrolyte can work to repair the SEI - another key factor affecting battery lifespan.

Battery Healing Technology helps the battery to continuously repair the SEI during the charging and discharging cycle, making the SEI more stable and durable in real time. It also reduces the damage inflicted to the electrodes due to charging and discharging, therefore enhancing the battery performance and extending battery lifespan.

In OPPO's latest laboratory test results, it was found that the Battery Health Engine is able to keep a battery at 80% of its original capacity after as many as 1,600 charge cycles. This effectively doubled the lifespan of batteries under current industrial standards.





The battery lifespan of Find X5 Pro is doubled

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Since the battery lifespan of the Find X5 Pro is double that of the industry standard, it can maximise the protection of the battery while improving the way people experience their handsets.

Achieving ultimate battery performance

It is OPPO's constant focus and development in battery technology that has enabling the company to transform users' charging experience and increase the power of smartphones.

As the leader of charging technology, OPPO knows that the future development of fast charging can not only stop at high power - it should also consider aspects such as safety, portability, compatibility, and battery lifespan.

Here at OPPO, the company is taking big steps towards upgrading the world of smartphone charging to completely revolutionise the user experience of smartphones while contributing to the future sustainability of lithium battery technologies.

For more information, please visit https://www.oppo.com/en/smartphones/series-find-x/find-x5-pro/

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--Global Platform for Used Photo and Video Equipment Increases Footprint to More Than 44,000 Square Feet at the Brooklyn Media and Production Hub--

BROOKLYN, N.Y., March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- MPB, the leading platform to buy, sell, and trade used photography and videography equipment, has announced the expansion of its New York City headquarters by more than double at Industry City, the 6 million-square-foot innovation campus located on the Sunset Park, Brooklyn waterfront.

MPB is headquartered in the creative communities of Brooklyn, Brighton, and Berlin. Its unique platform brings access and affordability to visual storytellers around the world, with used cameras, lenses, and accessories from MPB costing an average of 30% less than new. Today's announcement follows an astonishing $70 million Series D fundraising round for MPB, along with key executive appointments and new hires, pointing towards a rapid trajectory of growth for the firm since arriving at Industry City in 2019.

"When we chose Industry City for our North American HQ, we had no idea that we'd grow out of the space just two years in," says CEO and Founder of MPB, Matt Barker. "The content creation market continues to skyrocket, along with demand for used photo and video equipment. This expansion allows us to provide even more visual storytellers with the platform they need to buy, sell and trade the gear to do their work. Doubling in size from 19,000 to 44,000 square feet is an amazing milestone for the company and a much-needed upgrade for our growing staff. IC promised there was plenty of room for us to scale the business here, and we're excited to start this new chapter on campus."

Designed by RISE Architecture, MPB's expanded space is newly located in Building 7 of Industry City with stunning views of the Brooklyn waterfront. The expansion houses revamped office and warehouse spaces to accommodate a growing employee base that includes trained product experts and seasoned photographers and videographers. The headquarters will also feature a new in-house production studio for photo, video, and podcast content, along with an events space.

"We're pleased we were able to answer Matt's call and offer a growth solution for MPB mid-lease. Our ability to respond to urgent growth needs and quick reconfigurations of space is something we take pride in," says Jeff Fein, Senior Vice President of Leasing at Industry City. "MPB has been a core member of our media and production community, and we look forward to seeing its new space become a hub for the industry."

Industry City is home to nearly 80 tenants in the media and production industry, including production giant AbelCine, with whom MPB collaborated for the buildout of its new production space; content studios for Moda Operandi, a luxury e-commerce leader; Buck Media, a global creative company that sits at the intersection of media, art, design, and technology; and The Garage, a robotic video content studio specializing in food and beverage advertisements for household names like Coca-Cola, Hershey's, and Heinz.

In addition to providing the incredible networking and opportunities for cross-pollination offered by being in close proximity to one another, Industry City touts additional perks for firms in the media and production industry, including permit-free filming opportunities throughout the complex; a wide range of raw and built spaces available for shoots; customizable studio space; on-site set-building opportunities at brands such as West Elm, Design Within Reach, and Restoration Hardware; oversized freight elevators, and loading dock access.

Industry City is accessible by the D, N, R trains and multiple bus routes including the B35 and B37. Parking is available at 37th and 2nd Avenue, along with bike racks and five CitiBike stations.

About Industry CityIndustry City is a 6 million-square-foot mixed-use complex comprised of 16 buildings spanning 35 acres on the waterfront in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The property's ownership  led by Belvedere Capital, Jamestown and Angelo Gordon & Co.  is transforming the complex, while cultivating a diverse tenant mix that fuses today's burgeoning innovation economy with traditional manufacturing and artisanal craft. To date, the transformation has included over $450 million of infrastructure improvements, the addition of destination courtyards, experience-driven dining, retail and other amenitization and event programming. This work is paving the way toward a vibrant and diverse community of forward-thinking companies that support good-paying jobs for workers across skill and experience levels. Since the new partnership was forged in August 2013, employment at Industry City-based businesses has increased from 1,900 jobs to 8,500 jobs today. www.industrycity.com.

About MPBMPB transforms the way that people buy, sell and trade in photo and video kit. An online platform for used photography and videography equipment, MPB is a destination for everyone, whether you've just discovered your passion for visual storytelling or you're already a pro.

Founded by Matt Barker in 2011, MPB has always been committed to making kit more accessible and affordable, and helping to visualize a more sustainable future. We recirculate more than 300,000 items of used kit every year, extending the life and creative potential of photo and video equipment for creators around the world.

Headquartered in the creative communities of Brooklyn, Brighton and Berlin, the MPB team includes trained camera experts and seasoned photographers and videographers who bring their passion to work every day to deliver outstanding service. Every piece of kit is inspected carefully by our product specialists and comes with a six-month warranty to give our customers peace of mind that buying used doesn't mean sacrificing reliability.

MPB has raised multiple rounds of venture capital and private equity funding and is listed in The Sunday Times Tech Track 100. For further information visit www.mpb.com.

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SOURCE MPB
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany  Moments after loadmasters Staff Sgt. Devyn Freeze and Senior Airman Marissa Antillonloya greeted Army paratroopers who were supposed to hitch a ride to France on three C-130Js, the mission was called off.

The French had double-booked the drop zone, so the static jump planned Friday, with transportation provided by the 37th Airlift Squadron at Ramstein, would have to be postponed. But the crew and planes still took to the skies on a training run.

The C-130s out of Ramstein are working overtime to support the rapid movement of tens of thousands of troops and help transport thousands of tons of supplies to central and Eastern Europe, as part of a NATO reassurance mission that began in the weeks before Russias new invasion of Ukraine.

All three of the planes on Fridays mission earned an unusual distinction: they flew the first training formation with all-women crew members in the squadrons history, which goes back to World War II.

Capt. Tiffany Haines, who led the group of 17 women with Capt. Megan Kraynak as her co-pilot, said flying with another female pilot isnt uncommon.

But as far as a whole airplane full of women  especially a full-blown formation full of women, thats extremely rare and also very rewarding, she said.

The all-female formation was organized in recognition of Womens History Month.

The crew members voiced excitement about the distinction in the runup to the flight, but the focus turned to the changes in the mission scenario once the paratroopers left.

An A-10 had been shot down, and Haines and her crew had to get supplies to the downed airman.

Haines had to come up with a drop zone, created in the aircraft computer; be able to communicate that to the rest of the formation, in order to provide that resupply  before the simulated enemy overtook his position, said Kraynak, who served as the instructor pilot Friday.

She did well, Kraynak said of Haines. We gave her a very complicated scenario that she had to deal with.

Haines was waiting to hear whether, as a result of her performance, she would earn the privilege to lead much larger formations.

The switch from paratrooper drop to emergency assistance underscored the diversity of missions a crew for the workhorse C-130 is expected to execute. The C-130A first took flight in 1956; the most recent C-130J variant was introduced in 1999.

We train to all scenarios for all times so we can be prepared at any moment, Kraynak said.

While there is always a demand, squadrons flying C-130s have been much busier fulfilling their tactical airlift mission since Feb. 24, when the new Russian invasion of Ukraine began.

The 37th Airlift Squadron jets have ferried U.S. airmen assigned to the United Kingdom to Lithuania and dropped off equipment in Romania, among other missions in recent weeks.

The training Friday tested their ability to be creative, to be able to think on the fly, Kraynak said, in a situation they might encounter downrange, Haines added.

And while several crew members have participated in similar training missions before, they did share a little more satisfaction in working alongside other women on Friday.

Men still vastly outnumber women in the Air Force, though the percentage of women in the service has grown steadily in recent decades to about 20%. The 37th Airlift Squadron is about 14% women, 86th Airlift Wing officials said.

However, only about 1% of Air Force pilots are women.

Freeze, 23, said Friday was her first time flying with all women.

Im lucky to fly once every 10 flights with another woman, said Freeze, who joined the rest of the crew in wearing a pink shirt under their flight suits, among other actions to build camaraderie.

Just a little women unite type of thing, girl solidarity, she said.
BOSTON (Tribune News Service)  A bouncer at a Boston pub is facing a murder charge in connection with the stabbing of an active-duty Marine outside the bar Saturday evening, officials said.

Alvaro Omar Larrama, 39, is charged with stabbing 23-year-old Daniel Martinez outside the Sons of Boston pub just before 7 p.m. Saturday, according to the Suffolk District Attorneys office

Police responding to the downtown bar said they found Martinez, an Illinois native, suffering a life-threatening stab wound. He was brought to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Detectives identified Larrama as the suspect, the Boston Police Department said. The East Boston resident turned himself into police Monday.

He will appear for the first time in Boston Municipal Court.

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(Tribune News Service)  U.S. Marines are known as fearless, but Camp Lejeune in North Carolina has issued an unusual warning for personnel to avoid contact with all wildlife in their path.

A raccoon captured at the 153,439-acre base tested positive for rabies last week and an additional raccoon was trapped and wildlife officials are awaiting lab results, the U.S. Marine Corps said in a news release.

Marines and civilians at the camp should be on the lookout for animals exhibiting suspicious behavior.

Installation personnel are advised to stay away from all animals, especially wildlife that are unusually aggressive, tame or disoriented, base officials said. Animals showing these types of behaviors do not necessarily have rabies, but should still be avoided.

The base did not report whether anyone had come into contact with the two raccoons.

Marines at the facility are frequently in the wilderness for training, elevating their risk of coming into contact with wildlife.

The camp near Jacksonville is the largest Marine Corps base on the East Coast and includes 14 miles of coastline, according to the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. It is home to several training schools, including the Marine Corps Combat Service Support School.

Camp Lejeune has had wildlife troubles in the past, including alligators.

In 2018, base officials noted an alligator living near one barracks had lost its fear of humans, likely due to being fed by humans people, officials said.

Base officials decided to capture and move the alligator away from the barracks somewhere else on the installation. American alligators are native to the southeastern North Carolina coast and can grow to 15 feet.

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NORFOLK, Va. (Tribune News Service)  Walking the flight deck of his old flagship, USS George H.W. Bush, after watching the USS Gerald R. Ford head out for flight deck certification was a chance for the Navys top aviator, Vice Adm. Kenneth Whitesell, to think about naval aviations future.

Some elements of that, in the form of the Ford and the new E2-D Hawkeye early warning planes, have arrived in Norfolk. But still more, Whitesell said, is coming soon.

One is the new CMV-22B  a version of the tilt-rotor Osprey. Its slated to replace the Navys C-2A CODs  carrier onboard delivery planes  that bring people and equipment to carriers at sea.

CODs play a particularly important role when people or parts are needed urgently, and the new CMV-22Bs can reach reach farther and so extend the reach of supply lines, Whitesell said. CMV-22Bs should begin arriving in Hampton Roads in about a year.

The F-35 joint strike fighter will begin joining Norfolk-based carrier strike groups in the months ahead, Whitesell said. They made their first operational deployment last year on the San Diego-based USS Carl Vinson.

In December, the Bush itself tested another critical element of the next generation Naval Air Force, the MQ-25, a drone that can carry fuel to resupply Navy fighters and E2s while in flight.

With aerial refueling, carrier planes can fly farther and stay in the air longer  as with the CMV-22Bs, the result is that carrier strike groups can reach farther and operate even more flexibly than they do now, Whitesell said.

Walking the flight deck of the Bush, meanwhile, drives home another point  because its island, like the rest of the Nimitz class carriers, is farther away from the stern than is the Fords, its planes mostly have to park behind the island. They can only move from those parking places when flight operations pause, Whitsell said.

Space is tight between the island of a Nimitz carrer and its bow, including areas where plane crews load bombs, missiles and armaments.

The lone F/18 on Bushs flight deck as it was moored at Naval Station Norfolk during Whitesells visit was secured between the island and the carriers bow  but the planes nose was hanging over the end of one of the catapults used to launch aircraft, which at sea would have put that catapult out of action.

The Fords much larger space in front of the island  its captains call that area their NASCAR pit stop  doesnt infringe on the catapult area. The Fords catapults, like the weapons elevators that carry arms to the flight deck, run with electric motors and magnets instead of the steam and hydraulic systems used on Nimitz class carriers, which cuts down on breakdowns and repairs, Whitesell said.

The new layout and the electro-magnetic systems mean Ford class carriers can launch more planes faster, another major transformation in the Navys 100 year history of carriers.

The first carrier, USS Langley, was commissioned 100 years ago  basically as a experiment, launching planes while operating on the York River, to see if the idea was even possible, Whitesell said.

A century of innovations has made what was an unproved concept into a worldwide force  one that means carriers based in Hampton Roads can reach anywhere in the world, Whitesell said.

That means that even as new strategic worries arise in new parts of the world, the balance of carriers between the west and east coasts is likely to stay the same, he added.

dress@dailypress.com

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In 1986, near the end of the Soviet Union, a Russian satirical novelist tried to imagine the future of his homeland. He envisioned a head of state who had risen through the ranks of the KGB, used a war to cement his power, elevated his former security colleagues into positions of influence, claimed to derive authority from the Russian Orthodox Church and ruled Russia for decades.

In other words, he predicted Vladimir Putin.

The writer was Vladimir Voinovich, and his novel was Moscow 2042, a dystopic satire about a man who takes a journey into the next century.

The protagonist, a freelance writer named Vitaly Nikitich Kartsev, boards a Lufthansa space flight in 1982, consumes a dozen-plus in-flight vodkas and lands in the year of the title. He finds little in the way of future tech to marvel at (People with an interest in such things should read science fiction, narrates Kartsev), and in Voinovichs version of postmillennial Russia, the U.S.S.R. is still going strong.

But Voinovich hit upon the countrys ruler-for-life with remarkable foresight. In the novel, hes known as the Genialissimo: a great political figure, friend of all mankind, transformer of nature and a multifaceted genius, Kartsev tells a fellow citizen.

A member of the writers welcome party in the year 2042 is even more gushing: The Genialissimo is simultaneously the general secretary of our party, holds the military rank of generalissimo, and, moreover, stands apart from everyone.

As with Big Brother, details about his physical appearance are fleeting; Kartsev notices a portrait of the Genialissimo is squinting in self-satisfaction. But while there are no illustrations of him riding horseback while shirtless, his actions as written in 1986 bear uncanny similarities to those of the current Russian president.

First, theres the Genialissimos position among a ruling gerontocracy. One fellow passenger on Kartsevs space flight is a left-wing terrorist from Munich whos traveling to the future to collect proof of his ideologys endurance. He remarks that under communism, everyone will be young, handsome, healthy and in love with one another. Kartsev is therefore surprised to find that future Russia is ruled by the grandfatherly Genialissimo and his mob of decrepit bureaucrats.

Putin was just 47 when he first assumed the presidency. But in 2021, he pushed through a constitutional change that allows him to hold office until 2036, the year hell turn 84.

Advanced age isnt the only thing the Genialissimo has in common with Putin. As a former senior KGB officer who spent many years stationed in Germany, the Genialissimo has filled his government with buddies from the intelligence services. Together, theyve created a Communist Party of State Security, an intertwining of lawmakers and secret police who preside over a classless and systemless communist society.

Putin was based in East Germany from the mid-1980s until the fall of the Berlin Wall. (His Stasi ID pass was recently found in a Dresden secret police archive.) Like the Genialissimo, he has placed former security colleagues in high office. Those include Igor Sechin, the chief executive of the oil giant Rosneft, who reportedly commands the loyalty of the FSB, the KGBs successor agency; Sergei Ivanov, who was the Kremlin chief of staff until 2016; and Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the Security Council of Russia  which Putin also chairs.

Voinovich predicted that the church would enjoy a strong comeback in future Russia, after the crackdown in the earlier communist era. Heterosexual marriage is sacrosanct in Moscow 2042, with unions running for a maximum of eight years; they are dissolved automatically when a partners productive years are over (at 45 for a woman, and 50 for a man). Those lacking faith are reminded that Jesus is one of the Genialissimos predecessors, alongside Stalin and Lenin.

Putin might not quite consider himself head of the Russian Orthodox Church, although he has suggested a divine basis for his rule over Russia as well as Ukraine. He has also used religion to tighten his grip on power, opposing homosexuality and divorce in favor of worship.

And, like the Genialissimo, hes made some grandiose investments. In the book, Moscow is the only prosperous city left in the U.S.S.R.; the rest of the state is impoverished and walled out, Mad Max-style. The publication of the Pandora Papers revealed that Putin, who once publicly condemned plutocrats and corrupt industrialists, has been linked via shell companies to luxury property purchases in Monaco.

Two other predictions from Moscow 2042 seemed to foretell Putins path to power. The Genialissimo sweeps into power as a hero of the recently concluded Great Buryat-Mongolian War. He then seals his popularity by emerging victorious from the Great August Revolution.

Putin became first deputy prime minister during the Second Chechen War  on Aug. 9, 1999  and was appointed acting prime minister of the Russian Federation later that day. By the end of the month, Russian air forces were conducting bombing raids over Chechnya, and Putins accompanying law-and-order persona helped boost his popularity.

And while not technically a revolution, the August 1991 Soviet coup detat attempt had seen tanks in Red Square as communist hard-liners tried to retake the Soviet Union by force. Putin used his KGB security contacts to shield St. Petersburgs first post-Soviet elected mayor (for whom Putin was working as head of the Committee for External Relations). But later, in 2014, he presented one of the coups plotters, former Soviet defense minister Dmitry Yazov, with Russias Order of Honor medal for high achievement in useful societal activities.

Next time, Ill write a utopia, Voinovich said in 2017 while addressing a Russian-Jewish emigre audience in Fair Lawn, N.J. People keep saying that all the bad things I write come true, so Im going to write something good. He would die the following year, but not before comparing Putins Russia to his own Soviet upbringing: In some ways, it is worse today.

The writers relationship with his motherland was tumultuous. His father was arrested when Voinovich was just 4 as part of Stalins Great Terror. In the 1970s, Voinovichs World War II sendup, The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin, was banned by the Soviet Union.

By 1980  20 years after hed written the lyrics to 14 Minutes to Liftoff, a huge pop hit that became the Soviet space programs unofficial anthem  he was branded a dissident and forced into exile. Voinovich would return to the U.S.S.R. to witness Mikhail Gorbachevs glasnost and the economic wilderness of the post-communism years.

In 2000, Voinovich published Monumental Propaganda. It depicts a Stalinists attempts to cling to her beliefs for 50 years after World War II. After she steals the plinth that once supported a statue of her icon, she sees a figure rise from its former resting place. Voinovich describes this apparition as grinning and waving with its raised right hand.

That same year, Putin was inaugurated president.
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Russias war in Ukraine has taught the worlds autocrats some useful lessons: Invasions may be harder than they look. Its unwise to go to war with an army that hasnt had much practice against serious opponents. The United States and its allies may appear divided, but they can still pull together in a crisis. And when ordinary people decide to defend their homes, they can put up a surprisingly good fight.

Those lessons could have practical impact half a world away from Ukraine in the standoff between China and Taiwan.

Regaining Taiwan has been a major goal of Chinas ruling Communist Party since it took power in 1949. Chinas president, Xi Jinping, regularly reconfirms that he intends to return Taiwan to the motherland  by peaceful means if possible, by unpeaceful means if not.

So its reasonable to assume Xi and his aides have been paying close attention to the problems their quasi-ally Vladimir Putin has encountered in his brutal campaign to restore Russias control over its smaller neighbor, Ukraine.

In some ways, Taiwan looks like an easier target than Ukraine. It is smaller  24 million people, not 44 million. Its military is one-tenth the size of Chinas, and it hasnt built the kind of territorial defense force Ukraine is using to great effect right now. Meanwhile, Chinas navy and marine corps (yes, thats its name) have spent decades working on the ability to mount amphibious landings against an island like Taiwan.

But Taiwan has advantages Ukraine didnt have.

The Taiwan Strait is more than 100 miles wide, which would make an amphibious invasion daunting. Taiwan has a security commitment from the United States  not as strong as the treaty that pledges the United States to defend NATO allies, but more than Ukraine had. (President Joe Biden made a point of mentioning it in his conversation with Xi on Friday.)

Finally, the United States has a more direct economic interest in Taiwan than in Ukraine; Taipei is a major trading partner, the source of more than half of the worlds high-end microchips.

What weve seen in Ukraine raises serious questions for China about the risks of military activity against Taiwan, Evan Medeiros of Georgetown University, a former National Security Council official, told me last week.

Chinas theory has been that if we have to use force, it will be quick and successful and that economically the West needs China more than it needs Taiwan. All those assumptions are now open to question.

But there have been important lessons for Taiwan, too.

The biggest surprise in Ukraine beyond the poor performance of Russias army has been the success of Ukraines Territorial Defense Forces, its army of reservists and unevenly trained civilians.

Thats the real lesson of Ukraine for Taiwan: You need civilians who know how to use a rifle, said Bonnie Glaser, a China expert at the German Marshall Fund. Taiwan could easily do something like that, but they havent.

U.S. defense planners have long been urging Taiwan to adopt a strategy they call asymmetric defense  recognizing Chinas vast advantages in manpower and equipment, and aiming to raise the cost of an invasion. The goal, retired Adm. James Stavridis wrote recently, should be to make the island a porcupine  a spiny and indigestible entity that could deter China from using force.

But over much of the last decade, Taiwan moved in the opposite direction: It cut the size of its regular army and reduced the training of its reserves. It invested in high-end weapons beloved by military brass, like F-16s and Abrams tanks, instead of more mundane tools that might deter a shipborne invader: anti-aircraft weapons, anti-ship missiles and advanced mines.

Taiwans president, Tsai Ing-wen, has embraced the U.S. argument, at least rhetorically.

The recent situation in Ukraine proves that, in addition to international support and assistance, it boils down to the unity of our people to safeguard our country, she said recently.

But progress has been slow. Tsai has promised to increase defense spending to 3% of gross domestic project from the current 2.1% (the U.S. spends about 3.5%). But even after Taiwans legislature approved more defense spending, it will take more than five years to get there. So U.S. officials have privately been pressing another lesson from Ukraine: The United States and other countries can help Taiwan defend itself, but only if the Taiwanese show that they are ready and willing to fight.

People love a fighter, noted Elbridge Colby, a former top Defense official in the Trump administration. If Ukraine had folded, the international support for them would not be happening.

The longer Ukraine shows that a determined population can make an invasion costly, it is giving small countries like Taiwan a model of how to defend themselves  and with luck, deter the next invasion before it begins. If so, the terrible toll of Ukraines war might yield at least one positive side effect: Its just possible that this conflict may have reduced the chances of a conflict in Asia.

Doyle McManus is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times.
TOKYO  Some Japanese governments are suspending exchanges with their Russian sister cities in the wake of the countrys ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Sister city and twin town relationships aim to promote culture and commercial ties between two geographically or politically distinct localities.

Tokyo and Moscow have been sister cities since 1991.

We will halt exchanges with our Russian city to show solidarity with Ukraine, Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike told reporters March 11. Past exchanges have included the presentation of cherry blossom trees to Moscow.

However, that sister-city relationship wont be outright eliminated, the Asahi newspaper reported a day later, citing an unnamed metropolitan government official.

Hiroshima has decided not to send a delegation that includes Mayor Kazumi Matsui to Volgograd, Russia, in September to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their sister-city ties, the Mainichi newspaper reported Sunday.

The mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki penned a joint protest letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Feb. 28 after the leader put his nuclear deterrence forces on high alert, raising fears that the Ukraine invasion could lead to a nuclear conflict.

The United States dropped the worlds first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, killing 140,000 people. It dropped a second bomb three days later on Nagasaki, killing another 70,000.

Such conduct is a violation of the ardent wishes of the survivors of the atomic bombs, who have been calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons, to never let anyone in the world go through the same suffering, the letter said.

Hiroshima, like Tokyo, plans to maintain its sister-city relationship with Volgograd, the Asahi report said. Nagasaki does not have such an agreement with a Russian city.

On March 10, the Ukrainian embassy in Tokyo took to Twitter and called on Japans local governments to end relations with sister cities in Russia, the Asahi reported March 12. It also urged Japanese universities to cut cooperative ties to Russian schools.

However, those tweets were deleted after the embassy received many complaints, the report said.

Other local governments criticized Russia for its armed invasion against Ukraine but have said they will maintain their relationships with Russian cities.

Osaka, Japans second largest metro area, has been sister cities with St. Petersburg, Russia, since 1979. Mayor Ichiro Matsui sent a letter to Gov. Alexander Beglov on March 8 urging Russia to withdraw its military from Ukraine.

It must be profoundly stated that the Russian Federations current act of aggression against another country by the use of force is a clear violation of international law," Matsui wrote.

He said he is sure that the citizens of both Osaka and St. Petersburg stand together for world peace.

I strongly hope the current situation will be resolved through peaceful means as soon as possible, and that both cities can continue toward the future-oriented path of fostering robust sister city relations, Matsui wrote.
EVENES, Norway  Loved ones and leaders on Monday remembered the four Marines who died following an aircraft crash in northern Norway for their commitment to their military service and their families.

Capt. Matthew J. Tomkiewicz, 27; Capt. Ross A. Reynolds; 27, Gunnery Sgt. James W. Speedy; 30; and Cpl. Jacob M. Moore, 24, died when their MV-22B Osprey crashed south of Bodoe on Friday, the Marine Corps said in a statement Monday.

All four were assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 261, Marine Aircraft Group 26, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing at Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., the statement said.

U.S. and Norwegian officials are still investigating what caused the Osprey to crash. There had been severe weather warnings in the region at the time.

"The pilots and crew were committed to accomplishing their mission and serving a cause greater than themselves," Maj. Gen. Michael Cederholm, commander of the Marine Aircraft Wing, said in a letter to the Marines families.

The deceased are expected to be flown back to their families through dignified transfer in the coming days.

"We will continue to execute the mission while keeping these Marines and their service on the forefront of our minds, Cederholm said. We will never allow these Marines' sacrifice to go unnoticed or unappreciated.

The four Marines were among some 30,000 NATO and partner nation troops participating in Exercise Cold Response, which includes land, sea and air drills and is scheduled to run until the beginning of April.

Their Osprey was scheduled to arrive in Bodoe at 6 p.m. Friday, according to a Norwegian armed forces statement. A missing persons report was received at about 6:30 p.m. and rescue aircraft were launched shortly afterward.

The crash site was discovered by air at about 9:15 p.m. the same day, but poor weather meant it couldnt be reached until 1:30 a.m. Saturday, when police arrived and confirmed the deaths, the Norwegian military said.

Marines assisted with the Norwegian-led recovery effort, while numerous NATO allies and partner nations also offered operational support during and following the incident, the Marine Corps said Monday.

Tomkiewicz, of Fort Wayne, Ind., joined the Marine Corps in 2015 and served as an MV-22B Osprey pilot. His decorations include the National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.

Tomkiewicz is survived by his wife, Lauren, according to the Fort Wayne, Ind. newspaper The Journal Gazette.

He attended Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., where he joined the Marine Corps Platoon Leaders Class hoping to go to officer candidate school, with the ultimate goal of flying for the service after graduation, according to his LinkedIn page.

"We ask all Hoosiers to surround the family with love and never-ending appreciation for all Captain Tomkiewicz gave to our state and nation, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb said in a statement, according to The Journal Gazette.

Reynolds, of Leominster, Mass., joined the Corps in 2017.

He was remembered Monday as an active community member who was involved in Boy Scouts of America, earning the rank of Eagle Scout, and who participated in veterans events with [Reynolds] usually holding the flag, according to a Facebook post by Leominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella.

Reynolds and his wife, Lana, were married Feb. 9, according to a post on Lana Reynolds Facebook page.

In a statement sent to the Boston TV station WBTS, Reynolds family said they were devastated by the loss and trying to come to terms with his death.

"Ross was so caring, compassionate, and committed, not only to his country, but also to being the best son, brother, husband, son-in-law, nephew, cousin, uncle, brother-in-law, friend and Marine that he could be," the family said in the statement.

Speedy, of Cambridge, Ohio, had been a Marine since 2009, and served as an administrative specialist. His decorations include the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal with two gold stars, the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon and the Marine Corps Drill Instructor Ribbon.

On her Facebook page, Speedys wife, Chyanne, posted early Monday a photo of the couple with the note: I love you so much. The couple have a daughter.

Moore, of Catlettsburg, Ky., served as an MV-22B Osprey crew chief after joining the Corps in 2018. His decorations include the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.

The Cold Response exercise is continuing as scheduled.

Stars and Stripes reporter Alison Bath contributed to this report.
Protesters opposed to war and NATO gathered at Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily over the weekend, but the peaceful demonstration did not disrupt operations or prevent people from reaching the base, a Navy official said Monday.

On Sunday, a crowd estimated at no more than 125 blocked one road providing access to a portion of the base, known as NAS II, that includes an airport and a flight line, but the main gate and other access roads remained open, Capt. Kevin Pickard Jr., commanding officer of NAS Sigonella, said in a Monday statement.

The base was notified in advance of the protest and coordinated with Italian law enforcement agents, who ensured that the demonstrators remained in a preapproved area, he said.

Spurred in part by Russias invasion of Ukraine, protesters called for the end of U.S. bases in Italy, which contribute to NATOs mission. They also criticized military spending by the Italian government.

The protest was organized by No Muos, a coalition of Italians who are against NATO, among other things.

The protest started about 10 a.m. and appeared to be over by 1:30 p.m., according to the bases Facebook posts.

NAS Sigonella is divided into three sites: the Marinai Housing Complex, NAS I and NAS II.
At a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Friday, Russia repeated its charges that the United States has been conducting a biological weapons program in Ukraine. The suggestion, previously raised by Russia, at a Security Council meeting on March 11  is outlandish.

As Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the United States U.N. ambassador, has rightly put it, Russia is abusing the Security Council in order to legitimize disinformation and deceive people to justify Russian President Vladimir Putins war of choice against Ukraine.

That has not prevented the claim from being picked up by some conservative political commentators, including Fox Newss Tucker Carlson, whose segments on the topic are then shown on Russian state television.

In fact, the U.S. Biological Threat Reduction Program  alluded to in these accusations  was initially aimed at converting Soviet era labs associated with its offensive bioweapons programs to peaceful purposes; the program also has ensured that public and veterinary health labs receive funding to improve their biosafety (ensuring the safety of lab personnel and local populations) and biosecurity (ensuring that dangerous pathogens are protected against theft or misuse). Under the Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction, similar support has been provided to former Soviet republics as well as to countries in Africa and Asia by countries including Canada, Germany, Britain and Finland.

The false charges fit a long lamentable pattern that stretches back to the early years of the Cold War. In 1951 and 1952, for example, the Soviet Union asserted that the United States was using biological weapons in the Korean War  a claim that it knew at the time to be false, as Soviet documents eventually made public in the late 1990s made clear. The Soviet Union also covered up an open-air bioweapons trial involving smallpox, in 1971, on Vozrozhdeniye Island, in the Aral Sea, that accidentally infected members of the ships crew. In 1979, an accident at a bioweapons facility producing anthrax in Yekaterinburg led to some 60 deaths in the local population  an outbreak the Soviet and subsequent Russian government attributed to contaminated meat.

In the post-Soviet era, Russia has taken every opportunity to make bogus allegations about Western (and especially U.S.) chemical and biological activities in third countries. Such attempts are almost certainly intended to divert attention from Russias own highly questionable activities in the biological and chemical-weapons realm. Today, for instance, Western governments fear that the lies could be used as cover for, or supposed justification for, a chemical or biological attack by Russian forces in Ukraine.

After the collapse of the Soviet system, Russia right away used false charges to derail early attempts to monitor, and dismantle, bioweapons capabilities dating to the Soviet era. In 1989, Vladimir Pasechnik, a key researcher in a secret Soviet biological weapons, defected to Britain. The information he brought with him set in motion events that culminated in the United States, Britain and Russia signing a joint statement on biological weapons known as the trilateral agreement in 1992.

The agreements primary purpose was to enable the Russians to demonstrate that the large offensive bioweapons program inherited from the Soviet Union had been dismantled and its facilities and personnel redirected to peaceful purposes. Part of this process entailed visits to nonmilitary and military biological facilities in Russia as well as the United States and Britain. But as discussions moved toward arrangements for visits to military facilities, Moscow balked. Suddenly, it claimed that it had concerns about U.S. military medical laboratories in Africa, Asia and Latin America; none of these had anything to do with biological weapons. Russia insisted that it would need access to these laboratories.

With British support, the U.S. quite properly argued that the labs mentioned by Russia were not relevant to the trilateral agreement. For this and other reasons  Russia also kept investigators from fully exploring its own sites  the agreement ran aground and petered out in 1996. The Russian allegations served their purpose in this case, preventing U.S. and U.K. experts from learning firsthand about the biological facilities run by the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Russia has continued to make spurious and unfounded allegations about U.S. labs in third countries. One particularly outrageous falsehood concerns the Richard Lugar Center for Public Health Research in Tbilisi, Georgia, which opened in 2011. This is the first Biosafety Level 3 laboratory  one qualified to study infectious agents or toxins that may be transmitted through the air  established in the region; it serves both Georgia and the wider area. The lab provides detection and diagnostic capacities for endemic and exotic diseases, such as dengue or chikungunya, and is equipped to conduct bio-surveillance on tularemia, anthrax and other diseases that can leap from animals to humans.

Russia has asserted that the United States is running a clandestine offensive bioweapons program at the Center. For its part, Georgia has hosted a visit of international experts to the lab. In 2018 Georgia specifically invited Russia to send its own expert, Moscow declined. Tellingly, Russia has never made use of the various formal procedures under the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention for raising compliance concerns. It prefers instead to trumpet its wild unsupported accusations in public.

No one should believe for a second that Russia is genuinely motivated by a desire to stamp out the use of chemical and biological weapons. Russia has defended the Assad regime in Syria against international efforts to hold that government to account for Syrias extensive use of chemical weapons against its own people: Russia, for instance, undermined efforts by the United Nations to investigate Syrian chemical weapon use, and contested the investigations findings; it behaved similarly when the focus of international investigations moved to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

We have also seen the botched attempts by Russian military intelligence to murder former Soviet spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, Britain, and Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny with nerve agents (novichoks) developed during the Cold War by the Soviet Union. In the Skripal case, Russia denied responsibility and blamed others, claiming among other things that novichoks had in fact been independently concocted in various countries, and Britain surely had some. The Russian lie factory even claimed that Britain may have orchestrated the attack to distract from the failures of Brexit. And of course Russia denied that Navalny had been poisoned.

When it comes to claims about chemical and biological weapons programs in other countries, Russia has a long record of abject dishonesty. Nothing about the bogus claims regarding biological weapons in Ukraine should surprise us. Just why Russia persists with this behavior is far from clear. Perhaps Putin and his senior advisers actually believe their own propaganda. Perhaps they believe the rest of the world acts with as much disregard for international legal prohibitions on forbidden weapons as they do.

John R. Walker served in the U.K foreign and commonwealth offices arms control and disarmament research unit from 1985 to 2020.
BERLIN  Boris Romantschenko eluded death at Hitlers hand, surviving forced labor and detention in four concentration camps as Europe became a killing field in the 1940s.

Last week, his life was snuffed out by Russian President Vladimir Putins onslaught in Ukraine, according to a foundation memorializing Nazi crimes. Romantschenko, 96, was killed when a Russian missile struck his apartment building in Kharkiv.

It is with horror that we report the violent death of Boris Romantschenko in the war in Ukraine, read a statement on the website of the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation. The foundation said it learned of the elderly mans death from his son and granddaughter.

Romantschenkos horrific death, the statement continued, shows how threatening the war in Ukraine is for concentration camp survivors.

Boris Romantschenko survived the concentration camps #Buchenwald, #Peenemunde, #Dora and #BergenBelsen. Now he has been killed by a bullet that hit his house in #Charkiv, #Ukraine. He was 96 years old. We are stunned. pic.twitter.com/ZZIK2OdbAu  Stift. Gedenkstatten Buchenwald und Mittelbau-Dora (@Buchenwald_Dora) March 21, 2022

The foundation, along with numerous others, established an aid network distributing food and medicine to Ukrainian victims of Nazi persecution. Ukraine is home to about 10,000 Holocaust survivors, according to an American nonprofit, The Blue Card, that provides financial assistance to indigent survivors in the United States.

Romantschenko was born in 1926 in Bondari, near the city of Sumy in northern Ukraine. In 1942, he was deported to the German city of Dortmund, where he became a forced laborer, according to the Buchenwald foundation. When he tried to escape, he was captured and sent to Buchenwald, near Weimar in central Germany, in January 1943.

He would later be sent to Peenemunde, a military research center, where he participated in the construction of the V-2 Rocket, the worlds first long-range ballistic missile. Other places he was detained included Dora-Mittelbau, originally an appendage of Buchenwald, and Bergen-Belsen, a camp in northern Germany that started out as a site holding prisoners of war and in 1943 became a concentration camp.

In its statement, the foundation did not describe how Romantschenko survived Bergen-Belsen, which was liberated in April 1945 by the British 11th Armored Division, or what he did after the war. For many years, though, he served as vice president for Ukraine on an international committee for Buchenwald survivors. In a ceremony in 2015, he recited an oath in Russia spoken by survivors of the camp, which has become known as the Oath of Buchenwald. It concludes with a pledge: To build a new world of peace and freedom is our ideal.

As of Sunday, 2,421 civilian casualties have been recorded in Ukraine by the United Nations, including 925 deaths. Over the weekend, media in Kharkiv quoted authorities saying 266 people, including 14 children, had died in the city.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will return to Europe for a second consecutive week, joining President Joe Bidens trip Wednesday to NATO headquarters in Brussels and visit Polish leaders later in the week, the Pentagon announced Monday.

The U.S. leaders trip this week comes as Russias invasion of Ukraine nears its one-month anniversary and just days after Austin returned to Washington from a meeting March 15 with NATO defense ministers in Brussels. Austin met with leaders in Slovakia and Bulgaria late last week, as those NATO eastern flank nations seek to bolster their own security amid Russias aggression against Ukraine.

Biden and Austin are expected to meet with other NATO leaders Thursday before traveling to Poland on Friday, officials said. Biden will also meet with the European Council and G7 leaders to discuss international efforts to support Ukraine and impose severe and unprecedented costs on Russia for its invasion, according to a White House statement.

The meetings also come as Poland pitches a NATO peacekeeping mission in Ukraine, according to a Reuters news report on Friday. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby declined to discuss the Polish proposal, but he confirmed the Pentagon expected it would be formally submitted Monday.

It kind of goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway  there shouldn't be a need for a peacekeeping force because there shouldn't have been a war of choice by [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, Kirby told reporters. And he can end it today by negotiating in good faith and getting his troops out of Ukraine and stopping the killing and the death and destruction that he and his forces are responsible for. But again, I'm not going to get ahead of international discussions here in this particular proposal.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told CNN on Sunday that American troops would not participate in such a peacekeeping force, reiterating Bidens position that U.S. troops would not enter Ukraine to fight the Russian military.

American troops will not be on the ground in Ukraine at this moment, she said. The president has been clear on that. And other NATO countries may decide that they want to put troops inside of Ukraine. That will be a decision that they have to make.

Biden and other leaders of NATO countries have pledged new assistance for Ukrainian forces in recent days, as they fend off the Russian invasion. The United States expects to send some $350 million in defensive weapons this week to Ukraine and another $800 million of aid  including anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, rifles, ammunition, drones and body armor  in the coming weeks, Kirby said Monday.

A Pentagon official said Monday that Russian troops appeared to be struggling with low morale and have gained little ground in recent days. The Russian military has launched more than 1,000 missiles since it invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, the official said, adding the Pentagon has observed an uptick in Russian air activity in recent days.

Nonetheless, the Russian military has made little progress in its goal of capturing Ukraines capital Kyiv and taking out its pro-West government. The official said Russian struggles to supply its troops with fuel, water and ammunition and to coordinate its air and ground efforts have likely led to an increase in attacks on civilian targets, including apartment buildings, hospitals and a shopping mall on Monday.

Kirby declined to say if the Pentagon believed Russia was altering its battle plans to inflict more pressure on ordinary Ukrainians, but he said the U.S. military believed Russias military was deliberately targeting civilians.

We continue to see indiscriminate attacks on civilians, which we believe in many cases is intentional, he said. Theres no justification for it. So, I'm not even going to try to do that. But, clearly, they are causing increased numbers of civilian casualties.
(Tribune News Service)  A New York Army National Guard helicopter will be assisting New York State Parks in removing a pontoon from NYPAs Lake Erie ice boom that has been lodged in the rapids above the Bridal Veil Falls since 2019.

The New York Army National Guard will be using a CH-47F Chinook heavy lift helicopter during Tuesdays planned operation.

A 2019 high wind event caused a steel pontoon to break free from the NYPA ice boom in Lake Erie. The pontoon become lodged in the upper rapids above the Bridal Veil Falls. The 30-foot by 30-inch pontoon weighs about 3,500 pounds.

State Parks officials said while it does not pose an immediate safety risk its being removed to preserve the integrity of the viewshed of Niagara Falls.

Army Aviators from the New York Army National Guards Detachment 1, Company B, 3rd Battalion, 126th Aviation Regiment based at Army Aviation Support Facility #2 at the Rochester International Airport and the New York State Park Police will be conducting the operation. Soldiers from the battalion deployed to Afghanistan several times where their ability to carry heavy loads at high altitudes was critical to operations in the mountains there.

The CH-47F Chinook helicopter is the Armys heavy-lift cargo helicopter. The Chinook can carry 32 troops plus aircrew and slingload 13 tons of cargo underneath the helicopter and has a maximum speed of 196 miles per hour.

Theres a bit of history between the company and Niagara Falls  on June 11, 2011, a CH-47D from Company B extracted a boat from the Niagara River which had become hung up above Niagara Falls.

A Canadian helicopter had been able to rescue the crew from the Park Police boat which had run aground while conducting a rescue operation on June 10. The New York Army National Guard CH-47 was called in to lift the 8,000 pound boat.

(c)2022 the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal (Lockport, N.Y.)

Visit at lockportjournal.com
Senior aides to President Joe Biden believe Russia is suffering a dramatic decline in oil sales that stands to deprive the Kremlin of a key source of government revenue, according to a senior administration official and one person briefed by a senior administration official, both of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to share an assessment not yet made public.

The Biden administration is examining private industry data showing that sales of Russian crude oil by vessel have gone from roughly 2 million per day to close to zero from the period between March 15 and March 20, the people said. The official said more than 2 million barrels of Russian oil sold per day have been taken out of the market and that Asian buyers are not stepping in to fully fill the gap.

But some analysts believe that Russia will continue to sell huge quantities of oil that will help Moscow fund its invasion of Ukraine  arguing that Congress, the administration and Europe could take more aggressive action to curb sales of Russian energy.

The administrations assessment suggests the war in Ukraine and the global response to it may already be dealing a debilitating blow to Moscows energy exports. Oil sales are the single biggest source of revenue for the Kremlin, accounting for as much as 40 percent of the Russian governments entire budget, according to Russias Ministry of Finance.

Energy experts are divided on the extent to which Russian oil sales have been affected by the war in Ukraine and the countermeasures launched by the U.S. and its allies. President Biden announced a ban on Russian oil and gas to the U.S. earlier this month, but America consumes only a small amount of Russian energy, and the effect of its prohibition is likely minimal. The European Union also announced a plan to cut its imports of Russian energy by two-thirds, but that proposal is largely aspirational and faces resistance among some of the European countries necessary to implement it.

Instead, the key phenomenon hurting the Russian oil industry is what experts refer to as self-sanctioning, as private traders refuse to buy and sell the product even though western sanctions were designed to allow them to continue to do so. Oil traders have said they are voluntarily turning down Russian oil in part because of the uncertainty of future western sanctions, and in part because they do not want to be seen as providing financial support for Russias intervention in Ukraine.

The trend could still reverse itself as private actors digest the new international rules, but if it persists would represent a major disruption to global energy markets and the world economy. Russian oil production accounts for roughly 11 percent of the worlds total oil supply  at a time when the White House has grown deeply concerned about the impact of rising energy prices on American consumers.

White House officials are closely monitoring the situation and note that it could change, according to the senior administration official.

What really matters is that many oil refiners and traders are refusing to buy Russian oil  to touch it  and if that continues and expands then youre going to see Russian supply go down by a lot, said Bob McNally, an energy analyst at the Rapidian Energy Group.

The International Energy Agency on Thursday forecast that Russian oil exports are expected to decline by as much as 3 million barrels per day starting next month, which would represent a nearly 40 percent decline in Russias daily oil exports.

Similarly, the firm Energy Aspects says that Russias daily crude oil exports could fall by 1 to 1.5 million barrels per day by April compared to levels in January. Russia exports oil by sea and by pipeline  Energy Aspects expects pipeline flows to continue uninterrupted, but for waterborne exports to face major disruptions.

We are expecting from April at best half of the exports to be moving, said Amrita Sen, head of research at Energy Aspects. Europe is choosing not to buy and China so far is not buying the other stuff. ... It will get harder and harder to move this oil around.

The extent to which this trend will persist remains unclear. Many other industry analysts believe there will be much less disruption to Russian sales. They have raised the prospect that despite causing a temporary disruption, the limitations of the western sanctions will allow Russia to keep making billions of dollars in oil sales to fund its war effort in Ukraine.

Some private sector data, such as that released by the oil industry analysis firm Petro Logistics, has found that Russian oil sales increased in March. Petro Logistics found that exports to the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands rose by 49 percent in March compared to the 2021 average. India is importing Russian crude oil for the first time since November, and China also appears to be increasing its imports. These transports may reflect prior commitments, but still suggest Russian energy operations are ongoing.

Ultimately there is enough demand for oil  enough folks who need and want oil around the world, including countries outside the sanctions coalition  that eventually that oil will be bought up, said Eddie Fishman, a former State Department official who worked on Russia sanctions policy during the Obama administration and is now at the Center for a New American Security.

Further complicating matters is the unease in Eastern Europe about the crackdown on Russian energy. Some eastern European countries depend on Russian gas and oil for as much as 70% of their energy needs. Internal frictions will make it increasingly difficult for Europe to remain united, particularly as refugees pour out of Ukraine and strain their domestic economies.

With Russian oil already trading at $20 or $30 per barrel off the market average, lesser-known firms may exploit the difference to buy up the discount. But prices are at historic highs, so Russia may still be able to reap a substantial windfall even at the lower rates  which could help fund the war effort. Russias military buildup tracks closely with the increase in its oil revenue, according to Robbie Diamond, founder and president of Securing Americas Future Energy, an advocacy group.

This arbitrage, which is very real, will gravitate toward the darkest parts of the industry  actors who dont have reputation, or operations in the west subject to seizures or sanctions. Weve already seen this in the past, said Daniel Ahn, global fellow at the Wilson Center, a Washington-based think tank. Small unknown agents can emerge out of the forest to take advantage.

Some experts believe America should use the current uncertainty to push harder to ensure that Russian oil sales are devastated. Fishman, the former State Department official, said the U.S. could move to impose what are known as secondary sanctions  which would cut third parties off from the U.S. financial system unless they stop trading with Russian oil firms. Congress can pass legislation to enable the administration to do so.

Some of the stigma around Russian oil is probably going to be temporary, Fishman said. I think its worth asking why [the U.S. is] not doing more.

America, working with other parts of the world, has crippled foreign adversaries oil production in the past. Iran went from about 6 million gallons of oil per day to closer to 500,000 after the Islamic Revolution, in 1979. Venezuela went from about 3 million gallons per day to under 1 million now. Iraq suffered similarly dramatic declines.

But even if the West can hurt a rivals energy production, its not clear they achieved their overall aims. Iraqs government was not toppled until a U.S. military intervention, and neither was Libyas. Iran and Venezuela did not overthrow their governments.

The U.S. and the West can impose crushing sanctions ,,, but the declared goal is a change in international behavior, said Ariel Cohen, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council Eurasia Center and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. The question is if we can force Putin to stop this war for his own survival and the well-being of his own people. Without some painful battlefield outcomes on the ground  or a massive negative reaction at home  it may not be possible.
Lavenia Hutchinson, 84, died May 1, 2022. Services will begin at 2:00 p.m. Monday, May 9, 2022 at the Calvery Assembly of God. Interment will follow at Sunset Memorial Gardens under the direction of Strode Funeral Home.
More needs to be done to raise awareness among Kiwis of a potentially debilitating disease, according to a local vaccinologist.

The call comes as new research shows more than two thirds of New Zealanders aged 50+ say they have little to no knowledge of the shingles virus.

Shingles is a viral infection caused by the reactivation of the varicella-zoster virus (VZV), the same virus that causes chickenpox. Even those who appear healthy but are aged 50 plus are at risk of developing shingles.

Almost all adults aged over 50 already have the virus that causes shingles in their body due to an initial chickenpox infection. Around a third of these will develop shingles in their lifetime when the virus reactivates.

Most commonly, the shingles rash or blisters wrap around one side of the torso. Shingles can also be intensely painful, and the disease is associated with a range of complications which for some people can include vision loss, cardiovascular and stroke events, hearing loss, scarring and neurological problems.

When damaged nerve fibres send confused and exaggerated messages of pain from skin to brain, patients can be impacted by long term pain - known as postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). Around a third of people with shingles may develop PHN, which can last for months or years. The condition is more likely to occur in older patients and can be associated with depression, anxiety and weight loss.

Dr Helen Petousis-Harris, Associate Professor, Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care at the University of Auckland, says along with on-going pain and possible secondary infection, in rare cases shingles can be fatal for some patients.

Our immune system ages and while normally it is pretty good at keeping the virus from activating, as we age or undergo stress it can reactivate. Shingles is a reactivation of latent chickenpox virus that can be a really nasty illness and result in hospitalisation. It can be incredibly debilitating even for healthy people, but there is greater risk of complications in those with underlying disease, cancer for example, and may even result in death, says Dr Petousis-Harris.

Shingles typically presents as a painful, itchy rash which develops on one side of the body, or the trunk but can then be disseminated to other parts of the body including the eye and that can be very serious and even result in loss of sight.

Dr Petousis-Harris says New Zealanders aged 50+ who have been exposed to chickenpox during their lifetime should consult their GP about how to prevent the development of shingles.

Shingrix is a new vaccine for the prevention of shingles and post-herpetic neuralgia in adults 50 years of age and older and is expected to be available in New Zealand from March. Shingrix is the first approved shingles vaccine to combine a non-live antigen with a specifically designed adjuvant to trigger a targeted, strong and sustained immune response. The vaccine is proven to have over 90 per cent efficacy against shingles in all age groups 50 plus in clinical trials, and sustained efficacy for at least seven years post-vaccination, which continues to be monitored. As with any vaccine, a protective immune response may not be elicited in all vaccinees.

Brett Marett, Medical Director at GSK NZ says bringing innovative medicines and vaccines to New Zealand is a core focus.

GSK NZ is very proud to make this shingles vaccine available in NZ. GSK has been at the heart of research into how the immune system declines as we age, and we know that more prevention options are needed. We are thrilled that with the supply of Shingrix into NZ, we will be able to help protect more New Zealanders from shingles, says Brett.

GSK is committed to bringing innovative solutions to the people who need them most, and todays announcement is evidence of that.

Shingrix is a non-live, recombinant subunit vaccine given intramuscularly in two doses. It will be available via a private prescription from a medical doctor for people aged 50+.
Kiwis have been left waiting for a new antiviral drug to treat Covid-19 because Pharmac was too slow to sign a supply contract with the manufacturer, a patient advocacy group says.

But Pharmac says despite MedSafe giving Pfizers Paxlovid the green light this month, it is the sheer demand for the medicine globally which is holding up delivery.

In February, Pharmac released the proposed access criteria for oral antiviral drugs Paxlovid and molnupiravir, which are used to treat Covid-19.

The drugs, which at the time were still awaiting approval from drug regulator Medsafe, work by binding to enzymes to prevent the virus from growing. They can be prescribed by GPs and are expected to reduce the numbers of people hospitalised with the virus.

In February, Pharmacs chief medical officer Dr David Hughes said the delivery of the drugs would be some time between April and June. He said Pharmac had asked the suppliers to bring forward their delivery dates for the drugs.

But doctors on the front line in Counties Manukau said they needed all the help they could get to manage the Omicron outbreak, and the antiviral drugs were needed now.

Patient Voice Aotearoa spokesman Malcolm Mulholland was sceptical about Pharmacs explanation for the delays.

Pharmac has a two-step process. In December it announced it had an agreement for supply, he said.

But it was only recently that it entered into a supply contract and thats when the rubber really hits the road. Why did Pharmac enter into it so late when we already had Omicron here?

Pharmacs chief medical officer Dr David Hughes says there is significant global demand for the antiviral drug Paxlovid and it is working with Pfizer to get it into New Zealand as soon as possible. SUPPLIED.

In a statement, Pharmacs chief medical officer Dr David Hughes didnt respond to Mulhollands comments, but said the Crown entity had secured advance purchase agreements for molnupiravir and Paxlovid.

These agreements have allowed us to secure supply of these sought-after treatments and will ensure they are available in New Zealand as soon as possible.

Paxlovid has now been approved by Medsafe for use in New Zealand, and we are anticipating it being in New Zealand shortly.

He said there was significant global demand for the drug and it was working with Pfizer to get it into New Zealand as soon as possible.

Pharmac and Pfizer agreed on an interim delivery schedule at the time the advance purchase agreement was signed in December.

We are working with Pfizer to complete the final requirements detailed in the advance purchase agreement so that shipment can be made at the earliest opportunity.

A Pharmac spokeswoman refused to say when Pharmac had signed a final supply contract for the drug with Pfizer, citing commercial sensitivity.

South Auckland GP Dr Api Talemaitoga said there werent any antivirals that GPs could prescribe for Covid-19, and they were only used once someone has been admitted to hospital.

I think we should be intervening with these drugs at a primary healthcare level, he said.

You need to do it within a short period of time of someone becoming ill because by the time someone ends up in hospital theyve usually been sick for a while.

Talemaitoga said while Omicron case numbers appeared to have peaked in Auckland, the number of people being hospitalised with the virus had not.

He said the antiviral drugs could also help reduce the pressure on hospitals.

-Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
Police are continuing to appeal for any information that will help find a missing Tauranga man.

No clues and no trace of missing man David Holland have been found during an intensive search by hundreds on Saturday.

Volunteers turned out at a Tauranga beach to search for the Papamoa doctor, missing for more than a week, with no success.

The search kicked off at Papamoa Surf Club at 9am, and primarily concentrated on the sand dunes in the Papamoa Beach area close to where the 31-year-old anaesthetist is believed to have gone missing.

Volunteers found 36 items, but police say unfortunately none of them had any relevance to the missing man.

The Tauranga Land Search and Rescue teams also searched more difficult areas in the dunes, covering spaces that are not visible from the air.

They also found nothing of interest, says police.

Hollands former partner, Margarita (Rita) Khabitueva, says his family in the UK and friends and colleagues in New Zealand are overwhelmed by the love and support from the local community.

I wish that David could see this, how many people have come together to look for him. He would be blown away. He was so loved. He has touched so many hearts. We are all hurting, and we just want to find him. David is such a caring person - I know that if someone else went missing, he would be the first out looking.

Bay of Plenty Police led the operation with search and rescue volunteers, along with members of the public who joined Hollands friends in support.

Holland was last heard from on Friday, March 11. Friends believe he was planning a swim close to home near the end of Pacific View Road, where there is access to Papamoa Beach.

Khabitueva says Holland sent a text saying that he was going for a swim and that he was last seen that evening on CCTV cameras close to the beach area, wearing beige pants, a dark top and cap.

She's holding out hope.

The couple met in Tauranga where Khabitueva also lives and works. They had been in a relationship for almost a year and parted amicably in January, and remained friends who regularly talked. Khabitueva said everyone hoped that todays search would bring some answers - and comfort.

I just want closure. The terrible thing is not knowing what has happened. It is heartbreaking. The anxiety of not knowing is the worst thing I have ever had to cope with in my life. The person I long to talk about it is David. I keep looking at my phone, expecting a message or looking around to see if he is there.

Holland, from Swansea in Wales, studied medicine in London. He is a junior anaesthetist, and has been completing his anaesthetist training at Tauranga Hospital.

He previously lived in Wellington and Christchurch before settling in the Bay of Plenty. He shares a house with friends in Papamoa.

Khabitueva describes Holland as an experienced swimmer, scuba diver and loved free-diving off the Bay of Plenty coast. He had just completed training to be a rescue diver.

He loves the ocean. He surfed, swam, snorkelling and loves going diving. He is so fit and active. We went on hikes together around here and in the Coromandel. We went on runs and races together. He cycled the length of New Zealand, proudly wearing his Welsh colours.

She also describes him as extremely caring and generous with a big heart.

He is a great listener and supports many people. He is sensitive and cares about peoples wellbeing and mental health, noticing if something is wrong. Hes very social with a goofy sense of humour, often joking and making people laugh. He also loves to debate - he has a strong moral compass and is not afraid to speak up and share his opinions. He loves animals too and is a vegan.

Friends of the doctor have already spent time on the beach and the dunes close to Pacific View Road, searching for any kind of clue that might help.

Police thanked the local community for their ongoing help.

"We'd like to thank staff from Surf Life Saving NZ and Coastguard as well as numerous volunteers who have assisted so far," says a spokesperson.

"We are still asking to hear from anyone who might have seen David on the evening of Friday, March 11, especially on or around the beach."

Anyone who can help is asked to call 105, quoting file number 220312/6869.

-Stuff/Annemarie Quill.
UPDATE 10.12AM: Several Auckland schools have close and residents in Northland and Auckland are urged to take shelter as a severe thunderstorm and heavy rain travels down the North Island.

MetService has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the areas of Kaipara, Far North, Whangarei and Rodney.

A severe thunderstorm watch is already in force for Northland, Auckland, Great Barrier Island and the Coromandel Peninsula.

More than 4000 lightning strikes were recorded in the Auckland and lower Northland regions, with more than 700 in the space of five minutes earlier this morning.

The National Emergency Management Agency is urging people to take shelter inside, away from windows as the weather hits early this morning.

A police spokesperson says police are advising motorists across Auckland to delay their travel, if at all possible, this morning.

"There have been a number of calls for assistance to emergency services across the city where vehicles have become submerged," says a police spokesperson.

"Police urge motorists to drive with extreme caution, particularly in areas where there is surface flooding as there could be hidden hazards.

"If you can delay travel, we would advise you do so until the weather event has passed."

Follow the latest live updates:

EARLIER:

Thunderstorm, File photo. Photo: Twitter / Brennan Mullan.

People, particularly in Northland and Auckland, have been urged to take shelter this morning as a severe thunderstorm travels down the North Island.

MetService has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the areas of Kaipara, Far North, Whangarei and Rodney.

A severe thunderstorm watch is already in force for Northland, Auckland, Great Barrier Island and the Coromandel Peninsula.

There is also a severe weather warning in place for the Bay of Plenty.

Several Auckland schools including Orewa College and Red Beach School have been forced to close this morning due to high surface flooding.

Incredible amount of lightning observed in the Auckland and lower Northland regions.



Past hour: 4000+ strikes

Past 5 minutes: 700+ strikes



Expect very heavy rain, along with the thunderstorms, for the next couple of hours. Need to watch for urban flooding. pic.twitter.com/ORKiZXgWpD  NIWA Weather (@NiwaWeather) March 20, 2022

The National Emergency Management Agency is urging people to take shelter inside, away from windows as the weather hits early this morning.

Anyone on the water should return to land and loose objects should be secured.

Metservice meteorologist Kyle Lee told Morning Report in some areas as much as 80-90 millilitres of rain fell in just an hour.

He says the storm has made its way down the island passing through Waipu to Ahuroa before touching down in Waipu Cove and Orewa around 7.30am.

He says MetService will be re-evaluating their warnings and advice for residents as the storm rolls down the North Island.

Lee says the southern areas of Northland and the northern part of Auckland are at risk of potential tornadoes, although the risk is low.

"With those places being quite dry as well there should be quite a lot of surface flooding as well because a lot of the rainfall is just going to sort of go right off the surfaces there and not really soak in."

He urges those affected to stay up to date with the latest developments on the MetService rain radar.

@MetService issued a SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING for the following areas in the Auckland Region: KAIPARA, RODNEY & ALBANY.

Thunderstorms are expected to be accompanied by very heavy rain.

Latest info can be found here: https://t.co/WTIXG6y6dx or by following @MetService

^KM pic.twitter.com/xON4G4DEC0  Auckland CDEM (@AucklandCDEM) March 20, 2022

The line of thunderstorms was first spotted offshore as it approached the Bay of Islands just after 1am.

Overnight, Purerua, in Bay of Islands, recorded just over 100 millilitres of rain in two hours.

MetService meteorologist Jessie Owens says that was exceptional rain, and the hardest hit part of Northland.

Owen says most of the rain has cleared the Far North and is heading towards Auckland now.





Intense rain continuing to move southeast.



Latest Severe Thunderstorm Warning https://t.co/GeH6tLulff



3500 strikes in the last 2 hours pic.twitter.com/ln24ha1Ydo  MetService (@MetService) March 20, 2022

Fire and Emergency says it has three flooding-related callouts in Auckland this morning.

A spokesperson says three properties in the suburb of Orewa, on the Hibiscus Coast, were affected by heavy rain in early hours of this morning.

A severe thunderstorm watch remains in force in the area.

WeatherWatch forecaster Philip Duncan told First Up tornadoes are possible in Auckland as thunderstorms and torrential rain lash the North Island this morning.

Severe weather warnings are in force for much of the upper North Island, people are being warned flash flooding and slips could be hazardous.

Duncan says wild winds could strike the so-called "tornado alley" of the north-western side of Auckland and the Waitemata Harbour.

He says forecasters spotted the potential for tornadoes in this weather event last week, which is unusual.

-RNZ.
Bay of Plenty

We are looking for a storeman with an OSH forklift license. You will need to be physically for as the job is about 70% forklift...



View or Apply on GoodWork.co.nz
The GCSB is urging New Zealand's critical businesses to stay alert in the face of increasing cyber threats, which can put nationally significant infrastructure in danger.

GCSB director general Andrew Hampton says it has seen malicious actors, both state and criminal, increasingly exploit vulnerabilities in supply chains, such as service providers.

"Our advice is focused on how organisations can build their resilience to those types of attacks. Now, part of that is ensuring that your supply chain is protected and that's where these cloud security templates come in.

"But it's also about ensuring that you are governing cyber security at an all of organisational level. It's also about being ready for an attack because organisations now I think need to think about not it being a matter of if they are attacked, but when."

Another key focus is investment for resilience in cybersecurity, he says.

The agency says it recorded 404 cyber threat incidents last year, up 15 per cent on the previous year.

About a third could be attributed to state sponsored actors and another third to criminal actors.

"One of the changes we have seen is a blurring of the distinctions between state and non-state actors. We are getting criminal actors for example who have sophisticated capabilities that previously tended to be in the hands of states."

Criminal actors are also operating out of safe havens provided by states, Hampton says.

The GCSB's work with Microsoft and Amazon Web Services was judged the best security project at last week's Information Security Awards.

Hampton says it's the first time the agency has worked with the two major cloud service providers.

Building the government information security standards into its products provided confidence for the public and private sectors that they complied with security standards when they used the services, Hampton says.

-RNZ.
Click the image above to view slideshow

Chocolate fish, free T-shirts and a book named Fifteen Shades of Climate were among more than $112,000 in credit card purchases by Bay of Plenty leaders last year.

The spending  revealed through an official information request - covered Tauranga City Council, Rotorua Lakes Council, Western Bay of Plenty District Council and the Bay of Plenty Regional Council.

Tauranga City Council was the biggest spender, with 15 staff members spending more than $88,500 with council credit cards between November 8, 2020 and November 7, 2021.

The council said its spend was due to its larger employee and budget size compared to the other councils.

Rotorua Lakes Council was second, spending almost $14,500 over the same period.

Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick was the only elected member out of all councils who held a council credit card. She spent almost $2300 with her credit card.

Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick. Photo / Andrew Warner / Rotorua Daily Post.

Fourteen Tauranga City Council staff held organisational credit cards  one for five of its six general managers, one for each of the six general managers personal assistants, one for chief executive Marty Grenfell and one apiece for his two executive assistants.

Tauranga City Council chief executive Marty Grenfell. Photo / George Novak / Bay of Plenty Times.

The spending included about $188 on chocolate fish, an executive team meeting at Mood on 17th Ave that cost $796 and $471.50 on the chief executives annual car valet.

Tauranga City Council people and engagement general manager Tony Aitken said the council had significantly more employees and larger budgets than the other councils.

Staff were encouraged to use credit cards for any purchase under $200 as it reduced administration costs from processing invoices, he said, including paying for subscriptions or online invoices, such as social media advertising.

Tauranga City Council people and engagement general manager Tony Aitken. Photo / Supplied.

Aitken said the council provided a supply of chocolate fish to its finance team who worked long hours at the end of the financial year and preparing the annual plan for adoption.

"Our executive team also provided a supply of chocolate fish to attendees of a series of internal roadshows, which included presentations on the Long-term Plan, the implementation of our community relations strategy, and councils vision and values.

Spare chocolate fish have been given to staff as a form of special recognition throughout the remainder of the year.

Aitken said the executive team meeting at Mood was a "planning day" for 36 attendees  equating to $22 per person for food and drinks.

A further $178 was spent on staff chocolates for an executive walkabout on December 8, 2020.

Aitken said this was to wish staff a Merry Christmas and was usually done by the mayor, but as there was no mayor at that time, the executive team did it.

"With approximately 700 staff, the $178.03 spend on chocolates equates to approximately 25 cents per staff member.

Rotorua Lakes Councils chief executive Geoff Williams and five of its seven deputy chief executives held organisational credit cards.

Council organisational enablement deputy chief executive Thomas Colle said the two deputies had chosen not to have credit cards.

Rotorua Lakes Council organisational enablement deputy chief executive Thomas Colle. Photo / Andrew Warner / Rotorua Daily Post.

Williams did not use his card at all over the period, accruing  as all cards did  about $53 of account fees.

Colle said the council was not considering closing the chief executives credit card for lack of use as it had previous use and may be required.

Mayor Steve Chadwicks $2279 spend was roughly splintered into thirds between food and drink, accommodation and travel, with the same amount as Williams for an account fee.

Colle said Chadwicks credit card allowed her to efficiently pay for incidental expenses while doing her job and without the card she would need to claim back work expenses on her personal accounts.

District leadership and democracy deputy chief executive Oonagh Hopkins spent $757 for 25 t-shirts branded with mahi for the 2021-2031 Long-term Plan consultation. A further $185.90 was spent at Rotoruas Pig and Whistle pub on team building, according to the council.

Colle said the t-shirts were given to council staff and elected members to promote the conversation of mahi and ensure they were visible in community settings during the consultation period.

The t-shirts can be re-used for other council conversations.

A council spokeswoman said the cost of the t-shirts was covered in the Long-term Plan project budget.

Two months later, Hopkins spent another $246.30 at the same pub for team values contribution to work for completion and adoption of [the] Long-term Plan. Colle said this was for recognition of some staffs unpaid overtime work.

District leadership and democracy deputy chief executive Jean-Paul Gaston spent almost $127 on diesel for a van for team members to travel to Wellington for a management challenge.

Colle was asked how the use of the diesel van reconciled with the councils 2021 climate action plan.

Colle said it was a team-based learning and development programme for local government staff, run by Taituara Local Government Professionals Aotearoa, and diesel-powered engines fared better on highways.

"In comparison to petrol counterparts, and are generally more compatible with large loads and driving longer distances - such as driving a van full of people between Rotorua and Wellington.

Former community wellbeing deputy chief executive Jocelyn Mikaere spent the least of all executive members with organisational credit cards, at $633, which included $3.50 for a coke from a vending machine.

Rotorua Lakes Council organisational enablement deputy chief executive Thomas Colle confirmed three deputy chief executives had salaries ranging between $210,000 and $235,000, and four had salaries ranging between $250,000 and $295,000. The numbers had been rounded for simplicity.

Bay of Plenty Regional Councils chief executive Fiona McTavish was the only staff member with an organisational credit card.

Over the year, she spent almost $4050, including more than $2400 on food and drink, and coffee meetings at cafes.

She spent about $1270 on travel, such as taxi trips or accommodation while out of town, and $152 on a book from Amazon called Fifteen Shades of Climate by Dr John Maunder.

McTavishs salary is $385,066 per year.

Bay of Plenty Regional Council chief executive Fiona McTavish. Photo / George Novak / Bay of Plenty Times.

Bay of Plenty Regional Council corporate general manager Mat Taylor said McTavishs food and drink costs were a legitimate business expense when a business meeting was held at a venue where refreshments were provided.

The council completed a $22.6m refurbishment of its Tauranga offices, where it is based, in 2019.

The credit card process provides a clear, transparent, and risk-free arrangement that allows for formal reporting through any LGOIMA requests.

Three staff members at the Western Bay of Plenty District Council held organisational credit cards, but only one  the finance and technology services group manager Kumaren Perumal  used it.

Perumal spent more than $5200 on work resources, travel  such as a $505 annual Koru club membership  and almost $1700 on staff events.

Credit card expenditure was also requested from the Lakes and Bay of Plenty District Health Boards, but no staff nor elected members held credit cards in those organisations.

-Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
A rahui is in place after four people died when their fishing charter sank near Cape Reinga.

The vessel, Enchanter, ran into trouble in wild weather which hammered the top of the country on Sunday night.

It is believed a wave hit the 15m vessel, breaking the bridge of the boat.

A massive search effort has been taking place since early this morning.

Local iwi Ngati Kuri has put a rahui in place for the next seven days from Tohoraha / Mount Camel to Murimotu at North Cape and 12km out to sea.

Te Runanga Nui O Te Aupouri have also put a rahui in place. Kaumatua Winiata Brown Heta Conrad and Robert Kaaka this evening established a rahui covering from Houhora to Cape Reinga, including Parengarenga Harbour. It will be in place initially for two weeks.

Celebrated for its fishing, the town of Mangonui was in shock on Monday following news one of its boats had not survived its northern journey.

"For that disaster to happen, something must have been a wee bit unexpected up there to happen like that," says Mangonui harbour wardern Steve Smith.

He has known Enchanter skipper Lance Goodhew for years.

"What I am hearing is that Lance and four others have been in hospital in Kaitaia. I have heard that there are three people whose bodies have been recovered and two are still missing at this stage."

Late on Monday afternoon, authorities announced they had recovered a fourth body.

On Thursday, Goodhew set off with one Northland crew member, Kobe O'Neill, and eight clients on a five-day trip to the Manawatawhi / Three Kings Islands - a trip that takes about 19 hours.

Smith says it's a top fishing spot.

"The Enchanter along with a few other charter vessels took crews up to the Three King Islands, and generally it was a great jaunt out for people who want to go charter fishing, and Lance did that job extremely well."

A weather warning went out on Saturday morning, two days after the Enchanter had headed out.

On Sunday night, the trip took a tragic turn when a rogue wave is understood to have hit the boat.

Its emergency locator beacon was activated about 8pm and the crew were in distress for several hours.

Goodhew and crew member Kobe O'Neill both survived the ordeal.

They are understood to have had eight Auckland-based visitors on board - three other survivors were taken to Kaitaia Hospital and another four bodies have been recovered.

Mark Daniels, who runs a gallery directly across from the wharf at Mangonui, says the conditions on Sunday were terrible.

"I witnessed Sunday's very, very wild, rough, chaotic water conditions. And I was a bit surprised at the time that there were people even considering going out ... two charter boats tied up to the wharf. I don't think they did and I'm glad of that. However, subsequently I've read that this one boat was out there in that rubbish weather."

The boat sank near the North Cape on Te Aupouri Peninsula.

Te Runanga Nui O Te Aupouri chair Peter-Lucas Jones says local teams have been assisting with access to the area and providing knowledge for the search and rescue efforts.

"There's always a level of safety that needs to be considered on any sort of trip. And around the rohe moana of Te Aupouri and the Murimotu area, and further afield, the seas can be very unpredictable and the climate can change quite quickly."

New Zealand Defence Force along with police, coastguard and local fishing vessels have also been involved in the search. A fourth body was recovered late on Monday afternoon.

Jones says everyone is hoping and praying for the person who is still missing, but they are preparing for the worst.

"Of course fishing trips are generally supposed to be fun and exciting events. But on this occasion, it has turned out to be very tragic."

Rescue Coordination Centre officer Nick Burt told Checkpoint there were multiple marine and aviation assets searching for the last missing person overnight.

He says the focussed the search east of North Cape, with the entire search area being about 200sq nautical miles.

He says they were searching until last light.

Nick says the search effort seen on Monday will be reviewed and the search will resume at first light.

-RNZ/Nita Blake-Persesn.
OECD Releases E-Commerce VAT Toolkit For Asia-Pac States

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

21 March 2022

On March 10, the OECD released a new VAT Digital Toolkit for Asia-Pacific (APAC) nations. The toolkit is intended to support local tax authorities to better collect value-added tax on e-commerce activities.

APAC is home to the largest e-commerce market in the world. The toolkit is intended to support the region's tax agencies to collect value-added tax not only on sales by online marketplaces and overseas retailers but on the sale of apps, streaming services, online games, and ride hailing services.

The OECD said: "The Toolkit provides detailed guidance for the implementation of a comprehensive VAT strategy directed at all types of e-commerce. It is designed to help governments secure important VAT revenues and to ensure a level playing field between brick-and-mortar retailers and foreign online merchants."

This Toolkit has been produced by the OECD in partnership with the World Bank Group. This partnership also includes editions for Latin America and the Caribbean and for Africa. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has contributed considerably as regional partner for the APAC region.
Singapore Adds To Guidance On ICAP Participation

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

21 March 2022

The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) has issued guidance for taxpayers on accessing the International Compliance Assurance Programme, a voluntary risk assessment and assurance program.

IRAS began participating in ICAP from 2021. Developed by the OECD, ICAP is intended to facilitate co-operative multilateral engagements between multinational enterprises (MNEs) and tax administrations, to enable the parties to agree on the international tax treatment that should apply to the taxpayer's affairs.

IRAS has said that an MNE's suitability for ICAP will be considered on a case-by-case basis. An MNE may indicate an interest in participating in ICAP to the tax administration in the jurisdiction of its ultimate parent entity (UPE). Alternatively, it may be approached by the tax administration in the jurisdiction of its UPE to discuss possible participation.

The tax agency has updated its guidance, including its FAQs, to explain how to participate in the ICAP. The updated guidance describes an option for an MNE group to indicate its preferences as to which tax administrations should participate in its ICAP risk assessment. IRAS said: "These preferences will be taken into account by the tax administrations in considering whether they will participate in the MNE group's ICAP risk assessment, but are not determinative."

The guidance further states: "The deadlines for submission of an application to participate in the ICAP can be found on the OECD's website. MNE groups that wish to discuss possible participation in the ICAP should contact the UPE tax administration in advance of the deadline."

The next deadlines for submission of an application to participate in ICAP are March 31, 2022, and September 30, 2022.
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Ireland a laboratory for colonialism in Palestine

21 March 2022 - The Trinity Long Room Hub welcomes Professor Rashid Khalidi, eminent historian and Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University, for a two-month fellowship exploring the parallels between Ireland and Palestine and their colonial histories.

To understand Palestine, you have to understand more about British colonialism generally and how it starts here, says Professor Rashid Khalidi, author of The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917- 2017 (2020), who says he hopes his study comparing the two experiencesmight be useful for understanding current problems, and perhaps gesturing towards solutions in Palestine drawn from the rich Irish experience.

Examining Ireland and Palestine as the first and last laboratories where the British state experimented with settler colonialism, Professor Khalidi argues that Ireland served as a template for the expansion of the British Empire over its long history and that many of the tactics we see being deployed in Palestine were first tested and implemented in Ireland.

Irelands struggle with Britain and that of the Palestinians with the Zionist movement and its British colonial support base have many differences but the similarities with Irelands colonial history are striking, says Professor Khalidi.

Both involved military conquest and the sponsorship by the British crown of the settlement of foreign colonists in the target country for political and ideological reasons. In both cases, this colonial settler project was dependent on the overwhelming might of a metropolitan power. Also in both cases, this project involved discrimination against, and systematic denigration of, the indigenous population by both settlers and those in the metropolis.

Ireland served as a template for the expansion of the British Empire over its long history. Professor Rashid Khalidi

While attending the Annual Meeting of the Consortium of Humanities Centres and Institutes 2019, hosted in Dublin by the Trinity Long Room Hub, Professor Khalidi spoke to many Irish academics in literature and history, inspiring him to begin his current fellowship project Ireland and Palestine: Britains First and Last Settler Colonies.

I wanted to look more deeply into the history of Ireland and I wanted to see how it works in terms of a comparison for Palestine, Professor Khalidi comments, before outlining how a more in-depth reading of Irish history shows up a number of key figures in the British aristocracy, whose Irish experience is central to everything they do afterwards. They come to Palestine with those experiences, says Professor Khalidi, citing individuals such as Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, Sir Charles Tegart, and later, Brigadier Sir Frank Kitson.

Aside from the many similarities to be drawn in terms of looking at settler colonies--a term which is still politically charged but now increasingly accepted by historians--Professor Khalidi is also pursuing a line of enquiry exploring policing and counter-insurgency. Much of what is done in the colonies starts here in Ireland, notes Professor Khalidi, particularly when considering the Royal Irish Constabulary, which he says was moved in block to Palestine in 1922 to create the Palestinian gendarmerie.

By examining key figures within the constabulary, army and security services, Professor Khalidi argues, it is possible to see how the Irish experience is exported to India, Egypt and Palestine, and then returned to Ireland again during the Troubles, having been magnified in the colonies.

Its astonishing how personnel, as well as counter-insurgency techniques like torture, assassination and so on often find their roots here, says Professor Khalidi.

Hes also considering the impact of displacement and forced emigration in the two regions (which happens in waves), and how ultimately this created an extensive global diaspora. Diasporic communities are often the financial support for the resistance of national movements, says Professor Khalidi and nowhere is this more visible than in the case of Ireland. However, he argues that while the diaspora is becoming increasingly important in Palestine, the Jewish diaspora is much more extensive, a factor in the Israeli-Palestinian dynamic which is distinct from the Irish case.

Among the many other differences between the two situations is also the central fact that in the Irish case, the settler population was composed mainly of Scots and English Protestants, drawn directly from the metropolis itself, and whose objective was tightening the union with the metropolis. In Palestine, Britain supported Zionism, a colonial project with a discrete nationalist objective of an exclusively Jewish state. The recruits for this project did not have roots in the metropolis, but rather were drawn mainly from Jewish communities in Eastern Europe.

Although he is accustomed to receiving push-back both in the US and elsewhere for his contributions to discussions around Palestine, he notes that its easier in some cases for him to look at Palestine as a historian, and that in moving away from the contemporary conflict, you can talk about patterns throughout history.

As part of his project, Professor Khalidi is meeting with many experts within Trinitys Departments of Histories and Humanities, English, and Middle Eastern Studies, and in the University of Cork, UCD, and Maynooth, and will continue to engage with colleagues throughout the islands universities for the duration of his fellowship which lasts until April 2022.

Rashid Khalidi is Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia Universitys Department of History. He is co-editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies, and was President of the Middle East Studies Association, and an advisor to the Palestinian delegation to the Madrid and Washington Arab-Israeli peace negotiations from October 1991 until June 1993. He is author of: The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917- 2017 (2020); Brokers of Deceit: How the U.S. has Undermined Peace in the Middle East (2013); Sowing Crisis: American Dominance and the Cold War in the Middle East (2009);The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood (2006); Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America's Perilous Path in the Middle East (2004); Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness (1996); Under Siege: PLO Decision-Making During the 1982 War (1986); British Policy Towards Syria and Palestine, 1906-1914 (1980); and co-editor of Palestine and the Gulf (1982) and The Origins of Arab Nationalism (1991), and The Other Jerusalem: Rethinking the History of the Sacred City (2020).
Poitive Senior - BHPian



Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: 3rdRockFmTheSun Posts: 1,087 Thanked: 1,939 Times

Re: Impact of the Russia-Ukraine war before going to the next section.



Video Description:

Quote: "It's one thing for sarin gas to be used on people in faraway Syria, who are Muslim and who are of a different culture. What is Europe gonna do when it's on European soil done to Europeans?"



Julia Ioffe for CNN https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4ydyoOZFcwk



Absolutely outrageous, racist, and unacceptable; isn't it?



Now read the transcript for context:

Quote: KEILAR: And I think part of the reason -- look, Wesley Clark was on and he said, doing the curfew is an indication that there are already some Russian forces that have gotten in. And maybe not that many, but it's a way of saying, stay off the streets because we don't want you caught up in anything.



So, if that is where this is headed in this week, before this potential NATO meeting, how does that ramp up the pressure on NATO countries to do something? Does it change the equation?



IOFFE: I fear that just right now it doesn't yet. I think NATO is still going to stay on the sidelines of this, precisely because they don't want a direct military confrontation with Russia. It's the thing that everybody's been trying assiduously to avoid.



But what happens, for example, if Vladimir Putin uses chemical weapons in Kyiv or in Mariupol. We've seen him and his allies in Syria do the same. They're clearly preparing something, because they've been making a lot of noise at the U.N. and in the media that -- Kremlin-controlled media that the Ukrainians are -- have all these biological, chemical weapons, and that they're going to use them, which seems like fertile ground for a false flag operation.



So, what is NATO going to do if -- you know, it's one thing for sarin gas to be used on people in faraway Syria who are Muslim and who are of a different culture. What is Europe going to do when it's on European soil done to Europeans? Are they going to intervene? Are they going to keep standing back? And if they do intervene, how far are they willing to go? And are they willing to have a direct confrontation with Vladimir Putin, which is what he seems to want. Source



Perhaps less unacceptable to many after the context.

(Not saying her statement is justified or otherwise.)

Quote: Poitive Originally Posted by PS: Would like to see a longer version before making more firm opinions, as clips often mislead. Please see the 23 sedond videogoing to the next section.Video Description:Absolutely outrageous, racist, and unacceptable; isn't it?Now read the transcript for context:Perhaps less unacceptable to many after the context.(Not saying her statement is justified or otherwise.)
In brief: An ex-Apple employee who spent a decade as a buyer in the company's Global Service Supply Chain department has been charged with defrauding Cupertino out of more than $10 million by taking kickbacks, stealing equipment, and laundering money.

A federal criminal case claims that Dhirendra Prasad, 52, abused his position to defraud Apple through several schemes, including stealing parts using false repair orders and causing the tech giant to pay for goods and services it never received. Prosecutors estimate Apple's losses as a result of Prasad's alleged actions during the ten years he worked there (December 2008 to December 2018) to be around $10 million.

Using a court order, the federal government seized five real estate properties and financial accounts from Prasad worth around $5 million that are linked to the alleged criminal activities. The US Attorney's office in San Jose said the government would seek to keep the assets as proceeds of crime.

Prosecutors said that two owners of vendor companies that did business with Apple have admitted conspiring with Prasad to commit fraud and launder money.

Prasad is scheduled to appear in the US District Court in San Jose this Thursday, where he will face charges of engaging in a conspiracy to commit fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion. Each charge carries a sentence of five to twenty years imprisonment, though ABC notes that most people convicted of fraud receive less than the maximum sentence.

Last month brought news of a Chinese national who was sentenced to 26 months time served in prison after he tricked Apple into giving him more than $1 million worth of iPhones by sending fakes to Cupertino's warranty replacement program. Unlike like this latest case, however, that person never worked for Apple.

Center photo by Matthew Ansley
Elon Musk revealed his biases in the Tesla Model X lineup, and it is the six-seater variant of the electric SUV, focusing on seating more than five, but less than the existing seven-seater variant. The Model X comes in two options now, and it is the two-rowed version, and the three-rowed electric car, with Tesla the iconic wing-like doors.

Elon Musk Tesla Model X: Six-Seater Version is the Best

Tesla CEO revealed that the Tesla Model X's six-seater version is the best in the car model's lineup, expressing his bias on the car version with its three-row setup. The rear sets focus on a different configuration compared to usual seven-seater cars and its focus is on seating adults comfortably in all seats of the car.

The back row seat is one of the most hated parts of the car as manufacturers that push for seven-seaters usually cramp the third row, or push for the second row to have a third seater in the middle booster. Musk revealed that if he had the choice, it would be the only variant in the Model X's releases, and no longer feature the five-seater.

Read Also: Tesla as the Best EV Automaker in the US? Latest Data Shows it Holds Almost 70% of Market Shares in 2021

The six seat Model X is best imo. There are times when I only want to offer that variant.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 20, 2022

Tesla Model X to Have Seven Seater Variant?

The Tesla Model X already has a seven-seater variant in its options, and what it brings is another seat in the second row, kind of like a booster seat that comes with a full-sized backrest, unlike other vehicles. However, what the Model X does not bring is the seven-seater Plaid variant, that only comes with two rows that can seat five.

Tesla and its Model Lineups

Tesla is a famous car brand and as a manufacturer, it provides different options for customers to enjoy different aspects of the company's offers in its shop. One of the most famous variants under Tesla's releases is the Plaid version that comes with the Model X and Model S, and it brought the fastest and highest range Tesla vehicles in production.

It is the top regarded vehicle in Tesla's lineup now and it offers a massive focus on electric mobility as a performance vehicle that does not sacrifice certain aspects.

The clean energy company offered different trims of the vehicle as well, and it focused on its base variant and the previous top-of-the-line release, the Long Range version for each car. Of course, it would depend on the needs and budget of the customer to what vehicle will they purchase from the Musk-owned company, especially now that it raised prices due to nickel supply.

The Model X is one of Tesla's unique vehicles in the market, and it remains the full-sized SUV that brings a massive option for users who prefer a hatch-type body for larger needs. The car can seat a family in it, bringing a spacious interior that is not necessarily cramped, especially the last row of its cabin, accomodating space for the other members.

Related Article: Tesla, the Most Trusted EV Company, Says New Study! Apple Included in the Top 10?

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Isaiah Richard

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Tesla's Gigafactory Berlin is going to feature more graffiti art on the entirety of the European plant, and it will not focus on the exteriors only, but also on its interior. Elon Musk revealed that more is coming for the Giga Berlin and it will focus on both the interior and exterior of the Gigafactory, with no exact opening of it for everyone to see.

Tesla: Giga Berlin to Feature More Graffiti Art on the Plant

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that more is coming for its Giga Berlin in terms of the graffiti art that it currently showcases, as these are the only things seen by the public now. Giga Berlin is not yet open to the public as it finishes the construction of the plant that will soon output a significant amount of electric vehicles that will supply Europe and other parts of the world.

The public may see the graffitis on Giga Berlin's exterior now and it features massive designs that have the company expressing its style and freedom in the designs it has now. However, it did not yet showcase the interiors of the plant, but it does not necessarily mean that the graffiti will be on the outside only.

Read Also: Tesla, the Most Trusted EV Company, Says New Study! Apple Included in the Top 10?

Giga Berlin-Brandenburg will be covered with beautiful art, inside and out  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 20, 2022

Graffiti Check: What Are the Designs Now?

The current graffiti at the Giga Berlin shows two aspects only, and one shows the city with a bridge and a hand that holds a Moon-looking sphere that features a color-spectrum themed design. The other art focuses on a different look on a person that features a cyberpunk design, and the futuristic looks on the art may signify what Tesla wants to portray with its EVs.

Tesla's Gigafactory Berlin

There are only three Gigafactories in the world and these are the massive manufacturing plants by Tesla that creates its electric vehicles at a significant production by the company. The Tesla Gigafactory Austin in Texas, USA, the Tesla Gigafacotory Shanghai in China, and the Tesla Gigafactory Berlin in Brandenburg, Germany are thee of the existing ones.

The location for a fourth Gigafactory is still unavailable in the car manufacturer's plans and revelations.

Giga Berlin faced significant roadblocks in its establishment and that is not something that made the CEO feel right. Musk said that they abided with the many requirements in the plant's erection and construction, focusing on giving more to the locals than taking from their environment and the place.

It was the center of controversy when it faced trials and protests that go against it.

Graffiti is a form of street art that artists bring to certain public locations and places, with authorities sometimes seeing it as a form of vandalism instead of artistic expression. However, Elon Musk welcomes it on his Gigafactory, particularly in Berlin, where it features the art in the exterior of the plant, having more to come soon.

Related Article: Tesla Gigafactory Texas to Deliver Model Y EVs This Quarter, Giga Berlin Shows New Graffiti Art

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Isaiah Richard

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Telegram's suspension in Brazil has now been revoked by the Brazilian Supreme Court after briefly banning the messaging app in the Latin country.

As per a news story by Reuters, the Supreme Court of Brazil has already backtracked its previous order to block Telegram in the Brazilian nation after failing to the requests of the court.

Telegram's Suspension in Brazil

The Supreme Court previously asked Telegram to take down accounts on the platform of the message service for allegedly peddling disinformation.

However, last March 18, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the banning of the messaging service in Brazil for "repeatedly" ignoring the court orders and the judicial orders of the court, requesting to block accounts on the platform.

After which, the CEO and founder of Telegram, Pavel Durov, responded to the latest movie of the Brazil Supreme Court, admitting the "negligence" of the messaging app for failing to respond to its orders.

In a statement, the Telegram founder said that they have missed the emails of the Brazil Supreme Court as the messages of the latter were sent to an "old general-purpose email address."

So, it turns out that the Telegram boss is claiming that the messaging app has been banned in the country for missing the emails sent by the high court.

Durov added in his statement that his firm had previously provided the Brazilian Supreme Court a specific email where it is supposed to send any judicial orders or other messages.

However, the tech exec claims that the Supreme Court has failed to send it to the dedicated email.

Read Also: Telegram Update Brings Message Reactions and Other Features, But For iPad and iPhone Users Only

Telegram Brazil Ban Revoked

This time around, as per a recent report by the New York Times, Telegram has already complied with the judicial orders of the Supreme Court after it was banned in the country.

The messaging app reportedly deleted the classified information that the account of Brazil President Jair Bolsanaro had shared on Telegram.

What's more, the fast-growing messaging service also took down multiple accounts on the platform that were allegedly spreading disinformation.

Reuters noted in the same report that the Brazil Supreme Court has confirmed the "full compliance" of Telegram.

Justice Moraes himself announced that he is revoking the suspension of Telegram in Brazil.

Related Article: Telegram Gets BANNED in Brazil After Missing Emails from the Supreme Court

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Teejay Boris

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The multi-million project named "Saameynta" will achieve durable solutions for over 75,000 internally displaced persons and vulnerable host communities.

The United Nations and its partners on Sunday launched a four-year project to provide durable solutions for people displaced by conflict and climate change in Somalia.

The multi-million project named "Saameynta (impact in Somali)" will achieve durable solutions for more than 75,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) and vulnerable host communities in Somalia.

Adam Abdelmoula, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, said finding durable solutions to protracted displacement in Somalia is desperately needed to enhance the livelihood situation of IDPs and their host communities.

"These IDPs are unlikely to return to their place of origin in the near future since their lands are now arid and unsuitable for farming or pastoralism," Abdelmoula said.

Under the intervention, the UN and its partners will work together with the government to implement the National Durable Solutions Strategy. The project also seeks to decrease dependency on humanitarian aid, reduce poverty for thousands of impoverished individuals and promote IDPs integration in cities.

"Humanitarian assistance alone cannot address chronic issues such as mass displacement and recurrent droughts and floods. That is why durable solutions are a priority for the UN," said Abdelmoula.



*SOMALIA* , *SUDAN*, *TCHAD*, *ERITREA*, *ETHIOPIA*, *NIGERIA*, *CENTRE AFRICA*, *STATELESS*

THE Refugees from different nationalities countries are protests in front of the UNCHR office Zarzis demanding the evacuation from Tunisia urgently! pic.twitter.com/8FBjoyneiT  Towfik Sardal (@sardal_towfik) March 5, 2022

He said Saameynta's sole approach aims to leverage the values generated by planned urbanization and investment in order to provide affordable housing, employment opportunities and community assets such as infrastructure, irrigation facilities, markets and other locally identified priorities for communities affected by displacement.

Saameynta will also increase the self-reliance and access to sustainable basic services, including water, shelter, and health services for IDPs residing in the cities of Baidoa, Bossaso and Beletweyne.

According to the UN, there are an estimated 2.9 million IDPs in Somalia due to decades of conflict and extreme weather events such as droughts and floods. Of these, 2.2 million require urgent humanitarian assistance. The project will also ensure the full participation of displaced women and girls living in overcrowded sites who continue to face a heightened risk of violence and harassment.

Saameynta comes at a crucial time as the displacement situation in the country has been further exacerbated by drought, closure of refugee camps in neighbouring countries and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Why did 1 in 5 children and adolescents say they were not happy?
Larissa Iwanetz walked up and down Mountain Village for two weeks in solidarity with Ukraine. (Photo by Eva Thomas/Telluride Daily Planet)
A One to One Mentoring mentee and her friend get to work on a sled for this years Cardboard Sled Derby, which takes places Saturday at 10:30 a.m. on Telskis NASTAR Hill. The event benefits the local nonprofit. (Photo courtesy of Trang Pham)
Baton Rouge Area Chamber President and CEO Adam Knapp, center, speaks on the topic of traffic, and how important getting around in the market is to the future of local businesses, at The Advocate's 2020 Economic Outlook Summit, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020 at the Manship Theatre. Others, from left, are Domoine Rutledge, left, Chairman of the Southern University Board of Supervisors and Vice President and General Counsel for CSRS, Inc., Entergy Louisiana President and CEO Phillip May, and (far right) Jerry Jones, Executive Director of the Baton Rouge North Economic Development District.
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A young student walks home after getting off a school bus on Highland Road, Tuesday, January 18, 2022, near Lee Drive in Baton Rouge, La.
A proposal that would allow adoptees in Louisiana to obtain an uncertified copy of their original birth certificate at the age of 24 cleared its first legislative hurdle on Monday.

Under existing law, adoptees are barred from viewing their original birth certificate  which includes names of their birth mother and birth father  unless theyre able to convince the courts that theres a compelling reason to unseal the records.

But state Rep. Charles Owen, a Rosepine Republican and adoptee who last year tried  and failed  to get access to his own birth certificate, said its unfair for the government to withhold a record about him from him.

This is a liberty and freedom thing, for me, Owen said.

House Bill 450, sponsored by Owen, would allow adoptees that are at least 24 years old to obtain a copy of their birth certificate from the state register of vital records without having to petition the court. It advanced Monday out of the House Committee on Civil Law and Procedure without objection and now heads to the full House for debate.

Should adults adopted as kids have access to their birth certificates? Some lawmakers think so When state Rep. Charles Owen went searching for his birth certificate last year, he hit a frustrating dead end: under Louisiana law, adoption 

The measure faced opposition from anti-abortion groups, who argued that without the presumption that birth records will remain confidential, mothers may resort to abortion over adoption.

At Mondays hearing, Jeanette Livingston, chair of the Louisiana Adoption Advisory Board, Inc., urged lawmakers to view the legislation through the lens of adoptees  not birth parents.

She said when she relinquished her child to adoption, there was no promise of lifelong anonymity.

We love our children, and we want them to know where they came from and where they started, Livingston said.

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Another birth mother who chose adoption, Karen Babin, said the birth certificates belong to adult adoptees and to no one else.

When an adoption is finalized in Louisiana, a new birth certificate is created with the adopted parents information. The original birth certificate is kept under seal.

Several lawmakers questioned whether the proposal would lead to unwanted reunions between birth mothers and adoptees. But with the proliferation of services like Ancestry.com and 23andMe  which allow users to submit DNA samples to discover relatives  that door is already open, noted state Rep. Alan Seabaugh, R-Shreveport.

Elise Bateman-Lewis, a supporter of HB450 who was adopted in Louisiana, said that when an adoptee uploads their DNA to an ancestry mapping service, everybody and their brother will find out who their birth mother was. She said the legislative proposal allows two adults  an adoptee and their birth mother  to have a private conversation, out of public view.

If youre worried about a mother who isnt in a position to have a relationship or be in contact, this is the best possible protection, Bateman-Lewis said.

Louisianas adoption records werent always off-limits. It wasnt until 1977 that the state Legislature passed its closed adoption law that placed birth certificates under seal.

The law was changed to protect adoptees  not their birth parents  from the social stigma of being labeled a bastard or exposing their adopted parents as infertile, according to Bateman-Lewis, who cited research from University of Baltimore Law Professor Elizabeth Samuels.

In opposing the measure, Benjamin Clapper, executive director of Louisiana Right to Life, said that the change could push more people towards abortion.

Owen countered that Alabama, which allowed adoptees to view their birth records beginning in 2002, has seen a steeper decline in abortions over the last two decades than Louisiana.

If I had thought for one second that this had anything to do with abortion, I would not have touched it, Owen said, describing himself as a staunch member of the life movement.
A renewed push to ban hand-held cell phones while driving cleared its first hurdle Monday when the Louisiana House Transportation Committee approved a bill to do just that.

The measure, House Bill 376, next faces a vote in the full House.

State Rep. Mike Huval, R-Breaux Bridge, who has sponsored similar bills on the past, said he regularly sees drivers on the highway texting or watching Netflix.

"They are in the left lane," Huval told the committee. "When you pass them in the right lane they are looking down, holding up traffic."

Jennifer Smith, leader of distracteddriving.org, told lawmakers 24 other states and the District of Columbia have similar laws.

Smith said when Georgia passed its own measure that state saw a significant drop in distracted driving accidents.

Bills to outlaw hand-held cell phones while driving have been tried and failed in the past, including concerns that they could lead to racial profiling.

Ban hand-held cell phones while driving in Louisiana? House gives a resounding no A bid to ban the use of hand-held cell phones while driving was rejected Wednesday by the Louisiana House.

Huval noted that his bill would require that any tickets issued to violators include the race and ethnicity of the driver, and that information would be turned over annually to the Legislature to guard against racial profiling. "We have addressed that," he said.

While the bill won committee approval without dissent several lawmakers raised concerns.

Rep. Mack Cormier, D-Belle Chasse, repeatedly questioned how State Police and other law enforcement officers can discern that drivers are holding a cell phone.

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"If he is focusing on somebody's phone next to his ear that is in itself a scary proposition to me," Cormier said. "That is creating a hazard where an officer can cause a wreck."

Smith said in other states that already have similar laws violators generally acknowledge their guilt.

Push to outlaw hand-held cell phones while driving fails; 'it is an inconvenience' A bid to ban the use of hand-held cell phones while driving failed Tuesday in the Louisiana House.

Rep. Ed Larvadain III, D-Alexander, said he is concerned that police in small towns will use the law as an excuse to issue multiple tickets to generate revenue, and result in violators facing the suspension of their driver's license.

"Then you have people that can't go to work and that is an issue," Larvadain said. "Those small town mayors can't wait to get to it," he said. "They are going to write a bunch of tickets."

Rep. Gabe Firment, R-Pollock, objected to that comment and said he counted 15 small towns in his House district.

Firment said it was unfair to paint small town officials as being money hungry.

The committee approved an amendment that would end the bill in five years unless lawmakers extend it.

Huval's measure would take effect Jan. 1, 2023, which he said will allow a grace period for drivers to become aware of the new rules.

The bill won support from chiefs of police, State Farm Insurance, American Automobile Association, independent insurance agents and General Motors.

Opponents included the Louisiana Budget Project.
Fresh gains in oil prices and weak US futures dragged the ASX down from a two-month high on Monday morning to close slightly lower.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.2 per cent to 7278.5 points, a fall of 15.9 points. It rose as much as 0.8 per cent at the open. The ASX200 is down 2.2 per cent so far this quarter, but is out-performing the S&P500 in the US and the MSCI World Index, which are both down by about 6 per cent.

ASX trading volumes were modest at about 560 million compared to the past two weeks, which saw four days above 1 billion trades due to a triple witching, according to Saxo Markets Australian market strategist Jessica Amir. This included an S&P index rebalance, fund managers preparing for next weeks end of the March quarter, and expiring options.

The ASX 200 has been affected by triple witching, according to Saxo Markets Australian market strategist Jessica Amir.

Those three things saw index volumes go through the roof, she explained.

Last week the US Federal Reserve also mapped out seven more rate rises.

We now have certainty over how high rates will go. Markets for now are very bullish, but we are exercising caution.

Daily volumes would likely decline in coming weeks, she added.

The index rebalance saw AVZ, City Chic, De Grey Mining, and Home Consortium added to the ASX200. De Grey dropped 7.7 per cent on its debut along with other gold miners like Newcrest, down 2.7 per cent, and Northern Star, down 2.4 per cent as gold remained at $US1,927 per ounce due to low volatility, well below recent spikes over $US2,000.

But new lithium player AVZ gained 3.8 per cent to 95, while Pilbara Minerals gained 2.5 per cent and Liontown Resources gained 5.4 per cent.

Block Inc depositary receipts enjoyed both the biggest gains and added the most points, rising 9.2 per cent to match gains in the US company. Xero also gained 2.4 per cent, and EML Payments added 6.1 per cent.

Mining giant BHP gained 0.4 per cent, Wesfarmers gained 0.7 per cent after securing court approval for the takeover of pharmacy operator API and Qube Holdings gained 1.3 per cent after announcing an off-market buyback.

Magellan Financial fell 4.3 per cent after Hamish Douglass resigned as chair, and the big banks closed lower, except for Macquarie Group.

Transurban declined 2.4 per cent following an analyst downgrade last week. And Qantas dropped 1 per cent and announced it would start selling non-fungible tokens.

The Aussie dollar retreated from Fridays four-month high to US73.97.

Biggest gains:

Square 9.2%

Life360 6.4%

EML Payments 6.1%

Liontown Resources 5.4%

AVZ Minerals 3.8%

Biggest declines:
Life & Beth



Disney+

Amy Schumer returns to the small screen in this emotionally dappled half-hour series, which retains some of Schumers trademark earthy humour but dials back on the gags in order to tell a story of personal awakening and existential reorientation.

Michael Cera and Amy Schumer in Life & Beth. Credit:Scott McDermott

Schumer plays Beth, a New York wine saleswoman barrelling towards 40 and feeling like 100. She cant stand her boring clients, shes not into the work karaoke nights enforced by her boss (Murray Hill, most recently on our screens in Bridget Everetts Somebody Somewhere), and her six-year relationship with boyfriend and workmate Matt (Kevin Kane) is on the rocks.

Beths mum (Laura Benanti) is overbearing, judgemental and embarrassing, and the overall ordeal of Beths existence is underlined by a soundtrack of the kind of chaotic, discordant jazz that induces anxiety in anyone who wasnt actually born in a turtleneck.
Two young mothers have been savagely bashed in a Perth carpark, with one of the culprits alleged to be former Western Bulldogs player Brennan Stack.

Confronting vision of the 10-minute assault in the entertainment district of Northbridge, allegedly sparked by two car doors colliding, was captured by a witness and on nearby CCTV.

Brennan Stack is accused of assaulting two women in a Northbridge carpark. Credit:Nine News Perth

It shows the two women, Kia Krakouer and Tiara Cox, being punched, glassed, dragged and kicked  at times while motionless on the ground  by two men not known to them.

A WA Police prosecutor described the attack as one of the most vicious and ferocious the attending officer has seen in 21 years of service.
Nine Lismore residents have dumped flood-affected household items outside Kirribilli House and called on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to act on climate change.

The residents brought a truck to the Prime Ministers Sydney residence and dumped a number of items, including flood-ruined carpet, toys and furniture outside the front gate at 7.30am on Monday.

Kate Stroud said the group felt compelled to demonstrate after Mr Morrison failed to speak to some residents while visiting the flood-ravaged town earlier this month.

Ms Stroud lost her home in the floods and said she sheltered in her roof for six hours before being rescued by another resident on a jet ski.
Jarryd Haynes third trial on sexual assault allegations will be held in Sydney in March next year, when he will be represented by high-profile barrister Margaret Cunneen, SC, after his application to have the proceedings held in Newcastle was refused.

Mr Hayne, 34, was jailed last year for at least three years and eight months over an incident in Newcastle in September 2018 in which he allegedly assaulted a 26-year-old woman with his hands and mouth and left her bleeding from the genitals.

Jarryd Hayne leaves court last year. Credit:Edwina Pickles

The former NRL player was released from custody in February after the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal quashed his convictions on two counts of sexual intercourse without consent and ordered a retrial.

Earlier this month, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions confirmed it would proceed to a third trial.
Great Barrier Reef islands to be sold

A storm of protest has greeted the Queensland Governments decision to privatise the sun-drenched islands of the Great Barrier Reef. Liberal and Labor politicians found common cause in condemning the move to let tourist developers obtain the freehold title to Australias most beautiful islands. But a defiant Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen said yesterday: Why shouldnt they be sold off? What is the difference between island land and land on the mainland?

Pornography racket in the ACT

Crime investigator Bob Bottom told a parliamentary joint committee inquiring into pornographic videos that the Mafia outfit, headed by Reuben Sturman, was the biggest pornographic outlet in the world, with an annual turnover of $4 billion and a pirate video business worth $700 million. He said the Mafia was using the ACT as a base to export pornographic videos by mail order because of its lax censorship laws. The key is the Australian link, a Herald source said.

UFO sightings cause alarm

Sydney Police headquarters switchboard was jammed last night by hundreds of people claiming UFO sightings. Four egg-shaped lights were seen hovering above Sydney. The lights were not UFOs but spotlights from the annual Italian ball at the Westfield Shopping Town in Burwood reflected off low clouds. The heavy cloud cover had obscured the spotlight beams, only their reflections off the clouds could be seen. The police switchboard received 100 calls by 8pm.
Police have charged a man with murder after declaring a crime scene at a Gold Coast house where a womans body was found overnight.

Officers launched an investigation into the death of a 74-year-old woman at Molendinar on Sunday night after they were called to a house at Macquarie Avenue about 8.40pm.

A 50-year-old man attended a house on Macquarie Avenue that night and spoke to residents before returning to a separate house on the same street.

Gold Coast Chief Superintendent Rhys Wildman said the man and woman had known each other but it was not considered a domestic violence incident and the pair were not relatives.
Peter Hitchener and Paul Barry. Credit:Illustration: John Shakespeare

Snake catcher Raymond Hoser, who goes by the name of the Snake Man, is suing the ABC, Nine and News Corp for defamation in a legal fight that has drawn in Nine newsreader Peter Hitchener and Media Watch host Paul Barry.

The court fight involves coverage of an incident where a tiger snake was supposedly found hitching a ride underneath a car at a service station at Coles Nunawading.

Deadly tiger snakes like this ripper specimen have been hitching rides in cars and turning up in weird places this week, Hoser was quoted as telling news.com.au.

Hitchener told viewers that Hoser conceded that he had mocked up the photos with his own snake, while Barry provided his own scathing commentary on the incident.
It is ironic that the Acting Minister for Education, Stuart Robert, should blame dud teachers for the decline in student achievement, as he did last week.

In fact, you would struggle to find a topic that dominates the thoughts of primary school teachers more than how well their students are learning to read. Every teacher, whether they work in the public or private sector, knows this foundational skill is critical, not simply for reading itself, but so that students can access the broader curriculum, discover science and history, communicate a project idea, or read a maths problem.

NSW Year 1 students use their knowledge of phonics to spell on their whiteboards. Victorian primary school students are not necessarily taught reading using phonics. Credit:Rhett Wyman

It is well documented that students who fail to learn to read to a proficient standard are likely to have poorer life outcomes, including fewer employment opportunities, lower incomes, and are more likely to be dependent on welfare and involved with the justice system.

Teachers know this and they are doing all they can with the information and resources they are offered.
Independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwichs push to legalise voluntary assisted dying could languish for months in the upper house as concerns rise that opponents will use delaying tactics to stall the laws from being debated.

Despite the legislation passing with significant support in the lower house late last year, supporters of the bill cannot convince the government to allocate extra time for debate in the upper house.

Mr Greenwich, who praised Dominic Perrottets approach to the bill in the lower house despite being the Premier being staunchly opposed to voluntary assisted dying, said he hoped for the same compassion in the upper house.

The Premier ensured we had a respectful and robust debate in the lower house where everyone was able to participate. Its essential we have the same clear expectations and guarantees on time in the upper house, Mr Greenwich said.

Without any clear plan from government on debate time, Im concerned debate will drag out for months meaning more people will unnecessarily die horrific deaths.
Berlin: Germanys planned freedom day from COVID lockdown laws failed to materialise on Sunday, as regional governments chose to maintain restrictions amid rising cases.

The day was supposed to signal a milestone in the fight against the virus after two years of social distancing and mask mandates. However, little changed on the ground, with Germans still expected to wear masks and show their vaccine passports when entering shops and other venues.

Passengers wear protective masks while travelling on a bus in Hamburg, Germany, on March 15. Credit:Bloomberg

German justice minister Marco Buschmann, of the liberal Free Democratic Party, had hailed the moment the government would give responsibility back to the people as another big step back towards normality.

But under the new disease control law passed last week, the 16 federal states were given the right to extend most restrictions for a two-week transition period.
London: The Metropolitan Police investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann is to close after 11 years amid fears that the German prime suspect will never be charged.

Scotland Yard is understood to be preparing to shut its Operation Grange inquiry later this year.

The investigation was set up four years after the little girl went missing in Portugal in 2007, just days before her fourth birthday.

Gerry, left, and Kate McCann, show a picture of their daughter Madeleine at a press conference in Berlin, Wednesday, June 6, 2007. The McCanns are understood to be aware that the investigation is likely to close without charging anyone over their daughters disappearance. Credit:AP

It is feared there is insufficient evidence to charge Christian Brueckner, the convicted paedophile and rapist whom German police believe was involved in the childs disappearance at the resort of Praia da Luz.
Van Buren, AR (72956)

Today

Thunderstorms likely. High 69F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms during the evening, then partly cloudy overnight. Low 54F. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
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.
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Miley Cyrus has surprised her South American fans during her tour by performing some of her early tunes and Hannah Montana era classics that she hasn't sung in decades.

Miley's Quick Attention tour kicked off on March 18th in Argentina and she decided to sprinkle a few of her early hits into her performances. Fans were quick to jump on social media to share the videos which we couldn't be more thankful for.

First up, she took us back to an absolute classic with Fly On The Wall - WHAT A TUNE 
2 Germans Convicted in Italy in Fatal Lake Garda Boat Crash

ROMEA court in northern Italy on Monday convicted two German men of manslaughter for a boat collision that killed an Italian couple who were also out on Lake Garda for an evening of relaxation in the summer of 2021.

The court in the city of Brescia gave a 4.5-year sentence to Patrick Kassen, who allegedly was at the helm of the Germans motorboat, and 2 years and 11 months to Christian Teismann, who had insisted he was asleep during the incident, Corriere della Sera daily reported.

Prosecutors alleged that the tourists from Munich were drunk and speeding in the boat.

Killed in the crash on the night of June 19, 2021, were two Italians, Umberto Garzarella, 38, and Greta Nedrotti, 25, who were aboard a smaller vessel after spending part of the evening earlier with friends on shore.

Before the trial, Kassen was quoted by Italian media as saying he didnt realize there was a collision. He had been put under house arrest since July.

It wasnt immediately clear when the Germans would start serving their sentences.

Investigators contended that their motorboat slammed into the smaller vessel. Garzarella was found dead in the boat while Nedrottis body was found two days later by firefighting divers searching the lake.

The Germans insurers have paid the families nearly 3 million euros (just over $3 million) but Garzarellas father has said no amount of money can bring his son back.

Only the two Germans know what happened that night, drunk or not, I cannot judge, Corriere della Sera quoted Garzaellas father, Enzo Garzarella, after the court rendered its judgment. Theyll have their conscience all their life. This sorrow will remain with them as it will remain with me.
Russia's MiG-31 supersonic interceptor jets carrying hypersonic Kinzhal (Dagger) missiles fly over Red Square during a military parade in Moscow on May 9, 2018. (Yuri Kadobnov/AFP via Getty Images)

2nd Hypersonic Missile Used in Ukraine: Russian Defense Ministry

Russia said it has used a hypersonic missile in Ukraine for the second time since the outbreak of hostilities, this time claiming to have struck a storage facility for fuel and lubricants used by the Ukrainian armed forces near the southern village of Kostiantynivka.

Russias defense ministry said in a March 20 operational update that on March 20, it launched an aircraft-based hypersonic Kinzhal (Dagger) missile from airspace over Crimea, hitting and destroying the storage facility near Kostyantynivka, which is in the northern part of the Mykolaiv Oblast.

If accurate, this would be the second use of a hypersonic missile in the RussiaUkraine war and, at the same time, the second use of such a weapon in combat. The first reportedly took place on March 18, with Russias defense ministry saying its forces used a hypersonic missile to destroy a large underground storage facility for missiles and aviation ammunition in Ukraines IvanoFrankovsk region.

The Pentagon hasnt confirmed that a hypersonic weapon was used in the attacks, and The Epoch Times has not been able to verify the claims.

Hypersonic weapons are defined as anything traveling beyond Mach 5, or around 3,800 mph, which is five times faster than the speed of sound.

Russias MiG-31 supersonic interceptor jets carrying hypersonic Kinzhal (Dagger) missiles fly over Red Square during a military parade in Moscow on May 9, 2018. (Yuri Kadobnov/AFP via Getty Images)

The United States, which is in a race with Russia and China to develop hypersonic weapons, is accelerating development to catch up.

Hypersonic weapons travel at speeds similar to ballistic missiles, but their maneuverability makes them difficult to shoot down.

Operational Updates

Russias defense ministry said in a March 21 update that, to date, Russian forces have destroyed 216 Ukrainian drones, 1,506 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 152 multiple launch rocket systems, 592 field artillery and mortars, and 1,284 special military vehicles.

The Ukrainian military on March 21 reported more attacks against Russian forces, claiming that at least 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in combat. The Ukrainian General Staff said that at least 1,535 Russian armored personnel carriers, 969 vehicles, 498 tanks, 121 helicopters, 97 aircraft, and 24 drones have been destroyed.

     pic.twitter.com/DV7wg0oIhP  Defence of Ukraine (@DefenceU) March 21, 2022

British intelligence said on March 21 that heavy fighting continues north of Kyiv and that taking the capital remains Russias primary military objective.

The bulk of Russian forces remains about 16 miles from the center of Kyiv, with a Russian advance on the city from the northeast remaining stalled, according to UK intelligence.

Nearly 3.5 million people have fled Ukraine amid the fighting, according to the United Nations, while at least 816 civilians have been killed.
A worker packages the AstraZenecas Evusheld medication in an undated video. (AstraZeneca via AP)

AstraZeneca COVID Drug Performs Well Against Omicron Subvariants: Study

A COVID-19 drug made by AstraZeneca did nearly as well against subvariants of the Omicron virus variant as the main variant, according to a new study.

Researchers with AstraZeneca, the Washington University School of Medicine, and other institutions used mice to test the monoclonal antibody combination, known as Evusheld, and a drug made by Vir Biotechnology, against the subvariants which have been increasing in prevalence in the United States.

They found small reductions in neutralizing activity for AstraZenecas drug but concluded the treatment retained much of its potency.

The study was published as a preprint.

The findings demonstrate that Evusheld was effective at protecting against infection in the lungs, a critical disease site for severe COVID-19, across all Omicron subvariants tested, Dr. Michael Diamond, one of the researchers, said in a statement released by AstraZeneca.

The findings further support Evusheld as a potential important option to help protect vulnerable patients such as the immunocompromised who could face poor outcomes if they were to become infected with COVID-19, John Perez, a senior vice president at AstraZeneca, added.

Evusheld was granted emergency use authorization for pre-exposure use by U.S. regulators in December 2021.

A previous study from French researchers released ahead of peer review indicated Evusheld retained activity against BA.2, an Omicron subvariant, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said it performed tests that found Evusheld neutralized BA.2.

On the other hand, regulators in February recommended a higher dosing because of concerns over Omicron subvariants.

Omicron is a variant of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes COVID-19 and is also known as SARS-CoV-2.

The new research, which also involved scientists from Vir, was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. military.

Researchers said the testing also found indications that Virs drug, sotrovimab, which is developed with GlaxoSmithKline, can limit inflammation in the lung caused by Omicron variants and can neutralize BA 1.1, one of the subvariants, but performs less well against BA.2.

Vir and its partner said in February data from pseudovirus and pharmacokinetic testing suggested its drug protected against BA.2.

Sotrovimab was cleared in October 2021 for treating COVID-19 patients with mild to moderate COVID-19.

Several other monoclonal antibodies, including ones developed by Regeneron and Eli Lilly, have retained little effect against Omicron and its subvariants.

However, Lilly later received emergency clearance for a different treatment, bebtelovimab, after emerging data suggested it worked well against Omicron.

According to data from the federal government, BA.2 caused about 7 percent of COVID-19 cases in the United States in the week ending Feb. 26. The B.1.1 subvariant was pegged as causing about 18 percent of cases, while the original Omicron was believed to cause virtually all of the other cases.
A relative of one of the victims mourns as a ferry sank after colliding with a sand carrier ship in Narayanganj, Bangladesh, on March 20, 2022. (Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters)

At Least 5 Dead, Dozens Missing in Ferry Accident in Bangladesh

DHAKAAt least five people died and dozens went missing after a small ferry packed with passengers collided with a cargo vessel and sank on Sunday on the Shitalakhsya River in central Bangladesh, the latest waterway tragedy to hit the nation.

Five bodies have been recovered after the ferry sank as it departed from the industrial district of Narayanganj, about 20 kilometers (12.43 miles) from the capital Dhaka, to Munshiganj, said local police official Mohammad Moniruzzaman.

The dead include two women and two children, he said, adding: The rescue operation for those missing is ongoing.

Police said they did not know the exact number of people missing, but passengers said more than 50 people had been on board, and some had managed to swim ashore.

People gather at the bank of Shitalakshya river, where a ferry has sunk after colliding with a sand carrier ship in Narayanganj, Bangladesh, on March 20, 2022. (Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters)

Relatives of the victims mourn as a ferry sank after colliding with a sand carrier ship in Narayanganj, Bangladesh, on March 20, 2022. (Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters)

Hundreds of people die each year in ferry accidents in Bangladesh, a low-lying South Asian country that has extensive inland waterways but lax safety standards. Nearly 30 percent of the countrys 170 million people commute along river routes.

At least 26 people died in April after an overcrowded ferry collided with a cargo vessel and sank on the same Shitalakhsya River in Narayanganj.

In December, at least 41 people were killed and dozens injured after a packed ferry caught fire.
A view of the damage at the Retroville shopping mall on March 21, 2022, a day after it was shelled by Russian forces in a residential district in the northwest of the Ukranian capital Kyiv. (Fadel Senna/AFP via Getty Images)

At Least 8 Killed in Kyiv as Shelling Destroys Shopping Mall

At least eight people were killed by Russian shelling that struck a shopping mall on the outskirts of Kyiv, local authorities said, also heavily damaging nearby residential buildings.

A video released by the Russian Ministry of Defence showed a large blast outside the Retroville shopping center in the Podilskyi district on March 20.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov alleged on Monday that Ukrainian forces used the shopping mall to reload multiple rocket launchers and store rockets used for shelling Russian troops.

Konashenkov said that a battery of multiple rocket launchers and ammunition for them was destroyed in the strike. NTD News could not independently verify the defense ministry spokesmans claims.

Ukrainian nationalist units hid between residential buildings for several days and fired from multiple launch rocket systems at Russian military personnel, Konashenkov said. At the same time, the areas of the nearby shopping center were used as a large base for storing rocket-propelled ammunition.

The blast also damaged nearby buildings in the densely populated Podil district and left smoking piles of rubble. The impact of the rockets had shattered every window in a neighboring high-rise.

Ukrainian firefighters work amid the rubble of the Retroville shopping mall, a day after it was shelled by Russian forces in a residential district in the northwest of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on March 21, 2022. (Fadel Senna/AFP via Getty Images)

Ukrainian State Emergency Services urged firefighters to rescue people trapped in the rubble of the shelled mall and extinguish flames that had reached the third and fourth floor of the mall, The Kyiv Independent reported.

Iryna Venedictova, the prosecutor-general of Ukraine, said the current death toll of eight people was based on preliminary information and could still rise.

The war in Ukraine, which Moscow calls a special military operation, has killed hundreds of civilians since Russia launched its invasion nearly one month ago.

The U.N. human rights office (UNHCR) recently said that at least 902 civilians had been killed in Ukraine as of March 19, noting that the real toll could be higher.

Ukraines military claimed on March 20 that Moscows combat losses included 14,700 personnel and 476 tanks. Russia last acknowledged on March 2 that nearly 500 of its soldiers had been killed. NTD News could not independently verify either casualty number.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

From NTD News
A case of test tubes is placed on a lab table during research on coronavirus, COVID-19, at Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceutical in Beerse, Belgium, Wednesday, June 17, 2020. Janssen Pharmaceutical hopes to begin clinical trials on a potential vaccine for COVID-19 in the middle of the summer. (Virginia Mayo/AP Photo)

Australian State and South Korea to Work on the Development of the Global RNA Ecosystem

The Australian state of Victoria and South Korea are joining forces to enhance RNA and mRNA vaccine research capabilities.

The partnership was formalised by the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between mRNA Victoria and the South Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI).

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a molecule that plays an essential role in the function of genes. RNA technology underpins the development of new vaccine classes, including the provisionally approved mRNA COVID-19 shots by Pfizer and Moderna.

mRNA based COVID-19 vaccines are designed to train cells to produce a protein unique to the virus, which triggers an immune response and prepares the immune system for exposure to the virus.

The MOU will combine Victorias biotech research expertise with Koreas specialist biomanufacturing capabilities. The agreement entails knowledge exchange between Victoria and South Korea and the development of relationships between government, industry and research organisations.

Initiated by Austrade, the MOU aims to promote opportunities for joint early stage RNA research, clinical trials and investment into the development of new RNA-based vaccines and therapies.

We hope the signing of this MOU will bring more collaborations in the RNA-based technology field between two organisations for securing new healthcare technologies, Dr Young-ok Kim, Executive Director of KHIDI, said in a press release.

Together, we can] contribute to the development of the global RNA ecosystem and future pandemic response, he added.

The South Korean government has pledged AU$2.4 billion (US$1.78 billion) to become a major global COVID-19 manufacturing centre by 2025, while the Victorian government is aiming to make the state a hub for developing mRNA and RNA technology, AAP reported.

Clinical trials are presently being funded by mRNA Victoria for a locally developed and manufactured COVID-19 vaccine, which is expected to be available by mid-2022.

Austrade set up a dialogue between mRNA Victoria and KHIDI in early 2021, believing the partnership could supplement the global vaccine supply.

This led to an RNA vaccine partnership roundtable in October 2021, where academia and industry showcased their capabilities and identified synergies.

In addition to coordinating the MOU signing, Austrade played a pivotal role in supporting the partnership by promoting Australias mRNA capability to crucial government bodies in South Korea, such as the South Korea Ministry of Health and Welfare, the South Korea Health Industry Development Institute and Korea Vaccine Consultative Committee.
Beijing Praises Russias Military, Exposes Its Own Weaknesses

The U.S. Department of Defenses recent summary of the Russia-Ukraine war shows that the United States knows the situation well and has been sharing intelligence with Ukraine. Meanwhile, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) continues to praise the Russian military as powerful and well-armed. Experts say that the Russian army so far has lost both psychologically and practically on the battlefield, and the CCP has humiliated itself with its propaganda.

The U.S. Department of Defense issued a press release on March 8 summarizing the Russia-Ukraine war in stages.

A senior U.S. defense official said at a briefing on the same day that almost all Russian troops gathered on the Ukrainian border are now inside Ukraine and the invading Russian army continues to face rock-like resistance from Ukraine.

The official stated that in general, the Russian armys operation to seize the Ukrainian capital Kyiv has stalled. Near Kyiv, we still observe that the Russians are not close to the city center, he said. The nearest place they can find is the airport.

The Russian army is trying to attack Kyiv from the east. We estimate they are about 60 kilometers from the city, the official said, so they are still farther away than the main force pushing north.

In southern Ukraine, Mariupol is isolated but still fighting. An official said that Russian forces were seeking to attack the port city of Odesa. Since Russia has 11 amphibious landing ships in the region, an amphibious attack is likely.

The official also said that the Russians were plagued by problems such as low morale, logistical support, and that the Russian military operations seem to be behind the timetable they had set.

He stated that Russian long-range artillery and missiles regularly target civilian areas, firing nearly 670 missiles into Ukraine.

U.S. military aid is reaching the Ukrainian forces. He said the United States provided $1 billion worth of security assistance to Ukraine last year. He said that the $350 million lethal aid approved more than a week ago has been delivered, almost in full, at an unbelievably fast rate.

US Controls the War and Shares Intelligence with Ukraine

It appears that the United States is well aware of the war situation in Ukraine, and has been sharing battlefield intelligence with Ukraine.

A senior Biden administration official said that in early March, the White House revised existing guidelines for the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies to send intelligence data to the Ukrainian government to clear any bureaucratic hurdles in the information-sharing process.

U.S. officials said that classified information currently being transmitted through secure communication portals includes detailed tactical data on Russian military operations designed to help Ukraine develop its military response. They did not disclose further details to maintain confidentiality.

Long before the Beijing Winter Olympics, the United States released accurate intelligence on the deployment of Russian forces and predicted that Putin could order an invasion of Ukraine at any time.

Russia claimed in February that its troops were withdrawing after conducting exercises in the southern and western military districts close to Ukraine. But instead of withdrawing, senior U.S. government officials say that Russia increased its presence on the Ukrainian border

Expert: US Cautiously Assisting Ukraine

Su Ziyun, director of military strategy and industry of the Institute for National Defense and Security Research of Taiwan, said in a recent interview with The Epoch Times that the United States is very careful to assist Ukraine, including providing defensive weapons and sharing intelligence.

Su said that the United States provides Ukraine with Javelin and Stinger missiles. Furthermore, intelligence sharing is critical. In other words, the United States shares various electronic intelligence with Ukraine without taking direct military action so that they can grasp the image of the Russian military on the battlefield in advance.

The images we are talking about are not physical photographs, Su said, but it is important for the Ukrainian garrison to have a comprehensive understanding of the actions and deployment of the Russian army, which breaks the fog of war [Carl von Clausewitz] and allows Ukraine to see clearly.

He expressed that specifically, the United States may have provided Ukraine with some electronic communications equipment that could interfere with Russian military communications. We have seen Motorolas civilian wireless communication [equipment]. It should be said that it is very sophisticated, and we have seen it in the Ukrainian army.

Then there may be battlefield reconnaissance aircraft, he said. This type of reconnaissance aircraft can perform tomographic scans of the battlefield, and the radar on the aircraft can make relatively complete radar images of ground targets, which the United States will then provide to Ukraine. Under these circumstances, Ukraine could effectively prevent the advance of the Russian army.

The CCP Touts the Russian Army and Exposes Their Weaknesses

The CCP has been touting the combat effectiveness of the Russian military. On February 25, the day after Russia invaded Ukraine, CCTV, the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, published an article titled From Yesterday to Today, Five Tactics Used by the Russian Army.

The article says the five tactics of the Russian army include: precision-guided weapons open the way, quick-reaction forces seize key nodes, sea, land and air joint, large depth, and interspersed all-round assault, hybrid warfare and information smoke bombs, covering up real deployment and progress, and early infiltration and instigation.

According to the article, Chinese military experts claim that the Russian military accumulated a lot of practical combat experience through the Syrian war in recent years, while continuously modernizing their equipment, which has a great advantage in both quality and quantity. In contrast, the Ukrainian army lacks soldiers and experience in large-scale operations, has outdated equipment, insufficient materials, and has little chance of winning in conventional warfare.

The article stated that the Russian military uses Iskander-M tactical ballistic missiles, Iskander-K cruise missiles, Kh-101 air-launched cruise missiles, and Kh-31P air-launched anti-radiation missiles, saying these missiles have been the backbone equipment of the Russian military in recent years. The accuracy control at hundreds of kilometers away is within 20 meters, especially the Iskander series of missiles, in which the accuracy is within 5 meters and can carry out precision strikes on small targets and flat targets.

The article also claims that experts believe the Russian army will carry out large-scale electromagnetic suppression when the war begins, which will make it more difficult for the Ukrainian army to respond quickly.

Su believes that the Russian army has brought out many advanced weapons this time, such as T-90 tanks, and the Air Force has used Su-34 fighter-bombers and vacuum bombs. Russia still has more advanced tanks, even two generations more advanced than Ukrainian tanks, but the Russian army is unable to escape the counterattack of the Ukrainian armys anti-tank missiles.

Su said that weapons and equipment are only a part of the war. When you look at a war, you dont just look at the equipment, but whether the unit has the ability to execute a coordinated campaign. At present, it seems that [the Russian army] does not.

The propaganda of the Chinese Communist Party is completely wrong, he continued to say. The five tactics of the Russian military claimed by the CCP have long been a model for the militaries of various countries. As early as 1991, the United States used precision ammunition to open a path during the Gulf War. They then quickly attacked the troops into the node and then dismantled the enemys organized resistance. The Russian army does not seem to have accomplished such maneuvers.

He said that the Russian army may be short of precision ammunition, so it will use traditional bombs without guidance capabilities in the battle. Second, the Russian armys rapid strike was the wrong strategy to use. At first, Russia wanted to learn from the American Shock and Awe tactic. The troops surrounded the city by road, then surrounded the city with munitions, and then carried out precise strikes. The purpose was to disintegrate Ukraines psychological defense line and make Ukraine surrender quickly. But the Russian army failed.

He believes that Russias invasion was ill-timed because it is difficult for Russian mechanized troops to make combat formations, and the fields in Ukraine are muddy, making it is easy to restrict vehicles. Ergo, the Russian army must use the roads, which are more vulnerable. Because it is a marching formation, it is a single line formation, and easier to break. Putin started the war at the wrong time because he believed that a blitzkrieg could make Ukraine quickly surrender. But, Russia has failed in both the psychological battlefield and the physical battlefield.

The Chinese Communist Partys habit is to speak for Russia, but its propaganda has humiliated itself. Su Ziyun said that this war will shock the CCP because Russia borders Ukraine and so it is mainly a ground war. If Russian troops fail while walking or driving a tank to attack, it will be even more difficult for Beijing to attack Taiwan from across the sea.

CCP Army Accused of Being Big but Not Strong

Su Ziyun said that the CCP is indeed increasing its military budget and is preparing to continue to improve its equipment, but cross-sea attacks and amphibious landings are difficult military operations and can easily be blocked by Taiwan vessels at sea. Taiwan has a large number of anti-ship missiles, which play a role similar to the anti-tank missiles of the Ukrainian battlefield, and the CCPs sea-crossing troops will also be destroyed by anti-ship missiles, which is the first difficulty. Second, the CCP lacks actual combat experience in large-scale battles, especially in naval and air warfare. His evaluation of the CCPs military is that it is big but not strong.

It is also a wake-up call for Beijing, he said. Ground warfare is so difficult to fight, but it is even more difficult to fight across the sea.

Joyce Liang contributed to this article.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Biden Says Russia Exploring Options for Potential Cyberattacks, Warns Private Sector

President Joe Biden is issuing a call to action to the U.S. private sector to prepare for potential cyberattacks from Russia.

In a statement Monday, Biden said his administration is reiterating warnings based on evolving intelligence that the Russian Government is exploring options for potential cyberattacks.

White House cyber security adviser Anne Neuberger later clarified that while there is no evidence that Russia is pursuing specific plans for a cyberattack against the United States, intelligence has shown some preparatory activity from the Kremlin.

To be clear, there is no certainty there will be a cyber incident against critical infrastructure in the United States, Neuberger told reporters at a press briefing shortly after the presidents statement was released.

Neuberger says federal agencies briefed more than 100 private companies last week with classified information detailing the specifics of the Russian cyber security threat, and that Mondays declassified warning goes out to the broader private sector at large. She notes that most of the U.S. critical infrastructure is controlled by private companies.

I wont get into specific sectors at this time because the steps that are needed to lock our digital doors need to be done across every sector of critical infrastructure, said Neuberger. And even those sectors that we do not see any specific threat intelligence for, we truly want those sectors. to double down and do the work thats needed.

A release from the White House calls on all private companies to take several measures with urgency to sure up their digital security. These include putting in place multi-factor authentication, modernizing security tools as well as backing up and encrypting data.

Bidens statement notes the Department of Homeland Securitys Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has been actively working with companies in control of critical infrastructure through its Shields Up program to help protect against cyber threats.

The United States has blamed Russia for several cyberattacks against Ukraine ahead of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, and officials say Russia continues to use cyberattacks against Ukraine amid the ongoing war.

Bidens warning to the U.S. private sector comes on the same day Russias Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the U.S. ambassador in Moscow that Bidens comments referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin as a war criminal have strained ties between the two countries to the verge of breaking.

I think its important to remind everyone that it is Russia whos carrying out an unprovoked and unjustified war on Ukraine, said White House press secretary Jen Psaki in response to the comments from Moscow. Were seeing clear evidence that theyre intentionally targeting civilians and committing indiscriminate attacks. The Presidents comments speak to the horror of the brutality that Russia and President Putin are inflicting.

The United States and its allies have responded to Russias weeks-long invasion of Ukraine by imposing sanctions on Russian financial systems and individuals in Putins inner circle. The United States has also banned the import of Russian oil, along with other Group of Seven (G-7) nations, and moved to end Russias normal trade relation status, making it more difficult for Russia to do business with the West.

Biden has said repeatedly he is seeking to avoid a broader military conflict with Russia and is not sending troops to fight in Ukraine. Neuberger told reporters Monday that the United States would respond in the event of a Russian cyberattack against U.S. infrastructure.
President Joe Biden speaks about Ukraine in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, next to the White House on March 16, 2022. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images)

Biden to Visit Poland During Trip to Europe

President Joe Biden plans to visit Poland as part of his trip to Europe this week amid the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, the White House announced.

The president will travel to Poland following his meetings in Brussels, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement on March 20.

The trip to Poland is scheduled for March 25, following a NATO summit in Brussels, Belgium, that Biden is set to attend the day before to discuss ongoing deterrence and defense efforts in response to Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Biden will meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda to discuss the humanitarian response meant to help more than 3 million Ukrainian refugeesthe majority of whom have fled to Poland, overwhelming the countrys resources.

The United States is absolutely prepared to do what we can, and what we must, to support Poland in terms of the burden they have taken on, Vice President Kamala Harris said during a visit to the country two weeks ago.

Biden discussed the war ahead of his trip on an hour-long call with leaders of the UK, France, Germany, and Italy on March 21.

Biden has no plan to visit Ukraine on the Europe trip, the White House said.

The trip will be focused on continuing to rally the world in support of the Ukrainian people and against Russian President Vladimir Putins invasion of Ukraine, but there are no plans to travel into Ukraine, Psaki wrote on Twitter on March 20.

Poland is part of NATOs eastern flank and has received additional resources from the military alliance during the war, including a Patriot missile system and thousands of additional troops from the United States, as well as the Sky Sabre missile defense system from Britain.

The United States has pledged millions in direct military and humanitarian support to Ukraine in addition to $13.6 billion approved by Congress, some of which is meant to assist those displaced from their homes and who are crossing the border out of Ukraine.

Biden and NATO have said repeatedly that while they will continue to send support to the non-NATO member Ukraine, they will not send troops to fight on the ground in Ukraine and risk a broader war with Russia.

Meanwhile, on March 21, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the U.S. ambassador in Moscow and told him that Bidens recent comments calling Putin a war criminal have strained ties to the verge of breaking.

The United States and other countries have voiced support for an ongoing war crimes investigation into the Russian invasion and have denounced reported Russian attacks on civilian sites.

The Associated Press and Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
California Bill Would Let Parents Sue Social Media Giants for Products Addictive to Kids

A proposal introduced in the California State Assembly would allow parents in the state to sue social media companies that knew or should have known that their products were addictive to children.

The legislation, formally titled Social Media Platform Duty to Children Act, states that companies intentionally invent, design, and deploy features that are intended to make it hard for users to stop using their social media platforms, including employing the same techniques as gambling firms.

Democrat Buffy Wicks and Republican Jordan Cunningham are the co-sponsors.

Addicted consumers are particularly profitable because their consumption behavior goes beyond normal engagement levels, the measure states, noting that many users spend even more time on social media when they engage with content that makes them unhappier or unhealthier.

If enacted, individual and class action lawsuits would be permitted against companies with more than $100 million a year in revenue if they developed or implemented features into their social media platforms that were known, or should have been known to be addictive to child users.

Parents would be able to sue companies for damages up to $250,000 per child per year of violation, or $1,000 per child per year of violation in a class-action suit. The sued companies would have the burden of proving that their social media platforms didnt cause or exacerbate alleged damages to child users, including suicide, mental illness, eating disorders, and emotional distress.

Social media companies that intentionally make children addicted should also pay the consequential social cost, Cunningham told the Los Angeles Times.

We do this with any product you sell to kids. You have to make sure its safe, he said. Some sort of stuffed animal or something that youre selling to parents that are going to put it in their 5-year-olds bedyou cant have toxic chemicals in it. We just havent done that as a society, yet, when it comes to social media. And I think the time is now to do that.

The proposal is California lawmakers latest response to internal documents leaked by former Facebook employee Frances Haugen. The files, which have drawn national attention and bipartisan criticism, suggested that Facebook, now called Meta, was pushing to launch an Instagram Kids app while being aware of the negative effects Instagram has had on young users mental health.

According to one of the studies allegedly downplayed by Facebook, Instagram made body image issues worse in one out of three teenage girls.

Earlier this month, California Attorney General Rob Bonta launched an investigation into whether the TikTok video-focused app poses mental health risks similar to those described in documents shared by Haugen. In November 2021, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed a $100 billion lawsuit against Meta, alleging that it misled investors about the effects of its products on children.

In his State of the Union Address on March 1, President Joe Biden also promised to hold social media platforms accountable for the national experiment theyre conducting on our children for profit. Haugen, who testified twice before by Congress, was in the audience.

Its time to strengthen privacy protections, ban targeted advertising to children, demand tech companies stop collecting personal data on our children, said Biden, who has been advocating to repeal Section 230, an internet law protecting social media companies from lawsuits over content generated by users.
Aeroflot's passengers planes are parked at Sheremetyevo airport, outside Moscow, Russia, March 1, 2022. (The Canadian Press/AP-Pavel Golovkin)

Canada Tightens Ban on Russian Aircraft to Include Humanitarian Flights

The federal government says it has tightened rules for Russian aircraft after a commercial airliner was able to circumvent a ban on entering Canadian airspace late last month by falsely claiming to be a humanitarian flight.

Aeroflot Flight 111 was allowed to traverse Canadian airspace en route from Miami to Moscow on Feb. 27 despite Ottawa having banned all Russian aircraft earlier that day in retaliation for Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Officials have previously said Aeroflot 111 was allowed into Canadian airspace because it had registered as a humanitarian flight, a designation that Transport Canadas head of civil aviation suggested on Monday was deliberately falsified.

While the department is continuing to investigate, Nicholas Robinson told the House of Commons transport committee that officials believed Aeroflot used the humanitarian designation to circumvent Canadas flight ban.

Humanitarian flights are for emergency purposes, Robinson said.

And in this instance, we dont see that.  This action by Aeroflot is one that were continuing to investigate and have a great deal of disappointment in.

The decision to let Aeroflot 111 into Canadian airspace because of its humanitarian designation appears to have been the result of confusion between the Liberal government and Nav Canada, which oversees air-traffic control across the country.

Transport Minister Omar Alghabra told committee members that the governments decision to close Canadian airspace to Russian flights did not include any exemptions for humanitarian flights.

So thats why theres an ongoing investigation about what happened and how it happened, Alghabra said. Ive had conversations with Nav Canada about this.

But Nav Canada vice-president Ben Girard testified that officials followed the organizations existing regulations of allowing all humanitarian flights into Canadian airspace, which he said was confirmed in an investigation.

We were found that we did everything in compliance with published regulations and procedures, and the authority that we had at the time, he said.

It was only later, Girard said, that the ban was clarified to include humanitarian flights from Russia.

The first (notice) did not have any indication of how to proceed with humanitarian flights, he said in French. But since that time, as you say, the (notice) has been clarified.

Girard also revealed that Nav Canada has no actual power to stop Russian flights from entering Canadian airspace. Rather, violations are reported to Transport Canada, which works with police and the military to respond.

Committee members also heard that about 140 Russian flights were traversing Canadian airspace each week before the governments ban, with 55 flights rerouted around Canada between Feb. 28 and March 7.

About 75 vessels have also been affected by the closure of Canadian waters to Russian-owned and Russian-flagged ships.

Meanwhile, Alghabra acknowledged that Air Canada and other carriers are dealing with higher costs and longer routes to Asian destinations such as India and South Korea as a result of Russias retaliatory closure of its own airspace to Canadian aircraft.

Theyve had to reroute many or all of their flights that typically would fly over Russia, he said. So, for example, direct flights to India now are going through Europe, namely Ireland. And that is adding a little bit extra time and extra cost.

But he suggested airlines and travellers are overwhelmingly supportive of Canadas ban on Russian aircraft as part of its effort to punish Moscow over its decision to invade Ukraine.

By Lee Berthiaume
A vial of a plant-derived COVID-19 vaccine candidate, developed by Medicago, is shown in Quebec City on July 13, 2020 as part of the companys Phase 1 clinical trials in this handout photo.(The Canadian Press/HO, Medicago)

Canadas International Development Minister Urges WHO to Approve Medicago Vaccine

International Development Minister Harjit Sajjan says he wants the World Health Organization to greenlight Medicagos COVID-19 shot so it can be donated and used by the COVAX vaccine-sharing alliance.

But he says Canadas ability to get more doses out the door to lower-income countries depends mostly on getting reassurance they can and will be used when they are sent.

Canada is promising to donate at least 200 million doses by the end of the year but only 15 million have been delivered so far.

Fewer than two million doses were shipped out this year and Sajjan says more can go as soon as recipient countries indicate theyre ready for them.

On paper, Canada should have close to 100 million more doses available for donation that were purchased for Canadians that cannot be used here.

But half are the Novavax vaccine Canada has yet to confirm will be donated, and 20 million come from Medicago, which can only be donated if WHO agrees to approve that vaccine despite the companys ties to big tobacco.
People walk home on a street, after an incident at a carnival, in Strepy-Bracquenies, Belgium, on March 20, 2022. (Olivier Matthys/AP Photo)

Car Runs Into Carnival Revelers in Belgium, Killing 6

BRUSSELSA car slammed at high speed into Carnival revelers in a small town in southern Belgium early Sunday, killing six people and leaving 10 more with life-threatening injuries, authorities said, adding many others were lightly injured.

What should have been a great party turned into a tragedy, said Belgian Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden.

The prosecutors office, which gave the death toll, also said two local people in their thirties were arrested at the scene in Strepy-Bracquegnies, 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of Brussels. Prosecutors said, in the early stages of their investigation, there were no elements to suspect a terror motive.

In an age-old tradition, Carnival revelers had gathered at dawn, intending to pick up others at their homes along the way, to finally hold their famous festivity again after it was banned for the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some dressed in colorful garb with bells attached, walking behind the beat of drums. It was supposed to be a day of deliverance.

Instead, said mayor Jacques Gobert, what happened turned it into a national catastrophe.

People walk home, after an incident at a carnival, in Strepy-Bracquenies, Belgium, on March 20, 2022. (Olivier Matthys/AP Photo)

More than 150 people of all ages had gathered around 5 a.m. and were standing in a thick crowd along a long, straight road. Suddenly, a car drove from the back at high speed. And we have a few dozen injured and unfortunately several people who are killed, Gobert said.

The driver and a second person were arrested when their car came to a halt a few hundred meters (yards) further on.

Since Belgium was hit with twin terror attacks in Brussels and Zaventem that killed 32 civilians six years ago, thoughts of a terror motive are never far away.

But prosecutor Damien Verheyen said there is no element in the investigation at this time that allows me to consider that the motivations of the two could have been terror related.

The prosecutors office also denied media reports that the crash may have been caused by a car that was being chased by police.

King Philippe and Prime Minister Alexander De Croo visited Strepy-Bracquegnies later Sunday to express support for the families of the dead and those injured.

Carnival is extremely popular in the area. Carnival festivities in nearby Binche have even been declared a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Falun Gong practitioners gather in Washington to mark the 22nd year of the start of the persecution by the Chinese regime on July 16, 2021. They hold the Chinese character  (Nian), which means to remember. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Faith Believers Continue to Suffer Persecution in Communist China

After 22 years of harassment and torture at the hands of the Chinese regime for his spiritual beliefs, Dai Zhidong died aged 60 on Feb. 11, 35 days after the Chinese regime arrested him again for giving out a pamphlet, and less than one year after his wife, Guan Fengxia, died from severe persecution by the regime.

Dai had been working as a freight truck driver in the past months. On Jan. 8, he was filling his tank on the way to a delivery in Lindian county in Chinas far northeastern Heilongjiang Province, and gave the pamphlet about his beliefs to the gas station attendant. Shortly after leaving the gas station, a group of police appeared out of nowhere and stopped his truck. They then detained him overnight without issuing any official document, and took away his keys to his home.

The next day, the police released Dai after getting him to pay 10,000 yuan ($1,570). When Dai arrived home, he was shocked to find his home raided; the police had emptied all his drawers and cabinets onto the floor, and eaten the half box of mandarins that he had bought before the last delivery. Mandarin peels were then left scattered all over the floor.

The police had also confiscated Dais only remaining savings that he stored at home in case5,000 yuan ($786).

With no funds and worrying that the police might harass him again, as well as missing his wife badly, Dai collapsed with a rapid onset of severe sickness symptoms, unable to bear the decades of intimidation and torture. Not having insurance or money to visit a doctor, Dai died at home on Feb. 11.

Over the past two decades, Dai and his wife were tortured badly by Chinas ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) just because they refused to denounce their belief in Falun Gong.

Also known as Falun Dafa, Falun Gong is an ancient Chinese spiritual practice consisting of qigong exercises and moral teachings that promote living life according to the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. However, the CCPs regime launched a systematic elimination campaign in July 1999 simply because the practice had attracted 70 million to 100 million adherents in China, which was more than its party members.

Falun Gong practitioners do exercises at an event marking the 22nd anniversary of the start of the Chinese regimes persecution of Falun Gong in Washington on July 16, 2021. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Dai and Guan used to have a happy family in Daqing, a city in Heilongjiang. Dai worked at the Training Center of the Submersible Pump Company in the Daqing Petroleum Administration. Guan was a conductor at Sartu Railway Station in Daqing. They enjoyed stable incomes from their jobs, as well as good health from their daily Falun Gong practices.

Practicing Falun Gong not only freed me from the suffering of ailments, but also saved my soul, Dai wrote in a sharing that was published on Minghui.org, a U.S.-based website that tracks the persecution of Falun Gong in China. I now understand how to be a good person.

He wrote that Guan started to practice Falun Gong in 1995, and he joined her one year later after witnessing how she had changed into a much better person.

Dai and Guan are survived by their 34-year-old son.

Dai Zhidong

Dai suffered harassment, arrest, detention, displacement, torture, and financial extortion under the Chinese regime, which sought to force him to renounce his beliefs, according to Minghui.org.

In December 1999, Ma Zhifeng, the CCP official overseeing Dais employer, forced Dai to pay 3,000 yuan ($470)a sum equal to several times of Dais monthly salary because Dai practiced Falun Gong. Ma claimed that the regime didnt allow people to practice Falun Gong any more after the persecution of the practice started in July of that year, and didnt allow the practitioners to petition. The money would be held by the regime as a guarantee to ensure that Dai wouldnt go to Beijing to petition.

In April 2000, local police called on Dai to present himself at the police station to answer some questions. When Dai attended, he was detained for over 45 days simply because he didnt renounce his Falun Gong faith.

On June 18, 2000, Dai agreed with Guan, who was also facing persecution for practicing Falun Gong, that a petition would be the only way for them to regain their freedom of thought and belief. So, they bought train tickets and traveled to Beijing together with their teenage son.

Already under government surveillance, the family never made it to Beijing. They were detained by railway police on the train and sent back to Daqing. Dai was detained for 75 days, fined 4,500 yuan ($710), and laid off without severance pay. Guan was detained for 45 days.

Even after his release, the police continued to harass Dai. In December 2000, they arrested him. Before the authorities were able to secure him in a detention facility, Dai found a chance to escape and fled. Dai traveled to Harbin hoping to avoid the police in Daqing who were searching for him, but he was eventually found. He was fined 2,300 yuan ($360) and sent back to Daqing for further detention.

A demonstration shows how a female Falun Gong practitioner was nasal fed in prison. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Dai fled again until police found him on April 22, 2002. This time, the prison guard at Daqing Detention Center beat him badly and force fed him with chilli pepper water. To protest his torture, Dai started a hunger strike. As punishment, the prison guard then tore Dais esophagus using a nasal feeding tube. Dai told his family from detention months later that he frequently vomited blood.

One day in late June 2002, Dais family was told that Dai was being treated at a hospital. They quickly went to visit him, but saw that their loved one was in bad shape. They told Minghui.org that Dai was handcuffed to a chair, his lips and teeth were covered by layers of dried and fresh blood, his face was pale, nose was purple, eyes were closed, and he was unresponsive.

The family couldnt take Dai back home because they didnt have money to pay the police. They helplessly watched the police send Dai back to the detention center.

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In September 2002, Dai was transferred to Daqing Prison where he suffered even worse torture for nearly seven years. According to Dai, the prison police continued to beat his badly damaged body. He lost consciousness several times throughout the years of torture. At one point, his ears were in pain for half a year when he lost most of his hearing. His legs were also injured to the point where he couldnt walk for two weeks.

Other torture methods were also used cruelly on Dai. His prison guards frequently didnt allow Dai to sleep. The longest no-sleep period during which they forced him to stay away was three days. They also forced him to sit on a small stool without moving for nearly 20 hours per day for several days. They took off all his clothes and poured cold water on his body in winter when the temperature was below freezing point. Another form of torture imposed on Dai was being knocked to the ground and dragged by his feet for over 110 yards. After that torture, Dais sweater was torn and the skin on his back was injured.

Dai felt it a blessing that he survived to leave prison on April 21, 2009.

Guan Fengxia

Guan Fengxia. (Minghui.org)

Guan also suffered persecution for her belief in Falun Gong. From September 1999, just over one month after the start of the persecution of Falun Gong, Guan was sent by train to a CCP school in Jiagedaqi where she was made to attend brainwashing sessions every day for five months.

After her release from the school, Guan wasnt allowed to go home and was forced to stay at a train station for another five months. When she finally arrived home in late May 2000, she found that her husband had been detained and her 12-year-old son had been living by himself at home.

At that time, Guan still believed that the central leadership of the CCPs regime in Beijing would give her freedom of belief was granted in the Chinese constitution. When she tried to go to Beijing to appeal, she was arrested and sent to Qiqihar Shuanghe Womens Labor Camp for two years.

The prison cell was dark and damp, with water seeping through the wall. Its frozen in winter and full of mosquitoes and bugs in summer. Every morning, I could find more than ten types of bugs dead under my body, Guan told Minghui.org after her release in 2002.

In the labor camp, Guan also suffered the torture of being beaten, sleep deprivation, and sitting on the small stool without moving, as had her husband. The worst suffering for Guan came as she performed slave labor; she was poisoned when the camp forced her and other prisoners to pack pesticide.

Every day, I felt that not only my face, hands, and body were covered with pesticides, but also my nasal cavity and trachea were full of pesticides. I was coughing and my nose was running, Guan said.

Guan was left to raise her son by herself for six and a half years because Dai was detained in prison. With constant harassment and interference to her daily life from the police, Guan found it hard to find a job and had a lot of mental pressure each day.

After being unable to eat for two years, Guan died on March 5, 2021.
China Braces for Food Crisis

Fertilizer and wheat in short supply around the world

News Analysis

Last November, a wave of panic buying and hoarding was spurred by a message from Chinas Ministry of Commerce, instructing local governments to stabilize food supply and prices. Now, as the war in Ukraine is threatening wheat and fertilizer exports, China braces for a food crisis, while Americans can expect higher prices at the grocery store.

Countries around the world rely on grain from Ukraine. Ukraine exports 15 percent of the worlds grain, 80 percent of its sunflower oil, and is the fourth largest exporter of maize. The fighting in Ukraine is separating the producers from the Black Sea coastline, preventing exports.

Hunger is already being felt in East Africa and is expected to spread to other nations. Egypt, Tunisia, and Algeria have already begun to experience a shortage of wheat. Egypt is the worlds largest importer of wheat, obtaining 60 percent from Russia and 40 percent from Ukraine.

In anticipation of greater shortages, regional wheat prices have skyrocketed to historical levels, about 40 percent higher than they were before the invasion. French Agriculture Minister Julien Denormandie has urged the European Union to produce more wheat, to make up for the shortfall.

The Ukraine war has also driven natural gas prices to record highs. Consequently, fertilizer producers have had to cut their production of ammonia and urea by as much as 45 percent. A worldwide shortage of fertilizer could trigger a famine. Egypt, Indonesia, Algeria, as well as other nations have tightened exports of food. Hungary and Russia are among nations that are prohibiting grain exports. China was one of the first countries to ban fertilizer exports, since last October. Since then, Russia, Ukraine, and other countries have also banned the export of fertilizer.

Grain exports from Ukraine and Russia will be down, meaning that China and other countries are scrambling to increase their own production. Meanwhile, a decrease in the availability of fertilizer will further drive up grain prices.

China imports more than half of its potash, a key nutrient used in agricultural production. Fifty-three percent of Chinas potassium is imported from Belarus and Russia. Lithuania and Ukraine have banned the transport of Belarusian potash through their territory. This comes as a blow to China, which was already facing issues of food security.

A worker next to a machine transporting newly harvested paddy grains to a storage warehouse in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, China, on Oct. 25, 2019. (Stringer/Reuters)

In 2020, Chinas food self-sufficiency rate fell to 76.8 per cent. One reason is the lack of productive farmland. China accounts for about one-fifth of the worlds population, but only about 7 percent of the worlds arable land. Another issue is logistics. It is estimated that 5 million metric tons of Chinas grain reserves are wasted each year, as a result of substandard storage and transport methods. China is particularly vulnerable to food shortages because of declining domestic soybean and oil crop output. As a result, China imports 80 percent of its soybeans.

To avert a crisis, Chinese leader Xi Jinping instructed the populace not to waste food. China increased its stockpile of fertilizer in 2020. A year later, Beijing passed the anti-food waste law. Now, fertilizer exports are completely banned.

The United States only uses about 10 percent of the worlds fertilizer, while producing 35 percent of the worlds corn and soybeans. Normally, the United States imports 15 percent to 20 percent of its fertilizer from Morocco and Russia. If these imports disappear, they will have to be replaced with more expensive domestic fertilizer.

Many of the disruptions in food and fertilizer production and distribution in North America have been caused by COVID-19 restrictions and mandates on workers and drivers. Fortunately, 60 percent of the U.S. ammonia production capacity is in Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texasstates with low restrictions.

The price of U.S. fertilizer has been driven up by increases in natural gas prices, which in North America has risen 150 percent. Europe is being hit much harder as the cost of natural gas is up around 500 percent, and many fertilizer plants have shut down due to increased costs and tighter environmental regulations.

Higher global prices for food and fertilizer will be an incentive for American producers to export, which will raise the aggregate price of these commodities in the United States. Americans can expect to see food prices increase, but people in China and other parts of the world could be facing real shortages.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
A piece of wreckage of the China Eastern's flight MU5735 are seen after it crashed on the mountain in Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Province on March 21, 2022. (Xinhua via AP)

Chinese Airliner Crashes in Southern China With 132 on Board

A China Eastern Airlines jet carrying 132 people crashed in southeast China on March 21, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) confirmed.

Debris from the Boeing 737-800 jetliner was found, but the number of casualties isnt yet known, Chinese state media Peoples Daily reported.

There were 123 passengers and nine crew members on board, CAAC said. Peoples Daily had initially said 133 passengers, including an infant, were on board.

The crash caused fires in mountainous areas near Wuzhou city in Guangxi Province, state broadcaster CCTV reported. Rescue teams have been deployed.

The aircraft was on a flight from the southeast city of Kunming to Guangzhou, a city along the east coast. Flight MU5735 departed Kunming at 1:11 p.m. local time, FlightRadar24 data showed; it was scheduled to arrive in Guangzhou at 3:05 p.m, but communication with the plane was lost roughly an hour into the flight.

Data from the flight tracker showed the plane had been cruising at an altitude of 29,100 feet at 2:19 p.m local time when it abruptly entered a steep descent. Two minutes and 15 seconds later, the jet was recorded at an altitude of 9,075 feet, according to Flightradar24. The last tracked altitude was 3,225 feet at 2:22 p.m. local time.

Weather data showed partly cloudy conditions with good visibility in Wuzhou at the time of the crash.

There was no immediate word on the cause of the crash. Chinese leader Xi Jinping urged an investigation as soon as possible.

Police officers stand guard at the entrance of a village leading to the site of a plane crash in Tengxian county, Wuzhou city, in Chinas southern Guangxi Province on March 21, 2022.(-/AFP via Getty Images)

A resident from the village of Molang, which is near the crash site, said many rescuers gathered in his village.

Im too busy to breathe, he told The Epoch Times.

Another villager, Huang Kai (a pseudonym), expressed his concern to The Epoch Times.

His friend, who was around the crash site at around 2 p.m. local time, heard a loud sound, just like an explosion, Huang said. He feared no one could survive as the plane was destroyed.

The scene has been sealed and no one was allowed to enter, Huang told The Epoch Times by phone. He said the plane didnt strike any homes and plunged into a sparsely populated area.

An employee at Tengxian Peoples Hospital, a major hospital near the scene, told The Epoch Times in the evening that they hadnt received any injuries.

Local residents saw the debris of the plane scattered on the site and strips of clothing on trees, according to state-owned China News Service. The report said they didnt see any bodies.

People sit in an area where relatives of the passengers of the China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 plane, which crashed in Wuzhou flying from Kunming to Guangzhou, wait for news, at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, China March 21, 2022. (Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)

The plane is a 6-year-old Boeing 737-800 aircraft, according to Flightradar24. China Eastern said it grounded all 737-800 planes after the accident.

The 737-800, which has a good safety record, is the predecessor to the 737 MAX model that has been grounded in China for more than three years following fatal crashes in 2018 in Indonesia and 2019 in Ethiopia.

The last fatal accident of a Chinese passenger airline occurred in August 2010, when a flight from Harbin crashed while landing at central Chinas Yichun airport in dense fog, killing 44 of 96 people on board. The aircraft, an Embraer E-190, was operated by Henan Airlines.

Based in Shanghai, China Eastern is among the four major state-owned carriers. The last major crash involving the airline was in 2004, killing 53 on board and two on the ground.

China Eastern changed its official website to black and white in a show of mourning on March 21.

Hong Ning and Reuters contributed to this report.
A boat travels on the Huangpu River as the skyline of the city is seen, including the Shanghai Tower, in Shanghai, China, on Aug. 28, 2020. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Chinas State-Owned Enterprises Will Buy Russian Assets

News Analysis

Chinas state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are coming to Russias rescue. Beijing is pressuring SOEs to purchase goods from Russian companies and to make investments in Russian enterprises.

As sanctions take hold against Russia, companies in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe have been dumping Russian assets. China views this as a buying opportunity.

Some Chinese investors believe that Russia now has no one else to turn to but China. So they believe that China stands to gain from its trade with Russia, said Hao Hong, managing director and head of research at BOCOM International.

Regardless, Russia desperately needs a partnership with China. Economic reparations will be demanded at the end of this war from Russia, which is already accused of war crimes.

According to the Brookings Institute, Russia has about $350 billion in available reserves mostly held by France (12%), Germany (10%), Japan (10%) and the U.S. (7%), with the rest scattered among many other countries.

It will be very hard for Russia to withdraw any reserves from Western markets and central banks until sanctions are lifted, and nearly impossible to move funds if Russia is found guilty of committing war crimes.

There are other strategies at play. In a March 14 op-ed in The Hill, strategists Marc Ross and Michael Keane wrote how Chinese leader Xi Jinping could very well have his sights on Ukraine and Russia for the commodities supply. In theory, if Beijing secures Russia and Ukraines commodity supply, then the regime wont have to worry about a disruption if it invades Taiwan.

Beijing could sidestep any economic sanctions, which is important because China receives the majority of its commodities from ocean trade, and there is persistent fear within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that an invasion of Taiwan would trigger global trade sanctions, including sanctioning seaborne trade.

Workers stand near a crane unloading sacks of imported soybeans from Russia at Heihe port in Heilongjiang Province, China, on Oct. 10, 2018. (Stringer/Reuters)

Russia and China have an overlapping strategic interest in taking down the United States, as well as complementary business needs, Ross and Keane wrote. Chinas simple business model is to buy and import commodities and then to make and sell mass-produced goods, which it exports to the world. In other words, China seeks to import every commodity traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and manufacture every good sold at every retail store in the Mall of America.

The combined commodity supply alone is in the tens of billions. Ukraine exports numerous raw materials (iron, steel, mining products, agricultural products), corn, sunflower seeds, wheat, rapeseed, barley, and sunflower meal. If Xi officially backs Russia, he would be securing a tremendous commodity flow for the CCP and ensuring that the Russian economy doesnt collapse from the weight of the international sanctions.

Other countries are with China, too. Countries associated with Chinas Belt and Road Initiative (BRI, also known as One Belt, One Road) most likely wont sever ties with Russia.

India, a partner in the BRI, has yet to condemn Russia for the Ukrainian invasion. While New Delhi has long-standing trade relations with Moscow, its dependent on Russian manufacturers for Indias defense arsenal. Additionally, India recently purchased oil from Russia, with ABC News reporting on March 18 that the state-run Indian Oil Corp. bought 3 million barrels of crude oil from Russia earlier this week.

Apart from economic aid, China could help Russia with defense. China could supply arms to Russia, much like NATO states have supplied Ukraine.

China probably wants to avoid high-profile or big-ticket arms sales to Russia in the midst of a conflict which would expose Beijing to international sanctions, Drew Thompson, a former U.S. Defense Department official, told The Associated Press. Beijing would be more willing to provide spare parts, consumables, ammunition, and dual-use items that dont contravene sanctions and could fall below the threshold of international reprisals.

When Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov spoke of a RussiaChina alliance on March 13, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan warned Beijing of consequences, stating that there will absolutely be consequences for large-scale sanctions evasion efforts or support to Russia to backfill them.

Despite the international sanctions and condemnation of Russia, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that ChinaRussia ties are as strong as ever.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague ruled on March 16 that Russia shall immediately suspend the military operations in Ukraine. Chinas representative, Judge Xue Hanqin, dissented against the ruling.

President Joe Biden and Xi had a video call on March 18 and little was said of Russia. But according to a statement from Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Xi expressed his belief that these conflicts are in no ones best interest.

As it stands, it seems the regime in Beijing doesnt wish to become directly involved in the Ukraine crisis, nor does it want to help Moscow evade sanctions, but China does wish to remain a competitive contender.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
A farmer is working on a field at a bank opposite Zhongba, a small island near to the southwestern Chinas Chongqing city, on Nov. 29, 2020. (NOEL CELIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Video Shows Chinese Peasants Ordered to Turn Forests Into Grain Fields Amid Food Shortage Fears

A video circulated on Chinas social media showed that local authorities in Weifang, Shandong Province, ordered peasants to remove trees to make the land available for grain production. This comes as many in China fear food shortages will soon become a serious problem.

In the video, a peasant, who recorded it as a selfie, said, We just received a notice that we are required to cut down these trees and grow grains instead, even if financially it ends up being a loss. Commodity prices are so high nowadaysfertilizers, pesticides, and prices are ridiculously high.

In the background, many trees had already been chopped down, some with roots exposed. Other peasants had removed a large area of mature trees.

At the same time, a speaker in the village was making an announcement, saying that trees are not allowed to be planted in farmland, and land cannot be used for fish ponds or fruit trees. The trees must be cut down within a limited timeframe, otherwise, they will be forcibly killed by the authorities.

Then, another man who identified himself as a man in Jining, Shandong Province, said that local authorities forced them to remove trees to grow crops as China is having a food shortage crisis.

Chainsaws for cutting trees are now out of stock at local stores. In the past, we were told, if you want to get rich, first of all, plant some trees, now they told us we are forbidden to plant trees, the man said.

A local government official in the province told the Chinese-language Epoch Times: Even fish ponds must be filled to grow crops. Anyway, you have to do what the Chinese Communist Party requires you to do.

Japan-based current affairs commentator Yang Si pointed out that most soil in Shandong Province is yellow soil and the area is prone to drought. Removal of trees can easily lead to soil erosion.

Moreover, the land where the trees had stood will have to get a more-than-average amount of fertilizers and pesticides to be able to produce a good harvest, he said.

Peasants will have a hard time making any profit, due to the increasing costs of fertilizers and pesticides, Yang explained.

File photo of a farm in Ningxia Province, China. (China Photos/Getty Images)

Impact of War

The Russian-Ukrainian war also impacted Chinas food imports.

In a March 17 article, Chinas Feed Industry Information Network reported that due to the war, Russia has suspended grain exports such as wheat and corn; while Ukraine has banned the export of wheat and bulk commodities. The article also admitted that Chinas self-sufficiency rate in grains, corn, and soybeans is relatively low.

By 2021, Ukraine replaced the United States to become Chinas largest supplier of corn, partially because of the U.S.-China trade war. According to Chinese customs data, 70 percent of Chinas corn imports came from Ukraine in 2021.

Ukraine is also Chinas main supplier of barley. Some 54 percent of Ukraines barley exports were sold to China from 2020 to 2021, accounting for 28 percent of Chinas total barley imports.

According to data from Chinas General Administration of Customs, the country imported a total of 164.539 million tons of grain in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 18.1 percent. The imports accounted for 24.1 percent of the total grain output of 682.85 million tons. This means that Chinas dependence on foreign crop imports is as high as 19.4 percent.

A worker next to a machine transporting newly harvested paddy grains to a storage warehouse in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, China, on Oct. 25, 2019. (Stringer/Reuters)

Xue Chi, a scholar on China issues, told The Epoch Times that Chinas food crisis is deeply rooted in the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) incompetent governance.

The CCP has never successfully established a modern agricultural production system. Its agriculture development is far behind its industrial development, Xue said.

Not only is its agriculture industry unable to compete with developed countries, it cannot even meet the domestic demand. This is caused by the CCP system, he said.

Zhang Sutian, a U.S.-based independent commentator with 20 years of experience in the food industry, told The Epoch Times that the CCPs fraud and corruption are the main drivers of the food crisis in China.

Many grain depots are actually empty due to corruption, he said, but the situation has been covered up, a problem that is getting more and more serious year after year.

Zhang pointed to a previous incident when the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection dispatched a team to inspect the China Grain Reserves for the first time in May 2013. Soon after, 78 grain depots directly under China Grain Reserves in Heilongjiang Province caught on fire.

Chinas grain reserves are equivalent to a huge bad debt, with too many interest groups involved, Zhang said.

Xue believes that historically, natural disasters, pandemics, and famines have often been intertwined, and this time there is no exception.

On top of that, due to the CCPs deception, fraud, and all kinds of messy conducts, the food crisis in todays China is among the worst in Chinas contemporary history. Once the dark curtain is pierced through and truth exposed, the disaster will be out of control, Xue said.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping (R) and Russia's President Vladimir Putin attend a meeting with members of the Business Council and management of the New Development Bank during the BRICS Summit in Brasilia, on Nov. 14, 2019. (Pavel Golovkin/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Chinese Regime Draws Escalating Criticism for Tacit Support of Russia

Almost one month into Russias invasion of Ukraine, the Beijing regimes diplomatic dance during the crisis has been drawing intensifying criticism from the West.

As the world rebukes Moscow for mounting the war, the regime has sought to cast itself as a neutral party, with an array of statements seemingly aimed at appeasing both sides of the conflict. It has refused to condemn Russia, called for a peaceful settlement to the crisis, declined to join Western sanctions, vowed to continue normal trading with Moscow, and blamed the West for inflaming war in the region.

There has been a steady rise in criticism by Western officials in recent weeks, calling out what they see as Beijings tacit support for Moscow, remarks that are growing louder as the war progresses.

When a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson claimed that what Ukraine needed was baby food and sleeping bags from Beijing rather than the weapons the United States is sending, it drew a rare strongly worded response from Ukraine.

This is absolutely not serious and not worthy of the status of a great respectable country! Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukraines deputy prime minister, wrote in a Facebook post on March 18 shortly after the Chinese press conference.

What blankets are you talking about? The Russians are bombing residential areas of our cities. We need air defense systems to close the sky over our civilians. What waterproof bedding are you talking about? she said, in what marked the first show of anger from the besieged country toward Beijing since the invasion began.

I would suggest that the Chinese Foreign Ministry ask the opinion of 160 Chinese students whom we evacuated out of the Russian shelling last week.

Her comment was a jab at Chinas haphazard evacuation of its nationals in the war-torn country. Unlike those from many other countries, Beijing gave no forewarning to Chinese citizens about a possible Russian invasion in the lead up to the attack, leaving as many as 6,000 Chinese caught unprepared. Evacuation efforts didnt begin until Feb. 28, four days after Russia invaded, and authorities flip-flopped on safety precautions, initially telling citizens to attach national flags on their cars, only to reverse course days later.

Ukrainian firefighters work amid the rubble of the Retroville shopping mall a day after it was shelled by Russian forces in a residential district in the northwest of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on March 21, 2022. (Fadel Senna/AFP via Getty Images)

Beijing and Moscow announced a no limits partnership in February less than three weeks before Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the assault.

Since then, U.S. and EU intelligence have both warned that Beijing has signaled a willingness to supply military aid to Russia.

Concerns became so heightened that President Joe Biden, during a two-hour video call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on March 18, warned Xi of implications and consequences if Beijing were to materially support Moscow in the war.

The two sides walked away without forming a consensus, and a senior administration official later told reporters that the president wasnt making specific requests of China but laying out his assessment of the situation.

According to some Republican lawmakers, at least, such a tone is hardly forceful enough to deter China.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who co-sponsored the CURB CIPS Act to prevent Chinese banks from helping Russian firms to evade sanctions, said Biden should make it extremely clear to President Xi and dictators around the world that the United States will always stand on the side of freedom and democracy and that the consequences for choosing to fuel Putins war will be strong, severe and hard-hitting.

Communist China is watching how the United States, NATO allies, and the global community have rallied in support of Ukraine, cut off Putin and his thugs, and are starving the Russian economyand President Xi needs to know that communist China will be cut off just the same if it chooses to support Russia, his office told The Epoch Times in a statement.

Dissenting voices are emerging inside China as well. A Chinese academic affiliated with the State Council, in an essay now censored in China, called on the regime to cut itself off from Moscow as quickly as possible or risk isolation by the world. It got tens of thousands of views before its removal from the Chinese internet.
A boat travels on the Huangpu River as the skyline of the city is seen, including the Shanghai Tower, in Shanghai, China, on Aug. 28, 2020. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

COVID-19 Spike in Shanghai Causes Hospitals to Suspend Services, Lockdown of Major Universities

The COVID-19 outbreak in Chinas megacity Shanghai continues to spread in different parts of the city, causing major hospitals to suspend medical services since March 18. Major universities are also under lockdown. In one university, the virus continues to spread within. Students are panicking, criticizing the university for negligence and attracting wide attention.

Xinhua Hospital Affliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, the Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital of Fudan University, and the Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center announced on March 17 that they would suspend medical services starting March 18 due to the rapid spread of COVID-19 in the city.

On March 12, major universities in Shanghai, including Jiaotong University, Fudan University, East China Normal University, Tongji University, and other colleges and universities, issued emergency notices stating that lockdowns would be implemented, requiring everyone in the universities and colleges to stay in.

In fact, Shanghai Jiaotong University was locked down as early as March 9. Liu Ping (pseudonym), a student at the Minhang campus of Shanghai Jiaotong University, told the Chinese edition of The Epoch Times on March 17 that on March 9 the school suddenly said that it would be closed in the morning without any advance notice. Faculty and staff who were coming to school for work were stopped at the gate by securities and told if you come in, you cannot leave. Those who already were in were not allowed to leave and assigned to be pandemic control volunteers on campus.

It was a chaotic day, Liu said. Students started panic shopping for food at the school supermarket, emptying the shelves, even the instant noodles were all gone.

The school supermarket is sold out at Shanghai Jiaotong University after it locked down its campus on March 9, 2022. (Supplied by interviewee)

Liu said that during the first few days of the lockdown, students at the school could still enter and leave the dormitory buildings freely, the shops on campus were open as normal, and the cafeteria provided takeaway meals. But on March 12, the dormitory buildings began to close down.

Liu revealed that the centralized nucleic acid tests conducted by the school were mixed nucleic acid test samples of 10 people per one tube/pool. On March 12, 160 people were taken to the teaching building for isolation because some students had abnormal nucleic acid test results in the mixed sample pools. On March 13, the results of further individual tests came out. One student in the isolation classroom was positive and other students who tested negative but were in close contact returned to their dormitory.

The students were worried and posted on the school website: Several of us are roommates and were tested together and put in one classroom for isolation. After being tested individually, one of us was positive and was taken to the hospital. The rest of us repeatedly asked the school pandemic control staff Are we going to be quarantined? After a long while, the teacher in charge said, Let them go back to the dormitory directly.' Liu said the school does not have any protection measures for the students in the same dormitory.

Workers are seen wearing protective clothes next to some lockdown areas after the detection of new cases of COVID-19 in Shanghai on March 14, 2022. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)

According to data released by Shanghai authorities, on March 16, Shanghai Jiaotong University had a total of 45 confirmed cases, including both students and workers on campus construction sites, making it one of the most concentrated spots in the outbreak. Students from the university have been appearing in the new reported cases in Shanghai every day.

Liu said that there were also positive cases or close contacts in several dormitories around his, and the numbers were unknown.

On March 16, there were students who tested positive in the dormitory building West Building 14. But there was no teacher, dorm supervisor, or janitor in the building to take care of things. Liu said that the janitor of the building tested positive and the students had to run the dorm building themselves while locked in.

A post on social media complains: I live in West 14, and now its all students who collect trash, clean the toilets, and distribute food. My classmates have reported the issue many times but no one has responded. So far, we are still left totally by ourselves in the building.

Another student in the building posted: After waiting for 9 days, still no janitor came and the university didnt give us any protective clothing. How can I do my best to protect myself? I dont know who is infected in the mixed collective test every day. Im so nervous going up and down the stairs.

After continuous protests by students online, on March 18, the 200 students in the dorm building West 14 were sent to hotels for quarantine. Because some students tested positive in the retest, all the students in the building have been sent to 7 different quarantine sites, a student revealed to the publication.

Regarding the continuous detection of positive cases in the school dormitory building, The Epoch Times reached out to the school hospital of Shanghai Jiaotong University Minhang Campus on March 18. A female doctor said, I dont know. As for the outbreak on campus that was not under control, she said,  I dont know, we dont know about that.

Gu Qinger and Hong Ning contributed to the report.
Canadian Pacific Railway locomotives are shunted around a marshalling yard in Calgary in a file photo. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press)

CP Rail, Union, Blame Each Other for Work Stoppage as Stakes Rise

A work stoppage at CP Rail that began on March 20 comes at a turbulent time when strained supply chains, high fuel prices, and the war in Ukraine are putting increasing pressure on the Canadian and world economies.

CP and the union Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) failed to reach a deal under federally-mediated negotiations before the March 20 deadline, after which both sides said they would initiate a work stoppage.

Shortly before the lockout was announced, the Teamsters Union expressed its desire to continue bargaining, said TCRC in a March 19 statement. Unfortunately, the employer chose to put the Canadian supply chain and tens of thousands of jobs at risk.

Dave Fulton, TCRC spokesperson at the bargaining table said in the statement the union is very disappointed with this turn of events.

Canadian Pacific management must be taken to task for this situation, he said. They set the deadline for a lockout to happen tonight, when we were willing to pursue negotiations. Even more so, they then moved the goalpost when it came time to discuss the terms of final and binding arbitration.

TCRC represents about 3,000 locomotive engineers, conductors, train and yard workers across Canada. Its core demands are around wages, benefits, and pensions.

CP says it did not initiate a lockout and that the work stoppage is caused by TCRC going on strike.

We are deeply disappointed that, in the final hours before a legal strike or lockout was to potentially occur, the TCRC Negotiating Committee failed to respond to the companys latest offer that was presented to them by the federal mediators, said Keith Creel, CP President and Chief Executive Officer.

Instead, the TCRC opted to withdraw their services before the deadline for a strike or lockout could legally take place.

In an email response to The Epoch Times, TCRC spokesman Stephane Lacroix pointed to his organizations website when asked to comment on Canadian Pacifics assertion that it didnt initiate the work stoppage, but declined to comment further.

Labour Minister Seamus ORegan has been involved in the dispute and says hes staying in Calgary, the site of the negotiations, until the situation is resolved.

Second day of a work stoppage but CP and Teamsters Rail remain at the table. We have faith in their ability to reach an agreement. Canadians expect them to do that ASAP, ORegan said in a March 21 tweet.

The work stoppage could be severely damaging for farmers who rely on rail for the shipping of fertilizer before the planting season.

An industry group is calling on the federal government to intervene to stop the disruption.

Canada cannot afford another disruption to our supply chain, said Karen Proud, President and CEO of Fertilizer Canada, in a statement.

75 per cent of all fertilizer in Canada is moved by rail. During the lead-up to spring seeding, every day, frankly every hour, counts. During this critical time our members rely on uninterrupted rail service to deliver their products to their farmer customers in Canada and into international markets.

Whether its moving food, or fertilizer to grow food, a long-term work stoppage would have very negative consequences on the already sky-rocketing cost of living for Canadians. The issue is not only local, with Ukraine being a major grain exporter whose production and exportation will be impacted by Russias recent invasion of the country.

Dalhousie professor Sylvain Charlebois, who runs the universitys Agri-Food Analytics Lab, says the stakes of the labour dispute are very high.

Theres no two ways to say this the entire planet cannot afford a lengthy labour dispute at CP rail, he told CTV on March 21.
The casket is seen during the funeral service for Senator Kimberley Kitching at St Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne, Australia, on March 21, 2022. (AAP Image/Joel Carrett)

Late Australian Senator Remembered for Fearless Approach to CCP Threat

Widower shuns political system favouring useful idiots

The late Senator Kimberley Kitching has been farewelled by an assortment of political leaders from both sides of the aisle, with her widower praising her determination to protect Australia from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The Victorian senators funeral was attended by governing Coalition MPs, including Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, Defence Minister Peter Dutton, Attorney-General Michaelia Cash, Education Minister Alan Tudge, Matt Canavan, and former Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

While from the ranks of the centre-left Labor Party, those in attendance included opposition leader Anthony Albanese, deputy leader Richard Marles, close friend and former leader Bill Shorten, Victorian Premier Dan Andrews, and Senators Kristina Keneally, Penny Wong, and Katy Gallagherthe latter three are at the centre of the ongoing controversy regarding alleged bullying of Kitching.

Other attendees included union boss John Setka, former Labor Senator Sam Dastyari, Sky News commentator Peta Credlin, and One Nations Pauline Hanson.

Kitchings widower, Andrew Landeryou, was critical of the treatment of the senator during her time in politics and praised her determination to push through major initiatives on foreign policy and defending Australia against the CCP.

She was unafraid in all things, unafraid of all foes, and she had big plans, he said.

Andrew Landeryou, the husband of late Senator Kimberley Kitching, speaks during the funeral service for Senator Kimberley Kitching at St Patricks Cathedral in Melbourne, Australia, on March 21, 2022. (AAP Image/Joel Carrett)

She constantly sought from defence and many sources that we werent doing enough to keep the country safe, he added. And she was absolutely determined to fix that long before our capability was ever tested in looming conflict.

Landeryou said Kitching was willing to endure internal hostility to shift the needle on big debates citing her work on legislating against Beijings Belt and Road Initiative, the Port of Darwin, Magnitsky human rights sanctions, and anti-money laundering.

Kitching had faced internal criticism for her stance on the CCP, even as issues of foreign interference began coming to light.

She exemplified the courage and creativity that we all say we want from candidates for public office. But on all sides, we too often shun bothfavouring useful idiots, obedient nudniks, and bland time servants, he said. I am so proud that Kimberly was a shining beacon of what could and what should be in our public life.

Landeryou said the senator was inspired by the fiercely anti-communist idealist Robert Kennedy.

He once said, Few will have the greatness to bend history itself. But each of us can work to change a small portion of events and in the total of those acts will be written the history of this generation, Landeryou said.

He said that Kitchings political and moral judgement was vastly superior to the small number who opposed her internally.

Of course, theres a lot I could say about the unpleasantness of a cantankerous cabal  that was aimed at Kimber  But I hope its sufficient to say she deserves so very much better. The truth is the vast majority of the Labor family was welcoming, he said.
A person cleans up debris from a broken window at a home FBI agents searched in Hartland Township mobile home park late Wednesday night and into Thursday morning in connection of a plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, on Oct. 8, 2020 in Heartland, Michigan. (JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images)

EXCLUSIVE: Whitmer Kidnap Plot Informant Reports Death Threats, Then Goes Silent

A man who identified himself as Stephen Robeson, a former FBI informant who helped build the case in an alleged kidnapping conspiracy against the Wolverine Watchmen militia group, made an unexpected phone call to The Epoch Times late on March 12.

Along with his familiar voice and detailed knowledge of the case, the basis for confirming Robesons identity is that he referenced a business card this reporter gave his wife, Kim, at the start of the trial in the alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

During the 22-minute conversation, Robeson expressed displeasure at his reputation being tarnished. But more important, he said, was his familys safety.

Referencing a kill-on-sight order he says other militiamen have issued against him, Robeson said he has sent his son to live elsewhere in case people attack his home, which has been shown on television.

Robeson agreed to a March 14 formal interview, saying he would also provide evidence of the death threats. However, when that day came, Robeson was silent. Because he called using an unknown number, attempts to reach him were unsuccessful. His attorney in a separate case, Allison Markoski, hasnt responded to messages and calls.

Robeson is apparently difficult to find.

According to Grand Rapids news station WOOD-TV, investigators for the Whitmer defendants spent three days in February trying to track him down to testify in the case, including making repeated visits to his home. They never found him, and reportedly were surprised when he appeared at the first day of proceedings on March 8.

Robeson is a controversial figure in the alleged plot to capture Michigans governor.

As the leader of the Wisconsin Three Percenters, Robeson helped the FBI secretly record audio of the defendants allegedly planning to kidnap Whitmer. The defendants accused Robeson of helping entrap them by, among other actions, providing them with cannabis and alcohol to fuel their wild kidnapping ideas.

The Department of Justice (DOJ), meanwhile, has accused Robeson of acting as a double agent who warned the defendants about the FBIs investigation.

Robeson told The Epoch Times that the fallout from being exposed as an FBI informant has compromised his entire familys safety. While the names of other informants and undercover agents have trickled out since the trial began on March 8, Robesons identity has been amplified due to the controversies connected to him.

But if the DOJs accusation that Robeson was a double agent is true, then any agreement he had with the U.S. government would have been forfeited, according to former undercover FBI agent Marc Ruskin, author of The Pretender: My Life Undercover for the FBI.

If he violated whatever agreement he had with them, then maybe he could have been thrown under the bus. If that happens, [Robeson is] never going to say publicly that the FBI abandoned me because I violated the agreement. Hell say, I did a good job, and they betrayed me, Ruskin said.

In my experience, informants are highly unreliable. Even in the best of cases, you have to examine what their motives are.

The governments basis for accusing Robeson of acting as a double agent is that he warned one of the defendants that the others had been arrested in October 2020. But Robeson told The Epoch Times he made the warning call in order to maintain his own cover.

The other alleged plotters may have suspected Robeson was an informant if he didnt issue that warning after the initial arrests, he explained during the March 12 phone call.

The defense hopes to ascertain the truth of the matter by putting Robeson on the stand. It isnt clear when that will happen, since the prosecution is still calling witnesses in a trial that could last well into next month.

The FBIs Detroit office told The Epoch Times: FBI Detroit will work closely with other FBI field offices and with our law enforcement partners across the country to identify the source of any threat made to anyone involved with the ongoing prosecution in Grand Rapids. Individuals found responsible for making threats in violation of state and/or federal law will be referred for prosecution in the appropriate jurisdiction.
Stanford University Professor of Medicine Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a founding fellow of Hillsdale College's Academy for Science and Freedom, at the Hillsdale College Kirby Center in Washington on March 17, 2022. (Bao Qiu/The Epoch Times)

Fauci Comparison of Great Barrington Declaration Authors to AIDS Deniers Utterly Shocking: Bhattacharya

Dr. Anthony Faucis comparison of Great Barrington Declaration authors and signatories to AIDS denialism was utterly shocking, one of the authors says.

In no way have I or any of the signers of the Great Barrington Declaration denied COVID. COVID is a deadly disease. Its killed millions. It in particular is a danger to older populations, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, an epidemiology professor at the University of Stanford, told EpochTVs American Thought Leaders program.

The premise of the declaration is that COVID-19 presents a danger to some people, Bhattacharya and Martin Kulldorff, another author, told The Epoch Times.

The reason that we proposed focused protection in the Great Barrington Declaration is because we take COVID very seriously and that there needed to be much better protection of older, high-risk people, Kulldorff said. But we protected the younger members of the laptop class who were terrified of the COVID when they shouldnt have been because the risk was very, very small. At the same time, we didnt protect older working-class people like bus drivers.

The declaration called for a more targeted approach to combating the pandemic. Instead of imposing lockdowns and other harsh measures against the entire population, the authors called for focusing on protecting those most at risk from COVID-19, such as the elderly.

Fauci, on the other hand, has endorsed lockdowns and the closure of schools, among other policies.

Fauci, the longtime head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, in an internal email obtained by The Epoch Times, said the declaration reminded him of AIDS denialism, referencing three scientists who questioned the link between HIV and AIDS.

Fauci and his agency have not responded to requests for comment.

Bhattacharya, who penned the declaration with Kulldorff and fellow epidemiologist Sunetra Gupta, said the trio was not arguing that COVID isnt caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

So the analogy makes no sense on its own terms. And in terms of denying the harms of COVIDI think quite the contrarywhat were trying to do is take the data about whos most at risk from COVID seriously, take data on whos most at risk from the lockdowns seriously, and then propose a policy that would address the risk that COVID actually poses, as opposed to the failed policy which Tony Fauci was the primary architect I believe. Where if we just locked down for a short period of time, the disease will go away, if we just wear masks for a short period of time the disease go away, if we force-vaccinate 100 percent of the population, the disease will go away,  he added.

Fauci was among the top U.S. health officials who promoted efforts like 15 days to slow the spread early in the pandemic.

All of these were failed promises based on flawed scientific understanding of the nature of COVID. And to turn around and then say that we were somehow denying COVID? I think the charge goes more strongly in the other direction, where Tony Fauci and others who supported lockdowns denied basic facts about COVID, such as whether COVID-recovered patients have natural immunity, that actually led to many of the mistakes that were made, Bhattacharya said.

Zachary Stieber Reporter Follow Zachary Stieber covers U.S. and world news. He is based in Maryland.
PG-13 | 1hr 32min | Screwball Rom-com | December 25, 2022

In the spirit of King Solomons Mines (and the lost world literary genre) but especially Romancing the Stone, The Lost City is basically an old-fashioned treasure hunt and screwball rom-com wherein the male and female leads have classic, hurry up and get it over with bicker-chemistry.

At first I hated the thought of another big, slick Hollywood production, but this one actually works. Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, and Brad Pitt shine in this light rom-com fueled primarily by the exceptional comedic chops of its A-list cast.

Loretta (Sandra Bullock), a washed-up romance novelist, in The Lost City. (Paramount Pictures)

Romance Novelist

Loretta Sage (Sandra Bullock) is a very smart romance novelist whos lost her inspiration since her archaeologist husband died. Her once-steamy potboilers are now lackluster, and shes contemplating killing off Dash (whose real name is Alan) (Channing Tatum), the blond-wigged, Fabio-lookalike cover model of all her books.

Alan (Channing Tatum), a romance novel cover model, in The Lost City. (Paramount Pictures)

She thinks of her work as schlock, cant stand Alan, and hates doing book tours, but the ladies (and the emcee) at her book-signing events lurve him. And Alans got a thing for her, which is good because soon shes kidnapped by billionaire treasure hunter Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe), with Alan in hot pursuit.

Fairfax is convinced that Loretta knows where the Crown of Fire is, the ancient ruby headdress she described in her last book. And so he kidnaps her and jet-sets with her to a remote tropical island so she can help him find it. Fairfax wants to be noteworthy. (Fairfax suffers from a deep need to please his daddy.)

(LR) Julian (Thomas Forbes-Johnson), Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe), Alan (Channing Tatum), Loretta (Sandra Bullock), and Rafi (Hector Anibal) approach the jungle island where the The Lost City of D is located. (Paramount Pictures)

Alan, one of Channing Tatums stock-in-trade dim-bulb hunks, is, however, smart enough to get an old acquaintance onboard with this rescue. That would be a former Navy SEAL whos now a New Age-y trainer named Jack Trainer (Brad Pitt). Trainer prefers to work solo but Alan wont take no for an answer, and so they follow the signal from Lorettas watch to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean where Fairfax has found the Lost City of D.

(LR) Jack (Brad Pitt), Loretta (Sandra Bullock), and Alan (Channing Tatum) flee an explosion, in The Lost City. (Paramount Pictures)

Eventually, free from captivity but still stuck on the island, it dawns on Loretta that maybe she could, in fact, figure out where the Crown of Fire is, and this portion of the filmwhere she and Alan are pursued by Fairfaxs henchmen through the jungle, with her in high heels and a sequined, hot pink onesieyields the most slapstick laughs.

Loretta (Sandra Bullock) and Alan (Channing Tatum) find some ancient hieroglyphics, in The Lost City. (Paramount Pictures)

Performances

DaVine Joy Randolph is excellent as Sages all-business publicist who does not suffer fools gladly (and also goes looking for her lost client). But the movie, of course, belongs to Sandra Bullock. Bullock and Tatum have an immediate, physical comedy chemistry that packs almost nonstop laughs, some of which come very close to bellyache inducing.

Tatums entire career cashes in on three things: beefcake, astounding dance skills, and well-above-average comedy chops especially as a leading man who has the sense of humor and lack of ego required to play the fool. A la Magic Mike, Tatum has no problem whatsoever being a low-wattage brain in a male pinup body, playing the prone-to-hysteria sidekick to Brad Pitts manly ex-SEAL (the same role Leonardo DiCaprio played off Pitts similar manly stuntman in Tarantinos Once Upon a Time in Hollywood). Tatums Alan likes his skincare products, and he thoughtfully packs snacks to bring to Loretta.

Daniel Radcliffe, so far removed from Harry Potter by now, is surprisingly believable as a baddie, although his role is fairly small and underwritten. However, The Lost City is the first film that made me sit up, take notice, and stop thinking of him as the all-grown-up Potter. Hell be playing Weird Al Yankovic in an upcoming biopic and Im looking forward to that now.

The Lost City does for a younger generation what Spielberg and Lucas achieved with Raiders of the Lost Ark. Just as that film dusted off the lost world literary genre for the 1980s generation, The Lost City dusts off Raiders of the Lost Ark for the 2020s generation.

Movie poster for The Lost City. (Paramount Pictures)

The Lost City

Directors: Aaron Nee, Adam Nee

Starring: Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Brad Pitt, Daniel Radcliffe, DaVine Joy Randolph

Running Time: 1 hour, 52 minutes

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Release Date: March 25, 2022

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Soldiers of the Territorial Defense Forces of Ukraine, the military reserve of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, take part in military training in an underground garage that has been converted into a training and logistics base in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 11, 2022. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images)

Florida Gunmaker KelTec Sending 400 Semi-Automatic Rifles to Ukraine

KelTec, a Florida-based gun manufacturer, is donating 400 semi-automatic rifles to Ukraine to help civilians fend off the Moscow-led invasion, after a longtime customer to the company placed an order and then disappeared.

Adrian Kellgren, the owner of the firearms developer and manufacturer, said he was left holding a $200,000 shipment of 9mm SUB2000 carbines after a Ukrainian customer, who lives in Odessa, placed an order, he told The Associated Press. However, since the Kremlins invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, Kellgren said he has been unable to contact the customer.

Rather than let the stranded batch of rifles go to waste, KelTeca family-owned firm that employs about 300 U.S. citizensis sending them to Ukraines civilian resistance movement to help them fend off attacks from Russias military.

The American people want to do something, Kellgren, a former U.S. Navy pilot, told AP. We enjoy our freedoms, we cherish those things. And when we see a group of people out there getting hammered like this, its heartbreaking.

Kellgren said he was able to connect with a diplomat in the Ukrainian Embassy via a Ukrainian neighbor and secure a federal arms export license in just four days, a process that can typically take months because of the complex amount of red tape involved with the international shipment of arms.

The guns were sent to be delivered to an undisclosed NATO-run facility, and from there, Ukraines Ministry of Defense will be responsible for distributing them to resistance forces in the country, according to the AP.

Officials with Ukraines Ministry of Defense didnt respond by press time to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.

Kellgrens decision to send the rifles to Ukraine comes after the countrys president, Volodymyr Zelensky, told Ukrainian citizens that anyone aged 16 to 60 could not leave the country, and urged them to take up arms to fend off Russian attacks.

Zelensky also has warned that Russia is preparing to bomb Odessa, which he said will be a war crime  a historical crime. Odessa is a strategically important port city in southern Ukraine with a population of nearly 1 million that has been heavily fortified in recent days in preparation for a possible Russian attack.

Kellgren said he hopes to plan more shipments in the future, according to the AP. He noted that KelTecs license allows the export of up to 10,000 weapons and that the company has offered to provide the Ukrainians with their own production line as well as weekly shipments.

The gunmaker isnt the only company attempting to supply Ukraine with weapons amid the ongoing conflict.

Another company, also in Florida, Adams Arms, earlier this month posted a video on social media of a batch of rifles, saying it was another Ukrainian shipment getting ready [to] ship out.

A lot of brands throw their rifles out of helicopters to demonstrate durability, ours go to war, the company said.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said in a March 14 statement that the states Department of Public Safety and Department of Military and Veterans Affairs had collected more than 1,000 ballistic helmets and nearly 840 complete sets of surplus body armor from more than 25 local law enforcement agencies, all of which would be sent to Ukraine.

In the true spirit of Colorado, I am proud that Colorado law enforcement stepped up to support the brave people of Ukraine. We are doing everything we can to support Ukraines fight for freedom, and this surplus body armor is urgently needed to help save lives, stop Putins ruthless aggression, and save Ukraine, he said.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden has also vowed to send weapons to Ukraine as well as money, food, and aid, while pledging that the United States will welcome Ukrainian refugees with open arms.

Last week, Biden approved $13.6 billion in emergency funding to support the people of Ukraine, which is to be split between humanitarian aid and security assistance.
Sheena Greitens (L) listens as her husband, Missouri Gov.-elect Eric Greitens, speaks during a news conference in St. Louis, Mo., on Dec. 6, 2016. (Jeff Roberson/AP Photo)

Former Wife Accuses GOP Senate Candidate Eric Greitens of Abuse

A top Republican candidate for a U.S. Senate seat representing Missouri was physically abusive, his former wife said in court records made public on March 21.

Former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens knocked me down and confiscated my cell phone, wallet and keys so that I was unable to call for help or extricate myself and our children from our home, Sheena Greitens wrote in one of the documents, entered as part of a child custody case in Boone County court.

I became afraid for my safety and that of our children at our home, Sheena Greitens said, adding later that her ex-husbands behavior included physical violence toward our children, such as cuffing our then-3-year-old son across the face at the dinner table in front of me and yanking him around by his hair.

The alleged argument took place in April 2018 before the divorce.

Eric Greitens campaign decried the accusations.

Eric Greitens is a great Dad, who was married to a woman with a documented history of mental illness and emotionally-abusive behavior, the campaign told The Epoch Times in an email, adding that the filing was part of a politically-motivated attack and that Eric Greitens has maintained and will maintain custody of their children.

An attorney representing Sheena Greitens did not respond to requests for comment. A query sent to her workplace wasnt returned.

The U.S. Senate seat Eric Greitens is seeking is one of several that are poised to be open because of upcoming retirements. Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a member of the Senates Republican leadership team, is stepping down at the end of the current term.

Eric Greitens, a former Navy SEAL, left the governors mansion in 2018 after being accused of taking a compromising photo of his hairstylist without her consent during an extramarital affair and campaign finance improprieties.

The charges against Greitens, a former Democrat, were eventually dropped.

Sheena Greitens said in the affidavit that her former husband bought a gun but wouldnt tell her where it was and threatened to kill himself unless she publicly supported him amid the turmoil. She also alleged a plot to accuse her of child abuse unless she deleted certain emails and convinced a family therapist to delete them as well.

The accusations were outlined in a request to the court to shift the proceedings to Texas, where Sheena Greitens now lives.

Several rivals quickly reacted to the newly released accusations.

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.) said in a video statement that real men never abuse women and children, adding: Its time for Eric get out of the Senate race, and get professional help.

Eric Greitens doesnt belong in the U.S. Senatehe belongs in prison. Im the 13-year Marine veteran running to flip this seat and defeat that criminal for good, Lucas Kunce, another military veteran, wrote on Twitter.

The primaries in the race are scheduled for Aug. 2.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Ghost Bat: Australia Makes First Combat Aircraft in 50 Years

The first combat aircraft manufactured in Australia in over 50 years will be the Boeing MQ-28A Ghost Bat in homage to a carnivorous bat species native to Australia known to hunt in packs.

It will also be Boeings first aircraft made in Australia at its brand new facility in Queensland, the only Boeing manufacturing facility outside of the United States.

Originally unveiled as the Loyal Wingman in 2019, the 11.7 metres (38 foot)-long uncrewed aircraft will be fully autonomous and capable of flying independently or alongside crewed aircraft for intelligence and surveillance missions.

Selecting the Ghost Bat, an Australian native mammal known for teaming together in a pack to detect and hunt, reflects the unique characteristics of the aircrafts sensors and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance abilities, and is a fitting name for this pioneering capability, said project director Glen Ferguson.

Ghost Bats roosting in Featherdale Wildlife Park, Sydney, Australia on Apr. 13, 2019. (Sardaka/Wikimedia Commons)

The aircraft is currently undergoing flight testing and is one of six currently planned in partnership with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).

Boeing said that the projects rapid progress from conception to flight in just three years came partly due to Australias unique technology supply chains.

Our enduring partnership with Commonwealth of Australia and Australian Defence Force (ADF) is fundamental to the successful development of MQ-28As complex technologies and capabilities, and has global export potential for Australia, said Brendan Nelson AO, president Boeing Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific.

The MQ-28A Ghost Bat will continue development and testing in 2022 before joining Australias air combat arsenal and being exported worldwide.

Boeings Australia-made uncrewed MQ-28A Ghost Bat aircraft. (Boeing)

The project comes amid a slew of defence investments made in recent times.

Earlier in March, Australia unveiled an AU$650 million (US$477 million) deal with Boeings Insitu Pacific that included the acquisition of 24 unmanned Integrator surveillance drones.

Away from the skies, Australia has also revealed an AU$10 billion (US$7.4 billion) submarine base to house nuclear submarines after the technology was granted to the nation by the United Kingdom and United States under the AUKUS pact.

On land, AU$3.5 billion (US$2.6 billion) has been spent on over 100 U.S. tanks and armoured vehicles, with a further $1 billion ($740 million) weapons contract inked with South Korea for 45 armoured artillery and supply vehicles.

To help man the growing arsenal of military equipment, the Australian government has announced a plan to expand its defence force by 30 percentits biggest expansion in 40 years.

The recruitment drive aims to up Australias enlisted personnel from nearly 60,000 currently to around 80,000 by 2040, at a cost of AU$38 billion (US$27.8 billion).

Our world is becoming increasingly uncertain, so its important we take steps now to protect our people and our national interest over the coming decades, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.

You cant flick a switch to increase your army, navy, and air force overnight. Growing the type of people and skills we need to face the threats of the future takes time, so we must start now so critical skills can be taught, and experience gained.
Maam, I need you to come pick up your daughter, I say into the phone. She has been suspended for continual and willful defiance.

What did she do? comes the reply.

Yesterday, she cussed out our dean when he asked her to go to class, I answer, glossing past the many times she had skipped class and instigated fights while loitering in the bathroom instead, swearing at those who questioned her.

The mom cuts me off and asks, You are suspending her for something she did yesterday?

Today she cussed out the principal, so I am suspending her for both infractions, I reply.

Such conversations have happened several times in the last school year. I know exactly what the problem is: Countless numbers of todays students are raised in a godless society. Watching this unfold from a front seat to the action, I am convinced that the only way they (and the schools they attend) will get out of the chaos they are currently experiencing is by rejecting such godlessness, embracing God and His ways instead.

In 2021, Gallup announced that church membership in the U.S. had fallen below 50 percent for the first time in the 80 years that such an indicator had been tracked. Only 47 percent of respondents said they affiliated with a religion. Likewise, according to Pew Research, only 49 percent of respondents reported praying daily.

This lack of religion often influences how families are formed and behave. Without religious moorings which stress moral sexual behavior and strong families, it is far easier for families to breakup or be unstable.

Recent estimates show that close to 40 percent of births in the United States occur outside of marriage. Thirty years ago, that number was only at 28 percent. In 2021, The Hill reported that almost 25 percent of the U.S.s 19 million children were living in single-parent families, increasing nearly threefold since the 1960s. Such numbers undoubtedly contribute to the instability of todays students.

The godless nature of society also shows up in how people behave and treat one another. Instead of sticking close to the truth, people feel empowered to lie, slander, or harangue those who are trying to do the right thing.

Consider the mother in the phone conversation above. She began recording our conversation and then reasoned her argument out loud, not letting me speak. When I tried to insert an important detail to her misunderstanding, she stated dramatically, I am not done, you will have a chance to say your side in just a minute, that is how dialevel (her word) works. I dont know who taught you how the English language works but when two people are having a conversation, one waits until the other is done, and then the other speaks, it is called listening and hearing, thank you very much.

The conversation ended with her promising to call her lawyer on me, followed by a parting accusation of racism and several expletives. Within the first four months of the school year, this same mom and her family members have literally threatened to kill two African American boys and to have a Jamaican boy beat up. I was the staff member who stepped in to protect these victims, yet somehow, I end up getting called a racist.

When people genuinely seek to put God first, then they seek to do what He lays out as successful living. This includes having children withinnot withoutwedlock, keeping marriages together rather than sending them to divorce court, and being careful of what addictive substances are allowed in a home. It also means respecting others because of the knowledge that we are all accountable to an all-powerful and all-knowing God.

Would we see much of the ludicrous behavior that goes on at schools and in the rest of society disappear if families and educators began putting God first in their own lives and in their responses to one another once again?

This article was originally published on Intellectual Takeout
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine gives his victory speech after winning the Ohio gubernatorial race at the Sheraton Capitol Square in Columbus, Ohio, on Nov. 6, 2018. (Justin Merriman/Getty Images)

Gov. Mike DeWine, Challenger Joe Blystone Have Confrontation at Ohio Beef Expo

It was a contentious weekend for Ohio political races.

At a debate in suburban Columbus on March 18, GOP U.S. Senate candidates Mike Gibbons and Josh Mandel went face-to-face on stage in a heated verbal exchange while fellow candidates J.D. Vance, Jane Timken, and Matt Dolan awkwardly watched.

Then, late morning on March 19 GOP gubernatorial candidate Joe Blystone approached Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine at a beef expo in Columbus asking him, Why wont you debate me?

Video shows a flustered DeWine placing his hand on Blystones arm and uttering a comment before Blystone brushed away DeWines hand and the governor was whisked away by security.

The video was not accompanied by sound, but after DeWine put his hand on Blystones arm the Canal Winchester farmer and restaurant owner alleges the governor said, Im going to kick your ass.

Ran into Mike DeWine yesterday and asked why he wouldn't debate. He tried to grab me and threatened to "kick my a$$" after I wouldn't talk in private. There's nothing I'd say to him in private that I wouldn't say right there. His security & I had a laugh over it at the end. pic.twitter.com/CFJex8KHSL  Blystone for Governor of Ohio (@JoeBlystone22) March 20, 2022

Last week, DeWine declined to participate in a March 29 debate at Central State University with Blystone, former Congressman Jim Renacci, and former state representative Ron Hood. The debates venue, Paul Robeson Cultural and Performing Arts Center in Wilberforce, is four miles from DeWines home in Cedarville.

Canal Winchester farmer and restaurant owner Joe Blystone is running against Gov. Mike DeWine, Jim Renacci, and Ron Hood in the GOP gubernatorial primary. (Courtesy of Joe Blystone)

The Ohio Debate Commission organized four candidate forums at Central State. U.S. Senate Republicans and Democrats are scheduled to take the stage in their own debates on March 28. All Senate candidates who were invited have said they will be there.

Former Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley and former Cincinnati mayor John Cranley are opponents in the Democratic Party gubernatorial primary. They will appear at a debate on the evening of March 29.

Blystone, DeWine, Hood, and Renacci were invited to participate in the GOP gubernatorial debate on the afternoon of March 29. DeWine declined.

When learning that the governor would not attend, Renacci said no. Hood did not respond to emails and calls from the ODC.

Blystone told The Epoch Times that he would attend the debate even if I am the only person on that stage.

Whats happened with the GOP candidates and the governors race is disappointing, ODC board president Dan Moulthrop said. When the incumbent chooses not to debate, its not surprising that others in the race have less incentive to do so as well.

Blystone recorded a video moments after the conversation with DeWine.

Lots of dung being thrown around at the beef expo  including a threat from Mike DeWine "to kick my ass." Why won't DeWine debate me? What do you think?#hireafarmer #HireAVeteran  not a politician.#VoteBlystoneMay3rd #live #blystonelive #blystoneforgovernor pic.twitter.com/FxRMPECOsm  Blystone for Governor of Ohio (@JoeBlystone22) March 19, 2022

The first-time political candidate told The Epoch Times that he was unaware that the governor would appear at the expo.

A voice on the loudspeaker announced that he [DeWine] was there, so I decided to approach him and ask him why he wont debate me, Blystone said. He said that everyone knows where he stands on his policies.

He then told me, Lets go over here and talk. I said, No, all these people want to hear what you are saying. Are you a coward? Blystone added. Thats when he put his hand on my arm and told me, Im going to kick your ass. Then a man who was with him quickly took him away.

The video of the confrontation that emerged on Sunday shows DeWine and Blystone talking, DeWine placing his hand on Blystones arm and expressively saying a comment, Blystone brushing off DeWines arm, and DeWine being escorted away. It is unclear what was said because the video does not have sound, but DeWine is visibly agitated.

The Epoch Times reached out to DeWines campaign manager, Brenton Temple, but the phone call was not returned. A comment Temple made last week mirrored what Blystone says DeWine told him.

Mike DeWine is the most publicly accessible Governor in Ohio history, Temple said. Governor DeWine meets with constituents on a daily basis and regularly takes questions from the media. Ohioans know where he stands on the issues and that he is fighting and winning for them.

A poll by The Hill/NBC4i/Emerson College that was conducted Feb. 25 to Feb. 26 showed DeWine at 34 percent support followed by Blystone (20 percent), and Renacci (9 percent). Thirty-six percent are undecided.

The survey also showed that 45 percent of voters approve of DeWines job as governor while 37 percent disapprove, and 18 percent are neutral or have no opinion.

DeWine has 47 percent approval among Democrats, 46 percent approval with Republicans, and 42 percent from independents, according to the poll.

One hour with four peopleIm not sure it really adds a whole lot to what the public knows about Mike DeWine or public policy debate, DeWine said last week. It might be an entertaining hournot sure how productive an hour it would be.

GOP gubernatorial candidate Jim Renacci introduces his running mate, filmmaker Joe Knopp, at an event in West Chester, Ohio in 2021. (Photo by Jeff Louderback)

Renacci said he will take the stage in any debate that the governor attends, and he criticized DeWines refusal to participate on March 29.

A gubernatorial debate without the governor is not a gubernatorial debate, Renacci said. As Ive said repeatedly, Ohioans deserve far better than thisand thats why Im committed to defeating DeWine and delivering the accountable conservative leadership we desperately need.

Mike DeWine has spent his term governing like a blue state liberalshuttering our economy, irreparably harming our kids access to education, trashing Donald Trump, and turning Ohio into ground zero for public corruption. And now hes refusing to answer for any of it, Renacci added.

Im not surprised hes terrified to debate me. But what does shock me is that Governor DeWine thinks so little of the countless Ohio families whose lives hes harmed, futures hes ruined, and businesses hes destroyed, that he wont even take the debate stage to attempt to justify itlet alone apologize for it.

In a press release, Renaccis campaign outlined questions the former Congressman would like DeWine to answer:

Why did your appointees to the Ohio Board of Education vote to inject Critical Race Theory into Ohio schools, and why are you refusing to do anything about Critical Race Theory now?

Do you believe there was substantial voter fraud in the 2020 election? Why do you always avoid answering this question?

Why are you refusing to do anything to help Ohioans weather the gas-price crisis?

Why is Ohio ranked as one of the least competitive states in the entire country after four years of your leadership, and why is our state lagging behind other Republican-led states in job creation?

Why do you have no regrets about the hundreds of thousands of jobs you killed by bucking President Trumps guidance and locking down Ohio?

Blystone blasted both DeWine and Renacci for declining to attend the ODC debate.

My opposition will not debate me. He and Jim Renacci will not debate me. You know, these guys are cowards, Blystone said.

Youre asking for Ohioans to support you and vote for you, but you are not willing to get on a stage and debate.

I was hoping we could present our platforms to Ohio while also discussing issues, Blystone added.

The people deserve to have a leader who will face them. We deserve better. Patriots. Not politicians.
An Iranian flag in Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant during an official ceremony to kick-start works on a second reactor at the facility, in Bushehr, Iran, on Nov. 10, 2019. (Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran Signs Agreement With Russia for 20 Million Tons of Essential Imports: Report

Irans government has signed an agreement with Russia for 20 million tons of essential goods imports, amid talks to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, a local newspaper reported on March 20.

The agreement would allow Russia to export vegetable oil, wheat, barley, and corn to Iran, according to an Iran International report citing a website associated with the secretary of Irans Supreme National Security Council.

Iran was concerned that Russias invasion of Ukraine would impede the trading of wheat and grain supplies, as both Russia and Ukraine are major suppliers. The agreement was signed during Iranian Agriculture Minister Javad Sadatinejads visit to Russia the previous week, the report noted, without mentioning the monetary value of the deal.

The agreement came following talks in Vienna to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. The Vienna negotiations had been paused after Russian demands threatened to torpedo the nuclear deal over Western sanctions imposed after Moscows invasion of Ukraine.

The 2015 Iran nuclear deal was formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which placed restrictions on Irans nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned the nuclear deal in 2018, and Tehran started violating its nuclear restrictions about a year later.

Josep Borell, the European Unions foreign policy chief, wrote in a March 11 Twitter post that talks to revive the nuclear deal had been paused because of external factors.

Irans foreign ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh responded on social media, saying that the pause in the Vienna talks could be a momentum for resolving any remaining issue and that no external factor will affect our joint will to reach a collective agreement.

Iran has said that the United States lacked the political will to resolve several outstanding issues in the nuclear negotiations in Vienna. It has insisted that Washington remove human rights and terrorism-related sanctions, including those imposed in 2019 on its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Subsequently, on March 15, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow had received written guarantees from the United States that Ukraine-related sanctions wouldnt affect trade with Iran within the framework of the nuclear deal.

We have received written guaranteesthey are included in the very text of the agreement on reviving the JCPOA. And in these texts, there is a reliable defense of all the projects provided for by the JCPOA and those activitiesincluding the linking up of our companies and specialists, Lavrov said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on March 16 that his meeting with Lavrov reassured him that Russia remains on board for the final agreement in Vienna.

More than ever, ball is in U.S. court to provide the responses needed for a successful conclusion of the talks, he wrote on Twitter.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen (R) poses for photographs together with his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida at Peace Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on March 20, 2022. (Phal Sophup/Cambodia's Government Cabinet via AP)

Japanese Prime Minister Visits Cambodia, Also One of Chinas Key Partners

PHNOM PENH, CambodiaJapanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited Cambodia for talks with the countrys longtime leader, Hun Sen, on Sunday to deepen relations and promote calls for the rule of law in one of the Southeast Asias closest partners of both China and Japan.

Kishida and Hun Sen in a joint statement condemned Russias aggression in Ukraine and called for an immediate stop of the use of force and the withdrawal of the military forces from the territory of Ukraine. They stressed neither threat nor use of all kind of weapons of mass destruction can ever be accepted in any occasion.

After China, Japan is Cambodias largest donor and has funded the construction of bridges, roads, ports, electricity, and water supply.

But Japan and the United States also share concerns over the Chinese regimes growing military aggression in the region. In Cambodia, Washington has been recently focused on the Chinese regimes construction of new facilities at Ream Naval Base and the potential for its military to have future basing rights there.

Ream faces the Gulf of Thailand that lies adjacent to the South China Sea, where the Chinese regime has been engulfed in territorial disputes with its smaller Southeast Asian neighbors. Cambodia generally supports Beijings geopolitical positions, and in return, Beijings backing for Hun Sen allows Cambodia to disregard Western concerns about its poor record in human and political rights.

The joint statement, however, included language that appears to indirectly criticize some of the Chinese communist regimes actions in the South China Sea, an unusual position for Cambodia.

It said that Kishida and Hun Sen reaffirmed the importance of sustaining peace, security, safety, freedom of navigation in and overflight above the South China Sea, as well as non-militarization and peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with international law, including the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Beijing claims the South China Sea virtually in totally and has chafed at Washingtons insistence on freedom of navigation. The Chinese regime has also militarized several island outposts and rejects an international tribunals ruling that its territorial claims are excessive.

The two leaders reaffirmed to continue to cooperate towards realizing a Free and Open Indo-Pacifica vision Japan has been pushing with the United States to counter the Chinese communist regimes growing influence.

In their joint statement, Kishida also expressed his intention to support the promotion of democracy and the rule of law such as holding elections in a way that reflects diverse voices from Cambodian people.

Just last week, a court in Cambodia convicted 21 people of treason and related charges for their nonviolent opposition activities. They included seven exiled leaders of the disbanded Cambodia National Rescue Partythe main opposition party each of whom received 10-year prison terms.

Kishidas visit came three days after the departure of two Japanese naval ships from Ream Naval Base, where the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force conducted demining training with Cambodian counterparts.

Japan has poured several million dollars for mine clearing operations in Cambodia in the aftermath of the 19751979 genocide that left an estimated 1.7 million people dead and the subsequent civil war. Japan also provided money to the U.N.-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal. In recent months, Japan has donated 1.3 millions doses of coronavirus vaccines to Cambodia.

The talks also covered the situation in military-ruled Myanmar, where the prime ministers called for the immediate cessation of violence and a stop to the flow of weapons following the armys ouster of the civilian administration of Aung San Suu Kyi in February last year.

They called on all parties to exercise utmost restraint and commencement of a process of dialogue for peaceful solution, and the release of political detainees, as well as return to normalcy and the democratic political system.

Cambodia is the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Hun Sen is leading the groups efforts to ease the crisis in Burma (also known as Myanmar), which some U.N. experts have characterized as civil war.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in his chambers at the Supreme Court in Washington on June 6, 2016. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

Justice Clarence Thomas Misses Oral Arguments Due to Illness

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas missed oral arguments in Washington on March 21 after being hospitalized with flu-like symptoms on March 18.

Thomas, 73, is unable to be present today, Chief Justice John Roberts said from the bench as proceedings opened. He will participate in consideration and decision of the cases on the basis of the briefs and the transcripts of oral argument.

Roberts made no mention of why Thomas, the second-oldest justice on the nations top court, wasnt present.

The Supreme Court announced late on March 20 that Thomas had been hospitalized two days earlier and had been diagnosed with an infection. It wasnt related to COVID-19, a spokeswoman for the court told The Epoch Times in an email.

Thomass condition is improving, and hes expected to be released from Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington soon, according to the court. No updates were available on March 21, the spokeswoman said.

Thomas was being treated with intravenous antibiotics.

A spokesperson for the hospital declined to comment. Ginni Thomas, Thomass wife, didnt respond to a request for comment.

Thomas is the longest-serving member of the court and is poised to become its oldest member once Justice Stephen Breyer retires following the current term.

The Senate Judiciary Committee began confirmation hearings on March 21 for Breyers likely replacement, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. Breyer, who announced his retirement in January, plans to leave in late June or early July.

I was sorry to hear that about Justice Clarence Thomas. I speak for all the members of the committee in wishing him a speedy recovery, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the panels chairman, said as the hearing began.

If Thomas were forced to step down because of health issues or otherwise retire, President Joe Biden would get to nominate his successor.

Supreme Court justices are appointed for life.

Several justices have died while in office in recent years. Justice Antonin Scalia died in 2016 from natural causes; Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died in September 2020 from pancreatic cancer.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (C) speaks with his press secretary Dmitry Peskov (2nd R) in a file photo. (Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images)

Kremlin Reveals Why Russia Wont Observe Ceasefire Amid Talks With Ukraine

Russia will not implement a pause in its invasion of Ukraine while peace negotiations with the Kyiv government are underway, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday.

You see, a pause in the operation, any pause, is used by the nationalist units to regroup, used to continue attacks against the Russian military, Peskov told state-run media, alleging that Russian troops have faced attacks from such groups in Ukraine on multiple occasions.

Ukrainian and Western officials have previously accused Russia of using the peace talks to regroup and resupply its invasion. UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss earlier this month said that Russia was lying, lying, and lying by agreeing to the talks, describing them as a smokescreen and a distraction.

The Kremlin on Monday said that talks between Russia and Ukraine havent yielded significant progress despite multiple rounds of negotiations.

Moscow has accused Kyiv of stalling peace talks by making proposals unacceptable for Russia. Ukraine has said it is willing to negotiate but will not surrender or accept Russian ultimatums. More than a week ago, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators said that there was progress made during the talks, although no details were provided.

For us to speak of a meeting between the two presidents, homework has to be done. Talks have to be held and their results agreed upon, Peskov remarked Monday. There has been no significant progress so far.

Peskov also reiterated claims that Russia was showing more willingness than Ukrainian negotiators to work toward an agreement at the talks.

Top Ukrainian officials rejected a Russian demand to give up the city of Mariupol, which has come under heavy Russian bombardment since the start of the Feb. 24 conflict, with Ukraine accusing Moscow of committing war crimes in the area.

Service members of pro-Russian troops are seen atop a tank during the Ukraine-Russia conflict on the outskirts of the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine, on March 20, 2022. (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)

There can be no question of any surrender, laying down of arms in Mariupol, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk told reporters. We have already informed the Russian side about this. Meanwhile, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov praised the defenders of the city and claimed that tens of thousands of lives throughout Ukraine were saved.

Earlier, Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, director of the Russian National Center for Defense Management, told news outlets that troops in Mariupol should lay down [their] arms, adding, All who lay down their arms are guaranteed safe passage out of Mariupol.

There has been speculation that Russia in recent days has become bogged down in Ukraine and hasnt made significant progress. But the UKs Ministry of Defense said Monday that Moscow will likely prioritize an attempt to encircle Kyiv in the coming weeks.

Despite the continued lack of progress, Kyiv remains Russias primary military objective, the ministry wrote in an update, adding that a heavy fight continues north of Kyiv.

In the capital, Kyiv officials imposed a day-and-a-half curfew from Monday night. While suburbs in the path of Russias advance have been reduced to rubble, defenders have managed to prevent Kyiv itself from coming under a full-scale assault. However, it has been subjected to shelling and missile strikes nightly. In the latest, authorities said at least eight people were killed by shelling that destroyed a shopping center.

European Union foreign and defense ministers meet on Monday to discuss imposing further sanctions on Moscow, especially whether to introduce an embargo on Russias lucrative oil and gas sector.

Reuters contributed to this report.
David Littleproud speaks during a press conference at Parliament House on Jan. 05, 2020 in Canberra, Australia. (Rohan Thomson/Getty Images)

Lessons for Coalition After SA Election

Senior federal ministers have indicated there were lessons for the coalition following South Australias recent election.

Saturday saw Labors Peter Malinauskas claim victory, the first time a government has lost an election since the beginning of the pandemic, with the incumbent Liberals defeated after just one term in office.

Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said while the state poll was fought on local issues, there were takeaways for the federal government, ahead of Mays election.

There is definitely political lessons in this, the political lessons are that you cant just rest on what you have done for the electorate, despite we have gone through the biggest challenge since World War II in COVID-19, he told the Nine Network on Monday.

What the electorate is now looking for is their future, the political lesson for us is to make sure we can clearly articulate that and give them a pathway forward.

Mr Littleproud said next weeks federal budget would be a key opportunity to focus on the future.

The federal election is due to be held by May 21 at the latest, with polls showing Labor in the lead, as well as Anthony Albanese and Scott Morrison level as preferred prime minister.

However, Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said he wasnt concerned by the polls, despite the South Australian election result.

Pollsters dont win elections, voters do, he told the Seven Network.

The Australian people will make a choice that the most competent group (for the country) is the coalition.

Labor frontbencher Mark Butler told ABC Radio there were many similarities between the approaches of Peter Malinauskas as opposition leader and federal Labor leader Anthony Albanese.

Peter Malinauskas, like Anthony, has been very busy preparing a focused policy agenda that will look beyond the pandemic, that would look at building a better future, he said.

Theyre the only two oppositions that havent been essentially underwater through the quarter of the pandemic and thats in part because both were resolved to play a constructive role.

Mr Butler said polling from South Australia also showed worrying signs for the federal government.

One-in-two voters indicated in the research that they were less likely to vote Liberal or for (former premier) Stephen Marshall once they learned that Stephen Marshall was from the same party as Scott Morrison, he said.

(Morrison) was a very big drag on the Liberal vote here in South Australia.

There have been reports ]Morrison has been asked by Liberal campaigners to stay away from key NSW seats during the federal election.

Littleproud said Mr Morrison would be on the ground in seats across the country when the election is on.

This hasnt been an easy term. I dont think any other prime minister had to face up to such a wide-ranging number of challenges in our nations history, he said.

Of course, that will take some skin off him.
Russia-Ukraine (March 21): Zelensky Says Ukraine Ready to Discuss Deal

The latest on the RussiaUkraine crisis, March 21. Click here for updates from March 20.

Zelensky Says Ukraine Ready to Discuss Deal

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said late Monday he was prepared to discuss a commitment from Ukraine not to seek NATO membership in exchange for a ceasefire, the withdrawal of Russian troops, and a guarantee of Ukraines security.

Its a compromise for everyone: for the West, which doesnt know what to do with us with regard to NATO, for Ukraine, which wants security guarantees, and for Russia, which doesnt want further NATO expansion, Zelensky said late Monday in an interview with Ukrainian television channels.

He also repeated his call for direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Unless he meets with Putin, it is impossible to understand whether Russia even wants to stop the war, Zelensky said.

Zelensky said that Kyiv will be ready to discuss the status of Crimea and the eastern Donbas region held by Russian-backed separatists after a ceasefire and steps toward providing security guarantees.

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Russia Halts Japan Peace Treaty Talks Over Sanctions

Russia has withdrawn from peace treaty talks with Japan and frozen joint economic projects related to the disputed Kuril islands due to sanctions imposed by Tokyo over Ukraine, setting off an angry reaction from Japan.

Russia and Japan have still not formally ended World War Two hostilities because of the standoff over islands just off Japans northernmost island of Hokkaido, known in Russia as the Kurils and in Japan as the Northern Territories. The islands were seized by the Soviets at the end of World War Two.

Under the current conditions Russia does not intend to continue negotiations with Japan on a peace treaty, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, citing Japans openly unfriendly positions and attempts to damage the interests of our country.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he strongly opposed Russias decision, terming it unfair and completely unacceptable.

Japan last week announced plans to revoke Russias most-favored-nation trade status, expand the scope of asset freezes against Russian elites, and ban imports of certain products.

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Zelensky: Russia Shells Humanitarian Corridor

Russian forces shelled along a humanitarian corridor on Monday, wounding four children who were among the civilians being evacuated, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nighttime video address to the nation. He said the shelling took place in the Zaporizhzhia region, the initial destination of those fleeing Mariupol.

The Ukrainian government said that about 3,000 people from Mariupol were evacuated on Monday.

Zelenskyy said he spoke with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and French President Emmanual Macron to coordinate their positions before Western leaders meet on Thursday.

Our position will be expressed and will be expressed strongly, believe me, Zelenskyy said.

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US Warns of Potential Cyberattacks From Russia

The United States warned on Monday there was evolving intelligence that the Russian government was exploring options for potential cyberattacks, according to a statement from the White House.

I urge our private sector partners to harden your cyber defenses immediately, President Joe Biden said in the statement, adding everyone needed to do their part to meet one of the defining threats of our time.

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Pentagon Says It Will Help Gather Evidence of Russian War Crimes in Ukraine

The Pentagon on Monday accused Russian forces of committing war crimes in Ukraine and said it would help gather evidence of them, as it accused the Kremlin of carrying out indiscriminate attacks as part of an intentional strategy in the conflict.

We certainly see clear evidence that Russian forces are committing war crimes and we are helping with the collecting of evidence of that, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told a news briefing.

But theres investigative processes that are going to go on, and were going to let that happen. Were going to contribute to that investigative process. As for what would come out of that, thats not a decision that the Pentagon leadership would make.

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Zelensky Says Any Compromises With Russia Will Require a Referendum

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday said any compromises agreed with Russia to end the war would need to be voted on by Ukrainians in a referendum.

The people will have to speak up and respond to this or that form of compromise. And what they (the compromises) will be is the subject of our talks and understanding between Ukraine and Russia, he said in an interview published by Ukrainian public broadcasting company Suspilne.

Issues that could be raised in any referendum could concern territories occupied by Russian forces, including Crimea, or security guarantees offered to Ukraine by countries in lieu of NATO membership, he said.

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EU Split on Russia Oil Sanctions, Mulls Other Steps

The European Unions foreign ministers disagreed on Monday on whether and how to slap sanctions on Russias lucrative energy sector over its invasion of Ukraine, with Germany saying the bloc was too dependent on Russian oil to decide an embargo.

The EU and allies have already imposed hefty measures against Russia, including freezing its central banks assets.

But targeting Russian energy exports, as the United States and Britain have done, is a divisive choice for the 27-nation EU, which relies on Russia for 40 percent of its gas.

One EU diplomat said some hoped that by June the EU would have found enough alternative sources of energy to seriously consider an oil embargo. No date has been agreed though, and other EU states may have different targets in mind.

Germany and the Netherlands said the EU was dependent on Russian oil and gas and could not cut itself off right now.

The question of an oil embargo is not a question of whether we want or dont want (it), but a question of how much we depend on oil, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told reporters.

Germany is importing a lot (of Russian oil), but there are also other member states who cant stop the oil imports from one day to the other, she said, adding that the bloc should instead work on reducing its reliance on Moscow for its energy needs.

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Defense Secretary to Accompany Biden to NATO, Poland

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will accompany President Joe Biden in Europe this week for talks at NATO headquarters in Brussels and in Poland as allies respond to Russias invasion of Ukraine, the Pentagon said on Monday.

Austin just returned from Europe on Saturday after a week of meetings with NATO allies.

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Russia Finds Meta Guilty of Extremist Activity but WhatsApp Can Stay

A Moscow court said on Monday that Meta was guilty of extremist activity, but the ruling will not affect its WhatsApp messenger service, focusing on the U.S. firms already banned Facebook and Instagram social networks.

Meta did not respond to requests for comment after Moscows Tverskoi District Court said in a press statement that it had upheld a lawsuit filed by state prosecutors on banning the companys activities on Russian territory.

Metas lawyer Victoria Shakina had earlier told the court that the company was not carrying out extremist activities and was against Russophobia, the Interfax news agency reported.

It was not clear whether Meta would appeal the outlawing of the activities of Facebook and Instagram in Russia on the grounds of realizing extremist activity, a ban TASS cited judge Olga Solopova as saying would be enforced immediately.

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EU Approves Common Defense and Security Plan

The European Union approved on Monday a Strategic Compassa bloc-wide common defense strategy that gives the European Union an ambitious plan of action for strengthening the EUs security and defence policy by 2030.

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Zelensky Aide Says Calls for Violence Against Russians Hurt Ukraines Image

Calls for violence against Russian citizens and the castration of prisoners of war ruin Ukraines public image as a civilized European country and are not acceptable, Alexey Arestovich, a senior adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, said on Facebook on Monday.

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Russian Military Says It Will Continue Using Hypersonic Missile to Hit Targets in Ukraine

The Russian military says it will continue using its state-of-the-art hypersonic missiles to hit particularly important targets in Ukraine.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Monday that the Kinzhal hypersonic missile has proven its efficiency in destroying heavily fortified special facilities.

He said that a Kinzhal missile was used Friday to hit a Soviet-era arsenal for storing missiles near the western town of Deliatyn in the Carpathian Mountains, the first time the new weapon was used in combat. It also was used in a strike on the fuel depot in Kostiantynivka near the Black Sea port of Mykolaiv over the weekend. Konashenkov noted that Kinzhal was used for these strikes due to its high kinetic energy and its ability to penetrate defenses.

Konashenkov said that Kinzhal missiles were fired at a distance of more than 1,000 kilometers (over 620 miles).

Kinzhal, one of an array of hypersonic weapons developed by Russia in recent years, has a range of 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) and flies at a speed 10 times the speed of sound. Its carried by specially redesigned MiG-31 fighter jets.

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Russian Military Says It Has Hit Shopping Mall

The Russian military says it has hit a shopping mall on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv because it has been used to store rockets.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov charged Monday that the Ukrainian forces were using the shopping mall to reload multiple rocket launchers and store rockets used for shelling Russian troops. He said that a battery of multiple rocket launchers and ammunition for them were destroyed in the strike. The defense ministry spokesmans claims could not independently verified.

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Russia Warns of Diplomatic Breakdown With US

Russia has warned that relations with the U.S. are on the verge of a breach and summoned the U.S. ambassador for an official protest against President Joe Bidens criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A Russian Foreign Ministry statement Monday referred to recent unacceptable statements by Biden about Putin. Biden referred to Putin last week as a war criminal in relation to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The Foreign Ministry says that at the meeting with U.S. ambassador to Moscow John Sullivan it was emphasized that remarks such as these by the American President, which are unworthy of a state figure of such a high rank, put Russian-American relations on the verge of a breach.

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Poland Mulls Freeze and Seize of Russian-Owed Property

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has called for Russian-owned properties in Poland to be frozen and confiscated as part of the Western sanctions response to Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Many countries have imposed sweeping sanctions on Moscow, targeting banks and trade, and seizing assets like Russian oligarchs luxury yachts.

Italy has seized property belonging to close associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin, such as Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanovs villa on the island of Sardinia and Andrey Igorevich Melnichenkos $578 million superyacht.

Morawiecki told Polish media Wprost in an interview Sunday that more and more Poles dont understand why, if Italians confiscate the yachts of Russian oligarchs, we cant do the same in our country.

Read the full article here

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Nobel Prize Chiefs Reject Exception for Zelensky

Following an open letter from EU politicians, Norwegian Nobel Institutes director Olav Njlstad has stated that the Nobel Peace Prize Committee will not be able to extend its deadline past Jan. 31 to make the nomination of Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelensky possible.

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Moscow Bans Facebook and Instagram

A Moscow court on Monday banned Facebook and Instagram in Russia as extremist organizations after the platforms owner allowed online hate speech against Russian nationals.

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Moscow Explains Why No Ceasefire Amid Peace Talks With Kyiv

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Moscow would not put on pause its military action against Ukraine amid conducting peace negotiations with Kyiv. He explained any pause would give the Ukrainian military to regroup and to continue their attacks against the Russian military.

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Russias Central Bank Reopens Bond Trading

Russias central bank has cautiously reopened bond trading on the Moscow exchange for the first time since the country invaded Ukraine.

The price of Russias ruble-denominated government debt fell Monday, sending borrowing costs higher. Stock trading has remained closed, with no word on when it might reopen.

The central bank bought bonds to support prices. It has imposed wide-ranging restrictions on financial transactions to try to stabilize markets and combat the severe fallout from Western sanctions that have sent the ruble sharply lower against the U.S. dollar and the euro.

Ratings agencies have downgraded Russias bonds to junk status. Russias finance ministry last week flirted with default by threatening to pay foreign holders of dollar bonds in massively devalued rubles before sending the money in dollars.

Stocks last traded on Feb. 25, the day after the invasion started, and sent the main stock index sharply lower.

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Kremlin: More Progress Must Be Made in Talks With Ukraine Before Putin Can Meet Zelensky

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said more progress must be made in talks with Ukraine before Russian President Vladimir Putin can meet his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.

Peskov said that in order to talk about a meeting of the two presidents, first its necessary to do the homework, its necessary to hold talks and agree [on] the results.

He added that so far significant movement has not been achieved in the talks and that there are not any agreements which they could commit to at a joint meeting.

Ukraine and Russias delegations have held several rounds of talks both in-person and more recently via video link. Zelensky has said he would be prepared to meet Putin directly to seek agreements on key issues.

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Ukraine Refuses Russias Demands to Lay Down Arms in Mariupol

Ukraine said there is no question of surrendering the city of Mariupol after Russia called on Ukrainian forces on Sunday to lay down arms in the besieged port city.

There can be no question of any surrender, laying down of arms, the Ukrainska Pravda news portal cited Ukraines Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk as saying. We have already informed the Russian side about this.

Russia said a terrible humanitarian catastrophe was unfolding in Mariupol.

Lay down your arms, Col.-Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev, the director of the Russian National Center for Defense Management, said in a briefing distributed by the defense ministry.

A terrible humanitarian catastrophe has developed, Mizintsev said. All who lay down their arms are guaranteed safe passage out of Mariupol.

Mariupol has suffered some of the heaviest bombardments since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. Many of its 400,000 residents remain trapped in the city with little if any food, water, and power.

Mizintsev said humanitarian corridors for civilians would be opened eastwards and westwards out of Mariupol at 10 a.m. Moscow time on Monday.

Ukraine has until 5 a.m. Moscow time to respond to the offer on humanitarian corridors and laying down arms, he said.

Vereshchuk said Russias actions are a deliberate manipulation.

Instead of spending time on eight pages on letters, just open the corridor, she said.

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Israel PM Says Big Gaps Remain in Bid to End UkraineRussia Conflict

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who has been trying to mediate an end to the UkraineRussia conflict, said on Monday that despite some progress big gaps remained between the sides.

Theres still a long way to go, because  there are several issues in dispute, some of them fundamental, he said in a speech, according to a transcript provided by his office.

Bennett added that Israel, together with other friends in the world, will continue trying to bridge the gap and bring an end to the war.

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UK Says Bulk of Russian Forces More Than 15 Miles From Center of Kyiv

Russian forces advancing on Kyiv from the north-east have stalled and the bulk of its forces remain more than 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) from the center of the city, British military intelligence said on Monday.

Heavy fighting continues north of Kyiv, the Ministry of Defense said.

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Ukraine Claims Russia Shelled Chemical Plant, Russia Denies

Ukraines prosecutor general claimed a Russian shell struck a chemical plant outside the city of Sumy a little after 3 a.m. Monday, causing a leak in a 50-ton tank of ammonia that took hours to contain.

Russian military spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed the leak was a planned provocation by Ukrainian forces to falsely accuse Russia of a chemical attack.

Konashenkov also said an overnight cruise missile strike hit a Ukrainian military training center in the Rivne region. He claimed 80 foreign and Ukrainian troops were killed.

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Top Russian Black Sea Fleet Commander Shot Dead in Ukraine: Report

Andrei Nikolayevich Paliy, a senior commander of Russias Black Sea Fleet, has reportedly been killed while fighting at a Ukrainian port city, two top officials said in a statement.

Captain 1st Rank Andrei Nikolayevich Paly was killed in the fighting [near Mariupol], RFERL reported, citing a Telegram post by Sevastopol Gov. Mikhail Razvozhayev. The Russian navy has not immediately confirmed the latest military leaders death.

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Biden to Travel to Poland to Discuss Ukraine Crisis With Duda

U.S. President Joe Biden will travel to Poland on Friday to discuss the international response to Russias invasion of Ukraine that has sparked a humanitarian and human rights crisis, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said late Sunday.

Biden will travel to Warsaw where he will hold a bilateral meeting with President Andrzej Duda, the White House said. Over 2 million refugees have entered Poland from Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on Feb. 24, the Polish border guard said on Friday.

Bidens Poland trip will come a day after he meets in Brussels with NATO allies, G7 leaders, and European Union leaders to discuss international efforts to support Ukraine after Russias invasion, the White House said.

The White House also said Biden will host a call Monday at 11 a.m. EST with President Emmanuel Macron of France, Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom to discuss their coordinated responses to Russias invasion of Ukraine.

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Chernobyl Staff Rotated Out for First Time Since Sites Capture: IAEA

Around half the single shift of staff who have been working non-stop at the radioactive waste facilities at Chernobyl since Russian forces seized the site last month have been relieved by other Ukrainian staff, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Sunday.

More than three weeks ago Russian forces took control of the waste facilities near the now-defunct power plant that was the site of the worlds worst nuclear accident in 1986.

The shift that happened to be working then had been on duty constantly since and unable to rotate out, which the International Atomic Energy Agency had said posed a growing threat to safety as they were exhausted and working under extreme pressure. It has often called for them to be replaced.

They were there for far too long. I sincerely hope that remaining staff from this shift can also rotate soon, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi was quoted as saying in an IAEA statement issued on Sunday night.

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Israel Manages Its Involvement With Ukraine and Russia in a Sensitive, Generous and Responsible Way, PM Says

Israels prime minister says the country is managing its involvement with Ukraine and Russia in a sensitive, generous and responsible way while balancing various and complex considerations after Ukraines president called on Israel to take sides.

Naftali Bennett spoke on the tarmac at Israels main international airport as an aid delegation was set to depart for Ukraine to set up a field hospital for refugees near the Polish border.

A day earlier Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rebuked Israel in a televised address to Israeli parliament members, saying Israel should provide arms and impose sanctions on Russia.

Israel has good relations with both Ukraine and Russia and has acted as an intermediary between the two sides since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February.

Bennett said that Israel has extended its hand in aid in the Ukraine crisis for several weeks, very much from the first moment, through different channels, pointing to humanitarian aid shipments and taking in Ukrainian refugees and immigrants.

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No Plan for Biden to Visit Ukraine While in Europe

President Joe Biden has no plan to visit Ukraine during his upcoming trip to Europe, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Sunday.

The trip will be focused on continuing to rally the world in support of the Ukrainian people and against Russian President Vladimir Putins invasion of Ukraine, but there are no plans to travel into Ukraine, Psaki wrote on Twitter.

The White House announced Tuesday that Biden will travel to Brussels, Belgium, for the March 24 NATO summit. He is expected to meet with other NATO leaders and discuss ongoing deterrence and defense efforts in response to Russias unprovoked and unjustified attack on Ukraine, as well as to reaffirm our ironclad commitment to our NATO allies, Psaki said.

Read the full article here

Bill Pan, Jack Phillips, Tom Ozimek, Lorenz Duchamps, The Associated Press, and Reuters contributed to this report.
A Mozambican is shot during a protest against migrants in Johannesburg. (Courtesy of SA Police)

Migration Crisis Simmers in South Africa as Attacks Mount

Native residents resent jobs competition from migrants

A young Mozambican migrant, bleeding from a head wound, is protected from further assault by a squad of South African police officers as hes loaded into an ambulance in Alexandra township in Johannesburg.

Parts of South Africa, especially in the countrys largest city, Johannesburg, remain tense and occupied by security forces trying to prevent violence against foreigners. Protestors are demanding that migrants, who they accuse of stealing jobs and being criminals, leave the country.

Migrants and refugees from a wide range of nations have poured into the continents second-largest and most developed economy for decades. The flood began in the early 1990s when apartheid began to fall.

Some demonstrations have ignited attacks on people perceived to be migrants from other African countries. Scores have been injured and seen their property destroyed.

Dudula leader Nhlanhla Lux says that undocumented foreigners are forcing many South Africans into a corner. (Courtesy of SA Police Service.)

The xenophobic violence against immigrants in South Africa started in 2008, with Alexandra serving as its wellspring. Its a high-density shack-land, home to thousands of locals and immigrants with little access to basic services.

Thirteen years ago, the anti-foreigner violence spread across the country and eventually resulted in the deaths of 62 people, including 21 South Africans, 11 Mozambicans, five Zimbabweans, and three Somalis, according to Human Rights Watch. Thousands were injured.

South Africa has an official unemployment rate of 35 percentthe highest in the worldand violent crime is rife. Yet it still offers migrants a chance for a better life.

The African National Congress (ANC) government estimates the number of illegal and legal immigrants to be between 3 million and 6 million people.

A new wave of xenophobia started rising in the run-up to local government polls in October 2021.

Three political parties, Action SA, the Patriotic Alliance (PA), and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), campaigned using strong anti-migrant rhetoric. The parties performed well above expectations, with their representatives now holding office in many town and city councils.

These people that come from Zimbabwe, Congo, Mozambique, and lord knows where else, and get jobs here, while our graduates sit at home, they must go! We must remove them! Gayton McKenzie, PA leader, told The Epoch Times.

In recent weeks, senior ANC officials, including Defense Minister Thandi Modise, have expressed similar sentiments.

Members of Operation Dudula protest against illegal migrants in Johannesburg in February. (Courtesy of SA Police Service.)

Sometimes were too shy to say to people who cross the borders legally and illegally, who do not respect our laws, traditions, and cultures, that were fed-up, she told a press conference. That doesnt turn us into people who are xenophobic. The truth of the matter is that most of the [crime] syndicates arent run by South Africans.

Organizations lobbying for migrant rights have slammed Modises comments as highly irresponsible and not based on fact.

They say some radical elements are using politicians statements to justify attacks on people that they decide dont belong in South Africans.

Dennis Naidoo, a South African of Indian heritage, was working in his butcher shop in Alexandra when a crowd gathered outside of it.

They chucked petrol bombs in and my place was burnt to ashes, he told The Epoch Times. I just got my mother out in time: Shes 79. Im from this country. My employees are locals. I showed these gangsters my ID card, but they didnt care. They still accused me of being from Bangladesh or Pakistan.

The incident happened during a protest organized by Operation Dudula. (The word dudula means to push.) The group says its tired of illegal foreigners competing with locals for scarce resources. It wants to push them out of South Africa.

Dudula is led by an eloquent man in his late 20s, Nhlanhla Lux, whos conspicuous in his military fatigues and dark sunglasses. He said his movement is behaving responsibly by targeting only undocumented migrants.

The groups focus is directed especially at migrants who have established businesses in townships. On March 21, in Thokoza, east of Johannesburg, crowds of locals rampaged through the district, destroying shops and roadside stalls.

The anti-foreigner operations that have a measure of organization and discipline, such as Dudula, are splintering into loose mobs of younger unemployed people, some appearing to be under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

Its a situation thats forcing many migrants into hiding.

In the shadow of a line of police officers protecting a foreign-owned store from being looted, with teargas fumes hanging in the air, Lux told reporters: When South Africans stand up to express how they feel, its a problem. But when other people do the wrong thing, its not a problem.

By other people, he was referring to migrants. With seven out of 10 young people who should be working, being unemployed, South Africa cant afford to carry millions of migrants, he said.

The police, the state, rich people, they say Operation Dudula is xenophobic, that were inciting hatred and violence, Lux said. They protect people who are not from here, while millions of South Africans dont know what theyre eating tonight. Millions are unemployed. But we must say nothing, while illegal migrants steal water and electricity from us!

Its easy to hold up a sign saying foreigners have rights, too, when you live in a nice house, and youve never been starving!

Sharon Ekambaram, of Lawyers for Human Rights, said foreigners arent stealing resources and jobs from locals. Rather, many migrants are creating employment, while the governments jobs programs fail because of bad economic policies.

Many migrants have no choice but to leave their home countries, which are wracked by war, political violence, and social ills that are even worse than those in South Africa, Ekambaram told The Epoch Times.

But Lux said South Africans cant afford the luxury of worrying about crises elsewhere on the continent when theyre locked into their own battles to survive. He said the governments ignoring the plight of citizens, who are suffering the wrath of foreign criminals. He pointed out that when police recently cracked several gangs of cash-in-transit robbers, almost all of those arrested were from Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

These people come to our land and dont uphold our laws, then were expected to respect their human rights, he said. These human rights groups live in a dream world. They must come live in my world for a day, and then well see if they still respect certain peoples human rights!

Lux said many South Africans feel increasingly cornered.

The grass is dry, so any sparkand we know what happens, he said.
Ukrainian refugees prepare to board a train to Poland at the train station in Lviv, Ukraine, on March 18, 2022. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

More Than 3 Million Ukrainian Refugees Have Fled as Russian Attacks Continue

The tidal wave of Ukrainians displaced by Russias conflict continues spilling into border nations and other countries, surpassing more than 3 million people since the invasion began on Feb. 24.

At 1.5 million, nearly half of the refugees fleeing the country are children while 9 out of 10 people escaping are either women or minors, according to United Nations data.

Paul Dillon, a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said, We have now reached 3 million mark in terms of movements of people out of Ukraine to neighboring countries. And among these people, there are some 157,000 third-country nationals.

Ukrainian refugees prepare to board a train to Poland at the train station in Lviv, Ukraine, on March 18, 2022. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Further, the organization also noted large caravans of women and children making the difficult voyage to cross borders are inviting targets for human traffickers.

Refugees are particularly susceptible to being intercepted by traffickers near border crossings, where crowds of humanity, officials, and transportation workers can be disorienting for new arrivals.

To give a sense of the border that I used to visit, the main border, Medyka, Poland to Ukraine  scores of people standing around buses and minivans calling out names of capital cities  the vast, vast majority, of course, are people with wonderful intentions and great generosity, but there is no doubt given what we understand of trafficking in Europe, that that remains a very, very grave issue, James Elder, spokesperson for the UN Childrens Fund said on March 15.

No End In Sight

Within a 20-day stretch, 150,000 people fled Russias war in Ukraine each day, which breaks down to 6,250 refugees departing every hour, according to IOM reports.

U.S. officials and President Joe Biden met last week to discuss the possibility of expediting the process of reuniting Ukrainian refugees with their relatives in the United States.

During a White House briefing on March 15, press secretary Jen Psaki said Bidens administration was considering its options.

There are conversations about helping Ukrainians coming to America. Obviously, they currently could apply through the refugee process, but were continuing to discuss what options may exist, Psaki said.

One day prior, U.S. state department spokesman Ned Price asserted, We have a [refugee] ceiling that is set every year. Within that ceiling, there are categories, including refugees from that part of the world.

If there is a need for Ukrainian refugees to be resettled farther afield from neighboring countries, that is something that we will look at very closely.

The majority of asylum seekers from Ukraine are ending up in border nations, with Poland taking on the majority at over 2 million people.

Romania has the second-highest number of refugees at 535,461, followed by the Republic of Moldova (365,197), Hungary (312,120), Slovakia (250,036), Russia (231,764), and Belarus (3,765).

Adrian Briss, a Polish realtor, is traveling from Poland to pick up a van load of refugees from Lviv, Ukraine, next to the Medyka border crossing in Poland on March 12, 2022. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

However, other countries in the European sphere are also taking on asylum seekers by the thousands, including the Czech Republic, Germany, France, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.

In the Czech Republic, officials indicated the nation was at the limit of its resources to handle more refugees on March 14.

A spokesperson for the Czech firefighters general directorate, Pavla Jakoubkova, said, The states capacities are exhausted.

We are slowly getting to a state where we can only provide emergency shelter for refugees, i.e. to ensure emergency survival in emergency conditions.

People will have to be concentrated in gyms, halls and so on, and their accommodation will not be comfortable.

Germany has welcomed nearly 150,000 refugees. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser announced on March 13 more than 2,300 Technical Relief Agency volunteers have settled in the nation to support the displaced people fleeing the war in Ukraine.

The president of France, Emmanuel Macron, also extended an invitation to Ukrainian refugees.

Temporary Shelters

France, like all other European countries, will do its part to assist the Ukrainian people, but also to welcome refugees from this country, the head of state said.

Officials in the country anticipate harboring upwards of 100,000 Ukrainians seeking asylum in the coming weeks.

Coordinator of the French inter-ministerial crisis cell, Joseph Zimet, explained, We are trying to be ready for volumes that are likely to be much more significant in the days or weeks to come.

Meanwhile, Irish authorities are scrambling to house more than 6,000 Ukrainians who have arrived since Feb. 24.

Nearly a third of those were being housed in hotels as temporary shelters as of March 15.

Since Ukrainians began arriving at the small island nation, the Irish Red Cross has been inundated with 14,000 volunteers offering shelter in their homes amid a lack of interim housing options for refugees.

Additionally, the United Kingdom has taken in 3,000 displaced people from Ukraine as of March 14, which has drawn criticism from some due to the sharp contrast with the governments pro-Ukraine rhetoric.

Some analysts attribute the slow admittance of war refugees to the nations rigid immigration policy.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a press conference at Downing Street where he suggested the UK could use more domestically produced gas (Alberto Pezzali/PA)

No Clear Way Out

Even before navigating the complexity of crossing borders and the looming threat of opportunistic human traffickers, Ukrainians are risking their lives regardless.

Between Feb. 24 and March 15, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights documented 1,900 civilian casualties, with 726 people killed, including 52 children, which was primarily caused by Russian shelling in populated areas.

Civilians are entitled to protection against the dangers arising from military operations, UN under-secretary-general for political and peacebuilding affairs Rosemary DiCarlo asserted.

Multiple reports have emerged since early March of Russian troops firing on civilian evacuation routes, or green corridors, in addition to bombing railways used to transport civilians out of conflict zones, and deliberate strikes against civilian targets.

During a video address on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky decried the Russian bombing of an art school in which he said around 400 civilians were seeking refuge.

People were hiding there. Hiding from shelling, from bombing. There were no military positions  Mostly women and children, the elderly. They are under the debris. We do not know how many are alive at the moment, the embattled head of state said.

There have also been claims of Russian troops abducting and forcibly transporting non-combatants across the border to Russia from the besieged city of Mariupol.
Hunter Biden arrives to the inauguration of Joe Biden on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2021. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Mother of Hunter Bidens Child Testified to Federal Investigators: Attorney

The mother of one of Hunter Bidens children answered questions from federal investigators probing Bidens financial dealings, according to her attorney.

Clint Lancaster, representing Lunden Roberts, told The Epoch Times in an email that Roberts testified pursuant to a subpoena.

Hunter Biden, one of President Joe Bidens sons, had a child with Roberts in 2018.

Several former romantic partners of Hunter Biden were reported to have testified to federal investigators in the probe, which he has described as exploring potential tax crimes and which includes looking into records of transactions with a bank in China, according to a grand jury subpoena obtained by The Epoch Times.

Lancaster told CNBC recently that he gave a significant amount of Hunters financial records to investigators and that both he and Roberts were interviewed by a U.S. prosecutor, an FBI agent, and an agent with the Internal Revenue Service.

I expect him to be indicted, Lancaster said. Just based on what I saw in his financial records, I would be surprised if hes not indicted.

The testimony took place in Arkansaswhere Roberts livesmore than a year ago, he said.

Lancaster declined to share more details, saying that Roberts hadnt authorized him to make further comments or engage in additional interviews.

Another former girlfriend, Zoe Kestan, reportedly testified to the grand jury in Delaware. Kestan hasnt responded to a request for comment. An attorney for Hunter Biden hasnt returned requests for comment.

Biden, 52, engaged in numerous financial deals while his father was serving as U.S. vice president, including doing business with firms in China and Russia, according to a congressional report released in 2020.

The report states that there were concerns about potential criminal activity related to the transactions. Lawmakers also said the millions of dollars in transactions raised extortion concerns.

Hunter Biden and his father have said that the younger Biden didnt do anything wrong.

The White House has repeatedly declined to comment on developments regarding Hunter Biden, noting that he isnt part of the federal government.

Republicans in Congress have vowed to investigate Hunter Biden if they gain control of either or both chambers of Congress in the upcoming midterm elections. One aspect of such an investigation would be probing how social media firms blocked access to stories about emails from a laptop purportedly belonging to Biden just before the 2020 election.

We know for a fact that Big Tech, the mainstream media, and allies of the Democrat Party worked together in the last days of the 2020 election to censor fact-based journalism and shut down social media platforms to ensure that the public did not have access to the truth about the scandals involving Hunter Biden and the Biden family, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said in a March 18 statement.

This is the most consequential political scandal since Watergate, and it deserves an investigation no less robust and no less bipartisan.
The Supreme Court of the United States on May 7, 2019. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

NC Republicans Urge Supreme Court to Let Them Take Voter ID Law Defense From Dem AG

North Carolinas Republican-controlled legislature should be allowed to step in to advocate for a voter ID law in court because Josh Stein, the states Democratic attorney general, isnt doing enough to defend the statute, Republican lawmakers told the Supreme Court on March 21.

Republicans generally favor strengthening election integrity measures, such as requiring photo identification by voters. Democrats generally oppose photo IDs, saying that the requirement is overly burdensome and disenfranchises voters.

Republican lawmakers complained that Steins advocacy has been half-hearted and has focused on technical issues instead of countering the oft-repeated left-wing claim that voter ID laws are racially discriminatory.

The case has drawn comparisons to Cameron v. EMW Womens Surgical Center, in which the Supreme Court ruled 81 on March 3 that Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, a Republican, should be allowed to defend a state law restricting abortion after the states Democratic governor, Andy Beshear, refused to do so. The Epoch Times reported on the ruling at the time.

The case is Berger v. North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, court file 21-248. Phil Berger, a Republican, is president pro tempore of the North Carolina Senate. The NAACP is the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Justice Clarence Thomas, 73, wasnt present at the court for oral arguments because he was hospitalized. Chief Justice John Roberts said Thomas will participate in consideration and decision of the cases [today] on the basis of the briefs and the transcripts of oral argument.

In 2018, North Carolina voters approved by a 55.5 to 44.5 percent vote a state constitutional amendment requiring voters to present photo ID and directing the North Carolina General Assembly to develop those requirements, Ballotpedia reported. The next month, the legislature approved Senate Bill 824, which laid out the requirements. Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, vetoed the legislation but the Republican-controlled legislature overrode his veto.

Lower federal courts have sided with Stein.

On June 7, 2021, a divided U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit rejected the request from the state legislature to take over the defense of the law from Stein. Writing for the circuit, Judge Pamela Harris, an Obama appointee, found that the federal district court that had twice rejected the request hadnt abused its discretion.

In dissent, Judge Harvie Wilkinson, a Reagan appointee, suggested that Stein may have a conflict of interest.

When a challenge is brought to an unpopular or controversial state law, an attorney generals defense of the law may be less than wholehearted, Wilkinson wrote. If the plaintiffs in the case are politically influential, the temptation to pull punches becomes even stronger. It casts no aspersions on anyone to note the obvious: North Carolinas voter photo ID law is a very controversial statute.

Separately, two state judges in North Carolina struck down the law on Sept. 17, 2021.

The statute was motivated at least in part by an unconstitutional intent to target African American voters, the judges wrote in their majority opinion in Holmes v. Moore.

Other, less restrictive voter ID laws would have sufficed to achieve the legitimate nonracial purposes of implementing the constitutional amendment requiring voter ID, deterring fraud, or enhancing voter confidence, they wrote.

During oral arguments on March 21, attorney David H. Thompson, representing the legislature, told the Supreme Court that Governor Cooper has been an implacable foe of this law. Thompson noted that Cooper had previously said that this unconstitutional law should never go into effect.

This court recently, in Cameron, held there are deep constitutional considerations implicated when a federal court is called to pass upon the constitutionality of a state law, and, thus, a federal court must account for a state designating multiple officials to defend its sovereign interests, Thompson said. There is no basis in this case for a federal court to second-guess a states decision that it needs a representative exclusively focused on vindicating state law.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor questioned Thompsons reasoning.

Your position is that if North Carolinas law said every member of the legislature has a right and must be made a party to defend the state or to defend the interests of the state, then a federal court would be bound by 50, 100 legislators coming in and participating in the litigation, Sotomayor said.

Justice Elena Kagan asked Thompson: Doesnt the executive branch represent the state writ large?

Thompson replied that this wasnt the case under North Carolina law. State law states that the legislature is deemed to be the state in this situation, he said.

NAACP attorney Elisabeth Theodore told the court that theres a strong federal interest in requiring states to speak with a single voice at a time in federal litigation.

It does seem a little unfair to me that  youre asking us to let [you]  pick your opponents, Chief Justice John Roberts told Theodore. What are you afraid of?

North Carolina Deputy Solicitor General Sarah Boyce said Stein is advancing the same legal arguments about the voter ID statute that the legislature would. Theres no daylight between their position and ours, she said.

Their evidence is duplicative of our evidence, Boyce said.

Justice Stephen Breyer told Boyce that the state legislature in an election case has a pretty strong interest.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau takes part in a joint press conference with Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Jens Stoltenberg at Canadian Forces Base Petawawa, Ontario on July 15, 2019. (The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick)

NATO Chief Urges Canada and Allies to Increase Defence Spending

Canada has not met the 2 percent target pledged to NATO since 2014

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is urging Canada and all NATO allies to fulfill their pledge to increase defence spending to at least two percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

Referring to a 2014 agreement that commits allies to increase funding to strengthen the military capabilities the alliance needs, Stoltenberg said there is a need to do more, particularly in light of the current Russia-Ukraine conflict.

We have an agreement and I expect all allies, also Canada, to follow up on thatthat we should aim at two percent of GDP, because we live in a world which is more dangerous, said Stoltenberg in an interview on CBCs Rosemary Barton Live on March 20.

Asked what level of spending he hoped to see from Canada, given Defence Minister Anita Anands pledge on March 16 to present aggressive options to the cabinet ahead of the upcoming spring budget, Stoltenberg didnt answer directly but reiterated the need to stick to the agreement.

Canada really contributes [to] our collective defence with troops, with capabilities but in a more dangerous world, we need to invest more in our security, he said.

Several European countries including Germany, Poland and Denmark have increased military spending in response to the war in Ukraine.

Anand said the options she is putting forward will include spending exceeding, hitting or falling short of NATOs target.

My role is to bring forward a number of different options for our government to consider, she said in an interview on CBCs Power & Politics on March 16.

In terms of lethal aid to Ukraine, the defence minister said Canada had now exhausted the inventory of equipment in the Canadian Armed Forces.

There are capacity issues that we need to make sure we are on top of for the purposes of ensuring the Canadian Armed Forces is well resourced, said Anand.

In a press release on March 16, National Defence said that Canada has committed 3,400 troops to NATOs response force, and donated $82.8 million in military equipment since the crisis in Ukraine began.

On March 19, Canadas HMCS Halifax, a navy frigate that has served in the Royal Canadian Navy and Canadian Forces since 1992, set sail for a six-month deployment to the North Atlantic and northern European waters in support of NATO in the wake of Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Questions over Canadas military spending come as heads of state are set to meet at the alliances headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on March 24, to address Russias ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

We will also start a discussion not only about the immediate response to the crisis in Ukraine, but also how we should adapt NATO, reset our deterrence and defence for the longer term, as a result of this brutal war that is taking place in Ukraine, Stoltenberg said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hinted at raising Canadas military spending earlier this month.

At a joint press conference in London with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte on March 7, Trudeau defended his governments NATO efforts, saying Ottawa had put forward a plan a few years ago to increase the countrys defence spending by 70 percent. He also said that more could be done.

We also recognize that the context is changing rapidly around the world and we need to make sure that the women and men who serve in the Canadian armed forces have all the equipment necessary to be able to stand strongly as we always have as members of NATO, Trudeau said.

We will continue to look at what more we can do.

In 2021, Canadas defence spending was an estimated 1.4 percent of GDP. Allies including the United States and the UK spent about 3.5 percent, and 2.3 percent of GDP, respectively that year.

Reuters contributed to this report
Volunteers from the State Emergency Service (SES) rescue a llama from a flooded farm house in western Sydney, Australia, on March 3, 2022. (Muhammad Farooq/AFP via Getty Images)

New South Wales Government Opens Independent Inquiry Into Flood Response

The New South Wales (NSW) government has launched an independent flood inquiry to examine and report on the causes, preparedness, response, and recovery from the unprecedented weather event.

The states former police commissioner Mick Fuller and its chief scientist Mary OKane will head the inquiry.

Acting Premier Paul Toole said the review would ensure NSW could quickly improve its preparation for and response to future flood risks.

It will also take into consideration the current and future land planning and management, building standards, and the safety of emergency services and community first responders.

We have always said we will take whatever action we can to improve our management of natural disasters, and this inquiry is an important step in that process, Toole said. No two floods are the same, and there is no formulaic response, but when it comes to natural disasters, we can never be too prepared.

The first report, primarily on causation and land use planning and management, is due on June 30, and the final report is on Sept. 30.

The words No looting are sprayed on discarded furniture outside a flood-affected house in Murwillumbah, Australia, on March 11, 2022. (Dan Peled/Getty Images)

The inquiry comes after many residents in flood-affected areas felt abandoned by authorities, with families left stranded on their roofs.

A group of up to nine residents from the flood-devastated northern suburb of Lismore travelled to Prime Minister Scott Morrisons residence and dumped their destroyed household possessions at the entrance.

The flood victims criticised the prime ministers handling of the crisis and called for climate action, holding signs that read Your climate inaction killed my neighbour and Morrison, your climate megaflood destroyed our homes.

One of the protesters, Kudra Ricketts, 24, said she had to swim through the flood waters during the middle of the night after her home was suddenly submerged.

I lost everything. I lost all of my special possessions, I lost photos of dead relatives that I could never replace, she told AAP. None of us are safe from the effects of climate change while our government continues to  subsidise fossil fuel companies.

Flood-affected residents of Lismore dump household flood-damaged items outside the Prime Ministers residence of Kirribilli House in Sydney, Australia, on March 21, 2022. (AAP Image/Dean Lewins)

Reports of antagonistic behaviour towards Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel, who have been assisting with rescue and recovery operations, have also emerged as people expressed their frustrations.

NSW State Emergency Services (SES) Northern Zone Commander Steve Patterson told the ABC that he was disheartened at people who unfairly criticised soldiers in uniform on social media and in public.

A Defence member that Ive been working with quite closely right throughout the flood, who was in Lismore in uniform, was spat upon by a member of the public, he said.

Thats just behaviour that is almost beyond my understanding at any point, but let alone when these members have been out there working so hard.

Patterson said he understood that people affected by the disaster would feel anger and grief at the situation but asked critics to reflect on the impacts that their tone and content could have on the people working to help out.

Morrison previously defended the response by the ADF, saying they had been deployed as fast as possible.

He noted that during emergencies, the first response always came from within the community, which is then followed by state response and then support from the ADF.

That is what happens in relation to every natural disaster. The SES and the Defence Forces dont replace that community response. They add to it, they support it, and they bring in the heavy equipment, he said.
Newsom Self-Sabotages Presidential Chances

Commentary

You cant win without the conservatives, said Richard Nixon. But you cant win only with the conservatives. He was referring how Republican Barry Goldwater, Mr. Conservative, lost in a landslide in 1964 to Lyndon Johnson. But Nixon himself won in 1968 and 1972, the latter in a landslide, by moving to the middle of politics.

The flip is true for Democrats. They cant win without the liberals, but cant win only with them. Al Gores depressing environmentalism in 2000 and Hillary Clintons attack on the middle-class deplorables in 2008 were losers. But the triangulation of Bill Clinton in 1992, the cool moderation of Barack Obama in 2008 and the Working Class Joe Biden of 2020 were winners.

Thats something Gov. Gavin Newsom is ignoring as he looks beyond a likely easy re-election as governor this November toward a presidential run in 2024 or 2028. He seems to think the California Way, his new slogan from his State of the State address, is going to play in Peoria, to use an old phrase, as well as it does in the Pacific Heights section of San Francisco.

Yet even he likes to quip, San Francisco is 49 square miles surrounded by reality, a phrase Joe Eskenazi pointed out actually was coined by Paul Kantner of the Jefferson Airplane.

Newsoms latest gaffe was getting involved in Floridas supposed Dont Say Gay controversy. In fact, the bill in Florida doesnt ban the word gay.

As the New York Daily news described the controversy:

California Gov. Gavin Newsom wants Disney to rethink plans of relocating 2,000 jobs from Southern California to central Florida in light of a growing dissatisfaction of some company employees with its response to Floridas Dont Say Gay bill. Disney, the door is open to bring those jobs back to California  the state that actually represents the values of your workers, the Democratic governor wrote on Twitter over the weekend. Newsom was sharing a report by the Los Angeles Times, in which a group of LGBTQIA+ employees of [Disney-owned] Pixar and their allies expressed anger and frustration at the companys inaction regarding its position against the bill. Slammed as hateful by critics, the bill forbids discussions about gender identity and sexual orientation in primary schools classrooms. It has passed both the state House of Representatives and the Senate. The states Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, is expected to sign it into law.

Yet as a Breitbart Fact Check pointed out, But the legislation that is causing such a stir among Democrats and journalists does not mention gay or any specific sexuality.

The text of the relevant portion of the bill reads: A school district may not encourage classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in primary grade levels or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students.

Its also worth pointing out these and other jobs fled California because of its punishing tax and regulation climate. Disney cares more for profits than toeing the line on the latest iteration of the ever-changing woke ideology.

The Florida Swing State

The problem for Newsoms future is Florida is the biggest swing state. Advancing the woke agenda might be popular in California, but it is not in Florida and will cost him votes.

Here are the winning percentages in the recent presidential races for Florida, which in 2024 will have 30 electoral votes:

2020 Trump 51 percent;

2016 Trump 49 percent;

2012 Obama 50 percent;

2008 Obama 51 percent;

2004 Bush 52 percent;

2000 Bush 49 percent;

1996 Clinton 48 percent.

Its close every time. For 2000, the infamous hanging chad election, the final percentages were: Bush 48.847 percent to Gore 48.838 percent, the closest ever.

Of those seven elections, only one, in 2020, did not contribute to the national winners tally in the Electoral College. Florida is absolutely crucial to any presidential bid in 2024 or 2028.

Newsom should be doing a Clinton triangulation on issues like this, instead of insulting Floridians. Theres a way to do itmaintain your liberal base, while not insulting centristsif you know how and are serious about winning.

You can write the ads yourself Republicans will run against Newsom. Non-Californians already have a risible attitude toward the state and the California Way.

CRT Etc.

There are other issues on which hes making this mistake. One is critical race theory (CRT), now banned or restricted in 36 states. Last year Newsom signed into law the nations first mandated ethnic studies program. As The Epoch Times reported, A high school teacher in Salinas Valley has quit her job and moved out of state over what she called leftist indoctrination of students in California classrooms through ethnic studies programs.

Newsom also has signed into law several gun-control bills. But thats anathema to working-class Democrats in such swing states as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, where hunting is ingrained in the culture.

Hasnt Newsom heard of the warnings by such Democratic strategists as Ruy Teixeira and James Carville? The latter lamented, Wokeness is a problem and everyone knows it. Its hard to talk to anybody todayand I talk to lots of people in the Democratic Partywho doesnt say this. But they dont want to say it out loud.

Teixeira wrote parents worries cannot be bludgeoned away by saying CRT has no influence and parents just dont want their kids taught about slavery. Parents are far more worried about their children being arrayed into hierarchies of privilege and oppression and encouraged to see everything through a racial lens than they are concerned with their children learning about historical incidents and practices of racism. 

Democrats would be well-advised to focus instead on an inclusive nationalism that emphasizes what Americans have in common and their right not just to economic prosperity but to public safety, secure borders and a world-class but non-ideological education for their children. Thats much more likely to work than simply denying a lot of these issues are problems.

Vote Shift

Teixeira and others have been pointing out how issues such as CRT and sex-ed in schools are pushing Latino and black voters away from the Democratic Party and toward the Republicans. Although most remain Democrats, a shift of just 5 percentage points would doom Democrats in the swing states in 2024.

This Novembers election also is expected to show how the Democrats, by ditching bread-and-butter issues for social engineering fads, are out of touch with their own base. Some Democrat presidential hopefuls will get the message.

But even if Newsom eventually does get the message himself, for him it may be too late.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford smiles as he removes his mask before making an announcement during a press conference in Toronto on March 3, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Nathan Denette)

Ontario Lifts Mask Mandate for Most Public Spaces

Ontarians no longer need to wear masks in schools, retail settings, and most other public places starting today.

Premier Doug Ford thanked residents in a Twitter post on March 21, saying their cooperation has led Ontario to this new stage of exiting the COVID-19 pandemic.

Today marks an important milestone in our fight with COVID. Thanks to your hard work, sacrifice and willingness to rise to the occasion, Ontario is now at a place where we can safely remove the mask mandate in most settings, he wrote.

On March 9, Ontarios Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore announced the removal of mandatory masking rules for most public settings, with the exception of certain congregated indoor spaces such as public transit, health care settings, long-term care homes, and shelters. The province plans to end all mask mandates and remaining public health rules by the end of April.

Following Moores announcement, several district school boards in Ontario have asked to extend the mask mandate in classrooms as students return from March break.

On March 11, Toronto District School Board chair Alexander Brown wrote a letter to Moore to ask for more time for schools to adapt to the change in public health measures. On March 17, the Limestone District School Board also requested a two-week extension of mask mandates in schools.

In his response letters, Moore said now that the peak of the Omicron variant has passed, the province is ready to take a more balanced and longer-term approach to the provinces pandemic response, including in Ontarios schools.

Provinces Dropping Mask Rules

Wearing masks is no longer mandatory in many other provinces in Canada, including Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.

In Alberta, the masking mandate was discarded in most settings along with most COVID-19 measures on March 1. Masks are still required in some settings, including on municipal and intra-provincial public transit for Albertans aged 13 and older, Alberta Health Services contracted facilities, and all continuing care settings.

B.C. reached the milestone in returning to pre-pandemic normalcy on March 10, as it lifted mask mandates in most settings on March 11, though the government says individual businesses and event organizers can continue requiring masks on their premises. In a news release, the B.C. government said K to 12 students will also return to mask-free classrooms when they return from spring break.

Manitoba dropped its masking mandate on March 15, except in health-care facilities.

Mandatory indoor masking has been ended in Saskatchewan since Feb. 28, though businesses, workplaces, and event organizers in the province may still request patrons, visitors, or staff to continue wearing masks.

In line with Ontario, Nova Scotia also lifts its mask mandates in most public indoor places on March 21, though the measure will remain in public schools for staff, students, and visitors for a few more weeks.

I know there will be mixed emotions among students and parents about the decision to keep masks on for a little longer, Premier Tim Houston said in a news release. But when we have new information, we reassess.

The remaining provinces are also set to lift their masking mandate next month.

In Quebec, mask mandates were already removed in elementary and high school classrooms starting March 7, and the province is scheduled further drop the measure in other settings by mid-April.

Prince Edward Island plans to lift the restriction on April 7 as it enters the final stage of its three-step plan to ease COVID-19 measures.
Highland dancer Kayleigh Armstrong at Shen Yun Performing Arts at the National Arts Centre (NAC) in Ottawa on March 20, 2022. (NTD)

OTTAWA, CanadaDance has the power to heal when done correctly, says Scottish highland dancer Kayleigh Armstrong. And at the Shen Yun matinee on March 20, she saw a group of performers who truly share the spirit of the art.

Each and every one of the [dancers] was always showing the emotion in each move, said Ms. Armstrong. Thats what shows a good dancer from a great dancer. You see the love coming out of what theyre doing. And for someone whos been dancing so long, its nice to still see that people love to do their job, and that its not really a jobthey just get to do what they love to do.

Shen Yuns soul comes from its mission: to share the beauty of Chinese culture with the world. The traditional culture was nearly lost due to 70 years of communist rule. Since 2006, the New York-based classical Chinese dance and music company has toured the worlds top theaters.

Classical Chinese dance is diverse, consisting of many flips, turns, and postures, and next to ballet, it is one of the most comprehensive dance forms in the world.

Highland dancing is very strong and powerful, with a quick extension, whereas when I watch [classical Chinese dance], the strength came out so elegantly and really elongating each movement. So its really beautiful to watch, said Ms. Armstrong.

More than their mastering of the technique, it was the dedication and unity of Shen Yuns performers that made the experience so satisfying for Ms. Armstrong.

They didnt just dance. They understood the music, and they really told a story within the rhythm of the music, which is what caught my eye, and the unisoneverybody doing it all at the same time. It was absolutely beautiful, she said.

Shen Yun Divine and Uplifting

Andrea Gaw-Prekob started dancing at age 5 and has had her own studio for 31 years, where she teaches ballet.

The female dancers of Shen Yun are excellent, with beautiful technique, super fluid and just gorgeous, but strength behind everything, too. So its a nice balance of everything.

Andrea Gaw-Prekob at Shen Yun Performing Arts at the National Arts Centre (NAC) in Ottawa on March 20, 2022.

Classical Chinese dance is very expressive and multifaceted.

Ms. Gaw-Prekob praised the dancers expression through their hands, through where theyre looking, through their legs, their feet, and noted that the use of props added to that expression.

Its just phenomenal with the fans and the flowers and [other props]. Its like youre right there and its real. Its just amazing.

For Ms. Gaw-Prekob, the overall experience was divine and uplifting.

And you just feel its magical almost when youre watching. And its lovely to see a different culture.

Ms. Gaw-Prekob echoed the sentiment that the performers love of the art is apparent.

They have to have discipline and respect for themselves, for their teachers, she said. And you see that coming through, that everything is very pure when theyre dancing.

To anyone who hasnt seen Shen Yun yet, Ms. Gaw-Prekob says, Youre crazy. Come see it. Dont wait.

Reporting by NTD.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006.
The Echo Reservoir in Utah is roughly at half capacity due to a severe ongoing drought that has affected the entire state. (Allan Stein/Epoch Times)

Persistent Drought and Above-Average Temperatures Expected in United States: NOAA

For the second year in a row, forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are predicting prolonged, persistent drought in the western United States as part of its Spring Outlook for the country.

Precipitation is most likely to remain below-average in the west, according to a NOAA news release published on March 17. For much of the United States stretching from the Desert Southwest to the East Coast and north through the Midwest to the Canadian border, NOAA is expecting above-average temperatures between April and June.

Severe to exceptional drought has persisted in some areas of the West since the summer of 2020 and drought has expanded to the southern Plains and Lower Mississippi Valley, Jon Gottschalck, chief, Operational Prediction Branch, NOAAs Climate Prediction Center, said in the news release.

With nearly 60% of the continental U.S. experiencing minor to exceptional drought conditions, this is the largest drought coverage weve seen in the U.S. since 2013, said Gottschalck.

The South Rockies and Southern Plains have the greatest chances of experiencing above-average temperatures during spring. Meanwhile, below-average temperatures are most likely in southeast Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, according to the report.

Above-average precipitation is likely to occur in portions of the Ohio Valley, Great Lakes, west coast of Alaska, and the mid-Atlantic, the report says, while some areas of the Central Great Basin, Southwest, Central and Southern Rockies, and Central and Southern Plains, eastward to the Central Gulf Coast, below-average precipitation is expected.

Food supply chains may get affected by the drought. In California, especially the Central Valley, three-year snow and rain levels will soon be hitting their lowest since 1922. There is 1.5 million acre feet less water in California than last year.

It does make for some very difficult (crop) producer decisions as what to continue to grow and what to keep alive, Brad Rippey, a U.S. Department of Agriculture meteorologist, said at a press briefing.

In late February, the Bureau of Reclamation had announced that it wont be able to provide some farmers with water from the Central Valley Project, one of the two large water systems in the state that supplies water to cities, farms, etc.

Farmers holding senior rights are usually entitled to at least 75 percent of their water allocations even during drought. But these commitments might not be met this year.

Its pretty certain that theyre not going to get their full 75% simply because we dont have the water available, Ernest Conant, Reclamations director of the California-Great Basin region, told The Associated Press. Farmers without senior rights wont get any water they were allocated.

Last years drought had resulted in 395,100 acres of farmland in the state being idled according to a study by the University of California Merced. As a consequence, 8,745 agricultural jobs were lost, leading to losses to the tune of $1.2 billion.
Three 10-dose influenza virus vaccine vials are seen at Ballin Pharmacy in Chicago, Illinois on Oct. 8, 2004. (Tim Boyle/Getty Images)

Pharmaceutical Companies Expanding mRNA Technology to Treat Influenza

As this season's flu shot offered little to no protection

News Analysis

Unlike other vaccines, influenza shots are administered yearly, yet offer generally lower protection than most routinely recommended vaccines, from as low as 10 percent to as high as 60 percent. This seasons flu jab was only 16 percent effective, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Scientists had hoped to develop a universal flu vaccine that could fight against many strains of the flu and be given every five or 10 years, eliminating the need for annual shots. They said it could take eight to 10 years for the universal flu vaccine to be available, but over a decade later, the research did not bear fruit.

Now, major pharmaceuticals are hoping to change the shots underwhelming protection and the current flu manufacturing process with the messenger RNA (mRNA) technology platform.

If the companies are able to succeed in this, the new flu jabs could prove lucrative or help maintain standing in a global market projected to exceed US$10 billion by decades end, according to an article published in Nature.

Dr. Robert Malone, who helped invent the mRNA vaccine technology, said that flu shots are a significant commercial market in the United States that is annually recommended to drive a market need so that the manufacturing plants can be kept running and certified in the possibility that an outbreak similar to the 1918 influenza pandemic should occur.

The government wants to be able to ensure that they always have enough influenza capacity in case the bad thing happens, Malone told The Epoch Times. So the way they do that is they create market incentives for manufacturers to produce seasonal influenza vaccines, even though we dont really need them.

CDC data of total doses of flu vaccines distributed since 1980. (CDC/screenshot via The Epoch Times)

Fortune Business Insights, offering market studies and consultation services, reported that the flu vaccines generated about $5.86 billion in 2020 and $6.59 billion globally in 2021, and is projected to grow to $10.73 billion in 2028 at a CAGR [compound annual growth rate] of 7.2 percent.

The coronavirus pandemic naturally impacted the routine immunization programs and campaigns conducted worldwide in developing and developed countries, the company said in its report. However, Flu vaccination rates have gone up considerably during the pandemic owing to factors such as push from health experts/health departments as well as extension/expansion of various government programs that provide free vaccination against the flu.

Seqirus, one of the largest manufacturers of flu shots in the world and owned by CSL Limited, experienced a sales growth of its vaccines despite the pandemic, with the companys chief executive officer reporting (pdf) total revenue of over $1.7 billion, up 30% at constant currency for the fiscal year 2021 that was driven by the very strong sales growth in seasonal influenza vaccines of some 41%.

Differentiating itself from its competitors, Seqirus is developing flu vaccine candidates based on the next generation of mRNA technology, self-amplifying messenger RNA (sa-mRNA).

Like mRNA vaccines that instruct the cells in the body to make a protein that stimulates the immune response to build up immunity, sa-mRNA also instructs the body to replicate mRNA, amplifying the amount of protein made.

This could enable vaccine manufacturers to potentially develop more effective vaccines with a smaller dosage and with lower rates of reactogenicity, underscoring the application in both pandemic and seasonal settings, the vaccine maker announced in a press release in August 2021.

Seqirus said it would begin clinical trials of its seasonal and pandemic flu vaccine candidates in the second half of 2022.

Pfizer, Moderna, and Sanofi began testing their mRNA flu vaccines in adults 18 and older in 2021, while Curevac announced last month it was conducting a small Phase 1 trial in Panama.

Moderna released interim data for the Phase 1 trial of its quadrivalent (four-strain) seasonal flu vaccine candidate, mRNA-1010 in December 2021, and announced that its two-dose vaccine produced robust antibody titers with no significant safety concerns observed, even at the lowest dose of 50 micrograms.

A diagram showing how Modernas mRNA flu vaccine candidate, mRNA-1010, generates proteins that target the hemagglutinin (HA) of the virus. (Moderna/screenshot via The Epoch Times)

While Modernas vaccine candidate may have shown it produced antibodies after two doses, it was not as robust in the older patients who were given the available one-dose traditional flu vaccine from Sanofi, Fluzone. After a presentation of its data to investors, Modernas shares tumbled 10 percent after a sharp selloff of its shares that same day, according to Reuters.

In addition to the inferior antibody productions, all three various doses of Modernas vaccine elicited more adverse events compared to placebo in both the 18 to 49 age group and those 50 and older.

In the 100 microgram dose (which is the same dose used in its COVID-19 vaccine), Malone said that 90 percent of the people in this study developed adverse events compared to 30 percent in the control group. Of those adverse events, a large fraction of them was grade 3 out of 4, grade 4 being deaths or hospitalizations.

He added, So what we learned was that the toxicity associated with the mRNA tech thats being deployed globally right now, its not just due to the spike protein  but its also due to the underlying components.

A former Sanofi executive, Gary Nabel, told Nature that mRNA may be a tool that offers some upside potential but the big stumbling block is safety.

The lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) that encapsulate mRNA so that it can successfully enter cells have been shown to be highly inflammatory in a study by researchers from Thomas Jefferson University and published on Cell Press (pdf).

Overall, the robust inflammatory milieu induced by LNPs, combined with presentation of the vaccine-derived peptides/protein outside of antigen-presenting cells, might cause tissue damage and exacerbate side effects, the authors wrote. Because self-antigen presentation in an inflammatory environment has been linked to autoimmune disease development, this merits further investigation.

Effectiveness

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that this seasons flu vaccine offered very little protection against mild to moderate influenza illness.

In a study of 3,636 children and adults in seven states from October 2021 to February 2022, the CDC said that the vaccine was only 16 percent effective, a rate that the health agency considers not statistically significant.

The effectiveness of the flu shot has typically been around 40 percent to 60 percent since the CDC first began estimating and tracking it in 2004.

Breaking it further down, however, we see that of the 18 seasons that the CDC has been tracking vaccine efficacy, only one season (201011) was 60 percent. Whereas in eight seasons, it was around 40 percent to 56 percent, and seven seasons saw lower than 40 percent effectiveness, with the lowest being 10 percent in 200405.

The CDC did not publish a report for the 200809 season but claimed that the vaccine effectiveness was 41 percent, and for 202021, the federal agency said it did not estimate the effectiveness of the shot because there was low flu virus circulation during that season.

This seasons flu shot has been updated to include four different virus components that are either inactivated or live-attenuated. Two of the components consist of subtypes of the influenza A virus, and the other two are lineages of the influenza B virus.

Experts say that this seasons low vaccine efficacy stems from a mismatch between the vaccine virus components and the circulating viruses. Yet Moderna shows that even in well-matched years (90% matching), efficacy for all subjects ranges from 38-60% noting that lower efficacy values less than 40 percent may be due in part to egg-adaptations.

A screenshot showing the flu vaccine efficacy and vaccine viral strain matching in the U.S. since the CDC began tracking effectiveness in 2004. (Moderna/screenshot via The Epoch Times)

Despite this, the CDC says that as long as the flu season is not over, people 6 months and older should still get vaccinated, except when contraindicated, because it may prevent serious outcomes.

Flu season usually runs from October to May and peaks between December to March in the United States. There has been a slight uptick in flu activity across the country with at least 2.7 million illnesses, 26,000 hospitalizations, and 1,500 deaths reported thus far for this season but still below baseline, according to the CDC.

Evolution of Flu Vaccines

The flu vaccine was initially developed for American soldiers in the 1940s and upon its approval in 1945, it became available for the general public a year later. But it wasnt until 1964 when the vaccine was specifically recommended by federal health authorities to individuals at high risk for flu complications. Flu shots were later expanded to include people in contact with high-risk patients in 1986.

By 2010, the flu vaccine was recommended for every healthy American 6 months and older, a move that was claimed to be based on expert and organizational opinion rather than on solid clinical data, according to an in-depth 2012 report (pdf) by scientists at the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

The movement toward a universal recommendation for vaccination did not occur primarily as a result of a preponderance of newly published evidence; rather, changes were made in part on the basis of expert and organizational opinion, the authors wrote.

Furthermore, the ACIP [Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices] have not always accurately reflected the evidence used to support the recommendations and routinely have cited studies with suboptimal methodology (eg. that use serology as an endpoint for infection among [trivalent inactivated vaccine] recipients) as supportive, they added.

ACIP, established in 1964, is a committee within the CDC, consisting of experts from the medical and public health fields, that makes recommendations on how to use vaccines.

The 2012 report was not the first study to comment on the shortcomings of the flu vaccine. A 2010 Cochrane review analyzing data that looked at the effects of administering healthy adults with the flu vaccine, found that vaccination had a modest effect on time off work and had no effect on hospital admissions or complication rates. In addition, it also found that inactivated vaccines caused local harm and an estimated 1.6 additional cases of GuillainBarre Syndrome per million vaccinations. The harms evidence base is limited.

In an updated 2018 review, the Cochrane authors examined 52 studies of over 80,000 participants but only focused on data from 25 clinical trials after they were not able to determine the impact of bias on about 70% of the included studies due to insufficient reporting of details.

The authors found that the flu vaccine probably had a small protective effect against influenza and ILI [influenza-like illness] (moderate-certainty evidence), as 71 people would need to be vaccinated to avoid one influenza case, and 29 would need to be vaccinated to avoid one case of ILI.

They also added, Vaccination may have little or no appreciable effect on hospitalizations (low-certainty evidence) or number of working days lost.
P&O Uses Indian Seafarers Earning Less Than 2 an Hour After Sacking UK Staff

Indian seafarers hired to replace sacked P&O Ferries crews are being paid just 2.38 US dollars (1.81) an hour, a union has claimed.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT), which represented many of the 800 staff fired without notice last week, said their replacements are being paid well below the minimum wage in the UK.

General secretary Mick Lynch said: The news that the seafarers now on ships in British ports are to be paid 2.38 dollars an hour is a shocking exploitation of those seafarers and another gut-wrenching betrayal of those who have been sacked.

The rule of law and acceptable norms of decent employment and behaviour have completely broken down beneath the white cliffs of Dover and in other ports, yet five days into this national crisis the Government has done nothing to stop it.

These ships of shame must not be allowed to sail. The Government has to step in now and take control before its too late.

The minimum wage in the UK for people aged 23 and above is 8.91 per hour.

But companies using UK ports often register ships in other countries, allowing them to pay lower wages.

For example, some vessels operated by P&O Ferries are flagged in Cyprus.

P&O Ferries refused to comment on the pay of agency workers.

When the firm informed staff on Thursday they were losing their jobs, it told them it was aiming to halve crewing costs.

No sailings have operated since that date.

The company posted on Twitter on Monday morning that services will remain suspended for the next few days.

Demonstrators will gather outside the London offices of P&O Ferries owner DP World on Monday afternoon, before marching to Parliament.

Also on Monday afternoon, Labour will force an emergency vote in the Commons demanding that the Government takes action to outlaw the so-called fire and rehire of staff, which involves making workers redundant before giving them their jobs back with worse terms and conditions.

The party will also call on the Government to suspend contracts with DP World until the matter with P&O Ferries is resolved.

Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer said: What I want to see is those workers reinstated to their jobs, as they should never (have) been dismissed from them.

I want to see the Government take action here to ban this fire and rehire, which is the cause of this in the first place.

Theres a vote on that this afternoon. So, what I dont want to hear is ministers, Government ministers, complaining about what P&O have done.

Now theyve got the chance to do something about it, vote this afternoon for reinstatement and banning fire and rehire.

P&O Ferries hit back at claims by unions that its decision to replace staff with agency workers puts the safety of ships at risk.

A spokesman for the company said: Safety is the utmost priority for P&O Ferries and our crewing management partners.

They have recruited high-quality experienced seafarers, who will now familiarise themselves with the ships, going through all mandatory training requirements set out by our regulators.

Safety is paramount in our new crewing management model, which is used by many of our competitors and has been proven to be the most successful model in this industry and the competitive baseline.

We will not be reducing crewing numbers. We dont have a business if we dont have a safe business.
Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki speaks during a press conference at the end of the second day of a European Union leaders meeting in Brussels, Belgium, on Oct. 22, 2021. (John Thys/AFP via Getty Images)

Poland Mulls Freeze and Seize of Russian-Owned Property

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has called for Russian-owned properties in Poland to be frozen and confiscated as part of the Western sanctions response to Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Many countries have imposed sweeping sanctions on Moscow, targeting banks and trade, and seizing assets like Russian oligarchs luxury yachts.

Italy has seized property belonging to close associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin, such as Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanovs villa on the island of Sardinia and Andrey Igorevich Melnichenkos $578 million superyacht.

Morawiecki told Polish media Wprost in an interview Sunday that more and more Poles dont understand why, if Italians confiscate the yachts of Russian oligarchs, we cant do the same in our country.

We want to raise the issue of how Poland could freeze and confiscate Russian assets in our country, Morawiecki continued, while noting that there are constitutional limitations on actions related to property rights and so laws would need to be passed to enable such seizures.

While acknowledging that are no Russian yachts in Poland to confiscate, Morawiecki said there is some real estate, and financial assets, the shares in companies that we should seize.

Morawieckis ruling Law and Justice party is strongly in favor of such confiscations, he said, while calling for support from opposition lawmakers to pass relevant laws.

The United States and its allies recently established an international task force to go after Russian assets, known as the Russian Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs (REPO) Task Force.

The European Commission launched a complementary EU-level body called the Freeze and Seize Task Force to implement sanctions against listed Russian and Belarusian oligarchs and, where national laws allow it, confiscate their assets.

As of March 17, there were 877 individuals and 62 entities that were subject to an asset freeze under EU sanctions in context of Russias invasion of Ukraine.

The focus of our work is to stop money flowing to the Russian war machine. Wealthy oligarchs supporting the Russian war machine need to know that they will not find any safe haven in the EU or elsewhere, said Mairead McGuinness, Commissioner for Financial Services, Financial Stability and the Capital Markets Union, in a statement on Freeze and Seize task force enforcement.

So far, the EU has focused its sanctions on banks and oligarchs, while banning Russian aircraft from EU airspace and halting technology exports.

But some EU countries are pressing for a Russian energy embargo, though theres division among the 27 EU member states in this regard.

Germany and Hungary are among those opposed to a fossil fuel embargo, fearing this would hurt their economies and push soaring energy prices higher.

Currently, the EU is looking to phase out the blocs dependency on Russian fossil fuels within five years.

Morawiecki urged more decisive action to cut off Russian energy supplies.

I appeal to the German, the French, and Benelux elites to put aside their calculators and start using their consciences. Because if were calculating the cost of gas and oil, it means were dealing in the blood of Ukrainian children, women, and soldiers, he told Wprost.

The United States has said it would ban all Russian energy imports.
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U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres (L) shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the welcome ceremony for the Belt and Road Forum, at the International Conference Center in Yanqi Lake, north of Beijing, China, on May 15, 2017. (Kenzaburo Fukuhara-Pool/Getty Images)

Private-Sector Coal Financiers Must Be Held to Account, UN Secretary-General Says

As RussiaUkraine war raises energy, food costs, 'now is the time to put the pedal to the metal'

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has asserted that those in the private sector still financing coal must be held to account, claiming that its a stupid investment.

The price of coal recently surged past $420 per metric ton to reach its highest level in 200 years, according to Rystad Energy, although that price has since fallen to $334.50 per metric ton, according to Trading Economics.

Guterres, a Socialist Party politician from Portugal who previously served as president of Socialist International, made the claims in a March 21 speech during The Economists Sustainability Week. The Economist is published by The Economist Group, a privately owned entity that is largely the property of a small group of wealthy European families, including the Agnellis, the Rothschilds, the Cadburys, and the Schroders.

Guterres told the gathering that a high dependence on coal has limited the ability of large emerging economies in the G-20 to cut their carbon emissions.

He included both China and India among those countries. Measured in nominal GDP, Chinas economy is the second-largest in the world as of 2022, second only to the United States.

Guterres said developed countries, private banks, and multilateral development banks must help finance a transition from coal by emerging economies, highlighting the United States agreement with China at the November 2021 climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, to collaborate on climate-related issues.

The good news is that all G-20 governmentsincluding China, Japan, and Koreahave agreed to stop funding coal abroad, Guterres said. They must now urgently do the same at homeprogressively dismantling their own coal infrastructure, with full phase-out by 2030 for OECD countries, and 2040 for all others.

He said private-sector actors financing coal could cost the world its climate goals.

Coal-fired power generation is believed to have reached an all-time high in 2021 at 10,350 terawatt-hours, according to a report from the International Energy Agency (IEA).

However, coals share of the global power mix in 2021 is expected to be 36 percent5 percentage points below its 2007 peak, the IEA report states.

Coal is also integral to the creation of new steel.

Roughly 71 percent of the worlds steel is produced using blast furnaces, which transform iron ore into that key building material with the help of coal. The remaining 29 percent of steel comes from electric-arc furnaces, which melt down steel scrap.

Guterres stated that in 2020, climate disasters forced 30 million people to flee their homesthree times more than those displaced by war and violence.

The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) reported that there were 30 million displacements related to climate in 2020. Yet that figure is actually lower than a peak in 2010, when the IDMC reported that 38.3 million people were displaced by climate-related disasters.

Weather-related death rates are roughly 80 times lower than they were a century ago, as described by physicist Steve Koonin in his 2021 book Unsettled. The total number of such deaths has dramatically declined since 1920, as reported by the Foundation for Economic Education.

Guterres also commented on the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.

The fallout from Russias war in Ukraine risks upending global food and energy marketswith major implications for the global climate agenda, he said.

Food prices shot to an all-time high in February 2022, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organizations Food Price Index. Fertilizer prices, which were already on the rise, are also being affected by the conflict because of Russias central role in much of global fertilizer production.

Oil and natural gas prices also have skyrocketed, continuing or resuming upward trends seen in late 2021.

In Europe, where many countries depend on Russian energy, the conflict has reignited debates over whether countries committed to renewable energy should consider mining, drilling, or fracking their own energy resources, as well as whether they should retain or expand the use of nuclear power.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, long a champion of net zero policies, recently asserted that the United Kingdom should take back control of our energy supplies, in remarks that prompted speculation as to whether the UK would lift its moratorium on fracking.

We will make better use of our own naturally occurring hydrocarbons rather than import them top dollar from abroad and put the money into Putins bank account, Johnson said on March 18 during his Conservative Party Spring Conference Speech.

That does not mean in any way that we are going to abandon our drive for a low carbon future, we are going to make some big bets on nuclear power, not just the big projects but small modular reactors.

Guterres, during his Economist Sustainability Week speech, said: As major economies pursue an all-of-the-above strategy to replace Russian fossil fuels, short-term measures might create long-term fossil fuel dependence and close the window to 1.5 degrees.

Countries could become so consumed by the immediate fossil fuel supply gap that they neglect or knee-cap policies to cut fossil fuel use. This is madness.

Instead of hitting the brakes on the decarbonization of the global economy, now is the time to put the pedal to the metal toward a renewable energy future.
Quebec Justice Minister Sonia LeBel tables legislation, June 13, 2019 at the legislature in Quebec City. (The Canadian Press/Jacques Boissinot)

Quebec Introduced New Plan to Support the French Language Across Other Provinces

Quebec is proposing setting aside one day every year to celebrate the Canadian Francophonie as part of a three-year plan to reinforce French language across the country.

Treasury Board Chair Sonia LeBel says she will push for the adoption of March 22 as an official day at the National Assembly, and an occasion for Quebecers to learn about other francophone communities.

The proposal was part of an 80-solutions policy unveiled at a news conference Sunday where she said Quebec has a role to play in supporting other French-speaking communities.

She says reinforcing and supporting French-speakers doesnt diminish English communities but is a reminder there are two official languages.

The government also pledged additional funding toward the promotion of the French language across Canada, for a total of $24.5 million over the next three years.

Quebec introduced the policy on Canadas Francophonie in 2006, to establish strong relationships between provinces that are home to French-Canadians. There are more than 10 million francophones in Canada, and 2.7 million live outside of Quebec.
Flood-damaged items and debris are left outside a house in Brisbane, Australia, on March 6, 2022. (Dan Peled/Getty Images)

Queensland Calls for Home Buyback Package for Flood Victims

The Australian state of Queensland has put forward a new support package to financially enable the state government to buy back homes of up to 500 flood victims.

Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles said on March 19 that the state had asked the federal government to jointly fund a $771 million (US$572 million) support package under national disaster recovery arrangements.

With the new package, Queenslands flood-hit residents will have the option to retrofit, raise or sell back their homes.

More specifically, the package will provide the state with $275 million to retrofit 5,500 homes, $100 million to elevate 1,000 homes and $350 million to buy back around 500 impacted homes.

This is the biggest potential buybackfund weve ever had available to us. We anticipate that will allow us to buy back 500 properties if people want to, Miles told reporters.

However, the Queensland government will have to work out the guidelines to specify how the options will be assigned to affected residents.

The deputy premier said that, according to previous experience, people preferred to remain in their homes and remodel the properties to make them more resistant to floods.

In addition, the proposed package will allow the state to raise structural assistance grants for residents from under $15,000 to $50,000 and provide another $30 million in clean-up support to local governments.

Sadly, the floods have damaged almost 7,000 homes. This support package of $741 million will deliver a range of household resilience measures for Queensland homes directly impacted by floods in the 2021-22 season, Miles said.

A man clears mud from the lower level of a home following flooding in the suburb of Newmarket in Brisbane, Australia, on March 1, 2022. (Patrick Hamilton/AFP via Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has asked Prime Minister Scott Morrison in a written communication to agree to the proposal, in which the state and the federal government will split the funding package 50:50.

We certainly hope that that agreement will come quickly so that we can provide details out to residents, Miles said.

Nevertheless, he said that the Queensland government would need to reassess its options if the federal government did not consent to co-finance the support package.

I cant imagine the prime minister would want to say to flood victims that they have to move back into a home that will flood again, he said.

At the same time, Queensland is urging the Australian government to provide flood victims in the state with the same hardship assistance payments offered to affected residents in New South Wales.

The National Recovery and Resilience Agency, a federal government body responsible for helping Australians affected by natural disasters, did not immediately respond to a request for comments from The Epoch Times.
No breakthroughs yet in peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. The Kremlin said on Monday that theres no ceasefire, because it would give Ukraines military time to regroup.

The U.S. is stepping up its efforts to help Ukraine in their defense against Russias invasion. President Joe Biden is holding talks on Monday with European leaders. And hes traveling to Brussels later this week and then to Poland.

The U.S. has identified four marines killed in an aircraft accident in Norway. They were taking part in regular NATO exercises conducted in the country.
Members of the Ukrainian Territorial Defence Forces examine new armament, including NLAW anti-tank systems and other portable anti-tank grenade launchers, in Kyiv, on March 9, 2022. (Genya Savilov/AFP via Getty Images)

Pentagon Chief Suggests Russian Troops Taking Heavy Losses

The Russian campaign in Ukraine is stalled, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin proclaimed while suggesting that Moscows forces are continuing to take heavy losses.

Their maneuver forces on the ground are essentially stalled, Austin said Sunday during an appearance on CBS Face The Nation, which has had the effect of Russia moving their forces into a wood chipper.

You know, the Ukrainians have continued to attrit his forces, and theyve been very effective, using the equipment that we provided them, you know, and armor weapons and aircraft weapons, he continued.

Other Western officials said that the conflict, which started Feb. 24, has morphed into a war of attrition as Russia starts to increasingly rely on bombarding cities. On Monday, Ukrainian government officials rejected a demand from Russia that troops in the besieged city of Mariupol lay down their arms along with other guarantees.

In a Monday morning update, the UK Ministry of Defense said Russian forces to the northeast are still stalled about 15 miles outside of Kyiv, the capital, and that forces advancing from the northwest have been blunted by Ukraines military.

Still, Moscow is still aiming to take over Kyiv in the near future, UK officials said.

Ukrainian firefighters work amid the rubble of the Retroville shopping mall, a day after it was shelled by Russian forces in a residential district in the northwest of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on March 21, 2022. (Fadel Senna/AFP via Getty Images)

Despite the continued lack of progress, Kyiv remains Russias primary military objective and they are likely to prioritize attempting to encircle the city over the coming weeks, the Ministry of Defense continued.

Overnight on Monday, Ukrainian authorities accused Russia of shelling a shopping mall in Kyiv, allegedly leaving at least eight people dead. But Russias Ministry of Defense said it released a video that purported to show Ukrainian rocket artillery soldiers using the mall as cover to fire at Russian assets, triggering a counterattack.

On March 21 during the night, a high-precision long-distance weapon was used to destroy a battery of Ukrainian multiple rocket launcher artillery and the base where they stored ammunition, in a defunct shopping center, Major-General Igor Konashenkov told reporters, according to state-run media.

Also in the interview, Austin said that he does not believe Russia will deploy nuclear weapons but noted that previous comments from the Kremlin about establishing a heightened nuclear deterrence posture are troubling. He suggested, without elaborating, that if chemical or biological weapons are deployed, more punitive measures could be enforced against Russia.

I think if a chemical or biological weapon was used, you would see a significant reaction from not only the United States but also the global community, Austin said. I think what weve seen from the Russians in the past is theyre raising issues and creating a pretext so that if they did something in the battle space, they could blame it on somebody else, either Ukrainians or us, NATO.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (R) and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu arrive to hold a joint press conference following their talks in Moscow on March 16, 2022. (Maxim Shemetov/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Russia, Ukraine Nearing Agreement on Critical Issues That Could Lead to Ceasefire: Turkey

Turkish officials on March 19 said that talks between Russia and Ukraine are nearing agreement on critical issues that could lead to a ceasefire, so long as the two sides do not backtrack on the progress they have achieved so far.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba met in the Turkish resort town of Antalya earlier this month, with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also in attendance.

Those talks did not produce any concrete results.

Cavusoglu also traveled to Russia and Ukraine last week for talks with Lavrov and Kuleba.

He told Turkish daily Hurriyet in an interview published on Sunday that there had been rapprochement in the positions of both sides on important subjects, critical subjects.

We can say we are hopeful for a ceasefire if the sides do not take a step back from the current positions, he said. There are open channels between the leaders. This is now known.

Cavusoglu said that both Russia and Ukraine almost agree on four key issues in the negotiations. These include Ukraines neutrality and agreement not to pursue membership in NATO and the process that the Russian side calls de-Nazification, according to Hurriyet.

Both Western and Ukrainian officials have dismissed Russias claims that neo-Nazis are behind Kyivs government.

Cavusoglu did not elaborate further on the issues, noting that Turkey acts as a mediator between Russia and Ukraine and wants to play a facilitating role.

Therefore, it would not be appropriate for me to make an assessment that one side wants more, Cavusoglu said. Ultimately, what matters is that they come together. It happens in Turkey, it happens elsewhere. It is important for us that the two parties come together.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a meeting with his Turkish counterpart in Moscow on March 16, 2022. (Maxim Shemetov/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks from Kyiv, Ukraine, early on March 20, 2022. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

NATO member Turkey, which shares a maritime border with Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea, has continued its diplomatic efforts to deescalate the conflict in Ukraine and called on both sides to come to an agreement regarding a ceasefire.

While the country has voiced support for Ukraines territorial integrity and sovereignty and continues to send humanitarian aid to Kyiv, it has also opposed the multiple Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over the invasion.

Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin, speaking to Al Jazeera television, said the two sides were getting closer to agreeing on four key issues including Russias demand for Ukraine not to pursue NATO membership, demilitarization, and so-called de-Nazification, as well as the protection of the Russian language in Ukraine.

Ukraine and Russia appeared to have made some progress in ceasefire talks last week toward a political resolution, according to reports.

However, top Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later told the Financial Times that assertion was incorrect and that the Kyiv government is in no rush and dragging its feet.

On the whole, reports about the progress being made [are] wrong, Peskov said. No, the work continues [on the talks], he continued, adding that Moscow will inform the public if any breakthroughs are reached in the negotiations.

Turkish presidential spokesman Kalin said he was hopeful that a permanent ceasefire could happen only if Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky were to meet in person and also discuss the political-legal status of Donbas and Crimea.

Were hoping that there will be more convergence on these issues and this meeting will take place sooner rather than later because we all want this war to come to an end, he said.

Zelensky on Saturday said hes ready to negotiate with Putin but warned that if such talks were to fail, that would mean that this is a Third World War.

Im ready for negotiations with him. I was ready for the last two years. And I think that without negotiations, we cannot end this war, Zelensky told CNN.

If theres just a 1 percent chance for us to stop this war, I think that we need to take this chance. We need to do that. I can tell you about the result of [these] negotiationsin any case, we are losing people on a daily basis, innocent people on the ground, Zelensky continued, adding, I think we have to use any format, any chance in order to have a possibility of negotiating, possibility of talking to Putin.
Service members of pro-Russian troops are seen atop of tanks during Ukraine-Russia conflict on the outskirts of the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine, on March 20, 2022. (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)

Russia Will Attack These Countries If Ukraine Concedes Land: Lawmaker

Russia will attack other neighboring countries in Europe if Ukraines government concedes land to Moscow, a Ukrainian lawmaker claimed on Monday.

The lawmaker, Oleksiy Goncharenko, told CNBC that he believes the Russian government will target the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia if Ukraine concedes land. The three Baltic stateswho share a border with Russiaare members of NATO, and a significant attack on any of those countries would likely trigger NATOs Article 5 provision, greatly escalating the conflict.

Goncharenko issued the response when he was asked about whether Ukraine would have to give up more regions to Moscow like in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea and helped establish separatist groups in the Donbas.

In order to stop the bloodshed, is that the price worth paying? Goncharenko was asked by the host.

The problem is that will not stop the bloodshed but [the] quite opposite, the lawmaker said as he was being interviewed from a rooftop area. Russia doesnt understand compromises, he said, adding that this is a lesson from history.

If something like this will be done, [Russia] will go further to the Baltic states, to Poland, and to Georgia, he said. Moscow is not going to stop, Goncharenko continued to say, adding that it is not the solution.

Cars burned after shelling near a church in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, Donetsk region, Ukraine on Feb. 25, 2015. (Genya Savilov/AFP via Getty Images)

Russian President Vladimir Putin, two days before the start of the Feb. 24 invasion, issued a video rationalizing the conflict and cited the Baltic states, Poland, and several former Warsaw Pact countries joining NATO over the years. Putin alleged that NATOs eastward expansion poses an existential threat to Russia, while also demanding that Ukraine not join the military block.

NATOs leadership has rejected that its expansion poses a threat to Russia, stressing it is a defensive alliance.

In the meantime, a larger contingent of U.S. and NATO troops have been deployed in the Baltic states, Poland, and Slovakia. U.S.-made Patriot missile systems, fighter jets, and other weapons have also been sent to those countries in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiations have yielded few results so far, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who accused Ukrainian nationalist groups of attacking Russian forces during the talks.

You see, a pause in the operation, any pause, is used by the nationalist units to regroup, used to continue attacks against the Russian military, Peskov said, according to state-run media.

Ukrainian officials on Monday also rejected a Russian demand that their forces in Mariupol lay down their arms and raise white flags Monday in exchange for safe passage out of the besieged port city.

As Russia intensified its effort to pound Mariupol into submission, its ground offensive in other parts of Ukraine has become bogged down. Western officials and analysts say the conflict is turning into a grinding war of attrition, with Russia bombarding cities.

There can be no talk of any surrender, laying down of arms, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk told the news outlet Ukrainian Pravda.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Facebook Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before the House Financial Services Committee on "An Examination of Facebook and Its Impact on the Financial Services and Housing Sectors" in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington on Oct. 23, 2019. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images)

Russian Court Bans Facebook and Instagram for Extremist Activities

A Russian court on Monday has banned Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, for alleged extremist activities, rendering its operations inside Russia illegal.

The decision handed down by Moscows Tverskoi District Court, however, excludes messaging service WhatsApp, which Meta also owns, according to the Interfax news agency.

The court has granted the lawsuit filed by the first deputy prosecutor general of Russia against the holding company Meta Platforms Inc. seeking a ban on operations on the territory of Russia, Judge Olga Solopova wrote on Monday, adding that Metas Facebook and Instagram are banned on the grounds of extremist activities. The court decision is to be fulfilled immediately.

But courts decision does not apply to the operations of Metas messenger WhatsApp due to its absence of functions for public information dissemination, a judge said.

Metas lawyer Victoria Shakina had earlier told the court that the company was not carrying out extremist activities and was against Russophobia, Interfax reported.

Russian regulators earlier this month blocked Facebook, Twitter, and several other social media websites, alleging discrimination against Russian media outlets since October 2020. Facebook had restricted access to Russian outlets including Russia Today (RT), Sputnik News, Lenta, Gazeta, RIA Novosti, and the Zvezda TV channel, according to Russias Roskomnadzor.

Last week, Roskomnadzor also demanded that Google stop spreading what it described as threats against Russians on YouTube.

But Russian prosecutors opened an investigation into Facebook after it said would allow social media users in Ukraine to post messages on Facebook and Instagram urging violence against Russian President Vladimir Putin and troops that Moscow sent into Ukraine starting on Feb. 24.

Meta has since updated its guidance to prohibit calls for the death of a head of state and said its guidance should never be interpreted as condoning violence against Russians in general.

Human rights lawyer Pavel Chikov suggested that individuals who publicly display Facebook, Instagram, or Meta symbols on websites, business entrances, or business cards could face punitive action.

Instagram and Facebook logos will also not be allowed to be used after Meta [was] included in the register of extremist organizations, he wrote, adding that purchasing advertising on Facebook or Instagram could be viewed under Russian law as funding extremists.

Sarkis Darbinyan, the managing partner at the DRC law firm, made a similar statement to Interfax, noting that acquisitions of this companys shares will probably be qualified as the financing of extremist activity.

The law has no retroactive force, it cannot be applied to all deals. Therefore, it will not apply to those who bought these shares before the court issued its ruling, Darbinyan added.

Meta did not respond to requests for comment after the court issued its decision. Its not clear if the company will appeal the decision.

Reuters contributed to this report.
A Twitter logo is seen outside of the company headquarters in San Francisco on Jan. 11, 2021. (Stephen Lam/Reuters)

Satire Websites Twitter Account Locked Over Calling Biological Male a Man

Twitter has locked a satire websites account on the social media platform because it posted an article describing a Biden administration health official as its Man of the Year.

According to a notice sent to The Babylon Bee, which has 1.3 million followers, the post violated Twitters rules against hateful conduct.

The rules mean that you may not promote violence against, threaten, or harass other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease, according to Twitter.

The post that prompted the action directed people to an article stating that the Bees Man of the Year is Dr. Rachel Levine, the assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Levine was born a male under the name Richard Levine.

Rachel Levine, nominee for assistant secretary in the Department of Health and Human Services, testifies during a Senate hearing in Washington on Feb. 25, 2021. (Caroline Brehman/Pool/Getty Images)

Levine is the U.S. assistant secretary for health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where he serves proudly as the first man in that position to dress like a western cultural stereotype of a woman, the article reads. Rachels message is to be true to yourself, and we couldnt agree more. This man is breaking barriers and showing us all the true meaning of courage.

The Bee stated that it had been alerted after publication that Levine identifies as a woman, but it wasnt rescinding the award because his self-identification has no bearing on the truth.

The Bee describes itself as the worlds best satire website.

Twitter, which didnt respond to a request for comment, told the Bee that it wouldnt restore its account unless it deleted the post that it said violated its rules against hateful conduct.

Bee CEO Seth Dillon said the company wont delete the post.

Twitter could, of course, delete the tweet themselves. But they wont. Its not enough for them to just wipe it out. They want us to bend the knee and admit that we engaged in hateful conduct. We wont be doing that, Dillon told The Epoch Times in an email.

He encouraged people to join the Bees email list and subscribe.

Levines office didnt respond to a query.

Levines past support for children receiving puberty blocks and genital surgery drew opposition following President Joe Bidens nomination of the doctor to a top health post. Several senators questioned Levine on the stances, but Levine refused to answer during the Senate confirmation hearing.

Levine was confirmed 5248 in March 2021. All Democratic senators voted for Levine. They were joined by Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).

Biden celebrated the fact that Levine was the first Senate-confirmed official to be openly transgender.
General view of Saudi Aramco's Ras Tanura oil refinery and oil terminal in Saudi Arabia, on May 21, 2018. (Ahmed Jadallah/Reuters)

Saudi Arabia Issues Warning on Global Oil Supplies

Saudi Arabia said on Monday that it claims no responsibility for a shortage in global oil supplies after an alleged attack by Yemeni rebels impacted production in the kingdom.

A statement from Saudi Arabias government said that it will not bear any responsibility for any shortage in oil supplies to global markets in light of the attacks on its oil facilities from Iranian-backed terrorist Houthi militias, according to the state-run Saudi Press Agency.

The kingdom further blamed Iran for allegedly equipping the Houthi militants with the technology of the ballistic missiles and drones that target Saudi oil refineries, resulting in serious consequences for upstream and downstream sectors affecting its oil exports.

The international community must assume its responsibility to preserve energy supplies, the Saudi statement further said, without elaborating.

Iran-backed Houthi militants seized Yemens capital, Sanaa, in 2014 following several years of unrest triggered after the countrys Arab Spring-linked protests against longtime Yemeni leader Ali Abdullah Saleh. Saudi Arabia and its allies responded to the Yemeni war by launching an air campaign to dislodge the Houthis, who have launched missiles and drone attacks on Saudi oil production sites in recent years.

The announcement comes as Saudi Arabias leadership remains in lockstep with OPEC and other oil-producing countries in a deal limiting production increases. Gulf Arab oil producers have so far resisted pressure from the Biden administration to pump more crude to help bring down oil prices that have soared amid Russias war on Ukraine.

The Houthis claimed responsibility for a sophisticated attack in September 2019, which the United States and Riyadh later blamed on Iran. Even after shrapnel blasted through the critical Abqaiq oil processing facility, Saudi Arabia delivered no such similar warning about its responsibility for global oil supplies and swinging prices. Instead, the kingdom stressed it would speedily return to normal levels of production.

As of Monday afternoon, gas prices in the United States remained at near historically high levels, according to data published by automotive group AAA. The average price for a gallon nationwide stands at around $4.25.

Saudi state-run media alleged that Houthi militants attacked the Aramco plant in Jeddah, resulting in no casualties. The overall extent of damage at the installations remained unclear. The Saudi Energy Ministry acknowledged a temporary drop in oil output at the 400,000-barrel-a-day Yanbu site, without elaborating.

Jake Sullivan, President Joe Bidens national security adviser, condemned the attacks in a statement Sunday.

The Houthis launch these terrorist attacks with enabling by Iran, which supplies them with missile and UAV components, training, and expertise, Sullivan said, referring to unmanned aerial vehicles, also known as drones.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler testifies before a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee oversight hearing on the SEC in Washington on Sept. 14, 2021. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool/Reuters)

SEC Rule Would Compel Companies to Disclose Climate-Related Information, Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released proposed rules on March 21 that would compel publicly traded companies to disclose a range of climate-related information to shareholders.

That information would include financially material climate-related risks as well as estimated greenhouse gas emissions, which were described by the SEC in a 500-plus-page document as a commonly used metric to assess a registrants exposure to such risks.

Companies and investors alike would benefit from the clear rules of the road proposed in this release, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said in a statement.

Our core bargain from the 1930s is that investors get to decide which risks to take, as long as public companies provide full and fair disclosure and are truthful in those disclosures, he said. Today, investors representing literally tens of trillions of dollars support climate-related disclosures because they recognize that climate risks can pose significant financial risks to companies, and investors need reliable information about climate risks to make informed investment decisions.

Todays proposal would help issuers more efficiently and effectively disclose these risks and meet investor demand, as many issuers already seek to do.

As an explanation for the oft-cited demand from investors controlling trillions, the proposal cites requests from the worlds largest asset manager, BlackRock, as well as similar letters from Vanguard, State Street Advisors, and other large financial firms. Additionally, it draws attention to the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, a coalition that represented more than $130 trillion in assets as of November 2021.

Elsewhere, the proposal cites a Washington Post editorial, multiple documents from the World Economic Forum, and BlackRock CEO Larry Finks 2020 letter to CEOs, which is one of a series of annual missives from the powerful executive demanding that companies comply with climate-related requests.

Hester Peirce, an SEC commissioner appointed by President Donald Trump, voiced her objections to the SECs proposal in a lengthy statement: We Are Not The Securities and Environment CommissionAt Least Not Yet.

Peirce said financially material risks related to climate are accounted for by existing rules. She also argued that the proposal exceeds the SECs statutory authority and could constitute compelled speech, putting it at odds with the First Amendment.

We are here laying the cornerstone of a new disclosure framework that will eventually rival our existing securities disclosure framework in magnitude and cost, and probably outpace it in complexity. The building project upon which we are embarking will consume our attention and enrich many, as any massive building project does, she said.

The placard at the door of this hulking green structure will trumpet our revised mission: Protection of stakeholders, facilitating the growth of the climate-industrial complex, and fostering unfair, disorderly, and inefficient markets. This new edifice will cast a long shadow on investors, the economy, and this agency.

Accordingly, I will vote no on laying the cornerstone.

John Cochrane, an economist at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, told The Epoch Times via email, This is way out of bounds of the SECs role to make markets transparent, and to require disclosure of material financial risks that managers know about.

Cochrane has testified before the Senate Committee on Banking, House, and Urban Affairs about what he sees as the dangers of attempting to address climate change through financial regulation.

Climate is really important. Climate is too important to let financial regulators play with it, inspired by whats fashionable at Davos cocktail parties. Climate needs clear-headed, science-based, steady, and transparently enacted policy, with explicit cost-benefit analysis, he said in written remarks to a March 18, 2021, hearing of that committee.

It is a big step that now they want not only disclosure of so-called climate financial risks and transition risks, but also companies to calculate and disclose their carbon emissions, plus those of suppliers, plus those of customers, Cochrane told The Epoch Times.

Verdantix, a sustainability research firm, projects that the new rules will require the firms that it affects to invest in everything from climate strategy to digital processing, ultimately costing them $6.7 billion from 2023 through 2025.

Verdantix believes that this will pose an additional challenge for issuers who may struggle to find the internal and external experts to implement a robust management system for SEC climate rule disclosures, the company said in a statement.

Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), chair of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, praised the proposal, drawing attention to her committees earlier work.

Investors, pension fund managers, and the public need better information about the physical and transition-related risks that climate change poses to hard-earned investments, she said in a statement. Thats why our Climate Crisis Action Plan recommended updating climate disclosure rules to ensure transparency about companies greenhouse gas emissions, and to give investors a better picture of the risks that climate change and extreme weather could pose to the companies in which they invest.

Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) emphasized what he sees as the importance of such regulations in a statement on the SECs release.

Markets are an indispensable tool that we must leverage in order to make the transition from fossil fuels to cleaner energy at the pace scientifically necessary to prevent climate catastrophe. But for markets to work efficiently, investors need transparency, he said.

Casten is lead sponsor of the Climate Risk Disclosure Act, which would mandate similar requirements from public companies, including estimates of greenhouse gas emissions. While that bill was approved by the House in June 2021, its Senate equivalent, S. 1217, hasnt passed that body.

The sponsor of the Senate version, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), wrote Gensler on Feb. 9 complaining about delays in the SECs climate change disclosure release.

Casten said in a statement on the rule, I urge the SEC to thoroughly evaluate feedback on the proposal issued today to ensure the strongest possible final rule.

The proposed rules will be published on SEC.gov and in the Federal Register. A comment period on them will remain open for at least 60 days.

None of the GOP members of the House climate committee responded by press time to a request by The Epoch Times for comment on the proposal. The office of Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), the ranking Republican on the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, also didnt respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.
Secrecy Shrouds Key Jackson Documents Despite Durbins Sunshine Week Praise

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) was among the bipartisan group of signers of a March 16 Sunshine Week letter to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro declaring that the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is crucial for ensuring transparency and accountability in government, but persistent challenges continue to limit citizens ability to access information under the statute.

Sunshine Week is the annual celebration of the FOIA by journalists, transparency advocates, and some elected officials. Durbin and the other signers asked Dodaro, who heads the Government Accountability Office (GAO), to investigate why there is a huge, and growing, backlog of unanswered FOIA requests at federal agencies.

But, as Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), the top Republican on the judiciary panel, made clear during the first day of Judge Ketanji Brown Jacksons Supreme Court confirmation hearing, private citizens arent alone in having trouble getting government agencies to produce copies of official documents the FOIA requires to be made public.

Despite his senior position in the Senate, bureaucrats at the U.S. Sentencing Commission have turned a deaf ear to Grassleys request for public documents created during Jacksons tenure there that illustrate her legal reasoning. Grassley joined Durbin in signing the letter to Dodaro.

I was disappointed we werent able to get bipartisan agreement to ask for Judge Jacksons documents from her time as vice chair at the Sentencing Commission, Grassley said in his opening statement at Mondays hearing.

The commission is an independent agency created to advise and assist Congress and the executive branch in the development of effective and efficient crime policy. Unfortunately, it sounds like well have to wait until those documents are required to be released20 years from now, Grassley told the hearing.

Jackson served for four years as vice chairwoman of the commission prior to being named a U.S. Circuit Court Judge in 2021. She was a U.S. District Court Judge from 2013 to 2021.

Grassley had tried to enlist Durbin in the effort to obtain the documents but was unsuccessful. Durbins committee spokesperson, Emily Hampsten, could not be reached for comment.

Grassley said everybody on the judiciary panel agrees on the importance of Jacksons service on the commission, so there is no question about the need for the documents as part of the confirmation process.

Democrats have argued her time on the commission is an important part of Judge Jacksons experience that shell draw on as a judge. Theyre right. Thats why it wouldve been good to see what her views were, Grassley said.

Durbin has described Jacksons experience on the commission as one of the major reasons he views her as a jurist who understands the importance of pragmatism and real-world experience.

The documents that were produced did not specifically represent the views of Jackson in any particular case, Grassley said the committee was told by commission officials.

Grassley said when President Barack Obama nominated Jackson to be a federal District Court judge, more than 68,000 documents were produced to the judiciary panel.

But more than 38,000 pages are repeated copies of an email thread keeping track of tweets about the Garland nomination. Those emails contain one tweet about Judge Jackson. More than 13,000 pages are just lists of previous nominations, Grassley said.

Grassley added that President Joe Bidens administration has withheld an estimated 48,000 documents under the Presidential Records Act and FOIA exemptions. Thats a lot of hiding.

Durbin is an advocate for greater openness and transparency at the nations highest court in a different context. He is a major co-sponsor of legislation now before the Senate requiring the High Court to allow video cameras to record and broadcast proceedings.

The bipartisan Cameras in the Courtroom Act would require the Supreme Court to permit television coverage of all open sessions of the Court, unless the Court decides, by a majority vote of the Justices, that doing so would constitute a violation of the due process rights of one or more of the parties before the Court, Durbin said in a March 18 statement.

Its time to put cameras in the Supreme Court so Americans can finally see deliberations and rulings on cases, which will affect them for generations to come. This bipartisan bill shines a light into the Judicial Branch of government so more than just a few hundred lucky Americans can watch proceedings in the Courts historic halls, Durbin said.

Todays bill introduction coincides with Sunshine Week, a national initiative aimed at promoting a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information, Durbin noted in the statement.

Durbin was joined as a major co-sponsor of the proposal by Grassley.
Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson listens during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, on March 21, 2022. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Senate Hearings for Bidens SCOTUS Nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson Begin

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday began confirmation hearings for Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Joe Bidens pick to replace outgoing Justice Stephen Breyer.

As the week progresses, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle will delve deeper into Jacksons track record and judicial ideology, but much of Mondays session was consumed by introductory remarks and broad ideological statements, allowing members of both parties to speak before questioning begins.

During their opening statements, several Democrats referenced Jacksons potential to become the first black woman confirmed to the court.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said Not a single justice has been a black woman. You, Judge Jackson, can be the first.

Its not easy being the first, Durbin continued. Often you have to be the best. In some ways, the bravest. Many are not prepared to face that kind of heat, that kind of scrutiny, that ordeal and the glare of the national spotlight.

If Jackson is confirmed, Durbin added, We can be confident that the court, its role, and its decisions will be more understandable to the American public.

The appointment of the first black woman to the Supreme Courtlets be honestshould have happened years ago, said Sen. Dick Blumenthal (D-Conn.). Her nomination, Blumenthal added, is a giant leap into the present for our country.

Your service will make the court look more like America, Blumenthal added.

The nomination of a black woman is far past time, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) agreed.

Durbin also said that Republican attacks on Jackson for being soft on crime are not fair, and Durbin claimed that Jackson had decided cases both for prosecutors and against them based on the case. These attacks on Jackson, Durbin said, are demagoguery.

Later, Senate President Pro Tempore Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) made much the same point, saying that Jackson was not a judicial activist.

Responding to these charges that Republicans were being unfair toward Jackson, Judiciary Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said, As for her district court record, there have been some accusations that we cherry-picked some of Judge Jacksons criminal cases. Well, dont worry. Were going to talk about other cases as well.

Referencing Jacksons track record, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said that while he understands the zealous advocacy that underlies the U.S. legal system, he has been concerned by some statements that Jackson has made advocating for terrorists and other dangerous criminals.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle discussed the judicial ideology that they thought should underlie Supreme Court decisions, espousing substantially different views of what the Constitution is and should be.

In the GOP opening remarks, Grassley criticized the notion of a living constitution, a theory that promotes a more expansive reading of the federal constitution rather than a narrow, textually-strict one.

Proponents of the living constitution, Grassley said, think the Founders really meant to hide elephants in mouseholes.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said that Democrats have undertaken an effort to use the Supreme Court to pass laws that they couldnt push through the legislature.

Its much easier to convince five lawyers in black robes that a policy is correct than it is to convince Congress, Cruz said, warning that the legislature should be invested with far more power than the judiciary.

During her own remarks, Klobuchar also discussed the issue, but offered a far more expansive vision of how the Constitution should be treated.

In past confirmation battles, Klobuchar has advocated for a far less strict view of how the Constitution should inform the judiciary. On Monday, Klobuchar expressed a common position among Democrats, calling for the Supreme Court to update the Constitution to suit modern conditions.

This is a time for us to consider the Supreme Courts place in our democracy and how it impacts people, said Klobuchar.

Klobuchar approvingly cited a past statement by Justice Breyer in which he said the court can and should interpret the Constitution in a way that works for the people of today.

Republicans have also remained chafed by the treatment of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, whose confirmation battle became one of the most personal and politicized in U.S. history after Kavanaugh was accused of sexual misconduct at a college party in the 1980s.

Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) also referenced the controversy surrounding Kavanaughs confirmation.

During Kavanaughs confirmation, Graham said, Republicans couldnt go back to our offices during Kavanaugh without getting spit on.

Cruz added in his own remarks that the battle over Kavanaughs confirmation was one of the lowest moments in the history of this committee.

Other Republicans cited broader concerns over the politicization of the Supreme Court.

Cornyn said in his opening remarks that though the Founders intended for the Supreme Court to be independent and above political squabbles, the judiciary has become increasingly politicized.

He cited Bidens refusal on the campaign trail to disavow court-packing, the threats made against Supreme Court and Senate Judiciary members by left-wing activists, and the presence of dark money groups which have further pushed the politicization of the Supreme Court.

Dark money groups like Demand Justice paid millions of dollars to promote court packing and sow distrust in the Supreme Court, Cornyn said.

Much of Mondays hearings will be consumed by introductory remarks. As the hearings continue over the next several days, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle will delve far deeper into Jacksons track record and judicial ideology.
Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson listens during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 21, 2022. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Senators Debate Proper Interpretation of Constitution at Judiciary Hearing for Ketanji Brown Jackson

As the confirmation hearing for Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Joe Bidens pick to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, got underway on March 21, Republicans pushed for a stricter approach to interpreting the Constitution, while Democrats, who have historically supported a looser interpretation, pushed for a less textually limited approach.

Republicans have long warned against the danger of justices legislating from the bench, or using their role in the judiciary to effectively make new laws rather than leaving that power to Congress.

Supporters of a stricter interpretation of the Constitution have pointed to cases such as Roe v. Wade as an example of such an overreach of power. In that case, the Supreme Court effectively barred states from outlawing abortion in the first trimester and required that they not impose significant hardships on citizens in their state that receive an abortion.

In Obergefell v. Hodges, a controversial case that required all 50 states to permit same-sex marriage, the Supreme Court also overturned state laws.

These and other instances have been pointed to by those in favor of a stricter interpretation of the Constitution as examples of overreaches of authority by the court.

We will ask tough questions about Judge Jacksons judicial philosophy, Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said during his opening statement. The most important thing I look for is a nominees view of the law, judicial philosophy, and view on the role of a judge in our constitutional system.

Grassley explained that he, like several other Republicans on the committee, wants a nominee who interprets the Constitution as it was originally understood, not a judge who will use their position to make new law, which Grassley emphasized was a prerogative reserved to the legislative branch.

On the other side of the ideological aisle are those who believe the courts should make policy, and believe in a living constitution, according to Grassley.

They think that the Constitutions text and structure dont limit what a judge can do, he said. To them, deciding what the Constitution means is a value judgment.'

Proponents of such a loose interpretation of the Constitution believe the Founders intended to hide elephants in mouse holes, according to Grassley.

With a bit of creativity, these judges can always find that elephant, he said.

Grassley said this interpretation allows judges far too many options to legislate from the judicial bench, bypassing the process of compromise, give-and-take, and negotiation that defines the legislative branch.

In his opening statement, Senate President Pro Tempore Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) rejected the notion that Jackson would use her power as a Supreme Court justice to overrule the legislature.

Jackson is no judicial activist, Leahy said.

In the past, Democrats in favor of a broader interpretation of the Constitution have pointed to cases such as Brown v. Board of Educationa landmark case that ended racial segregation in public schoolsas examples of why a more expansive view of the Constitution is necessary in litigation.

According to proponents of a less textually restrictive view of the Constitution, justices in Brown v. Board had to rely on a greatly-expanded interpretation of the law and of the Constitution to overturn racial segregation, which had previously been upheld as constitutional in the late 19th-century case of Plessy v. Ferguson.

Others have made the case that the Constitution is faulty or doesnt fit the modern world and therefore serving as a Supreme Court justice requires a less strict understanding of the document.

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), speaking in favor of a more permissive view of the Constitution, took a swipe at the stricter interpretation of the Constitution espoused by several Republicans.

In practice, the promises made in the plain text of our Constitution are still too often broken, Ossoff said. The court remains essential to that national process of becoming in real life what America is in text.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) also discussed the issue, but offered a far more expansive vision of how the Constitution should be treated.

In past confirmation battles, Klobuchar has advocated for a far less strict view of how the Constitution should inform the judiciary. On March 21, Klobuchar expressed a common position among Democrats, calling for the Supreme Court to update the Constitution to suit modern conditions.

This is a time for us to consider the Supreme Courts place in our democracy and how it impacts people, Klobuchar said.

Klobuchar approvingly cited a past statement by Justice Stephen Breyer, in which he said the court can and should interpret the Constitution in a way that works for the people of today.

During her hearing, Jackson denied having any bias toward one position or the other.

I decide cases from a neutral posture, Jackson said on March 21. I evaluate the facts, and I interpret and apply the law to the facts of the case before me, without fear or favor, consistent with my judicial oath.

I know that my role as a judge is a limited one, that the Constitution empowers me only to decide cases and controversies that are properly presented.

Her judicial philosophy is further constrained by careful adherence to precedent, she said.

Specifics about Jacksons judicial philosophy are expected to be explored in greater depth over the next several days.
U.S. long range air defense systems Patriot (R) and British radar Giraffe AMB are displayed during Toburq Legacy 2017 air defence exercise in the military airfield near Siauliai, Lithuania, on July 20, 2017. (Ints Kalnins/Reuters)

Slovakia Starts Deploying Patriot Air Defense System: Minister

PRAGUEThe Patriot air defense system has started arriving in Slovakia from NATO partner countries and the deployment will continue in the coming days, Slovakias defense minister said on Sunday.

The system will be operated by German and Dutch troops and will initially be deployed at the Sliac airport in central Slovakia to help reinforce the defense of NATOs eastern flank.

Russias invasion of Ukraine has prompted the alliance to bolster its defenses.

The Patriot system will be part of a new NATO battlegroup in Slovakia, which neighbors Ukraine.

I am happy to confirm that the first units in charge of deploying the Patriot air defense system are gradually arriving to Slovakia, Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad said on Facebook.

Nad said the Patriot system will be a complement and not a replacement of the Soviet-era S-300 system that Slovakia operates.

Temporarily, the system will be deployed at the Sliac air force base, further deployment areas are being consulted  so that the security umbrella covers the largest possible part of Slovak territory, Nad said.

The minister said last week that Slovakia is willing to give the S-300 to Ukraine if and when it gets a proper replacement.

He reiterated on Sunday that Slovakia was looking for its own replacement of S-300 due to its age, capabilities, and dependence on Russia.

Russia has warned against any shipments of advanced air defenses to Ukraine and has warned it may target Western arms supplies.
People stand in a queue to buy kerosene oil for home use at a petrol station in Colombo, Sri Lanka on March 17, 2022. (Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP via Getty Images)

Sri Lanka Indefinitely Postpones School Exams as Country Out of Cash to Import Paper

Millions of schools in the Western province of Sri Lanka have been forced to postpone exams indefinitely as the country faces an acute shortage of paper, owing to the governments lack of finances to import paper, a government official said on Friday.

Priyantha Srilal Nonis, the Western provinces director of education, said that printers are unable to produce school test papers due to paper shortages and price hikes, causing students in certain classes to miss their final term exams, local newspaper Sinhala News reported.

Officials claimed that such failure could result in over two-thirds of the countrys 4.5 million students missing term assessments, which are vital in evaluating the students qualifications to advance to the next grade at the end of the school year.

There are no textbooks either. The books shouldve been printed before January. They havent done their job, Joseph Stalin, the Ceylon Teachers Union general secretary, told Sinhala News.

Sri Lanka is in the grip of its worst ever economic crisis, with foreign exchange reserves plummeting by 70 percent in the last two years to about $2.31 billion, leaving the country struggling to pay for essential imports such as food and fuel.

The country has piled up $11.8 billion worth of debt through sovereign bonds, which makes up the largest part, or 36.4 percent, of its external debt.

China accounts for 10 percent of Sri Lankas foreign debt, having loaned or invested more than $8 billion to the country over the past few years. Sri Lanka had requested China to help restructure its debt obligations, but it remains unclear whether Beijing will grant the request.

On March 16, Sri Lankas President Gotabaya Rajapaksa announced that his government was in discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other international financial institutions on deferring loan repayments.

Through those discussions, we hope to find a way to pay off our annual loan installments, sovereign bonds, and so on, Rajapaksa said in a televised address. Subsequent to my discussions with the International Monetary Fund, I have decided to work with them after examining the advantages and disadvantages.

Following the discussion, IMF spokesperson Gerry Rice told reporters Friday that the financial institution stands ready to discuss all options for Sri Lanka.

The government also secured a $1 billion credit line from India last week, which will help Sri Lanka to procure food, medicines, and other essential items. The loan is on top of the $500 million credit line offered by India to assist Sri Lanka in purchasing fuel last month.

Neighborhood first. India stands with Sri Lanka, Indias External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in a tweet. US$1 billion credit line signed for the supply of essential commodities. Key element of the package of support extended by India.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Associate Justice Clarence Thomas sits during a group photograph of the justices at the Supreme Court in Washington on April 23, 2021. (Erin Schaff/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas Hospitalized

Spokesperson says infection is not COVID-related

One of the oldest Supreme Court justices has been hospitalized since March 18, the court announced on Sunday.

Justice Clarence Thomas, 73, was admitted to Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington on Friday evening after experiencing flu-like symptoms, the court said in a statement.

Following testing, Thomas was diagnosed with an infection.

Patricia McCabe, a court spokeswoman, told The Epoch Times in an email that the infection is not COVID related, adding that Thomas does not have COVID.

Ginni Thomas, the justices wife, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Thomas and all other eight members of the court have received a COVID-19 vaccine and a booster dose.

Thomas is being treated with intravenous antibiotics, according to the court.

His symptoms are abating, he is resting comfortably, and he expects to be released from the hospital in a day or two, the court said.

Thomas will participate in any cases the court is scheduled to hear in the near future, even if he cannot be present for arguments.

Thomas, a George H. W. Bush appointee who has served on the court since 1991, recently traveled to Utah, where he gave a talk on March 11 to former Sen. Orrin Hatchs (R-Utah) foundation in Salt Lake City.

Thomas is the longest-serving member currently on the court and will be the oldest member once Justice Stephen Breyer, 83, retires after the current term.

President Joe Biden has nominated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to replace Breyer.

Confirmation hearings for Jackson started on Monday.
Supreme Court Wont Hear Case of Christian Mission on Refusal to Hire Someone Who Disagrees With Its Principles

The U.S. Supreme Court refused on March 21 to hear an appeal from a Christian mission that argued it cant be forced to hire someone who disagrees with its beliefs, although two conservative justices left open the possibility of revisiting the case, which is still in progress before a lower court.

The case is Seattles Union Gospel Mission v. Woods, court file 21-144.

The U.S. Supreme Court didnt provide reasons why it was rejecting the case, but Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, indicated in a statement (pdf) that the court may accept the case when some of the outstanding legal issues have been resolved.

Seattles Union Gospel Mission is a nonprofit that exists to preach the Christian gospel. Its employees must share and live out the Missions beliefs by meeting the needs of the homeless and evangelizing to them, according to the groups petition filed with the court.

A state trial court ruled for the Mission, recognizing it as exempt from a state nondiscrimination law. The Washington Supreme Court disagreed, determining that the exemption violated the state constitution, and allowed the case to go forward.

In 2016, respondent Matthew S. Woods, a former summer intern and Mission volunteer, applied for a staff attorney position with its legal aid clinic, with the stated intent of changing the Missions religious beliefs and without satisfying the prerequisites of regular church attendance, a pastors recommendation, and an explanation of his relationship with Jesus, the petition states.

According to Alitos summary of the facts, Woods informed the clinic that he was bisexual and in a same-sex relationship. The clinics director told Woods he wasnt able to apply, and suggested he apply to a secular legal aid clinic. Unsatisfied, Woods applied for the Mission position to protest its employment policy. In his cover letter, he said the Mission should change its religious practices. Woods was denied the job, and he sued, claiming the Mission violated state law, which forbids discrimination against sexual orientation in employment decisions.

The Washington Supreme Court found a material question of fact remains, concerning whether the [Mission] staff attorneys qualify as ministers under the First Amendment, and remanded the case for the trial court to determine whether staff attorneys can qualify as ministers.

Alito wrote that the Washington Supreme Courts decision may warrant our review in the future, but threshold issues would make it difficult for us to review this case in this posture.

The state court, the justice continued, did not address whether applying state employment law to require the Mission to hire someone who is not a co-religionist would infringe the First Amendment.

But Alito stressed the importance of government not undermining religion.

If States could compel religious organizations to hire employees who fundamentally disagree with them, many religious non-profits would be extinguished from participation in public lifeperhaps by those who disagree with their theological views most vigorously, the justice wrote.

The Washington Supreme Courts decision to narrowly construe the religious exemption in state law to avoid conflict with the Washington Constitution may  have created a conflict with the Federal Constitution.

One of Woodss attorneys, Sara Amies of Seattle Employment Law Partners PLLC, welcomed the new ruling.

Obviously, were happy that we are still free to ask questions about freedom, even in this court, Amies told The Epoch Times in an interview.

We won on the principle that the court has to look at the specific circumstances of the employees duties and responsibilities, and whether or not he is in the role of transmitting the Missions homophobic message.

Amies said it has been repeatedly misreported that her client applied for the Mission job on his own initiative.

He was a volunteer there for many years, she said. They loved him. He found the work to be very spiritually and professionally fulfilling. They asked him to apply for an open staff attorney position.

Woods informed the Mission he was in a relationship with a man and might have a family someday, and they said: Were sorry, you cannot apply, Amies said. He had never, in the years that he volunteered there, come across any anti-gay policies.

Woods is a Christian of devout faith, she said. When he started volunteering at the Mission in 2011, he signed their statement of faith, which does not reference sexual orientation or marriage in any way.

Woods performed secular duties, including advising and representing clients on divorce and child support, and immigration and other issues that are common for people living in poverty.

Although state and federal law protects religious employers, for people like janitors and kitchen workers and dental hygienists and lawyers, those are secular jobs, she said.

We are happy that the court has left the Washington state Supreme Courts ruling undisturbed, because it affirms the rights of all people to work even for religious employers.

The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a public interest law firm representing the Mission, found a silver lining in the ruling.

Churches and religious organizations have the First Amendment right to hire those who share their beliefs without being punished by the government, John Bursch, a former Michigan solicitor general who is now senior counsel and vice president of appellate advocacy at ADF, told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement.

Thats why, even though the Supreme Court decided not to take this case yet, we are pleased to see the statement from some of the justices on the court saying that the Washington Supreme Courts decision may warrant our review in the future once the case reaches a later stage of litigation.

Courts have consistently recognized that a religious organizations purpose will be undermined if the government forces it to hire those who do not share and live out the groups beliefs.
Security personnel stand guard at the entrance to the Forbidden City near an image of Chinese leader President Xi Jinping (R), as the closing session of the National Peoples Congress (NPC) takes place at the Great Hall of the People nearby in Beijing on March 11, 2022. (Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images)

The CCPs Struggle With Western Liberalism

Russias difficulties in Ukraine may make Beijing think twice about its plans for Taiwan

Commentary

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is closely watching the difficulty Russia is having in Ukraine and is taking notes.

And much is notable in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Effect

Many expected that a Russian victory over Ukraine would have taken just a few days. Certainly, it was not expected that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskya former actor, comedian, and political neophyte who was elected in 2019would stand up to Vladimir Putins invading army.

But he did.

Today, almost a month later, Russia is still trying to prevail. Ukrainian resistance has proven much stiffer than Moscow bargained for.

The Wests Big Response

Moreover, the Wests reaction to the invasion is certainly greater than expected as well. The United States, Poland, Germany, and others have resupplied portable and highly effective anti-tank and anti-aircraft weaponry, medical supplies, and more that have helped thwart the Russian militarys advances.

But by far, the most important factor has been the resolve of the Ukrainian people, led by Zelenskys undaunted leadership. Given Ukraines past, it should not have come as such a surprise.

Bad Memories of Russian Rule

Millions of Ukrainians remember how life was as a Soviet state under Russia. With decades of communist rule still in living memory, Ukrainians have no interest in becoming a vassal of Russia once more. They enjoy the freedoms they have in their republic, flawed as it may be, with elections and a comparatively expansive menu of civil rights and economic opportunity.

Besides, Russia is no paragon of economic vitality. On the contrary, its basically a nuclear-armed gas station that happens to sell military hardware alongside vast expanses of wheat and barley fields.

Why wouldnt Ukrainians fight to the death to keep from being Russified?

Ukranian servicemen walk on a makeshift pathway to cross a river next to a destroyed bridge near the city of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 13, 2022. (Aris Messinis/AFP via Getty Images)

Putins Western Nightmare and Military Weakness

The reality is that from 1991 until today, Ukrainians have become, for the most part, Westernized.

Thats exactly how Putin sees it. His recent bemoaning of the negative influence that the West has had on Russian and Ukrainian culture says it all.

The irony is that Putin doesnt have to look as far as Ukraine to see the Wests influence. Its there, within Russian society as well.

This fact may partially explain the less-than-stellar performance of the Russian army in Ukraine. By and large, its much more probable that Russian youth are more interested in playing video wars than actually participating in one, particularly in Ukraine, where many Russians have close family ties.

Beijing Fears a Strong Taiwan

That brings us to China, Xi Jinping, and the rest of the CCP leadership. Taiwan is similar to Ukraine in several respects.

The nation is a longtime ally of the United States, with a Western outlook on life. Its a robust society based more or less on freedom, free markets, and democratic values. Economically, about two-thirds of the global economy relies on chips manufactured in Taiwan.

Memories of MaoOld and New

Furthermore, most Taiwanese are the children or grandchildren of mainlanders who fled to the island of Formosa in 1949 to escape Mao Zedong and the bloodbath that accompanied the communist revolution in China. Though few Taiwanese from that era are still living, all have witnessed the CCPs crackdown on Hong Kong and the crushing of democracy and freedom there.

Plus, the Taiwanese can see the Chinese regime bullying and threatening other countries in the region, from the Philippines to Australia. Warplanes routinely violating Taiwan defensive airspace and naval wargames reinforce Beijings intentions. In short, the Taiwanese society and economy has much in common with the West.

Beijing is likely considering all of these factors with regard to its plans for reunification with Taiwan.

Beijings Fear of the Wests Response

The CCP must be wondering, for example, just how determined would Taiwans 23 million citizens be should China launch an invasion?

Would they put up fierce resistance like the Ukrainians? Would an armed civilian force greet Chinas Peoples Liberation Army (PLA)?

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen speaks while inspecting reservists training at a military base in Taoyuan, Taiwan, on March 12, 2022. (Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images)

Or would it be a walkover?

Would Taipei order all critical chip factories and other technological assets destroyed, or would some kind of gradual reunification be negotiated?

The CCP must also be questioning how other nations might react if China were to attack Taiwan.

Economically, would the world boycott Chinese goods and services? Would nations in Asia and the West seize Chinese factories or freeze their assets?

And if so, would such a reaction be enough to make Beijing rethink its decision?

From a social impact perspective, the CCP may wonder just how much hardship a unified response against Chinas economy would cause the average Chinese citizen. How much pain are the people willing to bear?

Culturally, Xi has expressed concern about Western influences on Chinese social norms. He has warned the country about the Wests influence in softening the masculine sensibilities, launching a masculinity campaign to counter the trend.

Would Invasion Trigger a Wider War?

The military impact is another big question mark. The United States strategic ambiguity, for example, may become much less ambiguous. U.S. arms sales to Taiwan continue, and per President Joe Biden, U.S. policy toward Taiwan remains unchanged.

Much less ambiguous, however, is Japans policy. Recall that Japan issued a white paper in 2021 wherein it explicitly states that its national security is directly linked to Taiwans. As a consequence, Tokyo is rearranging its defense strategy with a focus on meeting the China threat.

Both Russia and China are realizing that engagement with the West is a two-way street. All the propaganda in the world cant compare to the dynamic attraction of freedom and economic vitality that the West provides. Whats more, it doesnt take long to lose access to Western economies and their markets.

Both Moscow and Beijing have good reason to be concerned.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
People dig a grave for victims killed in the Ukraine-Russia conflict in a street in the besieged city of Mariupol, Ukraine, on March 20, 2022. (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)

Top Russian Black Sea Fleet Commander Shot Dead in Ukraine: Report

Andrei Nikolayevich Paliy, a senior commander of Russias Black Sea Fleet, has reportedly been killed while fighting at a Ukrainian port city, two top officials said in a statement.

Captain 1st Rank Andrei Nikolayevich Paliy was killed in the fighting [near Mariupol], RFE/RL reported, citing a Telegram post by Sevastopol Gov. Mikhail Razvozhayev. The Russian navy has not immediately confirmed the latest military leaders death.

Sevastopol, a major base of Russias Black Sea Fleet, is located on the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Razvozhayev said Paliy, who was born in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, died for our peaceful future as he decided to defend his homeland as his lifes work.

In 1993, the military general refused to take an oath of allegiance to Ukraine, remaining loyal to Russia by choosing to serve the Northern Fleet.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine also said in a statement on social media that Paliy was killed by Ukrainian forces during intense fighting at the strategic port city of Mariupol.

NTD News could not independently verify the officials claims.

On Monday, Ukraine parliament member Dmytro Gurin said that Mariupol had been destroyed by bombardments, adding that the death toll there was impossible to determine.

There is no Mariupol anymore. They bombed everything.  We have to build this city from scratch, Gurin told Sky News via video link from Kyiv.

We have official numbers from my mayors office, about 2500 people died during this time. But [that counts] only the bodies that we collected on the streets, not more. And we dont know how many people are dead and burned alive in these apartments and died from bombing and from artillery strikes in this building, he said.

General view of the remains of the drama theatre which was hit by a bomb when hundreds of people were sheltering inside, amid ongoing Russias invasion, in Mariupol, Ukraine, on March 18, 2022. (Azov/Handout via Reuters)

If confirmed, Paliys death would mark the latest fatality among top Russian military officials since the war, which Moscow calls a special military operation, started nearly one month ago.

Earlier this month, Maj. Gen. Andrei Sukhovetsky, the deputy commander of the 41st Combined Arms Army of the Russian Ground Forces, was killed during a special operation in Ukraine, Russian outlet Pravda reported citing a social media post by Sukhovetskys comrade-in-arms Sergey Chipilev.

Several days later, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said in a brief statement that a second deputy commander, Maj. Gen. Vitaly Gerasimov of the 41st Army of the Central Military District of Russia, was killed during fighting in a city in northeast Ukraine.

At least 902 civilians had been killed in Ukraine as of March 19, the U.N. human rights office (UNHCR) said, adding that the real toll could be higher. The Ukrainian prosecutor generals office said 112 children had been killed.

Ukraines military claimed on March 20 that Moscows combat losses included 14,700 personnel and 476 tanks. Russia last acknowledged on March 2 that nearly 500 of its soldiers had been killed. NTD News could not independently verify either casualty number.

Reuters contributed to this report.

From NTD News
Hats wait to be claimed by VIPs in a reserved seating area at Conservative Party HQ on Election Day in Regina on Oct. 21, 2019. (The Canadian Press/Michael Bell)

Tory Leadership Race: Ontario Contenders Dominance Vs Partys Western Base

Only two people from Western Canada are contending for leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada in the current leadership race, and none did so in the previous race. However, the dominance of Ontarians vying for the partys top role does not mean the western influence, so crucial to its Reform Party roots, has diminished, some pundits say.

Among the eight candidates in total thus far, B.C. MP Marc Dalton and Saskatchewan rural businessman Joseph Bourgault are the only two individuals west of Ontario to have declared their intention to run for CPC leadership, while former Quebec premier Jean Charest is the only one further east. The other five candidates are all from Ontario, where MPs Pierre Poilievre, Leslyn Lewis, and Scott Aitchison are running, as is MPP Roman Baber along with former MP and current Brampton mayor Patrick Brown.

In 2020, Durham MP Erin O Toole won the leadership over Ontario residents, Derek Sloan and Lewis, as well as Peter MacKay, who for a time was based in Toronto while working at a law firm, and is now back in Nova Scotia. In 2017, Andrew Scheer emerged victorious from a pack of 14 candidates that included five westerners.

Geoffrey Hale, political science professor at the University of Lethbridge, says a much higher financial threshold for entry since then is one reason more westerners havent vied for the top job.

The partly refundable $300,000 deposit and nomination signatures required from seven provinces create a fairly substantial hurdle for candidates without established financial and organizational networks across the country. These restrictions, along with broader campaign finance restrictions under federal law, make it more difficult for relative newcomers to break into the race in order to build a profile, Hale told The Epoch Times.

Secondly, by declaring early, Pierre Poilievre has pre-empted much of the hard-core conservative vote in Western Canada, while Jean Charest, and to a lesser extent, Patrick Brown, have largely pre-empted the partys moderate lane. Their candidacies have largely defined the parameters of the race, which was called on relatively short notice.

Ontarios 122 seats in the House of Commons gives the province 36 percent of the 342 national total, a reality Hale says the party cannot ignore.

Any party front-bencher would need significant support from Ontario colleagues to have much of a chance of winning, he said.

Tom Flanagan, a former political strategist and professor emeritus of political science at the University of Calgary, was involved with the Reform Party in its early days, later helping Stephen Harper win the Canadian Alliance leadership and then the leadership of the CPC. Although Reforms original slogan was The West wants in, Flanagan said the party always hoped to reach eastward, even in its pre-merger days.

Reform started as a western party, but that was always temporary in Mannings mind, he said, referring to Reform Party founder Preston Manning.

He wanted a national party, with a western base, that could win elections and form a government. Harper wrote that in stone by pulling off a merger with the Progressive Conservatives whose explicit purpose was to enable the winning of elections.

Even though the Conservatives have established a strong base in Western Canada and rural Ontario, thats not big enough to win, Flanagan says.

To win, the party has to take more seats in some combination of Ontario suburbs, Atlantic Canada, and Quebec. Harper realized that and made explicit overtures to all these places, with positive results, though of varying magnitude, in each area.

Poilievre grew up in Calgary and received his undergraduate at the University of Calgary, where Flanagan taught for many years. Although Poilievre has been an MP in the Ottawa area since 2004, Flanagan counts him as a transplanted westerner.

A western leader can win, but not by appealing mainly to the West. If Pierre Poilievre wins the leadership race, he will have to try to do what Harper did, he said.

Nelson Wiseman, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Toronto, also believes Poilievre was taken from the West, but the West was never taken out of him. He says the region maintains enormous influence in the CPC, as shown by interim leader Candice Bergen being from Manitoba and prominent MPs such as Mark Strahl from B.C. and Michelle Rempel Garner being from Alberta.

If you want to see the weight in the caucus, OToole was undone by westerners. [Saskatchewan Sen.] Denice Batters got the ball rolling. And, we dont know definitively, but I believe most of the MPs that voted against him were from the West. And there were Alberta MPs who were publicly calling for OTooles resignation before they had the vote.

As Poilievre seeks to be OTooles successor, Wiseman expects stronger support from his former home than his current one.

I would say Poilievres support is stronger in the West than it is in Ontario, where a lot of the Ontarians, I suspect, will go for Charest, he said.

I have to qualify that because the Conservative Party, as we think of it, or the Conservative Party of today, is not the Conservative Party we will have on June the third, because all these new members are going to be signed up by various candidates.

Among the partys 119 MPs, 64 are in the West, 37 in Ontario, 10 in Quebec, and 8 in Atlantic Canada. When it enjoyed its highest-ever membership of 269,469 on May 15, 2020, eight western ridings and two Ontario ridings had the highest numeric totals, but the largest percentage growth provincially came in Nova Scotia, Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador respectively.
Britain's Defence Secretary Ben Wallace addresses delegates during the Conservative Party Spring Conference at Blackpool Winter Gardens in Blackpool, England, on March 19, 2022. (Ian Forsyth/Getty Images)

UK Blames Russia for Hoax Calls Targeting Cabinet Ministers

The UK government has publicly accused Russia of being responsible for hoax calls targeting British ministers.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and Home Secretary Priti Patel said they had been targeted by calls from imposters last week, and Downing Street revealed an unsuccessful attempt was also made to contact Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries.

Prime Minister Boris Johnsons official spokesman said on Monday: The Russian state was responsible for the hoax telephone calls made to UK ministers last week.

This is standard practice for Russian information operations and disinformation is a tactic straight from the Kremlin playbook to try to distract from their illegal activities in Ukraine and the human rights abuses being committed there.

UK Home Secretary Priti Patel speaking to the media outside the Ukrainian embassy in London, on March 6, 2022. (Yui Mok/PA)

Downing Street said the hoax video calls were an attempt by President Vladimir Putins regime to distract from its military problems in Ukraine.

According to the latest assessment by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the Russian advance on Kyiv remains stalled in the face of determined Ukrainian resistance, with the bulk of Moscows forces still more than 15 miles from the centre.

We are seeing a string of distraction stories and outright lies from the Kremlin, reflecting Putins desperation as he seeks to hide the scale of the conflict and Russias failings on the battlefield, the spokesman said.

The alarm was raised by Wallace after he became suspicious during a 10-minute video call on Microsoft Teams on March 17, supposedly with the Ukrainian prime minister.

He ordered an investigation into the security breach, but questions remain about the security of the governments communications networks after Patel said the same thing happened to her earlier in the week.

Armed Forces minister James Heappey said on March 18 that the defence secretary was very cross as it should not have been allowed to happen.

But Heappey expressed confidence that Britains national security was not compromised by the hoax calls because the targeted ministers would have known not to discuss sensitive security matters on a system such as Teams, which the Russians could easily listen into.

Also on Monday, the MoD summoned Russias defence attache in the UK for a dressing down over potential war crimes in Ukraine.

The MoD said, The Russian defence attache has been summoned to the Ministry of Defence for a second time in relation to the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the conduct of Russias armed forces.

The MoDs second permanent under secretary Laurence Lee protested in the strongest terms against the persistent and unjustified acts of violence being committed against innocent civilians by Russian forces.

Lee warned the UK will be collecting evidence of war crimes and repeated the UKs demand for Russia to withdraw its forces immediately.

PA Media contributed to this report.
Service members of pro-Russian troops are seen atop of a tank during Ukraine-Russia conflict on the outskirts of the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine, on March 20, 2022. (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)

UK Condemns Alleged Russian Abduction and Deportation of Ukrainians From Mariupol

The British government has condemned Russias alleged abduction and deportation of Ukrainian residents from the besieged city of Mariupol.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss wrote on Twitter: I am appalled by Russian atrocities in Mariupol, including attacks on schools sheltering civilians and the abduction and deportation of Ukrainians.

Putin is resorting to desperate measures as he is not achieving his objectives. Putin and his regime will be held to account.

Ukrainian officials in Mariupol have claimed in recent days that Russian forces have been forcibly deporting several thousand residents from the Ukrainian city to Russia. The Epoch Times could not independently verify the claims.

Speaking to Times Radio, Ukrainian MP Inna Sovsun said citizens were effectively being relocated by the Russia, which she said was following the logic of Nazi Germany.

She said: They are sending them through what are called the filtration camps and then they are being relocated to very distant parts of Russia, where they are being forced to sign papers [saying] that they will stay in that area for two or three years and they will work for free in those areas.

Mariupol, a strategically important target for Russia, has seen heavy Russian shelling in recent weeks amid the Moscow-led invasion of Ukraine that began on Feb. 24.

Located on the Sea of Azov, the city could serve as a land corridor between the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk that are controlled by Moscow-backed separatists, and Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.

Russian troops have encircled the city over the past few weeks, leaving many of its 400,000 residents trapped inside with little if any food, water, and power.

A steady barrage of Russian shelling has also hindered previous evacuation efforts. Last week, a theatre in the city sheltering thousands of people was hit by a powerful Russian air strike.

Citing Ukrainian Parliament member Serhiy Taruta, the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture and Information said in a Twitter post on Thursday that the bomb shelter underneath the Mariupol Drama Theatre had survived the shelling and people are coming out alive as the rubble is being cleared.

However, on Sunday, authorities in Mariupol said that an art school sheltering around 400 people had also been attacked by Russias military. Officials did not state how many casualties have been reported.

In a phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson condemned the abhorrent attacks on innocent civilians in Mariupol.

Johnson said the UK was committed to stepping up military, economic, and diplomatic support in a bid to bring about an end to the war.

He asked Zelensky what the Ukrainian military required in their resistance against Russian aggression, and vowed to advance Kyivs interests at NATO and G-7 meetings planned for this week.

Russia on Sunday urged Ukrainian forces to lay down arms in the besieged port city. But the Ukrainian government has rejected Russias demand.

There can be no question of any surrender, laying down of arms, the Ukrainska Pravda news portal cited Ukraines Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk as saying.

Katabella Roberts and PA Media contributed to this report.
Year 8 students wear masks or coverings as they take part in an English class at Park Lane Academy in Halifax, northwest England, on Jan. 4, 2022. (Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images)

UK Government Urged to Conduct Separate COVID Inquiry for Children

A campaign group has called on the UK government to order a separate inquiry into the impact of the CCP virus restrictions on children and young people.

Molly Kingsley, co-founder of Us for Thema group of parents campaigning against the CCP virus lockdowns and other restriction measures during the pandemicsaid children have been more disproportionately burdened than any other group.

The governments recently launched overall lessons learned inquiry into the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic also came under criticism for lacking focus on children.

In the draft terms of reference of the UKs COVID-19 Inquiry published on March 15, the Cabinet Office listed a wide range of areas the inquiry is expected to examine in terms of government responses to the pandemic, including preparedness and resilience, decision-making process, the use of lockdowns and other non-pharmaceutical interventions, government spending, and the restrictions on attendance at places of education.

However, campaigners have lambasted the inquiry for not featuring children more prominently, and not including the words child or children in its terms of reference.

Anne Longfield, chair of the Commission on Young Lives and former Childrens Commissioner for England, told The Telegraph that its a shocking oversight.

It does completely feel that the people who were at the forefront of both making the sacrifice but also suffering because of the pandemic have just been airbrushed out of memory with it, she said, adding that childrens mental health also plummeted as a result of the pandemic.

The fact that there are over 100,000 children that havent returned to school yet and some of those suffering such chronic anxiety that they barely dare go and out of the home and talk to anyone thats not their own parents is one that we need to not only feel responsible for, but also ensure that it never happens again, which is what an inquiry should be around, Longfield told the publication.

According to analysis of NHS data by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, some 424,963 children were in contact with mental health services in December 2021 compared with 367,403 in December 2019.

The interim report (pdf) of an inquiry launched in January into school attendance published earlier this month estimated that 1,782,000 pupils were persistently absent (missing over 10 percent of sessions) from school and 124,000 pupils were severely absent (missing over 50 percent of sessions) in the autumn 2021 term.

Also speaking to The Telegraph, Kingsley said not specifically mentioning children in the inquirys terms of reference was insulting and indicative of the very serious structural failing when it comes to children.

Theres no group that has been more disproportionately burdened than children and the impact of the pandemic response will live with children for the rest of their lives, so its absolutely critical that they are included in the inquiry, she said.

Kingsley said Us for Them is now calling for children to have their own inquiry into the public health measures, which she said had a very damaging impact on a healthy paediatric population and were actually the antithesis of public health.

The government responded to the campaigners call by saying children are already in the scope of the overall COVID inquiry.

Following the publication of the draft covid inquiry terms of reference, there is now an ongoing period of public engagement and consultation being led by Baroness Hallett to inform further changes to the terms before they are finalised, a government spokesperson said.

The experience of children is in [the] scope of the inquiry.

On Friday, Secretary of State for Education Nadhim Zahawi told the Express he believe it was a mistake to close school during the pandemic.

Keeping kids in education must always be a priority and going forward it is absolutely a priority both from the prime minister and me, he said.
Court artist sketch of terror suspect Ali Harbi Ali in the dock at the Old Bailey in London, on March 21, 2022. (Elizabeth Cook/PA)

UK Lawmaker Assassinated by Warped, Twisted, and Violent Terrorist: Prosecutor

A veteran British Conservative lawmaker was assassinated by a committed, fanatical, radicalised Islamist terrorist, a court heard.

Sir David Amess, a 69-year-old father of five, had served as the member of Parliament for the Southend West constituency since 1997. He was brutally attacked on Oct. 15, 2021, when meeting constituents in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, and later died of multiple stab wounds to the chest.

Ali Harbi Ali, 25, a British national of Somali descent, was charged with the murder and the preparation of terrorist acts and appeared in court on Monday afternoon.

Flowers left in memory of Sir David Amess outside the Houses of Parliament, in Westminster, London, on Oct. 22, 2021. (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

Tom Little QC, opening the case at the Old Bailey, told jurors: This was nothing less than an assassination for terrorist purposes. It is a crime to which, we say, he has no defence.

Little said: This is a case involving a cold and calculated murder, a murder carried out in a place of worship. A murder carried out because of a warped and twisted and violent ideology.

He said Ali had been planning such an attack for many years and was a committed, fanatical, radicalised Islamist terrorist.

The prosecutor said the attack was no spur-of-the-moment decision, as Ali bought the knife used to attack Amess five years earlier.

He said Ali had for a number of years been determined to carry out an act of domestic terrorism, and carried out reconnaissance on targets including Cabinet secretary Michael Gove.

On the day of the murder, Ali appeared relaxed and chatty when he arrived at the meeting venue, the court heard.

Ali told Amess he wanted to talk about foreign affairs, saying that he knew the veteran MP had initially supported the Iraq war but had changed his mind.

After Alis phone made a notification sound, he said sorry and then pulled out a knife and stabbed Amess multiple times in a vicious and frenzied attack, the prosecutor said.

Ali then waved his bloodied knife and said, I killed him.

I want every Parliament minister who signed up for the bombing of Syria, who agreed to the Iraqi war, to die, he allegedly said.

Ali claimed it was a revenge attack done in the name of Allah, the court heard.

Ali assumed that firearms officers would arrive on the scene and hoped that he would be shot, killed, a martyr for the terrorist cause, Little said.

But he was confronted only by two plainclothes officers armed only with a baton and incapacitant spray, who pinned him to the floor and arrested him.

PA Media contributed to this report.
UKU.S. National Jailed in Iran Moved to Tehran Hotel

A BritishU.S.Iranian national who was returned to an Iranian prison two days after being released has now been moved to a hotel in Tehran, the UK government confirmed.

A family member said the tri-national has gone on hunger strike.

Morad Tahbaz, a 66-year-old wildlife conservationist held in Iran since January 2018, was taken from his Tehran home and returned to Evin prison on Friday, two days after he was released on furlough.

The UKs Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) said at the time that it had been told by Tehran that Tahbaz had been taken back to prison to fit an ankle bracelet.

In a late Sunday update, an FCDO spokesman said Tahbaz had been moved to a hotel in Tehran.

We have been in touch with Morads family throughout the day and continue to lobby the Iranian authorities at the highest levels to allow him to return home immediately, as the Iranian government committed to doing, the spokesman said.

Its unclear whether an ankle bracelet was fitted.

On Monday morning, Tahbazs sister Tahrane Tahbaz, who lives in Madrid, said the detained conservationist had gone on hunger strike.

Tahrane Tahbaz, sister of detained IranianAmerican environmentalist Morad Tahbaz, who also holds British citizenship, holds a book that her brother made, after talking with Reuters at her home in Madrid, Spain, on March 18, 2022. (Juan Medina/Reuters)

Tahrane told BBC Radio 4 that the family had not heard from her brother since he was taken back to prison.

We have heard through a relative just a few hours ago that hes been taken from the prison and hes been taken to an undisclosed location and that hes gone on hunger strike, she said.

The Epoch Times couldnt independently verify the information.

Morads daughter Roxanne Tahbaz urged the UK government to do whatever they have to do to make her family whole again.

Number 10 Downing Street said the UK is working very closely with the United States to secure Morads permanent release and departure from Iran.

We have been in regular contact with Morads family and continue to lobby the Iranian authorities at the highest level, Prime Minister Boris Johnsons official spokesman said.

Morad Tahbaz, who has cancer, was arrested during a clampdown on environmental activists in January 2018.

He is a prominent conservationist and board member of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation that seeks to protect endangered species.

He was sentenced to 10 years in prison with his colleagues on vague charges of spying for the United States and undermining Irans security.

He was initially released on March 16 along with two other BritishIranian national detainees43-year-old Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and 67-year-old Anoosheh Ashooriafter months of intensive diplomatic negotiations between London and Tehran.

On the same day, Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Ashoori were allowed to return to the UK, and the UK government announced it had authorised the payment of a 393.8 million ($515 million) historical debt to Iran in parallel with the release.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe (R) and Anoosheh Ashoori, who were freed from Iran, disembark after landing at RAF Brize Norton, in England, on March 17, 2022. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)

However, London-born Morad Tahbaz remained in Tehran. British ministers said his U.S. citizenship had complicated the matter as that is seen in Iranian eyes as also meaning that the [United States] are involved.

Tahrane Tahbaz said on Monday that the family had believed her brother would have been returned with Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Ashoori.

Frankly, for four years we were led to believe that he would be part of the deal when it was made, she told BBC Radio 4s Today.

And thats what we were told. And the deal was made, the money was paid. And he wasnt part of the dealand hes still thereand were very worried, she said.

Speaking publicly for the first time after returning to the UK, Zaghari-Ratcliffe said she believes the meaning of freedom is never going to be complete unless Tahbaz and other dual nationals who are unjustly detained in Iran are reunited with their families.

A spokesman for the U.S. State Department said they continue to work night and day to secure the release of our wrongfully detained citizens, including U.S.UK citizen Morad Tahbaz.

Simply put: Iran is unjustly detaining innocent Americans and others and should release them immediately, he said.

Bargaining Chip

Zaghari-Ratcliffe was detained on security charges in 2016 by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard at Imam Khomeini Airport after a holiday visit to Iran, where she introduced her daughter to her parents.

The Thomson Reuters Foundation project manager was accused of plotting to overthrow the Iranian government, an allegation she consistently and vigorously denied.

Speaking publicly for the first time after returning to the UK, Zaghari-Ratcliffe said the Iranians told her six years ago that she was held as a bargaining chip.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Richard Ratcliffe during a press conference hosted by their local MP Tulip Siddiq, in the Macmillan Room, Portcullis House, London, on March 21, 2022. (Victoria Jones/PA Media)

So, I didnt know the details at the time. But I think it was the week [sic] two or week three that I was arrested, like six years ago, that they told me: We want something off the Brits. We will not let you go until such time that we get it, she said.

And they did keep their promise.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe thanked her amazing, wonderful husband Richard Ratcliffe for tirelessly campaigning for her, and her daughter Gabriella for being very, very patient with mummy to be coming home, but disagreed with her husband on his gratitude to the British government, which she said should have secured her release much sooner.

I was told many, many times that, Oh were going to get you home, she said.

That never happened.

She said this resulted in her finding it difficult to place trust in government officials, adding: I mean, how many foreign secretaries does it take for someone to come home? Five?

Whats happened now should have happened six years ago, she said.

Ashoori was arrested in August 2017 while visiting his elderly mother in Tehran. He was detained in Evin Prison for almost five years, having been accused of spying. He has also consistently and vigorously denied the allegations.

PA Media contributed to this report.
Service members of pro-Russian troops are seen atop of tanks during Ukraine-Russia conflict on the outskirts of the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine, on March 20, 2022. (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)

Ukraine Refuses Russias Request to Lay Down Arms and Surrender Mariupol by Monday Deadline

Ukrainian officials said that the country has rejected Russias demand to surrender the eastern port city of Mariupol by 5 a.m. Moscow time on March 21 in exchange for safe passage of residents out of the city.

There can be no question of any surrender, laying down of arms, the Ukrainska Pravda news portal cited Ukraines Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk as saying. We have already informed the Russian side about this.

I wrote: Instead of wasting time on eight pages of letters, just open the corridor.'

Earlier on Sunday, Pyotr Andryushenko, who is an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, said that Russias promises regarding humanitarian corridors could not be trusted, and vowed that the city would continue to defend itself against the Moscow-led invasion.

We will fight until the last of our soldiers, he told the BBCs Newshour.

Andryushenko also doubled down on claims made by Mariupol officials in recent days that Russian forces have been forcibly deporting several thousand residents from the Ukrainian city to Russia. The Epoch Times could not independently verify the claims.

When they [Russian forces] say about humanitarian corridors, what do they really do? They really force evacuate our people to Russia, Andryushenko said.

Mariupol, a strategically important target for Russia, has seen heavy Russian shelling in recent weeks amid the Moscow-led invasion of Ukraine that began on Feb. 24.

Located on the Sea of Azov, the city could serve as a land corridor between the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk that are controlled by Moscow-backed separatists, and Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.

Russian troops have encircled the city over the past few weeks, leaving many of its 400,000 residents trapped inside with little if any food, water, and power.

Roman Hryshchuk, a Ukrainian member of Parliament, cited the deputy mayor of Mariupol as saying that between 80-90 percent of the city has been destroyed and that there is no building without damage.

A steady barrage of Russian shelling has also hindered previous evacuation efforts. Last week, a theater in the city sheltering thousands of people was hit by a powerful Russian air strike.

Citing Ukrainian Parliament member Serhiy Taruta, the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture and Information said in a Twitter post on Thursday that the bomb shelter underneath the Mariupol Drama Theatre had survived the shelling and people are coming out alive as the rubble is being cleared.

However, on Sunday, authorities in Mariupol said that an art school sheltering around 400 people had also been attacked by Russias military. Officials did not state how many casualties have been reported.

Russia on Sunday urged Ukrainian forces to lay down arms in the besieged port city, adding that a terrible humanitarian catastrophe was unfolding.

Lay down your arms, Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, the director of the Russian National Center for Defense Management, said in a briefing distributed by the defense ministry.

A terrible humanitarian catastrophe has developed, Mizintsev said. All who lay down their arms are guaranteed safe passage out of Mariupol.

Mizintsev said humanitarian corridors for civilians would be opened eastwards and westwards out of Mariupol at 10 a.m. Moscow time on Monday and that Ukraine has until 5 a.m. Moscow time to respond to the offer.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
U.S. long range air defense systems Patriot (R) and British radar Giraffe AMB are displayed during Toburq Legacy 2017 air defence exercise in the military airfield near Siauliai, Lithuania, on July 20, 2017. (Ints Kalnins/Reuters)

Ukraines Neighbor Slovakia Begins Receiving NATOs Patriot Air Defense System: Officials

The first parts of NATOs Patriot air defense system began arriving in Slovakia on Sunday, the countrys defense minister Jaroslav Nad said.

The US-made system started arriving in the Central European countrywhich shares a 100km-long (62-mile-long) border with Ukrainefrom NATO partner countries and the deployment will continue in the coming days, according to the defense minister.

I can gladly confirm that the first units in charge of the deployment of the Patriot anti-air defense system are gradually coming to the territory of the Slovak Republic, Nad said in a statement on social media.

NATOs Patriot air defense system will be operated by German and Dutch troops and will initially be deployed at the Sliac airport in central Slovakia to help reinforce the NATOs defenses of its member amid Russias ongoing invasion in Ukraine.

Nad thanked both Germany and the Netherlands for their really responsible alliance decision to accept our request for fundamental strengthening of the defense of the Slovak Republic.

The system will be temporarily deployed at the Sliac air force base. Further deployment areas are being considered  so the security umbrella covers the largest-possible part of Slovak territory, Nad continued.

Nad said the Patriot system will further bolster the defense of the airspace of the Slovak Republic and will not be a replacement of the Soviet-era S-300 system that Slovakia, which is part of both NATO and the EU, operates.

However, he noted that the S-300 system is old, and has inadequate capabilities as well as a factual dependence on the Russian Federation.

The Patriot air defense system is a long-range, all-weather air defense system that can be used at any altitude and is capable of shooting down tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and advanced aircraft.

Slovakia said on March 17 that it was ready to send its Soviet-era S-300 air defense system to Ukraine immediately provided that it receives a replacement to protect its own airspace.

At a joint press conference with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, defense minister Nad noted that the S-300 is Slovakias only strategic air defense system, adding that handing it over to Ukraine would create a security gap in NATO.

However, Russia has vowed to block the transfer of such air defense systems to Kyiv and also said it may target Western arms supplies.

The countrys foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with Russia Today that to do so would be illegal, citing intergovernmental agreements and user certificates precluding the transfer of Soviet or Russian-made systems to third countries.

Experts have pointed out that while there are typically contractual restrictions regarding the re-export of arms of the type Lavrov mentioned, Russia has grossly violated international law with its invasion of Ukraine.

So far, little progress has been made in peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, although Turkeys foreign minister said in an interview published on Sunday that both countries were coming closer to reaching an agreement on critical issues.

We can say we are hopeful for a ceasefire if the sides do not take a step back from the current positions, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told local media.
Special needs children wait to be evacuated from Sumy, Ukraine, March 15, 2022, where increased shelling has made life dangerous. (Courtesy Intercessors for Ukraine)

Faith-Based Group Sends 1 Million Meals, Spiritual Support to Ukrainians

The untold story of the Ukraine war in much of the U.S. mainstream media is how churches and faith-based groups in the United States and abroad are funneling food, medical supplies, and spiritual support to people at the center of that chaotic mess, a spokeswoman for Intercessors for America, one of those groups, told The Epoch Times on March 17.

As the Biden administration pledged hundreds of millions more of dollars in aid to Ukraine on March 16 and well-known organizations such as the Red Cross send hundreds of workers into the field, it may be impossible to fully estimate the additional outpouring of financial donations, money spent, or volunteers sent to Ukraine by faith-based nonprofits, large or small, across the United States.

There are no U.S. federal agencies that calculate the total materials, human resources, and the number of people helped in Ukraine by these nonprofits, many of which already have extensions and networks in place.

Many of their supporters use their contacts and channels to send relief to stricken areas of the world, such as Ukraine.

Intercessors for America

Among a litany of underreported activities by churches, faith-based relief organizations, and volunteers converging on the Ukraine crisis are the efforts of the Virginia-based Christian organization Intercessors for America (IFA), which began in 1973 as a prayer network for needs in the United States.

Today, IFA sends extensive information to approximately 300,000 subscribers on its mailing list. But by a conservative estimate, IFA reaches 1 million people a month through various media platforms through its international reach, IFA Marketing Director Kris Kubal told The Epoch Times.

Those contacts are bearing fruit during the current crisis in Ukraine, she says.

In response to requests from our Ukrainian friends, IFA has established a donation website, Ukrainemeals.com, to feed refugees, she said. Through contacts with pastors and churches that we established years ago, we are now positioned, with some partner agencies, to offer direct aid to the Ukrainian people. That is why and how we began Ukraine Meals.

Weve already sent 1 million meals to needy people there.

Kubal emphasized that no government assistance is involved in the effort.

Its people in the church here, helping people in the church distribute aid there, she said. Its very grassroots, with average people giving gifts. Weve had a great response. Theres no government agency. Theres no general relief organization. Its just people-to-people, and I think its basically an untold story.

Feed and Aid Refugees

The costs of the effort have been reduced, according to Kubal.

This effort to provide meals has been streamlined in terms of cost. The providing organizations are not taking a cut. Everything, 100 percent of donations to Ukrainemeals.com, goes to the actual cost of the meals and the delivery system, she said.

Groups such as Mercy Chefs, Intercessors for Ukraine, and others are joining the IFA-led effort to feed and aid refugees.

Through our contacts, we are able to go to places in Ukraine that have no food, no electricity, or water, Kubal said. We know where those places are and how to get there. We also help those who have made it to the border and need something to eat.

As a Christian nonprofit, the spiritual resiliency of Ukrainians is also on the minds of IFA members, according to Kubal.

When people pray, it gives God an opportunity to perform miracles. And thats what we are seeing in Ukraine. The pastors there are telling us that many people are turning to God, entrusting their lives to him, she said. Probably that wont be reported here in the mainstream media, but its an important facet to many Americansespecially those who are praying for Ukraine as we areto hear and understand what is happening to help the people spiritually as well as physically.

I think thats also why so many people are turning to us at this time for updates. Its the kind of information they want to know about.

Money and volunteers continue to pour into IFA, its partner nonprofits, and faith-based organizations across the country.

I think IFA and other faith-based nonprofits reflect the mindset of the average American, Kubal said.

I know that the federal government does not understand the power the church can bring to help solve problems in any community, and if properly mobilized, the church could be the single greatestand should be the single greatestsource of relief and aid and outreach that communities should have.
Admiral John C. Aquilino (L), Commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), looks at videos of Chinese structures and buildings on board a U.S. P-8A Poseidon reconnaissance plane flying at the Spratlys group of islands in the South China Sea, on March 20, 2022. (Aaron Favila/AP Photo)

China Has Fully Militarized 3 South China Sea Islands: US Indo-Pacific Commander

China has fully militarized at least three of the islands that the regime built in the disputed South China Sea, Adm. John Aquilino, commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, said on March 20.

I think over the past 20 years, weve witnessed the largest military buildup since World War II by the PRC [Peoples Republic of China], Aquilino told The Associated Press. They have advanced all their capabilities and that buildup of weaponization is destabilizing to the region.

China has equipped Mischief Reef, Subi Reef, and Fiery Cross Reef with anti-ship and anti-aircraft missile systems, laser and jamming equipment, and aircraft hangers, Aquilino said. The missile systems could easily target any civilian and military planes flying over the disputed waters, he added.

So thats the threat that exists, thats why its so concerning for the militarization of these islands, Aquilino said. They threaten all nations who operate in the vicinity and all the international sea and airspace.

Currently, Aquilino said his mission is to prevent war through deterrence and promote peace and stability, in efforts that include working with U.S. allies and partners.

Should deterrence fail, my second mission is to be prepared to fight and win, Aquilino said.

As commander of U.S. forces in the Indo-Pacific, Aquilino oversees the largest combatant command, including 380,000 soldiers, sailors, Marines, airmen, guardians, Coast Guardsmen, and civilians working for the Pentagon.

Chinas ruling communist regime is currently locking horns with Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Taiwan in a territorial dispute over reefs, islands, and atolls in the South China Sea.

Boats beside Chinese structures and buildings on the man-made Fiery Cross Reef at the Spratlys group of islands in the South China Sea on March 20, 2022. (Aaron Favila/AP Photo)

While the United States isnt a claimant to the disputed islands, it has deployed warships through the region in what it calls freedom of navigation missions.

A 2016 international ruling rejected the Chinese regimes nine-dash line claim to about 85 percent of the South China Seas 2.2 million square miles. The ruling said that Chinas claims had no historical basis and Beijing had violated the sovereignty of the Philippines by asserting territorial claims with its artificial islands built on reefs and sea rocks.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has rejected the ruling. It has deployed coast guard ships and Chinese fishing boats, which sometimes have fishermen with military training aboard, to intimidate foreign vessels, block access to waterways, and seize shoals and reefs.

Aquilino applauded the Philippines for taking the territorial dispute to international arbitration, saying it was a good template to resolve the dispute peacefully.

The interview with the AP was conducted while Aquilino was aboard a U.S. Navy reconnaissance aircraft P-8A Poseidon, while the plane flew near China-held outposts in the Spratly archipelago.

China has seven outposts in the Spratly Islands and 20 in the Parcel Islands, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank.

During the flight, the U.S. Navy plane was repeatedly warned by Chinese callers, telling the plane to leave what they said was Chinas territory.

China has sovereignty over the Spratly islands, as well as surrounding maritime areas. Stay away immediately to avoid misjudgment, one of the Chinese radio messages said in a veiled threat.

In response, a U.S. pilot on the Navy plane radioed back to the Chinese, saying, I am a sovereign immune United States naval aircraft conducting lawful military activities beyond the national airspace of any coastal state.

Exercising these rights is guaranteed by international law and I am operating with due regard to the rights and duties of all states.

In January, the U.S. State Department released a study (pdf) on the legality of Chinas maritime claims in the South China Sea. It concluded that the claims are inconsistent with international law.

In the name of enforcing its expansive and unlawful maritime claims in the South China Sea, the PRC is interfering with rights and freedoms, including navigational rights and freedoms, that are due to all states, said Constance Arvis, acting deputy assistant secretary for oceans, fisheries, and polar affairs, during a briefing following the publication of the study.
Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDAs Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, speaks in Washington on March 18, 2021. (Susan Walsh/Pool/Getty Images)

FDA Schedules Meeting on Additional COVID-19 Vaccine Boosters

U.S. regulators plan to consult a panel of expert advisers on April 6 on whether additional COVID-19 vaccine booster doses are necessary.

The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee will convene for a virtual meeting to discuss considerations for future COVID-19 vaccine booster doses and the process for selecting specific strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus for COVID-19 vaccines to address current and emerging variants, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in a statement.

The committee is composed of outside experts and advises the FDA on policies related to vaccines. The meeting wont include a vote on specific recommendations, but members will be asked to weigh in on data about emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2the virus that causes COVID-19and which populations, if any, should get a second vaccine booster dose.

The date of the meeting was announced on March 21, shortly after Pfizer asked the FDA to let health care workers administer a second booster of its shot to Americans aged 65 and older and Moderna had requested clearance for a second booster of its vaccine for Americans aged 18 and older.

Currently, Americans can receive one booster dose of the Pfizer, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines following a primary regimen.

The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines come in two-dose regimens.

Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDAs Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in a statement that preventing COVID-19 through vaccination remains our best defense against the disease and any potentially severe consequences.

Now is the time to discuss the need for future boosters as we aim to move forward safely, with COVID-19 becoming a virus like others such as influenza that we prepare for, protect against, and treat. Bringing together our panel of expert scientific external advisors in an open, transparent discussion about booster vaccination is an important step to gain insight, input, and expert advice as we begin to formulate the best regulatory strategy to address COVID-19 and virus variants going forward, Marks said.

A primary reason driving the push for an additional COVID-19 vaccine booster shot is the waning of the defense provided by the vaccines, especially against infection. After a short period of time, the vaccines provide little protection against the infection caused by the Omicron coronavirus variant, although they provide better protection against severe disease.

Pfizer and Moderna cited datasets from Israel in their application announcements. Pfizer also pointed to a small Israeli study that found that a fourth dose appeared to have little benefit for protecting against the contraction of the virus.

Dr. Monica Gandhi, a professor of medicine at the University of CaliforniaSan Francisco, said she doubts a second booster will be necessary for many populations, although older people may benefit.

While vaccine booster shots increase antibodies initially, the antibodies wane within months of getting an extra dose. At the same time, memory B and T cells, believed to protect people against severe disease, appear to hold up well over time.

Although we do not know how long memory B cells from SARS-CoV-2 vaccination or infection will last, survivors of the 1918 influenza pandemic were able to produce antibodies from memory B cells when their blood was exposed to the same strain nine decades later, Gandhi, who isnt on the panel, told The Epoch Times in an email, noting that T cells from people who survived SARS-CoV were detected 17 years later.

The need for boosting neutralizing antibodies with further vaccine doses, instead of relying on memory B cell production of antibodies, will likely be determined by the prevalence of virus in circulation and the susceptibilities and age of the individual.
US Identifies 4 Marines Killed During NATO Training Flight in Norway

U.S. officials have identified the four Marines who were killed when a military aircraft crashed during a NATO training flight in northern Norway on March 18.

Capt. Matthew J. Tomkiewicz of Fort Wayne, Indiana, Capt. Ross A. Reynolds of Leominster, Massachusetts, Gunnery Sgt. James W. Speedy of Cambridge, Ohio, and Cpl. Jacob M. Moore of Catlettsburg, Kentucky, were killed in the crash south of Bodo, Norway, the Marines said in a news release.

The aircraft had been taking part in a NATO military exercise called Cold Response 2022. The naval, air, and ground drills started earlier this week and involve 30,000 troops, 220 aircraft, and 50 warships.

The deceased Marines have been removed from the crash site and are in the process of being returned to the United States to be reunited with their families through a dignified transfer.

Officials are still investigating the cause of the crash.

The pilots and crew were committed to accomplishing their mission and serving a cause greater than themselves, said Maj. Gen. Michael Cederholm, the commanding general of 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, in a letter to his Marines and their families.

We will continue to execute the mission while keeping these Marines and their service on the forefront of our minds. We will never allow these Marines sacrifice to go unnoticed or unappreciated, Cederholm said. Keep these Marines and their loved ones in your thoughts and prayers.

All four of the marines were assigned to Marine Tiltrotor Squadron 261.

According to a statement from the Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC) of Northern Norway, the aircraft was reported missing at 6:26 p.m. local time, south of Bodo. It was due to land around 6 p.m., the statement said. The last known position of the aircraft was Saltfjellet.

Due to bad weather, police and rescue services were unable to enter the site from the air and were attempting to reach it by land, a JRCC spokesperson said.

The Royal Norwegian Air Force confirmed early Saturday that police officers had arrived at the crash site. On Sunday, Air Force officials said the deceased would remain in Bodo until they were transported back to the United States.

The Norwegian Armed Forces continue to assist civilian authorities with the resources we have, and at the request of the police. The work continues under the leadership of the police and the Accident Investigation Board Norway (AIBN), officials said.

According to NATO, the military drills that the plane was involved in involve tens of thousands of troops from across Europe and North America [who] are training together in harsh climatic conditions.

The drills are held every two years over large areas across Norway, including above the Arctic Circle, and seek to explore how Norway would manage reinforcements. Officials said they were planned long before Russias invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Norways Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr Store, shared his condolences with the families of the victims in a statement on Saturday morning.

The soldiers participated in the NATO exercise Cold Response. Our deepest sympathies go to the soldiers families, relatives, and fellow soldiers in their unit, Store said.

In a separate statement published to the units Facebook page, Cederholm said the marines will continue to execute the mission despite the recent events.

We mourn the loss of our four brothers who dedicated their lives to our Nation, and are deeply saddened by their loss. So, in a manner just like the crew of Ghost 31 would do, we honor them by taking to the skies again with their memory in our hearts, with nerves of steel, and ready to answer our great Nations call, Cederholm said.

Jack Phillips and Mimi Nguyen Ly contributed to this report.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to the press about the war in Ukraine, at the State Department in Washington, on March 17, 2022. (Saul Loeb/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

US Imposes Travel Bans on Chinese Officials Involved in Persecution of Religious and Dissident Groups

The United States on March 21 announced the imposing of visa restrictions on Chinese officials responsible for repressive acts against ethnic and religious minorities inside China and abroad, including the United States.

The restrictions would bar Chinese officials involved in the persecution of various victim groups from traveling to the United States.

The United States rejects efforts by [Chinese] officials to harass, intimidate, surveil, and abduct members of ethnic and religious minority groups, including those who seek safety abroad, and U.S. citizens who speak out on behalf of these vulnerable populations, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

We are committed to defending human rights around the world and will continue to use all diplomatic and economic measures to promote accountability.

Blinken said sanctions would be imposed on those who are believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, policies or actions aimed at repressing religious believers, ethnic minorities, journalists, labor organizers, human rights activists, dissidents, and peaceful protestors in China and abroad.

The statement didnt specify who would be targeted or how many were subjected to the new restrictions. A State Department spokesperson, in response to an inquiry from The Epoch Times, said that individual visa records are confidential and we cannot provide details as to who is or will be affected.

The State Department, under both the Trump and Biden administrations, have previously slapped sanctions on Chinese officials involved in various abuses, including the regimes clampdown in Hong Kong, the persecution of the spiritual group Falun Gong, and the oppression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.

Last May, the Biden administration sanctioned Yu Hui, a former director of an agency charged with persecuting Falun Gong in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu, barring him and his immediate family from entering the United States.

Falun Gong practitioners arrested under Yus watch include Pan Xiaojiang, a judicial assistant at an intermediate court in Sichuan Province, where Chengdu is the capital.

Pan was arrested from her home after hanging a banner aimed at raising awareness about Beijings persecution of her belief and sentenced to four years in prison. Two others arrested with her, including a graduate student, were each sentenced to two years in jail. About a dozen police cars surrounded the court during her court appearance, according to Minghui, a U.S.-based website that has been tracking the persecution.

The new measures come less than a week after the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced charges against five individuals alleged to be involved in wide-ranging schemes to spy on, intimidate, and harass ethnic Chinese dissidents based in the United States. Their alleged crimes formed part of the communist Chinese regimes expansive campaign of transnational repression, DOJ officials said.

Blinken also demanded that the Chinese regime stop carrying out its transnational repression, such as endeavoring to silence Uyghur American activists and others by denying their families in China the ability to leave the country.

The United States reaffirms its support for those who bravely speak out despite the threat of retaliation, the secretary of state said.

We call on the PRC [Peoples Republic of China] government to end its ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, repressive policies in Tibet, crackdown on fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong, and human rights violations and abuses, including violations of religious freedom, elsewhere in the country.

Eva Fu contributed to this report.
President Joe Biden (L) meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Villa La Grange in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 16, 2021. (Getty Images)

USRussian Relations on Verge of Breaking After Bidens Remarks: Moscow

Russias Ministry of Foreign Affairs has told the U.S. ambassador in Moscow that U.S. President Joe Bidens recent comments about Russian President Vladimir Putin have strained ties between the two countries to the verge of breaking.

Last week, Biden branded the Russian leader as a war criminal amid the invasion of Ukraine, drawing condemnation from the Foreign Ministry on March 21. Several other White House officials, including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, used similar rhetoric over the past weekend.

Russias Foreign Ministry told Ambassador John Sullivan that such statements from the American president, unworthy of a statesman of such high rank, put RussianAmerican relations on the verge of breaking, according to a translated statement.

The ministry also stated that hostile actions taken against Russia will meet decisive and firm pushback, according to the statement. At the same time, it told Sullivan that it requires guarantees that Russian embassies and consulates in the United States would function smoothly.

On March 21, European Union countries also accused the Russian armed forces of committing war crimes in Ukraine. But they appeared unlikely to impose new sanctions on Moscow, despite a clamor across Europe for those responsible for attacks on civilians to be held accountable.

The International Criminal Court in the Netherlands said its gathering evidence about any possible war crimes in Ukraine, but Russialike the United Statesdoesnt recognize the tribunals jurisdiction.

A man walks past a building that was damaged by shelling in Mira Avenue (Avenue of Peace) in Mariupol, Ukraine (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP)

A close-up view of a destroyed building in Mariupol, Ukraine, on March 20, 2022, in a still from a video. (AP/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

International sanctions have cut Russia off from the worlds financial system. However, Europe, which is the countrys main energy buyer, has made an exception for Russian gas and oil.

Large international corporations have said they wont do business inside Russia and that they wont make any new investments in the country, citing the conflict.

Earlier in the day, Ukrainian officials rejected Russias calls for troops inside the besieged city of Mariupol to lay down their arms and surrender. The Russian Ministry of Defense said authorities in Mariupol could face a military tribunal if they side with Ukrainian nationalist forces, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported.

There can be no talk of any surrender, laying down of arms, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk told media outlet Ukrayinska Pravda.

Nearly 3.4 million people have been forced to flee Ukraine since Feb. 24, according to the United Nations. The U.N. has confirmed more than 900 civilian deaths, but said the actual toll is probably much higher. Estimates of Russian deaths vary.

U.S. State Department officials didnt respond to a request for comment by press time.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Why Chinese Companies Are Delisting in America

Chinese firms feel pressure from both Beijing and Washington

Commentary

Chinese firms are delisting from American exchanges at an increasing pace. It is a complete reversal of a trajectory that up until recently saw China-based firms flocking to list their shares in the United States, Hong Kong, and elsewhere, both to raise their global profiles and to enlarge their sources of funding.

The new delisting trend, according to estimates prepared by the American Enterprise Institute, has already reduced the market capitalization of Chinese listings in America by 50 percent. Similar movement has taken hold in other Western stock markets and even in Hong Kong.

The presence of Chinese firms on these exchanges seems set to shrink much farther. It may even go to zero. Practically speaking, the trend may have little effect on financing, because direct American investment in China has risen rapidly enough to provide a substitute, at least until now.

The dramatic shift by Chinese firms has its roots in data. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has demanded more disclosuremore datathan in the past, while the authorities in Beijing have become increasingly secretive about giving data to anyone, much less the American authorities on Chinese business or Chinese life. Companies caught between such impossible demands have asked for concessions from both the American and Chinese authorities and, receiving none from either, have had little choice but to delist.

The headquarters of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seen in Washington on Jan. 28, 2021. (Sauk Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

From the American side, it is less a change in demands than a decision to enforce existing rules. What has changed is the zeal for enforcement at the SEC. For years, the authorities in Washington demanded full disclosure from listed Chinese companies, as it does from all listed firms, American and foreign. But when the Chinese firms showed a reluctance, the authorities took little action.

In response to the inevitable frictions, the Obama White House negotiated what it referred to as a settlement. It consisted of the SEC looking the other way. The Trump White House took a harder line. It gave the Chinese three years to fix the problem or be forcibly delisted.

In January this year, President Joe Bidens SEC decided to enforce the Trump administrations position. Given Bidens vitriol against former President Donald Trump, there is considerable irony in this, but that sort of thing aside, the SEC is moving. Under what is called the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, the SEC now claims the unilateral power to forcibly delist any company that the Public Company Accounting Board says it cannot audit fully.

As Washington has gotten tougher about demanding information, Beijing has become increasingly concerned about what it calls data loss. Chinese authorities have always shown a reluctance to share information with anyone, especially foreign regulators. Beijing has always been happy to receive data from foreign investors entering the country but resisted any return outflow, even to the headquarters of the foreign investors and much less to a foreign government.

Such attitudes have hardened in the last couple of years under Chinese leader Xi Jinping. If in the past Chinese data reporting to the SEC was inadequate, what Beijing now allows will fall even shorter of legal requirements.

The delistings would be more of a problem for Chinese business were not that foreigners, especially Americans, have been sending huge flows of investment funds to China. To some extent, the American investors are sending funds to China to make up for the lack of Chinese investment options on American exchanges.

Whatever the reasons, the flow has grown huge. Little data is available for 2021, but in 2020 the $1.15 trillion that Americans put into Chinese stocks and bonds in China dwarfed any previous flows. It was, in fact, more than three times the amount of just four years before, an almost 33 percent annual rate of expansion. To encourage this trend, Beijing has given American brokers and investment bankers more freedom than previously to own their operations in China, though at the same time the Chinese authorities have increased their control of the American investment tools these firms have brought with them.

It should be apparent in this little drama that neither China nor Chinese business has lost out. A substitute investment flow has met the primary reason for listing on American stock exchanges in the first place. So far, neither the SEC nor the American government ever had objections to investment flows into Chinese firms, though that may change due to tensions over Russian sanctions.

All Washington has wanted to date is that Chinese firms to abide by the rules that applied generally. With the delistings, the Washington authorities are at least ridding themselves of what was a glaring and unfair double standard on disclosures. And if the American investors pouring their money into China do not worry over the secrecy, duplicity, or double standards imposed by Beijing, that is their business and possibly their loss.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
In this image from video provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks from Kyiv, Ukraine, early on March 20, 2022. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

Zelensky Combines Ukraine TV Stations Into One Channel Over Misinformation

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that his government will combine all state TV channels into one amid the Russian invasion.

Zelensky said the move entails combining all national TV channels, the program content of which consists mainly of information and/or information-analytical programs, [into] a single information platform of strategic communication to be called United News, according to a press release issued on Sunday.

The move was announced to fight against alleged active dissemination of misinformation by Russia and its distortion of information  as well as justifying or denying the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, according to the release.

Its not clear if the order, which went into effect on March 19, will impact private Ukrainian TV channels.

Earlier in the conflict, Russia shut down certain independent media outlets in Russia and also banned certain foreign broadcasters from operating there. Moscow also banned Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and several other social media websites. A Russian court on Monday declared Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, guilty of fostering extremist activity.

On Sunday, Ukrainian officials said they would ban 11 opposition political parties for having alleged ties to Russia.

Any activity of politicians aimed at splitting or collaborating will not succeed, Zelensky said in announcing the move on social media. Wartime exposes quite well the paucity of personal ambitions of those who try to put their own ambitions or their own party or career above the interests of the state, he added, according to a translation.

Zelensky also told CNN in an interview hes ready to enter negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin as the conflict enters its fourth week.

Im ready for negotiations with him. I was ready for the last two years. And I think that without negotiations we cannot end this war, he said. I think that we have to use any format, any chance in order to have a possibility of negotiating, [a] possibility of talking to Putin. But if these attempts fail, that would mean that this is a third World War.

In the capital, Kyiv, a shopping center in the densely populated Podil district near the city center was a smoking ruin after being hit late Sunday by shelling that killed eight people, according to emergency officials.

The attack shattered every window in a neighboring high-rise. Russian military spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov charged that Ukrainian forces had been using the shopping mall to store rockets and reload launchers. That claim could not be independently verified.

Amid the continuing shelling, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced a curfew extending from Monday evening through Wednesday morning.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
In this image from video provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office and posted on Facebook, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks from Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 16, 2022. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

Zelensky Vows to Shoot Down Russian Pilot Who Attacked Shelter in Mariupol

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed that Ukrainian forces would shoot down the Russian pilot who he said had bombed an art school in the besieged city of Mariupol where people were sheltering.

Speaking in a video address on Monday, Zelensky denounced what he said was a Russian bombing of the art school in which he said around 400 civilians were seeking refuge from the hostilities.

People were hiding there. Hiding from shelling, from bombing. There were no military positions, he said. Mostly women and children, the elderly. They are under the debris. We do not know how many are alive at the moment.

But we know that we will definitely shoot down the pilot who dropped that bomb, he continued. As we already did to almost a hundred other similar mass murderers.

General view of the remains of the drama theatre which was hit by a bomb when hundreds of people were sheltering inside, amid ongoing Russias invasion, in Mariupol, Ukraine, on March 18, 2022. (Azov/Handout via Reuters)

The apparent strike on the art school was the second time in less than a week that officials reported an attack on a public building where Mariupol residents had taken shelter. Last Wednesday, a bomb hit a theater where more than 1,000 people were believed to be sheltering. It was unclear how many people were killed in that attack but at least 130 people were reported rescued on Friday and there has not been any update since.

The encircled city of Mariupol, a strategic port on the Azov Sea, has seen some of the worst fighting of the war. City officials and aid groups have said Russian bombardment has cut off Mariupols electricity, water, and food supplies, plunging its residents into a desperate struggle for survival.

Service members of pro-Russian troops are seen atop tanks during the Ukraine-Russia conflict on the outskirts of the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine, on March 20, 2022. (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)

About a quarter of Mariupols 430,000 residents were believed to have left in the opening days of the war, and tens of thousands got out over the past week by way of a humanitarian corridor.

Battles took place over every street. Every house became a target, said Olga Nikitina, a Mariupol resident who managed to escape to the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, told The Associated Press.

Gunfire blew out the windows. The apartment was below freezing, Nikitina told the outlet as she got off a train in Lviv on Sunday.

Capturing Mariupol is a key objective for the Russian side as it would help Russia establish a land bridge to Crimea, which it seized in 2014.

Zelensky said in his video address that, on March 20, four humanitarian corridors were operational and a total of 7,295 people were evacuated from besieged cities.

Nearly 3.5 million people have fled Ukraine amid the fighting, according to the U.N., while at least 816 civilians have been killed.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
DARIEN  The parking lots of Dariens Whole Foods, Town Hall, both train stations and Ox Ridge Elementary School may not have too much in common.

But in recent months, they have all been the scene of one particular crime: thefts of catalytic converters, often stolen in broad daylight.

Since January, Darien police have logged 14 thefts of catalytic converters in Darien. Most have taken place in commercial or station parking lots, with at least one theft reported out of a residential complex, according to police releases.

Now, police are warning residents to stay as vigilant as they can, though they note that this type of crime is often hard to predict.

Unfortunately, this is a difficult crime to detect and apprehend, Chief Don Anderson said during a Police Commission meeting earlier this month. The palladium and other precious metals that are in catalytic converters, they command a fairly high price. So crime pays on this one until you get caught.

Anderson said thefts of this nature tend to be cyclical in timing, with the recent rash hard to explain. Typically, thefts in Darien have occurred in crammed train station parking lots, Anderson said.

It can take someone less than 60 seconds with a machine-operated saw to remove the converters, place them in the backseat of their own vehicle, and drive away, Anderson added.

Victims typically only realize their vehicle has been tampered with once they start their engines and hear an unusually loud or rattling sound.

While police have not noted local reselling of the stolen parts, there are plenty of scrap yards in the tri-state area that will buy a catalytic converter without asking questions, Anderson said.

Police have been attempting deterrence methods like stakeouts, but Anderson said the randomized nature of the theft makes it difficult to pinpoint where the next crime will be. The problem is also not limited to Darien, with similar thefts occurring up and down Interstate 95, Anderson said.

All 14 thefts this year have occurred during both the day and overnight.

Anderson said law enforcements best advice to Darienites is to park their cars in lots where there is obvious video surveillance.

It might give you a fighting chance that the perpetrator may decide to go somewhere else if there's obvious cameras monitoring the parking lots, Anderson said. Its difficult, but well keep working on it.
The Knights of Columbus Hall at 7132 Marine Road, Edwardsville, opened its doors about 20 minutes before the official start time of the fish fry.

It took about two hours for the kitchen to catch their breath and the crowd to settle down.

Its nice to see the crowds again, Lou Carnoali said.

Carnoali is a former Grand Knight and is currently a co-chairman of the fish fry.

The hall has a fish fry on the first and third Friday of every month, but during Lenten season, the fish fry is every Friday from 4:30-7:30 p.m.

This year, Lent is March 2-April 16. The fish fry is also open on Good Friday.

Food served includes cod, catfish, shrimp, clam chowder, French fries, coleslaw, green beans, potato salad, onion rings and hushpuppies.

The Daughters of Isabella, the ladys organization of the hall, had dessert tables.

Carryout and call ahead orders are available.

Typically, the hall has 37 tables and fills them completely, but with COVID concerns, they dialed it back to 27 tables, with chairs for call-in orders to sit and wait on food. The 27 tables were still full of families and friends enjoying the fish.

During COVID, the hall only did to-go orders, but returned the having in-person dining this year.

The fish fry is our number one fundraiser for charity for the community, Carnoali said. Most of the money from the fish fry goes back into the community of Madison County.

The proceeds of the fish fry help different organizations, including Special Olympics and many more, as well as the schools of St. Boniface, St. Mary and Father McGivney.

A fish fry menu and information can be found on the Knights of Columbus website.

Other fish fries in Edwardsville include the Edwardsville American Legion Post 199 from 1-8 p.m. and the Edwardsville Moose from 4:30-8 p.m.
Being an FBI agent is not an easy job, but for Erika, the rewards outweigh the stress.

Erika is a special agent for the Springfield division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. She works in the Violent Crimes Against Children program, which deals with kidnapping, human trafficking, sex trafficking and protecting children against online predators.

Being able to say to family and friends that I love what I do gives me a huge sense of accomplishment, said Erika, who is using her first name only to protect her identity.

There are so many people nowadays who work jobs where they dread going into work. I wake up and Im excited to go in and find these types of criminals and take them out of society.

March is Womens History Month, and this year marks the 50th anniversary of women special agents first being allowed in the FBI. Nationwide, 20.1% of special agents are women and overall, 43.2% of FBI employees are women.

Erika grew up in Michigan and earned a degree in social work from Central Michigan University.

I wanted to be a social worker and work with families and kids, which Im still doing now, Erika said. I moved down south with my husband, and I took a contract job with the Tennessee National Guard as an all-source intelligence analyst working with the DEA (United States Drug Enforcement Administration).

I did that for a few years, but I wanted to get back to the family focus in my job. I knew the FBI had a job like that, so I applied with them. The process took a while and COVID interrupted some things, but Ive been with the bureau for almost a year now and Im thoroughly enjoying it.

For Erika, working in the Violent Crimes Against Children program is a natural progression from her social work background and her DEA/military background.

Once I got to the DEA and I was able to get a glimpse into what the federal law enforcement system was, I knew I wanted to stay on this level. But I also wanted to work with families, Erika said.

If I had looked back at my 10-year-old self and said I was going to become a special agent, I never would have believed it. It wasnt a lifelong dream like it is for a lot of agents, but I cant think of a better or more rewarding job.

To become an FBI agent, Erika underwent a four-month new agent training process at the FBIs academy in Quantico, Virginia.

During your time there, you learn the basics of how to be an agent  how to handle firearms, how to conduct an investigation and how to do some vehicle tactics, Erika said. You also learn how to work in a team because in this job, no agent can work a case by themselves. We were able to discover what each piece of the puzzle does to bring a bigger picture.

The new agent training has a physical aspect as well, which can be a challenge in itself.

Agents have to take a fitness test in order to be qualified, and that involves pushups, a sprint and a mile-and-a-half run, Erika said. Also, while youre at the academy, you do group fitness in the morning and you have defensive tactics, which is a jiu-jitsu-based environment where youre learning one-on-one protective skills if you ever get into a fight with somebody you may be investigating.

For Erika, her experience at Quantico reinforced her belief that the FBI was the right career choice for her.

I think its an adjustment for most people. If somebody went through the academy and they were in law enforcement prior to that, it may have been a little less difficult, Erika said. For me, it wasnt too bad of an adjustment because of my military background. I was used to the group training environment.

They do a really good job of helping people to feel comfortable there and to do their best. Its a really open feeling and if you ever have problems, you can go to your training instructors, and they can spend a lot more one-on-one time with you.

Erika feels the best part of her job is knowing that she makes a difference to help children who are being exploited.

Working in Violent Crimes Against Children, it definitely has its hard days, but getting to the end, where we are taking predators out of the community and protecting our children, its definitely worth it, Erika said. I would say there has been an uptick in the number of crimes that are happening on the internet just because of the nature of the society that we live in.

Everything is on the internet and schools transitioned to at-home learning (during the pandemic), so kids were on the internet all day long. With social media and group chatting, I would tell parents to monitor what their kids are doing because its so easy for predators to be able to reach out to young children.

As a female in a male-dominated industry, Erika has faced some challenges along the way, but few of them have been in her current job.

Coming from my previous employment with the military, theres an old-school mentality in the military, said Erika, who spent nine years with the Tennessee National Guard while serving in the U.S. Army. You have to deal with the men who dont think its the right job for women. I like to take those situations as an opportunity to prove them wrong.

Once I got into the bureau, I havent had a problem with that. Its a modern society where they are more accepting. (Male agents) of you as a sister or a close family relative and theyre nothing but supportive.

Erika also has some advice for women interested in pursuing an FBI career.

I would tell them that if its even a thought for them, go onto the FBI website and see if youre qualified, Erika said. If youre still in high school and youre thinking about it, take a look at it so you can be better prepared as you go through college into your professional work environment.

If you can, see if you can do a ride-along with local law enforcement to get a feel to see if its something you would be interested in. If somebody is nervous about being a special agent and they dont feel its the right role for them, there are a lot of other roles within the bureau that they might like.

Erika also cautions that the life of an FBI agent is nothing like its portrayed to be in movies and television.

If somebody thinks what a special agent does is like you see it on TV, that is not accurate, Erika said. Theres a lot of hard work that goes into it, but its still an awesome and rewarding career.

Also, I didnt realize how small the bureau was, and its like a family. I travel for work on occasion, and Ill run into some of my classmates from the academy or people Ive worked with in other offices. Its cool to say that I know them, and I know their history.

While Erika is unsure how her long-term role with the FBI might change, she cant see herself leaving the bureau.

I would say Im going to be what we call a lifer. Ill stay as long as the bureau will allow me, Erika said. I cant think of a job that would be a better fit than what Im doing now.

Im passionate about it and I feel rewarded. I feel Im lucky to be able to do the job that I have.
Adam Gault/Getty Images

This week, the Illinois Poison Center, the nation's oldest poison center, will participate in the National Poison Prevention Week from March 20 to 26 to raise awareness about poison dangers, aiming to educate the public on ways to further protect family and friends. This is the 60th anniversary of National Poison Prevention Week.

"Poison dangers are all around us and can impact everyone," IPC Medical Director Dr. Michael Wahl said in a statement. "We have healthcare experts standing by 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to answer questions about potential risks, provide treatment advice, and help reduce the risk of harm. No issue is too big or too small for us and calls are free and confidential."
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That release could not be found.
Have you seen the videos on this link: https://www.firstbanknigeria.com/home/impact/crs-week/? Piece of advice: Please hold your handkerchief or make sure there is a good supply of tissue paper while you view.

The initiative that inspired the efforts and results seen in the videos is not a strange one but it has a way of surprisingly leaving people teary-eyed. Viewers tear up as they get to see the positive difference it has made in the lives of ordinary people in communities across Nigeria.

Many people across the country are familiar with SPARK  Start Performing Acts of Random Kindness  an initiative by First Bank of Nigeria Limited, West Africas premier banking institution with its impact woven into the fabric of society. SPARK was initiated to spread the message of kindness and inspire people to adopt kindness as a way of life. What many may not know is how much of a kindness revolution the initiative has birthed within FirstBank itself.

What started out in 2017 as a simple effort to reignite acts of kindness in the society through events that could help to reorient people towards the right values, has turned FirstBank itself into a massive kindness enterprise. The management and staff have become part of a giant machinery that constantly generates kindness. Staff of FirstBank are involved in several initiatives informed by their kind heart and disposition. A number of staff run private charities on the side, that help the underprivileged. A number are deeply involved in private charities run by other people. And every staff, by department or directorate, is involved in collective endeavours to make a positive difference with their touch of kindness in poor and challenged communities around them.

Tagged SPARK Amplification, the collective endeavours involve each department or directorate within the bank and its staff using an assigned month in the year to collectively identify and fund an impactful project in a challenged community. Executed as an internal initiative under the banner of SPARK, itself a part of the banks impactful Employee Volunteering and Giving programme, SPARK Amplification seeks to expand and deepen FirstBanks involvement in its stakeholders communities through integration and institutionalisation of acts of random kindness.

In 2021, at least seven groups, comprising departments and directorates, took turns (in their assigned months) to fund and execute projects of their choice. The bank did not determine or contribute to support any of the projects. Each project was fully funded by the staff of the executing group, and each involved engagement through departmental champions. The projects ranged from visits and donations to the underprivileged, to business support, educational support and construction. In terms of impact or the difference made by the departmental projects, the reactions of the direct beneficiaries speak volumes.

They are only children. So, one must forgive the occupants of Treasure Care Home, Port-Harcourt Children Home and Atunda-Olu School for Physically Challenged in Abuja, Port Harcourt and Lagos respectively, if their best attempt at defining the word corporate is no more than a mere description of the men and women of the Corporate Banking Group of FirstBank. Even adults may struggle to do any better when totally overwhelmed by the visits and donations of teams of august visitors from the directorate who came calling in August 2021.

The staff of FirstBanks Corporate Banking directorate, rather than allowing for unnecessary individualistic efforts and brilliance, aggregated all efforts and thus demonstrated that they understood the multiplied power and impact of corporate efforts. The result was the overflow of food items and other provisions delivered in Abuja and Port Harcourt, and in Lagos, water closets, empowerment training tools, food items and toiletries donated to the physically challenged children.

Even the 356 children in 16 orphanages and a hospice located in 11 cities across the country visited by the E-Business and Retail Products directorate could make a similar mistake if asked to define the concept of e-business. So, there should be a readiness to extend the same forgiveness to them. They were completely overwhelmed by the donation of back-to-school supplies and food items by the directorate. To create a deeper connection, men of the directorate cooked for the children in October 2021.

Demonstrating their full awareness of risks, especially security risks, the staff of the Risk Management directorate elected to construct a perimeter fence and security gate at St. Peters African Church Schools (I and II) in Oke-Aro, Ifo, Ogun State. November 2021 was the month that witnessed this intervention to mitigate against a serious security risk.

December 2021 was the month of the learned minds manning the banks Legal Services department. And as expected, they did not disappoint. Knowing the power of education to elevate the mind, to inform and correct, our learned friends channelled their efforts towards visiting the Ikoyi Custodial Centre of the Nigerian Correctional Service, in Lagos, to donate educational materials, tables, chairs and fans to support education of the inmates.

Earlier in 2021, May precisely, staff of the Marketing and Corporate Communications department had donated SPARK-branded umbrellas, tables, chairs and cash in support of small businesses. These small businesses were being run by petty traders around FirstBank head office (Samuel Asabia House) and an annex (Elephant House) in Lagos Island.

Staff of the Compliance department of the bank had chosen educational support as their project. The beneficiaries were students of Gbara Community Secondary School, Jakande, Lagos State. The students received mathematics and English language textbooks  the two compulsory subjects. This intervention was in June 2021. And in September 2021, staff of the Human Capital and Management Development department (HCMD) stormed the Makoko community in Lagos. Widows and aged women were the target. They received a large donation of food items and toiletries from the HCMD team.

The multi-million-naira projects by members of staff of the seven executing directorates and departments saw the staff committing about 10,000 volunteering hours, which value cannot be quantified in monetary terms. The projects directly impacted about 4,500 people across Nigerias 6 geopolitical regions. Many more thousands were indirectly impacted by the projects.

While the bank maintains its stance of not contributing to support any of the departmental efforts, it understands the need to spur staff to continue to champion and pursue worthy causes. So, the CEOs Office matches the value from the directorate with the highest contributions. The November 2021 efforts of the staff of the Risk Management directorate put them in pole position to receive the matching grant, which the directorate will expend in execution of another project in this new year.

Demonstrating a true heart of service to humanity, the executive leadership of all the implementing directorates joined their team members to volunteer in the schools and homes visited.

And as the euphoria of the new year wanes and people begin serious efforts to make a success of 2022, staff of FirstBank are already raring to go. They kick off new rounds of implementing, by department, self-determined and -funded initiatives in underprivileged communities around them.

The Finance directorate will seek to set the tone for other directorates or departments as its staff embark on their own project this February. Technology and Services department will follow in March and give way to Corporate Transformation in April. May will see Customer Experience and Value Management (CEVM) in action.

Staff of Retail and Commercial Banking (Lagos and West) will take their turn in June ahead of Retail and Commercial Banking (North) in July. Then in August, the Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (CR&S) Week will hold. This is a full week of community-impacting activities funded by the Bank.

Departmental interventions will resume in September with Retail and Commercial Banking (South), followed closely by Internal Audit in October. Staff of Public Sector Group will take over in November while staff of Treasury and Financial Institutions will seek to close the year on a high when they execute their project in December.

The line-up of FirstBank directorates/departments set to take turns in 2022 to execute their own initiated and funded projects looks really promising. Benefitting communities in 2022 are likely to see more robust engagement by FirstBank departmental staff and more impactful projects. For anyone wondering what this could mean, they should endeavour to multiply by any figure above 1 (one) the visible impact of the projects they see in the videos on this link https://www.firstbanknigeria.com/home/impact/crs-week/. They will not see any project in 2022, when the kindness revolution is set to go notches higher, that is less impactful than its 2021 version.
Two victims of human trafficking identified as Adeoye Olufunmilayo (17) and Sandra Adeyeye (20) have narrated how they were being tricked on the basis of taking jobs in Mali as sales representatives with a salary of N200,000 monthly but ended up being introduced to prostitution.

They narrated their ordeals in Akure, Ondo State capital, after they were rescued by the Ondo State command of Southwest security outfit codenamed Amotekun.

According to Oluwafumilayo Adeoye, who is a Senior Secondary School dropout, she said she did not inform her parents before embarking on the journey.

According to her: I am from Ikare-Akoko in Ondo State. Matthew Olupona told us that there is a lot of work in Mali. So, we agreed to go there to work.

Our parents didnt know about it. There were three of us that went there, but I was the only one from Ikare-Akoko. The other two are from Owo.

Before I went to Mali, I was learning tailoring. I could not continue my education because my parents are not financially buoyant.

We got an offer to be sales representatives in Mali with a salary of N200,000 monthly. We jumped at the offer because we saw it as a huge opportunity to say goodbye to poverty and make life better for our family.

I stopped in Senior Secondary School 3 before I decided to travel to Mali in a quest for a greener pasture. We left in January this year and came back on March 9. When we got to Mali, we realised that the woman we were asked to work for, asked us to start prostitution.

We did not agree to go into prostitution because that was against the agreement that took us there. There were lots of Nigerians there who indulged in prostitution for a living.

My friend and I planned to run away from the house. We met lots of Nigerians out there and we were lucky to see someone who took us in.

The other woman told us that they will use our pants to perform rituals and that anywhere we escaped to, they would locate us. After many threats, luckily, we were able to escape back to Nigeria.

We appreciate men of the Amotekun Corps for making sure we got back to Nigeria safely.

In another interview with the suspect who tricked that young ladies to Mali, Olupona Matthew said his move was not intentional.

Oluona (27) who is a barber, explained that he met the woman who later introduced the ladies into prostitution in Lagos where he used to buy wares.

He said; There was a woman I met in Lagos, I used to buy underwears from Lagos to sell in Owo. We lodged in the same hotel, she told me that there was a job opportunity in Mali, that if I have younger sisters that can work in a hotel.

She told me last year, I didnt show any interest until in January this year when she sent me a message based on our last discussion, which was about helping her to get girls to Mail for a receptionist job in a hotel.

Based on that, I told her that I have some ladies living in my street who are like my younger sisters. So, when I told them, they said they were interested. What the woman told me was that they will be working in a hotel and bar. And that was why I took them to Lagos.

I did not do any findings because this is my first time. I have never done it before. If I had known they were going for a contrary mission, I wouldnt have let them go because they are like my younger sisters and they respect me a lot.

It was when they got there that they told me what they saw, so I asked them to start coming back.
Asean members discuss economic impact of Russia-Ukraine conflict

ASEAN: Economic representatives from Asean member states have convened a meeting to discuss measures to mitigate the potential impact that the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict could have on the regions economies.

CoronavirusCOVID-19economicsnatural-resourcespoliticsRussianUkraine

By National News Bureau of Thailand

Monday 21 March 2022, 10:11AM

Photo: NNT

Thai Vice Commerce Minister Sansern Samalapa said participants also pressed all 15 signatories of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement to expeditiously ratify and implement the pact, reports NNT.

According to Sansern, the 28th Asean Economic Ministers (AEM) Retreat on Mar 16, which Cambodia chaired, agreed that the Russia-Ukraine conflict would have a limited impact on Asean, given the blocs relatively minimal direct trade with both countries.

Additionally, participants urged Russia and Ukraine to quickly resolve the conflict in order to avoid long-term impact on the global economy.

Thailand also proposed that Asean economies collaborate to mitigate the wars impact on the regions energy supplies.

Additionally, the representatives signed a memorandum of understanding specifying that Asean members will not impose export restrictions on essential goods until Nov 2024.

The ministers also discussed Aseans readiness to transition to a digital society and the development of measures to address the economic and social consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thailands trade with other Asean economies reached US$110.7 billion (B3.7 trillion) in 2021, an increase of 17.1% over the same period the year before. Thai exports totaled $65bn in 2021, compared to $45.7bn in imports.
Storm warning for Andaman

PHUKET: An intense low-pressure system over the Bay of Bengal is likely to intensify into a cyclone and make landfall in Myanmar in the coming days, resulting in heavy weather along the northern Andaman coast, warns the Thai Meteorological Department.

weathermarineSafety

By The Phuket News

Monday 21 March 2022, 09:58AM

Heavy weather has been forecast for Phuket. Image: PR Phuket

The warning, currently marked as in effect from yesterday through tomorrow (Mar 20-22), was issued yesterday and shared online by the Phuket office of the Public Relations Department at 8:32pm last night (Mar 20). The low-pressure system currently has sustained winds of 55km/h and is expected to make landfall over Myanmar tomorrow, TMD Director-General Chomparee Chompurat said in the warning. People in the area should beware of the severe [weather] conditions, the warning said. The Phuket Marine Office has subsequently issued a weather warning for all vessels in the area Strengthening wind and waves 2 to 3 metres high are likely in the upper Andaman Sea, about 3 metres high in thundershowers and 1-2 meters high in the lower Andaman Sea, the warning said. Small boats in the upper Andaman Sea should keep ashore until 22 March 2022. Please stay tuned for the weather updates, the warning added.
Toddler drowns in Phuket hotel pool

PHUKET: A 3-year-old boy has drowned in a Phuket hotel pool after wandering out of the hotel room while his parents, on holiday in Phuket, were sleeping, Phuket City Police Chief Col Sarawut Chuprasit has reported.

deathtourismSafetypolice

By Eakkapop Thongtub

Monday 21 March 2022, 10:24AM

Photo: Phuket City Police

The tragic incident happened at about 1pm yesterday (Mar 20), Col Sarawut said in a brief report explaining the childs death.

Lt Col Sittipong Kruehong, the investigative officer on duty, was notified of the death by medical staff at Vachira Phuket Hospital.

At the hospital, medical staff explained to Lt Col Sittipong that they had performed a post-mortem examination and found no evidence of any other trauma. The cause of death was recorded as drowning.

The child was identified as Ratchasri Chuasrisakul, 3, from Pathum Thani.

Ratchasri was with his parents at the Supitcha Hotel in Koh Kaew, Col Sarawut explained in his report.

While his parents were sleeping, Ratchasri opened the door to leave the room and made his way to the swimming pool, he said.

A good citizen saw Ratchasri drowning and rushed to get him out of the pool. Immediate first aid was administered and emergency workers were called to rush him to hospital.

Sadly, efforts to revive Ratchasri failed.

Arrangements have been made to release Ratchasris body to his parents so they can conduct his funeral, Col Sarawut noted in his report.

The report did not mention whether police were continuing any investigation into Ratchasris death.
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EDWARDSVILLE  Route 66 plays a large part in the lives of residents from Macoupin to Madison County. But many of them dont know it.

Even though thousands travel Route 66 every day, like many of the region's attractions people just dont think about it, according to Cory Jobe, president and CEO of the Great Rivers and Routes Tourism Bureau.

This is a lifetime memory trip for international travelers, Jobe said.

With the roads 100th anniversary coming up, Jobe sees a lot of opportunity to attract visitors who will bring in money and help support businesses and attractions that will improve the quality of life for local residents.

There is a lot of work to do, Jobe said, adding the bureau recently started a Last 100 Miles of Route 66 initiative. Illinois has announced up to $4 million in grants for Route 66-related projects.

Great Rivers and Routes has submitted several grant proposals to the state, he said, including the conversion of the West End Service Station at 620 St. Louis St. in Edwardsville into a state-of-the-art Route 66 educational museum and visitor center.

The former service station served as a stop for travelers to re-fuel and make small purchases. When Route 66 bypassed Edwardsville in 1965, the building was transformed into a dental office until it was sold to the Illinois Department of Transportation in 2021 to make improvements at the intersection.

IDOT bought it and was just going to tear it down, Jobes said. Edwardsville approached us to see how we could create a visitor experience and tell the story of the region in a revitalized West End Service Station. We want to recreate the two garages there. We want to reopen it to a period-type filling station with unique products and experiences.

The bureau also is seeking funds to completed structural upgrades and parking lot repairs needed to reopen the historic Macoupin County Cannonball Jail. The jail, located across from the famed Million Dollar Courthouse, was constructed after the American Civil War with surplus cannonballs placed between stones to make prisoner escape impossible.

Considered one of the most famous roads in the United States, the Route 66 Mother Road stretches 2,448 miles from Chicago to Santa Monica, California. It includes more than 300 miles in Illinois between its starting point and the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge in Madison.

In 1926 Route 66 was designated as part of the new federal numbered highway network and continued until 1985. Much of it continues to be driveable and is a major tourism draw along its length.

Locally, the Mother Road parallels Interstate 55 from Chicago to Hamel, then splits into two segments used at different times.

The 1926-40 alignment follows Illinois 157 through Edwardsville to westbound Old Chain of Rocks Road. It goes through Mitchell and splits into two segments. One route goes through Granite City, Madison and Venice to the McKinley Bridge used from 1926 to 1930. The second route goes to Chouteau Island and the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge which was the designated alignment from 1930 to 1940.

The second main route goes through Collinsville on U.S. 40, going through Fairmont City and eventually East St. Louis. It crosses the Mississippi River at the Martin Luther King and later Poplar Street bridges.

What many people dont realize is Route 66 is immensely popular with foreign tourists, especially from Europe. It is fairly common for those travelers to come to either end of the route, rent a vehicle and drive to the other end.

Jobe said the state once helped sponsor a classic car show in London in conjunction with a major travel trade show.

I was amazed at just everyday citizens who would stop at our booth and talk about their memories along Route 66, he said. I remember my first trip. There were a couple of gentlemen who had Pontiac, Illinois hats on. They said, 'We had a great time,' and traveled all the way to the Santa Monica pier.

Jobe, who chairs the Illinois Centennial Commission for Route 66, said a number of states are gearing up for the roads centennial.

We need to do a better job of signing all the routes, he said. There also is a need to build product along the route to encourage tourists to stop.

He said international visitors who travel the route come into Chicago.

Theyre going to spend three or four days in Chicago, then theyre going to hit the road, he said, noting they often stop in Springfield and then the St. Louis area.

How do we keep travel in Illinois? he said. Weve got great stops all along the way. But we dont have enough product and we dont have enough bookable product.

I applaud all the work thats been done in all those communities," he said. "But there are more stories to tell."
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MARYVILLE  A St. Louis man was charged Monday in the shooting death of a man found in Maryville last week.

Danyiel M. Johnson, 40, of St. Louis, was charged March 21 with two counts of first-degree murder, both Class M felonies; use of a stolen firearm in the commission of an offense, and unlawful possession of weapons by a felon, both Class 2 felonies.

The two murder charges each state a different theory of the crime.

Bail was set at $2 million.

Johnson is accused of killing Ronald L. Holland, 40, of Jennings, Missouri Thursday in the 2000 block of North Bluff Road, Collinsville. While the area has a Collinsville mailing address, it in Maryvilles municipal limits.

Charges were announced at a press conference Monday afternoon at the Maryville Police Department. Officials emphasized the crimes location was a random occurrence.

This particular situation had not much to do with Maryville, said Maryville Police Chief Rob Carpenter. Both the victim and the suspect were just passing through and just happened to pull over in our city limits.

The incident began at about 4:05 p.m. Thursday, March 17, when Maryville Police received a 911 call about a dead person in the 2000 block of North Bluff Road. The victim was described as being face down in a pool of blood, with multiple gunshot wounds.

Carpenter requested the activation of the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis. More than 20 investigators began actively working the crime.

We immediately established the fact that it was a homicide, he said. Due to Maryville having limited resources, we immediately requested (The Major Case Squads) assistance. Within 30 minutes investigators from all over the area started to arrive.

Lt. Bryan Bauer of the Madison County Sheriffs Department, deputy commander in charge of the investigation, said once the investigation started officers quickly made significant progress and a person of interest was established.

Johnson and Holland knew each other very well," he said. "But there is no criminal history that shows between the two."

Authorities said it appears Johnson acted alone and then fled the scene. A car known to be used by Holland was found abandoned in St. Louis.

On Sunday Johnson was arrested by the Normandy Police Department. He is currently in custody in St. Louis County.

I want to stress that we have been unable to establish any direct connection from Illinois, Collinsville or Maryville areas to this particular incident, Bauer added.

Maj. Jeff Connor of the Madison County Sheriffs Department, commander of the Major Case Squad, said these are the kinds of incidents the squad was designed for.

They (Maryville) experienced a heinous crime Thursday afternoon, and with a smaller department they dont have the resources to investigate that thoroughly, he said, adding the incident also fell under the recently-formed Cross River Crime Task Force which Connor also leads.

Madison County States Attorney Tom Haine said Johnson could face life in prison if convicted.

The murder charge alone is typically 20 to 60 years in prison," Haine said. "But with the firearm enhancement, which we believe would apply in this case, it is 45 years to life.

Haine also noted Johnson has a somewhat lengthy criminal history in Missouri.
GREENVILLE  A preview day is set 10 a.m. to noon Friday, March 25, at Greenville University for students interested in enrolling in a program leading to a bachelor of science in nursing that will be launched this fall at GU.



The new four-year program offered in partnership with St. Johns College of Nursing in Springfield, Illinois has received verbal approval from the Higher Learning Commission. Formal approval is expected in April.



The partnership allows GU students to complete the pre-nursing coursework during the first two years of the program and then take upper-level courses in the St. Johns nursing curriculum the final two years, all while remaining on the Greenville campus. Clinical experiences will take place at HSHS Holy Family Hospital, with multiple locations and specialties in the region.

During Fridays preview day, prospective students will meet with GU President Suzanne Davis, St. Johns College of Nursing Chancellor Dr. Charlene Aaron, and HSHS Holy Family Hospital President and CEO Kelly Sager. They can tour the GU campus, visit the hospitals clinical facilities and eat lunch in the GU Dining Commons.
As the Russian invasion moves in on Kyiv, Ukraines capital, bombs are hitting close to the places I once called home.

When I first heard that a missile struck a TV tower close to Babyn Yar in Kyiv, I thought: That used to be my park. Because of this attack, more people know that Babyn Yar was where the Nazis built a concentration camp, then murdered 33,000 Jews in just two days. For me, the site is a symbol of both the Holocaust and my childhood in Ukraine.

I spent the first 10 years of my life in Kyiv. When my mother and I moved to the Syrets neighborhood, the grassy parkland that included Babyn Yar became my playground. There, I made friends and forced my mom to read aloud to me for hours. My parents had their wedding pictures taken in the park, shortly after a monument was erected, with the commemoration: To Soviet citizens and POWs shot by the Nazi occupiers. It didnt specifically highlight Jewish death. For my parents, the photos were a way to honor murdered Jews against erasure and to infuse our culture into their wedding when public shows of Jewishness could still come with costs.

When we left Ukraine in 1993, we had months to pack but we didnt take a lot of photos. Todays refugees have so little time to think of what to carry as they flee. Because my family brought barely any mementos, retained few connections and hasnt returned, Ukraine has largely lived inside of our minds. The longer that we stayed away, the more nostalgia shaped our memories, taking out the sting of what pushed us out, though not erasing it.

The Kyiv that existed just before this war was not the Kyiv that we left. But theres a difference between knowing cities change with time and seeing them reduced to rubble. The current war, with its destruction of my childhood haunts, has felt more personally violent, more traumatic than I had anticipated.

I came to California as a child. The more that I assimilated, the more I told people that I was Russian. It was my native language and, unlike Russia, Ukraine meant little to Americans. Plus, it took too long to explain Soviet policies surrounding language and identity  how one could be Jewish, Ukrainian-born and Russian-speaking.

Being Jewish, I never called myself Ukrainian even as I planned to return and walk the cobblestone streets of Kyivs Andriyivskyy Descent, the street we strolled so often. After Russias 2014 annexation of Crimea, I started saying more and more that I was from Ukraine, as much a sign of solidarity as a reaction to Americans greater awareness of a place they still called the Ukraine.

My trauma from the current war is not the trauma of the people digging city trenches and escaping bombs. It is the trauma of an emigrant who feels both far away and close. One night, before sleeping, I saw footage of a tank rolling through a city street flanked with what are known in the West as Soviet bloc buildings. The caption said this was Kyivs Obolon district, where my school was and where my maternal grandparents and my uncle lived. My mom and dad had joined them there after getting married and some years all six of us had shared the three rooms and one bathroom. Now theres news of shelling on residential buildings in Obolon.

Meanwhile, a reported strike in the Podil neighborhood on Monday damaged peoples homes. To me Podil was where my great-aunt lived and cooked us special meals until she left for Canada. Its also where I attended synagogue, where I celebrated my first seder and found the afikomen, the piece of matzo hidden as a ritual.

Before and after images are flooding social media. Im constantly confronted with intact buildings and their bombed-out skeletons, clean sidewalks now filled with rubble, bustling streets turned quiet, empty. There is a video like this of Khreschatyk, Kyivs main street, where my mom grew up and where we went by tram to buy our favorite bread.

The images have made me call my mother. She takes the news in smaller gulps than me, but like other immigrants in San Francisco, she feels the war. While on the phone, I open Google Maps to check distances between different sites, how close that Kyiv tower is to where we used to live.

My mother never wanted to leave Kyiv. Like many emigrants, she felt she could endure the hardships, but she didnt want me to. She joked for years that shed retire in Odesa, the famous Black Sea city. But the jokes have stopped, the very thought of homecoming seeming impossible.

Some posts on social media say the destruction is only temporary because Ukraine will be rebuilt, made even better. The EU and Britain have pledged to help. It is surreal to see this level of support. Im heartened that the people who survive may have the space to live and re-create community. But I also wish the same enthusiasm and material support was regularly directed to other places suffering from war and occupation, such as Gaza.

The longer that this war goes on, the harder it will be for the millions of refugees to go home again. And for those killed, there is no physical return, only the kind of haunting that one feels in Babyn Yar when remembering that green grass can cover up mass graves.

I hope as we continue to bear witness, we see how much cant be restored, rebuilt, made whole again.
ALTON  Laura Scarborough has joined the Great Rivers & Routes Tourism Bureau as its new destination sales manager.

Scarboroughs role with the bureau will include highlighting southwest Illinois to potential domestic and international group travelers as well as attracting meetings/conferences to the six-county bureau region.

We are looking ahead to ways we can grow the region and we know group travel and meetings are areas we already have a strong presence, said Cory Jobe, President/CEO of the tourism bureau. Laura will help keep us front and center in group travel planning and we are excited to have her on the team.

Scarborough has been the owner of The Farmers Daughter, a catering company based in Columbia, Missouri. She has also been community sponsorship and donation manager for Landmark Bank and is the finance manager for the Heart of Missouri United Way, both in Columbia. She most recently worked as the branch office administrator for Edward Jones in Kirkwood, Missouri.

I am thrilled to be part of the Great Rivers & Routes team and being able to create exciting, innovative and custom tours for people who want to experience our region, Scarborough said. Sparking the imagination of group travel leaders and small meetings organizers with fresh takes on the history, scenic beauty and behind-the-scenes experiences in the area is my new passion and Im looking forward to working with travel professionals as they plan their trips to southwest Illinois.
Carlo Allegri/Getty Images

You may not know his name, but you've most definitely heard his music.

John Williams is one of Hollywood's most popular composers, and the Oscar-winner has lent his talent to a number of legendary films that have in turn won him several awards. He is best know for his musical scores on popular films and movie franchises like "Star Wars," "Harry Potter," "Jurassic Park" and "Jaws," just to name a few.
I was onstage, the pressure mounting.

Across from me, Melissa Joan Hart, star of Sabrina the Teenage Witch glared, willing me to fail.

Finally, I said scrunchies?

The crowd burst into cheers.

This was not some fever dream brought on by watching too much Disney+. This was part of my very real experience participating in a trivia contest at the recent 90s Con in Hartford, Connecticut.

As one of the actors on the ABC sitcom Boy Meets World from 1993 to 2000, I was not there simply as a guest, but to help make the era come alive for everyone attending. While I am an object of 90s nostalgia for some people, my time on the show corresponded exactly with my teenage years, so I have my own sentimentality about the decade. (My first concert: Weezer; my pager code: 21.)

According to its organizers, more than 10,000 people attended 90s Con  there were snap bracelets and Trapper Keepers everywhere. Thanks to the recurring playlist blasted over the speakers, I heard Waterfalls by TLC more than two dozen times, an experience mitigated by getting to meet actual members of TLC in person.

But the more time I spent there, the more I wondered why the 90s hold a particular grip on us right now.

Id love to say shows such as mine, and other 90s staples from music to fashion, endure or find new popularity because of their intrinsic artistry. But I think theres a simpler explanation. The word I heard over and over again at the convention was comfort, as in comfort TV and comfort songs. The 90s are the comfort decade that people need right now, whether they lived through it the first time or not.

Attending this convention during Russias invasion of Ukraine was a reminder that the 90s have a significance beyond Tickle Me Elmo and JNCO jeans. The period between the fall of the Berlin Wall at the end of 1989 and the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, was a time of mostly war-free bliss for America. Domestically, our country was reveling in tech optimism and economic expansion. I remember adults around me saying, Theres no difference between Republicans and Democrats and meaning it.

It was also the last gasp of a time when we all seemed to watch the same shows, listen to same music and see the same people in magazines. While breaking up the monoculture is for the best  doing so makes room for more voices, more tastes and more representation  I admit that I miss the comfort in the connectivity it provided.

In todays meme-a-minute world, it can be hard to find generational touchstones, to build a community beyond a niche. I might remember 2021 as the year of The Underground Railroad, while you were busy watching Loki. But if I say yada yada, almost every American who had a television in 1997 (and the millions who caught Seinfeld in syndication in the years that followed) will probably smile.

Sharing a past, or celebrating aspects of an era you werent even part of, connects people. And while its essential to confront the blind spots and pitfalls of the past, its also valuable (and fun) to forge communities. We dont go to a Renaissance Faire to burn witches and reenact colonial invasions. We go to wear tunics, eat turkey legs and speak in bad English accents. We go to relive the weird, wonderful and frivolous parts of a bygone era.

Over my weekend at 90s Con, the frivolous certainly reigned supreme. There were a lot of neon colors, Tamagotchis and attempts to reproduce the exact sound of a dial-up modem. Nobody mentioned the L.A. riots, Clinton scandals or Rwanda.

Lenin famously said, There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen. In many ways, the 90s feels like a decade where nothing happened. Or rather, a decade during which people my age, caught in the naivete of youth and protected by baby boomer denial, could live as if nothing were happening. A serious reassessment of our optimism and pride for that period is long overdue  but not at 90s Con.

Instead, it was a time to experience the warm, irrelevant glow of escapist nostalgia. To win that trivia contest by declaring which Spice Girl I would be (Baby, whatever that means). It was banal, and banality was the point.

To paraphrase a wise song from my youth: Sometimes you dont want to chase a waterfall, but rather, stick to the rivers and the lakes that youre used to.
IVY GOODMAN, Stonington, Girls, Lacrosse, Senior; Goodman scored 12 goals and had 13 assists in three games. Her seven assists in the Bears win over Waterford established a school record. She surpassed the 50-goal mark for the season in Stoningtons victory over Ledyard.

DEAN PONS JR., Westerly, Baseball, Senior; Pons, a senior, struck out 14 batters in the Bulldogs five-inning win against Wheeler School/Rocky Hill. Pons had an assist on the remaining out, throwing out a runner on a groundout. Pons allowed just one hit and walked only two.

KATIE PIERCE, Wheeler, Girls, Lacrosse, Sophomore; Pierce scored five goals and the Lions beat Griswold to earn their first victory of the season. Wheeler avenged an earlier loss to the Wolverines this season with the 15-4 victory.

WEEKO THOMPSON, Chariho, Girls, Track Sophomore; Thompson, a sophomore, bettered her school record in the discus at the Classical Classic meet. She finished first in the event and also won the shot put.

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Keir Starmers Labour is hyperventilating over the scandalous decision of P&O Ferries to sack 800 crew and replace them with less expensive agency colleagues.

Before Labour becomes too hot under the collar, it should consider some history.

The maritime heritage of P&O dates back to 1837. But in 2006, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown stood on the sidelines when P&O Ports was sold to UAE-based Dubai Ports World for 5billion in a debt fuelled deal which would later go badly wrong.

On the rocks: In 2006 Tony Blair and Gordon Brown stood on the sidelines when P&O Ports was sold to UAE based Dubai Ports World for 5bn in a debt fuelled deal

It was obvious that Britain, with its distinguished naval traditions, was making a big strategic error in selling vital national and global infrastructure.

P&O Ports, the owner of the ferry company, was vital to the domestic economy. Under the leadership of Lord Sterling it had built up a global network of ports running from the sub-Continent to West Africa.

The UKs role as an entrepot provided support to our service economy of insurance and trade finance in fast growing regions of the world. Had the UK retained command and control, it could have been a vital part of Boris Johnsons post-Brexit global ambitions.

The most remarkable aspect of the transaction was that the US, Britains most significant trading and strategic partner, wanted no part of it.

Then Senator of New York, Hillary Clinton, fought a fierce battle against six P&O ports, mainly on the Eastern Seaboard of the US, being sold to DP World.

The American part of the deal was blocked by George W Bushs White House, which didnt want critical ports falling into Gulf hands when they could potentially be a national and economic security threat.

Paradoxically, the most red in tooth and claw capitalist nation on earth was unwilling to sell, but Labour saw no reasons to intervene even though it could have invoked Gordon Browns Enterprise Act 2002 on national security grounds.

What is indisputable is that under its pre-DP World ownership, with a powerful board and a full London listing, P&O would never have even attempted a flawed and immoral approach to cut its wages bill.

The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) may be one of the most militant unions in Britain as commuters have learned to their cost over the years.

The merchant seamen part of the union has always been uncompromising. None of this is justification for running roughshod over Britains flexible labour laws.

The UK is not the UAE, largely run with the assistance of cheap labour from nearby India and Pakistan.

There are much broader lessons from this episode. Some have sought to make comparisons between DP Worlds clash with the RMT and late president Ronald Reagans battle with air traffic controllers.

The latter was taking industrial action when confronted by the White House, and safety in US skies was compromised.

What the current incident does show is the utter folly of the noughties, when New Labour allowed great chunks of our national infrastructure to fall into grasping overseas hands including our main airports.

After the betrayal of P&O, other port companies, including Associated British Ports and Forth Ports, were swallowed by overseas consortia.

Only now is the Tory government recognising the importance of trade infrastructure with the creation of free ports  a favourite of Chancellor Rishi Sunak.

Labours carelessness in selling vital assets has cost UK investment, jobs, taxes and command and control over great swathes of the nations commerce.

Satellite blight

Overseas ownership in high-tech is rarely positive, as we have seen with the roller-coaster ride for Arm Holdings.

When business conditions change, so do the legal protections built in at the time of the takeover.

There is also a history of corporation taxes disappearing over the horizon and dividends ending up in tax havens.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng and his team have done their best to protect the interests of UK satellite pioneer Inmarsat, under the new ownership of American competitor Viasat, with promises of an R&D uplift of 30 per cent, UK global headquarters and a British board able to make key strategic decisions.

All of this begs the question as to why Inmarsat, with ambition and willpower, couldnt go it alone or be the predator rather than the prey. Once control is lost in into foreign hands, so is science, tech and patents. It is oh so rarely positive.
The British arm of Russian energy giant Gazprom is facing collapse as major customers head for the doors.

Gazprom Energy, based in Manchester, supplies more than a fifth of the gas used by UK companies but does not serve households.

Slow burn: Gazprom Energy, based in Manchester, supplies more than a fifth of the gas used by UK companies but does not serve households

After the firm's boss, Alexei Miller, was sanctioned by the UK this month over his ties with Vladimir Putin, businesses such as McDonald's, Siemens and Biffa have tried to cut ties.

They hold contracts with the supplier worth millions of pounds. The exodus has led to fears over the company's future, raising the prospect of another taxpayer bailout of an energy firm.

Gazprom Energy has approached rivals touting itself for sale, the Sunday Times reported. But it has attracted little interest.

The energy supplier does not directly sell Russian gas  it resells gas from the National Grid, which includes supplies from the North Sea and other sources.
The world's biggest oil exporter, Saudi Aramco, has raked in blockbuster profits amid soaring energy prices.

The Saudi Arabian titan made 83.5billion last year  more than double the level it generated in 2020  even before Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent the cost of oil spiralling.

It was the largest profit Aramco has seen since it listed on the stock market in 2019.

The bumper income signalled that the state-backed giant is heading for an even more lucrative year on the back of Western attempts to shun Russia's oil supply, with analysts predicting profits could hit 106billion.

Aramco's windfall came just days after Boris Johnson paid a controversial visit to Saudi Arabia, which has a poor record on human rights, as he sought to persuade the de facto ruler, crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, to increase its oil output.

Well-heeled investors who own a stake in Aramco  including the Saudi government which owns 94 per cent  will share in a 57billion dividend.

But the bonanza comes as Chancellor Rishi Sunak is facing pressure to help British households manage their sky-high household bills. Sunak unveils his Spring Statement on Wednesday, and has been urged to provide further support to families struggling to make ends meet.

He had already vowed to hand out 9billion to households, giving millions 350 off their energy bills. But this policy was announced in February, before the Kremlin's attack on Ukraine sent prices through the roof.

Now, to provide the same level of support, he would need to offer more than 12billion of further subsidies, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

Aramco has vowed to boost its own spending on oil production, in a move which should help to ease some of the price pressure.

Chief executive Amin Nasser said years of under-investment in oil production were threatening energy security as oil consumption was rising and depleting inventories.

He said: 'We see healthy oil demand. Unfortunately there is shrinking global spare capacity, combined with low inventories and a lack of investment.'

The International Energy Agency has called for car-free Sundays and lower speed limits around the world, in an effort to reduce reliance on oil and hurt Vladimir Putin's economy.

Efforts to cut off Russia will play into Aramco's hands. Its shares, which trade primarily on the Saudi Arabian stock market which is open on a Sunday, climbed 3.2 per cent yesterday. The company is valued at 1.7 trillion, taking it ahead of Microsoft.

In Britain, Sunak is under pressure to bring in a one-off windfall tax to curb huge profits by domestic oil companies.
The FTSE 100 has climbed 0.5 per cent to 7,442.4 today, helped by a rally in oil prices, but the more UK-focused FTSE 250 fell 0.7 per cent to 21,006.1 as investors await the Chancellor's spring statement on Wednesday.

Oil prices jumped 7 per cent, with Brent crude soaring above $115 a barrel as the European Union considers whether to impose an embargo on Russia oil.

The British arm of Russian energy giant Gazprom is facing collapse as major customers head for the doors.

Gazprom Energy, based in Manchester, supplies more than a fifth of the gas used by UK companies but does not serve households.

The world's biggest oil exporter, Saudi Aramco, has raked in blockbuster profits amid soaring energy prices.

The Saudi Arabian titan made 83.5billion last year  more than double the level it generated in 2020  even before Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent the cost of oil spiralling.

Online stock trading platform Plus500 is set to enter the Japanese market through the acquisition of EZ Invest Securities.

Plus500 said the deal, which was made for an undisclosed fee, will see the London-listed firm apply its considerable financial and technological strength to scale and develop EX Invest Securities over time

>If you are using our app or a third-party site click here to read Business Live
Tullow Oil is pushing ahead with its growth plans after investing 89.7 million ($118 million) in its two main Ghana fields.

The London-headquartered company has upped its stakes in the Jubilee and TEN fields, to 38.9 per cent and 54.8 per cent respectively.

This should add an additional 4,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) each year, with Tullow increasing production guidance to 59,000-65,000 boepd for 2022.

Tullow Oil is pushing ahead with its growth plans after investing 89.7 million ($118 million) in its two main Ghana fields

Hargreaves Lansdown said the increased ownership at the two fields will increase capital expenditure by 22.8million ($30 million) to 289million ($380 million).

And, assuming oil prices stand at $75 per barrel, the larger stake should increase free cash flow by 228million ($300 million) between 2022 and 2026.

Tullow shares rose 2.5 per cent following the announcement to 502.32p.

Commenting on Tullow's purchase Laura Hoy, an equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown said: 'Tullow are making good on plans to expand its Ghana operations with an increased stake in two key fields and are taking advantage of buoyant oil prices, aiming to up production and get a larger slice of the growing pie.

'Given the supply constraints at the moment, things shouldn't drop off anytime soon and this should help Tullow recoup the cost of the investment, and then some, relatively quickly. However that's entirely dependent oil prices, so volatility can't be ruled out.'

At the start of the year Tullow's boss has hailed a 'year of positive change and transformation' as it was revealed the firm had managed to slash its debts

However, Hoy highlighted that Tullow is 'behind the curve compared to peers', who are using current conditions to shore up clean energy operations.

She concluded: 'Tullow risks being stuck clawing its way back to profitability while the rest of the industry marches ahead.'

At the start of the year Tullow's boss has hailed a 'year of positive change and transformation' as it was revealed the firm had managed to slash its debts and cash flow was said exceed previous guidance.

Rahul Dhir said the company was 'progressing well' with implementing its decade-long strategy to exploit its West African assets and had seen major improvements in drilling performance, safety and efficiency.

The energy exploration firm said its net debts at the end of 2021 fell to around $2.1billion from $2.4billion the prior year and were about 25 per cent lower than in 2019.

It also predicts underlying operating cash flow will be around $700million while free cash flow will be about $250million thanks to the rebound in oil prices over the second half of last year and cost controls.

For this current year, the London-listed group anticipates to continue reducing its debt pile as it ramps up capital spending to about $350million, with just under three-quarters of that amount focused on its projects in Ghana.

Outside Ghana, the business forecasts expanding production at the Simba field in Gabon by 40 per cent this year following the successful installation of an offtake pipeline and a drilled infill well.

It has hedged around three-quarters of its anticipated sales volumes up to March 2023, followed by 50 per cent for the subsequent year for output of an estimated 60,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day of between $51 and $78 a barrel.

The value of Brent Crude oil plummeted in early 2020 as coronavirus spread across the globe, a price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia erupted and travel restrictions led to a significant drop-off in demand for petrol.

This sent Tullow Oil to a $1.3billion loss for the first half of that year as it was forced to make a $941million write-off on its exploration assets, mainly those based in Uganda and Kenya, but also its Peruvian Marina-1 well and other assets situated in certain African countries.
Oil companies were among the biggest risers in the FTSE 100 as fading hopes of a ceasefire in Ukraine drove crude prices higher.

Shares in BP climbed 4 per cent, or 14.6p, to 375p and Shell gained 4 per cent, or 78.7p, to 2020.5p after the cost of Brent crude hit $115 a barrel.

Mid-cap oil firms also received a boost, with FTSE 250 group Capricorn Energy rising 3.9 per cent, or 8p, to 213.6p while Harbour Energy shot up 2.3 per cent, or 9.8p, to 436.4p.

Pumped up: Shares in BP climbed 4% and Shell gained 4% after the cost of Brent crude hit $115 a barrel. Mid-cap oil firms also received a boost

The rise came as pessimism grew about the possibility of a breakthrough in peace talks between Ukraine and Russia.

The chances of a deal further receded after Ukraine refused to surrender the key port city of Mariupol to Russian forces despite a devastating siege.

Meanwhile, discussions around a possible ban on Russian oil by the EU, following similar action taken by the US, added to market jitters over supply.

'With the possibility that more than a million barrels of Russian oil a day will be snubbed, given that the Netherlands and Germany combined received around a quarter of Russia's crude and light oil exports, demand would shoot up for crude supplies from Opec nations,' said Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Susannah Streeter.

'But the problem is that even now they aren't coming up with the goods, as the cartel missed a daily production target by more than a million barrels in February, with US oil rigs not yet able to take up the slack.'

An attack on a Saudi Arabian refinery by rebels in Yemen over the weekend also raised fears of disruption.

A renewed increase in fuel costs threatens to cause more pain for Britain's motorists, with petrol and diesel prices hitting fresh records over the weekend.

Rising prices at the pump have piled pressure on Chancellor Rishi Sunak ahead of tomorrow's Spring Statement, in which he is expected to announce a cut to fuel duty to help tackle the growing cost of living crisis.

Stock Watch - Keywords Studios Keywords Studios slipped after its chief operating officer stepped down due to personal circumstances. Sonia Sedler has left the computer game services group with immediate effect after taking the job in January last year. Keywords did not announce a replacement for Sedler after her departure. Her exit also came ahead of the companys full-year results, which are due to be published next Wednesday. The shares were down 2.4 per cent, or 56p, to 2262p.

The prospect of higher fuel prices also weighed on airline stocks, with British Airways-owner IAG down 1 per cent, or 1.48p, to 140.44p, Wizz Air lost 2.1 per cent, or 57p, to 2638p and Easyjet slumped 3.4 per cent, or 18.2p, to 520.4p.

The FTSE 100 was up 0.5 per cent, or 37.66 points, at 7442.39 while the FTSE 250 slipped 0.7 per cent, or 150.06 points, at 21006.56.

Aside from the oil companies, miners helped boost the blue-chip index as the war in Ukraine kept commodity prices elevated.

The trend was supported by a ban on aluminium ore exports to Russia by Australia as a result of its invasion of Ukraine. The move sent prices of the metal surging.

Anglo American was up 6.1 per cent, or 225.5p, at 3910p, Rio Tinto added 3.3 per cent, or 183p, to 5804p and Glencore climbed 3.8 per cent, or 18.3p, to 497.5p.

Tullow Oil rose 9.9 per cent, or 4.71p, to 52.44p after investing 90million to expand its stake in several oilfields in Ghana.

The group increased its ownership in the Jubilee and TEN fields to 38.9 per cent and 54.8pc respectively, adding around 5,000 barrels of oil to its daily production.

Online trading platform Plus 500 expanded into the Japanese market by snapping up Tokyo-based EZ Invest Securities for an undisclosed sum.

The acquisition was considered a major growth opportunity for the FTSE 100 firm and came just months after it entered the US market. Plus 500 shares dipped 0.5 per cent, or 6.5p, to 1452p.

AIM-listed Alliance Pharma got a small boost after it confirmed it was in talks to acquire two products in the US.

The firm flagged that any deal would be worth no more than 15.2million but there was no certainty the purchase would take place. Alliance shares, however, edged down 0.2 per cent, or 0.2p, to 111.4p.
Britain's leading satellite company was a step closer to falling into foreign hands last night after the buyer vowed to create more jobs and invest in the UK.

Californian group Viasat agreed to buy London-based Inmarsat for 5.6billion in November in a deal MPs fear could damage the country's national security.

The Government has not yet given the takeover the green light, however, with ministers able to block the deal under the National Security and Investment Act.

Pledges: Californian group Viasat agreed to buy London-based Inmarsat for 5.6bn in November in a deal MPs fear could damage the country's national security

But yesterday Viasat edged nearer to winning approval after it agreed legally binding undertakings with the Business Department that included jobs and research and development.

Viasat has promised to expand the number of highly skilled jobs in the UK, including those that design and develop satellites and ground stations.

The company has also vowed to increase R&D spending in Britain by 30 per cent and create a UK R&D centre of excellence.

Other promises include creating a UK board of directors with authority over important strategic decisions for the Inmarsat group and making London the headquarters for the combined company.

A source close to the Business Department said: 'The economic undertakings have been accepted but the deal still needs regulatory approval.

'The decision will not be rushed, given who Inmarsat's customers are we are not going to compromise the UK's national security concerns.'

The promises come after Viasat chief executive Rick Baldridge flew to London towards the end of January in an attempt to win political support for the takeover.

He met Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng in Westminster and George Freeman, the minister for science, research and innovation, at Inmarsat's headquarters in London.

Rajeev Suri, Inmarsat chief executive, said: 'With this agreement, the combination of Inmarsat and Viasat will result in more highly-skilled jobs and R&D investment in the UK than Inmarsat could achieve on a standalone basis.

'This milestone is a great step for the UK.'

But others, including Tory MP and former defence minister Tobias Ellwood, were more cautious.

Mr Ellwood said: 'This is another company being sold to the US. OK, it is to one of our allies but this is a critical communications firm.

'If the UK is serious about becoming a dominant force in tech and cutting-edge science then we cannot keep selling firms like Inmarsat.'

Inmarsat is the largest provider of in-flight Wi-Fi for airlines and the leading provider of internet connections for ships.

The business has 14 satellites in orbit and plans to launch another seven in the future.

Customers include the British military and as a result the company is considered a 'strategic' sector by the Government.

It was founded in 1979 as a UN agency to help sailors to send SOS messages, and was the first international satellite operator to be privatised.

It was listed in 2005 and had been a stock market darling but after a sustained period of under-performance it was taken private in 2019 for 4.6billion by four buyout firms led by Apax and Warburg Pincus. It was put up for sale last year.

Viasat, a satellite broadband provider for the military and business, has 5,600 staff including nearly 200 in the UK in Farnborough, Aldershot and Cheltenham.
A mother-of-two landed a payday of up to 18.4million after selling the skincare brand she founded to treat her daughters eczema.

Joanna Jensen, 51, set up Childs Farm in 2010 and it sells a range of bath products, moisturisers and sun creams for children popular with parents of those with sensitive skin.

Having started out in a barn in Basingstoke, it has since become one of the UKs leading childrens skincare brands, with annual sales of 17.4m.

Payday: Joanna Jensen (pictured with daughters Mimi and Bella) set up Childs Farm in 2010 to sell bath products, moisturisers and sun creams for children

Jensen has sold Childs Farm for 36.8million to PZ Cussons, the consumer goods giant.

The former investment banker owned as much as half the business ahead of its sale, meaning she banked up to 18.4million.

She will hold onto an 8 per cent stake, acting as a champion of the brand.

When her second daughter, Bella, was born in 2008 she had appallingly sensitive skin, and skincare products irritated it further, Jensen said, in an article for the Mail in 2019.

'So she developed a remedy. Jensen said: I couldnt be more thrilled to find a new set of parents for our little girl.
Experts have warned that the Government may be receiving an increasing number of inheritances intended for other people, as it no longer funds will searches for those without an easily identifiable next of kin.

In a move that went largely unnoticed, the Government cut funding for will searches carried out by the Treasury Solicitor's Bona Vacantia division five years ago.

This means that the department will no longer search for the wills of people who don't have an easily traceable next of kin, meaning their money and assets could end up going to the Crown.

People are therefore being urged to inform family or friends about their will, or to register it with an official body so it can be easily found.

The Government's funding cut in will searches could prevent some people from finding their inheritance

The probate research industry has expressed concerns about the funding cut, and warned that it leaves the door open to fraudsters who may come in and wrongly claim an inheritance.

Danny Curran, founder of the UK's largest probate research firm Finders International and chair of the International Association of Professional Probate Researchers, says: 'It was not publicly announced, however the BVD cut funding around five years ago.

'Previously, this mechanism would be used to search for a will where there was no immediately identifiable or traceable next of kin, and the BVD would publish estate details on its website.

'In the absence of a will or next of kin, the Crown, via the BVD, is set to inherit the estate, therefore it could be argued that it's not always in the financial interest of the BVD to conduct will searches.'

Cost of will searches deemed 'unsustainable'

When asked about the BVD's funding cut, the Attorney General's Office said that the BVD had trialled searching for wills in every case it was referred to, and advertising the estates on its unclaimed estates list.

It said the trial was ended because only five wills were found out of thousands of searches undertaken.

Given that the searches cost approximately 75 a case, it was not considered cost effective to continue the practice.

Danny Curran, founder of the UKs largest probate research firm Finders International, says it's not always in the financial interests of the BVD to conduct will searches

However, the Attorney General's office pointed out to This is Money that searches are still conducted if there was a good reason to believe that the deceased had left a will.

The department said it also ensured that a Section 27 notice was placed in the London Gazette, a Government publication, for every estate it administers.

This is an official record intended to inform any potential creditors that a person has died, and that their estate would be distributed soon.

Estates 'left open to fraudulent claims'

Counter to the Attorney General's Office's claims, Curran maintains that valid wills do exist for, on average, one in every five cases currently being advertised as intestate by the BVD.

Intestacy is the process whereby the assets are divided up between spouses and descendants when someone has not left a will.

Curran says that the abandonment of will searches may have led to people's money and other assets ending up in the wrong hands - especially as the fact that there is an unclaimed estate is being publicly advertised.

'BVD withdrawal from funding a will search could and probably has inevitably led to estates passing to the wrong individuals,' he says.

'In these days of anti-money laundering checks, multiple checks and counterchecks on security, identity, and commonplace fraud, there is a clear concern.'

Vanina Wittenburg of Hunters Law encourages people to let their families know where they have stored their will

Ongoing problem

The problem is likely to continue, as there is no requirement in England and Wales to lodge a copy of a will with the courts or a Government agency.

Vanina Wittenburg, senior associate at Hunters Law, explains: 'It is possible to lodge a copy of a Will with the National Wills Register or with HM Courts and Tribunals Service, but this is wholly voluntary.

'This means that where a person dies without a next of kin, and it is not immediately evident whether they made a will, and there is no will stored with either the National Wills Register or HM Courts and Tribunals Service, then time would have to be spent investigating whether a will was ever made.'

'This may need to be paid for out of pocket in the first instance but should be repaid from estate funds in due course as it is an expense of the estate.'

People urged to register their will for 20

Curran suggests that one solution would be for the BVD to revert to an inexpensive will search prior to advertising estates.

He says: 'They might find many estates do indeed have valid wills and should not be advertised publicly.

'Not only would this ensure the deceased's wishes are met, but it would also lessen the complication for estate managers, solicitors, councils, heir hunters and intended beneficiaries.'

It's not in the interests of probate researchers for wills to be found, as it means no fee is recoverable for services rendered in tracing next of kin 'Heir hunter' Danny Curran

He also called for the Government to make people more aware of the services of the Central Probate Registry.

Curran adds: 'All individuals, especially those without next of kin, should be made aware of the option to file their will with the Central Probate Registry via the HM Courts & Tribunal service, which would securely hold a will for just 20.

'It's not in the interests of probate researchers for wills to be found, as it means no fee is recoverable for services rendered in tracing next of kin.

'However, it's usually left up to responsible estate practitioners, who are paying for these will searches to be done to ensure an assumed intestacy is in fact a genuine intestacy.'

'Let someone know about your will - and where it is'

Wittenburg, meanwhile, encourages people to let someone else know where they have stored their will.

She explains: 'I also always make sure I send a copy of the will to the client to store with their papers, whilst the original is kept in our safe deeds store.

'If you feel awkward about telling people you have made a will, it is worth noting that you do not need to tell anyone what the contents of your will are.

'It is just important that someone, whether a family member or anyone you have appointed as an executor, is aware that you have one and knows where your important papers are kept.

'If you do have solicitors, unless your family or executors already know about them, then it makes sense to keep some of their correspondence so that someone looking at your papers would find it and think of getting in touch with them.'
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Stacey Abrams, right, talks with supporters Friday afternoon on her campaign trail. Abrams, who narrowly lost the governors election in 2018, is running again for the same post.
An illustration from the Appalachian RC&D Council and the Appalachian Producers Cooperative showing the projected economic benefits of a meat processing center in the region.
Kingsport, TN (37660)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun. High 82F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Cloudy skies early with scattered thunderstorms developing late. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, speaks after being nominated for the U.S. Supreme Court at the White House in Washington, DC, on Feb. 25, 2022. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images/TNS)
Webster Groves, MO (63119)

Today

A steady, heavy rain in the morning. Showers continuing in the afternoon. High 67F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall possibly over one inch..

Tonight

Showers and thunderstorms. Low 58F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Algeria has summoned its ambassador to Spain back for consultations over Madrids recent comments on Western Sahara, the foreign affairs ministry said on Saturday.

The Algerian authorities were very surprised by the surprising statements of the highest authorities in Spain on the issue of Western Sahara, it said.

Spain said on Saturday the government had informed Algeria about its position in relation to Western Sahara, a government source told Reuters.

For Spain, Algeria is a strategic, priority and reliable partner with whom we intend to maintain a privileged relationship, the source added.

Algeria is a key gas supplier to Spain and Italy.

Spain and Morocco moved to patch up a diplomatic dispute on Friday as Madrid shifted closer towards Rabats position on the conflict in Western Sahara and said a new phase in relations had begun.

Spain appeared to shift its policy on the Western Sahara which Morocco considers its own, but where an Algeria-backed independence movement demands a sovereign state.

Morocco said it had a letter saying Spain considered the autonomy initiative it presented in 2007, as the most serious, realistic and credible basis for selling the dispute.

Spains new position towards the Western Sahara is an unexpected shift from its previous neutral stance, which was supportive of a United Nations plan that includes a self determination referendum, an Algerian diplomatic source told Reuters.

This is a betrayal of the Sahrawi people, the Algerian source added.

SOURCE: REUTERS
Russian forces advancing on the Ukraine capital Kyiv from the northeast have stalled, British intelligence said on Monday, as Ukraine rejected Russian calls for defenders to lay down their arms in the besieged city of Mariupol.

Russian shells hit houses and a shopping district in Kyivs Podil district late on Sunday killing at least four people, city authorities said, following a relative lull in the fighting over the weekend.

There can be no question of any surrender, laying down of arms, said Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk in response to Moscows offer to let Mariupol residents leave the city if they surrender their weapons.

We have already informed the Russian side about this, said Vereshchuk, according to the Ukrainska Pravda news portal.

The assault on Ukraine started with Russian troops crossing the border or landing by sea and air on Feb. 24. But Western countries say Russias expectations of a swift victory and the removal of President Volodymyr Zelenskiys government have been dashed and its invasion force has got bogged down.

Ukraine and its Western backers say Russian ground forces have made few advances in the past week, concentrating their efforts on artillery and missile strikes  often into urban centres.

The bulk of Russian forces remain more than 25 km (15 miles) from the centre of the Kyiv, British military intelligence said.

Heavy fighting continues north of Kyiv, the Ministry of Defence said. Forces advancing from the direction of Hostomel to the northwest have been repulsed by fierce Ukrainian resistance.

Russian President Vladamir Putin says the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two is a special military operation to stop the Ukrainian government from committing genocide  an accusation the West calls a baseless fabrication.

The humanitarian crisis in the port city of Mariupol, where residents are besieged with little food, water and power, is increasing pressure on European leaders to toughen sanctions on Moscow.

Russian offered to open humanitarian corridors from the city from 10 a.m. Moscow time (0700 GMT) on Monday if residents lay down arms. Russia and Ukraine have made agreements throughout the war on exit corridors but accuse each other of violations.

Mariupol has suffered some of the heaviest bombardments since Russia invaded. Many of its 400,000 residents remain trapped as the fighting rages.

Vereshchuk said more than 7,000 people were evacuated from Ukrainian cities through humanitarian corridors on Sunday, more than half from Mariupol. She said the government planned to send nearly 50 buses there on Monday for more evacuations.

TALKS SOONER OR LATER

European Union leaders this week will meet to consider imposing tougher sanctions on Russia including an oil embargo.

EU ministers will take up the discussion on Monday before U.S. President Joe Biden arrives in Brussels on Thursday for summits with NATOs 30 members, as well as the EU and in a Group of Seven (G7) format including Japan.

In his latest appeal for help from abroad, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addressed the Israeli parliament by video link on Sunday and questioned Israels reluctance to sell its Iron Dome missile defence system to Ukraine.

Everybody knows that your missile defence systems are the best  and that you can definitely help our people, save the lives of Ukrainians, of Ukrainian Jews, said Zelenskiy, who is of Jewish heritage.

Zelenskiy also welcomed the mediation efforts of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who has held numerous calls with him and Putin.

Sooner or later we will begin to have talks with Russia, possibly in Jerusalem, he said in his daily video address to Ukrainians.

Negotiators reported some progress last week on a political formula that would guarantee Ukraines security, while keeping it outside NATO  a key Russian demand  though each side accused the other of dragging things out.

Mariupols council said on Telegram that several thousand residents had been deported to Russia over the past week. Russian news agencies said buses had carried hundreds of refugees from Mariupol to Russia in recent days.

U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told CNN the deportation accounts were disturbing and unconscionable if true but Washington had not confirmed them.

Reuters could not independently verify the claims. Russia denies targeting civilians.

Greeces consul general in Mariupol, the last EU diplomat to leave the city, said it was joining the ranks of places known for having been destroyed in wars.

SOURCE: REUTERS
DRESDEN  Opponents of what is becoming the states best-known and most-controversial crypto-mining facility have enlisted a Columbia University research institute to help explain why New York environmental officials should not renew its current air emissions permit.

The schools Sabin Center for Climate Change has released a study exploring the legalities of regulating crypto mining and concluded that the Department of Environmental Conservation has the authority to issue, renew or deny air emissions permits from crypto miners who have their own power generation and dont buy energy from the grid.

While the logic that a state agency can issue or deny permits may be self-evident, the study represents the latest dispute pitting environmentalists against crypto miners  in this case, the publicly traded Greenidge Generation, which operates a 106-megawatt natural gas plant on Seneca Lake in the Finger Lakes region that powers its crypto-mining operation.

The study also said that Gov. Kathy Hochul could impose a moratorium on new crypto mines powered by Greenidge's own power plants pending an environmental review  similar in some respects to how Hochuls predecessor, Andrew M. Cuomo halted hydrofracking from starting in New York. Since then, study author Jacob Elkin notes, the state passed a 2019 law, the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, or CLCPA, calling for steep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in coming years.

The study gives Gov. Hochul no excuse to stall in both denying the air permit and adopting a moratorium, said Yvonne Taylor, of the Seneca Lake Guardian group that is battling Greenidge.

The company purchased what was a retired coal power plant, converted it to natural gas and is now using that power to run a vast bank of crypto-mining machines.

Crypto mining is based on the concept of blockchains, or web-based digital ledgers in which participants can make and record transactions. Blockchain technology is best-known for the growth of cryptocurrency, or money-like digital tokens that people can use as credits to buy or sell items online.

Bitcoin is the predominant cryptocurrency but there are several others. As cryptocurrency has taken hold among the cyber-literate, crypto miners are earning money by creating new Bitcoins or other tokens. Thats done by running highly complex and exotic math formulas, or algorithms, that cryptocurrency users employ to keep track of the currency. The miners who successfully run the formulas get their own bitcoin or currency which can be exchanged for cash or used to buy things on a blockchain ledger.

Crypto mining can be immensely profitable but the computing power needed to do this requires copious amounts of electricity. Thus, investment firms have been getting in the crypto-mining game, looking to buy or restart dormant power plants to run their computers, which is cheaper than buying energy off the grid.

The trouble is, restarting old power plants for crypto mining runs against efforts to reduce carbon emissions in order to fight climate change.

There are bills in the legislature calling for moratoriums on new miners but its unclear whether they will be successful. Thus the call for the governor or DEC to act.

For now, much of the attention has gone to Greenidge, which has become a symbol for large-scale crypto mining in New York.

Greenidge has noted that it also generates power for the grid, not just its crypto mining. In other words, some of the electricity from this gas plant also goes to light homes or run factories.

And Greenidge has already beaten back one legal challenge, when a group of environmentalists went to court to tried to close it down after the DEC gave the firm an earlier air emissions permit.

An appellate division court ruled in 2019 that the DEC did in fact have final say over the companys air permit.

"We fully adhere to our existing air and water permits and will continue to do so, the company said in a prepared statement.

They added that the crypto mines offer high-paying jobs at twice the average wage in the rural and largely tourism-and-agricultural-based economy of the Finger Lakes.

But since then, the state CLCPA has been signed into law and work is proceeding on enacting regulations and policies designed to cut emissions. That's a complicating factor when it comes to Greenidge getting a new or renewed air permit.

DEC officials maintain that, at this time, Greenidge "has not demonstrated that the project is consistent with the attainment of statewide greenhouse gas emission limits established in the Climate Act." The agency said that Greenidge has not yet shown how the operation would not hinder the goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Opponents like Taylor of the Seneca Lake Guardian group also believe that Greenidge's operation may be a sign of what's to come.

There are more than two dozen power plants that are either dormant or run as peaker plants that are turned on only during times of high power usage such as hot summer days when air conditioners suck up countless kilowatts.

Some of those plants could end up being purchased by crypto miners who would run them constantly, which would mean putting more emissions into the atmosphere since most are powered by natural gas.

Indeed, another company, the Canadian-based Digihost is planning to convert a North Tonawanda power plant near Buffalo into a crypto-mining operation.

If youve got these energy-hungry private tech bros making fake money without green electrons, that derails our climate efforts, remarked Taylor, taking a familiar slap at cryptocurrency which is derided by some as the latest financial fad.

As it stands now, Greenidge has submitted its air permit application to DEC.

A decision was initially planned for this past winter but DEC needed more time to review the approximately 4,000 public comments on the plan.

rkarlin@timesunion.com  518-454-5758  @RickKarlinTU
UPDATE: A finalized version of the states $220 billion budget that was approved in early April is set to raise the hourly pay for home care workers by $3 during a two-year period.

Partners Kendra Scalia and Brandon Johnson both have health conditions that require daily care assistance in their Wallkill home. Scalia, 38, has spinal muscular atrophy, and Johnson, 34, has Becker muscular dystrophy.

Before the pandemic, they each had a rotating squad of home care workers to fulfill the hours of help they are granted through Medicaid, a process that before COVID enabled them to live their lives fully.

But a lack of home care aides since the pandemic has resulted in the pair not being able to hire a single person to help them at home. Instead they must rely on family for gap assistance, which is an enormous pressure, said Scalia.

Scalias brother works a full-time job during the day, then helps them from 8 p.m. to midnight or later, and then returns at the same time the next day. Knowing he cannot return until evening means Scalia cant sleep in her bed or tend to other basic needs.

I sleep in my wheelchair, said Scalia. Its been almost two weeks since Ive been in bed. I got dressed in these clothes last night, and I have to sleep in them and spend the whole day in them. I cant use the toilet, I cant eat.

While waiting for her brothers evening visits to eat a full meal, Scalia supplements with small snacks and drinking water during the day.

Home care crisis in New York

Scalia is entitled to 16 hours of home care a day through her managed long-term care plan; instead, she receives around a quarter of that from her brother, who helps her on his own. Her full staff of five to six people pre-pandemic faded for different reasons: COVID, childcare issues, switching to work at a nursing home instead.

But Scalia and Johnson say there is one common denominator on why they cant recruit: low wages. Right now, home care aides who are paid through Medicaid currently make as little as $13.20 an hour upstate. In contrast, fast food companies like McDonalds pay their employees $15 an hour.

A recent Mercer labor market analysis found that New York is facing the worst home care shortage in the nation. Approximately 74 percent of seniors and people with disabilities are unable to retain home care workers, according to a study authored by the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Association of New York State.

Raising the minimum wage would address almost all of our struggles of finding home care, said Scalia. In the past 18-plus months that my brother has been my only worker, Ive had hundreds of interviews looking for candidates to fill this job. Every person I offered a job to said they cant accept it because of the pay.

PHI, a national organization that provides tools for home care workers, said the number of home care workers in New York State is supposed to grow to 580,000 by 2024, a 33 percent increase since 2014. But low wages and inconsistent hours mean 43 percent of home care workers in the state fall 200 percent below the federal poverty line and nearly half rely on public assistance, PHI said.

The state Senate and Assembly revealed their one-house budgets on March 12, which includes provisions to fully fund the Fair Pay for Home Care Act, which would raise the minimum wage for home care workers to 150 percent of the regional minimum wage. In the Hudson Valley, this would mean an increase to $19.80 an hour, while elsewhere the new wage would be as high as $22.50 an hour.

New York State Senator James Skoufis, who represents eastern Orange County and part of lower Ulster County, and other advocates say the Fair Pay bill needs to pass before the states budget is finalized, which typically happens by the end of March, in order to avoid a systemic collapse in care for people in need.

Gov. Kathy Hochul did not include the bill in her budget. Instead, she opted for one-time $3,000 bonuses for home care workers that choose to stay in their jobs for a year, a provision that was met with heavy criticism by fair pay advocates.

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Theres so much emphasis on showing accolades to the workers during the pandemic by giving them a bonus and not enough focus on what the underlying issue is, said Scalia. Bonuses arent going to help.

At a meeting with the governor on March 14, Scalia and a group from New York Caring Majority, a coalition that advocates for seniors, people with disabilities, family caregivers and domestic and home care workers in the state, asked Hochul if she would support the act in the enacted budget, and she reportedly said the measure was still in negotiation. The state Senate proposal to increase the pay of home care workers is estimated to cost around $625 million, while the Assemblys proposal is $2.5 billion; both budgets include substantial amounts of money for home care workers in other ways, including cost of living adjustments and resources for people who make under a certain amount per year.

In the meantime, Scalia and Johnson say their health has declined from not having the full assistance theyre entitled to. For example, Johnson has had to skip important health care like doctors appointments, breathing exercises  really any care that is not just the most basic need.

After a full year of not having home care help, Johnson landed in the hospital with respiratory failure in June 2021 when Scalia and her brother found him in a seizure-like state at home, unattended. Johnson said he was less active during his three-week hospital stay hospital, which hastened muscle deterioration.

Ill never be able to get that back, said Johnson, who is now entitled to 24 hours of home care. He couldnt recruit help despite offering supplemental pay totaling $16 an hour with Medicaid, a privilege not everyone searching for assistance can do. He temporarily moved back in with his parents to receive family help but is back living with Scalia, as her brother provides gap care.

Aside from basic needs, Scalia said she hasnt actively pursued hobbies or been able to visit extended family. I cant just be a person, you know? said Scalia. I havent been able to do art in over two years. I dont have the staff to support me in doing that and it no longer becomes a priority.

If the legislation passes, Scalia anticipates it would most likely take a week or two to hire someone, and then her life will go back to normal.
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ALBANY  Capitol observers and Albany residents will recognize the locations used in several scenes from the latest episode of "Billions," which debuted Sunday and featured multiple shots of the state Capitol and the surrounding areas.

The television show on money and power showcases the intricacies of the state Capitol building, the bustle of the New York State Senate lobby and the iconic checkered floors at Jack's Oyster House.

The Showtime series starring Paul Giamatti shot segments of the show in Albany last fall. It was just the latest bit of prestige TV filmed in the Capital Region. Last summer, the HBO's series "The White House Plumbers" and "The Gilded Age" relied on local settings for scenes.

In Sunday's episode, the state Senate convenes for a special session and takes an important vote that will surprise fans and spell the downfall of one of the show's main characters.

There are also glimpses of the Legislative Office Building (LOB).

If you blink, you might miss a cameo from Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara, D-Rotterdam, who plays the governor's security detail in the dramatic Senate scene.

Santabarbara responded to a September casting call for extras to portray "senators, aides and government worker types."

His scene was filmed from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. on a weeknight, Santabarbara said. He was already at work, so he just walked over.

"It's amazing how much work goes into producing a half-hour, hour show," Santabarbara said. "I find it interesting to just be behind the scenes and see how these shots get filmed. The high-tech equipment was behind the Senate chamber."

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

Santabarbara was also an extra on an episode of Amazon's "Modern Love," based on the New York Times column of the same name, which filmed two episodes in Schenectady.

The assemblyman's teacup Yorkie, Muffy, also made his acting debut for about 3 to 4 seconds on "A Life Plan for Two, Followed By One," the fourth episode in Season 2 of the series.

"It's rare to get that much time," he said.

More for you All the latest movies, TV series that have filmed in the Capital Region

For now, Santabarabara says background acting is just a hobby. He's not quitting his day job any time soon.

"Billions" just aired its ninth episode of Season 6. It is the latest production to land in the Capital Region, joining HBOs The Gilded Age in Troy and the same networks White House Plumbers, starring Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux, which shot scenes in Albany last year.
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ALBANY  A state Supreme Court justice on Monday ordered Jordan Young to be released from police custody as he remains in a hospital bed, overruling the decision of an Albany County judge.

Justice Christina Ryba ordered Young to be released on his own recognizance as the city man continues to recover at Albany Medical Center Hospital from a police shooting on Jan. 24. Officer James Madsen shot Young after ordering Young to drop a knife the defendant was holding as he ran at the officer, according to police reports and body camera video from the officers involved.

The judge's decision means that Young will no longer be shackled to his bed and guarded round-the-clock by sheriff's deputies, in whose custody he has been in.

"Today, Judge Ryba heard our concerns, recognized how being in custody violated Jordan's constitutional rights, and issued a thoughtful and comprehensive decision," Young's attorney, Assistant Public Defender Rebekah Sokol, told the Times Union. "I am thrilled that Jordan will now be able to heal, see his family, and privately consult with me without officers being within earshot."

Young, 32, is charged with menacing a police officer, a felony that carries up to seven years in prison upon conviction, and misdemeanor possession of a weapon. On Feb. 24, County Judge William Little ordered Young to remain in police custody after finding the defendant to be a flight risk - the only way a defendant under New York law can be detained.

Little's decision followed an earlier order by City Court Judge John Reilly on Feb. 18 to detain Young. It prompted Sokol to ask that her client be released by the sheriff's office, which operates the county jail. Sokol filed a writ of habeus corpus  legal effort to determine if a persons detention is valid  with Ryba on Friday.

"Why in this case was Jordan remanded? Why was someone who is barely alive found to be a flight risk? What was that based on?" Sokol asked. "(Little) could have set a bail amount, revisited his release status if he is ever able to be discharged from the hospital, imposed conditions on him, etc., but instead Jordan was remanded, shackled, and guarded by sheriff's officers 24 hours a day."

On Monday, Ryba agreed with Sokol. The justice determined that Little, a first-year judge, abused his discretion when he ordered Young to be held without bail.

"There is no way to review the facts and the record in this matter and rationally conclude that (Young) is a flight risk," the judge stated.

Ryba noted in her decision that Little, in ordering Young held, stated: "I've made an individualized determination and find that defendant possesses a risk of flight to avoid prosecution based on the potential sentence that he may face from this charge, as well as his four or five open cases in Albany City Court and Guilderland."

Ryba said Little correctly listed factors under the law to consider Young's bail status, but did not set forth any reasons for concluding that Young was a flight risk.

"(Young) is currently confined to a hospital bed and will require additional surgeries," Ryba stated. "Indeed, he was unable to attend in person today but instead appeared from his hospital bed. Therefore his current prognosis precludes any risk of flight."

Ryba said Young, a married father of two children, suffers from mental illness and, during the period of the Jan. 24 shooting, had not taken his psychiatric medication.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

"What is more, being shackled to a bed while recovering from severe gun shot wounds appears to violate (Young)'s constitutional right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment," Ryba stated. She said she found less restrictive means to reasonably assure Young's return to court.

Last month, acting Chief Assistant District Attorney Cheryl Fowler told Little that Young reported a home invasion that never took place to seek police out on the night of the shooting. She said the defendant was a flight risk who had displayed an escalating pattern of concerning behavior that included threats to relatives while armed with a gun.

In her decision Monday, Ryba said attorneys for the county and sheriff's office took no position at a hearing on Young's status as a flight risk. Ryba said there were no appearances by District Attorney David Soares' office; the office had no legal standing to weigh in on the writ because it was not listed as a party to it.
The word "reform" gets tossed around Albany a lot these days, but it's not new.

In 1934, a little-known state agency called the New York State Law Revision Commission was launched for the specific purpose of reviewing and reforming the state's existing laws. Its website still describes the panel as "the oldest continuous agency in the common-law world devoted to law reform through legislation," but there's a catch: About six years ago the commission's funding quietly disappeared from the state budget.

In 2022, the commission and its members exist but are powerless -- at least for now.

On Wednesday, the commission's most recent chairman, Peter J. Kiernan, a one-time counsel to former Gov. David Paterson; commission member Michael J. Hutter , a past Court of Appeals nominee and Albany Law School professor; and Laura C. Tharney, executive director of the New Jersey Law Revision Commission, will speak at a virtual forum, available through Albany Law School, to discuss the potential return of the commission to active status.

Retired Court of Appeals Associate Judge Leslie Stein, an Albany Law School graduate and former City Court judge, will moderate. Stein is the director of the law school's Government Law Center.

"We hope to explore some ideas regarding how the structure of the New York Commission may be improved to better serve the Legislature and New Yorks citizens," Stein told Law Beat via email.

The program, part of the law school's 2022 Warren M. Anderson Legislative Seminar Series, is titled "Revitalization of the New York State Law Revision Commission." It is scheduled for Wednesday from noon to 1 p.m, It is worth one professional practice continuing legal education credit. The program, which is free, is open to the public via Zoom.

The speakers will review the commission's history, its work developing legislation, restructuring possibilities and how the New Jersey commission could serve as an example for New York.

"New York is considered by many to be the commercial center of the world, and countless individuals and businesses resort to the application of its laws," Stein said. "There can be no reasonable dispute that the law has always lagged behind technology, rendering many statutory provisions obsolete, and that there are many complex matters that would benefit from careful, thorough and non-partisan study."

Stein explained that the commission, which long relied on law students for research and analysis, was most recently based at Albany Law School. She said the school and her center believe the revitalization of the commission to be "critical to the ongoing improvement of New Yorks laws, and hopes to, once again, have the opportunity to work with the Commission in furtherance of its purposes."

Stein said state law created the commission to be a permanent commission dedicated exclusively to systematic law reform.

"It was the product of many illustrious government figures, including prestigious jurists, governors and legislative leaders," she told Law Beat.

The commission's more recent work included a study of not-for-profit corporation law; maintenance in divorce proceedings; the state's Alcohol Beverage Control Law; a bill adding Health Law privacy provisions for HIV research; and a study of guardianship for people with developmental disabilities under Article 17A of the Surrogate's Court Procedure Act, which resulted in a proposed bill and memo in support, Stein said.

The law that created the commission tasked it with examining common law and statutes to discover defects and anachronisms, considering recommended changes, recommend them to lawmaker, report its proceedings annually and propose bills, she said.

"In other words," Stein said, "the Law Revision Commission was designed to serve as a link between the Legislature and the courts and the Legislature and the citizens. It was intended to utilize the knowledge and experience of legal scholars and practicing attorneys to address complex and/or unclear areas of law through careful study, for which the Legislature may lack the time and resources. For example, the work of the commission has often been helpful in avoiding or correcting piecemeal amendments to statutes, which are inconsistent, or in direct conflict, with other statutes."

Scholarship in place in honor of trailblazing judge

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

Nearly a year ago, the states highest court lost a trailblazing member to illness.

A year later, the March 31, 2021 passing of Court of Appeals Associate Judge Paul Feinman is being memorialized with the start of an annual $2,500 scholarship in his name.

The death of Feinman, 61, the first openly gay judge to sit on the Court of Appeals, inspired the International Association of LGBTQ+ Judges to begin the The Judge Paul G. Feinman Scholarship. It is for a law student who has demonstrated a commitment to the LGBTQ+ community and will be working as a judicial intern, extern or clerk prior to the students final year of law school.

Special consideration will be given to students who work with a member of the association. The scholarship money, which isn't restricted, can be used for tuition, housing, books, transportation, living expenses, bar application and study expenses or any other law school-related expense.

A wonderful opportunity, in honor and memory of a wonderful human being, Chief Judge Janet DiFiore said in her statewide address last Monday.

Feinman was president of the International Association of LGBTQ+ Judges from 2008 to 2011 and sat on its board of directors for several years. Presiding Justice Elizabeth Garry, who leads the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court's Third Department, is now a member of the board.

In highlighting the scholarship, the International Association of LGBTQ+ Judges noted that Feinman, while attending law school at the University of Minnesota in the 1980s, founded an association of gay students.

"Judge Feinman exemplified what is best about our nations legal community and judiciary. He will be remembered for his kindness, his humility, his brilliant legal mind, and being a sometimes beleaguered NY Mets fan," the association stated.

To apply for the scholarship, applicants are being asked to send an email to lgbtqjudges@gmail.com no later than April 1. The scholarship recipient will be announced by June 1.
Truth is hard to come by these days, even when you go looking for it.

In the jargon of the moment, we are overrun with misinformation and disinformation  which I like to call stupidity, lies and propaganda, just to keep things simple.

In that vast darkness of confusion and the animosity it purposefully breeds, a hero has emerged, one whose weapon is truth: Arnold Schwarzenegger.

OK, OK, thats heavy-handed and my screenwriting Oscar isnt coming anytime soon, but its hard not to like the guy at this particular moment, because for the second time in a little over a year, hes offered us powerful veracity and authenticity about current events that are otherwise overrun by lies.

Early Thursday, Schwarzenegger released a nine-minute video aimed at the people of Russia, expressing his respect for them while eviscerating Vladimir Putins state-controlled version of the invasion of Ukraine. By noon, it had been viewed nearly 6 million times on Twitter and 400,000 times on Telegram, a platform still available inside Russia.

He details his love of Russia and its people, beginning with meeting champion weightlifter Yuri Petrovich Vlasov in 1961 when he was 14 and hadnt yet hefted a barbell of note. He talked about his dad being a Nazi, and the guilt and pain it caused the elder Schwarzenegger throughout his life. He lauded protesters and spoke directly to soldiers, telling them the war was illegal, perhaps hoping to inspire a fifth column  a term for groups of internal resisters, open or clandestine. It was good stuff, the kind of plain talk that makes you feel a bit better about the world.

You see, there are moments like this that are so wrong, and then we have to speak up, he says, referencing the other video he made in the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol  which Ill get to, because it holds a different and somewhat depressing lesson.

As Brian Levin, head of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino, puts it, Schwarzenegger just spews out sincerity. Thats significant because in what Levin describes as catalytic moments  like, say, the possible build up to World War III  people go searching for truth, but often settle for what feels best. Schwarzenegger has a credibility and love inside Russia, especially with the older generation that is more inclined to believe state news, that transcends nationhood and could move the needle, said Levin.

People left to their own devices will oftentimes yield at times of fear, anger, stress and peer validation to things that intoxicate against the fear, no matter how conflictual or wrong it may be, Levin said. But this video will speak throughout Russia.

The former California governors first attempt at elder statesmanship  his video about the insurrection  was unfortunately less effective in waking up the brainwashed. He used his personal story then, too, talking about growing up in a country that lost its own democracy and comparing the Capitol riot to Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass in 1938, a rampage against Jewish people by Nazis, as he poignantly described it.

The broken glass was in the windows of the United States Capitol, but the mob didnt just shatter the windows of the Capitol. They shattered the ideas we took for granted, he said of the insurrection, in a video that earned more than 40 million views.

Then he attacked former President Donald Trump for his campaign to overturn the 2020 election and his falsehoods about the election being invalid.

But Schwarzenegger failed to arouse any sense of unity in this country. That wasnt surprising to Mia Bloom, an extremism expert and professor of communication and Middle East studies at Georgia State University. She said Schwarzenegger doesnt have the same credibility with Trump supporters that he has with Russians.

Blame it on Celebrity Apprentice, QAnon  and Trump, she said. Schwarzenegger hosted the spinoff show and got into a public tiff with him in 2017 over declining ratings  each blaming the other for the lack of viewers. Trump doesnt like Schwarzenegger, which means his followers dont either. Add to that QAnons deep fears about Hollywood, and theres not a whole lot the Terminator can say thats going to change Trumpers minds. They would literally rather believe Putin, or at least Tucker Carlson, his American proxy.

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That should give us all pause, because  though our focus is rightly on Ukraine  our own fight to protect democracy is still very much happening.

Mike Madrid, the Republican political pundit who has long fought his partys slide into extremism, agrees that Schwarzenegger isnt likely to be a voice of reason to Trumps followers, but still sees two glimmers of hope when it comes to breaking down Trumps lies.

First, for the first time in years, America is focused on international issues and has bipartisan (for the most part) consensus that Russia is in the wrong. Madrid says that polling shows Russia has become the line where Donald Trump is on the wrong side of the base by a wide margin and it does create a problem. Its a rare crack to exploit between Trump and his supporters.

And by speaking out, Schwarzenegger creates a permission structure for dissent  someone whose words may resonate, even if its just a little clatter in the back of a staunch Republican mind, reminding Republicans who harbor doubts that there are other people like me, said Madrid.

History is made on the margins, he said. You dont need a lot, just enough people to do the right thing.

Even if its just a few at a time, democracy needs people to come back to fact and reason. That is why Schwarzenegger is so important, said Levin, who plans on using the latest video as a teaching tool. I just want to give him a hug.

Anita Chabria writes for the Los Angeles Times.
This budget season, theres been a lot of talk about investing in New Yorks future. Citing better-than-expected tax receipts and a wealth of federal stimulus funds, Gov. Kathy Hochul recently declared, This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make thoughtful, purpose-driven investments in our state and in our people that will pay dividends for decades.

Albany should put its money where its mouth is and adopt a state budget that promotes racial justice and keeps stimulus dollars circulating in communities hardest hit by the pandemic for many years to come.

Thats why theres no better time to bring public banking to New York.

Public banks are created by governments, owned by and accountable to the people, and chartered to serve the public interest. More than 900 public banks have long operated in diverse countries and economies worldwide, including here in the U.S. with the century-old Bank of North Dakota. They take the billions of dollars local governments currently deposit with Wall Street banks, and reinvest in community needs, like small and worker-owned businesses, permanently affordable housing, renewable energy, and more.

Momentum for public banking is growing across the country. Here in New York, a diverse coalition of more than 150 groups  including labor unions, community development financial institutions, and community-based organizations  and dozens of state and local legislators have thrown their weight behind the New York Public Banking Act, sponsored by Senate Banks Chair James Sanders Jr., D-Queens, and Assembly Banks Chair Patricia Fahy, D-Albany, which creates a special-purpose charter for local public banks.

New York has an opportunity to take action right now, in this years state budget.

Congress provided billions of dollars to state and local governments through the American Rescue Plan, in large part to address long-standing inequities that have contributed to more severe impacts of the pandemic among low-income communities and people of color.

That is precisely what public banking would do for New York  and in a big way.

According to an analysis by New Economy Project and the Public Bank NYC coalition, every dollar in stimulus funds used to seed public banks in New York would yield $6 in new lending for equitable economic development in underserved communities.

But the math gets even better. New York can further stretch stimulus dollars by creating a state-based fund that would provide matching capital grants to local governments to help them get public banks off the ground.

With just $100 million  less than 1 percent of the federal relief aid New York has received, and less than 0.05 percent of the governors proposed budget  in matching funds for local public banks, the state can generate $15 billion in new economic activity and create 47,000 jobs over the next decade.

In this way, local public banking will lay the foundation for a truly just recovery.

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Unlike the Payroll Protection Program, in which Wall Street banks doled out funds to big corporate customers and left small Black- and immigrant-owned businesses in the lurch, local public banks would direct resources to communities hardest hit by the pandemic and most in need of stimulus money.

Furthermore, as cities like Albany explore ways to ensure that banks holding public deposits invest locally and reverse decades of damage caused by redlining and predatory mortgage lending, public banks would offer them a direct route to invest in communities.

Imagine publicly accountable financial institutions that have an explicit mission to serve people and neighborhoods that banks have historically redlined. Public banks would invest in community land trusts and other forms of social housing. They would finance sorely needed renewable-energy infrastructure, like community solar. And they would partner with local credit unions and other responsible lenders to channel capital to small businesses, including minority- and women-owned business enterprises and worker cooperatives.

Hochul and legislative leaders must heed the growing calls for public banking and seize this opportunity to ensure a just recovery and future for all New Yorkers.

Sadiya Hoque is chairperson of the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) and a student at Brooklyn College. Michael Kink is executive director of Strong Economy for All. Will Spisak is senior program associate at New Economy Project.
When both Andrew Cuomo and Vladimir Putin are complaining about the scourge of cancel culture, you can be sure that one of two things has happened: Either we're all being deeply unfair to these two hard-charging, hyper-macho executives, or the already-squishy concept of cancel culture has become  as Samuel Johnson once said of patriotism  the last refuge of a scoundrel.

These days, both "patriotism" and "cancel culture" are the first refuges of desperate politicians. Putin invoked both repeatedly last October during a rant in Sochi. Sounding very much like your average far-right member of the Texas state legislature, the Russian strongman bemoaned "reverse discrimination" against ethnic majorities and said that teaching young people about gender fluidity should be a crime  which is, of course, an accurate description of what's about to become law in Florida.

Like Putin, Rev. Ruben Diaz of the Bronx has a long history of making homophobic remarks; the former state senator and New York City Council member is a principal reason why marriage equality wasn't legalized in New York until 2011, when it became the signal human rights achievement of Cuomo's tenure. (Russia explicitly outlawed same-sex marriage two years ago.) The former governor, however, is now so desperate for a warm room to host him that on Thursday he appeared alongside Diaz to deliver a reprise of his speech two weeks ago at a church in Brooklyn that marked his first public address since he moved out of the governor's mansion.

Cuomo again peppered his remarks with religious language that referenced the Civil Rights struggle. In Brooklyn, his address had more bridge imagery than "The Bridge on the River Kwai": He spoke of his ongoing journey "from resentment to reconciliation" and a few minutes later referenced the crossing of the Edmund Pettus Bridge by Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis during the "Bloody Selma" protests in 1965. ("Eww, gross," I said out loud while watching the video.)

In the Bronx, Cuomo's remarks were devoted to running down the politicians who had abandoned him in his time of need and denouncing cancel culture, without ever really clearly stating why he had ended up on its receiving end.

To be clear: The former governor didn't leave office because of mean Tweets; he scuttled his administration rather than fight impeachment amid overlapping scandals  credible accounts of sexual harassment and misconduct; stonewalling the public over the COVID-19 deaths of nursing home residents; and his use of taxpayer-funded staff to produce his pandemic memoir for a cool $5.1 million payout.

None of those controversies were mentioned in the Bronx. "You should not be in politics if you are not ready to take the heat," he said Thursday, though not in the context of his own kitchen-exiting last August.

There was enough pot-kettle language from the former governor's camp to provision an industrial kitchen: Cuomo, a notorious bully who was infamous for threatening the careers of enemies and critics, told his Bronx audience to "Stand up to the bullies." He extolled "straight talk and the unvarnished truth" as bedrock Bronx values; as reiterated last week by Comptroller Tom DiNapoli's audit of the state Health Department's handling of nursing home data, Cuomo's administration conspired to conceal the deaths of more than 4,000 people as he burnished his image before taking his book proposal to market.

His spokesman responded to the audit's release by suggesting it was politically motivated  which is quite something from an administration that slammed out a self-exonerating July 2020 report on nursing home deaths after editing out the complete toll.

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Is the disproportionate social-media shaming of individuals a problem in our society? Sure. Are free speech rights being constrained? Not really, though the blowback from controversial speech is, like the speech that prompts the blowback and many other forms of speech these days, certainly amplified by social media.

But considering the platform that Cuomo once had and still possesses  powered by $16 million in campaign funds  it is something of a howler for him to whine about being shut down by the woke mob. He did this to himself, in part by surrounding himself with suck-ups who were all too willing to make moral compromises to serve the boss. It was much the same with President Donald Trump, another Queens boy who regularly grouses about cancel culture.

Say what you will about Richard Nixon, but he rarely whined about being forced to resign in the face of overwhelming evidence that he had abused his office in the Watergate scandal. In his televised interviews with David Frost almost three years after leaving office, Nixon apologized to the American people and admitted to a string of errors of judgment while still offering a rather lame legalistic defense of his actions. By that point, he had accepted his successor's pardon, which required his tacit admission that he had committed crimes.

My political life is over," Nixon told Frost. "I will ... never again have an opportunity to serve in any official position. Maybe I can give a little advice from time to time.

Cuomo, whose ouster is still fresh, is having fun playing footsie with the public over the prospect of a return to electoral politics. Trump is doing the same.

This does not feel like cancellation.
Public utility rate cases and other proceedings in New York are long, costly and legally complicated. Utilities hire expensive lawyers to make their case for increased prices, and customers foot the bill. Intervenors like consumer groups, nonprofits, or advocacy groups cannot match those resources absent funding to voice residential customers and small businesses concerns. Fortunately, many states have whats called intervenor funding, a powerful and commonsense way to support the organizations that directly advocate against rate increases.

Intervenor funding aids the groups that empower everyday consumers in utility rate cases. It provides low-income customers and their advocates a chance to participate in conversations and negotiations that lower rate increases, enhance customer service, and improve benefit programs. New participants in these proceedings bring a fresh perspective, improve transparency and accountability, and ultimately create a better outcome for the public.
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ALBANY  Gov. Kathy Hochul and Democratic leaders in Albany have pledged they use data as a guide when it comes to any proposed changes to the state's bail laws, which are the subject of fierce political debate.

"I'm very data driven," Hochul said in late January, a month after the state's highly anticipated data was released. "As I've said from the beginning, there's opportunities to have these conversations with the Mayor (Eric Adams), as well as with the Legislature as session unfolds on any reforms that are recommended."

Proposed changes from Hochul, which were leaked last week, offer four targeted alterations to what offenses could become eligible for bail.

Advocates have pushed back on any changes, saying judicial discretion to set bail has disproportionately hurt people of color and can cause deeper systemic issues.

The first two proposals from the governor's plan were immediately condemned by criminal justice advocates; they relate to issues that are not part of the state's recent release of its pretrial release data. The data was intended to inform decisions on the state's dramatic changes to its bail laws.

"If reforms are needed based on data that is still being gathered, I'm willing to have those conversations," Hochul said in January.

Simply using the state's public pretrial data makes it difficult to decipher whether someone committed violent crimes within the last five years or was alleged to have committed any crime within the last 18 months.

Criminal justice advocates are particularly concerned about the first two proposals, which could dramatically widen the net of who is eligible to be held on bail. About 2 percent of cases that were not clearly eligible for bail led to a person being rearrested on a violent felony before their case is disposed.

The other two proposals intend to make certain offenses like hate crimes and gun-related offenses bail eligible.

The state's pretrial data, which shows an 18-month period from January 2020 to June, shows that the listed offenses  issues that Adams has said are major problems  account for less than one-half of a percent of the total violent felony rearrests, according to a Times Union analysis of the data.

In other words, the cases the Hochul administration identified as worth making eligible for bail account for 29 instances when a person is alleged to have committed a violent felony while released from state custody and awaiting their court date on a different charge.

There are more than 6,500 instances in which a person was rearrested on a violent felony, according to the state's data. In about 3,000 of the 6,500 instances of violent felony rearrests the case was bail eligible  in fewer than one-third a judge set bail or held the person in jail.

Hochul's proposal is seeking to make someone charged with criminal possession of a weapon on school grounds eligible for arrest and not an appearance ticket. That offense, under existing state law, is already eligible for bail.

In the 18-month timeframe encompassing the state's data, there were two instances where the top offense a person was charged with was criminal possession of a weapon on school grounds. In neither instance was the person rearrested before their case reached disposition.

Another issue the governor is considering making eligible for an arrest instead of an appearance ticket involve hate crimes, which is an issue that has gained traction in recent months with an uptick in race-related crimes.

In the 18-month period, there were 181 instances in which the top-level charge was a hate crime. Just over half of the cases are already eligible for a judge to set bail and in 51 instances bail was set. Overall, there were seven instances in which the case led to a person being rearrested on a violent felony.

Under a certain type of criminal possession of a firearm that Hochul's proposal is targeting, there were 456 instances where it was the top-level charge on the case. In 19 instances a person was rearrested on a violent felony. Bail was set in 30 of the cases. About one-third of the cases were dismissed.

Hochul and state Division of Criminal Justice Services Commissioner Rossana Rosado have generally attributed the rise in violence over the last two years to the coroanvirus pandemic, noting that social services and other programs intended to mitigate violent crime were sidelined.

In instances where an individual has a pending violent felony, are released under supervision or a set of conditions and were facing charges related to burglary or robbery, there was a 13 and 16 percent violent felony rearrest rate, respectively, and a majority of those cases to not lead to a rearrest for a serious crime.

Experts on the bail data have noted that the case sample is particularly small, but have also noted that the services provided for release in these cases may be insufficient. The governor placed $10 million for pretrial services in her $216 billion budget.
ALBANY  Earlier this month, Gov. Kathy Hochul introduced plans to reform the way that state agencies respond to Freedom of Information Law requests by developing a system to expedite the completion of inquiries for public records.

The initiative is also requiring agencies to identify and publicly post frequently requested documents, preventing the need for the public to file FOIL requests for those records.

At the start of her tenure, Hochul stressed her determination to increase government transparency after a decade under former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's administration, which had been notorious for its lack of access, obfuscation and cover-ups.

Hochul also has done away with a process that under Cuomo had required certain Freedom of Information Law requests, especially those submitted by news organizations, to be forwarded to the Executive Chamber for review; that process would further delay release of records.

Another breakthrough occurred during her first week as governor when her administration added 12,000 more COVID-19 deaths to a state database that hadnt been previously disclosed by Cuomo's office.

At the same time, the governor has received mixed reactions for her handling of nursing home data, developmental plans and her position on legislation that would make it easier for law enforcement agencies to withhold records and body camera footage pending an ongoing investigation, according to published reports.

And while many Freedom of Information Law requests are still languishing under Hochul's administration, there also have been fundamental shifts in public access at some agencies. The office of state Inspector General Lucy Lang, for example, has begun posting long-secret letters and reports that were drafted by the watchdog agency under Cuomo's administration but had never been made public.

Lang, after Hochul appointed her to the position in November, had pledged to make that office more transparent and independent  and she said that investigative reports would no longer be sent to the executive chamber for editing.

The bill that would require law enforcement agencies to withhold records that are part of an ongoing investigation is currently on the governors desk.

Yet, the announcement about expediting FOIL requests and transparency across state agencies also indicates the governor is following through on the pledges she made last year after being sworn in as governor following Cuomo's resignation.

"On my first day in office, I pledged to turn the page on the old ways of Albany and restore New Yorkers faith in their government," the governor said in a statement last week. "Were taking meaningful action to streamline the process to access public records, so journalists and members of the public can more easily access information to which they are entitled.

"While theres always more to do, Im proud of the steps my administration has taken to increase transparency and accountability in New York state government."

The governor has directed the state Office of Information Technology and Services to employ a software platform that will improve the states process for receiving, processing and responding to FOIL requests, according to a press release. A contract is expected to be finalized soon.

The statement did not include a timeline that the state would attempt to meet in response to the inquiries. It did note that more than 400 records requests have been processed and completed by the Executive Chamber since Hochul became governor.

In March, Reinvent Albany, a government accountability group, released a report examining the transparency plans of state agencies, public authorities and commissions, which Hochul had directed them to produce in September.

It found that only 53 percent of agencies had information regarding the application of their initiatives or deadlines on when theyd be put to use. Some had released incomplete versions of the plans without all of the criteria set by the governors office.

In their report, the group stated, "Gov. Hochuls agency transparency plans are a fundamental first step for assessing what agencies need to do to comply with the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL), Open Data Executive Order and other mandates.

"If done well, the plans will also show the governor and Legislature what else needs to be done to increase public access to state government information."

The group listed recommendations that would further build on the work thats already been done, including suggesting that the plans are completed annually and that Hochul's administration publish the three top initiatives from each of the agencies submissions.
Not kidding this time, Spring is almost here!
From left to right, Dr. Richard Whalen, Candidate Dan Pastore and Heather Whalen pose for a picture after Pastore visited Titusville Tuesday night. The Whalens hosted the event.
Ronette Nichols uses a Benson Memorial Library computer to do her taxes. Other library users could benefit from faster internet speeds as Crawford County libraries look to upgrade to fiber connection.
We start Monday morning with a life lesson and quick question . . .

Given that NOBODY likes reading for leisure . . .

Once all Native American imagery and iconography are removed from the discourse. How will we remember the first major inhabitants of the Americas?!?!

Museum trips are nice but they're not as much fun as sports.

Let's make it clear, we're NOT arguing for mascots . . . The reality is that they're on their way out amid a cultural shift.



Today's example . . .



As part of a district-wide review, the school board in Kansas City, Kansas, determined that at least one school needs to change mascots. Edwin Birch, a spokesperson for the district, said Arrowhead Middle Schools mascot, the Apaches, could contribute to the stereotyping of Native Americans as aggressive or savages. Birch noted that the Apache tribe is not local and that Arrowhead no longer uses imagery of the mascot.

More deets . . .

A spokesperson for the district said that Apaches are not from the region, and are a nomadic nation from the Alaska region, Canada and portions of southwest America.They also said that some names could stereotype Native Americans, and could portray them in a way that does not take them seriously.The district said that for Arrowhead Middle School, its mascot imagery has been used less and less, and changing to a new mascot could lead to increased usage.



Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . .

Kansas City, Kansas, middle school to retire its Native American-themed nickname As part of a district-wide review, the school board in Kansas City, Kansas, determined that at least one school needs to change mascots. Edwin Birch, a spokesperson for the district, said Arrowhead Middle School's mascot, the Apaches, could contribute to the stereotyping of Native Americans as "aggressive or savages."

Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools considers changing mascots KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools has plans to change the mascot of at least one school, citing that some school mascots may be "insensitive to other cultures." A spokesperson for the district said that Apaches are not from the region, and are a nomadic nation from the Alaska region, Canada and portions of southwest America.

Developing . . .
This report deserves a clarification because it's garbage . . .

Already Mayor Q wants to loot more cash from police and put it in a slush fund. Meanwhile, even more radical anti-police forces push against any support for law enforcement.



Most importantly . . .

All of this is an attempt to move the "Overton Window" and shift the public conversation and criticism away from a historic effort to shift police funding.



Of course . . . Local state-sponsored donation-based progressive media is featuring their perspective:



Mayor Quinton Lucas wants to use the extra money to create a community policing and prevention fund. But residents like John Simpson, a member of the local social justice organization MORE2, dont think the police should get any of it.



We've kept putting more and more money into more officers, Simpson says. Our crime rate doesn't really change and we still have a police department that doesn't measure up.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .
A trend we need to consider moving forward . . .

Technology tends to make crime increasingly mobile and the idea of the "bad neighborhood" might be a thing of the past given how easily people can organize online.



Accordingly . . . Here's the passage that stands out following a homicide investigation in the Golden Ghetto . . .



"OPPD spokesperson John Lacy says it is early in the investigation as detectives work to piece the incident together. He also says there was a party at the residence the night before the shooting and that the home is an Airbnb property."

And this got us thinking . . .

In JoCo there's an ongoing debate about more apartments and low-income (affordable) housing moving into residential communities . . . Meanwhile . . . The proliferation of AirBnbs and other tech rental properties might be taking some neighborhood leaders by surprise.



Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . .

Woman killed in overnight shooting in Overland Park OVERLAND PARK, KS (KCTV) -- A woman was shot and killed overnight Sunday morning in Overland Park. The shooting happened at around 6 a.m. in the 9700 block of W. 145th Terrace. The victim was transported to the hospital, where she later died.

Overland Park Police Department investigating Sunday morning fatal shooting KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Overland Park Police Department is investigating a Sunday morning fatal shooting. The department responded around 6 a.m. to the 9700 block of West 145th Terrace. Dispatched on reference of a shooting, the victim had been taken by family members at the residence to a local hospital before officers arrived.

Developing . . .
A 25-year-old Toronto man has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with a February homicide in North York.
Meanwhile, Toronto is holding 24 pop-up COVID-19 vaccination clinics around the city in its new "Vax and Spring" campaign.
Toronto teacher says shell mask until her last student stops

Grade 1-2 teacher among many instructors, students making decisions Monday, the first day with no mask mandates or daily screening in Ontario schools.
Rebecca Riddell, a psychology professor at York University, says its important to first communicate with young ones that masking is not only about protecting oneself, but also others around them. - Steve Russell / Toronto Star file photo
The parade was the first major city event cancelled at the onset of the pandemic and the first to return during what we hope is its decline, writes Emma Teitel.
Terre Haute, IN (47803)

Today

Cloudy with periods of rain. High 61F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a half an inch..

Tonight

Rain showers early will evolve into a more steady rain overnight. Thunder possible. Low 58F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
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NORWALK  A former city police officer who resigned after being accused of using his badge to pressure women into providing their phone numbers has been barred from working in law enforcement in Connecticut.

The Police Officer Standards and Training Council voted March 10 to revoke the certification for Taranjit Singh, according to an agency memorandum obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media Group.

The Norwalk Police Department Internal Affairs investigation found that Officer Singh abused his power as a police officer by coercing young women to exchange phone numbers with him under the direct and implied threat of law enforcement actions, state officials wrote in the memo.

Lt. Joe Dinho, a spokesperson for the Norwalk Police Department, said the internal investigation into Singhs conduct found that he violated multiple department policies, including submitting a false police report and lying to officials.

Dinho said Singh was also found to have improperly accessed a national law enforcement database that contains criminal history records and personal information from the Department of Motor Vehicles.

The POSTC memo shows that Singh, who joined the department as a recruit in 2013, resigned last June while under investigation by the departments internal affairs unit for malfeasance or other serious misconduct.

It is unclear when the internal investigation began or what prompted the probe. Norwalk Police Chief Thomas Kulhawik did not respond to requests for comment on Monday.

Singh does not face any criminal charges or civil actions in connection with his alleged misconduct, according to online judicial records. When asked if prosecutors ever considered pursuing charges against Singh, Paul J. Ferencek, the states attorney for Stamford and Norwalk, declined to comment.

Singh, who could not be reached for comment, is the fourth officer in Connecticut to be permanently barred from law enforcement for misconduct since the state introduced new police accountability measures in 2020.

The accountability law, which was passed in response to nationwide protests against police brutality and abuse, placed stricter rules on law enforcement searches and the use of deadly force, required officers to wear body cameras and barred the use of chokeholds. It also allowed POST to revoke an officers certification for conduct that undermines public confidence in law enforcement.

The councils previous decertification powers were limited to cases in which an officer was convicted of a felony, lied during the initial certification process or engaged in limited other specific violations.

Singh, according to the memo, waived his right to contest the councils decision and voluntarily surrendered his police officer certification.

The councils vote to strip Singh of his certification made him the third former Norwalk officer this year to be barred from ever serving again in the state as a police officer or as a security guard.

Former officers Michael DiMeglio and Sara Laudano were recently decertified after they were accused of consuming alcohol on the job. Unlike Singh, the pair also face felony criminal charges in connection with the misconduct.

Prosecutors, however, have offered to drop the felony charges if DiMeglio and Laudano agree to plead guilty to misdemeanor offenses and pay a $1,000 fine. The former officers, who are expected to accept the plea deal, are scheduled to appear in court in the coming days.

Singh was also one of at least two Norwalk officers to resign from the force last year while facing an internal probe into misconduct. The other officer, Edgar Gonzalez, is accused of falsifying dozens of traffic citations. He was charged last month with computer crimes and forgery, but his law enforcement certification has not been revoked.

richard.chumney@hearstmediact.com
Hi, my name is Scott C. Waring and I wrote a few books and am currently a ESL School Owner in Taiwan. I have had my own UFO sighting up close and personal, but that's how it works right? A non believer becomes a believer when they experience their first sighting. You witnessed it, your perceptual field changes, so now you need to share it.





I created this site to help the UFO community get a little bit organized. I noticed that there was a lot of chaos when searching for UFO sighting reports, so I hope this site helps. I wanted to support those eyewitnesses who have tried to tell others about what they have seen, yet were laughed at by even closest of friends.





More and more each day the governments of the world leak bits and pieces of UFO information to the public. They have a trickle down theory in hopes of slowly getting citizens use to the idea that we are not alone in universe and never have been. The truth is being leaked drop by drop until one day we look around and find ourselves neck high in it.





The discovery of alien species in existence is the most monumental scientific event in human history, suppression of that information is a crime against humanity.





About me:

I live in Taiwan. I OWN MY OWN ENGLISH SCHOOL, AND ONCE HAD 5 SCHOOLS.

Am Former USAF at SAC base (flight line).

Age: 42

Educ: BA in Elem ed. Masters in Counseling ed.





I had two UFO sightings, (30+bus size orbs) in military and in 2012 personally saw the UFO over Taipei 101 building on New Years Day (and recored it).
Poland has proposed to impose a complete trade blockade of Russia both on land and at sea. Warsaw supports the actions of protesters who have been blocking the movement of Russian and Belarusian trucks on the Polish-Belarusian border on Saturday, March 19.

Polands Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said this during a press conference in Lubiczow near Warsaw on Saturday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

Poland proposes to add a trade blockade to the existing package of sanctions as soon as possible. This means seaports, that is, a ban from entering ports for vessels flying a Russian flag, carrying Russian goods, as well as ban on trade by land, said Morawiecki.

He added that this would make Russia think once again and look into stopping the brutal war now.

The head of the Polish government expressed hope that another sobering-up would dawn upon European leaders and that the European Council would adopt the next package of sanctions targeting Russia.

He has noted that he unequivocally supported the protesters who had blocked the movement of Russian and Belarusian trucks at the Polish border with Belarus Saturday, March 19.

Mateusz Morawiecki called on the European Commission to take action to impose new sanctions as soon as possible.

Polands PM believes this case concerns the lives and deaths of tens or even hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians, as well as NATO security.

We must show our strength and determination towards Russia. Otherwise, we will have to pay a high price in the near future Morawiecki said.

Hundreds of Ukrainian and Polish activists have reportedly launched a blockade of Russian and Belarusian trucks at the Kozowiczy - Kukuryki checkpoint on the Polish-Belarusian border on Saturday morning. They demand that any trade be suspended with the aggressor power as long as Russia is waging war against Ukraine.
Almost 7,300 people were evacuated through humanitarian corridors on Sunday, March 20.

Deputy Prime Minister - Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk said this at a briefing, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

"Four out of seven humanitarian corridors were open today. A total of 7,295 people were evacuated," the official said.

According to Vereshchuk, 3,985 Mariupol residents arrived in the city of Zaporizhzhia from Berdiansk by buses and by private transport. Eleven buses with people from Mariupol arrived in Zaporizhzhia.

The official also informed that 2,000 people had been evacuated from the village of Bobryk to Brovary town in Kyiv region, and 1,310 people had been evacuated from the village of Tarasivka. At the same time, the evacuation from Borodianka to Bila Tserkva was disrupted for the second day in a row due to ceasefire violation by Russian forces.

Vereshchuk also noted that humanitarian aid from Kharkiv was successfully delivered to the village of Rohan.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the beginning of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russian troops have been shelling and destroying key infrastructure facilities, conducting massive shelling of residential areas of Ukrainian cities and villages using artillery, multiple rocket launchers and ballistic missiles.

iy
Analysts with the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT) came to the conclusion that Russia continues to transfer troops and engineering equipment toward the borders with Ukraine.

This was reported on CITs Telegram channel, according to Ukrinform.

In the video taken on March 17 in Rostov-on-Don, a train carrying main battle tanks is seen, which, according to the Russian Railways database, is heading from Russias remote Primorsky Krai. Another video, shot north of the city on March 18 shows a train carrying military trucks and armored personnel carriers purportedly coming from the Caucasus or the Krasnodar Territory.

In addition to military equipment, military engineering vehicles are being shipped. For example, in Irkutsk region, a lot of REM-KL and MTP-A2 military tow trucks have been spotted, which may be needed to tow abandoned or destroyed military hardware. On the outskirts of St. Petersburg on March 18, a train was seen carrying pontoon building equipment.

The CIT noted that the intensity of deployment is now lower than a month before the war. According to analysts, Russia may have at its disposal up to 40 battalion tactical groups yet to be used, which could amount to a total of over 20,000 servicemen. "Of course, there are legitimate questions arising as regards their level of training and combat capabilities," the CIT said.

On February 24, Russia invaded Ukraine. Martial law was imposed in Ukraine and general mobilization was announced.
Franak Viacorka, Senior Advisor to Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsihanouskaya, says that guerrillas in Belarus are trying to prevent Belarus troops from entering Ukraine.

Belarus is a land of partisans. Our heroes stop Russian trains, damage Russian equipment, hand out leaflets to prevent Belarus troops from entering Ukraine. Ukraine will prevail, Belarus will be liberated as well, Viacorka posted on Twitter.

Belarus is a land of partisans. Our heroes stop Russian trains, damage Russian equipment, hand out leaflets to prevent Belarus troops from entering Ukraine. Ukraine will prevail,  Belarus will be liberated as well pic.twitter.com/w0Y2semvEj  Franak Viacorka (@franakviacorka) March 20, 2022

He released a map of Belarus entitled "Railway Resistance 2022", showing what was already done by Belarusian guerrillas.

He also noted that a Russian troll factory was now actively working on social networks, "trying to sow hatred between Belarusians and Ukrainians." " This is how they are trying to involve Belarus in their bloody massacre against fraternal Ukraine," Viacorka wrote.

Read also: Defense Ministry sees signs of Belarusian armed forces preparing for invasion of Ukraine

As reported, Ukraine knows that Belarus is preparing for active aggressive actions against our state, but the country's military does not want to carry out criminal orders, so they are offered to surrender.

Russias large-scale invasion of Ukraine has been going on since February 24. The aggressor shells and destroys key infrastructure, residential areas of Ukrainian cities, towns and villages using artillery, multiple-launch rocket systems, and ballistic missiles.

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On Monday morning, March 21, two enemy vessels became visible on a long-distance raid off the port of Odesa and then opened indiscriminate fire. The artillery of the Armed Forces opened fire in response and drove them away from the coast.

Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesman of the operational headquarters of the Odesa Regional Military Administration, informed this on Telegram, Ukrinform reports.

According to him, the enemy is trying to put pressure psychologically. As they cant invade Ukraine, they continue chaotic shelling, Bratchuk said.

He also added that approaching of these Russian vessels to the Ukrainian coast is only a demonstration so that to intimidate the civilian population.

The Odesa Regional Military Administration has not yet provided more details.

As reported, on March 20, the Air Defense Unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine shot down an enemy drone over Odesa region.

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Over 66,000 people crossed Ukraine's western border on March 20.

According to Ukrinform, the western regional directorate of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine said this in a statement posted on Facebook.

"More than 66,000 people and almost 14,000 vehicles crossed Ukraine's western borders with the EU and Moldova on March 20. Passenger traffic on the western part of the border has remained stable over the past few days," the statement said.

On March 19, almost 47,000 people left Ukraine. More than 30,000 of them crossed the border through Ukrainian-Polish checkpoints. There are no queues of pedestrians and vehicles in almost all directions.

Ukrainian border guards also recommended that citizens wishing to enter the EU choose checkpoints on the border with Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Moldova.

Almost 20,000 people arrived in Ukraine on March 20. About 17,000 of them are Ukrainians, and most of them are men who have returned home to defend their country.

In total, more than 351,000 Ukrainians have returned to Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion of the country on February 24.
The horror that Putin's Russia is currently committing in Ukraine violates even the "laws of war" and is a massive war crime.

EU High Representative Josep Borrell said this ahead of a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"Russia is really committing a lot of war crimes  that is the word, we have to say it. What is happening in Mariupol is a massive war crime. [They are] destroying everything, bombarding and killing everybody in an indiscriminate manner. This is something awful that we have to condemn in the strongest terms. This is a war crime, a massive war crime, what is happening in Mariupol. The city will be completely destroyed, and people are dying," Borrell said.

He noted that Russia is using all their military capacities and the problem is that it is using military capacities against the civilians.

"It is not a war, it is a massive destruction of the country, without any kind of consideration for the laws of war, because wars have also laws," Borrell added.
The Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry has accused Russia of deporting more than 2,000 Ukrainian children from the Certain Areas of Donetsk Region and Luhansk Region (CADLR) to Russia illegally.

The relevant statement was made by the ministrys press service, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

According to the information received, on March 19, 2022, the Russian occupation forces illegally deported to the territory of the Russian Federation 2,389 children, who were in the occupied districts of Donetsk Region and Luhansk Region. The forced displacement of civilians to the territory of the aggressor state, namely children, shows signs of abduction. Such actions are a gross violation of the international law, in particular the international humanitarian law, the ministry noted.

Ukrainian diplomats called on the international community to immediately react to the illegal displacement of children, as well as increase pressure on Russia to make it stop the barbaric war against the Ukrainian people.

The facts of the abduction of children, as well as hundreds of other facts of crimes committed by Russian occupiers against civilians in Ukraine are being thoroughly investigated by law enforcement agencies. The perpetuators of these crimes will be brought to justice, the ministry stressed.

A reminder that, on February 24, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin initiated a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, starting a war. Russian troops are shelling and destroying the key infrastructure facilities, launching missile and air strikes on Ukrainian cities and villages, killing civilians.

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Representatives of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania have arrived in Kyiv to demonstrate their support for Ukraine during the Russian military aggression.

"Today I met with the delegation of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania. This is the first parliamentary delegation from our European partner countries to arrive in Ukraine since the beginning of the large-scale Russian invasion of our country. I thank my Lithuanian friends for their support of Ukraine, for their help," Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko, who met with Lithuanian MPs, posted on Telegram.

He added that he was glad to see Deputy Speaker of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania Paulius Saudargas, Chair of the National Security and Defense Committee of the Seimas Laurynas Kasciunas, and Chair of the Commission for Energy and Sustainable Development Justinas Urbanavicius.

"Lithuanian parliamentarians also called on representatives of parliaments of other EU countries to come to Ukraine to express their support and solidarity with the Ukrainian people in their heroic struggle for their independence and freedom," Klitschko stressed.

On February 24, Russian president Vladimir Putin launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russian troops shell and destroy infrastructure, conduct massive shelling of residential areas of Ukrainian cities, towns, and villages using artillery, MLRS, and ballistic missiles.

The United States, the European Union, and other countries have imposed sanctions on Russia as an aggressor whose international isolation grows every day. The International Criminal Court has begun documenting and investigating Russia's war crimes in Ukraine.

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By terrorizing Ukraine's civilian population, Putin is trying to use refugees as a weapon and a tool of pressure on the EU, but the EU member states stand in solidarity with Ukraine and will attend all citizens fleeing Russian bombs.

EU High Representative Josep Borrell said this at a press conference in Brussels following a joint session of the Ministers of Defence and Foreign Affairs, Ukrinform reports.

"At the moment, there are 3.3 million refugees, and the flow continues. I am convinced that Putin is using refugees as a tool, as a weapon. Sending as many as they can. They have not destroyed transport infrastructure; they just destroy the cities in order to terrify the civilians and make them escape. We are ready to help all of them. This an asymmetric burden, because some Member States, on the border [with Ukraine], are having a stronger burden. They are facing this flow of refugees in the frontline, but all Member States will act in full solidarity to attend these people," Borrell said.

He said that during the meeting the ministers had a conversation with Moldovan Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu. He said that Moldova is one of the countries more affected and most threatened by the Russian aggression and they are responding with incredible generosity and solidarity with their Ukrainian neighbors.

"30% of the children in Moldova today are children from Ukraine, refugees from Ukraine. Their education system is under huge strain, but they are integrating them fully, allowing them to continue learning. They need our support. We will provide all the support they need in order to face this challenging situation," Borrell said.

Photo: CTK Photo
Charity concerts took place in Poland and Germany on Sunday to raise funds for Ukraine, the country repelling Russian aggression.

"TET and 1+1 International broadcast a charity concert Together with Ukraine in Poland," the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine wrote on Telegram, Ukrinform reports.

It is noted that the main purpose of the event was to raise funds to be donated to the Polish Humanitarian Action, which operates a large-scale Ukraine assistance effort.

"I am grateful to the Poles for the friendship and joy of our two countries. Turn it on: it is sensual, beautiful, and very emotional. Soon Ukraine will win, we will rebuild and return the victorious, glorious concerts to our country," said the Minister of Culture and Information Policy, Oleksandr Tkachenko.

Thanks to the gig, PLN 2.8 million (about UAH 20 million) was raised for Ukraine. In particular, PLN 1.6 million was collected from SMS messages sent during the show. In addition, TVN Grupa Discovery paid PLN 1.2 million off tickets sold for the show, as well as advertising.

As reported, Polish radio broadcaster RMF Group has created a special project "RMF Ukraine", which airs the most important information for Ukrainians in Poland.

Also on Sunday, a charity concert in support of Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggressors took place in front of the Brandenburg Gate in central Berlin on Sunday, Ukrinform's own correspondent reports.

The wife of Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko, Natalia Klitschko, addressed the audience.

"What is happening to my country now is terrible," the mayors spouse said, emphasizing that the world must unite for peace in Ukraine. She presented a new song "Better Days".

Famous German performers also took part in the show. German Culture Minister Claudia Roth expressed confidence that "music can transcend all borders and unite people."

In addition, two pro-Ukrainian rallies were held in Hamburg, which, according to NDR, were attended by more than 5,000 people protesting Russia's war.

Photo: TVN24, Grzegorz Michaowski / PAP, Joerg Carstensen/dpa
Prime Minister of Finland Sanna Marin says the country is prepared to embrace even more refugees fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

This was reported by the national broadcaster, YLE, according to Ukrinform.

The head of government added that a relatively small number of refugees had so far arrived in Finland (according to the migration service, 7,916 Ukrainian citizens had applied for asylum). Most Ukrainians fleeing the war settled in neighboring countries.

Marin assured that the Finnish authorities would seek to provide "the most normal conditions" to accommodate those coming from Ukraine. The prime minister also noted that the Finns are aware of what is happening and that they want to help.

Sanna Marin considers the EU's decision to give refugees the right to work and children  the opportunity to attend school or kindergarten an important one.

As reported, on February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russian troops have been shelling and destroying key infrastructure, massively attacking residential areas of Ukrainian cities and villages, using artillery, rockets, and ballistic missiles.

Martial law was imposed in Ukraine and general mobilization was announced.
Several thousand people marched in support of Ukraine and demanded an end to Russian aggression in the center of Vienna on Sunday evening.

As an Ukrinform correspondent in Austria reports, the rally took place on the central square of Vienna  Heldenplatz (Heroes' Square). Those present honored the memory of all Ukrainians killed as a result of Russian aggression. Ukraines national anthem was performed by soloist of the National Opera of Ukraine Susanna Chakhoian.

After that, the column went along the Ringstrae which encircles the central historic district of Vienna. Its participants, most of them with Ukrainian symbols, carried posters in support of Ukraine and demanded an end to Russian aggression. In front of the column, protesters carried a large Ukrainian flag reading "STOP PUTIN WAR" and a banner "Putin is terrorist".

The marchers chanted various pro-Ukrainian slogans, calls to stop Russian aggression and help Ukraine protect the sky.

Ukrainian songs were heard from the audio equipment, and the Ukrainian national anthem was performed several times during the march.

The day before, a rally in support of Ukraine took place on the Human Rights Square in the center of Vienna. Actions of solidarity with the Ukrainian people have been held in the Austrian capital almost every day since the start of a large-scale offensive by Russian troops on Ukraine.

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A humanitarian road train carrying about 14 tonnes of humanitarian aid arrived in Ukraine from Greece within the framework of joint humanitarian initiatives of the Joint Forces Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Serhiy Nayev noted that the cargo consisted of medicines, food, and clothing, the press service of the Joint Forces Command posted on Facebook.

Humanitarian aid was collected in Greece with the assistance of the Consulate of Ukraine in Thessaloniki headed by Consul Vadym Sabluk, Honorary Consul of Ukraine in Komotini  Representative of the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce in Greece Dimitrios Dimitriadis, City Hall, and the Dzherelo Ukrainian community in Northern Greece.

The Commander added that important assistance was provided by the International Association for Support of Ukraine and the Association of International Road Carriers of Ukraine - AsMAP.

"After unloading and sorting, the humanitarian aid will be sent to the area of hostilities with the Russian aggressor," the Lieutenant General said.

Russias large-scale invasion of Ukraine has been going on since February 24. The aggressor shells and destroys key infrastructure, residential areas of Ukrainian cities, towns, and villages using artillery, multiple-launch rocket systems, and ballistic missiles.

Photo: Joint Forces Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Facebook

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 UNHCR

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, condemns in the strongest terms the most recent attack against displaced people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which took place on 19 March in the village of Gudda, Ituri Province.

At least 12 people including children and women were killed in the attack, in which the perpetrators used machetes before setting several homes ablaze and stealing livestock. The victims had recently returned to Gudda after previous internal displacement.

Ituri Province and other areas in eastern DRC are suffering from an escalation in the activity of armed groups, which are profiting from a security vacuum in the region. The cycle of violence against civilians plagues the lives of many who have already been driven from their homes.

UNHCR repeats its call for all parties to respect the humanitarian and civil character of settlements for displaced people and urges them to adhere to their obligations under international law to protect and safeguard civilian lives at all times.

The DRC hosts 5.6 million displaced people, most of whom reside in the eastern part of the country in North and South Kivu, Ituri, and Tanganyika provinces.

For more information on this topic, please contact:
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Jennifer Ann Hancock was born Nov. 20, 1956, in Atlanta, to William Roy and Martha Jones Hancock. She went home to be with the Lord on Tuesday, April 26, 2022, in Gray. She was preceded in death by her father, William Roy Hancock, and her brother, Timothy Roy Hancock, as well as grandparents
Our recent project at Penicuik Town Hall involved the restoration and enhancement of the Category C Listed sandstone building, which was built in 1893. It is a prominent building within the heart of Penicuik, originally known as the Cowan Institute and built with funds provided by Alexander Cowan, one of the founders of Alexander Cowan & Son papermakers of Penicuik, for the people of Penicuik. The Town Hall is positioned at the historic core of the town and is not only important due to its architectural and townscape quality but also due to its civic importance, being the seat of local governance and providing accommodation to benefit the local community in terms of education, health and well-being.

Our project involved conservation works and repairs to the external fabric as part of the Penicuik Heritage Regeneration project, a Townscape Heritage and Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme, jointly funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Historic Environment Scotland and Midlothian Council, and supported by Penicuik Community Development Trust and Penicuik and District Community Council. Conservation works included the sympathetic restoration of the buildings stonework, roofs and windows, as well as sustainability works to improve its energy performance. The stonework to the front elevation in particular was badly weathered and covered with cement pointing.

Badly eroded stones were replaced with new from the same quarry as the original for the front and side elevations, whilst a different stone was used to match the buff sandstone at the rear. In order to conserve the front elevation some original carvings which were badly deteriorated were replaced, with the new stone carved on site and perfectly matched to the original. Existing cement mortar was raked out and replaced with a lime mortar, and moss, lichen and vegetation growth were removed from the stonework. The chimneys and bell turret were repaired and restored, and the ball finial on top of the turret was re-fixed. In recognition of the original building name, new bronze lettering was installed above the front elevation to replace the original stone carving that stated The Cowan Institute.

Sustainability works addressed the energy performance of the building; replacing gas boilers that were coming to the end of their useful life with a new Combined Heat and Power boiler to reduce carbon usage. Photovoltaics were also installed on concealed roof pitches. We are proud to have delivered Midlothian Councils vision to extend the life of this architecturally and socially important local landmark, conserving the building for future generations to ensure it continues to benefit the community.
The paradise just around the corner  HIMACS lends luminosity to The Paradise Now bar in Dusseldorf

HIMACS provides glorious visual impact at the new hybrid restaurant, bar, bistro and club in Dusseldorfs MedienHafen district

The concept for The Paradise Now in Dusseldorf was developed with the aim of understanding and meeting human needs and creating an escape from the everyday. Dusseldorf restaurateur Walid El Sheikh joined forces with Moritz von Schrotter and Charles Bals from design agency Parasol Island to bring the new and versatile mix of restaurant, bar, bistro and club to life. Together they turned their vision into reality within a space of just under 1,000 m2 under one roof in the Dusseldorf MedienHafen district. The new venue, located at Hammer Strasse 27, opened its doors in August 2021, offering guests a restaurant, bar and club, and the freedom to move between these whenever the mood struck.

Nothing was left to chance in the design of the new restaurant-bar concept, which gives off holiday vibes and cultivates total relaxation. High ceilings, bright colours and pleasant lighting create a relaxed ambiance from the moment one enters: go to the restaurant, for example, to enjoy the open, airy space and embark on a culinary journey with the Coast2Coast kitchen. The prevailing white base tone is perfectly complemented by natural colours, organic shapes, natural materials like wicker furniture and plants from warmer southern regions of the world.

The tropical interior design of the restaurant merges with the open, hybrid bar/bistro space and continues there, where guests can immerse themselves in the holiday ambiance as they enjoy light bites, drinks and Latin funk grooves. The bar/bistro area can accommodate up to 140 guests and also features an elegant, friendly white base tone, accentuated here by just the natural shades of the rattan pendant lights and bar stools, as well as the hanging plants dropping in from the ceiling.

The absolute centrepiece and highlight  in the truest sense of the word  of the bar is its spectacular custom-made counter, which measures an impressive 16 metres long. Around 30 guests can sit here, unwinding over drinks and cocktails and dreaming of sun, beach and sea. HIMACS solid surface material in the colour Arctic White was used for the work surface at the back of the counter, while Ispani from the LX Hausys Marmo collection was used for the visible part of the countertop, and the front and side elements of this unique counter. The designers took full advantage of the one-of-a-kind visual properties of the solid surface material, which align perfectly with the current trend of a high-quality marble aesthetic. When the bar is lit up in the evening, the marbling of the solid surface material shines through even more. Stylish wall panels, also in backlit HIMACS, with inset elements at different depths cover ten metres of the back wall behind the bar. These panels are not just visually striking, but can also be used as practical shelves for glasses and other bar utensils. The fabricator Karl Heller GmbH from Dusseldorf was responsible for the outstanding customisation of the spectacular counter.

The exceptional properties of HIMACS make it ideally suited for use in restaurants and bars  but owner Walid El Sheikh actually came to know of the material in a different context. The first time I saw HIMACS was in a hotel bathroom, and I was immediately taken by the unique look and feel of the solid surface material. Its like stone, but with a smooth, non-porous surface and consistency of colour that put it in a superior class!

Walid El Sheikh also praises HIMACS, which is composed of acrylic, minerals and natural pigments, for its versatility and flexibility, including the extensive colour range available and the ease of processing and thermoformability. These properties allow for unusual design ideas like the bar at The Paradise Now. Every guest is fascinated by this material, Walid El Sheikh says of the strong impact on visitors to the bar. Not a day goes by that our guests dont touch the surface and then marvel at the perfect smoothness. And speaking of people touching the bar: HIMACS is the ideal material for high-traffic areas with high-contact surfaces when it comes to hygiene, cleanliness and user-friendliness. It is an especially durable, stain-resistant material that is easy to clean.

Guests who decide to move to the club area after a relaxing start to the evening in the bar or restaurant find the solid surface material there as well. The DJ stand, which houses all of the essential sound systems, is elegantly and discreetly formed from black HIMACS. Under a neon lighting installation, up to 400 guests can get lost in the futuristic ambiance and continue their escape to paradise into the early morning hours.

PROJECT INFORMATION

Project: The Paradise Now, Dusseldorf www.the-paradise-now.de

Design: Moritz von Schrotter, Charles Bals, Walid El Sheikh

Fabrication: Schreinerei Karl Heller GmbH www.schreinerei-heller.de

Material: HIMACS Ispani, Arctic White and Black www.himacs.eu

Material Supplier: Becher GmbH & Co. KG www.becher-holz.de

HIMACS elements: counter and backlit wall cladding in bar area, surface of DJ stand in club area

Photos:  Rainer Rehfeld Fotografie
(@FahadShabbir)

Washington and London have chosen the port city of Baltimore -- just an hour's drive from the US capital -- as the site of Monday's talks on deepening their economic relationship

Washington, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st Mar, 2022 ) :Washington and London have chosen the port city of Baltimore -- just an hour's drive from the US capital -- as the site of Monday's talks on deepening their economic relationship.

The United States is Britain's biggest trade partner, and the two countries are particularly interconnected when it comes to services trade and direct foreign investment.

In total, the US and the UK do some $263 billion (200 billion Pounds) worth of trade per year.

Following Britain's withdrawal from the European Union, London has been negotiating agreements far and wide in an effort to boost its international trade footprint -- and has sought in particular to reinforce its relationship with the United States.

But even though the administration of former president Donald Trump seemed ready to make a new bilateral arrangement with London and had even opened negotiation talks, the administration of current President Joe Biden does not seem to be in a hurry to continue them.

"It's important to remember that these (trade) agreements are just one tool at our disposal," said a senior US trade official on the condition of anonymity.

US Trade Representative Katherine Tai, who will lead the American side on Monday's and Tuesday's talks, is expected to talk about "the need to get creative and think outside the box when it comes to our trade dynamic with the UK," another official said during a telephone conversation with reporters.

"Some of our trade tools were developed decades ago, many decades ago, and don't particularly represent the global challenges that we faced today," the second official said.
Geneva, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Mar, 2022 ) :The head of the international Red Cross told AFP Monday he will travel to Moscow this week for talks about the conflict in Ukraine, including efforts to secure visits with detainees.

Peter Maurer, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), said he would travel to the Russian capital on Tuesday, nearly a month after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

He told AFP in an interview that he expected to meet with high-level defence and foreign ministries officials in the following days, and hoped to make progress on issues the ICRC has been raising as the caretaker of the Geneva Conventions, regarding "prisoners of war, the deceased, the conduct of hostilities." The trip follows Maurer's visit to Ukraine last week, and he said he had received "very positive indications" from both sides "with regard to our mandate and role under the Geneva Conventions." One of ICRC's main tasks in conflict situations is to seek access to detainees and to help secure humane treatment and conditions for them, as well as to try to restore communication with their families.

The organisation has yet to gain access to prisoners of war held by either side in the conflict.

But "we have started to receive important information which will allow us to start big-scale (POW) visits I think very soon," Maurer said.

His visit comes after Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday accused Moscow of seeking to "destroy" his country, and rejected Russian demands to surrender.

- 'Surprise' - Nearly a month after Russia launched its full-scale invasion on February 24, its assaults have become more deadly despite unprecedented sweeping sanctions imposed by Western allies.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's troops have been increasingly accused of deliberately targeting civilians, including at the besieged southern port city of Mariupol.

Nearly 350,000 people remain trapped in the city without water and electricity and under weeks of constant bombardment.

ICRC had a team in Mariupol before the invasion, but Maurer said the staff and their families had been evacuated last week after it was determined they could do little to help the population in the midst of heavy combat operations.

"We decided to bring them out and to send a team in whenever the situation is appropriate," he said, stressing that will be "when they can do humanitarian work, when we can assist populations." The former Swiss diplomat, whose mandate as ICRC chief ends in September, meanwhile said that the organisation was "ready to bring humanitarian assistance into Mariupol." "We have made logistical predispositions so that we are ready to go in as soon as possible and as soon as a safe route into Mariupol is accessible," he said.

"But this is not the case at the present moment." He insisted that for the roads to the city to be considered safe, "concrete agreements" by the parties are needed.

Those need to include "details of pauses or at least security guarantees for convoys and humanitarian workers," Maurer said.

There is also a need for "decontamination of the roads, because these roads are heavily impacted by unexploded ordinances, by mines," he pointed out.

"It would be dangerous without the respective cooperation of the two sides to get into the city without these detailed agreements."Maurer acknowledged the rapid escalation of the Ukraine conflict, which had been simmering since Moscow seized the Crimea peninsula in 2014, had been a "surprise".

But he stressed that "war has been in Europe for quite some time, and we have dealt with it over the last couple of years already."
(@FahadShabbir)

President Joe Biden was talking by phone with key European allies Monday ahead of attending NATO and EU summits, followed by a trip to Poland, in a crucial week for the Western response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine

Washington, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st Mar, 2022 ) :President Joe Biden was talking by phone with key European allies Monday ahead of attending NATO and EU summits, followed by a trip to Poland, in a crucial week for the Western response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The White House said Biden was hosting the call with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson "to discuss their coordinated responses to Russia's attack on Ukraine." Later, Biden will join prominent CEOs in Washington at a roundtable where the economic squeeze on Russia -- and likely the complications for US businesses -- is also on the table.

This kicks off the most momentous foreign trip of Biden's presidency so far, with Thursday's summits in Brussels and talks with President Andrzej Duda in Poland, on the frontline of the West's confrontation with Russia, Saturday.

Russia's war is about to enter its second month and US and Western allies have imposed unprecedented sanctions on Moscow, crippling the ruble and stock market, while going after President Vladimir Putin's wealthy supporters.

On the ground in Ukraine, Western-supplied weapons, backed by years of training and funding, have helped the country's military to bloody the Russian invaders on multiple fronts.

However, with the war starting to look like a stalemate, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is making increasingly desperate appeals for the West to do more.

- Hard decisions - What those additional steps could be remains far from obvious, as Biden and his European allies ponder the blowback from their sanctions on Russia and also the potential danger of wider war if they expand military assistance to Ukraine.

One big hole in the sanctions regime is China, the world's second biggest economy. Beijing is refusing even to condemn ally Russia and a nearly two-hour talk between Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Friday appeared to result in no change.

While the sanctions have sent severe shockwaves through Russia's economy, US and especially European economies -- which rely heavily on Russian energy imports -- are likewise vulnerable.

The United States and Britain have already announced their own bans on Russian oil imports. A wider ban by EU countries would mark a huge escalation hurting Moscow -- but also Western consumers.

Brent North Sea crude traded at $114.55 a barrel early Monday and earlier this month hit $139, up from about $79 at the beginning of the year.

A broad oil embargo "will hit everyone," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned.

Neither is there an easy path to significantly bolstering Ukraine's military.

Zelensky is pleading for more powerful tools beyond the hugely effective but limited anti-tank rockets and Stinger missiles used to hit low flying aircraft.

But Biden has firmly rejected Zelensky's calls for a NATO-imposed no-fly zone, saying this would require the United States to go to war against Russia.

The alliance has also stumbled over a failed push by Poland to send Soviet-designed MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine through a US air base. Again, Washington said this would risk Russia declaring that NATO had actively entered the war.

Now, there is growing discussion about furnishing Ukraine with another piece of Russian-origin technology -- the S-300 anti-aircraft system. This would be a big step up for Ukraine's defenders, because the missiles can hit planes at high altitude.

Slovakia says it is willing to provide the system it has in its arsenal to Ukraine, but only if NATO provides a replacement for its own defense.

One thing Biden won't be doing this week, the White House says, is making the risky, but hugely symbolic trip to Kyiv himself.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, along with the Czech and Slovenian prime ministers, traveled to the embattled capital last week. But "there are no plans to travel into Ukraine," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Former Czech prime minister and dollar billionaire Andrej Babis has been charged with the EU subsidy fraud in the amount of 50 million kronor (about $2.2 million), along with his former business associate Jana Mayerova, who was charged with aiding and abetting the crime, a spokesman for the Prague's prosecutor general office said on Monday

PRAGUE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st March, 2022) Former Czech prime minister and Dollar billionaire Andrej Babis has been charged with the EU subsidy fraud in the amount of 50 million kronor (about $2.2 million), along with his former business associate Jana Mayerova, who was charged with aiding and abetting the crime, a spokesman for the Prague's prosecutor general office said on Monday.

"On March 21, the prosecutor of Prague's public prosecutor's office, Jaroslav Saroch, filed charges against two individuals in what the media call the Stork's Nest farm case. One of the accused was charged with the EU subsidy fraud, thus causing damage to the EU's financial interests.

The actions of the other individual are classified as aiding the crime of EU subsidy fraud," Ales Cimbala told reporters.

A criminal investigation into the case was launched in 2014 and is still ongoing. The subsidy was returned to the European Union in 2018.

In 2009, Babis used an offshore company to purchase a lavish chateau on the French Riviera, according to the 2021 Pandora papers information leak. The estate belonged to a subsidiary of one of the Czech companies indirectly owned by Babis.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Hong Kong will resume international flights from the United States, Britain and seven other countries, the government said Monday as it announced a loosening of some of the world's toughest Covid-19 restrictions

Hong Kong, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st Mar, 2022 ) :Hong Kong will resume international flights from the United States, Britain and seven other countries, the government said Monday as it announced a loosening of some of the world's toughest Covid-19 restrictions.

The finance hub has struggled to maintain China's zero-tolerance policy during an Omicron-fuelled outbreak that has sparked a huge surge in cases and put the city in the spotlight with one of the highest Covid fatality rates in the developed world.

After the highly transmissible variant fuelled a wave of cases, authorities banned flights from nine countries deemed high-risk -- including the United States, Britain, France and India.

But infections climbed rapidly. Hong Kong has recorded more than a million cases and 5,900 deaths this year, with the bulk of the toll among its unvaccinated elderly population.

On Monday, Lam said Hong Kong will lift flight bans for the nine countries from April 1.

"The epidemic situations in those countries are not worse than Hong Kong's, and most arrivals did not have serious symptoms," she said during a press conference.

Hong Kong has also reduced the quarantine period for vaccinated arrivals starting April 1 to seven days in a designated hotel, followed by another seven days of at-home monitoring.

Currently, Hong Kong residents trying to return from most destinations face a two-week quarantine stay in expensive hotels.

- Suspended mass testing - Lam's administration has been excoriated for its handling of the Covid crisis, with critics calling it unprepared despite two years of breathing room due to its low number of cases before Omicron hit in January.

Once the variant broke through, hospital wards were flooded with patients and morgues overcrowded with bodies -- leading to a coffin shortage last week.

Unclear public messaging from the government over mass testing and lockdowns has also fuelled bouts of panic-buying -- leaving supermarkets shelves stripped bare.

Hong Kong, known as "Asia's World City", has seen a record exodus of foreign and local residents, with a net outflow of more than 134,000 people by mid-March.

On Monday, Lam said that a previously floated plan to mass test Hong Kong's 7.4 million residents was "not appropriate" at this stage, given the city's limited resources.

"Our current opinion is to suspend it and whether we will do it depends on the development of the epidemic," the leader said.

Lam also announced that kindergartens, Primary schools and international schools will resume in-person teaching from April 19.

Beginning April 21, restaurants may stay open after 6:00 pm for dine-in services -- currently banned --- while public gatherings would be capped at four people, up from the current two.

Hong Kong's deepened international isolation and lack of a roadmap to normality have incited complaints from business and diplomatic communities, even prompting some major international banks to accelerate relocations.

Authorities had repeatedly defended its methods, saying it was necessary to maintain access to the mainland Chinese market -- which still has strict border controls.

But on Monday Lam signalled an attitude shift -- saying the city now has to balance its status as an international hub and as a gateway to mainland China.

"For any longer term public health strategy, we will have to take into account both factors that is maintaining Hong Kong's accessibility to the mainland and also ensuring her continued connectivity with the outside world," she said.

Tens of millions of people in regions across China have been put under stay-at-home orders since last week when Omicron clusters started threatening the country's zero-Covid model.
(@iemziishan)

China Eastern Boeing 737 with 132 onboard crashed and caused a mountain fire in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the number of casualties is not clear yet, the official website of Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said on Monday afternoon

BEIJING, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st Mar, 2022 ) :China Eastern Boeing 737 with 132 onboard crashed and caused a mountain fire in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the number of casualties is not clear yet, the official website of Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said on Monday afternoon.

This is the first air crash in China since a fatal incident in Yichun, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province back in 2010. The Yichun crash killed 44 people.

The plane, MU 5735 took off from Kunming Changshui airport in Southwest China's Yunnan Province at 13:15, and was scheduled to arrive at Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province at 15:07.

The plane has 132 onboard, including 123 passengers, and nine crew members.

CAAC and China Eastern have dispatched working groups to the site.

At present, rescue teams have been deployed and are approaching the crash site.

China Eastern Airlines could not be reached for comment as of press time.

Around 3pm Monday, the Wuzhou Fire Brigade deployed a rescue team to the scene of the accident, an official from the Brigade told the Global Times on Monday.

"We sent 25 fire engines and 117 firefighters to the scene, but as the accident site is too remote and in the mountains, fire engines could not reach the wreckage, firefighters entered on foot," said an official of the Brigade via phone.

The first deployment of firefighters has already arrived on the scene, with backup available if needed, the Brigade said.

Flight data from information provider VariFlight showed that after flight MU5735 took off from Kunming airport, it had been cruising at an altitude of about 8869 meters.

At 2:19 p.m, the aircraft suddenly descended from cruising altitude, while flight speed also began to decrease from about 845 kilometers per hour.

At 2:21, flight MU5735 lost its ADS-B radar signal also losing contact with the ground.

Judging from aircraft data, there is no information on the pilot's ground information contact. It is very likely that the aircraft lost power at cruising altitude resulting in the pilot losing control of the aircraft.

This is a very serious technical failure in which the plane inevitably enters a high-speed descent, Wang Yanan, chief editor of Beijing-based Aerospace Knowledge told the Global Times on Monday.

However, the specific reason can only be determined once the black box has been recovered, he added.

In terms of aircraft casualties, the situation appears grim, and the possibility of all onboard perishing cannot be ruled out. Moreover, search and rescue is difficult due to terrain around the crash site, while the impact of wildfires will present a high risk to anyone who managed to survive the crash, he said.

Meanwhile, an unidentified number of flights departing from Kunming, Yunnan Province, operated by China Eastern Airlines Monday afternoon were cancelled, including flights to Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, and Xiamen, East China's Fujian Province.

The aircraft involved is a Boeing 737, belonging to the Yunnan subsidiary of China Eastern Airlines and has been in operation of just over six and a half years. The plane was delivered in June of 2015.

The aircraft has a total of 162 seats, including 12 business class seats and 150 economy class seats.

As of February 19, 2022, the continuous safe flight time of China's civil aviation transport aviation had exceeded 100 million hours, representing the best safety performance in the history of China's civil aviation industry and the best continuous safe flight record in the history of civil aviation worldwide.

Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for the immediate activation of the emergency mechanism for the plane crash, sparing no efforts on search and rescue, and properly handling of the aftermath.

The State Council will assign officials to deal with the accident as a priority, identify the cause as soon as possible, and strengthen the investigation of safety hazards in civil aviation to ensure the absolute safety of aviation operations and people's lives in the future.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

The Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday summoned US ambassador John Sullivan and handed him a protest note over US President Joe Biden's recent statement about Russian President Vladimir Putin

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st March, 2022) The Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday summoned US ambassador John Sullivan and handed him a protest note over US President Joe Biden's recent statement about Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Earlier in March, Biden called Putin a "murderous dictator" and "a pure thug.

"

"On March 21, US Ambassador John Sullivan, was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry and handed a note of protest in connection with the recent unacceptable statements made by the head of the White House, Joe Biden, about the president of Russia," the ministry said.

According to the ministry, Biden's statements put relations between Russia and the US "on the verge of being severed."
The USF community had the opportunity to interact with the two candidates seeking to become the universitys eighth president  the final step before both of them interview with the Board of Trustees.

Rhea Law and Jeffrey Talley spent an hour on each campus Monday answering questions submitted through the USF Presidential Search website and from the audience.

The presidential candidates discussed their philosophies on a range of issues, such as dedicating more resources to research, enhancing the student experience and building support for a new on-campus stadium. They discussed consolidation and the need for each campus to have its own identity.

Talley addressed diversity, equity and inclusion by sharing his experiences serving as a lieutenant general in the military where he promoted women and people of color to leadership positions. Law shared how her law firm grew from her serving as the only female attorney to being one of the most diverse law firms in the state.

With the impending retirement of Provost Ralph Wilcox, both said that if president, they would conduct a national search for a world-class scholar  someone with the experience who can continue USFs trajectory as Americas fastest-rising university. The candidates explained the significance of attracting new funding sources beyond the Florida Legislature through avenues such as corporate partnerships and philanthropy.



We have to work on that endowment, and we have to work on other things, like endowed professorships, competitive salaries for faculty/staff and better student experiences. Its those basic blocks and tackles that national universities do, Talley said. The biggest thing overall that Ive seen that gets to that national ranking is the endowment. Give the gift that keeps on giving.

Its not just about money, its about how we deal with our finances, Law said. We need to make sure that we have a balanced budget, and while were balancing it we need to look for opportunities and synergies and other ways to reduce costs so we can make investments in the infrastructure we need for innovation, we need the lab space, we need the support for research, we need support for our students and this is only going to come if we have a very clear, transparent and predictable budgeting process.

The candidates also discussed their viewpoints on environmental sustainability  Law sharing her expertise in environmental law, Talley his background in environmental engineering. They also explained their thought process in maintaining diversity of thought in an increasingly politicized climate and outlined their previous experiences working with unions.

Following the campus visits, participants had the opportunity to share feedback online through the USF Presidential Search website, which will be reviewed by the USF Board of Trustees prior to interviewing the candidates at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, March 22, in Traditions Hall, at the Gibbons Alumni Center on the Tampa campus. The Board will evaluate the candidates and may then name the next president, subject to confirmation by the Florida Board of Governors.
At a recent press conference organized by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), the Sri Lankan Cardinal alleged: There are indications that the authorities wanted the attacks to be carried out."

By Robin Gomes

The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka is still awaiting answers from the countrys authorities on the real organizers of the Easter Sunday bombings nearly 3 years ago. The suicide terrorist attacks on 3 churches and 3 hotels on 19 April 2019 killed 269 people and injured more than 500.

Sri Lankan Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith raised the issue at a press conference organized last week by the Pontifical Foundation Aid to the Church in Need International at its headquarters in Konigstein, Germany.

The cardinal has been reiterating his doubts that the Easter Sunday blasts were just the product of a group of misguided youths bent on terrorism.

It was very well organized and coordinated; there were bombs in seven places in 15 minutes, although one of the bombers did not set off his explosives, the cardinal said at the virtual press conference on 14 March.

Collusion between authorities

Several commissions and inquiries were announced to try to get to the bottom of this tragedy and hold to account those responsible. Although some of these reports have been kept away from the public and from Church leaders, what has emerged is damning towards the authorities.

The Archbishop of Colombo, two of whose churches were bombed, demands clarity about possible collusion between authorities, including government figures and information services, and the terrorists. He said the Parliament Select Committee report makes recommendations against the former president, former inspector general of police, former defence secretary, former chief of intelligence and other top-level officials, for not having prevented the attacks.

Authorities wanted the attacks

The 74-year-old cardinal pointed out that they knew beforehand from the information they had gathered and also from warnings given by the Indian intelligence services, but they did nothing. On the contrary, the cardinal said the government seemed to have done its best to prevent the arrest of the attackers. There are indications that the authorities wanted the attacks to be carried out, Cardinal Ranjith pointed out.

He spoke about a sense of frustration among the people over unanswered questions.

"Why is it that those who were recommended for prosecution are not being prosecuted by the legal authorities? There are some areas indicated in the Parliament Committee report for further investigation, but they are not being investigated, why?

Electoral gains

The report of the Parliament Select Committee also points to collusion, hinting that it may have been for electoral gains.

Cardinal Ranjith said, The committee makes a very serious finding in terms of the status of the state intelligence apparatus, where intelligence information known to a few was not shared with relevant parties.

It also observes that further investigations will be needed to understand whether those with vested interests did not act on intelligence so as to create chaos and instil fear and uncertainty in the lead up to the presidential election to be held later that same year, the cardinal said, citing from the executive summary of the report.

Pain of victims

He spoke about the pain of the families of the dead and the many survivors who still bear the scars, both physical and emotional, of the attacks.

A man who lost his wife committed suicide three months ago, leaving his three daughters orphans. Another man who lost his wife and three children was living with his mother-in-law, but he had to leave and he went and slept in the cemetery, where his family is buried. Another woman was a dance teacher, but the explosion left her bedridden. She has a small child, meanwhile, her husband left her. The suffering she is going through is tremendous.

Pope Francis and UN Human Rights Council

The Archbishop of Colombo was on a visit to Europe during which he met Pope Francis on 28 February in the Vatican and updated him on the situation in Sri Lanka.

He told reporters he explained to the Pope that he will not rest in his pursuit of justice and truth. The Pope has been a great source of inspiration and hope for us. He has always told me to move ahead, struggle with the people to get justice for them. That is the challenge I have, the cardinal said.

Earlier in March, he briefed Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland, on the developments in his country. He also addressed the Human Rights Council where he raised the issue of the flawed investigation into the bombings.

Help us to create an atmosphere where our questions will be answered by the authorities. We do not want to degrade our country, but we want to make sure the lives of innocent people are not played with by politics, Cardinal Ranjit told the press conference in Konigstein.

ACN which has been assisting persecuted, oppressed and needy Christians worldwide for more than 70 years, has continued to support the Church in Sri Lanka, including after the Easter Sunday bomb attacks and during the Covid-19 pandemic. (Source; ACN)
Pope Francis holds a private audience with Michel Aoun, the President of Lebanon, discussing the Middle Eastern nations serious socio-economic problems and political reforms.

By Vatican News staff reporter

Lebanese President Michel Aoun met with Pope Francis in the Vatican on Monday.

The roughly 30-minute meeting highlighted the good diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Lebanon, which are marking their 75th anniversary this year.

A statement from the Holy See Press Office said the talks were cordial, adding that the two leaders discussed various interests of common concern.

Attention turned to the grave socio-economic problems the country is experiencing, and the situation of refugees, in the hope that the aid of the international community, the upcoming legislative elections, and the necessary reforms may contribute to strengthening peaceful co-existence between the various religious confessions that live in the Land of the Cedars.

The Pope and the Lebanese President also touched on the disastrous consequences of the Port of Beirut explosion on 4 August 2020, especially making reference to the demand for justice and truth expressed by the families of the victims.

President Aoun met separately with Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Vatican Secretary for Relations with States.
Vietnams pharmaceutical industry is among the highest growth markets with over 98 million citizens making it an attractive market for investors.

Despite this, the majority of domestic suppliers lack sufficient resources to fully exploit the market.

Vietnam Briefing looks at opportunities as well as challenges for foreign investors when investing in the countrys pharmaceutical industry.

Vietnams pharmaceutical market was valued at around US$10 billion in 2020, compared to US$5 billion in 2015. As per market research firm IBM, the size of Vietnams pharmaceutical industry may reach US$16.1 billion in 2026. According to IQVIA, the industry also observed a 2 percent increase year-on-year, achieving a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6 percent in the period 2018-2020.

Local consumer trends

Vietnam has a relatively large market size with a population of over 98 million and a life expectancy of approximately 76 years. Around 30 percent of the Vietnamese population that can afford relatively expensive western medicine is growing, equal to 30 million  the size of the entire Australian population. The industry also enjoys surrounding emerging markets with similar demands as Vietnam with a collective market size of 280 million including Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, and Singapore.

Vietnams pharmaceutical industry is one of the highest growth markets in the region thanks to increasing economic growth, rising income per capita, and an aging population.

As per the World Bank, the number of Vietnamese people aged 65 and over, reached 7.6 million in 2020 accounting for nearly 7.9 percent of the countrys total population. The General Statistics Office (GSO) forecasts that the number will reach 18.1 percent by 2049.

According to a report by the Vietnam Social Insurance Agency, in 2010, only 60 percent of Vietnams population had health insurance, while in 2019, this figure was up to 90 percent. Another driving force for the pharmaceutical industry is the rapid urbanization rate. Vietnams urbanization rate was at 37 percent in 2020 and in 2021 the urban population stood at approximately 36.6 million.

According to a study conducted by the EU-Vietnam Business Network (EVBN), 80 percent of individuals in Vietnam buy drugs from private pharmacies and self-medicate. Consumers are able to obtain drugs without a prescription, with common sources of information for decision-making when buying drugs being relatives or friends. Non-original and fake drugs can often find their way into pharmacies and clinics, hence buyers value brands known to them and advice from people close to them.

The pharmaceutical production and business system are expanding with about 250 manufacturing plants, 200 import-export facilities, 4,3000 wholesale agents, and more than 62,000 retail agents.

Major pharmaceutical companies in Vietnam are clustered in and around the capital Hanoi, Hai Duong province, Ho Chi Minh City, and some Southwest provinces including Can Tho City and Dong Thap province.

To meet increasing demand, many large pharmaceutical manufacturing enterprises such as Hau Giang Pharmaceutical, Bidiphar, Imexpharm, and Pymepharco have been investing in upgrading factories, aimed at making breakthroughs in developing new domestic pharmaceutical products as well as improving the competitiveness with imported products.

Remarkedly, Hai Duong province has recently confirmed its cooperation with Indian partners on a large-scale pharmaceutical park. The pharmaceutical park project is expected to be worth US$10-12 billion invested by Indian businesses. The Pharmaceutical Park project covers more than 900 hectares of land area in Binh Giang and Thanh Mien districts, the largest of its kind in Hai Duong province.

For Hai Duong, the project will also help welcome international investors, especially those in hi-tech industries. For Vietnam as a whole, it signals the countrys headway for future growth in the pharmaceutical industry.

Vietnams bidding and grade system

It takes about five years for a drug to enter the Vietnamese market after it has been developed, beginning with two and a half years of clinical trials, and then another two and a half years to receive approval from the government.

Vietnam uses a grading system to divide companies into different groups that decide how much they can be involved in bidding; a grade of 1 provides the most freedom and 5 the least.

Grade 1:

Countries that are part of the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH); or

Pharmaceutical companies that are based in Australia; or

Manufacturers certified by PIC/S GMP or EU GMP; or

Manufacturers that have won the World Health Organizations (WHO) GMP certification given by the Vietnamese government and sell their products to members of ICH.

Grade 2:

Companies must be part of the European Union CMP or certified with GMP by PIC/S.

Grade 3:

Pharmaceutical producers who have achieved WHOs FMP awarded by the Vietnamese government.

Grade 4:

The products must have gone through the bioequivalence

Grade 5:

All other drugs.

A potential market but underdeveloped industry

Despite rapid growth, Vietnams production capacity can only meet 53 percent of domestic pharmaceutical demand. In 2018, Vietnams spent nearly US$2.8 billion on importing pharmaceuticals, and in 2021, that number jumped to US$4 billion according to GSO.

Major import markets include France, Germany, India, United States, South Korea, Italia, and Belgium with antibiotics being the leading import product.

Vietnams Pharmaceutical Imports Year Import Value 2018 US$2.8 billion 2020 US$3.3 billion 2021 US$4 billion

In addition, pharmaceutical R&D activities are lacking serious investment. While the government has prioritized advancing its domestic pharmaceutical industry, the countrys capabilities are still limited to generic medicines (pharmaceuticals whose exclusive protection is expired), simple dosage forms, and functional foods.

Vietnam is also highly dependent on imported pharmaceutical materials, of which Chinese and Indian sources account for more than 85 percent. With its favorable tropical ecosystem, Vietnam has significant potential to grow medical plants, such as cinnamon.

However, the government still has no specific plans to develop large-scale medicinal plant growing areas at a national level. Some reputable local manufacturers have started developing their own medicinal plant farms, they only manage to meet a small amount of demand for production though.

Additionally, the input material is mostly imported from a few major markets, which has negatively affected the industry by increasing production costs and indirectly passing the cost onto the customers.

Such consequences were observed in late 2019 when the COVID-19 outbreak led to temporary shutdowns of many manufacturers in China and India, resulting in a shortage of pharmaceutical input ingredients in Vietnam.

Vietnam also lacks the appropriate supply chains to increase exports to more profitable regulated markets. Furthermore, many of the domestically produced and registered drugs may not comply with GMP (Pharmaceutical Inspection Co-operation Scheme Good Manufacturing Practice) standards observed in regulated markets, with 2-3 percent of drugs per annum failing to meet national quality standards.

Opportunities

Unlike the Chinese and Indian markets, local competition for innovative and complex treatments is not a threat to new investors as even major domestic manufacturers are still small and medium in size with limited capital, R&D resources as well as supply chains.

Therefore, with the right strategy, foreign pharmaceutical companies can benefit by involving in this early stage of the industry supply chains as there are yet to be large competitors in the market.

Investors can also take advantage of the preferential tariffs under agreements like the EU-Vietnam free trade agreement (EVFTA). EU investors are now allowed to establish a company to import pharmaceutical products and sell to local distributors or wholesalers. EU investors are also allowed to build warehouses and carry out clinical research and trials.

As per the EVFTA, Vietnam will also align with international standards on pharmaceuticals which means that products already certified in the EU will not require additional testing and certification in Vietnam, thus reducing time and costs in the Vietnamese market.

Challenges

One of the key challenges for foreign pharmaceutical businesses operating in Vietnam is that FDI logistic companies and foreign pharmaceutical companies are not permitted to distribute pharmaceutical products directly and must sell their products to domestic pharmaceutical distributors.

However, the distribution network is still fragmented, inefficient, and suffers from poor transparency. This system is subject to significant price distortion with hospital procurement involving bids that are 130-245 percent higher than the procurement price added with logistic costs.

Another challenge for MNCs operating in Vietnam is the potential delays in regulatory approval for new medicines. The Drug Administration of Vietnam remains the only branch of the Ministry of Health responsible for managing and approving market authorization, assessing GMP, and releasing business and product licenses.

Therefore, initial reviews can be expected to take up to a year, while clinical trials can take up to at least three years, and assessment of stability data adds another year. Such a lengthy regulatory procedure may undermine the competitiveness of any foreign pharmaceutical enterprise that aims for further approval for the US and European markets while making it more challenging for these companies to recoup the investment.

Advertising is another area that should be of concern to pharmaceutical businesses in Vietnam. Advertising of over-the-counter drugs is allowed in Vietnam, but the advertising of prescription drugs is illegal. This could create problems for the public to find access to a drug.

Market entry strategies

In spite of all the barriers facing foreign producers, the best way to enter the market and become established in Vietnam is to find a local partner that has the ability to form connections with pharmaceutical distributors. Using this strategy, one can also eliminate some of the challenges faced with brand awareness due to the restrictions on advertising in Vietnam.

Finding a local company to start such a joint venture or an M&A is an important first step to entering the market in Vietnam.

Other market entry options include investing in the form of a drug importer, operating a manufacturing company through an M&A, and participating in pharmaceutical-related bidding packages of certain central and local state agencies. In our experience, an M&A is one of the best options to enter the Vietnamese market.

Though Vietnam has implemented steps to reduce its dependence on imports and develop its domestic industry, most drugs are still imported, including raw materials. This offers an opportunity for companies to become involved in the industry supply chains with the right market entry strategies.

Takeaways

The pharmaceutical industry in Vietnam is a promising market for growth in Asia with increasingly higher demand thanks to an expanding population, improved income, increasing urbanization, and environmental conditions.

Nevertheless, lack of proper development and investment are the main concerns for the countrys pharmaceutical industry. In order to efficiently elevate the standards of the domestic pharmaceutical industry, Vietnamese companies and regulatory bodies will need to rely on a transfer of knowledge, skills, and resources from foreign partners.

Pharmaceutical companies also need to look to other suppliers besides major markets like China and India to ensure a sufficient supply of raw materials for production to meet the increasing demand.
Somalias federal government has declared a state of emergency due to a severe drought that is ravaging the country. The drought has contributed to an unprecedented water crisis that has led to a shortage of safe drinking water, poor sanitation and an outbreak of disease.

As a result of drought in Somalia's Middle Juba region, Fadumo Muse a mother of seven, had to leave her home and seek shelter at a camp on the outskirts of Mogadishu.

The camp has not been the refuge she was hoping for. A few days after the familys arrival, some of her children fell ill.

She said her family faces the same problem they faced before moving: severe shortages of water. Now her children are ill with diarrhea and they have not been provided with any medication or aid.

Muse is one of hundreds of thousands of Somalis who fled their homes due to the prolonged drought that hit central and southern Somalia especially hard.

The drought has led to a shortage of clean drinking water, a problem with effective sanitation, and an increase in waterborne diseases such as diarrhea, cholera and typhoid.

Dr Abdirizaq Yusuf, director of Mogadishus Martino hospital, said his facility has been overwhelmed with cases of waterborne disease.

He said children are frequently infected with acute watery diarrhea, which can cause massive death and social catastrophe.

Mohammed Hussein Abdi, the head of the Green Watch Trust, an organization dedicated to environmental protection, said the outbreaks can only be controlled with better coordination between authorities on the local and national levels.

He said a poor drainage system in the capital compounds the problems, as contaminated water overflows through neighborhoods during the rainy season. This often leads to outbreak of diseases, as children freely play in the stagnant pools of water, he told VOA.

The rainy season is due to arrive next month and will hopefully bring relief to all of Somalia. Meteorologists say rainfall is most likely to be average to below average.
The United States imposed sanctions Monday on Sudans Central Reserve Police (CRP) concerning grave human rights violations toward peaceful protesters who have been publicly demonstrating their strong objections toward the military coup in the country.

The U.S. Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said in a statement that the CRP has used excessive force toward peaceful demonstrators in Khartoum.

The statement cited the group for firing live ammunition on civilians in January where one protester was shot and later died.

The CRP has been at the front line of Sudans military response to protests that came after the military overthrew the transitional civilian-led transitional government in Sudan last October.



We condemn Sudans security services for killing, harassing and intimidating Sudanese citizens. These actions are exacerbating the crisis in Sudan and are a direct contradiction to the Sudanese security services stated commitment to participate constructively in a facilitated process to resolve Sudans political crisis and return to a democratic transition, said Brian E. Nelson, undersecretary of the treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence.

The Sudanese government joint forces, led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, killed at least 82 protesters during the demonstrations against the military coup since October, Agence France-Presse reported.

The coup in October has hindered power-sharing agreements between civilians and the army who have been negotiating since the 2019 overthrow of Omar al-Bashir, the hard-line dictator who ruled the country for nearly 30 years.



As a result of the imposed sanctions, all property and interests in property of the CRP that are in or come within the United States, or that are in the possession or control of U.S. persons, are blocked and must be reported to OFAC.

This is the first time the U.S. has imposed sanctions on a Sudanese institution after the fall of the former al-Bashir regime.
Authorities in Zimbabwe are attempting to enforce laws penalizing companies that discharge waste into rivers, which are used for water by citizens downstream.

The the sound of raw sewage spilling into the Mukuvisi River in the Harare suburb of Waterfalls. Local resident Mike Pfaranda is concerned about this situation.

Sewage is mixing with water. It has been like this for a long time. This is how we contract diseases like cholera," Pfaranda said. "I appeal to our council to repair the burst pipes. It has been a year like this. If they repair the pipes, that would have really assisted us so that we live a good life. They should assist us.

About 400 meters downstream, a woman is washing her son in the same river where raw sewage is flowing into the river after she finished laundry.

Rueben Akili from the Combined Harare Residents Association said authorities must deal with more than the sewage issue.

As an association, we note with concern the issue of discharge of pollutants into the main rivers," Akili said. "Harare is located on the catchment area of Lake Chivero, Seke Dam and Harava (Dam). Some of the industries, they discharge pollutants into the river, which have a bearing on water purification for the local authority, and even have a bearing on aquatic life and biodiversity.

In a written statement, the governments Environmental Management Agency, which is responsible for the prevention of pollution, said, Dilapidated and overwhelmed national sewer infrastructure, prolonged legal proceedings, non-deterrent fines and absence of properly engineered waste dumping facilities for both general and hazardous waste were some of the reasons for water pollution in Zimbabwe.

It added that its last survey revealed that about 400 megaliters of partially treated or raw sewage was being discharged into the environment daily nationwide.
Entering Yale University's St. Thomas More Catholic Chapel, Oksana Goroshchuk spotted sunflowers adorning a candlelit altar and thought of the fields full of her country's national blossom near her grandmother's home in Ukraine.

A mezzo-soprano launched into a traditional folk tune that Goroshchuk used to sing growing up, and the postdoctoral medical researcher broke down in tears of grief  and gratitude for the university community's solidarity with her homeland.

"It's people who support us and people who love us," said Goroshchuk, 32, who was born in Kyiv and whose parents recently escaped the war-torn country.

Across the United States, campus ministries of different denominations are working to bring comfort to college students who, after two years of pandemic disruption and isolation, have been plunged deeper into feelings of crisis and helplessness by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

From Ivy League schools to public institutions to Catholic universities, they're holding prayer vigils, organizing medical supply drives and staging emotional performances of sacred music. Chaplains say religious and nonreligious students alike, especially those with loved ones in war zones, urgently need a sense of community to help them cope.

"One of the best things we do in campus ministry is we foster community," said Lisa Reiter, director of campus ministry at Loyola University Chicago.

At the Wednesday night peace concert and benefit at Yale, dozens of attendees gazed quietly at an image of a crucified Jesus Christ holding a dove, backlit by the blue and yellow of Ukraine's flag. Cello suites, organ pieces, classical violin and piano melodies and a Ukrainian Orthodox chant echoed through the chapel.

"There's this mass movement by Russia to take away lives of Ukrainians. But they can't take away the culture, and they can't take away the language or the song," said Sofiya Bidochko, a 19-year-old Yale student from Lviv, Ukraine. "I feel the importance of preserving my Ukrainian-ness when I hear these songs."

To the north at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, the campus' Hillel organization recently welcomed several Ukrainian students to a Shabbat dinner, where they supped on matzo ball soup and deli sandwiches. The Jewish group's members listened to their guests talk about their homes and families and promised to support them.

"It was just nice to have this bit of community," said Yevheniia, a 20-year-old student who came to the dinner even though she was baptized Orthodox Christian and considers herself agnostic.

She asked that her last name be withheld to protect her parents  they live in an area in eastern Ukraine controlled by Moscow-backed separatists and recently messaged her to say they were going to a bomb shelter.

Also this month, at the University of Rhode Island, an interfaith peace vigil drew people from Christian, Muslim, Jewish and other faiths together in prayer. A Buddhist chaplain struck a Tibetan singing bowl to mark a moment of silence for those suffering and killed in Ukraine.

Organizers stressed the importance of not only making divine appeals but carrying out concrete, earthly action, and provided resources for students to do so.

"Prayer alone is not enough," said Amy Olson, chair of the university's Chaplains Association and executive director of its Hillel group. "We really put an emphasis on ways that people could either make charitable donations or contribute funds to help the cause, how they could write to their politicians or offer support to the Ukrainian community locally."

A similar solidarity vigil was held at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. And at Loyola University Chicago, the campus ministry partnered with the newly recreated Ukrainian student club to stage a drive that collected 60 tons of medical supplies for war relief.

Campus ministers at the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota, have been collecting money for humanitarian aid at religious services and say some $700 was put in collection baskets at Ash Wednesday Masses alone. A kiosk has also been set up with a scannable QR code for online donations.

The school is home to many Somali American students who attended a recent prayer for peace. As the children of refugees or refugees themselves, they have seen firsthand the horrors of war and "get shaken by" seeing them repeated in Ukraine, Muslim chaplain Sadaf Shier said.

Many chaplains said that remote education and a lack of socializing and shared rituals during the pandemic have frayed the social fabric that would normally help assuage the struggles and anxiety of students, some of whom worry the hostilities in Ukraine could spill beyond borders and ignite a World War III.

That means their mission has changed, becoming less focused on just worship and more on helping young adults re-engage with each other and the world. Often that entails channeling their concern into charitable action.

"Students have been trying to figure out what to do," said Sister Jenn Schaaf, assistant Catholic chaplain at Yale.

The mezzo-soprano whose performance at Yale moved Goroshchuk to tears was Karolina Wojteczko, a native of Poland who recently graduated from the university and now serves as music director at St. Thomas More.

Wojteczko was inspired to organize the concert by the distress she has noticed among both Eastern European and American friends. That included Russians, who she said are being "shunned from the communities right now." One student with family in both Ukraine and Russia confessed to feeling utterly lost.

The concert has helped people unite, cope and heal.

"After COVID everyone has been so separated," Wojteczko said, "and this is ... a way to just sit there and be, and participate, and feel that you are connected to people who need help in the world."
"CODA" won the top prize at Saturday night's Producers Guild Awards, giving momentum to the possibility that the small film could have a big night at next week's Oscars.

The story of three adult family members who are deaf and a fourth who is not and seeks a singing career beat out bigger contenders including "The Power of the Dog," "Dune" and "West Side Story" to take an award that  more often than not  goes on to win the Academy Award for best picture.

"This movie has been an amazing ride, it was such a special one to make, there was so much love and so much heart put into it," said Fabrice Gianfermi as he accepted the award with his "CODA" co-producers Philippe Rousselet and Patrick Wachsberger at the 33rd PGA Awards.

An American Sign Language translator, who had been off to one side of the stage throughout the night's speeches, stood front and center during the "CODA" acceptance and another stood in front of the stage to translate for the three actors from the film who are deaf: Troy Kotsur, Marlee Matlin and Daniel Durant.

"CODA," an acronym for "children of deaf adults," is nominated for three Oscars at the March 27 ceremony, including best adapted screenplay for writer-director Sian Heder and best supporting actor for Kotsur, who is expected by most to become the first actor who is deaf since Matlin in 1987 to win an Oscar.

After it won best ensemble at last month's Screen Actors Guild Awards it began to appear "CODA" could get real consideration for best picture. The odds may be getting better. The top PGA award winner has gone on to win the top Oscar in three of the past four years and 10 of the past 13. Academy Award voting closes Tuesday.

The PGA Awards, an untelevised show from the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles honoring producers of film and television, is as much like a company awards banquet as a typical awards show, with no speeches cut short for time or curses bleeped out.

Issa Rae, producer of "Insecure" and "A Black Lady Sketch Show," accepted the guild's Visionary Award.

Ninety-year-old Rita Moreno, star of the both the 1961 and 2021 versions of "West Side Story," accepted the guild's Stanley Kramer Award, which honors someone who has combined a career of artistry and activism.

"This business has taken tenacity and hard work," Moreno said. "Advocating for issues of social justice for the last 60 years, it's been exhausting, exhilarating and life-giving."

Moreno said the night itself was both joyful and exhausting after taking the stage at 11 p.m. local time, nearly three hours into the show.

"I was really getting tired," she said. "My buttocks are a bit sore."

George Lucas and Kathleen Kennedy, stewards of the Star Wars universe and producers of many other notable motion pictures, were honored for their careers with the PGA's Milestone Award.

Presenter Steven Spielberg, whose films have been produced by both Lucas and Kennedy, called them "two titans" who are "still just like kids playing in a sandbox."

Lucas acknowledged that his favorite achievement may not be the most popular among his peers, including the one who introduced him Saturday.

"The thing I'm the most proud of is digital cinema. That was something that I worked on for 20 years. Spent many many millions of dollars to make it happen," Lucas said. "Some still don't believe in it. Where's Steven?"

Spielberg, standing in the wings, acted out the operation of a traditional film camera, to laughs from the crowd.

"But we're all friends," Lucas said.

"Summer of Soul" won the PGA's documentary film category and "Encanto" won the award for animated movies. Both are also nominated for Oscars.

In the PGA's television categories, awards went to the producers of "Succession," "Mare of Easttown" and "Ted Lasso."

Greg Berlanti, producer of shows including "Dawson's Creek" and several series from the D.C. comic universe, was given the guild's Norman Lear Award and was praised for advancing LGBTQ characters and storylines.

Outgoing co-presidents of the guild Gail Berman and Lucy Fisher were tearful as they expressed joy that they could finally see their gathered peers in person after two years during which the pandemic forced the show to go virtual.

They praised their fellow producers for keeping the industry alive during their tough tenure.

"Hollywood loves a comeback story," Fisher said, "and boy, yours is one for the ages."
There is enough groundwater on the African continent to provide everyone with enough drinking water to face at least five years of drought, and in some cases up to 50 years. This is according to a new analysis done by the British Geological Survey and WaterAid, presented at the World Water Forum in Dakar.

The British Geological Survey and WaterAid after a ten-year survey found that throughout Africa there are enough subsurface water reserves to serve the entire population. Even in parched locations, according to BGS chief researcher Alan MacDonald, there can be adequate groundwater, he explains through Zoom.



When you realize the groundwater resources are maybe 20 times the amount of water we have in the rivers and lakes of Africa," said MacDonald. "Then its a really amazing fact but because its hidden its so often out of sight and out of mind.

This applies to Turkana, Kenya, one of Africas driest regions, where camel caravans trek between the scarce water sources. It is one of the worst affected places on the continent, according to the Famine Early Warning System. Turkanas water minister, Vincent Palor, confirms the situation is dire.

The water sources are drying up because the water table has gone down. The body condition of the livestock is poor," said Palor. "When we also look at the vegetation cover, the vegetation cover is not pleasant because its drying up.

But even in Turkana, there appears to be water just beneath the feet of the camel herders. According to a 2013 report Turkana has enough groundwater to service Kenya for 70 years. However, a government survey has shown the water is too salty.

Virginia Newton-Lewis, a senior policy analyst at WaterAid, explained that investments are needed to get usable water.

We need mapping, we need monitoring," said Newton-Lewis. "This takes investments, this takes investments in also equipment. It takes investments in human resources to do that. And then we need investments in the way we get the water that we find to the people that need it the most.

BGS researcher Alan MacDonald added that the report is timely since groundwater is crucial amid droughts caused by climate change.

As droughts are becoming more common, then people are looking for a much more reliable source of water, which is why I think there is an increased interest in groundwater resources because they are much more reliable than rainwater or river water or even reservoirs," said MacDonald.



Turkanas Minister Vincent Palor is pleased with the renewed focus on groundwater exploration, as he is concerned that continuing water shortages may exacerbate the situation.



If the water stress continues this means there will be a scramble for water, and this may force these pastoralists to move to neighboring countries, and then at times contributing to conflict," said Palor.



There is however respite for Turkana and Africa since another recent survey by BGS suggests that 80% of the subterranean water is likely to be acceptable for drinking.
ATHENS  Greece has offered to rebuild a bombed maternity clinic in Ukraines war-torn Mariupol. The Russian attack that killed a pregnant woman and her child, leaving dozens more injured, has since then triggered global outrage.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced the initiative after talks with his counterparts from Italy, Spain and Portugal  three nations that lace the southern rim of the European Union, along with Greece  all countries struggling to cope with the dire repercussions of the Russian offensive in Ukraine.

We have to consider strengthening the European Union and the fallouts of an energy crisis that we now face, Mitsotakis said on Friday. As members of NATO, he added, we also must consider increasing defense budgets.

Yet, as the Greek prime minister expressed what he called his abhorrence at the Russian invasion, he stressed the need to waste no time in helping rebuild war-torn Ukraine, especially Mariupol, home to at least 100,000 ethnic Greeks, among the biggest pockets of Greek heritage beyond Greece.

This is not just a city with a strong Greek presence, Mitsotakis said, but a city that has become an emblem of resistance against Russian aggression. And while our decision to rebuild the maternity clinic may be a small gesture, it is an important task to rebuild Ukraine once this war ends, hopefully soon, he added.

Thousands of ethnic Greeks have existed in Mariupol since the 18th century. By some accounts, going back to the sixth century B.C., a long line of history that came under threat last month when a convoy of dozens of cars evacuating scores of Greeks came under fire, killing 10 Greeks.

The Kremlin denied any involvement, blaming Ukrainian fighters instead.

But the deadly incident has soured traditional ties of friendship between Athens and Moscow. It also shifted public sentiment in Athens with most taking the side of Ukraine and against Russian President Vladimir Putin, who Greeks have revered in the past.

Athens has donated some 40 tons of Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-propelled grenades to assist Ukrainian fighters. It has also taken in thousands of Ukrainian refugees of Greek descent, inviting them to apply for more than 50,000 jobs in the tourism and agriculture sectors.

However, this active support for Ukraine has Greece bracing for some more financial pain, this time targeting its biggest money-making industry: tourism.

A hugely popular summer destination for Russians, the Kremlin is now advising against travel to Greece. As many as 500,000 Russian tourists were expected this year. And while the number may mark a tiny slice of the 34 million visitors who visited the country in its record year in 2019, Greece has been struggling through the pandemic to regain those figures.

It is a loss, officials say, Greece can afford even if it comes at the precious price of saving its heritage.
While much of the world is focused on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, analysts warn that nations should not ignore Islamist militants, who are increasing attacks in Africa's Sahel region and spreading to West Africa's coastal states.

Since 2020, terror groups linked to Islamic State and al-Qaida have carried out attacks against Ivorian forces. In response to the threat, French security forces are training the region's militaries.

One Ivorian commando, who declined to give his surname, said the threat is real and they are preparing to face it in every way possible.

"In Ivory Coast, we are really, really focused on terrorism, because in the north part of our country, we are facing terrorism, so we're talking about sea, air and land. That's why we are here," William said.

Security analysts say terrorism is spreading to the north of coastal states like Ivory Coast, Ghana, Benin and Togo  the next phase in the western Sahel's decade-long conflict.

Large parts of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger are experiencing daily attacks targeting military and civilians alike.

Since 2020 began, there have been 17 incidents  including gun battles and roadside bombs  in the north of Ivory Coast linked to al-Qaida-affiliated groups, according to the U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.

Ivory Coast has sent large numbers of troops to the north in response to these attacks.

The commander of French forces in the country, Colonel Arnaud Mettley, expressed doubt regarding fears that terror groups had co-opted local populations in Ivory Coast.

"For the moment, we think that the local population does not cooperate with the jihadist groups, because there is a strong answer from the Ivorian armed forces  but it's really, it's a real concern for us," he said.

He added that limiting the spread of the terrorist threat from Burkina Faso is possible, saying, "We cannot prevent the threat going to the south, but we can succeed in fighting this threat."

The United States last month carried out Operation Flintlock, an exercise to promote cooperation among regional, NATO and U.S. forces, in Ivory Coast for the first time. Richard K. Bell, the U.S. ambassador to Ivory Coast, said a sustained effort will be needed against terror groups spreading in the north.

"I think the nature of this threat makes it very difficult to eliminate it entirely," Bell said. "I think it can be contained at a really low level. And I believe that the key to success is the support of the population."

Analysts say a military response by itself will not be enough.

Geoffroy-Julien Kouao, an associate researcher at the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, a research organization in Germany, said the areas in question are poorly developed, with glaring social problems. He said there are not enough schools, not enough water supply, not enough electricity, not enough jobs for the youth, and terror groups will exploit these social deficiencies to recruit young people.



Asked if he had a message for terror groups operating in Ivory Coast, William, the Ivorian commando, said, "I don't have any particular message for them, but I'm just ready for them."

Efforts to boost that readiness are continuing.
There is a proverb in Afghanistan that says, The one who feeds, commands.

This may not be entirely true in the case of the de facto Taliban regime that rules but does not provide food for an overwhelming majority of Afghans who are suffering from hunger.

Donors and U.N. agencies, not ruling Afghans, feed them.

This year, the U.N.s goals to spend $4.4 billion on humanitarian and essential services for Afghanistan is several times larger than the war-ravaged countrys government will spend on everything.

The Taliban government had a budget of about $520 million for the first quarter of the year.

The U.N. says together with some 150 nongovernmental organizations, it will deliver essential humanitarian assistance to some 22 million Afghans  about 70% of Afghanistans estimated population.

There are also funds for human rights, civil society and other non-humanitarian programs that are channeled exclusively through NGOs.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, for instance, pays the salaries of around 10,000 public health employees. An ICRC spokeswoman told VOA the organization does so in order to prevent the health system from crumbling completely.

To keep the countrys education system functional, the U.N. Childrens Agency has said it will pay a monthly stipend of about $100 for two months to about 194,000 public school teachers, male and female.

As Afghanistan hovered over a banking and financial crisis, the U.N. took all conceivable measures to inject liquidity into the economy, including the physical import of cash, Deborah Lyons, the top U.N. official for Afghanistan, told the Security Council on March 2.

The current aid approach requires U.N. agencies and NGOs to bypass the de facto government in Afghanistan because of strict international sanctions on the Taliban.

When aid agencies bypassed the local government to deliver humanitarian aid in the aftermath of a catastrophic earthquake in Haiti in 2010, some experts said donors had turned the country into a republic of NGOs.

Arguably, Afghanistan has been an NGOs republic for 30 to 40 years, Rahmatullah Amiri, an independent consultant who recently co-authored a report on the Talibans taxation for the International Center for Tax and Development, told VOA. Since the Talibans ascent to power, the international aid system has gone even more unilateral, Amiri added.

No alternatives

Over the last two decades, donors spent billions of dollars on building state institutions for Afghanistan. The U.S. alone spent $36.14 billion on governance and development in Afghanistan between 2002 and 2021.

Donors have now adopted an approach that according to Florian Weigand, co-director of the Center for the Study of Armed Groups at the Overseas Development Institute, undermines the very same institutions that the international community tried to build or strengthen.

Before the collapse, some 75% of the governments spending was provided by foreign donors, according to the U.S. Special Inspector General for the Reconstruction of Afghanistan.

Afghanistans nascent public institutions crumbled last year when the former Afghan government collapsed, and foreign donors ceased all development funds.

As public institutions failed, the country plunged into a startling economic and humanitarian crisis threatening the lives of millions of vulnerable Afghans.

It's important to recognize that in an acute crisis when time is of the essence, providing assistance through the U.N. and NGOs can help deliver urgent lifesaving support very quickly, Sarah Rose, a policy expert with the Center for Global Development, told VOA.

While the Afghan crisis isnt over, Lyons told the Security Council that donors and aid agencies have averted a winter famine in Afghanistan.

Neither the Taliban government nor donors have direct oversight on international aid disbursements in Afghanistan, leaving some to worry about aid mismanagement.

"We know that U.N. agencies have high overhead costs, and they have their own fees," Nadia Akseer, a scientist at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, told VOA.

Taliban obligations

Already the poorest country in South Asia, Afghanistans GDP is set to contract about 30%, with per capital income dropping to $350 in 2022, according to the U.N. Development Program.

We have never seen the impacts of poverty and societal breakdown on such a scale, said Anita Dullard, an ICRC spokeswoman. And this is only increasing.

In an effort to raise the $4.4 billion needed to mitigate Afghanistans looming humanitarian crisis, this week, foreign donors will attend a joint U.N.-U.K. virtual summit.

And what does the Taliban government do to alleviate the crisis in Afghanistan?

In the words of Talibans chief minister Mohammad Hasan Akhund, the hunger calamity is a test of God. Speaking at a Cabinet meeting in November, Akhund said the Taliban were not responsible to feed the hungry masses and that people should turn to God for sustenance.

The delivery of basic services through NGOs may look like a convenient pathway for the Taliban, said Weigand, adding that the Taliban face the growing need to build legitimacy with the Afghan people.

Taliban leaders claim their legitimacy came from the people, but they never held elections and have abolished Afghanistans electoral bodies.

Taliban authorities have forcefully sought international recognition of their government, which no country has officially recognized, but they have resisted calls for the formation of an inclusive government in which women have fair representation.

The current state of affairs is not sustainable, as donors will eventually find themselves less committed to giving aid to Afghanistan indefinitely, particularly when the host government assumes no responsibility, experts say.
Islamic countries formally launched Monday a trust fund to help ease the humanitarian and economic crisis in Afghanistan where millions of people face hunger and poverty.

The 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), headquartered in Saudi Arabia, signed the charter of what is called the Afghanistan Humanitarian Trust Fund (AHTF) at a ceremony hosted by Pakistan.

OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha stressed in a post-signing brief statement that Afghans have been enduring very difficult times since the change in regime in Kabul." He referred to the Taliban takeover of the war-ravaged country last August.

Our trust fund  aims to support the Afghan people, Taha said. I will conclude by making a call for all the member states of OIC, all the stakeholders, to participate and to contribute to this fund.

The decision to establish the fund was taken during the emergency OIC meeting in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, in December on how to help address the unfolding catastrophe in Afghanistan.

Officials said the AHTF charter allows donations both from within and outside the OIC system.

In view of the emergency nature of the needs, we are committed to expeditiously disperse the funds mobilized by the OIC, said IsDB President Muhammad Sulaiman Al-Jasser, speaking alongside Taha.

He explained that his bank, in coordination with the United Nations and other international organizations, will work toward implementing a comprehensive phased approach to promote self-reliance, long-term peace and stability in Afghanistan.

This can be achieved by enhancing agriculture productivity to promote food security, supporting small and medium enterprises to create local employment opportunities and ensuring access to quality education, especially for females, he said,

Al-Jasser also stressed the need for focusing on Afghan women and youth empowerment. The IsDB is a multilateral development finance institution, and there are 57 shareholding member states, with Saudi Arabia being the largest single shareholder.

Nearly two-thirds of Afghanistans population  about 23 million people  need urgent humanitarian assistance. Thats up 30% from one year ago. The World Food Program says 9 million Afghans are just one step away from famine.

The Talibans seizure of power and the withdrawal of U.S.-led international forces led to an immediate suspension of international financial assistance to the aid-dependent country.

Billions of dollars in Afghan central bank assets, mostly held in the U.S., have also been frozen. The freezing of Afghan assets and imposition of banking sanctions, aid groups say, have worsened the countrys humanitarian crisis, stemming from years of war and persistent drought.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who oversaw the signing event, said the trust fund will serve as a vehicle to collectively galvanize and channel international relief assistance to the Afghan people.

We all must try our utmost to make this a resounding success. In the wake of a humanitarian crisis, the Afghan people need our urgent attention. We must not fail them, Qureshi stressed.

No country has yet recognized the Taliban as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan.

The international community is demanding the Islamist group ensure respect for human rights, particularly those of women, govern the country with an inclusive administration and prevent terrorist groups from using Afghan soil for cross-border attacks.

OIC Meeting

Mondays launch of the trust fund came a day before OIC foreign ministers and senior dignitaries are set to meet in Islamabad for two days of wide-ranging discussions,

Pakistani officials said delegates at Tuesdays 48th session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers will discuss opportunities and challenges facing the Muslim world in the political, security, social and economic spheres. The situation in Afghanistan will also be at the top of the agenda, they added.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has also arrived in Islamabad to attend the meeting as a special guest, while senior officials from non-OIC countries, envoys from the United Nations, regional and international organizations, including the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council, will also participate.

Wangs participation and address to the OIC-led meeting will mark the first time in the history of the organization that a Chinese leader will partake in it, Qureshi said in a statement.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is thanking Israel for its mediation efforts, but he had harsh words for the leadership when he addressed the Israeli lawmakers by videoconference Sunday, accusing the Jewish State of not doing enough to help Ukraine and comparing Russias assault to the Holocaust. The comparison is one many Israelis reject.

Looking tired and wearing his trademark army khaki T-shirt, President Zelenskyy spoke to the Israeli Knesset by Zoom for just under nine minutes. He repeatedly invoked the Holocaust.

The Ukrainian leader recalled how the Nazis did not want to leave any Jews alive, and how they called it the Final Solution. Zelenskyy said he knows Israelis will never forget that and he urged Israel to listen to how Moscow is also calling its invasion of Ukraine a final solution.

He went on to castigate Israel for not supplying arms to Ukraine, for not imposing sanctions on Russia, and for not accepting more Ukranian refugees.

It was the comparison to the Holocaust that sparked controversy here.

Dani Dayan, the chair of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Center, said Zelenskyy should apologize.

Lets make a clear differentiation between the Russian invasion, which is deplorable, and apparently there are a lot of actions taken by the Russian army that are apparently beyond the pale, and historical comparisons, the wrong historical equivalences that President Zelenskyy made, especially his reference to the final solution, said Dayan.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett took a more moderate position, saying that while the comparison is not appropriate, he understands Zelenskyys pain. Bennett spoke at a ceremony Monday for an Israeli field hospital that is being set up in Ukraine.

He said, we are managing this unfortunate crisis with sensitivity, generosity and responsibility, while maintaining a balance between the various factors  and they are complex, Bennett said.

A day after his speech to the Knesset, Zelenskyy changed his tone dramatically. In his nightly video address, he thanked Israel and Prime Minister Bennett for its mediation efforts. He said he hoped that sooner or later, Ukraine will begin to have talks with Russia, possibly in Jerusalem.
WASHINGTON  The Senate Judiciary Committee is beginning historic confirmation hearings Monday for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who would be the first Black woman on the Supreme Court.

Barring a significant misstep by the 51-year-old Jackson, a federal judge for the past nine years, Democrats who control the Senate by the slimmest of margins intend to wrap up her confirmation before Easter.

Jackson is expected to present an opening statement Monday afternoon, then answer questions from the committee's 11 Democrats and 11 Republicans over the next two days. She will be introduced by Thomas B. Griffith, a retired judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and Lisa M. Fairfax, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School.

Jackson appeared before the same committee last year, after President Joe Biden chose her to fill an opening on the federal appeals court in Washington, just down the hill from the Supreme Court.

Her testimony will give most Americans, as well as the Senate, their most extensive look yet at the Harvard-trained lawyer with a resume that includes two years as a federal public defender. That makes her the first nominee with significant criminal defense experience since Thurgood Marshall, the first Black American to serve on the nation's highest court.

In addition to being the first Black woman on the Supreme Court, Jackson would be the third Black justice, after Marshall and his successor, Justice Clarence Thomas.

The American Bar Association, which evaluates judicial nominees, on Friday gave Jacksons its highest rating, unanimously well qualified.

Janette McCarthy Wallace, general counsel of the NAACP, said she is excited to see a Black woman on the verge of a high court seat.

Representation matters, Wallace said. It's critical to have diverse experience on the bench. It should reflect the rich cultural diversity of this country.

It's not yet clear how aggressively Republicans will go after Jackson, given that her confirmation would not alter the court's 6-3 conservative majority.

Still, some Republicans have signaled they could use Jackson's nomination to try to brand Democrats as soft on crime, an emerging theme in GOP midterm election campaigns. Biden has chosen several former public defenders for life-tenured judicial posts. In addition, Jackson served on the U.S. Sentencing Commission, an independent agency created by Congress to reduce disparity in federal prison sentences.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., highlighted one potential line of attack. Ive noticed an alarming pattern when it comes to Judge Jacksons treatment of sex offenders, especially those preying on children, Hawley wrote on Twitter last week in a thread that was echoed by the Republican National Committee. Hawley did not raise the issue when he questioned Jackson last year before voting against her appeals court confirmation.

The White House pushed back forcefully against the criticism as toxic and weakly presented misinformation. Sentencing expert Douglas Berman, an Ohio State law professor, wrote on his blog that Jacksons record shows she is skeptical of the range of prison terms recommended for child pornography cases, but so too were prosecutors in the majority of her cases and so too are district judges nationwide.

Hawley is one of several committee Republicans, along with Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who are potential 2024 presidential candidates, and their aspirations may collide with other Republicans who would just as soon not pursue a scorched-earth approach to Jackson's nomination.

Biden chose Jackson in February, fulfilling a campaign pledge to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court for the first time in American history. She would take the seat of Justice Stephen Breyer, who announced in January that he would retire this summer after 28 years on the court.

Jackson once worked as a high court law clerk to Breyer early in her legal career.

Democrats are moving quickly to confirm Jackson, even though Breyer's seat will not officially open until the summer. They have no votes to spare in a 50-50 Senate that they run by virtue of the tiebreaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris.

But they are not moving as fast as Republicans did when they installed Amy Coney Barrett on the court little more than a month after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and days before the 2020 presidential election.

Barrett, the third of President Donald Trump's high court picks, entrenched the court's conservative majority when she took the place of the liberal Ginsburg.

Last year, Jackson won Senate confirmation by a 53-44 vote, with three Republicans supporting her. It's not clear how many Republicans might vote for her this time.

Jackson is married to Patrick Johnson, a surgeon in Washington. They have two daughters, one in college and the other in high school. She is related by marriage to former House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who also was the Republican vice presidential nominee in 2012. Ryan has voiced support for Jackson's nomination.

Jackson has spoken about how her children have kept her in touch with reality, even as she has held a judge's gavel since 2013. In the courtroom, she told an audience in Athens, Georgia, in 2017, people listen and generally do what I tell them to do.

At home, though, her daughters make it very clear I know nothing, I should not tell them anything, much less give them any orders, that is, if they talk to me at all, Jackson said.
For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine.

For the latest developments of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, all times EST:

11:55 p.m.: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiyy said Monday that any deal agreed in peace negotiations to end the war with Russia will be submitted and decided by the Ukrainian people through a referendum and not only by him. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has the story.

10:30 p.m.: The U.N. Human Rights office, or OHCHR, announced the number of civilian casualties since the war began following Russias invasion of Ukraine. On Monday, the OHCHR said 925 civilians have been killed and about 1,496 have been injured.

Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes, the agency said.

8:35 p.m.: Oil futures extended gains on Tuesday morning on news that some European Union members are considering imposing sanctions on Russian oil and as attacks on Saudi oil facilities sent jitters through the market, according to a Reuters report.

8:30 p.m.: In a video address shared online early Tuesday, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 8,057 people had been rescued through humanitarian corridors on Monday in several cities, including Kyiv and Mariupol. Thank you to everyone who did it, who worked for the people," he said.

8:25 p.m.: VOA U.N. correspondent Margaret Besheer reports that the U.N. General Assembly will resume its emergency special session on Ukraine at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

7:14 p.m.: President Joe Biden on Monday warned U.S. companies of evolving intelligence that Russia is considering cyberattacks against critical targets as the war in Ukraine continues. "The more Putins back is against the wall, the greater the severity of the tactics he may employ  one of the tools hes most likely to use in my view, in our view, is cyberattacks, Biden said.

6:50 p.m.: Latest British military intel assessment on Russia-Ukraine:

6:26 p.m.: Statement from CISA Director Easterly on Potential Russian Cyberattacks:

5:52 p.m.: Readout of the Administrations Briefing of CEOs on Russias War against Ukraine: Today, Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Senior Advisor Cedric Richmond, and National Economic Council Director Brian Deese met with 16 CEOs of major companies across several industries including energy, food, and manufacturing to provide a briefing on the latest developments on Putins unprovoked and unjustified war against Ukraine.

4:09 p.m.: VOA national security correspondent Jeff Seldin tweets that among the highlights of Mondays Pentagon briefing by press secretary John Kirby:

-- U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will travel to Europe this week with President Joe Biden.

-- No signs of travel to Ukraine by foreign fighters recruited by Russia.

-- "We certainly see clear evidence that Russian forces are committing war crimes, and we are helping with the collecting of evidence of that," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said. "It's largely indiscriminate.  We continue to see indiscriminate attacks against civilians which we believe in many cases is intentional.

4 p.m. : Its a critical week for diplomacy, as U.S. President Joe Biden heads to Europe Wednesday for a special NATO summit aimed at defusing the conflict in Ukraine and imposing more consequences on Russia for its invasion. European nations fear this conflict could spread into their territory. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell reports from Washington DC.

3:51 p.m. : The battle for Ukraines strategic port of Mariupol raged Monday, as Ukraine rejected a Russian offer to evacuate its troops from the besieged city and Russian bombardment continued, The Associated Press reported. Russian and Ukrainian soldiers are fighting block-by-block for control of the city where at least 2,300 people have died, some buried in mass graves. Ukrainian officials rejected a Russian offer that its troops be granted safe passage out of the encircled city, which would hand Mariupol to Russia. There can be no talk of any surrender, laying down of arms, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk told the news outlet Ukrainian Pravda.

3:40 p.m. : The United States cannot independently confirm or refute a Russian claim over the weekend that it fired hypersonic missiles at a Ukrainian target, but the use of such a weapon makes little sense from a military perspective and could be meant to send a message, a senior U.S. defense official said on Monday. "It's a bit of a head-scratcher, to be honest with you, because it's not exactly clear why -- if it's true - why would you need a hypersonic missile fired from not that far away to hit a building," the U.S. official told reporters on condition of anonymity, according to Reuters.

3:20 p.m. : Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday said any compromises agreed with Russia to end the war would need to be voted on by Ukrainians in a referendum, Reuters reported. "The people will have to speak up and respond to this or that form of compromise," he said in an interview published by Ukrainian public broadcasting company Suspilne. Issues that could be raised in any referendum could concern territories occupied by Russian forces, including Crimea, or security guarantees offered to Ukraine by countries in lieu of NATO membership, he said.

2:25 p.m. : Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is thanking Israel for its mediation efforts, but he had harsh words for the leadership when he addressed the Israeli lawmakers by videoconference Sunday, accusing the Jewish State of not doing enough to help Ukraine and comparing Russias assault to the Holocaust. The comparison is one many Israelis reject. VOAs Lisa Gradstein reports.

2:16 p.m. : A 96-year-old survivor of the World War II-era Nazi concentration camps has been killed by Russian shelling in Ukraine's eastern city of Kharkiv. The Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorial said on Monday that the vice president of the Buchenwald-Dora International Committee, Borys Romanchenko, had died after a Russian bomb hit his apartment block in Kharkiv on March 18. "We are stunned," the foundation said. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has the story.

2:03 p.m. : Ukrainians and Russians are arriving at the southern U.S. border in the wake of Russias invasion of Ukraine. But reaching the border with Mexico does not guarantee immediate access into the United States, as VOAs Vincente Calderon reports from Tijuana.

1:45 p.m. : The Associated Press shared images from the war in Ukraine on Monday.

1:42 p.m. : Some of Ukraine's most vulnerable orphans have reached relative safety at a hospital in Kyiv where doctors hope to be able to provide care and perform life-saving surgeries, Reuters reported Monday. Four infants are now being treated at the Kyiv Heart Centre, the country's leading cardiology and cardiac surgery hospital. More than 70 children, including infants, who have spent the past two weeks cared for in bomb shelters in the besieged city of Sumy in northeastern Ukraine have been safely evacuated, local officials said over the weekend. Most were transferred to Lviv in western Ukraine but some were too sick to continue the journey.

1:33 p.m. : Ukraines Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Monday appealed to China to help seek a political solution to the war in Ukraine.

1:12 p.m. : Ukrainian prosecutors have opened an investigation into the alleged forceful seizure by Russian troops of five ships carrying Ukrainian grain in the port of Berdiansk, the general prosecutor's office said on Monday. The criminal case is being handled by prosecutors in southern Zaporizhzhia region, it said. Russia did not immediately comment on the statement by the general prosecutor's office, Reuters reported.

1:08 p.m.: The U.N. World Food Programmes executive director, David Beasley, on Monday warned that Russias invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing conflict is adversely affecting agriculture and trade, and that it could trigger a potential catastrophe on top of a catastrophe for food availability in parts of the world in a few months time.

1:06 p.m.: As a country with a receptive environment with easy access, Uzbekistan has been the destination of thousands of Russians fleeing uncertainty at home amid Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. And their arrival and need for housing has had an immediate effect on the price of real estate in the capital, Tashkent. Khurmat Babadianov has the story for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

12:41 p.m.: Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday highlighted the difficulties that civilians face under the constant threat of air raids and bombardments.

12:40 p.m.: Russia's foreign ministry said on Monday it had summoned U.S. Ambassador John Sullivan to tell him that remarks by U.S. President Joe Biden about Russian President Vladimir Putin had pushed bilateral ties to the brink of collapse, Reuters reports. President Biden said last week that Putin was a "war criminal" for sending tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine. "Such statements from the American president, unworthy of a statesman of such high rank, put Russian-American relations on the verge of rupture," the ministry said in a statement. The Kremlin earlier described the comments as "personal insults" against Putin.

12:32 p.m.: Forced civilian deportations from Ukraines besieged port town of Mariupol to Russia are unconscionable, U.S. officials said Sunday after authorities in Kyiv and Mariupols mayor accused Moscow of transporting thousands of people against their will. VOAs Jamie Dettmer has the story.

12:24 p.m.: The Russian military said Monday it hit a shopping mall on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv because it was used to store rockets, The Associate Press reported. Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov charged that the Ukrainian forces were using the shopping mall to reload multiple rocket launchers and store rockets for shelling Russian troops, but these claims could not be independently verified. The shopping center in the densely populated Podil district was reduced to smoldering ruin after being hit late Sunday in shelling that killed eight people, according to Ukrainian emergency officials.

12:20 p.m.: A Moscow court on Monday found Meta Platforms Inc guilty of "extremist activity", but said its decision would not affect the WhatsApp messenger service, focusing its ire on the company's already banned Facebook and Instagram social networks, Reuters reported. Moscow's Tverskoi District Court upheld a lawsuit filed by Russian state prosecutors on banning the activities of Meta on Russian territory, the court's press service said in a statement. The U.S. company's lawyer, Victoria Shagina, had said in court earlier on Monday that Meta was not carrying out extremist activities and stood against Russophobia, the Interfax news agency reported. TASS cited judge Olga Solopova as saying the decision would be enforced immediately.

12:10 p.m.: One of the worlds top chess players has been banned from competitions for six months over his support for Russias invasion of Ukraine, The Associated Press reported Monday. Russias Sergey Karjakin, a former challenger for the world title, expressed complete support for Russian President Vladimir Putin in an open letter. A disciplinary panel of the International Chess Federation ruled Karjakin had broken a rule against tainting the reputation of the game of chess or the organization that administers it. The 32-year-old represented Ukraine until 2009 before switching allegiance to Russia. He was born in Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.

12:04 p.m.: International sanctions over Russias invasion of Ukraine have caused some Russian tourists to be stranded while on vacations abroad. VOA News reports.

11:48 a.m.: The European Union's foreign ministers disagreed on Monday on whether and how to slap sanctions on Russia's lucrative energy sector over its invasion of Ukraine, with Germany saying the bloc was too dependent on Russian oil to decide an embargo, Reuters reported. The EU and allies have already imposed a range of measures against Russia, including freezing its central bank's assets. But targeting Russian oil, as the United States and Britain have done, is a divisive choice for the 27-nation EU, which relies on Russia for 40% of its gas.

11:36 a.m.: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked American celebrities Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis over the weekend, noting that they raised $35 million so far to aid Ukrainians affected by Russias invasion.

11:21 a.m.: Russia has told its academics to avoid scientific conferences abroad this year, the science and higher education ministry said on Monday. Moscow finds itself increasingly isolated over its military campaign in Ukraine, Reuters reported. The ministry said it had also decided to suspend the indexation of work by Russian scholars in international databases until the end of the year. Russia must remain on the frontier of global science. But we need to act in accordance with our national interests, Minister Valery Falkov said in a statement. Russian scientists who regularly exchange information with their foreign counterparts face scrutiny from the authorities.

11:15 a.m.: A senior U.S. defense official on Monday provided a briefing on the latest developments regarding Russias invasion of Ukraine. VOAs National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin has the details.

11:01 a.m.: The artist behind a mural in Prague protesting the Russian invasion of Ukraine says the response to his work has been huge. Dmitry Proskin, who lives in the Czech capital with his family, told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that photos of the mural have been shared worldwide since he completed the work last week. The main thing is that it is being seen by Ukrainian people, the Kazakh-born artist said. They are sending me messages of thanks, so my main goal of showing Ukrainians our support was reached, he added.

10:42 a.m.: VOAs Jamie Dettmer reports on life for Ukrainians in Russian-occupied towns, where they report hunger, fear, and abductions.

10:40 a.m.: The European Union's migration commissioner warned on Monday that Ukrainian children were in danger of being trafficked as they flee their country from the Russian invasion, Reuters reported. Ylva Johansson told a news conference in Estonia that about half of 3.3 million Ukrainians who had fled to EU countries since the start of the war were children. She noted that so far there had been very few unaccompanied children reported at EU borders, and only few reports of trafficking. However, police forces, activists and Ukraine's women organizations had signaled some "alarming" cases, she said, noting that in past situations of mass migration these abuses were common.

10:37 a.m.: The Ukrainian capital Kyiv woke up Monday morning to new scenes of devastation after a Russian air strike the night before destroyed a shopping mall. Ukraines prosecutor-general said at least eight people had been killed in the attack, which also hit residential buildings.

10:24 a.m.: This week, the U.N. General Assembly is expected to resume an "emergency special session" to vote on a draft resolution prepared by France and Mexico on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine. The text demands an immediate stop to Russia's hostilities against Ukraine, especially attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure. It also demands the full protection of civilians, including humanitarians, medical personnel, journalists and foreign nationals, and of people trying to flee the conflict. The text calls for the full respect of international humanitarian law, including an end to sieges on Ukrainian cities, including Mariupol, and strongly encourages continued negotiations between all parties for an immediate peaceful resolution of the conflict. VOAs UN Correspondent Margaret Besheer is following developments.

10:21 a.m. : U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Monday that the fallout from Russias war in Ukraine risks upending global food and energy markets  with major implications for the global climate agenda. Speaking at the Economist Security Summit, he said, As current events make all too clear, our continued reliance on fossil fuels puts the global economy and energy security at the mercy of geopolitical shocks and crises. We need to fix the broken global energy mix.

10:11 a.m. : Ukrainian authorities have set up a help line to provide information to the families of Russian soldiers who are missing in action. Borys Sachalko and Ivan Lyubysh-Kirdey have this story for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

9:54 a.m.: Britain is accusing the Russian state of being behind hoax calls to two government ministers by an imposter posing as the prime minister of Ukraine, The Associate Press reported Monday. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said the hoaxer was able to speak to him on a video call last Thursday. Wallace said he became suspicious and hung up after the caller posed several misleading questions. He accused Russia of dirty tricks. Home Secretary Priti Patel said she had received a similar call, and Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said an unsuccessful attempt was made to speak with her.

9:52 a.m. : Oil prices surged on the global market Monday.

9:33 a.m.: Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Ukraines capital Kyiv, and his brother Wladimir, a world champion boxer and member of the Kyiv Territorial Defense Forces, spoke with the Washington Post Live Monday, saying Russia needs to leave Ukraine now, and appealing for more humanitarian, military and political support from the West.

Unity  its our key to stop the war, the mayor said, We are fighting for our future. He spoke of destruction in his city, enumerating the apartment buildings and schools that have been hit and noting hundreds of casualties, adding that these attacks provide huge motivation to Ukrainians to defend their homes.

We want to live in a peaceful country, his brother Wladimir said, adding this reckless war was started by Russias President Vladimir Putin, who he accused of committing war crimes. He said that the Territorial Defense Forces are getting smarter every day, we are learning more about our enemies every day, and he noted that the men and women fighting are trying hard to prevent Russian troops from encircling Kyiv. We need to act now. We need to wake up now. We need to isolate Russia now, tomorrow may not exist for the Ukrainians, he said.

9:15 a.m.: The U.N. human rights office (OHCHR) said on Monday it had recorded 2,421 civilian casualties in Ukraine - 925 killed and 1,496 injured as of midnight on March 20, Reuters reported.

8:47 a.m.: Human Rights Watch said Monday that Russias invasion of Ukraine is exacerbating hunger in the Middle East and North Africa, and it called for a strong response to protect the right to food.

8:33 a.m.: Ukraine and Russia held more peace talks Monday, Reuters reported. Russian and Ukrainian peace negotiators held a 90-minute video call and working groups will continue to meet throughout the day, a member of the Ukrainian delegation said. "Today we are working the whole day," Ukrainian delegate and lawmaker David Arakhamia was quoted as saying by Ukrainian media.

8:28 a.m.: Death and destruction are common sights across the Ukrainian coastal city of Mariupol, which has been devastated by weeks of relentless Russian military attacks. Despite a Russian military ultimatum, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Monday that there can be no question of surrender. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty shared images from a city under siege.

8:02 a.m.: A Moscow court on Monday rejected an attempt by Facebook owner Meta Platforms to have extremism charges against it dismissed, according to Reuters. Russia has already banned Facebook for restricting access to Russian media while Instagram was blocked after Meta said it would allow social media users in Ukraine to post messages urging violence against Russian President Vladimir Putin and troops Moscow sent into Ukraine on February 24. Meta has since narrowed its guidance to prohibit calls for the death of a head of state and said its guidance should never be interpreted as condoning violence against Russians in general.

7:30 a.m.: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelinskyy has warned that the Baltic states could be Russia's next target. The Baltic regions NATO members  Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - are vulnerable from land and sea, Reuters reports.

7:22 a.m.: Since the shelling began to intensify in Kyiv and Kharkiv about a week ago, Julia Entin has been working feverishly  thousands of miles away in Los Angeles  to evacuate Holocaust survivors in Ukraine who find themselves trapped in yet another conflict.

7:07 a.m.: European Union countries on Monday accused the Russian armed forces of committing war crimes in Ukraine, but appeared unlikely to impose new sanctions on Moscow despite a clamor across Europe for those responsible for attacks on civilians to be held to account, according to The Associated Press. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said before he chaired a meeting of the 27-nation blocs foreign ministers in Brussels that whats happening in Mariupol is a massive war crime.

6:41 a.m.: The European Union should step up sanctions on Russia to target its lucrative energy sector, the foreign ministers of Lithuania and Ireland said Monday. The European Union and its Western allies have already imposed sanctions including freezing Russias central bank's assets. But whether to target Russian oil, as the United States and Britain have done, is a tough and divisive choice for the 27-nation EU, which relies on Russia for 40% of its gas. The Kremlin said on Monday Europe would be hit hard in the event of an embargo on Russian oil, striking the continent's energy balance, Reuters reported.

6:33 a.m.: Authorities in Odesa accused Russian forces of carrying out a strike on residential buildings in the outskirts of the Ukrainian city early on Monday, the first such attack on the Black Sea port city. The city council said there were no casualties although the strike caused a fire, Reuters reported. These are residential buildings where peaceful people live, Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov was quoted as saying. Russia denies targeting civilians.

6:30 a.m.: A superyacht linked to sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich was cruising a few miles off the coast of southwest Turkey on Monday, after skirting European Union waters in recent days, ship tracking data showed. Abramovich was among several Russian billionaires added last week to an EU blacklist that already included dozens of wealthy Russians, and EU governments have acted to seize yachts and other luxury assets from them.

6:14 a.m.: Mstyslav Chernov is a video journalist for The Associated Press. This is his account of the siege of Mariupol, as documented with photographer Evgeniy Maloletka and told to correspondent Lori Hinnant.

6:05 a.m.: Ukraines prosecutor general said a Russian shell struck a chemical plant outside the city of Sumy early Monday morning, causing a leak in a 50-ton tank of ammonia that took hours to contain. Russian military spokesman Igor Konashenkov clained the leak was a planned provocation by Ukrainian forces to falsely accuse Russia of a chemical attack, The Associated Press reported.

5:55 a.m.: A new 35-hour curfew has been announced in Kyiv Monday, beginning from 8 p.m. local time until 7 a.m. on Wednesday, James Waterhouse, Kyiv correspondent for the BBC said in a Twitter post. Authorities say anyone seen on the streets (without a special pass or not making their way to a shelter) will be considered an enemy, he added.

5:30 a.m.: Ukraine has managed to rotate staff working at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant for the first time since Russia seized it last month as it invaded its neighbour, Agence France-Presse reported, citing the U.N.s nuclear agency.

Ukraine told the International Atomic Energy Agency that around half of the staff were finally able to return to their homes on Sunday, AFP reported, after working at the Russian-controlled site for nearly four weeks, IAEA director general Rafael Grossi said.

4:40 a.m.: New Zealand will send non-lethal military equipment to Ukraine. The government in Wellington is also providing more financial assistance to Ukraine following the Russian invasion. From VOA, Phil Mercer reports from Sydney.

3:30 a.m.: The leaders of the United States, France, Germany, Italy and Britain are scheduled to participate in a call Monday to discuss what the White House called their coordinated responses to Russias unprovoked and unjustified attack on Ukraine.

The meeting comes days ahead of a NATO summit, a G-7 meeting, and a European Council summit all focused on the situation in Ukraine.

3:20 a.m.: Video released by Ukraines State Emergency Service Sunday showed a large blast in the Kyiv suburbs followed by firefighters scrambling to rescue people stranded beneath the rubble.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko said shelling hit residential houses and a shopping district in Kyivs Podil district late Sunday, killing at least one person. The State Emergency Service video shows firefighters and other rescuers rushing into a shopping center, where a large fire had started, before extricating a person trapped beneath building materials. Russias invasion of Ukraine has killed thousands, displaced more than three million and raised fears of a wider confrontation between Russia, NATO and the United States.

3:00 a.m.: Britains Defense Ministry reported heavy fighting north of Kyiv on Monday, but said Russian advances toward the Ukrainian capital have stalled with the bulk of Russian forces still more than 25 kilometers from the center of the city.

2:30 a.m.: Ukraines armed forces reported artillery fire in the countrys port city Odesa on Monday morning.

2:00 a.m.: Greece has offered to rebuild a bombed maternity clinic in Ukraines war-torn Mariupol. The Russian attack that killed a pregnant woman and her child, leaving dozens more injured, has since then triggered global outrage. But Greece's initiative spells out more than an act of support to the war-ravaged region. For VOA, Anthee Carassava explains from Athens.

1:25 a.m.: Russia continues its attack on Ukrainian cities as its invasion is in its fourth week. The U.N. says 10 million people are now displaced both in and out of Ukraine. U.S. President Joe Biden travels to Europe this coming week to meet with allies to discuss the crisis. VOAs Arash Arabasadi has more.

12:10 a.m.: Officials are reporting an ammonia leak at a chemical plant in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy.

The BBC reported that the regional governor said people within five kilometers of the Sumykhimprom plant should evacuate. The leak was first reported at 4:30 a.m. local time. No cause was listed.
Anhelina sat and prayed in the basement of her home in Bucha after Russian forces overran her small town north of Kyiv this month after fierce fighting. There was no light, water, or gas. It was impossible to go out because they shoot. People were being shot around the house, which is a terrible sound, even scarier than the bombs, said the mother of a three-year-old daughter.

That day Russian soldiers had broken into her home and inspecting the mobile phones of her father and husband found text messages to the local Ukrainian territorial defense forces. They were taken away for interrogation. And I just sat and prayed in the dark for their return, she told VOA in a text message.



Anhelina was lucky. The men were returned and a Russian commander who loves children told his men not to scare the toddler. They brought food, water and candy for the little one, she says. That was the only glimmer of hope in the terrifying days she spent under Russian occupation.



Chechen fighters miraculously passed our house one day. The friendly commander told her if they had entered, they probably would have killed her in revenge for the deaths of many of their men in a Ukrainian ambush.

Her story isnt dissimilar to the testimony of others trapped in occupied towns and villages. Ukrainians disparagingly refer to their invaders as orcs, a reference to the malevolent goblin-like beasts' author JRR Tolkien portrayed in his trilogy Lord of the Rings.

Abductions, shots, threats

It wasnt how Russian soldiers expected to be greeted. Russian POWs have told their Ukrainian captors their commanders told them theyd be welcomed as liberators. But theyre being met with civilian protests and surliness, even in predominantly Russian-speaking regions, to the surprise of the shunned intruders.



And the occupying forces are responding harshly  with threats, intimidation, shootings. At checkpoints men are brusquely examined to see if their chests or backs display signs of chaffing caused by wearing flak jackets. There have been allegations of torture, and so far, unverified reports of rapes. Last week Ukrainian lawmaker Lesia Vasylenko said women in some occupied towns near Kyiv had been subjected to barbaric sexual assaults.



Russian soldiers, many dispirited and demoralized, are looting, say locals.



Orcs are hungry, a woman in the southern town of Kherson told VOA. At first they would go house to house and ask for food, now they just take it, and they steal food from passers-by and stores, she said. They also take cars, trucks, and daub Z on them, she added, in reference to the Russian army invasion marking thats become a pro-war Russian symbol.



Locals are split on the reasons for the looting. Some say it is a tactic of terror aimed at breaking their will to resist; others suspect it is plain hooliganism by ill-disciplined and hungry troops.



In Bucha, Veronika, who managed to flee the town after living under Russian occupation for three days, told VOA: They use peoples houses like their own. Eat and charge up their walkie-talkies and clean their guns. And when they leave, they steal a lot of things also, they steal everything, even food blenders, do you understand? Even blenders, carpets, everything. They're taking everything from our houses and sometimes they burn houses for no reason.

She added: Sometimes they kill people. I don't know why. At the house of a friend, when the husband went to the outhouse they killed him with three shots, one to the back, another one to the stomach. I don't remember where the third one was. They never gave a reason.



Veronika said it got worse with the second wave of soldiers who entered Bucha. The first wave seemed to be more professional, more disciplined, but the soldiers who came later, many of whom were from Chechnya, really were beasts.



The Russians disperse peaceful protests with their guns. When people stand up to them, they often shoot, the woman in Kherson said. One time they fired at the ground, causing ricochet injuries. About five people were wounded, she added. A blogger, a girl, was broadcasting live near them. She was stuffed into a car. Until now, nothing is known about this girl, she added.

Kherson was encircled on February 27 and endured a brief siege before Russia captured it on March 3, the first major Ukrainian town to fall to Russian forces. The mayor, Igor Kolykhaiev, urged troops who stormed a town hall meeting not to shoot civilians; he counseled residents to heed the rules he managed to negotiate with the Russians. He managed to persuade the invaders to allow the Ukrainian flag to remain flying above the town hall.



The Russians may have seized Kherson, but the town has not kowtowed. There is still episodic peaceful civil resistance in the form of protests, which the Russians respond to stony-faced or with shots, threats and abductions.



And that is how it is playing out in other Ukrainian towns as the Russians install new political knyaz, or masters, and puppet administrations, according to locals in occupied towns in southern and eastern Ukraine. On Sunday thousands of protesters rallied in Kherson and in occupied Enerhodar, where they demanded the release of the towns deputy mayor, who has been abducted. Video posted on social-media sites show Russian soldiers in Berdyansk, a port town on the Sea of Azov, beating protesters as they lay on the ground.



The mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, was abducted on March 11 by Russian troops. Local residents protested. He was released last week in exchange for nine Russian POWs. Fedorov told Current Time TV, a Russian-language television channel overseen by Radio Free Europe and VOA: It is a rather difficult ordeal when they take you for seven hours with a bag on your head, not knowing where, and you don't trust the people who took you.



His interrogators didnt manhandle him  they didnt need to as there was a constant air of menace. Or there was someone being tortured in the next cell over  and you could hear the screams, which absolutely pressured you, psychologically, so that it could definitely be compared with intimidation, with torture, and so on. So all of these six days were quite difficult, he said. The mayor of the small southern Ukrainian town of Dniprorudne, was also abducted last week, according to Ukrainian authorities. His fate is unknown.

Protests

Khersons mayor hasnt been dragged off. But on Thursday the Russians announced a new governing authority for the town, using the same name as used for other puppet administrations, the Rescue Committee for Peace and Order. In Kherson the new knyaz are pro-Russian politicians with links to the party of former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, who was ousted in 2014 by the Maidan uprising. Most of the towns residents remain uncooperative. Kherson's attitude to the Russian world had been neutral before the war, said a local woman, who asked not to be named.



But after the events of February 24, it changed. Numerous demonstrations show this. People show remarkable courage and bravery during these protests, she said. The city is full of [pro-Russian] separatists. These separatists are despised. Most are corrupt officials from previous city administrations. They try to cajole people. They promise benefits; they blackmail; they intimidate, she added. Another said: You cant complain, or theyll put you on an enemies list.



Homes of suspected political activists are raided. There are checkpoints across Kherson and frequent Russian patrols stop, search and interrogate residents, checking mobile phones. We are seeing it a lot, a Kherson resident said. A lot of people have deleted their social-media accounts or they clean up their messages in Viber or Telegram before leaving home, they added.



Igor Kolykhaiev, Khersons legal mayor, has been trying to oversee emergency repairs and get some rudimentary basic services functioning. The new knyaz are at a loss and issue half-baked orders, locals say. That is reminiscent of what happened eight years ago in Donetsk, one of the two eastern Ukrainian oblasts seized in 2014 by pro-Moscow separatists, as this correspondent witnessed when reporting from the city.



The Moscow-backed insurrectionists who seized control of Donetsk were ignorant of the basic mechanics of practical politics. When they stormed the local city treasury to seize money, the treasurer had to explain that tax proceeds were not stored in actual cash in the building.



According to locals, pharmacies are almost empty, and so. too, food stores. Despite shortages, most people wont accept Russian humanitarian aid thats trucked in. The Russians just wanted a pretty propaganda picture, said a local. Ukrainian humanitarian aid conveys have been rebuffed by the Russians.



Trying to escape from occupation isnt easy. On March 10 Anhelina and her family heard a humanitarian corridor was being opened up for Bucha. On the journey out, she spent a night with her relatives and others in another basement, where a sewer broke. and so in the stench, cold, sitting, we waited for the morning.



Wheelchair, white flag, a minimum of things and we set off. We walked past the corpses of civilians [how many of them there were]. I didnt explain anything to the child, because I didnt know what to say, she says.



Every few meters Russians ordered us to stop and put our hands up. Later we noticed my three-year-old was also raising her hands, she says. At a checkpoint a civilian car sped by and hit a mine. There was almost nothing left, she says.



Anhelina then explained what happened next: You can't go back, only forward, men in front, Im with the wheelchair behind. Passed mines, corpses, shattered military equipment, we made our way to freedom.



We are safe now, but nothing will be the same. We try to talk normally, even joke a little, but when I close my eyes, I see a road of dead people, and how we stood with our hands up, waiting for the Russians to decide about us.
SYDNEY  New Zealand said it plans to spend $3.46 million to help Ukrainian forces fight the Russians.

The government in Wellington said the additional money would mostly contribute to a NATO Trust Fund that provides fuel, rations, communication equipment and first aid kits.

The New Zealand military will also provide tactical equipment, including body armor that is surplus to its own requirements.

Delivering this non-lethal aid would most likely be by New Zealand defense force aircraft, and could also involve the Australian military.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday that her country is eager to help.

Today, the government has also decided to support the Ukrainian armed forces with tactical defense equipment such as body armor, helmets and vests, Ardern said.

Todays announcements add to the rolling economic sanctions we have imposed through the newly enacted Russian Sanctions Act, as well as NZ$6m previously provided in humanitarian support bringing our total contribution to NZ$11m. The sanctions imposed from around the world are having an effect, and, so, New Zealand will continue to play its role in supporting our partners to oppose this war.

New Zealand authorities have not decided to supply lethal aid to Ukrainian forces. It has, however, imposed financial sanctions and travel bans on several Russian politicians and military officers. The ground-breaking law allows New Zealand to freeze the assets of those associated with Russia.

Prime Minister Ardern said it would not be a surprise if New Zealand was hit by retaliatory sanctions by Russia.

She said the February 24 invasion of Ukraine by Russia was a huge disruption to the international rules-based order.

The government has said that New Zealanders traveling to Ukraine to fight in the conflict would probably not be breaking any domestic laws, although the official advice is for citizens not to travel to the region.
There are no indications of survivors following the crash of a China Eastern Airlines flight that officials say was carrying 132 people in a remote mountainous region of southern China on Monday.

The airline said in a statement Monday it deeply mourned the passengers and crew but did not specify how many people had been killed.

Chinese media reports quoted local search and rescue workers as saying they had found no signs of life among the plane's wreckage.

Officials from the Civil Aviation Administration of China say the Boeing 737-800 was en route from the southwestern city of Kunming to the eastern city of Guangzhou when it went down near the city of Wuzhou in China's Guangxi region.

The crash sparked a fire that could be seen on NASA satellite images.

According to data from the flight-tracking website FlightRadar24.com, the plane was traveling at about 30,000 feet when it suddenly entered a deep dive.

Chinese media broadcast a video that appeared to show a plane in a near vertical nosedive. It was not possible to verify the authenticity of the footage.

Chinese President Xi Jinping called for investigators to determine the "cause of the accident as soon as possible," state broadcaster CCTV reported.

The twin engine Boeing plane is one of the world's most popular planes for short and medium-haul flights.

China Eastern is one of China's top three airlines, according to the Associated Press, with headquarters in Shanghai.

The last deadly crash involving a civilian jetliner in China was in August 2010, when a plane flown by Henan Airlines crashed on its approach to Yichun airport.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
Two international mining companies have settled their long-running dispute with Pakistan in a deal that officials said will revive work on developing one of the worlds largest gold and copper deposits in the South Asia nation.

Canada-based Barrick Gold Corp. and Chiles Antofagasta had suspended work on the Reko Diq mine in the impoverished southwestern Balochistan province in 2011 after Pakistan refused to grant them a license to develop the project, leading to a decadelong legal battle.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khans office said in a statement that under the new agreement signed with Barrick on Sunday, the nearly $11 billion penalty slapped against Pakistan by a World Bank arbitration court would be waived.

Barrick will invest nearly $10 billion in Balochistan and it will create more than 8,000 jobs, noted the statement issued after the signing ceremony in Islamabad. It added that about $1 billion of the investment would go into building roads, schools, hospitals and the creation of technical training institutes for mining in the sparsely populated Pakistani region.

"The new project company shall be owned 50% by Barrick Gold. The remaining 50% shareholding shall be owned by Pakistan, divided equally between (the) federal government and the provincial government of Balochistan," Khans office said.

Federal Minister of Energy Hammad Azhar later told a news conference that the landmark $10 billion investment will represent the single largest investment in Pakistan.

Khan said in a tweet the Reko Diq project will potentially be the largest gold & copper mine in the world. It will liberate us from crippling debt & usher in a new era of development & prosperity, he said.

Barrick said in a press release the deal would now grant the company a mining lease, exploration license and surface rights. It noted that the project hosts one of the worlds largest undeveloped open pit copper-gold porphyry deposits.

This is a unique opportunity for substantial foreign investment in the Balochistan

province and will bring enormous direct and indirect benefits not only to this region but also to Pakistan for decades to come, said Mark Bristow, the president and chief executive officer of the Toronto-based company, who led his delegation at Sundays signing ceremony in the Pakistani capital. He added that Reko Diq could be in production within five to six years.

Antofagasta announced separately that it had agreed to exit the project as its growth strategy was now focused on the production of copper and by-products in the Americas.

Barrick and Antofagasta jointly discovered the vast Reko Diq mineral deposits more than a decade ago at the foot of an extinct volcano in Balochistan, saying they had invested $220 million.

The largest, natural resources-rich Pakistani province sits at the countrys borders with Iran and Afghanistan.
Forced civilian deportations from Ukraines besieged port town of Mariupol to Russia are unconscionable, U.S. officials said Sunday after authorities in Kyiv and Mariupols mayor accused Moscow of transporting thousands of people against their will.

The claims are unverified so far but earlier this month Kyiv rejected an offer from Moscow to create humanitarian corridors allowing civilians to flee six heavily bombed Ukrainian cities when it emerged that Moscow expected the civilians to use the proposed safe routes to go to Russia or its ally, Belarus.

Only two of the corridors proposed by Russia would end up funneling civilians into safer Ukrainian-controlled territory. French president Emmanuel Macron accused Russia of moral and political cynicism, adding, I do not know many Ukrainians who want to go to Russia.

Ukraines leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, dismissed Moscows proposed routes for civilian evacuation to Russia as completely immoral.

The city council in Mariupol was the first to make the allegation about forced civilian deportations to Russia. The governor of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kirilenko, also accused Moscow of having forcibly deported more than 1,000 inhabitants of Mariupol.

Kirilenko said deported civilians were being processed at Russian filtration camps where their mobile phones were checked and then their identity documents confiscated Then they are sent to Russia, he said on Facebook, adding their fate on the other side is unknown.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Sunday: Ive only heard it. I cant confirm it. She added: But I can say it is disturbing. It is unconscionable for Russia to force Ukrainian citizens into Russia and put them in what will basically be concentration and prisoner camps.

According to some reports the deported civilians are being sent to remote Russian towns and given identity documents that indicate they can work where they are sent and are not allowed to relocate for two years.

The reports of the involuntary deportations have drawn scathing criticism from authoritative historians, who label them a distressing echo of the Soviet era when Communist autocrat Josef Stalin ordered deportations of entire nationalities, forced labor transfers and organized migrations in opposite directions to fill ethnically cleansed territories.

Stalin evicted 1.8 million kulaks from their homes and relocated them to labor camps and remote parts of Russia in 193031. A further estimated 1 million peasants and ethnic minorities were involuntarily relocated between 193239. Under Stalins rule 3.5 million ethnic minorities were forcibly relocated between 1930 to 1952.

In May 1944, over three days, nearly 200,000 Tatars, mostly women and children, were deported on cattle trains from Crimea and dispatched to Uzbekistan. Since the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014 Tatars still living on the peninsula have not been permitted to commemorate the event.

If wed paid attention to what Putin did to the Crimean Tatars after the 2014 annexation wed hardly be surprised by his forced deportations in Mariupol today. Russian occupation forces are not merely committing war crimes in Ukraine, theyre committing crimes against humanity, tweeted Jasmin Mujanovic, the author of Hunger and Fury: The Crisis of Democracy in the Balkans.

Plumbing yet more depths of evil, deportations from Mariupol to Russia, and according to Ukraine human rights spokesperson, deprived of passports and forced to work at specified Russian locations for at least 2 years  essentially deported slave labour, tweeted Simon Schama, author of The Story of the Jews Volume Two: Belonging.

Schamas own familys history included deportations and forced migrations which had among other relatives, his own parents passing through Turkey, Lithuania, Moldova and Romania.

When Putin says that there is no Ukrainian nation and no Ukrainian State, he means that he intends to destroy the Ukrainian nation and the Ukrainian State. Everyone gets that, right? tweeted Timothy Snyder, who specializes in the history of Central and Eastern Europe and the Holocaust.

Snyder was referencing Putins frequently repeated view that Ukrainians are basically Russians. The Russian leader has long pushed a narrative that Ukraine is part of Russia.

He famously declared to then-U.S. President George W. Bush in 2008: You have to understand, George, that Ukraine is not even a country. In 2014, after annexing Crimea and using armed proxies, later backed by the Russian military, to seize part of Ukraines Donbas region, Putin said: Russians and Ukrainians are one people.
A U.N. investigator is calling for an end to North Korea's international isolation, warning continued exclusion will prolong the country's worsening human rights violations.

U.N. investigator Tomas Ojea Quintana said in his report, submitted Monday to the U.N. human rights council, that North Korea locked itself away from the rest of the world at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. He said this complete isolation has coincided with a new cycle of missile tests and tensions on the Korean peninsula.

Quintana believes the ongoing deterioration of the country's human rights situation is linked to its ever-increasing isolation from the international community. He said a new cycle of escalation in tensions on the Korean Peninsula could rapidly and dangerously destabilize the region.

"The current situation in Ukraine and other armed conflicts reminds us of the devastation brought about by war," he said. "In my view, a diplomatic approach towards peace and denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, which build upon previous negotiations and is combined with proactive engagement on the human rights situation, is the only way forward."

Quintana said the government's oppressive control of the population has tightened under the country's COVID-19 border shutdown and travel restrictions. He added that the government of President Kim Jong Un has instituted many draconian measures, such as a system of arbitrary detention without fair trial guarantees, to maintain effective control of the population.

"There is widespread fear of arbitrary arrest and mistreatment in detention, especially for those forcibly repatriated, including detention in Kwanliso, the political prison camps," Quintana said. "These political prison camps represent the worst excesses of a system of governance that systematically violates the human rights of its people."

Quintana said chronic food insecurity is widespread, affecting 41 percent of the country's population, and malnutrition remains a leading cause of maternal and child mortality. If the current situation persists, he warned, vulnerable populations may face acute hunger and starvation.

The U.N. expert's pleas for the government to enact policies to improve the dire condition of its people fell on deaf ears. North Korea boycotted the meeting.


GENEVA  Syrias government, opposition and civic society representatives are set to begin a seventh round of U.N.-mediated talks this week to draft a new constitution for the battle-scarred country.

The last round of talks in October ended in acrimony with government and opposition delegates blaming each other for the failure to reach an agreement. They said a mechanism was needed to improve the workings of the last day of the session. They indicated they would not return to the negotiating table until that was done.

U.N. special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen says, with his help, the parties have agreed on a deal and have decided to meet again. He says he has had good businesslike meetings with the committee co-chairs who have agreed upon a work agenda for the coming week.

However, after six previous rounds of talks that ended in failure, he says he is wary of predicting how the talks will go.

If the three delegations do what they have said what they will do, I hope that we can see some steady progress, Pedersen said. But I learned that through the six previous round of talks, I should not prejudge the outcome of the discussion.

In 2012, the U.N. created a so-called road map for peace in Syria. Part of this plan calls for the drafting of a new constitution, followed by U.N.-supervised elections. However, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad preempted this last provision. He held presidential elections last May, which he allegedly won by a landslide. Western countries have called the election a sham.

Pedersen says the negotiations will seek to draft for popular approval  a constitutional reform  either through an amendment of the current constitution or by drafting a new constitution.

I have consistently said that the committee should work in a way that builds trust and confidence. And during this session, I hope to see the constitution committee work with a sense of seriousness and purpose and determination to make progress that the situation demands, Pedersen said.

The United Nations reports Syrias 11-year war has killed more than 350,000 people, displaced nearly 12 million both inside the country and as refugees in neighboring countries, and plunged more than 90% of the population into poverty.
There's no room in the morgue at Mazyr. It's filled with the bodies of Russian soldiers.

At one hospital in this Belarusian city about 60 kilometers from the border with Ukraine, the hallways and wards are filled with the sounds of soldiers moaning from their battlefield wounds.

At the main train station, Russian soldiers have been recorded on video ferrying stretchers  apparently holding wounded servicemen  from a military ambulance to a waiting train operated by Russia's state railway company.

And in Naroulya, a town still closer to the Ukrainian border, residents report that a Russian field hospital has been set up in a former motor depot, and wounded Russian soldiers are being flown in from Ukraine, treated briefly, then shipped on to Mazyr and the regional capital, Homel.

Now in its fourth week, Russia's war in Ukraine continues to extract a horrific toll on Ukrainian civilians and soldiers on both sides. Some of the deadliest attacks and fighting have happened near the Belarusian border close to Homel; near the Russian border in Kharkiv and Sumy in the east; and around southern port cities such as Mariupol and Kherson.

Full and reliable casualty counts have been hard to come by. Among civilians, the United Nations has recorded 780 killed and more than 1,250 wounded  but it estimates that the actual figures are much higher, and Ukrainian officials say thousands of civilians have been killed.

The toll among combatants has also proved elusive, with experts saying each side seeks to exaggerate the losses of the enemy and minimize its own.

In Russia, coming up with an accurate tally is even harder, due to government regulations that have clamped down on independent reporting  and even made uttering the words "war" and "invasion" a potentially criminal offense.

But in the Belarusian regions bordering Ukraine, residents and medical workers have reported a rising tide of corpses and maimed servicemen being shipped out of Ukraine and then sent elsewhere for further treatment  or burial.

More than 2,500 soldiers' corpses had already been shipped from the Homel region back to Russia by trains or by plane as of March 13, according to one employee of the Homel regional clinical hospital.

Like all the people who spoke with RFE/RL, this individual asked not to be named out of fear of retribution or prosecution by Belarusian or Russian security agencies.

The figure could not be independently verified.

'It Was Unbelievable How Many Corpses There Were'

Ukraine's military claims that more than 14,000 Russians have been killed since Russia launched the invasion on February 24 -- a number that is much higher than most independent estimates. The military has not released formal casualty figures, saying it is a state secret, but President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last week that about 1,300 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed.

Russia's Defense Ministry, meanwhile, claims that more than 2,870 Ukrainian soldiers and paramilitary fighters have been killed, and around 3,700 wounded. Its only official tally of Russian casualties came on March 2, when the ministry said that 498 soldiers had been killed and 1,597 wounded.

Earlier this week, U.S. intelligence put the Russian military death toll at more than 7,000  and said that is a conservative estimate.

One place to look for evidence of Russian military deaths is the Homel region: Wedged into southeastern Belarus, it borders Russia to the east and Ukraine to the south. The city of Homel is Belarus's largest after Minsk, and a major hub for trade and transport.

Under strongman leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka, Belarus has increasingly become a vassal state of Russia, according to experts. Lukashenka has voiced strong backing for Russia's war, allowed deployment of major Russian military units in the country, and threatened to send Belarusian forces into Ukraine.

Before the invasion, tens of thousands of Russian troops were positioned close to the Ukrainian border. An unknown number of them crossed from the Homel region and pushed south toward Kyiv, but they have advanced slowly and suffered substantial losses.

In Mazyr, whose population is around 100,000, the city's only morgue was overflowing with corpses as of March 3, according to eyewitnesses. "It was unbelievable how many corpses there were," said one Mazyr resident who frequently drives through the city and nearby areas for business.

WATCH: Russian forces are meeting fierce resistance and taking casualties as they try to move towards the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. On March 18, a Ukrainian special search group collected the dead bodies of Russian soldiers in the hope they could be exchanged for Ukrainian prisoners of war.

He said he had seen many "black sacks" being loaded from military ambulances onto Russian railway cars. "Passengers at the Mazyr train station were shocked by the number of corpses being loaded on the train," he said. "After people started shooting video, the military caught them and ordered them to remove it."

In Homel, the regional capital, a laboratory for the city's main hospital was refitted earlier this month, with existing equipment being moved out and beds and other medical equipment being brought in, residents said.

Homel residents told RFE/RL that wounded Russian soldiers were being brought to three separate medical facilities in the city, including one specializing in cancer treatment.

A doctor at Mazyr's main city hospital told RFE/RL that the facility was now under guard by police and security agencies, and that doctors had been threatened with firing if they spoke about conditions. The doctor said that all physicians on staff, even those from more specialized professions, had been tasked with treating wounded Russians.

"There are not enough surgeons. Earlier, the corpses were transported by ambulances and loaded on Russian trains," the doctor said. "After someone made a video about it and it went on the Internet, the bodies were loaded at night so as not to attract attention."

At Hospital No. 4 in Homel, officials began to discharge current patients on March 1 in order to make room for wounded Russians, according to multiple residents whom RFE/RL spoke to. "There are so many wounded Russians there -- it's just a horror. Terribly disfigured. It is impossible to listen to their moans throughout the whole hospital," said one resident who was treated in the Homel hospital.

Another Homel doctor said there was growing concern among city residents that there could be shortage of everyday medications for the general population. "People are panicking, but so far there is [medical] help and there is enough medicine. What will happen next is still unknown," the doctor said. "It's likely there will be problems with anti-tetanus drugs."

Tetanus is a common ailment afflicting soldiers suffering from shrapnel and bullet wounds.

At Homel's Center for Radiation Medicine, about 400 Russian troops are currently being treated, according to employees. The influx of troops has also prompted at least one hospital employee to call for donations  of diapers, wet wipes, soap, shampoo, water, cookies, and clothes to help the soldiers.

Hanna Krasulina, a spokeswoman for exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, told Ukrainian television on March 2 that morgues in Mazyr were crowded with dead Russian servicemen, some of them from Chechnya.

"We must inform both the Chechens and the Russians that the Belarusian morgues in the south of Belarus are already being filled with the corpses of their soldiers," she said. "This is important to let them know. We will not allow Russian propaganda to hide it."
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP)  Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni recently remarked that Russia's war on Ukraine should be seen in the context of Moscow being the center of gravity for Eastern Europe.

His son, Lt. Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, was more forceful, declaring that most Africans support Russias stand in Ukraine and Putin is absolutely right!

Amid a worldwide chorus of condemnation, much of Africa has either pushed back or remained noticeably quiet. Twenty-five of Africas 54 nations abstained or didnt record a vote in the U.N. General Assembly resolution earlier this month condemning Russia.

The reason? Many nations on the continent of 1.3 billion people have long-standing ties and support from Moscow, dating back to the Cold War when the Soviet Union supported anti-colonial struggles.

Those relations have tightened in recent years: As U.S. interest in Africa appeared to wane under President Donald Trumps administration, Russia  along with China  expanded its influence, enlarging its economic footprint to include everything from agricultural programs to energy plants. In 2019, dignitaries from 43 African nations attended a summit with Russia, which also has become the dominant exporter of weapons into sub-Saharan Africa, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

The developments have not gone unnoticed. Last month, European Union leaders held a long-delayed summit in Brussels to discuss ways to counteract Russia's and China's influence in Africa, while Western military and civilian leaders are eyeing Russia's advancing presence on both the African continent and in the Middle East as long-term threats to security in the West. China also is among the few countries showing support for Moscow.

There have been exceptions to the current of sympathy running through Africa, with Kenya and Ghana criticizing Russias actions.

But, elsewhere on the continent, countries not only are abstaining from criticism, they appear to be celebrating their alliances with Russia.

As the war in Ukraine escalated, leaders of South Africas ruling African National Congress party attended an event at the Russian Embassy in Cape Town to mark the 30-year anniversary of the countrys diplomatic ties with the Russian Federation.

The ANC has ties to the Kremlin extending back to the Soviet Unions diplomatic and military support of the struggle against apartheid, which Western powers did not provide. Some South Africans point out that Russia was not among the colonizers of Africa.

South Africa's friendship with Russia is rooted through bonds of brotherhood, said lawmaker Floyd Shivambu, a leader of the country's leftist opposition party, the Economic Freedom Fighters. Shivambu said Russias actions in Ukraine are necessary to prevent NATOs expansion.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said his country abstained from the U.N. censure resolution because it failed to call for meaningful engagement with Russia.

We have seen how, over time, countries have been invaded, wars have been launched over many years, and that has left devastation," Ramaphosa told lawmakers Thursday, criticizing NATOs expansion into Eastern Europe. And some leaders of certain countries have been killed. On our own continent (Libya's) Muammar Gadhafi was killed.

He said he believes Russia feels a national existential threat from NATO.

Also abstaining from the U.N. vote was neighboring Zimbabwe, which had previously escaped sanctions of its own at the U.N.  for alleged human rights abuses and election corruption  thanks to vetoes by Russia and China.

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa has praised Russia and China as dependable pillars, citing the guns they provided and the training they gave fighters in the 1970s war against white minority rule in Rhodesia.

Russia has major investments in Zimbabwe, including a multibillion-dollar joint mining venture in the Great Dyke area, which holds one of the worlds largest deposits of platinum. Russia also is involved in gold and diamond mining operations in Zimbabwe.

In Uganda, where Russian officers regularly assist in the maintenance of military equipment, authorities recently announced the signing of a contract with a Russian firm to install tracking devices in vehicles to combat violent crime.

The East African country's U.N. representative said Uganda abstained from the U.N. resolution on Russia to protect its neutrality as the next chair of the Non-Aligned Movement, a Cold War-era group of 120 member states that includes almost every African nation.

But President Museveni went further, actually meeting with the Russian ambassador as the war raged in Ukraine. The Ugandan leader, who has held power since 1986, has criticized the Wests aggression against Africa.

Musevenis government in recent months has tangled with the U.S. and other countries that have expressed concern over last year's disputed election and growing allegations of rights abuses. Museveni also has accused the West of interfering in domestic affairs, including through pressure to recognize LGBTQ rights.

Nicholas Sengoba, a columnist with Ugandas Daily Monitor newspaper, said that many authoritarian African leaders like Museveni are pleased to see Putin stand up to the big boys in the West.

Following his meeting with the ambassador, Museveni urged Africans in a tweet to find what he called a center of gravity, which is what he said Russia is for the Slavic nations of Eastern Europe.

The post was later deleted, but his son Kainerugaba, who commands Ugandas infantry forces, was unambiguous in his remarks on social media.

The majority of mankind (that are non-white) support Russias stand in Ukraine, he tweeted on Feb. 28. Putin is absolutely right! When the USSR parked nuclear armed missiles in Cuba in 1962 the West was ready to blow up the world over it. Now when NATO does the same they expect Russia to do differently?

___

Magome reported from Johannesburg. Associated Press writer Farai Mutsaka in Harare, Zimbabwe, contributed to this report.
Thokozani Khupe, leader of a faction of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T), says Zimbabweans should turn out in large numbers in the forthcoming council and parliamentary by-elections and vote for Nelson Chamisas Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC).

Addressing journalists in Bulawayo today, Khupe said his party has decided to back CCC candidates to ensure that they beat the ruling party in the by-elections.

Following our previous announcement that we are going to be working with like-minded opposition political parties because we are stronger together and that we were going to give a signal on who our members to vote for in the upcoming by-elections, Im, therefore today announcing today that we are calling on our members, all MDC-T members and supporters to go and vote on the 26th of March for Citizens Coalition for Change.

Go and vote for Citizens Coaltion for Change candidates across the country. By voting on the 26th of March, we are building a strong foundation for a resounding victory in 2023. Im also calling all our members, all our supporters and citizens at large to rally behind president Nelson Chamisa as we prepare for the 2023 as this election is going to be a defining moment in Zimbabwe.

Khupe said in 2023 the opposition should be in power and this can only happen if we unite and set the pace by voting in our thousands on the 26th of March for Citizens Coalition for Change candidates across the country.

She said Zimbabweans should mobilize all voters and ensure that they vote in the weekend elections.

Im calling all our members, supporters and citizens at large to go to every house, to go to every street, to go to every village mobilizing citizens so that they get out to vote in their numbers on the 26th of March for Citizens Coalition for Change.

Some CCC supporters have welcomed Khupe while others say she should be blocked from working with the party.

Zimbabwe will hold by-elections on Saturday to fill 130 council and parliamentary seats which were left vacant following the recall of some councillors and lawmakers by the opposition MDC-T led by Douglas Mwonzora and Khupe. Some of the councillors and Members of Parliament died of natural causes.
Russia continues its attack on Ukrainian cities as its invasion is in its fourth week. The U.N. says 10 million people are now displaced both in and out of Ukraine. U.S. President Joe Biden travels to Europe this coming week to meet with allies to discuss the crisis. VOAs Arash Arabasadi has more
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The authorities of the Donestsk Peoples Republic have found a secret prison established by the Kiev regime on the territory of their oblast. It is a former insulation material factory that was transformed into a camp guarded by watchtowers. Since 2014, it has functioned under the responsibility of the Aidar battalion.

Detainees were held in isolation in cramped rooms and subjected to degrading and inhuman treatment. Those who survived had already reported the facts, but had no proof.

Russian forensic police are searching in the vicinity of the factory to locate the mass grave where the victims were buried.
Bowen Yang on SNL. Photo: Will Heath/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

Before he made emotionally resonant, character-driven comedy films like The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, and Trainwreck, Judd Apatow wrote for landmark comedy television shows like The Ben Stiller Show, The Larry Sanders Show, and Freaks and Geeks. For his entire professional life, hes worked for, with, and alongside comedy greats, a behavior that goes back to his days as a talk-show host, interviewing 80s stand-ups like Jay Leno and Jerry Seinfeld for his high schools radio station.

Those interviews, along with some newer ones, were the foundation for Apatows 2016 book Sick in the Head: Conversations About Life and Comedy, a collection of insightful conversations about the art and practice of being funny. Six years later comes the sequel, Sicker in the Head: More Conversations About Life and Comedy. While there are a few vintage interviews (like John Candy from 1984), Sicker is comprised primarily of brand-new material compiled over the last few years with legends (John Cleese, Whoopi Goldberg, Margaret Cho, Mort Sahl) and modern humorists excitingly redefining comedy, like Ramy Youssef, Hannah Gadsby, Amber Ruffin, and Bowen Yang, co-host of the Las Culturistas podcast and the person responsible for some of the most memorable and viral Saturday Night Live sketches in years. Heres Apatows chat with Yang from June 2021, excerpted from Sicker in the Head.

Excerpt from 'Sicker in the Head'

Judd: I want to talk about Las Culturistas, the podcast youre doing with Matt Rogers. How did you two meet?

Bowen: Matt and I met in college. We were both in the closet at NYU, which was just such a funny place to be in the closet, especially circa 2008. I was in the improv group, and he was in the sketch group, and we were both just obsessed with comedy. Recent alums of note from NYU at that point were, like, Donald Glover and D.C. Pierson, and we were just like, This is the future. And we put in the work early on and just started to write. My awful snobbery with people who are working in comedy is This cant be your plan B.

Judd: Sometimes I go to a comedy club and see all these hilarious people onstage, and I wonder if theyve ever sat down and written a sketch or a screenplay. Or taken the effort to ask themselves, What else can I do with my talent and ideas?

Bowen: I think I heard the legend that you told Bill Hader, maybe during his second season of SNL, that he had to start putting the wheels in motion then so that things will bear fruit further down the line.

Judd: Absolutely. And I did it with Bill, where he worked on a screenplay for us and with some writers from SNL, and we just never cracked it. That screenplay was never made. But we did write a lot together. He said that he was writing like seven screenplays over the course of his time at SNL, of which none were made. But that was all his rehearsal for Barry. He was learning what to do. You have to write, because nobody will be able to write the thing for you that you probably should be doing. Its daunting to figure out, How does this character or persona work in a full story, in a full movie? That has been the challenge for some SNL people: Its about figuring out who you are separate from your characters. Once you get past that initial challenge, theres still the precariousness of the movie business, where you could commit the time to get a movie going, and you still dont know if someone will want to make it happen.

Bowen: All of that runs counter to the SNL process, where theres such an efficiency with how things are made. Nothing gets made like that anymore except for summer stock theater. Im getting a little too used to this. But even now Im realizing, Oh the credits dont transfer from SNL, because none of it is made like this. And also, the performance style is youre pitching to the rafters and youre screaming and youre reading off a cue card. Thats not how it works anywhere else.

Judd: It must be an interesting moment for you. When I first started, I felt unrepresented in Hollywood. It was like, Why cant the goofy, unattractive person ever be the lead? So, in my work over the years, I tried to prove that that was possible, because the non-cool guy as the lead wasnt available in the culture when I was young. Now our culture has evolved to where people are trying to correct for the fact that performers of color and LGBTQ+ performers have been criminally underrepresented. What does this moment feel like for you?

Bowen: I think, for a long time, Asian people would be used as an existential punch line. Now whats happening is that, on a collective scale, everyones kind of getting on the same page  were catching up to some baseline understanding about what the material realities are for Asians in the business. And I dont know where thats going yet; I have no foresight into what it will be like. This is all kind of a new thing, and Im trying not to erase and destroy what people like Margaret Cho have accomplished, or what Alec Mapa has done as a queer Asian comedian. All the groundwork has been laid out by that generation; Im just benefiting from coming in at the right time. Thats basically how I feel about being at SNL, too. Its like, Oh I lucked out so, so, so deeply.

Judd: Do you feel like you have a responsibility to use your position?

Bowen: I approach every week at SNL without a care for how something will be received on a social level. The week after the Atlanta shooting in March, I called the one other Asian writer on the show. We got on the phone and were just in a terrible mood, because everything around that story was so bleak. But we asked each other, How do we want to approach this? Do we address it at all? Do we take a hard left and just not even think about that, and do something that has nothing to do with what happened? By Saturday, the end result of those conversations was this kind of strident rallying cry, a Weekend Update piece that wasnt particularly funny, but it did bring levity to the situation in whatever way it could. And I had such a weird hangover the next week about it being received well. People were very kind about it, but I was like, I dont know, I dont want this to be my role at the show.

Judd: You didnt want to be like Jon Stewart after 9/11 every week.

Bowen: Even for just one week. Jon Stewart shouldnt even be in that position, you know?

I have to be very honest with myself and say I never specifically said the words, I will be on SNL someday. But I did have this feeling that it would work out somehow.  Bowen Yang

Judd: The people who are doing political comedy these days have to be the commentators on tragedy and the worst of humanity. Its such a strange thing thats happened in comedy, and people are brilliant at it. But I know what you mean. I cant even imagine being in their shoes, thinking, This shooting just happened, let me try out this piece.

Bowen: Well, the thought was I dont have all the answers, that I shouldnt even be doing this. Afterward, I really couldnt make sense of how I felt about it. Then, two weeks later, I did another Weekend Update piece where I was the iceberg who sank the Titanic, and that was just purely me doing my job. It was me co-writing this piece with one of the head writers, Anna Drezen, and creating a fun moment of pure absurdity. Yet the social and political comedy is something that you have to do, especially at a show like SNL, and especially now where theres a dearth of Asian people who have this big of a platform. So, I dont bemoan it. Its just an interesting thing to think about.

Judd: You came to America as a kid, and you didnt speak English that well because you were still learning the language, but you obviously had a sense of humor. Did you realize at some point, Thats my thing, Ill be the funny person? Because thats how I felt as a kid. I was terrible at sports, I didnt think I was as attractive as the people around me  I guess making people laugh is my thing, because no one else is trying to do it. Was it similar for you?

Bowen: It was exactly like youre describing it, where I realized, Humor can be my thing. I would come into school on Mondays and ask everyone, Did you guys watch SNL or MADtv from Saturday? And some people would be like, Yeah. Most kids would be like, No, what are you talking about? My parents dont let me watch that yet. I had these immigrant parents who had no idea what the programming was. So, beyond it being my identity where I was funny and goofy, there was also this extra layer on top where itll be my thing to nerd out on comedy, too, which at that age just meant watching SNL every week. That became the keystone for my identity early on, and then I built concentric circles from there.

Judd: As you were watching SNL as a kid, did you ever look at the cast and think, Im going to be on there someday?

Bowen: I have to be very honest with myself and say I never specifically said the words, I will be on SNL someday. But I did have this feeling that it would work out somehow.

Judd: If you have that confidence and drive, then you also know that you need to be ahead of the curve. You know you need to work harder than everybody to realize that dream.

Bowen: Totally. My little secret pet peeve now is the people who are getting into comedy as a fallback. People who were musical-theater majors who didnt want to audition and didnt want to do Broadway because that is a whole crazy world of its own. There are those sorts of people who go, Well, Ill just do comedy instead. And Im like, Uh, it doesnt work like that. I put forward this crazy purity test for those people, where I was like, No, you didnt write down who the writers were on this one episode of The Office as it was airing. I just got so snobbish about that, and I need to unlearn that now, because I cant put those gates up for other people who want to get into it through their own means, through their own journey.

Judd: When you went to college, was it your familys dream that you would go into comedy?

Bowen: No.

Judd: Did your parents see this career as an option for you at all, even if they didnt love it for you at first? You did premed for a bit. Did you eventually open up to them and say, Id rather do stand-up?

Bowen: My parents could tell that I took comedy seriously even when I was in high school. It was a very big thing for me as a 15-year-old to be a part of this short-form improv group in high school. I thought it was the best thing in the world. I would go downtown every week on Mondays, perform with a bunch of 30-year-olds, and think, This is the thing that I enjoy the most. And my parents could tell I was enjoying it too much. And they had tried to be like 

Judd: Dont have joy.

Bowen: Not even that. I had expressed many times before that I wanted to be an actor someday. And my parents were like, Well, Bowen, thats really hard, because there arent a lot of Asian ones, and that world is full of rejection. They werent even being domineering; they were just being protective. It was their version of loving me. But when it came time for me to decide on a college, I would visit these campuses and ask them, Can you tell me about your sketch team here? Thats essentially what I based my whole college decision on, and I ended up at NYU. I knew all of the peoples names in the improv group by the April before I matriculated. And then I was just obsessed. Everyone around me knew this is what I wanted to do. But I had to take cover behind the premed thing  and its so ironic that I was such a jerk about being a purist in terms of pursuing comedy, because my backup plan was medicine.

Judd: You just want to yell at all the other people who are being distracted.

Bowen: My distraction was academics. The thing that got me out of bed every morning was the excitement of seeing everyone in my troupe later that day, and that we would run sets, and do this and that. That improv group was my life.

Judd: Did it make your grades better or worse?

Bowen: Worse, oh worse.

Judd: You would have been a terrible, distracted doctor. When did you stop doing premed?

Bowen: I graduated with my degree, and I had my applications in for medical school. And I was taking my MCAT for the second time, and there was the short-answer portion. When I got to that, I remembered the Steve Carell interview where he said that he was thinking of applying to law school after things werent working out for him acting-wise or comedy-wise, but then he got to the essay portion of the LSAT, and he realized then that he couldnt do it. He couldnt follow through on this law-school thing. And then, at that moment, I had this out-of-body experience, thinking about Steve Carell, and zoomed back down to me, and it was just like, Oh, this is whats happening to me right now. I cant do this. I voided my score, left the testing center, and called my parents. I was like, I dont think I can go to med school. Ill figure out how to stay in the city and live in the city and work in the city and make money, but med school isnt going to happen. And they were very confused. To their credit, they gave me a shot to figure it out within two years.

Judd: Thats a big biopic moment, walking out of the testing center in protest. Isnt it funny that you have to take it that far, till your entire mind and body break down in the middle of the test. Why do you think your parents gave you a chance to figure things out after that?

Bowen: The Big Sick was the first time that we watched a movie that helped my parents understand what I was doing, because all the scenes where hes doing stand-up, Im like, Thats what Im trying to do, Mom and Dad. And they were like, Thats interesting, and that was a little proof of concept for them. So, I do my best to not retroactively make my parents out to be people who never rooted for me or who counted on me to fail.

Judd: Did they find you funny, though?

Bowen: No, theres just a big cultural difference between being funny at school with a bunch of kids who speak English and then going home to your parents, who grew up in Communist China. Humor can be culturally specific, and I wasnt nimble enough to pivot between those two worlds. So, I would come home [and] just be this shy, boring kid.

Judd: When was the moment when you would say, Come to the improv show?

Bowen: It was in high school, and I dont know if it helped or hurt my case. Because they went, and they didnt get it. They were like, What is this? We dont understand. Then, at one point during college, they came to see one of my sketch shows at [University of California, Berkeley], and they were like, We didnt like that. Thats not for us.

Judd: They were just honest.

Bowen: They just said, What are you doing? And to be fair, I would have rated it as, like, a six of a show. It wasnt until Matt and I did this quick little bit on Fallon. My mom went into work the next day, and her co-workers were like, Oh my God, arent you so proud of Bowen for being on TV last night? It took other people to mirror it to her that her son was doing well. Then she was like, Okay, maybe this will work out.

Judd: For me, my dream to get into comedy wasnt questioned. My family was like, Yeah, go to that as a career. Even though I had no confidence in anything else in life, I had a delusional confidence in that.

Bowen: I love that for comedy. Either your dream to pursue it is challenged or its reinforced and supported. Either way, we both end up in the same place where we love comedy. I always love telling people my whole story with my parents and how they have come around only recently. But I also dont think the environment you were raised in, and how comedy figured into it, really makes a difference. If you love it, you love it, and you pursue it. And it has to be a sustained, lifelong thing. You cant have a cursory engagement with it later on in life.

Judd: Your story is so interesting because now you come across as a very bold performer and a very confident performer, but you fought against a lot of judgment. Thats the hardest part: to be doubted or to feel a lack of engagement from your parental figures when youre still in your formative years.

Bowen: Sure, and Im still working through this in therapy, where I dont know how much of it had to do with what it meant to just be a gay kid in the early aughts. All the queer people I know are, in some way, a little damaged from just the process of understanding themselves to be queer. Theres this bell hooks quote about how its not queerness in terms of who I have sex with or what gender I am. Its queerness in terms of living in a world where things are hostile toward you. And I think thats it. I think it transcends my weird little relationship with my parents.

Every other time Ive done something on the show, its only been thinking ahead to: How are people going to respond? How do I look? Are they going to use this on my reel when I die?  Bowen Yang

Judd: Is it now possible to feel close and happy and celebrate this with them?

Bowen: For sure. Definitely. My mom came to the show on Mothers Day, and we just all paraded out our moms. And then we got lunch with my dad the next day, and their whole thing to impart on me was like, Youre able to do this, but you should realize and remember that this is very lucky, very fortuitous. I was like Yeah, of course. And then, ironically enough, Lorne [Michaels] said the same thing to me at that dinner: to just enjoy and appreciate the moment.

Judd: When youre doing something thats working on SNL, do you feel how good it is in the moment? Or are you so focused that you dont get the enjoyment till afterward?

Bowen: The only time thats happened has been with the iceberg bit. I knew at the time, and I was like, Im having so much fun. And: Thank God the audience is onboard. Because every other time Ive done something on the show, its only been thinking ahead to: How are people going to respond? How do I look? Are they going to use this on my reel when I die? So, thats been the only time. And I dont mean to reduce it down to a mindfulness thing, but its something where you just feel your feet, you feel the weight of yourself, where you are, and that is enough to bring you to the moment. Right now, Im tired, but Im still recouping from just how exhausting the last season was. But I am really grateful to have done it. I keep wanting to frame things as luck.

Judd: What season is this as a performer on the show?

Bowen: Ive just finished my second season as a performer. And I had written one season prior to that.

Judd: The show has also never been as multicultural as it is now, and it looks like its going to keep moving in that direction. That makes it very exciting to watch.

Bowen: I keep thinking about SNL as this monolithic thing, but then I remember that it aired in a completely different cultural environment when [Adam] Sandler and [David] Spade and Chris Rock and [Chris] Farley were on. I cant believe that is the same container as what it is now. Or SNL in the mid-aughts, when it was [Andy] Samberg and [Bill] Hader and [Kristen] Wiig. Even that feels like a completely different show, too. So often, youre only thinking of the shows highlight reel, where its just the best stuff, which gives the illusion that its always at a certain quality level. But really, SNL has always been this weird little petri dish of ideas, and its just stood on the counter in the lab for all these decades. I love the fact that I dont have that much in common with Michael Che in terms of our backgrounds and our approaches to writing and what weve seen in the comedy world thus far. We came from completely different poles. But now he and I have some common ground as far as working at the show goes. We had this really nice moment at the finale, where he brought everyone to his apartment at, like, 4 a.m., and he and I just had a nice little heart-to-heart. And I couldnt believe it. I would never have expected to get this from Michael Che, of all people. Yet, there he was, with this, like, sageness that I never would have thought that I could have access to.

Judd: This was in appreciation of the show and your work for the year?

Bowen: Just for each other, in the way that we both look to each other, like, Hey, Im so glad that we experienced this pressure cooker of a show together.

Excerpt adapted from Sicker in the Head: More Conversations About Life and Comedy by Judd Apatow, to be published by Random House. Reproduced by permission of The Wylie Agency. Copyright  2022 by Judd Apatow
Dahlia is heavy in the clubs. The partnership between and strategy deployed by Tommy and Claudia seems to be working out: They use pretty women to entice and introduce the designer drug to men. With the current hype around their product, Tommy wants to expand the drug by making it affordable to more people. Claudia, however, doesnt necessarily agree with that approach and prefers to keep the drug exclusive. Snatching a page out of the coke/crack era, Tommy thinks Dahlia is priced too high and wants to change the composition to decrease the price. His overall goal is to make the cut-rate version the newest it street drug. Claudia disagrees with his business model but is forced to go along with it anyway.

Over at the barbershop, a familiar face returns to the Chi. Chicago native Barton Fitzpatrick plays Blaxton. After catching up with the CBI brothers, D-Mac and Marshall presents a pitch to the three OGs. They want to help expand CBIs business to Gary, Indiana, by serving as couriers. They point out that if they were to get picked up by the police, they wouldnt be required to do any lengthy stints in jail because of their age. On the surface, it sounds like a win-win: CBI gets to expand and increase its overall revenue, and not much is lost in the process. Diamond interrupts their presentation with a firm no thank you. Jenard, however, is quite interested. His overall goal is to conquer as much territory as he can. In contrast, Diamond is more concerned with quality control. Hes also unwilling to take risks. Before the young boys head out, Jenard gives D-Mac another assignment: Kill Tommy. He also decides to move in Gary without Diamonds input.

At the Flynn estate, Walter is preparing for the Serbs to retaliate. Paully kindly reminds him that their organization is not as powerful as it once was. To remain prepared, he suggests having a few of his men tail Claudia for protection. In reality, Walter is using protection as a coverup for wanting to know more details about his daughters whereabouts. He cant help but be both sexist and racist and has no idea what Claudia is really capable of.

Tommy tasks Liliana with babysitting Lauryn and convinces him to allow her to go on a date. Of course, Liliana has to tag along. Having their chemist be considered missing wouldnt be good for business. Theres something about men trying to control women within the Power universe (you know that thing called misogyny). Liliana warns Tommy about pushing her too far they need her more than she needs them.

Good thing he doesnt have a sister. In his own New York-I-dont-really-have-feelings way, Tommy apologizes to JP. He explains the concerns he has about JP joining his operation. What it balls down too is that it would be hard for Tommy to lose another brother. JP offers up some suggestions to ease Tommys nerves  filter money through his club and/or allow JP to do the easy tasks.

Tommy and JPs grandmothers health is declining. JP wants to call Kate, but Tommy is 100 percent against it. Their stark upbringing puts both of them in opposite corners as it relates to Kate. On the one hand, the inner child in JP who grew up not knowing his mother yearns for an introduction. And on the other hand, though Tommy grew up with his mother, her parenting flaws have left him scarred and distrusting of her.

Speaking of family drama, Tommys nephew, who he doesnt yet know is his nephew, runs up on him, but instead of trying to kill him, he gives him a warning about Jenards plan. Its not clear if D-Mac knows that Tommy is his uncle, but he did see him talking with JP. Tommy thanks him for the heads up.

Meanwhile, at Claudias penthouse, Liliana and Claudia are prepping a new set of pretty couriers to attract more clientele. Things get a bit iffy when Claudia sneaks off and has one of the girls introduce the drug to Vic. This decision breaks Tommys trust, and he snaps at Claudia. Liliana reminds Tommy that she doesnt trust her. They agree that for now, she is of good use.

Jenard and his crew turn up in the club and have what they deemed to be the greatest night ever. After meeting one of Claudias pretty couriers, he experiences the magical Dahlia high. Excited to get his hands on more product, he tells Diamond about the designer drug and doesnt get the response he wants. As the logical thinker he is, Diamond considers the risks. The brothers know nothing about the drug or the harm it could cause. They find themselves bickering about the best business decisions for CBI.

They are not the only ones experiencing conflict in this episode. Marshall and D-Mac get into a fight after the club. D-Mac swings first after feeling left out. This leads Marshall to pull a gun out on him and question the weight D-Mac holds.

At the lab, Lauryn is struggling to find the right compound that will allow her to keep the experience of Dahlia the same while lowering the costs. If she moves too quickly, she could break the chain.

I knew there was something fishy about Diamonds new boo. Ol girl is an investigative journalist who is looking for a career come up. Her editor inquires about the status of her findings. We see that they are not on the same page and that its quite possible Adrian done caught feelings for Diamond. I mean, how could she not catch feelings? Hes protective, caring, smart as hell, and a great lover! But her editor has eyes on a Pulitzer Prize. She wants to write a tell-all expose about the rise and fall of the Chicago kingpin. I have a feeling this is not going to end well.

Diamond meets with Tommy to talk business. He tells Tommy that the streets are well aware that Walter hit up the Serbs. He asks Tommy what he knows about Dahlia and expresses interest in the drug despite Tommy trying to convince him otherwise.

After deciding to do his own thing, Jenard takes his own business meeting with Marshalls cousin. Focusing on geographical placement, he sees value in selling product in Gary and clarifies that the business move isnt affiliated with CBI and only with him alone. The new partnership is a win for Jenard.

Tommy, Claudia, and Liliana also experience a win. Back at the lab, Lauryn has figured out how to change the composition of Dahlia. The newer versions compound is also nearly unreproducible, and according to the team, the high is just as good (the most important part).

With access to more product that is of quality, things are about to heat up for Tommy and Claudia. And with access to a new territory, things are about to heat up for Jenard. Well have to wait until next week to see how this all plays out.
Decatur, IL (62521)

Today

Rain likely. High 57F. Winds E at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall may reach one inch..

Tonight

Showers this evening, becoming a steady rain overnight. Thunder possible. Low 56F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%.
Saturday 22 September - The New Face of Rome: tours of the Giant Murals

During the ride we will visit in off beaten places, from the old town to periphery, which connect the giant murals which are the leading thread of this thematic itinerary. The circular ride starts from the center of Rome and winds for 15 kilometers through Testaccio, Ostiense, Garbatella and Tormarancia neighborhoods. You will discover around 30 giant murals painted on the facades of buildings, reviving areas decisively outside the usual tourist itineraries.

NB Bike not included, the tour will start in front of a bike rental if needed

Guide: Nicola Franceschi

TOUR CLOSED

Saturday 6 October - Ostia Antica

The first port of Ancient Rome, the connection between the Capital and its Empire is still perfectly preserved. The ruins of the public and private buildings permit us to discover the daily life of an ancient roman. We can still admire beautiful mosaics, precious marbles and rare paintings in the public baths, in the forum and domus of the wealthy merchants once living there. Exploring the ruins of Acient Ostia is like to do a time travel, a jump into the past.

Guide: Ilaria Sferrazza

Friday 19 October - Vatican Museums night

During the summer season Art lovers are offered the unique opportunity to visit the Vatican Museums at night. The museum opens his doors after sunset till 11 pm. We will visit all the masterpieces of the Vatican, including the Sistine Chapel and the Pope Apartments, avoiding big crowds. Join us for this wonderful late summer evening full of history, art and beauty. Guided tour by Christiaan Santini.

Guide: Christiaan Santini

Saturday 27 October - Art of Illusion, The perspectives of Andrea del Pozzo

Works of art can have the power to make us see a new reality. One of the greatest painters of the Baroque age, Andrea del Pozzo, became a master at creating the illusion of a different reality, through his famous trompe-loeil frescoes. His most famous work is the fake cupola inside the church of St Ignazio, but the corridor he painted in St Ignazios rooms, next to the nearby church del Gesu, leaves a more powerful impression. On an ordinary vault, he created an architectural construction of pillars, straight angles and relief curves, using his amazing technique of anamorphic painting. A fascinating world of illusion.

Sunday 3 November - Castel Sant'Angelo

Lungotevere Castello. Meeting point at the bridge Ponte SantAngelo, side of the Castle, at 3PM.

1.5 hour visit.

Castel SantAngelo was a mausoleum, a fortress, a prison, all in one. Outstanding in its peculiar architecture, when the ascension has started, we cannot stop. It is a walking up to the highest terrace with its breath-taking roof top view of the city, getting in frescoed apartments, narrow staircases, a Roman spiral ramp, and passing by the current exhibition of Renaissance armours and weapons.

NB Museum tickets not included

Sunday 25 November - Palazzo Colonna

Inside the wall of the Colonna Palace, still owned by the Roman noble family since Middle Ages, it is preserved one of the most astonishing architecture of the city. In the heart of Rome, just behind piazza Venezia, we have a gallery that can compete with the one of a royal residence: that was the purpose of the Colonna Princes that for three generations put all their efforts in it. The gallery is the coffer for invaluable paintings and amazing furniture and decorations that let you breathe the pomp of the past.

NB Museum tickets not included

Saturday 1 December - Urban Trekking in Testaccio and Ostiense, a tour between history and street art

In two hours tour you will have the chance to discover aspects of the city that otherwise you would probably not get to know, exploring areas with an ancient history that were shaped by continuous transformations up to recent times, also being reinvented as alternative centres of the Roman night life. During the walk it will be possible to guess important people drawn in a mural; walk on the most ancient artificial hill of history; chat with some university students; eat the best Roman sandwich in town; discover why cypress trees are planted in cemeteries, admire the best-preserved pyramid of Rome; enter in an occupied building. You will not forget this experience!

Sunday 16 December - MAXXI, National Museum of Art of the Twenty-First Century

In this innovative architecture by the Anglo-Iraqui starchitect Zaha Hadid, the international scene of Contemporary Art put its corner stone in Rome, at the dawn of the new millennium. After a brief glance at the Permanent Collection - recently incrased - we immerse ourselves in the temporary exhibitions. As there are more than 10, trust my choices... and have a look at the others after our visit together  it is all included in just 1 ticket!

NB Museum tickets not included

Guide: Lavinia Collodel
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Plenty of countries have super-rich business leaders with political influence. Russia took this to a different level. The wealthy, connected men who enabled and profited from the transformation of Russias economy and society under President Boris Yeltsin came to be known as oligarchs. (An oligarchy is government by a small group of people.) Though Russian billionaires these days are routinely called oligarchs, their role in society has changed under President Vladimir Putin, complicating efforts to target them as a way to punish Russias government for the invasion of Ukraine.

1. Who are the oligarchs?

Russias original oligarchs included some of its earliest entrepreneurs from when Mikhail Gorbachev loosened the strictures of Communist Party control in the late 1980s. They made fortunes in the 1990s as Russia, under Yeltsin, was transformed from the capital of the Soviet Union into a primitive state of capitalism. Yeltsins government expedited that process by privatizing state assets at deep discounts, putting massive wealth in the hands of a select few -- some of whom then struck a deal to use their fortunes and media assets to help Yeltsin defeat a resurgent Communist Party to win re-election in 1996. That deal came to be known as loans for shares, as the government placed its cash in the banks of oligarchs, took the money back as loans, and then defaulted on them. In essence, the oligarchs got state assets in exchange for state money. Significantly, these oligarchs also exerted sway on Yeltsins administration, influencing policy and in some cases serving in formal government positions.

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2. What became of that group?

A few remain active in business: Vladimir Potanin, Russias wealthiest individual, who heads MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC, the worlds largest producer of refined nickel and palladium; and Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven, whose commercial bank, Alfa Bank, became the anchor business of Alfa Group, a holding company that today owns interests in telecommunications and retail. Others fared considerably less well after Putin succeeded Yeltsin in 2000. Mikhail Khodorkovsky was stripped of his wealth and imprisoned for a decade on tax-evasion and money-laundering charges that he says were retribution for supporting political parties opposed to Putin. Freed in 2013, he lives in exile in London and continues to criticize Putin. Boris Berezovsky and Vladimir Gusinsky fled Russia as they faced similar jeopardy. Berezovsky was found dead at his home near London in 2013. Alexander Smolensky largely dropped from public view after 2005.

The End of the Oligarch Era Nears With Putins Miscalculation in Ukraine

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3. What is Putins issue with oligarchs?

By the time Putin emerged as the all-but-assured successor to Yeltsin, the early oligarchs were widely despised by the Russian public, and Putin promised they would cease to exist as a class. Two oligarchs in particular -- Gusinsky and Berezovsky -- drew his wrath because their media businesses were covering him critically. In a July 2000 meeting at the Kremlin with 21 leading business tycoons, Putin laid down the law: They could remain titans of industry but had to stay out of politics. Rather than eliminate oligarchs as a class, Putin has institutionalized them and, to an extent, tamed them into more seemly behavior, a 2002 Washington Post story noted.

4. Who are todays oligarchs?

Some Russians who accumulated wealth in the Yeltsin era further prospered under Putin. They include well-known multibillionaires Oleg Deripaska, Roman Abramovich, Alisher Usmanov, Viktor Vekselberg, Mikhail Prokhorov and Vagit Alekperov. In Putins People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West (2020), Catherine Belton points to a new caste of oligarchs, all of them Putins KGB-connected associates from St. Petersburg, whom Putin installed at the helm of strategic sectors of the economy in a process that became known as Kremlin Inc. (Before entering politics, Putin was a foreign intelligence officer with the KGB, the former Russian secret police and intelligence agency.) Many of these newer oligarchs are longtime friends of Putin, such as Gennady Timchenko, who met and befriended the future president as he was coming up the ranks as deputy mayor of St. Petersburg and sparred with him at a judo club in the city. (Timchenko controls Volga Group, an investment firm with interests in energy, transportation and construction, and has a net worth of about $11 billion.) Others in this category include Yury Kovalchuk, the biggest shareholder in Bank Rossiya, who co-founded with Putin a dacha cooperative outside St. Petersburg; and Arkady Rotenberg, another former judo sparring partner of Putin, who sold gas-pipeline construction firm Stroygazmontazh in 2019 for about $1.3 billion.

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5. Do they all steer clear of politics?

Pretty much, as memories remain vivid of Khodorkovskys 10 years in prison. The oligarchs tacit agreement not to criticize Putin was on display after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. Several Russian billionaires issued statements criticizing the conflict, but stopped short of condemning Putin himself. Fridman told Bloomberg that to say anything to Putin against the war, for anybody, would be kind of suicide.

6. Can they sway Putin?

Thats the hope, at least, behind sanctioning them. But the Russian billionaires who have been sanctioned say they have little influence over Putin. Fridman, who owns a stake in one of Russias biggest banks, said hes never even met Putin one-on-one. The U.S. has had sanctions in place against some of these billionaires for years, dating to Russias 2014 annexation of Crimea.

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7. Are all Russian billionaires oligarchs?

The U.S. Treasury Department seemed to suggest so in 2018 when it published a list of 96 purported oligarchs that was virtually identical to Forbes magazines roster of Russian billionaires. But while its true that many of the countrys billionaires have the superyachts and luxury real estate that have become associated with the oligarch lifestyle, many havent been sanctioned by Western governments so far. As to what level of wealth, private-sector power and Kremlin connections makes a billionaire an oligarch, thats in the eye of the beholder.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

2022 Bloomberg L.P.

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Mariupol, a port city on the Sea of Azov, has become the focus of international attention in the fourth week of Russias invasion of Ukraine. After heavy bombardment, including strikes on civilian targets, Moscow demanded the surrender the city by sunrise on Monday. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight The Ukrainian government rejected the ultimatum, and it seems inevitable that Russia will intensify its assault. Indeed, President Vladimir Putin seems to be fixated on taking Mariupol  even as his forces are stalled elsewhere in the country.

Why is Mariupol so important? In a Twitter Spaces discussion, Bloomberg Opinions Bobby Ghosh put that question to columnists Clara Ferreira Marques, Andreas Kluth and Leonid Bershidsky. This is an edited transcript of their conversation:

Ghosh: Can you give us some historical context of why this city is so important to Russia?

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Bershidsky: Mariupol was always an important city for Ukraine and also for the pro-Russian separatists who established these peoples republics in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in 2014. Its basically the only major port serving those regions. When Ukrainians managed to recapture it from the separatists during the first Russian invasion, that was a major success for Ukraine.

In the intervening eight years, it was turned into a Ukrainian stronghold, and its very important for trade. Its also important for Ukraine as a symbol of successful resistance to the first Russian attack. Thats why there are serious Ukrainian forces defending the city now, surrounded by the Russian troops.

Apart from being an important port and a symbol, Mariupol is on the land bridge that Russia has sought to establish between the separatist republics and Crimea. Thats why Russia is very focused on either taking it or simply wiping it off the face of the earth, depending on how the resistance goes. Without Mariupol, there is no land bridge between Crimea and the separatist republics.

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The Russian invasion has paused on other axes: It is not advancing on Kyiv, on Kharkiv or in the south because its very focused now on eliminating this pocket of resistance in and around Mariupol. All the Russian ire and firepower is now focused on that city.

Ghosh: Manolis Androulakis, the Greek consul general in Mariupol and one of the last European diplomats to leave, said this about what he saw there: Mariupol will be added to the lists of international cities that have been destroyed, such as Guernica, Stalingrad and Grozny. That should send a chill down spines in Europe. Has that carnage influenced European thinking on what should be done next, for Ukraine and against Russia?

Kluth: I think it has. The pictures from there are images of trauma, of inhumanity. Europeans, except for a few wingnuts, were already on the side of Ukraine. They are even more now.

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But what you do in terms of policy is another question. We remain strategically in the same situation: We want to support the Ukrainians in every way we can, without causing any kind of escalation that would have NATO forces directly confronting Russian forces. Were still trying to prevent that, both the U.S. and the European allies.

But at the same time, now everyone is forced by these pictures to ask what could come next. Chemical weapons? Even nuclear weapons? What could be a next response, given that weve already taken so many steps in terms of sanctions? What could be a new form of support for the Ukrainians or a new form of punishment for Putin?

Ghosh: How seriously should we take this talk of a European Union oil embargo on Russia? Can the Europeans pull that off? Are they willing to take the pain that would come with that?

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Kluth: I think that option is more plausible now than it was just a few days ago. Opinion is teetering and Germany  which is both the largest European economy and very dependent on Russian energy  could tilt the balance. If Germany went around and said, Yes, well go along with a complete and immediate embargo, then it would happen.

But lets step back and look at why thats still not likely. In the past week, weve had one group of German analysts saying Germany could pull it off: It would hurt the economy, but wouldnt devastate it. Then a different think tank came out and said it would bring the German economy to its knees, and that it would not make the West stronger in the long term.

The economy minister, Robert Habeck, is frantically going everywhere, from Norway to Qatar to the United Arab Emirates, trying to organize alternatives to Russian gas. The problem is that in recent decades Germany, foolishly, has not only made itself dependent on Russian pipeline gas, but also has neglected to build out the terminals that could receive the ships carrying liquefied natural gas. So there is no short-term solution, no way to replace Russian gas with LNG from the Middle East.

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So its a bind, but at least people are now talking. Germany is still transferring about 200 million euros a day to Russia, despite the sanctions. People are saying, Wait a second: How can we be funding Putins war machine? We have the duty to stop that somehow. How can we do that? If Putin escalates very dramatically, then the moral case might be so strong that even Germans will become willing to bear almost any economic price  turn off their gas, leave their lights off, stop driving  and impose an embargo.

Ghosh: An escalation looks almost certain. The Russian deadline for Ukrainian forces to leave Mariupol has expired, and the Ukrainians have said theyre not going to leave. I fear something even worse than what weve seen over the last few days is about to visit upon the city.

Ferreira Marques: But this is happening at a time of real strain within the upper ranks of the security system in Russia. There are reports of purges. Mariupol is obviously going badly for all involved.

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Unfortunately, we know what the Russian forces did in Aleppo, and we know what they did in Grozny.

We all saw the video of Putin speaking at that rally at Moscows Luzhniki Stadium last week. It was a terrible speech, and he failed to rouse the crowd. But he talked about carrying on plans as expected, which tells you a lot about the path dependency of the regime. This is not a regime that will accept error.

And then at the end he quoted the biblical verse: Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. To have president of Russia, at a time when his troops are committing atrocities in Ukraine, appeal to this particular line of the New Testament was quite something. It tells you a lot about the way the Putin regime has instrumentalized Christianity and the church in general.

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Ghosh: What will you be watching out for in the week ahead?

Bershidsky: Obviously, the place to watch is Mariupol and the areas of eastern Ukraine where the old contact line used to be between Ukraine and the separatist republics. If the Russian military does destroy Mariupol and end the resistance there, they will try to encircle the Ukrainian forces that have dug in there for the past eight years. Militarily, this is an important week.

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 covering foreign affairs. A former editor in chief of the Hindustan Times, he was managing editor of Quartz and Time magazines international editor.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

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Theyre so fast, their speed can change the surrounding air molecules. They can carry a nuclear warhead, fly low and be hard to detect. Such weapons are also at the center of escalating competition between the U.S. and Russia and China. Russia claims that it used hypersonic weapons, Kinzhal missiles, for the first time in combat in Ukraine. Though the Kinzhal travels at hypersonic speeds, it doesnt fall into the category that arms experts mean when they talk about hypersonic weapons.

1. What are hypersonic weapons?

They are normally defined as fast, low-flying, and highly maneuverable weapons designed to be too quick and agile for traditional missile defense systems to detect in time. Unlike ballistic missiles, hypersonic weapons dont follow a predetermined, arched trajectory and can maneuver on the way to their destination, according to the Congressional Research Service. The term hypersonic describes any speed faster than five times that of sound, which is roughly 760 miles (1,220 kilometers) per hour at sea level, meaning these weapons can travel at least 3,800 miles per hour. At hypersonic speeds, the air molecules around the flight vehicle start to change, breaking apart or gaining a charge in a process called ionization. This subjects the hypersonic vehicle to tremendous stresses as it pushes through the atmosphere, according to a 2018 U.S. Army paper.

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2. What are the different kinds of hypersonic weapons?

There are two main types--glide vehicles and cruise missiles. Most of the attention is focused on the former, which are launched from a rocket before gliding to their target, because of the challenges of achieving hypersonic propulsion of missiles. The missiles have engines called scramjets that use the airs oxygen and produce thrust during their flight, allowing them to cruise at a steady speed and altitude.

3. How is Russias Kinzhal missile different?

Its a ballistic missile. And although it reaches hypersonic speeds, thats true of nearly all ballistic missiles at some point during their path. Rather than a new system, the Kinzhal is thought to be derived from Russias ground-launched 9K720 Iskander-M, a short-range ballistic missile. Russias Ministry of Defense said it used Kinzhal, or Dagger, missiles in Ukraine to destroy a weapons cache and fuel depot on March 18 and 20. The missiles, which were fired from a plane, can carry conventional or nuclear warheads.

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4. Who has hypersonic weapons?

China, the U.S., and Russia have the most advanced capabilities, and several other countries are investigating the technology, including India, Japan, Australia, France, Germany and North Korea, which claims to have tested a hypersonic missile.

 Russia: Russias Avangard is a glide vehicle launched from an intercontinental ballistic missile and will reportedly carry a nuclear warhead. Russian news sources claim it entered combat duty in December 2019. Tsirkon is a ship-launched cruise missile said to be capable of striking both ground and naval targets.

 China: Its military conducted possibly two hypersonic weapons tests over last summer, including the launch into space of an orbiting hypersonic weapon capable of carrying a nuclear payload. The Financial Times first reported the tests. China has disputed reports of the tests, saying it simply launched a reusable space vehicle. Previously, China conducted a number of successful tests of the DF-17, a medium-range ballistic missile designed to launch hypersonic glide vehicles. U.S. intelligence analysts assess that it may now be deployed. China has also tested the DF-41 intercontinental ballistic missile, which could be modified to carry a conventional or nuclear glide vehicle.

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 The U.S.: Gregory Hayes, chief executive officer of U.S. defense contractor Raytheon Technologies Corp., told Bloomberg TV Oct. 26 that the U.S. is at least several years behind China in hypersonic technology despite significant investment. Development funding increased approximately 740% in the five years before 2020 and is expected to total almost $15 billion between 2015 and 2024, not including production costs. The U.S. Navy leads the development of a glide vehicle for use across the military branches, while the Air Force is working on an air-launched glider. The governments Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, with Air Force support, is developing an air-launched hypersonic cruise missile, according to CRS.

5. Whats the significance of hypersonic weapons?

In an appearance on Bloomberg TV, General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, likened Chinas suspected tests of a hypersonic weapons system last year to a Sputnik moment, a reference to the Soviet Unions pioneering launch of a satellite in 1957, giving it an early lead in the space race and shocking the U.S. Hypersonic weapons are very difficult to counter using existing defenses. U.S. officials say that American hypersonic weapons, unlike those being developed in China and Russia, are being designed to carry conventional rather than nuclear weapons. But this provides scant reassurance to potential U.S. adversaries, who would have no way of knowing whether such a weapon in fact carried a nuclear warhead while it was in flight. The pursuit of these systems by China and Russia reflects a concern that U.S. hypersonic weapons could enable America to conduct a preemptive, decapitating strike on their nuclear arsenals and supporting infrastructure. U.S. missile defense deployments could then limit their ability to conduct a retaliatory strike against the U.S.

(Updates with Russian claim to have used Kinzhal missiles in Ukraine)

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At 7:39 a.m. on Thursday morning, U.K.-based P&O Ferries sent a tweet to customers waiting to get boats to Calais in northern France, Ireland and the Netherlands. Regretfully, P&O Ferries services are unable to run for the next few hours. It apologized for the inconvenience. Many similar tweets have followed. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight What the company didnt mention  and has still said very little about  was its decision to sack 800 of its British ship officers, captains, pilots and crew, by pre-recorded video message. It will replace them with casual staff provided by employment agencies, supposedly at half the cost. Its website still only refers to a programme of work to become more competitive and efficient.

Fire and rehire isnt a new tactic for cutting costs by employing workers on worse terms, or replacing them with cheaper labor. But this episode stands out for its scale, its brutality and the way it tramples over British employment law.

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The U.K., like many countries, has seen cuts to pay and benefits for many types of jobs in recent decades. Twentieth century-style corporate welfare that provided many people with holiday and sick pay, a well-supported pension fund, even health insurance, has been in decline  and is rarely available at all for supposedly-temporary agency staff or gig workers.

Full-time employees as a share of Britains total workforce fell after the 2008 financial crisis, dropping below 63% from about 65%. The percentage jumped in 2020 because many casual workers simply lost their jobs during the Covid crisis.

A government-commissioned review into precarious work in 2017 decided that full-time staff were still a good proportion of the work force. Worries about increased insecurity due to Britains light-touch employment law may be overstated, it said. (In fact, the main thing politicians took from the review was that too many people were claiming to be self-employed  and paying too little tax  when they were working long-term for a single company.)

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But there are still concerns that fire and rehire is becoming more common. A poll commissioned last year by the Trades Union Congress  the association of unions in Britain  found that one-in-10 British workers were being forced to reapply for their existing jobs on worse terms and conditions. Among the young, it was almost one in five.

However, making an entire workforce redundant with no prior notice and no consultation, which is what P&O did, is uncommonly shocking and a breach of U.K. law, according to union representatives and two U.K. employment lawyers.

Neither P&O Ferries nor its parent company, Dubai-based ports operator DP World Plc, responded to requests for comment.

The problem for workers is that the penalties faced by employers for breaking the law arent harsh. A collective redundancy of more than 100 people requires companies to consult with unions or representatives for 45 days. Failure to do so is punishable with protective payments for staff of as many as 90 days full pay on top of any layoff payments due in their contracts.

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The weakness of the law is that it is cheaper for companies with deep pockets to cynically break the law and pay off workers than to follow it, said Neil Todd, a trade union law expert at Thompsons Solicitors, a specialist law firm that is acting for the union that represents P&O workers.

P&O told staff that Covid-19 had undermined passenger numbers and caused $130 million in losses for the ferry business last year. The company, which took government pandemic support funds during the crisis, is part of the larger, profitable DP World. This month, the parent company reported a 6% rise in profits to $900 million for 2021 and said it was well-placed to meet its debt-to-earnings reduction target.

P&O Ferries seafaring staff might be subject to the law of the country where their ships are registered  Cyprus  rather than U.K. law. However, Beth Hale, a partner at specialist employment law firm CM Murray, said many employees should be able to show a strong enough connection to the U.K. to bring claims under British law.

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P&O also seems to be acknowledging this by offering enough in redundancy settlements to cover most of what staff might be entitled to including the 90-day protective payments. The company probably just wanted to get it done quickly and realized that pleading special circumstances due to the effects of Covid would not likely have helped, Hale said.

Just last year, Britains top appeal court for employment claims ruled that even entering bankruptcy didnt justify skipping employee consultation over mass redundancies. It was reviewing claims for protective payments against Carillion Plc, a construction and services firm that collapsed in 2018.

About 250 French employees of P&O Ferries werent fired, according to a Calais-based newspaper. Thats probably because French employment law is much stronger. But this case isnt linked to Brexit: The floor provided by European Union regulations is weaker then either British or French rules.

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Unfair, badly managed layoffs are a fact of life in Britain as elsewhere, but the scale and severity of this breach of law is extreme. The 180-year-old P&O brand is a byword for sea-travel in Britain and is shared with P&O Cruises, part of Carnival Corp., although the ferry arm has been owned by Dubai-based companies since 2006.

The British government isnt happy and might try to claw back 10 million pounds ($13 million) of the Covid support money that P&O got. The company might just cough that up and move on. All in all, this episode sets a very bad precedent that highlights feeble protections for employees when companies can buy their way out of legal obligations. Others will surely follow.

More From Bloomberg Opinion:

 Private Equity Finds Another Steal in the U.K.: Chris Hughes

 Priti Patel and the Britain That Says `No!: Adrian Wooldridge

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 U.K. Has All the Tools to Sanction Oligarchs: Paul J. Davies

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Paul J. Davies is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering banking and finance. He previously worked for the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

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Two years ago, China was being lauded by the World Health Organization for its success in beating the coronavirus. But its insistence on adhering to a so-called Covid Zero policy is leaving it increasingly isolated as other countries, most of which suffered far worse outbreaks and higher death tolls, wean themselves off harsh countermeasures and return to a semblance of pre-pandemic life. Their populations have built up a large degree of protection through previous infections and more effective vaccines. Chinese officials have said vaccines alone arent enough and stringent curbs aimed at wiping out the virus are needed to avoid a health care calamity. But President Xi Jinping has pledged to try to reduce the economic impact of the longstanding strategy, which Hong Kong also follows.

1. Does Covid Zero mean zero cases?

Yes, ideally. Beijings perception of Covid hasnt changed much since the virus first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan: Its a public health threat that must be eliminated at all costs, whether its spreading via people or animals or lurking on frozen food or mail from abroad. To achieve this, China requires at least two weeks in quarantine for anyone arriving from other countries. Domestically, even the slightest flareup is met with a barrage of targeted testing, contact tracing and quarantines to nip it in the bud, with citywide lockdowns as a last resort. The approach, which has become known as dynamic clearing, acknowledges that infections occur but aims to stop the transmission of the virus. The highly infectious delta and omicron variants have made it more difficult for China, which hasnt gone a day with zero new local cases reported since October. In mid-March the daily tally topped 5,000 for the first time since the peak of the initial outbreak in early 2020.

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2. Why is China sticking to it?

In its calculus, the benefits outweigh the costs. The government estimates the strategy has avoided 1 million deaths and 50 million illnesses. Fewer than 5,000 people have died from Covid in the country, mostly during the virus initial spread. That compares to more than 900,000 deaths in the U.S., which has a population less than a quarter the size of Chinas. Beijing has used those figures to portray its system of governance as superior. Covid Zero also allowed the Chinese economy, the worlds second biggest, to grow while other major economies contracted in 2020. Growth continued last year and 2022 got off to a stronger-than-expected start, although the outlook is clouded not only by Covid but the global repercussions from Russias invasion of Ukraine. Thats prompted China to experiment with a closed-loop system to allow some factories to keep operating while sticking to Covid Zero. Workers are effectively put in a bubble, ferried from their company-run dormitories to the plant and back home, with regular testing and temperature checks. China will strive to achieve the maximum prevention and control effect at the least cost and minimize the impact of the epidemic on economic and social development, Xi said in March.

3. Whats the domestic downside been?

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As the virus has become more contagious, its led to more frequent outbreaks, some of which have resulted in hardcore lockdowns, where residents are asked to remain at home and barred from leaving town. A handful have dragged on for weeks and led to shortages of food and medical care, and even cost lives in the western city of Xian. Movement restrictions were imposed in March in the tech hub of Shenzhen, home to 17.5 million people, but lifted after a week -- relatively short by past standards -- under the tweaked policy. Outbreaks in other major cities including Beijing and Shanghai have so far been tackled without citywide lockdowns. Still, consumers facing travel restrictions and fearing infection have avoided vacations, shopping and dining, dampening retail spending. The gloom has added to weak investment and a broader downturn in the property market. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. cut its forecast for Chinas growth in 2022 by 0.5 percentage points due to the increased difficulty of containing the omicron variant. In an extreme case where a national lockdown were imposed, economic growth could plunge to 1.5%, the lowest in more than four decades, the bank said.

4. What are the hurdles to getting back to normal?

There are several:

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 While nearly 90% of the population has been vaccinated and a growing number received boosters, the rates are lower for the elderly: 82% for those between 70 and 79 and about 51% for those over 80, health officials said in mid-March. (In Hong Kong, where an even larger proportions unvaccinated, elderly people accounted for more than half the thousands of Covid-related deaths in the city this year, as of mid-March.)

 Many analysts point to the lower efficacy of vaccines developed in China. The most widely used are inactivated shots, which offered less protection against infection caused by the original strain of the virus in clinical trials than the novel mRNA vaccines developed by Pfizer Inc., BioNTech SE and Moderna Inc. The inactivated vaccines also appear to produce fewer protective antibodies against the latest variant, omicron, than those induced by shots developed in the West after three doses.

 Chinese health officials have made it clear that vaccination alone isnt enough, since breakthrough infections are common even with Western vaccines. Researchers at Peking University estimated China would face a colossal outbreak, with more than 630,000 infections a day if it were to reopen in a similar manner to the U.S. -- and that was before the more-infectious omicron became predominant.

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 The run on hospitals across the world, both in under-resourced places like India and in the developed world, is a constant reminder about how Chinas patchy hospital network could easily crash under a sudden spike in infections.

 Switching tactics to let the virus infect a large swath of the population could create bad optics ahead of the national congress of the ruling Communist Party slated for later this year, where Xi is expected to try to extend his power.

5. Whats the cost to the rest of the world?

Covid Zero has sent ripples through the global supply chain. Outbreaks have led to temporary production halts at the China-based factories of top carmakers in the northern port city of Tianjin for people to undergo mass testing. Foxconn briefly suspended operations in March at its Shenzhen sites, one of which produces iPhones, then partially resumed under the closed-loop model. The monthlong lockdown of Xian caused disruption and delays for leading chipmakers Micron Technology Inc and Samsung Electronics Co. But abandoning the policy could cause far greater disruptions, at least temporarily, if workers were too sick to show up at work, given how much the global economy relies on China for everything from raw materials to finished consumer and industrial products.

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6. Whats the endgame for China?

China has given no sign of backing away from its strategy of reacting forcibly to every flareup in the hope that it is quickly contained with few economic and social ramifications. While local lockdowns cause disruptions and spur complaints on social media, the strategy ensures people in the rest of the country can generally carry on with normal life. One of Chinas top Covid advisers signaled in an August interview that the country would consider dropping the strategy when the dividend is gone. He also urged leaders to closely watch reopening trailblazers like the U.K. and Singapore to learn from their experiences. Some experts think Chinas strategy will eventually crumble as the virus becomes too transmissible to control. Another possibility is a new variant may emerge thats mild enough for the government to relent without harming the population.

7. Whats the outlook for Hong Kong?

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The financial hub and gateway to China has prioritized aligning its policy with the mainland in an effort to reopen the border. Successive outbreaks on both sides have kept that from happening. Chief Executive Carrie Lam has vowed to stick with Covid Zero while conceding the city doesnt have the resources the mainland does to extinguish outbreaks. As omicron swept through Hong Kong early this year, public hospitals became overcrowded and the governments priorities shifted to vaccinating the elderly and reducing fatalities. In March, after acknowledging that public tolerance was fading, Lam put a plan for citywide testing on hold, announced the lifting of a ban on flights from nine countries including the U.S. and U.K., and cut by half the time incoming travelers need to spend in hotel quarantine -- provided they test negative. Social-distancing restrictions will be eased in phases if there is no rebound in infections, Lam said, but she gave no sign of abandoning the Covid Zero policy.

 Bloomberg Opinions Adam Minter asks how popular Covid Zero really is among the Chinese people, Shuli Ren looks at dynamic clearing, and Therese Raphael and Sam Fazeli examine why China cant loosen up yet.

 Eric Zhu from Bloomberg Economics looks at what might happen if omicron wins.

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 Businessweek digs into the mounting economic damage from Covid Zero, and a Big Take looks at the havoc it wreaks.

 More QuickTakes on what we know about omicron and Covid therapies.

 Bloombergs Covid Resilience Ranking charts the best and worst places to be during the pandemic.

 Some of the stranger things that have been in the crosshairs during the push for Covid Zero.

(Adds Xi quote in intro and section 2; Updates elderly vaccination rates in section 4; Hong Kong situation in last section)

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Hindsight is a powerful thing. Just before AustralianSuper went public with its Russia plan, the federal government made the unprecedented step of calling on the $3.5 trillion sector to support international sanctions by dumping Russian assets. They didnt direct. But they got pretty close to directing, Schroder says. Schroder stresses his decision to divest was made prior to the governments intervention, but worries about the precedent that it could set. Last year, a parliamentary inquiry heard Queensland MP George Christensen considered forcing Australian financiers to fund thermal coal and other fossil fuels. Its dangerous and its ridiculous for governments of any persuasion at any level to say what funds should be investing in or not, Schroder says. A person joining at 20 [years old] today, theyre going to be with the fund at 90. There might be 25 federal treasurers between now and then. Not one of them should touch a members super balance. AustralianSuper's board has now asked management to put together a dossier to better prepare the leadership for the next geopolitical meltdown. What have we learnt? What is the playbook if we have to do it again? Most things held up but theres definitely things we can learn.

But Schroder refuses to be drawn on parallels with China  an autocratic country that has made no secret of intentions to reunify Taiwan. Id be very cautious about drawing that connection. China is a very, very important trading partner. There are a lot of Chinese who live in Australia. Theres a very strong and deep relationship between the two. Around 5 per cent of AustralianSupers assets are invested in China, with stakes in technology giants Alibaba and Tencent and controversial companies like China Mobile, sanctioned by the US over national security concerns. Schroders outlook for China remains unchanged. We were happy to move in relation to Russia because of all of the obvious things. It was un-investible. China remains investible. We invest there and we have an office there. AustralianSupers new CEO

Schroders extensive interview with The Age and Sydney Morning Herald takes place in AustralianSupers new office in Charter Halls flash new development at 130 Lonsdale Street. On the thirtieth floor, the design is modern and slick with a view from Melbournes skyscrapers stretching out to the Dandenong Ranges. The lease was signed just before the coronavirus pandemic hit and remains largely empty though Schroder insists he has no regrets about taking on the extra space. Before entering super, he climbed the ranks of the Finance Sector Union where he became national secretary. His proudest achievement was changing the balance of power towards members, campaigning for decent pay and safe conditions, while making the union commercially viable. Schroder says the industry super sector is motivated by a similar ethos to unions, promoting the interests of working people to make sure they have a much better current and future.

He was appointed AustralianSuper chief executive in October 2020, taking over from Ian Silk who had been in the role for 15 years. The promotion came just as the board had signed off on a three-year strategy to expand globally and reach $500 billion in funds under management by 2026. An internal replacement was seen as the best way for the funds strategy to be realised but Schroder is bringing his own approach to the job. One of the first decisions he made as CEO was to stop AustralianSuper members from being automatically signed up to the newsletter of media outlet, The New Daily. While Schroder was the funds first chief risk officer, he completed a full synopsis of the threats facing the business. Data security was one of key risks identified, which informed his decision to stop members being opted-in to The New Daily. Peoples data is very important. We take that very, very seriously. So absent compelling evidence to do it, I made the decision, to opt-out members, he says. The other major risks identified include cybersecurity, liquidity and governance but Schroder says the most important is culture. If I look at organisations that fail or have major problems, theyve usually been culture and conduct related.

Like many, Schroder spent much of the pandemic working from home, under the same roof as his wife and four children. His wife works in child health and needed the spare room, leaving Schroder to lead the countrys largest super fund from a desk in their bedroom. A slightly inferior position, he says. Schroder struggled with maintaining work-life balance during COVID-19 but says he now wants to ensure AustralianSuper is an employer where family life is valued and flexibility is here to stay. Hes trying to lead by example. This week, Schroder was scheduled to visit the funds London office to meet the UK team but delayed the trip by three days so he could stay in Australia for his sons nineteenth birthday. AustralianSuper also has offices in Beijing and New York. A key pillar of AustralianSupers strategy is to bring investment management in-house, saving members money by reducing the firms clipping the ticket on the investment process. But Schroder says the experience with Russia has taught him the importance of having local investment knowledge. You need to be on the ground and understand those markets well.
Geelongs groundbreaking Back to Back Theatre company has won the International Ibsen Award, informally dubbed the Nobel prize for theatre  a 2.5 million kroner ($385,000) prize handed out every two years by Norways culture ministry.

It is the first Australian winner of the award, which was established in 2008. Previous recipients include legendary English director Peter Brook and American provocateur Taylor Mac.

Geelong group Back to Back Theatre in 2018, preparing a tour of Ganesh Versus the Third Reich. Credit:Jason South

The judges identify an individual or company that has brought new artistic dimensions to the world of drama or theatre for the award, named after their countrys greatest playwright.

Chair of the International Ibsen Award committee Ingrid Lorentzen said Back to Back, which has an ensemble of actors with disabilities at its core, was outstanding and unique.
Tanya Horeck, a professor who studies gender and sexuality in contemporary media, briskly listed recent series that have shown full-frontal male nudity: Sens8, Euphoria, Scenes From a Marriage, Sex/Life, Succession, Pam & Tommy, The White Lotus. (She could have added The Leftovers, Looking, Outlander, Shameless, Togetherness, Easy and The Affair, too.) How to explain the onslaught? In interviews, academics and intimacy co-ordinators listed reasons including the ubiquity of pornography; the uptick in queer, female and nonbinary showrunners; the impact of the #MeToo movement; the presence of intimacy co-ordinators; and the need for attention grabs in a saturated media landscape. The erotic magazine for women at the centre of Minx is modelled on real 70s titles such as Viva and Playgirl. Credit:Stan While several people I spoke with unthinkingly used the term tit-for-tat in describing this proliferation, all nudity is not created equal. While breasts are a common locus of desire, a flaccid penis often has a more comic or pathetic aspect. (Theyre kind of funny, Rapoport said.) And current standards permit that only flaccid penises can be shown in any sexual situation. Which means that while naked women have largely been used for decoration or titillation, naked men generally deepen character and drive story. Or at least help to land a punchline. Asking an actress to go topless may seem like a milder demand than asking an actor to go bottomless. But while nearly all of those breasts are real  if artificially enhanced, in some cases  those penises are not. Most of the ones that appear in mainstream TV or film are silicon prosthetics, and they are often oddly large.

Its very rare to just see a normal penis, Horeck said. Enter Minx. Part of the work of the pilot is to introduce Joyce to the world of Dougs Bottom Dollar Publications and the content it produces. Some of this is achieved when Joyce walks into the office for the first time to see a woman wearing nothing but chaps. (And a merkin.) But a lot of that story is told via the montage. Its necessary, Rapoport said. It helps you get into her head and almost takes you on a penis journey with her. The montage allows Joyce to understand the variety and even the appeal of male genitals. Could that journey have been made without nudity? Sure, Rapoport said. I just dont think it would have been as good.

To create the scene, the producers contacted agencies that specialise in background actors and asked for men who were comfortable with nudity. Stephen Conte chose to submit. I saw this as an opportunity to express myself in an artistic way, he said. He and the other candidates uploaded explicit photos to a secure portal. The photos were a way to ensure that the mens genitals could look era-appropriate  grooming standards have changed over the years. They also helped producers to guarantee a range of shapes and ages and shades. Perfection was never the goal. Once hired, the actors each received a call from the pilots intimacy co-ordinator, Liz LaMura, who talked them through what would be required. When it came time to shoot that scene, in December 2020, the men arrived at the southern California set and were given groovy 1970s costumes. Makeup was applied as needed. I got on my knees to powder penises, Carleigh Herbert, the head of makeup, said. It just was kind of part of the process.

When time for the scene came, at the end of a 16-hour shoot, the set was closed, meaning that all but essential personnel were asked to leave and external monitors were turned off. Everyone was very respectful, LaMura said. The men lined up. Some asked if they could have a minute to warm themselves up. (It was cold on the set.) Conte volunteered to go first. Im the first one to show his cannoli, he told me proudly, clarifying that he is in fact Italian. Loading My heart was beating a little faster than normal, he added. So sure, there was a little stage fright. Did I hesitate? Absolutely not. Im a professional. LaMura and the episodes director, Rachel Lee Goldenberg, encouraged the men to perform in character and helped them to relax. We had some fun with the guys, saying, Can you shake it? Can you swing it? Can you dance? LaMura said. The schedule was so tight that the last three men went in together, in KN95 masks, and were shot only from the waist down.
Greens senator Lidia Thorpe has become the first person to lodge a report on a new online register designed to enable First Nations people to put on the public record the levels of racism they experience.

The Call It Out register provides an alternative to the current, legalistic, process for reporting incidents of racial discrimination through discrimination law, according to Professor Larissa Behrendt, the director of research at Jumbunna Research at Sydneys University of Technology. She said it would highlight elements of racism that the legal system fails to protect against.

Professor Larissa Behrendt the director of research at Jumbunna Research at Sydneys University of Technology. Credit:James Alcock

Senator Thorpe was invited to log the first report and wrote of an incident of racial profiling she said happened when checking in bags at Canberra Airport last year, after she had spent the morning visiting the Aboriginal Tent Embassy for a cleansing ceremony.

Ms Thorpe believes she was racially profiled by airline staff and airport security. The incident escalated and resulted in Ms Thorpe returning to her home state via another airline. Ms Thorpe later sought an explanation and apology in writing from both the airline and the airport, but says her letter received no reply.
NSW Police believe footage of a Toyota Landcruiser ute may be the answer to uncovering who was responsible for the theft of $1 million worth of silver bullion from a truck last year.

In November 2021, a consignment of silver was allegedly stolen while in transit from Sydneys south-west to Melbourne.

The theft of the silver bars, which were being transported by a Kenworth truck and silver Krueger trailer, was only discovered upon arrival to Melbourne. The consignment  192 individual 5kg bars  has an estimated value of $1,015,000.

Police have now released CCTV footage of a vehicle of interest, a dark-coloured ute, which was seen travelling on Argyle St in Picton about 12.20am on November 28.
Wali Walizadas parents, brothers and sisters are hiding out under a bridge in Afghanistans capital pretending to be drug addicts in the hope the Taliban wont find them.

The former interpreter for Australian, British and United States defence forces, now living in Cranbourne south-east of Melbourne, says hes more fearful than ever for his family, with the Taliban conducting house-to-house searches as he waits desperately for Australia to process their visas.

Former ADF interpreter Wali Walizada is fearful for his parents and siblings still in Afghanistan and waiting to come to Australia. Credit:Paul Jeffers

His family spent eight days trying to get on an evacuation flight out of Kabul last August.

They were eventually caught up in the suicide bombing outside the airport hours after Australia ended flights because the situation was too dangerous. One of Mr Walizadas brothers was injured in the attack.
A few stun grenades have been thrown by the Morrison government at the Albanese opposition recently. But now, the South Australian state election result has gone off like one in the Liberal Party nationally as it prepares for the federal election expected to be held on May 14, just eight weeks away.

A year ago, South Australian Labor leader Peter Malinauskas was seen as an asset for the Coalition. Not any more. Credit:Brett Hartwig

The first shock is that the published opinion polls were right. They pointed to a clear win by state Labor leader  and now SA premier-elect, Peter Malinauskas  and thats exactly what happened.

It eliminated lingering Morrison government hopes that polls pointing to the same fate for it nationally might be as wrong as they were at the 2019 election. The tweaks made by anguished pollsters after their 2019 embarrassment appear to have worked. If the national figures maintain their current trajectory up to the election, power will change hands in Canberra within weeks.

The second shock is that an opposition leader can go from zero to hero in the space of a year.
The federal government has pledged to introduce new laws to help reduce the spread of harmful content on social media, as the worlds most powerful tech companies try to combat the deluge of misinformation and disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine online.

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher is planning to introduce legislation that will give Australias media watchdog more regulatory power over tech companies who fail to meet the standards of a voluntary misinformation and disinformation code of practice.

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher has announced plans to introduce legislation this year to combat harmful disinformation and misinformation online. Credit:Renee Nowytarger

Under the code, misinformation is defined as false or misleading information that is likely to cause harm, while disinformation is false or misleading information that is distributed by users via spam and bots.

The new laws, which are expected to be introduced to parliament later this year, will make it easier to assess the effectiveness of self-regulation and help the government decide whether a compulsory code of practice needs to be introduced to tackle the issue.
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A powerful military deliberately targeting civilians. Opponents imprisoned, tortured, and killed. Villages razed and cities surrounded. Internet access and humanitarian aid blocked. Refugees fleeing across borders in all directions.

This may sound like the war in Ukraine, but it is also the grim reality of Myanmar under a violent and repressive military junta that has been trying to enforce its rule since a coup in February last year. While the Russian invasion of Ukraine has rightly captured the worlds attention, the deteriorating situation in Myanmar has largely slipped from view.

Pro Myanmar democracy protesters in London a year after the military coup. Credit:AP

Given the prompt, co-ordinated international response to Russias invasion of Ukraine, including sweeping sanctions, intensive diplomacy, humanitarian aid and, more controversially, weapons transfers, some in Myanmar are understandably wondering why the military junta has not faced something similar.

There are, of course, significant differences between both crises.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size We are just about to approach our 100th military checkpoint in Ukraine. Its on the journey from Kyiv to Lviv, as we begin the trek out of the country. Theres an art to crossing checkpoints in a war zone. Approach slowly, but not too slowly, and have all your documents prepared. If its at night, dim your lights so you dont spook the soldiers. There are other simple things you do in a conflict: have the word PRESS marked on your car in big strips of gaffer tape. Some locals have CHILDREN written in Ukrainian on their cars for the same reason. We hope this small fact of who we are, and who we have on board, will mean we dont get shot and killed. Ukrainian citizens flee the Russian aggression across the Shehyni-Medyka checkpoint at the Ukraine-Poland border. Credit:Alona_Nikolaievych/Ukrinform/NurPhoto via Getty My colleague, Kate Geraghty, and I have covered more than 6000 kilometres of Ukraine over the past three weeks  but the checkpoints and backed-up traffic full of Ukrainians fleeing slow the journey even further. The queues are always lengthy on the approach to any major town or city. A trip that would take five hours on Australias highways could take 12 hours or even several days in Ukraine, depending on which roads are open.

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Its more ominous when the traffic is smooth-going in our direction and backed up going the other way. This means youre going towards an area thousands of people have just escaped. A long line of vehicles on the outskirts of Letychiv heading west to Lviv. People fleeing attacks in Kharkiv have been using this route to Lviv and then to Poland. Credit:Kate Geraghty This isnt a journey where we can sit back and listen to the radio or put our headphones on; between filing stories and constantly talking with each other about the logistics of the safest route ahead, there is no time to relax. Theres the constant prospect that we could be caught in a besieged city for days without power, food or water, so we have to ensure we always have enough supplies as well, grabbing what we can from supermarkets that have had their shelves stripped bare. We start the journey by crossing the border from Poland into Ukraine, spending three days in Lviv, a crossing point for millions of displaced people since Russia invaded on February 24. We then head east for a one-night stopover in the city of Uman, 211 kilometres south of the capital, Kyiv, where we meet volunteers making camouflage nets for Ukrainian soldiers.

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A group of women tie strips of donated material creating camouflage nets in a community shelter in Uman. Credit:Kate Geraghty The centre of Uman had been hit by a shelling attack a few days prior, killing one civilian riding a bicycle, but its nothing like other cities that have already been battered. Everything is relatively calm, but the residents are resigned to the fact they will be hit again. Days later, a nearby airport is blown up. We head to Ukraines fourth-largest city, Dnipro, in the centre of the country, a refuge for thousands of people who have fled from the bombed-out city of Kharkiv, 218 kilometres to the north. In Dnipro, the curfew, a ban on alcohol and the occasional air raid siren are the only reminders of the bloody war a few hundred kilometres away. Sometimes I confuse the sound of the tram, which runs just past my hotel window, for a distant air strike. However, by this point, Im sleeping through the sirens. A man walks past a billboard that says Russian military ship! Go f--- yourself on the streets of Dnipro. Credit:Kate Geraghty We then spend two days on the ground in Kharkiv, inspecting the destruction from the previous night and going to the citys main emergency hospital, which delivers nothing but misery every day. In this city, we meet 87-year-old Galyna Rasstanna, whose apartment building has been destroyed, but she cant escape because she is unable to walk. In a hospital, we meet a seven-year-old boy named Volodymyr, still struggling to recover from gunshot wounds to his head, sustained in an attack that killed his mother. Volodymyr Baklanov, 7, in intensive care at Kharkiv No.4 Emergency Hospital. Credit:Kate Geraghty

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We then head more than 300 kilometres east to the city of Kramatorsk. Each night we are in the city, the missile attacks escalate. There is no precision in these strikes  entire streets of apartments and houses are destroyed rather than the nearby military installations at which the Russians were supposedly aiming. In Kramatorsk, the residents are increasingly despondent and fearful. Russian President Vladimir Putin is now intent on opening up an eastern front from the self-declared separatist states of Donetsk and Luhansk, and this city is bearing the brunt of the attacks. There were two known missile strikes on Kramatorsk on March 14. Credit:Kate Geraghty We head further east, visiting villages along the contact line which have been decimated by an eight-year war between Ukraine and Moscow-backed rebels. These villages arent dealing with a Russian invasion just a few weeks old, but a long-running war that has just rapidly intensified, and they are right in the firing line. Liudmyla Pavliuk with her husband Mykhaylo Pavliuk in their backyard bomb shelter in Krasnohorivka, where several artillery rounds have landed over the past eight years of conflict. Credit:Kate Geraghty We also spent a day in the trenches just a few hundred metres from the enemy, where Ukrainian soldiers are battling every day to hold their position. In this part of the country, the soldiers are less jumpy at checkpoints  theyve been dealing with war for eight years.

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Soldiers with the 30th Brigade at an observation post on the front line in the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. Credit:Kate Geraghty From the east, over three days, we make our way to Kyiv. Fierce fighting has been going on for days to the east, west and north of the capital, but the southern approach to the city is relatively straightforward. The checkpoints, however, are everywhere in the capital, and it is becoming harder to move around to see what has happened overnight. We meet a 17-year-old boy named Hennadiy who has just escaped from Irpin, on the outskirts of the capital, after an air strike killed his mother. Hennadiy is now an orphan after his father died eight years ago. Hennadiy, 17, lost his mother in an airstrike. He is with his great-grandmother Halyna Lohina. Credit:Kate Geraghty When coverage of this war is presented to the world, it may seem like journalists are constantly in the firing line. However, when youre covering a war, you learn that there are pockets of extreme danger, and you move when the risk gets too high.

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Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Even war has rules. Within two days of Russia invading Ukraine, the International Criminal Court was investigating reports of war crimes there, including the bombing of schools and hospitals. US President Joe Biden has called Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal over the invasion, and the US has formally declared the same conclusion. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Australias Foreign Minister Marise Payne say Putin must be held to account for war crimes against Ukrainian civilians. Russia has been accused of using weapons banned in other countries such as cluster bombs, and there are fears the invaders may yet resort to chemical weapons or increase attacks on nuclear plants, as they step up bombardment of cities in the face of fierce Ukrainian resistance. So what might a war crimes prosecution involve  and could Putin find himself on trial at the Hague? The pregnant woman captured in this photo taken after Mariupols maternity hospital was shelled died with her baby. Credit:AP What are war crimes? Soldiers and nations at war operate under the Geneva conventions, a code first established in 1864 and extended since the world wars, as well as other international treaties. The laws of war are not designed to end a war, explains UWA Law Schools Dr Melanie OBrien, but to protect those not taking part in the fighting such as civilians, doctors, wounded troops or prisoners of war. People will kill other people during conflict, she says. Whats not allowed is murder. It is illegal to deliberately blow up a hospital, for example, use civilians as shields or kill someone who is hors de combat (out of combat). The target must be a military objective, OBrien says.

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Its quite striking how rampantly Russia is violating the treaties they are party to, she notes. As well as bombing schools and hospitals and kidnapping mayors, Russia has attacked high-risk nuclear power plants. It has used indiscriminate weapons on cities  dumb bombs without precision targeting and cluster bombs that contain many munitions. Its as if Russia has a checklist, OBrien says, and theyre going through, ticking off the laws of war and violating them. Who prosecutes war crimes? The ICC was set up 20 years ago in the Hague with the authority to prosecute war crimes, genocide, and wider crimes against humanity (such as the murder, torture or rape of civilians). Its chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, is now in Ukraine gathering evidence and told CNN that the law is clear on this, it is a crime to intentionally target civilians [and] civilian objects. But he added that the burden of proof remains high  beyond reasonable doubt  and the process is yet to play out. Deliberately targeting civilians is different from killing them in the fog of war, in the confusion of battle, when a civilian reaching for their mobile phone could be mistakenly thought to be drawing a gun. In Ukraine, Khan said the court would also consider whether civilian objects [were] being used to launch attacks that made them legitimate targets. But even then, its no licence to use cluster bombs or use disproportionate attacks in concentrated civilian areas.

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Most war crimes are prosecuted after the fact, says international law expert at the ANU Professor Donald Rothwell. A live investigation, such as Khan is conducting on the ground, is more difficult. The court will have to proceed with caution, Rothwell says. Civilians, for example, cannot be combatants [until] they pick up a rifle and start fighting, then they may lose their immunity. But the court could potentially intervene in war crimes as they are unfolding. Say if a Russian military commander falls into the hands of the Ukrainians, and they pass them onto the ICC, Rothwell says. Still, what difference successful prosecutions would make on the wars progress is unclear. Update: Russia ejected from UN human rights council In early April, there was outcry over civilian killings in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, with a mass grave and tied bodies shot at close range discovered after Russian forces withdrew. This warrants him  he is a war criminal, said US President Joe Biden of Russian President Vladimir Putin. We have to gather the information ... And we have to get all the detail so this can be an actual, have a war crimes trial. The Kremlin said the corpses in Bucha had been staged by Ukraine to tarnish Russia. Several days later, Russia became the second country ever to be suspended from the UN Human Rights Council. Members of the UN General Assembly voted to remove Russia over the acts committed in Bucha and other cities and towns outside Kyiv. Libya is the only other country to have been stripped of its membership, in 2011 after violence against protesters by forces loyal to then-leader Muammar Gaddafi. The Kremlin said the vote was illegal and politically motivated. Who can be prosecuted? Anyone can be held accountable  from the lowest foot soldier to the countrys leader. The ICC tends to focus on leaders and commanders because resources are limited, OBrien says. In the case of war crimes allegedly committed by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan, decisions under the spotlight relate to individual soldiers, says Rothwell. But in Ukraine, the focus is likely to be on Russian generals and Vladimir Putin. It can be hard to prove direct responsibility higher up the chain of command but leaders have been convicted before, including Liberias Charles Taylor for sponsoring atrocities in neighbouring Sierra Leone. Former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic was also put on trial by a UN tribunal but died before a verdict. (His Bosnian Serb ally Radovan Karadzic and the Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic are both serving life sentences.)

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Dekari Deener appears in Jefferson District Court on Monday, March 21, 2022. He's charged with two counts of murder in connection with the Saturday, March 19, 2022 shootings of two people outside a Poplar Level Road Speedway gas station.
U.S. Marines inspect a MV-22B Osprey prior to flight at Norwegian Air Force Base Bodo during Exercise Cold Response 22, Norway, March 16, 2022. Four U.S. Marines were killed when their Osprey aircraft crashed in a Norwegian town in the Arctic Circle during a NATO exercise unrelated to Russia's war in Ukraine, authorities said Saturday, March 19. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere tweeted that they died in the crash on Friday night. The cause was under investigation, but Norwegian police reported bad weather in the area.(Lance Cpl. Elias E. Pimentel III/U.S. Marine Corps via AP)
People in Kentucky and across the country voted for the team, and the Land Rover Defender was their prize.
Shepherdsville Police Chief Rick McCubbin said police and "other agencies" were involved in an incident Wednesday night "involving shots being fired." A suspect was hit, McCubbin said, but their condition is unknown. (WDRB photo)
'People actually care about us' l Protesters march in support for Ukraine in downtown Louisville
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After 13 years, investigators say they solved dead baby cold case

Ed Zagorski / Ed Zagorski Karin Luttinen, 45, of Milwaukee has been charged with concealing the death of a child. If convicted, Luttinen could be fined $10,000 and sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison. Ed Zagorski / Ed Zagorski Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt, left, joined by Dodge County Medical Examiner P.J. Schoebel, center, and Dodge County District Attorney Kurt Klomberg, right, held a joint press conference to announce Karin Luttinen, 45, of Milwaukee has been charged with concealing the death of a child. If convicted, Luttinen could be fined $10,000 and sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison.

JUNEAU  Thirteen years after finding a dead baby in the Town of Theresa, Dodge County authorities said Friday they have charged a Milwaukee woman in the 2009 death of her newborn baby.

Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt  joined by Dodge County Medical Examiner P.J. Schoebel and Dodge County District Attorney Kurt Klomberg  held a joint press conference to announce Karin Luttinen, 45, of Milwaukee has been charged with concealing the death of a child. If convicted, Luttinen could be fined $10,000 and sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison.

Based on information revealed at the press conference and in the criminal complaint Friday in Dodge County Circuit Court, authorities used DNA and then interviews to solve the crime.

A stoic Luttinen made her initial appearance in Dodge County Circuit Court Friday and was ordered free on $2,500 bail. She waived her right to a preliminary hearing.

Her next court date remains to be set.

The case was initially charged using the name Jane Doe in 2014 to prevent the statute of limitations on the case from expiring.

However, it was until Jan. 29, 2021 when a special agent for the Wisconsin Department of Justice went to speak to the father of the child and Luttinen following a potential match on the Family Tree DNA results.

According to the criminal complaint, Luttinen initially denied ever being pregnant, but agreed to submit a DNA sample. DNA results showed on March 1, 2021 that Luttinen was a major component source for the discharge found on the maxi pad wrappings found in the garbage bag with the baby. DNA markers also showed that Luttinen was the biological mother of Baby Theresa, the complaint said.

Police spoke on the phone to the father of Baby Theresa on March 22, 2021, who is in a long-term relationship with Luttinen. The father was shocked and said that he had no idea how it could be. The father then asked Luttinen while he was on the phone with law enforcement if she was the mother, and she said OK.

Luttinen was spoken to the same day. According to the criminal complaint, Luttinen said she was in state of denial at the time and did not know she was pregnant at first. She was 33 years old when the baby girl was born, the complaint said.

Luttinen said that she was in the bathroom when she had Baby Theresa and did not even know it was a girl. She said her water broke while she was on the toilet and she gave birth in a bathtub with water in it. According to the criminal complaint, the baby came out head first and face down with the umbilical cord wrapped around the babys neck. She did not hear the baby cry or ever see the baby move before she blacked out for 15 minutes. She said the water was out of the bathtub when she woke up. She said she did not intentionally turn on the water to prevent the baby from breathing and was only trying to get comfortable at the time.

She never told anyone she was pregnant, the complaint said. There are also no medical records available that show she was ever pregnant, according to the criminal complaint.

Luttinen did not attempt to give the baby CPR after realizing that it was not breathing, the complaint said.

The complaint said she told law enforcement that she had panicked and grabbed a towel and put Baby Theresa in the towel before putting the baby in a garbage bag and then into her large purse. She said she then got into her Pontiac Sunfire and drove aimlessly. She said she was alone when she placed the baby in the woods, the complaint said.

According to the criminal complaint, Luttinen did not recall the date of Baby Theresas birth, but knew it was before her own birthday April 13.

On April 29, 2009, a person cutting wood in the Town of Theresa came across a bag lying in the woods. The person looked inside and observed what appeared to be an infant and called authorities. Deputies responded to Lone Road in the Town of Theresa and confirmed a newborn had been found dead in a garbage bag.

The full-term baby girl appeared healthy. At that time tests were conducted which were used to determine the cause of death for the baby. Schoebel conducted his investigation and ordered an autopsy which was performed April 30, 2009. The medical examination did not reveal evidence that supported the contention or charge that the child was murdered.

Schoebels office later concluded that the child had not been killed, instead describing the death as fetal demise, indicating the child may have died before or during birth.

The child was laid to rest with no family present on May 11, 2009 in Dodge County, and the case was titled Baby Theresa after the town, Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt said.

As a result of this case, State Rep. Mark Born and Sen. John Jagler are introducing legislation toughing the consequences surrounding crimes like this one.

The bill the two are introducing will increase the penalty for concealing or not reporting the death of a child to a Class F Felony, which is the same penalty as hiding a corpse, where the maximum penalty is a $25,000 fine and 12 years in prison.

Until today, the community has been left wondering if her family would ever be identified, Schmidt said. Today, we can provide that closure. This case has been resolved.
WSU Undergraduate Research Symposium to Feature Scholarly Studies from Broad Range of Disciplines

March 21, 2022

OGDEN, Utah  Weber State Universitys Undergraduate Research Symposium, held on March 28 in the Shepherd Union Building, will give students the opportunity to share their scholarly research, ranging from a study on the impact dance has on romantic relationships to research on developing zebrafish brains in relation to our understanding of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), a neurodevelopmental disorder.

I look forward to seeing everyones research and projects, said Ashleigh Steed, a senior who received her first research grant to study brain development in zebrafish. Its going to be cool.

Oral presentations will begin at 10 a.m. Each presentation is limited to 12 minutes and will include additional time for questions and discussion. The event also includes a poster session, beginning at 1:30 p.m., where attendees can learn more about students research through one-on-one discussions. The symposium gives students a chance to meet others in their fields, and experience researching and presenting, which is desired by many graduate programs.

I gained experience that I need to move forward into graduate school, said Steed, who hopes to start a doctoral program in cell and molecular neuroscience after graduating this April.

According to the literature Steed relies on for her research, zebrafish share 86% of their genetics with humans. It makes them a really easy model to use for pathologies and development, she said.

Steed partnered with health sciences professor Jim Hutchins and zoology professor Elizabeth Sandquist on her research, which involved treating zebrafish embryos with valproic acid (VPA), and then studying the wiring of their brains. VPA is an anti-epileptic drug that has been shown to increase the incidence of ASD in children of pregnant mothers who take it. Specifically, Steed is examining cells in zebrafish eyes to determine whether or not the cells are dying or proliferating. It is hypothesized that ASD is an overwiring of the brain. Steed said her research is important, since it's not often done.

Autism is a developmental difference. Its nothing to be ashamed of, but theres such a gap in research on autism, she said.

Sophia Pettit, WSU senior and lead author of the study on dance and relationships, said her research can help others as well.

Along with associate professor of child and family studies Daniel Hubler and WSU graduate student Nathan Bingham, she surveyed about 80 adults regarding their experiences with dance and intimacy in relationships. Their findings showed that couples who dance together, whether at home or out on the town, experience greater relational intimacy. Pettit and her team are now exploring possibilities for researching the inclusion of dance as a means of relationship therapy for couples.

Along with making a real-world impact, the symposium offers a chance for undergraduates to explore their passions.

Niharika Mishra, a fall 2021 WSU graduate who will soon start her graduate program at Utah State University, said she appreciated the opportunities she had to explore various topics as an undergraduate. Once you get into a masters, its a two-year degree, and you have to be very specific about things, she said.

At WSU, Mishra had the chance to research methods for adding probiotics to almond or oat milk for those who are lactose intolerant, explore ways to increase the shelf-life of probiotics, and research using ozone gas to combat viruses.

At the symposium, she will discuss her research on cheese contaminant paucilactobacillus wasatchensis, which makes cheddar cheese deteriorate, leading to slits and cracks.

With WSU microbiology professors Michelle Culumber and Craig Oberg, she attempted to determine where the contaminant comes from. While they didnt find an exact DNA match to show its origin, the research offers some clues, and Mishra said its an important topic.

If youre buying cheddar cheese, you want it to look like cheddar cheese, Mishra said. If it doesnt, consumers are not going to buy it next time, so its bad for the industry as well as the consumers.

Whether they involve fish, dance, cheese or one of many other topics, the symposium offers insightful, forward-thinking research.

Along with oral and poster sessions, the event will include a luncheon for students and their mentors, where the university will recognize outstanding student and faculty researchers.

Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University.
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PHILADELPHIA  A crash on Interstate 95 in Philadelphia early Monday morning claimed the lives of two Pennsylvania State Police troopers and a civilian, PSP Commissioner Robert Evanchick confirmed in a news conference that was streamed live on WFMZ.com.

Trooper Martin F. Mack III, 33, and Trooper Branden T. Sisca, 29, were killed in the line of duty around 12:45 a.m. as they assisted a pedestrian in the southbound lanes of I-95 near Philadelphia's sports complex, officials said. The pedestrian, whose name has not been released, was also killed.

The troopers were dispatched to the area after receiving reports of a man walking south on I-95. As they were helping him into the back of their cruiser, a woman fatally struck all three men and the cruiser as she attempted to drive past the scene at a high rate of speed, officials said. They added that a DUI investigation is now underway.

8:17 WATCH: News conference on deaths of 2 PSP troopers Pennsylvania State Police officials and Gov. Tom Wolf brief the media on the deaths of 2 state troopers and a civilian in a crash on Interstat

"Our department is heartbroken with the tragedy that occurred early this morning in Philadelphia," Evanchick said. "We ask our fellow Pennsylvanians to keep the families of our troopers and the pedestrian in their thoughts. This is an extremely difficult time."

Mack enlisted in the Pennsylvania State Police in November 2014 and graduated as a member of the 141st cadet class.

Sisca enlisted in the Pennsylvania State Police in February 2021 and graduated as a member of the 161st cadet class.

Both troopers spent their entire careers assigned to the patrol section of Philadelphia-based Troop K.

Sisca also served as the chief of the Trappe Fire Company in Montgomery County, and prior to becoming a trooper, he served as a firefighter/EMT with the Spring Township Fire Department in Berks County.

Gov. Tom Wolf ordered the state's flag to fly at half staff at all commonwealth facilities, public buildings.

"This is a heartbreaking tragedy that occurred while these troopers were protecting and serving," Wolf said. "This mournful incident is a stark reminder of the risksand sacrificesour law enforcement officers undertake every day to keep us safe. My heart goes out to their families and the communities they lived in and served."
Quincy, IL (62301)

Today

Rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers in the afternoon. High 57F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a half an inch..

Tonight

Showers early, becoming a steady rain late. Thunder possible. Low 54F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Bill to divest Minnesota holdings in Russian companies likely to pass The House this week
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Clarke County Circuit Court Clerk April Wilkerson shows the difference between a restored deed book (which she is holding up) and one not yet restored.
ASBURY PARK, N.J. (AP)  A wave of new electric vehicle charging stations across the country is coming as interest in alternatives to gasoline-powered vehicles is on the rise and could heighten further due to a global spike in gasoline prices.

An electric vehicle charging station is pictured on March 21, 2022, in Asbury Park, N.J. Communities across the U.S. are adding such stations in an effort that began well before gasoline prices surged this year. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

ASBURY PARK, N.J. (AP)  A wave of new electric vehicle charging stations across the country is coming as interest in alternatives to gasoline-powered vehicles is on the rise and could heighten further due to a global spike in gasoline prices.

Though most of the plans were in the works before already high gas prices surged because of the war in Ukraine, the timing may work in favor of electric vehicle makers and other proponents of ditching fossil fuels.

From coast to coast, cities big and small are adding charging stations for electric vehicles. Strong demand is forecast for the vehicles, despite their higher prices and limited availability, meaning even more communities will feel pressure to add charging stations or risk having motorists pass them by in favor of plug-in-friendly places.

The publicly funded investments come as gasoline prices in most of the country are above $4 a gallon and significantly more in some spots.

Kelly Mooij, an official with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, opens the charging port of an electric vehicle on March 21, 2022, in Asbury Park, N.J. A nearby charging station was not yet operational. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

On Monday, New Jersey officials awarded $1 million in grants to install electric vehicle charging stations in 24 tourist areas around the state. The idea was to help spur tourism by reassuring visitors who own electric vehicles that they can come to a vacation spot in New Jersey and not run out of power to get back home.

Don't worry about it, said Joseph Fiordaliso, president of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. We have the equipment here so that you don't have to have range anxiety.

Spots getting money for new charging stations include Asbury Park, Atlantic City, Ocean City and several state parks and forests.

The money comes from the state budget. On Tuesday, NJ Transit, the state's public transportation agency, will unveil electric charging stations at a bus depot in Camden, outside Philadelphia.

There are now about 625 vehicle charging stations in New Jersey

On the federal side, the city of Hoboken, just outside New York City, is getting up to six new charging stations in a deal also announced Monday. U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez said the money from a federal spending bill will help ease our transition to electric vehicles, reduce emissions, and create a cleaner environment for our children.

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Governments across the country are doing likewise. Bellingham, Washington will add 90 charging stations over the next two years. Portland, Maine, recently entered into a 10-year agreement with a company that will install, operate and maintain more than 40 electric vehicle charging stations on publicly owned property.

Charleston, West Virginia, just added two charging stations at a public parking garage. Charlotte, North Carolina, Cleveland and Saginaw, Michigan, are among cities adding charging stations.

It's happening in other countries, too. Glasgow, Scotland, is adding 164 new stations this year.

Almost half a million electric vehicles were sold in the U.S. last year, according to Kelly Blue Book.

___

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TORONTO - Barrick Gold Corp. has signed an agreement in principle to restart work on its Reko Diq project in Pakistan's Balochistan province.

Barrick Gold logo is seen during the company's annual general meeting in Toronto on Tuesday, April 28, 2015. Barrick Gold Corp. has signed an agreement in principle to restart work on its Reko Diq project in Pakistan's Balochistan province. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

TORONTO - Barrick Gold Corp. has signed an agreement in principle to restart work on its Reko Diq project in Pakistan's Balochistan province.

The project was suspended in 2011 due to a dispute over the legality of its licensing process.

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The Toronto-based gold miner says the reconstituted project will be held 50 per cent by Barrick and 50 per cent by stakeholders in Pakistan, including a 10 per cent free-carried, non-contributing share held by the government in Balochistan, a 15 per cent stake held by a special purpose company owned by the government in Balochistan and a 25 interest owned by other federal state-owned enterprises.

The company says a separate agreement allows the replacement of Antofagasta PLC, Barricks partner in the project, by the Pakistani parties.

Barrick will be the operator of the project, which will be granted a mining lease, exploration licence, surface rights and a mineral agreement.

Barrick chief executive Mark Bristow calls the agreement an important step toward the development and operation of Reko Diq.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 21, 2022.

Companies in this story: (TSX:ABX)
BEIJING (AP)  Shanghai Disneyland closed Monday as China's most populous city tried to contain its biggest coronavirus flareup in two years, while the southern business center of Shenzhen allowed shops and offices to reopen after a weeklong closure.

A man wearing a mask carries a dog wearing a jersey on the street on Sunday, March 20, 2022, in Beijing. China's health authorities reported two COVID-19 deaths on Saturday, the first since January 2021, as the country battles its worst outbreak in two years driven by a surge in the highly transmissible omicron variant. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

BEIJING (AP)  Shanghai Disneyland closed Monday as China's most populous city tried to contain its biggest coronavirus flareup in two years, while the southern business center of Shenzhen allowed shops and offices to reopen after a weeklong closure.

Meanwhile, the cities of Changchun and Jilin in the northeast began another round of citywide virus testing following a surge in infections. Jilin tightened anti-disease curbs, ordering its 2 million residents to stay home.

Chinas case numbers in its latest infection wave are low compared with other major countries, but authorities are enforcing a zero tolerance strategy that has suspended access to some major cities.

The government reported 2,027 new cases on the Chinese mainland on Sunday, up from the previous days 1,737. That included 1,542 infections in Jilin province, where Changchun and Jilin are located.

A health worker wearing a protective suit puts COVID-19 test samples into a plastic bag at a hotel used for people to stay during a period of health quarantine Sunday, March 20, 2022, in the Yanqing district of Beijing. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Shanghai, which has a population of 24 million, has avoided a citywide shutdown but appealed to the public to stay home. Bus service into the city has been suspended and visitors are required to show a negative virus test.

Disney Co. said Shanghai Disneyland, Disneytown and Wishing Star Park were closed until further notice.

On Monday, Shanghai reported 24 new cases. The city earlier suspended access to two residential areas and carried out mass testing at dozens of others.

Shanghai residents posted photos on the internet showing empty streets and subways during what usually is a crowded Monday morning rush hour.

The government of Shenzhen, a finance and technology center that abuts Hong Kong, announced businesses and government offices were allowed to reopen Monday while authorities took steps to try to prevent a resurgence of virus cases. Bus and subway service, which had been suspended, was restarted.

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Last week, the city of 17.5 million shut down all businesses except those that supply food and other necessities and told the public to stay home following a spike in cases.

Shenzhen is home to some of China's biggest companies including telecom equipment maker Huawei, electric car brand BYD Auto and Tencent, operator of the popular WeChat message service.

The shutdowns prompted concern trade might be disrupted if ports near Shanghai and Shenzhen that are among the world's busiest are affected. The Shanghai port moved paperwork functions online but said cargo was moving normally. The smaller port of Lianyungang barred foreign sailors from coming ashore.

The government said last week it was trying to fine-tune anti-disease controls to reduce their economic cost and impact on society.

Tangshan, a steel industry center east of Beijing, the Chinese capital, imposed controls Sunday that allow only emergency vehicles to move around the city after seven cases were found, state media reported.

Authorities in Beijing were investigating a duck restaurant where four employees contracted the virus. State media said owners of the Yu Le Xuan restaurant were accused of failing to register the identities of 477 diners as required over five days, making it harder to trace potential contacts.
HONG KONG (AP)  Hong Kongs leader Monday said that the city would lift flight bans on countries including Britain and the U.S., as well as reduce quarantine time for travelers arriving in the city as coronavirus infections in its latest outbreak plateau.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, center, Chief Secretary, John Lee, left, and Financial Secretary, Paul Chan listen to a reporter's question during a news conference in Hong Kong, Monday, March 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu, Pool)

HONG KONG (AP)  Hong Kongs leader Monday said that the city would lift flight bans on countries including Britain and the U.S., as well as reduce quarantine time for travelers arriving in the city as coronavirus infections in its latest outbreak plateau.

The citys chief executive Carrie Lam announced during a press conference Monday that a ban on flights from nine countries  Australia, Canada, France, India, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Britain and the U.S.  would be lifted from April 1. A flight ban on most these countries has been in place since January, as authorities sought to stem the outbreak of the highly transmissible omicron variant in Hong Kong.

Travelers entering the city can also quarantine for as little as seven days in quarantine hotels  down from 14 days  if they test negative for the virus on the sixth and seventh days of their quarantine. Such travelers must also be fully vaccinated and test negative for the coronavirus before entering the city.

Lam also said that plans for a citywide mass-testing exercise, which was first announced in February, would be suspended.

"The experts are of the opinion that its not appropriate for us to devote finite resources to the universal mass-testing," said Lam. "The SAR government will continue to monitor the situation. When the conditions are right, we will consider whether we will be implementing the compulsory universal testing."

FILE - An aerial view shows a construction site for coronavirus isolation facilities and a temporary bridge linked China's Shenzhen and Hong Kong's Lok Ma Chau cities in Hong Kong, Friday, March 11, 2022. Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam on Monday, March 21, 2022, said that the city would lift flight bans on countries including Britain and the U.S., as well as reduce quarantine for travelers arriving in the city as coronavirus infections in its latest outbreak plateaus. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)

The changes announced Monday signal a shift in Hong Kongs handling of the coronavirus pandemic, as authorities sought to provide a direction for Hong Kong businesses and its residents after two years of aligning with mainland Chinas "zero COVID" policy.

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Lam said that the changes come as part of an interim review of the citys measures, and that various stakeholders in the city will be consulted for any longer-term roadmaps when it comes to public health and economic development.

"We have to listen more carefully to the experts, both locally and from the mainland," said Lam.

FILE-A man walks along an empty airport in Hong Kong, Friday, Feb. 18, 2022. Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam on Monday, March 21, 2022, said that the city would lift flight bans on countries including Britain and the U.S., as well as reduce quarantine for travelers arriving in the city as coronavirus infections in its latest outbreak plateaus. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)

"For any longer-term public health strategy, we will have to take into account both factors that is maintaining Hong Kongs accessibility to the mainland, and also ensuring her continued connectivity with the outside world."

On Monday, Lam also announced that social distancing measures will stay in place, although they will be lifted in stages from April 21 if infections do not surge, Lam said. A ban on dining in after 6 p.m. will be lifted, and public gatherings will be capped at four people, up from two.

Other businesses that were ordered to shutter temporarily, such as gyms and massage parlors, will also be allowed to reopen.

Hong Kong reported 14,063 infections on Monday, the lowest in over three weeks. At the peak of its outbreak, the city reported over 50,000 cases daily, and has reported over 1 million infections and nearly 5,700 deaths since the current outbreak began at the end of last year.
There may never be a good time to draw the IRS attention, but this year you really want to avoid extra scrutiny.

There may never be a good time to draw the IRS attention, but this year you really want to avoid extra scrutiny.

The IRS is so understaffed and overwhelmed that even a tiny mistake could delay your refund for months. A return that requires manual processing  basically, any action by an IRS employee  could join a massive queue that started building at the beginning of the pandemic and has yet to be resolved. If something goes wrong, good luck getting through to a human: The IRS answered about 1 in 10 calls last year, down from about 1 in 3 before the pandemic, according to the National Taxpayer Advocate.

To avoid tax hassles, the best approach is to be careful, thorough and digital when you file your return.

DONT FILE A PAPER RETURN OR ASK FOR A PAPER CHECK

Lets start with the basics: File electronically and request direct deposit of any refund you might be due, says April Walker, lead manager for tax practice and ethics with the American Institute of CPAs. If your income was $73,000 or less in 2021, you can use the IRS Free File tax preparation option.

If you file electronically, you can begin tracking the status of your refund on the IRS site within 24 hours , says CPA Lei Han, associate professor of accounting at Niagara University in Niagara Falls, New York. If you file a paper return, tracking typically wont be available for four weeks, Han says.

Paper returns dont just take longer to process, notes Kent Lugrand, president and chief executive of InTouch Credit Union in Plano, Texas. Paper returns are also much more likely to contain errors  either that a taxpayer made or that an IRS employee introduced while transferring the data from a paper return into the agencys computer system. Electronic filing, by contrast, wont let you file a return with many common mistakes such as mathematical errors or failing to sign your return. You have to fix those before you can submit the return, Lugrand says.

E-filing software may not detect other problems, such as incorrect Social Security, bank routing or bank account numbers, so check all numbers carefully, Walker recommends.

MAKE SURE YOUR NUMBERS MATCH

The IRS automated matching system looks for discrepancies between the income you report and forms filed by your employer and financial institutions. A mismatch can cause the agency to freeze your refund and trigger a notice demanding more information.

If you invest outside a retirement account, beware: Brokerages are notorious for sending out preliminary 1099-B forms  which track investors gains and losses  to meet the IRS mid-February deadline , and then sending corrected forms a month or so later. If you rely on the preliminary form, you may end up having to file an amended return , which would have to be manually processed and could delay your refund for months.

Sometimes the W-2 or 1099 forms you get contain errors. If thats the case, try to get the error corrected and the form reissued before you file, Han recommends. Consider filing an extension if you need more time to get the issue resolved, she says.

PROPERLY REPORT CHILD TAX CREDIT AND STIMULUS PAYMENTS

Your return also could be derailed by a mismatch between the child tax credit or stimulus payments you report versus what the IRS says you got last year, Walker says.

Taxpayers who received monthly child tax credit payments in 2021 will have to reconcile those payments with the amount for which they were actually eligible. The IRS based the payments on income data from a prior year, so some families may have received too much while others will qualify for additional money when they file their returns, Han says. In addition, eligible people who didnt receive the third stimulus payment, or who qualified for more than they got, can claim the recovery rebate credit on this years tax return.

In January, the IRS began sending out notices to taxpayers who had received payments in 2021: Letter 6475 summarized how much stimulus money the taxpayer got, while Letter 6419 reported total advance child tax credit payments.

If youre married and received the payments, you likely received two letters about the child tax payments  one for each spouse, Walker says. If your family has one child and received $300 a month for six months for a total of $1,800, for example, you typically would get two IRS letters, each reporting $900.

Some people thought the second letter was a duplicate, and so they might have thrown it away, Walker says.

If youre missing any of this paperwork, dont just rely on your memory or your bank records, Walker says. You can create an account on the IRS site and view IRS records to find the correct figures.

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If you just wing it on that number, its probably going to cause a delay, Walker says.

_____________________________________

This column was provided to The Associated Press by the personal finance site NerdWallet. The content is for educational and informational purposes and does not constitute investment advice. Liz Weston is a columnist at NerdWallet, a certified financial planner and author of Your Credit Score. Email: lweston@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @lizweston.

RELATED LINKS:

IRS free file: Do your taxes for free https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free

NerdWallet: Personal finance defined: The guide to maximizing your money https://bit.ly/nerdwallet-personal-finance-defined-guide-to-maximizing-your-money
WASHINGTON (AP)  Companies would be required to disclose the greenhouse gas emissions they produce and how climate risk affects their business under new rules proposed Monday by the Securities and Exchange Commission as part of a drive across the government to address climate change.

FILE - The sun shines near the Space Needle, Monday, June 28, 2021, in Seattle as Seattle and other cities broke all-time heat records, with temperatures soaring well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 Celsius). Weather extremes like this will increase in frequency and intensity in North America the coming years as global warming accelerates, according to a United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren,File)

WASHINGTON (AP)  Companies would be required to disclose the greenhouse gas emissions they produce and how climate risk affects their business under new rules proposed Monday by the Securities and Exchange Commission as part of a drive across the government to address climate change.

Under the proposals adopted on a 3-1 SEC vote, public companies would have to report on their climate risks, including the costs of moving away from fossil fuels, as well as risks related to the physical impact of storms, drought and higher temperatures caused by global warming. They would be required to lay out their transition plans for managing climate risk, how they intend to meet climate goals and progress made, and the impact of severe weather events on their finances.

The number of investors seeking more information on risk related to global warming has grown dramatically in recent years. Many companies already provide climate-risk information voluntarily. The idea is that, with uniform required information, investors would be able to compare companies within industries and sectors.

Companies and investors alike would benefit from the clear rules of the road in the proposal, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said.

The required disclosures would include greenhouse gas emissions produced by companies directly or indirectly  such as from consumption of the companys products, vehicles used to transport products, employee business travel and energy used to grow raw materials.

FILE - Drivers and their tanker trucks capable of hauling water and hydraulic fracturing liquid line up near a natural gas burn off flame and storage tanks in Williston, N.D., on June 9, 2014. Under new rules proposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, March 21, 2022, companies would be required to disclose the greenhouse gas emissions they produce and how climate risk affects their business, as part of a drive across the government to address climate change. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

The SEC issued voluntary guidance in 2010, but this is the first time mandatory disclosure rules were put forward. The rules were opened to a public comment period of around 60 days and they could be modified before any final adoption.

Climate activists and investor groups have clamored for mandatory disclosure of information that would be uniformly required of all companies. The advocates estimate that excluding companies indirect emissions would leave out some 75% of greenhouse gas emissions.

Investors can only assess risks if they know they exist," Mike Litt, consumer campaigns director of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, said in a prepared statement. Americans retirement accounts and other savings could be endangered if we dont acknowledge potential liabilities caused by climate change and take them seriously."

Climate risks and harms are growing across our communities with threats to our economy," said Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., chair of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. Investors, pension fund managers and the public need better information about the physical and transition-related risks that climate change poses to hard-earned investments,

On the other hand, major business interests and Republican officials  reaching down to the state level  began mobilizing against the climate disclosures long before the SEC unveiled the proposed rules Monday, exposing the sharply divided political dynamic of the climate issue.

Hester Peirce, the sole Republican among the four SEC commissioners, voted against the proposal. We cannot make such fundamental changes without harming companies, investors and the SEC, she said. The results wont be reliable, let alone comparable.

The SEC action is part of a governmentwide effort to identify climate risks, with new regulations planned from various agencies touching on the financial industry, housing and agriculture, among other areas. President Joe Biden issued an executive order last May calling for concrete steps to blunt climate risks, while spurring job creation and helping the U.S. reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.

Biden has made slowing climate change a top priority and has set a target to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 52% below 2005 levels by 2030. He also has said he expects to adopt a clean-energy standard that would make electric power carbon-free by 2035, along with the wider goal of net-zero carbon emissions through the economy by 2050.

This is a huge step forward to protect our economy and boost transparency for investors and the public," White House national climate adviser Gina McCarthy tweeted as the SEC acted.

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The premier business lobby, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the American Petroleum Institute, the oil industrys top trade group, expressed objections in letters to the SEC last year.

Frank Macchiarola, senior vice president of policy, economics and regulatory affairs at API, said Monday the group is concerned that the SEC's proposal could require disclosure of information that isn't significant for investors' decisions, and create confusion for investors and capital markets."

As the (SEC) pursues a final rule, we encourage them to collaborate with our industry and build on private-sector efforts that are already underway to improve consistency and comparability of climate-related reporting," Macchiarola said in a statement.

The threat that opponents could take the SEC to court over the regulations has loomed.

Last June, a group of 16 Republican state attorneys general, led by Patrick Morrisey of West Virginia, raised objections in a letter to SEC Chairman Gensler. Companies are well positioned to decide whether and how to satisfy the markets evolving demands, for both customers and investors, they said. If the (SEC) were to move forward in this area, however, it would be delving into an inherently political morass for which it is ill-suited.

Morrisey previously threatened to sue the SEC over expanded disclosures from companies of environmental, social and governance information.
ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - A sharply worded new report from a consulting firm hired to monitor the long-delayed Muskrat Falls hydro project in Newfoundland and Labrador says the province's wait for power could drag on for at least another year.

The construction site of the hydroelectric facility at Muskrat Falls, N.L., is seen on Tuesday, July 14, 2015. A consulting firm says it could be more than a year before Newfoundland and Labrador's beleaguered Muskrat Falls hydroelectricity project is producing at full commercial capacity. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - A sharply worded new report from a consulting firm hired to monitor the long-delayed Muskrat Falls hydro project in Newfoundland and Labrador says the province's wait for power could drag on for at least another year.

Pennsylvania-based Liberty Consulting Group says ongoing software issues related to the transmission line from Labrador to Newfoundland could delay full commercial operations for at least another year "and perhaps significantly longer."

The province "now faces the need to select the best path forward for operating through yet another coming winter season without a reliably performing (Labrador-Island Link)," the consulting firm said in its report dated March 11.

The news is the latest in a string of setbacks for the embattled project, which is run by Crown energy corporation Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro. Liberty Consulting Group was hired in 2018 by the province's Public Utilities Board to keep an eye on Muskrat Falls as construction ended and power generation from its massive Labrador dams began.

Muskrat Falls was approved by a Progressive Conservative government in 2012 with a $7.4-billion price tag. The project was championed as a way to power the province with hydroelectric energy and replace the oil-burning generating plant that sits just outside the town of Holyrood, N.L., near the capital St. John's.

But Muskrat Falls is now years overdue and nearly double the cost, at $13.1 billion as of September 2020.

Ottawa stepped in last summer with a $5.2-billion bailout that included a loan guarantee and payouts from interest earned from the federal share in the Hibernia oilfield off the coast of Newfoundland. Without the help, residential electricity rates would have nearly doubled in order to pay for the project's ballooning costs.

The last deadline missed for the start of full commercial operations was Nov. 26, 2021. General Electric, the company building the software to run the transmission line to the island, hasn't been able to work out all of the system's bugs. The company has said it believed the Labrador-Island Link could be operational by May 31, according to previous reports.

But the Liberty Consulting Group report says that's unlikely.

"In short, there is no projected or projectable schedule for (the Labrador-Island Link) completion from management; we can offer none, and we place no confidence in the schedule now indicated by (General Electric)," its authors wrote. "Management should find most troubling the continued existence of critical software flaws after an already extraordinarily long software development period."

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General Electric did not respond to a request for comment.

In an email Monday, Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro spokeswoman Jill Pitcher said the utility respects and welcomes Liberty Consulting Group's input.

"Based on (General Electric's) performance to date and continuous delays in delivering the software, further delays are likely; however, the extent of any possible delay is impossible to predict," Pitcher said. "We have and continue to express to GE our clear expectation and requirement that it deliver an adequate product which is this final milestone."

Pitcher said the utility does not have an updated cost estimate for Muskrat Falls, though in October she said the project was accruing $1 million a day in interest and financing charges. That figure is no longer accurate, she said Monday, though she did not provide a new one.

Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro said in February it was keeping the generating facility near Holyrood operational until at least 2024. The station burns about 18,000 barrels of oil per day during the peak winter season, according to the provincial government.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 21, 2022.
TORONTO - An Ontario security software company says it has discovered a new affiliate of a ransomware gang that has pledged allegiance to Russia carrying out attacks with threat emulation technology.

A woman uses a computer keyboard in North Vancouver, B.C., on Wednesday, December, 19, 2012. An Ontario security software company says it has discovered a new affiliate of a ransomware gang that has pledged allegiance to Russia carrying out attacks with threat emulation software.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

TORONTO - An Ontario security software company says it has discovered a new affiliate of a ransomware gang that has pledged allegiance to Russia carrying out attacks with threat emulation technology.

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Waterloo, Ont.-based eSentire says its threat response unit has been tracking an affiliate of Conti since August and discovered the group used Cobalt Strike in two attacks around Valentine's Day, as tensions between Russia and Ukraine were escalating.

The firm calls Cobalt Strike "the Swiss army knife of cyber intrusions" because the tool can replicate and launch sophisticated cyberattacks that can test security detections, protections and response systems, but is being used by threat actors to compromise IT environments and spread throughout networks.

The threat response unit intercepted an attack using Cobalt Strike to try to breach an unnamed childrens charity and hours later, found it being used to target a legal firm.

It says Conti is comprised of sophisticated ransomware developers and operators known for compromising and disrupting the operations of health-care organizations, emergency services, municipalities, oil transportation and electric companies and schools.

Conti claimed responsibility for a cyberattack on a Quebec smelter Rio Tinto operates earlier this month.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 21, 2022.
Press Release

March 21, 2022 PH must rekindle alliance with countries supporting rule of law; enter exploration agreements only with those who recognize our sovereign rights - De Lima To uphold peace and stability, re-electionist Senator Leila M. de Lima called on the government to rekindle the nation's alliance with countries that support the rule of law and enact laws that support economic and military cooperation with them. De Lima, who is seeking reelection under the Robredo-Pangilinan ticket, maintained that as a small country with limited military power, "our best recourse is to cultivate strong and positive international relations." "We need to ensure that our rights as a sovereign nation are reflected in our treaties and policies," she said. De Lima was particular with asserting the country's territorial integrity and sovereign rights over the West Philippine Sea (WPS), which China claims to own despite a landmark ruling by the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) finding no legal basis for the latter to claim historic rights to a "nine-dash line" in the WPS. In the said decision released last July 12, 2016, the PCA upheld Philippines' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) rights in the WPS, noting that China's large-scale reclamation has "caused severe harm to the coral reef environment and violated its obligation to preserve and protect fragile ecosystems." "We should stand our ground in upholding the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration on the WPS. No agreements should be entered into by the government conditioned on our silence on the WPS ruling," De Lima said. The lady Senator from Bicol maintained that the Philippines should enter into exploration agreements only with those who recognize the country's rights over the WPS and its EEZ. "We should engage more countries that are not claimants in the South China Sea to operate in the WPS. The presence of the international community in the region should deter some aggressiveness on the part of China," she said. In 2019, De Lima filed Proposed Senate Bill (SB) No. 376, declaring July 12 of every year as the "West Philippine Sea Victory Day" to mark the historic decision of the PCA in The Hague, Netherlands and to commemorate the country's arbitration victory against China. Last April 2021, De Lima filed Proposed Senate Resolution (SR) No. 694 urging the government's Executive branch to exert all legal and diplomatic actions on the Chinese government to assert Philippine sovereign rights in the WPS.
CALGARY - If the work stoppage at Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. doesn't end soon, southern Alberta feedlot operator James Bekkering says he and many of his counterparts will be facing a serious situation.

Locked-out CP Rail workers protest outside the Lachine Intermodal facility in Montreal, Sunday, March 20, 2022. The pressure is on in Ottawa today as a CP Rail work stoppage enters its second day. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

CALGARY - If the work stoppage at Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. doesn't end soon, southern Alberta feedlot operator James Bekkering says he and many of his counterparts will be facing a serious situation.

Due to last summer's drought which dried up pastures across the Prairie provinces, western Canadian cattle producers have been dependent this winter on CP Rail shipments of imported corn from the U.S. to feed their animals.

If the trains don't start moving, Bekkering said he and many others will be out of livestock feed within one to three weeks.

"It's got the anxiety levels up quite high among cattle feeders, for sure," said Bekkering, who is also the chair of the National Cattle Feeders' Association. "Any further delay, and we're not looking forward to what happens when we run out. Because we don't have a contingency plan."

Bekkering and many other customers of CP Rail called on the federal government Monday to introduce back-to-work legislation as a work stoppage at the Calgary-based railway continued through its second day.

Approximately 3,000 conductors, engineers and train and yard workers with CP Rail were off the job Sunday. The company and the union representing the workers, the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, blamed each other for causing the work stoppage, though both also said they were still talking with the help offederal mediators.

Those talks continued Monday in Calgary. Federal Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan was also on-site.

"I don't intend to leave until we have an agreement," O'Regan said Monday. "I am optimistic, with people at the table and not leaving, that we will reach the deal that Canadians demand and want as soon as possible."

Industry groups say the stakes are particularly high, given that the CP Rail shutdown comes at a time when many businesses are already dealing with supply chain difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, extreme weather, and the recent blockades of border crossings by protesters.

Were asking for all parties to find a very, very quick resolution," said Brian Kingston, president and chief executive of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association.

"We appreciate the fact that they're back at the table today ... That said, if it becomes evident that there is simply no negotiated outcome possible, we would encourage the government to look at other options."

Fertilizer Canada chief executive Karen Proud warned that with just a month to go before spring seeding gets underway, a rail shutdown means farmers may not get all the fertilizer they need.

She said that could cause food prices to spike given the war in Ukraine and the impact it's already had on global fertilizer supplies as well as the prices of wheat and other grains.

Proud said the fertilizer industry believes it's time to introduce back-to-work legislation.

"We certainly respect the collective bargaining process, but clearly these two groups havent been able to reach an agreement. And now the government needs to act immediately," she said.

"Some of our members who produce fertilizer, dont have the storage capacity if product isn't being shipped out on the rails, so were looking at being days away from potentially having to shut down our production of fertilizer.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said the work stoppage could affect the province's reputation as a commodity exporter. He called on the federal government to draft back-to-work legislation and to classify railworkers as an essential service.

"If there is that lengthy protracted service disruption, that will cause Saskatchewan ... some reputational damage of being a sustainable supplier of potash, uranium, and agri-food products, and that's a problem for us," Moe told reporters.

The House of Commons resumed Monday following a two-week break, so back-to-work legislation could come immediately if the federal government so chooses.

However, O'Regan indicated over the weekend that the government believes the best deal is reached at the bargaining table. And while business and industry voices are calling on the government to use all tools at its disposal to bring an end to the work stoppage, labour advocates say talks need to be allowed to progress.

We hope that the negotiations will be allowed to continue with mediation and that we avoid intervention by government," said Bea Bruske, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, which has been calling for CP Rail to 'negotiate in good faith' with the Teamsters.

"Let me be clear, back-to-work legislation is not needed.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh told reporters in Ottawa on Monday that employing back-to-work legislation in a "cavalier" way interferes with the right of workers to use the ability to strike as a negotiation tool to improve working conditions.

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"The fact that it's already something that's being raised before workers have a chance to negotiate sends a message to employers that they don't have to negotiate," Singh said. "And that's wrong."

Peggy Nash, senior adviser with Ryerson University's Centre for Labour Management Relations, said if a negotiated agreement between the two parties can't be reached, some form of binding arbitration could be another possible solution that could prevent the need for a federally mandated back-to-work order.

"But this is only day two, and the fact that the two sides have indicated they would like to keep talking is a hopeful sign," said Nash, a former NDP MP.

"There's a great deal of pressure right now on all sides, and this kind of pressure can focus the mind in a way that months-long bargaining might not."

 With files from Mickey Djuric in Regina

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 21, 2022.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  Saudi Arabia said on Monday that it won't bear any responsibility" for a shortage in global oil supplies after a fierce barrage of attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels affected production in the kingdom, the world's largest oil exporter.

FILE - A photographer takes pictures of the Khurais oil field during a tour for journalists, 150 km east-northeast of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, June 28, 2021. In a statement on Monday, March 21, 2022, carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, Saudi Arabia said it wont bear any responsibility for any shortage in oil supplies to global markets after attacks by Yemens Iran-backed Houthi rebels have affected the kingdoms production. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil, File)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  Saudi Arabia said on Monday that it won't bear any responsibility" for a shortage in global oil supplies after a fierce barrage of attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels affected production in the kingdom, the world's largest oil exporter.

The unusually stark warning marked a departure from the giant oil producer's typically cautious statements, as Saudi officials remain aware that even their smallest comments can swing the price of oil and rattle global markets.

The state-run Saudi Press Agency quoted the Saudi Foreign Ministry as saying that the kingdom declares that it will not bear any responsibility for any shortage in oil supplies to global markets in light of the attacks on its oil facilities.

The announcement comes as the kingdom remains in lockstep with OPEC and other oil-producing countries in a deal limiting production increases. Gulf Arab oil producers have so far resisted pressure from the Biden administration to pump more crude to help bring down oil prices that have soared amid Russia's war on Ukraine.

Already, gasoline prices have hit record highs around the world. Gas prices in the U.S. topped $4.25 on Monday, according to auto club AAA, just below the historic record of $4.33 reached earlier this month.

The international community must assume its responsibility to preserve energy supplies," the Saudi statement added, in order to deter attacks that jeopardize the kingdoms production capability and its ability to fulfill its commitments."

The international oil benchmark Brent crude hovered over $112 a barrel in trading Monday, up more than 4% for the preceding session. The price remained below a peak of nearly $140 hit earlier this month, but still some $15 a barrel more than before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

On Sunday, Yemen's Iran-backed rebels launched one of their most intense series of attacks targeting the kingdom's oil and natural gas production, sparking a fire at a petroleum distribution center in the port of Jiddah, the countrys second-largest city, and disrupting production at a petrochemicals complex in Yanbu on the Red Sea coast.

The overall extent of damage at the installations remained unclear. The Saudi Energy Ministry acknowledged a temporary drop in oil output at the 400,000-barrel-a-day Yanbu site, without elaborating.

The government condemned the attacks as a threat to the security of global oil supplies in these extremely sensitive circumstances." Even before Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, global energy supplies were struggling to keep pace with surging post-pandemic demand. The West's punitive sanctions on Moscow, among the world's largest oil producers and exporters, unleashed more turmoil on the market.

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The relentless wave of Houthi strikes began before dawn on Sunday and sporadically pounded sites throughout the kingdom's south and west for hours, with the roar and thump of missile interceptors rattling residents in Jiddah until just before midnight.

The attacks on installations run by the state-controlled national oil company Aramco, among the world's most significant and valuable companies, exposed the gaps in Saudi defenses and recalled the dramatic attacks on two key oil installations in the country's east that temporarily knocked out half of Saudi Arabias total oil production.

The Houthis claimed responsibility for that sophisticated attack in September 2019, which the U.S. and Riyadh later blamed on Iran. Even after shrapnel blasted through the critical Abqaiq oil processing facility, Saudi Arabia delivered no such similar warning about its responsibility for global oil supplies and swinging prices. Instead the kingdom stressed it would speedily return to normal levels of production.

After Sunday's strikes, the White House pledged to support Saudi Arabia's defenses and denounced the Houthis as proxies of Iran. A senior administration official confirmed that the United States has transferred a significant number of Patriot antimissile interceptors to help Saudi Arabia thwart the barrage of Houthi drone and missile attacks.

___

Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.
MONTREAL - Another six people from a Sunwing flight to Mexico last year on which passengers were filmed partying are facing potentially hefty fines.

Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra rises during Question Period, Monday, March 21, 2022 in Ottawa. Another half-dozen travellers shown partying on board a Sunwing flight last year are facing hefty fines. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

MONTREAL - Another six people from a Sunwing flight to Mexico last year on which passengers were filmed partying are facing potentially hefty fines.

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Transport Minister Omar Alghabra says in a tweet they face fines of up to $5,000 stemming from the Dec. 30 flight from Montreal to Cancun.

He says five of the cases involve non-compliance with vaccination rules and one was for failing to wear a mask.

Transport Canada has handed out a dozen penalties in total so far and says more are expected.

Videos of the charter flight shared on social media showed unmasked passengers in close proximity singing and dancing in the aisle and on seats as some clutched bottles of liquor, snapped selfies and vaped.

The federal Transport Department launched an investigation on Jan. 4 to determine whether travellers violated laws or regulations around aviation safety and security.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 21, 2022.
WASHINGTON - Canada's reputation as a reliable trading partner for the United States suffered another black eye Monday as Americans awoke to a new kink in the bilateral supply chain: a labour dispute at CP Rail that left more than 3,000 employees off the job for a second straight day.

Locked-out workers picket the Canadian Pacific Railway headquarters in Calgary, Alta., Sunday, March 20, 2022. Business leaders who happen to be in the U.S. capital today say they are in damage control mode as a work stoppage at CP Rail deals another blow to cross-border supply chains.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

WASHINGTON - Canada's reputation as a reliable trading partner for the United States suffered another black eye Monday as Americans awoke to a new kink in the bilateral supply chain: a labour dispute at CP Rail that left more than 3,000 employees off the job for a second straight day.

By dint of sheer coincidence, a host of Canadian elected officials and business leaders, including Ontario Premier Doug Ford, happened to be in the U.S. capital on a variety of missions, one of them being the ongoing effort to shore up the Canada-U.S. trade relationship.

For Flavio Volpe, the outspoken head of the Auto Parts Manufacturers' Association, the goal had been to mitigate the damage Canada's reputation as a reliable supplier suffered during last month's weeklong blockade of the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ont.

"Tough timing," Volpe tweeted ruefully about the dispute, which he said he heard about on two separate occasions within an hour of landing in D.C. "We need to resolve this ASAP."

Business Council of Canada president and CEO Goldy Hyder was also in town less than two weeks after an earlier spate of meetings on Capitol Hill  meetings in which he said U.S. lawmakers and counterparts were more worried about the prospect of a rail strike than anything else.

In those meetings, "I heard very clearly that the residue of the Ambassador Bridge episode was deeper than we perhaps realized  there was a high degree of frustration with allowing that to have happened," Hyder said in an interview.

"The risk of a (rail) strike was identified as yet another area where they would be concerned because the inflationary pressures that would be caused on Americans would be felt pretty quickly."

Asked about what specific commodities prompted the most concern, "Oil, oil and oil were the first three," Hyder replied. "What I heard from them primarily was oil and food."

Some US$27.6 billion worth of commodities from Canada entered the country by rail in 2021, data from the U.S. Department of Transportation shows. That includes more than 24 million barrels of Canadian crude oil during the last six months of 2021, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Energy Information Association.

It was clear from certain corners of the Biden administration Monday that the prospect of a drawn-out labour dispute at CP Rail is a troubling one.

One White House official said the administration is "closely monitoring the situation" and taking part in "extensive conversations" with the federal government in Ottawa  with a particular focus on the negotiations between CP Rail and the union, as well as the impact on supply chains.

"We are all hoping for a timely and fair resolution that benefits both parties and both countries," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity in keeping with standard White House practice.

"It is important to remember that the parties continue to actively negotiate and a Canadian federal mediator is fully engaged so we hope that the rail service will resume quickly."

The official also pointed to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's plan to spend $250 million on developing domestic fertilizer production for American farmers, an effort to ease the cost impacts of persistent supply chain bottlenecks, sky-high gas prices and Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine.

The involvement of the White House is sure to turn up the heat on Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan, who was in Calgary to take part in the negotiations Monday and appeared to be resisting opposition calls to legislate CP Rail's 3,000 conductors, engineers and train and yard workers back to work.

"I don't intend to leave until we have an agreement," O'Regan said during virtual questioning in the House of Commons.

"I am optimistic, with people at the table and not leaving, that we will reach the deal that Canadians demand and want as soon as possible."

During a brief speech that was livestreamed from a private meeting with members of the Canadian American Business Council, Ford didn't specifically mention the CP Rail dispute, but he did seize on the Ambassador Bridge blockade as evidence of the need to shore up Canada-U.S. trade routes.

"Recent events have proven the need to secure the cross-border supply chains that have been built over decades, tying our economies together," the premier said. "We will not accept any attempts to block our borders or interrupt our economy."

Indeed, Ontario introduced legislation Monday aimed at preventing similar blockades. The Keeping Ontario Open for Business act would make permanent a number of emergency measures the province used last month to clear the blockade, an offshoot of nearly a month's worth of trucker protests in Ottawa.

"We will do everything in our power to keep two-way trade flowing, and we will call on our American friends to share the same commitment to removing obstacles," said Ford.

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"That means rejecting Buy American measures that hurt us both, and embracing policies that benefit a strong North American partnership."

The fear, Hyder said, is that every time the supply lines between Canada and the U.S. are damaged or cut, it's more ammunition for those protectionist forces south of the border to argue against using foreign suppliers for anything, be they friend or foe.

That will be especially important as North America ramps up efforts to secure the critical minerals so essential to the manufacture of electric vehicles, a cornerstone of climate change mitigation and economic recovery in both Canada and the U.S.

"The reputational thing will start to stick, and we don't want that," Hyder said.

"I think that the way to counter that is to play offence  remind the folks down here about all the things that do work well, that are critical to their well-being, including not just in the present but in the future."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 21, 2022.
OTTAWA - The federal government says it has tightened rules for Russian aircraft after a commercial airliner was able to circumvent a ban on entering Canadian airspace late last month by falsely claiming to be a humanitarian flight.

Aeroflot's passengers planes are parked at Sheremetyevo airport, outside Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, March 1, 2022. A senior official at Transport Canada is accusing a Russian airliner of having falsely claimed to be a humanitarian flight to circumvent a ban and enter Canadian airspace last month. Aeroflot Flight 111 entered Canadian airspace on Feb. 27 despite the federal government having banned all Russian aircraft earlier that day in retaliation for Russia's invasion of Ukraine. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Pavel Golovkin

OTTAWA - The federal government says it has tightened rules for Russian aircraft after a commercial airliner was able to circumvent a ban on entering Canadian airspace late last month by falsely claiming to be a humanitarian flight.

Aeroflot Flight 111 was allowed to traverse Canadian airspace en route from Miami to Moscow on Feb. 27 despite Ottawa having banned all Russian aircraft earlier that day in retaliation for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Officials have previously said Aeroflot 111 was allowed into Canadian airspace because it had registered as a humanitarian flight, a designation that Transport Canadas head of civil aviation suggested on Monday was deliberately falsified.

While the department is continuing to investigate, Nicholas Robinson told the House of Commons transport committee that officials believed Aeroflot used the humanitarian designation to "circumvent" Canadas flight ban.

"Humanitarian flights are for emergency purposes," Robinson said.

"And in this instance, we don't see that.  This action by Aeroflot is one that we're continuing to investigate and have a great deal of disappointment in."

The decision to let Aeroflot 111 into Canadian airspace because of its humanitarian designation appears to have been the result of confusion between the Liberal government and Nav Canada, which oversees air-traffic control across the country.

Transport Minister Omar Alghabra told committee members that the governments decision to close Canadian airspace to Russian flights did not include any exemptions for humanitarian flights.

"So that's why there's an ongoing investigation about what happened and how it happened," Alghabra said. "I've had conversations with Nav Canada about this."

But Nav Canada vice-president Ben Girard testified that officials followed the organizations existing regulations of allowing all humanitarian flights into Canadian airspace, which he said was confirmed in an investigation.

"We were found that we did everything in compliance with published regulations and procedures, and the authority that we had at the time," he said.

It was only later, Girard said, that the ban was "clarified" to include humanitarian flights from Russia.

"The first (notice) did not have any indication of how to proceed with humanitarian flights," he said in French. "But since that time, as you say, the (notice) has been clarified."

Girard also revealed that Nav Canada has no actual power to stop Russian flights from entering Canadian airspace. Rather, violations are reported to Transport Canada, which works with police and the military to respond.

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Committee members also heard that about 140 Russian flights were traversing Canadian airspace each week before the governments ban, with 55 flights rerouted around Canada between Feb. 28 and March 7.

About 75 vessels have also been affected by the closure of Canadian waters to Russian-owned and Russian-flagged ships.

Meanwhile, Alghabra acknowledged that Air Canada and other carriers are dealing with higher costs and longer routes to Asian destinations such as India and South Korea as a result of Russias retaliatory closure of its own airspace to Canadian aircraft.

"They've had to reroute many or all of their flights that typically would fly over Russia," he said. "So, for example, direct flights to India now are going through Europe, namely Ireland. And that is adding a little bit extra time and extra cost."

But he suggested airlines and travellers are overwhelmingly supportive of Canadas ban on Russian aircraft as part of its effort to punish Moscow over its decision to invade Ukraine.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 21, 2022.
A Winnipeg man has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the 2020 slaying of his girlfriend in a Redwood Avenue apartment.

A Winnipeg man has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the 2020 slaying of his girlfriend in a Redwood Avenue apartment.

Marie Morin, 46, died in hospital after she was stabbed the morning of May 15. The attack, which began as a domestic dispute, left her with a 7.1-centimetre-deep wound in the left side of her neck.

Brandon Carl Starnyski, 45 at the time of his arrest, was charged that same day for the killing and with failing to comply with a probation order. He had been prohibited from contacting the victim of domestic violence by court order.

Hes been in custody ever since.

On what was initially to be the first day of a jury trial Monday, defence lawyer Tom Rees described the lead-up to Morins death, as he read an agreed statement of facts to Manitoba Court of Queens Bench Justice David Kroft.

Starnyski lived at the apartment at 310 Redwood Ave. as part of a housing-first program run by Mount Carmel Clinic  assertive community treatment  which serves people with issues of homelessness, addiction and mental health, Rees said. At the time, Starnyski was taking part in the program.

Starnyski and Morin had gone to another suite in the apartment block, where they drank alcohol with others during the early morning hours.

At some point, the couple returned to Starnyskis suite, where a physical fight ensued.

Starnyski stabbed Morin twice in the neck  the second resulted in a fatal wound. She also suffered a fracture of her right wrist and a number of lacerations, Rees told court.

Morin was found to have bruising and apparent self-defence wounds on her hands and arms.

At around 11:15 a.m., outreach workers with the treatment program tasked with checking Starnyskis well-being knocked on the door of his apartment. They heard a womans voice cry for help.

One outreach worker went to retrieve a key; another stayed outside the suite and called 911.

Two members of the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service arrived, where they found the victim bleeding and incapacitated on the apartment floor. She was still breathing, the fire paramedics observed, while Starnyski lay disoriented nearby.

They left the suite and called for police, as they deemed the situation unsafe. Officers arrived at about 11:50 a.m., and arrested Starnyski for aggravated assault; Morin was treated at the scene and taken to Health Sciences Centre.

A doctor pronounced her dead at 12:30 p.m.

Police upgraded Starnyskis charge to second-degree murder.

At the scene, the Winnipeg Police Service identification unit found blood throughout the apartment, three empty two-litre bottles of 7.1 per cent alcohol cider and a used crack cocaine or methamphetamine pipe, Rees said.

Speaking in a low voice, dressed in a grey T-shirt, Starnyski displayed no visible emotion as he told court he was pleading guilty to second-degree murder.

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Court briefly recessed so Rees and his co-counsel could speak with their client, after Starnyski showed hesitation in agreeing he knew stabbing Morin could cause her death. A short time later, Starnyski agreed he knew at the time the wound could kill her.

Crown attorney Debbie Buors and Rees have agreed to a joint sentencing recommendation on Starnyskis plea bargain, but did not reveal what sentence they are seeking in court Monday.

Buors requested the matter be put over for a week, so Morins family can prepare and provide a victim impact statement.

Kroft will preside over the sentencing hearing March 28. The selected jury has since been excused.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera
Most young people set up lemonade stands as a lark, but for Miles Dyer, its serious business.

Most young people set up lemonade stands as a lark, but for Miles Dyer, its serious business.

Since 2017, Dyer has set up a lemonade stand multiple times every summer to raise money for Diabetes Canadas Put a Squeeze on Diabetes campaign. Money raised during the campaign helps send children with Type 1 diabetes to camp.

Miles Dyer has been recognized for his many volunteer contributions. (Jessica Lee / Winnipeg Free Press)

Dyer has collected $10,000 through his efforts. The 15-year-old River Heights resident has a simple answer when asked what motivates him.

"Ive gone to camp for a few years already," he says, "and I just wanted to help raise money for diabetes camps so that other kids could go."

Dyer was 12 months old when he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. The disease requires constant vigilance, with Dyer monitoring his blood sugar levels and food intake throughout the day.

At night, when he is sleeping, a continuous glucose monitor sends updates to his mothers phone every five minutes. The monitor sounds an alarm if his blood sugar is low.

"Ive always had to monitor (my diabetes) in some way or form," says Dyer, a Grade 9 student at Kelvin High School. "Theres no breaks."

One of the closest things Dyer gets to a break is when he is at Camp Briardale. Located on a private island in Lake of the Woods, Camp Briardale is one of nine camps Diabetes Canada runs across the nation.

The camps provide young people with the opportunity to enjoy an authentic camp experience in a medically-accommodating environment, with a dedicated team of professionals.

"Being able to go to an overnight camp is not common for Type 1 diabetics," Dyer says. "I like being able to hang out and talk with other kids around my age who also have Type 1. Its fun doing outdoors stuff as well."

In addition to raising money for camps, Dyer volunteers for Diabetes Canada by sharing his story at fundraising events.

"I enjoy knowing that my efforts that I put in will help make a difference in either sending kids to camp or (funding) diabetes research," he says.

Last year, Diabetes Canada recognized Dyers many contributions by presenting him with its National Young Volunteer Award. When announcing the award, the organization noted that "Miles is an inspiration to Diabetes Canada staff and fellow volunteers alike."

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"It was really nice knowing that a lot of the volunteer work Ive done has helped have big impacts on other kids with Type 1," Dyer says of receiving the award.

Dyers mother, Liz, says she is amazed by his volunteer efforts.

"Hes an incredible kid," she says. "Hes very passionate about everything he cares about. He has a sense of wanting things to be right in the world, I think."

Dyer, who enjoys playing video games and hanging out with his friends in his free time, is looking forward to returning to Camp Briardale this summer. Hes also looking forward to continuing his volunteering with Diabetes Canada.

"I want to help other people who have diabetes and who are going through this struggle," he says.

If you know a special volunteer, please contact aaron.epp@gmail.com.
Women shared their personal experiences of harassment Monday morning at a rally outside the Winnipeg headquarters of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.

Women shared their personal experiences of harassment Monday morning at a rally outside the Winnipeg headquarters of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.

Last week, AMC Grand Chief Arlen Dumas was suspended by the First Nations advocate organization, following an accusation of sexual assault by a female staff member.

Renee Yetman shook as she told the crowd of around 50 gathered on the 200 block of Portage Avenue that Dumas had left her feeling used after a sexual encounter in 2017 in her home community of Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation.

The meeting was consensual but Yetman, 36, said Monday she felt exploited by someone who was supposed to act as a leader when she received no further contact with him for weeks after, and alleged other women had been treated similarly.

"I trusted him because he was a leader. I believed him, that he wanted to pursue a relationship and that he wanted to take it slow I was physically hurt," she said.

Another speaker, local activist Sadie-Phoenix Lavoie, said they had been at the receiving end of "predator behaviour" from Dumas in the form of late-night text messages asking to meet up.

"Im glad he was called out, and I just want to think about the victims and the survivors," Lavoie said. "Its a lot to carry with you every single day."

Chants of "Arlen must go" and "Whos protecting us" rang out in between speakers at Monday mornings rally.

Dumas was suspended March 18 from the leadership of the AMC, after allegations of "harassment, sexual harassment and sexualized violence" made by a woman in a senior leadership position came to light.

In a letter, the woman told the AMC she has made a complaint to the Winnipeg Police Service (who confirmed last week an incident number had been generated but provided no further details). No charges have been laid.

The AMC  which represents more than 60 Manitoba First Nations  said it was starting its own investigation, via external "human resource lawyers."

The events raised questions about the method of investigation by the AMC and how the organization would move forward after its leader had faced such allegations.

National Family and Survivors Circle chairwoman Hilda Anderson-Pyrz called for an independent council of elder women to take part in the investigation process.

On Monday, Anderson-Pyrz said it was "an opportunity for AMC to speak out against any type of predatory behaviour, even when its perpetrated from within."

"How is AMC making decisions (that are) more gender balanced? How is AMC reclaiming roles for women, girls and (LGBTTQ+) people and supporting them in the workplace and making it safe?" she said. "What is AMC doing to support all First Nations, women in communities who have experienced sexual violence or any form of gender-based violence?"

Dumas was elected grand chief in 2017.

In 2019, Dumas took a two-week leave of absence from the role, following public complaints he sent unwanted, inappropriate texts to at least one woman. He denied the allegations.

He was re-elected grand chief in July 2021.

The alleged misconduct was an open secret in the community, rally attendees Lisa Strong and Cheryl James told the Free Press.

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"Something has to come out of this," Strong said. "Me, personally, I think he should leave, step down."

"Im not even going to call him a leader, I think hes a coward for putting these women through this, for not admitting what hes doing to these women," James said.

"And its important that we come and tell these women we believe them."

On Monday, Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (which represents northern First Nations) issued a statement in support of women, girls, two-spirit and gender-diverse people.

"MKO is aware people in our First Nations may be traumatized due to recent media reports," the statement says, prompting those impacted to seek emergency counselling.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca
One week from today, on March 28, a 13-person delegation from the Assembly of First Nations will arrive at the Vatican in Rome to meet with the Pope.

Opinion

One week from today, on March 28, a 13-person delegation from the Assembly of First Nations will arrive at the Vatican in Rome to meet with the Pope.

The meeting, according to an AFN press release this past week, is "part of broad efforts to seek justice for genocide in Catholic-run residential institutions, including to seek an apology to be delivered in Canada."

Representing Manitoba will be former AFN National Chief Phil Fontaine, who travelled to the Vatican 13 years ago for the same purpose.

In 2009, then-pope Benedict met in private with then-national chief Fontaine and a small delegation to express his "sorrow" over the "deplorable" treatment Indigenous children suffered in residential schools run by the Roman Catholic church.

Issuing a public statement afterwards, the pope "offered his sympathy and prayerful solidarity" for anyone who suffered and said "acts of abuse cannot be tolerated in society."

Fontaine, who was abused at a Catholic residential school, called the popes statement "significant" and told media: "The fact that the word apology was not used does not diminish this moment in any way This experience gives me great comfort."

Well, how different 2009 looks now.

Since that day 13 years ago, the number of revelations about the abuse of Indigenous children and their families by Catholic leaders has increased dramatically and continues today.

The most notable discoveries were by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which documented thousands of cases of sexual, physical, and mental abuse by Catholic leaders, publishing its final report in December 2015.

This led the TRC commissioners to create a specific call to action (#58) calling on: "the Pope to issue an apology to Survivors, their families, and communities for the Roman Catholic Churchs role in the spiritual, cultural, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse of First Nations, Inuit, and Metis children in Catholic-run Residential Schools" and for it "to occur within one year of the issuing of this Report and to be delivered by the Pope in Canada."

Called upon for subsequent years by Canadian Catholic priests, Indigenous leaders and even Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the Pope has continually refused to apologize.

The world of 2009 barely knew of a few hundred unmarked graves at three Catholic residential school sites, with just over six dozen more documented during the TRC.

In May 2021, Tkemlups te Secwepemc leaders announced that 251 graves were found at the Kamloops Residential School, which was operated for 77 years by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

Ten months later, another 1,500 unmarked graves have been identified at another 11 school sites  with several more searches underway. In Manitoba, researchers are investigating sites in Brandon, The Pas, Dauphin, and Powerview-Pine Falls right now.

But its not only past Catholic abuses that have come to light. The Catholic Church still has not paid an estimated $60 million dollars in compensation to residential school survivors.

Instead, the church has fundraised for million-dollar churches, paid millions to lawyers and administrators, or used money earmarked for "reconciliation" to develop and expand evangelical and conversion projects.

Since signing on to the 2006 Residential School Settlement Agreement in 2006, long-promised church fundraising campaigns to compensate survivors have raised under $4 million.

In other words, a papal private statement of "sorrow," said to a couple Indigenous leaders from your comfortable chair in Rome, now looks like what it actually was: an insult.

Its expected that during next weeks meeting with the AFN delegation the Pope will announce that he will fulfil call to action #58 and come to Canada to deliver an apology to residential school survivors on behalf of the Catholic Church.

If it happens, this will be an important moment for Indigenous communities and their relationships with the Catholic Church. There are many Indigenous Catholics, like those in my family, who have been wounded by the Popes refusal to recognize what the church did.

Any day a TRC call to action is fulfilled its a step in the direction of reconciliation, too.

It may, however, be just as important a step  if not more so  for Canadians and Catholics.

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How anyone in this country can walk into Sunday mass without seeing the trauma, abuse, and murder in the foundation of Catholicism and one of Canadas primary churches is a reality that needs to be reconciled.

How do Canadians and Catholics reconcile the fact the Catholic Church in Canada is worth over $4 billion in cash, investments, and property and virtually all of it was built by genocide?

How do we all feel that the Canadian Catholic Church receives more financial donations per year (nearly $900 million) than the Canadian Red Cross, the Canadian Cancer Society and World Vision Canada combined?

This all makes the $60 million owed to survivors look like a few pennies.

Or a visit, in person, with an apology that actually means something.

niigaan.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca
ENDING the COVID-19 mask mandate flips the narrative of the #FreedomConvoy22 that is still blaring horns and blocking traffic across Canada. Now, the people demanding personal freedom are the ones wearing the masks.

Opinion

ENDING the COVID-19 mask mandate flips the narrative of the #FreedomConvoy22 that is still blaring horns and blocking traffic across Canada. Now, the people demanding personal freedom are the ones wearing the masks.

No doubt some entrepreneur is already producing masks embossed with appropriate slogans  but a white KN95 mask and a black pen will do just as well. Since people wearing masks are already being accosted by anti-maskers, you might consider adding some Sharpie-slogan spice to the mix:

Options range from the mild "Im sick" to "I dont want to die," to the bolder "Im just smarter" or "Its an IQ test." Perhaps you could go with "Im just ugly."

We are all more than tired of COVID-19. But somehow, I expect the virus pays as little attention to political pronouncements as to how we feel. Premier Heather Stefanson (apparently still masked herself) is proof that you should never say "Things cant get any worse," because they always can.

Instead of that promised new style of Progressive Conservative government, we have the same badly managed patriarchy as before, just absent the patriarch. And now, after six years of dithering, the ban on cosmetic chemicals for which environmentalists fought so long has been finally been upended, as promised by the PCs  and clumsily, too, as the orders for spring and summer lawn care have already been placed.

Its really no surprise to me; this government has continually demonstrated even less care for the planet than it has for health care (wait lists, anyone? Maybe a surgical safari to North Dakota?).

Meanwhile, Bill 33 is being implemented, raising tuition on post-secondary programs to which the government wants to control access. Equity and fairness in education? Only if you have the money. Academic freedom? Only if you say the right things.

Environmental protection? We need gravel pits more than farms, and the fewer insects the better. Caring for kids with cancer because of exposure to unnecessary lawn chemicals? They can join wait lists and go on surgical safaris, too.

It must be emotionally exhausting for Opposition members, having to summon their moral outrage, day after day, against the serial bungling of this government. There is no semblance of co-operation, no sense of a shared purpose, no glimmer of the need to govern together for the good of all Manitobans  and how could there be, right now?

"Pander to the base" is the rallying cry of the political right these days, and Manitoba always seems to be racing Alberta and Saskatchewan to the bottom of the pile.

Whether or not "Shoulda, woulda, coulda" will be written on some partisan masks, thats certainly not the kind of leadership Manitoba needs in a crisis  whether in a pandemic, at the brink of global war, or mitigating the worst effects of a rapidly changing climate.

When New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern took the reins, democracies everywhere wanted her cloned and exported. Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine has stepped into history as the face of opposition to Russian tyranny  and we discovered that dancing comedians make better leaders than do entrepreneurs.

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And, if the Canadian government has finally found its backbone, its because of the steely determination of Chrystia Freeland  an award-winning author, journalist and oligarch expert already banned from Russia because President Vladimir Putin was worried about her sitting even a long table away from him.

What makes a leader? Someone who stands up for what is right, not just for something that is on the right. There is no pandering in their portfolios, no weasels in sight  and, somehow, people feel these leaders can be both believed and trusted, even if the message is tough to accept.

There is no shortage of leadership contenders when everything is going well and theres money to be made. Its much harder to find a leader in adversity, someone willing to step up for others and not just for themselves. Its no accident there are no oligarchs on the left.

In truth, politics these days has become too much about wearing masks, showing your supporters the image they want to see, telling them what they want to hear. There is too little concern for the common good, too little care for those who cant yet vote, or for the generations still to come.

This has to change, if we want to survive pandemics, despots and an Earth on fire.

Peter Denton is an activist, writer and scholar working from home in rural Manitoba (and masked when he isnt).
Public health measures, such as masking and physical distancing, that have been a high-profile part of the COVID-19 response for the past two years are now beginning to lift. However, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the remarkable effects of these measures on other respiratory illnesses that are caused or exacerbated by viral infections.

Opinion

Public health measures, such as masking and physical distancing, that have been a high-profile part of the COVID-19 response for the past two years are now beginning to lift. However, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the remarkable effects of these measures on other respiratory illnesses that are caused or exacerbated by viral infections.

These effects are a valuable research discovery from the pandemic. Its a discovery that suggests that selective, non-mandated use of public health measures such as masking, physical distancing and hand-washing may have a continued role as we enter the endemic phase of COVID-19. Collectively, these measures are known as non-pharmacologic public health interventions (NPIs).

Decreases in acute care

Following the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, many regions around the world reported a dramatic decrease in demand for acute health-care services, including urgent-care visits to emergency departments and inpatient hospital stays.

Early on, this was likely driven by stringent lockdown measures, patients avoiding health-care settings due to fears of contracting COVID-19 or the perception that hospitals were overwhelmed and unable to accommodate non-emergency cases.

However, as public health measures were relaxed over the following months, there was a rapid rebound in health-care services for conditions such as heart disease and appendicitis. Meanwhile, the decrease persisted for respiratory illnesses attributed to non-COVID-19 viruses.

In Canada, the usual annual surge in influenza infections has not occurred during the two winters since the beginning of the pandemic.

Our research group  all front-line health-care workers  analyzed nationwide admissions data. Our analysis revealed that hospital admissions for major respiratory illnesses dropped sharply in the year following the start of the first lockdown.

Specifically, flare-ups of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a severe lung disease related to long-term smoking, and community-acquired non-COVID-19 pneumonia decreased by nearly 40 per cent across Canada following the implementation of NPIs like masking and physical distancing.

These findings were supported by another study of 15,677 patients from nine countries. That study reported a 50 per cent reduction in the hospital admissions for COPD following the onset of the pandemic. This is not entirely surprising as both COPD and non-COVID-19 pneumonia are often triggered by common cold viruses. If you are like most Canadians, you have not caught a cold in nearly two years.

Impact on vulnerable patients

So, whats the big fuss about a few runny noses and colds? While a viral infection such as the common cold or influenza is unlikely to significantly harm a healthy individual, it can be debilitating and sometimes deadly for someone who is elderly, immunocompromised or suffering from a lung disease. It can result in the need for acute care in the hospital, or even the ICU in severe cases, and some patients do not survive.

In Canada, acute and chronic respiratory diseases are the third-greatest cause of death, trailing behind only cancer and heart disease. This also means virally linked respiratory illnesses place a substantial burden on limited health-care resources.

There were several periods during the pandemic when our health-care systems were over capacity, and there was a fear that hospitals would need to triage resources and deny ICU care to some critically ill patients.

Thankfully, this did not come to pass, and it seems the likely reason was the significant additional capacity that became available due to hospitalizations avoided for other virally linked respiratory illnesses.

Ending COVID-19 prevention measures

As the pandemic drags on, people have become fatigued with ongoing public health restrictions. With vaccination rates in Canada among the highest in the world and expected to reach even higher with the approval of vaccinations for pediatric populations, many are looking forward to a time when NPIs may no longer be needed.

However, before dispensing with the measures entirely, it is important to consider whether their demonstrated benefits warrant continued use. The fact that hospitalizations for non-COVID-19 respiratory illnesses have remained low, despite the relaxation of stringent lockdown measures, suggests that these benefits may be sustained with the use of masking and practices such as frequent hand-washing.

Even prior to the pandemic, public masking was a common practice in many Asian countries. With this now being the norm in Canada as well, continuing these practices may have significant merit and offer protection to the most vulnerable demographics of our society.

This will certainly be challenging given opposition from a vocal minority and the lack of awareness among the general public about the benefits of continuing use of NPIs. Currently, most available evidence is largely observational, as no randomized trials have yet evaluated the efficacy of NPIs for reducing non-COVID-19 viral respiratory illnesses at a population level.

Additionally, there is no consensus on which specific NPIs may be most effective in preventing disease spread. Its also unknown whether reductions in acute care use have translated into a reduction in mortality rates for specific conditions.

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Future prevention

These limitations are currently being addressed in a large-scale Albertan study of over 500,000 patients. The preliminary results  which will be published in the proceedings of the 2022 American Thoracic Society International Conference  show that NPIs are an effective strategy for preventing both acute care visits and mortality related to respiratory illnesses.

However, in the interim, public policy-makers should consider this compelling evidence and weigh in on whether the continued use of masking and other NPI measures is warranted, especially for individuals at high-risk for serious illness from viral respiratory infections and those close to them.

Recommendations, policies or, if deemed necessary, mandates can be amended in the future as new evidence emerges. Until then, NPI use, even on an interim basis, may reduce the strain on our health-care system and help protect the most vulnerable members of our society.

Rutvij Khanolkar is a medical student and Eddy S. Lang is a professor at the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary.

This article was first published at The Conversation Canada: theconversation.com/ca.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson pledged on Monday to decide cases without fear or favor if the Senate confirms her historic nomination as the first Black woman on the high court.

Supporters of the confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson rally outside of the Supreme Court on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, March 21, 2022. The Senate Judiciary Committee begins historic confirmation hearings Monday for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who would be the first Black woman on the Supreme Court. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

WASHINGTON (AP)  Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson pledged on Monday to decide cases without fear or favor if the Senate confirms her historic nomination as the first Black woman on the high court.

Jackson, 51, addressed the Senate Judiciary Committee at the end of her first day of confirmation hearings, nearly four hours almost entirely consumed by opening statements from the panel's 22 members.

Republicans promised pointed questions over the coming two days, with a special focus on her record on criminal matters. Democrats were full of praise for President Joe Biden's Supreme Court nominee.

With her family sitting behind her, her husband in socks bearing George Washington's likeness, Jackson stressed that she has been independent and transparent in her nine years as a judge, and that she is ever mindful of the importance of that role.

I have dedicated my career to ensuring that the words engraved on the front of the Supreme Court building  equal justice under law  are a reality and not just an ideal, she said.

Barring a significant misstep, Democrats who control the Senate by the slimmest of margins intend to wrap up her confirmation before Easter. She would be the third Black justice, after Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas, as well as the first Black woman on the high court.

Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson listens during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee Monday, March 21, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

"Its not easy being the first. Often, you have to be the best, in some ways the bravest, Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the committee chairman, said in support shortly after the proceedings began.

Democrats sought to preemptively rebut Republican criticism of her record on criminal matters as a judge and before that as a federal public defender and a member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

Jackson is not anti-law enforcement, and is not soft on crime, Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vt., said, noting that members of Jacksons family have worked in law enforcement and that she has support from some national law enforcement organizations. Judge Jackson is no judicial activist."

The committee's senior Republican, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, promised Republicans would ask tough questions about Jacksons judicial philosophy, without turning the hearings into a spectacle."

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., noted that Democrats had opposed some past Republican judicial nominees who were Black or Hispanic, and he said that he and his GOP colleagues wouldn't be deterred from asking probing questions by Jacksons race.

He said of some criticism from the left: Bottom line here is, Its about Were all racist if we ask hard questions. Thats not going to fly with us.

Graham was one of three Republicans to support Jackson's confirmation as an appellate judge last year. But he has indicated over the past several weeks that he is unlikely to vote for her again.

Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson listens to opening statements during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Monday, March 21, 2022, in Washington. (Mandel Ngan, Pool via AP)

Jackson's testimony will give most Americans, as well as the Senate, their most extensive look yet at the Harvard-trained lawyer with a resume that includes two years as a federal public defender. That makes her the first nominee with significant criminal defense experience since Marshall.

Jackson appeared before the same committee last year, after Biden chose her to fill an opening on the federal appeals court in Washington, just down the hill from the Supreme Court.

The American Bar Association, which evaluates judicial nominees, has given Jackson its highest rating, well qualified.

Janette McCarthy Wallace, general counsel of the NAACP, said she was excited to see a Black woman on the verge of a high court seat.

Representation matters, Wallace said. It's critical to have diverse experience on the bench. It should reflect the rich cultural diversity of this country.

While few Republicans are likely to vote for Jackson, most GOP senators did not aggressively criticize her, given that her confirmation would not alter the court's 6-3 conservative majority. Several GOP senators on the panel used their time to denounce Senate Democrats instead of Jackson's record.

The Republicans are trying to use her nomination to brand Democrats as soft on crime, an emerging theme in GOP midterm election campaigns. Biden has chosen several former public defenders for life-tenured judicial posts. In addition, Jackson served on the U.S. Sentencing Commission, an independent agency created by Congress to reduce disparity in federal prison sentences.

Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is sworn in for her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee Monday, March 21, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said in his opening statement that his research showed that Jackson had a pattern of issuing lower sentences in child pornography cases, repeating comments he wrote in a Twitter thread last week. The Republican National Committee echoed his claims, which Hawley did not raise when he questioned Jackson last year before voting against her appeals court confirmation.

The White House, along with several Democrats at the hearing, pushed back forcefully against Hawleys criticism as toxic and weakly presented misinformation.

Sentencing expert Douglas Berman, an Ohio State law professor, wrote on his blog that Jacksons record shows she is skeptical of the range of prison terms recommended for child pornography cases, but so too were prosecutors in the majority of her cases and so too are district judges nationwide.

As Jackson silently took notes, Hawley said he would raise his concerns again in questioning over the next two days. He said he found her candid and enormously thoughtful in a meeting earlier this month.

Hawley is one of several committee Republicans, along with Ted Cruz of Texas and Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who are potential 2024 presidential candidates, and their aspirations may collide with other Republicans who would prefer not to pursue a scorched-earth approach to Jackson's nomination.

Biden chose Jackson in February, fulfilling a campaign pledge to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court for the first time in American history. She would take the seat of Justice Stephen Breyer, who announced in January that he would retire after 28 years on the court.

Jackson once worked as a law clerk to Breyer early in her legal career.

Democrats are moving quickly to confirm Jackson, even though Breyer's seat will not officially open until the summer. They have no votes to spare in a 50-50 Senate that they run by virtue of the tiebreaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris.

But they are not moving as fast as Republicans did when they installed Amy Coney Barrett on the court little more than a month after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and days before the 2020 presidential election.

Barrett, the third of President Donald Trump's high court picks, entrenched the court's conservative majority when she took the place of the liberal Ginsburg.

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The court revealed Monday that Justice Thomas, the oldest member of the court at 73, was in the hospital being treated for an infection but that he did not have COVID-19.

Last year, Jackson won Senate confirmation by a 53-44 vote, with three Republicans supporting her.

She is married to Patrick Jackson, a surgeon in Washington, who sat in the audience with their two daughters, one in college and the other in high school. Jackson wiped away tears as his wife expressed her love for him.

She is related by marriage to former House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, who was the Republican vice presidential nominee in 2012. Ryan has voiced support for her nomination.

Jackson has said her children have kept her in touch with reality, even as she has held a judge's gavel since 2013.

In the courtroom, she told an audience in Athens, Georgia, in 2017, people listen and generally do what I tell them to do. At home, though, her daughters make it very clear I know nothing, I should not tell them anything, much less give them any orders, that is, if they talk to me at all."
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP)  Dozens of well-known leaders in Jamaica including professors and politicians are demanding an apology and slavery reparations as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge prepare for a trip to the former British colony.

FILE- Britain's Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge attend the 1st Battalion Irish Guards' St. Patrick's Day Parade at Mons Barracks, March 17, 2022 in Aldershot, England. Prince William and his wife Catherine are embarking on a tour to Central America and the Caribbean, even as some countries in the region mull cutting ties to the British monarchy. The couple will visit Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas on the week-long journey that starts Saturday, March 19, 2022. (Chris Jackson/Pool via AP, file)

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP)  Dozens of well-known leaders in Jamaica including professors and politicians are demanding an apology and slavery reparations as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge prepare for a trip to the former British colony.

The group is rejecting the visit of Prince William and Kate scheduled for Tuesday, part of a larger trip to the Caribbean region that coincides with the 60th anniversary of Jamaicas independence and the 70th anniversary of the accession to the throne by Queen Elizabeth II.

"We see no reason to celebrate 70 years of the ascension of your grandmother to the British throne because her leadership, and that of her predecessors, have perpetuated the greatest human rights tragedy in the history of humankind," read a letter published Sunday ahead of the couples visit and signed by 100 Jamaican leaders.

The weeklong royal tour of Central America and the Caribbean that began on Saturday was taken at the behest of the queen, who is Williams grandmother. The trip aims to strengthen Britains ties with Commonwealth countries, but its off to a rocky start and comes as some countries consider cutting ties to the monarchy like the eastern Caribbean island of Barbados did in November.

Local opposition forced the royal couple to cancel a visit to a cacao farm in Belize that was planned for Saturday, while the upcoming trip to Jamaica has angered some who say they are still waiting for an apology and slavery reparations.

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Jamaica lawmaker Mike Henry, who has long led an effort to obtain reparations that he estimates at more than 7 billion pounds, told The Associated Press in a phone interview that an apology is only the first step for what he described as "abuse of human life and labor."

"An apology really admits that there is some guilt," he said.

Hundreds of thousands of African slaves toiled in Jamaica under more than 300 years of British rule and faced brutal conditions. There were numerous bloody rebellions, with one woman called "Queen Nanny" leading a group of formerly enslaved Africans known as Jamaican Maroons whose guerrilla warfare became renown and battered British forces. "Queen Nanny" remains the sole female of Jamaicas eight national heroes.

During their two-day stay in Jamaica, Prince William and Kate are expected to celebrate Bob Marleys legacy, a move that also has riled some Jamaicans.

"As a Rastafarian, Bob Marley embodied advocacy and is recognized globally for the principles of human rights, equality, reparations and repatriation," stated the letter of those demanding an apology.

The group said that it would be celebrating 60 years of freedom from Britain, adding that it is saddened "that more progress has not been made given the burden of our colonial inheritance. We nonetheless celebrate the many achievements of great Jamaicans who rejected negative, colonial self-concepts and who self-confidently succeeded against tremendous odds. We will also remember and celebrate our freedom fighters."
LVIV, Ukraine (AP)  As Mariupols defenders held out Monday against Russian demands that they surrender, the number of bodies in the rubble of the bombarded and encircled Ukrainian city remained shrouded in uncertainty, the full extent of the horror not yet known.

People gather outside their destroyed buildings after a bombing in Satoya neighborhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, March 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

LVIV, Ukraine (AP)  As Mariupols defenders held out Monday against Russian demands that they surrender, the number of bodies in the rubble of the bombarded and encircled Ukrainian city remained shrouded in uncertainty, the full extent of the horror not yet known.

With communications crippled, movement restricted and many residents in hiding, the fate of those inside an art school flattened on Sunday and a theater that was blown apart four days earlier was unclear.

More than 1,300 people were believed to be sheltering in the theater, and 400 were estimated to have been in the art school.

Perched on the Sea of Azov, Mariupol has been a key target that has been relentlessly pounded for more than three weeks and has seen some of the worst suffering of the war. The fall of the southern port city would help Russia establish a land bridge to Crimea, seized from Ukraine in 2014.

But no clear picture emerged of how close its capture might be.

A soldier smokes a cigarette while walking next to a destroyed building after a bombing in Satoya neighborhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, March 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Nobody can tell from the outside if it really is on the verge of being taken, said Keir Giles, a Russia expert at the British think tank Chatham House.

Over the weekend, Moscow had offered safe passage out of Mariupol  one corridor leading east to Russia, another going west to other parts of Ukraine  in return for the city's surrender before daybreak Monday. Ukraine flatly rejected the offer well before the deadline.

Mariupol officials said on March 15 that at least 2,300 people had died in the siege, with some buried in mass graves. There has been no official estimate since then, but the number is feared to be far higher after six more days of bombardment.

A resident stands with her dog next to a destroyed building after a bombing in Satoya neighborhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, March 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

For those who remain, conditions have become brutal. The assault has cut off Mariupols electricity, water and food supplies and severed communication with the outside world, plunging residents into a fight for survival. Fresh commercial satellite images showed smoke rising from buildings newly hit by Russian artillery.

Whats happening in Mariupol is a massive war crime, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.

Mariupol had a prewar population of about 430,000. Around a quarter were believed to have left in the opening days of the war, and tens of thousands escaped over the past week by way of a humanitarian corridor. Other attempts have been thwarted by the fighting.

People gather amid the destruction caused after shelling of a shopping center, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, March 21, 2022. (AP Photo/ (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Those who have made it out of Mariupol told of a devastated city.

There are no buildings there anymore, said 77-year-old Maria Fiodorova, who crossed the border to Poland on Monday after five days of travel.

Olga Nikitina, who fled Mariupol for the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, where she arrived Sunday, said gunfire blew out her windows, and her apartment dropped below freezing.

Irina Zubchenko walks with her dog Max amid the destruction caused after shelling of a shopping center, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, March 21, 2022. (AP Photo/ (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Battles took place over every street. Every house became a target, she said.

A long line of vehicles lined a road in Bezimenne, Ukraine, as Mariupol residents sought shelter at a temporary camp set up by Russian-backed separatists in the Donetsk region. An estimated 5,000 people from Mariupol have taken refuge in the camp. Many arrived in cars with signs that said children in Russian.

A woman who gave her name as Yulia said she and her family sought shelter in Bezimenne after a bombing destroyed six houses behind her home.

Ukrainians escaping from the besieged city of Mariupol along with other passengers from Zaporizhzhia arrive at Lviv, western Ukraine, on Sunday, March 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Thats why we got in the car, at our own risk, and left in 15 minutes because everything is destroyed there, dead bodies are lying around, she said. They dont let us pass through everywhere  there are shootings.

Francesco Rocca, president of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, urged Russia to abide by the Geneva Convention and allow humanitarian aid into the city.

In all, more than 8,000 people escaped to safer areas Monday through humanitarian corridors, including about 3,000 from Mariupol, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

Firefighters extinguish a fire at a shopping center following a bombing in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, March 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

Russian shelling of a corridor wounded four children on a route leading out of Mariupol, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

As Russia intensifies its effort to pound Mariupol into submission, its ground offensive in other parts of the country has become bogged down, slowed by lethal hit-and-run attacks by the Ukrainians. Western officials and analysts say the conflict is turning into a grinding war of attrition, with Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces using air power and artillery to pulverize cities from a distance.

A senior U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the military's assessment, said Russia had increased air sorties over the past two days, carrying out as many as 300 in the past 24 hours, and has fired more than 1,100 missiles into Ukraine since the invasion began.

Ukrainian soldiers and firefighters search for people under debris inside a shopping center after shelling, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, March 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

In a video address Monday night, Zelenskyy hailed those who have fought back against Russia.

There is no need to organize resistance," he said. Resistance for Ukrainians is part of their soul.

In the Russian-occupied southern city of Kherson on Monday, Russian forces shot into the air and fired stun grenades at protestors who were chanting Go home! Kherson early this month became the first major city to fall to Russia's offensive.

A man walks in his apartment ruined after the Russian shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, March 21, 2022. At least eight people were killed in the attack. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

In the capital, Kyiv, a shopping center in the densely populated Podil district near the city center was a smoking ruin after being hit late Sunday by shelling that killed eight people, according to emergency officials. The attack shattered every window in a neighboring high-rise.

Russian military spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov charged that Ukrainian forces had been using the shopping mall to store rockets and reload launchers. That claim could not be independently verified.

Britains defense ministry said Ukrainian resistance has kept the bulk of Moscows forces more than 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the center of Kyiv, but the capital remains Russias primary military objective.

People wait in a line at a special application point at the National Stadium in Warsaw, Poland, on Monday, March 21, 2022, to apply for Polish ID numbers that will entitle them to work and receive free health care and education. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Amid the continuing shelling, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced a curfew extending from Monday evening through Wednesday morning.

Ukrainian authorities also said Russia shelled a chemical plant outside the eastern city of Sumy, sending toxic ammonia leaking from a 50-ton tank, and hit a military training base in the Rivne region of western Ukraine with cruise missiles.

In the Black Sea port city of Odesa, authorities said Russian forces damaged civilian houses in a strike Monday. The city council said no one was killed.

Firefighters extinguish a fire near a shopping center after shelling, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, March 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

Russia's invasion has driven nearly 3.5 million people from Ukraine, according to the United Nations. The U.N. has confirmed over 900 civilian deaths but said the real toll is probably much higher. Estimates of Russian deaths vary, but even conservative figures are in the low thousands.

Talks between Russia and Ukraine have continued by video but failed to bridge the chasm between the two sides. The Kremlin has demanded that Ukraine disarm and declare itself neutral. Zelenskyy told Ukrainian television late Monday that he would be prepared to consider waiving any NATO bid by Ukraine in exchange for a cease-fire, the withdrawal of Russian troops and a guarantee of Ukraines security.

Zelenskyy also suggested Kyiv would be open to future discussions on the status of Crimea, which Russia seized in 2014, and the regions of the eastern Donbas region held by Russian-backed separatists. But he said that was a topic for another time, after a cease-fire and steps toward security guarantees.

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Slava Chikov, left, covers the shattered window of his living room with a plastic sheet in a building damaged by a bombing the previous day in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, March 21, 2022. As Russia intensified its effort to pound Mariupol into submission, its ground offensive in other parts of Ukraine has become bogged down. Western officials and analysts say the conflict is turning into a grinding war of attrition, with Russia bombarding cities.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Russia's Foreign Ministry warned that relations with the U.S. are on the verge of a breach, citing unacceptable statements by U.S. President Joe Biden about Putin. Biden last week branded the Russian leader a war criminal.

In another worrying development, Ukraines nuclear regulatory agency said radiation monitors around the decommissioned Chernobyl power plant, the site in 1986 of the worlds worst nuclear meltdown, have stopped working.

The agency said that problem, and a lack of firefighters to protect the area's radiation-tainted forests as the weather warms, could mean a significant deterioration in the ability to control the spread of radiation in Ukraine and beyond.

___

Associated Press writer Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, Ukraine, and other AP journalists around the world contributed to this report.

Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
With its first Ukrainian art auction in the books, the International Owl Center announced it raised $100,052 for UNICEF to aid in their relief efforts in the Ukraine.

Of the total, $95,152 was the winning bids on the artwork.

There were 59 pieces up for bidding in this first auction, which ran from March 17 through March 20, closing at 8 p.m. on Sunday.

The top pieces sold for $8,005, $7,660 and $7,505. The centers executive director Karla Bloem said she was utterly blown away by the interest and generosity of everyone who participated in an email sent out Sunday after the closing of the first auction.

Who knew that all the wonderful kids owl art in our storage could wind up in loving homes where people will truly care for and be concerned about the individual artists, while making a substantial sum of money to help the kids in Ukraine? Bloem said.

The second auction will begin Wednesday and will end on Sunday, March 27.

Bloem said they were planning on having at least two more auctions, as the center has over 200 more pieces of art, along with a set of 20 greeting cards the center plans to make.

Some of those cards will stay in the centers collection. All of the proceeds of the auctions will be donated to UNICEF, and Bloem added that the center plans to try to contact the children and schools to update them on how much money their art raised.

Bloem did emphasize that many of the schools that participated are in eastern Ukraine, so they arent sure if theyll be able to reach them. For more information about the International Owl Center, visit https://www.internationalowlcenter.org/.

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High school students in the Dells area will have fire training and certification available to them starting this fall.

The Wisconsin Dells School District, in conjunction with Delton Fire Department and Kilbourn Fire Department, is offering a specialized introductory fire fighting course every other Wednesday, starting in the 2022-23 school year at Wisconsin Dells High School.

Were looking at hosting a class at the high school next school year where students sign up and could take a basic, introductory-level course to get started, said Dells High School Principal Hugh Gaston. Im in the recruitment phase right now of getting kids to sign up and marketing the message.

Juniors and seniors at the high school are eligible to take the course, with the signup period being near the end of the previous school year. Delton Fire Chief Darren Jorgenson said that the goal of the current program is to get local students who are interested in firefighting a head start.

Gaston said that students would receive credit for the elective course. The school is in talks with Madison Area Technical College for dual enrollment with regards to students who wish to continue their fire safety education at the college.

Our goal as a district has been to offer opportunities while theyre (students) in high school to tie to something post-secondary, no matter what it is, Gaston said.

Students who participate in this entry-level program will be certified for firefighting and employable by any fire department upon graduation, according to Jorgenson. Gaston is thinking of offering the course on Wednesdays when students are released early from school (those days span from 8 a.m. to noon).

Its the exact same fire training that anybody thats new in the fire service would get, Jorgenson said of the course offerings. Ladders, fire attack, using the SCBAs (self-contained breathing apparatus), search and rescue. All of that stuff would be covered. When theyre done with that class, theyre qualified then to be a full-fledged firefighter on any department.

The course will be offered at the school and will feature on-site trainings at both area departments. Jorgenson said with the school serving both the Dells and Lake Delton fire districts, there would be an effort to evenly split on-site trainings between the two departments.

Hopefully, this will spur interest in their hometown departments, said Jorgenson.

Gaston, along with Delton Fire Chief Darren Jorgenson and Kilbourn Fire Chief Pat Gavinski, presented the plan to the state Department of Safety and Professional Services at a March 17 meeting.

I am struck that the principal is doing the announcements and putting it in the family newsletter, said DSPS Secretary Dawn Crim regarding recruitment of students. But you also think about your counselors and career advisors, because they are the ones who regularly see the students and have those relationships talking with them.

Gaston said that students enrolled would attend the fire training course instead of their regular scheduled classes on those Wednesdays. He added that conducting the course on the early-release Wednesdays allows it to have no limit on enrollment and that any student can take it. The course would consist of 15 four-hour sessions, totaling 60 hours.

There may also be a special Saturday session for enrolled students in which they practice their learned skills on a controlled fire situation, according to Gaston. The school district has yet to decide if the course will be annually or biannually.

After a year or two, you will know what is working for you and what you might need to adjust here and there, said April Hammond, the fire prevention coordinator with DSPS. You can make adjustments based on the success of the program. You have to engage it after youve gone through it.

Kilbourn and Delton Fire is seeking grant funding from the states Firefighter Training Grant Program to help fund the course in 2023. Crim, along with Division of Industry Services Section Chief Bradley Johnson and Hammond, started the program in February.

Right now, this program isnt grant-funded, but were looking to leverage grant funding in the future, said Jorgenson. Were just doing this at a local level right now.

The district and departments will file for the grant in conjunction with Madison Area Technical College.

Any fire department in good standing with the Department (of Safety and Professional Services), a high school or technical college can apply for a grant, but all three have to be partners for the grant, said Johnson.
Election deniers are scheduled to head to the Capitol on Thursday and in May in an ongoing effort to cast doubt on the outcome of the 2020 presidential election by continuing to press baseless claims that the vote was stolen.

The dogged efforts despite numerous audits, reviews and court filings that found no more fraud in 2020 than is typical in any other election reflect a common tendency to double down on beliefs even when evidence suggests otherwise, said a social psychologist who studies cognitive dissonance.

On Thursday, members from the self-proclaimed election integrity group True the Vote will address a hearing before the Assembly elections committee.

Last Thursday, activist Jefferson Davis promised a packed room of supporters that True the Vote would drop a bomb this week proving the existence of widespread fraud. Thats despite no evidence coming before legislative committees  or anywhere else  leading to any finding of widespread fraud that would suggest former President Donald Trump won Wisconsin in 2020.

A Republican review of the election by conservative former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman was the latest to fall short of proving widespread fraud. Gableman claimed 100% of registered voters in Dane and Milwaukee county nursing homes cast absentee ballots in 2020, insinuating at least some of those votes had to have been cast fraudulently by others. But a closer look by the Wisconsin State Journal found only one nursing home where all 12 registered voters cast ballots; turnout among all the others ranged from 42% to 91%.

Some have conflated policies or decisions on election administration that they opposed or which werent explicitly authorized in state law with fraud, even though some of the practices were consistent with past elections, were approved by government bodies in open session or were found to be legal by a court.

Those include grants from the Mark Zuckerberg-funded Center for Tech and Civic Life to help cover the cost of conducting an election during a pandemic. While the grants went to about 214 municipalities, including many that went for Trump, the bulk of the money went to the states five largest cities, which turned out strongly for Joe Biden. Multiple courts have ruled the grants were legal. The grants were also not denied to any municipalities that requested them.

Deniers also have called for jailing members of the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission for advising local clerks they could fix minor errors on ballot envelopes and use ballot drop boxes, which arent addressed in state law. The measures were approved by both Democratic and Republican members of the commission.

Assembly elections committee chair Rep. Janel Brandtjen, R-Menomonee Falls, has long derided the way the 2020 election was conducted, requesting information from Wisconsin counties as a first step toward what she described as a full, cyber-forensic audit of tabulators and inspection of the physical ballots from the election. She has also provided a platform for a man convicted of mail and bank fraud to give a presentation featuring false and unprovable claims about the 2020 election.

She did not respond to a request for comment.

A recount, routine post-election audits and court decisions have affirmed that Biden defeated Trump in Wisconsin by almost 21,000 votes. A review by the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau as well as the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty also found no evidence of widespread fraud, and multiple court rulings have found no evidence of irregularities.

Only 24 people out of nearly 3.3 million who cast ballots have been charged with election fraud in Wisconsin, The Associated Press reported last week.

Excellent optics

Thursdays Assembly election hearing comes after Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, last week noted the election cant be decertified but nevertheless expressed a belief that there had been widespread fraud in 2020.

Vos and his spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In addition to decertifying the election  which is legally impossible  many of those who persist in denying the outcome of the 2020 election are calling on the Legislature to enact stricter voting laws, which are all but certain to be vetoed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, and draw attention to their cause.

In an online chat, some called for supporters to take the day off work and rally to the Capitol on Thursday.

We want to pack it out and show the liberal media and press that we support election integrity, Justice Gableman, Rep. Brandtjen, Rep. Ramthun and True the Vote, Davis said in a statement posted on the messaging platform Telegram. Standing room only and packing the hallway would be excellent optics.

In May, a different group says it plans to bring a Canadian Trucker Style convoy to the Capitol, Where the start of the end of our enslavement will begin!!! according to the groups website.

The group is calling on Wisconsin to ban voting machines, prohibit outside grants for election administration and decertify the 2020 election, among other things. Its also calling for the arrest, prosecution, and severe punishment for those who have and would violate these and existing voting laws.

The group  calling itself Grandma and Grandpa  is calling on the Legislature to pass the measures in a special session and vowed to camp out at the Capitol until its demands are met.

Evers has said he wont sign legislation that would make it harder to vote.

Speaking at a WisPolitics luncheon last week, Evers, who is up for reelection in November, said repeated claims of fraud in the 2020 election by top Republicans, including Vos, have only encouraged the call for decertification  something that has also been urged by Gableman, who Vos hired last year to conduct a one-party review of the election at a cost to taxpayers of $676,000.

I think hes one of the smartest people Ive ever met and I think this is one of the dumbest things hes ever said, Evers said in reference to Vos claim of widespread fraud.

Cognitive dissonance

Many people who persist in claiming there was widespread voter fraud despite all evidence to the contrary may be beyond being swayed by the facts, said Carol Tavris, a social psychologist who studies cognitive dissonance and co-author of the book, Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me).

People dont arrive at most of their beliefs through reasoned reflection or even the best science, Tavris said. They rely on the opinions of their tribe, and nowadays the most salient tribes in our country are political camps.

Thats true of people across the political spectrum, Tavris said, from liberals to conservatives.

In that tradition, she said, theres nothing unique about delusionally believing that voter fraud is widespread, especially as national Republican leaders peddle that claim.

Changing ones beliefs, even when presented with contrary evidence, is difficult, she said. Saying I was wrong is harder to admit than They are wrong, Tavris said.

Tavris describes what happens next as a pyramid of choice: At the top of the pyramid, a person chooses whether to believe something. The person will then seek more evidence to support that initial choice, broadening the support for it, while rejecting any information that questions it.

That initial decision can be made for impulsive or trivial reasons, but over time, throwing more justifications at that decision, its harder to change your mind without feeling you were stupid at the outset, she said.

Still, with no evidence supporting widespread fraud, more Republicans are becoming confident in the accuracy of the 2020 election, with 38% saying they are confident now, up from 29% who said they were confident in August 2021, according to the latest Marquette Law School Poll.
Texas firefighters have battled 175 fires in the past week that have burned nearly 95,000 acres, officials say
Weather Alert

...The Flood Warning continues for the following rivers in Indiana... Wabash River from Lafayette to Montezuma. White River at Elliston and Edwardsport. .Multiple rounds of rain over the last few days is bringing minor flooding along lower portions of the White River and upper portions of the Wabash River. Additional rainfall Thursday evening through Friday evening should keep portions of the White and Wabash above flood stage through the weekend. 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 NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE... * WHAT...Minor flooding is occurring and minor flooding is forecast. * WHERE...Wabash River at Lafayette. * WHEN...Until further notice. * IMPACTS...At 14.0 feet, Lowland flooding is in progress. High water affects river cabins near North 9th Street. Low county roads are nearly impassable. Tapawingo Park in West Lafayette begins to flood. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS... - At 9:30 PM EDT Wednesday the stage was 11.3 feet. - Recent Activity...The maximum river stage in the 24 hours ending at 9:30 PM EDT Wednesday was 11.3 feet. - Forecast...The river will rise to 13.2 feet early Friday morning. It will then fall to 12.4 feet and begin rising again early Saturday morning. It will rise to 13.7 feet Sunday morning. It will then fall again but remain above flood stage. - Flood stage is 11.0 feet. - http://www.weather.gov/safety/flood &&
A US, major of Women's Army Corps inspects newly-arrived Black WACs troops at a temporary post in England (February 1945). (Photo by Photo12/UIG/Getty Images)
MOSCOW, RUSSIA - MARCH 18: (RUSSIA OUT) Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a concert marking the anniversary of the annexation of Crimea, on March 18, 2022 in Moscow, Russia. Thousands people gathered at Luznkiki Stadium to support President Putin, the annexation of Crimea and the conflict in Ukraine. (Photo by Getty Images)
A view from Clwyd Souths Member of the Senedd

Wrexham.com has invited Wrexham & Clwyd South constituency Members of Parliament and Members of the Senedd to write a monthly article with updates on their work in Parliament and the Senedd, and closer to home. (You can view an archive here).

Clwyd South MS Ken Skates writes





As we eagerly awaited news of whether Wrexham has made the final shortlist for the 2025 UK City of Culture, I am proud that First Minister Mark Drakeford has reiterated his support for the bid.

I wrote to the First Minister recently and he responded by saying the coveted title would be truly transformational for Wrexham, adding: I know Wrexham is ready to rise to this challenge and deliver a world class, innovative and exciting programme in 2025  one that everyone in Wales and across the UK would be incredibly proud of.

Economy Minister Vaughan Gething has also backed the bid, and I know Wrexham MS Lesley Griffiths is as pleased as I am that the Welsh Government has been so supportive.

You can see the First Ministers full response to me below.

I was honoured to be asked by my friend Richard Parks to take part in his ITV Wales documentary Climbing Out of Covid, which aired earlier this week.

Richard is an inspiration, and his work around mental health is crucial. I was delighted to welcome him back to Clwyd South earlier this year and, as chairman of the Senedds Cross Party Group on Mental Health, I hope to be able to invite him to join one of our meetings later this year.

There is no shame in admitting youre not feeling okay. The key thing is recognising it and wanting to do something about it. The past couple of years have been extremely difficult for a lot of people, but I truly believe that  together  we can emerge stronger.

A major local issue which I continue to work on is the closed B5606 at Newbridge.

Since my last column Wrexham Council has submitted a bid for further funding from the Welsh Government, following the 175,000 grant it received for initial investigations and detailed designs.

As was recently reported by Wrexham.com (here), I requested an update from the First Minister. I am hopeful that the councils application is successful and that the Welsh Government will approve more major grant funding for our area soon.

I would like to thank local councillors Frank Hemmings (Chirk) and Derek Wright (Cefn) for their hard work on this important local issue. The closed road has been caused major problems locally, and Im pleased that Welsh Government has been working closely with Wrexham Council.

I would also like to thank Wrexham Councils lead member for the environment, David Bithell, for the way he has conducted himself throughout and sought to work with other elected representatives.

Its fantastic to see work getting under way on the 4.5m refurbishment of Ysgol Yr Hafod, Johnstown.

The project will see infants and juniors taught on the same site for the first time as part of the Welsh Governments 21st Century Schools scheme  the biggest school modernisation programme in Wales since the 1960s. This is a very exciting time for Ysgol yr Hafod.

The project will create an enhanced learning environment, improved classrooms and facilities, as well as a new staff car park and a multi-use games area. I look forward to visiting the school later this year to see what a difference the work has made.

More than 20m has already been spent on improving school buildings in Clwyd South in the past few years as part of the 21st Century Schools programme, with local schools including Ysgol Penycae benefitting during the first phase. Education Minister Jeremy Miles said last year that there were further plans in the pipeline for Ysgol ID Hooson in Rhos and a brand new primary school in Brymbo.

I held my latest virtual surgery on Friday, March 4, as well as recently holding a door-to-door surgery in Plas Madoc with local councillor Paul Blackwell.

If you need advice or support, please email ken.skates@senedd.wales and include your home address and a contact number. You can also find regular coronavirus updates on my Facebook page and sign up to my weekly newsletters here.



Wrexham.com has invited Wrexham & Clwyd South constituency Members of Parliament and Members of the Senedd to write a monthly article with updates on their work in Parliament and the Senedd, and closer to home. (You can view an archive here).
More than 10,000 people in Wales offer homes to Ukrainian refugees

More than 10,000 people in Wales have so far registered an interest in the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

It is estimated three million people have now left Ukraine because of the Russian invasion since it started last month.

On Thursday, the Secretary of State for Wales confirmed that 10,236 people in Wales had signed up for the UK Governments Homes for Ukraine programme, which allows individuals, charities, community groups and businesses to bring people escaping the war to safety  even if they have no ties to the UK.

Anyone with a room or home available for at least six months can offer it to a Ukrainian individual or a family, though those offering to host will be vetted and Ukrainian applicants will undergo security checks.

Simon Hart MP said it is remarkable that weve already received over 10,000 Welsh registrations of interest for the UK Government Homes for Ukraine scheme.

Thats 10,000 people across Wales who would like to house & support those fleeing the Russian invasion.

A true team effort from the whole of the UK.

Remarkable that weve already received over 10,000 Welsh registrations of interest for the UK Government Homes for Ukraine scheme. Thats 10,000 people across Wales who would like to house & support those fleeing the Russian invasion. A true team effort from the whole of the UK.  Simon Hart (@Simonhartmp) March 17, 2022

Welsh Minister for Social Justice Jane Hutt said on Wednesday: We are committed to doing everything we can to support people fleeing the war in Ukraine and providing sanctuary and safety in Wales. There is a warm welcome waiting in Wales.

The First Minister has confirmed our intention to become a super-sponsor for the UK Governments Homes for Ukraine scheme, which will provide a route for people to come to the UK for up to three years.

We are continuing to work with the UK Government to finalise details to enable the first matches to be made under this scheme.

We are also working very closely with Wales councils and third sector organisations to ensure the right support is available for people from Ukraine arriving in Wales.

This includes planning welcome centres and ensuring access to all the wrap-around services people arriving from a war zone may need. I am grateful for their support and hard work at this crucial time.

The Homes for Ukraine scheme is being designed for people from Ukraine who want to come to the UK if they have someone here willing to provide them with a home.

It enables individuals in the UK to volunteer accommodation and provide a route to safety for Ukrainians, and their immediate family members, who have been forced by the war to escape their homeland.

Visas will be granted once a named individual refugee has been matched with a named individual sponsor who has registered to provide accommodation for at least six months.

People arriving under this scheme will be able to live and work in the UK for up to three years and access healthcare, benefits, employment support, education, and English language tuition.

A separate scheme is available for people in the Ukraine who have family in the UK.

We have been overwhelmed by the generosity of people in Wales and the offers of support for people in Ukraine.

People who have a room in their home and want to help, can register their details for the Homes for Ukraine scheme online.

There will be some people who are able to offer more than just a room in their home  some will be uniquely placed to be able to offer an entire building, house or property.

We will provide a further update about how people can make such an offer to support refugees arriving in Wales.

Donations of money to the DEC Ukraine Appeal can be made at www.dec.org.uk

I will provide further updates to Members of the Senedd as the Homes for Ukraine scheme develops in Wales.
Physical punishment of children now illegal in Wales as landmark legislation comes into force

Physically punishing children is now illegal in Wales.

From today Wales joins more than 60 nations across the world to introduce a smacking ban.

The landmark legislation removes the archaic 160-year-old legal defence and provides children the same protection from assault as adults.

Under the Children (Abolition of Defence of Reasonable Punishment) (Wales) Act 2020 all types of physical punishment, such as smacking, hitting, slapping and shaking, are illegal.

This law will apply to everybody in Wales, including visitors, from 21 March 2022.

Welcoming the Act coming into force at a Toddler Takeover event at Techniquest, The Deputy Minister for Social Services, Julie Morgan said: Today is a historic moment for children and their rights in Wales as we make physically punishing children a thing of the past.

I have campaigned to make physical punishment illegal for more than 20 years. I am thrilled that from today children finally have the same protection from assault as adults.

The law is now clear  easier for children, parents, professionals and the public to understand. Physical punishment is illegal in Wales and I cant tell you how happy that makes me.

We want to protect children and their rights and this law will add to the fantastic work we are doing to make sure all children in Wales have the best start in life and to live the lives they want to live.

The First Minister for Wales, Mark Drakeford said: I am delighted the physical punishment of children is now illegal in Wales. This is a historic achievement for children and their rights.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child makes it clear that children have the right to be protected from harm and from being hurt and this includes physical punishment.

That right is now enshrined in Welsh law. No more grey areas. No more defence of reasonable punishment.

That is all in the past. There is no place for physical punishment in a modern Wales.

As is usual, Welsh Government are starting a range of paid adverts to raise awareness of this new law. They could not say why Wrexham.com and other independent media in Wales was not even approached to promote this (or previous ones) but said it would be followed up. We have offered to no longer write anything from Welsh Government if they feel this site is not worthwhile. We have had no further communication on either points from Welsh Government.
Sales of fruit and veg in North Wales to fund meals for children in Tescos Buy One to Help a Child campaign

Sales of fruit and veg in North Wales will fund meals for children in Tescos Buy One to Help a Child campaign.

Tesco customers buying fruit or vegetables in their local stores in North Wales or online will be helping to support thousands of children living in food insecurity.

From today (Monday 21 March) until Sunday 3 April, Tesco will give a donation when customers top up their trollies with healthy fruit and vegetables in store or online at Tesco.com during the supermarkets Buy One to Help a Child event.

The cash donated by Tesco from sales of all types of fruit and vegetables will enable its food redistribution charity partner FareShare to help thousands of childrens charities across the UK who rely on regular donations to help families and young people in communities get the food and help they need.

Last summer, the Tesco Buy One to Help a Child event saw customers fully supporting the campaign by buying armfuls of avocados and apples and bags of broccoli and bananas, amongst many other family favourites, every time they shopped.

FareShare received the equivalent of more than three million meals worth of food, which has been redistributed to frontline charities and community groups working with children  handing out food parcels to families, sending snacks to holiday clubs and breakfast clubs and giving ingredients to community kitchens.

In North Wales the campaign saw 11,909 meals-worth of food donated to 25 frontline charities working with children and families, as part of a Wales-wide total of 195,906 meals-worth of food donated supporting 188 charities.

In Wrexham 2,331 meals worth of food were donated to five charities across the local area.

Buy One to Help a Child is just one of Tescos community programmes helping to build stronger communities across the UK.



Sarah Germain, CEO at FareShare Cymru, which has worked with Tesco since 2016 to redistribute over 130m meals of the supermarkets surplus food to date, said the donation would make a real difference to frontline charities working with children, and thanked Tesco customers.

The Tesco Buy One to Help a Child campaign makes such a difference to us because it helps us to support children and families in North Wales during the school holidays.

Supporting the needs of children early in their life is very important to FareShare as we see what a difference access to healthy food can make in young peoples lives. In our tenth year of partnership, we are very grateful for Tesco and their ongoing commitment to help FareShare redistribute good to eat food to thousands of charities across the UK.

Jason Tarry, Tesco UK and ROI CEO, said: FareShare do amazing work supporting frontline charities, and the food they distribute is making a real difference to young people and families in every part of the UK.

Every time Tesco customers put a piece of fruit in their basket until Sunday, April 3 Tesco will make a donation to FareShare, giving a little extra help to support them in their vital work, ensuring even more children can enjoy healthy and nutritious food.

Tesco is a member of the Child Poverty Task Force, formed by Marcus Rashford, and continues to support his campaign for free school meals for every child that needs them, at any time.
What Ketanji Brown Jackson might be grilled about in her Supreme Court confirmation hearings
This is the second of a two-part interview with virologist Dr. Stephen Griffin. Part 1 can be read here.

Dr. Griffin is an associate professor at the University of Leeds and the previous chair of the Virus Division of the Microbiology Society in the UK. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridges Department of Medicine at Addenbrookes Hospital. He moved to Leeds in 2001, conducting post-doctorate research on the hepatitis C virus. Dr. Griffin was tenured in 2014 as an Associate Professor of Viral Oncology in the School of Medicine.

Dr. Stephen Griffin

His academic interests include work on viruses, both as a cause and a potential cure for human diseases. Specifically, his work has focused on understanding and exploiting membrane proteins called ion channels encoded by viruses, identifying the mechanisms used by viruses to induce cancers in the liver and brain, and developing viruses as immunotherapies to treat human cancers.

He is currently a member of the Independent Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Independent SAGE) and has been active in various government committees during the COVID-19 crisis. He has also been actively communicating through his social media and various public platforms on the science of the pandemic.

Benjamin Mateus (BM): Perhaps you can speak on Omicron, the BA.2 variant, and the mutations it harbors. I raise the question not necessarily from an explanation of the inherent inborn error in its genetic proofreading mechanism that leads to a mutation in its gene sequences every two weeks. After two years and billions of people later, it has gained tremendous ability to infect and partially evade immunity. How do these characteristics evolve?

Stephen Griffin (SG): People get a bit confused about this because people say that coronaviruses dont mutate as fast as influenza or HIV or Hep C virus.

Id say that the establishment of mutations in a viral population has to do with two processes. One is the random events that take place. Like you say, its a random change in the genome and they can either be beneficial or neutral or indeed harmful to that virus. And then that depends on the nature of that change  whether it is a change in an amino acid of a protein thats important or disrupts a structural element of the RNA, all that sort of thing.

All those changes are random.

And the technicalities of it are that coronaviruses do try and slow that [mutation] process down. They have whats known as a proofreading mechanism in the way their genomes become replicated, which checks back to see if the replication machinery is making mistakes [and corrects them], and that is important for two reasons.

One, the rate of changes is slightly slower, but two, it also means that certain antiviral drugs that we would otherwise use against this virus arent usable.

The second aspect though, is whether that change becomes embedded. And for that change to become embedded, it needs to be beneficial to that virus or not make a difference. Its about the change in the context of the environment.

When the Wuhan strain of the virus first came out, we were completely immunologically naive to that virus. We didnt have antibodies that would prevent the virus binding to our cells. We didnt have antibodies against that spike protein.

So, what happens is across the world, a huge, say billions of infection events happening, you get that random change mechanism going on and from time to time something will happen that leads to a change predominantly in the spike protein, which is the attachment factor that the virus uses to get into the cell.

But not always. There are other factors involved as well.

But it will find that change that might mean it can bind to the cells better. It binds to the ACE2 protein better. Or, perhaps it is more efficiently cleaved into its active form, which happens because of cellular proteases, which cleave that protein. Or, perhaps it can avoid some of the newly established antibodies that we are making against it either because of infection or more recently because of vaccines.

Because of that  and its not that the new variant then goes out and stomps on the other viruses that are around. Its a simple numbers game. If that virus becomes more successful, then youre going to see more infections with that virus in that environment. And it will just start literally to out compete in the same way that gray squirrels out-competed red squirrels and different types of lady birds have out-competed indigenous lady birds in the UK. Its literally a competition. Its a natural selection event.

Now. Thats not just one change. It happens slowly. It happens gradually over time, because these variants of concern are distinct lineages of the virus. Theyve been evolving for quite some time. And thats because theyve accumulated dozens and dozens of changes for Omicron compared to the original ancestral virus that we saw two years ago. The virus is doing this, and it does it in all sorts of different directions and all sorts of random paths, but predominantly you find something thats beneficial and add to it in different branches.

Okay. So, for example the variants that we term Delta and Alpha evolved in a certain direction that made them more highly transmissible. It made that binding interaction more powerful. It made the processing of the spike protein more efficient. And for that reason, although Delta did also have properties that evaded antibodies to some extent, Alpha was mainly increased transmission.

Omicron, HIV and Africa

Omicron, and other variants that people may have heard of like the Beta and Gamma variants, which were in South Africa and South America previously, they were much better at avoiding those antibody changes. There are other changes in the virus genome as well, but were mainly concerned with the spike protein at present because thats the thing thats dictating transmission. And thats the thing that all vaccines are targeting.

Over time, if we take Omicron as an example, because its really an extreme example because it has diversified along a different trajectory compared to some of the others, its accumulated many more mutations. And to do that a virus has to have time and it also must have the right conditions.

So, the theory is that it probably happened in either a small population or a group of individuals who perhaps didnt have the most fantastic immune response. So that could be people that have HIV, for example. And the fact thats in sub-Saharan Africa is an element there because HIV is very prominent in that region of the world.

And so literally the virus is there trying out the different combinations over time. It may have been changing in someone that didnt have a very good immune system, trying to infect others, but not being successful. Then eventually it hits upon a combination of changes that give you Omicron.

Its incredibly successful. Its incredibly contagious. It is incredibly quick and able to replicate and pass between people. Its faster. It transmits more readily, and it evades our immune systems. Theres one small blessing in that it seems to primarily infect our upper respiratory tract rather than our lower respiratory tract, but then most respiratory viruses that go into humans start to do that.

Highly pathogenic flu strains, like some of the H5N1 avian viruses, start low down, but most influenza that has eventually become endemic in humans has shifted up, again because of a change in the surface protein known as haemagglutinin. That doesnt mean thats going to be the case for the next variant.

Theres a subtext to this as well because Omicron isnt just one lineage. Its three that we know of. There is the thing called BA.1 which swept around the globe recently before Christmas. There is something called BA.3, which didnt really take off. Its still there in South Africa, thankfully in small numbers. And then theres this one called BA.2, which has a great degree of overlap with BA.1, but not a complete overlap in terms of the changes that have occurred.

And it probably split from BA.1 several months prior to it escaping from South Africa. It has changes in different parts of the spike protein, and it has different mutations as well. It remains unclear yet exactly what the impact of BA.2 will be. But what is clear is that we are seeing an increase in its ability to transmit compared to the original BA.1 and some evidence that its causing lots of reinfections even among people that were previously infected with BA.1.

However, we do know that recent vaccination, as was the case with BA.1, offers good protection, but it remains to be seen what impact BA.2 might have. But I think the major story from all this is that the situation with SARS-CoV-2 is not stable. Its still evolving. Its still changing and were still not anywhere near any kind of steady state in terms of our immunity to it or all the viral evolution.

For that reason, the complacency inherent to just saying were going to leave it with our vaccines and carry on as normal is a profound mistake because well start to count that cost. Were already seeing now an increase in infections in people over 55 in the UK again.

And thats translating to, whilst cases are still coming down on the downturn of the Omicron peak, its going up in different age groups and down in different places across the country. Were starting to see more hospitalizations and severe disease, which suggests that more vulnerable people are again becoming susceptible to infection. You guys in the United States have had a terrible time with Omicron.

So, people calling that virus mild are making a profound mistake because the clinical impact of a virus has to do with many things. But its to do with the chance that an individual infected will become unwell, which of course is determined by their vaccination status or prior immunity, their resilience, their age and other factors.

But even if the chance of that [severe clinical impact] happening again, as with the ancestral SARS-CoV-2 variant which was very high, its not as high it seems in Omicron. But youre only talking about a 50 percent reduction pretty much, but it infects so many more people. And again, it comes down to a numbers game.

Youre seeing profound clinical impact in people that havent got the correct protection against Omicron. And in the United States, you had a bad wave there. And in other countries too. Were starting to see BA.2 in places like Denmark, Israel, and its becoming dominant in the UK now. It remains to be seen what will happen with that

I think the UK is an unusual circumstance because we have had such a widespread vaccination policy that it may take some time before we start to see the full impact of this. But it says to me, that people saying the pandemic is over and talking about it in the past tense, thats incorrect.

BM: Id like to ask a couple of quick questions along this line and then we can shift topics. Are we at a point that we can predict what these mutations mean or can do? And secondly, regarding the BA.2 wave in Hong Kong which is causing a profound health crisis: All the sequenced viruses harbor the I1221T mutation on the spike protein. Thoughts?

SG: In Hong Kong, I think its two things. First, we dont know what the impact of that change [on the spike protein] is, but its clearly there.

But I think Hong Kong hasnt had the best uptake in vaccinations by older people and that is the real problem, [though Im not certain if this is correct or not]. Theres been some vaccine hesitancy there which really is now causing them profound problems now that infections have gone out of control.

Going back to the actual individual mutations, these mutations can certainly have impact, and some have more impact than others. But its always in the context of the other changes that are present. Because sometimes the change will happen thats just tolerated in something like Omicron and the actual effects of that wont be clear until we see it in much more widespread infections. So, in terms of guessing what a change does we can make good guesses now. But you cant completely say that youve got the real story until youve done full experiments in infectious culture.

Right now, we dont know enough about BA.2 yet. Were still only finding out about BA.1. I will really be interested to see what the entry pathway is for BA.2. Ill be really interested to see what the efficiency of the spike cleavage is, that pre-processing step that allows it to either engage more with surface ACE2 or go in through other pathways.

I think those are the sorts of things we need to see in addition to antibody evasion data before we understand whats going on. But it certainly seems again that if youve not been recently vaccinated, then your antibody defenses against BA.2 are struggling to prevent infection.

Its important to remember though, that if you have been vaccinated, a reinfection is generally not as bad, but not always. I think its really important to understand that if you have huge numbers of infections, even that small proportion of people that will carry on having another severe episode means that youre going to have a huge problem with clinically vulnerable people who are still being overlooked, certainly in the UK.

This virus is not done. And we need to make sure that were reacting to the changes that this virus shows us. You may have heard of the Delta-Cron recombinant thats been identified. We cant say for sure thats going to have the combined properties of Delta and Omicron until we understand how those things interact in the context of the new virus. Its not right to panic, but its certainly right to keep an eye on these things.

And I really worry that our downscaling of testing and surveillance, lack of border controls and lack of mitigations is going to mean that by the time we see something that hits us hard again, were going to be so far behind the curve that it will be even more harsh restrictions necessary to get back in control. This is the irony of the sort of approach that yo-yos between lockdowns and freedom. I think a sensible level of mitigation is much better because ideally, wed never end up having to lock down again.

Long COVID and other post-viral syndromes

BM: Post-viral syndromes, Long COVID being one, are not unique to SARS-CoV-2. I read that the Russian flu of 1889 was caused by a coronavirus. There are many anecdotal reports of people who suffered symptoms that appear analogous to Long COVID. The 1918 influenza pandemic caused an illness called sleepy sickness. There are documented cases of post-polio syndrome afflicting people decades after their infection.

And most recently, there are published case reports of post-viral syndrome lasting several years after infections with SARS and MERS.

Persistence of the virus in an immune privileged environment versus immune inflammation and dysregulation, what do we know about Long COVID? And not just the symptoms it produces but why it happens?

SG: The honest answer is we dont. But the indications are that its not just one thing. I think that much is clear. Thats the reason why you see these post-viral syndromes with other viruses because it cant just be a viral determinant thats doing this because viruses are different. But its probably a combination in terms of the constellation of symptoms that we see, its probably a combination of potentially persistent virus in various reservoirs. And a long-term almost reset of immunity or misfiring of immunity that seems to be an issue. There you see the similarities with things like chronic fatigue syndrome and ME [myalgic encephalomyelitis].

But it is clear that SARS-CoV-2  there have been comparative studies with influenza, for example. It shows that the chances of developing post-viral syndromes are greater and the severity of those symptoms tend to be greater for SARS-CoV-2. Of course, those are just case studies in hundreds of patients rather than millions.

But it certainly seems to be the case that the Long COVID aspect is something like a ticking time bomb, to use that sort of quite lazy phrase, but it is going to be a major problem and it doesnt just affect adults. If youre talking about trying to get your economy back on an even keel and youre inflicting lots of chronic illness on a population, I dont understand the logic of that.

Because children [have it] as well. And I have a great focus on the plight of some young children that have developed Long COVID symptoms. I think this cannot be overlooked. It should not be overlooked. I know in the States this is a legitimate reason to claim disability support, which is great. I dont think we have that in the UK, unfortunately.

[Though the HHS claims that people with Long COVID can claim disability benefits, they are having difficulty meeting the evidence threshold insurers require. And the number of claims is creating a bureaucratic log jam. Estimates of severe Long COVID causing inability to return to work range from 750,000 to 1.3 million.]

But the etiology of it is complicated. I think there is good evidence that there are probably three or four different aspects. One, as you say, continued replication of a virus in a reservoir somewhere thats causing sort of continuous triggering of immunity potentially. Second would be some kind of inappropriate immunology reset response that perhaps causes some level of autoimmunity or sort of consistent inflammatory activation status within the body.

Third is that we know that this virus can get in and damage different organs systems even following an acute infection that isnt particularly severe. Weve seen reports about brains, hearts, lungs, livers and in the gonads as well.

And then theres also metabolic changes, which I think can be quite important. Weve seen the development of insulin resistance and other metabolic changes in patients. And therefore until we get a grip on this, its important to treat this as a syndrome and a syndromic illness, especially when people are trying to ascertain the incidence of these sorts of problems.

Many studies that weve seen in the UK and elsewhere have focused on just one or more of these symptoms in the population. Its not about that. Its about clusters of symptoms in syndromes that we have to account for which make their conclusions nebulous  and, so, I think theres a lot of underestimations in terms of the incidence of Long COVID thats going on because some studies, as well intentioned and well powered as they are, but are not using the right control populations.

I do believe that Long COVID is more widespread than we think and could cause us bad long-term problems.

There are lots of calls for investigating therapeutics for this. But I think until we have more research on the actual cause thats going to be hard to do. We could start by checking different drugs to see if they help. It might be interesting to see what the incidence of Long COVID is in people who were treated with antivirals, for example, to see if there are differences there.

Its something that we need to look out for in the long-term, but, most importantly, its something that we can reduce the incidence of by reducing the number of infections. The primary way of preventing Long COVID is to prevent the short version. It is encouraging to see that vaccines do help with Long COVID. People that have breakthrough infections with vaccines are less likely to develop Long COVID than de novo infections.

BM: Changing topics, I really would like your take on the Wuhan Lab Leak theory and gain of function experiments that have been pushed by the mainstream press.

Recently three important studies came out. One was from the Chinese CDC [Center for Disease Control and Prevention], the first international report by China, that tracked the infections among animal handlers at the Huanan Seafood Market. The other two were from Michael Worobey and Kristian Andersen. The first, using the data WHO had collected during their trip last year, they found that infections in the early stages of the outbreak, December 2019, clustered around the market. The second found that two zoonotic spillover events had to have occurred given the two circulating variants that existed at the time. They diverged considerably from each other in the context of how recent the outbreak was. Only a second spillover into humans could have explained their observations. Can you speak to these issues specifically or in general?

SG: I will quickly say, I dont think it was a lab leak. I think theres quite good evolutionary evidence for that. I dont think that it helped that the Chinese were slightly disingenuous at the beginning.

But I dont believe for the reason that you just said because of the multiple transmission events, that this was likely to be a lab leak. I certainly dont believe the virus has been engineered. Thats my view on it really. The studies that came out the other week, I agree, are compelling.

Id be very surprised if there was a leak. And even if there was a leak, it would be one of several transmission events. That doesnt mean that we shouldnt have tighter levels of restriction on gain of function experiments, however, I think you need oversight of that. But I think what happened because of the arguments around influenza a few years ago, where you had embargoes on peoples work and things like that ... that level of scrutiny was not productive. I think a good discussion needs to be had but the current regulations are pretty good. You need a lot of permissions to do any kind of work like that, but most gain of function studies arent done generally anyway.

BM: As a final question, Id like to reference a quote I recently came across by a giant in the field of modern public health, Dr. George Rosen. Back in the 1950s he said, There can be no real comprehension of the history of public health at any period, without a thorough understanding of the political, economic, and social history of that period in its relation to the contemporary public health situation.

Pandemics dont just occur on their own without a social context. Theyre often potentially a byproduct of social decline. And to a great extent, the evolution of these variants to which you have spoken so eloquently have been aided and abetted by the national policies that have given SARS-CoV-2 ample opportunities to adapt.

Moving forward, how do we get out of this pandemic and prepare for the next one, especially in a world where the economy is globalized to a great degree, but being torn apart by significant national geopolitical tensions?

SG: Thats interesting because during last weeks session of the independent SAGE, we had Michael Marmot as a guest. [Professor Michael Marmot is an epidemiologist at University College London and the current director of the Institute of Health Equity.] He has been doing studies on inequality for many years now in the UK. And its very clear that you can take the incidences of hospitalizations and deaths and overlap those incidences with things like illiteracy, the incidence of a requirement for dental fillings, of poor education, of malnutrition, of poor housing.

All these things are skewed towards inequality. We have this thing in the UK where we would clap for our key workers in 2020. And we have this government narrative around leveling up the UK. Michael Marmot made an important comparison between whats happening in the UK and the UK policy at the moment, what happened in Germany after the Berlin wall came down and how East and West Germany were reintegrated, and the investment level required to bring East Germany back on track.

I think its fair to say that the scale of investment thats being proposed, and Im just talking about the UK here, but Im sure its the same elsewhere, the scale of investment proposed thats apparently going to address inequality in the UK is nothing like whats required to really get to the crux of the matter. I completely agree. I think social inequity is a major issue with respect to any kind of pandemic or even endemic infection or indeed nontransmissible diseases. Its the same for obesity, for heart conditions. All these aspects have a strong sociological and socioeconomic factor, and you can only address that  Im not a public health person, but certainly the people I know that are, say that this is the major thing that you need to tackle if you ever want to get this to work better on an even keel.

And until we do that, were going to continue to see a redistribution of this pandemic into the working class and the less well off.

I was fortunate to work from home during most of the pandemic. And I had family circumstances that made that necessary, but many people couldnt do that. And I think they deserve more than just a clap. Our health care workers, delivery workers and people who make the world function need to be better looked after.

And of course, people that dont have stable employment and good living standards are always going to come off worse. I completely agree with that statement.

And I think when the inquiry happens in the UK, hopefully, all these things will be addressed.

BM: Any final thoughts, Stephen?

SG: Since we had the availability of vaccines, the vaccines are our way through this. But they shouldnt be doing it on their own. And if youre going to try and do that, then I think thats going to have a human cost, which some governments will be prepared to pay, and some will not.

I still stick to the idea that we need to vaccinate the world, but at the same time try to suppress the infections that are being caused by this virus across the planet. And until we do that, this is going to keep lasting all the longer for it, Im afraid.

BM: I appreciate everything youve had to say on this.

SG: Thank you, Benjamin.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) slashed its reported number of child COVID-19 deaths by nearly 25 percent Wednesday without any serious explanation, amid a deepening effort by the entire political establishment to cover up the ongoing mass death from the pandemic. According to Newsnodes, an average of 1,138 people are dying from COVID-19 every day in the US as the official death toll approaches 1 million.

In its COVID Data Tracker, the CDC eliminated 72,277 deaths previously reported across 26 states, including 416 pediatric deaths.

David J. Sencer CDC Museum in Atlanta, GA (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Explaining the change, the CDC claimed that data on deaths were adjusted after resolving a coding logic error. This resulted in decreased death counts across all demographic categories.

In a subsequent response to an inquiry by the World Socialist Web Site, the CDC elaborated on its earlier statement, writing, An adjustment was made to COVID Data Trackers mortality data on March 14 involving the removal of 72,277including 416 pediatric deathsdeaths previously reported across 26 states because CDCs algorithm was accidentally counting deaths that were not COVID-19 related.

This response clearly indicates that the CDC has changed what is counted as a COVID-19 death. The move comes as the CDC is actively working to implement measures that would differentiate COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 as opposed to with COVID-19, in what is widely perceived to be an effort to reduce the number of official COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths.

Greg Travis, a data analyst with decades of experience in the healthcare industry, told the WSWS that the CDCs data change makes very little sense.

Travis commented that he has never witnessed a change of this type or magnitude, noting, Sometimes you will see small variants in the Data Tracker where deaths decrease by a few dozen one month to another, but Ive never seen the toll in a specific age group start shooting up and then come crashing down. And I have never seen the number of deaths theyre drawing data from come down. Thats never happened.

WONDER, the Wide-Ranging Online Database for Epidemiological Research, is a searchable directory from the CDC with data on births, deaths, disease, environmental exposures and population statistics. It publishes a report titled Provisional Mortality Statistics that is based on the death certificates received by the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) through the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).

The NCHS also publishes its own weekly report on provisional death counts due to COVID-19. The NCHS report and WONDER use the same data from the CDCs aggregation of death certificates, with WONDER consistently showing far less pediatric deaths than Data Tracker.

Despite the decrease in pediatric deaths on Data Tracker, which reduced the figure from a height of 1,755 on March 15 to 1,339 on March 16, the tracker still shows significantly more pediatric deaths than the NCHS or WONDER. The current pediatric COVID-19 death toll according to NCHS is 921. Data Tracker has added an additional 17 after Wednesdays reduction.

While the NCHSs weekly report is based on death certificates that the CDC has received and reviewed from states, the Data Tracker publishes daily reports on COVID-19 cases and deaths that the CDC receives from state and local health departments.

In its reply to the WSWS, the CDC noted that the Data Tracker offers the most real-time information, while the NCHS data is the most complete source. NCHS updates once per week, whereas Data Tracker updates six days per week.

Following the CDCs revisions, multiple press personnel, doctors and anti-COVID activists issued revisions to their articles and Tweets, accepting the CDCs claim that the NCHS data is the most accurate source for counting pediatric deaths.

However, in explaining the discrepancy between the two data sets, the CDC acknowledged in an email to a New York Times writer that pediatric death certificates can lag far behind adult death certificates: Depending on the jurisdiction, finalizing a [pediatric] death certificate can take months.

The unprecedented surge of child infections and hospitalizations during the Omicron wave peaked in January, when 1,150,543 children were infected during the week ending January 20, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

The steepest rise in pediatric deaths, as seen through Data Tracker, has occurred during and following the height of the Omicron wave, with the most rapid increase happening since the start of 2022.

By the CDCs own explanation, many of the child deaths recorded by Data Tracker would not yet have been processed through the CDCs collection of death certificates.

Another issue with relying on death certificates to estimate COVID-19 deaths is the fact that they pass through the system of coroners and medical examiners. The WSWS has previously explained the antiquated and politically manipulated nature of this system.

In many jurisdictions, being appointed or elected coroner requires neither extensive training nor a background in medicine. One coroner in Missouri admitted to striking COVID-19 from the death certificate at the request of the family.

Additionally, Greg Travis pointed out that WONDER, using death certificates confirmed by NCHS, is totally unreliable for tracking deaths from Multi-Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C), a disease which has been connected to prior COVID-19 infection.

Currently, WONDER only shows four total deaths from MIS-C, whereas Data Tracker records 63 deaths from the COVID-19 complication.

The WONDER count is verifiably incorrect. The Louisiana Department of Health has confirmed 16 MIS-C deaths in the state, while New York State has confirmed three MIS-C deaths.

The WSWS has followed up with the CDC for further clarification about why its algorithm was counting deaths that were not COVID-19-related. It is unclear why the change only involves 26 states and whether these deaths span the entirety of the pandemic or a specific period of time.

The CDC acknowledges that the 72,277 deaths took place. Were these people diagnosed with COVID-19? In other words, does the change reflect that their deaths were reclassified despite a COVID-19 diagnosis?

It is also unclear why the error resulted in decreased death counts across all demographic categories but not a decrease in the total death count shown by Data Tracker, since they are both based on the same reporting system.

The changes to the CDCs data come amid a broader campaign to cover up infections, hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 at the federal, state and local level across the US, which escalated during the Omicron surge.

In February, in addition to the White House seeking to change criteria for defining COVID-19 hospitalizations to fabricate lower numbers, the Department of Health and Human Services ended its requirement for hospitals to report daily in-hospital COVID-19 deaths. Following suit, states across the US have moved to shut down case and death reporting.

The CDC itself has repeatedly made antiscientific recommendations which prioritize the interests of the corporate elite over the protection of human life, including reducing quarantine and isolation guidelines and changing masking recommendations to align with hospital capacity rather than community transmission. The latter move resulted in 70 percent of the US population shifting from living in a high-risk area to a low- or medium-risk area overnight.

In February, the New York Times reported that the CDC had withheld critical information about COVID-19, including on booster effectiveness, breakthrough infections and wastewater data, for over a year.

The slashing of 72,277 deaths, including nearly 25 percent of pediatric deaths, raises once again the need for the public to have access to reliable, comprehensive and timely data about COVID-19.

Entering the third year of the pandemic, rather than improve and expand the systems for collecting, verifying and publicizing such information with uniform reporting requirements across states, the health authorities in the US, as in most of the world, have moved to reduce COVID-19 data and obscure it from public view.
A Franklin County, Ohio grand jury has decided not to indict Columbus police officer Nicholas Reardon for shooting and killing 16-year-old MaKhia Bryant during a fight outside her foster home on April 20 of last year. The jury ruled a no bill, indicating that it had decided the deadly shooting was justifiable, and that no crime had been committed.

Nicholas Reardon (Photo: Twitter)

Witnesses at the scene, including Bryants 15-year-old sister, say that Bryant acted in self-defense, and that the other party first produced a knife, provoking Bryant to grab a steak knife from the kitchen. The likelihood of this account is corroborated by the fact that it was Bryants sister who called 911 to request help.

Though this information could have greatly impacted how the situation was handled, Officer Reardon shot first and asked questions later, just as his training dictates. Bryant was shot four times within one minute of Reardons arrival at the scene.

According to the recommendation of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, under the purview of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, Officer Reardon was ruled to have probable cause in using lethal force. What constitutes probable cause, however, is far from clear.

District attorneys often turn to grand juries when police are accused of a crime, instead of directly charging them, as is done with most people. A grand jury inquest is kept secret and it is not clear what evidence prosecutors presented to the jury or what charges they asked the grand jury to return, if any.

A press release from special prosecutors assigned to the case, H. Tim Merkle and Gary Shroyer, highlights just how nebulous the legal understanding of probable cause can be. Under Ohio law, the use of deadly force by a police officer is justified when there exists an immediate or imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury to the officer or another, Merkle and Shroyer wrote.

Based on this vague and self-serving explanation given by those who would be prosecuting Reardon, deadly force is always a legally viable option whenever an officer shows up. The officers arrival, in and of itself, greatly increases the chance of bodily injury to the officer, and definitely, given the police track recordkilling approximately 1,000 people every yearincreases the chance of harm, often lethal harm, to another.

Reardon acted appropriately, according to Jeff Simpson, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Capital City Lodge No. 9. Its unfortunate when anyone loses their life, Simpson said, but the officer saved lives that day and did what he was trained to do.

Whereas unfortunate is an incredible understatement, the final part of Simpsons claim does, inadvertently, ring true: Reardon, without question, did precisely what he was trained to do.

With other, non-lethal methods at his disposal, such as a taser, Reardon, a veteran of the US military, can, via body-cam footage, clearly be heard yelling, Whats going on, and Hey, multiple times before fatally firing his weapon four times in one second.

Despite the great claims police chiefs and local politicians make about how much extra professional training in non-lethal tactics and conflict mediation their officers receive, lethal force is seemingly used indiscriminately and the killings continue unabated.

With the entire legal justice system stacked in favor of police, and with virtually no chance of facing indictment, let alone conviction and imprisonment, an increasingly militarized police force is given the unspoken green light to kill with impunity.

Since 2005, 155 police officers in the United States have been convicted of manslaughter or murder. A slight uptick in recent years has seen more officers convicted than ever before: seven in 2017, 10 in 2018, 12 in 2019, 16 in 2020, and a record 21 in 2021. This slight increase, however, must be put in its proper context; since 2017, a staggering 5,593 people have been killed by on-duty police officers.

Bryant is also the victim of poverty. She and her sister had been put into the foster care system after their grandmother, who was raising them, was evicted by her landlord and became homeless. The children had been moved to four different homes.

The altercation that led to Bryants death began when a 22-year-old woman, Tionna Bonner, and a former resident at the foster home, showed up and began berating the children for not keeping the house clean enough.

As the arguing escalated and another former resident arrived, also yelling at the children, JaNiah, MaKhias 15-year-old sister, called her grandmother, Jeanene Hammonds, who came over and told her grandchildren to gather their things and come with her.

Witnesses say that Bonner got a knife from her car, which prompted MaKhia to get a steak knife from the kitchen and for JaNiah to call the police. According to Bonner, she put her knife back in the car before the police pulled up.

The police and the legal justice system are a tool for suppressing the working class, which is why victims of police violence and those receiving lengthy prison sentences are nearly always working class. And after a police shooting, these special bodies of armed men, in essence, investigate themselves, leaving little doubt about the outcome.

Such being the case, the invitation to the Justice Department by Democratic Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther to investigate the Columbus Police Department for deficiencies and racial disparities is nothing but a pantomime of transparency. Aside from this hollow gesture, in the wake of Bryants death, Ginther had little to offer but platitudes, including the obligatory offer of prayers to the family and an urge that citizens be patient with each other.

In Columbus, Ohio, despite such a patient and prayerful mayor, the terror of police violence is particularly acute.

According to a joint study by Ohio Alliance for Innovation in Population Health and Ohio University, Columbus, the nations 14th largest city, and Franklin County as a whole, the nations 18th most populous county, rank disproportionately high nationwide in police killings. Recent high-profile police shooting deaths include 27-year-old Miles Jackson in 2001 and 47-year-old Andre Hill in 2020.

Likewise, some of the harshest police clashes with protesters in the wake of the George Floyd murder happened in Columbus, where Governor Mike DeWine imposed a mandatory curfew and deployed the Ohio National Guard.

During the protests, among those who erroneously thought they were exempt from police brutality were US Representative Joyce Beatty, Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin and Franklin County Commissioner Kevin Boyce. All three were pepper-sprayed by police.

Also in the police crosshairs were members of the press, including reporters for the Ohio State Universitys newspaper, The Lantern, whose credentials were shown to police but ignored.

MaKhia Bryants death is an indictment of the entire system of capitalist law enforcement.

No police department, including the Columbus Police Department, can be reformed. Along with the military, police forces worldwide operate as an apparatus designed to enforce the interests of the ruling capitalist elite.

The only social force capable of breaking the shackles of capitalism is the international working class armed with a revolutionary socialist program.
Just as a steep rise in coronavirus cases is leading to the highest incidence levels since the pandemic began, and the number of severe cases is also increasing, the German government is ending all protective measures. The previous Infection Protection Act, which authorized the remaining protective measures, expired on Saturday. The day before, a new Infection Protection Act was passed in the Bundestag (parliament), which will apply until September 23.

However, the new law only provides for so-called basic protection. It is limited to obliging mask wearing in nursing homes, hospitals, local and long-distance public transport, as well as a testing obligation in clinics, nursing homes, day care centres and schools. Even in retail stores, masks are no longer mandatory. Abolition of the isolation rules for infected persons has not been decided, but is still under discussion.

Stricter measures are now only possible in so-called hotspot areas. However, the point at which a region is considered a hotspot does not depend on fixed values, but must be determined by the relevant state parliament. Nevertheless, even in hotspot areas, far-reaching protective measures are no longer permitted as a result of the new legislation. The possible regulations are limited to mandatory FFP2 masks in other areas, social distancing of 1.5 metres indoors, and 3G (allowing admittance for persons who have recovered from COVID, are fully vaccinated or with a negative test result) and 2G (persons who have recovered from COVID or fully vaccinated persons) regulationsall completely inadequate measures that have not stopped the current wave.

The individual German states are also free to adopt transitional regulations until April 2 after the expiration of the Infection Protection Act. However, these may only be limited to mandatory mask wearing, as well as 2G and 3G regulations, but not contact restrictions or limits on the number of participants at large events.

In addition to the Infection Control Act, the Coronavirus Occupational Safety and Health Regulation also expires on April 19. Here, too, only basic protection is to apply going forward, consisting of social distancing, wearing a mask and ventilation. This eliminates the 3G regulation in the workplace, the provision of two free tests per week for each worker, and the requirement for employers to provide work-from-home options for their employees.

Numerous government officials justified the end of the protections by claiming the pandemic was over. Liberal Democrat (FDP) health expert Christine Aschenberg-Dugnus called it an important step toward normality. Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) declared on Twitter, Soon [there will be] virtually no restrictions in everyday life ... because the coronavirus situation is manageable. This removes the justification for many serious measures.

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (Social Democratic Party, SPD) was particularly cynical during the debate in the Bundestag, saying, As an epidemiologist, I would have wished we could have done more for those who are now at risk. But we have to consider the legal situation: The legal situation is this: we cant continue to put the whole country under protection to safeguard a small group of those unwilling to be vaccinated and those who are not willing to go along with the measures.

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) during a press conference on January 14 (AP Photo/Michael Sohn).

Who is Lauterbach trying to fool? The legal situation to end the measures was created by the coalition government itself, whose first official act in November was to phase out the legal designation of an epidemic emergency. If Lauterbach and other government representatives are now justifying the end of the measures on the grounds that the situation is manageable and that only a small group of those unwilling to be vaccinated is threatened, this is simply a lie.

The number of unvaccinated is not small either, but includes nearly 20 million. Most of them are not unwilling to be vaccinated, but simply have not been reached by the completely inadequate vaccination campaign. The unvaccinated also includes millions of children under the age of five, for whom there is still no official vaccination option.

Moreover, it is well known that vaccinationimportant as it isonly reduces the likelihood of a severe or fatal illness, but does not always prevent it. However, because the virus works to infect masses of people, there will still be a great many who suffer severe illness or die, even if the overall probability is lower.

Allowing the virus free rein also leads to the emergence of vaccine-resistant mutations that can evade vaccine protection. The emergence of the Omicron variant and its BA.2 subvariant illustrates this. The government is absolutely aware of the murderous consequences of its policy. It will be the case that in many places, there will be precisely this overload [of hospitals], Lauterbach predicted in his speech in the Bundestag.

Infection figures are already reaching new record levels every day. According to data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) on Friday, 297,845 people were newly infected with the virus within one day. That is 45,000 more daily cases than a week ago. The nationwide incidence rate rose by 55 from the previous day and now stands at 1,706 per 100,000 inhabitants. Both are the highest values since the start of the pandemic. Since the beginning of last week alone, 1.1 million new infections have already been recorded.

Across the country, the pandemic is running wild. A total of 390 of 411 districts have an incidence rate of over 1,000. In 158 districts, the incidence level is over 2,000 and in eight it is even over 3,000. However, since testing capacities and health departments are at their limit in many places, and contacts are essentially no longer being followed up, a high number of unrecorded cases must be assumed.

The number of severe outcomes is also rising sharply. On Friday alone, 2,097 people were hospitalised. The adjusted hospitalisation incidence rate is currently close to 15 per 100,000, which corresponds to 12,000 hospitalisations per week. Some 294 people had to be newly admitted to the ICU within one day, which means that currently about 2,300 coronavirus patients are being treated in the ICU. The national average for the proportion of free intensive care beds is already around the 10 percent mark, which is considered the cut-off point for the hospitals ability to respond.

The number of deaths is particularly alarming. Between 200 and 300 people are dying every day. On Thursday alone, there were 278 deaths, and on Friday 226. Contrary to the governments narrative, it is not just the elderly who are being hit. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 57 children and young people between the ages of 0 and 19 have died. Currently, at least one child is added to the list of fatalities every week. For reasons of privacy, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) does not disclose more precise details.

The spread of the virus in schools continues to fuel infection rates among children and adolescents. The 5- to 14-year-old and 15- to 35-year-old age groups have by far the highest incidence rates, at 3,004 and 2,475, respectively. For the last four weeks, 649 outbreaks have been reported at nursery schools. There have also been 426 outbreaks at schools in the last four weeks. And in both areas, follow-up reports for the last two weeks are still pending.

The high number of outbreaks in medical treatment facilities and nursing homes and homes for the elderly is particularly deadly. There were 510 outbreaks in nursing homes and homes for the elderly last week, and 196 in medical treatment facilities23 more than the previous week. The current increase in hospitalisations, as well as the spread of Omicron subvariant BA.2the most dangerous COVID variant to date, according to the studywill continue to drive up the death toll. In total, more than 126,000 people have already died from COVID-19 in Germany.

The vast majority of the population consider ending the measures to be sheer madness and reject this course. According to a Civey poll for Der Spiegel, 65 percent of the population is in favour of extending the coronavirus measures beyond March 20. Sixty percent favour a general vaccination requirement. But the ruling class is pushing the herd immunity policy to the extreme. There are objective reasons for this.

The first factor that runs through the entire pandemic policies of the ruling class is the maxim profits before lives. Especially in view of the growing economic crisis and the developing opposition in the working class, nothing must interrupt productionand thus capitalist profit maximisation. For the ruling class, the scientifically necessary measures to contain the pandemicfirst and foremost, the closure of schools and non-essential businessesare unacceptable.

Another factor behind the murderous herd immunity policy is the drive to war. The German government is using Russias attack on Ukraine, systematically provoked by NATO, to advance its own rearmament and war plans. Germany is increasingly taking a leading role in the NATO war offensive against Russia and is transporting more and more soldiers and war equipment to Eastern Europe. On Wednesday, the cabinet approved funding for the Special Assets of the Bundeswehr, amounting to 100 billion, the largest rearmament drive since Hitler.

War and rearmament go hand in hand with capitulation to the pandemic. Wolfgang Ischinger, the former head of the Munich Security Conference, summed this up in his opening speech at this years gathering with the statement: We cannot simply postpone world politics. Security requirements do not abide by social distancing rules.

Both the war offensive and the official pandemic policies will continue to fuel social and political opposition among workers and youth. This needs a clear anti-capitalist perspective. The struggle against the pandemic, like the struggle against war and poverty, requires the mobilisation of the international working class on the basis of a socialist program.
Students at the University of Michigans School of Social Work(MSW)are walking out of classes today to demand compensation for their internships, which are currently unpaid and required for graduation. There are approximately 700 students in the social work program.

Matt Dargay, one of the organizers of the Payment for Placement movement at the University of Michigan, spoke with Tim Rivers from the World Socialist Web Site about Mondays demonstration and the demands of the P4P organization.

Rally to demand payment for School of Social Work students (Source: Facebook Payments for Placements University of Michigan)

TR: Matt, first, thank you for speaking with the World Socialist Web Site. Could you explain the situation that students of social work confront? What provoked your demonstration?

MD: The situation right now is that social work students must fulfill a field placement, which is basically an internship, as a condition for graduation. The vast majority of social work students work a minimum of 900 hours at our field placement site completely without pay. The majority of us are doing the type of tasks an MSW therapist or case manager or other social worker does.

Ive talked to a lot of people who have observed that if not for their labor and other students, that agency would not be able to operate. So, we view it as a fundamental workers injustice and a barrier that is keeping low-income people from entering the social work profession.

What we are asking is to be paid for our fieldwork so that my colleagues, students in need, can be made whole economically and so that future generations of social workers can be more diverse economically and socially.

TR: What are the wages of an MSW-level therapist?

MD: Starting wage at the MSW level from the University of Michigan is about 45,000 a year. That is not a lot of money to begin with. Most people can crack the $60,000 territory by the end of their career, but it is not a lucrative profession.

TR: You have to have a Masters degree in order to get into MSW level therapy. Is that right?

MD: If you really want to call yourself a therapist, you have to get a Masters degree. If you want to get hired by any agency in a professional capacity, you have to have a Masters. We are paying a significant sum to get through this program and we are essentially paying to work. The University of Michigan Masters program costs $15,000 a semester for a four-semester program, for a total of $60,000.

TR: Who are the clients of the agencies?

MD: Its quite diffuse and complex. Social workers in community-based settings are serving people from working class and poor backgrounds. A lot of us in this program were ourselves once in a place of need or hardship and we were served by a social worker who inspired us to join this field.

TR: Would you say the agencies and the university takes advantage of that commitment?

MD: I would say the university does. Im a little bit more sympathetic to some of the agencies. This really speaks to the whole society-wide lack of investment in care labor. Since it cant really be labor that generates a profit, we have decided on a national level not to invest as much into education, preventative public health measures and social work as we really should. There is just not as much funding available for social work agencies as there should be. They end up competing with each other for measly grants and dollars, and a lot of agencies probably would want to pay their student but simply cannot. It would break the bank if they were to attempt that without any help from an outside source.

That outside source I believe should be the University of Michigan system because the university system on top of being fabulously wealthy also already provides stipends for law students and public policy students who work for public interest firms. These are firms that not unlike social work agencies are operating for the common good or are profit-making and dont have a great revenue stream. We believe that U of M has the capacity and should use its capacity to invest in social work.

TR: Please, explain what you mean by 'fabulously wealthy.'

MD: U of M has an endowment of $17 billion. It has grown by 40 percent since last fiscal year.

TR: The endowment has grown by 40 percent in a single year?

MD: Yeah, in fiscal year 2021 it grew by 40 percent. I dont know the entirety of its portfolio. But it invests in the stock market, for instance. And perhaps some of its stocks performed extremely well. Thats part of it. Really the pool of money that is called the unrestricted endowment can be spent on literally anything. That is $5.7 billion.

TR: Were you part of the E-pivot? [The protests by thousands of students and staff in January 2022 against the unsafe resumption of in-person teaching at University of Michigan when Omicron COVID-19 infections at the university hit their highest levels since February 2021].

MD: I signed on to the letter of support for the E-pivot, but I was not one of the organizers behind it.

TR: Now three months later, its basically back to normal  masks optional?

MD: More or less, yes. I did not know the word immunocompromised prior to the start of the pandemic. The decision to return to normal was made in too premature a fashion. The Omicron variant was described in the popular media as virulent and contagious but relatively harmless. But for someone whose immune system is not as strong as others, that might not be the case.

TR: Now its BA.2 and it is much more deadly. Not that BA.1 was mild and not deadly. That was a lie.

MD: We still are seeing quadruple digit death totals across the country during the wave of the so-called less harmful variant.

TR: The walkout that is scheduled for Monday Are all the students going to participate?

MD: We are seeing some great totals right now. In my best estimation, there are about 90 students who have classes at the time, and right now, 70 of them have RSVPd to walk out. We have a robust figure of students who have committed to this. We are going to have students who are not in class joining us on the U of M Diag for our rally. I think were going to crack triple digit figures in terms of attendance.

TR: You are building a network across the country

MD: We have chapters at Wayne State University in Detroit, Hunter College in New York City, which is part of the City University of New York, University of Georgia and San Diego State University. Those all come to mind.

TR: Are they participating in the walkout?

MD: They are not to my knowledge. They will be sharing our information and cheering us on.

TR: You said you identify as part of a rising movement of working class struggle against inequality and mistreatment.

MD: Absolutely we do. We identify as one piece in the puzzle of the struggle against inequality. We have within our ranks passionate people who care a lot about social justice. Ever since Reagan fired PATCO, the union movement has been absolutely decimated by actions at the highest levels of government.
Under conditions of growing anger among educators over widespread poverty and inequality, an unending pandemic, ongoing police violence, and increasingly disastrous conditions in the schools, both the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT) and Minneapolis Public Schools have been negotiating a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) that prioritizes race in decisions over layoffs or excesses (i.e., when a position at a school is eliminated, but an educator may apply for other job openings in the district).

The MOA would create exemptions centered around race that would allow the school district to circumvent seniority protections in determining who would be subject to layoff. A December 9, 2021, draft of the MFTs proposed MOA states, If the placing of any educator on layoff or nonrenewal before another teacher would prevent students from having access to educators of color and/or educators who reflect the diversity of enrolled students, the district may excess or non-renew educators at the site, out of seniority order in order to protect educators who fall into [one or more categories].

Striking Minneapolis educators (WSWS Media)

The categoriesincluding Alumni of Historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities, and/or Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) programshave been formulated in such a way as to attempt to avoid violating civil rights laws prohibiting workforce reductions which discriminate based on race.

MPS has welcomed the proposal, having primarily tactical differences over how broad the exemptions to seniority rules should be. School board negotiators have proposed additional so-called equity measures purportedly aimed at retaining staff of color, including another memorandum titled Black Men Teach. MPS summary of that proposal states, This MOA proposes identifying two partnership elementary schools where vacancies will be held for fellows from Black Men Teach, a community partner organization that recruits, prepares, places, and retains Black male educators in elementary schools.

The Educators of Color MOA and related proposals are thoroughly reactionary and anti-working class. They have nothing to do with a struggle against racism or for social justice, whatever the proponents of the MOA may think. The effect of such measures, were they to be implemented, would be to pit educators against each other along racial lines and enormously damage the struggle for genuine equality. This outcome is in fact the desired aim of the Democratic Party, which has long used identity and racial politics as a wedge in a divide-and-conquer strategy against the working class.

While presented under the guise of defending the jobs of the most vulnerable and oppressed, the consequence of these policies will be to undermine the job security and democratic rights of all education workers.

The corporate-backed school reform campaign

As an initial matter, seniority and tenure rights of teachers have long been in the crosshairs of corporate-backed education reform advocates. The promoters of for-profit charter schools, regressive merit-pay systems and related attacks on public education also wish to make it easier to force out older, higher-paid and more experienced educators.

Knowing that such measures are deeply unpopular, the financial aristocracy has cultivated and funded a network of community organizations to carry out its dirty work. Increasingly, these groups have cloaked their efforts to dismantle public education under the mantle of racial equity. The current proposals are no exception.

Local media in Minneapolis have referred in a number of reports to supposed grassroots activists and organizations promoting the educators of color MOA. An NBC news report on February 21 refers to the efforts of the Advancing Equity Coalition and Educators for Excellence to lobby the MFT and MPS to sign the MOA even in advance of a full contract.

The Advancing Equity Coalition (AEC) states on its website that it is a multiracial, multicultural movement of families, students, teachers, and community members working together to dismantle systemic racism at MPS. Among the members of this movement are the Mortenson Family Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the corporate dynasty that owns the multi-billion-dollar M.A. Mortenson Company, one of the largest construction and real estate development firms in the US. Another coalition member is the Graves Foundation, which funds numerous local education reform organizations as well as charter schools, according to Minneapolis education blog Bright Light Small City.

Kenneth Eban, executive director of AEC, previously served as organizing director of the Minnesota chapter of Students for Education Reform, a pro-charter school organization that spent tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars nationally to elect pro-reform candidates to school boards, according to Chalkbeat and the Los Angeles Times.

Educators for Excellence, for its part, is the recipient of millions in funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which the Microsoft billionaire has used for years to bankroll school privatization campaigns. The national chair of the group, Peter Flaherty, is managing director of Arcon Partners, LLC, a major private investment firm.

One can select any one of the numerous racial equity community organizations more or less at random and almost invariably find behind it powerful corporate and political interests. Black Men Teach, the group MPS is proposing to partner with and presumably channel school funds to, includes the following individuals on its board of directors:

Anthony Lando, Black Men Teach Board Chair and Senior Vice President of the Private Client Division at Bank of America: According to his bio, Lando works with very successful business owners, ultra high net worth families, and philanthropic institutions, tailoring strategies to address their needs.

According to his bio, Lando works with very successful business owners, ultra high net worth families, and philanthropic institutions, tailoring strategies to address their needs. Paul Gunderson, Vice President/Human Resources, Coca-Cola Enterprises, retired.

Mark Irvin, Chief Inclusion, Diversity and Talent Officer/Best Buy Co. Inc.

Kevin Idahor, Accenture: In his position for the global consulting firm, Idahor leads clients through enterprise transformation with a focus on HR Transformation, journey management, and leadership engagement interventions to minimize disruption.

In his position for the global consulting firm, Idahor leads clients through enterprise transformation with a focus on HR Transformation, journey management, and leadership engagement interventions to minimize disruption. Joshua Crosson, Executive Director at EdAllies: Crosson states that he spent four years writing legislation and advising his hometown congressman, Rep. Adam Smith. Smith, a Democrat, is the current chair of the House Armed Services Committee, a highly politically sensitive position from the standpoint of the military-intelligence apparatus.

The unholy nexus of phony community organizations, racial politics, school privatization, Wall Street and the Democratic Party is not new. They found their most significant expression in the administration of Barack Obama. Hailed by innumerable pseudo-left organizations as the first black president who would promote change, Obama proceeded to implement the reactionary Race to the Top school reform agenda, intensifying the pro-charter and edu-business policies of his Republican predecessor while overseeing the layoff of hundreds of thousands of teachers across the US during his two terms.

The efforts to promote organizations such as Black Men Teach do not advance the interests of the working class, but rather privileged sections of the upper-middle class. The equity industry offers such layers the possibility of lucrative contracts, highly paid advisory positions at schools and corporations, and other sources of income.

The promotion of black capitalism has long been used by the ruling class to create a bulwark for the profit system and the status quo within sections of the black petty bourgeoisie, with Republican President Richard Nixon famously calling in 1968 for giving the black middle class a piece of the action in the exciting ventures of private enterprise.

In the more recent period, groups such as Black Lives Matter have received massive amounts of funding from powerful sections of the ruling class, including $100 million from the Ford Foundation. Inevitably, the frenzied pursuit of wealth among the layers who control the organization have resulted in grubby financial scandals, with the genuine victims of police violence, such as the mother of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, accusing the group of using their loved ones to make money.

With the onset of the pandemic, anger over inequality and police violence within the working population has taken on an explosive new dimension. The horrific murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis in May 2020 provoked outrage among masses of people, sparking multiracial and multiethnic protests in virtually every major and even mid-sized US city, among the largest demonstrations in the countrys history. Moreover, the protests quickly spread internationally, with workers and young people all over the world recognizing in the injustice of Floyds killing the intolerable conditions in their own countries.

Aware that they sit on a social powder keg and increasingly concerned over the growth of strikes and other forms of class struggle, the Democratic Party and its adjunct organizations have promoted racial and identity politics ever-more ferociously, in an effort to short circuit the unification of the working class and cover up the profound class divisions in society. The falsifications of history contained in the New York Times 1619 Project, which falsely asserts that white racism and the struggle between races are the defining characteristics of American history, have been a key element of this strategy.

The conditions in MPS

Minneapolis educators are confronting a disastrous situation in the district. According to MPS, two-thirds of its students live in poverty, many of them either black or from immigrant populations. Over 2,300 students were identified by the district as being homeless at some point during the 2019-2020 school year, approximately 6 percent of the total number of students at the time.

Homelessness and poverty have increasingly plagued not only students, but also educators. Educational support professionals (ESPs)including workers such as special education assistants and bilingual program aideshave wages as low as $24,000. Many have been forced to take on second or third jobs, and some to sleep in their cars. Full-time teachers, meanwhile, have seen their pay stagnate year over year, failing to keep up with the rising cost of living.

The school board and administrators, and behind them the Democratic Party, are once again claiming there is simply not enough money to meet educators needs. As has become more and more the norm throughout the US, the district is threatening cuts should it raise wages even modestly. Superintendent Ed Graff has repeatedly asserted that difficult decisions will have to be made in relation to MPS budget shortfall and that consideration of layoffs and school closures are unavoidable. MPS has floated laying off approximately 180 workers a year over the next five years, beginning with 134 staff cuts this year.

The claim that there is no money to fully fund public education and provide all educators a decent standard of living is a fraud. Corporate profits have surged since 2020, and the stock market remains near all-time highs. For two years of the pandemic, educators have been needlessly exposed to COVID-19, with countless becoming severely ill or dying, while being repeatedly told they were essential. But now, the only thing on offer for teachers and the working class students is austerity.

The proponents of racial preferences in hiring and firing accept the fraudulent argument that there must be layoffs and school closures.

In the late 1960s, when the unions still could be said to defend the day-to-day interests of workers, the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) in New York City opposed the demands of black nationalists for community control of schools, the elimination of seniority rights, and the firing of white, Jewish teachers to make way for black teachers. Today, however, MFT and its counterparts nationally are in the forefront of a campaign to sow racial divisions between teachers, students and their parents.

The unions, which have become evermore integrated into the corporations and the capitalist state, are now incapable of conducting a genuine struggle against racism, which requires the fight for the unity of workers of all races on the basis of their common class interests.

The effort to present systemic racism as the fundamental problem facing schools, as both the MFT and MPS have repeatedly done, is a diversion from the real source of the crisiscapitalism. And whether its said outright or not, the insinuation is that the dreadful conditions in high-poverty schools and the ultra-low wages of education support professionals are the fault of white educators and the white population as a whole.

In their more unguarded comments, the advocates of racial preferences in hiring and firing assert that children and students should have teachers who reflect their students identities, or teachers who look like them. But where do such ideas lead? Do white students also need to have teachers who look like them? Is it also damaging for them if they do not? Would it be better if each race had their own schools?

Such arguments have a logic of their own. Should racial preferences be extended as well to private businesses and other organizations? Should white workers be fired first? Should workplaces also be segregated along racial lines?

Any form of politics which seeks to base itself on race as the essential category in society, rather than class, inevitably develops the most reactionary implications. Moreover, the encouragement of racial resentment and blame plays directly into the hands of the extreme right.

The effort to stoke racial divisions, under the anodyne slogan of recruiting and retaining educators of color, has been presented by pseudo-left organizations such as the Democratic Socialists of America, Left Voice, and Socialist Alternative as a progressive or even left-wing measure. These organizations, all oriented to or directly integrated into the Democratic Party, represent the interests of the upper-middle class. They are fundamentally opposed to conducting what is an elementary task of socialists, namely, the fight for the unification of the working class of all races, ethnicities, and nationalities, which requires unrelentingly opposition to racial politics, whether in the form of outright fascism or its more insidious identity politics guise.

Teachers of all races should reject the race-based MOA supported by MPS and the MFT. All efforts to divide teachers and other workers along racial lines must be opposed.

A genuinely progressive response to the crisis in public education is based not on dividing up ever-dwindling resources based on race, but rather on massively expanding funding for schools, training and hiring thousands more teachers, and dramatically raising all their wages to a livable income. These resources will not be secured through appeals to the Democratic Party, but rather in a struggle against it, and a fight for the socialist reorganization of economic life, based on social need and not private profit.
The Labor Party regained office in South Australia in Saturdays state election by cynically profiting from the public concern and hostility produced by the disastrous and deadly live with the virus offensive.

After a four-year term in government in the state, the Liberal Party suffered a heavy defeat, dealing a blow to the prospects of the federal Liberal-National government surviving the impending national election, which must be held by mid-May.

According to media polls, which proved roughly accurate on election day, the Liberal primary vote plummeted straight after the reopening of the states borders on November 23. That soon led to the COVID-19 pandemic taking off, just as it has done in every other state and territory.

Saturdays rout provides a limited picture of the political impact of the worsening COVID disaster across the country. Infections are again soaring, especially in schools. That is because the federal, state and territory governments, collaborating in the bipartisan National Cabinet, have allowed the Omicron BA.2 variant to spread like wildfire in order to reopen the economy for the sake of corporate profit.

Even though postal and pre-polling votesabout a quarter of the totalare still to be counted, Liberal Premier Steven Marshall conceded defeat early on Saturday night, once it became clear that Labor would hold at least 24 of the 47 seats in the state legislature. Several senior ministers lost their seats.

On the current figures, Labor could win up to 28 seats and the Liberals 14, with five independents. Labor gained an overall swing of 7.7 percentage points from its near-record low vote at the last state election in 2018, taking its primary vote to around 40 percent.

The Liberals fell by 3.4 points to under 35 percent. Labor gained mainly from the implosion of the centre-right SA Best party of former federal senator Nick Xenophon, which dropped by 14 points to 0.2 percent. The Greens also benefitted from that demise, gaining 3 percent to nearly 10 percent of the vote.

Some of Labors biggest swings came in affluent previously safe Liberal seats in Adelaide, the state capital, such as 11.4 percent in Bragg, in the citys eastern suburbs, and 11.6 percent in Gibson, in the southern suburbs. By contrast, Labors vote fell by 1.0 percent in Playford, a working-class electorate in the outer northern suburbs.

Labor, backed by the trade unions, largely won by default. It was able to capitalise on the collapse of support for the Liberals once the pandemic spiralled to unprecedented heights.

Before November, the states people had suffered just over 1,000 infections throughout 2020 and 2021, due to safety restrictions, including one six-day lockdown implemented by the Marshall government under public pressure to protect the population from the global catastrophe.

Since November, cases and deaths have soared and are again resurging. On election eve, 4,274 new cases were officially reported despite low and unreliable testing numbers, as well as three fatalities including a man in his 20s and a woman in her 40s, taking the states pandemic death toll to 231.

By election day, the number of active cases in the state had risen to 23,282, compared with 15,850 a week earlier. The number of people in hospital was 147, against 98 on March 12.

As a result of the return to face-to-face classes, more than 330 teachers are in quarantine as COVID-19 patients or close contacts. Hundreds of teachers and students were infected within three days after the school term began on January 31. The Labor-aligned Australian Education Union prevented industrial action by teachers, despite a two-thirds vote for a strike on the first day of term.

Working closely with the unions Labor supplied the Liberal government with bipartisan support in scrapping virtually all COVID safety measures, just as Labor has nationally. The judgment that I made early, at the beginning of COVID was that I said I was going to be a constructive opposition leader, Labor leader Peter Malinauskas, now premier-elect, said.

South Australian Labor Party leader Peter Malinauskas [Image: www.petermalinauskas.com.au]

Despite this record, Labor hypocritically ran an election campaign almost solely focussed on the disastrous state of the public health system. Labor played on peoples fear of waiting too long for an ambulance, promising to spend $1.15 billion over four years on 350 extra ambulance officers and paramedics, 300 nurses and 100 doctors.

A Labor campaign ad stated: Lives are at risk and Steven Marshall isnt doing enough. At the coming election vote Labor like your life depends on it.

The Ambulance Employees Association SA channelled the anger of paramedics behind this campaign. Ambulances had chalked messages of protest on them saying lives are at risk under Marshall.

The publics fears are real. In the first week of January, ambulances arrived within the required response time for life-threatening cases in just 33 percent of cases. Yet this is the result of decades of cuts by Liberal and Labor governments alike, long before COVID.

When Labor was last in office, from 2002 to 2018, it slashed health spending, presided over rising levels of ambulance ramping (waiting in queues outside over-stretched public hospitals) and shut down hospitals, including the Adelaide General Repatriation Hospital. Malinauskas himself was a key minister in that government from 2016, and was the health minister from 2017 to 2018.

Malinauskas is a typical product of the Labor-union apparatus. He is a very right-wing former state secretary of the shop assistants union, the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association, which has a long record of enforcing cheap labour, especially for young casual workers, in partnership with the retail giants.

In his victory speech on Saturday night, Malinauskas said not a word about the COVID pandemic. Instead, he sent a clear message to big business that Labor would serve its interests. Malinauskas praised Marshall, who led a pro-business government, for his significant contribution to his party and to our state. He hailed the Liberals as a vital part of the political system and said they may be our adversary, but they are not our enemies.

Malinauskas reiterated that he believed in harnessing capital and labour to generate economic growth. That means suppressing the struggles of workers against the demands of employers for deeper cuts to jobs and conditions.

Like federal Labor leader Anthony Albanese, Malinauskas has identified himself with the pro-market restructuring imposed by the federal Labor governments of Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, backed by the unions, in the 1980s and 1990s.

Malinauskas won support from Adelaides business leaders while the Marshall government was increasingly beset by factional warfare similar to that wracking Morrisons government. Three conservative Liberal MPs split from the party, reducing the government to minority status, relying on the votes of independents.

On Sunday, Malinauskas said he had started talking to business leaders already and that his vision was of a government that worked closely with the private sector. I said from the start I was going to be a pro-business Labor leader, he told a media conference.

Malinauskass remarks are a warning of another Labor assault on workers. Led by Premier Mike Rann from 2002, then Jay Weatherill until 2018, the previous Labor government presided over ruthless corporate restructuring, especially after the 2008 global financial meltdown.

That included the 2017 closure of the last remaining auto assembly factory, the Elizabeth GM Holden plant, which had employed 4,500 workers in 2003. Labor and the unions stifled and shut down all resistance by workers to such job cuts and closures.

The SA election is yet another in which Labor has won substantial victories by falsely posturing as a defender of health and lives. In late 2020 and early 2021, Labor retained office in Queensland and Western Australia, with the Liberals reduced to a rump in the latter state after backing Morrisons demands for a lifting of travel restrictions.

The bitter experiences of working people with successive thoroughly pro-business Labor and Liberal governments, as in South Australia, underscore the necessity for a politically-conscious break from the Labor and union machines. The accelerating offensive against working-class lives, livelihoods and social conditions, intensified by the pandemic, staggering inequality and the drive to war, can be answered only by transforming the deepening disgust toward the political establishment into a struggle for a socialist and internationalist program based on protecting lives and meeting social and human need, not the profit dictates of the corporate ruling elite.
Many workers are concerned about the impact of the Ukraine war and the threat of a third world war. These fears predominated in discussions with workers at the Siemens Energy plant in Duisburg carried out by a team from the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (SGP).

The Siemens plant, which produces compressors, has around 1,500 employees. The factory has already been affected by austerity measures and job cuts. As part of the energy economy in Germany, the latest sanctions imposed against Russia will undoubtedly threaten more jobs at the plant.

Many workers expressed their opposition to the official war policy and agreed with the statement on a SGP poster: No to a Third World War! Against the war in Ukraine, NATO aggression and German rearmament! Here are some of the comments made by Siemens workers.

* * *

Ali: War is always bad, war has never been the solution. Why werent measures taken to prevent war beforehand? The situation was foreseeable. Now the fire is raging, but instead of putting it out, politicians are only pouring on oil.

Ali is convinced that the whole world has to act together to end the war together. It has to be said that there are those who are taking advantage of the war. The rest, who form the vast majority, must suffer. He commented, Your suggestion that workers must unite worldwide is absolutely right. I see it the same way.

Christian added, Fortunately, our generation here in Germany has not yet had to experience war. And I dont want that either! But now massive rearmament is taking place. Suddenly theres money for it: 100 billion euros for the Bundeswehr. But for education or against the coronavirus? There is no money.

Abdul Kerim said,War is inhuman; it is an expression of human failure. We have to talk together, come to an agreement. Russians and Ukrainians are one people. If they are fighting each other now, then you can see how far humanity has already sunk.

Abdul Kerim

NATO and the USA probably planned this development in advance. Putin had warned time and again that he would not accept NATO troops in Ukraine. And finally he reacted as he had warned.

At the same time, Kerim is deeply opposed to the Russian intervention. Despite all this, he continued, Putin does not have to attack civilians. It is the population, especially the children, who are are suffering. Putin didnt have to invade Ukraine.

If we workers dont unite, nothing will ever change. The politicians have no solution. Therefore, we cannot just say we are fine, or what is happening is far away. When the third world war arrives, everyone will be affected, including us.

Ercan: The US wants to place its bombs right on Russias doorstep. The US would not have ever accepted such a move on its borders.

Michael: I am against the war and I dont want to go to war myself. I was a regular soldier before but just as a cook; but who knows what they will come up with. No one knows how things will develop now. Its a highly dangerous situation. If Poland is dragged into the war, well be involved as well.

When the Soviet Union broke up, the West gave assurances: We will not station any weapons on your border. But all thats changed.

Oil is also at stake. Thats why you cant say we have nothing to do with it. It also has an impact on us, everything has already become more expensive. And I dont want to freeze in winter. All of these issues are connected.

They always tell us that they want our best. But in reality they are lining their pockets. These lies have to stop! Look at the prices of petrol and food. We are the ones who are paying the cost of the war. You cant take people for fools now that there is internet.

Mohamed Jalloh: I am against war! Nobody benefits from war. You have to solve conflicts without killing. The West should stop stationing weapons around Russia and sit down with Putin instead.

Mohamed Jalloh

Before you expand states at the expense of others, you should make sure that the states are united. War is about money. I believe that in the main, the interests of arms companies are behind the war, along with concerns about oil and gas.

Mohamed, who is from Sierra Leone, demanded, You have to help poor countries manage themselves so they can get on their feet. That way you can help everybody. He said, In my country, Sierra Leone, there was war for 12 years. Many people died, especially women and children. It was also all about money.

But those who take all the money die one day, and what can they do then with their fortunes?
Plantation workers action committees in the Alton, Glenugie and Abbotsleigh estates in Sri Lankas central tea plantation district are holding an online public meeting at 3 p.m. on Sunday March 27 to demand the reinstatement of 54 plantation workers who have been victimised and sacked by managers at the three sites.

On March 22 last year, the Horana Plantation Company sacked 38 workers from the Alton Estate in Maskeliya, falsely accusing them of assaulting a manager and assistant manager. Police charges and court cases have been filed against 24 of these workers.

In September and November, 11 workers from Katukelle estate, Talawakelle, were suspended from employment and cases were lodged against them following a six-day strike in protest against increased workloads and wage cuts.

Another five workers from Vellaioya estate, near Hatton, have been dismissed in the same manner. For their reinstatement, they were forced to sign a repressive work agreement which includes increased productivity targets.

The plantation workers action committees at Alton, Glenugie and Abbotsleigh, which were formed on the initiative of the Socialist Equality Party (SEP), demand the dropping of all charges, an end to the frame-up trials, and the unconditional reinstatement of all sacked workers.

These attacks were unleashed with the full backing of the plantation unions: the Ceylon Workers Congress, the National Union of Workers and the Lanka Jathika Estate Workers Union. None of these unions have defended the victimised plantation workers, instead deliberately isolating them and conspiring with plantation management.

The witch hunt of plantation workers is part of the escalating Sri Lankan government and big business assault on the wages, living conditions and jobs of the entire working class. The economic catastrophe caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the unprecedented rise in the cost of living have pushed all workers and the oppressed masses into great hardship.

Plantation workers, who are among the most oppressed sections of the Sri Lankan working class, face harsh living and working conditions that have been imposed by the estate companies in collaboration with the trade unions.

This meeting will discuss the independent, anti-capitalist program needed to mobilise workers to defeat the brutal company and government attacks. We urge workers, youth and WSWS readers to participate in this meeting and join the struggle being waged by the plantation action committees and the SEP.

Registration here.
COVID-19 infections have now been detected in seven out of the eight provinces in the South Pacific country of Solomon Islands.

The unchecked spread of the coronavirus throughout the impoverished country threatens an escalation of the health crisis. Many of the provinces now affected lack all but the most basic healthcare infrastructure and personnel.

Solomon Islands had been among the few countries to have avoided COVID community transmission. The island states isolation, low population (700,000), and strict border controls prevented coronavirus incursions until early January this year. Infected people then crossed the ocean border from Papua New Guinea and transmission quickly escalated in the countrys capital, Honiara, before spreading to the provinces.

Australian Army soldiers talk with local citizens during a community engagement patrol through Honiara, Solomon Islands, Saturday, Nov. 27, 2021. (Cpl. Brandon Grey/Department of Defence via AP)

According to the Our World in Data website, as of March 18 a total of 9,851 cases have been detected across the country.

This is a significant underestimate of the actual spread of the virus. Testing capacity, as with every aspect of COVID-19 response infrastructure, is grossly inadequate. The Associated Press reported on February 17 that health authorities believed as many as one in two of Honiaras 80,000 residents had symptoms consistent with COVID-19, though there were also flu and cold viruses circulating.

The very limited healthcare preparations that had been put in place before the outbreak quickly broke down. An absence of basic personal protective equipment (PPE) in Honiaras National Referral Hospital (NRH) saw more than 100 medical staff contract COVID before February.

The Guardian on February 22 published anonymous reports from a senior doctor and two nurses at the hospital. At that point there were no beds for COVID patientsleading to people dying on the floor of the wardsas well as a lack of facilities and staff shortages that have led to COVID-positive nurses being recalled to work and probationary nurses tending to critically ill patients solo, when they should be supervised by a more senior nurse.

The senior doctor said: People are dying on the floor, the hospital is overcrowded  Sick people and dead bodies were all over. The morgue is full. Its a sad experience. I have never seen this before.

Confirmed deaths from COVID-19 now stand at 127. According to Our World in Data, less than one-third of the population have received a single dose of vaccine, and only 14 percent two doses.

The crisis has now spilled into the outer rural areas of the country. In the remote southern Rennell and Bellona province, testing only began on February 28, reportedly a fortnight after residents complained of growing numbers of people afflicted by COVID symptoms.

The Island Sun reported on March 10 that of the 61 tests carried out by that point, 41 were positive, that is 67 percent. The results pointed to a very high transmission of the virus on Bellona and this is very worrying, Dr Yogesh Choudhri, technical advisor to the Ministry of Health, told the newspaper.

As in other provinces, there are no isolation facilities on Bellona, and affected residents are asked to self-isolate in their homes.

Outside of Honiara, Solomon Islands most populous province of Malaita is the worst affected. It has registered 994 cases, again with the real infection level much higher. Twenty-two deaths have been recorded on the island, with another four patients in critical condition.

Also badly affected is Western Province. The towns and villages of Gizo, Noro, Munda and Seghe were locked down for three days at the beginning of the month, in response to escalating infections. Only essential services and work was permitted.

Widespread poverty in Solomon Islands, combined with inadequate government services and emergency support, has inflicted significant hardships on the population amid the pandemic.

Those infected are required to self-isolate at home, but there is no financial assistance provided to offset loss of income. The chairperson of Western Provinces disaster operation committee, Jeffrey Wickham, told the Island Sun on March 10: Im concerned about the welfare of families who are undergoing home quarantine. All potential sources to get funding in the province have been exhausted and now we are also running behind time in our operation.

On March 18, the Island Sun reported that many residents in Western Provinces largest town of Gizo were avoiding being tested, because if they are positive they will have to be isolated and go hungry during their quarantine period.

Food shortages have been reported in Shortlands, Western Province. On March 9, a group of residents staged a demonstration outside the Harapa Police Station. The Solomon Star reported that they displayed written slogans demanding their leaders and government to address their concerns regarding the need to provide services and support their livelihood through food.

The pandemic is heightening social tensions across Solomon Islands. Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare last month delivered a speech warning that the limited lockdown measures enacted had cost the government millions of dollars in lost revenues. Next month will see the delivery of an annual budget reportedly including far reaching austerity measures.

The Solomon Star, citing anonymous sources, reported that this will include slashed annual leave entitlements for public sector workers, including for low level public servants currently paid just $300 Solomon Islands dollars ($50 Australian) a week.

Australian imperialism, long the US-backed dominant power in the South Pacific, has provided only limited aid in response to the economic and humanitarian crisis in Solomon Islands.

Inadequate supplies of vaccines, testing equipment, and medical provisions have been sent, and air force food drops have been organised for some of the affected provinces. This is driven not by any concern for the plight of ordinary people in Solomon Islands, but rather by geo-strategic calculations, above all the fear of being perceived as less active than China.

Honiara switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 2019, triggering outrage and alarm in Washington and Canberra. American officials regarded this sovereign decision as a blow to their efforts to isolate and undermine Beijing. The Sogavare government has been in US imperialisms crosshairs ever since. Concerns have only grown as Honiara and Beijing have collaborated on security issuesChinese police advisors are currently working in the Solomons with local policewith a potential military partnership the greatest US-Australian fear.

Last November, US-funded and supported Malaitan separatists staged a violent though unsuccessful coup attempt.

Tensions remain high however, and the Biden administration announced last month that it is going to upgrade its consulate in Honiara to an embassy. This will see a significant expansion within Solomon Islands of the US corps of State Department and intelligence agency operatives, raising the spectre of a stepped up regime change drive.
Weather Alert

...The Flood Warning continues for the following rivers in Indiana... Wabash River from Lafayette to Montezuma. White River at Elliston and Edwardsport. .Multiple rounds of rain over the last few days is bringing minor flooding along lower portions of the White River and upper portions of the Wabash River. Additional rainfall Thursday evening through Friday evening should keep portions of the White and Wabash above flood stage through the weekend. 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 NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL TUESDAY AFTERNOON... * WHAT...Minor flooding is forecast. * WHERE...Wabash River at Montezuma. * WHEN...Until Tuesday afternoon. * IMPACTS...At 18.0 feet, Montezuma agricultural levee is overtopped. Fourteen hundred acres of low bottomlands flood. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS... - At 9:45 PM EDT Wednesday the stage was 13.1 feet. - Forecast...The river is expected to rise above flood stage late tomorrow evening to a crest of 18.0 feet Saturday evening. It will then fall below flood stage early Tuesday morning. - Flood stage is 14.0 feet. - http://www.weather.gov/safety/flood &&
In this article:

Kate Middleton in a candid moment in Belize. Chris Jackson/Getty Images

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are on a royal tour of Belize, Jamaica, and the Bahamas.

The tour marks Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee.

Candid photos show Prince William and Kate Middleton engaging in rare PDA and dancing with locals.

In a rare moment of PDA, Prince William placed his hand on Kate Middleton's shoulder while visiting the Laing Building in Belize City, Belize.

Prince William and Kate Middleton at the Laing Building in Belize City, Belize. Jane Barlow - Pool/Getty Images

After disembarking from their plane, William and Middleton met with the prime minister of Belize, Johnny Briceno, and his wife, Rossana Briceno.

The couple whispered to each other while visiting a cacao farm.

Prince William and Kate Middleton in Hopkins, Belize. Pool/Samir Hussein/WireImage/Getty Images

They received a tour of the cacao farm and helped grind cacao seeds on a stone tool known as a ka'ah, Reuters reported.

Locals in the coastal town of Hopkins, Belize, pulled Middleton into a dance at a traditional Garifuna festival.

Kate Middleton dances in Hopkins, Belize. Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Hopkins is home to a traditional Afro-indigenous Garifuna community, according to Reuters.

She burst into laughter as she danced to the gunjei drum rhythm.

Kate Middleton dances in Belize. Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Middleton wore a Tory Burch smock dress with Stuart Weitzman wedges and blue statement earrings to the festivities, People magazine reported.

Prince William also got in on the fun.

Prince William dances in Belize. Chris Jackson/Getty Images

After the Garifuna festival, William and Middleton planted a tree.

He gave his dance partner a spin.

Prince William spins his dance partner in Belize. Pool/Samir Hussein/WireImage

"The Duke and Duchess were definitely getting into The Caribbean spirit today during a visit to the small town of Hopkins in #Belize," royal photographer Chris Jackson wrote on Instagram.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge then visited the Caracol Mayan archaeological site in Belize's Chiquibul Forest.

Prince William and Kate Middleton visit Mayan ruins in Belize. Chris Jackson/Getty Images

The 3,000-year-old palace once served a community of around 200,000 people, archaeologist Allan Moore told the royal couple, according to People magazine.

In Jamaica, Prince William and Kate Middleton greeted ecstatic locals in Kingston.

Prince William and Kate Middleton in Kingston, Jamaica. Chris Jackson-Pool/Getty Images

One woman appeared particularly starstruck by the prince. Some locals have protested the royals' presence in Jamaica, however.

He joined a soccer game with students at Kingston College.

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Prince William plays soccer in Jamaica. RICARDO MAKYN/AFP via Getty Images

William and Middleton also met soccer players Raheem Sterling and Leon Bailey, People magazine reported.

He also sat in a bobsled during a meeting with Jamaica's Olympic bobsleigh team.

Prince William and Kate Middleton meet with Jamaica's Olympic bobsleigh team. Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Middleton later joined William in the bobsleigh for a photo with the team.

Prince William and Kate Middleton played the drums at the Trench Town Culture Yard Museum, where Bob Marley used to live.

Prince William and Kate Middleton play drums at the Trench Town Culture Yard Museum in Jamaica. Pool/Samir Hussein/WireImage/Getty Images

Kingston's Trench Town is known as the birthplace of reggae music.

They got caught in a tropical rainstorm in the Bahamas.

Prince William and Kate Middleton in the Bahamas. Samir Hussein - Pool/WireImage/Getty Images

William and Middleton visited Sybil Strachan Primary School in Nassau, where Middleton spoke to students at an assembly.

Read the original article on Insider
A judge on Brazil's Supreme Court has reversed a ban on Telegram , two days after blocking the messaging app for ignoring orders. Telegram CEO Pavel Durov said the company missed the court's emails.

"We complied with an earlier court decision in late February and responded with a suggestion to send future takedown requests to a dedicated email address," Durov wrote on Telegram on Friday. "Unfortunately, our response must have been lost, because the Court used the old general-purpose email address in further attempts to reach us. As a result, we missed its decision in early March that contained a follow-up takedown request. Luckily, we have now found and processed it, delivering another report to the Court today."

Durov added that Telegram will appoint a representative in Brazil and set up a framework so it can address requests more promptly. According to The New York Times , Telegram complied with the court's demands by taking down classified information posted on President Jair Bolsonaro's channel and deleting the accounts of a Bolsonaro supporter who was allegedly spreading misinformation. The court then reversed the ban.

Telegram reacted so swiftly that the ban (which was imposed by a judge who is running multiple investigations into Bolsonaro and his allies for spreading misinformation) was never actually in effect. The court order gave Apple, Google, ISPs and phone providers five days to block the app.

Durov and his team made some other changes to the app in Brazil in the hope of avoiding another ban. Officials are said to be concerned about misinformation in the lead up to the general election in October. As such, Telegram will start promoting verified information and labeling posts containing falsehoods.

It will also monitor the 100 most popular channels in the country. Telegram says those account for 95 percent of views of public posts. The company has typically taken a hands-off approach to content moderation. The far-right Bolsonaro has used it as a means of communication with his 1.2 million followers after the likes of Twitter, Facebook and YouTube took a firmer stance against misinformation.

Brazil has become a key market for Telegram. According to data from Sensor Tower, Brazilians have installed Telegram more than 84 million times. Between January 1st and March 17th (the day before the court issued the ban), Brazilian iOS and Android users downloaded the app an estimated 4.9 million times.
Jake Gyllenhaal and Jeanne Cadieu

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty

Jake Gyllenhaal and girlfriend Jeanne Cadieu enjoyed a French date night for the premiere of his latest movie.

The 41-year-old actor brought his model girlfriend, 25, to the Paris premiere of Ambulance at Cinema UGC Normandie on Sunday, smiling together as they walked the red carpet. His costars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Eiza Gonzalez, plus director Michael Bay were also in attendance for the screening.

Gyllenhaal and Cadieu were first linked in late 2018. They walked their first red carpet together this past September for the premiere of his sister Maggie Gyllenhaal's directorial debut The Lost Daughter in New York City.

Last month, the star told Esquire about how he and the French model grew closer during the pandemic.

RELATED: Jake Gyllenhaal Says Taylor Swift's 'All Too Well' 'Has Nothing to Do with Me': It's 'Her Expression'

Jake Gyllenhaal and Jeanne Cadieu

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty

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"In a lot of ways, we're family. I'm in a relationship that is full of love and support. I feel so at ease," he said, later adding, "I'm not unaware that there's interest in my life. My life is wonderful. I have a relationship that is truly wonderful, and I have a family I love so much. And this whole period of time has made me realize that."

Jake also opened up about his relationship to Cadieu on The Howard Stern Show back in October, as well as the idea of one day getting married.

"That's all I want is to be a good husband and a father.  That really is what I want," he said at the time. "And now that I have fulfilled a lot of things in my career that I feel comfortable with, I can safely say that. I don't know if I could have said that before."

When asked if he thought Cadieu was "the one," the actor said, "I love her so much; she's such a good person," explaining that marriage is "a choice for both of us."

Ambulance is in theaters April 8.
Vacuum sealing the ground beef was part of this weekends work.

Another week has already passed us by, and it is time to pen this column again.

My plans for today are to wash daughter Elizabeth and Tims laundry. Daughter Lovina assisted her with her work for several hours yesterday. I went to pick Lovina up and brought the laundry home. Today sounds like it will be a warm day to hang it outside. The sun is trying to peep out from behind the clouds.

Baby Andrea is now four weeks old. Her cute little expressions are so fun to watch. I was only able to stay a few minutes yesterday. She would change her smile to a frown then back to a smile, as if she wasnt sure if she should be happy or sad. Such sweet, innocent little angels. What does this world hold in store for them? Only God knows! Allison, 2, still wants to be held by Grandma, too. She is gradually adjusting to the fact that her mothers attention isnt all on her. She has had her share of falls from climbing. She is a little tomboy and tries to keep up with active little T.J., 3.

We stopped through daughter Susans and got to see Jennifer, 4, and Ryan, 2, for a few minutes. The weather was so nice, and they both came running out of the door barefooted, circling around the yard but not for long, as Susan took them inside to get shoes on. I remember on those nice, warm March days as a child we would want to go outside barefooted, too. Mom would always tell us to wait until after March is over. I can still hear her say, NO  dont go out barefooted, its still March. Oh, thinking of those sweet memories of her still makes me miss her so much.

We ended up helping daughters Susan and Verena cut up two quarters of beef on Friday. Son-in-law Dustin and son Benjamin didnt have to work that day. Those helping were Dustin, Loretta, sons Benjamin and Kevin, daughter Lovina, sister Verena, and me. The steaks were cut out, hamburger ground and packaged.

Susan canned some of the meat. We brought the steaks and T-bones home to put in our freezer overnight. My husband Joe then cut up all the steaks on Saturday. Loretta and I vacuum sealed the meat for Susan. Now its all in her freezer, and Im so glad she has beef and pork to use in the coming year.

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Then on Saturday, son Benjamin and I, daughters Susan and Verena assisted Tim and Elizabeth in cutting up their two quarters of beef. The hamburger was ground and packaged, steaks and T-bones sliced and packaged, some meat canned, etc. Daughters Susan and Verena did Elizabeths cleaning yet before heading for home. Needless to say, this Grandma was a wee bit tired Saturday night after two days of helping cut up beef. I am so glad to help the children whenever I can.

Sunday, Joe and I, son Joseph and his special friend Grace, my sister Emma, her son Benjamin and his special friend Crystal, and my sister Verena attended church in northern Indiana to partake in the blessing of nephew Andrews baptism. Andrew is brother Albert and Sarah Irenes youngest son. In the afternoon, we made a short stop at brother Alberts house. We hadnt seen the new house he built. It is very nice. Alberts have three daughters and one son still at home. They have eleven children and all but four married, so their house seems emptier.

A notice to readers  I will be signing books on April 2 at the Plain and Simple Craft Show in Shipshewana, Indiana. They will have over 130 vendors there. Then on April 9th, I will be at the Nappanee, Indiana, library from 2-4 p.m. Im looking forward to meeting old and new readers there. In Shipshewana, daughters Elizabeth and baby Andrea, daughter Susan and children, Jennifer and Ryan, and daughter Lovina will be with me. Some family members are also planning to attend the meet and greet in Nappanee with me. God bless!

This week I will share the recipes for coffee soup and pon hoss due to many requests from readers.

Pon Hoss

Pork bones

Flour

Salt

Black pepper

Place pork bones in large kettle and add enough water to cover. Cook bones until the meat comes off bones. Remove bones and skim fat from broth. Measure the quantity of broth remaining. Return meat to broth. (We grind the meat before returning it to the broth.) Then add 4 cups of flour to every gallon of juice, sifting in the flour, as well as 2 tablespoons salt and 1 tablespoon black pepper per gallon of juice. Cook, stirring constantly, until thickened, then pour in pans. Let cool, then slice and fry on each side until golden brown.

Coffee Soup

2 cups coffee

2 or more cups milk

1/2 cup sugar (or more, to taste)

Combine all ingredients and heat until hot, but do not boil. Pour over toasted bread or saltine crackers.

Lovinas Amish Kitchen is written by Lovina Eicher, Old Order Amish writer, cook, wife, and mother of eight. Her newest cookbook, Amish Family Recipes, is available wherever books are sold. Readers can write to Eicher at PO Box 1689, South Holland, IL 60473 (please include a self-addressed stamped envelope for a reply); or email LovinasAmishKitchen@MennoMedia.org and your message will be passed on to her to read. She does not personally respond to emails.

This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: Early springtime fun with the grandchildren  and more beef
If you thought Riverdale went out with a bang, it's coming back with... superpowers?! We have a lot to get into.

Let's start at the beginning: So this episode picks up after Rivervale, but because Rivervale was technically an alternate universe, it really picks up following the events of the season 5 finale. Translation: Archie's house just blew up with Betty and Archie inside (and Jug nearby in the garage).

The opening scene gives us Frank and Alice grilling them about how they all survived, and Betty and Archie deliver some half-baked story about how they got a phone call warning them, and they were able to make it downstairs to hide under the dining room table? Yeah, that's a lie. It turns out, neither of them made it out of the room, but Archie was able to shield Betty with his body and all she walked away with were a few broken ribs. Archie, however, is fine.

Honestly, Bingo might have it the worst  that poor dog broke all four of his legs!

And then there's Jug, who spends most of the episode struggling to hear but, instead of going to the doctor, focuses on writing a story about the bomb. Because if anything's going to help his career, it's a story about the explosion on Elm Street! (Jug, Elm Street only means something to people who live in Riverdale, of which there are, like, 30.)

While all of this is going down, Kevin, Fangs, and Toni have a real heart-to-heart. Kevin lets them know he's going to New York to give Broadway another shot, and they tell Kevin that their friendship is now a full-blown romantic relationship. But Kevin's reaction isn't their biggest problem. After Toni hears about the bomb in Archie's house, she knows it was planted by the Ghoulies on Hiram's behalf. So, she calls a meeting with Twyla Twist, the Ghoulies' new leader, and proposes a ceasefire. But it seems that Hiram is still funding the Ghoulies from afar, so they have no interest. All they want is to kill Archie and destroy Riverdale. But little do they know about Archie's new... gifts.

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First, Archie realizes that he's gained nearly 20 pounds in a week, so either he's bulking up or he's a freshman in college. He cuts his arm on a rusty nail, but it doesn't break the skin. Then he puts his fist through a wall and that's when he realizes: He's impenetrable. Naturally, he marches himself down to where the Ghoulies are and beats a bunch of them up, launching a full-out war between the Ghoulies and the Serpents. (Hey, I said he got stronger, not smarter.)

For the time being, Kevin is sticking around to help care for baby Anthony while Toni and Fangs, you know, fight a war.

Riverdale

Michael Courtney/The CW KJ Apa on 'Riverdale'

As for Betty, she first notices her new ability in the hospital when she sees a weird red energy field around one of the orderlies. When she hears about a murdered nurse at that same hospital, she realizes that she can sense when someone is a threat. Confirmation of her new ability comes when a drunk Glenn tries to put the moves on her and she punches him in the face. (When Archie finds out, he does even worse.) To top off Glenn's no-good-very-bad day, TBK shows up in the episode's final moments and strangles him for disrespecting Betty.

Archie and Betty, however, are having a pretty good day. Once he shows her that his skin can bend a scalpel, she brings him down to the hospital where, together, they take down the murderous orderly. As insane as it is to give these teens powers  aside from wrestling bears and disarming bombs with bobby pins, of course  I did thoroughly enjoy this weird Betty-Archie tag team that was happening. Perhaps they've needed superpowers all along.

While all of this is going on, Cheryl is trying to reverse Abigail's curse on her friends. Only, every time she goes to check on the candles that have to burn all the way down in order to nullify the curse, they've been blown out. So who's doing it? Britta, but only because she's being possessed by Abigail.

To take care of the problem, Nana Rose suggests performing a banishment. But Nana Rose is a big fat liar and instead of banishing Abigail, she simply relocates her... into Cheryl's body.

We also need to touch on the new guy in town: Percival Perkins walks into Archie's burned down home and offers to buy it. Mary is intrigued, but Archie instead asks his mom to sell him the home, and she agrees. But the question remains: Who's this new guy with fancy shoes and why would he want a home that needs to be rebuilt? Either he's evil or he's just a big fan of Fixer Upper.

I should also mention that after Glenn lied about what happened with Betty  but before TBK killed him  Betty called headquarters and got all the men removed from her unit. Now, she's rocking an all-female unit, and I'm into it.

As for Veronica, she spends the episode making big moves and then regretting them. When she hears about the bomb at Archie's house, she chooses not to help the FBI find Hiram. Instead, she puts a bounty out on his head and meets with a hitman. Reggie, whose father just suffered a heart attack, tries to tell her it's a bad idea, but by the time she realizes that he's right, the hitman tells her the job is done. Do we see a body? No. But presumably, Hiram Lodge is dead. Veronica then lies to Reggie about it and says she called off the hit, but I imagine it won't take him long to learn the truth, seeing as how Hermosa just marked Veronica. (Whatever that means.)

And that brings us back to Jug, who finally goes to the doctor and learns he's 98 percent deaf in one ear and 87 percent deaf in the other. Unlike Bingo, he doesn't seem to be healing from the accident. But Bingo walks out of the vets office three days after the explosion with all four of his legs having healed. And honestly? In terms of ideas, a self-healing dog might be Riverdale's best.

For years, Riverdale didn't do magic. But weirdly, Archie having superpowers feels like it makes so much stuff make sense? One thing is for sure: We're in a new era of Riverdale (and it's one where dogs can self-heal!).

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Photo credit: Myak - Getty Images

Are you wondering how to help pets in Ukraine? As the war continues to unfold, organisations on the ground and globally are actively supporting animal charities to ensure stray dogs and cats find shelter.

According to Open Cages, countries including Latvia, Poland and Romania have all temporarily lifted the requirements for transporting pets without a set of veterinary documents (such as a vaccination certificate or passport), meaning that animals can be rescued safely from war-torn areas. Some charities are looking for people to rehome pets, while others are in need of funds to purchase food.

Take a look at the eight animal charities that you can support today:

1. Shelter Friend

In Ukraine, Shelter Friend is a non-profitable charity organisation and rehabilitation centre for homeless animals in Dnepr City, Ukraine. They are urgently looking for monetary donations to help sick and injured stray animals suffering during the war. For more information about how you can donate visit their Facebook page or email shelter.friend.ukraine@gmail.com.

2. Shelter Ugolyok: Animal Rescue and Farm Sanctuary

This sanctuary for pets and farm animals in Ukraine aims works hard to save and rehabilitate animals in danger. You can either give a one-off donation or choose to give on a monthly basis. Visit patreon.com/ShelterUgolyok for more information.

The charity's founders say: "Quite unexpectedly, war has broken out in the far east region of our country, which has brought wreaked havoc on our economic health. At the same time, we have had little to no local support and are constantly under scrutiny by local authorities, making our mission of helping otherwise helpless animals extremely difficult."

Photo credit: Future Publishing - Getty Images

3. Kyiv Animal Rescue Group

The Kyiv Animal Rescue Group are also urgently in need of funds to help support stray pets affected by the war. They are a voluntary association of animal rescuers that are not funded by the state or any foundations. If you want to make any donations, head over to karg.kiev.ua.

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4. Viva! Rescue Centre

This animal rescue centre is helping care for animals who need urgent help in Ukraine. They are currently accepting donations, all of which will be transferred to workers on the ground in Poland. For more information, visit viva.org.uk.

"The war in Ukraine is a tragedy not only for people but also for animals. It is hard to describe the current situation  bombs and rockets are dropped on shelters, animals die on the spot or run around in shock," say Viva! Rescue Centre. "There is a shortage of food and resources for treating sick and injured animals. The situation is dramatic."

5. Shelter Sirius

Shelter Sirius is the largest shelter for homeless animals in Ukraine located in the Kyiv region. If you want to make a donation, please email dogcat.sirius@gmail.com or call +380 93 193 4069. Every small donation really does make a big difference.

6. PETA Germany

PETA Germany has now delivered 110 tons of food for animals in Ukraine, with some of their other work including rescuing 80 dogs from an animal shelter in Kharkiv, and 11 cats and 10 dogs from Kyiv. Lots of the four-legged friends that have been rescued are looking for a new home after being separated from their owners. See here for more information on what you can do to help.

UKRAINE UPDATE: PETA Germany just acquired an extra van so they can rescue even more animals from Ukraine!



The vehicle will be out in Ukraine on Saturday to transport 80 dogs to safety in Poland  pic.twitter.com/KlehLM893b  PETA (@peta) March 17, 2022

7. UAnimals

Another charity helping to save animals from the Ukrainian war is UAnimals  an animal rights organisation based in Ukraine. From rescuing stray dogs to delivering vital pet food supplies, they rely heavily on donations to ensure they can continue to do their work. If you'd like to make a donation, please email info@uanimals.org for more information.

8. Kyiv Zoo

Funds are being raised to help distressed animals in Kyiv Zoo, with donations helping to provide food and care during the ongoing war. According to a statement on their website, all Kyiv Zoo animals are on site under the 24-hour supervision of zookeepers and veterinarians to keep them safe.

A recent statement read: "Thanks to the work of our special food brigades and suppliers, we received provisions for zoo animals: a variety of fruits and vegetables, raisins, nuts, flour, butter, oil, fish, meat, eggs, cookies, cereals, pasta, juices  we have a stock for two weeks. Together we will win!"

To make a donation, please visit zoo.kiev.

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a grid of cheez-its

Sarah Crowder

Look, I'm a snacker. If you go into my pantry at any given time, you'll find at least four different snacks. I usually have a bag of pita chips, whittled down to the crumbs, or a big bag of trail mix picked clean of all the M&M's (yes, I'm that monster). A family-sized bag of Smartfood popcorn often makes an appearance, and maybe a package of Oreos, too. But while those snacks come and go, there's one thing I make sure to always stock up on at the grocery store: a big red box of crispy, flaky, irresistible Cheez-Its.

Cheez-Its are the perfect snack. Small-but-mighty, they pack a punch of cheesy, ridiculously delicious flavor into a little square that's just the right size  easy to pop into your mouth, crunch, and devour in one fell swoop. I love the way a Cheez-It shatters when I take a bite. The salt sprinkled on top drives home a certain savoriness that always brings me back for more. And more. And more. It's not uncommon for me to bring home a box of Cheez-Its, stick them on my snack shelf, and then emerge from a fugue state a few hours later to find that one-third of the box is gone and my fingers are dusted in little orange crumbs. They're something I absentmindedly munch on during meetings, or grab when I realize that  yet again  it's 3 p.m. and, oh crap, I've worked right through lunch, and oh my god I'm hungry and I need a snack while my sad bean burger heats up in the microwave. They tide me over while I cook dinner; later, they're one of my favorite late night bites when I'm watching a movie or come home after going out with my friends. Time and time again, my hand reaches for the box like a reflex, until I scrape the bottom and add it to the grocery list once more.

This devotion is generational; I grew up in a family firmly situated in camp salty snack, where Cheez-Its ruled over a pantry that boasted everything from veggie straws and pretzels to kettle chips. Just a few days ago I was wrapping up work while sitting with my parents in their kitchen. We found ourselves in a reverie, mindlessly passing the red box back and forth across the table until someone had the good sense to put it away.

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My mom even made me Cheez-It-crusted chicken fingers when I was younger. That's another beautiful thing about the crackers  there are so many fun ways you can incorporate them into your food. Chicago chef Stephanie Izard included a recipe for Cheez-It S'mores in her cookbook Gather & Graze, and partnered with the brand to create a Cheez-It cake celebrating the cracker's 100th anniversary. New Orleans chef Mason Hereford is on the Cheez-It train, too. In his forthcoming Turkey and the Wolf cookbook, he advocates for using a combination of Cheez-Its and salted roasted peanuts as an ice cream topping. (I'll definitely be trying that soon.)

I should point out that despite the many variations on offer, my heart firmly belongs to Original Cheez-Its. I've had the occasional box of White Cheddar. I honestly can't remember if I've tried the Pepper Jack or the Cheddar Jack, and I'm pretty sure I've never had a whole-grain Cheez-It in this lifetime. As a Buffalo sauce fan, I'm really intrigued by the Buffalo Wing flavor, and I've heard great things about Extra Toasty Cheez-Its as well.

Maybe I'll try them all someday; maybe I won't. But in the meantime, I'll have good-old, reliable regular Cheez-Its, straight from the box. That's more than enough.
Roman Abramovich's superyacht, Solaris. Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/SAVO PRELEVIC/AFP via Getty Images

Roman Abramovich's $600 million yacht Solaris docked in Bodrum, Turkey, on Monday, per ship-tracking data.

The oligarch's $700 million superyacht arrived Tuesday in Marmaris, Turkey, Marine Traffic shows.

Turkey has criticized Western sanctions against Russia, but has also supported Ukraine.

Two superyachts belonging to sanctioned Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich have docked in Turkey, ship-tracking data showed, following weeks of speculation over the vessels' destination amid a crackdown on oligarchs' assets.

Abramovich's $700 million luxury superyacht, Eclipse, arrived in the tourist resort of Marmaris in southwest Turkey, on Tuesday, after cruising around the Greek island of Crete, according to the tracking website Marine Traffic.

The 533-foot vessel had set sail from St. Martin in the Caribbean in late February and had been traveling for 28 days, Marine Traffic showed.

It arrived a day after Abramovich's $600 million superyacht, Solaris, docked in the port of Bodrum in southwest Turkey on Monday, per Marine Traffic data.

The yacht departed from Tivat in Montenegro on March 13, avoiding other destinations in Europe that may have left it vulnerable to EU sanctions, before arriving in Turkey.

After US, UK and EU governments announced sanctions targeting Russian oligarchs, the location and movements of their luxury assets, such as private jets and yachts, have been closely followed.

Governments have seized some vessels at European ports in recent weeks, as governments implement measures designed to pressure the Russian elite and President Vladimir Putin over Moscow's decision to invade Ukraine.

Bodrum has been popular with Russia's wealthy in the past, but the country's ports may also have been chosen due to Turkey's stance on Moscow's decision to invade Ukraine, which potentially leaves oligarchs' assets at less risk of being impounded.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has criticized sanctions levied against Russia, while at the same time supporting Ukraine.

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Abramovich was sanctioned by the EU on March 15, meaning his assets have been frozen and he's been barred from doing business there.

The Chelsea Football Club owner's private jet flew into Istanbul last week, according to flight-tracking website FlightRadar24. Abramovich was spotted in a VIP lounge at an Israeli airport on March 14 before the jet landed in Istanbul on the same day, Reuters first reported. It then flew back to Moscow on Wednesday, FlightRadar24 showed.

Solaris had been docked in the Barcelona shipyard of the Spanish yacht-maintenance firm MB92 since late 2021. It left Spain on March 8, two days before Abramovich was sanctioned by the UK, and sailed to Tivat in Montenegro on March 12.

NATO member Turkey, which has good relations with both Russia and Ukraine, doesn't want to fall out with Moscow because of its strategic interests  but it also needs to support Ukraine and its NATO allies over any threat to European security.

"We believe that the sanctions will not resolve the problem," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said last week at a diplomatic forum in Antalya on Sunday, cited by Russian state-owned news agency TASS.

Reuters reported that Erdogan has described the West as a "hindrance" in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave an address to Israeli lawmakers on Sunday, where he likened the Russian invasion of Ukraine to the horrors of the Holocaust. Office of the President of Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy referenced the Holocaust in a plea for Israeli aid.

Zelenskyy likened the Russian invasion to a "final solution" enacted by Putin against Ukraine.

He also referenced how Russian rockets hit Ukraine's main Holocaust memorial, Babyn Yar.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy invoked the Holocaust in a speech to the Israeli government, likening the Russian invasion of Ukraine to the "final solution," the Nazi plan for the murder of Jews during World War II.

Speaking to Israeli lawmakers on Sunday, Zelensky issued a plea for weapons to help fight the Russians. During his speech, he said that the Russian invasion was a "large-scale and treacherous war" aimed at destroying "everything that makes Ukrainians Ukrainians."

"That is why I have the right to this parallel and to this comparison. Our history and your history. Our war for our survival and World War II," Zelenskyy said.

"Listen to what the Kremlin says. Just listen," he said. "When the Nazi party raided Europe and wanted to destroy everything. Destroy everyone. Wanted to conquer the nations. And leave nothing from us, nothing from you. Even the name and the trace. They called it 'the final solution to the Jewish issue.' You remember that. And I'm sure you will never forget!"

Zelenskyy  who is himself Jewish  then likened the invasion of Ukraine to Russian leader Vladimir Putin's own "final solution" to the "Ukrainian question."

"You saw Russian missiles hit Kyiv, Babyn Yar. You know what kind of land it is. More than 100,000 Holocaust victims are buried there," Zelenskyy said, referencing the Russian shelling of the Holocaust memorial in Kyiv.

He then asked why Israel had not imposed strong sanctions against Russia and stressed that Israel's missile defenses, which he called "the best," could help Ukraine.

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"What is it? Indifference? Premeditation? Or mediation without choosing a party? I will leave you a choice of answer to this question. And I will note only one thing  indifference kills," Zelenskyy said. "Premeditation is often erroneous. And mediation can be between states, not between good and evil."

According to the Associated Press, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid thanked Zelenskyy for the speech.

"We will continue to assist the Ukrainian people as much as we can, and we will never turn our backs to the plight of people who know the horrors of war," Lapid said, per the AP.

On Wednesday, Zelenskyy spoke to Congress and referenced September 11 and Pearl Harbor in a plea for more aid from the US in Ukraine's war against Russia.

Read the original article on Business Insider




As COVID-19 cases fall across the U.S., some states are scaling back their reporting strategies after dropping pandemic-related requirements such as masking.

South Dakota ended daily COVID-19 reporting on Friday and will pivot to weekly updates. With a seven-day average of 35 daily cases, the state is experiencing some of the country's lowest per-capita spread, The Associated Press reported.

Other states that have made the shift to weekly reports include Arizona, Hawaii, Kentucky, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma and South Carolina, as well as Washington, D.C., according to The New York Times.

Experts expect a continued slowdown of reporting cycles as COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths begin to decline, the newspaper added.

"We've moved to a place where we don't need to know the absolute numbers," Marcus Plescia, chief medical officer for the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, told the Times.

"We can still monitor trends for people who are getting tests in public settings. We still have a good sense of where the absolute numbers are going," he added.

Meanwhile, other experts fear that less reporting may present problems in the event of a possible future uptick in infections.

But on Sunday, Chief White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci said that he did not think the U.S. would see another surge in infections with the latest variant, though he said an uptick was likely.

"Hopefully, we won't see a surge. I don't think we will. The easiest way to prevent that is to continue to get people vaccinated. And for those who have been vaccinated, to continue to get them boosted, so that's really where we stand right now," Fauci said.
TOKYO (Reuters) - The Ukrainian ambassador to Japan, Sergiy Korsunsky, said on Friday it was possible Russian President Vladimir Putin would be willing to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine in the face of its determined resistance against the Russian invasion.

"We will fight until the end, we are not going to live in a Russia-managed state." Korsunsky told Reuters in an interview.

"There is no reason to believe that he (Putin) can threaten us, as he thinks, to the state that we will overthrow our government and we will embrace Russia after what they have done to us. No way. Therefore he may use nuclear weapons."

Late last month, Putin ordered his military command to put Russia's deterrence forces - which include nuclear arms - on high alert, citing what he called aggressive statements by NATO leaders and Western economic sanctions against Moscow.

Putin has not directly threatened to use nuclear arms. But while announcing the military operation in Ukraine last month, he said after referring to Russia's powerful nuclear arsenal: "Whoever tries to hinder us... should know that Russia's response will be immediate. And it will lead you to such consequences that you have never encountered in your history."

Korsunsky said that Ukraine was relying on its allies to help avoid any kind of escalation.

"We try to work with our partners, major nuclear powers who know how to monitor the situation on nuclear weapons, and which can help us not to allow this to happen," he said.

Moscow calls its actions in Ukraine a "special military operation. It says it wants to "demilitarise" and "denazify" its pro-Western neighbour and prevent Kyiv from joining NATO.

(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have arrived in the Caribbean for a royal tour. (Getty Images)

Prince William and Kate Middleton have given fans a rare peek into the inside of the royal plane as they embark on a tour of the Caribbean.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge touched down in Belize yesterday at the start of their eight-day trip, which will also see them visit Jamaica and The Bahamas.

In a post on Instagram, they shared a picture, taken from the cabin of the RAF Voyager, of them disembarking after their 11-hour flight.

The plane was specially converted in 2016 for use by the Royal Family, as well as the prime minister and government ministers, for official overseas travel.

The Queen is given first refusal of the plane's use, however her last trip abroad was to Malta in 2015  and these day she often travels on her royal train within the UK.

Captioning the image, the duke, 39, and duchess, 40, wrote: "Arriving in Belize, the first stop of our Caribbean tour!"

They also shared a picture of them greeting Belize's Governor General Froya Tzalam, as well as other images from their first day of the visit  which is to mark Her Majesty's Platinum Jubilee.

Royal fans left more than 202,000 'likes' on the photos, with many commenting that they were "excited" to see the tour unfold.

The couple are visiting Belize, Jamaica and The Bahamas on their eight-day trip. (Getty Images)

Many social media users also praised the duchess' stylish outfit, which comprised a cobalt blue lace peplum dress by designer Jenny Packham.

The mother-of-three also wore 400 cobalt blue heels from Emmy London and jewellery previously belonging to the late Princess Diana.

She finished off her look with a clutch bag in a matching shade and wore her hair in a half-up style.

The royal couple have travelled to the Caribbean without their children  Prince George, eight, Princess Charlotte, six, and Prince Louis, three.

Watch: Royal weddings through the years
Jenny Beavan for Cruella

Disneys live-action film Cruella serves as an origin story for the animation. Before infamous villain Cruella de Vil was poaching puppies for fur coats, she was a young grifter (and aspiring fashion designer) in the 70s London punk rock scene. Emma Stone stars as the titular character  birth name Estella  in her young adult years, when she is hired to work for esteemed fashion designer The Baroness, portrayed by Emma Thompson. The films costume designer Jenny Beavan, OBE, has been nominated for the Academy Award 10 times  and she won twice, for Room With a View and Mad Max: Fury Road. The story was strong, the characters were great, says Beavan of the appeal of Cruella. It was a wonderful challenge, and it was something different. I hadnt really done the period and I hadnt done that kind of Disney [film].

More from WWD

Read more about Beavans work on the film.

Emma Stone as Cruella in Disneys Cruella. - Credit: Courtesy of Disney/Laurie Sparham

Courtesy of Disney/Laurie Sparham

Massimo Cantini Parrini and Jacqueline Durran for Cyrano

The classic love story Cyrano de Bergerac has never looked more romantic, courtesy of director Joe Wright and costume designers Massimo Cantini Parrini and Jacqueline Durran. Wrights musical film, adapted from a recent stage production of the 1897 play, stars Peter Dinklage in the titular role. Every costume was crafted specifically for the film, and Parrini created more than 750 costume pieces from scratch to reflect France in the early 1700s. The designer was particularly inspired by 18th-century watercolors, as well as extreme contemporary fashion. In my costumes, I find the need to insert modern elements to make the pieces truly unique, he says. Its also to keep things interesting for myself as well as the audience, instead of doing a complete remake of clothing weve already seen. Parrini was responsible for the design of every character with the exception of Roxanne, the female lead and central romantic interest played by Haley Bennett, whose costumes were designed by Durran.

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Read more about Parrinis work on Cyrano.

Haley Bennett stars as Roxanne and Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Christian in Joe Wrights Cyrano. - Credit: Peter Mountain

Peter Mountain

Jacqueline West and Robert Morgan for Dune



Denis Villeneuves sci-fi blockbuster features over 2,000 custom looks. West, whos been nominated for the Oscar three times, collaborated with Morgan to create futuristic looks for each distinct world within Dune. Most notable is the storys complex stillsuit, worn by the films main characters to survive in the harsh desert environment. In an interview with Variety, West noted that they used monochromatic palettes to distinguish each subworld, looking to natural and imagined environments for color cues.

A still from Dune. - Credit: Courtesy of HBO Max

Courtesy of HBO Max

Luis Sequeira for Nightmare Alley

Guillermo del Toros film Nightmare Alley is populated with colorful characters  carnival sideshow performers past their prime, wheeling and dealing showmen, conniving high society  and an impressive cast led by Bradley Cooper. To help root his early 40s period piece in time, the director enlisted costume designer Luis Sequeira. Sequeira notes that the movie was challenging in that there were two distinct sartorial environments: the seedy carnival world, and high-society show world of Chicago. The carnival world was really harking back to post-Depression. These were areas in which people did not have a lot of money, and thus were not of the latest fashion and their clothing was old, he says. And then in the city, even though it was two years later, the city was all about being on the edge of fashion for 1941. And that again was really studying what was 41  not 45, not 1938  but really what was on the cusp at 41, he adds. Because we have characters that had money and were very in touch style-wise.

Read more about Sequeiras process for Nightmare Alley.

A still from Nightmare Alley. - Credit: Kerry Hayes

Kerry Hayes

Paul Tazewell for West Side Story



Paul Tazewell, who won the Tony Award for Best Costume Design in 2016 for his work on Hamilton, is the first Black man to be nominated for the Academy Award for best costume design. Tazewell worked with Steven Spielberg to bring the directors new film adaptation of West Side Story, set in 1957 New York, to life. The film stars Rachel Zegler as Maria and Ariana DeBose as Anita. The costume designer has detailed his process on his Instagram account, breaking down his approach to various characters in the film. As for the men in the film, Tazewell wrote that There is quite a bit of denim worn especially by the Jets and the Sharks. During the production of @westsidestorymovie we made a decision to work with Mike Hodis and @runaboutgoods The attention to detail and consideration to period details is what made working with Mike and his team a joy.

A still from West Side Story. - Credit: Niko Tavernise

Niko Tavernise

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Photo credit: Netflix

Top Boy is back on Netflix for season two, and it's been a very long time coming. Viewers have been patiently waiting to see Dushane and Sully back on screen, with season two dropping on 18th March - and the newest instalment did not disappoint.



As expected, fans have had plenty to say about the new season, with viewers all making the same joke about series two, while they've also been busy discussing the one character they're obsessed with. What's more, cast members Micheal Ward (Jamie) and Jasmine Jobson (Jaq) have been sharing details from behind the scenes - including the reason why executive producer Drake won't be having a Top Boy cameo.

All that excitement aside, there's a lot that's been going on in series two. So, here's a quick run down of the Top Boy season two ending, explained... *Spoilers*.

Photo credit: Netflix

Top Boy season 2 ending, explained

In true Top Boy style, season two was *filled* with drama - culminating in multiple deaths.

First up, we saw Jaq's sister Lauryn (Saffron Hocking) - who was exiled for exposing Dushane and Sully's secrets - trying to flee from her controlling boyfriend Curtis (Howard Charles) and his sister Vee (Ava Brennan). Despite being heavily pregnant, Lauryn attempts an escape. However, when Curtis threatens to hurt Jaq, Lauryn ends up brutally stabbing him to death.

Of course, Curtis' death isn't the only one for season two. Elsewhere in the series, we saw Jamie flying to Morocco to deal with business on behalf of Dushane (Ashley Walters) - with associate Lizzie (Lisa Dawson) also appearing to convince Jamie to betray Dushane. Things get more messy when Sully (Kano) arrives in Morocco and arranges the murder of law enforcement officer Juan El Bueno. With Sully hearing about Jamie's attempt to arrange a deal with Lizzie, Jamie is left trying to prove his loyalty to Dushane.

Photo credit: Netflix

Season two also saw the discovery of Ats' (Keiyon Cook) body, which was found in a dumpster. Dushane and Jamie set out to uncover who killed Ats - with the search leading them to Jamie's best friend Kit (Kadeem Ramsay). It turns out that Kit ordered Dexter to rough Ats up in order to scare him, but the encounter went too far and eventually Ats was killed.

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Dushane then orders Jamie to kill Kit in order to prove his loyalty. Jamie's brothers refuse to go on the run with him, meaning Jamie's only option is to go through with it and kill Kit to ensure everyone's safety.

Still, there's more tragedy for Dushane with his mother falling ill and eventually dying. Her death moves Dushane to re-think his involvement in the Summerhouse redevelopment, causing him to push for existing residents to be offered a new home following the project.

Photo credit: Netflix

At the end of season two, we saw the biggest plot twist of all, with Sully killing Jamie, in an effort to stop Jamie taking over from himself or Dushane. The series' final scene sees Jamie at home with his brother Aaron and Stefan when a knock at the door disrupts their dinner. The visitor turns out to be Sully, who then shoots Jamie twice in the chest followed by a final shot to the head. Sully leaves while Stefan and Aaron are left with Jamie's body.

As for what could happen next, there are lots of open doors. Stefan and Aaron witnessed Jamie's murder, meaning their futures could be at risk. And will we see Sully facing consequences? Here's hoping we'll find out soon.

Top Boy season two is now streaming on Netflix.

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Expansion Continues in Trinidad and Tobago With 40,000 More Square Feet

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., March 21, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--iQor, a managed services provider of customer engagement and technology-enabled BPO solutions, celebrates the grand opening of its third contact center in Trinidad and Tobago. This newest center opens in the city of Chaguanas to meet the growing demand for BPO digital services.

The new facility expands the companys nearshore footprint in Trinidad and increases the number of omnichannel customer support jobs provided by about 800, for a total of approximately 2,200 iQor employees in Trinidad. The expansion has enabled iQor to support multiple new clients in financial services, hospitality, medical, utilities, and retail. iQor teams provide these clients sought-after customer service in general customer care, inbound and outbound sales, tech support, reservations, and collections.

"iQor Trinidad and Tobago invests heavily to attract, retain, and develop its employees to be the best in the industry. With this expansion, we look forward to joining the local community in Chaguanas and hiring from a large pool of skilled Trinidadians to provide meaningful customer experiences to the worlds top brands," said iQor President and CEO Gary Praznik.

Chaguanas is located approximately 30 minutes from Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago. It offers convenient access to the airport, hotels, and several colleges/universities including the University of Trinidad and Tobago and the University of West Indies. Located outside the Caroni Bird Sanctuary, iQors newest multi-level, 40,000-square-foot facility features 600 seats and employee-friendly amenities.

Like iQors Wallerfield and Barataria sites, which are near full capacity due to strong client demand, the Chaguanas location offers a full range of omnichannel customer support such as voice, chat, email, SMS, and social media powered by the latest digital technologies including intelligent automation, conversational AI, and speech analytics to create excellent employee and customer experiences.

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The new contact center opening in Chaguanas follows the recent expansion of the Wallerfield location in the third quarter of 2021. iQor added 15,000 square feet and more than 200 employees to the Wallerfield site to accommodate increased client needs in the hospitality and home maintenance industries.

iQor will host a grand opening ceremony at the new contact center (63 Ramsaran St., Chaguanas) at 10:00 a.m. AST on March 23, 2022. Trinidad and Tobago Senator the Honourable Paula Gopee-Scoon, Minister of Trade and Industry, and Chaguanas Mayor His Worship Faaiq Mohammed, along with other officials and iQor leaders, will speak at the event.

iQor is hiring work-in-office and work-at-home call center positions in Chaguanas, Wallerfield, and Barataria. Individuals seeking rewarding employee experiences with unlimited growth potential are encouraged to visit iQor Trinidads Facebook page or apply.iqor.com.

About iQor

iQor is a managed services provider of customer engagement and technology-enabled business process outsourcing (BPO) solutions comprised of 35,000 amazing employees spanning 10 countries. We are passionate about delivering an outstanding omnichannel customer experience for brands across the globe. Harnessing intelligent CX technology that can scale teams anywhere, our BPO solutions create happy employees and delighted customers. Our irresistible culture results in a smile with each interaction to create optimal customer experiences. We enable diverse teams to scale our BPO digital solutions from local to global to create the CX experience brands demand to win and keep customers. Read, see, and hear more at iQor.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220321005740/en/

Contacts

Robert Constantine

SVP Marketing and Communications

robert.constantine@iqor.com
ERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP via Getty Images

ROMERussian President Vladimir Putin has always had a special place in Italy. Few will forget how former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi bedded a call girl on a frilly bed the Russian leader gave him, or how Putins late night visits to Berlusconis bunga bunga villa near Milan made the society pages. Not to mention Italys now painful dependence on Russian gas thanks to a deal cut in the 1990s, or how before sanctions, Russia was one of the largest importers of Made-in-Italy luxe goods. The island of Sardinia and posh Lake Como are dotted with Russian-owned villas and prior to sanctions, Russian yachts had dedicated docks on Sardinias Emerald Coast.

Italy was one of the last holdouts before signing on to European sanctions, earning scorn from former President of the European Council Donald Tusk who criticized Italy by name. Putins madness and cruelty, Ukrainian victims, bombs falling on Kyiv, he wrote days after the invasion began. Only your sanctions are pretended. Those EU governments, which blocked tough decisions (i.e. Germany, Hungary, Italy) have disgraced themselves.

Italy eventually signed on but Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi admitted that Italy, having the closest ties to Russia among the EU, said it would be difficult for the country. In case of interruptions of gas supplies from Russia, Italy has more to lose compared to other European countries that rely on different sources, Draghi told the Italian Parliament as he sought approval for signing onto sanctions. This does not diminish our determination to support sanctions that we deem justified and necessary.

Was Putins Midnight Visit to Berlusconi About Bunga Bunga?

Over the weekend, Russian foreign minister Alexey Paramonov accused Italy of falling victim to anti-Russian hysteria and mentioned how Russia had flown in medical equipment and respirators when Italy was hit hard early on in the COVID-19 pandemic. Italy had forgotten centuries-long relations and bilateral agreements in a second, he said.

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Draghi called it particularly odious and unacceptable to compare the invasion of Ukraine to the pandemic crisis.

But now, a month into a senseless war where thousands of civilians have been killed, towns have been leveled and millions of people displacedincluding 55,000 who have already arrived in Italyit would seem everyone is on the same page against Putin.

Or not.

A handful of Italian parliamentarians have announced they will boycott an online address by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky scheduled for Tuesday morning. Among the many reasons? They didnt invite Putin to give his side of the was story.

Spokespersons for both the Five-Star movement and the Lega partyof whom the bulk of the boycotters hailconfirmed to The Daily Beast that some members will not attend, but that such a move is not a party mandate.

Leader of the far-right Lega party Matteo Salviniwho was embarrassed at the Polish-Ukraine border when a local mayor pulled out a t-shirt similar to one Putin once wore standing in the Red Square, with a caption that said he would swap two Italian presidents for one Putinsaid he will attend the address. But many in his party will not.

Italian LEGA leader Matteo Salvini has just removed or restricted access to an old Facebook post of his in which he wore a Putin t-shirt and wrote "I'm in Strasbourg. I'd swap two Presidents Mattarella for half Putin" https://t.co/06tVzpwRkU#Ukraine #Russia #Italy pic.twitter.com/rlzO4AE5FA  Antonello Guerrera (@antoguerrera) February 24, 2022

Lega Senator Simone Pillon was highly critical of the event. I have strong doubts about President Zelenskys videoconference because I believe that we should place ourselves in an appropriate position to promote peace, he told reporters on Monday. Selling weapons to one of the parties in conflict does not favor dialogue.

Senator Laura Granato, a former member of the Five Star movement, said she is not attending because Putin was also not invited. It would have been right to listen to the voice of the Russian counterpart as well, she said Monday. A member of Berlusconis Forza Italia party Veronica Ginnanoe, called having Zelensky address parliament a show meant not to facilitate peace but to further polarize Europe, adding that the risk of having him speak is that it would turn the war into a spectacularization.

The members of the Alternativa group issued a joint statement underscoring why none of their members will attend. This is a speech that does not change the state of things by one iota, the statement said. It is one and only a marketing operation that will not serve to stop hostilities and will have no use for the offended party.

The offended party of course being a sovereign nation under a grueling attack by an aggressive dictatorial force.

The majority of Italys parliament will attend the address, and many have come out strongly against those who are boycotting Zelensky.

I believe that the level of subordination to propaganda by some parliamentarians goes beyond all reasonableness, Interior undersecretary Ivan Scalfarotto said Monday, calling to mind how Italy was essentially rescued from Fascism by its allies. But how can we recall our Constitution to invoke a one-way pacifism that contrasts with our history? The Constitution repudiates war as an instrument of offense, not of legitimate defense: it is born from the partisan liberation war, let's not forget it.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Construction continues at Lourdes Academy in Oshkosh as the Catholic school system expands its campus on North Sawyer Street in order to put all its schools under one roof.

OSHKOSH  Lourdes Academy officials hope the Catholic school system's ongoing expansion will be complete in time for the 2022-23 school year.

Construction on the $10 million project to bring their elementary, middle and high schools under one roof started in November to help strengthen Catholic education and faith in the Oshkosh area as part of a greater campaign with the Diocese of Green Bay, Lourdes Academy President John Dinegan said.

The "one by One" fundraising campaign, which launched in December 2020, aims to "ensure the future of our parishes, enhance Catholic education, broaden social services and living justice ministries, care for our seminarians and help parishes address critical needs." The project is expected to help accommodate an increase in enrollment at the school, as some grades are at capacity.

"We really feel this is the best path to grow our Catholic faith forward within the city," Dinegan said.

RELATED: Here are the top girls and boys basketball teams in the Oshkosh and Fond du Lac area

RELATED: Lourdes Academy looks to uphold strong boys basketball tradition with another playoff run

Dinegan believes consolidating all the schools together will not just benefit students and families but also bring exciting opportunities for faculty to improve education by having all the schools together.

"When you bring everybody together, even from a faculty standpoint, you have an opportunity to really advance curriculum," Dinegan said. "Thats exciting, and I think its very exciting for our staff as well."

Elementary school principal Amy Geffers said bringing the schools under one roof will be exciting for students, not just teachers.

Currently, the elementary school is on Oregon Street, away from the main Lourdes campus. Geffers said bringing the schools together will give new opportunities for students of all ages to work together.

"It will provide opportunities for older kids and younger kids to buddy up for activities or projects," she said.

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Construction continues at Lourdes Academy in Oshkosh.

Younger students are especially excited because the project will add a playground and grassy area, which the current building lacks, Geffers said.

Dinegan said this idea was in the works at Lourdes in various forms for probably decades, but the Diocese's recent campaign and support from local parishes, like Most Blessed Sacrament, St. Raphael the Archangel and St. Jude the Apostle, helped raise the $10 million for the project.

"Its been a really collective effort," Dinegan said. "We wouldnt be here today without that."

The system will add a new high school wing on the northeast side of its campus at Witzel Avenue and North Sawyer Street and an expansion on the northwest side, including office space, a new cafeteria and worship space. Additionally, some of the current building is under renovation.

Since construction got underway, Dinegan said parents have been very excited, especially after they've heard for many years about possible plans for expansion.

Geffers said the system has given regular updates on the construction's progress, and elementary school teachers got a tour of their new classroom and office spaces and provided input on the design.

Despite some disruptions because of the ongoing construction, families have been really good at adjusting, she said. The expansion plans also created more interest in Lourdes from people in the community.

"With anything new, outside families are excited about the different opportunities and expansion," Geffers said. "I think in general we will see more of an uptick because it's something new we can provide."

Contact Bremen Keasey at 920-570-5614 or bkeasey@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Keasinho.

This article originally appeared on Oshkosh Northwestern: Oshkosh's Lourdes Academy aims to finish school expansion by fall 2022
Mar. 21Maine's two U.S. senators returned from their weekend trip to Germany and Poland on Sunday, bringing with them a firsthand perspective on how Russia's invasion of Ukraine has impacted the citizens of that country as well as America's allies on NATO's eastern flank.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins and independent Sen. Angus King both said the sight of refugees driven from their homes by a savage Russian assault was disheartening, but that the response by humanitarian relief organizations from across the world to help the victims of Russian President Vladimir Putin's unprovoked attack was uplifting.

According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, a total of 10 million Ukrainians have been forced to flee their homes, including 3.4 million refugees, since Putin's forces launched an attack last month on what had been a sovereign, peaceful nation. The invasion has sparked outrage around the world and brought accusations that Putin is committing war crimes against civilians.

Collins and King departed Thursday night with a bipartisan group of U.S. senators to get a close look at what is happening on the ground. They arrived in Germany in Friday, visited the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, and then headed to the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division in Poland, where they met with soldiers, including a few Mainers. They also spent time visiting with refugees who were being housed at a camp in Poland near the Ukrainian border.

Joining King and Collins were Republican Sens. Joni Ernst of Iowa, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, John Cornyn of Texas, Steve Daines of Montana, Roger Marshall and Jerry Moran of Kansas, and Democratic Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Jacky Rosen of Nevada.

"This strong, bipartisan delegation proves the Senate stands united in its support for Ukraine," the senators said in a joint statement before leaving on Thursday. "During our time in Poland and Germany, we will have the opportunity to gain greater insight on the U.S. and NATO response through engagements with top military leaders."

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The delegation flew back to the United States on Sunday evening and is expected to hold a press conference in Washington on Monday. But Collins and King shared their experiences on social media, posting videos and statements on Facebook and Twitter.

King appeared in a two-minute-long video on Twitter. He can be seen standing outside a refugee center about 3 miles from Poland's border with Ukraine. He said most of the refugees were women and children, who came to the center from all parts of Ukraine. The refugees are being allowed to stay there for a couple of days before boarding buses to take them to new homes in countries such as Italy, Spain and Germany.

"People are getting on buses and their lives are being changed," King said. "It's an extraordinary moment and a very emotional one. Very powerful scene."

King reiterated what the United Nations reported Sunday, noting that 10 million Ukrainians have been displaced by what he called a "terrible, inexcusable, unnecessary war."

King said he met with military officials as well as representatives of relief organizations that had come from all over the world to help Ukrainians displaced by the war.

"It's an amazing experience to be in the midst of so much anxiety and suffering. You can see it on people's faces, but at the same time it is uplifting to see the way people have come together to serve their brothers and sisters from Ukraine," King said.

Collins posted an account of her experiences on her Facebook page. In a video recorded at the same refugee camp King spoke from, Collins described her encounter with a woman named Katarina, who fled Ukraine with her two children, ages 8 and 6. Her husband remained in Ukraine to fight the Russians. The family was heading to a new home in Wales.

"She kept saying over and over again, 'I really want to go home. I want peace. I want safety for my children,' and that is all she is seeking," Collins said.

Collins said the humanitarian relief effort has been impressive. She said she met with several representatives of nongovernmental organizations from countries such as Canada, Finland and New Zealand, all committed to providing aid to displaced Ukrainians.

"This trip has been so educational, but so poignant, as we talk to these people who have done nothing wrong," Collins stated in the video. "This is just a case of Russian aggression, unprovoked, and all these families from Ukraine want is to live in peace."
Don Gillingham, left, is joined by 45-year friend Paul Grotelushaen, Sunday, March 20, 2022, at Resurrection Lutheran Church in Rockford where a special service was held in honor of Gillingham's four-decade career in Lutheran education.

ROCKFORD  Growing the Lutheran Church, education and solar. If anyone can unite all three endeavors into a meaningful career it's Don Gillingham.

Without divulging the name of his possible future employer or his exact role, the much-respected educator said, "I think I'm going to find a way to be involved in all three. It's almost ready."

Gillingham, who recently retired from a 45-year career in Lutheran education, has been looking at what is happening at home and abroad.

He said the ongoing war between oil-rich Russia and Ukraine is evidence that the United States, if not the world, needs to rely more on renewable energy.

More: Newly retired teacher, school administrator: 'This walk called life is just beginning'

"I think it's a big part of our education and a big part of our stewardship responsibility that we stop burning all this fuel, and we see that now more than ever," he said. "You look at the dependence that we built on this thing that is slowly killing us. It's an addiction. It's bad."

Solar was a pet project of his during his 11 years as executive director of Rockford Lutheran School. Gillingham said. The installation of solar did not come to pass in part because of funding and being a non-for-profit.

"But I think there's a capacity and a willingness in the northern Illinois region for a real strong network of solar users and providers," he said.

Gillingham plans to write more to share his thoughts on education and "promoting the cause of the long-term benefits of going to renewable energy."

His immediate plans include going to Springfield to meet with legislators to lobby for the private school tuition tax credit program.

A special worship service was held Sunday, March 20, 2022, at Resurrection Lutheran Church in honor of Don Gillingham's 45 years in Lutheran education.

More than 100 people gathered Sunday at Resurrection Lutheran Church to celebrate Gillingham's 45 years in Lutheran education.

Chris Green: 815-397-6412, cgreen@rrstar.com or @chrisfgreen

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Retired Rockford education leader hints to future in solar energy
Sophia Sauer and Thalis Kalapothakos of Richmond served as pages with State Rep. Brad Barrett during the 2022 legislative session.

INDIANAPOLIS  Local legislators welcomed students to the Indiana Statehouse as pages during the recently concluded 2022 legislative session.

Three Wayne County residents assisted State Reps. Brad Barrett and Tom Saunders in the Indiana House of Representatives, while students from Randolph and Ripley counties helped State Sen. Jeff Raatz in the Indiana Senate, according to news releases.

Thalis Kalapothakos and Sophia Sauer, who both attend Richmond High School, and Jayden Cornett, who attends Centerville Senior High School, served in the House. The students toured Statehouse offices of all government branches, helped with daily staff responsibilities and joined legislators on the House floor to witness the legislative process, according to Barrett.

Jayden Cornett of Centerville Senior High School served as a page with State Rep. Tom Saunders during the 2022 legislative session.

"Paging is an immersive program for young Hoosiers to get involved in state government," said Barrett, a Richmond Republican who represents District 56. "These students from Wayne County learned a lot during their visit, and I hope others can take a trip to the Statehouse next year during the legislative session. It's a rewarding experience for both students and members."

Students between the ages of 13 and 18 are eligible to serve as House pages during the 2023 session. Interested students should call 1-800-382-9841 or email Barrett at H56@iga.in.gov or Saunders at H54@iga.in.gov.

"Learning about the legislative process firsthand is a unique educational opportunity that's beneficial to all students," said Saunders, a Lewisville Republican who is retiring as the District 54 representative. "I always enjoy seeing local kids like Jayden take part in the page program and interact with other young Hoosiers from around the state. It's a fun way to learn and gain a better understanding of how bills become law."

Francis Baldridge of Farmland served as a page with State Sen. Jeff Raatz.

Francis Baldridge of Farmland, who attends Freedom Christian Academy, and Quinn Burdette of Sunman, who attends East Central Middle School, were pages for Raatz during February. They spent their days touring the Statehouse, observing Senate debates and interacting with Raatz, a Richmond Republican representing District 27.

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"I loved meeting Francis and Quinn and showing them how legislation is debated and voted on in the Senate," Raatz said. "The page program is a wonderful learning experience for any young Hoosier interested in state government and public service."

Students in grades six through 12 participate in the Senate page program on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays during the legislative session. Visit www.IndianaSenateRepublicans.com/page-program to learn more.

Quinn Burdette of Sunman served as a page with State Sen. Jeff Raatz.

This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: Students experience state legislature as House, Senate pages
Mar. 20Sunday's matinee performance at the Pit was, above all, entertaining.

The University of New Mexico women's basketball team led its fans through a wild, nail-biting fourth quarter that positively defied prediction until the final five seconds.

When the WNIT second-round show finally ended, the Lobos had pulled out a 73-69 victory over San Diego and earned a berth in this week's Sweet 16. Sixteen was recurring theme as Shaiquel McGruder, LaTascya Duff and Antonia Anderson scored 16 points apiece for UNM (26-9). McGruder also had 14 rebounds and five steals.

UNM will next face Oregon State, a 74-56 winner over Portland on Sunday. That game will be Thursday at 8 p.m. in Corvallis, Oregon.

But Sunday's raucous announced crowd of 3,055 may need a little time to digest the final act of UNM's latest cliffhanger. Consider:

New Mexico took its largest lead, 65-48, on an Anderson layup with 4:52 remaining. A happy ending for the Lobos seemed all but assured.

San Diego (17-15) followed with a stunning 17-0 run to tie the score on two Erica Martinsen free throws with 1:10 left. The Toreros suddenly had all the momentum and appeared poised to complete an epic comeback  which looked more like an epic meltdown to Lobos fans.

"It got a little closer than we wanted it to," UNM coach Mike Bradbury offered by way of a postgame understatement.

Bradbury was able to shake off the squandered lead because over the final 1:10, the Lobos did nearly everything right. Duff buried a crucial 3-pointer to put her team back in front, McGruder converted a driving layup after a timeout, UNM forced a key turnover with 22 seconds left and the Lobos lived to perform another day.

"That's what I'm most proud of," Bradbury said. "We easily could've folded the tent, but that's not us. Tay (Duff) hit a huge shot, and in that last minute or so we executed every single play."

Jaedyn De La Cerda, who contributed 14 points, six assists and two steals, shared her coach's assessment.

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"The most important thing for us was to stay together and not lose our composure," De La Cerda said.

Asked if the Lobos weren't at least a little rattled by San Diego's 17-0 surge, De La Cerda nodded.

"Yeah, it was nerve-racking," she said, "but you can't start thinking a lot about what the other team's doing. We had to just focus on our last few possessions and make sure we executed them."

Supporting cast members also came up big for UNM when the plot wasn't looking especially promising. The tall, physical Toreros led 14-12 after a quarter and stretched it to 25-19 on three Kiera Oakry free throws with 4:01 left in the second quarter. Oakry finished with 17 points to pace USD.

At the time, Anderson and point guard LaTora Duff were on the bench with foul trouble  another recurring theme for the Lobos  but reserves Aniyah Augmon and Kath van Bennekom rose to the occasion. Augmon contributed two points, four rebounds and a pair of steals in 20 solid minutes, while van Bennekom scored six points.

UNM finished the second quarter on an 11-2 run to grab a 30-27 lead.

"Without Aniyah and Kath, we don't win that game," Bradbury said.

The Lobos, who tied a program record with their 26th win of the season, controlled the third quarter behind Anderson's 11 points. All of her 16 points were scored after halftime.

Still, the outcome came down to the final 70 seconds, and LaTascya Duff's go-ahead 3-pointer was as big a shot as any. With UNM leading 70-67, Bradbury also switched to a zone defense for the first time out of a timeout. It appeared to confuse the Toreros, who turned the ball over with 22 seconds left and never had another opportunity to tie.

WNIT bracket
Wales manager Robert Page has lavished praise on wonderful Brennan Johnson ahead of his sides World Cup play-off against Austria.

Nottingham Forests Johnson has emerged as one of the Sky Bet Championships most exciting prospects with 11 goals and six assists this season, while he also starred and scored against FA Cup holders Leicester in February.

Forest have surged from rock bottom to play-off contenders since Steve Coopers appointment six months ago, and the 20-year-olds form saw him the subject of a reported 18million bid from Premier League club Brentford in January.

Brennan Johnson celebrates scoring against FA Cup holders Leicester in Nottingham Forests 4-1 fourth-round victory over the Foxes (Tim Goode/PA)

But Johnson, whose father David played for Forest after starting his career at Manchester United, chose to stay at a club whose academy he joined at the age of eight.

Brennan could potentially have had a move in January, Page said of the winger who enhanced his reputation again on Sunday when Forest were beaten 1-0 by Liverpool in their FA Cup quarter-final.

But he decided to stay because hes at a club where he was going to play and enjoy his football.

That speaks volumes about him. He didnt go chasing the money.

Wales manager Robert Page has praised Brennan Johnson for his attitude towards football (David Davies/PA)

Hes almost the finished article now and Forest have got a wonderful player on their hands.

Ive been to watch him a few times and hes playing with freedom. Hes really enjoying his football.

Johnson shone on loan at Lincoln in League One last season, with no other teenager in English football beating his 13 goal-mark.

Having represented England at age-grade level, Johnson  whose mothers family hail from Rhayader in Powys  switched international allegiance and was capped by Wales Under-19s and Under-21s.

It was derby day delight for @NFFC and Brennan Johnson  And now after a game to remember, as voted for by you, Brennan Johnson is the @emirates Player of the Fourth Round!#EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/itEC3am5dF  Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup) February 8, 2022

Johnson won his first senior cap against the United States in November 2020 but missed out on Wales Euro 2020 squad last summer.

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He made his first start in Septembers goalless friendly against Finland, winning a first-half penalty which Harry Wilson had saved, and was used off the bench as Wales secured a World Cup play-off spot in November.

Page has plenty of attacking options for Thursdays play-off semi-final against Austria in Cardiff with skipper Gareth Bale, Daniel James, Wilson and Johnson all in the mix for starting spots.

But Page said: What pleases me with Brennan is hes gone out and done the hard yards.

Brennan Johnson (second right) surrounded by Mexico defenders during Wales 1-0 friendly victory at Cardiff in March 2021 (David Davies/PA)

He went out to a lower league club and played competitive football from an early age.

Even up until 12 or 18 months ago there were questions on him and whether he could go all the way.

There was a question about his discipline without the ball, so they played him as a central midfielder to make sure he tracked players.

Hes proved those doubters wrong. The way hes playing is a credit to him, his dad  who is his agent  and how Forest have developed him.
It Happened Here is a weekly history column by Yakima Herald-Republic reporter Donald W. Meyers. Reach him at dmeyers@yakimaherald.com. Sources for this weeks column include Yakima Fire Capt. Jeff Pfaff, Tori Dede, the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and the archives of the Yakima Herald-Republic.
RTHK: Taliban gives clear sign on girls returning to school

Schools for all students will open this week, Afghanistan's Taliban-run Education Ministry announced on Monday in the clearest sign yet that girls will be allowed back in school.

Girls have been denied education beyond Grade 6 since the Taliban swept back into power last August.

Earlier this year, the countrys new rulers opened up universities for women, although classes are segregated by gender. They also promised girls would be allowed to return to classes in all grades following the Afghan new year, which was being celebrated on Monday.

The statement said classes will start on Wednesday. It does not refer specifically to girls but says: The education ministry assures the nation it is committed to the right to education of all its citizens.

The statement adds that the ministry is also working hard to eliminate all kinds of discrimination, without elaborating. It urges all Afghans to send their children to schools or madrassas  religious educational facilities.

The Taliban rulers have not imposed restrictions on the types of courses that women attending university can take. But music, which had previously been taught, is no longer available.

While the Taliban have not banned music and musicians have occasionally appeared on local TV, music is frowned upon by the hard-line religion-driven rulers.

When they last ruled, music was banned, girls were denied education and women were not allowed to work and were required to wear the all encompassing burqa. The Taliban were ousted in 2001 by a US-led coalition.

The Taliban have not re-imposed the burqa, although women are required to wear a hijab, which can be any covering  including a large shawl  provided the head is covered.

The new rulers have also allowed women back to work in the health and education ministries and at Kabul's international airport, in passport control and customs. They have also returned to work in the private sector and for non-governmental aid organisations. (AP)

This story has been published on: 2022-03-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Press Release

March 21, 2022 De Lima lauds Robredo's performance at COMELEC debate:

"She's a cut above the rest" Re-electionist Senator Leila M. de Lima lauded the performance of Presidential aspirant and Vice President Leni Robredo on the PiliPinas Presidential Debate by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) held last March 19. De Lima, who is running under the Pangilinan-Robredo ticket, described Robredo's answers during the debate as "a masterclass of data-backed, concrete and grassroots-grounded approaches to policy plans and solutions to national issues." "VP Leni's commitment to be present and diligence to prepare for debates, the latest being that hosted by COMELEC, is exactly why she should be President. "She was early at the COMELEC debate, she came prepared, and she exuded grace before a nation looking for answers to our country's problems," she said. "VP Leni's automatic and consistent unleashing of solid data and figures was a topnotch demonstration that she is a cut above the rest," she added. During the debate, Robredo notably stood out among her male rivals as she crafted detailed policies rooted in science and data. "We share many proposals to help our country move forward, including giving better pay to teachers and lessening their administrative burdens, and greater attention to MSMEs as a key sector in our country's economic recovery," De Lima shared. Robredo also delivered a powerful closing statement, saying how Filipinos should "not look for someone who does not want to face us" because the president that the public needs "is someone who rushes to be with you when you're suffering, who is ready to sacrifice to help you, who ready to face anyone to fight for you." Agreeing with Robredo, De Lima said that if you can't disturb the others to face the debate as a candidate, how can you rely on them in times of need of our countrymen. "Kaya huwag na natin hanapin ang wala, hindi maaasahan, at ayaw magpakita!" With Robredo's sterling track record, De Lima agreed to the former's closing remarks during the debate that "the best man for the job is a woman." "Si VP Leni, eleksyon man o hindi, subok na ang kaniyang puso sa paglilingkod. Lagi siyang nandiyan para sa ating kababayan," the Senator said.
Missing Indigenous people in Yakima County and on the Yakama Reservation

The Washington State Patrol has a Missing Indigenous Persons section within its Missing and Unidentified Persons Unit. For more information, visit www.wsp.wa.gov/crime/alerts-missing-persons/missing-indigenous-persons/, email mupu@wsp.wa.gov or call 1-800-543-5678.

State Patrol has two tribal liaisons. Reach Dawn Pullin (Eastern Washington) at 360-890-0150 or Dawn.Pullin@wsp.wa.gov. Contact Patti Gosch (Western Washington) at 360-280-0567 or Patti.Gosch@wsp.wa.gov.

At least once a month, State Patrol publishes an updated list of active missing Indigenous person cases on its website. This list is updated as of March 1.

Anyone with information about any of these cases should call the reporting agency. People may provide information anonymously by calling Yakima County Crime Stoppers at 800-248-9980. Tips can be submitted online at www.crimestoppersyakco.org.

The FBI has jurisdiction to investigate all serious crimes involving Native Americans on tribal lands. Call the FBI at 206-622-0460 or submit tips online at https://tips.fbi.gov.

Toppenish Police Department, 509-865-4355

Roberta Jean Raines (also spelled Ranes), missing since April 14, 2002. She would be 40 today. Case number 17P2008.

Yakama Nation Police Department, 509-865-2933

Eric Cloud-Washington, missing since Nov. 22. He is 15. Case number 21-007231.

Elias Chief Culps, missing since Oct. 29, 2018. He would be 28. Case number 19-009167.

Adam Cavall George, missing since July 22, 2019. He would be 42 today. Case number 19-007228.

Clayton George Gibson Jr., missing since June 25. He is 18. Case number 20-004012.

Talan Goggles Obendorf, missing since Feb. 16. Talan is 15. Case number 22-000984.

Michael Eric Hansen, missing since Nov. 4, 2007. He would be 59. Case number 0357790.

Ira Earl Kahclamat, missing since Aug. 4. He is 17. Case number 21-004893.

Rosalita F. Longee, missing since Sept. 18, 2015. She would be 25. Case number 15-006682.

Shylynn Lucei-Cloud, missing since Feb. 13. She is 15. Case number 22-000956.

Justin Lee McConville, missing since Jan. 11, 2015. He would be 31. Case number 16-010019.

Alisha Montez, missing since Sept. 28. She is 16. Case number 21-006058.

Freddy Nightwalker, missing since Nov. 14. Freddy is 73. Case number 21-007532.

Nellie Owens, missing since March 15. Nellie is 12. Case number 22-001631.

Earl Nicolas Patrick, missing since March 9, 2015. He would be 40. Case number 18-003294.

Anthony Tony Colfax Peters, missing since June 1, 2014. He would be 63. Case number 15-006132.

Daniel Donnie Temartz Sampson, missing since Oct. 30, 1994. He would be 99. Case number 944028.

Roland Jack Spencer III, missing since May 25, 1984. He would be 41. Case number 405273.

Alberta Stahi, missing since Feb. 16. She is 17. Case number 22-001116.

Daisy Mae Heath (previously known as Daisy Tallman), missing since late summer 1987. She would be 64. Case number 873732.

Cynthia Umtuch, missing since Feb. 21. She is 15. Case number 22-001146.

Karen Louise Johnley Wallahee, last seen in Harrah on Nov. 7, 1987. She would be 63. Case number 87-3486.

Ira Kennedy Yallup Sr., missing since May 20, 2010. He would be 58. Case number 75515.

Yakima County Sheriffs Office, 509-574-2500

Janice Marie Hannigan, missing since after she was discharged from the hospital on Christmas Eve, 1971. She would be 66. Case number 17C00300.

Yakima Police Department, 509-575-6200

Eleanor Marie Trujillo, missing since Feb. 1, 1996. She would be 63. Case number 97-0062.

Raymond Jimmy Hinus Watlamet, missing since June 9. He is 17. Case number 21Y020533.

Gracia Wolfe, missing since March 4. Gracia is 15. Case number 22Y006657.

Klickitat County Sheriff's Office, 509-773-4455

Roland Sconawah Sam, missing since No. 20, 2013. He would be 31. Case number 13-004109.
Its an election year, which means its time for naked political ploys to woo voters. Republicans in Idaho and Texas have plumbed new depths to pander to conservative voters by trying to stop medical treatment that helps transitioning transgender minors even if parents, doctors and therapists concur with the need for those treatments.

A bill that overwhelmingly passed in the Idaho House last week is the most extreme example of similar pieces of legislation in other states. It would make it a felony for parents to consent or medical professionals to provide whats called gender-affirming care to transgender minors. It would be illegal for parents to take their children out of state with the intention of obtaining this treatment.

Its despicable that politicians would threaten medical care that has been vetted and peer-reviewed by mainstream medical organizations, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, and pretend they are acting to protect the health of young people. They ignore current medical and psychological thinking and are making families and transgender teens feel singled out for hatred. These measures might well be struck down in court, but in the meantime, they make it hard for transgender youth to receive or continue receiving the medical care they need. According to a 2017 report by the Williams Institute at UCLA, less than 1% of teenagers identify as transgender and many of those dont get medical treatment related to their sexual identity.

Such moves by Republican politicians are also hypocritical. When it comes to masks and COVID-19 vaccine mandates for kids, those politicians say those are matters for families to decide. But they seem fine with stripping parents of their right to help their children with a complicated medical decision that, unlike COVID-19, has no effect on the health or safety of others.

On a medical level, failure to get treatment early on could make it tougher for people to transition as adults.

For example, puberty blockers are often given to transgender teens and preteens to delay the onset of secondary sex characteristics. With puberty blockers and hormone therapy, a transgender male might not develop breasts and not feel the need for a mastectomy later in life.

Although the evidence so far is that gender-affirming treatments appear generally safe and, in the case of puberty blockers, reversible, there also can be long-term health effects. According to the Mayo Clinic, that can include slower bone growth and lower bone density as well as future infertility issues. But we also know some of the effects of not receiving proper care: Transgender teens have dramatically higher rates of suicide attempts and self-injury, according to papers by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Use of puberty blockers is linked to a reduced risk of suicidal thoughts.

Deciding whether to seek gender-affirming care for teens should be done in consultation with doctors and psychologists, who require certain criteria to be met before they will provide treatments for transitioning kids. The last thing parents need is politicians telling them that supporting their children is wrong or threatening to take their kids away.

Yet thats the approach Texas officials are taking. State Attorney General Ken Paxton issued an opinion in February that says gender-affirming treatments and surgical procedures for transgender children could be considered a form of child abuse; Gov. Greg Abbott quickly followed up by directing social workers to investigate parents who helped their transgender children receive gender-affirming treatments and even encouraging neighbors to spy on one another.

A Texas judge issued a temporary injunction Friday blocking investigations into families who obtain care for their children. But the effects of these outrageous investigations are already being felt; Texas Childrens Hospital, the largest childrens hospital in the nation, has decided to pause all gender-affirming treatment for minors.

A federal judge also temporarily halted an Arkansas law last year that banned treatments for transgender minors; that ruling is being appealed But more antitransgender laws are already in the works.

Bills with various restrictions are pending in other states including Alabama and Louisiana. All of them are discriminatory and seek to insert law into a decision that should be left to families and doctors.

Singling out a vulnerable group  and attempting to restrict its members movements out of state, as Idaho would, or encouraging McCarthy-era spying and tattling on neighbors, as Texas governor wants  is a contemptible way to score points with voters. Even if all of these efforts eventually lose in court, it could still take years to resolve and still do untold damage to todays transgender teenagers and their families.
Mothers are special. They give us life. They nurture us. And, they shape the way we think an
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According to two new polls, the Ukraine war has not significantly changed party preferences in Hungary, despite the diametrically opposed attitudes of voters to government handling of the war.

According to a recent survey published by the IDEA pollster company, Fidesz increased its lead to 7 per cent points among decided voters. In a separate poll, the Publicus Institute analysed attitudes towards the Ukraine war. 91 per cent of opposition voters and 44 per cent of Fidesz voters considered the war an aggression by Russia.



24 per cent of government voters and 6 per cent of opposition voters said Russia is acting in self-defence. 81 per cent of Fidesz sympathizers were satisfied with the governments stance on the Ukraine war, while 90 per cent of opposition voters expect more unequivocal criticism of the aggression. The poll found that the war did not have a significant impact on voters preferences.



Magyar Nemzets David Megyeri calls the opposition a rainbow coalition representing foreign interests and goes so far as to accuse it of trying to push Hungary into war in order to win the election.



The pro-government commentator finds it reassuring that voters stand behind the governments strategic calm and want to keep Hungary out of the conflict, while helping refugees from Ukraine.



In an interview with 168 Ora, Ervin Csizmadia, director of the liberal Centre for Fair Political Analysis interprets the increasing lead of Fidesz in the polls as an expression of Hungarian voters need for strong leadership.



Csizmadia contends that voters are less concerned about what their leaders do as long as they show strength and determination. Csizmadia believes that this explains why PM Orbans earlier close ties to Russia and President Putin appear not to have dented his popularity.



In Magyar Demokrata, Erik Toth, analyst of the pro-government think tank Centre for Fundamental Rights suggests that by uniting in one alliance, the opposition parties failed to boost their chances to defeat Fidesz in the April election.



Toth also finds the policy ideas put forward by the opposition controversial and unpopular. He lambasts the opposition for suggesting that Hungary should help Ukraine by sending arms there.



Toth sees such suggestions as irresponsible and agrees with the government that Hungary should stay out of the conflict, while the oppositions strategy could make Hungary part of the war.



In a first page editorial, Magyar Narancs accuses Prime Minister Orban of blaming the victim in the Ukraine war by promoting a balancing strategy over the war in Ukraine, in stark contrast with mainstream European and US attitudes.



Magyar Narancs also reproaches the PM for his absence from the highly symbolic trip by train of the Prime Ministers of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia to Kyiv, to discuss with Ukrainian President Zelensky how they could actively support Ukraine.



The editors contend that Prime Minister Orbans Ukraine strategy will further isolate Hungary and compromise its security.



In Elet es Irodalom, Janos Szeky finds what he calls the Hungarian governments balancing strategy nauseating. The liberal writer also accuses the government of blaming the victim and relativizing the responsibility of Russia in the Ukraine war.



Commenting on the visit paid by the three Central European Prime Ministers to Kyiv, Szeky writes that Hungary can no longer be considered part of Central Europe. In an aside, Szeky even wonders if President Putin informed PM Orban about his plans to invade Ukraine in their last meeting in early February.



This opinion does not necessarily represent the views of XpatLoop.com or the publisher.

Your opinions are welcome too - for editorial review before possible publication online.

Click here to Share Your Story
Hungary will soon make another shipment of humanitarian aid to Ukraine, this time sending medical equipment, government spokesperson Alexandra Szentkiralyi said in a video message posted on Facebook on Saturday.

Szentkiralyi said the shipment would include clamps, scissors, instrument trays, infusion sets, bandages, surgical gloves and medicines.



The medical supplies are already being collected from state stockpiles and will be shipped in days, she added.



Szentkiralyi noted that Hungary has already delivered 200 ventilators, 250 patient monitors, 25 central monitors, 100 infusion pumps and blood bags to Ukraine since the outbreak of the war.



The government is firm on its stand that Hungary must stay out of the war in Ukraine, but it remains ready to offer humanitarian aid, she said.



She added that the government is ensuring healthcare for all refugees from Ukraine, while those who decide to stay in the country for a longer period are eligible for the same level of care as Hungarian citizens.
Nearly a month after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the government will set up a transit zone for refugees in Budapest on March 21, the Prime Ministers Office said on Friday.

According to the statement, the government is preparing to deal with a larger wave of refugees, so it was decided to open a large waiting area near Keleti train station.







Telex adds that support and assistance for refugees in Budapest, such as help, transport, food and accommodation, has been mainly provided by civil society, while government activities have so far concentrated on the Ukrainian border area.







The waiting zone will be heated, with interpretation services, facilities for mothers and children, medical care, internet access, phone charging, an international train ticket office and shuttles to the airport and other train stations.







Immigration services will also be available, as well as donations of food and drink, toiletries and diapers.







Budapest officials told Telex that the city is deeply concerned about the reception of refugees from Monday, without volunteers, and how the new model will be able to meet the needs of the situation.



As refugees continue to flow into Budapest on a daily basis, Budapest police report that 1,770 people, including 548 children fleeing war in Ukraine arrived in Budapest by train on Saturday.







As is usual, most travelled onwards, to points further west.



Hungary Ensures Schooling for Ukraine Children



The Hungarian government offers schooling to minors fleeing from Ukraine to Hungary, the human resources ministry said.



Tens of thousands of children have arrived in Hungary since the war broke out in Ukraine, and families applying for asylum in the country can send their children to local kindergartens and schools.



To help children learn Hungarian and integrate, schools will offer extra classes in the afternoons, while schools will receive an extra 130,000 forints (EUR 350) per child a month.



Secondary school students will have an opportunity to take their final exams in Hungary, the ministry added.



MTI Photo: Zoltan Balogh
YORK  Seven of the 12 candidates running for the office of Governor of Nebraska participated in a forum Sunday, held at the Holthus Convention Center, before about 200 attendees.

The event was hosted by several organizations, including Moms for Liberty, Nebraskans for Founders Values, Convention of States  Nebraska, Nebraska Shooters and Sowers of Liberty.

The candidates in attendance were Republican Michael Connely, Republican Lela McNinch, Republican Theresa Thibodeau, Republican Troy Wentz, Republican Charles Herbster, Republican Breland Ridenour and Libertarian Scott Zimmerman.

Not in attendance were Democrat Carol Blood, Republican Donna Carpenter, Democrat Roy Harris, Republican Brett Lindstrom and Republican Jim Pillen. All the others were also invited, as this was intended to be an all-inclusive forum regardless of party affiliation.

The event was moderated by Susan Littlefield of Nebraska Rural Radio. The questions were asked by members of the hosting organizations.

With the candidates being given time to introduce themselves and have three minutes to respond to questions, the gubernatorial forum itself lasted about 3  hours.

Prior to the gubernatorial forum, a movie called Mind Polluters was shown, and there was a presentation titled as a Christian Heritage Constitutional Lecture. Following the gubernatorial forum, there were forums for candidates running for the offices of Nebraska Secretary of State and Nebraska Attorney General.

Connely told the crowd, Ill introduce myself as the scary old Marine Corps Sgt., whos not politically correct. He said his agenda was about following the constitution to the letter and if elected, on my first day, I will say to the legislature that if you have a secret vote (at the start of the legislative session) I will have you arrested. Connely described his life experiences as working in many different fields and himself as a staunch Republican.

McNinch began her self-introduction in the spirit of trust and transparency with disclosing Connely is her brother, but we come to you as different people. She explained how she grew up in York, graduated from York College, got her degree from the University of Kearney and then entered the profession of corrections, working a number of years at the Nebraska Correctional Center for Women. She continued working in corrections and eventually in the education sector.

Thibodeau, who is a sitting member of the Nebraska Legislature, talked about her history of working in the arena of human resources, first for Werner Enterprises and later as a consultant for multiple companies. In 2014, she started an early learning center and in 2017 was appointed to the legislature. She said as a mother, she is very concerned about whats happening in our schools, as well as having concerns about high taxes being paid by small businesses.

Wentz described how he is a farmer, as well as a jack of all trades. He said he wants to change our property tax formula so its a size system rather than being based on fair market value as it is right now.

Herbster told the crowd, America is in trouble because we lost our moral compass. He applauded the efforts of the host groups and said he would be a champion for Nebraska and a worker toward remedying their concerns.

Ridenour talked about his background working in the technology field. I bring a background of being a leader and my principles are based on the word of God and the Constitution. I am also running because Im tired of seeing government officials who lack honesty and common sense and forget it is the people who run this state and this country. Politics is all about working with people. I will continue to fight for your rights and liberties.

Im the Libertarian candidate, Zimmerman told the group. Im just a regular dude. I got frustrated and thought Id stop complaining and do something. Im a full-time teacher and will continue to travel across Nebraska, to listen to the people. The governor has a responsibility to listen to the people. The partys over, its time to do the work.

The issue of Critical Race Theory in Nebraska schools was addressed with all the candidates saying they were against such curriculum.

McNinch said she found a better solution in identifying the greatest of all people, regardless of gender, race, etc. Lets celebrate the greatness of everyone. We need to embrace our differences and lift each other up.

Thibodeau pointed out that Nebraska already has an approved American Exceptionalism curriculum that is not being taught and there need to be creative ways to make sure divisive curriculum cannot happen in our schools. As governor, I plan to listen to everyone.

A lot of people do not like CRT and dont want it in the schools, said Wentz.

Going forward, whoever gets elected as governor, their job is to lead the state and fight against federal overreach because its coming like a tsunami, Herbster responded. In Nebraska, as in every other state, we need to get creative and look at if we even need a state board of education. We need to teach our kids (about the constitution) or we will lose our country and out states. We need someone with a backbone of steel, someone like Donald J. Trump, who will fight like hell to protect our state, our rights, and our constitution. I will do that.

We do have to work with our state board of education and we cant just write that board off as much as Id like to, Ridenour said. I would work with them in an effort to work with our local school boards. We have to work together. America was founded on God and we need to bring prayer back into our classrooms and have the Pledge of Allegiance said every day. We need leadership. We must have a governor who speaks out and be unapologetic.

CRT is a hot issue, said Zimmerman. Weve all talked about how out of control our over-dependence is on our federal government. Let the parents decide what and when their kids learn. We have watched the standardization of education. It is time for Nebraska parents to take control and we have to remove politics from education.

We already have laws on the books that are not being enforced and we need the feds out of our schools, Connely said. We need to bring these decisions back to the local level. Regarding CRT, the first time I saw it was in a 1940s Nazi propaganda magazine  they want to control us all.

The candidates were asked to simply answer yes or no regarding whether or not they would take money from the Nebraska Teachers Union for their campaigns. All of them said no.

The candidates were also asked about the many issues facing the ag industry in Nebraska  including President Bidens 30x30 initiative, supply chain shortages, higher farming costs and property taxes. Whats the number one issue facing producers in the state?

Being a farmer, property tax is the worst thing, Wentz said. Thats my number one thing. High property tax is killing us.

Property tax reform is in my top three (priorities), Herbster said. This issue can be fixed and we have to encourage people to come here and stay here. Why in the world dont we let students from surrounding states come here and get in-state tuition? We have to do things to draw people here. Im big time in support of community colleges and teaching our kids trades. China is coming after our ag and food technology and we have to do something where China and our adversaries cant buy one more acre of land period.

Property tax is a big issue, Ridenour said. The 30x30 situation is ludicrous. The federal government wants to control the people and their food sources. We know thats what is happening and it needs to stop.

Regarding 30x30, if Im governor, I will shut it down and it will be gone. This federal overreach is a problem. We need to put the power back into the hands of the states, Zimmerman said. And yes, property tax is an issue. I also want to see a reduction in spending. Nebraska has some of the most beautiful land in this country. We have an amazing state and amazing people and we have to take back our control.

The number one issue is property tax, so stop spending so much, Connely said. And our obnoxious inheritance tax needs to be gone immediately. I think we need it in our constitution that foreign investors cannot buy up our farm ground. And as far as 30x30, when I was in school we were warned about the pending Ice Age. And I think any case of eminent domain has to be approved by the legislature.

We need to use our land for agriculture, for production and livestock, McNinch said. We need to use our water for irrigation. And we need to be careful not to accept 30x30. We need to encourage more farmer cooperatives with beef production and processing and we need to lift restrictions on some crops like hemp.

A big threat is federal government overreach, Thibodeau said. 30x30 threatens the backbone of our state. I was proud that the resistance to Bidens 30x30 started here in Nebraska. The farmers and ranchers are responsible for a great percentage of our economy and then they get hit by big property tax bills  it is very important to focus on property tax.

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A special drive against vehicles illegally using MP, MLA police and press stickers was launched by Hyderabad police on March 20. As per sources, the drive was also against the four-wheelers with tinted glasses and irregular number plates.

Teams of traffic police personnel were seen checking vehicles at several key traffic intersections in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad.

The drive was launched three days after a SUV with MLA sticker knocked down a group of street vendors, killing a two-year-old child and injuring four others, in Jubilee Hills.

Also read: Tata Motors model wise sales in February 2022  Punch, Nexon and more

The SUV belonged to the cousin of TRS MLA from Bodhan Amir Shakil. Syed Adnan Ahmed, who was driving the vehicle, was later arrested. He was accompanied by MLA`s son Rahil and another youth Maaz.

After the incident, police were keeping a tight vigil on vehicles moving in the city with stickers of MP, MLA, corporator, police, and press. Police said vehicles with stickers on number plates would attract action as per Motor Vehicle Rules.

Police found during the checking that the vehicles with stickers of MP, and MLA are being used though the public representatives were not travelling. In one such instance, an MLA sticker was removed from a car. The sticker was issued to a MLA in neighboring Andhra Pradesh.

Also read: CISF to install body scanners at THESE six major airports soon

Concerned over the growing number of accidents in and around the city, the police have also launched a special drive against tinted glass and irregular number plates. Joint Commissioner of Police, Traffic, A. Venkata Ranganath said action will be taken against vehicle owners using tinted glass as per the orders of the Supreme Court.

Nobody will be allowed to use the black film on car glasses. He made clear that no exemption will be granted to anybody except those falling under 'Z' and 'Z plus' security categories.

Meanwhile, senior IPS officer and Director General of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Anjani Kumar has appealed to citizens to ensure a better culture of safe road usage.

"Road safety is most important as more than 40 lakh people travel every day in Hyderabad and surroundings. It is the responsibility of every citizen to ensure a better culture of safe road usage. Together we all can make Telangana a better and happier place," he tweeted.

(With inputs from IANS)

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Qatar Airways Flight QR579 from Delhi to Doha has made an emergency landing in Karachi, Pakistan. The flight was diverted to Pakistan after smoke was detected in the cargo bay of the plane. Qatar Airways was operating an Airbus A350 on the route.

According to data on flight tracking website Flighaware, QR579 flew from Delhi at its scheduled departure time of 3.50 AM and landed in Karachi at 5.45 AM, 1.15 hours after the departure. The flight was supposed to land at Doha International Airport at 7.15 AM.

"Qatar Airways flight QR579 from Delhi to Doha on 21 March diverted to Karachi having declared an emergency due to the indication of smoke detected in the cargo hold. The aircraft landed safely at Karachi where it was met by emergency services and passengers disembarked orderly via stairs," said Qatar Airways.

Also read: How flight tracking websites know the plane's location?

"The incident is currently under investigation and a relief flight is being arranged to transport passengers onwards to Doha. We apologise for the inconvenience to our passengers who will be assisted with their onward travel plans, they further added.

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On March 21, a Boeing 737 plane carrying 132 passengers crashed in China's Guangxi province. This is the first major accident reported in China after 2010 when 44 of 96 people were killed on board an Embraer E-190 regional jet flown by Henan Airlines.

However, it was in 1994 that China reported its worst-ever flight crash, killing all 160 passengers on board. The flight was operated by the China Northwest Airlines and involved a Tupolev Tu-154 flying from Xian to Guangzhou, ranking as China's worst-ever air disaster, according to Aviation Safety Network.

The flights crashed as a result of an autopilot malfunction that caused violent shaking and overstressed the airframe, breaking the plane in half, killing everyone on board. The Tupolev Tu-154 crash remains the deadliest airplane crash ever in mainland China.

Also read: Boeing 737 crash dents China's impeccable air safety record

Not just 1994, in 1999, another Tupolev Ty-154 crashed operated by China Southwest Airlines bearing flight 4509 (SZ4509). The domestic flight from Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport, Sichuan to Wenzhou Yongqiang Airport, Zhejiang crashed while on approach to Wenzhou Airport, killing all 61 passengers.

Chinese authorities banned the Russian jetmaker in early 2000 after series of fatal crashes. According to the Aviation Safety Network, China's air safety record has been among the best in the world over the past decade.

The 737-800 model that crashed on Monday has a good safety record and is the predecessor to the 737 MAX model that has been grounded in China for more than three years following fatal crashes in 2018 in Indonesia and 2019 in Ethiopia.

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President and MD of Airbus India & South Asia, Remi Maillard on March 21 said that Tata Group is in talks with Airbus for a deal regarding the procurement of its wide-bodied A350XWB planes.

We are obviously in talks with all the airlines. The new owner of Air India, Tatas, are existing customers of Airbus, said Maillard when asked if the European aircraft manufacturer is in talks with Tata and other Indian carriers for the A350XWB aircraft deal.

Tatas have Vistara and AirAsia India with them, as we know. We have developed a long standing, trustful and respected relationship with the Tata Group, he stated at a press conference here.

Read also: China's biggest ever plane crash in 1994 involved a Russia-made Tupolev plane

The Tata Group currently runs four Indian carriers: Air India, Air India Express, Vistara and AirAsia India. The Centre had sold Air India and Air India Express to the Tata Group in September last year. Maillard said Tatas are Airbus's partner in the defence business too.

Wide-bodied planes like A350XWB have larger fuel tanks that allow them to travel longer distances as compared to narrow-bodied aircraft like A320NEO. A350XWB aircraft can travel above 8,000 nautical miles, with flying time of approximately 18 hours in one flight.

We are industrializing and manufacturing together our C-295 military transport aircraft for the Indian Air Force (IAF), he noted. Of course, we will be privileged to continue supporting the ambition of the Tata Group in the aviation sector across all the complete spectrum, he further added.

The wide-bodied aircraft fleet in India has remained stagnant for the last 20 years, he said. The single-aisle aircraft fleet has multiplied by a factor of six in the same time period, he noted.

We predict a 6.2 percent yearly average growth for the air traffic out of India. The world average is at 3.9 percent, Maillard noted.

Airbus is quite bullish on the long-haul international market out of India, he said. We believe the kind of revolution we have witnessed in domestic traffic in the last 20 years will now happen in the long haul market, he noted.

We believe that the new generation aircraft, the A350, will be the trigger for this revolution in the international long haul market, Maillard added.

(With inputs from PTI)

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New Delhi: Deepinder Goyal, the founder of online meal delivery service Zomato, stated in a blog on March 21 that the company wants to deliver food to consumers in a record time of 10 minutes, following in the footsteps of grocery delivery companies.

"I began to suspect that Zomato's 30-minute average delivery time is too slow and will soon become obsolete. Someone else will render it obsolete if we don't "Goyal stated.

"In the tech business, the only way to survive (and thus grow) is to innovate and lead from the front. And here we are... with Zomato Instant, our 10-minute meal delivery service "Goyal elaborated.

According to Goyal, the fulfilment of his speedy delivery guarantee is dependent on a dense network of finishing stations positioned adjacent to high-demand customer neighbourhoods.

The company will also rely heavily on dish-level demand prediction algorithms and in-station robotics to ensure that the food is sterile, fresh, and hot when the delivery partner picks it up.

Based on predictability, Zomato will display bestseller items - roughly 20-30 dishes from partner restaurants throughout its finishing stations.

It also says that the prices of the things will be decreased if the 10-minute model is followed.

"Because of the predictability of demand at the hyperlocal level, we estimate that the pricing for the client will be greatly decreased, while the absolute rupees margin/income for our restaurant partners and delivery partners will remain the same," Goyal added.

Zomato Instant, as it will be known, will begin a pilot programme with four outlets in Gurugram in April.

This move comes at a time when Zomato is making aggressive investments in food-tech and robotics firms. It made a $5 million investment in Mukunda Foods, a robotics startup that designs and manufactures smart robotic equipment to automate food preparation in restaurants, last week.

Previously, it made investments in ad-tech business Adonmo and B2B software platform UrbanPiper Technology as part of a bigger strategy to invest $1 billion in startups.

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New Delhi: The price of diesel sold to bulk users has been hiked by about Rs 25 per litre in line with a near 40 percent rise in international oil prices, leading to a frenzy of sorts by this group at retail petrol pumps.

Price of diesel sold to bulk users has been hiked to Rs 122.05 per litre in Mumbai. This compares to Rs 94.14 a litre price of the same fuel sold at petrol pumps. In Delhi, diesel costs Rs 86.67 a litre at the petrol pump, but for bulk or industrial users it is priced at about Rs 115.

How will the hike in diesel prices affect the common man?

Indian bulk diesel buyers are snapping up diesel from retail stations as pump prices are cheaper than their bulk contract prices.

The bulk users such as state bus fleets and malls and airports use diesel for generating back up electricity. Though there is hardly any bulk or industrial user of petrol, diesel is widely used in industries.

The wide difference of about Rs 25 per litre between the bulk user rate and petrol pump price has prompted bulk users to refuel at petrol pumps rather than book tankers directly from oil companies

State-run fuel retailers have not raised pump prices since November 4 despite a surge in global oil and fuel prices, although they continued to raise prices of direct sales for industrial or bulk clients in line with the terms of those contracts. Hence the increase in diesel prices sold to bulk users should not have any impact on the common man because they dont fall in the category.

Sales of gasoil, which accounts for about two-fifths of India`s overall refined fuel consumption, surged to pre-pandemic levels in the first half of March, rising by 32.8% from a month earlier. The surge in diesel sales is putting pressure on the country`s logistics and supply infrastructure, the spokesperson said, adding that Reliance is committed to meeting the demand of its retail customers and its export contracts, reported Reuters.

With Agency Inputs

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New Delhi: Oil prices jumped by more than $4 on Monday, with Brent crude climbing above $111 a barrel, as European Union nations considered joining the United States in a Russian oil embargo and after a weekend attack on Saudi oil facilities.

Brent crude futures were up $4.44, or 4.1%, at $112.37 a barrel by 1321 GMT, adding to a 1.2% rise on Friday.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose $4.05, or 3.9%, to $108.75, extending Friday`s 1.7% jump.

Prices moved higher ahead of talks this week between European Union governments and U.S. President Joe Biden in a series of summits that aims to harden the West`s response to Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

EU governments will consider whether to impose an oil embargo on Russia.

Early on Monday, Ukraine`s deputy prime minister, Iryna Vershchuk, said there was no chance the country`s forces would surrender in the besieged eastern port city of Mariupol.

With little sign of the conflict easing, the focus returned to whether the market would be able to replace Russian barrels hit by sanctions.

"Optimism is seeping away about progress in talks to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine and thats sent the price of oil on the march upwards," Susannah Streeter, senior markets analyst at UK-based asset manager Hargreaves Lansdown, said.

"With the possibility that more than a million barrels of Russian oil a day will be snubbed, given that the Netherlands and Germany combined received around a quarter of Russia`s crude and light oil exports, demand would shoot up for crude supplies from OPEC+ nations."

Over the weekend, attacks by Yemen`s Iran-aligned Houthi group caused a temporary drop in output at a Saudi Aramco refinery joint venture in Yanbu, feeding concern in a jittery oil products market, where Russia is a major supplier and global inventories are at multi-year lows.

The latest report from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia, together known as OPEC+, showed some producers are still falling short of their agreed supply quotas.

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New Delhi: Petrol and diesel prices will increase by 80 paise from tomorrow, i.e. March 22. This hike has come after 137 days. Indian Oil Corporation had informed dealers that new rates will be effective from March 22, 6:00 AM.

On Monday, March 21, 2022, petrol and diesel prices were stable across the country.

Despite a jump in global crude oil prices that exceeded the three-figure mark and reached multi-year highs earlier this month as a result of the Russia-Ukraine crisis, crucial motor gasoline prices in India have not altered in over four months.

Meanwhile, diesel prices for bulk consumers have been raised by around Rs 25 per litre following a 40% increase in worldwide oil prices due to the current Russia-Ukraine conflict. According to a PTI report, petrol pump sales increased by a fifth this month after bulk users such as bus fleet operators and malls queued up at petrol bunks to buy fuel rather than the typical practise of ordering directly from oil firms, extending retailers' losses.

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Swami Sivananda, a 125-year-old yoga guru from Kashi, on Monday received his Padma Shri award from President Ram Nath Kovind for his contribution to the field of Yoga. Swami Sivananda, known as Yog Sevak, received Padma Shri today and bowed down in front of the President and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Padma Awards, one of the highest civilian Awards of the country, are conferred in three categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri.

The Awards are given in various disciplines/ fields of activities, viz. art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, etc.

#WATCH Swami Sivananda receives Padma Shri award from President Ram Nath Kovind, for his contribution in the field of Yoga. pic.twitter.com/fMcClzmNye  ANI (@ANI) March 21, 2022

`Padma Vibhushan` is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service; `Padma Bhushan` for distinguished service of high order and `Padma Shri` for distinguished service in any field.

The awards are announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year. These awards are conferred by the President of India at ceremonial functions which are held at Rashtrapati Bhavan usually around March/ April every year.

This year the President has approved conferment of 128 Padma Awards including two duo cases (in a duo case, the Award is counted as one).The list comprises 4 Padma Vibhushan, 17 Padma Bhushan and 107 Padma Shri awards. 34 of the awardees are women and the list also includes 10 persons from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI and 13 posthumous awardees.

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New Delhi: Amid the reports of the fourth wave of Covid-19, the World Health Organization (WHO) has once again expressed concerns over the reduction in Covid-19 testing across the globe. In a press conference, WHO also listed three types of misinformation about the virus and its variant Omicron

WHO's Covid-19 Technical Lead Maria Van Kerkhove highlighted that there are huge amounts of misinformation, which is causing a lot of confusion. The WHO's Covid-19 Technical Lead pointed out three such misconceptions- the Omicron variant is mild, it is the last variant of the coronavirus and the Covid-19 pandemic is over.

We have huge amounts of misinformation that's out there. The misinformation that Omicron is mild. Misinformation that the pandemic is over. Misinformation that this is the last variant that we will have to deal with. This is really causing a lot of confusion, Kerkhove said.

ALSO READ | What is 'stealth Omicron' variant that can trigger fourth Covid-19 wave in India?

Kerkhove informed that despite a significant reduction of testing occurring worldwide, there has been an eight percent increase in Covid-19 cases detected with more than 11 million reported in the last week.

We do not see changes in severity of BA.2 compared to BA.1 at population levels. However, w/huge numbers of cases, you will see an increase in hospitalizations & that in turn has translated into increased deaths... primarily in people not vaxxed or partially vaxxed @mvankerkhove pic.twitter.com/xsOehCZQhU  Cleavon MD (@Cleavon_MD) March 19, 2022

Meanwhile, a number of experts have raised concerns that Europe faces another Covid-19 wave, with cases rising since the beginning of March in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

Kerkhove also informed that the WHOs ability to track the Omicron variant of Covid-19 is compromised because testing is reduced.

99.9 percent of sequences provided in the last 30 days are Omicron. Among those 75 percent are BA.2 and 25 percent BA.1. All of these are variants of concern. However, our ability to track Omicron is compromised because testing is reduced. You can't sequence those who you do not test! she said.

ALSO READ | Fourth wave of Covid-19: 'Omicron BA2 subvariant spreading fast as nations lift curbs'

So, we need a very strong surveillance system around the world for Covid-19. Despite all of the challenges that we are facing, we still need to maintain testing, she urged.

The official reiterated the benefit of getting vaccinated against the deadly virus. Covid-19 vaccines remain incredibly effective at preventing severe disease and death, including against Omicron, Kerkhove said.

When we look at deaths in countries around the world, the deaths are primarily occurring in people who are not vaccinated or people who have only had one dose of vaccine. So, it is absolutely critical that people receive vaccines around the world, Kerkhove added.

The WHO had recently said that the end of the Covid-19 pandemic was a long way off, citing a rise in cases in its latest weekly data.

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New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) released CBSE Class 12 Term 1 results on Saturday. The board released Class 12 Term 1 results the same way it announced Class 10 Term 1 results.

The board made the scores of theory marks of Class 12 term 1 available to the schools directly. Now it's up to the schools to combine them with the internal assessment and practical scores and make them available to the students.

In the meantime, CBSE has also opened the revaluation window for Class 12. Soon after the announcement of CBSE Class 12 Term 1 results, the board set up a dispute resolution mechanism where the concerned schools can raise objections and send feedback regarding the results.

The students need to note that there is no provision for students to raise objections directly. The last day to apply for revaluation, through their schools, on the official website, i.e., cbse.gov.in till March 31, 2022.

CBSE Class 12 Term 1 revaluation official notice

According to the official notice, "Online Dispute Redressal Mechanism for Term-I examinations is made available with immediate effect. Students can send the disputes to their school and schools can send the combined dispute to the CBSE. Online Dispute Redressal Mechanism facility will be available till 31.03.2022."

CBSE Class 12 Term 1 revaluation process

Step 1. The schools will have to visit the official website of CBSE- cbse.gov.in

Step 2. On the website, select SCHOOL REQUEST SUBMISSION FOR RESOLUTION (TERM-I EXAM RESULT-2022).'

Step 3. Fill in the required login credentials

Step 4. Enter the information and apply for CBSE Result Revaluation requests

Step 5. Download the confirmation page and take a printout of it for future reference

CBSE Class 12 Term 1 revaluation direct link

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New Delhi: BJP leader N Biren Singh on Monday took oath as the Chief Minister of Manipur for the second consecutive term after a comfortable win in the Assembly Election 2022 and laid down a clear plan of governance for his new term.

Sharing the road-map ahead for Manipur, Biren Singh said that the three-point priority agenda of his government involves the eradication of corruption, ending the drug menace and strongly addressing the issue of insurgency.

Corruption-free Manipur

My Government's first step will be to make Manipur a corruption-free state. I would work day and night to wash out corruption from the state, N Biren Singh told ANI right after his oath-taking ceremony.

End to the drug menace

My government's next step will be to wash out any kind of drug-related matter from the state as it affects the youth the most, Singh added.

Resolve insurgency

Thirdly, I will try to see that all the insurgents operating in the state are brought to the negotiating table and there are dialogues. These three will be my primary duties.

Being a border state, Manipur youth falls victim to insurgency operations and get involved in such activities. The Insurgency in Manipur is an ongoing armed conflict between India and a number of separatist rebel groups, taking place in the state.

Singh was unanimously elected as leader of the legislature party of the BJP in a meeting held on Sunday, which was attended by the party`s central observers, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and Union law and justice minister Kiren Rijiju.

Ahead of the BJP`s state legislature party meeting, Singh had visited Delhi and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

BJP retained power in the state by winning an absolute majority with 32 seats in the 60-member House in the recently concluded Assembly polls.

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New Delhi: India's apex body on immunisation NTAGI has recommended administering the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine Covishield between eight and 16 weeks after the first dose, official sources said on Sunday.

Presently, the second dose of Covishield is given between 12-16 weeks after the first dose under the National COVID-19 Vaccination Strategy.

The National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) has not yet suggested any change in the schedule of Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, whose second dose is administered 28 days after the first dose.

The recommendation for Covishield is yet to be implemented in the national COVID-19 vaccination programme.

"The latest recommendation of NTAGI is based on recent global scientific evidence derived from programmatic data," said an official source.

"According to it, when the second dose of Covishield is given eight weeks onwards, the antibody response generated is almost similar when administered at an interval of 12 to 16 weeks," the source explained.

The decision will lead to accelerated administration of the second dose of Covishield to the remaining six to seven crore individuals amid rising cases in several countries, the source said.

The government had on May 13, 2021, extended the gap between the first and second doses of the Covishield vaccine from 6-8 weeks to 12-16 weeks based on the recommendations by NTAGI.

NTAGI provides guidance and advice to the Union Health Ministry on immunisation services for the effective control of vaccine-preventable diseases in the country.

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New Delhi: India recorded 1,549 new Covid-19 cases, 31 deaths in the last 24 hours, pushing the total death toll to 5,16,510, according to the data released by the Ministry of Health on Monday (March 21, 2022). The active cases in the country stand at 25,106 a few days after the festival of colors.

COVID19 | India logs 1,549 new cases & 31 deaths in the last 24 hours; Active caseload stands at 25,106 Total vaccination: 1,81,24,97,303 (Representative image) pic.twitter.com/iv0NRQKLs0  ANI (@ANI) March 21, 2022

A decrease of 1,134 cases has been recorded in the active Covid-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The country also recorded 2,652 recoveries today, taking the total number of recoveries to 4,24,67,774.

The active cases account for 0.06 per cent of the total caseload, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate has further improved to 98.74 per cent, the ministry said.

Additionally, the cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide Covid-19 vaccination drive have exceeded 181.24 crore. As many as 3,84,499 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours to detect the presence of the virus.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) has once again expressed concerns over the reduction in Covid-19 testing across the globe. In a press conference, WHO also listed three types of misinformation about the virus and its variant Omicron

WHO's Covid-19 Technical Lead Maria Van Kerkhove highlighted that there are huge amounts of misinformation, which is causing a lot of confusion. The WHO's Covid-19 Technical Lead pointed out three such misconceptions- the Omicron variant is mild, it is the last variant of the coronavirus and the Covid-19 pandemic is over.

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New Delhi: The Covid-19 pandemic has not gone away, Indian-origin US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy warned on Sunday (March 20, 2022), saying that cases may rise and fall in the months to come.

Murthy also expressed his concern over the lack of funding to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

When we look at what's happening around the world and over the last two years, we recognise that when cases increase in one part of the world, that often leads to increases in the other part of the world. And we should be prepared that, you know, Covid hasn't gone away, he told Fox News in an interview.

There may be rises and falls in cases in the months ahead. But here's the key, our goal is to keep people out of the hospital, it's to save their lives, and we have more tools to do that than ever before. So our focus should be on preparation, not on panic. And if we get people these tools, vaccines, boosters, treatments, then we can actually get through waves that may come and go.

The thing that concerns me right now is that as much work as we've done in the last two years to get the right tools, we've got to continue funding them and supporting them so they are available to people across the country. That's what Congress moving to provide that funding is so cortical, Murthy said.

During the last wave of the omicron variant, most sick were unvaccinated.

So, the bottom line is those vaccinations and boosters work and the treatments that we now have in greater quantities than ever before, those also help to reduce our risk, but you'd rather prevent an infection than get it and treat it. That's why these vaccines and boosters are essential, he asserted.

Older age and illnesses like obesity are the ones that put one at higher risk.

Sadly, we do have a lot of people in our country who are struggling with chronic illnesses, like obesity and heart disease have put them at higher risk, and so that means as a population we've got to be even more vigilant about taking steps to prevent Covid-19.

Those include the vaccines and boosters, but we've also found that other tools, whether they are masks, whether they are using testing strategically, these can be helpful in limiting the spread of the virus, Murthy said.

Responding to a question, Murthy said that he does not think they can afford to move on.

But I do think that we can move forward with more confidence, that we can live our lives and not let Covid define our lives, because we do have, in fact, better tools that have proven to save our lives and keep us out of the hospital, he said.

Over the last two years, Covid defined our lives, it restricted us in profound ways. But because we have better tools, we have the power to move forward now and manage the virus and do so thoughtfully because, you know, we've been able to get our kids back to school, you know, over the last year.

I mean more than 95 per cent of kids are back in school. That's a big win. I'm a dad of two small kids who, thankfully, are back in school. We've gotten people back to work. People are seeing their family and friends again. We need to keep doing these things. We now have the tools to do so safely, Murthy added.

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New Delhi: A Russian court on Monday labelled most Meta (Facebook) Platforms Inc an 'extremist organisation', however, exempted its WhatsApp messenger from this category and said it could remain operational.

Meta Incs Facebook and Instagram social networking platforms are already banned in the country owing to what Moscow calls extremist activities.

"The decision does not apply to the activities of Meta`s messenger WhatsApp, due to its lack of functionality for the public dissemination of information," the court said.

The comments came as Moscow`s Tverskoi District Court upheld a lawsuit filed by Russian state prosecutors on banning the activities of Meta on Russian territory, the court`s press service said in a statement.

Metas stance

Metas company lawyer, Victoria Shagina, had said in court on Monday that Meta was not carrying out extremist activities and stood against Russophobia, the Interfax news agency reported.

TASS cited judge Olga Solopova as saying the decision would be enforced immediately.

Russia recently banned Metas Facebook for restricting access to Russian media while Instagram was blocked after Meta said it would allow social media users in Ukraine to post messages urging violence against Russian President Vladimir Putin and troops Moscow sent into Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Ever since Russia launched a military attack on Ukraine, calls inciting violence against Russia peaked on these platforms and as per Moscow, Meta did little to prohibit sucg calls for the death of a head of state and said its guidance should never be interpreted as condoning violence against Russians in general.

Facebook last year had an estimated 7.5 million users and WhatsApp 67 million, according to researcher Insider Intelligence.

Russia on February 24 launched a military operation in Ukraine to invade its territory. The country is calling the attack retaliation in response to calls from the Ukrainian breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk people`s republics for protection against intensifying attacks by Ukrainian troops.

(With Reuters inputs)

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New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australian PM Scott Morrison will today (March 21, 2022) hold the second India-Australia virtual summit and will discuss a range of regional and multilateral issues.

During the summit, Morrison will also unveil a Rs 1,500-crore investment package to boost the bilateral ties and the two leaders will take stock of progress made on various initiatives under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

"The virtual summit will lay the way forward on new initiatives and enhanced cooperation in a diverse range of sectors between India and Australia. The leaders are expected to commit to closer cooperation in trade, critical minerals, migration and mobility, and education, among others," India's Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

Both sides will also discuss a range of regional and multilateral issues, including the situation in Ukraine and its implications for the Indo-Pacific, and Myanmar.

The summit, India said, highlights the importance attached by both countries to their bilateral relations as also their close cooperation on regional and global issues.

The summit follows the historic first Virtual Summit of 4 June 2020 when the relationship was elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

Prime Minister Modi and PM Morrison had met in Washington DC for the first in-person meeting after the Covid-19 pandemic in September 2021 on the margins of the Quad Leaders Summit and had then jointly launched the Infrastructure for Resilient Island States (IRIS) in Glasgow on the margins of the COP26 in November 2021.

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New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday (March 21) held a detailed virtual dialogue with his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison and discussed issues of international importance ranging from the Russia-Ukraine war to Chinas growing influence in the pacific region and Indias foreign policy.

The Australian leader also praised Indias foreign policy and international initiatives taken by Narendra Modis government.

Here are some key points from the Modi-Morrison summit today:

The virtual summit was a reflection of the close ties that exist between India and Australia and shared the cooperative vision of both PMs to advance this bilateral partnership, said Indias foreign secretary.

There was a Letter of Intent signed b/w India & Australia to work towards concluding the migration & mobility partnership agreement.

PM Modi and PM Scott Morrison stressed the high priority they attach to our bilateral relationship and the keen focus to enhance further the comprehensive strategic partnership between India and Australia.

Modi and Morrison also reiterated their commitment to a stronger Indo pacific region, both leaders discussed calibrating and cooperating with each other on support to pacific island countries for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

One of the most significant outcomes was the decision to hold annual summits at the level of the Heads of Govt, under the comprehensive strategic partnership.

Australia would be the third country with which India will have an institutionalized annual summit.

PM Modi and Morrison also exchanged perspectives about regional and multilateral matters and global issues of mutual interest including shared concerns such as terrorism.

Both leaders welcomed the signing of MoU on cooperation in the critical mining sector. It's an MoU b/w India's Khanij Bidesh India Ltd & Australia's Critical Minerals Facilitation Office and would establish a framework for building partnerships in critical minerals investment.

On the Ukraine issue, it was clear that the two sides had referred to the Quad summit in which the leaders had a fairly clear perspective that the situation in Ukraine should not impact the Indo-pacific.

Modi and Morrison discussed serious concerns about the ongoing conflict and humanitarian situation in Ukraine and there was equal emphasis on the fact that International orders stand on the UN Charter on the rule of law and respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of states.

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Bengaluru: The mortal remains of Naveen Shekarappa Gyanagoudar, the Karnataka student who was killed during shelling by the Russian forces in Ukraine`s Kharkiv city on March 1, has reached the Kempegowda International Airport (KIAL) in Bengaluru in the wee hours of Monday.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai with his cabinet colleagues reached the Bengaluru International airport and paid homage to Naveen.

Mortal remains of Naveen Shekharappa Gyangoudar, who was killed in a shelling attack in #Ukraine on March 1st, arrives Bengaluru Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai pays last respects to MBBS student Naveen pic.twitter.com/mzfmlnnrEK  ANI (@ANI) March 20, 2022

Speaking to reporters, Chief Minister Bommai stated that a country`s strength and might is known at the time of crisis. Prime Minister Narendra Modi "showed the might of the nation at this hour of crisis by bringing back the mortal remains of Naveen". "The body has arrived today and we have made all arrangements," he said.

I thank the Central govt for efforts on bringing back the mortal remains of Naveen Shekharappa Gyangoudar, who was killed in a shelling attack in Ukraine. It's unfortunate that we lost him in the shelling: Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai pic.twitter.com/6FDzAcyCRR  ANI (@ANI) March 20, 2022

"During evacuation time, our officers who stationed at New Delhi, Ghaziabad, Mumbai and Bengaluru airport took care of students who returned from Ukraine. It was ensured that the students returned from Ukraine would reach their home safely," Bommai added.

He further said that a dedicated helpline was initiated within 12 hours of the crisis. The state officials kept in touch with External Affairs Ministry as well as the Indian Embassy in Ukraine.

The government also created a WhatsApp group and a website to reach out to students stuck in Ukraine, Bommai said, adding that "the officials have done a good job". He thanked the state, Indian, Ukrainian and Poland`s officers for helping and putting in efforts to bring back the mortal remains of the Karnataka student.

"I am in the pain that we could not bring back Naveen alive," the Chief Minister said. "Our government stands with Naveen`s family. We have issued the compensation, and we will see what can be done for his younger brother," he stated.

Health Minister K. Sudhakar, MP from Haveri Shivakumar Udasi, MLA Arunkumar and Congress MLC Saleem Ahmad were also present at the airport. Earlier, in his letter addressed to the Prime Minister, Bommai conveyed his gratitude for the Prime Minister`s efforts to help retrieve Naveen`s mortal remains from Kharkiv.

Naveen of Karnataka`s Haveri district had lost his life on March 1 in Kharkiv and his family have been "beseeching" the authorities to retrieve his body. However, heavy fighting in the area has prevented the retrieval till recently. Naveen`s family had said that the body would be donated to a medical college.

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Hubli: Former Karnataka chief minister and now Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah has said that his Congress party has no objection to teaching Bhagavad Gita as part of moral science education in schools across the state.

Earlier on Friday, Karnataka Education Minister BC Nagesh said that if approved by experts, the Karnataka government, too, will definitely include the epics like Bhagwad Gita in the syllabus for students.

"We believe in the Constitution and secularism. Let the government teach Bhagavad Gita, Quran or Bible as part of moral education. We don`t have any objections. Besides moral education, quality education is also required. Children should not be deprived of quality education," said Siddaramaiah while interacting with the reporters at Mangaluru International Airport on Saturday.

While reacting to the leadership change in Congress, he said, " See everyone has accepted the leadership of Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi. Discussion is going on about strengthening of the party for this advice are being taken. It all has been discussed in the working committee they will take action as per discussion."

Earlier on Thursday, Gujarat education minister Jitu Vaghani had said that Bhagavad Gita will be introduced as a part of the school syllabus for class 6 to class 12 students in Gujarat from the academic year 2022-23.

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New Delhi: Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s virtual summit with his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison on Monday, Australia has handed over as many as 29 antiquities to India, which is seen as a boost to New Delhi`s bid to get back the country`s heritage from across the world.

The antiquities range in six broad categories as per themes - Shiva and his disciples, Worshipping Shakti, Lord Vishnu and his forms, Jain traditions, portraits and decorative objects. These antiquities come from different time periods, with earlier ones dating to 9-10 century CE.

These are primarily sculptures and paintings executed in a variety of materials - sandstone, marble, bronze, brass, paper. Representing a large geographical region in India, antiquities are from Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and West Bengal. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inspected the antiquities returned by Australia.

#WATCH | PM Modi inspects the 29 antiquities which have been repatriated to India by Australia. The antiquities range in 6 broad categories as per themes  Shiva and his disciples, Worshipping Shakti, Lord Vishnu and his forms, Jain tradition, portraits and decorative objects. pic.twitter.com/uQiKdlCdtX  ANI (@ANI) March 21, 2022

The repatriated antiquities includes Shiva Bhairav, a 9th-10th century CE Rajasthan Sandstone, the child-saint Sambandar from 12th century CE, and seated Jina sculpture from Mount Abu region, Rajasthan.

Other antiquities repatriated includes the portrait of Maharaja Sir Kishen Pershad Yamin Lala Deen Dayal, memorial portrait of Hiralal A. Gandhi, and untitled `Manorath` portrait of donor and priests before Shri Nathji, Nathdwara.

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Acting Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has been picked as BJP's legislative leader for a second time. Pramod Sawant was announced as party's Chief Ministerial pick after a meet in Panaji that saw the presence of Union Ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and L Murugan as BJP's central observers.

The BJP will stake a claim and approach Governor PS Sreedharan Pillai to form the government. Earlier on Saturday, Sawant met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi to discuss government formation.

In the recently concluded state Assembly polls, the BJP emerged as the single largest party in Goa, winning 20 seats in the 40-member state Assembly and decimated Congress to 11 seats.

The BJP fell one seat short of the majority figure in Goa but is set to retain power in the state with the help of Maharashtrawadi Gomantak (MGP) and independent candidates.

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Jaipur: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Monday (March 21) said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should revive the old pension scheme (OPS) for government employees in the country, following his move to do so. He said that after the announcement for the revival of OPS in the Rajasthan budget, the Chhattisgarh government has also declared it will implement the scheme.

"While considering our decision, PM Modi should announce the implementation of OPS in the country," he said.

Replying to a debate on the Rajasthan Appropriation Bill (number 2), 2022, and Rajasthan Finance Bill, 2022, in the house, Gehlot said that the response to the announcement was overwhelming. He said that it was a decision taken on "humanitarian ground."

The CM made it clear that the OPS will not affect any development. BJP leaders have been against the OPS and have raised certain doubts on its implementation.

The CM targeted the leader of the opposition Gulab Chand Kataria, and citing facts and figures pertaining to financial condition of the state, said that the state government has done "excellent" financial management.

Gehlot said that it is for the state government to see how the budget announcements are implemented.

"The budget has been presented with a commitment and we will implement it," he said.

The CM also sought the cooperation of the state BJP leaders in mounting pressure on the central government to give Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP) a national status. He said that the project was announced by the former BJP government in the state and it will resolve the water problem in 13 districts in eastern Rajasthan.

Gehlot also attacked the opposition saying that its talent lay in "marketing instead of doing work". Your party has the mastery in working less and doing more marketing whereas our habit is to do work.

"We could bring the country to a place where it is standing today only because we have been engaged in doing work instead of doing marketing," he said.

On the charges of increase in borrowing, the CM said that borrowing for development work is not a new thing provided there is a capacity to repay, and Rajasthan has the capacity to repay. He also said that 84.46 per cent of revenue target has been achieved by the state government so far.

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New Delhi: Russia needs to be held accountable for the tragic loss of lives in Ukraine in the ongoing war, and it must be ensured that such terrible events never occur in the Indo-Pacific region, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday (March 21) at a virtual summit with PM Narendra Modi.

In his opening remarks, Morrison also referred to a recent meeting of the leaders of the Quad grouping on the Ukraine crisis and said it provided an opportunity to discuss the "implications and consequences" of the developments in Europe for the Indo-Pacific.

Delving into key aspects of India-Australia ties, Modi said the conclusion of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) will be important for economic revival and economic security for both sides.

"We have good cooperation going on in Quad as well. This collaboration of ours reflects our commitment to free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific. The success of the Quad is critical to regional and global stability," he said.

Modi said the ties witnessed remarkable progress in the last few years and that there has been close cooperation between the two sides in trade and investment, defence and security, education and innovation, and science and technology.

"Our collaboration has grown rapidly in many other areas such as critical minerals, water management, renewable energy, and COVID-19 research," he added.

Modi said he was happy over the establishment of a mechanism of the annual summit between the two countries as it ensures a structural system for regular review of the ties.

In his remarks, Morrison referred to the "distressing" and terrible situation in Europe which he said must "never happen in our own region".

"The tragic loss of lives underlines the importance, of course, of holding Russia to account. The cooperation between like-minded liberal democracies is key to an open, inclusive, resilient and prosperous Indo-Pacific and I welcome your leadership within the Quad to keeping its focus on those important issues," Morrison said.

He said the events that are taking place in Ukraine should never occur in the Indo-Pacific. "I very much want to thank you for the partnership that we had while we are obviously distressed at the terrible situation in Europe. Our focus, of course, is very much on what is occurring in the Indo-Pacific and ensuring that those events never occur here in the Indo-Pacific," Morrison said.

On March 3, the leaders of the Quad countries held a virtual meeting to discuss the Ukraine crisis. Unlike its Quad partners -- the US, Japan and Australia -- India has not condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and has been maintaining that the crisis should be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy.

"Our region is facing increasing change and much pressure and I think the Quad leaders call recently which gave us the opportunity to discuss Russia's unlawful invasion of Ukraine, but also gave us the opportunity to discuss the implications and consequences of that terrible event for our own region in the Indo-Pacific and the coercion and the issues that we face here," Morrison said.

His comments on coercion are seen as an apparent reference towards the Chinese increasing muscle-flexing in the Indo-Pacific.

Morrison said the comprehensive strategic partnership between India and Australia reflected the ambition that both shared and hold for the relationship.

"The pace and scale of the cooperation have been remarkable," he said, adding that "our ambition is to make it even closer".

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New Delhi: The District Collector and District Magistrate of Rajasthan's Kota district have imposed section 144 from tomorrow March 22 to April 21 in the view of maintaining law and order with the screening of the Bollywood film 'The Kashmir Files.'

Citing the communal sensitivity of the district, upcoming festivals, and surge in the number of people taking a dip in the Chambal river, the Kota administration has imposed curbs on gathering to avoid any untoward incident.

As per the orders released by the Kota administration, 5 or more people are not allowed to gather at any place in the district, no organisation can hold any meetings and no demonstration or procession is allowed in the district. However, govt events, recruitment processes, police departments, and Covid-19 vaccination centres are exempted from the restrictions.

The administration has also ordered Kota people not to share posts that are a nuisance to the community on social media.

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New Delhi: Seven of the 11 newly elected Punjab leaders, including Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in Punjab, have declared criminal cases against themselves, the poll rights group Association for Democratic Reforms said on Monday.

Four of these leaders are facing serious crimes including a murder case.

According to Punjab Election Watch and the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), the criminal history affidavits of all 11 ministers, including the CM have been analysed.

Under these reports, serious criminals cases consist of those offences that carry a punishment of up to five years or more. Mann is among the four ministers facing serious criminal cases.

The other three are Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal and Harpal Singh Cheema.

While Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal is facing a murder case, the other three have been booked in the past for allegedly voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from doing his duty.

Of the 11 ministers, nine are crorepatis and the average of their assets is Rs 2.87 crore.

The minister with the highest declared total assets is Bram Shanker (Jimpa) from Hoshiarpur. He has assets worth Rs. 8.56 crore.

Lal Chand from Bhoa (Sc) constituency has the lowest declared total assets worth Rs 6.19 lakh.

Nine ministers have declared liabilities.

The minister with the highest liabilities is Bram Shanker, He has liabilities worth Rs 1.08 crore.

The ADR said five ministers (45 per cent) have declared their educational qualification to be between Class 10 and 12 while the rest are graduates or above.

Six ministers (55 per cent) have declared their age to be between 31 and 50 years while five (45 per cent) are aged 51 and 60, the ADR said.

Ten AAP MLAs were sworn in as Punjab ministers on Saturday.

They are Harpal Singh Cheema, Harbhajan Singh, Dr Vijay Singla, Lal Chand, Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, Laljit Singh Bhullar, Bram Shanker Jimpa, Harjot Singh Bains and Dr Baljit Kaur.

Earlier, Bhagwant Mann had taken oath at a programme in Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh.

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New Delhi: The Karnataka government on Sunday informed that hundreds of PU students who took part in the protests would not get another chance in the exams that were skipped in February-March.

The statement came a few days after the Karnataka High Court upheld the ban on hijab in educational institutions.

While speaking to an English news daily, Primary and Secondary Education Minister BC Nagesh said, How can we even consider the possibility? Even after the interim order of the High Court, if we allow the students who boycott the practical for not wearing the hijab, then another student will come for some other reason and ask for a second chance. Its impossible.

However, a few days back, the state government had hinted at giving the protesting students a second chance to appear in the exam, but yesterday it dicarded that option.

Earlier, the students had also urged the pre-university board to postpone their practical examinations which were slated to begin from February 28.

Many students have claimed that, for the past two months, they could not attend their classes as they was denied entry inside the school premises for wearing a headscarf.

The protesting students were boycotting the exam in the wake of the hijab controversy will have 30 less marks. Of total 100 marks, PU exam consists of Theory (70) and Practical (30). It may be noted that to qualify the exam, students have to qualify the theory exam of 70 marks by securing minimum passing marks per subject.

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New Delhi: Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) will be imposed in Rajasthans Kota from Tuesday (March 22) in view of maintaining law and order with the screening of 'The Kashmir Files', announced Kota District Collector & District Magistrates office.

The code will be in place in Kota till April 21.

Rajasthan | Section 144 will be imposed in Kota from tomorrow, March 22, till April 21, in view of maintaining law & order with the screening of 'The Kashmir Files': Kota District Collector & District Magistrate pic.twitter.com/iSJXC1ud8B  ANI (@ANI) March 21, 2022

Section 144 is implemented to impose restrictions as a means to prevent protests, unrest or riots. The orders to impose Section 144 have been conferred to Executive Magistrate when there is an emergency situation.

The maximum punishment for violating the Section 144 code is three years.

Meanwhile, The Kashmir Files, which is based on the exodus and genocide of Kashmiri Pandits in the early 90s has been made tax-free in various BJP-led states.

After the release of the film, the Global Kashmiri Pandit Diaspora (GKPD) on Monday described the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from Kashmir as "genocide" and demanded a framework for the recourse, rehabilitation and resettlement of the displaced people in the valley.

Addressing a press conference here, GKPD co-founder US-based Surinder Kaul said the recognition of the "genocide" is the first step in giving justice to the people who were forced to leave the valley.

On the other hand, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Monday said the recently-released film 'The Kashmir Files' was creating a situation that could cause great harm to the country's social unity and integrity.

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New Delhi: The threat of Omicron variant coronavirus has not gone away from India, said Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Lav Agarwal on Monday (March). Agrawal said, "The threat of Omicron variant coronavirus has not gone away from India but we have been able to successfully manage as high as 23 times better than the world's overall management of COVID19 when it comes to saving precious lives."

The Ministry informed that India completed 250 million doses in 145 days and the country has provided vaccines to 99 nations across the world.

"Right now, I'm proud to highlight that we have completed 1.81 billion doses of vaccination," said Lav Agarwal.

Underlining the importance of QR-coded digital certificates of Covid-19 vaccination, Agrawal said, "We gave QR-coded digital certificates to every citizen for every COVID19 dose delivered. We have not leveraged technology, we have leveraged human resources in this country, which worked with commitment."

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Agartala (Tripura): As Tripura`s 60 members assembly is slated to go to the polls early next year, the state is witnessing realignment of political parties. One such alliance Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA Motha) on Sunday parted ways with Bharatiya Janata Party, hours after indigenous rights activist Patal Kanya Jamatia joined the BJP.

Tribal rights activist and Tripura People's Front (TPF) chief Patal Kanya Jamatia joined the BJP at a programme organised in Agartala, where senior BJP leaders including Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb welcomed newcomers to the party.

Tribal rights activist and Tripura People's Front (TPF) chief Patal Kanya Jamatia on Sunday joined Bharatiya Janata Party at a programme in Agartala Senior BJP leaders including Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb welcomed newcomers to the party pic.twitter.com/Xhr4N4z8S6  ANI (@ANI) March 20, 2022

Tripura People`s Front was formed in the year 2014 to give voice to the indigenous rights movement.

Hours after this development, the Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA Motha) ruled out possibilities of an alliance with BJP. The alliance parted away as differences grew between TIPRA and TPF and all the candidates were withdrawn.

TIPRA is the ruling party of Tripura`s Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC).

"The BJP leaders in today`s rally kept saying that TIPRA is a small party. Of course, BJP is a big party with a larger support base in comparison. If this is the official position of BJP, I guess they should prepare to fight for all the sixty assembly seats in Tripura," said TIPRA Chairman Pradyot Kishore Debbarman in a video message shared by Chief Executive Member of TTAADC Purna Chandra Jamatia.

He further said, "After such statements, I don`t feel there is a possibility of an alliance in the future. We shall fight in 30 to 35 seats ourselves and let`s see what happens at the end."

Taking a jibe on BJP over the issue of Corruption, Debbarman said "arrogance is the reason behind the downfall of the high and mighty. We may be a small regional player but I want to tell you that we are not corrupt. And, we are not going to compromise with our demands."

Notably, the TPF commenced its political activities a few years back and fielded candidates in the previous Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council elections in alliance with Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA).

(With Agency Inputs)

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New Delhi: At least two people, one local and one non-local were shot by unknown terrorists in the Budgam and Pulwama districts of Kashmir. The local victim succumbed to his injuries while non-local is being treated in Srinagars state hospital, said Jammu and Kashmir.

"In Budgam, terrorists had barged into the house of one civilian Tajamul Mohi-ud-din Dar resident of Gotpora area of Budgam and fired indiscriminately upon him. In this terror incident, he had sustained critical gunshot injuries and was immediately shifted to a nearby hospital for treatment, however, doctors declared him dead on arrival, said J&K police in a statement.

The non-local, who was injured in the incident has been identified as Bisujeet Kumar from Bihar, who is a street vendor.

As per police, he had received gunshot injuries and was immediately shifted to SMHS Hospital Srinagar in a Critical Care ambulance where he is being treated.

Police have registered cases in the matter and a massive manhunt has been launched to nab the attackers. Search operations were underway.

It has been reported that incidents of target killing have increased in the last couple of weeks. Unknown terrorists have targeted many panch, sarpanch, and off duty security personnel also a non-local carpenter was shot and injured two days back in the shopping area of south Kashmir.

However, IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar a few days back giving the details of the last encounter that happened at Nowgam in which two terrorists were killed said, they have solved the cases of attacks and killings of sarpanch and off duty soldiers by arresting the terrorists in Kulgam, Pulwama and killing of terrorists in Pulwama and Nowgam Srinagar.

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New Delhi: The BJP representative from the Khatima constituency in Udham Singh Nagar district, Pushkar Singh Dhami will become the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand for another term, the party announced on Monday.

Dhami lost the Assembly Election 2022 from his constituency and ever since then, doubts were raised if he will continue as the CM in the state. He is the second alumni of Lucknow University to serve as Uttarakhand CM, the first being Harish Singh Rawat.

Pushkar Singh Dhami was elected as the 10th CM for the first time in 2021 after his predecessor Tirath Singh Rawat resigned from the post.

Dhami, an advocate by profession was born on September 16, 1975, he also holds a management degree.

From 1990 to 1999, Dhami was a part of the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad, BJP's student wing, where he reportedly held various roles, including that of an organiser of the Parishad's National Conference in Lucknow during the time.

During his student politics days, Dhami was credited for asserting the state government to reserve 70% of opportunities for the local youth in industries of Uttarakhand.

From 2010 to 2012, Dhami worked in the Urban Development Monitoring Council under the erstwhile IJP Government.

He has also served as an adviser and officer on special duty to Bhagat Singh Koshiyari while koshiyari was serving as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand in 2001.

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In view of the current situation in Ukraine, "Happiness for All, Ukraine'' has been announced by the United Nations website Happiness.org as the official theme of International Happiness Day. Well, happiness remains just a pipedream if one pursues only material progress and luxury. At an individual level, true and real happiness can only be achieved through mental, physical and emotional joy. And a state can only experience quintessential development only when its policies can guarantee its citizens this elusive joy. This thought underlines the Madhya Pradesh governments effort to establish the Rajya Anand Sansthan.

Today, the world is moving at such a fast pace that each one of us is busy day and night in search of hedonistic pleasures and comforts. But in this rat-race of hedonism, we forget that running after vain ambitions and competing with the people around us produces nothing but a lot of stress, leaving us numb to the real joys of life. In order to ensure that the citizens of Madhya Pradesh enjoy material blessings without compromising on experiencing inner joy, the Madhya Pradesh government has established the Rajya Anand Sansthan.

The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan, firmly believes that the thoughts and feelings of citizens play an important role in the development of the state. Everyone wants inner peace and happiness and only a peaceful person can build a happy and prosperous society. This vision got a public nod and a host of 63,502 volunteers, now known as Anandaks, joined to serve in the Rajya Anand Sansthan. Now, this army of joy-spreading Anandaks not only helps spread happiness among people through a bevvy of programs but also addresses their spiritual longings. These Anandaks come from diverse fields, notwithstanding the Government and non-government organizations to volunteer without any honorarium, and devoid of any expectation.

Recently, the ambitious Anandagram program of the Madhya Pradesh government was launched successfully from the Chhatarpur district. The first workshop of the state was organized on March 2 at the Regional Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Training Center, in Naugaon, under the guidance of Chhatarpur Collector Shri Sandeep GR. This workshop saw participation from 7 master trainers of the institute, including 50 volunteers.

This workshop was so successful that this could be benchmarked as a model workshop and implemented across the state. The participants of this workshop truly experienced immense joy, and have expressed their commitment to spreading this joy in their villages to bring about something good and beneficial for their villages. In fact, the Anand Department focuses on developing the villagers, who happen to be the largest and the most transformative resource of the villages. The department aims to use the other limited resources in the villages to bring inner happiness to the people.

List of programs

Alpaviram: This program gives an opportunity to an individual to understand and improve his inner shortcomings. After participating in this program, an individual sees positive changes in family and social relationships, fulfilling government and social responsibilities. So far, more than 2,300 Alpaviram programs have been organized across the entire state. These programs have been successfully implemented by 400 Anand associates and 51 master trainers. About 11,000 participants of the state have benefited from these programs.

Anand Club: Through Anand Club, a strategic effort is made in the direction to spread positivity and joy in society. So far more than 400 clubs have been registered with a member strength of 4,000 individuals. In Anand Club, activities like blood donation, food donation, disaster assistance, education, environment and cleanliness, self-defence training to girls and help and treatment of destitute etc. are organized.

Anandam Kendra: Anandam Kendra has been launched with a spirit of Joy of Giving. So far, about 180 successful Anandam centers are operating in the state. These centers are also known as "the wall of kindness". The center works on a simple belief that if one has more than what one needs they can donate it to this center, and it will be distributed to the needy. Earlier this activity was carried out in the open, but ever since it has been provided with storage space.

Anand Sabha: This program is specially for students because these days students experience a lot more mental stress than before and are more prone to depression. In Anand Sabha, students are taught to use their energy positively so that they can develop their inner and mental power. The program has a total of 11 modules which includes helping, apologizing and giving, gratitude and acceptance etc. From June 2021, Anand Sabha is being conducted online every Friday through YouTube and Facebook Live platforms.

Anand Utsav: Other than the regular events, the department also organizes Anand Utsav, which is also called the "Festival of Happiness". Every year from January 14 to 28, this festival is celebrated at 8 thousand places across the state. The festival comprises activities such as folk-music, dance-singing, drama, street plays and traditional games. Other than rural and urban areas, this festival will also be organized at the block and district levels.

(Sponsored Feature)
NEW DELHI: Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor is expecting her first baby with husband Anand Ahuja. The actress shared the news on her Instagram on Monday, with a series of stunning photos of herself with Anand.

In the monochrome pictures, she can be seen cradling her baby bump, while she comfortably puts her head on her hubbys lap.

Now her father and actor Anil Kapoor has expressed his excitement over becoming a grandfather and also shared Sonams pics on his Twitter account.

Now preparing for the most exciting role of my life - GRANDFATHER!!

Our lives will never be the same again and I couldnt be more grateful! @sonamakapoor & @anandahuja you have made us happy beyond measure with this incredible news! pic.twitter.com/wa0GIocCMP  Anil Kapoor (@AnilKapoor) March 21, 2022

He tweeted, Now preparing for the most exciting role of my life - GRANDFATHER!!

Our lives will never be the same again and I couldnt be more grateful!

@sonamakapoor & @anandahuja

you have made us happy beyond measure with this incredible news!...

Anil also shared his excitement at daughter Sonam's pregnancy announcement and is currently on cloud 9 after hearing the news.

For the unversed, Sonam also penned a loving poem for her unborn child, that read, Four hands. To raise you the very best we can. Two hearts. That will beat in unison with yours, every step of the way. One family. Who will shower you with love and support. We cant wait to welcome you. #everydayphenomenal #comingthisfall2022.

For the unaware, Sonam Kapoor and Anand Ahuja tied the knot in 2018 in a private ceremony at her home in Mumbai, attended by family and close friends. She has since then been living in Londons Notting Hill.

Meanwhile, on the work front, the actress was last seen in Netflixs AK vs AK. She will be next seen playing a visually challenged cop in Shome Makhijas Blind.
New Delhi: Actors Karan Kundrra and Tejasswi Prakash have been painting the town red ever since they fell for each other on Salman Khan hosted Bigg Boss 15. The two are fondly referred to by their fans as Tejran and enjoy massive fan following. Karan has now excited his fans with his admission that he is ready to get hitched with Tejaswi and even his parents approve of their bond.

Talking to RJ Siddharth Kannan, Karan revealed that he and Teja have discussed marriage. He jokingly added, Pehli shaadi hai joh India ne decide karli hai ki ye toh honi hi hai. Humse toh koi puch hi nahi raha. (Ours is the first marriage that India has confirmed. No one is asking us about it), he said. When asked is ready to tick the marriage box with the Naagin 6 actress, Karan said, I was ready from inside (Bigg Boss).

Speaking about his family, Karan shared that it is very important for him that they approve of his life partner. He claimed that he cannot be selfish while taking such a big decision and revealed his family approves of Tejasswi and even call her heart of the family.

It is very important for me to know what my parents think about my partner. They have dedicated their lives to us. We cannot be selfish. I believe two families come together when two people are in a relationship, told Karan.

He further said, It was a sigh of relief that they loved her. They called her heart of the family.

Talking about Tejas equation with his dad and his with her mother, he said, Me, dad and Tejasswi are pretty thick. My father is super fond of her. Tejus mom is fond of me.

On the work front, Tejasswi is currently starring in Naagin 6 and Karan appeared as a jailor in Kangana Ranaut's hosted Lock Upp.
NEW DELHI: As we all know that Deepika Padukone and Shah Rukh Khan are currently in Spain as they are shooting for their upcoming film Pathaan.

Now, fresh pictures have gone viral on social media and fans cant keep their calm.

In the latest viral pics, Deepika seemed to be furious over the incident as her pervious pictures in yellow swimsuit also went viral last week and now another set of pictures got leaked from the sets.

In order to show her disappointment over the whole incident Deepika was seen showing her middle fingers to a photographer, while SRK stood by her side.

In the pictures, Deepika can be seen wearing a long winter jacket while SRK can be seen holding a cigarette in his hand.

The paparazzo shared another picture from the sets where Deepika can be seen in a white and orange costume while SRK can be seen in shirt and denims, with a drink in his hand.

In the previous leaked pictures, Deepika was seen doing a pool sequence and was also seen talking to her team members, when her pictures went viral on social media.

Fans are going gaga over their new look and are eagerly waiting for the release of the film.

On the work front, SRK was last seen in Zero in 2018.

While Deepika is currently basking high after the recent success of her film Gehraiyaan.
New Delh: Actress Sonam Kapoor is expecting her first baby with husband Anand Ahuja. The actress shared the news on her Instagram on Monday, with a series of stunning photos of herself with Anand. In the pictures, she can be seen cradling her baby bump, while she comfortably puts her head on Anands lap. The actress also penned a loving poem for her unborn child, that read, Four hands. To raise you the very best we can. Two hearts. That will beat in unison with yours, every step of the way. One family. Who will shower you with love and support. We cant wait to welcome you. #everydayphenomenal #comingthisfall2022.

Check out her post:

After Sonam shared the news, her cousins Janhvi Kapoor, Khushi Kapoor, Shanaya Kapoor and Anshula Kapoor couldnt keep calm and showered love on their sister. OH MY GOD WHAT!!!!!!!, wrote Janhvi with multiple red heart emojis. Shanaya commented, I love you guys. Whereas, Khushi and Anshula dropped heart and other emojis to send their love.

Sonams Veere De Wedding co-star, Kareena Kapoor Khan also showered love on the actress post. Wohoooooooo soooo happy for you both cant wait for the babies to play, she wrote. Actress Ananya Panday also wrote, Congratulations.

Prior to this, rumours around Sonams pregnancy did several rounds last year on multiple occasions when photos of her wearing lose fitting clothes went viral. In July 2021, she was photographed in London in a red floral maxi dress, which led to speculations of her being pregnant.She had however quashed the rumour by sharing an Instagram story about suffering from period pains.

Sonam Kapoor and Anand Ahuja tied the knot in 2018 in a private ceremony at her home in Mumbai, attended by family and close friends. She has since then been living in Londons Notting Hill.

Meanwhile, on the work front, the actress was last seen in Netflixs AK vs AK where she played herelf. She will next be seen playing a visually challenged cop in Shome Makhijas Blind.
New Delhi: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday (March 21) shared a tweet, thanking Hollywood actors Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher for raising $35 million to help Ukrainian refugees. He also shared a picture in which the actor couple could be seen on a video call with the Ukrainian President.

In the caption of his tweet, President Zelenskyy wrote, ".@aplusk & Mila Kunis were among the first to respond to our grief. They have already raised $35 million & are sending it to @flexport & @Airbnb to help refugees. Grateful for their support. Impressed by their determination. They inspire the world. #StandWithUkraine."

Take a look at his tweet:

.@aplusk & Mila Kunis were among the first to respond to our grief. They have already raised $35 million & are sending it to @flexport & @Airbnb to help refugees. Grateful for their support. Impressed by their determination. They inspire the world. #StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/paa0TjJseu  (@ZelenskyyUa) March 20, 2022

Earlier, 'That 70s Show' actress Mila Kunis had shared a video on Instagram in which she was seen condemning the attacks on her country Ukraine.

She told fans that she was born in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, and her family immigrated to the United States in 1991. She and her husband Ashton Kutcher had launched a $30-million GoFundMe fundraiser for Ukrainian citizens.

For the unversed, over 10 million Ukrainian refugees have fled abroad or been displaced inside the country in the wake of Russia`s invasion, informed the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Sunday (March 20, 2022).

According to a report in NHK World, the UN Refugee Agency chief Filippo Grandi said that millions of Ukrainians have been forced to flee their homes due to escalating fights between Russia and Ukraine.
New Delhi: 7th Pay Commission latest update: The central government employees who have long been pressing for the demand to hike fitment factor may hear some good news related to the same soon. Once the fitment factor is hiked, the basica salary or the minimum wages of the central government employees too will increase substantially.

Several media reports have said that the government might soon give its nod on raising the fitment factor. The central government employees unions have long been demanding for hiking minimum pay of Rs 18,000 to Rs 26,000 and fitment factor be raised from 2.57 times to 3.68 times.

If the government makes announcement regarding the hike in fitment factor of central employees, then their salary will consequently increase. In fact, with the increase in fitment factor, the minimum wage will also increase. Employees are currently getting salary under fitment factor on the basis of 2.57 percent, which if increased to 3.68 percent, there will be an increase of Rs 8,000 in the minimum salary of the employees. This means the minimum pay of the central government employees will be hiked from Rs 18,000 to Rs 26,000.

Check out this assumptive salary calculation post the hike in fitment factor under 7th Pay Commission

If the fitment factor is raised to 3.68, the basic salary of the employees will become Rs 26,000. Right now, if your minimum salary is Rs 18,000, then excluding allowances, you will be getting Rs 46,260 (18,000 X 2.57 = 46,260) according to the 2.57 fitment factor.

Now, if the fitment factor is 3.68, then your salary will be Rs 95,680 (26000X3.68 = 95,680).

The Union Cabinet had in June 2017 approved recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission with 34 modifications. The new scales of pay provided for entry-level basic pay going up from Rs 7,000 per month to Rs 18,000, while at the highest level i.e. Secretary, went up from Rs 90,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh. For Class 1 officers, the starting salary was at Rs 56,100.

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New Delhi: The government has set a March 31, 2022 deadline for linking PAN cards to Aadhaar. If you have a PAN card and do not link it to your Aadhar card by the deadline, you may have to pay a Rs 10,000 penalty to the income tax department for using an inoperative Permanent Account Number (PAN).

Previously, the income tax administration stated that any PAN that is not linked will be labelled "inoperative." The IT department has now explicitly stated in its most recent notification that such PAN cards will face repercussions under the Income Tax Act.

When your PAN becomes inoperative, it is considered that it was not supplied in accordance with the law, and a penalty of Rs 10,000 may apply under Section 272B of the Income Tax Act. However, using your PAN card as identity verification for non-tax purposes, such as opening a bank account or applying for a driver's licence, should not result in a penalty.

However, if the bank account opened with a non-functional PAN has transactions that bring it inside the ambit of income tax, difficulties may occur. For example, if you deposit or withdraw more than 50,000, a PAN card will be necessary. However, once you link your PAN and Aadhaar, the PAN becomes operational, and no penalties apply after the linking date. Those who have inoperative PAN cards should remember that they do not need to reapply for a new PAN card because once the linkage is completed, the PAN card becomes valid again.

To verify the status of linking, follow these simple steps. www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/aadhaarstatus Enter your PAN and Aadhaar card number. Select 'View Link Aadhaar Status'. The following screen displays the status of the linking.

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New Delhi: Khalid Payenda, who resigned as the finance minister days before Kabul fell to the Taliban, is now driving an Uber in Washington DC to support his family.

According to a report in The Washington Post, Payenda also works as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University.

The last finance minister of the Ashraf Ghani government, in an interview with the Washington Post, said he is grateful for the gigs that he has found as it helps him to provide for his family of wife and four children.

Payenda also expressed gratitude towards the work he has been getting and said, I feel incredibly grateful for it. It means I dont have to be desperate.

Right now, I dont have any place, he said. I dont belong here, and I dont belong there. Its a very empty feeling, Khalid said.

According to the former finance minister of Afghanistan, nobody is above blame, not even he himself. While the US abandoned Afghans, Afghanistan did not have the collective will to reform, he said.

Payenda in the interview also said that he holds the Americans responsible for the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. He highlighted that the US betrayed its commitment to democracy and human rights after making Afghanistan a centerpiece of post-9/11 policy.

Maybe there were good intentions initially but the United States probably didnt mean this, Payenda said.

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Washington: The Covid-19 pandemic is not over and the US is soon likely to see an uptick in cases due to the BA.2 subvariant of Omicron, according to the countrys infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci.

Fauci said that the BA.2 subvariant is estimated to account for about 25 or 30 per cent of new cases in the US and could also become the most dominant variant in the country, CNBC reported.

While Fauci said he expects a rise in cases, it will not necessarily result in a massive surge like other variants have caused. According to Fauci, who is also the White House chief medical advisor, BA.2 subvariant is about 50 to 60 per cent more transmissible than Omicron, yet it does not appear to be more severe.

"It does have increased transmission capability," Fauci was quoted as saying on ABC News on Sunday. "However, when you look at the cases, they do not appear to be any more severe and they do not appear to evade immune responses either from vaccines or prior infections."

The variant has already caused cases to increase in China and several parts of Europe including the UK. Health officials continue to stress that coronavirus vaccines and boosters remain the best ways to prevent serious illness from the virus.

Other US health experts are also warning about the emergence of the BA.2, a sub-variant of the highly contagious Omicron variant that led to a significant spike in cases in the US recently.

The variant could cause a new spike in cases but the country is in a better position now than it was in the previous two years when Covid-19 "defined our lives", US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy was quoted as saying on Fox News on Sunday

"We should be prepared, Covid hasn`t gone away. Our focus should be on preparation, not on panic." Scott Gottlieb, a board member of Covid vaccine maker Pfizer and a former head of the Food and Drug Administration, similarly said he also expects "some uptick" due to BA.2 but "not a big wave of infection".

"I think we`re going to continue to see low levels of infection through the summer. But before we get there, we`re probably going to see some tick-up of infection like the Europeans are seeing right now, maybe not as pronounced," Gottlieb was quoted as saying on CBS.

Meanwhile, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported more than 31,200 new Covid cases on Saturday, including 958 deaths. However, both are significantly down from the beginning of the year, the report said.

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Washington: President Joe Biden has added a stop in Poland to his trip this week to Europe for urgent talks with NATO and European allies, as Russian forces concentrate their fire upon cities and trapped civilians in a nearly month-old invasion of Ukraine. Biden will first travel to Brussels and then to Poland on Friday to meet with leaders there, press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement Sunday night.

Poland is a crucial ally in the Ukraine crisis. It is hosting thousands of American troops and is taking in more people fleeing the war in Ukraine more than 2 million' than any other nation in the midst of the largest European refugee crisis in decades.

Biden will travel on Friday to Warsaw for a bilateral meeting with President Andrzej Duda. Biden will discuss how the US, along with its allies and partners, is responding to the humanitarian and human rights crisis that Russia's unjustified and unprovoked war on Ukraine has created, Psaki said.

White House officials have said Biden has no plans to travel to Ukraine. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, while in Poland this month, briefly crossed into neighboring Ukraine in a show of solidarity alongside that country's foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba. Poland has been one of the most vocal countries in asking fellow NATO members to consider getting more involved to rein in the bloodshed.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine largely has united the US And NATO and European allies, as well as allies in Asia and elsewhere. The United States and European governments see Moscow's military aggression as a threat to their security and strategic interests.

Biden and NATO have said repeatedly that while the US And NATO will provide weapons and other defensive support to non-NATO member Ukraine, they are determined to avoid any escalation on behalf of Kyiv that risks a broader war with Russia.

The Pentagon on March 9 rejected a Polish proposal for providing Ukraine with MiG fighter jets via a NATO airbase, saying allied efforts against the Russian invasion should focus on more useful weaponry and that the MiG transfer with a US And NATO connection would run a high risk of escalating the war.

Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has pleaded for the U.S. To provide his military with more aircraft and advanced air-defence systems. NATO and the United States have rejected his appeals to establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine to suppress Russian airpower, saying it would put Western forces in direct conflict with Russian ones.

Determined resistance by Ukrainian fighters when Russian tanks and troops rolled into Ukraine in late February quickly defeated Russian forces' attempts to storm Ukraine's capital and unseat the westward-looking government.

Denied an easy and early victory, Russia's military is reverting to the scorched earth tactics of its past offensives in Syria and Chechnya, and pounding population centers with airstrikes and artillery barrages that leave civilians like those in the port city of Mariupol able to safely venture out for food or water, to bury the dead, or to flee.

After Biden rallied European allies to join in sweeping sanctions against Russia over the invasion at the outset, his tasks now include dealing with some NATO members that are pushing for more involved directly in the fighting. That includes proposals by Poland for peacekeepers.

Biden's trip includes a summit Thursday of NATO leaders, who will use the meeting to look at strengthening the bloc's own deterrence and defense, immediately and in the long term, to deal with the now openly confrontational Putin.

That gathering is intended not just to show NATO's support to Ukraine, but also our readiness to protect and defend all NATO allies, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday. And by sending that message, we are preventing an escalation of the conflict to a full-fledged war between NATO and Russia, Stoltenberg said.

Front-line NATO members on the alliance's eastern flank are also asking for advanced U.S. And British air defence systems to guard against the kind of missile and air assaults Russia is unleashing on Ukraine. We have to strengthen our eastern flank of NATO. We have been talking about this for years, but now it's time for action, Estonia's prime minister, Kaja Kallas, told CNN.

She added, We need some more capabilities to support ourselves and defend ourselves by air defence systems, what is definitely necessary here, but also the troops that are present that act as a deterrent also to the Russian military.

Noting that Russia is firing missiles from such a long-range that they can also reach Paris from where they are shooting right now, Kallas said European leaders must understand that this defence is our common issue, and it's not a theoretical discussion, but issue in real life.

Biden also will participate in a European Council summit to discuss the allies' sanctions on Russia and humanitarian efforts for the millions of Ukraine's people displaced by Russia's attacks, Psaki said last week.

His agenda includes a meeting of leaders of the Group of Seven countries to discuss the punishing financial and economic penalties that the West and its allies have leveled on Russia over its invasion, Psaki said.

Live TV
New Delhi: Over 10 million Ukrainian refugees have fled abroad or been displaced inside the country in the wake of Russia`s invasion, informed the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Sunday (March 20, 2022).

According to a report in NHK World, the UN Refugee Agency chief Filippo Grandi said that millions of Ukrainians have been forced to flee their homes due to escalating fights between Russia and Ukraine.

As of Saturday, the number of Ukrainians who fled abroad had topped 3.38 million, said the office of the UNHCR.

Additionally, almost two-thirds of the refugees, about 2.05 million, had evacuated to Poland and about 180,000 were sheltering in Russia

Meanwhile, the International Organization for Migration said that as of Wednesday, the number of displaced people inside Ukraine was estimated to be 6.48 million.

Ukraine refuses to surrender besieged Mariupol

On the other hand, the Ukrainian authorities refused the proposal made by the Russian military to lay down arms and exit the strategic port of Mariupol via humanitarian corridors.

Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev on Sunday said that all Ukrainian soldiers could leave the Azov Sea port Monday using safe routes for evacuating civilians that had been previously agreed with Ukraine and head to areas controlled by the Ukrainian authorities.

He said that all those who lay down arms will be guaranteed a safe exit from Mariupol. Mizintsev added that Russia will wait until 5 am Monday for a written Kyiv's response to the Russian proposal for the Ukrainian troops to leave Mariupol but didn't say what action Russia will take if its humanitarian offer is rejected.

Ukraine extends martial law

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a bill extending martial law in Ukraine, the press service of Ukraine`s parliament said Sunday.

The legislation extended the current martial law for 30 days starting March 26. Kyiv imposed martial law after Russia launched a special military operation against Ukraine on February 24.

(With agency inputs)

Live TV
Washington: Despite growing international pressure, China has been reluctant in condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine, however, the gamut and scope of Sino-Russian relations have changed in less than a month of Moscow's military operation against Kyiv.

Beijing has now been shifting the balance of interests considering the serious economic consequences of the Russia-Ukraine war. Notwithstanding the US pressure, Chinas Foreign Ministry maintains Beijings position on the Ukraine issue is objective and fair, and time will prove that it is on the "right side of history".

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made the remarks during a briefing on the video call between the Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart, Joe Biden, on the Ukraine issue that took place on March 18. Wang noted that during the recent video call, China had proposed a Chinese solution to the Ukraine crisis, which mainly includes two aspects.

The priority, he said, is that all sides must push for dialogue and negotiation between the immediate parties, cease hostilities as soon as possible, avoid civilian casualties, and prevent a humanitarian crisis.

According to the minister, Xi stressed to Biden that it is necessary to give up the "cold-war mentality" to resolve the crisis and ensure stability on the European continent. Xi Jinping told Joe Biden that peace is the most important value of the global community, and no one is interested in conflicts.

"Conflicts and confrontations are not in anyone`s interests. Peace and security are the values that the international community should cherish most of all," Xi was quoted as saying by Chinese state media.

While Beijing said that it supports the Russia-Ukraine talks, it cautioned that ongoing fighting is in no ones interest. However, the United States has expressed concerns about China`s possible military support to Russia.

"We have that concern. The President (Biden) detailed what the implications and consequences would be if China provides material support to Russia," White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said when asked whether the Biden administration is still concerned Beijing might help Russia. "That is something we will be watching, and the world will be watching," Psaki said.

The US warning came amid increasing concerns that China may come to Russias aid  either by giving military equipment or bypassing Western sanctions  in its increasingly brutal offensive in Ukraine, which continues to test already shaky relations between Washington and Beijing.

A day earlier, the Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported Xi as telling Biden that state-to-state relations cannot go to the stage of military hostilities. Xi also said: Peace and security are the most valued treasures of the international community.

On February 24, Russia began a military operation to "demilitarize and denazify Ukraine," and continues to state that the operation is targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure only.

However, the US rejected the claims made by Moscow and imposed crippling sanctions on Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, the US has also found that the Putin regime used chemical weapons in the poisoning of opposition leader and fierce Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny in and in 2018 against Sergei and Yulia Skripal in England.

Beijing, for its part, maintains close economic ties to both Kyiv and Moscow and has stressed Ukraines sovereignty while avoiding direct condemnation of Russia.

Chinese officials also have insisted that Russia has legitimate security concerns that need to be addressed and echoed Russian claims the US has been secretly working on biological weapons in Ukraine, a claim that has been rejected by the US and the United Nations.

Live TV
LVIV: Ukraine on Monday rejected Russian calls to surrender the port city of Mariupol, where residents are besieged with little food, water and power and fierce fighting shows little sign of easing.

"There can be no question of any surrender, laying down of arms," the Ukrainska Pravda news portal cited Ukraine`s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk as saying early on Monday.

"We have already informed the Russian side about this."

Russia earlier called on Ukrainian forces in Mariupol to lay down their arms, saying a "terrible humanitarian catastrophe" was unfolding.

It said defenders who did so were guaranteed safe passage out of the city and humanitarian corridors would be opened from 1000 Moscow time (0700 GMT) on Monday.

Mariupol has suffered some of the heaviest bombardments since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. Many of its 400,000 residents remain trapped with little if any food, water and power.

Fighting continued inside the city on Sunday, regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said, without elaborating.

Vereshchuk said over 7,000 people were evacuated from Ukrainian cities through humanitarian corridors on Sunday, more than half from Mariupol. She said the government planned to send nearly 50 buses there on Monday for further evacuations.

Russia and Ukraine have made agreements throughout the war on humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians, but have accused each other of frequent violations of those.

In his latest appeal for help from abroad, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addressed the Israeli parliament by video link on Sunday and questioned Israel`s reluctance to sell its Iron Dome missile defence system to Ukraine.

"Everybody knows that your missile defence systems are the best... and that you can definitely help our people, save the lives of Ukrainians, of Ukrainian Jews," said Zelenskiy, who is of Jewish heritage.

Speaking in his daily video appeal to Ukrainians, Zelenskiy later welcomed the mediation efforts of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who has held numerous calls with him and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"Mr. Bennett is trying to find a way of holding talks... We are grateful for his efforts, so that sooner or later we will begin to have talks with Russia, possibly in Jerusalem," Zelenskiy said.

"That`s the right place to find peace. If possible."

Mariupol`s council said on Telegram that several thousand residents had been "deported" to Russia over the past week. Russian news agencies said buses had carried hundreds of refugees from Mariupol to Russia in recent days.

U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that the deportation accounts were "disturbing" and "unconscionable" if true, but said Washington had not yet confirmed them.

Russia denies targeting civilians.

Greece`s consul general in Mariupol, the last EU diplomat to evacuate the city, said it was joining the ranks of places known for having been destroyed in wars.

"What I saw, I hope no one will ever see," he said.

FEW ADVANCES

Capturing Mariupol would help Russian forces secure a land corridor to the Crimea peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Putin says Russia`s "special operation" is aimed at disarming Ukraine and rooting out dangerous nationalists. Western nations call it an aggressive war of choice and have imposed punishing sanctions aimed at crippling Russia`s economy.

Ukraine and its Western backers say Russian ground forces have made few advances in the last week, concentrating instead on artillery and missile strikes.

Zelenskiy`s adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said on Sunday there had been a relative lull over the past 24 hours, with "practically no rocket strikes on cities". He said front lines were "practically frozen".

Later on Sunday, however, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko reported several explosions in the capital`s Podil district and said rescue teams were putting out a large fire at the shopping centre. He said at least one person was killed.

The U.N. human rights office said at least 902 civilians had been killed as of Saturday, though the real toll was probably much higher. Some 10 million Ukrainians had been displaced, including some 3.4 million who have fled to neighbouring countries such as Poland, the U.N. refugee agency said. Officials in the region said they were reaching capacity to comfortably house refugees.

Kyiv and Moscow reported some progress last week toward a political formula that would guarantee Ukraine`s security, while keeping it outside NATO - a key Russian demand - though each side accused the other of dragging things out.
Press Release

March 21, 2022 Pangilinan: TROPA to make farming profitable for small farmers VICE-PRESIDENTIAL aspirant Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan on Monday said that under the Robredo presidency, farming would be made profitable for small farmers and farm workers to encourage them to continue tilling lands and feeding Filipinos. "We have to move away from subsistence farming which is the norm, to farm enterprise and farm entrepreneurship," Pangilinan told the Radio Veritas Catholic e-forum for presidential, vice presidential, and senatorial candidates in the May 9, 2022 elections. Pangilinan said farm enterprises and farm entrepreneurship are enshrined in the Republic Act 11321 (Sagip Saka Act). With Pangilinan as the principal author, the Sagip Saka Act created the Farmers and Fisherfolk Enterprise Development Program under the Department of Agriculture. The program is "a comprehensive set of objectives, targets, and holistic approach in promoting the establishment of enterprises involving agricultural and fishery products." Also during the Radio Veritas interview, Pangilinan said that Team Robredo-Pangilinan (TROPA) would double the budget of agriculture to ensure food security, adequate supply of rice at affordable prices to all Filipinos. In his various sorties, Pangilinan has pledged to bring the issues and concerns of farmers and fisherfolk front and center of the Robredo administration. Asked whether he supports corporate farming, Pangilinan said "hindi naman either or (ang pagsasaka)." "There are several templates. Hindi naman one size fits all. Corporate farming is one way to go," Pangilinan said, citing the example of the successful case of Maguindanao's La Frutera Inc.'s 2,000-hectare banana plantation, being managed by former Agriculture Secretary Senen Bacani since 1996. The Middle Eastern firm Chiquita Unifrutti International was convinced by Bacani to invest in banana farms in a predominantly Muslim area on Mindanao in 1996. La Frutera is among the pioneering large-scale banana plantations in Datu Paglas, Maguindanao, employing more than 1,500 and exporting to Asia and the Middle East. As one of the top 10 banana producers in the country, it is the only plantation in the Philippines certified by the Rainforest Alliance and International Organization for Standardization for environmental management.
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BUDAPEST/WARSAW, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Hungarian fighter jets were alerted to intercept a civilian plane late Saturday night following information that the plane was carrying a bomb, the defence ministry said in a statement Sunday morning.

"The Hungarian Army's Gripens were alerted on March 19 at night because of a civilian Airbus A321 aircraft," the ministry said, adding that the plane was en route from Georgia to Poland.

"The plane was flying in Romanian airspace when it signaled a bomb threat to civilian air traffic control," the statement added.

The passenger Airbus was escorted by the aircrafts of the Romanian Air Force to the Romanian-Hungarian border, where the task was taken over by the fighter jets of the Hungarian Armed Forces, according to the ministry.

The Hungarian ministry also informed that the A321 aircraft was escorted out of Hungarian airspace, where the Slovak Air Force took over.

According to local media, the plane landed after 11 p.m. at Warsaw airport. After checking the plane and passengers' luggage, police announced that nothing dangerous was found onboard.

This type of bomb threat was the second one in a week. On Monday, the Gripen fighter jets were scrambled to intercept a civilian plane after air traffic control was told that the plane was carrying a bomb.

The Serbian Airbus A319 flying from Belgrade to Moscow was turned back at the Hungary-Slovakia border after Belgrade's control tower told Hungarian air traffic control that the plane had a bomb on board.

The Gripens identified the Serbian aircraft and escorted it outside Hungary's airspace towards Serbia. The Gripens remained in flight near the border until the Airbus A319 safely landed. 
BRUSSELS, March 20 (Xinhua) -- At least six people were killed after a car drove into a crowd of carnival performers on Sunday morning in La Louviere, southern Belgium.

"We have a few dozen injured and unfortunately several people killed," La Louviere Mayor Jacques Gobert told RTBF radio station.

About 70 others have suffered minor injuries, according to Belgian online news website 7sur7.

The occupants of the car have been arrested, said local police.

"My thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones. All my support also goes to the emergency services for their help and assistance provided," Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo wrote on Twitter.

"What was supposed to be a great party turned into a tragedy," Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden tweeted.

The city of La Louviere has launched a municipal emergency plan to rescue the injured. 
Presidente @PedroCastilloTe: "Solicitaremos incluir en la agenda de la sesion del Acuerdo Nacional el tema de la educacion. Invoco que abordemos este sector para sentar las bases que nos permitan formar mejores personas y ciudadanos". #SiempreConElPueblo pic.twitter.com/ewxIUr8XXI
???? Nuestra diversidad es motivo de orgullo.

? Construyamos el pais que queremos, despojandonos de todo acto de discriminacion etnico-racial y respetando nuestra identidad.

?????????????? Reafirmemos nuestro compromiso por un #PeruIntercultural recordando que #LaDiversidadNosUne. pic.twitter.com/RmHN8hK3sj
?? En vivo | El presidente @PedroCastilloTe participa en la ceremonia por el inicio del Ano Escolar 2022 en el colegio "Nino Jesus de Praga" en Pachacamac.#TodosVuelven https://t.co/sMHXnHENAT




The Head of State noted that Peruvians are made of work and honesty. "We will continue to walk with you to see the (country's) development," he said.





The remarks were made in Chosica, where he arrived to inspect the facilities of an educational institution.





According to the President, attention will focus on issues such as nutrition and the lack of basic services (water and wastewater), as well as hospitals.





"How is it possible that after 200 years of republican life people keep () asking for water, people cannot live like this, water has to be a constitutional right," he remarked.





The country's top official reiterated that while progress is being made, other sectors are "thinking about other things."





"Peru's demands need be met; this is the country that we have received, and we will help it recover," he said in a brief meeting with locals.





(END) VVS/RMB

The President of the Republic Pedro Castillo on Monday affirmed that he will never go backwards in meeting the country's demands.Published: 3/21/2022
Emin Yogurtcuoglu, a 35-year-old bird watcher, works at Lake Mogan in Ankara, Turkey, on March 18, 2022. Emin Yogurtcuoglu, a Turkish self-proclaimed "bird detective," is constantly seeking new bird species around the world, and he wants to make his next trip to China, land of many species and home to abundant wildlife. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)

by Burak Akinci

ANKARA, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Emin Yogurtcuoglu, a Turkish self-proclaimed "bird detective," is constantly seeking new bird species around the world, and he wants to make his next trip to China, land of many species and home to abundant wildlife.

Started his bird observation at the age of 12, the 35-year-old bird watcher has traveled to almost every region of Turkey, and became famous in his country and abroad on social media through the vibrant pictures he took during his travels.

"Among all animals, birds are the most accessible ones. They are the closest to humans. Birds are full of colors, they can fly, change countries and migrate," he told Xinhua in an interview on the shores of Lake Mogan, located 20 km of Turkey's capital Ankara.

"You can see hundreds, thousands of different species of birds in all corners of the world. They pushed me to travel to different zones of the globe," the man said.

Beyond Turkey, Yogurtcuoglu has stepped foot on no fewer than six of the world's seven continents, including Antarctica, and seen 40 percent of the 10,000 bird species known to exist on the planet.

The wildlife expert wishes now to travel to China.

"I have extensively studied China's bird population, and there are over 1,300 species and I would like to go there, especially Sichuan and Yunnan provinces harboring endemic species," he said.

Yogurtcuoglu applauded China's push for animal conservation and scientific research.

"When I go to China, I would like to learn on this issue from my counterparts and see what lessons we can pass on to my country. China has made very serious efforts on wildlife protection. They make considerable (scientific) studies on bird populations," he said. 

Emin Yogurtcuoglu, a 35-year-old bird watcher, takes photos at Lake Mogan in Ankara, Turkey, on March 18, 2022. Emin Yogurtcuoglu, a Turkish self-proclaimed "bird detective," is constantly seeking new bird species around the world, and he wants to make his next trip to China, land of many species and home to abundant wildlife. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)

Emin Yogurtcuoglu, a 35-year-old bird watcher, watches birds at Lake Mogan in Ankara, Turkey, on March 18, 2022. Emin Yogurtcuoglu, a Turkish self-proclaimed "bird detective," is constantly seeking new bird species around the world, and he wants to make his next trip to China, land of many species and home to abundant wildlife. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)
YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan sent a congratulatory message to the representatives of the Kurdish community of Armenia on the occasion of the Kurdish New Year, Newroz.

The message reads, "I warmly congratulate the representatives of the Kurdish community of Armenia on the occasion of the New Year, Newroz.

Let Newroz, the spring awakening, be the symbol of a year of joy and achievement for the Kurds of Armenia. Let all the trials, big and small, be left in the past, and success in all your good deeds accompany you.

May the New Year be a year of abundance and prosperity for the Kurds living in Armenia.

I wish happiness to the representatives of the Kurdish community of Armenia happiness, exuberance and solidarity to your families, prosperity and progress to your community in the equal fraternal family of the Armenian society.

Happy Newroz.
YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. Every year large numbers of Iranian tourists visit Armenia during Nowruz holidays. This year, activeness is again expected.

The incoming tourists arrive both by airlines and by land. However, the heavy snowfalls this year created some difficulties for tourists preferring to visit Armenia by land.

The Armenian Tourism Federation President Mekhak Apresyan said at a news conference that transportation companies are alarming that many roads are difficult to pass.

We maintain contact with road authorities, they respond swiftly, but it seems like there is a need to involve backup. We need all relevant agencies and the private sector to swiftly respond in order to properly carry out the work. Communication and access is very important. We must do everything to solve the problem as soon as possible or else the planned visits will be disrupted. We cant allow the tourists to be disappointed, Apresyan said.

Authorities in the province of Syunik launched a task force that deals with accommodating Iranian tourists in hotels until the roads are opened.

Regarding air traffic from Iran, Apresyan said they havent received any calls or problems regarding tourism flow arriving on planes. All scheduled flights are proceeding normally.

The latest road information was issued by the authorities on March 21.
YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. Former MP, founder of the Security and Democracy Human Rights Organization says any status of Artsakh within Azerbaijan would mean genocide.

Zohrabyan pointed out that Azerbaijan is again making threats.

Yesterday the Azerbaijani foreign ministry spokesperson said that Armenia isnt drawing conclusions from the 44-day war, Zohrabyan said at parliamentary hearings.

Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan in any status, be it cultural autonomy or any other status, would mean genocide, genocide of Artsakh, Zohrabyan warned.

She pointed out the Azeri glorification of Ramil Safarov, the convicted murderer who axed to death an Armenian serviceman during a NATO training program in Hungary, whom the Azeri authorities are presenting as an example of patriotism. Zohrabyan said there cant be any talk on a peace treaty in these conditions.

She warned about the danger of a total loss of Artsakh, noting that it is time to act.

I regret that Russia withdrew from the Council of Europe. Its not ruled out that Russia could also withdraw from the OSCE Minsk Group, and this would mean to directly fail the OSCE Minsk Group works, she warned, adding that Armenia must rely on itself.
YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. The official launch of events being organized within the framework of the La Francophonie days was held at the Yerevan Brusov State University of Languages and Social Sciences, dedicated to the 10th anniversary of Armenias membership to the International Organization of La Francophonie.

The event was attended by representatives of Francophonie cultural, scientific and education spheres, the Embassy of France in Armenia and the distinguished graduates of the University.

Rector of the University Karine Harutyunyan said these events are very important for the students learning French in the university. Currently nearly 500 students study French in the university as a first and second language. And, of course, the university must initiate, implement and be actively engaged in the Francophonie events, the rector said.

The university also plans to carry out a number of events on the La Francophonie days.

The rector said the university continues cooperating and implementing a number of programs within the La Francophonie framework.
YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. As of 21 March, 187 servicemembers in Armenia and Artsakh are missing-in-action in the 2020 Nagorno Karabakh war (Artsakh war), the Investigative Committee said in a statement.

Another 21 civilians are also missing.

The total number of deaths in the 2020 Artsakh war from the Armenian side stands at 3822. Investigators did not elaborate but said that this number includes both servicemembers and civilians.

The Investigative Committee said it continues the investigation into the criminal case on the war of aggression launched by Azerbaijan against Artsakh, the Azerbaijani recruitment and deployment of mercenaries, deployment of banned methods and measures of warfare, Azerbaijani indiscriminate, premeditated and coordinated attacks on peaceful population of towns and cities of Artsakh and other gross violations of international humanitarian law.

The Investigative Committee also added that so far Azerbaijan returned to Armenia 150 prisoners of war (servicemembers and civilians).
YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. Speaker of Parliament of Armenia Alen Simonyan delivered speech at the 144th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union on March 21, the Parliaments press service said.

The main direction of the agenda of the Assembly was the joint fight against climate change, which also requires a coordinated work of the parliaments of different countries.

In his remarks the Armenian Speaker of Parliament touched upon the side impact of the climate change on international processes. He told the partners that Armenia is taking active measures to contribute to the efforts of the international community directed against the climate change and man-made disasters.

The Speaker said Armenia adopted a national adaptation program to climate change action, which deepens the cooperation between sectoral initiatives. Presenting the Armenian peculiarities of climate matters, Alen Simonyan said within the frames of a number of international agreements the Armenian government approved the 2021-2030 investment program which will contribute to the reduction of the level of emissions and increase of green zones.

He said Armenia is promoting the policy of increasing renewable energy in energy production field, adding that respective legislative reforms are being implemented.

Given the global environmental challenges and their irreversible effect on climate, the Speaker of Parliament reaffirmed Armenias readiness to cooperate with parliaments of all member states and international organizations on this matter.

Summing up his speech, Alen Simonyan said parliaments are responsible for conventions and agreements, as well as for reforms of national legislation, and the Armenian Parliament is properly controlling these processes.
YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan said today that Azerbaijan is holding in captivity 38 persons, 3 of whom are civilians.

Armenian prisoners of war and civilians are still illegally held in Azerbaijan. And Armenia continues raising the issue of the immediate return of Armenian POWs, hostages and other persons held in Azerbaijan at different international formats. Azerbaijan is still holding 38 persons  POW, hostage and persons held in another status. 3 out of 38 are civilians. Its worth noting that 2 out of these 38 have been captured before the November 9", the FM said at the session of the parliamentary standing committee on foreign affairs.

The issue has been included to the agenda of the PACE autumn session on 2021 April 19, as well as the decision on applying ECHR interim measures in Azerbaijan is still in force.

On May 20, 2021, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for the immediate release and return of Armenian captives.

The FM also recalled the 2021 December 7 decisions of the UNs International Court of Justice, where through the use of urgent measures the Court obliged Azerbaijan to prevent inciting racial hatred and discrimination targeting ethnic Armenians, to take necessary measures to prevent and punish the acts of vandalism and desecration directed against the Armenian cultural heritage.

The minister said the statement of the Azerbaijani culture minister that a commission must be set up to deal with the restoration of Aghvan cultural monuments makes urgent sending a UNESCO mission to Nagorno Karabakh. And the Armenian side is now holding negotiations on this direction.
YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov held a telephone conversation today, the Azerbaijani foreign ministry said.

The sides discussed the situation in the region, including the implementation process of the 2020 November 9 and 2021 January 11 trilateral statements.

The ministers also discussed the situation around Ukraine.

Earlier today the Russian FM also held a telephone conversation with Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan.
YEREVAN, 21 MARCH, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Defense of Armenia Suren Papikyan on March 21 received the delegation led by the head of the Delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Armenia Thierry Ribaux.



As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Ministry of Defense, Suren Papikyan thanked Thierry Ribaux for the efforts made for the protection of the rights of Armenians held in Azerbaijan, mentioning that Geneva Conventions guarantee the protection of the rights of the prisoners of war, right of respect of their honor and dignity, which should exclude any kind of humiliating attitude.



At the same time, Suren Papikyan informed the head of the Yerevan Office of the ICRC the concern of the Ministry of Defense of Armenia concerning the attempts of the Azerbaijani authorities making the issue of return of prisoners of war and civilians exclusively a matter of political speculation.



During the meeting the interlocutors discussed also the issues related to finding out the fate of the missing persons, Armenian captives, problems of coordinating the works between the interdepartmental commission and the ICRC related to missing persons and other issues.



Thierry Ribaux assured that the delegation of the ICRC takes all necessary steps of clarifying the fate of missing persons, as well as at the direction of clarification of information about prisoners of war and civilian captives.
YEREVAN, 21 MARCH, ARMENPRESS. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had a telephone conversation with his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov. ARMENPRESS reports the Russian Foreign Ministry informs that during the telephone conversation the parties exchanged views on regional and international issues. Reference was made to the implementation of the key provisions of the trilateral statements signed by the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan on November 9, 2020, January 11, and November 26, 2021, as well as the issue of concluding a peace treaty between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

The Foreign Ministers of the two countries clarified the further work of the "3 + 3" regional consulting platform.

Lavrov and Bayramov also spoke about the developments around Ukraine.
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Auburn University student Allen Li has been named a finalist for the prestigious Harry S. Truman Scholarship. He will interview virtually this Friday for one of the 60 available Truman Scholarships nationwide.

Li, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, is an Honors College junior majoring in political science and economics with a minor in philosophy within the College of Liberal Arts.

Among his many activities, Li currently serves as a member of War Eagle Girls and Plainsmen, or WEGP, vice-president of the Pi Lambda Sigma Pre-Law Honors Society, and a member of the Human Rights Campaign Asian American and Pacific Islander, or AAPI, Queer Visibility Working Group. Throughout his time at Auburn, Li has been heavily involved in the Student Government Association, or SGA, serving as assistant vice president of Academic Affairs during his junior year, director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion during his sophomore year, and Lobby Board during his freshman. This past summer Li interned for the Human Rights Campaign, as well as received an Undergraduate Research Fellowship from Auburn University.

Most notably Li has been on the forefront of LGBTQIA issues at Auburn University. As a sophomore Li developed the Inclusive Housing Project, which specifically addresses LGBTQIA student issues regarding the roommate matching process. Li developed a three-phase plan with SGA that focuses on prioritizing a safe space for students who may be dealing with harassment, misgendering, fear and anxiety.

Im so proud of the work Ive done, said Li. It means a lot to show the nation and the Truman Foundation how much Auburn University has changed and improved with LGBTQIA issues and how far weve come in just a few short years. The power of diversity, equity and inclusion is real, and this work is highlighting to the nation that Auburn understands and is working towards a better future.

Allen is an exceptional student and experienced public servant with a drive to give a voice to the voiceless, said Alex Sauer, Coordinator for Scholarship and Research in the Honors College. I am so proud of Allen for being selected as a Truman Finalist, and regardless of the outcome, he is well on his way to changing the world for the better.

The Truman Scholarship Program was established to provide scholarships to outstanding students who are committed to a career in public service. Created in 1975 by an act of Congress the Harry S. Truman Scholarship is awarded to approximately 60 college juniors each year on the basis of four criteria: service on campus and in the community, commitment to a career in public service, communication ability and aptitude to be a change agent and academic talent that would assure acceptance to a first-rate graduate school. More broadly, Truman Scholars possess intellect, leadership skills and passion that would make them a likely force for the public good in any field.

Scholars receive an award of $30,000 that goes toward post-graduate education. In addition, Truman Scholars participate in leadership development programs and have special opportunities for internships and employment with the federal government.
(Reuters) -A Southeast Asian peace envoy met Myanmar's military rulers on Monday on his first trip to the crisis-hit country, a visit opposition groups denounced for showing deference to the leaders of last year's coup and disdain for the will of the people.

Prak Sokhonn, special envoy for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), began his three-day visit with talks with junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, but ASEAN chair Cambodia declined to say who else he plans to meet in Myanmar.

The trip comes amid frustration in ASEAN over the junta's failure to honour its commitment last year to a five-point ASEAN "consensus" to end hostilities and start a peace process.

ASEAN has responded by barring the generals from its summits and Cambodia is hopeful it can lay the groundwork for dialogue between all sides.

Myanmar spiralled into chaos after a coup 13 months ago, which ignited protests and strikes nationwide, and conflict in the countryside between troops and armed groups angered by the military's use of lethal force against civilians.

Myanmar's state-run MRTV in its nightly bulletin showed Prak Sokhonn and ASEAN's secretary-general Lim Jock Hoi meeting the junta's leader and later dining with its foreign minister, Wunna Maung Lwin.

MRTV said Min Aung Hlaing told the envoy his military council was cooperating on the ASEAN agreement and trying to restore peace and order, but his country was under attack and beset by lawlessness.

Myanmar's foreign ministry in a statement said Wunna Maung Lwin explained to Prak Sokhonn the ASEAN peace process must be "Myanmar-owned and Myanmar-led".

The visit comes a week after the United Nations said the army had been engaging in systematic abuses that amounted to war crimes and crimes against humanity. The army has yet to respond.

According to some Myanmar media, Prak Sokhonn will meet unspecified political parties, but talks with representatives of ethnic minority armies were cancelled.

Story continues

Radio Free Asia said he would meet representatives of deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi's former ruling party, hundreds of members of which have been arrested. Reuters could not reach the party for confirmation.

On Monday, a group called the General Strike Coordination Body, in a statement on behalf of 36 civil society groups, complained that recommendations by ASEAN members had been ignored by an envoy who was advocating for Myanmar's junta.

"The visit to Myanmar by the ASEAN envoy showed no respect on the voices and demands from the people of Myanmar," it said, calling ASEAN "shameful".

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday Myanmar's army had committed genocide and crimes against humanity against the Rohingya minority in 2017, and since the coup was using the same tactics. [nL2N2VO14S]

Myanmar authorities, at the time led by Suu Kyi, said they were battling an insurgency and denied systematic atrocities.

(Reporting by Reuters Staff; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Ed Davies and Nick Macfie)
The mission of the Finger Lakes Arts Council is to create an environment that supports, fosters, provides, and promotes inclusive arts programming. We try to achieve this in various ways. Sometimes we host events in collaboration with vendors and partners, such as our Holiday Festival of the Arts, which was held in December at Willard Memorial Chapel.

We also promote the work of local artists and other creatives by featuring them in this monthly column. We are very grateful to David Wilcox and The Citizen for this wonderful platform. This month we want to support The Creative Arts Market, which is a project of First Presbyterian Church at their Presbyterian Event and Retreat Center, 112 South St., in Auburn. The Creative Arts Market will be held every second and forth Saturday until June from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m.

Catherine Byrne, a retreat center volunteer, said, We were looking for creative ways to get people out and about. Pastor Banu (Moore) suggested having a regular arts fair here. The building can accommodate up to 25 vendors. One room is set aside for Logos Creations, which features items created or donated by church members. This room also offers religious themed items, which Catherine said can be hard to find in Auburn.

The PERC was originally the home of Theodore Case the inventor of sound on film. The 1930s era building is a beautiful venue for hosting art events. Case eventually donated the mansion to the City of Auburn. In 1946 they sold it to the Carmelite Fathers, who used it as a monastery and later has a home for mentally disabled people. That later changed to helping mentally disabled veterans, which grew into a service that we now know as Unity House. In 2016, the church established the building as the PERC.

Pastor Banu Moore said there will be themes for the events, musicians are scheduled to perform, and free lunches will be provided for vendors. As long as we have space, we want to support our community artisans. There is no charge for the vendors, but donations of 10% of sales or love offerings are appreciated. For more information, contact the church at 315-252-3861 or E-mail: fpcauburn@protonmail.com.

We would also like to congratulate FLAC board member Sandy Shutter as she celebrates the first anniversary of Artistic Impressions, her retail boutique gallery and studio workshop, located in the Willard Memorial Chapel building at 17 Nelson Street.

The city of Auburn and the Downtown Auburn BID will be presenting the Fifth Annual Sizzlin Summer Kickoff, Saturday, June 25, from 5:00 to 10:00 PM. This event will be spread out across Exchange Street, Lincoln Street, the Equal Rights Heritage Center, and downtown Auburn. Portions of the area will be closed to traffic. According to their press release, there will be artisans and craft vendors, food and beverage sales, plus live music performances.

To register as a vendor or a performer or for more information, contact Kim Bauso at (315) 255-4737 or email kbauso@auburnny.gov.

Let's get out support the arts and enjoy this great community!

Joe Sarnicola is a crafts artist and the president of the Finger Lakes Art Council, and can be reached at artcouncilfingerlakes@gmail.com or (315) 224-5071. For more information, visit facebook.com/fingerlakesartcouncil.

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Auburn school superintendent Jeffrey Pirozzolo will give an update on the district when he appears on "Inside Government with Guy Cosentino" on Tuesday.

Pirozzolo will discuss the end of the mask mandate, the arrest of a school resource officer and a board of education vote on a high school library book that was questioned for its appropriateness. The interview airs at 7 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday on Spectrum channel 12 and replays on Spectrum 12 and 98 and Verizon channel 31 at 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday from Auburn Regional Media Access.

That will be followed by "Beyond The Front Page with Guy Cosentino" with Auburn Doubledays owner Don Lewis to discuss the upcoming season at Falcon Park and recap their inaugural year. The interview airs at 7:30 p.m. on Spectrum 12 on Tuesday and Thursday and replays on Spectrum 12 and 98 and Verizon channel 31 at 5:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

All programs are streamed live and archived on the departments YouTube channel, Media@Cayuga. Viewers can open YouTube in a browser or app and then enter Media@Cayuga in the search bar. The shows are rebroadcast starting at 10 a.m. each Saturday on the CCCs station, WDWN89.1 FM.

Among the guests in coming weeks are Cayuga County Legislative Chairman David Gould, Auburn City Manager Jeff Dygert, executive director of the Auburn Housing Authority, Stephanie Hutchinson and Dr. Adam Effler, of the Owasco Lake Watershed Management Council. The school district will have a budget update on April 5 on the budget to be put before voters in May. There will also be the annual Auburn Enlarged City School District Board of Education candidaes forum on May 3.

Viewers with questions for any of the shows guests can send e-mail cozguytho@aol.com. The shows are taped at CCC on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons by the students of CCCs Telecom/Media Department.

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Charges are pending in connection with a natural gas tank explosion Saturday night in Throop, the state Department of Environmental Conservation said Monday.

DEC police are investigating what the agency said was an "illegal fire" that ignited one of two 100-gallon compressed natural gas tanks that were being stored nearby on property used by Dirt Works of Auburn LLC, a construction and excavation company. The company has a garage at the end of Whitehead Lane, which is off Beech Tree Road.

The explosion could be felt from several miles away, with social media reports of it being heard from places as far away as Solvay. Throop Fire Department Chief Patrick Burns said there were no injuries from the blast, which did not cause major property damage.

DEC said the fire that sparked the explosion contained prohibited materials, including construction and demolition debris, household garbage, plastic toys and a 55-gallon drum filled with used oil filters.

The compressed natural gas tanks are used to fuel heavy equipment vehicles, Throop Assistant Fire Chief Brian Dahl said.

DEC said charges and site cleanup is pending, and the case remains under investigation. Dirt Works could not be reached for comment on Monday.

Throop and Port Byron fire departments were initially dispatched at 9:41 p.m. Saturday to investigate 911 calls about a possible explosion, but the exact location was not initially known, Burns said. Crews eventually narrowed it down to an area behind a garage used by excavation company Dirt Works on Whitehead Lane, which is off Beech Tree Road.

The Cayuga County Sheriff's Office, New York State Police and Throop's code enforcement and fire investigation team assisted at the scene, Burns said.

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From the second half of 2023, Honda will use the algae at its own production facilities in Japan and Southeast Asia to offset carbon emissions.

Honda Motor is mulling to commercialize its algae-growing technology, which can be used to absorb carbon and create biofuels, plastics and other products, the Nikkei newspaper reported. The carmaker will first test mass production of the organic material and then build a new facility of about 1,000 square meters.

From the second half of 2023, Honda will use the algae at its own production facilities in Japan and Southeast Asia to offset carbon emissions. This decision comes as the company is looking to ramp up its efforts to go green as it pledges to phase out sales of combustion engine cars by 2040 and achieve net-zero emissions for its entire supply chain by 2050.

(Also read | Honda looking to raise $2.75 billion through green bonds for EV push)

As per the company's sustainability report, Hondas scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions for its fiscal year through 2021 were 4.5 million tons. Also, there are two ways that the companies are seeking to use algae as a potential replacement to traditional biomass fuels such as corn and soybeans, considering that prices of biofuels have been pushed up due to Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Honda has improved its algaes resistance to infection, which enables it to grow more efficiently. The organic material can multiply 32 times in a single day as compared with once or twice for ordinary algae, the report stated. Honda is planning to use biofuels made from algae for its HondaJet airplane as well as for electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft or eVTOLs. The latter, it aims to commercialize in the 2030s, the report stated.

As part of its green efforts, the company is also looking to push its electrification process by raising $2.75 billion through US-dollar dominated green bonds.

(with inputs from Bloomnerg)

First Published Date:
Toyota plans to spend half of 8 trillion yen ($67 billion) on EVs and the rest on building out hybrid and hydrogen technologies.

Japanese auto giants are betting big on the alternative fuels for the future of transportation, and are pressing ahead with the development of cars that run on cleaner fuels. Even though the world is moving towards electric vehicles, companies like Toyota, Subaru and Mazda want to explore the potential of other alternatives.

Subaru is looking at exploring cars powered by carbon-neutral fuels in order to lower fleet emissions. Along with Toyota Motor and Mazda Motor, Subaru entered vehicles that are equipped with engines that burn hydrogen and different carbon-neutral fuels in a road race in Japans Mie Prefecture over the weekend.

(Also read | Toyota expands production halts in Japan as earthquake hits parts procurement)

The chiefs of all three Japanese auto companies believe that a variety of technologies, in addition to EVs, will contribute to cleaner transport over the coming decades. However, their approach of maintaining a broad range of options has drawn criticism from those who believe that they will be left behind in the race to battery-powered cars.

Meanwhile, offering a mix of traditional and new technologies is a practical way of meeting the challenge of a business that has been built on decades of burning hydrocarbons. Even though EVs have take off globally, the technology still faces a number of challenges including high end-costs to procurement of raw materials needed to make batteries.

Toyota is investing significantly in its build-out of EVs but it also continues to spread its bets as it plans to spend half of 8 trillion yen ($67 billion) on EVs and the rest on building out hybrid and hydrogen technologies. Subaru is aiming carbon neutrality with hybrid and battery-electric cars set to make up around 40% of its global sales in 2030.

(with inputs from Bloomberg)

First Published Date:
Beijing (Gasgoo)- China local authorities are said to recognize autonomous driving vehicles as part of the open road traffic participants, therefore issuing L3 autonomous vehicles with official license plates, reliable sources told a local media outlet on March 14th.

Photo credit: Baidu Apollo



Currently, autonomous driving vehicles that are permitted to operate on open roads in China hang specialized paper plates by requirement. If the information has proven true, China will most likely be the second country to greenlight the mass production of L3 passenger vehicles worldwide, after Germany.

L3 autonomous driving is known as conditional driving automation. It adopts various ADAS and AI technologies to make autonomous driving decisions based on the surrounding environment. Human drivers inside the vehicle are not demanded to supervise the system so that one can engage in other activities onboard. However, a human driver must be present, alert, and able to take control of the vehicle at all times in the case of an emergency.

Greenlighting the technology under Chinas current traffic regulations means that text and drive are no longer a citable offense when the L3 autonomous driving function is initiated.

On January 26th 2021, the city of Beijing released a report demonstrating the citys achievements in the autonomous driving road test field in 2021.

According to the report, by the end of 2021, the city has accommodated 170 autonomous driving vehicles from 16 entities, accumulating 3.912 million km of safe autonomous driving road test mileage, growing consecutively for three years. Additionally, 124 of the testing vehicles were with safety drivers, accumulating 2.51 million km of road test mileage, with over 300,000 people participating in the pilot operation.
Rapeseed flowers bloom in Tengchong, Southwest China's Yunnan province, recently. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Tengchong, Yunnan province, where the annual average temperature is 15 degrees Celcius, is attracting visitors this season to see its oceans of rapeseed flowers.

In Tengchong, there are three major destinations for those who want to enjoy the flowers  Jietou, Heshun and Zhonghe townships.

With more than 10,000 hectares planted with rapeseed, Jietou is the largest. From a high viewing platform, tourists can get a wide view.

In Heshun, the bright yellow flower interwoven with white architecture, while in Zhonghe the rapeseed is found blooming between houses, in mountains and on farms.

Rapeseed flowers bloom in Tengchong, Southwest China's Yunnan province, recently. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]










COLUMBUS  Felipe Vazquez, the teenager who fired the shot that killed Lincoln Police Officer Mario Herrera in August 2020, will go to prison for first-degree murder.

A jury in Platte County District Court, where this month's trial was moved, returned the verdict just before 8:30 p.m. Monday.

Twelve hours earlier, in closing arguments, the jury of five men and seven women heard Herrera's voice, captured on an audio recorder in the investigator's pocket, the moment he was wounded.

First came a smash, the sound of glass breaking from a bedroom window.

A shot followed. Boom. Then, immediately, Herrera's pained screams.

His family and Lincoln police officers in plain clothes had filled the courtroom Monday morning, at least one wiping away tears at the dramatic audio that showed how quickly everything went tragically wrong.

Many were back in the Columbus courtroom Monday night, awaiting the jury's response to the question of premeditated first-degree murder or manslaughter, as attorneys for Vazquez had suggested throughout the two-week trial.

Vazquez showed no emotion as the seven guilty verdicts were read, including assault, escape and firearm charges that could net a sentence of life plus 194 years at a hearing scheduled for May 25.

Following the verdicts, Herrera's family watched as deputies put handcuffs on Vazquez and led him out of the courtroom. Herrera's widow, Carrie Herrera, tearfully hugged Lancaster County Attorney Pat Condon and other supporters, including current and former LPD officers.

Family members declined comment outside the courtroom and attorneys offered no statements.

The verdicts followed 19 months after officers first went to Vazquez's father's house at 3255 Vine St., looking to serve a warrant.

In the seconds leading up to the audio clip played Monday, Condon said Mario Herrera and two other officers were behind a tree in the yard talking. A captain said he didn't think Vazquez  the teen who locked himself in a bedroom when they came to arrest him  had a gun inside.

"What does he do? He does what he's been trained to do," Condon said of Herrera, who stepped out from behind the tree when he heard the crashing noise of Vazquez's escape attempt. "He's also drawing Mr. Vazquez's fire."

He said in the 20 to 25 minutes holed up in the house, Vazquez had time to think this whole thing out, showing premeditation necessary for first-degree murder.

"He's not trying to scare the officers. He's trying to kill the officers that are trying to stop him from leaving," Condon said.

Vazquez's first shot was the one that tore through Herrera's liver. Then there was a pause and a second boom from the stolen .45-caliber handgun.

In closing arguments, defense attorney Nancy Peterson said Vazquez didn't intend to shoot Herrera or anyone.

"All he wanted to do was to get away," she said.

She said if he had planned to have a shootout with police, why would he leave an extra magazine for the gun behind? And why didn't he shoot at an officer blocking off Vine Street a block away?

In an interview with a Lancaster County Sheriff's deputy later that day, after Vazquez was chased out of a house nearby and found hiding on a porch, he denied he'd had a gun or fired it.

"I just got out the window. I heard gunshots and I kept running. I don't know, bro," the then-17-year-old said.

But last week on the stand, Vazquez said he remembered firing the gun twice  police found three .45 casings. He said the plan was to aim at the tree to cause officers to take cover, allowing him and his friend, Orion Ross, to get away.

On Monday, Peterson asked the jury to find Vazquez guilty of manslaughter for Herrera's killing.

Peterson also asked jurors to find Vazquez not guilty of attempted assault on Officer Cole Jennings, who ended up with bruising on his legs.

Prosecutors believe Vazquez shot at Jennings' feet, causing debris to hit him, before Jennings returned fire, shooting four times but missing Vazquez as he ran away.

Peterson argued against that claim and against trusting testimony from two convicted felons who stood to benefit by, one, saying Vazquez had previously said he would shoot police if they came to arrest him and, by another, saying he'd said "it was me or the officer."

"Your verdict doesn't rest on maybes and possiblys and could've-beens," she said.

Condon countered that Vazquez wasn't shooting in the air or at a van or a tree.

"Felipe Vazquez was shooting at the officer who was going to stop him," he said. "That was his intention. To not get caught and to shoot ... whichever police officer he needed to."

The jury in Platte County, where the case was moved because of pretrial publicity, entered deliberations at 11:49 a.m.

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

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Billings police are investigating an armed robbery that occurred Sunday night and ended with one suspect in custody and another at large.

The two women walked into the Magic Diamond Casino on Main Street at 8 p.m. During the robbery, one of the two suspects fired a gun into the air before the two fled in a blue car, BPD tweeted Monday at 8:46 a.m.

Billings police responded to the call and spotted the fleeing car speeding away the other direction. Police pursued the vehicle which was travelling at a high rate of speed. After briefly losing the car in traffic, law enforcement found the vehicle with the help of Yellowstone County Sheriffs deputies near Ponderosa School on Billings South Side at about 8:10 p.m.

One of the suspects was seen running from the abandoned vehicle. After a foot chase police arrested the woman, who was allegedly identified as Makyla Fetter, at 8:17 p.m. The other suspect had not been arrested as of Monday afternoon. Billings Police Lt. Matthew Lennick said the only information available to the public on the other suspect is that she is described as a Native American woman. Police are still investigating the robbery.

Fetter was booked at the Yellowstone County Detention Facility and charged with robbery, according to Lennick. The county jail roster indicated she also faces charges of criminal endangerment and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence. She also had earlier warrants and tickets for failure to appear, shoplifting and unauthorized use of a vehicle. She has not yet been arraigned or given an opportunity to enter a plea to the new charges.

Gun violence has been on the rise in Billings over the last two years. Cases of assault with a weapon in Billings for 2021 increased by over 76% over the previous year, according to BPD data. Assaults with a weapon totaled 393 separate reports last year. The increase in assaults contributed to an overall rise in violent crime in the city since the beginning of 2020.

Gun violence has claimed the lives of at least five people in Billings so far in 2022, and police have responded to over eight shootings, according to statements posted to social media by BPD.

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A Billings-area reading program for school students expands to six schools this year and more than 1,300 students.

The program called Read Win Race ties reading to motor sports, especially hot rods and drag racing.

What kid doesnt love loud, noisy things that shoot fire? said the programs Billings founder Dale Sekora, who has been a race car driver for decades.

The program rewards students with various prizes for time spent reading. The top readers win tickets to the Yellowstone Drag Strip in Acton where principals from the winning school race each other. Students are introduced to the program with visits to their school from race car drivers and their hot rods.

During a recent banquet celebrating the success of Read Win Race, Trinity Lutheran School eighth-grade teacher Heidi Renner said the program has been transformative for many of her students. One reluctant reader fell in love with reading after spending enough time with books to win a ticket to the drag strip.

If you learn to love reading as a child, you will love it all of your life, she said. Reading is like having the keys to the kingdom.

Luke Shelton, superintendent at Elysian schools, said the backbone of education is reading. Its sometimes hard to motivate kids to read. This program does that, he said.

Sekora has acknowledged struggling as a reader his entire life. And, although hes succeeded in life by most measures, he wonders how much richer his life could be had someone nurtured his reading as a kid. Tying reading to race cars might have worked for him. He recalled an assignment in the first grade in which he was asked what he wanted to be when he grew up. He said a race car driver.

When I was in first grade, what if someone had introduced me to reading using race cars? How different would my life be? he asked.

The Read Win Race program is modeled after a program tied to a Colorado drag strip. That program is now in its 26th year and been used by 250 schools and 750,000 students. Called Race to Read in Colorado, the program is now seeing its second generation of readers, said founder Tami Bandimere.

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The class sat hunched over, brows furrowed, drawing gingerly on chicken eggs. Sometimes, their hands slipped, causing the tiny canvases to roll across the table.

As they worked, the students were audience to a lesson on Ukrainian history and culture.

First, its Ukraine, not the Ukraine, explained their teacher. The latter dates back to its time as a Soviet state. But Ukraine has been the countrys official name since it gained independence in 1991.

I always wondered why I wanted to say the Ukraine, one student chimed in.

Lisa McDonald, a tutor for the Natrona County School District, teaches workshops on Ukrainian Easter eggs, or pysanky. The folk art uses wax and dye to decorate real eggs with intricate, colorful designs.

Sharing Ukraines history and culture is especially important right now, McDonald, who is Ukrainian, said.

Russia invaded the country Feb. 24. Russian forces have fire upon many Ukrainian cities, especially along its eastern border. More than 3 million people have fled the country.

Ukrainian independence is at the heart of the conflict. Russia says it has a right to police Ukraine because it claims the two countries share one heritage.

But Ukraine and other former Soviet republics each have unique cultures and histories, said McDonald.

All these places are different, she said. Pysanky are her way of showing it.

Proceeds from the workshops will go toward humanitarian relief efforts in Ukraine led by Caritas, the charity arm of the Catholic Church.

There are two main steps to making pysanky, said McDonald: writing designs on eggs with beeswax, and dunking them in dye. The wax keeps the dye out, like a reverse stencil, protecting whats underneath.

Imagine making wax stars on a plain white egg, then dying the egg blue. Youd have a blue egg with white stars underneath. Add wax flowers on top of that, and dunk the egg in purple dye, and youd have a purple egg with white stars and blue flowers.

You kind of have to think backwards, said McDonald.

Ukrainians use specialized tools called kistka  essentially, a small funnel with a handle  like wax pens.

Beeswax goes into the funnel, then gets melted over candle flame. It has to be real beeswax, she said. The artificial stuff wont stick to eggshells.

The melted wax gently drizzles out of the other end, onto the eggs, almost like a hot glue gun.

Traditionally, pysanky are decorated with symbols of nature and harvest  like flowers, animals, baskets, crosses and stars  to usher in good fortune.

But they dont all have to be serious. One of the pysanky McDonald brought to a workshop Tuesday had Darth Vader on it  one of her sons creations.

The art form is easy and cheap enough that anyone can do it, McDonald said. Many Ukrainian families, including hers, make pysanky together every year. Kids join in on the fun from an early age.

You sit with the little ones on your lap, and you hold the kistka with them, and you draw on the egg with them, McDonald said.

McDonald told Tuesdays workshop about a traditional fortune-telling game Ukrainian children play with pysanky.

They get together, tap on their eggs, and recite a special saying: tap, tap, tap  whos going to have the best year? Whoevers egg cracks first loses, McDonald said.

Gifting pysanky eggs is also a big part of the tradition. McDonald plans to make one for each of her grandchildren every year until they turn 18.

I put the date on the bottom, and so they can look back to those and remember the good times they had with their Baba Lisa, she said.

All eggs come out beautiful, McDonald said  something she assured Tuesdays students several times.

At first, some werent buying it. One student spoke regretfully of her wobbly line-work. But those worries went away when she saw the finished product: orange swirls and dots, yellow spikes, red spikes and a flower on top.

She was looking at it going, Oh, really? Thats my egg? McDonald said.

At the very end, theres only one thing left to do: get the white and yolk out.

The easiest method is making a tiny hole in the bottom, and sucking it out with a syringe. The old-fashioned way works too, McDonald said. Traditionally, Ukrainians would make two holes, one on either end, and blow the eggs out with their mouths.

Pysanky are fragile, but can last for generations if taken care of properly.

For a time, Ukrainians couldnt make them at all. It was seen as a religious ritual, and the Soviet Union was an atheist regime.

But the Soviets could not stomp out the tradition during their years in power. Now, some Ukrainians see the art form as a sign of resistance as they fight to preserve their independence. Sharing the tradition, McDonald said, helps keep the culture alive.

Ukrainian immigrants in other countries  like McDonalds family, which settled in Canada  helped keep the tradition alive. Now, shes doing the same.

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Editor's note: Valley Credit Union and The Billings Gazette are featuring 32 seniors throughout the 2021-2022 school year. We want to help students who are not typically eligible for scholarships and financial aid awarded to those attending a 4-year program. At the end of the year, Valley will award one $5,000 grant to a deserving student.

To be considered for the grant, students must show a clear career path for their future after high school in the form of an industry certification, technical associates degree, City College, trade school or apprenticeship. Students are nominated by a teacher, counselor, or principal from their high school.

JoHanna Grace Tomash

Powell High School

What are your plans after high school?

Once I graduate from Powell High School in May 2022, I will be attending Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne, Wyoming where I have been accepted into the Diagnostic Medical Sonography program.

What is your favorite class in school and why?

I have come to love learning about history. I have been in both a world history as well as U.S. history class. I enjoyed learning about the past, the experiences that were had, and the mistakes that were made. Going from day to day, I have come to love seeing how my generation is making history in various ways, which I have loved getting to be a part of, and hopefully share my experience with future generations. In addition, I have also enjoyed my CTE classes. I have taken an Exploration to Healthcare Occupations class where I was able to research sonography, and interview current sonographers in my area. During this class, I gained field experience in sonography from being able to sign up for observation hours at one of the local imaging places.

Who inspires you and why?

Since a young age, my grandpa Mike Frazier, has inspired me in several ways. From the age of 14, he has worked on an oil rig where he worked his way up to a consultant. He had all of the odds against him when he dropped out of school and started working. He showed me that no matter where you start in life, there is always room to improve yourself and your habits. I have enjoyed getting to listen to all of his stories about life, including the mistakes he made working on a rig, as well as the story of how my grandma and him met. In my short time on Earth, he has taught me many lessons from managing money, to patching water tanks, as well as fixing hitch systems on our horse trailers. My grandpa has always supported me in everything I do, and I know that without his help and support, I wouldnt be the person I am today.

What are some things you enjoy outside of school?

When I am not attending school, I enjoy various pursuits including competing in the rodeo event barrel racing. I enjoy traveling to various states with my parents to compete on the horses I trained. In addition, I also enjoy working as a certified nursing assistant at my local care center where I am able to assist residents in everyday tasks and needs. It brings me joy to see each resident and assist them in tasks they are unable to perform by themselves.

What would make you feel successful in your career/work after school?

As I currently work in healthcare, and I am pursuing a degree in healthcare, I have found that teamwork is very crucial to be successful in the work environment. By providing my assistance and skills to others at work, and receiving help when needed, we are able to provide adequate care for patients. I also feel that in order for me to be successful at work, I will need my dedication in order to produce adequate exams as well as to make sure I am providing the best possible care I can. Communication is also something I feel I will need in order to be successful. Without good communication skills, you are unable to relay important information to the patient, doctor, or your coworkers.

If you win the $5,000 grant, how will you use the money to help you reach your goals?

I will use the money to pay for my Diagnostic Medical Sonography program fees. It will also go towards paying off my tuition in order to avoid taking out a student loan. During my breaks from college, I also plan to go back to Powell Valley Care Center to continue working as a CNA in order to set money aside for the school year.

If you were stranded on a desert island and could only bring three things, what three things would you bring and why?

I would bring rope, a shaving mirror, and a knife. By having rope, I would be able to tie things together if needed. Having a shaving mirror would come in handy in order to start fires and to signal for help by using the reflection from it. I feel having a knife would also come in handy so I could cut plants or meat open.

Do you have personal motto or inspirational saying that motivates you that you would like to share?

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams," - Eleanor Roosevelt

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A group representing North Dakota college students is asking the state Board of Higher Education to designate the first Monday of October as Indigenous Peoples Day and make it a day off.

University System Vice Chancellor Lisa Johnson recently told the boards Academic and Student Affairs Committee that the issue was first brought up in 2021, because the North Dakota Student Association felt there was a long time between Labor Day and Thanksgiving.

Johnson said the matter was discussed at the Academic Affairs Council, as well as with the Council of College Faculty, Prairie Public reported.

"The faculty also agreed there was a long stretch in October, and they were supportive of a break in October," Johnson said. "Their counterproposal was the third Monday in October."

Johnson said that would fit perfectly between the first and second eight weeks of the semester.

"It would be a more seamless break," she said.

Indigenous Peoples Day is a holiday celebrating the original inhabitants of North America, observed instead of Columbus Day in some U.S. localities. It's usually held on the second Monday of October, coinciding with the federal Columbus Day holiday.

The students think a break in October would help their mental health, according to Johnson. There will be further discussion with the North Dakota Student Association before the matter is brought to the full Higher Ed Board, she said.

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Bismarck police on Monday arrested a 39-year-old man in connection with the hit-and-run death of a 77-year-old man in Mandan that authorities say occurred in front of school students.

The arrest came after a police chase and resulting vehicle crash that shut down the northbound lanes of busy State Street in the capital city. Suspect Wade Bison, of Bismarck, was taken into custody and brought to a hospital for treatment of injuries that authorities said were not life-threatening.

Mandan police were called to the parking lot of the All Seasons Arena on Ninth Street Northwest about 7:25 a.m., according to the department. The building is part of the Mandan High School complex.

The pedestrian was pronounced dead at the scene. His name was not immediately released. Mandan Public Schools in an email to parents said the man was not a staff member. Deputy Mandan Police Chief Lori Flaten said the man was at the school to pick up a relative. It's unclear why Bison was in the parking lot.

"As far as we know they (pedestrian and Bison) didn't know each other," Flaten said.

The incident was witnessed by several people, some of whom are students, she said.

The school's email to parents said that "After conferring with Mandan PD, students are allowed to attend classes as normal today. This is being described as an isolated incident."

Students arriving for classes were told to park on the south or the east side of the high school. The school in a later email to parents and staff said all parking lots in the high school complex were reopened at 1 p.m., and that all classes and after-school activities were running as planned.

School officials are making counseling available to all students and staff.

Bismarck police had made contact with the suspect about half an hour before the hit-and-run, in the parking lot of the Bismarck Police Department. It wasn't clear why he was there. Bison fled from officers in a Ford F250 pickup reported stolen in Williston, authorities said.

Bismarck police made contact with Bison again after the Mandan incident, at about 8:20 a.m. at the Dan's Supermarket on Turnpike Avenue. Bison allegedly stole a 1970s-era Chevy Blazer from the store's parking lot and hooked it up to the pickup with a short chain before fleeing again.

Bismarck officers pursued Bison at speeds up to 50 mph, according to Lt. Luke Gardiner. Bison eventually crashed with a UPS truck coming off the eastbound Interstate 94 exit ramp onto State Street. The UPS truck swerved but crashed into the Blazer, Gardiner said.

Both the pickup and the Blazer rolled down a nearby hill and crashed into a fence by Motel 6. Bison was arrested at the scene.

The UPS driver had slight injuries, according to police. It wasn't immediately clear if the driver was taken to a medical center. Police did not immediately name the person.

Bison was booked into the Burleigh Morton Detention Center just before noon. The center's roster lists a murder charge from Morton County, as well as fleeing, reckless endangerment, theft and drug paraphernalia charges from Burleigh County. Formal charges weren't immediately filed.

Police are trying to further trace the movement of the pickup Monday morning. Anyone who might have seen it is asked to call the department at 701-667-3250.

The truck is described as likely being a 2015 or newer model, white in color with a black front grill guard and a large black toolbox in the pickup box. It has what is commonly called a headache rack," a protective utility accessory behind the cab of the truck. It had a North Dakota Pioneer license plate on the back, which police believe was stolen, Flaten said.

North Dakota court records show Bison has a lengthy history of alcohol, drug and driving convictions dating to 2003, including incidents last year.

Bison fled Bismarck police on May 18, 2021, after they responded to a call of a stolen vehicle, according to an affidavit. Bison the next day told Mandan police who were checking his warrant status that his name was Rico Havoc. He eluded authorities by swerving through traffic on a busy Old Red Trail.

The next day, Bismarck police were notified that the stolen vehicle was on North Washington Street. Bison eventually was arrested in Fort Yates on May 23.

He pleaded guilty in Morton County in July to felony fleeing police and reckless endangerment, and to misdemeanors for driving under suspension or revocation, hindering law enforcement and giving false reports to law enforcement. In August, he pleaded guilty to theft, fleeing police and driving under suspension in Burleigh County. In both cases he was given suspended prison time, credit for time served, and placed on probation for 1  years.

Reach Travis Svihovec at 701-250-8260 or Travis.Svihovec@bismarcktribune.com

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Con Dao Airport to be closed for upgrade next year

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) has proposed to the Ministry of Transport and Ba Ria-Vung Tau Provincial People's Committee to close the Con Dao Airport between April and December next year for upgrade work.





Con Dao Airport to be closed for upgrade next year



According to an upgrade plan for Con Dao Airport that CAAV has just sent to the transport ministry, four new taxiways will be built while some runways will be upgraded and expanded. The lighting system will be expanded to the seaside area.



"The taxiways will partly lie in some land that belongs to the military," CAAV said. "Therefore it will take time for site clearance and compensation work."



CAAV proposed the transport ministry and local authorities in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province to consider closing the airport from April to December 2023 and as well as supporting the site clearance and construction work for the airport upgrading.



In the adjusted airport planning by 2030 recently approved by Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The, the Con Dao airport will be upgraded to receive larger code-C aircraft such as: A321ceo, A321neo, A320neo, A319 or equivalent aircraft in order to meet the increasing travel demand at the airport.



The airport is expected to have a capacity of serving 2 million passengers and 4,400 tonnes of cargo per year.
Public meetings have been set in Bismarck and Lincoln on a proposed reconstruction of 66th Street east of the capital city.

Officials with the Burleigh County Highway Department will discuss and answer questions about proposed improvements for 66th Street Southeast from the intersection of Apple Creek Road to Northgate Drive.

The Bismarck meeting is Tuesday from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Burleigh County Highway Department, 8100 43rd Ave. NE. It will utilize an open house format with a formal presentation at 6 p.m.

The Lincoln meeting is Thursday from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the city offices, 74 Santee Road.

People who can't attend one of the input meetings can send written comments by April 8 to Casey Einrem, PE Burleigh County Highway Department, 8100 43rd Ave. NE, Bismarck, ND 58503, or email ceinrem@nd.gov with Public Input Meeting in the subject heading.

People who need special accommodations at one of the meetings should contact Burleigh County Human Resources Director Pamela Binder at 701-222-6536 or pjbinder@nd.gov. TTY users may use Relay North Dakota at 711 or 1-800-366-6888.

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Military veteran and former oil field worker Trygve Hammer of Velva is running for the state Public Service Commission and will seek the North Dakota Democratic-NPL endorsement at the party's convention this weekend.

He is seeking the seat held by Republican Sheri Haugen-Hoffart, whom Gov. Doug Burgum appointed in February to fill a vacancy. Burgum last year tapped then-Commissioner Brian Kroshus for state tax commissioner, and the term for his PSC seat runs through 2026. Haugen-Hoffart's appointment lasts only until the end of this year; she earlier announced a campaign to try to retain her seat for the remaining four years of Kroshus' term.

Hammer is a North Dakota native and has a military background.

In my life, ever since my youth, I have had a passion for service, he said. I believe that, right now, our state needs dedicated public servants fighting for them -- especially in our rural communities. Our state needs compassionate leaders, who will make tactical decisions to improve the lives of North Dakotans and protect the public interest; leaders who will work to keep utility costs low, while enriching and protecting our treasured landscape.

The three members of the PSC regulate electric and gas utilities and permit energy projects. The commission also handles issues related to coal mine reclamation, telecommunications, railroads, auctions, weighing and measuring devices, gas pipeline safety and underground damage prevention.

Hammer graduated from Velva High School in 1985 and enlisted in the Navy as a nuclear power machinist mate. He was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy, graduated with a chemistry degree and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps. He has served as a helicopter pilot and as a leadership instructor at the Naval Academy.

Hammer joined the Marine Corps Reserve in 2001 and became an airline pilot. He was deployed to Iraq in 2003. He has also served as an assistant Marine attache and speechwriter at the U.S. Embassy in Rome and held other military and security jobs.

Hammer later taught science to grades 7-12. He has also worked as a workover rig floorhand in North Dakota's oil fields. He is active in the Marine Corps League and the American Legion, and he is president of the Minot Toastmasters.

He unsuccessfully ran for the state House in 2020.

One other PSC seat will be on the ballot this year. Incumbent Republican Julie Fedorchak is seeking another six-year term. No Democratic-NPL candidates have emerged yet to challenge her.

Reach Amy R. Sisk at 701-250-8252 or amy.sisk@bismarcktribune.com.

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North Dakota's Democratic-NPL Party gathers this week to endorse state and congressional candidates, though there appears to be little interest among party members in running for statewide offices.

The party's convention is Thursday to Sunday, with the main work on Friday and Saturday, at the Clarion Hotel in Minot.

The party slated 500 delegates for the convention, with about half that number registered as of Wednesday, party spokeswoman Laura Dronen said. Party officials expect more people to register closer to the convention and after seeing a weather report, she said. The convention has a virtual option for delegates.

"I'm really excited to kick this one off. I think it's going to be a fun time," party Chairman Patrick Hart said.

No keynote speaker was yet finalized Wednesday. The party made requests into neighboring Minnesota and Montana "to try to get credible, elected officials that have great stories to tell that really resonate with the rural population of North Dakota," Hart said.

Virtual addresses will come from second gentleman Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris; U.S. Reps. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and Adam Schiff, D-Calif.; and Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold.

Republicans control the Legislature and hold every statewide elected office and congressional seat in North Dakota. Former U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp was the last Democrat to win a statewide election, in 2012.

"I'm really excited to bring the energy, to finally get some committed keynote speakers, and I'm excited to really kick off this election cycle formally, and I'm sure that you'll see some surprises out of the Dem-NPL this election cycle," Hart said.

The convention's in-person/virtual hybrid for participation means more opportunity for people to engage from around the state, said House Minority Leader Josh Boschee, D-Fargo.

"I think there's a lot of energy (in the party). We're seeing a lot of interest in different district conventions, even a little bit more than people expected," said Boschee, who is running for reelection.

He's seen people "concerned about the growing extremism" within the dominant Republican Party, citing culture war bills in the Legislature last year and proposals for the GOP platform. He did not specify which proposals.

Eight partisan offices are on the statewide ballot this year.

So far, Democratic-NPL candidates have emerged for only the U.S. Senate. They include University of Jamestown engineering professor Katrina Christiansen and Fargo art and antiques dealer Michael Steele.

The filing deadline for candidates is April 11. Voters in the June election will determine political parties nominees for the November general election.

Hart said his recruitment method has been "to ask everyone and anyone.

"We're a big tent party, and if someone's willing to step up and run, regardless of whether we asked them, I wouldn't say no to that," Hart said Tuesday. "Beyond that, I've made hundreds of phone calls. We have several maybes. There are several people that at this point are planning to announce that haven't."

He acknowledged the party's recruitment has been constrained by decennial redistricting putting all but one of its incumbents in the Legislature on the ballot this year.

The party's 2020 standard-bearer, Dickinson/Killdeer veterinarian Shelley Lenz, is running for a state Senate seat as an independent. She last ran for governor as a Democrat.

State treasurer nominee Mark Haugen had the best showing of Democrats in the 2020 statewide races, with 34% of the vote.

Reach Jack Dura at 701-250-8225 or jack.dura@bismarcktribune.com.

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Advocates for legalizing recreational marijuana in South Dakota have submitted thousands of petition signatures to the secretary of state. They say they've collected enough to place the initiative on the November ballot. South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws has scrambled in recent days to gather the nearly 17,000 petition signatures required to place a proposed law on the ballot. The signatures must come from registered South Dakota voters. Matt Schweich, campaign director for the organization, says the campaign evaluated the petitions and estimates it has at least 19,250 valid signatures.
North Dakota is challenging the federal governments awarding of lucrative mineral rights under a Missouri River reservoir to the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, otherwise known as the Three Affiliated Tribes. The state attorney generals office said Friday that it notified the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., that it plans to intervene in the tribes lawsuit against the federal government. The Interior Department ruled in February that the tribes own the rights, in what has been a long-running dispute. At stake is an estimated $100 million in unpaid royalties and future payments certain to come from oil drilling. The government dammed the river in the 1950s, flooding more than a tenth of the tribes' reservation and creating the reservoir.
This is Up and Down, where we give a brief thumbs up or thumbs down on the issues from the past week.

Up

Its good to see that the state Parks and Recreation Department is seeking voluntary easements to protect the views in Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park. The goal is to preserve the areas natural beauty and historical significance. Morton County has had a building moratorium in that area for two decades. The county was right to contact the state to discuss a permanent regulation. Its only fair that the matter be resolved and for landowners to be compensated for restrictions on their land. If voluntary agreements can't be reached with landowners, alternatives such as planting tree rows may also be a good solution.

Down

It's been five years since Dakota Access Pipeline protesters faced off with law enforcement north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. The clashes have long since faded into memory -- but the legal battles seem to never end. There are four protester lawsuits alleging excessive force by police that are still making their way through the courts. A federal judge has thrown out three of them, saying officers acted reasonably. But those lawsuits have been appealed, and the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has now sent one of them back to federal court for another look at the excessive force issue. At some point, we hope the question of whether officers -- and protesters, for that matter -- acted appropriately will finally be answered.

Up

Nearly $16 million is set to be invested in North Dakota state parks over the next three years using federal coronavirus aid legislators set aside last year. The plan comes as state facilities see record numbers of campers and the state parks have a $74 million backlog in deferred maintenance to roadways, buildings and shorelines. Sully Creek State Park near Medora is expected to have more than $1.5 million of projects bid this year, including $400,000 for a park managers house. Closer to home, Fort Abraham Lincoln south of Mandan has $440,000 of projects set for bid this year, including general maintenance, campground electrical upgrades and an accessible sidewalk to connect Cavalry Squares structures. Next year Fort Lincoln is expected to see a $260,000 project at its On-a-Slant Village and an $800,000 water system upgrade. Another $2 million approved by lawmakers is yet to be budgeted. The improvements are a much-needed investment in our state parks.

Down

Airline passenger numbers at North Dakota's eight commercial service airports have been on an upward trend since they plummeted to historic lows in April 2020 at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. But nearly two years later, they still remain below prepandemic levels. State Aeronautics Commissioner Kyle Wanner says air service demand overall is significantly stronger than it was a year ago. But he says airlines are still dealing with workforce shortages, fleet availability and a lower demand for business travel. Wanner says the silver lining is that North Dakota continues to have good air service options.

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A new book on a just economy from a Catholic perspective has more to say about injustices wrought by neoliberalism than it does about crony capitalism and the fraught history of the statist solutions it recommends. []

Anyone looking for an engaging overview of what modern Catholic social teaching (CST) has to say about economic matters will find it in Anthony Annetts book Cathonomics: How Catholic Tradition Can Create a More Just Economy. Yet Cathonomics is much more than a summary of CST, and Annett is not a mere economic pundit. Armed with a doctorate in economics from Columbia University and years of service at the International Monetary Fund, the author draws the inspiration for his book from the teachings of Pope Francis. His goal is to demonstrate how Catholic anthropological and philosophical principles are superior to those assumed by modern economics, with significant practical implications.

Annett does not assume his readers are familiar with the Catholic faith tradition, and he builds his case accordingly. He begins by reviewing CSTs origins, tracing the ideas to the Old and New Testaments, the early Church Fathers, and the ancient Greek philosophical tradition, particularly Aristotles virtue ethics. This culminates in a review of Thomas Aquinas teachings on ethics and law and their application to fundamental economic concepts such as wealth, interest, and private property. Aquinas ideas infuse CST, and Annett notes that unlike homo economicus of modern economics, Aquinas sees our needs as limited, [and therefore] our desire for natural wealth should also be finite (p. 24).

Following this historical background, Annett proceeds to outline modern CST, highlighting the key points of papal social encyclicals and listing 10 principles running through them: (1) the common good, (2) integral human development, (3) integral ecology, (4) solidarity, (5) subsidiarity, (6) reciprocity and gratuitousness, (7) the universal destination of goods, (8) the preferential option for the poor, (9) Catholic notions of rights and duties, and (10) Catholic notions of justice (p. 42).

This helpful summary sets the stage for the books major contrast: the differing assumptions underlying CST and neoclassical economics. The anthropological, teleological, and sociological contrasts are stark indeed. Annett thoroughly critiques the utility-maximizing basis of modern economics, illustrating its apparent deficiencies. The self-interested, rational man assumed by neoclassical economics, he asserts, is refuted by the outcomes of experimental economics. Additionally, Annett invokes evolutionary biology, neuroscience, and other disciplines to critique the claims of neoclassical economics. But Annett is not simply critiquing neoclassical economics; he is trying to demonstrate that its very roots are erroneous. Just as Pope John Paul II argued that the chief error of socialism is anthropological, Annett insists that modern economics reduces man to a cold and calculating machine of maximization with Pernicious Effects (pp. 9192).

Consider this example. Annett lambasts economic calculation for quantifying the value of human life, which clearly cheapens and degrades it. But, believe it or not, governments use these kinds of calculations when doing cost-benefit analyses  so the whole activity is corrupted (p. 97). But is neoclassical economics and its tools of analysis inherently corrupting? Or are the tools themselves useful, albeit insufficient, methods of analysis? By its nature, the discipline of economics is concerned with tradeoffs. As such, economic techniques can be used to evaluate the costs and benefits of pandemic lockdowns or various highway speed limits, all without devaluing human life in the process.

Insofar as Annett endeavors to deploy ancient wisdom in the service of contemporary economic problems (p. xvi), he undermines his goal by constructing too many strawmen, which distracts the reader from the positive elements CST brings to bear on modern economic problems. So, for example, in addition to condemning the use of economic techniques to quantify the value of human life, Annett claims that neoclassical economics embraces property rights absolutism and has really nothing to say about the environment (p. 77), and that market incentives can undermine integral human development by inhibiting virtue (p. 95). Such overstatements are typical throughout Cathonomics.

Having contrasted neoclassical economics with CST, Annett then builds an argument against its ideological companion: free market economics. He caricatures free markets as magic while invoking the goodness of the welfare state without serious consideration of how intermediary institutions of civil society can bridge gaps between market and state. He applauds the tremendous reduction in global poverty with little acknowledgment of how free markets propel innovation. Indeed, it appears Annett takes markets for granted. Curiously, he attributes environmental degradation primarily to markets, yet any examination of history readily reveals that collectivist societies have been far harsher on the environment than those with secure property rights and the rule of law. Thankfully, Annett condemns the widespread corruption that has accompanied globalization but simultaneously conflates crony capitalism with a neoliberalism rooted in neoclassical economics.

Although Annett summarizes CSTs critique of two extreme forms of social ordercollectivism (e.g., socialism) and liberalism (e.g., libertarianism)he acknowledges that his ammunition is largely aimed at libertarianism and its neoliberal policy prescriptions, because he considers the other extreme to be largely dead and gone. Although socialism may not be as widespread as it once was, todays challenge is not so much libertarianism gone awry as it is cronyism, rent-seeking behavior, and reduced competitionhardly economic phenomena promoted by neoliberalism. In any case, Annett proposes that the twin principles of solidarity and subsidiarity provide a more powerful and fruitful way to assess the role of government in the economy than what is offered by neoclassical economics (p. 151).

Everything Must Have a Price

It is certainly the case that inequality has risen in most of the developed world over the past several decades, and Annett provides a solid rationale for why rising inequality matters both from a sociological and economic standpoint. In some cases, his proposed remedies are spot on (strengthening competition and pursuing antitrust measures while reducing cronyism and subsidies to the largest businesses and banks). But his list of 15 policy proposals largely invoke the heavy intervention of the state and echo the standard redistribution playbook, offering little creativity over and against private, civil societybased approaches to a more equitable distribution of the earths resources.

Taking his cue from Pope Francis encyclical Laudato si, Annett addresses the environment. Here the case is made that climate change is a severe problem and that neoclassical economics, with its extractivist vision of the environment, is ill equipped to address it (p. 217). Specifically, Annett is concerned that economists across the ideological spectrum tend to rally around carbon pricing because they believe everything must have a price, people respond to incentives, and the market can work its magic. Theres no concept of ecological virtue (p. 237). Unfortunately, Annett seems to attribute to economic method more than it claims for itself. Prices convey critical information about tradeoffs (maintaining a pristine environment comes at a cost, after all), but the techniques of neoclassical economics are not intended to serve as the sole approach to making decisions. Furthermore, despite Annetts accusation that everything must have a price (p. 237), neoclassical economics does not preclude alternative modes of rationing. But one thing is certain: In a world of scarcity, rationing is unavoidable and every choice has an opportunity cost.

In his penultimate chapter, Annett elaborates further on the two principles of subsidiarity and solidarity as they specifically apply to the challenges of globalization. He argues for a globalization infused with the principles of CST, and in the process makes a case for promoting the UNs Sustainable Development Goals, implementing global capital controls, and providing sovereign debt relief. He acknowledges that there are no easy answers to these and other complex issues like immigration. But he makes one thing perfectly clear: Modern economics needs to be circumscribed by an ethical framework, and Catholic social teaching provides such a framework for approaching global challenges. Annett concludes his book with 10 specific proposals for moving toward a virtue economy, each of which serves as an ideal to pursue.

Cathonomics invokes Catholic social teaching as a corrective to deficiencies found in modern neoclassical economics and provides insightful analyses of economic injustices manifested in the world today. But its one-sided and tendentious approach detracts from its ultimate objective. A more accurate subtitle for the book would have been Why Neoliberalism Is Disastrous. Although Catholic social teaching is undoubtedly in tension with some neoliberal ideas, CST also condemns collectivist and coercive conceptions of economic order. Had Annett spent more time critiquing socialism, cronyism, and other distortions of political economy, the result would have been a more balanced summary of CST, leaving the reader with a more accurate understanding of How Catholic Tradition Can Create a More Just Economy.
COMPILED BY DAVID ROBINSON

March 20, 2022

Welcome to Buffalo Next. This newsletter from The Buffalo News will bring you the latest coverage on the changing Buffalo Niagara economy  from real estate to health care to startups. Read more at BuffaloNext.com.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR THIS WEEK

A quick read of news from the past week and a look ahead at what's coming next.

Craft beer is big  and a pair of local breweries have initiatives in the works to get even bigger.

Not big enough. As work on the new Thin Man Brewery at 156 Chandler St. comes to a head, there are a few changes in store  mainly because no one took into account the length of the delivery trucks.

Rocco Terminis Signature Development Buffalo is asking the Buffalo Planning Board on Monday night to allow it to more than double the length of its loading dock to 67 feet from just 25 feet because the 48-foot semi-trucks that the brewery will receive wouldnt fit otherwise without blocking the right-of-way.

The brewery is sandwiched between other buildings that Termini also built on the street  including the Tappo Day Club  as part of more than $40 million in development on the street in the past six years.

Sign up for the Buffalo Next free newsletter The News' Buffalo Next team covers the changing Buffalo Niagara economy. Get the news in your inbox 5 days a week.

Pressure Drop wants to be more than a brewer. Lexi R. Craine is asking the Planning Board for a special-use permit for Pressure Drop Brewing Co.  an Old First Ward microbrewery that began producing beer in 2017 but doesnt have a tasting room  to expand.

The brewery plans to open a bar, restaurant and outdoor patio at 1672 Elmwood Ave., with interior seating for 58 and 20 outdoor seats.

Week 2 of Kaleida Health union talks: Western New York's largest health care provider and the Communications Workers of America Local 1168 and 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East will sit down in Buffalo for their second week of joint bargaining.

The two unions, which represent about 6,300 Kaleida workers, met with the health system for the first session Wednesday when the bargaining committee presented Kaleida with a 247-page noneconomic proposal. They also met Thursday, and will continue meeting two-days-a-week until the bargaining schedule eventually gets expanded.

The two sides are working toward a new master agreement, with the current three-year deal set to expire May 31. Negotiations will likely go well past that date, however.

"Since I've been part of it, the earliest that we've ever ratified the contract was in early July," said James Scordato, 1199SEIU's vice president of the Western New York hospital division.

Networking for local salon and barbershop owners. 2021 43North startup competition winner ShearShare is hosting a networking event for salon, spa and barbershop owners.

ShearShare, a tech company founded by husband and wife team Tye and Courtney Caldwell in Texas, matches licensed beauty and barbering professionals to unused salon space.

The event is from 3:30 to 6 p.m. Monday at Seneca One tower. Visit the company's Instagram page, @shearshare, for more information and to RSVP.

Upstate New York Business Leader Survey results revealed. The Siena Research Institute, which conducted the survey in partnership with the Business Council of New York State, collected input from more than 500 upstate business leaders.

The Buffalo Niagara Partnership at 8 a.m. Wednesday will host a "CEOs Speak" webinar to discuss results of the survey. The event is free to Partnership members and the cost is $50 for nonmembers.

CATCH UP ON LAST WEEK

Tech company plans for jobs expansion. AML RightSource, a Cleveland-based company that expanded into Buffalo in 2019, announced Friday it is expanding its presence in Western New York. AML, which helps banks and financial services companies detect fraudulent transactions, will be adding 363 jobs in Buffalo and plans to expand its office space in downtown's Seneca One tower.

500 more jobs are coming to Moog. Moog Inc. is expected to create 500 new jobs through a $25 million expansion that will help it upgrade its local facilities and add new equipment. New York has agreed to provide the company with up to $15 million in Excelsior tax credits if Moog meets its hiring targets.

Yogurt facility planned for Town of Batavia. La Fermiere, a family-owned French yogurt and desserts company, plans to build a $25 million plant in the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park, with an eye toward opening it in summer or fall 2023. The plant is expected to have 150 jobs within five years.

Daemen joins movement from college to university. Daemen College in Amherst became Daemen University on Thursday  the latest Buffalo Niagara institution to take advantage of a new state definition of what qualifies as a university. The new definition has started a trend toward small, private colleges seeking university designation to boost their reputations and enrollment.

ICYMI

Five reads from Buffalo Next:

How a business accelerator in Buffalo aims to make entrepreneurship accessible to all: EforAll opened its Buffalo office in May and is helping entrepreneurs from Buffalo's underrepresented communities grow their own businesses. Their goal is to transform Buffalo one small business at a time.

How Silo City hopes to create a new neighborhood along the Buffalo River: Generation Development Group, the firm behind the planned conversion of the American and Perot malting warehouses into several hundred apartments and commercial space, is seeking to transform an area better known for its grain, shipping and industrial past into a trendy new place for living.

How Mercy Hospital strike set the stage for key contract talks at rival Kaleida Health: The Catholic Health contract reached in the fall sets a benchmark that Kaleida Health officials will need to consider as they negotiate with their workers. Kaleida's master agreement that covers about 6,300 of its workers expires May 31.

Big changes coming for Athenex: A new focus and major cuts to costs, workforce: The Buffalo biopharmaceutical company will undergo a major shift to slash its expenses by 50% and focus on "promising cell therapy programs," while selling off "non-core" assets. The attempted turnaround has already begun with Athenex selling off its lease at the state-funded drug manufacturing plant in Dunkirk.

Record low unemployment in January is sign of a tight job market: The bottom line: There are plenty of jobs available for workers who have the skills to fill them, but many people still aren't ready to jump back into the labor pool.

The Buffalo Next team gives you the big picture on the regions economic revitalization. Email tips to buffalonext@buffnews.com or reach Deputy Business Editor David Robinson at 716-849-4435.

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David Robinson Deputy Business Editor I'm the News' deputy business editor. I grew up in New Hampshire, went to Syracuse University and started working at The News in 1985. Follow David Robinson 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

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From the time the first Kaleida Health patient tested positive for Covid-19 two years ago, the pandemic-induced financial pain at Western New York's largest health care provider only continued to mount.

To date  nearly 12,500 Covid patients later  Kaleida's losses are estimated at about $230 million, attorneys for the health system wrote in court documents filed in State Supreme Court in Erie County.

The financial dent from the pandemic was tucked deep within a 70-page complaint Kaleida filed against an insurance company, seeking to recoup some of those losses that it argues should be covered under its high-dollar policy.

It's yet further proof of the financial beating that Western New York's hospitals endured during the pandemic.

Even before the first Kaleida patient tested positive for Covid on March 16, 2020, the region's hospitals already were on a financial tightrope because of their high concentration of Medicaid and Medicare patients and the lower reimbursements that accompany them. Before the pandemic, Kaleida recorded a deficit of $18 million in 2019.

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Covid made it worse. A lot worse.

According to a Kaleida-provided financial breakdown: Its hospitals as well as the ones within Kaleida-affiliated Upper Allegheny Health System recorded total incremental costs during the pandemic of more than $228 million, about three-quarters of that from lost revenue.

Kaleida  like other health systems in Western New York  received federal relief that lessened the blow but didn't cover the losses completely. For Kaleida and Upper Allegheny Health System, that federal relief totaled about $110.5 million, according to federal databases.

The area's other major health systems also logged losses even after factoring in relief dollars.

For instance, Catholic Health System reported back-to-back years of operating losses, totaling more than $230 million. A major piece of that stemmed from the Mercy Hospital strike in the fall, which cost Catholic Health about $89 million.

Erie County Medical Center, too, is well over $100 million in pandemic-related losses.

All are looking forward to emerging from a two-year pandemic, should Covid cases continue to fall.

At the same time, major challenges remain, notably a staffing crunch that won't abate anytime soon and is driving up wages for health care workers.

In addition, the outlook for hospitals is far from rosy as more care will continue to shift from high-cost inpatient facilities to lower-cost outpatient centers. That means health systems will need to expand beyond hospitals to capture market share.

Revenues sharply decline

With Covid's arrival, Kaleida was hit by a double-whammy.

The pandemic drove up its expenses as it scrambled to care for a wave of Covid patients and revamp its operations to try to handle the surge and contain its spread. Incremental expenses through last June, in fact, totaled $59.25 million, covering items such as premium pay, surge staffing and personal protective equipment purchases.

At the same time, Kaleida's normal revenue stream took a hit because Covid-related restrictions forced it to delay elective surgeries and other routine procedures. That led to $169 million in lost revenue: $129 million at Kaleida's hospitals and $40 million at Upper Allegheny's Olean General Hospital and Bradford (Pa.) Regional Medical Center.

Together, the extra expenses and the revenues lost because of the Covid restrictions chipped away at its finances  mirroring what happened at other local hospitals.

At its flagship Buffalo General Medical Center, Kaleida had to temporarily close certain operating rooms to convert the space for additional bed capacity.

At Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital, Kaleida converted the post anesthesia care units and presurgical unit into an overflow intensive care unit to accommodate extra beds in surge situations. The gastrointestinal recovery department was converted for use as emergency department overflow.

The John R. Oishei Children's Hospital, meanwhile, temporarily used its ambulatory surgery unit for overflow beds, closed the epilepsy monitoring unit and designated the 10th floor for use as Covid-19 beds.

Similar measures were taken at Olean General Hospital and Bradford Regional Medical Center, temporarily closing money-making medical-surgical units to make room for Covid-19 patients.

In its lawsuit, filed March 15, Kaleida pointed out that a "significant portion" of its revenue comes from elective medical care.

"If the Kaleida hospitals cannot provide their patients with the full range of services the hospitals advertise, they only operate at limited capacity and Kaleida Health's revenues sharply decline from pre-Covid-19 levels," the lawsuit said.

Should insurance cover?

Covid rendered portions of Kaleida's property unusable for the intended purposes, which the health system is arguing should trigger property and business interruption coverage under its all-risk, commercial property insurance policy that came with a $1.1 million annual premium.

"We filed this case to enforce the terms of an insurance policy that we purchased and that our complaint speaks for itself," Kaleida Chief Administrative Officer Michael Hughes said in a statement.

Zurich, the parent of the insurer, American Guarantee and Liability Insurance Co., declined to comment on the litigation.

Other health systems and other major businesses have sued under similar grounds, though many have had their cases dismissed.

For example, the Buffalo Bills sued its insurer American Guarantee and Liability Insurance last year, similarly arguing that the insurer should pay for the loss of business income due to Covid-19.

The Bills, who said in court records that its losses "exceed tens of millions of dollars in business interruption losses," had its case dismissed in State Supreme Court in Erie County in December, though the organization immediately appealed.

Others have been more successful in pursuing claims at least initially. North Carolina health system, Novant Health, filed a similar complaint last year, which reportedly survived Zurich's motion to dismiss.

The key to the Kaleida case could be that its high-end policy includes coverage for losses arising from physical loss of or damage caused by a communicable disease. The health system said in the lawsuit that type of coverage is "not found in the lion's share of all-risk policies."

Kaleida's policy limit also is $1 billion, which its attorneys argue is available for the health system's losses.

Court records indicate Kaleida and its insurer went back and forth over its policy and the financial losses from late April 2020 to Sept. 1, 2020.

But since Sept. 1, 2020, Kaleida says in its complaint, the insurer has not communicated with Kaleida over its claim and never rendered a final coverage determination.

Hospital outlook

While that process plays out in court, the situation for local hospitals now is much different than it was in the early days of the pandemic.

Now, Covid cases are way down, and elective surgeries are fully back  though the on-again, off-again restrictions on nonessential procedures did major damage.

For example, ECMC spokesperson Peter Cutler said the Buffalo hospital burned through $79 million of its cash due to the shutdown of electives in three instances.

Buffalo Next: What ECMC's 2021 tells us about the pandemic's second year In 2021, the effects of battling a pandemic in its second year became even clearer: a major staffing crunch, overwhelmed emergency departments and longer average hospital stays.

And while Covid may have moved to the background for now, its effect continues to linger.

For instance, the pandemic only accelerated ongoing trends and severely exacerbated the health care staffing crunch.

As a result, labor costs continue to increase  a major reason why credit rating agency Moody's has a negative outlook on the nonprofit and public health care sector for 2022. And Kaleida's labor costs are likely to increase before long as it negotiates a new contract with the two unions that represent about 6,300 of its workers.

How Mercy Hospital strike set the stage for key contract talks at rival Kaleida Health The Catholic Health contract sets a benchmark that Kaleida Health officials will need to consider as they negotiate with their workers. It's work that starts Wednesday, when Kaleida and the unions representing about 6,300 of its workers sit down for their first joint bargaining session.

Brad Spielman, a vice president and senior credit officer with Moody's, said the staffing pinch means hospitals are increasingly relying on expensive travel nurses and temporary employees, further squeezing margins.

Revenue, in particular, could decline as health care delivery continues to shift away from high-cost inpatient hospital settings and into lower-cost outpatient centers. That dynamic is why Kaleida, Catholic Health and others continue to invest in ambulatory surgery centers.

"Both on the expense side and the revenue side, organizations are experiencing financial pressures," he said.

Jon Harris can be reached at 716-849-3482 or jharris@buffnews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ByJonHarris.

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For more than three years, a piece of the Lake Erie ice boom has been lodged about 300 feet from the brink of the American side of Niagara Falls.

The 3,500-pound pontoon was one of several that broke off the boom in Lake Erie during a windstorm in February 2019 and floated miles down river to the American Falls.

Sometime soon, an Army National Guard helicopter will lift the steel cylinder out of the rambunctious Niagara River after State Park Police officers wade into the water and attach the pontoon to a cable dangling from the aircraft.

The last time a helicopter was used to haul a heavy object from the falls was in 2011, when a CH-47 Chinook New York Army National Guard helicopter plucked a stuck State Park Police rescue boat from the brink of the Horseshoe Falls.

The latest recovery will eliminate the risk of the pontoon going over the falls and damaging the famous waterfall or the Cave of the Winds attraction.

"Where it is, it may not go over," Park Police Capt. Christopher Rola told reporters on Monday. But, he said, there's a "small possibility it may go over the Bridal Veil Falls" where the Cave of the Winds is located.

"We wouldn't want that to happen," Rola said. "It's just hung up in a difficult spot right now."

The Bridal Veil Falls are separated from the main American Falls by a narrow piece of land called Luna Island, just west of Bird Island. Those two waterfalls along with the larger Horseshoe Falls make up Niagara Falls.

State Parks officials hoped that the operation would happen Tuesday, but high winds frustrated their schedule.

The 2-mile-long ice boom, which stretches across Lake Erie near the mouth of the Niagara River, holds back ice during the winter months to keep large floes from clogging the intakes of the Niagara Power Project or damaging the tour boat docks below.

Winds pushed lake ice over the boom over the weekend, creating hazardous conditions for the State Park Police officers who were scheduled to enter the water near Niagara Falls on Monday as part of the effort to remove the 30-foot-long, 30-inch-wide cylinder.

"They made the call that it wouldn't be safe with the big chunks of ice going down the river," Rola said.

No new date has been chosen for the operation, which was to end with an Army National Guard Chinook helicopter depositing the pontoon in a parking lot at the eastern end of Goat Island for eventual removal.

It's the same type of chopper that was used to save the 8,000-pound Park Police rescue boat 11 years ago, after its two crew members were rescued.

The pontoon is believed to be secure enough to avoid going over the falls. Since 2019, it's been lashed to a tree on Bird Island with a tow rope strong enough to hold 40,000 pounds, Rola told reporters Monday morning on Goat Island.

The rope was installed by members of the Park Police swift water rescue team who entered the water three years ago.

The current has moved the pontoon a few feet since 2019, Rola said.

"It used to be farther out in the river, but the river's kind of pushed it into a little pool," Rola said.

The pontoon had 2-inch-wide chain links at either end, and the chain might have contributed to the pontoon becoming stuck, said Sgt. Jeffrey Eckert, a member of the swift water team.

After the February 2019 windstorm, at least one pontoon went over the falls, and it was spotted in the ice below the falls the following month. Another was recovered at Niawanda Park in the City of Tonawanda.

Monday, Park Police had the New York Power Authority lower the water level by taking more river water into the conduits that lead to the Niagara Power Project, Rola said.

But the rescue team checked out the situation early Monday and decided to postpone the operation.

"You're talking about pulling a line behind you, on top of ice catching on you," Eckert said. "If that hits your leg, it could knock you in. Everybody would be secured, but we don't want any members going downriver."

The water just above the falls is shallow  shoulder-deep to ankle-deep in some spots, Eckert said, depending on Power Authority operations and the exact location  but on winter power plant settings, about 50,000 cubic feet of water goes over the falls every second.

The helicopter, a Chinook CH-47F helicopter designed for heavy lifting, was to come from a National Guard unit based at Rochester International Airport.

Its presence creates a risk for the officers below, Rola said, because the "rotor wash," the wind stirred out by the helicopter's rotors, can be felt 300 feet away.

"Those three swift water members have to go out in the water, and I'm told it's the equivalent of 80 mph winds," Rola said. "They'll have to fight through that to be able to secure the pontoon to the line that the helicopter's going to drop down. While they're doing that, we're going to have three swift water members on Luna Island, working the rigging to ensure that the line's maintained safe across there."

Before the pontoon was to be hoisted, the Chinook crew would wait for Park Police officers to get as far away from the helicopter as they could.

"This isn't a rescue situation, so it's nice to be able to plan everything out," Rola said. "Obviously, there's still a bunch of inherent dangers whenever you do this."

The last time a large object is believed to have gone over the American Falls was in December. That was a Williamsville woman's Toyota sedan, which was stuck on some rocks after the woman crashed the car through a railing Dec. 8.

The woman died and her body was removed by a Coast Guard rescuer. The car was left above the falls, but on the night of Dec. 11 or in the early morning Dec. 12, it presumably went over the brink, although no one saw it happen and no wreckage has been sighted, Rola said.

"The bottom of the American Falls is just giant boulders. Chances are that went over. We had 70 mph winds that day," Rola said. "Our patrol saw the vehicle, then the water got so high you couldn't see it. We checked later in the morning. The car was gone."

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Buffalo Police Detective Mark Costantino saw a woman on the bed with a bloody washcloth over her face.

He also saw what looked like blood spatter around the Riverside apartment, including on a dresser drawer and a laundry basket.

On that day in May 2019, the woman's injuries appeared severe.

"Some of the worst I've seen in my career," Costantino testified during a court hearing last week.

A short time after police found the injured woman, they arrested Bryam D. Bassett and charged him with brutally attacking the victim, including raping her twice over a 30-minute period a day earlier. He is scheduled to go on trial next month on four felony charges.

But Bassett, through his attorneys, wants a judge to suppress a variety of evidence found inside the Shaffer Village apartment on Isabelle Street that day and on a subsequent occasion.

The attorneys argued in Erie County Court that police illegally entered the apartment and exceeded their authority once inside. They also are challenging the admissibility of statements Bassett allegedly made while in custody.

Attorneys asked the judge to prohibit prosecutors from using as evidence at trial photos taken inside the apartment, including photos of the victim, as well as items later obtained with court-issued warrants.

"The whole nine yards," defense attorney Robert Cutting  who is representing Bassett, along with Florina Altshiler  told Judge Sheila DiTullio.

Bassett's defense wants to suppress roughly 400 photographs taken by police May 7, 2019, and when they returned to the apartment May 22, 2019, as well as sneakers Bassett was believed to be wearing.

Bassett, now 31, was indicted in June 2019 on two counts of predatory sexual assault, a class A felony, as well as two felony counts of unlawful imprisonment, according to court records. At the time of his indictment, the Erie County District Attorney's Office said Bassett was accused of restraining the victim over multiple days and physically and sexually abusing her.

The class A felonies carry a potential maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison.

Here's how the events that led to Bassett's arrest unfolded, according to testimony at the hearing by police:

About 9:23 a.m. on May 7, 2019, a police dispatcher sent Officer Justin Ayala on a welfare check to the apartment. The woman's boss called 911 to say she didn't show up to work that day or the day before, and she hadn't called, Ayala testified.

Ayala knocked a number of times on the woman's apartment door and announced himself as a police officer, but he heard nothing from inside and no one came to the door.

He talked to two neighbors who said they hadn't seen her in several days. One neighbor told him she heard her arguing with a male inside her apartment during that time, Ayala testified.

He tried knocking again before he went back to his vehicle and called the person who called 911, he said.

In addition to reiterating how unusual it was for the woman to not show up for work and not call in, the boss also told Ayala that the woman came to work on the previous Friday with a black eye.

Ayala said his "suspicions" about the situation were raised when he considered what he had learned so far.

Additional officers and a lieutenant then responded to the scene. Ayala said he and a lieutenant knocked on her door at least two dozen times, in total, before they directed a maintenance worker to use a key to open the door. It had been about 45 minutes between the time he arrived and the time they entered the apartment.

When police opened the door, they encountered a man who was standing in the middle of the living room wearing only his boxers, Ayala testified.

When they asked him where the woman was they were looking for, Bassett asked, "Where's your warrant?"

Eventually, he pointed officers to a bedroom, where they found her lying on a bed, the officer testified.

An ambulance was called to the scene at 10:20 a.m., according to police records introduced at the hearing.

Police did not have a warrant to enter the apartment, but in some situations are legally permitted to enter private property based on what are known as exigent circumstances, including to prevent physical harm from happening to a person. Police did not obtain any warrant that day to either enter the apartment or conduct a search.

Defense attorneys suggested there was no reason police couldn't wait to get a warrant to enter the apartment; that there was no reason to believe before they entered that the woman police were looking for was the victim of a crime; that anyone inside the apartment needed medical attention; that an assault had taken place; or that Bassett had caused the black eye.

Under cross-examination, Ayala was asked if there really was reason to believe there may have been an emergency that would have allowed police to enter the apartment.

He said if the person they were looking for was found to be OK, then there was "no harm, no foul."

Costantino, who was working that day as the on-call detective in the Special Victims Unit and had been working in the police department at that point for 21 years, said he was called to the scene by a lieutenant at 10:35 a.m.

Police brought Bassett to be interviewed at police headquarters. Costantino said while he was introducing himself to Bassett and explaining why he was in custody, Bassett seemed to be "making excuses why something had occurred at the apartment."

Bassett also asked if he was being charged with a sex crime, the detective testified.

Bassett spoke for "a couple minutes," Costantino said, and the detective said he asked Bassett no questions. He then read him his Miranda warnings and Bassett asked for an attorney, Costantino said.

When Bassett was initially arrested, police charged him with two counts of first-degree rape, a count of second-degree assault and a count of unlawful imprisonment, according to a police report and court records.

Several of the photos prosecutors want to use in the case were not taken by the police department's Crime Scene Unit, but by Costantino himself, with his personal cell phone.

Ayala testified police typically don't use personal cell phones to gather evidence.

"Not unless you want your phone subpoenaed," he said.

Costantino testified he still keeps those photos on his phone. He pulled out and checked his phone while on the stand just to verify.

"I've seen a lot of pretty disturbing things," the detective said, again describing this case as one of the worst assaults he had seen in his career.

He keeps the pictures, he testified, as a reminder "of why I do what I do."

A ruling from the judge is expected in several weeks. Bassett's trial is scheduled to begin April 25.

Reach Aaron at abesecker[at]buffnews.com or 716-849-4602.

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WASHINGTON  Amid the greatest international crisis in years, Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with a handful of Washington reporters for local news outlets last week to deliver a message larger, even, than the Ukraine War: that there is no way to shield America from the wider world.

"One of the principles that we've been inspired by, animated by, is that when we're not engaged in the world, when the United States is not leading at the table in the room, then one or two things: either someone else is and doing things in a way that may not actually advance the interests of the American people and the values that that we hold, or maybe no one is, and then you tend to have vacuums and chaos," Blinken said. "And that usually has a way of coming back and biting us."

Local lawmakers praise Zelenskyy but oppose no-fly zone Democrats and Republicans alike agreed that Zelenskyy's speech  and a harrowing accompanying video of the war's atrocities  united lawmakers in a sense of repulsion and resolve against Russia. But they also said that a NATO no-fly zone of any kind over Ukraine could put American military pilots in confrontation with their Russian counterparts.

Blinken's comments, which he restated several ways in his 38-minute Zoom meeting with reporters for The Buffalo News and several other local papers, could be read as a subtle rebuke of the Trump administration and its "America First" policy of disdain for international organizations such as NATO.

And to prove that what's happening internationally hits home in American homes, Blinken pointed to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

"We've seen the effect already of this war that is in Ukraine that it's having on everything from gasoline prices to food prices," he said. "And we know also that it's taking us away from doing many of the things that we need to do on climate, on Covid, you name it."

To hear Blinken tell it, the Biden administration was proactive in preparing Ukraine for a potential Russian invasion, sending the nation more security assistance last year than the U.S. had done in any earlier year. On top of that, he noted that the Biden administration worked with governments around the world to build an international response to isolate Russia.

"We've done more with our European partners, cooperatively, in dealing with the Russian aggression in Ukraine than I think anyone expected or and certainly more than we've seen in many years," he said.

And as a result, America's European allies and other partners around the world have been able to impose economic sanctions on Russia that are having a dramatic impact.

"We're basically seeing Russia's economy in a freefall," Blinken said.

The combined military and economic pressure on Russia is intended to force Russian President Vladimir Putin to back down.

Blinken warned, though, that might not happen anytime soon.

"We also have to, I think, tragically, be prepared for this to go on for some time," Blinken said. "The problem is it's not flipping a light switch. It does take time for them to reassess, calculate their interests and to see that what they're doing is profoundly not in their own interest."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week spoke virtually before the U.S. Congress and offered suggestions aimed at shortening the war: NATO could establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine, or at least provide Ukraine with fighter jets to bolster its own air defenses.

The Biden administration has been reluctant to do either. Biden has warned that a no-fly zone could lead to direct conflict between NATO pilots and Russian pilots, adding: Direct confrontation between NATO and Russia is World War Three, something we must strive to prevent.

Blinken, meanwhile, explained why the Pentagon has been reluctant to sanction the shipment of Polish fighter jets to Ukraine: "The Pentagon made a determination that these would actually not be the most effective things that Ukraine could get."

Biden last week committed another $800 million in security aid to Ukraine, bringing the overall total to $2 billion. The latest shipments will include anti-aircraft systems, anti-armor weapons, drones, grenade launchers, rifles, ammunition, body armor and helmets.

"When it comes to the things that are making the Ukrainians most effective in dealing with this onslaught from Russia, we've been providing it," Blinken said.

Nations around the world are acting in unison to sanction Russia out of one key principle, he added.

"One country can't simply go in and change the borders of another by force or dictate to it its choices, its future, its policies, with whom it's going to associate," he said.

When one country tries to do that, the U.S. must respond, he said.

"We obviously have an incentive in trying to end this war as quickly as possible, not to expand it, including to places beyond Ukraine," Blinken said.

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The beer was flowing, the horns were blowing, the colors were showing and the smiles were glowing, as Buffalo turned out to celebrate the Irish in the best way it knows how  with the return of the annual St. Patrick's Day parade after a two-year Covid-19 hiatus.

Thousands of people lined both sides of Delaware Avenue from Niagara Square to North Street, decked out in a sea of Irish green and shamrocks on hats, scarves, shirts, sashes, jackets and balloons. They hooted, cheered and clapped for the marchers, dancers and musical performers that walked or drove slowly by.

Along the way, the crowd was treated to Irish folk music, multiple bands of bagpipers and drummers in plaid kilts, the curly-haired girls of two Irish dancing troupes, and the ceremonial garb of Irish fraternal organizations. State police marched in their formal uniforms, while fire trucks sounded off to the tune of "Let's Go, Buffalo!"

It was a moment that was more than two years in the making.

Im about ready to cry, said Patrick McGuiness, the parade grand marshal, prior to the start. "I think it's fantastic."

He had been slated for that role for each of the past two years, since January 2020, but the parade was canceled because of Covid-19. Since then, his daughter died from complications due to diabetes and Covid-19.

Ive been waiting for this for two years, walking up and down my stairs practicing," said McGuiness, whose wife was one of three deputy grand marshals. "Its special for the community. Its the first day of spring. Its going to be a great day.

Local, state and national politicians didn't miss the opportunity to attend, not only to showcase their support for the Irish community but also just to be visible in one of the year's biggest events  a sort of "coming out" for Western New York after two years of largely hibernating in the face of the health care crisis. Participants included Gov. Kathy Hochul, Rep. Brian Higgins and State Sens. Timothy Kennedy and Sean Ryan.

"It's great to be back here marching in Buffalo," said Hochul, a Hamburg native, as she walked with her entourage, while also mingling with the crowd.

Attendees reveled in every minute. Its heaven. To be out here with everybody, and the weathers good, said Leonore Olmsted, 61, who said she comes for the bagpipes. It feels like things are back to normal. Im happy to see everybody out here having a good time.

Kyrstin Sponaugle was all green on Sunday as she stood with friends to watch, drinks in hand. "Its exciting. Its nice to be back out. Its refreshing," she said.

The parade featured a display of performers and dress, from ceremonial and artistic to formal. A handful of Rince Na Tiarna dancers performed on a parade float, while the rest of the young troupe and many parents followed behind.

"Its absolutely beautiful and the kids cannot be happier to be part of it," said Peggy Klodzinski, a "proud parent" of a Rince Na Tiarna dancer. "They've been anxiously waiting, and so have the parents. They're having a ball."

Representatives from Queen of Heaven Parish in West Seneca wore black uniforms with gold trim and furry hats, while the Daughters of Erin sported black coats and pants, a green sash across their bodies, and black-and-green shamrock scarves around their hats.

And members of the Blackthorn Club  an Irish social organization that traces its history back to 1917 and meets monthly for corned beef dinners  marched in their black trench coats, gray slacks, black shoes, white scarves and top hats, while walking with black wooden sticks.

"This would be the highlight of the year, and we're thrilled to be together and marching again after two years," said Sean Keating, the club president, whose son and grandson were visiting from New Jersey.

Colleen Price, a South Buffalo native, came in from Ithaca with her three children so they could see their grandfather, a member of the Blackthorns. "We've been looking forward to this for a long time," Price said. "We haven't been able to watch him for three years. This is our family tradition."

Barry Griffith, a longtime member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians and one of the deputy grand marshals, said he was marching in memory of his father and his grandmother, who was born in County Longford in Ireland.

"Its wonderful that we get to celebrate our heritage and be with people that celebrate the same heritage," he said. "Ive marched in this parade for dozens and dozens of years, and I look forward to it every year."

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Forgetting about Covid-19 is easy.

Cases are low. Masks are (mostly) off. Restrictions are largely gone. Warmer weather is coming, and with it  we hope  better times.

But theres a group of people who cant simply let it go. Not now, not in the summer breeze. Not ever.

For people who are immunocompromised, living with Covid-19 is a prerequisite for truly living life in the open.

Those are people who have to still have that additional level of precaution, said Dr. Brahm Segal, an infectious diseases specialist at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, because they do remain at risk.

People whose immune systems may not fully respond to vaccination  organ-transplant patients, people with HIV/AIDS or those with blood and bone marrow cancers such as leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma  should not be maskless in exposed situations, Segal said.

Virus cases are low; but they not rare, much less gone. To that point, infectious disease experts around the country and the world are warily watching an Omicron subvariant that has triggered a rise in European cases and could potentially do the same here. That scenario would have broad implications: It would be felt most acutely by people who are immunocompromised, but would impact everyone.

This weeks Pandemic Lessons details the steps each of us can take to help the most vulnerable among us and guard against a dramatic rise in infections.

How careful do people who are immunocompromised need to be?

No more cautious than at other times during the pandemic. But not less cautious, either.

Not yet.

At this point, my advice to them would be to maintain the level of precautions that theyve learned about over the last two years, said Segal, who is quick to point out that patients should speak with their doctors about the specifics of their situations.

Broadly speaking, his advice is to go out and do whats important to you, be a part of whats available, and do those things while wearing a mask when around people from another household, especially in tighter spaces or indoors.

I would never say, Stay at home, Segal said. Do things that are enjoyable for you  thats totally fine. But you have to realize that if youre in a certain group of patients with cancer, you just can't be exactly like the general public.

How prevalent is Covid-19 in Western New York today?

Were in a relatively good place, but there are signals that we shouldnt get too comfortable.

Western New Yorks average daily Covid-19 caseload stood at 100 as of March 17. Thats the lowest since last summer, but its no longer a number that is plummeting. After a steep drop in daily cases from mid-January  which peaked at 3,500-plus  the figure hit a plateau locally over the last week.

Another key measurement shows a slight uptick in cases over the last week, both regionally and across the state. The average number of cases per 100,000 people in New York was at 10.64 on March 18, up from 8.18 a week earlier.

In Western New York, that figure inched upward from 6.58 to 7.66 over the last week, while in New York City, the jump was larger: from 7.25 to 10.80.

Context here is vital, because all of these numbers are relatively low. On Jan. 18, for example, Western New Yorks average number of cases per 100,000 people was nearly 177, while New York City had a whopping 239.

All told, were doing well, but we are not bottoming out. When we do, the recommendations that physicians like Segal give to immunocompromised patients could be significantly liberalized, he said. Thats what we want. It might get to a point where its not any different than the advice we give during the flu season.

Why have we seen a tiny rise in cases?

A mix of factors contribute to it. When Gov. Kathy Hochul lifted most statewide mask mandates, including in schools, people started breathing each others air more. That alone will create a small  and hopefully temporary  bump in cases.

An even more contagious Omicron subvariant called BA.2 is creeping in, too. Its caused a rise in cases in some European countries, which in the past has foreshadowed the same dynamic happening here. BA.2 was responsible for nearly 25% of new Covid-19 cases in the United States earlier this month, according to a New York Times report.

While infectious disease experts are watching the data closely, they are mixed on whether BA.2 will trigger another stateside surge. Dr. Thomas Russo, chief of infectious disease at the University at Buffalo, reflected the hopes of many of his colleagues across the country when he pointed out during an interview for this story that the United States significant number of Omicron infections may create an immunity wall that helps keep BA.2 at bay.

Well see how it plays out, Russo said. Its all speculative at this point.

What can we do now?

Take advantage of this period of relative Covid-19 calm and gauge your own immunity level. Practically speaking, there isnt a way to test for this, but a good guideline is to think in threes:

 If you are fully vaccinated and boosted (and thus, received three shots of Pfizer or Moderna, or a single dose of Johnson & Johnson plus an mRNA booster), then you have likely optimized your protection.

 Likewise, if you have been double vaccinated and had a symptomatic case of Omicron, that in itself serves as a booster of sorts. If youve had a combination  youve had two shots and natural infection  that seems to be very, very good, said Dr. Joseph Khabbaza, a critical care pulmonologist at the Cleveland Clinic. Some of us in the field are just thinking about each bout of infection almost as a shot in itself.

 If youve had two shots but arent boosted, and evaded Omicron during that surge, consider using this quieter time to get that booster shot now. Really, its a three-shot vaccination, said Russo, noting a chart in a study published last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In this particular graphic, one line represented hospitalizations of unvaccinated people. A second line represented people who had initial vaccinations but no booster, and a third line represented those who got boosted.

When the Omicron wave hit, the unvaccinated line shot vertical like a mountain range. The vaccinated-but-unboosted line rolled upward like a hill.

The boosted line swayed up just slightly.

That third shot really augments the immunity, Russo said, adding that it may also decrease the chances of dealing with long-term Covid-19 effects  called long Covid  because youve optimized protection.

 Both Pfizer and Moderna are seeking federal approval to make fourth shots available. (Pfizer for older people; Moderna, for all adults.) If those second boosters get the green light, they are worth considering because immunity wanes over time. If you are several months out from your last shot or natural infection, your protection is likely lower.

The farther away you are from your last immunity episode, whether its shot or infection, the more open you are to a breakthrough, symptomatic infection, Khabbaza said, but youre very unlikely to get severely ill if you've got three of those time points.

What about people who are immunocompromised?

I strongly advise vaccines, third shots, boosters, et cetera, said Segal, who is co-leader of the National Comprehensive Cancer Networks Covid-19 Vaccine Advisory Committee. Some protection, even if its not a robust response, is better than none.

That level of caution  from vaccination to more conservative masking  also extends to those living and interacting with more vulnerable people.

I've seen enough cases where a spouse or household member has mild Covid and transmits it to the spouse who has cancer and then it becomes a severe Covid infection, Segal said. These things are imprinted in my brain.

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OLAF FUB SEZ: A thought from poet Phyllis McGinley, born on this date in 1905, A hobby a day keeps the doldrums away.

. . .

FUN WITH WORDS  Dog Ears Bookstore, 688 Abbott Road, is bringing back its free after school programs beginning Tuesday and continuing through June 3. Sessions are 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.

On Tuesdays, kindergartners through second-graders will have programs to develop a love of reading. Wednesdays will feature a guided book club for third- to fifth-graders. Thursday will offer reading and writing workshops for sixth- to eighth-graders. Pre-registration required. Call 716-823-2665.

. . .

CENTURY SERENADE  The Lackawanna Public Library, 560 Ridge Road, kicks off its series of centennial programs at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday with the Buffalo Banjo Band playing Roaring 20s jazz. Registration required. Call 716-823-0630.

. . .

TALKING POINTS  Ray Wigle of the Niagara County Historical Society will give an illustrated talk about the construction of spans across the Niagara Gorge, International Bridges of Niagara, at 7 p.m. tonight in Lockports Historic Palace Theater, 2 East Ave. Its free.

Aitina Fareed-Cooke, owner of Get FokusD Productions, and Aaron Ott, curator of public art for the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, are guest speakers in the free online IMAGINE lecture series at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday. For a link, go to https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85941092009.

Local historian Gene Overdorf speaks on Stories from Holy Cross Cemetery, the Final Resting Place of Buffalos Irish in an Irish-American Heritage Month program at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Tewksbury Lodge, 249 Ohio St. Suggested donation $10.

. . .

REUNION ALERTS  The Bennett High School all-class reunion will be held from 5 to 9 p.m. June 10 at the school. Cost is $25. For tickets and info, call Neil Lange at 716-308-5451 or visit bennettalumni.com.

The Kenmore East High School Class of 1965 will hold a reunion July 30 in the Grill at the Dome, 175 Brompton Road, Town of Tonawanda. For more info, contact Chere Bougard at 781-249-1779 and gotilliego47@yahoo.com or Pamela Taylor-Kneis at 518-495-2685 and saraha0401@aol.com.

. . .

HAPPY BIRTHDAY  Sean McDermott, Shea Post, Liz Kolken, Ellene Phufas, Erin E. Cole, Ellen Reis, Kathleen Berens Bucki, Lydia Parent, Collin Schaller, Pat Regan, Joseph Donahue, Mark Roetzer, Samantha Lorraine Quinn, Steve Jones, Janet Bourne, Eli Ricey, Robert William Yeates, Ryan Sherber, Rev. Dr. Ralph Anderson, Cindy Coburn-Carroll, Margaret Anderson, Tessa Hojnowski, John J. Aman and Lawrence L. Lanza.

AND TUESDAY  Rita Finkelstein, Wolf Blitzer, Beverly Kinney, Roland Coleman, Madison Heiss, Bob Halt, Nancy Panek, Katie Ratchuk, Kimberly Gullo, Megan Toohey, Barbara Hoskyns, Beverly Kinney, Sheri Dziadaszek, Pat Hoefler, Kevin Mahoney, Dr. Kris Clark, Gordon Robert Head, Thomas Vogt, Brayden Logel and Linda A. Young.

To submit birthdays and other items of interest to Reporters Notebook, please email olaffub@buffnews.com or send a letter to Reporters Notebook, Buffalo News, Box 100, Buffalo, NY 14240.

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The Providence Farm Collective provides an opportunity for immigrants and refugees to farm on 37 acres in Orchard Park.

Soon they will be bringing their fresh produce to the West Side.

With the help of a three-year, $477,000 grant from the United States Department of Agriculture, they are planning to open a farmers market on Saturdays from June to October on Grant Street, close to where many of the farmers reside.

Last season, PFCs farmers expressed a desire to have a farmers market that would allow each of the Collective's 16 farms to sell fresh food directly to their community," said Kristin Heltman-Weiss, Providence Farm Collective's executive director. This grant is a step toward the realization of that dream."

The farmers market will serve refugees from many countries, including Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Ethiopia, Myanmar and Liberia. The market is expected to offer traditional crops that include African maize, amaranth, roselle, hot peppers, and African and Asian eggplants.

The Providence Farm Collective reconnects refugees and immigrant communities with access to farmland as they build their new life in the United States, said Hamadi Ali, the market's manager.

"The underserved communities and immigrants who came here in the past 20 years kind of adopted urban ways of eating unhealthy foods," he said. "Having the farmers market on the West Side will help the people get healthy and fresh produce."

Ali, a member of the Somali Bantu community, spent a decade at Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya before emigrating to Buffalo, where he earned a master's degree in economics from the University at Buffalo.

Ali said the grant will enable the Providence Farm Collective to expand relationships with wholesalers, partner nonprofits and local food pantries.

"The result will be a source of income for PFCs farmers and improved access to healthy, culturally relevant and affordable foods for community members facing food insecurity, he said.

The farm collective began as a project of the Somali Bantu community in 2017 at the Providence Farm, a horse farm in East Aurora owned by Dr. Christopher Kerr.

The move to Orchard Park came in April 2020 and now includes farmers from Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Ethiopia, Burma and Liberia.

There will be 23 small farms this year, up from 16 in 2021. The majority are farm incubators that offer a 1/4-acre fenced, fertilized and plowed farmland, access to an array of hand tools, seeds and agricultural and marketing training.

There is also a demonstration farm plot for training purposes, plots for community and nonprofit organizations and a summer youth employment program.

In 2020, 182 farmers harvested 23,000 pounds of fresh produce using 27 varieties of crops, and 90 immigrant and refugee students participated in summer youth programs, according to the farm collective.

In their first season at the Orchard Park location in 2021, they grew nearly four times the amount of food  90,000 pounds of produce.

Heltman-Weiss said the number of farmers this year is expected to be significantly higher.

With the demand for farmland, the Providence Farm Collective is working with the Western New York Land Conservancy to purchase the property.

The two organizations, together, have embarked on a $2.3 million fundraising campaign through the end of 2022.

The farmland costs $507,000, with other costs including a fund set up for longtime stewardship of the property, farmer-directed funds, a conservation easement to protect the land in perpetuity and facility needs such as a barn and pavilion.

The Land Conservancy's mission is to protect forests, farmland and wetlands, and over its 31 years has applied conservation easements to 40 properties totaling 3,330 acres.

The two organizations will hold a live virtual event at 7 p.m. om March 31. To view, go to wnylc.org/events.

"When you go to this farm, it's one of the most astounding things I've ever seen," said Jajean Burney-Rose, the Land Conservancy's deputy director. "It's this awesome community of people from all over the world growing things on a fertile farm that has some of the best soils in Western New York.

"Our role in all of this is to protect the farm as farmland, and help this organization and the farmers in a way that's permanent," he said.

Mark Sommer covers preservation, development, the waterfront, culture and more. He's also a former arts editor at The News.

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Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed into law Senate Bill 215 that permits anyone in Ohio 21 or older to carry a concealed gun. In the past Ohio law required eight hours of training, a license, and a background check for concealed carry. Imagine that. His reasoning was directly related to pressure from his constituents following the murder of 19 people in a mass shooting in Dayton, demanding that he do something. The bill passed with only Republicans votes. You know, Republicans, the Right to Life Party? So, instead of tightening gun laws to better stop paranoid idiots who mass kill (a miniscule minority of Ohioans) he chose to arm many Ohioans some of which would never qualify for a gun due to background checking, training, and licensing fees.

That old saw bone that a good guy with a gun stops a bad guy with a gun has never quite born out. By eliminating background checks that may have stopped the next mass killer, DeWine flung opened the door to an untold number of paranoid individuals to legally obtain their weapon of choice to use at the time of their choice unimpeded by pesky gun laws. Picture the Joker, smiling, at a gun store. Sure, absolute madness.

Anyone hell bent on executing a mass shooting whether they obtain the gun legally or through such things as unregulated gun shows, etc., will find a way to acquire one. To potentially arm a majority of your over 21 population by removing pertinent gun safety laws shows a complete lack of understanding of human nature, statistics, and the ever present preponderance of mental imbalance. Imagine those 19 massacred individuals open firing on the Dayton perp and try to guess how many other folks would have died. What are these people thinking? We already know what the NRA thinks.

All the Democrats, law-enforcement groups, and sheriffs opposed the bill.

Stephen Saracino

Buffalo
What should outrage veterans? Well, for one thing; as a four-year Nam era, submarine vet, I am outraged by the so-called vets that call themselves oath keepers, as much as the people they support that have taken oaths of office; and contradict those oaths by their very actions. Shame on those numb nuts, and their authoritarian loving supporters.

As a vet, I am outraged that a good number of these allegiance pledging patriots, are wholeheartedly in favor of limiting other citizens rights, their access to national factual history, and act like Jan. 6 was a walk in the park peaceful protest. Just like firing the guns on Fort Sumter. Traitors are traitors, and treason is treason. America withdraws from Afghanistan and it doesnt go well. Remember the withdrawal from Saigon? Who was president then, and later, that same president was shamefully pardoned. Equality under the law and enforcement of the law? I dont think so.

Do these so-called patriots remember and understand the words of the oath they took. These arent nuanced words to be parsed by some argumentative Perry Mason. These arent words to be debated over by some panel of nitpickers. All vets should remember what happens when grievance takes over for rational thought. Case in point, the Murrah Building bombing.

Tom Druelinger

East Aurora
My aunt Sister Patricia Collins, affectionately called Patsy, loved a good Irish wake. She would look out her window at the South Buffalo convent where she lived to the funeral home across the street and let us know whenever there was a big crowd, which, at times, included many dignitaries.

While Patsy mourned the deceased, she enjoyed mingling with the mourners to reminisce and share fond memories.

She loved to laugh and, on very special occasions, would have a whiskey sour to toast their memory and send them on their way to heaven.

Among Patsys favorite expressions were, live it up, take it easy and God love ya. She instilled joy in otherwise somber events with her spirited conversation.

It was only fitting that Patsys wake be like no other: She held it while she was living.

When Patsy was told that her health conditions would prevent her from living until Labor Day, she did not shed tears or beg for more time. She had no regrets and was ready to see God.

A Sister of Mercy, she had lived an exemplary life of selfless service. At 18, she professed her solemn vows, including poverty and chastity. For the next seven decades, she educated young people, cared for the sick, counseled prisoners and, as an octogenarian, continued to tend to her family of sisters through daily visits to the infirmary. Her time was up, and she was determined to go to God with a pure heart and a few tales to share when she arrived in heaven.

As a daughter of Irish immigrants, she had many stories to tell.

Patsys love of Irish culture was instilled from birth. She was especially fond of music and parades. She was a fan of the local Irish bands The Leftovers and Blarney Bunch and looked forward to Tony Kenny shows. She was a constant at both St. Patricks Day parades, dressed to the nines in the Old First Ward and on Delaware Avenue.

Photos of Patsy and her sister Ella at the parade adorn her relatives' homes as a reminder of her contagious fun spirit and love of laughter. Patsy and Ella made a tradition to cheer on the Blackthorns in honor of their father, John Collins, a founding member of the group of nattily dressed men donning top hats who were a highlight in both parades.

During the month of August last year, Patsy met or spoke via phone with her family, friends, former students, teachers and her entire network. In her final two weeks, a constant parade of admirers marched in and out of Patsys room at the convent. They had all been touched in some way by her inimitable warmth and empathy.

I was fortunate to be there for many of these goodbyes. In one memorable visit, my nephew Michael reminded Patsy that he was no longer praying for her, but to her.

While sad for those left behind, Patsy shed no tears. There were smiles as she described her time to die as going over the hill. Her hearty laugh was contagious as she kept up our spirits. We were not ready to say goodbye, but her upbeat manner made it easier to let her go.

As we gave her a final hug and kiss, we recognized her job was done. She had taught us to live it up!
The Canadian Press

KELOWNA, B.C.  A Wayne Gretzky rookie card that was stolen seven years ago in West Kelowna, B.C., is now back in the hands of its owner. Mounties say the card landed in their exhibits file in 2019, but it was only returned to owner Ian Moore when it came up for disposal and the officer who investigated the original theft recalled the incident. RCMP say in a news release that Const. Rick Goodwin responded to the report of the theft at Moore's property in 2015 and among the items taken were vinta
The University of Wisconsin-Stout Vocational Rehabilitation Institute is offering a new, nationally certified professional education program: the National Training Center for Transformational Rehabilitation Leadership.

The six-month online TRLT program prepares vocational rehabilitation agency leaders to support counseling professionals and improve services that assist people with disabilities in career development and community inclusion.

The training curriculum is designed to develop leaders who have the ability to transform organizations to advance the rehabilitation counseling profession and improve system outcomes, said SVRI Executive Director Kyle Walker.

The first group of professionals in the program, 18 from 10 states, began classes in January.

A nationwide partnershipTRLT was designed in partnership with SVRI, the University of Massachusetts-Bostons Institute for Community Inclusion, the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification, in collaboration with the Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation. SVRI serves as the curriculum home.

This partnership with ICI and CRCC will substantially contribute to the advancement of the profession of rehabilitation counseling, Walker said.

We recognize the importance of committed leadership in rehabilitation programs directed at purposeful, conscious and inspired change, added TRLT co-founder Russ Thelin, Senior Policy Fellow at UMass-Boston ICI.

Transformational leadership skills, when learned and applied, provide leaders and those they lead to work and advance each other to higher levels of success. Such leadership fosters cultures which inspire greater achievement for rehabilitation professionals, which in turn creates greater success for those they serve, he said. Professionals in this field are clearly hungry for this type of leadership, as are those this profession serves. TRLT and the credentials it leads to is a natural next step for providing additional resources and points of connection to advance this important need.

Core leadership skills and earned credentials

Led by a cadre of experienced instructor-mentors, the curriculum focuses on six core leadership domains: collaborative, conscious, creative, cultural, inspirational and purpose-driven leadership.

Walker and Erin Nierenhausen, senior instructional specialist at SVRI, serve as TRLT instructors. Walker also serves as a peer mentor, providing leadership to state VR agencies in South Carolina and Utah.

TRLT focuses on rehabilitation leadership research, publishing evidence-based practices, creating and implementing toolkits, and assisting with federal and state grant-funded projects.

Applied learning activities allow participants to explore real-world concepts and tools and to discuss results within their cohort for feedback and support. Participants also work toward a final capstone project that can immediately impact their agency.

The program leads to a national industry-recognized Certified Rehabilitation Leader credential managed by the CRCC. It also counts toward continuing education units to maintain the CRL and offers an alumni peer mentoring program.

The second cohort will begin in June, and we have already reached our registration minimum with eight registrants from New Jersey and California. West Virginia requested a private cohort group of six that will begin the course in April, Walker said.

There are 78 state vocational rehabilitation agencies. Federal law allows states to have a single agency or to have an agency that specializes in serving people with visual impairments and an agency that serves individuals with all other disability types, Walker explained. There are also VR agencies in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. The state-federal VR program serves an average of 400,000 people with disabilities each year.

SVRI was formed in 1966 through Department of Health, Education and Welfare federal grants. Located in the Vocational Rehabilitation building on campus, it generates more than $4 million annually through grants, contracts and other federal, state and local partnerships. SVRI provides solutions to positively impact the future of people with disabilities through services, research and education programs that prepare VR professionals.

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An area man was sentenced this month to eight years in prison for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.

Last week, the United States Attorney's Office announced that Eli B. Rawlins, 35, of Irondale, was sentenced to 96 months in federal prison for the offense of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Rawlins appeared for his plea and sentencing hearing Thursday before United States District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh, Jr. at the federal courthouse in Cape Girardeau. The man was represented at the hearing by Defense Attorney Jeffrey Goldfarb.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on Feb. 6, 2021, a trooper with the Missouri State Highway Patrol was investigating a motor vehicle theft of a Chevrolet Tahoe when he observed the stolen vehicle parked in the driveway of a residence in Patton in Bollinger County. The victim of the theft had also reported that her firearm was inside the vehicle when it was stolen.

Rawlins was reportedly located seated inside a Chevrolet Silverado truck parked in the same driveway.

After determining that the victim's firearm was missing from the stolen Tahoe, the trooper approached Rawlins and inquired about the missing weapon. Rawlins admitted that he had removed the gun from the Tahoe and placed it inside the Silverado, where it was recovered by the trooper.

Court records show that Rawlins has prior felony convictions for third-degree assault in Madison County and second-degree burglary in St. Francois County, which prohibits the man from possessing firearms.

This case was investigated by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Bollinger County Sheriff's Office, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Assistant United States Attorney Julie Hunter handled the prosecution for the government.

Bobby Radford is a reporter for the Daily Journal. He can be reached at bradford@dailyjournalonline.com

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The St. Francois County Commission honored the memory of an employee and discussed internet service Tuesday morning during their regular session at the courthouse annex.

The late Betty Medley, a long-time employee of St. Francois County government, was honored with proclamations from the governor and the Missouri House of Representatives. County Clerk Kevin Engler presented the awards to Medleys children.

(Presiding Commissioner Harold Gallaher) had declared this day to be Betty Medley Day in St. Francois County, he said. (State Rep.) Mike Henderson sends this resolution. Our intention today is to honor Betty, she worked for us a long, long time. We never got a chance to honor her retirement, because she didnt retire.

Medley worked for the county in various capacities for 40 years and was getting ready to retire, according to her son, Mark Medley.

In other business, the commission approved a contract with FGM Architects to design the building addition at the Road and Bridge Building on Woodlawn Drive. The contract will be paid for from ARPA Funds.

The county had its annual bid opening for the years supplies for all the county offices. The sealed bids were opened for public viewing, after which they were collected by the auditors office for review and copies will be later given to all the county officeholders for approval.

IT Director Nick Jones approached the commission for approval to upgrade the internet service to the annex, courthouse and jail.

Currently we have 100 mps speed to the courthouse, annex and jail, he said. We had a problem with the video surveillance at the courthouse. When the bailiffs are trying to look at the video, its very choppy.

"We contacted our firewall service, which is Cisco. Our internet speeds are way too slow, we need at least a 250 mps for the number of users that we have. We contact Charter and they told us they dont offer a 250, they have a 200 and 500 package. We need to go up to the 500. For the 100 mps, were paying $540 a month. At the 500 mps, were moving up to $975 a month for an increase of $435 a month for a total of $5,220 a year."

Jones added they are getting a new phone system at the jail, "which is a redundant backup for the phone system for the courthouse and annex if they fail. We are looking at upgrading the internet there as well. I feel if we upgrade that one to the 200 mps, that would move us from the $540 now to $750 a month.

Engler asked if there were any other sources for internet service. Jones stated that it requires fiber lines to use and Charter is the only company in the area that has those lines. He also noted that the county still has a contract with Charter until 2023 that has to be honored.

At Jones recommendation, the commission approved the upgrade.

Mark Marberry is a reporter for the Farmington Press and Daily Journal. He can be reached at 573-518-3629, or at mmarberry@farmingtonpressonline.com

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St. Francois County lost Elizabeth "Betty" Medley, one of its longest-serving employees and administrator of the Weber Road Facility, on Feb. 28 at the age of 76 after more than 36 years of service.

Starting with the county on Sept. 1, 1985, Medley worked for various officials including the county auditor, collector, road and bridge department and the commission.

During the March 15 commission meeting, Medley was honored with proclamations from the Missouri governor and the Missouri House of Representatives. County Clerk Kevin Engler presented the awards to Medleys children.

(Presiding Commissioner Harold Gallaher) had declared this day to be Betty Medley Day in St. Francois County, he said. Representative Mike Henderson sends this resolution. Our intention is today is to honor Betty, she worked for us a long, long time. We never got a chance to honor her as a retirement, because she didnt retire.

Other honors included the flags were flown at half-staff on March 2 and a moment of silence was held at the Missouri Assembly in her honor. A plaque with a photo of Medley will hang on the wall in the commissioners meeting room.

Several county officials spoke about Medley and how she helped them over the years with the business of the county.

Gallaher stated that she was first on his mind when setting up the Weber Road Facility.

I put her right up there front and center. I depended on her, she knew everybody, could get along with people. She was a good front for the county, he said.

Sheriff Dan Bullock, in his remembrance of Medley, went all the way back to his first election and receiving her help.

I had nobody, no secretarial help to type things and do things for me, he said. Betty stepped up to the plate that first day in 1992 when I was elected. What do you need done? I will help you. She did and has been a lifelong friend since. Good person to bounce things off of. When we had secretarys day at the sheriffs office, Betty was invited to come along, she was a part of us.

Louie Seiberlich, county auditor, talked about Medleys wealth of historical knowledge of county policy and procedure.

More than anything, Betty was a historian of county government, he said. With her more than three decades of working, not only in the courthouse, but in the annex and moving to the Weber Road Facility, she took with her a wealth of the past. If we ever had a question about I wonder why they did it that way? she could fill in the blanks for us. Her desk drawer basically had all of that. She would look in there and pull out something and say, Heres why it was done that way.

Engler said that not only was Medley a long term employee, she was what he called an excited employee.

She didnt want to retire because she liked working here and interacting with people, he said. She liked doing the business of the county. Thats why it was important  I hadnt been around here that long to know if we had a particular day devoted to somebody  but I think its appropriate for somebody thats worked that long here that has devoted so much of her time and refused to retire so she could keep working for the people of St. Francois County.

Mark Marberry is a reporter for the Farmington Press and Daily Journal. He can be reached at 573-518-3629, or at mmarberry@farmingtonpressonline.com

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Attorneys for plaintiffs in the years-long Sines v. Kessler lawsuit are seeking about $14.5 million in attorneys fees and compensations, alleging the defendants severely extended the length of the trial and increased the expense of the litigation.

Initially filed in October 2017 on behalf of various Charlottesville-area residents, the federal Sines v. Kessler lawsuit sought to hold key organizers and participants of the Unite the Right rally responsible for violence that consumed the city in August 2017.

After years of legal struggles marked by uncooperative defendants and COVID-19 related delays, the case went to trial last year with a jury determining that the plaintiffs prevailed on four of six counts. The two counts the jury remained hung on related to federal hate crime charges, however the plaintiffs counsel claimed they achieved a resounding victory for their clients.

The jury ordered the defendants to pay approximately $26 million in damages, the bulk of which are considered punitive. As the defendants have filed post-trial motions seeking to reduce the $26 million figure, counsel for the plaintiffs filed a motion seeking an additional $14.5 million.

In a motion filed on March 9, Roberta Kaplan, one of the lead attorneys for the plaintiffs filed a motion seeking reasonable attorneys fees in the amount of $12,726,103.85 and costs in the amount of $1,812,439.30. Included in that figure is $73,677 in fees for preparing the motion. In whole, the fees are based on more than 46,000 hours of work, according to the motion.

The lengthy motion includes a robust collection of arguments, citing case law, legal precedents and the complicated nature of the case, which Kaplan argues was unnecessarily impeded by uncooperative defendants.

Nevertheless, plaintiffs persevered, with their counsel expending time and resources that would have been wholly unnecessary were it not for defendants never-ending recalcitrance, not to mention being the object of threats and insults to which few parties or counsel would voluntarily subject themselves, Kaplan wrote. In light of these circumstances, it is not surprising that in these past four years, no other lawsuit  civil or criminal  challenging the illegal conspiracy that was at the core of Unite the Right has been litigated on the merits and decided by a jury.

Included in the motion is a chart breaking down the fees and expenses, which Kaplan characterizes as conservative estimates. Each firm is seeking fees for no more than six timekeepers, even though Kaplan claims the total number of attorneys working on this case from each firm was far greater.

Additionally, Kaplan wrote that the counsel did not apply their standard New York and Washington, D.C. market rates ranging from approximately $250 to over $1500. Instead, they opted to apply local market rates for Charlottesville, Virginia, ranging from $100 to $450/hour, with the largest rate being reserved for the most experienced lawyers, including Kaplan.

As a supporting argument, Kaplan claims that the circumstances of the lawsuit are what attorneys fee provisions were designed for.

Enforcing the Virginia hate-crime statutes fee-shifting provision in this case, intended by the legislature to act as a deterrent, would not only signal to future bad actors that they should think twice before engaging in similar violent misconduct motivated by racial and religious animus, but would signal to future victims of such illegal conduct that the risk of vindicating their rights under the statute is one worth taking, Kaplan wrote.

Acknowledging that it is difficult to find cases that resemble the Sines v. Kessler lawsuit in terms of length, number of parties and third parties, complexity, and novelty of the claims, and discovery misconduct, Kaplan argues the fee request is still reasonable by comparison.

Indeed, courts routinely approve fee awards to the tune of millions of dollars in similar cases featuring mitigating factors that are absent here, such as shorter durations, fewer parties, less discovery misconduct, and shorter trials, Kaplan wrote.

It remains to be seen whether the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia will grant the plaintiffs motion for attorneys fees. However, even if the motion is granted it appears unlikely the defendants will be able to pay the high fees.

Following the end of the 22-day trial, various legal experts from the University of Virginia claimed that because the defendants do not have any assets, getting that money would be a trial in itself. The amount for punitive damages may at this point be mainly symbolic, as damage awards are often reduced by the judge, or on appeal, the experts claimed.

Plaintiffs counsel is expected to soon respond to a swath of post-trial motions from the defendants asking to have their damages reduced or receive a new trial. It remains to be seen how the court will respond to these motions and whether the plaintiffs counsel will amend their attorneys fees calculation to include post-trial work.

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A decision by the Oregon Supreme Court may doom the chances of campaign finance limits reaching voters in the 2022 general election.

In an unsigned opinion released Friday, March 18, the justices declined to order Secretary of State Shemia Fagan to reverse her denial of three initiatives proposed by advocates. Fagan did so on a technical requirement that the initiatives failed to carry the full text, including sections of current law that the initiatives would not change.

The court could allow reconsideration of the case. But even though advocates say they will do so by the March 22 deadline, the court rarely grants such motions.

Secretary Fagans interpretation of the Oregon Constitution denies Oregonians their only chance this year to vote on getting big money out of Oregon politics, said James Ofsink, a chief petitioner for the three measures and president of Portland Forward. Moving the bar also creates a high degree of uncertainty for future initiative petitioners.

Advocates argued that previous interpretations of the full-text requirement require only the wording of the proposed changes in state law or the Oregon Constitution.

Oregon is among a handful of states with no limits on campaign contributions or spending.

Each of the three proposed initiatives had received the 1,000 voter signatures required for the attorney general to write an official summary, known as a ballot title, before an initiative can be circulated for signatures.

Advocates must submit at least 112,020 signatures by July 8  the secretary of state has 30 days to verify them  for Oregon voters on Nov. 8 to decide the proposed changes in state law. (The total is determined by the number of votes cast for governor in the most recent election; the Oregon Constitution fixes the share at 6%.)

Voters in 2020 approved a constitutional change that enables voters or lawmakers to regulate campaign contributions or spending without running afoul of the constitutional guarantee of free expression. But the Legislature did not act in its most recent sessions.

Advocates said they would have chosen one of the three proposed initiatives to proceed with.

The court said this in its opinion:

And this is not a case in which exceptional circumstances persuade us that the issue that relators raise is so novel and significant, and that immediate resolution is so imperative, that we should exercise our discretionary mandamus jurisdiction on an expedited basis.

In a circumstance like this, in which petitioners propose a change in Oregon law but their petition is disqualified by the secretary, petitioners efforts may be delayed, but they are not foreclosed. In that circumstance, petitioners typically have an opportunity to resubmit the same or a similar measure in the relatively near future. And here, relators could have begun the initiative process earlier, so that, if the secretary identified deficiencies, relators could have taken timely steps to contest or cure them within the same election cycle.

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[March 21, 2022] New Martindale-Avvo Study Highlights Drivers of Legal Consumer Behavior When Hiring an Attorney Research shows importance of online resources in consumers' effort to hire an attorney LOS ANGELES, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Martindale-Avvo has released its latest consumer research report , in which more than 3,000 legal consumers were surveyed to understand what drives consumer behavior. The study details the most important factors in the consumer journey, helping attorneys better understand how to attract potential clients and grow their legal practice. The research shows the importance of online resources in the consumers' effort to find, evaluate and decide on which attorney to hire: As a first resource, 34% of respondents turn to online search engines, while 20% start with online reviews and directories.

After the initial research, consumers turn to online directories/review sites more than any other resource to shortlist their attorney choices prior to contact.

Nearly 70% of those surveyed indicated they use online content, such as profiles and reviews, to build a stronger understanding of their legal issue and need for an attorney. This highlights the importance of a robust online attorney presence with a comprehensive profile.

"We continuously analyze consumer behavior through the millions of clicks every month on our vast network of legal sites through comprehensive primary research like this study. We're excited to share this insight to help attorneys maximize their digital marketing investments," said Suke Jawanda, Senior Vice President and Group General Manager at Martindale-Avvo. "No matter how a consumer begins their effort to find an attorney, they will usually turn to an online search, including searching for an attorney by name and looking at reviews in search results," he said. "Having a presence in reputable online directories, such as Avvo and Lawyers.com, is critical because research indicates online profiles significantly influence how consumers find and select an attorney." The study not only reinforces Martindale-Avvo's philosophy of helping attorneys build great businesses, it also provides research-driven statistics that firms can use to develop their online marketing strategies. The full report is available for download at Martindale-Avvo.com . About Martindale-Avvo

Martindale-Avvo comprises some of the leading players in the online legal space, including brands that have been trusted for generations: Martindale-Hubbell, Avvo and Nolo. We provide comprehensive legal-marketing solutions, including real-time lead generation, online legal profiles, live chat, website services and lead intake and management tools. Our network of resources, including Martindale.com , Avvo.com , Lawyers.com and Nolo.com , attract more than 25 million consumers per month  making us the largest online legal network. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-martindale-avvo-study-highlights-drivers-of-legal-consumer-behavior-when-hiring-an-attorney-301504979.html SOURCE Martindale-Avvo

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Ethiopia has postponed plans to sell part of state-owned operator Ethio Telecom due to macroeconomic changes domestically and globally.

The finance ministry said in a statement posted on Twitter: "Given the recent developments and fast-moving macroeconomic changes, both globally and from a country perspective, the government of Ethiopia has chosen to postpone the privatisation process.

"The government believes that taking time to accommodate the improved macroeconomic situation as well as continually improving the financial performance of Ethio Telecom will result in better value for all the parties involved."

The government added it is still committed to privatising Ethio Telecom and will touch base with those that have registered an interest in the 40% stake to be put up.

Ethiopia is currently going through turbulent times as government troops battle against rebels in the Tigray region.

The government recently sold one of its two full-service licences in May to a consortium made of Safaricom. Vodafone and Japan-based Sumitomo. It is currently setting up its network for a commercial launch next month.

The consortium is reportedly in talks with Ethio Telecoms to strike a network sharing agreement to make its launch deadline.
Ericsson has announced a comprehensive review is being conducted by its new legal chief to get to the bottom of the companys dealings in Iraq while backing chief executive Borje Ekholm to remain in charge despite the scandal.

In a statement, the Swedish vendor noted it reached a resolution with the US Department of Justice in 2019 and is currently operating under a monitorship and deferred prosecution agreement.

Ericsson chairman of the board Ronnie Leten said the vendor has taken significant steps to improve ethics and compliance throughout the company, including in relation to the current issues in Iraq, where it is accused of paying terrorists.

CEO Borje Ekholm has the full confidence of the board to drive the companys performance, and also it's ethical and compliance transformation, said the vendor in a statement.

Chief legal officer Scott Dresser official joins the company today (March 21), will lead the review of Ericssons conduct in Iraq and how it was addressed.

This process is ongoing and we will act promptly to address shortcomings or misconduct identified. The Company continues to coordinate with the DOJ and other relevant authorities, said Leten.

Ericsson breached its deferred prosecution agreement previously for withholding key information on paying terrorist groups in Iraq to conduct its operations.
U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks said in a press release Monday he wants to fire U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell as the top Republican in the Senate.

Brooks has also launched firemcconnell.com where conservatives around the country can sign a petition opposing McConnell and called on his rivals in Alabamas Senate race  Katie Britt and Mike Durant  to join him in.

Brooks, who is endorsed by former President Donald Trump, framed his opposition to McConnell as McConnell versus Trump in a war for the heart and soul of the Republican Party in a video posted on the website.

McConnell hates Trump; hates the candidates Trump has endorsed; hates the MAGA agenda; hates principled conservatives; and hates the House Freedom Caucus, Brooks said in the press release. This race is not about me: its about Donald Trump and the MAGA agenda vs Mitch McConnell and the bought and paid for special interest agenda. It is time for conservatives to choose sides.

McConnell, of course, is a north Alabama native who visited his hometown of Athens last year.

Just over two months until the Republican primary, Brooks announcement Monday may well have a two-pronged strategy: Reinforce his alignment with Trump, which the former president has started to question, and spotlight that Brooks believes McConnell is funneling millions of dollars into a negative ad campaign against Brooks.

Alabamas Future, an Alabama-based super political action committee founded in October 2021, has spent $2.9 million in advertising in 2022 opposing Brooks Senate candidacy. At the same time, the super PAC has not disclosed the source of its funding because it had not raised any money by the most recent campaign finance filing deadline at the end of 2021, according to Federal Election Commission records.

However, the ads run by Alabamas Future appear similar to ads run in 2017 against Brooks by the McConnell-controlled Senate Leadership Fund. Both ads, five years apart, site identical votes in Congress from 2015 that portrayed Brooks aligning with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

McConnell will do everything he can to defeat me because hes determined to stop (Trumps) MAGA movement and Donald Trumps endorsed candidates, Brooks said in the video.

At a Senate campaign town hall Saturday in Cullman, Brooks alluded to the attack ads.

These people who run these ads, they dont care about truth. Not one bit, Brooks said. Their job is to win an election. Their job is to say whatever needs to be said to help them win an election.

Britts campaign dismissed Brooks announcement Monday as a gimmick.

Mo Brooks has resorted to desperate gimmicks to try and win the people of Alabamas support, said Sean Ross, spokesman for Britts campaign. Alabamians want a Senator who will stand up for them and best defend our Christian conservative values. Mo Brooks isnt doing well in the race because he hasnt done that while in Congress or across his 40-year political career. Alabamians dont want a do-nothing career politician, and they dont want a flip-flopper who was featured in a Lincoln Project ad attacking President Trump in 2020.

In a story last week by Politico, Texas Sen. John Cornyn  a McConnell ally and a potential candidate to someday become Republican leader  criticized Brooks and described Britt or Durant as a no-lose proposition for Republican senators.

People know what [Brooks] was like in the House, Cornyn said. And I think theres a general desire to have people that will be constructive and that we can work with. So thats my view, and thats probably the view of most of the conference.
Panelists speak at a blockchain forum in Ho Chi Minh City in March 2022. Photo by Metalook

Vietnamese startups have great expectations of the blockchain technology, envisaging practical e-commerce and entertainment impacts as the country pursues digital transformation.

"We dream of becoming a billion-dollar company," said Nguyen Tuan Quynh, chairman of book distributor Saigon Books, as he talked about a new project which uses blockchain in podcast and audiobook production.

He said he wanted to create a blockchain-based platform for users, including celebrities, to produce audio content and make money.

The audios will be distributed as non-fungible tokens (NFT), which are digital assets that represent objects like art, music, in-game items and videos, and have unique identifying codes. They are bought and sold online, frequently with cryptocurrency.

"It will be a long run but we have taken the first steps. We also aim to have foreign-language to take this platform overseas," Quynh said.

Nguyen Tran Phi Yen, communications director of online event hosting platform Fan8.Club, is working on a project in collaboration with a hospitality partner that will create one million booking NFTs at premium hotels in Vietnam.

"Blockchain is no longer something of the future. It has real products now."

Vietnamese startups have made headlines since last year with their use of the blockchain technology. Blockchain games like Axie Infinity and finance apps like Coin98 Finance have raised millions of dollars.

Vietnams blockchain market is set to enjoy double-digit growth in the 2023-2027 period as 5G development across the country facilitates the formation of smart cities, according to a report by TechSci Research.

Nguyen Thanh Nam, chairman of blockchain solutions provider OneBlock Labs, said that the technology could be used to trace origins of agriculture products, develop web browsers with better privacy protection and facilitate e-governance.

"The government has made many efforts to create a national database using technology. With blockchain, more potentials can be reached," he said.

In 2020, the Vietnamese government listed blockchain a top tech research priority for application in the Fourth Industrial Revolution era.

The Ministry of Science and Technology plans to let some blockchain companies to use the technology to try out some of their ideas for social benefits this year.

Costing challenges

Startups say they are aware of the challenges in developing the blockchain technology, high programmer salaries being one of them

"Hiring programmers to build a blockchain app costs four to five times that of a normal app," said Quynh of Saigon Books said.

Finding a team of experienced blockchain techies who understand the market is very difficult, said Nam of OneBlock Labs.

"It is therefore crucial to start developing blockchain human resources."

Yen of Fan8.Club said that the world will soon have pre-established blockchain platforms for businesses to use and create their own products, and Vietnamese firms can take advantage of these instead of building everything from scratch.

Some industry insiders have also warned about the potential to misuse blockchain.

Pham Phuoc Nguyen, digital operations head at Coin98 Finance, said: "Not everything needs blockchain. Some can be done the traditional way."
Malaysian Prime Minister Dato Sri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob officially visited Vietnam for the first time starting Sunday.

He was received by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi. They later exchanged dialogue at the governmental headquarters.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (R) receives Malaysian Prime Minister Dato Sri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi, March 21, 2022. Photo courtesy of the government news portal

PM Ismail Sabri is in Vietnam with other high-ranking officials for a two-day visit. It is the first time that Yaakob officially visits Vietnam since he took office in August 2021, according to the government news portal.

The visit came as Vietnam and Malaysia move towards the 50-year anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2023. The two countries have spent seven years as strategic partners.

Malaysia is Vietnam's second largest commercial partner in ASEAN, and ninth largest in the world. Vietnam is Malaysia's third largest commercial partner in ASEAN.

Bilateral trade turnover between the two countries reached $12.5 billion in 2021, a 25.3 percent increase from the same period in 2020.

Vietnam has 21 active investment projects into Malayisa, worth $853 million in total. There are around 1,000 Vietnamese students in Malaysia.
An Indian couple hold their wedding on Phu Quoc Island, Kien Giang Province, 2019. Photo courtesy of the Indian embassy in Vietnam

Several Vietnamese envoys say citizens of the countries they are stationed in are eager to return to Vietnam and products customized to specific tastes would facilitate their visits.

Vietnam's ambassador to India, Pham Sanh Chau, said at tourism conference Tuesday that more and more Indian tourists have shown great interest in traveling to Vietnam, especially after several Indian tycoons held their wedding ceremonies on Phu Quoc Island and Da Nang City in 2019.

"In February, a group of 250 high-spending Indian tourists planned to visit Vietnam, but switched to Thailand because of relaxed entry rules," Chau said.

"Vietnam should actively promote its tourism image to attract more Indian tourists to the country and tourism officials should prepare plans to develop wedding tourism targeting rich Indians," he added.

The number of Indian visitors to Vietnam has grown steadily over the past years from 19.9 percent in 2015 to 30 percent in 2018 and 28 percent in 2019, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT).

In 2019, Indian carrier IndiGo launched the first direct flights between the two countries on two routes: Kolkata to Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.

Vu Hong Nam, Ambassador to Japan, said after over two years of the Covid crisis many Japanese tourists were keen on visiting Vietnam.

Nam suggested that the Vietnamese tourism industry promotes its image and launch products targeting Japanese tourists after the recent reopening. Japan used to be one of Vietnams major tourism markets before the pandemic, he noted.

Nam also said the Japanese government has always highly appreciated Vietnams efforts in the pandemic fight and its reopening policy. Japan was one of the first countries to recognize Vietnam's vaccine passport and agree to resume regular flights between the two countries, he said.

Ambassador to Singapore Mai Phuoc Dung said the island nation has not yet fully reopened its tourism industry, but has resumed quarantine-free travel for Vietnamese tourists, opening up opportunities for post pandemic recovery.

France currently classifies Vietnam as a safe country and many French tourists also love Vietnamese food and people, said ambassador to France Dinh Toan Thang.

He suggested that Vietnamese travel companies focus on providing green, sustainable tourism services and products as the French are especially interested in places that are not crowded and have safe medical facilities.

Technology needs to be applied to tourism products to follow the trend of less-contact during the pandemic time, he said.

Vietnam fully reopened its borders Tuesday with relaxed entry rules after nearly two years of closure, only requiring foreign visitors to test negative for Covid without having to enter quarantine.

It has resumed visa exemption policy for citizens from 24 countries, including ASEAN members, several European economies, Japan and South Korea.
The United States has announced the designation of former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko for involvement in significant corruption, including bribes and kickbacks. State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement the illicit gains were in exchange for Sonkos awarding government contracts to his associates. His actions undermined the rule of law and the publics faith in Kenyas democratic institutions and public processes, Spokesperson Price wrote.



Sonkos immediate family members, including his wife, Primrose Mbuvi, daughters Saumu Mbuvi, and Salma Mbuvi were also designated, along with Sonkos minor child. The designations were made under Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operation and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2021 and render Sonko and his immediate family as ineligible for entry into the United States.



As the most recent State Department Human Rights report on Kenya maintains, serious acts of corruption remain a significant problem, as is impunity at all levels of government. Mike Sonko was charged with various corruption crimes in 2019 and removed as Governor of Nairobi in 2020 for gross misconduct and abuse of office. He has yet to stand trial.



According to Transparency International, Kenya ranks 128 out of 180 countries in the world for corruption, and Kenyans are still frustrated by the slow turn of the wheels of justice as corruption cases have dragged in the courts.



President Joe Biden has made countering corruption a core component of U.S. foreign policy. The White House made clear why. Corruption is a cancer within the

the body of societies  a disease that eats at public trust and the ability of governments to deliver for their citizens, said the White House in a statement. It exacerbates social, political and economic inequality and polarization[It] degrades the business environment and economic opportunity; drives conflict and undermines faith in government. Those that abuse positions of power for private gain steal not just material wealth, but human dignity and welfare.



As Spokesperson Price said, the designations of former Nairobi governor Mike Sonko and his immediate family reaffirm the commitment of the United States to combatting corruption and supporting the rule of law while strengthening democratic institutions in Kenya. We will continue to use all available tools to promote accountability for corrupt actors in this region and globally.
ELKO  Author Patricia Newman visited Elko County School District schoolchildren for virtual visits between Feb. 28 and March 4.

Sponsored by the Elko County Reading Council, the Elko County School District and Kinross Bald Mountain Mine, Newman met students from her home in Sacramento, California due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Newman, who has written mostly nonfiction books for children, including Neemas Reason to Smile, Planet Ocean, Sea Otter Heroes, Plastic, Ahoy! and Zoo Scientists to the Rescue met and interacted with students via Google Meets.

During her virtual visits, she read from some of her books, gave demonstrations, and discussed the research and writing process. Newman also conducted a question and answer session with students.

For more than 30 years, the Elko County Reading Council has brought authors to schools throughout the Elko County School District.

Its a wonderful way to promote a love for reading, give students an inside view of the writing and publishing world and encourage them in their own writing/illustrating, said Bev Killion, Elko County Reading Council secretary.

The Reading Council thanks Kinross Bald Mountain Mine and the Elko County School District for providing this great experience, she said.

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Asteroid 2022 EB5 was too small to pose a hazard to Earth, but its discovery marks the fifth time that any asteroid has been observed before impacting into the atmosphere.

A small asteroid hit Earth's atmosphere over the Norwegian Sea before disintegrating on March 11, 2022. But this event wasn't a complete surprise: Astronomers knew it was on a collision course, predicting exactly where and when the impact would happen.

Two hours before the asteroid made impact, K. Sarneczky at the Piszkesteto Observatory in northern Hungary first reported observations of the small object to the Minor Planet Center - the internationally recognized clearinghouse for the position measurements of small celestial bodies. The object was posted on the Minor Planet Center's Near-Earth Object Confirmation Page to flag it for additional observations that would confirm it as a previously unknown asteroid.

This animation shows asteroid 2022 EB5's predicted orbit around the Sun before impacting into the Earth's atmosphere on March 11, 2022. The asteroid - estimated to be about 6  feet (2 meters) wide - was discovered only two hours before impact. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA's "Scout" impact hazard assessment system then took these early measurements to calculate the trajectory of 2022 EB5. As soon as Scout determined that 2022 EB5 was going to hit Earth's atmosphere, the system alerted the Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) and NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office, and flagged the object on the Scout webpage to notify the near-Earth object observing community. Maintained by CNEOS at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, Scout automatically searches the Minor Planet Center's database for possible new short-term impactors. CNEOS calculates every known near-Earth asteroid orbit to improve impact hazard assessments in support of the Planetary Defense Coordination Office.

"Scout had only 14 observations over 40 minutes from one observatory to work with when it first identified the object as an impactor. We were able to determine the possible impact locations, which initially extended from western Greenland to off the coast of Norway," said Davide Farnocchia, a navigation engineer at JPL who developed Scout. "As more observatories tracked the asteroid, our calculations of its trajectory and impact location became more precise."

Scout determined that 2022 EB5 would enter the atmosphere southwest of Jan Mayen, a Norwegian island nearly 300 miles (470 kilometers) off the east coast of Greenland and northeast of Iceland. At 5:23 p.m. EST (2:23 p.m. PST), 2022 EB5 hit the atmosphere as predicted by Scout, and infrasound detectors have confirmed the impact occurred at the predicted time.

From observations of the asteroid as it approached Earth and the energy measured by infrasound detectors at time of impact, 2022 EB5 is estimated to have been about 6 1/2 feet (2 meters) in size. Tiny asteroids of this size get bright enough to be detected only in the last few hours before their impact (or before they make a very close approach to Earth). They are much smaller than the objects that the Planetary Defense Coordination Office is tasked by NASA with detecting and warning about.

"Tiny asteroids like 2022 EB5 are numerous, and they impact into the atmosphere quite frequently - roughly every 10 months or so," said Paul Chodas, the director of CNEOS at JPL. "But very few of these asteroids have actually been detected in space and observed extensively prior to impact, basically because they are very faint until the last few hours, and a survey telescope has to observe just the right spot of sky at the right time for one to be detected."

A larger asteroid with hazardous impact potential would be discovered much farther from Earth. NASA's goal is to keep track of such asteroids and to calculate their trajectories in order to have many years' notice ahead of a potential impact should one ever be identified. But this real-world event with a very small asteroid allowed the planetary defense community to exercise capabilities and gave some confidence that the impact prediction models at CNEOS are highly capable of informing the response to the potential impact of a larger object.

2022 EB5 is only the fifth small asteroid to be detected in space before hitting Earth's atmosphere. The first asteroid to be discovered and tracked well before hitting Earth was 2008 TC3, which entered the atmosphere over Sudan and broke up in October 2008. That 13-foot-wide (4-meter-wide) asteroid scattered hundreds of small meteorites over the Nubian Desert. As surveys become more sophisticated and sensitive, more of these harmless objects will be detected before entering the atmosphere.

More information about CNEOS, asteroids, and near-Earth objects can be found at: https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov and https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroid-watch

For more information about NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/planetarydefense

For asteroid and comet news and updates, follow @AsteroidWatch on Twitter.

Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.
ELKO  The field for Assembly District 33 is now set, with three candidates vying for the office.

Realtor Bert Gurr, licensed nurse and patient advocate Nicole Sirotek, and military veteran John Doc Garrard filed in Carson City for the seat currently held by Assemblyman John Ellison.

Ellison was first elected in 2010 and reelected in 2014 and 2018. He terms out at the end of the year.

According to the Secretary of States website, Garrard filed as a Democrat, with Gurr and Sirotek filing as Republicans.

John Doc Garrard

Garrard filed on March 18. He is a native of Dugway, Utah, and served as a health technician in the Army and Coast Guard, according to his Facebook page.

He entered politics once before, according to Free Press files, coming in third place for an Elko County TV District board seat in 2014.

Garrard declined to be interviewed for this article.

Bert Gurr

For more than 70 years, Gurr has resided in Nevada. He has lived in Elko County for about five decades, currently in Spring Creek with his family.

He obtained his real estate brokers license in 1979 and has served on various county and state Realtor boards.

He announced his intention to run for office in October, emphasizing the need for rural Nevada to be heard in the Assembly.

I want to be at the table on policy issues that affect rural Nevada, Gurr said. I want to limit the Governors emergency powers, protect our First Amendment right to free speech, Second Amendment right to bear arms, and get rid of all unfunded mandates and illegal mandates.

Looking at recent legislation such as Assembly Bill 424, the 48-hour bail hearing law based on the Valdez-Jimenez Nevada Supreme Court ruling, Gurr said it was an example of an unfunded mandate that would cost the rural counties money they dont have.

Gurr added that, if elected, he would also focus on education.

[I would] help try and improve our education system, provide greater choice for parents and get parents more involved in our education system, he said. Get greater transparency for the Nevada Board of Education and return autonomy to our local school districts.

Rural lawmakers blast redistricting results I think it should be challenged in court. This is a tragedy for rural Nevada.

A member and former chairman of the Elko County Wildlife Advisory Board since 1975, Gurr said if elected, he hoped to be selected for the Natural Resources Committee to work on wild horses throughout the state of Nevada and to protect our ranching industry.

Adding that he has already traveled around the state to get a feel for the scope and size of District 33, which stretches from the Idaho and Utah borders down to the California border, Gurr said he was ready for the work that lies ahead. Its a big district, with 74,000 people roughly.

Theres a lot of issues that go on throughout the state that Elko doesnt know about, he continued. Now that the district is almost 500 miles long. its going to take somebody with the time, the energy and the effort to get around and talk to all these people.

Nicole Sirotek

Sirotek has been a registered nurse, FEMA-trained in triage and mass casualty critical care for more than a decade.

Before the pandemic, she served as a flight nurse for Reach Air. Sirotek said she has studied and gained experience with international healthcare interventional strategies related to infectious disease outbreaks and natural disasters.

In the past two years she has as worked as a patient advocate, stating that she has tirelessly worked to expose the deadly protocols and clinical negligence harming patients hospitalized with Covid-19.

I was the first to expose the fraud in the narrative that was portrayed to the American people, and I have connected with some of the greatest doctors, nurses, and scientists across the world, with the single goal of saving lives, she continued.

At the onset of the pandemic two years ago, Sirotek was working as a nurse in New York City. She posted a video about the working and patient conditions at inner-city hospitals that quickly went viral.

But its been her work throughout the state that prompted her to run for Assembly District 33, the largest multicounty district in the state of Nevada, Sirotek explained.

I have traveled across rural Nevada teaching early intervention strategies to help keep rural Nevadans out of the hospital and safe at home, she said.

I decided to start focusing my attention on key issues plaguing much of rural Nevada, from lack of access to care, marginalizing of the blue-collar worker, resource scarcity, encroachment on water rights, and an escalating mental health crisis.

If elected, Sirotek said she would strive to keep the American Dream alive for the generations to come.

I want to focus on protecting rural Nevadas way of life, so the next generation does not lose out on the American Dream my family came to this country for, she said. This is why I decided to run for Assembly District 33.

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ELKO  An Elko woman was arrested Saturday for assault with a deadly weapon after she allegedly pressed a knife against a mans throat in a downtown bar.

Kacee N. Horse, 25, was also booked on charges of battery by a prisoner and violation of probation.

Police were called to the bar where the alleged victim told them a woman he did not know approached him and became verbal for unknown reasons. She then removed a large hunting knife from her purse and began pressing it against his neck and she was yelling at him, stated the officers declaration of probable cause.

Horse was placed in the back of a patrol vehicle where she allegedly spit in an officers face.

According to Elko County Jail records, Horse was a resident of Owyhee in December 2020 when she was arrested at a north Elko residence on charges of robbery; 14 counts of conspiracy to buy, possess or receive stolen property; five counts of obtaining or possessing credit or debit card without cardholders consent; three counts of obtaining or using another persons ID for harmful or unlawful purposes; and resisting a public officer.

She was listed as a resident of Boise, Idaho when she pleaded guilty to attempted possession of a credit card or debit card without cardholders consent. She was sentenced in June 2021 by District Judge Al Kacin to 12-32 months in prison and was placed on probation for 18 months. She was further ordered to serve two days in jail for contempt of court for failure to appear for sentencing.

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LAS VEGAS (AP)  In the Mojave Desert, Shannon Salter walks past creosote bushes and Mojave yucca, the plants spiky, dagger-like leaves sticking up toward the sky.

Wearing a heavy down jacket and a floppy hat, she comes up to a fence line and stares at the construction of a project she fought hard to stop.

Salter, a poet and part-time teacher, has been camping since October near the Yellow Pine Solar Project, about a 20-minute drive from Pahrump. She was a staunch opponent to the project, wanting to protect the more than 90,000 old-growth yucca and desert ecosystem.

Once it got approved, she decided to stick around to watch the bulldozers clear the 3,000 acres of land to make way for a large-scale solar field that will provide power for 100,000 homes in California.

Im there making a presence in the valley, she told the Las Vegas Sun. Im keeping watch. I wanted somebody to bear witness to the destruction.  I dont think people realize the enormity of it.

The Yellow Pine Solar Project is the first of six solar projects that could be covering the Pahrump Valley. For activists like Salter, renewable energy projects that aim to curb the planets warming also come with a heavy price of killing species.

THE URGENCY

Human-induced climate change is causing dangerous and widespread disruption in nature and affecting the lives of billions of people around the world, a Feb. 28 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said.

The report emphasized the urgency of immediate and more ambitious action to address climate risks, Hoesung Lee, chair of the panel, said in a statement.

Scientists say temperatures will continue to rise, more droughts and heat waves will occur, natural disasters will be more intense and sea level will rise. In an effort to curb climate change, countries are trying to drastically mitigate their greenhouse gas emissions, which have proven to contribute to the warming of the earth.

The Biden administration also has a goal of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by no later than 2050. In 2019, Nevada adopted Senate Bill 358, requiring 50% of the states energy to come from renewable sources by the year 2030.

If we had taken action on climate change, say 10-15 years ago globally, said Kristen Averyt, the senior climate adviser for the office of Gov. Steve Sisolak, we probably would have had the luxury of incremental change in terms of what needs to happen to mitigate our greenhouse gas emissions. But were in a situation where we really need to transform how we approach things.

In late December 2021 the Bureau of Land Management published a notice soliciting interest for utility-scale solar energy development on about 46,000 acres of land in Nevada, the agencys largest solicitation for development since 2012.

Conservationists are calling it the solar land rush, and they expect to see many solar proposals come forward. Other renewable energy-related projects across Nevada, from geothermal to wind to lithium mines that would provide batteries for electric vehicles, are also in the works.

While energy companies are striving to get their projects approved and help the state and U.S. meet its energy goals, activists, environmentalists and residents are fighting to stop them, opposing their location.

ITS FRIGHTENING

Near Beatty, a town of around 900 residents about two hours drive from Las Vegas, residents fear a slew of proposed solar projects will alter views and drive away tourists.

There are six projects around Beatty that would cover thousands of acres, said Erika Gerling, a chair of the Beatty Advisory Board. Beatty, known as the gateway to Death Valley, has been working for 10 years to promote itself as a recreation destination, Gerling said.

Tourism is a huge thing for us, Gerling said. Its our bread and butter.

About 3 miles from the center of Beatty is the ghost town of Rhyolite, an old mining town from the Gold Rush era that drew about a million visitors last year, Gerling said.

Part of the Goldwell Open Air Museum in Rhyolite is a sculpture from 1984 called the Last Supper, in which 13 ghostly figures re-create the famous DaVinci painting. If the Beatty Solar Energy Center, a solar project consisting of an 800 megawatt generating facility, is approved. Tourists could see row upon row of solar arrays behind the famous sculpture.

Its frightening, Gerling said. The projects are in very early stages, having been submitted to the state Public Utilities Commission. We want to preserve the history and the nature of our area. Thats what were for.

We are not against renewable energy, she said. We are not against solar energy. We are just not in favor of the location of these projects.

Kevin Emmerich and Laura Cunningham, biologists and founders of Basin and Range Watch, a nonprofit dedicated to conserving the deserts of Nevada and California, have been fighting renewable energy projects in the desert, which they say holds a lot of biological value. The yucca serve as home to a couple species of insects, and tortoises use the plants root system for burrows, Emmerich said.

The desert also sequesters carbon, and when heavy machinery disturbs and lifts the desert soil, that carbon is released back into the atmosphere, Cunningham said. And with many projects proposed in the Mojave Desert with gaps in between, conservationists worry the ecosystem will be fragmented.

Theres got to be better alternatives than destroying these ecosystems, Cunningham said.

Desert conservationists would rather see solar farms on already disturbed land, such as old agricultural lots or abandoned mine sites. They also think solar should be put on rooftops or over parking lots, however experts have said that would not be enough and that both large-scale rural projects as well as small-scale urban projects are necessary to curb climate change.

THE COST OF LITHIUM

Transportation accounts for roughly 36% of Nevadas greenhouse gas emissions, so investing in electric vehicles  which have a smaller carbon footprint than gasoline-powered cars  will help offset carbon emissions and help the U.S. meet its energy goals.

Lithium is a critical component in the production of batteries that power electric vehicles.

In Nevada, where two lithium mine projects are trying to get approval, residents worry about the impacts.

The Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project in Esmeralda County would extract 24,000 tons of lithium carbonate and 192,000 tons of boric acid per year. It would also employ between 400 and 500 people during the construction period and 250 to 300 people to operate the project, according to Ioneer, the Australian company proposing the project.

A rare wildflower called Tiehms Buckwheat is at risk, however, as opponents say the mine could destroy 90% of the plants. The wildflower only lives in that area, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed protecting 910 acres of critical habitat for it.

If protected status is approved for the wildflower, the mine project could be squashed.

An area could still be excluded from critical habitat designation if the benefits of such exclusion outweigh the benefits of specifying such area as part of the critical habitat, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service, but not if the department determines that failing to designate the area will result in extinction of the species.

The company proposed moving the Tiehms buckwheat to new areas; however scientists contracted by the company determined there were no suitable alternative locations due to the unique soil that the plant needs.

Ioneer has maintained that there is evidence of successful translocation of buckwheat species in Nevada and that it is working to protect the species.

Ioneer has spent over $1.2 million on research and developing protection measures over the past three years to figure out how to protect and conserve the wildflower, according to its website, and has emphasized its commitment to protecting the species.

The Center for Biological Diversity filed an endangered species act petition in 2019 to protect the Tiehms buckwheat, said Patrick Donnelly, center Great Basin director.

The government has one year to issue a final rule, and the group expects an endangered species listing by Oct. 1. The group also proposed a critical habitat petition that would preserve the wildflowers habitat and could possibly kill the mine project, and the group is confident that the species will be listed with the critical habitat status.

If we could get 10 pounds of lithium but it would require bulldozing someones house, Donnelly said, we would say No, of course were not going to destroy someones house.  As of now, we have a mine that is going to drive a species to extinction. There is no upside, especially when theres a million ways we can do it.

Another example is the proposed Thacker Pass Lithium Mine in Humboldt County at the Nevada-Oregon border.

It would be the largest lithium mine in the country, covering 9 square miles of public land. With a lifespan of 46 years and reserves of 3.1 million tonnes (3.47 million tons) of lithium carbonate extract, it would consist of open-pit mining and use ore crushing, acid leaching and processing methods to produce lithium carbonate, which would be turned into battery-grade lithium products, including for electric vehicles.

The Bureau of Land Management in December 2020 released its final environmental impact statement. Last week it issued air, water and mining permits for the site, bringing it one step closer to breaking ground.

But opposition to the mine has gained national attention. Native American tribes say the area holds cultural and historical significance. The Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone tribes, presenting evidence of a nearby massacre that occurred in 1865, joined a legal challenge to the mine.

A lawsuit brought by several environmental groups concerned about the mines effect on water and wildlife is also pending.

There is always a right place and a wrong place to do it, Donnelly said. Youre never going to be able to put an open pit mine in Nevada without impacting the environment severely.

NOWHERE ELSE ON EARTH

The Center for Biological Diversity has also been working to protect species in Nevada threatened by geothermal projects, which uses underground heat produced by the Earth to generate electricity. Geothermal energy projects involve pumping water and extracting the heat and are usually next to hot springs.

A geothermal project in Churchill County is threatening the Dixie-Valley toad, a black-freckled and big-eyed amphibian that lives at the Dixie Valley Playa within the Great Basin, to extinction, Donnelly said.

Ormat Technologies Dixie Meadows Geothermal Project broke ground last month while litigation filed by the Center for Biological Diversity is still pending, Donnelly said.

Maybe we make a choice to let some springs go dry for renewable energy, but when theres a toad nowhere else on Earth, for us thats a reason to engage, Donnelly said.

Donnelly is tracking five other species, four of which are in Nevada, threatened by geothermal energy. Those include the Dixie Valley pyrg (a kind of springsnail), the Fish Lake Valley tui chub, the steamboat buckwheat and the bleached sandhill skipper, a type of butterfly that lives near the Baltazor Hot Spring in Humboldt County.

Donnellys group is currently preparing an Endangered Species Act petition for those species.

CONSERVATION AND CLEAN ENERGY COEXISTING?

While the Biden administration has a goal of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, it has a separate goal of conserving 30% of U.S. land by 2030.

In southern Clark County near Searchlight, the Kulning Wind Energy Project proposed by Crescent Peak Renewables would help the administration achieve that emission goal by generating 308 megawatts of wind energy with 68 wind turbine generations, a substation and a 29-mile transmission line to Sloan Canyon Switching Station.

But the projects plans could be moot if the efforts of conservationists, tribes and recreation groups succeed in turning the area into a national monument known as Avi Kwa Ame, or Spirit Mountain in Mojave, which would help Bidens conservation goal.

The company thinks the land could accommodate both projects, as the footprint of the wind project is less than 2% of the proposed 450,000-acre national monument, said Lucas Ingvoldstad, senior director of government and external affairs for IOWN Renewable Energy Inc. If the monument is approved, however, new mining claims, energy development, utility lines and road construction would be prohibited.

We have and will continue to support the permanent protection of Spirit Mountain, Ingvoldstad said. We think these can both coexist. You can have Avi Kwa Ame and the wind project.

An environmental impact statement has not yet been done, as that step is further along in the process, but it would identify what is potentially going to be disturbed and if there are other suitable locations.

Nearby tribes, which say the area is sacred and at the center of some tribes creation stories, are staunch in their desire to see the area stay untouched.

It lives within our heart, said Timothy Williams, chairman of the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe. Its in our souls. It is the one thing that has remained consistent and persistent in these unprecedented times. Its the one place where we can go to seek refuge in these times.

The Governors Office of Energy and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources recognize those tradeoffs involved, and say it is important to balance the conservation of Nevadas cherished public lands with the economic opportunities of developing clean-energy solutions to address the climate crisis for future generations, the offices said in a joint statement to the Sun.

As a leader in both solar and geothermal energy, Nevada is where that is happening  both in striking the proper balance of protecting our shared natural landscapes and opportunities for developing clean, renewable energy, the statement says.

Nevadas State Climate Strategy says that while the science of climate change is beyond question, the solutions and how to manage the effects of climate change are complex.

It is important to understand all of the tradeoffs and do the best we can to move forward to find those really positive solutions, Averyt said.

When it comes to climate change, the greater the impacts are, the more complex the challenges, she said. And in some way the more complex the solutions. So we need to get at it and we need to start having these discussions.

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Geothermal energy has long been the forgotten member of the clean energy family, overshadowed by relatively cheap solar and wind power, despite its proven potential. But that may soon change  for an unexpected reason.

Geothermal technologies are on the verge of unlocking vast quantities of lithium from naturally occurring hot brines beneath places like Californias Salton Sea, a two-hour drive from San Diego.

Lithium is essential for lithium-ion batteries, which power electric vehicles and energy storage. Demand for these batteries is quickly rising, but the U.S. is currently heavily reliant on lithium imports from other countries  most of the nations lithium supply comes from Argentina, Chile, Russia and China. The ability to recover critical minerals from geothermal brines in the U.S. could have important implications for energy and mineral security, as well as global supply chains, workforce transitions and geopolitics.

As a geologist who works with geothermal brines and an energy policy scholar, we believe this technology can bolster the nations critical minerals supply chain at a time when concerns about the supply chains security are rising.

Enough lithium to far exceed todays US demandGeothermal power plants use heat from the Earth to generate a constant supply of steam to run turbines that produce electricity. The plants operate by bringing up a complex saline solution located far underground, where it absorbs heat and is enriched with minerals such as lithium, manganese, zinc, potassium and boron.

Geothermal brines are the concentrated liquid left over after heat and steam are extracted at a geothermal plant. In the Salton Sea plants, these brines contain high concentrations  about 30%  of dissolved solids.

If test projects now underway prove that battery-grade lithium can be extracted from these brines cost effectively, 11 existing geothermal plants along the Salton Sea alone could have the potential to produce enough lithium metal to provide about 10 times the current U.S. demand.

Three geothermal operators at the Salton Sea geothermal field are in various stages of designing, constructing and testing pilot plants for direct lithium extraction from the hot brines.

At full production capacity, the 11 existing power plants near the Salton Sea, which currently generate about 432 megawatts of electricity, could also produce about 20,000 metric tons of lithium metal per year. The annual market value of this metal would be over $5 billion at current prices.

Geopolitical risks in the lithium supply chainExisting lithium supply chains are rife with uncertainties that put mineral security in question for the United States.

Russias war in Ukraine and competition with China, as well as close ties between Russia and China, underscore the geopolitical implications of the mineral-intensive clean energy transformation.

China is currently the leader in lithium processing and actively procures lithium reserves from other major producers. Chinese state mining operators often own mines in other countries, which produce other vital clean energy minerals like cobalt and nickel.

There is currently one lithium production facility in the U.S. That facility, in Nevada, extracts saline liquid and concentrates the lithium by allowing the water to evaporate in large, shallow ponds. In contrast, the process for extracting lithium while producing geothermal energy returns the water and brines to the earth. Adding another domestic source of lithium could improve energy and mineral security for the United States and its allies.

A lack of policy supportGeothermal power today represents less than 0.5% of the utility-scale electricity generation in the U.S.

One reason it remains a stagnant energy technology in the U.S. is the lack of strong policy support. Preliminary findings from a research study being conducted by one of us indicate that part of the problem is rooted in disagreements among older and newer geothermal companies themselves, including how they talk about geothermal energys benefits with policymakers, investors, the media and the public.

Geothermal power has the ability to complement solar and wind energy as a baseload power source  it is constant, unlike sunshine and wind  and to provide energy and mineral security. It could also offer a professional bridge for oil, gas and coal employees to transition into the clean energy economy.

The industry could benefit from policies like risk mitigation funds to lessen drilling exploration costs, grant programs to demonstrate innovations, long-term power contracts or tax incentives.

Adding the production of critical metals like lithium, manganese and zinc from geothermal brines could provide geothermal electrical power operators a new competitive advantage and help get geothermal onto the policy agenda.

Geothermal energy gets a boost in CaliforniaTrends might be moving in the right direction for geothermal energy producers.

In February, the California Public Utilities Commission adopted a new Preferred System Plan that encourages the state to develop 1,160 megawatts of new geothermal electricity. Thats on top of a 2021 decision to procure 1,000 megawatts from zero emissions, renewable, firm generating resources with an 80% capacity factor  which can only be met by geothermal technologies.

The California decisions were primarily meant to complement intermittent renewable energy, like solar and wind, and the retirement of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. They suggest that the era of geothermal as the forgotten renewable energy may be ending.

Bryant Jones, Boise State University and Michael McKibben, University of California, Riverside

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Russian invasion of Ukraine headlines

- Brussels begins consideration of Ukraine's emergency EU application

- President Biden will set off for his European tour later this week

- White House says that Russia could be planning a cyber attack on US critical infrastructure.

- Authorities in Mariupol rejectthe Russian order of surrender

- Military experts believe that Russia and Ukraine will enter a stalemate which could lead to more aerial strikes on the part of the Russians.

- In speech to Israeli Knesset, President Zelensky urges lawmakers to take a stronger stand against Russias actions

- Eight people killed in Monday morning attack on Kyiv shopping center

- 10 million Ukrainians have fled their homes since the conflict began, says UN

- Russia reportedly bombs Mariupol art school sheltering 400 civilians and confirms the use of hypersonic missiles

Russia - Ukraine conflict information

- Putin and many others who support the war in Ukraine have made accusations that the country is full of Nazis. Where do these accusations stem from?

- Can families in the US sponsor Ukrainian refugees?

- Internet access has dropped by 15 percnet in Ukraine. How has Starlink helped?

- What are the key dates for Russia to pay its state bonds?

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Chinese aviation authorities confirmed on Monday that a passenger plane operated by China Easter Airlines had crashed with 132 people on board.

The plane was flying over Wuzhou, in Chinas Guangxi region, on a scheduled flight from Kunming to Guangzhou. It is thought that the flight in question was the MU5735, which began to descend sharply from around 2:20pm local time, according to flight-tracking website FlightRadar24.

Flightradar24 data for China Eastern Airlines flight #MU5735 from Kunming to Guangzhou.



At 06:20:59 UTC the Boeing 737-800 aircraft started to lose altitude very fast. At 06:22:35 UTC last ADS-B signal showed vertical speed -31.000 feet per minute.https://t.co/Lwo8klGf8g pic.twitter.com/UEZaa9asua  Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) March 21, 2022

Chinese President Xi Jinping said he was shocked of the tragic incident which is presumed to have cost all 132 people on board their lives. China Eastern Airlines has opened a hotline for family members to keep them up to date on the latest information.

Was the Boeing 737 Max involved in the China airplane crash?

Manufacturer Boeing has been at the central of a number of major incidents in recent years and the companys shares were down by more than 8% in premarket trade on Monday morning.

Since 2018 manufacturing faults were found to have contributed to fatal crashes of the Lion Air Flight 610 (Indonesia) and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, which killed a combined 346 people.

The airline jet involved is a young, 6-year old Boeing 737-800 (but not to be confused with the newer version, the 737 MAX)



Initial data lookshorrific - an extremely sudden, sharp descent while overflying a mountain range. #MU5735  Alex Macheras (@AlexInAir) March 21, 2022

Between March 2019 and December 2020 Boeing was forced to ground its entire global fleet of the 737 Max, a more fuel efficient version of the widely used 737, due to its involvement the two fatal crashes.

However the Boeing 737 Max was not the plane which came down in China on Monday. The model in question was not a Max according to the company.
The White House has announced that President Joe Bidens trip to Europe later this week will include a visit to Poland, the NATO nation which shares a border with Ukraine.

Tensions in Eastern Europe have reached levels not seen since the Soviet after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in the early hours of 24 February. Ukraine has so-far managed to repel the invading forces but the Russian military actions have become increasingly desperate and civilians are now being actively targeted.

In a White House statement, Press Secretary Jen Psaki confirmed: On Friday, March 25, President Biden will travel to Warsaw, Poland, where he will hold a bilateral meeting with President Andrzej Duda.

She continued: The President will discuss how the United States, alongside our Allies and partners, is responding to the humanitarian and human rights crisis that Russias unjustified and unprovoked war on Ukraine has created.

The White House announces President Biden will visit Warsaw, Poland on Friday for a bilateral meeting with President Andrzej Duda. It will follow his trip to Brussels where hell participate in a NATO summit and join a European Council meeting on Russias invasion of Ukraine.  Geoff Bennett (@GeoffRBennett) March 21, 2022

Poland is a key ally in the context of the Ukraine crisis and has already taken in more than two million refugees fleeing the war. Biden may opt to meet with some of the people displaced by Russias invasion, although that has not yet been confirmed.

Why is President Biden travelling to Europe?

Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine the United States, along with other NATO allies, has attempted to support the besieged Ukrainian people without provoking a global conflict. Ukraine is not a member of NATO and so not covered by the alliances mutual defence clause, but has received financial, humanitarian and military support.

On Thursday, 24 March Biden will take part in an extraordinary NATO summit in Brussels in a hastily organised meeting with leaders of all 30 NATO states. Biden is said to be planning to assure European leaders that NATO is acting decisively to stem Russian expansionism in Eastern Europe.

Related news:

Speaking last week, Psaki told reporters: His goal is to meet face to face with his European counterparts and talk about where we are at this point in the conflict, in the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

After attending the NATO summit, Biden will also be present for a meeting of the European Union on the same day. Last week the EU agreed a fourth package of restrictive measures against Russia, with the explicit target of crippling the Russian economy and its ability to wage war in Ukraine.

Before heading to Europe, Biden will host a virtual meeting with President Emmanuel Macron of France, Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy and Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom.
Digital field, R&D spends, core tech, monetary and fiscal policies to underpin growth

As China's two sessionsthe annual sittings of the national legislature and the top political advisory bodyended on March 11, they showed the world how in the world's second-largest economy, the intersection of democracy, policymaking and lawmaking contributes to high-quality development, the dream of almost every country these days.

Premier Li Keqiang highlighted the need for China to further implement the innovation-driven development strategy and strengthen the foundation of the real economy at the opening of the fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress earlier this month.

Delivering this year's Government Work Report, Li said China will promote scientific and technological innovation for industrial upgrading, eliminate the bottlenecks in supply chains and realize high-quality development through innovation.

The remarks came at a time when the global economy went into a recession amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Changing geopolitical environment and growing trade protectionism added complexities to the economic development of countries globally.

"To achieve innovation, core technology is a key," said Ni Guangnan, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

Ni said that over the past year, China has made new breakthroughs in core technologies, including information technology. Domestic central processing unit chips, operating systems and other basic digital technologies have been put into wide use.

"Although the overall market share (of these domestic basic digital technologies) is small, the absolute number of such products has reached 10 million," he said.

"It fully demonstrated that China, as a super large market, has great advantages in driving innovation. The country's scientific and technological innovation capabilities have also been significantly improved."

For instance, in terms of innovation in semiconductors, the government has intensified efforts to develop chips at home so as to reduce reliance on the foreign semiconductor industry. This generated unprecedented levels of enthusiasm and funneled capital from Chinese entrepreneurs into the domestic semiconductor industry, with even carmakers jumping on the auto chip bandwagon.

According to market consultancy Preqin, China surpassed the United States in terms of semiconductor financing last year. Chinese chipmakers, integrated circuit designers and other semiconductor startups received $8.8 billion in funding last year, more than six times the $1.3 billion invested in comparable US companies.

Ding Wenwu, president of China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund Co Ltd, said although investments in the chip design segment increased over the past decade, more efforts are needed in the fields of chip materials, equipment and manufacturing.

"Chip design has a lower technological threshold and quick investment returns. But chip materials, equipment and manufacturing are the areas where China lags developed countries such as the US," Ding said.

More innovations will spring forth in the near future as during the two sessions, the government said the country will "roll out more policy support to encourage businesses to make innovations and focus on tackling bottleneck technologies".

China will work to raise the proportion of weighted pretax deduction of the research and development expenses of small and medium-sized sci-tech enterprises from 75 percent to 100 percent, grant tax breaks to enterprises that invest in basic research, and improve policies on accelerated depreciation of equipment and tools and on preferential corporate income tax for new and high-tech enterprises.

"Our policy of tax and fee reductions is like applying fertilizer and water, and the initiative for mass entrepreneurship and innovation aims to help more market entities take root and grow," said Premier Li at a news conference after the closing of the fifth session of the 13th NPC on March 11.

"When public creativity is leveraged, and the vitality of market entities unleashed, one could well anticipate vibrant economic growth," he said.

The 2022 draft plan for national economic and social development, released by the National Development and Reform Commission, specified that faster breakthroughs in core technologies such as biomedicines, high-end instruments, green and low carbon energy transformation and basic software will be a priority.

China will also intensify efforts to develop national laboratories, major research projects and innovation centers in Beijing, Shanghai and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the plan said.

Liu Qingfeng, a deputy to the 13th NPC and chairman of iFlytek, a smart translation company, said such policy support has stimulated the vitality of high-tech companies and inspired more entrepreneurs to pursue innovations.

"Companies should promote systematic innovation based on original innovations and continuously improve the ability of integrating key technologies into industries. More efforts are also expected to be made to guide tech and market talent to join in," Liu said.

This year's Government Work Report also highlighted the efforts of developing digital economy, building more digital information infrastructure, applying 5G technology on a larger scale and advancing digitalization of industries.

Accelerated efforts will also be made for the development of fields like the industrial internet, artificial intelligence, key software and critical hardware, the report said.

As digital technology has become a focus area, Lu Jin, chairman of China National Gold Group Co, said in an interview with China Media Group that the company will beef up technology development and plans to invest about 300 million yuan ($47.24 million) this year to build "digital mines" to promote the digital management and control of mining, so as to further improve mining quality and efficiency.

In one of the companies' gold mines in China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, unmanned vehicles and drones, rather than human workers, did all transportation and inspection work, which greatly improved mining efficiency and production safety.

"It is the continuous research and development on forefront digital technologies that brought about 1.4 billion yuan to 1.5 billion yuan of profit from this mining area alone last year," Lu said.

According to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, a government think tank, China's digital economy reached $5.4 trillion in 2020 in terms of market size, which grew 9.6 percent year-on-year, the fastest worldwide.

"China's digital economy, which is indeed in the fast lane, has become a new driver of the country's economic growth amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It has and will play an important role in driving economic recovery globally," said Gong Ke, former president of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations and executive director of the Chinese Institute of New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Strategies.

According to China's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), the country will scale up spending on research and development by more than 7 percent annually during the period to drive more technological breakthroughs.

Consulting firm McKinsey &Company said in a report that 7 percent annual growth in R&D spending will set the country on the path to becoming the world's largest spender on R&D.

Peng Wensheng, chief economist and head of research at China International Capital Corp, said: "As demographic dividends gradually decrease, China's economy will rely more on technological innovations in the future. To achieve such technological progress, continuous R&D investment is the key."

However, Peng said China still has a long way to go to bridge the gap with developed countries like the US, both in R&D investment in basic research and R&D investment as a proportion of GDP.

"China's R&D investment must be increased 'substantially' in the coming decades to get rid of what we call the late-mover disadvantage," he said.
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi holds talks with Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra in Tunxi, east China's Anhui Province, March 20, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhou Mu)

HEFEI, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Sunday held talks with Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra and Tanzanian Foreign Minister Liberata Mulamula.

When holding talks with Lamamra, who is paying a visit to China, Wang said that apart from certain countries that are preoccupied with geographical games, there are many countries like China and Algeria that have long histories and favor peace and justice.

He called on such countries to join hands and enhance unity and coordination to promote the process of democracy in international relations.

Lamamra said that Algeria appreciates China's position on the Ukraine crisis and believes that China's approach, which stands for international fairness and justice, and eyes the promotion of peace, stability and security, is right and promising.

When holding talks with Mulamula via video link, Wang noted that the China-Tanzania friendship has taken root in people's hearts. He said China is willing to view its relations with Tanzania from a strategic and long-term perspective.

Wang said that China stands ready to continue to deepen comprehensive cooperative partnership with Tanzania and make greater contributions to Africa's self-reliant development capabilities.

Mulamula, who is paying a virtual visit to China, said that Tanzania is committed to building its relations with China into a new benchmark for Africa-China ties.

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi holds talks with Tanzanian Foreign Minister Liberata Mulamula via video link in Tunxi, east China's Anhui Province, March 20, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhou Mu)

Editor: WRX
A Palestinian worker transports a cart filled with food from a distribution center of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) at Al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, March 20, 2022. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

"The word refugee means escaping from death to a safe haven, but we escaped from death to the continuous suffering," a Palestinian refugee said.

by Sanaa Kamal

RAMALLAH, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian refugees living in camps scattered throughout the West Bank are facing worsening livelihood as the humanitarian aid from the United Nations decreased due to insufficient funds.

Inside the Balata camp in Nablus, Sohad Hammouda lives in a house of no more than 50 square meters with her 11-member family and is constantly worrying about bringing bread to the table.

"In the past, I mainly depended on the assistance provided by UNRWA, in terms of food and some money, but today things have changed, as it (UNRWA) has reduced the assistance it used to provide us," said the 50-year-old woman.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) was established in 1949 as a United Nations agency by a resolution of the General Assembly to provide assistance and protection to approximately 5.6 million Palestine refugees registered with it in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan.

As one of the oldest humanitarian projects the United Nations had initiated, the agency has spent decades helping the displaced Palestinians. But it is facing a major problem.

Officials of the agency said UNRWA has a financial deficit of about 100 million U.S. dollars in this fiscal year, which forced it to downsize its aiding programs, including cutting food rations.

A refugee receives food from a distribution center of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) at the Al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, March 20, 2022. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

"Instead of getting our food ration every month, we now can only get it every three months. And the quantity is much smaller, barely enough for a month," said Hammouda, while kneading flour to make bread for her children.

To make things worse, Hammouda's husband suffers from kidney failure while their eldest daughter is sick too, which aggravates the financial burden on the family.

"The word refugee means escaping from death to a safe haven, but we escaped from death to the continuous suffering," she said, adding that her family has been living as refugees for decades but still she saw no end to their suffering.

Ibrahim Sharara, aged 76, is a refugee with physical disabilities from the Balata camp. He usually sits in front of his dilapidated dwelling with his neighbors since there aren't enough jobs in the camp, especially for disabled elders.

Sharara said that life inside the refugee camp is not easy, especially since they have been waiting for aid from international institutions to survive.

"I have been living in the camp since 1950, as my family was among the first to reside in this camp to escape death and fear," the Palestinian said.

A refugee receives food from a distribution center of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) at the Al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, March 20, 2022. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

Both Hammouda and Sharara called for more aid from the international community as most of the refugees in the camp are deeply mired in absolute destitution.

Housing around 28,000 people, the Balata camp is only one of the 19 refugee camps in the West Bank, which all depend heavily on aid from the UNRWA.

"The camp suffers from overcrowding, while the population suffers from UNRWA's downsizing, as the residents depend on one medical clinic that operates during specific hours only," Faryal Kharoub, a community activist in Balata camp told Xinhua, adding they are afraid that the rest of the world is gradually forgetting the suffering of the Palestinians.

Hammouda said she saw no way for herself to live out of the refugee camp, where she has lived for many years, but she hoped that one day her children can get out and live in a prosperous place.

A refugee receives food from a distribution center of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) at Al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, March 20, 2022. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

Nevin, one of her daughters, has entered a university to study computer programming.

"Although other students of my age dream of graduating from university to achieve their aspirations in life, I aspire to help my mother with household expenses and help my siblings complete their education," the 20-year-old university student said.

Editor: WRX
By Laman Ismayilova

Global Woman Summit will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel on March 23.

Over 60 participants from 30 countries will take part in the two-day program of the Global Woman Summit.

The summit will bring together economists, scientists, doctors and founders of various brands from Azerbaijan, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Spain, Switzerland, Iran, UAE, Tunisia, Qatar and other countries.

The main goal of the summit is to highlight women's achievements in various fields and to inspire them to succeed in their activities.

Well-known speakers will addresses the summit, including Liv Hospital coordinator Meri Istiroti, plastic and reconstructive surgeon Bulent Cihantimur, French presenter Meriem Debbagh, world-famous influencer from the UAE, businesswoman Jwana Karim, Lebanese writer Mirna Haddad, the head of the Center of Azerbaijan Traditional Costumes, designer Gulnara Khalilova, the poetess and public figure Zahra Badalbeyli, the founder of the "Dabz" brand, designer Elnara de Birbuet, artist Gunay Zebic, head of the Beauttech beauty salon network Elnara Nahmadova and many others.

Some of the most successful ladies will receive Global Woman Awards.

Media partners of the event are Azernews.az, Trend.az, Day.az, Milli.az.
HEFEI, March 16 (Xinhua) -- In 819 A.D., Han Yu, a relegated politician from Tang Dynasty, issued a proclamation against the crocodiles living in today's Han River Delta in south China's Guangdong Province.

After giving sacrifices of a pig and a goat, Han, known for his exemplary prose style in the ancient Chinese literature history, read aloud a "croc prose," asking the six-meter-long predators to leave the area within seven days or he would show no mercy.

More than 1,200 years later, an international team of researchers from China, Japan and the United States studied partially fossilized remains of the crocodilian found in southeast China, naming the new species after Han Yu -- Hanyusuchus sinensis.

The researchers said that Hanyusuchus sinensis could serve as a missing link to settle the debate on the crocodilian evolution family tree and may impact the knowledge of ancient Chinese civilization.

Three families of crocodilians are still roaming Earth today, namely sharp-nosed crocodiles, blunt-nosed alligators, and lesser-known gharials that are crocodile-like creatures with thinner snouts.

The researchers studied crocodilian remains housed in four museums in Guangdong Province. All the bones were found at a dig site in southeast China and labeled for years as crocodile skeletons.

According to the paper published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the researchers found Hanyusuchus sinensis share some significant skull features with gharials and had a vocal structure only known in male Indian gharials. Carbon dating showed the bones dated back some 3,000 years, during China's Bronze Age.

Genetic evidence found that alligators were the first to split from the original crocodilian, followed by gharials and later crocodiles. While the timeline may go against intuition due to crocodiles and alligators resembling each other more than gharials, the researchers said that Hanyusuchus sinensis is intermediate in body shape between gharials and the other two, filling the gap in the evolution tree.

The researchers also found chop marks on the skulls of Hanyusuchus sinensis, indicating that it had been killed or even beheaded by heavy bronze weapons. Crocodilians play a key role in maintaining the freshwater ecosystems as top predators, said the researchers, noting that humans were responsible for the extinction of Hanyusuchus sinensis about 300 years ago.

Liu Jun from China's Hefei University of Technology is the corresponding author of the research. He said that crocodilian bones had been found in many archaeological sites in China. The bones were thought to belong to Chinese alligators, which today only live in east China's lower Yangtze River area. Their discovery could challenge this.

Liu said that as the only reptile feasting on humans in Ancient China, Hanyusuchus sinensis may have left marks on ancient Chinese civilization, such as legends about dragons.

In future studies, the researchers hope to extract ancient DNA samples from soft tissue preserved in the partially fossilized bones, which may provide a more accurate picture of the crocodilian evolution tree.

Editor: WXL
BEIJING, March 16 (Xinhua) -- In the face of a resurgence of COVID-19 infections, China's Ministry of Education has launched a variety of arrangements to maintain the provision of education at various levels while ensuring effective epidemic containment, placing increased emphasis on mental health.

At a recent video conference on epidemic control and prevention, the ministry stressed the importance of paying more attention to the mental health of teachers and students and providing them with timely psychological assistance.

The ministry called for the monitoring of the health of school staff, students and their family members, improving response mechanisms against the epidemic, and enhancing the coordination between school and home.

The ministry also said that the online platform, developed and rolled out by the ministry following the outbreak of the epidemic, that allows students in primary and middle schools to study at home, has recorded 6.9 billion views and has recently been enriched with new resources, including after-class service and family education.

As the country enters the second phase of graduate-school enrollment, the ministry has asked universities to take into consideration the local COVID-19 situations, and to put the health of staff and students first when making plans for examinations and interviews.

Editor: WXL
Moldova has opened its airspace with the possibility of performing flights to the west, spokeswoman for the Moldovan Civil Aviation Authority Irina Bodolica told Interfax.

According to her, the decision was made following a meeting of the Interdepartmental Commission on Airspace Management, whose members "after assessing the current security situation, decided to open part of the airspace so that passenger air transportation could be resumed." The decision to open airspace to the west comes into force on Monday at 12.00.

"This means that all air operators that operated regular flights at the Chisinau airport will be able to resume their activities in the near future. All flights will be possible only to the west - through Romania, since the airspace of Ukraine is closed, and therefore landing and take-off to the north, south and east cannot be performed. By opening this part of the airspace to the west, with Romania, it is possible to operate all regular flights that were made before the closure of the airspace, but with a change in the route of flights," Bodolica said.

The airspace of Moldova was closed on February 24, after the introduction of a state of emergency in the country in connection with the Russian military invasion of Ukraine.
The government will pay UAH 6,500 to employers for each employed migrant from the affected regions, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal has said.

"We are starting a program for the employment of all IDPs. The state is starting payments to those employers who hire IDPs from the affected regions. Some UAH 6,500 for each employed. Employers will spend these funds on remuneration of such employees," Shmyhal said in his address to Monday afternoon.

In this regard, the prime minister urged employers to accept immigrants and continue to do business in regions where possible.
Govt to pay monthly assistance worth UAH 2,000 to each IDP, UAH 3,000 for each child  PM

Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal says the government will pay every internal displaced person (IDP) in Ukraine a minimum monthly financial assistance in the amount of UAH 2,000, as well as UAH 3,000 for each displaced child.

"The government will pay every IDP in Ukraine a minimum monthly financial assistance in the amount of UAH 2,000," Shmyhal said in his address on Monday afternoon.

The prime minister said these funds will be paid through Diia to a bank card.

In addition, UAH 3,000 will be paid for each child who, due to the war, was forced to move to a safer place.
Zelensky says Jerusalem could be venue to reach peace

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has noted the efforts of the Prime Minister of Israel to find ways to peace.

The Israeli "Prime Minister, Minister [Naftali] Bennett, is trying to find a negotiating path with Russia, and we are grateful for every effort for us to start talking with Russia, sooner or later," Zelensky said in a video address early on Monday.

"Possibly in Jerusalem. This is the right place to find peace, if this is possible," Zelensky said.

Zelensky recalled that he spoke on Sunday in the Israeli Knesset, but, he noted, "spoke on your behalf with the people of Israel, who understand us as free people of free people."

He said, "Israel has its interests and a strategy of protecting its citizens, we understand all that," Zelensky said.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video message on Monday night that the Russian military cannot find local residents on the 25th day of the invasion of Ukraine to meet greet with flowers.

"The 25th day has already ended since the Russian military went to the exercises, but ended up on our land. They all say that when they are captured. It's already the 25th day that the Russian military are looking for and can't find the Nazis invented by them, from which they wanted to protect our people. How they are looking for and cannot find Ukrainians who would greet them with flowers. At least in some city of our state, at least in some village," Zelensky said.

"And most importantly, the Russian military can't find their way home in any way, so our military helps them with the road to God's judgment. To God's judgment, where, I'm sure, they will receive one punishment for all: an eternal cellar under bombs, forever without food and heat for everything they did against our people in Akhtyrka, Kharkiv, Borodianka, Chernihiv, Volnovakha, Mariupol and our other brave cities," the president said.
Death toll from missile attack on Podilsky district of Kyiv rises to 8 people

Eight people were killed and massive destruction was caused as a result of a missile attack on Podilsky district of Kyiv on Sunday evening, the Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) reports.

"As a result of enemy shelling and a fire, a shopping center was destroyed. Windows in nearby residential buildings and cars parked nearby were damaged. According to preliminary data, eight people were killed," the message on the Telegram channel says.

It is noted that information about the dead and injured is being specified.

In fact, criminal proceedings have been initiated under Part 2 of Article 438 (violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murder) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

Earlier, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine reported four dead and one injured.
The Verkhovna Rada is proposed to settle issues related to the treatment of prisoners of war during a special period.

The corresponding draft law No. 7173 on amendments to some laws on streamlining issues related to prisoners of war during the special period was registered in parliament on March 17, the website of the Verkhovna Rada reports.

As noted in the explanatory note to the bill, its purpose is to regulate certain legal aspects of the treatment of prisoners of war.

In particular, the authors of the draft law propose to introduce into Article 11 of the Penitentiary Code of Ukraine norms providing for the possibility, if necessary, to create sectors with different levels of security within the same penal colony, as well as sectors for the detention of persons taken into custody, subject to isolation from convicts held in this institution.

The draft law also proposes to establish that during the period of martial law on the territory of Ukraine due to the impossibility of delivering prisoners of war to the rear camp for holding prisoners of war of the Ministry of Defense, such persons may be temporarily held in prisons for keeping prisoners of war formed in correctional colonies of a minimum level of security with general conditions detention, medium and maximum levels of security or in areas for the maintenance of prisoners of war, formed in the pretrial detention centers of the State Penitentiary Service.

The bill also proposes to supplement the law of Ukraine On the National Police with new provisions, according to which the police will ensure the fulfillment of the tasks assigned to it, including in martial law, on the interaction of bodies and units of the National Police with state bodies, local governments , legal entities of the state form of ownership, including in relation to prisoners of war, verification of documents in order to identify persons who arbitrarily left the place of detention of prisoners of war. The authors of the bill also propose to expand the list of grounds for stopping a vehicle by a police officer, checking it and checking passengers.

The bill specifies the legal status of prisoners of war, delimits the activities of central and other executive authorities, enterprises, institutions and organizations in the field of defense in organizing the treatment of prisoners of war (amendments to the laws On the Defense of Ukraine, On the Armed Forces of Ukraine, On the Military Law Enforcement Service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine).
The Ukrainian military destroyed one plane, four unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and two cruise missiles of the Russian invaders on March 20, the press service of the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reports.

"For twenty-five days, the Russian invaders suffered serious losses both on the ground and in the sky. Some 96 aircraft, 118 helicopters, dozens of drones and cruise missiles. For the second day, a decrease in the intensity of enemy raids has been observed. Basically, the occupiers, with the help of drones of the operational-tactical level, record the results of missile and bomb strikes on the territory of Ukraine. That is why the main 'prey' of the air defense of the Air Force of Ukraine was UAVs of the occupiers, four of which were shot down in different directions. In addition, one enemy Rashist aircraft and two cruise missiles were shot down," the report says.

The Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine also notes that strike aviation has successfully worked on ground targets: Su-24 bombers and Su-25 attack aircraft launched missile and bomb attacks on the accumulation of equipment, tank columns and manpower.
President of the United States of America Joe Biden has sent a letter of congratulation to President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.

Dear Mr. President, I wish you and the people of Azerbaijan a joyous and prosperous Novruz Bayrami. This time of renewal is an opportunity to reaffirm our cooperation and commitment to peace.

This new year will mark 30 years of diplomatic relations between the United States and the Republic of Azerbaijan. As we celebrate this anniversary, my Administration will continue to support democracy, peace, and prosperity in the South Caucasus. We will also work with Azerbaijan to address common security concerns, promote regional reconciliation, and explore new opportunities for economic cooperation.

I extend my best wishes on behalf of the United States to you and the people of Azerbaijan, the congratulatory message said.
As a result of a rocket hit in Sviatoshynsky district of Kyiv on Sunday evening, six houses, two schools, two kindergartens, three houses are practically uninhabitable, First Deputy Head of the Kyiv city military administration Mykola Povoroznyk said.

"A rocket hit a residential area, damaged six houses, two schools, two kindergartens, three houses are practically uninhabitable. About 200 people were evacuated from these houses," Povoroznyk said on Channel 24 on Monday.

He said that emergency work has been ongoing since Sunday evening so that the houses that can be lived in are repaired with improvised means, in particular with plywood and film. According to Povoroznyk, houses where it is impossible to live, are being conserved.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine calls on the international community to take urgent measures to counter the next aggressive actions of the Russian occupiers, who shelled the territory of PJSC Sumykhimprom chemical enterprise on Monday morning.

"On March 20, the Russian Federation spread baseless accusations against Ukraine through the UN Security Council of allegedly preparing terrorist attacks on foreign diplomatic missions in Lviv, as well as plans to use chemical weapons in Sumy and Kotliareve, Mykolaiv region," the press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said that the Russian Federation is once again using international organizations to spread absurd accusations against Ukraine, among which was disinformation about the alleged development of a "dirty" bomb or a biological weapons program.

"By grossly violating the laws and rules of the warfare (jus in bello), Russia is spreading false narratives to create an informational cover for further crimes of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine. In this regard, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry strongly condemns the shelling of the territory of PJSC Sumykhimprom by the Russian armed forces on March 21," the ministry said.

The Permanent Representation of Ukraine to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) previously notified the technical secretariat of the OPCW about the threat of the use of chemical weapons by the Russian Federation itself in the locations indicated in the Russian document.

"Ukraine has always consistently adhered to its obligations within the framework of international instruments on the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and strongly protests against the use of the UN Security Council as a platform for preparing provocations by the Russian Federation. We call on the international community to take urgent measures to counter the next aggressive actions of the criminal Kremlin regime," the Foreign Ministry said.
The Ministry of Justice and the Parliament are working to implement a National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) decision to ban a number of parties, First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Oleksandr Korniyenko has said.

"So far, according to the law, it looks like it should be a lawsuit and a trail, but perhaps we will see some other configuration from the Ministry of Justice," Korniyenko said on the air of the national telethon on Sunday night.

According to him, in Ukraine "a mechanism is not very carefully built," according to which members from a banned party automatically cease to be MPs.

"But we are working to ensure that the members from the banned party [Opposition Platform - For Life] feel, live and, perhaps, draw their own organizational conclusions," Korniyenko said.

He also stressed that it is necessary to resolve the issue of the further fate of the members of local councils from banned parties.

"We are preparing a relevant bill with our colleagues, which would allow recalling such MPs on popular initiative," the first deputy speaker summed up.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on German citizens to end all economic relations with Russia to deprive Russia of the means to continue the war with Ukraine.

"Don't be sponsors of this country's military machine, not a single euro for the occupiers, close all your ports for them, don't supply goods, refuse Russian energy resources, push Russia to leave Ukraine," he said in a video message to the protesters in support of Ukraine gathered in Berlin circulated on his Telegram channel on Monday.

According to him, at the time when Germany was negotiating with Russia on gas supplies, "we warned your politicians that it was dangerous. We said that sanctions are needed to prevent this war from starting."

"Germans! You have power. Europe has power stronger than any missiles, stronger than tanks. Without trade with your banks and companies, Russia will not have the funds for this war," Zelensky said.

Noting that earlier Kyiv was called the "new Berlin," Zelenskiy said that "Kyiv is now quiet, waiting for a new air siren," turning on the recording of the air raid signal on his phone. "We are fighting against rocket artillery, against planes and helicopters, on which the Russians are already writing "To Berlin," because they want to go further than Ukraine, they want to go everywhere, they want to come to you!" the president said.

"I believe that peace is possible, but you must act to achieve peace. So that again it would be as safe on our streets as it is in yours," Zelensky said.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the Red Cross Society of China will provide Ukraine with additional CNY 10 million (GBP 1.1 million) in humanitarian aid, Sky News reports.

As the newspaper notes, this came after U.S. President Joe Biden warned of the "costs" of any assistance that China could provide to Russia's military efforts in Ukraine.
First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Oleksandr Korniyenko spoke about his proposal to appeal to the OSCE not to include representatives of the Russian Federation in the observer delegations.

"I came up with an initiative, supported by my colleagues from the CEC, to appeal to the OSCE so that the Russians are not sent anywhere as observers," Korniyenko said on the air of the national telethon on Sunday night.
Several thousand people gathered in the Israeli Knesset building on Sunday evening during a video address by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. According to Israeli media, at the initiative of Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Hulay, a large screen was installed on Habima Square, which broadcast the president's speech to legislators and the people.

After the speech, those gathered with Ukrainian and Israeli flags shouted slogans in support of Ukraine.

During his appeal to the Knesset, V.Zelensky called on the legislators not to mediate between good and evil and asked for military assistance. The head of the Ukrainian state also expressed a request to cancel quotas for Ukrainian refugees.

You know that your Iron Dome missile interception system is the best in the world. One may ask you why we cannot get weapons from you, why Israel does not introduce serious sanctions against Russia? Why is there no pressure on business in Russia? How can you answer these questions and be with us at the same time? - said V. Zelensky.

The president's speech was listened to by 112 deputies of the Knesset (the assembly has 120 deputies in total) and the government. According to the media, during the appeal of V.Zelensky, the Knesset website was hacked.
The curfew in Kyiv and Kyiv region will be lengthened, lasting from 20:00 Monday to 07:00 Wednesday, Mayor Vitali Klitschko has said.

"The curfew in Kyiv and the region will be strengthened again. It will begin today at 20:00 and will last until 7 am on March 23, i.e. until the day after tomorrow," Klitschko said in a video message on Monday.

He clarified that shops, pharmacies, gas stations and other institutions will not work on Tuesday.

"I ask everyone to stay at home or in shelters during alarms. You can travel around the city by transport with special passes, adhering to the rules of martial law," Klitschko summed up.
Ukraine has been continuing its defense against the Russian invasion for 25 days, withholding the enemy in the main directions, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said.

"The enemy no longer dreams of capturing Kyiv, choked in Chernihiv and Sumy regions, receives painful blows near Kharkiv, in Mykolaiv, Kherson and Luhansk regions. The heroic defenders of Mariupol played a big role in destroying enemy's plans, and our defense becomes more active. "Thanks to their dedication and superhuman courage, tens of thousands of lives have been saved throughout Ukraine. Today, Mariupol is saving Kyiv, Dnipro, and Odesa. Everyone should understand this," Reznikov wrote on Facebook on Monday.

"Residents of Kherson, Energodar and other cities, who are protesting without weapons against the Russian invaders, demonstrate that the will of the Ukrainian people is invincible. And it's better for the enemy to get out," he said.

Since the beginning of invasion, the Ukrainian armed forces have destroyed a number of Russian tank, air assault, engineering and other units considered "elite", along with their leaders. In addition, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Ukrainian military personnel have shot down almost 100 planes and 120 helicopters, destroyed almost 500 tanks and 1,500 Russian armored fighting vehicles.

"The struggle of Ukrainians for their land makes the world finally realize those things that we have been talking about for many months. Even the UN Secretary General has already admitted that a Russian attack on Ukraine could lead to a global food crisis. Which, in turn, will lead to another migration crisis for Europe. Everyone who now holds the defense wins precious time, allowing us to strengthen Ukraine," the minister said.

He recalled that the Ukrainian side agreed not to publish information about the supply of weapons, but in recent days, the team of the Ministry of Defense delivered and transferred to the Armed Forces of Ukraine 51,000 bulletproof vests of protection class 4 according to NATO standards, purchased mainly from the state budget. The following deliveries are also being prepared.

"There are no illusions. There are still many challenges ahead. Ukraine is conducting a strategic defense operation against a much more numerous enemy and under the threat of a ground invasion by Belarusian troops. We are suffering losses. The enemy is destroying our cities and undermining the economy. The situation is very difficult. But as long as our army is preserved, which is being strengthened by the reserve, we will fight. And we will win!" Reznikov said.

"The war has changed the sense of time and many familiar things. But on Monday, the working week traditionally began. And this 'tradition' now also needs to be cherished, like the army. The government is doing everything possible to save the economy. This is the basis of our defense. Today, everyonee who goes to work, gives work to others, fills the treasury - work for defense of Ukraine. We will defeat the enemy through unity and better organization. Everyone's contribution is important," the minister said.

UKRAINE-DEFENSE-STRENGTHENING
Nearly 3.5 mln refugees flee Ukraine in 25 days of war  UN

KYIV. March 21 (Interfax-Ukraine)  Russia's war against Ukraine forced 3.49 million people to flee the country in 25 incomplete days of the war seeking safety, protection and assistance, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency reported as of 13:00 in Kyiv time on March 20.

The agency said that the Ukrainian-Polish border accounted for 59.7% of all refugees: 2.084 million.

Romania received 535,461 andMoldova 365,197, Hungary received 312,120, and Slovakia 250,036.

UNHCR in recent days has recorded an increase in the number of refugees from Ukraine to Russia and Belarus - up to 231,764 and 3,765, respectively. According to the agency, if over the past six days the total number of refugees from Ukraine increased by 18.2%, then to Russia  by 62.1%, and to Belarus  three times.

"As the situation continues to unfold, an estimated 4 million people may flee Ukraine," the UNHCR said.

Three days ago, UNHCR estimated that there were currently 6.5 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ukraine, and more than 12 million people have been affected in the most war-affected areas of Ukraine.

"Humanitarian needs are growing exponentially," UNHCR said on 18 March.

The agency said that by the middle of 2021 there were only 53,470 Ukrainian refugees in the world who applied for the appropriate status, of which 36,490 were in Europe.

As of the middle of 2020, the UNHCR estimated the Ukrainian diaspora in the world at 6.1 million, including 5 million in Europe.

The agency said that the right to move freely within the Schengen area means there are very few border controls within the European Union. The data of arrivals in Schengen countries (Hungary, Poland, Slovakia) bordering Ukraine therefore only represents border crossings into that country, but we estimate that a large number of people have moved onwards to other countries.

In addition, UNHCR does not count individuals from bordering countries leaving Ukraine to return home.
By Azernews

By Sabina Mammadli

Azerbaijans Defence Minister Col-Gen Zakir Hasanov has left for Pakistan on an official visit, the Ministry has reported.

According to the Ministry, Hasanov was invited by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of Pakistan, General Nadeem Raza.

During the visit, Hasanov is expected to meet with a number of state and military figures, as well as take part in a military parade dedicated to Pakistan's National Day as a guest of honor.

During the 44-day war with Armenia in 2020, Pakistan was among the first countries voicing political support for Azerbaijan. Pakistan also supports Azerbaijan in the restoration of the country's liberated territories.

In September 2021, the Azerbaijani, Turkish and Pakistani special forces conducted Three Brothers - 2021 joint international drills in Baku.

Under the drills plan, the special forces units carried out practical shootings using small arms and grenade launchers, the report added.

The drills aim to improve the coordination among the special forces units of friendly and partner countries during combat operations, prepare for operations in peacetime and wartime, exchange knowledge and experience.

In the winter of 2014, during the fifth meeting of the working group on military cooperation between Azerbaijan and Pakistan in the city of Islamabad, the countries signed an agreement on mutual military cooperation.

Over the past decade, Pakistani military experts trained about a hundred Azerbaijani military units.

Azerbaijan is holding talks with Pakistan to purchase JF-17 Thunder multirole fighter aircraft. In October 2016 President Aliyev and PM Sharif confirmed plans to carry out joint military exercises.

Furthermore, the parliaments of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Pakistan have signed the Baku Declaration on cooperation. The document was signed following the trilateral meeting held by speakers of the three countries parliaments on July 27, 2021.
The aggressor continues to conduct large-scale armed aggression against Ukraine, the press service of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reports.

"The enemy continues to conduct large-scale armed aggression against Ukraine. The tasks of the invaders to defeat the groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, reach the administrative borders of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, encircle Kyiv and establish control over the left-bank part of Ukraine have not been completed. Partially, the enemy managed to achieve the goal in the Donetsk operational area and keep the land corridor in the southern part of Kherson, Zaporizhia and Donetsk regions," the message posted on Facebook said.

In the Volyn direction, there is a high probability of provocations by the Russia's special services at Belarusian facilities in order to draw the republic's armed forces into the war against Ukraine.

In the Polissia direction, the enemy did not carry out active offensive operations, but consolidated on the captured lines and was preparing for an attack on Kyiv.

In the Siverske direction, the enemy continues to regroup and concentrate forces and means to resume offensive operations. But it cannot organize good logistics support for units and equipment for occupied positions.

In the Donetsk and Luhansk directions, seven enemy attacks were successfully repulsed, 12 tanks, nine fighting vehicles, three vehicles, about 170 manpower were destroyed. Air defense units shot down one enemy Su-34 and one invader helicopter.

The enemy continues to deliver air strikes on Mariupol's civilian infrastructure, in particular, the Azovstal metallurgical plant. And it also conducts assault operations in the western and eastern suburbs of the city, in the direction of the central part.

In the Pivdennobuzhsky direction, the aggressor is demoralized, frequent cases of abandoning defensive positions, weapons and equipment are recorded.
Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk calls on the participants of the Kalinowski Forum to create parliamentary and government coalitions that would work on the issue of closing airspace over Ukraine.

"I urge you to create coalitions between parliamentarians and governments to protect our and your freedom, to protect our common right to life," Stefanchuk said during an online speech at the Kalinowski Forum.

According to the website of the Ukrainian parliament, Stefanchuk said that such coalitions should already work on the issues of introducing a no-fly zone over Ukraine, creating an effective air defense system, establishing international security rules, and ensuring the life of large cities.

"Let's work to provide decisive support for Ukraine's accession to the EU. Let's break business agreements with Russia as an aggressor country, including oil and gas imports. This oil and gas smells of the blood of Ukrainian children innocently killed by the Russian occupier," Stefanchuk said.

He added that it is not only about Ukraine, but also about the whole of Europe, if it sees itself free in the future. The head of the Verkhovna Rada also addressed the Belarusians with a request not to be silent.

"Airplanes take off from your territory every day and launch rockets that kill our children. The shock that Kyiv is experiencing, and the hell that suburban cities and towns near Kyiv are in, would not have been possible without the assistance of the Republic of Belarus. It is from these territories the Russian occupier entered the north of our state insidiously at night. Do not be silent! You know what to do. Life in slavery is not life. Make the Belarusian soldiers stand for your freedom. Now history is being written, and we know that history does not forgive crimes," Stefanchuk said.
Not enough progress in Moscow-Kyiv talks for Putin-Zelensky meeting thus far  Peskov

Progress seen in negotiations between Russia and Ukraine is not sufficient thus far to discuss direct contacts between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and is inconsistent with how the situation is developing for Ukraine, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said.

"The degree of progress in the negotiations perhaps is not what would be desirable and not what the development of the situation for the Ukrainian side would call for," Peskov told journalists on Monday, when asked about the state of the negotiating process and whether the parties have managed to reach some common ground.

He declined to give any details of the negotiations.

Speaking about prospects for contacts between the two leaders, Peskov said, "To begin speaking about a meeting between the two presidents, the homework should be done first, namely negotiations should be held and their results agreed upon."

"No significant progress has been ensured thus far. They [Putin and Zelensky] would simply have nothing to formalize, there are no agreements that they could formalize," he said.
In occupied Melitopol, Russian invaders kidnapped four employees of MV Holding, the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine has reported.

"Today, armed men came to the home of the journalists of MV-Holding  publisher Mykhailo Kumok, production editor Yevhenia Borian, journalists Yulia Olkhovska and Liubov Chaika  and took them in an unknown direction," the Union said on its Telegram channel.

Hanna Medvid, General Director of MV-Holding, in a commentary to the Union, confirmed that on Monday early in the morning at about 6 am, armed men first came to journalists Olkhovska and Chaika and seized the home server. Then they came to other employees of the holding.

"A week ago I was called in for a conversation and offered to support them. We met in the editorial office, which they entered without permission and made searches. They want us to be loyal and support them. I did not give consent and we went away," Medvid said.

Later, at about 11:00, it became known that the three journalists were released after talking about the need to cooperate with the invaders, while Kumok is in an unknown place.

"Mykhailo is the owner of the holding and a publisher, but he has completely retired from editorial affairs I hope he will be free in a few hours," Medvid said.

"The National Union of Journalists of Ukraine expresses solidarity and support to Melitopol journalists who show a principled position and courage, rejecting cooperation with the occupiers. Pressure, searches, abductions are the arsenal of intimidation of journalists and activists, which the invaders promptly use in the temporarily occupied territories. NUJU reports about all the facts of war crimes of the Russian Federation against media workers to the European and International Federation of Journalists," the NUJU said.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) says that based on the conversations of the invaders intercepted by the Ukrainian intelligence service, the Russian military command is trying in every possible way to hide the losses, conscripting from ORDLO resembles a "trapping."

"The military command of the Russian Federation is trying to hide the real losses, and the KIAs are compensated for with the so-called militias from the 'L/DPR.' 'Conscripting' in the temporarily occupied territories of ORDLO looks like an ordinary 'trapping.' And the way 'untrained recruits' are thrown to the front lines is more like a deliberate destruction," the SBU said in the Telegram channel on Monday.

According to the Ukrainian intelligence service, this is evidenced by almost all the conversations of the invaders, which are intercepted by the SBU.

"So, in Kherson region, the occupier tells a friend about their operation, which was utterly defeated by the Ukrainian military: 'Yesterday we just returned from the cleansing operation: from 800 people, 150 left.' And the other one is outraged that his leadership lies to Moscow and reports about allegedly 60-70% of staffing, although there are less than 20% of them: 'we actually got the last five cars from the brigade. And there were about 100-120. Some 302 people are missing. And that's not counting those who were wounded," the SBU said in the statement.
The European Union will increase assistance to procure weapons for Ukraine up to EUR 1 billion, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has announced, Die Zeit reported.

"Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said in Brussels that the EU would increase financial aid for arms deliveries to Ukraine to one billion euros. The federal government will ensure that orders from German companies are implemented quickly," Die Zeit wrote in a Monday article.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the Red Cross Society of China will provide Ukraine with additional CNY 10 million (GBP 1.1 million) in humanitarian aid, Sky News reports.

As the newspaper notes, this came after U.S. President Joe Biden warned of the "costs" of any assistance that China could provide to Russia's military efforts in Ukraine.

According to the Chinese Embassy in Ukraine, this is the assistance provided by the Chinese side, taking into account the development of the current situation and relevant needs. China will continue to play a constructive role in de-escalating the conflict in Ukraine and is ready to make efforts to overcome the humanitarian crisis.
On the morning of March 21, Russian occupiers abducted head of Tsyrkunivka community of Kharkiv region Mykola Sykalenko, Head of the Regional Military Administration Oleh Synehubov has said.

"The Russian occupiers continue their terror against the civilian population of Ukraine. Today they abducted head of Tsyrkunivka community of Kharkiv region Mykola Sykalenko. The invaders abducted Mykola Vasyliovych from his own house, according to witnesses, they moved in the direction of Lyptsi," Synehubov said in his Telegram channel.

"Together with law enforcement officers, we find out all the circumstances and do everything to find and return Mykola Sykalenko," he said.

Synehubov said this is not the first time that the occupiers use kidnappings and put pressure on the civilian population. On March 17, the invaders abducted head of Velykoburlutska community Viktor Tereschenko. On March 18, he was released from captivity.

"I am convinced that the enemy will not succeed this time either!" Synehubov said.
The risk of an attack on Rivne region and Volyn region by Belarus remains high, but the fighters of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine are ready to repel the enemys attack, spokesman of the State Border Guard Service Andriy Demchenko said at a briefing at the Ukraine Media Center in Lviv.

According to Demchenko, both the Ukrainian authorities and the border service hope that the Belarusian people understand the situation that self-proclaimed President Lukashenko is trying to involve them in. Therefore, the Belarusians will not allow a new stage of escalation from the territory of Belarus.

Currently, the fighters of the State Border Service are actively fighting and holding back the enemy on the border lines in Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and in the JFO zone.
Kuleba: We share Beijing's position on need to find political solution to war against Ukraine, call on China to play core role in this effort

Ukraine shares Beijing's position on the need to find a political solution to the war against Ukraine and calls on China, as a world power, to play an important role in these efforts, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said.

"For decades, the Ukrainian-Chinese relations have been based on mutual respect, understanding and benefit. We share Beijing's position on the need to find a political solution to the war against Ukraine and call on China as a global power to play an important role in this effort," Kuleba said on Twitter on Monday.
By Trend

Messaging app Telegram must fully comply by Sunday with Brazil Supreme Court orders to block accounts that allegedly spread misinformation if it is to continue operating in the country, Justice Alexandre de Moraes ruled, Trend reports citing Reuters.

Telegram could not be reached for comment.

Telegram had partially complied by freezing accounts belonging to Allan dos Santos, an activist linked to far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. On Saturday the judge gave Telegram 24 hours to fully comply, a day after suspending it for non-compliance with decisions to block accounts linked to dos Santos for producing and spreading misinformation.

Telegram founder Pavel Durov apologized to the Supreme Court on Friday for the company's "negligence," blaming miscommunication and asking the court to delay its ruling as it sought to improve compliance.
Ukraine's State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate, with reference to the Center for Predicting the Consequences of Radiation Accidents of the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center of the State Emergency Service, has warned of the possibility of further deterioration of the radiation situation in the exclusion zone due to forest fires, which cannot be extinguished due to the Russian occupation of the territory.

"The center says the deterioration of the radiation state in the exclusion zone and beyond as a result of forest fires in the radioactively contaminated territories," the inspectorate said in a Facebook post on Monday.

The message notes that according to the website, areas on fire during the period from March 11 to March 18, 2022 were observed mainly in the western and central parts of the exclusion zone and on March 18 covered an area of more than 8 square kilometers, while on March 17 they amounted to five square kilometers, and on March 11 - almost 14 square kilometers.

At the same time, the agency emphasized that if the current situation continues in the near future, radiation levels in the exclusion zone and beyond, including not only Ukraine, but also other states, may significantly worsen. Among the reasons for this, the regulator named the lack of data on the current state of environmental radiation pollution in the exclusion zone, since the automated system for monitoring the radiation state is not working, which in turn makes it impossible to adequately respond to threats of deterioration in the radiation situation.

At the same time, the regulator emphasizes that extinguishing fires is impossible as a result of the occupation of the exclusion zone by Russian troops. In this regard, it is noted that forest fires, atypical for the zone during winter months, could lead to the almost complete burnout of radioactively contaminated forests in the exclusion zone and, respectively, to a significant deterioration of the radiation situation in Ukraine and throughout Europe.

As reported, a week earlier, the State Agency of Ukraine for the Management of the Exclusion Zone warned of an increase in radiation hazard as a result of recorded fires in the zone of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, which tend to spread. According to him, the areas of fires exceeded the permissible limits by dozens of times, tending to spread and reaching 10 square kilometers in some areas.

The exclusion zone, including Chornobyl NPP, was captured by Russian invaders on February 24.
Kuleba in response to Russian shelling of protesters in Kherson: Sanction Russia, isolate it, hold war criminals to account

After the shelling by the Russian military of the inhabitants of Kherson, who took part in a protest against the Russian occupiers, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called on the world to punish Russia, isolate it and bring war criminals to justice.

"In Kherson, Russian war criminals opened fire at unarmed people who peacefully protested against invaders. You can see a wounded pensioner. This is the ugly face of Russia, a disgrace to humankind. We must stop Russia! Sanction them, isolate them, hold war criminals to account," Kuleba said on Twitter on Monday.
In Rubizhne, occupiers fire at school, house where children may hide in basement, rescuers cannot reach place over shelling  Emergency Service

The occupying forces continue shelling Severodonetsk, Lysychansk, Rubizhne, Popasna and Kreminna in Luhansk regions, houses are damaged, there are killed and wounded, the State Emergency Service said.

"Occupation troops once again shelled the cities of Severodonetsk, Lysychansk, Rubizhne, Popasna and Kreminna. As a result of shelling, there are killed and wounded among civilians. Multi-storey and private houses of local residents were damaged by shelling," the State Emergency Service said in a Telegram channel on Monday.

In particular, according to the State Emergency Service, in Rubizhne, the invaders got into a private residential building, in the basement of which, according to preliminary information, there may be three children.

The service said that due to constant shelling, rescuers cannot yet reach the place.

"In Rubizhne, Russian troops also shelled a secondary school, which set the roof of the facility on fire. There are probably people in the basement. More than ten houses are burning in the city. The shelling does not stop. Rescuers are waiting for 'ceasefire' and will immediately go to help people," the service said.

According to the statement, in Severodonetsk, rescuers contained a large-scale fire on an area of more than 3,000 square meters, no killed or wounded.
Advisor to the Head of the President's Office of Ukraine Mykhailo Podoliak has asked high-ranking officials not to disclose information about the purchase of weapons and the preparation of counteroffensives by the Ukrainian servicemen.

"Russia still does not understand the reasons why they are definitely losing the war. We will definitely explain. On all fronts - military, diplomatic, sanctions and negotiation. I urge high-ranking officials to speak fewer public words about the purchase of weapons and even fewer words about preparing our counteroffensives," Podoliak said on the Telegram channel on Monday.
Russian occupiers have shelled 135 hospitals since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Ukrainian Health Minister Viktor Liashko said at a press briefing.

"The Russian military, who are terrorists, on the territory of our country, in violation of all existing conventions, in particular the Geneva Convention, attacked civilian objects as well as houses with a red cross, that is, hospitals. Some 135 hospitals were fired upon, nine were destroyed," Liashko said.

In addition, he said that 43 emergency medical vehicles were shot at and six medical workers were killed.
The Russian military fired on evacuation buses that were traveling from Mariupol on Monday, March 21, as a result of which four children were wounded, two in serious condition, Head of Zaporizhia regional military administration Oleksandr Starukh said.

"Today, more than 20 buses are trying to get through the green corridors. It was very difficult to cross the collision line, because shelling was going on. I hope we will be able to take people out and return them to normal living conditions. Today is a difficult day, as children are again suffering. Four children were taken to hospital. Three children came under fire in the former Huliaypilsky district, now Polohivsky. Families were traveling from Mariupol, escaping," he said on his Telegram channel on Monday.

The head of the regional military administration said that one child is in serious condition. Another family came under shelling in Kamianske, also a child in serious condition.
Five facts of illegal detentions of representatives of local self-government by Russian occupiers were recorded in Chernihiv region, according to the website of the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights on Monday.

"In the village of Andriyivka in Mykhailo-Kotsiubynska community, the occupiers detained the headman of the village, Mykola Budalovsky, and the local deputy and director of the school, Tetiana Bezliudna. That day, the headman left the village for medicines for his fellow villagers, and at that time a convoy of Russian equipment drove into the village," the commissioner for human rights said.

The head of the village of Hremiach of Novhorod-Siverska community was also detained. According to local residents, he was taken to Russia on military equipment.

Two representatives of local self-government were abducted in the village of Nova Basan, Nizhynsky district, in the south of the region.

"By taking hostages, Russian militants grossly violate Articles 3 and 34 of the Geneva Convention for the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights," Ombudsman Liudmyla Denisova said, calling on the international community to strengthen sanctions and economic pressure against Russia.
The Supreme Court of Israel (High Court) made an interim decision in favor of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Embassy in Israel told Interfax-Ukraine on Monday.

"The Embassy of Ukraine welcomed the interim decision of the Supreme High Court on a petition related to the admission of Ukrainian citizens to Israel," the embassy said.

Earlier, Varsh Tomar's law office in Israel filed a petition with the High Court against the decision of Israeli Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked to limit the number of Ukrainian refugees in Israel to 5,000. The Embassy of Ukraine said support for the petition.

The plaintiffs demanded the Israeli authorities adhere to interstate agreements on visa-free entry to Israel for citizens of Ukraine. The High Court of Justice at a meeting on March 21, given that the "scheme" for accepting Ukrainian refugees, proposed by the Minister of Internal Affairs Ayelet Shaked, expires on March 27, and the Committee on Internal Affairs must discuss this issue on March 23, took the following decision: the defendants must submit an application for decision within 24 hours after it is made, but no later than March 28.

The embassy said in the statement the court recognized the existence of legal decisions regarding the consideration of the issue of entry of Ukrainian citizens to Israel. The statement also said that "Interior Minister Shaked and the Knesset Home Affairs Committee will 'rethink' the current entry policy and allow the entry of Ukrainian citizens 'without any preconditions."
Information on more than 500 Ukrainian captives has been passed on to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and Russia stands ready to swap them, Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova said on Monday.

"For each person captured, let's put it this way, a special card is drawn up and written by him in his handwriting, to make sure that he is alive and it was he who wrote the card, and it is transferred to the Red Cross ... For now, more than 500 such cards have been filled out from our side and passed on to the Red Cross. These are Ukrainian prisoners of war ... that we are willing to exchange," Moskalkova said on the RT television channel.
In Kharkiv region, 116 people killed as result of collapse of buildings, 204 rescued from rubble  local authorities

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in Kharkiv region, as a result of enemy shelling, about 100 educational institutions have been damaged and destroyed.

"About 60 schools in Kharkiv region were damaged as a result of enemy shelling. At least 30 kindergartens and seven institutions of higher education were also damaged," the press service of Kharkiv Regional Military Administration said.

The university dormitories were also damaged or completely destroyed.

In addition, as a result of enemy shelling, cultural institutions were damaged (the buildings of Kharkiv National Opera and Ballet Theatre, Kharkiv Philharmonic and Puppet Theater, Kharkiv Art Museum, the House of Culture in Merefa) and a large number of health facilities were damaged (eight hospitals in different districts of Kharkiv, a department emergency care in Derhachi, a hospital in Izium). Damaged at least ten industrial facilities and ten religious institutions of different faiths in Kharkiv and Izium districts.

A total of 204 people were rescued from the rubble in the region. Some 116 people died due to the destruction of buildings, including one person over the past day.

Rescuers continue to dismantle the rubble, work continues to extract the bodies of the killed.
Welcome ceremony held for Malaysian PM

Malaysian Prime Minister Dato Sri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob was welcomed to Vietnam at a ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi on March 21 chaired by PM Pham Minh Chinh.













Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (L) chairs a welcome ceremony for his Malaysian counterpart Dato Sri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob. (Photo: VNA)

Also present at the event were ministers and leaders of the Prime Ministers Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Labour, Invalid and Social Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Education and Training, Vietnam News Agency, among others.

Following the welcome ceremony, the two PMs held talks.



This is his first tour to Vietnam since Dato Sri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob took office in August 2021.



The Malaysian PM is scheduled to meet Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Chairman of the National Assembly Vuong Dinh Hue.



The visit by Malaysian PM Dato Sri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob aims to further the bilateral relations and cooperation in the post-pandemic period. It also offers a chance for both sides to explore new aspects of bilateral ties, discuss regional and international issues of common concern, and promote bilateral trade and investment.



The Vietnam-Malaysia traditional friendship and strategic partnership have been thriving towards the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties (1973-2023).
By Trend

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that Israel was undertaking many efforts to arrange top-level peace talks between his country and Russia and suggested they might take place in Jerusalem, Trend reports citing Reuters.

Zelenskiy, speaking in his daily video appeal to Ukrainians after addressing Israel's parliament by video link, said Prime Minister Naftali Bennett had been trying to act as an intermediary between Kyiv and Moscow.

"Of course, Israel has its interests, strategy to protect its citizens. We understand all of it," said Zelenskiy.

"The prime minister of Israel, Mr. Bennett is trying to find a way of holding talks. And we are grateful for this. We are grateful for his efforts, so that sooner or later we will begin to have talks with Russia, possibly in Jerusalem.





"That's the right place to find peace. If possible.
High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell has announced an additional EUR500 million for Ukraine, he said this at a press conference following a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday.

He said he was pleased to announce that they had reached a political agreement on an additional EUR500 million within the European peacebuilding opportunities. He added they would continue to support Ukraine economically, financially, with humanitarian aid, and support the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

According to Borrell, all member states remain extremely united in supporting Ukraine diplomatically in the international arena, will continue to isolate Russia, call for accountability for war crimes, for violations of international and humanitarian law.

He also said that the EU regards what is happening in Ukraine as large-scale war crimes committed by the Russian armed forces against the Ukrainian people. And this will not remain unpunished. Therefore, they welcome the commission established by the UN Human Rights Council. They welcome the investigation (into these crimes) by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, the high representative said.

In this regard, he stated that the ministers call on Russia to comply with the decision of the International Court of Justice, according to which it must stop the invasion of Ukraine. Borrell also assured that the EU is ready for further restrictive measures, in coordination with their partners, in order to continue to put pressure on Russia.
During the day in Zaporizhia region, four children suffered from shelling by Russian invaders. In total, over the past three days, some 14 children have suffered from the military aggression of the occupiers, their condition is grave.

According to Zaporizhia Regional Military Administration, on the morning of March 21, in the village of Malynivka, Polohivsky district, the invaders shot two cars with local residents moving along the humanitarian corridor from automatic weapons.

As a result of the car shooting, two children, three women and a man were wounded.

The children were hospitalized in Zaporizhia regional hospital.

Zaporizhia Regional Military Administration said that such executions by the occupiers of refugees are becoming systematic. The Russian servicemen at checkpoints at first supposedly let civilian cars leaving the shelling zones pass. However, they shoot after the cars, despite the fact that there are small children in them.

"As a result, the day before yesterday, in addition to adults, six children were wounded, yesterday four children, today four more minors. All wounds are severe and most critical, there are many amputations of limbs," the Regional Military Administration said in a statement.
Russian troops delivered five hailstone missiles to the village of Hannivka in Kryvorizky district of Dnipropetrovsk region, as a result of the shelling, a private house was damaged, the Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) said.

"According to the investigation, on March 21, 2022, the Russian armed forces carried out artillery shelling with the hailstone multiple missile launcher system at the village of Hannivka, Kryvorizky district, Dnipropetrovsk region, at least five strikes were made," the PGO said on Facebook.

The shelling damaged a private house. According to preliminary data, there are no casualties. There are no military installations in this territory.

Dnipropetrovsk Regional Prosecutor's Office provides procedural guidance for criminal proceedings on the fact of violation of the laws and customs of war (Part 1, Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
By Trend

Qatari Emir and visiting German economy minister have vowed to strengthen energy cooperation on Sunday, according to a statement released by Qatar's Amiri Diwan, Trend reports citing Xinhua.

During their meeting on Sunday, Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and German Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck reviewed the bilateral ties between the two countries and ways to enhance them in various fields, particularly in the energy sector.

They also discussed the latest developments on regional and international issues, according to the statement.

The German minister also held a meeting with Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, during which they discussed ways to strengthen bilateral ties, especially in the economic fields, according to a statement released by the Qatari Foreign Ministry.

The Qatari foreign minister said in a tweet that he and the German minister held a fruitful dialogue on expanding economic cooperation to achieve the common economic and development interests of the two countries, especially in the technology, environment, and energy sectors.

After these meetings, German media quoted Habeck as saying that Germany and Qatar had agreed on a long-term partnership in the energy sector.



The German minister said that the agreement between Berlin and Doha also focuses on developing renewable energy projects and measures that enhance energy efficiency, according to German media reports.
Al-Azhar condemned Friday terrorist attack on a mosque in Afghanistans capital Kabul that left dozens of worshippers dead and injured.
Deputy chairperson of Egypt's National Council for Human Rights (NCHR), Mohamed Anwar Esmat El-Sadat issued a statement on Tuesday indicating that the issue of political prisoners in Egypt will be closed in the near future.
On March 20-21, at the invitation of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kyrgyzstan Ruslan Kazakbaev first ever official visit of Foreign Minister of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, His Highness Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud to Kyrgyzstan will take place, Trend reports citing Kabar.

As part of the official visit, which will be paid in the year of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Kyrgyz Republic and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, negotiations will be held with President Sadyr Zhaparov, Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers Akylbek Zhaparov and Foreign Minister Ruslan Kazakbaev, the press service of the Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry said.

The talks will focus on the status and prospects for expanding Kyrgyz-Saudi relations, with an emphasis on trade, economic and humanitarian spheres, as well as on further cooperation within the framework of international organizations and regional associations.
The Biden administration has begun expelling Cubans and Nicaraguans to Mexico under pandemic-related powers to deny migrants a chance to seek asylum, expanding use of the rule even as it publicly says it has been trying to unwind it, officials said Wednesday.
Russia said its forces would cease fire at the Azovstal steel plant in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol and open a humanitarian corridor for civilians for three days beginning Thursday.
Egypt condemned on Monday the latest ballistic missile attack by Yemens Houthi militia against the United Arab Emirates.

In an official statement, the Egyptian foreign ministry denounced what it described as cowardly acts of terrorism and their threat to the security and stability of the region.

The foreign ministry affirmed solidarity with the UAE in measures undertaken to preserve its security and stability.

The statement comes hours after the UAE said it intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile fired by Houthi rebels over a non-populated area in the Gulf country.

No casualties have been reported in the Houthi-claimed attack, according to the UAEs defense ministry. Civilian air operations also resumed services, according to the UAEs civil aviation authority.

This is the third attack by Houthi rebels against the UAE this month, with the first on January 17 killing three people.

It also comes during Israeli President Isaac Herzogs first official visit to the UAE, nearly a month after a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennetts visit to the country.

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Deputy governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) Sherif Loqman said on Monday that financial inclusion rates have increased by more than 110 percent over the past five years, rising from 27 percent in the end of 2016 to 56.2 percent by the end of 2021.

Addressing a conference on the future of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)  which is organised by the Union of Arab Banks (UAB) in the Upper Egyptian city of Luxor  Loqman said that the CBE is seeking to offer equal financial services to all Egyptians.

He added that the CBE is acting to promote banking culture among the different segments of society.

The deputy governor said that expanding SME finances is meant to achieve the goals of financial inclusion.

Moreover, he noted that SME finances have increased by 253 percent since 2015, and now exceed EGP 400 billion.

The banking sector has also outlined plans to expand technical support services offered to SMEs, Loqman said, emphasising that this is the most important step in the coming period.

Furthermore, he stressed that banks offer innovative solutions to help meet the needs of the SME sector.

About 50 percent of the countrys economic sectors are not involved in banking services, Loqman told the conference, adding that the CBE is currently working to include those sectors through non-financial services.

The CBE deputy governor also discussed early decisions to rehabilitate the infrastructure for digital transformation in terms of cash and bank transactions.

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Egypt is committed to preserving peace, security and stability in Lebanon by sparing it the dangers of regional conflicts, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said on Sunday in his meeting with the Maronite Patriarch of Antioch and All the East Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros in Cairo.

According to the Egyptian presidency, El-Sisi praised the robust ties between the sisterly Arab nations at the popular and official levels in the meeting attended by the Lebanese Ambassador in Cairo Ali Al-Halabi.

El-Sisi praised the constructive role played by the cardinal to restore stability in Lebanon.

Meanwhile, the cardinal asserted Lebanon's commitment to fostering the historical ties between both countries, voicing appreciation of Egypt's efforts in support of Lebanon in all domains.

He also commended Egypt's pivotal role as a principal guarantor of stability in Lebanon and the Arab region.

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Egypts Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met with a number of Pakistani officials on Monday during an official visit to Pakistan, where they discussed enhancing bilateral ties and climate change.

Shoukry met with officials including Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad, where Shoukry expressed hopes that this visit will be an opportunity to push forward bilateral relations between Egypt and Pakistan.

Egypts top diplomat is set to participate in the 48th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which will be held in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Pakistan is the fourth and last stop for Shoukry in his Asian tour that started on Sunday 13 March, where he visited Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia.

Shoukry also met on Monday with Pakistani Minister of State for Climate Change Zartaj Gul, where they discussed a number of issues related to climate change, including adaptation and funding for developing countries.

Shoukry, who is currently the president-designate of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27), discussed efforts to reduce emissions and boost coordination between Egypt and Pakistan in the upcoming period in the field of climate change, especially given that Pakistan is the current chair of Group 77 at the United Nations.

Group 77 is considered the biggest intergovernmental organisation of developing countries at the UN.

During his Asian tour, Shoukry also discussed climate change challenges with officials in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

On Sunday, the Egyptian FM met with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmoud Qureshi, where they discussed developing bilateral ties and international and regional issues of mutual concern.

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Leaders from Poland and The Netherlands discussed further sanctions on Russia for its war against Ukraine, including banning imports of Russia's oil and gas and closing European ports to Russian ships.

Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki hosted the Dutch leader Mark Rutte for talks Monday about ways of stopping Russia's aggression on Ukraine and of helping Ukraine's fighters and civilians.

``We talked today about a blockade of all European ports to Russian ships and also on all sorts of sanctions, including on oil and gas,'' Morawiecki said.

Rutte said Putin has made a ``very big mistake'' by bringing war again to Europe.

``We will not accept this kind of aggression against a sovereign and democratic nation,'' Rutte said.

``And these are not empty words. We are showing we are willing to put out money where our mouth is,'' he said.

Morawiecki said they also discussed the gathering of evidence from the refugees of the ''really terrible, cruel crimes'' committed during the war in an effort to make sure that the crimes are punished.

More than 2.1 million refugees fleeing the war have come to Poland.

Unlike Poland and The Netherlands, Ukraine is not a member of the European Union. Poland backs giving it candidate status in a fast-track procedure.

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Egypt offered its sincere condolences and sympathy after a China Eastern Boeing 737-800 with 132 people on board crashed in a remote mountainous area of southern China on Monday.

Egypt also extended its condolences to the family of the victims, pledging its full solidarity with China, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.





The jet was carrying 123 passengers and nine crew members.

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Egypt has set fixed prices for unsubsidised bread at outlets and bakeries across the country for three months or until further notice, with violators facing heavy fines, to regulate the market.

The move is the latest in a series of measures Egypt has adopted to maintain price stability and combat price wars in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war.

The 45g bread loaf will stand at EGP 0.5, the 65g loaf at EGP 0.75, and the 90g loaf at EGP 1, said Madbouly.

Meanwhile, commercial bread will sell for EGP 11.5 per kg.

Regarding Fino bread, the 40g loaf will be sold for EGP 0.5, the 60g loaf at EGP 0.75, and the 80g loaf at EGP 1.

The decision, announced by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and published in the official gazette on Monday, goes into effect Tuesday and will remain in place for three months or until further notice,

According to the decision, violators will face fines of not less than EGP 100,000 and not more than EGP 5 million if they sell the bread for a higher price.

Also, outlets and bakeries have to advertise bread prices in a visible place for customers.

Over the past two weeks, the price of unsubsidised bread in Egypt has soared by nearly 50 percent on the back of the disruption of wheat supply due to the Russia-Ukraine war.

However, the government has said that Egypt, the worlds top wheat importer, has sufficient local reserves of the grain for eight months.

Egypt imports around 80 percent of its wheat, a strategic commodity that goes into producing the staple of bread for Egyptians, from Russia and Ukraine.

The cabinet had previously authorised the Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade supply to take the necessary measures to establish a pricing mechanism for unsubsidised bread to curb price hikes, in line with President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisis recent directives to the government to assess the cost of producing unsubsidised bread in order to regulate its pricing.

The government has also taken measures to incentivise farmers to sell the largest possible amounts of wheat to the government during the local wheat supply season, which starts at the end of March.

On Wednesday, the cabinet granted wheat farmers an incentive of an additional EGP 65 for each ardeb (1 ardeb is equivalent to 150kg) to encourage them to increase the quantities they sell to the supply ministry.

The president has also instructed the government to provide low-priced food commodities and distribute cartons of food supplies ahead of the holy month of Ramadan, which starts in early April and is typically accompanied by increased rates of food consumption.

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By Trend

The Azerbaijani pavilion at the Dubai Expo 2020 exhibition, which is nearing completion, has aroused a particular interest among the visitors during the Novruz holiday, Trend reports.

The events and expositions dedicated to Novruz were met with great interest.

On March 20, a concert was held in the pavilion with the participation of People's Artist of Azerbaijan Tunzala Aghayeva.

In the coming days, the celebration of Novruz will also continue with concert programs. Everyone who is in Dubai during the holiday period will be able to feel the atmosphere of Novruz by visiting the Azerbaijani pavilion at Expo 2020.
India  the second largest wheat producer in the world  is in final talks to start exporting wheat to Egypt, according to a recent statement by the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

India is in final talks to start wheat export to Egypt, and discussions are ongoing with Turkey, China, Bosnia, Sudan, Nigeria, Iran, etc as well, the statement explained.

The south-east Asian country said it is now looking to scale up wheat exports to alleviate any global supply chain disruptions in view of the geopolitical situation.

Over the past two weeks, the Russian-Ukrainian war has led to a disruption of wheat exports from eastern Europe and remarkable global inflation since Russia and Ukraine together account for nearly 30 percent of the worlds wheat exports.

Egypt, the worlds largest wheat importer, relies on wheat to produce bread  a key staple for Egyptians  with 80 percent of its wheat imported from Russia and Ukraine.

The country is currently seeking to diversify its wheat imports, setting its eyes on 14 alternative markets, including non-European countries like the US, Argentina, Canada, and Paraguay.

In early March, Egypt also imposed an export ban on wheat, fava beans, lentils, pasta, flour, cooking oil, corn, and cracked green wheat for three months.

Meanwhile, the government set on Monday fixed prices for unsubsidised bread for three months  or until further notice  with heavy fines to be imposed against violators, effective Tuesday.

Egypt is expected not to resort to buying wheat from the global market until the end of the year, according to recent remarks by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, as the country already has enough reserves and locally produced wheat to satisfy its demand for almost eight months.

In 2021, Egypt imported 5.5 million tonnes of wheat to supplement the 3.5 million tonnes that were supplied by local farmers to the supply ministry.

The government is currently seeking to incentivise wheat farmers to increase the amount they supply to the supply ministry in order to limit its reliance on imports.

On Wednesday, the cabinet granted wheat farmers an incentive paying out an additional EGP 65 for each ardeb (One ardeb is equivalent to 150kg) to encourage increasing the quantities they sell to the Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade.

According to officials, Egypt expects wheat imports in 2022 to drop to 5.3 million tonnes due to an increase in local production and supply.

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President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi met on Monday with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, where he stressed that Egypt is committed to the security of the Gulf and rejects any threats or actions that aim to destabilise it.

Bin Zayed was received by El-Sisi at Sharm El-Sheikh airport on Monday afternoon, the Egyptian presidency said.

El-Sisi and Bin Zayed discussed the latest international and regional developments, and the talks reflected mutual understanding concerning these issues, the presidency said.

They also agreed to boost Egyptian-Emirati cooperation to develop joint Arab action in a way that helps Arab national security and boosts the Arab ability to face the challenges and threats facing regional security.

El-Sisi last met Bin Zayed in January in Abu Dhabi, where they discussed mutual cooperation and regional developments.

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Thirteen soldiers have been killed in an ambush by suspected jihadists in eastern Burkina Faso, the armed forces said Monday, amid a surge of violence.

It was the sixth attack of its kind in the landlocked West African nation in under two weeks.

"A military unit carrying out a security operation in the eastern region was attacked about 20 kilometres (12 miles) east of Natiaboani on Sunday," the army said in a statement.

Security sources had on Sunday given a provision toll of 12 dead.

"During the fighting 13 soldiers were unfortunately mortally wounded and eight others injured," the army said, adding that several attackers had also been killed.

The rural community of Natiaboani lies 60 kilometres (37 miles) south of Fada N'Gourma, the largest town in the Eastern Region that since 2018 has been regularly targeted by armed groups.

Fifteen youths were kidnapped during an attack on Friday in nearby Nagre, according to the country's information agency.

Violence has flared again in Burkina Faso after a period of relative calm after a military junta took power in January.

Disgruntled officers toppled elected president Roch Marc Christian Kabore after protests over his handling of the bloody insurgency.

About two dozen civilians and a similar number of policemen or soldiers have been killed over the last 10 days.

Burkina Faso has been struggling with jihadist attacks since 2015, when militants linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group began mounting cross-border raids from Mali.

The violence has killed more than 2,000 people and displaced at least 1.7 million, according to an AFP tally.

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Airline China Eastern said that there had been fatalities after one of its passenger jets carrying 132 people crashed in southern China on Monday, with the cause of the crash "still under investigation".

"The company expresses its deep condolences for the passengers and crew members who died in the plane crash," the company said in a filing with the Shanghai Stock Exchange, without giving details on the number of people killed.

Earlier today, Chinese President Xi called for "all efforts" towards the rescue and to find out the "cause of the accident as soon as possible", according to state broadcaster CCTV.

"We are shocked to learn of the China Eastern U5735 accident," he said.

A villager surnamed Liu told state-run China News Service that he had driven a motorbike to the scene after hearing a loud explosion.

He said he saw debris on the ground, including an aircraft wing and fragments of clothing hanging from trees.

China had enjoyed an enviable air safety record in recent years as the country was crisscrossed by newly built airports and serviced by new airlines established to match breakneck growth over the last few decades.

A Henan Airlines flight crashed in northeastern Heilongjiang province in 2010, killing at least 42 out of 92 people on board, although the final toll was never confirmed. It was the last Chinese commercial passenger flight crash that caused civilian casualties.

The deadliest Chinese commercial flight crash was a China Northwest Airlines crash in 1994, which killed all 160 onboard.

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Such ventures benefit the two friendly countries, stimulate genuine, economic growth and provide job opportunities for coming generations, added Madbouly in his address to the Egyptian-French Business Forum, held in Cairo Monday.





A number of ministers and senior officials were present at the event, in which nearly 50 Egyptian and French companies participate.



The premier said French investments reached four billion euros in Egypt.



The forum is an important gathering for it helps in the countrys endeavours to boost and develop its partnership with France and deepen bilateral ties in different fields, Madbouly further mentioned.



He said todays meeting is an important opportunity for reviewing and following up on steps and viewpoints to develop trade relations.

Madbouly commended French efforts to shore up developmental cooperation with Egypt through participating in financing several projects as per Egyptian economic reform plans.



He went on to note the Egyptian government spares no effort to set the stage for attracting more investments to Egypt, given the fact that the private sector plays a pivotal role in achieving sustainable development and generating more jobs.



He said Egypt seeks to lure more direct French investments to sectors of priority and encourage French companies to participate in future projects.



The premier said ongoing development work in Egypt is unprecedented, urging French partners to contribute more to and take advantage of the quantum economic leap that will be made by the country in the years to come through giant national projects.



Madbouly referred to ventures that are being carried out in the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) and the New Administrative Capital (NAC) and other fourth-generation cities, that have advanced infrastructure and great housing, service and industrial potentials.



He, meanwhile, commended cooperation with the French Development Agency (AFD) in realizing socio-economic development in Egypt and the fact that Egypt is benefiting from the French experience in projects in various sectors, including water, drainage, transport, electricity, supply, urban development and IT.

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Elsahy said Amazon's investment expansion in the Egyptian market includes creating over 2,000 job opportunities across its network in Egypt in 2022, adding that 1,500 jobs were created through inaugurating Amazon warehouse in 2021, the biggest in Africa.

He stressed that the company is poised to be a catalyst of Egypts digital transformation by hiring, reskilling, and upskilling its workforce, and empowering them to advance their careers in the digital economy.

We are creating over 40 different types of roles for people with diverse backgrounds, education and skills  from Fulfillment Centre associates, delivery drivers, and customer service roles, to positions in marketing, finance, supply chain technology and analytics. We will also launch strategic partnerships to help recruit people of determination, and programmes to increase the hiring of women. We believe building a culture that is welcoming and inclusive for all is integral to our success, Elsahy said.

Amazon plans to double its delivery capacity in 2022 in light of the increase in customer demand with new delivery stations to enhance its reach across the country.

Since the inauguration of our largest Fulfillment Centre in Africa by His Excellency Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly last year, we have been on a path of accelerated growth and will continue to bring best-in-class technology and fulfillment offerings to our customers in Egypt. Our expansion further affirms our commitment to Egypts Vision 2030 agenda for a Digital Egypt. The new investments in our buildings will provide a marketplace for local small and medium enterprises to scale their businesses online and sell to the world, he added.

In line with Egypt Vision 2030, particularly with regards to sustainable development, Amazon targets attaining net-zero carbon emissions across its operations by 2040, powering its global operations with 100 percent renewable energies by 2025, being now the biggest corporate buyer of renewable energy in the world, according to Elsahy.

Today, the Amazon network across Egypt includes its Fulfillment Centre in 10 Ramadan city, with a storage capacity of more than 2.4 million cubic feet, storing millions of items and providing customers with a wide selection of products. This is in addition to 22 delivery stations across cities like Cairo, Alexandria, Tanta, Ismailia, and Assiut, and several established corporate and customer service offices. By the end of 2022, Amazons delivery network will reach a footprint of 26 delivery stations in the country, Elsahy pointed out.

With investments exceeding EGP 1 billion, Amazon has been operating in Egypt since 2017 through Souq.com, an Amazon affiliated company, providing online shopping services and operating a widespread local logistics and operations network.
Painter, illustrator and caricaturist Walid Taher is exhibiting 70 acrylic paintings in his new solo exhibition Fades Away, inspired by Lebanese-Australian poet Wadih Saadehs exploration of liminality, on display at TAM Gallery in 6th of October city.

Fast passers-by are beautiful. They do not leave a shadow. Maybe a little dust A dust that will soon disappear, writes Saadeh.

This collection of poems made me wonder: who are these fast passers-by? Who can be these people that I meet while painting? A marginal poet, an expatriate on an extraordinary journey?" Walid Taher comments on his new exhibition.

He adds that Saadeh does not leave anyone indifferent.

"His poetic writings and essays are often absurd; they lead us to wisdom and meditation. Thus, my 70 paintings inspired by his poetry result from a reflection on the notion of passage. They are quick encounters with the passers-by of Saadeh, before they disappear, before they fade away."

Painting and poetry have lived together for a long time. The first is structured in space and the second takes place in time. Taher was inspired by the prose Fleeting Passages by the Lebanese poet Wadih Saadeh.

Free from any constraint, from any logic, Taher plays on the space/time relationship, but also on the beauty/action and feeling/word relationship.

It is this beauty of absence, of obliteration, that Taher tries to capture through his colored acrylics.

His paintings do not leave one indifferent. They capture our souls after the loss of places, senses, loved ones and oneself.

The artist seeks beauty in all that is ugly, the positivity in all that is depressing. He evokes the beauty of departure, self-sacrifice, fleeting feelings, memories, confusion, grief... of a past, of an encounter.

Garish colours and tumult of characters

Always faithful to a flamboyant palette and an irony capable of stimulating the imagination, Walid Taher has mastered his tools perfectly and his artistic language has grown stronger over the years.

With time, he has become increasingly daring. Even his work, which can seem improvised, has something well studied, an informal, irregular lyrical abstraction. His creatures constantly escape from each other; they wander separated on the web, but have an inevitable alliance.

Taher cites the titles of his paintings: The Guardian Angel, Deja vu, Venus, Marseille, Sultan, The Absent, The Port, Beirut, Godiva - these are meditative images of the wind, boats, smoke, spirits, perfumes, cats, dogs, water, time, space, spleen, mourning and death.

For him, death is celebrated as another possibility to exist, to dance, to sing, to say and to find oneself. The same goes with Saadeh, where death occurs as the fulfillment of a disturbing void, carrying movement and therefore life.

Thus, in the paintings of Walid Taher, we follow the movement of shooting stars, trees, bicycles and birds within a country house or watching them from a window in the city.

I tried to recover the crumbs of the loss. Today the world is lost. We experience moments of insensitivity, indifference and emotional flatness, especially with the breakthrough of Facebook and other cultural changes, clarifies Taher.

He continues: Usually, I like to create from a source of inspiration, a need, a stimulus. The works inspired by Saadeh's poems are always located at the junction of two well-matched contrasts. It is life as I see it."

For him, freedom is emptiness. However, his paintings leave almost no empty space.

The state of mental uncertainty, anxiety, indecision and doubt is essential for me to create, says the artist.

Again, he expresses differently the ideas of Wadih Saadeh who writes: Sometimes I have the very strong impression that men live without bodies. They continue to live as long as they search for their bodies. And when they stop believing in it, they die. () O Wadih, it is not beautiful that you lie like this in eternity without dreaming."

Taher's paintings reflect this interminable wait, this long pause.

The exhibition, which opened earlier this month, continues until 2 April.

TAM Gallerys hours of operation are 10am-5pm daily (except Fridays). It is located at kilometre 28, Cairo-Alexandria desert road Abou-Rawash.

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Ukrainian officials defiantly rejected a Russian demand that their forces in Mariupol lay down arms and raise white flags Monday in exchange for safe passage out of the besieged strategic port city.

Even as Russia intensified its attempt to bombard Mariupol into surrender, its offensive in other parts of Ukraine has floundered. Western governments and analysts see the broader conflict grinding into a war of attrition, with Russia continuing to barrage cities.

In the capital Kyiv, Russian shelling devastated a shopping center near the city center killing at least eight people.

The encircled southern city of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov has seen some of the worst horrors of the war, under Russian pounding for more than three weeks. Strikes hit an art school sheltering some 400 people only hours before Russia's offer to open two corridors out of the city in return for the capitulation of its defenders, according to Ukrainian officials.

Ukrainian officials rejected the Russian proposal for safe passage out of Mariupol even before Russia's deadline of 5 a.m. Moscow time (0200GMT) for a response came and went.

``There can be no talk of any surrender, laying down of arms,`` Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk told the news outlet Ukrainian Pravda. ``We have already informed the Russian side about this.''

Mariupol Mayor Piotr Andryushchenko also dismissed the offer shortly after it was made, saying in a Facebook post he didn't need to wait until the morning deadline to respond and cursing at the Russians, according to the news agency Interfax Ukraine.

Russian Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev had offered two corridors _ one heading east toward Russia and the other west to other parts of Ukraine. He did not say what Russia planned if the offer was rejected.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said authorities in Mariupol could face a military tribunal if they sided with what it described as ``bandits,'' the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported.

Multiple attempts to evacuate residents from Mariupol and other Ukrainian cities have failed or only partly succeeded, with bombardments continuing as civilians tried to flee. City officials said at least 2,300 people have died in the siege, with some buried in mass graves.

Tearful evacuees from devastated Mariupol have described how ``battles took place over every street.''

Ahead of the latest offer, a Russian airstrike hit the school where some 400 civilians had been taking shelter and it was not clear how many casualties there were, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address early Monday.

``They are under the rubble, and we don't know how many of them have survived,'' he said.

The fall of Mariupol would allow Russian forces in southern and eastern Ukraine to unite. But Western military analysts say that even if the surrounded city is taken, the troops battling a block at a time for control there may be too depleted to help secure Russian breakthroughs on other fronts.

Ukrainians ``have not greeted Russian soldiers with a bunch of flowers,'' Zelenskyy told CNN, but with ``weapons in their hands.''

U.S. President Joe Biden was expected to talk later Monday with the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Britain to discuss the war, before heading later in the week to Brussels and then Poland for in-person talks.

Zelenskyy has been pleading with the U.S. for more aircraft and advanced air-defense systems, while NATO members on the alliance's eastern flank have also been looking for missile defense systems from the U.S. and Britain.

More than three weeks into the invasion, the two sides now seem to be trying to wear down the other, experts say, with bogged-down Russian forces launching long-range missiles at cities and military bases as Ukrainian forces carry out hit-and-run attacks and seek to sever Russian supply lines.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Ukrainian resistance means Russian President Vladimir Putin's ``forces on the ground are essentially stalled.''

``It's had the effect of him moving his forces into a woodchipper,'' Austin told CBS on Sunday.

The strike on the art school was the second time in less than a week that officials reported an attack on a public building where Mariupol residents had taken shelter. On Wednesday, a bomb hit a theater where more than 1,000 people were believed to be sheltering.

There was no immediate word on casualties in the school attack, which The Associated Press could not independently verify. Ukrainian officials have not given an update on the search of the theater since Friday, when they said at least 130 people had been rescued and another 1,300 were trapped by rubble.

City officials and aid groups say food, water and electricity have run low in Mariupol and fighting has kept out humanitarian convoys. Communications are severed.

Some who were able to flee Mariupol tearfully hugged relatives as they arrived by train Sunday in Lviv, about 1,100 kilometers (680 miles) to the west.

``Battles took place over every street. Every house became a target,'' said Olga Nikitina, who was embraced by her brother as she got off the train. ``Gunfire blew out the windows. The apartment was below freezing.''

In Ukraine's major cities, hundreds of men, women and children have been killed in Russian attacks.

In Kyiv, eight people were killed by shelling in the densely populated Podil district not far from the city center Sunday, emergency officials said. It devastated a shopping center, leaving a flattened ruin still smoldering Monday morning in the midst of high-rise towers. The force of the explosion shattered every window in the high-rise next door and twisted their metal frames.

In the distance, the sound of artillery rang out as firefighters picked their way through the destruction. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said Russian shelling also hit several houses in Podil.

Russian troops have been shelling Kyiv for a fourth week now and are trying to surround the capital, which had nearly 3 million people before the war.

Britain's defense ministry said Monday that Ukrainian resistance had kept the bulk of Russian forces more than 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the city center, but that Kyiv ``remains Russia's primary military objective.``

The U.N. has confirmed 902 civilian deaths in the war but concedes the actual toll is likely much higher. It says nearly 3.4 million people have fled Ukraine. Estimates of Russian deaths vary, but even conservative figures are in the low thousands.

The Ukrainian prosecutor general's office says at least 115 children have been killed and 148 injured.

Some Russians also have fled their country amid a widespread crackdown on dissent. Russia has arrested thousands of antiwar protesters, muzzled independent media and cut access to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

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Ukraine's prosecutor general said a Russian shell struck a chemical plant outside the city of Sumy a little after 3 a.m. Monday, causing a leak in a 50-ton tank of ammonia that took hours to contain.

Russian military spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed the leak was a ``planned provocation'' by Ukrainian forces to falsely accuse Russia of a chemical attack.

Konashenkov also said an overnight cruise missile strike hit a Ukrainian military training center in the Rivne region.

He said 80 foreign and Ukrainian troops were killed.

Vitaliy Koval, the head of the Rivne regional military administration, confirmed a twin Russian missile strike on a training center there early Monday but offered no details about injuries or deaths.

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Shuaa Capital, a leading asset management and investment banking platform in the region, has successfully completed a strategic investment in UAE-based fintech, Souqalmal.



The investment will provide growth capital, allowing Souqalmal to execute on an ambitious growth plan over the next 24 months.



Following the investment, Ambareen Musa, Founder and CEO of Souqalmal, will continue to lead the business and oversea the expansion of its services. Shuaa joins existing strategic investors Riyad Capital and UK comparison website GoCompare, which will remain shareholders in Souqalmal.



This investment supports Shuaas strategy to increase its digital offerings and enhance personal finance and investment opportunities for the consumer. At the same time, this vision is aligned with Souqalmals future growth, as the Company looks to strengthen its offering and develop a personal financial management platform that will include financial education and awareness.



Souqalmal launched the first corporate financial education program for employees last year through its MoneyDoctor Program, the first of its kind in the region, and is recognized as the leading authority in the industry when it comes to representing the voice of the customer with financial institutions. This program is the first step in delivering its vision of allowing customers to educate themselves, get instant pre-approval on their credit products, track their spending and grow their wealth, all on one platform.



Companies such as MAF, Careem, Emirates Catering are now all offering the MoneyDoctor Program to their employees making sure that financial health is a big part of employee wellness. Financial issues are amongst the highest causes of stress and decreased productivity in the workplace, and as we emerge from the last 2 years of the Covid-19 pandemic, financial health has taken on greater importance for employees and is an important factor for CEOs to consider in terms of employee retention and wellness.



Fawad Tariq Khan, MD and Head of Investment Banking at Shuaa Capital, said: We are excited to join Souqalmal and Ambareen on their journey to becoming an interactive personal finance management platform. We believe that Souqalmal and its financial education arm have the ability to empower customers to understand, manage and grow their finances in a better way. As Souqalmal strengthens its personal and wealth management offering, Shuaa will be well positioned to help the Company access new pools of capital, products and more importantly knowledge.



Ambareen Musa, Founder and CEO of Souqalmal said: This acquisition gives Souqalmal what it needs to now bring the company to the next level. We are really looking forward to what we can do together with a partner like Shuaa Capital. The drive to digitization of financial services is where the two companies really clicked and with this marriage brings resources, talent and the funds we need to really take on the under penetrated financial education industry.  TradeArabia News Service
Russia has warned that relations with the US are ``on the verge of a breach'' and summoned the US ambassador for an official protest against President Joe Biden's criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A Russian Foreign Ministry statement Monday referred to ``recent unacceptable statements'' by Biden about Putin. Biden referred to Putin last week as a ``war criminal'' in relation to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The Foreign Ministry says that at the meeting with US ambassador to Moscow John Sullivan ``it was emphasized that remarks such as these by the American President, which are unworthy of a state figure of such a high rank, put Russian-American relations on the verge of a breach.''

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The new US ambassador to Germany on Monday accused China of taking President Vladimir Putin's side in the Ukraine conflict as Beijing refuses to condemn Russia over the crisis.

"President Xi (Jinping) says he's being neutral in this conflict. There is no neutrality in this conflict," said Amy Gutmann, who was confirmed as the US ambassador under President Joe Biden last month after tumultuous years with Donald Trump's envoy.

"Not to denounce Mr. Putin's aggression as aggression... is taking aside. China is taking Mr. Putin's side in this conflict," Gutmann told journalists at the US embassy in Berlin.

Gutmann, 72, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, has been confirmed as the new ambassador to Germany by the US Senate but has not yet been sworn in.

The United States had previously been represented in Berlin by Trump ally Richard Grenell, who raised hackles in Germany with a combative approach, including vowing to empower anti-establishment right-wingers in Europe.

He regularly angered his host country with outspoken criticism of everything from the Iran nuclear deal to Berlin's defense spending and relations with Chinese tech firm Huawei.

Gutmann was previously president of the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League institution, and is an expert in democratic processes.

She served as chair of Barack Obama's Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues.

Gutmann said her Jewish father Kurt, who died when she was a teenager, "was and still is my model of courage".

"It's deeply ingrained in my consciousness and my psyche that I would not be alive today if it weren't for the fact that my father saw the handwriting on the wall," she said.

As a college student in 1934, Kurt had realized that he, his four siblings, and his parents would not be safe in the country under Adolf Hitler and convinced them to flee to India.

He later settled in New York, where Gutmann was born.

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As sanctions limit Russia's ability to do business in major currencies such as the dollar or the euro, an Indian business body has asked the government to set up a rupee-ruble mechanism to facilitate trade.

India will study the impact of Western sanctions against Russia while devising a payment mechanism to settle its trade with Moscow officials say. "We will await details to examine the impact on our economic exchanges with Russia," according to Bagchi.

While the United States has banned Russian oil imports, several European countries, such as Germany, which are dependent on Russian imports of energy, continue to buy it. India, the world's third-largest oil importer, imports only about 3 percent of its crude from Russia, but cheap Russian oil could help cushion its economy from spiraling international crude prices.

"A number of countries are importing energy from Russia, especially in Europe," Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi told reporters earlier this week. He said India, which imports most of its oil, is "always exploring all possibilities in global energy markets."

New Delhi is proceeding with purchases of Russian crude at discounted prices despite pressure from the United States. The state-run Indian Oil Corp. has concluded a deal to buy 3 million barrels of Russian crude, according to local media reports. Although it has not officially confirmed the deal, India has defended the country's decision to look at purchasing Russian oil.

India is considering establishing a payment mechanism in local currencies to allow it to continue trade with Russia, which has been hit with Western sanctions in response to its invasion of Ukraine.

"We have proposed that local currency trading may be explored in the given situation. It is one of the plausible options that are on the table," according to Ajay Sahai, director general of the Federation of Indian Export Organizations. Indian exporters say payments of about US$500 million are stuck because Russian buyers cannot pay in foreign exchange.

Work was ongoing to set up a rupee-ruble trade mechanism to be used to pay for oil and other goods, an Indian official, who refused to be identified, has told Reuters.

The trade in local currencies could take place between Russian banks and companies with accounts in Indian state-run banks. This is not the first time that such a mechanism is being considered -- India and the former Soviet Union had a rupee-ruble exchange plan in place during the Cold War to bypass the U.S. dollar.

India has also used a similar program with Iran, under Western sanctions for its nuclear weapons program.

New Delhi has taken a neutral stance on the Russian invasion, calling for a cease-fire and diplomacy to resolve the crisis, but abstaining from condemning Moscow, with which it has longstanding ties. It has been under pressure from Washington, which has been urging India to the U.S. and other countries' tough stand on the invasion.

When asked if the U.S. plans to reach out to India for curbs on oil purchases from Russia, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday that Washington has been in touch with Indian leaders but added that countries have different "economic reasoning," including some in Europe. "But what we would project or convey to any leader around the world is that the world -- the rest of the world is watching where youre going to stand as it relates to this conflict, whether its support for Russia in any form as they are illegally invading Ukraine," she told reporters.

New Delhi however has shown no indication that it will weaken trade or strategic ties to Russia -- Moscow supplies India with more than 70 percent of its weapons, which are critical for New Delhi as it faces Chinese troops all along its Himalayan border. During a visit three months ago by Russian President Vladimir Putin to New Delhi, both countries pledged to increase trade in the defense and energy sectors.

Analysts in New Delhi are optimistic that differences over Russia will not harm ties with Washington, which have grown in recent years as both India and the United States look at how to contain a more assertive China.

"It is not as if U.S. and India are on the same page on every issue," said Sreeram Chaulia, dean of the Jindal School of International Affairs at O.P. Jindal University. Pointing out that India's focus is primarily Asia and Indo-Pacific region, he said, "We are really fearful of what China could do along our borders and that remains our primary concern. And New Delhi feels that whether or not we take a joint position on Ukraine with the U.S., the Europeans and others, they will still partner with us to counterbalance China."

That is why India believes that it can navigate its partnerships with both Russia and the United States for the time being, analysts such as Chaulia say. However, if the war in Ukraine does not wind down and the crisis drags on, he said "then we will have to readjust our position."
KYODO NEWS - Mar 21, 2022 - 13:39 | All, Japan

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi called on the United Arab Emirates on Monday to ramp up oil supplies to address a surge in oil prices stemming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine in a meeting with his UAE counterpart.

During the talks in Abu Dhabi, Hayashi told Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan that Japan is concerned by a recent spike in the oil market and hopes the UAE will play a role in stabilizing the market, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.

"We are hoping for more crude oil supplies and contribution to market stabilization by ensuring production capacity," Hayashi told the UAE foreign minister, according to the Japanese ministry.

As a major oil exporter to Japan, the UAE minister expressed his intention to deepen coordination between the two countries, saying "the relationship with Japan as a strategic partner is unwavering," the ministry said.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida earlier this month also asked the UAE to make "proactive contributions" to help stabilize crude oil markets when he held a phone call with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The repeated calls underscore Japan's persistent worries about the impact of heftier oil costs at a delicate time when Tokyo is looking to bring the world's third largest economy back on a steady growth track after a sharp economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, concerns over energy supplies from Russia, one of the world's major crude oil and natural gas producers, have sent crude oil prices sharply higher.

Among global benchmarks, West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures briefly rose past $130 per barrel to an over 13-year high in early March.

Stable oil procurement is vital for resource-scarce Japan, which relies on imports to meet almost all oil consumption. Oil supplies from the UAE account for about 30 percent of its overall imports.

In reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin's order to put his country's nuclear forces on high alert, the two ministers agreed that no threat or use of nuclear weapons should be tolerated and that they will closely work on disarmament and non-proliferation of such deadly arms.

The two also discussed China's growing military presence and North Korea's nuclear and missile programs and confirmed their cooperation on such issues.

China's military activities are expanding in the East and South China seas with more exercises with fighter jets and naval vessels, while North Korea has conducted a series of missile launches this year including recent launches that are believed to have involved tests of a new ICBM system.

The meeting in the UAE capital was part of Hayashi's four-day trip to Turkey and the UAE through Monday.

Related coverage:

Japan asked UAE to help stabilize crude oil markets: PM Kishida

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KYODO NEWS - Mar 21, 2022 - 18:33 | World, All

ASEAN's special envoy for Myanmar visited the member country on Monday for the first time since one was appointed following a military coup in February 2021 that ousted the country's elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi.

Deputy Prime Minister Prak Sokhonn of Cambodia, this year's chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, held talks with Myanmar's military chief, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, after arriving in the capital Naypyitaw, according to the military's information department.

No meeting with Suu Kyi has been planned during Prak Sokhonn's three-day visit, however, as the military has refused any contact with the country's democracy icon, who remains under house arrest and is facing multiple prison terms after being put on trial on more than 10 charges.

According to a diplomatic source, a meeting is being arranged with a member of the leadership of Suu Kyi's formerly ruling National League for Democracy who has escaped being criminally charged following the coup.

Prak Sokhonn doubles as Cambodia's foreign minister.

ASEAN leaders agreed last April on the so-called five-point consensus that calls for an immediate stop to violence in Myanmar and the dispatch of an ASEAN envoy to the country. In August, the second foreign minister of Brunei, which was then ASEAN chair, was appointed as the special envoy.

However, the military refused to allow access to Suu Kyi, leaving ASEAN unable to send the envoy. Min Aung Hlaing was kept out of ASEAN's annual summit in October after the military did not stop violence toward Myanmar citizens.

As this year's ASEAN chair, Cambodia has been willing to hold a dialogue with the Myanmar military, with Prime Minister Hun Sen becoming the first foreign leader to visit the country since the Feb. 1 coup when he held talks with the military leader in Naypyitaw in January.

Cambodia has indicated it is in no hurry to have a meeting with Suu Kyi.

Nearly 1,700 people have died in Myanmar at the hands of the military since the coup, according to a human rights group monitoring the situation in the country. In some parts of the country, pro-democracy elements have taken up arms against the ruling regime.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

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ASEAN urges Myanmar to facilitate visits by new special envoy

Never forget tragedy in Myanmar amid Ukraine crisis, expats say

Japan, Cambodia urge Russia to immediately end war in Ukraine
KYODO NEWS - Mar 21, 2022 - 17:20 | World, All, Coronavirus

Hong Kong will lift the ban on commercial flights from nine countries on April 1, with the quarantine period for inbound travelers to be halved to seven days, city leader Carrie Lam said Monday.

The government has suspended flights from nine countries deemed high-risk, including the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia, after a surge fueled by the highly transmissible Omicron coronavirus variant in January.

Lam said in a press briefing that starting next month, fully vaccinated Hong Kong residents will be allowed to return to the city from any country after obtaining a negative lab test result.

The current 14-day quarantine for all inbound travelers will be slashed to seven days, during which they will undergo daily rapid testing followed by an additional week of self-monitoring provided they test negative in lab tests on days six and seven.

Meanwhile, social distancing measures will be gradually eased in three stages starting on April 21, with most measures set to be relaxed after three months.

The changes come as the city begins to recover from an unprecedented wave of COVID-19 infections fueled by the rapid Omicron spread that saw record daily cases of nearly 77,000 earlier this month.

Last week, Hong Kong marked 1 million coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic, with over 5,000 COVID-related deaths.
KYODO NEWS - Mar 22, 2022 - 02:20 | All, Japan

The Japanese government on Monday issued a warning over tight energy supply, urging people in Tokyo and some other areas to save electricity as a large earthquake last week in the northeastern region caused some power plants to halt.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's warning came after Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. said earlier in the day a power shortage is possible Tuesday due to cold weather and suspension of some thermal power plants from the quake last Wednesday.

According to the company, supply from its solar plants will likely be limited due to weather, even though demand for heating will likely increase. It expects the power consumption rate to stand at 97 percent between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. on Tuesday.

The ministry indicated it could be the most severe electricity shortage since 2011, when TEPCO conducted a planned power outage amid the electricity crunch following a powerful earthquake and tsunami and the nuclear meltdown at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in March that year.

TEPCO, which supplies power to Tokyo and eight other prefectures including nearby Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama, said it expects to receive up to 2.37 million kilowatts of electricity from other utility firms.

TEPCO is asking households and companies to turn off unnecessary lights and set their heating at 20 C to save electricity.

The ministry said power saving will likely be needed between 8 a.m. and 11 p.m. on Tuesday for areas covered by the company.
KYODO NEWS - Mar 21, 2022 - 10:34 | All, World

Although Russia reportedly made an interest payment to its bondholders to avoid a default last week, it is still facing a high risk of it in the following deadlines amid international sanctions for the country's ongoing aggression on Ukraine.

But market observers say the impact of a possible default is expected to have limited impact on Japanese financial institutions, given their small exposure compared with those of European peers.

Moscow made coupon payments totaling $117 million on two Russian government bonds denominated in dollars on Thursday, a day after the deadline but within a 30-day grace period. But a $447 million payment is due on March 31, followed by another deadline on April 4.

In 2022, Russia still has a total of $4.6 billion in interest and principal to pay, of which $4.14 billion is not allowed to be made in rubles, according to Osamu Tanaka, chief economist at the Dai-ichi Life Research Institute.

Paying for foreign-currency-denominated bonds is becoming increasingly difficult for Russia, as the European Union, the United States and Japan froze about half of the country's foreign currency reserves. Seven Russian banks were also excluded from a key international payment system known as SWIFT.

Financial institutions holding the Russian debt will face losses when they become irrecoverable, but the ramification to the global financial market is likely to be limited in the current situation, with stricter financial regulations than when Russia last defaulted in 1998 and more banks reducing their exposure to Russia since its annexation of Crimea in 2014, Tanaka said.

Japanese firms tend to possess less risky bonds issued by developed countries such as the United States. "The prices of Russian government bonds are so volatile that few Japanese banks hold them directly," said a senior official of a major bank.

A major securities house source said the company holds Russian sovereign bonds as an asset "but it accounts for an extremely small amount of the total and (default) is not something that would directly affect our operation."

The source said retail investors who hold mutual funds investing in Russian government bonds may see a loss, but the overall investment is small and the impact for them is "little or none."

Makoto Takashima, the president of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. and chairman of the Japanese Bankers Association, said Thursday that Japanese banks may indirectly be affected by incurring losses due to bad loans.

Loans extended by Japanese banks to businesses in Russia totaled $9.56 billion as of September 2021, which was 7.9 percent of the total foreign lending and the fifth-biggest exposure among banks of 24 foreign countries and a region, according to the Bank for International Settlements.

The top lender constituted Italian banks which offered a total of $25.31 billion loan, followed by France's $25.16 billion and Austria's $17.51 billion.

Although BIS data did not include breakdowns of the banks extending loans, megabanks -- MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Mizuho Bank -- and government-owned lender Japan Bank for International Cooperation apparently make up most of the Japanese lending, according to each banks' data.

"Considering the strength of the Japanese financial institutions, their management would not be destabilized even if the loans become uncollectible," Dai-ichi's Tanaka said.

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FOCUS: As BOJ diverges from peers, yen weakness a tolerance test
KYODO NEWS - Mar 22, 2022 - 08:11 | All, World

The United States said Monday it has determined Myanmar's military committed "genocide" against the Rohingya ethnic minority, hoping to add more pressure on the junta that has seized control of the Southeast Asian country following last year's coup.

"Beyond the Holocaust, the United States has concluded that genocide was committed seven times. Today marks the eighth," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said as he announced the designation, describing the atrocities against the mainly Muslim minority as "widespread and systematic."

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said at a press conference later in the day, "Our view is that shining a light on the crimes of (the) Burmese military will increase international pressure, make it harder for them to commit further abuses."

Burma is the former name of Myanmar.

Human rights advocates, meanwhile, called on the United States and other countries to impose tougher economic sanctions on the Myanmar junta.

"The U.S. government should couple its condemnations of Myanmar's military with action," said John Sifton, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. "For too long, the U.S. and other countries have allowed Myanmar's generals to commit atrocities with few real consequences."

The determination that Myanmar forces committed "genocide and crimes against humanity" was reached after reviewing detailed documentation compiled by human rights organizations and other impartial sources as well as through the government's own fact-finding efforts, Blinken said at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.

In a 2017 military campaign against the Rohingya, mostly living in Myanmar's western Rakhine State, over 9,000 were killed and more than 740,000 forced to seek refuge in Bangladesh. In the previous year, the violence forced nearly 100,000 to flee to its South Asian neighbor.

The evidence "points to a clear intent behind these mass atrocities -- the intent to destroy Rohingya, in whole or in part," Blinken said, noting that the population suffered the razing of villages, killing, rape, torture and other abuses.

Buddhist-majority Myanmar does not recognize the Rohingya as an ethnic group with rights as citizens. Instead, they are branded as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Myanmar was at the time ruled by a civilian government that was overthrown in the Feb. 1, 2021 coup.

Under a U.N. convention, genocide includes actions such as killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, or imposing measures to prevent births, committed with "intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group."

While the latest U.S. recognition of genocide is focused on the Rohingya, Blinken noted that the Myanmar military for decades has committed killings, rape and other atrocities against members of other ethnic and religious minority groups.

The military leaders who overthrew Myanmar's democratically elected government in the coup are the same leaders who led the genocidal campaign against the Rohingya in 2016 and 2017, according to Blinken.

"Since the coup, we've seen the Burmese military use many of the same tactics, only now the military is targeting anyone it sees as opposing or undermining its repressive rule: student protestors, pro-democracy activists, striking workers, journalists, health workers," the top U.S. diplomat said.

The administration of President Joe Biden has said the Chinese government's crackdown on its Muslim Uyghur minority in the Xinjiang region amounted to "genocide," adhering to the position taken by the previous administration of Donald Trump.

In 2016, under the administration of Trump's predecessor Barack Obama, the United States declared the Islamic State extremist group had committed genocide against religious minorities in areas under its control, including Christians and Shiite Muslims.
By Ko Hirano, KYODO NEWS - Mar 21, 2022 - 11:04 | All, Japan

A group of Myanmar residents in Japan has launched a crowdfunding campaign to support compatriots who evacuated their homes or lost their jobs due to the military coup last year.

As the world closely watches Russia's aggression in Ukraine, the group is calling on Japan and other countries not to forget the suffering of the Myanmar people, saying the humanitarian crisis in the Southeast Asian country is only getting worse.

The group aims to raise a total of 10 million yen ($84,000) by April 30, targeting about 1,000 households who are internally displaced in Myanmar, 200 civil servants the junta sacked for opposing the coup, as well as 100 doctors and nurses taking care of affected people.

"We have received assistance from Japan through similar schemes, but we decided to extend food and medical aid to those in urgent need with our own initiative," says Misaki Otsuki, a Myanmar woman and organizer for the project who wishes to be identified by her Japanese name.

The first crowdfunding project by Myanmar residents in Japan had raised over 5 million yen from about 500 people as of Monday. The group is accepting contributions, ranging from 3,000 to 1 million yen, via the website: https://readyfor.jp/projects/freemm2022.

"People in Japan and elsewhere seem to be paying less attention to Myanmar as the conflict between the military and anti-junta forces has lasted for more than a year," Otsuki, a Tokyo resident who works for a Japanese company, said in an interview. "And we are now seeing Russia's aggression in Ukraine."

"Ukraine and Myanmar have something in common -- citizens are oppressed by force," she said. "Since this is a project to support Myanmar, we would like to express solidarity with Ukraine, whose people -- just like citizens in Myanmar -- are robbed of their freedom and peaceful lives by violence."

Since the Feb. 1, 2021 coup, Myanmar's military has killed about 1,700 peaceful demonstrators and other citizens and left some 520,000 people displaced, a majority of whom are women and girls, according to U.N. and other data.

Thomas Andrews, the U.N. special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, said in February that Russia and China continue to provide the junta with fighter jets, armored vehicles and other weapons it uses to attack civilians, and has requested the Security Council halt the flow of arms enabling atrocities.

Wataru Ishikawa, co-leader of the Japan Myanmar Future Creative Association, a group dedicated to promoting exchanges between youths of the two countries, is urging Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping to stop supplying the Myanmar military with weapons.

"It is no surprise that junta chief Min Aung Hlaing backs Putin's war in Ukraine," said Ishikawa, a Tokyo University of Foreign Studies student who is also involved in the crowdfunding campaign. "It is a deal between dictators. Citizens in Myanmar think otherwise."

Ishikawa and Otsuki hope more people in Japan and other countries will join the project, which will be implemented in partnership with Myanmar's National Unity Government, an organization launched in April last year by deposed pro-democracy parliamentarians, anti-coup protest leaders and representatives of ethnic minority groups in opposition to military rule.

"More than a year has passed since the military detained our leader Aung San Suu Kyi and toppled her democratically elected government, and the situation is only getting worse," Otsuki said, citing sharp deterioration in the economy and surging prices of food, fuel and other commodities.

The U.N. Development Program estimates nearly half of Myanmar's population will live in poverty in 2022.

"We fully understand the world is focusing on how to end the war in Ukraine and assist affected people there," Otsuki said. "But we would like to tell the world, 'Never forget the tragedy in Myanmar. Please help us restore our peaceful lives and regain hopes for a bright future under the democratic government.'"

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Saudi Arabia's National Housing (NHC) has launched a new 501-unit residential villa project for the beneficiaries of the Sakani programme in the city of Tabuk.

Spread over a 142,000-sq-m area, the Tabuk Valley project project is located within an integrated residential neighbourhood featuring model villas designed in a manner capable of future expansion, on areas starting from 203 sq m and up to 245 sq m.

These residential units will meet the needs of Saudi families, in addition to a number of facilities and services, to provide a modern residential environment and help improve the quality of life within the project, at reasonable prices starting from SR569,000 ($151,522), said the statement from Sakani.

The Tabuk Valley project comes as an extension of a number of projects and schemes being implemented in the region that will add more than 6,000 housing options for 'Sakani' beneficiaries.

These include three projects under construction - Durrat Tabuk featuring 1056 apartments, Tabouk Oasis with 732 apartments, and Basateen Tabuk (812 townhouses) - as well as three projects for ready-made villas including the 901-unit Tabuk Housing, 359-unit Umluj housing and the 388-unit Tima'a Housing project in addition to five plots of land that provide more than 2,000 residential plots.

The Tabuk Valley project was inaugurated by Deputy Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing, Engineer Abdullah bin Muhammad Al Badir, in the presence of senior officials.

Strategically located, the project is within the urban scope of Tabuk city along the main roads such as King Faisal Road and King Khalid Road near health, educational and commercial services, and within a residential complex with integrated services, facilities and public parks to achieve quality of life standards.

National Housing CEO Mohammed bin Saleh Al Bati said these villas are available in three different models of various designs and spaces, as part of its efforts to offer multiple housing options for families wishing to own properties.

"The project is an extension of the efforts of the National Housing to provide residential projects within vibrant communities of a civilized nature with distinctive and modern designs that suit the tastes of the beneficiaries, within the continuous expansion plans to increase the real estate supply and provide housing units that suit the needs of Saudi families and their purchasing capabilities in order to raise the percentage of ownership of the first home for families," he noted.

National Housing is currently developing a range of projects and suburbs to help meet the needs of Saudi families and achieve the goals of the Kingdom's Vision 2030, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
The new Miss Rwanda 2022 Nshuti Muheto Divine (C) poses with the 1st and 2nd runner-ups Keza Maolithia (R) and Kayumba Darina at the Intare Conference Arena in Kigali, Rwanda on March 19, 2022. (Photo by Cyril Ndegeya/Xinhua)

Nshuti Muheto Divine, 19, a high school graduate, was crowned to be Miss Rwanda 2022.



KIGALI, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The Miss Rwanda Organisation which organizes Rwanda's famous beauty competition has concluded Miss Rwanda 2022 contest with the crowning of the winner Miss Nshuti Muheto Divine.

The contest finals were held at the Intare Conference Arena in the Capital Kigali where 19 beauty queens were vying for the crown after one month in a boot camp.

Several rounds of questions that aimed at testing the beauty, brain and cultural values of the girls were done to find the top eleven, top five and then top three girls to be the Miss Rwanda and two runners-up.

The 19-year-old beauty queen, who is a high school graduate, won the crown overcoming stiff competition from Maolithia Keza and Darina Kayumba who emerged first and second runners-up respectively.



The girls answered their questions in English while participants are allowed to answer in either of three languages including French, English and the mother tongue Kinyarwanda.

The new Miss Rwanda 2022 Nshuti Muheto Divine (C) poses with the 1st and 2nd runner-ups, and former misses of Rwanda after being crowned at the Intare Conference Arena in Kigali, Rwanda on March 19, 2022. (Photo by Cyril Ndegeya/Xinhua)

Miss Rwanda contest goes with lucrative awards from several partners. And this year, the winner was, among others, given a brand-new Hyundai car by Hyundai Rwanda.

Meanwhile, several other positions were awarded among the 19 girls including the girl who had the best health Reproductive initiative, Sports' challenge, Miss Photogenic, Miss Talent, Miss Popularity, Miss Heritage and Miss Innovation.

In the past, parents used to prevent their children from taking part in Miss Rwanda, thinking that it would prevent them from concentrating on their studies since most of them are girls at the age of university.

Others also thought the girls would lose their Rwandan values, but things have changed and participation increased. Miss Rwanda event has also become an important venue for advertisers. 
BEIRUT, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon on Monday received 524 tonnes of food aid from Turkey, the National News Agency (NNA) reported.

This humanitarian aid, including baby formula and other food products, arrived at the Port of Tripoli and will be distributed to members of the Internal Security Forces, General Security, and Civil Defense, NNA said.

At the ceremonay held for the food aid, Turkish Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Baris Ulusoy expressed Turkey's keenness to support Lebanon's security agencies facing the difficult economic and financial conditions in the country.

Another ship carrying 1,000 tonnes of food and flour will reach Tripoli before the month of Ramadan, which falls on April 2 in Lebanon this year, Ulusoy said, adding they will be delivered to the most vulnerable families in the country.

China, France, Jordan, and Egypt have also sent donations to the Lebanese army to help it overcome its serious challenges amid the financial crisis in the country. 
A woman examines a jewelry set at a jewelry fair in Dhaka, Bangladesh on March 18, 2022. (Xinhua)

DHAKA, March 21 (Xinhua) -- A jewelry fair has been held in the Bangladeshi capital city Dhaka with 70 participating stalls, aiming at branding the country's ornaments and jewelers.

A stall of jewelry set is seen at a jewelry fair in Dhaka, Bangladesh on March 18, 2022. (Xinhua)

A woman poses for a photo with jewelry set at a jewelry fair in Dhaka, Bangladesh on March 18, 2022. (Xinhua)

People attend a jewelry fair in Dhaka, Bangladesh on March 18, 2022. (Xinhua)

A woman examines a bangle at a jewelry fair in Dhaka, Bangladesh on March 18, 2022. (Xinhua)

An exhibitor shows a jewelry set at a jewelry fair in Dhaka, Bangladesh on March 18, 2022. (Xinhua) 
MOGADISHU, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations and its partners on Sunday launched a four-year project to provide durable solutions for people displaced by conflict and climate change in Somalia.

The multi-million project named "Saameynta (impact in Somali)" will achieve durable solutions for more than 75,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) and vulnerable host communities in Somalia, the UN said in a joint statement issued here in the capital of Somalia.

Adam Abdelmoula, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, said finding durable solutions to protracted displacement in Somalia is desperately needed to enhance the livelihood situation of IDPs and their host communities.

"These IDPs are unlikely to return to their place of origin in the near future since their lands are now arid and unsuitable for farming or pastoralism," Abdelmoula said.

Under the intervention, the UN and its partners will work together with the government to implement the National Durable Solutions Strategy.

According to the UN, the project also seeks to decrease dependency on humanitarian aid, reduce poverty for thousands of impoverished individuals and promote IDPs integration in cities.

"Humanitarian assistance alone cannot address chronic issues such as mass displacement and recurrent droughts and floods. That is why durable solutions are a priority for the UN," said Abdelmoula.

He said Saameynta's sole approach aims to leverage the values generated by planned urbanization and investment in order to provide affordable housing, employment opportunities and community assets such as infrastructure, irrigation facilities, markets and other locally identified priorities for communities affected by displacement.

Saameynta will also increase the self-reliance and access to sustainable basic services, including water, shelter, and health services for IDPs residing in the cities of Baidoa, Bossaso and Beletweyne.

According to the UN, there are an estimated 2.9 million IDPs in Somalia due to decades of conflict and extreme weather events such as droughts and floods.

Of these, 2.2 million require urgent humanitarian assistance.

The project will also ensure the full participation of displaced women and girls living in overcrowded sites who continue to face a heightened risk of violence and harassment.

Saameynta comes at a crucial time as the displacement situation in the country has been further exacerbated by drought, closure of refugee camps in neighbouring countries and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. 
A girl holds a teddy bear on her way to a storytelling event for children on World Storytelling Day in Kampong Dongeng community in Indonesia's Banten Province on March 20, 2022. (Xinhua/Agung Kuncahya B.)

JAKARTA, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Storytelling has been always a fascinating art as it exposes children to other cultures and life philosophies, and develops their inner world of imagination and creativeness.

A storytelling event has been held in Indonesia's Banten Province to mark World Storytelling Day, which falls on March 20 every year.

A volunteer tells stories for children on World Storytelling Day in Kampong Dongeng community in Indonesia's Banten Province on March 20, 2022. (Xinhua/Agung Kuncahya B.)

Children interact with speaker at a storytelling event on World Storytelling Day in Kampong Dongeng community in Indonesia's Banten Province on March 20, 2022. (Xinhua/Agung Kuncahya B.)

Children sing a song at a storytelling event on World Storytelling Day in Kampong Dongeng community in Indonesia's Banten Province on March 20, 2022. (Xinhua/Agung Kuncahya B.)

Children listen to stories at a storytelling event on World Storytelling Day in Kampong Dongeng community in Indonesia's Banten Province on March 20, 2022. (Xinhua/Agung Kuncahya B.) 




JERUSALEM, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Israeli defense electronics company Elbit Systems announced Monday it was awarded a contract worth 27 million U.S. dollars to provide the Swedish military with high explosive tank ammunition.

The contract, inked with the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration, would be performed over a 10-month period, the company said in a statement.

The deal includes the M339 rounds of Elbit's 120mm ammunition series for improving battle tank firepower, and Data Setting Units for the Swedish military's Leopard Main Battle Tanks, it noted.

The 27 kg M339 cartridge is high-accuracy ammunition for field and urban warfare, delivering lethality with low collateral damage at all combat ranges, according to Elbit's tank ammunition portfolio.

The M339 can destroy bunkers, field fortification, urban structures, light armored vehicles, and armored personnel carriers, and is highly lethal against dismounted infantry.

It is capable of penetrating 200 mm double-reinforced concrete walls and operating the warhead with delay, according to Elbit. 
OUAGADOUGOU, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Thirteen soldiers were killed as a military unit engaged in a security operation was ambushed by unidentified gunmen near Natiaboani in the Eastern region of Burkina Faso Sunday, said the country's armed forces in a statement Monday.

The unit managed to extricate itself from the ambush by neutralizing several of the attackers. In addition to the 13 deaths, eight other soldiers were injured during the fighting, according to the statement.

Security in Burkina Faso has worsened since 2015, with terrorist attacks killing more than 1,000 people and displacing over 1 million others in the West African nation.

Last week, 13 armed police force officers were killed in another ambush in the Centre-Nord Region of the country. 
KHARTOUM, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Concerns are growing that the economy in Sudan would further deteriorate amid the continued decline of the national currency Sudanese pound, the unprecedented rising prices of essential goods as well as the impact of liberalization of fuel prices on the productive sectors.

Since the Central Bank of Sudan announced the liberalization of the exchange rate of Sudanese pound against the U.S. dollar on March 8, the competition between local banks and the parallel market to control the exchange market has intensified amid high demand against supply.

On Monday, foreign currency exchange rates reached record high at the local banks, with one dollar registering 630 Sudanese pounds compared to 645 pounds in the parallel market.

At the same time, the prices of basic commodities are skyrocketing few days before the holy month of Ramadan, arousing concerns that the deteriorating economic situation would increase the suffering of the citizens.

"There are signs of an economic collapse looming on the horizon," Ayoub Abdul Hafeez, a Sudanese economic expert, told Xinhua on Monday.

"Markets are witnessing an economic stagnation under lack of purchasing power and unprecedented hike in the prices of basic commodities," he added.

With the rise in prices, another problem emerged represented in shortage in necessary commodities such as cooking gas and flour.

Al-Tayeb Zain Al-Abidin, an owner of cooking gas distribution agency in Al-Azhari neighborhood, south of the capital Khartoum, told Xinhua that "gas is not available in large quantities in warehouses, while there are those who work outside the warehouses and create a parallel market for selling the gas."

Meanwhile, Abdul-Jalil Dahab, a professor of economics at Sudanese universities, attributed the economic crisis to the financial and monetary policies, weak production, and the continued phenomenon of speculation, whether in currencies or basic commodities, urging for quick actions and "restructuring the economy."

Xinhua reporters visited some markets in the capital Khartoum where the prices of basic commodities lifted sharply. A sack of sugar (50 kilos) jumped from 18,000 pounds to 30,000 pounds, while the price of edible oil (36 pounds) registered 24,000 pounds instead of 17,000 pounds.

Additionally, most bakeries were forced to increase the prices of bread due to the shortage in cooking gas and the high prices of flour, where the price of one loaf of bread reached 50 pounds.

Earlier, the World Food Programme (WFP) Office in Sudan warned of a severe shortage of grain in the country, especially wheat.

"For the first time since 1984, we're looking at a cereals-production deficit for Sudan. The WFP resources are not looking good. The situation is worse and we have less ability to respond," the WFP said in a press release.

Around 20 million people would likely be classed as suffering from emergency or crisis levels of acute food insecurity, double 2021's figure, it noted.

The economic crisis is expanding to various productive sectors in Sudan. As a result of the rise in fuel prices, the public transportation tariff has doubled, while the cultivated agricultural areas have decreased due to the increase in prices of gasoline.

Sudan has been facing an economic crisis after the United States and international agencies suspended aid with hundreds of millions of dollars after Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, the general commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces, declared a state of emergency on Oct. 25, 2021 and dissolved the Sovereign Council.

The United States immediately suspended 700 million dollars in economic aid to Sudan, while a budget support of 500 million dollars from the World Bank, which was expected in November 2021, as well as 150 million dollars in special drawing rights from the International Monetary Fund, were also halted.

Sudan's debt relief process under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative of the International Monetary Fund has also been halted.

Sudan has been undergoing a dire economic crisis since the secession of South Sudan in 2011, due to which Sudan lost 75 percent of its oil revenues. 
KABUL, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan's caretaker government has rejected a claim by a U.S. commander on IS presence in the country as baseless, local media reported on Monday.

General Kenneth F. Mckenzie, the commander of the U.S. Central Command, reportedly said recently that the release of "inmates from Pul-e-Charkhi and Bagram prisons" has strengthened Daesh (IS) activities in Afghanistan.

Quoting Bilal Karimi, a deputy spokesman for Afghanistan's Taliban-led administration, Tolonews reported that "Daesh group has been eliminated in Afghanistan," thus posing no threat.

Following Taliban's takeover of Afghansitan in mid-August last year, the new administration in Afghanistan set free all detainees including those held in the notorious Pul-e-Charkhi and Bagram detention centers. 
BUDAPEST, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The government of Hungary on Monday opened a 5,200-square-meter transit shelter in central Budapest for people fleeing the fighting in Ukraine.

The Budapest Olympic Center near the capital city's Eastern Railway Station offers free services, such as a heated waiting room, interpreting services, a baby and children's corner, toilets, medical care, mobile phone charging stations as well as internet access.

On site personnel will help these people with organizing accommodation, travel and administration of asylum applications, according to a government statement.

Humanitarian organizations will be able to distribute food, toiletries and other donations, said the statement.

"Hungarians are very generous," Andras Molnar, a young volunteer of local charity non-governmental organization (NGO) Budapest Bike Maffia, told Xinhua. "We have received a lot of donations, we have vast amounts of food, clothes and all kinds of products. What we need the most now are volunteers who are good at organizing the workflow."

The new shelter also assists these people in their transportation needs both inside and outside Hungary.

The Prime Minister's Office said that the new facility was needed because Hungary expects an influx of people from Ukraine.

So far, the Hungarian State Railways has distributed some 120,000 free "solidarity tickets" to people from Ukraine, most of whom are transiting Hungary towards Austria, Germany and Poland.

More than 500,000 Ukrainians have entered Hungary in the past three weeks, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in a Facebook post late last week. 
Investcorp, a leading global alternative investment firm, has announced that its European Real Estate business has invested approximately 1.1 billion ($1.21 billion) in 80 properties across the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Belgium since its launch in 2017.

Towards the end of last year it acquired Kerings Italian headquarters in Milan for 74 million and has recently acquired an office in Rome, occupied by the United Nations agency the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), for 128 million. The two acquisitions mark Investcorps entrance into the Italian real estate market.

Growing demand for office space in Milan, Rome

Yusef Al Yusef, Head of Investcorps Private Wealth, said: We are pleased to have made our entry into the Italian real estate market. Milan and Rome continue to have a growing demand for office space, and these acquisitions are in line with our strategy of investing and growing our real estate portfolio across Europe. Going forward, we will continue to identify opportunities with the potential to drive value for our clients and grow our footprint across Europe.

Khulood Ebrahim, Real Estate Specialist, Investcorp, added: Italy is a market where we are beginning to see increasing investor interest, so we are excited to add these high-quality, income-generating office properties to our growing portfolio. Investcorp has a long track record of investing in Italy, and we know Kering well, having successfully acquired and subsequently sold the leading fashion brand Gucci, which is now in the Kering portfolio.  TradeArabia News Service
ANKARA, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Russia and Ukraine have made progress on the "critical" articles of a ceasefire agreement being negotiated, but some issues still require decisions by their leaders, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Sunday.

"If the parties do not step back from their current positions, we can say that we are hopeful for a ceasefire," Cavusoglu told local daily Hurriyet.

"We see that the parties are close to agreement on fundamental issues," Cavusoglu said, reiterating his optimism when attending a meeting of the ruling Justice and Development Party.

In the past week, Cavusoglu had meetings with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts in Moscow and Lviv, respectively.

Speaking to Hurriyet on Saturday, Turkey's Presidential Spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin said that Moscow and Kiev were negotiating on six points, namely "Ukraine's neutrality, disarmament and security guarantees, the 'de-Nazification,' removal of obstacles on the use of the Russian language in Ukraine, the status of Donbass and the status of Crimea."

On March 10, Turkey hosted the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers on the sidelines of a diplomacy forum for their first high-level negotiations since the onset of the conflict, although the talks did not yield much progress on a ceasefire. 
WASHINGTON, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Dredging has commenced on the Ever Forward, a giant container vessel stuck in the Chesapeake Bay on the East Coast of the United States.

William Doyle, executive director of the Port of Baltimore, tweeted on Sunday that state and federal agencies had issued all permits for the rare and complex operation.

All dredged material excavated will be re-used for the beneficial use of rebuilding Poplar Island, an environmental restoration project located in the Maryland portion of the Chesapeake Bay, according to Doyle.

The U.S. Coast Guard is leading efforts to free the 334-meter cargo ship running aground 7 meters deep into the mud. It is unclear what caused the grounding.

It could take another 10 days to refloat the ship, according to other officials.

The Ever Forward, carrying nearly 5,000 containers, became stranded on March 13 after departing the Port of Baltimore for Norfolk, Virginia. There have been no injuries or pollution-related spills.

The vessel's location is just off Gibson Island near the Craighill channel in the Chesapeake Bay. According to vessel tracking website VesselFinder, it remains "aground" as of Sunday afternoon.

Doyle tweeted previously that waterborne commerce is moving into and out of Baltimore uninterrupted.

The Ever Forward is operated by Evergreen Marine Corp., whose Ever Given got stuck in Egypt's Suez Canal in March 2021, blocking the waterway for days and causing delays in global shipping. 
Home  Just In  Agriculture insurance in Nepal: 8 years on, farmers dont know about the facility due to passive stakeholders

Farmers had to bear a loss of more than Rs 11.87 billion due to unseasonal rains and subsequent damage in October 2021, according to the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Under its relief programme, the Ministry of Finance allotted a total of Rs 1 billion. But, the farmers did not get relief as per the damage they induced. So, the fact underlined the importance of agriculture insurance for the farmers.

Nevertheless, the number of farmers issuing agriculture insurance has not increased either because they are yet to understand its importance or someone could not explain it to them. As a result, the farmers are continuing to suffer.

It has been more than eight years since the government started providing agriculture insurance facilities to the farmers as per the plan to discourage imports and make the country self-reliant in agriculture. However, the progress made so far is not satisfactory.

Futile efforts

File: Beema Samiti, Nepals Insurance Board

As per Raju Raman Paudel, the executive director of Beema Samiti (Insurance Board), the insurance regulator of the country, the insurance companies have earned a total of Rs 5.60 billion in agriculture and livestock insurance from the fiscal year 2013/14 to 2020/21. Meanwhile, the government has spent more than Rs 4 billion on agriculture insurance.

But, how much did the farmers get? Not even one-fourth of the governments investment!

According to the Beema Samiti, farmers claimed over Rs 104 million in agriculture insurance. Including livestock insurance, the claims totalled Rs 649.39 million with 2,466 claims including 533 in FY 2019/20 and 1,933 in FY 2020/21.

On January 14, 2013, the agriculture insurance programme was adopted to help farmers, farmer groups, cooperatives and business organisations recover from the financial loss due to various reasons from the time of planting crops to harvest.

According to this, once the insured (farmer) submits the agriculture insurance proposal, the technical officials evaluate the proposal. The insurance is issued after the farmer pays 25 per cent of the fee. The government then provides 75 per cent of the insurance fee over time.

Fiscal year Sum insured Premium Increase per cent Grant Increase per cent Claimed amount Number of claims 2013/14 15,222,743 855,315    427,657          2014/15 148,455,001 8,330,139 874 6,250,966 1,362 1,741,462    2015/16 4,387,210,000 21,633,998 160 16,225,498 159.57 9,739,898    2016/17 776,283,131 38,588,225 78 28,941,169 78 29,577,758    2017/18 614,028,151 29,890,598 -22.54 2,241,7948 -22.54 37,698,227    2018/19 1,133,737,952 64,912,421 117 48,684,316 117 86,801,498    2019/20 1,607,034,007 82,923,532 27.75 62,192,649 27.75 59,996,775 563 2020/21 2,911,847,226 153,852,065 85.53 115,389,049 85.53 104,047,174 1,923

Three reasons for failure

Photo: Flickr

Chiranjeevi Chapagain, a former chairman of the Beema Samiti, says there are three main reasons behind the lack of attraction in agriculture insurance:

1. The reluctance of insurance companies

According to Chapagain, Nepalis insure only as a last resort. When they take a loan from a bank, they get insured as a mandatory procedure but do not initiate to insure their crops. And, the lack of interest from insurance companies is also affecting the growth of agricultural insurance more.

If the insurance companies are to be given the targets for agricultural insurance, with guidance from the Beema Samiti, the access to insurance can be increased.

2. Lack of awareness

While buying agriculture insurance, the farmers have to bear only 25 per cent of the amount. But, the insurance companies pay the amount equal to the loss. However, most farmers in Nepal do not know this.

3. Complicated procedure

There is a provision that the insurer needs a recommendation from the staff of the local Agriculture Knowledge Centre to claim compensation under the agriculture insurance. However, the centres office is only in the district headquarters making travel a hassle for farmers from the villages of hilly or mountainous regions.

Chapagain says it would be very convenient to prepare a separate procedure for agriculture insurance and make arrangements to make claims as per the report taken by the surveyor.

There are a lot of livestock insurers today. The reason for this is the mandatory system. If someone wants to run a cow or a goat farm, they take a loan and subsequently have to get insured. This has increased the number of livestock insurance.

Government needs to play a role

Farmers say their yield is nominal if they do not use pesticides, due to climate change impact. Photo: Aryan Dhimal

Today, there are 20 non-life insurance companies and they have extended their services to agriculture and livestock insurance too. According to the data, livestock insurance is more popular than agriculture insurance. Whereas only 5, 000 people have bought agricultural insurance, 188,000 people have been issued livestock insurance.

The Nepal Insurers Association President Chunky Chhetri says it is unfortunate for an agricultural country like Nepal.

Though the programme is good it has not been effective. The National Farmers Commission Chairman Prem Prasad Dangal says only 5,000 of the 18 million farmers received the facility of agriculture insurance last fiscal year.

Dangal says, It is the weakness of the government, the insurance regulator and the insurance companies that the number of people benefitting from agriculture insurance is so low. The benefits have not been explained well to the farmers.

He says the commission is now concerned about the issue and why farmers could not be attracted to the programme despite the government putting the money from its side.

Meanwhile, Chhetri says, There should be more government-level initiatives to inform the farmers in the villages about agriculture insurance. The local government and local representatives need to be more proactive.

He adds that discussions between cooperatives and groups can help increase awareness about insurance.
(Recasts with government calls for quick action, adds comment by grain industry group, Canada Labor minister, soy and fertilizer industry representatives, other details)

By Allison Lampert

March 21 (Reuters) - Canada on Monday called for a quick negotiated end to a work stoppage at the country's second-largest railroad, Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd, that is set to aggravate a shortage of commodities sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Fearful of an enduring strike, which began on Sunday, industry groups are calling on the Canadian government to propose back-to-work legislation to swiftly end the dispute.

Canada, the largest country by area after Russia, depends heavily on rail to move commodities like grain and manufactured goods to port, in addition to 75% of all fertilizer in the country, according to an industry group.

The agricultural sector is already facing shortages and higher prices due to Western economic sanctions on Russia and Belarus, two major fertilizer producers.

"The world needs Canada's grain now more than ever," said Wade Sobkowich, executive director of the Western Grain Elevator Association, which represents companies.

He said railways have struggled to meet half of the grain industry's weekly demands despite this year's crop being 35% smaller than average, and warned the CP strike could take the situation from "terrible to catastrophic."

Federal mediators are involved in the negotiations between CP and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference which represents the unionized locomotive engineers, among others.

"We have faith in their ability to reach an agreement. Canadians expect them to do that ASAP," Canada's Labor minister, Seamus O'Regan, said.

The work stoppage in Canada could be felt south of the border as CP's rail network runs as far south as Kansas City, Missouri, in the United States.

Mike Steenhoek, the Iowa-based executive director of the Soy Transportation Coalition, said his concern is that the railroad cannot make fertilizer shipments from Canada into the United States.

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"The current war in Ukraine is placing additional pressure on delivering U.S. agricultural production and inputs, particularly fertilizer," Steenhoek wrote in an emailed newsletter.

"A shut down in operations at Canadian Pacific will certainly compound that stress."

Corey Rosenbusch, the Fertilizer Institute president and CEO, said the United States imports 86% of its potash from Canada, much of it by rail.

Fertilizer Canada's president and CEO, Karen Proud, said timing is key since "we are 4-6 weeks away from seeding in Canada and even sooner in the U.S."

Nutrien Ltd, the world's biggest fertilizer producer, could weather a CP shutdown lasting a few days, since it has moved potash from its Canadian mines to U.S. stores ahead of spring planting, interim Chief Executive Ken Seitz told Reuters. But a longer shutdown would force Nutrien to consider slowing potash production, Seitz said.

The CP strike is the latest blow to Canada's battered supply chain, which last year weathered floods in British Columbia that suspended access to the country's biggest port.

An eight-day strike at Canadian National Railway Co in 2019 cost the fertilizer industry between C$200 million and C$300 million ($159 million-$238 million), the industry group estimates.

The Mining Association of Canada said the work stoppages such as CP's bring extra operational costs to businesses and "reduce confidence in Canada" as a destination for investment for supply-chain reliant businesses." ($1 = 1.2601 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal Additional reporting by Steve Scherer in Ottawa Writing by Denny Thomas Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Matthew Lewis)
ReportLinker

Major players in the 5G fixed wireless access market are Samsung Electronics, AT&T Inc, Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd, Qualcomm Technologies, Verizon Communications Inc. , Nokia Corporation, Siklu Communication Ltd.

New York, March 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "5G Fixed Wireless Access Global Market Report 2022" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06246540/?utm_source=GNW

, Mimosa Networks Inc, Ericsson, Cohere Technologies Inc., Arqiva, Cellular South Inc., Hrvatski Telekom, Orange S.A., Telefonica S.A., Telus Corporation, United States Cellular Corporation, Vodafone, Inseego and CableFree.



The global 5G fixed wireless access market is expected to grow from $1642.62 million in 2021 to $3074.07 million in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 87.1%. The change in growth trend is mainly due to the companies stabilizing their output after catering to the demand that grew exponentially during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. The market is expected to reach $38173.20 million in 2026 at a CAGR of 87.1%.



The 5G fixed wireless access market consist of sales of 5G fixed wireless access hardware and services by entities (organizations, sole traders, and partnerships) that have the potential to provide service bandwidth capacity on the level with fiber optics. Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) enables network providers to provide ultra-high-speed connectivity to suburban and rural areas, serving home and business installations where laying and maintaining fiber is prohibitively costly.



The main types of 5G fixed wireless access are hardware and services. Hardware refers to physical parts that enable fixed wireless access such as mobile phones and devices that have MIMO antenna technology built into the device for the mmWave frequencies. 5G small cell networks and RAN towers are the most important hardware elements of 5G technology infrastructure. The different demographies include urban, semi-urban and rural. It is implemented in various verticles such as residential, commercial, industrial and government.



North America was the largest region in the 5G fixed wireless access market in 2021.Europe was the second largest market in 5G fixed wireless access market.



The regions covered in this report are Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East and Africa.



The increasing adoption of 5G networks is expected to fuel the growth of the 5G fixed wireless access market in the coming years. 5G is the fifth generation of mobile data technology designed to significantly improve wireless network speed and flexibility. With the introduction of 5G, mobile technology can meet the demands of fixed-line networks and price ranges. According to Future Networks, a UK-based telecommunications company 5G will account for 1.2 billion connections by the end of 2025. Moreover, according to vXchnge, a US-based company that offers data centers and colocation services, 5G networks will cover 40% of the world and handle 25% of all mobile traffic data by 2024. Therefore, the increasing adoption of 5G networks drives the growth of the 5G fixed wireless access.



Technological innovations are shaping the 5G fixed wireless access market.Major companies operating in the 5G fixed wireless access sector is focused on developing technological solutions for 5G fixed wireless access.



For instance, in February 2020, Huawei, a China-based telecommunications equipment company launched LampSite EE based on Huaweis 5G technology.LampSite EE is the business version of 5G LampSite for industrial scenarios.



The version is an update from Huaweis pioneer LampSite 5G indoor radio connectivity solution, and it is geared toward smart manufacturing, smart hospitals, smart transportation, and smart warehouses, among other industries.



In October 2019, Liberty Latin America (LLA), a US-based telecommunications company acquired AT&T Inc.s (AT&T) wireless and wireline operations in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands for $1.95 billion on a cash- and debt-free basis. This acquisition expands Liberty Latin Americas product portfolio with the leading post-paid mobile network, adds predominantly subscription-based business, increases distribution channels on the island, increases B2B presence and materially increases US dollar revenue weighting at LLA. AT&T is a US-based telecommunications company that offers 5G fixed wireless access.



The countries covered in the 5G fixed wireless access market report are Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, South Korea, UK and USA.

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06246540/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



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CONTACT: Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001




HONG KONG, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- AIA Group Limited (the "Company", and together with its subsidiaries, "AIA" or the "Group"; stock code: 1299), the largest pan-Asian life and health insurer, issued its 2021 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) report Sustaining Healthier, Longer, Better Lives, highlighting the acceleration of its ESG Strategy.

Lee Yuan Siong, AIA Group Chief Executive and President, said, "With our scale, trust, and influence in Asia, AIA has a responsibility to address material ESG challenges including climate change, access to healthcare, and inequality. With that in mind, our ambition is to take a leading role in contributing to the sustainable development of the region. Our Report, Sustaining Healthier, Longer, Better Lives, sets out our focus on ESG as we deliver our Purpose of helping people live Healthier, Longer, Better Lives."

AIA's ESG Strategy brings together a clear programme of goals, commitments, and actions to deliver long-term sustainable value for customers, shareholders, and communities. The Strategy is built around five pillars: Health and Wellness, Sustainable Operations, Sustainable Investment, People and Culture, and Effective Governance.

Through the Health and Wellness pillar, AIA is committed to delivering better health outcomes, championing financial inclusion, and expanding access to quality healthcare across Asia. AIA provides financial protection to the holders of over 39 million individual policies and more than 16 million participating group insurance scheme members, with benefits and claims exceeding US$16 billion in 2021. In February this year, the Company also launched the AIA One Billion initiative, a bold ambition to engage a billion people to live Healthier, Longer, Better Lives by 2030.

As part of the Sustainable Operations pillar, AIA aims to improve the environmental performance of its operations. In 2021, AIA made the commitment to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and reduced emissions per employee by 53% compared to 2018. 77% of AIA's buy, service, and claims transactions were also submitted digitally, significantly reducing paper usage across the Group's operations.

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The Sustainable Investment pillar of AIA's ESG Strategy aims to deliver long-term value by allocating capital to companies that commit to sustainable outcomes and lowering AIA's exposure to the risk of stranded assets in a future low-carbon economy. AIA also completed the divestment of directly-managed, listed equity and fixed income exposures to coal mining and coal-fired power businesses last October, seven years ahead of schedule. In 2021, AIA achieved a 31.4% decrease in the carbon footprint of the Company's directly-managed, listed-equity portfolio since 2018. In addition, AIA has investments of US$8.6 billion in Healthcare bonds and US$3.6 billion in ESG bonds, representing a 100% increase year-on-year, with plans for this to grow materially in the years ahead.

Through the People and Culture pillar of AIA's ESG Strategy, the Company is committed to empowering its people to succeed by fostering a diverse and inclusive culture with equitable and fair processes for employment and progression. In 2021, women comprised 58% of the Company's workforce and 42% of its senior leadership. In addition, there are more than 70 nationalities represented across the Group. These efforts have been recognised through AIA's inclusion in Forbes' "World's Best Employers" list for the third consecutive year, and through AIA's ranking in the ninetieth percentile of Gallup's global financial services and insurance industry benchmark.

The Effective Governance pillar ensures that AIA continues to operate to the highest standards of business practices both in terms of its engagement with stakeholders and how it manages risk. In 2021, AIA was ranked top five globally in the insurance industry for the ESG risk rating by Sustainalytics, a firm that provides ESG risk ratings for companies and considered an industry standard by the world's leading investors. AIA's MSCI ESG rating also improved from A to AA.

Amita Chaudhury, AIA Group Head of Sustainability said, "We will continue to embed environmental, social, and governance considerations in strategic decision-making at all levels of our organisation. We are committed to playing a leading role in shaping a more sustainable future for our industry and our communities."

AIA's full ESG Report 2021 can be accessed here.

About AIA Group

AIA Group Limited and its subsidiaries (collectively "AIA" or the "Group") comprise the largest independent publicly listed pan-Asian life insurance group. It has a presence in 18 markets  wholly-owned branches and subsidiaries in Mainland China, Hong Kong SAR(1), Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan (China), Vietnam, Brunei and Macau SAR(2), and a 49 per cent joint venture in India.

The business that is now AIA was first established in Shanghai more than a century ago in 1919. It is a market leader in Asia (ex-Japan) based on life insurance premiums and holds leading positions across the majority of its markets. It had total assets of US$340 billion as of 31 December 2021.

AIA meets the long-term savings and protection needs of individuals by offering a range of products and services including life insurance, accident and health insurance and savings plans. The Group also provides employee benefits, credit life and pension services to corporate clients. Through an extensive network of agents, partners and employees across Asia, AIA serves the holders of more than 39 million individual policies and over 16 million participating members of group insurance schemes.

AIA Group Limited is listed on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited under the stock code "1299" with American Depositary Receipts (Level 1) traded on the over-the-counter market (ticker symbol: "AAGIY").

Contacts Investment Community News Media Lance Burbidge +852 2832 1398 Cecilia Ma Zecha +852 2832 5666

Evelyn Lam +852 2832 1633 Duke Malan +852 2832 4726

Feon Lee +852 2832 4704 Kitty Liu +852 2832 1742

Rachel Poon +852 2832 4792







Notes:

(1) Hong Kong SAR refers to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

(2) Macau SAR refers to the Macau Special Administrative Region.

SOURCE AIA
NEW YORK, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- During the forecast period, the Automotive Drive Shaft industry will see an increase in spending of around USD 3.25 Billion. However, the majority of this expansion will be driven by only a few regions. Furthermore, due to their supplier base, North America, Europe, and APAC will have the most effect on the supply side.

Automotive Drive Shaft Market

Download our free sample report today to get a detailed understanding of the major forces driving this market across geographies.

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Key Automotive Drive Shaft Sourcing and Procurement Report Highlights:

Market growth 2022-2026: USD 3.25 Billion Growth momentum & CAGR: Accelerate at a CAGR of 5.18% Top Pricing Models: Cost-plus pricing, and Volume-based pricing Key consumer countries: North America, Europe, and APAC Supplier Selection Criteria: Business needs, Technical specifications, Operational requirements, Security compliance, Regulatory mandates, Legal requirements, Quality control, Change management procedures, Pricing models, Penalty clauses, Working environment, Evaluation criteria, and Acceptance criteria Top Suppliers: Melrose Industries, NSK, and American Axle & Manufacturing

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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 Automotive Drive Shaft market. The report also aids buyers with relevant Automotive Drive Shaft pricing levels, pros, and cons of prevalent pricing models such as Unit-based pricing, and Bundled pricing, 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/automotive-drive-shaft-sourcing-and-procurement-intelligence-report

Key Drivers and Trends Fueling Market Growth:

The pressure from substitutes and a moderate level of threat from new entrants has resulted in the low bargaining power of suppliers.

Price forecasts are beneficial in purchase planning, especially when supplemented by the constant monitoring of price influencing factors.

Identify favorable opportunities in Automotive Drive Shaft TCO (total cost of ownership).

Expected changes in price forecast and factors driving the current and future price changes.

Identify pricing models that offer the most rewarding opportunities.

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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
Fortune Business Insights

Key Prominent Players Covered in the Blood Testing Market are Abbott Diagnostics , Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc. , Roche Diagnostics , Quest Diagnostics , Danaher Corporation , Becton Dickinson & Company , Biomeric Inc. , bioMerieux S.A , Siemens Healthcare , Trinity Biotech PLC

Pune, India, March 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The blood testing market size is anticipated to rise due to the growing need to identify infectious organisms and increased healthcare expenditure by the regulatory bodies and the government. Fortune Business InsightsTM has presented this information in its upcoming report titled, Blood Testing Market, 2022-2028.

Industry Developments

March 2020: In less than 15 minutes, BD (Becton, Dickinson, and Business), a prominent worldwide medical technology company, and BioMedomics released a new point-of-care test that may identify antibodies in blood to indicate present or past exposure to COVID-19.

October 2020: Siemens Healthineers has announced that their laboratory-based total antibody test1 for detecting SARS-CoV-2 IgM and IgG antibodies in the blood is now available worldwide. Patients who have acquired an adaptive immune response can be identified using the total antibody test.





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COVID-19 Impact

The importance of reliable and accessible diagnostics to screen patients for COVID-19 has been increasingly obvious throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The designation of a public health emergency justified the permission of emergency use of in-vitro diagnostics (IVDs) for the diagnosis of COVID-19, resulting in an increase in the global blood testing industry.

Abbott announced in December 2020 that its quantitative SARS-CoV-2 IgG (Immunoglobulin G) lab-based serology (blood) test had achieved the CE Mark. The IgG antibody test type delivers a quantitative result (that evaluates the number of antibodies) as well as valuable information to persons recovering from COVID-19. Additionally, it also aids in determining a person's immunological response to a vaccine.

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Segmentation

On the basis of type, the blood testing industry is fragmented into complete blood count (CBC), lipid panel testing, COVID-19, prostate-specific antigen, BUN testing, glucose testing, A1C, cortisol, creatinine, direct LDL, and other tests. On the basis of method, the market is bifurcated into automated and manual. On the basis of end-user, the market is segmented into clinics, hospitals, research laboratories, diagnostic centers, blood banks, and others. Geographically, the market is classified into Europe, Latin America, North America, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East & Africa.





To get to know more about the short-term and long-term impact of COVID-19 on this market,

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Report Coverage

The report covers extensive data on the blood testing market. Furthermore, the report covers information on the recent technological developments, including the drivers and restraining factors and key market players adopting several strategies to grow with the market. Lastly, the report highlights data on the COVID-19 effects on the industry.

Rise in Chronic Illnesses Coupled with Health Evaluation to Drive the Market

The significant rise in chronic diseases, as well as the strong demand for goods for a health evaluation, are the main growth drivers of the blood testing industry. The rising number of people infected with various infectious diseases will provide solid growth potential for the industry. Furthermore, increasing patient awareness of home diagnostic tests and self-testing is likely to enhance market adoption of key blood-testing products. For example, glucose testing kits such as the Accu-Chek Active Blood Glucose Meter can be used at home.

Furthermore, the rising prevalence of infectious disorders such as diabetes, COVID-19, and cardiovascular diseases is likely to drive market expansion. According to the CDC, 34.2 million people in the U.S. (10.5% of the population) have diabetes, which is driving up demand for blood tests and propelling the market forward.

However, the market's expansion is being hampered by a lengthy regulatory approval process. In the U.S., for example, the Food and Drug Administration regulates the development of commercial testing (FDA). They're categorized as medical devices and the FDA is in charge of authorizing clinical laboratory testing. Additionally, a lack of understanding regarding the development of new blood-testing technologies and processes limitsblood testing market growth.





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Asia Pacific is Expected to Dominate the Market due to Increasing Demand from Agricultural Countries

North America will lead the market in 2020, and it will continue to dominate throughout the forecast period. The growth is owing to the factors such as improving healthcare infrastructure, new government initiatives, and technological improvements.

Factors such as an increase in blood donation are stimulating the industry in Europe. According to the World Health Organization, the European region has the biggest proportion of countries with haemovigilance systems, which monitor and enhance the safety of blood transfusions.

Asia Pacifics blood testing market share expansion is aided by the dense population in places like India and China, where the demand for frequent check-ups is rising due to an increase in ailments like cancer, diabetes, and liver disease, among others.

Due to a reluctance to adopt new technologies, the market in Latin America and the Middle East, as well as Africa, is likely to grow at a slower rate than in other regions.

Competitive Landscape-

Key PlayersLaunch New Productsto Augment Market Positions

There are several big players on the market, such as Danaher Corporation, Abbott Laboratories, Thermofisher Scientific, BioRad Laboratories, and BioMerieux S.A. Certain strategic measures, such as a merger, new product launches, acquisitions, and collaborations, have been implemented by the corporations to help them expand their market position. For example, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized Thermo Fisher Scientific's ImmunoCAP Specific IgE Stinging Insect Allergen Components for in vitro diagnostic usage in April 2020. It's a blood test that determines whether or not a patient is allergic to certain proteins found in insect venom, which can induce anaphylaxis and other allergic symptoms.





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List of Key Players in the Market:

Abbott Diagnostics

Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc.

Roche Diagnostics

Quest Diagnostics

Danaher Corporation

Becton Dickinson & Company

Biomeric, Inc.

bioMerieux S.A

Siemens Healthcare

Trinity Biotech PLC





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 Bridgestone will provide May Mobility's autonomous vehicles with service and maintenance support through Bridgestone retail stores.

 May Mobility will integrate Bridgestone predictive tire-centric and fleet management technologies to help reduce the total cost of ownership of AVs.

 May Mobility is the first investment by Bridgestone in public-serving autonomous vehicles.

NASHVILLE, Tenn., March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Bridgestone Americas (Bridgestone), a global leader in tires and sustainable mobility solutions, today announced a minority investment in May Mobility , marking the company's first investment in public-serving autonomous vehicles (AVs). May Mobility is a leader in AV technology, leveraging its innovative Multi-Policy Decision Making (MPDM) system to realize a world where AVs make transportation safer, more accessible, equitable, and sustainable. The new partnership will include the future integration of Bridgestone's digital and predictive tire-centric technologies into May Mobility autonomous vehicles, granting deeper AV intelligence for even safer and more efficient operation. Through the partnership, Bridgestone will also gain valuable insights into autonomous vehicle operations to improve its core tire products and mobility solutions.

A May Mobility Toyota Sienna Autono-MaaS, part of the autonomous passenger vehicle fleet that Bridgestone technologies and services will support, is pictured at May Mobility headquarters in Ann Arbor, MI.

The new relationship between Bridgestone and Ann Arbor, Michigan-based May Mobility expands the AV technology company's ability to operate and service its vehicles in new markets through Bridgestone's nationwide network of more than 2,200 tire and automotive service centers doing business under the Firestone Complete Auto Care, Tires Plus, Hibdon Tires Plus and Wheel Works retail brands. In addition, May Mobility will also be able to leverage the company's mobile service provider, Firestone Direct, to support their expansion. This will further enhance May Mobility's ability to scale AV operations for its growing fleet of Toyota passenger vehicles, including the Toyota Sienna Autono-MaaS . May Mobility plans to continue expanding operations in the U.S. and Japan, building sustainable, accessible, affordable AV transit solutions.

"May Mobility is at the forefront of AV innovation and development, and we are excited to partner with the company through our broad service network of company-owned retail stores," said Brian Goldstine, President of Mobility Solutions and Fleet Management, Bridgestone Americas. "Our future plans to integrate the Bridgestone suite of predictive maintenance insights will help ensure that May Mobility vehicles operate even more safely, efficiently and sustainably."

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May Mobility vehicles will also utilize insights derived from in-wheel sensors and proprietary Bridgestone predictive algorithms to monitor the health of tires, including tire pressure, temperature and tread wear, which will allow for proactive and predictive maintenance that helps improve fleet safety, efficiency and sustainability. Azuga, a cloud-based fleet mobility solution acquired by Bridgestone in 2021, will also be leveraged by May Mobility to improve business performance through the platform's fleet management, camera intelligence and route planning features.

"The ability to operate and service vehicles using Bridgestone's 2,200 nationwide stores gives May Mobility an unmatched ability to scale across the country," said Edwin Olson, CEO of May Mobility. "This collaboration builds upon our shared mission of providing safe and sustainable mobility solutions on a global scale."

This investment is another example of Bridgestone's continued evolution to provide smart-sensing tires and sustainable mobility solutions. The May Mobility partnership follows the company's recently announced investments in mobile fuel and energy provider, Yoshi, and tire data supplier, Tyrata . Bridgestone and May Mobility plan to launch their vehicle service integration plans later this year.

For more company news, visit BridgestoneAmericas.com .

About Bridgestone Americas, Inc.:

Bridgestone Americas, Inc. is the U.S.-based subsidiary of Bridgestone Corporation, a global leader in tires and rubber, building on its expertise to provide solutions for safe and sustainable mobility. Headquartered in Nashville, Tenn., Bridgestone Americas employs more than 50,000 people across its worldwide operations. Bridgestone offers a diverse product portfolio of premium tires and advanced solutions backed by innovative technologies, improving the way people around the world move, live, work and play.

About May Mobility:

May Mobility, established in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 2017, is building the world's best autonomy system. Their proprietary Multi-Policy Decision Making (MPDM) system is at the core of their mission to help make cities safer, greener, and more accessible. MPDM's proven track record has delivered more than 300,000 autonomy-enabled rides to date in several public transit applications across the U.S. and Japan. With key strategic partnerships including some of the world's most innovative automotive and transportation companies, such as Toyota Motor Corporation, May Mobility aims to achieve the highest standard in rider safety, sustainability, and transportation equity. For more information, visit maymobility.com

Cision

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SOURCE Bridgestone Americas, Inc.
Danube Properties, a UAE-based real estate developer, has announced the launch of Pearlz, a AED300-million ($82 million) residential project offering 1,000 apartments as well as a number of retail and recreational facilities.

The project will be developed in Al Furjan area close to Ibn Battuta mall with the easiest access to Sheikh Zayed Road and Mohammed Bin Zayed Highway.

Announcing the new project, Danube said Pearlz is the first real estate project to be launched in the UAE this year and the second by the group within five months after the launch of its AED475 million Skyz project in Arjan community.

Some of its salient features include the foldable wall-mounted beds  that converts the living into a bedroom at night, when suspended from the wall. This creates an extra bedroom, converting a one-bedroom hall apartment into a two-bedroom apartment and a studio to a one-bedroom apartment.

So, the customer gets a two-bedroom apartment, when paying for a one-bedroom apartment, stated the developer.

Speaking at the launch, Founder and Chairman Rizwan Sajan said: "This is in response to growing demand for affordable quality homes in Dubai, as the market remains under-served. We have carefully designed each home to offer maximum value per sq ft, keeping in mind the need for space in each family."

All these affordable homes within Pearlz come with Danube's 1% payment plan that helps middle income tenants and end-users to easily acquire their dream homes, he noted.

Amenities

According to him, this particular project is a bit different from the others as it boasts several luxurious elements in it including multiple amenities.

"Among other perks, a three-bedroom apartment comes with a private pool, three parking spots for a 3 BHK apartment and a balcony  something that is not available in most villas and townhouses. It also offers key amenities such as kids pool, toddler pool, health cub, party hall, outdoor seating, shaded Yoga area, jacuzzi, sauna, barbeque area, kids outdoor play area, jogging track, outdoor party area, landscape with water features," said Sajan.

A key highlight at the development is a doctor on call, kids daycare with nanny on board and smart home, smart office with a personal secretary and an anti-current swimming pool, which will revolutionise how gated community projects will be developed in the region, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Coloradans Unified on Climate and Water Change, See Urgent Connections to Economy, Agriculture and Health

PR Newswire

WASHINGTON, March 21, 2022

Ahead of World Water Day, a poll conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of the Walton Family Foundation highlights pressing need to invest in climate change solutions

WASHINGTON, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Walton Family Foundation, in collaboration with Morning Consult, released a poll today revealing that 74% of Coloradans are worried about climate change and water scarcity, with at least 3 in 5 voters saying that drought, increased temperatures, wildfires, extreme weather and flooding are a product of climate change's effect on water resources. Some 64% of Colorado voters say it is very important for the state government to invest in water conservation efforts, and 48% say that Governor Jared Polis should be doing more to address water-related environmental challenges.

Walton Family Foundation Logo

One quarter of American voters believe their state will not have enough water during their grandchildren's lifetimes (the next 100 years). The numbers are substantially higher in Colorado, with 55% of Coloradans saying they believe the state would not have enough water in the next 100 years, and 79% believe climate change will impact generations to come.

"It's shocking that more than half of the residents in Colorado don't think there will be enough water in their home state for their grandchildren to live out their lives," said Moira Mcdonald, Environment Program Director of the Walton Family Foundation. "The Colorado River Basin is living through a historic drought fueled by climate change, and this poll shows there is urgency and unity among all voters to meet these challenges head on. This is a time for bold leadership."

Concerns around water access also have an outsize impact on Native American communities  many of whom live in the broader Colorado River Basin. A staggering 48% - over half a million people - of tribal homes across the United States do not have access to reliable water sources, clean drinking water, or basic sanitation.

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The poll also showed a majority of Coloradans agree climate change will alter important aspects of life in the U.S. like agriculture (77%), water resources (76%) and the economy (73%).

"What we see here is that Coloradans understand climate change is water change. Droughts, floods, wildfires and big storms all make climate change very real for people, and voters are united in their call for solutions," said Mcdonald. "We should be hopeful that, despite divisions in our country, Coloradans want to come together to protect water, communities and nature."

A full 88% of Coloradans also agree it is urgent that we protect lakes, rivers and streams, and 86% agree that we need to ensure sustainable uses of water. Some 85% of Colorado voters support the use of natural infrastructure like protecting groundwater supplies, maintaining healthy rivers and streams, and restoring floodplains to address climate change.

Other key findings from the poll include:

61% of Coloradans are more likely to vote for state and federal candidates who make addressing climate change and water-related environmental issues a key part of their platform .







77% of Colorado voters agree that political parties should find more common ground on addressing climate change (85% of Democrats, 83% of independents and 58% of Republicans).







78% of Colorado voters agree that there is still time to address climate change (79% of Democrats, 79% of independents and 76% of Republicans). However, 76% of Colorado voters believe that if climate change is not addressed in 10 years, the impact on water resources will be moderate to severe.







75% of Colorado voters believe drought is a product of climate change.

To read the full poll results, visit www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/worldwaterday .

Polling Methodology:

This poll was conducted March 4-8, 2022, among a sample of 300 registered voters in Colorado. The interviews were conducted online, and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample of Registered Voters based on gender, age, education, race, ethnicity, marital status, homeownership and 2020 vote choice. Results from the full survey have a margin of error of plus or minus 6 percentage points.

The national poll was conducted March 4-6, 2022, among a sample of 2,005 registered voters across the United States. The interviews were conducted online, and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample of registered voters based on gender, age, educational attainment, race, marital status, homeownership, race by educational attainment, 2020 presidential vote and region. Results from the full survey have a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

About the Walton Family Foundation

The Walton Family Foundation is, at its core, a family-led foundation. Three generations of the descendants of our founders, Sam and Helen Walton, and their spouses, work together to lead the foundation and create access to opportunity for people and communities. We work in three areas: improving K-12 education, protecting rivers and oceans and the communities they support, and investing in our home region of Northwest Arkansas and the Arkansas-Mississippi Delta. To learn more, visit waltonfamilyfoundation.org and follow us on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram .

Cision

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SOURCE Walton Family Foundation
ReportLinker

Major players in the data science platform market are Microsoft Corporation, Google, IBM, Oracle, Alteryx, SAP SE, Teradata, TIBCO Software, RapidMiner Inc. , MathWorks, SAS Institute, Wolfram Research Inc, Dataiku, Fair Issac Corporation (FICO) and Altair.

New York, March 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Data Science Platform Global Market Report 2022" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06246525/?utm_source=GNW





The global data science platform market is expected to grow from $57.08 billion in 2021 to $74.65 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30.8%. The change in growth trend is mainly due to the companies stabilizing their output after catering to the demand that grew exponentially during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. The market is expected to reach $214.24 billion in 2026 at a CAGR of 30.2%.



The data science platform market consists of sales of data platform solutions and services by entities (organizations, sole traders, and partnerships) that are used to analyze, organize, and transfer the data.Data science platforms assist businesses in developing analytic models and managing analytic data via software and applications.



Data analysis across multiple platforms can assist businesses in gaining insights from user data and marketing campaigns, ultimately assisting in the improvement of strategy and revenue.



The main types of products in the data science platform are solutions and services.The data science platform solutions help with data collection, data integration, and data visualization.



These solutions help companies to plan strategies, uncover actionable insights from historic data. The different modes of deployment include cloud-based, on-premise, and are used by various sectors such as BFSI, telecommunication, transportation and logistics, healthcare, manufacturing, others.



North America was the largest region in the data science platform market in 2021.Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing region in the forecast period.



The regions covered in this report are Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East, and Africa.



The increase in demand for big data analytics is expected to propel the growth of the data science platform market during the forecast period.Big data analytics employs advanced analytic techniques to analyze a mixture of structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data collected by businesses and entities.



Data science is the practice of extracting important information from data using advanced analytics techniques and scientific principles for enterprise decisions, strategic planning, and other purposes.For instance, according to Techjury, a US-based software company, the big data analytics sector is projected to reach $77 billion by 2023.



Therefore, the increasing demand for big data analytics drives the growth of the data science platform market.



The adoption of analytic apps is shaping the data science platform market.Major data science companies that use applications are focusing on adopting analytics applications that will help them better understand consumer behavior.



Data analytic apps can tell users if the app is detected, compare downloads and in-app purchases, monitor, and evaluate KPIs, and give users in-app analytics insights, among other things. For instance, in May 2021, InCorta, Inc., a US-based company that provides data analytics software launched the Incorta Mobile app. The Incorta Mobile App allows Incorta users to access, evaluate, and analyze business information from anywhere, at any time, with the ability to drill down into particular transaction details.



In January 2021, TIBCO Software Inc., a US-based enterprise data company acquired Information Builders for an undisclosed amount. Through this acquisition of Information Builders, analytics capabilities and data management will be added to the advanced TIBCO Connected Intelligence platform. Information Builders is a US-based company that hat specializes in data integration, data quality, and business intelligence.



The countries covered in the data science platform market report are Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, South Korea, UK, USA.

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06246525/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________

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CONTACT: Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001




Northampton, MA --News Direct-- Las Vegas Sands

It seems Dr. Tonia Holmes-Sutton, NBCT, was destined to lead education transformation.

Holmes-Sutton recently joined Nevada Succeeds as Director of the InspirED Global Fellowship, which was founded by Nevada Succeeds and Sands to help transform education in Nevadas public schools by modeling approaches developed through the world-renowned educational system in Singapore. Sands has created linkage for Nevada Succeeds through its presence in both regions.

Dr. Holmes-Suttons wide array of experience and leadership roles as both an educator and teacher advocate make her uniquely qualified to lead the InspirED Fellowship and be a catalyst for Nevada education transformation. Her accomplishments include a successful career as an early education teacher, founding organizations to support the advancement of Nevada teachers and serving on the Nevada State Board of Education for five years. She is also currently a member of the Nevada State Public Charter School Authority Board.

Education is part of Holmes-Suttons family legacy. My family built the first school for Black students in Shelby County, Tennessee, in the late 1800s when you werent supposed to educate people of color. Many of my family members have become teachers and administrators since then, she said.

Even with this deep history in education, Holmes-Sutton didnt plan to follow the family tradition. Though people always told her she would be a teacher, as young girl, Holmes-Sutton wanted to be a nurse. Her moment of inspiration came when a church evangelist told her in the presence of a full congregation that she would become a teacher. After the final nudge, Holmes-Sutton adjusted her path. I wanted to be a part of something bigger than myself and that brought me back to education. I was thinking about how I can make an impact on lives, on students and families.

Holmes-Sutton became an early education teacher, spending nearly 15 years in traditional public and charter schools in the Las Vegas area. Driven to make an even bigger impact, she pursued National Board certification, the highest level of accreditation for a U.S. teacher and an arduous process focused on practitioner improvement and leadership development to prepare teachers for empowering students to become global leaders.

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Going through that process motivated me to help other teachers, particularly those from diverse backgrounds, to have the opportunity to achieve national certification in a supportive setting. I believed more teachers would pursue their national accreditation if they didnt have to do it alone, like I did.

Holmes-Sutton went on to create the Nevada National Board Professional Learning Institute: Empowering Teachers as Leaders & Learners, which supports teachers in achieving national certification and later served as executive director at Teach Plus Nevada, which awards fellowships to educators to engage in leadership and policy advocacy. This position introduced her to Nevada Succeeds and its mission to bring educators together to collaborate on innovative policy and further Nevada education transformation, such as through the InspirED Fellowship.

For Holmes-Sutton, coming to Nevada Succeeds and leading the InspirED Fellowship is her journey coming full circle. My family members were education pioneers when they made learning accessible for Black families, she said. I see the same commitment to equity and education access in what we are doing with our InspirED fellows. Im grateful to Sands for its partnership with Nevada Succeeds to drive better futures for our states youth through transforming education.

Sands and Nevada Succeeds launched the InspirED Fellowship in 2020 and have welcomed an initial cohort of fellows who are modeling Singapores Portrait of a Graduate, a highly successful leadership strategy to prepare students for the future. Fellows are working with state education leaders and partners to develop and adopt a statewide Portrait of a Nevada Graduate. Nevada Succeeds also selected its second cohort of fellows in fall of 2021, who are now working to examine education challenges to develop innovative leadership solutions.

The InspirED Fellowship brings something truly special to Nevada education, Holmes-Sutton said. Were looking at national and international best practices and connecting educators with foremost experts in education and leadership they wouldnt have had access to otherwise. This program gives us a unique opportunity to bring new solutions forward and truly transform education for Nevada students.

To learn more about Nevada Succeeds and the InspirED Global Fellowship, please visit https://www.nevadasucceeds.org/.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Las Vegas Sands on 3blmedia.com

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Fortune Business Insights

Companies covered in flat glass market are AGC Inc. Saint-Gobain NSG Group Guardian Industries Sisecam Group Taiwan Industry Glass Corporation Fuyao Glass Industry Group Vitro, S.A.B. De CV Central Glass CSG Holdings Co. Ltd. And many more

Pune, India, March 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global flat glass market size is likely to gain traction from rapid industrialization. It is driving the demand for flat glass as they are being used extensively in commercial buildings to conserve energy. It is done by maximizing the usage of natural light. The report further states that the flat glass market size was USD 98.37 billion in 2018 and is projected to reach USD 153.21 billion by 2026, exhibiting a CAGR of 5.7% during the forecast period.

The emergence of COVID-19 has brought the world to a standstill. We understand that this health crisis has brought an unprecedented impact on businesses across industries. However, this too shall pass. Rising support from governments and several companies can help in the fight against this highly contagious disease. There are some industries that are struggling and some are thriving. Overall, almost every sector is anticipated to be impacted by the pandemic.

We are taking continuous efforts to help your business sustain and grow during COVID-19 pandemics. Based on our experience and expertise, we will offer you an impact analysis of coronavirus outbreaks across industries to help you prepare for the future.

Fortune Business Insights provides a list of all the companies operating in this flat glass market. They are as follows:

AGC Inc.

Saint-Gobain

NSG Group

Guardian Industries

Sisecam Group

Taiwan Industry Glass Corporation

Fuyao Glass Industry Group

Vitro, S.A.B. De CV

Central Glass

CSG Holdings Co. Ltd.

Other key players

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Drivers & Restraints-



Rising Government Initiatives to Promote Energy Efficiency will Drive Growth

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Flat glass is gaining popularity in the building & construction industry owing to its ability to provide excellent thermal insulation and acoustic insulation. Also, the increasing number of infrastructural development and construction activities would contribute to the flat glass market growth in the near future.

Furthermore, the rising utilization of flat glass in commercial and residential buildings is enabling the usage of natural light and is reducing the consumption, as well as the cost of artificial lights. The governments of various countries are also implementing various stringent norms and regulations to promote energy efficiency. Researchers say that buildings adopting these rules are consuming approximately 40%-60% less energy, unlike the conventional buildings. However, the decomposition of raw materials and combustion of fuel oil often emit carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It may obstruct the flat glass market growth.

This Report Answers the Following Questions:

What are the flat glass flat glass market trends, growth drivers, and hindrances?

How will the market be affected in the near future?

What are the most vital growth drivers and barriers that the market may come across in the coming years?

Which region is expected to dominate by generating the highest revenue?

Which segment would lead by procuring the maximum share?

Market Segment-

By Type

Float

Sheet

Rolled

By Product Type

Coated,

Extra Clear

Laminated

Toughened

and Others

By Application

Architecture

Automotive

Solar Panels

Others

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Regional Analysis-

Asia Pacific to Remain at the Forefront Stoked by Rising Infrastructural Development

Geographically, the flat glass market is divided into the Middle East and Africa, South America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America. Amongst these, Asia Pacific generated USD 53.41 billion in 2018 in terms of market revenue. This growth is mainly attributable to the rising investments by the governments of various countries in infrastructural development, as well as construction activities. Besides, China, being the largest contributor to the demand for flat glass, would propel the overall growth in this region. North America is expected to grow considerably backed by the presence of various government regulations on constructing energy efficient buildings.

Competitive Landscape-

Key Players Focus on the Strategy of Investment to Increase Sales

The flat glass market consists of many companies. But only five companies out of those account for around 60% of the worldwide production capacity of flat glass. They are adopting strategies, such as the development of state-of-the-art technologies, superior operational efficiency, and diversified product portfolios to strengthen their positions.

Below are two of the latest key industry developments:

September 2019 : Guardian Glass invested huge sums in the modernization and upgradation of glass production lines in Hungary and the U.K.

April 2018: Saint-Gobain acquired 50% stake in the flat glass production line of JJG situated in the Shandong province of China to surge the formers production capacity.

Browse Detailed Summary of Research Report with TOC:

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/flat-glass-market-102720#tableofcontent

Table of Contents:

Introduction Research Scope Market Segmentation Research Methodology Definitions and Assumptions

Executive Summary

Market Dynamics Market Drivers Market Restraints Market Opportunities

Key Insights Key Emerging Trends  For Major Countries Key Developments: Mergers, Acquisition, Partnership, etc. Latest Technological Advancement Insights on Regulatory Scenario Porters Five Forces Analysis

Global Flat Glass Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast, 2015-2026 Key Findings / Summary Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Type Float Sheet Rolled Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Product Type Coated Extra Clear Laminated Toughened Others Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Application Architecture Automotive Solar Panels Others Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Region North America Europe Asia pacific South America Middle East & Africa



TOC Continued...!

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A former Google employee filed a lawsuit on Friday condemning the tech-giant of racial bias against Black employees. She also accused the company of leading minorities to lower-level positions with less pay and preventing them from advancing in the organization due to their race, according to Reuters.

The suit, filed in the federal court in San Jose, California, made by the plaintiff April Curley, seeks class-action status and claims the search engine entity upholds a racially biased corporate culture that benefits white men.

Based on the court documents, Curley adds that Alphabet Inc. created a hostile work environment for Black employees by ordering them to verify their identification more than other employees, reports the New York Post.

The indictment also declares that Black people only make up 4.4% of Googles employees, and only 3% are employed in leadership positions, according to NBC News.

Google has a pattern and practice of racial discrimination and systemic bias against Black employees! We cant let them continue to ostracize and mistreat our Black brothers and sisters! pic.twitter.com/Dx3O34GCVQ  Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) March 19, 2022

Google hired Curley in 2014 to develop an outreach program for historically Black colleges, but she claimed her position of employment was a marketing ploy, Reuters reports.

Curley said her supervisors belittled her work, deemed her an angry Black woman, and excluded her from promotions, according to NBC News.

April Curley said Google has a culture of racial bias against Black employees.

LinkedIn

Google terminated her employment in 2020 when she and her coworkers presented a list of modifications that they wanted the company to implement.

While Google claims that they were looking to increase diversity, they were actually undervaluing, underpaying, and mistreating their Black employees, Curleys lawyer Ben Crump said in a statement, the New York Post reports.

Curleys lawsuit seeks to regain compensatory and punitive damages and compensation for present and former Black employees at Google and reinstate said employees to appropriate positions and seniority, according to NBC News.
FTX launches fully registered and licensed Australian operations

SYDNEY, March 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- FTX Trading Limited ("FTX") the leading global cryptocurrency exchange, today announced the establishment of FTX Australia Pty Ltd ("FTX Australia" or "the Company"), marking an essential chapter in FTX's continued global expansion.

FTX (PRNewsfoto/FTX International)

Industry leading products and services to be offered by the Company will include a comprehensive suite of exchange and OTC based products and services, as well as derivatives.

Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO & Founder of FTX, commented on the news, "We're excited to bring FTX's innovative products and services to the Australian marketplace. The establishment of FTX Australia should provide all our local clients with the confidence of trading on a registered and licensed platform. As in other jurisdictions within which we operate, significant resources have been allocated to proactively engage with local regulators. We look to be a participant in policy discussions globally and will seek to continue this same level engagement locally through FTX Australia, and we are encouraged by the important work being undertaken to establish a new digital asset licensing regime."

Australia is a well-regarded financial centre in the Asia-Pacific and an important and growing market for FTX. Australians have a long reputation of adopting new technologies, particularly when it comes to financial services. The establishment of FTX Australia highlights FTX's long-term commitment to the local market and represents the natural next step in the FTX's global expansion.

About FTX Australia

FTX Australia will be headquartered in Sydney, the financial centre of Australia. The Company holds an Australian Financial Services Licence and acts as the issuer of the OTC derivatives including options contract, futures contract, contract for difference (CFDs) with the underlying digital/crypto assets, and leveraged tokens.

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About FTX.COM

FTX is a cryptocurrency exchange built by traders, for traders. It offers innovative products, including industry-leading derivatives, options and volatility products, tokenized stocks, prediction markets, leveraged tokens and an OTC desk. FTX strives to be an intuitive yet powerful platform for all kinds of users, and to be the most innovative exchange in the industry.

To learn more about FTX.COM, please visit: https://ftx.com/

FTX.COM is not available to US residents or residents of other prohibited jurisdictions, as set out in its Terms of Service.

Media Contact

Pete Padovano

M Group Strategic Communications (for FTX)

+1 646 859 5953

ftx@mgroupsc.com

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SOURCE FTX Trading Ltd.
Bahamas-based crypto exchange FTX announced the establishment of an Australian branch on Monday Asia time as part of the companys global expansion plans.

See related article: New crypto regulation  including tax reform  coming to Australia

Fast facts

FTX Australia will be headquartered in the nations financial capital Sydney and will be fully licensed to operate within the country.

Australian customers will be offered a list of exchange and OTC-based products and services and derivatives, according to FTX.

FTX CEO and Founder Sam Bankman-Fried gave a virtual keynote address at the FTX-sponsored Australian Blockchain Week on Monday.

Australian lawmakers Minister Jane Hume and Senator Andrew Bragg were also speaking at Mondays event to announce a suite of new crypto regulations and proposals.

See related article: Australia on track for a crypto boom by 2030, EY report says
Galantas Gold Corporation

Eastern Lenses Intersected Include 73.6 g/t Gold Over 2.2 Metres

Figure 1

Kearney Vein long-section view showing part of the resource model, the FR-DD-22-UG-181, FR-DD-21-UG-176 and FR-DD-21-UG-174 intersections, other key vein intersections, and two proposed dilation zone trends.

Figure 2

Cross section view showing hole FR-DD-22-UG-181 and part of the resource model.

Figure 3

Split section of drill core from hole FR-DD-22-UG-181, part of a Kearney Vein sample grading 213 g/t Au and 134 g/t Ag.

Figure 4

Cross section showing key intersections on the main Kearney Vein, B-lens, C-lens and stringer to the west.

TORONTO, March 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Galantas Gold Corporation (TSX-V & AIM: GAL; OTCQX: GALKF) (Galantas or the Company) is pleased to announce results for three holes from its ongoing 4,000-metre drilling program at the Omagh Project in Northern Ireland. All three holes were drilled from the underground development at the Kearney Vein.



Drilling highlights:

Hole FR-DD-22-UG-181 intersected 31.7 grams per tonne (g/t) gold (Au) and 58.5 g/t silver (Ag) over 7 metres at the main Kearney Vein including 106.3 g/t Au and 111 g/t Ag over 1 metre (see Table 1, Figures 1, 2 and 3). A deeper intersect of 7.3 g/t Au and 5.7 g/t Ag over 2.3 metres was recorded at a 278-metre vertical depth, approximately 55 metres east of the main Kearney Vein.





Hole FR-DD-21-UG-174 intersected 73.6 g/t Au and 93.4 g/t Ag over 2.2 metres on a parallel-running vein known as the B-lens, approximately 28 metres east of the Kearney Vein.





Hole FR-DD-21-UG-176 intersected 23.8 g/t Au and 16.8 g/t Ag over 2.9 metres on a further parallel zone of mineralization referred to in Figure 4 as the C-lens, approximately 40 metres east of the Kearney Vein.



Drill holes FR-DD-21-UG-174 and 176 targeted parallel zones of mineralization east of the main vein. Both of these holes, and hole FR-DD-22-UG-181, fall within the dilation zone model (see Figure 1 and press releases on May 6, 2020, and January 31, 2022)*. Importantly, high gold mineralization has been identified across two vertical levels at RL000 and RL030 (Figure 4) with historical intersection 07-47 on a stringer vein west of Kearney, and new intersection on the C-lens, separated by 62 metres west-east.

Mario Stifano, CEO of Galantas, commented: Our drilling program continues to yield very positive results, particularly the high-grade gold intersections in parallel veins with recent results demonstrating the continuity of the lenses. These are some of our best drill results to date and point to the significant potential to expand gold resources at the Omagh Project. The Company has successfully identified dilation zones at both Kearney and Joshua veins with multiple drill intercepts, and is developing plans to advance underground development and infrastructure at Joshua to allow multiple underground drill platforms to expand our drilling program.

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*Dilation zones which have potential for higher widths of mineralization have previously been identified within the Kearney underground development and are believed to be linked on shallow north-dipping planes.

Table 1: Summary of drill results.

Hole ID Azimuth/

Dip (degrees) Intersect (m) (downhole) Est. true width (m) Intersect vertical depth (m) Gold (g/t) Silver

(g/t) Lead

(%) Core loss (%) FR-DD-22-UG-181 99/60 7 3.3 150 31.7 58.5 2.8 10 including 1 0.5 155 106.3 111 3.2 0 and 95/67 1.2 0.4 244 2.2 1.5 0.1 0 and 95/69 2.3 0.7 278 7.3 5.7 0.2 22 FR-DD-21-UG-176 54.7/56.6 3.7 1.9 148 5.2 6.4 0.1 10.9 and 54.5/57.2 2.9 1.5 160 23.8 16.8 0.1 0 FR-DD-21-UG-174 35.6/44.6 2.2 1.3 134 73.6 93.4 8.9 0 and 35.6/44.6 2 1.2 137 4.3 3.9 0 0 and 35.9/44.3 2.4 1.3 153 8.1 7.7 0.2 2.1

Notes:

Drill holes were HQ size and drilled using a triple tube method to maximize core recovery. The samples were analyzed (gold by fire assay and other metals by ICP-ORE) at ALS Laboratory Ltd (ISO 17025) of Galway, Ireland. Intersect vertical depth intervals are from ground surface to the top of the mineralized zone. Data has been rounded to 1 decimal place.



Figure 1: Kearney Vein long-section view showing part of the resource model, the FR-DD-22-UG-181, FR-DD-21-UG-176 and FR-DD-21-UG-174 intersections, other key vein intersections, and two proposed dilation zone trends.

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2354938c-80d6-484b-8763-642b7afa3dfb

Figure 2: Cross section view showing hole FR-DD-22-UG-181 and part of the resource model.

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d2a703cd-5146-4ede-ad8e-f282b7c5c910

Figure 3: Split section of drill core from hole FR-DD-22-UG-181, part of a Kearney Vein sample grading 213 g/t Au and 134 g/t Ag.

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/dac7fbd7-68a2-4ab3-af29-7bb441a0caa6

Figure 4: Cross section showing key intersections on the main Kearney Vein, B-lens, C-lens and stringer to the west.

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3c2ab20a-f8b0-4566-98df-848bfd861f6e

Qualified Person

Scientific and technical disclosures in this press release have been reviewed and approved by Dr Sarah Coulter, who is considered, by virtue of her education, experience and professional association, a Qualified Person under the terms of NI 43-101. Dr Coulter is not considered independent under NI 43-101 as she is the Chief Geologist of Galantas Gold Corporation.

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.

The information contained within this announcement is deemed to constitute inside information as stipulated under the retained EU law version of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 (the "UK MAR") which is part of UK law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. The information is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of the UK MAR. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

About Galantas Gold Corporation

Galantas Gold Corporation is a Canadian public company that trades on the TSX-Venture Exchange and the London Stock Exchange AIM market, both under the symbol GAL. It also trades on the OTCQX Exchange under the symbol GALKF. The Company's strategy is to create shareholder value by operating and expanding Northern Ireland's first gold mine.

Enquiries

Galantas Gold Corporation

Mario Stifano: Chief Executive Officer

Email: info@galantas.com

Website: www.galantas.com

Telephone: +44(0)28 8224 1100

Grant Thornton UK LLP (AIM Nomad)

Philip Secrett, Harrison Clarke, George Grainger, Samuel Littler

Telephone: +44(0)20 7383 5100

Panmure Gordon & Co (AIM Broker & Corporate Adviser)

Nick Lovering, Hugh Rich, John Prior

Telephone: +44(0)20 7886 2500

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities laws, including the results of exploration programs, and mine development at the Omagh Gold Project. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions made by Galantas in light of its experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that Galantas believes are appropriate in the circumstances. Many factors could cause Galantas actual results, the performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward looking statements or strategy, including: gold price volatility; discrepancies between actual and estimated production, actual and estimated metallurgical recoveries and throughputs; mining operational risk, geological uncertainties; regulatory restrictions, including environmental regulatory restrictions and liability; risks of sovereign involvement; speculative nature of gold exploration; dilution; competition; loss of or availability of key employees; additional funding requirements; uncertainties regarding planning and other permitting issues; and defective title to mineral claims or property. These factors and others that could affect Galantas forward-looking statements are discussed in greater detail in the section entitled Risk Factors in Galantas Management Discussion & Analysis of the financial statements of Galantas and elsewhere in documents filed from time to time with the Canadian provincial securities regulators and other regulatory authorities. These factors should be considered carefully, and persons reviewing this press release should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Galantas has no intention and undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements in this press release, except as required by law.




David Tran / iStock.com

In an effort to reduce the burden of high gas prices, many states are considering implementing a gas tax holiday or offering drivers a rebate on their fuel costs. In California, Governor Newsom proposed last Thursday, Mar. 17, that all California drivers should receive a $400 gas rebate. NBC News Los Angeles reported that the money would more than cover a full year of Californias gas tax.

See: 10 Best Credit Cards for Buying Gas

Find: Some People May Need to Pay Back the IRS  Are You One of Them?

Other states, however, are contemplating pausing the gas tax until fuel prices begin to drop, while some have already taken action to do so. Is your state on the list?

Maryland

On Friday, March 18, 2022, the Maryland legislature voted to suspend its 36-cents-per-gallon gas tax for 30 days, the Washington Post reported. Lawmakers are urging gas station proprietors to pass that savings onto their customers. A Maryland driver with a 12-gallon tank would save roughly $4.32 per fill-up.

Georgia

Similarly, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and state legislators passed a gas tax holiday in Georgia to run through the end of May, The Hill reported. This should especially provide relief to travelers during the Memorial Day weekend, as well as those traveling for spring break. In the coming days, the suspension of the 29.1 cent tax on motor fuel and 32.6 cent tax on diesel will make its way to the consumer, Kemp tweeted on Friday.

Alabama

Legislators will vote on a suspension of the state excise taxes of 28 cents per gallon between May 1 and September 1. However, the gas tax holiday will be lifted if the average monthly gas price drops below the average price from January 2022.

Alaska

Governor Mike Dunleavy has introduced the most generous legislation, in the state with the lowest gas tax. Under his plan, the state would halt the 8-cents-per-galllon fuel tax through June 2023.

Connecticut

Governor Ned Lamont proposed last week to pause Connecticuts 25-cents-per-gallon excise tax through Jun. 30. He is aiming to have the legislation passed as quickly as possible, NBC Connecticut reported. It would cost the state roughly $100 million, out of the $180 million the state has budgeted for tax relief.

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Idaho

Lawmakers are proposing to pause the states hefty gas tax of 33 cents per gallon for two years.

Maine

Maine legislators have several proposals in the works to reduce the cost burden at the pump for Maine drivers. Maine collects 30 cents per gallon for regular fuel and roughly 31 cents per gallon for diesel. Former governor Paul LePage is calling to cut the gas tax by at least 50% for the coming months. Meanwhile, lawmaker Lauren Libby proposed a bill suspending the gas tax through the end of the year, according to MainePublic.org.





Minnesota

Even before oil prices spiked with the Russian invasion of the Ukraine, Minnesota lawmakers had proposed a gas tax holiday to run from Memorial Day to Labor Day, local news site KARE11.com reported.

Stimulus Update 2022: Gas Cards Are Not Being Sent to Americans  Heres Why

Michigan

Legislation was introduced to pause the state gas tax of 27.2 cents per gallon for six months, according to The Hill, but Governor Gretchen Whitmer has threatened to veto the bill.

Mississippi

On Monday, Mar. 14, Lt. Gov Delbert Hosemann proposed a six-month gas tax holiday, potentially saving drivers as much as 18.4 cents per gallon at the pump. The proposal is part of a larger tax bill currently under debate, according to U.S. News & World Report.

Missouri

Just days after the Russian invasion of the Ukraine, Missouri state representative Adam Schwardon propososed a six-month tax holiday to alleviate the burden of rising gas prices, according to KY3.com.

New York

Lawmakers have proposed to reduce the states gas tax by 16 cents, roughly one-half of the 33 cents currently imposed. If passed, the gas tax holiday would go into effect May 1 and last through the end of the year, according to Syracuse.com.

New Jersey

New Jersey lawmakers have considered pausing the 42-cent-per-gallon state gas tax. However, in lieu of a gas tax holiday, Senator Edward Durr proposed a fully refundable $500 tax credit to New Jersey families earning less than $250,000. New Jersey taxpayers could claim the credit on their 2021 state tax returns.

Ohio

Legislation in Ohio seeks to reduce the states gas tax from 38.5 cents to 28 cents per gallon, Cleveland.com reported.

Pennsylvania

Governor Tom Wolf was among the first governors to propose reducing or waiving the federal gas tax. Legislation has also been introduced at the state level to reduce or pause Pennsylvanias hefty 57-cent-per-gallon state tax, according to WPXI.com.



Rhode Island

Rhode Island legislators are considering pausing the 34-cent-per-gallon gas tax through the end of 2022, reported local NBC affiliate Turnto10.com.



Virginia

Virginia state legislature is in a gridlock over a bill that would pause the states gas tax of 26.2 cents for gasoline and 27 cents for diesel, beginning in May and spanning through the end of July. The tax would be phased back into effect through August and September, according to the governors office, as reported by ABC News affiliate WJLA.com.

Learn: How Much Does the President Control Gas Prices?

Explore: Which Really Costs More: Charging an EV or Filling Up Your Tank With Gas?

The possibility still stands for a federal gas tax holiday, as well, which would save drivers 18.4 cents per gallon for regular gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon of diesel.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Gas Tax Holiday: These 17 States Are Working on Legislation To Ease Costs at the Pump
Concrete support for the Franco-Ontarian community: The governments of Canada and Ontario make a major investment to support Saint Paul University

OTTAWA, ON, March 21, 2022 /CNW/ - Our two official languages are a source of pride and a comparative advantage for Canada. The Government of Canada understands the importance of ensuring that all Canadians can receive an education in the official language of their choice. That is why it supports post-secondary institutions such as Saint Paul University, which plays a central role in the revitalization of Francophone communities in Canada.

Today, the Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Minister of Official Languages and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, announced significant funding to modernize Saint Paul University. She was joined by the Honourable Mona Fortier, President of the Treasury Board and Member of Parliament (OttawaVanier); Marc G. Serre, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Official Languages; and Yasir Naqvi, Member of Parliament (Ottawa Centre).

The Government of Canada is investing more than $3.4 million over 3 years for renovations to Guigues Hall. The Government of Ontario is also supporting the project through the Canada-Ontario Agreement on Minority-Language Education and Second-Language Instruction (20202021 to 20222023), and Saint Paul University is providing $3.4 million over 2 years to this project.

The renovation project has the following objectives:

Create collaborative zones, state-of-the-art teaching spaces and a "social campus" with multiple informal social spaces

Consolidate academic offices and student services

Improve learning spaces, work spaces and the overall quality of the building

Reduce the University's energy footprint

Today's investment is in addition to the funding of more than $1 million announced in March 2020 to renovate the auditorium of Guigues Hall at Saint Paul University. These investments to modernize these facilities will help the University continue offering its students a quality education in French, ensuring the vitality of Franco-Ontarian culture.

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Quotes

"More than ever, our government is committed to preserving the vitality of the French language and Francophone communities in Canada. Today marks an important step that will give Franco-Ontarians and Francophiles access to top-quality education, right here in Ottawa. When we give students the tools they need to flourish in French, our whole society benefits."

The Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Minister of Official Languages and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency

"As the Member of Parliament for OttawaVanier and a proud Franco-Ontarian, I am delighted with the funding provided to Saint Paul University, which, since its founding in 1965, has served as a pillar and promoter of Francophone culture. Our institutions are essential for the promotion and development of our language communities. The major renovations that will be carried out thanks to funding from the governments of Canada and Ontario will allow Saint Paul University to offer a quality post-secondary learning environment to students and to the Francophone community in Ontario and beyond."

The Honourable Mona Fortier, President of the Treasury Board and Member of Parliament (OttawaVanier)

"As Member of Parliament for Ottawa Centre, I am delighted to see the funding provided to Saint Paul University, which has made an enormous difference in education for Francophone and minority communities in Canada ever since its founding. It welcomes a student body with diverse origins. This investment will allow the university to continue offering quality programs and services in premises that are modern and conducive to learning."

Yasir Naqvi, Member of Parliament (Ottawa Centre)

"The Ontario government is proud to support the renovation of the Guigues Academic Building at Saint Paul University. By investing in restoring heritage projects like this one, we will continue to ensure French-speaking students in Ontario have access to modern, state-of-the-art facilities that enhance the overall learner experience, while also creating a collaborate hub that benefits the entire local community. "

The Honourable Jill Dunlop, Ontario Minister of Colleges and Universities

"Having strong roots in the Franco-Ontario community, we are committed to promoting activities in French on our campus. We are focusing our efforts on enriching Francophone communities in Ontario through education and the professional development of our student population. This funding will make it possible to maintain high-quality service for those who choose to pursue their studies in French, while promoting the growth of bilingualism in our country."

Chantal Beauvais, Rector, Saint Paul University

Quick Facts

Rooted in strong traditions, Saint Paul University is fully aware of its special mission and potential. Its geographical location, its bilingual character, its affiliation with the University of Ottawa, and its competent and diverse teaching staff all contribute to the quality of the academic training it endeavours to provide.

In 2017, the University undertook major renovations to Guigues Hall, including the renovation of the ground and first floors with the construction of the Student Life Centre; the renovation and development of collaborative spaces, the computer lab, and the library and archive office spaces; and the renovation of the second-floor auditorium.

Budget 2021 provides $80 million over 2 years (20212022 and 20222023) to support the construction, renovation and development of educational and community spaces serving official-language minority communities. This funding is in addition to the $78.9 million over 10 years announced in Budget 2017 for community education infrastructure in those communities, and the $67.2 million over 5 years in the new Action Plan for Official Languages 20182023 for construction projects related to educational and cultural infrastructure in official-language minority communities.

Federal funding for this project is provided through the Official Languages Support Programs, whose overall goal is to enhance the vitality of English- and French-speaking minority communities and promote the English and French languages in Canadian society.

The Government of Ontario is supporting the project through the Canada-Ontario Agreement on Minority-Language Education and Second-Language Instruction (20202021 to 20222023).

On March 1, 2022, the Government of Canada introduced a bill to modernize the Official Languages Act to reflect an evolving society. The bill aims to respond to the decline of French in Canada; to clarify and strengthen the part of the Official Languages Act dealing with the promotion of official languages; and to support official-language minority communities.

Associated Links

Follow us on Twitter: @CdnHeritage, @freetobeme_ca, @SportCanada_en and @Capital_Exp

SOURCE Canadian Heritage

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Mega Saudi project Neom has announced the launch of its new subsidiary company Enowa, which will lead the development of its world-class, sustainable energy and water systems.

Work has already begun to provide the critical infrastructure for Neom's key projects: The Line, its revolutionary urban development; Oxagon, its reimagined industrial city; and Trojena, its sustainable mountain tourism destination.

Oxagon is actively seeking tenants for its manufacturing hub, and supply of energy and water is essential.

A $500-billion futuristic megacity coming in Saudi Arabia, Neom will be a destination and a home for people who dream big and want to be part of building a new model for exceptional livability, creating thriving businesses and reinventing environmental conservation.

Neom's goal is to ensure all residents and industries within the mega city are powered by affordable 100% renewable energy.

This, it stated, will be the first project in the world that enables this at scale, and Neom will set the stage for other sustainability projects around the world.

Green hydrogen production

Enowa represents Neom as the principal shareholder in the world's largest green hydrogen production plant in an equal joint venture with Air Products and Acwa Power.

Coming onstream in 2025, the green hydrogen plant is expected to be the first of several similar plants to make Neom a hub for green hydrogen production and innovation.

The green hydrogen will be exported and used in Neom for a variety of solutions, including fueling clean, autonomous electric vehicles.

Neom's water and wastewater system is designed to be completely sustainable, delivering low-cost water to all residents and businesses in Neom. Powered by 100% renewable energy, the advanced desalination plants will not put anything back into the sea and will deliver drinkable, mineralized water to all in Neom, directly to the tap or out of a bottling plant.

A significant element of the desalination process is planned to be the production of valuable materials from seawater. The output of desalination, brine, is usually waste, but Enowa plans to produce significant quantities of valuable, industrial materials such as industrial-grade salt, magnesium, and potassium, which can be sold commercially and effectively.

Net zero emissions

Engineer Abdulrahman AlFadley, Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture and Chairman of Enowa, said: "Neom is committed to sustainability and the creation of a circular economy. This lies at the heart of the project, and it is vital to the nation too. It is central to Vision 2030 and the nation's goal for net zero emissions by 2060."

"The creation of Enowa is a significant development for Neom and the nation, and it will be the blueprint for developments elsewhere for years to come," he added.

CEO Nadhmi Al Nasr said: "With the guidance and support of HRH Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, we are working to make significant global impact through our businesses, projects and our subsidiaries. We welcome new investors and partners to collaborate with us through Enowa and to help create a circular economy at scale powered by 100% renewable energy and with abundant water for residential and commercial needs."

"Enowa's innovative approach will create the blueprint for new, sustainable industries in Saudi Arabia whilst creating a vibrant economic sector. As a trendsetter, Enowa will become the benchmark for integrated sustainable energy, water and hydrogen systems and extend its approach to other industries to grow the sustainability marketplace both in the region and abroad," he added.

Enowa CEO Peter Terium said: "Aligned with Neom's approach to living in harmony with nature, our new company works in partnership with its environment to create a sustainable cycle. This will provide the resources to power a thriving, sustainable economy."

Thriving, sustainable economy

"Our vision is being brought to life by some of the best minds in the world, leaders in their respective fields, supported by the latest technology and innovation. We cannot and will not be able to do it alone. The challenges the world faces need global collaboration and we look forward to working with leaders around the world in the energy, hydrogen and water industries to drive innovation forward together," he added.
Despite the dramatic impacts of COVID-19 on Toronto Pearson's business, the commitment to surrounding communities remains a priority

TORONTO, March 21, 2022 /CNW/ - The Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) has announced a call for proposals for its 2022 Uplift Fund, committing $350,000 for organizations dedicated to breaking down barriers to employment and cultivating opportunity for communities around Toronto Pearson. Interested organizations can apply for up to $75,000 in funding for 1-year projects.

Greater Toronto Airports Authority logo (CNW Group/Greater Toronto Airports Authority)

The GTAA's Uplift Fund has been investing and partnering in programming, advocacy and research to support local area residents to gain the skills, connections and opportunities needed to be meaningfully employed since 2018. Given the dramatic effects that COVID-19 has had on employment in the communities Toronto Pearson serves, never before has support of this nature been more important.

"As Canada's busiest airport, Toronto Pearson connects people far and wide to opportunity and adventure. We are an integral part of the communities we serve and we're dedicated to lifting up our neighbours," said Robyn Connelly, Director, Sustainability and Social Impact, GTAA. "Although COVID-19 has had a dramatic impact on our business, it has also disproportionally impacted our neighbours. Our Uplift Fund is just one way we can continue to collaboratively address underemployment, and in doing so support a strong post-pandemic recovery for the Greater Toronto Area."

This call for proposals will close on April 20 at 5:00 pm. To learn more about the Uplift Fund and the 2022 call for proposals, and to apply, please visit https://www.torontopearson.com/propellerproject .

About the Greater Toronto Airports Authority

The Greater Toronto Airports Authority is the operator of Toronto  Lester B. Pearson International Airport, Canada's largest airport and a vital connector of people, businesses and goods. Toronto Pearson has been named "Best Large Airport in North America serving more than 40 million passengers" for five years in a row by Airports Council International (ACI), the global trade representative of the world's airports. In recognition of its Healthy Airport program, ACI has also awarded Toronto Pearson the "Best hygiene measures in North America" award for two years running, and Toronto Pearson was the first Canadian airport to receive ACI's global health accreditation for its response to COVID-19.

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For more information, please visit Toronto Pearson on Twitter ( English and French ), Facebook or Instagram .

SOURCE Greater Toronto Airports Authority

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Recognition honors companies demonstrating exceptional leadership and a commitment to business integrity through best-in-class ethics, compliance, and governance practices

BENGALURU, India, March 21, 2022 /CNW/ -- Infosys (NSE: INFY) (BSE: INFY) (NYSE: INFY), a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, today announced that it has been recognized by Ethisphere Institute, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, as one of the 2022 World's Most Ethical Companies, for the second consecutive year. Through this recognition, Infosys has become the only company in India, and one of the four honorees globally, in the software & services industry.

Infosys_Logo

In 2022, 136 honorees were recognized from 22 countries and across 45 industries. These companies were evaluated based on the Ethisphere Ethics Quotient across multiple categories, including culture, environmental and social practices, ethics and compliance, governance, diversity, and initiatives to support a strong value chain.

"Today, business leaders face their greatest mandate yet to be ethical, accountable, and trusted to drive positive change," said Timothy Erblich, Chief Executive Officer, Ethisphere. "We continue to be inspired by the World's Most Ethical Companies honorees and their dedication to integrity, sustainability, governance, and community. Congratulations to Infosys for earning the World's Most Ethical Companies designation."

Salil Parekh, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Infosys, said, "Being ethical is at the heart of everything we do, and one of the core values on which Infosys has built its success over the years. We are honored to receive this recognition from the prestigious Ethisphere Institute. Receiving this recognition for the second consecutive year is a testament to our excellence in ethical practices and our commitment to operate with utmost integrity and transparency as articulated in our C-LIFE values."

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The complete list of 2022 World's Most Ethical Companies can be found at: https://worldsmostethicalcompanies.com/honorees

Methodology & Scoring

Grounded in Ethisphere's proprietary Ethics Quotient, the World's Most Ethical Companies assessment process includes more than 200 questions on culture, environmental and social practices, ethics and compliance activities, governance, diversity, and initiatives to support a strong value chain. The process serves as an operating framework to capture and codify the leading practices of organizations across industries and around the globe.

About Ethisphere

Ethisphere is the global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices that fuel corporate character, marketplace trust and business success. Ethisphere has deep expertise in measuring and defining core ethics standards using data-driven insights that help companies enhance corporate character and measure and improve culture. Ethisphere honors superior achievement through its World's Most Ethical Companies recognition program and provides a community of industry experts with the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA).

More information about Ethisphere can be found at: https://ethisphere.com.

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.

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SOURCE Infosys

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DUBLIN, March 11, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "India Renewable Energy Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Indian renewable energy market is expected to register a CAGR of more than 10% during the forecast period of 2022-2027. The COVID-19 outbreak, in 2020, had led to a decrease in the consumption of bioenergy and other renewable energy sources when compared to the previous year.

Furthermore, COVID-19 impact constituted a risk to investments made by individuals and small to medium-sized enterprises in the Indian renewable energy market. Factors such as supportive government policies, rising environmental concerns, incentives, and tax benefits for solar panel installations are expected to drive the market during the forecast period. However, the lack of grid infrastructure in rural areas is likely to hinder the market growth during the forecast period.

Key Highlights

The solar energy segment is expected to witness significant growth during the forecast period, owing to increasing investment opportunities across the country.

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has set a target to achieve 450 GW of renewable energy installed capacity by 2030. This is expected to create an opportunity for the market to grow in the future.

The market is also propelled by supportive government policies, particularly the plans formulated by the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) during the forecast period.

Key Market Trends

Solar Segment to Witness a Significant Growth

The solar segment is likely to have the largest market share during the forecast period, owing to declining costs of solar modules and the versatility of these systems for various applications, like electricity generation, water heating, etc.

India is endowed with vast solar energy potential. About 5,000 trillion kWh per year of energy is incident over India's land area with most parts receiving 4-7 kWh per square meter per day. There has been a visible impact of solar energy in the Indian energy sector during the last few years.

According to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), the installed solar energy installed capacity in India was around 40.1 GW in 2020-2021, up from 34.6 GW in 2019-2020, recording a growth of around 16% during the year. This growth is the result of huge investments in the upcoming solar energy projects in India.

In December 2021, MNRE invited applications for the Expression of Interest in conducting the evaluation study of Phase-II of the Grid Connected Rooftop Solar Program. The program is a part of the National Solar Mission, which aims at installing 40 GW capacity of grid-connected solar rooftop installation systems by 2022.

Furthermore, in February 2021, Amara Raja Batteries Ltd (ARBL) announced plans to set up a 50 MW solar power plant in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh with a total investment of INR 220 crore over the next 18 months.

In August 2021, ArcelorMittal S.A. announced plans to set up a 4.5 GW solar park in Rajasthan with an investment of INR 19,000 crore. It also plans to invest in Gujarat's solar energy.

In January 2022, Azure Power has commissioned a 600 MW solar power project in Bikaner, Rajasthan. The power generated from the project, will be supplied to Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited(SECI) at a tariff of Rs 2.53 per kWh for 25 years.

Hence, increasing investments in the solar energy sector is expected to aid the growth in India during the forecast period.

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Supportive Government Policies and Programs Driving the Market Demand

The Indian government has introduced numerous supportive policies to increase the renewable energy installed capacity to 450 GW by 2030. These policies are set to achieve the targets during the forecast period.

As part of the Paris Climate Agreement, India has committed to install 40% of its electricity generation capacity from non-fossil fuels by 2030. For achieving this goal, India has set an ambitious target of setting up 1,75,000 MW of renewable energy capacity, including, 1,00,000 MW of solar power, by 2022. Further, a target of 4,50,000 MW installed RE capacity by 2030 has also been fixed.

In February 2022, the Indian government has allocated an additional INR 19,500 crore to support solar PV module manufacturing under the production linked incentive (PLI) scheme.

The scheme has various provisions for supporting the set up of integrated manufacturing units of high-efficiency solar PV modules by offering Production Linked Incentive (PLI) on sales of such solar PV modules. It aims at attaining the ambitious goal of 280 GW of installed solar capacity by 2030.

In September 2021, the Indian government has announced plans to provide viability gap funding (VGF) or grants for offshore wind and storage projects. The new scheme will help discoms carry out renovation and modernization of substations. The government has set a target of adding 30GW of offshore wind energy projects by 2030.

Some other schemes implemented by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) in the last three years are the Solar Park Scheme, the 300 MW defense Scheme, and the 500 MW of VGF (Viability Gap Funding) Scheme. In January 2020, India made an ambitious target of having 450 GW of renewable energy by 2030. The announcement was made by the central government, which is already working on the project of installing around 100 GW of solar energy by 2022.

In December 2020, the Gujarat government implemented "the Surya Urja Rooftop Yojana" scheme to install solar rooftops for 8 lakh residential consumers by March 2022. Under this scheme, 40% of state subsidy will be provided on installing systems up to 3 kW and 20% subsidy for 3 kW-10 kW systems.

Therefore, numerous supportive polices by central and state governments are expected to drive the India renewable energy market during the forecast period.

Companies Mentioned

Adani Green Energy Limited

Tata Power Company Limited

Azure Power Global Limited

NTPC Limited

ReNew Power India

Suzlon Energy Limited

First Solar Inc.

Vestas Wind Systems A/S

Trina Solar Limited

Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, S.A.

JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd.

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/urfdw3

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220311005411/en/

Contacts

ResearchAndMarkets.com

Laura Wood, Senior Press Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com



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Val-d'Or, Quebec--(Newsfile Corp. - March 21, 2022) - International Prospect Ventures Ltd. (TSXV: IZZ) (the "Company" or "IZZ"), is pleased to announce that it has increased its property package in the Pilbara Craton of Western Australia (WA) with the addition of 2 new tenements, acquired 100% by staking. The additional tenements were granted to the Company's wholly owned subsidiary, Valroc Ventures Pty Ltd, bringing its total land holdings in WA to 14,073 hectares.

Martin Walter, President & CEO, commented, "Now that the Government of Western Australia has relaxed its border entry requirements originally imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and has essentially opened WA back for up to all investment, the Company intends to get on with its exploration plans for its eastern Pilbara tenements."

The two new tenements, E46/1390 (~318 ha; 1 block) and E16/1391 (~5385 ha; 17 blocks), are located 1.7 km west and 185 km south-southeast, respectively, of the Company's Mosquito Creek Basin tenements (E46/1197, 1198, 1201, 1202). Annual work requirements are AUD$10,000 for E46/1390 and AUD$20,000 for E46/1391.

Tenement E46/1390, referred to as the Moss-Creek tenement, compliments the other four Mosquito Creek Basin tenements (E46/1197, 1198, 1201 and 1202), and will be explored for gold, base metals and lithium.

Tenement E46/1391, referred to as the Balfour tenement, is located in the southeast portion of the Fortescue Basin, underlain by Fortescue Group rocks, and covering about 12 km of a granite-volcanic unit contact previously explored for gold and base metals. Historical exploration work on the tenement reported from 3 ppb to 1201 ppb Au. The highest gold value (1201 ppb Au) is reported from siliceous volcanic breccia and other elevated gold concentrations are associated with quartz veining with iron-oxide (hematite), sericite and epidote alteration. There are numerous historical Fe, Mn, Cu, and Au occurrences in the region.

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A qualified person, as defined in National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, has not done sufficient work to verify the results of the historical data and information reported herein. Mineralization hosted on adjacent and/or nearby properties is not necessarily indicative of mineralization hosted on the Company's property.

Qualified Person

Dr. Scott Jobin-Bevans, (PhD, PMP, P.Geo.), a Director and Vice-President, Exploration for the Company, is a Qualified Person pursuant to National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved of the technical content of this news release as it relates to the Property.

For additional information, please contact:

Martin Walter

President/CEO

2864 chemin Sullivan

Val-d'Or, Quebec J9P 0B9

Tel.: 416-389-5692

Email: martin.walter@iprospectventures.ca

Website: www.iprospectventures.ca

Forward-Looking Statements:

This news release contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. 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 or realities may differ materially from those in forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

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.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/117436
IPSOS

Paris, March 21, 2022  Ipsos announced today that it has reached an agreement to join forces with the Bolivian expert in Market research and Public Opinion, CIESMORI. As part of the agreement, Ipsos will transfer its assets to CIESMORI, in which it will participate with a 20% minority share. Both entities will operate under a common company called Ipsos CIESMORI.



Ipsos CIESMORI will achieve a leadership position in Bolivia by bringing together Ipsos worldwide leadership and expertise and CIESMORIs authoritative position in Bolivia and strong client base. The company will focus on better serving clients with a stronger set of capabilities and an expanded portfolio of solutions.

Ipsos has been providing research solutions in Bolivia since 2007 with the acquisition of Apoyo. CIESMORI was created in 2017 with the association of the most prominent market research and public opinion companies, CIES Internacional and Equipos MORI, who had both been operating in Bolivia for over 25 years.

Jean-Christophe Salles, CEO of Ipsos in Latin America said: Joining forces with CIESMORI is a great opportunity for our clients and our employees. With a unique set of solutions and robust research expertise, Ipsos CIESMORI will establish as an undisputable leader in the market.

Marcelo Mercado, CIESMORI President said: By associating Ipsos world-class solutions and technology and CIESMORIs extensive knowledge of the Bolivian market, we will become a key player in the research Industry.

ABOUT IPSOS

Ipsos is one of the largest market research and polling companies globally, operating in 90 markets and employing over 18,000 people.

Our passionately curious research professionals, analysts and scientists have built unique multi-specialist capabilities that provide true understanding and powerful insights into the actions, opinions and motivations of citizens, consumers, patients, customers or employees. Our 75 business solutions are based on primary data from our surveys, social media monitoring, and qualitative or observational techniques.

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Game Changers  our tagline  summarizes our ambition to help our 5,000 clients navigate with confidence our rapidly changing world.

Founded in France in 1975, Ipsos has been listed on the Euronext Paris since July 1, 1999. The company is part of the SBF 120 and the Mid-60 indexes and is eligible for the Deferred Settlement Service (SRD).

ISIN code FR0000073298, Reuters ISOS.PA, Bloomberg IPS:FP www.ipsos.com

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The trial for "Cowboys for Trump" leader Couy Griffin began on Monday over charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Griffin, a 48-year-old New Mexico county commissioner, was charged with entering and remaining in a restricted building and disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building in connection to the Jan. 6 riot. A federal judge in February 2021 ordered him to be held in detention while awaiting trial.

The U.S. attorney's office in Washington, D.C., had argued that he was a flight risk. Griffin's attorneys, however, called for him to be released, claiming that he did not physically enter the Capitol building during the riot and contending that he planned to abide by the court's orders.

Griffin's trial marks the second to take place in connection to the Jan. 6 attack. The first, which was for Guy Wesley Reffitt, concluded earlier this month with a guilty verdict on all five charges.

Prosecutors ahead of the trial said Griffin was at the riot, citing comments he made on social media in which he said he "climbed up on top of the Capitol building and ... had a first row seat."

Griffin requested a bench trial, which gives a judge the authority to make a decision in the case without a jury, according to The Associated Press. Only two other Capitol riot defendants have asked for the same proceeding. Judge Trevor McFadden presided over the trial on Monday.

The first witness that appeared in the trial was Matthew Struck, who was Griffin's videographer at the Capitol on Jan. 6, according to the AP. Struck entered an immunity agreement with prosecutors so he could provide testimony.

Prosecutors in a court filing wrote that Griffin is "an inflammatory provocateur and fabulist who engages in racist invective and propounds baseless conspiracy theories, including that Communist China stole the 2020 Presidential Election."

The defense, however, is arguing that Griffin is on trial because of a speech and prayer he delivered at the Capitol. They claimed that hundreds of other individuals have not been penalized for acting in a way similar to their client.

"The evidence will show that the government selected Griffin for prosecution based on the fact that he gave a speech and led a prayer at the Capitol, that is, selected him based on protected expression," Griffin's attorneys wrote, according to the AP.

More than 775 defendants have been arrested in connection to the Jan. 6 riot 14 months after the attack, according to the Department of Justice.
Fortune Business Insights

Life Science Instrumentation Market to Benefit from the Increasing Awareness Regarding Early Diagnosis and Treatment | Fortune Business Insights

Pune, India, March 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global life science instrumentation market will benefit from recent advancements in the life science instrumentation industry. According to a report by Fortune Business Insights, titled Life Science Instrumentation Market Size, Share and Global Trend By Technology (PCR, Spectroscopy, Microscopy, Chromatography, Electrophoresis, Next-generation sequencing (NGS), Flow Cytometry, Centrifuges), By Application (Clinical and Diagnostic, Research), By Distribution Channel (Hospitals and diagnostic laboratories, Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, Academic & Research institutions) and Geography Forecast till 2026, the market will grow considerably in the coming years due to the increasing prevalence of chronic conditions.





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The increased prevalence of chronic conditions in developed as well as developing nations has created the demand for life science instrumentation. The severity of chronic diseases, combined with the need for early diagnosis and treatment will aid the growth of the global life science instrumentation market in the coming years. Furthermore, the increased awareness regarding early detection and treatment of chronic diseases will contribute to the demand for life science instrumentation across the world. Fortune Business Insights has included several factors that have contributed to the growth of the global market in recent years. Additionally, the report provides forecast values for the market through extensive research analysis methods.

Life science Instrumentation Industry Will Derive Growth from New Products

The increased patient pool for chronic diseases and other severe diseases has created the demand for efficient treatment and diagnosis methods. Life science instrumentation has provided the answer to the growing patient needs, which in turn, has aided the growth of the companies operating in this market. Encouraged by the high demand, companies are focused on introducing new products and incorporating latest technologies in order to suffice the increased consumer needs. Among the several life science instrumentation market growth stimulators, Fortune Business Insights has labelled the increasing number of product launches as one of the leading factors accounting for market growth. In February 2019, Tecan announced the launch of a new product aimed at enhancing the overall operation of library preparation kits. Tecans NGS DreamPrep will significantly reduce the total time required for preparing libraries and also help increase the accuracy and efficiency of test results. Fortune Business Insights has predicted that Tecans latest product will help the company generate substantial life science instrumentation market revenue in the coming years, and subsequently aid growth of the global market.

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North America Likely to Emerge as One of the Leading Regions

The growing adoption of advanced product launches and the trends of modern technologies has opened the doors for rapid growth of the life science instrumentation market in North America. The report explains in detail, the reasons behind North Americas recent market dominance. Similarly, the report provides segmentation of the global life science instrumentation market based on regional demographics and categorizes the market in major regions such as Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, Latin America, and Europe. Fortune Business Insights, through its extensive research analysis techniques, predicts that the life science instrumentation market in Asia Pacific will grow at the highest CAGR in the coming years, among all regions.

Fortune Business Insights has profiled a few of the leading life science instrumentation market companies of recent times. Some of the prominent companies that have held significant market share include Danaher, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., Merck & Co., Inc., Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., Agilent Technologies, Inc., Illumina, Inc., PerkinElmer, Inc., BD, Bruker, and Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation.





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Table of Content:

1. Introduction

1.1. Research Scope

1.2. Market Segmentation

1.3. Research Methodology

1.4. Definitions and Assumptions

2. Executive Summary

3. Market Dynamics

3.1. Market Drivers

3.2. Market Restraints

3.3. Market Opportunities

4. Key Insights

4.1. Key Industry Developments - Merger, Acquisitions, and Partnerships

4.2. Porters Five Forces Analysis

4.3. SWOT Analysis

4.4. Technological Developments

4.5. Value Chain Analysis

4.6. Impact of COVID-19 on Life Science Instrumentation Market

5. Global Life Science Instrumentation Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast, 2017-2028

5.1. Key Findings / Summary

Continued

About Us:

Fortune Business Insights offers expert corporate analysis and accurate data, helping organizations of all sizes make timely decisions. We tailor innovative solutions for our clients, assisting them address challenges distinct to their businesses. Our goal is to empower our clients with holistic market intelligence, giving a granular overview of the market they are operating in.

Our reports contain a unique mix of tangible insights and qualitative analysis to help companies achieve sustainable growth. Our team of experienced analysts and consultants use industry-leading research tools and techniques to compile comprehensive market studies, interspersed with relevant data.



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KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian industries are protesting against a government plan to raise a national minimum wage, warning companies could lose competitive edge as well as suffer higher costs and a hit to their business recovery.

The Malaysian Semiconductor Industry Association on Monday said it was deeply concerned with the raising of the monthly minimum wage to 1,500 ringgit ($356.89) from May 1 from the current 1,200 ringgit.

President Wong Siew Hai in a statement said the increase was "too much too soon" and companies had insufficient time to adjust wage structures and make productivity improvements to stay competitive.

Malaysia is a key manufacturer of chips, accounting for more than a tenth of a global trade worth over $20 billion.

The industry associations also warned the increase comes amid surging raw material and commodity prices, as well as labour shortages that were already adding to cost pressure.

They urged the government to consider a gradual wage increase over three years instead.

The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM), which represents over 11,300 companies, said on Sunday the wage hike would affect manufacturers' payroll cost, business costs and potentially derail business and economic recovery.

"Such a steep increase would have an undesirable impact on their business recovery," FMM President Soh Thian Lai said in statement.

FMM said foreign workers would also have to be paid the new minimum wage.

Malaysia, a key manufacturing hub that relies heavily on migrant workers in factories and plantations, has seen its companies come under scrutiny from allegations of forced labour practices that include unpaid wages.

Officials have acknowledged excessive overtime hours, unpaid wages, lack of rest days and unhygienic dormitories which analysts and consultants have said needed to be addressed or the country risked losses in its export-reliant economy.

($1 = 4.2030 ringgit)

(Reporting by Liz Lee; Editing by Martin Petty)
- Will assume new roles in originating investment opportunities for Brennan Investment Group

ROSEMONT, Ill., March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Brennan Investment Group, LLC, is pleased to announce the promotions of Matt Kay and Lucas McCarthy, formally Senior Associates, to Vice Presidents.

Brennan Investment Group Logo (PRNewsFoto/Brennan Investment Group)

Matt Kay's new responsibilities will focus on single tenant net lease and national portfolio acquisitions throughout the United States. In his previous role with Brennan, Mr. Kay assisted Brennan's Chief Investment Officer, Scott McKibben, in the underwriting of over $2.6 billion in transactions, totaling approximately 50 million square feet in over 20 different states.

Lucas McCarthy's new responsibilities include sourcing single tenant net lease investments across the Midwest region, in addition to uncovering value-add and development opportunities in the Minneapolis and Milwaukee markets. In his previous role for Brennan, Mr. McCarthy assisted Brennan's Managing Principal of the Midwest, Kevin Brennan, in the underwriting of over $1.6 billion in transactions across the entire Midwest.

"One of Brennan's most important roles is the stewardship of young professionals into great investment practitioners," explains Scott McKibben, Brennan's Chief Investment Officer. "Matt and Luke have worked hard from the moment they joined us, learning our industry and developing a competency for the Brennan way of underwriting and investing. We have no doubt that they will succeed in their new roles."

Both will office out of Rosemont, Illinois, headquarters for Brennan Investment Group.

About Brennan Investment Group

Brennan Investment Group, a Chicago-based private real estate investment firm, acquires, develops, and operates industrial properties in select major metropolitan markets throughout the United States. Since 2010, Brennan Investment Group has acquired or developed nearly $6 billion in industrial real estate in 30 states. The company's current portfolio spans 27 states and encompasses approximately 46 million square feet.

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Brennan Investment Group co-invests with private and institutional capital to achieve outstanding risk-adjusted returns. The company has 11 regional offices throughout the United States and the firm's management team is among the most accomplished in its industry, having invested in over 5,000 properties covering more than 60 cities throughout the United States, Canada and Europe.

For more information on Brennan Investment Group, go to brennanllc.com.

CONTACT: Ursula Walendzewicz, 8476308722, uwalendzewicz@brennanllc.com

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SOURCE Brennan Investment Group, LLC
Tamkeen, Bahrains labour fund, has announced a plan to train 1,200 Bahrainis in coding and other emerging technology skills in collaboration with two leading institutes.

Tamkeen has established a strategic collaboration with the worlds leading technology training academy, General Assembly, and the Bahrain Institute of Banking & Finance (BIBF), to launch the training programs over a period of two years.

This collaboration will bring to the Kingdom General Assemblys wealth of global experience in technology training while building on Tamkeens commitment to increase the tech talent supply as well as making Bahrainis competitive both locally and internationally, said a statement.

Aim to upskill/reskill Bahrain talent

These programs aim to upskill and reskill Bahraini talent, with courses covering several critical technology verticals such as software engineering, data science, data analytics and visualisation, UI/UX, product development, Java development and DevOPs.

To ensure that participants get a fully rounded and enriching experience, the courses will be project-based and delivered by a line-up of highly experienced practitioners from multi-national companies. This initiative will ensure that the right ecosystem is in place to grow tech startups while also increasing the Kingdoms competitiveness and positioning Bahrain as a regional investment hub, it said.

Tamkeen encourages employment

Husain Mohamed Rajab, Chief Executive of Tamkeen, said: Tamkeen plays a very important role in Bahrains national economic recovery plan by encouraging and incentivizing employment, training, and investment across the economy, especially in high potential sectors.

Building on our strategic direction to drive sustainable economic impact, we collaborated with General Assembly to enable Bahrainis to grow, compete and thrive in a rapidly evolving digital economy while taking into consideration market feedback and needs. We are confident that Bahraini talent are committed and passionate, with great potential to grow and succeed in the technology opportunities locally and internationally.

Strategic move to be tech hub

Commenting on this collaboration, Ella Balagula, the President and General Manager of Enterprise at General Assembly, said: We are very impressed with the Kingdoms economic plans and Tamkeens strategic direction which focuses on growth and impact. With Bahrain well on its way to becoming a regional tech and innovation hub, we are very excited to be part of the growing tech ecosystem in the Kingdom. We are also looking forward to working with Tamkeen to provide the market with the necessary skills to grow within the industry.

Dr Ahmed AlShaikh, the BIBF Director, said: We are committed to the training and development of professionals in Bahrain to provide the market with the required tech talent. We look forward to working with Tamkeen and General Assembly to offer Bahrainis with quality training opportunities. This initiative will open the door for Bahrainis to get specialised education in technology and explore new career paths that are more rewarding and sustainable.

General Assembly is an expert

General Assembly is the world's leading Tech academy with an award-winning curriculum, expert instructors from top businesses like Google, Amazon, AirBnB, and IBM, as well as over 25,000 employees of Fortune 500 companies trained in over 20 countries. with several successful partnerships globally and a proven track record of successful career progression and placement rates for their graduates GA is the ideal partner to collaborate with to bring world-class tech training to Bahrain.

This collaboration is part of a line-up of 15 new programs launched by Tamkeen recently along with a comprehensive transformation plan that focuses on driving high impact for the national economy. These programs will contribute to achieving Tamkeens objective of making Bahrainis the preferred choice for employment in the private sector. Bahrainis will be able to access these training opportunities through Tamkeens human capital development programs: Train Me, Train and Place, and Train and Grow. Tamkeen will soon announce the start dates for these courses through their channels, the statement said.  TradeArabia News Service
By Josh Smith and Hyonhee Shin

SEOUL, March 21 (Reuters) - Outgoing South Korean President Moon Jae-in's administration said on Monday his successor's rush to relocate the presidential office and official residence could "create a security vacuum and confusion" at a time of tensions with North Korea.

South Korean president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, breaking with tradition, announced on Sunday he will move the presidential office from the Blue House to the defence ministry compound, a step estimated to cost $40 million. Yoon said he wants to make the move immediately after his inauguration on May 10.

Moon's press secretary Park Soo-hyun said it is "unfeasible" to relocate the defence ministry, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the offices of the president and secretaries and the security service within the short period before Yoon takes office.

"The security crisis on the Korean peninsula is escalating, and a sudden and unprepared relocation... could create a security vacuum and confusion," Park said at a briefing.

Yoon's People Power Party accused the Moon administration of shifting its position after initially saying it hoped Yoon would implement the promise, which mirrored one Moon had made before abandoning the plan for security and logistical reasons.

"The president-elect had already reviewed potential security issues that the Blue House raised, and explained to the people himself," the party said in a statement responding to Park's comments, urging Moon's office to help allocate a budget and cooperate on the plan.

Park said the move would be more reasonable if it was not rushed. Moon's administration would share its concerns with Yoon's transition team and make its official position after more consultations, he added.

Yoon's team has said the Blue House is a symbol of South Korea's "imperial presidency" and a move would improve public access and communications with aides. They have denied critics' suggestion that Yoon was influenced by concerns that the Blue House is in an "inauspicious" location.

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A petition uploaded to the presidential office's website on Thursday opposing Yoon's plan to move had gathered more than 340,000 signatures as of Monday.

Conservative Yoon is expected to take a harder line against North Korea than Moon, a member of the liberal Democratic Party who made engaging Pyongyang a major part of his agenda. South Korean presidents serve for a single five-year term.

Tensions have been rising after North Korea began the year with an unprecedented flurry of missile tests. It appears to be preparing to launch a spy satellite, and leader Kim Jong Un has suggested it could resume testing intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) or nuclear weapons for the first time since 2017. (Reporting by Josh Smith and Hyonhee Shin, editing by Ed Osmond)
The growth of the polyethylene wax market is propelled by the expanding adhesive & coatings sector, rising need for printing inks, and growing demand for plastics, says this report.

SELBYVILLE, Del., March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- As per the latest research report by Global Market Insights Inc., the Polyethylene Wax Market was estimated at USD 947.2 million in 2021 and is anticipated to reach a valuation of around USD 1 billion by 2028, registering with a CAGR of 4.4% from 2022 to 2028. The report provides a detailed analysis of market size & estimations, drivers & opportunities, top winning strategies, competitive scenario, wavering market trends, and major investment pockets.

Polyethylene Wax Market

Polyethylene wax helps modify the properties of both the applied ink and final film, which is why it is used to control the rheology properties of ink formulations and surface characteristics of the final film. Several properties of polyethylene wax, particularly its molecular weight, hardness, and particle size, improve its efficacy in enhancing mar & abrasion resistance, trapping, slip, and anti-blocking properties. These characteristics are crucial for ink manufacturers and result in more cost-effective and efficient products that address consumer requirements, which is expected to support market growth over the forecast timeline.

Request for Sample Report: https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/2206

Pelletized polyethylene wax is broadly used in varied applications like poultry depilation, candle manufacturing, food packaging, and others. Rising utilization of pelletized polyethylene wax in PVC pipe production is poised to drive product demand in the coming years. In 2021, the pellets form segment accounted for nearly 4.2% of the total product demand and is estimated to register solid growth between 2022 and 2028 driven by prevalent product usage in diverse application areas.

On the other hand, the polyethylene wax industry share from the powder form segment is speculated to witness sturdy growth through the study timeframe. Powdered polyethylene wax is witnessing the highest demand in end-use industries and is set to dominate the market, which is calculated to foster segmental outlook in the upcoming years.

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Key reasons for polyethylene wax market growth:

1. Growing uptake in adhesive & coatings.

2. High utilization in ink manufacturing.

3. Surging adoption in PVC production.

2028 forecasts show 'adhesive & coatings' segment retaining its dominance:

From the application perspective, the adhesive & coatings segment was valued at about USD 160 million in 2021 and is projected to garner a revenue of over USD 220 million by 2028. Various properties of polyethylene, such as anti-settling characteristics, abrasion resistance, texture improvement capabilities, and good water repellency, among others, are boosting its adoption in adhesives & coatings applications. Rising requirement of wax in printing inks and paper coatings owing to its wetting properties and low coefficient of friction is slated to created massive growth potential for the segment over the following years.

Europe to maintain top status in terms of revenue:

On the regional spectrum, the Europe polyethylene wax industry exceeded a valuation of USD 245 million in 2021 and is expected to reach above USD 310 million in revenue by 2028. Robust demand for lubricants, plastic additives, candles, wood, and coatings in Europe has played a vital role in industry expansion. Surging production volume of paints & coatings in the region is likely to propel product demand in the forthcoming years.

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on polyethylene wax market:

The COVID-19 outbreak boosted the need for effective packaging solutions in varied end-use industries. The growing e-commerce sector, along with rising prominence of plastics in the several applications, including packaging, cosmetics, and others, has increased product demand. Thus, mounting usage of polyethylene wax in numerous areas has been favorable for industry expansion during the pandemic.

Request for the customization of this report: https://www.gminsights.com/roc/2206

Leading market players:

Major companies in the global polyethylene wax industry include Honeywell International Inc., BASF SE, Clariant AG, Arya Chem Inc., Innospec Inc., SCG Chemicals, Synergy Additives, WIWAX, The Lubrizol Corporation, Kerax Limited, Mitsui Chemicals America, Inc., Westlake Chemical Corporation, Micro Powders, Inc., and The International Group, Inc., among others.

About Global Market Insights Inc.

Global Market Insights Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider. Offering syndicated and custom research reports, growth consulting and business intelligence services, Global Market Insights Inc. aims to help clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data that aid in strategic decision making.

Contact Us:

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Corporate Sales, USA

Global Market Insights Inc.

Phone: +1-302-846-7766

Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688

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SOURCE Global Market Insights Inc.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 21, 2022 / The Power Play by The Market Herald has announced the release of new interviews with Argentina Lithium and Givex Information Technology Group on their latest news.

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.

Argentina Lithium (TSXV:LIT) closes option agreement for Rincon West and Pocitos properties

Argentina Lithium & Energy (LIT) has closed the previously announced Exploration and Purchase Option Agreement to acquire the Rincon West and Pocitos properties. Terms of the option include the issuance of 750,000 shares on signing, $500,000 worth of shares over a 12-month period and cash payments totalling US$4,200,000 over 36 months. The company has issued 750,000 common shares and made a cash payment of US$150,000. Miles Rideout, VP of Exploration at Argentina Lithium, sat down with Shoran Devi to discuss the acquisition.

For the full interview with Miles Rideout and to learn more about Argentina Lithium's news, click here.

Givex Information Technology Group (TSX:GIVX) begins trading on the OTCQX Best Market (OTCQX: GIVXF)

Givex Information Technology Group Limited (GIVX) has begun trading on the OTCQX Best Market under the symbol GIVXF. The uplisting provides Givex with greater visibility to U.S. institutional and retail investors. Don Gray, CEO of Givex sat down with Shoran Devi to discuss the news.

For the full interview with Don Gray and to learn more about Givex's news, 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.

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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.

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themarketherald.ca

SOURCE: The Market Herald





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Prime Minister to travel to Belgium to meet with allies and partners to continue addressing Russia's invasion of Ukraine

Prime Minister to travel to Belgium to meet with allies and partners to continue addressing Russia's invasion of Ukraine

Canada NewsWire

OTTAWA, ON, March 21, 2022

OTTAWA, ON, March 21, 2022 /CNW/ - The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, will travel to Brussels, Belgium, from March 23 to 25, 2022, to engage with European Union, NATO and G7 leaders to build on our coordinated response to Russia's illegal and unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine.

On March 23, the Prime Minister will address the European Parliament where he will speak on peace and security, defending democracy, and transatlantic cooperation for the benefit of people in Canada and the European Union. This will be the Prime Minister's second address to the European Parliament on the close Canada-European Union partnership.

On March 24, the Prime Minister will meet with leaders from Allied countries at the NATO Summit to further coordinate support for Ukraine, and discuss further strengthening NATO's deterrence and defence measures.

The Prime Minister will then attend the G7 Heads of State and Government Meeting where leaders will discuss the current situation in Ukraine and its wider global impacts, including food security and energy supply.

While in Belgium, Prime Minister Trudeau will meet with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

Prime Minister Trudeau travelled to the United Kingdom, Latvia, Germany, and Poland earlier this month to continue building key partnerships to respond to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. While in Europe, the Prime Minister announced more support for Ukraine including new sanctions against Russia, additional humanitarian aid, and the provision of more military equipment to Ukraine.

The Prime Minister continues to engage with world leaders on a regular basis to support Ukraine as it defends its people, its sovereignty, and its territorial integrity from this illegal and unjustifiable invasion.

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Quote

"Russia's illegal and unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine is an attack on democracy, international law, human rights, and freedom. Canada is working in close collaboration with our allies and partners in defending democracy against authoritarianism and standing with the Ukrainian people."

 The Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada

Associated Links

This document is also available at https://pm.gc.ca

SOURCE Prime Minister's Office
Rule Garza Howley LLP Brings Together Attorneys with over $1 Trillion in Collective Deal Experience

WASHINGTON, March 21, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Market-leading antitrust lawyers Charles F. (Rick) Rule and Deborah A. Garza, both former senior antitrust officials, and Daniel J. Howley, who has played a leading role on many major antitrust matters, have launched a new boutique antitrust law firm focused on providing sophisticated advice to clients on critical M&A, government investigations, and litigation. They are joined by highly respected antitrust lawyers William E. Dolan and Margot M. Campbell, who also bring deep M&A, trial and advisory experience.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220320005029/en/

Charles F. (Rick) Rule (Photo: Business Wire)

Rule Garza Howley LLP joins top antitrust lawyers with success leading some of the most significant antitrust investigations of the last 40 years. Mr. Rule and Ms. Garza are widely recognized as among the worlds leading antitrust lawyers. Mr. Rule, a former head of the DOJs Antitrust Division, is joining the firm from Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, where he was co-chair of the Antitrust Group. Ms. Garza is a former Deputy Assistant Attorney General and Acting head of the Antitrust Division, former Chair of the Antitrust Modernization Commission, former chair of the ABAs Antitrust section, and former co-chair of the global competition practice of Covington & Burling LLP. Mr. Howley, Mr. Dolan and Ms. Campbell are experienced antitrust deal lawyers and litigators who have represented clients in many leading antitrust matters in recent years. Mr. Howley is joining the firm from Paul, Weiss; Mr. Dolan is joining from Debevoise & Plimpton LLP; and Ms. Campbell is joining from Johnson & Johnson, where she was Senior Counsel for Competition Law.

"In recent years the antitrust environment has changed dramatically, and companies have a greater need now than ever for sophisticated and experienced counsel to help navigate the evolving and multi-dimensional landscape. Our small size will allow us to serve clients in a way that is nimble, unencumbered by conflicts, and intensely client-focused," Rule said. "I am very proud of my time at Paul, Weiss and the opportunity to work alongside some of the best M&A lawyers and litigators in the world. Our new boutique firm offers a unique and focused value proposition that is designed to meet the needs of companies at a time when new mandates are reshaping the antitrust landscape. I look forward to continuing to work with my friends at Paul, Weiss while being able to assist other top lawyers, investment bankers, and clients."

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"Our new firm is uniquely positioned to achieve positive outcomes for clients," said Garza. "Clients will always get the A-team at this firm, and they will benefit from our deep experience and first-hand insight into current antitrust enforcement practices and policies."

"The commercial savvy of our antitrust team is at the top of the market," said Howley. "For antitrust, well punch at the weight of the elite large firms, but with the agility of a boutique."

"Rick has been a terrific partner and a leading antitrust advisor for many years. While I am sad to see him go, we wish him great success and look forward to working with him in the future," said Scott Barshay of Paul, Weiss.

Attorneys with Decades of Success Leading Significant Antitrust Investigations

Rick Rule has been at the forefront of antitrust law for four decades. He began his career in the 1980s in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, becoming the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Division from 1986-89  the youngest person ever to be confirmed by the Senate to that position. Over the last 30+ years since leaving the Division, Rick has led the antitrust practices at several leading D.C. and New York firms including Covington & Burling and Paul, Weiss. During his time in private practice, Rick has represented major multi-national companies and executives in countless industries. Rick has represented those clients before the Antitrust Division, the Federal Trade Commission, State Attorneys General and major foreign antitrust regulators in connection with many of the most notable merger investigations, including Exxons merger with Mobil, US Airways merger with American Airlines, and Cignas acquisition of Express Scripts. At the same time, Rick has represented clients in some of most prominent government investigations of the last quarter century, including leading the team that settled the Governments monopolization case against Microsoft and defending international companies and executives in major antitrust criminal investigations. As agencies and rules have evolved, he has helped clients to understand the dynamic legal framework, to assess the legal risk and rewards associated with a range of competitive strategies, and to work with government bodies to take advantage of, and ensure appropriate compliance with, the regulations governing the clients chosen strategy. Rick received a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School.

Deb Garza has served as a trusted advisor to firms for over 40 years on strategic transactions, civil and criminal investigations and litigation. In addition to her years of private practice, she has served in key government enforcement and policy roles, including as Deputy Assistant Attorney General and Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Justice Department; Chair of the Antitrust Modernization Commission, a bi-partisan blue ribbon commission created by Congress to advise Congress and the President on the state of U.S. antitrust enforcement; and as co-chair of the International Competition Policy Expert Group. Ms. Garza chaired the Antitrust Section of the American Bar Association during its 2018-19 year and served in the leadership of that organization and the Federalist Society Corporations, Securities and Antitrust Practice Group for many years. She is currently a member of the Uniform Commercial Code Antitrust Study Committee. Previously, Deb co-chaired Covington & Burlings global competition law practice. Deb received a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School.

Dan Howley joins the firm from Paul, Weiss, where he advised companies on antitrust matters, including litigation, mergers and acquisitions, and civil and criminal investigations. Dan has represented clients in many of the leading antitrust matters in recent years. These representations include Farelogix Inc. in connection with the review of its agreement to be acquired by Sabre Corporation and the subsequent litigation and trial verdict in favor of Farelogix and Sabre over the United States Department of Justice. He represented Cigna in connection with the antitrust review of its $67 billion acquisition of Express Scripts and its proposed $54 billion merger with Anthem, Nestle USA in connection with a complex multidistrict antitrust proceeding involving alleged price fixing of chocolate confectionaries, and US Airways in connection with the antitrust review and related government litigation on its $17 billion merger with American Airlines. Dan received a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Bill Dolan joins the firm from the Antitrust Group of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP. Bill has more than a decade of experience advising clients on their most significant and complex antitrust matters, including high-profile mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures, antitrust compliance policies and procedures, and investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission as well as state attorneys general and other regulators. In addition, Bill has defended clients in connection with litigation brought by regulatory agencies and has advised and represented clients in private antitrust civil litigation. Bill received a J.D. from the Duke University School of Law.

Margot Campbell will join the firm from Johnson & Johnson where she was Senior Counsel for Competition Law and provided cross-sector legal advice supporting the global antitrust review of the companys mergers and acquisitions, counseled the business with respect to general antitrust matters, and drove training and policy initiatives. Previously, Margot was associated with Paul, Weiss. Margot has significant experience advising clients on antitrust compliance, mergers and acquisitions, conduct investigations, and in litigation brought by regulatory agencies, as well as in private antitrust litigation. Margot received a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

About Rule Garza Howley LLP

Rule Garza Howley LLP is a boutique antitrust law firm focused on achieving positive outcomes for our clients in todays complex M&A and regulatory environment. Our attorneys have decades of experience, including in leadership roles in government, AmLaw firms, and in-house roles and guiding Boards and C-Suite executives through "bet your company" matters. Collectively, our attorneys have more than $1 trillion in deal experience and have handled some of the most significant antitrust matters in recent decades. We employ a modern and flexible approach that is founded on a shared commitment to creating value for our clients.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220320005029/en/

Contacts

Scott Krady

scott@magnitude-growth.com
(Reuters) - Gennady Timchenko, a long-time ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, resigned from the board at gas producer Novatek on Monday after he was targeted by sanctions over Russia's military campaign in Ukraine.

Novatek, Russia's largest private natural gas producer, did not provide a reason for his resignation. A representave of Timchenko, who had served on the company's board of directors since 2009, declined to comment.

The European Union and Britain last month imposed sanctions on Timchenko and other billionaires with ties to Putin.

Timchenko, already on a U.S. sanctions list over Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea, was Russia's sixth-richest billionaire last year with a net worth of $22 billion, according to Forbes magazine.

Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 in what it called a special operation to degrade its southern neighbour's military capabilities and root out people it said were dangerous nationalists.

Ukrainian forces have mounted stiff resistance and the West has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia in an effort to force it to withdraw its forces.

Timchenko, who sits on the board of petrochemicals producer Sibur, was co-founder of Switzerland-based oil trader Gunvor. Timchenko sold his stake in Gunvor in 2014 after the United States imposed sanctions against him.

Timchenko has said he owned a few trading companies in and near St Petersburg in the 1990s, when Putin worked in the office of the city's mayor.

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by David Goodman)
FILE PHOTO: Computer chip maker Intel's logo is shown on a gaming computer display during the opening day of E3, the annual video games expo revealing the latest in gaming software and hardware in Los Angeles

By Giuseppe Fonte and Giulio Piovaccari

ROME (Reuters) - Italy is ready to fund as much as 40% of Intel's total investment to build a chip packaging and assembly plant in the country, worth an initial $5 billion but which is expected to rise over time, two sources familiar with the matter said.

The plan by Prime Minister Mario Draghi's government shows the willingness of some European member states to offer competitive terms to woo Intel and other chipmakers to invest in a region where labour and production costs are higher than in Asia.

Draghi's office and the innovation ministry both declined to comment.

Intel last week outlined the first details of an $88 billion investment drive across Europe, which is striving to cut its reliance on Asian chip imports and ease a supply crunch that has curbed output in the region's strategic car sector.

The plan, with an initial expenditure of 33 billion euros ($36.4 billion), is centred on a huge new chipmaking complex in Germany, and includes an advanced packaging and assembly site in Italy with a potential investment of up to 4.5 billion euros.

The Italian facility, which is expected to start operations between 2025 and 2027, would create about 1,500 direct jobs and an additional 3,500 jobs among suppliers and partners.

Offering 40% of Intel's total capex in Italy would make it competitive with similar investments the chipmaker has made in other regions such as Asia, the two sources said, declining to be identified due to the confidentiality of the matter.

The government is in talks with the European Union, which will have to give its green light on state aid offered by member states to Intel, one of the sources said.

"It will be for Brussels to eventually decide how much, but I think Italy will contribute 30-40% of the total investment, probably something closer to 40%," the source added.

Intel declined to comment on the specifics of the deal, but reiterated that it, along with Italy, aims to make its planned facility a first of its kind in the EU.

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LEVELLING THE FIELD

It is not yet clear how Italy plans to provide the funding. Rome has so far set aside 4.15 billion euros until 2030 to attract chipmakers and invest in new industrial applications of innovative technologies.

To clinch a deal with Intel, it is relying on new funding rules for innovative semiconductor facilities announced last month by the European Commission under the so-called Chips Act.

Brussels has made available 15 billion euros in additional public and private investment by 2030, on top of 30 billion euros of public investments already planned from NextGenerationEU, Horizon Europe and national budgets.

Intel Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger last week said the European Union could help level the cost playing field with Asia, but declined to give more detail.

Gelsinger said Intel wanted to spend the remaining money from its planned 80 billion euro investment over the next 10 years to build out the complete German site and further develop facilities in other countries including Italy.

"The government aims to convince Intel to even double its investment in Italy over time, from the initial 4.5 billion euros," the source said.

The source added that Rome had identified five potential sites in Italy where Intel could build its new advanced packaging and assembly facility, in the Lombardy, Piedmont, Veneto, Apulia and Sicily regions.

"The aim is to have a shortlist with two potential alternatives within a month," the source said. "Then it will be (for) Intel to decide where to build it".

($1 = 0.9051 euros)

(Additional reporting by Supantha Mukherjee; Writing by Giulio Piovaccari; Editing by Josephine Mason and Jan Harvey)
Three Russian businessmen have dropped their defamation lawsuit against Fusion GPS and its founder Glenn Simpson over the so-called dossier the Washington-based investigative firm prepared during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign about alleged ties between presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russia.

The owners of Russia's Alfa Bank  Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven, and German Khan  filed the suit in federal District Court in Washington in 2017, claiming that they were libeled by suggestions in the dossier that they were cronies of Russian President Vladimir Putin and that they aided Russian government efforts to meddle in the 2016 American election.

The trio abruptly threw in the towel in the case last week in part of a series of legal moves that appear linked to the international pressure on Russian business moguls over Russia's war on Ukraine, as well as to financial sanctions various governments have imposed on various oligarchs alleged to have ties to the Kremlin.

A lawyer for the Russians, Thomas Clare of Clare Locke based in Alexandria, Va., did not respond to an email seeking comment on the dismissal.

The attorney for Fusion GPS and Simpson, Joshua Levy of Levy Firestone Muse in Washington, noted in a statement that Fridman, Aven and Khan were recently targeted for sanctions by the United Kingdom and the European Union.

"We are pleased that the plaintiffs decided to abandon their case after 4.5 years of needless litigation. As we wrote in our recent motion to dismiss: 'It is now clear as can be that Plaintiffs have been using this case to defend reputations that they do not have,'" Levy wrote.

"At core, the oligarch owners of Alfa Bank took issue with the observation that they were close to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and amassed incredible wealth as a result of that association. Official statements explaining recent economic sanctions imposed on the plaintiffs by the European Union and the UK, we believe, confirmed that truth, describing the oligarchs variously as: 'not operat(ing) independently of the Presidents demands;' 'continu(ing) to trade significant favours with him;' and having 'managed to acquire state assets through government connections,'" Levy added

The dismissal filed Friday followed similar retreats by Alfa Bank in a lawsuit in Florida state court pursuing various "John Doe" defendants the company claimed spread falsehoods about ties between the bank and Trump. That suit spurred offshooting litigation in various courts as lawyers for the bank tried to enforce subpoenas to gather evidence from various Americans about the allegations.

In addition, on Friday, lawyers for Fridman, Aven and Khan dropped a series of appeals in New York courts, in which they had been seeking to reinstate a libel suit against BuzzFeed over its publication of the so-called dossier in January 2017.
NOVAGOLD RESOURCES INC.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NOVAGOLD RESOURCES INC. (TSX, NYSE American: NG) will release its 2022 first quarter financial results after market close on April 5, 2022. A conference call and video webcast to discuss these results will take place April 6, 2022, at 8:00 am PT (11:00 am ET).

During the webcast, NOVAGOLDs Chairman, Dr. Thomas Kaplan; President and Chief Executive Officer, Greg Lang; and Chief Financial Officer, David Ottewell, will provide a summary of the companys first quarter financial results, an update on the Donlin Gold project, and gold sector remarks.

Questions may be submitted prior to the call at info@novagold.com. There will also be an opportunity to ask questions during the webcast following the presentation.

The video webcast and conference call-in details are provided below.

Video Webcast: www.novagold.com/investors/events/ North American callers: 1-800-319-4610 International callers: 1-604-638-5340

The webcast will be archived on NOVAGOLDs website for one year. For a transcript of the call, please see https://www.novagold.com/investors/presentations/ to download or email info@novagold.com.

NOVAGOLD Contact:

Melanie Hennessey

Vice President, Corporate Communications

Allison Pettit

Manager, Communications

604-669-6227 or 1-866-669-6227

www.novagold.com








Solodev

Announced during HIMSS 2022, Solodev now offers a serverless solution for enterprise-grade healthcare organizations to manage critical patient data and enhance digital health experiences in the cloud  powered by AWS

ORLANDO, Fla., March 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Solodev, the cloud services company, today announced the launch of its new Serverless Health Cloud: a fast, secure, and highly scalable platform for managing sensitive patient information across digital channels. The new platform  composed of both a customizable app and a serverless infrastructure  is designed for large-scale healthcare organizations looking to move to AWS, streamline their cloud operations, and achieve more predictable costs and scalability while safeguarding patient data. The news was announced during the HIMSS 2022 healthcare industry conference, which is being held in Orlando, Florida.



Health records are considered by some industry analysts to be 50 times more valuable than social security or credit card data. Black market demand has exploded as hackers target rich data to fraudulently seek medical care, prescription drugs, and other services. As a result, healthcare data breaches are increasing at an almost exponential rate. The HIPAA Journal reported that there was an average of 59 data breaches each month in 2021, with causes ranging from ransomware to hacked network servers.

At the same time, healthcare organizations are elevating their focus on automated, patient-centric digital experiences that are customized around their unique requirements. During the Covid-19 pandemic, telehealth services ballooned as people accessed medical care through a wide variety of digital channels. As integrated patient portals become more popular, they are also becoming more complex  and enabling scalability while maintaining data security, and HIPAA compliance has led to an increased reliance on advanced cloud technologies.

To meet these challenges, the Solodev Serverless Health Cloud provides an ultra-secure patient portal experience, enabling large-scale organizations to manage multiple data sources in a secure, encrypted environment that is Git-powered. The application allows organizations to design unique portal experiences that improve the patient journey while connecting them to their protected health information (PHI) with ease. Powered by AWS Fargate  the most advanced container-based solution for serverless deployments  Solodevs Health Cloud is infinitely scalable, blazing-fast, and relatively inexpensive  giving organizations more control and predictability over their cloud operations.

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Solodev is offering its Serverless Health Cloud as an enterprise engagement, providing a team of cloud experts who work with organizations to understand their goals and develop a cloud transformation plan for moving to AWS. Solodev also helps to build and execute the complete DevOps strategy  including the setup of AWS enterprise account resources, serverless repos and pipelines, security monitoring, and other critical cloud services. Solodev also provides 24/7 engineering and support for maintaining serverless apps and Health Cloud deployments running on AWS.

Serverless is powering the future of digital patient experiences, said Shawn Moore, Chief Technology Officer at Solodev. As healthcare companies focus on digital transformation and moving their businesses to the cloud, theyre driven by a compelling need to secure patient data while scaling to meet greater demand. Now, our Serverless Health Cloud gives them a real solution for building custom patient portals that are fast, secure, and less expensive  and backed by the unmatched scalability of AWS.

In addition to its Serverless Health Cloud, Solodev has introduced several new cloud products to its catalog, including Solodev License Manager and Solodev NFT Marketplace. The company is also planning several announcements on its 2022 roadmap that include cloud apps for recruitment, crypto, personalization, and more.

To learn more about the Serverless Health Cloud offering, contact Solodev.



About Solodev

Solodev Cloud Services is the internets largest ecosystem of cloud and digital experience technologies  from containers to crypto, content to AI. With Solodev, developers and organizations can build amazing customer experiences, deploy custom cloud and blockchain apps, launch NFT marketplaces, and collaborate on digital transformation. Solodev Cloud Services also provides consulting, training, managed services, and 24/7 human support to help users succeed on their cloud journey. An Amazon Web Services (AWS) Advanced Technology Partner, Solodev has achieved rigorous competencies in Government, Education, Digital Customer Experience (DCX), and Public Safety & Disaster Response. Solodev Cloud Services  including CMS, Kubernetes, and Personalize  can be purchased on-demand in the AWS Marketplace, through State and Federal contract vehicles, or online at www.solodev.com.

For media inquiries:

Matt Garrepy

press@solodev.com




Positive outlook ahead for local seafood exports to UK

Vietnamese seafood exports to the UK market are forecast to maintain their double-digit growth over the coming months due to rising demand, according to details given by the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).













Illustrative photo



Statistics compiled by the General Department of Vietnam Customs indicate that the nations seafood exports to the UK market, the countrys fifth largest single tuna export market, during the opening two months of the year surged by 37% to reach nearly US$44 million compared to the same period last year.



In terms of the figure, shrimp products soared by 55% to reach US$33.5 million, accounting for 76% of the total, while black tiger shrimp products also increased dramatically, representing a six-fold increase against last years corresponding period.



The primary reason is that some retailers in the UK, such as Asda and Morrisons, are removing Russian fish products from their shelves, while simultaneously seeking alternative sources.



Most notably, along with a fuel price hike and a shortage of empty containers, the Russia-Ukraine conflict has caused logistics costs for seafood exports to escalate, all of which are anticipated to impact the export activities and profits of local firms.
Climate change mitigation and adaptation and the pursuit of sustainable economic growth must be at the top of the worlds agenda today if countries are to turn the tide on climate change.

This was the view of Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri, UAE Minister of Climate Change and Environment, speaking at the press conference announcing the programme of the first ever Middle East and North Africa Climate Week 2022 (MenaCW22).

Climate change is in full swing, causing widespread and severe damage across the globe. Earlier this month, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report gave us yet another dire warning of where the world is heading if we fail to address climate change at the pace and scale needed. It provided sufficient evidence that climate change is getting worse, hitting marginalised people the hardest, she said.

She added: Building on its three decades of robust climate action, the UAE Government is proud to host the inaugural Mena Climate Week, which underscores our commitment to driving collective action to combat climate change regionally and globally. The highly anticipated event will explore key issues that will shape the climate response in this region, such as resilience against climate risks, the transition to a low-emission economy, and collaboration to solve pressing challenges.

It will carry forward the momentum from COP26 into implementation by bringing together regional stakeholders from across sectors to promote submission of stronger adaptation and mitigation plans, encourage participation in the Race to Zero and Race to Resilience campaigns, and bring the voices of stakeholders from our region to the UN Climate Change process to help achieve the Paris Agreements goal of limiting global warming to as close to 1.5 C as possible.

The Minister noted that in this critical Decade of Action, regional collaboration is emerging as a catalyst for global climate efforts. MenaCW 2022 will be inclusive and open to all stakeholders for partnership building and advancing action.

Mena Climate Week will take place at Atlantis, The Palm in Dubai from March 28 to 31, 2022. The event is hosted by the UAE Government, represented by the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE), the World Green Economy Organisation (WGEO), and Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa), in collaboration with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the World Bank Group. The event will be supported by regional partners, including the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena), the League of Arab States Secretariat, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA), and the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB).

Besides Almheiri the speakers included Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Chairman of the World Green Economy Organisation, and MD&CEO of Dewa; and Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, through a recorded speech. Waleed Bin Salman, Vice Chairman of WGEO; Abdulrahim Sultan, Director of WGEO and James Grabert, Global Head of the UNFCCC Regional Collaboration Centres and Director of Mitigation Division at the UN Climate Change Secretariat, took part in the conference, which saw the participation of a large number of climate action supporters and the media.

Organising this event is in line with the vision of the wise leadership of the UAE and the UAE Net Zero by 2050 initiative to achieve the mid- to long-term objectives of the Paris Climate Agreement. It also supports the ongoing efforts to mobilise international efforts and promote collaboration among governments and stakeholders in various sectors.

This makes the Mena Climate Week an ideal platform to strengthen cooperation and partnerships to support global efforts to reduce carbon emissions and build green economy systems that address sustainable development, environmental protection, and climate action, said Al Tayer.

This regional climate week is particularly important as it follows a critical year in our climate ambitions and the beginning of a crucial decade for tackling global warming and climate change and achieving the SDGs.

This event will be the first gathering on the global climate action agenda since COP26 which was held last November in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. Mena Climate Week 2022 comes on the heels of the regional climate events held in 2021 in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Asia and the Pacific.

By organising this event, we aim to accelerate climate action in preparation of COP27 in Egypt and COP28 here in the UAE. This will be achieved by increasing climate activities, researching the key climate challenges, and highlighting ambitious solutions and promising ideas. The event will be a major opportunity and a strategic platform for partners and stakeholders across countries of the region to discuss the difficulties and challenges facing these countries and contribute to creating an ideal environment for COP27. We are confident that that Mena Climate Week 2022 will be a driving force for enhancing climate action and increase our ambitions, added Al Tayer.

The current exceptional circumstances require that we double our efforts and work closely together to achieve the climate goals. To this end, Egypt and the UAE are set to host the two upcoming meetings of the UN Conference of Parties.

Mena Climate Week 2022 will enable participants from across the region and the world to work together and establish the foundation for a green economy, especially that this event coincides with Expo 2020 Dubai, which is a global platform where we look to connect to build a better future. The Mena Climate Week will also bring together leaders, stakeholders, and decision makers to focus their efforts on creating effective solutions to the climate challenges in the region. The event will further foster cooperation among the public and private sectors, the academic community and civil society to discuss climate priorities and weaknesses and areas of improvement from a GCC perspective, concluded Al Tayer.

With climate impacts increasingly apparent and science like the recent IPCC Sixth Assessment Report sounding the planetary alarm  we must act with urgency. Outcomes of last Novembers UN Climate Change Conference COP26 in Glasgow underscore the urgent need to raise ambition and scale up action with unprecedented speed. Mena Climate Week is an opportunity to carry momentum from COP26 forward and accelerate implementation in this region and around the world, said Espinosa.

-- TradeArabia News Service
Technology-focused truckload and logistics company taps the power of Spireon's trailer management and managed services to optimize asset visibility, streamline operations, and transform data into actionable business insights

IRVINE, Calif., March 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Customer-first, technology-focused truckload and logistics company, Summitt Trucking, realized an annual savings of $644,000 after adopting FleetLocate trailer management and Managed Services from Spireon, a Solera company. To mitigate the shortage of professional drivers and commercial trailers, Summitt turned to Spireon's solutions with the aim of improving operational efficiency, optimizing driver productivity, and enhancing profitability.

"In the current environment, which poses challenges spanning shortages of IT and operational personnel, driver recruitment, supply chain disruptions, trailer shortages and more, it's imperative that Summitt Trucking distinguishes itself, and Spireon's end-to-end offering helps us do this," said David Summitt, president at Summitt Trucking. "FleetLocate is easy to use, Spireon's customer support is outstanding, and its team of expert analysts has consistently delivered valuable, actionable insights that have significantly enhanced our business results."

Established nearly four decades ago, award-winning Summitt Trucking is a 24/7 business that provides logistics and truckload services throughout the continental U.S. Based in Clarksville, Indiana, Summitt Trucking's fleet operation values every employee from the office worker to the driver, and tailors to their customers' specific needs. It prioritizes partnerships that promote long-term growth and customer satisfaction.

Prior to working with Spireon, Summitt Trucking worked with another telematics provider. "Without an accurate cargo sensor, we were sending five to 10 drivers per day an average of 30 miles to look at 30 trailers on a lot, only to grab one trailer, losing $90-$100 per hour in revenue in each instance and spending more than $500,000 annually having our drivers go and look for empties," added Mr. Summitt. After a year of using Spireon's trailer tracking solution, IntelliScan cargo sensor, and cloud-based UI to manage its mixed trailer fleet, Summitt Trucking minimized driver time and saved $500,000 in lost revenue.

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Summitt Trucking saw the value provided by Spireon's FleetLocate, but the business still needed help. That is when Spireon introduced Mr. Summitt to Managed Services and its expert analysts. With this change, Mr. Summitt now sees an improvement in idle trailers, equating to $144,000 saved per year. According to Mr. Summitt, "adding Managed Services to Spireon's trailer tracking solution has helped my team save countless hours and realize its full potential."

Trailer utilization is at the forefront of operating concerns due to the simultaneous increase in price of assets and supply constraints. However, trucking companies often find themselves without the actionable data and analysis needed to efficiently allocate their capital resources. Spireon's dedicated operations analysts produce customized reporting and can tackle bigger challenges such as spotting untapped revenue opportunities.

"Spireon's Managed Services transforms trailer tracking data to actionable reporting and analysis, offering a professional outside resource to assist with various fleet management needs and identify opportunities to improve operations and bolster margins," stated Scott Flerl, supervisor of Managed Services at Spireon. "Trailers don't just impact operationswhether it be to support contract rates, detention billing, maintenance intervals, or anything elseour Spireon Managed Services team provides Summitt Trucking and our other customers with the tools they need to help improve the bottom line."

"It has been a pleasure collaborating with David and his team at Summitt Trucking to ensure the fleet has reliable, real-time visibility to trailer location and status, and intelligent insights to inform strategic decision making," said Roni Taylor, senior vice president of strategy and business development at Spireon.

To learn more about Spireon's Managed Services, visit Spireon at booth #120 during TCA taking place March 20-22, 2022 in Las Vegas.

About Spireon

Spireon, the Vehicle Intelligence Company, is the leading provider of aftermarket telematics solutions in North America. By equipping cars, trucks, trailers and other mobile assets with GPS devices and sensors, Spireon turns any vehicle into a connected vehicle. Award-winning products Goldstar, LoJack and FleetLocate deliver 24/7 asset visibility and actionable insights to auto dealers, lenders, transportation companies, service fleet managers, rental car companies and consumers to increase safety and productivity, boost profits and protect assets. Spireon's advanced IoT platform, NSpire, powers both the company's expansive suite of connected vehicle solutions and the advanced telematics of some of the world's largest automotive OEMs, supporting nearly 4 million active subscribers and processing billions of data events each month. With its open architecture and platform-as-a-service approach, NSpire's advanced data warehousing, analytics and insights capabilities are fully scalable and ideally suited for an array of mission-critical applications across industries. Learn more at www.spireon.com.

About Solera

Solera is a leading global provider of integrated vehicle lifecycle and fleet management software-as-a-service, data, and services. Through four lines of business  vehicle claims, vehicle repairs, vehicle solutions and fleet solutions  Solera is home to many leading brands in the vehicle lifecycle ecosystem, including Identifix, Audatex, DealerSocket, Omnitracs, eDriving/Mentor, Explore, CAP HPI, Autodata, and others. Solera empowers its customers to succeed in the digital age by providing them with a "one-stop shop" solution that streamlines operations, offers data-driven analytics, and enhances customer engagement, which Solera believes helps customers drive sales, promote customer retention, and improve profit margins. Solera serves over 300,000 global customers and partners in 100+ countries. For more information, visit www.solera.com.

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/spireon-helps-summitt-trucking-address-labor-and-trailer-shortage-while-saving-644-000-per-year-301505961.html

SOURCE Spireon
DAYTON, Ohio, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Tangram Flex, Inc. has been awarded a multiple-award indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to compete for orders under a $950,000,000 ceiling for the maturation, demonstration and proliferation of capability across platforms and domains, leveraging open systems design, modern software and algorithm development in order to enable Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2). This contract is part of a multiple award multi-level security effort to provide development and operation of systems as a unified force across all domains (air, land, sea, space, cyber, and electromagnetic spectrum) in an open architecture family of systems that enables capabilities via multiple integrated platforms.

Tangram Flex Logo (PRNewsfoto/Tangram Flex)

"We are thrilled for the opportunity to contribute to the Pentagon's JADC2 strategy," says Ryan Helbach, Director of Business Development at Tangram Flex. "Tangram's expertise in interoperability and software integration in high-stakes environments is directly suited for supporting the DoD in the adoption of open systems designs and the modernization of software systems."

ABOUT TANGRAM FLEX

Tangram Flex is a product-driven software company that provides custom service and expertise in system modernization, integration, assurance, and autonomy. We believe every mission deserves access to innovation, and so we deliver software research, prototypes, services, and products that enable rapid integration with confidence.

Tangram Flex has experience from DoD, Fortune 50 companies, and innovative software startups. We are dedicated to walking alongside our customers to keep pace with changes in technology. For press inquiries, contact Liz Grauel: press@tangramflex.com

Cision

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SOURCE Tangram Flex
XPO Logistics, Inc.

261 LTL drivers honored for achieving total 328 million accident-free miles

GREENWICH, Conn., March 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- XPO Logistics, Inc. (NYSE: XPO), a leading provider of freight transportation services, today announced that a record number of less-than-truckload ( LTL ) drivers have been honored for achieving safety milestones in 2021. The company recognized 261 professional drivers in its North American network for driving a total of 328 million accident-free miles  a new high-water mark for the company.

Of the 132 LTL drivers who reached accident-free milestones in the last six months of 2021, 109 surpassed one million miles, 18 surpassed two million miles, and five drivers achieved the highest honor of three million accident-free miles:

Allan Bryan (Pennsylvania)

Kevin Christie (California)

Donald Forman (Tennessee)

Jerry McDonald (Minnesota)

Frank Mills (Louisiana)

Mario Harik, acting president, less-than-truckload, and chief information officer of XPO Logistics, said, We congratulate all our million-milers for their phenomenal achievements in 2021. Our LTL workplace extends to our trucks, where our 12,000 drivers become ambassadors of our values. Were immensely proud of the teams commitment to our safety culture.

XPO is the third largest North American provider of LTL transportation, with a national network of 291 service centers and over 12,000 professional truck drivers. On average, it takes a driver approximately a decade of safe driving to attain one million miles without an accident.

About XPO Logistics

XPO Logistics, Inc. (NYSE: XPO) is a leading provider of freight transportation services, primarily truck brokerage and less-than-truckload (LTL). XPO uses its proprietary technology, including the cutting-edge XPO Connect automated freight marketplace, to move goods efficiently through supply chains. The companys global network serves 50,000 shippers with 771 locations and approximately 42,000 employees, and is headquartered in Greenwich, Conn., USA. Visit xpo.com for more information, and connect with XPO on Facebook , Twitter , LinkedIn , Instagram and YouTube .

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Media Contact

Joe Checkler

+1-203-423-2098

joe.checkler@xpo.com




Company aims to build the worlds most diverse cancer research knowledge base

ACCRA, Ghana, March 21, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Yemaachi Biotech, a cancer research and diagnostics company headquartered in Accra, Ghana with offices in Washington, DC, announced today the close of a $3 million seed round to advance its mission of diversifying precision oncology globally. V8 Capital led the round, with LifeLine Family Heritage Fund, Y Combinator, Tencent, LoftyInc Capital, VestedWorld, V Square Capital and Ethan Perlstein also participating.

Founded by Yaw Bediako, David Hutchful, Joyce Ngoi, and Yaw Attua-Afari in 2020, Yemaachi is dedicated to accelerating precision oncology in Africa and beyond by expanding access to research and diagnostics. Yemaachis first of its kind Pan-African genomic and clinical knowledge base and research platform, combined with deep clinical partnerships across Africa, provide the foundation for innovative products and partnerships to advance new molecular diagnostics and therapeutic targets. The Company also offers clinical testing services including NGS-based screening and diagnostic testing services, optimized for local populations.

Africa has been largely excluded from both genomic and oncology research. Although the continent accounts for 17% of the worlds population, only 2% of genomic study participants are of African descent. Africas fast-growing, treatment-naive population, significant disease burden, and the greatest human genetic diversity of any region worldwide create a fertile landscape for harvesting groundbreaking insights and improving outcomes for patients.

"Weve only begun to scratch the surface of genomic data and understanding. We know genetic outcomes are context dependent, including within the genome. Creating a dataset that has the greatest genomic diversity can enable rapid discoveries that have long-term implications for cancer research, drug development, and patient care, not just in Africa, but globally," said Yaw Bediako, PhD, co-founder and CEO of Yemaachi. "Combined with Yemaachis expertise in immunogenomics, bioinformatics, and deep learning, the Companys expansive datasets can be a force multiplier for rapidly accelerating advancements in oncology."

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"The breadth of expertise of Yemaachis highly talented founding team, the clinical partnerships they have already formed, and their focus on leveraging the vast untapped resource of African genetic diversity to discover the next generation of cancer diagnostics and therapeutics makes them a very exciting and valuable investment for us," said Tobi Oke, Managing Partner at V8 Capital Partners.

Yemaachi was also recently named a recipient of a $1 million grant as part of the Calestous Juma Science Leadership Fellowship awarded to Bediako by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The prestigious fellowship is designed to support scientists who are working towards developing innovations in urgent global health priorities.

The Company has already begun to break ground with novel diagnostics and partnerships. Late last year, Yemaachi launched the AMBER Study in collaboration with Lucence to better characterize and understand the genomics of breast cancer in women of African descent using liquid biopsy. In January, the Company launched its at-home Sheba HPV Test in Ghana to help identify women who are at high risk of cervical cancer, the second most common cancer in West African women.

The Companys name combines three Ghanian languages in a portmanteau that means "A New Dawn for Health in Africa."

About Yemaachi

Yemaachi Biotech is a cancer research company committed to diversifying and increasing access to precision oncology. Using cutting-edge immunogenomics, bioinformatics, and artificial intelligence, Yemaachi is dedicated to accelerating the development of cancer detection and cure strategies which have high efficacy regardless of ethnicity. Headquartered in Accra, with a growing network of partners across Africa, Yemaachi is committed to building sustainable research and community partnerships that aid in the advancement of medicine and ultimately reduce the burden of cancer in Africa. Yemaachi was one of 15 African companies to be selected as part of the Summer 2021 batch of Y Combinator. For more information, visit www.yemaachi.com.

About V8 Capital Partners

V8 Capital Partners is a leading African Venture Capital firm focused on backing bold visionary entrepreneurs of technology businesses across the continent. V8s specialized know-how and investments are aimed at harnessing disruption, accelerating growth while leveling the playing field for best-in-class African IP. V8 Capital Partners looks to deliver outsized returns to its investors.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220321005271/en/

Contacts

Aida Manu

media@yemaachi.com
Last week, Dotties Den staff and customers gathered to celebrate the longtime business as it prepared to close its doors. Located on Lafayette Boulevard in Spotsylvania County, the gift shop served customers for more than 38 years. Dottie Horton, however, started the business almost 50 years ago as a home-based enterprise.

The celebration was simple and sweet, featuring hot dogs, sides, cake and other treats. Community members enjoyed the food as they chatted and laughed with Horton and shared memories created at the store.

One customer remarked on how they were always able to find affordable floral arrangements and furniture at Dottie's Den. Another reminisced about purchasing certain pieces of home decor from the shop. Staff held the community celebration to allow customers the chance to bid the business farewell.

Starting in the basement of her home, Horton began creating floral arrangements and selling them to community members decades ago. She transitioned to other locations before opening the doors at the current spot, which was built not only as a store, but also to feel like a home to its customers, staff said.

I enjoyed the people, Horton said. Weve had regular customers from Maryland come to look in the store and buy merchandise.

For the past eight years, the store has been run by Kathy Richter, Hortons daughter. She has maintained the business with Victor Long, who has worked there for 26 years.

I gave her the business, said Horton. I was tired, and I didnt feel like I could handle it anymore. Shes done a wonderful, wonderful job.

Richter and Long will enter semi-retirement, as well.

It was really hard at first putting the signs out and everything, said Richter. I kind of call it a celebration to an ending to a new beginning. Im excited for my new journey in life and I plan on being the best grandma I can.

Long agreed.

Im still going to help part-time, said Long. Ill still try to do some of the flower arrangements.

Although Dottie's Den has closed, its team will still sell floral arrangements. Staff hopes to sell the pieces at a scaled-down "New Dottie's Den" the first week of every month.

Attendees dropped by last week's event not only to say goodbye to Dotties Den, but to celebrate Horton and the rest of the team.

I thank God for Dotties Den, said Horton. I think He was right there with me and helped me through everything. I depended on Him.

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UPDATE: The special called meeting has been rescheduled to Monday, March 28 at 5:30 p.m.

Spotsylvania County School Board Chair Kirk Twigg canceled Monday evenings meeting less than an hour before it was to begin, citing lack of quorum, according to board members Dawn Shelley, Nicole Cole and Lorita Daniels.

School division spokeswoman Rene Daniels confirmed Monday that lack of a quorum was the reason for canceling the meeting, which Twigg had called for the purpose of discussing the superintendent search and making a final decision on how to spend $14 million in carryover funds from fiscal year 2021.

According to the Code of Virginia, a quorum for the purposes of a School Board meeting is a majority. For the seven-member Spotsylvania School Board, a quorum would be four members.

Shelley, Daniels and Cole all said Monday evening they were planning to attend the meeting.

Twigg did not immediately respond to an email from the Free LanceStar sent Monday evening seeking clarity on why the meeting was cancelled.

According to the agenda for the canceled meeting, the board was to consider a spending plan for the carryover funds, which would include $4 million to give all employees a $1,000 bonus, $5.3 million to contribute to the health insurance reserve fund, $2.9 million to contribute to the other post-employment benefits fund and $2 million for specified instructional needs.

Funding for raising bus driver starting pay and for increasing the hourly custodial rates to $16 is no longer part of the proposed spending plan, even though the School Board last year approved those uses of the carryover funds by a unanimous vote.

The proposed spending plan was posted to the agenda for Mondays evening on Monday afternoon.

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Monday brings a bright and mild beginning to Fredericksburgs work week.

The spring equinox, as determined by the Earths orbit around the sun, occurred just before noon Sunday. The graphic illustrates that the Earths axis tilted at 23.5 degrees from the verticalis neither pointing toward or away from the sun at the equinox. This is thus the first full week of spring, and the weather will feel like it.

TodayMondayconditions in and around Fredericksburg look to be much less raucous than on Sunday. Yesterdays brisk winds will be replaced by a gentler west breeze, helping to warm temperatures via the downsloping process. Clear skies will allow the strong March sun to add its heat to the warming process, pushing afternoon thermometer readings into the low 70s after this morning lows in the mid-30s.

Skies will remain clear tonight, with Fredericksburg area temperatures sagging into the mid-40s by dawn Tuesday before climbing to the low 70s again during the afternoon. Tomorrow will begin mostly sunny, but cloud cover will increase during the day as a backdoor cold front pushes through the region from the north. By Tuesday evening, that boundary will be south of the Burg, bisecting Virginia west-to-east. This will be a dry front with no precipitation expected.

However, Wednesday will feature clouds and rain as a strong low pressure center approaches from the west. There could be a rumble of thunder from this system, but the severe weather its expected to produce will remain well south of the Fredericksburg area. The precipitation will help alleviate the increasingly dry conditions of late.

Happy Monday!
India is pitching for large-scale collaboration with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries in the steel sector.

Indias Minister of Steel, Ram Chandra Prasad Singh, has said the recently-concluded Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between the UAE and India will pave the way for Indias steel sector "to set foot in the Middle East and North Africa region using the UAEs trade infrastructure and entrepot facilities as the base", a WAM report said.

Moreover, the just-concluded "Steel Week" at the India Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai is expected to lead to wider collaboration with GCC countries in the steel sector, the Indian Ministry of Steel has said in a recap of the events associated with the week.

"As part of the Steel Week, one-to-one meetings were held with leading players in steel production and logistics industries based in the UAE," the Ministry said. "An interactive session on Steel Usage in UAE and Collaboration Opportunities for Indian Steel Sector was held between key steel producing companies from India and steel user companies in the UAE."

The Indian government has recently launched a flagship scheme for specialty steel called Production-Linked Incentive (PLI). Its features and its focus areas were highlighted during meetings in the UAE with the objective of exploring the potential for increasing bilateral trade in steel.

Singh met representatives from the PIO (People of India Origin) Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Indian Business and Professional Council, comprising members from leading industries in the UAE in the course of the week.--TradeArabia News Service
The state Senate approved legislation Monday to prevent people with mental health issues from entering the criminal justice system, instead sending them to treatment centers to address their needs.

Senate Bill 10 would expand statewide an existing pilot program that assesses individuals when theyre booked for low-level offenses before any charges are filed. If a person is found to have a behavioral health disorder, they are placed in a local treatment program.

"A jail cell is no place for someone with a mental health condition or substance use disorder," said Sen. Pete Lee, D-Colorado Springs, the bills sponsor. "I am glad, but not surprised, that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle agree."

The bipartisan bill  also sponsored by Alamosa Republican Sen. Cleave Simpson  passed the Senate in a unanimous vote, moving forward to the state House for consideration in the coming weeks.

Lee said the harsh and isolating environments in jails exacerbate the conditions of people with behavioral health disorders. Approximately 43% of state prisoners and 23% of federal prisoners have a history of mental health issues, according to a 2016 survey from the U.S. Department of Justice.

The pilot program began in 2019 in four judicial districts, serving 88 people in its first year, and was expanded to another five directs in 2020. The program is currently scheduled to expire in July, but, under the bill, it would instead be implemented statewide for the first time.

"Diverting folks away from the criminal justice system and into community programs will ensure individuals in crisis are met with treatment, not punishment," Lee said. "Well soon be able to extend critical aid to even more folks in need, and I look forward to getting this important bill signed into law."

The bill, which received no opposition, enjoyed the support of Mental Health Colorado, Interfaith Alliance, Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition, Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, Colorado Behavioral Healthcare Council and Boulder County commissioners.
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One storage unit was destroyed after police officers found several fires early Monday at a nearby homeless camp in southeast Colorado Springs, according to reports.

Officers and firefighters responded about 3:15 a.m. to a structure fire at Budget Storage on the 4900 block of Galley Road, police said. They found several storage units were on fire.

"While officers were checking the area, a homeless camp was located nearby (on private property) that had four unattended fires burning," police said in a report.

Gazette news partner KKTV reported that "a storage unit and all the contents inside were destroyed."

No injuries were reported, and Colorado Springs police have not identified suspects. The cause of the fire started is unknown.

Colorado Springs Fire Department told KKTV that the fire spread to a second unit but it was vacant. "They are calling the owners of the nearby units to come and make sure there was no smoke damage to their belongings," KKTV said early Monday.
e& (formerly known as Etisalat Group), has expanded its partnership with Microsoft, entering the next phase of collaboration with the software major.

It will see the two companies accelerate value creation, push the boundaries of innovation, and achieve more for the benefit of their customers.

Under a partnership agreement, the parties will enhance a long-term strategic collaboration, embarking on e&s journey to go beyond the realms of traditional telecommunications to transform the lives of its customers and advance the digitalisation journey of enterprises.

Senior executives met at the Microsoft headquarters in Redmond to seal the partnership, including Hatem Dowidar, CEO, e&, Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO, Microsoft, Sayed Hashish, General Manager of Microsoft UAE and Masood M Sharif Mahmood, CEO, Etisalat UAE.

Our partnership with Microsoft is an example of synergy in action, said Dowidar. e& is combining one of the worlds fastest 5G networks with Microsofts cloud, AI, edge and data services, addressing a regional market hungry for digital transformation. We are confident that this collaboration will continue to support the ever-growing demands of this market and our digital journey of transformation and innovation. This also supports our ambition to become a world-class technology provider that supports regional innovators as they disrupt, make a difference and build the future.

The agreement, which is e&s first strategic partnership alliance after its repositioning, will focus on e& harnessing the versatility of the Microsoft Cloud and partner ecosystem to create new solutions, accelerate value creation for businesses of all sizes, as well as engage customers and empower e&s employees.

The collaboration between the organisations will be structured around three strategic pillars:

*Focus on business-to-business engagement across large enterprises, governments, small and medium-sized businesses, by helping them in their digital transformation journey.

*Re-invention of the consumer experience, with a focus on empowering consumers, broadening, and enriching the e& services portfolio.

*Setting the foundations to power e&s transformation journey by modernising networks and platforms, building ecosystems and transforming the e& culture to attract top talent.

The UAE has fully embraced digitisation with an impressive speed and vision, said Judson Althoff, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, Microsoft. Our strategic partnership with e& emphasises the role that Microsofts comprehensive and trusted cloud plays in our customers digital transformation, bringing together the unique capability of networks, hyperscale infrastructure and partner solutions to drive economic growth, sustainability, and societal wellbeing. e& has made a commitment to continuously innovate, and we are proud of the role Microsoft is playing as part of this journey.

e& and Microsoft have been strategic partners for many years, playing a key role in the UAEs transformation into one of the worlds smartest nations.

In 2019, Microsoft launched its much-anticipated UAE data centres in collaboration with e&. At the height of the pandemic in 2020, Etisalat UAE, the telecoms pillar of e& in the UAE collaborated with Microsoft to enable Microsoft Teams availability across the UAE.

Soon after, e& launched its first customer service powered by Microsoft Azure, enabling SMBs to grow and scale their operations. Last year, it partnered with Microsoft for 5G and Edge to lay the foundations for next-generation use cases.

In 2021, e& enterprise was named Microsoft Country Partner of the Year for the UAE in recognition for providing outstanding solutions and services to customers in strategic industries such as government, healthcare, and financial services.

e& enterprise has also been instrumental in accelerating customer journeys on remote working during the Covid-19 pandemic by offering Teams Direct Routing as a service, to help save costs and enable business continuity for multinationals.-- TradeArabia News Service
Simone D. Ross serves as president & CEO of the Colorado Womens Chamber of Commerce and executive director of the Colorado Womens Chamber Foundation.
Stellantis Middle East has reported a very strong overall outcome during 2021, while posting record performances for individual brands such as Jeep, Ram and Peugeot.

As a new company formed on January 17, 2021, Stellantis NV posted its results for 2021 earlier last month, highlighting the groups record sales, turnover and probability all over the world. In line with its global direction, the automaker hosted a roundtable in Dubai for stakeholders and media to present its first results for the Middle East and Africa since its inception.

Markus Leithe, Group Managing Director, Stellantis MEA; Marco Melani, Managing Director, American Brands at Stellantis MEA; and Rakesh Nair, Managing Director, European Brands at Stellantis MEA, presented the key growth factors for Stellantis in 2021.

Stellar growth in UAE, Saudi Arabia

In the Middle East and Africa, consolidated shipments were up 6%, while market share grew in most major markets year-on-year. The UAE saw a 41% increase across all brands from the same period last year, with Jeep increasing sales by 25% and Peugeot increasing by 70%, respectively. Saudi Arabia witnessed a 36% growth across all Stellantis products with Peugeot being the automakers highest performing brand with a 222% growth over the same period in 2021.

At a global level, Stellantis had an outstanding first year, achieving net revenues of 152 billion, up 14% year on year. A significant part of the growth was the performance in the Middle East and Africa, where almost 38,500 units were sold across all our brands, a 30% increase since 2020. This was also helped greatly by rapid expansion into new countries in the region, including a partnership with Petromin in Saudi Arabia, which saw multi branded showrooms opening in Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam, with more planned across the entire kingdom. Im also happy with the performance of the Jeep, Ram and PEUGEOT brands that achieved record growth, and look forward to what 2022 has in store for this region, said Leithe.

Aggressive expansion  11 brands in 10 nations

A key growth factor for Stellantis in 2021 can be attributed to its aggressive expansion in the Middle East and Africa. Stellantis now has 11 brands present in 10 new countries across the region, and 26 partners, along with 77 new vehicles sites, and 97 aftersales sites.

Stellantis set out to create its network strategy focusing on performance, transformation and expansion, buoyed by strong new corporate identities for major brands in its portfolio, including Jeep, Peugeot and Alfa Romeo.

Sales numbers have largely been driven by the top three brands in the region, namely Jeep, Ram and Peugeot, with Jeep selling 13,777 SUVs in 2021, a 29% increase on 2020. The most popular model for the brand was the Grand Cherokee, with 5,898 models sold, followed closely by the ever-popular Wrangler, selling 5,805 units.

2021 saw Ram dominate the full-size pickup segment with the introduction of its 1500 and TRX models. The brand achieved record results, selling 3,384 trucks in the region, a 29% increase on 2020. This was helped greatly by Rams new corporate identity, focusing on the Work Hard, Play Hard strategy.

Peugeot marks huge success

The biggest success story for Stellantis in the region has been Peugeot, with the European automaker introducing a selection of stylish, technologically advanced and efficient models. These include the 3008, which sold 1,133 models in 2021, a 44% increase over 2020, as well as the all-new Peugeot 2008, which enjoyed a massive 1,153% growth over 2020.

Peugeot has also found success in its light commercial vehicles, namely the Partner and Expert cargo and passenger vans, representing well over half of Peugeots total vehicle sales in the region in 2021, selling 2,315 and 1,475, respectively. This can be largely attributed to increased demand for light commercial vehicles thanks to increased e-commerce driven by the pandemic.

Electric and hybrid going forward

Looking forward, Stellantis has strong plans for the Middle East and Africa that are backed by its global EV strategy to offer the most suitable electric and hybrid mobility solutions that meet the requirements of customers and stakeholders. The automaker is currently working with local authorities across the region, preparing for the launch of the Peugeot e208 and 2008 in the first half of 2021 and electric LCVs in the second half to complement its already existing PHEV, the Peugeot 3008 Hybrid-4. A variety of other EV models will also be introduced in the near future across the entire Stellantis product portfolio.  TradeArabia News Service
Colorado cannabis companies sold more than $2.2 billion worth of product in 2021, continuing the trend of increasing sales every year since retail cannabis sales went live in 2014.

By comparison, general agriculture was estimated to account for $1.1 billion in Colorado in 2021, according to the University of Colorado Business Economy Outlook. Tourism brought in $15.4 billion in 2020, according to the Colorado Tourism Office.

Despite sales dropping 19% in January this year from January 2021, the marijuana industry has undergone changes in recent years that should keep the upward sales trend going in 2022, including allowing publicly traded companies to own businesses in Colorado. That alone has created larger companies and consolidation in the industry, according to business owners and analysts.

Much of this maturation has come at the expense of small cannabis businesses, including single shop owners who were foundational to the industry's emergence.

Colorado marijuana businesses and one of the largest industry groups say those record-setting sales numbers dont tell the full story of profit margins being eaten up by what they call excessive regulations, one of  if not the  highest sales tax rates on any product sold in Colorado and the overall higher cost of doing business, because the product is still illegal under federal law.

To put it bluntly, its like death by a 1,000 cuts, because the more regulation and more taxes coupled with the lack of funding or grant options is killing us, said Melinda Kadinger, chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Cannabis Care Wellness. There is no real support for this industry.

Kadinger said the amount her company pays annually in testing fees increased 300% between 2020 and 2021 due to all the new regulations.

People start seeing those dollar signs (on total sales) and think somehow were washing our hands with dollar bills in the back here, said Lisa Lane, chief financial officer of Euflora. Thats just not the case. That 30% rate of state and local taxes hurts us. Then you add on top of that we cant deduct normal operating expenses like typical businesses do.

Many see the cannabis industry as the piggy bank for the state of Colorado.

Euflora has a grow operation and stores in Aurora, Longmont, Aspen and Denver. Its 16th Street Mall location is one of a handful that opened for legal recreational sales Jan. 1, 2014.

In 2021, Colorado collected $423.4 million in marijuana taxes and fees, which was also an all-time high, according to the Colorado Department of Revenue.

There are multiple taxes and fees imposed on cannabis businesses throughout Colorado. Some of these taxes are imposed on each business such as an annual 15% excise tax. Other taxes vary by municipality or county. For example, Denver imposes its 4.3% sales tax on both medical and recreational marijuana transactions on top of the 2.9% and 9.81% state imposed sales tax on each transaction.

John Andrle, the owner and founder of LEagle, an indoor cultivation site and dispensary in Denver said these taxes add up quickly and can kill a business. He said 55% of his profit goes towards taxes even before filing his yearly taxes.

If any other company was paying 55% tax before filing their federal return there wouldnt be a single business in this whole country, he said.

An official with the Colorados Marijuana Enforcement Division said they try to streamline regulations as much as possible, and educate businesses owners before they fall out of compliance. But the agency said it just enforces rules that are set by the Legislature and Gov. Jared Polis office.

Were tasked with protecting the public health and safety, said Shannon Gray, communications specialist for the division. We get our guidance from the General Assembly, and ultimately from the Governors office  We do try to streamline regulations to make sure theyre easily implementable for our businesses.

Gray said the biggest reason for the voluminous list of regulations is that the division must regulate the medical sales industry and the recreational, or adult-use, sales separately. The tax structures for each are different, as are the rules and regulations.

The state has about 3,000 cannabis businesses, with about 43,000 employees. Each of those businesses, and individuals, must be licensed  and those licenses must be renewed every year or two.

It takes a lot of manpower and a lot of resources there to make sure were doing it in a timely manner, and dont have a backlog, Gray said.

The division has 118 full-time employees and its $22.5 million annual budget is funded by fees. While local taxes and fees assist local municipalities and counties complete projects.

Cannabis company officials said they want to continue supporting community causes, but its getting harder.

People need to understand were at our breaking point and were not going to be able to support certain causes if we cant continue to grow economically, said Tiffany Goldman, the owner of The Health Center and board chair of the Marijuana Industry Group.

Formed in 2010, the group claims to be Colorado's oldest and largest trade association for licensed cannabis businesses with about 400 members.

A large chunk of cannabis dollars returns to the states public school system. Beginning this year, 100% of the states excise tax goes towards the states B.E.S.T. Public School Capital Construction Assistance Fund, which is used to build new schools across the Centennial State.

In Denver, $16 million has been used to fund youth prevention programs, $10 million has been used to fund after school programs and $9 million has gone toward affordable housing, according to the industry group.

I'm really proud $2 billion in funding has gone to causes Coloradans care about like mental health, substance abuse, treatment, public safety and education, said Goldman. (Our industry) has contributed up to $300 million in our schools and I dont know of any other industry doing that.

Thats out of a total of $12.2 billion in state cannabis sales since 2014 through 2021, according to the revenue department.

Business officials who spoke to The Denver Gazette said they were glad the taxes they pay go toward community projects but said because of the ever-changing regulations and testing rules, they are having to pay more out of pocket annually and is causing some businesses to sell out or close up shop.

Gray said the division has heard the concerns from the industry about too much testing, but that some dont think theres enough testing  so its subjective.

Since the product is still illegal federally, the division doesnt have the support of the Food and Drug Administration or the Environmental Protection Agency, said Gray. But, using scientists on advisory boards, they have still tried to build the states testing to conform with those level of requirements, should cannabis become legal federally.

Testing is really what separates the illicit product from the legal product, Gray said.

Cannabis Cares Kadinger joined the industry in 2014. She, like her husband, Thomas, were both involved in banking before switching over to the cannabis industry.

Like most, Kadinger, thought she knew what she was getting into due to her extensive background in finance and banking. She had no idea how difficult the myriad of industrys rules and regulations would be to navigate.

Nothing is easier, and everything is harder than I expected, she said, and I came from banking, so its not like I came from an unregulated industry.

Though she loves knowing the ins and outs of everything shes involved in, because the marijuana industry's rules and regulations are constantly changing, its hard to keep up.

The rules and regulations of this industry surpass any challenges in the banking industry. Not only is there a lot of them, but they change constantly.

Kadinger said the biggest differences between large corporations and smaller shops is the lack of money and lack of legal teams. This was consistent with others who spoke to The Gazette.

The real losers are going to be the small businesses, she said. This industry was built by small entrepreneurs. The small guys started this industry in this state, in this country and even the world. Colorado was the seed for almost the whole world. Everyone was watching Colorado and it was the small businesses that started it, and while theres still a lot of those small companies still around, theyre dwindling day by day. They are either getting priced out of the market or selling out because they cannot keep up with the increase of taxes and increases of regulations.

For instance, Cannabis Care Wellness traditionally paid between $20,000 to $30,000 annually for testing fees. Between 2020 and 2021, those numbers rose 300%, Kadinger said. Other problems smaller businesses experience is the fact that they cannot receive government assistance and even get taxed when they offer paid time off to their employees.

Eufloras Lane said everything costs more for cannabis businesses.

We have to do third-party audits for compliance, which is costly, she said.

Look were still illegal federally, so theres certain vendors like repair maintenance companies, or glass companies, tinting companies  whatever  Once they realize were cannabis, theres that little unsaid hike in fees. It puts us behind the eight ball, Lane said.

Andrew Freedman was appointed by then Gov. John Hickenlooper to be the states first cannabis czar overseeing the regulation formation before the 2014 retail sales. Hes now the executive director of the Coalition for Cannabis Policy, Education and Regulation, and has helped 17 government entities implement cannabis regulations.

Because a lot of people dont want to participate in something thats illegal federally, services cost more, Freedman said. Insurance costs more. Building materials cost more. Land costs more because you bring a certain level of risk.

All the above can make for razor thin profit margins, he said.

But he said Colorados extensive set of regulations have largely worked.

Its one of the few programs to truly capture the illicit market sales, Freedman said. The most common way for a consumer to buy cannabis in in Colorado is through a dispensary. Thats not the case in other states.

But, according to the "Impacts of Marijuana Legalization in Colorado" report the state published in July 2021:

"In terms of crime, law enforcement agencies continue to combat illicit market activity. Because of the nature of this type of activity being inherently hidden from regulation and oversight, it remains challenging to quantify the size of the illicit market in Colorado; the state can only track and report the indicators of illegal activity, such as arrests and seizures. The number of plants seized on public lands and the number of out-of-state seizures of marijuana sourced from Colorado has fluctuated significantly over time. The number of court filings for marijuana-related felonies or charges related to the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act has also fluctuated  in 2019, the number of charges was close to or slightly below 2012 numbers."

Mike Erdman, head of operations at Mile High Sucker, said he does not believe there will be any support on reducing fees or taxes anytime soon, but that doesnt mean people should stop trying to make it happen.

If you can at least make some progress at moving towards the halfway ground then youre doing something right, he said. The last thing we can do is accept it as is  because thats how you end up with Walmart, and I dont think anyone wants that.

However, Eufloras Lane said: Itd be foolhardy to even ask.

She and others believe the authors of Amendment 64, which voters approved in 2012 to legalize retail sales, purposefully put in an onerously high tax rate to get it passed  and it will be hard to walk that back.

We hear every day from our members that their businesses are struggling due to high taxes and fees and ever-growing regulation, Goldman said.

Goldman said, for example, a new regulation that requires marijuana businesses to enhance security systems and changes how they are allowed to store their product will cost her $100,000 to accommodate.

Goldman said the thing she is most proud of is the fact that the marijuana industry contributes to services across the state.

"We're all proud of where our tax dollars are going and it's really a special thing," Goldman said. "But it's getting harder and harder to keep up with the costs. We need to do all we can to protect these small businesses because they're the backbone of this industry and were the ones who wrote the laid the ground work for this industry."
Seventy-seven Woodland Park minors may have received ballots for the city's April 5 all-mail municipal election because of an error in a list of Teller County voters distributed by the county Clerk and Recorder's Office.

County and city officials discovered the error Friday, after parents of two minors who received ballots notified the Woodland Park City Clerk's Office, according to a news release sent Friday evening from the county clerk's office.

The county then reviewed the voter registration list provided to the city and discovered the error occurred because Woodland Park residents under age 18 who pre-registered to vote when earning their driver's licenses were "inadvertently included on the list," the release said.

The county is notifying those who were mistakenly included on the list that the ballots they may have received will not be counted in the upcoming election because they will not be 18 years old as of Election Day, according to the release.

Teller County Clerk and Recorder Krystal Brown said her office regrets the error.

"Both the county and the city are deeply committed to election integrity," she said in the release. "The two entities are working closely together to see to it that none of this impacts the city's election."

If any of the mistakenly distributed ballots are received by city election judges on April 5, the ballots will be screened, left unopened and will not be counted in the vote tally, officials said.

The error comes at a time when public trust in the security of local and national elections has been strained. The sentiment arose from the November 2020 General Election, when former President Donald Trump and other Republicans claimed without evidence that mail-in balloting is fraudulent.

Local and state leaders in Colorado and other states have refuted these claims.

On April 5, Woodland Park voters will elect four of seven candidates to the City Council. The candidates are: DeAnn Bettermann, incumbent Kellie Case, Frank Connors, Don Dezellem, Matthew Hayes, incumbent Catherine Nakai and David Ott.

Voters will also select the city's next mayor. Mayoral race candidates include incumbent Hilary LaBarre and current city Councilman Robert Zuluaga.

Additionally, voters will decide three ballot questions on whether elected and appointed city officials can be removed from office by City Council for misconduct; whether to amend the city's charter with a more detailed conflict of interest provision; and whether to amend the city's charter to clarify City Council's options for filling a vacancy on the dais.

Woodland Park City Clerk Suzanne Leclercq said residents who don't feel comfortable submitting their ballots by mail can bring them to Woodland Park City Hall, where a dropbox under 24/7 camera surveillance is located. Voters can also drop off their ballots inside City Hall, she said.

Leclercq said her office can track ballots mailed to the city. Each ballot has a bar code that is scanned at the Woodland Park Post Office, she said.

"A voter who hasn't received a ballot can call me and I can track where it is," she said.

By state law, voters must also sign the affidavit on the back of the ballot envelope for signature verification. Election judges match signatures on each ballot with a database of signatures on the Secretary of State's website, where there are three signatures for every voter, Leclercq said.

In Colorado, residents can register to vote through Election Day. Residents who have not yet registered to vote may do so in person at City Hall or at the Teller County Clerk and Recorder's offices at 101 W. Bennett Ave. in Cripple Creek or at 800 Research Drive, Suite 200 in the Tamarac Business Center in Woodland Park.

Residents with a valid Colorado driver's license or identification card may register online at govotecolorado.com.

Voters may also verify their voter registration by texting "Colorado" or "CO" to 28683 and opening the link in the text response. The link will redirect users to Colorado Secretary of State's online voter registration and election website.

Pikes Peak Courier reporter Pat Hill contributed to this report.
It's been two years since COVID-19 first hit the United States, prompting mass shutdowns, closures and strict restrictions across the country.

Two years later, things have largely opened back up, but COVID is still a major point of concern for all Americans, and local businesses are still struggling to stay afloat.

Lucas Frein, the owner of Frein Audio & Technology in Mason City, has had a host of issues as a result of the pandemic that have made his business more difficult to run than in years past.

Frein cited numerous problems, but the has been issues with the supply chain.

His business that requires a great deal of equipment that must be bought and shipped to Mason City. Frein has struggled to work around a lack of equipment from manufacturers and extended wait times for those products.

"Something that used to take two days to get now takes two weeks. Something that you used to be able to get is now back ordered for two months," Frein explained. "I like to use the phrase 'it's hard to build a house with no nails.'"

In addition to supply chain issues, Frein notes that manufacturer quality control has become nearly non-existent.

"I would say in-between 10 and 15% of the new, out-of-the-box peripherals we get have something wrong with them, or don't work at all," Frein said. "It just sets the timeline of projects back even further when this happens."

Another problem experienced by Frein, and small businesses around the country, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic is the lack of available workforce to fill open positions.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, on the final work day of December there were 10.9 million job openings across the country, a number "little changed" from November.

The bureau also reports that the 6.3 million hires in the month December was a 333,000 decrease from the month of November.

Frein is looking to hire two employees, something a bit easier to accomplish two years ago than today.

"It's been tough," Frein said.

For businesses looking to start up in 2021 and 2022, labor shortages present even larger hurdle than others.

Brook Boehmler, the director of the North Iowa Area Small Business Development Center (SBDC), said that if you're seeking to start a business in 2022, you better be prepared with labor before you even open your doors.

"I think the big thing we are trying to do is let people know that this is a consideration before starting your business," Boehmler said. "However, there's ways of bringing on employees."

SBDC Stats Between October 2020 and October 2021 the SBDC and NIACC Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center helped a total of 341 unique clients.

Boehmler said that businesses have to get creative in ways to attract new employees, as sometimes money isn't the only reason someone will leave one job for another.

"You have to have a good story for why someone should join your business," Boehmler said. "You think a lot of people are willing to switch for just money, but a lot of it is what is this business doing to make them a part of the team."

Frein, who started up his business several years ago partially with the help of the SBDC, agreed with that sentiment.

"You have to know what you're getting yourself into," Frein said. "Research ahead of time, but also be prepared to be flexible, because things don't always go to plan. ... The first two years of any small business are pretty rocky."

Looking ahead to the future it remains to be seen how long COVID will continue to impact businesses, but Frein thinks there may not be any going back.

"I don't think it'll ever go back to where it was," Frein said. "It makes things more difficult, but for now, it is what it is."

Zachary Dupont covers politics and business development for the Globe Gazette. You can reach him at 641-421-0533 or zachary.dupont@globegazette.com. Follow Zachary on Twitter at @ZachNDupont

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Qatar and Germany have agreed in a ministerial-level meeting that their respective commercial entities would re-engage and progress discussions on long-term LNG supplies from Qatar to Germany.



In the meeting between Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Qatars Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of QatarEnergy, and Robert Habeck, the Vice Chancellor and the Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action in the Federal Republic of Germany, the German side confirmed that the German Government has taken swift and concrete actions to fast-track the development of two LNG receiving terminals in Germany.



The move comes as a matter of priority to allow for the long-term import of LNG to Germany and that such scheme has the full support of the German government, a QatarEnergy statement said.



QatarEnergy has been discussing the supply of Qatari LNG to Germany for a number of years with German companies. However, until recently, such discussions did not materialize into definitive agreements due to the lack of clarity on the long-term role of gas in Germanys energy mix and the requisite LNG import infrastructure.  TradeArabia News Service
Even though the play is over, theres still time for another act  or so a faded porn star (Simon Rex) thinks in Red Rocket.

Directed by Sean Baker (the man who looked at wanting theme park lives in The Florida Project), the film shows how Rexs Mikey Davies moves back to his home town (by bus, no less), hoping his dubious past could jumpstart his very iffy future.

He gets his estranged wife, Lee (Bree Elrod), to let him crash at her place until he just gets something going. Full of ideas  half-baked ideas  he tries to convince others hes worth betting on. Theyre skeptical  particularly the folks at a donut shop where he manages to hang out. There, a teenage clerk named Raylee (Suzanna Son) buys what hes selling and believes he actually can move beyond his past and into something more respectable. He woos her, then realizes she might be the secret to his future success. If he can market her as the next big porn star, he could move into management and finally be the success others say he isnt. Love, it seems, has nothing to do with it.

Mikey lies to others, too, and seems one step away from death at all times.

Baker uses non-actors throughout the film and lets them react to the enthusiasm Rex generates. The mix works, oddly, because the still-handsome porn star has a personality that wont quit. He badgers, woos, embraces and begs everyone who could possibly be a steppingstone to something.

Rex is extremely good at playing that desperation. You can see through his act; you just cant overestimate his determination.

While parts of the film are too unrehearsed for their own good, there is believability that serves the premise.

Like the pastel motel in Florida Project, the homes in Red Rocket define the hard life most are living. Crashing on his exs couch is hardly a career move but it does explain why he considered porn in the first place. Mikey, sadly, is more impressed with his past than anyone. He mentions his achievements and, frequently, is met with stares. When Baker finally gets the plot to unfold, hes ready to go.

It's to Rexs credit that Red Rocket is as good as it is. He understands Mikeys one more shot mentality and aims for the bullseye every time.

Most of the hits are right on target.

The film cracks a door on lives we never knew. The characters explain why they are where they are. But only Mikey strives for something more. His madness is understandable. Its his methods that need to be questioned.

Considered an early Best Actor contender, Rex won the prize at the Independent Spirit Awards last week and it was appropriate. Those honors recognize promise. Even though he had an MTV career decades ago, Rex could actually find that next act in life, thanks to Baker's film.

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The Great Resignation has impacted businesses all across the country in a multitude of ways. The Globe Gazette spoke with two local workers to get a feel for how the Great Resignation has impacted them. Their names have been kept anonymous to avoid fallout in their respective workplaces.

Landscape architect

When speaking with a landscape architect, we inquired about various aspects of his business that have been impacted by the Great Resignation.

"We've had trouble filling blue collar landscaping maintenance positions," he said. "(We haven't had) a lot of resignations, but the sentiment is definitely there that if anyone was really fed up with work here, they could just walk down the street and find another job for less stress and most likely less pay."

Even though the architect's primary duties place him in the office, he's noticed an increase in his own workload and the workload of others in his business.

"I've had to step up into other positions that I wasn't originally hired to perform, but fortunately for me it's stuff I enjoy," he said. "No increase in overtime or anything like that, just more responsibilities to be done when we have the time."

When it comes to bringing in new employees, however, the architect said he's noticed a a considerable change since the Great Resignation began.

"The biggest element of work to suffer in our business is the training. We haven't had the manpower to properly service all our clients while also properly training new employees.

"So we get new employees who we absolutely need to keep on, but they aren't able to complete the job to our standards so the training time ends up being a lot longer, and clients suffer in the meantime. ...It's always possible the new employee just never gets properly trained on a specific element."

The architect says his employees have taken to working multiple jobs during these times.

"Most of our guys have second small odd jobs when they have the time," he said. "But I haven't heard of any increases in that since COVID. My employers have stepped up and made sure the hard-working individuals here are taken care of."

Retail worker

The hardest hit lines of work include customer service and retail employees. We spoke with one sales associate at a retail outlet about his experience with the Great Resignation.

"Retail is having a huge amount of people quitting due to lack of benefits and pay," said the sales associate. "The minimum wage is terrible. Luckily, at my work we got a pay bump recently. Still, it doesn't make up for how much the company squeezes every penny out of its workers. It's insane we don't have benefits as sales associates, and parking passes. A lot of my co-workers have to walk 15 minutes to get to work. This is a huge problem because a majority of them are women, and walking 15 minutes by yourself at night is dangerous."

Instead of having to take on more work as a result of staff shortages, he said he's getting fewer work shifts.

"During dead periods that aren't the holidays we get way less shifts," he said. "The company doesn't have the shifts to give. So a lot of the sales associates (not managers or key holders) only get two shifts a week."

He said many of his co-workers hold more than one job to make ends meet.

"A lot of people work more than one job," he said. "I can say I'm lucky I have financial stability from my family, but of course others definitely don't have the same luxury. A lot are teachers or restaurant workers."

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WATERLOO  The coronavirus pandemic and subsequent labor shortages have put more power in the hands of workers, but its a challenge organizing employees, local labor leader say.

Several members of the Black Hawk Labor Assembly AFL-CIO agree that the so-called great resignation of workers during the coronavirus shutdown has created greater opportunity for workplace gains for those still employed  if they choose to take advantage of the situation and unionize.

You have a perfect storm going right now, said Rich Kurtenbach, an organizer with International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 288. You have a high demand for workers. And then you have a situation with COVID, where people got used to working from home. And they dont want to risk their lives for some of the jobs they had.

So finally, workers are standing up and saying, Enough. Kurtenbach said. Now if theyd just do that more together, and form unions where theyre working instead of just quitting, we would see probably a greater rise of unions than we saw back in the 1940s. But were still having that disconnect (between) workers standing up for their rights as workers and putting that into concerted activity with other workers.

So theres potential for a large gain in unions, Kurtenbach said.

But there are other challenges.

Theres also legislation against us too, said Chuck Kacher of Waverly, business manager with IBEW Local 288. People are still scared of concerted activity, losing their jobs over it. He advocated adoption of the federal Protect the Right to Organize, or PRO, Act of 2021. He and Kurtenbach say some court and administrative law rulings, as well as some legislation, have slowly eroded workers ability to organize.

Additionally, the state of Iowa restricted collective bargaining rights for public sector employees about five years ago, limiting the scope of collective bargaining to wages only, unless both parties agree to negotiate some benefit and workplace items deemed mutually permissible for negotiation. Because of worker shortages, some employers are opening up the scope of talks in order to be able to attract employees, said Steve Abbott, president of Communications Workers of America Local 7108.

Ill give you a for instance  health care, said Abbott, whose union includes health care and nursing employees. They know theres a shortage of health care workers. Twenty percent of the health care workers have left the profession since February 2020. Thirty percent more are going to leave before the end of 2022. Theres already a shortage of nurses of 1.1 million. So its becoming a little bit easier. One of the things thats holding them back is if nurses would stick together a little more.

You hear about the great resignation. I call it the great realignment, Abbott said. Workers are thinking about new priorities. Family. Safety. Appreciation from the employers. That all goes a long way on this so-called resignation. People are sick and tired of it. And once they start standing together, there will be a resurgence of labor unions. And have kind of an even playing field then.

This demand for workers isnt going to be over overnight, Kurtenbach said. Im at the end of the baby boomers. And if you look back in the 80s, people werent having kids like they did before that. So we see were going to have bigger gains in membership, not because were gaining a whole lot more people, but were going to have less people retiring, leaving a whole lot more demand for unionization.

Were actually seeing groups organizing we would never have thought of before, Abbott said. The internet has made some places, call centers, a little harder to organize because of the work-from-home aspect. But theres organizing efforts among gaming company employees, comic book workers and contract technicians at large data centers.

Everybodys life is busy right now,  Abbott said. Once people realize what they want and how to collectively get it, therell be a resurgence. The differentiation between the haves and have-nots has never been greater than it is right now. And I think were going to see some things that are going to make it easier on everybody.

This pandemic has thrown everything into a turmoil, he said. But once the sit down and realize what their priorities are, and what its going take to get there, I think youre going to see concerted collective (unionization) actions.

Were still overcoming all the negative thats happened in the last 40 years against unions, Kurtenbach said. The erosion of the provisions of the National Labor Relations Act and Iowa public employee collective bargaining law, which Kacher cited, are prime examples.

Why would someone want to take a job plowing snow in the winter when they can go to another company, work in construction, making a whole lot more and they have a voice in their workplace, where they cant working for the state? Kurtenbach said. Its no different working for a municipal utility or a city public works (department). These are things that have hampered the ability of workers to stand up and say, I deserve more in the workplace. Until we overcome some of these negatives, theres still a lot of limits on what employees can do in joining or creating a union where they work.

Municipalities and local government entities are hurting as a result, and its mutually beneficial to negotiate a full wage and benefit package, Kacher said. If were stripping their rights to negotiate their benefits, were stripping their (public employers) rights to recruit good people.

And theyre having problems finding people to even apply for openings, Kurtenbach said.

Youre seeing employers give bigger raises, Kurtenbach said. They probably more than deserve it, he said, but theyre also trying to get people to stay.

Kacher added federal legislation to protect defined benefit pensions would go a long way toward keeping people working.

He also noted some employers tried to portray themselves as magnanimous giving out federal Payroll Protection Plan money from the government. Its the biggest BS thing, he said, since its coming from the taxpayers.

People are learning their worth. Were not just expendable tools anymore, Kacher said. Youve had a lot of boomers leave the work force that were working, thought they had to work, and quit working, and realized, I dont need to work anymore. They realized they could afford to be retired, and probably cost themselves by going to work. Since Reagan theyd all been convinced, youre no good unless you work until you die. Now they realize they dont have to do that anymore.

He was referring to President Ronald Reagan terminating striking federal air traffic controllers in 1981.

Jerry Hageman, president of the Black Hawk Labor Assembly, noted teachers are also feeling COVID stress, as evidence by a walkout move by Chicago teachers to reinstate virtual learning and more rigorous COVID safety protocols.

The recent month-long strike by the United Auto Workers at Deere & Co. facilities in Waterloo and elsewhere had to happen, Abbott said, to get the new collective bargaining agreement, ratified after two previous tentative agreements were rejected by the membership.

Here you had one of the most profitable companies making record profits and not willing to share, Abbott said.

And, Hageman said, those wages and benefits have a ripple effect in the pay and benefits paid locally to union and nonunion workers alike

Unions lift everyone up, he said.

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The workforce shortage continues to be a top concern to North Iowa businesses, and the Chambers Community Concierge program and assistance with the Historic Egloff House are two ways the Chamber is working to address this issue.

Community Concierge

This service provides individualized assistance to local businesses to attract and retain new employees. The program offers a personalized community tour for the job candidate and their family, cost-of-living comparisons to help the candidates analyze job offers, and relocation assistance once the employee signs. The Chamber is in its fifth year of offering these services and has worked with more than 150 candidates.

Anecdotal and survey results indicate this program is moving the needle. Respondents report they felt more recruited here than by competitor communities and feel more connected. This program is funded through investors who pay to play, as well as voluntary contributions from Chamber members.

The Community Concierge provides the following services:

Personalized welcome baskets for hotel rooms.

Personalized community tours and introductions (schools, daycares, health clubs, etc.).

Assistance finding employment for a trailing spouse.

Assistance in locating quality rental housing.

The New to North Iowa guide as well as our Community Reference guide and other printed materials.

A customized video lure piece.

Community Concierge Card featuring goods and services from Chamber members to enable card holders to try before they buy.

Introduction to service clubs, churches, volunteer opportunities, etc.

Ongoing touchstone for future resources once the employee is settled in North Iowa.

Historic Egloff House

The flood of 2008 damaged several historically and architecturally significant buildings in Mason City. Of the more than 160 houses placed on the FEMA buy-out list and slated for demolition, the most heart-breaking was the William C. And Margaret Egloff House in the Park Place neighborhood. With Mason Citys growing reputation as a destination for architecture, it seemed unforgivable to allow the wrecking ball to have the last word.

The house, which boasts several classic elements of Streamline International architecture, is significant because of the revolutionary placement of the garage as the primary focal point of its front facade, reflecting the increasing importance of the automobile to Americas middle class. Previously, garages had been located behind houses along an alley, so this placement initiated a new architectural trend.

It was a long and expensive process for an all-volunteer group, but in the end, the Historic Egloff House (which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places) and three additional houses from the Park Place neighborhood were saved. In addition, six blighted properties on East State Street were acquired and razed as part of this project. The relocated houses, a large gray four-square, brick Tudor, and limestone cottage, provide architectural context for the Egloff House. Whats more, they have transformed the neighborhood, which is located along the Architectural Walking Tour between the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Historic Park Inn Hotel and the Rock Crest/Rock Glen Historic District.

However, house museums have a difficult time cash-flowing. The project volunteers were committed to finding an adaptive reuse for this property that would result in economic stability and solve a community need.

North Iowa hosts many students for internships and medical rotations as part of their professional training. Previously, this pool was limited to those who could arrange to stay with friends or family. Utilizing the five bedrooms and common areas as short-term, furnished housing for these students filled an articulated workforce need. With this flexible housing option, local businesses can host interns from across the country. And they are doing just that!

The goal is to connect these young professionals to the community and to each other, as well as foster an environment that will encourage them to accept full-time positions in North Iowa when they complete their education.

For more information about the Historic Egloff House and rental opportunities for college interns and professional students or about the Community Concierge service, contact the Chamber of Commerce.

Robin Anderson is president and CEO of Chamber of Commerce

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Gokul20 wrote:

Hi Experts,

If someone can explain the approach for this problem, would be helpful. I did get it right, but took a lot of time understanding and deciphering each answer choice. Are there any better ways to get this quickly? Any help with such questions would be much appreciated.

This is a typical Strengthen the Conclusion question. We need to assess the premises and the conclusion presented in the stimulus.



Conclusion: It was ethically permissible to file the censored report.



Premises on which the conclusion is based:



1) Refugees were starving because the government would not permit food shipments to a rebel-held area.

2) Government censors deleted all mention of the governments role in the starvation.

3) The report had not implicated either nature or the rebels in the starvation.

4) The journalists news agency would precede it with the notice Cleared by government censors".



Clearly, the ethical question is whether to file a report which does not clearly identify the perpetrator of the starvation, even though the information is available with the journalist. So we are looking for an answer option which allows this, with the notice of censor possibly acting to mitigate this exclusion.

If it is unethical to omit facts which alter the impression, then filing this report is clearly unethical because it omits to mention the government's role in the starvation. Eliminate.

Similar to (A) - the omitted facts here clearly exonerate the rebels, thus making this report unethical. Eliminate.

Since the government here has deleted material unfavorable to itself from the report, this option too makes the report unethical. Eliminate.

Correct. Since the news agency will carry the notice of censor, the condition for the report being unethical is not satisfied, making the report ethical.

The reported facts may give a misleading impression here, since the role of the government is completed omitted thereby leaving all parties potentially liable in the eyes of the reader. We cannot convincingly rule out the unethical nature of the report. Eliminate.

Hi Gokul(A) It is ethical in general to report known facts but unethical to do so while omitting other known facts if the omitted facts would substantially alter an impression of a person or institution that would be congruent with the reported facts.(B) In a situation of conflict, it is ethical to report known facts and unethical to fail to report known facts that would tend to exonerate one party to the conflict.(C) In a situation of censorship, it is unethical make any report if the government represented by the censor deletes from the report material unfavorable to that government.(D) It is ethical in general to report known facts but unethical to make a report in a situation of censorship if relevant facts have been deleted by the censor unless the recipient of the report is warned that censorship existed.(E) Although it is ethical in general to report known facts, it is unethical to make a report from which a censor has deleted relevant facts, unless the recipient of the report is warned that there was censorship and the reported facts do not by themselves give a misleading impression.Hope this helps._________________
Davenport Energy Inc. on Monday announced the promotion of Harold (Hal) E. Thornton Jr. to president.

Hal has been a key part of our success, and we are thrilled to promote him to this important position, said Lewis E. Wall Jr., chief executive officer of Davenport Energy, provider of gasoline, diesel fuel and propane products.

Thornton joined the company in 1995 as human resources director and quickly rose to several supervisory and management positions, including his most recent as executive vice president.

Thornton was employed by North American Locating Inc. before joining Davenport Energy.

Davenport Energy Inc. has been my work home for nearly 27 years, he said. The excitement of watching the company flourish is only matched by the day-to-day honor of being a member of Team Davenport.

Thornton has served in a number of industry and community organizations, and is a Sunday school teacher and member of the Church Council of Watson Memorial United Methodist Church in Chatham.

He and his wife, Nina Beth, have a son and daughter, and two grandchildren.

Davenport Energy is a diversified provider of petroleum products to residential, commercial, industrial, agriculture and convenience stores across Virginia, North Carolina, West Virginia and Tennessee.

Learn more about the company at davenportenergy.com.
ROCKY MOUNT  Adding a splash of yellow to the drab winter landscape, dozens of excavators and bulldozers sit in rows on a gravel lot, idled by the latest stop in construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

Developers had hoped the equipment would be in the field by now, finishing work on a natural gas pipeline that was supposed to be done four years ago.

But on a mild afternoon last week, crews loaded one of the excavators onto a tractor-trailer bound for a different construction job, one with more promise.

Mountain Valley  which lost two permits this year to a federal appeals court that has repeatedly struck down its government-issued approvals  is facing the greatest danger of collapse since the $6.2 billion infrastructure project was authorized in 2017.

The pipeline starts in West Virginia and ends in Chatham.

While construction remains at a standstill, efforts to revive the pipeline continue on several fronts:

Attorneys for Mountain Valley have asked the full 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider decisions by a three-judge panel, which in late January struck down a permit allowing the pipeline to pass through the Jefferson National Forest and the following week invalidated an opinion from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that work would not jeopardize endangered species.

U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia is calling for legislative or executive action to advance the project. The 303-mile pipeline will start in the Mountain State before passing through the Roanoke and New River valleys.

And with Russias invasion of Ukraine tightening the global energy market, supporters of Mountain Valley say its needed more than ever for a steady supply of natural gas.

Seeking legal relief

A federal appellate court based in Richmond  and in particular, three judges on the 15-member court  has been perhaps the sharpest thorn in the side of a joint venture of five energy companies that make up Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC.

Chief Judge Roger Gregory and judges Stephanie Thacker and James Wynn have presided over 12 cases in which environmental groups challenged permits issued to Mountain Valley and the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a similar project that was canceled in 2020 as legal problems mounted.

That panels record speaks for itself, pipeline attorneys wrote in a recent court filing, stating that all but two of the 12 contested permits have been vacated or stayed over the past four years.

On March 11, a petition filed by Mountain Valley asked the full Fourth Circuit to consider the decisions of the three-judge panel in a rare proceeding known as an en banc hearing.

The consequences of the panels actions are grave, the petition states. Its errors have trapped Mountain Valley and the agencies in a perpetual loop, ordered to redo work that was neither arbitrary nor capricious, knowing that revised analysis will yet again be subject to inappropriately aggressive review.

A key argument is that the three-judge panel substituted its own judgment for that of the Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife Service. Mountain Valley says that violates a long-established precedent that deference should be given to agencies when they decide complex matters involving their own expertise.

The panel engaged in textbook fly-speckary, the petitions state, examining in minute detail the Fish and Wildlife Services opinion that construction would not jeopardize endangered species in the pipelines path, which include the Roanoke logperch and the candy darter fish.

Worse, the panels criticisms in key respects are just wrong, the filings contend.

In 2018, the Fourth Circuit remanded a Forest Service permit, which allowed the pipeline to pass through 3.5 miles of national forest in Giles and Montgomery counties. The agency spent nearly two years working on an environmental impact statement that addressed the courts concerns about erosion problems being overlooked, Mountain Valley contends.

The panel nonetheless vacated the agencys determination once again, based on modest disagreements over points of secondary significance, the companys filing said of the courts second rejection of the Forest Service permit earlier this year.

Hearings by full court are rare

Mountain Valley faces a steep uphill climb.

When a three-judge panels decision is unanimous, as it was in the two cases at issue, the Fourth Circuit is cautious about granting an en banc hearing, according to Carl Tobias, an expert on the court who teaches at the University of Richmonds law school.

Just four such requests were granted last year by the Fourth Circuit, Tobias said. The court hears appeals from federal administrative agencies and nine district courts in Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Maryland.

The active judges may defer somewhat to a unanimous panel ruling, especially if the reasoning is persuasive, Tobias said.

An en banc hearing is generally not ordered unless it is necessary to secure uniformity in the courts decisions or the case involves a question of exceptional importance, according to the rules of the court.

The Sierra Club, one of about a dozen national, state and local environmental groups that have challenged Mountain Valleys permits, says there is no need for the full court to second-guess its three-judge panel.

This petition is just another example of MVP grasping for straws to complete their unnecessary project, Caroline Hansley, a senior campaign representative with the Sierra Club, said last week in a statement.

Pipeline opponents point to Mountain Valleys environmental track record, which in Virginia includes nearly 400 violations of erosion and sediment control regulations and fines of more than $2 million from state regulators.

This reckless project cannot be built in a safe manner that complies with standards designed to protect our lands, water and vulnerable species, Hansley said.

To date, neither the Forest Service nor the Fish and Wildlife Service have joined Mountain Valley, which is an intervenor in the cases, in asking the Fourth Circuit to grant a rehearing.

When asked if the Fish and Wildlife Service supports Mountain Valleys petition, a spokesman for the service said he could not comment on legal matters. The Forest Service had not provided an answer to the same question by late Friday.

Nathan Matthews, a senior attorney for the Sierra Club who was involved in the Forest Service case, questioned the assertion that the Fourth Circuit substituted its own judgment for that of the agency.

Rather, the Forest Service failed to form any judgments at all in some cases, Matthews said, citing as an example its failure to consider water quality data from government monitors installed a short distance from the Jefferson National Forest.

A legislative solution?

In recent weeks, Mountain Valley has gained an alley in West Virginia Democrat Manchin, who is often more conservative than his partys base.

Manchin is pushing for reinforcing domestic energy supplies in light of Russias invasion of Ukraine, which has tightened the global market for oil and natural gas.

I know some might bristle at investing in fossil fuel infrastructure as a long-term asset, the senator said in prepared remarks March 10 to the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which he chairs.

But let me tell you  the Mountain Valley Pipeline could be completed in four months if it was finally given the green light. And Ive got legislation ready that would do just that.

Details of the bills, which have not yet been introduced, were not available. Manchins press office declined to comment.

Manchin has also called on President Joe Biden to employ the Domestic Production Act, directing private companies to step up efforts crucial to national defense interests, in an effort to jump-start Mountain Valley. In the past, the measure has been used for emergency matters such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

When asked earlier this month about the matter, White House press secretary Jen Psaki suggested that the administration was not inclined to pay oil companies for what they probably already have the capacity to do, according to reporting by The Hill, which covers politics and policy from Washington, D.C.

Manchins support for Mountain Valley has also been reflected in his questions to nominees for Department of Interior positions and to members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the lead agency responsible for approving natural gas pipelines and overseeing their construction.

Mountain Valley has run into court case after court case after court case, Manchin said in a recording posted to the committees website. This product needs to get to market.

Debate over need continues

Ever since 2014, when plans to bury a 42-inch pipe along the mountains of Southwest Virginia sparked an intense controversy that continues today, theres been debate over the need for the fuel it will carry.

Pipeline opponents say residential and commercial use of natural gas has remained stable over the past 20 years and is expected to remain so for just as long.

Transporting 2 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas to markets in the mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the county will worsen a climate crisis that should be addressed with renewable energy, they say.

A small crowd of protesters gathered Wednesday outside Roanoke Gas Co., which plans to take natural gas from two taps of pipeline and distribute it to its 60,000-plus customers in the Roanoke and New River valleys.

Its a tragedy that MVPs partners havent been responsible to their shareholders by canceling this ever increasingly expensive boondoggle, said Freeda Cathcart of Roanoke, a frequent critic of Roanoke Gass involvement with the project.

A subsidiary of RGC Resources, the parent company of Roanoke Gas, is a 1% partner in building the pipeline.

Paul Nester, president and CEO of RGC, disputed the groups positions, which include arguments that there is sufficient capacity in the two other pipelines that currently supply Roanoke Gas.

Multiple federal and state regulatory bodies have confirmed the need for the energy this important infrastructure project can provide to not only this region, but the entire United States, Nester said.

When it approved the project in 2017, FERC found there was a public need for the gas  a decision it reaffirmed in 2020 when it gave Mountain Valley a two-year extension to complete the project. FERCs initial finding has been upheld by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

Despite the recent setbacks, Mountain Valley says it still plans to complete the project. Details on when that may happen, and whether the $6.2 billion cost of construction will rise once again, have been sketchy.

At a trial last week in Roanokes federal court, held to determine how much property owners should be paid for land taken by eminent domain, a Mountain Valley official testified that the hope is to have the pipeline in operation by next summer.
Its a bird. Its a plane. Its a Carolina northern flying squirrel!

This past February, researchers with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation and Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation conducted their annual population count of one of North Carolinas endangered species found on Grandfather Mountain: the Carolina northern flying squirrel.

During the Wildlife Commissions recent study on the mountain, the state agency was able to identify five Carolina northern flying squirrels using a series of nest boxes along a transect line. The researchers monitor trends in occupancy, or presence/absence of flying squirrels that exist on the mountain based on the squirrels they find in their studies. They then use this data to examine trends in occupancy over time.

Currently, up-to-date monitoring data are not available to the public. However, John Caveny, director of education and natural resources with the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation, the nonprofit organization that owns and operates the Linville, N.C., nature park, has participated in the studies for the past several years and said that, on average, it is typical to find six to 10 squirrels during one of these studies.

For the most part, it is safe to say that our population at Grandfather Mountain is stable, Caveny said.

The number of squirrels detected annually has varied throughout the study. This is due in part to the fact that northern flying squirrels have multiple den sites and may not be using a nest box on the day of the survey. Biologists suspect a variety of factors influence use of boxes, including recent weather and food availability. Imperfect detection of a rare, elusive, nocturnal species often requires multiple survey and monitoring techniques. NCWRC biologists supplement the nest box monitoring with acoustic monitoring that uses an automated recording unit to record the vocalizations of flying squirrels.

As part of the winter nest box monitoring, researchers gently coax the squirrel out of a nest box, which the squirrels use for denning and rearing their young, and into a mesh bag. They then measure the squirrels hindfoot length in order to verify if it is a Carolina northern flying squirrel, whose feet are longer than the more common southern flying squirrel.

Moreover, the range of the northern species is restricted to high-elevation forests, while southern flying squirrels are more commonly found in lower elevations. Northern flying squirrels have bright cinnamon-brown colored fur and a cape of loose skin that stretches from their wrists to ankles, allowing them the ability to glide through the air. Other features that set the northern flying squirrel apart include bicolored belly hairs (gray and white) and the fact that these squirrels weigh nearly twice as much as their southern counterparts.

Biologists also examine the color of the squirrels tail, which indicates its age, and they also verify its weight, sex and reproductive condition. All five of the squirrels that the researchers found were male, which is not unusual given that the study is conducted during one of the squirrels breeding periods when males are particularly active.

As a distinct sub-species of the more commonly found northern flying squirrel, which thrives in the boreal forests of Canada, the Carolina northern flying squirrel is a species that plays a critical role in determining the health of its environment. These squirrels are known as an indicator species, meaning that the health of this population of squirrels corresponds with the health of the forest as a whole.

This species is only found in the spruce-fir forest and northern hardwood forests, Caveny said. Spruce-fir forests are the second most endangered forest community in the U.S. If we lose these forests, then we lose these squirrels. What population trends can help show us is if there is something going on in that habitat, such as an invasive species like the balsam woolly adelgid thats killing trees that the squirrels den in or some other invasive species that is out-competing them for the food sources they have.

The Carolina northern flying squirrel perpetuates its own forest habitat. Unlike other species of squirrel that help populate the forests trees and other plants by burying acorns and seeds, the Carolina northern flying squirrel does so by primarily feeding on and spreading truffles, a type of fungi that is found on the roots of trees.

These fungi are a critical organism that trees use as a source of water, while the fungi themselves use the trees as a source for sugar. As the squirrels eat the outer shell of the truffle, they inadvertently consume and then pass the undigested spores from the truffle throughout the forest in a way that only flying squirrels can.

As one of Grandfather Mountains 72 threatened or endangered species, the Carolina northern flying squirrel has been studied at Grandfather Mountain since the 1990s. The species was first discovered in North Carolina in the 1950s and later listed as federally endangered in 1985. The Carolina northern flying squirrel is only found in nine locations throughout Western North Carolina, Eastern Tennessee and Southwest Virginia.

The species was identified at Grandfather Mountain once research expanded beyond Mt. Mitchell, Roan Mountain and the Great Smoky Mountains after it was classified endangered. Ever since, staff from Grandfather Mountain and Grandfather Mountain State Park have assisted in research.

To learn more about the endangered species that exist on Grandfather Mountain, visit www.grandfather.com/protecting-endangered-species.

The nonprofit Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation strives to inspire conservation of the natural world by helping guests explore, understand and value the wonders of Grandfather Mountain. For more information, call 800-468-7325, or visit www.grandfather.com to book a trip.
RALEIGH  North Carolina legislators are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on a legal theory that could have massive implications for elections around the country  and that several justices have already said they're open to.

It's related to the gerrymandering case the legislature recently lost when the court denied an appeal from GOP leaders. But even though the legislature lost that fight, The News & Observer reported last week, there is a good chance the court will take up the new appeal that has now been filed.

In February the N.C. Supreme Court, which has a Democratic majority, ruled along party lines that Republican lawmakers had unconstitutionallvy gerrymandered the state's 14 U.S. House of Representatives districts. Republican leaders appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has a majority of Republican-appointed justices, asking them to throw out the state court ruling in time for the 2022 midterms this year.

The court refused that request for a fast-tracked case, but Republican lawmakers still had the option to ask to make a broader argument for the future: that neither state courts, nor the executive branch, should have any authority over anything related to federal elections, including on topics like redistricting or voter ID. All power should belong to the state legislature, they plan to argue, in North Carolina and in every other state.

On Thursday they issued that argument formally. Now it's up to the Supreme Court to decide if their argument should be heard.

"It is time to settle the Elections Clause question once and for all," N.C. House Speaker Tim Moore said Thursday in a news release, referring to the part of the U.S. Constitution he believes backs up his argument.

The Supreme Court has already answered this question multiple times in the past, UNC law professor Michael Gerhardt told The N&O last week, consistently ruling against the argument Moore and his fellow lawmakers are trying to make now.

"The Court has rejected that narrow reading in favor of interpreting that clause to mean that ... there may be, and often are, issues to be decided by other state authorities, and state courts may have a role," Gerhardt said.

What happens next

Now that the legislature has asked the Supreme Court to hear their argument, they need four justices to vote to take it up. As The N&O previously reported, that's likely to happen.

The court voted 6-3 to deny the legislature's initial attempt to hear the case in time for this year's elections, with conservative Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch saying they wanted to consider it. A fourth, Brett Kavanaugh, said he agreed that the argument is important but thought the timing was wrong.

So it appears the legislature won't have trouble getting the four votes needed for the court to hear the case. The bigger question is whether those four, if they do end up supporting the legislature's argument, can get a fifth justice on board for a majority.

"This case presents an exceptionally important and recurring question of constitutional law, namely, the extent of a state court's authority to reject rules adopted by a state legislature for use in conducting federal elections," Alito wrote in the dissent. "There can be no doubt that this question is of great national importance."

The argument is controversial  Salon, a left-leaning political news site, recently wrote it could mean "literally the end of democracy"  because it would eliminate any checks and balances on the legislative branch for running elections.

But it has picked up steam in conservative legal circles in recent years. Despite the previous court rulings that have found otherwise, Moore said Thursday that "the U.S. Constitution is crystal clear" in favor of their argument. And his counterpart, N.C. Senate leader Phil Berger of Eden, said that: "We must continue this fight to restore the primacy of the legislature and put an end to these efforts to undermine its constitutional duty."

The 2020 campaign of Republican President Donald Trump used similar logic to argue that states with Republican-controlled legislatures should have been able to give their electoral votes to Trump, even if the people of the state voted for Democratic candidate Joe Biden.

Gerhardt said the theory's resurgence stems from an unsuccessful argument the late Justice Antonin Scalia attempted to make as part of the Bush v. Gore case, when the Supreme Court made George W. Bush president in 2000. Three of the court's nine current justices worked for Bush's legal team on that case  Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts.

Officials at the N.C. State Board of Elections oppose the argument that only the legislature can be involved in federal elections, saying it would lead to mass confusion, especially since there wouldn't be a similar rule for other elections.

Laws could be struck down as unconstitutional, but only for non-federal elections like for governor or city council, the NCSBE wrote, while nevertheless remaining in place for elections for president or Congress. People could also be forced to register to vote twice, the board wrote in a previous brief to the court, in addition to other confusing or contradictory consequences.

"(The legislature's) understanding of the Elections Clause would threaten to invalidate the elections regimes in every state in the nation," the NCSBE wrote.
Two people died and two others lapsed into critical condition.

Dozens were left hungry, scared, wet and cold.

More likely than not, since they resided in a for-profit assisted living center that had already attracted the attention of government regulators, the victims were poor.

And make no mistake, every single one of the 98 residents trapped inside the Pine Ridge Health and Rehabilitation Center during a winter storm Jan. 16 was a victim.

Three staff members, more than likely underpaid and overworked, showed up to care for residents.

Not long after the desperate residents phoned 911 begging for help, the outrage flowed.

Earlier this week, in a report compiled by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, we got a first glimpse at the price for such abominable behavior: undisclosed penalties including fines and withholding of Medicaid payments.

And thats about it so far.

Fines and withheld payments for new admissions levied after men and women suffered.

Deeply troubling

The initial report from Thomasville police the next morning was, to put it mildly, jaw-dropping.

Panicked calls the evening of Jan. 16 summoned police to Pine Ridge in the aftermath of snow and ice that ground to a halt the entire region.

Two residents had died and two transported to local hospitals. Three employees  God love em  showed up to care for the 98 residents, many of whom needed help with basic tasks.

Obviously the weather and road conditions contributed to the inadequate staffing issues with the facility, said police Capt. Brad Saintsing in that report.

Others would submit that low wages and tough working conditions played a role, too.

Perhaps worse, as as we learned Tuesday, Pine Ridge had an emergency preparedness plan for dealing with bad weather that just sat there.

What we found is that, although they had a plan, they never pulled it off the shelf. Staff didnt know they had it, Emery Milliken, deputy director of the N.C. Division of Health Service Regulation, told legislators Tuesday.

The cost? Undisclosed penalties. Fines.

The hell of it is, regulators knew  or should have known if they read their own reports  that Pine Ridge had a history.

Since 2018, the operators of Pine Ridge have been fined more than $120,000 for infractions that arguably resulted from  not having enough staff.

More than 40 deficiencies, verified by investigators through interviews with staff, residents and the centers own records, were noted. They included leaving incontinent residents in soiled undergarments for more than an hour, restricting visiting hours for relatives of a terminally ill patient and leaving residents without a shower for more than two weeks.

And for all that, the operator of Pine Ridge, Principle LTC, based in Kinston, was fined and got a stern talking-to, which resulted in promises to do better next time.

After the mess in January, even Gov. Roy Cooper joined in the chorus of ringing criticism.

This is deeply troubling, the governor said. We must make sure that were looking after people in these kinds of facilities and the matter should be fully investigated and thats what I expect to happen.

Maybe it will.

Money talks

Whether the governor meant to  I doubt it was intentional  his choice of phrasing was interesting.

These kinds of facilities.

By that, Cooper likely meant what bureaucrats refer to as congregate living settings  nursing homes, assisted living facilities, rehab centers and the like  where people live for long periods in shared spaces in shared buildings.

According to the state Division of Health Service Regulation, North Carolina had 423 licensed nursing facilities as of December 2021 looking after more than 38,000 residents.

Pine Ridge most certainly fits those definitions.

No doubt, many of them are fine places deserving five-star reviews where caring (and adequately compensated) staff look after our elders and those whose afflictions require assistance with love and patience.

Then there are others that wind up as key players in horrid tragedies.

Remember the name Danby House? Thats the spot in Winston-Salem where employees encouraged residents to fight and then videotaped it. Two workers were convicted of misdemeanors earlier this month, and a civil lawsuit filed on behalf of the victims was settled late last year.

An isolated incident not indicative of the care on offer at Danby House most likely, but still those staffers were hired.

Even in the chaos at Pine Ridge, a small cadre of workers moved by the plight of those in their care, did their level best.

You cant read that report and not feel a sense of sadness for both what happened to the residents and for those three staff who were trying so hard to serve the needs of 98, Milliken said.

A legislative committee is reviewing reports about Pine Ridge, and various law-enforcement agencies conducted investigations.

Pine Ridge, for its part, issued a statement in which its operators said the company has been working diligently to address issues that occurred.

Mmm-hmm. Similar pledges no doubt were uttered after previous fines and violations.

Maybe a systemic follow-up look at Pine Ridge will yet turn out to have more bite than undisclosed penalties. But maybe, especially after learning about previous fines and wrist-slapping reports, the time for a deeper dive was years before a winter storm in January.

Two dead and two left in critical condition while others begged for help demands better.
Johnson at Alfanars stand at the Sabic Development Centre in Riyadh

Alfanar of Saudi Arabia is investing 1 billion ($1.32 billion) in the Lighthouse Green Fuel project in Teesside, the UK, to produce sustainable aviation fuel from waste.

This was told to Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the UK, at Alfanars stand during his visit to the Sabic Development Centre in Riyadh.

The Lighthouse Green Fuel project, which is the first of its kind in the UK, produces more than 180 million litres of sustainable aviation fuel annually.

It is part of Alfanar's ongoing green energy development programme undertaken in different parts of the world, including Spain, India, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

The amount produced is sufficient to operate 15,000 flights per year while reducing harmful carbon emissions from conventional fuels by more than 700,000 tons annually.

Alfanar's has a diversified portfolio of products and services and works to providing sustainable solutions in power, healthcare, oil and gas, water and social sectors.

The company manufactures electrical and construction products at six facilities worldwide and has revolutionised the way cities are run by building and integrating the digital Infrastructure. --OGN
UPDATE  Greensboro police say they arrested Antonio Dshaun Holloway, 33, on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, inflicting serious injury, in connection with Monday's shooting. He is in the Guilford County Jail on $250,000 bond. The victim, who was shot twice, was listed as critical but stable condition, according to a news release.

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GREENSBORO  A person was hospitalized after being shot twice Monday afternoon in the 900 block of Dunbar Street, Greensboro police said in a news release.

Officers responded to the shooting just after 2:30 p.m. and found one person suffering from two gunshot wounds. Police said the person's injuries were not considered to be life-threatening.

Police did not release any additional details.

Authorities ask anyone with information to contact Greensboro/Guilford Crime Stoppers at 336-373-1000; or, download the mobile P3tips app for Apple or Android phones to submit a mobile tip, or go to P3tips.com to submit a web tip.
JACKSONVILLE  U.S. Marines are known as fearless, but Camp Lejeune in Onslow County has issued an unusual warning for personnel to avoid contact with all wildlife in their path.

A raccoon captured at the 153,439-acre base tested positive for rabies last week and an additional raccoon was trapped and wildlife officials are awaiting lab results, the U.S. Marine Corps said in a news release.

Marines and civilians at the camp should be on the lookout for animals exhibiting suspicious behavior.

Installation personnel are advised to stay away from all animals, especially wildlife that are unusually aggressive, tame or disoriented, base officials said. Animals showing these types of behaviors do not necessarily have rabies, but should still be avoided.

The base did not report whether anyone had come into contact with the two raccoons.

Marines at the facility are frequently in the wilderness for training, elevating their risk of coming into contact with wildlife.

The camp near Jacksonville is the largest Marine Corps base on the East Coast and includes 14 miles of coastline, according to the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. It is home to several training schools, including the Marine Corps Combat Service Support School.

Camp Lejeune has had wildlife troubles in the past, including alligators. American alligators are native to the southeastern North Carolina coast and can grow to 15 feet. In 2018, base officials noted one of these alligators living near some barracks, which was unusual. Even more strange: The alligator had lost its fear of people, likely due to being fed by someone.

Base officials decided to capture and move the alligator somewhere else on the installation.
WINSTON-SALEM  Former state Sen. Linda Garrou, a top state government budget-writer when Democrats controlled the chamber in the 2000s, has died at age 79.

Garrou died Saturday at Forsyth Memorial Hospital in Winston-Salem after suffering a stroke, her husband said.

The Forsyth County Democrat served in the Senate for over a dozen years until she declined to seek reelection in 2012. A redistricting plan approved by Republicans, who had taken General Assembly majorities in 2011, put her in the same district with a GOP senator.

For eight years, Garrou was one of the co-chairs of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, helping make major decisions on where billions in taxpayer money would be spent.

At the time of her retirement announcement in 2012, Garrou said she was proud of her efforts to invest in capital projects in the Winston-Salem area, working for budgets that raised teacher pay and expanding health insurance for more children of working families.

Garrou was a champion for North Carolina, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper wrote in a tweet on Sunday. Cooper and Garrou served in the Senate at the same time in 1999 and 2000.

Her firm, steady leadership helped many get healthier and better educated, Cooper added.

Garrou was close friends with future U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan of Greensboro. They roomed together when they both served in the state Senate.

A Georgia native, Garrou and her future husband, John, met while they were both attending UNC-Chapel Hill. She didnt get actively involved in politics until she sought a legislative seat.

John Garrou said his wife should be remembered as someone who was always trying to serve others.
ICARD  Pastor Tim Campbell loves to make people smile, and he generates grins when he dresses as Colonel Sanders. You know? The late founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken.

In a white suit, black string bow tie, black dress shoes and cane, he becomes The Colonel.

(Making people smile has) always been his goal even without The Colonel, wife Brenda Campbell said. He loves to make people smile.

Campbell likes to go out as The Colonel as much as possible, although the pandemic has made that difficult. Hes excited to again dress as the iconic entrepreneur.

I dont want to go home and take this off. I want to leave it on and go somewhere, Campbell said. If we go to an event or something, Ill say, Man, I look too good just to go home and change clothes. Lets go to Walmart. Well go to Walmart, walk around and Ill do a dozen pictures with people.

Campbell, 64, is the pastor at Icard Church of God in Burke County. Campbell has been a pastor since 1982 and The Colonel for a little longer  11 years. One thing he said he hopes to do in the future is officiate a wedding as The Colonel.

The Colonel  born Harland David Sanders in Henryville, Ind.  founded Kentucky Fried Chicken, and its secret recipe in the 1950s and later became the symbol of the chain. The title of colonel was bestowed upon Sanders in 1950 by Kentuckys governor and is an honorary designation, not a military rank.

Sanders died on Dec. 16, 1980 at age 90, but his likeness and legacy endure to this day.

Campbell recently talked about his time as The Colonel.

How did this start?The Colonel started when I was pastoring in Burnsville. There was a camp for handicapped children. Its called Camp Funshine. They always celebrate every year. They would have a big celebration. When it starts, it goes from Monday through Thursday.

They were celebrating a milestone for KFC. I cant remember what it was. It was an anniversary. They asked me to be Colonel Sanders. People said I looked like Colonel Sanders. Id never played Colonel Sanders before. So I had a white Easter suit. I found me a cane at the Goodwill, ordered a tie and I got my beard trimmed down like his.

It was wonderful just being with those kids. Ill never forget one young man. He looked like he was maybe 25. I came out of the cabin where I got dressed. Hed come to take me over (to the celebration.) Ill never forget he walked up to me, looked at me, put his arm around me and he said, Well, I thought you was dead.

Has anyone ever confused you with the real Colonel Sanders?I have to explain to a lot of people that Im not really Colonel Sanders. Ive had people come up to me and say, Wow, are you the real Colonel Sanders? And Id say, No, if I was real Colonel Sanders, Id be almost 132 years old.

How often do you impersonate him?It has been slow through this pandemic, but we try to go out in the community and spread cheer everywhere. We have been in the rest homes. Of course, I go as a pastor but I go dressed as The Colonel.

Sometimes, I get invited to go to birthdays. Sometimes, well go to KFC and buy about four dozen cookies to take to businesses. We take cookies there and give them to the workers, especially during this pandemic. Weve done that twice.

I love going to restaurants. I love walking in a restaurant as The Colonel and them not knowing Im coming. Sometimes well go to a KFC when they dont know were coming.

I love going to parades. Were hoping to go to Mayberry (Days) this year and do the parade there. But its a matter of finding somebody to drive me in the parade.
Years ago, when I was just beginning to practice immigration law, I remember hearing about two horrific genocides. They were almost back-to-back, happening within little more than a year of each other, and each became the focus of a war crimes tribunal at The Hague. The first one occurred in the spring of 1994 when Rwandan Hutus massacred hundreds of thousands of their Tutsi neighbors in a matter of months. A year later, in Bosnia, thousands of Muslim men and boys were murdered by their Serbian captors in a town called Srebrenica.

At the time, it was difficult to find any overt racism as we have come to view it in the United States, because both the victims and the victimizers in Rwanda were Black, and the victims and victimizers in Bosnia were white (although in the latter case there was the additional element of religion, which was the motivating factor for the Bosnian Serbs). All that mattered was that one group of people had terrorized and dehumanized another group of people based on hatred and ignorance, and the world looked on in horror. It was a replay of the Holocaust, only televised.

But when I listen to people like Joy Ann Why Is She Still On Television Reid, I realize that we Americans have lost any sense of reality. On her show on MSNBC, Reid made this statement about the deepening humanitarian crisis:

As the world watches the devastation unfold in Ukraine, nearly 4,000 miles away, another crisis is deepening that we dont hear much about in the U.S., and that is the war in Yemen. The coverage of Ukraine has revealed a pretty radical disparity in how human Ukrainians look and feel to Western media compared to their browner and Blacker counterparts, with some reporters using very telling comparisons in their analyses of the war. She added that the world cared more for white Christians than it did for people who looked like her.

Interestingly enough, Reid has only recently become interested in Yemen, judging from her searchable public statements. I googled her name next to crisis in Yemen and came up with page after page of her most recent tirade against white Christians, but virtually nothing earlier than last week. Nothing.

Then there were those I cant believe that happened! news flashes about people of color who were taken off refugee trains to give space to Ukrainians attempting to flee their beleaguered country. When there was the suggestion that Black and brown foreign exchange students were taken off trains, the first reaction should have been: Thats terrible, but people become desperate during war time and lose sense of their humanity.

Instead, it became those disgusting white people are racist, and they got even more racist when the bombs were falling on their heads and their children were being massacred. God, they are just white supremacists, like those parents at school board meetings.

Im exaggerating, of course. But instead of realizing that people act poorly in times of crisis, the mainstream media went right to the George Floyd narrative of white people hating on people of color. It never occurred to the observers that maybe, just maybe, the color of the students didnt matter. It was the fact, equally repellent but not racialized, that Ukrainians had more sympathy for other Ukrainians than they did for foreigners.

It was the same when we were evacuating Afghanistan and my friends were saying we need to get the Americans out, and I was saying we also need to rescue the Afghan allies who risked their lives for Americans.

People can be inhuman in many different ways. The Bosnian Serbs hated the Bosnian Muslims because they saw these men, who looked and spoke and lived like them, side by side for generations, as the other. It was their religion that put the target on their backs.

In Rwanda, the Hutus went after men, women and children who looked exactly like them, sounded like them, worshiped like them (mostly Catholic Christians), and saluted the same flag. They did this because of tribal loyalties and ethnic hatreds. And skin color was irrelevant, as it was with the Serbs.

Its sad that we have to fit every instance of horror and genocide into these nice little Black Lives Matter categories in the U.S., and twist the narrative so that it allows despicable people like Joy Ann Reid to exploit tragedy. There is a genocide going on in Ukraine, and the vast majority of the victims are white Christians.

The fact that this is a problem for people like Joy Ann Reid shouldnt make a damn difference.

Christine Flowers (cflowers1961@gmail.com) is an attorney and a columnist for the Delaware County (Pa.) Daily Times.
Two years ago, I was in a hospital bed on the 15th floor of NYU Langone hospital in Manhattan, dying of COVID-19. A previously healthy, 44-year-old runner, I found myself impossibly weak, unable to walk 5 feet from my bed to the bathroom without a nurses help. I could barely breathe, even with the highest levels of supplemental oxygen. Eventually I wound up in the ICU, where I was placed on a ventilator.

Trying to shake our nation into taking the threat seriously, I shared my coronavirus ordeal with the world. I tweeted about it from the hospital; talked about it on the Today show, The Rachel Maddow Show and Nightline; and wrote for multiple publications about my time on the ventilator, my painfully slow recovery and my six-figure hospital bills (which I thankfully did not have to pay). I hoped that my story led others to do everything humanly possible to prevent contagion.

Today, COVID-19 is far less dangerous than it was two years ago, and I wonder: By telling my harrowing story, did I contribute to a climate of fear that we now find difficult to dispel?

Amazing vaccines have made illness much less severe. The currently dominant omicron variant is relatively mild. Treatments, including antiviral pills, monoclonal antibodies and steroids, are much more effective than what was available to me. As a result, the death rate among hospitalized patients has plummeted. In April 2020, when I left the hospital, more than 23% of patients who went to the hospital for COVID-19 wound up dying there. By September 2021, only 2.8% died in the hospital. Practically speaking, COVID today and COVID in the spring of 2020 are vastly different.

Meanwhile, two years of mitigation measures have taken a serious toll: increased deaths from non-COVID causes, record numbers of fatal drug overdoses, an economic crisis for our cities and a mental health crisis that has hit young people particularly hard. The pandemics effects have been especially harmful to education, with low-income and minority students suffering the most.

So, despite my own nightmarish experience, Im glad to see that states, counties and school districts are modifying pandemic requirements. Im glad to see that office leasing is on the rise again and major corporations are bringing their workers back to the office. Im glad to see that other nations are lifting contagion precautions and easing travel restrictions.

We should celebrate these developments  especially because even as theyre happening, COVID-19 cases and deaths are down dramatically from their peaks in California, the United States and the world (with some notable exceptions, such as China).

As states and countries start to move past the crisis stage of the pandemic, they can look to Californias SMARTER plan as a possible blueprint for addressing COVID-19 as a more endemic phenomenon. The plan, an acronym for shots, masks, awareness, readiness, testing, education and Rx, acknowledges that while keeping the public safe is important, so is keeping businesses open and keeping students in school. At the same time, the approach contains contingency plans and metrics for when to implement them, in case COVID-19 deaths start rising again  which cant be ruled out, especially if a more dangerous new variant emerges.

With more than a thousand Americans still dying every day, the virus remains a serious threat. We need to get more people vaccinated and boosted. We need to protect the most vulnerable, including the elderly and the immunocompromised. We need to support health care workers suffering from burnout, depression and anxiety. We need to treat people enduring long COVID, as I did for more than a year. We need to remember and mourn the almost 1 million Americans, and more than 6 million people worldwide, who have lost their lives to this disease.

Heres what we dont need: more fear. Instead, lets take a deep breath and move from a mindset of fear to a mindset of hope. After two long years, its hard to let go of being afraid, but lets try. If we continue living in a perpetual state of anxiety and emergency, we are defeating only ourselves.

David Lat is the author of Original Jurisdiction, a newsletter about law and the legal profession.
The deputy co-chair of the Executive Council in AANES, Bedran Ciya Kurd congratulated Newroz on the leader Abdullah Ocalan and all the people of the region.

Ciya Kurd recalled the martyr Mazloum Dogan and all the martyrs of freedom, and said: "We will make Newroz 2022 the physical freedom of the leader Ocalan, who revived Newroz with 50 years of resistance."

He pointed out that the leader Ocalan took the first step in 1973 in igniting the fire of Newroz, by saying: "The leader gave a new spirit to the birth of Newroz.

Ciya cleared that the people who seek to achieve their freedom no longer accept the isolation on the leader Abdullah Ocalan, and said "the time has come for the peoples to greet Nowruz with the leader Abdullah Ocalan."

Ciya added that Newroz will be celebrated next year with the liberation of Afrin, Serekaniye and Gire Spi, saying, "Our celebration will not be complete without liberation of Afrin, Serekaniye and Gire Spi from Turkish affiliated mercenaries."

Ciya Kurd stressed that what our regions need now is to unite the ranks and the political parties to be able to keep pace with developments that are taking place without being affected

He called all international, regional and international powers to clarify their position towards the Turkish crimes in Rojava and the legitimate defense areas

Ciya Kurd also called on Damascus government to review its policies, and said: "The region cannot go back to what was before 2011, all the components of the region must achieve their freedom in a new, decentralized and democratic Syria."

Bedran Ciya Kurd concluded that freedom dream became close, and we will live it in Afrin, Serekaniye and Gire Spi.

A.K

ANHA
On Monday, the work of the seventh round of the so-called Syrian Constitutional Committee begins in Geneva, in a new round among political stations that did not reach any tangible result, and were a waste of time.

The meetings of the so-called Constitutional Committee, which was launched under the auspices of Russia, Turkey and Iran, continue, amid disagreements between the participants and the absence of real representatives of the people, despite the failure of six previous sessions.

On behalf of the Syrians, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced the formation of the Constitutional Committee, following a summit between the presidents of Russia, Iran and Turkey in Ankara, which excluded representatives of five million Syrians, and sparked great controversy in the circles of democracy with low expectations of its success from the beginning.

In 2016, Russia began promoting a new Syrian constitution, and on May 24, 2016, the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, which is close to the Damascus government, said that Moscow had finished drafting a draft constitution for Syria, in which Russia tried to put in place smooth laws and constitutional articles to attract the Syrian parties.

But after the Russians, Iranians and Turks reached understandings on the Syrian arena, and approved the so-called de-escalation zones agreement, which these countries used to perpetuate their interests and occupy the Syrian lands, they had to change the goal of the constitution to legitimize this occupation and domination over the Syrian people.

This alliance worked to change the military map in Syria according to its new interests, and Turkey worked to withdraw its mercenaries from many areas in Ghouta, Aleppo countryside and Homs to the Idlib region, and among the deals that took place, Turkey occupied Afrin, Sere Kaniye and Gire Spi / Tal Abyad, and brought its mercenaries and their families to it as well. It brought about a demographic change in these areas.

After all, this alliance believes that the military victory that has been achieved will remain incomplete if it is not consolidated through political progress that achieves its interests, and the way out for them has become the Syrian constitution.

In this report, we review the previous rounds:

The first round.. a difficult birth

On November 8, 2019, the first round ended without results as members of the two delegations spoke of a lukewarm atmosphere and did not shake hands during the multiple days of meetings.

Expectations were weak for the talks, after Damascus, with the support of Russia and Iran, achieved field gains that left little justification for concessions. Members of the participating delegations said that the talks between the two sides were always fraught.

The second round .. failed to agree on the agenda

On the 30th of the same month, the second round failed to reach an agreement on the agenda of the committee's mini-body, which led to the failure of its convening on the last day of its second round in Geneva.

The United Nations played down the matter, considering that it was a mere procedural stumbling block that could be quickly overcome, but observers considered that the dispute over a mere agenda for the small body was evidence of the upcoming difficulties when the details were delved into and substantive issues were addressed.

The delegation of the Damascus government left the United Nations headquarters in Geneva first, followed by the rest of the delegations, without the committee meeting in the small body of 45 members.

In a press statement, the UN envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, said, "We have concluded the second session of the Constitutional Committee, and it was not possible to convene the meeting of the small group, because there was no agreement on the agenda."

The third round .. Corona joins the causes of failure

On August 25, 2020, the United Nations announced the suspension of the talks of the so-called Constitutional Committee in Geneva, after it was found that three participants had contracted the Covid-19, a few hours after the start of the meeting.

"After informing the Swiss authorities and the United Nations office in Geneva, immediate measures have been taken in line with protocols aimed at minimizing any risk, and anyone who may have had contact with the persons concerned is being closely followed up," the office of the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, said in a statement. .

Fourth round.. Damascus is looking to break the siege

On December 15, 2020, the fourth round of the meetings of the so-called Constitutional Committee ended in the Swiss city of Geneva, without achieving any breakthrough in the discussions.

Reports at the time stated that the Damascus government stipulated the lifting of sanctions and the lifting of the international siege imposed on it in order to make concessions.

Fifth round... Pedersen's frustration begins

On December 30, 2021, the fifth round of the so-called Constitutional Committee talks concluded without achieving any progress, adding another failure to the failure of the previous rounds.

The United Nations Special Envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, expressed his disappointment after the talks that took place in Geneva, explaining that the participating parties were unable to agree on a methodology for action.

"We cannot continue like this, it was a disappointing week," Pedersen told reporters after the fifth session of the 45 members of the so-called constitutional committee in Geneva.

For his part, said the spokesman for the United Nations in New York, Stephane Dujarric, that "Pedersen's frustration is clear" through his statement.

Sixth round .. Pedersen "very disappointed"

On October 23, 2021, the so-called Constitutional Committee concluded the work of its sixth round without progress in its work, in a move described by the UN envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen as extremely frustrating.

"We did not reach an understanding to draft a new constitution or to agree on the date of the next round," Pedersen said.

In the same mindset and framework, the so-called Constitutional Committee will hold its seventh round, starting from 21 to 25 of this month.

Representatives of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria were absent from the lists of the Constitutional Committee, under joint Turkish-Russian pressure, and thus, about 5 million Syrian citizens were excluded from this committee, which may establish the division of the country.

A path based on international interests

The co-chair of the Legislative Council in the Jazira region, Hikmat Habib, said in this context: "We believe that the basis of this path is based on international interests and different rapprochements far from the interests of the Syrian people. Like the previous paths, it will not achieve any progress because it does not come within the interests of the Syrian people." .

Habib added: "We see in this session like its predecessors, where several sessions were held for the so-called Constitutional Committee, and we always said that what is happening is a waste of time and does not come within the interests of the Syrian people. This committee is called, and it does not consider the true national interest, but rather within the interests of the exchange of roles between the different parties in that committee, in addition to the international and regional interventions in the sessions of this committee.

He explained that "when a constitution is written for all Syrians, whether it is with this so-called constitutional committee or within another framework, it is very difficult and contrary to all concepts to discuss a constitution and there are occupied lands and there is terrorist activity in those areas occupied by Turkey and there are no representatives for many areas To truly contribute to the writing and discussion of the constitution.

Habib pointed out that "in the beginning, it was supposed to provide a democratic and stable atmosphere through the complete elimination of terrorism and the liberation of the occupied lands, and then work according to a transitional phase in order to discuss a constitution in which all Syrians participate in a real way. It is very difficult to see any success for this committee. In these circumstances surrounding the occupied territories and the continued activity of terrorism.

Pedersen plays a functional role

On the position of the UN envoy, Habib said: "Mr. Pedersen is a UN official who plays only a functional role and does not work seriously for the success of anything in the Syrian political process, especially with regard to the Constitutional Committee, first because his decision is not a UN decision according to UN legitimacy or according to what it dictates. It is under international law, but it is working within and under regional and international pressures that change the will of the Syrians and impose the will of those countries on this basis.

Habib added: "He always promotes before the sessions that there is hope for progress in the work of the so-called constitutional committee, but after a day or two of this session, he puts an introduction to his abject failure and the failure of this committee, so expressions came to the conclusion that these results are disappointing."

On his goal, Habib said: "His goal is to continue his work as a UN employee, and moreover, he directly or indirectly practices the policy of those countries that impose certain agendas on him."

The international position is shy

The co-chair of the Legislative Council in al-Jazirah region criticized the international situation, saying: "It is a very shy attitude towards the Syrian crisis in general and in particular the so-called Constitutional Committee because, as I mentioned, this committee does not represent a true partnership for all Syrians, and the active countries in the Syrian crisis are aware of this The truth is, however, that countries and these positions are subject to the Turkish veto in accordance with international interests away from the interests of the Syrian people. Therefore, there is no seriousness for the success of any political process, if it is in the so-called constitutional committee or any other path because countries have differences and Syria has become an arena for settling international differences. and regional.

On the responsibility of the Damascus government and the so-called opposition for the suffering of the Syrians, Habib said: "Each of them presents himself as an alternative to the other and sees himself as representing the Syrian people. But in fact, the so-called opposition is scattered and contradictory and does not represent the Syrians nor does it seek to establish a democratic system with participation It is true for all national forces, but it finds itself an alternative authority to the current authority in Damascus.

He added, "Likewise, the Damascus government has not yet acknowledged the existence of a real crisis in Syria and still wants Syria to return to before 2011, and government representatives have spoken in previous periods that they will drown them in details."

'It means nothing to us and we continue to build a decentralized democratic system'

On the position of the Autonomous Administration of this committee, Habib said: "We do not count much that there will be tangible results from the work of this alleged committee, which represents only itself, and we are not concerned with any results issued by this committee if anything is issued, because we are not participating and we are continuing to build A decentralized democratic system, and Syria is a homeland for all, accommodating all components away from regional and international agendas.

The co-chair of the Legislative Council in the Jazira region, Hikmat Habib, concluded his speech by warning, "We believe that any constitution written outside the borders will bring woes to Syria and lead to its disintegration, and there will be great harm to anything imposed on Syrians from outside the borders, because who should write this constitution They are the patriotic Syrians of all components and the real opposition forces that believe in a radical change to the shape of Syria in order for it to be a decentralized democracy in which everyone is equal in rights and duties.

A

ANHA
Amid declining COVID numbers, mitigation measures have relaxed throughout the country over the last few weeks, except for masking recommendations for air travel. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced one more month of mandatory masking in transportation hubs based on recommendations from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.

In response, Representative Matt Rosendale joined 16 other Republican members of Congress in suing the CDC over the masking mandate in airports and on commercial flights, citing government overreach in the suit filed last week.

On March 10, the TSA announced the extended mask mandate, which was set to end March 18, 2022, will now end on April 18, 2022 due to the CDC recommendation. The extra month gives the CDC time to develop an updated framework for masking based on community levels of COVID-19, risk of new variants and the latest science.

It has been more than two years since the virus that causes COVID-19 was first detected in the United States. During that period, Americans have been subject to an increasing amount of government overreach, the Congress members said in the suit.

With minimal impacts to hospital systems and low case loads, the majority of Montanas counties are free to go maskless, except for a pocket of counties in the northeast corner of the state.

According to the CDC, Valley, Roosevelt, McCone, Richland, Dawson and Wibaux counties should continue masking indoors. The recommendations are based on the number of new COVID cases per 100,000 people, new COVID admissions per 100,000 and the percent of inpatient beds occupied by COVID patients.

Statewide, there are 44 people hospitalized due to COVID-19, the lowest since early July 2021. In the last six weeks, hospitalizations have decreased 88%.

A tidal wave of postponed care is starting to hit hospitals as 100 of the states 220 ICU beds are filled with non-COVID patients. Twelve are filled with COVID inpatients.

There were 409 new COVID cases added over the last week, bringing active cases to 494 on Monday. COVID cases in the state are the lowest since July 2021 and have decreased about 97% in the last seven weeks.

During the week ending March 11, 2022, 94 COVID cases in children were reported, according to the most recent state data. Thats a 78% decrease in COVID cases among children compared to the previous week. Two COVID-19 related hospitalizations of children were reported during the same week.

The Department of Health and Human Services has been monitoring sublineages of the omicron variant and has detected 16 cases of BA.2 in Montana. The first case was detected on Jan. 30, 2022. The subvariant is responsible for surging COVID cases in Europe.

Yellowstone County continues to lead the state in active COVID cases with 95 active cases on Monday. Missoula, Gallatin and Lewis and Clark counties follow with 77, 48 and 34 active cases respectively.

Two more Yellowstone County deaths were identified through review of death certificates filed with the Clerk and Recorder, according to a press release from RiverStone Health.

The deaths included a woman in her 80s who died on March 9 at her home. She was not vaccinated. The other was a woman in her 50s who died at her home on March 4. She was not vaccinated.

A fully-vaccinated man in his 80s died on March 14 at a Billings hospital. Yellowstone Countys COVID-19 death toll now stands at 548 people since the pandemic began.

Over the week ending March 19, Billings hospitals averaged nine COVID inpatients per day, compared to an average of 19 COVID inpatients the previous week. There was an average of three patients per day in the intensive care unit and two on ventilators over the last week.

Yellowstone County is seeing a low level of COVID-19 spread now," read the RiverStone press release. "The virus is still present in our community and previous lulls in this pandemic have been followed by surges in cases and hospitalization."

In the last week, 13 more Montanans have died due to COVID-related illness, bringing the states death toll to 3,236 since the pandemic began.

Unvaccinated adults have 41 times the risk of dying from COVID-19 compared to fully-vaccinated adults with booster doses, according to December data from the CDC. Unvaccinated adults are more than three times more likely to become infected with COVID, compared to fully vaccinated adults with a booster, according to DPHHS.

Statewide, 55% of the eligible population are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

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The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied the Montana Legislature's bid to reverse a ruling by the state Supreme Court in last year's subpoena showdown between the two branches of state government.

The nation's high court denied the request without comment to indicate the court's thinking. Last year, Republican state lawmakers had argued the state Supreme Court should have recused itself from ruling on a case that could have determined the fate of legislators' subpoenas for their court records. Gov. Greg Gianforte, who had remained on the sidelines in earlier proceedings, had submitted a brief in support of the Legislature.

But Randy Cox, attorney for the Montana Supreme Court administrator who was challenging the Legislature's authority to subpoena judicial records, had argued in court filings that the Legislature had negated its own arguments by withdrawing their subpoenas before the case was resolved.

Cox said in an emailed statement Monday the U.S. Supreme Court decision served as an affirmation to lower court rulings that lawmakers used improper methods to obtain judicial branch records.

The denial puts a period on the end of the legal conflict that began last year, as lawmakers raised concerns about internal polling of judges on pending legislation. Members of the judicial branch, including the state Supreme Court, contended that judges need to confer on pending bills so they can testify on how that legislation would effect the functions of the court. Democrats accused the GOP of attempting to undermine the one branch of government that party doesn't have firmly under its control. Republicans alleged the polls were proof of judges making decisions about laws that may be later challenged in their court, and sharpened their allegations up after learning McLaughlin had deleted the email polls.

Before the state Supreme Court, McLaughlin challenged the Legislature's authority to subpoena her records. During those proceedings, lawmakers, represented by the Montana Attorney General's Office, filed a motion requesting the state Supreme Court to recuse itself, arguing the justices should not rule in a case that would determine the validity of subpoenas for their own records and communications. The Supreme Court denied that request, with Justice Laurie McKinnon writing that lawmakers were attempting to "manufacture a conflict" to throw them off the case.

The Montana Supreme Court ultimately ruled in McLaughlin's favor, finding the Legislature did not have a legitimate legislative purpose in subpoenaing the justices' records. Justice Jim Rice had also challenged lawmakers' subpoena for his records in District Court and won.

In an emailed statement on Monday, Sen. Greg Hertz, R-Polson, said he was disappointed but not surprised by the U.S. Supreme Court decision, given the narrow number of cases the high court agrees to hear.

Lawmakers in recent weeks have begun reactivating a special committee that's been dormant, at least publicly, for nearly a year. The Special Select Committee on Judicial Accountability and Transparency is scheduled to meet April 13 with two panels to discuss records and retention policies, as well as a study bill that passed late in the 2021 session. Republican legislative leaders formed the committee during the 2021 session as the subpoena conflict was ramping up, and allocated $285,500 for funding the committee's work. It has not met since May 5, 2021.

Hertz, who chairs the special committee, said the U.S. Supreme Court decision leaves it up to lawmakers to "fix" the issues surrounding records retention policies and internal polling of judges on bills moving through the Legislature.

"We hope the judiciary will be forthcoming going forward and willing to work with us on developing adequate policies and procedures, starting with our next select committee meeting on April 13th," Hertz said.

In a statement Monday, McLaughlin nodded to the need for cooperation with lawmakers to develop better records retention policies, but said she was vindicated by the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to turn down the Legislature's case.

While existing public record procedures need some improvement and clarification, all government officials are obligated to safeguard the massive amounts of private information residing on the computer systems of state government," McLaughlin said. "The courts have now established that I did exactly what the law required me to do.

Republican lawmakers are still in possession of over 5,000 of McLaughlin's emails, obtained from the state Department of Administration early in the dispute, which administers state email systems. Cox said Monday he now expects the Legislature to comply with an earlier state Supreme Court ruling to return those records.

A spokesperson for Republican legislators said lawmakers have been in touch with the Attorney General's Office about "the appropriate next steps regarding compliance with the court's order."

Kyler Nerison, spokesperson for Attorney General Austin Knudsen, did not respond by press time to an email asking about the Attorney General's guidance to lawmakers on returning the emails to McLaughlin, but did issue a statement criticizing the state Supreme Court rulings that shut down the legislative subpoenas. Nerison also pointed to a Harvard Law Review study that found only 1% of cases were granted review in 2019.

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Fire and smoke seen at the crash site. Image/BNO news/ Twitter

A China Eastern Airlines plane carrying 133 people on board has crashed in Guangxi province, Chinese state media has reported.

The Flight MU5735 was on way from Kunming to Guangzhou. Flight tracking sites reported the plane was in the air for just over an hour.

The number of casualties and reason for the crash are not yet known.

The crash of the Boeing 737 jet, in a mountainous region, led to a fire in the woods, Chinese media said.

The plane went down near Teng county in Wuzhou province. Guangxi is a southern province neighbouring Guangzhou, a major city in the south-east.
New Braunfels, TX (78130)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms in the morning becoming more widespread in the afternoon. A few storms may be severe. High 84F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. Low 63F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.
UT-TSU Extension Sullivan County will host a Farm Safety Day at the Ron Ramsey Regional Ag Center on Saturday, April 9.

The event will start at 8:30 a.m. with a light breakfast. We will also have a barbecue lunch catered by Spurlock Smokes of Kingsport. Call our office at 423-574-1919 to preregister by March 31 and select your T-shirt size.

Unfortunately, farming accidents and sometimes fatalities occur each year in our rural communities. Farming is one of the most dangerous occupations, with the risks often going unnoticed until it is too late. For the farmer, everyday jobs can sometimes end in an unfortunate accident. It is easy to get in a hurry and overlook important safety measures.

We want to bring awareness to the inherent dangers of the farming occupation. The Tennessee Deputy Commissioner of Agriculture, Jeff Aiken, will be the keynote speaker for the Farm Safety Day. The day will offer programs on cattle handling, chainsaw safety, tractor safety and ATV safety. Wings Air Rescue will land at the site for a short demonstration of their equipment.

The Marsh Blood Mobile will be on-site for blood donation. Call our office for information on signing up to give blood.

Be sure to call our office at 423-574-1919 by Thursday, March 31, to preregister. Sponsors of the 2022 Farm Safety Day are UT-TSU Extension Sullivan County, Farm Bureau of Sullivan County, Farm Bureau of Scott County, VA, Meade Tractor, Fairway Ford, Farm Credit Mid-America and the Ron Ramsey Ag Center.

Chris Ramsey is an agriculture extension agent at UT-TSU Extension in Sullivan County. His office is at 140 Spurgeon Lane, Blountville, TN 37617. You can reach him at 423-574-1919 or cwramsey@utk.edu.
Last month, I addressed Mansfield Park. If youve seen the 2007 movie titled The Jane Austen Book Club, youll recall that the lone male member of the book club is a fan of Ursula K. Le Guin, and he encourages another member to read some of her works. Reluctantly she does, and she loves them. That was much the same way I came to my love of Le Guin.

I began reading the Earthsea Cycle from a large tome containing all six books of the series. Its a beautifully illustrated book titled The Books of Earthsea, published by Saga Press in 2018.

Le Guin wrote the first book in 1968, the same year I was born, but she didnt write the sixth book until 2001, so I dont feel too guilty that it took me over 50 years to discover this work when it took her over 30 years to complete the cycle of stories. I admit that I hadnt read her works until now because shes largely been classified as a fantasy writer, and, while I loved The Lord of the Rings trilogy, I dont read a lot of fantasy literature.

However, Le Guin made an excellent point in her introduction to this book  an introduction that she fortunately managed to write before her death on Jan. 22, 2018. She wrote, The notion that fantasy is only for the immature rises from an obstinate misunderstanding of both maturity and the imagination. I agree. After all, I gained much more from The Lord of the Rings rereading it as an adult than I did when I first read it as a young teenager.

While Le Guin was specifically asked to write a fantasy for young readers back in 1968, and the first story, A Wizard of Earthsea, does have a young wizard as the protagonist, the entire collection of stories is geared for adult readers because of the themes, the events and even the characters, who become older with each book. The dragons in these stories are unlike any other dragon Ive ever read, too. They are not the dragons of childrens stories.

In the stories, names are important. In fact, many characters have two or three. They have names that people call them, but they also have what are known as their true names. Knowing someones true name gives others power over that person, so that name is rarely spoken. I found that aspect of the stories both confusing because a character is called by two or three names (for example the first wizard you meet is named Duny, Ged and Sparrowhawk) and extremely interesting.

Naming someone is a very important thing. So much of our identities are wrapped up in our names, and people can know, or assume, things about us simply by our last names, and that can give them power over us or give us power over them.

The full collection of stories runs to 992 pages, so I havent quite finished reading all six stories, but Im getting close. Along with reading this, though, Ive also been reading Le Guins fabulous writing advice book called Steering the Craft, which she rewrote for a 2015 edition subtitled A 21st-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story. Since Sparrowhawk, the main wizard of her Earthsea stories, spends a lot of time at sea, I found the subtitle to be quite fitting, and Ive come to admire Le Guin as a writer.

Too bad it took me so long. If youre reluctant to read a Le Guin book, dont be.

Contact Marshall at tamreader@gmail.com.

Next months reading selection is The Overstory by Richard Powers.
BRISTOL, Tenn.  The Bristol Tennessee City Council met on Monday morning to hear a second round of funding petitions from nonprofit organizations requesting money from the city.

The nonprofits that gave presentations to City Council at the Municipal Annex building include the United Way of Bristol, Abuse Alternatives, Inc., Believe in Bristol, The Paramount, Theatre Bristol, and the YMCA of Bristol.

United Way of Bristol received $25,000 from the City Council in 2022 and is petitioning for $50,000 in 2023. Lisa Cofer, the executive director of the organization, highlighted its growing efforts through the Helping Others Maintain Essentials (HOME) program and the ReUnite program to provide support and services to the homeless population of Bristol.

"With the level of poverty that we have in Bristol, Tennessee, and Virginia, we have to focus on basic needs because if folks don't have food and a place to stay and those kinds of things, then how can we expect them to be able to do the things that they need to do," Cofer said.

Abuse Alternatives, Inc., a domestic violence intervention agency that operates emergency shelter facilities and provides resources to victims of abuse and their families in the Bristol, Tennessee, and Virginia community, is requesting $10,000 in funding for 2023 from the city.

The YMCA of Bristol did not receive funding in 2022 from City Council and is requesting $20,000 for 2023 in order to expand several of its programs, including a teen youth leadership program and its Float 4 Life program.

Maggie Elliot, the executive director of Believe in Bristol, gave an update on the work the group has done in downtown Bristol highlighting some of the events and projects planned for the fall, including the return of the downtown cornhole tournament and a block party on 6th Street.

Believe in Bristol requested $50,000 from City Council, which is the same amount the organization received in 2022.

Theatre Bristol, which received $15,000 from City Council in 2022, requested $20,000 for 2023.

The Paramount, which has gone through extensive renovations, is requesting $50,000 for 2023, double what they received from City Council in 2022.

The City Council has yet to set a date to discuss and approve the non-profit funding requests they received Monday and earlier on Friday, March 11.

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Luis Millan-Lara, 32, said he started a marketing firm to help local businesses grow while encouraging diversity in Hickory.

Fractal Marketing and Analytics opened July 14, 2021, with Millan-Lara at the head of the operation. He said his experience operating and marketing businesses took root as he helped his family at Las Isabelas restaurant and store.

My dad is an entrepreneur, he said. Hes the one who started the businesses here in Catawba County. We had a restaurant in Conover, and then he also opened this one (in Hickory).

In 2017, Millan-Lara said he helped develop the restaurants marketing by creating a menu. He also helped in the day-to-day operation of the restaurant.

(My father) was very good at business, and he was great at execution; one of his main skills that he did not have was marketing, he said. That was a major component that was needed to make a business thrive.

Millan-Lara provided that knowledge.

I became passionate about, How do I help the business bring more people in the door? While I love food and I love tacos, marketing became my passion, he said.

Millan-Lara is working with the Western Piedmont Symphony.

A lot of it is research, he said. If they have a visiting artist, I do my research on where that person is from. Can we get people from that area to come to the concerts?

Millan-Lara also hopes to use Fractal Marketing to build bridges among the different communities in Hickory.

Hickory and Catawba County has a large diverse population, but one of the struggles that Ive noticed is how disconnected each community is, and while Ive seen a bridge in this restaurant (Las Isabelas) with food, thats only here, he said. But outside in the community there is a very strong disconnect.

Millan-Lara was born in Mexico City. When he was 3, his father moved the family to North Carolina.

They brought me here at a very young age, he said. Catawba County has been home for me for 29 years now.

The interview has been edited for clarity and length.

What are your goals for your business?

I want my business to be recognizable. I want to create a reputation for business. My ultimate goal is to get to know how marketing and coding work together through the software engineering part of it.

How do you wish to be remembered?

As someone who bridged cultures, someone who passed down my abundance of education, knowledge, helped educate those who needed or wanted to be educated, learned skills that I have and passed those skills on to other people, advocated for minorities and definitely be an advocate for the environment.

What is the best advice you received?

My good friend Will Locke and his family, they have a saying that goes Follow the Golden Rule. Treat others the way you want to be treated.

What is your favorite meal at your familys restaurant?

My personal favorite dish here is the chilaquiles. It is tortilla chips with warm hot salsa on top. It comes with a piece of steak, an over-easy egg, sour cream, queso fresco, diced onions and then of course your guacamole on top and your salsas on the side. That is bomb.

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" " Anne Frank, who was Jewish, was forced into hiding with her father, Otto, mother Edith and sister Margot in 1942. They lived in the "Secret Annex," a lair of rooms in the back of her father's business, with four other Jews. Photo Collection Anne Frank House

Seventy-five years after penning the final entry in her acclaimed war-time diary, Anne Frank has earned her place as a literary icon. Her story of fear and laughter, of teen angst and young love, of unspeakable horror and unbreakable hope is as gripping and relevant in today's volatile world as it was during the Nazi-occupied setting of her writings.

Over the decades, her diary  originally, in Dutch, Het Achterhuis ("The Secret Annex") and known throughout the world now as "The Diary of Anne Frank," "Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl", and other titles  has been translated into more than 70 languages and has sold more than 35 million copies. That's a testament to the story, yes, one that is at the same time both personal and universal.

It's equally a tribute to the storyteller, too.

From the time Het Achterhuis first was published in 1947, scholars have pored over the diary, compared its different versions, dissected every page, every entry, every passage to put Anne and her work into a proper perspective. In doing so, a new image of the author slowly emerged. She has morphed from a wide-eyed and precocious child caught in one of history's most tragic episodes to a curious teen on the cusp of adulthood, and an exceptional young writer discovering herself in a world unhinged.

"Anne's story has changed in that it's acquired more texture and nuance over the decades, to have her not just be some sort of beatified martyr, but a teenage girl with mixed emotions, who could possibly be annoying, and a little arrogant," says historian Edna Friedberg of the Levine Institute for Holocaust Education at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. "People now have discovered sections that had been edited before about her blooming sexuality, all sorts of things that just make her more of a human being and less of an archetype."

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An Anne Frank for the Ages

By now, the story of Anne Frank is well-known. What may be forgotten is that it begins as an immigrant's story.

Born into a Jewish family in Frankfurt, Germany in 1929, she and her family flee to Amsterdam in the summer of 1933 as Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime comes to power. In the Netherlands, she enters school and learns to speak Dutch. Her father, Otto, opens a small business. The Franks build a new life.

In May 1940, though, with Hitler continuing his march through Europe, the Nazis invade the Netherlands, and Anne's life is thrown into new turmoil. She is ordered into a Jews-only school and, like all Jews, made to live under strict separate laws. A couple years later, as the entire world descends into war, the Nazis call Anne's older sister Margot back to Germany to work in a "labor" camp.

Fearing the worst, Otto moves the entire Frank family  himself, his wife Edith, Margot and Anne  into hiding in a secret lair of rooms in the back of his business. The date is July 6, 1942.

It's there, in the Secret Annex on the Prinsengracht canal in Amsterdam, that Anne, her family and four other Jews spend the next two years hiding in fear from the Nazis. It is there that Anne, who had turned 13 just before slipping into hiding, writes the bulk of her diary.

"It's a young people's story, a teenager's story, about growing up," says Maureen McNeil, the director of education at the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect in New York. "It's also a refugee story. And it's also a literary work-of-art sort of story; becoming a writer.

"My own reaction, as a teenager who wanted to be a writer: She really was committed to personal transformation. You can see that in her writing. She wrestled with structural injustice. And, in the midst of that, she refused to live in a world without love."

" " The original diary of Anne Frank is held in the collection of the Anne Frank House Museum in Amsterdam. Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images

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The Timeless Writings Still Resonate

All that introspection is evident early on in Anne's writing. It is extraordinary, especially for such a young person, and especially considering her circumstances. Her talent shines in simple passages that depict, ironically in some ways, just an ordinary teenage girl.

Here, just weeks before her move into the Secret Annex, Anne describes a typical school-day drama:

Our entire class is quaking in its boots. The reason, of course, is the upcoming meeting in which the teachers decide who'll be promoted to the next grade and who'll be kept back ... If you ask me, there are so many dummies that about a quarter of the class should be kept back, but teachers are the most unpredictable creatures on earth. Maybe this time they'll be unpredictable in the right direction for a change.

Once in the Secret Annex, Anne's diary serves as a friend and confidante  she often addresses her entries to an imaginary friend, "Dear Kitty"  and a way to both pass the time and hone her burgeoning skills as a writer. She covers, in often harsh details, the seemingly mundane: run-ins with her mother and squabbles with others in the annex. She is blushingly honest about her own insecurities and, typically for a girl her age, wonders about her own looks and her emerging sexuality.

In passages kept from the original version of the diary, she describes, in great detail, her changing body. In pages only recently revealed (Anne had covered them with brown paper), she offers thoughts on sex and prostitution. And as the months in hiding wear on, she writes achingly of falling in love, too, with a fellow hideaway, Peter van Pels.

At least two versions of the diary exist; some say even more. From the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum:

The first is the diary as Anne originally wrote it from June 1942 to August 1944. Anne hoped to publish a book based on her entries, especially after a Dutch official announced in 1944 that he planned to collect eyewitness accounts of the German occupation. She then began editing her work, leaving out certain passages. That became the second version. Her father created a third version with his own edits as he sought to get the diary published after the war.

The third version is the most popularly known. Not all of the versions include Anne's criticism of her mother or the references to her developing curiosity about sex  the latter of which would have been especially controversial in 1947.

Scattered throughout the diary, mixed in with the everyday and her dreams, is an acute recognition of the horrors that exist outside the Secret Annex. Anne describes a permeating fear in her family's prison and wrestles with the uncertainty of what lies ahead.

From an entry in January 1943:

I could spend hours telling you about the suffering the war has brought, but I'd only make myself more miserable. All we can do is wait, as calmly as possible, for it to end. Jews and Christians alike are waiting, the whole world is waiting, and many are waiting for death.

"I think part of what makes her diary so powerful and resonant for so many people has to do with the circumstances in which she writes it. And by that, I don't mean the Holocaust," Friedberg says, "but because she was in a cloistered hiding place for so long. Her diary is her constant companion. A teen who was, let's say, in a concentration camp wouldn't have had the pen and paper, the diary, much less the privacy to be alone with her thoughts and think about what's happening to her.

"They're in this attic. They are terrified. They're also taken out of life. That gives a clarity of voice."

Anne clearly finds strength in exercising her voice and dreams of a future as a writer. In early April 1944, she says:

When I write I can shake off all my cares. My sorrow disappears, my spirits are revived! But, and that's a big question, will I ever be able to write something great, will I ever become a journalist or a writer? I hope so, oh, I hope so very much, because writing allows me to record everything, all my thoughts, ideals and fantasies.

A turning point in Anne's young life as a writer comes one day in March 1944, when the Dutch official urges radio listeners to keep records of their activities for publication after the war. The broadcast prompts Anne to become self-critical of her work. She edits some of the earlier, harsher parts of her diary, especially the entries on her love for Peter and some of the most stringent criticism of her mother.

" " Anne, who was just 13 when her family went into hiding, was already a prolific writer and yearned to one day become a journalist. Photo Collection Anne Frank House

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Anne's Awareness of Self Peaks

On Aug. 1, 1944, more than two years after going into hiding in the Secret Annex, Anne's awareness of herself and her place in the world may have been at its peak. She wrote about a personality "split in two;" flippant and fun-loving on the outside but "purer, deeper and finer" on the inside. "I keep trying to find a way to become what I'd like to be and what I could be if ... if only there were no other people in the world," she said.

That was the last entry in Anne's diary.

Three days later, on the morning of Aug. 4, 1944, the Nazis discover the eight Jews in the Secret Annex and send them to the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, where Edith died in January 1945. Margot and Anne were transferred to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany.

A month later after their mother passed away, in February 1945, just two months before the Allies liberate Bergen-Belsen, Margot and Anne died as well.

Anne was 15 years old.

Immediately after the war, Otto  the sole survivor from the Secret Annex  returned to Amsterdam and recovered Anne's diaries. Two years later, Het Achterhuis by Anne Frank, was published.

"Anne's story resonates today for a few reasons. One is because of the power, clarity and authenticity of her voice," Friedberg says. "The second is because you feel that she almost made it. The Frank family and the other four Dutch Jews in hiding with them survived for two years because of the bravery and sustained support of others, non-Jews. That is inspiring."

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Anne Frank's Story Continues

"But the tragedy," Friedberg continues, "is that someone betrayed them. She almost lived to see liberation. That is another part of what makes her story so appealing to people. They see in her the symbol of a missed chance at redemption, a missed chance at a happy ending. The idea that they almost taste freedom ... she almost made it."

A gnawing question surrounding Anne and those in the Secret Annex remains, 75 years later: After two years in hiding, who tipped off the Nazis?

For the past two years, a group that includes historians, forensic scientists and at least one FBI agent has been delving into that question. Many theories abound. Other groups are looking into it, too. But no one yet has an answer. We may never know.

In July, researchers at the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum revealed more information in another stunning addition to Anne's continuing story: Before going into hiding in the Secret Annex, Otto tried to emigrate with his family to America, only to be stymied by stringent American immigration laws at the time.

Some of the subjects that Anne grappled with in her diary were bleak. The threat of anti-Semitism. The plight of immigrants and refugees. The terrors of war. Those were the horrors that Anne faced. They are horrors the world still faces today.

Yet Anne also wrote of love and understanding. She wrote of hope.

"When she was looking at the blank page, she wasn't just a girl, she wasn't just a chatterbox, she wasn't just a refugee. She was a human being wanting to make a difference and willing to take the risk to put it on the page," McNeil says. "So her dream came true. She is in the Western literary canon. Her work is just as important as Emily Dickinson or Walt Whitman or anybody else."

Anne never got a chance to live the life that she dreamed of. But all these years later, her words endure.

NOW THAT'S INTERESTING Anne Frank's diary is considered the most important to come out of World War II, but there are others as well. Friedberg points to the diary of Dawid Sierakowiak, a teen in the Lodz Ghetto in occupied Poland. (Some excerpts can be found here.) His account of abject poverty, sickness and death in the ghetto paints a terrifying picture of the war's toll that Anne, hidden as she was, could not. Sierakowiak died in the ghetto at 18, probably of tuberculosis. More than 245,000 people, many Jews, were interned in the Lodz Ghetto during the war. When it was liberated, on Jan. 19, 1945, only 877 Jews remained.

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Originally Published: Aug 19, 2019
" " Queen Elizabeth II views the Royal Dockyard Chapel restoration and meets local people involved with the project during an official visit on April 29, 2014, in Pembroke Dock, U.K. Bethany Clarke/Getty Images

Queen Elizabeth II, who is in her 90s, has ruled longer than any other monarch in British history. But at this point, is the British monarch's role purely ceremonial, or does she or he hold any real political power?

That turns out to be a complicated question. Even though the United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy, it doesn't have a single codified constitution like the United States. Instead, the power balance between the Crown (the monarchy) and Parliament (the elected officials) is mediated by a set of rules known as constitutional "conventions," some of which are written down and others that are based on custom and tradition.

According to some of the oldest traditions, the queen is the ultimate source of power in the British government; the British legislature is formally known as "The Queen in Parliament." But as we'll see, in modern practice the queen wields no real political power to act independently of the wishes of Parliament or the prime minister.

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The Queen's Reserve Powers

Technically, the queen still retains certain political powers, known as her "personal prerogatives" or the "queen's reserve powers" (makes her sound like a superhero). Among those reserve powers are the power to appoint the prime minister, to open and close sessions of Parliament, and to approve legislation.

But those powers, says Philip Murphy, have been heavily restricted by constitutional conventions. Murphy is director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at University College London and author of "The Empire's New Clothes: The Myth of the Commonwealth."

"The Queen has powers, but the question is how much discretion does she have within those powers," says Murphy.

According to Robert Hazell, co-author of a report on the changing role of the monarchy, the queen has been effectively stripped of all personal discretion when it comes to the use of her reserve powers. She has no real choice when it comes to who is appointed prime minister, for example, or which bills are made into law. The voters and elected officials make those decisions, and her only real job is give a royal stamp of approval.

But that lack of true political power doesn't mean that the queen isn't powerful. The 19th-century British constitutional scholar Walter Bagehot wrote that the monarch has three essential rights: to be consulted, to encourage and to warn.

"What you're talking about there is not so much power as influence," says Murphy. And no one would argue that Queen Elizabeth isn't influential.

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Appointing the Prime Minister

One of the queen's most important reserve powers is to appoint a new prime minister. Queen Elizabeth has appointed 14 prime ministers starting with Winston Churchill in 1951 through Boris Johnson in 2019. The ceremony is called "kissing hands," but there's no actual kissing anymore.

According to convention, the day after a general election, the queen invites the leader of the party that won the most seats in Parliament to Buckingham Palace. The queen asks the leader whether he or she will form a government. The queen's question is fully ceremonial at this point, but Murphy says it underscores one of the monarch's main responsibilities  to ensure the continuity of the British government.

" " Queen Elizabeth II welcomes Theresa May at the start of an audience where she invited the former home secretary to become prime minister and form a new government at Buckingham Palace on July 13, 2016, in London. Dominic Lipinski/WPA Pool/Getty Images

Once the prime minister is chosen, the official royal register will say that "the prime minister Kissed Hands on Appointment," but that's not really true. The hand-kissing used to happen later in a private council meeting, but even that has gone away a royal spokesperson told The New York Times back in 2007.

What if the election results in a hung Parliament, in which no party wins a clear majority of the seats? It's still not up to the queen to pick a winner. Not that Elizabeth, who takes great pains to remain politically neutral, would ever want to.

In 2015, when pundits widely predicted a hung Parliament, "the queen very pointedly left London for the weekend," says Murphy. "She was clearly saying, 'Look guys, I don't want to be involved in this. You make your decision and then you come to me.'"

The last time a monarch replaced a prime minister was 1834, when King William IV fired the Whig reformer Lord Melbourne and appointed Sir Robert Peel.

The queen may remain stoically neutral in her public comments, but no one knows what goes on behind closed doors. The queen has a standing weekly meeting with the prime minister in which they presumably discuss the kingdom's most pressing political issues. We say "presumably" because the meetings are completely confidential.

"No one is taking minutes," says Murphy. "Even the queen's private secretary isn't there."

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Opening and Closing Parliament

Another of the queen's official powers is to open and close sessions of Parliament. She officially opens each new session of Parliament with the "Queen's Speech." For a telling example of the queen's lack of real political power, the speech is written by the incoming government, not her.

Sessions of Parliament can be ended in two ways: They can be dissolved, which only happens before a general election, or they can be "prorogued," which means that the Parliament goes into recess for a set time and can't pass any more bills.

" " The queen and Prince Philip arrive for the state opening of Parliament at the House of Lords on May 8, 2013, in London. Lewis Whyld - WPA Pool/Getty Images

The queen no longer has any power to dissolve Parliament. That was repealed with the 2011 Fixed-term Parliaments Act that automatically dissolves Parliament every five years, or earlier if two-thirds of Parliament votes for a new election, or if there's a no confidence vote.

She can still technically prorogue a session of Parliament, but even that is dictated by the will of the prime minister. In 2019, Boris Johnson asked the queen to prorogue Parliament so he could avoid opposition to his Brexit plans. The queen went along with it, because convention dictates that she follow the prime minister's advice. But the U.K. Supreme Court later ruled that Johnson's move was unconstitutional.

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Other Ceremonial Powers

As part of Britain's constitutional monarchy, the queen is obliged to give "Royal Assent" to all bills passed by Parliament before they can become law. The queen's approval is purely a formality at this point since the last time Royal Assent was refused was 1707, when Queen Anne blocked a bill to send a militia to Scotland.

As the sovereign head of state, the queen is also the head of the Armed Forces, which gives her the power to declare war and sign treaties. But like her other reserve powers, she exclusively acts under the advice of government ministers, including the prime minister.

She also gives out knighthoods and other awards for exceptional achievement and service twice a year, at New Year and in June on her official birthday (The monarch's birthday is always celebrated officially in June, regardless of when he or she was really born  it's a month guaranteed to have good weather.) But these honors are not hers to decide; committees of experts, along with government reps, present the list of people to be honored to her via the prime minister.

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The Perfect Constitutional Monarch?

Murphy points out that our conception of the role and powers of the monarch are wrapped up with the persona of the person sitting on the throne.

"In that sense, you can't distinguish between the functioning of monarchy in modern Britain and Queen Elizabeth II," says Murphy. "She's been there so damn long. She's of a particular kind of character. She's very discreet. She isn't given to expressions of emotions. She isn't keen to tell everyone her views."

Still, she has received much praise for her encouraging address to the U.K. and the Commonwealth during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was only the fifth time in her 68-year reign that she had addressed her nation apart from her annual Christmas message.

One could argue, says Murphy, that Queen Elizabeth II has been the perfect constitutional monarch, an apolitical and beloved figure always careful not to cross the line of convention.

That may not be the case with future monarchs.

"Prince Charles has his pet issues which he's been quite active in preaching about," says Murphy. "He's notorious for writing long, rather hectoring letters to ministers."

Now That's Funny Even though she doesn't write the text of the Queen's Speech, Elizabeth II is free to pen her own Christmas Day addresses. True to her discreet and non-boat-rocking nature, however, the Christmas broadcasts are "incredibly dull," says Murphy.

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Originally Published: Apr 7, 2020
" " This painting by John Trumbull shows the Founding Fathers with the Declaration of Independence. Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Abraham Lincoln knew exactly why the Declaration of Independence was such a profoundly important political document.

"I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence," said Lincoln in an improvised speech on the eve of his first inauguration. "I have often inquired of myself, what great principle or idea it was that kept this Confederacy so long together. It was not the mere matter of the separation of the Colonies from the motherland; but that sentiment in the Declaration of Independence which gave liberty, not alone to the people of this country, but, I hope, to the world, for all future time."

Lincoln was one of many American leaders and civil rights activists who challenged the nation to live up to its founding principles as enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, "that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

But there's much more to the Declaration of Independence than that one unforgettable sentence. In 1,337 words, Thomas Jefferson and the rest of the Continental Congress made the case to their fellow Americans and the world that they had suffered abuse and mistreatment under King George III and that the British parliament intended to take away their freedoms. Colonists had no choice but to cut ties with Great Britain and declare themselves "free and independent states."

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What's Inside the Declaration of Independence?

The Declaration of Independence is organized into five main sections. First comes the introduction, a paragraph-long sentence that sets the stage for the philosophical arguments to come and places the call for independence in the broader "course of human events" as "necessary" under the "laws of Nature."

" " In 1820, the Declaration of Independence was already showing signs of age. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams commissioned printer William J. Stone to make a full-size copperplate engraving to print copies. The 1823 Stone engraving is the most frequently reproduced version of the Declaration. National Archives

Then comes the preamble, which begins with those immortal words, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal... " and manages, in just five sentences (202 words), to lay out the entire American philosophy of government. Namely that "just" governments derive their powers "from the consent of the governed," and that the people have the right to organize their government based on principles that "shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness."

The third and longest section of the Declaration is the list of grievances against George III, who Jefferson boldly labels a "tyrant." Modeled after much older founding English documents like the Magna Carta (1215) and the Petition of Right (1628), this lengthy indictment of the king's various abuses against the natural rights of the colonists lays down the "facts" of the case for independence.

The next, much shorter section extends the king's indictment to the British people, who had ignored the pleas of their "common kindred" and been "deaf to the voice of justice." For that reason, the Americans had no choice but to consider their former countrymen "enemies in war, in peace friends."

The final section or conclusion wraps up the colonists' case in largely formulaic language common to political documents. But it ends with an emotional zinger that rings through the ages: "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor."

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One Document, Four Audiences

The Declaration of Independence was written for several audiences with distinct political stakes in the fledgling nation, explains John Kaminski, director of the Center for the Study of the American Constitution at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The first audience was the American people, who remained divided between Loyalists and Patriots. The Declaration argued the cause of independence was just and that the price of freedom was one that Americans should be willing to pay.

The second audience was Great Britain, both its people and its government. As its name implies, the Declaration of Independence wasn't asking for permission to sever ties with the mother country  it was declaring independence, i.e. "this is happening and this is why we're doing it."

The third audience was less obvious and consisted of every country that had a beef with England. Kaminski says that France and Spain in particular had "great grievances" against Great Britain and expected to go to war with King George any day.

"One of the things that France and Spain were worried about was to enter into some kind of military alliance or commercial alliance with the Americans only to watch them go back and reconcile with Great Britain," says Kaminski. "France and Spain wanted to see a severance, and the Declaration of Independence was an announcement to them we're no longer with Great Britain. It's over."

The fourth audience was posterity. The Founding Fathers knew they were writing a somewhat radical document that had the potential to launch an entirely new kind of democratic enterprise.

"They were writing to us in the future,"says Kaminski. "They wanted to show what motivated them and why they took this drastic action."

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If 'All Men Are Created Equal,' What About Slavery?

To modern readers, this is one of the most glaring inconsistencies of the Declaration, that the Founders could claim that "all men are created equal" while allowing the practice of slavery and denying basic civil rights to black people and women.

To 18th-century readers, though, there wouldn't have been such a conflict, says Kaminski. They would have understood that Jefferson was writing philosophically. In other words, all men and women are created equal in the eyes of God, even if they're not equal here on Earth.

Jefferson might have also been speaking on a societal level, comparing Americans as "equal" to "all [other] men." At least that's what Jefferson was getting at in the introduction when he asserted that "among the powers of the Earth," the colonists occupied a "separate and equal station."

Interestingly, 19th-century Confederate secessionists took Jefferson at his word, believing that the Founders meant that all men, including free and enslaved blacks, were created equal, and that's why the South had to split from the Union.

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Was Jefferson the Sole Author of the Declaration?

On June 7, 1776, a "Committee of Five" was tasked with drafting the Declaration of Independence: Roger Sherman, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Robert Livingston. Once they agreed on the substance of the document, they debated over who should write the first draft.

Jefferson wanted Adams to do it, but the Massachusetts delegate refused in his typical colorful fashion. In an 1822 letter, Adams recounted how he convinced Jefferson to do it.

"Reason first, you are a Virginian, and a Virginian ought to appear at the head of this business. Reason second, I am obnoxious, suspected and unpopular. You are very much otherwise. Reason third, you can write ten times better than I can."

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What Was Cut From the Declaration of Independence?

Jefferson's original draft, written over three weeks holed up in his Philadelphia boarding house, went through heavy edits by the Continental Congress. In Jefferson's draft of the preamble, he held these truths to be "sacred and undeniable," not "self-evident." And the Founders added that shoutout to "divine Providence" in the final line.

But the biggest and most glaring change was the deletion of an entire lengthy paragraph about the Atlantic slave trade. Jefferson, who one scholar calls "maddeningly complex" on the issue of slavery, berated King George for refusing some colonists' calls to rein in or stop the slave trade from Africa.

"He has waged cruel war against human nature itself," wrote Jefferson in his original draft, "violating it's [sic] most sacred rights of life & liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither."

Adams particularly loved this section of Jefferson's draft, but knew it would end up on the chopping block.

"I was delighted with its high tone and the flights of oratory with which it abounded, especially that concerning Negro slavery, which, though I knew his Southern brethren would never suffer to pass in Congress, I certainly never would oppose," wrote Adams.

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A Declaration Heard Round the World

The Declaration of Independence was not signed on July 4, 1776, as is often thought. The Second Continental Congress voted to approve the resolution to legally separate from Great Britain on July 2. But the document was printed on July 4, so that's the date on the Declaration.

As Lincoln said, the Declaration of Independence is more than an American document; it's a declaration of liberty shared by all free people. Since 1776, there have been 120 declarations of independence issued by nations and other sovereign peoples.

Jefferson hoped that this would be true when he wrote a friend in 1795: "This ball of liberty...is now so well in motion that it will roll round the globe. At least the enlightened part of it, for light & liberty go together."

Now That's Cool While Jefferson borrowed language from Enlightenment thinkers like John Locke, he deserves points for precision. "It took John Locke two treatises to come up with his philosophy of government," says Kaminski. "It took Jefferson 202 words."
The information below has been supplied by dairy marketers and other industry organizations. It has not been edited, verified or endorsed by Hoards Dairyman.

Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative, one of the largest dairy co-ops in the U.S., said today the proposed changes by the Canadian government to how it administers its tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) for U.S. dairy would continue to block key export opportunities. Edge urged U.S. officials to work with the country to bring about fair reforms.

A dispute settlement panel earlier had found Canada was noncompliant with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) in its use of the quotas, unfairly limiting export opportunities for Americas dairy farmers and processors. Among other things, the proposed changes, released this week, would not allow U.S. exporters to ship directly to the lucrative retail sector  a major concern for Edges members throughout the Midwest.

Its clear that Canada is not seeking to provide actual market-based allocations, Edge President Brody Stapel, a Wisconsin dairy farmer, said. With passage of the USMCA, Edge was hopeful that the expanded quotas for dairy would get us closer to having real access to the Canadian market, including for high-value retail products. Excluding retailers from the new proposal will continue to keep out an important and growing segment of U.S. dairy. We urge the U.S. government to continue to work with Canada in seeking meaningful reforms that bring our important trading partner into compliance with its USMCA obligations.

Background:

Under the USMCA, U.S. dairy producers were granted increased market access to Canada by way of preferential tariff rates for in-quota quantities of certain products. Less than a year after implementation of the agreement, the Biden administration requested a dispute settlement panel be established to consider Canadas failure to comply with the dairy TRQ provisions.



The panel determined that Canadas implementation of the TRQs restricted access of U.S. dairy products by setting aside quotas specifically for Canadian processors. Per the findings of the panel, Canada is required to come into compliance, and the country submitted the proposed changes to the U.S. government on Feb. 2. The proposal was not made public until this week.

The U.S. government is in the process of deciding whether the proposal brings Canada into compliance and has not indicated when there will be a decision on next steps.


The information below has been supplied by dairy marketers and other industry organizations. It has not been edited, verified or endorsed by Hoards Dairyman.

The Wisconsin Beef Council is partnering with Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation and the Farm Wisconsin Discovery Center to host an in-person and virtual race celebrating agriculture this May Beef Month.

We were overwhelmed with support from our virtual Burgers & Buns Fun Run in 2021, Kaitlyn Riley, director of communications and outreach for the Wisconsin Beef Council said. It seemed right to grow this event and include an in-person opportunity to continue education and outreach about Wisconsins robust beef industry.

The race kicks off at the Farm Wisconsin Discovery Center in Manitowoc, Wis. Saturday, May 14. Attendees can check-in at 9:00 a.m. to pick up their race kits which include an official Burgers & Buns Fun Run t-shirt, a Beef Its Whats For Dinner brandana (multi-purpose neck gaiter), beef jerky, an admission coupon to the Farm Wisconsin Discovery Center, and other swag.



The race begins at 10:00 a.m. Following the run/walk, participants can enjoy free burgers, access to the Farm Wisconsin Discovery Center, and hands-on educational activities.

Those who cannot attend in-person can lace up anytime between May 15-31 for a virtual fun run. Virtual entrants will be mailed their race kits. Both virtual and in-person races will have an opportunity to win free beef by tagging the Wisconsin Beef Council, Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation, and Farm Wisconsin Discovery Center on Facebook and Instagram.

Proceeds from Burgers and Buns Fun Run will benefit Feeding Wisconsin. Feeding Wisconsin is the state association of the six regional Feeding America affiliated food banks that provide food to almost 1,000 local food programs in all 72 Wisconsin counties. Together, Feeding Wisconsins network provided 86 million pounds of food to Wisconsinites in 2021, an increase of 75 percent over 2019.



To guarantee a complete race kit, those interested in the 2022 Burgers & Buns Fun Run need to register by March 25. For more information, visit beeftips.com.
Global Hotel Alliance (GHA), the largest international alliance of independent hotel brands, encompassing more than 500 hotels across 35 brands in 85 countries, has bolstered its management team with two senior-level appointments.



Franck Kermarrec comes on board as Chief Commercial Officer and Nicolas le Roux assumes the newly created role of Head of Marketing and Digital Strategy.



Kermarrec and le Roux will be based at the alliances headquarters in Dubai and report to GHAs CEO, Chris Hartley, as part of the senior management team. GHA has a vast UAE portfolio, which includes 23 properties across seven brands  Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas, Avani Hotels & Resorts, JA Resorts and Hotels, Kempinski Hotels, Mysk Hotels, Nikki Beach Hotels & Resorts and Oaks Hotels, Resorts & Suites.



Responsible for GHAs strategic growth and accelerating the companys development plans, Kermarrec will initially be focusing on growing the portfolio of brands and partners across all geographies.



Kermarrec brings to the role extensive hospitality industry experience, having worked in Europe, North America, and Australia. After 10 years in strategy consulting across a wide range of sectors, he moved to the travel and hospitality industry, holding senior roles at IHG and Hertz, before moving to Millennium Hotels as Group Chief Marketing Officer and most recently as Chief Operating Officer at Atlas Hotels.



Originally from France, Kermarrec holds an MSc in Management - majoring in Strategy and Corporate Finance from Emlyon (France) - as well as an Executive MBA from INSEAD (France/Singapore).



Starting April 1, 2022, Nicolas le Roux will focus on generating GHA revenues through the reimagined GHA DISCOVERY loyalty programme, leveraging the alliances extensive customer database, optimising the loyalty programmes digital presence, and driving higher member engagement.



Le Roux will be responsible for leading the marketing team, encompassing owned channels including email, push, website, app, and social media, along with branding and positioning, design, and content strategy. His key responsibilities will cover GHA DISCOVERY customer acquisition, activation, engagement, experience, and analytics.



Originally from South Africa, le Roux started his career in account management and events, gained experience at the Travel Corporation, and was then appointed Head of Marketing for Travelport in MEA & South Asia. In his most recent role as Chief Marketing Officer at Mondia Group, he focused on strategic positioning in the mobile tech industry to act as a key partner to optimise profitability and win market share, while leveraging the end-user experience.



Le Roux holds a Bachelors degree in Business Administration and an IMM diploma in Marketing from the Graduate School of Marketing in Johannesburg.



I am very excited to fill these two crucial positions with exceptional talents. Now that the hospitality industry is finally starting to recover from the pandemic, our focus is on continuous growth, said GHA CEO Chris Hartley.



With new brands such as Sun International, which joined the alliance in February 2022, and NH Hotels joining in Q2 2022, our hotel portfolio will increase to more than 800 properties in 100 countries worldwide. Franck and Nic will be responsible for championing the value of joining the alliance and the benefits of our reimagined GHA DISCOVERY programme to independent hotel brands, as well as future members. With their extensive experience in the travel space and proven track record delivering results, Franck and Nic are a great fit for us.  TradeArabia News Service
To mark International Womens Day 2022, Information Age is publishing a special series, Women in IT Leadership. We speak with 15 women in various tech roles across Australia about how they got their start in the IT industry, their approach to leadership, and how to encourage more females into technology careers.

Today, we speak with Lisa Tobin, Managing Director of Technology at Seek.

#iwd2022 #breakthebias

***

A career in technology is a career at the frontier of change, declares Lisa Tobin.

Nothing works without technology now and its the one place in an organisation where youll know everything that's going on within it. And youll certainly know anything that's changing because you'll be part of it.

For Tobin, the drive to know how and why everything fits together, and what connects to what, is essential because technology is the how.

It's why I love technology  because I'm curious. I like to understand how everything works and then choose the right tool and use the right tool properly, so you can do the how in the right way.

For women considering a career in technology, her message is that its always moving and its a very diverse field that can accommodate all different types.

You can be a software engineer, a data analytics person, project manager, or be deep in infrastructure, cloud computing or quantum computing, or you can be a bit more like me, a boundary rider.

Tobin is someone who specialises in aligning people and doing the translating to get the leverage and value of what technology can do.

At the core of it, all you need is to love learning, to want to continue to learn and have curiosity about how things work and why something is the way it is or why its not like that.

An unexpected career change

It was a fortunate incident that led Lisa Tobin into the technology industry.

I was in a small company that happened to be launching a technology solution for the first time. There was no-one else there and so I stepped in and it was a really fantastic opportunity to take what I knew of this business  it was small enough that I understood it end to end  and actually work out how technology needed to be applied and what we needed to build.

At the end of that project, I was in technology. I love solving problems and building capabilities and building new things.

Coming to technology after completing a humanities degree, Tobins applied that analytical training to problem-solving around technology.

I'm pretty good at picking up what's going on or understanding what something means or the consequence of something, and so, I'm really lucky to have been able to leverage that in my career.

But shes never lost that love of writing and how it can impart deep meaning with simplicity.

"I love reading great writers who have the ability to craft a sentence, a single sentence that can make you cry, laugh or just be in awe at the sense they've conveyed so simply.

I love words and literature, and also what different civilisations do. Its the whole study of humanity, because I suppose what I care about is that we all have an option to be human and have a society that actually has that sense of caring for each other.

Leading through aligning

Tobin approaches technology with an understanding that its not just about software, and that leading is about having self-awareness and adapting your own behaviour to suit the needs of stakeholders, colleagues and the challenge at hand.

It's about joining people together in conversation and joining the dots by taking stock of the situation and working out what problems need to be solved and the relationships to align people around a common cause or goal.

I love being part of teams that like to achieve things that are really hard, because I love that sense of satisfaction when we've gotten there and weve made a difference."

She sees her role as supporting people so they can bring their deep technical knowledge to the fore.

Leadership is all about aligning people's thinking, working out what people's goals are and aligning them, and I need to know how to position conversations and opportunities so that they can do that.

Its facilitating to find the right solution at the right time to solve the right problem.
Chris Vein take over as ACS CEO on 9 May. Photo: Supplied

ACS has announced its new CEO, following an extensive global search.

Chris Vein will take over from interim CEO Rupert Grayston on 9 May.

Vein brings extensive innovation and digital transformation experience to the role, having held previous positions including Partner, Global Government Digital Transformation at PWC Australia; Chief Innovation Officer for Global ICT Development at the World Bank; and Deputy United States Chief Technology Officer for Government Innovation at the White House.

ACS President Dr Nick Tate acknowledged the work of outgoing interim CEO, Rupert Grayston and thanked him for stepping into the role 17 months ago.

I would like to express my deep gratitude to Rupert Grayston, on behalf of everyone on the ACS Management Committee, for the professional and exemplary way in which he has guided ACS during this transition period.

Currently based in California, Vein will relocate from San Francisco to Sydney for the role.
Man & wife pillars of family, if one breaks, whole house crashes: Delhi HC

New Delhi, May 4 (IANS) The Delhi High Court, while dealing with an appeal against a family court order, observed that husband and wife are two pillars of the family and together they can deal with any situation, balancing the family in all circumstances, observing 'if one pillar gets weak or breaks, the whole house crashes down'.
The Russian army is deliberately creating conditions for a humanitarian crisis in the temporarily occupied territories in order to force the local population to collaborate, and a harsh administrative and police regime is being imposed. The occupiers are trying to make up for losses at the front in the so-called "DPR," where a new wave of mobilization has been announced, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) has reported.

"During the day the enemy did not conduct active offensive operations, focusing on replenishing current losses, restoring partially destroyed equipment, transferring foreign mercenaries to border areas with Ukraine, solving chronic logistics problems of the occupying forces that operating in Ukraine," the General Staff said on its Facebook page on Sunday.

The General Staff said that the occupiers use terrorist methods to impose a brutal administrative and police regime, deliberately creating conditions for a humanitarian crisis in the temporarily occupied territories. "So, last night to the Kherson area from the city of Apostolove of Dnipropetrovsk region 14 trucks with foodstuff and medicines of the first necessity had been moved. The russian occupiers did not give access to humanitarian convoy for moving without reason. In this way occupiers try to force the local population to collaborate. At the same time, the invaders are distributing leaflets with proposals to appeal to the occupation administration, citizens are promised to cancel credit debts, and local entrepreneurs are given preferences in doing business."

The enemy suffers significant losses, as a result of which the number of refuseniks to fight in Ukraine is increasing.

"It became known that just one serviceman from the combined detachment of the 331st Guards Parachute Landing Kostroma Regiment, which took part in the fighting in the Kyiv direction, survived, and he is in hospital. Against the background of similar circumstances, the command of the russian Black Sea Fleet is urgently taking measures to replace 130 defectors-contractors of the 810th Marine Brigade with 7 paratroopers. The FSB decides on their further service," the General Staff said.

In addition, in the temporarily occupied territory of Donetsk region, "russian curators announced another wave of mobilization to replenish the 1st Army Corps. The maximum age of the demobilized has been raised to 65 years. The same is expected for the TOT of Luhansk region, given that trucks filled with killed in actions soldiers arrive daily from the area of the 2nd Army Corps to the settlements of Luhansk, Sorokine and Dovzhanske."

"russian terrorist forces continue to violate openly International Conventions on the Rules of War. The facts of using the uniform of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to carry out subversive and discrediting actions by russian saboteurs are being recorded," the General Staff said.
Spring has sprung! The Mattoon Chamber of Commerce wants to remind everyone how critically important it is to support your local businesses. One of the best ways is through our Chamber Buck$ program.

Shopping locally helps to keep and create employment opportunities in our community. The tax dollars generated from buying locally are used for improvements to city streets, police and fire protection and overall infrastructure enhancements. Your friends, family and neighbors who work for or own these local businesses reap the benefits. In the past 10 years over $1 million has stayed here in the community through the program.

The Mattoon Chamber of Commerce has offered the Chamber Buck$ program for over 20 years. Our program helps keep tax dollars in our community. The Chamber Buck$ program is currently being used by over 70 Mattoon Chamber member businesses.

How does it work? Any business or individual simply stops by the Chamber office and purchases Chamber Buck$ to be given away as gifts, employee incentives, employee bonuses, etc. These Chamber Buck$ are then used just like cash at any of the participating member establishments with no cost to the individual or the member businesses. We handle all the costs of running the program to make sure everyone has the full dollar for dollar benefits of the program.

Most of the Chamber Buck$ are purchased by area businesses as rewards for their employees and associates. Many of our local industries have invested in our community in a big way since we started the program by purchasing $10,000 or more in Chamber Buck$ each and every year. These companies provide Chamber Buck$ to their employees for many reasons including work anniversaries, achieving production goals, perfect attendance, etc.

These businesses understand and appreciate the importance having their associates and vendors reinvesting in the Mattoon community. Grupo Bimbo USA, Inc., Mars Petcare US and Odd Fellow Rebekah Home are just some of the local organizations that purchase large quantities for their associates. They provide a major investment in our local community and we appreciate their support of shopping local.

Chamber Buck$ are available in increments of $5, $10, $20, and $25. They are dollar-for-dollar. In other words, if you purchase $20, you receive $20; if you redeem $20, you are reimbursed $20. There are no hidden fees or costs; it is a service provided by the Chamber. Participating businesses simply turn in the Chamber Buck$ they receive to the Chamber office for reimbursement.

If you have any questions regarding our Chamber Buck$ program, you can contact us by calling 217-235-5661. You can also e-mail us at director@mattoonchamber.com. We also have a link on our website, www.mattoonchamber.com, which highlights the participating Chamber members where the Buck$ can be spent.

As the weather improves it is a great time to get out and support local restaurants, bars and retail establishments. Take a stroll throughout downtown Mattoon and see what opportunities it has to offer. Always remember to shop local, invest locally and support local businesses!

Ed Dowd is the executive director of the Mattoon Chamber of Commerce.

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Russias war in Ukraine has taught the worlds autocrats some useful lessons:

Invasions may be harder than they look.

Its unwise to go to war with an army that hasnt had much practice against serious opponents.

The United States and its allies may appear divided, but they can still pull together in a crisis.

And when ordinary people decide to defend their homes, they can put up a surprisingly good fight.

Those lessons could have practical impact half a world away from Ukraine in the standoff between China and Taiwan.

Regaining Taiwan has been a major goal of Chinas ruling Communist Party since it took power in 1949. Chinas president, Xi Jinping, regularly reconfirms that he intends to return Taiwan to the motherland  by peaceful means if possible, by unpeaceful means if not.

So its reasonable to assume Xi and his aides have been paying close attention to the problems their quasi-ally Vladimir Putin has encountered in his brutal campaign to restore Russias control over its smaller neighbor, Ukraine.

In some ways, Taiwan looks like an easier target than Ukraine. It is smaller  24 million people, not 44 million. Its military is one-tenth the size of Chinas, and it hasnt built the kind of territorial defense force Ukraine is using to great effect right now. Meanwhile, Chinas navy and marine corps (yes, thats its name) have spent decades working on the ability to mount amphibious landings against an island like Taiwan.

But Taiwan has advantages Ukraine didnt have.

The Taiwan Strait is more than 100 miles wide, which would make an amphibious invasion daunting.

Taiwan has a security commitment from the United States  not as strong as the treaty that pledges the United States to defend NATO allies, but more than Ukraine had. (President Joe Biden made a point of mentioning it in his conversation with Xi on Friday.)

Finally, the United States has a more direct economic interest in Taiwan than in Ukraine; Taipei is a major trading partner, the source of more than half of the worlds high-end microchips.

The biggest surprise in Ukraine beyond the poor performance of Russias army has been the success of Ukraines Territorial Defense Forces, its army of reservists and unevenly trained civilians.

U.S. defense planners have long been urging Taiwan to adopt a strategy they call asymmetric defense  recognizing Chinas vast advantages in manpower and equipment, and aiming to raise the cost of an invasion. The goal, retired Adm. James Stavridis wrote recently, should be to make the island a porcupine  a spiny and indigestible entity that could deter China from using force.

But over much of the last decade, Taiwan moved in the opposite direction: It cut the size of its regular army and reduced the training of its reserves. It invested in high-end weapons beloved by military brass, like F-16s and Abrams tanks, instead of more mundane tools that might deter a shipborne invader: anti-aircraft weapons, anti-ship missiles and advanced mines.

Taiwans president, Tsai Ing-wen, has embraced the U.S. argument, at least rhetorically.

The recent situation in Ukraine proves that, in addition to international support and assistance, it boils down to the unity of our people to safeguard our country, she said recently.

But progress has been slow. Tsai has promised to increase defense spending to 3% of gross domestic project from the current 2.1% (the U.S. spends about 3.5%). But even after Taiwans legislature approved more defense spending, it will take more than five years to get there.

So U.S. officials have privately been pressing another lesson from Ukraine: The United States and other countries can help Taiwan defend itself, but only if the Taiwanese show that they are ready and willing to fight.

People love a fighter, noted Elbridge Colby, a former top Defense official in the Trump administration. If Ukraine had folded, the international support for them would not be happening.

The longer Ukraine shows that a determined population can make an invasion costly, it is giving small countries like Taiwan a model of how to defend themselves  and with luck, deter the next invasion before it begins.

If so, the terrible toll of Ukraines war might yield at least one positive side effect: Its just possible that this conflict may have reduced the chances of a conflict in Asia.

Doyle McManus is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times. doyle.mcmanus@latimes.com

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During and since my time as an active duty officer in the Army, I have devoted much time and energy to protecting military service members from financial predators. Last year I focused on the passage of the Predatory Lending Prevention Act (PLPA), and the nationwide repeal of a Comptroller of the Currency rule that protected payday lenders using evasive schemes to get around state-imposed usury rate caps. While those efforts were successful, there is more to do.

Recently, I took notice of a bill in the Illinois Legislature, HB 4627, which would allow the owners of self-storage locker facilities to avoid altogether the required public notice of the auction of renters items when his or her belongings have been confiscated. Those auctions often take place without the knowledge of the renter, who might be overseas defending our country or assisting fellow citizens falling victim to natural disasters. Illinois law requires owners to notify renters of an auction only by sending notice to the renters last known address.

A deeper look into Illinois Self Storage Facility Act reveals a law that is astonishingly lopsided in favor of locker owners to the detriment of renters. It is a law in need of reform.

Whether the renter is active duty military, our neighbors in the military Reserve or National Guard called to duty, a victim of eviction, or a victim of a house fire, every effort must be made to locate the renter before selling what could be their worldly belongings. Public notice in newspapers and their attendant websites helps.

California law requires owners to allow renters to submit the name and address of a second individual to whom all notices must be sent. In addition, California law also allows renters to formally object to an auction after which the owner must get a court's blessing before proceeding. Illinois law should do the same.

Locker rent increases and late fees should be examined. How many rent increases should a renter endure after their belongings are in storage? Active-duty military or reservists and Guardsmen called to duty might find it impossible to competitively shop or even receive notice once deployed. The current law should be viewed from the perspective of the transient and the vulnerable, not from only the point of view of owners.

I am all too familiar with real-life cases in which deployed service members have lost literally everything when storage facility owners sell off their possessions. I am sure that, given these difficult times, many other Illinoisans have suffered or will suffer the same.

There are several other changes in Illinois law that could help protect the renters of storage lockers. Many of those changes have been proposed by my colleagues, including the Woodstock Institute, Chicago Urban League, Housing Action Illinois, and Legal Action Chicago.

Those changes include several provisions that would benefit renters and help provide a balance between the rights of renters and owners. I urge legislators to not only reject HB 4627 but to reform Illinois Self Storage Facility Act as soon as possible.

Retired Army Col. Paul Kantwill serves as founding executive director of the Rule of Law Institute at Loyola University Chicago School of Law.

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Manufacturers of synthetic nicotine products have  for now  a short window for applying for Food and Drug Administration approval of a premarket tobacco product application.

Last week, President Joe Biden signed into law U.S. House Resolution 2471, a $1.5 trillion federal funding bill that contained language placing the use of synthetic nicotine under the FDAs authority.

That aspect of the law goes into effect April 14.

Specifically, the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C) now includes specific language that makes clear the Food and Drug Administration can soon regulate tobacco products containing nicotine from any source, which includes synthetic nicotine, the FDA said in a news release.

Currently, synthetic nicotine products can be sold in candy and fruit flavors not available to FDA-regulated tobacco and nicotine products.

Puff Bar has been a major distributor of flavored synthetic nicotine products, drawing the focus of anti-tobacco advocates as a favored option of high-school students. It is facing a similar level of scrutiny as top-selling e-cigarette Juul has in recent years.

Manufacturers of tobacco products containing nicotine not derived from tobacco will soon need to submit a premarket tobacco product application to the FDA and obtain authorization from the agency to market their product under the FD&C Act as amended by this legislation, or they will be subject to FDA enforcement.

The FDA, however, did not provide additional details about the new regulations would be implemented and the PMTA process for these types of products in the near future.

Purpose

The main regulatory focus on nicotine and tobacco products has been underage use, whether under age 18 or under age 21 as has been federal law since Dec. 20, 2019.

The FDA and federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released in October the 2021 National Youth Tobacco Survey, which had a major focus on electronic cigarette usage.

Current e-cig use among high school students dropped from 20% in 2020 to 11% in 2021  the rate it was at in 2017.

Analysts and observers said the decline likely was affected by two pandemic influences.

The first is that youths were allowed to participate online, rather than just in a classroom setting.

The second is that usage likely was curbed by youths being in virtual learning settings at home for most of the 2020-21 school year.

The FDA requested the regulatory language because of concerns that electronic-cigarette manufacturers were switching to synthetic-nicotine products in an attempt to evade FDA regulation (that) revealed a critical need to clarify FDAs authority over these products.

That has been accomplished, ensuring products that are similar except for the source of nicotine will be regulated as tobacco products.

Responses

Depending on which industry analysts is speaking, the inclusion of the synthetic nicotine language is either an important public-health victory or a blow to public health by limiting or extinguishing the product as an alternative to traditional cigarettes.

Before and after Biden signed the bill, there has been criticism from anti-smoking public health advocates of inserting synthetic nicotine into federal tobacco regulations.

The FDA has made clear there is no hope of reform in the near future, said Gregory Conley, president of American Vaping Association. The system has failed the smokers and vapers, and the answer isnt banning another 100,000 products and creating a new illicit market.

The fact is that with FDA so determined to destroy small- and- medium-sized businesses, nicotine alternatives are the only way for vapor specialty retailers to survive and keep adult ex-smokers off cigarettes.

Barclays analyst Jain Gaurav said a ripple effect of the new law is that all synthetic nicotine e-cigarettes, roughly 20% of the market, would likely go off market.

Matt Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said the language is necessary, claiming that synthetic nicotine poses a new and growing threat to the health of our nations kids.

In 2020, the FDA ordered Puff Bar to remove its flavored disposable e-cigarettes from the market because of their appeal to kids, Myers said.

In 2021, Puff Bar reentered the market as a synthetic nicotine product with kid-friendly flavors like Banana Ice and Cool Mint.

Congressional action is urgently needed to stop e-cigarette companies from using synthetic nicotine to blatantly evade FDA regulation and continue selling flavored e-cigarettes that are attracting and addicting kids, Myers said.

If left unaddressed, manufacturers of thousands of e-cigarettes  as well as other tobacco products  are likely to switch to synthetic nicotine to evade critical public health protections, including premarket review requirements for new tobacco products, the nationwide tobacco sale age of 21, and health warnings.

Amanda Wheeler, president of the American Vapor Manufacturers Association, said giving the FDA authority over synthetic nicotine would serve to slow down the shift of adult smokers toward vaping options.

Its already lunatic that FDA is prohibiting adult American smokers from switching to vaping, but this legislation is so absurd that it will extend FDAs reach to products that have no actual, physical connection to tobacco whatsoever, Wheeler said.

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Smith Patterson, a longtime fixture in the Triad radio scene, died Sunday morning at age 73 of kidney cancer.

He was definitely an icon in this market for many years, said J.R. Snider, who worked with him at various radio stations for more than 30 years. He had a reputation for being as solid a newsman as there was. ... Thats what he wanted to do, a good job doing the news. People could rely on him.

I loved Smith, Im very saddened, said Glenn Scott, who worked with him more than 20 years at WSJS. He was more than a newsman to that program when I was on. He had such a dry sense of humor, he was easy to play off, you couldnt help but like him. ... As long as I worked with him  and youre with the guy every day for over 20 years, five hours a morning  and I never remember having a cross word with him. We all got along.

He was a good guy, a good radio guy, and smart and quick.

He was the quintessential newsman, said Ed Skurka, who met him in 1994 at WSJS after moving from the West Coast. He was kind of a little gruff, but what stood out to me was his wry sense of humor. I learned so much, he was very gracious with his knowledge.

He took the time, he taught me how to pronounce things on the air  He took me under his wing and was really gracious with his knowledge and his time. He worked really hard at his craft. What I remember most is how he would craft such great teases for what was coming up next. It was almost poetry; it was so fantastic.

Patterson worked at various radio stations in the market over the years, including WTOB, WSJS and WEGO Eagle 980, where he retired in December 2015.

Forty-two of Pattersons 45 years on the air were in the news department, but he got his start in the radio industry because of his love of music.

When he was about 10 years old, Patterson began listening to music on radio station WAAA 980 AM, which later became WEGO and is now WTOB. In a 2015 interview, he recalled choosing to use his lunch money on the jukebox rather than on food. In his early teens, he became an avid music collector, recalling that by the time he went into the Navy he had about 150-200 singles and maybe 50 albums.

When he was 15, he visited the WTOB studio while his mother was shopping at Thruway Shopping Center and chatted with legendary disc jockey George Lee.

Patterson recalled telling Lee about his desire for a career in radio, and he told me Run. Run and keep running.

Patterson ignored that advice, and after graduating from North Forsyth High School in 1967 and serving in the Navy from 1968 to 1970, he came back to the Triad and pursued his dreams. He had the good fortune to go to a small Mocksville radio station the very day their morning host had quit and was on the air the next Monday.

I was scared to death, he recalled.

He went from there to Statesville and then into the Winston-Salem market, where he got the name most listeners knew him by. Pattersons real name was John Johnson. But when he went to work at WTOB, where one of the owners was also named John Jonson, he was told he would have to come up with a different name. Driving home, he got behind a fuel truck for a Rural Hall company, Patterson Smith Oil.

I just flipped it around, and there you go, he said in a 2015 interview.

He used it from then on, Snider said. His friends and coworkers often referred to him as Smitty.

After he was laid off at WSJS in 2012, Patterson was hired by WEGO and paired up with Bill Flynn. There, Patterson reported the morning news weekdays for three and a half years.

We were all shocked when SJS let him go, and we were honored to bring him back to the airwaves, said Stu Epperson Jr., owner and general manager at WEGO. He was a man of real integrity who cared about people, and he was always a delight to work with. Im honored to be part of his life.

Smith was certainly guided by professionalism, and he was an absolute wordsmith, Flynn said. He took a lot of pride in it. It was his calling.

He also left people with the feeling of a close connection that would last, Flynn said.

If you met him, what you saw  was the sense that he could be a family member to you, Flynn said.

Even after his retirement, Patterson and Flynn would get together regularly to sit on a porch or patio and solve every world issue, Flynn recalled.

Patterson retired from radio in 2015, and on Facebook described himself as CEO of Itinerant Cat Ranchers of America. He was well known for his love of his pet cats.

He was also well known as a lovable curmudgeon.

He was a notorious sourpuss, Snider said with a laugh. He was the most notable grump Ive ever been around.

But with a heart of gold behind it all, added Skurka. He was one of those people that you meet him and you really dont forget him. I was lucky to spend time with him.

He really was a Southern original, I think, Flynn said, recalling how he adopted the sardonic phrase Well  Bye from the movie Tombstone and often used it at the end of conversations.

He was sort of a curmudgeon, Scott said, and what you heard on the air is what he was  a great radio guy, but an even better person.

He is survived by his wife, Susan, and four children, daughter Keleigh and sons Adam and Wes and stepson Michael.
An early morning shooting on Sunday injured a man who was inside a house in the 100 block of North Graham Avenue, Winston-Salem police said.

Police said they responded at 2:46 a.m. to the report of a shooting, and found a man inside a house who had suffered a minor gunshot wound. The victim was taken to the hospital for treatment of injuries that were not considered life-threatening.

Police said that they were temporarily withholding the name of the victim. Authorities said that evidence and statements from witnesses indicated the incident was a drive-by shooting. The victim was inside the house when several rounds were fired into the dwelling.

Police said anyone with information should call police at 336-773-7700 or Crime Stoppers at 336-727-2800.

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In the combustible days and weeks following the November 2020 election, Adrian Fontes was threatened so many times he lost count.

As Maricopa County recorder, Fontes oversaw the balloting in Phoenix and its sprawling suburbs, the swing portion of a swing state and one of the focal points of President Donald Trumps unhinged efforts to overturn Joe Bidens victory.

With tensions mounting, as armed demonstrators gathered outside his office and a SWAT team parked itself inside, Fontes packed go bags so his wife and children could quickly flee their home. After one death threat, the family evacuated for several days.

Crazy stuff. But the menace facing Fontes and his staff was not unusual.

A new survey by the Brennan Center for Justice found 1 in 6 election officials nationwide said they have been threatened, part of a dramatic rise in tensions as voting and elections have become an increasing political flashpoint.

These attacks have forced election officials across the country to take steps like hiring personal security, fleeing their homes and putting their children into counseling, according to the center, a research and policy organization affiliated with New York University.

All because election workers were doing their job and a bunch of sore-losing chuckleheads didnt like the result.

More than 1 in 4 of those surveyed by the Brennan Center said they were concerned about being assaulted. More than half said they worried about the safety of their colleagues.

More troubling, 30% said they knew of at least one election worker who had left the position in part because of intimidation or increased threats.

Looking to Novembers balloting and beyond, 60% of election officials expressed concern that harassment and safety concerns will make it more difficult to recruit and retain the workers vital to running the countrys election machinery and ensuring its integrity.

Thats a void Trump acolytes are happy to fill, with an eye on gaming the presidential election if he runs again in 2024.

It bears repeating that, despite Trumps continued and incessant lies, U.S officials judged the Nov. 3, 2020, election  which saw record-high turnout amid the worst pandemic in a century  the most secure in the countrys history.

There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes or was in any way compromised, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement co-signed by some of Trumps own appointees.

That fact hasnt stopped the continued assault on the countrys election systems and its front-line workers, who deserve more than the protective efforts undertaken so far by lawmakers.

The Justice Department last year created a task force to prosecute people who threaten election workers and in January charged a Texas man who posted a message urging patriots on Craigslist to shoot three Georgia officials.

The spending bill the Senate passed recently and sent to President Biden included $75 million for election security. But thats a fraction of what the Brennan Center estimates is needed over the next several years to update equipment and protect election integrity.

In Oregon, the legislature passed a bill upping the penalty for harassing election workers and helping prevent their home addresses from being made public.

In California, Democratic state Sen. Josh Newman of Fullerton introduced similar legislation that would give election workers the option of enrolling in the privacy protection program available to judges, politicians and victims of domestic abuse, so they could keep their personal information private.

Still, the overwhelming majority of election workers surveyed by the Brennan Center felt the federal government hasnt done enough to protect them.

Fontes, a former Marine, said many election officials take the job for the same reason people enlist in the military. Its a calling, he said. Its a duty.

Not one, however, that should carry the risk of physical danger or emotional abuse.

Fontes sees the threats against election workers as part of a deliberate strategy; Trump and his allies have made no secret of their attempt to hijack the voting system by taking over positions from secretary of state and attorney general down to the county and precinct levels.

This is horrific for our democracy, Fontes said. Theyre intimidating good people out of these jobs so they can replace them with sycophants. Its not complicated, and people should care. Because its happening right under our noses.

Mark Z. Barabak is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times.
As construction on the long-anticipated South Beltway moves closer to the finish line, most everyone agrees on one thing: the new 11-mile freeway creates a wealth of development possibilities.

Homes and grocery stores and restaurants. Manufacturing companies and warehouse distribution centers. Data centers and office space for local businesses. Hotels and specialty shops and maybe even a convention center.

I think the potential is unlimited, said Bud Synhorst, Lincoln Independent Business Association president and CEO.

Development and the South Beltway are like plants leaning toward the sun: The city was already growing south, the beltway will draw it faster, he said.

But some developers worry the city isnt thinking aggressively enough about that growth to an area still largely unserved by sewer and other infrastructure, and they wish thered been more thought to providing it in the latest update to the comprehensive plan, especially on the east end of the beltway.

I think we wanted them (city officials) to think more about the potential of what could happen with growth, Synhorst said.

Rick Krueger, who is developing Woodlands at Yankee Hill, a growing residential area near 84th Street and Yankee Hill Road, said for decades Lincolns growth patterns have been to the south and east. Thats where land values are the highest.

People want to move south and east in Lincoln, he said. It isnt good or bad. It just is."

Enter the long-awaited South Beltway  a $352 million project by the Nebraska Department of Transportation slated to be done sometime next year that will connect Nebraska 2 southeast of Lincoln with U.S. 77 to the southwest.

The freeway will allow truck traffic to skirt Lincoln streets, with easy access to Interstate 80 via U.S. 77.

That creates a great opportunity for manufacturing and industrial development, as well as retail, Synhorst said.

I think its a blank canvas for some really innovative developers to come up with some great ways (to use the land), he said. The ideas are endless, right?

Maybe a medical clinic or auto services. Maybe larger retail areas. The beltway, he said, will be a game-changer.

I think the citys going to have to be nimble in the comprehensive plan to adjust for the wants and needs that may come up, he said.

Krueger said where the beltway connects to Nebraska 2 at about 120th Street will be a major transportation hub, especially when the East Beltway follows  and developers say the city should extend the Stevens Creek sewer trunk system in that direction.

Those major transportation hubs, you just cant ignore them, he said.

David Cary, Lincoln-Lancaster County Planning Director, said extending sewer service there now from the Stevens Creek basin isnt financially feasible.

It would be very costly to jump over all that undeveloped land and put sewer down there, he said. By extending the sewer lines as the city grows allows developments to help pay for it, he said.

Several years ago, the city built a trunk sewer line that opened up the Stevens Creek basin for development east of 84th Street, dramatically spurring growth in northeast Lincoln. Its now extended as far south as Van Dorn Street, opening more of that area to development.

The 2050 comprehensive plan prioritizes more eastern development as far south as Pine Lake Road, but the area south of that  including where the South Beltway reaches Nebraska 2  will happen later.

We have decades and decades of this regular growth, Cary said.

City officials did see the potential created by the beltway, and prioritized growth south to the new freeway  and beyond  but farther west, generally from 27th Street to 70th Street.

About the time the South Beltway opens, Lincoln Public Schools will be set to open the new Standing Bear High School at 70th Street and Saltillo Road, not far from the freeway. And Bryan Health said it picked the area of 40th Street and Rokeby Road for its new April Sampson Cancer Center in part because of its location near the expressway.

Gas stations, fast-food places and hotels will likely come to that area nearest the beltway, Cary said. It will also help fill the demand for light industrial development  offices or electronics companies or those that make consumer goods, he said.

Much of the land farther from the beltway will be residential, Cary said.

The opportunities presented by the South Beltway will also impact small towns, and Lincoln has to be careful not to lose businesses to them, said Robin Eschliman, a local commercial real estate agent who co-hosts the Grow Lincoln radio show on KLIN-AM.

The most important thing is to be ready to take advantage of the opportunity, she said.

Are there community leaders willing to step up in the private sector to make things happen, and is the city ready to step up?

Reach the writer at 402-473-7226 or mreist@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSreist

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OMAHA -- During the course of the pandemic, it has become clear that the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 can infect not only humans but also animals.

Many scientists, in fact, think the virus, SARS-CoV-2, initially emerged from bats. Studies have found antibodies to the virus in white-tailed deer, and another study last fall found signs of widespread infections in tissue samples collected from Iowa deer. The virus also has been found in a variety of other animals, from big cats in zoos to raccoons and skunks in the wild.

For now, capacity is limited across the U.S. to monitor animals for pathogens such as the coronavirus that can spread to humans, said Dr. Bryan Buss, who serves as Nebraska's state public health veterinarian.

But that is poised to change. Recently, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services received a $100,000 grant that will allow the agency to work with a number of partners to develop a surveillance system for such diseases.

"There's really a limited amount of information about what's happening in our wildlife population," Buss said, "so it's pretty important and timely work."

In addition to looking for the virus in as many animals as possible, he said, another goal is to establish a sustainable system for reporting test results electronically. Plans call for building that system on an existing electronic reporting connection with the Nebraska Veterinary Diagnostic Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, which tests animals for rabies.

The lab will conduct all of the coronavirus testing under the new initiative. The animals submitted for rabies testing also will be tested for the coronavirus. Other partners, including the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium, will provide samples collected from animals for testing. Buss said the researchers also hope to work with humane societies to see if there are ways to test other domestic animals, such as feral cats.

Funding for the project was awarded by the Council for State and Territorial Epidemiologists.

Separately, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is launching a series of projects aimed at creating an early warning system for zoonotic diseases, those that can be spread between animals and people. That agency has received funding through the American Rescue Plan Act  $300 million, according to the New York Times.

Buss said the projects can complement each other.

"The more we can learn collectively, looking at this in a number of ways ... the better off we'll be," said Buss, a career epidemiology field officer with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention assigned to Nebraska.

Creating a surveillance system in Nebraska is important, he said, because all of the animals that live in the state create many opportunities for contact between people and animals. Farms and ranches account for 90% of the state's land area, and 1.2 million acres are open for hunting, trapping and fishing. The state's three zoos together draw 2.65 million visitors a year.

Right now, Buss said, the overall risk of transmission between humans and animals is low, as is the risk of humans getting the virus back from animals.

But researchers, he said, are concerned that new variants could emerge in animals and spread to humans and that animals could serve as reservoirs capable of spreading the virus to other species.

"It's worth looking at, and we're trying to build this for the future, not only for SARS-CoV-2," he said, "but for other diseases that spread from animals."

The largest potential source of animal samples for testing under the Nebraska project, he said, are deer killed by hunters.

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission has banked about 1,500 lymph nodes from deer, which were collected last fall with hunters' permission at state check stations that were testing for chronic wasting disease.

Buss said the partners plan to reach out to hunters for permission to test the nodes for the coronavirus. The plan is not to test all of the banked nodes but a representative sample from across the state. This fall, the partners will ask hunters upfront for permission to test for both illnesses.

Todd Nordeen, the commission's big game disease and research program manager, said the agency also has sent some nasal swab samples from pronghorn antelope and elk that have been briefly captured for other agency studies. Those studies look primarily at the movement, distribution and resources used by wildlife in western Nebraska. Some blood serum samples also may be used.

Nordeen, who is based in Alliance, said the immediate aim is to see how widespread the virus has become across species. In the meantime, the project already has bolstered coordination among agencies that are tasked with dealing with such diseases.

"There's still a lot unknown about (SARS-CoV-2) in animals," he said. "This effort should help us gain more answers in that regard."

Dr. Bruce Broderson, director of the veterinary diagnostic lab, said antelope and elk samples will be tested soon.

"It'll be interesting to see what species are affected," he said.

Dr. Sarah Woodhouse, the Omaha zoo's director of animal health, said zoo staff have chosen to sample animals they think are at greater risk of getting COVID-19 based on animal infections in zoos around the world and on which animals can get closest to guests.

The zoo has been monitoring its snow leopards  it's home to a pair, a male and a female  with weekly fecal collections. Both have been negative. Now they will add tigers. Two of the zoo's tigers previously tested positive for COVID-19 but since have been clear. Also on the list are two ambassador cheetahs that go to events.

Also to be monitored are the African wild cat and coatimundi in the zoo's Desert Dome, two species of otters in the Lied Jungle as well as orangutans, siamangs and squirrel monkeys in the jungle's Adventure Trail area. A coatimundi tested positive at another zoo, and otters fall in the same family as mink, which have been subject to large outbreaks on farms.

Woodhouse said the state health department also is helping collect swabs of guano from the jungle's Egyptian fruit bats.

"It'll be comforting to know we're doing some surveillance and making sure our animals aren't being exposed to COVID, both for the sake of our animals and keepers and for the sake of our guests," she said.

The zoo, Woodhouse said, also plans to participate in an evolving USDA-Animal Plant Health Inspection Service study. That project will involve testing blood samples collected from zoo animals before and after the pandemic began for antibodies to COVID, which would provide evidence of exposure to the virus.

If the researchers find the virus in the samples they're testing, Buss said, they will attempt to sequence its genome at either the Nebraska Public Health Laboratory or the USDA National Veterinary Services Laboratory.

Scientists recently identified a new, highly mutated version of the virus in white-tailed deer in Ontario. A similar viral sequence was found in a person in the area who had close contact with deer. No evidence has been found, however, that the deer variant is spreading among or poses any added risk to people, the New York Times reported.

Buss said it's not well understood how the strain evolved. Among the things the Nebraska researchers want to know is whether a reservoir of the virus exists in some other species or there is more widespread circulation among deer than is currently known.

If the researchers find the virus in the animals they're testing, Buss said, they plan to go back and look for it in other species in the area, such as rodents and rabbits.

"We may wind up with very few positives," he said. "But if we do find it, we're going to be pretty aggressive in doing some investigation in the wild."

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COLUMBUS  Felipe Vazquez, the teenager who fired the shot that killed Lincoln Police Officer Mario Herrera in August 2020, will go to prison for first-degree murder.

A jury in Platte County District Court, where this month's trial was moved, returned the verdict just before 8:30 p.m. Monday.

Twelve hours earlier, in closing arguments, the jury of five men and seven women heard Herrera's voice, captured on an audio recorder in the investigator's pocket, the moment he was wounded.

First came a smash, the sound of glass breaking from a bedroom window.

A shot followed. Boom. Then, immediately, Herrera's pained screams.

His family and Lincoln police officers in plain clothes had filled the courtroom Monday morning, at least one wiping away tears at the dramatic audio that showed how quickly everything went tragically wrong.

Many were back in the Columbus courtroom Monday night, awaiting the jury's response to the question of premeditated first-degree murder or manslaughter, as attorneys for Vazquez had suggested throughout the two-week trial.

Vazquez showed no emotion as the seven guilty verdicts were read, including assault, escape and firearm charges that could net a sentence of life plus 194 years at a hearing scheduled for May 25.

Following the verdicts, Herrera's family watched as deputies put handcuffs on Vazquez and led him out of the courtroom. Herrera's widow, Carrie Herrera, tearfully hugged Lancaster County Attorney Pat Condon and other supporters, including current and former LPD officers.

Family members declined comment outside the courtroom and attorneys offered no statements.

The verdicts followed 19 months after officers first went to Vazquez's father's house at 3255 Vine St., looking to serve a warrant.

In the seconds leading up to the audio clip played Monday, Condon said Mario Herrera and two other officers were behind a tree in the yard talking. A captain said he didn't think Vazquez  the teen who locked himself in a bedroom when they came to arrest him  had a gun inside.

"What does he do? He does what he's been trained to do," Condon said of Herrera, who stepped out from behind the tree when he heard the crashing noise of Vazquez's escape attempt. "He's also drawing Mr. Vazquez's fire."

He said in the 20 to 25 minutes holed up in the house, Vazquez had time to think this whole thing out, showing premeditation necessary for first-degree murder.

"He's not trying to scare the officers. He's trying to kill the officers that are trying to stop him from leaving," Condon said.

Vazquez's first shot was the one that tore through Herrera's liver. Then there was a pause and a second boom from the stolen .45-caliber handgun.

In closing arguments, defense attorney Nancy Peterson said Vazquez didn't intend to shoot Herrera or anyone.

"All he wanted to do was to get away," she said.

She said if he had planned to have a shootout with police, why would he leave an extra magazine for the gun behind? And why didn't he shoot at an officer blocking off Vine Street a block away?

In an interview with a Lancaster County Sheriff's deputy later that day, after Vazquez was chased out of a house nearby and found hiding on a porch, he denied he'd had a gun or fired it.

"I just got out the window. I heard gunshots and I kept running. I don't know, bro," the then-17-year-old said.

But last week on the stand, Vazquez said he remembered firing the gun twice  police found three .45 casings. He said the plan was to aim at the tree to cause officers to take cover, allowing him and his friend, Orion Ross, to get away.

On Monday, Peterson asked the jury to find Vazquez guilty of manslaughter for Herrera's killing.

Peterson also asked jurors to find Vazquez not guilty of attempted assault on Officer Cole Jennings, who ended up with bruising on his legs.

Prosecutors believe Vazquez shot at Jennings' feet, causing debris to hit him, before Jennings returned fire, shooting four times but missing Vazquez as he ran away.

Peterson argued against that claim and against trusting testimony from two convicted felons who stood to benefit by, one, saying Vazquez had previously said he would shoot police if they came to arrest him and, by another, saying he'd said "it was me or the officer."

"Your verdict doesn't rest on maybes and possiblys and could've-beens," she said.

Condon countered that Vazquez wasn't shooting in the air or at a van or a tree.

"Felipe Vazquez was shooting at the officer who was going to stop him," he said. "That was his intention. To not get caught and to shoot ... whichever police officer he needed to."

The jury in Platte County, where the case was moved because of pretrial publicity, entered deliberations at 11:49 a.m.

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

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The state said the killing was first-degree murder. That Barnes kicked his way into the house, just as he'd threatened to do in texts later deleted, after she told him their relationship was over and not to come home.
Tory Villamonte was a freshman in Paul Smiths English class at Crete High School when she first learned about the Freedom Writers.

The class was doing a unit on The Freedom Writers Diary, the 1999 book co-authored by 150 students  once labeled "at-risk" and "unteachable"  in Long Beach, California, and the teacher, Erin Gruwell, who transformed their lives through writing.

The students called themselves the "Freedom Writers"  a word-play homage to the Freedom Riders of the Civil Rights Era  and put down in ink their own coming-of-age stories in the form of diary entries.

Its a very powerful book. All of the stories are so different and unique, Villamonte said. You get to see into all of these people's lives.

So out of the blue one day last spring, Villamonte decided to try her hand at writing her own entry and shared it with Smith, who loved it.

And it just so happened that Smith, one of hundreds of Freedom Writer teachers across the country, had heard of another project the Freedom Writers Foundation was undertaking in which 50 students from across the U.S. and the world would be chosen to submit a piece in the form of a letter to the original Freedom Writers.

Torys a writer. She uses writing as her catharsis, he said. I just said, Well, lets take a chance, Ill ask her and see if shes interested, and she was.

So Smith reached out to the foundation, which asked to see the essay. They accepted it, and now Villamontes writing will be a part of the forthcoming book Dear Freedom Writer, which will hit shelves March 29.

Next weekend, Villamonte  the first Freedom Writer from Nebraska  will head to California to take part in a conference coinciding with the book's launch, which will include writers' workshops and a book-signing by the students.

Its very exciting, the 16-year-old sophomore said. Its been an amazing opportunity to be able to say Im a published author.

Writing has always been a way for Villamonte to express herself. She grew up crafting her own little stories about fantastical worlds populated with silly creatures like talking cats and fairies. Shed write plays to act out with her siblings. Or even comic tales complete with illustrations, like one that poked fun at grown-ups who carried cellphones and sported hairy armpits.

As shes become older, Villamonte has turned to more real-world subjects in her writing. She draws inspiration from her favorite authors  from young-adult writer Patrick Ness to Jane Austen.

When Im writing fiction, I love being able to make your own world and put it on a document and just to be able to have full control of what happens, she said.

Rogene Villamonte said its surreal to see her daughters writing get published, but she always knew she would find success.

Im just surprised at how early it happened, but I wasnt surprised that it happened, she said.

Over the past year, Tory Villamonte has taken part in virtual workshops with her fellow student authors and Gruwell, and even got some editing help from the original Freedom Writers.

The students pieces in the book  subtitled Stories of Hardship and Hope from the Next Generation"  cover a variety of lived experiences, from abuse and racism, to poverty and identity. Villamonte herself wrote about mental health. Since the stories are personal, the authors are left anonymous, just like in the original book.

The Freedom Writers' story started with a lesson. In 1994, Gruwell, then a first-year teacher at Woodrow Wilson High School, intercepted a racist note from one of her students. She compared the note to the vitriol and hate that led to the Holocaust, but she was met with blank stares.

So she had her students read Anne Franks diary and Zlata Filipovics account of growing up in war-torn Sarajevo. The students began keeping their own diaries, and eventually the idea for a book was formed.

Since then, Gruwell has trained teachers  like Smith  to translate the Freedom Writers story into their own classrooms. The Freedom Writers Foundation also sponsors scholarship for students and offers outreach and curriculum for schools.

Smith found out about the program from a mutual friend of his and Gruwells, a Holocaust survivor from Omaha who called him up one day and asked if he would want to be a Freedom Writers teacher.

It was nothing on my radar at all, but it was one of the coolest phone calls I ever received and a life-changer for me, said Smith.

In 2007, Smith  then a teacher at Lincoln Southeast High School  contributed to the book "Teaching Hope," which told the stories of Freedom Writers teacher and their own struggles in the classroom.

Now years later, Smith is impressed to see a student like Villamonte embrace the "power of the pen" in an age of social media and smart phones.

She realizes she has a voice and she is encouraged and strengthened to use her voice, he said. Im really proud of her  and thats something Im going to hang on to.

Villamonte is looking forward to in-person meetings with the friends shes made through the project, including a student in California who she texts frequently.

And while shes gotten a taste of what the book will look like, shes also excited to bring home some copies for her friends and families  and shes going prepared.

Were going to have to leave space in our suitcases just to fit the books.

Contact the writer at zhammack@journalstar.com or 402-473-7225. On Twitter @zach_hammack

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A former maintenance worker at a Sarpy County apartment complex was released from custody Monday after being sentenced for sexually assaulting three women who lived or worked at the complex.

Sarpy County District Judge George Thompson sentenced Hector Guardado-Alfaro, 44, to the maximum of one year on each of three counts of third-degree sexual assault, a misdemeanor. Guardado-Alfaro had pleaded no contest to the charges, which were amended from two counts of first-degree sexual assault, a felony, and disturbing the peace, a misdemeanor.

Because Guardado-Alfaro was in jail for more than two years while awaiting trial, he was awarded credit for the time he already had served and was released after sentencing.

Under state sentencing guidelines, sentences generally are cut in half. Guardado-Alfaro also was ordered to register as a sex offender.

Guardado-Alfaro is a former maintenance worker at an apartment complex near 168th Street and Nebraska 370. Investigators for the Sarpy County Sheriff's Office determined that he used his position there to assault the women in three separate incidents in January 2020.

Two of the women were residents, and a third was a co-worker at the apartment complex, investigators said.

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Gov. Pete Ricketts on Monday said the Legislature should move ahead with the criminal justice reforms that were fully agreed to by a study committee while rejecting Sen. Steve Lathrop's support for what Ricketts called a "soft-on-crime package" of proposed parole and sentencing reforms that had divided the committee.

Lathrop, chairman of the Legislature's Judiciary Committee, has urged the Legislature to embrace the reform package that emerged from a study by the Crime and Justice Institute.

"If increasing penalties had been the solution, we wouldn't be building a new prison," Lathrop said during debate last week.

Lathrop has urged the Legislature to support investments in programming with "modest changes in sentencing (and) earlier parole eligibility."

He declined to comment on the governor's news conference remarks.

Lathrop co-chaired the study group that produced the reform ideas. The group's final report included 17 policy ideas that all its members agreed on and four they didn't. Lathrop's bill includes all of the legislative ideas, regardless of consensus, that fall under the jurisdiction of the Judiciary Committee.

The debate over parole and sentencing reform has emerged as a centerpiece for legislative consideration as Ricketts pushes for construction of a $270 million state prison to replace the aging and overcrowded State Penitentiary in Lincoln.

The Appropriations Committee has recommended setting aside the money needed to build the prison in a cash account but has not appropriated the money awaiting a decision on whether to proceed with construction.

Pointing to a $40 million increase in the estimated cost of the prison already incurred by the Legislature's earlier delay, Ricketts said "we can't keep kicking the can down the road."

"We need to make this investment," the governor said.

"We need to improve security for both inmates and staff," he said, while recognizing that the aging and overcrowded Penitentiary is not designed for the programming that inmates need.

Lathrop still has three hours remaining to make his case before senators can invoke cloture to end his filibuster efforts to convince his colleagues about the need for the proposed reforms during an ongoing budget debate.

The criminal justice reform debate already underway in the Legislature was the subject of a question raised at the governor's news conference called to recognize Agriculture Week in Nebraska along with Social Workers Week.

Answering another question, Ricketts doubled-down on his decision not to seek $120 million in additional federal emergency rental and utility assistance that's available to the state under a program launched in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

"We are not in an emergency," he said. "It is not appropriate to ask for emergency funds."

The Legislature is scheduled to consider Lincoln Sen. Matt Hansen's bill (LB1073) directing the governor to apply for all the funds available when that measure appears on final reading Tuesday.

In answer to another question, Ricketts took another shot at Republican gubernatorial candidate Charles Herbster, suggesting that Herbster's repeated failure to pay his property taxes on time demonstrated that he believes in "one rule for me, one rule for everybody else."

Ricketts, who is supporting Jim Pillen for the GOP nomination, said "it's one reason why he (Herbster) would be a terrible governor."

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

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Nebraska's hospital and medical associations have sent a letter to state senators encouraging them to devote a share of the state's federal pandemic funding to bolstering the health care workforce.

Leaders of the Nebraska Hospital Association and the Nebraska Medical Association, which represents many of the state's doctors, also raised concerns in a letter dated Thursday that the Legislature's proposal does not reserve contingency funds for future public health response needs.

The associations are not alone in lobbying for a share of the state's allotment under the American Rescue Plan Act. The ARPA funding bill will be on Wednesday's legislative agenda. The committee proposal would use $1.03 billion of the $1.04 billion that Nebraska will get from ARPA.

Jeremy Nordquist, the hospital association's president, said the groups' members are concerned about the lack of investment in initiatives that would immediately strengthen the state's health care workforce, particularly in rural Nebraska. That workforce has suffered losses during the pandemic.

A study by the Nebraska Center for Nursing indicated the state will face a shortage of 5,435 nurses by the year 2025. That number actually is expected to be higher given the losses of nurses because of the pandemic. As of last week, some 7,247 open nursing positions in Nebraska were posted on Indeed.com.

According to a University of Nebraska Medical Center health care workforce study, every Nebraska county but Douglas and Lancaster has been designated a shortage area for at least one type of physician primary care specialty. Nearly a fifth of physicians in the state are approaching retirement age.

The associations urged the Legislature to appropriate funds for three initiatives to jump-start the health care workforce:

* $5 million for nursing scholarships.

* $5 million for rural health professional student loan repayment.

* Ongoing operational funding for the Rural Health Complex at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

Nordquist said the associations' leaders also are concerned about a lack of contingency funding for future public health emergencies, such as another wave of COVID-19.

Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts, he said, had included $20 million each for the current fiscal year and the next fiscal year in his ARPA spending proposal to cover hospital capacity needs, including traveling nurses. The committee's proposal does not include such funds.

Nordquist noted that the state's hospitals are only six weeks removed from having a limit on elective procedures because of high numbers of COVID-19 patients.

The state has until 2026 to spend the ARPA funds. The Legislature could set aside contingency funds and "have that there as a backstop."

"We don't know what the future holds," he said.

World-Herald reporter Martha Stoddard contributed to this report.

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RACINE  A 16-year-old boy is in critical but stable condition after being shot Sunday evening on Racines near north side.

The Racine Police Department was dispatched to the 1100 block of Albert Street at about 7:30 p.m. Sunday on a report of shots fired.

According to Sgt. Kristi Wilcox, upon arrival officers located the male victim with multiple gunshot wounds.

Surveillance video from a home on Albert Street, obtained by The Journal Times, shows the teenager walking alongside a child on the north side of Albert Street when a dark colored van or SUV pulls up next to them. Two individuals get out, with one staying in the street and the other running toward the teen and the child.

The teenager and child both begin to back away moments before muzzle flashes are seen coming from the two individuals who had been in the car. After the teenager was on the ground, the individual who ran up to him moved closer and fired several shots at point-blank range.

The child appeared to run away without being physically injured.

Within moments, another person who was nearby ran up to render aid to the injured teen and can be seen pulling out a cellphone before others arrive on scene.

The video, which is 2 minutes, 3 seconds long, ends before first responders arrive.

The victim was transported to Ascension All Saints Hospital and from there was transported by Flight for Life to a Milwaukee hospital. He was reported to be in critical but stable condition as of Monday morning.

No one is in custody for this incident, Wilcox added. The shooting remains under investigation by the RPD.

Any witnesses, or citizens with information, can contact the Racine Police Department Investigations Unit at 262-635-7756. Those who wish to remain anonymous may contact Crime Stoppers by phone at 262-636-9330, or through the Crime Stoppers app by using the p3 app.

It was the second serious shooting of a teenager in as many Sundays in Racine: On March 13 a 14-year-old, Eugene J.R. T. Henderson, was shot on Racines south side; he died two days later.

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Dee Holzel Reporter Dee Holzel has been reporting since 1999 and joined the Journal Times in October 2020. Dee graduated with an MA in History from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, specializing in the intersection of history and journalism. Follow Dee Holzel 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
RACINE  Members of the Racine Case chapter of WI DECA joined more than 800 high school business, finance, hospitality and marketing students at the annual WI DECA State Career Development Conference Feb. 21-24 at the Grand Geneva Resort in Lake Geneva.

DECA (an association of marketing/business education students) prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges around the globe.

These students from the Academies of Racine  Case High School competed at conference: Karmine Cramer, Madison Heckle, Ava Knaus, Alyson Kolaske, Valeria Malfavon, Brooke Mercier, Ava Neff, Naisbert Nyamatutu, Zachary Podoba, Helena Pudzisz, Ognjen Rasic, Adam Ries, Leo Smith, Jasmine Thompson and Dalton Yonkovich.

Students competed in business role-play situations with business professionals serving as judges. Students selected from a variety of career segments from business finance services to hotel and lodging management. They also competed with written projects for events they worked on throughout the year and then completed a presentation process at the state conference.

These students were medalists in their events:

Helena Pudzisz, apparel and accessories marketing series; integrated marketing campaign  event

Karmine Cramer, principles of business management & administration

Leo Smith, principles of business management & administration; professional selling

Valeria Malfavon, personal financial literacy

Naisbert Nyamatutu, principles of marketing; hospitality and tourism professional selling

These students were overall series finalists:

Helena Pudzisz, integrated marketing campaign  event, sixth place

Valeria Malfavon, personal financial literacy, sixth place

Naisbert Nyamatutu, hospitality and tourism professional selling, tenth place

Pudzisz, Kolaske, Malfavon, Rasic, Podoba, Smith, Neff, Mercier, Cramer and Nyamatutu will have the opportunity to represent the Academies of Racine  Case and Wisconsin at the DECA International Career Development Conference April 22-27 in Atlanta, Ga.

Racine Case DECA was recognized for participating in the 2021-2022 Wisconsin DECA Community Service Campaign and completing the following initiatives: Acts of Kindness, General Contributions to Charity, 100 Hours of Community Service, Contributions to Make-a-Wish, Trick or Can Food Drive.

As an integral part of the classroom curriculum, DECAs industry-validated competitive events are aligned with the National Curriculum Standards in the career clusters of marketing, business management and administration, finance, and hospitality and tourism. DECAs competitive events directly contribute to every student being college and career ready when they graduate from high school. More than 200 business professionals evaluated the members performance in the format of role-plays, case studies and prepared presentations.

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TOWN OF WATERFORD  Two incumbents are vying with two challengers in the April 5 election to fill two seats on the Waterford Town Board.

Teri Jendusa Nicolai and Tim Szeklinski are seeking re-election, while Jeffrey Klyzub and Robert Ulander are running to join the five-member board.

Voters in the April 5 election will get two choices, and the top two finishers will each win a two-year term at a salary of $7,750 a year.

Here is how the candidates responded to questions posed by the Journal Times.

Now that the Town of Waterfords incorporation effort has failed, how should the town respond in its relations with the village? Should the incorporation effort be restarted or abandoned?

KLYZUB: There is a need to repair the relationship between the town and the village. We need to grow together.

NICOLAI: Restarting incorporation efforts at this time would be foolish. The state has given their opinion and we respectfully move on from there. I have always been in favor of sitting down with the village in a respectful and fair manner to work on border agreements, among other things. That being said, I continue to work on behalf of the Town of Waterford and keep the towns best interests at heart. We need honest, clear, and respectful communication from the village in order to move ahead.

SZEKLINSKI: I would not classify the town not being incorporated as a failure. While it did not proceed the way as hoped, it brought light to several issues at hand such as annexation, shared services, and the difference in property taxes between village and town. I do not know if further action is necessary at this time since there are responsible parties on both boards that could and can work together.

ULANDER: The town and village should attempt to repair their relationship for the benefit of the whole community. It will take both sides working together to bridge the divide. Cooperation between the municipalities will serve everyone better, and it will take both sides to make a difference. Any renewed attempt to incorporate should be done for the right reasons and in compliance with state requirements. Controlled growth is good for the community and may lead to qualifying for incorporation. Residents deserve a board willing to engage on such important issues, rather than leaving us out of the conversations.

What is your opinion of law enforcement in the town with the current structure of the Town of Waterford police department? Do you think any changes are needed?

KLYZUB: I believe that Waterford Police Department does a great job. Not currently aware of any specific issues.

NICOLAI: Waterford was voted the Safest Community in Wisconsin last year. I think that says a lot for our police force. We have a wonderful team here and the town supports them fully. Since the village has been expanding, calls have naturally increased. Our department is doing a great job handling the volume, but I do agree with our PD that they need more help on second shift in order to keep up the high standard of policing that we have all come to enjoy and expect.

SZEKLINSKI: We have a very good Town Police Department that serves both the Town and Village of Waterford. The Waterford town was voted the safest city in by SafeWise in 2021. The current TWPD structure has been serving our communities with the town having 24/7 coverage, the village having the TWPD covering 1st & 2nd shifts along the RCSO 3rd shift. The TWPD also supplies a school resource officer while providing officers for our lakes. While it seems to be working fine, I would want to see a more proactive approach with public safety with our own TWPD cover all areas.

ULANDER: Waterford Police Department does a fantastic job keeping our community safe. Any changes that add value for Waterford are worth reviewing. If something adds value to the town and the community, it deserves consideration by the board and an opportunity for public comment. For example, I have heard discussion of a Waterford consolidated police and fire commission. The necessary cooperation between municipalities has the possibility of improving services while reducing costs and encouraging a better relationship between the two boards.

Do you support consolidation of the Tichigan Volunteer Fire Company with neighboring fire departments, or any other structural changes? Please explain.

KLYZUB: A fire district should be created between all adjacent communities. Certainly a matter of community safety.

NICOLAI: I support working with neighboring municipalities in the interest of public safety. Right now we have very strong mutual aid relationships with neighboring communities. Our Tichigan volunteer fire company is a top-notch company, and I support them fully. A full consolidation brings about many issues and questions. Were talking about millions of dollars in infrastructure and equipment, some owned by TVFC and some owned by the town. The village fire department has a budget that is approximately five times greater than TVFC. The question boils down to, what service model do the residents want and how much would they be willing to pay for it?

SZEKLINSKI: I support the Tichigan Fire Company along with all surrounding fire departments. Over the years, Ive had the opportunity to meet many of those who serve relentlessly, and I know they all do a great job handling the services. While differences have emerged over the years, they continue to work together as needed. Since they are the professionals, I would work with them to see what works well for their departments and our neighbors. In these times, sometimes it may be beneficial for communities to consolidate services.

ULANDER: I support providing the best value for the towns taxpayers. TVFCs dedicated volunteers are a great asset to the town. I believe the TVFC was caught up in the politics of incorporation and was perhaps given more territory than they were expecting on a rushed timeline. The village extended an olive branch offering additional coverage to the town, which the Town Board quickly rejected. I do not believe this served the best interests of the townspeople, but rather was an attempt to improve the meager chances of success for the incorporation attempt. The villages offer was very generous.

Tim Szeklinski AGE: 51 ADDRESS: 29200 N. Lake Drive, Town of Waterford OCCUPATION: Regional manager, Wisconsin Management Co. EXPERIENCE: Waterford Town Board, 2010-present; Washington-Caldwell School Board, 2012-present, vice president COMMUNITY SERVICE: Tichigan Lake Lions Club, St. Peter Lutheran Church Memorial & Bequest Fund Committee, Apartment Owners and Managers Association, Institute of Real Estate Management EDUCATION: Institute of Real Estate Management, accredited residential manager

Robert Ulander AGE: 43 ADDRESS: 32741 Territorial Drive, Town of Waterford OCCUPATION: Airline pilot, Southwest Airlines EXPERIENCE: None COMMUNITY SERVICE: Team Rubicon, Lucky Mutts Rescue, Wills for Heroes, Milwaukee Legal Aid EDUCATION: University of Wisconsin, juris doctor

Teri Jendusa Nicolai AGE: 56 ADDRESS: 28728 Cardinal Court, Town of Waterford OCCUPATION: Administration, Waterford Sanitary District EXPERIENCE: Waterford Town Board, 2016-present COMMUNITY SERVICE: Racine County Civil Service Commission, Womens Resource Center EDUCATION: University of Wisconsin-Parkside, three years

Jeffrey Klyzub AGE: 65 ADDRESS: 4424 Sunset Road, Town of Waterford OCCUPATION: Corporate pilot, JAK Enterprises LLC EXPERIENCE: None COMMUNITY SERVICE: Waterford Woods Property Owners Association president, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, The Children's Charity EDUCATION: Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center, Oklahoma City

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RACINE  The City Council passed a new parental leave policy for city employees last week, increasing the benefit from 80 hours to 320 hours of paid leave for a new baby, adoption or foster child.

However, the debate on the issue raised some questions about the future of the policy, which was passed with Alderman Jeff Peterson voting no.

Peterson said, conceptually, he agreed with the extended time off for new parents but was concerned because there was no price tag attached.

I have a problem with it being permanently in place with no budget numbers, no dollar numbers, attached to it, he said. Conceptually, no problem. But put a dollar amount on it.

Peterson and Alderman Henry Perez also raised the issue of the benefit being for the non-represented employees only. Employees in the Police, Fire and Transit departments are all represented by unions, so they would not have this benefit unless they collectively bargained for it.

Workforce

City Finance Director Kathleen Fischer said during a previous meeting the city would be able to develop more reliable cost estimates in the first years of the program.

The citys workforce has long been older and not in need of parental leave, complicating its ability to develop a reliable price tag based on historical use of paid parental leave, she said.

However, the needs of the workforce have begun to change as the city experiences retirements. In short: The workforce has gotten younger.

A recent internal poll of the workforce by the city showed increased paid parental leave was a sought-after benefit. Fischer told the Finance and Personnel Committee three people in her office alone will be taking advantage of parental leave in the near future.

During the discussion of the issue among Finance and Personnel Committee members, it was noted longer paid parental leave could put the city in a good position for future recruitment of new personnel.

Budgets

While everyone agreed the benefit was positive, it still has to be paid for. Peterson questioned where the money would come from.

City Administrator Paul Vornholt explained the money would come from the Health Insurance Fund.

We believe this year we can easily cover those expenses, he said.

Moving forward, Vornholt said, the City Council may have to re-examine the policy and it might be incorporated into another area of the budget.

Peterson said the city appeared to be guessing about the costs.

Vornholt agreed that was true, but added that was almost always the case, especially since they could not predict the kind of catastrophic health situations that city employees might encounter throughout the year that would draw money from the Health Insurance Fund. He said the city works with actuaries who make estimates based on their experience, but the reality was catastrophic health situations could not be predicted.







Unions

Peterson had a second issue with the benefit because for the time being: it is only available to non-represented employees.

Perez also took issue with the fact the union employees were being left out.

If the policy is as good as we tout it to be, we need to find a way to make it for all  not just the non-represented, he said.

He asked if the city could just extend the benefit outside of the bargaining process, but the answer to that was no.

Vornholt said the bargaining units can some forward at any time if theyre interested to make an offer the city can react to.

City Attorney Scott Letteney said there were a number of outstanding issues the city and unions were bargaining, and the issue could be raised there.

There also is the possibility of the city re-opening negotiations.

Perez, who voted in favor of the increased benefit, suggested at a future time the City Council pass a motion in support of increased parental leave being offered to represented employees.

Benefits

Multiple alderman spoke in favor of increased parental leave.

Alderman Natalia Taft shared her personal experience of having a new baby with little or no family leave, which she said was very hard on her family.

The city has touted the increased paid family leave as a tool for both recruiting and retaining new employees.

Outgoing Alderman Jason Meekma shared benefits to paid parental leave, such as making it easier for parents to bond with their baby.

He noted there simply was not enough attention on the benefits associated with fathers being able to bond with their newborns.

Many fathers, Meekma said, take little to no time to be exclusively home with their newborns in the first few months ... the bonding period is essential and is something that has been undervalued for a very long time.

Research has demonstrated when both parents are able to care for a newborn, the likelihood is increased that the family will stay together.

Both Meekma and Alderman Melissa Kaprelian noted the long-term health benefits to the child.

Kaprelian pointed out the disparity between black communities and other communities in terms of health outcomes for infants.

Racine, along with our neighboring municipalities, fared horribly in our African-American infant mortality rates, she said. If we can be a part of improving that, it would be fantastic.

A federal report released in 2018 showed that infant mortality for the state of Wisconsin was the highest in the nation. The report indicated the rate of death of black babies was 3 times higher than for white babies.

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Election deniers are scheduled to head to the Capitol on Thursday and in May in an ongoing effort to cast doubt on the outcome of the 2020 presidential election by continuing to press baseless claims that the vote was stolen.

The dogged efforts despite numerous audits, reviews and court filings that found no more fraud in 2020 than is typical in any other election reflect a common tendency to double down on beliefs even when evidence suggests otherwise, said a social psychologist who studies cognitive dissonance.

On Thursday, members from the self-proclaimed election integrity group True the Vote will address a hearing before the Assembly elections committee.

Last Thursday, activist Jefferson Davis promised a packed room of supporters that True the Vote would drop a bomb this week proving the existence of widespread fraud. Thats despite no evidence coming before legislative committees  or anywhere else  leading to any finding of widespread fraud that would suggest former President Donald Trump won Wisconsin in 2020.

A Republican review of the election by conservative former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman was the latest to fall short of proving widespread fraud. Gableman claimed 100% of registered voters in Dane and Milwaukee county nursing homes cast absentee ballots in 2020, insinuating at least some of those votes had to have been cast fraudulently by others. But a closer look by the Wisconsin State Journal found only one nursing home where all 12 registered voters cast ballots; turnout among all the others ranged from 42% to 91%.

Some have conflated policies or decisions on election administration that they opposed or which werent explicitly authorized in state law with fraud, even though some of the practices were consistent with past elections, were approved by government bodies in open session or were found to be legal by a court.

Those include grants from the Mark Zuckerberg-funded Center for Tech and Civic Life to help cover the cost of conducting an election during a pandemic. While the grants went to about 214 municipalities, including many that went for Trump, the bulk of the money went to the states five largest cities, which turned out strongly for Joe Biden. Multiple courts have ruled the grants were legal. The grants were also not denied to any municipalities that requested them.

Deniers also have called for jailing members of the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission for advising local clerks they could fix minor errors on ballot envelopes and use ballot drop boxes, which arent addressed in state law. The measures were approved by both Democratic and Republican members of the commission.

Assembly elections committee chair Rep. Janel Brandtjen, R-Menomonee Falls, has long derided the way the 2020 election was conducted, requesting information from Wisconsin counties as a first step toward what she described as a full, cyber-forensic audit of tabulators and inspection of the physical ballots from the election. She has also provided a platform for a man convicted of mail and bank fraud to give a presentation featuring false and unprovable claims about the 2020 election.

She did not respond to a request for comment.

A recount, routine post-election audits and court decisions have affirmed that Biden defeated Trump in Wisconsin by almost 21,000 votes. A review by the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau as well as the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty also found no evidence of widespread fraud, and multiple court rulings have found no evidence of irregularities.

Only 24 people out of nearly 3.3 million who cast ballots have been charged with election fraud in Wisconsin, The Associated Press reported last week.

Excellent optics

Thursdays Assembly election hearing comes after Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, last week noted the election cant be decertified but nevertheless expressed a belief that there had been widespread fraud in 2020.

Vos and his spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In addition to decertifying the election  which is legally impossible  many of those who persist in denying the outcome of the 2020 election are calling on the Legislature to enact stricter voting laws, which are all but certain to be vetoed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, and draw attention to their cause.

In an online chat, some called for supporters to take the day off work and rally to the Capitol on Thursday.

We want to pack it out and show the liberal media and press that we support election integrity, Justice Gableman, Rep. Brandtjen, Rep. Ramthun and True the Vote, Davis said in a statement posted on the messaging platform Telegram. Standing room only and packing the hallway would be excellent optics.

In May, a different group says it plans to bring a Canadian Trucker Style convoy to the Capitol, Where the start of the end of our enslavement will begin!!! according to the groups website.

The group is calling on Wisconsin to ban voting machines, prohibit outside grants for election administration and decertify the 2020 election, among other things. Its also calling for the arrest, prosecution, and severe punishment for those who have and would violate these and existing voting laws.

The group  calling itself Grandma and Grandpa  is calling on the Legislature to pass the measures in a special session and vowed to camp out at the Capitol until its demands are met.

Evers has said he wont sign legislation that would make it harder to vote.

Speaking at a WisPolitics luncheon last week, Evers, who is up for reelection in November, said repeated claims of fraud in the 2020 election by top Republicans, including Vos, have only encouraged the call for decertification  something that has also been urged by Gableman, who Vos hired last year to conduct a one-party review of the election at a cost to taxpayers of $676,000.

I think hes one of the smartest people Ive ever met and I think this is one of the dumbest things hes ever said, Evers said in reference to Vos claim of widespread fraud.

Cognitive dissonance

Many people who persist in claiming there was widespread voter fraud despite all evidence to the contrary may be beyond being swayed by the facts, said Carol Tavris, a social psychologist who studies cognitive dissonance and co-author of the book, Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me).

People dont arrive at most of their beliefs through reasoned reflection or even the best science, Tavris said. They rely on the opinions of their tribe, and nowadays the most salient tribes in our country are political camps.

Thats true of people across the political spectrum, Tavris said, from liberals to conservatives.

In that tradition, she said, theres nothing unique about delusionally believing that voter fraud is widespread, especially as national Republican leaders peddle that claim.

Changing ones beliefs, even when presented with contrary evidence, is difficult, she said. Saying I was wrong is harder to admit than They are wrong, Tavris said.

Tavris describes what happens next as a pyramid of choice: At the top of the pyramid, a person chooses whether to believe something. The person will then seek more evidence to support that initial choice, broadening the support for it, while rejecting any information that questions it.

That initial decision can be made for impulsive or trivial reasons, but over time, throwing more justifications at that decision, its harder to change your mind without feeling you were stupid at the outset, she said.

Still, with no evidence supporting widespread fraud, more Republicans are becoming confident in the accuracy of the 2020 election, with 38% saying they are confident now, up from 29% who said they were confident in August 2021, according to the latest Marquette Law School Poll.

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Vietnam, Malaysia issue joint press statement

Vietnam and Malaysia have issued a joint press statement within the framework of the Vietnam visit by Prime Minister Dato Sri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob and a high-ranking delegation of the Malaysian Government at the invitation of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.













Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (right) and his Malaysian counterpart Dato Sri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob. (Photo: VNA)

The following is the full text of the joint press statement:



1. At the invitation of H.E. Mr. Pham Minh Chinh, Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, H.E. Dato Sri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Prime Minister of Malaysia, paid an official visit to Vietnam from March 20-22, 2022. The visit demonstrated the strong commitment of both sides in advancing their long-term friendship and Strategic Partnership and heading together towards sustainable pandemic recovery.



2. During the visit, Prime Minister Dato Sri Ismail Sabri Yaakob was accorded an official welcoming ceremony; and held bilateral talks with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. The Prime Minister of Malaysia also paid courtesy calls on H.E. Nguyen Phu Trong, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, H.E. Mr. Nguyen Xuan Phuc, President of the State, and H.E. Vuong Dinh Hue, Chairman of the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.



3. Prime Minister Dato Sri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh witnessed the exchange of bilateral documents, including the Memorandum of Understanding on Legal Cooperation Activities; and the Memorandum of Understanding on the Recruitment, Employment and Repatriation of Workers. Both sides further signed a Letter of Intent expressing the intention to facilitate work towards the finalisation of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Institute of Diplomatic and Foreign Relations of Malaysia and the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam on Cooperation in the Field of Training Diplomats. Both sides also welcomed the Professional Cooperation Agreement signed between the Malaysian National News Agency (BERNAMA) and Vietnam News Agency.



Strengthening the Vietnam  Malaysia Strategic Partnership



4. The leaders commended the strong and substantive development of the Strategic Partnership between the two countries. Both sides agreed to further strengthen political confidence and develop Vietnam - Malaysia Strategic Partnership in a deeper and more comprehensive manner ahead of key milestone of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2023.



5. Both sides affirmed commitment towards deepening political and economic cooperation by promoting and conducting regular high-level engagements, strengthening existing bilateral cooperation mechanisms, notably the Joint Commission for Economic, Scientific and Technological Cooperation (JCM) and the Joint Trade Committee (JTC). Both sides agreed to continue working closely for the effective implementation of their signed agreements, including the Vietnam  Malaysia Plan of Action for implementation of the Strategic Partnership for 2021  2025.



6. The Leaders emphasised the importance of steadily promoting a strong, balanced and sustainable two-way trade striving towards the target of 18 billion USD by 2025 with a view to having balanced trade between both countries. In this regard, they agreed to explore ways to improve market access for key export products of both countries, including agriculture and aquaculture products, Halal products, processed foods, electronic components and products.



7. Vietnams Leaders highly valued the fact that Malaysia is the second largest ASEAN investors in Vietnam with the total registered capital of 13 billion USD. Both sides agreed to further facilitate the expansion of investment in the two countries, particularly in high potential areas such as automation, smart logistics, innovation, high technology, digital economy, digital transformation. The Leaders also agreed to undertake joint efforts in taking advantages of new trade agreements of which the two countries are members, including the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to further deepen their trade linkage.



8. The Leaders expressed satisfaction over the defence and security cooperation and agreed to enhance information exchange and cooperation between the Navies and the Coast Guards of the two countries to effectively address emerging maritime issues. Both sides agreed to strengthen maritime and ocean cooperation through prioritizing sustainable development of maritime economy, management of maritime resources and protection of marine environment.



9. Both sides requested to effectively implement the newly renewed MOU on the Recruitment, Employment and Repatriation of Workers. The Leaders committed to continue promoting people-to-people exchange through the enhancement of cooperation in areas of education, culture and tourism.



10. Malaysia continues to offer opportunities for Vietnamese officials to participate in the training and capacity building courses under the Malaysian Technical Cooperation Programme (MTCP).



Recovering together towards sustainable socio-economic development



11. The Leaders reiterated the importance of closer cooperation towards socio-economic resilience and sustainable development at post COVID-19 pandemic. Both sides agreed to accelerate negotiations for a new Agreement on Air Services and welcomed the early conclusion of the agreement on mutual recognition of COVID-19 vaccination certificates, which will facilitate the safe and regular commercial travel between both countries.



Regional and International Cooperation



12. The Leaders exchanged their views on key global and regional developments. Both sides committed to enhance coordination on building ASEAN Community, including the ASEAN Communitys Post-2025 Vision under Malaysias role as the permanent shepherd. They expressed support for ASEANs active role in assisting Myanmar to overcome the current crisis, and to return to normalcy, including the implementation of the Five-Point Consensus.



13. The Leaders reiterated ASEANs consistent position on the South China Sea and reaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace, security, stability, safety, and freedom of navigation and over-flight in and above the South China Sea, and peaceful resolution of disputes without resorting to threat or use of force, in accordance with the universally recognised principles of international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). They called for the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) in its entirety, and were encouraged by the progress of the substantive negotiations towards the conclusion of an effective and substantive Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC) in accordance with international law, including 1982 UNCLOS. They emphasised the need to maintain and promote an environment conducive to the COC negotiations.



14. Both sides expressed satisfaction at the significant outcomes of the visit which helped to further the friendship and Strategic Partnership between Malaysia and Vietnam. Prime Minister Dato Sri Ismail Sabri Yaakob highly appreciated the warm welcome and gracious hospitality extended to the Malaysian delegation by the Leaders and the people of Vietnam during his visit. The Prime Minister of Malaysia further invited the Leaders of Vietnam to visit Malaysia at the convenient opportunities./.
They came to Johanne Brunet's lab seeking to sharpen their skills, add to their resumes and advance up the competitive career ladder of academia.

Instead many left traumatized, their career trajectories blunted, if not ruined altogether.

She completely destroyed my academic life, said Karsten Holmquist, a former postdoctoral researcher in Brunets lab who now works as a carpenter. "I was just so totally damaged."

A UW-Madison investigation found Brunet, a tenured entomology professor whose salary was fully paid by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, abused her authority by bullying students and staff for more than a decade. The university's 2018 report also referenced scientific misconduct, though the allegations fell outside the scope of UW's investigation and drew no conclusions. Brunet agreed to resign from her unpaid university appointment in 2019 just as UW officials were weighing whether to fire her.

The USDA conducted its own parallel investigations, according to at least five former lab workers who said they participated in interviews or submitted written statements to the agency. What they told USDA and the Wisconsin State Journal largely mirrors the UW-Madison report:

None of Brunets eight graduate students at UW-Madison received their Ph.D. under her supervision.

Brunet caused severe persecution and sabotage of research materials and manuscripts," such as removing others names from papers or putting her name above theirs without consultation and despite them shouldering the overwhelming majority of the work.

Brunet retaliated by refusing to review drafts, assigning extra work, withdrawing funding and trying to fire people.

Brunet physically assaulted one student, shaking them by the shoulders while screaming at them in an incident described in the report as violence in the workplace.

The number of lab workers who sought counseling is blacked out from the report. But of eight people interviewed by the State Journal for this story, two said they contemplated suicide and three said they are still in therapy years after leaving the lab. One was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

At least four individuals said they previously complained to the USDA before the UW-Madison investigation but said their pleas for help went largely unaddressed.

Despite the extensive findings, which UW-Madison officials said the university started sharing with the USDA as early as fall 2017, the federal agency continues to employ Brunet as a researcher in its Madison office. She runs a lab that includes three technicians, three postdoctoral trainees and two undergraduate students, both of whom attend UW-Madison.

Allegations denied

The USDA declined to answer the State Journals questions, including whether Brunet faced any disciplinary action and whether the agency installed safeguards to ensure a positive lab environment. USDA spokesperson Jan Suszkiw said in a statement that the agency doesnt discuss personnel matters and that the agency's success hinges on a workplace environment that is free from discrimination, harassment and retaliation."

The agency also denied the newspapers request for records related to the investigations. Unlike UW-Madison, which is subject to a robust state public records law that strongly favors transparency, the federal public records law allows for personnel matters to remain confidential. Disclosure would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, USDA records officer Alexis Graves said.

Brunet, who began working in the horticulture department in 2003 and transferred to the entomology department in 2009, initially agreed to an interview for this story but later backed out. She said that the State Journal was "clearly not interested in the truth" and denied the allegations against her.

"This case is about a faculty member being bullied by her employees rather than the other way around," she wrote in an email. "This case is about gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and anti-diversity against a foreign-born female faculty member. This case reflects a biased, parti pris investigation. Women bear strong responsibilities in helping other women fight gender discrimination and sexual harassment. Unfortunately here many women have participated in unfairly denigrating one of their own."

This document is filled with lies, distortions and misrepresentations of events and facts, Brunet said in response to the complaint that initiated the investigation. There is very little that bears resemblance to reality.

Ann Palmenberg, the investigator in charge of her case, interviewed nearly 50 people across Brunets 16-year UW-Madison career and found roughly 30 allegations to be true.

Culture of fear

The 120-page UW-Madison report paints a picture of a lab led through fear and retaliation. One student reported working 90 hours per week. Another said Brunet asked that extra hours worked not be added to their timesheet.

In the summers, students spent long hours under the sun doing field work, even on weekends. Sometimes people felt sick from heat exhaustion but Brunet insisted they keep working, according to multiple accounts.

Beyond the workload, one student said he was rejected from multiple academic jobs due to a lack of publications. He said Brunet removed him as first author on one publication and tried submitting chapters of his thesis as her own work. He also faced "humiliating" moments when he, as a non-native English speaker, mispronounced some words and said Brunet made him repeatedly say the words again and again in front of others until he said them correctly.

As he neared completion of his Ph.D., he said Brunet abruptly pulled his funding, causing him to lose his source of income and his health insurance. The student was nearly evicted and relied on friends for food until he was able to graduate under a different adviser. The State Journal agreed not to name the student because he feared further retaliation.

Holmquist, who worked for Brunet from 2006 to 2009, tried leaving the lab by applying to others across the country. The initial excitement he said he heard from prospective employers changed a few weeks later after he suspects they spoke with Brunet. Although he had no proof this occurred, his experience was consistent with the report, which identified several instances of retaliation.

"She blackballed me throughout the country," he said.

Even when another UW-Madison professor took Holmquist under his wing, Holmquist said he'd head out to the field and find his plant tags had disappeared or been moved. Attempts to bring his concerns to two USDA officials' attention went nowhere, he said.

Rosy Link's recollection of her time in the lab was yelling, mostly. Brunet yelling about how worthless Link's experiments were, how no one would publish them and how students were "wasting her money."

During an out-of-state work trip, when a navigation system gave bad directions and the two got lost, Link felt trapped as she said Brunet berated her for hours while they tried to find their way back to Wisconsin.

Link initially aimed for a Ph.D. when she started in the lab in 2014. Wanting to escape the situation sooner, she left in 2017 with a master's degree and what she said was a parting comment from Brunet: "Im surprised you finally finished.

Scientific integrity

Concerns about Brunet went beyond her personality and management style, with some alleging her actions amounted to research misconduct.

Holmquist said Brunet wouldn't allow him to work on his field research until he wrote a paper that relied on a bad data set, with data points collected in different ways at different sites and in different years.

"It was so painfully obvious," he said. "It wasn't even like comparing apples to oranges. It was like apples to broccoli."

Had Holmquist refused, he said Brunet would have fired him. He applied some "mathematical chicanery" to get the paper published  one of his "greatest regrets of all time."

Another postdoctoral research fellow said he encountered similar pressure from Brunet to use falsified data in a paper. When he rejected the idea, he said, Brunet took away his sick days and put her name first on a different paper in which he had done nearly all of the work. He said he reported his scientific misconduct concerns to two USDA officials.

Greg Gelembiuk, who joined the lab in 2017, filed his own complaint with USDA and an official thanked him for his "thorough account of concerns of potential scientific misconduct," according to an email he shared with the State Journal.

Gelembiuk also corroborated a student's complaint to UW-Madison, which launched the university's investigation and led to Brunet trying to fire him a few days later, he said. He was temporarily reassigned to a different lab for a short appointment that ended within a few months, without the possibility of being reappointed.

Then Gelembiuk found himself unemployed for nearly a year, a situation he suspects wouldn't have happened had he remained quiet due to his expertise in molecular genomics that he said other lab members lacked.

I always knew being a whistleblower and standing up to do the right thing when youre not in a position of power would have consequences, but this experience really drove that home, said Gelembiuk, who was eventually hired as a technician in a different UW-Madison lab.

More than four years after filing the complaint, Gelembiuk said he has never heard from the USDA about what, if anything, came from his complaint despite asking several times.

UW-Madison referred questions about scientific misconduct to the USDA, which did not respond to questions. Brunet, presented with the accounts, called them "pure fiction."

Failure to respond

Many former lab workers blame Brunets direct supervisor at the USDA for, in their view, allowing Brunets behavior to continue unchecked for more than a decade.

Phil Simon, like Brunet, has an unpaid appointment with UW-Madison and works on campus but is paid by USDA. Brunets behavior was brought to Simons attention at least five times, the report said. In just one instance, when she threatened to fire someone, did Simon intervene.

One postdoctoral researcher said he asked Simon what could be done after Brunet had her name appear first on a paper for which he had collected the data, made calculations, written the results and listed his name as first author on a paper already accepted by a journal. Simon told him "extraordinary proof would be required." When the postdoc provided proof, the report indicates, Simon did not respond.

In another example, an individual asked Simon what to do after a "particularly aggressive incident" involving Brunet. "Apparently Phil did nothing," the report said.

Several lab employees said they even brought their complaints to other USDA officials.

"Nothing came out of these talks," Palmenberg wrote in her report. "Few if any of these instances have led to remedial discipline."

Simon did not return two calls and three emails from the State Journal seeking comment. He told Palmenberg that the USDA "chooses not to share their information, witness statements or status of their investigation findings with the UW."

The USDA didnt respond to a question asking if Simon is still in a supervisory position designated to receive and respond to complaints. Of the nearly hundred employees listed on the agencys Madison office website, he is the only one with the title of research leader  the same title he held at the time of UW-Madisons investigation.

Blame to share?

Former lab workers place varying degrees of blame on UW-Madison. Some don't fault the university because they were USDA employees and filed their complaints with the agency.

Holmquist is harsher on UW-Madison. Having worked in the lab the same year that Brunet shook another students shoulders while screaming, an incident that prompted a letter of reprimand from the department chair at the time, he said university employees were aware of the problem more than a decade ago.

No formal complaint was filed in the shoulder-shaking incident and Brunet disputed the circumstances, so the letter of reprimand wasn't added to her personnel file, according to the report.

UW-Madison could have monitored lab attrition more closely, Gelembiuk said. The fact that so few students were earning degrees should have been a red flag  something the graduate school said it now more closely evaluates in periodic program reviews.

Gelembiuk and others credited Sue Paskewitz, the entomology department chair at the time of the 2017 complaint, for taking the situation seriously and helping students finish out their degrees under different advisers.

Kate VandenBosch, dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, said UW-Madison took action "as soon as we became aware," including barring Brunet from taking on more graduate students, immediately beginning an investigation and referring the case to the Provost's Office for disciplinary action.

UW-Madison denied Brunet emeritus status, an honorary title for retired professors, and also barred her from university lab space. She still rents greenhouse and field space from UW-Madison, which officials said is part of a longstanding relationship giving USDA scientists access to campus research facilities.

VandenBosch said she was "deeply concerned" by the findings in this case, leading her to expand the college's bullying prevention and response efforts through training, surveys and other actions.

No one should ever experience what these students and staff members experienced," she said in a statement.

Dreams dashed

Brunet remains immersed in the research world and continues to publish papers. Several of her proteges have diverted their lives in different directions.

Link had longed to be a research professor and said it was "heartbreaking" to give up after investing seven years of her life. She now works as a zookeeper.

One former postdoc has left research entirely and is looking into other possibilities. Another is a salesperson.

Holmquist, now more than a decade removed from his time in the lab, is still struggling, still in therapy trying to get over this.

Holmquist credits his wife, whom he met in Madison, for saving his life at a time when he was thinking of ending it. He now lives in Colorado and works as a carpenter. Most days are spent just trying to make ends meet. He doubts he'll ever be able to afford to retire.

Holmquists only interaction with his former life nowadays is when NPRs "Science Friday" segment airs. Even then, he sometimes finds it too much to bear and flicks to another station.

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RACINE  Area residents can celebrate the 10th anniversary of The Ron Purtee Show by attending a live television show filming. It takes place at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 26, at McAuliffes Pub, 3700 Meachem Road.

The Ron Purtee Show is a podcast led by Racine resident and entertainer Ron Purtee. He has done standup comedy, is the founder of Blank-Fest Wisconsin, and currently writes and directs films.

The show will feature Conan Neutron from the Oakland, Calif.-based rock band Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends. Neutron will be a part of an interview. Local Kenosha-based comedian John ONeill will perform a standup routine and an interview.

There is no admission fee, and the show will also be posted on YouTube.

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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.

Vote

View Results
UPDATE:

Jeremy Vinzenz posted a $25,000 bond and was released Friday, March 18.

______________________________________________________________

KEARNEY  Jeremy Vinzenz is accused of trying to run over people with his car Thursday after a disagreement with a downtown Kearney bar owner.

Vinzenz, 34, is charged in Buffalo County Court with two counts of use of a weapon (a car) to commit a felony, two counts of terroristic threats and two counts of attempted second-degree assault in the incident.

Around 9 p.m. Thursday, court records indicate Kearney Police Department officers responded to a report of a reckless driver in the 10 block of East 21st Street. At the scene, several witnesses told officers a man with a Honda Accord was trying to hit people with his car near the bar. Police were given a license plate number of the suspect vehicle, which was registered to Vinzenz, according to records.

Thirty-five minutes later police were again called to the 10 block of East 21st Street, this time for the report of a GMC pickup trying to swerve and hit people outside of a bar. Police were given a license plate number of the pickup, which was also registered to Vinzenz.

At the scene of the incident involving the Honda a man told officers the driver had earlier been kicked out of a bar because he was trying to start a fight. After being kicked out the man got into his car and allegedly started driving aggressively toward a group of people, and nearly hit them. One man walked up to the driver before leaving the scene and the driver threatened to kill him. Twice the driver had tried to hit the man with his car.

The alleged victims identified Vinzenz as the driver of both the Honda, the GMC and the man who tried to start a fight inside the bar. Vinzenz was contacted at his house in Kearney, and was arrested.

He appeared in court Friday where formal charges were read to him. Judge John Rademacher set his bond at $25,000.

Today, Vinzenz remained at the Buffalo County Jail. He is scheduled to appear in court in April.

@HubChic
The University of Wisconsin-Madison  Division of Extension dairy educators in western Wisconsin invite you to join them to learn more about recent research on the interaction between forage quality and feeding behavior. Forage quality goes beyond intake and production, and also modulates feeding behavior patterns. This presentation will share recent research updates on this topic and connect forage, feedbunk management and animal response.

The featured speaker will be Dr. Luiz Ferraretto, UW-Madison and Extension Ruminant Nutritionist. Ferrarettos research and extension interests are applied ruminant nutrition and management. His program is focused on understanding and improving starch and fiber utilization by dairy cows, corn silage and high-moisture corn quality and digestibility, the use of alternative by-products as feed ingredients, supplementation of feed additives to lactating cows, and the development of on-farm and laboratory techniques for forage and feed analysis.

Extension educators Ashley Olson and Ryan Sterry will lead a follow-up presentation on forage pricing as we approach the 2022 growing season.

The same workshop topics are being offered on two dates and locations in western Wisconsin. There is no charge to participate, but registration is required.

April 5, 10 a.m.-noon: Vernon County Extension Office, 318 Fairlane Drive, Viroqua. Contact the Extension Vernon County office at 608-637-5276 or ashley.olson@wisc.edu;

April 6, 10 a.m.-noon: Dairy Learning Center, UW-River Falls Mann Valley Farm, 129 S. Glover Road, River Falls. Contact the Extension St. Croix County office at 715-531-1930 or ryan.sterry@wisc.edu.

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All 30 seats on the La Crosse County Board are up for reelection on Tuesday, April 5. The Tribune asked candidates a series of questions about their platforms.

The Q&As will be published daily in order of responses, not in numerical order of districts.

Responses for candidates running for District 24 are below.

Kevin Hoyer (i)

Age: Not given

Education: Business management, sales management, marketing, environmental studies, economics, sustainability, domestic policy

Occupation: My wife, Jody, and I own and operate our family farm, which has been in the family for three generations in the town of Hamilton. I also am an agronomist (Certified Crop Advisor) for Melrose Farm Service, a local Ag retailer for over 32 years.

Political experience: Presently I am serving in my second term as the 24th district county supervisor along with serving in my third term as the Town of Hamilton Supervisor. I also have 13 years (2003-2016) of experience serving on the State and National American Soybean Association Boards (a Grass Roots Ag Policy Organization), representing the farmers of Wisconsin in state and national rural policy.

Why do you want to serve on the La Crosse County Board and what is something youd want to accomplish if elected?

Four years ago, I decided to run for county board because I felt that the citizens of the 24th district needed a voice that represented them to the county board, not the other way around. I still feel that way and will continue to do everything I can to do so.

I came to the board with the goals of improving our roads, bridges, and other vital infrastructure. La Crosse County ranks near the bottom of the list of counties in the state on spending per capita on infrastructure, we need to put a higher priority on fixing our roads and bridges.

Supporting and improving public safety: La Crosse County wants to create a policing oversight committee that oversee all law enforcement agencies in the county. I support each municipality overseeing their own police departments; it is not the role of the county to do that.

Protecting our natural resources: La Crosse County has a history of groundwater and surface water challenges which we need to address to ensure we all have clean safe drinking water in ways that make sense.

La Crosse County has received nearly $22 million in funding from the American Rescue Plan Act. The current board has already divided the funds into categories, but what do you think is the most important project this unprecedented funding should be spent on?

We were given a unique one-time opportunity to invest in our county and communities with these funds. It is important that we recognize that these funds are given to us by the taxpayers and not a gift from the government. These funds should benefit the county as a whole and not be concentrated within a single municipality. We need to ensure that the projects we use these funds on do not create a draw on our budget after the projects are completed. We have some urgent needs within our countys infrastructure that need to be addressed before the costs go even higher. We easily could spend all $22 million on fixing our roads and bridges. Using these funds in this manner, doing the upkeep and repairs we have been neglecting, would free up other monies within our budget to reduce our need to continually borrow money which ads to our already high debt. La Crosse County ranks as one of the highest in the state for debt per capita. We need to change that. We need to remember that it is our obligation and duty as county supervisors to ensure the tax monies we collect are spent in ways that benefit all of us in the county without adding more tax burden to our bottom line.

What ideas do you have on improving the collaboration and regionalization between the county and municipalities?

The best way we can create better and more collaboration between county and all municipalities is to include representation from all municipalities including their policy makers on various task forces and committees. Currently the county board executive committee, which is chosen by the county board chair, is heavily represented by one municipality. We need a more balanced approach of representation when it comes to the leadership roles within county government. When we look at the demographics of La Crosse County, over more than half of the residents live outside the city. When looking at creating policy which affects all parts of the county, it is important that all parts of demographics of the county are represented. We need to be careful to not load committees up with like minded individuals as that leads to poor policy and poor decisions being made. I will push to ensure that every voice is heard and every voice has the opportunity to serve.

Kristie Tweed

Age: 54

Education: Paralegal degree from Western Wisconsin Technical College

Occupation: Marketing & business consultant

Political experience: This is my first time running for office.

Why do you want to serve on the La Crosse County Board and what is something youd want to accomplish if elected?

I first and foremost want to give back to my community. Ive lived in my district for almost 20 years and in the county for 26 years. Im proud to have raised my family here. I felt a need for common sense representation in my district.

There are many areas I am interested in working on including keeping our communities safe and healthy, expanding broadband to rural areas and the appropriate spending of ARPA funds.

La Crosse County has received nearly $22 million in funding from the American Rescue Plan Act. The current board has already divided the funds into categories, but what do you think is the most important project this unprecedented funding should be spent on?

I believe all the projects are extremely important and I want to make sure that the funds are allocated properly to address these issues throughout the county.

Like many of my neighbors who live in more rural parts of La Crosse County, I understand the need for improving broadband. Working from home and having two teenagers that did remote learning throughout COVID, this has really hit home for me. As Ive knocked on doors throughout my campaign, I also hear this frequently from my friends and neighbors.

What ideas do you have on improving the collaboration and regionalization between the county and municipalities?

I will regularly attend meetings of Village of Holmen, Town of Onalaska, and Town of Hamilton. There is a lot to learn but I want to be a bridge builder between the municipalities in District 24 and La Crosse County. Working together we can make great things happen!

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Monroe County police arrested a 48-year-old Tomah man Saturday after a high-speed chase on Hwy. 27.

Chad Raymond Weaver was referred to the Monroe County District Attorney for sixth-offense drunken driving, second-degree recklessly endangering safety and felony bail jumping.

According to the Monroe County Sheriffs Office, police received a report about an impaired driver, later identified as Weaver, who fled La Crosse County police earlier in the evening and had entered Monroe County.

Weavers vehicle was located by a Cashton Police Department officer around 10 p.m. The officer followed Weaver northbound from Cashton on Hwy. 27 before Weaver allegedly tried to flee the officer near Melvina.

Police say Weaver reached a speed of 110 mph during the pursuit.

Weaver continued north into Leon, where police successfully deployed tire deflation spikes. Weaver continued to drive on deflated tires until striking a guardrail near Icon Avenue, where he was taken into custody.

Nobody was injured during the chase, which lasted about four minutes.

Weavers most recent drunk driving conviction was from Monroe County in 2011.

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A-Cap holds six prospecting licences covering a total area of over 4,400km2 and three licences under application covering a further 3,000km2. All of the ground held by A-Cap has been previously explored by major companies such as Falconbridge, BCL, Urangesellchaft and Union. All of A-Caps tenements have significant radiometric anomalies and indications of Uranium mineralisation exposed at surface. Significant discoveries have been made at the Letlhakane Project resulting in an Inferred Resource of 30 Million lb Uranium (at an 80ppm cut-off) that has been defined in accordance with the JORC code.
A new fellowship initiative will provide UW-La Crosse students with high-impact learning opportunities at two local nonprofit organizations.

The initiative, funded by longtime La Crosse educators Ron and Jane Rada, funds three $12,000 year-long fellowships for undergraduate and graduate students at WisCorps and the La Crosse Community Foundation.

The Community Engaged Fellowships resemble closely mentored internships. They will provide hands-on experience with the potential for students to take on independent projects related to their field of study.

We established the Community Engaged Fellowships as a philanthropic, pilot initiative to capitalize on the strengths of both UW-L and organizations within the region, the Radas explain. This initiative aligns with UW-Ls strategic focus to strengthen community engagement and supports the Wisconsin Idea, which are important to us as educators and longtime residents of the state.

To be eligible, students must:

Have a graduation date of May 2023 or May 2024 (graduate students may apply)

Declare a major in a related field of study

Agree to a one-year commitment with a flexible start date between May 16 and June 1, 2022.

Students meeting these criteria can find application instructions here. Applications must be submitted before April 6.

This is an opportunity, according to UW-L Community Engagement Coordinator Lisa Klein, in which everybody wins.

The college students get a paid internship-style experience where they are mentored by a community partner and receive a hands-on learning opportunity, she says. The nonprofit gets a free resource which is in high demand right now: people.

UW-Ls community partners say theyre excited about the possibilities created by the fellowships. Two fellowships will be with WisCorps, and one will be with the La Crosse Community Foundation.

Being chosen as one of the hosts for a UW-L Community Engaged Fellowship is an incredible opportunity for the La Crosse Community Foundation, says Jamie Schloegel, executive director of the foundation. Not only do we see the partnership as a tool to help entice quality talent to the nonprofit workforce, but it will also help us increase our own capacity to support area nonprofits in addition to our grantmaking programs.

Schloegel says the La Crosse Community Foundations fellow will be actively engaged in the services offered through its new nonprofit resource center.

Advancing the success of our local nonprofits is a win not just for us, but for our whole community, she notes.

Matthew Brantner, executive director of WisCorps, says hes excited to grow the agencys partnership with UW-L.

Weve had a great relationship with UW-L over the years and have had students help us in various roles, he says. Having these fellowships allows us to build our departments and intentionally give those students skills that will help them in the next step of their careers. Its a forward-thinking idea, and we hope this will be a catalyst for other Community Engaged Fellowship opportunities with other agencies in the community.

The Radas have a similar hope in mind  that their donation will inspire others to support Community Engaged Fellowships in the future.

Our goal, they say, is that this initiative will serve as a catalyst for greater philanthropic support of experiential learning and will expand to other public and private sectors going forward.

Eligible students are encouraged to apply before the application window closes April 6. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Questions should be directed to TJ Brooks, dean of the College of Business Administration: tbrooks@uwlax.edu.

For more information, visit www.uwlax.edu/community/community-engaged-fellowship.

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A new online program at UW-La Crosse aims to help address Wisconsins extreme shortage of school psychologists.

Working with the state Department of Public Instruction and Department of Education on the School Based Mental Health Professionals Grant, UW-L is adding an online program to its esteemed traditional program that will allow current teachers to become endorsed as a school psychologist while continuing to teach.

Rob Dixon, director of the UW-L school psychology program, says the new program has three main goals. First, it addresses the extreme shortage of psychologists who are working to meet the academic, behavior and mental health needs of the states students. Second, it works to curb the growing need to fill positions in rural districts  all while keeping teachers in the classroom as they get advanced credentials. Finally, it will help to diversify the field of school psychology within the state.

There are many educators who want to become school psychologists but cant leave their communities and jobs to attend a face-to-face program, explains Dixon. This extends UW-La Crosses reach to provide the knowledge and skills in the hands of educators who can then make a difference in a childs life.

Dixon says the new program is the first in the state  and one of only three in the country  to offer online studies in school psychology designed for full-time teachers.

While other programs seek to find that balance between distance, face-to-face and hybrid, we will be the only program in the state to offer asynchronous, online education in school psychology to meet the needs of the state, Dixon notes. We are only the third program in the country to offer this unique type of programming.

Dixon expects a lot of interest in the new offering.

Just recently, I got a call from a superintendent thanking us for the program, Dixon says. He said his district has been through seven different school psychologists in eight years. He is looking to this program to provide some stability to his district.

UW-Ls traditional school psychology program typically graduates 12 licensed students a year. Dixon says they get multiple job offers. Most seek positions in urban or suburban locations, he notes, leaving rural districts scrambling. While the impact of graduates from the new, online program is a few years off, Dixon anticipates an additional dozen students graduating annually will help meet the long-term needs of the state.

UW-L will work with the Wisconsin DPI on the School Based Mental Health Professionals Grant to target rural districts, prioritize attracting individuals who reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of the local population, and recruit qualified teachers who will be supported by their school districts in pursuing the school psychology degrees. The first students will begin classes in summer 2022. Applications are currently being accepted at: www.UW-Lax.edu/grad/school-psychology-online.

The U.S. Department of Educations School Based Mental Health Professionals Project and DPI are providing critical support for the programs start-up costs, including $20,000 for tuition waivers during its first year.

Karen Horn, school-based mental health professionals educational consultant with the Wisconsin DPI, says UW-Ls program aligns with the U.S. Department of Education grant goals and is positioned to increased needed school psychologist candidates for schools across Wisconsin..

Wisconsin was one of six states awarded a $10 million grant from the Department of Education to increase the recruitment and retention of school psychologists, school counselors and school social workers while also increasing the diversity of these professions so that they are more representative of the students they serve across the state, notes Horn.

Those accepted into the program will remain in their current teaching positions while taking the online program. They will complete their practice and internship hours in the school where they are currently teaching.

The online program addition isnt the first innovative aspect of the UW-L school psychology program. It recently received a grant with the universitys adapted physical education masters program to provide interdisciplinary learning opportunities meeting the diverse needs of special education students.

Also, UW-Ls school psychology program continues to accumulate top honors. It boasts six students in as many years to receive the Elizabeth Lindley Woods Scholarship Award, which honors Wisconsins top graduate student in school psychology.

The school psychology program is one of more than 20 graduate programs offered at UW-L. The programs include online, blended and on-campus offerings in business and management; higher education; K-12 education; science, engineering and math; clinical fields; and health and wellness.

Meredith Thomsen, dean of Graduate & Extended Learning, is coordinating the new online program and is excited that its working to curb the states shortage of school psychologists.

We know that the pandemic has increased the prevalence of mental health issues in our schools, says Thomsen. UW-L Graduate & Extended Learning is honored to be playing a supporting role in a program that will help meet that need.

Learn more about UWLs graduate programs at: www.UWLax.edu/graduate-studies/graduate-programs.

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Alice Ball (1892-1916) was an African American chemist who developed the Ball Method, the most effective treatment for leprosy during the early 20th century.

She was born on July 24, 1892, in Seattle, Washington, to Laura, a photographer, and James P. Ball, Jr., a lawyer. Her family was middle class and well off . After earning undergraduate degrees in pharmaceutical chemistry (1912) and pharmacy (1914) from the University of Washington, she transferred to the College of Hawaii (now known as the University of Hawaii) and became the first African American and the first woman to graduate with a M.S. degree in chemistry in 1915. She was offered a teaching and research position there and, at 23, became the institutions first woman chemistry instructor.

Tragically, Ball died on December 31, 1916, at the young age of 24. She had become ill during her research and returned to Seattle for treatment a few months before her death. During her brief lifetime, she did not get to see the full impact of her discovery.

Arthur L. Dean, a chemist and later the president of the University of Hawaii, stole her work, published the findings, and began producing the treatment. Dean published the findings without giving Ball credit and named the technique after himself. Unfortunately, it was commonplace for men to take the credit of womens discoveries and Ball fell victim to this practice.

In 1922, six years after her death, Dr. Harry T. Hollmann published a paper giving Ball the proper credit she deserved. Even so, Ball remained largely forgotten from scientific history until recently. On November 6, 2020, a satellite named after her (NuSat 9 or Alice, COSPAR 2020-079A) was launched into space.

Sponsored by AAUW La Crosse; researched by Erica Koonmen.

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Owners of a Clay Township concrete company have purchased the 2.6-acre property that was home to the Weaver Nut Co., 1925 W. Main St., for $2.5 million.

Tentative plans include rebuilding the 60,000-square-foot warehouse that was destroyed by fire in August 2021, said Nathan Zimmerman, one of the four brothers who are partners in the concrete company and the real estate holding company, Zimmco Enterprises LLC, that purchased the property earlier this month, courthouse records show.

Theres definitely a lot of ideas floating around. The retail store building will stay - we are looking to rebuild the warehouse, Zimmerman said, adding the partners have had preliminary discussions with Clay Township officials.

Weaver Nut closed the retail store and its ecommerce portal in February. Weaver, a family-owned maker and distributor of candy, chocolate, nuts, and bulk foods, had operated in the county since the 1970s. The company said it would focus on its wholesale business and manufacturing. It moved and expanded its wholesale and manufacturing operations at a site near Sinking Spring, Berks County. It also operates a distribution center in North Lebanon Township in Lebanon County.

Zimmermans business, Zimmerman Masonry, is located behind the Weaver property. Its address is 70 Durlach Road, Clay Township. He said the concrete company has grown since its founding in 1999 as a masonry contractor, expanding into poured, cast-in-place concrete. The expansion has been driven by a boom in residential construction in the county, Zimmerman said.

Were bursting at the seams, he said.

In January, Zimmco Enterprises paid $1.5 million for the 1.31-acre tract next to Weaver Nut, at 1929 W. Main St., where Red Run Exhaust is located.

He said while some of the newly purchased properties would be for concrete company expansion, some would be leased.

Zimmerman thanked the Weaver family for the opportunity to purchase the property.

The Weavers announced in January they planned to close the retail operation. The fire, which drew more than 70 fire companies, played a part in the closure but was not the deciding factor.

The devastating fire forced Weaver to pivot to a Lebanon County location. Its retail store was saved during the fire but required a full remodel, which was completed in November 2021. It reopened Nov. 13, 2021, but was limited due to the lack of store fixtures and displays.

Ultimately, however, the choice to end direct-to-customer sales was rooted in the growing sectors of the company, decline in productivity and market forces. It plans to continue to manufacture and sell chocolates wholesale.
551 West will host a watch party tonight that celebrates a Lancaster man who recently auditioned for season 20 of American Idol.

Skyler Maxey-Wert is typically known for his dancing. Currently, Maxey-Wert works as a second soloist for the SemperOper Ballett in Dresden, Germany.

Maxey-Wert grew up in Lancaster, starting school at the Lancaster School of Ballet when he was 5 years old. He has also worked with the American Ballet Theatre Studio Company and the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School.

But, he likes to sing, too.

The "American Idol" episode that features Maxey-Wert's audition premieres tonight at 8 p.m. on FOX and ABC. Viewers can also watch on FuboTV or Hulu + Live TV.

Maxey-Wert's mom, Heidi Wert, organized a watch party at 551 West, at 551 W. King St. in Lancaster city, so local people could gather together and celebrate the audition.

Wert and Maxey-Wert have kept mum about whether he made it to Hollywood from his audition.

Wert says that Maxey-Wert's audition was the very last audition in the last auditioning city. They don't know where his audition falls in the episode's final edit.

Check back for updates with LNP|LancasterOnline, as well as photos from the watch party.
Viktor Yeliohin, who operates a ballet academy in Lancaster, was born in Uzbekistan when it was part of the Soviet Union. He spent his early childhood in an orphanage. He didn't know who his parents were; his mom was listed as Russian on his documents, and there was no father listed. By chance, a ballet instructor from Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, visited the orphanage in 1967 to recruit students for a ballet school. He didn't know if he wanted to pursue ballet, but he wanted to be out of the orphanage. So he was determined to be the best dancer in the school. "I worked very hard to get myself better in school, making sure I have a great education," Yeliohin said.
Update: This story has been updated with additional information from Lancaster County Coroner Dr. Stephen Diamantoni.

A York County man who had been missing for a week was found shot to death near a Martic Township road Saturday morning, according to state police.

Troopers recovered Edguardo Luis Bermudez-Melendez, 31, of West York, in an embankment near Holtwood Road (Route 372) near the Norman Wood Bridge over the Susquehanna River, state police said in a news release. Bermudez-Melendez's body was found around 8:15 a.m. by a passerby who then called police, said Trooper Kevin Kochka, a state police spokesperson.

Bermudez-Melendez underwent an autopsy Monday morning which determined he died of multiple gunshot wounds to the body, Lancaster County Coroner Dr. Stephen Diamantoni said. His manner of death was ruled a homicide.

Kochka could not provide any additional information Monday afternoon, describing the incident as an active homicide investigation. State police in Lancaster and York counties are investigating.

Diamantoni could not comment on how long Bermudez-Melendez may have been dead or the number or location of his gunshot wounds, citing the ongoing investigation.

Bermudez-Melendez had not been seen since the evening of March 13 and was reported missing to West York Borough police the following day. His vehicle, a blue 2014 Mazda 3 with Pennsylvania registration LWC2762, has not been found, police said.

Bermudez-Melendez was wearing a white t-shirt, gray shorts, black windbreaker jacket and running sneakers when he was last seen alive.

Anyone with information about this incident is urged to call Pennsylvania State Police, Troop J at 717-299-7650 and ask to speak with a member of the Criminal Investigation Unit.

Bermudez-Melendez is the fourth death police have investigated as a homicide in Lancaster County this month.

Jatavis D. Scott, 25, of Alligator, Mississippi, was shot to death in a Manheim Township nightclub on March 19; Damian Santiago, 19, of Lancaster, was shot to death at a Lancaster city gas station on March 14; and Linnette Ayala, 22, of East Hempfield Township, was shot to death at her home on March 10.

No other homicides have been recorded in Lancaster County so far this year, though Suzanna Kauffman, 20, of West Cocalico Township, was found dead inside a North Carolina hotel on Jan. 17.
A Conestoga man convicted of robbery over a decade ago is accused of passing bank tellers a note claiming he had a bomb during robberies last week, according to police.

Officers arrested Collin Robert Shaab, 30, in East Lampeter Township after police responded to the Wawa for a report of suspicious activity on Friday night, according to West Lampeter Township police.

Shaab demanded money and claimed he had a bomb at the Fulton Bank in Willow Street on Monday, March 14, around 4:57 p.m., police said in an affidavit of probable cause. Two days later, he tried the same method of robbery at a PNC Bank in Manheim Township.

During the Fulton Bank Robbery, police said Shaab drove off after getting $1,180.

Two days later, he tried the same method, passing a note through the drive-thru tube at a PNC on Fruitville Pike, police said.

After the teller read the note, Shaab waited for more than a minute in his car, at one point pulling his mask down "smoking from what appears to be a glass pipe," police wrote in the affidavit. After another 30 seconds and without the teller returning the drive-thru tube, he drove off.

Police identified Shaab by speaking with an acquaintance of his and with an anonymous tip, police said. Photos of a man who threatened he had a bomb were published by West Lampeter Township police on Wednesday.

Shaab is charged with two felony counts of robbery, one felony and misdemeanor count of terroristic threats, one misdemeanor count of theft by unlawful taking and one misdemeanor count of bomb threats, according to court documents.

Investigators did not believe that he had an explosive device at the time, police said.

According to newspaper and court records, this isn't the first time Shaab has been charged with robbery.

In 2010, Shaab was found guilty of robbing a Turkey Hill in Willow Street, two miles away from the Fulton Bank he's most recently charged with attempting to rob, according to court records.

He used a BB gun to get cash from the Turkey Hill clerk and after getting the money, set down the BB gun and started to count his haul, according to a LNP | LancasterOnline report. The clerk picked up the gun and Shaab left the store.

Police arrested him shortly after, according to the report.

Shaab, then 18, was sentenced to prison for a minimum of four years and a maximum of 10, according to court documents. It was unclear when he was released.

For the most recent charges, Shaab has a preliminary hearing scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on March 30, in front of District Judge David Miller.

He's currently in Lancaster County Prison after failing to pay $150,000 bail.
LaShun Pace, one of the Anointed Pace Sisters who now has a solo career, was recently released from an Atlanta medical center after undergoing a heart procedure in which a small device was placed under her skin to help control heart rhythms, according to a news release from her publicist.

The news release did not specifiy Pace's heart problem or when she had the procedure.

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"Despite rumors and hearsay, Pace is doing well and has been cleared by her physician to resume concert dates,'' the news release stated. "Pace was released from the hospital a week after her surgery and was instructed by her medical team to cease all travel until she was able to fully recuperate."

"She is scheduled to minister in song in New York City, Washington, D.C., Memphis and Philadelphia in the coming weeks,'' the release stated.

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"I'm doing very well and I look forward to ministering to God's people in song again," Pace said from her Atlanta home. "I just really want to thank my medical staff, Atlanta Heart Association and many, many thanks to all my well-wishers and supporters."

With proper nutrition and exercise, Pace's health outlook is positive. "The small device in her chest uses electrical pulses to prompt the heart to beat at a normal rate,'' the news release stated.

Pace began her gospel career in the mid-'70s with her siblings in the Anointed Pace Sisters. Since going solo in 1991, she's recorded seven albums, including "He Lives," "Shekinah Glory," "Wealthy Place" and "Just Because God Said It."

She has garnered two Stellar Awards and is a recent author of an autobiography, "For My God But For His Glory."
Columbia Borough police

VANDALISM

COLUMBIA: A vehicle in the 500 block of Locust Street was vandalized around 4 p.m. on March 16, police said. The vehicle, a vintage 1952 Chevy truck, was discovered with a missing gas cap, a bent windshield wiper, cuts to the covering on the bench seat and footprints inside the truck, police said.

East Hempfield Township police

BURGLARY

EAST HEMPFIELD TWP.: A cinder block was used to break a glass pane on a garage in the 100 block of Church Street, causing $200 in damage, sometime between 1:12 a.m. and 1:35 a.m. on March 14, police said. No items were stolen during the incident, police said.

DUI

EAST HEMPFIELD TWP.: Lori Brill, 62, of Mountville, was charged with two counts of driving under the influence and a summary traffic violation after crashing at Stony Battery Road near Marietta Avenue at 2:26 p.m. on Feb. 6, according to police.

EAST HEMPFIELD TWP.: Charles Kuzdro, 24, of Lancaster, was charged with two counts of driving under the influence and a summary traffic violation after a crashing in the first block of Good Drive on Feb. 18, according to police.

SIMPLE ASSAULT

EAST HEMPFIELD TWP.: Joshua David Flores, 31, of Lancaster, was charged with simple assault and strangulation following a domestic violence incident in the 2600 block of Columbia Avenue at 11:39 p.m. on March 15, according to police.

THEFT

EAST HEMPFIELD TWP.: Michael Larbi, 23, of Dover, Delaware, was charged with retail theft after taking a tray of five diamond rings worth $32,300 he was viewing at Veleska Jewelry at 2943 Columbia Avenue on Jan. 16, police said. Larbi had told employees at the store he was there to buy an engagement ring, then took the tray when it was brought out, police said.

EAST HEMPFIELD TWP.: A metal trailer valued at $4,500 was stolen from a parking space at Wheatland Shopping Center in the 1700 block of Columbia Avenue sometime between 5 p.m. on March 3 and 9 a.m. on March 7, police said.

East Lampeter Township police

THEFT

EAST LAMPETER TWP.: Tuesday Latisha Davis, 39, of Leola, was charged with retail theft after she was seen stealing $177.42 worth of hair care products by concealing it in her purse at a Walmart store at 2034 Lincoln Highway East at 2:17 p.m. on March 9, police said.

Ephrata police

RESISTING ARREST

EPHRATA: Jeffrey C. Umble, 27, of Narvon, was charged with resisting arrest and false identification to law enforcement after fleeing from police and then struggling as officers attempted to arrest him in the first block of East Franklin Street at 1:38 p.m. on March 10, police said. Umble, who was wanted by the Lancaster County Sheriffs Department, insisted to police that they were arresting the wrong person, police said. Madison T. Zymnis, 25, was charged with hindering apprehension or prosecution during the same incident, police said.

Lititz Borough police

DISTURBANCE

LITITZ: Two neighbors in the 100 block of South Broad Street began arguing after one of them alleged that the other one almost hit them with their vehicle around 10:30 a.m. on March 16, police said. Officers determined that no criminal activity took place, police said.

RECEIVING STOLEN PROPERTY

LITITZ: Michael Anthony White, 29, of Lititz, was charged with receiving stolen property after he was seen driving a stolen motorcycle in the first block of South Broad Street at 5:33 p.m. on March 17, police said. The motorcycle had been reported stolen from Manheim Borough on March 10, police said.

Manor Township police

ASSAULT

MANOR TWP.: Alicia L. Forbes, 37, of Lancaster, was charged with simple assault, endangering the welfare of children and harassment after throwing a 17-month-old baby across a room and then attacking a 14-year-old boy in the 200 block of Stone Mill Road at 7:17 p.m. on March 14, police said.

DUI

MANOR TWP.: Curtis A. Pietsch, 22, of Lititz, was charged with two counts of driving under the influence, accidents involving damage to unattended property and a traffic violation after crashing at Millersville Road and Columbia Avenue at 5:19 a.m. on March 5, police said. Pietsch had a BAC of 0.127% at the time, police said.

FRAUD

MANOR TWP.: Richard Price, 39, of Port Deposit, Maryland, was charged with four felony counts and nine misdemeanor counts of access device fraud after defrauding more than $10,000 from a person, police said. The fraud was first reported on Nov. 11, police said.

Susquehanna Regional police

DUI

EAST DONEGAL TWP.: Michele R. Miller, 48, address unknown, was charged with two counts of driving under the influence and endangering the welfare of a child after crashing into a parked vehicle in the first block of East High Street around 3:15 p.m. on Jan. 15, police said. Miller, who was drunk at the time, had a 6-year-old child in her vehicle who was not secured in a booster seat at the time of the crash, police said.
When: Terre Hill Borough Council meeting, March 8.

What happened: Fivepointville Ambulance Service President Shannon Martin gave a brief presentation of the 2021 ambulance report. The ambulance station at 1094 Dry Tavern Road, Denver, serves Terre Hill, Brecknock Township portions of Adamstown Borough, Caernarvon, East Earl, Earl and Ephrata townships.

By the numbers: There is one part-time paid staff and 45 volunteers. Last year the company responded to 844 calls. The highest number of calls was in Brecknock at 446 (52.8%) and 86 (10%) in Terre Hill. There were 137 sick person calls and 107 vehicle accidents.

Quotable: We rely on memberships for funding. Last year only 41% of people in our service area responded to the membership drive, Martin said.

Resignation and appointment: Council accepted the resignation of J. David Rothschild from the Terre Hill Planning Commission and appointed Chris Coblentz to complete the unexpired term ending next January.

Eagle Scout Project: Hunter Weaver, Boy Scout Troop 172, asked council for approval to work on a landscape project in Terre Hill Community Memorial Park and in front of the Borough Hall. Weaver was asked to bring a design plan to the next council meeting. Upon approval, he will begin the project which will be completed the second week in June.

New home for clock: Council approved a request by Terre Hill Area Historical Society President Ron Weaver to move the historical clock in the borough hall to the societys location at 131 W. Main St. Weaver explained the grandmother clock was handcrafted probably in the 1960s by resident Royer Bixler, a well-known blind woodworker, who died in 1998. The clock had been donated to the borough.
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The Akron-based Mennonite Central Committee, among dozens of American organizations sending donations to war-battered Ukraine, was formed just over a century ago in response to requests for aid from Ukrainian and Russian Mennonites plagued by civil war raging in their countries.

Mennonite farmers, who had moved into that area in the late 18th century, lost many horses to starvation and consumption during the war. Farming without horses was difficult. Farmers began starving to death.

The MCC was formed in the summer of 1920 in response to a request for aid from a delegation of Mennonites from Russia and Ukraine, according to Kenneth Sensenig, an MCC church relations associate who read last Sunday's column about current Ukrainian aid and provides this history.

A letter from a Mennonite in Russia, dated Dec. 25, 1921, described the ongoing plight:

Our food since last spring has been black tea and herring, and now dear friends, all of this is gone. If you can't help, then we will die of starvation.

MCC first sent food to Russia and Ukraine, feeding 25,000 people each day at the height of the operation. Then a Kansas farmer, John Epp, proposed a long-term solution. He encouraged MCC to supply farmers with tractors to replace horses.

By the end of 1922, MCC sent 25 Fordson tractors (manufactured by the Ford Motor Co.) and 25 Oliver plows to the region. The organization sent another 25 tractors and 25 plows early the next year. Skeptical Mennonite farmers wondered if such crawly things would last over time.

The tractors increased food production and saved lives. Mennonites in the United States and Canada received thank-you notes that read, in part, In the midst of this raging fire, arise as lighthouses in the sea, the acts of love and compassion as they presently unfold through acts of relief.

The contributions of the tractors provided new hope and a future for farms in Russia and Ukraine, says Sensenig in an email to The Scribbler column. Similar work continues today as MCC seeks to demonstrate the warmth of human caring as the church ministers in the name of Christ. 

The greatest teacher

Virginia L. Landis died in late January in Mount Joy. She was 82. Amos Fisher, owner of Fishers Produce, Paradise, wants everyone to know how special she was to him.

Ginny Landis, born in York in 1939, earned her teaching degree from Millersville State College in 1961. Her first assignment was at Gibbons School on Gibbons Road, a one-room Amish school near Bird-in-Hand in the Conestoga Valley School District. Amos Fisher was a student there.

We were a troubled school, Fisher recalls. When she came there, everything changed. All the kids respected her.

All but one of the students at that time were Amish, Fisher says. The public school system did not necessarily assign the best teachers to one-room schools. But Landis was unusually bright and dedicated, Fisher says. Students responded.

Fisher had Landis as a teacher in the third through eighth grades. I didn't know the ABC's until the third grade, he says. She tutored me until I caught up to grade level.

Landis not only taught her students but accompanied them on field trips to Washington and other places of interest. She drove his family to do their shopping at a supermarket. She was always there for her students.

She was the greatest teacher, he says. She turned the whole school around.

Jack Brubaker, retired from the LNP staff, writes The Scribbler'' column every Sunday. He welcomes comments and contributions at scribblerlnp@gmail.com.
South Central Is Not For Sale

Social media influencer and self-proclaimed educator, Dulce Vasquez, who is running for Los Angeles City Council District 9, is facing fierce backlash on her social media platforms for refusing to answer tough questions and blocking residents from exercising their first amendment rights.

In the age of social media, where people feel most connected with their public officials, Vasquez is being labeled as a Tia Tom, over claims she is directly contributing to the gentrification of South Los Angeles.

Vasquez, who was born in Mexico and grew up in Florida, relocated to District 9 in 2020 with her husband David Leuchter, an Executive at Mass Electric based in Texas. Mass Electric, a subvendor with the City of Los Angeles, currently has a multi-million dollar contract with LA Metro.

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The Los Angeles Sentinel on March 10 ran a story with the headline Dulce Vasquez Criticized for Misleading Voters in Council Campaign. In the article, the Sentinel quoted local teachers who were enraged over Vasquezs self-proclaimed occupation as educator, demanding that she stop misleading voters with her ballot designation.

Vasquez, who does not hold a teaching credential, is currently employed by Arizona State University as Director of Strategic Partnerships where she was earning more than $140,000 a year as of 2020, according to public records.

Since the story was published, District 9 residents have started the hashtag #SouthCentralisNotforSale.

On social media, critiques wrote:

You should be more transparent if you want people to vote for you. Also blocking critics is not a good look for a public servant.

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Another person stated, Liar liar gentrifier! Instead of using your identity as an excuse to not take accountability, answer the ?s, from people who you want to represent.

Another commenter stressed, Just because you ignore questions and block people does not mean those questions are not relevant.

A user added, Maybe this isnt the best platform for you if youre going to block anyone with a tough question.

Being in politics you have to take the bad and the good. If you do get elected and your page if [sic] for city council you cant block your constituents, wrote an individual.

Others questioned if Vasquez has what it takes to run for City Council having had no previous experience in politics. Individuals accused Vasquez of identity politics and promoting herself as a formerly undocumented Latina who went to a private university rather than focusing on the most pressing issues that are impacting the District 9 community.

Vasquez is looking to challenge LA City Councilmember Curren Price in the upcoming June 7 election. Councilmember Price, a native to District 9, has built a reputation for being one of the most progressive Councilmembers in Los Angeles having led the fight for the Citys Guaranteed Basic Income (GBI) program (the largest in the nation), increasing the minimum wage, Ban-the-box, which prohibits employers from asking candidates about their conviction history before making them a job offer, and Hero Pay which provided an extra $5 an hour to essential workers at grocery stores and drugstores for 120 days.

By contrast, on Vasquezs TikTok account, a user stated, Curren Price, the man she is running against, is by no means perfect. But he is a black man who has stuck his neck out for latinos. Hes a good man.
With few trees left to slow the wind in southern Madagascar, sand blows continuously. It settles across fields, villages, roads and in the eyes of hungry children waiting for food aid.

Four years of extremely dry weather and forest clearing to make farmland have turned the once fertile area into a dusty red emptiness.

"There's nothing to harvest. That's why we have nothing to eat and we're starving," said Tarira. The mother of seven waited at the World Food Program (WFP) center near Anjeky Beanatara. She was there to get Plumpy, a dense peanut-based food provided to starving children. The UN agency said more than a million people in southern Madagascar currently need help from the WFP.

Holding her four-year-old son Avoraza by his thin arm, she said, "There are seven, so there wasn't enough food. The Plumpy wasn't enough for him.

Like many others in the area, Tarira and her family have sometimes eaten a local plant called raketa. The plant grows in the wild but provides few valuable nutrients, she said, adding that eating it can cause stomach pain.

Madagascar is the fourth-largest island on Earth and it contains one of the planets most diverse ecosystems. It has thousands of species of colorful plants and wild animals. But, it is not all a natural, green paradise. Especially in the south, the environmental reality on the island has changed.

"We used to call Madagascar the green island, but sadly now it is more of a red island," said Soja Lahimaro Tsimandilatse, governor of the southern Androy area.

Praying for rain

The food crisis in southern Madagascar grew over several years. Officials and aid organizations point to a mix of causes: drought, deforestation, other environmental damage, as well as poverty, COVID-19 and population growth.

Madagascar is home to 30 million people. It has always been a place of extreme weather. But scientists say climate change and its fast-increasing temperatures are worsening the situation quickly.

At the height of the food crisis in the south, the WFP warned the island was at risk of seeing "the world's first climate change famine."

Theodore Mbainaissem runs WFP operations in southern Madagascar. He said there are no usual weather patterns any longer. Villagers can no longer predict the best time to plant or harvest.

He said the WFP, other aid organizations and local government have worked to limit the food crisis. He said severe malnutrition among children had dropped from about 30 percent a few months ago to about 5 percent now.

"When you look in the villages, you see children running left and right. That wasn't the case before," he said.

Local communities are now working on forward-looking projects like an effort to protect hills of sand along the coastal town of Faux Cap.

But in rural areas where people live in poverty, the crisis grows. Felix Fitiavantsoa was burning down a wooded area to start farming. He and his new wife had to eat. His main worry was whether it would finally rain so he could get started.

"If there's no rain, I don't know what we'll do. We'll pray to God," he said.

I'm Susan Shand.

Alkis Konstantidinis and Christophe Van Der Perre reported this story for Reuters. Hai Do adapted the story for Learning English.

__________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

diverse - adj. different from each other

species - n. a group of plants or animals that are similar

drought - n. a long period with little or no rain

pattern - n. a regular and repeated way in which something happens
The COVID-19 pandemic has been difficult on many groups of people. But perhaps it has been especially hard for many older people. Many months of being alone, or isolated, has taken its toll on many senior citizens.

However, in some places, that isolation is coming to an end.

For example, in a senior center in New York City, seniors shake their hips and stomp their feet to salsa, cha-cha, and merengue music. After two years of living in COVID-19 pandemic isolation, Latin dance classes are getting them moving together again.

Despite illness and mobility issues -- including the loss of a leg -- students are now able to take free classes at the YM & YWHA of Washington Heights and Inwood in upper Manhattan.

The dance instructor is 50-year-old Walter Perez. He and his partner, an Argentinian tango dancer, started the hour-long class in 2013. Their goal was to teach Latin social dances at senior centers.

Perez said, "We saw how our students got happier and improved their physical balance ... and they socialized.

Perez told reporters from Reuters news agency that the classes start with seated exercises. This way everyone, even those who have trouble moving, can be included. And then, he added, we stand up and we dance a little bit.

One of the students is Felix Castillo. Last year, his leg was amputated due to complications from diabetes. The 74-year-old trumpet player said, "I get emotional and need to dance when I hear salsa." He said he feels the music and dances in his chair.

Despite dementia, Eugenia Peralta cannot help but dance around the room. The 89-year-old is known for her energetic moves on the dance floor. For this, her fellow dancers call her roadrunner, said her daughter Jackie Peralta. A roadrunner is known to be a fast-moving animal.

"COVID took a toll on her. ... Her mobility went down, said Jackie. But now, her mother is active. In fact, Jackie said her mother has a hard time staying still in one place.

Walter Perez, the instructor, said that when in-person classes started after nearly a year's break, the stamina of the senior students was not the same. He said, ...many were missing, so it was very sad. But we were happy to be here and to come back, to have this courage to keep going."

What drives Perez is the pleasure of dance. He found this relationship with dance at age 21. That was when his mother died.

"I went to the church to pray. Next to the church in Argentina there was a tango place. So, I started dancing tango, and it was therapeutic for me and then became my profession and my way of living."

He added that the music and dance have a healing, therapeutic effect on people. He likens it to an embrace. When the music is playing and you are dancing with others, ...you are not alone, you are walking with the music in an embrace."

Im Anna Matteo.

Roselle Chen reported this story for Reuters news agency. Anna Matteo adapted it for VOA Learning English.

_________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

take a toll  idiom to have a serious, bad effect on someone or something : to cause harm or damage

senior  n. a person older than another

stomp  v. to walk heavily or noisily

mobility  n. the quality or state of being mobile or movable

amputate  v. to remove by or as if by cutting

dementia  n. a usually progressive condition (as Alzheimer's disease) marked by the development of multiple cognitive deficits (as memory impairment, aphasia, and inability to plan and initiate complex behavior)

stamina  n. the ability or strength to keep doing something for a long time

courage  n. mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty

therapeutic  n. having a beneficial effect on the body or mind

embrace  v. to hold in the arms
If not for Jane Does courage, former Rep. Aaron von Ehlinger, R-Lewiston,  a man who stands convicted of raping her and now faces spending the rest of his life in prison  would no doubt be on his way toward securing a second term representing this area in the Legislature.
FREDERICK ANTHONY Romano remembers the night. More than 15 years later, he remembers it as if it happened within the last week.



It was Sunday night, Nov. 1, 1987. Seventeen-year-old Romano had gone to bed. His mother, Betty Romano, was in the house with him and his father, Frederick Joseph Romano. Soon the father received a call from his son-in-law Keith Garvin, a Navy petty officer who had returned to his base in Oceana, Va. Garvin had called his wife, Dawn Garvin, to let her know he had arrived back safely. But there was no answer.



After two calls to his daughter's house, Frederick J. Romano headed to the newlywed couple's White Marsh apartment. He found his daughter beaten, tortured, mutilated and dead.



Frederick A. Romano remembers his mother's panic-filled voice as she talked to his father, of himself grabbing the phone only to hear his father tell him that his older sister had been hurt.



"But he knew she was dead," Frederick A. Romano said yesterday from his Harford County home. Yes, Frederick A. Romano -- who prefers to be called just "Fred" -- remembers it all. He remembers the man who murdered his sister and two other women -- Patricia Antoinette Hirt and Lori Elizabeth Ward -- and how he has waited for 15 years for one Steven Howard Oken to, in the younger Romano's words, "meet his maker."



"It's caused a lot of emotional problems for me and my mom and dad," Fred said. "They're on so many drugs to keep themselves calm, it's unbelievable."



That is a suffering death penalty opponents can't or won't understand. The pain of homicide victims' relatives never ends. It chips away at their souls and psyches year after depressing year. So what's the appropriate punishment for that?



Death penalty opponents would have us believe that squirreling Oken away in a cell -- where Frederick A. and Frederick J. Romano, Betty Romano and Keith Garvin would be among the taxpayers footing the bill for his housing and meals -- is punishment enough. If the correctional system offered any college courses, the Romanos and Garvin would pay part of the cost if Oken wanted to take them. Dawn Garvin never got to finish her education at Harford Community College.



Capital punishment foes figure that's justice. Here's what death penalty advocates feel is justice.



Execute Oken the week of March 17, as a Baltimore County judge ordered two weeks ago. After Oken is dead, death penalty advocates can then defy death penalty opponents to show us why and in what ways Oken's execution was not justice.



That's what it's about for Fred Romano. He doesn't buy into the closure argument some death penalty advocates make. (It's just as well. Death penalty opponents, ever noble with grief not their own, dismiss the notion of closure, too.)



"It won't bring closure," Fred Romano said. "Dawn will never be back. I'm not looking for closure. That's a bad misconception on the part of some people. I want Oken to die for the murder of Dawn, Patricia Hurt and Lori Ward."



This isn't even about revenge, another rallying cry of the anti-capital punishment crowd, who chide death penalty advocates for seeking vengeance.



"It's justice," Fred Romano said. "It's not revenge."



His wife, Vicki Romano, agreed, then elaborated.



"Revenge would be going out and killing one of [the murderer's] family members," Vicki Romano said. "The death penalty isn't revenge. It's the law."



Fred Romano believes the man who's supposed to uphold that law, Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, has inserted himself squarely in the path of Oken's execution. Last week, Curran called for abolishing Maryland's death penalty. His reasons will appear in a separate column Saturday.



Fred Romano called Curran after the announcement, to give the attorney general a piece of his mind. Curran, to his credit, called Fred Romano back and heard him out.



Curran, Fred Romano said, asked him if he had a problem with a sentence of life without parole as opposed to the death penalty. His response was what you might expect from a guy who organized the Maryland Coalition for State Executions more than a year ago, and who's had the group's Web site (www.mc4se.org) up for two months.



"My problem with it is that 10 years from now some other idiot will come along and say life without parole is too harsh," Fred Romano said. "Then they'll pass a bill granting them parole and then we'll have a bunch of murderers walking the streets."



In Maryland's bleeding-heart liberal legislature, that's exactly what would happen.
This published with permission from CalMatters. Joe is the K-12 education reporter for CalMatters. His stories use data to highlight inequities in Californias public schools. You can read more coverage on CalMatters.org.
Lao Laan-Xang on Williamson Street will have its last day Sunday after 25 years in that location.

Co-owner Christine Inthachith said she is consolidating her family's two locations and will just operate the restaurant at 2098 Atwood Ave., near the Barrymore Theatre.

"It's very emotional and very raw for me right now... I'm still processing everything," said Inthachith, who opened Lao Laan-Xang on Odana Road in 1990, and in 1997, moved it into the cozy, intimate space at 1146 Williamson St.

In 2005, Inthachith opened a second East Side location, in a larger spot on Atwood Avenue, a mile from the original. Inthachith's brother, Sone, runs that location.

Inthachith and her mother cooked at the Williamson Street restaurant. Inthachith said her mother, at age 75, is going to retire.

She said they tried hard to find a new cook, but were unsuccessful.

The plan is to bring the Williamson Street staff over to Atwood. "With COVID, finding staffing is pretty hard. That has been a challenge," Inthachith said.

Inthachith and her mother own the building and are looking for a business to take over the restaurant space. "Right now, it will just be empty. That's how fast things are moving because of the shortage of help. Both of us are just really overworked."

She said she hopes to find someone invested in the community.

Inthachith said Lao Laan-Xang did a lot of takeout in the past two years and partnered with EatStreet for delivery. Riding out the pandemic was hard at the Williamson Street location because of the restaurant's small dining area. She said they kept the dining room closed whenever COVID-19 numbers spiked.

"We just started reopening again. But it just doesn't make sense to have two locations open with the staff shortage and then with mom wanting to retire," she said.

Inthachith said Lao Laan-Xang will still sell its curry squash and other favorites at East Side festivals this summer.

The restaurant takes its name from the Lao kingdom of Lan Xang, established in 1353, and known as "the land of one million elephants."

Read more restaurant news at: go.madison.com/restaurants

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While former La Crosse priest Father James Altmans future with the Diocese of La Crosse is still under review, his position as a prominent figure for the right has not budged.

About eight months after he was removed as pastor of St. James the Less church in La Crosse for political rhetoric and misinformation, Altman has continued to dig in to his messages and be a voice for conservatives.

Altman appeared on a March 16 episode of the Catholic podcast U.S. Grace Force, which is often a hotbed for misinformation and co-hosted by similarly embattled Wisconsin priest, Father Richard Heilman.

During the episode, which is titled Are We Past the Point of No Return? Altman suggested that an update on his canonical review could be near.

In talking about his parents, who live with Altman, he said he hopes God calls them up before it all hits the fan  which is coming soon.

Altman stated previously he intended to hire a canon lawyer to lead his defense against the diocese. In an audio message on a crowdfunding site, Altman said he was told by the lawyer that the entire process could take about a year.

Altman said in the message that he was also considering civil action, though its not clear he has taken that step.

The Diocese did not respond to the Tribunes request for comment asking for an update on Altmans review as of Friday.

In a Sept. 23 statement, just two months after the announcement of his removal from the church, Bishop William Patrick Callahan clarified that Altman remains a priest with the Diocese and continues to be paid, although his suspension was still in place.

He has not been fired, laicized or defrocked, Callahan said. On the contrary, I still consider Fr. Altman to have the qualities of a good priest.

The statement said Altman continues to be appropriately compensated according to diocese policy as the review process continues.

Regardless of when or what the results of his review will be, Altman has not backed down from some of the views that led to his removal and frequently appears on conservative and Christian shows and at events.

During the U.S. Grace Force podcast, Altman talked abortion, compared the obedience in the church to Nazi Germany, and newly spoke about the war in Ukraine.

Altman, who said he has visited Ukraine before, downplayed the war and suggested that the media was inflating the events.

This is absolutely knowing and intentional manipulation from propaganda, Altman said. There was this, allegedly, this attack on a hospital, but turns out it was like, if I understand correctly, a closed hospital, there were no patients in there. But the media, left-wing propagandists, said, See, oh no, look ... now theyre attacking this hospital and hurting people there. When in fact it pretty much was empty and abandoned.

Its filthy, these people are filthy liars. And you better understand that. When you turn that channel on, say to yourself, Theyre filthy liars. Because they are, he said.

As of March 17, the World Health Organization (WHO) has verified at least 43 attacks on health care in Ukraine, including 24 incidents where health care facilities have been damaged or destroyed  including a maternity and childrens hospital  resulting in at least 12 deaths and 34 injuries. Other attacks have been on ambulances, health-care workers and other patients.

Altman argued that while the war is important to Ukrainians, it was not worth the global response it has received. He said that there should be more coverage about Americas southern border and China.

On Friday, the U.N. reported that at least 816 civilians have been killed since Russia first invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, though its believed to be considerably higher. U.S. officials estimate that more than 7,000 Russian troops have been killed, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this week that about 1,300 Ukrainian troops have been killed.

The death toll also includes several journalists, including two Fox News journalists who were killed when their vehicle was struck by incoming fire.

Since his removal, Altmans supporters have not wavered either.

Heilman, who said hes been asked by the Madison Diocese to steer clear of politics, told Altman during the March 16 podcast episode that they were battle buddies.

Im your battle buddy Father, and I got your six, Heilman said, who has long called Altman a friend. Ill take a bullet for you.

Altman has most recently been backed by the Flossmoor, Illinois-backed group Coalition for Cancelled Priests, or CFCP.

The group has taken to support Altman and a number of other priests that have been removed from their posts or reprimanded in some way, and has placed several billboards throughout La Crosse in recent months.

In its mission statement, the group  which has received an endorsement from actor, Catholic and conservative Mel Gibson  says it is dedicated to spiritually and materially supporting faithful priests who seek to return to active ministry after being unjustly canceled by their bishops.

On its website is an application for priests to apply for different types of support, including prayers, housing or rental assistance, legal help and more.

On July 26, 2021, Altman donated $100,000 to CFCP, matching a fundraiser it was hosting at the time.

Because theyre going to help other priests that have been cancelled as well, Altman said in a press release video, saying he had personally received more than enough in donations from supporters. Altman said in an audio message previously that his defense was estimated to cost at least $60,000.

Altman is set to speak at the one-year anniversary event for CFCP this summer in Beloit, where tickets range in price from $75 to $190 each.

Online fundraisers on Christian crowdfunding sites that were set up last year for Altman have garnered more than $776,800, with one still receiving donations as of five days ago.

As for St. James the Less, according to church bulletins Father Woodrow, or Woody, Pace is serving in a temporary role as parochial administrator of the church until a new pastor can be found.
A person being pursued by police early Monday morning crashed into a squad car before driving off the road and getting arrested, Janesville police reported.

Shortly before 3 a.m. Monday, officers were sent to the 3900 block of Milton Avenue for a disturbance after a female reported that she had been assaulted, taken against her will, and the suspect was fleeing the scene, reportedly armed and impaired by narcotics, Lt. Joshua Norem said in a statement.

An officer located the suspect vehicle near Janesvilles downtown and attempted to stop it near the intersection of Center Avenue and Joliet Street. The suspect initially stopped in the middle of the roadway, but then drove off, Norem said.

The ensuing pursuit traveled through portions of southwest Janesville and included the suspect intentionally striking a squad car, which suffered minor damage with no injury to the officer, Norem said.

The suspect, who was not identified, eventually ran off the road in the 1800 block of Waterford Drive and was arrested and jailed on tentative charges that included OWI, recklessly endangering safety, and fleeing, Norem said.

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Madison School Board president Ali Muldrow is running for re-election to seat 4 on the board in the April 5 election with her only opposition a write-in candidate whom she defeated in her first election.

David Blaska, a staunch conservative who lost in 2019 to Muldrow, a liberal who championed the removal of police officers from Madison high schools, didnt take the required steps to get his name on the ballot.

The deadline for turning in the required paperwork and at least 100 signatures from community members was Jan. 4. Blaska said he missed the deadline because he was waiting to see if another candidate would run against Muldrow.

When no one ran, I thought I should at least pose the challenge and help provide a place for a protest vote, he said. Im not as active this time around, in this campaign. I spent $20,000 three years ago.

Blaska will be the only registered write-in candidate for the school board election. He completed a campaign registration statement and filed that registration with the Madison clerks office on Feb 7. The deadline to file as a registered write-in candidate is April 1, the Friday before the election.

Blaska chose to challenge Muldrow for Seat 4  Seat 5 is also uncontested  because he said, if he was going to run against anyone, it should be the school board president.

I like Ali Muldrow, he said. I think shes a little miffed at me this time around.

He hasnt met the basic requirements to be treated like a legitimate candidate but he feels entitled to attention and thats fine but Im not going to give him mine, Muldrow said, and declined to comment further for this story.

Campaign platforms

Blaskas campaign platform is heavily steeped in conservative talking points used by candidates nationwide that include instituting law and order in schools, questioning diversity and equity initiatives in curriculum and promoting charter schools. His viewpoint, an outlier among the predominantly left-leaning board, would create diversity of thought if he is elected, he said.

Im going to quit teaching that Madison is institutionally racist and that some kids are implicitly biased and that success is based on privilege, he said. Theres no black way to teach, no white way to teach no black way to learn, no white way to learn. Our teachers are good teachers.

He wants to return police to Madisons four comprehensive high schools, explore the part-time placement of police at middle schools, abolish the behavior education plan and remove disruptive students from schools.

Blaska, who was raised on a farm outside of Sun Prairie, worked as a reporter for local news and left the Capital Times for former Gov. Tommy Thompsons office. He was elected to the Dane County Board in 1994 where he served until 2006. His son graduated from Memorial High School.

Muldrow is seeking to retain Seat 4 for her second term on the board.

I am committed to bringing stability, continuity, and pragmatism to our body of governance, Muldrow told the Wisconsin State Journal in January. We have to recover our ability as a board to work with the community proactively to address the impact of this ongoing pandemic. Prioritizing the mental health needs of our educators, students and families is my immediate priority.

Her long-term plans include expanding access for students to dual-language programs, making sure students are prepared to vote  with a drivers license  once they turn 18, as well as making the arts part of the core curriculum at the elementary level.

I am working in the interest of safe and welcoming schools to promote the autonomy of teachers and the success of students, she said. I am very grateful for this opportunity to continue doing this work.

Madison School Board elections are likely unique in Wisconsin and unusual nationally in requiring candidates to run for numbered seats that are not connected to specific geographic areas in the School District. Madison candidates run only against those running for the same seat, even as all seven board members are expected to represent the entire district.

Editor's note: This story was corrected to reflect that Blaska served on the Dane County Board for 12 years.

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They came to Johanne Brunet's lab seeking to sharpen their skills, add to their resumes and advance up the competitive career ladder of academia.

Instead many left traumatized, their career trajectories blunted, if not ruined altogether.

She completely destroyed my academic life, said Karsten Holmquist, a former postdoctoral researcher in Brunets lab who now works as a carpenter. "I was just so totally damaged."

A UW-Madison investigation found Brunet, a tenured entomology professor whose salary was fully paid by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, abused her authority by bullying students and staff for more than a decade. The university's 2018 report also referenced scientific misconduct, though the allegations fell outside the scope of UW's investigation and drew no conclusions. Brunet agreed to resign from her unpaid university appointment in 2019 just as UW officials were weighing whether to fire her.

The USDA conducted its own parallel investigations, according to at least five former lab workers who said they participated in interviews or submitted written statements to the agency. What they told USDA and the Wisconsin State Journal largely mirrors the UW-Madison report:

None of Brunets eight graduate students at UW-Madison received their Ph.D. under her supervision.

Brunet caused severe persecution and sabotage of research materials and manuscripts," such as removing others names from papers or putting her name above theirs without consultation and despite them shouldering the overwhelming majority of the work.

Brunet retaliated by refusing to review drafts, assigning extra work, withdrawing funding and trying to fire people.

Brunet physically assaulted one student, shaking them by the shoulders while screaming at them in an incident described in the report as violence in the workplace.

The number of lab workers who sought counseling is blacked out from the report. But of eight people interviewed by the State Journal for this story, two said they contemplated suicide and three said they are still in therapy years after leaving the lab. One was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

At least four individuals said they previously complained to the USDA before the UW-Madison investigation but said their pleas for help went largely unaddressed.

Despite the extensive findings, which UW-Madison officials said the university started sharing with the USDA as early as fall 2017, the federal agency continues to employ Brunet as a researcher in its Madison office. She runs a lab that includes three technicians, three postdoctoral trainees and two undergraduate students, both of whom attend UW-Madison.

Allegations denied

The USDA declined to answer the State Journals questions, including whether Brunet faced any disciplinary action and whether the agency installed safeguards to ensure a positive lab environment. USDA spokesperson Jan Suszkiw said in a statement that the agency doesnt discuss personnel matters and that the agency's success hinges on a workplace environment that is free from discrimination, harassment and retaliation."

The agency also denied the newspapers request for records related to the investigations. Unlike UW-Madison, which is subject to a robust state public records law that strongly favors transparency, the federal public records law allows for personnel matters to remain confidential. Disclosure would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, USDA records officer Alexis Graves said.

Brunet, who began working in the horticulture department in 2003 and transferred to the entomology department in 2009, initially agreed to an interview for this story but later backed out. She said that the State Journal was "clearly not interested in the truth" and denied the allegations against her.

"This case is about a faculty member being bullied by her employees rather than the other way around," she wrote in an email. "This case is about gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and anti-diversity against a foreign-born female faculty member. This case reflects a biased, parti pris investigation. Women bear strong responsibilities in helping other women fight gender discrimination and sexual harassment. Unfortunately here many women have participated in unfairly denigrating one of their own."

This document is filled with lies, distortions and misrepresentations of events and facts, Brunet said in response to the complaint that initiated the investigation. There is very little that bears resemblance to reality.

Ann Palmenberg, the investigator in charge of her case, interviewed nearly 50 people across Brunets 16-year UW-Madison career and found roughly 30 allegations to be true.

Culture of fear

The 120-page UW-Madison report paints a picture of a lab led through fear and retaliation. One student reported working 90 hours per week. Another said Brunet asked that extra hours worked not be added to their timesheet.

In the summers, students spent long hours under the sun doing field work, even on weekends. Sometimes people felt sick from heat exhaustion but Brunet insisted they keep working, according to multiple accounts.

Beyond the workload, one student said he was rejected from multiple academic jobs due to a lack of publications. He said Brunet removed him as first author on one publication and tried submitting chapters of his thesis as her own work. He also faced "humiliating" moments when he, as a non-native English speaker, mispronounced some words and said Brunet made him repeatedly say the words again and again in front of others until he said them correctly.

As he neared completion of his Ph.D., he said Brunet abruptly pulled his funding, causing him to lose his source of income and his health insurance. The student was nearly evicted and relied on friends for food until he was able to graduate under a different adviser. The State Journal agreed not to name the student because he feared further retaliation.

Holmquist, who worked for Brunet from 2006 to 2009, tried leaving the lab by applying to others across the country. The initial excitement he said he heard from prospective employers changed a few weeks later after he suspects they spoke with Brunet. Although he had no proof this occurred, his experience was consistent with the report, which identified several instances of retaliation.

"She blackballed me throughout the country," he said.

Even when another UW-Madison professor took Holmquist under his wing, Holmquist said he'd head out to the field and find his plant tags had disappeared or been moved. Attempts to bring his concerns to two USDA officials' attention went nowhere, he said.

Rosy Link's recollection of her time in the lab was yelling, mostly. Brunet yelling about how worthless Link's experiments were, how no one would publish them and how students were "wasting her money."

During an out-of-state work trip, when a navigation system gave bad directions and the two got lost, Link felt trapped as she said Brunet berated her for hours while they tried to find their way back to Wisconsin.

Link initially aimed for a Ph.D. when she started in the lab in 2014. Wanting to escape the situation sooner, she left in 2017 with a master's degree and what she said was a parting comment from Brunet: "Im surprised you finally finished.

Scientific integrity

Concerns about Brunet went beyond her personality and management style, with some alleging her actions amounted to research misconduct.

Holmquist said Brunet wouldn't allow him to work on his field research until he wrote a paper that relied on a bad data set, with data points collected in different ways at different sites and in different years.

"It was so painfully obvious," he said. "It wasn't even like comparing apples to oranges. It was like apples to broccoli."

Had Holmquist refused, he said Brunet would have fired him. He applied some "mathematical chicanery" to get the paper published  one of his "greatest regrets of all time."

Another postdoctoral research fellow said he encountered similar pressure from Brunet to use falsified data in a paper. When he rejected the idea, he said, Brunet took away his sick days and put her name first on a different paper in which he had done nearly all of the work. He said he reported his scientific misconduct concerns to two USDA officials.

Greg Gelembiuk, who joined the lab in 2017, filed his own complaint with USDA and an official thanked him for his "thorough account of concerns of potential scientific misconduct," according to an email he shared with the State Journal.

Gelembiuk also corroborated a student's complaint to UW-Madison, which launched the university's investigation and led to Brunet trying to fire him a few days later, he said. He was temporarily reassigned to a different lab for a short appointment that ended within a few months, without the possibility of being reappointed.

Then Gelembiuk found himself unemployed for nearly a year, a situation he suspects wouldn't have happened had he remained quiet due to his expertise in molecular genomics that he said other lab members lacked.

I always knew being a whistleblower and standing up to do the right thing when youre not in a position of power would have consequences, but this experience really drove that home, said Gelembiuk, who was eventually hired as a technician in a different UW-Madison lab.

More than four years after filing the complaint, Gelembiuk said he has never heard from the USDA about what, if anything, came from his complaint despite asking several times.

UW-Madison referred questions about scientific misconduct to the USDA, which did not respond to questions. Brunet, presented with the accounts, called them "pure fiction."

Failure to respond

Many former lab workers blame Brunets direct supervisor at the USDA for, in their view, allowing Brunets behavior to continue unchecked for more than a decade.

Phil Simon, like Brunet, has an unpaid appointment with UW-Madison and works on campus but is paid by USDA. Brunets behavior was brought to Simons attention at least five times, the report said. In just one instance, when she threatened to fire someone, did Simon intervene.

One postdoctoral researcher said he asked Simon what could be done after Brunet had her name appear first on a paper for which he had collected the data, made calculations, written the results and listed his name as first author on a paper already accepted by a journal. Simon told him "extraordinary proof would be required." When the postdoc provided proof, the report indicates, Simon did not respond.

In another example, an individual asked Simon what to do after a "particularly aggressive incident" involving Brunet. "Apparently Phil did nothing," the report said.

Several lab employees said they even brought their complaints to other USDA officials.

"Nothing came out of these talks," Palmenberg wrote in her report. "Few if any of these instances have led to remedial discipline."

Simon did not return two calls and three emails from the State Journal seeking comment. He told Palmenberg that the USDA "chooses not to share their information, witness statements or status of their investigation findings with the UW."

The USDA didnt respond to a question asking if Simon is still in a supervisory position designated to receive and respond to complaints. Of the nearly hundred employees listed on the agencys Madison office website, he is the only one with the title of research leader  the same title he held at the time of UW-Madisons investigation.

Blame to share?

Former lab workers place varying degrees of blame on UW-Madison. Some don't fault the university because they were USDA employees and filed their complaints with the agency.

Holmquist is harsher on UW-Madison. Having worked in the lab the same year that Brunet shook another students shoulders while screaming, an incident that prompted a letter of reprimand from the department chair at the time, he said university employees were aware of the problem more than a decade ago.

No formal complaint was filed in the shoulder-shaking incident and Brunet disputed the circumstances, so the letter of reprimand wasn't added to her personnel file, according to the report.

UW-Madison could have monitored lab attrition more closely, Gelembiuk said. The fact that so few students were earning degrees should have been a red flag  something the graduate school said it now more closely evaluates in periodic program reviews.

Gelembiuk and others credited Sue Paskewitz, the entomology department chair at the time of the 2017 complaint, for taking the situation seriously and helping students finish out their degrees under different advisers.

Kate VandenBosch, dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, said UW-Madison took action "as soon as we became aware," including barring Brunet from taking on more graduate students, immediately beginning an investigation and referring the case to the Provost's Office for disciplinary action.

UW-Madison denied Brunet emeritus status, an honorary title for retired professors, and also barred her from university lab space. She still rents greenhouse and field space from UW-Madison, which officials said is part of a longstanding relationship giving USDA scientists access to campus research facilities.

VandenBosch said she was "deeply concerned" by the findings in this case, leading her to expand the college's bullying prevention and response efforts through training, surveys and other actions.

No one should ever experience what these students and staff members experienced," she said in a statement.

Dreams dashed

Brunet remains immersed in the research world and continues to publish papers. Several of her proteges have diverted their lives in different directions.

Link had longed to be a research professor and said it was "heartbreaking" to give up after investing seven years of her life. She now works as a zookeeper.

One former postdoc has left research entirely and is looking into other possibilities. Another is a salesperson.

Holmquist, now more than a decade removed from his time in the lab, is still struggling, still in therapy trying to get over this.

Holmquist credits his wife, whom he met in Madison, for saving his life at a time when he was thinking of ending it. He now lives in Colorado and works as a carpenter. Most days are spent just trying to make ends meet. He doubts he'll ever be able to afford to retire.

Holmquists only interaction with his former life nowadays is when NPRs "Science Friday" segment airs. Even then, he sometimes finds it too much to bear and flicks to another station.

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The race for Waunakee Village Board features a mix of incumbents (I) and former board trustees as well as newcomers to elected office. A fast-growing municipality, Waunakees top issues include affordable housing and supporting the villages diversity, the candidates said. Incumbent Erin Moran did not provide a response. The terms are for two years.

Nila Frye (I)

Age: 63

Address: 404 E. Verleen Ave., Waunakee

Family: Married with four sons

Job: Owner and operator, Nilas Nursery and Childcare

Prior elected office: Waunakee board since 2020

Other public service: Sidewalk Committee, 1978; Personnel Committee and Parks and Buildings Committee, 1990s; Public Works Committee since 2014; Housing Task Force, 2018-19; Citizens Academy graduate, 2019; Board of Appeals, 2017-19; Citizens Study Committee on High School Facility Needs, 1992

Education: Licensed in family childcare

Robert McPherson

Age: 38

Address: 1703 Alexandria Court, Waunakee

Family: Wife and daughter

Job: Vice president of risk management, Peoples State Bank

Prior elected office: None

Other public service: Waunakee Housing Task Force for Village of Waunakee, 2018-19

Education: Bachelors degree in political science and economics, University of Tampa

Erin Moran (I)

Age: 25

Address: 215 W. Main St.

Family: No response

Job: No response

Prior elected office: Waunakee Village Board since 2020

Other public service: Create Waunakee Committee, chairwoman; Waunakee Library Board; Waunakee Housing Task Force; Public Works Committee; Waunakee Girls Lacrosse Club; Badgerland Lacrosse Association, marketing director; Waunakee Monarch Project

Education: Bachelors degree in communications and environmental studies, Edgewood College

Angie Ramos

Age: 33

Address: 210 Kensington Lane, Waunakee

Family: Not available

Job: Interpreter and translator, Waunakee Community School District

Prior elected office: None

Other public service: Waunakee Public Library Board since 2021; Waunakee Neighborhood Connection, 2020

Education: Studied as health care interpreter, Madison College

Joe Zitzelsberger

Age: 50

Address: 923 Countryside Crossing, Waunakee

Family: Married with a daughter

Job: IT Senior Staff Engineer at American Family Insurance

Prior elected office: Waunakee Village Board, 2018-20

Other public service: Board of Review, 2011-18 and since 2020; Public Works Committee, since 2020

Education: Masters certificate in project management, UW-Madison; bachelors degree in communication, UW-Stevens Point

Q&A

What unique expertise or experience would you bring to this office?

Frye: I am a childcare provider and my husband is a laborer, this brings a unique perspective to the board. It is important that all residents have a voice in village government. Since serving on committees for over 40 years I know the history pertaining to many issues, this is helpful when looking at topics now and planning for the future.

McPherson: My job requires a lot of asking direct questions and listening to the views and opinions of people all across the spectrum. That skill helps to bring the best answer to a problem, even if it isnt the answer I myself would prefer.

Moran: No response.

Ramos: Experience as a community advocate, volunteer, person of color, bilingual Spanish speaking.

Zitzelsberger: Our current world is hyper-partisan. The village board is nonpartisan by design, and I hope to be an excellent example of that. I dont claim allegiance to any particular political party, and often find myself in the middle of most political ideologies. I use logic and law to guide my decisions, and am happy to leave my ego at the door. The goal of serving the people should never be to win, but rather to work together to find workable and acceptable solutions to problems.

What is the most important issue in this election and how would you address it?

Frye: The development process and transparency. Waunakees population has increased by 23% in the last ten years. Citizens are concerned that this has happened with little input from the public until developments are a done deal. We need to address how that affects citizens taxes, The village will probably move from volunteer fire and EMS to paid staff and there are more roads, and infrastructure to maintain. I would ask for citizen input early in the development process and more controlled growth.

McPherson: Waunakee struggles to have housing that is accessible to working class families and those on fixed income. Those that were able to buy or rent years ago are slowly being pushed out as taxes go up due to our housing issues. I would look to make small changes to the rules that would make it easier to improve existing houses and expand housing choice in the village.

Moran: No response.

Ramos: Bringing diverse voices to our board.

Zitzelsberger: Waunakee has a long list of important decisions ahead of it, including diversity, growth, housing availability and affordability, and transportation. While those are all important, one of the most visible issues in the coming election is the concept of a village aquatic facility. Its still early in the discovery and design process, and because of that, I wont commit to supporting or opposing it, however I do strongly support sending whatever the proposal ends up being to voters via referendum.

What is a new idea you have for making local government more efficient? Frye: A user friendly Waunakee web page would create more efficient communication between residents and staff. I want citizens to be able to easily find the right resource when contacting the village, as well as easy access to upcoming meeting agendas and issues.

McPherson: When addressing issues that have two opposing sides in the community, bring them together to work on the issue, but give them a timeline to make a compromise decision or else the board will pass a solution that potentially neither side would like. It gives a real incentive for issues to get resolved, one way or another, without ending up in decision paralysis.

Moran: No response.

Ramos: Streamline getting community input.

Zitzelsberger: Its all about balance. Local government, like a project, is primarily controlled by three factors: cost, quality, and time. Generally, you can improve two, but the third will worsen as a result. Waunakee balances these factors very well, resulting in an excellent community with quality services at a reasonable cost to village taxpayers. There is always room for improvement, but we must be analytical and deliberate to actually gain efficiency in one area without a detrimental effect in another.

Editor's note: This story corrects the website for Joe Zitzelsberger. It also provides Angie Ramos' response to the first question.
Election deniers are scheduled to head to the Capitol on Thursday and in May in an ongoing effort to cast doubt on the outcome of the 2020 presidential election by continuing to press baseless claims that the vote was stolen.

The dogged efforts despite numerous audits, reviews and court filings that found no more fraud in 2020 than is typical in any other election reflect a common tendency to double down on beliefs even when evidence suggests otherwise, said a social psychologist who studies cognitive dissonance.

On Thursday, members from the self-proclaimed election integrity group True the Vote will address a hearing before the Assembly elections committee.

Last Thursday, activist Jefferson Davis promised a packed room of supporters that True the Vote would drop a bomb this week proving the existence of widespread fraud. Thats despite no evidence coming before legislative committees  or anywhere else  leading to any finding of widespread fraud that would suggest former President Donald Trump won Wisconsin in 2020.

A Republican review of the election by conservative former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman was the latest to fall short of proving widespread fraud. Gableman claimed 100% of registered voters in Dane and Milwaukee county nursing homes cast absentee ballots in 2020, insinuating at least some of those votes had to have been cast fraudulently by others. But a closer look by the Wisconsin State Journal found only one nursing home where all 12 registered voters cast ballots; turnout among all the others ranged from 42% to 91%.

Some have conflated policies or decisions on election administration that they opposed or which werent explicitly authorized in state law with fraud, even though some of the practices were consistent with past elections, were approved by government bodies in open session or were found to be legal by a court.

Those include grants from the Mark Zuckerberg-funded Center for Tech and Civic Life to help cover the cost of conducting an election during a pandemic. While the grants went to about 214 municipalities, including many that went for Trump, the bulk of the money went to the states five largest cities, which turned out strongly for Joe Biden. Multiple courts have ruled the grants were legal. The grants were also not denied to any municipalities that requested them.

Deniers also have called for jailing members of the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission for advising local clerks they could fix minor errors on ballot envelopes and use ballot drop boxes, which arent addressed in state law. The measures were approved by both Democratic and Republican members of the commission.

Assembly elections committee chair Rep. Janel Brandtjen, R-Menomonee Falls, has long derided the way the 2020 election was conducted, requesting information from Wisconsin counties as a first step toward what she described as a full, cyber-forensic audit of tabulators and inspection of the physical ballots from the election. She has also provided a platform for a man convicted of mail and bank fraud to give a presentation featuring false and unprovable claims about the 2020 election.

She did not respond to a request for comment.

A recount, routine post-election audits and court decisions have affirmed that Biden defeated Trump in Wisconsin by almost 21,000 votes. A review by the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau as well as the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty also found no evidence of widespread fraud, and multiple court rulings have found no evidence of irregularities.

Only 24 people out of nearly 3.3 million who cast ballots have been charged with election fraud in Wisconsin, The Associated Press reported last week.

Excellent optics

Thursdays Assembly election hearing comes after Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, last week noted the election cant be decertified but nevertheless expressed a belief that there had been widespread fraud in 2020.

Vos and his spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In addition to decertifying the election  which is legally impossible  many of those who persist in denying the outcome of the 2020 election are calling on the Legislature to enact stricter voting laws, which are all but certain to be vetoed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, and draw attention to their cause.

In an online chat, some called for supporters to take the day off work and rally to the Capitol on Thursday.

We want to pack it out and show the liberal media and press that we support election integrity, Justice Gableman, Rep. Brandtjen, Rep. Ramthun and True the Vote, Davis said in a statement posted on the messaging platform Telegram. Standing room only and packing the hallway would be excellent optics.

In May, a different group says it plans to bring a Canadian Trucker Style convoy to the Capitol, Where the start of the end of our enslavement will begin!!! according to the groups website.

The group is calling on Wisconsin to ban voting machines, prohibit outside grants for election administration and decertify the 2020 election, among other things. Its also calling for the arrest, prosecution, and severe punishment for those who have and would violate these and existing voting laws.

The group  calling itself Grandma and Grandpa  is calling on the Legislature to pass the measures in a special session and vowed to camp out at the Capitol until its demands are met.

Evers has said he wont sign legislation that would make it harder to vote.

Speaking at a WisPolitics luncheon last week, Evers, who is up for reelection in November, said repeated claims of fraud in the 2020 election by top Republicans, including Vos, have only encouraged the call for decertification  something that has also been urged by Gableman, who Vos hired last year to conduct a one-party review of the election at a cost to taxpayers of $676,000.

I think hes one of the smartest people Ive ever met and I think this is one of the dumbest things hes ever said, Evers said in reference to Vos claim of widespread fraud.

Cognitive dissonance

Many people who persist in claiming there was widespread voter fraud despite all evidence to the contrary may be beyond being swayed by the facts, said Carol Tavris, a social psychologist who studies cognitive dissonance and co-author of the book, Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me).

People dont arrive at most of their beliefs through reasoned reflection or even the best science, Tavris said. They rely on the opinions of their tribe, and nowadays the most salient tribes in our country are political camps.

Thats true of people across the political spectrum, Tavris said, from liberals to conservatives.

In that tradition, she said, theres nothing unique about delusionally believing that voter fraud is widespread, especially as national Republican leaders peddle that claim.

Changing ones beliefs, even when presented with contrary evidence, is difficult, she said. Saying I was wrong is harder to admit than They are wrong, Tavris said.

Tavris describes what happens next as a pyramid of choice: At the top of the pyramid, a person chooses whether to believe something. The person will then seek more evidence to support that initial choice, broadening the support for it, while rejecting any information that questions it.

That initial decision can be made for impulsive or trivial reasons, but over time, throwing more justifications at that decision, its harder to change your mind without feeling you were stupid at the outset, she said.

Still, with no evidence supporting widespread fraud, more Republicans are becoming confident in the accuracy of the 2020 election, with 38% saying they are confident now, up from 29% who said they were confident in August 2021, according to the latest Marquette Law School Poll.

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After missing 18 Harford County Council meetings due to deployment in Houma, Louisiana to help with the recovery from Hurricane Ida, Joseph Woods returned to his seat on the board March 15 for the first time since December.

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Multiple attendees at the public hearing before Tuesdays legislative session welcomed Woods back to the council chambers. Since September, Woods, who returned sporting a full beard, has been in Louisiana as a reservist for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, working in disaster emergency communications. He also works with the Mobile Communications Operations Vehicle program, which uses vehicles to help in rural areas after natural disasters.

Woods, 43, who left for Louisiana on Aug. 26, said that most times hes not deployed for more than 30 days. He said his team was stretched thin because of other things happening around the country, like COVID-19 and wildfires.

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We were filling in a lot of roles that we normally dont, Woods said. So it was unusual.

Woods said he was able to keep up with his duties as a council member, however, watching legislative sessions virtually, calling constituents and attending virtual committee meetings for the Maryland Association of Counties. Woods said only about four constituents reached out to him while he was gone concerning his absence.

Woods returned for the Dec. 7 council meeting, where the council passed its redistricting map and appointed council member Robert Wagner as the new council vice president, replacing Woods.

Woods said he considered stepping down from the council before his term ended, but others on the council urged him to stay since his position would be vacant until the next election. He said he has no plans at the moment to seek another term.

While Woods could watch the council meetings virtually while in Louisiana, he was unable to participate because of rules against voting or commenting remotely.

The Aegis: Top stories Weekdays Daily highlights from Harford County's number one source for local news. >

There were a lot of issues, nonstop, Woods said, and I think thats what a lot of council members were worried about - like, well, if we allow a council member to participate remotely, we should allow the general public to.

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The council had suspended its rules on virtual participation when meetings were being held entirely remotely because of COVID-19.

DeLane Lewis, a resident of District B, which Woods represents, expressed frustration at not having her council member present for a long period of time.

His absence has highlighted the fact that we need a virtual option to access our meetings, whether youre a representative or a member of the public, Lewis said.

In an opinion piece Lewis wrote for the Aegis in January about the council not allowing virtual participation, she said, For months, our representative, Joe Woods, has been doing his job working for FEMA in Louisiana, but has not been allowed to participate virtually in County Council meetings since the state of emergency was terminated, which means he is not allowed to vote either. Taxation without representation!

Council President Patrick Vincenti did not reply for comment.
So, what shall we make of Rep. Adam Kinzingers apology?

Kinzinger, a Republican from Illinois, took to Twitter recently with a remarkable statement of contrition for failing to hold the last president accountable. He wrote that his biggest regret was his decision to vote against former President Donald Trumps first impeachment.

The bottom line, Donald Trump withheld lethal aid to Ukraine so he could use it as leverage for his campaign, he wrote. This is a shameful and illegal act, directly hurting the Ukraine defense today. I wish I could go back in time and vote for it, but I cannot. What we can do now is to ensure that this NEVER happens again, and that we all put the interests of our nation above our party.

The reference, of course, is to the infamous phone call in which Trump sought to strong-arm Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who wanted him to release an already approved $400 million in military aid.

I would like you to do us a favor, though, oozed Trump, going on to press Zelenskyy to dig up dirt on Joe Biden. That implicit quid pro quo was deplorable in 2019. With Russian tanks knocking on Zelenskyys door, it feels obscene.

In fairness, though, the Obama administration also resisted arming Ukraine. And Trump did send anti-tank missiles to Ukraine in 2017, albeit under the proviso that they be used only as a symbolic deterrent against Russian aggression. When details of his phone call came out, he scurried to release further aid.

Point being, the real question raised by Kinzingers apology is not whether Ukraine would have been better off had he done the right thing, but whether America would. To which the answer is, yes. And it is possible to be impressed by Kinzingers integrity, yet also feel that that very probity makes the behavior hes apologizing for seem all the more tawdry and shameful. How could a man of such ostentatious honor not bring himself to do the right thing when doing the right thing might have mattered?

Yes, Trump was impeached by the House (later acquitted in the Senate) without Kinzinger or any other Republicans vote. But had Kinzinger broken with his party then, might it not have helped persuade other members in both houses to do the same? Might it not, at a minimum, have weakened the Republican canard that this was a partisan power grab?

Two presidents were impeached before Trump: Andrew Johnson, who violated the Tenure of Office Act, barring him from firing a cabinet member, and Bill Clinton, who lied about a consensual liaison with an intern. Those crimes are laughably negligible by comparison with Trump using the power of his office for his own gain. And if the seriousness of Trumps transgression is obvious now, well, it was no less obvious in 2019. The only conceivable reason for Kinzingers inability to see it then, as he himself says, is that he forgot country supersedes party.

Thats a rather basic truth to lose sight of. But then, the GOP seems to do so quite a bit.

And that is a clear and present danger to the health of this democracy. Indeed, Trumps gangsterism, appalling as it was, was less of a threat to this country than the moral destitution that emboldened and enabled it.

One is glad for Kinzingers apology. But an effective apology is restorative. It repairs the broken thing. So one hopes Kinzinger finds creative ways of reminding his ideological soul mates of what it is they should be pledging allegiance to.

Because the best apology for what he did is to stop others from doing the same.

Pitts Jr. writes for the Miami Herald: lpitts@miamiherald.com.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed directly to Congress last Wednesday to establish a no-fly zone over his country  a request that the Biden administration has already rejected. He wants Polands MiG-29 jets so Ukraine can fight for control of Ukrainian skies instead of opening them so Russian planes can attack civilian areas at will. Again, the Biden administration says no.

In the public relations war that is crucial to galvanizing Western solidarity behind Ukraine, Zelenskyy has a winning message of stalwart resistance against superior Russian forces. Russian President Vladimir Putin is winning his own twisted public relations campaign by communicating an effective visual message that anyone who dares stand in his way will be crushed mercilessly.

Against that backdrop, the Biden administrations message comes off as nervous hand-wringing. Avoid offending Russia at all costs, but boy, well sure show em with sanctions.

This is not to suggest the United States is merely watching helplessly from the sidelines. Billions of dollars in U.S. military and humanitarian aid are pouring into Ukraine, including anti-tank rockets and Stinger shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles. That aid has been overt, which creates confusion in the publics eyes when Biden insists that transferring NATO-member Polands MiG-29s to Ukraine would risk provoking a superpower confrontation. Yet NATO weaponry can already be seen on videos destroying Russian tank convoys and shooting down aircraft.

The logic doesnt quite square that its OK for the West to supply some lethal weaponry that downs Russian planes and destroys its tanks, while its not OK for other weaponry that would accomplish the same goal.

Some useful background: In late 2013, at the height of the Syrian civil war, then-President Barack Obama painted himself into a corner by warning Syria it would cross a red line if it used chemical weapons. Russian-backed Syria then used chemical weapons, and Obama backed away from his threat to respond militarily.

U.S. resolve was tested, and the United States backed down. Less than four months later, Putin moved his forces into Ukraines Crimean Peninsula and seized it. Then he deployed forces to support separatist militias in eastern Ukraine. Red lines crossed again, with no serious U.S. response.

The Biden administration smartly seems determined not to repeat Obamas mistake by setting red lines it isnt prepared to enforce. A no-fly zone would establish one such red line, and Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., on Wednesday echoed the administrations position that America dare not go that far.

But U.S. avoidance wont erase other red lines. Russia could use chemical weapons in Ukraine or even tactical nuclear devices. It could move against non-NATO neighboring states like Moldova, or weaker NATO states like Lithuania  all just to see how far Putin can push Biden. From the administrations response so far, Putin would be correct in assuming that even the skys not the limit.
At the border between Ukraine and Poland, the wait to cross for those fleeing war-torn Ukraine can be up to 50 hours.

Cars are abandoned on the side of the road as families choose to walk rather than brave the traffic lines, all in an attempt to escape the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Thats the scene Kasia Andersens relatives in Poland have described to her. Andersen lives in Idaho Falls with her husband, Adam Andersen, and their eight children but she grew up in Poland, Ukraines neighbor to the west.

After news broke of the invasion, the Andersen family opened a GoFundMe page in an effort to raise funds for orphans who have been transported out of Ukraine.

Bielsko-Biala, a city in southern Poland about three hours from the border with Ukraine, has become home to 130 children who had previously lived at an orphanage in Ukraine.

An orphanage in Bielsko-Biala called Okno Zycia (Window of Life in Polish) is caring for the children, but because of the need to leave the country quickly, many of the children arrived without basic necessities.

Kasias brother and mother have been working to help the children, with her mother spending 35 hours straight putting together hygiene kits for the kids.

Despite being thousands of miles away from the scene, Kasia said she also felt compelled to contribute. Theyre doing what they can, and I just want to help them, Kasia said.

As of Monday, the GoFundMe page has raised $2,141. The children are in need of bunk beds for a place to sleep, backpacks, laptops and tablets needed to attend school, and medical supplies.

Window of Life caretakers are waiting to get sizes for the children before spending money on clothes. GoFundMe is accepting cash donations only, as delivering supplies to Poland would significantly increase the cost compared to money transfers.

People really need help, and its quite important that we get aid for them, said Spencer Andersen, Kasias 16-year-old son who designed the logo for the GoFundMe fundraiser.

Raising funds is an unfamiliar experience for the family, who is still looking for a third party to take the money and transfer it to the orphanage when the fundraiser is complete. Kasia said, however, that its her family in Poland who are facing the most stress.

Damian Zamarlik, Kasias brother, has been working to help refugees in Poland, including the orphans, since the invasion began. Her sister-in-laws brother has also provided housing to a family fleeing the war.

Theres anxiety that the war could spread into Poland. On Sunday, Russian forces attacked a Ukrainian military facility just 15 miles from the border with Poland.

Poland is part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the international alliance between European and North American countries that states an attack on one is an attack on all. Andersen said the treaty has been reassurance, but her relatives remain afraid of what Russia could do as the war goes on.

The war also has weighed heavily on the familys friends, Yohan and Alla Delton, who live in eastern Idaho. Alla is from Ukraine and Yohan also worked as a volunteer with an orphanage in Ukraine. Yohan set up a Facebook group called Idaho Ukrainians in an effort to connect local Ukrainians who want to help.

We break down a few times a day, Yohan said. He had been to Kyiv and recognized some of the images hes seen on television of city streets reduced to rubble. His mother-in-law remains in the city, and they have been concerned for her safety as the fighting intensifies.

Kasia said it was important for Poland to help the refugees given its own history. She said she grew up hearing stories about the Nazi occupation of her homeland, a reminder that they also needed help once.

The importance of that compassion was made clear to Kasia recently while grocery shopping. She said saw a woman on the phone in a language she recognized and asked about where she was from. The woman answered she was Ukrainian. Kasia responded that she was Polish and the woman began crying and thanking her.

We gave each other a hug and went our ways, Kasia said.

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No one likes taxes. The overwhelming majority of us just want to pay what we owe or file and wait for our refund. It is voluntary compliance, and the less time it takes the better.

At the federal level we have champions like U.S. Senator Mike Crapo, the Republican ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, working to untangle the challenges and delays Americans face in getting their federal tax returns processed by the Internal Revenue Service. At the state level, Governor Brad Little, legislators, and Idaho taxpayers expect and receive a much higher level of customer service from the Idaho State Tax Commission.

Here are just a few of the resources available to help the Tax Commission efficiently serve Idaho taxpayers:

Refunds: After youve filed your Idaho income tax return, you can track your refund online at tax.idaho.gov/refund. E-filers can start tracking about four business days after filing; those filing a paper return can start about three weeks after filing. Youll need to provide your Social Security number and the refund amount you expect.

Rebates: Governor Little has asked the Tax Commission to begin issuing rebates by the end of March. The rebate amount is either 12% of the 2020 taxes or $75 per taxpayer and each dependent, whichever is greater. When rebates start to get issued, you can visit tax.idaho.gov and click on the links in the Tax Rebate button to check the status. Idaho taxpayers can even donate their rebates back to the state for public schools, transportation or parks and recreation.

Tax Help: The average hold time for callers is approximately 10 minutes, though it gets busier as we get closer to the Monday, April 18, 2022, filing deadline. Call us at (208) 334-7660 in the Boise area or tollfree at (800) 972-7660. We also offer an email option. Emails sent to taxrep@tax.idaho.gov are usually answered by the next business day.

There are vast differences between the way Idaho does business and the way our federal government operates. Here at the Tax Commission, we want our customers to know about and use the resources available to them. We issue press releases regularly throughout the tax season to provide the most up-to-date information, and we maintain a year-round customer service call center. We dont make excuses to the taxpayer; we solve problems.

In addition, our focus is on the part of our agency that processes the returns. Known internally as the Revenue Operations Division, these employees process the more than 800,000 tax returns that need no extra attention. As the heart and soul of the Tax Commission, the work of these employees makes up 96% of all tax return processing. The remaining 4% is comprised of what we call essential agency functions, audit and collection, which exist to ensure fairness in the administration of Idahos tax laws and rules.

No one likes taxes, but Idaho knows how to administer them the right way. From the fiscally conservative tax policies of Governor Little and the Legislature to the rank-and-file employees of the Tax Commission who implement those policies, Idaho taxpayers are getting fair and efficient customer service. And we all agree: the less time it takes, the better.

Jeff McCray is Chairman of the Idaho State Tax Commission

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JERUSALEM  JERUSALEM -- The new 24-karat gold leaf on the Dome of the Rock sparkled in Jerusalem's sun yesterday. But the ceremony marking the restoration of Islam's third holiest shrine reflected the conflict it has spawned for more than a millennium.

Instead of celebrating the event in this troubled holy city where the dome dominates the skyline, they held the party 45 miles away in Amman, Jordan. King Hussein of Jordan paid for the work but won't come here to see it because he's officially at war with Israel.

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So the logistics of the celebration became the latest metaphor for the Middle East, where religion and politics are the parents of confusion.

Even the simplest questions have complicated answers.

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For example: What is the Dome of the Rock?

It is a Muslim mosque -- although once it was a Crusader Christian church, built on an area that used to be Jewish temple.

Is it a Muslim site now?

Unclear. Jews believe it is the Holy of Holies, the area of successive temples built by Kings David and Solomon before Islam existed. Muslims believe it is the rock from which Mohammed ascended to heaven. Christians believe it is the rock on which Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac before God intervened.

But is it in Israel?

Unclear. The site is in Jerusalem's Old City, which was controlled by Jordan until Israel's army swept through in the 1967 Six-Day War. Unlike the rest of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the Old City was "annexed" by Israel. The United States and most other countries do not recognize the annexation.

So Jordan still claims it?

Sort of. King Hussein gave up on the West Bank in 1988, leaving it up to the Palestinians to get the best deal they could from the Israelis. But he still retains the title of guardian of the holy site of the Dome of the Rock. Islamic officials who run the Dome of the Rock report to him. They are paid by a Jordanian ministry, in Jordanian currency.

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So King Hussein paid for the restorations instead of Israel?

No, instead of Saudi Arabia.

How's that?

Saudi Arabia offered to pay for the restorations, trying to slip the money through a United Nations organization. The Saudi royals are regarded as the guardians of Islam's first and second most holy cities -- Mecca and Medina. They wrested control of those sites from King Hussein's Hashemite family decades ago. King Hussein saw their offer to refurbish the Dome of the Rock as a bid to encroach on his authority there. So he held a fire sale of one of his villas in London and anted up the $6.5 million to coat the Dome in gold.

Who did the restorations of the beautiful Islamic artwork on the Dome.

Mostly Irishmen.

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Has the Dome always been gold?

No. It was fake, gold-colored aluminum from the last restoration in 1964. The first Dome, built in 691, was real. The building was ordered up by Caliph Abd el Malik ibn Marwan, and the workers finished the project in just over four years, ahead of schedule and under budget. The caliph took the 100,000 gold coins left unspent and melted them down to gild the Dome. That original sheath disappeared over the years.

So the Muslims had a ceremony yesterday to mark the end of the work?

Not here. In Jerusalem, tourists wandered around the Dome of the Rock as they do most days. Bogus tour guides sidled up to them offering cheap history at cheap prices. The ceremony was in Amman.

Why didn't the officials in Amman go to Jerusalem?

Because Jordan and Israel still are officially at war. King Hussein has not officially set foot west of the Jordan River since Israel captured it in the Six-Day War. He only recently acknowledged that Israeli prime ministers have been sneaking across the border for decades to meet with him, but a procession to Jerusalem still is out of the question.

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Did they get to glimpse the work the King paid for?

For 15 minutes, a Palestinian television crew beamed pictures of the Dome of the Rock to a satellite. They were transmitted to Atlanta and then sent by satellite to Amman.

Isn't there a shorter route to send the pictures 45 miles?

The two countries are still at war, remember, so a direct television link would be politically incorrect. Even phone calls are not permitted between Israel and Jordan. Of course, the picture was then broadcast on Jordan TV, which is watched avidly by their neighbors the Israelis.

Is there any lesson of peace and tranquillity in the history of this holy site?

Let's see. Palestinians sometimes throw rocks from the Dome of the Rock area onto Jews at the Western Wall below. In 1990, Israeli police responded by shooting to death 22 Muslims. In 1984, Jewish extremists were foiled in a plot to blow up the Dome. In 1982, an American opened fire in the Dome of the Rock, killing two guards. In 1976, an Australian set the Al-Aqsa mosque on fire.

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And we won't go back to 1099, when Crusaders stormed through the Golden Gate beside the Dome and killed thousands of Muslims. Or 1029 years before, when the Romans killed at least as many Jews when they destroyed the city.

But it's a beautiful building, right?

It's a beautiful building.
Egypt Sunday hosted political consultations with Saudi Arabia on bilateral relations and regional issues as ways to boost their ties, Daily News Egypt reports.

The talks, the media notes, dealt with a number of regional and international files of mutual interest, coordinating positions on them, in addition to discussing ways to advance bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

The Egyptian side was headed by Alaa Moussa  the Assistant Foreign Minister for Arab Affairs  while the Saudi side was headed by Sami bin Abdullah Al-Saleh  the Saudi Assistant Minister of State for African Affairs.

Ties between the two countries have recently deepened. Last week Saudi Arabia agreed to set up a public invest fund in Egypt.

Egypts President Abdelfattah al-Sisi traveled to the kingdom last month as part of his Gulf tour.
Egypts three biggest state-owned banks are setting up an $85 million financial technology fund that aims to accelerate innovation in the sector, Reuters reports citing venture capital firm Global Ventures, a partner in the fund.

Global Ventures, which focuses on the Middle East and Africa in a statement said Banque Misr will act as an anchor investor in the program, with National Bank of Egypt and Banque du Caire as strategic investors.

The fund called Nclude also includes eFinance Investment Group, a state-controlled payments firm, and Egyptian Banks Co, a payments operator led by the central bank.

Nclude reportedly according to Egyptian central bank governor Tarek Amer the establishment of the fund was a crucial step to transform Egypt into a regional center for the fintech industry in the Arab World and Africa.

The fund has already made preliminary investments in four companies namely Khazna, a financial app that provides products to underserved consumers; Lucky, which offers installments, cashback rewards and credit to consumers; Mozare3, which provides small farmers with input financing, markets and technical support; and Paymob, a digital payment provider.
Fourteen displaced people, including seven children, were killed Saturday in an attack by militiamen in a refugee camp in Ituri in the northeast of the country, the local Red Cross said Sunday.

A two-year-old girl and five women between the ages of 25 and 32 were among the victims who were killed with machetes, according to a list compiled by the local Red Cross.

The Codeco (Cooperative for the Development of Congo) militiamen entered Drakpa where they killed displaced persons with machetes, said Jean DZba Banju, head of a group of villages in Ndo Banju in the territory of Djugu (Ituri).

The Codeco militia is an armed group structured around a religious sect. They claim to defend the Lendu tribe, one of Ituris communities, from the army and the Hema tribe.

In the neighboring territory of Beni, four young people were killed in an ambush by ADF (Allied Democratic Forces) rebels on Saturday, three kilometers from Eringeti, said Sabiti Njiamoja, the North Kivu governors delegate in that city.

Since May, North Kivu and Ituri have been under siege. Kinshasa has replaced civilian authorities with army and police officers, giving them full power, without succeeding in stopping the massacres.
It is President Umaro Sissoco Embalo who does not want the PAIGC congress to be held, former Prime Minister and PAIGC President Domingos Simoes Pereira told reporters on Saturday in front of the PAIGC headquarters in the presence of some militants.

Police were deployed Saturday at the headquarters of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC, ex-power), opposite the presidential palace in central Bissau.

Mr. Pereira accused the presidential camp of having sent police officers who violated the headquarters of our party and brutalized our activists.

On Friday night in Bissau, clashes broke out between police and PAIGC supporters at the partys headquarters. At least seven people were injured in the clashes, which occurred as PAIGC activists gathered to prepare for the partys congress scheduled for Saturday to Tuesday.

Police used tear gas and batons to disperse activists from the PAIGC, the historic group that led the former Portuguese colony of Guinea-Bissau to independence in 1974.

The holding of the congress was not accepted by a fringe of the PAIGC led by one of its leaders, Bolom Conte.

The latter went to court in February to challenge the partys leader since 2013, Domingos Simoes Pereira, on the grounds that his term of office is already over at the head of the party.

A judge of the regional court of Bissau has, after the referral of Mr. Conte, prohibited the holding of the congress. He called in the police Friday night to enforce the court decision, according to an official document.
The republican dialogue promised by President Touadera for a year and a half is scheduled to begin this Monday morning. However, all of the opposition parties that had participated in the preparations so far have just announced that they are finally boycotting the meeting on the grounds that their demands have not been met.

The dialogue will therefore take place without the opposition. Its spokesman, Nicolas Tiangaye, says he tried to get the real issues on the agenda until the end. Namely, according to him, the necessary participation of armed groups. The armed groups are the protagonists of the crisis and the crisis cannot be resolved by excluding these protagonists, he said.

The opposition also called for a debate on the 2020 electoral crisis, since it still considers the re-election of President Touadera illegitimate. Fewer than one in three voters were able to cast their ballots due to the coordinated attack by rebel groups across the country.

Civil society expressed disappointment but remained hopeful for the outcome of the dialogue. Its pathetic, said Hyacinthe Longba, a human rights defender and member of the organizing committee for the dialogue. I would have liked to have seen all the sensitivities around the table, added Paul-Crescent Beninga, the general rapporteur from civil society.

The oppositions decision is considered absurd by the MCU, the ruling party. Mathurin Dimbelet-Nakoe is surprised that the opposition is withdrawing at the last minute after having sat on the organizing committee, established the themes and defined the contours of the dialogue. Despite the hand extended by the dear State, these people are not for peace, he said. A group of people cannot continue to take the Central African Republic hostage.
There is a bidirectional association between nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and psoriasis, especially for patients younger than 40 years, according to a study published online Feb. 16 in Frontiers in Immunology.

Shuo-Yan Gau, from Chung Shan Medical University in Taichung, Taiwan, and colleagues retrieved data from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database to examine the bidirectional association between NAFLD and psoriasis. Patients with new-onset NAFLD and psoriasis were enrolled in two cohorts; propensity score-matched controls with no NAFLD or psoriasis were included for each comparison cohort.

The researchers observed a significantly increased risk for developing psoriasis for patients with new-onset NAFLD (hazard ratio, 1.07), while for younger patients with NAFLD, the risk was increased 1.3-fold. For new-onset psoriasis patients, the risk for developing NAFLD in the future was increased 1.28-fold compared with those without psoriasis; the risk was higher for patients in younger psoriasis subgroups younger than age 40 years versus those in older subgroups (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.55).

"Future studies should consider the mechanism influencing the pathogenesis and correlation between NAFLD and psoriasis and focus on the difference between different psoriasis severity subgroups and to what extent the severity difference would affect the bidirectional association," the authors write.

Explore further Colorectal cancer risk up for patients with psoriasis

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After two years of wearing masks and avoiding indoor crowds, navigating the next phase of the pandemic in South Florida can feel especially difficult.

Debra Touhey, of Cooper City, says she isn't ready to let down her guard yet, but she's pushing herself a little.

For the first time in two years, Touhey, 63, ventured back to the movie theater with her 14-year-old son. She sat in the back row and bought the two seats on either side of her family, just to ensure social distancing. "I'm trying because this might be the new normal," Touhey said.

With omicron in retreat, Floridians are figuring out their new boundaries along with what COVID precautions they will permanently adopt and in which situations they still are not comfortable. In an online Sun Sentinel survey, respondents expressed a range of risk tolerance for travel as well as activities such as grocery shopping, indoor dining and attending business meetings without a mask.

All around there are signs of life coming back to a pre-coronavirus normal: The plastic barriers at cash registers came down recently at Publix nearly two years after they were installed. Masks are no longer being required at various performance arts venues in South Florida.

"I know a lot of people have stopped wearing their masks," Touhey said. "I still wear my mask almost every time in public and especially indoors. I feel I have to be as careful as can be. As older parents, our situation is unique. I won't deprive my son but we are going to go slowly."

The Florida Department of Health reports the virus is still infecting more than 10,000 people a week in Florida and killing about 1,000 on average. But with the positivity rate less than 3% in the state, and South Florida counties, many people are beginning to resume their pre-pandemic behaviors.

Hampden Smith, 81, is emerging from a pandemic mindset. He is taking this next phase slowly.

Smith and his wife, of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, are vaccinated and boosted and have resumed going to church.

"It feels great. We really missed it," Smith said. "Most people are keeping a distance. There's not much hugging going on."

Smith, though, isn't ready to take off his mask in church, or Costco and Publix. "I will probably always be wary of indoor closeness," he said.

Some people say they are struggling with accepting risk.

Robin Gill, of Jupiter, says she is boosted and vaccinated, works from home, and is taking it step by step with resuming activities she did before the pandemic. This week, she ventured to a restaurant for the first time in two years. "The COVID mindset is a hard one to turn off," she said. "I don't feel like we are far enough out of the pandemic yet."

People are in different stages of gauging what's safe for them, says Broward psychologist Dr. Jessica Ruiz.

Ruiz said one of the reasons this phase of the pandemic is so hard to navigate is because some people have had more anxiety and more personal loss over the last two years of battling a disease that transmits invisibly at times. Others are still at high risk for hospitalization.

"We have to remind ourselves, everyone is different," she said.

Increasingly though, as new cases decline, social pressure to shrug off COVID precautions will play a role in what people feel comfortable doing, she said.

"Social pressure is actually very powerful," said Ruiz, chief psychologist at Goodman Jewish Family Services of Broward. "You are much more likely to make decisions and follow through based on what the people around you are doing."

Pamela Jordan, of Boca Raton, said she's cautious but resumed her normal life months ago.

She is not vaccinated, had COVID in December 2021 and has stopped wearing a mask. "I took it off the second it was no longer mandatory," she said.

Jordan, 52, says she travels, attends parties, goes to the movies, the gym and medical appointments without a mask and with the mindset that she is going to live her best life. "People are scared and I can't fault them. I just think differently."

Young adults, the demographic in Florida with the highest cumulative number of COVID cases, were the first to return to crowded nightclubs, concerts and weddings.

"My friends and I have for the most part stopped wearing masks," said a 24-year-old from Fort Lauderdale who asked not to be named. "I don't think I should feel guilty about that."

After two years of taking precautions and living with uncertainty about where the pandemic is headed, some people have realized they want to make certain behaviors permanent.

Survey participants told the Sun Sentinel they will continue to have their groceries delivered, participate in doctor's appointments by Zoom, work from home as much as possibleand even use hand sanitizer more regularly.

Several dozen said they are healthier than before the pandemic and plan to continue those behaviors.

"I went back to running regularly outdoors," said Stanley Eisen, of Pompano Beach. "It helps keep me sane."

Explore further Returning to life without masks in Chicago

2022 South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
It was a painful moment for a man of his calling.

"I was in shock," the Rev. A. Joseph Maskell declared. "I never had sex with a kid."

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That was in May, and Father Maskell, pastor of St. Augustine's Roman Catholic Church in Elkridge, was describing his reaction to the first in a series of allegations that he had sexually abused students while he was a chaplain and counselor at Archbishop Keough High School more than two decades ago.

"It is absolutely untrue," he repeated over and over again in an interview with The Sun in his sparsely furnished rectory office.

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Sunday, however, archdiocesan officials told surprised parishioners that Father Maskell had left his parish to seek therapy for stress and anxiety as the allegations of sex abuse mounted, a civil suit loomed, and the Baltimore state's attorney's office intensified a criminal investigation of the matter.

Those who know Father Maskell in different settings offer conflicting views of the 55-year-old cleric. He is capable of inspiring great loyalty, among parishioners as well as among the police, military officers and politicians he befriended over the years.

But the first allegations of sexual abuse in 1992 brought whispers of a possible darker side. Last week, the voices grew louder, as those who say they were abused painted a picture of a crafty manipulator who used his priestly authority and knowledge of psychology to ensnare troubled girls who were unlikely to talk.

Father Maskell grew up in northeast Baltimore and graduated from Calvert Hall College. He trained at St. Mary's Seminary in Roland Park and was ordained in 1965. Besides teaching at Keough, he has held posts in several local parishes -- Sacred Heart of Mary, St. Clement, Our Lady of Victory, Annunciation and Holy Cross. In 1972 he earned a master's degree in school psychology from Towson State University and then a certificate of advanced study in counseling from the Johns Hopkins University.

In addition to his pastoral and teaching duties, Father Maskell has served as chaplain for two police agencies -- the Maryland State Police and Baltimore County police -- as well as for the Maryland National Guard and, more recently, for the Air National Guard, where he held the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Yesterday, however, Father Maskell resigned from the Air Guard and was assigned to the Inactive Ready Reserve, according to Capt. Hunt Kerrigan, the guard's public information officer. The priest had been senior chaplain of the 135th Air Transport Group, based at Martin State Airport.

He was also dropped yesterday from the advisory board of Operation Challenge, a guard-sponsored program for high school dropouts at Aberdeen Proving Ground. Father Maskell delivered the invocation at the program's graduation ceremony two weeks ago.

Father Maskell's friends from his police and military posts describe him as a well-liked priest and a gregarious man who enjoyed competitive shooting and fishing.

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Capt. James L. Scannell, a retired Baltimore County police precinct commander, called the priest "a rugged guy, very outgoing. He baptized my grandchildren. My children liked him. If he had been that weird, it would have come out. He was around police a lot, riding along, he rode with me. Police would have noticed; bells would have gone off. Nothing did."

"A priest's priest"

Baltimore City Councilman Joseph J. DiBlasi of the 6th District said he has known Father Maskell for a decade and served as a lay reader and Eucharistic minister for him. "I think he's fine, nothing less than a priest's priest," the councilman said.

Mr. DiBlasi said he talked with Father Maskell after the first former student accused him of abuse in 1992, an allegation the archdiocese says was investigated but never confirmed.

"He said he had an accuser, but he said he knew nothing about it," Mr. DiBlasi said. "I know him to be genuinely wholesome, and he would do nothing to detract from his priestly duties."

The Rev. Robert G. Hawkins, pastor of St. Rita's Roman Catholic church in Dundalk, has known Father Maskell for 34 years. They attended St. Mary's Seminary together and would frequently go target shooting with pistols.

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"Father Maskell is a good friend," Father Hawkins said. "He is a fine priest, intelligent and a hard worker. Any charges against him are absurd. He's a fine man."

Attilia Marasa, who worked in the Keough office during Father Maskell's tenure there, dismissed the allegations out of hand.

"I think Father Maskell's above reproach, an upstanding priest. All this crap that's coming out about priests is just to get money from the Catholic Church," she said.

"If it had happened to me it would have been reported at once, you can bet your bippy on that," she added. "I would have gone right away to the archdiocese, don't wait 25 years. The girls should have told their parents right away and gotten a lawyer and reported to the archdiocese."

However, former Keough students interviewed by The Sun, now in their 40s, tell another story, of a priest whose actions ranged from inappropriate remarks in the confessional to bizarre sexual activities, some wrapped in the sacraments of the church.

They say Father Maskell learned things about their behavior -- such as drug use or sexual activity -- that the teen-agers did not want their parents to know. Then, they said, after approaching them with offers of care and counseling, he began to make sexual demands, with threats of disclosure and humiliation as the alternative. And while attitudes have changed, they said, few adults 25 years ago would have believed such stories about a priest.

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"He had an evil, manipulative power over you," said one former Keough student. "The power was that many of us experimented with drugs or were sexually active."

"He told me that nobody would believe me or my friends," the woman said. "That scared me into doing it and not breathing a word about it." Some former students said they purposely avoided him. "He was weird," said one. "He never did anything to us because me and my friends would never get near him."

A woman who knew Father Maskell from his days at Holy Cross Church in South Baltimore used the same term, calling the priest "a little weird."

"He bragged about having pistols and how he was telling people off. I didn't want no truck with him. He's a real oddball," she said.

She said her encounters with Father Maskell were never sexual but were nonetheless unsettling. "He is hung up on the military." she said. "He used to get me in his office and make me wear his helmet and tell me military stories."

After one woman approached archdiocesan officials in 1992 with her allegations, they sent Father Maskell to the Institute of Living, a $900-a-day private psychiatric hospital in Connecticut. After a six-month stay, evaluators found no evidence of sexual or serious psychological disorder, according to hospital documents.

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The archdiocese also employed an investigator, but after several months' work he was unable to corroborate the woman's allegations, officials said. Father Maskell returned to Baltimore and last August became pastor of St. Augustine's.

Allegations mount

The matter refused to die, however. Other former students approached three Towson attorneys who were gathering information on the case for a potential civil suit. The lawyers say they now have talked to at least a dozen women who say they were abused and many more who have second or third-hand knowledge of the incidents.

The Baltimore state's attorney's office is conducting a separate criminal investigation. Assistant State's Attorney Sharon A. H. May, head of the sex abuse unit, declined to comment yesterday.

A close friend of Father Maskell, who asked not to be identified, said yesterday that the final straw came last week. After "two years of continuous mental assault," the friend said, Father Maskell learned that "A Current Affair," the tabloid television show, was preparing a segment that would involve him.

He quoted the priest as saying, " 'I don't want a satellite truck in my driveway. I've had enough of this. I need some help handling the stress.' "

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Last Wednesday, Father Maskell notified the archdiocese that he was entering an institution for psychological treatment. He left Friday, and archdiocesan officials told parishioners on Sunday.

The archdiocese refused to say where Father Maskell is being treated. The Rev. Richard W. Woy, the archdiocesan personnel director, said a temporary parish administrator would be named by today.

William Blaul, communications director for the archdiocese, refused to speak to The Sun yesterday and asked that all inquiries be in writing and faxed to his Baltimore office.
Vulnerability to cocaine use disorder across the menstrual cycle. The menstrual cycle is typically approximately 28 days long and consists of two phases  the follicular and luteal phases. During the follicular phase, circulating estrogen increases following menstruation. Ovulation occurs at the end of the follicular phase and is followed by the luteal phase, which is characterized by high levels of circulating progesterone. Cocaine craving and reward are lower in women in the luteal phase than in the follicular phase, and estrogen and progesterone respectively increase and decrease cocaine-related behaviours in female animal models of cocaine use disorder. Thus, risk of relapse is likely highest during the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle, when circulating estrogen is high and progesterone is low. Credit: Peart et al.

Past research findings suggest that women who are addicted to cocaine are more sensitive to cocaine-related stimuli that make them crave the drug and relapse into addiction. However, other studies suggest that steroid hormones can modulate cocaine cravings, which could help to reduce the risk of relapse in people with cocaine-use disorders.

Researchers at University of Guelph and University of Florida have recently reviewed several past studies exploring the link between steroid hormones and cocaine-related behaviors. Their paper, published in Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, summarizes some of the most crucial findings gathered by neuroscientists so far, highlighting possible avenues for the development of new treatments for cocaine-use disorders.

The recent review paper was a joint effort between Davin Peart, a student at University of Guelph, and Carly Logan, then a student at University of Florida, supervised by Jennifer Murray and Lori Knackstedt, respectively. Peart and Logan had initially written two separate review papers, which were later integrated and revised by their supervisors and another student of Murray, Allyson Andrade, with the aim of identifying the endocrinological mechanisms underlying observed gender differences in vulnerabilities to cocaine-use disorder.

"We hoped that synthesizing this information would bring potential pharmacological targets for the treatment of this disorder to the attention of readers," Murray and Peart told Medical Xpress, via email. "We started by reviewing studies that worked with humans with cocaine use disorder."

The studies reviewed by Murray, Peart and their colleagues showed that women tend to progress more quickly from casual cocaine use to cocaine abuse. In addition, women appear to be more vulnerable to cocaine craving than men when presented with cues that are related to cocaine.

Interestingly, past research found that a woman's heightened sensitivity to cue-related cocaine craving appears to be lower during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle (i.e., the time between ovulation and the start of a woman's next menstruation). On the other hand, these cravings appeared to increase during the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle (i.e., the time between the end of menstruation and the beginning of ovulation). The follicular phase is known to be characterized by low levels of progesterone in the body.

"These findings suggests that women may be more vulnerable than men to cocaine use disorder in a hormone-dependent way," Murray and Peart explained. "Therefore, we determined that estrogen and progesterone receptors could be targets with high therapeutic potential for the treatment of cocaine use disorder. To investigate this further, we reviewed animal literature to identify the brain regions mediating endocrinological influences on cocaine use."

When reviewing past experiments on animals, Murray, Peart and their colleagues found that they confirmed the findings of studies on humans. Specifically, female rats also appeared to be more sensitive to cocaine-induced behaviors than male rats, but that this sex difference can be eliminated by blocking the effects of estrogen (but not progesterone) in the brain. On the other hand, the injection of estrogen in areas of the brain associated with motivation-related behaviors appeared to increase cocaine-induced behaviors in female rats.

"For example, cocaine-induced dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens and dorsal striatum (both are brain regions linked with reward processing and motivation) underly its rewarding and reinforcing properties and this induction of dopamine release is increased by estrogen," Murray and Peart said. "Additionally, the activation of glutamate output from the medial prefrontal cortex (a brain region associated with goal-directed behavior) is involved in the resumption of cocaine use following abstinence, and glutamate neurons in this brain region are activated by estrogen."

Based on the findings they reviewed, the researchers concluded that estrogen might facilitate the transmission of dopamine and glutamate. This means that the higher vulnerability to cocaine use disorder observed in women could ultimately be linked to differences in hormone, specifically estrogen, production.

Murray, Peart and their colleagues also wanted to examine the potential of progesterone as a therapeutic agent to reduce cocaine cravings. In fact, past studies with humans have found that administering progesterone can reduce cocaine cravings and reward-seeking behaviors.

"Administering progesterone has also been shown to decrease cocaine seeking elicited by stress, cocaine cues, or cocaine itself in male and female rats using a model of relapse," Peart and Murray explained. "Indeed, administering progesterone or its metabolite allopregnanolone decreases dopamine release in the medial prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens. Therefore, we propose that it may be an option for treatment of cocaine use disorder in humans trying to maintain abstinence from cocaine use to prevent relapse."

Overall, the recent review paper by this team of researchers suggests that researchers and physicians should pay greater attention to the relationship between cocaine use disorder and estrogenic medications, such as some birth control pills, breast cancer treatments, and bone health medications, among others. Currently, selective estrogen receptor modulators (i.e., drugs that can activate or block estrogen receptors in various tissues and thus alter estrogen in different parts of the body) are widely prescribed for a variety of clinical purposes. Examples of these drugs are tamoxifen, typically used to treat breast cancer, and raloxifene, used to prevent or treat bone loss (osteoporosis) after menopause.

Some studies have already found that selective estrogen receptor modulators can act on brain circuits underlying cocaine-induced behaviors in female rats. Peart, Murray and their colleagues hope that their review paper will encourage other research teams to assess these effects further and explore the utility of steroids as possible treatments for cocaine-use disorder.

"Specifically, future research may continue to identify brain regions mediating the effects of estrogen on cocaine sensitivity and evaluate the effects of selective estrogen receptor modulators in these regions in animal models of cocaine use disorder," Peart and Murray said. "These types of studies may aid in identifying selective estrogen receptor modulators with maximum therapeutic efficacy against cocaine use disorder and minimum side effects."

Explore further Menstrual cycle phase influences cocaine craving

More information: Davin R. Peart et al, Regulation of cocaine-related behaviours by estrogen and progesterone, Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews (2022). Davin R. Peart et al, Regulation of cocaine-related behaviours by estrogen and progesterone,(2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104584

 2022 Science X Network
Getting out and mentoring elementary students in physical fitness turns out to be just as beneficial for college students, according to Rice University kinesiologists behind Running W.I.S.E. Credit: Robert Weaver

Regular exercise is good for everyone, and youngsters stand to benefit mostif they stick to it.

Rice University researchers are figuring out how to encourage that tenacity. A new study by a team of kinesiologists matched undergraduate mentors at Rice with local fifth graders to get them to step up their games.

Though the numbers in this pilot study were small, the recruitment and retention of mentors and mentees was unbeatable: 100%.

Their study in the journal Recent Progress in Nutrition follows 22 pairs of mentors and elementary students from a single classroom in a pilot program called Running W.I.S.E.With Interscholastic Student Engagement. It demonstrated qualitatively, through feedback through their mentors, that scheduled physical activity was indeed good for their physical health and mental well-being.

Surprisingly, it was just as good for the Rice students.

"We knew from other mentoring studies that there are definite benefits to the mentors as well as to the mentees," said Laura Kabiri, an assistant teaching professor of kinesiology, who led the study. "But we were quite surprised to see just how much our students have benefittedand also have a better idea of exactly how they benefited, rather than just saying, 'Oh, it's good for us to go do.'"

"As a college student, it's really hard to set aside time to be physically active myself," said Andrea Pineda, a senior kinesiology major whose mentee struggled with asthma during their early runs. "I know the program was meant for the students to benefit but it was also beneficial for me to get that 30 minutes of physical activity and enjoy conversation with him."

She said the program encouraged her to keep running during the pandemic, a regimen she continues to follow five days a week.

Pineda said her mentee clearly benefited from the sessions as well. "At the very beginning it was tough to assess when we needed to keep going or slow down, or to stop and get his inhaler," she said. "Towards the end he seemed to enjoy running more, and was less discouraged because he needed fewer stops."

Kabiri noted teachers are too constrained to take on the job of one-on-one physical activities with their students, and may not have the training to do so. But the Rice-based mentors who did have the training and volunteered their time for credit reduced the burden on teachers.

"It really allowed the teacher to have a guaranteed period of time during the day when the kids were occupied, and doing healthy things," Kabiri said.

Mentors received ethics and engagement training with school administration, technical training on activity trackers and background checks through the charter school involved in the program.

The study was cut four weeks short by the COVID-19 pandemic, running from January to March 2020, during which Rice students would visit their mentees twice a week for 30-minute runs, along with warmup and cooldown sessions.

Previous studies have suggested physical activity in childhood continues to help people as they become adults. The trick, Kabiri said, is getting the students to start down that path.

"One of the next things that we hope to incorporate is using the mentoring system in a pathological population, working with children and adolescents with cancer diagnoses, and perhaps even help them transition back into the public schools, into physical education classes and sports," she said.

More information: Laura Kabiri et al, Physical Activity Mentoring in Schools: An Undergraduate-Mentored Running Intervention for Elementary Students, Recent Progress in Nutrition (2022). Laura Kabiri et al, Physical Activity Mentoring in Schools: An Undergraduate-Mentored Running Intervention for Elementary Students,(2022). DOI: 10.21926/rpn.2201009
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

An interdisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Missouri (MU), Children's Mercy Kansas City and Texas Children's Hospital has used a new data-driven approach to learn more about persons with type 1 diabetes, who account for about 5-10% of all diabetes diagnoses. The team gathered its information through health informatics and applied artificial intelligence (AI) to better understand the disease.

In the study, the team analyzed publicly available, real-world data from about 16,000 participants enrolled in the T1D Exchange Clinic Registry. By applying a contrast pattern mining algorithm developed at the MU College of Engineering, the team was able to identify major differences in health outcomes among people living with type 1 diabetes who do or do not have an immediate family history of the disease.

Chi-Ren Shyu, the director of the MU Institute for Data Science and Informatics (MUIDSI), led the AI approach used in the study, and said the technique is exploratory in nature.

"Here we let the computer do the work of connecting millions of dots in the data to identify only major contrasting patterns between individuals with and without a family history of type 1 diabetes, and to do the statistical testing to make sure we are confident in our results," said Shyu, the Paul K. and Dianne Shumaker Professor in the MU College of Engineering.

Erin Tallon, a graduate student in the MUIDSI and the lead author on the study, said the team's analysis resulted in some unfamiliar findings.

"For instance, we found individuals in the registry who had an immediate family member with type 1 diabetes were more frequently diagnosed with hypertension, as well as diabetes-related nerve disease, eye disease and kidney disease," Tallon said. "We also found a more frequent co-occurrence of these conditions in individuals who had an immediate family history of type 1 diabetes. Additionally, individuals who had an immediate family history of type 1 diabetes also more frequently had certain demographic characteristics."

Tallon's passion for this project began with a personal connection, and quickly grew as a result of her experience working as a nurse in an intensive critical care unit (ICU). She would often see patients with type 1 diabetes who were also dealing with other co-existing conditions such as kidney disease and high blood pressure. Knowing that a person's type 1 diabetes diagnosis often occurs only when the disease is already very advanced, she wanted to find better ways for prevention and diagnosis, starting with finding a way to analyze the large amounts of publicly available data already collected about the disease.

In 2019, Mark Clements, who is a pediatric endocrinologist at Children's Mercy Kansas City, professor of pediatrics at University of Missouri-Kansas City and corresponding author on the study, was invited to speak at the Midwest Bioinformatics Conference hosted by BioNexus KC. While Tallon wasn't able to attend Clements' presentation, she followed up with a phone call to share her proposal for helping people better understand type 1 diabetes. He was intrigued. Eventually, Tallon introduced Clements to Shyu, and an ongoing research collaboration was born.

Tallon said the results of the collaboration speak to the power and value of using real-world data.

"Type 1 diabetes is not a single disease that looks the same for everybodyit looks different for different peopleand we're working on the cutting-edge to address that issue," Tallon said. "By analyzing real-world data, we can better understand risk factors that may cause someone to be at higher risk for developing poor health outcomes."

While the results are promising, Tallon said researchers were limited by not having a population-based data set to work with.

"It is important to note here that our findings do have a limitation that we hope to address in the future by using larger, population-based data sets," Tallon said. "We're looking to build larger patient cohorts, analyze more data and use these algorithms to help us do that."

Personalizing medicine

Clements hopes the approach can be adopted as a way to help develop personalized treatment options for people with diabetes.

"In order to get the right treatment to the right patient at the right time, we first need to understand how to identify the patients who are at a higher risk for the disease and its complicationsby asking questions such as if there are characteristics early in someone's life that can help identify an individual with high risk for an outcome years down the road," Clements said. "Having all of this information could one day help us establish a more complete picture of a person's risk, and we can use that information to develop a more personalized approach for both prevention and treatment."

The study was published in Diabetes Care. MU graduate students Danlu Liu and Katrina Boles, and Maria Redondo at Texas Children's Hospital, also contributed to the study.

Explore further Obesity is more prevalent in people with type 1 diabetes than previously thought

More information: Erin M. Tallon et al, Contrast Pattern Mining With the T1D Exchange Clinic Registry Reveals Complex Phenotypic Factors and Comorbidity Patterns Associated With Familial Versus Sporadic Type 1 Diabetes, Diabetes Care (2022). Journal information: Diabetes Care Erin M. Tallon et al, Contrast Pattern Mining With the T1D Exchange Clinic Registry Reveals Complex Phenotypic Factors and Comorbidity Patterns Associated With Familial Versus Sporadic Type 1 Diabetes,(2022). DOI: 10.2337/dc21-2239
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Healthcare systems across the world have become more universal over the last 25 years, but countries in the Global South still lag behind those in the North, according to a new healthcare universalism index developed by researchers from the Oxford Department of International Development (ODID).

Data derived using the new index also identified that countries with more universal healthcare systems had better health outcomes, lower inequality in life expectancy and even a lower likelihood of conflict.

The new index was developed by ODID's Professor Diego Sanchez-Ancochea and doctoral student Tobias Schillings and was launched last month in a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Special Report on Human Security.

The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted new interest in universalizing healthcare provision, with the recognition that the exclusion of certain groups can put whole populations at risk. But definitions of what constitutes universal healthcare vary.

Narrow definitions focus exclusively on the extent of coverage; broad definitions, derived from the Scandinavian welfare state model, envisage the provision of generous, tax-funded benefits to the whole population, based on the principle of citizenship.

The index reveals that healthcare universalism has increased over time, with the world Healthcare Universalism Index (HUI) value increasing by nearly 20% from 0.395 to 0.472 between 1995 and 2017seemingly contradicting dominant narratives around the marketisation of healthcare and the declining role of the state.

However progress has been variable; 80 countries substantially improved their HUI, while 37 countries experienced a deterioration during the time period.

In addition, the gap in healthcare universalism between developed and developing countries has widened on average. Progress in countries in the Global South has been too slow to enable them to catch up with the Global North. In absolute terms, the average HUI increased by 0.061 and 0.058 in low and lower-middle income countries respectively over the period, compared to an increase of 0.095 and 0.086 in upper-middle and high income countries. In many countries in the Global South, lack of generosity remains a particular problem.

Norway, Japan and Sweden come top of the index, with HUI values above 0.9; meanwhile Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria are at the bottom, with values below 0.1.

The researchers went on to explore linkages between universal healthcare and three key threats to human security: infectious diseases and wider health outcomes; poverty and inequality; and violence and conflict.

For the first category, the researchers found that the level of healthcare universalism was positively associated with life expectancy at birth and negatively correlated with infant mortality. For example, in 2017, a 1% increase in healthcare universalism was associated with an increase in life expectancy of 0.3 years and a reduction in child mortality of 0.7 deaths per 1,000 live births across all countries. The association was even stronger for countries in the Global South.

In terms of the relationship to inequality, the researchers found that a 1% increase in healthcare universalism was associated with a 0.36 percentage point reduction in inequality in life expectancy. When the authors explored the impact of particular dimensions, they found a particularly strong association with changes in coveragea 1% increase in coverage was associated with a 1.9% inequality reduction in the Global South and a 3.5% inequality reduction in the Global North.

To assess the final category, the link to conflict, the researchers measured the association with the homicide rate and the Global Peace Index, a composite index measuring various forms of conflict.

They found that, based on the latest available year, a 1% increase in universalism was associated with a reduction of 0.11 (or 1.36%) in the homicide rate and a reduction of 0.013 (or 0.63%) in the Global Peace Index.

The authors suggest this association might be driven by the impact of universalism on social cohesion and nation-building, as well as its relationship to inequality.

The (HUI) uses a multidimensional approach developed by Professor Juliana Martinez Franzoni and Professor Sanchez-Ancochea in their 2016 book, The Quest for Universal Social Policy in the South: Policies. Actors, Ideas and Architectures. It combines three aspectsthe extent of coverage; the generosity of provision; and equity in terms of both generosity and accessto measure universalism of healthcare in 195 countries between 1995 and 2017.

More information: UNDP (2022) New threats to human security in the Anthropocene: Demanding greater solidarity, United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report Office, New York. UNDP (2022) New threats to human security in the Anthropocene: Demanding greater solidarity, United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report Office, New York. hs.hdr.undp.org/pdf/srhs2022.pdf
Effects of LMs on microglial activation and amyloid burden. Credit: Communications Biology (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-03169-3

A research collaboration between scientists at LSU Health New Orleans and the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden has found that applying specialized pro-resolving lipid mediators intranasally arrested memory loss and brain degeneration in an experimental model of Alzheimer's Disease (AD). The results are published in the journal, Communications Biology.

Neuroinflammation is a hallmark of neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's Disease. Specialized pro-resolving lipid mediators are bioactive compounds composed of fatty acids like omega-3 or their derivatives that resolve inflammation. Neuroprotectin D1 (NPD1), discovered by Nicolas Bazan, MD, Ph.D., Boyd Professor and Director of the LSU Health New Orleans Neuroscience Center of Excellence, and colleagues is one. Previous studies by the Bazan lab demonstrated that NPD1 is protective in experimental stroke as well as retinal damage and that it is in short supply in the memory area of the brains from AD donors.

Resolving inflammation is a complex process involving mediators, cell subtypes and communication pathways. Response includes cell communications that order the activation of protective, pro-survival mechanisms and silence pro-inflammatory signaling pathways. Specialized pro-resolving lipid mediators such as NPD1 are the key signaling molecules in the process.

The paper discloses solid data on microglial activation, pro-inflammatory signaling, chronic inflammation and neuronal damage in Alzheimer's disease. The study uses the AppNL-G-F/NL-G-F mouse model for AD. The paper extensively studied amyloid load, cognition, neuronal network oscillations, glial activation, receptors and inflammatory factors.

The authors conclude that the noninvasive administration route, intranasal delivery, of biologically active lipid messengers opens avenues for therapeutic exploration for AD and other neurodegenerative diseases.

"AD lacks prevention or cure and exerts a horrendous toll on patients and their families due to crippling progression and devastating adverse events," notes Dr. Bazan, who led the research at LSU Health. "Millions of Americans currently suffer from AD, and the number is expected to escalate rapidly in the coming years."

Bazan has been collaborating with Marianne Schultzberg, Senior Professor of Clinical Neuroscience at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society at the Karolinska Institutet (KI). Projects include looking at the novel signals that protect the brain in the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) of the early stages of Alzheimer's disease.

"This productive collaboration is uncovering important aspects of early stages of Alzheimer's Disease, and the novel evolving mechanisms are promising paths for innovative therapies like the one disclosed in the current paper," says Professor Schultzberg.

According to the National Institute on Aging, Alzheimer's disease is currently ranked as the seventh leading cause of death in the United States and is the most common cause of dementia among older adults.

Explore further Potential new prescription strategy for stroke discovered

More information: Ceren Emre et al, Intranasal delivery of pro-resolving lipid mediators rescues memory and gamma oscillation impairment in AppNL-G-F/NL-G-F mice, Communications Biology (2022). Journal information: Communications Biology Ceren Emre et al, Intranasal delivery of pro-resolving lipid mediators rescues memory and gamma oscillation impairment inmice,(2022). DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-03169-3
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Inhaled cortical steroids (ICS) can help patients manage asthma symptoms, and recent updates to asthma treatment guidelines have expanded recommended, low-dose treatment. But concerns persist that ICS may reduce production of the steroid hormone cortisol in the body leading to adrenal suppression. While initial adrenal suppression symptoms are subtle, continued progression can lead to fatigue, headache, abdominal pain, vomiting and psychiatric symptoms.

Until now, studies of ICS and adrenal suppression have been limited and have produced conflicting findings. To better understand the association between ICS and adrenal suppression, researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital and the University of Cambridge conducted the largest metabolomic study of asthma to date. By analyzing the blood plasma of 14,000 individuals from four independent study cohorts, the team identified 17 steroid metabolites that were reduced in individuals with asthma and found that, even among patients taking low-dose ICS, ICS usage was associated with reduced cortisol levels. The researchers also found significant associations between adrenal insufficiency symptoms, including fatigue and anemia, in asthma patients taking ICS treatment compared to those who were not.

"The use of ICS has been instrumental in reducing asthma exacerbations and improving overall quality of life. However, while their effectiveness should not be understated, our findings suggest that the risks of ICS usage must also be considered," said co-senior author Jessica Lasky-Su, ScD, of the Channing Division of Network Medicine at the Brigham.

"Our work suggests that simple measures, such as regular cortisol monitoring and prescription of the lowest effective ICS dose, may help to mitigate the systemic side effects of ICS use," said co-senior author Claudia Langenberg, MD, Ph.D., of the MRC Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge, UK, and Berlin Institute of Health at Charite Universitatsmedizin, Germany.

The study is published in Nature Medicine.

Explore further Genetic variant discovery to help asthma sufferers

More information: Jessica Lasky-Su, Metabolomic profiling reveals extensive adrenal suppression due to inhaled corticosteroid therapy in asthma, Nature Medicine (2022). www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-01714-5 Journal information: Nature Medicine Jessica Lasky-Su, Metabolomic profiling reveals extensive adrenal suppression due to inhaled corticosteroid therapy in asthma,(2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41591-022-01714-5
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

It's 2 p.m. on a Wednesday in Chester, Pennsylvania, and nurses Susan Pollock and Carol Von Colln are inside a Delaware County vaccine clinic doing what they spend a lot of time doing these days: waiting.

Last spring, Americans were in a frenzied rush to get the COVID-19 vaccine; this spring, business has slowed to a crawl. Now, whenever someone walks in, "we're ready to throw a party," Von Colln said.

That day, they vaccinated eight people in six hours.

It's a scene playing out across the region and the United States as the number of shots being given each day is at an all-time loweven though a third of Americans are still unvaccinated.

With the omicron surge in the rearview mirror, "there's a sense of 'Hey, we're OK; maybe I don't need [the shot],'" said Chet Patel, pharmacist at Lititz Apothecary in Lancaster County.

The swift post-surge shift in the pandemic landscapemask mandates and other restrictions lifted, state and federal leaders declaring it time to move forwardhas worsened the already-declining demand for shots, doctors and vaccine providers say.

The slowdown raises questions about where the vaccine effort goes from here, how long resources should be spent on outreach, and whether the strategies of the last year are still effective in persuading the unvaccinated, who are at higher risk of severe illness, hospitalization, or death from COVID. It comes as experts urge preparedness for the next surge and, after funding plans last week collapsed in Congress, the future of the national coronavirus response is uncertain.

"The hope a year ago that we could vaccinate enough people that we will reach herd immunity and the virus will go away is now fantasy," said Bob Wachter, chair of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. "We shouldn't give up on vaccinationit remains an important part of the strategybut it no longer is the dominant thing to focus on to the exclusion of other things."

With 65% of the total population and 69% of those over 5 fully vaccinated, the national vaccination rate is close to the 70% minimum goal that some public health experts named at the start of the rollout. But there was hope the national rate would reach a higher level than it has before plateauing, said Bill Moss, executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

In Pennsylvania, over the last week, about 9,000 people a day were getting shots on average; until last month, the level had never fallen below about 20,000 shots a day. Similar trends are occurring in New Jersey and nationwide.

"If we do 10 a day, we're lucky," said Jon Moran, a Philadelphia health department coordinator, as he helped set up the city's East Germantown vaccine clinic at Waterview Recreation Center last week. "I think that really reflects the change in policy that's going on."

In Philadelphia, the "All Clear" lifting of restrictions took away any "real motivation" for people on the fence, said Ala Stanford, founder of the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium. She and others are now concerned that, with a false sense of security, people won't get vaccinated until the next surge.

That would be too late. Many epidemiologists and doctors agree that the pandemic is not yet endemic, despite political leaders' declarations. The vaccine provides the best protection against severe illness and death from COVIDand immunizations now can help both prevent surges and protect people against them.

That includes for those who contracted omicron, because it's unknown how long natural immunity will last. Vaccine immunity wanes over time, too, so many experts are additionally concerned about the low rates of booster shotsonly 44% of vaccinated Americans have gotten one.

Also still in flux: the yet-to-be-approved vaccine for children under 5, whether a fourth-dose booster shot will be needed, and how much higher the particularly lagging rates of pediatric vaccines can be raised.

"Vaccination is the foundation of our being protected against future surges of COVID," said Megan Ranney, emergency physician and academic dean at the Brown University School of Public Health. "As much as we are in a lovely moment of the pandemic right now, we are fooling ourselves if we think that COVID is not sticking around."

In Potter County, just over a third of residents have been fully vaccinated, nearly the worst rate in Pennsylvania. Providers there like the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Cole hospital are still offering shots and distributing doses to clinics, schools, and rural health centers, but demand is simply low.

Of Pennsylvania's total population, 67% are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC. In about half of Pennsylvania counties, however, it's less than 60% of residents. New Jersey stands at 75%, among the states with the best rates, but even there, certain areas are under-vaccinated.

"We've kind of asked ourselves, What else can we do?" said Jennifer Scheible, director of quality management for UPMC Cole. "It's hard to know what would work."

With few truly new strategies left, the current future of the vaccination campaign resembles the pastcommunity-based canvassing, pop-up clinics, and social media campaigns.

Some experts and providers believe the prospects for encouraging many of the 31 million unvaccinated adults to get the shot are dim, noting they have been unmoved by incentives, mandates, outreach, or science and often influenced by misinformation or politics.

Only 4% of unvaccinated people said they would "wait and see" about getting the shot in a February Kaiser Family Foundation poll, down from 22% a year earlier, indicating most may have made up their minds.

"The term I prefer is vaccine denialist," said Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a member of the FDA Vaccine Advisory Committee. "They're not hesitantthey're not getting it."

Others believe enough people can still be persuaded to make continued outreach worth it. Ranney is seeing patients change their minds in her emergency room every week.

"This is the worst time to give up on discussions using trusted messengers," she said.

Officials in places like Cumberland County, N.J., and Delaware County see momentum left in these grassroots-type efforts. Philadelphia and Montgomery County plan to eventually close their mass clinics in favor of smaller sites. More burden may also fall on doctors to make headway with patients who haven't sought out the vaccine.

Experts say putting resources toward other measures is also key: increased testing availability, accessible treatment, surveillance of new variants, improved ventilation. Strategies like those are included in President Joe Biden's recent pandemic plan and were laid out in a road map of recommendations from a group of experts. They pushed the administration to go further on some steps, including vaccination, recommending 85% of Americans be immunized by the end of 2022.

The experts said the Biden administration should do zip code analyses to determine what areas are under-vaccinated, use community-level teams to do outreach, and fund efforts to improve vaccinations in certain nursing homes.

"The more we vaccinate," said Mayo Clinic infectious disease specialist Priya Sampathkumar, "the closer we come to ending the pandemic without more loss of life."

2022 The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

In mid-2020, faced with a rising wave of COVID-19 infectionsa previously unknown disease with neither vaccine nor effective treatmentan urgent, improvised collaboration between a Melbourne hospital, a primary health network and a community health organization created a system that supported thousands of lives and ensured the city's health care ecosystem didn't collapse.

The multi-dimensional constructed model, which included financial, social and mental health supports, resulted in more than 80% of COVID-19 patients being treated successfully in their own homes, monitored by general practitioners (GPs), leaving hospitals free to care for the seriously ill.

Dubbed the West Metro COVID-Positive Pathway, the model was quickly adapted by other health services and is now the standard tool for pandemic management across Victoria. In a paper published online in the Medical Journal of Australia, a team of experts led by its architects say the pathway approach can now be adapted to improve management of other infectious or chronic diseases.

"The Pathway was originally designed by North Western Melbourne Primary Health Network (NWMPHN), the Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH), and community health organization cohealth, supported by the Victorian Department of Health," explains co-author Janelle Devereux, NWMPHN's Executive Director for Health System Integration.

"It went into operation on August 3, 2020, as the State Government declared a state of disaster. A month later, three more hospitals joined inDjerriwarrh Health Services, Western Health, and Werribee Mercy Hospital. By that stage the Pathway covered seven municipalities containing more than one million people."

What made the Pathway design effective for patient care and resource allocation was that it embraced three clinical skill sets.

"The prototype design took into account the different resources and specialist knowledge of each Pathway partnerutilizing hospitals for acute medical care, NWMPHN's local knowledge of the primary health landscape within the region, and cohealth and community health partners' skills in caring for people isolating at home," says lead author Dr. Seok Lim, a geriatrician and general medicine physician at Royal Melbourne Hospital.

"Design of the prototype was also based on meeting the needs of people with COVID-19, both in the clinical domain of health-monitoringespecially rapidly detecting and responding to deteriorationas well as the mental health and practical aspects associated with home-isolation."

From its inception, the Pathway model operated as an inclusive, multi-pronged process. Entry point for patients was a positive PCR result, followed by a contact-tracing phone call. If the patient consented, cohealth community health workers conducted a standardized risk assessment for severe disease and any psychosocial problems that might preclude home-based isolation.

People with financial problems or other challenges such as drug and alcohol dependencies were referred for specialized support, as was anyone without a Medicare card.

"In the design and delivery of the program cohealth and partners recognized the importance of incorporating social and mental health supports for people in our area," says co-author, cohealth's COVID-19 clinical lead, Dr. Nicole Allard.

"We developed a model that supported the complex needs of people who were isolating at home for 14 days, valued the expertise of GPs in our area and aimed to have appropriate referral to hospital services. Our teams were able to assist with complex care navigationmeeting people's health needs beyond COVID-19, and social support for them to stay at home safely."

Following triage, enrolled participants were allocated to low, medium, or high tiers of care according to their symptoms and risk factors for severe disease. Low risk participants were monitored by telehealth services (most provided by regular GPs) every second day during the second week of illness.

People at risk of severe disease and those with moderate symptoms were referred to hospital outreach services. Those already seriously ill were placed in wards or ICU.

"Despite rapidly rising numbers of infections, the Pathway ensured all patients were monitored and provided with best-case care," says Christopher Carter, NWMPHN CEO.

"Other countries saw their hospital systems overwhelmed during coronavirus waves. The Pathway model which we and our partners devised stopped that happening here during the first wave of the pandemic, while simultaneously ensuring optimal care for all patients."

As well as being adopted as the standard model across Victoria, the model is set to be adapted to manage other conditions.

"Heart disease and lung disease are good examples," says Dr. Lim. "Royal Melbourne Hospital and NWMPHN are currently working together on a project for these conditions that borrows many principles of the Pathway model of care."

More information: Seok Ming Lim et al, The COVID Positive Pathway: a collaboration between public health agencies, primary care, and metropolitan hospitals in Melbourne, Medical Journal of Australia (2022). Journal information: Medical Journal of Australia Seok Ming Lim et al, The COVID Positive Pathway: a collaboration between public health agencies, primary care, and metropolitan hospitals in Melbourne,(2022). DOI: 10.5694/mja2.51449

Provided by North Western Melbourne Primary Health Network (NWMPHN)
Acute myelocytic leukemia (AML). Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

It's a diagnosis you never want to hear: acute myeloid leukemia (AML). These three words represent a devastating diagnosis of childhood cancer with dire consequences for many families.

In Australia, AML is the most common form of acute leukemia in adults and is responsible for one fifth of all childhood leukemia cases (about 50 children) each year.

Now, cancer experts at the University of South Australia are striving to change these outcomes as new genetic research shows that up to 19% of childhood AML cases are linked to rare genetic changes that may be inherited through family blood lines.

These genetic aberrations can indicate a higher predisposition for AML and a potential sensitivity to chemotherapy treatments, so identifying these enables clinicians to better target treatments in children with AML.

Lead researcher, Professor Richard D'Andrea at UniSA's Acute Leukemia Laboratory, says the discovery is an important step forward in the journey to a lasting cure for childhood AML.

"AML is an acute cancer of the blood and bone marrow that spreads very rapidly and is difficult to cure," Prof D'Andrea says.

"Swift, precise treatment is critical for survival, yet AML is a complex disease with many subtypes and it is difficult to treat young children who have a highly aggressive AML.

"These children often need a blood stem cell transplanttypically donated by a family memberso it's absolutely vital that we know whether there's an elevated familial risk of AML, or if the child has any genetic conditions that will make them hyper-sensitive to the chemotherapy used in the transplant procedure.

"The sophisticated genetic technologies now available allow us to foresee some of these challenges, but there are still many more hurdles to come if we are to beat this devastating and complex cancer."

For the past five years, Prof D'Andrea and the team at the Center for Cancer Biology have been working with pediatric oncologist, Dr. Andy Moore from the University of Queensland to analyze DNA mutations and better understand the causes of childhood AML. They are also investigating new approaches to enhance the targeting and killing of AML cells.

Explore further How the body fights back against cancer

More information: Saumya E. Samaraweera et al, Childhood acute myeloid leukemia shows a high level of germline predisposition, Blood (2021). Journal information: Blood Saumya E. Samaraweera et al, Childhood acute myeloid leukemia shows a high level of germline predisposition,(2021). DOI: 10.1182/blood.2021012666
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

For the first time, experts provide a concise review of the latest data on the experience of lay people who have performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), assessing their perspectives on training, their motivation to take action, and the psychological impact of witnessing and responding to a cardiac arrest.

These findings are detailed in a new Scientific Statement from the American Heart Association titled, "Understanding the Importance of the Lay Responder Experience in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest," published today in the Association's flagship, peer-reviewed journal Circulation. The American Heart Association is the leader in resuscitation science, education and training, and publisher of the official Guidelines for CPR and Emergency Cardiovascular Care. A scientific statement is an expert analysis of current research and may inform future clinical practice guidelines.

Sudden cardiac arrest is the unexpected loss of heart function, breathing and consciousness and commonly the result of an electric disturbance (an arrhythmia) in the heart. Immediate action to restart the heart improves the person's chance of survival. CPR can help keep the heart pumping blood until a defibrillator is available to restore the heart to a normal heart rhythm. Anyone who witnesses a cardiac arrest in the community (i.e., not in a hospital) can perform CPR. Most cardiac arrests occur in homes and private residences, therefore, a friend or family member is mostly likely to be the person who needs to take action.

Each year in the United States, an estimated 350,000 people experience sudden cardiac arrest in the community. The rate of bystander CPR in North America is estimated at only 39-44%, and only about 1 in 10 people survive an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Improving the rate of bystander CPR is critical to increasing survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA).

There is extensive research about the effectiveness of bystander CPR, as well as some work on the amount and type of training that seems to be most effective. However, only a few studies have been conducted to understand the reasons why people do or do not take action to perform CPR if they witness a cardiac arrest, and what it is really like, from the rescuer's perspective, to respond in a cardiac arrest emergency. The statement suggests these perspectives are critical to improve the training, motivation and experience of lay responders and, in turn, potentially raise the rate of bystander CPR.

"We need to listen and learn from the experiences of lay responders to truly improve how we train, encourage and support future responders," said Chair of the statement writing group Katie N. Dainty, Ph.D., Research Chair at North York General Hospital and an associate professor in the Institute of Health Policy, Management & Evaluation at the University of Toronto in Canada. "In addition, it is important to proactively acknowledge what may be confusing to the public about recognizing cardiac arrest and continue to understand the psychological barriers that may play a role in the decision-making process of whether or not to get down and do CPR."

The skill to perform CPR and use a defibrillator are the foundational components of preparing laypeople to respond to cardiac arrest. People also need to feel emotionally prepared to respond and be able to cope with the aftermath of actually performing CPR.

"Drawing on knowledge from fields such as psychology and sociology can help us think differently about how we design training and support for lay responders," said Dainty.

Other elements for improving bystander response to sudden cardiac arrest include preparing potential responders to understand the signs of sudden cardiac arrest and the design and timing of CPR training. In a study of lay responders who witnessed a cardiac arrest, nearly half did not identify that the person was in cardiac arrest. Witnesses report difficulty in determining the bluish skin color, inability to distinguish arrest symptoms from seizure and difficulty assessing what is abnormal breathing. Moreover, making training more accessible, through more frequent 30-minute courses, or smartphone and video-based training, may result in better learning and skills retention, as well as greater willingness to act in the case of a witnessed arrest.

As most out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur in homes or private residences, the statement emphasizes the importance of helping the public understand that the person they perform CPR on is likely to be a loved one. Training that includes helping lay responders envision the use of CPR in real world scenarios and developing a plan may empower them to act in an emergency.

The statement advises addressing the most common myths about bystander CPR, such as the need for special credentials to perform CPR and the potential for litigation or legal risks. The writing group asserts that the legal risk is "largely theoretical" and cites there is no known case of successful litigation for providing CPR in North America. Fear of litigation varies by countryin the U.S., 21% of people surveyed noted fear of litigation as a reason for not performing CPR, whereas the prevalence of this fear was 9.8% in Scotland, 2% in Queensland, Australia, and 53% in China. Public messaging should also emphasize how the benefit of a potential rescue outweighs the risk of harm for the individual experiencing OHCA.

The need for support for lay responders after performing CPR, regardless of the success of their efforts, is also an important message of the new statement. Studies document varying physical and emotional responses from people who have assisted during a cardiac arrest, highlighting the fact that the psychological impact is not insignificant.

"We now know that we need to consider the potential for post-traumatic stress after witnessing and/or responding to saving someone's life and debriefing and post-event support are important tools we need to be able to offer to lay responders," said Dainty.

Responders have cited exhaustion, guilt, flashbacks, sleep disturbances, self-doubt, anger, sadness and fear. A positive outcome to performing CPR mitigated some of the emotional responses; however, psychological responses were wide-ranging and individualized. In situations with a failed resuscitation attempt, PTSD symptom scores were twice as high for responders as those for non-witnesses.

"We need to help responders understand what happened, how much they helped and to work through how they may feel afterward. We sincerely hope this statement will be the beginning of a reframed conversation about how to engage with, support and train lay responders moving forward," said Dainty.

CPR, especially if performed immediately, can double or triple a cardiac arrest victim's chance of survival. For adults and adolescent children, Hands-Only CPR is an easy-to-learn skill that requires only two steps: call emergency services, and push hard and fast in the center of the chest at a rate of 100-120 beats per minute.

More information: Katie N. Dainty et al, Understanding the Importance of the Lay Responder Experience in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association, Circulation (2022). Journal information: Circulation Katie N. Dainty et al, Understanding the Importance of the Lay Responder Experience in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association,(2022). DOI: 10.1161/CIR.0000000000001054
NEW YORK  After Donald Trump was caught on video bragging about sexually assaulting women, Mike Pence stayed on his ticket. As the coronavirus ravaged the U.S., the then-vice president praised the administrations response. And after a violent mob threatened his life during an attack on the U.S. Capitol, Pence rejected entreaties to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.

But after years of being a subservient sidekick, Pence is beginning to distance himself from Trump as he takes increasingly overt steps toward a White House bid of his own.

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Former Vice President Mike Pence speaks at the Florida chapter of the Federalist Society's annual meeting at Disney's Yacht Club resort in Walt Disney World, Feb. 4, 2022, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (Stephen M. Dowell/AP)

Last month, Pence called out Trump by name, saying his former boss was wrong to insist that he had the power to unilaterally overturn the results of the 2020 election  a power vice presidents do not possess. In a separate speech before top Republican donors, Pence urged the GOP to move on from Trumps 2020 grievances and declared there is no room in this party for apologists for Vladimir Putin after Trump praised the Russian leaders maneuvering as genius before his brutal invasion of Ukraine.

The moves show how Pence, a former congressman and Indiana governor, is working to craft a political identity independent of his former boss. The strategy carries substantial risk in a party still dominated by Trump and his lie that the 2020 election was stolen. But if Pence successfully navigates this moment, it could offer a model for Republicans to benefit from their work with Trump without being tied to his most toxic behavior, which has consistently hurt the party with crucial suburban voters who often determine elections.

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When youre in the role of vice president, theres certain opportunities that affords and certainly certain constraints, Marc Short, who served as Pences chief of staff at the White House, said of Pences recent moves. You sort of assume a different identity for those four years because your job is to support the president and what hes doing.

Aides stress that Pence, who spent decades in conservative radio and politics before joining Trumps ticket in 2016, has a host of views and principles that are deeply held, including some that deviate from Trumps. They expect him to frequently invoke those views, including his fierce opposition to abortion rights, as he campaigns for Republicans ahead of this years midterms.

They note in particular that Pence has long been a critic of Putin, and expect him to keep speaking out on Ukraine. In a trip that seemed to cast Pence with a presidential aura, he made an unannounced visit to the Ukrainian border with Poland shortly after the invasion, where he crossed into Ukraine and helped deliver aid to the flood of refugees who were escaping the war.

The Rev. Franklin Graham, the evangelist and president of Samaritans Purse, the international Christian relief organization that organized Pences visit to the Ukrainian border, said Pences evolution was a natural one.

People are seeing the real Mike Pence. As vice president, you have to toe the line of the president and you have to be in step with everything the president says, Graham said. Now, people are seeing who he is and what hes standing for and what he says. So its not repeating what the president says. Its saying what he believes. ... Hes speaking for himself now and not President Trump.

Pence has spent the past several months traveling the country, delivering policy speeches, raising money for midterm candidates and visiting early-voting states, while working on a pair of books. In the coming months, he is planning a return visit to Iowa, which holds the partys first nominating contests of the presidential election cycle, as well as two visits to South Carolina, another early-voting state.

His political group, Advancing American Freedom, announced a $10 million ad campaign targeting congressional Democrats and urging them to support an expansion of American energy production in response to Russias invasion of Ukraine. And he is preparing to release a new Freedom Agenda aimed at providing candidates a positive policy agenda that makes clear to voters what Republicans are not just against, but what theyre for.

He has also been spending time with top donors. Before his visit to Ukraine, Pence flew to Israel where he had dinner with former prime minister and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, whom Trump has reportedly criticized, and met with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. Pence also spent time with billionaire donor Miriam Adelson, on whose plane he flew, marking the second time the two have met in recent months.

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The efforts also make clear the lane Pence could occupy if he chooses to compete in what may be a crowded 2024 GOP primary contest that could include Trump himself. While there remains a portion of the party that will never forgive him for abiding by his constitutional role on Jan. 6, allies believe that Pence could be in a unique position to merge the traditional conservative movement with successes of the Trump-Pence administration.

Still, early polls show that Trump remains the decisive favorite among GOP voters if he chooses to mount another run. Without Trump in the race, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis so far appears to be the early favorite.

Other potential candidates are trying to make similar moves. Mike Pompeo, who served as Trumps CIA director and secretary of state, for instance, recently traveled to Taiwan and met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, while Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, in a high-profile speech at the Reagan Library, praised Trumps record while also criticizing him for signing bipartisan criminal justice reform legislation.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, speaking Monday at Saint Anselm Colleges New Hampshire Institute of Politics, a frequent stop for presidential candidates, continued to offer his own criticism of Trump, slamming those who have spoken admiringly of Russian President Vladimir Putin and calling Trump dead wrong about the election.

Its over, everybody. You know the reason I know? Joe Biden is sleeping in Donald Trumps bed, Christie said. And we need as a party to move forward. We cant look backwards. We cant be a party of vindictiveness and vendettas. We cannot be a party of settling scores for me. We have to be a party of creating opportunity and inspiration for us.

Pence so far has been coy about his plans for the future. Asked on Fox Business whether he intended to run, Pence said all his focus currently is on 2022.

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In 2023, Im confident the Republican Party will nominate a candidate who will be the next president of the United state of America, he went on. And at the right time, my family and Ill reflect and consider how we might participate in that process.

For now, Trump has kept mum on Pences attacks, unusual for someone who responds to the most minor slights. Trumps spokesman did not respond to questions, but some speculate that the former president doesnt want to antagonize Pence before his book publishes and he begins a publicity tour.

Still Trump has made clear that his anger has not subsided.

Mike and I had a great relationship except for the very important factor that took place at the end, Trump told the Washington Examiner in an interview last week. I havent spoken to him in a long time.

He also ruled out the possibility of another Trump-Pence ticket.

I dont think the people would accept it, said Trump, who has mused about other vice presidential prospects.

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Associated Press writer Kathy McCormack in Manchester, N.H. contributed to this report.
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Genetic testing of saliva samples identifies the SARS-CoV-2 virus more quickly than testing of nasal swabs. The research is published March 21 in Microbiology Spectrum, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

"That is important because people can spread COVID-19 before they know that they have it," said coauthor Donald K. Milton, M.D., DrPH, a professor of occupational and environmental health at the Institute for Applied Environmental Health, University of Maryland School of Public Health, College Park. "Earlier detection can reduce the disease's spread."

The research was motivated by the problem that early in the pandemic, an urgent need to increase testing was accompanied by a shortage of supplies, notably nasal swabs, which were then the standard method for collecting samples for testing.

To identify people with COVID-19 the investigators began conducting weekly tests of saliva samples from healthy community volunteers in May 2020 and continued over the next 2 years. Of the asymptomatic volunteers who tested positive, Milton and his colleagues found that those patients would typically show symptoms a day or 2 later. "That made us wonder whether saliva was better for catching pre-symptomatic patients than the traditional nasal swabs," he said.

To answer that question, the researchers used data from a companion study of close contacts of people with confirmed cases of COVID-19. In the study, "We collected saliva and mid-turbinate [nasal] swab samples from contacts every 2 or 3 days during their quarantine period," said Milton. "All samples were tested using real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction [RT-PCR] to detect SARS-CoV-2 and measure how much viral RNA was in the samples. We then analyzed how these results changed in the days before and after symptom onset."

"Early in the course of infection, saliva was significantly more sensitive than mid-turbinate nasal swabs," notably so before onset of symptoms, according to the study, which noted that previous studies had shown that pre-symptomatic transmission plays a greater role than symptomatic transmission of SARS-CoV-2.

The findings have implications for improving public acceptance of COVID-19 testing, reducing the cost of mass COVID-19 screening and improving the safety of healthcare workers who conduct testing. In the latter case, saliva self-testing avoids the close contact between patient and healthcare worker that nasal swabbing entails and avoids causing patients to cough and sneeze, thereby spreading virus particles as a result of swabbing the sensitive nasal passages, as well as discomfort to patients.

"Our research supports the use of saliva in large-scale screening in schools and workplaces, as a means of improving screening rates, as well as early detection," said Milton. "We expect that if rapid saliva tests become available, they could be a major advance from the current nasal swab-based rapid tests."

Explore further Rapid COVID-19 tests using saliva could be easier alternatives

More information: Jianyu Lai et al, Comparison of Saliva and Midturbinate Swabs for Detection of SARS-CoV-2, Microbiology Spectrum (2022). Jianyu Lai et al, Comparison of Saliva and Midturbinate Swabs for Detection of SARS-CoV-2,(2022). DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.00128-22
A health worker in protective suit takes a throat swab sample from a child at a coronavirus testing site, Monday, March 21, 2022, in Beijing, China. Disney Co. closed its Shanghai theme park Monday as Chinese authorities tried to control the city's biggest coronavirus flareup in two years, while the southern business center of Shenzhen allowed shops and offices to reopen after a weeklong closure. Credit: AP Photo/Andy Wong

Shanghai Disneyland closed Monday as China's most populous city tried to contain its biggest coronavirus flareup in two years, while the southern business center of Shenzhen allowed shops and offices to reopen after a weeklong closure.

Meanwhile, the cities of Changchun and Jilin in the northeast began another round of citywide virus testing following a surge in infections. Jilin tightened anti-disease curbs, ordering its 2 million residents to stay home.

China's case numbers in its latest infection wave are low compared with other major countries, but authorities are enforcing a "zero tolerance" strategy that has suspended access to some major cities.

The government reported 2,027 new cases on the Chinese mainland on Sunday, up from the previous day's 1,737. That included 1,542 infections in Jilin province, where Changchun and Jilin are located.

Shanghai, which has a population of 24 million, has avoided a citywide shutdown but appealed to the public to stay home. Bus service into the city has been suspended and visitors are required to show a negative virus test.

Disney Co. said Shanghai Disneyland, Disneytown and Wishing Star Park were closed until further notice.

On Monday, Shanghai reported 24 new cases. The city earlier suspended access to two residential areas and carried out mass testing at dozens of others.

A woman reacts as she was getting a throat swab at a coronavirus testing site, Monday, March 21, 2022, in Beijing, China. Disney Co. closed its Shanghai theme park Monday as Chinese authorities tried to control the city's biggest coronavirus flareup in two years, while the southern business center of Shenzhen allowed shops and offices to reopen after a weeklong closure. Credit: AP Photo/Andy Wong

Shanghai residents posted photos on the internet showing empty streets and subways during what usually is a crowded Monday morning rush hour.

The government of Shenzhen, a finance and technology center that abuts Hong Kong, announced businesses and government offices were allowed to reopen Monday while authorities took steps to try to prevent a resurgence of virus cases. Bus and subway service, which had been suspended, was restarted.

Last week, the city of 17.5 million shut down all businesses except those that supply food and other necessities and told the public to stay home following a spike in cases.

Shenzhen is home to some of China's biggest companies including telecom equipment maker Huawei, electric car brand BYD Auto and Tencent, operator of the popular WeChat message service.

The shutdowns prompted concern trade might be disrupted if ports near Shanghai and Shenzhen that are among the world's busiest are affected. The Shanghai port moved paperwork functions online but said cargo was moving normally. The smaller port of Lianyungang barred foreign sailors from coming ashore.

A health worker holding a disinfectant spray can watches residents get a coronavirus test at an outdoor testing site Monday, March 21, 2022, in Beijing, China. Disney Co. closed its Shanghai theme park Monday as Chinese authorities tried to control the city's biggest coronavirus flareup in two years, while the southern business center of Shenzhen allowed shops and offices to reopen after a weeklong closure. Credit: AP Photo/Andy Wong

A woman gets a coronavirus test at an outdoor testing site Monday, March 21, 2022, in Beijing, China. Disney Co. closed its Shanghai theme park Monday as Chinese authorities tried to control the city's biggest coronavirus flareup in two years, while the southern business center of Shenzhen allowed shops and offices to reopen after a weeklong closure. Credit: AP Photo/Andy Wong

A health worker sprays disinfectant as residents get a throat swab at a coronavirus testing site, Monday, March 21, 2022, in Beijing, China. Disney Co. closed its Shanghai theme park Monday as Chinese authorities tried to control the city's biggest coronavirus flareup in two years, while the southern business center of Shenzhen allowed shops and offices to reopen after a weeklong closure. Credit: AP Photo/Andy Wong

Residents line up to get a coronavirus test at an outdoor testing site Monday, March 21, 2022, in Beijing, China. Disney Co. closed its Shanghai theme park Monday as Chinese authorities tried to control the city's biggest coronavirus flareup in two years, while the southern business center of Shenzhen allowed shops and offices to reopen after a weeklong closure. Credit: AP Photo/Andy Wong

The government said last week it was trying to fine-tune anti-disease controls to reduce their economic cost and impact on society.

Tangshan, a steel industry center east of Beijing, the Chinese capital, imposed controls Sunday that allow only emergency vehicles to move around the city after seven cases were found, state media reported.

Authorities in Beijing were investigating a duck restaurant where four employees contracted the virus. State media said owners of the Yu Le Xuan restaurant were accused of failing to register the identities of 477 diners as required over five days, making it harder to trace potential contacts.

Explore further China shuts business center of Shenzhen to fight virus surge

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Fig. 1: Experimental setup for capturing variation in MIRS caused by the laboratory of origin, individual genetic differences and natural environment. To disentangle genetic and environmental effects, mosquitoes were obtained from either laboratory-bred colonies or from genetically heterogeneous wild larvae; half of the laboratory larvae were then reared and allowed to develop through the adult stage in semi-field conditions, which offer ecologically realistic conditions while still allowing control of mosquito age. Credit: Nature Communications (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-28980-8

Scientists at the University of Glasgow and partner institutes have developed an inexpensive, fast and simple way to identify the aging mosquitos which transmit the deadly malaria parasite.

The studypublished today in Nature Communications and led by the University of Glasgow-Institute of Biodiversity Animal Health and Comparative Medicine (IBAHCM) and School of Chemistry, and the Ifakara Health Instititute (IHI) in Tanzania and the Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Sante (IRSS) in Burkina Fasopresents a step change in our ability to accurately identify the age and species of malaria mosquitoes in wild populations, where it is critically important to be able to monitor their age, as only old mosquitoes can transmit the disease.

In 2020, there were an estimated 241 million cases of malaria worldwide, according to the WHO, killing around 627,000 people; and while there are vector controls in place to reduce the numbers of mosquitos that transmit the disease in certain parts of the worldsuch as insecticides or bed netsthe effectiveness of these interventions can be hard to measure.

In this study, scientists demonstrate a method of identifying the age and species of malaria mosquitos in wild populations by using infrared spectroscopy and artificial intelligence (AI).

By shining infrared light on individual mosquitoswhich provides information on the chemical composition of the insect's cuticlescientists were able to quickly identify the chemical changes of aging mosquitos using an AI algorithm and validate their age predictions on wild mosquitoes with current methods, achieving similar results.

Doreen Siria, lead author from IHI, said: "Only mosquitos that live long enough to develop malariaaround ten dayscan transmit the disease, so knowing the age of a mosquito can help inform the risk of disease. Until now, the only way to know the age of a mosquito was via complex dissection to gauge the age of female mosquitos' ovaries, a process which is expensive, time-consuming and can't be done at scale."

Roger Sanou, lead author from IRSS, said: "This AI-driven infrared light technology requires a spectrometer currently costing around $20,000, which can be used as part of existing, routine malaria vector surveillance, and offers a way to quickly establish if current intervention measures to reduce mosquito numbers in the wild are working, something which isn't currently possible."

Dr. Francesco Baldini, from the IBAHCM, said: "We believe this new method is greatly needed in the fight against malaria, a disease which continues to kill many people and children each year. While there are vector controls in place across the globe in areas of high mosquito populations, it's difficult to measure whether these controls are working effectively. With this infrared technology, we have developed a tool which could be adopted within current mosquito control plans; has the potential to be scaled up for use across different areas; and would greatly help in testing new products and solutions against diseases transmitted by mosquitoes.

"We envision this approach could also be applied to other vectors and vector-borne diseases, from filariasis and chikungunya, to sleeping sickness and Zika; and could be used to evaluate the attempts to limit the expansion of invasive mosquito species across Europe and the United States."

The study utilized a large dataset of 40,000 genetically and ecologically different individual mosquitoes from East and West Africa, spanning the three major malaria-transmitting species at different ages. The study measured mid-infrared spectroscopy signatures reflecting the biochemical signatures of each of these mosquitoes; and used machine learning to correctly identify both age and species of new mosquitoes.

The resulting computer models can be adapted and implemented in the field for vector surveillance.

Simon Babayan, from the IBAHCM, said: "The versatility of AI combined with the power of infrared spectroscopy opens huge opportunities for disease surveillance and rapid response. As these technologies become more accessible, we will move towards instantaneous data collection and analysis directly within, and potentially by, the communities that need to act on such information the most."

Mario Gonzalez-Jimenez, from the School of Chemistry, added: "This work has shown that the same algorithms that allow us to recognize faces and objects in a photo are also able to identify the ways in which chemical compounds show their presence in a spectrum, even in samples as complex as a living being. We are witnessing how the use of AI is making possible chemical analyses that were unimaginable just a few years ago."

The paper, "Rapid age-grading and species identification of natural mosquitoes for malaria surveillance," is published in Nature Communications.

Explore further Researchers use artificial intelligence to ID mosquitos

More information: Doreen J. Siria et al, Rapid age-grading and species identification of natural mosquitoes for malaria surveillance, Nature Communications (2022). Journal information: Nature Communications Doreen J. Siria et al, Rapid age-grading and species identification of natural mosquitoes for malaria surveillance,(2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-28980-8
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

COVID-19 is again surging in Western Europe due to a "perfect storm" of governments lifting restrictions, waning immunity and the more contagious BA.2 Omicron subvariant, experts said Monday.

After more than a month of falling cases across much of the continent, countries such as Britain, France, Germany and Italy have all seen a dramatic resurgence of infections in recent days.

In France, cases have risen by more than a third in the week since the government ended most COVID restrictions last Monday.

In Germany, despite a new daily record of nearly 300,000 infections on Friday, the government let national legislation enabling coronavirus restrictions expire over the weekend. Most German states, which have considerable leeway on applying measures, have however maintained the restrictions.

In Italy, the government announced on Thursday it would phase out almost all restrictions by May 1 despite rising cases.

And in Britain, where one in 20 people are currently infected, the government removed the last of its international travel restrictions on Friday.

Faced with its own surging cases, Austria announced on the weekend it would reimpose rules requiring FFP2 face masksjust weeks after lifting the measure.

'Stealth Omicron'

While some have blamed governments for relaxing restrictions too quickly, epidemiologists also pointed the finger at the BA.2 sub-lineage of the Omicron variant which has become dominant in many countries.

Sometimes called "stealth Omicron" because it is more difficult to detect, BA.2 is estimated to be about 30 percent more contagious than its predecessor BA.1.

Lawrence Young, a virologist at Britain's University of Warwick, said the rising cases in Europe were due to a combination"a perfect storm"of three factors: the lifting of restrictions, waning immunity after vaccination and BA.2.

"Removing restrictions has fuelled the spread of BA.2 and could also lead to the generation of other variants," he told AFP.

Antoine Flahault, director of the Institute of Global Health at the University of Geneva said there were "a couple of hypotheses on the table, which are not mutually exclusive".

He told AFP that BA.2 was "clearly a relevant suspect in explaining the current rebound", also mentioning waning immunity and the easing of measures.

He also pointed to air pollution in Western Europe during the infection resurgence, referring to research that showed "strong correlation" between COVID outbreaks and high levels of fine particulate matter in the air.

Simon Clarke, cellular microbiology professor at the University of Reading, said that despite soaring cases in Britain, "concern about the virus among the public seems to be at an all-time low since the start of the pandemic.

"The BA.2 version of Omicron seems to be behind this uptick in infections, which again shows how quickly the situation can change as the virus evolves into new forms," he told the Science Media Centre.

New variant threat

In a bid to bolster waning immunity, some nations such as France have started rolling out fourth vaccine doses.

In England, a fourth booster shot will be made available to care home residents, people aged over 75 and the immunosuppressed this week, the National Health Service said Sunday.

However the World Health Organization has warned that new variants were more likely to continue emerging if wealthy nations continue to boost their own citizens ahead of sharing vaccines with countries where many have not received their first dose.

Jean-Francois Delfraissy, president of the French government's scientific advisory board, has already warned of potential variants.

"We are at the mercy of a new variant which, if we ask the scientist community, could be expected in the autumn... it could happen before then," he said last week.

"Will it be a more transmissible variant? Will it be more severe? Will it escape the vaccine? Nobody knows."

Explore further Germany to let virus restrictions expire even as cases surge

 2022 AFP
Basic conceptual model linking the measured population-level socio-economic factors discussed in this article with local incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infections. Gray circles indicate unmeasured mechanisms of transmission that link population factors (white) with the postcode incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infections. These factors interact with factors influencing workplace and social transmission because of differences in social networks, health literacy, and financial and housing conditions. Demographic characteristics also influence transmission; for example, the median age of the Indigenous population is lower than for other Australians. Postcodes with a larger proportion of working age people are likely to have larger median household sizes and to include younger children than areas with larger proportions of people of retirement age. Credit: Medical Journal of Australia (2022). DOI: 10.5694/mja2.51436

The incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infections was higher in Victorian postcodes with larger proportions of unemployed people, those without paid leave benefits, or those experiencing mortgage or rent stress, according to research published today by the Medical Journal of Australia.

Health, income, and education inequalities have been associated with variations in the local incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infections in the United States, but their impact in Australia has been less explored.

Researchers led by Dr. Christine Roder, an infectious disease researcher at Barwon Health and the Institute for Mental and Physical Health and Clinical Translation (IMPACT) at Deakin University, analyzed data about the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 in Victoria by postcode, between 1 March and 13 August 2020.

"During the study period, 15,482 SARS-CoV-2 infections with associated postcodes were recorded in Victoria," Roder and colleagues reported.

"Incidence was higher for metropolitan than regional postcodes (418.3 v 62 infections per 100,000 population).

"In regional postcodes, incidence rose with mean household size, unemployment proportion, and proportions for whom rent or mortgage repayments exceeded 30% of household income.

"In metropolitan areas, incidence increased with unemployment proportion and proportion without paid leave. Incidence also increased with proportion speaking languages other than English at home and with Indigenous Australian proportion."

Roder and colleagues wrote that their findings showed that "postcode-level socio-economic differences influenced the local incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infections in Victoria during 2020."

"Policies and health care reform that take social and economic inequalities into account could mitigate future waves of COVID-19, help target vaccination programs to people at particular risk, better prepare Australia for future pandemics, and improve the health and wellbeing of all Australians, wherever they live," they concluded.

More information: Christine Roder et al, Arealevel social and economic factors and the local incidence of SARSCoV2 infections in Victoria during 2020, Medical Journal of Australia (2022). Journal information: Medical Journal of Australia Christine Roder et al, Arealevel social and economic factors and the local incidence of SARSCoV2 infections in Victoria during 2020,(2022). DOI: 10.5694/mja2.51436

Provided by Medical Journal of Australia
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Cognitive impairment among older hospitalized Australians could be the result of low vitamin C levels, a Flinders University-led study has found, paving the way for a potential treatment.

Common in older hospitalized patients, cognitive impairment can result in a person having trouble remembering things, concentrating or making decisions.

"Previous research has shown that vitamin C plays a significant role in the functioning of the brain, with studies finding that vitamin C deficiency may be associated with cognitive impairment, depression and confusion," says lead author Associate Professor Yogesh Sharma from Flinders University's College of Medicine and Public Health.

Looking at 160 patients aged over 75 admitted to the Geriatric Evaluation and Management Unit at the Flinders Medical Center in Adelaide, the research team assessed their cognitive function and vitamin C levels.

A total of 91 patients (56.9%) were found to have cognitive impairment, while 42 (26.3%) were found to be vitamin C deficient with a level below 11 micromol/L, below which point scurvy could develop.

"Our findings showed that cognitive function scores were significantly lower among patients who were vitamin C deficient, with further analysis suggesting vitamin C deficiency was almost three times more likely to be associated with cognitive impairment after adjustment for other factors," says Associate Professor Sharma.

The study also found that the symptoms associated with scurvy were likely to be present among patients with or without vitamin C deficiency. Many of these symptoms of vitamin C deficiency are common in older people, who may have bleeding, bruising and skin issues due to a number of other conditions.

"It may, therefore, be difficult to diagnose vitamin C deficiency solely on looking for these particular symptoms in older hospitalized patients," says Associate Professor Sharma.

"Given we know vitamin C deficiency is common among older hospitalized patients, medical professionals need to remain vigilant for this condition and confirm a patient's vitamin C status in suspected cases."

The authors say while the study doesn't prove that vitamin C is a direct cause of the cognitive impairment, it has demonstrated that vitamin C deficiency is common and is associated with cognitive impairment in older hospitalized patients.

"Further studies will be needed to confirm this link and then we can look to establish whether vitamin C replacement may be beneficial in prevention or reversal of the cognitive impairment," says co-author Professor Campbell Thompson from the University of Adelaide.

"Relationship between Vitamin C Deficiency and Cognitive Impairment in Older Hospitalized Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study" by Yogesh Sharma, Alexandra Popescu, Chris Horwood, Paul Hakendorf and Campbell Thompson is published in the journal Antioxidants.

More information: Yogesh Sharma et al, Relationship between Vitamin C Deficiency and Cognitive Impairment in Older Hospitalised Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study, Antioxidants (2022). Yogesh Sharma et al, Relationship between Vitamin C Deficiency and Cognitive Impairment in Older Hospitalised Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study,(2022). DOI: 10.3390/antiox11030463
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There have never been more COVID-19 treatments available than right now. The U.S. government is distributing more than 1 million courses of monoclonal antibody and antiviral therapies to the states and federal agencies this month alone.

But experts say those treatments have largely failed to reach the most vulnerable populations, including people of color, those with low incomes and the immunocompromised. In an analysis published in January, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that patients of color were less likely to receive monoclonal antibody treatment than white patients.

Those disparities could become even more stark as the federal government runs out of money to buy treatments and to cover testing, vaccination and treatment for all Americans.

This month, Congress passed a $1.5 trillion budget that includes no future COVID-19 funding. The White House had requested $22.5 billion, but Senate Republicans rejected it, wanting the funds to be offset by spending cuts. Both parties settled on $15 billion, but then Democrats scuttled the plan over the GOP's insistence that billions in already-promised state funding be reallocated to help pay for it.

For now, there's no way to adequately fund President Joe Biden's "test and treat" strategy of covering the cost of Americans getting tested at their local pharmacies and, if they're positive, to receive antiviral drugs.

Florida is among the top recipients of the monoclonal treatments currently being distributed by the federal government. Last week, it received more than 18,000 doses, third-most among all states. Gov. Ron DeSantis has for months emphasized monoclonal antibody treatment over preventive measures such as masking and vaccinations, though that strategy faltered earlier this year when the most prevalent antibody treatments were found to be ineffective against the omicron variant.

During a virtual panel hosted Wednesday by the University of Southern California Annenberg Center for Health Journalism, though, health experts said governments must focus more on getting treatments to the communities most afflicted by both the pandemic and addressing broader, endemic disparities in the health care system.

"If we keep doing things the way we have been doing, first come first serve  you're not going to make a difference," said Miami Herald journalist Daniel Chang, one of the panelists. "You need to acknowledge these disparities exist."

In January, Chang reported on Florida's decision to send doses of a scarce monoclonal antibody drug, meant for people with immune system problems that make vaccination less effective, to a private Broward County clinic rather than a major hospital with thousands of immunocompromised patients. The state later promised to prioritize distribution of the drug, Evusheld, to hospitals with large numbers of organ transplant and cancer patients.

"There are so many problems with the way we treat COVID, and some of them are baked into the healthcare system," said panelist Aaron Carroll, a pediatrician and chief health officer at Indiana University. He said the American response to the pandemic has been beset by a "failure of imagination."

The tight timelines attached to coronavirus treatmentswhich need to start within days of symptomsare challenging for those who are uninsured, underinsured or otherwise struggle to navigate the healthcare system, Carroll said.

Patients have to clear a slew of hurdles in a short amount of time: Getting tested; getting the results back; getting an appointment with a doctor who can prescribe treatment (which may well take more than a day); and being able to find the prescribed treatment at a local pharmacy.

"There have been shortages," Carroll said. "Unless you have hours in the day with nothing to do, to be on standby to call pharmacies to know when they might be supplied, the likelihood of you getting this drug within five days of your being infected with COVID is less and less."

The Biden administration's "test to treat" program was intended to speed up the process, by supplying treatments to the same pharmacies now largely responsible for testing, thus creating a one-stop shop. But panelists said it doesn't go far enough, echoing the concerns of pharmacists who have said that the program is destined to fail because pharmacists aren't authorized to prescribe the treatments.

That protocol separates the coronavirus plan from proven test-to-treat models like those for strep throat and the flu, Chang noted.

Panelist Annie Luetkemeyer, a professor of medicine at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital at University of California, San Francisco, said there are good reasons not to give pharmacists broad authority to prescribe COVID-19 treatments: Some of the medications could interact negatively with other drugs, and pharmacists may not have access to information about what else a patient is taking.

Still, she said, giving pharmacists the ability to prescribe antiviral drugs when it's in the scope of their practice is one of many possible tactics to improve access to COVID-19 treatmentsalong with, as Carroll suggested, proactive models like using community sites as distribution centers, so people will already have the drugs on-hand if they contract the virus.

"We don't do any of that," Carroll said. "We keep trying to shoehorn this into the already existing inequitable healthcare system that nobody loves to begin with."

The journalist Ed Yong, who last year won a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the pandemic, recently wrote in The Atlantic magazine that the U.S. is "sprinting" toward the next pandemic as a result of dwindling funding and rolling back of preventative measures.

As panelists spoke Wednesday, parts of Asia were dealing with severe coronavirus outbreaks, infections were surging in Western Europe and experts in the U.S. were bracing for a new surge driven by an omicron subvariant. Carroll said America needs "a massive focus on fixing the infrastructure and making sure we're ready for the next time."

"I wish there was more of a sense of shared sacrifice and community," he said, "but I also wish we had policy that provided the resources to protect people."

Explore further FDA may limit use of two COVID antibody treatments

2022 Tampa Bay Times.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
A rapidly-growing mapping technology company in Missoula is looking to expand its offices to the Riverfront Triangle area in downtown Missoula, which would be the first new development on the site in decades.

OnX, a company founded in Missoula in 2009 that developed multiple apps for hunting and backcountry GPS navigation, is also looking to create scores of good-paying jobs in the coming years.

Chris Weber, the comptroller for company, went before the Missoula County commissioners last week to apply for a state Big Sky Trust Fund grant that would partially reimburse the company for the creation of 16 new jobs over the next year.

"We have experienced some significant growth the past few years with the conversion of the chip Hunt product to an app and the release of two new products, onX Offroad and onX Backcountry, focusing on getting a better foothold in the outdoor community for backcountry navigation," Weber said.

He noted the company had roughly 100 employees in 2018 and may have roughly three times that many by the end of next year.

"So it's been pretty rapid growth and our plans are still continuing the same."

He said onX has signed a non-binding letter of intent to move into a proposed new building at the Riverfront Triangle in downtown Missoula. It would be where an old, vacant clinic building sits now next to the river.

The company built two large office buildings on Brooks Street a few years ago. They'll be moving out of those if everything goes to plan with the new facility.

"We're still waiting for some permits I think to start breaking ground," Weber said. "But we also have plans to continue to stay in Missoula and expand our office locations here as well."

Weber said the lot onX is hoping to move to is right next to the city-owned parking lot at the corner of Orange and Front streets.

"It's that decrepit old clinic that we're hoping is gonna start getting demolished here shortly because that means we're actually moving forward," Weber explained.

The 5 acres of parcels around the city-owned parking lot are privately-owned and the entire area is known as the Riverfront Triangle, as it is bounded to the south by the Clark Fork River.

In November, a development team called Riverfront Triangle Partners in Missoula applied for a county floodplain permit necessary to demolish the aging parking structure and clinic building on the site in order to prep it for new construction.

"Site improvements are anticipated to include a single multi-story mixed residential/commercial building, an underground parking garage, a paved pedestrian path along the river and new landscaping throughout the site," said county floodplain administrator Todd Klietz at the time.

Riverfront Triangle Partners is led by Farran Realty Partners, the team that built the ROAM student housing complex on Front Street. Before the pandemic, the Missoula Redevelopment Agency had an agreement with local businessman Nick Checota for a $100 million civic events center with condominiums on the site, but those plans were canceled by COVID-19.

The site has sat vacant for decades and lies with in the Riverfront Triangle Urban Renewal District, where developers are eligible for Tax Increment Financing funds that can be used for infrastructure and demolition.

Weber said onX has offer letters out to over a dozen potential new hires right now.

"Our most recent hires have had a lot of difficulty finding housing," he said. "Which I think we all know, (is) dependent on that. We're a tech company, so remote has been an option."

Weber said one new employee who is trying to move from Seattle to Missoula has had condominium groups sign a lease and then rescind the offer twice.

He said the company could easily hire almost several dozen new people over the next year, including customer service representatives, software engineers and other "high-value" jobs. The company is budgeted to end up at a total of between 300 and 400 employees, but Weber said hiring difficulties make it uncertain. Some of those employees are remote or based in the company's Bozeman offices.

"But it's entirely dependent on when they can move, if they can find housing, and, you know, if they want to," he said. "So with those variables, you know, we (based the grant application) on the ones that we knew were going to be based here. And our plan very well could be double or triple. It's all just out of our hands. I don't want to over-commit and under-deliver."

Funded by the state's coal tax, the Big Sky Trust Fund program reimburses companies for jobs that pay a minimum of 170% of the state minimum wage and bring in revenue from out of state, among other requirements.

OnX plans to use the grant funds to hire Missoula-based employees, not remote workers.

Commissioner Dave Strohmaier said the company's growth is "super exciting."

"OnX maps is the most-used app on my phone by far," he said. "All this is great news."

County commissioner Juanita Vero agreed.

"We're all huge onX fans," she said.

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A Big Sky High School student accused of threatening school violence pleaded not guilty Monday morning.

Parker A. Abbott, 18, was arraigned in Missoula County District Court on one felony count of intimidation. If found guilty, Abbott faces up to 10 years in state prison and a $50,000 fine.

Abbott was released on Monday afternoon from Missoula's jail as part of a comprehensive release plan developed between his lawyer, Lance Jasper, and the Missoula County Attorney's Office.

He is now on house arrest and is ordered not go onto any Missoula County Public School property.

On Feb. 25, a Big Sky High School school resource officer received information about Abbott's threat, which was made on Instagram and intercepted by the FBI, according to charging documents filed in Missoula County.

Detectives reviewed the Instagram messages, in which Abbott used the handle "adamsrottenflesh." Another person in the chat asked Abbott if he was inspired by mass shooters, to which Abbott allegedly replied, "Yeah, mainly Adam Lanza."

Lanza was the shooter in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut, in which 26 people were killed, 20 of whom were children. Abbott exhibited an obsession with Lanza, including purchasing the same shoes Lanza owned, and he was wearing those the day of his arrest, charging documents said.

He also talked in the chat about how he has access to his father's firearm.

In his messages, Abbott allegedly said, "I was so close to going on a rampage" ... "I had all of my dad's guns and stuff and I was f----- ready" ... "I haven't been as open about my homicidal thoughts." In another message, he said, "It's like hell yea ill show u a school shooter hahah." There were also photos of him posing with a firearm.

When interviewed by detectives, Abbott admitted to naming his Instagram handle after the Sandy Hook shooter. He also admitted to typing the concerning messages on Feb. 22, being inspired by Lanza, buying his shoes and posting photos with a semi-automatic firearm on his Instagram account, charging documents said. He denied planning to kill anyone and said he had never taken the gun outside of his house or pointed it at anyone.

Abbott's next court appearance is scheduled for May 5.

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Baltimore City Council has introduced bills aimed at combating the citys problem with vacant properties.

The legislation, which includes three bills sponsored by City Council President Nick Mosby and two from Odette Ramos, calls for increasing several fees associated with owning a vacant property in Baltimore. Another bill would streamline the citys newly approved in rem foreclosure process to make sure its aligned with state law.

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The legislation, introduced at City Councils meeting Monday night, follows the deaths of three Baltimore firefighters who were killed while battling a fire in a vacant home earlier this year. Fire lieutenants Paul Butrim and Kelsey Sadler and paramedic/firefighter Kenny Lacayo were trapped inside the vacant home on S. Stricker Street in January after it partially collapsed. A fourth firefighter, John McMaster, was seriously injured in the blaze, which is among the deadliest for firefighters in Baltimores history.

Baltimore has about 16,000 vacant properties, the majority of which are privately owned.

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Mosbys proposed legislation, included in a package of bills known as House Baltimore, would hold the owners of vacant properties responsible for fees if the citys fire department is called to their property for incidents involving water, hazardous materials or other issues that require fire personnel.

According to the bill, owners could be on the hook for $400 per hour per fire engine on the scene of a fire as well as another $500 per hour per fire truck. Fire investigation services would cost $500 per hour. Hazardous materials responses would cost a minimum of $700 per hour.

Another Mosby proposal would build on the citys existing vacant property registration system to incentivize improving properties. His third bill would create a fee system for properties that receive repeated 311 requests.

Fees would be charged after the second substantiated 311 request made for an address in a 12-month period. The second complaint would cost $100, while the third would cost $200. A proposed fee schedule includes rates for up to 10 offenses, at which time a homeowner would be charged $2,500.

During City Councils lunchtime meeting Monday, Mosby said the owners of too many vacant properties in Baltimore are sitting on them, considering the citys existing fees and tax structure to be the cost of doing business.

The normalization of that just needs to stop, he said. This is a way for us to start the conversation with the agencies, with the administration to ensure were doing all we can do to hold folks accountable and provide some level of incentive to them to be good custodians of properties in our communities.

The future of the rest of Mosbys House Baltimore plan remains unclear. Earlier this month, a proposed revival of the citys Dollar House program, the cornerstone of the legislative package, stalled in committee after a 7-7 vote. Mosby pledged at the time to continue to work on any problems with the legislation, but no additional hearings have been scheduled.

Maryland Policy & Politics Weekdays Keep up to date with Maryland politics, elections and important decisions made by federal, state and local government officials. >

The bill introduced by Ramos focus on the citys in rem foreclosure process, allowing the city to pull a property out of its annual tax sale.

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Each year, Baltimore holds a sale of tax lien certificates to collect on past-due property taxes or other delinquent charges. Investors purchase the liens from the city during an online auction. Those investors can then collect the debts, with interest. If the debts are not paid, the buyers eventually could foreclose on the properties.

In rem foreclosures allow the city to remove properties from tax sale and to foreclose on tax liens so the city can take a clear title to a property. The process can be used only on vacant or abandoned properties that have liens higher than the assessed value of the property, Ramos said. State officials enabled the process in 2019, and Baltimore passed local legislation allowing it in 2020.

Ramos said her new bill will make sure the citys law has the same requirements for notifying owners as the state law in hopes of increasing the use of in rem foreclosures.

Ramos also proposed a bill which would increase the fine for a failure to abate citation to $1,000. Currently, the city can issue a $900 citation to owners of properties who dont resolve issues at buildings that have been tagged as vacant but not razed or improved.

The idea is to get the attention of the owner and say Hey, you cant do this anymore. You cant just own the property, Ramos said.

Most of the proposed legislation will be assigned to council committees. Mosbys bill proposing an emergency response fee will be heard by the councils committee of the whole.
Senators from Maine and Montana want the Biden administration to clarify the impact of more people visiting the country's national parks.

Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine and Republican Sen. Steve Daines of Montana said last week they want to know the impact of increased attendance on the parks, visitors and surrounding communities. They've called on National Park Service Director Charles Sams for a congressional briefing about the subject.

The senators said there have been "historic numbers of National Park visitors," including at Yellowstone National Park and Acadia National Park. Yellowstone saw annual visits increase from about 3.6 million in 2010 to nearly 4.9 million last year, they said. The senators said Acadia's attendance grew from about 2.5 million to about 4.1 million in that time.

The senators wrote that the park system "is one of our nation's greatest treasures, and as such we must be vigilant in ensuring that they continue to be available for the benefit and enjoyment of the people of this and future generations."

The National Park Service administers more than 400 national parks across the country. It compiled a list of the most visited parks last year, with the Blue Ridge Parkway spanning the southern and central Appalachians topping the list with 15.9 million visitors. Yellowstone ranked 12th and Acadia was 16th.

Like Acadia, the Cape Cod National Seashore also had 4 million visitors, ranking 17th.

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A local middle school is doing its part to inform teachers and parents about the dangers of drug abuse among teenagers.

On Thursday, March 17, Liberty Middle School opened its doors to the Burke County Substance Abuse Network so they could present teachers and administrators with the Secrets Revealed program. Secrets Revealed: A Search for the Hidden Stash was developed by BSAN as a walk-through simulation to give parents and teachers a glimpse into the lives of teenagers and help adults recognize possible warning signs of teen drug abuse.

Anna Moose, principal of Liberty Middle School, said she wanted to bring the program to the school because she believes every teacher needs to be aware of how to spot these warning signs.

Back in November, administrators and guidance counselors were trained in this program, she said. I wanted them to come in here today because there were a lot of things I learned that I didnt know.

Moose told the group of teachers that it is important for them to be aware of what is out there. She said that teachers are often the first people parents turn to when a student may need help.

Jonelle Sigmon, Burke County Public Schools marketing and communications specialist, told The News Herald, The teacher is the first step that a parent takes. They dont go directly to the counselor or the cops, the teacher might be the first step of getting help.

Sixth-grade teacher Monique St. Louis agreed, saying that teachers also play a critical role in keeping children in situations where parents are unable or unwilling to give the care a student needs.

We need to lay eyes on them, she said. When we lay eyes on them, we can tell, are they being bathed, are they in clean clothes? Are they wearing hoodies all the time? Ive had kids who have worn hoodies for a reason  the reason that youre not supposed to.

During the hour-long training, teachers rotated through three stations, searching a simulated teenage boys bedroom for signs of drug abuse, learning about edibles and other drugs that are commonly available in Burke County and visiting the Revelation Station where all the various hidden signs of drug abuse that could have been found in the room were uncovered.

St. Louis called the training eye opening.

There were a lot of things I found in here and I said, I dont know what that is, but it looks strange, she said.

Teachers learned that the room contained more than 60 innocuous-looking items that could all be used for a darker purpose. Some of the items in the room included soda cans and water bottles with false bottoms, sharpies that open into vape pens, shoes without laces, ties with bloods spots and key fobs, USB drives and other items with secret compartments. According to one of the programs facilitators, Brandi Greer, all of the items were purchased online with no age verification or identification required.

According to BSANs research, middle school is the best time to catch early signs of drug use among teenagers as 12 is the average age a teen first starts using.

One in 4 of our high school students are using drugs, BSAN Executive Director Kim James told the group. And 1 in 7 middle schoolers.

Greer told The News Herald that a parent or teacher should never assume their child is not using drugs or experiencing mental health challenges.

Second guess yourself, she said. Its OK to start the conversation. Its OK if your kid gets mad at you, just dig a little deeper.

Check on your kids, St. Louis said. Are you really willing to take that chance and say, I dont need to check on my kids, I know everything I need to know, and then, God forbid, something happens?

According to James, developments in drug-culture like the wide availability of inexpensive pill presses and the increased potency of commonly available drugs make drug use today more dangerous than it has ever been. With the rising popularity of Fentanyl and the emergence of a new drug, Carfentanil, she fears it is only going to get more dangerous.

Carfentanil is 100 times stronger than fentanyl, she told the group.

According to Greer, that makes it 10,000 times stronger than morphine. She also said that Carfentanil has already been spotted in Burke County.

James told the group that while none of these items in a teenagers room is necessarily a smoking gun, it opens the door to conversations that can uncover other problems such as mental health challenges and untreated medical conditions.

You have to be willing to say, something looks off, she said. Im not sure what it is, but lets have a conversation about it.

In addition to working with BCPS, BSAN plans to set up a Secrets Revealed program for the community on Friday, May 27 at The Community House in Morganton.

Greer said the program will run all day and will begin at 8 a.m. For more information or to RSVP for a time for the secrets revealed program in May, visit www.joinbsan.com/meetings. The program takes approximately one hour to complete.
Last week wrapped up a nearly 30-year career in the Burke County Tax Office for Danny Isenhour.

He said his final goodbyes during a county retirement party Friday afternoon. That capped off his final week that also saw him presented with the North Carolina Order of the Long Leaf Pine Award on Tuesday evening.

I was flabbergasted, Isenhour said about getting the honor. I mean I had no earthly idea anybody was submitting my name for that.

I still feel overwhelmed about it.

But when asked how he feels about retiring, Isenhour didnt hesitate.

I'm ready for it, Isenhour said about retirement. I'm ready for it. I think there comes a time, you know, we all work toward an end goal, or I hope most people do. And, of course, that's one of mine to be able to work and be able to retire and enjoy things.

Isenhours background was in building and architectural drafting.

His senior year in high school, he started working at Lowes Building Supply and worked his way through the ranks there to become an assistant manager at Lowe's in Morganton and got a two-year degree in architectural drafting. Then he got the opportunity to work in the county tax office.

Isenhour, 63, first started at the tax office in 1990 but only stayed for four months due to a reduction in the county workforce.

But he returned in September 1992, taking on the position of an appraiser. Appraisers are the people out in the field who get exterior measurements of a house and note other things such as the type of roof and type of siding, Isenhour explained.

We do a lot of little details that we pick up while we're out there in the field and then that's applied to the schedule values, Isenhour said. And we come up with a tax value, which in the year of the reappraisal, should represent market value.

He was an appraiser for several years before becoming chief appraiser and then interim accessor in 1995. After his time as interim accessor, Isenhour went back to his chief appraiser position.

It was May 1, 2000, that Isenhour was first appointed as tax administrator for Burke County.

During his time at the tax office, Isenhour said technology has been the biggest change the office has gone through.

Burke County was one of the first computer-assisted appraisal counties in North Carolina back in the late 1980s, he said. It was the Bournemouth system and the county remained on that system until 2012, when it migrated to NCPTS (North Carolina Property Tax Solution), Isenhour said.

As for the most rewarding part of his career, Isenhour said its the staff of the tax office.

My staff are what I really appreciate and I've got a terrific staff, and there's reward in that in itself, to me, Isenhour said. To watch new people develop and learn the ropes and have a good attitude and want things to progress and want to do a good job for the county.

Dawn Hutchins has been appointed interim tax administrator until John Bridgers, who most recently has been with the Land Records Division at N.C. Department of the Secretary of State, takes the helm of the department in early April.

So whats Isenhour looking forward to in retirement?

I'm going to take it easy a little bit," he said. "I plan on getting on my bike and riding a lot more than I have been able to in the last few years. I hope be able to hike a little bit more, and just chill.

He added, When I look back on it, it's been a great journey. Its not always been easy, but it's just been great.
Its called a zombie lie.

Thats the pop-culture term for a false claim that just wont die no matter how often its refuted by facts.

Prominent among them right now is the notion that the president of the United States, no matter who he or she is, is responsible for the price of gasoline at the pump, no matter what that price is.

Its target at the moment is, of course, President Joe Biden.

The claim has been rebutted by a number of reputable fact-checkers who remind us of past fluctuations  and the all-surpassing influence of those Econ 101 staples: supply and demand.

Right now, as COVID-19 precautions loosen and we travel more freely, theres more demand than supply, so the price goes up. Its part of living in a free-market economy.

This zombie lie is fed by another: that Bidens cancellation of the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline has somehow influenced gas prices. Just consider: The lack of a pipeline didnt inflate the price of gas when Bidens predecessor was in office  why would it now?

This isnt to diminish the pain Americans are feeling at the pump, especially lower-income workers whose jobs require them to drive. Not everyone has a fuel-efficient vehicle or an EV (electric vehicle). Until we make a dramatic shift away from our oil addiction, well be at the mercy of unpredictable market forces, no matter where the rigs are drilling.

Not that the people profiting from this situation are especially sympathetic.

The oil conglomerates that operate in the U.S.  ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP and Shell  all reported record-breaking profits before Russia invaded Ukraine  some $205 billion in 2021 alone, according to a recent report from Accountable.US.

On top of that, they each receive massive, multimillion-dollar subsidies from the federal government.

Talk about freeloaders.

On Monday morning, any oil corporate head could decree that the price of their product will immediately be reduced by a dollar a gallon. It would be a patriotic display of concern in a time of hardship. They would still make obscene profits.

But thats not very likely.

So Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, among others, are advocating for a windfall profits tax on these companies. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says hes going to haul oil executives in to testify before Congress. (Oh, no, not a good talking-to.)

But there is something that Congress could do. It could halt the subsidies. Even temporarily, just until we get through this crisis. This is taxpayer money going to wealthy corporations so they can charge us higher prices for their goods. Cut them off.

Any senator or representative could file a bill calling for the halt of oil company subsidies until this crisis has passed  or until oil companies lower the price of their product.

Thats not very likely to happen, of course; Republicans and Democrats have become cozy with oil companies thanks to generous political donations. Thats a supply theyd hesitate to put at risk.

This will be the situation as long as the U.S. remains addicted to oil.

As for the economy as a whole, its not where wed like it to be. But its better than it was.

A record 6.4 million jobs were added to the U.S. economy in 2021, rebounding strongly from the previous years unprecedented losses, Bloomberg reported in January. Furthermore, the unemployment rate fell to 3.9% in December and continues to drop by hundreds of thousands of workers every week.

Republicans arent likely to acknowledge the progress. They can hardly criticize Russian President Vladimir Putin without mentioning their dissatisfaction with Biden at the same time.

There are legitimate reasons to criticize Biden and his administration. But its hard to consider them through the fog of bad-faith complaints over everything Biden does  even when he does what they want, like cutting off Russian oil, after which they blamed him for the resulting higher prices.

Credible legislators owe it to their constituents to put politics aside from time to time and work with the other side. That should include when were trying to avoid engaging in World War III with a geopolitical adversary.

Solutions to high gas prices exist. The political will to pursue them doesnt. Nevertheless, the next time you fill up the tank, dont bother saying, Thanks, Joe. Instead, say, Here you go, oil exec  my contribution to your new yacht.

 Winston-Salem Journal
As the adage goes: everyone is entitled to their own opinion, just not their own facts. The fact is, the recent opinion piece signed by the Lincoln County Commissioners (Montana Standard Feb. 27) concerning the establishment of a scientifically justified selenium standard is long on opinion and painfully short on facts.

Ignoring the facts, the Commissioners aim to weaken our water quality standards for Montanas treasured Lake Koocanusa and the Kootenai River in order to satisfy a foreign mining company that is harming our water, fish, and communities.

The Commissioners make the erroneous claim that the process to establish the standard was rushed over three months and excluded the public, including themselves. In reality, the Commissioners have been involved, alongside many of us for the better part of a decade in public meetings, to achieve this standard. They participated throughout a robust, and transparent, rulemaking process, years of data collection, community discussions, and development of the protective standard.

The Commissioners once again falsely state that the new selenium standard is more stringent than federal guidelines. Again, not true. Montana regulators applied the federal standard for acceptable levels of selenium in fish tissue and used peer-reviewed scientific models to determine a protective water threshold to protect Koocanusas fish. To be clear, the state standard is the federal standard. It relies upon six years of local data collection and is based on toxic levels of selenium in Koocanusa right now. The objective is to protect fish in Koocanusa. Given these facts, any call to weaken the standard is a move against protecting fish and communities in Montana and ignores our downstream neighbors in Idaho.

The Commissioners distort the facts about the federal guidelines for selenium standards. Those guidelines clearly recommend site-specific standards based on local data. After six years of investigating selenium in Lake Koocanusa, a diverse team of selenium experts found that the local data requires a standard of 0.8 ug/L to protect fish and aquatic life. The sad fact is that several species of fish in the reservoir already exceed the Environmental Protection Agencys toxicity threshold for selenium. To be crystal clear, selenium is already at toxic levels in the reservoir because Teck Coals Canadian mines have been leaching selenium into the reservoir for decades.

Contrary to what the Commissioners published in their error-filled letter, Lake Koocanusa has been listed as impaired under Montanas 303(d) list due to selenium contamination since 2012. This listing was a precursor to the six-year process that Montana and British Columbia embarked on to design a shared, protective selenium standard.

With respect to Idahos standard, the science is clear that selenium toxicity bioaccumulates in the food web, and that it concentrates more in slow moving waters than in fast moving waters. That is why both Montana and Idaho adopted 3.1 ug/L in the Kootenai River, and 0.8 ug/L was needed for the slow-moving reservoir in Montana. In plain language, lakes are more vulnerable to selenium toxicity than rivers, and Lake Koocanusa is a worst-case scenario because it has been receiving selenium from Canada for several decades. Another very important and overlooked fact is that Idaho also recently listed the Kootenai River as impaired due to selenium, in both fish and water.

Given that the source of this problem is entirely Canadian, and that Montanans gain nothing from weakened standards except more pollutants from mining, why are the Commissioners defending Teck Coal and attacking a standard designed to protect Montanas waters? This is the very same company that has been fined millions of dollars for releasing contaminants into rivers flowing into Koocanusa and the Kootenai, has repeatedly failed to meet water quality objectives in B.C., and is the subject of an investigation into a westslope cutthroat trout population collapse.

The facts is: Montanas best interest is in holding international polluters accountable for the selenium flowing into our states waters from Canadian mining operations. The peer-reviewed scientifically robust process for establishing this standard included years of data collected by some of the top selenium experts in the world. The resulting standard was adopted to protect Koocanusas waters and the aquatic life that support our businesses and way of life. Its a Montana-made solution that we should support and be proud of, not undermine with misinformation.

David Brooks, executive Director, Montana Trout Unlimited; Andrew Gorder, legal director, Clark Fork Coalition; Ellie Hudson-Heck, conservation assistant, Idaho Conservation League; Derf Johnson, Clean Water Program director and staff attorney, Montana Environmental Information Center

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ARCHIVED - Costa Calida crowned happiest region in Spain



The Region of Murcia raises a smile basking in 300 days of sunshine a year

It's easy to feel glum on a dull day, but on the Costa Calida these are the exception as opposed to the rule, with the Region of Murcia basking in 300 days of glorious sunshine a year.

And according to the findings of the Spain Happy Index, developed by the proptech company Sonneil Homes to celebrate the International Day of Happiness (Sunday March 20), the Costa Calida is officially the jolliest in Spain, with an average score of 87 points out of 100.

The scale has been designed based on quantitative data published by sources such as the Ministry of the Interior and the State Meteorological Agency to map the places in Spain with the highest quality of life.

Amongst the criteria highlighted in the Happy Index are Blue Flag beaches, international schools, hospitals, distance to airports, and meteorological data such as average temperatures, and the number of windy, rainy and sunny days per year.

"There are many studies that relate the sunlight we receive to our physical and mental wellbeing. For example, sunlight activates our body's production of serotonin, the so-called 'happiness hormone', which regulates our mood and sleep quality," explained Alfredo Milla, CEO of Sonneil Homes.

And with an average of 300 days of sunshine per year, the Murcian coast is the Spanish coastline with the best happiness index.

"This makes the Region stand out from other coastal areas and places it as a firm choice as a residential destination for those seeking a high quality of life," added Milla.

Leading the way on the Costa Calida is San Javier , with 90.78 points and Blue Flag beaches such as Ensenada del Esparto. The municipality is followed by Los Alcazares , with 90.31 points, and San Pedro del Pinatar, with 89.58.

"These three towns are among the happiest in the country," according to Index researchers.

As to be expected, year-round temperatures are also a factor, and the Region boasts an average of 18C.

Weather aside, Murcia also stands out for its infrastructures and services, "designed so that even the areas furthest from urban centres can easily access hospitals, schools, shopping centres... an aspect that adds points to the quality of life".

The Spain Happy Index was created to serve as a guide for those looking to move to Spain or relocate to a new destination.

"We identified the needs of our clients when they had to choose an area to move to, and we realised that there was no source that gathered the information they were asking for, so we decided to create one through Sonneil," said the CEO, adding that it acts as a tool for foreigners who have not yet decided where next to set up home.

Image: Archive
Hefty fines in Spain for driving a dirty car



Driving with reduced visibility in Spain can cost up to 200 euros

There are many motoring fines that may at first appear extreme in Spain, but the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) can impose a range of sanctions for what it considers to be dangerous driving, and having an excessively dirty car falls into this category.

The fines for driving a dirty vehicle vary depending on the part of the car that hasnt been cleaned, with a filthy windshield understandably calling for the highest sanction of up to 200 euros. Faulty wiper blades can also result in a fine of 80 euros.

You might also like: New Traffic Law comes into force in Spain: here are the major changes

According to the General Circulation Regulations of the DGT, "the glazed surface of the vehicle must allow, in any case, the diaphanous visibility of the driver over the entire road on which he circulates".

This means that both the windshield, the rear window and the front windows must be clean at all times. In addition to the glass, do not forget to take care of the state of the license plate; it must be spotless so that both its numbers and letters can be clearly read.

Image: Wikimedia Commons
ARCHIVED - Storm Celia approaches Spain: weekend weather outlook March 11-13



The weather will remain unsettled across much of Spain this coming weekend

An Atlantic front crossing Spain from west to east from Friday March 11 will create unsettled weather across the country throughout the weekend, and early next week a deep storm is expected to develop off the western coast, dubbed Celia, according to the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet).

The storm is predicted to continue well into next weekend with rainfall forecast in practically all regions of Spain, with the highest intensity expected in eastern areas, threatening a wash-out on the highly anticipated St. Patricks Day celebrations of March 17.

Friday March 11

The Atlantic front sweeping across the country on Friday morning will leave in its wake cloudy or overcast skies and rainfall that could reach the Balearic Islands by the end of the day. Western Galicia, southern Castilla y Leon, Extremadura, western Andalusia and northern Aragon will experience the worst of the rain.

Maximum temperatures will noticeably drop compared to Thursday, with the thermometers in central Spain expected to dip by around 5C by noon. Night-time temperatures will rise, particularly in the south.

Saturday March 12

Saturday will see the passage of two weather fronts: the one which arrived Friday will leave the peninsula but will still cause some rainfall in Aragon, Catalonia, the north of the Valencian Community and the Balearic Islands.

At the same time, a second front will arrive in the Atlantic, heralding a strong storm that will head towards the British Isles.

Saturday morning will dawn cool in much of Spain but there will be a noticeable rise in temperature as the day goes on, particularly in central regions. The Mediterranean coast and the Balearic Islands could see mercury shoot up past 20C, in stark contract with northern provinces, where the thermometers will barely reach 12 or 13C at noon.

Sunday March 13

On Sunday, the front of the previous day will continue to cross Spain and a storm will begin to form in the west of the country, though its exact trajectory is still not very clear.

Either way, the day promises to be generally wet in much of the peninsula with the most abundant rains predicted for Galicia, Extremadura, western Andalucia and around the Pyrenees.

Weak, scattered showers are expected in the Mediterranean and the Balearic Islands where night-time temperatures will rise and day-temperatures will drop.

Images: Aemet
A court hearing on Baltimore County Councils proposed map of its council districts focused heavily on disagreement over the extent to which voting by county residents breaks down along racial lines.

U.S. District Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby heard arguments Monday afternoon over whether the councils newly redrawn map of its district boundaries is fair to Black voters. The plaintiffs, including the Baltimore County NAACP branch and a number of county residents, have said the new map  like the first one  would disadvantage Black voters.

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On Feb. 22, Griggsby rejected the councils initial map of its seven districts and ordered it to develop new boundaries that comply with the Voting Rights Act, which bars discriminatory election practices. Monday afternoons hearing was on whether the court should accept the councils redrawn map.

Ava Lias-Booker, an attorney representing the county, told Griggsby the new map would improve opportunities for people of color to get elected in the county.

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The original map was good, but this maps better, and it addresses specifically the questions that the court had, Lias-Booker said.

She based her arguments partly on the countys redrawing of District 2  in the south-central part of the county  to boost its Black population from 29.5% to more than 41%. The county says the white population in the district would decrease from more than 55% to about 44%.

Under the new map, what we did is we enhanced the number of Black voters in that district, Lias-Booker said.

Maryland Policy & Politics Weekdays Keep up to date with Maryland politics, elections and important decisions made by federal, state and local government officials. >

She said District 2 was already a crossover district in which racial polarization was minimized because you have coalitions between Black and Jewish voters along with other minority voters.

Council Chairman Julian Jones Jr., the first African American person to chair the county council, agreed that it was evident and obvious that  because so many Black and white voters in the district are Democrats  they often vote for the same candidate.

But political scientist Matt Barreto, called as a witness by the plaintiffs, said there was extensive evidence of racial polarization in several county districts, including District 2.

In the countys remedial District 2, the white voters that remain are voting heavily against the Black candidates of choice, Barreto testified.

The plaintiffs have criticized the map because among the seven districts it contains a single majority-Black district  District 4, which is adjacent to District 2  in a county that is about one-third Black.

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Its not certain when the judge will rule.

In her February order, Griggsby required the county to adopt a new map that includes either two reasonably compact majority-Black districts or a new district with a racial balance providing Black voters an opportunity to elect a representative of their choice.
Disgruntled Uber, Bolt, InDriver, and DiDi drivers in South Africa plan to disrupt major roads and critical institutions as part of a three-day strike calling for e-hailing industry regulation.

The planned disruption includes food delivery services like Uber Eats.

Private Public Transport Association (PPTA) founder Vhatuka Mbelengwa, who is organising the strike, told eNCA that e-hailing platforms exploit drivers.

We have long expressed that we are not happy with the state of e-hailing in the country. We are not happy with the manner in which app companies are treating us, Mbelengwa said.

We are not happy with the pricing, we are not happy with the over-saturation of the market, but most importantly, we are not happy with the fact that government has not shown up in defence of its people.

Mbelengwa said the drivers want the government to be proactive and fast-track industry regulation.

We will picket, we will target critical institutions, we will ask certain individuals with the correct powers why they are not doing what needs to be done, Mbelengwa stated.

On Tuesday, 22 March 2022, PPTA will be lodging its grievances at the Union Buildings and Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition.

On Wednesday, they plan to approach the MEC for Transport in Gauteng.

The action will culminate in a national shutdown of services on Thursday, 24 March 2022.

Mbelengwa said the disgruntled drivers intended to continue disruptions until the government takes tangible and impactful steps towards regulating the industry.

Mbelengwa criticised the Department of Transport and the South African National Taxi Council for remaining silent over drivers issues.

PPTA wants the Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition to clarify the roles and responsibilities of tech platforms like Uber and Bolt.

Mbelengwa alleges that the companies have no interest in engaging directly with them.

While the platforms call drivers their partners, their decision-making on issues like pricing were not reflective of a partnership, Mbelengwa said.

Mbelengwa said it was necessary to act now to lay down the rules for how tech companies operated in South Africa.

Tech disruptions are going to be felt across many industries, he explained.

If we dont set a precedent now to say this is how tech should behave in this country, we are all doomed.

Class-action lawsuit

The strike comes more than a year after law firms in the UK and South Africa announced they had partnered on a class-action lawsuit against Uber on behalf of drivers in South Africa.

Uber classifies its drivers as independent contractors, meaning they are not entitled to statutory protections granted to employees.

The case aims to get the drivers recognised as employees, entitling them to benefits like overtime and holiday pay.

It followed a UK Supreme Court court ruling that Uber drivers should be classified as workers.

The UK differentiates between employees and workers, with the latter only enjoying limited benefits.

Uber has claimed that most of its drivers prefer to work independently rather than being regarded as fully-fledged employees.

This is testament to the appeal of the Uber business model, which provides drivers with an independent status while allowing them to develop and expand their businesses following their needs and time schedules as well as their business skills and plans, and pursue any economic activities of their choice, the company stated.

MyBroadband contacted Uber, Bolt, DiDi, and InDriver for comment, but they did not immediately respond to queries about the strike.

Now r ad: Uber hikes prices in South Africa to battle rising petrol costs
American Canyon Police is investigating a reported carjacking of a food delivery driver outside an apartment building Sunday night.

Just before 8 p.m., officers were called to The Lodge at Napa Junction Apartments at 5500 Eucalyptus Drive, police said in a news release. A female DoorDash driver told police she was contacted by a customer who gave her a location in the parking lot to meet for a food delivery after she could not find the apartment number given to her, according to the department.

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The driver was then approached by a man with a face covering, who pointed a handgun at her head, took her keys and cellphone, and then drove off in the victims silver 2019 Nissan sport-utility vehicle at high speed, police reported. The suspect and vehicle were still at large as of 11:30 a.m. Monday.

American Canyon Police described the suspect as a tall and thin Black male. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact the department at 707-551-0601, or the Napa central dispatch center at 707-253-4451.

You can reach Howard Yune at 530-763-2266 or hyune@napanews.com

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California's Democratic leaders have a message for Texans and Floridians opposed to their states' stances on abortion, LGBTQ rights and gun control: You're more than welcome in the Golden State.

The latest offering came from Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco, who on Thursday announced forthcoming legislation that would "protect and provide refuge for transgender kids and their parents if they flee to California" from states such as Texas or Idaho, which have advanced measures to investigate or criminalize parents seeking gender-affirming care for their trans kids.

Wiener's bill would:

 Prevent California courts from enforcing any out-of-state court rulings that deny parents custody for allowing their trans kids to get gender-affirming care;

 Block California agencies from complying with any out-of-state subpoenas seeking information about people who come to the Golden State for gender-affirming care; and

 Declare as the lowest priority for California law enforcement any out-of-state criminal arrest warrant linked to someone receiving gender-affirming care.

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Gov. Gavin Newsom, meanwhile, name-checked Disney, whose staff members are staging walkouts over the corporation's refusal to publicly condemn Florida's "don't say gay" bill that would ban teaching kids in kindergarten through third grade about sexual orientation or gender identity "in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students."

Newsom tweeted: "Disney, the door is open to bring those jobs back to California -- the state that actually represents the values of your workers."

The governor has maintained a relentless focus on Texas and Florida, slamming both in this month's State of the State speech and a flurry of recent tweets. He's also sponsoring a gun control bill modeled on Texas' controversial abortion ban and has called on California to be a "sanctuary" for out-of-state patients seeking abortions.

Democratic lawmakers have answered with a package of reproductive health care legislation, including a bill that would create a fund -- filled with both state and philanthropic money -- to help low-income Californians and out-of-state women access abortions.

The bill language, released Wednesday night, says the fund would help cover abortion patients' airfare, lodging, ground transportation, gas money, meals, child care, doula support and translation services.

State Sen. Nancy Skinner, a Berkeley Democrat and bill co-author: This proposal "sends a clear message to the rest of the nation: We are fully committed to ensuring that California women and those who may seek refuge here have access to all reproductive services, including abortion."

On Thursday, the Assembly passed a bill that would eliminate out-of-pocket costs for abortions and abortion-related services. It now faces a procedural vote in the Senate before heading to Newsom's desk.

By framing California as a "refuge" and "sanctuary" for people who want to "flee" Texas and Florida, elected officials may be attempting to counter the narrative that Californians are fleeing to red states in search of lower taxes and more affordable homes.
The French authorities have frozen the funds of the Bank of Russia worth 22 bln euro, as well as accounts and property of individuals sanctioned by western countries, Frances Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire said in live broadcast of the RTL radio station on Sunday, TASS reported.

"We have frozen the assets of the Russian Central Bank worth 22 bln euro. We have also frozen funds on accounts of individuals in French enterprises worth 150 mln euro," he said. Property totally worth "half a billion euro" owned by around 30 Russians have also been frozen on French territory, and two yachts totally worth 150 mln euro have been detained, the minister added.

"Since we established a center that unites the efforts of hundreds of employees of the TRACFIN financial intelligence service, the treasury, customs and the Public Finances Directorate for the first time in the history of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, we have managed to unveil and freeze the assets of Russian tycoons totally worth 1.8 bln euro on French territory apart from the Russian Central Banks 22 bln euro," he said.

The freezing of property does not imply disposal to the advantage of the state, Le Maire noted. The issue is about making sure that its owners cannot resell it or use it for gaining profit, he explained.